O'Reilly: Colbert 'Built an Entire Career on Pleasing the Left,' Conservatives Won't Watch Him

Days after labeling comedian Stephen Colbert a "darling of the far left" and "ideological fanatic," [1] on Monday, Fox News host Bill O'Reilly again called out the David Letterman replacement: "Colbert has built an entire career on pleasing the left. And if you don't believe me, check out the reportage on his ascension, the far-left web sides and writers are thrilled." [Listen to the audio [2]]

O'Reilly predicted the Comedy Central host would have a tough time drawing viewers to the CBS Late Show: "So he has to compete with Fallon and Kimmel who are basically high-energy guys who want to have a good time on their shows. Be hard to fathom that 40% of Americans who describe themselves as conservative will watch Colbert, and that's a lot of folks to lose from the jump."

The commentary was prompted by a viewer email that observed: "Didn't think it was possible that CBS could go more left than Letterman, but it has with Colbert." O'Reilly replied: "Now he's an interesting choice to replace Dave....Traditionally late night has been light and breezy, with a minimum of political posturing. Carson and Leno set the tone for that."

The Media Research Center has detailed Colbert's left-wing track record [3] and liberals have now taken to mourning the loss [4] of the faux conservative host of The Colbert Report.

Here is a full transcript of O'Reilly's April 14 remarks:

8:57 PM ET

BILL O'REILLY: Dave Lake, Cannon Hill, Australia. "G'day from Oz, Bill. Didn't think it was possible that CBS could go more left than Letterman, but it has with Colbert."

Now he's an interesting choice to replace Dave, Dave. Traditionally late night has been light and breezy, with a minimum of political posturing. Carson and Leno set the tone for that. But Colbert has built an entire career on pleasing the left. And if you don't believe me, check out the reportage on his ascension, the far-left web sides and writers are thrilled.

So he has to compete with Fallon and Kimmel who are basically high-energy guys who want to have a good time on their shows. Be hard to fathom that 40% of Americans who describe themselves as conservative will watch Colbert, and that's a lot of folks to lose from the jump. But Colbert will have good writers and surely he knows his challenge. Place your bets now.