Ted Turner's son enters politics

Teddy Turner talks about his Congressional run as an Republican in South Carolina

This is a RUSH transcript from "The O'Reilly Factor," January 28, 2013. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

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O'REILLY: "Personal Story" segment tonight, an amazing situation.

We all know Ted Turner who founded CNN, very liberal man, force behind the global warming movement.

Well, Mr. Turner has a son, 49-year-old Teddy Turner who is running for congress in South Carolina.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE NARRATOR: A graduate of the Citadel, husband and father of three. Today, Turner is an economics teacher in Charleston.

Turner will fight for more freedom and less government, so our families will have a secure tomorrow. Conservative Teddy Turner, for Congress.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'REILLY: What, conservative Teddy Turner? He joins us now from Charleston. Are you kidding me. How did you get to be a conservative with such a liberal father.

TEDDY TURNER, SOUTH CAROLINA CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: Well, my dad asks me that all the time, Bill. And I tell you, four years of military college at the Citadel, and two years in the Soviet Union, if that doesn't make you a conservative, nothing will.

And, of course, watching a little bit of Fox didn't hurt either.

O'REILLY: OK. Now, when you were raised, your father, Ted Turner, he wasn't as liberal as he is now, I understand. Correct?

TURNER: No, my dad was pretty tough. He did eight of military school. He was in the Coast Guard. We had a -- there was no sleeping in on the weekends.

We did white glove inspections. Dad was tough. He made us work hard, learn the value of a dollar, all the things that our dads should be doing today.

O'REILLY: Did he discuss politics with you when you were growing up.

TURNER: Oh, absolutely. Our dinner conversations were pretty incredible. I mean, he was involved with all kinds of things and he never -- you know, we didn't get much into the baseball or little league, and that kind of stuff. We were always talking about pretty heavy issues.

O'REILLY: Was he then a liberal man. Was he -- you know, did he support the liberal side when you were a kid.

TURNER: No, he didn't. I mean, he met mother at a Young Republicans convention. So, he was very -- he was a small business guy and -- before he became a big business guy.

But he was very conservative. This change in life has been, later on, mainly started within environmentalism.

O'REILLY: OK. Now, you talk to him, I assume. You're running for Congress, would he vote for you if he had -- if he lived in your South Carolina district.

Would he vote for you because you are billing yourself as a conservative, small government guy. Would he vote for you.

TURNER: Well, I'm not billing myself as conservative. I'm extremely conservative. But I think he would. I spent a lot of time with him in the last couple of weeks and talking about issues.

And everything we discussed, he agreed with me. So, we are not that far. And it wasn't because he was agreeing because I'm his son. He's agreeing because it's common sense. And he is liberal in certain issues.

But, really, he wants a better world like most of us. But we don't agree on a lot of politics.

O'REILLY: All right. So, you guys are -- when you talk man-to-man, you don't have a big fissure. But, I'm sure, he voted for Barack Obama, and you're not going to vote for Barack Obama. So, there is, I guess.

Now, the global warming is his big deal, the environmental stuff. Do you believe in global warming. Do you think that it's been caused by carbons and we're the responsibility for this.

TURNER: Well, when he drives the Prius to the Challenger, you know, you've got to question a little bit. But he -- you know, what I believe in is clean air and clean water and a future for our kids.

I don't believe that my Ford F-250 is causing global warming. I might get a lot of flak for that. But, you know, we can't tax ourselves by going in with things like the Kyoto Protocol and that kind of stuff.

So, no, I'm not a believer but I want to make sure that we're still doing the right thing going forward. I just don't like scaring kids and telling them we are cooking ourselves.

O'REILLY: All right. So, you want clean water and clean air but you're not buying in to the fact that the human population has depleted the ozone and that's why it's getting warmer.

But you said something very interesting there. You said your father drives the Prius to the Challenger, which is a private jet.

TURNER: Right.

O'REILLY: Do you want to expound on that a little bit.

TURNER: Well, you know, his take is, he owns a lot of trees so his carbon footprint is pretty minimal. But --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

O'REILLY: Oh, it sounds like a rationalization to me.

(LAUGHTER)

TURNER: Well, it may be that.

It's like Catholic indulgences are well in mitigation. I think we can say a lot of the things but when it comes right down to it, we need to have clean air and clean water.

But we can't restrict our business because that's the only way we are going to get out of this deficit mess.

O'REILLY: All right. Your father helping you finance your campaign?

TURNER: Well, he has written me the $2,500 check like a lot of other people have. And I think that's probably all I'm going to get.

O'REILLY: All right. Well, Mr. Turner, we wish you good luck, very interesting human-interest story. And we appreciate you coming on tonight.

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