up candy crowley, live to talk about the president's state of the union speech. romney rules saturday night's caucuses in washington state. next up, contests in 10 states with a total of 419 convention delegates. today, super states on super tuesday with former georgia congressman newt gingrich. >> i have to win georgia. >> and texas congressman ron paul. >> winning the primary, of course, is very, very important. >> then cnn's dana bash and ron brownstein on which washington leader had the worst week in politics. >> as president of the united states i have kept my commitmentses to the state of israel. >> and analysis of president obama's speech to a pro-israeli lobbying group with house intelligence committee members. i'm candy crowley. and this is "state of the union." in a mitt romney and rick santorum

battled it out in michigan, newt gingrich went south to his old so stomping grounds in georgia. he was the congressman from the 6th district there for more than 20 years. 76 convention delegates up for grabs in georgia, more than any other super tuesday state. looking to jump-start a campaign that hasn't won a state since mid-january, gingrich is pressing hard with a plan for $2.50 a gallon gasoline, double barrel blasts at republican rivals and the president and superlative predictions. >> i believe we have a chance, a very real chance to win a historic election of landslide proportions carrying control of the senate, increased votes in the house and decisively defeating the left for the first time since 1932. >> i spoke to nut gingrich earlier this morning. let me start with that comment you made in ohio about the possibility of a landslide victory of historic proportion taking over the senate and the house and the white house.

if we kind of review where we are at the moment, we see the president strengthening. his numbers are better. we see this week two seats that republicans really had pretty much counted on in terms of picking up or retaining going by the wayside, thus, making a republican senate harder to get. what brings you the kind of optimism that makes you predict a landslide victory for republicans? >> well, we lived through this in 1980, and in the end issues matter, and reality matters. the fact is that ronald reagan didn't pull ahead of jimmy carter until september. when he did pull ahead of them, he ultimately carried more than frankin d. roosevelt against hoover in 1932, and the reason is people take stock. the price of gasoline is becoming a genuine crisis for many american families. if it continues to go higher, it

will crater the economy by august because people will have no discretionary income, and, as a result, the president's going to go into the fall with very expensive gasoline, a weakening economy, a disastrously bad policy in the middle east and a trillion dollar deficit. i think that's a pretty big burden while he's waging war on the catholic church and apologizing to islamic extremists. i think that's a pretty heavy burden for the president of the united states to carry for re-election. >> i want to -- first obviously you will have to get the nomination in order to take on president obama. and i wanted to remind you of something you said january 17th. you were talking about both rick perry, who was still in the race at that time, and rick santorum. you were leading them both in the gallup polls at that time, and here's what you said. >> so i'm respectful that rick has every right to run as long as he feels that is what he should do, but from the standpoint of the conservative movement, consolidating into a gingrich candidacy would, in fact, virtually guarantee victory on saturday. >> we are now at a point where rick santorum has more delegates than you do in the delegate forecast. he's leading in the national

polls. i wonder if you think it's -- and, by the way, his top adviser is asking you to get out so you can consolidate the conservative vote. >> sure. >> what's your reaction? >> well, you can tell his top adviser -- tell his top adviser i'm taking rick santorum's advice. he stayed in. he was running fourth in every single primary. suddenly he went -- very cleverly went to three states nobody else went to, and he became the media darling and bounced back. we have had a steady closing in the gallup poll between santorum and me every single week now for the last two weeks. i'm very confident that in the larger state that is going to vote tuesday, georgia, which has more delegates than any other state, we're going to win a very, very decisive victory. we've going to do pretty well, i think, in tennessee and oklahoma and ohio and a number of other states, and i'm happy to continue -- i have basically a

big solutions campaign, proposals like a personal social security savings account for younger americans, and, you know, i think santorum gets out of the industrial states and gets into states where having voted against right to work, having voted for davis/bacon on behalf of unions to cause billions of dollars of extra payments by the government. having voted for every single minimum wage the union has asked for, i think he has a much harder time when we go outside of places like michigan, so this is going to be a long nominating process. >> apparently no one seems ready to get out, least of all you. let me turn you to some of the issues that you brought up at the beginning. you've been quite critical of the president for apologizing for the accidental burning of the koran by some u.s. personnel in afghanistan. it's caused obviously riots in the streets, the deaths of some americans. i wanted to play for our listeners and for you the president's explanation of why he apologizes given to abc's bob woodruff. >> the reason that it was important is to save lives and

to make sure our troops who are there right now are not placed in further danger. >> do you think it has improved it, your apology? >> it calmed things down. we're not out of the woods yet. >> mr. speaker, as president, would you not issue an apology if you thought it would save american lives? >> if the commander in chief apologizes in a setting like this where, remember, the korans we're describing were defaced by islamist radical prisoners, they were defaced by them, it would have been pretty easy to have said i certainly hope every cleric in afghanistan is going to condemn the defacing of the koran by these extremists. when the president of the united states says i apologize, he is basically taking on blame now. what happens -- >> no, wait, lots of people apologize for accidental things. lots of people -- you bump into someone, you say, i'm sorry. it's not unheard of to do that, and so what i'm wondering is -- >> would you like to hear my answer? >> i would, but let me just --

>> wait a second, would you like to hear my answer before you -- i know you -- go ahead. >> i just wanted to get back to the question, which was, if you thought it would save lives, as the president said he did think this apology would help protect americans, wouldn't you do the same? >> i don't believe that the president saved lives by what he did. i believe the president set a terrible precedent of a commander in chief not standing up for american troops. i think he should have called karzai and said, you know, it was karzai's soldier who killed those first two americans. have we heard any apology from the afghan president for his soldier killing young americans? no, and i think that this one-sided policy -- obama went around the world apologizing. this excuse of his is baloney. he has apologized so many times around so many countries, it is, frankly, embarrassing to have a president who thinks that apologizing for the united states is a good policy. i don't believe the president of the united states has an obligation to apologize, and i think the commander in chief has

an obligation to step up and say, i am proud of our troops, i think our troops are doing the best they could to help afghanistan, and, frankly, if the afghans don't want us there, we don't need to be there. but the idea that we are apologizing while religious fanatics kill young americans, i think, is reprehensible, and i think the average american think it's just profoundly wrong. >> mr. speaker, i have to move you along to a couple of other issues. one of them is about the president's commitment to israel. he said in an interview with "the atlantic" recently, "every single commitment i have made to the state of israel and its security i have kept. why is it that despite me never failing to support israel on every single problem that they've had over the last three years, there are still questions out there about that?" do you doubt the president of the united states' commitment to israel? >> of course. >> why?

>> you have secretary of defense panetta pounding the table and saying, come to the table and then uses curse words and repeat it, come to the table lecturing the israeli government in public during a period where rocks were being fired into israel from gaza. you have the president's new budget, which cuts aid to israel for its ballistic defense shield, and have no evidence that the president is prepared to take steps to stop iran from getting nuclear weapons. they talk, and the iranians build. they talk, and the iranians build. we're being played for fools. you have every evidence this administration is desperately trying to get the israelis not to preempt, and, frankly, an israeli prime minister faced with the threat of nuclear arms in iran is going to preempt. they cannot -- no israeli prime minister could responsibly allow the iranians to get nuclear weapons because israel is such a small country, it is so compact, that two or three nuclear weapons would be the equivalent of a second holocaust. >> secondly, i have to ask, you have called the president opportunistic for calling the

young woman at the center of a controversy involving rush limbaugh and contraception, the availability of it in health care, limbaugh called the young woman a slut and prostitute. in fact, she is a law student at georgetown law. can you tell me what you think of rush limbaugh in this whole case? >> i think he's indicated himself. he made a mistake, and i think he did the right thing. as you point out earlier, but, again, let me draw the distinction, he isn't commander in chief. his apology didn't do anything worldwide. it didn't put any blame on the united states. he did the right thing. i'm glad he did it. that issue ought to be behind us. >> he is seen as kind of a spokesman for the republican party, though, and it hurts the party, wouldn't you think? >> oh, come on, candy. i know everybody in the media is desperate to protect barack obama. that's silly. the republican party has four people running for president, none of whom are rush limbaugh. one will end up as the nominee. that person will be the republican spokesman, and i don't think any of the four of them were involved in this controversy at all. >> former house speaker newt

gingrich, thank you so much for joining us. >> thank you. coming up, congressman ron paul, down but determined to push on. >> i do not know exactly, exactly what will come out of the pain. we do know that the strategy of building up delegates is a pretty sound position to have. [ cheers and applause ] >> he headed north, way north in his search of a first win of the season. when i grow up, i want to write a novel. i want to go on a road trip. when i grow up, i'm going to go there. i want to fix up old houses. [ female announcer ] at aarp we believe you're never done growing. i want to fall in love again. [ female announcer ] discover what's next in your life. get this free travel bag when you join at aarp.org/jointoday. you'd chose an intel core i7 processor for maximum processing power. you'd use carbon fiber and machined aluminum,

to make it more beautiful and more durable. you'd even use edge-to-edge gorilla glass for a stunning display in a more compact form. everything that you would ever want in a laptop. introducing the dell xps 13 ultrabook. everything. and more. ♪ one chance to hunt down the right insurance at the right price.

the "name your price" tool, only from progressive. ready, aim, save! grrr! ooh, i forgot my phone! the "name your price" tool. now available on your phone. get a free quote today. i have to be a tree in the school play. good. you like trees. well, i like climbing them, but i've never been one. good point. ( captain ) this is your captain speaking. annie gets to be the princess. oh... but she has to kiss a boy. and he's dressed up like a big green frog ! ewww. ( announcer ) fly without putting your life on pause. be yourself nonstop. american airlines. the progresso chicken noodle you made is so good. it's got tender white meat chicken. the way i always made it for you. one more thing.... those pj's you like,

i bought you five new pairs. love you. did you see the hockey game last night? [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. with determination. courage. and all the points i earned with my citi thankyou card. [ male announcer ] the citi thankyou card. redeem points for travel on any airline with no blackout dates. joining me from the super tuesday state of alaska, congressman and presidential hopeful ron paul. congressman, thank you for joining us. i want to start out on a couple of issues in foreign policy where you differ the most from your republican colleagues. the president will meet this week with prime minister netanyahu of israel. if you were the president, and the prime minister sat down and said, i want you to know that we are prepared to bomb iran because we want to keep them from developing the aptitude for

having nuclear weaponry, what would your response be? >> well, first thing, i'd like to stay out of their business. i'd like to let them do whatever they want. i don't want to interfere with what they need to do for their defense, and i don't want to interfere with israel when they want to have peace treaties, but if i were forced to give my personal opinion about it, i would say, you know, it doesn't make any sense to bomb a country that is no threat to anybody just because they might get a weapon and try to point out that containment worked pretty well with the soviets, and they had 30,000, and they were rather ruthless people killing millions and millions of their own people, and we stood them down in the cold war. so i'd try to calm it down a little bit, but, quite frankly, i don't think we should tell israel what they should do or shouldn't do. >> speaker gingrich is a -- former speaker gingrich, as you may have just heard, said he thinks the u.s. has been played

for fools by iran, that -- accused the president of doing nothing to try to contain iran's nuclear ambitions if, indeed, they have them. as we know, the president has tried to gather world opinion to force iran to stop what nuclear development it's doing. we also know that he's been at the forefront of sanctions. do you think the president has failed to do anything about this, or do you in general go along with what he's done? >> well, no, i think he gets too much involved. i think sanctions give motivation for them to want to have a nuclear weapon. everybody around them, we have 45 bases around them. we can demolish them within an hour, so -- and the worst thing sanctions do, and the republicans and the democrats both support it, republicans -- the other republican candidates, they just want war even more. but the whole thing is there's a lot of dissension in iran, and we should encourage it by not interfering. once we get involved or threaten to bomb them, they -- it becomes

nationalistic. everybody joins the ayatollah and ahmadinejad, and so there's a blowback, unusual circumstances, you know, unintended consequences, so, yes, our people, whether republicans or democrats, are well intended, but they don't realize how much damage they do by not accomplishing what they want and causing more harm to us. so our military personnel right now are very adamant not to be involved in the bombing of iran. it makes no sense whatsoever to our military personnel, to our cia. nobody who's supposed to be in the know right now, even though they're much more interventionist than i am, says it makes no sense whatsoever to encourage or bomb iran right now, and that certainly would be my position. >> may i ask you, do you think the president was wrong to apologize for the accidental burning of the koran in

afghanistan? the president said he did it to try to protect u.s. soldiers. as you heard, the former speaker thinks it was a bad idea. >> now, i don't think it's wrong, but it's pretty much irrelevant, but i think the republicans condemning it are a little over the top too. you know, in '08 some of our soldiers in iraq took the koran and used it for target practice, you know, just to humiliate the muslims in that country. ronald reagan apologized, and what is so terrible about that, it might calm things down. i would -- i'm personally more apologetic for invading countries who never did anything to us and occupying, disrupting it, causing thousands of deaths of our own people and causing hundreds of thousands of refugees. this is the thing that i feel sad about, what about the pictures of torture? weren't they every bit as bad? i mean, this is what incites the hatred. this is what we have to try to

understand, but, you know, i thought mcnamara was rather astute when they asked him after he wrote his memoirs about the mess he caused in vietnam, because he had all these second thoughts, and they said, well, don't you think you should apologize or you want to apologize, you know, to the american people and to the world? he said, what good is an apology? if you make mistakes and you see this and stir up enough trouble, why don't we change our policy? that's what he said. we should change our policy, so if we have a policy going on in the middle east that is begging that we apologize now and then and others condemning it because they don't think we should apologize, i think we should reassess our foreign policy, and that is what i think we are not doing, and that is why i am quite different than the other candidates and the president that american people i think are sick and tired of this war and the wars going on over there. we're going broke. we ran off a debt of $4 trillion in these last 10 years fighting these wars that were not legitimate and that we were not attacked.

they were not declared, and the american people by a majority now want us out of there. >> let me turn you to a domestic issue. i'm sure you know tornadoes have hit a wide swath of states, particularly in the midwest, about ten states. the damage is enormous. you have frequently been critical of fema, the federal emergency management agency, and the federal money that is given to some of these home owners and those that are also -- other victims of storms like this. is there a role for federal money in helping all of these citizens get their lives back together? >> not really because it's not authorized, and there is no such thing as federal money. federal money is just what they steal from the states and steal from you and me. so there is no federal money unless you say, well, they can print it and cause internal problems, but to say you don't support federal money doesn't mean you don't care about people, because fema is inefficient.

i've lived on the gulf coast, and i got re-elected constantly by criticizing fema because of people who had to put up with fema after the hurricanes had nothing but frustration and anger with them and to point out, well, they might give you a home, yeah, they bought a lot of trailers for katrina, you know and it's just so wasteful, inefficient. but, you know, the guard units and other things within the states certainly are there. the people who live in tornado alley, just as i live in a hurricane alley, they should have insurance for doing this. but under major emergencies, natural disasters, if there is a need, you know, for getting some help such as the military to come in, that is not a tragic violation, but to say that any accident that happens in the country, send in fema, send in the money, the government has all this money, it's totally out of control, and it's not efficient. there's a much better way of

doing this and helping it. the fema, i was constantly told by the people of my district, they just get in the way. they take over law enforcement. they take over, and they hinder the voluntary group and hinder the state organization, exactly opposite of what we should be doing. >> texas congressman ron paul, so far away from home in alaska, good luck to you, sir, on tuesday. thanks for joining us. who had the worst week in washington? one hint, it's not harry reid. as a police chief i have an opportunity to affect what happens in a major city. i learned early on if you want to make a difference you have to have the right education. university of phoenix opened the door. my name is james craig, i'm committed to making a difference and i am a phoenix.

your hair mixes with pollen and dust in the air. i have to banish you to the garden. but now, with zyrtec-d®, i have the proven allergy relief of zyrtec®, plus a powerful decongestant. i can breathe freer with zyrtec-d®. so i'll race you to our favorite chair. i might even let you win. zyrtec-d® lets me breathe easier. so i can love the air. [ male announcer ] zyrtec-d®, behind the pharmacy counter. this week only, save $10 on zyrtec® 70 count. see sunday's newspaper.

for you today ? we gave people right off the street a script and had them read it. no, sorry, i can't help you with that. i'm not authorized to access that transaction. that's not in our policy. i will transfer you now. my supervisor is currently not available. would you like to hold ? that department is currently closed. have i helped you with everything you needed ? if your bank doesn't give you knowledgeable customer service 24/7, you need an ally. ally bank. no nonsense. just people sense. talk about the blind side, maine republican olympia snowe stunned the political world this week, announcing her retirement, lamenting the lost art of bipartisanship. >> what i like to call the sensible center has now virtually disappeared in washington. >> snowe's retirement turns her

fairly solid republican seat into a question mark and greatly complicates republican plans to gain the four seats they need to win control of the senate. also looking dicier, nebraska where retiring democrat ben nelson left what looked like an easy opening for republicans. now former democratic senator bob kerrey chang his mind and says he'll run for the seat. he's probably not an easy fit in nebraska, more than ten years after he left, so republicans are taking early shots calling him a "tax-and-spend liberal who was involved in back room deal-making," and one of his opponents quickly fired off this ad -- >> kerrey voted for billions in earmarks. bruning says eliminate them and cut spending. the choice, new york liberal or nebraska conservative john bruning. >> at worst nebraska and maine senate seats go to demming in november. at least kerrey's entrance and snowe's exit force republicans to spend more money than planned

in states they had counted on to put together a senate majority. all in all, while the political world was watching the presidential campaign in michigan and arizona, senate republicans were having a very bad week. up next, the fight for the senate with cnn's senior congressional correspondent dana bash and cnn contributor ron brownstein. delicious sugar-free vitafusion fiber gummies have more fiber than other leading brands. they're the better way to enjoy your fiber.

joining me now, ron brownstein, cnn senior political analyst, and dana bash, cnn senior congressional correspondent. george will, conservative, republican, but quite outspoken, had this to say in a column this week. "mitt romney and rick santorum are conservatives although of strikingly different stripes. neither, however, seems likely to be elected. conservatives this year should have as their primary goal making sure republicans wield all the gavels in congress in 2013." let's just start out with the fact that a leading conservative columnist is saying, i don't think mitt romney or rick santorum can win. >> is saying what we all hear from a lot of republican strategists quietly. >> a lot of concern. absolutely. the republicans are talking about the possibility they will are to run a don't give him a blank check ads in the fall aiming at obama.

let's keep in mind, obama is not ronald reagan. his approval rating is at a range that virtually assures a republican nominee will be competitive, but no question the past month and really romney's performance off and on and inconsistency of it raised a lot of concern about many thinkers about their prospects. >> the second part, let's make sure that the house and the senate are run by republicans, a lot of power in that. the problem is as we -- as said earlier, olympia snowe gets out making a pretty solid republican seat. although she might have had some trouble -- looked like she was going to win it, counted on it, she's gone, you know, and, so, hey, that seat be as well as ben nelson's democratic seat. now they have bob kerrey in who is a stronger opponent than they thought they'd have. what are the chances? >> look, the conventional wisdom, and it was based on real math, has been that republicans had a very good shot at taking over the senate because of those that are actually up. democrats have 21 seats that they're defending. republicans have only 10. let's just start there. then you had seven democratic

retirements, so that's always bad news. and the fact of the matter is it's also the environment. the democrats are having trouble defending a lot of these states. the fact that democrats saw suddenly a burst of a chance in red, the red state of nebraska keeping that. a huge chance in maine. there's no question that they are extremely excited, and there's no question that republicans in the senate are going, oh, because they're going to -- >> assess their chances now, republicans about taking over the senate. >> probably no more than 50/50, i think. no more than that. look, the obama shadow is going to be very large on this race. since the 1970s we have seen in polling a steady decline in the number of people who split their ticket between presidential and senate elections. it's now routine, candy, for 80% of the president -- who approve of a president to vote for his party's candidate and 80% plus of the people to disapprove to vote against his party's candidate, so if you look at the map, obama is going to be a big shadow, places like nebraska,

north dakota, montana, missouri where even if he wins the election, he's not going to run well. that will be a drag on the democratic candidate. on the other hand, look at the opportunities democrats could have for pickups. massachusetts, maine, nevada, all states where he could run well, plus virginia, wisconsin, hawaii, new mexico are places where he could also help them. so, you know, just a real quick number, in 2010 he was over 50% approval in 9 states, with senate races democrats won 8 of the 9. under 47% in 15, they lost 13 of the 15. only harry reid and joe manchin surviving, so it's clear that his fate is not -- is going to be a big impact in terms of distribution. very true cross pressure members come from states that go one way for president and one way for senate, from senator snowe. >> now, she pointed out in 1994, 34 senators that she was serving with came from states where the president was voted for by another party, and that went down to 25%. that's 25 right now and -- but the one thing i will say,

though, if you look back over just the past three elections, they're huge kind of wave one issue elections. 2006, swept in the democrats, it was very much anti-war. 2008, it was obviously anti- -- still anti-bush, and 2010 it was kind of the tea party. talk to strategists on both sides, and they say it will be very difficult -- it's not going to be like that this time. it's probably going to be race by race, candidate by candidate, issue by issue and state by state. >> ron brownstein, dana bash, thank you so much. president obama addressed aipac a short while ago. he said no option is off the table when it comes to iran. we'll play all that for you in just a moment. evertime of day. outdoors, or in. transitions® lenses automatically filter just the right amount of light. so you see everything

the way it is meant to be seen. maybe even a little better. experience life well lit, ask for transitions adaptive lenses.

but when she got asthma, all i could do was worry ! specialists, lots of doctors, lots of advice... and my hands were full. i couldn't sort through it all. with unitedhealthcare, it's different. we have access to great specialists, and our pediatrician gets all the information. everyone works as a team. and i only need to talk to one person about her care. we're more than 78,000 people looking out for 70 million americans. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare. president obama spoe less than an hour in front of aipac. he tried to clear out any

information. o. >> we all prefer diplomatic relations. having said that, iran should have no resolve about the united states, just as they should not doubt israel's sovereign right to make its own decisions about what is required to meet its security needs. when it comes to preventing iran from taking a nuclear option, i will take no options off the table, and i mean what i say.

that includes all elements of american power, a political effort aimed at isolating iran, a diplomatic effort to sustain our coalition and ensure that the iranian program is monitored, an economic effort that imposes crippling sanctions and a military effort to be prepared for any contingency. iran's leaders should understand i do not have a policy of containment. i have a policy to prevent iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. [ applause ] as i have made clear time and

again during the course of my presidency, i will not hesitate to use force when it is necessary to defend the united states and its interests. moving forward, i would ask that we all remember the weightiness of the situation. the stakes involved for israel, for america, and for the world. already there is too much loose talk of war. over the last few weeks such talk has only benefitted the iranian government by driving up the price of oil which they depend on to fund their nuclear program. for the sake of israel's security, america's security, and the peace and security of the world, now is not the time for bluster.

now is the time to let our increased pressure sink in and to sustain the broad international coalition we have built. now is the time to heed the timeless advice from teddy roosevelt. speak softly, carry a big stick. [ applause ] as we do, rest assured that the iranian government will know our resolve. our coordination will, with israel, will continue. >> we have two members to help us understand what this means, congressman peter king and ruplesberger are next.

joining me in washington democratic congressman dutch rupels berger and in new york congressman king. you heard the president's speech, it was clear he was trying to say to those in the room and israel in general look, the u.s. is not going to allow iran to acquire a nuclear weapon. we would move in before that, but we first want to try diplomacy. is that what we take out of this speech?

>> yes, now as an american, i want to believe my president. the question is whether or not the israeli government and the netanyahu government are going to fully trust the president. there's been some bad blood in the past. even today in his speech where he was saying we stand with israel and saying in effect why any attacks should be put off are not done in the next several months by israel, but then he used words like loose talk and bluster. if he's talking about the netanyahu policy or people in the israeli government i don't think it helps to use terms like that, and israel has a real concern. israel can't afford to make a mistake. their window of opportunity is shorter than ours is. i think if they are convinced that president obama will ultimately take action to prevent iran from getting a nuclear weapon if military action is necessary i don't know if they'd go along with him. that's why the meeting is so important. >> congressman, you were with

the prime minister in israel about a week ago. >> chairman rogers and i met with netanyahu about a week ago yes. >> there is a matter that congressman king brings up that israel has to believe that the u.s. is there for them and in that relationship between netanyahu and president obama has been tough. >> first thing it has to be clear the to the american public and israeli public that generally the united states is behind hem 100%. the president heard what i heard in the speech if israel's security at risk we will be with you 100%. from our role in the intelligence community and peter knows this, also on the committee with us, i think right now that we have a better relationship with israeli military and israeli intelligence than we've had in the history of our relationship with israel and the united states. my conference and mike rogers' conversation with netanyahu basically was we've got to stop the rhetoric and start negotiating the issue in the

media and talk together as allies would. we know and the president said he is not for containment, meaning we do not want the iranian government to have the nuclear weapons and we will do what we can to stop that. we have to remember that it's all about iran. they're a bad country, not the people but the leadership there are bad. they export terrorism. right now the lethal weapons are going to syria. we were willing to attack the saudi arabia ambassador in our country, killing americans. this is something that we really have to focus on not only nuclear weapons and protecting israel and the world and also the issue of exporting terrorism with regard to iran. >> congressman king, i want to use your expertise as members of the intelligence committee. the first question the american people might have when talking about oh, don't worry, we're with you, we'll bomb iran if we're convinced the time is right and they're about to acquire nuclear weapons that we'd first like to know how we know that they have them.

do you have, can you give us any sense how close the u.s. feels iran is to that point? >> we have to be careful as to how we say this. i have no doubt that iran is getting extremely close to being able to have a nuclear weapon that's operational, there can be some debate as to exactly what month that would occur in and also a debate as to whether or not they would make it operational or 99.9% of the way and make it operational whenever they want to. israel probably has a shorter time line than we do, but also israel believes that even if we agree on the time line, israel's capacity to take out iranian nuclear sites is a lot shorter than ours because they don't have the same type of bunker busters we would have that type of weaponry so that's the concern and going back to what dutch was saying about rhetoric. 'not just rhetoric between the president and prime minister

netanyahu. going back to several years ago when netanyahu was treated badly at the white house by the administration, going back to when the president suggested almost the moral equivalency between iranian nuclear weapons and the the israeli settlement, so there has been that bad blood. if they can get that out of the way, fine, but they have to work on it and the president is being held accountable for some of the things he'd said over the last several years and has to get the israeli prime minister's trust. >> let me put you on pause and take a break and come back with more with congressman ruppers berger and rogers, after the break. to make it more beautiful and more durable. you'd even use edge-to-edge gorilla glass for a stunning display in a more compact form. everything that you would ever want in a laptop. introducing the dell xps 13 ultrabook. everything. and more. ♪

with determination. courage. and all the points i earned with my citi thankyou card. [ male announcer ] the citi thankyou card. redeem points for travel on any airline with no blackout dates. the progresso chicken noodle you made is so good. it's got tender white meat chicken. the way i always made it for you. one more thing.... those pj's you like, i bought you five new pairs. love you. did you see the hockey game last night? [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup.

i want to fix up old houses. ♪ [ woman ] when i grow up, i want to take him on his first flight. i want to run a marathon. i'm going to own my own restaurant. when i grow up, i'm going to start a band. [ female announcer ] at aarp we believe you're never done growing. thanks, mom. i just want to get my car back. [ female announcer ] discover what's next in your life. get this free travel bag when you join at aarp.org/jointoday.

we are back with congressmen dutch ruppersberger and congressman peter king of new york, thank you for joining us. the intelligence committee, picking up on what congressman king just said, the translation of all of that is that the u.s. and israel need to come to the same red line that you know here's our definition of the red line after which we have to do something, and that israel has to trust that the u.s. would do something once iran moves up to that line in terms of developing nuclear weapons. is that correct?

>> first what the president said today in his speech he is clearly there as the leader of this country, the commander in chief. now, when chairman rogers and i were over in israel we met with the head of massad the intelligence agency. intelligence is the best defense to make a determination whether or not there will be a next step as it relates to iran. we wanted them to stop and we as the president said in his speech, teddy roosevelt, you speak softly but carry a big stick and we have to show to rye ran right now the game is over no, bluff, we're going to do what we have to do to protect israel but not only israel but the world. what i would like to see is the same type of formula we used in libya. the whole world needs to come together and stop iran. they're dangerous to the whole world. they're dangerous to israel, the united states. you look at what they tried to do as i said before with the other arab countries including saudi arabia. we need to get the arab league involved. we need to get the world to say we're going to stop you, iran, one way or other. that takes political pressure off of israel.

for israel to go alone they're stronger with us w the united states of america but secondly we're not going to let them go alone. that's not going to happen if eventually we have to do the things we have to do. >> congressman king in his speech today and prior to this in an interview the president has intimated that some of the criticism of his policy toward israel, the criticism that he hasn't been a strong backer of israel is based in u.s. politics. would you agree with that. >> basically no. there's always going to be some politics involved and i'll give dutch credit, between the two of us we keep politics out of foreign policy but the president, i mean did going back in 2009 and 2010, have a very confrontational policy toward prime minister netanyahu and part of that may have been personal. the aftereffects of that are being pelt today. a glee with dutch, our military and intelligence between the israeli and americans is as

close as it's ever been. there's no question. israel does not believe it does not have the same length of time the u.s. has to take out iran's nuclear sites, and dutch says we have to get the arab league and others involved, that would be ideal. israel may feel they only have several months in which they have to act and the arab league may not be there. it's up to the president i think tomorrow in his one on one with prime minister netanyahu to convince him is he ear justice arious that the united states is determined to use whatever has to be done to take nothing off the table to take out and to stop iran from becoming a nuclear power, and again i don't think it was right for the president to use the word "bluster" today because that to me again was minimizing the policies that prime minister netanyahu has been talking about, considering the possibility of an attack. >> congressman r, do you agree e relationship between the two men is rocky and stood in the way of

trust and do you agree with congressman king's assessment that iran is getting mighty close to development of a nuclear capability? >> personally i think a lot of relationships are different, one president handles policy in a different way it. i think if there was a problem with the relationship, that's between them. there are leaders of different countries, willing to back each other up that are allies. i think it's more about the facts, the day tax the intelligence that comes in, about where we're going to go. today's speech was clear, the president said we're going to back israel and not going to let iran have nuclear weapons withcy clear, we'll do what we have to do. we hope the sanction also work and they are working now. if they don't we'll do what we have to do. the second issue, peter king? >> how close are they to having nuclear capability? >> both israel and the united states intelligence will say they're not there for a bomb but i wouldn't trust them, they're getting closer, all of their actions look like they're moving in that regard. it's about intelligence. we have some of the best

intelligence in the world and with the two countries coming together and other countries helping us we will know when it's time and as far as protecting israel and the middle east and the united states from iran. >> congressman ruppersberger and king, thank you for your expertise. >> thank you. up next, bologna, aging rock stars and economists, just another week on the campaign trail. dry mouth may start off as an irritant. it'll cause cavities, bad breath. patients will try and deal with it by drinking water. water will work for a few seconds but if you're not drinking it, it's going to get dry again. i recommend biotene.

all the biotene products like the oral rinse...the sprays have enzymes in them. the whole formulation just works very well. it leaves the mouth feeling fresh. if i'm happy with the results and my patients are happy with the results, i don't need to look any farther. or creates another laptop bag or hires another employee, it's not just good for business, it's good for the entire community. at bank of america, we know the impact

that local businesses have on communities. that's why we extended $6.4 billion in new credit to small businesses across the country last year. because the more we help them, the more we help make opportunity possible. metamucil uses super hard working psyllium fiber, which gels to remove unsexy waste and reduce cholesterol. taking psyllium fiber won't make you a model but you should feel a little more super. metamucil. down with cholesterol.

some odds and ends this week on the campaign trail, but mostly just odd. candidates speak for hours a day on the trail. sometimes they do ram bell off the rails. case in point. newt gingrich called the president's energy policies baloney, and then this. >> trying to figure out how to design, you know, some kind of picture of what does obama bologna look like. it would be all left wing. maybe it's made of the left wings of turkeys. i don't know. >> perhaps that's why the president likes his teleprompter. meanwhile, mitt romney had a rock star kind of week. >> kid rock! [ cheering ] >> kid rock performed at a campaign event. motorcity mad man and guitarist ted nugent tweeted a ringing endorsement, and mitt's campaign

rally in idaho was jammed like a concert, and we caught this sign in the crowd. no, that's not mrs. romney holding the sign. we checked. finally, props on the campaign trail are not new. president obama occasionally busts out a chart. rick santorum likes the pocket constitution, and as does ron paul when he is not shaking silver coins at the fed chairman. and newt gingrich likes chickens. off broadway the possibilities are endless. rhode island senate candidate barry hinckley went the adorable route. >> do you know the gas that my mom uses to bring me to school? it's a lot more expensive now. this is when i was born. this is what it is now. this is real bad. tell your mom and your dad to vote for my dad, barry hinckley, because he can balance the budget. >> cute and potentially effective, but the problem with this kind of prop? it talks. >> hudson, are you worried about our debt? can you hear me, buddy? >> are you worried about paying back the money? >> no. >> that's okay, hudson.