Protesting in America, that's the subject of this evening's "Talking Points Memo." T-Points has lots and lots of questions about all these demonstrations, so let the queries begin:
Why are many in the media calling Monday's protests "immigration demonstrations"? They are not. They are protests in favor of the illegal immigration, largely calling for amnesty. Legal immigrants have no problems with the government, so is the media being dishonest by using the stand-alone word immigration? Why is it not widely known that some amnesty organizers believe the USA stole the Southwest from Mexico, therefore all Mexicans have a right to cross the border whenever they want? The slogan is, "We didn't cross the border, the border crossed us." Why is that not being reported on the network news?
Did you know that Saturday's peace rally here in New York City was organized by a group that has communists and socialists on its advisory committee? Did you know that organizers of that demonstration oppose any military action against Iran, no matter what that country does? Did you know the group wants to also disarm Israel? Why did the media not report any of that on Saturday?
How about the Darfur rally — which was a good thing. Everyone in the world should demand the Sudanese government protect its citizens from rape and murder. But, why are some people who want aggressive action in Darfur — people like Nancy Pelosi and George Clooney — condemning the attempt to bring a humane government to Iraq? Didn't Saddam murder hundreds of thousands of innocent people?
Things are so confusing in the world of protests.
Now some answers: The pro-amnesty people largely believe the USA has a moral obligation to accept millions of poor people as citizens. The reasoning varies. Hardcore Democrats like Howard Dean and Ted Kennedy see future votes. Cardinal Mahoney sees future parishioners and wants a more compassionate approach toward the poor in general. And some activists believe it is America's fault that there's poverty in Mexico and other countries.
On the peace front, most of those demonstrators believe the USA is a flawed country — and so is Israel — and it's our fault there's terrorism in the world.
On Darfur, the intentions are better but there is a hard left base here as well. And may have something to do with color. Surely the marsh Arabs in Iraq slaughtered by Saddam did not get George Clooney's attention. Even so, the slaughter in Darfur must be stopped and President Bush should take the lead in this case.
So many questions, so little time...
That's "The Memo."
The Most Ridiculous Item of the Day
A few letters related to the "60 Minutes" profile of Stephen Colbert came in overnight.
Bill Mattern, who lives in Pennsylvania, said, "Bill, Morley Safer made you appear as a guy who says 'shut up' and cuts people's microphones off all the time. I wonder how far back he went to dig that stuff up?"
And Randy Watts from Virginia wrote, "Safer slammed 'The Factor' as full of half-truths."
Well, that he did, Mr. Watts. I saw the piece and was amused by it. Colbert's lampooning of cable pundits is fine with me. He's not malicious. Safer simply doesn't know what he's talking about.
We have some of the best fact checkers in the business on this program, and when we make a mistake we correct it. You know, I do three hours of commentary every day. Sometimes you're going to make mistakes.
And Morley has an open invitation to come in here and back up his statements about half truths. All right? I don't expect to see Mr. Safer. Some of the old guard bitterly resent the success of “The Factor” and the FOX News Channel, and that might be ridiculous.
—You can catch Bill O'Reilly's "Talking Points Memo" and "Most Ridiculous Item" weeknights at 8 and 11 p.m. ET on the FOX News Channel. Send your comments to: oreilly@foxnews.com
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox