Far-Left Dishonesty

This is a partial transcript from "The O'Reilly Factor," September 19, 2005, that has been edited for clarity.

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BILL O'REILLY, HOST: In the "Back of the Book" segment tonight: One of the reasons the far left will never achieve power in the USA or Britain, for that matter, is the basic dishonesty of its overall presentation.

The BBC and others use Hurricane Katrina (search) to gloat over America's misfortune, and even a new George Clooney movie about Edward Murrow is fodder for the radical left.

The far left "Guardian" newspaper in Britain actually wrote that Clooney had me in mind when presenting Senator Joseph McCarthy! FOX producer Chris Spinder asked Clooney about this recently:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: According to what they say, you don't have to squint too hard to recognize O'Reilly in the hectoring robot voice of McCarthy. Do you think that's fair to be able to make that?

GEORGE CLOONEY, ACTOR: No, I wouldn't do that. You know, Bill O'Reilly has never been an elected official and holds no office and hasn't held an office. And, you know, we haven't given him the proxy of our vote to do anything. No, I don't think that's a fair assessment at all. Strangely defending Bill O'Reilly, no.

I find that that — I know you guys are FOX and he will see this, but the issues were never about that. But the issues for me were about that. The issues for me were about, again, the responsibility of the fourth estate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

All right. Joining us now from Washington, Sarah Baxter, a reporter for The Sunday Times of London.

You know, a lot of this is funny. You just heard the Galloway interview. I'm sure you were amused by that. And but some of this is very, very serious. The Guardian is a loopy newspaper; we know they're nutty.

But the BBC, funded by the British taxpayer, gloating over Hurricane Katrina, I mean, that's just beyond the pale. What's going on?

SARAH BAXTER, THE SUNDAY TIMES OF LONDON: Well, what you've seen, Bill, is any excuse to gloat is always taken, whether it's the George Clooney film or whether it's Hurricane Katrina.

I mean, to be fair, what slightly upset me over the hurricane is that people like myself, who have been defending America for years, it's become practically a full-time occupation with my friends back in London, is that we were a bit on the back foot over the hurricane. And even George Bush admitted he could do better.

But really, I think the fact that now the George Clooney film is being used as an opportunity to clobber Americans just goes to show that Britons are desperate to feel superior to Americans, and they'll use any old excuse.

O'REILLY: Is that what it is? Is that what it is in Europe, they're just desperate to feel superior to our country? Really, do you believe that's what it is?

BAXTER: I really do. I think deep down there's an awful lot of admiration for America. I think Britons really love America, but they would rather kill themselves than admit it.

And they like to think that they have this long history and that the Americans are Johnny-come-latelies and a little naive about — whether it's about foreign policy or really, even, the business of government. And it just makes them feel better because, you know, we don't have the empire we used to have. And you know, we're glad about that on the whole, but we did lose our superpower status to you.

O'REILLY: But, you know, 78 percent of Americans, in a new poll last week, said that Britain is our strongest ally in the world. And yet, the BBC continues to cheap shot the USA whenever they get a chance. I think it's beyond being desperate. It's endemic in the organization.

And indeed Tony Blair here in New York City over the weekend said the same thing. Said the BBC just hates the USA.

BAXTER: He did. I think Tony Blair has been very upset by the anti-American tone taken by the BBC.

But you know, we have something in Britain called the "chattering classes." Those are the people who sit around the dinner table and moan a lot. And they are represented quite heavily in The Guardian and the BBC. And you know, the good people of Britain do not always share that view, and I think they showed that by re-electing Tony Blair.

O'REILLY: Yes. I'm just worried about the younger people hearing this anti-American stuff day in and day out. Miss Baxter, thank you very much for taking the time. We appreciate it.

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