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

What the president should say, that is the subject of this evening's Talking Points Memo .

In less than an hour, Mr. Bush will read his State of the Union address as he is halfway through his first term.  Two issues and two issues matter this evening.  Iraq and the economy.

The president has an enormous opportunity to put the final nail in Saddam Hussein's coffin.  If he can convince Americans that a war against Iraq protects the United States.

The truth is that if 9/11 did not happen, we would not be after Saddam, because the threat of attack by terrorists would not be as intense as it is.  But in the war on terrorism, any government that embraces the goals of organizations that target civilians, and Saddam does that all day every day, must be confronted.

The New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof wrote today that he is afraid bad things might happen if we fight Iraq.  Well, here's a clue, Nick, bad things are happening anyway.  Saddam cannot account for anthrax stocks, V.X. gas and on and on.

You cannot win any war, terror or otherwise, if you operate out of fear.  And believe me, if Saddam Hussein is allowed to stay in power, after violating all of those U.N. mandates, every political killer in the world will be emboldened, and the United Nations will lose all authorities to right wrongs.

Night after night here on The Factor we have proven that many of those against the war have other agendas.  France and Russia, for example, have lucrative oil contracts with Saddam.  And some other countries celebrate terrorists who hurt us.

Here at home, many who oppose the Bush Administration do so, because they believe Mr. Bush is the world's big problem.  Not Saddam.

So this evening, Mr. Bush must demonstrate that he is a solution, not a problem.  That his aggressive strategy is designed to protect us.

He must also get specific about the economy and explain how he's going to get us out of this recession.

Of course, a victory over Saddam would ignite the stock market and calm economic fears the world over, but you don't initiate military action to stimulate business.  You initiate military action to protect your people.

And that's the case President Bush has to make.  And that's The Memo.

The Most Ridiculous Item of the Day

No "Most Ridiculous" due to special coverage of the President's State of the Union address.

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