The Fallout After the Recall Election

Hi, I'm Bill O'Reilly.  Thank you for watching us tonight.

The fallout after the recall election, and that is the subject of this evening's Talking Points Memo.  The big loser here is the Democratic party, which had control of the nation's most powerful state and completely botched it.  Almost every high-profile Democrat in the country tried to save Gray Davis (search), and the folks said forget about it.

The second biggest loser, The L.A.Times, which used its power to try to save Davis.  And the folks said we don't like that.  And the final losers, the ACLU, which did everything in its power to subvert the democratic process.

Let's take them one by one.  Picture this -- Gray Davis stands with Bill  Clinton and Jesse Jackson and then levels criticism about Mr. Schwarzenegger's problem with women?  Was that rich or what?

Now that vivid illustration shows you just how out of touch the far-left element of the Democratic party is.  They are so far away from the sensibilities of everyday Americans, it's astounding.

If the Democratic party remains under the far-left umbrella, it'll go down in defeat in the presidential election as well and continue to lose ground all over the country.  And the media won't be able to save it.  Do you think The L.A.Times sent a squad of reporters to Arkansas to investigate Bill Clinton's problems with women?  No, it did not.

So the kind of selective reporting used on Schwarzenegger was blatantly partisan.  Yes, the actor did untoward things.  Yes, the Times had a right to print that.  But if major media operations are going to blatantly help the campaigns of politicians, then this democracy is in big trouble.

It is time for both major political parties to stop the ideological nonsense  and start representing the people.  Working men and women in California are getting hosed.  That's the problem out there.  People can't afford to pay the  enormous entitlements imposed upon them and raise families at the same time.

The recall election was a tremendous example of the power that individual Americans have.  We should all stop the ideological b.s. and start holding those in power accountable.  If they aren't looking out for us, no matter what the party, they're out of here.

And that's The Memo.

The Most Ridiculous Item of the Day

Time now for "The Most Ridiculous Item of the Day."

Our buddy, David Letterman (search), made fun of us a few days ago.  Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID LETTERMAN, "THE LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN":  And now, ladies and gentlemen, it's a brand-new segment.  It's "The Late Show Bill O'Reilly Sound Bite."  Here we go.

O'REILLY:  You're a slut!

LETTERMAN:  You're a slut, he says.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'REILLY:  All right.  That was cute, wasn't it?  And we thought you'd like to see where that sound bite came from.  In an interview with Tim Russert last weekend, I said this about the increasing defamation going on in the USA.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

O'REILLY:  Instead of having debating societies in high school where you say, no, this point is bad or that point doesn't really matter, they're going to -- you're a slut!  I mean that's what it's going to be.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'REILLY:  OK.  So I was talking about that.  Ridiculous?  You make the call.  But we like Letterman.

--You can watch Bill O'Reilly's Talking Points Memo and "Most Ridiculous Item" weeknights at 8 & 11p.m. ET on the Fox News Channel. Send your comments to: oreilly@foxnews.com