Eric began Friday's show with a post-game analysis of the Democratic National Convention and Hillary Clinton's acceptance speech. Not surprisingly, Trump spokesperson Katrina Pierson was underwhelmed. "People are tired of this make believe fantasy land," she said, "where everything is okay and we should just move on. We hear a lot about Hillary Clinton's resume, but what's important are the decisions she has made. Her plan is to have more intelligence, but why didn't she do that while she was secretary of state?" Pierson brushed off the significance of a woman being at the top of the Democratic ticket. "All women want to see a woman president, but not someone who was investigated by the FBI, someone who left Americans to die in Libya, and who has collected $22-million over the past three years from special interests. It's exactly what Barack Obama said in 2008 - Hillary Clinton will say anything and change nothing."

Bernard Whitman, a Clinton supporter, vehemently disagreed. "The thing Katrina and Donald Trump don't get," he asserted, "can be summed up in three words that Hillary Clinton said Thursday night: 'E Pluribus Unum.' We are all in this together. Hillary Clinton drew a sharp contrast with Donald Trump's vision for America. Donald Trump believes in divisiveness but she believes we are inclusive, forward-looking, and stronger for our diversity. She is committed to bringing people together."

Eric asked Republican pollster Kristin Soltis Anderson and Democrat Simon Rosenberg to assess the electoral strength of both candidates. "If we are ahead by two or three points by next week," Rosenberg said, "Democrats will be happy. We knew this would be a close race and we know that Trump is an unorthodox candidate. The other thing to watch is what happens in the state polls." Anderson scrutinized Hillary Clinton's decision to put forth a left-leaning message. "Hillary Clinton really focused on progressive issues in her speech, she is focused on making sure the progressives don't go rogue again. Donald Trump did not make a lot of overtures to ideological conservatives, but Hillary Clinton made a lot of overtures to ideological progressives. She has to make the message very clear that you may not trust her, but she will keep America safe while Donald Trump is a risk. That's the message she tried to get across."

The Democratic Party made a controversial decision by showcasing mothers whose children had been killed by gun violence, most of them by cops. FNC's Judge Jeanine Pirro and civil rights attorney Andell Brown debated the Democrats' choice to cozy up to Black Lives Matter. "The whole concept of Black Lives Matter," Pirro groused, "began with Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown. In the Trayvon Martin case, the defendant was acquitted, and in Ferguson no charges were even brought. Michael Brown was a thug who engaged in a strong arm robbery and reached for a cop's gun! That is the genesis of Black Lives Matter, the whole concept is based on a lie." Brown defended the appearance of the grieving mothers. "We have a social contract between the police and the community. The great power and deference that we give to the police department comes with great responsibility, the life and liberty of ordinary Americans are at stake. That's what those families represented, they represented families that lost life and liberty. We have to have this type of dialogue and a conversation about how to protect everyone."

FBI Director James Comey has warned that ISIS, as it loses ground in its caliphate, will take terror to Europe and the United States. National security analysts David Tafuri and Van Hipp weighed in on the threat. "It sounds to me like the FBI director supports Donald Trump's plan to secure our borders," Hipp said. "Hillary Clinton says she has great ideas to defeat radical Islam, but I sure wish she had shared some of these ideas with President Obama, who didn't listen to his generals in Iraq. All these people want to come here, but I'm for protecting the American people first, and that's why Donald Trump is resonating. Radical Islam is the challenge of our time and he wants to keep America safe." But Tafuri downplayed the danger of accepting refugees from war-torn nations. "James Comey is right, we are going into a new stage of the bloody battle against ISIS, which is losing territory in Iraq and Syria. There will be refugees fleeing and some of them could be ISIS. So, yes, we have to protect our borders, but remember that not one Syrian refugee has engaged in terrorism in the U.S."

Eric introduced Bill's recent interview with Kevin Lacz, a former Navy SEAL who fought alongside 'American Sniper' Chris Kyle. Lacz explained how he viewed enemy fighters in Iraq. "I joined the Navy in response to 9/11," he began, "and I knew I would meet the enemy on the battlefield. It's business out there, we are instruments to eliminate the enemy and I felt comfortable doing that. I wouldn't say they were animals, but they were very bad people who tortured, did car bombings and mass killings. We were ruthless towards them and that's what won the battle of Ramadi." Lacz contended that today's Islamic State fighters are more sophisticated than the men he fought a decade ago. "They've learned from what we did over there and they can operate freely. They were able to get stronger, they are better on social media, and they have a global reach."

New government figures show that the economy is growing at a very sluggish 1.2% annual rate. Eric spoke with political stratgegists Carrie Sheffield and Jessica Ehrlich about the presidential candidates and their economic proposals. "Hillary Clinton is running on a very strong economic platform," said the Democrat Ehrlich. "She is focused on the middle class and making sure that we have more job growth going forward. We need equal pay for women, the wage inequality has to end, and there will be more smart regulation." Sheffield placed the blame for slow growth squarely on Democrats. "Liberal policies are restricting business formation and killing community banks, particularly banks owned by people of color. People are not living the American dream because of regulations like Dodd-Frank." Eric lamented, "Wages have been stagnant and household incomes are down under President Obama."