Glenn Beck Sounds Off on Washington State Christmas Controversy and Blagojevich Scandal

This is a rush transcript from "The O'Reilly Factor," December 12, 2008. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

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BILL O'REILLY, HOST: In the "Impact" segment tonight: The new Glenn Beck program on FOX News begins January 19. Coming up fast.

In the meantime, Mr. Beck has been running around the country signing his best-seller "The Christmas Sweater" because he is obviously a Christmas guy. I wanted him to weigh in on the Washington state deal and on the Blagojevich scandal. Glenn Beck joins us now from Tulsa, Oklahoma.

So you were in Washington state earlier this week?

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GLENN BECK, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. Just a couple days ago I was in Seattle. That's my hometown.

Let me tell you something, Bill. There are two kinds of people in the Seattle area in Washington state. There are the people who are wearing flannel shirts and are common sense people. Some of them are starting to bury their guns and their gold. And then there are the Birkenstock crowd.

When push comes to shove, I'll always put my money down with the plaid shirt people. I think they will eat the Birkenstock people. It is the Birkenstock people that currently have control in Washington, and it's crazy what is going on. It is a perfect microcosm of everything that is going on in this country right now.

O'REILLY: Let me stop you right there. If had I known you were going to be in Washington state, I would have told you, hey, Beck, I want you to go the capitol rotunda with the cover of your book, "A Christmas Sweater," OK, and I want you to demand the governor put the cover up next to the atheist sign to represent all Americans who wear Christmas sweaters because they should have some kind of right of expression, too, all right?

BECK: Now, I know that you are — I know that you would only do that because you would want me to be making a point. But let me tell you something, Bill. I wouldn't do it because of the times that we are living in and this is what most Americans need to understand. We are living, I really truly believe — and we will get into it here with what's going on in Chicago a little later — but we are living in 1860 and we are eating each other, and we have got to stop doing it.

Our founders said that everybody has a right to their own religion. But they also said that if we don't control ourselves, if we don't put a governor, so to speak on ourselves, that we will destroy ourselves.

Well, these crazy people, first of all, the atheist sign is not, hey, let's go atheism. It's let's destroy other religions. That's what that sign is all about. And by the way, thank you, atheists for exposing yourself as a religion seeing that you wanted to demand equal time as a religion there in the state capitol. Now these crazy people that are saying, you know, Santa is going to bring you to hell, control yourself. Control yourself.

O'REILLY: They are not in control of themselves because they are in it for the circus, not for the message. I always come back to the same thing. If we are going to elect people like Christine Gregoire, who have absolutely no judgment at all, who has an out, a written out, which says that any display has to reflect the decorum of the state capitol and be appropriate, as you just pointed out, this isn't a let's go atheist. This is let's attack anybody who believes. She had him on appropriateness and she had him on decorum, yet the woman is either not smart enough to understand that or is so secular progressive, so ridiculous that I think she is unfit for office.

BECK: Look, there is a difference between — I work with a guy who is borderline atheist agnostic. I'm a deeply religious guy. We are best friends. We are like brothers to each other. There is nothing wrong with that, but you know, there is crazy religious people and there are crazy atheist people. When it comes to atheism, it's such a myth to think that it's Christianity or it's religion that is the big hate-mongers of the last 20th Century. Stalin killed 50 million people. He was a devout atheist. Hitler, I know people go, oh no, Hitler was Christian. No he wasn't. He used — read his language. He was using the language of Christianity to kill.

O'REILLY: I got to switch it over to Blagojevich. Now, for our purposes here, we believe that this story has a 50 percent chance of igniting into a mini-Watergate. Do you see it that way?

BECK: I think — in fact, I was going to ask you that because I saw your "Talking Points" and I wanted to know if you thought when you said they had a 50-50 chance of igniting the country I wondered what that meant. I think it's much worse than that, Bill. I really truly believe that this country is on the brink, that we are sitting at 1860 and it's not too late to pull ourselves back. But we are feeding on ourselves. I think this has all the earmarkings of pushing us over the edge even more. You can't continue to disfranchise people.

Yesterday, our representatives say no to the bailout. Today it looks like Bush and Paulson are going to say yes to the bailout. How is that constitutional? Where did that happen where the president can just become a king and do whatever he wants?

When it comes to the governor in Illinois, the guy is a dirtbag. Now, should Rahm Emanuel have spoken to the governor? Yeah, I think it's appropriate, but let's wait to hear what those conversations were. The conversations were, hey, what are you going to give me in exchange? Then Emanuel should have reported that. But let's keep it isolated on Emanuel. Let's ask why now. In fact, let me rephrase this. President-Elect Obama, please, the country is on the edge. Please, you are my president. I didn't vote for you but you are now going to be my president. Please address the American people and do it with actions and say this must not stand.

O'REILLY: I think he has got to wait and see what else comes out.

BECK: No, he doesn't. For Rahm Emanuel, yes, but for the governor, no. Get these guys out.

O'REILLY: Have a Merry Christmas. We will see you soon.

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