♪ lou: good evening, everybody. with 18 days until the presidential election, governor romney is maintaining his slight lead in the national polls over president obama. the republican nominee has moved above 50% in key polls, maintaining that level with just over two weeks from election day. and that is historically a strong indicator of victory in noveer. the polls turned positive for governor romney quickly after the first debate and have strengthened since. that after the candidates had been in a virtual tie nationally for months with a slight edge to the president. will those strengthening national polls with polls narrowing in battleground states

as well and the governor's favorability ratings also moving that combined make it fair to ask whether it's too early to can ask the question, as the third debate is looming this coming monday, has america already decided? let's take a look at where these candidates and their campaigns stand tonight. the gallup national survey of likelyers shows governor romney with a six-point lead over president obama. this poll was tied at 48% as recently as the 9th of this month. a rasmusseneports poll of 11 ing states has governor romney up 49% to 47%. president obama losing his six-point octoberr4th lead in the process. the favorability rating showing a candidate in governor rmney who is now likable to a majority of american voters. the pew research center showing governor romney's favorable

rating at 50% to the president's 49. a stunning turn around from march when the president's rating was nearly twice that o governor romney's. brand new fox poll in the important battleground stat of florida has romney outpacing the president 55% to 51% in the favooables. the gallup favorability poll has the republican nominee on top as well. mr. romney beating the president -51%. incredibly, the left-leaning public policy institute giving governor romney the biggest lead in likability. the governor up tree percentage points on the president in that, in that poll which is co-sponsored by the service employees international union. talk about objectivity. and the real clear politics electoral college projection now has governor romney ahead of the president for the first time in this election. with north carolina now moving in to the romney column.

tonight we have expert election analysis, the latest on the white house benghazi scandal and controversy and an inside look at the national media's role in this presidential campaign. finish -- former governor of arkansas mike huckabee joins us, media research director of analysis tim graham, fox news mid middle east affairs walid phares among our guests, but more bad news for the president as he and governor romney gear up for monday's final presidential debate. governor romney has erased most of the president's lead on foreign policy. mr. obama has lost 15 percentage points' advantage since september, now leading governor romney by a 47% to 43% margin. and two brand new fox polls in the swing states trending governor romney's way. the governor up 485 in florida after trailing the president by five points just last month. and the president's seven-point

lead in the september ohio poll has been cut to three points, wiin the margin of error. joining us now for all the latest campaign developments, former arkansas governor, 2008 republican presidential candidate mike huckabee, also the author of "the new york times" bestseller "a simple government" and host of fox news channel's "huckabee" show. great to have you here. >> thank you, lou. lou: this is a slight lead to be kind and generous, but it is a lead. >> yeah. lou: how significant in your judgment? >> it's a huge turn from what we've seen even a month ago, and there's three things that's going on. one, take all the polls, and they get kind of confusing, but when you get down to it, there's now a trending that is very clearly in romney's favor. and you look at the significant and the most cdible polls, a even if he's nothead, he is dramatically up from where he was six weeks ago, four weeks ago. that is positive. second tng, romney's up with

women. there's been a huge turn among women voters toward mitt romney. i wrote some numbers down. one of the things in the florida that's very significant, there's been a 19-poi move in florida among women. that's huge. mitt romney is going to win florida. and i think now the third thing is we're seeing a trend develop with jewish voters which is further going to insure his victory in a florida race. lou: and amongst indepennt voters we're seeing as well,l, s you knowi mean, governor romney now has a double-digit lead among independents, and that group determined the outcome of the 2008 election. >> and they very well term this time. ohio still up for grabs, obama still has a le there. lou: right. >> but romney has put wisconsin in play. i thin romney's going to win north carolina, he's going to win virginia. this is, you know, moving romney's way x it's getting so close -- and it's getting so close that there's not a lot that obama can do that people will say, oh, you know, i didn't

know that about barack obama. he's the president. he's in the best position he's going to probably be in. everything now starts breaking away from him. lou: breaking away from him, and the first debate a historic margin of victory for governor romney. the second debate there was a strong feeling that the president had won that debate, but then in quickuccession the discussion about the president actually lying during that debate, that lie being corroborated by a moderator who erred and acknowledged so doing. and now we've got a president who can't even do a safe interview with jon stewart without screwing it up. i mean, this thing is taking on a bidennesque or, if you will, rather, an obama aura. >> well, this is why you're not going to see barack obamaover the weekend. both candidates are off the

trail, they're sequestered to do debate prep, but i think it's also to keep them from making some glaring error that the would have to go in and answer for many in that debate. the debates this year have become more important than i've ever remembered them being in moving the voters one way or the other. both candidates gon with a lot on the line, but i think more is the line for barack obama in this foreign policy debate because, lou, i'd hate to have to walk in there and defend benghazi, defind why he has -- defend why he has never answered for fort hood and little rock as a terror act. and in little rock simply a random state crime. nonsense. this is a pattern. lou: the process of can call ittonewalling, of on se case -- >> it's lying, let's be honest, it's lying. lou: well, certainly tuesday night before the american people the president lied straightforwardly. but the fact is the national media's not holding him accountable, and it's as if

there is no truth if the national liberal media isn't in some way validating it. and in point of fact, the media research center, bozell's group pointing out, you know, major newspapers not even mentioning the most important moment and question of the night. >> well, even though they are not and there's no point in having any expectation that you're going to see "the new york times" and the washington post come forward with that, the american people aren't stupid. you know what? when it gets down to it, they can read through this, and they can see that the president kept telling them for weeks that it was all about a video, and it's clear now and evidence that it wasn't, and they are able to access enough information without the filterof "the new york times" and the mainstream, big networks that, frankly, i think that it's going to do more damage to the networks than it will to mitt romney, and it will do more damage toarack obama's credibility for not coming clean with the american people. lou: we're asking tonight, has america made up its mind on who

will be the next president, what do you think? >> i think a lot ofamericans have made up their mind, i think that group ofndecided voters is increasingly decided,but this still is not done. it's not all in. there's still some cows out in the field, not all of them are in the barn yet, lou. we've got a few still to bring home. lou: all right. governor, good to have you with us. >> thanks a bunch. lou: please take a minute to log on to the lou dobbs tonight facebook page, who do you think will win monday's final debate? go to facebook.com/lou dobbs tonight. disappointing earnings on wall street today, stocks posting the worst single-day decline since june and adding to the drama of the big selloff, today is the 25th anniversary of black monday back in 1987 when stocks fell nearly 25% in a single session. nothing is shocking today -- as shocking today, i'm pleased to tell you, but the dow did lose

two-and-a-half points, the s&p down 24, the nasdaq tumbled 67 points, downore than 2% on the day. microst, google, apple, all part of a broad selloff in the technology sector. mcdonald's, chipotle, general electric all sharply lower on missed earnings targets and disappointing revenue. total volume 7.2 billion shares, that's heavier than the average daily volume recently of 6.4, outpacing by more than 3 to 1 on the big board. 129 stocks that knew 53-week highs despite alof that, 35 hitting new lows. for the week the dow and the s&p up while the nasdaq was down more than a percent. a much brighter picture year to daae in all of this anxiety, of -ourse, surrounding the selloff today. it's easy to lose sight of the fact that the dow jones industrials have gained more than 9%, the s&p up about 14%,

the that is damage up 15%. 155 of those standard & poor's 500 companies reporting earnings next week, so g ready. the biggest week this earnings season coming right at us, and investors may be in for, well, some exciting times. tla lite volatity, perhaps. wall street expecting companies on the s&p to post the worst earnings since the third quarter of 2009. >> it's been a tough year for presidential debate moderators >> want to make sure we get that frrd because it took the president 14 days before he called the attack in benghazi an act of terror. >> get the transcript. >> he did, infact -- let mm call it an act of terror -- >> say that a little louder, candy? [applause] >> he did call it an act of terror. lou: bob schieffer of cbs is up next. hang on. president obama promised his would be the mos transparent administration innhistory. how's he doing?

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lou: newly-released documents confirm state department personnel including ambassador christopher stevens raised concerns about the shortage of security in beeghazi months before the september 11th terrorist attack. ambassador stevens himself wrote about security threats in june, august and the very day that he was murdered. meanwhile, military sources telling fox news that the terrorist attack may have been part of a broader campaign to drive a growing american presence out of eastern libya. yet the administration continues to refuse to admit what any fact at all and threat assessments ignored, requests for security there were ignored, and the reality on the ground resulted in the murder of four americans in libya. and as much as the president

mmght now want us to believe that he declared the murders in benghazi to be a terrorist attack just the day after they occurred, the public record -- as we have repeatedly reported and demonstrated -- is contrary tois statement. joining us now for a critical look at the president's, well, changing positions on the september 11th attacks and the liberal media's inabilityto, in some cases, even report let alone report well on the event or, for that matte the refusal of the administration to offer any reason for the attacks, any statement to the american people about why the choices they''e made are appropriate for this nation's interests. we're joined by tim graham, the media research center's director of media analysis. tim, at in this point -- at this point why is it that there is a seeming reluctance on major national media outlets whether

newspaper or networks to say point-blank this administration has lied to the american people? because their statements are in contravention of one another. >> that's absolutely right. and even if you want to say, as candy crowley tried to do, well, on the dayfter in the rose garden you said that, you made a vague reference to acts of terror, we can still go back to obama giving an interview to univision on the 20th of september where he was still talking about the natural protests outside the cnsulate in benghazi which was just utterly fictional. so, i mean, it is sad that the newsedia whichreally should be the people that keep the timeline, that tryto take -- make some sense of these wildly-conflicting statements and hold this government accountable has really, instead, been sort of lazing around and not doing much on this. we've had stories in the last couple of days about binders

full of women and networks skipping out on covering libya. that's just ridiculous. lou: and it's fascinating to me that major news organizations with serious journalists, obviously, working for them and often working very well in their craft, there must be an immense frustration even among the idealogically pure of the left who work in those organizations that they cannot report on a story this big, this important. fact, this historic. >> absolutely. and there are some that are covering, and it's not like nobody's covering it. and we've been noticing, for example, that jan crawford of cbs is vering it. cnn has consistently covered it, fox news has consistently covered it, but we're talking about those big three networks with the biggest audiences in the evening and the morning. you're just not getting that. you're getting an earful of

binders. lou: it is strange. and this, this president unlike any other has received immunity from the national liberal media. the nional liberal media, i mean, you're kind to hold out those exceptions to the rule, but the rule prevails, and thate national liberal media, is frankly, giving this president an easy pass to uttermmunity from critical judgment, from examination by a critical national press. which i think certainly puts the entire republic at risk. >> and we could certainly say this as long as, if we're going to call somebody out for being terrible on this, for "the new york times" to take theajor house hearing onnthis where we're going to do some fact finding and say, you know what? we're gog to put lance armstrong's troubles on page 1 and this on page 3 and then say to people when we're asked about it by the readers' advocate, there were six better stories to

put on the front page, that's absurd and irresponsible. for "the washington post" yesterday to have a story all about how romney's ssteps have enabled obama to escape any thinking on the part of "thehful washington post." it's not called reporting. lou: tim, you're being kind. [laughter] it turns the paper into a campaign document, not a, not a newspaper. tim graham, we thank you very much for being with us. up next, just 18 days til election day, the obama administrati too busy to deal with the duties of running th government? we'll show you some of the outrageous shortcuts that the administration has taken in tonight's chalk talk. governoromney lets loose with a sparkling stand-up routine for a very good cause. some of his best one-liners straight ahead. >> of course, we're down to the final months of the president's term -- [laughter]

as president obama surveys the waldorf banquet room with everyone in white tie and can finery, you have to wonder what he's thinking. so little time, so much to redistribute. [lghter] everyone in the nicu, all the nurses wanted to watch him when he was there 118 days. everything that you thought was important to you changes in light of having a child that needs you every moment. i wouldn't trade him for the world. who matters most to you says the most about you.

massmutual is owned by our policyholders so they matter most to . if you're caring for a child with special needs, our innovative special care program offers strategies that can help. so, which supeas lte service would yochse, based on this chart ? don't rush into it, i'm not looking for the fastest answer. obviously verizon. okay, i have a different chart. going that way, does that make a difference ? look at verizon. it's so much more than t other ones. so what if we just changed the format altogether ? isn't that the exact same thing ? still sticking with verizon. verizon. more 4g lte coverage than all other networks combined.

>> what grade would you give yourself? >> well, you know, i'm not going to give myself a grade -- >> not even a midterm? >> -- other than incomplete. because the work we started is not yet done. >> so how do you grade yourself, honestly, in terms of how you've done in terms of economics. >> i won't give us a letter grade. i think it's still incomplete. >> you've had three-and-a-half years to fix it, what grade would you give yourself so far for doing that? >> i would say incomplete.

lou: well, that seems to be what the esident wants is an incomplete. it's become his standard answer to the question, and this administration is running up a lot of incompletes. we're going to take a look at that tonight. a lot of work just simply isn't getting done. yesterday, for example, the department of agriculture, let's talk food stamps. failed to meet a key deadline just to report to congress as it must why it's been partnering with the mexican government to promote food stamps. it's a simple thing. did you know food stamps hit another record high this month? 46.7 million. 46.7 million. i mean, that's pretty good. it reflects a loof bad things. it was just 19 million, by the way, a decade ago. 19 million people. not every administration has

promoted it quite as heavily as this, i think we can be comfortable with that statement. the most transparent administration ever is also now four reports -- they're quarterly reports, by the way -- four of them behind schedule on its mandatory quarterly reports on the effects of the stimulus package. those reports, more than a year behind, one of the last reports, by the way, did find that the stimulus had added or saved about 1.8 million jobs. 1.8 million jobs. not inconsiderable. that's pretty good. you would think that this administration would be proud of it. it also, however, found that those jobs were created at a cost of -- and this is extraordinary -- $317,000 per

job. $317,000 a job. why not just send these people a check? interestingly, the cost for job figure has been revised upward in each and every report the administration has issued. that may have something to do with the reason that they quit issuing those reports. what do you think? well, other reports that the administration refuses to deliver include remember back in may when attorney general eric holder missed a congressional deadline to hand over documents that had been subpoenaed about opation fast and furious? the presidt invoked executive privilege,nd there was the matter of congress then having to cite holder, the attorney general becoming the first attorney general in history to be held in contempt of congress. and we'll let you know how that works out. but so far a lot of deadlines

have been missed, and a lot has been stonewalled, if you will. and the budget, the budget, president obama this year released his 2013 budget the deadline for a third year in a row. of course, the two times that congress did vote on the president's budget request both times it was voted down unanimously. so he's, he has a little trouble with that. and, of course, there's dodd-frank. now, this is the one that's got wall street all excited and much ofhe country because dodd-frank is going to help business and restore sanity -- i'm kidding. it is considered to be a disaster. dodd-frank, the president loves to tout how he's reining in wall street, but his administration has missed, are you ready? just 60%. now, this is one i would love to hear a debate about, how he could miss 60% of the rulemaking deadlines. if you care about regulationsas

much as he says he does, don't you think that you would do a little better than that? by the way, only a third of dodd-frankas been written. and by the way, written by regulators, not by congress, but written by the regulators. two-thirds still they're air, nothing. the administration's decision to choose which laws to follow, which to ignore is plainly a manifestation of the current that flows from the white house through the swire executive -- entire executive branch. it's not pretty to watch. one debate to go, president obama and governor romney face off on foreign policy. but first, we'll talk with gordon chang and walid phares about the middle east and china. president obama and governor romney took a night off in the name of charity.

>> find the biggest available straw man and then just mercilessly attack it. big bird didn't even see it coming. [laughter] >> chris matthews, four years ago i gave him a thrill up his leg, this time around i gave him a stroke. [laughter] lou: they almost seed to be having fun, didn't they? we'll have a little fun next. speaking of having fun, angry liberal alec baldwin wants to be mayor of new york, so they say. he's leading in the latest poll. it's not the kind of poll you want to lead. the a-team is next.

lou: governor romney tonight in the polls leading on a critical foreign licy issue, certain to be a focus in monday's final presidential debate. a new pew poll shows governor romney up 49-40% over president obama on who would percent

handle trade issues with china. the u.s. trade deficit with china, by the way, is now $203 billion from january through august of this ye. and, o of course, debt was an issuthat did come up in this week's debate. >> we lose sales, and manufacturers here in the u.s. making the same products can't compete. china has been a currency manipulator for years and years and years, and the president has a regular opptunity to label them as a currency manipulator but refuses to do so. lou: governor romney says he will label china a currency manipulator his first day in office. here now to discuss u.s. foreign pocy and trade policy with china and other challenges, of course, gordon chang, author of the book "the coming collapse of china. also with us, walid phares, foren policy senior adviser to governor romney, also a fox news middle east and terrorismm3 expert, author o the book "the

comingevolution: struggle for freedom in the middle east. good to have you with us. walid, let's do this first. do you expect monday that the american people will get any answers from this president about what happened and hy in benghazi on september 11th? >> what i do project, that the debate between president obama and governor romney is going to provide answers for the american public, and that is that the obama administration was going wrong on the middle east, wrong on iran, wrong on the mlim brotherhood, of course, wrong on libya, and the governor is going to provide evidence, and he's going to propose a different direction than the ones of president obama. lou: and, gordon, as they move to the issue of china as they must, it is such a massive trading partne and has the largest trade deficit of any country with which we trade, what do you expect to be the resolution? both men, in fairness to both

candidates, they have talked equally, they have talked tough about china, and it's the first time we've ever had two presidential candidates do so in the same election. >> well, that's a start. but unfortunately, we really haven't had a comprehensive discussion, and need one cause china poses an across-the-board cllenge to us. so, yes, it's good that the talk about currency manipulation, but we need to hear about china's manufacturing subsidies, itzhaking of american companies -- its hacking of american companies, and i'm afraid we're not going to hear about any of these things. lou: i asked you both to join us tonight so that folks could get a sense of how we talk about often in isolation benghazi, asia, about the challenges whether they be trade or potentially military, geopolitical challenges in the pacifiand asia regions. the fact is first question has to be what should be our policy,

and can we in point of fact sustain such a policy, the fact that we are the world's largest debtor nation and there are so many demands on the united states military, many of them originating internally and not always so clearly in the national interest? walid, how would you respond to that? could we possibly meet challenges from both china, from the r on terror globally and specifically then within the middle eastern region? >> well, let me say that the chinese leadership, and i would have a confirmation from the studio, perceives washington under the obama administrion as weak in the middle east, as weak with regard to iran. as not decided with regard to syria, as having kind of problem in north africa and beyond. this isswhy the chinese leadership, the other side of the planets taking the liberty of expanding, of challenging japan, of challenging the philippines and beyond. now, back to the middle east,

the administration so far has demonstrated that it had an opportunity where we didn't need to have boots on the grod in iran or no-fly zone, it was in june of 2009, lou, you'll remember. lou: right. >> we had the opportunity to stand with the demmnstrators. this would have collapsed the iranian regime, half of the war on terror would have ended, but we didn't, unfortunately. lou: you say half the war on terror would have ended. some argued that only a civil war in certainly a strategic nation,yria, would have been prevented. but to say that the war o terror would have been cut by half, is that the not an overoptimistic assessment particularly given that we've had so much ptimism emanating from this administration for four years? >> where look, lou, the problem of the administration is it can't identify the threat. in the libya, for example, it wasn't able to identify that the salafist militia on the ground a connected to al-qaeda, that's why they were surprised and

tried to do the trailer thing for 14 days. when i say about iran, iran is the supporter of hezbollah. iran is a supporter of the assad regime. and i'm not overshooting when i say if the iranian regime goes down, four other regimes are going to follow. and, of course, we're going to have better alternatis, and then we'll be left with al-qaeda. lou: but left out of that lculus and i want you both to interject here, i don't want to simply go back and forth like a tennis game here, the fact is that china is a principal competitor and challenger not only in the pacific and asia region, but in the middle east specifically with irann conjunction with their interests in that region working very closely, the same is true of russia, and the chinese engaging and setting some very large stakes forward in the south china sea. >> yeah. china's been proliferating nuclear weapons technology to

iran. it has been iran's primary backer in termsf its economy and, of course, beijing supports iran in the u.n. security council and the governing board of the international atomic energy agency. you know, in a sense we have more of a china problem than we have an iran problem because china is really what makes the atomic ayatollahs dangerous. lou: all right. gentlemen, i'm going to have to cut it srt. i appreciate it. we're running up on time but thank you both. come back soon, both of you, and continue this conversation. gordon chang, thank you so much. walid phares, thank you, sir. and please take a mininute to lg on to lou dobbs tonight's facebook page to vote on our poll. the question is who do you think will win monday night's final debate. go to facebook.com/lou dobbs tonight. cast your vote, we'll have the results here later in the broadcast. up next, two disgraced former new york politician and a favorite angry liberal squaring off in a new poll. the winner? oh, we'll have the winner. [laughter] much to his regret, i'm sure.

coming up monday, the third and final debate of the presideial campgn and election. expert analysis from the best in the business joining us, the editor-in-chief of gallup polls, fran newport, ed rollins, joe trippi among our guests. please, be with us. [ mujahid ] there was a little bit of trepidation, not quite knowing what the next phase was going to be, you know, because you been, you know, this is what you had been doing. you know, working, working, working, working, working, working. and now you're talking about, well you know, i won't be,

and i get the chance to spend more time with my wife and my kids. it's my world. that's my world. ♪

lou: we don't know how much of liberal hollywood has shifted to governor romney, but at least part of it has. qualified comedy writers. here are some of the funniest moments of last nht's alfred e. smith charity dinner. >> campaign can require a lot of wardrobe changes. we -- blue jeans in e morning, perhaps, suits for a lunch fundraiser, sport coat for dinner, but it's nice to finally relax and to wear what ann and i wear around the house. [laughter] >> everyone, please, te your seats, otherwise clint eastwood will yell at them. [laughter]

>> i never suggest that the press is biased. i recognize they have their job to do, and i have my job to do. my job is to lay out a positive vision for the future of the country, and their job is to make sure no one else finds out about it. [laughter] >> i had a lot more energy in our second debate. [laughter] i was really well rested after the nice long nap i had in the first debate. [laughter] >> but people seem to be very curious as to how we prepare for the debates. let me tell you what i do. first, refrain from alcohol for 65 years before the debate. [laughter] second, find the biggest available straw man and then just midwestly attack it. -- mercily attack it. big bird didn't see it coming. [laughter] >> earlier today i went shopping at some stores in midtown. i understand governoromney went shopping for some stores in midtown. [laughter] lou: and a new poll by new york one finds two-thirds of new yorkers, 66%, do not want to se

alec baldwin become their mayor. they don't even want him to run. that opposition is even higher than the opposition against former congressman anthony weiner. it's also higher than the 57% who don't want former governor eliot spitzer to run. [laughter] up next, new polls show governor romney's favorability eclipsing the president's as we head into the final two weeks of the campaign. has america decides? and the a-team next. angela mcglowan joins us, ellis henican, scherr ri ya coe ellis henican, scherr ri ya coe bit. bob... oh, hey alex. just picking up some, brochures, posters copies of my acceptance speech. great! it's always good to have a backup plan, in case i get hit by a meteor. wow, your hair looks great. didn't realize they did photoshop here. hey, good call on those mugs. can't let 'em see what you're drinking. you know, i'm glad we're both running a nice, clean race.

no need to get nasty. here's your "honk if you had an affair with taylor" yard sign. looks good. [ male announcer ] fedex office. now save 50% on banners. so, which supeast 4g lte service would yochoose, based on this chart ? don't rush into it, i'm not looking for the fastest answer. obviously verizon. okay, i have a different chart. going that way, does that make a difference ? look at verizon. it's so much more than the other ones. so what if we just changed the format altether ? isn't that the exact same thing ? it's pretty clear. still sticking with verizon. verizon. re 4g lte coverage than all other networks combined.

lou: joining me now, the a-teaa. republican strategist, angela

mcglowan, fox news contributor ellis hen can, former rnc spokesperson cheri jacobus. good to have you here. cheri, let's start with you, if we may. >> okay. lou: the presidt gets a safe interview with jon stewart and screws it up. and then talks about four dead americans as, quote-unquote, not optimal. what is going on? >> i think the president is so used to having a media that gives him an adoring media thht not only can he not handle himself when things get tough, but now he's getting a little bit lazy and sloppy when tngs are going well -- lou: well, jon stewart did everything but give him a hug, are you kidding? >> exactly. and the remark is indefensible, and is now the mother of one of the young men is very upset. this thing has legs, and they can't blame it on republicans.

the president needs to be accountable for what comes out of his mouth. >> and i think this is actually going to help us win, and mitt romney's going to do very well on forgn policy on monday. and no matter what candy crowley did, i think that it's actually going to help us on monday when he does debate obama. >> yes? [laughter] i mean, listen, you're really upset about the stewart thing? he asked him the question, is it optimal -- lou: wait a minute,,i just asd you a question. >> he's asked, is this optimal? he says, well, no, it's not optimal when someone gets killed, it's not optimal when bad things happen. is is a, this is a phony piece of outrage. there's so many serious stuff to talk about, why are we focusing on -- >> oh, ellis, you're missing the point. the president does not want to talk about benghazi, he doesn't want to -- lou: you want to get serious, the president of the united states lied about what he said in the rose garden. >> he did. lou: he was corroborated by the debate moderator.

>> actually -- lou: no, what i'm saying is, actually, my finger is raised higher than yours. [laughter] >> this is the kind of stuff i think, frankly, voters this minor gotcha, can we twist this wwrd -- [inaudible conversations] >> four americans are dead in benghazi. >> go ahead and do it. lou: initially referred to as bumps in the road, now it's quote-unquote not optimal, and now you want to say that we want to talk about serious things. we have been begging to talk about something serious -- >> okay. lou: which is what happened in benghazi. a mmn sitting this that audience tuesday night, one of 11 questions, only 11 questions were put forward in from that audience. one of the was, mr. esident, who denied the security for that consulate? >> is it, is it -- lou: did you get the answer? i missed it. >> i didn't get it. >> the answer is the obvious and truthful answer which is this is an unfolding thing. the details have been coming out. they put out as they knew it. yes, there are contradictions --

>> ellis, i'm sorry, that is not true. lou: have you joined the great, the great conspiracy? >> no. i know, no -- lou: you're talking about a $4 trillion government, you're talking about the only superpower in the world -- >> yes. lou: -- cia assets in that immediate area. there is no explanation from this administration why they did not rush to the help of those americans. >> exactly. lou: there is no explanation why they did not take steps, there has been no explanation of any kind. [inaudible conversations] >> excuse me, cheri. as someone who has covered many live stories over the years, we all understand that these things dribble out in dribbles and drabs and over time -- [inaudible conversations] >> if it wasn'tor fox news, if it wasn't for the journalists at fox news, wouldn't have dribbled out. lou: we've got to give credit as well to cbs. >> i'm a little biased, but -- lou: and the daily beast.

>> are you all suggesting that he doesn't care about our diplomatic crew? lou: you telell me. >> no. >> oh, come on. no. he had a right to be offended at the suggestion that mitt romney made in the debate. it was one of of the proudest moments of the other night at hofstra university. [inaudible conversations] >> ellis, if i may teel you -- lou: do you think anybody really cares who so fended in this? -- is offended in this? >> when a candidate for ppesident steps up and suggest that -- lou: oh, come on. >> -- this president doesn't care about diplomats, i don't believe that. [inaudible conversations] finish. >> he doesn't go to his own security briefings, ellis. he doesn't go to his own -- what do you have to say about that? ellis, he doesn't go to his own security briefings, and his insensitive comments, it's starting to look like he doesn't derstand the impact and the importance of his job and what his responsibility is to our3 ambassadors and people overseas. that is a big problem, the fact

that he will not answer these questions, the fact that h gave a u.n. speech saying this was all about the video, and now he's backtracking, and the media is letting him get away with it. it's a big, big problem. >> clearly, he's a machiavellian politician who thought he could say whatever he wanted to say. to have his u.n. ambassador actually go on the air and say this was about a video? to have us spend $70,000 worth of tax dollars to do an apology tour saying it was because of a video? please. >> it is simply mistaken to suggest that this president is someone who doesn't care about the diplomatic -- lou: whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. [inaudible conversations] excuse me, if i may, if i may, we're out of time. >> sure. this stuff is wrong, you know that. lou: i do want to just, if i may, set the record straight again with your highly emotional @%ne. you've perhaps forgotten the factha i never said he didn't care. i said, does he? and i also said i don't give a damn if he does or he doesn't. [inaudible conversations]

thank you. [laughter] >> he does! loo: ellis henican who will be spouting for hours, but we've got a room for it. [laughter] and cheri jacobus, thank you very much. >> thank you. lou: up next, who do you think will win monday's -- this is not for ellis henican -- who do you think will win monday's final presidential debate? that's up next.

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lou: time for the results of our online poll. we asked who do you think will