The Factor Rundown
Talking Points Memo & Top Story
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The IRS Investigation
Guest: Hans Von Spakovsky "There are charges that the Internal Revenue Service targeted conservative and Tea Party groups, trying to deny them tax exempt status. For almost a year, Congress has been trying to get to the bottom of the situation, but we still know very little. That's because the IRS people involved, such as Lois Lerner, are pleading the Fifth Amendment. You may remember President Obama telling me there is not a 'smidgen' of corruption, but then why did Lerner take the Fifth today? Why not just explain what happened? Talking Points does not know who in the IRS violated the law, but I do believe someone did. There is also evidence pointing to White House people - the former IRS commissioner visited the White House more than 100 times. It does not seem that the House Oversight Committee is getting anywhere; in fact, they are fighting among themselves. So the IRS chaos continues and we the people still don't know what really happened."
The Factor asked conservative author Hans Von Spakovsky to clarify what transpired at the IRS. "For almost two years," Von Spakovsky began, "they held out from granting tax exemptions to almost 300 conservative organizations. The same thing didn't happen to liberal organizations. Tax exemptions were routinely granted within a month or two of applications coming in, but they didn't want that. They wanted the applications held up before the 2012 election and it's very clear that this was coming out of the Washington office of the IRS. They were very unhappy over the fact that the Supreme Court had ruled that non-profit organizations can engage in political speech."
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Ukraine Crisis
Guests: Kirsten Powers & Kate Obenshain Some pundits on the far left have accused Republicans of rooting for Vladimir Putin because it would damage President Obama. Republican Kate Obenshain and Democrat Kirsten Powers reacted to those accusations. "I don't know if I'd go so far as to say Republicans are cheering for Putin," Powers said, "but they seem to be blaming Obama for Putin's behavior. They claim President Obama is so naive that he doesn't understand evil dictators, but this is something Putin would have done regardless of who was President of the United States. Obama is not weak, he is bombing the crap out of a couple of countries with drones and he invaded Libya." But Obenshain defended her party's harsh assessment of President Obama. "This is an overall criticism, and a very legitimate one, over Barack Obama's weak foreign policy. Since day one, with the 'world apology tour,' he has bent over backwards to the world's dictators and our enemies. There was also Syria and the 'red line.' If you say it, you have to do something."
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Punishing Russia
Guest: Carl Cameron How can the USA deal with Vladimir Putin's aggression in Ukraine? The Factor posed that question to FNC correspondent Carl Cameron. "John Kerry is meeting with his allies and counterparts from the United Kingdom," Cameron reported, "as well as the new Ukrainian foreign minister. He's also going to meet with the Russian foreign minister, but no one expects anything to be accomplished. The Obama administration is considering a visa ban and freezing the assets of some senior Russian officials, and there is also a Republican bill in the Senate calling for Russia to be expelled from the G8 and to close its consulates in the U.S. But Harry Reid says he thinks the U.S. should let things play out a bit." The Factor urged U.S. officials to consider hitting Russia in the pocketbook: "Right now there is isn't anything effective going on in the USA. Congress could slap banking restrictions and sanctions on Russia."
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Ukraine crisis
Guest: Col. David Hunt On Monday's program Fox News military analyst Col. David Hunt implied that the United States should not interfere with Vladimir Putin's ambitions. He returned to clarify his position. "Let's start out with the Crimea," Hunt said, "which is 80% Russian. They're not too upset in the Crimea that the Russians are there. I'm not defending what Putin did, he crossed international borders with troops. My point is that we have no dog in this fight and there is no simple solution that will do anything to affect this." The Factor argued that America's response in Ukraine will have global ramifications. "China is watching this and if Barack Obama does nothing China might seize those Japanese islands that it wants. And North Korea is nuts, they'll fire missiles wherever they want to fire them. There's a sophisticated chain reaction when the big dog is perceived to be weak and ineffective."
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Macho Man Putin
Guest: Dennis Miller Dennis Miller, no slouch when it comes to exuding machismo, commented on Vladimir Putin's tendency to display his manliness. "This is a guy who is full-bore nuts," Miller observed, "while our guys aren't nuts. When you and I look at Putin, we laugh and think, what a goofball. But for most of the world, I think that stuff works. Our guy looks like he's too thoughtful and their guy looks like he's too nuts, so the optics aren't good for us. I guarantee you that within a couple of years the Ukraine's money will have a picture of a shirtless Putin riding a dragon with a light saber from Star Wars." Nevertheless, Miller concluded that Vladimir Putin is far from the nuttiest actor on the world stage. "Putin at his craziest is not as crazy as the least crazy radical Islamist. He seems like a nerf doll compared to those cats."
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Wild Video
Guest: Martha MacCallum During Sunday's Academy Awards, John Travolta butchered the name of singer Idina Menzel, calling her "Adele Dazeem." Fox News anchor Martha MacCallum elaborated on the flub heard round the world. "He said it perfectly on Saturday during the rehearsal," she reported, "so I don't know what these folks were doing before the production. Harrison Ford had a similar problem, he could barely get his words out. John Travolta said he felt terrible about this, he said he just goofed. Idina Menzel is a big star and she was very gracious about this." MacCallum also advised the 60-year-old Travolta to stop trying to look younger than his years. "Men in Hollywood need to learn to age gracefully. Give me Cary Grant or Jimmy Stewart with that beautiful white hair and black glasses."
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Viewers sound off
Matt Mikulich, Buena Vista, CO: "Bill, Dennis Kucinich ate your lunch. You had no answer for his well-reasoned comments."
Larry Underwood, Athens, AL: "O'Reilly, who did you think a left-winger like Kucinich was going to blame for Putin's invasion? This is a guy who thinks Assad in Syria is acceptable."
Sandee Thomas, Jacksonville, FL: "Bill, I was one of the people you were talking about who went to a health clinic instead of a doctor. The nurse practitioner refused to give me an antibiotic for bronchitis and I wound up with pneumonia."
Dr. Richard Paltenghi, Walnut Creek, CA: "Electronic medical records will be compromised, it is just a matter of time. Also, more physicians will rather retire than deal with ObamaCare."
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The Lowdown on Getting High
Even liberal California Governor Jerry Brown questions the wisdom of legalizing marijuana, asking, "How many people can get stoned and still have a great state or a great nation?" Inebriation of any kind is going to hurt you, no doubt about it.
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