The White House Reverses Its Field

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

The White House reverses its field, that is the subject of this evening's "Talking Points Memo."

Condoleezza Rice (search) will now testify in front of the 9/11 Commission.

"Talking Points" suggested that course of action a couple of weeks ago, and so did most other political observers.

The Bush administration has little to lose by allowing Dr. Rice to testify. She has told her story time and time again, and that story will not change under oath.

This whole Richard Clarke (search) ordeal has not hurt President Bush, according to the polls. Most Americans see Clarke for who he is ... an opportunist.

That's not to say that Clarke doesn't know what he's talking about on terrorism. He does ... but he has now become a political creature and that undermines his War on Terror credentials.

Here's something you might not know ... Richard Clarke's publisher, Simon & Schuster (search) has refused to put him on the Fox News Channel at all. That's almost unheard of in the publishing industry. You can understand why he wouldn't come on The Factor, because we'd make him sweat. But all the other programs on this network?

There's something wrong with that strategy. Fox News Channel sells books and everybody in the publishing world knows it.

So, "Talking Points" remains suspicious of this whole Clarke deal and is going to put it to bed this evening.

Enough is enough, and unless there are new developments, Richard Clarke is now a footnote to us.

In the end, this whole brouhaha won't affect the election one bit. Americans want to know who's going to protect them in the future. That's the most important issue right now.

We’re happy Dr. Rice is going to testify before the 9/11 Commission because it might diminish the partisan blather.

Politics and terrorism are not a good combination. When people want to kill you, ideology should step aside ... and most Americans know it.

And that's "The Memo."

The Most Ridiculous Item of the Day

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

Janet Jackson (search) is back in the public eye.

She's trying to sell her new album, so last night she appeared on the David Letterman broadcast in an outfit that might cause frostbite in Maine.

Ms. Jackson was also bleeped during her conversation about that Super Bowl incident with Justin Timberlake.

The word bleeped was "Jesus." Why that was bleeped, I'm not quite sure.

You can decide whether or not it's ridiculous.