My conversation with President Bush (search).
It happened this morning in a New York City hotel. There were no ground rules. The president sat across from me for about a half an hour, answered all my questions. I hoped they weren't too dopey, but you can decide that for yourself next Monday.
We will divide the interview into three sections. On Monday, we'll concentrate on foreign policy. On Tuesday, on domestic policy. And on Wednesday, I have some personal questions for the president.
This is a second time I've interviewed Mr. Bush and I consider myself lucky.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
O'REILLY: First of all, I want to thank you for talking with me since so few people will.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, it's a big gamble on my part.
O'REILLY: No, it isn't, not really though. I mean, we talked 4.5 years ago.
BUSH: I'm teasing.
O'REILLY: Yes, when...
BUSH: I enjoy how you interview people. And I appreciate you giving me a chance to come on and have what we say in Texas — it's just a visit.
O'REILLY: Yes, we're going to have a visit here.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
And it is my opinion that you will find that visit very interesting. I believe you'll learn something about Mr. Bush you don't know. And even people who don't like him will be surprised how he answered some of the questions.
I asked him about Iraq, WMDs (search), Saddam (search), Iran, swift boats, the National Guard, entitlements, the Mexican border and many other subjects. The president was straightforward and I enjoyed the conversation.
One final note — the reason we are holding the interview until next week is purely promotional. It's like opening a movie. We want to get a lot of buzz so that people who don't ordinarily watch the news, even the mall people will watch this.
I understand I'm going to take some heat from all sides. In fact, I got a letter today that told me the interview was dumb, even though nobody's seen it yet.
But that's fine. It's my job to show you exactly who the powerful people are and what they think in this country. You'll learn something from that upcoming interview with President Bush. I promise. And that's the memo.
The Most Ridiculous Item of the Day
Our pal Janet Jackson (search), a big fan of The Factor, I may be overstating that, will not be happy to hear that the FCC has fined CBS more than a half million dollars for her, "wardrobe malfunction," at the Super Bowl (search). We have been very consistent in our analysis of this story.
We believe Ms. Jackson made a huge mistake when she allowed CBS to broadcast her antics instead of coming here to The Factor for a private showing. Janet, with all due respect, that was ridiculous, and please don't let it happen again, half a million bucks.
—You can watch Bill O'Reilly's "Talking Points Memo" and "Most Ridiculous Item" weeknights at 8 and 11 p.m. ET on the FOX News Channel. Send your comments to: oreilly@foxnews.com
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