Kinky on O'Reilly Factor (March 31)

BILL O'REILLY, HOST: "The O'Reilly Factor" is on. Tonight, Reverend Jeremiah Wright returns to Chicago and they love him.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We love you. We thank God for you.

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O'REILLY: We will show you what happened.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So do you have anything to say to the victims of these child rapists that you know.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's a ridiculous question.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's so ridiculous about it?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely absurd question for you to ask me.

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O'REILLY: This man is preventing folks in Massachusetts from voting on Jessica's Law. We confront him.

And you can believe what happened to Priscilla Presley's face? We'll try to get to the bottom of this bizarre story. Caution, you are about to enter the no spin zone. "The Factor" begins right now.

Hi, I'm Bill O'Reilly. Thank you for watching us tonight. The comeback of Barack Obama, that is the subject of this evening's "Talking Points Memo." While getting some R and R in Florida last week, I noticed something interesting. Some newspaper columnists all in the tank for Senator Obama wrote pretty much the same thing.
Hillary Clinton can't win and is hurting the Democratic party by staying in the race. Is it a coincidence that Eugene Robinson of the "The Washington Post," Nicholas Kristof of "The New York Times" and today Jay Bookman of "The Atlanta Journal Constitution" would all publish the same message? Maybe, but these guys are heavily invested in getting Senator Obama
elected president, so there's doubt.

"Talking Points" believes the Obama campaign, sensing weakness after Hillary's embarrassing Bosnia misstatement, may have reached out as they say in California to their embedded people in the media. Of course, Robinson, Kristof, and Bookman were more than happy to oblige.

The Obama campaign denies doing this. And it may have been done informally. The Clinton campaign says there's no doubt somebody did it.

Now by pounding home the message that Hillary Clinton can't win the nomination and is harming her own party, the Obama people put Hillary on the defensive, possibly suppress the vote in Pennsylvania, and ramp up the alleged selfishness of the Clintons. Of course, to get that message out you need help. And the Obama people have it. Not only from shady columnists, but also from powerful politicians like Senator Patrick Leahy.

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SEN. PAT LEAHY
PAT LEAHY -(D), VERMONT: There is no way that Senator Clinton is going to win enough delegates to get the nomination. She ought to withdraw and she ought to be backing Senator Obama. Now obviously that a decision that only she can make. Frankly, I feel that she would have a tremendous career in the Senate."

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O'REILLY: So how did the Clintons respond? Well, they really can't. She is behind in the popular vote and the national polls. Just today, a new Gallup survey has Obama leading Hillary 52, 42, the biggest margin yet.

So what can Senator Clinton say to that? Nothing.

Finally, opinion writers and broadcasters have the right to favor certain candidates. And that's fine if they're upfront about it. But no journalist should be taking marching orders from any campaign.

You may remember that Dan Rather accused FOX News of receiving Republican talking points. I challenged Rather to back that up, but he could not. He did say, however, he would appear on "The Factor" to make his case. After two years and counting, we're still waiting, Dan.

There's no doubt that Barack Obama is a favorite of many media outlets. Hillary Clinton must be stunned that so many of her former supporters have dumped her for the new kid on the block. But that new kid is he running a shrewd campaign and has a lot help doing it. And that's the Memo.

Now for the top story tonight, reaction to this from our two campaign watchers, FOX news analyst Juan Williams in Washington and man about the country Kinky Friedman in Austin, Texas.

Is this a dirty trick? Say the Obama people put out the word, the word, Kinky, that this is what we want our guys to say on TV and write in the newspaper? Would that be a dirty trick in your opinion?

KINKY FRIEDMAN, COWBOY PHILOSOPHER: No it is not a dirty trick. It's politics, Bill. Poly, more than one, tics, blood sucking parasites. That's what politics is. But Bill, I think that Hillary is a fighter. And I don't think you ask a fighter to throw the fight. I think it is good for the Republicans that she stays in, but it's also good for the Democrats and it's good for the country.

O'REILLY: Well, how is it good for the Democrats if they claw each other to death for the next five months?

FRIEDMAN: No, they're not going to do that. We might just find out who would be the better president. I mean, that's why Tom Brady was picked number 76 in the draft, you know, because it takes a while. When I ran for governor in Texas, they tried to fat arm me out of the race. And I thought it was really arrogant. It's an arrogant thing to do to say you can't win.

O'REILLY: All right, so you say that it's politics as usual because it is a good strategy, Juan. And here's why it's a good strategy. If the Obama people, and they do, there's no question the three columnists that I named are in the tank for Obama and they there are people at NBC News who every day push and push and push, if they can get the message out to the undecided voters in Pennsylvania and the other primary states, look this woman is selfish, she's hurting the party, it's all over, she's staying in for a vanity run, that is effective strategy, is it not?

JUAN WILLIAMS, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Oh, yes, it is. And remember, Hillary Clinton has high negatives. And so, playing on the idea that the Clintons feel entitled to go back to something Bill Richardson, the governor of New Mexico, said when he endorsed Obama to go to the idea that they're conceited or selfish, my gosh, that plays on a lot of perceptions that have been floating out there anyway. So I think it's a really smart strategy on the part of the Obama people.

But as to the reality, is there any reality that Hillary Clinton's about to get out? No. Because the super delegates are still there. You still got 300 there. Now Howard Dean, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, says he wants this settled by July 1st. He's got no way to do it. Phil Bredesen, the governor of Tennessee, says let's get together and have a sort of mini convention of the super delegates. Again, no way to enforce it.But they're all putting pressure on Hillary Clinton. Although I got to tell you, I saw a great quote over the weekend from Ed Rendell, the governor of Pennsylvania. He said flip it. Let's flip it and imagine that Hillary Clinton was in the lead by less than 1 percent of the popular vote and only by 100 delegates and people were saying to Barack Obama get out. According to Ed Rendell, the reaction would be how condescending, how racist. And Hillary Clinton, she's not even playing...

O'REILLY: Well, she's -- look, the Obama campaign knows she's not going to get out, but...

WILLIAMS: No, she's saying...

O'REILLY: They're doing this is a strategy. They want to suppress...

WILLIAMS: She's saying the boys are bullying her.

O'REILLY: Oh, that's bull.

WILLIAMS: If you want to believe that the bulls...

O'REILLY: Come on. There's no bullying. I mean, she -- it didn't matter who she is if they think they can hurt her among the Independents.

WILLIAMS: Exactly.

O'REILLY: Is this a dirty trick, Juan? Is it a dirty trick?

WILLIAMS: No. I think it's politics.

O'REILLY: OK.

WILLIAMS: I think what Kinky said is right.

O'REILLY: So both of you agree, no dirty tricks.

WILLIAMS: They're using the media. I'll tell you the dirty trick is the media deciding that they want Barack Obama so much that they're not going to be fair. I don't think -- that's not what they should be doing.

O'REILLY: OK, now Kinky, do you trust the media at all ? Do you have any -- look, you're an entertainer and you were a politician, do you trust the media at all? Do you have any faith in the American media.

FRIEDMAN: No.

O'REILLY: None?

FRIEDMAN: No, no. That was a quickie.

O'REILLY: OK.

FRIEDMAN: No, I don't. I don't. I mean, I really don't.

O'REILLY: Do you want to explain to the folks why you, Kinky Friedman, do not trust me, Bill O'Reilly and the rest of the media?

FRIEDMAN: Now well, Bill, in your case, I have found you to be somebody that really listens with your heart. I expected you to be worse than this. And that's why I brought along a little Mexican mouth wash in case it gets animated.

O'REILLY: In case I worked you over tonight. I understand.

FRIEDMAN: No, but Juan and I have had a very humanizing effect on you. I'll tell you what. I've been meaning to say this what I like about Juan is you cannot tell whether Juan is liberal or conservative. I mean he's got a very...

O'REILLY: No, you can.

FRIEDMAN: ...even mindedness.

O'REILLY: If you just see who he has dinner with, you know right away.

FRIEDMAN: No, no.

O'REILLY: But just give us a quick why you don't trust the media, Kinky.

FRIEDMAN: I don't trust the media. They were nasty to me when I ran for governor. The Texas media didn't understand what the international media did, what a great progressive step for Texas we could have if I were elected governor.

O'REILLY: OK, so it's a personal thing with you...

FRIEDMAN: Obsessed -- it's a personal petty thing on my part.

O'REILLY: OK. And me, too. I have to say that the way that I've been treated by the media has tainted my view of them.

FRIEDMAN: Oh, but Bill, but you enjoy it.

O'REILLY: Juan, do you -- yeah. It's a lot of laughs. Juan, do you trust the media even though you're part of it? Do you trust it?

WILLIAMS: No, because I see too often the kind of things that go on, the kind of conversations. You know, I mean, it's incredible to me when you look at the treatment of Hillary Clinton in this campaign. And I thought the Clinton machine was really going to be determined -- it was going to force Hillary Clinton into victory. But what we've seen here is that Barack Obama has bought into the media machine. And, you know, you might like Barack Obama.
You might want him to win. But do you want him to win this way with the media?

O'REILLY: Yes, no I agree with you that I think it's the most corrupt media in the history of the United States now is the nadir of the media. Gentlemen, as always, thanks very much. Easy on the mouth wash there, Kinky.

Next on the rundown, Reverend Wright returns to Chicago. We will show you the delirious reception he received. And then, Dennis Miller red hot on politics upcoming.