O'Reilly: Asians not liberal 'by nature' because they're 'industrious and hard-working'

Thursday on Fox News Channel's "The O'Reilly Factor," host Bill O'Reilly and producer Jesse Watters engaged in a discussion of the changing demographics of the U.S. and noted, with puzzlement, that many Asian-Americans are voting Democratic. According to Media Matters, O'Reilly suggested that this is surprising because "Asian people are not liberal, you know, by nature."

This discussion opened with the two men talking about the state of Hawaii, which they claim is rife with homeless people because of "addiction" and because, O'Reilly said, "they don't enforce the drug laws."

"But you know what's shocking?" he continued, "35 percent of the Hawaiian population is Asian, and Asian people are not liberal, you know, by nature. They're usually more industrious and hard-working."

"But they did vote for President Obama," said Watters.

"Big time," O'Reilly agreed.

O'Reilly's views on race have landed him in hot water before, such as the time he incredulously informed his radio listening audience that he had gone to dine at Sylvia's, an upscale soul food restaurant in Harlem, and was shocked to find the patrons sitting upright at tables and eating with silverware.

"I couldn't get over the fact that there was no difference between Sylvia's restaurant and any other restaurant in New York City," he said in September of 2007. "There wasn't one person in Sylvia's who was screaming, 'M-Fer, I want more iced tea.'"

Watch the video, embedded via Media Matters, below:

[image via screencap]