Covering Obama and McCain

Wednesday, August 06, 2008

By Bill O'Reilly

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Beginning on Monday, September 8, "The Factor's" coverage of the presidential race will shift into high gear and take on a different look — more of an investigative tone.

Up until now, we've covered the candidates on what they've said and how they've attacked each other. Pretty standard stuff.

What separates us from most opinion programs on TV and radio is that we have not been rooting for anyone or spinning stuff to hammer one candidate while giving the other a pass. We are skeptical of both candidates.

Now, I'm simply bored with the gotcha game every night parsing a candidate's words hoping to make him look bad. I mean, what is the value of that? It's just dumb.

Here's an example. Yesterday, Obama said he will now consider drilling for new oil if alternative energy measures are included in the bill. That's a change in his position. Why? Because the polls say 70 percent of Americans now want new drilling. So the senator responded to the polls. And you can make the call whether he's a flopper or not.

John McCain now says he's a big alternative energy guy in addition to being a driller. But no ANWR and he voted against alternative energy in the past. Is McCain being disingenuous? Again, you have to make the call.

What's amusing is that both candidates are hammering each other over the energy debacle, even though both have made big mistakes on the issue and neither has a clear plan for the future. So it's politics as usual and "Talking Points" has a headache.

Next week, Obama heads to Hawaii to raise money and take a vacation. McCain will continue his whistle stops and town meetings. I don't expect much to happen before the conventions, but in this gotcha climate you've got to tune in every night for the latest.

Now the conventions themselves will be predictable, but "The Factor" will be there, so that will liven things up a bit. We'll cause some trouble, but expect a lot of bloviating from the pols. Bush will be the devil in Denver, Obama the destroyer in Minneapolis.

After that, it will be September and we'll begin our microanalysis of the campaign. Since we still don't know much about Barack Obama's belief system, we'll spend some time on that. And we will profile his career and associations as well. We hope the senator will finally speak with us, but we're not counting on it.

As I've stated, this election is basically a yes or no vote on Obama. You know what you're getting with McCain, but Obama remains somewhat of a mystery. However, come November, he won't be. Count on it.

And that's "The Memo."

Pinheads & Patriots

Most Americans respect our military people, and some are even helping them.

Sixteen-year-old Lizzie Palmer from Ohio created a five-minute video honoring the troops, and it has received 25 million hits on YouTube.

Lizzie herself plans to join the Army, and she is, indeed, a patriot.

On the pinhead front, actress Mary-Kate Olsen was a friend of the late Heath Ledger, and the feds want to talk to her about the actor. But Ms. Olsen is refusing to talk without immunity because the situation involves Ledger's drug-taking, which killed him.

Olsen says she knows nothing about that. If that is true, then why does she need immunity? She may be a pinhead.

— You can catch Bill O'Reilly's "Talking Points Memo" and "Pinheads & Patriots" weeknights at 8 and 11 p.m. ET on the FOX News Channel and any time on foxnews.com/oreilly. Send your comments to: oreilly@foxnews.com