Wednesday, December 5, 2012
On The O'Reilly Factor...
Segment Summaries
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.
Top Story
Bob Costas in the No Spin Zone
Guests: Bob Costas

The Factor began Wednesday's show with NBC sportscaster Bob Costas, who delivered a controversial message about guns during a game on Sunday. "Obviously Americans have a right to bear arms," Costas began, "and I'm not looking to repeal the Second Amendment. I didn't call for any specific prohibition on guns and never used the term 'gun control.' I quoted from a column by Jason Whitlock on the Fox News website in which he mentioned a 'gun culture' in this country. It's a mentality that almost always leads to tragedy and not safety." Costas put forth his prescription for greater gun responsibility "I believe that there should be more comprehensive and effective controls on the sale of guns. Roughly 40% of the guns sold in this country do not require a background check. There ought to be training programs for people who purchase guns." The Factor called those suggestions reasonable, but scolded Costas for claiming a gun-toting civilian could not have saved lives during the Colorado movie theater shooting: "Would you rather have the choice of ducking down on the floor or having a handgun to pull out and defend yourself? You don't want a gun, but I want one! I want to be able to protect myself against that loon."
Impact Segment
Factor Exclusive: Senator Marco Rubio in his first post-election interview
Guests: Senator Marco Rubio

Senator Marco Rubio, considered a rising star in the Republican Party, entered the No Spin Zone for his first post-election interview. "Let's start by admitting the obvious," Rubio said. "The President ran a very good grass-roots operation, his campaign invested a lot of money in infrastructure and technology and we should learn from that. Those of use who believe in limited government and free enterprise have to do a better job of explaining to people why limited government is the best way forward for them. Our challenge is to take our principles and applying them to people's hopes and dreams. The way we'll move ahead is not by making rich people poorer, it's by making poor people richer!" Rubio denounced President Obama's insistence that tax rates be raised for upper-income Americans. "If they do all the things the President is asking for we're all going to be worse off. If you raise those taxes the true millionaires and billionaires will figure it out, but the people who will get crushed are the small and medium sized businesses, who will have to raise prices and lay people off. We have to deal with the $16 trillion debt and the $1 trillion a year in deficit spending." The Factor lamented, "It doesn't seem that the President feels the urgency that you feel."
Unresolved Problems Segment
Are the network news broadcasts rooting for tax increases?
Guests: Kirsten Powers and Kristen Soltis

A conservative watchdog group has concluded that network news outlets, while covering the budget debate, have devoted twice as much air time to tax increases as opposed to spending cuts. The Factor analyzed the study with Republican strategist Kristen Soltis and Democrat Kirsten Powers. "I'm not surprised," Powers said, "because that's been the bulk of the discussion. Pretty much the only thing that's been discussed between Democrats and Republicans has been the fact that President Obama wants to let the Bush tax cuts expire for the wealthy." Soltis contended that networks are trying to sell a policy that won't work. "The unfortunate narrative that's been peddled, which is not true, is this idea that you can solve all of our problems by raising taxes on the wealthy. We have such a big spending problem."
Factor Follow Up Segment
What did Hillary Clinton know about Benghazi?
Guests: Brad Thor

Author Brad Thor, who writes political thrillers and has been immersed in the shifting accounts of the attack in Libya, gave his assessment of the situation. "Next week it will be three months since the killing of Ambassador Stevens," Thor pointed out, "and we don't know any more than we did three months ago. That's not good for our republic and there are too many holes in this story. It starts with this: Of all the days for an American to be traveling in an Islamic country, why was Chris Stevens in Benghazi, of all places, on 9/11. This is a very bright man, yet he chooses to go to Benghazi on 9/11, the same day he sends the State Department a cable complaining about the security that's lacking over there. It doesn't make sense!" Thor implied that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton quickly got out of town to evade responsibility. "Hillary Clinton was there at Andrews Air Force Base on September 14th to receive the bodies along with the President, but then was gone and she couldn't do the Sunday talk show circuit. This was a political decision and this should haunt Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama."
Miller Time Segment
Dennis Miller on Kate Middleton's royal pregnancy
Guests: Dennis Miller

The Factor asked Dennis Miller to opine on the distinct possibility that he'll soon be paying much higher taxes. "I've said I want to help the helpless," Miller replied, "but I could care less about the clueless. Right now I'm in that unfortunate position where I'm subsidizing morons whose plight I secretly revel in. Obama should have just said he wants to tax successful people, this whole 'rich' thing has been bad. It's creepy that he's made people who do well to be bad guys." Miller looked overseas to England, where Kate Middleton is pregnant with Prince William's child. "That girl better hope that the kid doesn't have her father-in-law's ears or she should get hooked up to the epidural tomorrow. That's like giving birth to a pineapple with two DirecTV satellite dishes attached to it! But I don't get this whole royalty thing, they're just people like us. They have people who put their pants on one leg at a time for them."
Back of Book Segment
Charlie Brown play canceled in Arkansas after atheists complain
Guests: Mike Huckabee

An elementary school in Arkansas was planning to take its kids to see a performance of Charlie Brown's Christmas at a local church, but the pastor canceled the visit after a local atheist group complained. "This will be moved to a Saturday," said Fox News host and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, "and it will be a voluntary event. To its credit, the school was willing to go on with the plan, but the church pastor didn't want to put the school in a position where they would wind up getting sued. The nature of most Christians is not to get into a fight, but I think it's time we're going to have to cause some trouble for a lot of people." The Factor criticized Pastor Happy Caldwell, who canceled the event: "Guys like this have to stand up and fight this secular progressivism that wants to diminish the Christmas holiday. We have to start to fight back against these people, the Judeo-Christian tradition in this country is under attack."
Factor Mail
Viewers sound off
Dennis Sutliff, Minneapolis, MN: "Mr. O, I agree with you that Jovan Belcher was a villain. That being true, why can't we take away his firearms?"

Carol Grabowski, Gore, VA: "Although alcohol and painkillers might have contributed to Belcher's actions, he could have made other choices. You cannot save people from themselves."
Tip Of The Day
The rarest of posters
On December 14th, Sotheby's in New York City will auction off a Wounded Warriors poster signed by all five living American presidents, with the sale of the poster to benefit Wounded Warriors Project.