This is a RUSH transcript from "The O'Reilly Factor," November 4, 2011. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
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BILL O'REILLY, HOST: In the beginning, Geraldo Rivera was somewhat sympathetic to the movement.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GERALDO RIVERA, HOST, "GERALDO AT LARGE": The crowd is easy to mock. They are disorganized. They look funny. Some like the person putting the paper in front of the lens are aggressive, but they have a real, legitimate complaint deep down, and it is a message that I think will resonate eventually as people listen up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'REILLY: Here now is Mr. Rivera. Well, eventually has come and here you are.
RIVERA: I am.
O'REILLY: And it's not resonating and the people have turned against the movement.
RIVERA: I don't agree.
O'REILLY: You don't agree with the poll?
RIVERA: Well, I think the Quinnipiac poll can be read as saying that it's a virtual tie between those who are in favor and those who are opposed to "Occupy Wall Street" 39 to 30. That's pretty darn close.
O'REILLY: But the big swing. Well, look but the swing in a three-week time, I mean, from 58 percent down to 30 percent. That's a 28 percent…
RIVERA: Let's cut to my personal case. I deplore violence. I'm a cops man. I think that anyone who raises their hand to a police officer deserves to get the weight of the law thrown against them. These crazy people, there are crazy people everywhere. And indeed they are attracted, that's the Turk wrestling champion of Zuccotti Park right there pushing down the crazy guy. But he -- the fellow that got thrown down to the sidewalk as he should have been is a Clevelander who is mentally incompetent I am told. Inevitably when there is free food and lodging and social environment, homeless people or street people are attracted to it. They are not the majority. And I think the newspapers that are hyping the violence I think it is very unfortunate. They have already accomplished…
O'REILLY: It's not hyping the violence. This is what it is all about. Look, Geraldo, you've been around long enough to understand this. There's no central authority down there, and if you want to go down there and cause trouble you can and nobody is going to stop you.
RIVERA: As you can in Times Square or any place else.
O'REILLY: Yes, but they don't do it there because there isn't a shield to protect you.
RIVERA: But what's your big beef? Is it that their loitering?
O'REILLY: Here is my big beef. I'm glad you asked. Here is my big beef. All right? This whole movement has been hijacked by anarchists, communists, and crazy people. They dominate now. And the good, sincere protesters, and there were some, are afraid of them.
RIVERA: You know what strikes in my mind the phrase old foggy, because what you just said…
O'REILLY: Yes.
RIVERA: …was used time and time again against the anti-Vietnam war protesters.
O'REILLY: Oh stop it. Oh God.
RIVERA: You emphasize the people on the edges.
O'REILLY: So you're justifying all this violence now? You're justifying it.
RIVERA: I justify none. And you're putting words in my mouth and it's not appreciated. It's not true.
O'REILLY: If you weren't justifying it…
RIVERA: I said specifically that anyone who raises their hand to a police officer…
O'REILLY: It doesn't matter.
RIVERA: The reason that civil rights movement worked it was nonviolent. It was essentially not violent by good law-abiding people.
O'REILLY: And this is not non-violent.
RIVERA: It is essentially nonviolent.
O'REILLY: No it is not.
RIVERA: I only know Zuccotti Park. I have been down there far more often than even your producers…
O'REILLY: You can't see the pictures out of California?
RIVERA: I see the pictures out of Oakland, California. I lament it and I believe that to a certain extent the G-20 type anarchists took over in Oakland.
O'REILLY: That's just what I said.
RIVERA: That happened in one night and it happened I think…
O'REILLY: It happened in Denver. It's happened in Texas.
RIVERA: Come to the home port of "Occupy Wall Street," Zuccotti Park, downtown, New York and look at what these young people, largely young people who are frustrated by not only the fact that the fat cats got off scot-free and took their hundreds of millions of dollar bonuses back home to Greenwich, Connecticut, and none of them were prosecuted for what were some of the most egregious crimes that accelerated and exacerbated our economic decline.
O'REILLY: Well I -- look, look.
RIVERA: Here is what they have already accomplished. They brought more attention to the economic disparity, the growing income gap in this country than any political force has. President Obama has now suggested that he will pass a holiday on student loans that will limit the student loan repayment to 10 percent of the discretionary income of the borrower. So when a kid is graduating with $25,000 in student loans facing this uncertain job market, he gets a break.
O'REILLY: And who pays for that in the long run?
RIVERA: That's a good -- that's a good -- but isn't that a nice thing? Isn't that a good thing? And tomorrow…
O'REILLY: Hold it, hold it. I just gave you two minutes. Now you are going to listen to me. All right.
RIVERA: I have another point, so I reserve my right of rebuttal.
O'REILLY: OK, here you go. Here you go, OK. You just said that Wall Street fat cats got away with crimes. OK.
RIVERA: Don't you agree with that?
O'REILLY: No, I don't because there is no crime, and if there were…
RIVERA: It's no crime to bundle subprime mortgages and sell them as AAA securities?
O'REILLY: No. There isn't. It isn't on the books. And if it was on the books what are Obama and Holder doing about it? They have been in office for three years. So the occupiers should be marching on the White House and the Justice Department if what you say is true. Not terrorizing citizens down in lower Manhattan. If what you say is true, that these people weren't prosecuted by the government and should have been, then all of these people should be after Obama and Holder, right?
RIVERA: I think that…
O'REILLY: Right?
RIVERA: I think that the script has not yet been written, the final chapter of what happens and the people who can be held responsible.
O'REILLY: You made the statement that they got away with crimes.
RIVERA: They are so far absolutely getting away with, I think, a crime against the economy of their country.
O'REILLY: Well they had three years the Obama administration to prosecute and they haven't prosecuted any of them.
RIVERA: I believe that the Congress is dysfunctional and I believe the president and the Congress are…
O'REILLY: No, no. It's the Justice Department. They bring the cases. Congress doesn't bring the cases.
RIVERA: The cases are not yet all brought that will be brought and a lot of…
O'REILLY: Oh, stop. Come on.
RIVERA: We need the Volcker rule, we need a lot of -- here, tomorrow, there is a bank transfer day. This is a concrete day. They are saying take your money out of Bank of America, take your money out of JP Morgan Chase. Take your money out of these big banks and put them in small credit unions. What if that comes out to tens of millions of dollars in bank transfers.
O'REILLY: You know what, I've got to go. I've got to go. Nobody is going to do that. No. 1, those people don't have any money. And nobody is going to listen to them because they lost credibility.
RIVERA: Well, let's -- let your viewers watch the news on Sunday and see what they did on Saturday.
O'REILLY: All right. Watch Geraldo and if he gets wind of any transfer he'll let you know.
RIVERA: I will indeed. I will transfer from O'Reilly to me.
O'REILLY: Good.
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