Eric began Friday's show with the rift in the Republican Party between Tea Party conservatives and more traditional Republicans. GOP strategist Brad Blakeman and Scottie Nell Hughes of the Tea Party Network entered the No Spin Zone to discuss the divide. "Congratulations to 'John McBoehner,'" Hughes quipped, "because he is now the John McCain of the House. I wear his scorn like a badge of honor, it's almost like he enjoys the infighting between the two crowds. John Boehner has thrown down the gauntlet, pointed fingers at the Tea Party, and tried to demonize us. He played right into the hands of Democrats." While Hughes and many other Tea Partiers object to the compromise budget agreement reached this week, Blakeman portrayed the deal as a winner for Republicans. "This moves us in the right direction," he said. "The Tea Party wants to rule in a government that they wish they had, but I would rather rule in reality and the government we do have. In a divided government there must be compromise, and this budget returns regular order to the House having the power of the purse." Eric concluded, "The pendulum swings back and forth, and it seems like the pendulum is swinging away from the Tea Party because of the government shutdown."

The PolitiFact website has designated President Obama's "If you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan" it's "Lie of the Year." Eric analyzed the dubious honor with Democrat Chris Kofinis and Republican Chip Saltsman. "The President clearly misspoke," Kofinis admitted, "and the administration wasn't as clear and direct as they needed to be about the impact of the Affordable Care Act on individuals who had health care. But I'm not going to call the President a liar, I'm going to say that he made a big mistake and he's paying the political consequences for it." But Saltsman contended that President Obama repeatedly told a bald-faced lie. "There's no question he was using this to sell his plan and to sell his reelection. You can try to give him the benefit of the doubt, but he continued to say this phrase over and over. This is a lie that breaks every Pinocchio scale, it may be one of the biggest lies of all time."

As the White House press corps grows impatient with its lack of access to President Obama, Eric asked Fox News correspondent Ed Henry about the administrations lack of transparency. "The press corps is talking about just a modest bit of more access to the President," Henry said. "For example, Oval Office meetings with world leaders are sometimes closed to the media and we're told it's a private discussion, but a short time later there is an official White House photograph put out. So if the White House photographer, who is on a government salary, is allowed into that meeting, why can't we at least get a minute so we can take independent photos and write independent stories? If a foreign government was doing something like this we'd be calling it propaganda."

According to the Associated Press, former FBI agent Robert Levinson, who went missing in Iran six years ago, was working on a secret mission for the CIA. Eric explored the case with former Army officer Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer. "It's clear that Levinson was working under some sort of contract with the CIA," Shaffer asserted. "You don't dispatch U.S. government people into harm's way, and you shouldn't send a former FBI agent with a high profile. So it appears that we as the U.S. government have some responsibility for Mr. Levinson being where he was. From everything I can tell, this was a true rogue operation completely off the books." Shaffer turned to reports that U.S. authorities are considering a deal with NSA leaker Edward Snowden, who remains in Russia. "I was talking to a colleague today about this and there may be a way to protect the secrets that have not been revealed yet. You have to bring Snowden in, get him in a room, and get him to give a full debrief of all the information he has. I think the NSA is considering bringing him back to find out all the things he actually took."

A group called American Atheists has put up a billboard in New York that reads: "Who Needs Christ During Christmas? Nobody." Eric welcomed the organization's Dave Muscato, who tried to explain the sign's purpose. "We're not attacking anybody," Muscato declared, "we're just stating that you don't need Christ to celebrate Christmas. Millions of people in this country have a great Christmas without Christ have anything to do with it. Christmas is not about Jesus, it's about spending time with your family. You can enjoy Christmas however you want, have fun. Jesus has been dead for a really long time, you don't need him." Eric retorted, "You do realize that the first part of Christmas is 'Christ,' that's what it's based on, and there are a lot of people who need Christ."

North Korea dictator Kim Jong Un has ordered the execution of his own uncle, Jang Song Thaek, who was accused of treason. Eric asked Fox News analyst Lt. Col. Ralph Peters what the killing means. "This is truly something to worry about," Peters declared, "and the media has gotten this wrong. You're reading in the newspapers about a division in North Korea, but this tells us that there is no division and no division will be tolerated. Kim Jong Un is power-mad and we are dealing with a nuclear-armed Nero or Caligula. This guy is surrounded by more 'yes men' than President Obama, he doesn't have a grip on reality, and this is incredibly dangerous at a time when China is acting incredibly aggressively. I will be amazed and delighted if we can get through the next few years without an incident."