it was a great show. thank you. the audience, every night, 6:00 p.m. if you can't catch us, dvr. you don't want to miss a moment of "making money." who ties it better than lou dobbs? no one. lou: good evening, everybody. president obama claims he is turning the page but he's been outmaneuvered by the republican-led congress who have already turned a very important page. republicans moving on a host of issues, ranging from illegal immigration and border security to foreign policy and support of our middle class. we'll be taking up these issues with some of the country's foremost thinkers and leaders. our guests. congressman bob. and house foreign affairs and intelligence committee member, congresswoman, ross late man. former senior advisor to

president george w. bush and republican strategist, karl rove. and foreign reagan white house political director and republican strategist ed rollins. we begin with a rant. and john boehner says the white house is ignoring this threat. the administration in the midst of seemingless endless negotiations with iran and they continue to loosen economic sanctions with no conditions attached. the white house releasing another half billion dollars returning that money to iran simply to competentcompensate them for continuing to talk. boehner invited benjamin netanyahu to deliver a speech to a joint session of congress on the iranian threat. (?) an invitation that netanyahu has accepted. his speech will take place on february 11th. it is a direct rebuke of the president's threat to veto a bipartisan bill calling for more

sanctions against iran. the speaker making it clear today that if the president is unwilling to take iran's threat seriously, the new republican-led congress will. and that he doesn't require the president's permission to bring mr. netanyahu to capitol hill. >> i did not consult with the white house. the congress can make this decision on its own. i don't believe i'm poking anyone in the eye. there is a serious threat that exists in the world. and the president last night kind of papered over it. and the fact is, is that there needs to be a more serious conversation in america about how serious the threat is. lou: republicans also turning the page today on the issue of illegal immigration and border security. the house homeland security committee marking up a bill that would give the department of homeland security two years in which to gain

operational control along our southern border with mexico. five years to succeed in that objective for the entire border. the bill introduced by congressman mike mccaul requires more infrastructure with which to secure the border including 27 miles of new border fencing. there will be aerial surveilling to prevent illegal crossings. if dhs officials fail to meet any of the bill's standards, they would face significant penalties, including an end to all bonuses and salary increases. joining us now, a member of the house republican leadership who has led the way on an incremental approach to legislation. we're joined by bob. chairmen of the house jewishjudiciary committee. thank you for being with us. the invitation to netanyahu is a stirring

moment of maneuver on the part of the speaker and the white house obviously left dumbfounded, slack jawed and flat-footed as a result, what what are your thoughts? >> you look at the state of the union yesterday and you think, there he goes again. this speech was chock-full of things the american people didn't vote for in november. mistrust. overregulation of the economy. putting burden on american families. taking away the college savings tax benefits that millions of american families rely upon to send their families to college. in the midst of that, he issues four veto threats when he supposedly is coming to the congress to talk about working with the congress for the benefit of the american people. they don't buy it. we didn't buy it. the speaker didn't buy it. the invitation, which i'm so pleased prime minister netanyahu has accepted is a strong signal that the congress

will watch this circumstance with a hawk and that we are going to take measures necessary to do our duty to protect the people of this country from a country like iran getting nuclear weapons. and we won't simply rely on what the president tells us when he stands there and tells us, i'll veto anything you try to do to put iran in check. it's legislation passed by the congress that has imposed the sanctions they already have that have brought us to the limited point we are. we need to push this president to take us a lot further to assure us that iran is not going to get nuclear weapons. lou: pushing him further. and the mccaul bill to secure our borders first bill moving today, do you believe that it can win significant support significant defined as veto-proof support? >> well, i don't know about veto-proof support. but i do know it will

get strong conservative support. i and my staff on the house judiciary committee and other judiciary committee members some of which who serve on the homeland security committee, work with us. they're working it through the committee right now. i think this is very important to send a strong message. again, we have a president who could enforce the law right now. he's not doing that. so there's a tremendous amount of mistrust here. but we need to send the signal of how it should be done right. and this is, i think a very good first step. the judiciary committee will follow right behind with the interior enforcement legislation. legislation giving state and local governments a clear statutory role in helping to enforce our immigration laws and electronic verification of employment to make sure that every business in america is checking to very few that the person applying for a

job is indeed lawfully present in the united states and therefore entitled to a job. that's the next steps in this process for a step by step reform of our laws that need to be reformed. but the first thing we need is for the president to enforce the laws now. and instead he's going in the opposite direction by granting administrative amnesty for four to 5 million people. that's a separate battle but it's one we have to put right at the forefront as well. lou: let's examine those two issues. one is the legislation. that you're moved from your committee. focusing on community enforcement. e-very few. the incremental approach you have taken on resolving our illegal immigration crisis in this country is incremental. it is rational. and it's effective. is the leadership, that is speaker boehner and

the republican leadership of the house are they enthusiastically supporting this so they will lead with a republican version and make a real difference and hopefully resolve the country's crisis that has been extant for over a decade? >> i believe there's strong support from our leadership and virtually the entire republican conference in the house to do the kinds of enforcement measures that need to be put in place. but, again what we really need is a president of the united states who is going to enforce the law not flout the law, which is what president obama is doing. but these will show the american people that there's a right way to do this. and i think we should push ahead with this approach. lou: and at this point you're going to move ahead. what is your next step?

>> well, our next step in the judiciary committee will be to look at bills that we brought up in the last congress. you'll recall that we passed four bills through the house judiciary committee. all of them good bills. and look to see what improvements can be made to them and then start moving those bills out of the committee. the difference, i hope we'll see this time is that not fearing a comprehensive immigration reform bill of barack obama and harry reid and others in the united states senate, but with a new senate, we should also pass those bills through the house of representatives to show the american people that -- lou: how soon do you think you can get them passed by the full house? >> i don't have a timetable yet, but i would hope early in this first year of this congress. lou: congressman, always good to talk to you. congressman bob. thanks. well, last night

speaking of the state of the union address. i pricked that president predicted that president obama would use i, me and my at least 90 times in the state of the union address. i have to brag because i got so close. he used it only 86 times. as high as that might sound. it did not surpass his record of 92 times. he did quote himself last night. that counts for something. here he is. obama: you know, just over a decade ago, i gave a speech in boston where i said there wasn't a liberal america or a conservative america, a black america or a white america, but a united states of america. i said this because i had seen it in my own life. in a nation that gave someone like me a

chance. lou: well, what kind of america do we have, particularly after the past six years? well the president also broke a different record for the highest number of veto threats ever in a state of the union address. he delivered four such threats last night. obama: we can't put the security of families at risk by taking away their health insurance or unraveling the rules on wall street or refighting past battle on his immigration when we have to fix a broken system. and if a bill comes to my desk that tries to do any of these things, i will veto it. they will have earned my veto. and that's why i will veto any new sanctions that threatens to undo this progress. lou: veto. i like the way he says it. critics pointed out some hypocrisy. we prefer to let you judge these things.

listen to the president as he bemoans politicians and their fund-raising. obama: a lot of good people on both sides of the aisle. many of you told me this is not what you signed up for. the constant fund-raising. always looking over your shoulder at how the base will react to every decision. lou: what a way to live. almost immediately after his speech was concluded, president obama emailed democratic supporter saying, quote, i hope you're excited about the agenda i laid out tonight for 2015 now it's time to get work, let's go. make a monthly contribution to support democrats now. that sounds suspiciously like fund-raising, doesn't it? we're coming right back. >> the state of the union sounded like a wish list from a lefty on the loose. last night was a little petulant and prickly.

it's the republicans who look like they're turning the page. karl rove joins us next.

lou: republican leaders today rejecting the president's four veto threats and his partisan proposals last night.

>> this kind of partisanship is what we've become accustomed to from the president. and we know the president may not be wild about the people's choice of a congress, but he owes it to the american people to find a serious way to work with the representatives that they elected. >> we need to fix our broken tax code. balance our budget, and replace the broken health care law with solutions that lower costs and protect jobs. lou: joining us now is carl cove, former deputy chief of staff for george bush. fox news contributor. karl, i have to say john impressed me by inviting netanyahu to appear before a joint session of congress. it was a stroke of brilliance. i suspect they're still choking about it at the

courthouse. >> theywhite house. >> you have a significant number of democrats (?) in the house and senate who are supportive of this back-up sanctions bill. remember, this doesn't impose sanctions on iran. it simply says that in the event that they're unable to reach an agreement, the sanction tools will be immediately available for the president. it allows the president to slip the deadline, like he's been doing. he just has to go to the congress and say i'll try for another 30 days. i'll try and negotiate this beyond the deadline i publicly stated. the white house can't be happy about this. they have netanyahu, who will provide a principled and, i think powerful case for the necessity of reigning in iran. and they'll have a large number of democrats on the hill, led in the senate by the just recently removed -- you know the recently --

now the ranking minority member. robert ma now and of new jersey. lou: robert talking about the talking points of the president. >> yeah. lou: in turning to domestic issues (?) and powerfully important issues, job creation, restoring prosperity to an economy that is -- we're in the midst, as you well know, of the worst economy following -- that can be termed a recovery from recession in our modern history. and the republicans talking last night, senator ernst. i have to give her great credit. she is talking about jobs and the american dream. and she talked about the middle class. and that was so -- i

think a breakthrough moment for the republican party. i don't know whether you agree with me. but there seemed to be -- >> i hope they do. look i like the comments that we heard from party leaders last night. paul ryan was particularly effective. and this is an opportunity. republicans need to understand this, this is an opportunity to go on the offense. sure, 2 million more people are working than we had at the time the recession began in december of 2007. there were 138 million americans working then. 130 million americans working then. on the other hand, there are 14 million more americans who are not in the work force because there weren't jobs for them. 2 million more people have gotten job since the end of recession net. we have 14 million more, net, who are no longer in the work force or who have tried and have given up. that's an astonishing comment on the weakness of the economy.

if we get 2 million working part-time, they can't find full-time work. the president said we turned a page. now on to the next one which is free community college for everybody and higher taxes. lou: i have to tell you, karl, i heard reverberations of mission accomplished in his words of his. and i frankly think that it was a very bad choice of language on his part. the middle class, at this point defined by purchasing power in which statistic you choose. it's less than five to 11% then when this president came into office. we're shutting down more businesses than we're creating in this country. 93 million americans not working. and we have a serious serious challenge before us, because we have a president who thinks he can say he won two elections and that's quite an adequate

response, and the republican party that is going to have to accommodate less of its oldest allies, and that is k street, the chamber commerce, and the business roundtable. and more new allies and that is working men and women. small business men and women and their businesses that are the principle creators of jobs. >> well, small business people have been historically very republican. what's interesting in the last couple of elections. particularly 2013 and 2012, working class workers have moved to the republican column. they don't identify as republicans as much as they vote for them. we have to identify with those people and make certain that the republican agenda gives them hope and optimism that life will be better. look, if last night -- here's what was interesting, a lot of those people -- if they're trying to save for their kid's education, many of them

are using 529 plans. 14 million who have these accounts in the states who offer them. the president said we'll take the savings you're putting away tax-free for your kid's education. when you draw it out we'll slap a tax on that. when you write the check to the college for your kid, you'll also have to write a tax to the government. and, i mean, this was -- this was a big mistake. and insane. why are we doing that? wasn't the purpose of that original creation of tax exempt savings accounts for education an attempt to encourage people who don't have the means normally to do this to be able to access college. lou: yeah. and there's to me a more fundamental issue in it all. education in this country is an opportunity to all who show both the talent, energy skill, to be educated. it's a meritocracy.

it isn't a gift from on high. whether on high is president obama or the federal government. karl it's great to have you -- very quick. >> one last point. lou: sure. >> the president is saying free community college, at the same time that the department of education is trying to put out of business every for-profit college in america which have a higher retention rate, higher job placement rate than community colleges do. but they are part of the free market, free enterprise economy. he hates those. he wants free community college instead. really insane. lou: why would there not be free trade schools? free vocational training? free four-year schools. and anything more than a c plus to get them. >> he said you have to get a c plus average to get free education.

lou: that sounds like more than one of my semesters. thank you. up next, republicans succeeding where the president is floundering. turning their focus to the american middle class. we'll show you how next.

lou: time for a look at our online poll results. the question we asked is whether you believe the republican party has squandered a political opportunity to become the party of the middle class? 76% of you said yes you believe the g.o.p. has squandered that opportunity. we want you to vote in tonight's poll. the question is: the american middle class will it be larger or smaller by 2020 in your view? cast your vote at loudobbs.com. well, i want to offer a few comments tonight if i may, on what i perceive to be the

ascendancy of the middle class. and all who aspire to be part of our middle class. for more than a decade, i've urged republicans and independents to fight the forces that would destroy our middle class. if we continue in our current direction set by this country's political and multinational establishment, our middle class is endangered, and our middle class is the bedrock of this nation upon which we've built the american dream. america has been for more than two centuries the world's greatest meritocracy. assuring equal opportunity and individual freedom no matter what. guaranteed by citizens who demand respect for one another our constitution and our founders who created this great nation. we've watched the left try to bastardize this great document. acting if those guarantees of rights are

the same as guaranteed outcomes. as though fairness is supposed to be judged by outcome, not opportunity. president obama tried to drive a stake through the heart of american meritocracy. free community college with a c plus average. i guess that he would have colleges give free degrees for electrical engineering. just because most people are not smart enough to get it with hard work is no reason to deny anyone that degree. mr. obama didn't come up with a program to work while attending school. that would require work, sacrifice, the way millions of us have gotten our education and our degrees along the way. more presidential giveaways are simply silly. and the republicans, in my judgment were very constrained indeed not to have laughed the president right out of the room last night.

he seemed more interested in touting the questionable success of his policies rather than acknowledging the challenges and struggles that much of americans face. senator joni ernst in my opinion struck exactly the right republican tone. she delivered the message this nation was hoping would originate one day from her party. >> americans have been hurting. but when we demanded solutions, too often washington responded with the same stale mind-set that led to failed policies, like obamacare. now, we're working hard to pass the kind of serious job creation ideas you deserve. lou: and not a day too soon. mr. obama necessity forgot to say

that businesses are shutting down. he mentioned outsourcing jobs. but us multinationals are persisting. what will the g.o.p. do to create jobs to save jobs? the party's future, in fact depends on the answer. and so too does this country's destiny. for her part, senator ernst made clear that her personal story is very much the stuff of america. (?) and now perhaps the stuff of the republican party. >> look at my parents and grandparents. they had very little to call their own except the sweat on their brow and the dirt on their hands. but they worked. they sacrificed. and they dreamed big dreams for their children and grandchildren. you don't need to believe from wealth or privilege to make a difference. you just need the freedom to dream big and a whole lot of hard

work. lou: well, how about that from a republican senator? it looks as though hope and change may have finally arrived in washington and just maybe, our middle class meritocracy can be restored by republicans who may be prepared to turn a page of their own. we'll see. now, our quotation of the evening. this one from american writer lecturer, ralph waldo emerson who said but all great men come out of the middle classes. it is better for the head. 'tis better for the heart. we're coming right back. >> the president wants a us embassy in cuba. cuba demands the united states lift cuba from the terror list. congresswoman ross late man joins me next.

lou: joining us now congresswoman ileanna ros-lehtinen member of the house foreign affairs committee. she chairs the subcommittee on middle east and africa. she's on the committee for intelligence. great to have you with us. and congratulations if i may add that. >> it's a great honor. i thank the speaker for it. lou: let's start with the speaker because i have to say that was one of the most impressive judgments, maneuvers whatever you want to call it, to invite benjamin netanyahu to a joint session of congress.

and absolutely brilliant move. and one that is absolutely critical to the nation. >> well, lou, i absolutely agree. it is a policy decision based on us national security and our shared interests with the democratic jewish state of israel, our incredible ally in that troubled region. you know the president made sweeping statements last night saying that he's a tough negotiator. and he's getting a tough nuclear deal with iran. nothing could be further from the truth. he's moving the goalpost. now it's the end of june. he's giving away everything. in return, do we stop nuclear iran, how many center fuges will ran be able to keep? by john boehner inviting just hours after the president's speech, our greatest partner for peace in the middle east to address us on the iranian nuclear threat speaks how volume of how seriously the united

states congress takes the threat of a nuclear iran for our own security. lou: and in the president's state of the union you invited to the speech, the daughter of one of the brothers to the rescue pilots who were shot down by the castro regime almost 20 years ago. standing in stark contrast to the presence of alan gross invited by the president. where are we headed with this unilateral initiative on the part of the president to open up cuba. >> he's give given this away. this young lady who was invited. the coconspirator of her father's murder was one of the spies that president obama pardoned in exchange for alan gross' life. it's incredible what the president is willing to offer the cuban regime. right now the highest level state department personnel is negotiating

this diplomatic relations with the cuban delegation. who is the cuban delegation? well, they're part of the official intelligence operation for castro's cuba. so that tells you a lot about the folks that we're dealing with. and one of the negotiators from cuba has actually been charged with assaulting american protesters here in front of the cuban intersection in washington dc. this president has not asked for democracy, for liberty, for freedom for political prisoners. for the rule of law. nothing. raul castro has had to do nothing in order to get everything, including diplomatic recognition. now he wants an embassy. lou: an embassy. and at the same time sitting in the havana harbor a russian spy ship. odd and one assumes not

exactly coincidental timing the arrival of the russian spy ship in havana. >> you are so right lou. nothing that the cost ro regime does is by coincidence. this is by design. (?) this is part of the way they operate. remember after the december 17th concession speech of the president giving away everything to this dictatorship in exchange for nothing what did raul castro do? he donned his military fatigues and told the island nations and the world, hey don't worry about it, we don't to have change anything. we got our convicted spies back. we got rid of a headache, alan gross if you're patient and you bide your team and stick your finger in the eye of the united states long enough, you'll be rewarded with everything you asked for and more. (?) so we're there in havana right now saying what more can we give you? and the castro regime says oh, please don't

throw me in the briar patch. it's amazing how weak this president is. he says he will veto sanctions in iran. lift sanctions on cuba. and israel is just given half a phrase in the state of the union address. really? our greatest ally? it's a shameful foreign policy. remember, this is the same president who in september said that yemen was a success story. fast forward to today it's a basket case. lou: absolutely. congresswoman, always good to have you with us. congresswoman ileanna ros-lehtinen. up next, president obama refuses to say radical islamist. last night he omitted another term heard in every state of the union address since 2001. what does it all mean? find out next.

lou: there's a lot going on in this world, we don't understand, including the motives and thinking of some of our national leaders. joining us tonight, lieutenant ralph peters. fox news strategic analyst. author and great

american. good to have you. >> great to see you you lou. lou: yemen. just as the congresswoman ileanna ros-lehtinen was pointing out the idea that this administration won't use the expression radical islamist, robert menendez saying he's using the terrainian talking points, the mystery compounds itself of what he's doing in the middle east. >> mid-1950s america's hard-core left could not admit that stalin got it wrong. and the hard-core left and obama is rerevealing himself as that. they never give an inch. (?) you don't crack the old rule. you don't give an inch. you look them straight in the eye. you lie. you lie. it sticks with a number of people. there are people who listened to that and

thought, the president is doing a pretty good job even as he's facilitating three things. iran is building a nuclear empire that will include western afghanistan, eastern or all of iraq, bahrain part of yemen, also have syria and probably yemen. putin is rebuilding his crackpot czarist empire. and while this is all going on, you have the islamic state caliphate. and our president told us that everything is hunky-dory. everything is fine. lou: the page has been turned. the crisis is over. as i said to karl rove earlier in the broadcast, it sound like he was saying mission accomplished for all the world. >> i heard you raise that. and i've done the same thing. remember how the media tore bush apart on that. president obama said michigan accomplished again and again. it's accomplished in iraq. it's accomplished in afghanistan. yemen was great. and i'll tell you a

friend of mine who is inside on the yemen deal got in touch this afternoon and he is in despair. he said get our people out now. i hope that's too alarmist. but this administration is only concerned with its domestic image. it does not take the world seriously, but the world takes us very seriously. lou, i'll tell you i don't think the sky is always falling. we're facing this trifecta of the caliphate, the iranian empire and putin who just said, you know that part that speaks russian, that could be the next ukraine. and we're not taking it seriously. lou: not taking it seriously. as you put it, the iranian empire, we will see how that unfolds. but we know this: that they have the full support that this juncture at least of vladimir putin and russia. >> yeah, new persian

empire with nukes. lou: colonel ralph peters. always great to see you. up next, the hypocrisy the hypocrisy of the obama white house. speaker john boehner invites a prominent world leader to address congress. that sort of underlines things, doesn't it. we're coming right back.

a. lou: joining us now is reagan political director ed rollins, republican strategist, fox news political analyst. i don't think that begins to cover it, but it's so nice to see you. [laughter] >> thank you. lou: as we watched this address to adjust scratched my head as to why he was being so petulant, he wasn't in any way offering a hand or in all of ranch and he wasn't trying to move the room. what was he trying to do in your judgment? >> the first thing is it was in a state of the union speech or the state of his party. he had 14 fewer senate democrats than when he started. lou: that must've been a weird sensation for him to look out at that. >> i think that he normally gives good speeches.

i thought it was very disjointed but i thought that it was petulant and there was no reaching out. he threw a bunch of things out there. and to threaten vetoes even before legislation is absurd. you have to try to work with the congress work with reform and immigration reform. lou: after all of his treatment and some would say that he papered over the issue of iranian nuclear destiny and these negotiations to have speaker boehner turn around and have benjamin netanyahu addressed the joint session of congress is to me, it was the most powerful thing that the republican party has done. >> it was great leadership. and the house can invite anyone they want to address. the president was invited to address the session. so i think it is a very

important thing in the most important thing that we are dealing with long term. and i think we are having a full explanation from our ally. coming here and telling us why they are fearful because of what is going on today. lou: it also shows that the republican party is represented by the house leadership, the senate leadership has a new voice that carries a little farther than it did. >> yes. lou: there was some imagination and spirit and it's nice to see in capitol hill. >> i think that they have decided they are going to be pro-economic policies we want and what have you. the whole dialogue of middle-class economics and what is middle class economics fred barnes said what is middle class economics and we all want

opportunities and our kids to have it better than we do. i am a graduate of community college. it's a local school board, the idea of the federal government stepping in. lou: this guy is trying to destroy meritocracy and he has made some extraordinary headway in my opinion. but you brought up the middle-class and as you know i have been writing about the middle-class for a long time. to see the republican party begin to embrace the middle-class as a preeminent constituency, i think it is exciting. >> our premise in the reagan administration [inaudible] people basically want opportunities and jobs and they want to move forward herriot and additional tax policies every

single one has been one at the end of the day. and that's not good that the country. lou: karl rove suggested that small business in this country has always been republican. but my point would be that the republican party has not always been for small business, but big is this multinationals and this is a significant reorientation for the gop. >> absolutely, small business is going to create jobs international businesses today the big corporations are going to go anyplace anytime to make a buck, except it's not going to create jobs in america. small business will be in our neighborhoods and cities and states and that's what we need to encourage. lou: it is always encouraging speaking with you. good to see you. ed rollins. well that's it for for us tonight. we appreciate you being with us. stay tuned for neil cavuto coming up next. we wish you a very good night from new york.

♪ ♪ ♪♪ ♪ neil: welcome, everyone. i am neil cavuto. now we know for sure that not all elections have consequences. this was the wind blind approved it for me. >> i have no more campaigns to run. my only agenda -- [applause] i know because i won both of them. neil: oh no you didn't. what you left out is election that happened a couple months ago that he didn't win. maybe he figured because he wasn't running even though he was very much on the ballot. the issue he was championing was the same one that the voters were rejecting, as if that consequence hadn't