humor, mary. >> ouch, yeah. all in good fun though. >> all in good fun. >>er very good. very good. >> very good. we will see what they d fedo fo easter. thank you, mary snow. that is it for us. erin burnett "outfront" starts erin burnett "outfront" starts right now. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com whitney houston's funeral is set and i will talk to the pastor. and what would it cost to intervene in syria in money and lives. and china's next leader is in the united states and he met with president obama and vice president joe biden, but why is he going the iowa? of course we will tell you. let's go "outfront." good evening, everyone.

"outfront" tonight, questions and sorrow over the death of whitney houston. this is what we know right now, family and close friends will say farewell to the poplar pop star saturday in newark, new jersey. chris christie has ordered the flags at half-staff in honor of whitney houston. sources tell us that her body was found by her assistant mary jones who she often called aunt mary. her ex-husband bobby brown released a statement about bobiy kristina saying this, obviously the death of her mother is affecting her. however, we will get through the tragedy as a family. bobbi kristina, as you are aware had been taken to cedar sinai hospital following the death of her mother. while the official cause of her death may not be known for weeks, police requested a security hold on the coroner's report which is a common request in high-profile cases.

don lemon talked with the medical examiner today, and what did you find out today, don? >> a lot of interesting things. and the first thing, erin, he said that there are so many rumors and he wished he could get on tv to tamp them down, but he is busy working on this case. and he said that the d.a. is going to join the team, because he said that prescription medications are killing hollywood, and he said that is not true, and he went out to stop the speculation about what happens and he gave me a time line for the actual report, and while he said it takes six to eight weeks he said sometimes it is earlier and maybe within a couple of days like if something spikes, like a certain medication or drug or something, and they will take a look at a that, why that drug spiked, and they have to retest it, so that six to eight-week period is to give them enough time to make

sure of what it is. this is what he said to me. he said, don, we don't like to say oh, well, maybe, we want to say definitively, definitely, this is is what we found at this level for this medical condition, the decedent according to us, the pathologist and the consultant and professional, this what we believe killed this person. that is what he is telling me, so they may get some early indications of some drug or amphetamine or if she had tylenol or anything like that in the body, and get that early, and retest it as well. >> well, that is interesting breaking news that we could find out something potentially if something spiked in the next few days as opposed to the six to eight-week period. but don, are you getting any sense of whether the prescription drugs were involved or what direction they are leaning? because as you are well aware many people are speculating that, but talking to the family pastor today, i got the other

side of the story saying, look, she tried to turn things around and that may not be accurate. >> well, here is the thing, and kelly price, and we saw her on cnn yesterday, the person who was with are having the party at the nightclub and the last pictures of whitney houston and we know she was drinking from her friend and the party. the prescription drugs we know from the coroner were in the room, and he is downplaying the amounts and saying for an overdose, there is not much and there is more this the typical household, and even his, and that what we are hearing. but only whitney houston knows at this point what she took for sure, and now the coroner is going to try to figure it out. and if i could say something about the burial and the memorial for whitney houston and if you checked your social media and twitter and facebook, there are many of the fans who are upset because they want to be able to honor her and pay their respects, and they are upset that it is just private. they want a public ceremony to go out to honor whitney houston.

>> that is interest, don. we will say that we were speaking to reverend joe carter who we will speak to in a moment, but he said that the rumors of the big service and ceremony at the prudential center for 18,000 to 20,000 were never true, and he said to the best of his knowledge, but while many people can't fit in the chur canch, that i will put a jumbotron outside of the church in newark which is on a tiny street so many of the members of the public can come, but that is not what people want, but they will have that for people to participate, so we will see if they add a larger platform as well. don, thank you. >> i think what they wanted was some sort of ceremony like the staple center for michael jackson, but apparently at this point, erin, it is not going to happen. >> absolutely. thank you, don lemon, for the reporting, and you have very latest on when we might know how whitney houston might have died.

let's talk about how her death will be commemorated and celebrated. obviously, loved and admired from millions around the word world and you heard from don how many are frustrated that they won't be able to celebrate, and yet her family will be at the new hope baptist church in new jersey, and it is where many people went to hear a young whitney houston sing, and i went to talk to reverend joe carter about his thoughts on the pop star, and the service on saturday. >> i hopray that we can honor h. >> and you it is a it is something that african-americans get right? you know how to grieve. >> yes, i believe we know how to mourn and grieve and to get it out. and in a way of hope, in a way of joy. the christian faith teaches that death is not the end, and so we

know how to look forward to the next life, and celebrate here on what is coming up ahead. >> so, what you are putting together the service now. >> yes. >> what are you putting together? and what is going to happen and who is going to sing? >> i would love to answer who is going to sing, but i would say everybody who has a great, great voice. we are hearing a lot of entertainers who are going to be here, and we are excited. the family really has put together a program that is going to be musical, be happy, be joyful, and really give the kind of feel to congregation and those there that i think that whitney would want to be remembered by. >> and you have known whitney now for a long time? >> about since '93, yes. >> do you remember the first time you met her? >> yes, yes.

and you have to remember i was a teenager when she came out. >> yes. >> so i was a big fan. >> star struck? >> yes, as a preacher it is hard not to be star struck, but it was an amazing moment, and i actually met her in chump on an easter sunday morning singing in the sanctuary, and that was -- i will never forget it. i thought that she could sing before i heard her in person, and the conviction and strength of her voice was just phenomenal. i will never forget it. >> and she came every year to church? usually around the holiday times? >> one time, it was around the high sundays, but she never, never forgot her church. he always made sure that she let us know that she loved us and remembered us. >> what did she sing? >> well, she sang a song "he would not come down from the

cross" and it is a song that when whitney came, you would expect to hear. >> she sang the same song? >> yes, it is most of the time the same song and most of the members in the church remember her in the past of singing that particular song here. >> and you say she had not been recently to the church? >> no, i haven't seen her in a little while. it has been a couple of years. >> all of the talk out there about what happened to her, and what state she was in, did you ever see any of the times that you saw her, any sign of that? >> no, not me personally. every time i saw her, she was just can happy, joking around, and just, you know, upbeat. >> you spent some time i know with the family getting the program together, the service together, and how is her mother? >> well, she's hurting. she is grooeieving, of course,

s cissy houston is a woman of strong faith, and she was actually testifying about how god had been so good to her to this point, and she said, he is not going to leave her now, and i was there to lift her spirit, and she ended uplifting mine. it is an amazing testimony of the grace of god. >> well, reverend carter also told me when we were there we went into the sanctuary which what they call the part of the church for the service, and saying that 1,500 people would be sitting there, and they were counting the seats. i can say that reverend martin wi nans will be delivering the eulogy at the request of cissy houston, and of course, his god daughter is bobbi kristina. and he told me that today. and now rumors of how she died are spreading, and there are

report reports that she had $100 million contract, and we will get to the bottom of that. and the man expected to be the next leader of china is here meeting with the president and visiting the pentagon. yes, i'm sure that lot was blocked off. and why did the republicans cave on the tax cut? ♪ there's a place i dream about ♪

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so, as don lemon has been reporting when he was talking to the assistant coroner in los angeles just tonight, we don't know yet what caused whitney houston's death, but we know that the singer was battling drug addiction for years. obviously, a question as to how much a role it played in recent times and the personal problems and for many years made more headlines than the music. one of the problems that houston may have been struggling with at the time of the death was running out of cash. and to give us insight into her lifestyle, janelle has been following her for seven years from vh1, and paul, and jim as well. janelle, can i ask you first, there are reports that she had a $100 million contract and a lot of that recently signed for a

album she had not produced, but can you tell us about her lifestyle, and how did she spend money, and how did she live? >> well, whitney houston was a private person surprisingly, and we know about the troubles thanks to the interviews she has done, but if you think about it, not many, and the blockbuster ones like diane sawyer and oprah winfrey, but for the most part, she was private there. were reports that she signed a $100 million deal in 2001 and released the last album in 2009. and since her death, the sales have been soaring on itunes and raised the price from $99 to $1.29 and a point of reference, michael jackson's estate has earned $279 million since he died in 2009, so if she was suffering from any financial trouble, her estate will be, because we realize that artists make more money when they are dead unfortunately. >> we know that elvis presley, and zach, you know that many of

the songs were written by other people so a lot of the money unlike michael jackson would go to someone like dolly parton or somebody else? >> yes, we had michael jackson's estate at $2.5 billion, so whitney houston will have a hard time catching up to that, because she didn't write her own songs or share in the publishing for when it is used on tv or elsewhere. >> and janell has been reporting on the $100 million, and what do you know? >> i heard the same thing as janell, and $100 million for a deal in 2001 and paid out per album sounds like a lot, but when you think of the last album in 2009 and the last tour was 2010, and it means that she was not really seeing that kind of steady stream in the income in recent years, so it is not too hard to believe that she could have died in financial trouble. >> and paul, what is your sense of that?

and i mean, i know a lot of people were shocked when it came out that michael jackson had, but a lot of time a people with great talent don't have a lot of talent in managing the money or managing the people who handle the money. >> that is the case. we have many times entertainers who die destitute. but in the end with respect to the estate we know she had property in new jersey, georgia and florida. so the states are going to be, one of the states is going to be handling the estate, so we have to see which state it will be and whether she left a will or trusts, and that is going to be a very, very big question as to her. >> she is young. she had daughter, so you would think that she did, but she's -- can i ask you about this issue of where the royalties go? how unusual in this case, because janell is reporting that the cost of the songs have gone up, but it is not going to her estate. >> no, but there were contractual agreements in place, and whatever she had the right to as she lives most of it will go to the estate or the trust if

she has been smart enough to set herself up that way. >> right. >> and it depends upon the sophistication of the tax planning and whether when she was in the money to hire good financial assistants to direct this. >> janell, any evidence from what you heard of spending time not only with her, but at certain events and people with her, that she may have been struggling financially or no? >> well, reports weeks before her death that she had to ask friends for $100, and her publicity team said that is absolutely not true, and she made the movie "sparkle," and she did not work for free. after the "moment of truth" tour, she was listed by forbes as the highest paid perform former, so it seems that so much money flowing through her hands, but we are uncertain as to what she is left with. >> it is interesting, because was she is private it is hard to

say what she spent it on, but zach, it appears that a lot of it went away. >> that is right, but if you look at the sales of michael jackson's album after he died, and $8 million, and 20 or $30 million worldwide, we can see at least half of that flowing through her estate in the next year. >> and thank you all. the next leader of china is in the united states. and we thought the coolest part was his wife being a famous singer in china, and we know something about her that we will tell you later, but we will find out why he is going to iowa tomorrow, and also fashion director diane von furstenberg respond s responds to republicans. to manage chronic musculoskeletal pain. one non-narcotic pill a day, every day, can help reduce this pain.

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right now the man widely expected to be china's next president is about to sit down to dinner with vice president joe biden at his home in washington, and at the end of a busy day he went to meet with president obama, and had lunch at the pentagon and visited the state department and the visit comes when there are questions surrounding china's rise and whether it is an ally or enemy of the united states. we got a taste of the discussion when a senate armed services committee commenced and listen to senator lindsey graham when asked if the chinese taking into

the cyber space, would be hostile? >>, and what could that be? >> yes, hacking into the insfra truck chur. >> and allowing us to respond in kind? >> well, in my view, yes. >> so i'm having lunch with the vice president of china in 20 minutes, so what do you want me to tell him? >> happy valentine's day. >> okay. all right. okay. i will do that. >> this is just the beginning of his five-day trip to the united states, and tomorrow, he is headed to iowa. that is right, it is a town he visited in 1985. cnn's ted rowlands is with us in des moines tonight. ted, good to see you, and i know musketine is a little bit out of the way, but why is he going there? >> well, is a shg, it is a grea erin.

when he came to musketine, iowa, he was not vice president of china, but he came to tour a couple of farms. when they were there, there were five people and they stayed with residents of musketine, and now fast forward he said, if i'm coming to iowa, i want to visit with the same people, so he is detouring from the trip to des moines and head over there to meet with the same people in one of the same homes that are apparently going to have a little champagne, and some tea, but we talked to a couple of folks there, and they are absolutely thrilled. one of them ran upstairs when she found out that he was coming and dug out an old photo, and there he is, the going to be the new leader of china standing in her kitchen just great story. >> it is a great story. i know you talked to them. and here is a quick clip of how they feel about him. here it is. >> you are looking at the logistics and the cost of him

coming to this little town that is 35 miles removed from an airplane that will accommodate him and the entourage, and there is motivation for a little time to spend an hour or hour and a half in a room with as he says his old friends. >> that's significant. >> it is nice and i know that iowa's exports to china 1,200 percent higher than a decade ago, and $600 million, and did that visit drive that jump? >> well, it is unclear if it drove the jump much at all, but here is what is interesting is that terry brant said, the governor of iowa, said that he met him in 19 85, and they also met in beijing in fall of this year, so here is what is clear is that the relationship that they have with the vice president soon to be president here in iowa, they are hoping it is going to extend the exports out of iowa, and china, as you mentioned are consumers of

soybeans and farm machinery and a lot of thing, and hoping that the special relationship with the vice president, soon to be president will help the state. >> thank you, ted rowlands reporting from iowa where the next chinese president will be tomorrow. we go inside of syria tonight. dozens were killed today, and what will it take to end the violence? what does an american intervention nuts and bolts mean? and could amanda knox be sent back to an italian prison? [ kate ] most women may not be properly absorbing the calcium they take because they don't take it with food. switch to citracal maximum plus d. it's the only calcium supplement that can be taken with or without food.

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>> we start the second half of the show with stories that we care about and focus on our own reports and find the out front five. first, whitney houston's funeral will be held in her hometown of newark, new jersey. private services at new hope baptist church where houston sang in the choir growing up. today the church's pastor at the church told me that her long time friend marvin wynans will give the eulogy. he sat down and talked with me today. >> we are hearing that a lot of entertainers will be here, and the family has put together a program that is going to be musical, be happy, be joyful and really give the kind of feel to congregation and those there

that i think that whitney would want. >> number two, egyptian authorities today detailed the charges against 16 americans working for international democracy groups in egypt. now, we are told that the 24-page document is currently in the midst of being translated from arabic to english, but sam lahood, the son of transportation secretary ray lahood is among the americans charged. the egyptian government has blamed unrest in the country on foreign interference. number three, italian prosecutors have decided to appeal the overturn of her conviction. they say that even if they win the appeal, they will have to apply for extradition which is unlikely. knox and her boyfriend were convicted of murder in 2009, but cleared after a judge found a lack of evidence. number four, new legislation being introduced to close the

carried interest loophole. it is an issue that regular viewers know that we have been watch here at "outfront." and it is primarily allowing equity managers or former equity managers allow people like mitt romney pay less on their income. and senator levin has introduced the carried interest tax. and it has been 193 days since we lost our top credit rating and how are we trying to get it back? well, the sales rose, and taking out buildings and cars, and it is more than anyone expected which is good news. now to syria. astonishing new video we have from today which capturing the horror and in what is some cases heroism against brutal force. it shows a young boy in the middle of a cross fire between rebels and troops when a man risks his life to rush in to pick up the child to carry him

to safety. there are reports that 400 children have been killed in syria since january. in total, the year-old uprising has claimed 600 lives according to activists in the country. this is video which appears to show a group of people as you watch them coming forward to be used as human shields for bashar assad's tanks, and in the clip, the soldiers chant "with our blood, with our souls, we defend you, bashar." you see that. arwa damon is inside of syria and we cannot reveal her whereabouts, but she speaks to us. >> erin, we have been moving from safehouse to savehouse within syria, and these safehouses are normal residences with the families around, and the children, when you speak to them even if they are 3 or 4 years old, they talk about bombs

and ask their parents if the government forces are going to be raiding their homes. one of the homes we were in was also at the same time an underground secret clinical though calling it an actual clinic would be a stretch of the image nashgs because it is nothing more than a family's living room with medical supplies, basic medical supplies in it. there is a lot of frustration in one area we were in because they have managed to gather medical supplies and blood to take into another area that was harder hit, but it had been blocked off for day, and they were trying to evacuate the wounded from this area and trying to actually get them out of of the country, because they were severe injury, and they were unable to do so. at this location as well, the opposition members who we were have is managed to capture a man who said he worked as a ministry of interior prison, and he was caught in cross fire of ambush, and the operation activists were

treating him, because they intended to trade him for one of their own with the captured by government thugs, and he was talking about how, yes, he was give en orders to shoot to kill, and that in some instances he was confronting unarmed demonstrators with a scope on his rifle that allowed him to see people in front of him as if if he were looking at himself in the mirror. he also said on one occasion, he did in fact slit a man's throat. the opposition activists were naturally very distressed and angry and disgusted by what the man was saying, but they had a belief that they had to treat him well, because they said they had to be better than the government they are fighting so hard to bring down, erin. >> all right. you can see arwa damon there, and again, we cannot reveal her location and as you can see, incredible reporting an incredible situation in syria. well, pressure is on president obama to respond.

secretary panetta was on capitol hill talking about serious cuts, too. the pentagon is cutting military budgets, and defense secretary panetta said those cuts could come at a cost. >> let me be clear. let me be clear. you cannot take $500 trillion out of the budget, and believe they are acceptable. they are risks. >> the pentagon calls them acceptbling, but what if the united states got involved in syria? take libya and we asked retired kor n air force colonel cedric leighton. and he said that syria is nothing like libya, and the price tag alone would be $2 billion, and syria is not libya. as we have been reporting,

syria's military boasts 500,0 s tanks and mig forces. so should the united states use forces to remove assad and if so can we afford the pay for it with money and lives? joining me is a former mccain/palin adviser, and also foreign relations adviser. cory, let me start with you, you say it is time for military action, and why? >> well, what the assad government is doing is ir re -- irreprehensible. they have killed probably 7,000 people since march and the situation is dramatically es ka lagt towards a civil war and towards one that might draw in other countries in the region. this is bad and getting worse. >> and ed, she is right, it is bad, and awful things happening and you could see the videos that we were showing, so it is a

moral reason that people may want to get involved, but then there's iraq and what we went through there. >> moral repulsion may not drive activism. i saw forces come from iraq into syria. syria is much more diverse and eththick compositions and sectarian difference in the tribal rivalries makes syria look far more disastrous than anything that iraq had been, and i think it is not just about morality. if it is about saving lives, we should think twice, because thus far with all of the problems, we have had 7,000 people killed in syria, and intervening militarily in syria and trying to topple the assad regime without a clear day two plan in case, we don't know what happens if he goes down and risk millions more killed in syria and overspill into lebanon, turkey, iraq, and israel, and

this is going to be all of the areas that border syria. >> and other places say look at iraq, because everybody said it is hard for u.s. forces, but they went in and immediately the iraqi government fell, but that is true, but then it took ten years for the troops to leave, and still iraq is not settled. >> i agree with many of the concerns that he raised, but not every intervention is iraq, and not every intervention is libya or afghanistan. there are lots of different ways to do this. i particularly like the plan that the arab league is putting forward which is the progressive penlization to the assad government for using force against its own civilians. that is that you threaten and will carry out the arming and the training of syrian opposition forces if the iraqi government -- excuse me, if the syrian government continues to do this. and you eventually diminish the

syrian government's ability to use repressive forces against its own society and force it into a negotiating position to remove the strength. >> let me play devil's advocate, ed, and set this question up to you. obviously, al qaeda said they supported the rebels and i talked to a activist who was appalled that with that and said they didn't want anything to the with al qaeda, but let me ask you this, back in the afghanistan, the taliban was a friend of the united states and then became the foe. arming an opposition does not always end in a black and white outcome. >> especially, especially when we don't know who the opposition is. this is an opposition who is sporadic and not organized and opposition who has an extreme islam brotherhood element, and not the same as egypt or other countries, but extreme islamic brotherhood, and we have to be careful to who we are getting in bed with and who are not coherent in what they want. and the real risk there is toppling a regime such as assad

and unleashing civil war and releasing factions who are fighting amongst themselves by the way, and putting u.s. lives and u.s. resources at risk for something we don't know much about. >> well, thank you, kori and ed, and a discussion that americans are having at home and trying to figure out what to do. in washington, we could have a deal on the payroll tax extension, and we will try to kcon firm that for you and have that after the break. and the national poll numbers and surge in the gop race. whose surge is it? we will find out. it has four servo motors and a wireless microcontroller. over the last three years we've put nearly 100 million dollars into american education. that's thousands of kids learning to love science. ♪ isn't that cool? and that's pretty cool. ♪

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well, we have breaking news from capitol hill. we can confirm that congress has reached a tentative deal to extend the payroll tax cut untill the end of this year, which means that average americans will save between $700 to $2300 a year, but the compromise didn't come easily. weeks of negotiations that we all painfully know went nowhere, and the house leaders said they will extend it without -- this is good, without finding a way to pay for it. $100 billion, along with with the tax cut, and the negotiators also agreed to extending the unemployment benefits and avoid a fee for medical doctors and those measures were $250 million, and congress said they will pay for the measures, but, they are not sure yet how. i guess it is not a comedy show. turning to other political news. mitt romney is taking to the

air waves in michigan to make sure he does not lose his home state for republican nomination for president. romney is emphasizing the roots to try to convince the voters he is one of them, but as you can see, hmm. >> now i grew up in michigan, and it was exciting to be here. i remember going to detroit auto show with my dad. that was a big deal. the people here in detroit are distressed and i want to make it better. michigan is my home and this is personal. at the same time he is standing by the position that the auto bailout is a mistake and writing an op-ed in the newspaper of detroit saying that without the intervention things in detroit would be worse, and without intervention, things would be better. and so we are joined by our panel, the three musketeers are together. >> we are back. >> you are back. all right. ryan, it is personal. >> oh, that is my favorite part of that commercial. it is so awesome. it seems like a slightly

villainous, but yeah. >> what does it matter if he loses it? it is his home state and that is how he pitches it? >> well, it is demonstrating that you can do well in a state like michigan is part of the appeal to gop primary voters, because michigan is not necessarily going to be a true swing state, but a lot of the industrial midwestern states will be up for grabs, and if romney cannot win michigan, it is going the raise doubts about whether he is really a serious presidential contender. >> and he won michigan by nine points and grew up there and his father was a popular governor, so to lose michigan and your de facto home state would be a major blow. and here is the thing, the time for the death star to storm in -- >> otherwise known as "restore our future." >> and a time for the negative ads to enter the race. and when you see the op-ed, doubling down and not supporting the auto bailouts and now he

decides to not stop flip-flopping, and it is standard principle, but high stakes. >> and in the op-ed he wrote, i am a son of detroit, and he talked about going to the auto show with his dad, and you from michigan, jamal, and how big of a deal if he loses after he won by nine points? >> yes, i, too, am a son of detroit, and i will say that michigan is interesting, because it is a microcosm of the country and urban and suburban and a lot of the rural areas and evangelicals and if you look at the polls there, romney is losing among tea party supporters and evangelicals and every county except for oakland coun county, which is the wealthiest county in the state and one of the top ten wealthiest counties in the united states, and that is the one place he is doing better than santorum in the poll. he has to find a way to get back to the michigan blue collar,

evangelical republican base to let them know, because as john said, he won it last time and his dad was a governor there and de facto home state, and he has to find a way to bring it together or else i think that an this one. >> bedlam. that would at least be fun to watch. thanks to all three. we appreciate it. one person who might like that is diane von furstenberg. she's involved in this republican race. they called her contribution to the obama campaign ritzy at a time 12 million americans remain out of work. really?

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have we really come a long way? with all the controversy surrounding birth control, even in the military and the workplace, it's a fair question. tonight's guest was wondering the same thing when she had an idea so revolutionary it became the symbol of women's liberation. diane von furstenberg disrupted the fashion world when she created a basic in alet of women's closet, the wrapped dress and its simplicity became s synonymous with freedom and femininity and the sexual resolution. she's changed a lot and shared her ideas how it has grown into something a whole lot bigger. >> i didn't know what i wanted to do when i started but i knew

the woman i wanted to be, i knew the kind of woman i wanted to be, a woman who is independent, doesn't need a man to pay her bill, you know, all of that. i became that woman. as i was becoming that woman, because it was fashion, i was helping other women to become the women they wanted to be. so when i decided to create the dvf awards, i wanted to create something that will last after me and enable certain women, five women every year, to get exposure on the great work that they do. usually, most of these women have endured great hardship themselves and not only have they survived it but they used that to help other women. >> this weekend on meet the press, david gregory read a passage from rick santorum's book called "it takes a family." the radical feminists succeeded in undermining the traditional

family and convincing women that professional accomplishments are the key to happiness. i wanted to play, after david read that quote to rick santorum, how rick santorum responded? my wife is a working woman. we had children and she decided to take off time from her career and raise children. i can tell you, this section was written in large part in cooperation with her a mother, a neonatal nurse and felt very much society and those radical feminists i was referring to, were not affirming her choice. >> what do you think about rick santorum's point of view? >> what i think is that i believe, really, all women should have children, i do. i think that our body is made for that and i think we all should have children, and if we can't, somehow, we should adopt. i think women are made to have children and to be mothers, for sure. i also think that women have to

have an identity outside the home, and it makes for much healthier relationship, first for themselves, which at the end is very important, the relationship you have with yourself, with your partner, and certainly your children. i think that if you want the happiness of your children, you want to raise them to be independent children, and there's no better way to make your children independent than being independent yourself. >> you talk about your third generation, for your business and your company. that involves a big bet on china. >> yes. i am a great believer -- i think that one of the most extraordinary thing that is happening is the speed of the growth of china. it's the speed that is incredible. i really want to tell everybody that we shouldn't be afraid of

that because, you know, when i was a little girl, forever i didn't eat my soup, my mother would say, think of all the chinese that have nothing to eat. when it came to the generation of my children, you say the chinese make everything. >> yeah. >> and now for my grandchildren, it's the chinese buy everything. so i don't think we should always look at the chinese like they're taking jobs away, they're also bringing us more and more jobs. of course, there's a lot of things we may agree, we don't agree, there are a billion and a half people, that's a lot of people to govern. >> you are a supporter of president obama, right, in terms of your politics and i know you have designed some of those runway to win tote bags, scarves. republicans have panned some of those products as out of reach for many americans, 75 to $95 each. what's your reaction to that?

>> oh, i don't know. this is designing something to raise money. the more you can raise the better it is. you know, it's clearly it's not -- i'm not saying the value of the bag is what they ask for, i don't know. but it is a way of raising money. i do like president obama, and so i help him the best i kan snchcan. >> interesting. we will put more of her interview online so you can take a look at the full segment on our website and blog out front. it will be out there soon. out front tomorrow, we'll be talking to south carolina republican senator lindsey graham, pushing legislation how the united states should deal with iran and its growing nuclear threat. we will talk to him about it and earlier in the show in our back and forth you saw with the head of the joint chiefs of staff, he said he's going to have lunch with the man who will be the next president of china. we will talk to him about th