Politics or policy behind latest ObamaCare delay?

This is a rush transcript from "The Five," February 11, 2014. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

ANDREA TANTAROS, CO-HOST: Hello, everyone. I'm Andrea Tantaros, along with Bob Beckel, Eric Bolling, Dana Perino, and Greg Gutfeld.

It's 5 o'clock in New York City, and this is "The Five."

(MUSIC)

TANTAROS: Well, yesterday, the Obama administration delayed the president's signature health care law for the 27th time since November 2012. The latest companies who have more than 50 employees but less than
100 will now have until January to comply with the law's mandates.

Now, earlier today, President Obama offered his justification for the latest punt.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This was an example of administratively us making sure that we're smoothing out this transition, giving people the opportunities to get right with the law. But recognizing that there are going to be circumstances in which people are trying to do the right thing and it may take a little bit of time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TANTAROS: Charles Krauthammer sees this as another example of lawlessness within the administration.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: This is stuff that you do in a banana republic. It's as if a law is simply a blackboard on which Obama writes any number he wants, any delay he wants, and any provision.
It's now reached a point where it is so endemic that nobody even notices or complains. It's not uncommon, willful breaking of the constitutional order. Where in the Constitution is a president allowed to alter a law 27 times after it's been passed?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TANTAROS: Well, as for the delay ending after the 2014 midterms, "Time's" Mark Halperin sees one possible explanation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK HALPERIN, TIME: This latest delay I think is really going to set people off more than the others simply because it involves delay past the election.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

HALPERIN: You know, past the election, and that screams of politics without an alternative explanation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TANTAROS: All right. So, mixed messages from the White House, Greg.
Last week, we sat around this table and we talked about how ObamaCare would liberate people from job lock, from the jobs that were terrible and they can go be artists and be free now, and this week, they want them to stay in their jobs, so they extend the mandate yet again for purely political reasons, I'm guessing?

GREG GUTFELD, CO-HOST: Yes. It's -- when you lost your health plan, they said they were liberating you from a bad health plan. When you lose your job, they say they're liberating you from a job you don't like.

You have to wonder, what will they liberate from you next? Will they liberate you from your home? Will they liberate you from your life?
Euthanasia makes life easier for an eternity. You no longer have to breathe.

That's the nature of socialism is that they tell you what you want.

This is the 27th delay. It's not a delay. It's a reprieve. The economy is essentially like a death row inmate, and Obama is putting off the needle until after the election.

TANTAROS: Yes.

A lot of people, Dana, believe this is political. Republicans are coming out saying, OK, why don't you just delay the whole thing, or delay it for individuals as well? What do you think Republicans should be pushing for, if anything?

DANA PERINO, CO-HOST: Well, I think there's two pieces. One is obviously it's political. And in a political year, like a 2014, in a midterm election when the opposition party -- this time, it's the Republicans -- when that base is energized anyway, then the politics of it matters because people are fired up and those are the people that turn out to vote.

I do wonder if on the ObamaCare decision yesterday, if the administration isn't slightly more worried about the structural problems of the law than they are letting on. I think the CBO report was a big wake-up call. In addition to that, there was a big Democratic meeting last weekend when they were complaining to the president about the drag that ObamaCare is having on their races.

But if you take that plus the business concern, plus the CBO report, I think that they have realized that it is a bigger drag on the economy than they thought. And it perhaps, this is actually going to get punted well into the future, and it might not ever actually end up taking place. But the individuals that don't have a lobbyist, they're the ones that will have to continue to take it on the chin.

TANTAROS: Yes, that's right.

Eric, Charles Krauthammer went on to say he believes eventually the mandate will go away. Do you think that's true? Do you think they will have to scrap the mandate?

ERIC BOLLING, CO-HOST: Don't have to. So, I'm trying to figure it out. A delay is good, permanent delay would be best, but delaying just until the after 2014, yes, whatever, year after the 2014 midterms, which they're very, very concerned about, especially since everyone on the right things they should run against Democrats and hang ObamaCare on them, sounds a lot more like politics than good policy. That's the problem.

But the bottom line -- when you just take a step back, listen to the administration, listen to President Obama, we're delaying the mandate for companies, we're delaying the mandate for smaller companies. If delaying is helping them out, why don't we just get rid of it? Why do we even bother with this thing?

There's -- if you -- in 2016, so now we're going to say we realize that was good for you, but guess what, now your delay is over. Now you have to pay up. That's bad. Let's just get rid of it. There's no reason to have it.

TANTAROS: Isn't that a subtle admission, delaying it, that the law is hurting businesses? So, what difference does it make if it's hurting them now, Bob, or hurting them in two years?

BOB BECKEL, CO-HOST: Well, first of all, without the mandate, if you don't like this law, you shouldn't be against the mandate because it will tear apart the entire law. You have to have the mandate to work.

The second thing I would say is the United States Supreme Court ruled the mandate to be a tax. The Treasury Department has enormous latitude when it comes to how and when they implement a tax. They can give it, they can take it, they can modify it, they can back it off. It's happened for
100 years, 150 years, they have done that.

So, I don't see why this is necessarily something out of the policy realm. Do I think this is politics? Sure.

Do I think Halperin knows what he's talking about when he says everyone is going to wake up and think about it? No, Mark, they're really not. Most Americans don't think about these things in the morning. You may, but most people don't.

So, I don't think people are going to read it that way. We -- the chattering class will read it that way for a good reason. I mean, it's a smart political move, frankly, the things that I would do. But without a mandates, you don't have law, and without a law, you have 40 million people uninsured.

BOLLING: So, once the politics are over and 2014 is in the rear view mirror, let's get back to what we really want to do and do some mandated health care, when it's not -- people don't want it. If they wanted it, they would run on it.

BECKEL: Who doesn't want it?

BOLLING: Americans don't want it, Bob. Americans don't want it.

(CROSSTALK)

BECKEL: Can you tell me there aren't people with their pitchforks if they don't have insurance right now?

(CROSSTALK)

GUTFELD: No, the question -- you say this is perfectly fine because it's a tax, but it was never sold to us as a tax. It was sold to us as hope and change. And it seems striking that the president keeps rescheduling his hope and change.

And it seems striking that the president keeps rescheduling his hope and change. It's like a prostate exam without the benefits. He keeps pushing it off. It goes back to this. It doesn't matter if it's a tax or not. If it's so great, why won't he do it?

TANTAROS: Well, didn't he say we can't wait, we can't wait, we can't wait, we can't wait for my agenda. We can wait for everything. We can't wait for everything except ObamaCare. We can wait.

Here's my point on this, Bob. You say small business, or most people don't wake up thinking about this law, most Americans don't. I think most business owners do, and I think most business owners employees do as well because they want to know what their boss is planning for the next year and following years because that's how business owners plan.

I do agree with you on one thing. I don'ts think they're going to get rid of the mandate because that is the glue that holds the whole thing together, the mandates, and then what incentive would any boss, Dana, have for not just taking all their employees and dumping them right into the exchanges, or keeping their wages low so that they can be eligible for the subsidies.

(CROSSTALK)

PERINO: That's why employees really care because you take away capital that could be used to reinvest in the company for raises, bonuses, or, you know, a new gym that needs renovated in the building. In addition to that, the CBO report last week again reiterates that after -- even if the employer mandate went through and after it's fully implemented, the United States of America will still have 31 million people who don't have health insurance, so what did we do this for?

Bob, I don't know -- I don't know how to argue with you about the CBO numbers. If you don't accept what CBO says, they say 31 million uninsured after this. So, your point about 40 million are insured that weren't before, how do you square the circle on 31 million?

BECKEL: I assume that means implementing the health care law the way it is, we end up with 31 million unemployed.

PERINO: This was -- on the day that they passed the law, that the president signed the law, the CBO said 31 million will remain uninsured.
Last week, even after the implementation is underway, they still say 31 million people uninsured at the end of implementation.

BOLLING: Actually, 10 years down the road. In a decade, there will be the same number uninsured as there are right now.

BECKEL: I -- you asked me if I had taken the time to read the Republican proposal for health care, so I decided for once in my life I would actually read them. They are the typical health savings account crap that was pushed around. The -- it is nothing. It is putting everything out in the free market and let granny go ahead and pay a lot more than she could.

BOLLING: I don't know why the Republicans don't do this. I said it before, I swear to you, this is -- it's not free market completely. But it's quasi free market -- certainly a lot freer than what we have right now because we have a mandate.

Remove the mandate. Let government provide an alternative, not a mandate, but an alternative. And if they want to go ahead and get aggressive on price, they'll go get -- they'll -- don't kill me for saying this, they'll put the lowest insurance price on the board.

BECKEL: Alternative, what kind of alternative are you talking about?

TANTAROS: All right.

BOLLING: Insurance.

BECKEL: OK. Well, fine, then why don't we do that?

BOLLING: Yes, we should.

BECKEL: We have it. We have called Medicaid, is it not?

BOLLING: No, we don't, Bob. We have a mandate. You don't have a choice. You have to be signed up on insurance.

If you have the government spending a quarter of what they're spending right now, offering a government-alternative insurance program, you're going to drive the prices down.

BECKEL: OK. So, you're saying people don't have to take insurance.

BOLLING: No.

BECKEL: I see.

TANTAROS: Before we get into the weed of a policy discussion on what Democrats should have done, it's obvious they're not going to do that.
What they're doing now, Greg, is they actually running from President Obama because of all the headlines and sound clips that we played. Listen to Claire McCaskill, who is a supporter of the president, on another network this morning say, yes, you know what, I can't blame Democrats for not wanting to be seen with him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HALPERIN: If you were running for re-election in Arkansas, Louisiana, or North Carolina, would you invite the president in and campaign side-by- side with him?

SEN. CLAIRE MCCASKILL (D), MISSSOURI: Probably not. I mean, this is
-- you know, I mean -- I try to be really candid and honest on this show.
You know, the president's numbers are not strong in my state or in Arkansas or in Louisiana, or North Carolina.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TANTAROS: I'm guessing there's going to be a lot of scheduling conflicts. The senators on one side of the state and the president's on the other, we just can't seem to come together.

BECKEL: They have nothing to offer to go out there. They understand the reality of this. They lost virtually every state, Obama did, besides it's a really tough election.

TANTAROS: Thank you, Greg Gutfeld, for answering.

BECKEL: I'm sorry, Greg.

GUTFELD: If the candidates choose not to run with Obama, how is that not racist? Remember anyone who disagreed with his liberal agenda was smeared as racist? Will the NAACP call out all these cowardly white Democrats for deserting their black leader when he really needs them? It's disgusting.

What do you think, Bob? She's a racist.

BECKEL: I don't know. I know that not many people want to campaign with Bush. Certainly nobody wanted to campaign with Carter.

GUTFELD: But they weren't called racist.

BECKEL: No, I guess they weren't called racists. They were called honkies. I don't know.

TANTAROS: Quick response, Dana.

PERINO: I do admire her candidness. I mean, at least she was honest.
She was like, yes, no, I don't want to. And actually that helps her going forward, because every time he's going to come by Missouri, she doesn't actually have to appear with him anymore. She's basically ripped the Band- Aid off and now they know, don't go to Missouri.

BOLLING: Can you imagine the Democrats are running from Obama, the signature legislation, in his term?

GUTFELD: Running from a black man. Racist. Racist.

BECKEL: Have you ever seen somebody in a tough Senate race get close to a president with negative numbers?

BOLLING: No, my points is, look, if ObamaCare is really popular, everyone loved it, they would all want Obama in their state going, hey, this is my deal. This is our deal.

BECKEL: If you were a liberal, everybody would love you.

BOLLING: We help them passed that.

(CROSSTALK)

TANTAROS: All right, Bob. All right, Eric.

BOLLING: He helped him passed that.

TANTAROS: OK. Ahead on "The Five", Dana and Eric return to the Westminster dog show where they caught up with some canine competitors sprinting for tonight's finale of best in show. So, should Jasper and Freedom be jealous?

BOLLING: Those are good boys.

First, Bob Costas has been sporting a bad case of pinkeye during NBC's Olympic coverage. So, could vodka be the cure? I say vodka cures everything. We'll explain, next on "The Five".

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLLING: Welcome back, everybody.

The fastest seven minutes, three juicy stories, seven jackrabbit minutes, one jocular host.

First up, it's imperative to do your homework. When you host a news show, especially interview segments. So, take a look at this. Here's Laurence Fishburne and Samuel Jackson.

Now, watch CNN affiliate KTLA's entertainment reporter Sam Rubin bungled this interview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAM RUBIN, KTLA: You're working for Marvel, the Super Bowl commercial. Did you get a lot of reaction to the Super Bowl commercial?

SAMUEL L. JACKSON, ACTOR: What Super Bowl commercial?

RUBIN: Oh, you know what, my mistake.

JACKSON: You know what, you're as crazy as the people on twitter.
I'm not Laurence Fishburne.

RUBIN: That's my fault. I know that. My mistake.

JACKSON: We don't all look alike. You're the entertainment reporter.

RUBIN: I know.

JACKSON: You're the entertainment reporter for this station, and you don't know the difference between me and Laurence Fishburne?

RUBIN: My mistake, I apologize. My big mistake.

JACKSON: Must be a very short line for your job.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(LAUGHTER)

BOLLING: Greg, you've done the interviews. Have you ever called a guy -- or did you ever interview the wrong guy?

GUTFELD: No, never. People are going to say, OK, this is racist.
It's not. It's stupidity. Sometimes stupidity is the cause of all things that are stupid.

But entertainment reporters, Sam Jackson got it right. They aren't really the top of the line. That's why they're doing entertainment. They don't do investigative reporting, they don't read anything. Half the time, they don't see the movies they're talking about.

PERINO: But they have good jobs and they fulfill a great need for people that need entertainment news.

GUTFELD: Are you defending somebody I should be defending?

PERINO: No, I'm trying to be positive.

GUTFELD: No, I just think, yes, he was an idiot.

BOLLING: Cringe-worthy, D.

PERINO: Yes, whatever. Samuel Jackson, if you only read the transcript, you would think he was going after him and being aggressive. I thought he handled it very well and playful and I thought that was cute.

BOLLING: I love --

BECKEL: I'm the entertainment reporter for this show, and I'll tell you everything you need to know about entertainment. Dumb.

BOLLING: So, what about this one? He had the wrong guy.

BECKEL: Yes, he did. Which one is that, by the way? Is that Fishburne or is that Jackson?

PERINO: Jackson.

BOLLING: That's Samuel L. Jackson.

I went to book Representative Steve King, it was the wrong one.

(LAUGHTER)

BOLLING: So, Ands --

BECKEL: In Iowa?

BOLLING: That's who I thought I was booking. Go ahead.

TANTAROS: It's tough to keep congressman straight sometimes. It is.

PERINO: That's true.

GUTFELD: Especially some congressmen.

PERINO: I knew you were going to say that.

TANTAROS: Cue the symbols.

You know, entertainment topics are already so light. They have such a low bar just to get their names straight. But this is why I over-prepare for TV appearances, because maybe a producer put that in his packet, so this happened on the Ellen show, right?

Ellen's producer put Travis Barker, I think we have a picture of this, under Pink's wife, Carey Hart. And Pink laughed and said, let's handle it with some humor there.

So mistakes are made, but you know, he maybe looks like him a little bit.

(CROSSTALK)

GUTFELD: Good point.

PERINO: I might start deploying that strategy.

BOLLING: All right. If you're a regular FIVE watcher, you know we have been pretty tough on NBC host Bob Costas for some time, for some of the stupid things he says when he ventures too far outside of the friendly confines of sports.

But, you've got to feel bad for the guy first. Check out his eyes.
First it was his left eye, and now it looks like it's got pinkeye in both of his eyes smack dab in the middle of the Olympic coverage. I think he needs a vodka shot.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOB COSTAS, NBC NEWS: I'm told in Russia, guaranteed, not some kind of water or something.

HOST: Is this the Hoda and Kathie Lee portion of the --

COSTAS: Yes.

I'm not really that much of a vodka guy. I'm looking at it this way, though. My eyes can't get any redder no matter what I do.

HOST: I'll drink to that.

COSTAS: Down the hatch.

HOST: Really? Wow.

COSTAS: Tomorrow morning, I'll be lying on a curb in Minsk.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLLING: Everything was going to fine except for that last line.
Tomorrow morning, I'll be lying in a curb in Minsk because he had a vodka shot?

TANTAROS: What a lightweight.

BECKEL: I had a lot of diseases, but that one is really nasty. And I got to get -- let me tell you, I watched the Olympics a little bit. I think NBC and Costas have done a terrific job putting this Olympics on.
Some of the stuff I dumped on like the skateboarding thing, I was wrong.
It turned out to be great.

GUTFELD: You mean the snowboarding?

BECKEL: The snowboarding. I'm under prepared.

BOLLING: Here's the question, I think they said, what, a billion people are going to watch this? If you had pinkeye on both eyes, would you go on the air?

TANTAROS: If it meant getting a vodka shot, maybe. I mean, I had a fever in college. I'm not a doctor, folks, I just play one in certain segments. And I went out, my friends convinced me to go out and it cured my fever, and all I drank was vodka all night.

BOLLING: What about the TV part of it? The eyes are all watering?

TANTAROS: It was kind of gross to look at. I mean --

BOLLING: Dana, you're feeling bad for him?

PERINO: I feel bad -- I have some pretty serious eye problems myself, so I felt bad for him. I don't have pinkeye. I have more of a chronic problem.

TANTAROS: You're just (INAUDIBLE).

PERINO: I know my eyes look bad quite a lot of the time. His look is really bad. I feel terrible for him because there's kind of nothing you can do. Time is the only thing that cures it.

BOLLING: We've got to go. But, Greg, would you go on air with pinkeye?

GUTFELD: Well, you know what? I think he's promoting my show, "Red Eye", but he was looking for Visine, not vodka. That gets the red out.

But he was playing -- the other thing that bugs me, he was playing into the stereotype of Russia. If he was in Jamaica, would he smoke a joint?

BOLLING: Maybe.

BECKEL: Probably.

(CROSSTALK)

BECKEL: I don't feel uncomfortable at all. I have been on many TV shows in the morning with red eyes.

BOLLING: We have to do this very quickly. Finally, what are you having for dinner tonight? Chicken, pasta, burgers? It's Tuesday, so I'll be fasting. But tonight, POTUS and FLOTUS will be hosting President Francois Hollande, who happens to be flying solo tonight at a state dinner at the White House. And check out the menu.

A feast fit for royalty, all paid for, by the way, you, the taxpayer.
Let me read a couple things very quickly. First course, American caviar, then you move on to the winter garden salad with some merlot lettuce red wine vinaigrette, dry aged beef, what's -- here, Jasper farm blue cheese.

PERINO: Yes, I think I have gotten in their head.

BOLLING: You know, nice but --

PERINO: Yes. Look, I'm for the state dinners. I think France is a weird choice, but fine, if they wanted to bring the French in. If you're going to have a state dinner, America needs to show that we can do it very well. And they have people from all over America that are participating, the beef is coming from a family in Greely, Colorado. So I'm for it, I like it.

BECKEL: This goes down as one of the cheapest shots we've done on the show, every state dinner -- of course, only Obama. Every person has at least that kind of food and a lot more. Of course, we have to beat up on Obama.

(CROSSTALK)

GUTFELD: I disagree. I look at this menu. Braised charred quail eggs, baby carrots -- this is disgusting. We need to impeach the White House chef.

BECKEL: Yes.

BOLLING: Ands, Bob makes a point. All other presidents have done this, but I'm not sure. Like the first few dinners, state dinners, they were in excess of $500,000.

BECKEL: And the average of every other president.

PERINO: You know what? I agree with Bob. I actually agree with you, Bob. I hate when we do these segments. I actually think they're stupid.

And to give the White House credit, the initial dinner was half a million bucks, you point out, of the Indian prime minister. Now, they have cut costs down to about $200,000, so they have sliced the budget.

And, by the way, what are we supposed to give them, KFC in a bucket?
I mean, seriously.

BOLLING: No, no. I'm not sure. OK --

TANTAROS: No one is talking about the food, anyway. They're talking about the fact that this guy fathered his child with his mistress.

(CROSSTALK)

BOLLING: Did you see how much it cost?

TANTAROS: They won't say.

BOLLING: Right.

TANTAROS: I think it's stupid. Everybody is talking ability his love child anyway. No one cares about the food.

BECKEL: Reagan gave hotdogs, I'm sure.

BOLLING: We've got to go.

Up next, new developments to the search for answers in Benghazi. A congressional committee slams the White House and the State Department for dropping the ball on security leading for terror attacks. But will we ever find out who pushed the video? Details ahead on "The Five".

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GUTFELD: If there's one word that causes groans from the White House and their media harlots like Bob, it's Benghazi. I get it, for the media, it's a scar on their Mona Lisa. Worse, vital questions have messed with conspiracy. The louder voices make the others sound crazy.

The Dems go-to response, there's no there there. I get it.

However, there's one question that needs a simple answer, and you know it. Who pushed the video? It has not a link to conspiracy. It's just a question.

It's simple -- 2016 looms like an entitlement for the Clintons, which reminds us of why the video was pushed in the first place. It's always been about elections, 2012, 2016.

And also, about an instinct to blame America first. The video was pushed to take the heat off Hillary and her boss and to place it on us, the West. Blame the video, then question us about security, delayed responses, and arrests fade, and they avoid accusations of Islamophobia.

Blaming the video tosses all of us into a tiny jail cell as you pretend to Christian with a funny name did all this.

The finishing touch, our government buying wimpy ads on Pakistani TV to apologize. Nice work.

But the accolades go to the media who embraced the lie, then moved on as the lie unraveled. I'd say the media swept it under the rug, but the media is that rug. No wonder reporters take yoga. You've got to be limber for such contortions.

And it's all part of the Obama administration's motto. Everything blows over, and it always does when it's the media doing the blowing.

I have no idea.

BOLLING: I see what you did there.

GUTFELD: I didn't do anything.

BOLLING: Yes, you did.

GUTFELD: No, I did nothing.

TANTAROS: Liar.

GUTFELD: I had nothing.

TANTAROS: Sick, sick human being.

GUTFELD: I had nothing.

Andrea, so the Republicans have investigated Benghazi and they blame the White House and State Department for failures. I suppose that's not surprising. Will this have any impact on the media who just look at it as a bunch of angry Republicans?

TANTAROS: No, probably not. They don't really care, because no one is coming out and telling the truth about Benghazi.

What was interesting is when Jonathan Karl came out with his report, it was funny. Then the media caught on because they said, wow, ABC is finally waking up to this.

GUTFELD: Yes.

TANTAROS: But we learned the three phases of Benghazi, right? The pre, the during, the night and the after. There's a scandal in each one.

We learn that despite repeated requests for security, they ignored even direct cables from the ambassador himself. Why was his security taken away from him that night? How did al Qaeda know he was moving around the country?

It is a scandal. If it's not a scandal, it's incredible incompetence, and nobody has come to the table and said, wow, we really messed up. They said, it doesn't make a difference.

GUTFELD: Yes, Bob, the thing is, you just boil it done to one simple question that never gets answered, then it's not a conspiracy. It's just simple curiosity. Why can't it be answered?

BECKEL: Well, first of all, the idea that somehow his security was taken away from him and his movements were known --

TANTAROS: According to this report, Bob, security requests were specifically downgraded.

BECKEL: I agree.

TANTAROS: Downgraded in Libya.

BECKEL: The way you said it, it sounds like they set him up to be killed. Let me give you the Republicans' answer to that. Their report concludes that no U.S. military assets could have arrived in Benghazi in time to affect the outcome of the attack, according to the committee.

Now, I sat at this table, and you, particularly, Eric, and I think the rest of you agreed, there were planes in Italy, there are people sitting in Tripoli, (INAUDIBLE), and this proves what I said, there was no way you could get to save those people.

And who leaked the video? It was on al Qaeda a week -- it was on al Jazeera a week before it was used --

GUTFELD: Who pushed the video?

BECKEL: Who pushed? Well, OK.

BOLLING: There's something you're missing.

BECKEL: I assume they did.

BOLLING: There's a good chance we didn't have assets to save Chris Stevens and I believe Shawn Smith who was with him at the first. But Doherty and the other guy were killed some four or five hours later. I'm sorry, seven or eight hours later.

BECKEL: Go argue with the Republican majority.

BOLLING: Look, here's --

BECKEL: This is a dead issue.

BOLLING: General Ham was the one who we needed to hear about.

GUTFELD: For some people.

BOLLING: General Ham testified and said, look, they knew about it in D.C. Leon Panetta met with President Obama and they knew. And then the stuff still continued to happen.

Bill O'Reilly asked President Obama the right question in his interview around the Super Bowl. He said, where's Leon Panetta's testimony? Let's get Leon Panetta back on the stand and ask him now after
-- I know he testified before, but ask him now after General Ham testified, hey, is ham right? Did you guys know this was an attack immediately?

If you did, who push the video?

GUTFELD: Exactly.

Last word, Dana -- Paramount is going to make a film on Benghazi.

PERINO: I'm sure.

GUTFELD: Yes, do you think it will be more truthful than the "Innocence of Muslims"?

PERINO: If paramount can answer the question, the paramount question, who pushed the video, that would be very helpful. The explanation of the video as an excuse can only mean there's a cover-up for politics and the administration will continue to face scrutiny. And if they don't want to answer it, that's fine, but I do think that, Bob, I think that Republicans, when they wake up in the country, they think, why can't that simple question be answered? And that will matter in 2014.

TANTAROS: And shouldn't Bill O'Reilly have asked him what he was doing the night of the attack? I'm curious to know where the commander in chief was.

BECKEL: I didn't hear the Republican -- it was Greg Gutfeld who kept saying who pushed the video? I didn't hear the members of the committee make it, they're out of everything else to talk about, they're now back to the video.

GUTFELD: All right. Directly ahead, Christians around the world continue to be targeted. It's gotten so bad a hearing about it was held on Capitol Hill, and Bob is not happy about the problem. He'll explain next on "The Five".

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECKEL: The targeting of questions around the world has been a serious and escalating crisis that quite frankly makes my blood boil. In a rare appearance on Capitol Hill, an archbishop for the Vatican testified before a House subcommittee about the widespread persecution of Christians in the Middle East.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARCHBISHOP FRANCIS CHULLIKATT, VATICAN REPRESENTATIVE: Flagrant and widespread persecution of Christians rages in the Middle East, even as we meet. Arab Christians, a small but significant community, find themselves the target of constant harassment for no reason other than their religious faith.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECKEL: Very well put.

And also, I want to throw in here, I want to know specifically where the countries, the Muslim countries, the presidents of those countries or the dictators of those countries or the kingdoms of those countries are when this takes place. Where you are is you're hiding and you're cowards, as I have said many times before.

But the U.N. has something to play in here, too. In the Central African Empire where people were hung the other day who were Christians, they sat by and watched.

Now, at some point somewhere around this world, somebody is going to stand up for Christians. If you're not going to do it, we may have to take things into our own hands.

Go ahead, Eric.

BOLLING: You know, I'm Catholic, and I'm a Christian, and I think it's atrocious what's going on. I think us highlighting things like this testimony is the best we can do. I'm not sure you're going to get response from dictators who don't care about "The Five" too much, but the more people get to know and the more groundswell of awareness, I don't think people who are watching today really realize how much of it is going on.

BECKEL: And that includes the president of the United States, I might add.

BOLLING: You guys, to the credit of the producers of "The Five", good job for highlighting it.

BECKEL: Why this White House and the State Department are staying silent on this, I do not know?

Dana?

PERINO: I would imagine that they would say they're working on it behind the scenes and trying to deal with it diplomatically, but you could
-- I think it's fair to argue that they could be turning up the heat a little bit.

I would point people to Pete Weiner's article and commentary magazine yesterday about how Christians should be speaking out against countries that are criminalizing homosexuality with multiple hundreds of thousands of people -- I was saying hundreds of thousands, but thousands of people being arrested, beaten for being gay, and Christians -- if we're going to call on Muslims to defend Christians, Christians ought to speak out to defend people's human dignity.

BECKEL: Yo!

TANTAROS: That's a great question. Yo.

You said take matters into our own hands? How about taking our money and keeping it in our own hands? We give the United Nations $7.96 billion, and that's a low estimate, the United States gives them from all different agencies, and this report that the U.N. put out is such hypocrisy and such projection. They're lecturing the Catholic Church on rape somehow, and the U.N. has its own shady history with rape.

I think it would be interesting to give a copy of this report to the Muslim countries that are not in favor of homosexuality and have them be at odds with the United Nations. I mean, a lot of these countries, as Dana mentioned, discriminate against homosexuals and the U.N. is a very pro- Muslim organization. Why not shove it back in their face?

BECKEL: Greg?

GUTFELD: You know, it's not just the persecution of Christians. It's the persecution of people. By coincidence, by radical Islamists. It's always radical Islamists.

Radical Islam should be the uniting force for Christians, gays, Buddhists, Vladimir Putin. We all have the same crazy neighbor. It's that house on the block with newspaper all over the windows, and it smells like crap, and nobody goes near it. But every now and then, that person leaves that house and hurts somebody.

You cannot change radical Islam. You can only fight it.

TANTAROS: Could unite Democrats and Republicans as well.

BECKEL: I'll tell you something -- it's a Muslim religion that sit on top of it, and a Muslim religion that has failed consistently to step up and stand up to the plate because they're cowards. They're afraid of these Islamists, and every Muslim country out there, a pox on you.

Up next --

BOLLING: Well, not every Muslim country.

BECKEL: Most of them.

(CROSSTALK)

BECKEL: You name me one Muslim country that spoke up to the Islamists. You can't because they won't do it. Cowards.

A special behind-the-scenes look at the Westminster Dog Show -- that was a great follow up. The best in show will be crowned tonight. I'm sure a few Muslims will be there.

Eric and Dana --

PERINO: Bob --

(CROSSTALK)

BECKEL: -- with one of the experts on grooming.

TANTAROS: Oh my God.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PERINO: Where did you learn all of the grooming tips?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My parents are bred this breed for over 30 years.

(CROSSTALK)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECKEL: More on Eric and Dana's canine adventure when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PERINO: Tonight, the winners of seven breed categories will face off for the coveted Best in Show prize at the 138th annual Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. Eric and I returned again this year for a sneak peek at all the doggone excitement. Let's take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PERINO: Where did you learn all of the grooming tips?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My parents have bred this breed for over 40 years.

BOLLING: She means you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is pretty simple.

PERINO: Here's my dog. I think that Jasper is high maintenance.
What do you think?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have no idea.

BOLLING: What's his name?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Vincent.

PERINO: Vincent, why the long face?

Has she ever had a bad hair day?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is how you protect the coat.

PERINO: This is an interesting method that I am going to tell my co- hosts about, Andrea and Kimberly. Do it like this, then put their pajamas on, and in the morning, their hair will look perfect.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She lives in a castle.

BOLLING: Congratulations.

PERINO: Now, did you get the castle for the dog or the dog for the castle?

BOLLING: Dana is so popular here. Everyone wants to talk to Dana.
Meet Manny.

PERINO: Hi, Manny.

BOLLING: Good boy. Is he a good boy?

PERINO: I just learned this, how you do a springer spaniel. So now I'm doing Eric's blow-out. And in case the whole "Five" thing doesn't work out, I could open up a salon.

BOLLING: What's this for?

PERINO: She likes to be pretty. She gets her hair and makeup done?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, yes.

PERINO: We know a couple girls like that at "The Five."

BOLLING: What do you think of the competition?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think we don't have a very good chance.

BOLLING: Hey, come on. Be confident. No one said "The Five" would
make it, either.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: True.

BOLLING: This is what happens if the dog you bring here doesn't win.
This isn't one of the losing dogs, is it?

PERINO: If we were going to get the perfect dog for Bob Beckel, what kind of dog would it be and why?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A very big bulldog. Because it bloviates a lot and has a kind of rough jowl.

PERINO: Walks kind of slow.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

PERINO: Pretends to be grumpy.

BOLLING: Sleeps a lot.

What's his name?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cash.

BOLLING: Cash?

PERINO: You like it.

BOLLING: Who let the dogs out?

PERINO: Can I take a selfie with him?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sure.

BOLLING: Can I photo bomb your selfie?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PERINO: We had a great time there. That was at the trials just yesterday, and tonight is the finals. I'm actually going to go.

And Bob, I was thinking of taking you as my date, but I didn't want Mr. Grumpy Guts with me.

BECKEL: Me, Mr. Grumpy Guts?

PERINO: Yes.

BECKEL: Excuse me.

PERINO: What do you think now? Do you like dogs a little better after that?

BECKEL: No. And I want to know this. I want to know where they go to bathroom.

PERINO: Outside.

BECKEL: Are there fire plugs in the place?

PERINO: They're house-trained. I mean, they go outside.

GUTFELD: They get stuff jammed in their butts.

TANTAROS: Like little plugs?

GUTFELD: I thought so.

TANTAROS: No.

BOLLING: That's cruel. That's what I do when I go to my shows.

BECKEL: Does anybody know what they pay for this crap?

GUTFELD: The big story here is the mixed breeds. This is the first time in 100 years they had mixed breeds.

BOLLING: Like Labradoodle and...

GUTFELD: They had, like -- from the shelters.

PERINO: It's a big deal.

GUTFELD: We're talking about gays in the NFL. This is also big.

BECKEL: I wonder what a Great Pyrenees and a miniature Beagle would be like.

PERINO: Well, we can see if Photoshop can work. Andrea, have you ever been to the dog show?

TANTAROS: No, but "Best in Show" is one of my favorite movies.

PERINO: I was wondering if people who work in the dog show world, when they saw "Best in Show," if they liked it.

TANTAROS: They probably didn't understand it. They're like, "So what's wrong with that?" Remember the guy who had two left feet and who went, "No, literally, I have two left feet"?

BECKEL: Let me repeat it again. Walk the dog who fell on him and killed him in "Best of Show."

BOLLING: We've got to go, but do you know what none of those dogs had? Their own calendar.

PERINO: That's right. And the bag that was the gift bag, it did have a picture of Jasper on it, I swear. And I'm fine with that.

BECKEL: I wish Jasper would come in and...

PERINO: All right. "One More Thing" is up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TANTAROS: Time for "One More Thing." Beck, hit it.

BECKEL: OK, the president of the United States had a press conference today with the president of France, and here's the opening statement that he made.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: It is in nobody's interest to see the continuing bloodshed and collapse that's taking place inside that country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECKEL: Mr. President, I understand exactly the problem you had, because this is the way it could have come over if I said it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: It is in nobody's interest to see the continuing bloodshed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECKEL: OK. That's my point. OK, Mr. President. You get the swear job.

GUTFELD: I think he said "shid."

PERINO: "Shed."

BECKEL: Oh, yes.

GUTFELD: That's what you said, too, right?

BECKEL: Of course, that's what I said.

TANTAROS: Eric.

BOLLING: So, if you really want to know what's in a politician's head, just listen to what he says when he's not on prompter.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: That's the good thing about being president. I can do whatever I want.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLLING: "That's the good thing about being president. I can do whatever I want." So I guess Congress doesn't matter. They might as well pack it up and go home.

PERINO: That's one of those things that your boss says that you know it's harmless, but you know it's going to be used against you. Forever.

TANTAROS: Oh, yes.

PERINO: He built that. Anyway.

TANTAROS: Dana.

PERINO: I got to go to a really cool thing last night. It was the American Song Book Gala at the Lincoln Center. I have never seen that many celebrities all in one place.

But I have to hand it to the honoree, who was Brian Lord. He was Creative Artist Agency. He was just feted by everybody who said they were his best friend. I have to tell you, Anne Hathaway is amazing. She sang a song that I love. It's called, "New York, I love you, but you're bringing me down." It was fantastic. She was amazing.

GUTFELD: That LTD Sound System.

PERINO: She sang it, though.

GUTFELD: How dare she ruin such a great song?

PERINO: She didn't it. She sang it beautifully.

TANTAROS: That's going to be the name of your Lifetime movie, if you ever would have one.

PERINO: Yes. I loved it. It was a great event.

TANTAROS: New York is a great (ph) town. I'm down on New York right now, too. Gregory.

GUTFELD: Banned phrase. "I owe you one." I suddenly realized that everybody says, "I owe you one." It's always the same person asking for a favor, and you never get the payback. You never get the one that you're owed.

PERINO: This is so true. This is absolutely true.

GUTFELD: But it's always the person who says, "I owe you one," and then he disappears.

BOLLING: Did you notice something? Can you put the banned phrase back up? Can you still do it or not? Can you?

And let Greg talk when he says it, when you put it up there. What's going on with the bottom? Was it always, like, cut off on the bottom like that?

GUTFELD: I don't know.

BECKEL: What the hell does that matter?

TANTAROS: Maybe they're saying they owe you one, one what?

GUTFELD: Yes.

TANTAROS: You don't even know how they're paying you back.

(CROSSTALK)

BECKEL: This segment has got to get going.

TANTAROS: All right. Thank you, Bob, for helping me keep time here.

Listen to this.

BECKEL: I had something to say about the...

TANTAROS: Listen to this. The Justin Bieber statue at the wax museum
-- I'm going to pretend like I didn't hear that -- has been taken away, because unfortunately, too many people have been groping the statue at Madam Tussauds here in New York City. So they're going to bring back a different one, which I don't think that's going to stop the problem unless they rope it off. But apparently, too many people were touching and fondling the statue.

And Greg, they did tell me that they would let you back into the museum if you promise to be good to the...

GUTFELD: Isn't it redundant having a wax figure of Justin Bieber?

PERINO: You could put him in a prison suit.

GUTFELD: There you go.

PERINO: For the new one.

BECKEL: Is everybody done? I was going to say we're being quick, but we came into this segment. It's very tight. We've got to move through very fast, and we're still burning out time here.

Yes, I want to go back to the Muslims for a second. Say something, anything. Please. Say something.

TANTAROS: Does anyone have a cane, anyone? Don't forget to set your DVRs so you never miss an episode of "The Five." We'll see you right back here tomorrow.

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