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Published January 27, 2017
This is a RUSH transcript from "The O'Reilly Factor," October 26, 2011. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
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BILL O'REILLY, HOST: In the "Miller Time" segment tonight: a very interesting situation. Last week I asked Miller about the debates, whether there are too many of them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DENNIS MILLER, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Listen, Billy, it should be like "Survivor." Every week from here on in, those guys should vote one of those guys off. We've got to winnow this down.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'REILLY: All right. Then last night, Jay Leno asked President Obama about the debates.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAY LENO, HOST, "THE TONIGHT SHOW": Now, have you been watching the GOP debates?
PRESIDENT OBAMA: I'm going to wait until everybody is voted off the island. Once they've narrowed it down to one or two, I'll start paying attention.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'REILLY: He didn't say "winnow," but he was close. The sage of Southern California joins us now from Los Angeles. The White House send you a check for that line, Miller?
MILLER: I don't need any more bounced checks in my life. Listen, I don't think of that as stealing. That's an easy joke. Biden could have figured that one out. I see Solyndra as stealing. I see the 16 buck muffin as stealing. But no, that's an easy sitter at the net. Anybody could knock that out.
O'REILLY: I'm going to submit -- I could be absolutely wrong. But I'm going to submit that they saw the segment, "they" being the White House communications people, and subliminally it stuck. And of course, the president has, you know, some -- here's what happens with Jay Leno, as you know, Miller. You've been on the show many times. Jay will come in, and he'll rap with you, you know. He comes on in in his jeans and a little shirt and motorcycle stuff. And then he says, "Look, this is what we want to do." And then Obama's got his guys there, and they kind of formulate what they're going to say. I'm telling you, I don't think it's an accident that the "Survivor" thing, after you said it, was used. But I could be wrong.
MILLER: I do. I just think Jay -- listen, Jay likes Obama. He's fond of him, I think. He likes having presidents on the show. Quite frankly, I'm sure they feed him a few lines. I would, too. God, you get the president on. You want him to look good. I'll tell you what. I wish I could be as calm as Barack Obama on television. That guy is smooth, man.
O'REILLY: Yes, I said that top of the program, very smooth. And you're pretty calm though. I mean, when I go on "Leno" and "Letterman," I'm calm. I'm sitting there. I'm just...
MILLER: Yes. I sometimes get a little antsy. But I'll tell you what. He's so smooth that I'm hoping Jay makes him his Ed McMahon on June 21, 2013, because I think he's going to have some free time. If I were Jay, I'd put Obama there in the Ed McMahon seat.
O'REILLY: OK. It's January 21, not June.
MILLER: What did I say, June? Sorry.
O'REILLY: You said June. I'm sure that many in the audience do not want to give the president six more months.
MILLER: Jan, June, sometimes I, you know, mix vowels up.
O'REILLY: OK, now, out in L.A., and you were not invited to this, I understand, the president met with some Hollywood moguls. Secret, very secret meeting. Of course, it got out in 10 seconds because there's nothing secret in Hollywood after it occurred. Now, McCartney wasn't there and these pinheads weren't there. These were, like, serious people, behind-the-scenes people. Oprah wasn't there. It was behind-the-scenes people. And they were kind of formulating communication strategy, which makes sense, right? I mean, I don't see anything wrong with that. If you've got allies in powerful positions, you go to them for advice, right?
MILLER: Listen, guys don't get into Hollywood because they're self-contained. In lieu of being talented enough to have an Oscar on your shelf, the next best thing is a picture of you with close proximity to the ultimate power, which is the president of the United States in any given moment. But I guarantee you I've been in enough of those offices for enough of those meetings that when you look at the picture that supposedly tells you how close they are with the guy, they always look like they're honeymooning it in Niagara Falls, the guy -- the donor. And the donee always has that look on his face like Lloyd Bucher when the North Koreans made him read a message against his will or something. So I guess getting a photo taken with him means something to some of those guys. You know, some of those guys make Zelig look like a Trappist monk. But that's just the way Hollywood's always been.
O'REILLY: Yes. It wasn't even a fundraiser. He just went in for a little advice in how we're going to package this and all that because it is going to be a very, very close race, and that's why we're spending so much time on it.
MILLER: Billy, let me tell you something about Barack Obama. He's playing Kill the Terrorist Yahtzee. And I'll tell you what. If he gets Bashar Assad and four of a kind he can scream "Yahtzee." And if he keeps killing these guys and gets the economy a little better, you know me, I'm no fan, but I'd have to consider voting for him. Now, if he goes against the generals' wishes and gets out of Iraq and Afghanistan too early, that seems foolish to me. But you've got to admit: When the guy has somebody in the crosshairs, he is a killing machine.
O'REILLY: He's going to go out fighting. There's no doubt about it. Right now, 48 percent of Americans, according to a poll, a new poll from Fox, and I cited this earlier in the broadcast, say if he's re-elected they're going to, like, leave the country. They'll be that distraught. So it seems to me that it's very, very tough for him to come back, but I could be wrong. I thought Hillary was going to beat him in the primaries, and I want everybody to understand that.
MILLER: Fifty-two percent of the people vote for Barack Obama, the 48 should know the country is leaving them, not vice versa.
O'REILLY: No, I know. But this is like really panic. Not "We just don't like him." This is like, "Oh, you know, if he's re-elected it's going to be all over." So that's a very high number.
Rick Perry on "The Factor" last night. The governor make a comeback?
MILLER: I thought it's the best he's looked, Billy. I'll tell you this. That -- that heartless thing was really -- that's like Romney with -- that's like Newt Gingrich with Paul Ryan. That's the thing about a gun owner. When they shoot themselves in the foot they're really accurate. I didn't think he could come back from that heartless thing. But I thought he did really well on your show. It's the first time I've looked at him and just, you know, thought what is this guy all about? You know, because up to here, the first six weeks have been rocky. I thought he did pretty well last night.
O'REILLY: Yes, I thought he was OK. I think that he's still got some problems on the illegal immigration front and the Tea Party people, who were his main supporters, have gone to Herman Cain, and Herman, you know, is a formidable Tea Party guy. I don't know if the governor, Governor Perry, is going to be able to get those people back, the Tea Party people, the hard-right people who really want a conservative elected president. So that's -- see, it's Perry against Cain rather than Perry against Romney. He's got to get the people away from Cain. I'm not sure he can do that.
MILLER: No, I wouldn't say at this point. But I would say this. I think he stabilized last night. I think he had gimbals, as they used to say in the NASA program, when something was spinning out of control. I think he had gimbal lock. And I think he at least lived to fight another day after last night.
But one thing I didn't understand, Bill -- maybe you could tell me. In the interview when you were talking about how much tax base would be lost, does it necessarily reflect that it would be lost? Isn't it possible the tax revenue would go up in direct proportion to a diminution in the rate at some point?
O'REILLY: It's possible that it would go up, but that would be over a period of time as more people go back to work and then they're withholdings come into the Treasury.
MILLER: You mean in the first year?
O'REILLY: Then you've got a $15 trillion debt now. Can you afford to go to 17? Because, you know, that's the problem. You've got to do the calculation. How fast are we going to get this money in? And there's no guarantee you are anyway. So -- but he didn't have the numbers. And...
MILLER: Well, I think what he did last night was what Huntsman has to do now if he wants to stay in.
O'REILLY: No.
MILLER: That is not even vaguely resemble the other side.
O'REILLY: All right.
MILLER: Last night when I watched him, I said OK. For a while there, he vaguely resembled the other side. At least now he's locked back in on one side of the aisle, I think.
O'REILLY: And I want to tell everybody that Miller and I are going to be discussing presidential politics at Mohegan Sun on Saturday night, this coming Saturday for the "Bolder Fresher" show. So Miller, get on your game, boy. We're going to have thousands of people there. It's going to be great. And before the show...
MILLER: I'm going to buff it up.
O'REILLY: You've got to -- you've got to do the Rocky thing. You've got to be running up the steps, Miller, you know? We'll get the music, and it's going to be great. This coming Saturday night. I'll be signing…
MILLER: (HUMMING "ROCKY" THEME SONG)
O'REILLY: I'll be signing copies of "Killing Lincoln" and "Pinheads & Patriots" before at Mohegan Sun, before the show. And as they say in Hollywood, it's going to be fabulous. Details on BillOReilly.com.
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