Panel Tackles Multiculturalism and Anti-Israel Resolution

This is a rush transcript from "Special Report," February 18, 2011. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

BRET BAIER, ANCHOR: Every week viewers vote for your choice online in this, our Friday lightning round. And the poll this week, the winner - I don't think we still have the drum roll but - multiculturalism. There we go, a little delayed. 39 percent of the vote, multiculturalism.

We're back with the panel. This stems from three European leaders, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, British Prime Minister Cameron, and the German chancellor Merkel all saying multiculturalism has failed in Europe. And the White House press secretary this week, Charles, saying he was not familiar with those statements.

CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER, SYNDICATED COLUMNIST: That was the wrong answer. He should never ever say that particularly when these are so well known, had been heard around the world, and was really big news. I think what you have to say is, "we understand and sympathize with our European allies and friends who have these issues and we hope they will have success in dealing with it in the future." If you want to say nothing, that's how you say it.

(LAUGHTER)

BAIER: Nia?

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, THE WASHINGTON POST: Certainly, yeah. I think we might hear Carney saying things like that pretty often. I mean he's said a couple of those lines over these last couple of days. And I think also one of the things you can say is that America has been an example in terms of being a multicultural nation, a melting pot. We saw a lot of social upheaval, obviously, in the 50s and 60s. That's something that these European countries are going to have look to, look to whether or not their countries are offering inequality and opportunities to all these different groups that are emigrating to their countries.

BAIER: But basically, Steve, the message is they can't live alone in separate communities and not be a part of the bigger nation as a whole?

STEVE HAYES, SENIOR WRITER, THE WEEKLY STANDARD: Right. And it is a more profound problem in Europe than it is here because of the depth and the - the depth of their culture.

BAIER: Although there are some communities that kind of fit that bill?

HAYES: There are, but I would say that Germans are Germans and they've been Germans going back, ya know, millennia. It's not the same if you have a different group of outsiders come in to integrate them into German is quite different than American culture, which as Nia quite accurately points out, is by definition a blend of a number of different cultures. I think that makes it tougher in Europe.

But what's interesting is the timing on this, these speeches come now, this is actually not at a high tense moment. Things were much more tense on this issue in Europe two or three years ago where parts of Paris looked like a warzone.

BAIER: Ok next up, the United Nations' vote today on a Palestinian resolution, essentially that would sanction Israel, saying that it's illegal for Israeli settlements to move forward. The ambassador to the U.N. for the U.S., Susan Rice, voted against that, the only veto, the first veto under the Obama administration at the U.N. Security Council. Saying there is illegitimacy of the Israeli settlement activity but that it's unwise to go forward with this resolution. What about this? Charles?

KRAUTHAMMER: "Unwise" is the wrong word. And then she said how with what "regret" she cast a veto. Look, what she should have said, it's not unwise. It's hypocritical, it's scandalous, and it's something that we reject with relish. It's one-sided.

If it had been coupled with, for example, a denunciation of the Palestinians for their rejection of a peace offered at Camp David in 2000, a second offer the same year at Taiba, a third offer two years ago by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, every offer of peace and partition since 1947, well perhaps I would have agreed with it.

But to apologize for a one-sided resolution -- let me just add one fact. The state introducing this resolution was Lebanon. During these troubles nobody has really noticed but Hezbollah took it over in a coup about a month ago. So think about this Hezbollah, a terror organization, genocidal and anti- Semitic and terrorist, sits -- has a seat at the Security Council, the premier entity that supposed to guarantee peace in the world. Think of the immoral inversion of the universe when that is the case, as it is today.

BAIER: Nia?

HENDERSON: Yeah, it seems like she had two choices here, either to veto this or abstain. They obviously went with the veto here. And just so you need to underscore, I think the point that the U.S. has made all along which is that the U.N. doesn't really have a place in a Middle East peace process. And that seems to be what the takeaway here was for me.

BAIER: Steve?

HAYES: Well with the new beloved United States under President Obama you would have been expected them to be able to forestall this in the first place, not ever let it get to this point. But they weren't able to do that. I think what this shows more than anything the utter worthlessness of the United Nations. I mean here you have an entire region up in flames. You have dictators across the region literally slaughtering their own people in the streets, and the United Nations is spending its time focusing its time on building of apartments in Israel.

BAIER: Lightening round not that lightening today. Last word, Steve. These protests, they seem to be expanding, Bahrain and elsewhere?

HAYES: I think they will, I think they're going to keep expanding. It will be interesting to see if they hurt our enemies as much as they seem to be hurting our sometimes friends.

BAIER: That is it for the panel, but stay tuned for a lesson in first making sure your co-anchor is not mad at you.

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