a lot of good people. jenna: that group, phoenix soldiers, by the way, is planning their next person to tap to get to live like a millionaire. jon: good of them to do that. we can't repay him for his sacrifice. what a move. jenna: that's the truth. jon: thank you for joining us. jenna: "america live" starts right now. megyn: thanks, guys. this is a fox news alert, republicans hit the ground running in iowa just one day after the fiery and tension-filled gop debate. and now we are getting reports that we could see even more drama on the campaign trail within the next half an hour. welcome no to "america live" on a friday, everyone, i'm megyn kelly. the republican hopefuls are now campaigning ahead of tomorrow's key straw poll in iowa. tim pawlenty is scheduled to speak at the iowa state fair about a half hour from now, and now we're being told he may be met by the very same group that challenged romney yesterday on social security with this exchange here.

>> if you want to speak, you can speak, but right now it's my turn. i'm glad you're on social security -- hold on just a moment. hold on just a moment, i can let you speak in a moment. >> you came here to listen to the people -- >> no, i came here to speak. the way this is going to work, the way this is going to work is you get to ask your question, i get to give my answer. if you don't like my answer, you can vote for someone else. but now it's my turn to give my answer. [cheers and applause] you ready for my answer? i'm not going to raise taxes. that's my answer. [cheers and applause] i'm not going to raise taxes. [cheers and applause] and if you want somebody that can raise taxes, you can vote for barack obama. megyn: while we wait for those remarks from pawlenty about a half an hour from right now, we have new reaction and fallout to last night's beg debate. bret baier is the moderator of last evening's big event. bret, all right, so we had pawlenty going after bachmann, santorum going after ron paul and newt gingrich going after

you. here's the clip, stand by. [laughter] >> speaker ding rich, as president obama was deciding what to do in libya, you were asked what you would do. you said, quote, communicate to the libyan military that gadhafi was gone and the sooner they switched sides, the more likely they were to survive. you said, quote, i would not have intervened, i think there were a lot of other ways to affect gadhafi. are you now certain about the way forward in libya? >> well, let me suggest this is a good example of a gotcha question. >> no, it's not. >> yes, it is. no, go back previous to greta van susteren two weeks earlier when i said what we should do is go in covertly, use egyptian and other allies, not use american forces -- >> but, mr. speaker, you said -- >> that's right. i said that thing specifically after the president that day announced gloriously to the world as president of the united states that gadhafi has to go. and i said if the president is

serious about gadhafi going, this is what we should do. the following interview came after the same president said, well, i didn't really meant go meant go, i meant maybe we should have a humanitarian intervention. now, the fact that i was commenting on fox about a president that changes his opinion every other day ought to be covered by a fox commentator using all the things i said, not hand picking the ones that fit your premise. megyn: so that and his exchange with chris wallace which preceded it where he said, you know, he called the question sort of mickey mouse questions and gotcha questions and wanted chris to get off of those, in his view, have made a lot of headlines, bret. what did you make of it? >> well, i think speaker gingrich had that in his back pocket -- megyn: he kind of admitted that on hannity last night. >> yeah, and be he did. and i think that was to make a moment, and he did. he made a few moments. and to his credit he really did step it up, and i think a lot of

people you talk to analyzing that debate think he had a very good debate in part because he went after us and the questions. but arguably, defending the questions, one, chris wallace was asking about how he runs his campaign, if he's going the run the country, that's a fair country about how you run your campaign. two, on the libya question he did say those things, and the question was are you certain about the way forward now. after the debate he thought he had a pretty good debate, and if you look at it, i think it was pretty interesting across the two hours and substantive despite all the focus and the coverage on the back and forth and the process and the questions. megyn: you know, i had to laugh because in the law, when i used to practice law they used to tell you you can beat up on a witness if witness is unsympathetic. so when i saw him beating up on chris wallace, i thought, oh, that's okay, no one's going to feel bad for chris wallace. but when i saw him beating up on

you, bret baier, i thought it differently. >> reporter: well, thanks, buddy. [laughter] i do want to say one thing. megyn: yeah, go ahead. >> reporter: go ahead, go ahead. megyn: i was just going to say that speaker gingrich is, obviously, on fox all the time, but those outside of fox news who evaluated your performance including "the washington post" and many others gave you huge, great reviews including this from "the washington post," i just want our viewers to know. wallace and bret baier in particular were willing to pose questions that forced candidates to address their major weaknesses in the race and, perish the thought, occasionally divert from their talking points. when the candidates are doing everything to avoid answering any and every question, you need moderators willing to mix it up, and the fox folks were. so kudos to you. so let's move on. i want to ask you because you didn't only take heat from newt gingrich, you took heat from rick santorum who i mentioned hannity had his postspin room

analysis, and santorum said this: >> last night i was on greta's show, and i said that i would get tougher questions from an most saw at a town meeting than i would from bret baier which i wasn't sure i didn't get any questions from bret baier. about an hour and 15 minutes through the show i had to ask to answer. yeah, i was a little frustrated, i've got the tell you. megyn: but is that true? >> reporter: yeah. it's not true. i asked him a question about the economy in the first round about his economic plan and as far as the timing, i want to break this down. you know, one thing is perception about a debate, the other thing is reality. these are our best estimates on timing and questions. governor romney got 12 questions. he spoke for ten minutes, 12 seconds. congresswoman bachmann got 16 questions, she spoke for ten minutes, seven seconds. congressman paul, 12 questions.

nine minutes -- oh, ten minutes roughly. governor pawlenty, roughly ten minutes just a little shy of ten minutes, he got 13 questions. congressman paul got 12 questions. senator santorum, ten questions, but he got nine minutes, 21 seconds. now, that is, let's see, 40, 50 second less than governor romney who had the most time speaking. next came newt gingrich at eight minutes, roughly nine minutes. he had ten questions. herman cain, seven minutes, 55 seconds. he had 11 questions. and and governor huntsman, seven minutes, 15 seconds, he had nine questions. for mr. cain and governor huntsman, they answered many times not using their full minute, and they answered short and came up short on some of those answers. megyn: and i appreciated that. you always like when they give back time, but it was fascinating to watch. i want to ask you as a moderator

because you don't take sides, you don't pick winners and losers, but sitting there as the person who was responsible for controlling the event, did anyone jump out at you as making a bigger mark than the others? >> reporter: well, i think, clearly, newt gingrich appeal today a lot of folks in what he was saying, and he had a big night. i think governor romney, i was surprised by the lack of attacks directly on governor romney thinking, considering he's the front runner. so he largely got out unscathed. and others made points, made marks, but who had the best night? i think most analyst would say newt gingrich for a campaign that needed some breath into it. megyn: and yet is he a serious contender, bret? according to the polling that we've seen? >> reporter: well, that's a dangerous question, as you know, megyn. i mean, bill o'reilly asked me that the other night, and i think governor pawlenty's answer stands. if you look back to 2008 at the beginning of the polls, we would

have nominee giuliani or a president hillary clinton if you look back early. so i think it's really early in this race, but, right, the front runners are still here in amy chel bachmann -- iowa michele bachmann, governor romney's up there, and we'll see if newt gingrich moves up. tim pawlenty has to make a stand here at the iowa straw poll on saturday, one or two to get a ticket out. i just saw him up the road flipping pork chops, and he kept them on the grill. maybe that's a good sign. megyn: last night it was very exciting, the big debate opens, you have the fox music, everything. did you feel the excitement? did you feel a little nervous? it's a big night. >> reporter: yeah, it's a big night. it is fun. i mean, listen, you've been at these big nights, and we sat next to each other on election night, and you know that feeling inside, and you're in the middle of this, and this is for a political junkie the best thing

i could be doing right now. megyn: yeah. >> reporter: so i was psyched, i was fired up, and we're going to see you down the road pretty soon in the all of this. megyn: i'm looking forward to all of that. i personally was disappointed you didn't take your 4-year-old son paul's advice, i heard nothing about robots or sharks. i don't know why, but if people want to know what i'm talking about, go to foxnews.com/-- what -- special? >> reporter: special report. and, listen, i probably would have gotten ripped for that question too. [laughter] megyn: that really is a mickey mouse question he wanted you to ask. >> reporter: that's right. it really is. megyn: thanks, bret. >> reporter: see ya, megyn. megyn: well, you're not done with bret baier, not by a long shot. this saturday contest that we're waiting for could spell the end for a handful of these campaigns. bret baier will be anchoring our special saturday coverage of the iowa straw poll. who will survive and who will not?

be sure to tune in to fox news at 5 p.m. eastern time tomorrow afternoon. well, the battle over america's money is also a big issue, or was in last night's big debate, and now the white house is lashing out at the republican candidates who declared they would not support a budget deal that includes tax hikes if it were $10 in spending cuts to $1 in tax hikes. white house spokesman josh earnest says that the position of the gop candidates shows they are not on the side of the public, and we're hearing that a lot from the folks on the left right now. here's the moment that the administration is talking about. >> reporter: say you had a deal, a real spending cuts deal, 10 to 1 as byron says, spending cuts to tax increases. speaker, you're already shaking your head. but who on this stage would walk away from that deal? can you raise your hand if you feel so strongly about not raising taxes, you'd walk away on the 10 to 1 deal? [applause] [cheers and applause]

megyn: new fallout over reports that the white house is working on a campaign strategy that is described as, quote, kill romney. obviously, politically they mean. this morning president obama's campaign strategist, chief campaign strategist david axlerod responded to those reports which cite him specifically. take a listen to what he called on good morning america about the kill romney campaign which would include efforts to make the former gop governor quote, look weird. >> no, and is as i've said to others, anybody who purports to be a source from the obama campaign who made those kind of comments should be removed from those reporters' roll lo deck. megyn: but he is cited as one of the sources for this in the political report that started it all. so who's telling the truth? well, the white house says the story got twisted. we dug up some of what axelrod

has said on the record, and we'll let you decide whether it's an earth to, quote -- effort to, quote, kill romney, meaning to take him down as a candidate or not. well, a scary announcement from federal health officials. the very first death in the united states from a vampire bat. we'll show you how this happened. plus, verizon calling in the fbi to investigate claim of sabotage. are their own employees behind it? we investigate next. >> it's inappropriate. like anything else; when you get high emotions and you get a lot of people, you're going to have some people who act inappropriately. [ male announcer ] this is coach parker... whose non-stop day starts with back pain... and a choice. take advil no and maybe up to four in a day. or choose aleve and two pills for a day free of pain. way to go, coach. ♪ ♪ until the sun went down

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megyn: this is a fox news alert out of florida. we are getting reports now that a judge has ordered casey anthony back to orlando. judge belvin perry says that anthony, who was acquitted of murder last month, must return to the florida department of corrections as part of her one-year probation stemming from from a check fraud sentence.

her lawyers had argued that this would put her life at risk. phil keating joins us live with more. >> reporter: hi, megyn. the judge's order issued verbally in 2010 that she must serve one year's supervised probation after being released from jail. she was being held in jail after she served those 412 days for the six counts of check fraud because she was denied bail and waiting for the murder trial. judge perry says it would be a mockery of justice to allow her to not serve the probation based on a scrirver in's error. casey anthony's attorney will most likely appeal to try and get this probation served from another state. but you're going to have to get another state to go along with that for baez. what it means for casey anthony, she is going to have to declare where she's going to be living for the next year, at least what state, and then according to the department of corrections in florida, she'll have to have

that supervised probation. so she's going to have to come out of hiding by august 26th of this month, two fridays from now. she can, though, submit herself to meet her probation officer before then, but she has two weeks to begin her one year's probation. megyn: all right, phil, thank you. well, also developing this afternoon, the fbi investigating educations that someone -- allegations that someone is sabotaging equipment owned by the phone company, verizon. verizon reporting 90 separate acts since a union strike began last weekend. thousands of customers including a hospital and a police station, trace gallagher has more life from our west -- live from our west coast newsroom. >> reporter: even police say the timing here is very suspect. you have verizon workers walking off the job, joining the picket lines, suddenly you have cable, internet and phone lines going down in dozens of neighborhoods across a number of states, we're talking about new york, new jersey, maryland and massachusetts. we're not talking about a bad signal, clearly, because the cables had been cut, the wires

pulled out, many of these boxes just ripped open, and the investigators say it appears all of the boxes were opened with a universal key, you know, the key the workers use to open and repair those boxes. massachusetts police call it malicious vandalism saying, and i'm quoting here, it's obvious to me that, you know, someone from this area was unhappy with the results of the vote that was taken whether or not to go on strike, had done something. the unions or verizon, rather, calls it criminal sabotage and a danger to customers. listen here. >> this is of grave concern to verizon because for many people, especially elderly, they rely on their phones as a lifeline. and if they don't have their phone service, they may not be able to make emergency calls. >> reporter: on their part the unions say verizon blaming the unions is typical, right out of their playbook. but the unions deny it. listen.

>> our position is that we have not had this reported to us and that, also, we don't condone illegal activity. >> reporter: by the way, the unions here voted to strike because verizon wanted to freeze their pensions and wanted them to contribute more to their health care, ask that's what the debate is over right now. megyn. megyn: all right, trace, thank you. want to bring you this fox news alert which has come in as trace was talking. this is a significant ruling, folks. it has come down in the 11th circuit court of appeals, this is in connection with the president's federal health care overhaul. you recall that that florida judge struck down the individual mandate portion of the health care law finding that it was unconstitutional. well, that decision went up to the 11th circuit court of appeals, and the 11th circuit has just agreed that the individual mandate is unconstitutional. that the individual mandate portion of the health care law is untiewgal. this is from -- unconstitutional.

this is from a principal appeals court, 11% circuit out of atlanta. this has just come down. nonetheless, the other headline is the court has apparently also determined that the rest of the health care law may stand even though what's been described by some as the heart of the law, the crux of the law, the mandate which funds it, is unconstitutional. we're trying to get more. this thing is, we're now told, 300-plus pages. jim angle has got his hands on the decision. i'll try to get my hands on it as well during the course of the next hour and bring you more of what we know, but this is a significant decision and the first half of it is, obviously, a blow to the obama administration. we're going to bring more to you right after the break on this breaking news as we get it right here. also want to bring you this, a brand new poll revealing less than one in five americans now believe that washington can solve this nation's problems. less than one in five believe that. alan colmes straight ahead on how it got this bad and what it means for president obama in

2012. >> where's barack obama's plan on social security reform, medicare reform, medicaid reform? in fact, i'll offer a prize tonight to anybody in this auditorium for anyone watching on television.

megyn: want to tell you that we are going through this 300-page decision and are going to bring you more on this in the about five minutes. jim angle, in particular, is going to come up with a live report, so stand by for that. new polls out today on the president, his leadership and the economy. according to the latest washington post poll, 70% of voters say the president has either failed or made worse, failed to fix or made worse the problems facing this nation. only 19% believe that he's made

progress on those issues. alan colmes is host of the alan colmes show and my guest now. >> welcome back. megyn: thank you v.. it's a pleasure to see you again. 70% say he has failed to solve our problems or made them worse. poll change. >> polls change all the time. megyn: over a year before the election, but if you're advising president obama, how do you get him to turn this around? >> >> i would say stay the course. my advice is, hey, did you see that republican debate last night? you're fine. megyn: you weren't threatened? is. >>59% don't blame obama for the economy and 61% say he inherited the economic problems from george west w. bush, so i can sw you polls that would mitigate -- megyn: i think you're right, but the thing that interested me more was the independent numbers because everybody looks at those. he's losing some support on the left, i'm sure you've seen that. >> but where are they going to

go come election day? megyn: let me tell viewers what they say. this is a fox news poll, 31% of the independents approve of the job he's doing. in the july it was 44%. 55% of the job disapprove of the job he's doing, that's the key group. i mean, he's got to turn them around. you may not like what you saw on the stage last night in iowa, but if independents do -- >> look, we have a long time to go as you just pointed out. we don't know who the opponent is. once there's a wrestling match and we know what that person is and that potential stands for, then we can -- megyn: but it's harder for president obama because he's been doing the job. you were the president when the s&p downgraded america. mitt romney, he's not going to have to -- none of them are going to have to go in there and face that. >> do they blame the president or does a broad swath see that it was the tea party, the tail wagging the dog of congress, or do they blame the president -- megyn: they seem to be blaming

both of them. >> a debt deal that many people don't like. megyn: well, the polls seem to support, blame goes the everybody because the confidence in president obama's decision to make, in him to make the right decisions for the united states now 33% which is down ten, ten points. just 33% of the american people believe he can make the right decisions, but the confidence in house republicans is now at 18%, and that's down from 35. >> and that's a problem for republicans. you dig into those numbers who maybe don't have confidence in the president, some of those are on the left who wish he had stood up and said i wish i'm going to invoke the 14th amendment, and they either sit on their hands or say, who else am i going to vote for? i'm going to hold my nose and vote for the president. megyn: it's tough to think the left is going to vote for newt gingrich. but these people are upset with the house gopers, but are they really going to hold it against romney, pawlenty, rick perry? >> >> is pawlenty running?

yeah. [laughter] megyn: are you suggesting pawlenty is less than dynamic? >> yes. i'm saying -- megyn: stirewalt says -- >> he was very liberal in many of his things as governor, immigration of minnesota, and now i think -- megyn: but my question is are these independents going to hold things against pawlenty? they're upset with obama and house gopers. >> i think they're probably waiting to see, get more definition about what the race is going to be. there's too many unknowns. too many unknowns to really know how it's all going to fall a year and a half there now. we're in the summer, a year and a half away. people are going to the beach. i'm not sure most people are paying attention right now. megyn: well, i think they pay attention on the big news days, they watch. i really feel like i can speak to this because i was the average news viewer for the past four months. [laughter] and you know, don't they, when there's not a lot of news, and there's something big happening.

that straw poll tomorrow and that debate last night, those were big news debates. >> the news cycle happens so quickly now, so much can happen between thousand and a year from november, it's too soon to tell. megyn: and alan is hoping that they do. >> i think things will be very favorable for the left. megyn: okay. well -- >> i know you think i'm biased -- megyn: we'll run the clip november of '12. >> play this tape. megyn: good to see you. not biased, just opinionated. an eyed log. >> i'm not an eyed log. tell you all the areas where i disagree with democrats and the president? megyn: they're telling me in my ear, no. all right, see ya, alan. new developments on that american woman who's now missing on the island of aruba. just ahead, we've got mark fuhrman on an interesting new twist on the case. wait until you hear this theory that she went missing snorkeling in the past. plus, one of the president's top advisers is dismissing reports to launch an all-out

personal attack on mitt romney should he be the nominee. are they really behind that or aren't they? you decide. plus, tim pawlenty is now in iowa speaking to the crowd at the state fair. will he get the angry reception that we saw yesterday? these are live pictures. we'll bring you there, stay tuned. >> you came here to listen to the people. >> no. no, no, i came here to speak. hold on a second. [cheers and applause] hold on a second, i'll let you speak. hold on a second, let me -- hold on a second. [inaudible conversations] >> just let him talk. let him talk, go ahead. are you receiving a payout from a legal settlement or annuity over 10 or even 20 years? call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today.

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megyn: fox news alert, last full day of campaigning before the crucial iowa straw poll, and most of the crucial republican candidates are hitting the state fair today. tim pawlenty just one of them speaking to the crowds now, and we are watching since this is the same spot where mitt romney was challenged by some liberal activists yesterday. and we got some reports they may be back today wanting to confront pawlenty. while we watch that, president obama's chief political adviser, david axlerod, went on the network morning shows today trying to knock down reports of an obama campaign strategy to hit romney with personal attacks including ones that would derive him as, quote, weird. watch this.

>> a remarkable article in politico earlier this week laid out what they said was the emerging obama strategy based on talking to advisers. it says obama planned to destroy romney, portraying the public romney as inauthentic, unprincipled and in a word used repeatedly in about a dozen interviews, weird. is that what y'all think of governor romney? >> no. and as i've said to others, anybody who purports to be a source from the obama campaign who made those kind of comments should be removed from those reporters' roll low decks. megyn: joining me now, neil boortz and a partner at hilltop public solutions. gentlemen, thanks so much for being here. this is fascinating to me because "the politico" did an in-depth piece on this strategy and quoted a prominent democratic strategist aligned with the white house saying they'll have to kill romney.

a, quote, senior obama adviser saying there's a, quote, weirdness factor with romney. and then, neil, went on to quote david axlerod, the man we just saw there, on the record as talking about romney's, i guess, eccentricity, and i'm going to show the viewers that quote in a minute. but what do you make of it, neil? in a minute. >> well, of course, absolutely they're going to have to try to denigrate and cast mitt romney as being somewhat strange. gallup participated in a poll, the results came out this week that showed that only 7% of muslims -- excuse me, 7% of mormons actually think that barack obama's doing a good job. so they can easily go on the attack in that arena -- megyn: but why are they denying it? why do you have david axlerod coming out today and saying we would fire anybody who's doing that? >> because they've been called

out on it, they've been exposed, because they've been had. they had no choice. david axlerod isn't going to come on and say, yeah, we came up with that weird word at a focus group last week. they have to deny it, then they have to go back into the focus group or back into the campaign session and come up with a different word, a different phrase. but the goal is going to be the same; you have to single out romney as being just a little bit different than the rest of the americans out there, and we all know they're talking about his religion. megyn: what do you make of it, moe? they say it was mentioned over a dozen times in different interviews, and then they quote axlerod, and here's the quote. he didn't use the word "weird" himself, he made the observation that, quote, when he -- meaning romney -- makes jobs about unemployed or a waitress pinching him on the butt, it does snap your head back and you say, what's he talking about?

he didn't say anybody that goes that route is going to get fired, he piled on. >> well, i just reread that story before we came on the air. and if you go on to read the rest of axlerod's quotes in that story, he goes on to say, look, but the real distinction, the real differentiation between these two guys, um, is a character issue, and it is romney's long record of flip-flopping on issues, of saying one thing and -- megyn: right, right, right. >> and that's where i think the real differentiation is. megyn: no, i agree, moe. no one's going to argue that point, right? because, obviously, they have substantive differences. but what is, what made news this week was the big headline that obama was going to go negative, he was going to go personal against romney because according to this senior democratic strategist, he would have no choice unless things change and he can run on his accomplishments. and axlerod's on the record with politico on this and a, quote, senior obama adviser is unnamed

but on the record saying there's a weirdness factor. then you have axlerod coming on and saying, huh-uh. >> look, we've all been around this town -- i don't even know what it means to be a senior democratic strategist align with the the white house. so there are a lot of people out there talking. but what i think and what you have seen the campaign do both coming out of the obama campaign and the democratic national committee when they do talk about mitt romney is his long record of contradicting himself. megyn: i know. i mean, but there's no question that's fair game, and no one, i don't think the viewers would have any questions about that. but if you go personal after, you know, president president ot all this time saying he wasn't going to do that, that's a story. >> if someone from the campaign was going -- megyn: but, neil, isn't this how it's done? there's an interesting piece by a guy named tommy christopher who leans left, and he talks about, look, this is how it's

done. you kind of float it out there, and then people get talking about it like the three of us, and it becomes a narrative. >> sure. long, rich history. but in the case of barack obama what choice does he have? the hardest job in the free world right now is the job of somebody sitting in the obama campaign trying to find some issues, some positive accomplishments of barack obama that they can run on. this is all they have left is attack on the opponent. megyn: but does that work? does that work? i mean, it may be contrary to what president obama promised he would do, but it may also be effective, neil. >> yes, it works. it's worked for generations. it's worked for many presidential elections. we need an electorate that can see through it, and that's where sometimes i think all hope is lost. megyn: moe, i'll give you a quick final word. >> well, look, i'm looking forward to a debate between barack obama and the eventual republican nominee on the issues. if last night's debate was any

reflection of what it's going to be like, look, there's no question people right now are frustrated with both parties, they're frustrated with the president and with republican leadership, but more so with republicans. megyn: this is how it's going to go down. it's going to be president obama and maybe romney, and romney's going to make a point, and obama's going to say, you're weird. [laughter] no, no, it's not. >> well -- megyn: i gotta go, guys. thank you. >> no, it's not. >> bye-bye. megyn: back, now, to our fox news alert. there is a major court ruling on the health care overhaul that just came could down. a federal appeals court, the 11th circuit, has now ruled that the individual mandate portion of the president's health care overhaul is unconstitutional. a trial court judge had found that months ago, then the obama administration appealed the case. well, the 11th circuit, the court of appeals, has upheld that ruling saying it is unconstitutional, it goes way beyond congress' powers under

the commerce clause, under the tax and spend clause, under any clause. however, that court of appeals, i should say, has also said that the law can stand notwithstanding the fact that the individual mandate must fall. now, we hope to talk to one of the attorneys general involved in this lawsuit just ahead. stay tuned, we're getting our -- like i said, it's 300 pages. we want to make sure we get it right. and any chance a supersonic aircraft buzzed your house? the $350 million jet that vanished from the pentagon's radar. blue first, what happened to rob -- but first, what happened to robin gardner? there is quite a new twist in this case, and that's next. >> she's beautiful, and she's very concerned about her hair and her makeup. and i don't buy that she was snorkeling or even in the ocean at 6 p.m. at night. yeah. 24 bucks later. that hurts. it's not like i really had a choice. snack on this.

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this story. the military losing contact with an experimental hypersonic aircraft. it could -- this thing is so fast, it could jet from new york to los angeles in minutes, so how did they lose it? trace gallagher is here with more. well, i guess that's how. it's so fast, they couldn't keep up. >> reporter: right. you know, the falcon ii is supposed to be able to hit any target with precision, megyn, in the any place on the planet in less than one hour. for instance, it can fly from california to iran in, like, 30 minutes. bottom line is, it doesn't fly very well, so that's not going to happen. take a look at the animation. it's suppose today ride into suborbital space aboard a rocket, and then when it gets there, the tip of the rocket kind of unpeels like a banana, and the falcon disengages and streaks across the sky at 13,000 miles per hour. that's mach 20. this time it failed and fell out of the sky and into the sea.

here's some video, by the way, of actually what it looked like when it disengaged. the last time they tried the the falcon rocket, the last time it flew again for exactly nine minutes, and then it failed again and fell into the ocean, and the air force has released a statement saying, and i'm quoting here, we do not yet know how to achieve the desired control during the aerodynamic phase of the flight which is short for we can't control this thing. i'm confident there is a solution, we have to find it. this, by the way, is the x-5 wave rider they tested about three months ago. this thing flies at mach 5, and it flew like a dream. they're just having trouble controlling things that fly over mach 5. the last test of the falcon was yesterday because they simply do not have enough money to test it again unless the government ponies up more dough, and as we've been talking about for weeks now, the government doesn't have more dough to pony

up, so it look like this project eat on hold for a while. megyn: all right, trace, thank you. coming up, new information on this breaking news out of the 11th circuit court of appeals. they have now dealt a blow to the obama administration in part on this health care overhaul, upholding a lower court ruling that the individual mandate portion of the health care law is unconstitutional. a court of appeals finding that that piece of the health care law is unconstitutional but, nonetheless, finding that the law can stand notwithstanding that decision. now, keep in mind the u.s. supreme court is going to decide this, ultimately. this won't be the end of the road. but nonetheless, it is a setback for those who favor the implementation of this law. we're going to try to get jim angle up on this right after the break. 300 pages, bear with us, please, trying to get more information on it for you. also coming up, they're called vampire bats for good reason. it is the first of its case -- first of its kind in the eyes. a man is now dead after one of these creatures bit him, and

we'll show you how that happened in moments. >> these flying blood-drinking mammals can pierce a sleeping victim's skin without waking them up. >> it's a kill fit for a horror movie. ñwkó

megyn: fox news alert, a major court ruling in the now just in on the health care overhaul. this from the court of appeals for the 11th circuit which covers florida. that is where a lower court judge earlier ruled that the individual mandate portion of barack obama's health care law was unconstitutional and said, therefore, the law needs to be thrown out in total. now the 11th circuit court of appeals, that's the next level up, has just ruled that that lower court judge got it right in part and wrong in part. jim angle has been looking at the 300-page ruling, and he

joins us now live to help break it down. this is, obviously, not going to be good news to the obama administration, but there is some good news for them in there. >> reporter: well, there is a bit of a silver lining, but you're right. this decision from the 11th circuit ruled that the individual mandate is, in fact, unconstitutional. many have argued that is the centerpiece of the law, but it said it does not invalidate the rest of the health care law. now, the majority opinion states that a basic objective of the health care law is to make health insurance coverage accessible and, therefore, reduce the number of uninsured persons. and it says even without the individual mandate, the act has enough provisions to help accomplish some of the same objectives. but they smacked down the individual mandate pretty hard, megyn. let me read you some of the court's language. the individual mandate was enacted as a regulatory penalty, not a revenue-raising tax and is, there are, unconstitutional. further, it said, the individual mandate exceeds congress' enumerated congress power and is

unconstitutional. the economic mandate represents a wholly novel and potentially unbounded assertion of congressional authority. the ability to compel americans to purchase an expensive health insurance product they had elected not to buy and to make them repurchase that insurance product every month for the rest of their entire lives. so the court smacked down the individual mandate pretty hard, but it does go on to say that the other aspects of the health care law are fine and that the health care law can proceed under that basis. cleary, there will be -- clearly, there will be a lot of people who argue that that is not the case, this entire law rest on the assumption that everyone is required to do it -- megyn: let me ask you this, jim. >> reporter: yeah. megyn: it is one thing to have the court say, okay, just because one portion of the law fails, the entire law doesn't fail legally. but as a practical matter how do they implement the health care

law without the fundraising mechanism of the individual mandate? i mean, the reason -- there were some quotes from barack obama, if i'm not mistaken, saying you've got to have that because you need to generate the funds. they can't just provide all these benefits to folks without an additional source of funds. they have some medicare savings, but they also need some dough! >> reporter: well, it is not at all clear from this decision how the rest of the law would work without the individual mandate. i mean, for instance, how do you find -- you can fine companies for not offering insurance, but only if everyone is required to have insurance. so it is not at all clear how the other parts of this law will work without that fundamental pillar of everyone having to buy insurance either on their own or to take it at their workplace. so there are a lot of people who are going to argue that this blows a hole right through the middle of this new health care law and makes it unworkable. that is a decision now that will

have to be made by the supreme court. we always assumed it was going there anyway, megyn, but this absolutely makes clear that it's going there and, perhaps, faster than it would have otherwise. megyn: yeah. there's just almost no question that the united states supreme court is going to be the ultimate arbiter on this. and right now we don't know how the supreme court would rule. the way it's, you know, sadly, you can usually predict how the court's going the rule given the political makeup of the justices, and we've got four liberals, four conservatives and kennedy who's in the middle, but he leans right. he doesn't lean left. >> reporter: they're going to have a tough call here because if you're going to do as the 11th circuit did, try to salvage the law as a whole even after taking out the largest tent pole in the law, then how do you sort of judicially reconstruct a complete reconstruction in the itself of the entire health care sector? megyn: well, you don't. you don't. >> reporter: that's very tough. megyn: i mean, the court here seems to have said there's a

presumption in favor of severability as we call it. if a law's got a, b and c and b is found unconstitutional, there's a presumption in the court that you try to save a and c, and that's what the court did in this case. but even if the united states supreme court were to conclude as this court has, how as a practical matter do they make the health care law work without the individual mandate? i know that there have been some discussions in the wake of these earlier court decisions striking it down. there have been some other decisions that have upheld it. there's been discussion about whether the obama administration would voluntarily go back and say, you know what? we're good. we will take the individual mandate out, we can make this health care law work notwithstanding. is that true? is that an idea that's really being considered as far as we know? >> reporter: not as far as we know. the problem here is there were already questions about how this was going to work. now you take out one of the fundamental assertions of the bill, that everyone has to buy or have insurance or pay a fine, now the questions are even greater.

greater for employers, greater for individuals. now, the court said, look, you can still have exchanges, you can still expand medicaid, fine. those things are fine. but what about the fundamental requirement that everyone has to buy insurance ask that employers -- and that employers who don't offer it would have to pay a fine? all of those things are now thrown -- you have got to figure out what the answer to those questions are, and it sounds to me like congress and the administration are going to have to go back to the drawing boards if this decision actually makes it all the bay up and is affirmed by the supreme court. megyn: from what i can see based on what i have on the set with me, it was a 2-1 decision, although i don't have that particular portion in front of me. jim, thank you. we'll be back to you as you continue to make your way through those 300 pages. evelyn wood, go for it. administration and thank you very much for being here. can you put this in

perspective for us? i was talking to jim about how there was a presumption that the law, you can cut out the bad portn of the law and save the overall law. that seems to be what the 11th circuit tried to do here. >> i think that's right. i see two sort of really interesting aspects of this, the first is, it seems to me the decision license sealy almost as a landmark of maintaining individual liberty under our constitutional system. see, that is proof of this decision but the the -- the government can't force individuals to do things that they don't want or need to do. in terms of the health care law, i think what jim said is right, this may very well send congress and the administration back to the drawing board, because it's as if the linchpin of how the law operates government-sponsored medicine as a hold-out. megyn: but now -- if i'm not

mistaken, the obama administration, anticipating this could happen, not so much at the 11th circuit but the u.s. supreme court, i mean, they're not dumb, they realized there was a chance they could lose at the high court. they could win, too, but if they lose, president obama doesn't want to see his biggest legislative accomplishment so far go to waste so they're trying to find a way the law could work without the individual mandate. what they'd be missing is a huge funding mechanism, am i wrong? >> i think that's right. the finances of it, megyn, would change a great deal. and you know, from a political perspective, i think this is the republican -- this gives the republicans a chance to say look, you know, what was passed isn't going to work, it's been fundamentally changed, let's redo this. and for the obama administration and the democrats in congress who supported this legislation, it gives them a chance to maybe tinker with it and

come up with something that might gain bipartisan support. megyn: how about this? here we are in august, as this decision comes out of the 11th circuit, you know now that the obama administration is going to appeal this decision. i mean, they're not going to let this stand, unchallenged. >> sure. right. megyn: we're in august, they're going to ask the supreme court, one assumes, to review it. does that go up this term? does that get decided potentially before the 2012 presidential election? >> well, whether it goes up to term or not may depend upon whether or not they go first or rehearing on the 11th circuit. megyn: meaning the entire 11th panel circuit judges to decide. right now we had three, but asking all the judges before it goes to the supreme court. >> that's right. and i imagine this administration will ask that. whether or not the whole court will hear it or not remains to be seen.

it is an important decision and they may get enough votes to do that. but i do think there's a good chance that this will be decided by the supreme court. megyn: and that is something that sort of, you know, back of the hand, legal pundits have been saying, the obama administration may want to avoid because of the stacking of the court, as i just described it, you got four liberals, four conservatives and kennedy, who you know, he's more moderate, but he leans right, so it's sort of cocktail nap canning -- if you're cocktail napkin out your chances, you don't them, you are a supporter of the law. in any way, george, thank you. appreciate your perspective. >> like to talk more about it. mig all the best. >> bye bye. megyn: got another fox news alert, welcome everyone, by the way n. a busy second hour of "america live", i'm megyn kelly, we are getting word that confidence in the american economy has fallen to the lowest level in 30 years, a key index measuring

consumer sentiment dropping nine points this month, it was only expected to drop one point, but a week-long roller coaster ride on wall street, combined with the threat of default on our debt, combined with the downgrading of our credit rating, has accentuating the negative outlook. cheryl casone joins me with more. what does it mean? >> reporter: these are fascinating numbers. hello to you. fifty-four point nine is the earlier read for august consumer senment, the worst number we've seen since 19 # zero. you mentioned some -- 1980. you mentioned the key factors, this is what the poll said to the board, look, if i don't have a job, i'm worried about my expectation of moving forward, i'm either unemployed, if i'm working, i haven't had a raise, and i'm concerned about the health of the u.s. economy. now, this polling was all done during the big debt debate right before s&p downgraded the u.s. economy from aaa to aa, so that big debate, all the rhetoric coming out of washington,

many of those surveyed said that bothered them and it gave them that negative sentiment. now, you take this data, you put it on to the top of a really roller coaster ride for wall street, and you've got another big hit to the markets. that was this morning, we have actually recovered then with regard to the dow. one of the things, 61 percent criticized president obama's handling of the u.s. economy. that is the worst reading for any sitting president since this data has been tabulated. i know you were talking about the president and the health care breaking news, but these folks saying this president does not make them feel confident and giving him the worst piece of job performance ever, when it comes to sentiment. so it's all kind of connected. when you've got this rhetoric out of d.c., when you've got this roll ef coaster rides for the market the last three weeks, we're down what 12 percent for the dow, as of last night, all of that affects the consumer and they don't spend, then the economy takes another hit. so we're very concerned about these numbers. but luckily, megyn, as you can see behind me, we're

having a positive day on wall street. we need to see this market close higher today. hopefully we will. megyn: words do hurt, cheryl! people pay passengers everywhere, cheryl! thank you. >> thanks megyn. megyn: this is a fox news election alert from the campaign trail now. we are getting new reaction today to mitt romney's tense exchange with hecklers -- they weren't hecklers but they were questioners who were talking to him from we're told it was a liberal think tank at the iowa state fair yesterday. you saw it here first on "america live" this time yesterday, it happened when these folks were pressing romney on his stance against raising corporate taxes. watch this: >> -- tax as on people. that's -- corporations are people, my friends. corporations are -- of course they are. everyone corporations earn ultimately goes to the people. >> [laughter] >> where do you think it goes? >> which pocket?

which pocket? peoples' pockets! megyn: congresswoman desi wasser many schultz treating -- tweet thank romney's comment is an indication that he's misplaced priorities. debbie wasserman-schultz joins us from the iowa state fair and of course runs the dnc. good to see you again. >> thank you very much. megyn: thank you very much for coming on the program. you watched this unfold live and i was talking to my guests about whether this is one of those moments that can help define a candidate or campaign for better or worse, and i'm sure a lot of gopers think it was for better, you say it was for worse. tell us why. >> well, it's just one in a series of gaffs made by mitt romney, one that he made a few weeks ago where he actually joked around that he doesn't have a job. yesterday, he declared the corporations are people. i mean, it just shows how shockingly out of touch this

whole packet of republican candidates for president are and the icing on the cake is last night, when all nine of them raised their hand and pledged allegiance and adherence to the tea party stripture that even when asked if they would support 10-1 cuts to revenue, they still rigidly stuck to the tea party line that under no circumstances do we ask the most fortunate americans to pay their fair share, even though an overwhelming majority of americans support balance when it comes to getting a handle on turning our economy around and reducing our decifit. it was troubling. megyn: they justified that. i think it was ron paul that tried to justify that by saying look, it's not a revenue problem, maybe santorum, anyway, it's not a revenue problem, it's a spending problem. anyway, let me stick with romney with you for one second, because here's how it went down. >> sure. megyn: the person said to him, they wanted to talk to him about cutting entitlements and he said look, we -- hold on a second. let me get it right.

he says one way that we can get more money in here, basically, is we can raise taxes on people. now, that's something he disagrees with. and somebody yells out corporations, like raise the taxes on corporation, not people, and romney responded by saying corporations are people. and the person said no, they're not, and he said of course they are. everything corporations earn ultimately goes to people. where do you think it goes? it seems like his point was you know, i work for a corporation, if my corporate boss gets pinched for a lot of money, maybe they don't have enough money to pay staffers at fox news and i or my colleagues lose their jobs or they don't hire more people. is that not a fair point? >> really? you think people in america, megyn, believe that exxon-mobil is a person? that -- >> megyn: that they're made up of people. >> that bp is a person? at the end of the day, the overwhelming majority of americans believe that

corporations do not pay their fair share and you know why? because they don't. and it's absolutely unbelievable that mitt romney would suggest and the other eight of them in the pack of candidates last night all said even in 10-1 cuts to revenue, still, they would not support trying to make sure that we, in order to get a handle on our decifit, long term, that we have a balanced plan. and that's what's really troubling. that's why i'm here in iowa right now, because it's important that americans, iowans and americans, all over the country, understand the difference between barack obama and his focus on bringing the country together, supporting the middle class and working families, and the rigid adherence to supporting corporate america and the wealthiest and fortunate do, that all of the republican candidates raised their right hand and pledged to last night, and that's an important distinction, and this election for the next 15 months is going to be about the choice, the stark contrast that americans have, and that's why i'm

here and i'm looking forward to talking about it. megyn: i'm going to ask you in a minute, whether you're going to have one of those butter sticks, because we had a talk about that. let me ask you this: this debate has been emerging. they say about 50 percent of americans pay no income tax at all. no income tax at all, so the other 50 percent of americans who pay the tax are scratching their heads in part saying more taxes don't appear to be the answer, unless everybody pays a little more taxes, unless everybody has got some skin in the game. is that a fair point? >> we've got to make sure that everybody has skin in the game, and that everybody pays their fair share. we're at the lowest tax rates since the 1950s. i mean, so to say that we're in a situation where corporate america and the most fortunate americans are overtaxed or overburdened when you have many, many, many wealthy people who pay in a lower tax bracket than people who are far less wealthy and who are middle class --

>> but what about those that pay nothing? >> that's imbalance. >> what about the people that pay no income tax? >> what we need to make sure happens is that we establish balance. under president obama's leadership are for that balance, republicans have consistently made clear -- >> megyn: but you're a straight shooter, what's the answer to my question? they shouldn't pay? >> no, my answer to your question is that we need to make sure that there's balance when it comes to taxpayers. there isn't balance right now, and that supercommittee that we just have as part of the debt ceiling deal needs to commit to coming together and being willing to support balance in terms of cuts and revenue. megyn: are they -- coming together -- >> i certainly know that the democrats have been at the table to compromise and do that, republicans have not, and that's what this debate leading up to election day next year is going to be about. megyn: so are you doing it or aren't you? butter, deep-fried? >> no, i'm all about the

deep-fried milky way. i'm a chocaholic. butter, not so much. i'm so excited to be here! megyn: thank you. the audience booed after this question last night: >> in 2006, when you were running for congress, you described a moment in your life when your husband said you washington examiner getting booed but michelle bachmann's answer is making headlines today and is that a fair question? our power panel debate. >> a very scary announcement

from federal health firms, a death in the u.s. from a vampire bat. where it happened.

20-point swing from july of last year, joining me now, pat cadell and doug schoen. both are democratic pollsters leading left, alan coomes says polls change. >> they do and they're getting worse. the key point is consumer confidence is going down, confidence in the political system is going down, and pat and i have discussed separately, the american people have had it with the political class, had it with both parties and believe washington doesn't work. megyn: what do you tell president obama about these

numbers, because they're all headed in the wrong direction, pat. >> the first thing is stop pretending they're not going in the wrong direction or paper it over. i lived through a campaign like this where you think you're going to savage your opponent. probably we're looking at something much bigger, megyn, we're in a prerevolutionary moment. when you have 69 percent of the people who say that the government in washington is not governing with their approval or authority, that is historic. megyn: you're head fog a watershed moment. >> 17 percent saying they do. the consent of the government is being observed. at that point, they need to look for alternatives. they are down on both parties and the fox news you showed, that's a 20-point swing in one direction. it's a 40-point margin swing. and we're seeing the same thing about how the system works, the belief that both parties cannot solve the economy, president's numbers on being able to make the economy better are down at 30 percent, basically. this is -- and what's happening is the real news,

this is intensifying, momentum is greater. megyn: they also don't like the house republicans when you poll them, they don't like the president's handling of it, the gop. my question is, when it comes to the presidential race of 2012, is that comfort to barack obama that they also don't like the house republicans? >> it is no comfort. he is going to run against the house republicans in the way that harry truman did in 1948. the difference is, as pat was suggesting, there's so little confidence in anybody, it's not ideological, it's just across the board dismissal that we could have a cataclasmic result in the election, throw all the incumbents out, the president, and the republicans, potentially rejected, this is really, as we say, a prerevolutionary moment. >> and you have this speckter of decline -- there was a piece yesterday in the journal, dan henninger did which i thought was quite important. this is an empire in decline, how does it feel. well, the american people, they're not used to this and they won't take it. the fact is, as i've said

before, they will not go gently. megyn: how is barack obama supposed to change that in the next year? >> he needs to be a leader which voters want, they desperately. i've been in focus groups -- >> megyn: can it happen now? >> he can't do it playing politics. >> right. pat is entirely right. he needs a jobs program which in fairness he began to articulate yesterday, but what the american people are looking for is solutions, not politics, no more ideology, a clear direction, consensus and compromise,. >> megyn: i don't know if that's right because folks on the left definitely want more ideology. you wrote a piece saying he should -- this is from you doug -- he should look for a strategy of compromise. i think the left would read that and say no he shouldn't, that's how he got here. >> he might say that but they're all -- we're all americans, not leftists and right is and the tea party, the fact that they drove the agenda, so their ratings go down, bottom line, 60, 70 percent of the american people are in the middle, they want result, that's

what the -- what they want the president to do. >> the group in the middle is tire of the people in the extremes driving the bus. they feel they have no say. they're going to get it, one way or the other. the president is getting $70,000 a year in disability payments. all while participating in mixed martial arts message. you should see him go. why exactly are we paying for the disability again? kelly's court. >> a lost amazon tribe photographed for the first time last year as disappeared and there's an awful theory about why. and earlier this week, we told you about the outrage over the remake of "dirty dancing" now brand

new reaction from the man who choreographed these famous dance scenes, and our power panel weighs? -- weighs in. >> ♪ >> ♪ >> ♪ ?ç

megyn: new fears for a native amazon tribe living in brazil, photographers caught the first images of them last year, it is believed they live there with little to no contact with the outside world. now there's no sign of the villagers. drug activity in the region is raising serious concerns about what may have happened to them. trace gallagher, live in our west coast newsroom. trace. >> reporter: both fascinating and disturbing, this tribe, about 150 of them, are about 32 miles away from the peruvian

border in the amazon rain forest and as you said, they were captured on film and you're unique because they wear these da -- these gobs of red paint and the guards to oversee the tribes -- there are fears that the drug traffickers have pushed out the tribe because the area is a lucrative drug corridor. experts say there are signs of violence in the area, they've found dozens of pounds of cocaine and even if the people so carefully, they never come in contact with them, they just watch over them. about 100 of these types of

tribes exist on the planet, megyn, and now there's a big concern that other tribes in this area may also be pushed out by the drug cartels because that amazon forest is such a vast flow of drugs coming from brazil into peru and vice versa. megyn: what a story. trace, thank you. >> reporter: okay. megyn: an awkward exchange at last night's debate is stirring up major controversy today: >> in 2006, when you were running for congress, you described a military in your life when your husband said you should study for a degree in tax law. you said you hated the idea. and then you explained, quote, but the lord said be submissive. wives, you are to be submissive to your husbands. as president, would you be submissive to your husband? megyn: uh-huh. congresswoman michelle bachmann and her answer are what are making headlines

today. was it a fair question? our power panel debates, next. plus, this firefighter is collecting full disability at the age of 42. he was just found participating in mixed martial arts events, and ruled fit to go back on the job, and yes, they said don't bother, we'll just keep paying you. why? that's in kelly's court. an american hero hits a home run at the ballpark with a very unexpected reunion. if you haven't seen this, stay tuned.

>> megyn: things were getting a little permanent in last night's gop debate when congresswoman michele bachmann was asked about a comment she made about her marriage. listen to this: >> in 2006, when you were running for congress you described a moment in your life when your husband said you should study for a degree in tax law, you said you hated the idea, and then you explained quote, but the lord said be submissive, wives, you are to be submissive to your husband. as president would you be submissive to your husband?

>> [booing] >> what submission means to us, if that's what your question is, it means respect. i respect my husband. he's a wonderful, godly man and a great father. and he respects me as his wife. that's how we operate our marriage. we respect each other, we love each other. mig aha! our power panel weighs in. joining me, andrea tantoras, fox news contributor, china okase, and regina lewis, personal finance columnist for daily finance.com. thank you panel, thank you very much for being here. so, byron york of the washington examiner, you know, let me ask you this, was it a fair question? >> i think it was fair. i think it was a softball. she turned it from submissive to respect. she's been married 30 plus years, five children, 23 foster kids, hats off. it's inarguable, she's doing something right.

>> china, do you think folks on the left would have some questions about her comment in the beginning? >> yeah, you know, i had -- god, i hate to say this, i didn't like the way i felt when she paused. that dramatic pause really made me feel really bad for her and i was like you know what, maybe the question could have been phrased differently, although she said the word submissive, that was her word, so they were just kind of asking mer about what she meant, although i feel it could have been asked differently. megyn: was it fair to ask that question? what do you mean by that? >> i think it was a little of a b.s. question. look, are you going to ask barack obama about his relationship between -- >> megyn: he's never said he's submissive to his wife! not publicly. >> but she's made comments about how she still has to pick up his socks and that kind of thing but look, i think michele bachmann was ready for this question, i think when she paused, she thought i'm going to choke byron york. megyn: i think he gave her a

gift. >> i tell you, that was her best moment of the debate, actually taking it to respect. megyn: i mean, who among us doesn't want to hear about somebody expressing genuine affection for their spouse. it seems sincere. it seems to me, sincere. >> a gold stand. -- standard. thirty plus year, five children. mig yet the people on the left thought this is weird, what is she talking, submissive to her husband. do you think they bought the response? the explanation? >> i like the response, but to a point, the barack obama point, remember, part of the reason barack obama won was a whole lot of a list of reasons, but if you attack someone and angle them in the wrong way, it's just human instinct, people are going to come to her defense. megyn: protect the person being attacked. >> you have to be careful. if you really open up -- >> megyn: fire in. >> i'm letting you know, byron! megyn: okay, so let's move on. speaking of michele bachmann, she came under fire this week or actually, people came to her defense, newsweek came under fire after putting this cover of

her on it and she's got the eyes going and it says queen of rage at the bottom. we'll, well get it up in a second. queen of rage. you can see she's not directly looking into the camera and newsweek basically said we couldn't find a good picture of her, this is 'thunderstorms -- this is it! it captured her intense fe and -- intensity and michele bachmann spoke to it on the today show. >> it really didn't impact me that much because over this last week, the united states has received a punch to the gut. we've seen the stock market plunge over 1500 points, we lost for the first time in the history of the country the aaa bond rating, we had a terrible, tragic loss of life in afghanistan, unparalleled, and the president got a blank check for $2.4 trillion. that's not a good week. and so a magazine photo is not a -- is not even a factor against all that. >> is rage an appropriate word to describe you? >> no, not at all. i'm a very happy person and i'm a very optimistic

person. megyn: andrea -- interesting. now, is that like a lesson on how to handle something like this? >> i think totally smart not to let vanity get in the way. >> didn't make it about her. it's not about me. >> and i think now posing for newsweek cover is the equivalent of going on a late night show or posing for a new yorker cartoon. tina brown knows how to sell magazines. you have to be careful there. queen of rage refers to the tea party is what they said. i think it tracks back to the first question, did she look like a religious zealot, someone who was part of almost a cult or did she look enraged. >> the funny thing about her is she will give you the worst polices in the world with a smile, and -- >> megyn: you don't like her positions. >> no, i don't. i think she needs to reeducate -- a whole long list of reasons why i cont think her polices are a strong area. >> tina brown's newspaper sells are down so this looks like an act of desperation,

trying to make surena newsweek stays relevant. look, i talked tobackman's campaign, they said the picture was taken during a lighting test in the very beginning. if you've ever had your picture taken -- >> megyn: there's no question you can get a beautiful picture of michele bachmann. >> there was another way it could have been handled, i'm not saying one is right and one is wrong, but michele bachmann could have denounced the media, she could have gone after newsweek, we've seen sarah palin do this many times. >> but michele bachmann has learned from palin's mistake. remember when chris wallace asked her that question, she was unflappable. i've got a thing, michele bachmann is not the victim. >> what does it take -- but sarah palin, the media were attacking her and was it a mistake for newt gingrich to go after the media last night? it can be helpful to go after the media. did very miss an opportunity? >> i do think it was a mistake. the media sometimes do not address the issue and the fringes and they pull gimmicks like queen of rage. she's not a queen by any

stretch of the imagination. megyn: you would think tina brown would know how not to play with women in particular. >> it's unfactual. she's not the queen of rage. >> that ironically in and itself is cool. let me ask you this, we got to get down to business here, which is they've decided they're going to remake "dirty dancing". why? why mess with perfection? people are outraged about this because they don't feel anybody can recapture the chemistry and don't want to see it tried. >> is hollywood that unoriginal? the sequel is famous right now, it's validated. look at hangover two, legally blond, ii, never as good as the first ones. >> but those are people. this is a remake! >> but it's been successful in the music industry. >> dirty dancing, i've had the time of my life, that was the song at my wedding andny play it in the back seat of the car. >> it's less risky for the

movie industry to do remakes. there may be a role for jennifer grair. they say patrick swayze's widow is supporting the project. >> and have you watched videos these days? nobody wants to dance. everybody is half naked. >> it was clean american fun! >> something you could take the kids to and you can do it like in the thooters now, they're going to rerelease it, right? look, i think it bears mentioning again today, where were they when they remade wonka, where was the panel there? that freaky version, i see little clips and i don't know what happened to the ooompaloompas, but was i right on this? >> i'm not feeling the -- >> it's unjustified enthusiasm. >> i haven't watched wonka. >> you haven't? willy wonka and the chocolate factory? >> yeah, the creepy one. >> listen, are you with me?

did you feel what i felt? kelly, foxnews.com. thank you panel. one of america's top skiers may have fixed his chances of competing in the olympics. obviously, we have breaking news on that. it's all because of an ugly incident on an airplane in mid flight. >> plus, he used to fight fires. now he just fights. the controversy over how one of new york's bravest is getting a free ride for life from the taxpayers. next on kelly's court.

megyn: kelly's court is back in session, on the docket today, a lifetime free ride for a cage fighter, supposedly too sick to save lives. meet 43-year-old john gifrieda, one of new york's bravest at one point, on scene at ground zero after 9/11, in the cleanup and recovery efforts, he renierd 2003, collecting $75,000 a year in disability, they said he had asthma, lung disease and posttraumatic

stress disorder but he made headlines with reports of him kicking tail and taking names in the ring. turns out he's been grappling in the world of mixed martial arts, so the city did its part and had him reevaluated by an independent medical review board. guess what? it determined he was more than fit to fight fires but the fdny unionade no and got him off the ladder with pay. is that right? joining me, joey jackson and criminal defense attorney, chip mur lin. you can't make this stuff up. the independent medical review board says this guy needs to go back to work, of course he can work and if it's not fighting fires he can take a desk job, and the union says no. we'd rather just pay him 70 grand for nothing? >> he should be working and working hard megyn. listen i won't dispute the following things. number one he is a hero, he helped to save so much at ground zero, he worked there

30 hours nonstop, 30 days, he got sick, i grant him that. look if we had heros' pay he'd be my first candidate but this is a disability pension, tax-free, 75 grand, a lot of money, and the fact of the matter is -- >> megyn: for life. tax-free for life. >> and they call this a disability, megyn, because you're supposed to be disabled and if you're not disaibd you should not get that pension, he should not get it, he should return it, he should go back to work and i think somebody who deserves it should indeed get it. megyn: chip this is part of a long line of cases in which the new york firefighters union has given disability or argued for disability for firefighters when there's been a lot of questions about whether they are actually disabled. and cases like this cast aspersians on the ones that are legitimate, do they not? >> well, they certainly do. but the important thing and i think the lesson that can be learned from everybody from this, is at the time the unions and governments

are contracting that these types of items should be determined. disabilities set forth in the contract, in the time frames for which the city can contest the disability. megyn: and it's for 20 years after the date they first hire him which is a lune esdeal because what they basically say is chip i'm hiring you as a new york city firefighter in the year 2012 or 2011, so 20 years from now would be the last day i could ever contest your disability if you file it between now and then, right? even if the dispute is going on 20 years from now, i can no longer contest it. >> well, the city is at fault for not making that part of the deal and the contracts up front. when you start with private insurance companies, because i represent companies like this, every single year the insurance company has a right to contest whether or not the person is disabled or not so it's a yearly basis, they can do this typically to the age of 65, and the city, knowing they have people that can retire much earlier than what most private citizens can, should have had these types of

provisions in the procedures. >> it's not just the clock expiring, what happened is the "new york post" wrote about the guy and mixed martial arts and somebody at the city said why are we paying that dude 70 grand a year if he's doing martial arts, so an independent review board evaluates the guy and said of course he's fit and the firefighters union, why, joey, why, says no, we'd rather pay them to do nothing. what's the motive? >> unions have a function, they support their members, i understand that, and i support unions wholeheartedly, however, as i mentioned before, we have a disability pension system for a reason. does it need reform? absolutely. at the beginning of bloomberg's term in 2002, pension costs $1.5 billion, they're up to $8 billion. why? because of reasons like this. we can't rely upon technical arcane rules. there needs to be changes in the statute, there should, but he should voluntarily as a matter of principle give this pension back, come back to work, he's fit to do it, able to do it, let's do it.

megyn: he could also work for another city agency, he shouldn't have to fire fires so even if the union argues he's not fit, they could give him a desk job. the fact is that here in new york state, nine out of the ten of the fdny's retirees collected disability pension, nine out of ten and there is a report about how that system is abused so people can get higher payments when they leave the fire department. is that a not a disservice to the taxpayers of this city? >> well, it is. but you can't blame those individuals for doing so, because they're taking advantage of the contract that they have with the city. megyn: i can blame them. why can't i? if you commit fraud and say you're disabled when you're not, why can't i blame you? >> it's not a matter of fraud, it's a matter of proving the person is not disabled. originally they've got to show the disability. it's later on showing they are not and that procedure can be determined in the contract. but don't blame the worker, blame the contract. megyn: i don't know that about. -- i don't know about that. even if i have a contract,

it doesn't mean i'm going to say i i -- i'm not going to say i can't work if i can. >> i commend this man's service, i really do, but this is an outrage, plain and simple. we'll be right back.

megyn: the centers for disease control confirming the first ever death in the united states from a vampire bat bite. the 19-year-old victim died from an aggressive form of rabies contracted from the bat. it all happened last year but the case is just now coming to light, the victim was originally bitten in mexico, but he's a migrant worker, so after being beaten he traveled to louisiana to work on a sugar farm. vampire bats only live in latin america. the cdc warns that changes in climate, however, could

soon bring them to the united states. creepy looking things. one of america's top skiers may have just lost his spot on the u.s. team's roster and with it possibly his chances of competing in the 2014 olympics. it all stems from a disturbing incident on a jetblue flight. trace gallagher has more from the west coast newsroom. >> reporter: megyn, i'm going to do the story without grossing you out here. the breaking news, he's done, he was just kicked off the u.s. ski team. he was hoping to compete in the 20 is four -- 2014 olympics in russia, he was flying from portland to jfk, aboard a jetblue plane, the faa said he was admittedly drunk, had eight cock tapes before he got on the plane, shortly after he got on the plane, he stumbles up on the plane, begins urinating on an 11-year-old girl. listen to a passenger: >> it was horrible, traumatizing. it really is. she's never going to forget it. she's probably going to need therapy. it's terrible. >> reporter: the girl was

traveling with her sister and father, they were in the bathroom at the time. the dad, who by the way is battling stage four cancer, she's his daughter being urinated on, he goes crazy, he tackles him and starts yelling at the kid get him away from my family. they have to pull them apart. viese tells police, i'm quoting here, i was drunk, i did not realize i was, starts with a p, rhymes with miss -- missing, on her leg, there was no report, no apology at all. in fact when the cameras were sent to his house, his mom said we have no comment, not commenting about this, the father of the 11-year-old girl chose not to press charges because he didn't want his daughter going through the interview process so he may not be prosecuted, but he's done, his olympic dreams are over. megyn: so updating the lower third, it did cost him his position on the team. >> he's done. they announced it an hour ago, he's off the u.s. ski team. megyn: not surprising.

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>>megyn: an airport sergeant surprising his wife and four year old twins in a minor league baseball game in washington state. sergeant, pack from the third tour of duty in afghanistan drove 22 hours from new mexico and, then, appeared from the dug out holding flowers. watch it. (applause) >>megyn: i saw it yesterday and i could see it again and again and again and again.