This is a rush transcript from "The O'Reilly Factor," February 7, 2008. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
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BILL O'REILLY, HOST: In the "Weekdays with Bernie and Jane" segment tonight, two interesting situations. As you know, far-left Web sites like Media Matters consistently attack conservatives by taking their comments out of context. This vicious Web site delights in trying to cause racial incidents, and they've been doing this for years.
Well, a few days ago on a NBC News program, a commentator said that Bill Clinton was watching the Super Bowl with Governor Bill Richardson of Mexico, who is Hispanic, and asked Richardson to "pass the guacamole."
Surprise, the left-wing media said nothing, even though La Raza and other Hispanic groups labeled the remark "insensitive, offensive, and unfortunate," unquote. NBC News says it has no comment.
Also, we asked Bernie and Jane to give us examples of unfair media election coverage. So here they are, Jane Hall in Washington and Bernie Goldberg in Miami.
OK, Bernie, I want two examples of unfair media election coverage.
BERNIE GOLDBERG, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: I want to give you one big one, and I'll cede my time to Jane after that.
Last week, we talked about this slobbering love affair that the media has with Barack Obama. I want to do a part two with a good news update. First, the bad news.
On MSNBC, Chris Matthews, who is a savvy political analyst, said this. I'm going to read his exact words: "Let me tell you something about Barack Obama. If you're actually in the room when he gives one of those speeches and you don't cry, you're not American."
You're not American if you don't cry when Barack Obama gives speeches? This isn't political analysis. This is a man-crush. "Hardball"? This is pansy-ball. It's embarrassing. Just embarrassing.
Here's the good news. The fellow from TIME magazine, Joe Klein, who's a political reporter with liberal leanings, said this, one sentence. He wrote this. He said, "The Obama campaign all too often is about how wonderful the Obama campaign is."
Bingo. Finally a journalist, a mainstream journalist with a big with news organization like TIME magazine is saying what all these other reporters haven't said. And I give him credit for that. So that's the good news update.
O'REILLY: All right. So basically, we've known from the jump that NBC News has been on the Obama bandwagon. Their cable operation's openly rooting for the man to win, and in the process, denigrating Hillary Clinton. It will be very interesting to see if Hillary Clinton goes back on NBC if she gets the nomination, since they have just brutalized her during the primary process.
All right, Jane. Have you got two examples for us?
JANE HALL, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Well, yes, you'll be surprised. I think the media were unfair to Mike Huckabee. And — I know, hold the presses. You know, I think he literally was in a two-shot during the debate. It's Romney on CNN recently. I mean, he has to sort of say, waving, "Hello, I'm here, too."
He has been described as a Baptist minister or a regional candidate. I mean, now that Romney is out, he made this remark of yes, it is a two-man race after Tuesday night. Now that Mitt Romney is out, he's going to get a kind of a wave of coverage: Is he going to be McCain's VP?
But I think what he stands for has not really been explored. Why people support him beyond evangelicals. The guy really has not been getting coverage, and he keeps kind of coming back, and I think it's interesting.
O'REILLY: Do you think it's the media has ignored him or scorned him either/or because he's a religious man? Look, any person of faith, as we saw with George W. Bush, gets mocked for being that. I mean, that's simply — look, the media is secular. Many of them are atheists. They think that anybody who believes is an idiot, and that if you believe you can't possibly be smart enough to run the country. I think that's the genesis, pardon the pun, of the anti-Huckabee stuff.
HALL: It could be Exodus. It could also be the Exodus and the Deuteronomy.
I don't agree with you that, you know, everybody in the media is secular. I think they don't know what to do with evangelicals. They don't know how to deal with this phenomenon, that he has support.
And you know, Newsweek did a pretty good story on him not too long ago when he first emerged, and remember nobody even knew he was going to do as well as he did in the first instance. I think media people are uncomfortable with evangelicals. They don't know a lot...
O'REILLY: I think it extends far beyond evangelicals and born-agains. You got a second one, example, Jane? And I've got another question for you, Bernie.
HALL: OK. Here's my second one. I think the media didn't do Obama any favors by saying he was going to win Massachusetts, saying it was over. And then they played the expectations game, which his camp also let happen. So that when he did as well as he did, it's Hillary bounces back. I don't think that really did him any favors.
O'REILLY: OK. But I mean, I think that just might have just been a miscalculation rather than a, you know, unfair, thought out hit job on this.
Now, Bernie, John McCain. Conservatives write to me that John McCain has received fairly favorable media treatment. And I think that is accurate. Do you?
GOLDBERG: Yes. We did a poll months ago on the show, and he received the worst treatment. But now that he is — well, he's the presumptive nominee — I do think he gets good treatment. And I'll tell you precisely, I'll tell you the second that is going to end: when the campaign starts for real, between one Democrat and one Republican. That's when you're going to hear stories about is he too old? Is his temper such that he shouldn't be president? All the media like him because he's the one who pokes his thumb in Republican and conservative eyes, mostly conservative eyes. But as soon as it's...
O'REILLY: Yes, they're going to turn on him.
GOLDBERG: ... McCain against Obama or Clinton, the media goes the other way.
O'REILLY: And you know what we're going to do? We have a big file here of all the people like The New York Times and the Boston Globe, the L.A. Times who have said nice things about John McCain.
GOLDBERG: Right.
O'REILLY: And we have that stuff now. And then we're going to contrast that to after it becomes a one-on-one and all the mean stuff they're going to say about him. We're going to put them both on the screen.
All right, Jane, guacamole. The League of United Latin American Citizens, LULAC, says that this is a racial comment, denigrating to Hispanic-Americans, yet not a word in the mainstream media and not a word on the far-left blogs. What say you?
HALL: Well, I think that that is an insensitive remark.
GOLDBERG: Oh, come on.
HALL: And the person who said it should be called on it. And you know, you can insert whatever — I mean, it may have been made as a joking reference, but you know, I don't think it necessarily — if it's a pattern of remark after remark, but this person should be called on it and asked about it.
O'REILLY: Do you believe that if Rush Limbaugh had said that it would have been ignored by the mainstream media?
HALL: Well, I'm not sure. You know, unfortunately or fortunately, there tends to be more monitoring of the media in Web sites. I think people would say, you know, Rush Limbaugh and other people own talk radio.
O'REILLY: Well, I think it would be page 1 on the New York Daily News, Bernie.
HALL: Well, one remark, I don't think so.
GOLDBERG: Bill, Bill, Bill, let me agree on the easy part. There is hypocrisy, no question about it, no question about it. But this is driving me nuts. Saying, "Pass the guacamole."
O'REILLY: No, there's nothing wrong with that. I mean, I agree.
GOLDBERG: This is not a crime against humanity.
O'REILLY: It isn't.
GOLDBERG: It's not even a racial slur.
O'REILLY: That's not even in play here. That's not even in play. We don't care about "pass the guacamole." What we do care about is an essentially dishonest and corrupt media, Bernie, that uses innocuous remarks against one side and not against the other.
GOLDBERG: I'm glad. Yes, but how many times have you said on this program that one bad behavior doesn't merit another bad one? I'm glad there was hypocrisy in this case...
O'REILLY: Here's why you're wrong on that.
GOLDBERG: ... because at least the media did not make a big deal out of this idiotic issue. Pass the guacamole, who cares?
O'REILLY: Here's why you are wrong on this.
HALL: I think...
O'REILLY: It's not about bad behavior. It's about corruption. And when you have the mainstream media looking to demonize one portion of American society, OK?
GOLDBERG: That's the wrong — criticize that part.
O'REILLY: You see, I do it every day. But this is a great example of how this corruption works.
GOLDBERG: It's hypocrisy, but it's a ridiculous issue.
O'REILLY: OK.
GOLDBERG: There is no big deal with "pass the guacamole."
O'REILLY: I don't even like guacamole.
Bernie, Jane, thank you very much.
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