Hysteria on the Left

By Bill O'Reilly

First of all, good for President Obama. Good for him. He did the right thing for the country by backing away from raising taxes on the affluent and small business owners.

The president knew that would not pass in the Senate and a stalemate would have caused a tax rise on all Americans. Now there is a chance that tight money might loosen up and business might start expanding again. That is the only way out of this bad economic mess we're in.

But the ideologues on the far left are not interested in any of that. They want income redistribution and the economy be damned.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)

PAUL BEGALA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Democrats are unhappy. I think they get the sense that, you know, they understand compromise is give-and- take. But they feel like the president is giving and the Republicans are taking.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS, I-VT.: It is an absolute disaster and insult to the vast majority of the American people.

ED SCHULTZ, MSNBC: Liberals are furious and they should be, including me.

SEN. SHERROD BROWN, D-OHIO: I'm not at all happy with this. I want to see all the details before I make any kind of commitment.

REP. ANTHONY WEINER, D-N.Y.: I don't think he fights sometimes enough for the things he believes in.

ADAM GREEN, PROGRESSIVE CHANGE CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE: It's asking his base to compromise when he wasn't willing to fight, and it's a tragic day for those of us who trusted him to fight.

(END VIDEO CLIPS)

Now, the president is making the calculation that the far left will rally to him down the road despite their disenchantment now. In a press conference on Tuesday, President Obama said he gave the tax hike up for the good of the folks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESIDENT OBAMA: A long political fight that carried over into next year might have been good politics, but it would be a bad deal for the economy, and it would be a bad deal for the American people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Which is absolutely true. The president then went on to say that the deal he made with the Republicans will likely stimulate the economy.

So my question is: Why did you oppose the deal up until now, Mr. President?

Mr. Obama sounded like a supply-sider today, did he not?

There comes a time when every president has to do what's best for the folks or perish politically, and Barack Obama stuck up for us on Tuesday.

But it is worth noting that some on the far left who once adored him are now trying to damage the president. A whacked out group even tried to bring down the White House phone system on Tuesday.

The American economy obviously needs to improve. Massive government spending on economic stimulus has not worked thus far. So now the folks will have more money to spend. Let's pray that turns things around.

And that's "The Memo."

Pinheads & Patriots

As you may know, some on the left want the federal government to begin regulating political speech on TV and radio. Of course, that would be a direct violation of freedom of speech.

Al Sharpton does a talk radio program, so he should know better than to support censorship, but apparently he does support it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REV. AL SHARPTON, CIVIL RIGHTS LEADER: Rush Limbaugh has the right to say whatever he wants to say. He does not have the right to do it though on publicly regulated airwaves. The FCC has a responsibility to set standards.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Nonsense. So is Rev. Sharpton a pinhead or patriot for that opinion? Obviously, we know which way the vote's going to go, but I want to see how many of you vote.

On Monday night we told you that TIME magazine editor Richard Stengel showed some sympathy for the WikiLeaks guy. Ninety-one percent of you say he is a pinhead for doing that; 9 percent say he's patriotic.