Media mogul likens chemical weapons attack to pesticide use
Maria Rodale pens open letter to President Obama
This is a rush transcript from "The Five," September 5, 2013. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
ANDREA TANTAROS, CO-HOST: Hello, everyone. I'm Andrea Tantaros, along with Bob Beckel, Eric Bolling, Dana Perino, and Greg Gutfeld.
It's 5 o'clock in New York City. And this is "The Five".
(MUSIC)
TANTAROS: Obama landed in St. Petersburg, Russia, for the G-20 Summit today, where the possibility of a strike on Syria loomed large.
Back Stateside as Congress weighs the option of another U.S. war, the big question is, who exactly are we supporting? The Secretary of State Kerry says the rebels are largely moderate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN KERRY, SECRETARY OF STATE: I just don't agree that a majority are Al Qaeda and the bad guys. That's not true. They are about 70,000 to 100,000 oppositionists, about somewhere maybe 15 percent to 25 percent, might be in one group or another who are -- we would deem to be bad guys. There are many different groups, al Nusra, al Shamra (ph), there are different entities. And sometimes, they are fighting each other, even now. The general belief, there is a real moderate opposition that exists.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TANTAROS: But new reporting today from "The New York Times" raises questions on his claim. As Syrian rebels are reportedly shown executing seven government soldiers in this picture shown there.
Greg, as well, the Russians released 100-page report today detailing a WMD attack from earlier this year in Aleppo, a suburb, actually a suburb of Aleppo. So, we know for a fact had a Al Qaeda groups have WMD according to the Russians.
This is something we debated here. Some skepticism, it sort of plays into my theory that this could be Al Qaeda. Maybe not Assad.
GREG GUTFELD, CO-HOST: Yes, I mean, Kerry is right. They are moderate. They are moderately psycho. I mean, there are bad guys on any side you choose on a conflict. The question is how many is too many. A decision you make every day when you go on the subway.
Our allies in Syria right now are Al Qaeda, highway men, kidnappers and killers. At least we know Ariel Castro isn't there. It is not a good group of people. I don't know.
I feel like it is -- OK, we can't confirm anything about this conflict except that it's a conflict. It is like the TV show "Storage Wars", where you show up and you're going to buy that locker. You have no idea what's inside of it.
TANTAROS: Dana, when -- President Bush went into Iraq, many of the Democrats were -- many of them supported. Now, in their testimonies, they are taking digs at the intelligence that President Bush used. But isn't the intelligence questionable this time around when it comes to Syria?
DANA PERINO, CO-HOST: Well, not -- according to the Obama administration, no. But then their case seems -- and I've been tried to be supportive of them. But everything that you read their case seems to unravel just a little bit more.
And on the photograph, war is hell. That is up until now, you have had -- 120,000 people killed at the hands of Assad. He is killing his own people.
My take on -- part of this on the photograph which is -- photojournalists and more journalists in the country would actually help us more. It might not tell us exactly who the rebels are. But it would give the world a better picture as to what is going on there. And, unfortunately, journalists are also targeted in war like this.
So, there's not enough of them there. If there were more, then we would probably have a better picture.
TANTAROS: There's also a report, according to Sky News, Al Qaeda linked rebels are targeting Christians and in villages northeast of Damascus. And Ted Cruz came out today and he said, why would we bother being Al Qaeda's air force? I see, there's no relish or mustard.
ERIC BOLLING, CO-HOST: No. I have no props tonight. I have been told to keep the props at home, in the refrigerator today. Yes. So, there is an Al Qaeda group who are part of the rebel forces who are attacking a Christian town. They are actually fighting the town that is a Christian village. Let's call it that.
But let's underscore what the video. It's not just picture. There's a video. There's a disturbing video that "The New York Times" no less, put out, that had an execution-style murders of seven people. Now this right there, that thing -- if you go online and watch this, one of the most disturbing things you'll see. They actually blocked out the time that they -- the bullets are going into the heads. And then they go on to do some really horrible things.
It underscores exactly what I have been saying for a week here, if not longer, that we don't know who the rebels are. And the people who are doing those executions are the rebels. Also people who are siding with -- those are people who are helping out. Are you sure you want to help those people out?
Look, that -- what they did right there violates the Geneva Convention, Bob. It doesn't violate the chemical -- 1993 chemical weapons treaty, which is what we are using to say we should kill Assad or take out Assad's delivery mechanism. Look, stay out of this thing.
TANTAROS: Bob, can I play the administration's response to this report?
National security adviser Ben Rhodes was asked about this. He said the reason they are taking so long is so they can properly vet who is bad in Syria. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BEN RHODES, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: We obviously condemn any human rights violation by any party. But the fact of the matter is, the way in which we set up our assistance is to carefully vet the people that we're working with. There have been some complaints, for instance in Congress that has taken a long time for assistance to reach into the country. But the reason why is we want to establish not was just pipeline so assistance flows into the country. We want to know who we're working with.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TANTAROS: And Vladimir Putin says he is a liar. He is basically --
BECKEL: Think about who's saying that, one of the world class liars. But --
TANTAROS: But he was right about the Boston bomber.
BECKEL: Let me say a couple of things. One, I think the Obama administration now in retrospect should look back and say they should have been in and we should have sent arms in to the Free Syrian Army, which is the moderate secular wing of the opposition. There are 1,200 groups involved in the opposition. By far, the biggest one is the Free Syrian Army.
They did not do this. They condemned it and rightfully so. And also, the Free Syrian Army was the one in their area where they were fighting against Assad. They were the ones that took the chemical attack.
And the question is, I guess you could argue that maybe the Al Qaeda -- set the chemical weapons. I still don't believe that. I think Al Qaeda and the rest of the guys are blocking the north and then the south of the country, and then not looking any to do any but become thugs.
BOLLING: What do you -- how do you respond to the people we are helping, the ones --
BECKEL: We are not.
BOLLING: -- execution-style murdering seven people with their heads down.
BECKEL: I suppose you can say some n some ways you are helping them. I don't buy that. I think that -- you keep talking just -- this is a war. This is -- exercise in humanitarian relief.
GUTFELD: You know what you do to get the U.S. off their back, look at that video. Then the U.S. will say, OK.
TANTAROS: Greg, you are married to a Russian.
GUTFELD: True.
TANTAROS: President Obama is attending the G-20 this week.
GUTFELD: Good question.
TANTAROS: And it's going to be very awkward. This is what I'm feeling.
GUTFELD: Yes.
TANTAROS: Do you have any advice for him dealing with Vladimir Putin since you deal with a Russian?
GUTFELD: Yes, I do. He should pretend. If Obama wants to gain any kind of foothold with Putin, treat him like a Republican or a Tea Partier. He doesn't mind doing that. He won't be steadfast in his waffling.
The point is there are Russians war ship heading to the Mediterranean for what I believe to be a bigger showdown with the United States, they can not go to war because it is going to be very awkward at my apartment.
I never heard of a situation where you were married to somebody when -- two places are at war. What do you do?
PERINO: Draw a line. A red line.
(CROSSTALK)
GUTFELD: Yes, there'd be a red line.
BECKEL: The Russians have a naval base in Syria. That probably is where the ships are heading. But go ahead.
TANTAROS: Do you think, Dana, that if the United States is -- shoots down maybe a Russian fighter pilot because the Russians are moving their resources there, I think if that happens, all hell breaks loose and Greg's scenario will be very plausible.
PERINO: Well, the goal of -- I think that the reason President Obama had to swallow hard and do the handshake today after all the things that happened with Russia in the past three months, before that, but in particular in the last three months, the role of those two leaders right now is to try to deescalate the situation. If you ratchet it up, then you risk the possibility of either a mistake or provocation in the region that would -- don't have a choice of whether or not you are going to go in.
Go ahead.
BECKEL: By the way, taking -- 100-page report from the Russians is like taking advice on baseball from Mark McGwire.
(CROSSTALK)
TANTAROS: Can I just say? The Russians were right about the Tsarnaev brothers and we didn't heed their warnings. They do have fairly good intelligence. You have to give them that. Putin's former KGB, not a likeable guy.
But, Eric, what --
PERINO: They even have our intelligence.
TANTAROS: Yes, that's true. What if he is right?
PERINO: Thanks to the hero (ph).
BOLLING: Let's put it this way. China says if we go -- if U.S. attacks Assad, it will undermine the global economy.
The pope says stay out of there. He's urging peace.
Russia says you are wrong. You don't know who you are killing yet. Let's hold back.
The American people overwhelming say, don't do this. Why is President Obama going this without congressional support? He is doing it for one reason. Because he drew his own red line and he is trying to save face by drawing that -- bottom line, he's got a feeble, incoherent foreign policy and it's dangerous to the American people.
BECKEL: Have you looked at the way -- poll questions were asked, they say, do you think the United States should go to war in Syria? That is not what we are doing. We've got to get --
(CROSSTALK)
BOLLING: Anecdotally, I put up in Facebook, I said, should the U.S. bomb Syria? I put it up there -- almost 5,000 comments and votes, 97 percent said no.
BECKEL: Yes, but let's remember, that's your Facebook.
BOLLING: OK, 97 percent? You can't get 97 percent of the people who agree on just about anything.
TANTAROS: Bob, didn't you say they didn't sell Obamacare very well either and so, now, we have another bad salesmanship job by the White House.
BECKEL: I stand second to none in criticizing them for their sales pitch. They should have done that better and they should have done this -- I think they should have helped him -- the Free Syrian Army and we wouldn't be in this situation we are in now.
TANTAROS: Greg, in California, Senator Dianne Feinstein said today that her constituents are largely against this. So, the American public doesn't want this war. Pick whatever poll you want. But here is Dianne Feinstein saying my constituents don't want this but that we should do it anyway.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN (D), CALIFORNIA: Once the administration made this call, though, I think there is a real need for us to back it up. Or America becomes a paper tiger.
Every day, I get a report on what the calls are, where the calls are coming from, what the nature of the argument is. And there's no question what's coming in is overwhelmingly negative. There's no question about that.
But you see. Then they don't know what I know. They haven't heard what I heard.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TANTAROS: Can I just say very quickly, Greg? It's so disorienting to me to have Democrats lecturing me and you and everybody else on WMD.
GUTFELD: I have to side with here, they do know things that we don't know. It will always be that way. They somehow grow up when they get into office.
But I was -- I got to say this -- I was born in 1964. I wrote down a list of all of the conflicts that I have been alive -- Vietnam, Iran, Granada, Serbia, Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan, Panama, Haiti, Central America, of course, Waco.
Half of these ones I don't remember. I don't know what came of these I conflicts. I don't know if I remember and if some of them, I don't know if I care. We have won in Iraq but 80 percent of America thinks we lost.
BECKEL: Well, the other thing, if you keep referring to this -- this is not a war. I mean -- you keep saying --
GUTFELD: I mentioned these -- obviously we when we went into Iran to save the hostages, that wasn't a war either.
BECKEL: That's right.
BOLLING: What is it? When one of our service members pulls a trigger on a tomahawk, he's not feeling --
BECKEL: I think the definition of a war --
(CROSSTALK)
BOLLING: Blows innocent people collaterally.
BECKEL: Putting troops on the ground I think is what you consider a war.
BOLLING: Let me ask you this. If a tomahawk missile came into 48th and 6th would that be a declaration of war? When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor the same way, was that a declaration of war?
BECKEL: It led to a declaration of war but for a lot of reasons.
TANTAROS: I think my issue is that -- and I put together a list of all the times the U.S. intervened in conflicts, like backing the mujahedeen going into Iraq, all these situations, the favor never seems to get returned. What do we get in return for it? It's usually a disaster which is why I'm not exactly too thrilled this time around.
Dana, votes in Congress, could I ask you about the tally?
PERINO: OK.
TANTAROS: It is looking fairly reasonable in the U.S. Senate. Something could happen. It is going to be a tough climb. But not in the House of Representatives.
So, Dana, if it's split, if the Senate passes but the House doesn't, can the Senate -- can the president, I should say, proceed? Or should he?
PERINO: Well, he does -- he has the right to, which he said before, which other presidents have maintained all the way through. So, he would have the right to do it, but one of the reasons he wanted to go to Congress was to strengthen his hand.
But he doesn't even have -- he's trying to work with some of the allies. He got a few to support him today. But he is going to put Nancy Pelosi, the minority leader, in the House, in a very difficult position, because she will have to deliver every Democrat plus blues about 30 Republicans.
I think at this point, if the administration is not able to articulate the goal of an intervention, and then -- a clear path to the -- what -- how do we achieve it, I think it will be very difficult to get people to vote yes. And some might just decide to say vote present and that might not be the worse thing that they could.
BECKEL: You know, I think he's going to lose. He could very lose the House if he's going to go anyway. If he gets Senate and he loses the House, he'll go.
TANTAROS: And he'll blame Congress, I suppose, either way.
BECKEL: No.
TANTAROS: Next on "The Five": Greg has got some choice words for a former boss who is making controversial comparisons about Syria's chemical weapons attack. He will explain that.
And later, a man just can't help himself. Serial sexter Anthony Weiner is back and in a heated shouting match with a voter yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You are a real scumbag.
FORMER REP. ANTHONY WEINER (D), NYC MAYORAL CANDIDATE: Wow, very nice. In front of kids, very nice. That's a charming guy right there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Married to an Arab.
WEINER: That's very nice, in front of children, you used that language.
That is charming.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're a disgusting, you're disgusting, you're disgusting.
WEINER: It takes one to know one (EXPLETIVE DELETED)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TANTAROS: Lovely. So, how does it end? Stay tuned. We'll show you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GUTFELD: War really brings out the stupid people. Take Maria Rodale (ph), publisher of "Prevention" and "Men's Health", magazines that I've worked at. In a creepy open letter to our president, she equates gassing humans to spraying for bugs.
Yes, your green grocer is a Hitler. Here is a quick lesson, Maria. Here are the effects of poisonous gas. Here are the effects of pesticides. Perhaps if Maria had taken some chemistry, instead of ginkgo biloba, she'd know that poison is organic, like your pricey shampoos.
But maybe Maria should be for nerve gasses, their phosphorous containing organic chemicals, as a cyanide, which is found in the pits of organic cherries. Natural is good, right? The religious fervor of freaks who believe in the superiority over organic over manmade is why so many people die.
See the DDT ban which killed millions, or the anti-vaccine idiots who spawn the return of measles. And now, see the attacks on modified crops made to prevent blindness in poor kids. It's also why fracking is despised. In 2012, fracking added $75 billion in revenue to this country, 1,200 bucks per household. It's only enterprise keeping us afloat.
By 2017, thanks to fracking, America will become the world's largest oil producer. So, psychos of the Middle East can keep their oil and turmoil. Too bad Obama's green pals would rather see us kill for oil than drill for it. Like cyanide, that kind of stupidity is 100 percent organic and totally toxic.
BECKEL: You get cyanide from cherry?
GUTFELD: Yes, cyanide from cherries.
BECKEL: Really?
GUTFELD: You didn't know that?
BECKEL: No.
GUTFELD: And apricots. What else you get from apricots?
BOLLING: Arsenic.
GUTFELD: Arsenic, yes. But it's natural so it's got to be good. Can I read a quote from her open letter to President Obama, which was from "Huffington Post", where I get all my open letters.
"Syria has undoubtedly used chemical weapons on its own people. Maybe it was the government; maybe it was the opposition. We are no better. We have been using chemical weapons on our children and ourselves for decades. The chemical weapons we use in agriculture to win the war on pest, weeds and the false need for even greater yields."
PERINO: How did you work for her?
GUTFELD: She was nuts. What happened was she inherited the company because her parents passed away.
BECKEL: You worked for her?
GUTFELD: Yes. A couple of years, at "Men's Health." Anyway --
BECKEL: What was the theme with apple? They had that --
GUTFELD: Alar scare?
BECKEL: Alar scare, I didn't eat an apple for three years.
GUTFELD: You know what, you didn't miss anything. The apples are great. Why -- now you derailed me, as --
BECKEL: Sorry.
GUTFELD: Andrea, the fracking boom can answer a lot of questions -- jobs, energy, and foreign policy. Why don't we embrace this?
TANTAROS: Because of people like your former boss. Don't like it. We like to blame America first who, by the way, what a lunatic she is.
Look where they are fracking. Look where they are exploring other types of fuels. In Texas, the economy is booming. We will get to that in the next block. But I look at all the resources here. Look at the fact that we are exporting clean, cheap, natural gas, while we import dirty, expensive crude from the Middle East.
And why, Greg, do we have these military carriers pre-Syria before we send more out, guarding the oil in the Middle East. Helping them make millions of dollars.
And again, I'm going to go back to this point. What do we get for it in return? Nothing. Saudis have been floating about $130 billion around the Middle East to prevent the Arab Spring from rolling into their country. Really not our friends.
GUTFELD: Dana, what do you make of all of this?
PERINO: I think if you want to help -- people say, well, why would we bother helping anybody overseas when we have people here suffering here at home? The answer to that is -- energy. You think about North Dakota, one of the things that they have been able to do, I think they have a 3.8 percent unemployment rate.
GUTFELD: Yes.
PERINO: They also, because of the tax receive gnaw in the state, have been able to just -- provide their schools with an amazing amount of resources, every kid has got an iPad, they are able to do a lot more things. So, you know, energy is the key.
I think that -- the president -- if he were smart, use this as a pivot point. Pivot, I know it's a banned phrase.
GUTFELD: It's OK. You can pivot.
Eric, am I being -- am I exaggerating the importance of this? You are an oil guy. You know how this works.
BOLLING: I spent the better part of 25 years in the oil business. And since the beginning of that time, the Democrats have always been against oil -- oil, gas coal. Gas being natural gas. Not gasoline, natural gas. Those are green fuels.
But now, we are seeing how many jobs, how much money, how much tax revenue is coming in from fracking and bringing natural gas out of the ground. All of a sudden, the left is saying, you know, maybe it's kind of cleaner than oil. It is not quite as dirty as coal.
Listen, the green movement failed. I'm glad they are going to start to embrace fracking. Fantastic if President Obama says more fracking. Let's move forward. The only roadblock is the environmental movement and, you know, that's the hurdle I think we can jump.
GUTFELD: Bob?
BECKEL: I actually have been in favor of fracking ever since my man told me about it and showed me how it worked. It has done pretty well and pretty clean.
What I still don't understand and maybe Eric can explain this to me, why don't we take natural gas and get rid of oil and gas and use natural gas, and trucks and cars.
BOLLING: We can. It cost as lot of money to retrofit all the vehicles. Also, you have to have -- delivering mechanism. Natural gas, it has -- you have to be linked to -- directly linked to a distribution.
BECKEL: What would it cost to change a car over?
BOLLING: Less than 2 grand maybe.
PERINO: Also, you want diversity of supply in your energy, for all your energy resources. You want a lot of different things. It does have make sense to have solar panels in the place like Phoenix, it works really well for that certain type of electricity. But you can't just have one source of energy across the board. Look at what Japan is going through right now with their nuclear power plant.
BECKEL: I was having an argument with a liberal friend of mine. I said, you know, this thing about electric cars, the problem is you got to burn coal to get electricity for the cars.
TANTAROS: Really quick thought. "The New York Times" recently did an article on these areas where fracking is booming and they tried to argue because the men are making so much money and they're so successful, they are going out and abusing the women in those areas.
(CROSSTALK)
PERINO: That has been a problem in certain places and in North Dakota, they had to try to get a handle on it. That's true.
GUTFELD: Well, I was going to say, the publisher -- it takes about 15 trees per -- to make 1,000 magazines?
BOLLING: That's my favorite suit on you, Greg.
GUTFELD: Thank you.
BOLLING: The shirt-tie combo.
GUTFELD: Well, you know, now, they're telling me tease, OK.
All right. Up next, new round of protests by workers of America's largest retailers. Will tell why you Wal-Mart employees are steaming mad. And what it might mean to you, the customer.
BOLLING: Not a Wal-Mart employee.
GUTFELD: They couldn't find any, up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PERINO: OK. Wal-Mart workers are walking off the job today in at least 15 cities across the country. It's their largest protest since Black Friday, which is last year. The strikers want full-time starting salaries of at least $25,000 a year and better protection for workers.
Here is look at some of the protesters today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PROTESTERS: We immediate to show Wal-Mart who is boss. Right? Yes!
We are here to say that's an injustice and are willing to fight as long as it takes!
We have the right to stand up and we have the right to strike and they don't have the right to fire and discipline and shut everybody down!
There's racial discrimination. There's wage (INAUDIBLE). There's no month paid sick days. There's no vacation time. There's years without raises.
This is where our economy is going. Low wage, no benefits.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PERINO: OK. So, that guy is from Our Wal-Mart. Although, it turns out Wal-Mart employees, over 1.3 million people, less than .05 percent of current and former associates participate in Our Wal-Mart activities.
So, Eric, who were those people?
BOLLING: I don't know there.
She was completely wrong. Wal-Mart has a right to fire your butts and they probably should. All the people that decide to do that.
Look, the thing about Wal-Mart is they hire a lot of people, they bring prices down to communities. In a lot of cases, they offer health care.
You have to be careful what you wish for. You guys are going to wish for higher and higher prices of wages. Fast food workers are looking for 15 bucks an hour. Everyone is looking for more.
Prices have to go up if do you that. Then they're going to complain that Wal-Mart is gouging poor people that can't afford other stores.
BECKEL: Yes, what you fail to point out is Wal-Mart costs us a lot of jobs because they went to China to this manufacturing, one.
Two, the average Wal-Mart person makes $15,000 a year. The -- for a family, that is $5,000 below the poverty level. I mean, are you kidding me? They help China, they hurt our workers and they close down Main Street.
Now, is that a great company or what?
GUTFELD: I think you need to double-check that stat.
As far as I'm concerned, the protests, those protesters were paid to protest. That's what --
(CROSSTALK)
GUTFELD: They are paid. It is a con. These unions are like unwanted drunks at a bar pawing at your date. That's what they are doing at Wal-Mart.
You want to show us who is boss. Your boss is your boss.
BECKEL: I was a drunk pawing women in bars --
(LAUGHTER)
GUTFELD: Then understand what I'm talking about.
BECKEL: I do.
PERINO: They said, Wal-Mart says the average associate earns $12.69 an hour. Less than half of the 1 percent of their associates earned minimum wage, 53 percent of them earn more than $3 for minimum wage.
The other thing they do is they try to find people that want to advance in the company. And their track record on that is better than most. So, why these attacks?
TANTAROS: If they don't like it, why don't they find work elsewhere? I'm sure Wal-Mart if they fired them works have a stack of resumes this high.
And another thing, you heard that protester, real or fake, bash the economy. If the economies were good in these cities, wage was naturally go up. That's what I mentioned during that on Texas. All the fracking has caused the economy to boom. So, you see fast food workers raising their prices because it's a natural fit when the when is doing well.
What a sad state of affairs that under Obama these people are arguing for wage increases at Wal-Mart. By the way, if they pass that immigration bill, all those jobs will be filled in two seconds. Be very careful.
BECKEL: Though they don't give you a living wage, what are you supposed to do?
TANTAROS: How do you define a living wage? Do they want more than minimum wage and they have 53 percent of their associates earn at least $3 more than minimum wage.
Let me also just show this to you, which is -- a lot of people -- Wal-Mart is the company to attack. Look at the profitability of Wal-Mart compared to other companies. There are a lot of other companies these groups can target but choose not to. If you look below Wal-Mart at $7,726 per employee.
The profitability on a store that provides --
GUTFELD: They would never do Apple.
PERINO: They would never attack Apple.
BECKEL: That's because they get paid a lot more money in Apple and ExxonMobil --
BOLLING: But why is it that we have to look at a company's --
PERINO: But why don't they offer more?
BOLLING: If the company does well and earns more profit, the employees deserve to be paid more. I mean --
BECKEL: What a concept.
BOLLING: Yes, what a concept. It's called free market capitalism. The company is worried about losing their employees, they'll pay their employees more. If they're not worried about it, they are allowed to earn a --
BECKEL: They walked through this recession and done a very good job of taking advantage of people and making the Chinese that much stronger.
GUTFELD: OK. Here's what I don't understand. If you want to raise the minimize wage, what is the argument for not going higher? Like what would you want?
(CROSSTALK)
GUTFELD: How about 20?
BECKEL: Well, 20 --
GUTFELD: How about 25?
BECKEL: I don't think you would get that high.
GUTFELD: Why? Why can't you go to 25?
BECKEL: I would like to have a minimum wage that will give you 40-hour work week --
BOLLING: At some point, you wipe out all the profit.
GUTFELD: That's my point.
So, it's actually the activist that's deciding when the profit gets wiped out. It's moronic. That's not how it works.
BECKEL: What about all the companies Wal-Mart put out of business?
TANTAROS: How about all the companies that are relegating their workers to part-time status because of Obamacare and now, they're whining and complaining, like the fast food --
BECKEL: There was report out that proves that was ridiculous.
(CROSSTALK)
PERINO: Another day.
BECKEL: No, no.
PERINO: OK, that will be a good discussion another day. Why not do it tomorrow? Because I don't want to you miss tomorrow's show. I got back from Congo, spent a week there, and the producers here put together a great piece. We're going to show it to you tomorrow during this show, "The Five".
Up next, just in time for football season. This giant billboard posted in front of the Denver Broncos stadium urging the NFL to, quote, "stop driving players to drink and instead smoke pot."
We're more on the mile high marijuana madness, after the break. Don't go away.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BOLLING: Well, it's finally here. NFL season kicking off and controversy is the name of the game this year in the NFL. Aside from all the offseason arrests, sadly, politics found its way into football. Three political stories, four minutes, political stories, four minutes.
So, here it goes -- first up, check out this controversial billboard, by pro-pot advocates outside the Mile High Denver stadium.
Greg, your thoughts on this ad?
GUTFELD: I don't know. You see that billboard. Take your eye office the road and you can get into an accident. Not a good thing.
BECKEL: You'll be stoned already.
GUTFELD: The point is -- my feeling is I have never been punched in the face by someone who's stoned, got in a lot of brawls with drunks. Drunks tend to loosen their inhibitions and do things they shouldn't do. Pot-heads tend to decrease their activity because they're just feeling too good. So, maybe they have a point.
BOLLING: Dana, your thoughts. The mile high stadium. Interesting --
PERINO: I don't know how this experiment is going to end. But I guess you are looking at the future, and this is where the money, this is where growth in America is. This is where the jobs are, is in pot.
BOLLING: Fracking and pot.
(CROSSTALK)
TANTAROS: It's urging players to start smoking marijuana, actual football players.
GUTFELD: I don't think you have to urge them.
BECKEL: I got into an elevator in my building and it was full of dope smell, and I'll tell you, I was almost stoned by the time I got to the 22nd floor.
(LAUGHTER)
BOLLING: All right. Next up, Baltimore Ravens agreed on terms in the state of Maryland to run Obamacare commercials during their broadcast.
Bob, this must make you happy.
BECKEL: This makes very happy and I'm sure you will be glued to the set to watch that. You will get that brought into your home. Yes. What's wrong with that?
Get all these anti-Obama care ads why not have a few positives?
BOLLING: I will give you one. Ands, it's taxpayer money.
TANTAROS: And it is a big mistake. I think these pliers are foolish to go along witness. The players union doesn't like it and rightfully so. The fans of the NLF do not want to hear political messages, especially there right-leaning ones, from their sports athlete.
But this is all Martin O'Malley, the liberal governor of Maryland, who hopes to flank Hillary from the left in 2016, pushing Obamacare to gain favor to the very far left.
BECKEL: Have you ever seen football during a presidential election season? They've got ads everywhere.
TANTAROS: I do not like players, especially football players, pushing a national policy.
BOLLING: All right. I agree with that one.
And, finally, how about this one? Indian Nation is trying to get the Washington Redskins to change their name. They find it offensive to Native Americans. The Skins owner Daniel Snyder says no way he breaks tradition.
Let's start with you, Bob.
BECKEL: Listen, this has been going on in Washington since I got there 30 years ago. It is not going on to change. It will be the fans want to keep it the Redskins.
I suppose I can make -- understand a little bit about what the other side is talking about. But let's face it, it's the Redskins. What are you going to call them the Chieftains? I mean --
BOLLING: They may have find that offensive as well.
PERINO: How about the bureaucrats?
BECKEL: How about Injuns?
BOLLING: How about wasteful government officials?
GUTFELD: I've got to tell you, man. You know, I hate the politically correct. I wrote a book called "The Joy of Hate." But I have to say, Redskins is a pretty nasty name.
BECKEL: You think so? Really?
GUTFELD: Yes.
BECKEL: Are you being serious now?
GUTFELD: I am being serious. Redskins is nasty name. Don't you think? Think about it. It doesn't sound --
BECKEL: Hw about big horn?
GUTFELD: Maybe I don't know street origin to the word. Does somebody know what it means? Why are they called Redskins?
(CROSSTALK)
GUTFELD: It is actually kind of offensive.
BECKEL: No, customs, big horn, they came and they skinned him.
GUTFELD: Maybe that is kind of offensive.
BECKEL: Well, maybe it is. I guess that's one way to look at it.
GUTFELD: Probably the only time I will say change it.
BOLLING: Quick thought?
TANTAROS: I'm sensitive to the Indians 'concerns. I'm not myself so I don't know how they are feeling. But I would err on the side of tradition and the owner can do whatever he wants. So, keep the name.
BECKEL: You're a native Greek.
TANTAROS: I am.
BOLLING: If they get this passed, Bob, as you well know, there are a lot of baseball teams, football, a lot of college teams, they're going to have to really reconsider their mascot.
GUTFELD: I mean, Braves -- Braves is not a negative name.
BOLLING: Cleveland Indians, though.
GUTFELD: That's not negative.
But Redskins is different.
BOLLING: Here we go. Coming up, here is a burning question. Many husbands, not me, have been asked this -- is tuning out your spouse or Bob normal? A new study is out and let's just, you better listen up, spouses.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BECKEL: Hey. Here is a subject I can relate to. Look, guys, ever wonder why you don't seem to hear your wife when she nags you about taking the trash out? Or any other series of chores you're supposed to do? Hey, there's a reason for this.
There's a new study out of England that says couples under 60 who have been married for 10 years or more can tune each other out. Now, that didn't work for me very well, but it is something that I think we've got three married people here, and one about to be married at the table. Me, I'm going to get married again.
But -- Greg, you tune your wife out or does she just tune you out?
GUTFELD: This issue is one-sided. Only women can tune you out. If men tune the women out, he gets in trouble.
Why is this study done? Seriously?
PERINO: They probably got government money.
GUTFELD: Yes, another government -- run -- who cares about --
BECKEL: Because you don't want to answer the question.
GUTFELD: No.
BECKEL: I pound you into the ground.
GUTFELD: Almost all of these complaints -- these assertions are based on a premise you spend the rest of the life with the person and get annoyed with them.
PERINO: I think it could be survival mechanism.
BECKEL: That might be true, yes.
PERINO: Maybe how you get through it.
GUTFELD: Oh, so you don't go nuts.
PERINO: Yes, evolution.
BECKEL: Eric, you've already sent a kiss out to your wife on this one.
(CROSSTALK)
BOLLING: I pay attention to every word she says. She's going to do dry cleaning this morning. She's going to go come there. The car key. The batter in her car key fixed. And then she has to --
BECKEL: OK. Good, I'm sure you do that all the time.
Now, Andrea, you and I are not married. You are getting close.
You often tune me out, haven't you?
TANTAROS: What?
BECKEL: That's what I thought.
No, seriously. Explain that to people. We've known each other. We have been on TV together for seven years and every time I think you are listening, you're not listening at all.
TANTAROS: What people don't know about Bob Beckel is off camera, he talks a lot. Sometimes he rambles on and on and on.
BECKEL: No.
TANTAROS: And there have been many instances where you have been talking and talking and talking, sometimes for 20 minutes, 30, 40 minutes, and you're talking to me and I'm not listening to me, like at the Tampa Convention, Bob talked to me 45 minute not realizing I had my ear buds in.
BECKEL: I talked to you on the bus and the airplane. It was more than 45 minutes. I thought you were listening intensely, you were listening to some ridiculous music we play around here.
TANTAROS: You go, are you not listening to me, are you?
BECKEL: Now, let me just say that I think the three of you have taken the dive here, but that's understandable.
In my case, I called it left field. When I was married, did you ever notice you have an argument and six months before that. And all of a sudden at the table you hear, you remember that thing we were talking about the other day? No, no, it was six months ago. That's out of left field. Does that happen to you?
BOLLING: No, not at all.
BECKEL: Why do I even ask you a question?
BOLLING: Andrea points something. He said Bob talks a lot. He'll be talking to perfect strangers and they'll act like they're your best friends.
BECKEL: I talk to myself a lot. I was walking down, I thought I was talking to Dana and I turn around, I look she's not there. Not that she's short and she wasn't there. She was way back and I'm having this conversation. A perfectly good --
(CROSSTALK)
TANTAROS: To you or your spouse, if they're talking and talking and you blank, us that that happens -- I always say, that makes sense, because it's not a yes, it's not a no, it's non-committal. It makes them thing you process what they're saying, that makes sense.
BECKEL: The thing about you women, you figure out ways around it. I hope your boyfriend pays attention and understands it.
PERINO: Men start to lose their hearing and they blame the woman. It is really annoying.
BECKEL: What do you think about tissues?
PERINO: Tissues better be picked up. If I pick them up, I can prove it.
BECKEL: Oh, yes. I bet you can. Can you imagine dropping tissues around Dana for any length of time? My God.
OK. "One More Thing" is up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TANTAROS: Now, it's time for "One More Thing", Bob.
BECKEL: OK. Our favorite mayoral candidate Anthony "the man" Weiner, let's take a look at what happened with one of the potential voters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have the nerve to walk around in public.
ANTHONY WEINER (D), NYC MAYORAL CANDIDATE: Are you a perfect person? You are my judge? What if I told you that are you my judge?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're fine.
WEINER: Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You talk to God and work out your problems. And stay out of the public eye.
WEINER: I'm not going to say -- that's up to you to judge, my friend. I don't take my judgment for you. I don't judge you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're bad example to the people.
WEINER: That's your judgment?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, it's obvious. Are you a deviant? It's not a normal behavior.
WEINER: And you are perfect. You're going to judge me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BECKEL: That happens to me every time I go in a deli in New York.
I'll tell you, coming out of politics, I will give a piece of advice, I think you know, Mr. Weiner, you are going to run into these things over and over again in your political life. You have to learn to suck it up and let it go, as best I can say to you.
It wasn't a nice thing they did. But it happens.
GUTFELD: You got to point out, he did insult his wife.
BECKEL: Yes, he did.
GUTFELD: And actually made a snide remark about his wife, so I don't blame him for getting ticked off.
BECKEL: OK. Good.
TANTAROS: Dana?
PERINO: OK. So, we're talking a lot about Obamacare and the cost of regulation. Today, the American Action Forum put up something I thought was interesting.
Under Obamacare, you have to -- if you own a restaurant, if you have a menu that you use, you to have the calorie, which I think the calorie for each item. I'm not opposed to that. You wonder how they're going to get the $757 million the cost of regulation. What is wrong with some of these menus? Well, one of them has a different font for the caloric value. That's a $1,000 fine.
You can also get a $1,000 fine for having different background to the colors on the menu. You can also -- the last thing I love is that you have to list the caloric value of every salad dressing that you have at your restaurant. If it changes, you have to change your menu again, which is --
(CROSSTALK)
BECKEL: This makes perfect sense.
PERINO: $1,000 per fine.
TANTAROS: Insanity.
BECKEL: I myself would like to know the caloric count.
PERINO: You do? Really.
TANTAROS: That's a lot of work for the restaurant owners.
Gregory?
GUTFELD: Banned phrase: wiggle room. This is normally what I describe my crawl space where I have built my Dana shrine. But people use it to describe the space that they need to do something like they need more wiggle room.
Just say you need space. Shut up.
TANTAROS: Who wiggles, anyway?
GUTFELD: You know the only thing that wiggles? Worms.
BECKEL: Have you figured how many words you have been so far?
GUTFELD: Four thousand.
BECKEL: Four thousand?
GUTFELD: Yes.
BECKEL: Another thousand, I won't be able talk at all. Right?
GUTFELD: This is the goal, Bob.
BECKEL: That's what I figured it was.
TANTAROS: All right. I love this story so much. So the England family went out to dinner at Stag and Joe's Pizza. They have an 8-year-old special needs son who is acting out at the table and one anonymous diner decided to pick up the tab for the family. They left this note that said, it says God only gives special children to special people and I thought that was so sweet.
And the week before, my little brother passed away. Someone did that for him and his teacher Greg at the Perkins on Lehigh Street in Allentown, Pennsylvania.
GUTFELD: Been there many times.
TANTAROS: Thank you to whoever did that, what a really sweet thing to do.
BECKEL: OK, kids.
BOLLING: Very quickly before we go, I wish Happy New Year, happy Jewish New Year. Rosh Hashanah to all our Jewish friends out there. Also, thoughts and prayers out to Israel as we start a new year with a lot of upheaval and uncertainty on the border.
BECKEL: What year is it?
BOLLING: 5774.
BECKEL: 5774?
BOLLING: That's right.
BECKEL: No kidding. They have parties like we do? They have a ball that comes down?
BOLLING: Not sure.
TANTAROS: No one parties like you, Robert.
All right, that's it for us at "The Five." Thanks for watching. We'll see you back here tomorrow.
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