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| On The O'Reilly Factor...
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| All content taken from The O'Reilly Factor on Fox News Channel. Each weeknight by 6 PM EST a preview of that evening's show will be posted and then updated with additional information the following weekday by noon EST.
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Guests: George LeClere, International Academy of Television & Rich Frank, Turner insider
"CNN founder Ted Turner is aghast by the ascendance of Fox News, which is destroying CNN in the ratings. To be fair, CNN is still a strong source for hard news and has some great reporters. But it is failing because its politically correct liberalism is obsolete. That is just killing Mr. Turner, who compared Fox News' popularity to that of Adolf Hitler in the early 1930's. What we have here is bitterness over losing. CNN and other cable news operations are losing millions of dollars because Fox has gained so many viewers. And the left wing press in general is furious that a more traditional news outlet has challenged their monopoly. Ted Turner can make his Third Reich comparisons all day long ? they just diminish him and remind everybody why they watch Fox News instead of CNN."
Transcript: FoxNews.com
Two television insiders provided a different view of Turner's comments. George LeClere of the International Academy of Television was in the room when Turner made his controversial remarks, which were applauded by some foreign journalists. "Around the world," LeClere told The Factor," some people thing that Fox News is the channel of President Bush, and that's why they applauded." Rich Frank, a friend of Turner, defended the CNN founder. "Ted has long used hyperbole to get attention," Frank said. "It doesn't take away from his underlying point that news today has to reassess what it is. He was a real visionary in getting CNN started, but sometimes he just uses words that incite people." The Factor reiterated that Turner is harming himself and the network he founded. "If Ted Turner continues to do this, he's going to hurt his CNN brand. He should be respected as a pioneer in this industry, but he's not helping his cause." |
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Guests: Columnist Maggie Gallagher & Wade Horn
The Factor recently reported on columnist Armstrong Williams, who received money from the government in exchange for supporting the No Child Left Behind Act. Now comes the story that another conservative columnist, Maggie Gallagher, was paid $21,000 for consulting work she did for the Department of Health and Human Services. Gallagher appeared on The Factor to defend herself. "The charge is that I took money from the government to promote the Bush marriage policies. It's not true. What actually happened is that I was approached by HHS to write some brochures and articles about marriage. I'm a marriage expert, and I was paid to do specific work." Wade Horn of HHS backed up Gallagher's account. "We hired Maggie Gallagher as a nationally recognized expert in the field of marriage. We didn't have that expertise in house. We did not ever pay Maggie Gallagher to use her position as a columnist to advance the President's position." The Factor contended Gallagher should have informed her readers and the government should avoid similar situations. "It's not a good policy for the government to be paying journalists..." |
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Guest: Fox News analyst Ellis Henican
The full Senate overwhelmingly confirmed Condoleezza Rice to be Secretary of State, but not before some Senators implied Rice is a liar. Fox News analyst Ellis Henican said Rice was not treated unfairly. "We do know she said a bunch of things that turned out not to be true," according to Henican. "It seems to me that if you're going to be Secretary of State, you ought to be able to handle some nasty questions from Senators. This is part of the great democratic cacophony." The Factor felt disagreements over policy are fine, but some Senators went too far. "Senators Mark Dayton and Barbara Boxer were out of line--they took it into the personal realm." |
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Guest: Congressman Dave Weldon
Should the new "morning-after" birth control pill "Plan B" be sold over-the-counter? Congressman Dave Weldon, a physician, wants the drug to be available by prescription only. "The pill will lead to more adolescent sex," Weldon claimed. "We'll see more teenage kids not using condoms. And we would see, as we've seen in England, more sexually transmitted diseases. The morning-after pill will also lead to more sexual exploitation of younger women by older men." |
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Guests: Robert Fellmeth, Chidren's Advocacy Institute at the University of San Diego & Andrea Peyser, New York Post
There are many horror stories demonstrating how America's children are terribly vulnerable to abuse. In New York City, a 13-year old threw her crying baby out the window, killing the infant. Across the country, a California couple repeatedly locked their son in their car trunk while they were in a bar drinking. Child advocate Robert Fellmeth said the problem is widespread. "We represent abused kids" Fellmeth said, "and there are hundreds of thousands of them. These children are not looked at in the same way as other groups that are politically correct. We need a cultural sea change." New York Post columnist Andrea Peyser, who has followed the New York City case, agreed kids are frequently shortchanged. "Children are not seen as humans in their own right, they're seen as possessions." |
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Guest: Ahmed Younis, National Director, Muslim Public Affairs Council
To commemorate the 60th anniversary of the end of the Holocaust, the United Nations invited a Jewish cantor to sing the Israeli national anthem. Of all the Arab nations, only Jordan saw fit to attend the ceremony. Ahmed Younis of the Muslim Public Affairs Council called the snub inexcusable. " What we saw is expected and shameful," Younis said. "But the hatred is not in the people, it's in the despots who are leading these governments. We need to institute democratic regimes." The Factor is worried that "what I saw this week was Arab nations giving the proverbial finger to Holocaust victims. Once you have hatred that deep, you're never going to find any common ground. We're looking at pretty much a hopeless cause here." |
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