I couldn’t help but take a look at the transcript to Russert’s show, which included this exchange:

Mr. O’REILLY: …what Krugman (wants) is the government to run the economy. Kerry’s going to create 10 million jobs or 30 million, whatever he’s going to do. What I want is the private sector to drive the economy. There’s a fundamental difference between him, Mr. Entitlement, and me, Mr. Self-Reliance. That’s it.

RUSSERT: What about the deficits, though? What would you do about them, and how do you deal with them?

Mr. O’REILLY: What I’d do with them is I would reorganize the entitlements that are the bulk of the deficits, OK, reorganize it. And I believe in privatizing some of the Social Security, medical savings funds, all of those things, educational funds. (Krugman) wants the government to pay everything. That, in a nation of 300 million, is impossible. Ask any working-class person. They’re all in debt. They’re all struggling to survive. You want to buy a house? Look at the housing prices, OK? When my father bought a house in Levittown, it was 8 grand after he got out of World War II. This same house is $250,000. They can ‘t afford to buy a house and pay the property taxes, pay his taxes, pay the state taxes. It’s ridiculous. The government has got to shrink. They’ve got to get smart. They’ve got to run it like a private business would run it, not Mr. Big Government because they can’t keep track of the money. There’s no waste management in the money. Corruption is rife. And he wants more tax money to waste. It’s outrageous.

I think I’m now becoming an O’Reilly fan.