This is a partial transcript from The O'Reilly Factor, January 28, 2004.
Watch The O'Reilly Factor weeknights at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. ET and listen to the Radio Factor!
BILL O'REILLY, HOST: In the "Personal story" segment tonight, former New York City Mayor Ed Koch (search) has been a Democrat for more than 50 years, but he says next fall he'll be voting for President Bush. The mayor joins us now.
I was surprised to hear that.
ED KOCH, FMR. NEW YORK CITY MAYOR: Well, I think most people are.
O'REILLY: Yes.
KOCH: And I came to that conclusion about a year or so ago. And it is basically because all of the Democratic contenders seeking to run for president, with the exception of Joe Lieberman (search) who doesn't have a chance in the world of succeeding there, they all have decided that they would play to the left and decry all of our efforts to take on terrorism and Saddam Hussein (search). And I believe that the president when he made that ringing statement which created the Bush Doctrine that he will go after the terrorists and the countries that harbor them, that he issued a statement which is as important as the Monroe Doctrine (search), the Truman Doctrine (search) -- the Monroe Doctrine case, keep all foreign countries out of the -- the Western hemisphere, and, in the case of the Truman Doctrine, to contain communism.
O'REILLY: OK. So you were very...
KOCH: The Bush Doctrine is very important.
O'REILLY: You believe in the war on terror the way he's fighting it.
Weapons of mass destruction debacle? That...
KOCH: It's not a debacle at all. I think it's so ridiculous to look at it that way. It happens that Mr. Kay -- Dr. Kay is it?
O'REILLY: Right.
KOCH: ... in fact, substantiates not that there are necessarily weapons of mass destruction there, but it was appropriate to think that they were there...
O'REILLY: Yes, I agree with that.
KOCH: ... and if they are there or Saddam Hussein conveys that he will use them as he has used them in the past when he killed 5,000 of his own Kurdish Iraqi and thousands more of the Iranian troops...
O'REILLY: But, you know, they had ricin there. I mean it's certainly enough. But, be that as it may, the intelligence was faulty.
KOCH: Well, then blame the intelligence people. I think...
O'REILLY: Should Bush fire [CIA Director George] Tenet then?
KOCH: I would, yes.
O'REILLY: I would, too.
KOCH: But the fact is that there is now an ongoing hearing, and Tenet is going to be required to testify, I think, in February.
And I, by the way, don't agree with President Bush on a single domestic issue.
O'REILLY: But you think this is so important for the country.
KOCH: Overriding.
O'REILLY: Right.
KOCH: I mean the fact is that if you can't feel secure...
O'REILLY: Absolutely.
KOCH: ... then nothing else is important.
O'REILLY: The Democrats are taking an internationalist tact. You know that. I mean Kerry and...
KOCH: Isolationist.
O'REILLY: I don't think it's isolationist so much. They want a consensus before they act overseas.
KOCH: Let me just say the people who are against Bush -- I mean they're running for president, these people, so they have to be critical, but I believe that the people who are against Bush and the major sector of the Democrats who favor Kerry and the others do it because they hate Bush. It has...
O'REILLY: No, they...
KOCH: I mean it's like they hated Reagan. I didn't vote for Reagan, and I didn't vote for Bush, but the lack of respect for the country, for the presidency -- it offends me.
O'REILLY: It offends me, too. The lack of respect for the Office of the Presidency...
KOCH: Yes.
O'REILLY: ... calling him a liar and all this other stuff.
KOCH: I think it's an outrage.
O'REILLY: It -- and that's why Howard Dean blew up, because people saw what he was doing, how petty he was, and how demeaning he was.
Last question for you. Are your friends mad at you? I mean you hang with a pretty...
KOCH: Yes.
O'REILLY: ... you know, left-wing crowd here, you know.
KOCH: Well, I'm left wing. I...
O'REILLY: I know...
KOCH: But I'm a liberal...
O'REILLY: ... and you...
KOCH: I'm a liberal with sanity, and I have never hesitated to do what I thought was in the best interests of the country.
O'REILLY: But some of your friends -- are they throwing Chinese food at you or what? What are they doing?
KOCH: Actually, I'm trying to convert them.
O'REILLY: Giuliani -- could he beat Hillary for Senate if he...
KOCH: I hope not. He's a mean-spirited guy. I like Hillary, and I think that...
O'REILLY: Could -- yes, but could he beat her?
KOCH: Of course. Anybody can be beaten. Bush can be beaten, but I hope he isn't and I intend to...
O'REILLY: Because I think Giuliani has his eye on either the governorship or the Senate, and...
KOCH: He's got his eye on the presidency ultimately.
O'REILLY: Yes, he does. Very astute, Mr. Mayor, which is why we have you here. And we are going to have the Mayor Giuliani also next week, I believe, and we...
KOCH: Yes, he can be very charming.
O'REILLY: Listen, he did a good job in Manhattan, I'll tell you.'KOCH: He was -- listen, he was a fine mayor...
O'REILLY: Right.
KOCH: ... except that he was mean-spirited.
O'REILLY: All right. And that's never been said about you except when you make fun of me. Ed Koch, thanks for coming in. We appreciate it.
Copy: Content and Programming Copyright 2004 Fox News Network, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Transcription Copyright 2004 eMediaMillWorks, Inc. (f/k/a Federal Document Clearing House, Inc.), 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, Inc.'s and eMediaMillWorks, 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