seemed to like it but wored it would get too popular. online, smash, epic, incredible, awesome. that's kevin's daughter departing the sing house, midst performance. kevin says he doesn't do christmas because he's too tired from halloween. take your pick. is it an eyesore or an eyegasm? ♪ jeanne moos, cnn. new york. >> i'm wolf blitzer in "the situation room." the news continues next on cnn. good evening. breaking news off the top tonight. more trouble for the obama white house over a controversial clean energy loan program that already has left taxpayers holding a more than half billion dollar bill. the house committee laying groundwork to subpoena white house documents about a loan to a california company. the republicans who run the committee say they're being stonewalled by the white house and have no choice. the white house says they're

providing enough documentation and accuses the republicans. this is one of increasing testy showdowns who say the republicans are conducting tough oversight investigations and the white house seeing witch hunts, not legitimate inquiries. jess, any sign the white house will give? you were here when they first got the request and they said no, we've given you enough. any threat a subpoena will say, here, more dock plns? >> reporter: no signs it will. the white house has maintains they through their agencies turns over more than 70,000 pages of documents and that the white house itself has turned over 900 pages and as you have said, they have made it clear there's an important precedent to be protects, the president's advice from his advisers in the white house has to be protected. >> early on the white house said that the republicans were exaggerating this, this one lone gun bad, a pretty good program.

now the chief of staff is having an independent review inside the white house. does that concede the point this is more serious than the white house initially said? >> reporter: i wouldn't say it concedes the point. i do see this as a political move more than anything else. heading into -- they'll say it's -- there's value to it, too, it's a 60-day review, there's an important look here, but heading into a political year they can say they've appointed somebody. herb allison who work if a republican administration as well as democratic administration to look over all of the loans and he will deliver his findings 60 days from now, right around christmastime, when you know we'll all be paying close attention, or maybe not and the president can go into a political year saying we had an outside reviewer look at this and it inoculates him from any political attacks over the loans going forward. >> any sense the white house will say we have an internal review, congress, you need to wait? >> reporter: i mean mib they'll use any pushback they can.

it's just they expect congress to fight them at every turn. this just gives them their own added battle -- added fight when they're fighting back against congress. >> chief white house correspondent, jessica yellin, thanks. turn to the republican leading the subpoena push and stonewalling charge, chairman of the investigation subcommittee. a subpoena to the white house is a serious thing. your committee's going to meet thursday. what can the white house do to stop you? >> the white house has not claimed executive privilege at this point. and, john, all we're asking for is communications of the, shall we say, internal communications of the top advisers in the white house which includes chief of staff, director of climate change and policy as well as senior advisor on inner governmental affairs. e-mails we have show they were briefed about solyndra and all we want to do is see communications. >> what is your question? did political implications, did they have warning signs saying

don't give this loan and somebody said give it anyway? what's your question. >> it appears to us there's a close relationship between the investors, people who are wealthy donors to the obama campaign and people involved with solyndra. so that disturbs us all. and we'd like see the communications, make sure that is not true. and so all we're asking for is, you know, it's nothing to do with national security. just asking for information about solyndra. >> chairman of an important investigative subcommittee. to say it appears to you that you might be able to connect the dots between political contributions, influence, and a loan that went bad and left taxpayers holding a big bill, that's an important charge. do you have -- >> it's not a charge. it's not a charge. but it's something that we are concerned about, and we want to make sure it's not true. and i think the president should also feel like we do, show that it's not true. so turn over all of the documents so we can see them and let the american people understand there's no connection. if there is a connection, that's

a very disush tuturbing thing. >> do you want communications to the president or do you concede when it comes to discussion a program, george w. bush and dick cheney, if the situation were flip would sago away, that's our privilege. >> that's not the same thing. this is an investment of taxpayer money gone bad. there's 28 programs, some $1.2 billion of taxpayers' money that are questionable at this point. i think at this point, after eight months of investigation, we have a right, and i think the taxpayers have a right, after losing half a billion dollars to say what about the internal communications to the top advisers of the white house, let's see them. >> you need to get the committee -- >> subpoenas will be going. i hope democrat whose voted against the first subpoena did not vote for it, i hope they vote for this, this is transparency and this is what the president talked about his campaign in 2008. >> the white house says they have looks at what you're asking for. >> right. >> they say it's overly broad.

they say here are the documents that answers your questions. why don't you believe them in. >> the e-mails indicate there's much more. and if there is much more, can we see it, and we've got authenticated proof some some inside, top advisers they were involved with solyndra from other e-mails, so we'd like to see them all. >> their argument, this is a bad call, there was a debate whether this company was kol vesole ven night, people saying this loan is not ready for prime time. they say it's a bad call, not corrupt call, why do you think snois. >> first of all they broke the law when they subordinated taxpayers' money to two hedge funds. i'd like to understand how that works out. >> who broke the law? >> department of energy by subordinating taxpayers' loan to hedge funds i think they broke the energy policy act of 2005. it's not just my words.

the chief financial adviser, mr. berner of the department of treasury said in 28 year his has never seen taxpayer subordinated to outside private investor. so we have here something that's serious. we have lost a lot of money. perhaps the administration thinks it's just an anomaly in terms of their investment but taxpayers want to know how this happened from stem to stern. >> you have the secretary coming up before your committee. we have invited him on the program many times. you think the energy department broke the law. you think the secretary broke the law? >> the secretary has to give an adequate explanation why his council went ahead and rewrote their interpretation of the energy policy act of 2005. and in all fairness, i'm glad he's coming up to the commit were. he has a chance to explain to the american people and our committee what happened. i welcome him. also, he's got to explain, based upon what mr. berner, the chief

financial officer at the department of treasury who cuts the check that gives to doe to get the money out, why after his experience, why does he think it's okay to do there is? >> a lot of democrats in town say where was this tough oversight when republicans ran the town, when g.w. bush was president? why didn't the republicans have as much oversight in those days. they see partisan in that. republicans say there was not enough over sight of the republican president. when you have a ledge mate inquiry, without a day, when you're saying we might be able to connect the dots to a political corruption -- >> there's a disturbing trend here. >> chairman issa as the attorney general has lied. others on the committee have said people in the justice department might be accessories to murder in the fast and furious program. do you report whiworry at all a fair oversight there is an impression, you're putting judgment before the evidence when you collect statement business the republicans involved?

>> i've not call for resignation of secretary chu. mr. silver, who is a top loan officer, i called for his resignation at d.o.e., and he did resign. i think also the ceo of solyndra resigned after taking the fifth in front of me. so let's see what secretary chu has to say. give him a fair opportunity to talk. we are systemic here. this is an it's a-month investigation. we're not jumping off the cliff here. we have continually sought documents and tried to be reasonable, and sometimes they didn't even show up as a witness. they said they're going to be there and didn't even show up. what happens if they get your subpoenas, which is a grave step, and they say, no, or they give you some documents but not what you're looking for? >> obviously they could claim executive privilege, and i respect that that's part of the constitution. we'll take the next step if we thought it was that serious. i don't think the president wants to go there because this is something very simple to answer. did his top as advises get

involved, get briefed on solyndra, what was their response? why didn't they said hold it we're not going to make this investment and lose all of this money? is this happening on other 28 loan guarantees in if it happened in sill linda, it might happen in other ones. >> you have attorneys working for you. any private conversations to try to settle this to figure out what they -- what both sides can agree an acceptable compromise? >> sure. we have tried. we have calls. at this point the president feels, you know, concern that he just doesn't want to to it because he's opening up pandora's box and doesn't know what's in the box. i understand that. i understand how he's being cautious here. on the other hand, this is a loss of half a billion dollars of taxpayers' money and we have seen from e-mails that a lot of wealthy bundlers and wealthy donors have been involved. in fact, investors in solyndra and investor in all of the other 28. i think it's good to take solyndra, which was a poster child that the vice president and the president just touted,

look at this carefully, slowly, methodically, it's what we're doing and trying to get these answers? >> subpoenas in the coming days. chairman, appreciate your time. we'll stay on top of the story. thank you for your time. still to come, tonight's truth test. the president's promise to put the little guy ahead of the deep-pocket the lobbyists. herman cain explains his campaign schedule and a not subtle take on team obama. >> super people are running america. we've got to outvote them. they are. i was criticizing. ♪

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rick perry filed his paperwork for new hampshire's primary and says he's not scares off by mitt romney's giant lead in the state. >> i'm not here because i like to hang around with y'all. i'm here to win. >> his tax message is suited for the state. we wonder if new hampshire voters will take offense from this -- >> i haven't figured out new hampshire yet. new hampshire is so small up there, there were 55,000 people voted in new hampshire and one

sigh of this, as a matter of fact, whoever that guy running as president got 55,000 votes but denton counties got more vote than that that will vote in the primary. i haven't figured out why that's so important. >> well, here he goes again. mitt romney on climate change then -- >> i'm not a scientist, but i think the earth is getting warmer. i think we probably contribute to it but i don't know how much, a lot or a little. >> and now -- >> my view is that we don't know what's causing climate change on this planet, and the idea spending trillions and trillions of dollars to reduce co2 emission is not the right course for us. >> up first, focus on politics tonight, this campaign's biggest surprise also its biggest mystery. herman cain, the businessman, car is mattic, confident, sometimes a little cocky. >> i'm not supposed to be

running. i'm not supposed to win. i'm not supposed to be standing up here with this hat on but i'm doing it. this is who i am. we have a saying in the cain campaign. let herman be herman. >> this was a textbook day of herman being herman. he spend the day in alabama. tomorrow, to the alabama republican presidential primary held in march 137 days from now. iowa matters and it votes in 67 days. not only is cain not there, he told a state republican party today he won't be at a giant eye gop dinner next friday. new hampshire matters too, and it votes 74 days from now, and south carolina, 85 days away. so why, oh why, alabama now? >> even though a lot of people think that you're supposed to give all of the attention to the

early states, yes, early states are important, but alabama matters because of the compression of the primary schedule. >> maybe mr. cain will be proven right but that schedule hasn't changed all that much. in the alabama primary has never mattered in my lifetime. take a look at the past month. yes, cain spent one day in new hampshire, one in south carolina, and two in florida. all important early states. but many other visits on the map there for book signings, other events that have veteran strategists questioning whether cain has a viable strategy. the candidate promises to prove all of the skeptics wrong. >> two messages that are resonating across this country, number one, the voice of the people is stronger than the voice of the media. you are going to select the next president.

number two, message is more important than money. money's not going to buy a second term mr. president. >> cnn contributors paul begala, eric erickson. arou rrnts aren't a lot of conservatives scratching their heads when they see herman cain in alabama? >> i wish i could show you my e-mail in just the past 12 hours, people just scratch their heads, is he running for vice president, commerce secretary? is he running for secretary of federal relations, a department that hasn't gotten created yet? i honestly, i don't know, herman believes his campaign believes, if you talk to him that through sheer force of personality, so many people like him that he can go to these other states and bill up his national name i.d., media's going to keep talking about him, he's going to be seen on tv in iowa, new hampshire, south carolina, and somehow or another they'll win.

you know, john i'm with you. i'm only 36 but i've never known the alabama primary to matter in the last 150, 200 years. >> we didn't think south dakota mattered and obama used that early on, paul. could herman cain be on to something rest of us are blind to? >> look, he could be. i saw a report that i think it was yesterday, maybe the day before, he was at a dog track in la mark, texas, where i grew up. a great little town. haven't been to the track but i'm sure it's a fun place to hang out. it's got nothing to do with electing the next president or selecting the republican nominee. in that clip he said he didn't like the media. guess what? the media likes him. he's authenticing funny, irrevere irreverent. he doesn't look like a classic ceo. maybe there's a method there. i'm with eric, i'm doubtful. i saw one report that said he's not supposed to be in iowa until november 19th. i do know iowa.

i've been there, 2they want to see you in person. the a classic joke, but it's true. they want to see you in their living room two, three times, and they like you to mow the grass. >> or shuttle the snow. he is irrev ran. he's the most likable. if he says things like this, i know conservatives don't like the obama administration but their picking a president, when he says things like this, stupid, let's listen. >> stupid people are running america. we have got to outvote them. they are. i was criticized, you shouldn't call people stupid. why, they're stupid? >> is that presidential, eric? >> not in the conventional template of what is and is not presidential, but the cain campaign has not run anything within the traditional template of what is and is not presidential. it rallies the base. it throws out red meat with

extra blood injected into the meat to make it even redder. and it rallies the faithful. i don't know that if he were to be the nominee and get out of the general election if he could keep that up. but you know, this is -- this is the most unconventional presidential campaign that's working that i have ever seen. >> are you secretly writing for them, paul? >> i -- i'm -- i agree with eric on that. but there's a strategy to that comment. okay? that is this, he really stepped in it when herman cain did, when he gave the interview to piers morgan and made the classic statement of pro-choice person on boosabortion, when he said i not the role of president or government to tell a woman to make the choice. that's the iconic choice of the pro-statement. the explosion among party loyalists when he said that was really extraordinary. he could have sunk the campaign. what reunites people?

attacking obama reunites people in that party. he did that to draw attention away from the massive gaffe he had on abortion. >> mitt romney the runaway leader in new hampshire. perry trying to get back on track, promoted his low tax message that will help get him traction. an interesting dust-up in recent days whether he's going to skip some debates. listen to governor perry, tell me if it's a nonanswer or a bit of a retreat. >> i don't know whether we'll forgo debates or not. there's a also of debates. shoot, i may get to be a good debater before this is all over. >> the self-depp bring indication will help him a little bit some people wondering about his personality and character. did you get the sense maybe all of the talk of pulling out of debates they're rethinking it because they're getting criticism? >> i hear they are getting criticism, that they're realizing they need to get on better message. think is of the beginning-they

floated it, it fell flat. i think we're going to see rick perry in the debates. >> what do you make of that, paul? >> yeah, i think eric's right. the governor done like to debate because he's not good at debating. i've never seen the debates be this important before in a primary. 2008, joe biden won. i thought a lot of debates. chris dodd won a lot of the debates. it came down barack and hillary. this time when michele bachmann started at the beginning she had terrific debates and she soars. herman cain, i think, where he is because he's a very good debater, and he has a sense of humor. perry cannot ignore the debates, he cannot. his job to be the conservative al ternive to romney. if he -- he has no chance, i think being the alternative to mit. >> did you hear paul talk about the dog track in texas and say

he's not a gambler? >> i realizes where he is. >> see where he is a fact check to be done here somewhere. that would be vegas, i think, begala. >> i am in vegas. i love it here. i highly encourage people to come here, and to go gaming, i guess, as they call it. >> he's trying to make it look like he's in the city. >> i got it. i got it. paul, eric, thanks for coming in on a friday night. have a great weekend. still to come here, you know john stewart and stephen colbert. how about these guys? >>. >> they gave ahmadinejad and the ayatollahs fits as co-creators uaker oatmeal is a super grain. ♪ it gives me warmth. ♪

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hope and change thesignature signature slogans of the obama campaign. >> we will not take a dime from washington lobbyists or special interest packs. we're going to change how washington works. they not fund my party they will not run our white house and they will not downous the voices of the american people when walheim president of the united states of america. >> after hearing that, this headline in the new york time

seem at odds with the promise to put washington on the side of the little guy and not the lobbyist. the story of the obama white house and lobbyists is a tail of trickle down disappointment. "the new york times" chronicled hundreds of meetings between obama officials and lobbyists at a coffee shop. stimulus spending among the many topics. no official record of who met with whom because meeting at the coffee shop gets around the president's promise to list every lobbyist who visits the white house. the white house defended meeting with lobbyists at jackson place, across the street from the white house, outside the official complex. like the coffee shop, outside the requirement to keep lobbyist by lobbyist visitor logs. the new fund-raising revelations follow the same pattern. the president's promise to not accept contributions from lobbyists. >> that's why i don't take money from these folks because my

attitude is they will not fund my campaigns. >> but today's "new york times" account details 15 examples of obama bundlers, supporters who promise to raise giant amounts for the campaign who are involved in or oversee major lobbying efforts but not themselves registers with congress as lobbyists. bundlers with lobbying ties have raises at least $5 million for the president's 2012 campaign so far. let's be clear. there is nothing illegal or unethical but meeting a lobbyist, whether inside the white house gates or a short walk outside the security perimeter anding in to suggest any of the bundlers have done anything that runs afoul of the finance laws. the white house gets indig nantz when things might not be exactly as the president promised. >> you're citing that story and not the story that demonstrated lobbyists are lining up in record numbers to contribute to

republican campaigns that openly and willingly accept money from lobbyists. >> yes, we have an obligations in the days and weeks ahead to hold republicans accountable, too. but saying the other guys are worse, even if it's true, doesn't answer whether president obama is keeping both the letter and the spirit of his promises. is he? by the letter test, yes. by the spirit test, well, that's more than debatable. meeting lobbyists across the street so you don't have to keep a public record speaks for itself. so does raising millions of people clearly involved in lobbying. again, nothing wrong. what it is, is business as usual washington style, a loophole to every rule. while it was a naive promise to make we were promises it would be different. next, a special anniversary for the statue of liberty and a view from part of the statue off-limits since 1916. for a limited time, passages malibu

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welcome back. here's the latest news you need to know now pop occupy wall street demonstrators marched to the offices of five major banks in manhattan. earlier police confiscated portable generators and fuel tang at parks. authorities say they were fire hazards.

protesters call it harassment. in california, oakland's player, who has apologizes for violence when police broke up a demonstration this week. iraqi war veteran suffered a skull fracture during that incident. >> i am very deeply saddened about what happened last tuesday it clearly didn't turn out the way we wanted it to. people were hurt and i -- i am the mayor, so i take responsibility and i apologize to those hurt. >> on this 125th anniversary of the dedication of lady liberty, the view of the new york skyline from the statue's torch. members of the public haven't been allowed on the balcony to see this view in person since 1916. that is beautiful. there's lady liberty, in the harbor. not far from there, "erin burnett outfront," talking tea party. >> i was looking that the picture and remembering going up as a kid, not able to go to the top, but the experience of

touching the inside of the lady liberty. we are talking about the tea party tonight, john. you know, last night we were talking about how half of the republican party, identifies itself as active, active tea party members or supports the tea party. but within that half of the republican party, there are 5,000 separate groups. the two of them are going to come on tonight, including ned ryan, chief of the group that called for michele bachmann to quit the presidential race today. then follow up with the head of the republican national committee. talking about the tea party phenomenon and whether they can get beyond it and fight for the white house. we've got all of that tonight. john, you know it's -- well you know the night before halloween is called mischief night, right? >> amen. >> this is our night before halloween, right, because halloween's on monday, our last show. so just a hint of what we've got going on, all right? you know what i've got to say, the show after us, the show by anderson cooper better watch

out. >> a mess on its hands. >> he just better watchout. >> we'll leave it at that. we'll find out what happens in the mischief. >> see you, john. >> when we come back, the white house chief of staff making mischief. very, very blunt talk from the president's right hand man. [ horn honks ]

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un-godly, brutal, that's how the chief of staff bill daily describes the obama white house and during a conversation about

rahm emanuel, he makes an important distinction, quote, i'm not going to become the leaker in chief, these blunt comments part of a fascinating conversation daly had with roger simon, now a come lummist with politico. roger is along with us, our chief political analyst, gloria borger. you did this in his office, not over drinks. >> i did this in his office, not overdrinks. i'm not saying what happened afterwards. >> he says a number of things that are fascinating and interesting, he is a straight shoot somewhere a blunt talker and done mix his words. rahm emanuel his predecessor i'm not going to be leaker in chief. pretty much exposing rahm as leaker in chief. >> i don't think it's a surprise to any in the press corps but probably a surprise to the public. the relationship between the two is a little different than it is now. rahm is a dozen years downer

than daly, daley preceded him in politics, government, into banking. and now all of a sudden ramh has jumped in to his father's and brother's job, and people are saying, he was a better chief of staff. a little friction there. >> a little friction there. listen to this, the president was on record as once saying if he's a one-term president, so be it as long as he gets about important business. is bill daley okay with that in. no, absolutely not, shaking his head, growing more outraged at thought of a secondle term entering the president's mind, i think he'd be angry, pissed. excuse me language, family as the home, that's the white house chief of staff, not the anchor of the program. >> has a daly ever been a one-term anything? no member of the daley job not wanted to finish the job they

came to do. he's somebody who is political. and he's already told the white house, he's going to leave at the end of this term, but he intends to stay to help get barack obama re-elected. >> many, roger, interpret such blunt talk as evidence that maybe daley's frustrated, maybe he did not get all of the free rein, power he thought we was going to get when he got the job. >> i don't think so. i think his frustration is with the u.s. congress, republicans and democrats. >> fascinating point. in interview he hits the democrats just as hard as he hits republicans. >> today, from my e-mails, democrats do not like it. and i think the frustration is that, and what he calls three un-godly years. and it's thoords conthard to co on that. i'm not sure any president has come into three years like this. >> liberals in congress

criticized him during the debt ceiling they thought he was cutting too much of a deal with the republicans. truth of the matter is bill daley in theory would rather be cutting deals with republicans than attacking republicans. he also ran al gore's campaign, which was a class warfare argument, which we're seeing being rerun right now. >> you're saying he'll stay for the recount, is what you're saying. >> i was go to say some would say he won that. >> he's -- for all of the blunt talk he seems dead-on about the 2012 race coming up. look at '08 the president got 53% of the vote against a relatively older candidate who has sarah palin as a running mate. and he gets only 53% of the vote. why would this not be a close election? that's dead on. >> that's right. we, some of us, look at the republican field and as someone unkindly said it resembles the bar scene of "star wars."

as you've shown on the clips just in this show, all of the front runners have these minuses, they're not serious, they flip-flop, whatever. that's the big thing barack obama has going for him. the bad thing is a terrible economy. which is going to win in the zblen. >> that was daley's point. it's been brutal, look whether we were handed. you can't win a campaign by saying things would have been worse if we hadn't won this election. >> part of the calculation bringing him in he had good relations with republicans, good relations with the business community, both entities republicans in the business community, not getting along well and not happy with the obama white house. in that sense, does he feel he's making a contribution or is he frustrated? >> no. i don't think he's frustrated at all with the access he has to the president. and don't forget, he worked for joe biden in biden's first presidential campaign. and their offices are now next to each other. i think joe -- you know, it's been said, well, a deal was cut.

mayor daley said i'll support rahm to barack obama if you take my brother. that's nonsensical. ra hchlth m would have wouldn't and daley was a popular choice for the job. >> before daley came into the administration he wrote a piece saying the health reform bill was too liberal, too left and i wonder if republican will take advantage of that. >> i remember when he took the job. he said, by your tone, you think i'm crazy, right? i said, have a good time, bill, good luck. roger, fascinating piece. thanks for coming in. gloria, thanks for being here on friday night. tonight's number it tells you what's coming up next. tonight's number is 80. we give it to you with a question mark. why? let's explain. 80% of the people of iran have access to satellite tv services. question mark, as ses does not mean they have control over what they watch on the television,

often the government scrambles it. it's not just satellite television. iranians have, total population of 78 million, about 23 million, 30%, have access to the internet. that means they have a hookup in their house, that doesn't mean they can see whatever they want because iran is ranks fourth worst in the world of messing with the internet. china, tunisia, cuba block access more than iran. restricts, both frustrate and inspire our next guests, men behind as iran's daily show. e right re in americ yeah, over 100 years worth. okay, so you mean you just ignore the environment. actually, it's cleaner. and, it provides jobs. and it helps our economy. okay, i'm listening. [announcer] at conoco phillips we're helping power america's economy with cleaner affordable natural gas... more jobs, less emissions, a good answer for everyone. so, by reducing the impact of production... and protecting our land and water... i might get a job once we graduate.

>> parity newscast are a staple of our pop culture. see how many of these guys you recognize. >> wow, i don't know what it is, but something about that guy just seems cool. >> did you spot the trend amongst the republicans nominees? it's a trained eye. i'll give you a hint, they're all saying crazy things [ speaking foreign language ] >> wait a minute. so who is that last guy? take a look. >> we wanted to do a show that would propose -- he likes darm comedy and dark humor. i'm the same way. i have dark humor in my style. >> together, they created a pair roddy newscast beamed into iran by the voice of america dubbed the persian daily show.

cammalleri biz joins me now. the name of the show, explain the significance. >> when you turn on your tv in iran, sitting in your living room and you would like to see international channels like our popular voa channel, what you see is they jam the satellite. what you see is the static. [ speaking foreign language ] >> that's called stat sick or parazit. we stashed our name underneath. >> if you want to jam the satellites and people, they're forced to see static, why don't -- why don't you make a show that's called static. >> the secretary of state hillary clinton on the program and you start off in a funny way. but look how quickly it turns. >> we were supposed to do this way earlier. we assumed you were too busy taking down dictators since you

were gone, you know, i think four or five dictators are gone, too. and then we go to our audience question. do you believe the islamic public of iran is a dictatorship. >> i do. i believe the regime is a dictatorship. i think it's becoming even more of one, in fact, i think it is moving toward being a military dictatorship. >> explain how you think parody and satire help. >> when you use parody, you can deliver any message you want in today's media because all the guidelines that the media have, you know, journalists are really having a tough time to tell the truth. >> now, both born in iran. >> born in iran. >> andity, as the irish guy at the table, you must have a little irish in your blood because you conceived the idea for the show over guinness. >> yeah, we're still waiting for that sponsorship, if anyone's watching. >> nobody's contacted us saying

thank you very much. >> i have a closer family tie. maybe we can work that out. i want you to listen. fareed zakaria just went to iran and sat down with the person often at the end of your jokes and your not so jokes. mahmoud ahmadinejad. listen to this piece of the interview. >>. >> translator: in iran, we do not have the political prisoners. the government has never arrested and imprisoned people. >> now, on the one hand, that has to infuriate you. just infuriate you to listen to him lie. >> no, it's great. >> yet, on the other hand, if you're running a show that's parody and satire, that's like thank you god. >> this is a follow-up joke to what he said in colombia. there are no gays in iran. once a joke, would, you just keep translating it into a different thing. >> this guy is amazing. it's like i'm here.

"john king, usa," and everybody sees that. you're john king. there's a sign back here. and i am this persian dude and he's that guy. and i'm like, ladies and gentlemen, i'm on larry king. the lies are dead obvious. >> you're having fun but what is the goal? what do you hope your fun and the parody and the pointed political message within it, what do you want the effect to be? >> you know, going back to what kambis said earlier, when you use parody, you're disarming yourself and the person you're trying to reach out to. so then people become more receptive to your message and what you have to say. we use our motto is to use common sense because the government is an insult to our common sense. the lies and the ridiculous stuff you hear out of the government is the outrageous. >> that's a great line, by the way. >> thank you, i love you. we use common sense to fight them back and parody is just a tool that allows even the people who don't agree with us to sit

down and try to listen to us. we're not trying to change any governments, not trying to lead any movements, just put common sense into a government that has no respect for it for the last 32 years. >> and here's the thing. people in iran have only one channel of communication. that's state media. what we do, we give them another angle. another perspective on whatever story that you hear every week so they have options to choose from so they can have a broader perspective to the whole thing. [ speaking foreign language ] >> if you said these things been ahmadineja ahmadinejad, about the regime in iran, you would end up in one of those prisons that he says doesn't exist. >> right. >> we wouldn't exist either. >> do you worry at all that those who watch you on the receiving end since that is a message the government does not want them to hear, obviously you

believe in the power of communication, of freedom of speech and you wish your audience there had it fully. do you ever worry? >>, of course. the kids in iran are by far more brave than we can imagine. like, the view outside of my living room is the capitol building. so for us, it's easier to sit here and you know, live our lives. it's far more difficult to actually be controlled by an oppressive regime like that we want to bring up the electronic curtain. you know, the islamic republic of iran right now is more afraid of the connection that the iranians have made to the outside world using the internet and social media than they are of like let's say u "uss nimitz" because it empowers the people inside iran to send and receive information to the outside world. so for them to block the -- any kind of internet access which we've been very successful in

spreading our show is their biggest priority. >> you've seen the power of it, the potential power of it. we've seen it in tunisia and egypt. differently in libya. obviously less productively so far, but god bless the esolve in syria. when you look at iran, have they been able to adjust to the arab spring, push back? is it receding? >> it started in iran in 2009. that was the first time you saw the revolution of social media. >> it was crushed. >> they kicked the foreign journalists out. that was the time they picked up their phones and started using them to reach out to the outside world. it was crushed and there are many, many reasons for it. we can talk about it later. but the internet and social media is an extremely powerful tool because it empowers the people to make their own decisions and to organize and do what they need to do. >> the other thing we have to realize that after 2009, protests, today, you don't see those people on the street. but they're