John Stossel Scorched by The New York Times

This is a RUSH transcript from "The O'Reilly Factor," November 3, 2009. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

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BILL O'REILLY, HOST: In the "Stossel Matters" segment tonight, our pal John recently gave a speech in front of the Americans for Prosperity group. That's a conservative free market outfit. Well, The New York Times didn't like it. No, they did not, saying it was another example of the conservative bias at FOX News Channel.

Here now, the very, very controversial John Stossel. Before we let you hammer The Times, which you can do as much as you want, you have been following the gambling on the New Jersey gubernatorial race. InTrade.com? What is InTrade.com?

JOHN STOSSEL, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: It's a Web site. It's run out of Ireland, because it's illegal in America to bet on these things. But Karl Rove may be a genius, but I think the best predictor of elections is where people put their money where their mouths are, and that's InTrade.com. Corzine was as high as 65 percent early this afternoon. Now he's down to 45 percent.

O'REILLY: So 65 percent were voting — were betting on him this afternoon, and now he's under 50 percent?

STOSSEL: Right.

O'REILLY: OK, now, that's just amusement. We're not making anything of that. But Stossel is a strange guy, and this is just what he does.

OK. Now, The New York Times says that this group, Americans for Prosperity, they're some kind of heinous conservative group that were paying you money — I know you gave it to charity — to do what? What were you doing? Why are they after you?

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STOSSEL: I make speeches. I make about 25 a year. I've done that for years, and suddenly now that I'm at FOX, critics are leaping to attack me, according to The New York Times. And Americans for Prosperity, I like them. I'm an American. I'm for prosperity. I've discovered, from 40 years of reporting, that what creates prosperity is limited government. And...

O'REILLY: And that's what these people espouse, right?

STOSSEL: And I would like to share that with as many people who want me to speak.

O'REILLY: So they hire you. You fly down, I guess, to Arkansas, right? Do a couple of forums for them. Do they make you sign a paper saying that you hate liberals or something? Do they make you do that?

STOSSEL: No, and...

O'REILLY: Do you have to personally attack people? I don't understand why they're mad at you? So what, you make a speech in front of a group that you respect.

STOSSEL: Well, I'm aligned with this conservative group.

O'REILLY: Didn't you talk...

STOSSEL: Call them conservative; I'd call them libertarian.

O'REILLY: Didn't you talk to this group before you got to Fox?

STOSSEL: Isn't that interesting? When I worked for ABC two months ago, I also made three speeches for this group, but nobody worried about that.

O'REILLY: Nobody cared. Nobody cared then. But now...

STOSSEL: I'm sure somebody cared, but The Times didn't care.

O'REILLY: Now, Mark Feldstein, an associate professor of journalism at George Washington University, said your speaking to a partisan group was "pretty shameful." Why — why is it shameful?

STOSSEL: I guess they believe that all reporters have no opinions, no point of view.

O'REILLY: But you're a commentator now.

STOSSEL: And even before, I was a consumer reporter. I kind of invented it on TV. We made it up as we went along.

O'REILLY: You had an opinion. This product is bad. This is good. Here is hosing you.

STOSSEL: Or go to businesses, "Why are you a crook?"

O'REILLY: Right.

STOSSEL: They loved me then. I won 19 Emmy Awards. Then I got smarter. I saw how the regulation I called for made things worse, didn't help consumers and simple competition was better. And I started praising business and occasionally criticizing regulation. Suddenly, I stopped winning Emmy Awards. A journalism show had me on, and I found they had titled it "Objectivity and Journalism: Does John Stossel Practice Either?" If I'd been quicker, I would have said, "Look at the title of the show. It shows you have a point of view. We all do. I just admit mine."

O'REILLY: OK. I'm siding with The New York Times. I think you're shameful.

STOSSEL: Can't argue with you.

O'REILLY: Now, look, you know what the game is. Now that you're here — and Glenn Beck found this out very quickly when he came over from CNN — when you're here, you're a target. You become a target just by association, because now you work for Fox News. So they're going to find anything that you do, and this is The New York Times, which they hate us, and they're going to put you in the pejorative light. They're going to put you in the negative light just because you work for us. You committed the cardinal sin of all time. You left a liberal network, and you went to a traditional right-leaning network. So you're never, ever going to be liked again by anyone. Does that make you sad?

STOSSEL: Well, I live with these people. They all live in my neighborhood. So that makes me sad.

O'REILLY: Move out to Long Island where I live, because I live with the folks.

STOSSEL: I like taking the subway to work.

O'REILLY: You're a pansy. Come out to Long Island, all right? The best pizza in the world: Villa Milano in Manhasset, OK? Come out there. They're regular folks. You won't have to deal with those pinheads on the Upper West Side.

STOSSEL: It's good exercise. Living with the liberals, you get to hear their arguments, fight with them all the time. Keeps me alert.

O'REILLY: OK, but if you do that, you're a fascist. Do you really want to be a fascist, Stossel? Do you really want to be that?

STOSSEL: Someone did come up to me on the street and said, "Are you John Stossel?"

O'REILLY: Yes.

STOSSEL: "I hope you die soon."

O'REILLY: Oh, is that right? You know, that was our boss.

STOSSEL: I don't think so.

O'REILLY: Just a joke. All right. John Stossel, everybody. Stossel.

STOSSEL: Stossel it is.

O'REILLY: Stossel.

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