It was a line Obama never got tired of. Most infamously, he used it during an anti-war rally at Chicago’s Federal Plaza in October 2002: “I don’t oppose all wars,” the state senator said as President Bush was preparing to attack Saddam Hussein. “What I am opposed to is a dumb war.”

Obama accused “political hacks like Karl Rove” of launching the Iraq War for the purpose of distracting Americans from their economic hardships.

by OutloudOpinion.com For more Podcasts visit www.outloudopinion.com

Karl Rove’s political street cred is beyond dispute. He’s the guru who, to the dismay of Democrats and liberals still clinging to their hanging chads, guided that cowboy from Texas, George W. Bush, to the White House — twice. When he speaks, people listen.

Brought to you by GoToAssist.com/techpodcast

by OutloudOpinion.com For more Podcasts visit www.outloudopinion.com

As he attacked Burkman, the MSNBC host smeared Tea Party activists generally as promoting "nonsensical, virulent, uneducated hatred." Olbermann: "For the second time in three days, a hardline GOP stalwart managed to get fed up with the nonsensical, virulent, uneducated hatred pushed by one of these flip Tea Party types, and he called BS on it. The first was Karl Rove wigging out over the lump of dumb and judgmental that is Christine O’Donnell."

Below is a transcript of the relevant portion of the Friday, September 17, Countdown show on MSNBC:

KEITH OLBERMANN: And our winner, Jack Burkman, a self-described Republican political strategist. This is less about him than it is about what he precipitated on Fixed News. For the second time in three days, a hardline GOP stalwart managed to get fed up with the nonsensical, virulent, uneducated hatred pushed by one of these flip Tea Party types, and he called BS on it. The first was Karl Rove wigging out over the lump of dumb and judgmental that is Christine O’Donnell. But now, it’s former New York Republican Senator Al D’Amato, no shrinking violet he, only he literally called BS on this Burkman.

JACK BURKMAN, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST, ON FBN, CLIP #1: Most of these guys working in the post office should be driving cabs, and I think we should stop importing labor from Nigeria and Ethiopia. That’s about the skill level.

BURKMAN CLIP #2: That is why I allege they should be bumped down to driving cabs and we should stop importing labor to drive cabs.

FORMER SENATOR AL D’AMATO (R-NY): You are a nasty racist when you bring in the race-

BURKMAN: That’s crazy.

D’AMATO CLIP #1: Well, I’m going to just make my observation. I have a right to do it. You brought in the fact there’s a bunch of Nigerians.

D’AMATO CLIP #2: Let me just tell you, that’s a bunch of bull [BLEEP]. And you should be ashamed of yourself and have your mouth washed out. What the hell are you talking about? It’s one thing to say that they’re out of control – wait a minute, you shut up! I listened to your racist bull [BLEEP]. It’s one thing to say that they’re hiring people who are unskilled, that you can save money, that you can run it better, that it is inefficient, ineffective, and I agree to all of those things. But for you to bring in this bull [BLEEP] about, oh, a bunch of Nigerians, etc., that’s out of line.

OLBERMANN: When Alfonse D’Amato, who once filibustered a bill killing off jobs in his state by singing the lyrics to South of the Border Down Mexico Way, when he is the voice of reason and introspection in the Republican party, when Al D’Amato is calling out the BS and the racists, all I can say is he’s right.

By the way, Christine O’Donnell. It comes to my attention, uh, Deb tells me that Christine O’Donnell is not married….she’s an unmarried woman. Hymen check! [plays popping noise] She’d better be a virgin! Right? With all this vitriol about sex and sexual thoughts and lust and not masturbating and it’s wrong and what am I doing in the room…

I know she had a boyfriend. I know she did because her then-boyfriend — then campaign manager — purchased her house when her house was in foreclosure for her! Uh, do you think he did it with lust in his heart?

Uh, I don’t know what his motivation was to overpay for the house. But he overpaid by about $35,000 to get campaign manager, who is buying her house today – so, I would like to, you know, make sure she says who she says she is, and that the package of what you are buying is undamaged! Sounds kind of fundamentalist Islamic, doesn’t it?

It’s probably too much to expect this will cost Rhodes the kind of trouble she received for denouncing Hillary Clinton as a "big f—ing whore." That outburst cost her the Air America gig, before it sunk. Would Rhodes appreciate what an opposition-research team could report on her personal life?

Like many liberals, Rhodes rejoiced in the disapproval of Karl Rove, and then she turned around and mocked how Rove helped get that "draft-dodging drunk ex-coke freak" George W. Bush elected president twice:

Karl Rove does not like Christine O’Donnell; I don’t know what the deal is. I’m not sure why this uh would be; but he really hates her. I mean, he’s on the air giving everybody everything what they need to actually say congratulations to uh you know Senator Chris uh, uh, uh — I just blanked out on his name. Chris — Coons! Seriously, I mean, Senator Coons, you know, is a gimme now because the Republicans are eating their own! And uh, frankly, Karl Rove is leading the charge.

She wasn’t counting on the establishment in the general election for sure; but I mean, the way things are going, you can’t count anybody. You know, it’s going to be like a blowout. They don’t feel that she is fit for office. Karl Rove doesn’t feel she is fit! Remember, Karl Rove got a draft-dodging drunk ex-coke freak who couldn’t put a sentence together with a flashlight and two hands on a sunny day with a map. Couldn’t figure out Iraq was not Saudi Arabia, OK? He got him elected twice!

Rhodes dismissed all the conservative Republican women running for office as Palinesque opportunists who were only interested in cashing in:

They are all little Sarah Palin wanna-bes. They’re all opportunists. None of them have character, or sincerity, or truthfulness. None of them have the kind of fortitude to stand up against the lobbyists. They’re going to go in there and they are and make millions of dollars! And some of them will go in there and be one-termers and embarrass their party. But then they’ll go over to K Street and they’re set for life! Set for life! These women are opportunists; and the only reason they are being embraced by factions of America, which doesn’t like Americans, is because people are frustrated. And the only thing that the Republican Party and the Tea Party has offered is the acknowledgement that you are frustrated.

"This is probably one of the few times we’re going to disagree here."  — Sean Hannity to Karl Rove regarding Christine O’Donnell.

I’ll say. Even after Fox News called the Delaware GOP senatorial primary for Christine O’Donnell tonight, Karl Rove continued to rip the winner, questioning everything from O’Donnell’s "rectitude" to her "character."   Concluded the pessimistic Rove: "this is not a race we’re going to be able to win."

Sean defended O’Donnell staunchly, but was met with a litany of Roveian criticism of Christine, including these comments:

• "Her checkered background."
• "I’ve met her. I wasn’t frankly impressed."
• "Serious questions about how does she make her living, why did she mislead voters?"
• "[O'Donnell doesn't] evince the characteristics of rectitude and truthfulness and sincerity and character that voters are looking for."
• "A lot of nutty things she’s been saying that just simply don’t add up."
• "This is not a race we’re going to be able to win."
• "Serious character problems."
• "Somebody who says conservative things, but doesn’t have the character that the people of Delaware want."

Orszag is the eighteenth individual (that we know of) to transition between the White House and the mainstream press. He will surely not be the last. That amazingly high number again underscores the ideological similarities between members of the Obama administration and members of the press.

The New York Times Co. broke the news in a press release today:

"We welcome Peter Orszag’s expertise and insight to our Op-Ed lineup," said Andrew Rosenthal, editorial page editor of The New York Times. "As a Washington insider and one of the most recognizable names in economics, his writing will provide a unique perspective on the national landscape."

Mr. Orszag is a distinguished visiting fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. As President Barack Obama’s first budget director, he worked on the 2009 stimulus package and helped craft the health care legislation passed in 2010. He was an outspoken proponent of the idea that reducing health care costs would be key to maintaining the federal budget and preparing for the country’s economic future.

Presumably, the Times feels that Orszag can be a fair judge of economics – a field in which he is certainly proficient. Orszag’s partisan affiliations don’t seem to bother the Gray Lady.

That was a benefit of the doubt the paper would not afford to some Republican pols-turned-pundits. Take Karl Rove, for instance. After he took a gig with Fox News, the Times stated in a headline, "Rove as a pundit raises suspicions".

"Rove’s new role as a media star marks another step in the evolution of mainstream journalism," wrote Times reporters Jim Rutenberg and Jacques Steinberg, "where opinion, ’straight news’ reporting and unmistakable spin increasingly mingle, especially on television."

The Times has either adapted to this new reality, or was really only terribly concerned when Republicans spun the revolving door. We’ll leave that for you to decide.

From the Department Of People In Glass Houses . . .

Early in his MSNBC show this evening, Ed Schultz mocked Karl Rove’s performance in filling in for Rush Limbaugh today.  In particular, Schultz slammed Rove for his brief problem in providing the show’s call-in number.  

But later in the show, Ed himself ran head-first into a rhetorical roadblock, stumbling badly when it came to pronouncing the most famous name in the world of ocean studies: Cousteau.

ED SCHULTZ: And in Psycho Talk tonight, Karl Rove filled in for the Drugster [Schultz's nasty nickname for Rush] on his radio show today, and I think old Turd Blossom should probably stick to his day job across the street over at Fox . . . Rove’s debut as a radio host was a total disaster. Right off the bat he had a hell of a time finding the call-in number, even though it was right on the screen in front of him.

But later, it was Ed’s turn to pronounce a name so famous it’s the first one that comes up in Google search when you type in Jacques.  Here was Ed’s heroic struggle as he sought to introduce Phillipe, grandson of the famous oceanographer.

SCHULTZ:  Coming up . . . world-renowned environmental expert Philippe Castoo, Cas–, Coh-stow will join us, coming up here in just a moment. 

Give Phillipe credit for his French sang froid in–just–managing to suppress a smirk at poor Ed’s problems.

Note: Ed also let some professional jealousy creep into his roasting of Rove/Limbaugh. Schultz spoke sarcastically [longingly?] of "that high-impact, totally-entertaining, right-wing radio on five million stations across America that we just can’t live without."

What is going on within the White House Correspondents’ Association?

While some can argue they allowed embattled former Hearst Newspapers’ columnist Helen Thomas to hold a coveted position in the White House briefing room for far too long after she made some remarks to be considered anti-Semitic, there’s some other bizarre stories surfacing. Former Bush administration Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove, now a Fox News contributor, detailed an account of what he called a "homeless" reporter credentialed by the WHCA while he was at the White House.

Rove appeared on Fox News Channel’s June 7 "America Live" and explained what was going on within this division of the fourth estate. He explained it’s very tough for the White House to restrict who has access to the White House briefing room.

"Look a White House, regardless of which party is in control of the White House does not have complete control of who finds themselves in the White House press room," Rove said. "And she’s been antagonistic, as you say, to conservatives for many, many years. But that’s not the business of the White House to determine whether or not simply because they are antagonistic whether they have a role in the White House. If the Bush White House, for example, had made a move to discipline her or to expel her, there would have been a huge uproar from the White House press corps itself, the White House Correspondents’ Association."

And Rove offered up some bizarre evidence as proof of the White House having very little control of the comings and goings of the White House press corps – the admission of what he called a "homeless" woman.

"We had a problem with a woman who I think was mentally ill, who is a minor player on the journalistic scene, who literally, the former chief of staff used to take her for cheeseburgers at McDonald’s in order to make sure she was fed," Rove said. "It seemed to be a homeless person and we couldn’t get her out of the White House press operation."

And according to Rove, any pushback on a member of the White House press corps would be met with resistance from the members, including Thomas who retired earlier today.

"I mean look, the White House press corps is very, very sensitive about who, about any pressure from the White House to tell them what or what cannot be done inside their little group," Rove said. "And so Helen Thomas I suspect over the years some found themselves in sympathy with what she said. I suspect some found themselves in disagreement, but all of them would ardently defend her right to say what she wanted until this bigoted and anti-Semitic comment, which was probably over the top for the Hearst Corporation as well as some of the White House press corps."

Karl Rove on Wednesday said the "man love" Time’s Joe Klein has for Barack Obama makes Chris Matthews’ adoration of the President pale by comparison.

As Rove’s radio interview with Sean Hannity began, the host told the former White House adviser, "You know, we now have guys like Joe Klein out there blaming George W. Bush for the oil spill."

Rove responded, "Joe Klein used to be a thoughtful person, and now he’s just got a reflexive hatred of George Bush, and, and he makes, he makes the man love he has for Barack Obama, it makes Chris Matthews’ man love for Obama pale in significance" (audio available here, partial transcript follows, h/t Weasel Zippers):

SEAN HANNITY: First of all, let me ask you this: You know, we now have guys like Joe Klein out there blaming George W. Bush for the oil spill.

KARL ROVE: You know, isn’t that sad? Joe Klein used to be a thoughtful person, and now he’s just got a reflexive hatred of George Bush, and, and he makes, he makes the man love he has for Barack Obama, it makes Chris Matthews’ man love for Obama pale in significance. I mean, it is just sad. It is sad. [...]

ROVE: The unhinged quality of a mind like, like Joe Klein who has to immediately blame anything upon George W. Bush. I mean, this ought not to be about blame. It ought to be about what is the President, what is President Obama supposed to be doing at this point, and is he doing what he ought to be doing. And I admit some of the criticism of him is unfair on this, but a lot of it is fair. And rather than acknowledging that, some people both inside the administration and obviously inside the cadre of people in the media who can find nothing wrong with Barack Obama have got to find a scapegoat someplace, and I guess the president who’s treated them with the silence of his, with the respect of his silence is the best person to dump on.

Readers are reminded that Klein said this past weekend, "[The oil spill] is more Bush’s second Katrina than Obama’s first."

Host Behar started the interview by asking Moore his views on former Democratic Congressman Eric Massa, who recently resigned amid charges that he sexually harassed male aides. Moore used the opportunity to bash gay Republicans as he praised the film Outrage which seeks to expose Republicans rumored to be gay. Moore:

I saw a great documentary this year – it didn`t get much distribution – it was called Outrage. … the filmmaker actually exposes the members of Congress who are gay but only exposes the ones who have voted against gay or HIV issues – in other words, the hypocrisy. … it`s a compelling movie, and actually Massa is a Democrat – 99 percent of these closeted gay members of Congress are Republicans.

Behar agreed that the film was a "great" documentary, and, after she recounted that some conservatives "embraced" Massa at first because he was attacking the Obama administration, Moore quipped, "I`m sure during the 24-hour embrace many of those Republicans enjoyed it."

As the discussion turned to President Obama’s continuation of the war in Afghanistan, Moore gave his view that the murder of almost 3,000 people in the 9/11 attacks should have been treated like a criminal act and handled by the justice system instead of through war, to Behar’s agreement:

MICHAEL MOORE: I just think, look, it`s best to treat people who commit murder like this as criminals.

JOY BEHAR: Right.

MOORE: That was our whole wrong approach to this. We treated it as a military operation when it should have been a criminal operation. You do what the Israelis do, you send in the Mossad, and you grab them and you bring them to justice. And that`s the end of that. And that’s, you know, well, I mean, after a trial and, you know, a jury verdict.

BEHAR: Of course. There has to be a trial.

The HLN host soon brought up former Bush advisor Karl Rove’s recent contention that American voters are "not easily misled," prompting Moore to suggest that President Bush and Rove fooled Americans because America is a "society of ignorant and illiterate people."

MOORE: The bad side of the coin is we have created a society of ignorant and illiterate people. Our schools have done this, our media has helped to contribute to this. We have 40 million adults in this country right now who are functional illiterates. That means they can`t read and write above a fourth grade-level. When you have a society that dumb, so to speak, that ignorant-

BEHAR: Well, ignorant, yeah.

MOORE: -that, well, dumb, I mean, dumb in the sense of-

BEHAR: Uneducated.

MOORE: -well, they`ve been kept that way.

BEHAR: Illiterate.

MOORE: I mean, it`s an enforced dumbness by a system that doesn`t value education that puts it low on the list of priorities.

Below is a transcript of relevant portions of the Thursday, March 11, Joy Behar Show on CNN Headline News:

JOY BEHAR: Just when you thought "Ticklegate" couldn`t get any worse, former Congressman Eric Massa is facing new allegations that years ago he climbed into a Navy shipmate`s bunk bed and tried to snorkel him. Creepy, right? I don`t even really know what it means. Here to talk about Massa-

MICHAEL MOORE, FILMMAKER: Don`t look at me. I went to the seminary. Oh, actually, that might indict me. How did I end up on this show?

BEHAR: Don`t say anything about the seminary.

MOORE: All right.

BEHAR: Okay, you know who he is, Oscar-winning filmmaker Michael Moore. All righty.

MOORE: Well, to be honest, I just did come from taking a shower with Rahm Emanuel.

BEHAR: Did you really?

MOORE: Yeah, and I want to say there was no finger poking or anything.

BEHAR: Nothing?

MOORE: He was a true gentleman. And, actually, he had the kind of soap that has the little speckles in it that gives you kind of the loofah effect while you’re sudsing so you don`t need a loofah. The guy is way ahead of his time.

BEHAR: Do you know what snorkeling is?

MOORE: I`ve never heard. I think it`s something you do in the Caribbean when you go on vacation.

BEHAR: I don`t think this particular type has anything to do with seeing a coral reef. I think it has some other meaning that people look, have to look up in the urban dictionary and then they`ll find out what it is.

MOORE: Yeah. Have you looked it up?

BEHAR: Someone did. Someone did on the staff.

MOORE: But not you?

BEHAR: No, I have virgin ears.

MOORE: Right.

BEHAR: So what do you make of this Massa mess? Let`s talk about it.

MOORE: Well, you know, I think we`ve all been bored, it`s the middle of winter.

BEHAR: I know.

MOORE: We need some entertainment. You know, I guess, honestly, I`ll tell you how I really feel. I feel bad. I feel really bad that we still live in a society where someone who is gay still feels the need to hide as deep in the closet as possible, even though when he himself is flinging the door wide open, he still feels this need to maintain this – actually I saw a great documentary this year – it didn`t get much distribution – it was called Outrage.

BEHAR: I saw it.

MOORE: Did you see it?

BEHAR: It`s great.

MOORE: Now, in this documentary, the filmmaker actually exposes the members of Congress who are gay but only exposes the ones who have voted against gay or HIV issues – in other words, the hypocrisy.

BEHAR: Right.

MOORE: He’s not just purposely outing them to out them. But it`s a compelling movie, and actually Massa is a Democrat – 99 percent of these closeted gay members of Congress are Republicans.

BEHAR: Yes. They`re the ones who vote against gay marriage.

MOORE: Right.

BEHAR: They vote against gays in the military, all that stuff.

MOORE: What`s odd about Massa is that he`s a Democrat. I mean, Democrats and liberals are generally accept – that`s the definition of a liberal, you know, "I accept you for who you are and I have an open mind." So it`s sad that he has to put himself through this.

BEHAR: The Republicans sort of embraced Massa for about 24 hours this week.

MOORE: Yeah, yeah.

BEHAR: But they dropped him like a hot rock right now.

MOORE: Right, yeah, well, yeah, yeah, but I`m sure during the 24-hour embrace many of those Republicans enjoyed it.

BEHAR: I hope so. I hope they did. So now do you think that – just to finish this up – do you think that Rahm Emanuel really did go into the shower naked and poke Massa and sort of intimidate him? Is Rahm Emanuel – is that typical behavior?

MOORE: No.

BEHAR: You don`t believe it?

MOORE: No, I don`t believe it. I don`t know him that well. His brother is my agent-

BEHAR: Ari.

MOORE: -the famous Ari.

BEHAR: He sounds like he`s notoriously evil also.

MOORE: Oh, no. No, no.

BEHAR: Ari?

MOORE: No, he is the force of good against the evil.

BEHAR: Is that so?

MOORE: Oh, absolutely.

BEHAR: Oh, really.

MOORE: Let me tell you this right now, Fahrenheit 9/11 never would have seen the light of day, it would never have been distributed in theaters had Ari Emanuel not exposed Disney who was going to put it on the shelf – because they own Miramax, that`s who did the film – and they weren`t going to distribute the film. And Ari went public with it on the front page of the New York Times. And they wouldn`t let him on the Disney lot for six months. So this was a, if you need an agent in Hollywood, call Ari at-

BEHAR: But I was really referring to the massacre at the William Morris office that he took over. It was pretty ugly over there. So that`s an inside thing, I think we probably don`t talk about.

MOORE: People don`t care about any of that stuff.

BEHAR: They only care about celebrities getting their projects done.

MOORE: There was an agent massacred in Hollywood? Oh, the horror.

BEHAR: I was at the William Morris office, and my agent got that scoop.

MOORE: Oh, I see. And I was at Endeavor, so essentially my agency-

BEHAR: Ate my agency.

MOORE: -ate your agency.

BEHAR: Yeah, that`s it.

MOORE: Ah, capitalism.

BEHAR: You see how it goes. Okay, you know what, Michael, we`re going to take a break and get comfortable because we have a lot to discuss. And we`ll be back in 60 seconds with more of Michael Moore, so don`t go away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BEHAR: I`m back with Oscar-winning filmmaker Michael Moore. His most recent film Capitalism: A Love Story is out now on DVD, and this is a fabulous film. People should all rent that movie or buy it, at this point.

MOORE: Oh, no.

BEHAR: It’s really a good movie.

MOORE: You should have seen it in the movie theaters. I mean, we make films-

BEHAR: Oh, don`t, don`t, don`t, don’t-

MOORE: No, people should go to the theater to see a movie. I mean, unless you`ve just had a baby in the last couple of years, you can`t get out of the house, I understand.

BEHAR: But, Michael, it`s not playing in the theaters right now, so let’s move on.

MOORE: No, I know, so they missed it.

BEHAR: That ship has sailed.

MOORE: We should just worry about the next film now. Don`t sell any DVD`s.

BEHAR: What is your next film, by the way?

MOORE: I don`t have one.

BEHAR: Okay, let`s talk about the Democrats who really are on my last nerve.

MOORE: Yeah.

BEHAR: First of all-

MOORE: That`s generous. They`re on no nerve with me.

BEHAR: I mean, they are dropping all over the place, and we`re going to lose the whole Congress in November.

MOORE: That is correct, yeah. As I`ve said on my Web site, they`re in for an ass-whooping of biblical proportions, absolutely. If they don`t turn this around right now, if they don`t change, they don`t do the job they were sent there to do, it`s all over for them.

BEHAR: So what do they have – what does Obama have to do? You know, this whole thing about, you know, reaching over to the other side, that`s really – who cares?

MOORE: Yeah, no more kumbaya.

BEHAR: No, we`re done with that. And I don`t know if he has it in his personal character, his personality to be strict like Bush was.

MOORE: Right, which is a good thing and a bad thing because it actually – because I think he is a decent person; because I think he has a good heart.

BEHAR: He`s a gentleman.

MOORE: Absolutely. And I think he really came in there with wanting – he`s not going to give up his own personal political beliefs, but I think he really did want to, you know, figure out how to work with them. When they come into town, when the Republicans win, they get in their Hummers and they barrel down Pennsylvania Avenue with all guns blazing, get out of the way, we`re in charge. And these are the laws we`re going to pass. And that`s that. That`s not the Democratic way.

BEHAR: Why? Why? Why can`t we do that?

MOORE: Because we don`t like to start wars. We`re like a peaceful people.

BEHAR: Well, he`s in Afghanistan, he`s in the war. He`s doing it.

MOORE: Well, he inherited a war that, again, he doesn`t have the wherewithal to say, "You know what? That is a mistake." It wasn`t a mistake to go after the killers of 9/11. But al-Qaeda essentially is not in Afghanistan anymore.

BEHAR: I know. … We can`t catch up with them. They`re moving around.

MOORE: They`re everywhere.

BEHAR: Did you see that thing about Jihad Jane?

MOORE: That`s why the war will never end.

BEHAR: Did you see the Jihad Jane? She`s a blond with blue eyes type now – they can`t even like stereotype them anymore.

MOORE: I know. Yeah, well, I just think, look, it`s best to treat people who commit murder like this as criminals.

BEHAR: Right.

MOORE: That was our whole wrong approach to this. We treated it as a military operation when it should have been a criminal operation. You do what the Israelis do, you send in the Mossad, and you grab them and you bring them to justice. And that`s the end of that. And that’s, you know, well, I mean, after a trial and, you know, a jury verdict.

BEHAR: Of course. There has to be a trial. Now, Karl Rove has a book out.

MOORE: Yes.

BEHAR: And he said this, he said Americans are hard to mislead. Do you agree with that?

MOORE: No, actually, we`re quite an easy people to mislead in part because – and this is another reason why people in other countries actually do like us as individuals. We`re a very trusting people. We`re a very kind of-

BEHAR: Is that dumb?

MOORE: Well, no, it`s not dumb. It`s actually, wouldn`t you rather be a trusting person than not?

BEHAR: Well, there`s a difference between being trusting and being naive.

MOORE: Well, that`s, I`m just saying that`s the good side of the coin. The bad side of the coin is we have created a society of ignorant and illiterate people. Our schools have done this, our media has helped to contribute to this. We have 40 million adults in this country right now who are functional illiterates. That means they can`t read and write above a fourth grade-level. When you have a society that dumb, so to speak, that ignorant-

BEHAR: Well, ignorant, yeah.

MOORE: -that, well, dumb, I mean, dumb in the sense of-

BEHAR: Uneducated.

MOORE: -well, they`ve been kept that way.

BEHAR: Illiterate.

MOORE: I mean, it`s an enforced dumbness by a system that doesn`t value education that puts it low on the list of priorities. And I was just watching CNN here earlier today, and they had this guy on talking about this in terms of how the college tuition has gone up and kids, kids who come from the poor and working class, they were told to work hard in school all of these years and the ones who did, now they can`t afford to go to college.

BEHAR: Right.

MOORE: So what`s the message here?

BEHAR: The message is go to a state school. I went to Queens College and Stony Brooke, and I had paid nothing for my education practically. And-

MOORE: Well, but that, but that was, you know-

BEHAR: A long time ago.

MOORE: And in California and in New York a long time ago.

BEHAR: Yeah.

MOORE: I remember those times.

BEHAR: Yeah.

MOORE: I remember thinking people I knew that lived in these two states that got to go to college for free, I mean, you guys were like France.

BEHAR: That`s true.

MOORE: You know.

BEHAR: I had it all, $24 a term.

MOORE: Yeah.

BEHAR: All right, stick around, more with filmmaker Michael Moore on the way.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BEHAR: I`m back with Oscar-winning filmmaker and every Republican`s worst nightmare Michael Moore.

MOORE: No, no, I love Republicans. I, in fact, admire, I admire Republicans for-

BEHAR: All right, let`s do it again.

MOORE: Yes.

BEHAR: Okay, we`re back with the most charming man in show business, Michael Moore. Everyone loves him, Republicans, Democrats.

MOORE: I love Republicans.

BEHAR: Pinkos, commies.

MOORE: Oh, no those are the-

BEHAR: Right-wing zealots, Glenn Beck, they all love him.

MOORE: I don`t know about that guy. I thought you were just going to refer to those from the planet Earth.

BEHAR: Okay, Arianna Huffington was on Bill Maher last week, as were you.

MOORE: Right.

BEHAR: And she said, I believe it was there, she said your anger reminds her of a Tea partier. Do you see any similarities between you and the Tea party?

MOORE: Well, I think the, yes, I think the average citizens who are drawn to it, I think are justifiably upset at the fact that they`ve lost their homes and the banks have gotten billions.

BEHAR: Right.

MOORE: That the number one cause of bankruptcy right now in America is medical bills and people are hurting. And this is not unusual … but those who have really started the Tea bag movement-

BEHAR: I don`t think it`s Tea bagging. That’s another.

MOORE: The Tea party. Yeah, the Tea Party movement.

BEHAR: Check that in the urban dictionary.

MOORE: Yeah, you started this.

BEHAR: Go ahead.

MOORE: You took my mind into the-

BEHAR: Oh, sorry, it`s my fault.

MOORE: The Tea Party-

BEHAR: I`m Satan`s spawn.

MOORE: Yeah, the Tea Party movement is – look, historically, it`s not unusual for those on the right, especially those in power, who hold power and money, to manipulate the working people and the have-nots, the people who have been hurt by the system, and take them rightward.

BEHAR: How do they do that? They do it.

MOORE: Fear.

BEHAR: They have people-

MOORE: It`s fear.

BEHAR: -vote against their own interests.

MOORE: Because they`re more afraid of, of what could possibly happen, and they are convinced that the boogie man is going to get them.

BEHAR: Yeah.

MOORE: And it`s how they sold the war-

BEHAR: Fear.

MOORE: -it`s how they sold all of this stuff. And the fear seems legitimate because obviously so many people are living from paycheck to paycheck right now.

BEHAR: Yes.

MOORE: They don`t know if they`re going to be able to pay the mortgage next year. They don`t know if their kids are going to go to college.

BEHAR: But, you know, Michael, with the bank bailouts and the Republicans started that TARP thing-

MOORE: Right.

BEHAR: -and then Obama continued it.

MOORE: Right.

BEHAR: And so the wrath is targeted to the Democrats and targeted to Obama.

MOORE: Yeah, because they owned it, they owned it, that`s right. He took it over and he owned it. And instead of bringing in a new idea, a new fresh idea, he brings in their ideas and brings back the guys, Sumner-

BEHAR: Geithner.

MOORE: -and Geithner and Rubin who were, in large part, responsible for the mess, to begin with.

BEHAR: I know, that was, I don`t understand why he did that. And I`m not happy with that. Are you?

MOORE: No, I wasn`t happy with it the day he did it.

BEHAR: No.

MOORE: And I tried to rationalize it at the time and thinking well, you know, he`s doing what my dad did, you know, when you make a mess in your room, you have to go in and clean it up. So he`s brought the people in who`ve made the mess in Wall Street-

BEHAR: Right.

MOORE: -and he`s going to force them to clean it up.

BEHAR: Yeah, but they haven`t.

MOORE: No, they haven`t-

BEHAR: They haven`t.

MOORE: -in fact, not one single, not one single regulation has been put back in place on Wall Street or the banks, and so they`re back to doing their derivatives and their credit default swaps-

BEHAR: Now, why can`t they put the regulations in? What is holding that up?

MOORE: Because the lobbyists for Wall Street are lining the pockets of the members of Congress and the White House, and they`re not going to allow this thing [to] happen. And so get ready for crash number two. And that crash could be worse than the last crash.

BEHAR: Well, you can see why people are furious.

MOORE: Of course, and fearful.

BEHAR: And both sides. On both sides.

MOORE: Right.

[Behar asks Moore Twitter questions about why he wears a cap and about his recent weight loss.]

BEHAR: You know, the obesity crisis in the country is the new crisis now. We did smoking, now we`re doing the obesity crisis.

MOORE: Well, the sad part of it is that the fact that so many of our kids are obese now and getting diabetes-

BEHAR: I know.

MOORE: -that we would do this to – talk about child abuse. I mean, and I would say again to my Republican friends, you should see this as a national security issue because we`re raising a generation of overweight, diabetic kids, and they`re not going to be able to defend you. Hey, I got, I asked my Twitter people.

BEHAR: We have one tweet, we have to extend this segment.

MOORE: I told them that you were tweeting about me, so I tweeted about you and they want me to ask you a question.

BEHAR: What?

 

MOORE: The first question is, how was it to be acting in Manhattan Murder Mystery with Woody Allen?

BEHAR: Oh, that was, it was great, I loved it.

MOORE: And Alan Alda, great man.

BEHAR: I love Alan Alda, and Woody Allen did not come on to me because I was over 15. Thank you, Michael, so much. Capitalism: A Love Story is out now.

MOORE: He`s one of our great directors, Woody Allen.

BEHAR: Well, he is, but, you know, he`s still a bit of a perv.

MOORE: Well-

BEHAR: Oh, come on.

 

MOORE: Well, we could, well, we could check into you, too, you know. I mean-

BEHAR: No, no, no, no, no.

MOORE: We`re all, we are all flawed people.

BEHAR: Who marries their daughter? Come on, get over it.

MOORE: Stepdaughter, sort of, kind of.

BEHAR: Now on DVD and Blue Ray. Up next-

MOORE: Okay, you`re right!

BEHAR: -an Apple employee claims Law and Order star Richard Belzer choked her. My pal Richard will give you his side of the story, so stick around.