"New Jersey Governor Chris Christie admitted yesterday that members of his staff ordered roads to the George Washington Bridge closed, creating traffic chaos in the town of Fort Lee. This was to punish the mayor of that town, who did not endorse Christie for reelection. The Governor says he did not know his aides were messing with the traffic, and honest folks will accept that statement. But if it proves not to be true, he is done on the national scene. Reaction to this situation is very interesting. The woman Christie defeated last November, State Senator Barbara Buono, accused Governor Christie of running a 'paramilitary organization.' On the other side, Rush Limbaugh and our pal Glenn Beck have hammered Christie. For hard-line conservatives, the Governor is unacceptable because he's a moderate and actually helped President Obama in the last election. But there is no question that Christie is a danger to the Democrats - his feisty style would put Hillary Clinton or any Democratic nominee on the defensive. That's why the New York Times and other Democratic organs have labeled Christie a 'bully.' I don't know Governor Christie and he hasn't appeared on The Factor. His image is that of a no-nonsense politician who does not suffer fools, and that's refreshing to many Republicans. That's why a traffic controversy has erupted across the country - Christie is not liked by some conservatives, and he is feared by some liberals. So both sides are happy with the Governor's conundrum."

The Factor asked Geraldo Rivera, a New Jersey resident, about the news that U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman may head a federal investigation into the traffic controversy. "Fishman is not only a Democrat," Rivera reported, "he's a politically active person who has given thousands of dollars to Hillary Clinton and virtually every Democrat running. But he is the U.S. Attorney and he has no connection to Christie's conundrum. This is Christie's worst nightmare - the very U.S. Attorney office that he once held is now going through every email and every person who ever spoke with Chris Christie about this." The Factor suggested that Paul Fishman should recuse himself, saying, "It's been done before, he could step aside."

FNC's Bernie Goldberg analyzed the wall-to-wall media coverage of the Chris Christie bridge dustup. "In the last 24 hours," he groused, "ABC, NBC, and CBS devoted 17 times more coverage to this than they devoted in the past six months to the IRS scandal. I guess we're supposed to conclude that a massive traffic jam in New Jersey is a greater threat to democracy than the IRS going after political opponents of the President Of the United States. At least Christie fired somebody, but President Obama hasn't fired anybody for the Obamacare rollout or the Benghazi mess or the IRS scandal. The media jumps on Christie for stuff that it has never held the President accountable for. That's the hypocrisy, that's the double standard that offends."

Friday's unemployment report was dismal, with just 74,000 new jobs created in December. The Factor asked Fox Business anchor Lou Dobbs to analyze. "This was about two-thirds lower than expected," Dobbs said, "and the labor force participation rate declined again, there are a half a million fewer people in the labor force. They are retired or they are discouraged workers who have given up looking for a job." The Factor pointed to another worrying statistic, saying, "My only indicator on the economy is how much money people are making and the median income is either stagnant or down."

A new study claims that nearly half of all black males under the age of 23 have been arrested, and nearly 40% of white men of the same age have been arrested. The Factor welcomed criminal justice professor Shawn Bushway, one of the study's authors. "The majority of people arrested for the first time," Bushway said, "is for minor crimes like property destruction, drug possession, or disorderly conduct, but we specifically excluded driving offenses. This level of prevalence is not a new thing, and people should be aware that being arrested is a relatively common experience. There has been an increase in the past 40 years and that's partly due to changes in policing practices."

Greg Gutfeld and Bernard McGuirk analyzed a new Gallup Poll showing that 38% of Americans describe themselves as conservative, 34% as moderate, and 23% as liberal. "It's easy to say you're a liberal," Gutfeld opined, "it's kind of a cozy little costume you can put on. And there's no incentive to say you're a conservative because it's 'mean.' If you say you're a conservative, essentially you're saying you eat babies. So you may say you're liberal without being one." The Factor asked McGuirk why so many liberal Democrats are elected to national office when so few people call themselves liberals. "A lot of these moderates identify with the liberals and vote for them," McGuirk theorized. "It's liberalism rooted in emotional feel-good mentality, while conservatism is more logical and rational. Conservatives say you can't spend more money than you have, but liberals say let's spend the money now because we have to, and let's not do stop-and-frisk because it hurts people's feelings."

The Guys Friday returned to name the week's most ridiculous people. Gutfeld jumped ugly on writer Jesse Myerson, who extolled the virtues of communism in Rolling Stone magazine. "That kind of heinous stupidity deserves the spotlight," Gutfeld declared. "This is a dweeb advocating brutality and this is always the case, it's always the academic who advocates the death of millions. He laughs like a high school girl at the Galleria." McGuirk picked none other than President Obama, who claimed every American would rather have a job than an unemployment check. "The naivety is stunning - that he never met a person who would rather have a check than a job! I'm exhibit A. Before I went to college I had some crappy jobs, I got terminated, and I collected unemployment." The Factor went with the Nebraska teen who had a baby at age 14. "The baby is now two years old and last night we ran video of the baby saying bad words that were being prompted in the home. The girl is a pinhead for having a baby she can't support, and there are people in her house taping her 2-year-old saying obscenities. But she says she's a 'good mother!' Thank God social services has taken the baby out of the house."

Nathan Mandel, Port Washington, NY: "Bill, I thought the Factor was a no spin zone. You and Laura Ingraham did nothing but spin. We all know Christie is lying even if we can't prove it."

Rachel Crofts, Allen, TX: "Bill, your talking points on the causes of poverty was the best I've heard. If families don't raise responsible children, no government will be able to deliver them economic success."

Ronald Procko, New Britain, CT: "Bill, you are wrong that addiction is a cause of poverty. It is a disease, not a personal choice."

Considering that a contestant on Jeopardy recently hauled in big bucks after correctly answering a question about Killing Lincoln, it can certainly pay off to be a Factor follower.