Miller Time: Blagojevich Going to Prison
Funnyman on former Governor Rod Blagojevich going to prison and Madonna headlining the Superbowl
This is a RUSH transcript from "The O'Reilly Factor," December 7, 2011. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
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BILL O'REILLY, HOST:
And in the "Miller Time" segment, former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich sentenced to 14 years in prison today by Judge James Zagel in Chicago. The 54-year-old Blagojevich, convicted of trying to sell Barack Obama's vacant Senate seat, among other things, will begin serving his sentence in a few weeks.
Joining us from Los Angeles to analyze, the sage of Southern California, Dennis Miller.
All right. You've got... you've got a Watters comment before we get to Blago, right?
DENNIS MILLER, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: What was with Lincoln Chafee? The guy had more nervous ticks than a Baghdad parking valet, for God's sakes. You know, he is such a P.C. narcissist, no doubt he wants Christmas trees to be called Lincoln logs.
Lincoln Chafee is just a small man making grandiose pronouncement about minor issues in an effort to look larger than life. That's all that he is.
O'REILLY: All right. Now, Blagojevich, getting hammered, even though he asked the court for mercy. Fourteen years, and he'll... in federal time, he's got to do 85 percent of it, so he's 54. We'll see him when he's 70 years old. What do you think?
MILLER: Fourteen years for what? I'm sure... I'm sure Blago goes back home tonight thinking, "I'm getting 14 years in the big house for essentially many of the same things that Barack Obama probably got, you know, four years in the White House for." This is the coin of the realm in Chicago. I can't believe.
Bill, wasn't I watching you the other night and you had a story on Megan's Law not being passed in five states, one of them, which is Illinois? They're trying to get a 10-year minimum for child molesters in Illinois?
Listen, Blago is a bit of a political scum bag, but I think most of them are political scum bags. I can't believe he's getting 14 years up the river for what they won't give 10 out to for a child molester in Illinois.
O'REILLY: Well, you know, but look, let me make the point here, that Chicago in Illinois is... political corruption is epidemic. It's epidemic, all right? So when they catch and convict, as they did with Blagojevich, and it costs the federal government millions of dollars to put the case together, and he did it, I mean, you could hear him on the tape trying to get something for an appointment for Barack Obama's Senate seat when he... when he left to run for the presidency.
You've got to send a message, Miller. You've got to send a message. He'll be out at 68, not 70. But I don't think you let this stuff go, because these guys are given the faith of the people. They're given the power. And then they abuse the power. You've got to send them up.
MILLER: Well, we just disagree on the length, Billy. I mean, I think that what Rod Blagojevich does probably happens every day in Chicago, Illinois. And I think it's like holding in the NFL. I think they could call it on every play if they wanted to. I think they cherry picked.
Listen, I'm no big fan. But by the way, there is a silver lining, because I hear his hairdo copped a separate plea and is walking away today on its own recognizance. But he's going to go up river. It just seems 14 years seems a little crazy to me, because I think they all do it out that way. But I think most...
O'REILLY: They want to stop it and they being the federal government. This was a federal beef, by the way. Not a state beef. I think the feds want to stop it, and the way to stop it is say if we do catch you, you're going to get hurt. And we're not going to look away. I think that is a worthy message.
MILLER: Well, I will assume that that's stopped out there in Chicago now. But probably not. Huh?
O'REILLY: Look, we know that Illinois is problematic. But I... I'm an optimistic guy about America. We want to clean it up. And these guys, these gangsters, and I would have given them. I'd have probably given them 10.
MILLER: Well, you know, Billy, what about... what about the point I brought up earlier. You can speak to just a second about that Megan's Law thing? That's amazing to me.
O'REILLY: You can't speak to it because the six states... Hawaii, Idaho, Colorado, Illinois, Vermont and New Jersey... that will not protect their children. There's just no excuse for it. You can lawyer up all day long, but there's no excuse for it.
MILLER: You should know that if you want to go to Illinois and offer senatorship to somebody in a payola system, you can see 14. Child molestation, they have much more wider parameters on this.
O'REILLY: Yes.
MILLER: It seems crazy to me. But like you said, it's a federal thing as opposed to a state thing.
O'REILLY: Ok. Rebranding Newt Gingrich. Now, you were talking about this, I think, on your radio program.
MILLER: Yes.
O'REILLY: What does that mean?
MILLER: Well, listen, I think that, if Newt Gingrich has had an epiphany in life, and he has had some road to Damascus moment, where between the love of a good woman and two grandchildren and a return to his Catholicism, he seen the light in some way, I think that's tough to go after the guy on that point. They're going to say a lot about him. But I'm hoping that he's either... he's either had an epiphany or he's smart enough to know he's had an epiphany. I can't figure out what it is yet.
But there's one easy bumper sticker for this all. Just put "New Gingrich." Get rid of the "T." New Gingrich. That's what I'd put on every car out there and just say, "I've seen the light" and hope somewhere in his hard drive when it gets ugly... and it is going to get ugly with Barack Obama... he's still got a little ugly left in the hard drive to combat these people with.
O'REILLY: Well, he'll come back. But he'd be smart, don't you think, not to come back on a personal basis. I think... I think you're right. I think his pitch is, "Look, I converted to Catholicism. I know I've done wrong in my past, but we're all sinners. I believe in redemption. Don't... please don't judge me. And I can help the nation."
He keeps it there, as you say, going to be hard to attack him, and they still will. But I don't think he should get in the gutter with President Obama. I think he should just do it on policy. Just, you know, Gingrich is a good policy guy. Just go after him on policy.
MILLER: Yes. But I'm apprehensive, Bill. I don't think they think Barack Obama can... I know they're going to say he's the smartest guy who ever lived. But really, I think there's back room conversations saying, "Wow, can this guy hold up against Newt Gingrich in a debate?"
O'REILLY: He can hold out against Gingrich. No, no, no. I debated him twice. Interviewed him twice, which were really debates the way we do it. He's fast. He can do it, Barack Obama. But I don't think Obama is going to attack personally.
MILLER: Yes. But you know, Newt Gingrich is going to go after him hard about Reverend Wright. He got a pass on that last time. Gingrich is going to be interesting.
O'REILLY: Well, that would be interesting. Now, if he goes after him on Reverend Wright, if you're correct and Gingrich goes after him on Reverend Wright then the gloves come off, absolutely.
MILLER: Gingrich is going to say something.
O'REILLY: Well, we'll see.
Lastly, the Material Girl getting a big stage at the Indianapolis Superdome, or whatever they're calling it in Indianapolis, for the Super Bowl halftime show, and you say?
MILLER: Well, we had to hold off on making the complete offer for a while. They wanted to see if SeaWorld would let Oingo Boingo go for the day and they wouldn't. They have Madonna. History there. She was at the first Super Bowl, which was the Lions versus the Christians, if I'm not mistaken.
I'm hoping that everybody makes a statement about the vacuous nature of our culture and right before half time, everybody leaves. Just a few broken light sticks and some noise makers on the ground. And she comes out to perform in cone bra. Nobody there. All out getting a hot dog. And you know, the way A-Rod and the Packers are playing, that game might be over by halftime. You never know.
O'REILLY: Yes. I think it's going to be the Patriots and the Packers at the game. But you know, people are going to watch Madonna. They're going to go, and she's going to be...
MILLER: That was a joke, Billy. A joke. Of course there will be. People love train wrecks, especially when they're antique trains.
O'REILLY: I don't like the British accent, Miller. That's what tees me off. She's from Detroit. Get rid of the accent.
MILLER: Well, Kathleen Turner played Henry Higgins in her -- Liza Dolittle, with a British accent. You're right.
O'REILLY: Terrific. Dennis Miller, everybody. "Did You See That?" on deck. And incredible case of welfare fraud in Seattle. Wait until you see this. Back in a moment.
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