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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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| Laura began Friday's show with former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, who spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington Friday. He optimistically predicted that the nation will be eager for a Republican president in 2016. "After eight years of Obama," he said, "we will have greatly increased the debt, we will be exhausted militarily, and we will have lost the respect we had in the world. There is not one country on the planet where we are respected more than when Barack Obama took office. If we can communicate to working class people and explain how a Republican conservative leadership empowers them to do better for their families than they are doing right now, then we're going to win the election." Laura reminded Huckabee that Hillary Clinton will be a formidable foe, saying, "She will argue that the last time of real prosperity for the country was the Clinton era." |
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"There have been lots of interesting speakers at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, including a few Republicans who may need to so some reputation rehab with the base. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, whose star has fallen since 'bridgegate,' gave a terrific speech on the economy and was well-received. Florida Senator Marco Rubio, considered a darling of the Tea Party before he fronted the Senate's immigration reform bill, chose to focus on foreign policy. He believes Republicans will forget their irritation with him because of his muscular stance on foreign policy, but I think this is a serious miscalculation. According to a recent poll, only 34% of Republicans say the United States should take the leading role in trying to solve international conflicts. Americans overwhelmingly respect and support our military, but they also want our attention and our money focused on the home front. If Rubio isn't careful, he'll follow in the footsteps of John McCain, who also staked his candidacy on a neo-conservative and muscular foreign policy. Most of us want what George W. Bush initially promised - a more humble foreign policy that focuses strictly on America's national interest."
Laura asked two Republicans, strategist Chris Begala and pollster Kellyanne Conway, whether GOP 2016 hopefuls should focus on foreign matters such as the Russian invasion of Ukraine. "There's no doubt that jobs and the economy are the number one issue," Begala said, "and ObamaCare is 1B. But I differ with the approach that we shouldn't be the world's police force. I'm not for dropping the SEALS into Kiev, but we do have to stand up against what is wrong, we have to place sanctions and maybe stop buying some Russian oil. We're talking about standing up to what is wrong!" Conway argued that Americans do want intervention, but only in certain places. "Americans have been trying to distinguish between the hot spots across the globe. They want to keep the nukes out of Iran and North Korea, as opposed to getting involved in a dispute over a warm water port in Russia. They distinguish between supporting Israel and getting involved in every skirmish across the globe." |
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| In yet another setback for ObamaCare, a new study indicates that only about 1 in 10 previously uninsured Americans have enrolled. Laura asked Fox Business host Lou Dobbs to explain. "When we look at the numbers," he said, "the Obama administration claims that 4-million people have enrolled in ObamaCare, but we don't even know if that number is accurate. And now, with 1 in 10 uninsured signing up, we are on our way to spending almost $2-trillion to enroll 5 or 6 million of the 50-million uninsured. This law was written disastrously, it's been implemented disastrously, and it is absolutely horrific. This is a train wreck and no one is talking about fixing it." Laura focused on another statistic and what it implies: "27% of the respondents who have signed up for Obamacare were previously uninsured, which is a paltry number. Most of the people who are not signing up are simply not convinced that this is good for them." |
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| A new television commercial created by a group called MedicalDoctors.com encourages consumers to purchase medical marijuana from licensed physicians. Geraldo Rivera weighed in on the appropriateness and effectiveness of the TV spots. "The big picture is that marijuana prohibition is ending," he gushed, "so why not have a website that steers people in the right direction so they can avoid doing something illicitly?" Rivera downplayed the dangers of marijuana intoxication and called for widespread legalization. "I think marijuana is less harmful than alcohol and the laws should be parallel with laws involving alcohol. Rules will be established as we move forward and as this becomes more normal." |
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| An organization called American Atheists is fighting to remove a cross that will be on display at the 9/11 Memorial Museum. The group claims the mere sight of the cross can cause "mental anguish" and "dyspepsia" among atheists. Laura invited reaction from Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson. "The beams shaped like a cross were found two days after the 9/11 attacks," Carlson reported, "and it was a huge deal because so many people found hope and a reason to continue going on when this symbol emerged from the rubble. This is a historical symbol now, which is why it will be in the museum. When I look at it, because I'm a Christian, I think of the cross in a religious way. But if other people want to just say it's a piece of history, so be it. I don't see how it can be offensive to anybody." Laura added that the atheists' complaint has already been rejected by one court: "A district court ruled that the cross does not create an 'undue entanglement' of religion with the state. This complaint is preposterous, but it's par for the course for the atheists." |
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| Finally, Laura asked Bernard McGuirk to name the week's most ridiculous people. He cited the New Jersey residents who took offense when a deodorant commercial referred to their state as "the armpit of America." "I would say this to the people of New Jersey," McGuirk jested. "This was an ad for an armpit deodorant, but just be glad it wasn't an ad for toilet paper. That could have gotten very ugly! But New Jersey does have an image problem - you had The Sopranos, the Jersey Shore miscreants, and the repulsive Real Housewives of New Jersey. And the ultimate ignominy was the Super Bowl in New Jersey, where everybody stayed in Manhattan. New Jersey is to New York what I am to Tom Brady. If Brady and I go to a club, nobody's looking at me." Speaking of New Jersey, McGuirk smacked the Rutgers professors and students who are protesting because former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will deliver the school's commencement address. "These people are a disgrace, they are the armpit hair of America. It's awful what they're doing to her and what they really resent is that she's a black Republican." |
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