"Some radical left Americans have been vilifying Sen. Joe Lieberman for his support of the Iraq war. The usual suspects on the internet have smeared the man and now Lieberman's campaign is accusing radical bloggers of hacking into their website and damaging it. But far worse are the anti-Semitic rants. This was posted on the far left Daily Kos website: "As everybody knows, Jews only care about the welfare of other Jews. We might better ignore all that Jewish propaganda (by Lieberman) about participating in the civil rights movement ..." And this was allowed on the Huffington blog: "Lieberman cannot escape the religious bond he represents. Hell, his wife's name is Haggadah or Muffeletta or Die-asp-ora or something you eat at Passover." Nice. But the media has generally ignored the far left hatred directed towards the Senator and his family. The far left in America is dominated by haters, people who despise their own country and want to injure those with whom they disagree. These smear merchants are now all over the mainstream media and have spread like lice on the Internet. Joseph Lieberman is a good man, he's honest, loves his country, and obeys his conscience. You may disagree with his politics but he is a man of respect. You can't say that for those who have smeared and slurred him."

Guest: Dr. George Friedman, Stratfor.com

Dr. George Friedman, CEO of the private intelligence company Stratfor.com, analyzed the difficulties Israel is having in fighting Hezbollah: "They've been very careful to avoid casualties, and rightly so. The problem is that they have to re-evaluate now. They're not going to achieve their mission, which is to break Hezbollah and stop the rocket attacks, unless they come in with more force and therefore take greater risks. But the issue here is not so much the casualties. The issue here is that they have not gotten anywhere strategically." The Factor wanted to know if the US was giving Israel the go-ahead for a larger war: "Now some people believe the United States doesn't really want Israel to be halted. They want Israel to go in and continue to batter Hezbollah and wear them down. Is that a realistic strategy for victory? And is the U.S. tacitly encouraging this?" Friedman responded, "I think the U.S. is certainly buying them time. And I think part of the thing with the peace process here is there's nobody who's really that eager to see the fighting stop, whatever they say, here or in France, or anywhere else. I think the U.S. absolutely wants Hezbollah broken. I think France wants to put the United States in as embarrassing a position as it can, and frankly put Israel in as embarrassing a position as they can."

Guests: Ken Roth, Human Rights Watch & Ira Stoll, New York Sun

The New York Sun has accused the group Human Rights Watch of being anti-Israel; managing editor Ira Stoll explained: HRW "sent us a letter saying that the organization was neutral in the fight between Israel and Hezbollah. That struck us as ridiculous. Hezbollah is a murderous terrorist organization. Israel is a free democracy. When Israel kills civilians, they launched an investigation. When Hezbollah does it, they jump for joy. The organization, in fact, isn't neutral." Ken Roth, the director of Human Rights Watch, responded: "The problem with The New York Sun is they don't want fair and balanced coverage of Israeli misconduct. They want no coverage of Israeli misconduct. And that's where we differ. Now Israel is facing a terrible problem. Hezbollah is launching rockets into northern Israel, trying to kill as many Jews as possible. That's a clear war crime. The problem is that Israel's responding. And it's basically created a free fire zone in southern Lebanon." The Factor tried to give HRW the benefit of the doubt; "I know Human Rights Watch sometimes, with all due respect, is unrealistic about what can happen in war. But I've known Mr. Roth for a while. And I don't think he's trying to undermine Israel, but I could be wrong."

Guest: Fox News crime analyst Rod Wheeler

The Factor recounted the details behind two arrests in the Phoenix serial murder case: "33-year-old Dale Hausner and his roommate, 30-year old John Dieteman, are being held without bail in Phoenix, charged with murder. Police believe they are the serial killers involved in 36 shootings, leaving seven dead, 17 wounded. Hausner at least says he didn't do it, he's innocent, and nothing happened, blah, blah, blah." Fox News crime analyst Detective Rod Wheeler dissected the evidence and Hausner's claim to innocence: "The one suspect, Hausner said his roommate was taking his car at night, as well as his weapons, going out after 11:00 p.m. and shooting people. And he expects the police and the courts to believe that. What the police will do is play each against the other, and they will give you information as to what they both were doing. The police have a lot of evidence in this case, so once this case goes to trial, the police will introduce all that information to the judge or the jury. And they're going to have a very, very solid case."

Guest: Sara Carter, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin

The Factor described a case that has landed two border agents in very hot water: "U.S. border patrol agents Jose Compean and Ignacio Ramos have been convicted by a jury in Texas of trying to cover up the shooting of a suspected Mexican drug smuggler near El Paso. The two will be sentenced later this month, could get 20 years in prison." Sara Carter, a reporter for the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, relayed the most outrageous part of the prosecution of Compean and Ramos: "The smuggler, alive in Mexico, comes back and testifies against these two Border Patrol agents, given immunity by our own Department of Homeland Security. He comes back and testifies, and a jury convicts these guys." The Factor commented on the conviction: "This seems like a miscarriage of justice, prosecuting these guys. I don't think they're going to do any time, if they are, that's ridiculous."

Guest: Art Alexakis, Everclear

The Factor had Art Alexakis, lead singer for the rock band Everclear, on the show to talk about his controversial new video. The Factor described the video: "Everclear has released a video that is designed to offend at least some followers of Jesus. In this video, esus is portrayed as having an orgy, meeting strippers, knocking out an old lady, stealing her necklace, stealing from a homeless man, drinking, driving at the same time." Alexakis did not agree with the Factor's portrayal: "It's not Jesus. This is a breakup song that I used to show a different face of hate. Everybody who goes through a breakup goes through a place where you're sad, where you're feeling lonesome, when you're feeling hate. Well, this is the part when you're feeling hate. But what we wanted to show in this video is a different face of hate. We could have gone political or we could have gone religious. The actor is wearing a crown of thorns, because he's a representation of what Jesus could be, if he had made the wrong choice." The Factor wasn't buying the explanation: "It's your opinion and you're entitled to it. You believe that this song has no relation to Jesus, the deity that millions of Americans believe in, it has no relationship to
Him at all."

Guests: Sgt. Brian Fontaine & Fox News analyst Marvin Kalb

The Factor described The Boston Globe's portrayal of a wounded soldier for its article "A Soldier Maimed by War now Questions the Mission." "Sergeant Brian Fountaine, from Dorchester, Massachusetts, was wounded in Iraq, lost both legs below the knee and is currently recovering at Walter Reed Hospital. In an article for the Globe, reporter Brian MacQuarrie wrote, quote, "In Fountaine's view, troop morale has plummeted, suicide has increased, and the sacrifices being made in American blood and treasure suddenly seem questionable," unquote." Fountaine appeared on the Factor to dispute the Globe's interpretation of his story: "I told them what I thought. And I think he just spun it way out of control. And he put it to his newspaper's point of view, which I did not know was anti-war at the time. I mean, it just makes it sound like I'm against the war and I'm against everything that's going on over there, which isn't true." FNC analyst Marvin Kalb had this to say: "My understanding was Fountaine objected to the photograph that was used and to the headline but he told me that all of the quotes are accurate. It is simply the way in which the story is presented. Every story is the result of a reporter's instinct." The Factor responded: "Here's the mistake. The New York Times and the Boston Globe are not serving the American people. This reporter is anti-war. He injected his point of view into what should have been a hard news story."

Adam Lewis, Ontario, Canada: "O'Reilly, you're telling outright lies. You said if the U.S. pulls out of Iraq, Iran will dominate and fund and train terrorists on Iraqi soil like Saddam did. It's been well established that Saddam had no links to al-Qaeda."

David Lucas, Franklin, PA: "Mr. O, If Iran is condemned for supplying Hezbollah with weapons, shouldn't the nations that supply Israel be condemned as well?"

Michael Perry, Vallejo, CA: "O'Reilly, you should quit cheerleading for Bush. 9/11 was an inside job."

Mary Jones, Dallas, TX: "The treasonous crimes of the American government must be exposed. The truth about 9/11 is being covered up."

Irvin Hollinger, Waynesboro, PA: "FDR was accused of helping the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor. There are more nuts out here than you can believe, Bill."