The O'Reilly Factor
A daily summary of segments aired on The O'Reilly Factor. A preview of the evening's rundown is posted before the show airs each weeknight.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
The Factor Rundown
Talking Points Memo and Top Story
Week in Review from the Ingraham Angle Segment
Factor Follow Up Segment
Personal Story Segment
Is It Legal Segment
Back of the Book Segment
Factor Mail
Pinheads and Patriots
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Comments
Obamacare begins to affect your wallet
"A couple of days ago I received my new health care premium and Oxford Health is charging me $2,100 more than it did last year. Almost every health insurer is raising premiums to cover the anticipated cost of Obamacare because the rules have changed. For example, this year health companies will have to cover adult children until the age of 26, they will have to cover all children regardless of pre-existing conditions, and they cannot cancel coverage for any reason other than fraud. So all that cost is being passed to us. And there's more: The cost of Obamacare will be borne by the taxpayer as the government gives 'free' health insurance to those who don't have much money. So we get hit two ways. President Obama does not seem to understand the unintended consequences of higher costs on businesses and productive workers. Talking Points believes we are headed to a bad place if the Democrats continue this big government spending craziness and taxpayer-supported entitlements. I can afford the 2-thousand bucks more I have to pay for my health insurance; many Americans can't."

The Factor asked Obama-watchers Alan Colmes and Monica Crowley about President Obama and health care costs. "He has been a very successful President," Colmes maintained. "He's governing as a pragmatist and you have to take the long view. Insurance costs are not going up because of Obama, it's because of what happens on the state level. You're blaming Obamacare, but that's not the problem." But Crowley insisted that health care reform is already proving disastrous. "The argument was that it was going to 'bend the cost curve down,' but the numbers are going up. Premiums and medical costs are going up because Obama care has thrown a huge monkey wrench into the health care system. Did we need reform? Yes. Did we need to re-make the entire health care system in America? No."
Dirty Tricks in Kentucky Senate Race?
A far-left zealot infiltrated a rally for Rand Paul, the Republican candidate for Senate in Kentucky, and posed as an anti-immigrant and racist Rand supporter. The Factor asked Laura Ingraham about political dirty tricks in the Internet age. "I focus on what the left does," Ingraham said, "to demonize the tea party movement. Nancy Pelosi set the stage when she said tea partiers wear swastikas and weren't real, so it doesn't surprise me that there are left-wing kooks trying to make tea partiers look stupid and racist by holding dumb signs. The Democratic leadership actually led the way." The Factor worried that cameras and instant communication endanger political discourse: "Dirty tricks have been going on for a long time, but never has there been a vehicle to carry the dirty tricks like the Internet. Our whole political process could be subverted here and we are in a danger zone because this could lead to anarchy."
Fox News under attack
Variety magazine's TV critic has picked up and run with the notion that Fox News is trying to "scare" white Americans. The Factor analyzed the widespread anti-Fox sentiment with Charles Gasparino, who recently moved from CNBC to Fox Business. "Producers and anchors at other networks," Gasparino said, "do have an agenda. It's not just that they're left-wing, but they don't even present the other side of the story. They think it's 'racist' for us to raise the legitimate issue of whether Barack Obama is a leftist. It's not a racial issue, it's an economic issue." The Factor accused many in the so-called mainstream media of running scared: "There's a shift of how Americans are getting their news on television, and that shift is to Fox News. So I think this is a money story as well as an ideological story. There's billions of dollars in television news and look at CNN and MSNBC - they're both flamed out."
Nancy Grace's new book
The Factor welcomed Nancy Grace, host of a TV program that focuses on crime and author of a new novel called "Death on the D-List." "I had so much fun writing this," Grace said. "It's about the TV industry and the murder of 'd-list' celebrities, one after another. It's all about murder and mayhem." Turning to real-life crime, Grace excoriated officials in Arizona, where three convicted murderers escaped from a medium security prison. "They're going to tell you that there is overcrowding and these guys were 'model prisoners,' but they seem to forget their records and the people whose lives they took. You know what there was between them and us? Two chain link fences. I had better security at college." The Factor was surprised that the breakdown occurred in Arizona, "a state that really punishes people."
Firefighter test discriminatory against blacks?
A federal judge has ruled that New York City's written test for firefighters discriminates against blacks. The Factor analyzed the ruling with FNC legal analysts Lis Wiehl and Kimberly Guilfoyle. "I tried to take this test," Wiehl said, "and it's about hoses and what you would do in a certain situation. A black firefighter admitted to me that there is not one question in this test that has any racial bias and even the judge says there is absolutely nothing racially biased in the test. But it has a disparate impact and therefore needs to be thrown out. " Guilfoyle condemned the judge and his ruling. "This is nonsensical because there is no actual discrimination in the test, which is not difficult. And since when shouldn't public safety and merit matter? There are 300 people who passed the test and are being held back while there's a shortage of firefighters."
Culture Warriors
Actress Jennifer Aniston says men are not really needed when it comes to raising children. The Factor ran that theory past Culture Warriors Gretchen Carlson and Margaret Hoover. "The alarming statistic," Carlson said, "is that 36% of all babies in the U.S. are born to single mothers. Young people do not have the cognitive ability of knowing the difference between a 40-year-old woman who is financially stable and a 16-year-old girl." Hoover agreed that Aniston is sending the wrong message. "Yes, women can have their own children without having a husband or partner. But why would you want to? She's glamorizing single parenthood and diminishing two-parent households." The Factor added that Aniston and others in Hollywood are disrespecting men and dads: "There are millions of single mothers who do a great job, so it's possible, but it's not optimum. That's where Ms. Aniston makes her mistake - she's throwing the message out to 13-year-olds that you don't need a guy, which is destructive to our society. Dads who try hard are diminished by people like Jenifer Aniston."
Viewers sound off
Factor Words of the Day
Wayne Cox, Fresno, CA: "Bill, you say the Obamas are smart people, but why would the First Lady go to Spain when she knows controversy would follow? Maybe they're not so smart."

Ed Albanoski, Santa Clara, CA: "I've been watching the Factor from the beginning and Raheel Raza was the most fair-minded guest you've had, O'Reilly. She's right that jihad has gotten stronger because of political correctness."

Denise Honovich, Dix Hills, NY: "Mr. O, Ms. Raza has done more for American-Muslim relations in a few minutes on the Factor than that proposed Islamic Center could ever accomplish."

Edward Emanuel, Fresno, CA: "I think you're likeable, O'Reilly. But I also own a Pit Bull named Cuddles."
Johnny Carson & Ohio McNugget fiend
Tuesday's Patriot: Johnny Carson, who left $156 million to a charitable trust when he died in 2005. And the Pinhead: The Ohio woman who punched a clerk and smashed a window when she couldn't get her beloved Chicken McNuggets.