ing you're allowed to kill out of vengeance. >> absolutely. >> cenk: this is madness. gotta stop this stand your ground. youtube/tyt. so easy! >> john: good evening. i'm john fuglesang. and this is "viewpoint." thank you for joining us. okay, it was the same old song, my friends when speaker of the house john boehner got up behind a podium just last month. >> jobs continue to be our number one priority here in the congress. >> john: now, if that song sounds a little flatter than usual, it could be because the g.o.p. house has now made the pursuit of scandal its number one priority over jobs. and the economy. you see, it seems house republicans would rather talk about the benghazi tragedy

misbehavior and the i.r.s. and the justice department struggles with the press than talk about an economy that's slowly improving, despite their best concentrated efforts. last month unemployment dropped to 7.5%, not a very good number with nearly 12 million unemployed but a vast improvement over may 2009 when one out of ten american workers was out looking for a job. while this year's federal deficit is expected to come in at some $642 billion that's a major improvement over the previous four years which each saw deficits that topped a trillion. and for more, it is my great pleasure to welcome back to "viewpoint," former new york governor, eliot spitzer. hello, sir. >> thank you for inviting me. >> john: it is a little to have you back. welcome back to your old house. >> it is yours now. >> john: i have the ratings to prove it. confidence is up. unemployment is down. deficits are down. while our republican friends are focused on scandal, has the economy suddenly gone from a

minus to a plus for this president? >> i don't want to overstate the case. i think has gone from a single-minded mania where we were waking up saying where is the bad news, where is the next shoe to drop, where is the next horror story we'll confront. suddenly, there is a sense we've turned the corner bit by bit. the stimulus should have been bigger but it did its bit beginning to jump start the economy. the housing market is coming back. the equity market is clearly back. so john boehner can't get up every day and say where are the jobs? and so the new meme is scandalmongering even when there's no scandal. when it comes to the economy i think the white house is still deeply concerned that there will be another downturn, china is slowing down significantly. europe austerity is a disaster. the republicans want none of that conversation. all they want is the i.r.s. >> john: absolutely. i want to take issue with you on the scandal thing. if the economy continues to

improve gradually despite their best efforts, is that going to force the g.o.p. to have to sit down and negotiate with this president and do something other than obstruction? >> look, i don't think they know how to do anything else at this point. i wish they did and you and i have watched this play out throughout the entirety of the obama administration where he reaches across the aisle. he gives them an olive branch. they cut it in half. they pick off the leaves and throw it back at him and say you won't work with us. all they do is drop subpoenas on various members of the administration and try to wrap them up with the pseudoscandals. when you talk to some of the voices in the republican leadership and hear them talk, the venom the anger the emotion, you feel like saying hey, take a deep breath! calm down! >> john: if that works that seems to be working with the base. we talked all last fall during the campaign that the white house was trying successfully to drive a wedge between the establishment g.o.p. and the tea party and it worked. what we've seen now with the scandals they may be fake but they're effective in terms of

fund-raising and bringing the tea party back into the fold and in terms of getting the vote out in 2014. >> i don't know. i'm more skeptical. i don't think it will work. i think there is within the ecochamber of the tea party within those who don't want to look at facts and deal with substance, it will work the same way the impeach bill clinton argument worked for a small residual base that at the end of the day will never get them 50 plus one. if you look at the demographic breakout of younger voters in particular. they're completely turned off by what the republican party is doing. hey, guys, i'm worried about paying off college debt, getting a job, raising a family. building something for the future. you're sitting down there worried about whether eric holder used the patriot that you passed to try to plug a leak he said would jeopardize security. guys this wasn't treason or perjury. get off it. i don't know if it is working beyond chattering class. those who are so fervent that

they were there anyway. i don't think it is working. >> john: i think you're right. on the other foot, has this administration done an adequate job of trumpeting their success? it seems like they're back into full-time human punching bag mode instead of bringing achievements to the g.o.p. >> that's exactly right. i was there at the certain point when i was governor and people are screaming about things and the media's carrying a story line. you're like i'm living in alice in wonderland. i'm trying to deal with things that matter. you saw this, the president's saturday address about jobs, the economy. he's saying somebody listen to me. please! the headlines in the paper still about the times article that eric holder is under siege. eric holder is saying wait a minute guys, we're doing what is called for. i've had my differences with eric holder in a lot of areas but the notion he should resign or be impeached it is ridiculous

>> john: you don't think the a.p. is the issue republicans will carry forward as they have with benghazi and the i.r.s. >> i don't think the public cares as much about the media subpoenas as the media cares about it. the public is saying wait a minute. the president of the united states, the attorney general have just said there was a security leak. we need to find out where it came from. they're much more sympathetic to the white house injustice than the media and the media is not loved other than by the media. i think where the republican party has a better argument is the i.r.s. yes. i don't think it goes back to the white house. >> john: more so than a.p. >> yes. >> john: why is that? >> what you had with the i.r.s. was a series of decisions that did, in fact, target based upon ideology. as i said, i don't think it goes to the white house. i think this was just misguided effort to reign in the 501(c)(4) issue. a legitimate issue that should be addressed but done in a way that it created the legitimacy of the paranoia on the right.

>> john: none were denied tax-exempt status. >> responding with facts. >> john: those pesky little things. >> this is a purely emotional validation of paranoia. and when you want to say this administration has been nothing more than overreaching, overbearing, disrespectful doesn't care about the constitution, they want power power,power, points one two and three so it is hard to rebut that. that's why i think the i.r.s. case is better. it is emotionally more powerful. >> john: we'll talk about how the poor tea party has been so intimidated they're afraid to express their opinions about the president. i want to move on because president obama named three candidates to fill the vacancies on the d.c.'s district of appeals. the g.o.p. is responding by accusing the president of trying to pack the court by filling three vacancies with three people. it seems if he wanted to pack it, he would put five people into the three jobs. so what is the significance of this? >> the d.c. circuit has sort of

a mythical position. after the supremes, it is both the feeding ground to the supreme court, justice roberts came from there. significant number of supreme court justices have graduated from the d.c. circuit to the supreme court. it handles what used to be the second circuit here in new york which handled the business cases hence was viewed as the second most important court. it handles the challenges to regulations so that is now viewed as the second most important court. and the republican party has very effectively filibuster and refused to permit president obama's nominees to get there. very upset about caitlin's enact to survive the filibuster. she had been solicitor general. spectacular lawyer. justice breyer. the party refuses to add and confirm the nominees of the white house for that court. and this is a grotesque interference with the process of government. >> john: you feel the president handled it well both

by high lighting the fact it was three times as long a wait as president bush? >> the answer is yes and no. yes, he's raising the issue. he's making the case. he would win on points if this were a moot court and here are the facts, yes he wins. you and i have been discussing the inability of the white house and majority leader, harry reid, to break and change the filibuster rules for how long now? they really wanted to break this logjam and say we have a majority. we're not doing this to overrun minority rights. we're doing this to use the majority's capacity to run government the way a majority should. they would have changed the filibuster rules. that's the essence. we've been saying it as have others obviously but this is the frustration i have. why don't they just do it. >> john: at least one of the candidates roger wilkins is already a judge. wouldn't he sail through? >> the tradition had been when a judge -- district court judge had been confirmed through the

judiciary committee and then the senate the next step, move up to a circuit was not pro forma but was an easier step to take certainly. now, there is simply a roadblock. i think it is grassley saying we want to cut back the number of judges on the d.c. circuit. hogwash. they just don't want the nominees of president obama to be on a court that is important. >> john: harry reid will finally reform the filibuster as he promised last year, right? >> you know. you keep wondering when is there that last straw that breaks the camel's back. you kind of wonder, he keeps raising the issue. and we keep -- we heard in january, this time we crafted something in the works. i wish it were so. >> john: i wish it was too. let's turn to more local politics. your friend and mine, governor chris christie of new jersey scheduled a special october election to fill the seat left vacant when senator frank lautenberg died on monday. governor christie could have appointed a republican to serving until the 2014 general

or scheduled a special election to coincide with this year's november election. so governor, what's the calculus behind his decision? >> i'm a little surprised at what he did. i expected him -- the reason he scheduled the special election prior to the november election is he does not want cory booker to be on the ballot, on the same day they've, chris christie, is running for re-election because cory booker, he believes will pull out a lot of democratic votes and would make it harder for him to win the resounding race. still likely he would have won. i hate to acknowledge it. his numbers are much higher than they should be. but he wants a big win. >> john: isn't it beholden upon him to have a lower democratic turnout? >> yes so by moving the senate special to earlier, he eliminates the turnout for cory booker that otherwise would have cut into his margin. he will look better in november. he's conceding that booker will win the special and the piece that surprises me and first of all, there is a cost to the public, $20 some odd million. >> john: are you surprised

he's willing to blow this taxpayer money? would be more efficient to have it on election day. >> it is the wrong decision. i'm not surprise he did it. what does surprise me is he's not appointing somebody in the interim. at least we haven't heard he is. he could have appointed christine whitman or tom cain sr. they could vote with his republican party until the special election. somebody who was nonetheless sufficiently respected from both sides of the aisle, that it did not look like a partisan move. christine whitman kane, very well respected. would have been a good move. >> john: does he not get to win points with the establishment that calls him a ryne noy because the democrats have one fewer senator thanks to his -- >> but he could have given them one more vote. >> he's threading a needle, playing smart politics. not doing his state any good because they don't have a senator for a number of months but this is the calculus he drew. >> john: i know there was no

love lost between he and lautenberg. secretary of state john kerry said this week the u.s. came late to the drive to find a peaceful solution to this on-going nightmare. a spokeswoman said he wasn't trying to criticize the white house by saying we got there late. is the implicit criticism not there already? >> i wouldn't say implicit. i would say explicit. you understand, he probably -- he's been waiting to say that for a long time. he's been encountering a bit of difficulty. he to his credit, dove into the middle east in every one of its multiple dynamic problems from -- we don't need to list them. he was shuttling back and forth between the various nations and properties over there to try to craft peace conferences, get people back to the table. he's finding out how hard it actually is. and so now he's feeling frustration and so he's basically saying we're late to this. that's why it is not easy to get the various taxes -- factions to the table in syria. >> john: it is an explicit dig

against the president? >> well, it's just a moment -- i don't think it is a dig at the president. he's respectful to his boss who has given him the job after being president, the job he most wanted. but i think he needs to explain why things are moving a bit more slowly than he had hoped. >> john: as you know, senators graham and mccain who will exploit that late comment have been saying the white house of course needs to get more involved in supporting the syrian rebels, this, despite the fact the overwhelming majority of americans don't want to see that happen. we know of course that russia and putin will be arming assad and the new from british french report says yes sarin gas has been used. let me ask you with the time we have left, how do you begin to solve this mess and is america stays out the way to go? >> i don't think staying out is the way to go. we've seen genocide. john kerry is right. this maybe doesn't help at this moment. had we gone in much earlier, we could have been much more effective when the opposition forces were there to be crafted

molded. we could have built a coalition. now, it is, in fact, very hard, because you've seen this diffusion of power and we've lost our contacts and lost the ability to lead that group. where you go from now, i don't know. very smart people from tom friedman saying be careful what you wish for when you say get in. haven't we just been there in a couple of overseas engagements that are difficult. so it is hard right now but i think we've got to do more than we are if assad is still there a year from now two years from now, that would have been a failure of our diplomacy and military policy and successive genocide. that's not what we arm for. >> john: if russia is arming assad, are we looking at a proxy war in the desert? >> i don't know. notice i think i heard that putin said today they had in fact not yet sent the more sophisticated missiles that assad intimated they had received. he may be blustering. russia is with us. they may not have been doing that. this is a test of where john kerry has improved the relationship with putin and to

russians because remember he spent a fair bit of time on that already. if he can persuade them to back off from supporting assad. if he doesn't that's an ugly, ugly dynamic. >> john: can i follow you around in public and ask you questions about everything all the time. you're the smartest man in the room. former new york governor eliot spitzer, thank you for sharing your time. >> thank you for inviting me. >> john: great to have you back. there's something in the water in minnesota.

(vo) later tonight current tv is the place for compelling true stories. >> jack, how old are you? >> nine. >> this is what 27 tons of marijuana looks like. (vo) with award winning documentaries that take you inside the headlines, way inside. (vo) from the underworld, to the world of privilege. >> everyone in michael jackson's life was out to use him. (vo) no one brings you more documentaries that are real, gripping, current. >> john: welcome back.

in a little bit, we'll be discussing the case of bradley manning but right now, we continue our week of wtf minnesota. and tonight we investigate the curious fact that a recent study found that virtually all of minnesota's 10,000 lakes are like this big aquatic fresh water medicine cabinet filled with not just cocaine but synthetic estrogen and anti-depressants. all of them. i'm wondering if michele bachmann gets her drinking water from one of these places because that could actually explain quite a bit. mark ferry lead researcher of the report released by the minnesota pollution control agency said that was astonishing. no matter what we use it finds its way into the environment. we need to look in the mirror. mr. ferry, if you look into that mirror it might be covered with lines of coke but don't worry. dump them into the nearest lake. he said the impact of the contaminants on aquatic life is far less understood although many of the fishes doused with the cocaine did manage to fast

talk their way out of the boths they were reeled into. just by saying it's cool, man, i know a guy. the effects are unclear although many feel a loss of not just anxiety but sexual drive. wtf, minnesota. you gave us bob dylan and prince. keep your drugs out of your lakes and keep them where they belong! in the medicine cabinets of all of your pro athletes. are you encouraged by what you heard the president say the other night? is this personal, or is it political? a lot of my work happens by doing the things that i'm given to doing anyway, by staying in touch with everything that is going on politically and putting my own nuance on it. in reality it's not like they actually care. this is purely about political grandstanding. i've worn lots of hats, but i've always kept this going. i've been doing politics now for a dozen years. (vo) he's been called the epic politics man. he's michael shure and his arena is the war room. >> these republicans in congress that think the world ends at the atlantic ocean border and

pacific ocean border. the bloggers and the people that are sort of compiling the best of the day. i do a lot of looking at those people as well. not only does senator rubio just care about rich people, but somehow he thinks raising the minimum wage is a bad idea for the middle class. but we do care about them right?

>> john: enemy of the state or misguided whistle-blower, that

is what will be determined over the next few weeks. as today marked the second day in the court-martial of private first class bradley manning. mr. manning faces 22 charges stemming from the alleged release of over 700,000 documents to the web site wikileaks with the most serious charge being aiding the enemy which could carry a sentence of life without parole. and while protestors feel that mr. manning has been subjected to overly harsh treatment already, prosecutors have previously rejected a plea offer that would see manning admit guilt to lesser charges and serve 20 years in prison in order to pursue the more severe charges. we're joined via skype by alexa o'brien who has been covering wikileaks since january of 2011. thank you for your time this evening. >> thank you. >> john: what a pleasure. you have been at the court-martial since it started yesterday. what's the mood like in the room and what sense do you get if any of private manning's state? >> private manning is quite poised in the courtroom.

he rarely speaks and when he does speak what comes across is a very young and earnest soldier who sort of is caught up in this really large national security case. the largest leak trial in u.s. history. there is a bit of a surrealness to his court-martial. >> john: i can imagine. are there supporters in the room? >> there are. there are supporters. there tend to be sort of a row of people -- the first row is his family. his aunt will come in to court or the court security -- the defense security experts then behind that row is a group of supporters who wear black shirts. what was strange is normally this truth t-shirt hasn't been much of a problem but in court the judge had them turn the shirts inside out because she considered it propaganda. >> john: to have truth in a courthouse, i can see the logic there. how much of the court-martial hinges on the charge of aiding the enemy. is that really the central conflict here?

>> i think -- aiding the enemy -- it doesn't hinge on aiding the enemy. i think the government's case hinges on building up this conspiracy that sort of is capped with aiding the enemy. what's really happening in the courtroom is a battle between the dates for the charged offenses that the government is moving forward with. which paint manning as a traitor, sort of indiscriminately harvesting information for julian assange and which wikileaks which is not an air-tight case based on their own agent's testimony at the pretrial. versus defense's mitigation strategy, trying to lessen the exposure he has from the plea to the offenses. and this prosecutorial overreach. >> john: i see. how much a role will the geneva conventions play in his defense? >> um, i don't think much of a role to tell you the truth. this court would not even accept

the testimony of a u.n. official at his article 13 who had found that manning had been treated inhumanely at quantico brig. >> john: that's not a factor in this trial, the amount of time he spent in solitary. >> the judge has ruled a portion of his time at quantico was considered unlawful so it was criminal. so it is not simply the statements of supporters. that's a legal fact at this point. however, it is only 112 days of service credit. at this point, bradley manning is saying multiple life sentences. liar for the aiding enemy and 149 years if he's convicted on the government's case. >> john: before we go, how long is the court-martial of bradley manning expected to take? >> it is expected to last for 12 weeks. of course, with a case like this anything could happen. it could be shorter. it could be longer. more will be revealed. >> john: alexa o'brien

independent journalist at the manning court-martial today. thank you for your insight this evening. >> thank you. >> john: okay. for more, let's bring in faiza patel, codirector of the liberty and national security program at the brennan senator and chase a civil rights authority and the author of the passion of bradley manning, the story behind wikileaks whistle-blower. thank you for being here tonight. >> thank you. >> john: we have been following this case closely on the show for quite some time now. we're excited to see the rest of the media begin to follow along. faiza, let me start with you. how is a court-martial different than an ordinary trial? is there a jury at play? >> there can be. in this case, he was waived his right to a jury trial so it will be a bench trial before the single judge. a court-martial is conducted under something called the uniform code of military justice which lists out particular offenses that military personnel can be prosecuted for. generally, the jury is made up of military officers. and you also have a presiding

judge. it is a slightly different procedure. there are slightly different procedural rules that apply and it is a system of justice that's meant just for the military. >> john: what's the advantage to private manning of waiving his right to a jury? >> that's a good question. i think probably he was thinking that he might not get a fair trial from members of the military who might be more inclined to view his actions as being detrimental to the kind of order andes minute of a military. >> john: he may have thought correctly. chase, you wrote an excellent piece for this month's nation that everybody has to read where you break down the most popular myths about the bradley manning case. can you quickly go through and debunk a few of those? >> one of the first myths is these leaks have put us on a slippery slope toward total transparency where the government will no longer be able to function. in fact, what private manning leaked is less than 1% of what washington classifies in any given year. we're not talking about a lot.

another myth is they harmed americans. but three years after these leaks came out, there's not a shred of evidence anywhere that a single civilian or u.s. soldier has been harmed by the leaks. and then i think maybe the most important toxic myth is that manning did what he did because he's crazy. or because he's gay or because he's gay and crazy. the fact is his motive is very plainly stated from the instant message chat logs between manning and the informer who turned him in. manning said he wanted people to see the truth regardless of who they are because without information, you cannot make well-informed decisions. i don't see what's so controversial or offensive about that. >> john: the most controversial thing would be this aiding the enemy charge. let me ask you faiza how rare of a charge is this and how does one prove that they've aided the enemy? >> it is a very rare charge. it is meant for spies and

traitors and the like and you normally think of world war ii collaborators as being subject to an aiding the enemy charge. on the other hand, the law itself is very broadly worded so that you would think that you would have to have some kind of intent that you were actually trying to help some particular enemy of the united states. that's not the government's theory. the government's theory is simply by uploading information through wikileaks and into the internet, bradley manning was aiding al-qaeda and the taliban. so it is a very broad theory of liability and one that's, you know, for the most part, been accepted by the court. >> john: i'm sure. do you agree chase? >> i think that's an excellent summary of how the law works. the way this single charge, aiding the enemy is decided is going to have some very serious consequences. not just for an individual named bradley manning but for journalism and ultimately for foreign policy because it could criminalize the way a lot of

real journalism works. we depend on leaks for just about any important story. this is not just bradley manning or wikileaks. bob woodward writes all of his books because he has access to confidential sources. if it that's -- by the way osama bin laden big fan of bob woodward's books. recommended them. i'm not even making that up. >> john: since you're the guy who wrote the book on manning quite literally what do you think was his motive for releasing this information? we should point out he offered it to the "new york times" and "washington post" first. what do you think was behind his actions? >> it is a political motive. he wanted people to see the truth. let's not forget that this was a private, neck deep in the worst foreign policy disaster since vietnam. he saw what a complete mess it was. and he thought other people should know, too. the most famous of the leaks that helicopter video which you've probably seen.

collateralmurder.com. that was not even classified, by the way but the government didn't feel like letting people see it. it is important that people see what our wars are really like. the decision to go to war is very serious. to stay at war, also very serious. it should be a well-informed decision. >> john: do individuals goat decide who gets to see this? >> an individual has and we've seen the consequences after three years. a much richer, understanding of u.s. foreign policy. the leaks helped spark a revolution in tunisia. played a small but important role there and have sparked worldwide debates discussions and reforms. the real question isn't should an individual decide what gets to be made public but which individuals go et to decide how 92 million documents are made secret every year? this is the threat. this is what has deformed u.s. foreign policy for the past 12 years. >> john: it is amazing we've asked our viewers if we think

he's a traitor or hero or both, the response was overwhelming. faiza and chase will stay right here. we'll be back to discuss more on bradley manning and what constuts an actual whistle-blower. what you're saying. you would rather deal with ahmadinejad than me. >>absolutely. >> and so would mitt romney. (vo) she's joy behar. >>and the best part is that current will let me say anything. what the hell were they thinking? perfectly bite sized drops of rich and creamy chocolate happiness. when the chocolate is hershey's, life is delicious.

>> john: welcome back to "viewpoint." on social media earlier today, i asked all y'all if you all thought bradley manning was a hero oar a traitor. lisa wrote catch-22 hero for the truth. traitor for the country by military standards. i vacillate on this myself. i think you speak for a lot of

americans on this very issue lisa. i find myself feeling like switzerland. if you have a comment for the show, tweet us at viewpoint ctv or john fuglesang or post it on our facebook page. as the bradley manning court-martial moves into day two, we're discussing the case with faiza patel of the brennan center and the author of the passion of bradley manning chase madar. let me ask you the same question i asked our viewers. a lot of people are mentally capable of walking and chewing gum. is he a hero? is he a traitor? is he both? let me start with you, chase. >> he's a tragic hero. i don't see the traitor part. i want to make things clear about the military standards of treason which your twitter alluded to. it has shown to be forgiving when it comes to rape, then comes to sexual assault. when it comes to killing foreign

civilians. those cases are not aggressively prosecuted and in the rare event they are, the penalty is usually very light. but try declassifying documents that have harmed no one. there's no concrete evidence they have. but have in fact, been a public benefit as people around the world have seen. this does not make sense. there should be some clemency, some flexibility if we're going to have real justice here. >> john: it has not been a benefit to pentagon upper brass. it has been a deep embarrassment despite the fact over a million people had access to the files. same question, faiza. is he a hero, or traitor or both? >> he's a frenemy of the state. in the sense that i think you're absolutely right. he brought out a lot of information that made it possible for us to have a much more nuanced understanding of the war and to have a really you know, sort of in-depth understanding of certain diplomatic relationships. on the other hand, you know, coming back to something you said earlier we don't actually

want everybody to take the decision into their own hands as to what information that we need to put out there. so there has to be some kind of balance. i agree with you. there is definitely room for clemency here. there is room for flexibility. but you know, if i'm looking at it i think yeah, you know, there is a possibility that he damaged national security. >> john: even if you think he committed treason, you can find the government's treatment to be an morent. 11 months in solitary confinement is unconscionable. it is every bit as un-american as the charges levied at him. it is no secret at this point that the obama administration has been extremely tough on whistle-blowers. it has been well documented. do you think that's why the prosecutors rejected a plea deal that would have seen him serve only 20 years in prison? >> to make an example of him. that's why they rejected the plea deal. i also think it has something to do with what they want to do with assange later down the road. there's obviously this indictment that's been issued by a grand jury in virginia against

assange. if they make a strong showing against bradley manning, that will help them down the road, i think with assange. that might be part of it. >> john: certainly would. let me ask a hypothetical. what if bradley manning had decide i'm going to release the video of the civilians being killed by this helicopter strike. i'm not going to release the other information including the home addresses of untold number of soldiers. do you think he would have had more sympathy? would it have been harder for the government to prosecute him for aiding and abetting if he had been more selective in what he made available? >> it certainly would be an easier case to defend in a court of law. that question. but it would deprive of us of the great knowledge we have. i can't stress this enough. the war in iraq that was such a complete military and humanitarian disaster was a war that we rushed into in large part because of government secrecy and distortion. escalating in afghanistan also a failure also a debacle.

with decision made without enough information. we need this if we're going to right the boat here and get back on course. >> john: is the administration overplaying its hand just a bit? if they send him away for life, isn't he an icon to funeral generations of protestors forever? >> a democratic administration can get away with murder. doing this. i think a republican administration would have really a hard time throwing the book and putting the screws to bradley manning the way team obama has because democratic voters would, out of partisanship wake up. that's not happening now. a lot of democratic voters have flicked off their mental facility switch because obama's in the white house. >> john: we're almost out of time. i do want to ask about wikileaks. it seems like the site has slowed down its activity. last thing i heard was assange was going to release information on bank of america. i thought oh, oh. can i have your place when you're gone. he seems to have fallen off the radar. is it because of his trial? >> it is probably weighing on

him. i'm sure he's concerned about his sources right? any of his sources are in the united states, they'll be prosecuted to the full hilt of the law. that has to be something he's considering. >> john: do you think that's true? >> their encryption technology has hit some bumps. they're still doing good work. they have a database that's searchable much better on u.s. cables. already declassified. terrific resource for historians journalists, anyone who wants to know what their country is up to. >> john: 20 seconds left. what will be bradley manning's legacy? faiza? >> i think his legacy will be that he will put pay to obama's transparency. obama came in. he said we'll be the most transparent administration ever. bradley manning is his example of him not being transparent. >> john: chase? >> heroic example of someone who has suffered greatly to bring us truth. >> john: faiza patting of the

brennan center and chase madar author of "the story of wikileaks whistle blower." thank you for your time and insight this evening. >> thank you. >> john: the on-going tragedy of syrian refugees. the stuff the media is not telling you.

>> john: as the horrific violence in syria drags on, the number of those impacted by the civil war throughout the country is staggering. it's estimated that at least one million people have left syria this year alone and only six months, putting a severe strain on refugee camps throughout the region which generally contains scores of young children, as well. our next guest is a president and ceo of save the children who recently visited the refugee camps in northern iraq to offer whatever is i acance she could to these displaced families. we're pleased to be joined by carolyn miles the president and ceo of save the children.

thank you for coming back to "viewpoint." >> thank you john. >> john: we last spoke with you in march when your report was first issued. you put out this report about the startling plight of syria's children including the fact that two million are now in need of assistance and three out of four -- three out of four children have experienced the death of a loved one. since that report came out you've been back, of course, to refugee camps most recently, iraq, i believe. >> yes. >> john: has the situation for serious children within these camps deteriorated or stayed the same? >> you know, i think john, it actually has deteriorated because there's such huge numbers now. so there are over -- i think when you and i spoke, it was probably about a million refugees. it is now over a million and a half and more than half of those are children. so there is about 800,000 children that are outside of syria that are suffering as refugees and inside of syria there's about four and a half million people displaced.

about half are children. so, the numbers are just pretty staggering in terms of kids affected. >> john: what countries have they fled to? >> they've fled really around the region. lebanon has a large amount of refugees. jordan has now 300,000 plus refugees. turkey has refugees then iraq, there's already about 160,000 refugees in iraq. largely forgotten. >> john: this is in northern iraq? >> yes. in the kurdistan region of iraq. they're coming across in one border point right up in the northeastern part of syria. >> john: can you please just tell us a bit about some of the families and children that you have encountered in the camps. >> sure. i was there over memorial day weekend. during the time i was there, met a lot of the families. and i think this camp, called demize, was designed for somewhere 10,000 to 15,000 people. it now has 40,000 people in the camp.

and one family that i met, for example, had just gotten there within about the last couple of days. they were living in a tent with another family, a very small tent. they had a 2-month-old and a 3-year-old and they literally had nothing. they had fled finally from their village when, you know, the father said to me we lost our house. we lost our village. we lost our hospital. we lost our school. i lost my job. there was nothing that i could -- there was no way that i could stay there with my family so we had to leave. they traveled a couple of days by foot and transport to get to this camp which is you know, pretty horrendous conditions. >> john: within the camps, is the mood desperate? it is hopeful? >> i would say it is probably all of those. a little bit of all of those. i think mostly families are hoping that they can actually get back to syria. literally, when i talk to families they said we would

like to go back but we can't at this point. the conditions in the camp are pretty tough. there's trash everywhere. the sewage is kind of running through the camp so there's a lot of challenges in the camp and there's a lot of fear right now around disease. >> john: of course. >> as summer particularly sets in this area. >> john: the footage reminds me of what i saw in haiti after the earthquake and the overcrowded refugee camps there. i'm curious. are there political divisions going on in the camps? do you find there are actually pro assad loyalists living side by side with anti-assad folks and does that cause tension there? >> most of the people in this camp are kurds from iraq who have largely stay -- from syria who have largely stayed out of the fighting there. so they have largely not taken sides, either the rebels or assad. so they're neither. they really are -- i think they're pretty emblematic of a

lot of people inside syria who are caught in the crossfire. they really are just normal citizens that are trying to live their lives. so there weren't a lot of divisions in the camp. now, inside iraq, there's actually a big debate on the refuges themselves because a lot of refugees had been coming into the iraq proper so not the kurdish region but the rest of iraq. those borders were closed. so now many of the refugees are coming up to the north. through this one opening. >> john: we know how popular kurds are amongst the sunnies. >> yes. there was a close of the camp, the borders. >> john: can you tell us a bit about save the children and what your mission is? >> sure. save the children works -- we work in about 120 countries. we have one mission which is to make the lives of children better. and we do a lot of emergency work. this kind of an emergency which is, you know, kind of an

on-going grinding, not a natural disaster but you know, a man-made disaster, if you will. we do a lot of work in conflict areas like this. and our primary -- our focus is really on children. in this case, we're doing -- we're working on the school's situation. so trying to make sure that kids don't -- this is two years now that this has been going on. kids losing two years of school is obviously -- has a huge impact. trying to keep kids in some kind of school. making sure obviously there's clean water and that there's food available. we're doing a lot of food distribution in jordan, in a huge camp there. then trying to make sure kids actually have a place to be kids so we do these things called child friendly spaces which can be, you know, can be just a simple space but it gives kids a place to actually play and be kids which again in these kind of situations is important. >> john: how can ow viewers help? >> visit our web site.

make donations to this work. either through save the children or others doing the work. >> john: savethechildren.org. >> yes, it is. carolyn miles, thank you so much for your wonderful service and coming back on "viewpoint" to let us know more. i hope you'll stay in touch with us. >> thank you john. >> john: i hope these folks get good news and get to go home soon. >> thank you. >> john: speak of suffering the tea party has suffered enough. a modest proposal on their behalf coming up next. guys that do reverse mortgage commercials? those types are coming on to me all the time now. (vo) she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers thinking. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. you would rather deal with ahmadinejad than me. >>absolutely. >> and so would mitt romney. (vo) she's joy behar. >>and the best part is that current will let me say anything. what the hell were they thinking?

(vo) later tonight current tv is the place for compelling true stories. >> jack, how old are you? >> nine. >> this is what 27 tons of marijuana looks like. (vo) with award winning documentaries that take you inside the headlines, way inside. (vo) from the underworld, to the world of privilege. >> everyone in michael jackson's life was out to use him. (vo) no one brings you more documentaries that are real, gripping, current.

>> john: hello. i'm john fuglesang and i would like to appeal to all of you kind americans out there and ask you to open your hearts and lend a hand to one of the most persecuted oppressed and voiceless groups in all of america. of course, i'm talking about the tea party. recently we learned that during its time when it was headed by douglas shulman certain mid-level bureaucrats at the i.r.s. office in cincinnati

targeted tea party groups unfairly. now, i know this is shocking. the idea that something interesting could ever happen in cincinnati but tea partiers had to face the worst thing any decent american offer faced my friends, increased inconvenient amounts of paperwork to prove that groups holding signs saying impeach obama should pay taxes because they're obviously not political. this kerfuffle caused the tea party to experience the worst human rights abuses since the stark family went to that wedding on game of thrones. becky garretson my friends president of the alaska tea party said this is not an accident. this is a willful act of intimidation intended to discourage a point of view. yes! the tea party was intimidated into complete silence to such an extent that the only place she was allowed to say this was before committee of congressmen in front of millions of viewers on c-span, cnn and fox news. let me ask. how would you like it if the i.r.s. asked if you had been cheating on your taxes when all

you did was carry around a sign saying taxes is a crime against humanity. the tea party needs your help. they need 501(c)(4) tax-exempt status to hide the identities of their completely nonpolitical donors. they need ink to keep not nonpolitically drawing hitler mustaches on posters of obama. and they need to express the america they believe in and they need a lot of money because authentic confederate soldier uniforms can get pricy. don't take my word for it. listen to lester, a tea party member who suffered the oppression of the obama administration firsthand. lester? >> i applied for tax-exempt status from the i.r.s. and was subjected to all sorts of abuse. i was given extra paperwork. i was forced to sign and spend the whole better part of an afternoon working on and look at our muslim president. he's allowed to serve in office with only two birth certificates. have you seen them things? i had a nightmare of copies and

triplicates that took up an entire hour. i'm telling you, i do not recognize america anymore. benghazi! >> very brave lester. you're proof that real tea baggers don't choke. there are millions more exactly completely like him! so won't you please help? these tea party members have been silenced. they now have no voice in society as they've said, thousands of times on the thousands of radio and cable tv shows they've appeared on relentlessly. the loyal patriots who want who only want to turn our country over to wall street have been trying to scrimp and scrape by with only a few million dollar contributions from billionaire anonymous supporters like the koch brothers. without your help, they might suffer the fate of emerge america, a liberal group targeted by the i.r.s. for being political that was really forced to disclose its donors and lose tax-exempt status which hasn't happened to a a single one of the tea party groups that shouldn't pay taxes because they're not political. are you going to let the i.r.s. get away with breaking zero

taxes? all of your contributions are tax be deductible. if you care about the tea party do everything you can to impeach the president who appointed douglas shulman to run the i.r.s. that's "viewpoint" for tonight. thanks to governor eliot spitzer, fay faiza chase carolyn and alexa. >> joy: tonight, a new study finds that giving birth than cause an orgasm. maybe octomom wasn't crazy after all. what do leonardo kay caprio and obama have in common? they've all eaten the food of chef roble ali. all of that and more tonight.