who whoopee, that's my favorite word. >> whoopee, my favorite word is skippy. and the newlywed game, of course, now not on the air. >> hanging in for steve. >> we'll get to the headlines this morning. developing story from overnight, sad anned to the brianne rodriguez case. authorities found what they bhooef a believe are her remains in a drainage ditch. three miles from her home. her neighbor confessed to suffocating her. a 43-year-old steel factory worker and father of three. president obama warning that a lone terror attack is more likely to happen in the united states than a major coordinated attack like september 11th. the president said it's harder to track lone wolves like anders they are being extra vigilant to

leading up to the anniversary of september 11th. they both took down their republican challengers. this leaves the republicans with a one seat majority in the senate in wisconsin. today is the first day of school in tornado ravaged joplin, missouri. dozens of students gave their teachers a pep rally. students will head to class in a warehouse in an old department store. seven students and one school employee were among the 160 people killed during that storm. and those are your headlines as brian is taking a quick photo. i imagine you're going to tweet that for the radio show? >> no, i'm going to tweet it for our show. why write it when you can see it? first thing is first. we're talking politics. >> big stuff. big stuff. rick perry over president obama wrapping up his bus tour in the heartland with two stops today back in his home state of illinois. doug lazader is live with the

details. >> good morning, guys, the president woke up this morning in iowa but moving to illinois as he rounds out this midwest bus tour, that brand new secret service bus is going to take him to one stop to another with a few unscheduled ones along the way. he's going to two town hall meetings in western illinois as he wraps up this trip. you look at the three states he visited, minnesota, iowa and illinois. three states he carried in 2008. his approval ratings have dropped and they're shaping up to be big battlegrounds in 2012. even though this is officially not a campaign trip, taxpayers are picking up the tab, we're seeing the president's re-election strategy taking place here. he's calling out republicans in general, especially republicans in congress and making the place for an active federal government. >> our task as a nation has to be to get behind what you're doing.

our task has to be making sure that nothing stands in your way, that we remove any obstacles to your success. >> now, as the president wraps up this trip today, he comes back to washington and then heads to martha's vineyard tomorrow for a big family vacation. as it is an island, he will not be driving the secret service bus there. back to you guys. >> all right, doug lazader live for us in d.c., thanks so much for the update. the president is still on that tour going through the three midwestern states, not a campaign stop according to the administration, just a jobs tour to try to gin up ideas, i guess, in september, he'll release his plan, not in august but in september. >> yeah, don't rush. i don't see the urgency but the president is out there. he is talking. there was no big incidents but i thought it was interesting to look at the text of what the president was talking about. he sounded harry trumanesque in that he says the buck stops with me but doing what harry truman also did, blame congress for everything. their unwillingness to change

including one party and one group inside that party. here it is. >> ultimately, the buck stops with me. i'm going to be accountable. >> all of these proposals will make a difference for rural communities. the only thing that is holding us back is our politics. the only thing that's preventing us from passing the bills i just mentioned is the refusal a faction in congress to put country ahead of party and that has to stop. our economy cannot afford it. >> it's interesting, though, to ask economic analysts even if congress did pass those bills in front of them, would it really change the economy? i mean, some of these things are things that economists say wouldn't bring in more jobs or these patent ideas or other sort of free trade, things that you know more about. >> absolutely and what this seems like, he said, you know, we're coming up with our jobs plan and we're going to release it in september. it seems to me, look, i was a trader on wall street, spent a

lot of time doing this exact same thing. you're buying time until you see how the market kind of feels its way out. he's waiting to see if the jobs picture turns up a little bit better next month. maybe he's got some insight like things are getting better but certainly, they're hoping -- it really feels like they're hoping something gets better and then they'll kind of react to it. >> you know the fact check looked at the president's speech yesterday and they said the president keeps referring to these free trade agreements that congress has yet to pass and it turns out the white house has not put them forward to the capital for them to even vote on in particular. and some of these proposals have not been put in front. so he is clearly saying i'm with you people. i'm as frustrated as you are with that certain group which he means is the subset of the republican party which he believes is the tea party. >> easy to attack congress because their approval rating is lower than the president's now. only 13% of americans in this latest poll approve of the job that congress is doing.

84% disapprove. i believe this week's gallup poll on the president was 39% approval. >> and don't forget the first day of the bus tour, remember he said we turned the recession around, we cleaned up the recession but then we had a little bit of bad luck. and he said he decided, you know, the earthquake in japan and the arab spring going on in the middle east but he had it under control but now here we are again. 9.2% unemployment. 14 million people out of work. >> the one thing that i think is frustrating to many people at 6 minutes after the top of the hour is the president saying it's my responsibility but actually pointing the finger elsewhere. among those people who are -- who -- to quote him is very respectful and it's great admiration for the president personally but wants to see him change his style is the governor of new jersey, chris christie. here's why. >> can't lead from behind. leading is not a political strategy, it's a moral strategy.

i've said many times about the president who i have admiration for and agee with on a number of issues but man, get out there and tell us what you believe and be willing to fight for it. even if people disagree with it. nobody agrees with me all the time. i barely agree with me all the time. >> he went on to say people will give you points if you're willing to speak your mind. i can't tell you how many times i was walking along the beach in various parts of new jersey which might have been an interesting sight this past week where i had people come up to me and said i don't agree with you all the time but at least you're doing something. >> there's something to be said for being outspoken, i guess and saying what you feel. you see out in front with chris christie. he doesn't hold anything back. that's one thing with president bush, you knew exactly where he stood on every issue. >> that's what you see with rick perry. he comes out here, he says it. he's not apologetic. he may step on himself and say things he may regret a little

bit later and he doesn't say i made a mistake. he said i'm passionate, i believe in this stuff. there's a leader, rick perry. >> we'll talk about rick perry more in a minute. let's go back to the bus in which president obama is travrling around through the midwest, much has been made of whether or not this is a campaign tour or a jobs tour. what we know for sure is taxpayers are paying for it. guess what else you paid for, this beautiful bus that has armored doors. fit for a president. secret service ordered these back in july, i would guess of 2010. guess where these buses came from. they're not made in america, folks, they're made in our neighboring country of canada. >> in ottawa, canada, who evidently makes all the tour buses for your idol, kid rock and other great artists, they've actually made this so this bus which is owned by the secret service was outsourced to another country. >> thank you very much. always has a huge bus like this.

important to note, i don't know if you saw that video going back and forth. i played that video yesterday of the whole entourage, ready for this? 15 cop cars, two big buses, one ambulance, and 22 s.u.v.'s and/or those little white vans. i mean, really? 50? >> i'm glad he's not talking about fuel and the carbon footprint. >> that's massive on that thing. >> let us know what you think about that. whether it should have been made in america. >> it would be great if it was a green bus. >> color green or solar bus? >> no, something that's hybrid. i would ask the question and it can't be the president's responsibility, who made this? don't embarrass -- they just embarrassed the president now because they outsourced this bus that's getting all this publicity and all this attention to another country which is exactly the message that he is talking about on the stump. bringing manufacturing jobs back to this country and bringing jobs back to the country while they lead the nation. >> very well put, mr. kilmeade.

let's move on to the latest rasmussen poll that shows rick perry surging now just two days into his campaign as he's running for president, 29% of the people say they favor rick perry right now, the governor of texas. romney falls to 18%. 16% is third. people aren't sure and bachmann is at 13%. >> yeah, there's a lot of speculation rick perry jumping into the race was going to do and on the left, they were saying no, it's going to splinter the right. it's going to drive a wedge down the middle of the right. what it's actually done is it's kind of brought all the right together surrounding this guy. i mean, in a couple of days, gretchen, to command 30% of the vote or at least the sentiment, that quickly, boy this guy has something going on. >> point out to the likely republican voters and it was a phone bowpoll. it may not be the most scientific poll to come out but shows he made a difference. how would you prefer the poll? >> telegraph?

>> not going to -- >> why not? >> can i borrow that? i'll wait, it's all right. ok, i'll wait outside. why not? it can happen. paul ryan, his name has now come up. steven hayes broke the story in "the weekly standard" as somebody as the chairman of the budget committee and the house that evidently is taking these next few days to run for president. he's not afraid of that poll. >> you mean, he's taking the next few days to consider if he's going to run for president or not. is this just a rumor or is this factual, folks? the idea that somebody from the house, i don't believe anyone has ever become president of the united states having only served in the house. so that would be a first. he's also, you know, very young at 41 but he has ideas and going back to chris christie, he speaks his mind. he says look, when i put out my budget, i know i'm going to be annihilated by my opponents but this is what i believe and this is what i believe is best for our country. >> you had the theory on radio yesterday and it kind of adds up and fuels what steven hayes

broke. >> why he's not on the super committee. he took himself out of the super committee. could that be because he's actually going to run for president? >> i don't know, don't you get the feeling with all this rick perry momentum that's going, anyone, the christies, paul ryan, sarah palin, they're going to wait to see how that materializes, if it kind of falters, they might jump in. >> it's true. it's interesting, he said my ego isn't big enough and my kids aren't old enough was his response earlier. sometimes kids mature early. at 12 minutes after the hour, lot of show coming straight ahead. >> they oversaw the government program that helped put guns in the hands of mexican drug cartels so how were they punished? with a promotion. you won't believe this one. >> and they're some of the biggest supporters in 2008 but now labor unions are ditching the president when it matters the most. stuart varney here next with that story. >> he looks so tall today. dad, why are you getting that? is there a prize in there?

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>> the democratic national convention will be held in charlotte, north carolina, next year but guess who won't be showing up to the party? the unions, more than a dozen trade unions affiliated with the afl-cio are upset with the administration for not creating jobs. so now they're sitting it out. what does this mean? stuart varney is here to break it all down. stuart, first of all, why would they pick north carolina to hold their convention, what's the point of it? >> very good question, isn't it? president obama won north carolina by the slimmest of margins in 2008. it may be that they wanted to

shore up his position going into 2012, hold the convention in charlotte, north carolina, shore up your position in that state. that may have been the rational. either way, it's not working. this is shaping up to be a significant embarrassment for president obama because, as you said, 12 unions in the building and construction trades, they have threatened, threatened to stay away and the international machinists have said we're not going. >> so they've only threatened so far, right? some of them could still change their mind, is that what we're hearing? >> they've written a letter saying we're not going to come. >> there's a reason i asked that. i'm noticing afl-cio, who heads it? one of the best friends of the president who at one point leaned back in the chair and laughed about his access to the president. is this all smoke and mirrors and gamesmanship going on? >> i think it is gamesmanship and there's a lot of pressure being exerted on the administration because big labor is really not very happy. they haven't got all that they wanted. in fact, they've got very little

of what they wanted. they made lots of noise that they haven't got much. meanwhile, private sector union membership is declining. that means less union dues flowing in. declining membership. we're right in the middle of a huge layoff series of public sector union workers declining membership again. the unions are really pressured here so they're putting pressure on the administration to do it our way. >> 9:20 your show. you're going to talk a little bit about this. >> all things union today. >> what they really want is they want to infrastructure bank, don't they? >> precisely. that's what they're angling for. they're not going to get it. >> many college students supporting taxing the rich? making them pay their fair share but what happens when those same students are asked to share their gpa's? >> i do give gpa points for things that don't deserve it. it isn't fair. >> up next, a college grad behind the camera, i'm sorry, he's here live.

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>> it's time for headlines. the kentucky man who allegedly used a collar bomb on an australian teen left behind one major clue that got him busted. paul douglas peters accidentally left his e-mail address on a

memory stick he used for his ransom demand. talk about feeding time. 19-year-old lyle bentley is accused of biting a woman on the neck in her apartment pretending to be a really old vampire acting like a blood sucking dead man that you'd see in a hollywood film that he claims to be just 500 years old this labor day. he was found hissing and growling. gretch? >> all right. i'm not into that vampire stuff. anyway, brian, let's talk politics. democrats in washington continue to call for higher taxes on america's top earners but what if that tax philosophy was applied on college campuses? what if america's best students had to redistribute their gpa? >> sure you don't want to sign it? you're letting the federal -- how we tax the rich excessively, do you have a program for that? >> i do give gpa points that don't deserve it, it isn't fair. i work for what i have. >> why do you need a 4.0?

>> i mean, people earn their money and the same argument to, you know, kind of like a selfish argument, no? >> that video has gone viral and offering a reality check to liberals on college campuses, young man answering the question in that video is oliver darcy, recent college grad and co-founder of exposing leftis leftist.com and good morning to you bright and early. >> good morning. thanks for having me this morning. >> it's very interesting to see when you just push that whole argument that something else that people earn, apparently they didn't like it so much. >> no. you know, they didn't like it and basically what we know is a lot of college students support the distribution of wealth. we thought we'd break it down to terms they could relate to. they all earn their gpa. why not ask them if they would be interested in redistributing

the gpa points that they earn to students who maybe were having trouble getting a high gpa or for what not reason, couldn't get good grades in school. it's kind of the same argument as redistributing wealth. we're taking something that someone earns and redistributing to someone that did not earn that money or in this case, the grades and students were quick to support redistributing wealth but not so quick to support redistributing something they had earned and hit closer to home. >> so did all the students that you talked to have that reaction? were they all saying hey, that's not the same thing or i don't like that idea? did anyone say oh, wow, let me think about that. >> you know, a few people did want to think about it but i don't think their gpa was too high to begin with. everybody that had a good gpa and you see the 4.0 students in there, they do not want to give any of it up and i countered back with the typical liberal argument, isn't that selfish? aren't you, you know, hogging

all the gpa points and what not. they didn't find the argument to be selfish. they said it was different than income but none of these students could provide any concrete or valid reasons as to how they were different. they just kind of said it was different. and you can see them in the video, kind of clueless when they are confronted with, you know, the hypocrisy. >> so the people who have gone to this video to watch it now, what's been the reaction that they've posted comments to you? >> you know, there have been thousands of comments now posted and i think the video has over 200,000 hits on you tube. this one in particular so there have been a lot of e-mail that we've been getting. a lot of people love the -- the parallel between gpa and income. some students still felt that they were different and i don't think there's much that we could do to convince them that, you know, it's a good parallel to see the same philosophy applied to different things.

>> right. it will be interesting to go back to the same students in a couple of years once they're out in the work force to see if their thoughts are the same or maybe they changed. oliver darcy, the recent college grad that filmed that video. thanks so much for your time this morning. >> thank you very much for having me. >> coming up next on "fox & friends", sex offenders living near a daycare center. probably not a good idea. guess who thinks it's perfectly fine. they oversaw a program that put guns in the hands of murderers in mexico. how are they punished? many of them got promotion. happy birthday to donny wahlberg. the new kids on the block singer and actor turns 42 today. ♪

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gave entitled "i'm looking for a new wing man." >> that's conan o'brien. let's talk about joe lieberman for a minute. remember that he is the independent from the state of connecticut who supported john mccain in the last presidential election. well, he has a new book out now, we're going to be speaking with him in person just an hour from now in the curvy couch. who will he support for the 2012 race? will it be president obama or will it be the republican candidate? here's what he said last night. >> you know i'm an independent now and i'm going to approach it from the perspective of an independent and i got -- i'm going to wait and see. i got a year and a quarter. a little less than that before the -- i have to decide how to vote and i want to see who the republicans nominate. >> i know senator lieberman is always smiling and nonconfrontational. who can forget the confrontation he had with president obama who was questioning why joe lieberman was so vociferously

defending john mccain instead of his own party. they were threatening to take his chairmanship away and they ran someone in the party against him in connecticut. so it does not surprise me at all that he's still keeping his powder dry. >> absolutely. it would be very hard for him to turn and go back on mr. obama and say i'm going to support you now after all that history. i guess he's going to wait and see. but you got to think, again, i'm going to talk about perry a lot today. i find the guy compelling. this is someone you can get behind. this is someone he can absolutely get behind. >> not if you were a democrat just three years ago like joe lieberman was. maybe. >> if you can get behind mccain, i think you can get behind rick perry. former military guys, both of them -- >> let's ask joe lieberman. when he comes up at 7:38 eastern time, let's find out what the differences are in his mind about john mccain and rick perry. we'll see if he finds out about that. >> that should be interesting. internationally, he thinks about george bush and domestically a little more liberal. let's talk about fast and

furious. the program, we know how to define it. we don't know how extensive and what the true objective of this program is. essentially, they said we can't understand, this is what they say, why these -- how these drug cartels are getting their guns. so we have an idea. let's give them guns, find out who shows up to get them and then track their path. it's the craziest program ever and it cost people their lives. >> it made a touch of sense. are they investigating how this bad program went very south and sour? they found out that they only tracked one gun for about two hours. half the day, they said, and the rest of the 2500 guns that they gave to murderous drug cartels kind of went through mexico and again, they're showing up on -- >> border agent was killed as a result and you asked for it. here's the new news today which is three of the key supervisors of fast and furious with the atf, the alcohol, tobacco and firearms agencies, these three on your screen right now have been promoted at a time when

there's a huge focus right now on this whole program, they apparently have been given new management positions in the agency's headquarters in washington, d.c. so no doubt, this is going to add another layer of suspicion to the whole situation in the investigation. why would these people be getting promotions when they're under investigation? >> well, i don't know. well, a lot of people don't know how high this program went up because it's such a disaster to give guns to criminals but senator says this. it is inconceivable to reward those who spearheaded this disasterous operation and with cushy desk jobs in washington. and i'm just wondering, is that what you do to people who you don't want to talk? who don't want to stay -- >> they already did talk. one of them testified to a house committee just three weeks ago, here was the quote. i share responsibility for mistakes that were made. >> right. >> share responsibility. >> but that's not pointing to i'm doing what my boss said and let's find out if the attorney

general knew anything about it or is it just the department running wild? >> that's a very important point. these guys got promoted. did they get promoted to kind of keep them quiet so they don't say hey, by the way, we told you about eric holder, top of the justice department which happens to oversee atf, f.b.i. and the other departments who should have known about the program and some of the faults of the program. >> it gets a little bit worse. firearms for the atf's operation that we've been discussing here have turned up and seen at least 11 crimes in the u.s. as well as border patrol agents, you know, the border patrol agent that was killed. >> brian terry and also maybe they're still finding out, there was another border agent killed, one of those guns may have been at that crime scene as well. >> in arizona and texas. so the thing is far from over. we'll keep you in the loop when we get more details. in the meantime, the rest of your headlines for a wednesday. george and cindy anthony giving the first tv interview to dr.

phil. in exchange, they will make a contribution to one of their foundations. casey's parents will not profit from the donation. cbs news claims it never pays for interviews and a different arm of the network is playing the caylee fund for the sit down. that's how they work those things. >> and the delaware aclu is fighting to keep sex offenders next to a daycare center. keep them next to the daycare center. the group is asking the judge to stop their eviction saying a plan to evict sex offenders from safehouses right next to a daycare center in wilmington is unfair. the aclu also questions whether a daycare actually qualifies as a school. brian? >> on the sixth day, he came to his senses, the man who has been living on the 300 foot radio tower for six days finally calls it quits. a police negotiator in tulsa talked down the 25-year-old. >> trying to keep things on his terms as much as possible and, you know, when that broke down a little bit to try to reel him

back in, and you know, just be patient with him. >> police say he has a history of mental illness and a criminal record. former congressman anthony wiener's sexting scandal not only cost him his job, he's being erased from his memory in the former district queens. how embarrassing. the kosher deli no longer serving the sandwich and name brand roast beef and bermuda onion on rye. ok. got to order it specifically now and it will take you more time and leave earlier. the owner says there wasn't any dignity to keeping it on the menu. people? >> all right, our next guest really knows how to think outside the box. the lunch box that is. adrian furino is the creator of some of the coolest sandwiches on earth or as he calls them insanewiches and he takes the ordinary sandwich and makes it into a masterpiece. >> he's sharing his recipes with a new book. he's here. good morning to you. >> good morning. >> i have two small children so

i'm up for trying to get them to eat the stuff if it looks good in the way in which you presented them all here. let's start over here. what did you do with the first sandwich? >> the first one contains manwich sandwich mix as well as corn bread and i just stamped out the corn bread with a circular stamp and maybe i could ask one of you guys to stamp that out. >> i think i can handle this. >> all right. >> and people -- your nails. my nails match. i know. i know. >> what would i do? >> then we plop the manwich down right here and then we make a little notch, actually, for the -- >> for the pacman part. >> yeah. put him on top. get a little eye. and then -- >> very cute. >> little dots. >> all right. >> jumping on that. this got my attention right here, the bright colors which kids will love, is it cheese or what is it?

>> this is egg whites colored with food coloring. >> yeah. >> i'm laughing because it kind of looks a little funny. does that look edible? >> that looks fantastic. >> green eggs and ham! oh, my god. >> that's what it is. all right, now, you -- >> how long has this been here? >> only a couple of minutes. >> what's inside of this one? >> that's avocado and corn salsa. >> then you put the eggs on top of it. >> yeah. basically we just take the salsa, we put that inside. >> it's eggs. tastes good. >> do you have children? >> i don't actually -- >> how do you come up with all these ideas? >> i have nieces and nephews and for me, it was a way to combine a couple of the passions that i have, one for food and one for humor. >> yeah, grew up in a family of chefs, right? >> i did. my dad was a chef, my mom was a chef and my mom is like an italian mom so best cook in the world. >> i love this one! i'm a gambler. >> nice. >> that's a tortilla. >> just a tortilla sandwich

wrap and this is an edible marker on top and it is roast beef and romaine lettuce. >> all right. before we go. i got to get this one down here. >> that's the jersey shore lunch. >> meatballs, right? >> four meatballs hanging out on a sub. >> that looks fantastic. good luck with the new cookbook for kids. >> thank you so much. >> good to have you. >> one of the major clothing line wants their shirt off the situation's back. in fact, they're willing to pay him not to wear their stuff. >> and it's the search for the best new as seen on tv product and we have the winners, the next great invention you wish was your idea. you're going to see them coming up next. summer is here. and so too is the summer event. now get an incredible offer on the powerful c300 sport sedan. but hurry before this opportunity...disappears. the mercedes-benz summer event ends august 31st.

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and so too is the summer event. now get an incredible offer on the powerful c300 sport sedan. but hurry before this opportunity...disappears. the mercedes-benz summer event ends august 31st. >> 45 minutes after the top of the hour. couple of quick headlines for you. wells fargo created a bubble that's about to burst.

gold prices have shot up $200 in less than a month. wells fargo analysts are worried that prices will plummet when demand goes down. no abercrombie? they want the jersey shore star the situation to stop wearing their clothes. they're paying him to not doing things in public while wearing their clothes. >> thanks. have you ever said to yourself why didn't i think of that after seeing those weird, wonderful and total practical products that are on tv and as seen on tv? i shouldn't have brought my dog. now the man behind those memorable infomercials just wrapped up his search for the next great infomercial inventer contest and we have a winner and great contenders. a.j., welcome back. >> great to see you. >> you have some exciting products again, the information and entrepreneural spirit alive in america. >> amazes me what kind of things we find. 28 years in business, i'm always

surprised. hot straps, people wear fashions and bras show through these fashions all the time. bra straps. you don't have to hide your bra straps anymore. this is a decorative strap and a strap that's designed to be seen. there's one on the model right here. see how beautiful it looks. hooks on to any strapless bra and women will go crazy over this. >> how much is it? >> probably $10. >> and you wouldn't believe how sad that model was before the show. and then when you put the strap on, she can't get the smile off her face. >> look at how beautiful that looks. >> and she's beautiful. >> the strap that's designed to be seen. >> let's talk dogs. we got to get our dogs healthy. we're fat. our dogs are fat. how do we stop it? >> all right, obesity is a big problem, right? people are getting heavy, kids are getting heavy and our pets are getting heavy. 170 million pets are overweight. this is paw-licious. very simple, you put the unhealthy food underneath like bacon. >> show it. >> bacon or cheese, ready, all

the leftovers underneath and put the healthy food on top so they smell the unhealthy food and they eat the healthy food. the dogs are very happy. they eat a healthy meal. and they slim down. >> how much -- >> and how much would that -- how much would that cost? >> probably $10. >> let me see. let me see. what's this dog's name? >> simba. have we ever met before? >> ok, the answer is no. put it down. ted, what do you see? >> see him eating it. >> see him eating it. from my angle, i couldn't. that was ted weighing in and that's simba licking ted's camera. good job. thanks, simba. let's move on now to probably the most exciting thing that happened for kids since the electric company in the early 1970's. >> you're washing kids' hairs, you hate to watch their hair because the shampoo gets in their eyes. this is the fun sponge designed to keep the water and shampoo out of the kids' eyes. >> are you pouring water on her head? >> do you know this little girl? >> i do actually. >> it's your daughter.

>> it is. >> what's her name? >> demi. >> how much is your mom paying you to pour water on your head at this hour? is it cold? is it getting in your eyes? are you being honest? do you wish you weren't here right now? >> yeah. >> all right. look at this. that's fantastic. and of course, you have the double strainer right there. real quick. >> easy time pasta. this is a divider right down the middle. two things at once. pasta and broccoli in the same pot. keeps it separated. >> very exciting stuff. the i seen on tv, entrepreneural spirit alive and well. we're going to be right back on "fox & friends" this morning right after this. >> inside here, brian, at the top of the next hour, forget jobs, the white house has another brilliant idea, gretchen to stimulate the economy. food stamps. >> he says the tea party is dead.

don't tell rick perry or michelle bachmann that. they're still campaigning under that. [ female announcer ] so you think your kids are getting enough vegetables? maybe not. v8 v-fusion juice gives them a full serving of vegetables plus a full serving of fruit. but it just tastes like fruit. [ male announcer ] get five dollars in money-saving coupons at v8juice.com.

>> texas goverr rick perry making waves by jumping into the republican presideial pool. many say he'll split tea party voters with fellow republican michelle bachmann so is there enough tea for two? >> i like that line. joining us is former tea party candidate and author of new book "troublemaker" christine o'donnell who ran for the senate

seat in delaware. eric posed question. between perry and bachmann, do they split the vote? >> i think it's a great position to be in. all of the republican frontrunners are strong champions of the constitution and have a proven track record. unlike any other time in my political history which is, you know, over 20 years, i won't say how much over 20 years but usually in a primary, there's the moderate, there's the liberal and then there's the conservative trying to appeal to the base. and when the moderates during a republican primary try to pretend to be conservative, it's somewhat superficial. i think it's telling about the staying power, the long term staying power. >> let's talk about that a little bit, in the corner of the tea party, there's a new fox news poll out that shows the disapproval rating or, i guess, here it is. the favorable rating of 31%. unfavorable being 51% of the tea party, how is that when the

number one g.o.p. candidate, rick perry is a tea partyier. won the iowa straw poll is a tea partyier. yet they say a 51% unfavorable rating. how do you square that? >> well, what the tea party is about is about engaging everyday americans who have never been involved in the political process before. i know in my campaign, it's not just republicans. it's democrats. republicans, and independents who are frustrated that too many career politicians have turned washington into a favor factory so they're putting the establishment on notice regardless of the party. so those establishment elites who have access to the media are really maligning the tea party and trying to give them a bad name because they are so effective. and they are so effective, you can -- the proof is just this whole debt debate this past summer. their voice is being heard. >> yet, the favorability rating for the tea party has gone down since april from 36% to 31% but

maybe to answer your question, when you look at the numbers for perry, those are likely republican voters. i believe that poll is for all voters and one of the most important things will be to appeal to the independents. how does the tea party do that because we all know every election is determined by the independents. >> one of the things we have to do is push back and that's actually why i wrote my book, not to plug the book but i tried to right now we are at a crossroads and if the tea party allows ourselves to be scared out of the political process by the pushback that we're getting from both sides, then those favorable ratings will continue to decline. but i tried to write my book in a way that not only tells my story but there's some practical how tos so you don't lose that excitement and momentum in the face of all this opposition so it's really up to us to fight back and to stay strong and most importantly, stay positive. not buy into the debate that they're putting out there that we get angry and become -- >> we need to point out very

quickly, harry reid said the tea party movement is fading. >> a few years ago, they said it didn't exist. which one is it? >> exactly. >> good luck with your book. good to see you in person. >> likewise. >> coming up, the administration has a new plan to power our military jets and ships. corn. is that a good idea? >> can i get an amen. >> there's one god. >> yep, 4-year-old has been preaching the gospel since he was just 21 months old. he's all grownen now, still doing it. he's going to join us coming up. [ male announcer imagine all of your missed opportunities

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president obama says the buck stops with him but in the same breath, he also blamed congress. >> the only thing that's preventing us from passing the bills i have mentioned is the refusal of a faction in congress to put country ahead of party. >> so some people are asking this morning, will that rhetoric turn into leadership? brian? >> and he hasn't even been a candidate for a week but a new poll has governor rick perry with a double digit lead over mitt romney. will it fizzle out or burn until 2012? >> plus, call it the food stimulus -- let me do that again. let's call food stamps stimulus? yes, the administration thinks welfare programs feed the economy. what do you think? we report, you decide. "fox & friends" starts right now. >> hi, this is kid rock. you're watching "fox & friends." >> good morning, everyone. hope you're going to have a

great day today. eric bolling is sitting in for steve today. you must have cheated. did you look and see what i have on? >> is this a sheer coincidence? >> and i have the blue shoes, too. >> i hope not. >> i hope you don't have my shoes at home. anyway, let's get to the headlines right away before we do some of our talking points with you this morning. the fast and the furious fallout worse than anyone thought. justice department confirms guns from the government's controversial fast and furious program were found at the scenes of 11 violent crimes in arizona and texas. that's in addition to the murder of a border patrol agent last year. this comes on the heels of a report that says three key supervisors pictured here of fast and furious who came under fire for pushing the program have now been promoted. a sad end to the brianne rodriguez case, the missouri toddler missing for nearly two weeks. authorities found what they believe to be her remains in a drainage ditch about eight miles from her home. the 3-year-old was last seen riding her bike outside of her home. police say a neighbor, shawn morgan has confessed to

suffocating the girl. he's a 43-year-old steel factory worker and the father of three. president obama warning that a lone wolf terror attack like the norway massacre is more likely to happen in the united states than a major coordinated attack like september 11th. the president said it's harder to track lone wolves like anders breivik than terror groups. he said investigators are being extra vigilant in the weeks leading up to the 10th anniversary of september 11th. when you're 11 years old and the mayor of a town, yes, she is, what's your first order of business? well, to name a street after justin bieber, of course! caroline gonzalez renamed main street after the teen heartthrob when she was named mayor for a day. in forney, texas. >> really like justin bieber and i thought it would be cool if we had a street in our town named after him. >> gonzalez won a contest to get kids involved in government. and those are your headlines. >> does it stay? >> i think just for a day.

but main street to justin bieber, some people might be a little upset main street went away. >> we are just learning this and this is news that we -- that's just coming across. that president obama plans to give another major speech. this time on job creation and it's coming up not tomorrow but soon. doug lazader is live in washington with the details. doug? >> good morning, guys. we know the president has been talking about coming out with a new plan to deal with jobs in september. and now we know there's going to be a big speech to go along with that. the president heads to his adopted home state of illinois today wrapping up what has been this unusual bus tour through 2012 battleground states. the white house insists this is not a campaign trip. if it was, the president's re-election campaign would have to put a pretty substantial bill but at each stop and we're talking through minnesota, iowa and now illinois today, it has the feel of a campaign swing. he has two town hall meetings on the official itinerary today but this trip has been punctuated with unannounced stops along the

way. there's a certain amount of campaign rhetoric here with the president taking a number of shots at republicans in congress. and again, back on the economy, he's trying to craft a new economic message and there's a chance for the white house now to defend what is considered to be the president's weakest area. >> there's nothing wrong with this country. we'll get through this moment of challenge. the only question is if as a nation we're going to do what it takes to grow this economy and put people back to work right now. and can we get our politics to match up with the decency of our people? >> in fact, again, the associated press reporting the president now planning to give this major speech on the economy in early september just as congress returns to work here in washington. back to you guys. >> all right. doug lazader live for us in d.c. thank you very much for that breaking news update. before we move on to talking about that bus tour the president is on, it's interesting to find out eric's perspective on how this kind of a speech will affect the markets

if at all. we saw what happened last time the president came out after the s&p downgrade. >> right, the whole thing about waiting until september bothers me, i spent a lot of time on wall street. i know the feeling, you're waiting for something to happen. waiting for things to get better. it seems like he's trying to buy some time. what he says is very important to address what he just said there a minute ago. he said we need to grow the economy. that's the little $64,000 question and the only way you're going to get unemployment down is by growing the pie. making the pie bigger. the only way to grow the pie that we know, that we know of is by lowering tax rates and there doesn't seem to be any appetite in the obama administration to lower tax rates from especially corporate tax rates. >> he did indicate a couple of days ago that he's going to be talking about a major jobs program but he's going to be doing after his vacation and after labor day. now we're going to find out details. we do know some details. he wants to set up an infrastructure. >> which is troublesome. >> why? >> all that is that's a tip of the hat to the unions.

he's going to need union support to get re-elected. he needs to raise a billion dollars. the infrastructure bank means there's money that he knows where it's coming from. could come from gas tax and could come from anywhere. that bank will be used to fund union jobs. >> that would have to pass for congress, right? it's not going to pass in the house. >> but $850 billion of stimulus which was supposed to be infrastructure stimulus ended up being, what, $80 billion, $70 billion in infrastructure stimulus. >> look forward to that speech ahead of time to test the waters and if you don't go along with it, then you're anti-american. >> yeah. >> road block. >> so the president of the united states in his message, in his last three stops, yesterday in an even smaller town essentially says look, i'm responsible for the economy and i'm responsible for everything. by the way, if you're wondering why things are in gridlock, it's not my fault. it's because we have to put party politics, we're putting party politics ahead of the country. and essentially he was pointing to the tea party without saying it. here's president obama.

>> ultimately, the buck stops with me. i'm going to be accountable. >> all of these proposals will make a difference for rural communities. the only thing that is holding us back is our politics. the only thing that's preventing us from passing the bills i just mentioned is the refusal of a faction in congress to put country ahead of party. and that has to stop. our economy cannot afford it. >> you know, that will be the theme actually. i think it will continue to be the theme. they've obviously done some internal polling that shows this kind of a message to blame -- to blame congress with their dismal approval rating at only 18%, that that's working potentially with the american public and that after the debt ceiling debate where the tea party stood their ground, if the president comes back and can't get his other stuff passed, they will be able to continue to say look, it's congress' fault. it's the tea party's fault and they feel like that's going to work. eric, they probably can't turn around the economy before 2012. >> do you hear what he's saying?

he's saying if congress doesn't agree with me by raising the debt ceiling and by spending more, i can't create jobs. it's not my fault. it's their fault but it goes back to the same argument. does more spending, does more federal spending create a job that lasts or does the job go away when the spending stops and we found over the next 2 1/2 years, no matter how many jobs you create or save, when you stop printing money and spending it, the jobs go away. >> is he talking about nancy pelosi that says don't touch medicare, medicaid and never going to touch social security. if he wants to be the president of all the people, he should call out people of his own party who say i'm not going to talk about entitlements. they're off the table. >> let's talk about this new poll that came out, it evaluated the republicans so farp in the race wanting to become the republican nominee for president. look at where rick perry has gone to. immediately to the top at 29% after announcing just three days ago. and romney at 18%. the not sure candidate gets 16%.

>> that's incredible. >> that is -- you know what that's from, people still thinking that a governor chris christie is going to get into the race, that a paul ryan is going to get in the race. then you have bachmann. >> here's a guy that says stop printing the money. turn the printing presses off. rick perry gets 29% of the vote. you can say the tea party support is waning. there it is front and center. >> how he said it is causing controversy. here's the governor of texas. >> it's time for us to quit spending all the money that we don't even have and stop printing the money. >> so -- >> that's governor perry. >> yeah, what he brought up yesterday is saying in texas, he's upset about ben bernanke and said it's almost treasonness to do what he's doing. he did not apologize for saying it. >> you're going to play somebody in basketball and go, you know what? i'm going to kill you. you think i'm going to actually kill you, physically kill you, no, the guy is passionate. he said stop printing money. you're ruining the country.

nothing wrong with that. >> when you're running for president, we argued about this on the radio, not argued but debated that we don't think that he actually thought what treason means and that you can get the death penalty if you're convicted of treason. you're right. you just do figures of speech. but when you're running for president, unfortunately, every single thing you say now is going to be looked at and parsed and videotaped and picture taking and it's just -- you have to be so incredibly careful. >> you have to give president obama credit yesterday. when given the opportunity to beat up on rick perry, i'm going to say because when you run for president, everything you say is different. it's going to take you a little while. give him a pass. >> he said spread the wealth. >> it's true. >> those three words 2 1/2 years. >> maybe he's learned and he's been in the position. let's talk about a new stimulus program that maybe you didn't know about. did you know that the food stamp program in america is actually an economic stimulus? we have spent more on food stamp programs in the last couple of years than ever before in american history. more and more people are, unfortunately, using this program but the spin of this

program now is that actually people who are on food stamps stimulate the economy because every dollar generates $1.84 into the economy. you buy more groceries if you're on food stamps. do you buy that? do you buy that as a stimulating part of the economy? well, i know that the secretary of agriculture does, tom vilsack said this. >> when you talk -- he said when you talk about the stamp program which is the food stamp program, you have to realize that it's almost an economic stimulus, every dollar of benefits generates $1.84 in the economy in terms of economic activity. if people are able to buy a little bit more in the grocery store, someone has to stock it, package it, process it, ship it. all of those are jobs. it's the most direct stimulus you can get in the economy during these tough times. so if you give people money that they didn't earn, and you tell them to go spend it on stuff they normally couldn't afford, everyone is better off. >> very quickly, jay carney earlier this week or last week

came out and said unemployment benefits are stimulus as well. this is -- this is an administration that just doesn't get it. it's really -- it's socialism. the more you give, the more you stimulate. no. sorry, it's got to come from a private sector. >> coming up on the show, tea party patriots called racists and terrorists and some democrats want you to believe that all republicans fall under that banner so south carolina governor niki haley will join us. she has the support of the tea party and she'll weigh in next. >> then a small kid with a big message. >> one god. and just put the god -- >> i love this kid. meet the pintsized preacher who has been doing this since he was just 21 months old. way back then. >> he's preaching to christine o'donnell? >> yes. >> wonder what he has to tell her. sweetie i think you need a little extra fiber in your diet.

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>> 16 minutes after the top of the hour. welcome back, everyone. the democratic national committee, the dnc painting all g.o.p. candidates with the same tea party brush. watch this. >> rick perry, he's just come into the race, the governor of texas, also a tea party favorite. >> is this a sneak peek of the 2012 strategy for the democrats? south carolina governor niki haley joins me live with this morning for her response. >> good morning, gretchen. >> it seems pretty apparent this is going to be the talking point on the democratic side of the equation for 2012, right? >> it's all they have. i mean, let's be clear. to sit there and call our candidates tea party candidates, that's a great thing but basically, if you believe in a balanced budget, if you believe in smaller government, if you

believe government should be in the hands of the people and you respect the constitution and live by it, then automatically they want to call you a tea party candidate. what they don't understand is these are republicans, democrats and independents across this country who are saying we've lost our credit rating. we have a rogue agency that's tearing up our american company like boeing. you've got a president who is not leading and we need to start seeing some real leadership so it's all the democrats have and if that's all they have, it's one more positive sign for us going into the 2012 election. >> it seems like it is the tactic because a lot of economists say the economy is simply not going to improve in time for the 2012 election so the attack mode seems to be what we're going to find ourselves in. but is it working? because this latest poll shows that the approval rating for the tea party has gone down from 36% in april to 31% now. does the democrat internal polling tell them that this is working. >> no, i don't think it's working at all. if anything, it's showing that they're trying to distract from president obama's results which

have been slim and which have been nothing but dismal. what they're trying to do is say what can we do to get off the talking points of how terrible this president has been and to label this a tea party president. when people start to hear them, they're going to understand these are the people they want to see in office. >> so all the candidates are moving now to south carolina to your neck of the woods and i know that you've gone on record by saying you want to make sure that they get asked the tough questions by citizens in south carolina. give me examples of some of the tough questions that you want to hear. >> absolutely. you know, if they were president, how would they deal with what they've done to boeing. what is their tax policy in detail as to how we see that we're going to improve the economy. what are we going to do on energy independence and how are we going to deal with our foreign relations but we don't want broad answers. we want specifics. i believe all of our candidates are going to be able to provide that and i believe this is going to be the best policy debate we've seen in a presidential election. >> your first tough question had to do with the national labor relations board and the fight in

which has been going on in your state with boeing and the union and whether or not they can continue to make the claims in your state without the union employees. where does that stand right now? >> right now, i mean, boeing is continuing their fight. they're committed to not settling and making sure they see this through so it doesn't happen to any other company. i am a governor that's committed to make sure this doesn't happen to any other governor. you've got a rogue agency that doesn't listen to even congress when they ask for a subpoena. they're not doing anything to even imply that they want to help jobs, for a president who claims he's all about jobs, he's done nothing but try to kill our own american jobs and what the nlrb has done is absolutely unamerican but not something we're going to stand for and it's something that i think the american people will really push back on on the campaign trail. >> all right, governor nikki haley, governor from south carolina. thanks for sharing your thoughts with us this morning. we're getting a pulse on the independent vote. independent senator joe lieberman here live. will he back president obama in

2012? we're going to ask him. then the tiny kid with a big message. meet the boy who has been preaching since he was 21 months old. there he is. the pintsized preacher joins us live next.

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>> news by the numbers now. the obama administration wants to invest that amount of money over the next three years into biofuels like ethanol for military and commercial ships and jets. you still paying attention? it's obama's plan to rely less on foreign oil. next, that's how much cash was found in a grill propane tank and television. a cop k-9 sniffed out the cash

in texas and finally 10 years. that's how much time a woman faces behind bars for allegedly stealing a can of beer. that's because she has priors. the beer worked. >> he's not your average preschooler. this 4-year-old's incredible passion for the pulpit has dubbed him as the world's youngest preacher. >> that means god to do it. send jesus to do it. seen jesus. >> joining us now is the pintsized preacher himself and his parents, candy and pastor david tipton. guys, hey, my man, how do you feel? i've watched this young man, it's just inspiring. not so much what he's saying but the congregation for what they're listening. when did you first realize that he had something special going? >> well, when he was 21 months old and that was the time that

actually the you tube, that was the first time he had done anything like that fortunately we were able to capture that. it was on a low quality obviously low quality camera. >> there it is. we weren't prepared for it. or i would have had a better camera. >> well, he learned from you because you're a pastor. and he learned from your dad because he's also a pastor so at that particular time when he was 21 months, it was your dad preaching up on stage, right? >> exactly. >> he went up there and so many people would argue he was just mimicking your dad at the time. what has it turned into now? >> it's grown. he's very passionate about what he does. he's very sincere. very sincere. >> so tell us what do you feel? what's going through your mind when you're up there at the pulpit and preaching. what do you feel? >> jesus. >> you feel jesus. how do you tell the congregation about how you're feeling? >> because i feel it. >> and what is your message?

>> you know -- >> can i point something out, if you watch the video, i watch you, dad, standing behind him beaming with pride. >> always. always. >> you were like this when you were his age? >> i was not. although i was raised in the church, in the same way that we're raising him, i did not gravitate to preaching and what he's done, it's a phenomenon to me. >> amazing thing is some of that video, we see him preaching from a book but he's 4 and he doesn't know how to read. he's turning the pages as if he is. so all he's saying is not because he's reading it, right? it's just coming to you, the words? who tells you what to say? >> i just know. >> you just know? you do a great job at it. >> what are your thoughts? you've heard a lot of sermons in your life. when you watch your son, what do you think? >> i'm overwhelmed, you know, by the passion that he has.

>> have you figured out a way to explain it? >> i haven't. it's just very -- to know that my child is doing that. >> you don't think it's mimicking? >> actually, i disagree to a point. i think there is some emulation there and some mimicking. i've always said any time you put before children, they absorb, you know, if i was a policeman, he'd want a badge and a toy gun but i'm a preacher and he wants a bible and a tie and he's gravitating to that. i can't discourage that. >> let's see what he turns into. >> can we get an amen? can we get an amen? give us an amen. >> amen. >> there we go. >> all right. pintsized preachers premieres tonight if you want to see more of this cute little guy. 10:00 p.m. eastern time on the national geographic channel. it's a documentary about pintsized preachers. great to see you and meet the family. thanks so much. >> pleasure was ours. god bless. >> changing gears a little bit back to politics, we're about to

get a pulse on the independent vote. joe lieberman is here live. will he back president obama in 2012? he'll be here to talk about it, that and more. >> and george and cindy anthony is breaking their silence. who landed the first tv interview with the casey parents? >> and he says he's a 500-year-old vampire. police say he's just a nut job who likes to bite girls. what? that story next. [ male announcer ] how can power consumption in china, impact wool exports from new zealand, textile production in spain, and the use of medical technology in the u.s.? at t. rowe price, we understand the connections of a complex, global economy. it's just one reason over 75% of our mutual funds beat their 10-year lipper average.

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>> the white house is up to a lot of good. the white house sent vice president joe biden to china today. now, so now we owe them a trillion dollars and an apology. >> and they're going to have a big dinner here soon, right? >> they are. lots of talk about china these days. >> right. 28 minutes before the top of the hour. more news and a special guest. today is the first day of school in tornado ravaged joplin, missouri. a big day. yesterday, dozens of students gave their teaches a pep rally. the twister destroyed six schools including joplin high school. they will head to classes in a

warehouse and old department store. seven students and a department employee was among of the people killed. >> he says he's a 500-year-old vampire. police in texas say he's just a sicko. when police found him, he was hissing and growling in nearby parking lot. luckily, he was nabbed trying to scale a fence and he asked cops to restrain him for their own protection. now he's undergoing a psychiatric evaluation. >> george and cindy anthony giving their first tv interview, wait for it, dr. phil. in exchange, cbs will make a contribution to one of their foundations, dollar amount still unspecified. however, casey's parents will not profit from the donation. cbs news claims it never pays for interviews and a different arm of the network is paying the caylee fund for the sitdown. brian? >> dude, look who just landed on blue ray.

>> i'm the dude so that's what you call me, you know. that or his dudeness or duder or, you know, eldudarooni. >> jeff bridges is celebrating the new dvd, at a big lebowski reunion in new york. >> one of those guys who kind of spin the channels with the clicker, you know, when lebowski comes on, i get sucked into it, you know, because it's -- it's just a wonderful movie, you know. >> he's cool. thousands of fans also turned out for a two day lebowski fest. >> guess who we have joining us on the curvy couch right now, senator joe lieberman, the independent from connecticut. great to see you, senator, this morning. >> great to be with you, gretchen. i want to say and this is perfect planning. if you've seen the big lebowski, there's actually a sequence in there that's hilarious about sabbath observance, yeah, if i remember lebowski was married to

a jewish woman and they want him to bowl on saturday and he says i can't bowl on saturday because my wife is jewish and they say yeah, but she never observed the sabbath. that doesn't matter. >> that's all about what your book is, the gift of rest which we're going to get to in a moment but beautiful tie-in, senator. you've done this before, haven't you? >> no. >> let's talk about the 2012 race. hard to believe it's 15 months away now and of course, everyone remembers that in 2008 you supported the republican in the race, your good friend but now will you support president obama? >> well, i'm going to approach this 2012 election as the independent that i am. and therefore, i don't know who i'm going to support at this point. obviously, a tremendously important election. future of america, economy, debt. i want to see who has got the plans, who the republicans nominate. and, of course, around the world, it's very important to me that we remain strong and involved and in both parties, there are groups that will try

to pull us back so bottom line, too early to say but i'm an independent and i'll decide -- like all independents who i think will do the best job for the country based on party. >> nobody has to tell you what's going on in afghanistan and iraq. in iraq, we seem to take our eye off the ball in a bunch much bombings. that can't make you happy. petraeus comes up with a plan and the president comes up with his own plan. isn't that a game breaker for you? >> it's not a game breaker. i'd say the good news in terms of president obama and afghanistan is that he surged the troops in the beginning of 2009. 30,000 extra, according to dave petraeus, general petraeus' plan. >> 10,000 short. >> it was 10,000 short. maybe 5,000 or 6,000 short, but it was less than petraeus wanted. now, he's begun the withdraw. we all agree including general petraeus there has to be a withdraw. i said when the president announced it, it was too quick. that i thought we ought not to try to get our troops -- right now, the president has said get

them out by september of next year. i think we ought to go through the full fighting season next year, say we're going to get all our troops out by early 2013 and it sounds like a month or two, it makes a big difference. >> senator, i heard when you're saying who you're going to support or the things that you were looking at were the economy, the debt and a strong military presence around the world. >> right. >> rick perry strikes me as someone the tea party advocate, the tea partyier from the very get go who wants to see the debt come down, the economy very strong in texas. and then military, as a military guy, if it were rick perry, could you get behind that one? >> it's too early to say. i've actually never metr rick perry. i watched the launch of his campaign over the last few days. if first impressions are important, he's made, to me, some very good first impressions. but it's the beginning of a long trail and we'll see how it goes. on all those counts that you said, particularly his

willingness to not be coy about america's role as a world leader, a lot of people will want to make the case. why are we over there? we ought to be back here but our strength in the world depends -- determines our security at home. and our prosperity. we're not going to be prosperous in creating jobs here if we don't maintain security in the world. >> maybe at first blush what you like about him is he tells it like it is and a lot of people were wishing that the president would tell it more like it is from time to time. especially with his own plan. his own ideas about how to stimulate the economy and specifically jobs. now he has made the announcement as of monday that he's going to release his jobs plan in september. but why not today? why not now? what's the wait? >> you know, i'm going to leave that to jay carney at the white house to explain. >> he doesn't want that question, senator! >> no. >> he doesn't want that anymore. >> but look, it's -- here's our problem right now. our government has tried a lot of the things that you normally try to stimulate an economy

that's down. the big stimulus plan, the fed reserve has kept interest rates low. even the taxes work but we extended the bush tax cuts last december for another two years. and there's some signs of hope in the economy but obviously, 9.1% unemployment, unacceptable. so to me, the most significant thing the government can do is regain the confidence of people in business for them to invest. and the best thing we could do to make that happen, deal with the debt. have the cuts to take on the sacred cows, do what's right for the country. >> can i weigh in real quickly? i would like you to weigh in. tell us about this very quickly, the super committee. do you have confidence in the super committee being able to reduce it enough to be able to fix the problem or whatever they have going on in d.c. right now? >> you know, i'm an optimist by nature and you have to have hope here because our country, our government fiscally is heading towards a cliff. and so let's hope that the 12 of

them when they get in a room will put aside the partisan labels and do what's right for the country. most significant about this, whatever that committee of 12 recommends, it's one up or down vote in both houses of congress. >> there is consequences. i'd feel a lot better if you were on that committee. your book is excellent. i read it last night, "the gift of rest." senator lieberman, a man of action talks about rest. how do you figure? >> well, you know, what i say is the fourth commandment that god gave to moses and all of us on mount sinai which says honor the sabbath day to keep it holy. six days you shall work. but the seventh day, rest! and basically, appreciate what the good lord has given us. >> and you've done this. >> yeah, but you know what i say? it helps me work harder the other six days and gives me some perspective. it gives me a day to thank god for everything i've got and what i'm saying in the book, i'm bringing the reader into the traditional jewish observance of the sabbath but i'm saying to

the reader, christian, muslim, whatever you are, or if you have no religion, it's important to take a day of rest. it's important to step back and appreciate what you have. >> are you also saying this and don't hedge, sir, shut off the blackberry and the computer? yes or no? >> yes! >> oh, my goodness. >> this is the most difficult point. >> these three are going to break out in a rash. >> i'm gone! >> you can't handle it. >> i'm taking a day of rest, tell work. >> the hardest thing for me as we approach sundown friday afternoon, turn the blackberry and the cell phone off. but once you do it, liberation. >> or lieberman, liberation for lieberman. >> thank you very much. >> good luck with the book. good to see you in person here. >> up next, sex offenders living near a daycare center, probably not a good idea. but guess who thinks it's perfectly fine. the aclu, peter johnson jr. breaks down the case. >> and then military pensions

could be on the chopping block. is that a good idea since we're fighting three wars right now? the debate just minutes away. >> but first, the trivia question of the day -->> this should be brian but he ran out of here. boy, i'm glad we got aflac huh. aflac! oh, i've just got major medical... major medical. ...but it helps pay the doctors. pays the doctors, boyyy! [ quack ] oh yeah? what about your family? ♪ we added aflac, so we get cash! it's like our safety net... ♪ to help with the mortgage or whatever we need!

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what if we designed an electric motorcycle? what if we turned trash into surfboards? whatever your what if is, the new sprint biz 360 has custom solutions to make it happen, including mobile payment processing, instant hot spots, and 4g devices like the motorola photon. so let's all keep asking the big what ifs. sprint business specialists can help you find the answers. sprint. america's favorite 4g network. trouble hearing on the phone? visit sprintrelay.com. >> 45 minutes after the top of the hour. couple of quick headlines. four of the five major tobacco companies are suing the f.d.a. to stop the graphic cigarette warning labels. they say it violates their freedom of speech and will cost millions to print.

the f.d.a. requires all the labels by next fall, however. sex in the city could be back on tv sort of. the cw is looking to make the carrie diaries into a hit show, that's the prequel to sex in the city. it chronicles her experience to going through high school. i know you'll set your dvr for that. >> it's already set as well as my tivo. a new aclu lawsuit is putting one city's children at risk. the organization's delaware chapter is asking a court to stop the city of wilmington from evicting sex offenders from the safe house. that safe house is located near a daycare center. how crazy is this? fox news legal analyst peter johnson jr. here with more. peter? >> good, let's talk about the facts on this and i want to know what people at home do think about this because it's a nuance thing. a little bit complex, the harriet tubman safe house. been there for about eight years. place across the street decides

to lease some of its space to a daycare center. people at the harriet tubman center say we are trying to provide housing for people right out of jail including people convict theed of sex offenses, people who otherwise would be on the street wandering around committing crimes so they say we were here first. there's nothing in the delaware law that grandfathers him and the aclu says that's unconstitutional. the truth is we have no record in this society for sex offenders. we believe they have no rights morally we believe that. legally, they have certain rights. i mean, compared to children, people say who the heck cares about the sex offenders. let them move. but the truth is this harriet tubman center run by a former addict and former guy in trouble with the law, a guy that's been honored by the mayor of wilmington and a guy that's been honored and posed for pictures with vice president joe biden

says we were here first. and maybe these folks shouldn't have rented it to the daycare center. so obviously, we can't have kids next to convicts that are sex offenders. that's sick and that's wrong. law does not allow that. >> you have fault for the daycare center picking that location. >> i say what do we do to resolve this? a, the kids. interest in the children are paramount but b, there's an interest in our society to make sure that people who get out of jail don't go out and recommit, don't go wandering the streets, breaking into cars, getting back into drugs. protect the children. let's have a balance and work this out. i'm sick of the aclu on most things. and most americans are. >> unlike many other things, crimes, we always hear that if you're -- if you're a sex abuser, you're unrehabable and that makes me wonder -- >> i'd love to hear and love to

see earl woodland jr. come on this show and talk to you about this and say what he's been doing in this regard. why it's fair. why it's not fair. >> twitter.com/peterjohnson jr. >> let me know. let's decide and let's come back and make a decision together about whether this is legal, whether this is constitutional, whose rights are being protected. is more important. i say always protect the children but let's work it out. >> great job. military pensions could be on the chopping block. is that a good idea since we're inviting three wars? that debate minutes away. number one song in 1976, "just don't go breaking my heart" by elton john. [ female announcer ] so you think your kids are getting enough vegetables? maybe not. v8 v-fusion juice gives them a full serving of vegetables plus a full serving of fruit.

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>> the answer to the trivia question of the day is robert de niro and the winner is mike peyton, spartanberg, south carolina. ok, from untouchable to unaffordable, secretary of defense leon panetta says military pensions can be cut now. >> it's the kind of thing you have to consider in terms of retirement reforms in the broad form. >> but instead of our patriots being forced to pay, what if congress cut pensions? the founder of iraq veterans for congress, todd harrison is the senior fellow of defense budget studies for the center for strategic and budgetary assessment and retired air force reservist. let me start with you, you say you're against this idea. tell us why you're against panetta's proposal? >> i think it's a bad idea. we have three wars going on and we have people and their families who have sacrificed so much over the last 10 years and

we're going to ask them to be first on the chopping block. there's a need for pension reform when it comes to federal employees and all civil employees. but let's not start with the people who have already given so much to this country. >> what do you think of this plan? it seems a little bit reasonable and some of the benefits to the plan is you can start to receive some benefits right away. you don't have to spend a long time in the military. you like the plan? >> well, you know, i have to admit at first i was skeptical as well but when i start to look at the details for the plan, a few things became clear. first of all, no one loses benefits under the plan. as it's been proposed, those who have already earned the military retirement see no changes in the benefits and those currently serving would be grandfathered in. what it would do is transition from the current entitlement system for military retirement to a -- a system more like the 401k where individuals would be in charge of their own retirement savings. >> you know, i do the business channel stuff, it sounds logical to me. i'll go back to you. a little difference from your average investor with 401k or

pension is the military seems to be young people fighting for the country, is that right? >> that's correct. and a big part of the plan is you cannot collect your pension when you retire after 20 years of serving on ships, serving in combat. you have to wait until retirement age and that's a big difference and i know the study said that military people are more employable in civilian life now than they were in previous generations. that's not true in those of the combat arms, there's no need for infantrymen and we have an high unemployment rate among our veterans. if you're going to ask them to retire and not collect their pensions for another five or six years, that's going to be it. >> young people they need the money now. >> yeah, well, the fact is that the current retirement system is unbalanced because 80% of those who serve never see one dime of benefits. it's outdated quite frankly because the private sector and a lot of state and local governments have been moving away from their pension programs

for years towards 401k like plans and the truth is the current system is inefficient in the way it spends government money because it does not provide a good incentive for the younger troops to stay in and after 20 years of service, it really pushes people out the door. >> sorry, got to leave it there. you're todd harrison on the right and that's kiernan on the left. great discussion, by the way, he's not shy about speaking his mind. why should this morning be any different? up next, governor chris christie with some strong words for president obama. and speaking of president, his new plan is to create jobs in america. so why was his bus built in canada? [ sniffs ] bacon?! gotta get that bacon! bacon?! bacon! ey bacon, mey bacon, tasty bacon! bacon? ohh, la, la... oh, i say, is that bacon?! oh,ood heavens! bacon! bacon bacon!

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>> gretchen: good morning, everyone. it's wednesday, august 17. thank you so much for sharing part of your morning with us today. i'm gretchen carlson. president obama taking his blame game through the midwest.

well, he's pointing the finger this time at congress. >> the only thing that's preventing us from passing the bills i just mentioned is the refusal of a faction in congress to put the country ahead of party. >> gretchen: then he said that the buck stops with him, so some people are confused about which one it is. we'll debate it. >> eric: they ran away from their duties during the union crackdown. so did it cost them their jobs? the result of the wisconsin recall elections are in and just seconds away. >> brian: they oversaw the government program that helped put guns in the hands of mexican drug cartels and now they're being promoted to internal affairs in washington. does this smell like a cover-up to you? we'll examine because this is "fox & friends" and we start now >> this is senator joe lieberman. you're watching "fox & friends". >> brian: it's amazing, the reporting just -- recording just

done and turned around. >> gretchen: he decided to stick around because he had so much fun on our show. >> eric: and we took his blackberry. >> gretchen: he has done that his whole life, observing the sabbath and written a new book about that. eric bolling is sitting in for steve today. welcome. let's do some headlines because we need to start with a developing story. police believe now sadly that they have found the body of missing three-year-old briian rodriguez, the missouri girl who disappeared nearly two weeks ago while riding her bike outside of her house. the remains were found in a drainage ditch eight miles from her home. police now say a neighbor, sean morgan, has confessed to suffocating her. he's a 43-year-old steel factory worker and a father of three. president obama warning that a lone wolf terrorist attack like the norway massacre more likely to happen in the united states than a major coordinated attack like september 11. he says that it's harder to track lone wolves like anders behring breivik than terror groups, for example.

he says investigators are being extra vigilant in the weeks leading up to the 10th anniversary of september 11. to wisconsin, democratic state senators holding their seats in the final election of the year. they beat their republican challengers. this leaves the republicans with a one seat majority in the senate. brian, pay close attention, an animal story. >> brian: a penguin story. >> gretchen: it gets scary. you may remember the penguin took a wrong turn and wound up on a beach in june. doctors removed sand and sticks from his stomach. he's now all ready to go and set sail on a research boat. it has a special crate that will keep him comfortable during the four-day trip south. he'll also be given a gps device so his fans can monitor his every move. he probably has his own twitter page. >> brian: if the penguin does eat another stick, we're going to interrupt a commercial to go

live to the penguin for a comment about stick eating. why are we so into penguins? >> gretchen: they're cute. >> brian: we got so many? >> eric: are they here? >> gretchen: they've visited the show and they're very cute. >> eric: we're learning right now that president obama plans to give yet another major speech, this time on job creation. joining us from the white house with all the detail, caroline shively. what's the latest? >> hi there. the president plans to roll out his new jobs plan after labor day, early next month, prompting some of his critics to ask why not now with unemployment hovering around 9%. the president says he wants to wait to unveil it until congress returns when they can actually do something about it. we don't know specific details of what's in the plan, but the a.p. is reporting it will have tax cuts and help for the long-term unemployed. he's been talking about some other economic things he wants to have happen, including an extension of payroll tax cuts, spending money on construction and finalizing free trade deals.

he says members of congress have been standing in the way of economic progress and once they return after labor day, they better be ready to cut some deals. >> there is nothing wrong with this country. we'll get through this moment of challenge. the only question is if as a nation we're going to do what it takes to grow this economy and put people back to work right now. can we get our politics to match up? >> the speeches have sounded a lot like what we heard on the campaign trail in 2008. but the taxpayers are footing the bill. these are actual official presidential trips. he has two town halls in small towns in illinois. he returns to the white house tonight and heads off to martha's vineyard tomorrow for ten days of vacation. back to you in new york. >> gretchen: caroline shively live at the white house. thanks very much for that update. >> brian: the president makes a speech, promising a big speech in september. eric, how will the markets react? remember how they reacted last time when he spoke?

>> eric: the last time he spoke, remember what this was? this was after the big downgrade and everyone is waiting for mr. obama to tell us what's going on, what's the plan, what's happening. he started his speech and i remember watching this, 400 points lower by the end of the day. 634 points. the market fell apart because he came to the podium with no answers. no solutions. again, it's more of the same. down the road, we'll figure it out. again, here is what he's saying on this campaign bus tour: we'll talk about it in september. they're still trying to find a plan. >> brian: now there is pressure on the president to come up with a plan with specifics and lawsability. it's got to be plausible. possible to pass, correct? if he puts something out that is a far left agenda, the market will react negatively because they know it's not going to go anywhere. >> eric: there is that other one where the market will act positively and it's far left and that would be another stimulus. qe 3, but again, that's printing more money. that's really not going to help. >> brian: that wouldn't be his

announcement, would it? >> eric: no, he may say in conjunction with the treasury department, we decided to pump $500 billion more fake dollars into the economy and again, we saw qe 2 last for about, i don't know, six months or so when the money stopped, the market fell apart. >> gretchen: this seems to be a mixed message coming from the president as he is embarking and finishing up this bus tour now because in one interview he said that he does -- the buck stops with him as far as the economy and taking possibility, but then at the same time, he is blaming congress, which seems to be what the campaign message moving forward to 2012 is going to be all about. take a listen. >> ultimately the buck stops with me. i'm going to be accountable. all of these proposals will make a difference for rural communities. the only thing that is holding us back is our politics. the only thing that's preventing us from passing the bills i just mentioned is the refusal of a faction in congress to put the country ahead of party and that

has to stop. our economy cannot afford it. >> gretchen: two points. congress is very easy to blame right now because look at their approval ratings. only 13% now. keeps going down. last week it was 18%. only 13% approve of the job that congress is doing and also the president can continue to say these types of things about what his plan is, but what's interesting is when you talk to economists about some of his plans like free trade and patent legislation and extending the payroll tax, many economists say even if the plans did pass congress, they will not help the economy as far as creating jobs. >> eric: i also want to point out, again, blame congress now, blame bush before, blame hurricanes, bad weather and arab spring and the recession not ending on time. >> brian: and we'll have to see where we go from here. i thought maybe he wanted to credit the tea party. he might want to credit them for being fiscalcally responsible because we all have to do that.

chris christie is someone that people admire for his leadership and style. he who seems to like the president personally, has advice for the 44th president of the united states. >> you can't lead from behind. leading is not a political strategy. it's a moral strategy. i've said many times about the president, who i have admiration for, and who i agree with on a number of issues. but man, get out there and tell us what you believe and be willing to fight for it. even if people disagree with it. nobody agrees with me all the time. i barely agree with me all the time. >> gretchen: guess what, governor governor christie is saying stop the blame game and let the chips fall where they may. at least take more of a stand for what your policies are. >> brian: he goes on to say do something. you saw shots of that huge bus that the president has because he needs security and he wants to do this bus tour.

it was built in 2010 for this purpose and it's owned by the secret service. i was shocked to find out where it was made and who got paid! >> eric: apparently made in canada. ottawa, canada. they make nice buses in ottawa, canada. i was hoping it would be an american job created. but see that -- this isn't fair. he created jobs. you see all those cars? they all have a job. that's 50 jobs he created with this bus tour. who says he isn't creating jobs? >> gretchen: if that's the case, i think some people have a problem with the president going -- i'm actually taking it at face value. he created those 50 jobs. here is the problem when the bus is not made in america. his whole stump speech is creating jobs in america. not that we don't like our canadian friends, we do. as you pointed out earlier, he should be mad at his staff for allowing this to happen because obviously the president is not

making these kinds of decisions. this is a lower level decision. >> brian: just like the story that we had yesterday about the solar panels built by the chinese using stimulus money, he should blast the company that would take that money and kill 800 jobs and go overseas. that is what independents should be excited about. no one has been excited about what's been exposed on capitol hill with this fast and furious program. as you know, that was the idea of taking guns made here, giving them to bad guys to find out who got them and how they got them. it's been a mess. we still have to find out who was behind it. it does get worse for some people who were behind it. they're actually getting promotion, raises and being shifted to washington for more important jobs. >> eric: administration that seems to be don't deaf on all things economic apparently tone deaf on all things, i don't know, american? this could be one of the biggest mistakes certainly in the atf's

history and three people who were involved in this thing, who admitted to have made mistakes being promoted. >> gretchen: they were, before these three -- at least one of them before a house committee three weeks ago saying there were mistakes made with fast and furious. here is snort john cornyn because he is up set. it isen conceivable to reward those who spear-headed this with cushy desk jobs in washington. that's how he feels. they're now finding in arizona and texas, that these firearms that went to mexico to try and track the drug cartels, now they've been linked to 11 more violent crimes that happened on our soil. so this story far from over. >> brian: we have 11 more found. now we find out ken nelson said, i didn't find out about that until i heard how bad it was going. it turns out they had proof that he knew about it in december of 2009. he said he didn't know about it until january. >> eric: the concern is whether

melson, above eric holder, if he didn't know, he should have known, but he said he had no idea. >> gretchen: coming up, it hurts any way you slice it. first anthony wiener lost his seat in congress. now something else is being wiped off his menu. >> eric: it seems to be friends -- the new strategy, telling the american people the gop is holding the economy hostage. will it work? our political panel weighs in. [ female announcer ] so you think your kids are getting enough vegetables? maybe not. v8 v-fusion juice gives them a full serving of vegetables plus a full serving of fruit. but it just tastes like fruit. [ male announcer ] get five dollars in money-saving coupons at v8juice.com.

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>> brian: robert givens suggesting republicans are more worried about next year's election than fixing the economy. >> at some point you get to ask yourself, are they not dealing with these things because, quite frankly, they just don't want to

see this economy get better because they want to see an election that might turn out better for them? >> brian: will this new message for democrats work with voters? here to weigh in with our political panel, tamara holder, attorney and fox news contributor. former oklahoma representative vice president of the aspen institute and co-founder of no labels, mickey edwards. and the executive director of public notice, gretchen hamel. gretchen, is that message going to resonate whether it's correct or not? >> i don't think it will register with independents and that's where this election will be won or lost because independents don't like the partisanship and the finger pointing that the white house is doing, won't work. >> brian: representative edwards, i tell you what, it's true that if the economy is bad, republicans have a better chance of winning. why wouldn't they be doing exactly what robert gibbs is saying? >> it's outrageous that somebody would make a comment like that. republicans are also americans. republicans live in this economy. and the idea that you have to demonize people on the other

side is one of the real problems. that's why we formed no labels, to get rid of comments like that. >> brian: and what do you think, tamara? >> i couldn't disagree more. respectfully disagree. the republicans campaigned for their majority of congress based on jobs, and the economy. we have not seen the economy grow. we have not seen jobs grow. and it's both sides, enough of the blame game from gibbs and the administration and enough of the blame game from the republicans. the american people want to see jobs, regardless of their political affiliation. >> brian: but the blame game is continuing on the stump. the president saying, i'm with you, the people. i can't get the congress and republicans to come along with my policy. >> he is widening that policy gap. he is doing nothing to close the gap. with that type of rhetoric, he's never going to get republicans to come to the table and negotiate with him in good faith. >> brian: is she right? >> both sides are doing this. i agree with what you said, both sides are doing this. there is an unwillingness to accept the fact that somebody

who is in another political party might have a good idea, might have good motivations. gibbs is only one example. there are people on both sides of the aisle who are doing this. >> brian: tamara, do you agree with the talking point that came from the d.n.c. chair that said this is a republican recession and it's continuing to linger, that's why the democrats are having a hard time pulling us out? >> it's everybody's recession. enough of blaming president bush and president obama. people are starving. they are literally losing their homes. they are without jobs. what the republicans should do is say, look, don't vote for obama again. but at the same time, we want to see unemployment go down. we want to see him succeed, but that doesn't mean you should reelect him. and instead of the bashing, people need to see change. >> brian: maybe they'll listen to you. three voices of reason. stick around, our political panel will stick around to talk about another issue. he's the toast of the town right now and maybe of washington, d.c he is now the leader. rick perry on top, according to the latest poll.

how long will he stay on top. even smoky the bandit can't get bert reynolds out of this one. why the actor is in serious hot water with his mortgage company.

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>> eric: couple of headlines. kentucky man accused of putting a fake bomb around a teen-ager's neck left behind one major clue which got him busted. police say paul douglas peters accidentally left his e-mail address on a memory stick he used for his ransom demand. bert reynolds reportedly facing eviction notices from his florida mansion because he

stopped paying the mortgage a year ago. the 75-year-old smoky and the bandit star now owes more than a million dollars. over to brian kilmeade with the great cuff links. >> brian: they're worth 1.99. there is a new front runner in the race for the republican presidential nomination. did you hear? according to a brand-new poll among gop primary voters, texas governor rick perry has jumped in and jumped out to the double digit lead over republican rivals, including mitt romney. can he keep this going forward or is this love at first sight? we're back with our political panel. let's begin with tamara holder. is he just the best or the newest? >> no. he is just in for a short race. he can not handle going the distance. he can not keep up with mitt romney. he is way too far on the right. i call them crazy perry. >> brian: he was a democrat!

>> everybody in texas was a democrat and everybody in oklahoma was a democrat. that really doesn't mean anything. what means something, fred thompson was the big hero. rudy guiliani was the big hero. perry is just the new guy coming in. he might win, but he's got to be -- he's going to be questioned about things he says and -- >> brian: gretchen, new guy? this guy is an 11-year governor of texas, the most prosperous state in the union! more than a new guy. >> he's a new kid on the block, he's got the wind behind his sails and i'm sure we will see it will fade over the course of the next few weeks. if you looked at the poll has few weeks ago, it was still muddled. he hasn't got attacked yet. he's a new flavor of conservative. >> brian: he has been attacked, hasn't he? quickly and he might have made a small error in going after ben bernanke earlier. >> ben bernanke, what about saying texas might secede from the union? now that he's in the race, he has to face the fact that people are going to look seriously at

the comments he makes. >> he also said when he was asked, do you think president obama loves america? he said, i don't know. you have to ask him. i mean, these are the kinds of things that really, if you're running for president, even if you think that, even if you think that president obama is crazy, which a lot of people think, don't say that if you're running for president. >> brian: how mitt romney reacts i find fascinating. i tell you, mitt romney yesterday was different than monday. yesterday he said, great guy. great to have in a race as opposed to, this and this about his record. >> he's going to take the high road. he's not going to get in the road. he saw this guy is going to fade quickly because of the verbal fouls that he's made. if he continues to make those verbal fouls, he will have some trouble. so mitt romney is taking the high road. >> brian: while they went at it, guess who was out of the fray? the woman who won the straw poll, michelle bachman! >> nobody thinks michelle bachman could win. but there are other people, john huntsman could win.

the idea that the media suddenly decided this is between bachman, romney and now rick perry is nonsense. there is still a long way to go. >> what about ron paul? why is nobody talking about him? he's won three straw polls -- or not won, but barely behind bachman. >> brian: firmly dug in, very successful politician and doctor. thanks so much. great panel. tamara, mickey, and gretchen, good job. let me tell you what's coming up 'cause we still have more show. many college students support taxing the rich, making them pay their fair share, so to speak. what happens when those same students were asked to share their high gpa's? >> i do give gpa points to students that don't deserve it. it isn't fair. >> brian: right. meet the college grad behind the camera. and knowing your finances are more important than ever before. how can you get your kids to understand? dave ramsey knows and here to answer those questions, he's going to -- you're going to like

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so this year she got one. 20-ton boulder was dropped in his ex-wife's front yard. it came with a pink ribbon and spray painted birthday wishes. the pair just gone through a lengthy divorce and their marriage is on the rocks for a long time. >> gretchen: she wanted a big rock. i don't think that's the one she was envisioning. but she got it. >> brian: remember superman was able to grab rocks and squeeze it hard. >> brian, you're fired. >> brian: okay. >> gretchen: this is what i missed when you were off. should we do some headlines? >> brian: if we have time. >> gretchen: school is going to begin in joplin, missouri, the community continues to pick up from the tornado in may. it destroyed six schools, including joplin high school. students will go to school in a warehouse and old department store. seven students and one school employee were among the 160 people who died during that

storm. >> brian: for the second time this month, a child has been killed by a deadly parasite that grows in stagnant waters. the family of nine-year-old christian strickland says the boy died from a rare infection after he went on a fishing trip in virginia. can you imagine? a 16-year-old from florida died from a similar infection last weekend after swim not guilty a river. the -- swimming in a river. the odds of getting this, one in ten million. >> eric: george and sin thee anthony giving their first tv interview to dr. phil. in exchange, cbs will make a contribution to one of their foundations. the dollar amount is still being -- not being released. casey's parents will not profit from the donation. cbs news clays it was never -- claims it was never going to pay for interviews. in a different -- a different arm is paying for it. >> gretchen: former congressman anthony wiener sexting scandal not only cost him his job, he's being erased from the menu of a deli in a district of keeps, new

york. the kosher deli no longer serving the sandwich it named for him, roast beef and bermuda onion on rye. >> brian: sounds horrible. >> gretchen: the owner says there wasn't any dignity to keeping it on the menu. you know, they could have come up with a lot different menu item with that name. that was good they chose what they did. >> brian: i would be happy not seeing those photos again. >> gretchen: we had joe lieberman on the show. he's written a new book about observing the sabbath and taking a rest. we asked him political questions. for example, since he supported john mccain in the last presidential race, would he support the republican this time around or will it be president obama? >> i'm going to approach this 2012 as the independent that i am and therefore, i don't know who i'm going to support at this point. obviously tremendously important election, future of america, economy, debt. i want to see who has got the

plans, who the republicans nominate. around the world, it's very important to me that we remain strong and involved and in both parties, there are groups that will try to pull us back. bottom line, too early to say, but i'm an independent and i'll decide it like all independents who i think will do the best job for the country. >> brian: he's never really supported president obama. don't forget, president obama, when he was senator, pulled joe lieberman aside and said, how dare you come at me like this in your support of john mccain, thought he was going way over the top. if you're personally dressed down by somebody, it's going to take a lot for you to all of a sudden end up in their tent. >> gretchen: what also is interesting is that if you look at the independents the way they're stacking up right now, they are not necessarily in support of president obama as they were when they basically elected him back in 2008. so it will be interesting to see if lieberman goes with how the independents feel since he is one. >> eric: that's really important. lieberman pointed out the three things important to him, the economy, jobs and having

international affairs. again, that's looking more to the right than to the left, at least from my perspective. >> gretchen: let's talk about this story, it was something that we featured in our 6:00 o'clock hour east coast time. it had to do with a student who was at one of the university of california schools. senior last year. he decided that he wanted to just do a test with other students about the whole concept of redistribution of wealth. most of the students he found were in favor of that. they thought that was a good idea for our society. but then when he asked another question, what about redistributing your grades? for example, if you get a 4.0, 3.9, let's give a few of your grade point average points to somebody who gets only a 2.0. how would you feel about that? >> it's like emulating the federal tax structure. now we tax the rich. >> i don't think it's the same thing at all. >> i do give gpa points to students who don't deserve it.

it isn't fair. i work for what i have. >> why do you need a 4.0? >> i earned it. >> people earn their money. you can use the same argument. it's like a selfish argument. >> brian: if you have 4.0, you should be sharing your grades. >> eric: i always did. >> brian: right. >> gretchen: you shared your grades? >> eric: always did. >> gretchen: i'm sorry. i wasn't sharing with anybody. you work hard for those grades. >> brian: you give up your weekends, you study nonstop, you sacrifice your recreation time. it's a great study. what a great analogy. >> eric: it was fantastic. i wonder if he went to the professors and say we want to share some of your tenure or time off this summer, where they would go with that. >> brian: here is the man who conducted it earlier on "fox & friends." >> we know that a lot of college students support the restriction of wealth and so what we thought we'd do is break that down to terms they can relate to and they all earn their gpa and so we decided why not ask them if they would be interested in redistributing the gpa points

that they earned to students who maybe were having trouble getting a high gpa, students were quick to support redistributing wealth, but not redistributing something they earned and hit closer to home. >> gretchen: it will be interesting to go back to them, if he could find those same students about five years from now when they're out in the real world and they're working in real jobs, if they can find one, what they feel about that analogy. >> eric: they're teaching at stanford. >> brian: possibly. >> eric: with a bad economy and high unemployment, high schools across the country starting to change their curriculum to better prepare their students for the future of personal finance course will now be required in four states. but it can't stop there. so how can you teach your kids about finance at home, too? >> gretchen: personal finance expert, dave ramsey, joins us now. good morning, dave. >> good morning, guys. how are you? >> gretchen: fine. i understand that you have some of these -- you've developed these programs that are being taught in these schools.

right? >> right. we've had a high school curriculum on personal finance out for about eight years. we're in about 10,000 high schools with it right now. we hope to be in about 100,000 because our goal is to teach enough kids how to handle money that we put the rest of the parts of our company out of business. >> brian: dave, i'm just wondering, do you find that people are thirsting for this knowledge, to have the foundation or do you find you're the first one to get to these kids? >> the kids are on fire for it. 80% of teens when surveyed say they would love to learn how to handle money. no one is teaching them this stuff. one of the things about our books and things that we've had out there for years is people always said, gosh, i wish somebody taught me the stuff that you teach, to get out of debt, save for emergency, the types of insurance, all those kind of basic things and no one teaches this stuff. so it's really exciting for the kids and the educators love teaching the kids because they get fired up about it. >> eric: dave, in high school,

you say this curriculum is going to be required. should it happen earlier? should a younger child be taught a little more about finance? >> well, absolutely. and part of that is parenting. we've talked about that on the show here many times. you teach your four-year-old to make his bed and to clean his room and you pay him when he does work. that's called putting your kid on commission. not on allowance. allowance sounds like welfare. teach them to work, teach them to save, teach them to save. teach them to give and you start that process. but then if that's hand in glove with a good curriculum in the high school, then it's going to work. but it's never too late to sit down with your adult children and have that conversation. >> gretchen: you have to do that because if the kids are looking at our government how to spend money, they learn all the wrong lessons. let's go to some e-mail right now. greg from atlanta says this: our son is an honor student and active in team sports. his schedule doesn't leave room for a job outside of the home. we want to teach him to be financial responsible.

so what can we do? >> well, one of the things we've always done with our kids when they were teens and we recommend this to parents, is to get them on a checking account. and let them make some of the value decisions in the marketplace. our kids bought their own clothes with money we provided through their own checking account. had to be clothing that we approved, had to properly cover your body, wear a belt. but still, you're handling money and you learn how to balance a checking account and to reconcile it with a bank. then when you get to college, you're not so freaking clueless. >> brian: you also don't want any rapper singing about pants on fire. >> eric: no ramsey kids walking around with pants down. another wrote, we have a high school junior working outside the home but doesn't make a lot of money at a retail job. she has car insurance, gas, and other extracurricular expenses. how do we figure out what we will help her pay for and what we won't? >> you need to be careful that she utilizes the money that she has and that she earns very

well. she needs to spend wisely, save some, and give some. and then as parents, this is a junior in high school. this is not a 32-year-old. as parents, this is not a parasite, it's our child. we're going to invest in this kid. you may part of the expenses for the automobile or for some of their interpret. certainly clothing and food. but something extra, luxury, let them save and do that with the money they earn. >> gretchen: always has great advice to young and to old and to the middle of the road kind of people as well, as far as age goes. dave ramsey, have a great week. >> thanks for having me. >> brian: dave has been on for about six years. he's never been in a bad mood. he's always so happy. >> eric: sometimes. >> brian: more on the other side of dave ramsey, when eric bolling takes on at 5:00 o'clock. next, rumors flying, congressman paul ryan may jump into the race for president. how could that shake this things up? dr. larry sabitow looks into his crystal ball and we'll talk about it.

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>> brian: quick headlines now. he says he's a 500-year-old vampire. but police in texas say he's a sicko. 19-year-old lyle benzly is charged with breaking into a woman's home in galveston, texas and biting her on the neck. when police found him, he was hissing and growling. he asked cops to restrain him for his own protection. nice try. and abercrombie wants the situation to stop wearing their clothes. they're even offering a, quote, a substantial payment to stop doing things in public while

wearing his clothes. with my abs, looks like i can step right in there and get the endorsement. hi, gretchen. >> gretchen: fantastic self promoter. i love him. is he or isn't he? a new report suggests that wisconsin congressman paul ryan considering a run now for the white house in 2012. so can the gop's rising star shake up the party's presidential field? will he do it? joining me to weigh in is political science professor and author of "pendulum swings," dr. larry sabitow. good to see you this morning. can we hear larry? >> good morning, gretchen. >> gretchen: now we can. i thought you were going to have to break out a new kind of speaking tube. so what do you make of this rumor -- that's all it is right now -- that paul ryan may want to run for president? do you believe it? >> you know, i think he's at least considering it. he was considering it at one point. he said no. it seemed like the door was

shut. now the door is open a tad. you just never know. there is still time for an additional candidate or two to jump in. the deadlines aren't until november. so it's possible. ryan is already nationally known. he would add a lot of new energy to this republican field. i think it's possible, though i'll believe it when i see the announcement. >> gretchen: his press secretary basically saying no, it's not an option. but i'm wondering since he decided to take himself out of the running for that super committee, would that be an indication -- he's also running ads in iowa. would that be an indication he's thinking about it? >> not joining the super committee is an indication that he's smart. beyond that, i don't know that it says too much about his presidential candidacy. but he would be a very interesting candidate because obviously he would be running to get his budget plan out there, to get people to understand it better, to consider it better.

i believe he's 41 now. at the time of the election, he'd be 42. he would, if elected, would be the youngest president ever elected. john kennedy was 43. teddy roosevelt was 42 when he succeeded. maybe that's too young. that would be up to the voters. but it would be interesting to see it. >> gretchen: he would be the first member of the house to serve in the house and then be elected president, i believe. let me talk to you about rick perry because just a couple days into his announcement of running for president, he made what the media was saying, some gaffes. what do you make of the attention that is being given to that? >> this is a great example of the hot house of presidential campaigning. there is nothing like it. rick perry has been in public office sips the 1980s. he has experience -- he's as experienced a politician as exists in the entire united states and yet, he has committed some gaffes because the scrutiny at the presidential level is the most intense possible.

look, he's feeding what romney and others hope will be the new slogan, no new texans. so he's got to be careful about this as he goes forward. >> gretchen: all right. got to wrap it up. we got astronauts waiting in the wings. always great to pick your brain. thanks so much. >> thanks, gretchen. >> gretchen: we handed our space program over to the russians. what do these guys and gals think about that? they were the crew on the final space shuttle mission and they're with us now. first, let's check in with martha for what's on at the top of the hour. >> we look forward to that. thank you so much. good morning. we've got a packed show coming up. is rick perry for real or is he another donald trump or wes clark phenom? hear what donald trump has to say. tucker carlson will weigh in with his very different take on rick perry. you'll hear that. a little girl saved from the snatches of a kidnapper by her neighbor. all that when bill and i join you at the top of the hour. probiotic cap a day helps defends against occasional constipation, diarrhea,

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>> eric: it marked the end of an era. >> after serving the world for over 30 years, the space shuttle earned its place in history and has come to its time stop. >> we copy your stop and we'll take this opportunity to congratulate you, atlantis, as well as thousands of passionate individuals across this great space fairing nation who truly empowered this incredible spacecraft which for three decades has inspired millions around the globe. job well done, america. >> eric: the very astronauts that were aboard that final launch joining us live this morning. please welcome commander chris ferguson, pilot doug hurlly and mission specialist sandy magnuh and rex. let me start with you, commander. wow what, a legacy. the last one, but is this the

end of nasa? >> absolutely not. we have a vibrant program right now. we have american astronauts living on the space station full time, as we have been for the last 11 years. they get up and down in russian rockets. so we have our business partners involved and we're building new rockets. >> eric: so nasa will go on. so all the little kids out there, i have a 13-year-old who wants to be an astronaut. he can still become one? >> we're still hiring. >> eric: this is the commander. you work for this guy. tough boss? >> no, he's great. >> eric: walking in here, everyone wanted to know, please ask, what does it feel like to be in space? sandly? >> it's a whole different way of living because you look at things here on the table, they're staying there 'cause gravity is holding them down. in orbit, you have to keep track of your stuff at a whole new level and you have to keep track of yourself because you're floating from place to place. the shuttle is a small space. when you dock, it's a monster,

huge house and you have to get used to moving around all over again. >> eric: piloting the space shuttle, doug, auto pilot or you really had to steer the thing? >> you do steer it quite a bit. there are phases of the flight, ascent, if we have to touch the controls, that means something really bad happened. but luckily the folks take great care of news florida, processing these vehicles. we got the hand fly, rendezvous and undock and chris landed the vehicle in florida. >> eric: commander, we need to point out, just not flying around in space. there was actual stuff going on. you were doing scientific experiments. a lot of the products we use right now are better because of you guys. >> yeah. we had eight powered payloads on the mid deck. researching everything from bone loss to osmosis, water purification systems. a lot going on. >> eric: tough boss? >> no, he's all right. >> eric: all you guys are going to stay within nasa? >> yeah. >> eric: we need to point out, nasa will lose 3500 jobs with the cuts. is that right? >> depending how you count. jobs will be relocated.

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>> brian: this is the closest i'll ever come to joining the space shuttle team. >> eric: this is the whole team, by the way. i didn't realize that. just four. a big rocket up there. fantastic. >> we got room for three more. >> brian: stop the programming. watch the show tomorrow and you'll be in the after the show show because amongst our guests, bob massi and eli manning. >> gretchen: he's a quarterback. >> brian: i'm going to try to get a second source. >> gretchen: log on for our after the show show. isn't this what you want to do, sit next to astronauts? >> brian: yes, i did.