the president address will be just before 9:00 eastern. as always, "the o'reilly factor" is next. thanks for trusting us with your news and information. have a good night. tonight -- >> this cannot be a game. that we have made very, very clear to the russians. >> maybe that's why the russians cancelled a big u.n. meeting today about syria's weapons of mass destruction. that creates even more problems for president obama. we'll analyze. >> in 1938 about 80% of the american public opposed strong action against nazi germany. is history repeating itself now? we'll discuss it with john stossel. >> i'll try it out for a couple of weeks. if i don't like you, i'll fire

you. if you don't like me, i'll fire you. >> also tonight liberal actor ed asner says he knows why liberal hollywood is not protesting military action against syria. mr. asner will be here. >> caution, you are about to enter the no spin zone. "the o'reilly factor" begins right now. >> thanks for watching tonight. president obama speaks to the nation about syria. that is the subject of this evening's talks points. the president will discuss how to deal with syria killing thousands of people using poison gas. now the russians have put forth a plan that an international coalition will take control of syria's chemical arsenal. >> we believe that they need to show us an entirely verifiable,

completely accountable and ongoing verifiable process by which we know we have all of the weapons, access to any sites in question, unlimited access, investigation, verifiability. >> many of us are very skeptical about putin neutralizing his pal, assad. today there was supposed to be a meet bing but the russians cancelled it and then they said no plan at all unless the president backs away from military action. and the president said he is slowing down threats of military action and exploring possible diplomatic solutions. as far as president obama who faces embarrassment in the

american congress, that's a good thing. it's interesting to see the polling on syria. fox news says 36 supports military action while 61% does not. cnn says 43% favor, 55% approve. when asked about the president's approval rating, rasmussen says 45% approve, 54% approve and fox news says 40% approve, 54 disapprove. >> it's very important to understand the only reason russia is seeking an alternative to military action is that president obama has made it plain and clear that the united states will act if we must. our credible threat of force has made these diplomatic discussions with syria possible. >> so that's how the democrats are going to play it without president obama's saber

rattling, there would never have been the offer of diplomacy, as bogus as that offer now seems. as talking points said last night and that memo is posted on billo'reily.com, there's no way obama comes out of this unscathe. senator reed can spin all day long but most now president obama has bungled the syrian situation and foreign policy in johnson. there may be debate at the u.n. which will lead nowhere and maybe an international force somewhere down that road that might monitor assad, maybe, could, perhaps. that will keep the tyrant in power and putin will keep pulling his strings. in the meantime the usa keep getting weaker and weaker. joining us is fox's political analyst. where am i going wrong, charles?

>> amazingly nowhere. you not only have stumbled on to the truth, you have stagrd on to the truth. it wasn't opposed because they were afraid of a u.s. strike. they know the president is completely ambivalent. they heard kerry say it would be incredibly small, even if there was a strike. the reason they made the offer is because they saw an opportunity to give obama a face-saving way out in which nothing happens in syria, except for the fact that russia's major ally, assad, stays in power, america doesn't strike, the rebels are demoralized and if there is any process, however weak, for looking at these chemical weapons, that means there will be inspections, you'll have to recognize assad as a legitimate government, the

rebels will have to stand down. it's exactly the situation the russians want and obama walked into the trap because for him it a political face saver. >> but it isn't would putin today coming out and saying, wait a minute, we're if the going to do anything until mr. obama guarantees he's not going to use military force, not only now but down the road. come on. you can emasculate a man only so much. particularly president of the united states. >> with obama you never know. the more putin pushes, do you see any resistance from obama? >> i think we're going to see a little bit tonight. i think we're going to see a feisty president tonight for one reason and one reason only. he knows he likes weak, he knows it's all going south, he knows he's getting hammered. he's going to come off as a tough guy tonight. >> it's going to be a tough guy all talk and no action.

>> that may be true. but he's not going to get like this and start to whine about things. now, here's an interesting thing, a conservative write are puts forth in the wall street journal that this is all by design that a weak america overseas is what the president really wants and has wanted from the very beginning and that's part of his transformational presidency, that he wants america not to be the lone super power, not to be the arbitrator of justice. he wants america to be france, germany, in that realm. do you believe that? do you believe that's now what the president wants? >> first of all, if i'm not mistaken, i think that was written by norman -- >> what did i say, john? >> john. that's the father. as i said a hundred times on this show i do not like to play psychiatrist. i do think obama shares with a

whole generation of democrats and liberals a great skepticism of american power. we saw it in the clinton years when clinton wanted to sign one treaty after another to buy the united states like gulliver with a million little strings and i think we got a little large for our britches and they think that power corrupts and we are too strong on the world scene. is this why obama is doing this? i think not. i think in this case he's surrounded by advisers who really do believe that we have a moral duty to act when something like chemical weapons happens. the problem is their boss, the command of in chief, has no stomach for this, has no commitment to this, thinks he's somehow intellectually morally

obl fwigated to do it so he tips up to it, he issues a red line, ignores the red line and is looking for a way out. is this a deliberate strategy? my theory is whenever in washington i'm confronted with two alternatives to explain a strange series of events, i always choose incompetence over conspiracy. so i'm going to stick to that. >> why does putin like assad? what does assad do for putin? he's such a bad guy. make they just like their mutual badness. >> what is it in for putin to keep assad in office? >> he cares about russia's power. russia was cut down in size by the end of the cold war.

he called the collapse of the soviet war the worst calamity in history. think about that. you have the iran-syria-hezbollah axis, which is rising in the middle east. the shiite presence with iraq as a junior partner where their clients are russia. this reinserts russia into the middle east in a very powerful position, supplanting the united states, which since 1970 when egypt flipped from a soviet ally to american ally, the region had been a place for -- you will see that if this goes unchecked and assad becomes dominant, iraq acquires nuke, they will completely dominate the arab middle east and russia will

become the dominant power. >> you said iraq would acquire, you meant iran. >> i meant iran. >> i meant norman, you meant iran. see? even brilliant people can misspeak of day, as every day on msnbc. >> coming up, reaction to the president's conundrum of the day. and the american public did not want to move against hitler. are we becoming an isolationist nation once again? we are coming right back. [ female announcer ] it's simple physics...

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for a body in motion. president obama recover? you sent me a little note, nice of him to do it.

here's the four points the president is going to make. we'll go over them one to you, one to you, one to you, one to you. the president will play llay ou he thinks intervention in syria is in our best interest but it's going to be the same old stuff. >> right, the same old tired line. >> he's assuming most americans haven't heard it because of labor day and football and all that. >> i think that's underestimating the american people. you just laid out poll numbers that show him sliding in terms of approval. the american people see him as a weak and indecisive leader. if he starts by saying the same old tired lines -- >> he's going to say it with verve and tough guy. >> that's going to convince no one and change no minds. >> that's one crowley doesn't think is going to win. >> you want me to comment. >> no.

>> oh. the president thinks it will be a powerful signal to assad. >> we don't know what it's going to be. it's going to be one day, and then two days and now three days because he's moving weapons around. i don't know if there's an exit strategy. people don't understand what the mission is. >> he's making a larger point you can't use gas, if you do the united states is going to get y you. >> we haven't done it so far. >> he's going to reiterate there's a small contingent, no boots on the ground. can we use a different phrase, maybe sneakers on the ground, sandals? i'm tired of it, tired it have.

just reassuring this is a quick bomb mission like in kosovo, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom and then he's out of there. >> so this part of the message is designed to target his liberal base, like alan, who is against any military action. and in kerry's words, an unbelievably small operation, which is totally pointless. >> do you think that unbelievably small means he's going to bomb midgets? >> oh, bill, bill. >> it's such a cliche. what does unbelievably small mean? >> this is a complete violation of commander in chief 101, even though kerry said it, you never tell the enemy what you will do and what you will not do. >> but it's so dumb. even you would have to -- unbelievably small. >> even i? >> even combs. >> it's just so dumb, unbelievably small. why don't you just say we're going to punish assad for what

what he did in proportion to what he did. doesn't that sound better than unbelievably small? and leave out the midgets because they had nothing to do with it. >> the fourth thing he's going to say -- whose turn is it? he is going to say there will be a, quote, unquote, diplomatic pause, which is going to be the new boots on the ground, okay? they're going to give put and little time to think of more reasons to humiliate us. >> this has been the problem all along. first he's going to go in. kerry says it's got to be urgent. then the president says wait till congress comes back and we'll put it before congress, which he hadn't said before. then he says maybe russia can come in and save the day and now -- >> wouldn't any president do that? i think it's bogus but it possible. >> it will be great if it happens. >> so you give it a week. look, assad's going to be there in two weeks.

so you can hit him tonight or you can hit him in two weeks. >> we shouldn't hit him period. >> i know but you would have let camera lane and -- >> you've got rand paul saying it, republicans saying it. many republicans think we should not be going into syria. >> you don't want drones, you don't want anything. >> here is the point and this is why it's so destructive. it's this theater of absurd if it weren't so dangerous to the united states. you have the entire united states government, including the command ever in chief waiting on the russian president. the russians haven't been playing a major role at all in the middle east. >> krauthammer was brilliant tonight, he laid it out, what he's doing. and to be fair to the president, even though you don't want to be, you have to give the

-- >> obama doesn't want to do the bombing to begin with. >> you don't think we should skip a war? >> you know what, if we can get away with getting assad or neutralizing him from killing babies -- >> you can't. you're not going to. that's an incredibly naive way of looking at this. >> i want you to both hang around and watch the next seg mpt with stossel. it's the same mindset that's going on in this country. >> and when you have american weakness, or the perception of american weak. >> and ed asner opposes military

action against syria. we'll tell you why liberal hollywood is mostly silent on the issue. come on. oh! that's a lot of water up there. ♪ go. go. that's a nice shot. [ male announcer ] share what you love with who you love. kellogg's frosted flakes. they're grreat!

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"stossel matters" segment tonight. the last time there was a growing trend of isolationism in america was back in 1938 when hitler and the third reich were persecuting jews in europe. 80% of americans wanted to stay out of the mess and did not even want to accept refugees fleeing hitler's tyranny. isolation was the mood of the day. here now is fox business anchor john stossel. so i think we're going back to that mentality here? >> no and i resent that

libertarians are smeared as isolationists. i'm engaged with the world, i just don't want to run the world. >> so assad gasses these women and children in the suburb of damascus. how do you libertarians engage that? >> we speak against it. that's all we can do. we trade with people, try to get our music and our movies to influence their culture, smuggle in book -- >> that takes a while. meantime there's kid toppling over dead. you say that's pretty bad. that's the engagement? >> because the alternative does more harm than good. >> in your opinion. >> yes. >> you heard charles krauthammer say there's a shift in the middle east which is driving the

united states out of the region with any kind of credibility. so that seems to be a danger to me to this country. do you see it that way? >> i see dangers of where. i don't -- >> but let's just focus in on this danger. you got babies being gassed. >> if we launch missiles, if we miss like clinton did in libya, what good does that do? if we kill him, is the new group going to be an improvement? we don't know that. >> we have to deal with them. but i don't think you basically put your finger up and go we can't kill adolph because stalin is going to take over, which is exactly what happened, by the way. >> but assad is not adolph. hitler was moving through other countries. >> but it's the same mentality. no one knew in 1938 the extent of the third reich's evil. and right now you've got a guy using poison gas to kill civilians. you know iran is up there trying to develop nukes.

you know other bad guy arabs if he has the gas, hezbollah has the gas. so i think there is a parallel here and i think if the united states becomes isolationists, as many, many people do, and i don't blame them. there's not a lot of good guys over there, all right? it's going to be worse down the road for us. >> i agree if isolationists means we don't accept refugees, we put tariffs against the products, as people wanted to do before world war ii. you sigcite world war ii. in retrospect we should have intervened. you're leaving out somalia, vietnam. afghanistan. >> vietnam in retrospect was a mistake. >> how about -- >> just because we made past

mistakes, and we may have, doesn't mean that you recede from the field. you just have to do it smarter. i'll give you the last word. >> we're not isolationists if we don't want to kill people. >> but you don't have any solution to people gassing other people other than to say that wasn't nice. >> that's right and to say we're going to punish you because to teach them, we're going it use conventional weapons instead? >> you use poison gas, i think that should be the rule. >> and actor ed asner opposing action against syria.

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bruce springsteen tweets all the time and has nothing to say about syria. susan sarandon tweets about violence against children but nothing about syria. george clooney was asked about the syria situation and he dodged the situation. janni jannine garofalo, nothing. ed asner, why aren't your fellow lefties joining us?

>> maybe they feel they don't need the majority voice to be heard on this issue. it certainly looks like you, me and a lot of other people are opposed to involvement. because we're sick of war, that's why. >> well, all right. i'm not opposed as long as the involvement makes sense. so i want to see what exactly it would be. but you said -- correct me if i'm wrong here because i'm taking it from the "hollywood reporter," they might have misquoted you or whatever. you said there might have been an element of fear with the hollywood left because they don't want to criticize the president because he's a black man, he's their guy, they're treading softly. is that true? >> well, i think that i don't have the gauge to measure it. i certainly think it does appear in many liberals' minds about how far to con determine a particular action by this president.

they want to tread softly because they know that there a sea of republicans out there who will do it for them, except on this particular issue, he's being joined by a sea of republicans. >> also there are some democrats. i want to pursue this point because i think it's an interesting point. hollywood did a lot to reelect and elect barack obama in the first place. he's their guy. they admire what he stands for and his philosophy and things like obama care and all of that. mao he gets in a difficult position because he goes against their orthodoxy. do you think the greater good for the hollywood left is to say nothing because they don't want to damage their guy? >> i think certainly that does measure into it. to what extent, i can't tell you. first of all, i would -- i'll be the first to proclaim that he's not my progressive. >> but you voted for him.

>> well, i didn't want to vote for the other guy. >> are you disappointed in president obama? >> yeah. >> on a scale of one to ten, ten being the most disappointed, where are you? >> seven. >> you yourself very consistent throughout your whole life and i respect that, a big union man. you told me once on this broadcast that you are a socialist at heart. you -- can you see yourself supporting any military action against iran, for example, when it if they continue their nuclear program, i mean, when you have dead kids being gassed, that's pretty extreme. if we don't get involved, no one will get involved. who is does that relate? you don't want dead kids in the street. you don't want weapons of mass destruction killing civilians.

i know that you have don't. but how do you stop it? >> i don't want more dead kids being buried at arlington for one thing. send thing is i'd like to know what the grand total of dead iraqis are from the time that george w. bush invaded. we read every day about the sunni shiite squabbles, ten dead here, 20 dead here, 10, 20, 20, 10. it becomes frightening. when that grand total is ever made up, i would be shocked and horrified to see what their final total is. >> but it's not going to take away what saddam hussein killed. you're dealing with a lot of bad people on a lot of fronts here. seems like the united states tried to do the right thing and give the iraqi people a chance the freedom. but when you have people like

assad gassing civilians and there's nobody going to stop that, i get worried for the world. i'll give you the last word. >> i don't want the last word but i just want to say we have this one incident. there's a great deal of challenge and curiosity and doubt as to who caused this poisoning. they still have to get the final rendition of what the chemical make-up is. i've heard that there is -- that sarin creates a certain kind of yellow foam and this had white or white versus yellow. it's all a mish mosh. >> all right. >> i like the idea of thinking of the russian idea of putting the weapons in the u.n.'s hands. >> if that's a reality -- if that's a reality, i'm with you there. but i would check out doctors without borders.

i give money to them. it's a very credible, peaceful group. >> i do, too. >> i would check out what they say about assad and the gas, mr. asner, it's very interesting. i got to run. i got to run. >> all right, he's not my galahad. >> you'r president obama. that's why i've got to run. >> coming up, a certain kind of revenge after a broken love aware. and "the washington post" calling john kerry a liar. [ male announcer ] this is claira.

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thanks for staying with us. in "is it legal," the chemical weapons convention banned the use of chemical and poisonous gas. just five countries have not signed on, syria, north korea, south sudan, angola and egypt. who is supposed to enforce this gas ban? >> let's go to syria first. syria didn't sign it so there's no way they're going to be enforced. they didn't sign it, they're not beholden to it. hypothetically you'd have to get two-thirds of the u.n. national security to vote on some kind of enforcement. but i read anything about it and the enforcement there's no teeth

to it. well, they'll make some recommendations on what to do. >> so the world signed this but it's a symbolic thing. >> right. >> could he be charged with war crimes at the hague? could they get him for gassing kids? >> good luck. the u.n. security council would have to make some kind of recommendation. and on there you have russia and china -- >> you have milosevic in the baltics and they have him because he was ethnic cleansing and -- >> but you didn't have to get him to cooperate. you have to get russia to make him do what russia wants and say agree to sign on to this and get rid of the weapons and supervise it through the u.n. >> but you're always going back to the u.n. >> so this chemical treaty is a bunch of baloney. it doesn't mean anything to anybody? >> it really doesn't. not to syria.

>> in california, there's a proposed new law that says if you're in a relationship and you do some videos or still pictures, you can't put them public, right? >> even if you consent, two parties say let's do this, either photos or recordings and you gree agree this is something we're going to have between us as private. if someone is married and then divorced, if you disseminate it, you're then breaking the law. >> because people do this because they're angry. so california would have a law that makes that a misdemeanor. >> iks month six months for the offense. how do you prove that both parties consented but they didn't want this out there eventually? come on, just don't be making those films if you're worried about getting it out there. >> that's one thing you could do. but it looks like this law is going to pass, right?

so if somebody does it, will somebody be prosecuted or will it be like the -- >> there are going to be angry people on both sides and they want somebody punished. >> but the first time they go after somebody on this, the aclu is going to come forward. >> first amendment. >> i have a news update for you. they initially were opposed to this, now they've withdrawn. new jersey has this. >> new jersey has a law like this. i think you need to be protected from people who want to harm you, i really do. the final thing, a guy in california, christopher hubbard, convicted of how many rapes, this guy? >> 38 rapes. >> there he is. >> and now he might get out of prison. >> this is horrible. he's called the pillow case rapist. he's been in prison about 38

years -- >> so one year for each rape. >> not even in prison the whole time. he's been in a mental facility. >> so why do they want to let him out. >> it's sodomy, it's rape, it's -- >> why are they letting him out? >> in california there's a program, conditional release if they pass through a certain number of phases. >> let's stop all that touchy feely stuff. shouldn't this guy and life without parole just for his crime! >> i completely agree. i don't care about this guy. you know, he proved himself not to be rehabiliated. and they're going to let him out? >> add inset to -- they just ruled on this. they didn't ask for any type of

oral argument. >> the california supreme court said, hey, let him out. >> basically the guy still has all the same problems that he had. >> he should have been sentenced to life without parole. because if you don't do that the pin heads the powerful to do this. >> he was a serial rapist. that means he was let out again and again and again. >> and what happened to the three strikes law? >> you go away for life. our system really is crept. i want to you follow this and let me know when he gets out and we'll send maybe someone to -- >> l.a. doesn't even want him. they're fighting -- >> who would want him? >> not in l.a. >> should he go back to all these plays he committed the rapes to begin with? no. >> he's the only person i'll let assad gas. >> and coming up, calling john

kerry a liar and arsenio hall. we'll be right back.

"back of the book segment." >> we know that was used to persuade all of us that authority should be given.

when you hear the far left scream about innocent people at gitmo, please remember it's just more propaganda that puts all of us in danger. and finally in the back of the book, but as we continue in the back of the book, arsenio hall has a new syndicated talk show late night. recently he talked with mark lamont hill. >> i've watched you battle with bill o'reilly. and bill has battled with you more than once, which means even though you defeated him sometimes, he's game to have somebody smart there to do that with him. but the bottom line is he let you keep coming, which let me

know something about him, he really wants there to allow to be two distinct sides. i like that. >> that's good. but my question for mr. hall is when did hill ever beat me? when did that happen? did i miss? maybe i was off that night. >> a constitution for fifth graders.

they want them to remain silent, especially at night before you go to bed. not authorized to tell me i'm paying the tuition. not authorized. that is it for us tonight. please check out the fox news factor web site, which is different from billo'reilly.com. also the factor, anywhere in the world, at o'reillyfoxnews.com. and the word, do not be nettlesome when writing to the factor, sounds like a soup or something. now, can't do it tonight, i have to give it to washington in a couple of seconds about syria, so if you want to know anything about syria, you got questions, we had a good segment last night about it. just keep those questions coming, of course, we'll have more about the president's speech tonight in our analysis of it. so that will be tomorrow. keep it pithy. again, thank you for watching

us. i am bill o'reilly. please always remember that "spin" starts right here because we're looking out for you. now, let's go to washington, with brett baier, standing by as the president waits to speak. >> welcome to our special coverage of president obama's address to the nation on syria. i'm bret baier in washington, in just a few minutes we'll go live to the east room of the white house. president obama was originally expected to lay out his rationale for the strategy on the expected targets against syria, after which he would seek congressional authorization for any action. a skeptical congress has largely opposed the idea. so the president has intended to make his case tonight for why it was in the national interest of the country, what a strike would look like, and what it means for the country.

the entire dynamic change, however, russia and syria says they have agreed on a deal that would have russia turn over their stock pile of chemical weapons to be inspected. an idea that was originally floated as an off-the-cuff remark by secretary of state john kerry monday. the russians reacted to it. and the president, vladimir putin, reacted in another way. the u.s. must take the threat of a strike off the table. so here we are president obama the u.s. will examine any deal closely, secretary of state john kerry has headed to geneva to try to help seal or salvage this deal. the supporters, meanwhile, are crediting him with a victory. but how it plays around the world could be another story. that is the backdrop. let's get some facts from the panel. bob scales, retired general,

k.t. mcfarland, and columnist charles krauthammerer. >> all right, gentlemen. >> what the president is going to try to do tonight is in essence a sectarian civil war, to expand our view of what a strike would look like so it is not just about syria, but it is about other nations all around the world. >> kirsten, it is a balancing act. >> yes, because the less people have learned about it, the less they supported it. if he is going to make his case again, it is going to be a very similar case that we've already heard. but now he is making his case directly to the american people. and he thinks it will somehow sway them that they should support this. >> and still urge congress to make the vote, even though the votes are not there. >> they have discussed this diplomatic pause that they were going to take, but he will still

urge them to vote for the authorization to use force. >> i think he will say three things, chemical weapons are bad which we already know. and then he will say his strong and decisive action will encourage congress to support him. and then the final thing, the threat of military force, which i want you all to vote for, we have now in sight a solution with which syria will give up the chemical weapons without us having to go to war. >> charles. >> i think what obama needs to do is not a balancing act, but a coherence act. i have never seen a policy acted, where one part of the administration is contradicting each other within hours. on the one hand, you have kerry giving a passionate speech, saying the idea hinges on a small strike. you get a president who says this is really urgent, i want to get congress to approve.

but what we'll hear from the president tonight is a call for a pause. this is a country that doesn't want to strike in the first place. so i think going on the tube to convince a country that doesn't want to strike, to make a pause. that is the beginning of this, not very complicated, but unless he can do it he doesn't have a chance in congress and doesn't have a chance with the russians. >> kirsten, is there enough will within the democratic party, which he has seen enough votes go no, to listen to the head count. is he willing to listen to the vote? >> it doesn't seem like it right now. certainly, if you look at the base, you see a lot of the -- moveon.org has now come out against this. it is pretty consistently opposed to people who are considered liberal. and i don't think that people feel that the case is really being made, if you listen to some of the members of congress

coming out. they're saying i actually was less convinced after i heard the case, i heard loretta sanchez say that tonight. >> all right, let's take a moment now and pause at the top of the hour as you look live at the east room. across the hall there, we continue our special coverage of president obama's address to the nation on syria. >> welcome back to fox news coverage of president obama's speech to the nation on syria, the president is expected to give his perspective on a tentative agreement between russia and syria that would have syria turn over control of its chemical weapons. an idea the president called a continuation of conversationss e had with the russian president at the g-20 summit. but now putin is setting stipulations on just how