The O'Reilly Factor fill-in Laura Ingraham thinks that anyone should care what disgraced former U.N. ambassador John Bolton thought about President Obama's Nobel acceptance speech.
Transcript via.
INGRAHAM: In "The Factor followup" segment tonight, as you may know President Obama in his Nobel acceptance speech said war, though never glorious, is sometimes necessary.
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OBAMA: I face the world as it is and cannot stand idle in the face of threats to the American people. For make no mistake, evil does exist in the world. A non violent movement could not have halted Hitler's armies. Negotiations cannot convince al Qaeda's leaders to lay down their arms.
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INGRAHAM: For that, he's getting some praise in conservative quarters.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This was a complex, intellectually rich, impressive speech.
NEWT GINGRICH: I thought the speech was actually very good. In some ways, it's a very historic speech.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He made the case for a just war. He did. And it was pretty stunning.
PALIN: I liked what he said. In fact, I thumbed through my book quickly this morning to say wow, that really sounded familiar.
CHARLES KRAUHAMMER: Well, I thought it was the best speech he's ever given on foreign soil.
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INGRAHAM: But with us now is a man who was not so impressed. John Bolton is the former ambassador to the United Nations.
And John, I mean, you're always the ant at the picnic. I mean, you got Gerson, Gingrich, Scarborough, Palin, all said, look, you know, he praised America. He said war was sometimes necessary. What's your beef with the speech?
AMB. JOHN BOLTON, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Look, I thought it was shallow and sophomoric. He didn't say anything new in this speech he hadn't said in the West Point speech on Afghanistan or his two speeches at the U.N. Like most politicians, and that's an important point, he is like most politicians, he put a lot of chum in the water for a lot of different people.
It's true, he said sometimes war is necessary. Nobody's ever accused of him being a pacifist. Jimmy Carter wasn't a pacifist. Woodrow Wilson wasn't a pacifist. Neville Chamberlain wasn't a pacifist. Their mistake was fundamentally misunderstanding what to do about threats to their respective countries. And that's where Obama gets it wrong. And this speech is filled with fundamental errors that I think pose grave dangers for the U.S.
INGRAHAM: One thing he said during the speech is America cannot act alone.
BOLTON: You took the quote I had underlined right here.
INGRAHAM: Oh, mind meld here.
BOLTON: Let me just say.
INGRAHAM: That jumped out at me when he said that.
BOLTON: Yeah, he didn't say it's imprudent for America to act alone, or America should have allies.
INGRAHAM: Right, which is fine.
BOLTON: .he said we cannot act alone. That's fundamentally wrong.
But it reflects, I think, what's basically his mindset, which is he is post American. He's against nuclear proliferation. He's against belligerent war. He just wants to resolve it through the framework of the United Nations. And that's what the real problem is. That's why North Korea and Iran continue to pursue their nuclear programs. That's why we have the risk of continuing global terrorism.
Because the Obama approach isn't going to work. And because he says a nice thing about America every once in a while, doesn't change the fundamental philosophy at work in his brain.
INGRAHAM: I was actually surprised by some of the conservative comments. And I try, you know, it's the Christmas season. I try to be charitable on my radio show. But the fundamental issue is as the commander in chief of the United States military, the president of the United States, you are there to make sure that our security is paramount. And great to have allies. But whatever you have to do to keep it safe here is what you have to do to keep it safe here.
BOLTON: No. And if you look at -- even where he tries to defend America's role in the world, and providing peace and security, he puts it in the context that we made a substantial contribution. And it wasn't just treaties and declarations that kept the world safe from Communism after World War II.
That's why I think you have to look at him as a fundamentally post-American president. America has its interests, but so do 191 other members of the United Nations. And we have to take those into account.
Look, this is a president that's had some actions forced upon him by circumstances. I think Afghanistan is the paradigm case. But even in the speech where he surges American forces, he takes with one hand what he had given with the other. And that's why I think we have to look at what his priorities are. Reducing our strategic nuclear posture vis-a-vis the Russians, getting more and more international climate regulation, more and more global governance.
INGRAHAM: And we see at the same time, John, of course, China moving in such a rapid fashion. Not only militarizing space, gobbling up commodities, their middle class is growing. Their industrial output is surging. And we're - banker, please be nice to us. I mean, banker, we'd like you to cut your emissions. I mean, the whole geopolitical approach of this administration seems to me to be flawed at the very best.
BOLTON: Well, this is a case where we're playing softball with China and they're playing ice hockey. They are pursuing their national interests. That's what we ought to do.
INGRAHAM: (INAUDIBLE) you can't blame them.
BOLTON: Exactly. If we had a president who played our national interests as his first priority, I wouldn't mind that he gets into difficult circumstances with the Chinese. That's what happens when national interests clashes. He doesn't believe in the clash of national interests . He doesn't believe in using American power to advance those interests.
He said at the U.N. that no one nation can or should dominate another. Tell that to Beijing .
INGRAHAM: Well, what are we actually going to do if they go in to Taiwan now? Please pretty please? Back off? I mean, what are they going to do?
BOLTON: If I were on Taiwan, I'd be very worried.
INGRAHAM: Very worried.
BOLTON: This is the kind of signal of weakness that I think provokes countries to challenge the U.S. because they think they can get away with it.
INGRAHAM: In just 30 seconds, North Korea, we sent a special envoy. I love the special envoy, sent them to North Korea. Three days of talks, high level talks. Never had such high level talks before. What did we get?
BOLTON: Well, I think the North Koreans will come back to the negotiating table at the six-party talks. And you know what that means? They're setting us up to give them more tangible economic and political concessions.
INGRAHAM: I mean, they need money, right?
BOLTON: They are not going to give up their nuclear weapons program through negotiations. Neither is Iran while we're on the subject.
INGRAHAM: Ambassador John Bolton, always great to see you. Merry Christmas and happy Hanukah to all our Jewish viewers out there.
Plenty more ahead as "The Factor" moves along this evening. Lisa Ling investigates an explosion of violence on the Mexican border. And the spillover of brutality into the United States is going to shock you.
And black lawmakers are calling out President Obama, because they say his economic policies are not serving minority communities. But is that even true? We hope you stay tuned for those reports.
