Guests: Monica Crowley & Kirsten Powers
"The presidential vote is 21 months away, but the campaign is on. With the Republican nomination wide open and a polarizing Hillary Clinton likely to represent the Democrats, this will be a very high-profile election. The media will play a huge role and the press has been corrupted by money, the Internet and ideology. CNN commentator Ruben Navarrette was very blunt about Univision, saying the network 'is a partisan network in favor of Democrats' and that 'CNN is probably the bigger problem.' Full disclosure: Mr. Navarette also said that Fox News is biased in favor of Republicans. So the political landscape is already tainted and here's why that matters. Informed voters will not be swayed by media coverage, but millions of Americans are uninformed. They don't watch the news or read newspapers, they pick up things from their friends and in cyberspace. When you hear about 'ground games' and getting out the vote, those are the people being targeted. It is likely that most of the media will line up in favor of Hillary Clinton. She received generous coverage as secretary of state, and there is nostalgia on the left for the good times under Bill Clinton. That will be a huge advantage, as we saw with Barack Obama. As far as The Factor is concerned, we are going to cover the race in a surgical way. We are not going to allow the candidates to bloviate, we will develop story lines about those who seek the presidency. The two core issues are how to increase take-home pay for working Americans, and how to defeat the jihad. Today ISIS put another disgusting homicide on the net, burning to death a Jordanian pilot. Once again the White House had no answer, no plan to stop the gross terrorism. There is a huge amount at stake, so let the political games begin."

The Factor asked Democrat Kirsten Powers and Republican Monica Crowley to weigh in on accusations of liberal bias. "The mainstream media are overwhelmingly liberal," Powers conceded, "and the issue is whether they are able to correct for the bias. I would say they generally are not because they don't think they are biased. They have a worldview that assumes liberals are right." Crowley laid out the inherent danger in that worldview. "The Founding Fathers didn't think you could have a healthy republic without an independent press. President's Nixon's theory was that smart conservatives go into business to make money and smart liberals go into journalism to change the world." The Factor concluded that at least some of the blame goes to former CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite: "The man most responsible for the liberal bias is Cronkite. When he retired, he came out to be as about as far left as you could be."

Guest: Larry Sabato
Republican presidential prospect Rand Paul has been making the media rounds, but refused an invitation to enter the No Spin Zone. The Factor spoke about the libertarian-leaning Paul with political scientist Larry Sabato. "Even though Paul is doing well in the polls," Sabato surmised, "I don't think he has much chance of being the nominee. He's okay while there is a fractured field with many candidates, but it's hard to imagine the hawkish side of the party going with a candidate who is isolationist." The Factor agreed that Paul will be damaged by his hands-off foreign policy approach: "Every time ISIS commits another atrocity like burning the Jordanian pilot, Senator Paul loses traction because he has no plan to defeat the jihad."

Guest: John Stossel
The Factor asked Fox Business host John Stossel, a Rand Paul supporter, to defend his candidate. "I think Senator Paul should come on your show," Stossel conceded, "but on the other hand you're an obnoxious guy who barely lets libertarians get a word in. You sneer and call me a 'loon' when I'm on your show, but I think Senator Paul will eventually come on. I like the fact that he says the state does not have the answer to everything." The Factor reiterated to Stossel that Paul's isolationism is dangerous: "He has never defined anything about defeating the jihad. If you're going to run for president and you have no plan, that's irresponsible."

Guest: Medea Benjamin
The radical anti-war group Code Pink interrupted a Senate hearing last week, confronting 91-year-old Henry Kissinger. Medea Benjamin, the group's founder, defended the in-your-face tactics. "We didn't physically assault anybody," she insisted, "and we were careful not to touch Henry Kissinger or anyone else. We were using our First Amendment rights to free speech and I think you should applaud that people care enough to do this." The Factor then challenged Benjamin to define how she would stop ISIS atrocities. "The U.S. invasion of Iraq led to the creation of ISIS," she declared, "and U.S. intervention only creates more extremism. We should get our allies like the Turks and the Saudis to stop the recruiting and funding."

Guests: Kimberly Guilfoyle & Lis Wiehl
Bobbi Kristina Brown, daughter of Bobby Brown and Whitney Houston, remains in a coma after being found unconscious in a bathtub. Given the fact that Bobbi's late mother had a history of drug problems, Lis Wiehl and Kimberly Guilfoyle examined the legalities of parental drug usage. "In 33 states it is illegal to expose your child to illegal drugs," Wiehl reported, "and there are only three states do not have any laws protecting children. In Georgia you can get up to 15 years for having meth in your house in front of your children." Guilfoyle laid out the sheer scope of the problem. "According to one survey, more than 8-million children were living with at least one parent who was a serious substance abuser. Studies show that if you are exposed to that, you will be more likely to grow up with a drug problem."

Guests: : Juan Williams & Mary Katharine Ham
One year after being grilled by The Factor, President Obama's Super Bowl pre-game interview was conducted by NBC's Savannah Guthrie in the White House kitchen. Mary Katharine Ham and Juan Williams contrasted the interviews. "You hit hard and you come at people," Williams told The Factor, "so you went in there with that idea that you're big Bill O'Reilly and you come to play. The part of the interview NBC used during the Super Bowl was softer, they saved the harder stuff to use during the Today Show." Ham argued that Guthrie was far too easy on the president. "I don't think every question has to be deadly serious, but President Obama doesn't take questions from reporters very often. He needs to be held to account and it's the reporter's job to press him. Savannah Guthrie didn't get a lot of 'pressing' in."

Spike Roberson, Ann Arbor, MI: "The Islamists are indeed the same as the Nazis. They pervert religion and mythology to justify unspeakable violence; they imagine themselves victims of a Jewish conspiracy, and they are bent on worldwide conquest."

Elaine Koop, Grand Rapids, MI: "Thank you, Bill! I have been trying to make the Nazi point but people look at me like I'm crazy. Thanks for calling the jihadist movement what it is."

J. Pansare, Bloomington, IN: "Mr. O, the Factor loses credibility when you put the idiotic segment Watters' World on. Viewers do not take you seriously."

If you're one of the many Americans who have trouble sleeping, try listening to an old school R&B song called "Float On" by a group called, appropriately, The Floaters.