The Culture War Blues...

The culture war blues, that is the subject of this evening's "Talking Points Memo."

It's not about Judge Samuel Alito's (search) voting record or his competency as a judge. It's about the far left secular progressive movement losing control of the judicial process.

Although already demonized by the far left media as a conservative extremist, an examination of Alito's decision-making from the bench refutes that description.

Nevertheless, a committed left wing press is all over Alito. The Seattle Post Intelligencer (search) calls him, "a Conservative Beloved by the Religious Right". Uh-oh. The Los Angeles Times (search) says he's a "Hard- Core Conservative". The St. Louis Post Dispatch (search) says Alito, "Has a Record Antagonistic to Important Constitutional Rights".

And the big three far left senators, Kennedy, Schumer, and Boxer don't like Alito one bit. But why? The guy seems to be a moderate. Yes, he voted to uphold a Pennsylvania law that said it does not put an undue burden on a wife to inform her husband should she seek an abortion. You may disagree with that, but surely that's a reasonable point of view. We'll debate it shortly.

But then Judge Alito turns around and strikes down a New Jersey law banning partial birth abortion. In both decisions, Alito cited previous case law, not an ideological viewpoint. So both pro-lifers and pro-choicers can be angry with Judge Alito.

But the judge's record is really not the issue. The far left is petrified that the Supreme Court is slipping away from them. Secular progressive movement, which owns the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in California as well as many federal judges here in the northeast knows that Judge Alito is a traditionalist who will not rule against the pledge of allegiance, the Boy Scouts (search), or Christmas symbols in public.

Thus, the far left sees big trouble ahead in the courts, which is the only avenue it has since the folks will never vote for a secular progressive agenda. So that's why the far left immediately went into attack mode.

It's not fair, but who cares? There aren't any rules in the culture war. If the culture warriors on the left fight to the end, things could get nasty. And that's why "The Factor" is here, to keep you posted every step of the way. And that's "The Memo."

The Most Ridiculous Item of the Day

Eight weeks until Christmas. Eight weeks. Can you believe it? So we're going to open the BillOreilly.com Christmas/holiday store a little earlier this year, because we know money's tight. And we have a bunch of stuff that may help you out in the gift-giving department.

We priced the merchandise from about $10 to $150, with most being in the $20 to $40 range. All the gear is made in the USA. All of my proceeds from the web site, including premium membership fees, are donated to charity. So everybody wins in the Christmas holiday store, and the elves are thrilled.

Now my favorite item this year is the varsity -- look -- look at that jacket. Is that stunning? American flag, "no spin" underneath. If you see a six-foot-four-inch Irish guy wearing that, it might be. Ridiculous? Only if you don't like tall, Irish guys in sharp jackets.

I love that jacket. I sleep in that jacket. A hundred and fifty bucks. It would cost you double that in any store. And it's really -- you can wear it in almost every time zone. I mean, you can't really wear it in Miami. Yes, you can. In January you can in Miami. But it's a great gift.

All right. BillOreilly.com Christmas store open for biz.