The Factor Rundown
Weekdays with Bernie Segment
Want KILLING REAGAN Free?
Comments
|
Deadly tornado devestates central Oklahoma
Guests: John Roberts
The Factor began Tuesday's show with the latest from Oklahoma, where 24 people are confirmed dead and hundreds more injured after Monday's tornado. Fox News correspondent John Roberts, who spent the day in Moore, Oklahoma, reported that the most devastating story involved an elementary school. "Nine children died," he said, "seven of them at an elementary school a few blocks from where I'm standing. Any loss of life in a tragedy like this is heartbreaking, but when it's children it's particularly heartbreaking. You send your child to school in the morning thinking it will be a safe place, but then that safe place is suddenly rent asunder by a tornado. Children were told to take shelter in the hallways and hug the walls, but the walls came tumbling down." Roberts added that most Moore residents he spoke with are determined to stay put. "We came across one person who said they're done with Oklahoma, but all the other people we talked to, people whose homes were blown away, are staying."
Almost immediately after the tornado smashed parts of Oklahoma, Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse blamed it on "global warming." The Factor analyzed that theory with meteorologist Joe Bastardi. "There have been major tornadoes before," Bastardi declared, "and the charts show major tornadoes have been decreasing over the years. They reached their peak in the 50's, 60's, and 70's. But this is not the first time we've heard comments like this after devastating events that cause misery to people, it's almost like ambulance chasing. Senator Whitehouse seems to be ignorant of the fact that his own state of Rhode Island was hit four times by tornadoes in the 1950's." The Factor urged Midwesterners to persevere and prepare: "Whether there is global warming or not, you're going to have bad storms, so you have to build underground shelters if you're in the middle of the country."

|
|
President Obama going "Bulworth" on controversies in Washington?
Guests: Charles Krauthammer
"According to the New York Times, President Obama has told confidantes that he would like to 'go Bulworth.' That is a reference to a 1998 movie in which Warren Beatty played Senator Jay Billington Bulworth, a complete phony who has an epiphany and decides to tell the truth. As an American citizen, I want President Obama to 'go Bulworth,' to actually tell us what he thinks, especially about the controversies involving Benghazi, the IRS, and the Justice Department. But so far President Obama is doing a great imitation of the 'Hogan's Heroes' star whose signature line was, 'I know nothing!" When Chris Wallace asked White House adviser Dan Pfeiffer where the President was the night Ambassador Stevens was killed, Pfeiffer called it 'largely irrelevant.' And today, former IRS chief Doug Shulman testified that he doesn't know anything about targeting conservatives. If you're a fair-minded person, the Obama administration is becoming a frustrating experience. Just tell us what happened, Mr. President, stop dancing around."
The President says he learned about the IRS targeting on May 10th, but it now turns out that some senior White House officials knew about the probe much earlier. The Factor invited reaction from Charles Krauthammer. "Last week the President was asked whether anybody at the White House knew about the IRS activities," Krauthammer said, "but the President gave a very lawyerly and peculiar answer. He deliberately dodged the question, and we now know that he knew at the time that his staff did know about it. What he said wasn't a lie, but it was a deliberate suppression of the truth from a man who leaks that he is only interested in everybody coming out and saying what they know. Why didn't he say what he knew when that question was asked?" Krauthammer also opined on the news that IRS official Lois Lerner will reportedly invoke the Fifth Amendment when testifying Wednesday. "When anybody takes the Fifth in front of Congress," Dr. K stated, "we impute that there is a lot to hide and they are very worried."

|
|
How is the mainstream media covering the White House controversies?
Guests: Bernie Goldberg
Bernie Goldberg entered the No Spin Zone with his assessment of how the media is handling the various administration scandals. "The big story is how the 'mainstream media' cover scandals in general," Goldberg said. "If it's a Republican scandal, it's covered as a scandal, but if it's a Democratic scandal, it's covered as, 'How are these cynical Republicans going to take advantage of this for political points?' A classic example is a page one headline from the New York Times: 'IRS Focus on Conservatives Gives GOP an Issue to Seize On.' In other words, the story isn't the IRS abuse, it's how the Republicans will seize on it! And on MSNBC a contributor named Joy Reid said this story isn't about you unless you're trying to form a tax-exempt organization. The ignorance of that statement is breathtaking." The Factor suggested that many reporters have skewed priorities: "You can do a legitimate sidebar on the Republicans taking advantage of the story, which they are, but the main story has to be whether this is credible."

|
|
Jodi Arias addresses the jury, pleads for life in prison
Guests: Lis Wiehl and Kimberly Guilfoyle
Legal analysts Lis Wiehl and Kimberly Guilfoyle opined on the revelation that Fox News correspondent James Rosen had his private emails read by federal investigators who were looking into leaks. "The FBI had a warrant that gave them 30 days," Wiehl reported, "but they read emails spanning four months. They claimed they were going after Rosen because they were worried about classified information being disclosed." Guilfoyle accused the judge who authorized the warrant of legal overreach. "This is unauthorized, it's illegal, and it's an infringement on a reporter's legitimate interest in obtaining information. James Rosen was just doing his job!" Guilfoyle also predicted that convicted killer Jodi Arias will be executed, saying, "I think she's going to get the death penalty and her crimes warrant that." Wiehl dissented, pointing out that "fewer than 2% of the people on death row are women."
|
|
Eyewitness accounts of the killer tornado in Oklahoma
Guests: James and Micah Moody
The Factor concluded the show with Oklahomans James and Micah Moody, whose home was destroyed by Monday's tornado. "The sirens started to go off," Micah said, "so we got into the storm shelter. I think I cried more than my three children because it was terrifying. When we came out there was screaming and yelling and hysteria at the school across the street. I ran over there to see if I could help and I had the privilege of carrying a little girl out of the school." James Moody recounted how he made it home after leaving work. "The highway was shut so I started meandering through local streets until I got about a quarter-mile from the house. I ran the rest of the way to the house and then, when I saw my children and my wife, I knew everything was okay and they were safe."
|
|
Eliminate "ear pollution"
You can avoid sounding ignorant if you eschew clichés such as, 'at the end of the day,' 'there's no there there,' and 'it is what it is.'
|
|
|
|