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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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| With Hurricane Irene battering the Bahamas, The Factor asked Joe Bastardi, the chief meteorologist at Weather Bell Analytics, if America had anything to fear. Bastardi said that certain parts of the east coast were in danger: "It's not a threat to Florida. It's going to stay well to the east. But as it starts making the classic bend up along the Eastern Seaboard it will start threatening the Carolinas." The Factor looked at the map of the hurricane's projected path, and took it personally: "It's heading straight for New York City and Long Island. And that's where you expect it to really whack the island where I live, Joe? Is it zeroing down on my house here? Is there a grudge here against me?" Bastardi denied that the storm had a grudge against The Factor personally. He floated another theory about Irene's path: "I never get invited to parties out in the Hamptons, so maybe that's why this is going out there." |
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"As just about everybody knows America is broke. The government owes more than $14 trillion. So spending has to be cut, possibly including some welfare payments to the poor. In 2002, the poverty rate in America was about 12 percent. In 2009, it's about 14 percent, up two points, despite more than $4 trillion in welfare spending over that period. Welfare spending is 15 percent of the entire federal budget -- but that is deceiving because Medicare and Social Security account for 33 percent of all the spending. If you take those mandated expenses out of the equation, then welfare payments account for 22 percent of the total budget, and that's a big number. A recent Rasmussen poll says 71 percent of Americans believe too many people are receiving welfare who should not be getting it; just 18 percent of us say more people should receive welfare. The Democratic Party in general does not want to cut government assistance programs to the poor or even to illegal aliens. A fair system would hold those receiving government assistance accountable. That is, if they turn things around in their lives, they would have to pay back a portion of what they receive. And they would actively have to look for work. If they don't, the benefits cease. President Clinton signed the Welfare Reform Act in 1996 and that slowed the entitlement industry down a bit, but over the past few years it has picked up steam again. The Feds must impose discipline here and in every other federal spending situation."
For more on America's welfare state, The Factor brought in Fox Business Anchor Lou Dobbs. The Factor pointed out that it was necessary to help children who had nothing. "Absolutely," Dobbs agreed. "If you live in this country, this country is going to provide... There will be provision for children." This made it harder, The Factor argued, to cut off certain benefits: "It is very hard for the federal government then to stop these entitlement benefits like food stamps, even though they are abused in many, many cases... If you are going to cut, kids are going to get hurt." Dobbs had a pretty simple solution: "Mean testing. Those who have sufficient money should not be receiving assistance." Dobbs also bemoaned the fact that it was hard to talk about immigration without being called a bigot: "If you talk about even dealing with the issue, you're a heartless fool who wants deportation even if you've never called for deportation." |
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| A new Gallup poll shows Rick Perry leading the GOP field by a sizable margin. The Factor asked Fox News analyst Dick Morris if he was impressed by Perry's commanding lead. "It's not commanding. It's a lead," Morris replied. He went on to argue that Perry still has to contend with Romney, Bachmann, and one other person: "You cannot entirely count out Cain. I know you hate that..." The Factor was incredulous: "Come on. Stop with this stuff." He offered to make a bet with Morris over Cain's prospects: "I will give you 10 to 1 odds on Cain. 10 to 1." The next topic was Ron Paul, who says he's being ignored by the media. The Factor pointed out that Paul had a pretty substantial fan base: "There is a strain of people who love him. And that's what shows up in the 13 percent and 14 percent that he gets." "Those people that love him better love Obama," Morris said. "Because if he ever gets the nomination they will have him for four more years." |
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| An illegal immigrant from Ecuador living in Worchester, Massachusetts is accused of killing a young man in a car accident. The immigrant, Nicolas Guaman, was allegedly drunk at the time of the incident. Guaman had a number of run-ins with police, but was never deported, because the state of Massachusetts is lenient on illegals. The Factor was shocked: "The state of Massachusetts has no database to find out if Guaman was legal or not. The police didn't even know whether the guy was illegal or what, because Massachusetts doesn't have a database about it. It's insane." Law school professor Wendy Murphy blamed the Democratic governor of Massachusetts: "To me, Deval Patrick owns this, both from a leadership perspective and from a political perspective... When Mitt Romney was governor, he actually said 'If you arrest any person and you have to run their record to see if they are here illegally, then you have to report them to ICE.' Deval said, 'No, I don't like that. That's too mean to the illegals.'" The Factor wanted to know a reason behind it: "I don't know Patrick. I've never met Patrick. What is the thinking? What is his thinking behind this insanity? Why is the governor doing this?" Murphy wasn't sure what the governor was thinking: "It's so crazy even the attorney general in Massachusetts, who's a Democrat, disagrees with him on this. So he's really looking like a radical left-wing outsider more and more in this state." |
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| Dennis Miller was fired up this week on a variety of topics. On Pres. Obama's vacation: "I'd rather have him on vacation than perpetually out to lunch, which is what he is when he's back in Washington, D.C... Speaking of vacations, China, can you keep Biden over there? Is that possible?" Next, he sounded off on the East Coast earthquake. He thought Americans panicked too much when it happened: "I don't think we're as tough as the Japanese. You see them come together with their stoicism and their public-mindedness. I think if we have a tsunami event after one of these earthquakes in America, there will be reports of cannibalism within three hours." "You make a good point," The Factor replied. "Because the Japanese wouldn't even evacuate when Godzilla was in the neighborhood." Finally, Miller had something to say about Kim Kardashian's wedding, which was near his home: "I saw Cal Tech seismologists say that the weekend that Kim was up here the San Andreas Fault was only the second biggest fault line in the Santa Barbara area," Miller said. |
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| Fox News correspondent Juliet Huddy dropped by to comment on some of the week's most intriguing video. First up was an interview with a Libyan rebel who managed to break into Muammar Gaddafi's bedroom and steal his colonel's hat, along with some opulent gold jewelry. Huddy was impressed with the hat: "That thing could sell at Christie's for -- good lord -- a lot of money." The Factor disagreed: "No, it's not going to sell. The guy is going to wear it to the beach." The Factor was also not impressed with the casual outfit the guy was wearing: "I'm a little worried about the military prowess of the rebels. I don't know if any of our Special Forces are dressed that way." Next The Factor played an ad put together by the DNC featuring clips of Jon Huntsman trashing the other GOP candidates. The Factor thought that Huntsman was a long shot for the GOP nomination: "He knows he's not going to win. He just wants to become more famous. Right away, he's going to get the hair care for men ad." "Competing with Perry for that one," Juliet joked. |
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Kathy Lyday, Anchorage, Alaska: "I'm with you, Bill. We should all be outraged that the president's choice to head the jobs and competitiveness committee, G.E. CEO Jeffrey Immelt, is shipping jobs to China."
DeAnn Caylor, Austin, Texas: "Bill, you are surprised at Immelt's audacity? He has done business with Iran despite the enmity between our two countries. Colmes is foolish to think we don't care about this. We care."
Bob Harrington, Niles, Michigan: "The liberal media will protect G.E. on this."
David Eklund, Alberta, Canada: "Bill, I stayed at the Newpark Hotel in Utah. They did not carry FOX News. I gave them heat about it."
Brooke Forgione, Tarpan Springs, Florida: "I watch 'The Factor' and want to say / I think the program is A-OK, / I hope my point is not too bold / Since I am only 12 years old." |
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| Wednesday's Patriot: Sen. Marco Rubio, who was giving a speech at the Ronald Reagan library. While escorting Nancy Reagan to her seat, she lost her balance, but Rubio caught her before she could hit the ground. Rubio is a Patriot, as is Nancy Reagan. |
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