Is the liberal press turning around?

Bernard Goldberg on how the liberal media is getting tougher on President Obama

This is a RUSH transcript from "The O'Reilly Factor," July 9, 2012. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

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BILL O'REILLY, HOST: Thanks for staying with us. I'm Bill O'Reilly.

In the "Weekdays with Bernie" segment tonight, as you may know, Mr. Goldberg and I have been analyzing how the liberal media is treating the Obama administration. Much of the coverage has been soft to say the least. However, recently there's been a tone change in some places.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's not mince words: the economy stinks. Let's take a look at the trend. This is not just a one-month blip. Look at these numbers.

There is the first part of the year. The second quarter 80,000, 77,000, 68,000. That's the worst quarter of job creation in two years.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I mean, you heard the president talking about how he vacationed as a child on Greyhound buses and going to Howard Johnsons or Hojo's, a contrast to Mitt Romney, who is in New Hampshire on his speedboat and on Jet Skis. So I think there's interesting subtext of the campaign that's coming out about which is essentially class warfare.

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN ANCHOR: You all have invested very heavily in the Bain Capital element of trying to convince people of what Mitt Romney is about. And yet this particular ad got four Pinocchios from The Washington Post, which is not true.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'REILLY: Joining us now from North Carolina, the purveyor of BernardGoldberg.com, Mr. Goldberg.

Now, I understand before we get to this analysis you have a comment on "Watters' World."

BERNARD GOLDBERG, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: This is a serious point. The people in "Watters' World" who thought the Declaration of Independence was signed, like in 1964, whatever, they should not be allowed to vote. Here's why.

No, here's why. That young woman gets one vote. Right? Charles Krauthammer gets one vote. Does that sound fair to anybody listening to this? It makes no sense at all for her to vote and Krauthammer; they get one vote each. Makes no sense.

O'REILLY: No, but here's the rub on it. Here's the rub on it, though. Our Founding Fathers, in their wisdom -- and I mean this seriously -- said to every American, "You have a right to be a moron. You have an absolute right to be a moron. And if you are a moron, we are not going to penalize you, we, the federal government.

"Now, the private marketplace will penalize you. And you'll, you know, probably not prosper economically. But we, the government, are going to allow you to be a moron if you want." And many of us exercise that right every single day.

GOLDBERG: That's -- that's what I was just going to say. So you're saying they're merely exercising their right to be a moron?

O'REILLY: Their constitutional right to be an idiot, all right?

GOLDBERG: Fair enough.

O'REILLY: Listen -- look at the media. How many of the media people exercise that right every single evening?

GOLDBERG: Nice segue, Bill.

O'REILLY: You're welcome.

OK. All right. Now, we have seen a little toughening up against the Obama administration's economic performance, have we not?

GOLDBERG; Yes. And I've said on this very program that from time to time the media would be tough on Barack Obama.

But if there's a suggestion that this may be the beginning of historic change in how the so-called mainstream media treats liberal Democrats like Barack Obama, no way is that happening.

And I'm going to give you one example. It can't prove my point, because it's going to happen tomorrow morning.

You said in the "Talking Points" that, if Barack Obama got his way and taxes went up on the wealthy, the top 1 or 2 percent of the wage earners in this country, that would provide enough income, I think you said, for 8 and a half days, right?

O'REILLY: Correct.

GOLDBERG: OK. Do you think that's going to be on page one of the New York Times tomorrow? That's a very important fact. Because that shows that what Barack Obama said today has nothing to do with economics...

O'REILLY: Yes, it's a ruse. Right. Absolute ruse.

GOLDBERG: ... and everything to do with politics. So let's see if the New York Times pays any attention.

O'REILLY: Not going to run on any front page of any liberal newspaper, and it's not going to be taken into account by the liberal economists, because they don't want to tell the people the truth.

And I think this is -- Bernie and I, and I'm speaking for Bernie now and he can correct me in a moment if I'm wrong. What Bernie and I are trying to get across with this media segment every week is that many in the media, powerful people, don't want to tell the truth to the people. Because it's more important to them to get their ideology in play than to let the folks know what the truth is. And that's a total change from what the American media was 30, 40 years ago.

GOLDBERG: Yes. That's pretty close to my position, except I don't know if you're suggesting that they consciously wake up in the morning and say, "I'm going to try to help Barack Obama."

O'REILLY: No, they don't do that. But they consciously wake up in the morning and they say, "I'm not going to report things that make my ideology look bad."

GOLDBERG: I don't know if they consciously say it.

O'REILLY: Oh, I do. I think.

GOLDBERG: But they do it. They do it.

Look, can I give you another -- you like facts. Let me give you another example. There's a piece in the current edition of The Weekly Standard by a very smart fellow named Pete Wehner, who's on FOX from time to time. I'm going to just give you five facts. Just five.

Fact No. 1, as a candidate, Barack Obama promised to create five million new energy jobs alone. Just 5 million energy jobs.

Fact No. 2, he claimed that, by the end of the first term, his healthcare plan, would quote, "bring down premiums by $2,500 for the typical family."

Fact No. 3, he guaranteed that his financial rescue plan would help stop foreclosures.

Fact No. 4, in the first year of his presidency, he pledged, quote, "to cut the deficit we inherited in the half by the end of my first term in office."

Fact No. 5, he said he would, quote, "lift two million Americans from poverty" and, quote, "jolt our economy back to life."

Have you seen that any place in the mainstream media? That Barack Obama has failed to deliver on his promises?

O'REILLY: No. Nobody has put that in. Except for The Weekly Standard, nobody has brought that up. But all politicians make promises, and few deliver, to be fair.

GOLDBERG: Yes. But it's one thing to promise vaguely, "I promise you hope and change." These are very specific promises.

Listen, the same mainstream media that put Mitt Romney's stupid stunt while he was teenager in high school all over page one and on several jump pages, and the same mainstream media that put on page one Ann Romney's horse thing, you know, where she rides horses, which is a very expensive hobby, they found enough time and space to devote to that. Why can't they find time to devote to this?

O'REILLY: Because they want President Obama to be reelected. As simple as that.

GOLDBERG: It is. It really is.

O'REILLY: All right. Bernie, thank you.

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