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Published January 27, 2017
This is a rush transcript from "The Five," April 21, 2014. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
KIMBERLY GUILFOYLE, CO-HOST: Hello, everyone. I'm Kimberly Guilfoyle, along with Bob Beckel, Eric Boling, Dana Perino, and Greg Gutfeld.
It's 5 o'clock in New York City and this is "The Five."
(MUSIC)
GUILFOYLE: Now, when it comes to deadlines, the Obama administration has written the book on delaying them -- from ObamaCare to the most recent punt, push the Keystone pipeline decision past the 2014 midterms.
Now, what drove this latest delay you might ask? Well, how about the fact that billionaire Democratic donor Tom Steyer pledged $100 million to Democratic candidates with anti-Keystone positions?
Well, despite this obvious connection, DNC chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz still doesn't see any political motivation in the delay.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (D), FLORIDA: As a member of Congress who represents hundreds of thousands of people in south Florida, I want to make sure that the right decision is arrived at and the president makes that decision carefully and does not factor politics into his decision, which I don't think he is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUILFOYLE: Meanwhile, Jay Carney had the gall to claim congressional Republicans are to blame for the delay.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAY CARNEY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The president has always insisted in wanting the process conducted on the merits, and in keeping with past practices of the administrations of both parties. And we have seen actions to inject politics into this, actions by Congress, for example, that have actually served to delay the normal process that the State Department runs.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUILFOYLE: Poor thing. They just don't see it. And Jay Carney is wearing glasses. What is his excuse that the eye can't see?
All right. I mean, it seems pretty obvious, when it's something to do with the Republicans, Dana, then, oh, yes, it's so obvious, the coercion, the corruption, the undue influence, here they're saying, we don't see it.
DANA PERINO, CO-HOST: It was often said that the press secretary's job is the second hardest one in Washington. And I think this is true and for in this case, and for Debbie Wasserman Schultz who is the DNC chairwoman. And they're going to have to try to make this case, but I think it's not very persuasive from their perspective.
First of all, let's talk about when this announcement was made. It wasn't made today on Monday when everybody is back to work. They called a statement -- a press conference called at 2:00 p.m. on Friday, not just any Friday, but Good Friday, when everybody was going to go home for the weekend.
That's a tactic people have used in the past. I know a little bit about that. I don't think it works as well any more with the 24/7 news cycle because here we are on Monday still talking about it and for good reason. The administration's own analysis shows that there would be no environmental impact and that the jobs would actually increase.
And so, what you have is environmentalists versus common sense energy policy. The environmentalists won this round. My last point before we kick around the table is that one of the things the administration said is that they want the local legal issues to play out in Nebraska before they get involved.
That might be persuasive, if they hadn't overstepped local legal decisions in almost all the other major cases such as immigration is one and gay marriage is another, both -- and sentencing for criminals, all of those decisions are coming from the U.S. Department of Justice, federal decision impacting state and local decisions. So, I think, again their arguments fall short of being persuasive.
GUILFOYLE: So, you are giving them, what, an F? D-minus?
PERINO: They didn't pass.
GUILFOYLE: They didn't pass the test. OK. And then, again, it's pretty conspicuous that they're doing this, that kind of political dumping on a Friday. Let alone, Easter weekend, bad form, people.
All right. Bolling, which way do you tip the scale?
ERIC BOLLING, CO-HOST: It's actually good politics. No matter what Debbie Wasserman Schultz says, or Jay Carney blames the politics on the Republican -- this is Democrat politics at its best or worse, depending on your side.
The Koch brothers donate, and Bob goes -- his head explodes -- Harry Reid calls them un-American. Bob says, oh, they're terrible and they're playing by the rules. They are donating to causes that they believe in.
Meanwhile this joker, Tom Steyer, frankly, he's doing the same thing. He's doing what he believes in. He's offering $100 million.
GUILFOYLE: You have a problem with he's doing?
BOLLING: Not at all. Do your thing, Steyer. My only problem is the way he's treated in the Senate. The Senate chamber was held open overnight, an all nighter, so they could appease Tom Steyer, and all those senators go, you know what, he's such a great philanthropist, he's worried about the environment. We're going to have this discussion on global warming, spend the whole night there, just to get his money.
In the meantime, on the other side, it happens on the other side and it's un-American.
The other politics -- President Obama said we need to wait for the State Department's analysis of what is the environmental effect of Keystone pipeline. Well, they got that a couple of months ago. The State Department said there's no environmental impact. Go ahead.
The Obama administration -- what do they do? Do they go ahead? No, they say let's just give it a few more months. We have 26 more questions we have to answer. All they're doing is waiting until the end of the midterms. And again, my guess is that after the midterms, they're going to put kibosh on it.
PERINO: I think they'll approve it after the midterms because I think it will help Hillary Clinton in the presidential election if President Obama takes the hit in his last two years.
BOLLING: After they get the money from Steyer.
PERINO: Yes.
BOLLING: Got you.
GUILFOYLE: All right. So, so far, the punt came up a little bit short in how they handled it now, but you think long term, they might make the right decision and do it after, because it will be politically expedient.
PERINO: Yes.
GUILFOYLE: OK, very good, Dana.
PERINO: Nice sports metaphor.
GUILFOYLE: Thank you.
PERINO: Trying to figure out which sport it was.
(LAUGHTER)
GUILFOYLE: Football.
GREG GUTFELD, CO-HOST: It's football.
Yes. Obama punts more than the Baltimore Ravens. They punted 98 times in 2013. I just wanted to point that out.
GUILFOYLE: Wow, what a helpful little connection.
PERINO: You came to play, huh?
GUTFELD: OK. This is -- we're talking -- you know, we talk about religion and religions of intolerance, but there's no religion more intolerant than environmentalism. They are willing to sacrifice our industry -- the ability to become independent of maniacs across the country, for an ideology. The bigger listen is that they are doing it even though it works, because if it works, if this works, if we loosen the screws of the maniacs, if we actually create jobs, if we build our economy, you don't need progressive ideology anymore. The ideology of subversion is no longer necessary. It's pointless.
So, it actually works for them. He's not a procrastinator. He's a faux crastinator. He delays everything out of the need for politics to keep their power in hand.
GUILFOYLE: Well, isn't it convenient that we have a poll master sting at this table, Mr. Beckel?
(CROSSTALK)
BOB BECKEL, CO-HOST: I think I've changed my position on the Keystone pipeline, because if it brings down heat, heat in oil, we could use it right in this studio --
GUILFOYLE: Thank you.
BECKEL: Whoever is in charge of the heat in this case, could you please turn it up?
PERINO: Finally.
BECKEL: I don't ever get cold, but today, I'm cold.
GUILFOYLE: I've reversed six years in age.
(CROSSTALK)
BECKEL: You know, you can call it -- is it politics? Probably politics. But listen, here's the point -- it's the same reason that the Republicans don't want to talk to about immigration reform in a political year. They don't want to get themselves out of something that would hurt their base, even though there's some reasonable Republican proposals on immigration.
This is nothing new. Are you guys kidding me? Are you naive coming into this process? It's six months to the election. This pipeline is going to take seven, eight years to build. It can't wait another five months.
BOLLING: Bob, it's going to create jobs. It's going to bring the price of oil down.
BECKEL: Yes, yes.
BOLLING: By the way, if you don't use the pipeline to bring fuel -- oil from Canada down to Houston refineries, they are going to either truck it or rail it, which has a bigger carbon footprint than the pipeline. So, environmentally, financially, ever single reason to do the XL pipeline economically makes sense, you're not going to do it -- except for one, politics. So, our politics is overweighing all those.
BECKEL: Just as I said about immigration reform. Can I ask you why do you call Steyer a joker and you don't call the Koch brothers jokers?
GUILFOYLE: It's Koch, Bob.
(CROSSTALK)]
BOLLING: The joker comment, I said he has a right to do that but so do the Koch.
GUTFELD: The whole game of billionaire ping pong has to stop, OK? You got George Soros, then you got the Koch brothers, now you got Steyer. We get it, everybody has their own billionaire in their corner.
But the impression here and you -- what was your example, Bob, that you brought up? That this is like immigration -- it's not like immigration because it seems like every act that the president is doing is exactly what our adversaries want him to do.
It's not -- this is about prosperity. He sees it as a negative. So, that fits in with everything else.
Immigration, you can -- there are a lot of Republicans with immigration plans. They are planning on running. Rubio talks about it.
You got a lot of Republicans fighting over it. In this case, this is something that makes the country better. Our leader is becoming our kryptonite. He's rooted for the things that undermined us. That's what bothers people.
(CROSSTALK)
BECKEL: Immigration reform will make us a stronger country and I think that --
GUTFELD: You could argue against that, though. You could say that it would actually hurt the lower classes, the people that lose jobs and a lot of people on the left feel that way, Bob.
GUILFOYLE: They're disenfranchised.
BECKEL: There needs to be a full debate on it. But, listen, there's a point here about, you know, the billionaire coming in now. It is right that the amount of money in politics is beginning to impact policy in a way I've never seen it impact policy before, whether it's on the Democratic side or the Republican side, and it seems to me that when the days were when you had serious policy discussions and you had debates, you weren't depending on wondering what the cash register looked like before you made those decisions.
BOLLING: OK. So --
GUILFOYLE: How pure of you.
BOLLING: So, there's a lot of money coming on the Democrat side because we have ObamaCare, we don't have the XL pipeline. You are winning those battles.
BECKEL: Well, because we think ObamaCare is a good idea.
GUILFOYLE: No, but now he's espousing, if you notice, some of the Hillary Clinton talking points for 2016.
BECKEL: By the way, I agree with Dana. I think they're going to approve the pipeline after November.
PERINO: To help Hillary Clinton in her election.
GUILFOYLE: Dana, you have another thought?
PERINO: Well, I just think that this issue, energy and environment, rank -- if you look at a lot of polls, Bob, please correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe environmental issues rank amongst the lowest. The number one issues are jobs and the economy.
On this issue, the Keystone pipeline, President Obama has been handed several independent studies and ones from his own administration that show that the economic impact would be good and that the environmental impact would be negligible, not without risk but those could be mitigated, and if you have 11 Democrat senators who are for it and you have the Republicans, the president could actually have an amazing win here and where are the Democrats going to go? I mean, how -- is turn out in the midterm election so important that the president is going to delay it this much?
BECKEL: Yes, sure. The Democrats --
(CROSSTALK)
BOLLING: We need to get on something that's certainly -- a word, risk. What's the risk to approving the XL? Just give me a risk.
BECKEL: I'll give you a risk, in pure political terms. It is the term --
BOLLING: No, no, what's the real risk, actual risk to America if you approve XL?
BECKEL: I don't know enough about it. I assume it's not a lot of risk. I assume if he gets more energy --
BOLLING: If there's no risk and it's going to create jobs, and it's going to bring fuel prices down, why not do it? Of course, you know what the risk is? You know what they're saying, they're saying there's a risk of spill. I tell you -- I've spent 20 years in the oil business, there's way more risk of spilling when you are trucking a barrel of oil or putting it on a rail car. You are going to spill a lot more barrels of oil than you put on the pipeline.
BECKEL: Wouldn't it be a way to get 13 million people finally get a way towards citizenship?
(CROSSTALK)
BOLLING: Wow.
GUTFELD: You are walking away. The issue is an ideology that rejects industry, that rejects our military, we're cutting our military, we're hindering us some energy.
But the great thing is Sandra Fluke got free pills. We have a president whose proportions -- priorities and proportions are so off that he will make a personal phone call to guarantee somebody gets their pills, where there are millions of jobs on the line, when it comes to fracking, when it comes to oil, when it comes to guys losing their jobs over the military cuts, that stuff is less important.
PERINO: And it's not a final political thought on this, which is -- it's not -- this is not a clear-cut political issue, Republicans versus Democrats. As I said, 11 Democrats actually support the XL pipeline. And then, today, the president of North America's Building Trade Union, his name is Sean, he said that President Obama's decision to delay the Keystone pipeline further is a, quote, "cold hard slap in the face of America's workers."
(CROSSTALK)
GUILFOYLE: They certainly don't have clean hands in this situation. They are putting ideology ahead --
(CROSSTALK)
BECKEL: I mean, the idea to say that Democrats have played ideology and this is a progressive loss for America, as opposed to the right wing crap we've been putting up for the last two decades. Give me a break.
(CROSSTALK)
GUTFELD: You just said give me a break. You didn't actually give me any facts.
Elections matter. You guys won. This is what we are dealing with because you won.
We have a president who should be running Epcot Center, not a country, because he doesn't see our values as superior to the world.
BECKEL: Let's take one of the things you said. You just said about the defense cuts -- if anybody believes that that defense budget does not need cuts, you're out of your mind.
GUTFELD: I just met a guy who lost their job.
BECKEL: A lot of people lose their jobs over a lot of things.
GUTFELD: Yes, but his job mattered.
GUILFOYLE: But people provide jobs. Go ahead.
BOLLING: Do you know what the problem is? There -- again, there is no risk, there is no down side. The only down side is not getting Tom Steyer hundred million dollars to Democrats. That's the only downside.
America would be much better off. Your life would be better off. Your paycheck would be better. You wouldn't spend as much money on your heating bill. All you have to do is realize that there's literally no risk to it.
BECKEL: That's what you say. And I say my life would be a lot better without the Koch brothers. So, there you go.
PERINO: Why? How did your life get any better --
(CROSSTALK)
GUTFELD: You are always blaming Coke.
BECKEL: I know. I'm a Pepsi man, that's why.
GUILFOYLE: All right. (INAUDIBLE)
Coming up, Democrats are stepping up their smear attacks, Bob, on Republicans ahead on the midterms, is that a strategy or will it back fire in their face? That's next on "The Five."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PERINO: We've got Bob riled up today, so stay tuned.
When does a pattern start to look like a deliberate strategy when it's an election year? Check out some of the examples that have a few reporters connecting the dots.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
REP. STEVE ISRAEL (D), NEW YORK: The Republican base does have elements that are animated by racism and that's unfortunate.
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D), CALIFORNIA: I asked a Republican friend why his party remains so opposed to extending the vital lifelines for struggling families and really hungry children. What he said was to the Republican caucus, these people you are talking about are invisible and the Republican caucus is indifferent to them.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They want to open up a new front on the war in women and this one cruelly focuses on poor women.
SEN. HARRY REID (D), NEVADA: These people who hold themselves out to be patriots are not. They're nothing more than domestic terrorists.
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
PERINO: Terrible.
OK. So, Major Garrett of CBS News wrote that -- about a strategy called "stray voltage." This is something that David Plouffe that had talked about in the previous campaign and it goes something like this -- controversy sparks attention, attention provokes conversation, and then the conversation embeds previously unknown or marginalize ideas in the public consciousness.
We've been following -- this campaign has been heating for about the last six months and, Greg, every time we look up, we can see that there are more smears and in the smear sense sort of becomes what we end up arguing about with Bob.
GUTFELD: Right.
PERINO: And do Republicans just not have the ability to do the same type of thing in reverse?
GUTFELD: Well, it's clever. The level of, like say, race-baiting hyperbole is inversely proportional to their amount of facts. So, without a leg to stand on, the first thing you do, that's your choice of weapon, is to call people names. And it's genius, because when a conservative or a libertarian gets angry for being called a racist or a bigot, that then becomes proof that you are a racist or a bigot because you are reacting so angrily.
You know, it's -- that's their strategy. Accusations of bigotry are their aspirin, whenever they get a headache, that's what they take. And I would call it a race card but that implies there are other cards available for them. It's a race deck.
PERINO: That's actually -- that is one of things that some of the reporters are writing back, including John Dickerson over at "Slate" who says facts smack. As long as people are talking about an issue where my party has an advantage with voters, it's good.
So, then you'd get to, Eric, I would guess, is a zero-sum game.
BOLLING: Race card, race deck, but somewhere in there there's the card there are the joker. And they are the women. So, Republicans have a war on women as well. I'm sorry, Dana. What --
GUTFELD: Are you calling women a joke?
BOLLING: No, I'm not. I'm saying is the deck of race cards, they slide the women's issue.
PERINO: So, I was going to say -- what John Dickerson said in his piece was, doesn't it mean then -- forget about the facts, as long as my party wins, it's good. So, you end up with a zero-sum game, and you don't actually achieve anything.
BOLLING: And, again, it solves their issue. The more we can make the shiny object here, talk about -- what are you laughing about? This is the strategy?
(CROSSTAK)
BECKEL: I'm sorry, I've been trying to sit here. Please, Democrats (INAUDIBLE) the bad quarter, you get the Republicans, as if they are the bright shining people on the hill. These dogs have been running negative crap for years. You've been out there, I've been out there. I've been on the front of getting this crap from Republicans --
GUILFOYLE: You designed the strategy.
BECKEL: Being called socialist, commie. Greg loves to throw the word socialist around. Now, you say race, I said --
(CROSSTALK)
GUILFOYLE: Bob, where are your attack ads to show?
BECKEL: I can't get them, because you know why? I'm about to give them something but I have to give them verbally because our producers won't put on any Republicans.
BOLLING: You are 100 percent right. Every time, there have been 20 or 30 occasions where I'd say, President Obama policies are just like the socialist. He might be a socialist president. I have.
But you know what? I'm right.
BECKEL: You're right?
GUILFOYLE: Oh my gosh!
BECKEL: You don't know what the word socialist. Don't start throwing race-baiting around. If you're going to call socialist and communist, let's have an agreement here. You drop the word socialist and I'll drop the word racist.
GUILFOYLE: No, don't agree.
BOLLING: If we're taking from one group and giving to another and having this class warfare thing going on, I would agree with you. But that's what's going on.
BECKEL: Let's give you the Texas Republican Party's latest PAC they had, it's called Bros, Boats, and Hos. Now, that's about welfare people.
GUILFOYLE: Oh my God!
(CROSSTALK)
BECKEL: The Alabama state party said women who are taking care of their children who happen to get on welfare ought to go out and pick up garbage in the streets. Now, would you put that on the air here? Of course, not. So, that's my point.
GUTFELD: The hose are about gardening.
GUILFOYLE: Where are you getting this, Bob?
BECKEL: All you got to do is Google it. You'll find as many things on the Republican side and a lot more.
PERINO: OK, that's fair.
GUILFOYLE: He said he's Googling it on the Internet about bros and hos.
(CROSSTALK)
GUILFOYLE: Bob has ObamaCare to help --
BECKEL: Go put Google Republican attack ads, you'll get the Koch brothers. You'll get hos and boats.
GUILFOYLE: What?
BECKEL: I mean, it is. Go look at it. (INAUDIBLE) you think the Republican Party is some little nice people. They're a bunch of thugs.
GUTFELD: Bob, can I respond to you, Bob?
I wish the Republican Party was as bad as you guys, because you guys clean our clock. The -- painting somebody as a racist and homophobe has been working forever. That's why you won't let go.
BECKEL: So has socialism.
PERINO: I just want to ask Kimberly something.
Let's just say that everybody here has a point.
GUILFOYLE: OK.
PERINO: Is it a short term strategy to try to win a midterm election that actually hurts your long term credibility, for example that a poll that says 64 percent Americans believe President Obama lies sometimes on important matters. Do you think that is a problem?
GUILFOYLE: Yes, good question, suggest the answer. The answer for $1 million is yes. I mean, it's awful, right? I mean, looking at the polling, Bob. You can't deny that.
BECKEL: No.
GUILFOYLE: He's got a credibility problem and trust issue with the American people. That's a big problem. You can talk about hos and boats, or whatever you want to say.
(CROSSTALK)
BECKEL: All I would like to see if one-fifth here of Republican congressman, a red neck fool from South Carolina, called the president a liar during the State of the Union speech. Do we run that? Of course, we didn't run that.
GUTFELD: But, Bob, OK --
GUILFOYLE: That's three years ago, Bob.
GUTFELD: That criticism that you are discussing, whether it's about ideology or about honesty, those are things that you can actually debate and argue, when you are called a racist or a homophobe that actually ends debate. It prevents people from actually fighting back because you're then it's you're problem to say, I'm not a racist, or I'm not a homophobe.
But with the socialist aspect, you can actually debate that and go show me where?
BECKEL: Let me respond to you about the racist thing. I hear what you're saying about racism. But when you talk about the number of Democrats who have used that, there have been some -- there certainly have been some, but it is no means a reflection of the entire Democratic Party.
PERINO: Well, about what -- it's the style of speaking. So, for example, when Harry Reid, the Senate majority leader, last week, called Cliven Bundy and anybody that supported him, domestic terrorists, that is what we're talking about in this block, is that they take it one step too far so that you don't end up talking about the fact that the federal government and relationship with the states in the West is out of whack and needs reform. You end up talking about how American patriots, whether they are or not, domestic terrorists.
BECKEL: And last week, I denounced that very statement. My point here is that you can't take and selectively take clips out there and say that that it represents the entire Democratic Party because it does not. It does not.
PERINO: Did you read the article, though, that talked about reporters in Washington who are connecting the dots, oh, I see, this is the pattern. You say it here, she says it there and he says it there. It becomes the new narrative, as you said.
GUILFOYLE: To be honest. I mean, they have been reaching into the bag and pulling out the same driver every time.
BECKEL: Well, you've been accusing being --
GUILFOYLE: Well, I'm not saying that. I don't know if anybody is saying that. We're talking about strategies that they have been using and the rhetoric that they have been using pretty consistently as of late. That's why there are so many examples of it.
BOLLING: Bob, you know, you may have denounced --
BECKEL: Let me suck my thumb for a second.
BOLLING: Please do.
(CROSSTALK)
GUTFELD: Bob does have a point. We did say that Obama was a liar about two minutes ago and then we said we didn't say it.
BOLLING: But here's the thing, Bob, you may have denounced --
GUILFOYLE: Thanks, ombudsman. What's wrong with you?
BECKEL: He hasn't said I made a mistake. No one else is denouncing Harry Reid's comments. Someone should.
PERINO: Here's something you can guarantee.
GUILFOYLE: What?
PERINO: A beginning of a great week on "The Five."
And ahead, two holidays of very different --
(CROSSTALK)
PERINO: OK. Two holidays with different kinds collided yesterday, Easter and weedster. Eric has the details on 420, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BOLLING: Yesterday was the -- Easter, the holiest day of the Christian calendar. But there was no mention of it on the cover of The Denver Post. Instead, the paper covered the so-called pot holiday in Colorado called 4/20. The headline on the front page, "Welcome to Weed Country."
Dana, I'm going to start with you, your beloved Denver, The Post. Red Rocks. From a sunrise service to Snoop Dogg.
PERINO: I went to that one time, that Red Rock sunrise service. My parents took me.
BOLLING: Actually, my niece, who used to live there said -- for tears in her voice saying we used to go to the sunrise services. Now it's Snoop Dogg.
PERINO: Well, I'm not crying. But I do...
GUTFELD: Are you hungry?
PERINO: No. No. I'm not -- I don't want Cheetos or anything like that.
I think pot is good for business. OK?
GUILFOYLE: What?
PERINO: It's good for the media. Meaning that we keep talking about it. People are buying pot. People are smoking pot. I was in Montreal over the weekend. You couldn't walk anywhere without people just smoking pot, right on...
GUILFOYLE: Well, do you have a problem with that? I don't want to walk around in a big pot cloud.
PERINO: I don't have that much of a problem with it. I do think it's interesting that people are so desperate for it they have to smoke it all the time.
BOLLING: Let me ask you. OK. So this was the first year it was legal, right, and is it eventually going to become not cool to get high?
GUTFELD: I'm hoping. I'm hoping, because as you know, I'm for decriminalization and legalization. The weakness of the dope smoker is the shallow displays of idiocy by their ardent support.
It's like, if you like martinis, you don't wander around the streets like an idiot holding a martini. They've got to get over the novelty of pot smoking. Like I like wine, I don't walk around with a bottle of wine. It's not an achievement to get high.
GUILFOYLE: But the wine doesn't define you.
GUTFELD: It's not an achievement to giggle to yourself. Basically, what you're giggling about is your lack of ambition. Stuff like this, whether it's pot or whether it's martinis, has to be a reward for achievement, has to be an award for work. Wait until you're 40, you're making enough money to enjoy your dope. If you do it now, you're going nowhere.
GUILFOYLE: I like that.
BOLLING: K.G., you can be pro-legalization or decriminalization of pot and still not condone crap like this.
GUILFOYLE: Listen, I'm not trying to tell anybody what to do with their personal life, OK? I'm not prying (ph)...
GUTFELD: Yes, you do.
GUILFOYLE: I don't. No one's telling me what to do. But for me, my personal choice, what I think is, like, medicinal marijuana, to help cancer patients, fine. I'm not for the legalization of marijuana.
BOLLING: Decriminalize it?
GUILFOYLE: You know, I mean, look, depending on amounts, it's different if it's personal use versus someone who's trafficking or selling in large quantities, you're breaking the law. I don't give you a pass.
BOLLING: Bobby, I know you want to weigh in. Can I just show you a picture very quickly? Take a look at this ad. This might make your head explode. There it is.
GUILFOYLE: It's just not nice.
BOLLING: Jesus smoking a joint. That was for a restaurant.
BECKEL: You know, the thing that bothers me about Denver, leaving aside that, in fact, I was at a sunrise service on Sunday morning, and there wasn't any dope there, I can guarantee you. It was a conservative Presbyterian church. But here's the thing.
It's become street theater. I mean, it is a way to perform, you know. As Greg was pointing out, this is not about the use of marijuana as a recreational thing to get high and enjoying your listening music. It's getting out into street theater, and it's bringing attention to itself.
Yesterday, they did in Denver, where they decided to all take a hit at the same time. A hundred thousand people take a hit, see if they can get a big marijuana cloud over the city. In fact, the wind blew it all away.
That thing with Jesus has just gone over the top.
GUILFOYLE: Thank you, Bob.
BECKEL: Whoever put that out should be -- I mean, I don't know whether there's a law against that, but I mean, that is just, on Easter Sunday come on.
GUTFELD: You know what? You don't want a law against that. That's the point. Is that you've got to remind yourself that they use Jesus and not Mohammed. That says more about Christianity than it does about -- because they know that they can do it. It says a lot about the fact that we're, like, "that's stupid," but we're not going to kill you.
BOLLING: Can I bring K.G. in here one more time?
GUILFOYLE: Yes, please.
BOLLING: They're not supposed to be able to smoke pot in public. So these people are all in public, but they got $150 citations. Breaking the law, I mean, what are we doing with the law (ph)?
GUILFOYLE: I don't want to watch around in a Cheech and Chong haze. I don't want my kids walking around like -- you know, I just don't. I just -- I just feel like, if you're going to do it, you know, go do it in your own personal -- I don't know. I feel like...
(CROSSTALK)
GUTFELD: But that's the thing.
GUILFOYLE: It's sort of like bragging and trying to be cool.
GUTFELD: Being cool.
BOLLING: I'm telling you, you could see it now. All of a sudden, everybody is all hyped it's going to be a great 4-20. Everything you read in the Post was like "eh"?
BECKEL: Yes, that was the whole reason for the $150 fine. They did it in public so you would have this sort of street theater so they made a big deal about this. They wanted people back at their house. But they didn't want to celebrate Easter. Celebrate smoking dope, but do it at your house.
PERINO: There's a guy -- there's a guy who said that this is -- I understand that they are celebrating a public policy victory, right, and so they're taking a victory lap and smoking dope and maybe by next year it won't be that interesting.
GUTFELD: That's what it is. That's what I'm thinking. It will be like after prohibition was repealed, there was probably a lot of celebration, and then it was back to just drinking.
GUILFOYLE: It just seems a little excitable for a pot smoker. I think they're more chilling.
BOLLING: All right. We're going to leave it right there. Chilling?
GUILFOYLE: Chilling.
BOLLING: Chilling. We'll leave it right there.
In case, you haven't checked the calendar, it's Earth Day tomorrow. If you're confused about how to celebrate, stick around. Greg has got some great advice when "The Five" returns.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GUTFELD: Yay, Earth Day is near, and I like you, am confused. Earth Day, is that still a thing? It's like turning on the TV and seeing Piers Morgan. Isn't that nightmare finally over?
Earth Day, two words together that become meaningless, like vacation hat or cat beard, Joe Biden. Earth Day is no more a good deed for earth than fondling a cactus.
Take the recent Earth Hour where worldwide landmarks went black to raise awareness of energy overuse. What does this accomplish, besides making the organizers feel enlightened?
Well, it masks the real tragedies plaguing the world. People don't die from overuse but lack of use. The worldwide poor are dying simply because they can't heat their homes, period. We condemn coal, but millions would die for it and have. Without access, they burn horrible stuff that ends up killing them.
But that's what Earth Day's about. Not to save the deprived but to soothe the egos of the lucky and self-important as they enjoy the fruits of the industries that they often condemn.
And then when they're done lecturing, they run back to pecking on their iPads, run not by Pegasus urine. They eat at Starbucks, choosing the cheapest flight to Coachella or Burning Man. Transportation is never evil if you're going somewhere cool, and Earth Day is your ticket out. As you ignore the planet's real victims, you've done your part making the earth all about you.
I'm dying, Dana. How do you plan to spend your Earth Day, and Jasper, does he even care? I doubt he cares about Earth Day.
PERINO: Those two things are like peanut butter and chocolate, and they came together. And Americans for Prosperity actually included the No. 2 thing that you could do on Earth Day. You could take your dog for a walk in the park. And look at the example that they used. I think they have a picture. Look at that. It was a good thing he came on here, so we had more pictures.
GUTFELD: So the one thing a dog can do on Earth Day is No. 2?
PERINO: Yes, and then you've got to pick it up.
GUTFELD: No, I don't. I just kick it into a Bush.
PERINO: I agree with you. Earth Day became -- was like a religious holiday for some.
GUTFELD: Yes.
PERINO: But I think that, with economic prosperity, as we have cleaned up our act all around the country, that we actually now have a majority, we celebrate Earth Day every day. Everybody. It doesn't matter if you're Republican or Democrat.
GUTFELD: We certainly do, Dana. We certainly do. Eric, shouldn't we have a People Day instead? People are awesome.
BOLLING: Any old event in our house, we open all the windows and turn up the heat or the air conditioning, whichever is off, whatever the temperature is outside. I spark up the 90,000 BTU barbecue and cook some steaks, or chicken, in my case.
You know why? Because the oil industry, the carbon energy industry provides jobs, hundreds of billions of dollars of tax revenues and is the lifeblood of the most powerful economy on the Earth Day.
BECKEL: Is that directed to me? Let me just -- let me say something. I'm sorry. Go.
GUTFELD: I'm saying, you should be at one with nature and frolic nude through Central Park.
BECKEL: That would be -- that would be the antithesis of Earth Day.
GUILFOYLE: That will be seared into my mind.
BECKEL: Let's talk about what -- Senator Gaylord Nelson from Wisconsin was the father of Earth Day in 1970. What came out of that was a consciousness about what was going wrong with what we were doing in polluting the air and the water. And what came out of that was the Clean Air and the Clean Water Act, which were two very important pieces of legislation that both Democrats and Republicans can rally around.
Earth Day is a symbolic day today, maybe, but it had an important moment in the early '70s when we were really moving very rapidly towards destroying our planet in a way that we couldn't reverse it. And we did, in the United States, at least. And I think that's something to be proud of. And I don't think we should make fun of it.e
GUILFOYLE: OK, so that led to the passage of the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air and Endangered Species Act, all of these things and a billion people celebrate it in 180 countries. So he's made an impact. He got the presidential award for that.
BECKEL: Yes. And let's also remember that the Environmental Protection Agency, which a lot of people don't like, was brought into law and signed by Richard Nixon. And which you said before the show Nixon could not get a Republican nomination today. I bet that's true.
PERINO: Oh, boy. Here they come after you.
GUILFOYLE: Well, it's been on the books since 1970. Should be (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
GUTFELD: What's the earth done for us, though?
All right. We've got to take a break. British Prime Minister David Cameron is under attack for daring to call his country a Christian nation. Bob will tell it all -- tell you all about it coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BECKEL: This is what happens when you stand up for Christianity. The secular elite will go after you. Dozens of public figures in Britain have just signed an open letter to counter Prime Minister David Cameron's declaration that the U.K. is a Christian nation.
It says, quote, "We object to his characterization of Britain as a Christian country. Britain is not a Christian country. Polls and studies show that most of us as individuals are not Christian in our beliefs. To claim otherwise fosters alienation and division in our society."
Let me just say first here, bunk. The fact is that England is a Christian nation. It has its own church, the Church of England, which is Christian. And for David Cameron, what he was talking about, he was not talking about Christianity in England. He was talking about what the persecution of Christians around the world. And one of the reasons these guys are saying this in England now, I mean, let's be honest about it, is because you have an influx of Muslims and you don't want to get them upset. That's exactly what you're talking about.
Why don't you come straight to it and say, this is a Muslim response to it? David Cameron said it is a Christian country, and it is not a Muslim country.
Sorry, go ahead.
BOLLING: You know, I agree with you, and I do think that's the motivation. The PC police in the U.K. are coming out and saying that it's not. I don't know what percentage of people in the U.K. ascribe to Christianity. I will tell you...
BECKEL: A vast majority.
BOLLING: In this country as well. Somewhere around 80-plus percent would call themselves at least one form of Christian believers. So I don't think they're -- what they do here instead, is rather than pegging it the way they did there, what they can do is say it's not constitutional. You have to separate the church and state, and they rely on for the basis of their argument.
GUILFOYLE: The bottom line is Bob is actually right and -- kind of...
BECKEL: What a revelation.
GUILFOYLE: Christianity is actually losing ground to Islam in the U.K., and they are concerned, Eric, you're right. They're concerned about terrorist threats, acts of radical violence in the U.K.
BOLLING: Sure.
GUILFOYLE: They have even more alarming problem and concern about it than we do in this country.
BECKEL: You know, Dana, the Muslim countries are very quick to declare themselves Muslim countries. Now England, in fact, is a Christian country. Why should they be allowed to call theirs a Muslim country and Cameron can't call his a Christian country?
PERINO: Because the -- a lot of those groups have figured out a way to exploit a double standard. And what -- I think what Cameron was doing, in a way, was appealing to a narrow base that I think is important, but let's not pretend that there aren't some politics involved here. Right?
Now, the queen of England is the head of the Church of England. She is crowned by the Archbishop of Canterbury. So I can see why, with all -- if you're on the cover of "People" magazine every week, the Christianity part of the royal family might not what they're leading with, but that is - - that is a fact that England is a Christian nation, which actually means it's more tolerant and a lot of different religions can live peacefully there and co-exist, and they have.
BECKEL: You lived in England, Greg. Do you consider it a Christian country, or do you...
GUTFELD: I felt it to be a fairly agnostic place. But I think what these religious -- the secular religious critics were criticizing religion, they were also saying, you know, "Let's not lose our heads over that," meaning let's not mention Islam.
BECKEL: Yes, exactly right. Well, I'll continue (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and I've got a big neck.
"One More Thing" is up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GUILFOYLE: All right. Well, time now for "One More Thing."
PERINO: "One More Thing."
GUILFOYLE: Really? You have just forfeited your time. Sorry. Eric Bolling.
BOLLING: All right. Very quickly, Chicago teachers union president Karen Lewis joking about gun violence in Chicago. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAREN LEWIS, PRESIDENT, CHICAGO TEACHERS UNION: We still cannot continue along the lines, where we give up our pensions willingly because they're offering false choices. Take this cut or nothing. That's not a choice. That's not a choice. That's where you're going to shoot me here or here. I'm still shot.
And this is Chicago.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLLING: You know why else that's not funny? Nine people were shot dead this weekend in Chicago. Dozens of others were injured. Chicago, the no-handgun zone. Not funny. Not funny at all.
BECKEL: I agree. Professional boxer Rubin "Hurricane" Carter died on Sunday. He was in prison for 19 years for a murder that, in my view and many others, he did not committee. A movie was made by Denzel Washington, and he starred as Rubin "Hurricane" Carter. Take a look at this to get a sense of where our outrage was.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DENZEL WASHINGTON, ACTOR: Twenty years I spent locked up in a cage, considered a danger to society, and not treated like a human being. Not treated like a person. Counted 15 times a day. I served my time in a house of justice, and yet there's no justice for me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUILFOYLE: That's a powerful movie.
BECKEL: Rubin "Hurricane" Carter was a great boxer, middle-weight champion. He went and spent 19 years in jail, despite the fact that two of the people who -- witnesses against him recanted their testimony. He was not guilty, and this was an absolute horrible situation. And I only wish his family well. He was a terrific boxer.
GUILFOYLE: He really was. I love boxing. I think he was incredible. I admire him forever. And I'll just tell you, that was my nickname at the D.A.'s office, Hurricane.
GUTFELD: You drank a lot of hurricanes?
GUILFOYLE: Greg.
GUTFELD: I spent -- I had a great weekend. Friday, I spoke at the Reagan ranch. If you ever get out to Santa Barbara, you should check this place out. It's where Ronald Reagan retired to. It's a beautiful, beautiful place.
And the next day I was at the Nixon Library, which was pretty awesome, too. Spoke there.
And then I saw my mother, my wonderful mother on Easter, and she's doing OK. There she is giving "The Five."
GUILFOYLE: How sweet.
GUTFELD: And that's it.
GUILFOYLE: Very nice.
So we saw some royal video, and I know that Greg just joins me in the queen a happy, happy birthday. She's joined the double 8 club. That's Queen Elizabeth II. Remember that she took over head of state duties when she was just 25 years old. So youngsters at home, think about what you're doing when you're 25 years of age. Right? Can you only imagine?
GUTFELD: Oh, yes, we have royalty here.
GUILFOYLE: And by the way, she's been head of state 52 years, only exceeded by her -- what is it, her great-great-grandmother, Queen Victoria, who served 60. I think she's going to pass her.
GUTFELD: Yay.
PERINO: Beautiful portrait of her. I like that photograph.
GUTFELD: Stop it, everybody.
PERINO: OK. I have something that no one else has yet. These are George W. Bush -- H.W. Bush socks. George H.W. Bush, 41. He loves his colorful socks. And the GOP is doing a fund-raiser with these. GOP.com/BushSocks. He said, you know, he's not on the circuit any more, doesn't do anything else, but he can do socks.
GUILFOYLE: Can I wear -- can I wear those? I want to put them on. Dana, I want to put them on in the leg chair.
GUTFELD: Do you wear them?
GUILFOYLE: All right. Don't forget to set your DVRs, so you never miss an episode "The Five." We're going to see you back here tomorrow. "Special Report" is next.
PERINO: GOP.com/BushSocks.
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