The Factor sat with Dr. Condoleezza Rice for an exclusive and wide-ranging interview. The Secretary of State first spoke to domestic issues:

On President Bush's dismal poll numbers: "This is a President who has had to do a lot of difficult things and make some very difficult decisions. I know he is not someone who reads his polls, and does what he thinks is right."

On black Americans who feel the slow reaction to Katrina was racially motivated: "There is a lot being said out there that is just patently not true, particularly if you know this President. I know how much he cares about equality in America, and how much he cares that minority kids get a fair shake in the educational system. This is a President who not only cares about equal opportunity for minorities, but he has done more than any president I can think of."

On racism in America and facing criticism from other blacks. "The fact of the matter is I?ve been black all my life, nobody needs to tell me how to be black. This country has made enormous strides in race relations. The United States has the most diverse cabinet in the world, the most diverse business community and journalist community."

The Factor questioned why the President doesn't do more to sing his own praises. "He doesn't directly address remarks to the African American community. You don't see Mr. Bush go out into Harlem or south central Los Angeles and say this is what we are doing for you."

Later in the program, Dr. Rice moved to the foreign policy arena that is her primary focus.

On the war in Iraq and comparisons to Vietnam. "I think the Vietnam analogy is really faulty. You certainly don't have a resistance movement that is a popular movement by any stretch of the imagination. That's why it will not take hold in Iraq and it will die."

On coverage of the war: "It is easier to put a picture on television of a suicide bomb than to show the process that is going on where people are registering to vote. The political process has been moving inexorably along. They are going to make it. I'm enough of a student of history to know that everything that is a major historical change is messy and violent and difficult."

The Factor sympathized with Dr. Rice for having to face a consistently hostile media. "This is the most anti-Bush press I've ever seen in any administration, perhaps with the exception of Nixon. You have an administration that is up against a tremendous press juggernaut that does not like you."

Fox News Video: Bill's interview with Dr. Rice
FoxNews.com: Transcript: Rice Talks to O'Reilly

As reported previously on The Factor, Louisiana nursing home owners Mabel and Salvadore Mangano have been charged with negligent homicide after 34 elderly people died in their facility. Steve Gallodoro, whose father was among the dead, related what he found when he arrived there after the flood. "I didn't get there until the second day. I encountered a body floating on the patio, encountered two other bodies inside. I saw Sal Mangano an hour later and asked him what he was doing out shooting the breeze in his boat. His response was that he wasn't the only one with floating bodies. It was not a remorseful response."

A fight broke out at a Houston high school between local students and others who have been relocated from New Orleans, after which parents of the children got into a heated argument. Nation of Islam minister Robert Muhammad explained the tensions. "Some people in Houston feel like we've got homeless and poor people here, and we're lavishing all this care on the people from New Orleans. The big fight is not between school children - the big fight is what are we going to do with these 200,000 New Orleans people who are in Texas." The Factor called on everyone to maintain civility. "Nobody wins in this kind of a situation. You've got these kids coming in who are wiped out, they're in a strange school. They're on edge, then you have the home grown population who feel they've been neglected. You've got to mediate this because it can get out of control, and no one wants to see that."

As mentioned in Talking Points, the ACLU and media outlets are demanding the release of more photos showing abuse at Abu Ghraib prison. Author and correspondent Robert Kaplan explained why so many in the media seem overtly hostile to the military. "The media is much more comfortable representing American troops as victims of bad Pentagon policy or as war criminals. The original stories about Abu Ghraib were great reporting, but this is doing nothing but advancing a sensationalist cause." The Factor urged military families to band together and fight the media insurgency. "The military family organizations have to step up on this issue. They need to say enough with the ACLU, enough with this kind of garbage. We have troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, and this will put them in more danger."

A federal judge, agreeing with the ACLU, has declared that the Pledge of Allegiance violates the Constitution because it includes the words 'under God.' According to a new book by Alan Sears, the ACLU is engaged in nothing less than a full-scale war against traditional values. "This organization, which claims to fight coercion, is the number one coercion organization in America. They had a fifty-year history of opposing the Pledge of Allegiance." Sears also pointed out that the ACLU frequently sides with child molesters. "In Iowa, the ACLU sued to strike down a law that required child molesters to live a certain distance away from schools. The bottom line is that they have a radically different view of what America ought to be. That view is very different from what the founders wanted, and from what the overwhelming majority of American people want. " The Factor condemned the ACLU as an organization infused with anti-Americanism. "It's such a harmful group, such an awful group. How anybody could think an optional saying of the words 'under God' is promoting religion is just beyond the pale. "

Bob Farren, Butte, MT: "O'Reilly, when you failed to nail Mr. Leno, you lost your temper and resorted to bully tactics."

Diana Duncan, Acampo, CA: "Mr. O'Reilly, see what we living in California have to put up with? I can hardly stand to raise my children in this state."

Eric, Annandale, VA: "Bill, I can't thank you enough for fighting so hard to protect children. I am 30 and was sexually abused 15 years ago. The man who assaulted me got 3 months in a detention center."

Kevin DelGobbo, Naugatuck, CT: "Bill, your comments on the Hartford Courant's editorial opposing strict mandatory sentences for child predators were right on point. I am a state rep in this state and we have a bipartisan movement to get tough new laws."

Michael Mueller, Simsbury, CT: "The Hartford Courant just lost me as a subscriber."