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| All content taken from The O'Reilly Factor on Fox News Channel. Each weeknight by 6 PM EST a preview of that evening's show will be posted and then updated with additional information the following weekday by noon EST.
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Guests: Kirsten Powers & Kate Obenshain
"Ten years ago President Bush launched an attack on Iraq. That began nearly eight long years of conflict in Iraq; almost 4,500 Americans are dead, more than 32,000 wounded, and almost $1 trillion spent. Was it worth it? Many liberals say 'no,' some conservatives say 'yes.' No matter what you think, the Iraq war has changed America. We now have a $17 trillion debt, thousands of wounded warriors, and an ideological battle over how to deal with villains. I supported the war based on weapons of mass destruction intelligence; subsequently, I believe we could have removed Saddam Hussein in another way that would not be so damaging to America. My opinion ten years ago was based on reality, not ideology or party politics. But the reality for America has changed. As we are seeing in Afghanistan, we can not impose democracy and human rights on nations that have no real desire for those things. America and the coalition won the Iraq war because of our brave military and because President Bush finally wised up and used both brains and brawn. Give Bush credit for toughing it out, but criticize him for not anticipating the difficulties of that campaign. The bottom line: let's not do that kind of thing again."
The Factor asked Democrat Kirsten Powers and Republican Kate Obenshain to evaluate the Talking Points Memo and the Iraq war. "I agree with 'let's not do it again,'" Powers said, "and I opposed the war at the time because I didn't think we faced any serious threat from Saddam Hussein. The claim that he had a relationship with Al Qaeda was absurd. We had been attacked by Al Qaeda and going into Iraq didn't make any sense to me. Too many people died, too many people are suffering, and we spent too much money." But Obenshain insisted that the war was absolutely justified. "Saddam was a supporter of terrorist organizations and a genocidal maniac. The short-term goal was to rid the world of Saddam Hussein, the long-term goal was that we wanted a reliable ally in the region. But because Obama could not stick it out, we left before the reforms we made had a chance to solidify." |
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Guests: Bob Beckel
Speaking on the Senate floor after a training accident in Nevada killed seven Marines, Senator Harry Reid seemed to imply that budget cuts were to blame. Marine Corps officials have been extremely critical of Reid, but FNC's Bob Beckel defended the Senator. "Harry Reid has the unique ability to use the wrong words at the wrong time," Beckel conceded, "but he never associated the Marine deaths with the sequester cuts. For somebody who's as well-prepared as you usually are, you're really not on this one." The Factor vigorously disputed Beckel's benign interpretation of Reid's statement. "He said it's because we don't have the funds to properly train the military, he is exploiting it and he is making the sequester the issue." |
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| Congresswoman Michele Bachmann has accused President Obama and the First Family of living very large at taxpayer expense. After she refused to defend those accusations in the No Spin Zone, The Factor put forth this analysis: "This is a trivial pursuit and Michele Bachmann made a mistake pursuing it. With the nation owing close to $17 trillion, I wish the President were more like Pope Francis, who as a cardinal rejected all the lavish perks. But Mr. Obama is entitled to protection, convenience, and comfort. Michele Bachmann and all the President's opponents should zero in on what's really important - his failure to deal with out-of-control spending and his belief that America's not a fair country. It's long past time for partisans on both the right and the left to cut the nonsense and look at things clearly." |
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Guests: James Rosen & Carl Cameron
Fox News correspondents Carl Cameron and James Rosen provided some inside political info, beginning with the President's trip to Israel. "When the President touched down," Rosen reported, "his first remark to the Israeli Prime Minister was, 'It's good to get away from the Congress.' President Obama later said there is not a lot of daylight between the U.S. and Israel on Iran and its nuclear program, but Prime Minister Netanyahu stated that Israel has the right to defend itself and would never defer in that right, even to the United States." Cameron turned to the immigration reform plans put forward by Republicans Rand Paul and Marco Rubio. "It's been amazing to watch them dance through immigration reform, positioning for 2016. Both would not require illegal immigrants to go back to Mexico. Rand Paul is staking out a slightly more conservative approach to border security, but both of these Tea Party conservatives are pushing for the very reforms that Republicans in the House and Senate have been killing." |
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Guests: Dennis Miller
The Factor welcomed Dennis Miller, who beefed about the lethargic economy. "I am livid at the President for making a 'new normal,'" he declared. "It struck me last month when the unemployment rate went from 7.8% to 7.7% because 300,000 people quit looking for work. I don't get how the liberal intelligentsia is not jumping off this guy's bandwagon, but they hang on like 14-year-olds with Justin Bieber." Miller also opined on actor Steven Seagal's visit to Russia to promote fitness. "This is the only guy on the planet with bigger boobs than Putin. We're sending Seagal over there, we're sending Dennis Rodman to North Korea, no wonder the world thinks we're in decline. Why not just make Honey Boo Boo the ambassador to Tehran?" Finally Miller scrutinized the claim that Satan in the mini-series "The Bible" bears a resemblance to President Obama. "The press has been making him look like Jesus Christ for four years, maybe it's time to flip it. But when I look at Obama, I don't see Satan, I see an inept civil servant." |
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Guests: Uma Pemmaraju
FNC's Uma Pemmaraju watched footage of Immigration and Customs Enforcement boss John Morton admitting that his department has freed illegal aliens who had been convicted of drunk driving. "This was a House hearing," she explained, "that was looking at the fallout from the 2,000-plus detainees who were released because of sequestration concerns. According to ICE, eight aggravated felons have also been released." Pemmaraju also analyzed a poll showing that Pakistan leads the world when it comes to hating America, with Greece also near the top of the list. "Greece has a problem with us for a variety of reasons, some going back to the '60's when there was a concern that the CIA was running the country. A lot of young Greeks hate the United States and feel like we dominate smaller countries." |
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Brad Bennett, Salinas, CA: "The feds are already stealing our money by printing too many dollars to prop up the economy. Every day our buying power drops."
Jim Kelly, Wall, NJ: "I believe the president and progressives are trying to destroy capitalism."
Lois Halls, Edmonton, Canada: "Linda Stasi is wrong. There are black characters in The Bible mini-series. Samson for one." |
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| Keep the cost of a restaurant meal down by drinking tap water, skipping dessert, and ensuring that side dishes are included with the entree. |
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