unafraid. captions by closed captioning services >> bill: "the o'reilly factor" is on. from l.a., tonight. >> our domestic oil production is at an 8-year high and our use of foreign oil is at 16-year low. >> why then are gas price the highest ever at this time of year? and why is president obama not addressing the issue? we'll tell you how working americans are getting hosed and this report will make you angry. >> this is what you guys do. i mean, you don't do this with president obama. >> that was a double standard. this is what you are pulling off. and i'm going to call you ton. >> the liberal media finally starting to pay attention to rick santorum. and they are painting him as a zealot. county senator overcome the media label? brit hume on that. >> i want to beg my guest the

sexiest man in new york bill o'reilly. >> bill: i'm not sure what happened here. >> and your humble correspondent makes his debut on "saturday night live." >> going to be reverential. >> it was kind of chaotic. ♪ ♪ what's up with that? ♪ what's up with that. >> bill: caution, you are about to enter the no spin zone from california, the factor begins right now. captions by closed captioning services >> hi, i'm bill o'reilly, reporting a all this week from los angeles, california. thanks for watching us tonight. president obama, you, and gas prices. that is the subject of this evening's talking points memo. driving in from the l.a. airport yesterday i saw gas signs that saw $4.50 a gallon. all across the country we are now paying the highest gas

prices at this time of year ever. but president obama has said little about it that's very strange because the president's main focus has been on helping working americans and redistributing income to those who don't have very much. well, what we're really doing now is redistributing money to the oil companies. right? the president gives working americans a payroll cut tax. but, instead of the extra income going into the bank, it goes into the gas tank. what's really happening here is that working americans and poor are getting hosed at the pump. and because of that, their economic position is weaker. rich people it doesn't matter to them. so why is this happening? well, lou dobbs says there is plenty of gas and oil in america. the record warm winter means reserves are way up. to make bigger products refined products overseas. >> primarily jet fuels, diesel and gasoline which normally

would be in abundance right now. >> yeah. >> is being shipped overseas. we are now part of a world market. like it or not. and the fact of the matter is we are competing with demand in china, in europe, and primarily in latin america. >> so let's be very clear. there is plenty of oil in the u.s.a. prices should not be at record levels. but they are because the oil companies are sending their products overseas to make more money. and what is the federal government doing about that? zero, nothing. nada. remember, the oil companies are heavily regulated. they can't operate without government approval. under the obama administration oil drilling in the ocean and land leased to oil companies have been drastically cut back. apparently the president doesn't want oil companies to have an easier time. that's why he killed the canadian oil pipeline. but even if that pipeline were built, the oil flow generated from canada would most likely

wind up over seas. we, the people are caught in a crossfire. the obama administration wants the price of oil to go up as high as possible so that americans demand alternative energy, electric cars and things like that and the oil companies know they can make more money in china so they send the stuff over there and at the same time they raise the price at the pump here. it's outrageous. we're getting hammered. from the government and the oil companies. it's my job to tell you the truth. right now we are all being taken advantage of by an administration that has an anti-fossil fuel agenda and an oil industry that manipulates the u.s. market. who is looking out for us? nobody. and that's the memo. now for the top story tonight. reaction, joining us from washington, juan williams and mary katharine ham both fox news analysts. why isn't president obama saying much about oil prices? >> well, first of all, i love

your talking points memo. i think you are honest and you have been on this for a long time that the oil companies are basically gouging us. but how can you say that the obama folks want to raise gas prices? bill, is he a politician, he he is running for re-election. he doesn't want the economy to be a drag on his re-election chances. >> bill: i mean, i can't get into the president's mind, juan, but why would you kill an oil pipeline that creates all of these jobs and four or five years down the road brings oil from canada the canadian are screaming we are going to build our own pipeline and send to china. i don't know why president obama does what he does. i know he is a zealot on global warming. >> let me answer your question. >> bill: go ahead. >> your question is why isn't he speaking out and i think there are two reasons. one, the republicans has certainly -- they can't argue about the economy at the moment because the economy things are looking better. so they picked on the gas prices as a way to attack

obama as a politician: i don't think he has a lot to say about, you know, instability in iraq and syria that is the primary force for driving up these prices along with what you just pointed out that the oil companies are exporting the oil and gas over to china. so he is saying if i say anything about this, the g.o.p. will say oh, you are getting involved with reigning in -- >> bill: it's all over now. now after tonight, everybody is going to know what the duce is going on. mary katharine, you are a republic, more conservative. and this and that the republic parties are going to have to go after the oil companies, something they are -- i don't even know if they are going to do it, okay? the oil companies, this warm winter has resulted in much much less use of home heating oil and a lot of other things. but the oil companies say you know what? we are not going to take it on the chin. we are not going to take it on the chin because of this warm

weather. all the stuff we have is going over to china and india. not only that but we're going to raise the price at the pump here for no reason. it's not supply and demand. there is plenty of supply here. >> look, bill, i'm not sure i agree with your thesis that this is entirely an oil company conspiracy to raise prices. there are price signals involved here and unrest in the middle east does add to the potential cost. >> bill: only on the speculation front. >> you have to guard. >> let me add, we live in a global economy. if you want barack obama to do something about this only ship inside america? is that the kind of intervention you are looking for? i'm not in favor of that and i think it prohibits from us operating in global economies. >> bill: you can publicize like i just did mary katharine -- look, people go in $70 now to fill your tank. >> i agree. >> they are going what is going on here? and nobody tells them because

the truth is too grizzly. it's too grizzly. it's not supply and demand. it's speculation and greed. that's what it is. >> let me ask you. this is $4 gas was the object in the oil companies could just do it by collusion at any given time, why at the beginning of oat bama administration and why has it gone up partly because of his actions and partly because of the middle east. >> bill: look. they want cover, mary katharine and they had it until we blew it up with dobbs on friday. i didn't know. this i didn't know this, juan. i mean, i said hey, warm winter all over, big stockpiles of gas and oil. prices should be coming down. but, no. they are going up. >> they should be coming down. and you know what the argue. is here? in this town the republicans are always saying we should give more subsidies to the oil companies and the gas pipeline, do everything, don't worry about the environment. give the oil companies what they want. that's the argument but i don't think they get into the

fact that the oil companies are busy stuffing their pockets. hard working people money. everybody else will say why doesn't obama -- >> bill: wait wait wait. mary katharine. you had the last word. look, even if they okay the pipeline which i'm for because it's a job creator. and even if they are not -- anybody can drill anywhere they want. let's get all this oil in here. let's do it. let's do it. >> still ship it overseas. >> bill: they still ship it overseas. it doesn't help us. mae catherine. >> well, look, two things. i think you are right about the fact that both the left, the media, and barack obama enjoy high gas prices because it does, they hope, push people towards alternative energy. they have said that in the past. >> bill: that's right. >> >> i know it doesn't serve him politically at the moment but that much is true. i do think you are right about that part. the oil company conspiracy, if it was good for them to have, why don't they just make it $6 oil. they could just.

>> bill: they are going to do it, mary katharine. nobody puts the breaks on. >> there is a market that has to operate and influences upon it obama is one of them. >> bill: wait wait wait. >> leases for oil in this country is one of them. >> if nobody take as brakes on it's going to be 6 bucks a gallon. the higher a gallon of gas is, the more tax revenue goes to washington. always remember that. especially in california and new york. huge gas taxes. and the higher it is, the more money goes over there so, once again, it's the folks who get it. mary katharine and juan, thanks. next on the run down as we continue from los angeles, rick santorum surging, and the media beginning to beat him up. brit hume on that. later, bernie goldberg concerned that president obama is not addressing the real reason some americans don't have much money. those reports after these messages.

>> bill: human zone tonight. debate wednesday night and if governor romney doesn't do well, the santorum surge is likely to continue. even though the media now portraying him as a religious zealot. joining us now from boca grand, florida, fox news senior political analyst brit hume. so i would think that mitt romney really has to light it up on wednesday night.

but, santorum and newt gingrich may gang up on him. how do you see this coming down? >> well, the experience of the past, bill, suggests that when mitt romney has needed to raise his game during debates as he has had to do a couple of times before, he has been able to do that. the last victim of that was newt gingrich, of course, and the celebrated two debates in florida in which gingrich fared poorly and romney fared well and ended up winning overwhelmingly. there hasn't been a debate that's particularly decisive either way since then. this shapes up as a big one. i suspect romney will be able to fend it off. i don't know whether they will. >> rick santorum being portrayed as a religious zealot as we predicted would happen last week. throw up the "u.s.a. today" cartoon. and see, this is what i think some conservative viewers when i analyze santorum last week i said if he, rick santorum, continues to get into the social fabric of what you can

and can't do in personal behavior, the press is going to kill him. and that cartoon has him and looks like the pope or a cardinal in bed and saying that, you know, it's basically mr. santorum is here to make sure that nothing untoward happens. this is what rick santorum is going to face in the general election. >> you are absolutely right, bill. >> which is why rick santorum would be a risky norm knee. i have read his positions on contraception and prenatal testing and so forth. it's a respectable case he makes on those things. those are not the issues this election year. while i think within the context of a republic primary those issues may not hurt him too badly. i t. would hurt and it would make those issues would be general election poison. >> okay. but i think it's helping him, not hurting him in the primary. i think he has been able to galvanize conservatives who

don't trust mitt romney. the evangelicals, very, very religious people in other faiths and they're saying, you know, this guy, he stands for something. is he not afraid to say it. and we're going to vote for him because of that. i think this has really helped rick santorum in the process. >> well, perhaps, bill. but the polls are certainly tightening in michigan. romney appears to be ahead in arizona. the polls continue in their current trend, it would appear that romney has a significant chance of not even a probability of winning michigan and arizona and that would change the atmosphere at least for a while. of course, what we have experienced in this primary season is that there isn't much momentum that ever lasts for anybody. who knows? i mean, you know, romney could have a big week next week win two maybe and then super tuesday rolls around and everything is different. near term, i'm not sure this is helping rick santorum all that much.

>> i respect him for his views and willingness to state them. i think it's a trap. he has been drawn in a bit by the mainstream media positions taken in the past about those issues. >> do you think it's a conscious trap. people like charlie rose and george stephanopoulos. >> bill: i want to expose rick santorum as a religious zealot. do you think they go in with that mind set? >> look, the positions that rick santorum has taken on these issues are very much in line with his catholic faith. but it's not clear to me, catholics generally speaking all adhere to those views and so i think that they may be attractive to kind of a minority. there may be evangelical christians who see the viewpoint he is arguing. i think to the eyes and ears of members of the mainstream

media, those positions may seem pretty exotic and they think wow. contraception is bad for america? bad for women? he thinks that? wow, we have got to get that out there. >> >> bill: i think they are so stunned, the left, and these guys and gals, they are so stunned to hear somebody say that in public that it becomes almost a fascination for them and that's why they bring it up. i don't think they are going in sand saying gee i want to help barack obama today so i will try diminish rick santorum. they have never heard this stuff ever. and it's in public. >> it sounds exotic to them. if you look at -- i mean, if you look at the coverage we have seen so far this year, no evidence that the mainstream media is trying to help mitt romney. so, if anything, you know, you think if they were going to be calculating about it, we ought to help this guy santorum. he would really be beatable biobam matchett let's beat on

romney. >> bill: there is some of that i disagree with you on one thing there is a good chance on wednesday night that santorum and gingrich will both go after romney. santorum in particular really has to go after them. give you the last word, brit. >> you may be right, bill. the question really becomes can mitt romney win his game. fend off the attack respond in a way that's effective and can he, this is still a question for a lot of conservatives on romney. can he make a better case for himself as a conservative on the issues. that's something that i think a lot of conservatives feel he has failed to do and they will be uncomfortable with him until they feel he has done that. >> thank you, brit. here is our bill o'reilly.com question. who would you like to see run for vice president on the vice sarah palin, marco rubleio, chris christie or paul ryan. >> israelis say it could happen soon. i, your humble correspondent make my debut on "saturday

night live" it was kind of chaotic. >> what we need most now is leadership: we have got to pull together. >> coming right back from california.

>> bill: impact segment tonight, israeli officials are talking with president obama's top national security guard tom donilin iran the issue. israel is getting fed up. and the saber rattling over the nuke situation, if israel bombs iran, a very nasty war is likely to break out all over the place and that, of course, will effect us. joining us from washington lt. colonel ralph peters author of the new book "cain at gettysburg" which will be out next week. do you think the israelis are bluffing here? >>. no the israelis are serious.

bill, there is a fundamental divide between tel aviv, jerusalem on one side and washington on the other. for the israelis, this is about survival, there are plenty of jews around the world still living to ho remember the holocaust. washington has forgotten it. for voorl it's about survival. for washington right now for the obama ha administration it's about kicking this can down the road past november elections no no matter what happens. >> now a couple of things in play. both the united states and great britain have asked the israelis to be a little bit more patient. big sanctions that are strangling the iranian economy are going to have have an effect. china we are going to cooperate with the sanctions. they both ask netanyahu to just give it a bit more time. i understand absolutely the

harm that the iranian government would bring to israel if it could. there is no doubt about it i would if i were netanyahu give it more time. if he attacks, world oil is going to go crazy. the muslim world is going to go nuts. world war iii may break out. so you give it as much time as you possibly can. is that an unreasonable position, colonel? >> well, you are absolutely right. that there are no good options in this one. but, negotiations intellectuals. sanctions are for diplomats. of course, israel wants to placate us israel want us on board. if israel gets evidence that iran has taken one more concrete step toward a nuclear weapons capability, israel will strike. and it's going to be tough. because israel has the power, the military might to start a war with iran. it does not have the power to

finish a war with iran. the persian gulf is going to be a firestorm and gas prices will -- >> bill: that is right. the whole worldwide economy is going to go crazy. the u.s. joint chiefs believe that it's going to be very difficult for israeli bombers to get into iran because the iranians will be forewarned. radar because of all of that it's a long slog have to actually refuel in the air israeli bombers. so it's not an easy play for the israelis. it's not like bombing syria or even iraq, which they have already done. going into iran, that might not be a successful mission. >> well, and that's true. and the israelis are well aware of it our military today is risk adverse. you know, it's all about forced protection. don't want to take any chances. the israelis fighting for survival, they would take risks we wouldn't begin to

contemplate. >> bill: theoretical survival at this point. it's theoretical at this point. if you don't know. >> in washington. it's not theoretical in tel aviv. >> again, as i stated. if iran could, they would. there is no evidence that they are anywhere near a delivery system for a nuke. so that america and great britain say look, give it a little bit more time. we're strangling them. we're strangling them and they can't really go much longer with it. let it play out. i would take that if it were me. i will give you the last word. >> netanyahu is going to go as far as he can. >> we shouldn't be either. if israel feels bound to strike, the response of iran will be asymmetrical. try to hit israel but really hit the arab oil states. loading platforms, refineries, the oil fields, the straits of hormuz. and they will try punish the world so the world will punish

israel. there is no going to be really ugly. you are right. we should wait. for israel, they just find they feel time is running out. >> okay. colonel. thanks very much. plenheooe s i sk'rg es

>> bill: in the back of the book segment tonight, reality check where we leave with a very important story and one that has been overlooked by many in the media check one. according to the bureau of labor statistics there are six, six measures of unemployment in america. one of those called u-3 says 8.3% of workers are unemployed. but u-6 says the number of american workers who are under employed or given up looking for work who is now at 15%. that's huge. class of people includes discouraged workers and part-time people mitt romney addressed it. >> this week he has been trying to take a vow for 8.3% unemployment. not so fast, mr. president. this is the 36th straight month with unemployment above the red line. your own administration drew. and if you take into account all the people who are struggling for work or have just stopped looking, the real unemployment rate is over 15%. >> to be fair, the u-3 number

8.3 is the lowest in three years. check 2 tonight. pbs begin as two-part series on president bill clinton with a heavy monica lewenski component. >> when the lewenski scandal broke the president paged me and i returned the call. he said ever since i got here to the white house i have had to shut my body down sexually, i mean. but i screwed up with this girl. i didn't do what they said i did. but i may have done so much that i can't prove my innocence. >> bill: president clinton not happy about the pbs program. check 3. you may remember that last year we raised more than a million dollars for the fisher house which provides lodging for the families of severely wounded military people while they are being treated. in anchorage, alaska, brand new fisher house open, 12 suites each with private accessible bathroom. the plaque on the house list the people who helped build it

triwest. afghanistan impact fund and bill o'reilly and the factor. but, it should be bill o'reilly and factor viewers because you guys really made that fisher house in anchorage possible. finally check four, sometimes life takes a strange turn. and so it was on saturday evening that i walked across sixth avenue in new york city and entered an alien environment. ♪ it's what up with that. the host of "the o'reilly factor" and author, bill o'reilly. "sports illustrated" swimsuit model kate upton. >> bill o'reilly, have you written a best selling book on one of our greatest presidents called killing lincoln. >> bill: that's right. >> what can we learn about lincoln today. >> i was a teacher in miami and i know that the times now are a lot like the times during the civil war because we are a divided nation. it's not as intense back then but what what we need most now

is leadership. we have got to pull together. ♪ pulling together. [ laughter ] >> bill: all right, now, it's going to take the kind of tremendous leadership that president lincoln had to give this country. all right? that's what we need to get it back on course. >> back on the path, yeah. >> bill: okay. so we can have that leadership and it was just tragedy that he died the way he did. ♪ ♪ what's up with that ♪ woo we. ♪ what's up with that ♪ what's up with that. >> i want to sexiest man in new york bill o'reilly. >> bill: i'm not sure what happened here. >> bill: i'm not sure what happened there. [ laughter ] a few laughs on saturday

night. everybody on snl was nice to us except one performer. i will give you a hint. it's a she. that is reality check, pinheads and patriots on deck tonight starring clinton -- clint eastwood. p and p two minutes and change away.

pinhead and patriot starring clint eastwood in a moment but first, today is presidents' day, so we'd like you to check out "killing

lincoln. " you buy it on o'reilly.com we send you copy of the gettysburg address. this ends soon so get on it if you want it. it makes great gifts. and father's day coming up a few months. a new promotion on the restore usa gear. if you buy an unbelievable incredible map we send you a coffee mug free. check it out on billo'reilly.com. remember, all the money i get from the website goes to charity, which is why we do these things. donate a lot of money to charities. now the mail, jim majors sai said --

>> sean: angelo, i didn't say that. i said his vision for the country economic is not perspicasious. and brian from minnesota -- your sarcasm is noted, hank. and next -- >> randy, the mexicans keep most tourist places safe. but drive miles outside of m mazetlan and watch yourself. next -- i've been there myself, wes. interesting place but i call it saigon, which is what the locals call it as well. pinhead and pitry yots on presidents' day, clint eastwood was asked about previous chief executives. >> who is your favorite president of all time?

do you have a favorite president? >> george bush. >> really? >> i think lincoln was great. you mean in our lifetime? >> right. >> truman. >> we believe he is patriot. 82. amazing. check out our website. good talk point on gas prices posted there. spout out from anywhere in the world. o'reilly@foxnews.com. do not be a vizoizogoth when writing in. tomorrow, i'll been b on the leno program. we like to have the factor people in the audience up there. that's it for us tonight. i'm bill o'reilly. remember, the spin stops here

in los angeles. we are definitely looking out for you. >> top of the morning to you, it's tuesday, february 21st. i'm gretchen carlson. happy birthday to my father-in-law. have a great day. the democrats may be going green but the g.o.p. candidates may have a different idea. >> high gas prices and the green agenda be the one thing that brings the democrats down? we'll report and you can decide. >> meanwhile, the white house may need another czar. how about a spelling czar? vice president's staff makes a big gaffe as he prepares to hit the road. keyword there -- road. we'll explain. >> and three years after he beat her up, chris brown and rhianna are back together but country star miranda lambert saysh