anybody who is getting it is going to be dealing with it for likely 6, 10, maybe 12 hours. >> juan: rick thanks. everyone, please be careful this weekend this is not a joke. stay tuned to the fox news channel for the latest on the storm. comprehensive, responsible, informative coverage all weekend. again, thanks for watching. i'm juan williams in for bill o'reilly. please remember, the spin stops here, because we're stops here, because we're looking out for you. closed captioned by closed captioning services, inc. this is a fox news weather alert. americans on the east coast are bracing for the worst as hurricane irene approaches land. i'm fred thompson in for s n hand the hurricane i >> currently a category 2, winds upwards of 100 miles an hour. tropical storm force winds are already blowing into north carolina as the hurricane moves closer to the shore.

irene is expected to reach land between 10 a.m. and noon tomorrow. the hurricane could be a category 3 storm by then. mandatory evacuations were issued earlier today for all along the east coast. officials say this storm has the potential to affect 65 million people. for all the latest on hurricane irene and the state of things in north carolina, we go to fox news very own jonathan serrie, who is by in atlantic beach, north carolina. >> reporter: good evening. you can see the conditions continue to deteriorate. out to this fishing pier that suffered damage in a previous storm that wasn't a direct hit. took out several pilings. local residents and officials are keeping a nervous eye on this pier wondering if it will be able to survive hurricane irene. which, according to some computer models is on a direct path for this town. as we zoom out, you can see the battering surf. big concern it is going to be

storm surge. whether the dunes that protect this island community from the ocean, will be over flowed by any of the storm surge. already, on the other side of this barrier island, which separates the atlantic ocean from the sound side of the island there's storm surge that is overlapping the shore. there's already about a foot of standing water in some of the lower lying areas of this island community. over here you can see precautions that business owners have taken. in particular, the hotel where we are staying this morning they put up plywood boards to cover-up large picturesque windows that provided beautiful views of the ocean. just to prevent flying debris from breaking any of the glass. as far as the mandatory evacuations, it appears most

people are heeding the warning. tonight it is very quiet in the small seaside community of atlantic beach. back to you. >> thanks jonathan. let's head over to fox extreme weather center where rick reichmuth has the latest on irene's path up the eastern seaboard. >> such a big storm. we talked about the path of the storm. we get obsessed with the center most point that's about there. the storm very . a big area pushing a lot of water towards the north and a lot of water across areas of the outer banks. hurricane warnings in effect from cape cod down the coastal areas of north carolina. think how many people live in this stretch under a hurricane warning right now. it is unimagineable. the path of the storm takes it along the coast, the entire way. right now very heavy rain moving onshore. this red box is a tornado watch box in effect until 5 a.m. when the storms make landfall. extra rotation, small

tornadoes, we'll likely see that tonight in addition to the heavy rain. winds gust 47 miles-an-hour in wilmington, 39 in cape hatteras. the storm is quite a ways away over 200 miles away. very heavy rainfall where you see purple likely in excess of 8 inches of rain across parts of mid atlantic and the northeast. last week saw over 10 inches of rain. the ground is saturated, another 10 inches and the wind on that saturated ground where the trees aren't firmly established and likely going to see trees going over causing widespread power outages through the weekend. rough weekend ahead. the worst starting tonight across the outer banks. tomorrow and tomorrow night headed up towards parts of the northeast. >> thanks rick. americans on the eastern seaboard brace for this hurricane, officials from the president to the secretary of homeland security and many governors are sounding the alarm. how dangerous is this storm?

are americans on the east coast who haven't been hit by a storm lake this since hurricane gloria in 1985, prepared? joining me with analysis, chief meteorologist for weather bell analytics, joe bastardi. joe, thank you for being with us. >> it is my pleasure. >> lots of people talking about the weather tonight. lots of withins. i understand from -- lots of opinions. i understand from people that you are the man. i want to know from you, how big is this storm? what is its speed and where is it going? >> it is coming directly up the eastern seaboard. the eye of the storm is probably going to come up over virginia beach, up over atlantic city into the new york city area that is rare. only two tracks 1971, tropical storm doria and 1821, have you seen a track similar to this,

where the coastal installations, those areas i'm talking about, have an eye passage. usually the storm is further inland like hazel in '54 or out to in the east like gloria and making landfall on long island. wife develop add interesting scale. we have the saffir-simpson scale, sometimes that is deceptive. they say cat 2 or 1. i throw in the barometric pressure it tells me what the overall power of the storm is this is a 950 mill bar hurricane, ike was 950 mill bar hurricane did 22 billion dollars of damage to the united states. isabel in 2002 was 958 millibars, 5 billion dollars damage. folks in north carolina and virginia you will have a storm similar to isabel. that continued northwest up into northern virginia this is coming straight up the coast, through all those populated

areas where you have boardwalks and all the amusements and the rides and everything else. of course the resort areas this is liable to be a 10 billion dollar storm when it is all said and done. even though you may not have the kind of wind that storms in the past have been producing this is not as tight as i thought it was going to be two days ago. but it is as big as a storm overall and coming north war. >> well, the question are we prepared? can anybody, can any people be prepared for something like this in an urban area? >> well, what you have to do is you have to go back and look at history. i know you are a didn't of history. you put these things together and say okay if we had this that 1944, 1950 and you look at this situation, you say what would happen today? one of the problems we have in this country, is we don't go back and look at what happened before and then apply it to today.

we think this is new, different, it can't affect me in a certain way. in this storm, if you put all the pieces of the puzzle together, even wind gusts of 70, 80 miles-an-hour, the fact is, the storm is going to batter a certain area for 12, 18 hours, wind coming onshore, piling the water up, big cities getting strong winds, heavy rains, trees coming down, you have a costly storm. one that is unprecedented, not because of the power of the storm but because where tracking, i have to people in the country and how strong it is as it is tracking. >> joe thank you, very, very much. coming up continuing coverage of hurricane irene. we are tracking her path and we'll keep you updated throughout the hour. >> first, round two of sean's explosive interview with former obama economic adviser austan goolsbee. if you thought there were fireworks last night, wait until you see this.

>> don't forget to tune in next week two special editions of hannity. featuring vice president cheney. first sean one-on-one, an interview about his new book that airs this tuesday. then part two, the vice president's sit-down in front of a live studio audience airs next thursday. right here on the fox news channel. motorcycles, boats, even rv's. nobody knows where he got his love for racing. all we know is, it started early. casey mears, driver of the number thirteen geico toyota camry. geico, saving people money on more than just car insurance.

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last night one of the architects of president obama's economic strategy stepped into the lion's den and went one-on-one with sean. you got to admire his nerve. tonight we've got round two of that heated interview with former white house economic adviser austan goolsbee. >> sean: here's the president off at martha's vineyard having a nice vacation hanging out with limousine, you know those corporate jet guys the rich, wealthy that he often demonizes in speeches. which i find amusing. here's the deal, the president does this and he says when i get back, i got a plan. we're gonna talk about the economy and creating jobs. let medrlñ play brief history wh the dates the president resetting the button on the issue of the economy. here's what he said. >> the president: the question is, how are we going to make sure people are getting back to work? jobs must be our number one

focus in 2010. as president, that's my commitment to you, to do everything i can to make sure our economy is growing, creating jobs and strengthening our middle class. making sure jobs are available is the first thing i think about when i wake up in the morning and the last thing i think about when i go to bed each night. not a day guess by that i'm not focused on your jobs -- i'll continue to fight for what the american people care most about. new jobs, higher wages and faster economic growth. >> sean: austan, i know you are out of the administration now. the president going to come back from his martha's vineyard's vacation and talk about new infrastructure, which means spending. another sort of stimulus. he's gonna say we have to have new revenues. anyone that disagrees is reasonable. except he will use different word, poll tested and focus grouped. am i off track? >> that doesn't sound on track

to the obama i know. i think you're likely to see the president call for those things where we can agree. i'm sure there is somewhere they're going to be some disagreement. on the infrastructure you are saying that is spending. the chamber of commerce agrees with the unions this case. if we set up an infrastructure bank that wasn't controlled by pork it might be able to attract some more building of factors in the u.s.. i wouldn't make -- tack stories in the. is i wouldn't make light of that >> sean: wasn't it the same policy the stimulus and the son of stimulus. i guess this is the great, great grandson of stimulus and none worked. >> i would say no and no. and i somewhat disagree with that third thing you said. the original recovery act is passed at a time when the private second for is in free fall. it is more controversial, because it involves mover

government than most people are comfortable with it is not designed to be sustained that the government would be the primary driver of recovery, absolutely not. it is just that there was no way to have the private sector leading the recovery when we are declining at the fastest rate in our life times. fast forward to now, in december, the president pass ing a tax bipartisan -- passing a tax bipartisan bill last december that is about investment incentive, payroll tax cut, 150 million workers. things that are going to leverage the private sector. >> sean: you can't make the argument to me, i'm sorry when interest rates are 21 1/2%. unemployment double digits. inflation out of control like in the carter years. i don't buy the argument that president obama inherited a worst economy than ronald reagan. he's doing, i see it as the opposite of everything that reagan did. last recovery summer joe biden

was promising 500,000 jobs a month. the president himself, by in point in his presidency we were supposed to have five million jobs, not a net loss, according to the bureau of labor statistics of 2 1/2 million jobs. >> wait a minute, the burden row of labor statistics, you are counting the second half of the free fall that we were in when the president took office. >> sean: since the stimulus. >> when the stimulus was passed, it has been spread out over three years. [ talking over each other ] >> over 17 months, take the 17 months where we are growing, fairly robustly. >> sean: we are losing 400,000 jobs a month. >> we added 2 1/2 million jobs. when the president takes office, we are losing almost 800,000 a month. when we slow that down and turn it around we add 2 1/2 million. it has taken longer than we anticipated, no question.

>> sean: we didn't add, we lost 2 1/2 million jobs -- [ talking over each other ] i have it here. >> what you're doing is you're adding the fall to the rise. we lose over the course of the downturn 8 1/2 million. we come back 2 1/2 million. you're combining -- >> sean: we don't even count all the people unemployed any more. >> i agree with that. you are correct. >> sean: we are at 17, 18%. obama promised it would be at 8%. we spent all this stimulus money and you are justifying more spending. it is not me. i'm looking at the president's approval ratings. look at the president's success. look at how the american people feel about the economy. the president went on his midwest bus tour. he said his opposition would rather see their enemies lose than america win.

watch this. >> the president: what is happening in washington these days is there is a group of folks who think i would rather see my opponent lose than see america win. there are folks who are willing to engage in political brinksmanship even if it costs the country. >> sean: you don't think that is over-the-top to call bush unpatriotic? >> i'm just an economist. you are out of my area. i do know when the city of chicago didn't get the olympics and the olympics weren't come together u.s. they cut to some groups of people. those people were cheering that america didn't get the olympics. i don't understand that mentality. >> sean: what republicans are on this list they want to see america lose so their party can do better? >> i don't know it is republicans. it is not all republicans. when the president is proposing ideas that are republican ideas, historically,

and bipartisan ideas, historically, but there's a group of people some in congress, some outside of congress who it doesn't matter whether it was a republican idea, if the president is for it, they are going to filibuster it. i think that's a mistake. i think there are a lot of things we can agree on. >> sean: you keep saying that. we gotta run. when the president supports tax cuts, deregulation and a free market economy, i'll support him. i'll be his champion on this program. >> he does and he has. i'm going to hold you to that. we are tracking hurricane irene. we'll have a live report from atlantic city, new jersey where casinos are being shutdown and people are evacuating. stay with us as we track this dangerous storm. >> first, ben bernanke's speech on the economy leaves wall street wanting more. ohio governor john kasich reacts, next.

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in a much anticipated speech, federal reserve chairman bernanke sought to reassure americans on the resilience and long term strength of the american economy.

but said nothing to suggest help is on the way from the central bank like say third round of quantitative easing. taking a jab at congress the chairman suggested that washington should be doing more to spur growth and create jobs. meanwhile, president obama is being forced to end his lavish martha's vineyard vacation a day early due to hurricane irene. we still get to wait until after labor day to hear his brilliant plan to bring the economy back to life. joining me now with analysis on this and all things economic, ohio governor john kasich. john, thank you for being with us. >> fred, always good to be with you. waiting for your next movie. >> so am i. if you hear any opportunities let me know. >> maybe we could do one together. >> maybe, maybe. got a couple in the can, i'll tell you about later. listen, tell me what you think? economic growth is down,

unemployment is up, now we're having earthquakes, hurricanes and now obama is coming back from vacation going to washington. it was only costing us millions when he was in martha's vineyard it is going to cost us billions now he's going back to washington. bernanke, the president do they have any answers left, do you think? >> i think the fed chairman has didn't a lot of things. they are running out of tools. let's face facts fred, you were a really respected senator. i used to be chairman of the budget committee. remember when we balanced budgets and cut taxes on risk-taking. within idea they may want to think about, there's -- one idea they may want to any about, there's expected to be a trillion that companies have in profits sitting outside of m. companies would like to bring in money home. the tax rights are -- the tax rates are so high they are investing in places other than

america. i think the notion of letting them bring that money back at either a low tax rate or a one-time pass on that, would be a stimulus plan that would make some sense. it doesn't involve public money, it involves the money the companies have made, profits they can bring back and reinvest and maybe improve their workforce to buy plant and commit and things like that. and give them a greater sense of confidence so they are willing to jump in. this is something i would hope the president might think about. he's obviously not interested in cutting taxes. a program like that might be something republicans and democrats could agree upon. fred, out here in ohio we solved our eight billion dollar budget deficit problem. we cut taxes. and our credit from s&p improved they took us off negative watch. there's always a drag in the state when the federal government is not doing the right things. my goal to out perform the

federal economy. it would be great if the president would take a look athleting -- at letting these companies bring their companies back so they can invest in america rather than somewhere else. >> that sounds like an idea that makes too much sense to have a chance. i think we are the only country that double taxes our corporations like that abroad and back home any way. make a lot of sense. >> i talked to a smart business pan in cincinnati today. he said this is -- this is something that can work. i said philosophically, i would hope it would be something the president could embrace. and not have everybody in the country yelling and screaming in one direction or another. we clearly have got to get growth going in the country. >> he has to look for things that won't violate his ideological principles. they've tried every trick in the book it looks to me like, consistent with their own ideology. none of it has worked.

now he has the left carpeting at him. i don't know which way he's going to go. something -- common sense looks to me what you are talking about would be something to be consider. i wondered whether or not we are not due for a new federalism, taking a new look at what the federal government ought to be doing and let the states do more of things that the states traditionally dealt with. >> fred, just take medicaid. we were able to save a lot on medicaid. that's because we allow mom and dad to be able to stay in their own home, if they want to. rather than to go into a nursing home. if they need to go into a nursing home, they can go. if they want to stay at home, they can. this gives us flexibility. we saved a lot of money and people are happy. aarp likes this. if the federal government would give flexibility on medicaid we could serve more. we could save a ton of money.

another exam, one of the biggest problems we have in america today are people who are not trained for the new economy. right now, washington's got more job training programs and they are not effective. everybody knows they are not very effective. if they would give us the flexible to train our workers not use that money for something else, but for job training and take all the strings off, it would make a world of difference for us fred. education, k-12, allow us to have more flexibility. i made this plea when i was a new governor in washington to some of my old friends like goon sperling. if we could get -- gene sperling we could get more flexibility in the states, we can learn from one another that's the way america was founded. >> listen, we have to go. thank goodness we have you and all these other forward-looking republican governors out there where so many good ideas are coming from. >> thanks fred.

>> keep doing the great work you are doing. >> we'll have a live report from atlantic city where folks are evacuating and getting out of irene's dangerous path. >> still to come, for years the mainstream media has been putting its liberal spin on the news. now one ucla professor has scientific proof that the biased coverage impacts the political views of americans. >> that, plus the great american panel, still ahead. also get a free flight. you know that comes with a private island. really? no. it comes with a hat. you see, airline credit cards promise flights for 25,00miles, but... [ man ] there's never any seats for ,000 miles. frustrating, isn't it? but that won't happen with the capital one venture card. you can book any airline anytime. hey, i just said that. after all, isn't traveling hard enough? ow. [ male announcer ] to get the flights you want, sign up for a venture card at capitalone.com. what's in your wallet? uh, it's okay. i've played a pilot before.

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that on the boardwalk in atlantic city. -- >> reporter: this the first mandatory evacuation in the history of atlantic city. people heeded the warnings. all 11 casinos closed today. gaming floors shutdown. all hotel guests were told to get out and leave. as you can see, they have. this is a remarkable sight, the atlantic city boardwalk empty on the last friday night before labor day weekend. this evening i spoke with a top executive who told me they might have made three to five million dollars tonight len. combined with the other 10 casinos and the restaurants and bars and other businesses they may lose 50 to 60 million dollars this weekend because of this mandatory evacuation that was issued for all of the barrier islands. again, remarkable sight. normally a busy friday night. up and down the boardwalk there's not a sold out here. there are some residents who

decided to stay. obviously police and emergency officials here as well. ready to respond in case of emergency, but they tell us tomorrow evening when the winds reach four if you five -- reach four fay five miles per hour or above they won't respond to 911 calls. anyone who didn't get out will be on their own until this storm passes. they expect the worst weather to hit here sometime late saturday night into sunday morning. coinciding with high tide. there could be dangerous storm surge, loss of power, a lot of coastal flooding. atlantic city appears to have heeded the warnings. most did get out. this city is very quiet. >> thanks rick. no gambling in atlantic city, that's getting serious. >> there's no denying the mainstream media more often than not puts their liberal slant on its reporting. one ucla professor who spent years studying the media says he has scientific proof that

liberal media bias exists. and this bias actually makes americans more liberal. joining me now to explain is author of this new book, "left turn" professor thank you for being with us today. >> thank you. >> very interesting book. when someone tells me that they have come up with the notion that the media is biased, i want to say what is your first clue? you come up with scientific methodology that you say proves that. what have you don't and what have you concluded? >> well, as you said, i've gathered lots and lots of data. 20,000 observations. i've coded the content of the media, translated it into data this is based on an earlier article i wrote with a

co-author. this was published in a peer review journal this is a scientific approach using data and statistical analysis to say quantitatively is the slant of the media and what is its bias. >> what was your methodology? how could you take a media organization and determine the extent of its media bias? >> the first thing i say it starts off with the notion of a political quotient. this is a method i've devised to measure political views in a precise and quantitative weigh. on this scale nancy pelosi is about 100. michelle bachmann is about a 0. every member of congress on this scale, senator fred thompson is an 11.2. john kasich is a 14, by the way. >> i always knew he was a liberal. i want a recount. i demand a 0, okay? >> anyone wants to take my

test, it is on my website. i would encourage you. maybe you have become more conservative. by the way, on this scale, i've estimated that the average american voter is a 50. from this, i next try to estimate the slant quotient of different media outlets. here's an example. "the new york times" gets a slant quotient of a 74 by my method. it happens that joe lieberman has a political quotient of 74 also. by my method that means "the new york times" sounds about as liberal as the average joe lieberman speech. to give you more details about that, with this one method, i have three methods. one looked at think tank citations. which think tanks "the new york times" cited. >> you looked at that. wish we had more time. you look at these methods, look to the think tanks they use, you looked at key words they use.

and you made this determination. put the score on. what is the affect of this? i certainly would agree with your conclusions do they have affect on the american people? >> great question this is how my book differs from a lot of books. i've done something like an experiment to test the effect of the media. in a nutshell, the effect is that america currently thinks and votes look a purple state, iowa, nevada. if you could eliminate media bias, according to my estimates, america would think and vote about like a solid red state. something like texas, tennessee, something like kentucky. >> well, that's -- you're scientifically prove wag a lot of us have been frustrated. we foe it, but we can't prove it. -- we know it, but we can't prove it.

maybe you have helped us out. thank you very much. appreciate your checking in with us. >> time for us to check in with greta van susteren. >> greta: nice to see you fred. glad to see you sitting in for sean. we spend an hour with breaking news. hurricane irene is slamming the country. we'll talk about evacuation orders, and we'll have so much more if you want to know about the dangerous hurricane. if you are in the area get out. follow evacuation orders. we'll have an hour of breaking news. back to you fred. >> don't go anywhere, the great american panel is next. [ male announcer ] to the 5:00 a.m. scholar.

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tonight on the great american panel. former mayor of providence

who his own radio program the buddy cianci show. vincent buddy cianci is here. thank you for being here. she is a washington columnist nina easton joins us. he's a mu shish sun who -- musician who has recorded with, produced albums for some of rock's biggest names his new album is available now. jack blades. >> plug that record. >> they didn't mention what i would think would be one of your biggest, founder of damn yankee. >> with ted nugent, yeah. >> you ever break him out of his shell a little? >> poor guy, can't get a word in evenly-wise. >> ted nugent nra board member, right? >> right. >> probably still is.

>> i feel like i'm at home. i was with you every night watching "law & order" i feel like we know each other personally. >> reruns, they were having a hard time coming up with a d.a.. >> i think the goatee does you a lot of good. >> i'm hoping they will think i'm somebody else. and now let's give this actor a run. >> maybe run for president. >> you are meddleing. >> that's a good segue. >> that is. rick perry, now officially, they are saying, they, front-runner for the gop nomination. latest rasmussen, perry 29, romney 18. don't have the numbers here for the others which would make me mad if i was one of the others, which i was one time. >> how did that go for you? how did that run?

>> some member on this panel was tacky enough to bring up the fact along about this time four years ago rudy giuliani was number one and i was number two. >> that's right. >> the truth hurts. >> ouch, nina! >> what do we take from that? as you also pointed out, donald trump was number one for a while he got in and got out. how long has perry been in now? >> a couple weeks. >> if he was going to go down has he had time to go down yet? is this just a fort night fling? >> ted knows him. ted said he's a good guy. i like the fact that he shot that coyote. the thing atack his dog and he pulled out his gun and shot it. >> everybody in texas does that. >> i liked that. >> i'm just kidding. >> made a move and hit

something and didn't worry about the environmental impact. the thing was coming at him, pow, next. >> the day i shoot a coyote, the day i'm moving. nina your husband works for romney's campaign. >> yes. >> you are objective about this. is it late, early? >> i dislike the historical perspective. august 2008, this guy named fred thompson, 17%. rudy giuliani at something like 28%. mike huckabee, by the way, was only at 3% went on to went iowa caucus and had a surge in the race. romney was down at 13. mccain who was nominated was 11%. i think these things are really flew which. perry is the new bright shiney object. formidable candidate, three-term governor and all of that.

there's going to be a lot of vetting done of him. there's controversial things he said. he called social security a ponzi scheme. he's got some immigration issues. this stuff plays out. >> we say back home, picky, picky. >> a lot of 310 million people in america, is this all we have in the republican party? we have a guy name perry, who managed to out-jesus george bush, which is i found nice and skillful. >> hold that thought. from what i'm hearing in my ear, we aring about to -- we are about to take a break. more right after the break. [ lopez ] beautiful skin needs protection. introducing venus proskin th moisture rich shave gel bars that create a layer of protection with every close stroke. leaving your skin beautifully smooth. new venus proskin moisture rich.

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mayor, before you were so rudely interrupted. >> i was saying of the 310 million people those are the only people we have that can run. you look at romney, successful governor in many respects. it is the optics. he looks like the guy that refused your bank loan. the other guy perry he looks like the guy probably competent governor he was fortunate because he's the biggest beneficiary of the stimulus. he created all those jobs in texas and obama gave him the

money to do it. he looks like the guy clump bo bow chased around sunday -- guy columbo chased around sunday night. >> i wanted that part. >> bachmann i think she will fizzle out. i don't know the whole team is in there yet. politics is a fickle thing. who knows who will enter this race. >> you were saying that you think sarah palin is going to come walking in? >> i think they are leaving themselves out. >> so far. >> you think somebody else will jump in? >> the water is warm. you look at the demographics of america. perry plays well in texas. when you go to the north east, he doesn't play that well. i'm talking about winning an election. >> we don't know yet. nina? >> i think sarah palin is sort

of flirting around on the sidelines that's definitely a possibility. >> she is making too much money. all these guys running -- >> you don't think it is late? >> it would have to happen in the next couple of months. i don't think it is too late now, no. >> she is making almost as much as jack on the road. >> wait a minute. >> millions, why should she leave. >> he was outside hanging out. [ talking over each other ] >> don't let the clothes fool you. >> i think it was rick perry on the front. i think it is neat having him in there. everybody is going to call him a cowboy and get all mad at that. >> i think perry and romney both have some good attributes. >> i hear he's a great guy. >> i think some of the others might too. >> would you do it again? >> no. next subject.

>> what about fred, jump in there. >> mayor bloomberg still standing firm against religious leaders at the 9/11 memorial service. they are trying to get him to change his mind. he said we haven't had religious leaders in other memorials, i don't know which ones he's talking about. and we are not going to have them this time. taking prayer, anything like that out of everything now? >> [ unintelligible ] some of them caused this 9/11 to happen. what troubles me more is the fact they are not inviting police and fire and they are inviting some politicians. my god, no one ever walked out of 9/11 as a survivor and say the politician saved my life. >> i got a resolution. maybe the mayor is concerned about the blending of church and state. let's take state out. let the politicians stay home.

let bloomberg let one of the parents of family members make the main speech and let anybody else pray or whatever else they want to do and nobody will be this there in an official capacity. >> great idea that would be terrific. i would support that. >> i think it is that stupid politically correct stuff again. don't have anybody at any religion or something like that. who are you going to offend, a abilityists? i can't believe that -- bunch of atheists? i can't believe that. >> three, four days after attacks where all the former presidents, george bush was there, there were a range of religious leaders there was an imam there. it was a terribly powerful event.c/ >> eliminating religious leaders, as far as i'm concerned whether they invite them or not, is not a big deal. i think by eliminating police and fire -- >> after