J$P Instant Transcript! Bill O'Reilly talks to Eric Burns about News Watch panelist Neal Gabler.

From The O'Reilly Factor, February 20 2006:

BILL O'REILLY [FOX NEWS]: There are all kinds of irresponsible statements being made about the Vice-President, one of which occurred this weekend on the Fox News program, News Watch:

[VIDEO] NEAL GABLER: This could be a conspiracy, and in this very sense. Look at what this did. This got Abu Ghraib off the front pages. It got Chertoff off the front pages. While we're here talking about the idiocy of him shooting his friend, we're not talking about the major, major problems that this administration is having. That clever PR, that's not bad PR.

O'REILLY: Now Gabler was referring to a conspiracy theory on one of those nutty far-left blogs. Joining us now from the Factor's New York studios, Eric Burns, host of the News Watch program. Hey Eric, you've got to come down on this Gabler guy. I mean, he's just out of control, and I'll tell you why. Your program is a watchdog program of the media. And here you have Gabler picking up a far-left blog, an idiot conspiracy theory, spitting it out there. And you guys sit there, not just you but everybody else, like Humpty-Dumpty. What's going on?

ERIC BURNS [FOX NEWS]: Now Bill, if you would have continued to play the clip you would've seen what the problem was. The problem was we were up against a commercial break. Jim Pinkerton jumped in at that moment to take issue with him, and Neal went back and forth with him very briefly. We were running overtime, and I had to jump in.

O'REILLY: But didn't you say, when you came back--listen, I'm up against the breaks all the time. And it's electronic breaks so people know, we have to hit them, or we go off the air. But look, you should've come back and said to Gabler, look. This is a watchdog program. I like your program, Eric. I think you do a nice job, all right? But you got a guy like Gabler, and this is the second time this guy did this. The first time he smeared me about the Christmas controversy. We called him up, he's too cowardly to come on. You let him slide with that. And now you got him coming in here with this insane conspiracy thing. And I'm watching Fox News because I think Fox News is tough on these things. It's not a left-wing blog, all right? And you let this guy get away with it, and you shouldn't have.

BURNS: No, you're telling me that I let him get away with it, Bill. He's not my responsibility.

O'REILLY: You're the host.

BURNS: No no, but look. What's different between my show and your show is, I've got four people on my program. And I will tell you that in both cases, both of the cases you referred to, at least two of the others and maybe three, were ready to jump in. As a matter of fact, on the comment he made about you being, what did he say, a demagogue or demigod--

O'REILLY: Yeah, the usual personal attacks that this guy traffics in all the time.

BURNS: --I forget who it was, but somebody jumped in there. There was no way to jump in, in this case, and in fact because we have a produced open for the second segment, I can't come back to the topic.

O'REILLY: Don't you understand? Don't you understand? I would've edited it, to tell the truth. I would've edited that out. Because look, here's the danger. Here's the danger. This guy Gabler, who you shouldn't have on your program by the way, and I don't run Fox News but I'd fire him in a heartbeat, and I'd bring in a responsible person, he traffics in personal attacks this guy. He brings in insane stuff. Your show is supposed to be the watchdog of the media, and then you have a rabid dog in there. And it's just not playing.

BURNS: Look, Bill. If the purpose of my being here is for you to tell me that I should host the show differently, that's something we can discuss at some other point. But my inability, not my unwillingness, to discuss this with him, because let me tell you that I disagree with that comment. Neal knows I disagree with him.

O'REILLY: But do you think it's fair to Cheney? Do you think it's fair to Cheney, or anybody, to have a guy like Gabler say it's a conspiracy theory, all right, with no evidence at all, on the Fox News Channel?

BURNS: Well, but look at how you've reacted? Look at how several sites have reacted, without my having to come in and point out that I thought this was an error, again, without my having the ability, because of time, to jump in. A lot of people jumped on it, Bill.

O'REILLY: All right, but I don't want to give you a hard time, Eric.

BURNS: Yes you do, and that's why I'm here.

O'REILLY: No I don't. I don't want to give you a hard time. I think you do a good job, but I think you let this guy slide, and I don't think he should be on the show.

BURNS: He did--

O'REILLY: I think he forfeits his--and I'm going to say this about George Clooney coming up in a segment a couple down the road here--once you get into the lunatic fringe and the personal attacks, Eric, once you do that, reasonable people aren't going to--what's the point? I don't know the point of this guy?

BURNS: The point of his statement, Bill, I cannot defend. I think to imply that the reason--and this is what Neal meant to say--the reason there was something like an 18-hour gap was that people were cogitating and thinking, well this is a way to annoy the press. If the press gets annoyed, they will cover their annoyance. I think that is giving much too much credit or blame, however you want to look at it, to Cheney. It simply wasn't the kind of thing I could do on that show because we were up against time. And Bill, listen. You think it was an irresponsible statement? A lot of people, including you right now, have had the chance to point that out.

O'REILLY: Well, that's good. But I'm looking out for you, Eric. I want your show to be the best it can be, just like the Army, all right?

BURNS: Bill, I'm glad you feel that way.

O'REILLY: Thanks for coming on, we appreciate it.