we'll see you in the 10:00 hour of "newsroom." we'll bring you the latest on a russian passenger jet crashing in egypt. "smerconish" starts right now. i'm michael smerconish, is it war against the media why not? you can believe the outrageous questions we're asked at the republican debate. to donald trump, you once told a contestant on "celebrity apprentice" is would be a pretty picture to see her on her knees. or to another candidate, would you let another die rather than having an abortion? to jeb bush, to those who look at war, who do you look at those now and say your brother's war was a mistake. oh, wait, that were from the debate hosted from fox news in

august, nobody complained. at the cnbc there was some snark, but the questions weren't that different. i'm not alone noticing that. now rnc has cut ties with future news. journalism head and former cnn anchor frank cressno. and molly hemingway. representatives of the gop campaign will meet tomorrow night and decide how to proceed one won't be there. the one candidate on the stage who this week claimed to enjoy the questions. ohio governor john kasich who some described as the only grown-up in the sand box. he joins me from beverly hills, california. governor, reince priebus sent a letter to nbc ending the relationship for the upcoming february debate. he said the cnbc kdebate was

conducted in bad faith. it seems like you're the only one not beefing about the way the debate was moderated. explain that to me. >> well, look, you play the cards that you're dealt, michael. i don't like this format. harry truman could never have been elected president of the united states with a 30 or 60-minute response. who can rile people up the most. that's the way it works. if i had my way, i would break this down into smaller groups. and i would give everybody more time to talk about who they are and what they believe. so i'm not satisfied with the way this workings. i love these kind of sbriers where i can talk with you on somewhat of an extended basis so people can get to know who i am. at the end of the day, think about this, my dad carried mail on his back. my mother had her mother live with us, could barely speak english. i'm running for president of the united states, i'm standing on the stage with all of these

folks, god bless america, you know, i'm pretty happy about all of this at the end of the day. >> governor, i've taken the time to impair the transcripts of each of the debates. i don't notice the difference. perhaps in tonality. but i'm not the guy on the stage. do you think there's a discernible difference to the questions put to the candidates? >> i they ever had really thought about it, michael. i never saw the democratic debate so i can't compare that. i can say in the first debate, i felt, you know, the questions were fair. they asked me some questions that were interesting. in the third debate, you know, they asked me a lot of questions, and i didn't feel anything was below the belt. the second debate was like demolition derby. i didn't get asked any questions. i don't want to spend my time talking about the process of the debate. however they set it up, i'll show up and do the best i can to let people know who i am. it's not just something i'm

focused on. >> governor, was there a particular moment on the campaign trail that caused you to say, enough, i've got to deliver this message? >> i want you to know, i'm fed up, i'm sick and tired of listening to this had nonsense. and i'm going to have to call it like it is, as long as i'm in this race. >> well, look, when i started hearing talk about not continuing to have a strong medicare and medicaid program, that we can either do away with it or we can, you know, kind of choose if we want to be part of it or not, that was alarming to me because our republican party and the conservative movement is important to me. but ideas like that are just out in left field. and they tend to scare people. i saw these things continue to be put out. you i just got to a tipping point. look, this is not unusual to me. a lot of times i've spoken out on what is conventional wisdom in my party. i believe the republican party say conservative party that puts

government as a last resort, not as a first resort and we need dramatic change. we can't throw things on the wall and hope it sticks. or to think that, somehow, putting a chicken in every pot is going work for us. because i don't think it does in the general election and i don't think it's good public policy. >> without saying their names you are specifically making reference to spink proposals from donald trump and ben carson. when i heard you in the debate, here's what occurred to me, it seems like on the democratic side of the aisle, they are rewarding experience. on the republican side of the aisle which seems to be selling, i'll use your word, is fantasy. why the disconnect? >> well, i think people are very frustrated. republicans very frustrated, they elect a majority in the house and senate and they feel like they're not getting anything. i understand that. we're worried about the middle class family. i come from middle class.

people feel the system is not working. politicians are not telling the truth. for me, michael, i've played sort of both positions, i've worked with both establishments but i've been also an outside-the-establishment guy. i've been a reformer. i've shaken things up and stepped on a lot of toes. you but at the end, it's not about pontificatiopontificationo achieve things, be exciting and achieve about. >> governor, it has to be frustrating for you, you were chairman of the house budget committee at the time when we had a balanced budget. so you paid your dues, and you had success as a legislator. then you see individuals never been elected to anything. i'm references donald trump, i'm referencing ben carson, i'm referencing carly fiorina who rocketed to too often of the polls who say things that are off the rails. >> well, look, i don't mean to

have any personal attacks on anybody. but what i can say, can you imagine calling your mother and saying she's going to lose her medicare. and you can imagine what it would be like in a family of somebody who came here illegally but has been law abiding when they get the notice that they're going to have to leave and maybe leave their children here? when you hear those things, i think somebody's got to stand up and call it out. i do think we need a fence. i think we need to control our border for sure. but if you're a law-abiding person that has lived here, we'll give you a path to legalization, not a path to citizenship. we lock our border so people don't wander into our homes. the country has a right to control its border, too. to say we're going to pick 10 or 11 million people out and shove them out of here, do you remember after world war ii with the japanese and what a dark stain on our history. the idea that we're going to

deport all of these people is not going to happen. and it's just not right. so it may be appealing right off the bat for people who are frustrated about illegal immigration. and i am, too. and, michael, the thing i want people to know is, look, i'll take a team to washington to get our budget balanced and grow our economy. but what's equally important is that people realize we have to strengthen the family in this country. we know it's been weakened. we are have to strengthen our neighborhoods. you and i grew up in ethnic neighborhood where is people cared about one another, where the families were strong. we need to bring that back as well. a leader can set the tone. in the end, it's families and neighborhoods that make america strong. when that weakens, we're all weak. >> governor kasich, thank you for being here. >> god bless. so was this week's gop debate unfair? i just heard john kasich say that you've got to plate cards that you're dealt. joining me now former cnbc ted

david. frank cesno, and molly hemingway at the conservative website the federalist. let me briegin with you, frank. that was the man you say won the debate. but you also say the debate was a mess, why? >> because it was. it suffered from a lot of things, cnbc, this is the business channel, the economy channel, they promised a focused debate and it did not happen. if you look at the way aerngdson ran the democratic debate. two things came to mind, this is no free pass for liberals. and secondly, he fold up. when one teed it up, he asked that candidate to comment. he tried to generate a real discussion and debate. that didn't happen in the cnbc

debate. the whole kind of spectrum of trying to ask snarky questions with a screaming audience behind them. ten candidates, six different people asking debates led to what i would call a format meltdown. there simply wasn't the structure to the debate that could have, should have happened there. and there were real issues, differences between the candidates to have debated. just like john kasich said, does medicare get ended, do we raise the retirement age? there was a moment to drought candidates out and that was missed. >> ted, is this your former employer. i want to show everybody i clip that i think sums up to my eyes and ears, cnbc. it's not exactly msnbc. let's all watch this and remember the origin of the tea party. >> this is america! how many of you people want to pay for your neighbor's mortgage that has an extra bathroom and can't pay their bills? raise their hand. all right. president obama, are you

listening? >> to the extend there's any ideology attached to cnbc, i don't know that there is, i would view it as a pro-business oracle, you tell me. >> i'll tell you what i just saw there, i'm not there to trash my former network or the anchors because i loved the place. i was the first arnchor on the air there. the thing that's troublesome for media media characters are becoming the noise. this is not howard screaming if you can't take it anymore, open your windows and scream? why is he doing that? he's a bond reporter in the pit should be telling me why interest rates are headed higher or lower. >> ron insomna -- >> my feeling is this, first of all, these are all good people,

i worked with becky, i worked with carl and john harwood. they're good people. however, if you're invited to play carnegie hall and you're the conductor, you send your first chair. >> what was it that caused you concern about him even going into it? >> i was just so surprised when i found out he would be moderating the debate. the rnc said they were going to take control of the debate process. not have people too biased against republicans. i follow harwood's work. he's a final journalist. he is very hostile to republican candidates. you see this on his work on cnbc, "the new york times" and particularly on twitter. he loves what hillary clinton is doing. he will defend any aspect of their controversial scandal. benghazi, whatnot. there's nothing that republicans can do for him that is good

enough for him. it was a very weird choice. i don't understand why the rnc who should have saw this coming allowed it to happen. >> what's wrong with nevertheless having i'll use the word "antagonist" be a questioner? doesn't that make the candidates be more on top of their game? because after all, in the general election, somebody has to stand on the stage with hillary clinton? maybe that's actually good prep. >> it actually could. all of the candidates except for jeb bush did very well. there are two problems, one is that democrats don't get that same level of hostility and disdain that you see from moderators who are asking conservatives or republicans questions. so i think you'd see much less anger about the treatment of conservative treatment of republicans if you were seeing that same level of anger and hostility between the democratic

candidates. >> i'm not here to defend any hostility or snark let me make it clear, there was snark. when i look at the transcript, that opening question to trump was a substantive question until the cartoon message. frank, i want to know what's still to come from the debates as they unfold. there's a ted cruz great one-liner that played out. >> let's watch. the questions asked so far in the debate illustrate why the american public don't trust the media. process this is not a cage match. and you look at the questions, donsd trump are you a comic book villain, ben carson you can do bath. john kasich, you can insult two people over here, jeb bush, why are your numbers falling? how about talking about the substantive issues? >> frank, is that going to put future questions in short pants

before the debates even begin? what is the ripple effect? >> i don't think there's a ripple effect. i think there's something really important to note here, you know, to some extent, cruz is right, there was a degree of snark, you know, asking trump about being a comic book chaermen character. but the fact. matter, all of the those candidates could have and should have been pressed. let's leave that to the side. but the credibility of trump's candidacy, whether marco rubio missing all the votes he's missing should prompt an investigation. that's fair game just as anderson cooper asked bernie sanders if a socialist can be elected. or asked hillary clinton if her flip-flops on an array of issues could win her the kind of support she's asking for. they should be asked tough

questions to defend their positions and then engage with one another so the public can figure these people out. >> go ahead. >> but when cnbc is the host of the debate should the questions have not been more targeted, what do you think the future of the european union is? is the euro still viable? what about interest rates? who would you appoint as the next chairman of the federal reserve? is janet yellen doing her job? what about the farmers? >> molly, i have to say this, ted is right, there should be questions about the euro, are 15 million people going to matter with that much? >> absolutely. i just want to say i don't think we should be so defensive about the criticisms and say there will be no changes. the gait keeper between the politicians and people is going away. yahoo! just streamed an nfl game to how many millions of people.

conservatives and republicans are fed up. the time to debate whether there's a bias among conservatives is over. and but should be on thinking how to improve the relationship or whether they're going to lose their role as gate keeper. >> frank, it's in the party's best interest candidly that they scale back the debates. it might not be within cnn's and all the other networks, but i think they get wounded. the democrats are wise in limiting the number. take the final word. >> i think that's probably right. so they've got to manage their profile and what's going to be effective. i totally agree that this debate should have been issues of the economy. and that again is what the public is expecting. that's why cnbc has taken so many knocks. what about the jobs, the markets? that's part of of it. none of it, though, excuses those who want to say the candidates shouldn't be pressed

on the tough questions as well. that goes with the territory. put together, asked the tough questions about the economy, you would have had a winning formula. >> i agree, you're running for president of the united states. frank, molly, ted, three pros. i neglected to mention, on my website, 1411 people have vote. it's a 50/50 deadlock as to whether the questions were fair. tweet knee @smerconish, i'll share e-mails. breaking today, the man who gave more money last year than any donor in the country to republican presidential candidates has now made his pick. and i'm about to tell you who it is, in a moment. gotta take a sick day tomorrow. dads don't take sick days, dads take nyquil severe the nighttime, sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, fever, best sleep with a cold, medicine. when it comes to helping you reach your financial goals,t taking small, manageable steps can be an effective...

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jeb bush had a tough week. he swung at marco rubio in the debate and took a tough counterpunch in the process. now comes news that paul singer, a much sought-after wealthy republican donor is casting his lot with rubio. joining me to talk about that and much more, matt welsh, editor in chief of the reason, the libertarian magazine. essie and bob.

watts the big story about marco rubio landing the big donor? >> yeah, paul singer is the big donor for the last cycle of republicans. he's an interesting guy. a number of republicans in favor of same-sex marriage. but he's very, very influential. and to pick marco rubio at this early stage in the game i think signals that he thinks jeb bush, nor all of his other donors and infrastructure is not going to go the long road. the long haul. and he thinks that marco rubio is the most electable, in a general election. i happen to think he's probably right. i think he's looking at a matchup with hillary clinton. and sees marco rubio as the best contrast to her message. >> hey, bob, let's address this conjecture that jeb could get out. nobody gets out with $100 million in their super pac bank, right? >> oh, no, that's right. i mean, look, what gets people

out of presidential politics is when their treasury comes and says, you're burning $1 million a day you don't have. that gets you out. not that you don't think you can win or hit something right down the road. at what the debate for bush particularly was a donor debate. his donors were watching this very closely. they looked at a time, expecting him to do better and he didn't. you'll see more erosion on the donor base. nonetheless, he's still got a lost money in the bank. >> libertarians like to think outside of the box sometimes, let me think outside of the box relative to jeb. is it possible his strategy was successful? marco rubio went back to washington and votinged at 3:00 a.m. friday morning. they pulled him off the campaign trail and rubio is going to face scrutiny issues in a way, maybe jeb was right. >> i think it's more like rand paul being right. he's the only one that can make that critique. i don't anyone cares at the end

of the day about marco rubio's voting record. i think everything jeb has done so far in this campaign has been terrible about winning elections. i disagree with bob which is more than just a burn rate which has been terrible already. humiliation can get you out of a race. jeb bush has hue mamiliated him. >> and i think his problem, s.e., i'm going to show you a clip on this, is that he just doesn't transmit having fire in the belly. roll this audio. >> i got a lot of really cool things that i can do other than sit around being miserable, listening to people, demonize me and me feeling compelled to demonize them. that is a joke. elect trump if you want that. >> i mean, s.e., the point that he was making. does that sound to you someone who really desires to be the president? >> no, to put it another way, i wrote about this this week in my column, he doesn't show that he can win. and what we like, what voters

are liking about the candidates, whether it's carly fiorina, marco rubio, trump, carson, they show that they can win. and jeb bush has constantly been overprepared for even predictable attacks that would come at him. or unable to land the punch. he went after marco in that debate. he was unable to win the point. marco did it. i think he's misread most political opportunities that have come up. another good example, he's been calling marco rubio the gop obama. you know, obama won twice. one time against hillary clinton. so i think actually, that sort of missed the mark. and gave marco rubio, gave voters a vision of someone who can come out of the republican field and win in a general election. >> i think you make a great point. i don't know if you caught my interview with governor kasich at the outset, what kasich said at the beginning of the debate

is what jeb said two years ago, you've got to be prepared to lose primaries to win the general. bob, i want to ask you about one of the other supposed front-runners. and that's ben carson. because there was controversy raised in the debate about his association with man attack. here's the question that was asked. >> this is a company called mena technique, a maker of nutritional supplements of which you had a ten-year relationship. they offered claims that they could cure autism, cancer. they settled a lawsuit in texas and yet your involvement continue why? >> well, that's easy to answer. i didn't have an involvement with them. that is total propaganda, and this is what happens in our society. total propaganda, i did a couple speeches for them. i did speeches for other people. they were paid speeches. it's absolutely absurd to say that i had any relationship with them. do i take the product?

yes. i think it's a good product. >> he said absurd that i had any relationship with menatech, okay, let's watch this. >> a wonderful thing about a company like menatech, they recognize when god made us, he gave us the right fuel. and that fuel was the right kind of healthy food. and that's why i was drawn to it. because it recognized, you know, the influence on health of natural foods. >> beckel, pulitzer-prize winning website said that carson was false with what he said at the debate. should something like this stick? >> well, it can stick and will stick. it's not necessarily about jeb bush about everybody in this thing. listen, carson just flat lied.

there's a number of sources out there now that was involved with them, even after they paid the fine pour false advertising. i think he's now going to be asked, whether he goes please explain what he meant. because what he said was not right. it was a flat-out lie. >> he may be asked that, mr. beckel, i'm convinced, matt, when tough questions come up, rogue response is this is media bias. carly fiorina was asked by alisyn on cnn, i can't believe i'm being asked that question. >> one of the things with "the wall street journal" and national review and those not card-carrying members of the elite necessarily, but i'm not sure this is going to stick. we've seen a primary season in which the two leading candidates, total outsiders,

recent convert its to the republican party. donald trump is not talk for five minutes without saying something that is not laughably true. he says nonsense all the time. but he can say in response, look, that's the politically correct establishments makie in people act some some way. i'm not sure this is going to stick. >> quickly response. >> i was going to say quickly, those days of getting away with that and getting fast are behind them. they're about ready to face voters. and voters get serious about these things. and these questions are not able to be kissed off by this by either trump or carson. >> i'm not sure. s.e., do you buy into that, i think the quote/unquote media bias is so is strong that the hard core don't care?

>> certainly, with trump and carson, that seems to be the case. not only is carson's defense i was never involved with that company provably wrong, in the next breath, he says, but i use the product. so he's distancing himself from a company that's been discredited. but also as a doctor says, i still believe in the product. that is something that deserves some scrutiny. i'm not sure what matt says that his supporters, his voters are going to care that much that he either is lying or has pretty questionable opinion as a doctor. they just don't seem to care. >> you and i could do an ad right now and crush carson on this. >> one-word answer from each of you who won the debate. s.e. >> marco rubio, 100%, as well as the party. the cnbc debate shambles really made the party look very, very good. >> beckel. >> rubio and kasich because

that's going to be the ticket. >> rubio. hey, bob, stick around, i want to ask you about this unbelievable memoir that you have penned "i should be dead my life surviving politics, tv and addiction." i have read it. it's not a typical book. and something you don't want to miss. cnn special report, bush v. gore. monday night 9:00 p.m. gloria borger taking a look at one of the craziest elections in history. george w. bush's election in 2000. coming up, tuesday is election day. in my economy, the top issue is bill cosby. i'll about to explain why. well, this is a first.

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re-election day is tuesday. it's a state and municipal cycle, and yet, the biggest issue in my home county is bill cosby. here's the story, bruce caster is the former d.a. now the commissioner of montgomery county, pennsylvania. and he wants his old job back. when he had it, he earned a reputation as a tough prosecutor. it was on his watch in 2005 an employee reported she'd been drugged and molested in the county by cosby. castor determine dld was not enough evidence to charge cosby. the woman filed a civil suit outside of court. in that deposition in a civil suit, cosby made incriminating information. that came to light after castor left his office. it hasn't prevented keer eed kee

going after him. >> bruce castor, castor said we don't charge people for making a mistake or doing something foolish. many came forward and said they ho could used the testimony against cosby. but castor did not try. >> so now castor has responded in kind. he's aired his own commercial, he claims that steele, now the county's first assistant district attorney should have himself prosecuted cosby when the new information came to light. >> by now, you've heard my opponent's ad saying i did nothing to protect the women. kevin steele could have done something because he's still a prosecutor who chose to do nothing at all. now, he's trying to blame me for his mistake and incompetence. despicable, desperation politics, disgusting lies, kevin steele.power to help victims of cosby, but had he sat on his hands.

>> reportedly, the current d.a. who is about to retire and herself will probably be elected judge on tuesday, is considering filing charges against cosby before she leaves office. pennsylvania's 12-year statute of limitations on felony sex crimes will run out in january. and that's the same month that either castor or steele will take office. so, here's the thing, don't be surprised if one of these two men who are right now arguing over who should have charged bill cosby is actually prosecuting cosby in 2016. before baob beckel became a star on fox news and this channel, he lived in a brothel and ended up on a psych ward in a suicide watch. i'm about to join bob about his amazing return from addiction to redemption.

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this is a book. bob beckel just wrote it "i should be dead, my life surviving, politics, tv and addiction." i had no idea. why should you be dead? >> well, a number of reasons. mike, i was -- you know, i've been shot. i've been stabbed. i've been in car wrecks that everybody else died, and i didn't. it really was, during that period in my life, when i lived in the dark world. where i was -- during the day, i was playing a political consultant and working in the white house and state department. and at night, i lived in a dark world where every con artists had a con. and where there was a lot of

very dangerous things that went on. and i participated in a lot of them. and i survived. and it was only by the grace of god i'm now convinced i survived. i thought i survived because i was lucky. but you don't get that lucky that many times. >> w. gets sworn in, you're in washington, you're nearby, but you're at the capital, where are you? >> i was down in a biker bar in southern maryland. i was trying to pick a woman up at a bar. her husband had a.45-caliber stuck right if my face. he pulled the trigger. he out-chambered the bullet. and somebody stopped him. in the parking lot i said, god, if you exist, i won't ever drink again. and i haven't, it's 14 1/2 years. >> you ended up in a psych ward

at g.w., am i right? >> yes i did. i woke up and saw the largest person i've seen in my life, 6'7", about 400 pounds. i said why don't you take a walk. she said, if i walk, i'll lose my job. i said what's your job, suicide watch. who's going to commit suicide? you are. >> it's. >> it's not an excuse or a crutch, but it's a reality. my heart breaks when thinking of your father coming into your tenth grade history class. what happened? >> well, he came in -- my father was a great teacher when he was season. my father was a lifetime drunk. and he came into the class, he was totally drunk. he couldn't get a sentence out right. eventually, the teacher took him out of the classroom. that was the end of it. it was the most embarrassing moment of my life. i remember it as if it were

yesterday. that was something that happened again and again and again. and those of us who come from abusive families, they always say about us, that we don't have a chance to succeed. well, the fact is, we're survives, we learn how to succeed. we learn how to duck. we learn how to lie when we have to. great training to be a politician, i might add. so i went into politics. a lot of people, capitol hill, particularly, you go down the list, ted kennedy, others, come from abusive families. my case it was physical and verbal. in ted's case, it was verbal. but you tend to be successful until the demons catch up with you, and then eventually you become addicted. >> you come to washington 24 years old. your first residence is a whore house, tell us about that.

>> reporter: >> eat elections were over, they're not hiring political consultants. i happened to be in a bar, the guy came down to the bar, offered me a drink. he had a hard hat on. he said i came here 30 years ago, couldn't get a job as a carpenter, i couldn't find one for three months. finally i stayed. i said to the bartender, is that guy for real. he offered me a job. the guy said you know bob, that's the new president of the carpenter's union. i went down to the metro, carrying boards de deepest subway spot, dupont circle, in the entire time. it was hard work and it also caused me some difficulty with some people. >> just so you don't think i made it up, you slept in a brothel that night and many nights thereafter. i must ask you this, you go on to be a superstar, '76 say year

huge for you. and '84, you manage walter mondale's campaign. and then over at fox, when you left, they said you took tremendous advantage of their empathy and goodwill, you don't discuss the circumstances around your departure, what's your explanation explanation? >> well, mike, we had an agreement that we weren't going to break this. but the fact of the matter is i was addicted from pain medication from a back operation that lasted ten months. i could not sit for an hour to do the show. we had it back and forth, argued with each other, finally, it was just decided that it was time for me to move on. so, i have no regrets about the years at fox particularly roger els who was good to me.

i'll never understand why it ended up the way it did. although now that i'm with cnn and with you all, i'm very pleased. >> can i tell you, i love the book, i would not say it if i didn't mean it, and i'm just thrilled that we're associated with one another at this network. congratulations on "i should be dead." we're all glad that you're not dead. >> thank you very much. >> every day is a free pass. i'll take advantage of it. bob beckel.

remember, now, you can follow me on twitter if you can

spell smerconish. >> tony says @johnkasich sounds like the voice of reason within the gop field. too bad that doesn't matter. i made the point to governor kasich saying the "d"s seem to be looking for experience and rs for something more incendiary. michael says, smerconish, 50/50, laugh out loud. it is the ultimate bias. this is in response to a current poll at my website as to whether the cnbc questions were fair. it is running at 50/50. 1500 people have voted thus far. finally, from uncle johnny, he says, just look into the eyes of @smer cconish and tell me yo don't see crazed madness. uncle johnny, it is halloween. follow me at twitter if you can spell smerconish. i will see you back here next weekend.

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you can see the devastation on the faces of families waiting for loved ones wanting more answers hours after a russian passenger jet crashed in egypt killing all 224 people on board. we're following this breaking news this morning. good morning, i'm alison kosik in for christi paul. >> welcome to our viewers. >> that plane took off around 6:00 a.m. local time rising to 31,000 feet before