Reaction to Paris terror attacks

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Gutfeld: The skin in the game was Charlie Hebdo's skin

Liberal media focus on anti-Islamic sentiment rather than terror attacks

This is a rush transcript from "The Five," January 8, 2015. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

GREG GUTFELD, CO-HOST: So happy for Paul Sorvino and America. Hello, everyone. I'm Greg Gutfeld along with Kimberly Guilfoyle, Bob Beckel, Eric Bolling, and she hula-hoops with a fruit loop. It's Dana Perino. And this is "The Five."

Now, for most of us in this lazy media, mocking religion comes easy because there's no skin in the game. I mean really, what would an offended Catholic do? Send a harshly worded letter and ask for forgiveness for being mad? That's what made the French paper, Charlie Hebdo, so vital. It was the risk. The skin in the game was actually their skin. The Financial Times called them stupid. But what's stupid is cowering out of fear of DBM or death by Muslim.

That's why now saying we're all Charlie is a lie. We are not all Charlie, far from it. Instead of printing cartoons or challenging crazed Muslims, the self-congratulatory media turns tail, waving the flag of Islamophobia, some even apologizing for western bigotry that hasn't even happened.

The paper -- the French paper was different. Their blasphemy exposed the religion so easily spooked by a cartoon that they killed for it over and over again. And now the media shows that carnage, but not the cartoons. A huge victory for madmen, for we're advertising their handiwork to new recruits, but not their sad pathetic insecurities. We took our cue from terror and now we're playing by their rules.

One of the dead cartoonists, Charb, had once said, "I prefer to die standing than live on my knees." But if he had chosen these knees, he would have a lot of company from the New York Times to the London's Telegraph who focus not on terror but its evil response, Islamophobia. montage anyone?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EVAN KOHLMANN, NBC NEWS TERRORISM ANALYST: France has a very serious problem with Islamophobia and because of that I think it's important to consider the fact that there are a lot of French Muslims who feel that they were alienated from the society they're in.

DAVID POPE, CARTOONIST: Hopefully, in Europe, there's a response to this violence where people say we will not allow our communities to be divided by either far-right Islamophobia or extremist jihadist Islamists.

DAVID ROTHKOPF, FOREIGN POLICY MAGAZINE: I think a lot of the time that we've seen terrorist attacks since 9/11 and onward, there's been a big overreaction that produces backlash that feeds their movement.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUTFELD: As if on cue, the cycle begins again: Islamists murder, the media warns of a backlash. Islamists murder, the media warns of a backlash. No wonder radical Islam has no use for satire. The weak-kneed West is their comic relief.

All right. KG?

KIMBERLY GUILFOYLE, CO-HOST: Yes?

GUTFELD: So this is a New York Times editorial board statement of the Paris terrorists attack. They said, "This is also no time for peddler's xenophobia to try to smear all Muslims with a terrorists brush." It always seems that these editors have a low view of the west. But it seems like they're the ones that are peddling this idea. It's not the west. It's not - - nobody is running out and screaming. But it's -- they're making the alarm.

GUILFOYLE: No. They're the ones that are hysterical. But the problem is we have become so politically correct that we are suicidal. That's what's happening. It's sad because we have an administration that is afraid to call these Islamic fundamentalist and extremists who and what they are. They don't want to call it terror. They will search for any word in the thesaurus to get away with it. The one that's choice A in the multiple choice is always workplace violence, choice b, lone wolf, because they don't want to admit that these people are either inspired or directed specifically to commit these targets -- these acts of terror. It's upsetting to me and I don't see the situation getting better especially when we see these attacks. I mean I think this was prepped. This was prepped for something here in the United States, Australia, Paris, what's next?

GUTFELD: You know, Bob, the -- there was a New York Times headline that basically focused on the growth of anti-Islamic sentiment, not the terror attack. I find that interesting because anti-Islamic sentiment would be a natural response.

BOB BECKEL, CO-HOST: Exactly.

GUTFELD: Yes. I think.

BECKEL: What I don't seem to get is, yes, there's a growing resentment. Why? Because the system is going to be gentle. They're chopping people's heads off. And people are afraid to say anything. It's not just Obama by the way, most western leaders; nobody is standing up here and having the nerve to say this. I don't get it. And you know, the other thing about Muslims is if they think that they don't like western culture then why did they move there. I mean -- and one.

GUTFELD: Radical Muslims.

BECKEL: Well, radical -- well, OK. Radical Muslims.

ERIC BOLLING, CO-HOST: It's the smarter thing to say.

(CROSSTALK)

BECKEL: You're right. Radical Muslims. I'm a little bit -- this whole thing annoys me. You know how my feelings about this have grown over the many months.

GUILFOYLE: Well, you want people to stand up shoulder to shoulder. And the problem is when the U.S. is cowering nobody is like stepping up to be the target and step in front of us. We need people to stand shoulder to shoulder. How are we going to do that and inspire. That is to be brave and call it exactly what it is if nobody is willing to do and we're not leading by example.

BECKEL: You know, I heard somebody said yesterday here -- I forgot who it was but it was -- maybe it was Dana -- about the Book of Mormon to play, right?

DANA PERINO, CO-HOST: Right.

BECKEL: That is -- if you were a Mormon and you had the sort of sensitivities of the Muslims, you would be out in full force. You'll be fighting everybody. Now, can you imagine doing something like that on Islam? I mean, I would think that it would cause.

GUTFELD: You can't.

BECKEL: You can't do it.

PERINO: It would never open.

BECKEL: It would never open. You'll never get anybody to sponsor it. So -- I mean I'd give the Mormon (ph) Islamic credit for that. They take a lot of heat in that, but so does a lot of other religions over the years in this country. GUILFOYLE: And so does other religions in that publication.

BECKEL: Sure. And so I don't know why. Is this an exceptionalism for one religion in this world? Is that it? Is it one.

(CROSSTALK)

GUTFELD: No. I mean that's -- the doctrine is it's our way or the highway or the death way. I don't know. Eric, it seems to me that the accusation of Islamophobia is always the barrier to actually doing anything. We can never actually address this problem and get that moderate Muslims involved because we're too scared of being accused of being bigots.

BOLLING: Well, some people are too scared. New York Times is a great example. But look at it this way, last week, they called out the NYPD. They call them self-pitying NYPD, remember they cried.

GUTFELD: Right. Good point.

BOLLING: Yes. And this week, they're sympathizing with the backlash that Muslims may experience literally hours after 12 people are laying in pools of blood in Paris at Charlie Hebdo. Unbelievable. Who are they writing to? I'm trying to figure out if the liberal left that reads that paper every single morning, if you're watching these liberal television shows, every one of those people commenting on those networks, they read it. They live by it. It's their bible. They read it cover to cover. And if they're reading this consistently and seeing this, they must have that some sort of agreement with the premise, right? So here they are last week trashing the NYPD. This week, they're more concerned about the backlash that the Muslims may receive then calling terror Islamic fundamental terror, what it is, Islamic fundamental terror, and we should be fighting it rather than hiding behind the P.C.. The fear of Islamophobia or the fear of being called -- even remotely called a bigot makes them flee with their tails stuck firmly between their legs.

GUTFELD: Yes. No. That's the strategy. Dana, you've seen a lot in the left wing media complaining that people at FNC are obsessing over this terror attack. As -- it would be better to spend our time on other things, perhaps, like smearing the police. Why are they doing it? I mean is this a non-serious topic?

PERINO: They said the same when there was a beheading in Oklahoma.

GUTFELD: Right.

PERINO: They've said the same Benghazi. The thread that runs through all of those stories, in particular with this one and Benghazi, is one about of free speech and complacency. I would focus less on the religion and more on the crime.

GUTFELD: Right.

PERINO: The crime is murder, OK? So let's start with that. Number one, are we all against murder? OK, fine. Then let's track these guys down, surveil and do as much intel as we need and then the punishment should be swift.

GUTFELD: Yeah.

PERINO: OK? So that you have the deterrent. The other thing is that you cannot separate the fact that Islam, a strain of it, a view of it, is motivating terrorists. And now, we're in the next phase. Something that people have warned about for a long time and they were made fun of for a while, called chicken littles, and said that all you want is a permanent war. It was that worry that western nationals, especially young people, would travel to Syria or Iraq, learn types -- these types of techniques, get trained and because they have western passports be able to travel back to our cities and perpetrate these kinds of attacks. We should not blur the truth that Islam does motivate some terrorists to take some action. How we deal with the proliferation of social media and viewing with radicalization of youth is a gigantic problem. Satire is important but it's not the only answer.

BECKEL: And the timing at this point here -- well, the two publications that have had direct results of their -- with their work and murder were both liberal newspapers and magazines in France and in Denmark.

GUTFELD: Right.

BECKEL: And it's been the left, frankly, in Europe are the ones that stand up and say something. The conservatives have turned their tail and run. But having said that, have you noticed the poll in France that young people were much more predisposed toward radical Islam than older people? I think it's sort of -- it's sort of like in the United States where younger people today -- it's not at all unusual for people to see multicultural dating, for example.

GUTFELD: Yes.

BECKEL: But when I was young, you didn't date out of your own ethnicity. But in Europe, it looks like -- this mingling that's going on here, younger people are beginning to find this acceptable and that's the thing that is sort of scary because they're getting exposed to it on a daily basis.

GUTFELD: I don't know if you can compare it with affection for radicalization to mixed dating. You don't mean that.

(CROSSTALK)

BECKEL: (Inaudible).

GUILFOYLE: No. (Inaudible).

(CROSSTALK)

BECKEL: It was a stretch but I was trying to find something we could relate to.

GUTFELD: I know. The point about the growing radicalization of youth -- I mean it's 27 percent of those aged 18 to 24 view the Islamic state radicalism favorably. That's very frightening.

BOLLING: Very frightening. And the reason why it's important for the president all the way down to the secretary of state down to the leaders and they're now -- here's something I find baffling. When we call for moderate Muslims to push back on these types of crimes, we're called racists. We're called Islamophobic because we're accusing them of not being able to do it by themselves. That's ridiculous. If there were Christians doing it, believe me, the pope would be out there saying, "Enough of that." But it's not Christians. It's Muslim. It's radical Muslim. The moderate Muslim -- the moderate Muslim should push back. But the reason why we need to -- Obama needs to, John Kerry, everybody needs to push back and call it what it is so that everyone understands it's not just one -- two people that walked into a place. It's part of a cell which is part of a movement which is part of a war and we need to fight the war globally, not just those people in Paris and anyone that gets blown up the next time, whether it's New York or Denver.

PERINO: Which also means then -- I think we have to have a very frank discussion in our Congress about what tools we are going to allow our intelligence services to share around the world. Who are you going to be able to target? What kind of information are you going to be able to share?

GUTFELD: Yeah.

PERINO: And that is -- that's the next step. It's something that our Congress is going to deal with. Western European governments are very frustrated and angry with the United States, same in Brazil. We have an international problem when it comes to the tools that we're allowed to use to try to fight back and find these types of cells before they strike.

GUTFELD: We have two Islamists on the run. Clearly, they're being helped.

PERINO: And had extremely good training.

GUTFELD: Yeah. So they're -- and we.

PERINO: Someone is helping them.

GUTFELD: Do we have the intelligence to find them? I don't know. Kimberly, last word.

GUILFOYLE: Yeah. I mean I just think that this has been a long time coming, the political correctness, the multiculturalism. It's isolating people. It's not assimilating and it's creating these hard lines between, you know, racist, ethnicities and religions. It's not productive. It's not bringing us together and it breathes this kind of fear and anger and resentment and ultimately violence because the youths are being radicalized and they're acting on it. They're not just talking about it.

GUTFELD: Right. Next, we're not done. The Muslim world's reaction to the massacre in Pairs. One hate preacher probably supports jihad and told Fox News why, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GUILFOYLE: Jihadist massacre in France has gotten a lot of mixed reaction from the Muslim world. There are voices like this which condone it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're saying this is true Islam and you're also -- on the other hand you say, this is a peaceful religion.

ANJEM CHOUDARY, RADICAL ISLAMIC CLERIC: Islam does not mean peaceful. It means submission -- submission to the community.

(CROSSTALK)

CHOUDARY: You know, when you start to murder Muslims, obviously, they will react, won't they?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUILFOYLE: But there are also voices like this which caused the Muslims to revisit the teachings of Islam.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AHMED YOUNIS, FORMER EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR MUSLIM PUBLIC AFFAIRS COUNCIL: What should be said at the outset is he who opposed freedom, whether it's freedom of expression or freedom of action opposes God. There is a need to reform the average Muslim's understanding of Quran and their understanding of the tradition of the Prophet Muhammad and it's important to modernity (ph). The way that we solve that problem is by democratizing the right of interpretation by increasing the literacy of the average citizen who happens to be a Muslim and is the primary target of terror so that they can push back against these radicalized ideologies that oppose the tradition of the Prophet Muhammad.

GUILFOYLE: Well, that's a example of the reason, but are they losing the battle to the (inaudible), Eric?

BOLLING: So I keep seeing this Imam Choudary and I keep thinking of he's -- honestly, he's about as helpful to the Islamic relations in America as Al Sharpton is to the race relations in America. I mean he's insightful. Everything he says puts a further wedge and divide into dividing, you know, moderate Muslims who maybe would not want -- would want to push back on some of the things that are going on. He kind of paints them all in the same picture. I feel the same way when it was Al Sharpton talk about race in America. It's all -- I'm kind of tired of seeing both of them on TV. I think the other gentleman -- I can't remember his name -- I've seen him around from Boston bombing. That guy is fantastic. He's right on. You want to talk about really being someone who unites people, then that second guy and I can't remember his name. I'm sorry.

GUILFOYLE: OK. (Inaudible). Dana?

BOLLING: Yes.

PERINO: Well, one of the things that Younis talked about is the need for education. I think that is absolutely key and that's all across the world for even just teaching people to read. But one of the things that some Muslim countries do not allow is for the education of girls. That's not true everywhere and there are some very well-educated young women in the Muslim world, but they are doing lots -- there's lots of exchanges, there's lots of programs. The Bush Center actually has a great one where they work with Tunisian women and Egyptian women. They've had several different classes come through. They spent six weeks in America and they get followup help and go back to their countries and become really good leaders. But the fact -- if you don't have half of your education -- half of your population educated and then contributing I think that that is a missing link that we could -- the western -- the western world could help in that regard. I think that education piece is the most important. However, that said, that is a 25 to 70-year plan.

(CROSSTALK)

PERINO: . before you have an immediate -- right -- we have a short -- an immediate short term problem where we have terrorists who have been trained in bad places like Syria that are coming back to our cities. Number one, we got to be able to find them. In the long run, we have to find a way to try to educate those people especially the young women.

GUILFOYLE: Right, but then what should be the short game. Do we reach some of these young individuals online, through social media to kind of.

PERINO: Absolutely.

GUILFOYLE: . speed up the process?

GUTFELD: First, I wanna congratulate USA Today, what a coups getting Imam Choudhary a featured column in their paper. You'll be shot last.

PERINO: Right.

(LAUGHTER)

GUTFELD: What we could do is could listen to the -- to this Egyptian -- Bob, what's his name?

PERINO: It's Sisi (ph).

GUTFELD: An amazing speech.

BECKEL: Absolutely.

GUTFELD: An absolutely amazing speech. He accused the -- I mean, he's Muslim, accused the Islamic world of allowing hostility to spread. He bemoaned that his religion is the source of anxiety and pain, but he didn't blame the thinking, and this is the stuff-this is the stuff of Gandhi, of Martin Luther King, of Nelson Mandela. Where is it? It's nowhere. I didn't even know he's -- I mean, like I'm guilty because I've been talking about this guy, and I -- his name escaped me but he gave a speech that the entire media ignored.

(CROSSTALK)

BECKEL: Not only that, listen to this. He did this in front of a room full of Eman (ph).

GUTFELD: Yeah.

BECKEL: . in a -- in a middle of.

(CROSSTALK)

GUILFOYLE: Very brave. Yeah.

BECKEL: . extremely brave. I've been waiting for this since -- when remember we first had this done when we were doing -- when they were beginning -- they began to kill the cops and Christians, as where are the moderate -- the Muslim leaders? Where are the -- has this come (ph)? This guys.

GUILFOYLE: He's calling for religious revolution.

BECKEL: Well, what he's saying is -- is no, he's looking (ph) for interpretation.

BOLLING: Reformation.

GUILFOYLE: Yeah.

BECKEL: Reformation, that's right.

BOLLING: Yeah.

BECKEL: I mean (inaudible) call Martin Luther of the.

GUTFELD: Yeah.

BECKEL: . of the Islam. But their -- he's right about this. The teachings now have spread to a point where -- where it's acceptable as Main Street as long -- as mainstream as -- as mainstream Islamic thinking is way off base.

GUILFOYLE: But he's say -- and he's saying exactly what you've been echoing, the same sentiment which is that he believes that Muslim clerics should take the lead.

BECKEL: Yup.

GUILFOYLE: . and rethinking (ph) completely the direction that Islam has taken.

BOLLING: Absolutely.

GUILFOYLE: You have to start at the core there where people go in their places of worship and start infiltrating the poisonous thinking and Jihadi's mentality and go -- go from there.

BECKEL: Yes.

GUTFELD: I agree. That's why I brought it up.

GUILFOYLE: OK. We concur. This is such a happy thought. Do you have something?

BOLLING: No, no. I was just -- does he have an opinion. I wanna know if Prophet Muhammad can be pictured in a carton or not?

GUILFOYLE: My sense of anemia (ph). I hope he gets back.

BOLLING: Right.

GUILFOYLE: Coming up.

GUTFELD: By the way, we'll just remind everybody that we have these cartoons all over our Web site.

GUILFOYLE: Yeah, foxnews.com.

GUTFELD: So, take a look.

BECKEL: We aren't scared.

PERINO: Some of them are pretty good.

GUILFOYLE: OK.

GUTFELD: Yeah.

GUILFOYLE: Coming up, did the Paris Jihadist response will call from ISIS and did the attacker see the video. Dana is gonna tell us about next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PERINO: So, did the Paris attackers answer a call from ISIS? Two months ago the terror network put out a propaganda video urging Muslims to strike in France, offering them direct support if they did. We don't know yet if any of the suspects were ISIS members but we do know they have terror ties and one of them helped funnel fighter to Iraq's insurgency.

Meanwhile, ISIS has been able to prosper across large portions of Iraq after U.S. forces withdrew. Some fear Afghanistan could also fall to terrorists now that we're pulling out of there. But U.S. General John Campbell says, "This time will be different."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN CAMPBELL, U.S. AIR FORCE COMMANDER: There is a lot more talk from many of the senior leaders I deal with them -- on the Afghan security forces about Iraq and Syria and what's going on, and saying, "Hey, the coalition left Iraq," and a couple years later look what happened. Don't let that happen to us in Afghanistan.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The U.S. significantly underestimated the risks of withdrawing completely from Iraq. Do you face any of the same risks here?

CAMPBELL: The fundamental difference is that the senior leadership, both on the military side and in the government, want the coalition. They want the U.S. to stay here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PERINO: Now, before we take it around the table, I just want to do one more sound bite from Bob's favorite person.

BECKEL: Charles?

PERINO: . it makes a lot of sense. This is Charles Krauthammer last night.

BECKEL: God, Krauthammer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER, AMERICAN PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING SYNDICATED COLUMNIST, AUTHOR, POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, AND PHYSICIAN: Obviously, the president is responding the way he has to, expressing sympathy and saying we're gonna show our determination. But, you know, for years he's beginning speeches in which he says the war has corrupted us, we cannot remain on our war footing, we have to change, we have to end this war. You can't end a war unilaterally and what we're getting week after week in Australia, here, in Canada, everywhere are redeclarations again and again that the war is ongoing and the west is the target.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PERINO: So, well in response to the terrorist attack yesterday in Paris, one of the things President Obama said, Greg, is that this is senseless violence. Well, I understand it's senseless perhaps to some of us in the west but to those that are perpetrating the attack, it makes perfect sense.

GUTFELD: Yeah, actually.

PERINO: It's like we're -- we're just thinking about this totally differently.

GUTFELD: Yeah, like that it's somehow separate. Retreating from a problem doesn't make a problem going away. It's like a fire in a rearview mirror. You're driving away and it looks -- it looks smaller but it's still growing and still burning and that's what this problem -- that's what this problem is.

There isn't another America that we can flee too. There isn't a companion planet that we can jump off where everybody is normal and happy. We have to deal with this.

GUILFOYLE: Well, that's amount of game (ph) and moving.

GUTFELD: Yeah, exactly. And that -- but it does go back to the cartoon aspect of this. Networks are worried about their employees. They don't wanna show these cartoons. But we're talking about ISIS. It's not like ISIS is gonna go easy on you if you don't show the cartoons.

So, I mean, we know that ISIS is involved. They're going to kill us anyway.

PERINO: And to -- and to Krauthammer's point, Eric, the enemy -- if you have an enemy, you can't let them be more committed to winning than you are.

BOLLING: They are.

PERINO: OK. That's fine.

BOLLING: They're -- they're more committed than the people that are -- are representing us on -- on TV, when President Obama a couple of hours -- and listen, I'm not pointing just at President Obama. There is -- there is a whole left that says Ben Affleck. The whole group of them that say, "Listen, let's not tick off the world Muslim world over this."

Well look, you have to. You have to call them out. You have to point to fingers.

(CROSSTALK)

PERINO: Even you (ph) call for.

(CROSSTALK)

BOLLING: You have to paint the picture. Put the target on their back. Not all Muslims. Radical Muslim extremists. Weed them out and kill them. Point them out. See something, say something. How many times have we heard that? We heard it after 9/11, and it worked. Someone was suspicious, they took a picture.

I'll say this again. I'm going to get destroyed for this. You see something that looks suspicious, make a phone call. It's not Islamophobic if they happen to be Muslim. OK?

BECKEL: Before I let you get away with saying that too far, I want to know where the conservatives are. You know, when Charles, "Unilaterally, we're pulling out," the United States is pulling out after every other coalition member said they didn't want to be in there anywhere.

Now, the fact of the matter is, there may be some agreement they should stay there, but the United States did not act first here. Our coalition partners led, led in leaving. They don't want to be involved in this war.

PERINO: But who cares? Why don't we leave?

BECKEL: That's the point. I mean, you have a coalition, and you have -- you don't even have the Canadians with you. Then what are you going to do?

The question is, is the place to fight this -- and I still believe the place (ph) is, altogether, ISIS. You know, I do see things which cover this story, is that ISIS has had some real setbacks, real setbacks.

PERINO: Some.

BECKEL: In the meantime, they're spreading this thing out there by sending out these messages, and that's a result of it. I'm not sure this battle is in Afghanistan, if it's not in ISIS sending out these messages, as you pointed out, that we're developing these cells all over the world.

GUILFOYLE: Well, I don't think -- I don't think there's a compelling argument to say that they've been significantly degraded, and they're...

BECKEL: Not significantly, but they've had setbacks. They've had setbacks.

GUILFOYLE: They've had a few setbacks, but these aren't meaningful enough to put a stop to it. Because this is -- they're still gaining momentum, and this video, in particular, got a lot of play. It was widely distributed; it's studio quality. It's within the U.K.; it was in the United States. It's got English subtitles, because it's meant to reach a large spectrum to be able to achieve jihad and reach them and try and radicalize them. And that's the problem.

The quote from the vide, "If you're unable to come to Syria or Iraq, then pledge allegiance in your place. Pledge allegiance in France." OK? And the French jihadi, Abu Salman al-Faransi, he says in the video, "Operate within France. Terrorize them. Do not allow them to sleep, due to fear and horror."

This is what they want. They want everyone afraid.

BECKEL: Right.

GUILFOYLE: But what are we going to do in response to it?

BECKEL: Well, but the question is, is -- if staying in Afghanistan, as opposed to getting a coalition and going after ISIS where they are, if you could make that commitment -- we know where they are. We know where they - - for the first time, we know where they all are.

GUILFOYLE: Not this...

BECKEL: Why not go after them?

PERINO: But Bob -- but back that thought up four years, five, six years ago, OK, and how did ISIS get to be in the position that it's in now? Because they knew we were leaving.

GUILFOYLE: Right.

PERINO: And that is -- that was a choice that America made. So you didn't...

GUILFOYLE: It's a baby of al Qaeda.

PERINO: We have to deal with the situation we have at hand, but that -- there is a root cause.

GUTFELD: We had -- we had the will to win, and then we transformed that into the will to leave. But we don't have the luxury to declare that this war is over. But we do have one luxury. The ability and the men and the power to win a war. And we don't embrace that luxury. Instead...

BECKEL: And we do have...

(CROSSTALK)

PERINO: And it's not a war over territory. It's a war over ideas.

GUTFELD: Yes.

BECKEL: We do it alone? We do it with no allies? I'm for it. Don't get me wrong. If we have to, we have to.

PERINO: No, we leave.

BECKEL: But I don't understand why we're not putting...

GUTFELD: It's like "Field of Dreams." You blow it up, they will come.

BECKEL: ... why we're not putting the heat on a lot of these so-called conservative governments in Europe who are turning their backs and saying...

PERINO: Well, one, I think that we could. No. 2, I think that one of the things that has happened in those places is that they have deteriorated their military to the extent that they can't help us very much.

BECKEL: Well...

GUTFELD: That's a good point.

BECKEL: If they had some liberals in there, it wouldn't be deteriorated.

GUTFELD: They've been deteriorating it.

GUILFOYLE: What? They're the root cause of it.

BECKEL: America -- America -- well, the German military has been cut way back in the face of a conservative government.

PERINO: Hey, Bob, why don't you just lean back in your chair just a little bit more?

GUILFOYLE: Yes.

BECKEL: No, no, no.

GUILFOYLE: A little bit more.

PERINO: A little further. A little further.

BECKEL: You guys -- you're too fast talking about the left; you don't throw the right in there, because they're equally as wussy.

PERINO: Why...

GUILFOYLE: What?

PERINO: OK.

GUILFOYLE: Whoa.

PERINO: All right. Did a baseball legend's conservative politics keep him out of the Hall of Fame? He thinks so. That and more coming up in the "Fastest Seven."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLLING: Welcome back. Time for...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(MUSIC)

GRAPHIC: Fastest 7

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLLING: ... the "Fastest Seven" minutes on television. Three winning stories, seven whirlwind minutes, one winsome host.

First up one, just hours after the terror attack in Paris, the People's Choice Awards ceremony went live last night. Ben Affleck, a liberal wus on terror and afraid to call radical Muslims terrorists, won an award for humanitarianism. Here's the Hollywood heartthrob.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEN AFFLECK, ACTOR/DIRECTOR: Sometimes the world is just a scary and terrible place, and bad things happen.

The one way to combat the sad things we see, the terrible things that we see, is to try to bring a little bit of kindness into the world and to show that our country is about reaching out and helping our fellow man.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLLING: All right. Boy, I don't know where to start. You want to start with this one?

PERINO: I would.

BOLLING: OK.

PERINO: I think that we have to -- I want to defend Ben Affleck. I don't know him, but I don't think he's a wus on terror. I think we has a different way of talking about it, but I don't think that that means you're a wus. I think that he would be appalled by it.

The award was actually for his work in East Congo, which deserves a lot more attention. There's hardly any foreign journalists in Africa any more to cover some atrocious behavior there by the rebels. And I think -- so any attention there is welcome.

I think he's a right. There's a lot of good stories coming out of Africa right now, but there are some that seem so overly daunting, that his attention to it was one of the bright spots of 2014 in Africa coverage.

BECKEL: Let me -- let me side here with Dana. And by the way, winsome? Whatever that means, winsome.

This guy is not a wus. This guy went to the Congo and then threatened his whole life...

BOLLING: That's not fair.

BECKEL: ... his whole life on this -- wait a minute.

BOLLING: I said a wus on terror, who's afraid to call Islamic terrorists Islamic.

BECKEL: I think Dana's right; he takes a different view. But this is a guy that just doesn't write a check. He actually goes and does something about it. You've got to give him a break. I don't see so many people that you think are such big deals over in the Congo doing anything for anybody.

BOLLING: I had no commentary on what he did in the Congo whatsoever. If you read that again, and play it back, you'll hear it had everything to do with -- in fact, Bill Maher took him to task for it. And I for once agree with Bill Maher vehemently, on his stance versus...

GUILFOYLE: Well, I didn't love the Bill Maher situation, but I love the rest about Ben. I think he's a good guy. I know him. I think he's a class act. He does give back. He does a lot of charitable acts. He works with Bono's organization, as well. He also does other charitable acts.

BOLLING: This is a Ben Affleck love fest.

GUILFOYLE: I'm just telling you the truth. In Africa...

(CROSSTALK)

PERINO: He's winning a humanitarian award.

GUILFOYLE: ... and to end worldwide hunger. So I'm for that.

BOLLING: How about -- fair enough, fair enough. Great guy.

Your thoughts, Greg?

GUTFELD: Did you -- you've learned -- OK. Eric, you've learned a valuable lesson here. Sometimes treating politics as a team isn't always wise. Because there will be people that you disagree with on an ideological point that actually does something well. So they're not always going to be the bad guy.

In this case, you know, I'm, like, with you. I disagree with him deeply on radical Islam and the way you combat it. But if -- but people are complex, and he does great work in the Congo; and you have to give it to him.

GUILFOYLE: I do.

BOLLING: Very good. Let's leave it right there.

GUILFOYLE: Bolling, tell us about his hair.

BOLLING: I have a little out (ph) and take it. There's no crying in baseball, but...

BECKEL: Winston just got whipped.

BECKEL: ... when Curt Schilling was passed over for the Baseball Hall of Fame and asked about it on the "Dennis and Callahan" radio show, he blamed his politics. Not kidding. Listen.

GUILFOYLE: Not kidding.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why do you think John Smoltz got 240 more votes than you did yesterday?

CURT SCHILLING, FORMER MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL PLAYER (via phone): Well, I think he's a Democrat. And so I know that as a Republican, that there are some people that really don't like that. So, I don't think that it kept me in or anything like that. But -- or kept me out. But I do know that there are guys who probably won't ever vote for me because of the things that I said or did.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLLING: All right. Quick round on this. Bobby, look, sports writers going on that, and doubt it has anything to do with his politics.

BECKEL: Well, it probably has much to do with he doesn't deserve to be in the Hall of Fame yet. He wasn't good enough to be in the Hall of Fame.

GUILFOYLE: Whoa, whoa, whoa.

BOLLING: He's got some pretty darn good career numbers. He has...

BECKEL: He has some good career numbers but not necessarily first -- world...

BOLLING: Smoltz got in, and he has about -- really not that far away from Smoltz's numbers.

BECKEL: I see, because Smoltz is a communist, and that's why he got in.

BOLLING: No, actually that probably doesn't have anything...

GUTFELD: Obviously. He's a Red.

BOLLING: You want to take it?

GUTFELD: Yes, well, you know what? When you're doing an interview, don't do it in a bathroom.

GUILFOYLE: He's going to get in.

GUTFELD: But you rarely ever hear the reverse complaint, like "My leftism cost me my job," because it never happens.

BOLLING: Right. And they are sports writers. Go ahead.

GUILFOYLE: He -- I think he's a great player. I've enjoyed watching him over the years, and I think he's going to get it. It's just a matter of time. There is a tremendous amount of people ahead of him that also have great stats and great name recognition.

BOLLING: Now Dana, we know you're a huge, huge baseball fan. Your thoughts on Curt...?

PERINO: I actually know who Curt Schilling is. I actually recognize him from the picture there. I don't think -- baseball doesn't seem as vindictive to conservatives as, like, the world of entertainment.

GUTFELD: Yes.

PERINO: But maybe it is. I don't know. Maybe so.

GUTFELD: I don't think so.

BOLLING: I don't either. Later on he said he was just kidding. Whatever. Anyway, let's move on.

Check out Nicole Kidman on "The Tonight Show." Apparently, Kidman was up for dating Jimmy Fallon back in the day but seemed -- Jimmy Fallon seemed to have no interest, so she moved on. Watch how Fallon handles that news.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NICOLE KIDMAN, ACTOR: So Rick, our mutual friend, says, you know, "Jimmy wants to meet you and you can go over..."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUTFELD: Whoa, what happened there?

PERINO: What happened there?

BOLLING: We just cut the end of it off.

PERINO: Live TV.

GUILFOYLE: She said...

GUTFELD: He laughs, he said, "You wanted to date me?"

She said, "Yes, I would have."

And he said, "Oh, my gosh. I could" -- hold on. Let's do it. We got it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KIDMAN: So Rick, our mutual friend, said, "Oh, you know, Jimmy wants to meet you, and you can go over to his apartment and da-da-da-da." And I'm single, and I'm like, OK. Yes, cool.

FALLON: Wait. What? Could I date Nicole Kidman?

KIDMAN: And you didn't talk at all. And so after about an hour and a half, I thought he has no interest. This is so embarrassing. And then I was like, maybe he's gay.

FALLON: No!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLLING: All right, K.G. You're up on this one.

GUILFOYLE: That's so funny. I mean, can you imagine? She's telling a true story. But he's so, so happily married, and he just had another baby, so it worked out in the end.

BOLLING: Yes. Greg.

GUTFELD: Yes, but she's really good with distinguishing between gay and straight guys, so she knew he was straight. That must have -- that must have thrilled Jimmy's wife, who's like going -- like, she's seeing her husband go -- he's acting like he missed a golden opportunity to get out of meeting me.

BOLLING: Let's who she's -- she's been married to Tom Cruise. And she's been married to...

GUILFOYLE: Keith Urban.

PERINO: Keith Urban.

GUTFELD: Keith Urban?

PERINO: When I saw this story, I thought about Bob and all the possible misconnections you might have had.

BECKEL: No kidding. If I'd missed that one, I'd have shot myself. I mean, she -- I wouldn't have had a chance anyway. But I mean, come on, man. It must kill a guy. I don't care what his wife thinks.

GUTFELD: You don't know about that. You might have dodged a bullet, to use your metaphor. You never know. You...

BECKEL: I'll tell you what. That's a bullet I'd be willing to take, man, just for one night.

BOLLING: On that note, let's leave it right there.

GUILFOYLE: Yes, let's.

BOLLING: NBC does it again, erasing God from the Pledge of Allegiance. We're going to show you that.

But up next, some of America's most well-known comedians got serious last night while addressing the Paris massacre. Stay tuned.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECKEL: The terror attack on a satirical newspaper in Paris has elicited a show of solidarity throughout the free world, and especially in the world of comedy. Last night, some of the late-night comedians took a more serious tone to address the massacre.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CONAN O'BRIEN, HOST, TBS'S "CONAN": In this country we just take it for granted that it's our right to poke fun at the untouchable or the sacred. But today's tragedy in Paris reminds us very viscerally that it's a right some people are inexplicably forced to die for.

JON STEWART, HOST, COMEDY CENTRAL'S "THE DAILY SHOW": Stark reminder that, for the most part, the legislators and journalists and institutions that we jab and ridicule are not, in any way, the enemy. For, however frustrating or outraged the back and forth can become, it's still back and forth, a conversation amongst those on, let's call it, Team Civilization.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECKEL: I think it's an awfully good point, both of them.

Kimberly, don't you think they both put their finger exactly on the right thing? That everybody takes this. I mean, we all get made fun of.

GUILFOYLE: Absolutely. And I'm glad that they took a moment and used their voice and their audience to be able to reach people and reach a demographic and a younger group that needs to understand we all must stand together and be courageous in decrying this type of radical Islam. It cannot be allowed to stand. And if people want to shy away from it, it's just going to -- it's going to weaken the links all together.

BECKEL: Just quickly, Dana, don't you think, though -- you hear this from people when there are particular institutions that act like this. I mean, I don't remember whether these comedians have ever said anything about this when other terror attacks. I'm glad they're doing it. Don't get me wrong. But I'm wondering whether this is...

PERINO: I absolutely agree. One of the things that was so frustrating during the Benghazi situation is when our government perp-walked the YouTube maker -- YouTube video maker that made a video that was wrongfully suggested as the root cause of the -- of causing the terror attack in Benghazi. That was a lie. And we pulled him out of bed and showed the Muslim world that we were willing to put somebody in jail for making a video and put him in jail. Now, maybe he deserved to be in jail for probation violations, but you don't pull somebody out of their bed at night to do that. That was unusual, and no one in Hollywood said anything. And that's the slippery slope.

If you don't defend first -- the First Amendment for everybody, then when it comes to your particular industry, or your sector of -- in this case it's satire, then you want to defend them. I'm all for that, but I think they should do it across the board.

BECKEL: It raises the ultimate question, who leaked the video? Greg.

GUTFELD: Well, you know what...

PERINO: We know who leaked it.

GUTFELD: Yes.

PERINO: What we don't know is who pushed it.

BECKEL: What's the question you always ask?

GUTFELD: Who pushed it.

PERINO: Who pushed it.

BECKEL: Who pushed it, right.

GUTFELD: Who leaked it, then pushed it. A medical issue.

GUILFOYLE: Oh!

GUTFELD: Solidarity -- solidarity is easy, but FOX News has been more outspoken on these issues than anybody in Hollywood combined, so much so that we have been the butt of jokes over this.

PERINO: Yes.

GUTFELD: Stephen Colbert used to run segments laughing at our Benghazi coverage of the truck on fire and how funny that was that we would obsess over these attacks, and obsess meant dispensing facts; but to them it was obsessing. So I'm glad to see that they take this seriously.

But were talking about Theo van Gogh, the film director who was stabbed with a flag placed on his chest from a radical Muslim. We talked about Hirsi Ali, who's you know, been chased around the planet for coming out against Islam. So I guess I'd like to see this continue.

BECKEL: That's the question. Are we just going to continue? Do you think these guys will pick it up and go with it now?

BOLLING: That was the point I made. That was great. You all have outrage, and we all have outrage of what happened. Where are you going to be going forward?

PERINO: Right.

BOLLING: Are you going to be afraid to call out radicalism? Are you going to step up, or are you going to do what Bill Maher has done and say, "I've been doing it all along. I'm going to continue to do it."

We at this table -- I'm not going to say who, but we at this table get in a lot of trouble for speaking our minds sometimes. Sometimes we say things - - you know, we're live on TV. Sometimes things come out, and we get in trouble; and we have to walk back. But we do it, and we continue do it.

Will they continue to speak their minds, satirists and comedians, or will they say, "Well, I don't want to get our company in trouble or any of my coworkers in trouble"? Hopefully, they take the next step and continue to call out radical Muslims, Islam terrorists, for what they are.

BECKEL: I have no idea who around this table you're talking about. "One More Thing" is up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GUTFELD: Time for "One More Thing." Kimberly, I hope it's about Paul Sorvino.

GUILFOYLE: Oh, yes. It is. It is. OK, well, this is about Steve Barber, the new owner of the Clippers. Remember him?

GUTFELD: Is that a barbershop?

GUILFOYLE: Did you go here today?

GUTFELD: Yes.

GUILFOYLE: So he was feeling himself and dancing to Fergie at the game. Take a look and see what you think. Has he got the movies or does he not?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(MUSIC)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUTFELD: Yes, he does.

GUILFOYLE: That was pretty funny. So Matt Barnes when he was asked about it said, "Well, you can't have everything. You can't have money and..."

BOLLING: Moves?

PERINO: I'd rather have money.

GUILFOYLE: I love it. He should dance at every dame.

BOLLING: It was fun. That guy has a lot of fun.

GUTFELD: I would have liked to have seen that shirtless.

GUILFOYLE: I mean, imagine. He's like, whoa, I'm rich, I own a team, I'm courtside, check me out.

GUTFELD: All right, enough.

Bob.

BECKEL: Did you hear about who married -- who got married? Oh, no. I'm sorry.

GUTFELD: Oh, my God.

BECKEL: Today would mark the 80th birthday of the greatest rock 'n' roll legend of all time. And let me pay tribute to the greatest musician in history, including Beethoven and Bach.

GUTFELD: And Paul Sorvino.

BECKEL: And Paul Sorvino. And Edie.

GUTFELD: Edie.

He's something else, huh? Elvis. Elvis is something else.

BOLLING: You know, I'm happy for them.

GUILFOYLE: I'm so happy for them. It's great.

GUTFELD: It's a great piece.

BECKEL: There are a lot of us that are happy about it.

PERINO: He's performing this Saturday.

GUTFELD: Yes, he is. He's still...

Dana.

GUILFOYLE: Don't let Bob look at me, please.

PERINO: So 2016, the big presidential election, but it's also going to be a big year for the United States Senate, and we're starting to see some movement there. California Senator Barbara Boxer -- she served the state for 21 years -- announced today that she will be retiring. So that will be a big race out there. Her good friend, former speaker Nancy Pelosi, was at a press conference today, but she hadn't heard the news. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have you heard of Senator Boxer's retirement?

SEN. NANCY PELOSI (D), CALIFORNIA: No.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PERINO: She was like, what? Anyway, she missed the call from Barbara Boxer. She thought that maybe she just wanted to have dinner or something. Turns out it was a call she should have taken.

GUTFELD: Really?

PERINO: Interesting, right?

GUTFELD: Yes. Another interesting fast about 2016?

GUILFOYLE: What?

GUTFELD: Bob's dating range.

All right.

PERINO: Going backwards?

GUTFELD: It's time for...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GUTFELD: Greg's Sports Corner.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUTFELD: All right. It's time for the Olympic hedgehog bowling, straight from Malpedus (ph), California. Let's take a look at Frisky McAnthony over here.

PERINO: What?

GUTFELD: He scored a record, knocking down 18 pins total over 20 frames. He's moved onto the finals against Fluffy McNutter, who's all the way from Taiwan.

BOLLING: A couple of Irish -- a couple of Irish hedgehogs.

GUTFELD: Yes, Irish hedgehogs. They're amazing. They love to have fun.

All right. I'm sorry. Eric.

BOLLING: All right, very quickly, there's a new show on NBC called "Allegiance." Take a look at the promo. Listen very carefully to the words.

GUILFOYLE: Oh, my God.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GRAPHIC: ... And to the republic for which it stands.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our comrades.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have a task for you. You turn your son into a spy.

GRAPHIC: ... one nation (under God?) indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLLING: All right. The promo left out the words "under God." They say, "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands." And then it goes to "one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all." NBC, you screwed up.

PERINO: Why?

GUTFELD: There you go.

BOLLING: They screwed up.

GUTFELD: Never miss an episode. That's it.

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