Updated

Hi.  I'm Bill O'Reilly.  Thank you for watching the special edition of The Factor.  We'll analyze the president's vision for Iraq in a moment.  But first, a short "Talking Points Memo" about everyday Americans and Mr. Bush.

Over the weekend, I went to southwestern Michigan to give a speech.  About 3,000 people were there, most of them everyday Americans, people who love their country and want the best for it.

These folks largely reject fanatical ideology and propaganda.  They believe America is a good country and get angry when we are attacked from the outside or from the inside.

Many in the audience voted for President Bush last time.  Many will vote for him again, but a good number have doubts that the president's policies are working.

The relentless bad news from Iraq and things like high gas prices have eroded confidence in the president.

"Talking Points" believes Mr. Bush knows that, and this evening's speech was designed to encourage not only his supporters but Americans in general.  Did he accomplish that?  We'll analyze it in a moment.

But the fact that the president is now beginning to explain his policies has to be a good thing for the country.

As we told you last week, anti-Bush propaganda has almost reached the hysteria level. It is long past time for Mr. Bush to begin replying and laying out his own vision for America.

There's no question President Bush will not get a fair shake from most of the media.  A new Pew Research Study shows news reporters are far more liberal than conservative, and the networks, as well as most major urban newspapers, fairly rarely treat the president fairly.

So the president must take his case directly to the folk if he wants another term.

Americans aren't stupid, even though the elite media think they are.  The folks in Michigan and the folks everywhere are willing to consider the president's point of view, but they must hear it from him.  And it must be as persuasive as the opposition against him.

And that's "The Memo."

The Most Ridiculous Item of the Day

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

A couple of months ago, [articles about] the liberal radio network [Air America] was featured in nearly every elite media in the country. In fact, "The New York Times" did nine articles on it.

Well, we predicted the network would be a bomb, and now comes word that the liberal talk show people didn't get a paycheck a couple of weeks ago.  Obviously, there are financial problems.

No gloating here, just bringing you up to date.  We still think the project is a bomb.

On the same subject, liberal bomb thrower [movie director] Michael Moore (search) has won the Cannes Film Festival (search) [Palm d'Or] award for his film entitled "I Hate Everything About President Bush." -- Oh wait, that's not the title.  That's just the theme.

On the radio today, some people asked me if I was going to have Mr. Moore on The Factor.  I thought about it and can't decide.  So I'm asking you to make the decision.

A new billoreilly.com question asks, "Should The Factor invite Michael Moore on?"  Very simple, "Should The Factor invite Michael Moore on?"  Yes or no.  Whatever you say goes in this case, and that's never ridiculous.