This is a rush transcript from "Glenn Beck," March 12, 2009. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
GLENN BECK, HOST: Bernie Madoff is a bad guy, but not all rich people are all bankers or bad. Some are, but there are some good ones as well.
Joining me now is a guy who's probably never done an egg analogy on his show — Bill O'Reilly.
BILL O'REILLY, HOST, "THE O'REILLY FACTOR": Here I am. I thought I was on the "Rachael Ray Show" for a moment.
(LAUGHTER)
O'REILLY: Are you going to cook up an omelet here, Glenn, or what?
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BECK: Would you like one?
O'REILLY: I would.
(CROSSTALK)
BECK: I can make you have (ph) a Bernie Madoff.
So, how are things, Bill?
O'REILLY: Things are pretty well, you know. We're dominating as always.
BECK: What is that? That's — it's a little disturbing, isn't it?
O'REILLY: What? To you or to me? I like dominating. Domination is great.
BECK: OK, this is getting — again, it's a hostile work environment.
So, Bill, let me let me talk to you a little bit about the rich and paying taxes.
O'REILLY: OK.
BECK: OK. Our government thinks that it is patriotic to pay taxes and to pay a bigger — more of your fair share. Do you — have you ever gotten anybody to tell you what that number should be that the rich owe?
O'REILLY: I asked Michael Moore that. You know Michael?
BECK: Yes.
O'REILLY: Yes, I asked Michael Moore that one time on "The Factor" and he said, 75 percent — 75 percent of my money should go to various state and federal entities. And I think that's the socialist point of view — 75 percent for the feds, 25 percent for you. These people believe that. That's what they believe.
So, those of us who believe in capitalism, free enterprise, that socialism saps initiative — which it does — we have to fight against that. And that's the war that we're in right now.
BECK: How do — how do you fight against that though, Bill, when you have somebody — I mean, the whole country is convinced — I mean, the more you get into this basket...
O'REILLY: Right.
BECK: ... these people are never going to vote for somebody who says...
(CROSSTALK)
O'REILLY: I'm not quite sure about that. You know, all the surveys say that people who don't have enough a lot of money admire people who do because they want to be that way, they want to succeed in life. But there is a hard core — and I put it about 30 percent — that is jealous, and that wants to take the "Robin Hood" deal. They want to take from the rich and give to the poor. But I think it's only 30 percent. I think we have the majority.
BECK: I think we have two things going on. I think our current problems are caused by greed from people like Bernie Madoff, and I think, also, from envy — from what you just said.
O'REILLY: A lot of envy.
BECK: People just want to take it.
O'REILLY: There's a lot of envy. Well, there's also a sense of entitlement that's growing up that wasn't there in the '50s and '60s when I was growing up. My parents didn't have a lot of money but they never took a dime from the government and they wouldn't.
They — if the government ran by and like tossed cash into my yard in Levittown, my father would have just tossed it right back. It was a matter of pride. I don't want their money. I'll earn it.
And that we're losing now, because the kids are growing up going — where's mine? Where's mine? You know what? Let's go.
You know, Beck has it, O'Reilly has it, why I don't have it. Well, you didn't go to Harvard. I did. I paid my way through. It was expensive.
BECK: I didn't.
O'REILLY: OK. No, and there was a reason for that. But, I did. And I paid my own way all the way through, all right? I never took anything and I don't want anything.
BECK: Where's my book? Erin, where is my book? I've got it. You know, I brought a book on.
O'REILLY: Are you going to throw a book at me?
BECK: No, I no, you know, the book...
O'REILLY: You're not going to — you're not going to throw anything at me.
BECK: You know the book I brought, every time I'm on your show...
O'REILLY: Yes.
BECK: Every time I'm on your show, you ask, like — hey, it’s a metamorphic (ph), what's that mean? I'm like, I don't know, Bill, don't make me cry. So, I got mine. This is — this is "Things You May Be Asked By Glenn Beck." OK? Ready?
I'm thinking here — how do you prep and grill Dungeness crabs.
O'REILLY: Dungeness crabs are delicious by the way.
BECK: Yes.
O'REILLY: How do I do it?
BECK: Yes.
O'REILLY: I go to a restaurant and order up a menu. That's how I do it.
BECK: See, it's this damn rich person over here that's just making everybody else work. He's taking your Dungeness crab. I'm telling you right now.
O'REILLY: All right. But the guy who's cooking it, he's making money, right?
BECK: So, how do you turn it around, though, Bill? I mean, this started — this started with FDR hating the rich.
O'REILLY: You know, that is the best question you've asked. Outside of breaking the eggs, that was the best question you asked on this segment.
BECK: I'll write that one down.
O'REILLY: Whoever competes against Barack Obama the next time around...
BECK: Yes.
O'REILLY: ... has got to look into the camera and say, listen, this man, President Obama, his philosophy is that you should be nurtured and taking care of, you're too weak and too stupid to do it on your own. My philosophy is, you're not. I'm going to provide the tools for you to pursue happiness. But I'm not going to give you anything.
He thinks you're stupid and weak. I think that your potential is unlimited. Who are you going to vote for?
BECK: But...
O'REILLY: That's how I would attack that problem.
BECK: I don't know if you could convince people. I mean, look at...
O'REILLY: No. I think you're not going to get to 30 but I think you'll get the 30 in the middle.
BECK: Look at this. You've got — who are the two — who was the person that didn't go down? There were two people that didn't go down on the Forbes list? And one of them, I think, was Oprah Winfrey and the other one — the other, gaining steam, is a billionaire that's — a drug lord out of Mexico.
O'REILLY: Right.
BECK: Fantastic.
But Oprah Winfrey, two of the most iconic powerful people in America right now — Barack Obama, Oprah Winfrey.
O'REILLY: Right.
BECK: I mean, you know Oprah's story. This woman had a horrible childhood.
O'REILLY: And worked her way up.
BECK: Oh, yes, worked her way up.
O'REILLY: So why does she like him?
BECK: Yes.
O'REILLY: Well, she identifies with his ethnicity. I think that's accurate. I think she would admit that. She feels that...
BECK: Bill, let me ask you a question.
O'REILLY: Wait, wait, wait.
BECK: If I vote — if I voted for somebody because they were white, wouldn't that make me a racist?
O'REILLY: Look, you asked me a question about Oprah Winfrey.
BECK: All right.
O'REILLY: She identifies with the ethnicity.
BECK: OK.
O'REILLY: She believes that now, America is a better country because we're inclusive in power, an African-American male won.
There's nothing wrong with that belief. It's not a racist belief. It's just a belief we're a stronger country because we have this occur. I respect that.
Number two, Oprah Winfrey gives a lot of money to charity. She's a very generous woman, helps the downtrodden because she was downtrodden one time. She believes Barack Obama shares her philosophy.
Now, For Ms. Winfrey, it's a voluntary thing. For President Obama, it's a forced thing. There's a difference there.
But Oprah feels the compassion there and she votes on emotion. I believe Oprah Winfrey is driven by emotion, unlike you and me who are just mean guys all day long and don't care about anything.
BECK: I want to starve children.
O'REILLY: Right.
BECK: I've already got all their eggs.
(LAUGHTER)
O'REILLY: So, that's the reason that she admires — and I think that's accurate.
BECK: How do you — how do you have the life of Barack — I thought of this a million times. How do you have the life of Barack Obama? Somebody who's — he had a horrible childhood, ends up in Columbia University, you know, he's got all kinds of great things going on. All of a sudden, boom, out of nowhere, he's the president of the United States. How does he not give the speech, you don't need anybody, Jack, you can do it yourself?
O'REILLY: Because he was helped by the government in his life. He was helped to go to these schools by affirmative action and things like that. So, he says, look, if the system helped me, I want to provide a bigger system to help more people. That's the answer to that question.
BECK: Do you — do you — let me switch topics here on —how much time do I have?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Three minutes.
BECK: You know the — you know .
O'REILLY: You don't have a lot of commercials on this show, you know. I could never go this long without one.
(LAUGHTER)
BECK: You know what, let me tell you something. This is — this is how well we're doing, his re-run beat me last night. Yes.
O'REILLY: It always beats you.
BECK: OK, all right.
(LAUGHTER)
O'REILLY: And that's just last night.
BECK: All right, all right.
So, the shooting in Alabama...
O'REILLY: Yes?
BECK: Did you hear how they described this guy? I mean, it was a typical, you know, he was a loner. He was quiet.
O'REILLY: Right.
BECK: I mean, he's really — but what they really described — when they really got down into it, what they said was, here is a guy who felt that he had been wronged, he didn't feel comfortable talking to anybody, he was disgruntled and everything else, and then he went out and shot a bunch of people. As they were describing him, and they said, you got to go, now more than ever, you got to start talking to people, you have to start connecting with people because they're going in hard times, yada, yada, yada.
As I'm listening to the description, first of all, this guy is a psycho — clearly, he's a psycho.
O'REILLY: Right.
BECK: But as I'm listening to him, I'm thinking about the American people that feel disenfranchised right now, that feel like nobody's hearing their voice. The government isn't hearing their voice. Even if you call, they don't listen to you on both sides. If you're a conservative, you are called a racist, you want to starve children, yada, yada, yada. They're — and every time they do speak out, they are shut down by political correctness.
How do you not have those people turn into that guy?
O'REILLY: Well — look, nobody, even if they're frustrated is going to hurt another human being unless they're mentally ill, I think.
BECK: If they're pushed to the wall, you don't think people get pushed to the wall?
O'REILLY: No, I don't believe in the snap thing. I think that kind of violence is inside you and it's a personality disorder. But I do understand the frustration of people, but it's called fighting the good fight. That's what it's called, fighting the good fight.
You stand up for your belief system, you tell people what you believe, you take the slings and arrows, both you do and I do. We have to take it, but you fight. You fight for your country. You fight for your family. You fight for your dignity and that's it.
And you don't hurt other people in the process. You just fight the good fight.
BECK: Bill O'Reilly, sincerely, sir, I want to thank you. You have been ...
O'REILLY: Well, no — I'll see you on "The Factor" tomorrow.
BECK: I know.
(CROSSTALK)
BECK: I want to — I want to say — I want to say to you that you have been unbelievably gracious to me and you have no reason to be and I want to thank you.
O'REILLY: You're welcome.
BECK: Thank you.
All right. Wait, hang on just a second. We have a question from a — from a viewer, Gresh? Where is it?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's from John from Virginia. Who in your opinion is the all time biggest pinhead?
O'REILLY: In the world, ever?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
O'REILLY: Hitler.
BECK: Over Jimmy Carter?
(LAUGHTER)
O'REILLY: Hate speech, there it is.
BECK: OK.
O'REILLY: You're going to break another egg, it's best to take a break!
BECK: OK. All right.
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