What does the new 'Ebola czar' know about Ebola?

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What does the new 'Ebola czar' know about Ebola?

Critics question president's pick to lead nation's response to public health crisis

This is a rush transcript from "The Five," October 17, 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 Bolling, Dan Perino and Greg Gutfeld. It's 5 o'clock New York City and this is "The Five."

GUILFOYLE: Yesterday, President Obama raised the possibility that he might be appointing yet another czar.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I will answer this one question about an Ebola czar, it may make sense for us to have one person in part just so that after this initial surge of activity, we can have a more regular process just to make sure that we're crossing all the T's (ph) and dotting all the I's (ph) going forward.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

GUILFOYLE: Today, that czar was named. It's democratic operative, Ron Klain. Well, he's a former chief of staff of Vice President Biden and Gore, he oversaw the implementation of the 2009 economic stimulus and more. But that is amount to anything more than a political appointment and what does Klain know about Ebola? Well, a lot of people are asking those questions and the White House, will they're doing their best to come up with some answers?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUESTION: The president's choice to be the -- to think about running the Ebola response for Klain, it's already coming under criticism from Republicans from Capitol Hill, they're saying, "That's a shocking development" isn't it? And what I'm talking is.

JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETRY: Three weeks before Election Day and Republicans are seeking to score political points, stop the presses.

QUESTION: What does Ron Klain know about Ebola?

EARNEST: What we were looking for is not an Ebola expert, but rather an implementation expert, and that exactly what Ron Klain is.

(END OF VIDE CLIP)

GUILFOYLE: I don't know. Might become helpful, come in handy, good resume builder saying, you know something about Ebola. Then nevertheless, this is the man they chose, Dana.

DANA PERINO, CO-HOST: It is, Ron Klain, and by all accounts is a well wise guy, a well-connected staffer. He knows a lot of people in Washington, as they pointed out even the chief of staff to vice president.
And he also ran the president's stimulus package, which I don't know if that was anything I would write home about. I also think that the response that Josh Earnest gave today, I know that that would be an instinct, that I would made the one to say some other thing, but the thing today was not the day.

BOB BECKEL, CO-HOST: What would you have said?

PERINO: First of all, President Bush would have called me up and been very angry at me if I said something like that. I found to say like today, you were trying to calm nerves and show people that you are on top of things and you are putting the best possible person in place, and that you don't think it is political. I think that would have been a better way to answer it and I would have the Republicans look even smaller, instead, it was the opposite.

The other thing that this appointment could have done is, show a little gravitas, right? You want to have somebody that some sort of public health experience, I don't expect anybody to be an expert in Ebola per se, there might be just 10 people in United States that actually fit that role. I do accept their recommendation that he is a good implementer, if that's what they're looking for isn't? If they have pin point of the concern has been a lack of information flow whether amongst the government or from government to health care professionals, perhaps Ron Klain is the best guy to do that.
But I do not think that it answer the call for what the president was trying to do today, which is to calm nerves and say, "I have now put in the place somebody who I think is the best person to helps us get through that.

Plus, this Ron Klain is not going to get to the top to directly report to President Obama. He will have to go through other layers like Susan Rice and Lisa Monaco which originally, this is what all the former people that have left the administration who have written books for the complains about getting information to the president so that he can make good decisions, have complains about that exact process. So I think that Ron Klain, look he's the president's choice, and we have to trust that's going to be a good one, but I think they could have made a better decision.

GUILFOYLE: A missed opportunity here, when hear Susan Rice is in that actually make me more fearful than when I share the word, Ebola.

BECKEL: You know, let me tell you that actually -- I think that first of all, whoever was going to run this had to come out of the White House. So you have all this.

GUILFOYLE: Why? That's not true.

BECKEL: I think it is, I think he needs to have the power of the presidency when you're making decisions. And Ron Klain is a good implementer, you don't need somebody, you don't need a doctor or somebody else to see to be on top similar this. You need -- there are plenty of doctors out there, so much informed about Ebola. But Ron, I know him personally, he's a kind of guy that can implement a campaign, and that's what it is, it's a campaign, a communications campaign and nobody is better at doing it than he is and he's got Obama's ears.

PERINO: That's the problem. That you guys think that it's a political problem when it's actually a public health concern, and that's what I'm saying that could have made their decision, that will answer that problem, and instead they answer their political problem.

BECKEL: It's not always about communication problems, we found out.

PERINO: No, they have a protocol problem, the process to all, they have a facts problem. He had blamed the communicators for the fact that they got things wrong on the ground.

GUILFOYLE: No, communication isn't the problem here at all.

(CROSSTALK)

GUILFDOYLE: I don't know, Bolling, nice magic trick, welcome from the 4 o'clock to The Five.

ERIC BOLLING, CO-HOST: When this was announced, I literally thought it was a joke.

GUILFOYLE: Yeah.

BOLLING: I thought that they were kidding.

BECKEL: That was joke?

BOLLING: No, because, I googled Ron Klain, and it came up with the thing in Chad issue back. You know of course, I was literally saying, "Where's the medical experience." I'm not saying he needs to be an Ebola specialist, Bob. But don't you think the guy who's going to run the Ebola responses, infectious disease -- virus disease response should have some background in disease and in transmission? I mean, he's couldn't have to locate the resource.

BECKEL: Exactly the opposite, exactly the opposite.

BOLLING: Hold on. Do you -- you so just admitted that this was a political issue.

BECKEL: No, I said it's a communications issue.

BOLLING: No, It's not. I was in the communication -- what the.

(CROSSTALK)

BOLLING: When two nurses contract Ebola from a dying man, it's not a communications problem, it's a virus problem. It's a medical problem. They pick the wrong guy. This is why America is fearful of Ebola, not because they think they're going to die of Ebola.

GUILFOYLE: It's the government handling anything.

BOLLING: Of how the government's handling it, exactly. Right now that they're gonna die of Ebola, but how is the government keeping us safe.

BECKEL: Can I remind you.

GUILFOYLE: Greg.

BECKEL: It was three cases that we have been reach in America so far.

GREG GUTFELD, CO-HOST: It makes you wonder the -- who was considered, who was in the pool of candidates? Was it Charlie Sheen, Lindsay Lohan, a panda? I mean, did they pull the names out of the hat and that hat belongs to Freddy Krueger. Appointing Klain to fight Ebola is like appointing Michael Moore for fight obesity. He's a partisan staffer with no medical background, and it makes me think that the White House is just pranking us, that this isn't just an administration, it's the world's longest episode of Jackass and we are the front of every joke. Because you think, that maybe, for a moment, they would sat down and go -- what people are really scared, we need like a majestic, inspirational leader, somebody that could instill confidence, and it doesn't have to be medical expert. It could be somebody in the military, could be somebody that everybody trusts.
Hey, how about the guy that Kevin Spacey played in a miniseries, and you know what's great about this guy? He loves to tweet. He's a really good actor.

BOLLING: One thing to that to, when they're debating who this guy should be?

GUTFELD: Yeah.

BOLLING: How about taking a republican still. How about taking advice, from, hey, who would be not partisan, who would be uniting in getting the country back to a calm tone?

(CROSSTALK)

PERINO: Somebody like a Democrat, a long-term Democrat who had been a governor, who had done some of these things, who have had actually had to manage a big crisis and have those types of relationships and know what the governors are dealing with and the health care professionals. But Bob, I want to make one point, because you're right. Yesterday, I did say they have a communications problem, but I don't think they're overarching problem. I said that I thought that they should get somebody there so they can have better information flow, so that the president and press secretary actually have all the information's that they need. But their bigger -- they're overarching problem is one of the too much bigger, I think there's something like a Thad Allen, who ran the response, who the head of the coast guard admiral, who run the Katrina response after that, show that the government was unable and ill-equipped to deal with it, but he came and he establish that gravitas (ph) that I'm talking about.

GUTFELD: But you know, this was not -- they didn't address crisis management, they addressed crisis PR, so now we have more czars than 18th century Russia. And what's great about this is that he reports to Susan Rice, which is encouraging, but I guess Tommy Beaver (ph) was out of a job.

(CROSSTALK)

BECKEL: The idea that somehow you're talking about somebody who's weak here, I mean, you're talking about somebody who knows about something about.

(CROSSTALK)

GUILFOYLE: Very good as a political operative and that was a debate coach, right? Kevin Spacey played him in a movie. But here's the deal, now is the time to shored (ph) and do something right, why did they go (inaudible) right, let's not pick a political operative. Let's pick somebody that a Republican.

(CROSSTALK)

PERINO: You know that I actually, if they were really thinking political, what they should have done? Is they should have picked a Republicans, because it would have blanch of all the criticism, but it may take that like a bill frit (ph)

(CROSSTALK)

(LAUGHTER)

BECKEL: That would not have been a bad idea.

PERINO: He was a U.S. Senator.

GUILFOYLE: Right.

PERINO: He has extensive training in Africa and he has the ability to run a hospital. He run actually the hospitals and says yes (ph).

BECKEL: Yeah, I think at least would have been a good, good point. We would have been a good choice.

PERINO: And then none of the Republicans would have complained.

BECKEL: But nobody I can think of in Washington D.C. who has the connections that he has with Obama who can implement a president's decision, implement an administration wide effort. Ron Klain is about the desperate like the thing to do.

GUILFOYLE: All right. Well, you -- he has your vote, one out of five. All right, perfect.

(CROSSTALK)

GUILFOYLE: All right, let's talk about something else. I want to talk about the troops, let's talk about Ebola, West Africa, sending our soldiers over there to handle this problem, and talk about and also, how much training if any they are getting. Let's listen to Frieden talk about this new development.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM FRIEDEN, CDC DIRECTOR: As I understand it, from the Department of Defense, their plans do not include any care for patients with Ebola or any direct contact with patients with Ebola. That said we would always be careful in country because there is the possibility of coming in, in contact with someone with symptoms and being exposed to their bodily fluids.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

GUILFOYLE: On whether this is a good idea or not. Lieutenant Colonel Ralph Peters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RALPH PETERS, RETIRED UNITED STATES ARMY LIEUTENANT COLONEL: It's a terrible idea, and this is the president's whimsy. This is how he believes our military should be used, not fighting terrorists, not defending America against violent enemies, but for feel good missions, to tear those people away from their jobs, from their families and expose them to incredible risks. I have to say this -- this is one time with specifically deal with the National Guard. I think the president should ask for volunteers and not order them.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

GUILFOYLE: Dana, you don't think that it is such a good idea.

PERINO: Well, though I -- I actually disagree with Colonel Peters on this one. Although, I did not serve in the military and he did, so I take -- everybody should take mine thought a grain of salt, and sure they do it a mountain of salt. But I think that our military will make sure that the necessary preparations and training that they -- the military is a very valuable asset, they take care of one another, and I feel confident that trying to stop this outbreak over there is better than trying to deal with it, if it comes over here.

GUILFOYLE: But now we're ordering people to go over there, instead of letting people volunteering.

PERINO: But they trying out for the National Guard and that's.

GUILFOYLE: But now they get four hours of training, so I understand the argument that he's making, he's taking them away from their families and their children and compelling them to go to West Africa. So let's see what happened.

(CROSSTALK)

BECKEL: They said these guys are all prepared to do that.

GUILFOYLE: Well, this is a volunteer army, this the National Guard, right?
So they're serving as reserves to be able to go in when called to duty. I'm just questioning the process and seeing if there's a better way to do it.

(CROSSTALK)

BOLLING: Question your process. In fact, we should all be questioning whether it's smart to send now it's up to 3,900 troops. 101st airborne and marines get a couple of hours of training and they go over there and suppose to build some hospitals and some morgues for dead bodies, Ebola.

PERINO: But that's there's nobody in the hospitals or the morgues, where they are, they're building them, that's what they do.

BOLLING: OK. So why would we -- let's hope, let's hope that's all it is. A couple of hours training, we have nurses with decades of training, two of them now with Ebola. My point is why are we sending our people there to do that? Let's honestly.

GUILFOYLE: What's the alternative?

BECKEL: Listen.

BOLLING: Send the money.

BECKEL: The countries who have contained this so far, who've contained their borders, Nigeria, which is really remarkable, they do that. But they have eradicated Ebola, which they need to do is to stop these thing there and it's a much bigger issue to stop it there. And I was trying to pick up one or two people here, and this has gone how many weeks now? Three weeks?
And it keep coming back to this, you don't want to hear it, but you sensationalist on this three, three.

BOLLING: Three so far, Bob, what happens to.

BECKEL: What happens? What happens? What if Ebola was there?

BOLLING: What happens if three of these marines come back with Ebola?

BECKEL: What, what, what? I don't know.

PERINO: All right. OK

GUITFELD: Well, I think the troop role must be defined and the role must be what they said it is -- which is only to build beds and to leave and not have any contact whatsoever with patients. Which is what we're being told, if they have absolutely no contacts with patients, I don't have a problem with it. We are really good at building things and if we can help, we should help. But I want to just touch on what the president said about the travel ban, which kind of stuck with me. He said, he had no philosophical objection to the travel ban, and that is really great news. But this isn't a freshman college course on show an hour. Someone reminded him that this isn't a class project where you're making a paper mache volcano, this is absolutely real, so your philosophical objections mean nothing, do you do it or do you not do it?

GUILFOYLE: If that's the problem, I think he's uncomfortable with making that kind of very quick decisions about something like, and I have.

(CROSSTALK)

PERINO: And Eric, I just want to answer just -- push you on this one point, if we send them money, like send the Liberians money. That would be really wasting money, because there's nobody there left there in the country to actually do the things that we can do.

GUILFOYLE: It means a lot.

BOLLING: It will cost billions of dollars to do this.

PERINO: OK. But if you.

BOLLING: It will cost billions on hand and God forbid if we lose any lives on top of it, whatever money was sent would.

BECKEL: Would you think it will cost as to him.

BOLLING: I don't know. I don't know, but I do know.

BECKEL: Enough of the snow. That's the problem with this whole show.

(CROSSTALK)

BOLLING: It's right. It's my opinion, I don't claim -- I'd never.

GUILFOYLE: I don't think we're driving the anxiety. Don't make a sensational statement.

(CROSSTALK)

BECKEL: I haven't made a sensational statement. You've made the sensational statement.

GUTFELD: Let's be calm, we're all gonna to die.

(LAUGHTER)

BOLLING: That's true. We have it.

GUILFOYLE: There's the door, runners, anybody?

GUTFELD: No, take it.

GUILFOYLE: Take it. Coming up, she put her life on the line to take care of the first Ebola patient in the U.S. and then she, became an Ebola patient herself. How is Texas knows Nina Pham doing, since contracting the virus, you're gonna hear from her, next on The Five.

(COMMERCILA BREAK)

BOLLING: The first person to contract Ebola within the United States is in stable condition at the NIH in Maryland, after being transferred from the hospital -- Texas hospital, where she contracted the virus. Before Nurse Nina Pham left Dallas, she got a warm goodbye from hospitals staffs and we got a chance to see how she's doing from herself.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(UNKNOWN): In going west. That's being part of your volunteer team. Our first patient.

NINA PHAM, NURSE WITH EBOLA: Yeah.

(UNKNOWN): It means a lot. This has been a huge effort on all of you guys.

PHAM: Yeah. Don't cry, don't cry.

(UNKNOWN): Yeah, we're really proud of you, all right.

(UNKNOWN): Come to Maryland, everybody.

(UNKNOWN): Party. Party in Maryland.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

BOLLING: Let's not lose sight of the reason she's fighting a deadly virus.
Pham and nurse number two Amber Vinsons, wearing protective or wearing protective gear when they took care for Thomas Eric Duncan, so how did they contract the virus from him in, here's the hospital's director.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. DANIEL VARGA, TEXAS HEALTH RESOURCESCHIEF CLINICAL OFFICER: We know that Nina was the first caregiver to accept Mr. Duncan as he came out from the emergency department. Nina's personal protective equipment was absolutely in compliance with the CDC recommendations at that time. We have no indication that Nina or Amber had any breaking protocol. We were working with the best information we had.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

BOLLING: Let's figure it right. If there's no braking protocol, either mean s the protocol is broken or they don't know.

GUTFELD: I think it was -- the two infections came from health care workers, treating a dying man and it were not medically sealed, they were not sealed appropriately, which is good for all of us because, this is not infections in a community, it's somebody treating a dying person. We have to pull back, whether it was something that threw up in front of the Pentagon today everybody was freaking out. Every time to someone throws up, it's not gonna be news story. This is not good for binge drinkers.

BOLLING: Right. You see that, they actually -- they (inaudible) from terror bus.

(CROSSTALK)

BOLLING: And she made the whole story up.

GUTFELD: Yes.

BOLLING: And then, Kimberly, there was a flight, I can't remember where I was going to or from, some woman threw up in the bathroom and they locked her in the bathroom. Hysteria or.

GUILFOYLE: And then another version threw up right on the plane from Nigeria and die.

(CROSSTALK)

GUILFOYLE: I mean, yeah.

GUTFELD: And that's not Ebola, though.

GUILFOYLE: No.

GUTFELD: Because, there are other actually things you can die from besides Ebola.

(CROSSTALK)

BOLLING: If the protocol was followed, how did they contract it?

GUILFOYLE: Well, this is the problem, I guess, that's what most is, you know, disconcerting. Because, the fact of the matter is they were trying to do everything right, they were trying to follow the protocol and wear the right gloves and put on all their -- you know, gear and garments in the right way. We don't know at what point she became you now, contaminated and then infected right? We don't know if it was after she was taking her gear off and removing it and then she came in contact, it wasn't properly. We don't know. We don't know at what point -- I'd love to know, so that we can improve on it, we can protect our health care workers that are doing some of the most difficult jobs. Nurses in America the things that they have to deal with especially with terminal ill patients or one with highly infectious diseases like Mr. Duncan had. That's what's worrisome, so we have to try and go through and retrace the steps.

BECKEL: There were a number of health care professionals who dealt with this man. And they are the chief people that got the Ebola but lot of the rest did not. Now I think the Dallas an administrator is frankly, to be very careful or he opens himself up for lawsuits. There's a lot of things about that hospital, they tell me, they were not prepared to do this and that's not Obama's fault.

(CROSSTALK)

PERINO: I actually disagree, bob, because I think that the administration, having waited so long to get -- CDC in particular, getting the protocols in place for these hospitals all across the country, because you don't know where somebody's going to show up. And of course you don't want not until we have the full hazmat suits at every single place. But -- how do you weigh that risk? So it's a cost-benefit analysis and I think that made on that they got ahead everything under control. The three weeks ago at a press conference, Dr. Frieden made it sound like everybody was trained all across America. And then we find it and said that's not true and that's why this question of the responsiveness of the government.

GUILFOYLE: Why do you think he thought that though, Dana? Why do you think he sounded so confident and self-assured that in fact everybody had them properly trained, I think he was very surprised by what happened.

PERINO: He seems to be -- and that's a kind of a problem.

GUILFOYLE: Right.

PERINO: You're like overconfident and you undermine your own point.

(CROSSTALK)

BOLLING: The Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital has come under fire for the virus spread, but also initially turning away the now deceased Thomas Eric Duncan, here's what the hospital chief had to say about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VARGA: We were well prepared to take care of a patient who walked in, holding a sign that says, "I have Ebola." And took a weeks ago it was a gentleman walked in off the street with a non specific symptoms, and they have Ebola. Obviously, Mr. Duncan second visit comes with the neon sign.
And we're proud of how we managed that.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

BOLLING: Enough, K.G.?

GUILFOYLE: I don't mind this guy, for some reason, it must be something in his voice.

(CROSSTALK)

BOLLING: We're proud about the way -- what is that? He's dead.

GUILFOYL: No, that part was horrible. But I like his honesty about the rest of it. That last statement nowhere belongs nowhere in that piece, because obviously, it was a fail. You have to say, we have to learn, we made mistakes, we tried our best, we are going back over all of it to make sure that this doesn't happen again, because in even one casualty from this is unacceptable.

BOLLING: All right, Bob, there were reports of medical waste from Eric Duncan, Thomas Eric Duncan piled up in a room.

BECKEL: Yeah, let me keep saying. If those -- if those things are true, then they didn't follow protocol obviously. But I still come back to this point here, that we just -- of all the people who came in contact with this guy, this guy was gonna die anyway, by the time -- he is had advanced stages of Ebola. So we've got two people that are both alive.

BOLLING: So far, all right. God will, God will.

BECKEL: Please.

BOLLING: We just don't know. Go ahead.

PERINO: The other thing that maybe we don't have it in that clip is the question of them, when he first comes in, and he has flu like symptoms, so they sent him home, but did they ask him that he recently been travelling or he that he hide the information, because he wanted to be sure -- I'm curious about that part.

GUILFOYLE: He did say Liberia.

PERINO: And that's the question.

GUILFOYLE: With the intake.

PERINO: That's why I think people have a lack of confidence in the government's response and the protocol's in place, because two plus two equals four and they didn't even seem to have that equation.

BECKEL: The government should response, he's in the hospital.

(CROSSTALK)

GUTFELD: I don't blame these hospitals for making mistakes in the initial beginning of this kind of experience. You remember back in 2011, when might even done the story, I don't remember what I did. The CDC created a website for the zombie apocalypse, it was a website and a graphic novella they did to warn Americans of an impending zombie apocalypse, it's their way of saying, "If you can deal with zombies, you can deal with this." They were so proud that this went viral. Not so much about this, it just again brings into question of priorities, that when you're looking this thing and might not be looking at this. The real winners however, are kids, they must love the news media because, they're closing schools for this when they shouldn't be closing schools, every what if scenario that what do means another school closes and then those kids get to go play in traffic, they're more likely to get hit by a car.

BOLLING: Can I have to leave you right there. Ahead, an Ebola scare in America, its coming Halloween and has more scares than one? Stick around.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GUTFELD: Halloween, i.e. Christmas for dentists, is coming, and so are Ebola-themed costumes. Is it too soon to wear fake protective suits or pretend to be sick?

An online store is selling an Ebola containment suit costume for $79.99.
It's not much different than what Bob wears to bed. The product description says this will literally be the most viral costume of the year.
Maybe so, but when it comes to 2014, with its cascades of catastrophes, there's so many gruesome competitors.

Seriously, you remember how it all began? Flight 370 gone and almost forgotten. Then there's Russia's bullying of the Ukraine, featuring the downing of Flight 17. Pretty grime. There was mass chaos on our borders.
Thousands of kids just appeared out of nowhere. Where'd they go? There were riots in Ferguson, and police militarization. Then the arrival of ISIS and their shocking beheadings had a sudden and absurd Secret Service fiasco. And now the kicker, Ebola. What's next, a new Maroon 5 record?

I say the wheels have come off the wagon. But the wagon has officially imploded. And every single one of these horrors, there is one man in a costume who keeps showing up to the party late, unprepared and aloof.

2014 was a year of unraveling crisis. So it's no wonder that this Halloween, President Obama will be going as the Invisible Man.

Yes, every year.

GUILFOYLE: ... Greg.

GUTFELD: Thank you.

GUILFOYLE: You pleased me today.

GUTFELD: Finally, I please you.

K.G., do you have any Halloween -- is that OK? Do you think that dressing in a costume that is somewhat alarming and controversial is fair game on Halloween? Have you ever done anything like that?

GUILFOYLE: One time I dressed as a Democrat.

GUTFELD: Really?

GUILFOYLE: It was very alarming.

BECKEL: And we shot you.

GUILFOYLE: Stop it. A pants suit.

GUTFELD: Someone else.

GUILFOYLE: I wouldn't -- I wouldn't wear that Ebola costume. I think it's
-- I don't know. I don't like being considered disrespectful to people that are suffering; you know, people that have died in West Africa. So you said earlier you think if people are young and stupid, they can get away with something like that? If you're the age where you say, "You know what?"

GUTFELD: Just dressing up in general, it has to be 25, and then you're done with Halloween.

GUILFOYLE: It's like an adult wearing, like, a Spongebob costume.

GUTFELD: Yes, exactly. I gave that up when I was 40.

GUILFOYLE: Yes.

GUTFELD: Bob, what about the idea of gallows humor? And I'm not saying dressing up as a victim, but dressing up in a hazmat, kind of -- maybe might break the tension that you feel every day, dressed up as a hazmat shows a little levity?

BECKEL: Good try. Anybody who would do something like that as an adult, even as a younger person. I mean, if I were -- if my kids went out with a hazmat suit, I would tackle them and make them put something else on. I mean, this -- you know, we're talking about this thing. People have died, and it's potentially a very dangerous situation, and you go out wearing a hazmat suit? What are you thinking? I mean, you're idiots.

GUTFELD: But couldn't you say, Eric, that it's like dressing like a fireman? Fires are tragic; fires are deadly.

BOLLING: This may not be possible, but I'm OK with the hazmat suit. I'm OK with the hazmat suit.

GUILFOYLE: Wear one right now.

GUTFELD: It's Halloween right now.

GUILFOYLE: I need one every day.

BOLLING: You get in trouble for wearing a hazmat suit on TV, and I understand that. CNN morning show, you know what I'm talking about. and I The tweet that they had to take down.

But on your private time, you want to go have fun. Go do your thing. It's Halloween. Everybody understands it's Halloween. Go do your thing. If you want to wear a hazmat suit, wear a hazmat suit.

GUTFELD: Dana, what was your most regretful costume?

PERINO: Regretful?

GUTFELD: Yes.

PERINO: I was in Colorado, so all -- you know the plastic masks you used to get that had the elastic strap on the back?

GUTFELD: Right.

PERINO: I remember one time, I think I was Snow White.

GUTFELD: Yes.

PERINO: But the thing is, in Colorado...

GUTFELD: There's a surprise.

BOLLING: What was the costume?

BECKEL: Who's against that?

BOLLING: That'd be like...

PERINO: One time I went as Holly Hobby. You remember? Do you know Holly Hobby?

GUTFELD: yes, I know.

PERINO: But that was a thing. But seriously, the problem was Halloween for me is -- was totally ruined because you always had to wear a coat...

GUTFELD: Yes.

PERINO: ... over your costume, because it doesn't really matter what you wore.

GUTFELD: Well, when you went as Snow White, I was going as one of the dwarfs.

PERINO: You still do. Every Sunday.

BECKEL: I went as an astronaut before -- just after the Challenge went down.

GUTFELD: No, you didn't.

PERINO: That's not smart.

GUILFOYLE: See my point?

GUTFELD: There you go.

GUILFOYLE: That's what I'm saying.

GUTFELD: I know. All right. Well, now we know.

OK, ahead, how a child's online postings could possibly get parents in trouble, next on "The Five."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PERINO: Parents of children under 18, listen up. If your child has a Facebook page, could you be held to account for anything and everything that they post?

An appeals court in Georgia just ruled that the parents of seventh-grade student could be held liable for not getting their son to delete a fake profile he posted on Facebook. It had the name and pictures of one of his female classmates with defamatory comments about the girl.

The court says the boy's parents may be negligent for not making him take down the page. It was up for 11 months. The ruling marks a legal precedent on the issue of parental responsibility over their child's online activity.

Kimberly, is its legal? Actually I know, that's somebody else's line. Can parents be held liable for something their kids say on the schoolyard?

GUILFOYLE: The answer is yes. OK? Because the appeals court reversed the lower court that first denied this claim. And the reasoning they used, I think, was interesting. They're saying that the parents could be held liable, because you could prove that the parents, in fact, were at least kind of a proximate cause of the suffering, of the defamation that occurred, because these postings were kind of open and notorious, up there for 11 months. That's more of a prolonged period of time. It wasn't as if it was up there for a couple days or weeks, and then the parents took it down.

So that's putting parents on notice: "We will hold you responsible for postings that your child does, because we're saying that you were negligent and you failed to supervise, properly supervise your child and their social media content." That's a big deal, because there could be significant financial repercussions from it.

PERINO: So little Ronan doesn't yet have this problem, but Bob and Eric...

GUILFOYLE: I pulled the plug on the computer.

PERINO: ... your children are a little bit older now. Do you think that you should have to be responsible for all of your children's postings?

BOLLING: K.G., I'm hoping that -- that there has to be some sort of knowledge of it. I hope parents need to know what's going on and choose not to do anything about it in order to be held accountable. Because they're -- by the way, they're called children under 18. I've got news for you. At around 12 or 13 years old, they ain't kids anymore. There's stuff going on on social media and in their lives, that you couldn't consider children doing. So...

GUILFOYLE: What they're saying, Did the parents have knowledge and did they fail to act?

PERINO: Because they said they got a call from the other parents so they knew.

BOLLING: Right. Then I would agree with that. If another parent calls and says, "Hey, your kid has some nasty stuff about my kid on his e-mail -- on his Facebook. Take it down." And then I choose not to, then I can -- I can get that.

GUILFOYLE: And they were notified by the school, as well, that this
happened.

PERINO: Can you imagine, Bob, having to check your children's Facebook and, well, whatever else they might use.

PERINO: It's a little scary thought. But I think the idea of essentially bullying this child, she did receive a lot of harm. It wasn't physical harm, but it was mental harm. And I think parents should be held responsible. Same reason I believe that any parent that knows their kids drinks that allows themselves to drive a car and the kid gets in an accident, they ought to be personally held responsible and be arrested.

PERINO: OK.

BOLLING: But if you're drinking, you're 21.

BECKEL: No, no, no.

BOLLING: Oh, I see.

PERINO: No, no, no. Like parents let their kids have a party in their basement, because they think it's safer there.

Greg...

GUTFELD: Yes.

PERINO: ... do you think it's rulings like this that make parents tend to be those helicopter parents that won't let their children be individuals, because they're frightened that they might get in trouble for something that their kids do?

GUTFELD: Well, first off, Facebook would be so much better if it was actually a book of faces.

PERINO: I never thought of that.

GUTFELD: I don't have kids. It's court ordered. And I worked very hard to get where I am in life, and I'll be damned if I'm going to let it be ruined by some offspring.

There is why every time my wife and I talk about kids, I go, no. I go I deserve -- I'm not going to get sued because of little Greg Jr.'s mistakes.

GUILFOYLE: Can you only imagine your child?

GUTFELD: But it's not about the kids. It's about the parents posting embarrassing things. The children -- you know, kids are smart about this stuff. But what about lonely drunk adults, who post shirtless selfies after they've been in the hot tub. How embarrassing is that for the kids?
You come home, and your friends see your dad and mom making out in a hot tub.

BECKEL: That's the 500th reason you've come up with not to have kids.

GUILFOYLE: Who did that?

GUTFELD: Yes.

PERINO: Not to mention their colleagues.

OK. If you knew you would have to run four miles to burn off that bottle of Coca-Cola you're about to drink, would you still buy it?

GUILFOYLE: Yes.

PERINO: We'll debate what scientists are now suggesting for food labels, next on "The Five."

GUILFOYLE: I would still drink it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECKEL: Those are the people carrying Kimberly's clothes home.

Have you ever looked at a food label, seen the high calorie count and decided against eating it? Some scientists say they -- that deterrent may not be enough. What they're proposing instead is to list how much exercise you would need to burn off the calories you take in.

For instance, a bottle of Coke, that's a four-mile run. A double cheeseburger, a 5.6-mile hike. So is this a better tool to encourage good eating? Dana, what do you think?

PERINO: I am absolutely against this. I am not for any more government rules that would put more impositions on businesses and restaurants. I think that, as human beings, we can be as informed if we want to be. It seems to be there's a great private-sector opportunityfor this. There should be an app for that. If you really want that, fine, but I don't think making restaurants do it is the right thing. Because the nanny state gets to the point where they basically want to have restaurants, like, spoon-feed us like little birds, because we can't make decisions on our own.

GUILFOYLE: I like to be fed like that.

BECKEL: Eric, what do you think? Is it an intrusion on the private industry?

BOLLING: Can I say both sides of this? Can I agree with Dana that with -- I don't want it to be mandated, but what a great idea this is?

GUILFOYLE: I think it's fun.

BOLLING: Fantastic idea. If I look at it and go, "Do I really want to have to run two miles to eat this or not?" maybe I'll put it back. But, as Dana points out, let the product design, let Procter and Gamble's, whatever, or whatever, Pepsi-Co, let them decide to do it.

GUILFOYLE: That is a great app idea.

BECKEL: Do you read the calorie stuff on the side?

GUILFOYLE: I can't even see writing that small. I don't even care.

I think it's funny, though. If they put this on, I would love it. I think it's fun. I don't know. I'm amused by this. I'm, for sure, not going to do all that running, no way.

BECKEL: Well, Greg, how about you? You're a workout fanatic. Do you think this is a good idea?

GUTFELD: My feeling is the best way to keep trim is to move to a developing country. I say to remind everybody that our problems are not actual problems when you talk about this.

The fact that -- and this is interesting. We've done this in magazines for years. The fact that exercise data is more effective than calories in deterring eating is because exercise is really bad at keeping you trim.
That's why when you get this fact about Coke, you go, "Oh, my God, 4 1/2 miles." The reason why that blows your mind is because exercise doesn't really help you lose weight in the same way that caloric restriction and low carbohydrate diets work. So if you actually want to stay trim, you can keep active -- normally active, but not intense -- but you have to -- you have to decide that there's portion control and high-protein diets are the way to do it. Because I've seen fit -- really fit people who are fat because they just eat.

GUILFOYLE: Then why do you eat all that Chinese food?

BECKEL: That's a good example of that.

GUTFELD: That's the problem. That's the problem. I'm fat.

GUILFOYLE: OK.

BOLLING: A great example: Does anyone watch "Naked and Afraid"? Watch "Naked and Afraid." In 21 days, people lose 30, 40, 50 pounds sometimes.

PERINO: I think you want to be on that.

BOLLING: And all they do...

PERINO: You want to be on the show.

(CROSSTALK)

BOLLING: No, no, but all they do is they sit there. They don't move.
They're not getting any exercise. They're just not eating. Literally, they're...

BECKEL: There's an idea.

PERINO: How about you, Bob? Have you ever decided not buy something because you saw how high the calories were?

BECKEL: No, I -- well, first of all, I don't buy them. But if the cheeseburgers thing was right, I'd have to run to Buenos Aires to burn off what I ate in cheeseburgers last week.

GUILFOYLE: Let alone to snack with.

BECKEL: Excuse me. I'm not -- never mind. The -- I think the idea here is a little bit -- I think it could be depressing for people. If they look at this stuff and say, "OK, if I buy this thing now, I've got to run..."

GUTFELD: But that's...

BECKEL: Who runs?

GUTFELD: But that's the point. And the fact is, exercise is inefficient for losing weight.

GUILFOYLE: But also you couldn't -- you see that, like, "Oh, I've got to run six miles. Then I've got to run five." You also need some caloric intake to survive and have a brain, so you've got to be careful, because then it's suggesting that you have to do that much exercise. And what, are you going to waste away.

GUTFELD: Being naked is a great way to lose weight.

GUILFOYLE: Bolling wants to be on "Naked and Tan," not "Naked and Afraid."

BECKEL: OK. I'm going to say this. "One More Thing" is up next. Got you on that one, didn't I?

BOLLING: Been a while.

GUILFOYLE: How many calories did I just...

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GUILFOYLE: ... cord!

BECKEL: Sorry. Sorry, sorry.

GUILFOYLE: Time now -- Ebola strikes again. It's time for "One More Thing." Eric -- stop it.

BOLLING: It's Friday so time for...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(MUSIC)

GRAPHIC: Fool of the Week.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLLING: All right, so many choices this week: Michael Moore blaming Ebola on the GOP, John Grisham excusing child pornography, whatever. Let's find out who the fool of the week is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A second nurse affected with Ebola took a flight to Cleveland after she registered a fever. We have a report that says she contacted the CDC and was told she could fly. Did she, in fact, call the CDC and ask for guidance on boarding a commercial flight, as far as you know?

TOM FRIEDEN, DIRECTOR, CDC: My understanding is that she did call CDC, and we discussed her reported symptoms as well as other evaluations.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLLING: CDC director Tom Frieden, because you let nurse two board a flight to go to Cleveland, and because you seem to be making it up as you go along, you earned yourself "Fool of the Week." And let's just hope next week, you're not "Fool of the Week."

GUILFOYLE: Poor guy.

PERINO: Get on a plane.

GUILFOYLE: He didn't have an easy week, that is for sure.

Greg, what do you have for us today?

GUTFELD: First, I'm going to ride tonight talking about stuff. And...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GUTFELD: Greg's Secrets to Happiness!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUTFELD: Almost forgot to do that. Let's go to Greg's -- yes, it was me.
Let's go to "Greg's Secrets to Happiness."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... it's Chicago. It's one in the white (ph). The Giants begin the pennant!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUTFELD: "Greg's Secret to Happiness," San Francisco Giants winning all the time.

GUILFOYLE: And my happiness.

GUTFELD: Yes, love this team.

GUILFOYLE: Love it.

GUTFELD: Amazing team. All right, that's it. I was going to say something else but I can't -- oh! Part of my diet...

GUILFOYLE: Yes.

GUTFELD: ... advice, took, I left out is resistance training, which is important. You build muscle, because muscle metabolically burns more calories than fat. So do that, too.

GUILFOYLE: So Dana's core fusion, Pilates situation is good?

GUTFELD: Well, I don't know about that.

GUILFOYLE: OK, never mind.

OK. So on a happy note, last night I attended the 2014 Latino Stars event.
Also honored was Geraldo Rivera and Stacy Dash, with micana (ph). She was there, and that's Erica Rivera. That's Geraldo's beautiful wife. We had a fantastic time. They give you a nice little award and great food, rice and beans.

BECKEL: Salsa and chips? Chips?

GUTFELD: What's wrong with you?

GUILFOYLE: I did my best, Bob.

GUTFELD: What's wrong with you, Beckel?

GUILFOYLE: And there's me with my Star award.

BECKEL: I just asked.

GUTFELD: I don't know why I asked.

GUILFOYLE: Why do these things always happen during my "One More Thing?"
Come on. Work together. I just called on you.

BECKEL: Oh, you did? OK. The Pope Francis has decided to do something that absolutely shocks me. The Sistine Chapel is 1,600 years old. It's revered, and he decided to rent it out to a corporation for a fundraiser.
Now, that would be a little bit like us renting Abe Lincoln's memorial out for a rave. I love you, Pope, but that's one bad decision.

GUTFELD: Who was the -- what's the company?

BECKEL: Porsche.

BOLLING: Wow. Sounds (ph) Italian.

GUILFOYLE: All right, I don't know what to say.

PERINO: I loved the last half hour of this show. I mean, it's been a great half hour.

GUILFOYLE: I probably caught like three infections already.

PERINO: Because it was good tonight.

BECKEL: You say that one more time, I'm going to sue you.

GUILFOYLE: Go ahead.

BECKEL: OK, I'll be happy to.

GUILFOYLE: Go ahead and try and take from my child.

GUTFELD: Did you say to go?

PERINO: OK, because I haven't driven Bob crazy enough this week, two things. One, one of his favorites, Senator Rand Paul, getting the cover of "TIME" magazine, being named America's most interesting politician. That's not the right cover. But there is a cover that would actually make more sense, because this is what "FiveFanPhotoshops" did. The most interesting dog in politics, of course, is America's dog, Jasper.

BECKEL: Ah.

PERINO: And Bob, just wanted to make sure you have that. If we have the other picture, then it would have been -- that's why this is the best half hour in television ever.

GUTFELD: That dog can never be in politics. Because he's fixed.

BECKEL: It's -- can you leave this dog out just one time?

PERINO: No. Don't you think that's brilliant? FiveFanPhotoshop did that.

BECKEL: Yes, sure.

GUTFELD: Anything with that dog is brilliant to you.

GUILFOYLE: We've got to go. Set your DVR to record so you don't miss an episode of "The Five." That's it for us. Have a great weekend. We see you back here on Monday. "Special Report" next.

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