"There's plenty of blame to go around for GOP losses in the last two elections, but some of it is misdirected. One of the targets is talk radio, and now my Fox News colleague and friend Mort Kondracke is joining the chorus. Kondracke says that for Republicans to move forward, they have to leave behind Limbaugh, Hannity and yours truly. He basically says that our views on immigration, gay marriage and abortion appeal to a backward-looking lowbrow mentality. But how will it advance Republican ideals to abandon the notion that we're a sovereign country with real borders? How will it advance conservative principles to abandon the notion that abortion is a moral outrage and that the traditional definition of marriage should be preserved? Even if abandoning our principles did result in a few more Republicans being elected, how would that make the county better off? We already have one liberal party, why do we need another one? Acting like Democrats didn't work for Republicans before, and it's not going to work for them now. Next time Republicans should offer voters a choice, not an echo."

Barack Obama has reportedly asked Hillary Clinton to serve as his Secretary of State, a prospect that has divided Democrats. Laura welcomed anti-war activist Geoff Millard, who expressed doubts about Obama's initial cabinet picks. "Democrats are running to the right," Millard complained, "with people like Hillary Clinton. This isn't change, this is the same old-same old. But I will continue organizing GI's and veterans to oppose the war in Iraq." But Democratic speech writer Matthew Littman praised the Clinton pick. "Hillary's an excellent choice, a moderate with experience and toughness and respect around the world." Laura suggested that President-elect Obama is going back to the future. "This looks like 1994 all over again. How are you a different type of politician when you're going back to the same crowd that was locked in an ideological struggle with the right in the 90's?"

News Link: Obama expected to hand Hillary State

Justice Department boss Michael Mukasey had a difficult night while giving a speech Thursday - first he was heckled by a man in the audience who called him a "tyrant," then Mukasey apparently fainted. Attorney Wendy Long worried that those incidents overshadowed Mukasey's speech. "It was a very courageous and formidable defense of the Bush administration's policies in the war on terror," Long said, "and a stinging rebuke to the critics in academia and the media who have attacked the Bush policies." But FNC legal analyst Lis Wiehl expressed a far different opinion. "A court has just ruled that at least five detainees should never have been at Gitmo in the first place, and it's an international PR disaster. You can't just have people rotting in jail without telling them what they're in there for." Laura reminded Wiehl of one salient fact: "In seven years there has been no attack on our soil and people don't want to give the Bush administration any credit whatsoever."

News Link: Video: US AG collapses during speech

As Laura mentioned in her Talking Points, she was among the radio talk show hosts criticized by Fox News contributor Morton Kondracke. Writing in "Roll Call," Kondracke urged the GOP to "quit letting Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham set its agenda." Kondracke entered the No Spin Zone and elaborated on his article. "The premise of the piece," he said, "is that the Republican Party has gone way off to the right on issues that matter to people who will decide future elections - young people, Hispanics and first-time voters. Your party got identified with the anti-immigration wing and suffered for it. My argument is that we have to solve America's huge problems from the middle." Laura countered with a ringing defense: "You want to Monday morning quarterback the election and you want the Republican Party to move to the left. Conservatives are still the core of the Republican Party, and you're insulting a whole group of Americans as 'troglodytes' just because they don't agree with you. Hannity, Rush and I communicate with people every day, and you have to listen to the show."

News Link: Kondracke tells GOP: Fire Limbaugh

Under terms of a settlement with New Jersey, the online dating site eHarmony will now include homosexuals searching for partners. Laura was joined by attorney Geoffrey Nathan, who endorsed the settlement. "The courts have no choice," Nathan said, "but to say that eHarmony is dominating the industry. Should any web site exclude people? The answer is no. If you're going to dominate an industry, you have to make it open to everybody." Laura argued that eHarmony's founder, a devout Christian, is being coerced to compromise his values. "There are hundreds of gay dating web sites, so why force him to support something? No one is preventing anyone from finding web sites that cater to their interests or needs."

News Link: eHarmony goes gay

Even after a big Friday rebound, stocks lost more than five percent on the week. Laura welcomed financial planner Ric Edelman, who lauded Barack Obama's pick of New York Fed chief Tim Geithner to head the Treasury Department. "He's a career Fed official," Edelman said, "which assures continuity. One thing Obama seems to be displaying so far is pragmatism, and I think he's willing to abandon some of his campaign rhetoric." Edelman also predicted a renewed bull market. "We're getting closer to a bottom, and then we're going to see a recovery in the stock market that will shock and astound people. People who don't invest now are going to turn around in six months or a year and say they wish they had."

News Link: Obama nominates Treasury Secretary

Laura introduced a conversation Bill had with football legend Frank Gifford, whose new book recalls the 1958 NFL title game between Gifford's New York Giants and the Baltimore Colts. Gifford pointed out one big difference between players of his era and those today. "We did not have anything close to the astronomical salaries," Gifford said. "We earned enough to get through the season, then went back to where we came from to work and support our families." Gifford also lamented the fate of his former broadcast partner, the late Howard Cosell. "He died a very bitter and a very broken, hurt man. He confused being a star with being a spectacle." Bill lauded Gifford as a true star on and off the field: "Not only were you in the championship game that changed football itself, you were in the television booth that changed football again."

Featured Book: The Glory Game: How the 1958 NFL Championship Changed Football Forever by Frank Gifford

Rosie O'Donnell has escalated her feud with Barbara Walters, her former boss at "The View." Laura asked entertainment reporter Tom O'Neil about the public tiff. "It's a good diva smackdown," O'Neil declared, "and what's unusual about this is that never before has Barbara Walters chewed out Rosie in public. Barbara, if you're watching this, just turn back - you don't want a fight in public with Rosie, who doesn't fight fair."

News Link: Video: Rosie responds to Barbara Walters