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.
Wednesday, October 19, 2016
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Talking Points Memo & Top Story
Impact Segment
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Wednesday: Live Debate Preview
Debate Preview
Just one hour before the third and final presidential debate, Bret Baier and Megyn Kelly examined some of the latest revelations that are affecting both candidates. "Today an Arkansas reporter came forward," Kelly reported, "and said that 20 years ago Bill Clinton sexually assaulted her three times at her news station. He was the sitting Governor of Arkansas and she says she was young and scared." Baier added that the Clinton campaign has been roiled by several other items. "The WikiLeaks emails are revealing more and more, and there are FBI documents showing how the Clinton campaign operates. Now we also have the Project Veritas undercover videos. Meanwhile, Chris Wallace will be trying to keep the debate on track."
Debate Topics and Predictions
"Our pal Chris Wallace has selected six areas of questioning for the spectacle in Vegas. Let's run them down and analyze who has the advantage. First, debt and entitlements, where both Clinton and Trump have problems. Trump has promised to rebuild the military, which will take a massive amount of tax money. But Trump also says he'll cut taxes and that would slash money going to the federal government, at least until the economy picks up. Thus, the debt would get bigger, at least in the short term. Clinton pretty much supports the spending vision of President Obama, who has run up more debt than any other president in history. In addition, Mrs. Clinton would like the feds to run the entire healthcare system. Having the feds pay all the medical bills would be a colossal entitlement and debt driver. Second topic, immigration. Trump won the nomination largely on his tough guy approach. He has to echo that while at the same time showing some humanity. On the other side, with the WikiLeaks hack showing Hillary Clinton dreaming of open borders, that could make the issue a tough one for her. Open borders would pretty much destroy our society as tens of millions of poor people south of the border would pour in here. The third issue is the Supreme Court. Chris Wallace will most likely ask both to cite some court decisions they feel strongly about. Then it's on to foreign hot spots. It will be interesting to see how aggressive Wallace is with Clinton on that subject. With the battle raging against ISIS in Mosul, Mrs. Clinton will be hard-pressed to defend President Obama removing all U.S. troops from Iraq while she was secretary of state. Trump, of course, has no record to defend but he should be more specific about his overseas vision. The fifth topic is the economy. Here it's mostly B.S. It's impossible for Americans to know who will improve the economy, but Trump believes in cutting taxes to stimulate growth while Clinton believes that big government projects should create momentum in the economy. Finally, Chris Wallace will ask about the character issue - are you fit to run the country? Things could get very nasty and Wallace will have his hands full. Believe me, the headlines tomorrow will be about the character issue."

Charles Krauthammer joined The Factor with his analysis of the upcoming debate. "You're right about one thing for sure," he said, "which is that the fitness and character issue will drown out everything else. On the actual issues, the thing that is most striking is debt and deficits and entitlements. The greatest threat to the country going forward is the $20-trillion of debt and the prospect of that increasing radically. It is the problem of our time and it is one that neither candidate is addressing." Challenged to come up with one question that relates to each candidate's character, Krauthammer said this: "On Trump you have to go after the accusations of sexual assault or you go after the way he is challenging the entire electoral system. For Hillary Clinton, you have to go to the fact that she was called a 'congenital liar' twenty years ago and that condition seems to have not improved."
Goolsbee Reacts to Talking Points
For a Democratic view, The Factor turned to former Obama advisor Austan Goolsbee. "There was one area where you were not fair," Goolsbee told The Factor, "in that you papered over something that will be a strong advantage for Secretary Clinton. Donald Trump's economic plan has been analyzed twenty different ways and it adds $6-trillion to the debt. Everyone has analyzed their two budgets and hers is a lot better than his! This debate won't be about what the moderator asks, it's going to be a debate about what they say about each other. I would ask Donald Trump about foreign issues, the fact that he has said we should nuclearize Saudi Arabia, declare a trade war with Japan, and pull out of NATO unless they pay more money. As for Hillary Clinton, I would ask whether her secretiveness about the emails means people should be nervous about her secretiveness as president."
Damaging Video Tape
Conservative film maker James O'Keefe, known for recording his ideological enemies with a hidden camera, has released videos showing Democratic operative Robert Creamer plotting to disrupt Donald Trump events. Katie Pavlich and Eboni Williams weighed in on the videos. "This man is despicable," Williams declared, "but I would caution that you can't judge an entire party or group by the worst example. And this guy Creamer is the worst example!" But Pavlich contended that Creamer's tactics and dirty tricks are typical for Democrats. "The left will argue that this was a rogue operative and it doesn't represent all of the DNC, but that's just not true. All of this goes back to Chicago, where President Obama was community-organizer-in-chief. Creamer is married to a Democratic Congresswoman from Chicago. They're all swimming in the same pool and this guy Creamer was at the White House all the time."
Unfair Media Coverage?
Finally, The Factor was joined by veteran Washington Post newsman Bob Woodward, who reacted to the aforementioned Project Veritas undercover videos. "We have a reporter looking at this," Woodward revealed, "but you see these snippets of conversation and jiggly cameras. The truth will emerge, even though sometimes it takes weeks and years." Woodward also laid out what he would like to know from the presidential candidates. "For Hillary Clinton, the email issue is serious and it went on for such a long time. She says she made a mistake, but she hasn't said what she has learned from that mistake. I would also ask her serious foreign policy questions such as what she would now do in Syria. And Trump needs to be asked if he is serious about asking for a special prosecutor to investigate Hillary Clinton. That's really Nixon stuff, who turned the presidency into an instrument of personal revenge."