>> what's that? >> i'm with you acually. that's it for this week. thanks to my panel and all of you to watching. we hope to see you here next week. >> on "fox news watch" -- >> i wish you would put aside the gotcha questions. >> republican candidate newt gingrich keeps his cool at the presidential debates. is that why he's near the frontrunners? at the top, is he the latest media target? >> okay, libya. >> herman cain gets creamed by the press following his lengthy pause on libya. is the media giving the former pizza purveyor a fair shake? the solyndra scandal heats up as congress searches for someone to blame. >> we've been lazy over the last couple of decades. >> our president thinks we're

lazy. >> we're not out there hungry, selling america. >> did the media hear that? our president thinks we're lazy. >> what do you think republicans will be sipping and saying? >> cnn's man at white house appears to have a soft spot for mr. obama. is that why he tosses softball questions to the leader of the free world? and reg says, see you later. >> thanks, everybody. >> on the panel this week, writer and fox news contributor, judy miller. jim pinkerton, contributing divert of american conservative magazine and kirsten powers. i'm john scott. fo"fox news watch" is on right now. >> here's the key thing to remember, we all complained correctly when the news media failed to investigate barack obama. we complained when they refused

to look at william ayers. we complained when they didn't actually explain what community organizer meant. okay? we were right to complain about that. so now they're actually doing for us what they wouldn't do for obama. okay? now they're doing it partly out of bias, i understand that, i understand there are places like msnbc that are essentially the obama re-election team, but, you know, that's fine, this is a free society. you can also say frankly that fox tends to be nicer than it is to obama. >> that's current republican frontrunner, at least according to some polls, newt gingrich, taking a shot at msnbc and the biased coverage he feels his campaign has been getting. it so happens that he's risen to the top in the latest fox news poll at 23%, essentially tied with mitt romney for first place among republicans nationwide. what do you think about his point, though, jim? >> i think that if there's ever

a reminder of having a strategy to deal with the media, a strategy for politics, gingrich has demonstrated it. from the get-go in this campaign, he said, look, i don't want you the press to divide us republicans, where any of us is better than obama, so don't let us -- in the game of dividing each other, then turns back to the media. not everybody likes that strategy, but republicans do, that's for sure, and that's why he's done so well. >> judy? >> i think that newt gingrich has more baggage than pan am's lost luggage department. i mean, it is almost impossible not to beat up on him with the stories that he's given us, whether it's money from freddie mac, the denial to greta van sustern, no, i'm not a lobbyist. his christian groups raising his former -- this is going to be another frontrunner for six minutes, i think. >> there is the feeling out there that the media play whack

whack-a-mole with whoever has risen to the top of the heap. they stick their head up this high above the others and get whacked. >> i agree with you, the media is playing schoolyard bully. this is their next target. they started with michele bachmann with the migraines. moved over to cain, which is his debacle of late, and they're targeting gingrich because he's at the top. anytime it happens, it diminishes their popularity. >> according to bloomberg news, newt gingrich's company received between $1.6 million and $1.8 million from freddie mac. the media ran with that story. it was sourced to bloomberg, but it's everywhere now. is that fair game? >> totally fair game, absolutely, especially considering he was somebody that

came out and told barack obama to return donations that he had gotten from people who had worked at freddie mac and fannie mae. if he's going to come out and credit these organizations, then -- criticize these organizations, then we find out he's working for them, that's absolutely fair game. >> his debate performance has been consistent. one of the things that people like about him, he seems to be the elder statesman in the room, and he says, yeah, let's not tear each other apart, let's go after the obama administration. >> right. it's a given that every candidate, including, believe it or not, obama has flaws. they're all going to get dinged, whack-a-moled, as you say. there'she larger question gingrich has put to republicans, look, do you want to replace obama or not? if you do, we can't let the media destroy every one of us, because obama will win. >> let's give you a sample of what we're talking about here. >> i wish you would put aside the gotcha questions. >> everybody in the media, who wants to go after the business

community ought to start by going after the politicians who have been at the heart of the sickness, which is weakening this country. >> i'm frankly not interested in your effort to get republicans fighting each other. i'd love to see the rest of tonight's debate asking us about what we would do to lead an america whose president has failed to lead instead of playing mickey mouse games. [cheers and applause] >> he takes on the media, judy, and jim gave him some criticism for that, but a lot of americans don't trust the media, don't particularly like the job we do. >> that's right. and 9% popularity. that's the standing of journalists. so understandably we're not popular. hey, you know why we're not popular? because we do tell people things they may want to know but should know to make an informed opinion. jim, i disagree with you here. i'm going to quote jim pinkerton from a recent news watch when he said there are rules, rules whether or not candidates like them, and one rule is you keep beating up on the press, and the

press is ultimately going to have back at you, mr. pinkerton. >> take a look at herman cain's -- i don't know -- some call it the moment of silence. nbc news called it the disqualifying moment where he couldn't answer a question about libya. disqualifying moment? is that a little strong, demi? >> this goes back to the media targeting republicans and their vulnerabilities. herman cain is perceived to not be strong on foreign policy. >> here's that moment. want to play that for viewers who might not have seen it. >> so you agreed with president obama on libya, or not? >> okay, libya. president obama supported the up rising, correct?

president obama called for the removal of gadhafi. just want to make sure we're talking about the same thing before i say, yes, i agree, or no, i didn't agree. >> did the media make too much out of that? >> i don't think so. it was painful to watch. you know, certainly it's not for a reporter to say whether or not it disqualifies somebody, i think, but it's certainly something that made people uncomfortable. it's something that people should be talking about. >> it's part of the press' process to help when in doubt these people who want to be the leader of the free world. >> it's really powerful. if they'd repeated candidate obama saying 57 states 1,000 times, it might have been a different election in '08. >> it's time for a break. you can go to our website and watch the daily bias bash and check out the watch list section for the week's top stories. up next, has the solyndra

funding scandal made any impact or made the news? >> the scandal surrounding solar company solyndra grows with claims of collusion and preferred treatment by the obama administration. have the media shown any interest or are they keeping you in the dark? and the president gets lobbed a softball question about gop contenders. which reporter from which network displayed his pro-obama bias. find out next on "news watch." ♪ ♪ walk, little walk ♪ small talk, big thoughts ♪ gonna tell them a just what i want ♪ ♪ i said don't stop, don't stop ♪ ♪ don't stop talking to me [ ma announcer ] the most legroom per dollar of any car in america. the all-new nissan versa sedan. from $10,990. innovation upsized. innovation for all.

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>> in order to get loans out, we said, all right, what are the most promising loans? >> the most promising you said, sir? >> the most promising. >> i have to ask you some questions, because most promise is important. were you aware in march 2010, pricewaterhousecoopers said it had "substantial doubt about

solyndra's ability to continue as a going concern"? were you aware of that? >> i'm aware of it now. >> doesn't sound most promising. >> that's energy secretary steven chu answering questions at a congressional hearing about failed sewer panel-maker solyndra, and the decision to loan it half a billion dollars before it went belly up. judy, what do you make of the answers and the coverage it got? >> it took a long time to get the energy secretary before a congressional panel. there are now three investigations ongoing, white house, justice department, department of energy into this loan. it is a perfectly legitimate story. it raises all kinds of questions, not i think about whether or not the government should be offering incentives for energy competitive alternatives to oil, that i think many, many people would support, but whether or not there was political favoritism involved, and that's what the media is investigating, and

appropriately so. >> well, that's the question that some outlets ought to be asking. i mean, there must be other solar panel-makers in this country. why does solyndra get half a million dollars worth of taxpayer money when other companies don't? >> i mean, do we know that for a fact, that there was -- i mean, i think that they -- this is part of their program, the idea of encouraging clean energy, the doe program was started under the bush administration, so it's not as controversial as people try to make it out to be. yes, the media should look into see -- if there's a major donor, somebody gets money, that should be investigated, there's no question, but don't assume that was the cause of it. it could just have easily have been that they support clean energy. >> this aspect of the story, earlier in the week it came out that solyndra's largest investor, it was reported in emails, wanted to delay the layoffs of -- wanted to delay the reporting of layoffs at solyndra. here's the graphic. doe continues to be cooperative,

and have indicated that they will fund the november draw on our loan, approximately $40 million, but have not committed to december yet. they did push very hard for us to hold our announcement of the consolidation to employees and vendors to november 3rd. oddly they didn't give a reason for that date. it was, of course, the day after the midterm elections. jim, what kind of attention is that getting? >> a fair amount. look, this investigation is cooking along pretty well. i mean, "the washington post" is putting it on the front page darn near every day. these emails are devastating. the one that showed how the solyndra investors were ordering the department of energy what to do. i mean, it was clear chu was their lapdog on this thing. what's changed here -- i have to admit i've learned something, an eye-opener to me -- i always assume that it was limousine liberalism, you know, fat cats who think the country needs to be deindustrialized.

now we're learning that 10 members of the obama finance committee in 2008 were part of these loans, and more than a dozen bundlers for the 2008 campaign were getting this. if this is a giant kick back to campaign donors that's a scandal that will end obama's presidency. >> more reporting yet to come on that. time for another break. if you see something that seems like to you that shows media bias, email us at newswatch@foxnews.com. up next, are the media mixed up about the president's message? >> you know, we've been lazy, i think, over the last couple of decades. >> mr. obama thinks we've been lazy, slacking on the effort to build the economy. how did that play in the press? and reg exits stage left. was he fair and balanced abuser? details next on "news watch."

>> last night at the republican debate, some of the hopefuls, they hope to get your job, they defended the practice of waterboarding, which is a practice that you banned in 2009. herman cain said, "i don't see that as torture." michele bachmann said that it's "very effective." so i'm wondering if you think they're uninformed, out-of-touch, or irresponsible? >> that's a multiple choice question, isn't it? let me just say this, they're wrong. >> that question is one of only six that mr. obama answered on sunday in hawaii. it was an obvious softball pitched by cnn's dan loathian. here's another example of mr. loathian's tough questioning. >> could you give us an update

on that car that you talked so much about being in the ditch? can you give us an update as to where it is today? what kind of highway do you think it will be driving on in 2011? who will really be behind the wheel given the new makeup in congress? and what do you think republicans will be sipping and saying next year? >> all right. there's an inside look at some white house questioning. what do you think about that? these obvious softball questions. >> this gives a whole new meaning to the term questions with answers. total media bias going on here. not surprising. >> well, the press corps is known to give president obama a pretty rough time sometimes. >> uh-huh. yeah, well, it seems to me that he obviously rehearsed this, that he wants to be the center of attention. it's very odd in a way to even question the president, regardless of bias.

>> as bernie goldberg said on this network, it's like a "saturday night live" parody of the press that obama himself looked out at the audience and said my base. >> much to the president's critic, he did not pick a, b or c. he gave his own answer, which is "i disagree," which is the way the question should have been formed in the first place. what was surprising, it was cnn and not msnbc. >> the president got heat this week for saying americans are lazy. listen. >> we've lost our ambition, our imagination, our willingness to do the things that built the golden gate bridge and hoover dam. you know, we've been lazy, i think, over the last couple of decades. we've taken for granted, well, people will want to come here, we aren't out there hungry selling america. >> some in the media have said media coverage of that is overreacting. >> well, i mean i'm sure the carter administration thought the use of the word malaise --

carter never said, but clearly meant, they thought that was unfair too. this guy is trying to kill off every mine fracking pipeline in the country and complains about how we're not building golden gate bridges anymore. >> what about the fact, judy, i can't imagine ronald reagan uttering a phrase like that. go ahead. >> exactly. you know, here he's falling back -- i guess we're falling back on our guns and religion, as the president famously said, and didn't say again during the campaign. what is this lazy business with 9% unemployment in this country, people looking for work? i think this is a message that's going to backfire. i think the white house will drop it quickly. >> he also wasn't talking about the average american worker. he was talking about attracting foreign investment to the united states. so if you take it like that, it sounds like he's calling all americans lazy, and that's not what he was saying. >> if that was the case, he wouldn't have so many regulations imposing businesses

and being a wall. what about what he said to the congressional black caucus? take off your bedroom slippers. his comments are cond condesceng and offensive. >> listen to this. >> are you sexually attracted to young boys, to underage boys? >> am i sexually attracted to underage boys? >> yes. >> sexually attracted? you know, no. i enjoy young people. i love to be around them. but no, i'm not sexually attracted to young boys. >> bob costas with the interview on nbc's "rock center." what do you think about that reporting and did it add to the story, judy? >> well, it was a real coup for bob costas, because it was an illuminating interview. in terms of the legal advice he got get that interview, that's a

separate issue. in terms of journalism, it was a coup. it unfortunately told me more than i wanted to know about that man. >> and from what i heard, costas did not have a lot of time to prepare. i thought he did a good job under the circumstances. we have to take one more break. when we come back, regis philbin says good-bye to morning television. i'm phil mickelson, pro golfer. if you have painful, swollen joints, i've been in your shoes. one day i'm on p of the world... the next i'm saying... i have this thing called psoriatic arthritis. i had some intense pain. it progressively got worse. my rheumatologist told me about enbrel. i'm surprid how quickly my symoms have beemanaged. [ male announcer ] because enbrel suppresses your immune system, it may lower your ability to fight infections. serious, sometimes fatal events including infections, tuberculosis, lymphoma, other cancers, and nervo system and blood disorders have occurred. before starting enbrel, your doctor should test you for tuberculosis and discuss whetr you've been to a region where certain fungal infections are common.

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november 18th, 2011.

final show. >> how do you feel? >> i feel pretty good. i feel a little of the weight the whole thing. somberness of it all. where is regis going? we just don't know. stop asking me. >> he is billed as the hardest working man in show busy. he calls it quit. he is 80 now. regis has done it all getting his start hosting talk shows and game shows. he has been known for his quit wit and accent and funny adlibs. he has logged the most time on air by a television personality. he's been on more than 17,000 hours. >> what an amazing rag to riches success story. congratulations to him. i didn't know he was 80 years old. not too long ago he took his shirt off. he looks pretty g