Guests: Fox News chief judicial analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano & Fox News correspondent Megyn Kelly

"From the jump this was a bad case. The woman who said three Duke students raped her couldn't back up that story in any meaningful way. Last June I said this: 'a conviction is just about impossible ... Mike Nifong has an ethical duty to withdraw the charges.' A few months later Nifong was fired from the case and today, finally, justice was done. But the damage is significant. The students and their families have been devastated emotionally and financially. As for the alleged victim, I know nothing about her other than her purported life style, and it would be cruel of me to attack her. Instead, I'll direct my ire towards Nifong, who does not deserve to serve, ever again, in a public arena. This kind of stuff simply can't happen in the USA, ladies and gentlemen. Powerful prosecutors can't damage citizens on shaky evidence. And if they do, they themselves must pay a price higher than the ones they injured."

For more on the Duke situation, The Factor spoke with Fox News legal analyst Megan Kelly, who reported on the mood of the three accused men. "Their lawyers said they don't feel happy, they feel angry. And if the families file a civil suit, the most likely target is Mike Nifong. It won't be about money, it will be to skewer him for what he did to them and their families." FNC's Andrew Napolitano added that the ultimate culpability lies with the state. "The young men can sue the state of North Carolina, which is responsible in a supervisory capacity for what Mike Nifong did. As one of the young men said, how could an average person face corrupt cops and prosecutors? Only these people could do it because they had the means."

News Link: Duke rape charges dropped

News Link: Profile of the Duke Rape Accuser

Guest: Cort Kirkwood, Harrisonburg Daily News-Record

The Factor has reported on the outrage in Virginia Beach, where an illegal alien drunk driver killed two teenage girls. In response, Denver Post TV critic Joanne Ostrow wrote that "O'Reilly spewed racist bile." When confronted by a Factor crew in Denver, Ostrow cited as proof of racism the "reference to 'illegals' instead of 'undocumented' ... to me that's racist." Back in the studio, The Factor welcomed Cort Kirkwood of the Virginia Daily News-Record, one of the few papers that has been supportive. "We published an editorial," Kirkwood said, "that said you were right to be outraged. And the rest of us should be outraged also that an illegal alien killed these two gals. This is occurring all over the country, and you just put a spotlight on it." The Factor lauded Kirkwood for bucking the editorial trend. "You would think the media would want to solve the problem instead of attacking me. We're never going to solve the problem if the messenger is going to be called a racist."

News Link: TV critics calls O'Reilly "racist"

Featured Book: Real Men: Ten Courageous Americans to Know and Admire by R. Cort Kirkwood

Guest: Rev. Al Sharpton

On Tuesday's Factor FNC media analyst Bernard Goldberg contended that Don Imus should not be judged by "race hustlers" like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, who ignore the "real problems that plague black America." Sharpton entered the No Spin Zone Wednesday with his response. "To act as though the black community should not be concerned with how their young women are being portrayed is ridiculous. We deal with many issues, and one is the use of race language." The Factor challenged Sharpton to extend his outrage to record companies and rappers. "Are you now going to hold Ludacris and Snoop Dogg accountable? Step it up, go after the companies that hire them and something good might come out of this." Sharpton vowed that his crusade against Imus is just the beginning. "After getting rid of Mr. Imus, we need to look at the corporations that own record companies and radio stations. We're going to go after anybody that uses the 'ho' and 'b' words. Imus may be the beginning of a long walk."

Guests: Peter Shankman, The Geek Factor & media analyst Stacey Lynn Schulman

NOTE: This segment was recorded before MSNBC announced that it was terminating its simulcast of the "Imus in the Morning" radio program.

Some major corporations have announced they will no longer advertise on Don Imus' now-notorious morning show. Nevertheless, media analyst Stacey Lynn Schulman predicted that Imus will emerge relatively unscathed. "I think he'll survive. The history of America is that we forgive, so I don't see him going away." Marketing expert Peter Shankman agreed with that assessment. "This is a blip, a Mel Gibson blip. He'll come back on the air, and the history is that when things like this happen radio audiences actually increase." But The Factor disagreed with both his expert guests. "As you heard Rev. Sharpton say, they're going to make an example of Imus. And corporate America does not have a history of standing up in the face of that kind of heat. I think both of you are underestimating the anger from the African American community, which is huge and is not going to go away."

News Link: MSNBC drops Imus

Dennis Miller offered his insights into a couple of issues, beginning with Don Imus. "Imus looks to me," Miller quipped, "like a werewolf who only had enough energy to get halfway through the transformation. It seems like he's taking this seriously because the cowboy hat's off. He looks like Wyatt AARP. And now that I can see his actual hair, this is wrong on three levels - it was bad about gender, it was bad about race, and Imus should never be judging anybody in a follicular matter." Miller also had some criticism left over for Al Sharpton. "Imus has to go supine himself and kiss the ring of Al Sharpton, who he knows is a complete sham." Finally, Miller turned to the Duke case and disgraced DA Mike Nifong. "After 395 days we find out that this woman was like the Louvre of DNA. If I was a parents of one of those three kids, I would spend the rest of my life haunting Nifong. I would flatten him to the point where 'nifong' went into the vernacular as a verb meaning 'what happens if your parachute doesn't open.'"

Guest: Kristy Mitchell

Earlier this week The Factor received an e-mail from viewer Kristy Mitchell of Milltown, Wisconsin, who wrote this: "Bill, you've banked your career on the fact that 'hate sells' ... give me and the rest of America a break." Bill did more than give Ms. Mitchell a break - he invited her to state her case on the air. "I don't feel like it's much of a stretch," Mitchell said, "to consider you a shock jock. You label people a lot, you tend to clump people into categories. I'm not necessarily saying you do things in a hateful manner, but to me 'hate journalism' is divisive and tends to exploit differences." The Factor happily pointed out that Mitchell was unable to back up her accusation with a single example. "You need to understand that there is a difference between people who use invective to personally injure other people and what we do. What we do is investigate, hold people accountable. That's not 'hate,' that's information delivered in a very strong, clear, and fair manner."

Many of you wrote about Rosie O'Donnell and Don Imus. Some excerpts:

Nicholle Grant, Japan: "I think it is interesting that on Rosie's first day back from vacation, nobody on 'The View' said anything about her remarks on Iran or 9/11."

Scott Hughes, Fullerton, CA: "How come the left-wing media is not making the comparison between Rosie's remarks and Imus'? Both are deplorable."

Zachary Sanders, Bowie, MD: "Mr. O, Bernie Goldberg insulted black Americans by quoting negative statistics regarding blacks."

Terrence Hagen, Downers Grove, IL: "Bernie hit a home run by saying that Sharpton and Jackson are the last people who should be leading the charge against Imus."