Transcript: Liberal Hollywood Backlash

This is a partial transcript from "The O'Reilly Factor," July 13, 2004 that has been edited for clarity.


BILL O'REILLY, HOST: "FACTOR Follow-Up" segment tonight: The coarseness of anti-Bush criticism at the Kerry fundraiser in New York last week has disgusted many Americans, including actor Ron Silver, a Democrat himself, who joins us now from Los Angeles.

Well, this is it for you. Your career is over here, Mr. Silver. You know that.

RON SILVER, ACTOR: Thanks a lot. I really appreciate that.

O'REILLY: How do you see this whole coarsening of the debate deal?

SILVER: Well, it's very, very disappointing, and I'm very disappointed that the party is letting it get out of hand to the extent that it has. There's an obsessive demeaning caricature of the president and of the policies.

And you know, Henry Kissinger once said that the academic disputes are so bitter because the stakes are so low. But now the stakes are so high that what we really need is a healthy, candid, honest and serious debate about where this country's going. And I'm positive -- or at least I'm confident and I hope -- that John Kerry does not think that the president is a thug, a killer ...

O'REILLY: No, he doesn't.

SILVER: ... a liar who has betrayed this country.

O'REILLY: He doesn't. And Edwards doesn't either. And they...

SILVER: I wish he would disassociate himself from those remarks.

O'REILLY: Right. They were put in a very, very difficult position.


O'REILLY: And I mean, I would have done what Bill Clinton did with Sister Souljah...


O'REILLY: ...and that's say, look, I don't buy into any of this. But again, he's -- you know, Kerry is depending upon these people to raise money, to raise $7.5 million for him.


O'REILLY: And so, he's there. If it were me, I would have said enough of this. Stop it right away. I wouldn't have let Whoopi Goldberg go out there with a bottle of wine in her hand.

SILVER: Well, without getting into specifics...

O'REILLY: That's not where I want to be...

SILVER: I mean, you can release the tape so the rest of us know what all the fuss is about.

O'REILLY: Well, yes, they're not going to release it.

SILVER: I'd like to know what the heart and soul is of...

O'REILLY: Well, you know what's going to happen? Michael Moore will get the tape. And he'll make another documentary about how...

SILVER: Well, that's another thing: They should disassociate themselves from Michael Moore. Not one Democrat to my knowledge has come out and said we really disassociate ourselves...

O'REILLY: Well, the democratic press has.


O'REILLY: Richard Cohen of "The Washington Post" has.

SILVER: Yes, that's great.

O'REILLY: And so, the journalists on the left have been fairly honest about it. Not all of them, but a lot of them.

But you're right, all the Hollywood pinheads who ran in there and jumping up and down. But here's my problem, Mr. Silver, and maybe you can help me with this because you know these people. A lot of these people don't have a frame of reference. They don't know what's true and what isn't true.

I mean, we just had a debate here with a gentleman I respect, but he didn't know that one of the judges dissenting in Massachusetts was a lesbian who said her own colleagues found a loophole. He didn't know that.

SILVER: Well, part of the problem, Bill, I really think is that there's such an obsessive, demeaning caricature and such a visceral dislike of this administration and this president -- not just his policies -- that it's really blinded them to have any sort of honest conversation, a compromise, or discussion about the issues.

And it's unfortunate because using this type of rhetoric boxes his critics into a position where they cannot agree with him even when they agree with what he's saying.

O'REILLY: Yes, I know, and it also backlashes...

SILVER: The president has said there's a dysfunction in the Middle East due to a deficit of democracy. He said our policies have been wrong for years. I mean, this president is a revolutionary liberal that they cannot come to see.

O'REILLY: Now, what's the genesis for the hatred?

SILVER: He's very much of the line of Wilson, Roosevelt, Truman, Reagan, John Kennedy, and they can't bring themselves to see it because there's such an obsessive demeaning caricature.

O'REILLY: OK, but what's the genesis of the obsession? Why do they dislike him so much?

SILVER: Oh, boy, you're asking me for a psychological explanation? I don't know I'm qualified to give it.

I think there is still a tremendous amount of residual dislike from the way the 2000 election turned out. I think there is a dislike of his persona. A lot of these people feel very snobbishly superior to the president and the people he represents.

You know, there's an odd thing. There's intellectuals, and a lot of people in my community, there's nothing they like better than feeling that they represent the people. And as a rule, nothing is further from the truth. And I don't want to go beyond that, because I think it would take a psychologist to understand the depth of this hatred.

There's no conversation to be had out here. If I say to somebody at a dinner party, I don't think getting rid of Hussein or going into Iraq was done carelessly or capriciously, they say to me, you're kidding, you're out of your mind, or kind of leave the party.

O'REILLY: But do they know what capriciously means? I'm not saying that to be sarcastic. Just going back to my original point here.

SILVER: Bill, people out here are very smart.

O'REILLY: OK. I'll take your word for it. But some of the people that I've spoken to in the show biz community simply didn't have any frame of reference at all about things. It was more of a pack mentality.

Hey, Mr. Silver, it's always good to talk with you. We appreciate it. You're welcome anytime. Thanks a lot.

SILVER: Good to see you, Bill.
