This is a rush transcript from "The O'Reilly Factor," August 9, 2007. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated
BILL O'REILLY, HOST: In the "Campaign 2008" segment tonight, as we reported earlier this week, some of the Democratic candidates have been attacking FOX News.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN EDWARDS, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: FOX News, I think, has a clear and long history of bias against Democrats.
SEN. CHRIS DODD, (D) CT: It means standing up, by the way, when things get tough, standing up to Bill O'Reilly, by the way, when he comes after Daily Kos.
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Now, I was very proud of my campaign, standing up and really calling O'Reilly out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'REILLY: Yeah. Now, the question is, is all of that a wise thing to do? Here now, a wise man, Dick Morris, the author of the best-selling book "Outrage," doing very well.
DICK MORRIS, POLITICAL CONSULTANT: If she wanted to call you out, she could show up on your show.
O'REILLY: She could do a whole bunch of stuff rather than pandering to those people. But we're going to remember all that. You know, I understand what they're doing, trying to get the far-left people to like them and vote for them in the primaries. I mean, it's obvious. But you know what's interesting? The only one who didn't do it was Obama. Obama has not trashed FOX News.
MORRIS: Obama is kind of more of a class act.
The big problem that Hillary has got right now is that she has to go after special interests, because she is awash in their campaign contributions. And she's getting flayed for that by Edwards and Obama.
So she can't attack drug money, because she's taking it. She can't attack insurance money, because she's taking it, but she can attack you and FOX News.
O'REILLY: But where does that get her? I mean, this is by far and away the highest-rated cable news outfit. OK? And we're growing while the others are disintegrating.
Why do they want to make enemies — particularly a guy like John Edwards, who is treated very well here, 33 times he was on. We poured over the transcripts. There was never one time that this guy was unfairly treated while he was on this network.
Why do they want to do that? Don't they understand that that might come back to bite them in the you know where?
MORRIS: Yes, well, by the time it comes back in the general election, Bill, they — all of them except one won't be living so long. There will be only one candidate, and that's a long ways away.
Right now they need somebody to vilify, because Hillary doesn't vilify somebody, she's going to be the villain.
O'REILLY: All right. So she has to divert attention away from the issues that the far left doesn't like about her?
MORRIS: Not just the far left. I have a column coming out in the Post the next few days. There are 12 foreign countries, including Pakistan and Dubai and Columbia and Jordan and Taiwan and a million others that have hired lobbyists, many of whom are actually employed now by the Hillary Clinton campaign. The nexus is so close.
O'REILLY: Well, they're just trying to cozy up, in case she wins.
MORRIS: They're buying future interests in the Clinton presidency.
O'REILLY: See, I don't see that as a problem. But here is what I see as the problem.
MORRIS: They live the problem.
O'REILLY: Yes, maybe they do, but it's just a stupid issue. Bloggers threatening — you know, what people don't understand is that these Internet bloggers get messages to these candidates. If you don't do what we tell you to do, we will trash you and try to interfere with your fund-raising.
MORRIS: Right.
O'REILLY: And that is unique. I don't think that has ever happened before.
MORRIS: I think that's true. I think there's a mobilization of the left-wing grassroots. And it is increasingly directed against Hillary. Increasingly you're seeing — and you saw this at the AFL, you saw it at the bloggers' convention, that there is a new left emerging. And for them, Hillary Clinton is not that far from George Bush or Bill O'Reilly in the lexicon of demons.
O'REILLY: Right. She's not radical enough.
MORRIS: Exactly.
O'REILLY: How much power do they really have, though?
MORRIS: A lot, because...
O'REILLY: Do you really think so?
MORRIS: A lot. Because these folks are a grassroots group that has spread enormously over the Internet. The left is way ahead of the right on the Internet. Democrats are so much better than the Republicans now at penetrating them, and they have literally tens of millions of people who they're in regular touch with. Those are people who are going to swarm all over the primaries.
You know, one of the examples of that is you take Iowa, which is a caucus state, not a primary.
O'REILLY: Right.
MORRIS: So you get the activists who vote. Edwards is ahead there. Because...
O'REILLY: Yes, I know that. But that's not going to do him any good. You know that.
MORRIS: Well, if he wins in Iowa, he's in good shape. I don't think he'll win in Iowa, but he's ahead right now because MoveOn and those other groups have so saturated the Democratic left.
O'REILLY: And the people that voted across...
MORRIS: And you were a great rallying point for them, my friend.
O'REILLY: Well, they can rally all they want, but they're not going to do anything as far as the main election is concerned. But I think it's a danger to have blackmailers, which is what these bloggers are, active in the political process.
Dick Morris, everybody. Buy his book. Nice to see you, Dick.
MORRIS: Thank you.
Watch "The O'Reilly Factor" weeknights at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. ET and listen to the "Radio Factor".
Copy: Content and Programming Copyright 2007 Fox News Network, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Transcription Copyright 2007 Voxant, Inc. (www.voxant.com), which takes sole responsibility for the accuracy of the transcription. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No license is granted to the user of this material except for the user's personal or internal use and, in such case, only one copy may be printed, nor shall user use any material for commercial purposes or in any fashion that may infringe upon Fox News Network, LLC'S and Voxant, Inc.'s copyrights or other proprietary rights or interests in the material. This is not a legal transcript for purposes of litigation.
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox