when they told me these plans were endorsed by aarp... i had only one thing to say... sign me up. call the number on your screen now... and find out about an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan. you'll get this free information kit... and guide to understanding medicare, to help you choose the plan that's right for you. as with all medicare supplement plans, you can keep your own doctor and hospital that accepts medicare, get help paying for what medicare doesn't... and save up to thousands of dollars. call this toll-free number now. > good evening. i'm kathleen parker. >> i'll eliot spitzer. welcome to "parker spitzer." tonight, we discuss the single most important issue framing these midterm elections, what role should government play in getting us out of this recession and let's face it, there are two fundamentally different view of that, one of the tea party

republican view, which says government should do less, and the democratic view, which says government has got to do more. >> and a new movie opens tonight. it is called "i want your money" and it is a conservative argument for dramatic cuts in spending. the founding released two weeks before the midterm election. anyway you look at it, it is a political statement. let's take a quick look at a clip from the film. >> so, what you doing here? >> i'm redistributing the wealth. i learned in school spreading the wall street is good for everyone. >> well, i learned from real life that it is not. what about the guy you're taking money from? >> okay, so it's good for 75% of the people. isn't taking money from one person to make three others happy a good thing? >> no. it's a very bad thing. in fact, there's a word for it. it's called theft. >> but it will better the lives of three-fourths of the people. >> actually it will make life worse for 100% of the people. and we call that socialism. >> i can't stand how all you conservatives say socialism.

like it is a dirty word. >> that's funny, i feel the same way about how you liberals use the word capitalism. >> you know, i just got to say, it is not just this is bad propaganda, this movie make a mockery of history, a mockery of economics. i know it is going to be all over country. i'm curious who's behind it. >> there are many things misleading about it. it does speak to a larger concern and, you know, certainly in conservative circles that the government is expanding at too rapid a rate, spending beyond our means, we know the arguments. what i'm more interested in is the fact that the conservative side of the aisle has finally caught up a little bit with hollywood. this is essentially the mirror image of michael moore, if not maybe as soundly -- >> as vitriolic. >> well, there's that. >> it is cartoonish, quite had literally. cartoon characters mixed in with real interviews. what bothers me, you're right, this is the conservative response to what frankly democrats in hollywood have done very well, which is to use film as a medium to make a political

argument. >> i wouldn't say -- you know, the republicans and conservatives have long felt and justiiably so that hollywood is a propagandist arm for the democratic party. no matter what you say, we can all agree that most people in hollywood tend to be more liberal, they tend to belong the democratic party and the evidence of this is there are conservatives out there who formed an underground community because they're afraid to come out in the open. >> i will concede that point to you, but i'm going to say right now that isn't what worries me or concerns me. what worries me is what happens to our economy and what i see as the argument of the tea party and the republican party is so disconnected from fact, from history, from economics that it worries me that its appeal is going to be expanded by a cartoonish film like this. again, we don't even know who financed it, who is behind it and i think that's a shame. >> did you take a valium? i never heard you speak that slowly? >> i'm trying to get my arms around it.

>> what i'm mostly concerned about is the left has its films and the right has its films and everybody -- to me, it is a political coagulant. i'm worried we will harden our views as we go along. this film is, you know, we know there is some historical inaccuracies in it, but it speaks to the people who want to believe this particular message and i'm philosophically more attuned with the conservative view than the liberal view when it comes to these things, but i get turned off quickly when i hear words put into someone's mouth that were not true. >> that's right. for instance, this movie calls president obama a socialist. >> obama says basically socialism is good. >> here's what bothers me. you make fun of the way i love numbers. the reason i love numbers is because they're facts and i think if you drill down to facts in a real understanding of economics, then the answers that make sense, they begin to appeal to everybody and it isn't quite as simple as big government, little government it a government that believes in markets, competition, integrity

out there, which requires government do some things but not others. if we talk about it in that common sense way, not like this cartoon character film, then we can bring everybody into that one -- >> i don't disagree with a word you said. i know i'm supposed to but that was a rational statement you made. rare but rational. let's get to our headliner segment. that right wing film we have been talking about "i want your money," the director ray griggs stopped by for a special screening with us and i tried unsuccessfully to get eliot to be nice to him. fair warning. >> joining us now for a headliner interview, the filmmaker of "i want your money," ray griggs. thanks for coming in. >> thanks for having me. >> congratulations on your release today. for a minute, just describe what the movie is for those who don't know. >> my film is reaganomics versus obamanomics. it contrasts the two roads we can go down, one is the current administration or trying to go back to the conservative values and beliefs of that of ronald reagan.

>> it was -- the release was timed to come out right now before the election so you could have sort of -- make a political statement. >> absolutely. i wanted to give people proper tools to take with them on november 2nd so they make wise decisions on what course to take. >> you have made this film outside the usual hollywood movie system. in other words, you say you've self-financed, right. >> i self-financed it, the production end of it, where i got private investors for the p and a. going through self-distribution, because, you know, a studio wouldn't pick this up just because of the concerns of the liberal left in hollywood. and it was a -- >> there is lots and lots of money being spent on advertising this week, so you've obviously gotten funding help from other sources. >> that's the independent financer for the p and a, which is prints and advertising. >> can you tell us who any of those are? >> no. >> would we see that in the film credits? >> no. >> no. >> just because of the political

nature of it, a lot of people think, they're political activists, it is not -- >> but they may well be political activists, but if you stand by the content of the film, it shouldn't really matter, right, if it is laid out in a way that seems factual and credible, then i would think people would be proud to put their names on it. >> well, yeah, i know. >> one of the things, we called you earlier, we saw the movie coming out, we saw articles, we were intrigued because it stands in opposition by design to some of the other movies that have been out there that take a very different political perspective. we called you for a copy of it and you sent back an interesting e-mail and we appreciate your being here, but the e-mail said, don't have my glasses on, but it said i did, however, provide you with video clips, but before that, you said i'm not releasing screeners of my film to any film critics or network stations that generally promote a liberal view. >> correct. >> do you kind of view us as being the liberal media. we think we're fair and open to all perspectives, but -- >> well, we'll see how this interview pans out. >> fair point. but, look, we want you to be

here to explain. >> that's why. i gave you the benefit of the doubt and i thought i would be fair and show people, you know what, we'll cross the line. >> who do you put -- out of curiosity, who do you put in the liberal world view category other than us i suppose? >> every station out there. you got abc, nbc. they have given obama this -- they don't hold him accountable. >> can we come back to the movie. give us in one sentence what is the ideological statement you want the viewer to have at the end of this movie? >> i would like people to go back to the conservative values and beliefs that ronald reagan had. >> and by that, you mean theoretically lower taxes and control of spending? >> control the spending and smaller government. >> from time to time we have been tempted to believe that society has become too complex to be managed by self-rule, that government by an elite group is superior, that government for, by and of the people. >> can i come at it from a

slightly different perspective. i saw in an interview you did you said 62% of the public doesn't pay taxes. is that -- am i correct in that's what you said? >> right. >> you know that's totally wrong. >> okay, why is that? >> because the -- the vast majority of people, i would say 95% of people pay taxes. they pay sales taxes, they pay payroll taxes, they pay all the taxes that you incur every day when people work. there are withholding taxes to pay for social security system. now, the income tax, which is only one of the many, many taxes we pay, is marginally progressive. but everybody pays the other taxes. >> right, but i was talking about the income tax. >> that's not what you said and it is a huge difference because if you look at the tax burden, what you'll see is that people who are right in the middle pay about, you know, we have got numbers here, people who are right in the middle, the average

person will pay about, you know, 14% of all of his or her income in taxes. >> right. >> federal taxes. that ignores the state's. and the people at the very, very top only pay 24%. so people in the middle are paying 14%, people in the top 24%, people one notch lower, about 7.5%. that's, you know, some progressivity but not a whole lot, right? >> where did you -- >> this is from the brookings institute. these are numbers from the irs and all the others. >> okay. eliot, did you bring your charts and graphs here today? i didn't think you did. can we talk about the movie and the politics? i know you -- >> i'm not an economist. there is plenty of people you can get on besides me to find out about. >> you can find a bah zillion people who agree. people who work hard don't want to hand over all their money to the government, who will then redistribute it to other people. >> but wait a minute. >> you're a capitalist, you degree with that, come on. >> i'm a capitalist. i'm not a foolish libertarian.

and what i would say is that if you're distributing a movie to 500 cinemas in which you call the president a socialist. >> mm-hmm. >> you better have a foundation for that, wouldn't you think? >> okay. you said you're a capitalist? >> oh, yeah. >> so you -- but then why are you for government getting bigger and bigger? >> i'm for government that ensures the competition works. and unlike president reagan and president bush, who made deals with the big banks to permit them, to permit the very, very rich to take money from the hard working middle class, we believe -- >> and clinton. >> to a certain extent but not as much as the others. we believe that markets have to work, which means competition, which means to be technical competition law or antitrust law, which president reagan and both president bushes tried to destroy. so the real capitalists are the ones who believe in competition and markets. not the sort of gamesmanship that president bush perpetrated. so i think before you call

president a socialist and send this movie out to 500 movie theaters with a movie whose funders you won't disclose to us, you should tell us what your foundation is for that. >> okay. well, let's forget history, okay. >> we can't forget history. you can't forget history. i'm sorry. you can't. >> just for a minute because i want to talk about what is currently going on right now. because that's the real issue at hand. we can debate and get analysts and try to figure out how we got to this point. but the point is, today, okay, do you feel this current administration, okay, is doing a good job? >> well, i will say this, i think they have been much too cozy with wall street. i think that the reality is the stimulus needed to be bigger, not smaller. business is sitting on $1.8 trillion of cash that it is not investing because there is no demand and the lack of demand is precisely what fdr had to confront in the depression. the answer to that is you create demand by getting people to

spend, either through a tax cut, or direct government spending. this is econ101, appreciated by everybody from alan greenspan to larry summers. and so the answer is you create demand, and that's what the obama administration is trying to do because the bush administration ran us over a cliff. >> well, and, ray, you agree with that, correct? >> i do. and there say lot there that we agree -- i see we are on similar terms, but just how we get there. i do believe in smaller government and i do agree in creating demand and capitalism. pursuing the american dream. but i believe in a smaller government not interfering into our business and our lives telling us how much we can make and everything else. >> i read somewhere that in some cities, some communities, people bought entire theaters full of seats for your film. >> san diego, kansas city, texas. there is people already that went in and just bought entire

seats of the theater to, i guess, give out tickets or whatever the situation is. so there is a growing response from it. the amazing thing, now we can talk about the film, the amazing thing about the film, we have 3.5 million hits on youtube. you look up inside job or any of these other documentaries out there, fahrenheit 9/11, they don't have that massive number of youtube hits. there is a crying demand out there from the middle -- there is an interest it sparks an interest. >> i applaud you. it is creative, it is fun, based on what the part we saw. >> how does it end? how does it end? >> basically i tell the people, you know, we have to make a serious difference in november. and make a sound decision and choose wisely and make sure if you choose a republican to get in office, that they have the same conservative values and beliefs as ronald reagan. >> you're a good sport, ray.

thank you. >> best of luck. we really mean it. we'll be right back. >> stay right there. do you think barack obama's capable of doing what bill clinton did so effectively after he lost that midterm election where he moved to the middle? >> the problems we're facing are not about left and right. the middle class is crumbling and that's not a right wing issue, it is not a left wing issue, it is about the heart of america and that's the problem.

now time are for the arena, joining us, arianna huffington of "the huffington post" and author of the must-read "third world america". and stephen moore, senior economics writer for "the wall street journal" editorial page. steve, let me begin with you. we have been discussing a movie that, you know, which is take my money, take your money, steal somebody's money, it so bothered me. in it, you use the phrase fiscal

child abuse to describe the trajectory we're on as a economy. i want to contrast that with something you said a couple of months ago, in february of this year. >> you did your homework. >> we should try to maintain the american model, low tax rates, keep government spending under control, that's what led to the great prosperity of the '80s and '90s. the problem is, what drove the prosperity of the '80s and '90s, and your presidents, president reagans and bush left us with the biggest deficit in history. >> he took a trillion dollar deficit and made it much worse. >> biggest deficit in history. >> what barack obama should have done when he came into office is clean up the fiscal mess. i think the reason that people are so angry is we have made it so much worse. under the president's budget, he wants to borrow $10 trillion over the next ten years. eliot, that's more money than the united states borrowed from 1776 through 2005. >> there is a demand crisis in this nation.

the demand crisis is the reason that businesses aren't investing. there is no demand, and if you don't spend and this is keynesian economics that worked throughout the past eight years. >> why, exactly? this is the line that the left makes, it is a competitiveness crisis. we have to get serious in this country about making ourselves competitive against china, germany, europe, japan. we can't do that with high tax rates. >> why do you call it a demand crisis or competitive crisis, we have to grow the economy. and we're not going to grow the economy with a republican policy which basically are all about cutting taxes, including for those making over $250,000. >> job creators. >> hold on a second. job creators. those include a lot of people on wall street who moved from making things to making things up. they're not exactly job creators, they're not wealth creators, they're just casino gamblers. that's one of the problems we're facing. you need to come to terms to with that and stop defending them. >> i'm for wealthy people.

we need more wealthy people in this country. we need to make people rich. >> she was in favor of wealth creators, also producing value for their shareholders, for the stake holders, that's what's missing right here. that's what's hurting the middle class. and on top of it, you guys have to get serious about our military spending f you're serious about the deficit you cannot ignore the fact that we're spending $2.8 billion a week on afghanistan, on a war that is unnecessary, propping up a corrupt regime. what is your excuse for that? >> i'm not a military expert. >> that's a copout. >> i will say this, we cannot have a functioning economic -- >> hold on. >> this is fun for me watching you guys at it. >> my point is, if we don't win the war against terrorism, none of this other stuff works. >> how many al qaeda members are in afghanistan? >> people are blowing up buildings and blowing up

schools. >> what does this have to do with afghanistan where there are fewer than 100 -- >> steve isn't economist let's take him there. i saw the film, or pieces of it, it was entertaining. it was entertaining. the point of it seems to be that the government -- we need less government regulation to no government regulation. given what we have been through, is that a realistic approach? >> let me give you an example. we cut down on all the drilling. i was just with bobby jindal, we shut down drilling in the gulf and that means thousands of lost jobs. i think, you know, we have nearly the highest corporate tax rates in the world, i think that puts our businesses at a considerable disadvantage. why do you think new york is losing jobs to states like texas? >> let's talk about the issue that kathleen raised. let's talk about the issue that kathleen raised, which is regulation. let's put aside the tax rate. what kathleen asked you, is is

do you want to go back to the wild west of wall street that arianna described, they're not making things, they're making things up, that's exactly right, even today in terms of mortgage foreclosures, don't we need reasoned regulation of wall street? your editorial page opposed every case i made when i said they're lying, scheming, deceiving. >> hold on. wait a minute. i think it is the opposite. we were the people, ten years ago, that blew the whistle on fannie mae and freddie mac. it was your friends and others who said -- >> i said, steve, wait one minute, i said aig was -- >> we passed a financial reform legislation. >> steve, when i said aig is a scheme and is going to bring us down, you guys defended it, you defended it today. when i said -- >> i don't understand what aig did. >> it is the ponzi scheme. that's the problem. >> that's the problem. complexity is not a bug for wall street.

it is a feature. they're hiding behind complexity. so the fact that it is so hard to regulate them is not an accident, it is intended. >> your tax cuts extending them for the rich as arianna said would add a trillion dollars every year to deficit. where are you going to cut? >> the four years after those terrible bush taxes for the rich we had the biggest revenue gains in the history of the united states. the way to get the economy going is to keep tax rates low. i don't want to have america look like new york. i want america to look like texas, which is booming right now. >> oh, my goodness. now you're getting my heart pounding faster. >> i knew that would get you. >> but, steve, would you agree that the easiest way to actually get jobs at the moment would be a payroll tax holiday. wouldn't that be more effective? >> i have no problem with that. >> can we agree the next step would be to repeal obama care? >> would you agree on one other

thing that even if we had full employment, we would need major infrastructure projects in this country? >> what are we doing in washington for last ten years is spending money on infrastructure. >> you're talking about competitiveness. how can we compete when you look at the infrastructure of china, what they're spending to create a 21st century infrastructure, what is your concern about competitiveness. >> what about businesses expanding? sitting on a trillion dollars of cash now, they're not spending it because -- >> let me give you a choice. which would you rather have, the $12.9 billion given to goldman sachs, hundreds of dollars for the credit default swaps they didn't deserve or build another tunnel between new york and new jersey. >> neither. neither. we have to -- are you in favor of the trillion and a half dollar deficits? >> of course not. of course not. >> we have to stop the spending. >> the question is how. where would you cut? >> i would get rid of the department of education, the

department of energy, the labor department, i would start means testing medicare. there are so many things we could do that would -- >> some are sensible. >> looks like we're going to have a chance to do that. >> what about farm subsidies? >> let me ask you a quick political question. what do you think president obama's plan is for november 3rd? >> i want to hear this. >> i think he's planning to try to mitigate the losses if that's what you mean. >> most likely. >> to try and encourage the young people who came out in 2008 in unprecedented numbers to come out again. i think it is unlikely because they're not going to come out just because he's asking them. they came out because they really believed he was going to change the way washington worked and he hasn't. >> the problem is they grew up, graduated from college and couldn't find a job. >> well, exactly.

>> coming up next, a texas councilman takes a stand and puts politics aside and makes an emotional and very brave speech. you need to see this. >> we'll be right back. the school is not just for the adults who choose not to support me, the school is for the young people who might be holding the gun or the pill bottle. give yourself a chance to see how much better life will get. c. so i threw it right back... with yoplait light -- around 100 calories. now i love my curves in all the right places. ♪

now time for taking a stand. i'm always imploring the president and everybody else to take a real stand for something. this week a councilman in ft. worth, texas, joel burns, did just that. >> he gave a moving emotional speech about the harassment of gay teenagers and his own personal journey. >> a couple of weeks ago after being bullied at school, asher went home, found his father's gun and shot himself in the head. his father found him dead when he came home from work.

asher was 13 years old i'd like for you to look at his face. >> then he switched gear and brought up his own story of growing up gay, there is strong language here. >> one day when i was in the ninth grade, just starting high school, i was cornered after school by some older kids who roughed me up. that erupted the fear that i had kept pushed down that what i was beginning to feel on the inside must somehow be showing on the outside. ashamed, humiliated and confused, i went home. there must be something very wrong with me, i thought. something i could never let my family or anyone else know. i have never told this story to anyone before tonight.

not my family, not my husband, not anyone. but the numerous suicides in recent days have upset me so much, and have just torn at my heart, and even though there may be some political repercussions for telling my story, this story is not just for the adults who might choose or not choose to support me. this story is for the young people who might be holding that gun tonight or the rope or the pill bottle. >> echoing the recent videos made by celebrities such as ellen degeneres and tim gunn, he ended his speech with comforting words addressed to teenagers. >> yes, high school was difficult, coming out was painful, but life got so much better for me. and i want to tell any teen who might see this, give yourself a chance to see just how much life -- how much better life will get.

and it will get better. you will get out of the household that doesn't accept you, you will get out of that high school and you never have to deal with those jerks again if you don't want to. and the attitudes of society will change. please live long enough to be there to see it. and to the adults, the bullying and the harassment has to stop. we cannot look aside as life after life is tragically lost. >> you can find more about this remarkable speech by joel burns on our website cnn.com/parkerspitzer. >> some things don't require editorial comment and this is one of those. i want to add one thing, which is that every community in this country needs to examine its policies on bullying. there should be zero tolerance and every parent needs to talk to their own children about being kind to their classmates. we'll be right back.

>> can there be peace with hamas still controlling gaza? >> no, there can't be perfect peace. they can only give peace on the west bank. can't give peace in lebanon or iran. iran is the 800 pound gorilla in the room. there won't be peace in the middle east if there is a nuclear iran. let me tell you about a very important phone call i made. when i got my medicare card, i realized i needed an aarp... medicare supplement insurance card, too. medicare is one of the great things about turning 65, but it doesn't cover everything. in fact, it only pays up to 80% of your part b expenses.

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welcome back. here is a question what do o.j. simpson, the state of israel and mike tyson have in common? the answer, alan dershowitz, the most aggressive, most famous lawyer in the world defended all of them and usually -- i was going to say always, but not always, but usually won. great to have you here. >> i could give a list of people what do i have in common, it would be people i taught. >> the other name there would be claus von baiulo. i was a kid in reversal of fortune, alan masterminded the reversal of that conviction, i was one of the little kids in the movie who helped research it. >> couldn't have done it without you. >> yeah, yeah. cut to something interesting i

heard a rumor about, netanyahu, the u.n., what is this rumor, is it true? >> it is true. president netanyahu urged me to become israel's ambassador to the u.n. and i had to turn it down because as an american i couldn't be perceived because it isn't true as having dual loyalty. what if there is a conflict? >> have you ever had somebody of joint citizenship serve in the u.n.? >> not in the u.n. but the ambassador to the united states, michael orrin, was an american citizen. i would have been the third person who was an american, first was albert einstein, offered the job of president in israel, then the second was a guy named fisher, head of the bank of israel, unfortunately i had to turn it down. i would have loved to do it. >> we can spend a lot of time on issues coming out of the middle east conference. let's talk about torture. what is your position about torture? >> i'm against torture, but it is going to happen.

if we had a ticking bomb terrorist case. >> which we'll get to, we'll sell the book, right? >> i have a torture scene with a ticking bomb nuclear terrorist case. >> you're using parlance. >> if there were a terrorist caught and he knew there was a nuclear bomb in the harbor of new york that was going to kill a million people, we would torture him. >> would that be the right moral decision? >> no. but if we're going to do it, i want to make sure we do it with accountability and visibility and not under the radar screen. i'm not in favor of torture. but torture warrants. i don't favor the death penalty, but i favor death warrants. >> come back to what i said before, want to make sure people heard. you think it would have been morally wrong to torture that person in the ticking bomb situation. >> always morally wrong to torture, but we're going to do it we're going to do it. if we're going to do it, i want to make sure there is accountability. >> bush administration, waterboarding, did all those things. did dick cheney do what was right or wrong?

>> wrong. they tortured promiscuously, they never could have gotten a warrant. >> you say a jurisprudence of torture. what does that mean? how could a court make that determination? we have jurisprudence of search and seizure, a whole range of things. why not torture? we have to decide it is a high enough level of probability, a high enough level of likelihood, last resort, nonlethal and then the judiciary supervisor, they have to dirty their hands. >> you're pushing it off to a judge to say i say you can torture a person. >> nothing should be done in a democracy that is not done within the rule of law. >> now switch to death penalty. you clerked for justice goldberg in the early 1960s. my recollection and i remember this when i was working and doing research for you, you said death penalties should be unconstitutional. >> absolutely. >> you subscribe to that view? >> i subscribe to the view that the death penalty as

administered in the united states, not as a moral issue, but the way it is administered, only poor people get executed, primarily an issue of race and gender, it is not administered fairly. in the abstract, i can see the argument for the death penalty. as a constitutional matter we don't know how to administer it constitutionally. >> we're jumping around so quickly because time in this medium is so short. let's talk about the middle east. frustration abounds everywhere because we simply haven't been able to get a breakthrough. i'm not going to ask who's right and who's wrong. how can it be after this many years we can't figure out a compromise? >> we have. it was offered in 2000 and 2001. because of arafat's untimely death, if he had died two years earlier and not rejected the offer in 2001 we would be celebrating the tenth anniversary. we can get there now. all we need to do is get to the point where you agree on borders. once you agree on borders, settlements become a secondary issue. >> in that context, why can't there be some sort of understanding about not building

settlements until we give the negotiators time to agree on borders and then only build where the final lines are going to be drawn? >> makes a lot of sense but there should also be a freeze by the palestinians on incitement, stop inciting violence. >> can there be peace with hamas still controlling gaza? >> no. can't be perfect peace. the palestinians have marginalized themselves. can only give peace on the west bank, can't give peace in lebanon or iran. iran is the 800 pound gorilla in the room. >> is israel going to feel compelled to strike iran if they get close to that moment? >> hardest question in the world. i met with the prime minister and i know the answer, nobody knows. >> nobody knows. which is the way they have to keep it. >> of course. >> you've written a book. this is not about one of your trials. it is fiction. >> my third novel. ripped from the headlines. the head of the palestinian authority, the prime minister of israel, the president of the united states, they're about to shake hands and terrorists attack, kills them all.

a young jewish woman from cambridge, based on my daughter, goes to work on the human rights program on the west bank, she falls in love with a palestinian, she gets into trouble, her father has to rescue her, double flag operation, nuclear terrorism, twist after twist after twist, reality-based fiction. >> you're framing moral issues, moral questions throughout the book. >> absolutely. like i've done in the previous books. mainly moral issues. it is -- people read it and tell me it is a page turner. the reviews have been great. >> i have one here. >> tell me, one thing, you will be surprised at the end. you'll never figure out who done it. >> if i figure it out beforehand, i'll call you alan, great friend, honored to have you. there is a higher percentage of people calling themselves conservatives today than there were two or three or four years ago. if you want to make people conservative, put democrats in power, if you want to make people more liberal or progressive, put republicans in power.

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it is time now for our political party. a provocative conversation with the kind of smart opinionated guests you would want to sit down to at any good party. let's see who sat the party tonight. arianna huffington, the founder and editor in chief of "the huffington post," steve kornacki, a regular party boy with us, an editor at salon.com. >> and paulina porizkova, supermodel, blogger and friend of the show. and ed rollins, you know, i don't know if i can top that, but cnn political analyst for those who haven't seen him. and super analyst. >> we only invite beautiful women to our party, obviously. >> and beautiful men.

i had to say it. >> really got to you, didn't it? the trailer is out for sarah palin's "alaska, her new tv series on tlc. let's take a look. >> are you ready? >> we're somewhere that people dream about. >> family comes first. this has got to be that way. no boys, go upstairs. this is flipping fun. how come we can't just ever be satisfied with tranquillity. i would rather be doing this than in some stuffy old office. i would rather be out here being free. >> this is a very highly produced, scripted eight-hour movie for free ad for sarah palin. are we at a point now where the candidates can just skip the old playbook. she's got her facebook page, youtube productions and now this. >> it works. this is going to be a great thing for her. she gets to be independent. she gets to be in her environment.

a lot of people are going to watch the show. >> why are they going to watch this? >> there is a curiosity. >> it looks like a -- lengthy, like, gq commercial or something. now supermodels can be political candidates. >> she really knows how to do social media. look at her facebook reach. the fact that she doesn't really need to give an interview to "the new york times", she can just post something on her facebook wall? >> who is behind her? nobody believes she can come up with this entire media plan. who is scripting this for her? it is brilliant. >> no serious political consultants. her husband is there, helping her raise money. there is no big names serious people. people have come and put this together, people put other things together, but there is nobody saying no, you can't do this or yes, you this. >> a sense of what is going to play out there in the public? >> she has a great trust with her husband. and so far that's the team.

>> do you realize of all the republicans who do not currently hold office who are considered contenders for the 2012 presidential nomination, only one does not currently have a contract with the fox news channel, mitt romney. every other one of them is a paid contributor to a television channel. that's the new way of campaigning. >> i think what she's doing is beyond that. >> sure. >> she's really tapped into something. >> alaska is the last frontier. if a woman can conquer alaska, the premise of this segment, it radiates along -- >> it is her best setting, and it is a beautifully done film. she gets to be against this beautiful -- this majestic backdrop of alaska. it is a smart move. >> that doesn't mean she's qualified to be president. >> that's right. we do come back to that. >> that's the problem. >> we had richard viggory on the show, i think of him as one of the leading lights, the creator of mass mail and the conservative movement, he said, and i don't know if i agree with

him, he said this is a center right country, politically, is that where we are? >> it is absolutely not a center right -- >> where are we? >> where we are is in a huge new game. and we just have been around the country promoting my new book on third world america and. >> let's say it, "third world america". >> read it. >> a lot of people are deeply anxious, not just the people who have lost jobs and have lost homes, but the people whose relatives have lost jobs, so what we are facing is really a -- just a deep need to reset our values, see where the future is. >> you're saying we don't fit on the spectrum at all. >> we don't fit on the spectrum at all. i think it is the people who are in the new york, washington axis who want to portray everything as a left-right issue. >> the problem with people in the middle, you have to be on left or the right to get elected and you basically wiped out if you're in the middle. >> i feel in this country, if you want to define it

ideologically it feels center right now. i think that's a function of having democrats run the white house and run both chambers of commerce. i think the one way to move -- you have polls that show there is a higher percentage of people calling themselves conservatives today than there were two, three, four year ago. if you want to make people conservative, put democrats in power. if you want to make people more liberal, more progressive, put republicans in power. the ultimate example of this is when we had a pure republican congress in 1995 that tried to do pure conservative things and they forced a showdown on cuts in medicare, the president said no and the country backed him it. >> i think a lot of times it is people saying i'm not that, whatever that is, i'm not that. >> i think the public is waiting for a complete redefinition of what this means. somebody is going to stand up and capture the imagination the way barack did when he was running. he lost it and someone will redefine the polls. >> this is the most agreeable party we have ever had. thanks to all of you for joining us. we have a party every night on "parker spitzer." >> we'll be right back.

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"parker spitzer" continues in a moment. first, the latest. reports that the fbi was warned about one of the provers in the mumbai attacks before it happened. the man's wife told the fbi he was a member of the terrorist group and trained extensively in its pakistani camps. cnn continues to work the story. a senior administration official tells us "this isn't the whole

story and there are sources and methods to be protected". mexico has temporarily suspended the search for david hartley. his wife claims he was shot to death while they were jet skiing on the mexican side of falcon lake. and all but two of the rescued chilean miners are out of the hospital. don't miss "countdown to rescue," a special report on the miners at 10:00 p.m. eastern. that's the latest. now back to "parker spitzer." i realized i needed an aarp... medicare supplement insurance card, too. medicare is one of the great things about turning 65, but it doesn't cover everything. in fact, it only pays up to 80% of your part b expenses. if you're already on or eligible for medicare, call now to find out how an aarp... medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company, helps cover some of the medical expenses... not paid by medicare part b. that can save you from paying up to thousands of dollars...

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before we go, a quick postscript. a few more weeks until the election, a few more days before we see the last of the political ads and the yard signs and the bumper stickers and the billboards. i must say, i'm not going to miss them. >> come on, kathleen. it is part of the american landscape, american democracy, a