but the storm surge quickly overwhelmed the levees and flooded most of the city. what followed was a humanitarian crisis like nothing ever seen before in this nation. some areas are still trying to recover but hurricane katrina crushed south mississippi and flooded the big easy six years ago today. and now you know the news. for this monday, august 29, 2011, i'm shepard smith. thanks for having us into your place. bill o'reilly coming up right now. >> the o'reilly factor is on. tonight -- >> mother nature is flexing her muscle. >> we are getting pounded and the surf very, very rough. it's all underwater right now. >> dozens dead. billions in damage after hurricane irene slammed into the east coast. passing eight miles away from my house! the nerve. we'll have a number of eyewitness reports. >> certainly shouldn't tribute

to the manufactured synthetic as tara that's a part of modern life. >> george will and others saying the media hyped the hurricane way out of proportion. is that true? bernie goldberg will analyze. >> mr. cheney has had a long and distinguished career and i hope in his book that's what he will focus on, not the cheap shots he's taking at me. >> and colin powell angry that dick cheney slams him in a new book. we'll tell you what that's all about. caution, you are about to enter the no spin zone. "the factor" begins right now. >> bill: hi, i'm bill o'reilly. thanks for watching us tonight. the great storm of 2011, that is the subject of this evening's talking points memo. hurricane irene has killed at least 37 americans, caused billions in damage on the east coast. nothing anybody can do about nature.

it happens. the good news -- the authorities seem to be pretty well organized. and chaos was kept to a minimum. even though many people got hurt. there were few reports of looting or violence of any kind. and most people seem to cooperate in the evacuations. out on long island where i live, the center of the hurricane was about eight miles to the west of my home. storm wasn't as bad as many people feared. heavy rain and winds about 60 miles per hour where i was. now, during the storm, i didn't even lose electricity and could watch shepard smith log hours on fox news. he did a very nice job, by the way. and then a strange thing happened. about four hours after the storm passed through, the electricity went out. and eight hours after that, the cable went out. and they both stayed out. so i'm thinking, why did that happen? if the storm is gone, why did the infrastructure collapse on long island for hundreds of thousands of people after the

fact? i still have not been able to get an answer to that question. the long island power authority lipa charges the highest public utility electricity rates in the country and right now about a half million of their customers are without power. new york city did better. con ed reporting a few problems and there's a big problem, though, with america's infrastructure in general. irene was not a catastrophic storm. but one of the largest utility companies in the country, lipa, could not handle it. if the u.s.a. is ever hit by a major natural disaster or a nuclear incident, this country will be in big trouble. t the truth is that our electrical services are fragile and antiquated and easily knocked out so my advice to you is this. buy a generator if you can afford to and stock up on nonperishable stuff you will need if you don't have electricity. in this high-tech aim, we're all way too dependent on machines and as we all know, machines can go down very fast. in my community, folks pulled

together. the guys at the restaurant opened up feeding folks that didn't have power. when i asked my pal eli why he and his crew braved the storm to come in, he said "because albanians are crazy." the guys are half albanian and half italian. all and all, hurricane irene was a bad storm but it did bring out good in many americans. and that's a memo. now for the top story tonight, let's check in with some of our correspondents who were out in the middle of the chaos. my question to all of them, what made the most vivid impression on you? first up, joining us from long beach, long island, laura ingle. so, vivid impression? what was it? >> you know, we talked a lot about the storm surge that was going to happen here and i think really, the force of the wind and the surge of the ocean is what impressed me the most. we were standing right here on this boardwalk that has a lot of maintenance work going on right now, a lot of repair work. that's the sound you hear. but the waves were not crashing on the beach. they were crashing up against the wood planks of this boardwalk. water was racing under our feet

when we were doing our live reporting at the height of this storm. and, you know, it's one thing to deal with the wind to try to stand there where you feel like to you're a kite being blown around trying to keep your feet planted but then when you look at the ocean and those waves, it was all white caps as far as the eye could see, coming toward us. you knew that things were serious. and that is an exact reason why there were so many evacuations going on. a lot of people saying they didn't want to evacuate. but with that much water coming at us that fast in just the main -- one of the main streets here, just feet away, you understand why that evacuation had to take place. >> bill: did you ever think you would get whacked by a wave or going to get worse and come over you? did you think that? >> well, there was one point right when we started our report at 8:00 a.m. eastern that we were talking about the ocean and we were looking out and right when he was talking about it, i saw a wave -- i saw some white foam coming up between the wood planks while i was talking and i looked at my cameraman and i

thought we better wrap this up and get off the boardwalk. that was one moment that was a little sketchy. >> bill: thanks very much. let's go to molly line standing by in dartmouth, massachusetts, in the southern part of that state. same question, most vivid impression. >> you know, it was a slow build of the storm. a lot of rain overnight. the coastal communities made it through in the early morning high tides, not a whole lot of coastal flooding. and then the storm got rolling. 11:00, 12:00, 2:00 in the afternoon, not a lot of rain anymore. bands of wind and we kind of felt like hey, this isn't so bad and then as the night went on, it got stronger and stronger and stronger and we had the really strong bands of wind up until 10:00 at night. that's when all the power was going out, the trees were coming down. and throughout the day, tons of onlookers. despite authorities begging people to stay home because of the trees, the wires down, a lot of people were bringing their kids down to look out at the newport harbor and the boats bobbing and, you know, the seas splashing up. the kids were getting splashed. they were having a good time. but definitely a dangerous situation. >> we're looking at -- >> more fatalities. >> we're looking at video now of

northern new england in vermont in particular where the rivers were overflowing and there, it's a whole different thing than what you experienced down in newport which is on the ocean. but -- >> exactly. >> bill: i know it pretty well, there wasn't any danger there as it was on long island and new york because the storm had gone west. i think that's why the people went down and it's rubber necking, you know how people are. they see an accident or they see something like this, they want to get down and they want to see it. i guess it's human nature. molly, thanks very much. >> the wind event. >> bill: they say don't get down, if they don't think they're going to get hurt, they're going to go down. wee go to mike tobin standing by in queens, new york, near the epicenter of irene when it hit. what was the thing that impressed you the most? >> i suppose the most remarkable thing about this storm, bill, was all of the destruction that we certainly learned about after the violent portion of the storm had passed. you know, when the winds came in, they were violent.

it was a hurricane. it was a tropical storm but i've been through more fierce winds than that. i was watching the barometer pretty closely and it dropped down to a type of depression that would be a category two hurricane. the wind didn't get that strong. that fit the forecast model. the storm surge came up and tide came in and a lot of the water started rolling across the boulevard about as deep as my knee. i thought there was going to be a lot of flooding but as soon as the wind calmed down and the wind changed direction and as soon as the tide went out, all of the sea water went out with it. it wasn't until later when we were trying to get different parts of the state to cover some different stories, we started running into scenes like the one behind me here at every road and we couldn't get around because it was so much flooding. >> bill: right, we were lucky -- we in new york were lucky that all of that happened, that the tide went out at the right time and the winds shifted at the right time and all of that. so the authorities weren't wrong and i don't think the media was wrong having to deal with that -- the bernie goldberg coming up

by overhyping this story because, you know, when it's a life and death situation, you almost have to do that. mike, thanks very much. finally, let's go to rick leventhal who is in new hope, pennsylvania, right now. he was based in atlantic city when irene hit and then i saw you a lot out there standing by yourself. you looked very lonely during that hurricane. >> you know, bill, that was the most impressive thing to me. i've been in atlantic city many times and i have never seen it as empty as it was over the weekend during this storm. the boardwalk was completely deserted. at times, we were the only ones out there and i stood in the middle of pacific avenue which is the main drag in atlantic city, right in front of caesar's in the middle of the street and there was virtually no traffic. and an occasional police car would drive by but there was no one in atlantic city and we stayed in caesar's on a saturday night, last weekend in august, there would be 10,000 people inside that hotel. there were maybe 20 security guards and our fox news crews. that was it. walking through an empty casino was an eerie feeling on what

would have been a very busy weekend. >> bill: governor christie was very aggressive at telling people to get out and very strong language on all the coastal towns on the jersey shore, i think that helped. you know, people like to gamble and some people, they'll go to their grave, you know, i just need one more roll. but in this case -- it was, it was startling that they all took off and got out. >> yeah, very effective evacuation order and very effective job by the atlantic city police department. you know, there were roads there that were very much underwater during the height of the tidal surge and our car almost got stuck in it. had there been all this people there and not heeded evacuation orders and they were out looking around, they could have had some significant problems there. so clearly, there was a good reason to get people out of there. there were trees down. power lines down. that sort of thing. so, you know, they were better safe than sorry. >> bill: ok, you're standing right -- and i only have about 30 seconds, you're standing right in front of the delaware river where george washington crossed, of course. is that in any danger of flooding down there? >> they tell us that it's

crested or it's about to crest. it's well below flood stages that they've seen in years past so no, new hope, pennsylvania, is doing very well tonight. they're very grateful that the -- that the river didn't rise higher than they thought it might. >> bill: all right, thanks very much. we appreciate all you guys down there who did an outstanding job. we hope you saw some of the fox news coverage of the hurricane. it was the best in the business. next on the rundown, you knew it would happen. far left people are blaming hurricane irene on global warming and later, bernie goldberg on whether the media reported the hurricane responsibly or hyped it to death. we're coming right back. just one phillips' colon health probiotic cap a day

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for local maps, deals and more, go to superpages.com®. and let the good guys save the day. >> bill: tonight, some in the environmental community are saying that global warming credibilitied to irene's fury and they cited warm waters in the atlantic ocean and melting icebergs. joining us from state college, pennsylvania, chief meteorologist joe bistardi. how do you respond to this? >> 1954, 1955, 1938, 1933. listen, either they're not telling you what happened before they don't know what happened before, 1954, three major hurricanes up the eastern seaboard. a major heat wave in texas. when the pacific cools and the atlantic is warm, you get this happening. as a matter of fact, we may see a double shot of tropical love in that 10 days from now,

another major hurricane may be starting in the coast. >> bill: we'll get to that a minute. >> i want to get to this point here. >> bill: wait, you're basing your model rather than ideology on what happened in the past, texas in the 1950's, very bone dry as it is now. atlantic, very warm as it is now. same kind of pattern that we're seeing now. now, george will and others have accused you and other media of overhyping irene. do you think you overhyped it? >> let me ask george will this, it's probably going to be ranked the sixth costliest storm on record, killed 25 people. what does he want me to do? do i need to make it 15 billion dollars instead of 10 and kill 40, 50 people? you know what? here's the situation, this was a big, strong atlantic hurricane. the structure of accelerating hurricanes up the eastern seaboard changes. it's much different from the storms down in florida or toward

new orleans like katrina so there's a lot of variability but diane, for instance, in 1955 was known for the flood. agnes in 1972 known for the flood. the barometric pressure of this storm was very, very low. that energy had to be dissipated somewhere. on the western side in the form of rain, the eastern side, what do you think, the wind was blowing 10 miles an hour to cause all that tree damage and all the power outage? it's all fun and games unless it's your power knocked out and your basement flooding. >> bill: i agree with you. i think we did a responsible job. >> yeah, i don't understand it. >> bill: you know how people are. >> no, but what's going on here is this. it's surreal to me. the left side of the aisle wants the global warming. to counter them, they want to dehype storms. can't we just judge something against actual history? $10 to $15 billion with the storm will put it at fifth or sixth and the loss of life regrettable as it is could have

been higher. >> bill: there's another coast brewing off the coast of africa. >> i expect it to threaten. all i'm trying to say is connie and diane 1955 back to back. carol and edna, 1954 back to back. dennis and floyd 1999. it will not be global warming if we're threatened in 10 days. watch the western gulf, by the way, this weekend and japan is about to get hit by a major typhoon. none of this is global warming. it's nature doing what nature does. >> bill: ok, can you give us any preview of what's happening now with the storm in the east coast? do you have any patterns? does it even have a name? >> no, it's going to be named katia, i believe, but what will happen is the pattern, overall pattern will set a major cool shot down the plains, texas you're going to cool down in the wake of whatever develops in the gulf of mexico. when that happens, the jet stream will buckle and the storm may be in the position to try to run the eastern seaboard again in 8 to 10 days.

but this is what we've seen before the season. i was on fox business in may saying this is an east coast year. look out and that's what happens. it's simply the weather doing what the weather does. >> bill: is there any chance -- i know there's a speculation, i usually don't do this. because things are so dire in texas, that there's a storm that's coming now, the next one can go through the gulf and actually rain on texas which needs the rain. >> no, texas is going to get rain from its system that's going to develop in place. you don't even see it now. but watch the pressures lower in the western gulf this weekend and that should help out with some texas rain down in there. but the systems in the atlantic this year. the systems that are coming from the east are basically east coast storms. the systems that have to hit texas, instead of seeing them come all the way through like we've seen before are probably going to have to develop in their backyard. this is an east coast year for the most part like 1954 and 1955 were. >> bill: all right, you're our guy and we really appreciate it. thank you, directly ahead, texas governor rick perry now leading

in the republican polls, under attack by the left and we'll have a special report. and then the editor of "the new york times" on insulting christianity. ♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] the most headroom per dollar of any car in america. the all-new nissan versa sedan from $10,990. innovatiosized. innovation for all. are switching from tylenolday, thto advil.f people from $10,990. here's one story. i'm sean. i switched to advil 10 months ago. cyclists are a crazy bunch.

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>> bill: according to the gallup and rasmussen polls and a new cnn poll, texas governor rick perry now has a double digit lead over mitt romney and everybody else in the republican field. that means mr. perry is a big target for those who do not like the g.o.p. but the important question is, is the governor qualified to be president? joining us now from austin, texas, bob mann, former press secretary for ted kennedy and our pal kiki friedman who himself ran for governor against

rick perry. do you like the guy, mr. friedman? >> i do, bill. i think, you know, he's a fellow texan and so forth. but i'm kind of in a lincoln and churchill spirit, i'm finding good in a former foe, you know, and there's a lot of good in rick perry. >> bill: tell me why. tell me what's good about him. >> well, there's one thing. he's a nuts and bolts guy with the economy. if you're going to give obama credit for killing bin laden, you got to give rick perry credit for doing pretty well with the texas economy. and obama has done for the economy what pantyhose did for foreplay. >> bill: so you believe that perry's main -- main campaign theme, that he's a good economic guy is true but texas does have a budget gap of between $15 and $27 billion. i mean, you know, they owe a lot of money. there's a lot of shortfall in texas.

>> well, you know, part of it is that i would support charlie sheen over obama. but i think there's a dignity in rick perry and there's a -- i really think that his best days are ahead of him and, you know, it's hard to distinguish himself. >> bill: you think he's an honest guy? >> oh, yeah. if he follows the cowboy way which he does, ride, shoot straight and tell the truth. >> bill: you don't have much regard for the governor. is that an ideological thing because he is a conservative, religious kind of guy? >> no. on a personal level, i do not know rick perry. i only met him one time and that was a very gracious meeting. it was a funeral. i was standing by myself. he was then secretary of agriculture and he spotted me, came over and shook my hand and introduced himself and together, we grieved over the death of a television news reporter. so my impression personally was a very positive one. and you find people in texas who are extremely fond of him and close to him and you have others

who are not so fond of him. >> bill: and you come down in the political arena where? >> well, i think it's hard to tell what rick perry really is. is he a conservative or not? as you mentioned, the 27 billion dollar budget deficit, something texas had never had before, it was accumulated on his watch, he was out of the state during much of that time. denied it would be that much. he said at one point, it might be $10 or $15 billion. then when he finally came down and faced it, he blamed in large part the comptroller, susan combs for the deficit. our unemployment under rick perry, when rick perry became governor, texas unemployment was at 4%. in his double -- on his watch. it's now 8.2%. >> bill: but under perry, texas has one of the best job creations, if not the best in the country during the recession.

>> that's right. and much of that is, i think, due to the tremendous growth of texas which i don't think governor perry or any governor has a lot to do with. >> bill: i don't know about that. if the guy has been in charge for more than eight years and the tax rate is low and people want to live there, i don't think you can not give him credit. all right, one quick question for you and i'll come back to you, mr. mann. you're going to vote for perry. i mean, right now, the way it stands, you got romney, you got bachmann and a number of others, perry is your guy? >> yeah, bill, it comes down to this. do you prefer a president that doesn't believe in evolution or do you prefer a president that doesn't believe in israel? >> ok. >> bill: pretty clear cut for you. do you favor any of the republican candidates, any of the others over governor perry? >> i've been very impressed in recent days with governor huntsman who understands the world of internationalism, who seems to be an extremely

intellectual type person, a man with seven children and i think he's sort of a sleeping giant and frankly, when they had the debate about 10 days ago, i thought newt gingrich was the winner. if newt was as likable in the past as he was that night, newt's star would still be on the rise. the other candidates, i think, are marginal. >> bill: we appreciate it. thank you very much. plenty more ahead as the factor moves ahead this evening. the editor of "the new york times" insults this evening, more on that. "the new york times" christianity situation and whether the media overhyped hurricane irene. we hope you stay tuned for those reports. [ male announcer ] life is full of missed opportunities. like the exotic vacation you nev took.

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including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal events can occur, such as infections, lymphoma, or other types of cancer, blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. before starting humira, your doctor should test you for tb. ask your doctor if you live or have been to a region where certain fungal infections are common. tell your doctor if you have had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have symptoms such as fever, fatigue, cough, or sores. you should not start humira if you have any kind of infection. ask your rheumatologist how you can defend against and help stop further joint damage with humira. >> bill: unresolved problems segment tonight, secular media continuing to batter religious politicians, the editor of "the new york times" bill keller wants the press to ask tough questions of politicians who "wear their religion on their sleeve." keller writing "every faith has its baggage and every faith

holds beliefs that will seem bizarre to outsiders. i grew up believing that a priest could turn a bread wafer into the actual flesh of christ." killer apparently insulting the sacrament of communion, t. you can imagine if he would have denigrated the muslim faith in terms like that, all hell, pardon the pun, would have broken loose. but you can kick christianity around all day long. mr. keller has a point when he says politicians like michelle bachmann need to be questioned about their theology. >> i don't know how much god has to do to get the attention of the politicians, we've had an earthquake. we've had a hurricane. he said, are you going to start listening to me here? >> bill: all right, miss bachmann's spokesperson said she was just jesing and making a point. joining us from washington, mary katherine hamm and juan williams, the a the author of t

bestseller "the muzzle." what about the wafer business? that's a little over the top? >> i think it's over the top. as a christian, i don't like it. i find it, you know, this is where he goes way past the edge. i thought you were exactly right. he has every right as a journalist to ask questions, especially with regard to how much these politicians believe that the bible or any religious set of beliefs should govern our country. and, you know, when you see our people saying we don't want evolution taught in schools on the same basis of creation. what's going on? why he had to equate aliens with a body of christ, i have no idea. >> bill: i didn't get that -- i didn't use that in my lead. in addition to saying that, you know, he once believed that the eucharist, this, that and the other thing. he did say some people believe in aliens, some people believe in religion, mary katherine.

it seems to be -- i know this is shocking. it seemed to be the editor of "the new york times" was a bit c condescending. >> i actually read it. if you read this "new york times" article to me and said it was a parody, i would have believed you. the man sounded like he would wear a haz-mat suit to like a church picnic. these people are not scary. it was so out of touch to me and i do think juan is right that there are questions that can be asked but once you get into these weird conspiracy theories about trojan horses and sects of evangelicalism, you made a point that i think is right, is the irony is he feels the same way about christianity as he accuses the right of feeling about islam which is on its face disqualifying and that's bigoted. >> bill: this is really the heart of far left and mr. keller is a far left individual. it's the heart of the far left

attack mode when you throw a basic christian tenet that a priest, a minister has the power through ordination to change bread into the body of christ a la the last supper, when christ, jesus gave it to his apostles to do that. when you say, you know, that's like believing in aliens and that's like doing this and that and the other thing, you know, it doesn't offend me, i'll tell you why. there are a lot smarter people than bill keller who do believe that happens and it's a belief system. you just believe it or you don't. mr. keller apparently doesn't. he's entitled to that. but to insult everybody who does believe is just beyond the pale. let's get to the point that he has that's legitimate. if you are a rick perry or a michelle bachmann, or a sarah palin to some extent and you are going to bring religion into the marketplace by saying, look, a lot of my political beliefs are based on my religious beliefs,

then it is legitimate to question that as they did with congresswoman bachmann and her submissive to her husband comment. i think that's absolutely legitimate, juan. >> yeah, it's absolutely legitimate and i think that it's kind of weird she would bring it in and then, of course, you have to think about some of the attacks that are coming. i mean, you know, the tea party for the most part, bill, has stayed away from social issues but now, you see the evangelical side, the social conservative side popping up and perry and bachmann really trying to take advantage not only with asking things about, you know, i'm submissive to my husband and then having to explain it but as i say, don't teach creation or creationism should be on the same level with evolution in schools. you have to worry about their attitude, then, towards gays and gay marriage. this, to me, you know, you don't want sharia law which is any kind of muslim law involved in our civic law here in the united states. i don't want anybody's set of beliefs telling me what i can and can't do.

again, i'm someone who is, you know, i go to church every sunday and i'm a very religious person but i understand my religion in a land of religious liberty as separate from civic life. i don't think they should be -- >> bill: what religion -- >> i'm a christian. >> bill: are you protestant or catholic? >> yeah, yeah, i'm an episcopalian. >> there are public policy questions that you can ask about. with the bachmann question, i thought it was a legitimate question. she had bought it up in a campaign setting. it waensn't a random attack on r faith. when you get to the point when you're insinuating that christians might not be qualified for office because they might mix the beliefs in. normal people wrestle every day with ancient tenets of their religions and how they match up with their modern life. i understand "the new york times" editors don't experience that ever apparently but it's a pretty normal thing. and i remember a time in 2008, by the way, when talking about someone's preacher and spiritual mentor was tantamount to racism. >> bill: yeah and then somebody remarked it's not my comment

that they wish mr. keller had brought the same scrutiny to president obama and reverend wright. all right, mary katherine, juan, thanks very much. when we come right back, bernie goldberg will react to mr. keller's religious analysis and bernie also has some thoughts on the media coverage of irene. goldberg is next!

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booif something is simply 20% athe color of gold,express. is it really worth more? we don't think so. chase sapphire preferred is a card of a different color. unlike others, you get twice the points on travel, and twice the points on dining, and no foreign transaction fees. call now or apply at chasesapphire.com/preferred. >> bill: thanks for staying with us. i'm bill o'reilly. weekdays at bernie segment, two hot topics, whether the media overhyped hurricane irene and the situation you just heard, the editor of the "new york times" insulting the sack ra meant. joining us, the purveyor of bernardgoldberg.com, mr. goldberg. let's take mr. keller first. what say you? >> on his central point that journalists need to ask candidates for high office

questions about their religious beliefs if -- if religion is an important part of their lives, i totally agree. i totally agree with bill keller. if, let's say a candidate believes that the earth is 6,000 years old because that's what the bible tells him or her and the dinosaurs walked around the earth at the same time as people did, look, that may not affect his foreign policy or that might not affect her economic policy but that kind of ignorance is going to affect something and we need to know about it. now, having said that, and you alluded to this just before the break, bill keller, i wish that he and "the new york times" was as concerned about religion and politics during the last campaign when it pertained to barack obama who sat in a church with a hateful minister for 20 years. so i'm not sure bill keller is the right person to preach to us

about the importance of journalists asking about religion but on this matter. on this matter, i think when candidates' religious beliefs affect policy, that's when we have -- >> bill: i think most people would agree and i agree as well and the way he did it with the condensation to the religious groups, why do they feel a need to do that? >> i'm going to leave that to christian people of faith like you. but i will say in a broad sense and this is a generalization, that religion to a lot of journalists, especially to a lot of very important journalists is almost an alien -- >> bill: it's superstition. that's what it is. >> right. >> bill: but if they had done that to your religion, if keller had said something about a central jewish tenet, god help him he did about a muslim tenet, he couldn't go out of the house. he would have been branded a

bigot. you would have had people all over him but it's free fire zone on christianity. >> and it has been for quite sometime but i think the important point you just made is "the new york times" won't touch controversial muslim issues. they wouldn't publish the cartoons that set off riots around the world. >> bill: they're not going to put themselves in harm's way. because we'll be the only news show today that covers this. go ahead. >> there will be no christians marching around "the new york times" threatening to blow it up. >> bill: christians pray for mr. keller and possibly offer up communion for him. george will thinks the storm is hyped. >> whatever you may say about journalism, it shouldn't subtract from the nation's understanding and shouldn't contribute to the manufactured

synthetic hysteria that's so much of a part of life. you sort of agree with mr. will here, right? >> i want to be very, very careful, hurricanes are dangerous things and they're no fun to go through and if you come out of it in one piece and your house comes out of in one piece, it's no fun living with no electricity for a day or a week, a month, whatever it is and i speak, unfortunately, from personal experience on that matter. but i can't help but thinking, bill, that one of the reasons and frankly, one of the major reasons that this hurricane got so much attention was because it was heading for the center of the universe. it was heading for where media elite journalists live. it was heading for new york city. and i guarantee you this, if this same hurricane -- no, not this same hurricane, if a bigger hurricane were heading for biloxi, mississippi, i know the population is different in biloxi than new york city but if

a category 3 was heading for biloxi, mississippi, it wouldn't get the same attention. there's a kind of journalistic narsissim that new york based journalists are guilty of, if it happens to us, it's more important to you. >> bill: there's something you're missing here, though. why it got hyped up, i think there's a little something to the new york thing but i don't think that was the overwhelming national perspective. hurricane katrina changed everything. ever since that storm hit now, every storm is hysterical. and plus it's the end of august. there's nothing else going on so the media latched on to this coverage. they drove it and drove it and drove it. was it a bad thing? i didn't think so. i got tired of it. i watched the little league world series, bernie, nobody broke into my house forcing me to watch hurricane irene coverage. so there you go. >> well, i think we're both right because i think the new york thing was a factor and i think you agree with that to

some extent but you're right. in the post katrina age, nobody -- nobody's taking any chances anymore. that's why you have politicians shutting down subway systems and things like that. they're want goinot going to ge on the wrong side of the hurricane. that's why you have the vacation in new jersey on vacation during a huge snow storm and you have barack obama suffering from a perception that he's not a leader taking charge of it. katrina changed it all and politicians are not going to get caught the way the bozos in louisiana were caught back during katrina. they're just not. and the media has changed, too. you're right about that. >> bill: all right, bernie, thanks very much, as always. reality check on deck. tonight, al gore compares anti-global warming people to racists. and colin powell slams dick cheney. check moments away. n me to stay. so i take one a day men's 50+ advantage.

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>> bill: reality check and we begin this evening with dick cheney's new book that slams people like condaleeza rice and colin powell. mr. powell doesn't like it. >> mr. cheney has had a long and distinguished career and i hope in this book that's what he will focus on, not these cheap shots that he's taking at me and other members of the administration who serve to the best of our ability for president bush. >> so you, you just label them flatly cheap shots. >> yeah, they are cheap shots. several of the ones that he tosses at me, you know, he takes great credit for my resignation in 2004. well, president bush and i had always agreed that i would leave at the end of 2004. >> bill: we invited both powell and cheney to appear on "the factor" and they've always turned us down in the past but we hope they will reconsider. check two. in addition to causing hurricane

irene global warming may be responsible for brand new generation of racists. take it away, al gore. >> explain to me why it's ok to discriminate against people because their skin color is different and when they couldn't really answer that question with integrity, the change really started. do we still have racism? god knows but it's so different now and so much better. and we have to win the conversation on climate. >> bill: check believes the stretch mr. gore made to equate those two subjects qualifies him for double-jointed status. check 3. it's not easy covering a hurricane. >> yeah, we've got sea foam everywhere at this point. all over the boardwalk. ahhhh! i got some sea foam in my mouth. tell sue and gary, by the way, the sea foam taste like sand. >> tell me what you're doing. >> i'm getting drunk.

>> i'm not really smart today. a lot of power to it. >> one thing that has not decreased that we'd like to see is the traffic, no shortage of incredibly, well, i'll bite my tongue, people who have been coming out. we're talking about dozens of people who have walked by me. >> bill: as david nibbin once said about streakers, why are they compelled to expose their shortcomings? check 4. despite federal help during irene, congressman ron paul is convinced fema must go. >> fema has been around since 1978. it has one of the worst reputations for a bureaucracy ever. i win elections because i fight for the constituents to overcome the bureaucracy. you can't imagine how many calls we get because fema is getting in the way and they can't get their checks. they can't get their bill out. anybody who wants to defend this department and this agency, they have a tough argument to argue for.

>> bill: mr. paul does have a legitimate point about fema's legacy of wasting money. check 5. despite outrage in massachusetts about a criminal illegal alien killing a young man with his car, governor duval patrick remains defiant about not totally cooperating with ice. >> illegal immigration didn't kill this person. a drunk driver killed this person and we have laws about that and i expect the book to be thrown at this person. he deserves it. >> bill: but he doesn't deserve to be in the country, governor, does he? but your administration allowed him to dodge the feds even after he was arrested for assault a police officer a few years ago. illegal immigration didn't kill matthew denise, foolish ideology did. combined with an out of control criminal that you allowed to stay in your state. that's reality check. pinheads and patriots on the way. that's next. it was created with the power of verizon 4g lte.

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>> bill: pinheads and patriots starring the factor'í)ó back in racing mode. but first, heads-up about books. paperback edition of pinheads and patriots will be out the first week of september. we've included new stuff, including my super bowl interview with president obama then september 27th, my new book, "killing lincoln" will

be released. if you think you know what happened to president lincoln, how he died? you don't. check it out on amazon.com. some advance stuff about killing lincoln. i think you will find it interesting. not sure about book signings, we are trying to put one together where miller and i will be appearing. we hope that happens. >> now the mail: >> bill: i reject the unfair starky label. my style is tough but fair, always. some of you like these politicians too much. you ask a tough question you're snarky.

>> bill: they do not miss o'donnell. certainly, they are not anti-christian. >> bill: friday was a day off for me. but i will try never to put juan in danger. i'm sure he's touched by your concern. >> bill: because it is a holiday weekend lots of people are up and around. buck up, be there. >> bill: we posted a clip of

the miller-o'reilly show on billoreilly.com. finally i. you may remember a thoroughbred name the factor who was close in competinging in the kentucky derby this year before he go hurt. now the factor is making a comeback. >> announcer: factor takes the advantage, smiling tiger, coming home on the outside factor holding on. factor smiling tiger, camp victory on the outside. crown of thorns. the factor will win it all heart. >> bill: the factor won in del mar, california. of course the horse is a patriot. that is it for us. check out the fox news factor website different from bill o'reilly.com sound off about the factor from anywhere in the world.