>> here is piers morgan tonight. ron paul, can he sneak through with a win on super tuesday? >> it is encouraging when they compare my votes against the president. we do better than the rest of them. >> does he have a quiet little pad to his rival mitt romney. >> just because you can talk to somebody doesn't mean have you a deal going. the tragic death of andrew breitbart, his controversial life and his tv appearance on the show two nights ago. >> just as herman cain was known as the 999 candidate, they made santorum the 666 candidate and worried about satan and all that far type of stuff. >> love him or loathe him, he always had something provocative to say and the people who knew him best pay their tributes. and only in america, feel the need, the need for speed but not for a sequel. why do we need top gun 2? shouldn't hollywood leave some blockbusters alone?

this is "piers morgan tonight." the big story, politics, all lies on super tuesday with ten states across the country voting. this is rick santorum on his strategy for the big day. >> i said from the very beginning this is an episode of survivor. we just need to stay on the island, not get voted off, keep plugging, stay on message and have hopefully the grassroots of conservatives that support us and i think you are seeing that now. >> certainly stayed on message is ron paul. how long can he stay in the race? i will ask him in the piers morgan interview and the life and times of a man who loved controversy but died too young at 43, andrew breitbart, a regular on my particular panel and i talked to him on tuesday night. >> is it a real possibility? >> it now real clear politics, it is up to 20% when it was down in single digits before, and it

will be interesting how they interpret tonight's numbers to see how they look at the polls for next week because if there is a genuine sense that mitt romney can't close the deal people are going to start getting nervous. >> we begin tonight with the big story, politics, ron paul has a steep hill to climb on super tuesday. he has 38 delegates so far and ten states voting next week and 427 delegates at stake the candidate has high hopes and dr. paul joins me now. welcome back, dr. paul. how are you? >> thank you, thank you, pierce, nice to be with you against. >> how are you feeling about super tuesday? what is your realistic aspiration for the ten states? >> well, we're working harder in, you know, a few of the states like washington and idaho and alaska and a couple others, but realistically i don't have a number. we'll just do our very best and it is a real challenge because

we don't have bragging rights yet when we're running against the other republicans, but what really is encouraging is when they compare my votes against the president. if we do better than the rest of them, so that's one of the arguments the republicans used for a long time, you know, is we need somebody to beat obama, and the fact i do better doesn't seem to interesting them too much which i find interesting. >> now, you have been mr. nice guy this campaign so far. now you're getting down and dirty. here is your latest attack ad. watch this. >> one is a serial hypocrite who lobbied for freddie mac before the housing crisis, and for the individual mandate before obama care, and another a counterfeit conservative who opposing right to work, massively increased spending, and funded planned parent hood. finally, a flip flopper on all sides, supported bailouts and provided the blueprint for obama care, three men, one vision,

more big government, mormon dates, less freedom. >> like a promo for mad max. serial hypocrite, the counterfeit conservative, the flip-flopper. >> you know, i think your description is over the top, down and dirty, that's around for several months now. we put that out before and we wanted to resurrect it without spending more money. i think it is legitimate if somebody is all over the place and voted for big government and the other three candidates have. they have represent big government. i am challenging them so i am going to keep pointing the record out because i think republicans pretend they want limited government, and they haven't -- they don't have a good record. when you think when republicans have taken over, when we had the house and the senate and presidency, we didn't shrink the size of government and the deficit still exploded.

i think i have a role to play and i would hope the republicans would come around. >> there is a theory going around that you are going easy on mitt romney and there are all sorts of potential reasons for that which i won't bore you with but is it true, are you and mitt romney in bed together? >> no. one of our ads right now challenges him for, you know, being a flip-flopper, but then that is in a way -- i think you guys are desperate for news if that's the big news because there is nothing to it. i thought governor pawlenty answered it pretty well when they asked him and said, okay, was there a back room deal with mitt romney and ron paul. he says ron paul is the last guy in the world making a back room deal. now, there is nothing to that. just because you talk to somebody doesn't mean you have a deal going. so, yeah, i talk to them because we have known each other for a long time and we just disagree

on policies and we do have pretty strong disagreements, you know, in the foreign policy and war on drugs and civil liberties and these things. there is definitely a difference and of course i disagree with all three because i want to actually cut some spending and that's a preposterous idea these days? >> if you are barack obama watching the attack ad who is best served to the conservatives to take on barack obama, the hypocrite, the fake or the flip-flopper? >> well, i think the people that are help the best are the voters to find out whom they're voting for, if they're voting for somebody that says i am the conservative and he is really a fake, people need to know that. i mean, this pretend is hypocrisy and no doubt about it. they get away with too much over the years. people vote one way and go home and vote liberal and washington

goes home and arch conservatives and for the most part they have gotten away with it for a long time. >> the point i was getting at is i wonder how damaging it is to the republican cause come the real battle when the nominee takes on barack obama? such motive language is being drilled out on an ahourly basis in these ads. if you are barack obama, calling people hypocrites, frauds, flip floppers, it is meat and drink to the democrats. they can replay this stuff. >> well, do you think it was a love fest between hillary and obama? they after each other pretty hard and he puts her in one of the most important jobs in the cabinet, secretary of state. i would say that politicians pretty much come together sort of like a family and the old saying that you can fight with your siblings but don't let the neighbors come in. >> rick santorum had a tough week and his debate performance was one of his weakest and he

was caught with a double whammy trashing a jfk speech and coming out with a line people going to college and somehow it was a snobbish policy by president obama to encourage kids to go to college. what did you make of it all? >> well, i can't interpret all of that. i don't know what he was meaning. it certainly didn't do him any favors. sometimes what your mind is thinking and you're saying things in certain context and heard a different way and certainly didn't do him much good i don't believe. >> on the assumption at the moment that mitt romney may end up being the nominee, would you serve under him if he asked you? >> well, it depends on -- he is not likely to do that. i mean, we get along and friends and we talk to each other, but to be in a position, you know, i wouldn't think that would be likely to happen.

there are certain issues that i feel very, very strongly about, you know, and i have been talking about it and trying to change people's minds on it for 30 or 40 years, so if somebody was serious, a president or anybody else asked me seriously, you know, now that the monetary crisis is much worse and it is going to get worse, what do you think we ought to do, if they were honestly seeking my input, why would anybody turn that down? as far as being in that administration, i have to wait and see. maybe i will have to ask him whether he wants to help me out when i get in. >> i think you should certainly be be re reasonable doubt with aed. i know i am making an assumption you are not going to be a nominee and that may be unfair at this stage but given people seem to think it mighting mitt romney now, i would be staggered if he didn't reflect your popularity, particularly with young people on social media,

the energy and drive you brought to your campaign. i mean, i think they would be mad not to use you in some serious way. >> you know, these last couple elections, you know, i was third or fourth. we didn't do all that well, but somebody just sent me a note you always look for the positive thing and almost every state i think essentially every state i always win between the 18 and 30-year-olds. i always win that. i think your point is well taken. if they're thinking about the future or the fall election, i mean, young people are very, very important, and i am the one person that can take young people away from obama, but nobody is in leadership ever comes and says, ron, what is is that the young people like about what you're doing? i think they're afraid of the answer because it might be maybe a little less war and less spending and maybe balance the budget and maybe we shouldn't be -- maybe we shouldn't be walking into people's houses without search warrants.

i don't think they want to hear that. why should they write everybody off under 30? the only thing i am thinking about doing, the don't like all the laws but i am thinking to propose a law nobody ought to vote over 30 so if i could narrow it down to people could vote under 30, my numbers would go up. >> let's take a little break. we'll come back and talk about two favorite topics, the fed and iran and maybe birth control as well. you think you take off all your make-up before bed. but do you really? [ female announcer ] neutrogena® makeup remover erases 99% of your most stubborn makeup with one towelette. can your makeup remover do that? [ female announcer ] neutrogena® makeup remover. i like yoplait. it is yoplait. but you said it was greek. mmhmm. so is it greek or is it yoplait? exactly. okay...

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you took over the fed in 2006. i have a silver ounce here, and this ounce of silver back in 2006 would buy over four gallons of gasoline. today it will buy almost 11 gallons of gasoline. that's preservation of value. why couldn't people save -- put this in a mattress and get four or five times as much of the value in a few years? >> ron paul earlier this week taking a break from the campaign trial to return to his job on

capitol hill. tough questions for fed chairman ben bernanke and ron paul is back now. you really stuck it to him with the silver coin, incontrovertible evidence if you stuck it under the mattress you would have done better with the money. >> what if you put the dollars ai with a, they lose value, the paper values lose value because if he was saying the only people concerned about inflation are only the ones that put their money in the mattress and concern the about and my point is there is a lot of people concerned and inflation rate is much higher and people on fixed incomes are hurting and the people in the middle class, they hurt a lot more with inflation of prices than do the people in wall street, you know, if you're making millions. what do they care about what the price of gasoline is? the middle class does. the people on fixed incomes do. it is very dramatic when you look at the value of money and gold and silver isn't money because i think it is money. it is there because it became

money 6,000 years ago. paper money is the artificial government money and they always destroy it. this is why we're in the crisis. this is what we're facing in europe and bernanke promised we will bail out europe because our banks are involved and we are in the derivitives market and it is sovereign debt. the american people are likely to end up owning greek debt at the rate we're going, and that has to devalue the dollar, and i think that devaluation of the dollar and the increase in prices is just beginning. >> let's turn to iran. i know your views about this, and you're quite right i think to warn people about the precedent and iraq and so on and not rushing head long into more conflict and so on. let me ask you this. would you feel comfortable with ahm a.j. ad having a nuclear weapon. >> i wouldn't want that to happen. i wouldn't feel any more uncomfortable than when i was drafted in 1962 and the soviets

had 30,000 of them and had a nuclear weapons in cuba. it was uncomfortable then. we used containment and worked with it and negotiated and assist ruthless as those thugs were in the soviet union, kennedy was willing to talk to them. we're not willing to talk to the iranians and they don't have a weapon. our own government has no evidence they have it or they're on the verge of having it and yet the more drums are beating hard. they're ready to go. just listen to the other three candidates. i mean, they don't hesitate for a minute to be militant and go into syria and iran and do whatever you can and our own administration should have most of the knowledge, they're trying to soften this and i got that information a little bit out of hillary yesterday before the international relations committee. >> do you understand why israel in particular feels very, very vulnerable right now with almost every country around it having

the arab you uprising and given the outspoken comment, do you understand why they would feel vulnerable and be so anxious about him having a nuclear weapon capability? >> right. that's why they should reclaim their sovereignty rights. they can't do with their heirs, either peace treaties or defend without getting permission from us but we create more problems for them because we propped up mubarak and gave him 40 or $50 million and created the blowback so al qaeda is both in libya and in egypt and as a matter of fact al qaeda is in iraq, and the al qaeda from iraq is going over into syria, so it is want helping israel. you know, panetta is not anxious to go there. none of them are saying let's go, we need to bomb these sites. i can't imagine.

the only people that seem to be doing that are some of the republican candidates who seem to think that in order to look tougher than anybody else, we're ready to go, and i think that's dangerous. i think that is careless. it is inflammatory and not a good way to try to bring peace to the world. that's the way you bring war to the world. >> a final question on birth control. you obviously delivered 4,000 babies in your life. you have cared for women's health for four or five decades. did you agree with the senate's decision on not allow any exemptions to obama's birth control rule? >> the insurance business, the whole idea that the government can tell the insurance company what they should give and people now when you talk about mandating and birth control pills in insurance program, that no longer is insurance. that's a mandate. it is an entitlement. so traditionally i remember when

i first bought my first insurance policy, the question was do you want to have ob care under your policy. i said yes. they said that will cost so many more dollars each month. how can it be insurance if they don't know what they're insuring you for. to say that you have to have on this policy with no increase in pricing you are going to give out birth control pills, that becomes a welfare issue and a mandate and a cost to the insurance company. i just don't like the government in this business. i am much stronger and believe in the market works these things out because then it gets the kind of argument that we're into now. i think it is a rather silly argument about who is going to get free birth control pills. i mean, that is way beyond as far as i am concerned, dr. paul, thank you very much indeed as always. >> thank you. >> moving after break to the tragic and untimely death of conservative blogger andrew breitbart, his close friend

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i am so sick of having to be apologetic for who i am. i am sick of people in middle america being called flyover country or slope headed. >> a man on a mission, a clip from the upcoming documentary hating breitbart. andrew breitbart was on our show two nights ago and it would be his final television appearance. this morning we learned the dreadful news of his death just

43 years old. a conservative blogger, activist, internet entrepreneur. he loved to fight as big government said a happy warrior. with me is arianna huffington. thank you for joining me. a sad day for anyone that likes politics, the internet, people who just engage in discourse. >> and really sad day for all of us who are friends of andrew's, and andrew and i despite all of our political differences, remained friends. he started working with me in 1997. he helped me launch my ferris site, ariannaonline and his wife was pregnant with the first child while he was working with me and sampson is now 12 years old, so i might say, piers all my thoughts all day since i heard the news around 9:00 this morning have been around susie,

his amazing wife, who is has always been peaceful and calm as andrew has been fiery every time i have spent any moments with him. >> the strange thing was he was on this late show on tuesday night into wednesday morning and actually yesterday technically. i made a point during the interview saying to him that he looked really well, and that's why i was so surprised. yet friends of his tell me that he led this kind of crazy, non-stop life. maybe that added to the stresses. >> it was all non-stop around work. he would work late into the night. he would get up early. he would sleep with his laptop, and i remember that when we started working together, i was working out of my home in los angeles, and my children were five and seven, and we would all

joke, my mother lived with me, too, hard to get andrew out of the house because he loved his work, whatever he was doing. >> i think that's the thing. i think andrew just knowing him as i did from his appearances on the show had been amazed by the reaction to his death. it has been a huge news story in america all day, and indeed in other parts of the world. >> you know, i think that is also a function of the fact that most of the time we ignore death. death is the one inevitable certainty in all of our lives, and yet one breath away from not being here, and when someone who is 43 with young children, who seems so full of life, and who has around just literally moments ago on your show on tuesday night, it forces us to look at that reality and the ancient romans used to carve mm,

remember death, on trees and statues, and not out of a sign of morbidity but in order to remind us of the fragility of life. >> what do you think? i know that 2,000 people left positive comments about him on the huffington post website today and yet he would be politically the complete opposite end to most and he was a guy although he was polarizing, i think a lot of people admired the passion that he brought to his politics and to his commentary, and i certainly felt that although i didn't enjoy -- didn't agree with a lot of what he was saying, i loved the verve with which he said it. what was it about him you think will be his legacy? >> andrew was full of passion, exuberance, fearlessness and often coming up with statements that he couldn't prove and although he was also obsessed with facts and wanting to ferret out facts and the truth so there is paradoxes. this could be the ultimate

paradox, a man who drives on controversy can also help us look at life and put things in perspective because of his tragic and untimely death and also because of the fact he is living behind four young children. i think that is something that catches all of our hearts, everybody who is a parent, everybody who had somebody die in their life tragically, suddenly, and thinks of that first. >> yeah. i totally agree. arianna, thank you very much for joining me. >> thank you, piers. andrew breitbart paved the way for a new breed of journalists and dana was mentored by him and joins me now. a very sad day for anyone that knew andrew well. arianna clearly did. i know that you did, too. how do you feel overall about the way that andrew's death has played out today? it has been an extraordinary day.

it has been a really big event. he clearly touched people in a way that maybe even he didn't realize. >> i think he would be very pleased with how everything has been going in the media and his name trended on twitter. i think it would amuse him and please a part of him as well. he would have been happy. >> what kind of man was he really away from the public figure that we saw? what was the guy that you knew? >> andrew was -- he could be polarizing. there were people who either loved or hated him, and he definitely had enemies on the left and definitely people on the right that didn't agree with him but to know andrew is to like him. i always thought, i challenge anybody who really thinks they hate andrew breitbart to get to know him because you like him. it is very difficult to not like him. the media only showed us one part of who andrew was. so many people knew exactly how he was. he had so much energy. he was so positive with everyone with whom he worked.

he was everybody's biggest defender. i looked at him as up to him as though he were a big brother. he was definitely amen tore. he was great to his employees and he was a fierce defender of the grassroots movement, and he leaves behind a huge legacy. >> he had this great passion, that's what i liked about him, whether you agree or not. he had a raw passion for politics and incredible work ethic and you're right, he did polarize people but he played up to that. he liked to polarize people. he felt is inspired a healthy debate. >> he did. he did. he loved nothing better than to watch things play out. he would just do -- he would do things and be able to think ahead and by the time the rest of us caught up to him, he was already another chapter ahead. he was a very forward thinker and would put something small into play and watch it come about organically and he was a great debater. he was a great off-the-cuff speaker. i mean, there is a lot of really good stuff i can say about him. you're right, he enjoyed a good

fight. he enjoyed a good debate. he loved what he did, and you can't say that about a lot of people who truly absolutely love what they do day in and day out. >> there have been reports tonight that he had suffered from some heart problems in the last few years. were you aer with a of that? did you know if he was having health issues? >> i know that there were some health concerns, and i can't speak to the full extent of all of that. i know that he had seen a doctor about that a few months ago, but it was very unexpected obviously. he lived life to the fullest, and he was always on the go, always very busy, so obviously quite a shock. >> yeah. what were your lasting memory be of him? >> oh, gosh, the last time i saw him was monday because the bigs are rolling out, something fantastic, he called it drudge

2.0 that's coming this monday, and i am going to remember his fearlessness. he really inspired a lot of people. he definitely inspired me to really look at journalism with new eyes and think of it as citizens being their own watch dog, citizens going out and exposing government corruption, not just a federal level but also in their own community and sometimes doing the work that seems unglamourous. not a lot of people like to talk about local civics. it is just as important as the if early stuff that happens. he inspired me and a lot of people in that regard. he inspired us to search out the truth. he believed in everything he said. he believed in every story he reported. he believed in every piece of video of every post that went up on the breitbart sites, and that's to believe in what you do and to seek the truth and that's something i am always going to remember. >> very well said. dana loesch, thank you very much indeed. >> thank you. when we come back, the

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newt gingrich is the candidate who during his flurry there a while back was attacking the mainstream media, and this week they came out to try to frame him just as herman cain was known as the 999 candidate,

they very well made santorum the 666 candidate, the guy that's worried about satan and all that far type of stuff. >> andrew breitbart speaking on this show in the early hours yesterday morning after the primary. the fierce fighter and commentator who died in los angeles and he was with us and amy holmes and glen and the entrepreneur equation michael reagan off the new reagan revolution and the other three join me now. michael, incredibly sad day. you have been on the regular panel for quite a few weeks now. we have a great chemistry together. he was sitting right there literally yesterday in the early hours of the morning, and to wake up this morning and find out that andrew was dead was a real shock to everybody. >> shock to everybody. i was thinking about the clip you just played. we were back in the green room before we came out that night and he said i have to come up with something for santorum and he was so proud, 666, that's the answer for santorum and the 999

for herman contain. he was the guy excited about life and for this all of a sudden to happen we're all 43 years old, four children, susan, the wife, and the things we talk about in the green room, we talked about his wife and my wife and he says your wife really like to go places with you? i said, no, she likes to stay at home. so does my wife, likes to stay at home. when you're out from in the public like that, wives say i just want to be home and waiting for you when you show up. we talked about those things, the fact we were both adopted. his children, and myself with the same school, warner avenue school in brentwood, talking about life, which is really great to get to that side because you see him on the political side so often and you get him alone and you can get him talking about those kinds of issues because his family meant so much to him. >> you tweeted you were deliberately not wearing a tie in memory of andrew. he in never wore ties on tv. >> you never saw him with a tie, i am not going in with a tie on, i am going to go in without a tie and a blue blazer like the

last time i saw him. >> amy, really big loss to the political discourse in america. andrew was a divisive figure and controversial and he had an important role in articulating a passionate side of the republican movement. >> he absolutely did, a passionate commitment to conservatism. i met andrew many, many years ago through mutual friend and regarded andrew and his wife susie as personal friends. part of his passion, too, that really drove him was being a champion and protector of the under dog, the conservatives don't need to be in a defensive crouch, that they can stand up proudly and declare their values and in particular conservatives in the minority community, or the sexual minority community, go proud was very important for him.

he was so loyal and one of the things that michael touched on, too, that after our show tuesday night when i got home, and it was very late as you well know, i e-mailed andrew, and i teased him, and i said you're very sedate with piers. maybe it is the british humor that puts you in your place. we want the andrew belly laugh and that's a side of andrew i hope people got to see because it was infectious and so loveable. >> i totally agree. i felt the chemistry i have with him was getting better all the time as we got to know each other and i began to really like him and see him for what he really was. having said that, carol, there is another side to andrew. he wasn't perfect. he made big, high profile mistakes and was deliberately devisive. they pointed out when teddy ken day died, he was hammering teddy kennedy, so i think if he had been here talking about the circumstances he would be scathing about part of his character, wouldn't he? >> he would.

i think you know this as well as anyone else. if you're out there doing amazing things, you're going to be devisive. he was not plain vanilla. he was always somebody pushing buttons. i talked to some of his friends from high school in brentwood and they said even back in the day he had a certain spanish teacher who would kick him out every day and it became the brentwood school high school joke that he would find a way to play a prank and do something to get kicked out until the one day he had gone too far and got down on his knees and begged for forgiveness and everybody cracked up. i don't think he took it too seriously, and it is a very sad day for all of us. >> it is a sad day. i don't want to over sanitize him and make him out to be some kind of saint. that's not the character you said he was. >> he wouldn't want you to say that. >> what he did do, he made a real impact. i have been stunned by how big the story of his death has become today.

he has been trending on twitter all day long, everybody giving views, good and bad and from democrats and republicans, a lot of acknowledgment he was an important part of the modern phenomenon in the internet blogging and political discourse. >> what brought him to conservatism from liberalism is the fact that conservatives were brow beat by liberals and he was angry they would not stand up and take a stand. he moved from liberalism to conservatism to take a stand. the reason he is so respected if you will or loved in so many areas is because he is saying what so many of us are fearful of saying every single day for fear that there is going to be back lash. just look at the tweets. i remember the first night we were on. he was in the square. it wasn't here. you made mention about his hair. you made mention of him and the guy that he was. he got two hours worth of tweets out of that on that night

because he attacked you back. the video was up 30 seconds after you went off the air and it was on breitbart and he got two hours worth of tweets. >> i called him evil and all heck broke loose. >> it was great for him. he stood up when so many don't stand up and that is the problem sometimes with the conservatives. they're looking for somebody to lead them and he was one of those people on the blog that went out there and led. >> he was. he was a great character. he was a very intelligent guy, credible work ethic and he will be deeply missed. our panel, we had a great time together and i know we'll all miss him very much on the primary nights. he was a one off, andrew breitbart, and i really think that he made an impact and he himself would have been surprised i think at the scale of that today. >> force of nature. >> he certainly was. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> when we come back, more deaths in afghanistan in the

wake of the quran burnings. oh will you grab us some yoplait? sure. what flavor? mm, one of each. lemon burst, hm, cherry orchard, blackberry harvest... my daughter's grabbing some yoplait. pina colada, orange creme. i can't imagine where she is... strawberry cheesecake. [ grocery store pa ] clean up in aisle eight. found her! [ female announcer ] yoplait original. 25 flavors for you to love. it is so good.

new capzasin quick relief gel. (announcer) starts working on contact and at the nerve level. to block pain for hours. new capzasin, takes the pain out of arthritis. two soldiers were killed today in a base in southern afghanistan. a total of six soldiers have been killed since troops mistakenly burned korans. michael hastings and also the operators of the war in

afghanistan. michael, thank you for joining me. a provocative book at a provocative time. starting with the issue of the koran burning. it seems to me, and my brother is a british army colonel, he fought in afghanistan. everybody there is acutely aware of the sensitiviies of this kind offend thing. how on earth did any american armed forces get in the position where they were putting korans on the incinerator. i don't understand how that could happen. >> thanks for having me. my brother is sauls a lieutenant and captain in the army. how does it happen? i don't know. we have three investigations going into how this koran burning happened. my larger point, the point i made in the book and have been making, we don't need an investigation into how the koran is burned, we need an investigation into why we're still in afghanistan. mistakes like this are still going to happen.

there's a lot of the people, the prisoners at bagram have korans. if they need to get rid of them, they're going to figure out a way to get rid of them. how that one act turned into 30 afghans dead and half a dozen americans killed and injured is really extraordinary. >> i think the original mistake was inexcusable, but the cost of deaths of the american troops on the back of it was even worse. you're right, the whole afghanistan issue comes down to what is the point of the vision? what began as a war has morphed into what is effectively an anti-terrorist operation. the only reason for remaining there, it seems to me, is to prevent any kind of regrouping by al qaeda so they can commit terrorist acts. that's not a war, is it? america and the allied forces there, they're not going to win a war in afghanistan. >> no, and i think that's right. and i think conventional wisdom has come around to this idea

that we're going to draw down afghanistan. the tide of war is receding. we're going to focus on terrorists, and in that in itself, we will avoid these sorts of situations. the question i keep going back to is why are we putting american soldiers in a position where they even have an opportunity to accidentally burn a koran. it gets to a level of madness. then we apologize for it again and again and again. and today, the united nations came out and said we need to apologize even more. to me as an american, as someone who has loved ones who have served, it just deeply, deeply is disturbing. >> you take on a new job, covering the elections, and this will bring you into touch with president obama, of course, and reporting on him. how do you think he's doing? >> well, i'm excited buzzfeed is where it's at for 2012, for sure.

i'm excited to be a part of ben smith and his operation over there. he has a great political team. how is president obama doing? we shall see. the first time i met president obama was in 2006 in baghdad when he was a junior senator, and at the time, i was quite impressed by him. he took us journalists aside and told us, asked us what is really going on here and flattered us. it was quite a moment. you could tell this guy was obviously one of the most talented politicians around. clearly, he vindicated that. i think the opinions about his job performance are obviously mixed, but as a reporter, what where hope to do is go out on the trail, follow him around, go to chicago, talk to people who know him, and try to make that assessment for myself and try to hopefully not be boring and get our readers to sort of really pay attention to this election year. >> one thing he's done is completely reshape american foreign policy, not by only withdrawaling troops in iraq and afghanistan, but also the way he deployed american military

operations in libya, frask, in getting rid of gadhafi, was an exercise in reshaping how american forces will behave in that operation. allowing the british and french to take a lead. that may be the way forward for america. >> his foreign policy successes are numerous. the arguments that republicans have had for years, really since harry truman was accused of losing china in the late 1940s, that democrats are weak on national security, that's just not going to hold water this year. you have bin laden, libya, which has been successful. and you have the fact that he ended the war in iraq. a very divisive war. and he's on a path out of afghanistan. i think there are some troubling aspects, as your first guest, congressman paul, would point out. but yeah, i think -- you know, i call it the taxi cab bump.

you know, during the bush years when you get in a taxi cab in a foreign country and tell them you're american, they didn't like that, but ever since obama is in charge, when you get in a taxi cab in imman and baghdad, you get it, and they appreciate the americanism of it. >> that's definitely true. good luck. coming next, only in america. do we really need a top gun sequel? [ shivering ] sorry. sore knee. blast of cold feels nice. why don't you use bengay zero degrees? it's the one you store in the freezer. gives that instant cold sensation. that's chilly. same medicated pain reliever used by physical therapists. and it lasts for hours. [ sigh of relief ] [ short breath ] [ longer breath ] [ short breath ] [ male announcer ] new bengay zero degrees.

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tonight's only in america concerns the deeply worrying news that hollywood is considering a sequel to "top gun." >> i feel the need -- >> the need for speed! >> don't get me wrong. i love "top gun" so much as a 19-year-old, i watched the original nine times in my local london movie theater. maverick, goose, iceman, great balls of fire, aviator shades, and a line i used with chelsea handler, you are still dangerous, but you can be my wingman any time. but some things are best left unrevisited. remember jaws two. the only shocking thing about that fiasco were the dreadful reviews and the dismal performance.

saturday night fever would have gone on for centuries if not for staying alive, which ironically wanted most of the story to feel like the complete opposite. three simple words, batman and robin. and greece two still makes me shutter even though i walked out after ten minutes. think for a moment about cas ablanga, the big lebowski, the way we were, and the last two on this show, never made sequels because we knew they would never be as good as the originals. exactly. the only one that ever was was godfather ii, and they even ruined that with godfather iii. please, hollywood, don't wreck top gun's place. the goose was alive, hwould be telling tom cruise, no no, mav, this is not a good idea. that's all for us tonight. ac 360 starts now.