The left continuing to attack Ted Cruz

Bernie Goldberg on the left-wing media criticizing the Texas Senator running for President

This is a RUSH transcript from "The O'Reilly Factor," March 25, 2015. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
Watch "The O'Reilly Factor" weeknights at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. ET!

"Factor Follow Up Segment" tonight, the left crazed over Senator Ted Cruz running for president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEHAR: The bottom line with this guy is he is a climate change denier. We cannot have a president of the United States who is a climate change denier.

WHOOPI GOLDBERG, TV HOST: He's a gay people denier. He's a woman's right to choose denier. He denies everything.

Listen, I'm sorry and I am going to take pot shots at him because, you know, he may not have been at the charge, but he didn't stop the charge.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Fair enough.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'REILLY: It's not fair enough. A climate change denier. It is foolish and unfair, foolish and unfair to believe a person is not qualified for higher office if their conscience tells them that life begins at conception. Or that the facts do not prove manmade global warming. You don't have to vote for the person. But to diminish them as unqualified is ridiculous in the extreme.

Joining us now from Miami, the purveyor of BernardGoldberg.com. Mr. Goldberg -- are you a climate change denier?

BERNARD GOLDBERG, FOX NEWS ANALYST: Actually, I am. But I don't want to get into that right now.

O'REILLY: So you see where I'm going with this thing.

GOLDBERG: Yes, I do.

O'REILLY: It used to be ok. We don't like you because you have opposite views. But now if you have opposite views you are evil, you are a bad person, you should be in a leper colony some place.

GOLBERG: Right. Look, liberals, of course, aren't going to treat Ted Cruz fairly. But you are on to something important here. If he is for -- if he is pro-life, he is going to be portrayed as anti-woman; if he doesn't buy Al Gore's version of cataclysmic global warming, then he is portrayed as a Neanderthal. But politically, Bill, politically if liberals were smarter, they wouldn't bash Ted Cruz. They would praise Ted Cruz and go easy on Ted Cruz and hope he gets the nomination. Because, if he does get the nomination, say hello to President Hillary Clinton.

If you don't believe me, ask President Pat Buchanan who like Ted Cruz ran a campaign as an ideologically pure conservative. So today it's Ted Cruz who is in the crosshairs. But, when he fades as he will, there will be another Republican boogeyman they put in the crosshairs and that person will be portrayed not because of his -- simply because of his policies, he will be portrayed as a dope or a bigot or both. So today it's Ted Cruz, tomorrow it's going to be another Republican.

O'REILLY: Right. Right, but I think you are short changing Cruz a little bit. Ronald Reagan was a doctrinaire conservative and he won and he won big.

GOLDBERG: Big difference.

O'REILLY: If Senator Cruz -- what's the difference?

GOLDBERG: I could do this in five seconds or less. The big difference is Ronald Reagan had an immense ability to bring people together. Ted Cruz, like Barack Obama, is a polarizing figure.

O'REILLY: What if he stops doing that? What if he says, listen, you know what? I'm going to change my style and try to convince you philosophically that my belief system is better for the country and here is why.

GOLDBERG: I will cheer him if he does that. I will cheer him if he does that. But I will bet you he doesn't because he is constitutionally, I think, a kind of guy who thinks like Obama, by the way. He thinks he is the smartest guy in the room. He is a polarizing figure. And like Obama, he is an Ivy League guy. And like Obama, he is -- you know, he is a minority. And unlike Obama who the media loves, they hate him. And they hate him only because of his politics.

O'REILLY: That's right. I mean they don't know who he is. Sure.

GOLDBERG: That's the interesting thing. No, but that's the interesting thing. In so many ways he is like Barack Obama. And yesterday you read a piece from an editorial in the "Washington Post" in 2007 that said putting your political feelings aside we should be excited about Barack Obama. Well, why don't you put your political feelings aside and be excited about Ted Cruz?

O'REILLY: About Ted Cruz, a Cuban American, half Cuban and coming on -- good point. All right.

So, let's -- I want to throw one question at you about Bowe Bergdahl. This story didn't get a lot of play in the big newspapers and on the network news. It was solely driven by Fox News Channel. And I think demonstrates the power of Fox News Channel because, finally, we got some clarification here.

GOLDBERG: Yes. I mean, I don't know, Bill -- don't get crazy here, but I don't know to what extent the General watched Fox and made the decision.

O'REILLY: Believe me, they knew.

GOLDBERG: Ok. And in any case, you are absolutely right. That Fox News ran with this story because it was a legitimate news story. And I want to see how the networks play this story and I want to see how the "New York Times" plays the story because it may be one thing to want to bring even a deserter back home. But trading a deserter for five Taliban commanders does not make the President of the United States look very good tonight.

O'REILLY: No. Well, tomorrow on The Factor, we will tell everyone how the network news and the morning shows covered Bergdahl -- how much time they gave to it. And how the urban newspapers like the "New York Times" and "Washington Post" where they put it. I predict the "Times" will put it on A-18. A-18, that's where it will be. But I could be wrong. It could be on the front page. Probably now after I said it to make me look stupid they will put it on the front page.

Bernie Goldberg -- everybody.

Content and Programming Copyright 2015 Fox News Network, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Copyright 2015 CQ-Roll Call, Inc. All materials herein are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of CQ-Roll Call. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content.