Miller Time: President Obama’s race comments
The ‘Sage of Southern California’ on President Obama, race, and Seahawks CB Richard Sherman
This is a RUSH transcript from "The O'Reilly Factor," January 22, 2014. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
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O'REILLY: Thanks for staying with us. And Bill O'Reilly and the "Miller Time" segment. Tonight, as we reported earlier this week, President Obama told a magazine that some people dislike him because he's black, but others like him because of the skin color. It's a balance. I said that was accurate. Joining us now from Santa Barbara the sage of southern California, Dennis Miller. So, do you agree with me?
DENNIS MILLER, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: What was your segment about, again?
O'REILLY: I said it was accurate, what he said. Some people don't like him because he's black, some people do like him because he's black.
MILLER: Yeah. I think many white people probably wouldn't vote for him because he is black. Many, if not monolithically black people would vote for him because he's black. And many, I'd say more than the whites I referred to earlier, many white people voted for him based only on the color of his skin that he was black. So, yeah, I think it's a mixed bag. I think you can cover yourself saying that, but I think many more white people voted for him because they wanted a black president and didn't vote for him because they didn't want a black president.
O'REILLY: OK, so it worked to his advantage in your opinion?
MILLER: Yeah, I think white people by and large, looked and thought, geez, it's about time, you know, fairness is name, that we have a black president. So, yeah, I think I know a lot of people who didn't know much about him, but, you know, Gene Simmons, I remember on my show from "Kiss," told me that it was time for a black president and stuff like that. So, I think many more white people voted for him based only on the color of his skin.
O'REILLY: Now, I can only speak for myself. But I just never see skin color at all. It just doesn't - and I don't think you do. I mean, it just doesn't affect me in any way at all now. I have to analyze crime stats and it disturbs me that young black men are dominating in that arena. But when I make a decision on some money, whether it be their friend or whether to hire them, I mean it never come into my mind. Do you think that I'm the norm or that most people do see color, no matter what color it is?
MILLER: If by saying you don't notice color, you just mean it doesn't mean anything, right?
O'REILLY: Yeah. It was .
(CROSSTALK)
O'REILLY: It's not a factor, pardon the pun.
MILLER: Well, when I watched him in Grand Park that night, Billy, when I watched him in Grand Park, I didn't vote for him. I saw those young black upturned faces looking at him, and for finally, they didn't have to listen to a rapper talking about hoes (ph). They didn't have to listen to a sports player putting a needle in their Rs (ph). I thought this will be good for this country. God bless them. Now, in the interim five years. It's nonjudgmental in any way, except he's an inept civil servant. I think he's a good reminder that men of all races, creeds, colors, faiths, they can all stink at being president.
O'REILLY: OK. So, but nothing about him personally, skin color or his belief system, personal belief system has affected your valuation. You're just doing it on policy. Right?
(LAUGHTER)
MILLER: What you said? Do you even hear what you're saying? You say it's - I have an evaluation -- I think you just asked me on national TV, so you who don't see race in any way, shape or form? Did you just asked me, so, you're not judging him on the color of his skin?
O'REILLY: Yeah, you are not judging him on anything other than policy, right?
MILLER: All right, Bill. Yes, that's what I judge him on, policy.
O'REILLY: Right. That's what I've been led to believe by your many appearances here on "The Factor."
MILLER: All right.
O'REILLY: Now, do you watch the Seahawks 49er game? Do you see .
MILLER: Yes, I did.
O'REILLY: You see it a lot of time?
MILLER: You know, I'd been away - I'd been away from football for a while, but I admire those two teams. So, I did watch.
O'REILLY: Now I need your reaction just at the time, not afterward, after listening to everybody bloviate about it, just at the time, you get this guy Sherman, he wins the game, he goes over to the Fox reporter, and he rants. Right when we did it, what was in your mind?
MILLER: That's like O'Reilly in dreadlocks with Barney Frank.
(LAUGHTER)
O'REILLY: That's what went right through your mind, right?
MILLER: That was my immediate reflex, and then I thought - you'll probably ask me about this. So, let me say this, Bill. We live in delicate times, and it seems like any aspersion is boiled down to a simplistic accusation of racism. So, let me say this: there are two types of classiness and graciousness in the world. And I find Richard Sherman's behavior to be an example of the pan-ultimate form of gracious victory. There is only one above it. That's the type practiced by his teammate Russell Wilson and Peyton Manning. I as an old fuddy-duddy, find that sort of classy graciousness just to be a scintilla, a sliver better than Sherman's form of graciousness, which is exemplary, nonetheless. But I think I understand in the times we live, if you were teaching a kid how to react to victory, it would be a coin flip on whether you do it like Russell Wilson or Richard Sherman. I would indeed, say, probably, most people favor Sherman's approach. It is my second favorite form of classiness and graciousness.
O'REILLY: Yeah. So .
MILLER: And Peyton Manning and Russell Wilson might be my first.
O'REILLY: So you didn't think .
MILLER: Navigate?
O'REILLY: I'm going to just interpret to the audience, when he did it, you didn't think it was a classy move. Do you know that Sherman is a graduate of Stanford University, fine institution, with a-degree in communications, Miller? And boy, did he use it there?
(LAUGHTER)
MILLER: Well, I think he took that test pass/fail and I'll let people judge for themselves how he acquitted himself on the .
O'REILLY: I said at the time .
MILLER: All I know is General Sherman wasn't that loud going through Georgia.
(LAUGHTER)
O'REILLY: I said at the time he was auditioning for a cable news show and he's probably going to get one, Miller. Here you go.
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