Guest:Bernie Goldberg
"Benjamin Netanyahu won re-election in Israel because people there are frightened. Iran is close to a nuclear weapon, terrorism is rampant, so voters turned to the tough guy. We are not at that level, but there is an intense struggle for the hearts and minds of American voters. President Obama, Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party are well aware that liberal policies are under fire. The president recently said this: 'Before I came into office ... we slashed taxes for folks at the top, stripped out regulations, didn't make investments in the things we know we need to grow. At the end of those eight years, we had soaring deficits, record job losses, an economy in crippling recession.' Let's analyze that statement with facts: In 2007 under President Bush, the median household income was $56,436. Today it's $53,332. The unemployment rate today is 5.5%. Under President Bush the lowest level was 4.4%. The recession didn't happen because of trickle down economics, it happened because the banking system gave out housing loans to people who couldn't pay back the money and the federal agencies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac piled up huge amounts of derelict loans. So President Obama's facts about the recession are debatable, to say the least. But you will not hear that analysis on the nightly news broadcasts or the other cable news operations. You will only hear it on Fox News. Not because we dislike President Obama, although some FNC commentators clearly do. It's because people like Charles Krauthammer, Brit Hume, Megyn Kelly, Dana Perino and others are fact-based analysts. That is a threat to any political party that is trying to deceive people or promote policies that are failures. So to blunt the impact of Fox News, we are attacked by the left and derided by other media. You see that consistently on MSNBC and CNN, which are collapsing in the ratings. The liberal press is in decline, Fox News is surging. That dominance is a severe threat to the far left, which needs to marginalize independent voices in order to put Hillary Clinton into the White House."

The Factor welcomed Bernie Goldberg, who looked ahead to the media's possible impact on the 2016 election. "40% of people have already decided they'll vote for Hillary," he surmised, "while another 40% have decided they will vote against her. That leaves 20% and, while the networks don't have the clout that they used to, the three old networks still have about 25-million people watching every night. Liberal news organizations will play down liberal screw-ups, and Fox News will play down conservative screw-ups." The Factor took issue with that claim that FNC is loath to criticize Republicans: "Krauthammer will hammer Republicans, and so will Hume and you. Most of our people will hammer anyone. I have never bought the idea that Fox is the conservative network, there's no right-wing jihad here."

Guest:Dana Parino
Introducing a new segment, The Factor asked former Bush advisor and "The Five" co-host Dana Perino to pick the week's most important stories. "The top international story is the relationship between America and Israel," she said, "which is on the rocks because of personal animosity between President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu. The most important issue is whether Iran gets a nuclear weapon - not just because of what Iran could do to Israel, but they are also seeking intercontinental ballistic missiles. I'll predict that the deadline President Obama put on the talks with Iran will have to be extended." On the domestic front, Perino said the most consequential story is Dr. Ben Carson's misstatement about the Baltic states not being in NATO. "It is getting late to make a first impression. Dr. Carson's story is wonderful and he has adoring fans across the country, but the contest is starting to firm up and the questions will get tougher."

Guest:Ed Henry
President Obama has implied that America might be improved if voting were made mandatory. Fox News White House correspondent Ed Henry elaborated on the president's off-the-cuff remark. "One of the biggest drawbacks of the idea," Henry said, "is that while you're trying to promote freedom and democracy, this is a strike against liberty. Choosing to not vote is a freedom we have. But President Obama's aides tell me he will be saying a lot of things he might not have said in the past. He's kind of a lame duck and he feels liberated." The Factor threw ice cold water on the mandatory voting idea, saying, "The government can't force an American to vote and President Obama doesn't seem to have a full grasp of the Constitution."

Guest:Stuart Varney
In our continuing series looking at interesting backgrounds of Fox on-air personnel, The Factor welcomed the very British Stuart Varney. The Fox Business host revealed that his first post-college job was on a London bus. "I wanted a job that would pay me as much money as possible," he recalled, "and working as a bus conductor was the way to go." Varney also laid out his unusual path to TV stardom. "I hitch-hiked around the world and I was working at a bar in Hong Kong when I met people from Radio Hong Kong. That was my first job in radio, then my wife saw an ad for an entry level TV newscaster in San Francisco. I worked at CNN for 20 years, but I wanted to work at Fox because it's always fun to be part of a winning team."

Guests:Mark Hannah & Nomiki Konst
With support for Hillary Clinton falling among Democrats, Democratic strategists Mark Hannah and Nomiki Konst assessed the damage. "This is concerning," Konst conceded, "especially if it starts to hit the swing voters. We need a primary that will have debates and make her a better candidate." Hannah suggested that the email dustup may actually accrue to Clinton's benefit. "It may backfire if Republicans use this to attack her. It might have a lot of Democrats come to her defense, even those who might not necessarily be that excited about her." The Factor added that Clinton's tenure at the State Department may damage her more than anything, saying, "The world is one big mess and Democrats don't seem to be willing to admit it."

Guest:Eric Bolling
In one of the most poorly-received corporate initiatives since New Coke, the pricey coffee chain Starbucks has encouraged employees to initiate a dialogue on race with customers. The Factor welcomed business maven and "The Five" co-host Eric Bolling, who actually endorsed the idea. "I talked to baristas at four different Starbucks," he reported, "who were not pushing this. But they agreed that it's a good idea to have the discussion if they have time. They've been told by management to be ready to have a discussion on race if it comes up. The debate is divisive among politicians and the media, this is meant to be from the grass roots."

Buzz Kent, Guy, TX: "Bill, your Talking Points on anti-capitalist sentiment left the impression that there are only two far-left senators. The fact is there are no traditional Democrats left in the Senate."

Gary Snow, Salt Lake City, UT: "Over the past 18 months, I have lived in Europe and have seen socialistic policies that encourage people to live off the government. This destroys motivation."

Paula Khosla, Brooklyn, NY: "Bill, the anti-capitalist protesters have a right to be angry. The Fed has lowered interest rates to zero and is printing money to cover debt. That's not capitalism."

In this age of narcissism and selfishness, it's great to hear about a guy like Coloradan Ken Kriz, who gave up his Denver Bronco season tickets in order to buy a track chair for a wounded veteran.