This is a rush transcript from "The Five," April 4, 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, Dana Perino, and Brian Kilmeade.
It's 5:00 in New York City, and this is "The Five."
(MUSIC)
GUILFOYLE: From president to Picasso. There's a big new art exhibit open in Dallas, Texas, and it includes more than two dozen portraits of world leaders, and the artist is none other than former President George W.
Bush. Now, since leaving the office, 43 has put down his pen and picked up a paint brush.
And today, he unveiled a gallery full of paintings. One of them is of Russian President Vladimir Putin. And Mr. Bush has some interesting things to say about the relationship.
Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT: Vladimir Putin, yes, I met with him a lot during the presidency. I got to know him well. We had a good relationship throughout. It got more tense as time went on.
Vladimir is a person who, in many ways, views the U.S. as an enemy, and although he wouldn't say that, I felt that he viewed the world as either U.S. benefits and Russia loses or vice versa.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUILFOYLE: Well, he also had an interesting story about his dog Barney and comrade Vlad.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
G.W. BUSH: Our dear dog Barney who has a special spot in my heart. I introduced him to Putin. You really call that a dog. Putin kind of dissed him and, you really call that a dog?
A year later, your mom and I go to visit him Vladimir in his dacha outside of Moscow and he said, would you like to meet my dog? Out bounds this huge hound, obviously much bigger than a Scottish terrier and Putin looks at me and says, bigger, stronger, and faster than Barney.
JENNA BUSH: And you kind of thought, is this symbolic of what he thinks?
G.W. BUSH: Well, I took it in, I didn't react. I just said, wow, anybody who thinks my dog is bigger than your dog is an interesting character.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUILFOYLE: I like that story. I think it's very -- it kind of gives you insight into the personalities, and it seems like they actually shared more than a cordial relationship, Dana, that there was some affinity and affection there.
DANA PERINO, CO-HOST: Between Vlad and Bush?
GUILFOYLE: Not between Vlad and Barney.
PERINO: No, not at all. I think President Bush knew who he was dealing with, especially at the end, and that famous meeting at the Olympics in Beijing. I'm impressed with President Bush's talents. He did not paint during the White House. He didn't pick up a paint brush until after he left.
One of the reasons he did is he read an essay that Winston Church hill had written about what it was like to transition out of public life into private life and you always need to keeping learn new things. And that's when Churchill started painting. He ends up being a very good painter as well, and President Bush tries it and he's really good.
And I got to say, it's really fun to watch Jenna Bush have an opportunity to interview her father. She's a superstar at NBC. The audience loves her and I think the fact that she's the only one who's going to get a chance to talk to her dad about this amazing exhibit. It's just really -- it's a good American story.
GUILFOYLE: It's special and it's touching.
PERINO: I love the portrait of the Dalai Lama. The one of Vladimir Putin I think is very interesting. The one that the president said is his favorite, the painting he did of his father, I think I love that one, too.
GUILFOYLE: I think that you're close enough to him that you could commission a portrait of "The Five." What do you think?
PERINO: Of "The Five"?
GUILFOYLE: I mean, he did Jasper.
PERINO: That's a lot to ask. That's a lot of canvas.
GUILFOYLE: That is a lot of canvas.
ERIC BOLLING, CO-HOST: A lot of paint.
PERINO: How could he paint the egos? It would be like --
GUILFOYLE: I don't know. But I was looking for Jasper hanging on the wall, right? That was a fetching portrait.
PERINO: That was a secret.
GUILFOYLE: Oh, it's a secret? Not anymore.
PERINO: Well, I don't show it.
BOLLING: So, you know what I found interesting in President Bush?
That interaction with the dog, Putin says you call that a dog, making kind of fun of Barney, but Vlad Putin has done that before. He had a big meeting with Angela Merkel, the German chancellor one time, recently in the last couple years. She's definitely afraid of dogs. She's especially afraid of big dogs.
He brought the dog to the meeting just to intimidate her. This man is all about intimidation. Interesting story, though.
The picture he said was his favorite of his father, his mother doesn't like it.
PERINO: I know.
Also, and Laura Bush said don't ever paint your wife.
BOLLING: Right.
GUILFOYLE: As Bolling brought it up. Let's take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
G.W. BUSH: I like the painting I did of dad. As you know, I love him dearly.
J. BUSH: Any tears when you were painting him?
G.W. BUSH: A little bit, you know, just thinking about him, you know?
He's a kind man. It was a joyful experience to paint him. I painted a gentle soul.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do you think?
BARBARA BUSH, FORMER FIRST LADY: That's my husband? I really like it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Come on.
B. BUSH: I like it.
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mrs. Bush, he's afraid to ask you, but he would like you to pose for a portrait. Would you do that?
B. BUSH: Absolutely not. As good as he is, it might look like me.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUILFOYLE: That's pretty funny. She also has a quick, sharp wit. I like that about her.
BOB BECKEL, CO-HOST: You know, it seems to me his -- by the way he talks about Putin now, he did as time went along, in the administration, get to be very suspicious of Putin. But you remember he started out saying I looked into his eyes and I could see his soul. He thought he saw a guy he could work with.
But KGB is good at looking like their soul is on their sleeve, and he learned quickly. It didn't take too long to pick up on it, but Putin is a scam artist. I mean, he's very good at that.
BRIAN KILMEADE, CO-HOST: I mean, you're just going to -- you understand what you're dealing with. And now, he knows what he's dealing with. What George Bush said is what we have been getting all these analysis. Who was Vladimir Putin? He looks -- every time America looks forward, he looks at it as a threat. What is good for us is bad for him.
We try to tell him that's not the way. He doesn't understand it.
Having said, I will say this -- we're not going to be able to change his mind. So, let's get the profile, put it in plaster. That's who we're dealing with, and understand the only thing he's going to pay attention to it is confrontation, and the only thing is going to stop him is to let him know we're not going to move.
I also thought it was fascinating to find out that Eisenhower loved to paint, Grant loved to paint, and Jimmy Carter loved to paint. There's something about painting.
I know one thing -- I would never want to paint. It seems so boring.
PERINO: I know. Not only that. You know, painting can be -- it's a private hobby in some ways, but to have the confidence and the courage to basically open up an entire exhibit to show the world, and imagine what it's like. I don't know what it would be like to wonder how a world leader is going to react to their portrait.
(CROSSTALK)
BOLLING: Can I ask you a dumb question? Was he good with numbers, President Bush?
PERINO: President Bush? Yes.
BOLLING: Because most people, you're really good with numbers, you have that side of your brain or the creative side. For him to pick up painting this quickly, really, it's only a couple of years.
PERINO: Maybe you could be a painter.
BOLLING: Zero creativity.
PERINO: You don't know.
BECKEL: I sketch with pencils, right?
GUILFOYLE: You sketched me, and somebody took it.
BECKEL: I know.
GUILFOYLE: Bob is very talented.
BECKEL: But compared to that, I mean, I do it with pencil. You can erase that. This stuff, once you do oil paints, you can't --
GUILFOYLE: It's a commitment. That's for sure. But you're very good, very talented. I would like the person who took my portrait that Bob did of me to return it, or we will find you and hunt you down. You will be very sorry.
On that note, sometimes women are good at handling conflict or sometimes they're not like that, but what's interesting is Hillary Clinton was speaking and she was talking about the double standard in the media, how they portray men versus women. Here are her thoughts.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: There is a double standard, obviously. We have all either experienced it or at the very least seen it. And there is a deep set of cultural psychological views that are manifest through this double standard. I think in many respect, the media is the principal propagator of its persistence.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(LAUGHTER)
GUILFOYLE: Bolling, are you amused by those comments?
BOLLING: Psychological propagator? What? I mean, what, really? If there's anything, it's probably left/right, and I think the left are more guilty of it than the right.
BECKEL: I don't -- listen, I think she certainly has not a whole lot to complain about. The press was very good to her, and for good reason. I mean, when she went through that issue with her husband and Monica Lewinsky, she had a tough ride and she did a good job with it. She showed a lot of poise. But she's also right about how women are treated by the press. I mean, they are treated differently.
BOLLING: Why?
BECKEL: In so many ways, these subtle things about -- you know, they talk about when a woman became CEO of --
BOLLING: G.M.?
BECKEL: Before that, the woman who got fired.
BOLLING: Yahoo?
BECKEL: Whatever, they said, well, some guy wrote, you know, it was a tough job for a woman to be sitting in. I mean, that's the kind -- where does that come from? I mean, that makes no sense to me at all. We'd be a lot better off if a lot more women were running board rooms and were running the Congress.
BOLLING: Why?
BECKEL: Because they're smarter. They're not like you. They don't want to fight everybody.
BOLLING: That's not -- how about equal? How about raise higher, or promote the one that's most capable?
BECKEL: If women were in charge of Congress, we'd have far fewer wars. I'll tell you that.
GUILFOYLE: Interesting.
Dana?
PERINO: I don't know if that's necessarily true. I think there's a double standard, but I think that in some ways, a lot of women can use it to their -- in their favor, OK, because perhaps a reporter might be a little bit more cautious about asking a question to a woman.
But I think it does work both ways. Sarah Palin was certainly a victim of it, but she was also a beneficiary of some of the double standards. You have to sort of -- yes, you have to accept it and move on.
And what Hillary Clinton will need to do if she decides to run is convince people she would be a good president, regardless of her gender.
GUILFOYLE: On the merits.
KILMEADE: She's already like Pele. You know, Hillary is just one word. She doesn't need a last name.
GUILFOYLE: I had a Pele lunch box.
KILMEADE: Did you really?
GUILFOYLE: Yes.
KILMEADE: Wow. You know, it's probably worth a lot of money. But the thermos, the glass in the thermos always broke. It got pretty dangerous for that one time you had Hawaiian punch, and you decide to drink it quickly.
But here's the deal. Hillary Clinton I think had a really hard time with Barack Obama. I thought she had a really tough time with the press with Barack Obama. But not because she was a woman, just because she wasn't Barack Obama.
I think if she wins -- if she runs, wins or loses, it will have nothing to do with whether she's a male or female.
GUILFOYLE: Anybody would have had a tough time against Barack Obama.
I mean, that's it, Republican or Democrat.
BOLLING: So, take that one step further. Barack Obama, potentially the first black president, right?
BECKEL: What do you mean potentially?
BOLLING: At the time. So, the media treated anyone who would go all in on an argument, oh, is he racist? I'm not sure. Now with Hillary, are you going to get the same thing? He must be a misogynist. He must be an antifeminist if he's going to go after her that hard. And, by the way, if she does become president and we don't like her liberal policies, we're all going to be accused of not liking that.
PERINO: I think one of the things that helped President Obama at the time, during that primary, is also that he was new, right? Because he talked about hope and change, and she didn't represent necessarily hope and change. She represented the old way of the Democratic Party. So, not necessarily a race issue, but more of an old school/new school thing.
BECKEL: She also had her husband, who was a meticulously good politician make some really bad mistakes, which was surprising to me. But that shows you the depth this feeling for her. I think he wanted to try to give something back after the deficit he's got with her over Lewinsky, but his handling in South Carolina was not just -- not Bill Clinton.
GUILFOYLE: Brian?
KILMEADE: Yes, with the whole thing, the whole problem with race.
BECKEL: Yes, with Jesse Jackson.
KILMEADE: Yes, put it this way. I'm fascinated by the fact he was up there for an hour asking Thomas Friedman, are you going to run for president? That's where it can be a big push. It's not easy to be a Democrat right now. Think about it --
GUILFOYLE: So hard.
KILMEADE: If you're an up and coming politician who thinks I'm going to run, how could you think about running? How could you raise a dollar?
As long as she's there, O'Malley and Cuomo or anybody else will not be able to get out of the gates, where Republicans got like 10 different options.
PERINO: But to Bob's point, if she starts to raise money for a possible presidential run but decides not to run, under the campaign finance laws which we're going to talk about in the next block, she could give the money to somebody else. Actually, it's not that hard to be a Democrat today. I mean, they're sitting like fat ducks.
KILMEADE: If you were Governor O'Malley, could you actually convince a governor to support you, knowing that he has no shot?
PERINO: I think if you were Governor O'Malley, you could not convince anybody on the merits to write a check. You would not win.
(CROSSTALK)
GUILFOYLE: And that is that.
BECKEL: If she doesn't run, she'll be a very good power broker in who does get the nomination. I mean, that's -- you know, she's got an organization out there and a lot of money and if she decides to tilt one way or another, that's a huge get if you can get it.
GUILFOYLE: All right. So, I think we can all agree, she will be a powerful player in 2016.
All right. Ahead, Facebook Friday returns. That's right. We're going to answer your questions. Go to Facebook.com/TheFiveFNC and post them now.
Next, a Supreme Court ruling on money that sets off a firestorm from the left. Dana has the details coming right up.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PERINO: There's a firestorm brewing over in this side of the table, but not about this. What we're going to talk about is a Supreme Court's historic decision on campaign donations this week. The high court ruled to erase limits on the total amount a donor can give to political candidates during an entire election cycle. That's two years.
It's being hailed by some as a victory for free speech and a disaster for political corruption by others. Here's reaction form the man at the center of the case.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHAUN MCCUTCHEON, ALABAMA BUSINESSMAN: It's a very good thing that private people and individual people outside the government are going to be able to support more candidates, parties, and committees. You know, it's not about the government regulating itself. It's about our free speech outside the government and our political process outside the government to choose who is going to be in the government.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PERINO: All right. That was Shaun McCutcheon. He was the plaintiff in the case.
And, Kimberly, this on a legal issue before we get to politics. Legal issue -- the Supreme Court was looking at a First Amendment claim. Why do you think he won?
GUILFOYLE: Well, the First Amendment claim, I think, is very interesting. What I would look at? I look at the language of the justices because I think it's very telling. You can also see kind of future decisions, things by the language that they're employing now.
What struck me was when I hear these justices talk about the collective, talk about the greater good, the greater group like that. To me, then I start to worry if they're making decisions based on the right reasons versus on behalf of a collective, right? So you have both sides kind of shaping this argument, each way, one saying First Amendment issue.
And in particular, you have the liberals feeling this is going to open the floodgates of corruption, whereas the conservatives think it's a protection of political speech, specifically under the guise of the First Amendment.
PERINO: So, Bob, in this decision, what the justices were saying is it's not that -- they didn't take away the amount of money per person you can give.
BECKEL: Right.
PERINO: They have removed the cap that said you could only give to X amount of people. Now it's as many people as you want, and that's what they said was the First Amendment issue. You think that this decision was wrong. Why?
BECKEL: I think it's horrible. I go back to -- the group I was working with was a plaintiff in Buckley versus Valeo, which the original campaign finance law and the aftermath of Watergate, and then the decision made was to put individual contributions on $2,600 in a primary, $2,600 in a general, and an overall limit in the $40,000, $46,000 or $48,000.
Now, what they have said is okay, we're going keep the individual caps in place, but you can do almost anything you want everyplace else. Well, that means you could go to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and say, I want $5 million dedicated to this campaign. You couldn't do that before.
They didn't say change much of the independent expenditure. What else do they have to do? I mean, they have given them free reign to do it. It is one of the worse decisions and for Roberts to say that leveling the playing field, this exact quote -- leveling the playing field is not an acceptable interest for the government.
I mean, if not leveling the playing field of this country, where all people are created equal, what is he talking about?
And that dude from Alabama, that Shaun McCutcheon, said that he was filing this thing in order to adopt conservative principles. And, by doing this, it's going to open up the ability to adapt conservative principles.
And the Koch brothers are going to be (INAUDIBLE)
BOLLING: Are you done?
GUILFOYLE: I know.
PERINO: But there's not a limit -- unions have no limits, but there were limits on individuals.
BOLLING: And therein lies the problem, and that's what this is all about. Kimberly is right. It's all about your First Amendment and constitutional right to participate in the political process. What's going on is the left has unions. The unions will donate with no limits. They can go ahead and do it.
So, what the left has done, they have said, you know what? Let's set up this apparatus that makes it so difficult to donate the way we're getting our donations, and they set up this intricate apparatus for donating and all these rules and regulations.
What happened with McCutcheon is he said let's eliminate some of them so more people can get involved. By the way, this doesn't just affect Republicans and conservatives. This affects liberals too. Liberals can now donate to who they want and a wider scale.
What is wrong with this, Bob? Why is this a bad thing?
BECKEL: In 2013-2014 filing for federal elections, $95,000 plus contributed, 73 percent were for Republicans, 26 percent were for Democrats. Now, that shows you after you get through George Soros and the ones you usually come up with, you look down the list of the top 50 --
BOLLING: Unions.
BECKEL: No, no, no.
PERINO: You have to look at the unions.
BECKEL: If you look at the top 52 givers in this country, individuals, 35 of them are Republicans.
PERINO: Can I get Brian in here?
A lot of people are concerned, is there too much money in politics?
That might be the case, but they might make that argument. But what the Supreme Court was asked to look at is your right as a individual based on principle, whether you're a Republican or a Democrat, to give as much as you want during an election cycle.
KILMEADE: See, I can see the rule with the amendment. I am concerned about the amount of money in politics, but I also see this. I didn't see one candidate last election that won or lost, it seems, due to money.
BECKEL: Ooh!
PERINO: Barack Obama won due to money?
KILMEADE: More money, maybe, than Mitt Romney, perhaps. But I didn't see any -- well, you know, he was the better candidate. He just didn't have the money. For the most part, the money is flowing in. It's how it's being disbursed.
GUILFOYLE: Yes, how you spend it.
KILMEADE: How you spend it and Barack Obama --
BECKEL: If we had a couple hours, I could give you plenty of cases like that, both sides.
PERINO: But, Bob, I have a question, because some people do advocate for more public financing of campaigns so there could be limits. But it was President Obama who as senator who was running was the first presidential nominee to decline the matching funds.
I mean, I don't think that this is necessarily a right versus left issue.
BECKEL: It's not.
PERINO: I think it's just about the First Amendment. That's what the Supreme Court was looking at.
GUILFOYLE: The collective versus the individual right.
BECKEL: You know, we have certain limits on what you can spend in general election as president and no outside groups can influence it. And Obama was the first one to break it. Why? Because you can raise three times as much money as the limit allowed.
PERINO: Let me ask you one other thing, which is Democratic Representative Jim Moran. He's in a little bit of hot water today because he thinks his salary at $174,000 is not enough for a politician to live on.
And we have a sound bite of him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JIM MORAN (D), VIRGINIA: I think that the American people should know that the members of Congress are underpaid. I understand that it's widely felt that they underperform, but the fact is that this is the board of directors for the largest economic entity in the world. A lot of members can't even afford to live decently.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KILMEADE: Wow, $175,000, you cannot live decently. In his case, he doesn't even need two residences. He's basically right there.
PERINO: He's a commuter.
KILMEADE: They say the average salary of people in his district is $63,000. So how is he possibly going to get anybody on his side when they can't even relate to his salary, which is three times, four times what they make?
BECKEL: We should remember, Moran wouldn't have said that if he wasn't retiring, number one. That would have been a death statement if you were --
PERINO: He might have, though.
BECKEL: Maybe, but the fact is, if these guys were on the free market, and Eric's free market, they're worth a lot more money than they're making in Congress.
BOLLING: Hold on, hold on. You're talking about the $174,000 salary, right?
BECKEL: Yes.
BOLLING: So, the national average for the median income is about $50,000. So, it's triple. They're making triple.
Don't forget all the other perks, the gym memberships, the lunches, and this one. Every single congressman gets between $1 million and $1.5 million to spend on his office, whether it's mailings, whether it's office furniture, water, they can spend it however they want with some rules, and every senator gets about $2 million also per year.
So, it's not the 174,000 bucks. If you add in all this --
GUILFOYLE: The perks.
BOLLING: The perks and spending.
BECKEL: But those perks don't go to the individual members. They use it to influence the electorate.
BOLLING: If you're drinking the bottled water there, did you benefit from the bottled water that the taxpayer paid for?
BECKEL: I think the water here is lousy --
GUILFOYLE: We don't get bottled water.
PERINO: He's not very hydrated.
Kimberly, last word.
GUILFOYLE: Look, I think many do a great job and they work very hard.
And, yes, if you look at the fair market value of a similar position, sure, they should make more, but this isn't the time to do it, not with approval ratings so low. But he went out on his own.
KILMEADE: Who asked him? I didn't ask him to run.
PERINO: Look, he's not the first member of Congress to say something like this. You have a Republican from Georgia who did the same.
BECKEL: But they're almost all retiring when they say it.
PERINO: That's true.
OK. Coming up, our Facebook free for all.
Plus, Letterman's big announcement and the new era of late night, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KILMEADE: All right. He's the longest running host in the history of late night TV.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you want (INAUDIBLE) I can -- I can kick.
DAVID LETTERMAN, TV HOST: OK. OK. I'm going to go check on the top ten.
How did you like being in jail?
PARIS HILTON, CELEBRITY MODEL: Not too much.
LETTERMAN: Can you tell us about your days with the Unabomber?
Oh, my gosh.
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
KILMEADE: David Letterman made his fans laugh for more than three decades. You can imagine their surprise when high told us about the phone call he made to his boss yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LETTERMAN: I said, Leslie, it's been great. You've been great. The network has been great, but I'm retiring.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is -- really?
LETTERMAN: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is true? You actually did this?
LETTERMAN: Yes, I did.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wow. Well, do I have a minute to call my accountant?
LETTERMAN: What this means now is that Paul and I can be married.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KILMEADE: And 2015, it will be all over. Letterman, unlike for many people, he has been a huge inspiration. He was totally different than anybody else. He's still different than anybody else, even though he seems a little more angry than he used to be.
My first experience with letterman is when I interned at NBC. I used to go and watched his rehearsals when he was doing late night, and I finally get a chance to interview him for my senior project in college, and he was able to talk to me about the history of late night, and he said on tape with my $3 recorder, I have no interest in ever hosting an 11:30 show.
I love my little basement operation. That was 35 years ago.
PERINO: And you have aged well.
KILMEADE: Not really. But thank you for saying that. So, Letterman, in terms of being a cutting-edge host, what do you think?
GUILFOYLE: I like him, but he's not my favorite because I love Jay Leno and I love Jimmy Kimmel. I love those two guys, but he's obviously very talented. He's a witty guy, but I don't know. He was never my dude.
BOLLING: I think he's realizing he was going to get his butt kicked by Kimmel and especially Fallon. I'm absolutely big huge fan of Jimmy Fallon. So, I can see why he did it.
He used to be a lot funnier. I agree with you. When he first came, he was cutting edge, he was edgy. Now, he's so predictable.
You see his jokes coming a mile away. Who should replace him? Number one choice, Greg Gutfeld. If not Greg --
PERINO: You're really trying to push him out the door.
(LAUGHTER)
BOLLING: No, no, no. See, now if I said it the other way, you would say I'm mean to Greg.
PERINO: You said the other day his contract --
BOLLING: No, no, no. Here, look, I think, you know, really honestly who would do a great job there, Jon Stewart. I really do. But he'd make so much darn money at "The Daily Show."
KILMEADE: He might be tired of that format.
BOLLING: Twenty-five million.
PERINO: I like Craig Ferguson.
KILMEADE: They said contractually, he should get that job, but they do nothing to promote Craig Ferguson, and he's losing big-time already to Seth Meyers. In first place right now is Fallon by about two points, then comes Letterman, right behind is Kimmel. And then you've got to wonder, too, he doesn't have New York anymore to himself. Letterman now got to compete with Jimmy Fallon for the best guests. And he said, hey, I'm 67.
Why don't we need to do this?
PERINO: It's like late night play by play.
GUILFOYLE: Yes, but also, I think he doesn't want to be taken out, right? Better to go out on your own terms, be your own man. Good for him.
KILMEADE: Kimberly, that's a good point, but CBS had nothing there.
They created something for him. For 30 years, he created something.
Carson, and then he had a franchise. He comes over to CBS. It was basically movie of the week.
GUILFOYLE: So, what do you think should happen?
KILMEADE: I think it's going to be Jon Stewart. I think he's tired of the format. He wants a new challenge. It makes sense. They could easily match the money.
BECKEL: One thing I'd say about Letterman, one of the things he doesn't get enough credit for is he's probably the best of the late night show hosts who knows politics. He asks insightful questions about politics.
And the other thing about him is, unlike the rest of them, he doesn't use a lot of gags.
KILMEADE: Him?
BECKEL: No, he does the top ten.
BOLLING: That's when he was funny when he was using the guests, stupid pet tricks, stupid human tricks. That stuff was funny.
BECKEL: That's all gone now.
BOLLING: Yes.
KILMEADE: I remember his daytime show. He used to put a television on his desk and flip around channels, oh, this is Lucy episode.
Really quick, Dana, you have a picture to show?
PERINO: Yes, five fan photoshop made this suggestion last night, which I think is worth considering. America's dog for America's late night talk show.
GUILFOYLE: Look at the posture. Outstanding.
PERINO: I like how he has his leg out.
GUILFOYLE: Dana, he learned about posture from me.
KILMEADE: All right. Sadly, that's all the Letterman talk we have.
He's got a year to go.
Don't go away, because up next is Facebook Friday. Your burning questions you need answered, can only be answered here. Don't go away.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BOLLING: Love this music today. It's Facebook Friday. Time to turn it over to you, our fans.
Tons of you wrote in on our Facebook page with questions for each of us. Guess what? Questions are in order because they don't want Dana to read over my shoulder.
For Kimberly from Lauren B. Kimberly, what's your favorite memory from this show?
GUILFOYLE: From tonight's show?
BOLLING: No, in general.
GUILFOYLE: Honest to God, my favorite memory is 4th of July show, and eating the delicious chicken wings and beating Bob is good.
BOLLING: When you were burying Bob with the chicken wings.
GUILFOYLE: Burying him, like two at a time. Actually, that was the most fun I have.
BOLLING: Another one for Kimberly from Geary J. What was the reason you got out of being a prosecutor and why did you get into being a D.A.?
(LAUGHTER)
GUILFOYLE: Bob --
BECKEL: Sorry.
GUILFOYLE: Bob ruins everything.
Why did I get out? I did not want to leave the prosecutor's office.
I loved it. Well, it's one of my favorite jobs. Put it that way.
Justice.
And I went to bed at 9:00, I woke up in the morning, absolutely loved it. But I thought, you know what, take a chance. Be courageous. God opens the door and I got an offer to work in television after trying the dog mauling case, and this is the path and where it's led me. It's been a very good choice.
BOLLING: That's right. You tried the mauling case. All right. This one is for Dana from Keith R. Will you ever write a book about your time in the White House?
That's a good question.
PERINO: A children's book? Dog book?
KILMEADE: It would be called "so cool."
GUILFOYLE: Jasper should write a book, though.
PERINO: He should write a book.
BECKEL: What's the answer?
PERINO: I don't know yet. Stay tuned.
KILMEADE: You wouldn't rule it out?
PERINO: I don't rule anything out. Like Kimberly says, when there's an opportunity, you take it.
BOLLING: Yes, see how wide the actually gets, right? Door is wide enough, you walk through. That's right.
All right. Dana, from Andrew W., what's your favorite thing to cook?
PERINO: Oh!
GUILFOYLE: Pot roast?
PERINO: Well, OK, I'm not the best cook, and my favorite thing to cook is not a pot roast, but I make a thing calls blue cheese heaven. It's out of the Mosswood Restaurant cookbook. It's vegetarian meal. Very good.
My husband loves it.
GUILFOYLE: We didn't get invited for that, Bob and I.
PERINO: Would you eat blue cheese heaven?
GUILFOYLE: Of course.
PERINO: OK, you'll be invited next time.
BOLLING: This one is for Bobby from Evelyn D.
Bob, if you were president --
GUILFOYLE: Oh, my gosh.
BOLLING: -- who would you pick for your vice president and chief of staff?
BECKEL: Vice president and chief of staff? I would probably pick -- that's a good question. I would probably pick as my vice president --
KILMEADE: Cal Thomas.
BECKEL: Not Cal Thomas. I probably would go to a little known guy out in Texas by the name of Roy Spence, who is a political operative out there. He'd be very, very good. And my chief of staff, my old buddy, Tim Finchum (ph), was the head of the golfers association. Very organized, he's the head of the tour. >
PERINO: You could maybe set the record for the amount of golfing outings.
(LAUGHTER)
BOLLING: (INAUDIBLE) join the administration?
BECKEL: Well, now, he's gone.
BOLLING: This one for Bob from Monroe D. Bob, are you still attending yoga classes?
GUILFOYLE: Yes, right.
BECKEL: No, Ben, no, I'm not. Once or twice, and I have already pulled muscles.
GUILFOYLE: And you got in trouble with some --
BECKEL: That's a younger person's game. Although I tell you, the babes are unbelievable.
BOLLING: All right.
GUILFOYLE: Oh, my gosh.
BOLLING: Brian, from Bernie S. Brian, is it easier to prep for "The Five" or for "FOX & FRIENDS"?
KILMEADE: Both, because you guys usually have some of the topics.
So, all I have to do, "FOX & FRIENDS" is a good cheat sheet for "The Five."
So, it's a bolster, too. This time, it was Letterman --
PERINO: Is that why we did eight minutes on Letterman, because you already had done it this morning?
KILMEADE: There's no plot, Dana. I promise. I just was chosen to do the C block.
BECKEL: Have they gotten a psychiatric counselor away from your show yet?
KILMEADE: We don't need it. We are emotionally and mentally healthy
--
BOLLING: You're going to like this one. This is from Rodney T. What living or dead sports person would you like to interview and why?
KILMEADE: I like it to be Lou Gehrig. To me, I couldn't be more impressed with the guy, what he achieved in such a short time, and how ironic a man named the iron horse would die so vulnerable like he did.
He's showing no weakness on life, only with that disease.
PERINO: OK, I'm going to ask Eric his. And they're in order, so I have to read them this way, but I would read them a different way.
Eric, who is going to win the World Series this year?
BOLLING: Ooh, I'm a huge St. Louis Cardinals fan, and they have always been there, they're always knocking on the door. I would love to see them win it again.
PERINO: OK. Now, you have to go in your memory bank for the next one.
Do you have any good stories you can share related to your days at Rawlins College?
BOLLING: Wow, Rawlins College, nothing I could talk about on air.
No, it was a great time at Rawlins College, nice liberal arts. Did you know Jeb Bush spoke at Rawlins?
PERINO: When?
BECKEL: He's being modest. I can tell a story. The Pittsburgh Pirates which built the field down the Rawlins brought their team down, the professional team, to play Rawlins, and this guy, they took their best pitcher, and he hit a home run off them.
BOLLING: That's how I got drafted by the Pirates. Don Robinson, their starting, their number one --
PERINO: Like Kimberly said --
(CROSSTALK)
BOLLING: I'm sorry, he laid one right across the middle of the plate.
Brian, you'll appreciate this, and I deposited in left field. He's like laughing, I'm going to take this college player out, and I put it over the left field fence and that's --
KILMEADE: And that got you noticed?
(CROSSTALK)
PERINO: I was going to say, like, Kimberly got opened a door, and you hit a home run.
BOLLING: There you go.
PERINO: And now you're on "The Five."
BOLLING: I'm not sure which one this is. Can we do from Denise S.?
This is for everybody. If you could trade places with another member of "The Five," which one and why?
PERINO: I know. Kimberly --
GUILFOYLE: I want to trade with Dana because then I get Jasper and Peter.
PERINO: And blue cheese heaven.
GUILFOYLE: And blue cheese heaven and that nice crock pot she has, and your apartment.
BOLLING: Oh, hey, can we do this? Go ahead --
BECKEL: I was going to say, if I can --
BOLLING: We don't have time. We don't have time. This is a great one.
GUILFOYLE: What?
BOLLING: Who would you love to have as a guest panelist on "The Five" for one day?
BECKEL: Brian Kilmeade.
KILMEADE: Very nice.
BOLLING: Who would it be?
BECKEL: Jimmy Carter.
BOLLING: OK. K.G.
GUILFOYLE: Bill Clinton. I think he'd be fun.
BOLLING: That's true. I would pick Jon Stewart.
PERINO: I like that. That would be fun. You know what?
BECKEL: You know who I would like to be on the panel? I would like to be like Eric, because I could get his money and I'd like to be like Kimberly so I could stay home all day long and have fun, playing around.
BOLLING: With my dog. We've got to go.
Next, sports casters are taking a lot of heat after taking a swing at a baseball player for taking -- taking paternity leave. That story and more ahead on "The Five."
GUILFOYLE: You know Bob is the worst, right?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BOLLING: Paternity leave found its way onto the Major League baseball diamond when the Mets second baseman, Daniel Murphy, announced he would miss two games due to the birth of his son.
As you might imagine, sports radio loudmouths took it from there.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE FRANCESA, WFAN RADIO: Go see the baby be born and come back.
You're a Major League baseball player. You can hire a nurse!
BOOMER ESIASON, WFAN RADIO: Assuming the birth went well, assuming your wife is fine, assuming the baby is fine, 24 hours. You stay there, you get your ass back to your team and you play baseball.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Frankly, I would have...
ESIASON: Go ahead.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would have said C-section before the season starts. I need to be -- I need to be at opening day. I'm sorry.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BECKEL: So did Francesa and Esiason stand by their comments?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FRANCESA: You have a unique job, and you have the wherewithal to maybe afford care that some people may not and stuff like that. Then you get back to work.
ESIASON: If I in any way, shape, or form insulted anybody, that was not my intention. I feel terrible for the Murphy family, because what should be the greatest time in their life turned out to be, you know, somewhat of a firestorm that I personally put them into.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BECKEL: Kim, this guy wants to see his wife have the kid. Never see it again. Has 162 baseball games.
GUILFOYLE: OK. If he wants to see it, fine. I personally did not want anyone to be there. I mean, doctor, whatever. And I had an emergency C-section, it was not a good situation.
But it's an important event. If they want to be there, they should ask the team and get the support, because you know, having a surgery like that, it can have complications.
BECKEL: You were there for your son's birth. Right?
BOLLING: Yes, I was involved. I had to be involved. I was...
GUILFOYLE: You were the coach?
BOLLING: No, the doctor was like, come over here. You need this.
Whatever.
Make a long story short, so Francesa, sportscaster, right? I don't think he's ever picked up a baseball or football in his life. He just talks about it quite a bit.
Boomer, on the other hand, spent a lot of time in locker rooms. I like the fact that they put their opinion out there. Have no problem with that.
GUILFOYLE: Yes.
BOLLING: All right that. It's the retraction. Boomer, you shouldn't have done that. Look, he was being -- he was being a locker-room guy. But that's what Boomer does. That's what he's all about.
GUILFOYLE: Because he's the real deal. I love Boomer Esiason. Do not disparage him.
KILMEADE: I know. He's a great guy, and is unbelievably successful, hard worker.
Real quick, it depends. If it's the Super Bowl, the Masters, and you have the birth of your baby and you're Phil Mickelson looking to close out the Masters, you call an audible.
But the game three of a 162-game season...
GUILFOYLE: Right, long season.
KILMEADE: ... in front of 3,000 people when you're not even the best player on the team, I think you could figure out a way to stay an extra day.
BECKEL: They came down a little too hard, don't you think?
PERINO: They sound ridiculous. Look, I would rather have a dad who would be willing to take two days off of playing baseball to come and actually meet me and welcome me into the world than to worry about what Boomer Esiason had to say about me.
BECKEL: Absolutely. Well, Esiason was classy coming back and doing his apology, but Francesa, who makes me look skinny, is a loudmouth who has no right to say this.
And Francesa, here's a little piece for you, big boy, he takes the entire summer off. That's what he's got in his contract. I don't think
(UNINTELLIGIBLE) they have got that.
PERINO: How do you get that in your contract?
BECKEL: Take that and eat it.
GUILFOYLE: Oh, my God.
BECKEL: "One More Thing" is up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GUILFOYLE: It's time now for "One More Thing." We begin with Mr.
Kilmeade.
KILMEADE: All right. I just want to point out, if I'm a little loagy today, it's because last night we were up late for...
GUILFOYLE: What does that mean?
KILMEADE: Loagy is a little sluggish. A little loagy.
This was the scene last night. Bill O'Reilly asked me and Megyn Kelly to go in front of -- to my old college, Long Island University, for a great local school. It's St. Mary's. A lot of local Catholic schools having trouble making ends meet, so Bill O'Reilly single-handedly put this fund- raiser together. And it's going to -- I think it's going to be able to give them all their sports, all their extracurricular activities for at least two years.
GUILFOYLE: Wow! Wow! Sweet. He really likes you.
KILMEADE: Why are you so amazed by that? It's so amazing.
GUILFOYLE: Private schools are great. I'm a product of Catholic school, Dana, Our Lady of Versia (ph) Mercy High School.
BECKEL: Can we move on?
GUILFOYLE: Oh, gosh.
KILMEADE: Special thanks to St. Mary's.
GUILFOYLE: Yes. God bless the school. What a wonderful thing you did, giving your time like that, and Megyn Kelly. I'm really happy to hear this.
OK, Dana. Go.
PERINO: All right. From my home state of Colorado, numbers are in for ObamaCare there. Want to hear some of the metrics? Here you go.
Colorado has 158,000 new Medicaid members, but only 118,000 commercial individual members are enrolled. Only 27 percent of the new members are in the age group of 55-64. That's why it's a little bit lower than I thought, but the big one, ages 26-34, only 18 percent of the enrollment. So pretty much, if that's what the numbers look like across the board in the country when we find out from the Obama administration, we've got problems.
BECKEL: That's...
BOLLING: You're not allowed to do that. "One More Thing." You're not allowed to do that in "One More Thing."
PERINO: They better...
GUILFOYLE: Eric Bolling is going to take the next two minutes. Go.
BOLLING: No, it's just Bob, remember, "One More Thing." OK, I'll go.
Very quick. Catch me tomorrow morning, 11:30 in the morning. We start out with very serious stuff, it's a very serious comment, talk about the common thread between Ivan Lopez, the Fort Hood shooter, the D.C. Naval Shipyard shooter, the Aurora, Colorado, shooter and the Newtown shooter, and what's the common thread? I'll tell you, it's not a gun.
And then we do -- we sit down -- the sit-down I had with Bill O'Reilly on Tesla Motors. So it's going to be good, and please DVR it, 11:30.
GUILFOYLE: Sounds like a great show. You guys are trending and winning and doing fantastic.
BECKEL: The other thing that -- the other thing that people should remember, "Cashin' In" is the No. 1 show on weekends here on the FOX News Channel.
BOLLING: Thank you, Bob.
BECKEL: You're welcome.
Forty-six years ago to this day, America lost the greatest civil rights leader of all time, Dr. Martin Luther King. He was killed in Memphis, Tennessee. He was a remarkable human being, a Nobel Prize winner.
A man like him comes along very rarely in life, and we still miss him.
GUILFOYLE: Bob, thank you. It's always a very moving tribute that you do on his behalf.
Now late this afternoon, the Army confirmed the names of the three soldiers killed in Wednesday's Fort Hood shooting: Thirty-nine-year-old Sergeant First Class Daniel Michael Ferguson of Mulberry, Florida; thirty- seven-year-old Sergeant Timothy Wayne Owens of Effingham, Illinois; and 38- year-old Staff Sergeant Carlos Alberto Rodriguez of Aguadilla, Puerto Rico.
The prayers of the entire FOX family are with their families during this incredibly tragic time.
Don't forget to set your DVR so you never miss an episode of "The Five." We hope you have a great weekend. We're going to see you back here on Monday.
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