Guest:Karl Rove
"According to a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll, 47% of Americans feel the country is less safe than it was before we were attacked on 9-11, 2001. The Journal's lead editorial today explains why Mr. Obama's foreign policy has increased anxiety. He has tried to reason with the Russian tyrant Putin, even pulling missiles out of Poland and the Czech Republic as a gesture of good will. In return, Putin has violated international law, attempting to demean Barack Obama and the West. Mr. Obama refused to help pro-democracy forces in Iran, believing that appeasing the mullahs would lead to detente. But Iran continues to defy the world on nukes. President Obama backed off from taking action against the Syrian tyrant Assad. The result? Assad is still in power and the ISIS terror army controls much of rural Syria. Mr. Obama could not convince Iraq to allow U.S. troops to stay under a protected arrangement. The result? We pulled out and the Iraqi government under al-Maliki collapsed, allowing ISIS to occupy much of that country. And finally, by announcing the withdrawal of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, the president has emboldened the Taliban and destabilized hard fought gains made by NATO forces. All over the world the decline of American power is causing chaos. That is the backdrop for tonight's foreign policy speech by the President, himself under siege by the American people. Talking Points said months ago that ISIS should be bombed inside Syria and everywhere else. I also told President Obama face-to-face that he would get nowhere with radical Muslim groups like the Brotherhood. And those words proved to be true. No matter what he says tonight, it is doubtful that Barack Obama realizes the danger this country is facing. In this age of high-tech distraction, it takes a lot to wise up many of us. But most Americans now understand that President Obama's world vision is failing. It is up to him to turn that around."

The Factor asked FNC's Karl Rove whether President Obama's speech can help him regain the confidence of the American people. "His goal ought to be to keep himself from falling farther," Rove said. "The American people have made a pretty definitive judgment about this guy, 59% think America is less respected around the world compared to 2008. People don't see him as a strong leader and he can't change that by one magic speech, all he can do is hope to begin the process of stabilizing himself. He has ruined his reputation with the American people and that's hard to repair."

Guest: Bob Beckel
For a view of the president's poll numbers from the left, The Factor welcomed loyal Democrat Bob Beckel. "Never in my political career of 30 years," Beckel remarked, "have I seen as much poll movement from two events, the decapitating of these two American citizens. The public took a huge turn in the polls and they blame Obama because he's the one in the Oval Office. But this strain of Islam has been around since 1720, this is nothing new." Beckel lamented that President Obama has been forced to focus on issues that he prefers to avoid. "He ran as a domestic president and he wanted to keep foreign policy off the table. Now it's coming at him in massive numbers. But ISIS will soon be on the run and it will be a positive for him."

Guest: Steve Bucci
What is the best way to deal with ISIS? The Factor put that question to Steve Bucci, a Defense Department official under George W. Bush. "The unintended consequences of bombing Syria," Bucci surmised, "could be that we help Bashir al-Assad, who we don't have any interest in helping. And the unintended consequences of the Special Ops guys doing unilateral missions is that we could lose some of these very valuable assets. I'd like to see the Jordanians, Turks, Saudis, and Qataris put in some people." Bucci slammed President Obama for waiting so long to take action. "This is the president's discomfort with foreign policy and with using American power, even when it's totally in our interest and the right thing to do. He dithers and waits and hopes the problem goes away, but in this case it got worse."

Guests: Carl Cameron & James Rosen
Fox News correspondent Carl Cameron theorized how Congress may work with the president to deal with ISIS. "Lawmakers of both parties," he said, "want the president to get Congressional authorization for air strikes in Syria, but the president and many in Congress think he technically has that power. Most Republicans support taking military action, but not a blank check, and many Democrats are already saying they want to know what the end date is." FNC's James Rosen turned to Secretary of State John Kerry's recent trip to Iraq. "He met with the new prime minister and other key figures there. What the Americans want from the Iraqis is for three big institutions to start doing business very differently - the oil ministry, the finance ministry, and the Iraqi armed forces. Secretary Kerry has moved on to Saudi Arabia, where he'll be negotiating the use of bases for the Iraqi opposition, and then he'll be in France for a conference on Iraq."

Guest: Dennis Miller
With everyone else commenting on President Obama's ISIS speech, Dennis Miller followed suit. "The first thing I would do is make sure that Jar-Jar Biden is put down for the night," he quipped. "Somebody has to pump a sedative dart into his haunch so he doesn't run in the middle of the speech. As far as the president goes, the best thing he could say is, 'As of tonight, we're at war with jihad.' Say that and the rest of it is all gravy. We need to be more Wilt Chamberlain and less Neville Chamberlain because at this point I think jihad looks at us and they think Barack Obama is the jayvee. If I were him, I'd say 'war' and 'jihad.'"

Guest: Martha MacCallum
President Obama has given a series of conflicting statements about ISIS and terrorism in general. The Factor asked FNC anchor Martha MacCallum to elaborate. "Back in June ISIS had marched through Mosul," she reported, "destroying churches and marching people off to executions. While they were trying to establish an Islamic state, the president tried to make it sound like they were the same folks we had been dealing with before." MacCallum also tried to explain the president's apparent insouciance. "I think he believes we have been poking a hornet's nest and when that happens the hornets bite back. But clearly they're going to bite back no matter what we do." The Factor argued that President Obama can no longer be passive, declaring, "The President has to change course because the American people demand it."

John Swallow, Hua Hin, Thailand: "Monica Crowley said that this is a holy war, and you argued about it, Bill. Why? You really need to sharpen up."

Doug Gray, Fort Lauderdale, FL: "According to Ron Paul's logic, arresting bank robbers only serves to make them angry and inspires more people to become bank robbers."

Anthony Dlugos, Chesterland, OH: "Bill, why call Ron Paul's foreign policy kooky? He is simply following Ronald Reagan's suggestion that government cannot solve all problems."

John Killinger, Slidell, LA: "O'Reilly, I'm extremely disappointed by your interview with the wives of two former NFL players. This is simply pandering to cheap sensationalism."

Kirsten Powers and Katie Pavlich have both defended Bill against charges that his criticism of State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki was "sexist." Both of their columns are here on BillOReilly.com.