More Fallout from the Fall of Saddam

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Hi, I'm Bill O'Reilly. Thanks for watching us tonight. More fallout from the fall of Saddam. That's the subject of this evening's Talking Points Memo. Now, we told you that Saddam was going to a lot of people down with him, both inside and outside of Iraq. And that happening right now.

CNN admits it did not accurately report how bad Saddam's regime was in order to keep a presence in Baghdad. We'll discuss that in a moment.

And appearing today at the National Press Club in Washington, Tim Robbins lashed out at people for punishing him and his partner, Susan Sarandon, for their opinion the war was wrong. Baseball Hall of Fame canceled them and so did the United Way in Tampa.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIM ROBBINS, ACTOR:  Susan and I have been listed as traitors, as supporters of Saddam, and various other epithets by the Aussie gossip rags masquerading as newspapers and by their fair and balanced electronic media cousins, Nineteenth Century Fox.

A chill wind is blowing in this nation. A message is being sent through the White House and its allies in talk radio and Clear Channel and Cooperstown. If you oppose this administration, there can and will be ramifications.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'REILLY: Now yesterday we put up a poll on my Web site, billoreilly.com, asking should celebrities like Sarandon and Robbins be penalized by Americans for their anti-war sentiment. By air time, more than 15,000 had people logged on. Eighty-six percent say, yes, they should be penalized.  Nine percent say no, they should not.  And five percent say who? And we're keeping that poll up for another couple of days, but this might surprise you. I am with the nine percent.

If Robbins and Sarandon do a movie I find interesting, I will pay to see it. While I find some of their actions inappropriate, I am not going to sanction them because I disagree with their methods. But -- and this is a major but -- I respect the rights of Americans to sanction them. It's also free speech to make a statement with your hard-earned money. So, If you think Robbins, Sarandon, and their crew are offensive, it's your right to ignore them.

I also think Robbins is being somewhat hypocritical. For a long time, we have trying to get him on The Factor, and I have even spoken to him on the phone. We had a nice conversation. But Mr. Robbins will not appear on this program because he doesn't like the way I conduct myself, and that's his right.

So, what's his problem with the Hall of Fame? Its president doesn't like the way he's conducting himself about the war. So he disinvited Robbins and Sarandon to the event at the Hall. So what's the difference? Robbins won't play ball with us. The Hall won't play ball with him. For the same reason.

Robbins also says baseball should not be a political conduit, but baseball's entertainment. Robbins uses his access to the entertainment industry to make political statements all day long. But a baseball guy can't make a political statement against Mr. Robbins? Come on!

Until Tim Robbins explains those apparent inconsistencies, his cries of political persecution will not get any traction. Once again, freedom of expression and freedom to choose cuts both ways. Robbins and Sarandon are entitled to their viewpoints. So is everybody else. But don't give me this I'm a victim stuff, Tim. You do the same thing yourself.

And that's The Memo.

The Most Ridiculous Item of the Day

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

Today is tax day, a very painful experience for many of us.  And to put the capper on this day, we'd like to report that $560 million in taxpayer money has been given to fight the spread of weeds at the Montana Sheep Institute -- $560 million.

No, we don't need a tax cut.  Let's let the government have more money.  Might be ridiculous.