O'Reilly, Obama Interview: Part 2 (VIDEO)

***UPDATE*** Watch part 2 of O'Reilly's interview with Obama.

http://www.foxnews.com/oreilly/?playerId=oreillyhomeplayer&streamingFormat=FLASH&referralObject=3077378&referralPlaylistId=966c04abd7aac250616627ec8060319738e5c5fd&maven_dartZone=undefined&maven_dartSite=undefined

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Tonight Bill O'Reilly airs the second segment of his four-part interview with Barack Obama. Below are excerpts released by Fox News. Check back for video of the interview.

On the need for taxes to help Americans who need it:

Look, I don't like paying taxes. What, you think I like writing a check? What I believe is, is that there are certain things we have got to do. And we have got to help people who are...who have a tough time affording college, so they can benefit like we have benefited from this great country. People are having a tough time. They don't have healthcare. People who are trying to figure out how they are going to pay their bills. And there are certain things we have got to do.

Under George Bush the debt has gone up four trillion dollars, all right? So that's the credit card we have taken out on our kids from the Bank of China that they are going to have to pay for.

On the percentage of Americans Obama's tax plan will benefit:

And I am saying that 95 percent of the American people...are getting a tax break... three times the amount of tax relief under my plan than John McCain's. And that's not my statistic...

To watch the first part of O'Reilly's interview with Obama, click here.

Comments

[HairyReid]

Obama showed guts going on with BOR.BOR was his usual tactless ,egomaniacal self!! Obama was amiable and even consiliato­ry.He also didn't do so well without a script!The interview made me think that, judging by the cesspool of Chicago politics that Obama comes from,maybe he's not as squeeky clean as he'd have us believe. i don't think he has a clue what the lives of average ,non-urban Americans is all about. He reminds me of a Chameleon.­..just trying to fit in to whatever surroundings he finds himself in. Don't think I can trust him.

[Wonder11]

Hey Hairy,

What does McCain remind you of? To me, John McCain (Hero My Ass), Prisoner/Survivor to anyone that's been there, is not only two faced to the American People, Hell he's two faced to himself!!! This Fat Cat votes against Vets, ANY economic improvements, ANY relief in Healthcare costs, ANY Peace talks or draw downs and in fact want to escalate the tension in the Middle-East! IF you vote for this fool and his new "Dish" (I can smell tuna from here) then you are an even bigger idiot than he is!

[Roger]

Again, why is it hard to counter the silly "income redistribution" argument. Among a rational audience (yes, I know, not a rational expectation of Fox viewership) the counter-argument that the income has already been redistributed to the upper percentages would invalidate it immediately.

[Roger]

Why do these charges of class warfare continute to resonate with the right wing? At some point won't they realize that it's the policies favoring the wealthy that are class warfare, and not the honest response to those policies? Somehow or other sense seems alien to them.

Maybe Mencken was correct...­no one ever went broke underestimating Americans' intelligence.

[josie1969]

People who make more money DO pay more taxes and get less tax breaks. I don't think it's fair that when people who do what the world expects them to do such as, get a good education, go to college, get a good job and work their way up, are going to be punished and forced to pay even more taxes to pay for the ones who didn't do it. There are so many opportunities out there for everyone, it's not others fault if some choose not to take advantage of them. Welfare, for example, has become a way of life for so many. It was designed as a way to help working people to get back on their feet, not to live on forever. Many are allowed to live off of the system just because they have children. It's not fair when the rest of us who have children go to work every day. I also feel that raising taxes on the ones who run these large companies that employ many workers, will cause them to cut employees, wages to employees and maybe even benefits. It will eventually cause more problems than it will bring benefits.

[DavidS atx]

I respectfully beg to differ with your views. If you're doing well, you usually can take advantage of tax deductions that people who aren't doing well can't (i.e. IRA deductions, charitable donations, more itemized deductions). Those making under $50,000 can rarely take advantage of these kind of deductions because they're busy paying for regular expenses. It has also been shown that 2/3 of businesses DON'T PAY ANY INCOME TAXES! Why? Loopholes that favor businesses. So the argumant on taxing business will hurt jobs is a bit fuzzy at best. Another fuzzy argument, lower taxes on business create jobs. It also creates record bonuses for executives who may or may not be doing a good job managing (see Carly Fiorina and HP). If you're making over $250,000 a year and you are complaining about and extra 3 cents on the dollar tax increase..­...you are possibly greedy and self centered..­...or a Republican.

[JakeAustin]

DavidS_atx, I respectfully beg to differ with your facts. I do agree that those with more income generally have more opportunities for tax deductions.
However, saying that charitable giving is a deduction that benefits those with more money is a bit misleading.
I say this because charitable giving only gets a benefit of 50% on the dollar. This means that the individual voluntarily gave money to a charitable organization and was out all the cash but only got credit for 1/2 of that for tax purposes. Not necessarily a great deal unless you are someone who doesn't get the deduction.
But, when you don't get that particular deduction, you get a standard deduction that is equal to or greater than 1/2 of the charitable gifts you made that year. So, technically, the individual who earns enough to take the deduction is no better off than the individual who couldn't take that deduction (again, because of the amount of the standard deduction).
As far as the IRA deduction, that is not a deduction limited by income level. Anyone funding an IRA will get that deduction.
As far as itemized deductions - charitable contributions are an itemized deduction so that same logic applies.

[JakeAustin]

With respect to the 2/3rds of businesses not paying any income taxes. That statistic included businesses that are set up as a sub chapter s corporation. With that tax status, the company doesn't pay the income taxes. The owners of the company get a schedule K from the corporation and all taxes are paid on the individuals tax return. That statistic also should have excluded those companies that were failing. Failing companies have nothing to pay taxes on as it is an "income" tax. If there is no income then there is nothing to tax.
The statistic should have reported how many companies don't pay taxes that were generating cash and income but were also using tax loop-holes to avoid taxes (almost impossible to identify because of the uncountable number of loop-holes).
There is a valid arguement that raising taxes will hurt more people than it will help.
If taxes are increased on businesses, "rich" people, capital gains and payroll, then the big loser will be the company that will have to find ways to make more money or cut
expenses.

[JakeAustin]

Because making more money in a weakened economy is not likely, most companies will be forced to cut expenses.
They will definately not be spending money on capital or investments (capital gains), the employees will see less money in their check with the increase in payroll taxes, and the company will have less money for growth or increasing employee pay and benefits if they are paying out more in income taxes.
What this will ultimately do is hurt those people that Obama is trying to help.
I believe that Obama's heart is in the right place. I just don't see how his economic plan will get the job done. If raising taxes would help the situation then congress would not be putting through the second stimulus package. Do you realize that a stimulus package is simply an inverted tax cut. It is simply giving back the taxes that were already collected. The democratic congress would not be doing a stimulus package to boost the economy if the "real" answer to the economy was actually raising taxes.

[foomonkey]

nice... bush was an economic genius but the immigrants are why the economy is all screwed up?! good god, he's such a tool.

[CWWest]

Obama should have said this about Bill's long-winded flat-tax discussion: "Bill, you're measuring fairness by percentage of income, and I'm measuring fairness by how much you get from society. If you're wealthy, you're obviously getting a lot from the society, and it's fair to pay a higher tax rate. Most people agree with that, and the US and almost all industrialized countries agree, too. The flat tax is a radical departure from that notion of fairness, and not surprisingly, it's always put forward by the rich."

Lead with ideas, win with ideas. Obama should stop softening his ideas and instead make the strong case. People see that as leadership.

[RJ5]

I thought that Obama handled the interview quite well, and that OReilly was in true form...rud­e. He openly extends an invitation to Palin to appear on his show. Let's see if he drills her like he did Obama. I wonder if she can handle the heat. Hell, I wonder if she can handle Washington.

[DaveC19]

Are you kidding? If Palin was on Billo not only would he be super kind, but she would have all of the questions two weeks in advance!

Don't you all realize that the fix is in with the media? McCain is their choice, they will make sure he wins.

[foomonkey]

i think everyone should hammer their site. the blogs, emails, etc.

don't post nasty stuff.. don't rant and call them names.

post legitimate questions, ask them to explain their positions, ask them to explain incorrect data...

come on, pose questions to them and force them to answer... flood their sites with serious questions, calling them out on their lies.

be completely professional, and they have less cause to scream about the raving left.

[toochie50]

Bill O the clown actually said he had to give it to Obama that he was "tough" and "impressed" by Obama - surprise surprise!

[toochie50]

All "pre-existing" conditions WILL BE be covered by OBAMA "mindy"
Just heard it myself today during his speech to AARP.

[MindyIsHot]

Could be that Obama has been caught in a complete lie. I had missed his health care pre-existing condition clause. Doesn't that sound like a financial impossibility or complete lie to you?

http://myrealitytelevision.com/2008/09/mccain-versus-obama-on-health-care/

[bryansmith]

I still think it is smart of Obama to get on FOX, whether they like him or not. If I were Obama, I would be all over the radio, even AM radio. It is a lot harder for them to call you a commie and a terrorist to your face, and it would give Obama a chance to call them out, and show he is neither intimidated, nor impressed by right wing cranks.

[spiderbucket]

Why do Democrats even bother ??? What would happen if we totally boycotted that network 100% ?

[Damnstraight]

I wish obama did'nt have to do a fox news interview cause the majority of the audience will never vote for him but they do attract enough independents that it may help a little. I just wish Obama had some simple one sentence answers for some questions. We live a soundbyte generation and you have to have something simple for people to digest. You have to talk like you're at a diner not a harvard law review meeting. Bush won two terms cause he says simple obvious stuff like "The terrorists want to kill us". That's like saying "ice is cold" and pretending like it's a new revelation.

[bitterindependent]

it's done to force palin to do tough interviews (since she is not ready to do them yet).....y­ou can't say that obama is getting a pass when he is willing to go to media corners that may be totally aganinst his(and most democrats) views.....­..it's just strategy..