“The O’Reilly Factor” host Bill O’Reilly unloaded on show regular Alan Colmes on Tuesday for failing to name a specific program President Barack Obama would be willing to cut, other than entitlement programs like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.
Colmes attempted to make his case, but the harder he tried, the more heated the discussion became:
COLMES: I disagree with what he is being said here. $2.50 in tax cuts for every dollar in tax increases.
O’REILLY: That’s not specific.
COLMES: Yes, he has. He has offered cuts in Medicare. He has offered cuts to entitlements.
O’REILLY: That’s not specific. He has to say here are the programs that are going to go down. Here is how we are going to reform Medicare and Social Security. And the man refuses to do it.
COLMES: That’s not true.
O’REILLY: Hold it, hold it, because now I’m getting teed off at you. Give me one damn program he said he would cut? One?
COLMES: He has cut entitlements.
O’REILLY: Not entitlements. One program.
COLMES: Why do you want to yell at me for?
O’REILLY: Because you are lying! You are lying!
COLMES: Don’t call me a liar. Don’t you sit there and call me a liar.
O’REILLY: You are lying — here is the proof.
COLMES: You don’t like the president. You don’t like what he is doing. Don’t sit there and call me a liar.
O’REILLY: I am.
COLMES: I’m not lying. We can have a disagreement without you calling me a liar. That’s not necessary.
O’REILLY: You are lying here.
COLMES: We are not lying.
O’REILLY: Where is the proof?
COLMES: There is difference between having a disagreement and calling me a liar —
O’REILLY: This is why I’m calling you a liar: Give me one program he would cut.
COLMES: He would cut Medicare, and Medicaid offered cuts to those programs.
O’REILLY: That’s not a specific program.
COLMES: You asked me a program. Those are programs.
Guest Monica Crowley attempted to intervene at one point, but O’Reilly resisted and went right back after Colmes.
O’REILLY: I don’t usually do what I just did to him. I asked him four times, Colmes, to give me one specific program out of all the federal budget —$3.2 trillion worth of spending, that Obama said he would cut. One, one.
COLMES: He hurt himself —
O’REILLY: Give him one.
COLMES: — hurt himself with his base, because he has said talked about cuts to Medicare.
O’REILLY: $3.2 trillion in spending. Right? I asked Colmes for one. He can’t provide it. Can you?
MONICA CROWLEY: I cannot because he has not.
O’REILLY: Both of our people, both of our people, ladies and gentlemen cannot provide one program out of $ 3.2 trillion in spending that this president said he would cut. And you sit there and you say you are not — come on.
COLMES: You are accusing the president of wanting the people to suffer in this country. That’s absolutely not true. You disagree with him.
O’REILLY: You would think that for sitting in an Oval Office for five years with a $17 trillion debt, and refusing to say one program that he would cut — you don’t think that’s putting the burden on the American people?
COLMES: What do you call Medicare? What do I keep telling you?
O’REILLY: No, you’re not telling me anything. This is jack what you’re saying. There’s another word for it, but it’s an obscenity.
The two continued the heated debate briefly, but later in the show, O’Reilly admitted he was a little out of line. His guest during the segment, FBN host John Stossel, agreed.
