In a special Wednesday night edition of our ongoing “Friday Night Fights” series, in the left corner, Alan “I’m only here to disagree with everything my more intelligent partner says” Colmes. In the right corner, Mark “The Great One” Levin. Let’s get ready to rrrrrrrummmmmbbbble.
Colmes, obviously feeling good about having Democratic strategist Bob Beckle in his corner, came out swinging at the opening bell, but missed badly with his first combination: “You know, when I heard the Great One, I thought Jackie Gleason was coming back.” Realizing the egg he just laid in the middle of the ring, Colmes tried to recover with his typical left-wing blather about the Mideast conflict:
But this administration has had nothing but disengagement. That's been their policy for the last six years. Clinton was engaged. Carter were engaged. Bush 41 was engaged, with Lawrence Eagleburger. This administration, their policy has been disengagement. Isn't this partly the result of that?
Levin clearly watched videos of his opponent, and was in no way surprised by this strategy. The Great One quickly responded with a series of rights and lefts that Colmes was clearly unprepared for:
LEVIN: Excuse me. Excuse me. Why are you excusing the enemy? Why are you excusing the terrorists?
COLMES: What did I say about the enemy? I'm not talking about the enemy.
LEVIN: Excuse me! Let me finish my...
COLMES: That's not what I said.
LEVIN: Let me finish -- you're blaming George Bush for Hezbollah killing Israelis and...
COLMES: I didn't say that.
Clearly seeing that his opponent was against the ropes, The Great One moved in for the kill:
Excuse me. What do you -- we have 140,000 American troops in Iraq. I would call that engagement! We've got 20,000 American troops in Afghanistan. I would call that engagement!
Eight, nine, ten…The Great One in a first-round knockout.
What follows is a full transcript of this segment, which includes Bob Beckel actually agreeing that the media aren’t reporting the current Mideast conflict with any semblance of impartiality (“I mean, if you look at the front page of any newspaper in the United States or in Europe, you don't see people in Israel who have been hurt. You see people in Lebanon who've been injured or murdered.”) and a video link.
HANNITY: Israeli defense troops, they continue their offensive against Hezbollah fighters, claiming to have killed and captured several terrorists during these raids. Now, FOX News has obtained new video of one of these operations from the Israeli Defense Forces tonight.
According to the IDF, the video shows a Hezbollah terrorist in a car, pulling up to a house, and then carrying a rocket launcher inside the house and firing it. The man is then hit by Israeli fire.
Joining us now, Democratic strategist, FOX News contributor Bob Beckel. Also here with me in San Diego, we call him the Great One, nationally syndicated radio talk show host Mark Levin, who's a big part of our Freedom Concert effort.
Bob Beckel, one of the things that shocks me, between the United Nations, the French, the E.U., and generally everybody except Great Britain, Tony Blair, and George Bush, Israel gets 2,000-plus rockets fired at them, and the world only responds and the U.N. only responds when there is a missile that goes out of kilter. Isn't this an anti-Israeli bias that exists?
BOB BECKEL, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Yes, I mean, it's worse than that. I mean, if you look at the front page of any newspaper in the United States or in Europe, you don't see people in Israel who have been hurt. You see people in Lebanon who've been injured or murdered.
And I mean, pictures of anybody being injured or murdered are not pleasant, but this is a war, and Israel has every right to defend herself. This has gone on now ever since she left southern Lebanon. And so I think the idea of their having the right to go and clean these missiles out is the right one.
And it's not pleasant, but these other countries ought to -- who frankly haven't done much in this region, I think they've got no standing when it comes to attacking Israel.
HANNITY: Great One, you see the way the United Nations reacts. They didn't say anything when Israeli soldiers were captured and murdered and the start of the hostilities began. They didn't say anything when the Katyusha rockets were landing in Israeli neighborhoods. It seems they only want to respond when Israel defends itself. I find this peculiar, beyond anything else.
MARK LEVIN, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Well, first of all, I want to praise Bob Beckel. He's one of the few Democrats who's come out four- square for the right of the Israelis to kick the ass of these barbarians. We should have done it after they killed 243 of our men. And now the Israelis are doing it. We ought to be supporting them. That's number one.
Number two, what is all of this talk about the U.N.? Who cares about the U.N.? The U.N. is only important if we make it important. This is our national security; this is Israel's national security. We take issues to the U.N. A majority of those companies support the enemy. So why do we take our issues to the U.N.?
HANNITY: But where has the U.N. been effective? Did they stop the slaughter in Rwanda, the Congo? Have the stopped the slaughter anywhere in the world?
LEVIN: The U.N. can't even stop its own blue helmets from raping little teenagers. The U.N. can't stop its own blue helmets from shipping teenaged girls into prostitution. They can't get the oil-for-food program right. Why do we send anything through the U.N.?
BECKEL: You know, Mark, I don't know whether you're the Great One or I'm the Great One, but on this show obviously you're the Great One.
LEVIN: You're the Great...
(CROSSTALK)
BECKEL: The fact is there has to be -- the Israelis agree and the United States agrees that there has to be a multinational force. I guess the question I'd have is, if you don't do it under the auspices of the U.N., how do you get the French or anybody else to contribute troops?
I mean, would you leave it up to the French to patrol those lines? Absolutely not.
(LAUGHTER)
So I guess my question is, we're not going to commit NATO troops there. We've already got NATO now taking over most of the action in Afghanistan. So whether we like it or not, the U.N. may be the only overriding body that -- well, you can form this international force.
COLMES: Hey, Bob and Mark, Mark, welcome back to our show. You know, when I heard the Great One, I thought Jackie Gleason was coming back. But it's good to have you back on the show.
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: Hey, Alan, I want you to look at Mark's hat. It says "Clinton happens."
COLMES: I can't hear you. You're all talking at once there.
But, Mark, let me ask you this. Israel certainly needs to defend itself. It certainly should defend its right to exist. But this administration has had nothing but disengagement. That's been their policy for the last six years. Clinton was engaged. Carter were engaged. Bush 41 was engaged, with Lawrence Eagleburger. This administration, their policy has been disengagement. Isn't this partly the result of that?
LEVIN: Excuse me. Excuse me. Why are you excusing the enemy? Why are you excusing the terrorists?
COLMES: What did I say about the enemy? I'm not talking about the enemy.
LEVIN: Excuse me! Let me finish my...
COLMES: That's not what I said.
LEVIN: Let me finish -- you're blaming George Bush for Hezbollah killing Israelis and...
COLMES: I didn't say that.
LEVIN: Excuse me. What do you -- we have 140,000 American troops in Iraq. I would call that engagement! We've got 20,000 American troops in Afghanistan. I would call that engagement!
COLMES: And, Bob Beckel, as we get more...
LEVIN: Just because we're -- excuse me.
COLMES: All right. Calm down, Mark.
LEVIN: Just we don't like -- no, I won't.
COLMES: Bob Beckel, as we get more and more insurgents in Iraq, our troop numbers...
LEVIN: Just because we run to the U.N. doesn't mean we're engaged!
COLMES: ... in Iraq stay the same, Bob. They don't change as the insurgency increases.
BECKEL: Yes, you know, one of the things -- I listen to Mark, and Mark is always very good at sort of doing the -- I heard what you said, Alan.
LEVIN: I'm doing my best to educate...
(CROSSTALK)
BECKEL: Mark, let me ask you a question here. If everybody keeps pointing back to Iran -- rightfully so -- are we not fighting the wrong part of the axis of evil? Why is it that George Bush knew about Iran, knew about these problems? They really have nuclear potential; Iraq never did. Why don't we engage Iran?
LEVIN: Hey, Bob, if they are doing that, we need to go further. I'm with you, brother. We need to go further.
HANNITY: We've got to run. Great One, I want that hat. When we come back, Tom DeLay, Ann Coulter, and much more, coming up from San Diego and the Freedom Concert.
