How the media is reporting email-gate

Bernie Goldberg assesses the reporting of the Hillary Clinton scandal

This is a RUSH transcript from "The O'Reilly Factor," March 12, 2015. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
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O'REILLY: Weekdays with Bernie segment tonight: how the media is covering the Hillary Clinton email controversy. We have looked at it, and on television the only problem seems to be far left MSNBC that's giving her a pass.

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SEN. BARBARA BOXER (D), CALIFORNIA: This whole thing is unbelievable. They are going after Hillary Clinton because they know she's exciting the public and we've just got to get pass this because you could talk all day.

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O'REILLY: So you don't see lot of that on CNN. Some but not a lot. And of course, that would not fly on the Fox News Channel.

Joining us from Miami, the purveyor of bernardgoldberg.com, Mr. Goldberg. So big pictures, "New York Times" breaks the email story. "The Washington Post" breaks the donations to the Clinton Foundation. Press seems to be doing its job in regard to Hillary Clinton -- or am I wrong?

BERNIE GOLDBERG, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: No, you're not wrong. You're absolutely right. The press is doing its job now. Now. Just because the stories are legitimate, no question about that, and because the press understandably likes a story that involves scandal, perfectly OK.

But another reason it's getting as much play and the press is doing its job is -- especially the networks where it's getting a lot of coverage -- is because, as you say, it was "The New York Times" and " The Washington Post" that broke the story and put it on page 1. That made the stories even more legitimate, and it gave the networks, which often take their cues from those papers, permission to run with the story.

So, you're right: The press is doing its job. They are not currently, currently, slobbering over Hillary. But you watch. As soon as she has a real live breathing Republican opponent, they will cover the GOP National Convention like an antiabortion rally and they're going to cover Hillary's run for the White House like a coronation. They won't go as easy on her as they did on Candidate Obama -- race trumps gender. And he was new and she has been around since the dawn of time. But I'm betting they're going to go easier on her than they will on whoever.

O'REILLY: Oh, there's no doubt about that.

GOLDBERG: Moderate, hard right, whoever the Republican candidate is.

O'REILLY: Does this story have legs, the email thing? Because everybody is filing FOIAs, Freedom of Information, and some are filing lawsuits. And the Republican Party senses blood in the water so they're going to try to keep it alive. But I think the folks are going to get bored with it unless there is more stuff to come.

GOLDBERG: I think it's going to be old at some point. And I also think -- I know this is a big Washington story but I don't think it's the kind of thing that's going to resonate between Manhattan and Malibu. So I think it's going to go away. And by the time. the campaign picks up in earnest, it's going to be old news. And that's what she is going to say, it's old news.

O'REILLY: Right.

Now, sexism, there was a sound bite yesterday from a Turkish reporter, actually, the first question in the 10 that she took in the press conference, which is protocol by the way. It wasn't that she was just like the reporter. It was protocol. And he said if you were a man, and then kind of looked down and she knew it was coming, by the way. Well, other people answer that -- you know what I'm saying?

Look. Do we have to go through this again, this sexism business? I mean, do we have to?

GOLDBERG: No, we don't have to.

O'REILLY: And what's the answer?

GOLDBEG: We don't have to but we will. This is going to be the "I am woman, hear me roar" campaign.

O'REILLY: So Helen Ready the second part of the ticket?

GOLDBERG: She might be. That may be the song that they play, the campaign song. But it's going to have shades of the Obama candidacy. When Barack Obama ran and even when he won, if you disagreed with his policy, you ran the risk of being called a racist. You don't like Obamacare? That's because you don't care about black people. You think we are spending too much money? Oh, that's because you don't care about poor people and many of them are black. You're a racist.

And I'm telling you, when they start questioning her, the Republicans start throwing out Benghazi, you are going to hear the word sexism. That's what they're are going to yell. Any time there is a policy disagreement, a policy disagreement, they're going to be yelling sexism.

O'REILLY: Ayayay.

GOLDBERG: By the way it won't come from Hillary; she's going to be above the fray.

O'REILLY: She will rise above. Surrogates.

GOLDBERG: Yes, it's going to come from Carville and Begala and Lanny Davis and everybody at MSNBC and the editorial page of "The New York Times". They will be carrying the sexism argument to the American people. I don't know if it's going to work.

O'REILLY: Well, we're going to keep a chart on how many sexism charges there -- you know, I think we will do that. We will update it.

GOLDBERG: The over-under is going to be 25,000 in the first week.

O'REILLY: We will start getting that chart together. As soon as she announces, we'll have the sexism chart. Bernie Goldberg, everybody.

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