"The death of Walter Cronkite creates an opportunity to explore how the press is behaving in America, as opposed to when Mr. Cronkite was the nation's most powerful broadcaster. I was hired at CBS News shortly after Cronkite was forced out by the network; a few years later, I interviewed Cronkite and it was clear he did not think Dan Rather was up to the job. Walter Cronkite came out of the World War II experience, and he believed the USA was basically a noble nation. In his younger days he was not an ideologue, he was a reporter. Dan Rather was a product of the Vietnam era and the Watergate fiasco and believes the establishment and conservatives are flawed. Mr. Rather skewed his reporting left and was not alone. Enter Barack Obama. His health care plan will create more debt than this country will ever be able to repay, but the New York Times and left wing media do not care. There is little scrutiny about the president's incredible spending by the press because the press is sympathetic to Mr. Obama's agenda. In his early years, Walter Cronkite would have been skeptical. We have gone from a media that challenged authority while seeking the truth to a media that champions ideology."

The Factor was joined by FNC's Bernie Goldberg, who worked with both Cronkite and Rather at CBS News. "A lot of journalists," Goldberg asserted, "believe their role is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. That's not the role of a journalist; it's the role of a priest or social worker. It is easy for journalists to cross the line from covering the news to championing a cause." Goldberg added that journalism underwent a transformation in 1981. "When Reagan became president, liberals were on the outside looking in and that's when the biases really took hold. Walter Cronkite used to cover the story, but when Dan Rather took over liberal journalists started championing liberal causes." The Factor complained that bias has only gotten stronger. "If we continue in the direction we are going, the United States will be bankrupt, but the media is not reporting that story. There is no skepticism in the reporting."

For more on the media and President Obama's health care plan, The Factor welcomed FNC analysts Juan Williams and Mary Katharine Ham. "Some news has been so bad for the Obama health care plan," Ham said, "that the media have been unable to ignore it. And one of the profound changes in the media world that I appreciate is that one guy no longer has the influence that Walter Cronkite had. It is helpful to have cable networks and talk radio and web sites." Williams, a proponent of a health care overhaul, urged media outlets to explain why reform is necessary. "Everybody's busy attacking Obama, but where is the analysis that says this health care system is broken? The American family has been waiting for this for generations, but the lobbyists in Washington, especially the lobbyists for big insurance and drug companies, want things to stay just the way they are because they're making a ton of money."

What should America's space program be aiming at? The Factor posed that question to former astronaut Tom Jones. "Mars is an ultimate destination," Jones replied, "where we will learn a lot about the evolution of life and our solar system. But that's not why we go into space; the real reason is to keep our country at the forefront of technological development and make us economically competitive. I strapped on to the space shuttle four times not to plant a flag somewhere, but to make life better for my kids and to keep my country at the forefront of leading the world." The Factor questioned whether America has the political will and economic wherewithal to send a manned mission to Mars. "The tab could run a trillion dollars, and the fact is that the United States is broke. The American taxpayers are at their limit."

Senator Barbara Boxer, who recently objected when a general called her "ma'am," got into a confrontation last week with Harry Alford, head of the Black Chamber of Commerce. Alford took offense when Boxer referred to other black groups during a Senate hearing on energy legislation. "What she did was pure race," Alford told The Factor. "It was ugly and she opened up a mud pit that I wasn't going to jump into. She loves black people to be in their place--when she gets up against a wall, race comes out. The way she treated Condoleezza Rice during her confirmation hearings was just terrible." Senator Boxer refused an invitation to appear on the program, but The Factor conjectured how she would defend herself: "Barbara Boxer would say 'I love black people, I'm a liberal and I want the best for black people.' I don't think she feels this is a racial argument, she feels it's an ideological argument."

A Washington State car wash offered to raise money for the "Make-A-Wish Foundation," but the charity refused because the women do their car washing clad - barely - in bikinis. The Factor asked Culture Warriors Margaret Hoover and Juliet Huddy whether "Make-A-Wish" should accept the money. "Of course they should," Huddy said. "Money comes with pictures of dead presidents, not bikini-clad women, and last time I checked bikinis are not pornographic." But Hoover countered that the car wash wants to get into bed, metaphorically speaking, with a respectable charity. "The car wash wants a public relations coup by saying we are affiliated with this wholesome foundation. But the ladies washing the cars are scantily clad and the boss also runs an on-line poker company." On another subject, former GE CEO Jack Welch stated that women who take time off to raise a family have less of a chance of reaching the top of corporate America. "He's absolutely right," Huddy declared, "and I applaud him for saying what a lot of people don't want to say."

Alleged comic and left-wing bomb thrower Janeane Garofalo told the BBC there is "almost no liberal outlet for commentary" in the U.S. The Factor's Check: "No liberal outlet for news commentary? Is this woman on the planet; is she hanging out with Amy Winehouse?" New Yorker writer Hendrik Hertzberg has compared Jimmy Carter's notorious "malaise" speech to a something worthy of the prophet Isaiah. The Factor's Check: "It might have been better if Carter had fixed the economy or dealt effectively with the Iranian hostage deal or gas lines. But fixing the nation's soul and being a prophet is rather time-consuming." Finally, The Factor modestly quoted from a press release announcing that "A Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity has reached one million copies in print."

Monday's Patriots: Milwaukee firefighters Joel and John Rechlitz, who helped pull a woman and her two children from their burning car. And the Pinhead: Former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura, who called Sarah Palin a "quitter" who would "never make it as a frogman."

Mike Daly, Burlington, VT: "Bill, your analysis of the health care dilemma was spot on. The government should be responsible for regulating, not paying for, national health care."

Jeff McGinnis, California City, CA: "Bill, you're quickly turning into the enemy. No government oversight is needed. Lower the cost of health care through free enterprise."

Paul Pepper, Esq., Huntingdon, NY: "Bill, you have gone off the rails. Doctors who commit malpractice should be held as accountable as drunk drivers. Stop with the lawsuits driving up the cost of health care."

Drew Meikle, Alberta, Canada: "It is notable that many wealthy Canadians use the American health care system. The gift the U.S. offers is freedom of choice and the ability to reap the benefits of your efforts. I pray the slide toward socialism in America stops."