Knowing the Truth

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

It's getting harder and harder to know the truth in this country. And that is the subject of this evening's "Talking Points" memo. Here's the irony of the day. While the Democrats thought the Bob Woodward (search) book ["Plan of Attack"] was going to be a big anti-Bush deal, it turns out the president likes the book.  And it's featured on some GOP (search) Web sites. So once again, the spinners got their propaganda out early, but the truth of the matter turns out to be quite something else.

Think about that.  We're living in a very dangerous time.  We're fighting a global war on terror where civilians are targets and getting straight answers to vital questions is becoming an enormous chore.  Here's a question I'd like to ask.  Did Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld (search) anticipate the bloody aftermath in Iraq.  And if not, does he feel the CIA (search) and other intelligence agencies let him down?

Now that's a pretty simple question.  So why can't Rumsfeld answer it?  I really don't care if Colin Powell (search) and Dick Cheney (search) don't like each other.  I don't care if [Saudi] Prince Bandar (search) got an early heads-up on the Iraq invasion.  And I don't care if President Bush made a deal to get lower oil prices, just as long as those prices come down.  Let others be obsessed with those things.

"Talking Points" wants to know if Rumsfeld and his war advisers know what the heck they're doing. That's the big question here.

Now I talked with Senator John McCain Monday night about the war in Iraq.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA:  When I went to Iraq last August, I talked to do a lot of sergeant majors who have been in other wars and lieutenant colonels and majors and captains and British.  And they said you'd better get more people over here.  You'd better get more boots on the ground, or six or seven months from now you are going to be in a very serious situation.

O'REILLY:  That's what they told you.

MCCAIN:  That's what they told me.

O'REILLY:  But you figure that Rumsfeld and Cheney and Bush  heard that too, right?

MCCAIN:  I'm afraid that they didn't.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'REILLY:  Well, why not?  We've asked Secretary Rumsfeld to speak with us dozens of times, but he will not.  Why not?  We're not hostile at him.  We support the Iraq War.  So we have to assume that Rumsfeld is simply not going to level with the American people.

That's not good.  The big picture in America is that increasingly,  people who are making life and death decisions are not explaining   them to we the people.  Instead, they're evading, hoping we'll forget the central issues they're involved with.  Well, we won't.  We need some answers from the Defense Department now.

And that's "The Memo."

The Most Ridiculous Item of the Day

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

Earlier this week we told you that many Canadians want the FOX News Channel, that so far the government up there has blocked. We also chided John Doyle, a columnist for "The Toronto Globe & Mail" for his anti-FOX rantings and described that newspaper as being far left, which it is.

Well today Doyle wrote this: "But the very idea that 'The Globe & Mail' is far left only proves my point, that the FOX News Channel is the most hilarious thing on American TV since 'Seinfeld'."

Well, this is rich, that paper has consistently taken liberal positions on almost every issue. And Doyle strikes up the band. Now I receive scores of letters like this one from Donna in Toronto: "We need fair and balanced new from FOX because 'The Globe & Mail' and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation are so far left. The CBC is called by many the Communist Broadcasting Corporation. Please don't use my last name because I don't want the government to know that I'm illegally watching FOX on the satellite. You see, we're allowed to hear only what they want us to hear."

So Doyle, spin that, partner. You're clueless, could be ridiculous.