Denis Leary in No Spin Zone

This is a RUSH transcript from "The O'Reilly Factor," December 6, 2010. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

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BILL O'REILLY, HOST: In the "Personal Story" segment tonight: As you may know, actor/comedian Denis Leary stars in the TV series "Rescue Me." Mr. Leary though is also an author. He had a big best-seller with a book called "Why We Suck: A Feel-Good Guide to Staying Fat, Loud, Lazy and Stupid," which kind of said many Americans are flat-out dumb. And now comes his latest book called, "Suck on This Year," which doesn't sound like an optimistic tome either.

Here now, Mr. Leary. So...

DENIS LEARY, COMEDIAN AND ACTOR: Is it tome or "to-may"?

O'REILLY: Tome, yes.

LEARY: Terrible.

O'REILLY: Mel Torme.

LEARY: Twelve years of Catholic school, and I thought it was "to-may."

O'REILLY: Yes. OK, now.

LEARY: Terrible.

O'REILLY: Why do you hate America?

LEARY: I love America. What are you talking about?

O'REILLY: You're a good Boston boy.

LEARY: I am a good Boston boy.

O'REILLY: Why do you hate America?

LEARY: I love America.

O'REILLY: Yes?

LEARY: Yes, I love America.

O'REILLY: All right. Well, in your big best-seller you write, "This country" -- I assume that's America.

LEARY: Yes.

O'REILLY: "including you and most of the people related to you, by birth or marriage or both, is populated by beings who have been so blessed for so long that they have become almost completely immune to any interests other than their own."

LEARY: It's true.

O'REILLY: You see, I mean, come on.

LEARY: It's true. How many people and just in your daily walking around...

O'REILLY: I don't walk around. I have people carry me.

LEARY: They carry you? Well, then you don't have to worry about it.

O'REILLY: Right.

LEARY: Because you're being carried around. But while you're being carried around, don't you notice some of these morons walking around with their heads down texting or whatever they're doing while they're walking through New York City?

O'REILLY: There's a lot of narcissism. There's a lot of narcissism in our society. But not everybody.

LEARY: Not everybody. Not you, not me.

O'REILLY: I don't know about you, Leary.

LEARY: But almost everybody else.

O'REILLY: OK. But you -- you're making money...

LEARY: I don't walk around texting.

O'REILLY: You're making money, big money on your books. And you're basically saying this country is doomed. We're out of it. We're a bunch of pinheads.

LEARY: No, I'm not saying that we're out of it or that we're doomed because it's still the greatest country on the planet, but we've got a lot -- we've got a lot of deadweight.

O'REILLY: A lot of deadweight?

LEARY: We've got a lot of deadweight.

O'REILLY: Put a percentage on it. How much of the American public are deadweight?

LEARY: Deadweight?

O'REILLY: Yes.

LEARY: I'd have to go with at least -- and I'm just going to base this on my own math.

O'REILLY: Circle.

LEARY: About 45 percent.

O'REILLY: Forty-five percent. So almost half the country.

LEARY: We have wide receivers who are making, you know, $8 million a year tweeting God because they dropped a pass. I mean, seriously. Seriously.

O'REILLY: There have always been some people who are on the dubious end. But you know why America is the greatest country in the world?

LEARY: Why?

O'REILLY: Because you can charge $18 bucks for this book.

LEARY: Now, can I just say something about that?

O'REILLY: Yes.

LEARY: That's $18 bucks.

O'REILLY: Yes. Eighteen bucks.

LEARY: How much was your latest book?

O'REILLY: My book is, like, $25 bucks.

LEARY: Twenty-five bucks. My last book, I think, was about $27.

O'REILLY: Yes.

LEARY: Jon Stewart's latest book, "Earth," is like $32 bucks.

O'REILLY: Yes.

LEARY: It will take you 12 minutes to read this book.

O'REILLY: Less. I read it in seven.

LEARY: Seven minutes?

O'REILLY: Yes.

LEARY: Seven minutes, ladies and gentlemen.

O'REILLY: You're charging masseuse rates.

LEARY: It's one -- it's one trip to the bathroom on Christmas morning.

O'REILLY: Depends how old you are. Look, Leary, I'm telling you.

LEARY: OK.

O'REILLY: If you can get $18 bucks for this book...

LEARY: Yes.

O'REILLY: ...America is the greatest country in the world.

LEARY: But it's also a coaster, Bill.

O'REILLY: But it also illuminates your other point.

LEARY: Right.

O'REILLY: We may be the dumbest people on Earth to spend $18 bucks on this book.

LEARY: My portion of that -- the profits go to the Leary Firefighters Foundation charity.

O'REILLY: Do they? Good for you.

LEARY: So you can feel good while you're going to the bathroom for seven minutes. I thought it was 12. But you know what? You're a smarter guy than me, so you read faster.

O'REILLY: I don't think there's any doubt about that.

LEARY: Seven minutes.

O'REILLY: Would you consider yourself...

LEARY: And that's a selling point to me, because I think too many books are too long, too big.

O'REILLY: Yes, like my book; 250 pages is too long for you, Leary.

LEARY: Two fifty is a good number.

O'REILLY: You can -- you can hire people to read it to you, you know? That's what you should do.

LEARY: And carry me around apparently.

O'REILLY: Yes. I've got people who can do that.

LEARY: I think that's fantastic.

O'REILLY: Now -- now, would you...

LEARY: May I say one thing?

O'REILLY: Sure.

LEARY: If you ever really did that, that would be such a great thing.

O'REILLY: What, have people carry me around?

LEARY: If you were carried onto the "Letterman" show by -- I don't know what they call them.

O'REILLY: I'm doing that on Thursday.

LEARY: Well, you should be carried in.

O'REILLY: You think so? I'll only do that if Dave carries me. That's the only time I'll do it.

LEARY: Well, that -- that's fine.

O'REILLY: Because I've carried him for a number of years.

LEARY: Yes.

O'REILLY: Now, are you a liberal, a Boston liberal guy?

LEARY: I am a...

O'REILLY: Is that how are? Matt Damon? Are you Ben Affleck? Are you those guys?

LEARY: No, I'm not Ben Affleck.

O'REILLY: Because my guys in Boston aren't like you guys.

LEARY: What do you mean? Who's your guy in Boston? Name a guy.

O'REILLY: Well, lots of guys. As you know, I lived in Boston many years. My guys aren't the liberal guys.

LEARY: Like who? Who would be your guy in Boston, actor-wise, if you're going to compare because you're calling me Matt Damon, which by the way, I take as a compliment.

O'REILLY: He's a -- he's a left-wing guy.

LEARY: I know, but as an actor, I take that as a compliment. I think that's great.

O'REILLY: More athletes are my guys than actors.

LEARY: Like who.

O'REILLY: I'm not going to embarrass them because anybody associated with me, their whole life is over.

LEARY: I'm a Jack Kennedy.

O'REILLY: Jack Kennedy liberal.

LEARY: Democrat.

O'REILLY: Is that right?

LEARY: That's how I was raised. My parents are Irish immigrants. They were obviously very…

O'REILLY: But you're a working-class guy.

LEARY: Working-class guy.

O'REILLY: Fire guy.

LEARY: I believe that, you know -- I believe in strong military and helping those below you, and if you're balancing the budget and doing a good job -- doing a good job as president, you should be able to sleep with whoever you want. That's the Jack Kennedy approach to democracy.

O'REILLY: OK, so you're in kind of libertarian Democratic precincts?

LEARY: I guess so, yes.

O'REILLY: You know, a lot of firefighters just beat the hell out of you. You know that.

LEARY: Yes.

O'REILLY: Because they're, you know, strong, conservative blue-collar guys.

LEARY: Yes. I have a lot of conservative views on a lot of things. So...

O'REILLY: Give me one.

LEARY: Well, tattoos. Yes. I basically -- I don't like tattoos, unless you're a firefighter who has a tattoo that has to do with that or a military guy. That's -- those are people who should have tattoos.

O'REILLY: Right.

LEARY: Or maybe if you're Keith Richards.

O'REILLY: You don't like the spider on your neck?

LEARY: I don't like the spider on the -- I don't like the...

O'REILLY: No. I think that sends a wrong message, you know?

LEARY: Morons.

O'REILLY: OK.

LEARY: I don't like -- I don't like a lot of that.

O'REILLY: You know what we found? Common ground, Leary.

LEARY: Yes. We did.

O'REILLY: We did.

LEARY: We did.

O'REILLY: Thanks a lot. I appreciate it.

LEARY: Because you hate the tattoos too

O'REILLY: I don't like the tattoos. All right. The book is...

LEARY: Bill, thank you. Seven minutes, Bill O'Reilly said, to read.

O'REILLY: Denis Leary.

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