This is a rush transcript from "The Five," September 6, 2013. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
GREG GUTFELD, CO-HOST: Hello, everyone. I'm Greg Gutfeld, along with Kimberly Guilfoyle, Bob Beckel, Eric Bolling, and yes, her.
It's 5 o'clock in New York and TGIF America.
(MUSIC)
GUTFELD: President Obama says he's going to talk to us on Tuesday about Syria. Again, it's nice of him to give us the head's up. He truly has mastered the element of non-surprise.
Which maybe why Assad is at a Cancun Friday sipping a coconut colada. But thankfully today, the president told the world that he was elected to end wars, not start them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I was elected to end wars and not start them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUTFELD: Told you.
Note the verb "end", I would have preferred "win", but winning is bad because someone loses. Which is why the liberation of Iraq, a win in our column is unjustly maligned by the elitist defeatist. You want to talk about real punishment for using poison gas? Saddam and Chemical Ali hanged like dolls in the wind for that. Say what you will, but that's a hell of a message.
What's our message today? Where is that big stick Joe Biden was boasting about? So far, the only stiff piece of lumber we've seen is John Kerry's head.
The best argument for hitting Syria, that they launched a chemical attack. President Obama says we must launch the assault. But imagine how busy we'd be if we went after every one of those? We'd have to bomb the MTV Music Awards every year.
The second best argument, what I'd cal the reverse domino theory. If we don't hit Syria, we egg on Iran, which then eggs on North Korea, and then inevitably Vermont. But if that's true, why not cut to the chase, hit the nuke sites in Iran now. In checkers, that's a double jump. It leapfrogs the Syrian mess, nails the nexus of our animus, and sends Putin fleeing back to his dacha.
After all, a half measure is no measure at all. You can't ride half a bike, because then it would be a unicycle. And only the French only do that.
Let's go to first SOT, shall we? Well, sound on tape, Kimberly, in case you forgot.
KIMBERLY GUILFOYLE, CO-HOST: Oh, thanks.
GUTFELD: This is Obama, he was speaking in, was it St. Petersburg?
BOB BECKEL, CO-HOST: Yes.
GUTFELD: Yes, Florida, I believe. Yes.
Anyway, here he is discussing something.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: I was elected to end wars and not start them. I've spent the last four and a half years doing everything I can to reduce our reliance on military power as a means of meeting our international obligations and protecting the American people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUTFELD: K.G., wasn't he saying, come on, this is as all Bush's fault? This is his way of saying, w just went through all that crap, because of Bush. I'm here to undo all that. I'm the nice guy. He was the bad cop, I'm the good cop.
GUILFOYLE: I know, it's getting so old. It's like the same old line over and over again because he is abdicating always authority and responsibility. It's never his fault. He doesn't want to accept it.
When you look at the facts, he's got more tentacles on wars than any other president. You know, he's been involved, and whether he said he was trying to stop them, get involved, not get involved. No matter what he calls, the military action, et cetera, the more he pushes this and the more he pushes Kerry out there to support this action, the greater the opposition.
GUTFELD: I can't believe you referred to President Obama as an octopus. That's a little bit offensive. He is our commander-in-chief.
Eric, let's pretend I'm a congressman or a politician leaning towards saying yes. How would you convince me to say no?
ERIC BOLLING, CO-HOST: I don't think you need much convincing. I think the American people are going to do that.
Let -- can I do this for a second? Just bear with me. August 20th, 2012, mind you, this has nothing to do with President Obama. Any president that would say we need to go into Syria, President Obama, George Bush, the next president, whoever he or she maybe, I would say this is not the time. We don't know -- it's not our war.
August 20th, President Obama said the red line is we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized that would change my calculus, that would change my equation. This is Obama's war. China is not on board, Great Britain is not on board. The American people aren't on board.
If he does this, if he goes to war, he is leading from his own behind, but he is leading from his own behind. Many Americans will die. Iranians have already said, they're going to attack, who knows, installations in Iraq. They may attack Israel as well.
The problem is when he is done, Bashar al Assad will still be president and Bashar al Assad will still have chemical weapons. What are we doing here? Get out.
GUTFELD: Bob, I'm a congressman leaning to say no. How would you get me to say yes?
BECKEL: I'm glad you asked me that question because I have comment to make to the House of Representatives.
To those Democrats who are anti-war, I can give you a pass on this. To you Democrats who are against this and you're voting against the president and commander-in-chief, it's disgraceful.
And for the Republicans, let me put it this way, you guys -- this is an easy, cheap vote. Another one easy to get on Obama. And you know what it is? It's cowardly. It's morally bankrupt. It is -- in some way, I mean, you ought to be ashamed of yourselves.
GUTFELD: All right.
GUILFOYLE: You were actually polite during that. That's good.
BECKEL: Yes, I love to be polite with them --
GUTFELD: Dana, you -- some say that you're a communications professional. Often you say you are a communications professional.
DANA PERINO, CO-HOST: Yes --
GUTFELD: We don't -- we haven't seen real proof of that on the show.
But if the president came to you for advice, what would you tell him?
PERINO: But, first, I say, just please stop being so defensive. People want to follow a leader who looks in charge and doesn't look like he is constantly worried about himself and how everybody is looking at him. Just lead and people could follow him.
I was watching this morning in St. Petersburg, Florida.
GUTFELD: Yes.
PERINO: And I realized -- I felt like his messaging is lopsided. For the past week, we've been talking about this. They've been talking about -- they put the president out at every stop. Some of those were pre- arranged.
And every time he speaks, there is less support for his position.
So, as a communications person, you say, why is that? What is happening? What are we doing?
And I think it's because they are lopsided.
GUTFELD: Do you have a chart?
PERINO: I do have a chart. I'm getting to that.
GUTFELD: I was waiting for that chart.
PERINO: Here's the chart, I haven't saying a thing up to now.
All right. What he is doing is the opposite of what I'm advising here. I think he should lead and say why it is necessary and then to say we can succeed and tell people how and he needs to be more precise than he has been up to now. And then he needs to say it was limited. It will be limited and how we're going to pay for it. He slipped, though.
He starts every conversation with how it will be limited and ineffective.
GUTFELD: Yes.
PERINO: Which doesn't really garner a lot of support.
GUTFELD: And also tells Assad that he's going to be around when you say, it's going to be a small, short thing. It's symbolic move. Assad is like, OK, I'll just move the furniture in the garage.
GUILFOYLE: And he pretty much did that because we say we're going to go in. It's go time. Oh, sorry. Throttle back again. Burn some more fuel out there. Be indecisive and lose more American support.
If I was you know, I would not be so worried about it. He's had time to move things around, shape ship, although they can watch it. This is just embarrassing. It doesn't look effective at all.
BECKEL: Well, you know, talk about embarrassing. You have to pick out targets. You have to plan on these things. This is not something you do automatically.
GUILFOYLE: Yes. But you have to have element of surprise.
BECKEL: Well, you have -- it's going to be a lot more than 50,000 Tomahawk missiles, by the way. And when Eric just said about, if the G-20 session, they signed a letter, which was very strong. He didn't say the support necessarily this particular effort on his part, but a strong response and it came from Canada, Australia, France, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Turkey, Britain and the United States. I think that pretty much covers some --
BOLLING: None of them was willing to join --
BECKEL: What do you mean?
BOLLING: Go ahead, United States. Go do it.
Look, this is unprovoked unilateral declaration of war against a sovereign country of Syria. What have they done? They have not done anything to us. Have they done something to their people? Perhaps.
GUILFOYLE: You're saying there has to be a specific U.S. interest and not just humanitarian or morally or ethically reason to act?
BOLLING: There has to be a U.S. interest. An American or an ally at risk, then I would say then maybe there's a case for it.
Can I point something out, though?
BECKEL: Yes.
BOLLING: If the president says, we can -- Congress, the House doesn't pass this and the president says we're not going to go because those morons in the House decide not to pass this, I'm on your side, President Obama. I'm not going to give him a hard time for saying, blame it on Congress. I would be thrilled for you to blame it on Congress. That would be the best thing I heard in a long time.
BECKEL: He basically said he is going whether they do it or not.
GUTFELD: Can I run that SOT of that very issue? Somebody asked a question if Congress voted no. Look at this, please?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: If the full Congress doesn't pass this, will you go ahead with the strike?
OBAMA: First of all, in terms of the votes and process in Congress, I knew this was going to be a heavy lift. I said that on Saturday when I said we will take it to Congress.
You know, our polling operations are pretty good. I tend to have a pretty good sense of what current popular opinion is.
I understand skepticism. I think it is very important, therefore, for us to work through systematically making the case to every senator and every member of Congress. And that's what we're doing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUTFED: Well, that was scurrying, wasn't it, Bob.
(CROSSTALK)
BECKEL: For the life of me, I don't understand the polling comment. I mean, I just -- it just smacks of -- talk about following behind.
But what he did say -- I don't think members of Congress any different than the country says no. If the country says no, we're going to bomb anyway. If the members of Congress say no, we're going to bomb anyway.
I think -- you know, he went to Congress and wanted their support. It would be better if he had it. It he doesn't have it, that's too bad.
BOLLING: Really?
BECKEL: Yes.
GUTFFELD: Dana, is Obama, however, being thoughtful in his dithering or is he dithering in his thoughtfulness?
PERINO: I'm going to have to think about that for a while.
GUTFELD: Yes. But no, you can argue that he's like -- you know, he's taking his time for a reason.
PERINO: Right. And I know (ph) you banded the phrase, but it's the cart before the horse.
GUTFELD: Yes.
PERINO: You know what happens when the cart breaks or something like that.
He has until Tuesday. He will give a prime time address on Tuesday.
GUTFELD: Yes.
PERINO: I would imagine they are probably writing three versions of the speech, because hopefully nothing happens in Syria or elsewhere in one of our embassies or any of these threat streams prove true. So, he has to think about that. Then, he has the audience if the situation of the Senate going to votes yes and the House is going to vote no.
Then, he has to do a third thing, which is somehow try to clean up the comments today from a national security advisor who said that the president has no intention or it is not his intention to go forward without Congress approval. Now, the White House is trying to walk that back today, but it just tells me that one of the things that happens when the president travels overseas, it's just chaotic back home in the White House. The president needs to get back and get everything together. He canceled a trip to California next week which I think is the right thing to do.
But telling everybody you have a great polling operation in the White House is not really inspiring.
GUTFELD: Don't you get the feeling --
GUILFOYLE: That's supposed to be a secret.
GUTFELD: But, K.G., don't you get the feeling that America is getting jerked around by a bunch of different people by either Iran, Russia, the rebels in Syria, and that's why --
BOLLING: Saudis.
GUTFELD: Saudis.
We just feel like we're being tricked.
GUILFOYLE: I totally think so. It is like a kite twisting in the wind with a hyper 3-year-old that's holding the string. Who is in charge here? Where we're going? We're about to crash into that tree or that electric wire. It just sends a message of instability.
I don't see how this is impressing every other country. In fact, they seem to be this emboldened by this indecisiveness, this equivocation on part of the president.
BOLLING: Bob, can I ask you this question? Let's say we do go. Let's say Congress says no and President Obama says we're going anyway and we do -- we hit the airfields, which is what they are going for, so they don't deliver the weapons and not actually going after the weapons. Assad is still in power. Iran does something to Israel or Iraq.
Where are we? Then do we have to declare war on Syria?
BECKEL: What do you think will happen if we don't go? It's going to leave every despot in the world who wants to use chemical weapons the right to go ahead and do it. We are much better off if we go in there. You know who is against America on this? Are left wing Democrats and anti-war Democrats and right wing Republicans, that's the --
BOLLING: And the American public.
BECKEL: The polling on this is ridiculous.
(CROSSTALK)
GUILFOYLE: Is it inaccurate? They are all inaccurate.
BECKEL: I'd like to get a poll right after the president speaks.
GUTFELD: I want to ask Dana this because here is what I'm worried about. You are watching Russia sending these ships over there. Are we going to have -- is there really going to lead to that showdown? Or will I be sleeping on the couch for the rest of my life?
PERINO: I hope not on the first. I don't really care about the second part.
GUILFOYLE: Oh, wow.
PERINO: I think that Obama and Putin showed some restraint and leadership abilities, to say, OK, let's be adults and leaders about this and hopefully they will deescalate any tension.
GUTFELD: All right. Deescalate, banning that phrase.
All right. More to come on Syria. Next, one former congressman thinks Obama should face impeachment if he authorizes a strike without congressional approval. One former congressmen? That's enough for me. Next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GUILFOYLE: Welcome back to "The Five."
So, what would happen if President Obama authorizes a strike on Syria if Congress decides to vote against it?
Former Democratic Congressman Dennis Kucinich thinks it could be ground for impeachment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. DENNIS KUCINICH, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: If the Congress votes against it and the president goes forward with the war anyway, we are looking at a constitutional crisis, the likes we have not seen in the United States where a president would act in defiance of the Congress as direct representatives of the people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUILFOYLE: OK, Bob, does that move you in a good way and not towards me?
BECKEL: I don't know who wrote that opening, but I didn't hear the word "impeach" out of Kucinich's mouth during that. So, that's classic.
The answer is I don't think it matters --
GUILFOYLE: He said that on "Studio B" this afternoon.
BOLLING: He also wrote a piece for "Huff Po" saying that that would be grounds for impeachment.
BECKEL: Well, he didn't say it here, that's my point. Listen, if Republicans in the House, which is why I have the problem with Democrats with Obama. If this were Bush putting this forward, they would vote for it. I would understand that.
And the Democrats, though, to abandon their president is just beyond belief.
BOLLING: I said in the A-block, I wouldn't.
BECKEL: What?
BOLLING: In the A-block, I said I would be against this whether it's Republican or Democrat --
BECKEL: That's you, but you don't vote in the House or Senate, last I heard. Unless you are ready to announce your candidacy.
GUILFOYLE: He's calling in some votes by proxy.
PERINO: Do you think the opposite is true, Bob?
BECKEL: What?
PERINO: That if it were Senator McCain that is president now, that President Obama, who would be Senator Obama would be voting against it out of politics?
BECKEL: Yes, I'm sure. Probably, yes.
PERINO: I think if you are going to point out hypocrisy --
BECKEL: No, no, I said that about the Democrats, too.
PERINO: OK.
GUTFELD: All right.
Hey, you know what's missing? Where is the anti-war Hollywood left? Where is Sean Penn, Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins? I guess their coke dealer must be Syrian.
But, you know, they went through the whole Iraq mess. They dinged Bush. But now, they are quieter than Jane Fonda at a veterans march.
BECKEL: Well, what do you expect --
BOLLING: If their coke dealer was Syrian, wouldn't they not want an attack on Syria?
GUTFELD: Yes.
GUILFOYLE: Maybe, unless they owed him money, then they would say, I don't want to pay. Perplexing.
BECKEL: This is -- they are trying to give Obama as much coverage as they can. As simple as that. I would, too. I mean, if I were them and they clearly this operation take place, I keep my mouth shut unless it was a Republican president.
PERINO: What they'll do is they'll wait until they think there is a heroic moment that is leaked to "The New York Times" out of the White House Situation Room, and then they'll do a movie about it.
GUTFELD: Yes.
BOLLING: Do you think -- does anyone think -- you know what 9/11 is, this coming week 9/11?
PERINO: Benghazi anniversary.
BOLLING: You know what else is? Bashar al Assad's birthday. So, if you're going to go, Bob, I guess --
BECKEL: Good birthday present.
BOLLING: Yes, if you're going to do it. I guess that would be the day.
PERINO: Light it up.
BECKEL: How could you -- literally, what I said about the Congress, let me say the same to you, how can you -- how can you morally justify your position on this? How can you look at this and know we've got a treaty obligation and see this thing --
BOLLING: Here's the thing -- you can't morally justify attacking -- killing people -- killing innocent people and putting Americans at risk --
BECKEL: How do you know we're going to kill innocent people?
BOLLING: -- without knowing exactly what's going on on the ground in Syria, Bob. You can't, we don't know who did it.
BECKEL: I think we know a lot on the ground.
(CROSSTALK)
BOLLLING: What about the video yesterday that surfaced of the rebels that are supposed to be helping and executing prisoners?
BECKEL: Listen, I said yesterday, 1,200 gangs running around over there. The biggest --
(CROSSTALK)
GUILFOYLE: A hesitation on the pedal. He didn't do it when he should have. Now he is trying to justify it. He is trying to backfill it.
BOLLING: How can I have a moral -- how can you not see the moral obligation to go kill people?
BECKEL: The moral obligation we have is to not let every -- as I said, every despot in the world have chemical weapons.
BOLLING: Can I take it one step further? Are we going to do that in North Korea because they have chemical weapons?
BECKEL: If they use them, yes.
BOLLING: OK. Well, is it only chemical weapons? How about biological weapons? How about in turning hundreds of thousands of people, holding them against their will? How about any of those --
(CROSSTALK)
BECKEL: You mentioned yesterday, the chemical weapons treaty. Does it include biological?
GUILFOYLE: How about enriched uranium?
(CROSSTALK)
GUTFELD: Countries that we are looking to attack.
BECKEL: What?
GUTFELD: I don't think Syria -- is Syria part of that treaty?
BOLLING: I don't believe it is.
BECKEL: Look, that's a good answer right there.
GUTFELD: Yes, we said this before. It's the reverse domino theory. If you feel that way, go after those other countries. This is not about Syria. It is about Iran. It may, in fact, be about Russia. So, why are we pretending it is about Syria?
Just go hit the damn news in Iran. Be done with it. They are the ones that are threatening us. They are the ones saying they are going to attack the Obama family. These are the guys -- that tells you something, these are the guys that are most terrified.
Go after them.
(CROSSTALK)
PERINO: The story that hasn't been told, the one thing, I don't think that we know enough yet and perhaps journalists will be able to get more information. What kind of intel did we have before this was going -- before chemical weapons were used? Why in the two years leading up to the use of the chemical weapons did we not have some sort of covert operation to be able to take some of them out?
I think we need -- the American people are paying for some really good men and women who are working hard in the intel community, but how did we miss this?
BECKEL: We don't know if we did or didn't. My guess is it's pretty difficult to do a covert operations to take out all these chemical weapons. He's got a lot of them. But --
GUILFOYLE: Did you ever think what President Obama would be like trying to throw a surprise party. Oh, Michelle, don't come home until after 7:00 because I'm setting up a surprise party for you.
PERINO: All right.
GUILFOYLE: A little bit of equipment failure. I have a nugget for you, and I don't mean a chicken mcnugget, a human nugget. Listen to Hume on Rand Paul.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRIT HUME, FOX NEWS: I suspect Rand Paul doesn't know jack about the Syrian rebels. I'm not sure any of us knows enough about them. John McCain who has been over there, at least, thinks he knows them and he says they are not a bad bought. At least that's the testimony of someone who's been there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUILFOYLE: Bolling?
BOLLING: All right. So, what Brit said was he suspects Rand Paul doesn't know jack about the Syrian rebels. That could be true, but I will also tell you that there is a good chance John McCain, even thought he's been there doesn't know jack about him as evidenced by him taking pictures and photographs with some rebels who he thought were good guys, when they're being kidnappers, alleged kidnappers or whatnot.
So, clearly, we don't know exactly who everyone is over there. And that's my point. It's not don't ever go there. It's don't go there now. It's not our war.
If it becomes our war --
(CROSSTALK)
BECKEL: These 1,200 gangs, it's like the Bloods and the Crips.
BOLLING: So, kill them?
(CROSSTALK)
BECKEL: We know the largest, most organized opposition and that's the Free Syrian Army, and that's who John McCain was talking to.
So, I mean, Brit is exactly right. To listen to these guys, Rand Paul and the rest of them, and they don't know jack. And I don't -- I don't tell you who's ought to be trouble is whoever convinced Obama to go to Congress in the first place. Screw them. They didn't have to do that.
GUTFELD: It's like I said before. It's like a dog eating a roll of quarters. Who's going to want to sift through that pile?
GUILFOYLE: There are people. There are people.
Dana?
PERINO: I'm thinking of the jasper visual.
GUILFOYLE: I knew it. OK, all right. That's enough on that visual. Whoa!
Directly ahead --
GUTFELD: What if he ate a nice necklace? What if he said something really expensive?
BOLLING: A wedding ring.
GUTFELD: Yes, a wedding ring, which has happened.
GUILFOYLE: All right. Gutfeld, stand down, please? I know that's not hard for you to do.
Directly ahead, my favorite topic. Football. The NFL season kicked off last night, but a lot of people are talking about college football which came back last week. Should those athletes get paid like the pros?
That debate is next on "The Five."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BOLLING: Welcome back, everybody.
Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel has come under scrutiny this week. Seems Johnny Football may have signed some autographs. That's the controversy.
See, the NCAA has a rule, not autographs, especially if someone wants to buy those autographs. The future NFL-er has some big name quarterbacks here (INAUDIBLE) steps coming from behind them.
Pretty boy Tom Brady had this to say about the QB. "If you are a turd, it's going to come back to haunt you."
But more secure in is Joe Flacco countered with this. "Being hated is not a bad thing. I don't know how I really felt about Johnny Manziel, but I feel like now that everyone hates him, he's quickly becoming my favorite player in college football."
So, the FIVErs want to debate whether the college athletes receive money for the massive bankrolls they add to their institutions. Give me the ball.
Bob, what do you think about that? Pay college athletes or not?
BECKEL: I think you should pay college football players, absolutely, because look how much money they make for these college and universities -- millions and millions of dollars. These guys are at the top of their form as athletes. They are one tackle away from losing everything. And they may as well get some cash while they're doing it, as opposed to wait until -- they hope to get into the NFL and they get hurt. They should pay.
GUILFOYLE: What is the point of college? I'm throwing it out there. They are supposed to get an education.
BECKEL: Oh, come on, you are a little naive, don't you?
GUILFOYLE: No, I'm not being naive.
I love football. I watch it as much as anybody who loves the sport. What I'm telling you is they may have let them be drafted out of high school if it is all about money.
BECKEL: They do it with baseball.
GUILFOYLE: You see my point?
BOLLING: Let me, let's bring it over here, Dana, purists like Kimberly say, you know what? It's never been that way. Let's keep the college to college. If you want to pay someone --
PERINO: Yes. But can he drop out from college and go to the pros now?
BOLLING: Sure.
PERINO: OK. I think let the market decide. If he thinks he would be able to make the kind of money and association wants him or the NFL or whatever, think of it as an internship. Do you pay interns? It is the same thing.
GUILFOYLE: Free market football. I like it.
BOLLING: Greg, look at these numbers. The numbers of college football programs providing for the schools, which, by the way, finance a lot of the education things going on in those schools. It's not just sports -- Texas, $103 million, almost 104 million bucks. Michigan, $85 million. Texas A&M, $24 million.
GUTFELD: I say pay them and exempt them from all classes. Why keep up with the charade. Treat them like a minor league team that represents a college.
The real story to me is not this stuff. It's always the Title IV stuff, you know, because you have to keep up the gender ratio of athletes to match the ratio of student population. That means you might lose a baseball team, but you gain an equestrian team, which I kind of like, because I like watching girls on horses. But --
PERINO: You trained as a jockey.
GUTFELD: I did train as a jockey. And you know what? That's just unnecessary. We're having a good show. I am out of here.
BOLLING: Bob, what about the people who say universities should be taxed? Right now, they're tax-exempt. If you pay athletes and you're going to bring all this money --
BECKEL: I don't think they ought to be taxed. A lot of them -- not these big name schools, but a lot have financial issues. But these guys, I get back to my point here -- how long do you --
BOLLING: You don't want to implement --
BECKEL: You have to be in college before being eligible? One or two years?
BOLLING: I believe you have to be two, I'm not sure.
BECKEL: I think Dana makes a good point. So, you can drop out and just go right into the NFL. But I still think there are some people who do want to get an education, and get a college degree --
GUILFOYLE: Thank you, Bob.
BECKEL: But they are still one hit away from being out of the business of football, which means that they ought to have at least some ability to cash in --
GUILFOYLE: I hear what you're saying. Same with guys that drive race cars, same with people that are coming up in boxing. I mean, with, you know, great reward, you often take risks. But I'm all for them getting an education so they have something to fall back on because too many NFL players have no resources and are in financial and physical distress when they get out.
BOLLING: We let our Olympic athletes get paid.
GUILFOYLE: OK. I mean, that's a different business -- students and athletes in general take harder hits to the head in the classrooms by their left wing professors.
BECKEL: Here we go. Every one of them -- everybody. All those schools are getting hit in the head by left wingers.
BOLLING: Dana just got back from the Congo this week after a journey with the humanitarian group Mercy Ships. Next, an up-close look at her inspirational trip. Don't miss it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PERINO: Many of you know, I just had the fortune of traveling to the Congo to be a small little part of the gigantic mission of hope and charity. My husband Peter and I got back on Saturday, we join Mercy Ship for its first mission to the Congo. They provided free surgical care in developing nations and West Africa. It was a trip I know I certainly never forget and we have something to share with you.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PERINO: Getting ready to leave on the trip. Having a scratch and shake.
(MUSIC)
PERINO (voice-over): And off we went to Africa on a more than 6,000- mile journey to be a part of the Mercy Ships first mission to the Congo.
We flew from New York to Frankfurt, Germany, and then Libreville, Gabon, where the plane refueled and then finally to our destination, Pointe Noire, Congo.
Shortly after we arrived, Peter and I were greeted by Mercy Ship founders Don Stephens and his wife Deyon. They launched their faith-based organization in 1978 to help the forgotten poor.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want to welcome her.
PERINO: Over the past 35 years, Mercy Ships has visited 575 ports in 72 nations. But it's the first time to the Congo and they will be there for the next 10 months. Most people there don't have access to basic medical care and many haven't ever seen a doctor.
On board the floating hospital, I met the man who steers the ship. Captain Tim Tretheway and took a tour of he bridge. I also met Buck, the 180-pound training and drill exercise dummy. And I even got a tour from the head chef Ken Hatfield from North Carolina.
He and his staff serve anywhere from 1,200 to 1,700 meals a day.
(on camera): When I go home, if I gain any weight, can I call and complain?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can call it mercy hips instead of Mercy Ships.
PERINO: OK.
(voice-over): The entire crew, including the heroic doctors and nurses, are all volunteers. Nearly half of them from the United States. And you never know who you might meet. Including the security team of these six Gurkhas (ph). Believe me. The ship's in good hands.
On patient screening day, more including the security team of these six. Believe me. The ship's in good hands. On patient screening day, more than 7,000 people lined up to get care. All patiently waiting to be seen.
Alexandra (ph) is one of the amazing screening nurses. She helps determine whether doctors will be able to treat them.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hello, sweetie. Hi. Do you want to come with me? OK.
PERINO: She told me about the joy she feels when she knows she will be sending someone through who Mercy Ships will be able to help.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There is nothing compares to that. When you see a kid or patient come up who you know we are going to be able to help. So being the first one and being able to say yes, it's saying yes to everything.
PERINO: Perhaps the hardest part of her job is when she has to inform others there may not be anything Mercy Ships can do for them.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Unfortunately, the problem is caused by a problem that is in his brain. So because of that, it is not something that a surgery will be able to correct.
PERINO: Over the next 10 months, thousands will go through surgery to remove life-threatening tumors or have cleft lip repairs or orthopedic corrections and more.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One of the most moving things, if you show them quickly on and show them that face in the mirror, they are moved that the face that always caused them shame is now -- they can see it better with the bandages on.
PERINO: There are so many angels aboard the Africa Mercy, like chief medical officer, Dr. Gary Parker, or surgeon, Mark Shrime (ph), or finance director John Wall (ph) to name a few.
I marveled at how they are so devoted.
A lot of people have asked me what was my deepest impression from the week-long trip in the Congo with Mercy Ships. It was a great reminder that kindness is at the heart of humanity. We can all learn a lot from the people who make Mercy Ship's missions possible.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PERINO: You get that, Greg? Mission possible.
GUTFELD: That was clever.
PERINO: So, my husband Peter filmed all of that. I think he did a great job. He's amateur. We just bought a camcorder.
GUTFELD: It was like "60 Minutes."
BECKEL: You said the thing that impressed you the most is the kindness. I couldn't put it better. What was the thing that struck you the most about the people who lined up to get this care?
PERINO: Well, Pointe Noire, Congo, does fairly well because it is a port that is ISPS labeled, which means that they -- you can ship international goods there and they have security. So, they work hard to keep that. There are most jobs there than most of West Africa. There were 7,000 people that lined up to come through the line. Mercy Ships has been there for three weeks.
They have done some promotion. They do some PR posters up around. Some of the people there, they have never seen a doctor, and they also just don't have the medical capacity to be able to handle it.
One of the doctors that you saw there, Dr. Gary Parker, is a local doctor. One of the things Mercy Ships is trying to do is build up that capacity so a local doctor can come and learn from a surgeon so that they can try to make sure that they catch the problem early and just learn the techniques that they learned on Mercy Ships over 27 years.
BOLLING: Dana, is there a place where people want to donate or help out?
PERINO: I think this is really important. It is surprising about the people who work on the ship. There are 391 people there. They raised all of their own funds.
It is not government money. They get money from churches, their friends. They raise it on their own. If you go to mercyships.org, you can sponsor somebody or I just have to tell you that if you do give any money, it is really, really well spent.
GUTFELD: Go ahead.
GUIFOYLE: I want to know if there are situations where they cannot help a child right there, but maybe the child could be brought to the United States. Do they have a fund for that?
PERINO: Well, not necessarily. But they do have -- for example, one of the babies was underweight. They have a feeding program, off ship, an eye and dental place, they will see 50 patients in a day in the dental are and on the eye thing, especially with cataract. They can wait people right through there and everyone is a volunteer.
BECKEL: Eric, let's say you and I put 1,000 bucks?
PERINO: No, you don't have to do that.
BECKEL: We will.
GUTFELD: The week you were gone, I was hanging out in midtown. I saw somebody familiar. I thought I knew this person. So, I took a picture of the person. This is interesting. Took another picture. Then if you can close in a bit. If you just look there.
You can see the date of the newspaper, August 29th.
GUILFOYLE: My God.
GUTFELD: The week you were in Congo.
PERINO: It was all a ruse. It was all a ruse.
GUTFELD: It was. It's amazing --
GUILFOYLE: She was here the whole time?
GUTFELD: She was here the whole time. This never happened.
PERINO: Oh, yes. I went. I would go again.
GUTFELD: What are you doing?
BECKEL: I was waving my hand.
PERINO: Bob's next. A topic some of us know at the table is Internet addiction. You can be checked into the hospital to be digitally detoxed? Not on the Mercy Ship, though. Details next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BECKEL: You know that sound.
Many of you know I struggled with addiction in my life. But bthere is one thing I managed not to get addicted and that's Internet. Not the same like my co-host, like Kimberly getting addicted to be married.
But there is one hope for this. There is now a hospital that's very first detox program for digital addicts. Eric, you want to sign up?
BOLLING: No, why me first? I'm pretty addicted to the BlackBerry and iPhone, I'll be honest with you.
GUILFOYLE: And Twitter.
BOLLING: Twitter and getting back and forth with you on e-mails.
GUILFOYLE: And you are addicted to Mediaite?
BOLLING: You say you are not addicted to internet. We may have to dig deeper.
GUILFOYLE: Somebody throw a flag on that. Give me a break.
BECKEL: You know, maybe some days.
Dana, what about you? Listen, married one, you want to shut up for a second here?
PERINO: Addicted to marriage. That could also be called commitment.
BECKEL: Commitment, what's that?
GUILFOYLE: What?
BOLLING: Exactly.
GUILFOYLE: That could be called romantic.
BECKEL: Eric was romantic yesterday.
PERINO: One of the neurosurgeons that volunteered last week was telling me about phone use that it actually is altering the chemistry in our brain. Every time you are decreasing the dopamine levels and it's actually not giving you the joy that you are seeking. So, now, I'm looking into -- like learning how to crochet --
BECKEL: Greg, you have no dopamine anyway.
(CROSSTALK)
GUTFELD: They have an app for crochet.
BECKEL: Greg --
GUTFELD: If this is your problem, be happy you are not huffing computer duster.
GUILFOYLE: Have you done that?
GUTFELD: No, but it looks interesting.
I don't know. Maybe this is why we are a nation of ambivalent people. Have you talked to anybody outside of the studio about Syria? They don't know what's going on.
Like it's fashion week right now in New York. That's what's going on in New York. It's fashion week. Not Syria.
GUILFOYLE: You can talk about both. I've talked about --
GUTFELD: Oh, sure you have.
BECKEL: I bet you have been down there.
I could give you all one piece of advice. Try one day a week and don't use it.
PERINO: Yes, it's like the Sabbath.
BECKEL: Yes, I think it's a good idea.
GUTFELD: Black Sabbath.
BECKEL: Kimberly, if you take one day off and not look for a husband, you'd be better off.
OK. "One More Thing" is up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GUTFELD: Time for "One More Thing".
E.B.?
BOLLING: OK. Some weekend programming notes. Sirius XM Radio and FOX News just announced a new agreement to carry FOX News through August 2019. In addition, as part of the new agreement, Sirius will broadcast FOX Business Network. I believe that will start on the 18th of next month.
Plus, two exciting new shows on the new channel premiering this weekend. "A Healthy You A& Carol Alt" premiers this Saturday, September 7th, 4:00 on FNC. And the "MediaBuzz" hosted by Howard Kurtz debuts Sunday, September 8th at 11 a.m. ET at FNC.
BECKEL: And how about your show?
BOLLING: And don't miss it.
Bob's right. A big "Cashin' In". Kimberly Guilfoyle will be on the show. We're going to talk about the cost of freedom, not our freedom. Syria's freedom, 11:30 a.m. Saturday.
GUTFELD: B.B.?
BECKEL: Well, there's something on the Internet that's gone viral is the word they used. Take a look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My name is Matthew Cordle (ph). On June 22nd, 2013, I hit and killed Vincent Quinzani (ph). This video will act as my confession.
When I get charged, I will plead guilty and take full responsibility for everything I have done to Vincent and his family.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BECKEL: Since we have a short period of time. Let me say this, it's another example of what happens when you drink and you drive.
GUTFELD: K.G.?
GUILFOYLE: OK. I want to talk about Betty White, who is now a Guinness world record-holder, 91 years old. I'm a huge fan of "Golden Girls." Anyway --
BECKEL: That's your sister?
GUILFOYLE: Yes, exactly, Bob.
Greg, for longest TV career for an entertainer, 74 years work in the industry. She is still making people laugh and smile. So, nice little tribute to here.
PERINO: She's great.
GUTFELD: Yes, anyway.
Dana, you have something?
PERINO: Yes, you used to live in London?
GUTFELD: Yes, I did.
PERINO: You want to see some architectural genius in London? Take a look at this. This is what they called London's walkie-talkie or the fry- scraper which the architect didn't realize it was actually going to reflect so much light that it would melt cars. It melted a Jaguar and they don't know what they're going to --
BECKEL: Come on. Really?
PERINO: There is so much light reflected on it. They don't know what they're going to do.
GUTFELD: See, this is how capitalism solves the energy crisis. You can go out there and just make a grilled cheese sandwiches.
BECKEL: You can go out there and stand in front of it.
GUTFELD: Bob, that was uncalled for.
BECKEL: You're right.
GUTFELD: You are hurt my feelings.
BECKEL: I'm sorry.
GUTFELD: Not really. I wasn't -- Gary Sinise. You know Gary, great guy, great actor. He does a lot of shows for the military, those who have been injured in wars. He's got a show on September 13th in Fayetteville and a show on September 14th in Charleston. My glasses, please?
If you want to go to the shows, they are great. He plays. He is in a band. Go to garysinisefoundation.org, to get tickets.
Again, it's Fayetteville on the 13th, Charleston on the 14th of September. All money goes to the Wounded Warriors. It is a worthy cause.
And he is a great musician. He plays bass, I believe.
GUILFOYLE: He's a great guy.
BECKEL: He is a good guy, even though his politics are way off.
GUILFOYLE: Great American.
GUTFELD: You don't have to say that.
BECKEL: I gave him a promotion. I made him -- I said Captain Dan. It's Lieutenant Dan, right?
PERINO: It's Lieutenant Dan Band actually.
BECKEL: Is that what they call it?
GUTFELD: You know why?
BECKEL: No.
GUTFELD: It's the character from "Forrest Gump."
BECKEL: Really? I didn't know that.
GUILFOYLE: You're kidding, right, Bob?
(CROSSTALK)
(LAUGHTER)
GUTFELD: This is why we have scintillating debate on this show. That was the --
GUILFOYLE: Get to your level, Gutfeld.
GUTFELD: Unnecessary. You know, I think we are running out of time.
BOLLING: We are.
GUTFELD: You know, really, literally. We are. We're all going to die some day.
PERINO: We are running out of words.
GUTFELD: All right.
BOLLING: Five, four, three --
GUTFELD: "Special Report" is up next. Fun.
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