This is a rush transcript from "The Five," January 23, 2013. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
GREG GUTFELD, CO-HOST: So, a just-released report details a Bush administration cover-up after an ambassador and three other Americans were killed by Al Qaeda-affiliated terrorists. Secretary of State Condi Rice came up with a story to blame a video maker for the riot that led to the deaths, except there was no riot. In fact, Vice President Cheney was in the Situation Room with President Bush and Secretary Rumsfeld as the whole scene unfolded, conning Ambassador John Bolton into going on those Sunday shows.
Meanwhile, Senators Clinton, Obama and Kerry all demand to know why Bush chose to blame our First Amendment when he knew all along the video didn't cause the attack?
Meanwhile, Newsweek and similar drugstore brochures demand special prosecutors and resignations.
The HBO film directed by Sean Penn called "blood on your hands" wins an Emmy.
The musical "Bullets Over Benghazi" garners a Tony.
The 50,000-word poem by James Franco, though awful, wins a Pulitzer.
The whole thing is bigger than Watergate, Watergate and Watergate combined.
My point? Reverse parties and you can predict the media explosion. But instead, we've got a slobbering mess marginalizing an attack to ensure a re-election, which is why filmmaker remains in jail without the ACLU ever raising a finger, Hillary is treated like royalty for failing and terrorists remain at large.
The lesson? In the media's world, Democrats and libs get to blame others, while Republicans and conservatives, they just get the blame.
Me? I blame the video.
DANA PERINO, CO-HOST: That was clever.
ERIC BOLLING, CO-HOST: Well done.
GUTFELD: Yes, I came up with that idea on my own. No help from Dana.
PERINO: I love it.
Honestly, if you were to say you were an alien that came down from space and that you're reading the stuff and you read it. If you switch out characters --
GUTFELD: Yes.
PERINO: -- the media's head would have exploded on us and we would have been -- believe me -- we would have had a tougher hearing. And deserved to.
GUTFELD: That is true. I think, we don't we have some sort of SOT showing the press thinks this whole story is over -- I don't know, exaggerated?
(BEEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
TOM FRIEDMAN, NEW YORK TIMES: It's obviously been totally politicized at this point. To me, this is an utterly contrived story.
MARTIN BASHIR, NBC NEWS: Conservatives have chosen to shamelessly exploit a vicious and sustained attack that led to deaths of four Americans in Libya.
REP. DEBORAH WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, D-FL.: The Republicans are just relishing the opportunity to politicize an attack on the United States.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Can you say that a little louder, Candy?
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN: He did call it an act of terror. It did as well take -- it did as well take two weeks or so for the whole idea of there being a riot out there about this tape.
DAVID AXELROD, OBAMA 2012 CAMPAIGN: We have reported, the administration has reported everything that we've been -- that we have been told and we've shared it in real-time.
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
GUTFELD: Bob, wouldn't you say that the press has been the opposite of proactive? I think the word might be "reactive"?
BOB BECKEL, CO-HOST: You know, I consider this all sour grapes, if you want to truth.
PERINO: Why?
BECKEL: Did they play this out as a way to avoid gives it to him before the election? Yes. Did they get away with it? Yes.
KIMBERLY GUILFOYLE, CO-HOST: Would they have done it differently --
BECKEL: I don't care.
(CROSSTALK)
GUTFELD: You are admitting --
BECKEL: I admit it. I admit it.
GUTFELD: They politicized it.
(CROSSTALK)
BECKEL: This is a situation you don't want to fight this battle during a very close election. And they got away with it.
GUILFOYLE: And because Hillary is going to run --
BECKEL: You got to live with it.
Well, I don't know about that.
GUILFOYLE: Oh, yes?
GUTFELD: I get it. They got away with it. You got to live with it. But you got to expose it and you got to go after them for it, Kimberly.
PERINO: There are four people who aren't living with it.
GUTFELD: Yes, that's a good point.
GUILFOYLE: Yes, that's -- they are not going to. The hypocrisy is so self evident. You know, just look at the coverage of it. And now, like you said, today was just kind of like a coronation for Hillary. Thank you so much, thank you so much --
BECKEL: You had your best and brightest Republican brains up there. Why didn't they do something?
BOLLING: I don't know why they didn't, Bob. It's an absolutely fair question. We have the Senate -- especially the senators, come on, guys. I mean, honestly, I took -- I don't know, we were five, six, seven, almost eight hours in before we got --
(CROSSTALK)
BOLLING: This was congressman, young congressman -- hold on. Can I just give a couple quick random thoughts? When she said what difference does it make? It made my head spin. The crocodile tears that never came out.
She was -- listen, let me qualify it as this. I agree with Bob, I think she is fantastic secretary of state with the exception of this one instance, this thing will be a mark on her --
GUILFOYLE: Should that matter, then?
BOLLING: I never saw the request for more security, she said. Really? Going on Sunday show is not my favorite thing. Really? I wasn't consulted regarding Ambassador Susan Rice on September 16th. Really?
GUILFOYLE: That's a problem.
BOLLING: But earlier on, she claimed she was involved in every intricate detail of Benghazi, but those things she had no idea about.
GUILFOYLE: Why didn't she read the cable?
BOLLING: Honestly, it was a lot of four minutes of you have been great, thank you for your service, Madam Secretary. One quick question.
Oops, I'm out of time.
BECKEL: Why didn't she read the cables? I was deputy assistant secretary of state. I got 10,000 day. Imagine how many she gets? You expect her to read them all?
GUILFOYLE: Bob, we want you to read the --
(CROSSTALK)
BECKEL: Nice shot.
(LAUGHTER)
BOLLING: I never saw the request for more security.
You want us to believe that she never saw a request?
GUTFELD: We have a word count that we did from the Senate hearing of the words that were mentioned.
The word "film" -- zero. The word "movie" -- zero. The word "Internet" -- zero. They mentioned the word "video" but they were talking about the video conference, Dana.,
PERINO: You could tell that the staff had obviously followed this story much more closely than the senators. You can prep your senator as well as you try a when they get up there, they make a choice.
Can I make a point?
GUTFELD: No.
PERINO: The media, it seems that the doctor takes an oath, Hippocratic Oath, the media has taken a hypocritic oath.
GUTFELD: Oh, wow.
PERINO: I wanted to use that line all day.
GUTFELD: A little word play. Very little from a little person.
PERINO: You don't know how hard it is to be this little -- oh, yes, you do.
GUILFOYLE: Oh, wow, you got it.
GUTFELD: Wow, it's painful.
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