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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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Guest: Senator John McCain
"One of my major themes has been the basic nobility of this country. Since World War II the USA has freed hundreds of millions of people worldwide, and we have righted many wrongs at great expense in our blood and treasure. But now many Americans do not want to make that sacrifice; Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan have hurt this country and some Americans are willing to let evil go unchallenged. But I say we still have the responsibility to stop mass murder when we can. There is no question that the Syrian dictator Assad kills women and children, and there is no question that Iran is helping him do it. If the USA can punish Assad we should, but we have to be smart about it. We can send a message to every tyrant in the world - slaughter civilians and you'll pay a steep price. Many conservatives are willing to give Assad a pass because they don't trust President Obama. Ironically, many liberals did not want to move against Saddam Hussein because they didn't trust President Bush. Same mindset, different ideology. If the USA fails to act against Assad, the unintended consequence will be a loss of respect from those who care about a just world. President Obama is correct in asking Congress to affirm the decision to punish Assad, but in the end America needs to do what is right. If we don't, we will slowly lose the nobility that was gained by past sacrifice. Unfortunately, in this world justice can be imposed by one people only - us! To whom much is given, much is expected."
The Factor welcomed Senator John McCain, who insisted that Bashar al-Assad has used chemical weapons. "The evidence is in and the tests have been taken," McCain stated. "There are bodies stacked up with no visible marks on them, and the people who went in and took those horrible videos also died. The rebels don't have access to chemical weapons and this wasn't the first time Assad used those weapons. There is no doubt about what he did and there is enough evidence that we must act." The Factor stressed that any U.S. force has to be well-conceived and well-executed: "My support of military action is based upon a lucid plan, I'm expecting the United States to go in in a surgical way with a campaign that damages Assad." |
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Guests: Brit Hume
The prospective strike on Syria is supported by some Democrats, among them Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, who not long ago portrayed George W. Bush as a war monger. Meanwhile, some Republicans are vehemently opposed to military action. The Factor sorted it out with FNC's Brit Hume. "If the vote were held today," Hume surmised, "the House would not support military action. He needs some Republicans and a lot of them are dead set against him. But in the end, and depending on how the resolution is worded, I think President Obama will be able to get the support of most House members." Hume contended that President Obama has squandered much credibility "He appears to have no coherent foreign policy, all the notions that seemed to have been the basis of his foreign policy have not panned out." The Factor laid out the political ramifications for the President: "If he gets voted down, his presidency is through. So you have to figure that the Democrats aren't going to throw him under the bus." |
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Guest: Juan Williams
Moving from pols to pundits, The Factor reported that some on the right, including Laura Ingraham, Glenn Beck, and Rush Limbaugh, oppose military action, while their ideological soulmates Bill Kristol and Karl Rove support the President; there are similar disagreements among portside columnists. Juan Williams assessed the ideological divide. "The President has to get his liberal Democratic base on board," Williams said, "or it'll be a matter of the President being unable to control his left wing. I increasingly see this as a global issue where American interests are at stake, and we should be sending a message to Syria and North Korea, saying 'don't mess around.'" Williams castigated conservatives who suddenly sound like peaceniks. "I want to give everybody the benefit of the doubt, but their reasoning doesn't synch with what they were saying when President Bush wanted to go after Saddam Hussein. " |
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Guests: Monica Crowley & Alan Colmes
Writing in the Washington Post, former attorney Betsy Karasik argued that sex between students and teachers should not be a crime. The Factor invited Alan Colmes and Monica Crowley to opine. "This is completely outrageous," Crowley said, "and for a long time we have seen elements on the far left that have argued exactly this, that we should be normalizing adult-child sex. They are few and far between, but that is what this woman represents." Colmes took umbrage at Crowley's ideological accusation. "This is not a far left issue. The woman who wrote this column said student-teacher sex should be decriminalized like we treat marijuana. That's insane because smoking marijuana is something you do to yourself, this is something you do to someone else." The Factor found common ground with Crowley, saying, "Almost 100% of the time the people calling for libertine changes in our society are on the left." |
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Guests: Lis Wiehl & Kimberly Guilfoyle
Legal analysts Kimberly Guilfoyle and Lis Wiehl brought viewers up to date on the legal developments in the Boston Marathon bombing. "Two students from Kazakhstan and one U.S. citizen have been charged," Wiehl said. "They were all friends of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, they went to college with him at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth." Guilfoyle added that the foreign nationals, who were charged with conspiracy and destroying evidence, face up to 25 years in prison. "It is alleged that they removed items from Tsarnaev's room and disposed of them. The American is facing less time than the other two." |
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Guest: Charles Krauthammer
FNC's Charles Krauthammer entered the No Spin Zone and eviscerated President Obama's missteps on Syria. "His objective is to send a message," Krauthammer protested, "and I say send a text, it's less expensive! If we had a serious man in the presidency, he would not propose an air strike designed to achieve nothing. Obama is the one who decided Assad had to go and did nothing, he's the guy who decided that chemicals are a red line and did nothing, and he's the guy who said we had all the urgency in the world and then said we won't do anything until Congress decides. And you trust the judgment of this man?" The Factor answered Dr. K's rhetorical question thusly: "I'm not trusting President Obama, I'm not trusting John Kerry, I'm not trusting John McCain. I'm saying we should try and do the right thing." |
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Philip Poole, Tucker, GA: "A carefully considered desire to avoid use of force in Syria does not make me an isolationist. A small spark could ignite a big fire."
Ron Duskin, New York, NY: "If President Obama has this much trouble getting a coalition to confront Syria, why should Iran worry about developing nuclear weapons?"
Don Pokelwaldt, Jacksonville, FL: "I'm confused as to why Syria isn't important enough to call Congress back into session." |
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