Bill O'Reilly: Reaction to Jon Stewart's departure proves media is 'overwhelmingly liberal'

Fox News host Bill O'Reilly expressed doubt on Monday that his eventual departure from TV would not get as much fanfare as Jon Stewart's has since it was announced last week.

"Some of the praise has always been a little overblown," contributor Mary Katharine Ham said of the press' relationship with Stewart. "I do think he is a funny person and a talented person. But he is also an ideological liberal comedian who did a good show."

"He's their soulmate," O'Reilly said, cutting in.

"Right," Ham continued. "So a lot of the ideological liberal journalists are saying, 'Wow, he did it better than anybody.' And here's the thing: when it comes to journalists praising him as a fellow journalist, I think you run into a problem there."

While praising Stewart's talent, O'Reilly -- who has debated Stewart on both his show and the Factor, as well as a their 2012 "rumble" -- also wondered whether the press would "mist over" in recalling his own tenure whenever he signed off.

"The point of the matter, Juan, is that this, beyond a reasonable doubt, proves that the national press and the commentators in television and print, they're overwhelmingly liberal," O'Reilly told contributor Juan Williams. "That's what it proves, Juan."

"I don't know who you're fighting here," Williams responded, before saying he felt that Stewart and O'Reilly were on common ground when it came to criticizing the news media.

"The difference here is that you impact a larger audience," Williams said, before O'Reilly interrupted.

"The difference is, I'm a traditional American, and Mr. Stewart is a liberal American," the Factor host said.

Watch the discussion, as posted online on Monday, below.