0 people. it was one of the most controversial operations of all of world war ii. hundreds of british and american bombers dropped thousands of tons of high explosives and incendiary bombs. the firestorm burned for days and gutted 90% of that city. allied commanders claimed dresden was a military target. because it was a nazi communication hub. but, many later questioned that attack. arguing that the culturally rich city was unimportant to the war effort itself. the nazis surrendered just four months later and the european city went up in flames 68 years ago today. and now you know the news for this wednesday, february 13th. , 2012. from rome. i'm shepard smith. >> bill: the o'reilly factor is on, tonight. >> every dollar we invest, we also have to invest in the best ideas. investing in world class care. we will invest in more capabilities. >> bill: so now the president doesn't want to spend tax dollars. he wants to invest them. does he think americans are dumb? bob beckel will weigh in on that. >> nothing has frustrated me more than false choices like the one the president has laid out tonight. >> bill: oh my god! marco rubio took a sip of water during his address. >> mr. rubio's speech will be remembered in part for the odd reach for the water glass. >> we will tell you about the new watergate scandal. >> so o'reilly obviously misspoke. >> bill: cnn's howard kurtz unrepenalty tent for criticizing me for nothing. mr. cutters will be here to make his case. caution, you are about to enter the no spin zone. the factor begins right now. >> bill: i'm bill o'reilly, thanks for watching us tonight are we on the proverbial road interesting statistic. i'm not demeaning it but it's just to me who had no money coming out of college, zero. i i got in my car and barely fill up the tank with gas and went to scranton. i left boston which i loved and i went to scranton to start my career. do you see what i'm talking about here? nobody chained me and i went where i had to go to start. okay. so you believe that president obama's vision of the big government solving all of these problems, all the green energy investment. the preschool for the urchins now study doesn't work. this doesn't matter. put billions of dollars into that maybe it works, doesn't work, it doesn't really matter. this is what i am talking about. you don't seem -- >> -- did you say urchins? >> those are children who wander. >> i know who they're. that's a pejorative word. >> i'm offending the children. >> yes you are. you are offending me while you are offending the children. is there anything that you think obama listed last night that you think isn't a bad idea? >> >> bill: let me shock you. i think they are all good ideas. >> we can afford it. >> bill: no we can't. 17 trillion in debt. >> no. >> bill: what do you mean no? 17 trillion in debt. that's not true? >> no it's not a question of not being true. look what happened after 2001 and then we went up to 76%. it was entitlements that went up that far. >> bill: yeah, entitlement. >> he opened up the door for republicans to have negotiations on medicare and social security. >> bill: opened the door? >> yeah. >> bill: opened the door. >> you have got to start. >> bill: he didn't put forth anything he opened the door. that's what the leaders do open the door. >> he said he was willing to negotiate. >> bill: willing? negotiate what? he hasn't put anything forth. >> yes he has he put it forth with boehner. >> bill: like what. >> increasing the age recipients social security. cost of change. putting means test on wealthy americans getting medicare. >> bill: what he wants to do is get the rich off the rolls. >> he wants you off the rolls. >> bill: i don't even want to be on the rolls, beckel. i will take myself off. >> good. taking care of the job of getting this economy going again. >> bill: let the government take it over right fidel? >> excuse me? what did you say? >> bill: let the government take it over fidel beckel that sounds really good. >> i will let that go right by for a second except to say shae, i will give you the answer to that okay? >> bill: go. >> the answer is when private investors are not going to do the kind of work that the government lead them to do and hiding money overseas it is time for us he said last night let's redo the tax code. we should redo the tax code. >> bill: what do you mean by that? >> imbalanced towards you. >> bill: redo the tax code. >> means among other things corporations cannot hide their money overseas trillions of dollars. they have to bring them back here. take away all the loopholes that wealthy people have gotten. >> bill: wipe out all the deductions. >> not all the deductions. but for wealthy people like you, sure. >> bill: everyone. home mortgage deduct yeah. not for me. >> bill: i don't think that's going to hurt private business? knocking out those deductions you don't think that's going to hurt that. >> no. >> bill: where did you get your economic degree? radio shack? >> no. you went to scranton, what are you talking about? >> i went to harvard, beckel. don't he mess with me, man, have to go from harvard to scranton says something bad to harvard. >> you are crazy as usual. i enjoyed talking to you. >> movie based on your book is on sunday night turns out that my brother is playing in that movie. >> bill: stanton. >> no. seward. beckel's brother is in killing lincoln playing seward. you have to watch it. >> well, i would watch it anyway because it was a great book. one of the few things i agree with you on. >> bill: lincoln did not want to take over the economy by the way. >> yes he did take over the economy of the south, didn't he? >> bill: i'm never going to get through. huge scandal involving senator rubio and water. this is just awful. we will get to the bottom of the glass. and then cnn's howard kurtz criticizing me and beckel's fault at this. chris is going to enter the no spin zone. those reports after these messages. all stations come over to mission a for a final go. this is for real this time. step seven point two one two. rify and lock. command is locked. five seconds. three, two, one. standing by for capture. the most innovative software on the planet... dragon is captured. is connecting today's leading companies to places beyond it. siemens. answers. a talking car. but i'll tell you what impresses me. a talking train. this ge locomotive can tell you exactly where it is, what it's carrying, while using less fuel. delivering whatever the world needs, when it needs it. ♪ after all, what's the point of talking if you don't have something important to say? ♪ more "likes." more tweets. so, beginning today, my son brock and his whole team will be our new senior social media strategists. any questions? since we make radiator valves wouldn't it be better if we just let fedex help us to expand to new markets? hmm gotta admit that's better than a few "likes." i don't have the door code. who's that? he won a contest online to be ceo for the day. how am i supposed to run a business here without an office?! [ male announcer ] fast, reliable deliveries worldwide. fedex. omnipotent of opportunity. you know how to mix business... with business. and you...rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle. and go. you can even take a full-size or above. and still pay the mid-size price. i could get used to this. [ male announcer ] yes, you could business pro. yes, you could. go national. go like a pro. >> bill: in the impact segment tonight, as you may know senator marco rubio gave the republican reply to the state of the union address last night. apparently senator rubio caused a big scandal during his speech. >> in the short time that i have been here in washington, nothing has frustrated me more than false choices like the one the president laid out tonight. the choice isn't just between big government or big business. what we need san accountable, efficient and effective government. >> >> bill: how could the man do that? could this be the new watergate? >> honestly mr. rubio's speech will be remembered in part for the odd punctuation yalings of the big reach for the what glass in the middle of it odd bit of staging. >> did not like the water bottle. most people just suck it up and just go with it and work through it. >> the president did well. >> you say screwing off, you are not referring to. >> not the water. >> about the swig of water being tweeted around the world the former personal aid to governor romney when he ran for president, gator jackson is tweeting i would have had the water bottle closer. >> bill: big story. nbc broke it should have had the water story bottle closer. joining us now from washington kate obenshain republican strategist and kirsten powers fox news analyst. all right, powers. this is so ridiculous. this is really the crux of the story. this is so foolish does it show desperation on the part of the left to highlight this? what does it show. >> i have maintained for a while that the media is run by a bunch of 14-year-olds. i'm going to downgrade them to kinder gart necessary. the fact that this is the thing that they think the whole speech was about? i mean, look, it was a staff mistake. the water should have been closer to him. they have shown pictures of the studio. the light was like right on top of him. you know, he took a drink of water. it's really not that big of a deal. >> bill: why are they making it, powers. you know this world. you dine with these people, perhaps vacationed with them in the past. why are they making such a big deal out of it? because they are juvenile. completely juvenile. >> focus on. >> republican. if barack obama did, this they would probably be some -- you know, some proof of how brilliant it is to drink -- sip water in the middle of a speech or how natural or spontaneous. >> yes. >> kate, what do you think? >> i'm not quite as generous as kirsten when it comes to the motives of the media. i think they very intentionally are trying to divert attention from what was, i think, a brilliant speech, a brilliant response and a very difficult situation to the president, but they don't want to be talking about any of the substance of it, so they're trying to distract. look, i think marco unionio scares the left just about everybody out there instead of ted cruise. instead of talking about that really intense moment when rubio was able to identify with the american people say, look, i don't live next to millionaires. i live in the same working class neighborhood i grew up in. i just paid off over $100,000 in student loans. a few months ago. that is the last thing that the leftist and the mainstream media want the american people to be talking about so they pick out something stupid like a sip of water. >> bill: i'm going to say a couple of things and i hope people don't think i'm ego centric or narcissist. >> never. >> bill: this goes to the next segment with howard kurtz when i had the debate with bob beckel as you just saw fidel beckel we are going to rename him, we are talking about drones vs. waterboarding and hypocrisy on the left as far as their analysis of both. then that got turned around into a thing about me being unfair to nbc news because i didn't mention that they broke the memo story. okay. so that what kate obenshain just said is interesting is that when there is a legitimate point that the left fears, they did he vitter attention. all right? and that's what happened in this case. diverting attention from rubio's speech into his water. now, here is a memo to mark rubio. what you should have done, senator, is just say hey, i need a drink of water. can i just take a sip of water for a moment. excuse me. smile, go down, and take the water. you have got, you know, he has got to learn that that's what you learn. you always tell the folks when there is a tv lenz right in your eye what you are doing and why you are doing it, always. but so what? he is a rooky. he is not an anchor on cnn. but i think kate's point that you evacated or didn't think of, kirsten one or the other is legitimate that they want to on if on i have skate word of the day. >> i feel like that's obvious. >> nothing is obvious in this world anymore. >> look, no, i mean it was a good response. i mean, i don't agree with a lot of what he said, frankly it was a good response. >> it was articulate. >> i would say what the left is afraid of him. the left isn't smart enough to be afraid of him. >> they are. >> i don't think so. >> i do. >> they should be but i don't think they're. i think they can marginalize him the way they did and make him go away. >> they're going to try. i disagree. i don't think they are stupid. i think they know that rubio is a threat. christie and jersey probably a threat. maybe kasich in ohio. they dual what they did to romney. do it often and early. make him into an idiot and then the media is going to take the lead. the media is the stocking horse out there. they have the media now bought and paid for. 30 seconds and kristen sum up. >> advisor to the president tweeting about him sweating. so it's marginalizing but also i think it's going to go beyond. this is the beginning with rubio. they are going to start trying to actually vilify him like they do with all republicans who dare to disagree with the president. so it's going to get a lot deeper. >> that's the reason he needed the water because he was sweating. >> human being. >> that's it, kristen, is he a human being? that's all you have to tell us? >> i didn't say that. she did. >> i did, is he a human being. >> i'm just saying they marginalize all republicans. they don't have to be a threat. they did it sarah palin. not because they thought she was a threat. >> oh, yes they did. that's when john mccain's numbers spiked when she was announced. >> bill: i would like to thank kirsten powers in not mentioning me i know she wanted to lowering the maturity age down to 5 years old. i know i'm part of that howard kurtz criticizing me for my drone coverage. he will enter the no spin zone. dennis miller on the state of the union and the pope resigning. the factor will be right back. i looks like we're going to need to order more agaves... ah! oh! ow! ... and more bandages. that's powerful. sharble data plus unlimited talk and text. now save $50 on a droid razr maxx hd by motorola. you know it can be hard to lbreathe, and how that feels.e, copd includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema. spiriva helps control my copd symptoms by keeping my airways open for 24 hours. plus, it reduces copd flare-ups. spiriva is the only once-daily inhaled copd maintenance treatment that does both. spiriva handihaler tiotropium bromide inhalation powder does not replace fast-acting inhalers for sudden symptoms. tell your doctor if you have kidney problems, glaucoma, trouble urinating, or an enlarged prostate. these may worsen with spiriva. discuss all medicines you take, even eye drops. stop taking spiriva and seek immediate medical help if your breathing suddenly worsens, your throat or tongue swells, you get hives, vision changes or eye pain, or problems passing urine. other side effects include dry mouth and constipation. nothing can reverse copd spiriva helps me breathe better. (blowing sou) ask your doctor about spiriva. on beautyrest and posturepedic. financing and save up to $500 get a sealy queen set for just $399. even get 3 years interest-free financing on tempur-pedic. but only through presidents' day at sleep train. >> bill: personal story segment tonight. howard kurtz on cnn said i misspoke when criticizing nbc news analysis of the drone situation. >> well, that's kind of curious, given it was an nbc scoop, so o'reilly obviously misspoke and i thought he would just come back the next night and correct the record. bill, the only reason there is a drone debate right now is because nbc news revealed that memo. >> bill: are you kidding me, howard? are you kidding me? come on, man. the double standard of media coverage on waterboarding vs. drones has been apparent for years. you don't know that? and don't give me any of this owe o'reilly misspoke business. you know exactly what beckel and i were talking about or you should know. >> all right, joining us now from washington is journalists howard kurtz. so what i want to do here, howard, is get inside your thought process. all right? i'm going to ask you a series of very foolish questions so we can walk through this so the audience may not have seen your show or my show and know what we are talking about. first, did you see the original segment i did with beckel the night it aired? first when you chastised me you called me your old pal thank you that was touching. i saw it live. i saw what most people in america saw which is you saying you have heard anything on nbc about the drones? >> bill: all right. so you saw it live. do you remember how it was introd? what was the news peg to get into beckel? it was clear to me you and bob beckel were talking about the outcry in the media and elsewhere about waterboarding during the bush administration as well as the relative silence you would say about drones. i got that it wasn't set up that way. it was set up in a different way. do you remember how it was set up? >> refresh my memory. >> roll the tape. impact segment tonight will terror advisor john brennan become the evidence the cia. he testifies tomorrow on capitol hill. some liberals do not like him because he is the director of the drone program that kills terrorists from the sky. president obama very bullish on the drones. >> these strikes are legal. they are ethical and they are wise. the u.s. government takes great care in deciding to pursue an al qaeda terrorist to ensure precision and to avoid loss of innocent life. >> bill: here now to discuss thinks moral dilemma, over the drone issue, the co-host of the five bob beckel. >> bill: all right, so it was obviously set up as a discussion with a liberal, bob beckel over his condemnation of waterboarding. but the relative silence over drones. i used nbc news analysis as an example to back that up. so what's your beef? bill, i have already won this round on points because the other day with bernie goldberg you said yes i guess i should have mentioned it. the nbc scoop was the elephant in the room that kick started your debates. larger point about the media being hypocritical here with some exceptions, "newsweek," "new york times" had a big story last year about obama's secret kill list. liberal law professor picking the names forever who is to be targeted by these drones. ill would certainly be willing to say that the mainstream media, much of it, giving president obama the benefit of the doubt on national security issues in a way that was not true with george w. bush. >> one nun i said to goldberg i should have mexicoed it only because it would have avoided all of this nonsense. all right? not because it was done in a journalistic way. we were not talking about reportage. you just lost points by confusing hard news reporting about drones with the "new york times" page. which hasn't condemned, as far as i know, in any great american, as they did with waterboarding the use of it what we were clearly talking about here, 48 hours after the nbc memo appeared was why the left doesn't condemn killing terrorists with drones, unilaterally killing decision making with one man waterboarding that kills anybody. you know and i know it's hypocritical. yet, you don't engage in that you come after me. it's ridiculous. that was a very mild, carefully chosen critique of your performance. in terms it of what you sees a the relative lack of outcry there was a passionate debate in this country about whether waterboarding is torture led in part by john mccain. easy for the press and commentators on the left to cover because it was so out there. in the case of drones, wasn't issue in