Losing Confidence in the War on Terror?

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Hi, I'm Bill O'Reilly. Thank you for watching us tonight.

Anew poll says many Americans are losing confidence in the war against terror. That's the subject of this evening's Talking Points Memo.

A USA Today/CNN poll shows a huge drop in the number of Americans who think the war on terror is going well. Back in January, 66 percent believed the USA was winning the war on terror. Now that number has dropped to just 40 percent. And 15 percent of Americans say the terrorists are winning the fight.

These stats should not surprise anyone, because America has not been able to capture Usama bin Laden, and we are constantly getting terror threats. To be fair, it's difficult for any civilian, including me, to analyze just how the war is going. Many things are happening behind the scenes. I hope and pray that President Bush is pursuing a top secret course of eliminating the terror leadership.

Many Americans disagree with me on this, but I think in this war, the Geneva Convention and due process laws are out of date and actually harmful to this nation. I mean, come on! Are we supposed to wait for a cataclysmic attack before realizing that these fanatical terrorists will use weapons of mass destruction if they can?

In The New York Times today, there was the predictable left-wing reaction to the FBI's new mandate of investigating possible terror activity without probable cause. I looked hard at the new policy and found that none of my rights will be violated. I don't care if somebody wants to watch me come out of church.

But hard-core ideologues both on the left and the right will usually act in a knee-jerk fashion, and The Times did not disappoint on the left.

But surprisingly, across the page, liberal Times columnist Nicholas Kristof did depart from the cliche.  Kristof said that liberal thought handcuffs law enforcement and is at least part of the reason why the FBI failed in protecting us from the terrorists.

Good for you, Mr. Kristof. At this point, common sense, not tired ideology, should be on the minds of Americans. It is common sense that the FBI and the CIA be given more latitude to fight terrorism. And it is common sense that America begin terrorizing the terrorists by targeted assassinations.

Will that happen? Who knows? And if it does, I hope the Bush administration keeps it quiet. Just get those guys.

And that's the memo.

The Most Ridiculous Item of the Day

Time for "The Most Ridiculous Item of the Day."

Remember that stripper mom in Sacramento, who's daughter was expelled from the Christian school she attended? Well, we helped mediate a compromise with the five-year-old, was reinstated. The pastor also said he would try to find Christina Silva some work that would not require her to slide down a pole with no clothes on.

Apparently, Christina was not much interested in an alternative vocation, because she has now posed for "Playboy's" Web site. Great. She says doing that is every American woman's dream. There is no truth to the rumor that her daughter will now be home schooled by Hugh Hefner. That might be ridiculous.

— You can watch Bill O'Reilly's Talking Points and "Most Ridiculous Item" weeknights at 8 & 11p.m. ET on the Fox News Channel. Send your comments to: oreilly@foxnews.com