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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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Guest: Karl Rove
"Many Americans are confused over the Syria issue because it is a complicated mess. To sum up, I believe there is overwhelming evidence that the Syrian tyrant Assad did gas civilians, including children. I also think that if the USA does nothing about that it will embolden our enemies. The truth is that it would be much easier not to get involved in Syria, but in the long run that would be dangerous. Left unchecked, evil flourishes, so if we sit out Syria we'll be facing heavy pressure down the road, most likely weapons of mass destruction delivered by terrorists doing the bidding of Iran and other rogue nations. It is true that nobody knows what will happen when Assad goes, but Talking Points believes that if Congress votes to support a limited military strike Americans should rally behind that. If Congress says no, however, President Obama should not launch an attack because that would create amazing chaos within America. Summing up, Talking Points believes Assad is a war criminal and allowing him to go unpunished will cause many more problems down the road. I hope Congress sees it that way."
The Factor asked former Bush adviser Karl Rove, a supporter of military action, to provide hypothetical advice to President Obama. "The most important thing for the President to do," Rove said, "is to convince Congress and the American people that there is a strategic American interest in taking action. The outcome in Syria is if that Assad wins, Russia and Iran and Hezbollah win, which would change the balance of power in the Mideast against us." The Factor reminded Rove that many of his friends on the right are staunchly opposed to a military strike: "Many Republicans and conservatives say Al Qaeda operatives will take over the government, so even if we do downgrade Assad and he loses the civil war it's not going to be good for America and therefore we should stay out of it completely. There is also a deep cynicism among conservatives that President Obama is so inept that he'll screw this up." |
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Guest: James Carville
Back in 1999 President Clinton ordered air strikes in Kosovo to punish the Serbian government for committing war crimes. James Carville, then a Clinton adviser, entered the No Spin Zone and put forth his view of the Syria situation. "I completely understand why people have great trepidation about this," he stated, "but in the end I would support doing something about a guy using chemical weapons on his own people. People really recoil against the use of these chemical weapons and there should be a price to pay for it. What's really weighing on people's minds here is that they look back at the Iraq fiasco and say, 'Here we go again.' I wish I was more hopeful about the ultimate outcome, but I admit I'm a little afraid." |
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Guests: Kate Obenshain & Kirsten Powers
A reporter at President Obama's Wednesday press conference in Sweden pointed out that the President was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009. The Factor asked Democrat Kirsten Powers whether President Obama should return the Prize. "He should have given it back a long time ago," she declared, "for the drone war, for escalating the war in Afghanistan, for having all these people die unnecessarily. Plenty of civilians have been killed by his drone war, including an estimated 200 children. And I don't quite understand this idea that chemical weapons are terrible, but 100,000 people have already been killed in Syria." Republican Kate Obenshain also complained about the administration's muddled foreign policy and malleable morals. "President Obama basically won the election by saying he didn't believe in military intervention unless there is an imminent threat to our national security. But now he says there is a 'red line' of chemical warfare. A lot of people want to throw Assad out, but Al Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood are in control of 7 of the 9 factions against Assad." The Factor took issue with Powers' condemnation of the drone war: "You know every war in the history of mankind has resulted in collateral damage and civilian casualties, that's what war is. The drone war has degraded Al Qaeda to the extent where they may not be able to kill you." |
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Guest: James Rosen
FNC correspondent James Rosen provided the inside story on a reported rift between President Obama and John Kerry. "Kerry was stunned by the President's sudden reversal," Rosen reported, "and his decision to seek Congressional authorization for strikes in Syria. A lot of people here believe that President Obama traded on Secretary Kerry's stature as the 'anti-George W. Bush' to make the case for swift military action and then pulled the rug out from under him. I traveled with Secretary Kerry in March and it was clear that it was taking some adjustment for him to be someone else's cabinet member. It was as if he had been reined in by the White House." The Factor praised Kerry's foreign policy experience: "John Kerry and John McCain, who are on opposite sides politically, are both very knowledgeable about the world and they both say the same thing, that you have to get rid of Assad." |
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Guest: Dennis Miller
The Factor wound up Dennis Miller and turned him loose on the debate over Syria. "It's just nice to see Eric Holder get a week off from being the 'it takes a village idiot' guy," Miller said, "because Kerry is up there this week. Lurch makes Stedman look like Socrates, and the irony of John Kerry sitting there acting like a latter-day Genghis Khan is just too delicious." In his inimitable way, Miller seemed to endorse military action. "We have to stop talking about it, we're now in the business of sending out 'save the date' memos for when we're going to attack. I would blow Assad's head off, and it wouldn't be that hard because he doesn't have a chin to begin with. Then if they took the Al Qaeda guy from the rubble and put him in, I'd blow his head off too. I'd keep blowing heads off until they got the message." |
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Guest: Juliet Huddy
Michigan State professor William Penn was caught on tape telling his students that Republicans are "dying white people" who have "raped this country." FNC correspondent Juliet Huddy opined on the professor's rant. "Typically this comes from political science professors," she said, "but this guy is a creative writing professor. This was a 9-minute tape and it was like Bizarro land that just kept getting weirder. He went off on Ann Romney, of all people. This is not the first time this guy has done this, he's known for it, and the university says it is 'looking into it.'" |
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Laura Drake, Torrance, CA: "Bill, thanks for your Talking Points Memo reminding the nation of the nobility we have earned. The United States is not just a country, it's an ideal."
Bill Monroe, Southlake, TX: "The nobility of this nation was squandered long ago by the Obama administration."
Sharon Brown, Junction City, OR: "O'Reilly, I agree with your point that the USA is the last stand against evil. But I do not support action against Syria because I do not trust President Obama."
Ellen Whitford, West Long Branch, NJ: "Bill, excellent Talking Points. America is noble and these pictures of dead children are painful to see. We must be swift and strong if we attack." |
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| Don't miss the ladies of the classic Mary Tyler Moore Show reunite on TV Land's Hot in Cleveland on September 4 at 10 pm! |
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