|
|
| 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.
|
|
|
Guests: Amilya Antonetti & Erica Payne
"Over the weekend the dinosaur media, still in the bag for President Obama, ran with two stories. One, the tired old fixation with Mitt Romney's Mormonism; the other, the endless reportage on the 'Occupy Wall Street' group and their spinoffs. Let's take the theological distraction first. A pastor named Robert Jeffress, who introduced Rick Perry at a meeting of conservatives, later said Mormonism is 'a cult.' The media are continuing to fan the flames of this non-issue because this sideshow helps the Obama campaign. As long as Republicans are arguing about theology, the President doesn't have to answer for his abysmal economic record. As for the media's other favorite obsession, the protesters, presidential candidate Herman Cain offered the correct response when he said, 'The unions and certain union-related organizations have been behind these protests.' Even veteran Democratic insiders are seeing a potential downside to the growing nuisance of these permanent protests. Voters made it clear in the last election what matters most to them, and no amount of media-generated religious controversies or union-supported mobs are going to distract them from the real centerpiece of the campaign - the Obama record."
Laura was joined by two women with vastly different opinions of the Wall Street protests. "The Tea Party started in reaction to the bailout of Wall Street," said liberal activist Erica Payne, "and if you sat down with a group of 'Occupy Wall Street' protesters and a group from the Tea Party, you would see there's a lot of agreement. They're saying Wall Street and its corrupt relationship with government has put our country's economy at risk. So I think the protesters should stay." But entrepreneur Amilya Antonetti criticized the protesters and their inchoate message. "They can't really explain why they are there or what they are looking for. They say they want jobs but they don't want to start at the bottom. Other people are carrying signs without even knowing what the sign says because they were paid to be there. The Tea Party was self-generated, but a lot of this is just a political campaign. It's going to get ugly and get way out of hand very fast." |
|
|
Guest: Brit Hume
Fox News analyst Brit Hume joined Laura with his perspective of the protests and their possible impact on Democratic politicians. "It's a little early to say this is just a bunch of mobs," Hume said, "but it does not seem to be a very good parallel to the Tea Party movement. Democrats have been really envious of the Tea Party, which benefitted the Republican Party. But that movement was organized, focused and disciplined - so far this group is proudly unorganized and the discipline is lacking, which you can see in skirmishes with the police. If I were a Democratic politician I'd be awfully wary of associating myself too closely with this." Laura theorized that many 'Occupy Wall Street' protesters are profoundly unserious: "There are people who really enjoy being part of these protests, there's kind of a sense of community." |
|
|
Guest: Karl Rove
Pastor Robert Jeffress, a supporter of Rick Perry, has slammed Mormonism as a "theological cult" divorced from Christianity. Laura asked Fox News analyst Karl Rove about the potential political fallout for Governor Perry and Mitt Romney, a devout Mormon. "This is not where a pastor ought to be going," Rove declared. "Should Christians not vote for Jews? What about Baptists and Catholics, who have different views on the papacy. This is the kind of thing that doesn't belong in politics. I wish Perry was a little stronger in denouncing this, but my problem is with the pastor." Rove added that many media outlets would like to provoke a religious dispute among Republican candidates. "We have Time magazine and a couple of other major publications dissecting the Mormon faith - a lot of this has to be laid at the feet of the press." |
|
|
Guest: Ann Coulter
Laura turned to another new development in the GOP race, Rick Perry's tough TV spot denouncing Mitt Romney for his Massachusetts health care plan. Conservative columnist Ann Coulter entered the No Spin Zone with her analysis. "This is probably Romney's biggest problem," Coulter declared, "and this is a very strong ad. The country has spoken and they do not want national health care, and Romney himself has said that on his first day in office he will offer Obamacare waivers to every state. So we don't need to worry about him making that mistake again, but this ad reminds Republicans that Romney is not a pure free marketeer." Nevertheless, Coulter hinted that Mitt Romney is her choice among the current front-runners. "We have to run a governor, so we're down to Romney or Perry, and Perry's position on illegal immigration is a much bigger problem than Romney's problem with Romneycare." |
|
|
Guest: Scott Rasmussen
According to a new Rasmussen poll, 51% of voters blame President Bush for the current economic woes, while just 43% put the onus on President Obama. Laura crunched the numbers with Scott Rasmussen himself. "Voters are unhappy with both parties," Rasmussen reported. "They know the economy stinks and they think there is plenty of blame to go around. Voters right now are just looking at Washington as completely out of touch, and 3 out of 4 people don't think anything will get done on the pressing issues before the 2012 election." Rasmussen also pointed out that President Obama's recent aggressive posture has not helped him in the polls. "He has a 42% job approval rating right now, which is at the low end of his entire term, and his offensive is not firing up the Democratic support groups. One other part of the poll is very important in terms of the election - 59% say President Obama is 'more liberal' than they are." |
|
|
Guest: William La Jeunesse
Attorney General Eric Holder is under fire for misstating when he learned about "Operation Fast and Furious," the botched gun-running sting that allowed Mexican drug cartels to obtain U.S. weapons. Laura was joined by Fox News correspondent William La Jeunesse, who has been following the story. "The Attorney General is in trouble with Congress," La Jeunesse said, "because they generally don't believe that he didn't know until early this year about this program. Documents show that everyone around Holder did know about it. I am led to believe that a subpoena coming out this week will specifically look at communication between the Justice Department and the White House, and also between Justice and Mexico. Remember, we didn't tell our own agents in Mexico that the guns were coming down there." |
|
|
| Monday's Patriots or Pinheads? We invited you to vote on the public service announcement in which Mike Huckabee teams up with a group of celebrities to help raise money for famine victims in Somalia. Because the spot tries to shock by playing on the "f" word, 68% of you decided it was downright pinheaded. |
|
|