Dennis Miller Endorses Herman Cain

Radio host explains why he's backing the former Godfather's Pizza CEO for the Republican presidential nomination

This is a RUSH transcript from "The O'Reilly Factor," September 28, 2011. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

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BILL O'REILLY, HOST: In the "Miller Time" segment tonight: The D-man has finally made his selection. He is endorsing Herman Cain for president of the United States. Miller was in town last night.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

O'REILLY: So the sage of Southern California in New York City to do more charitable work. We'll get to that in a moment. But first, shocking: Miller endorses Herman Cain for president.

DENNIS MILLER, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: I walked around. I said who's the most confident? Who's run a business? Who has a nice sense of humor about himself? Who seems to be a decent man? And who seems to be smart? And then I thought who's going to have rough elbows because this thing is going to be ugly this time through. And I looked around, and I said I dig Herman Cain for that job.

O'REILLY: I thought you were going to say you endorse me, with all that description there.

MILLER: Listen, baby, if you were running I'd be in the veep slot.

O'REILLY: You'd be ambassador to Tonga. That's where you're going.

MILLER: You know I've got Tonga wired completely.

O'REILLY: Miller in Tonga. There we go. So Herman Cain, though, look, I like Herman Cain. I like his spirit. I think he presents himself very well, but when he came on "The Factor" a few weeks ago, he had no clue about foreign affairs.

MILLER: Like the guy in there now does.

O'REILLY: Well, aren't we -- aren't we supposed to improve upon that?

MILLER: Here's what I'm saying. The thing I like about Barack Obama to this point is he's just completely recreated the Bush-Cheney things, increased -- increased drone strikes in the air. If Herman Cain says, "I'll do what this guy does and I'll even up a few more drone strikes. And if they ever call me in the middle of the night and say, 'We've got a nut. We know where he's at, but we've got to fly across the border and croak him,'" I bet you Herman Cain would say it, too. Common sense.

O'REILLY: The next president of the United States has got to be, as I say in "Killing Lincoln," an excellent leader. A leader of superlative quality. Now, Herman Cain might be that.

MILLER: I think he is. I didn't think "might." That's why I'm onboard. I think he is.

O'REILLY: The deficit of Mr. Cain is he doesn't have the experience. You're going to have Putin back running Russia. You've got these guys in China who are just waiting, waiting to hammer you. You need somebody in there with the experience and the frame of reference to deal with those guys. I don't know if it's Herman.

MILLER: Billy, they're licking their chops over the guy we have in there now. He won't even use the phrase "terrorism." Here's my thing about Herman. In a world where everybody is sitting around at night putting together proposals to get funding for policies, for sustainability and greenhouse gas, they all work late, and guess what? At some time in the evening "Let's order a pizza." Herman Cain is the cat over here who made pizzas and got them there on time and fed people.

O'REILLY: Now, on the subject of "get it done attitude," we have to talk about Congresswoman Waters.

MILLER: Yes.

O'REILLY: She says:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MAXINE WATERS, D-CALIF.: He would never say to the Jewish community stop complaining about Israel. So I don't know who he was talking to because we're certainly not complaining.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'REILLY: That was in response, of course, to President Obama going to the CBC and saying:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Stop complaining, stop grumbling, stop crying. We are going to press on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MILLER: Well, listen, here's all I'd say. It's been 45 years since the Great Society started. Are black people in this country any better off, for God's sake?

O'REILLY: A little bit.

MILLER: Billy, some of those unemployment figures.

O'REILLY: It all comes down to education, not race.

MILLER: I'm saying, why don't black America leverage the other side a little?

O'REILLY: So you think that black America doesn't use the power it has because they take it for granted and say, look, it's either me or one of these Republican guys who hate you. And, you know, they brand the Tea Party racist and all of that. But Maxine Waters herself was really indignant that President Obama would come into the CBC and actually challenge them to cut the whining out.

MILLER: Yes, she still likes him. She would have called him a racist if she didn't.

O'REILLY: She couldn't do that.

MILLER: Why not?

O'REILLY: You could call Barack Obama a racist?

MILLER: I'm saying if she doesn't like Barack Obama using that disdainful tone of voice for her, what's what would have happened in the past if any other president does that to her? They would have had the race card dropped on them in a second.

O'REILLY: Interesting. All right. Now, there's a trend in the United States for people to take off their clothes in protest. In Utah, Miller, there they are. I don't really know what they're protesting. But what do you think about this trend to get attention to your cause?

MILLER: Look at that that. It's unbelievable. Way in the background I can see Orrin Hatch in a banana hammock. I mean, I would have never thought that you would see that. Listen, here's -- in brief here's what I have to say about the boxer rebellion. One thing about this race in Utah is you can definitely tell the Mormon from the less man now. But I think -- I think I'll leave it there. I got a good laugh out of you.

O'REILLY: That was a good -- the boxer rebellion was a good line. I like that line, too.

MILLER: Don't let all this stuff keep you from sending me to Tonga when you take over.

O'REILLY: I thought you would have done that, because you are in town here raising money for USA Cares, which is a tremendous charity to help the military people. If you had stripped down to your skivvies, you could have gotten much more publicity for them.

MILLER: If I'd stripped down to my skivvies, Al Qaeda would have won.

O'REILLY: They would have won; that would have been it. We would have surrendered.

MILLER: Billy, I met soldiers there, these kids who have lost three, four limbs. Sgt. Dakota Meyer came into the room.

O'REILLY: Medal of Honor winner.

MILLER: And I'm telling you this kid is so clean. He walks in and everybody in the world wants a piece of him. He's like Achilles. And the kid was so humble. And his brethren, it's the Stephen Siller Foundation.

O'REILLY: He was there at the foundation. Say it again, Stephen...

MILLER: Stephen Siller was a fireman who died that day, 9/11. They run a race, and the organization I run out of Louisville called USACares.org works in conjunction. All I know, Billy, is that kid walked across the room, and he is not looking for it but you see that thing, and it's emblematic. Every one of these kids who goes into those rat holes and give us the life we have. I was just -- I went up to him. I was a bit of a goofball, you know. I didn't know quite what to say to him, and he's just a kid.

O'REILLY: Miller, you're doing good work.

MILLER: Can I give you a real quick bumper sticker for this next election?

O'REILLY: Sure.

MILLER: Cain vs. Unable.

O'REILLY: Ooh! Cain vs. Unable. You're going to see that in next debate. I know it. Dennis Miller, everybody.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'REILLY: And Miller would like me to remind you that on October 29 you can see us in the "Bolder Fresher" show at the Mohegan Sun resort in Connecticut. That's a great weekend to be in the Nutmeg State. And I'll be signing copies of "Killing Lincoln" and "Pinheads & Patriots" before the show. So we hope you guys can get up there, or down there if you live in New England. Also in November, appearances in Richmond, Virginia, and the Borgata in Atlanta City. Details on BillOReilly.com.

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