This is a rush transcript from "The O'Reilly Factor," January 13, 2009. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
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BILL O'REILLY, HOST: Continuing now with the "Impact" segment: the controversy over single moms that Ann Coulter has written about in her new book "Guilty." Ms. Coulter joins us now.
All right. Do you want to reply about Ms. Turner?
Click here to watch O'Reilly's interview with Ann Coulter!
ANN COULTER, AUTHOR, "GUILTY": Well, I know nothing about her life. This isn't an attack on single mothers, but the statistics are the statistics.
O'REILLY: That's true.
COULTER: And when you have an increase in illegitimacy over — of over 300 percent from 1970 to now, something more is going on than oh, gosh, it wasn't my fault.
O'REILLY: You're absolutely right. Society has now deemed single motherhood to be socially acceptable.
COULTER: Right. What you said was absolutely right. And, you know, a certain number of people can go over Niagara Falls in a barrel and turn out fine. But I wouldn't recommend that as policy going over Niagara Falls. There are certain drug addicts who turn out well. Lou Reed. That will be my next book: 12 drug addicts who…
O'REILLY: ...who turned out well. So everybody…
COULTER: Kate Moss.
O'REILLY: But here's what…
COULTER: Edgar Alan Poe.
O'REILLY: Janine Turner.
COULTER: And I've just conceived of this book, and I've already got three.
O'REILLY: Janine Turner's a good person. And I know her, and she's a very, very good person, and doing the responsible thing. And things happen in everybody's lives, and you try to do the best you can.
I agree with you that the media glorifies single motherhood, OK? I don't think there's any doubt about that. The way you write about it, of course, is off-putting to some, because as she said, you're so tough.
COULTER: I don't think so, Bill.
O'REILLY: And your little quips are so tough.
COULTER: I don't think so.
O'REILLY: I know, but you never do. That she says you demonize the whole crew.
COULTER: Look, over and over again, I write books, I write columns defending timeless moral principles. The fact that liberals find that controversial I think says more about them than it says about what I'm saying.
O'REILLY: It's more style over substance. You see…
COULTER: Are we going back to the tone, because I am tired of being sent to the principal's office. And that's all I have been doing since this book came out.
O'REILLY: I'm the principal.
COULTER: I know.
O'REILLY: So you're already in the office. No, it's the style over substance. Look, I watched that "View" thing yesterday with you. They couldn't debate you on your stats. They couldn't.
COULTER: No, they could not.
O'REILLY: OK? No, you have the stats. And the stats say clearly single motherhood drives crime, it drives poverty…
COULTER: Right.
O'REILLY: ...it drives chaos. And there's no way that Whoopi or Joy or Barbara or anybody could say Coulter, you're wrong.
COULTER: Right.
O'REILLY: Couldn't. So they didn't even try. What they tried to do is say you're mean.
COULTER: Right.
O'REILLY: So your point…
COULTER: But they always do that, Bill.
O'REILLY: ...gets lost. I know they do.
COULTER: But they do that for a reason as Ambrose Pierce said.
O'REILLY: Ambrose Pierce, excellent.
COULTER: "Contempt is the emotion we feel for an opponent whose arguments are too formidable to refute." That is why they try to create atmosphere of contempt. And I am become this week's Emanuel Goldstein because I am defending timeless moral principles.
O'REILLY: Emanuel Goldstein.
COULTER: Well, from "1984." Everyone should know that.
O'REILLY: So Ambrose Pierce…
COULTER: And if you don't, you got to look it up.
O'REILLY: Look, I think I'm talking to Dennis Miller here now.
COULTER: Everybody knows "1984." You should know it.
O'REILLY: OK.
COULTER: The two men of Tate where everyone would come in, look at a screen of a fake person Emanuel Goldstein and scream hate at that person.
O'REILLY: There's no doubt…
COULTER: That's what the media goes through when I come out defending patriotism, defending God, defending fatherhood.
O'REILLY: They attack you.
COULTER: They say that's controversial.
O'REILLY: Right.
COULTER: Well, that says more about them than me, I think.
O'REILLY: OK. In some cases it does, because they do the same thing to me. And I know the tactic. They can't win the debate, so they try to marginalize you as some kind of loon.
COULTER: Mm-hmm.
O'REILLY: But the fact is, and I don't know why you don't understand this, that when you talk about single mothers, you talk about them the same, in the same tone as you talk about somebody like, some politician you don't like like Ted Kennedy. It's the same tone.
COULTER: Not exactly. I mean, I'd like to see you raise the precise quote you're talking about. There are some outrageous quotes I have that are from New York Times articles from women's magazines, where women are being absolutely narcissistic. I quote that person, often not even by name. It's just what the quote is from the article being narcissistic, caring more about themselves than about their children.
The real victims here, which is the point of the book, fake victims creating real victims are to the children. And to have mothers go around saying oh, I couldn't wait for Mr. Right. Well, OK, you might want to check with your kids on that.
O'REILLY: One of the interesting parts of the single mom chapter is you quote a woman named Barbara Eichenreich (ph).
COULTER: Aaronreich, yes.
O'REILLY: Aaronreich.
COULTER: Big famous liberal writer.
O'REILLY: OK, nobody knows who she is.
COULTER: Oh, yes, they do.
O'REILLY: Well…
COULTER: She writes for TIME magazine, The New York Times, The Atlantic.
O'REILLY: Right. She's around and she's had a few best-sellers. Now you put forth, and I think that you're probably right here, that she wants to destroy the traditional family. Barbara, how do you say her last name?
COULTER: Aaronreich. It's very clear from her writings.
O'REILLY: She wants to destroy the traditional family. Why?
COULTER: I don't know. It's a left-wing thing.
O'REILLY: You don't know?
COULTER: I mean, I quoted Hillary Clinton. But it has been a policy for years and years. Irving Crystal said, as I quote in that chapter too, the problem with liberalism is liberalism. I mean, Aaronreich, one of the most preposterous things she says in the book that I quote in the book is that how dangerous the traditional home is for a married woman.
O'REILLY: You don't know why, do you?
COULTER: And the statistics on that are exactly the opposite. It's true in the sense of being the opposite of the truth.
O'REILLY: OK.
COULTER: A married woman, the safest place for any woman to be is at home with her husband.
O'REILLY: But I'd love to find out — wouldn't you love to know why?
COULTER: I suspect it has to do with their personal problems, but I don't know.
O'REILLY: All right.
COULTER: Who cares? I know what they're saying and how they're affecting the culture.
O'REILLY: Very interesting debate. And Janine Turner, we thank very much. Ann Coulter.
COULTER: Thank you.
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