Are We a 'Nation of Wusses'?

This is a RUSH transcript from "The O'Reilly Factor," December 28, 2010. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

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ERIC BOLLING, GUEST HOST: In the "Unresolved Problem" segment tonight: While the Northeast continues to dig out ever so slowly from the weekend blizzard that dumped two feet of snow in many areas, there's a new crisis to contend with. We're apparently a nation of wusses; or so says Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell while criticizing the NFL in the city of Philadelphia for cancelling Sunday's football game between the Eagles and the Vikings.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. ED RENDELL, D-PENN.: This is part of the wussification of America. We used to be a country that had a great pioneer spirit, a sense of adventure, a sense of courage, that we could do anything. And we cancelled a football game, at game time there were less than six inches of snow on the ground in Philadelphia, less than three inches of snow on ground in the western suburbs, less than two inches of snow in the ground in Wilmington. Good lord, what were the people in Wyoming and Montana thinking? What were the people in Chicago, Boston and even Pittsburgh thinking?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLLING: This as New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg showed no sympathy for city dwellers complaining about the problems on the streets, on the rails and in the air.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: There's a lot of anger out there.

MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, NEW YORK CITY: I'm angry, too.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: But -- but part of the anger is over the discrepancy between your expressions of how adequate the response has been and what people are actually experiencing out on...

BLOOMBERG: If your street was plowed, it -- the response was adequate. If your street was not plowed, the response was inadequate. We cannot do everything all the time, and we are doing the best we can. I think that this city has pulled together. I am -- don't think that we should sit around and think that the end of the world is here. We cannot be every place at all times. We will make mistakes. But we have to continue plugging ahead. Yelling about it and complaining doesn't help.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLLING: So are we getting soft? Joining us from L.A., radio star and Fox News contributor Leslie Marshall, and from Memphis, radio talk show host Ben Ferguson.

Ben, let's start with you. NFL. I say, man up, NFL. Are you guys kidding me? Are you kidding me canceling? Snow bowls? Fog bowls? The best TV you could possibly watch.

BEN FERGUSON, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: I mean, it doesn't -- sports is better any time that it's soaked, and they're all running around and they can't get their footing. Guess what? They don't whine and complain about it.

The problem is in this country is we've become a big nanny, I mean, crybaby state where we expect the government to do everything. Oh my gosh, there's snow outside. You need to salt it. You need to ice it. You need to fix it. Oh my gosh, I can't find a job in over two years, so give me a check for two years. I mean, name the last time the government bailed us out of anything. And this is the same government now that we want to trust with our health care. That's the scary part.

BOLLING: You know what, Leslie? It's almost -- look, we're here in New York. We hear the Philly fans saying, "Boy, we're -- we're" -- pardon the expression -- "bad ass fans," and then the game gets cancelled on them. Is Philly a wussy city?

LESLIE MARSHALL, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Well, I think it's ridiculous when these guys get paid so much, and they have all this equipment. And, you know, they smack each other constantly. So what if they can't see each other when they're smacking each other and bringing each other down in the football field?

I'm from Boston originally, Eric. And I was on the last plane out of Logan, and I was listening to some sound bites of Bostonians going, "It's winter. It snows. What do you expect?" And it's true. Blizzard is what you expect in Philly and New York, etc. But to tie health care in with football, Ben, that's almost as good as trying to tie Saddam Hussein in with Al Qaeda and 9/11.

BOLLING: Ben, nanny state -- go ahead.

FERGUSON: Here's the point. Look at this president. This president ran on saying, "For those of you that cannot take care of yourself, I'll do everything for you." And that's literally what the government's done know. You don't have to work for two years and we'll give you a check. You don't have health insurance, we'll give it to you. You need food, we'll give you that, too. And oh, by the way, we'll give you a free education and feed your kids for free at school. So we're now accustomed to this. We can't even shovel our own snow anymore.

BOLLING: Hey, Leslie. Let me throw this in here. In addition to all that, when Mr. Obama was elected president, the duration, the amount of time you spent on the unemployment line was 19 weeks. That was when you had 26 available to you. Now it's 99 weeks, and guess how long people stay on the unemployment line? Double. Almost 35 weeks. So, look, the nanny state is alive and kicking in the Obama administration.

MARSHALL: Well, when you look at unemployment, I'm not sure how that ties into the snow, guys. And the president didn't call the game. But OK, I'll play, all right?

BOLLING: It's a mentality, Leslie.

MARSHALL: Ben, who -- who created -- President Obama has been president for two years.

FERGUSON: I'm not blaming solely him.

MARSHALL: Perhaps Americans with their -- wait a minute -- Americans with their hands out. That Americans have had their hands out, I'm not disputing that. What bothers me is, on the one hand, you have people saying less government. But there are plenty of people on the right who have no problem taking their Medicare and Social Security. And there are plenty of people on the right who want to have unemployment benefits extended and who look to the government for job creation. You can't have it both ways.

FERGUSON: You have -- you have a cultural problem in this country. And if you want to blame both sides, I'm really OK with that. But the reality is America now does not know how to stand up for itself and actually make-do.

I mean, you've got snowplows now. My parents and grandparents didn't have that. You've got things that will literally you can push along. They're automated. Shoot the snow in your neighbor's yard. They didn't have those around 35 years ago. And guess what? No one complained then.

(CROSSTALK)

MARSHALL: Do you know what we don't have today, which we did, and this is very true? When I was a kid, my brothers used to go around shoveling snow for a few bucks or just to be nice to that old woman or man down the street. Our kids aren't doing that today. Seriously, you know that.

BOLLING: Leslie, but here is what is happening. In New York we had 20 inches of snow, one of the worst in history, within a day. There are people saying, "Hey, wait a minute. Why isn't my street plowed? Why aren't -- why can't I get my car out? Why aren't all the buses and trains running?" For goodness sakes. I mean, give them a break. Man up, toughen up a little bit, America. Go shovel your own snow.

MARSHALL: Yes, but in New York, Eric, and you know -- you know I lived in New York. You guys pay huge taxes. I don't think it's bad to say, "Hey, I want my street plowed," especially when you see another plowed. Even the mayor himself...

FERGUSON: That wasn't -- you're proving my point though.

MARSHALL: ...said it was not adequate response if your street wasn't plowed.

FERGUSON: But you're proving my point. No matter how much taxes you pay, government still flat-out sucks at doing the basic things. So why do we give them more responsibility with things like health care when they can't even plow the snow that we pay so much for them to do?

BOLLING: Hang in there, guys.

MARSHALL: I'm not going to tie health care in with snowplows.

BOLLING: Before we go -- before we go, less than a minute, Leslie. You've got to respond to this. The mayor of Philadelphia, a Democrat, why do the Democrats hate football so much?

MARSHALL: Oh, the Democrats don't hate football. You also had a Democrat saying we're a nation of wusses. You're terrible.

(CROSSTALK)

BOLLING: We're going to have to leave it there, you guys. Leslie and Ben, thank you guys a lot for joining in a lot of fun.

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