>> mark: more on hannity as we continue on the road to 2012. in recent months mainstream media has paid attention to the infighting amongst the contenders. as we inch closer and closer to the general election the big question on republican voters' minds is who can defeat president obama. front runners, romney, gingrich and ron paul bring their strengths and weaknesses and second tier candidates that are looking to break through. michele bachmann, to jon huntsman to rick perry. political insiders are going to break down some of the general election match-ups. joining me is kirsten powers and

angela mclauren. kirsten, who do the democrats fear most next november? >> without a doubt romney. i think romney can appeal to independents. he can appeal to moderate voters. if any of the other candidates are too polarizing. they won't appeal to the way romney is. >> mark: so the democrats would be looking for someone to come out of iowa or new hampshire to deliver a kraz for the nomination. >> a crazy one but i hope it's not ron paul. mitt romney does very well against barack obama. having said that, he has to win the nomination. it's been a anti-vote for cain, gingrich and paul. i don't know how he is going to do in the south.

he has the organization and he has the money. >> mark: the thing about romney, everything you said makes sense but the play it safe candidates don't knock off incumbents. ronald reagan and didn't win. bill clinton defeat george bush, sr. by playing it safe. >> if there hadn't been a third party candidate, that is was an unusual election. i am not saying that romney is not a strong candidate but out of that field he is the strongest. i don't know, to the extent that the white house would fear somebody, the economy is bad. presidents usually don't get re-elected when they economy is bad. >> people are still living from paycheck to paycheck. they are saying anybody but obama. >> mark: that is fine when you

put obama against a generic republican. newt gingrich versus obama? >> i would bet on obama. i would still obama if mitt romney versus obama. if the president can make a strong enough argument that the economy is turning around albeit slowly but you don't want to change horses midstream. he does have more experience. once you are president. so he has a strong argument to make. he has people still liking him. that is going for him. gingrich is a walking time bomb. i think you never know. >> gingrich, less talk about records. if you look at his record from the contract of america and what he did with bill clinton and the fact that bill clinton signed the contract with america, newt gingrich has more of a record,

successful record to run than obama. if you look at the polls today, gingrich is ten points behind. >> mark: i know what you say. he is likely to put the dynamite down his own pants as barack obama. [ laughter ] >> mark: but rick santorum is apparently searching right now. and he is in third place. in the event it came to obama-santorum, how likely is that to play? >> i don't see anybody but romney posing that much of a threat to obama. santorum has plenty of great qualities but i don't think he has enough experience to probably beat obama. >> i mean obama was a great organizer. >> he has more experience. >> if the economy is bad.

>> if the economy is bad and if we don't increase jobs, they will put someone necessarily the white house. >> they are increasing jobs. the problem is not moving as fast as they would like to. unemployment rate has dropped. >> mark: let's cut to the chase. the dream match-up. assume the polls are correct in iowa, ron paul wins. he comes an impressive second in new hampshire and he has a head wind behind him. ron paul versus obama, what a contest. >> with the newsletter controversy ron paul would not make a good candidate. liberals will run up against him. i have not read it, but have you have anti-semitic remarks and racist remarks. >> mark: he is running against a guy that is fundamentally most anti-israeli president. >> if you read the newsletters,

it's really heinous the things that are in there. what is more problematic, what kind of person doesn't know what is in their newsletters letter for ten years and videos of him hawking to people. it raises the question, if you can't keep track of it. >> it's a ron paul newsletter. >> mark: kirsten, from your background you are giving the impression that you think actually your guy is in terrific luck this time? >> no. >> mark: wait a minute. the republican theme should be stronger than it is. and it's generic republican that comes one point ahead. if a generic republican was on the ballot he would do great. >> obama is in a weak position. look at his approval ratings. you see one that creeps up to 50 or 51 where he needs to be.

his low approval ratings on the economy is not doing, as well. it's not turning around fast enough. he is in a very precarious position. >> mark: in obama is the issue he loses. if an individual republican candidate is the issue, things are different. >> independents are going to decide this election. it's not going to be republicans. it's not going to be democrats. people are going to vote their pocketbooks. what results has obama given us? >> the economy is turning around. i don't know what else to say. we are adding some jobs. >> mark: it's turning around in a barrel detectable. >> survey of economists they see the economy is turning around. >> and unemployment is high.

the could collapse. >> mark: economy turns around with any more does young speed. thank you ladies. here we go again. speaking of the economy, president obama intends to ask congress to raise the debt ceiling by more than 1 trillion dollars. this time your representatives are on vacation. later with the middle east on edge, ambassador john bolton reacts to the threat of the iranian regime and the price of oil could double overnight.

>> mark: he is at it again. president obama is prepared to

ask congress to raise the debt ceiling. obama administration wants to increase the borrowing limit by a mere $1.2 trillion. therefore raising the national debt limit to a staggering $16.4 trillion. for those of you wondering this the same guy who chastised george w. bush back in 2008. >> the way bush has done it over the last eight years is to take out a credit card from the bank of china in the name of our children, driving up our national debt from five trillion for the first 42 presidents. number 43 added 4 trillion so we now have nine trillion dollars of debt that we are going to have to pay back. $30,000 for every man, woman and child. that is irresponsible. it's unpatriotic.

>> mark: i think it's $50,000. it's incredible unpatriotic. bush paid it by $4 trillion. that is irresponsible. obama has raised by $6 trillion. that is incredibly responsible. this increase will take place automatically unless lawmakers reject it by january 14th and congress will still be in recess. how clover of the white house. joining me from reaction, charles payne and executive director of public notice gretchen hamill. hugh how high is the ceiling. >> greece is about 150% of gdp. it's absolutely nuts. the thing is, if you remember when the white house was going against paul ryan. they laid out all the reasons

raising the debt ceiling but previous obligations. in this case who is making these obligations and why? why is president obama making these obligations on my behalf. i didn't ask him to. i'm asking him not to. although, i will tell you, in the introduction it will make a great point, after winning the payroll tax cut before americans get their credit card bills for christmas, we're going to be back in the fiscally responsible bandwagon in a couple of weeks. >> mark: you mentioned the greek comparison, 150% of gdp and it doesn't look like america is in the trough of hell n as other parts of the world but in hard dollar numbers. nobody is using trillion. greece is a few billion here and in. the key word is unique to. >> us. >> it is unique to us.

we're not too far off from being greece, if we need a warning sign, we just have to look over at the newspapers in europe to see and how it played back in our markets. if we do not do something to rein in our debt, if we do not do something rein in our spending we'll see greece happen on our streets. >> mark: you say that and other people say it. there are millions of americans this doesn't matter. it has no reality. >> but it does. >> mark: $16.2 trillion, what $18.3 trillion or 23.7? >> there is a lot of consequences for taxpayers and americans as a whole. consequences of inflation and consequences of higher taxes and not having those promises, the obligation that president obama was talking about of medicare and social security available to us. the consequences of not being having a defense department.

>> mark: how about putting it in primal terms. it's clear that american government has outspent america's built to pay for it. when you at this level you get near the stage where you are outspending the ability to fund? >> you talk about greece and billions, greece can be saved somehow. ecb and rest of your neighbors can print up money. no one can save money. we can -- think about the money. speaking of greece they put out a budget. two-thirds going to pay interest. you are right the average american may be sleeping on this to one degree or not but it's like a cancer. at some point, it could be one of these things we look around and it's terminal. there is no way to fix it other than falling off into the ocean. >> two-thirds is paying off debt. we are borrowing 36 cents of every dollar.

>> martha: we're borrowing fifth of a billion dollars every hour and the interest on that debt is covering 80% of the cost of the people's liberation army of china. the rome in it's final period of decline did not institutionly tell roman taxpayers you have to pick up the tab for the military perpetuity. >> there is no precedence for this. the reason we're $15 trillion in debt right now is because of our government's chronic addiction, chronic overspending. how long have we been overspending to it. bush added to it. obama added to it. who is going to have the guts to scale it back. >> mark: you answer the question? >> ron paul? voting name that comes to mind.

realistically, it's our fault, too. it's americans' fault because we voted for the poll figures that promised us. the person says i'll do it no matter what it costs to your kids or grandkids. we made that. i guess the president thinks we're going to make it again. >> the american public is fed up with government spending. the gallup poll says they are scared of the government. next to economy and jobs is government spending and debt. the public is fed up. it's about time. hopefully, they will be holding them accountable. >> mark: are the public fed up? 67% of the american people receive some form of federal benefit or another. it's easy to be fed up, but it's a lot harder to say, okay, i'm going to do without this federal program and that federal

program. >> they are not going to be honest. you have to look at merkel, she did a great service to our country, i'm going to be honest with you, this is going to be hard and this is going to take a few years to get over. we have no one saying that in america. >> mark: we still think we can kick the can down the road. what is there is no road, charles? >> sadly we have to see the road we are going down, we see europe and mushroom cloud over in the horizon, we are driving at it million miles an hour. we don't know the exact number but we know we are barreling at it and we're going to hit it. >> mark: do you think that drift is the way to go. charles said he is going to cut the deficit. romney is not going to be neat? >> he is not talking like that. talking about specific numbers,

probably setting themselves up for failure but taking on cuts and taking on hard things, reforming medicare and medicaid, thinking about cutting back defense spending. they need to be talked about. politicians are great about talking about it. every debate was talking about government spending but at the end of the day we only cut $7 billion seems like a lot to greece. >> mark: thanks, guys. >> iranian threatens this to close a popular water way and the price of oil could spike. some see the provocation as acts of war. and ambassador john bolton is up

>> mark: as 2011 comes to a close and with the presidential election less than a year away, they are being reminded of the many policy failures of president obama. from the abrupt withdrawal from iraq which ignited a rash of violence to the administration's indecisive approach to addressing the nuclear crisis in iran. this white house does not appear to have what a handle what it takes to make a successful foreign strategy.

also these missteps have emboldened from tehran. we had threats from tehran that any additional sanctions will result the iranian navy closing the straits of hormuz. joining me on this serious threat on our national security is former ambassador to the united nations and fox news contributor, john bolton. john, this saber rattling from iran is making a taste of how things to go if they succeed in going nuclear, isn't it? >> exactly. i think this largely a bluff. i think the iran military try to close the straits of hormuz they would find the navy on the bottom of sea and suffer substantial damage to their air force. you have to see this in the context about a military strike against their nuclear weapons program and less of a concern

about economic sanctions. >> mark: in a sense, psychologically, things have deteriorated over the last three years or so. much of the world accepts the fact that iran is going nuclear and that for whatever reason we lack the will to prevent it? >> i think that is exactly right. the iranians see a weak president in washington, somebody they do not believe will use military force against the program. so this threat i think given the economy and the impact that a cutoff of oil or dramatic spike in prices, they are trying to intimidate the white house and trying to intimidate our european friends who don't want stricter sanctions anyway. >> mark: meanwhile across the border in iraq, 20 minutes after the united states withdraws from iraq, it's party time there again. they are blowing stuff up. they feel emboldened the united

states cannot politically step back in to iraq and that it's now up to them to thrash it out. what message did it send? >> it sent a terrible message. this withdrawal of forces was a catastrophic move by president obama. it is already having effects inside the iraq all of them negative. it sends the signal of weakness to iran. it worries our arab friends on the arabian peninsula and it worries israel and just about everybody because of the broader implications for a second obama term. if he is re-elected. >> mark: you coined the phrase to describe this president. you called him a post american president in his view of the world. in the presidential palaces around the planet, people have taken that to heart. in a sense whether consciously or not, they are adjusting to a

post american world? >> precisely they see a weak president. somebody that doesn't care that much about foreign policy. not concerned with challenges abroad. first president since franklin roosevelt to do that. the pace and scope of those challenges will pick up in the second term. the only any obama has is that maybe the team that killed osama bin laden, that is not foreign policy. that is something 99.99% of the american people would have done if they could have given that order. the president's weakness on foreign policy is now coming to the fore, better later than never as a campaign issue. i think it's terribly we elect a real commander in chief next november. >> mark: if you were in beijing, moscow, tehran, you would be figuring a second term and you would pretty much of the run of

the planet or at least your region? >> that, or if you are worried that maybe obama is not going to get a second term, that argues to make your challenges now to take advantage of the weakness. that is why i think the debate on the republican side is so important and candidate like ron paul whose foreign policy which is anything worse than the obama administration apparently leading in iowa, it gives me great concern. >> mark: doesn't that get to the concern on the right, that we have the world's greatest military, responsible for 43% of planetary mill military expend tir, but we lack the strategic clarity to enforce our will on these nations. we shall see shortly see in afghanistan after an american retreat the same thing we see after the american withdrawal in iraq. that is the critique from the right? >> i think we don't have

strategic purpose anymore. the president lacks that clarity. the one reason i've argued we need more of a debate in this presidential contest on foreign policy. we have not enough on the republican side and as president's weakness grows more apparent, people need to know what the alternatives are. >> mark: what would you say in terms of the debate is right now. in iowa it looks like they are going to vote by an impressive margin for a guy who is in favor of a 19th century isolationist republic but stays aloof from the world's quarrels? >> we've got six days to go. but i guess the people that look at ron paul and had some measure of support for his domestic policies on the libertarian side i consider myself pretty libertarian. you cannot live in fantasy land. the rest of the world is not

going to leave us alone. we need a commander in chief that understands that. a ron paul president would not simply address the challenges we face. if you are thinking about ron paul because of his domestic issues, think again, look at virtually any of the other candidates and consider how they would be as commander in chief. that is the president's first duty, defending the country. >> mark: thanks v john bolton. happy new year. don't go anywhere, great american panel is up next on hannity.

>> mark: tonight on our great american panel, she fox news legal analyst. peter johnson, jr.. he is the host of the fox news radio show joins us and he is the host of a national radio show dino joins us. in this is the first time in my experience we've had an all male panel. it's an unamerican panel. [ laughter ] >> mark: topics tonight it's guys all the way. what could be more manly than the most admired people of 2011. gallup has revealed its hit parade. most admired people, here is the top five, barack obama at 17%, bush, clinton, graham and warren

buffett he got in with 2%. his f first appearance. let's talk of the lower five. this is fascinating. tied in sixth place, newt gingrich, donald trump and pope benedict. he is tied with trump, not iowa but it could be a late poll but the most admired man, newt is probably insulted with that preferred to be tied with napoleon. most admired woman, in this hit parade. number one is hillary clinton. oprah is in second place and michelle obama, sarah palin and condi rice. and then lower five, tied, bachmann, ellen degeneres and

majesty the queen. she has entered the iowa caucuses. if she gets a good fourth place finish it will give her strong head wind. what do you make of this list. >> if occupy wall street, it's an interesting list. i got a couple of folks i think we should probably add to it. some real american heroes. one is congressman paul ryan who i think has been terrific. then gabby giffords. her courage is just amazing. >> mark: congressman ryan is taken the situation seriously. i get the feeling that some basic name recognition. >> i think so. for me when i first saw the obama numbers, 17%, it tells me a hot of people are out there smoking or some things.

but what got me what folks aren't talking about, number 32%. 32% said nobody made their most admired list. so president obama got beat by nobody. >> my two, tim tebow and on the female side, paula dean. that woman can do stuff with butter that is something else. [ laughter ] >> it's funny a little bit. >> i don't know if we had to stick to political figures but tebow is ultra guy. the interest he has stirred from all across america is remarkable. how he is not on had list. >> mark: donald trump and pope benedict. any women should be on?

>> i really can't think of anyway off the top of my head. >> why not paula dean. she is terrific. she gives people turkeys for thanksgiving and has all the recipes with butter. [ laughter ] >> ron paul is ahead in iowa. i don't know what he can do with butter. rick santorum is surge can, is this going to be as interesting as the run with any shech obama? >> the big story, is the evangelical christian vote which is going to split with santorum, bachmann and perry. i'm not quite sure we are going to see this in iowa. it's not going to matter in new hampshire. i think south carolina is going to come into play. >> mark: you think ron paul is going to carry iowa? >> i hope not. if ron paul carries iowa we're

saying a lot about the country. are we racist. are we anti-at the met i believe? do we engage in divisive politics? i have a lot of questions about his leadership abilities of what he said in the past. it's very disturbing. i don't think america is going respond to that divisive politics no matter how interesting his economic policy is. there is a lot to be seen. >> mark: everything to play for here. this is my last filling in nor sean. he said with it comes i throw like a girly ball. >> that is a football. >> when it comes to basketball. >> it's a baseball.

>> alisyn: good morning. new policy out of iowa shows a tossup with less than a week before caucus night. that's good news for the frontrunners but the frontrunners are not who they used to be. even yesterday. >> steve: what? >> alisyn: we have the latest on a shakeup in iowa i can't and meanwhile, are nancy mosey and bainner about to pack their bags? a stunning prediction ahead. and why is the united nations honoring kim jong-il? we will find