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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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"When you do violent things, you hate your country. And there's all kinds of violence - physical, mental, and emotional. The FBI has smashed a whacked-out militia group in Michigan; apparently these loons were plotting to kill a police officer and then bomb the funeral in the hope of touching off an uprising against the government. In another insane situation, the Westboro Baptist Church, which hates gay people and believes God is punishing America, won a victory in court. These disturbed souls disrupt military funerals, so Albert Snyder, the father of a Marine killed in Iraq, sued the 'church.' Incredibly, a court has ordered the Snyder family to pay more than $16,000 in court costs. That is an outrage and I will pay Mr. Snyder's obligation. The Michigan militia and the Westboro church are far-right nuts, but there are just as many far-left idiots doing vile things. 38-year-old Norman Leboon was charged with threatening to kill Republican Congressman Eric Cantor. The situation in America is reaching critical mass - there's far too much hatred in the air. The press is obviously pumping up inappropriate things that happen on the right and pretty much ignoring hateful things on the left. Every member of the media should condemn all hate speech and violent activity; it is simply un-American."
The Factor asked radio talk show host and Fox News contributor Laura Ingraham whether hate groups are growing in number and ferocity. "In the history of any country," Ingraham said, "you're going to have these fringe elements that feel aggrieved, but now we have the 24/7 media that give them a platform. What I don't like is when people try to conflate the craziness of these 'whack jobs' and true conservative or liberal ire about what's happening in politics or the culture." Ingraham singled out the Westboro Baptist Church for condemnation. "These freaks have the right to speak out, but they don't have the right to target private citizens. There is a 'time, place, and manner' restriction." The Factor tried to differentiate between hate speech and legitimate political discourse: "Nobody wants to inhibit freedom of speech, but when you say we have to kill Bush or Obama, that's when you go over the line."
Continuing with the top story, The Factor aired clips of angry leftists protesting Ann Coulter's appearance in Canada, Code Pink anti-war protesters shouting down Karl Rove in California, Louis Farrakhan claiming the "white right" is praying for the death of Barack Obama, and a protester interrupting a speech by Sarah Palin. The Factor pointed out that media coverage of these events was minimal: "Hatred on the left is bubbling, no doubt about it. Far-left violence and bad behavior is all over the place, but do we hear about that on the network news? No, we hear about the Tea Party people and how bad they're behaving. This is a media scandal - one side gets scrutinized, the other side gets a pass." |
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| The Factor asked Obama-watchers Monica Crowley and Alan Colmes to assess the polarization in American politics. "President Obama ran as a guy," Crowley lamented, "who was going to initiate a new era of 'post-partisanship.' He has turned out to be the most divisive president in modern American history. So when the majority of American people are feeling 'dissed' by the people who are supposed to represent them, of course they're going to be angry. Sometimes the anger spills over into unacceptable bad behavior and nobody is condoning that." Colmes claimed that President Obama's race is a principal factor. "He is doing what he said he would do, he's doing change. What's driving a lot of this is racism! There is a loud minority and a lot of them hate the fact that there is a black guy in the White House. I am not angry at the left - I don't think there's an equivalency between anger on the left and anger on the right." |
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| When does protected free speech become unacceptable hate speech? The Factor posed that question to Fox Business Network anchor John Stossel. "When it incited violence," Stossel answered. "If you go on tour with Glenn Beck and you tell the crowd to beat him up, and the crowd does, then you can be prosecuted. If you say the 'n' word in someone's face, that could be considered inciting violence, but in general all those ugly words are legal." Stossel argued against "hate speech" laws that criminalize certain slurs. "A crime is a crime, and trying to divine your motives is wrong. It's important to have free speech, even when it's ugly, because you don't want government saying this is okay, but this is not." The Factor, however, contended that speech has to be regulated: "There has to be a code of some kind that says you can't go up to somebody and verbally assault them with words." |
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| FNC legal analysts Lis Wiehl and Kimberly Guilfoyle took on the case of 15-year-old Phoebe Prince, who killed herself after being bullied by her high school colleagues, nine of whom have been arrested by Massachusetts authorities. "Most of the bullying," Wiehl reported, "happened on the school grounds. They called her names, threw beverages at her, and followed her after school. She had sex with one boy and they made fun of her and taunted her for that. The students were charged with harassing and stalking and the violations carry a ten-year maximum." Guilfoyle chastised school officials for looking the other way. "School authorities did not directly harass or assault or stalk this girl, but they should have stopped it. I think her parents should sue the school in civil court and the principal, superintendent and anyone else who knew about this should be kicked out. This was just a freshman girl who was trying to assimilate in a new school." |
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| The Factor invited FNC's Charles Krauthammer to analyze the health care plan enacted in Massachusetts under then-Governor Mitt Romney. "It has insured a lot of uninsured people," Krauthammer reported, "but the failure is that the state is going to go bust. When it was introduced in 2006, the projection was that it would cost $88 million. But in 2011 it will cost $900 million, and the only reason the state is not is in default is that it's getting Medicaid bailout subsidies from the federal government." Krauthammer portrayed the Massachusetts experience as a lesson for the rest of America. "You are increasing demand, but the supply of hospitals and doctors and devices remains the same. You don't have to be a genius to know that leads to an increase in costs and premiums." |
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| Tuesday's Patriots: Everyone who bid on autographed covers of Bill's upcoming book "Pinheads and Patriots." With The Factor matching the winning bids, two military charities will receive $57,000. And the Pinhead: Octomom Nadya Suleman, who has made a deal with PETA to put a sign on her front yard reading "Don't let your dog or cat become an 'octomom.'" |
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Ryan Klapmeyer, Kansas City, MO: "Al Sharpton had a good point about elements of racism in every organization. I am an independent and thought the debate between you and him, Bill, was riveting."
Patrick McDermott, Atlanta, GA: "If Sarah Palin saying 'reload' is a call to violence, then President Obama chanting 'fired up, ready to go,' must be a call to arson."
Jim Denk, Florissant, MO: "Bill, last night you should have called Al Sharpton out for his misstatement about having seen a tape with racial invective on it. There is no such tape and you should have thrown him off the set." |
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