Fox News Network
September 4, 2008
 
Joining us now from St. Paul is the confrontational Newt Gingrich. You know, I know Ron Allen. I mean, he's - I think he's a pretty good reporter. I know he asked you that question because it was an obvious question to ask. But you're right, NBC News is the worst. That whole culture over there is let's elect Barack Obama. And the Republicans don't know what they're doing, and they're all idiots. However, I was surprised to see you on nationwide TV go after him.
 
NEWT GINGRICH: Well, I didn't go after him. I went after the core of his question. Here you have all the elite media, none of whom want to go out and look at the terrorist William Ayers $49 million foundation, which a week ago finally released 7000 or 8000 pages of documents about the period when, by the way, Barack Obama
was the chairman of their board, although he can't remember it. None of them want to look at the fact that Governor Palin heads a state whose budget is $11 billion with 15,000 employees, while the Obama and Biden offices have $4.6 million budgets and about 60 employees.
 
And I just decided this one-sided notion that, you know, writing an autobiography, showing up on a talk show, and voting counts as experience. But that being a mayor of a city doesn't count, being the governor of a state doesn't count, being the head of the Alaska National Guard doesn't count.
 
And by the way, in the Swarning (ph) Rasmussen polling, 39 percent of the country agrees that she's more qualified than Obama. Only 49 percent think that Obama's more qualified. And this guy's had from the Democratic convention of 2004, through Oprah's introduction of him to the country, through 19 months of campaigning. And what you come down to is in six days, she's almost tying him in who's most qualified to be commander in chief?
 
O'REILLY: OK. And also in the same poll we just cited, 51percent think the press has been unfair to Sarah Palin.
Just for your information, I do ask Barack Obama about Ayers and the Woods Foundation. And it is very interesting. And that will be on Tuesday, next Tuesday. Not only do I ask him about that, but I asked him about all of those guys in Chicago. And I tick them off one by one. So that'll be on the record. And you'll enjoy it.
 
And I have to say that Senator Obama throughout the whole interview was straightforward. And it's going to be fascinating for people to see it.
 
Now, when you get in a position where the country now is starting to wise up, when Rasmussen puts out a poll, 51 percent of Americans say the press is trying to get Barack Obama
elected, the mainstream media.
 
Now you're starting to see an anger. It's all -- it was in the Republican precincts for a long time. Now it's breaking out of that. As I said to the ladies, it builds a fire wall around Governor Palin, because now it's going to be harder to do this to her. And it does benefit John McCain. So maybe the arc is swinging.
 
The second question is I think it's legitimate to ask about Governor Palin's credentials and resume. I think that's a legitimate question if you do it in a fair way.
 
GINGRICH: Of course, it is. If the reporter said to me tell me what her credentials are, I'd have answered him in a very pleasant and civil manner. But I think what's happening is those of us who live through the effort by the elites to destroy Clarence Thomas because he was a threat to have an African-American conservative justice, we've seen this game plan before. We saw it done to Robert Bork. We understand how the left operates. And they know that Governor Palin is a mortal threat to their right to be the legitimizers of what it means to be an active woman. If you can have a mother of five, professional woman, who's intelligent and articulate, who is a life member of NRA, who is right to live, who is a successful governor, if she survives as you pointed out in the last segment, as a genuine national figure and a real star in her own right, then the left suddenly has an enormous problem beyond losing the election, which is what'll happen. If she's vibrant as a star in October, they will lose this election. But beyond that, at 44 years of age, she represents 30 years of continuing reshaping of America with the kind of pulpit she'll have.
 
O'REILLY: Well, that's why Gloria Steinem wrote a column today. Did you see that?
 
GINGRICH: No, I didn't see it.
 
O'REILLY: Oh, oh.
 
GINGRICH: I confess.
 
O'REILLY: Because there's absolutely - now there's a culture war between women. You know, now Sarah Palin elevates traditional thinking women to the status of Gloria Steinem.
 
GINGRICH: Right, exactly.
 
O'REILLY: They're equal. And now, both sides have to be heard. And you know, they don't like that. So that - there's so many things that play in this election now. Isn't it fascinating how it turned from McCain versus Obama on - we're going to deal with national security tonight, to a whole bunch of cultural war issues as well?
 
GINGRICH: Well, I think what John McCain did brilliantly on Friday is he introduced a totally new dynamic and a totally new story. And I think it is going to play out over the next 60 days with remarkable effectiveness.
 
O'REILLY: All right, Mr. Speaker, thanks very much. We appreciate it.