O'Reilly on Factor guest list: "[A] lot of blondes in this operation. ... I need sunglasses in here"

Summary: After Bill O'Reilly mistakenly said, "Trust me now, [Fox News contributor Kirsten] Powers," while talking to Fox News contributor Margaret Hoover, Hoover replied, "Get my name straight, will you? I'm Hoover." O'Reilly responded: "I know. There's a lot of blondes -- a lot of blondes in this operation. ... So if once in a while I get you mixed up -- I got [Fox News contributor Lis] Wiehl and [Fox News anchor Megyn] Kelly coming up," and adding, "I need sunglasses in here."

During the February 11 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, discussing opposition to Sen. John McCain's (R-AZ) presidential campaign within the Republican Party with Fox News contributors Kirsten Powers and Margaret Hoover, Bill O'Reilly mistakenly said, "Trust me now, Powers," when talking to Hoover. Hoover replied: "Get my name straight, will you? I'm Hoover." O'Reilly responded: "I know. There's a lot of blondes -- a lot of blondes in this operation. ... So if once in a while I get you mixed up -- I got [Fox News contributor Lis] Wiehl and [Fox News anchor Megyn] Kelly coming up." Hoover asserted: "You're bombarded with blondes," to which O'Reilly replied: "I need sunglasses in here." Hoover then said: "It is so tough for you." At the end of the discussion, O'Reilly concluded: "Ladies, thank you very much for your blondeness."

As Media Matters for America has documented, O'Reilly has previously called Wiehl a "good-looking blonde" and suggested that she learn to dance for a tip. On another occasion, O'Reilly called for "a full-body search" of Wiehl and claimed that "she asked for it." O'Reilly has also referred to Wiehl as "eye candy" and asked her to protest outside CBS studios in a bikini. Wiehl is an author, a graduate of the Harvard Law School, and a legal analyst for Fox News.

From the February 11 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor:

O'REILLY: Rove put a happy face on the Republican situation. You saw how he did that. He put a little smiley face on it. I'm not so sure it's smiley here. I think the Republican Party a little in disarray here.

HOOVER: I don't know if I'd go as far as disarray. But look, the conservatives are beating up on McCain. And one thing I would notice about this, though, is the conservative talk show radio hosts. These people are saying that McCain's not conservative enough. And they're defining conservatism by the Reagan three-stool, 1980s social conservatives, fiscal conservatives, national security conservatives. Well, John McCain happens to be all three of those. So they're not philosophical issues they have -- they have with John McCain.

O'REILLY: Well, why do they hate him then?

HOOVER: They hate him because of his style, the way he has gone against -- he has not been a go-along, get-along senator. And he has not been a go-along, get-along guy with the Bush administration --

O'REILLY: No. You're wrong.

HOOVER: -- and so they don't like his stylistically, not philosophically.

O'REILLY: Here's why they hate him: because he doesn't like them.

HOOVER: I -- that's not true. He's done more to reach out to the different sides of the party --

O'REILLY: Yeah, I know.

HOOVER: -- in the last week. And you know what?

O'REILLY: Trust me on this, Powers -- Hoover.

HOOVER: Get my name straight, will you?

O'REILLY: He doesn't like 'em.

HOOVER: I'm Hoover.

O'REILLY: I know. There's a lot of blondes --

POWERS: He's chastising you. So he has -- whenever he has to [unintelligible], he has to say my name.

O'REILLY: -- there's a lot of blondes in this operation -- a lot of blondes in this operation. So if once in a while I get you mixed up -- I got Wiehl and Kelly coming up. I mean, I can --

HOOVER: You're bombarded with blondes.

O'REILLY: I need sunglasses in here.

HOOVER: It is so tough for you.

O'REILLY: OK, what I'm telling you is he doesn't like ideologues, and they know it, and they don't like him.

HOOVER: I don't know if it's not ideologues. I think he doesn't like partisans.

O'REILLY: This is my opinion.

HOOVER: I think he doesn't like partisans.

O'REILLY: All right, ideologues, partisans. What's wrong with you?

HOOVER: But there's -- you know, partisans are people --

O'REILLY: It's the same thing.

HOOVER: OK.

O'REILLY: All right, last word on you, frontrunner, Miss Frontrunner. Miss Hopping-on-the-Obama-Bandwagon.

POWERS: It's not true. You're not paying attention --

O'REILLY: Miss Throwing-Senator-Clinton-Under-the-Train.

POWERS: You're not paying attention. I like Hillary Clinton. That's not true.

O'REILLY: Yeah, not as much as you liked her two weeks ago.

POWERS: I'm the one who just argued that she could still win the election.

O'REILLY: Yeah. Well, she could. She has to win both Texas and Ohio. Not one, both. Going to be very tough. Ladies, thank you very much for your blondeness.

—A.I.