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Published January 27, 2017
This is a RUSH transcript from "The O'Reilly Factor," July 23, 2010. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
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BILL O'REILLY, HOST: In the "At Your Beck and Call" segment tonight: As you may know, Shirley Sherrod told the press that she was fired because the White House feared her story would be a centerpiece on the "Glenn Beck" show.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHIRLEY SHERROD, FORMER USDA EMPLOYEE: They asked me to resign. And in fact, they harassed me as I was driving back to the state office from West Point, Georgia, yesterday. I had at least three calls telling me the White House wanted me to resign.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Are you willing to name names?
SHERROD: Oh, I can tell you that was -- that was Cheryl Cook, the deputy undersecretary. She said, "Well, Shirley, they want you to pull over to the side of the road and do it, because you are going to be on 'Glenn Beck' tonight."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'REILLY: So the whole controversy is Beck's fault. I spoke with the troublemaker last night.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
O'REILLY: So here's Beck, and once again causing major trouble. You know, this whole thing on Shirley Sherrod, this is your fault. Do you feel bad about...
GLENN BECK, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: I feel like the Prince of Peace. Well, a prince of peace. Not the Prince of Peace, but a prince of peace. I'm here to bring peace to you.
O'REILLY: But she got fired because the White House, according to her, was so afraid that you would do the story on your fine program.
BECK: Do I look like a scary guy? Seriously?
O'REILLY: Yes. Yes, you do. I would never get in the car with you alone. No way.
BECK: That could be...
O'REILLY: But -- but seriously, I mean, she said, Ms. Sherrod...
BECK: Yes.
O'REILLY: ...that she -- that this woman called her up from the White House and said, "Look, you've got to pull over and quit right now, because Glenn Beck is going to -- going to work you over."
BECK: And didn't.
O'REILLY: No.
BECK: I didn't. I didn't even...
O'REILLY: We'll get to that in a minute. We'll get to that in a minute, what you actually did.
BECK: Yes.
O'REILLY: But they thought, they being the White House, thought you were going to ram it down their throat, just like Van Jones.
BECK: No. We had the goods on Van Jones. Do you know how much stuff I have on Van Jones that I've never played? I have stuff -- I have stuff that will melt your brain on Van Jones.
O'REILLY: Right.
BECK: OK? But it never played, because I didn't have the full context. We were very, very, very, very careful.
O'REILLY: But are you impressed, disturbed, I don't know what adjective you want to use, that the White House is actually considering you when making personnel decisions?
BECK: I think this administration is out of control from top to bottom. I think this administration is lying when they're saying they're disturbed by me. This, I believe, is conveniently -- was either conveniently thrown over -- over on a fishing line as bait or they are just not wasting an emergency here.
O'REILLY: All right. So just make an excuse. Glenn be your good excuse guy.
BECK: Yes, absolutely.
O'REILLY: OK.
BECK: I'm an excuse guy? The whole -- everybody who disagrees with him now is racist, is racist, is bad. Bill, by the time your story aired, she had already been cut loose.
O'REILLY: No, I know that. I know that. But I mean, the fact that you were injected into this whole debate was interesting. OK. So you don't do the Shirley Sherrod story. I did it, and I was wrong. But you were smarter than I was, because you were waiting for the full transcript or what?
BECK: No. I'm -- I'm more paranoid than you are. It didn't -- I sat in my office, and I said, "Something is not right with this."
O'REILLY: Oh, really? Right from the jump?
BECK: From the jump, something is not right with this.
O'REILLY: Oh, well, you are smarter than I, then, because I didn't think...
BECK: No, I'm more paranoid than you are.
O'REILLY: No.
BECK: I'm looking for people setting people up. Look, this is -- this is a fascinating story. First of all, it happened 25 years ago. Is something relevant that happened 25 years ago? Well, yes, if you were blowing up buildings and police stations, yes.
O'REILLY: Bill Ayers.
BECK: Now, the next thing is, the next question you have to ask is did they have a turning point? Well, that was the point of this story. This was a turning point.
O'REILLY: Absolutely.
BECK: So that's an important part.
O'REILLY: Let's advance the story now.
BECK: OK.
O'REILLY: Do you believe, knowing now what we know about Ms. Sherrod...
BECK: Yes.
O'REILLY: ...that she is a committed left-wing person?
BECK: Yes.
O'REILLY: That she has a view of life that the government has been oppressive and needs to right past historical wrongs?
BECK: Yes.
O'REILLY: Do you believe that she should continue to serve?
BECK: No. I don't think just about anybody in this current administration should be serving because of their…
O'REILLY: You would fire them all?
BECK: Me?
O'REILLY: Yes, the dictator.
BECK: With glee.
O'REILLY: OK.
BECK: Yes, I would.
O'REILLY: All right. Now...
BECK: But that doesn't -- that is just like Van Jones. I never asked for Van Jones to be fired. I wanted them to explain their position on things so we as American people could say, "Who are you? What do you believe in? Does that matter?"
O'REILLY: Well, that's what I want to ask Shirley about, but Shirley is not going to talk to me or you or anybody...
BECK: We have called her four times. I supported her. I said, "Look, I'm sure I disagree with her policies. But as a human, I'd like to see what she actually had to say. Was there a turning point? What was the concept? And there was. So I supported her. I said that, until there was context, the president shouldn't have fired her. Well, how am I the bad guy? Why won't you come on?
O'REILLY: You're not the bad guy, and the president listened to you, and he did exactly what you told him to do.
BECK: A half hour after.
O'REILLY: Shirley just doesn't like Fox News, and plus CNN has her tied up in a dungeon. Did you know?
BECK: They gave her a tent and everything else.
O'REILLY: I hear Shirley is going to replace Larry King. They already fired him.
BECK: I don't know if you know this, but the ladies on "The View"...
O'REILLY: Yes.
BECK: ...are making the same mistake in the opposite direction. They're now saying she should be made the secretary of Agriculture.
O'REILLY: OK, well, let's do that. I want that.
BECK: Do you know anything about her?
O'REILLY: Who? Shirley or Vilsack?
BECK: Shirley. Or Vilsack. Any of them?
O'REILLY: I know about her. I'm with Shirley. I want her to be the secretary.
BECK: I am with -- I'm for Shirley, too. Shirley for queen.
O'REILLY: Right, there we go. OK, now the other thing...
BECK: Why don't you say we base things on merit?
O'REILLY: The other night...
BECK: Yes.
O'REILLY: ...you and me and Geraldo went to the Yankee game together. All right. There we are. When we walked into the stadium…
BECK: Yes.
O'REILLY: …pandemonium. It was crazy.
BECK: It was so funny. These people were very polite. You got a hot dog to the head.
O'REILLY: They loved us.
BECK: They did.
O'REILLY: This is actually true.
BECK: I contend they were aiming for Geraldo.
O'REILLY: This is absolutely true. Everybody was nice, right?
BECK: Everybody was nice.
O'REILLY: Everybody was nice.
BECK: One guy -- one guy on the way out, because I left -- you know, I left before you.
O'REILLY: Yes, you left in, what, the third inning? You just didn't...
BECK: What's an inning? I left before you. And one lady was screaming, "I love you. You're the best." And another guy behind her was making hand gestures that you don't normally see in the streets of New York.
O'REILLY: And he had a puppet. Got to worry about that, yes.
BECK: He was screaming something else that we can't say.
O'REILLY: All right. But it was quite an evening, Beck, O'Reilly...
BECK: It was fun. It was fun.
O'REILLY: ...and Rivera.
BECK: Very nice.
O'REILLY: And the Yankees lost 10-2, because they were all staring at you. Couldn't catch the ball.
BECK: And Mr. O'Reilly was very, very nice. He bought me an ice cream cone.
O'REILLY: That's right. I did. Just so he would shut up. Glenn Beck, everybody.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'REILLY: Couple of things. "The Overton Window," Beck's book, doing very, very well. And I'm getting a lot of e-mail about the "Bold Fresh" Tour I do with Beck. We will be doing some dates in the fall. We'll let you know when we know where they are. One final show in Westbury, Long Island, July 31, sold out. But the theater has now released some more seats, so you can call them directly in Westbury.
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