O'Reilly on Why Children Could Learn from President Obama

This is a rush transcript from "On the Record," August 10, 2009. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, FOX NEWS HOST: Do not adjust your television. We thought we would give you an early dose of "The O'Reilly Factor." Earlier, the master of the "No Spin Zone" went "On the Record."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VAN SUSTEREN: All right, so you do a TV show. It is number one of all cable news. Your best selling books have flooded the bookstores, but now, "Parade" magazine.

BILL O'REILLY, HOST, "THE O'REILLY FACTOR": We wrote an article for Sunday entitled, "What kids can learn from President Obama." Some people do not like me saying anything positive about the president, and those who hate me do not like me saying anything, period. So that's what this...

VAN SUSTEREN: So what is it that you admire about the president?

O'REILLY: The article was basically about children, it's wasn't about President Obama. I took his biography, which is very interesting, I think, to any fair-minded person, had you could from a broken home with no dad and a kind of wacky mother, rise up and become President of the United States. I mean, that is quite a story.

So I took what happened to President Obama's childhood, and I gave lessons to children. The best lesson is, of course, forgive. Do not blame your parents, be consistent, and anything can happen. In America, your dream can come true.

You read the article, and you would think, "Gee, that is a positive thing. All children should read this article and get the point of view that you can do it, whatever it is you want that you can do." But, no, you get the ideologues in there screaming and yelling and saying nasty things.

It's kind of depressing, but I'm glad I wrote the piece.

VAN SUSTEREN: It's interesting because you talk about the number of children this day and age who come from broken homes, which is not unusual, but it's very common, and then you lay out these simply lessons, the forgiveness, the respect, the persistence, the hard work, in America, anything is possible.

And it's almost inspirational, overcome whatever sort of cultural mess we have got ourselves into.

O'REILLY: I wanted people to clip the article and send it to children who may be having trouble. And I think it is very straightforward. I hope that children read it. It is really not for adults so much.

I would say this to our conservative friends. On my own Web site, billoreilly.com, the message board, there were some people who said nasty things about me.

What is the difference about Bush hating -- we all criticized that. It was insane what the left did to President Bush. What is the difference, I ask you, between hating President Bush and hating President Obama?

Hatred is hatred. It's a self-destructive emotion, and I don't buy it. I can criticize Barack Obama, and I have, on his policies. I don't have to hate him. And if I see that he sends messages that are good for children, I'm going to say. And if you don't like it, tough.

VAN SUSTEREN: The big news today, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer saying it is un-American to participate in some of these town halls. I guess they mean to be overly aggressive and boisterous. I am sure you are able to say something about this.

O'REILLY: I am overly aggressive and boisterous, too, so what do you want me to say?

We have no beef with the people going to the town meetings and telling the powers that they thing the health care thing is ridiculous because, at this juncture, I think it's ridiculous. The president has not been able to explain it. I do not know what is going to happen. I do not think the president knows what is going to happen.

It could very well bankrupt of the United States, causing our dollar to become almost worthless. So if these people are angry and going out in a forum and showing that anger, that's a good thing. It's not un-American.

Look. Nancy Pelosi is a right ideologue. That's who the woman is. She is a far left person who does not care about opposing points of view. All she wants to do is impose, and that's the word, her far left views San Francisco values on the country. Obviously, millions of Americans don't want that, and they are going to object to it.

So Nancy Pelosi and her not liking the protesters, you know, I did not get a lot of that would be left protests. I did not hear Nancy saying, hey, the minutemen and all of this. She does not value, it seems to me, protests at all. If it comes from the right, it's bad. If it comes from the left, well, it is fine.

VAN SUSTEREN: Do you think our politicians have satisfactorily laid out what this health care reform plan is?

O'REILLY: No. Nobody knows what it is.

VAN SUSTEREN: I think that is where the frustration is with American voters.

O'REILLY: Sure.

VAN SUSTEREN: I have looked through it, and, frankly, a lot of it doesn't make sense. It's incomprehensible, this bill that is being passed around.

O'REILLY: Absolutely.

VAN SUSTEREN: That's the troubling part.

O'REILLY: Hey Greta, when they get it down, it's more than 1,000 pages. When they get it down to three pages, then I will look at it. I want it three pages, bullet point. You can get it. I can get it. We can put it up on the talking points memo and explain it to the folks. Then we can have the vote.

If you cannot tell me in three pages what this program is, then there is something wrong with it.

VAN SUSTEREN: Senator John Conyers said he didn't understand it. And if you don't understand it and you vote for it, that's something --

O'REILLY: But that's the ideologues

VAN SUSTEREN: But secondly, who can implement it? If it is incomprehensible, how about the person who is going to have to implement it down the chain back at the health center?

O'REILLY: They just make it up as they go along, Greta. It's just like they do in California. I mean, why is California the nation's most populous state with every natural resource you can think of going bankrupt?

It's going bankrupt because loons control the legislature. The governor can't get through the loons. And they don't have any money, and they still do crazy things.

If that's going to happen at the federal level, the dollar will collapse. All our saving will go up in smoke, and the country is going to be in dire trouble.

So the folks are right to be anxious, they're right to be skeptical, and they're right to voice those concerns.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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