Glenn Beck Evaluates the GOP Candidates

GBTV host Glenn Beck takes a look at the 2012 GOP race and determines it to be a battle of the big government Republicans

This is a RUSH transcript from "The O'Reilly Factor," November 29, 2011. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

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BILL O'REILLY, HOST: "Personal Story Segment", our pal Glenn Beck has a new book out called "Being George Washington: The indispensable man as you've never seen him." As you may know, Beck is running GBTV an Internet network and here he is from his swanky studios in Manhattan where he's Mr. Relaxed, it looks like a little bit like Art Linkletter in a younger time.

GLENN BECK, GBTV: Those aren't Linkletter, those… I mean, let me tell you something, those are so hip with the kids nowadays.

O'REILLY: I know. I'm happy to see you shaved your goatee because you're looking like one of the "Occupy Wall Street" people. But now you've cleaned up a little bit.

BECK: No, no, not at all. I didn't shower, though.

O'REILLY: Ok. Well, I'm glad I'm not in the same studio with you because I know how that is.

BECK: Yes.

O'REILLY: All right, let's talk a little politics first.

Herman Cain, looks like he's through. Are you following the Republican race? Do you care about it?

BECK: Yeah, I do. I mean, I think, you know, politics… the problems in our country are not going to be fixed by politics, but politics are important. And we have to do the… you know we have to do the right thing.

I agree, it looks like Herman Cain is through. You know, I… I don't… we seem to be having the battle of the big government Republicans right now.

O'REILLY: What do you mean by that, the big government Republicans? What does that mean?

BECK: I think you have Mitt Romney who is a big government Republican and you have Newt Gingrich, who is a big government Republican.

O'REILLY: So by that means, we keep the apparatus that's in place. They wouldn't try to dismantle it like Ron Paul would?

BECK: Yes I mean, remember… yes remember that… well not just Ron Paul. Ron Paul is this close to a no government Republican. You do have Rick Santorum and the person that I would vote for is Michele Bachmann. But you've got these progressives that are on the Republican side as well. Let's…let's not… let's not forget that the progressive party was started by a Republican, Theodore Roosevelt, John McCain's favorite president.

O'REILLY: Yes but it would have had a different meaning when Teddy Roosevelt was running than it has now. The progressive movement has been taken over from Noam Chomskys and all of these people. That's where they're going.

BECK: No, no.

O'REILLY: No, no.

BECK: The Noam Chomskys have been folded into it and they have been co-opted… either co-opted the progressives or the progressives have co- opted them. They've always been buddy, buddy with the Marxists. The difference is that the split with Woodrow Wilson and Theodore Roosevelt was that the Republicans were more nationalists as opposed to internationalists. And they believed in using military power, where the Democrats did not.

O'REILLY: Ok. Let's bring it… let's bring it up now. I agree with you that Romney and Gingrich are not going to dismantle a federal government as it is now. But I don't think Michele Bachmann was going to do that either. But on the subject of the congresswoman.

BECK: Yes.

O'REILLY: Why do you think her campaign hasn't really lifted? Rick Perry came in and then her numbers dropped exponentially right after that. But then Perry went down as well and she never really recovered.

BECK: Yes you know what; I can't tell you… I can't tell you why Michelle Bachmann isn't connecting with the American people. I just know that I met with all of them and I have Newt Gingrich on… on the air in, what, two days from now. And I have some fair questions for him and I'm anxious to hear what he has to say.

But in listening to all of them and really… I'm not friends with any of them, but I know all of them. There is really only two of them that I think really fall into the Abraham Lincoln or George Washington character category and that that would be Rick Santorum and Michele Bachmann. And after talking to all of them, I think Michele Bachmann is just the best choice out there.

O'REILLY: Sure well, look, certainly people should respect everybody's choice, but it's not going to happen for the congresswoman. So if…

BECK: You know what, that's the one thing that I don't -- that I don't care about with politics. I'm so tired of… of picking somebody that everybody says we have to pick because you can't get the other guy in.

O'REILLY: No, no. I got it. A lot of people feel the way you do and they absolutely should vote their conscience.

BECK: Right.

O'REILLY: But if a guy like Mitt Romney gets the nomination, can you, Glenn Beck support that?

BECK: Yes. Yes I can.

O'REILLY: Ok, all right, well, he'll be thrilled to hear that and…

BECK: I don't know if he will or if he cares.

O'REILLY: Now we're going to I'm going to hold Beck over because he's begged me. And we're going to discuss George Washington.

BECK: Yes.

O'REILLY: And I have to tell you, I was reading Beck's book today and I like it. And I'm going to tell you why I like it. But I think he stole his book from my book. So we're going to get into all of that.

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