attempted at the time to bring it back to the surface. it took three tries to get the film, eventually they got some of it. the rest of it, unfortunately, shattered on impact. but we still don't know what's on that film. jenna: maybe we'll know tomorrow on "happening now." jon: thank you for joining us. jenna: "america live" starts right now. megyn: hi, everyone, this is supposed to be a fox news alert from the campaign trail as the race for the white house kicks into high gear, and new polling shows growing enthusiasm for one group of voters. welcome to "america live," everyone, i'm megyn ekgly. a trio of events are taking place. on the left, president obama speaking in iowa, his running mate, haven't biden, already made news earlier, now he's going to be at an event in virginia later this afternoon. in the middle, the man who wants to be president, governor mitt romney, is in bellsville, ohio, and on the right?

yeah. on the right. governor romney's brand new running mate, congressman paul ryan. he's about to hold an event in lakewood, colorado. they are all out and about today trying to convince you to cast your ballot for them. meantime, a new poll for rasmussen reports find 43% believe governor romney made the right choice in picking congressman ryan, that is about double the amount that say, no, he did not make the right choice. 35% say they're not sure. chris stirewalt is our fox news digital politics editor, and independent pollster scott as pus seven is author of "the people's money." so, scott, i want to start with you on the reaction to congressman paul ryan. that number put in perspective for us, is that a good number for paul ryan? >> it's modestly good. it goes along with the fact that 50% right now have a favorable opinion of him. if i look back four years ago, sarah palin was viewed a little more positively initially, joe

biden a little more negatively. the one area where ryan does much better than sarah palin compared to her introduction is people are evenly divided about whether he's qualified to be president. they had more doubts about palin four years ago. megyn: and, chris stirewalt, as i mentioned, 43% say, yeah, he was a right choice, 35% say, paul who? >> right, and guess what? megyn: is that a problem for governor romney? >> lordy no, that's how it goes. that doesn't matter to the daily lives of regular, decent, ordinary human beings who do their best to ignore everything that happens in that building. [laughter] and one cannot hardly blame them. e.g. meg we try, we try to spoon feed them this information whether they want it or not o. open your mouth and take the medicine down. >> exactly. now, of that 35% that don't have an opinion, add to that the percentage of those who said it was the right choice and the wrong choice that no matter whom mitt romney would have picked,

they would have said it was a good choice or a bad choice. hard core republicans would say, yes, great, whoever it is, vladimir lenin, fine, it's wonderful, and the democrats -- if he'd have picked barack obama as his running mate, they'd have said, no, i don't like that. megyn: now what do we think the likely trajectory of this is based on what happened with palin and other -- as they get to know these candidates better, do they tend to increase support or decrease support? >> >> well, it can go in either direction. most likely it'll go down just a little bit, but overall chris is right. this is more a reflection of other things. paul ryan is viewed better by people who are a little bit older. why? because older voters are more likely to support mitt romney, younger voters more likely to support barack obama, so they like paul ryan a little bit less. what we also see, seven out of ten voters believe that paul ryan is politically conservative. he is seen as being about as far to the right as president obama

is to the left, and you've got governor romney somewhere in between. when all is said and done, it's going to be about romney-obama, not ryan-biden. megyn: and yet the polls seem to be showing, chris, that there is an enthusiasm gap emerging to some extent in this election. the latest gallup poll taken, tail, it was july 19th through the 22nd showed republicans, 51% say that they are more enthusiastic about voting this time around than they were last time around. when it comes to democrats, just 39% say that the same. -- say the same. and that's not the only poll. there's a fox news poll that suggests that republicans are 49 percent say extremely interested in this presidential election, democrats it's just 41. does that matter? >> oh, yes -- megyn: you were going to sailorty yes -- say lordy yes. >> i don't want to seem like i'm being flippant about the lord, but my goodness, it's a pretty big deal. when you talk about an election

that could be very close and come down to just a handful of battleground states, what's going to matter is who's on the march. with the selection of paul ryan what mitt romney has done is instead of telling your supporters, tell your neighbors vote against barack obama, i'm just okay, now he gives conservatives, he gives the foot soldiers of his party something to go tell their neighbors that they're excited about. they're excited about paul ryan. they're excited about his fiscal policies. so it adds positive enthusiasm to the already substantial advantage that the republicans had on negative enthusiasm. conversely, president obama has stayed very negative, and he has been out there practicing what he used to call the politics of fear, and he's out there attacking mitt romney, and he has yet to provide the thing that is going to provide the lift and the optimism and the positivity to try and get his voters' enthusiasm up. megyn: scott, i want to ask you more generally about horse race information. for so many weeks now, we've seen the two men pretty close in the national polls. a couple of outlayers showing

big distances, but for the most part pretty close. but in the critical swing states as i look at the real clear politics average of all polls, barack obama's always ahead. he might be ahead by one, by .5, by five points, by four points, by three points, but he seems to always be ahead in all of the let's call it 12 to be generous critical swing states. do you agree with that? does your polling show that? you got it right in the last presidential election. your polling goes with likely voters, which is key. do you agree that it's that tight, and if you had to handicap this race now in the swing states, how do you see it? >> well, it is certainly tight in those states. it's important to recognize that all of the swing states were won by barack obama four years ago, so he is playing defense on this. we released some brand new polling just an hour ago on ohio showing it dead even at 45, but generally in the most competitive and most important states the president has had a slight lead in the polling average. some of it has to do with the fact that polling registered

voters, likely voter polls do a little better for mitt romney because of that intensity gap you were just talking about. but right now in those states, there's four core states that we look at -- north carolina, virginia, ohio and florida -- mitt romney needs to win all four of those, and at best he's even in all four. megyn: interesting, though, in ohio, 45-45, because there was a significant gap there not too long ago. guys, thank you both so much. >> thanks, megyn. >> you bet. megyn: meantime, democrats are using the response to paul ryan in their laters fundraising appeal. an interview from a national field director writes quote: i just got this disturbing report. yesterday's ryan-romney rally megyn: and it goes on to ask for a small campaign donation saying that the democrats have got to step up their game. and just moments ago fox news'

own brit hume landed the very first one-on-one interview with congressman paul ryan. brit has been trying to retire, but no one will let him. [laughter] we expect part of that interview very soon. they literally just sat down together, so you will see the first clips of it here on "america live", and brit will give us his take on the paul ryan announcement. and don't forget fox news is america's election headquarters. the republican national convention is less than two weeks away. who's that? that's yours truly. our show, "america live," will be broadcasting life from the rnc and then the dnc conventions. of course, the show is from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. eastern time. we will begin our broadcasting august 27th from tampa, and be sure to tune in prime time as well when bret baier and yours truly along with our entire fox news political team will bring

you complete coverage of the big speeches from both conventions. and wow, this is really shaping up to get interesting. you've got president clinton, elizabeth warren on the democratic side. now we know it's marco rubio and chris christie on the republican side, and then, of of course, we will hear from the candidates themselves. it's all about to start. well, in texas we are getting new details this hour on a deadly shootout we first brought to you, the news of i should say, near texas a&m. 35-year-old thomas kafal opened fire when a constable came to the door to serve him an eviction notice. he first shot the officer, then opened fire, killing another man. now investigators are trying to figure out how this went so very wrong. casey steegal's got the latest now from dallas. >> reporter: yeah, megyn, good to see you. this tense lunchtime standoff happened yesterday between a 35-year-old man we know now and multiple police officers. a gunfire exchange that lasted

up to 30 minutes. and eyewitnesses were diving into bushes, they were hiding. no students involved, but it did happen just blocks away from are the texas a&m campus. three dead and a total of four people hurt including three college station police officers. now, the man living next door to where this all went down capturing the tense moments on his cell phone camera. he is an army medic and approached the scene to administer first aid, but as you're about to hear, police first did not know who he was and what he was doing. take a listen. >> put your hands where i can see 'em! >> reporter: if you move, you are dead. gosh, once the scene was clear, police allowed the medic in where he tried to save the

constable, brian bachmann, but the 41-year-old law enforcement veteran did not have a pulse and died. more than 500 people coming together last night at a candlelight vigil to remember bachmann who leaves behind a wife and young children. a 51-year-old civilian, a man, also killed in the exchange. folks from the community remembering chris northcliff of college station as well. now, police have not released a motive here in terms of what sparked this shooting. we know that an eviction was being carried out. but the gunman's mother has told the huffington post that her son had mental health issues, and when she saw this on invest yesterday she was, quote, not surprised, megyn. megyn: casey, thanks. well, israel is now sending a new message to the u.s. about iran's nuclear program. in three minutes, we'll look at the possible new deadline being set in the increasingly tense negotiations. and it didn't take long for at least one media commentator to describe the paul ryan pick

as a death wish. that was purely for the, quote, gop base. we'll look at some of the attacks from the media in the wake of the paul ryan announcement. bernie goldberg's here. plus, attorneys for george zimmerman say they will not be using what some say was the best option they had to get their client off the hook. they had a chance to go before a judge, have him throw this entire case out before it get to a jury. they are waiving that opportunity. we'll explain and take a look at why in kelly's court. >> that's when he grabbed me by the head, and he tried to slam my head down. >> were you -- [inaudible] >> no. my body was on the ground. my head was on the cement. he just kept swinging and swinging, and i kept yelling help, help, help. okay, team! after age 40, we can start losing muscle -- 8% every 10 years. wow. wow. but you can help fight muscle loss with exercise and ensure muscle health. i've got revigor.

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next creature is causing a fair amount of drama. scientists at the university of florida confirming, look at this, that this is the largest burmese python ever caught in the state. you've got to come out to your tv if you're just listening to this. look at this thing. holy moly. the now-euthanized snake, yeah, more than 17.5 feet long weighing more than 165 pounds. and get this, it was carrying a record 87 eggs. burmese pythons are native to southeast asia, but they are slowly taking over the everglades. we're not sure what we mean when we say this one was euthanized. more on that as we get it. israel today sending a new message to america when it comes to the subject of iran, and that message is that time is growing short. israel's ambassador to america warning yesterday that the deadline to stop tehran's alleged nuclear weapons program is fast approaching. >> as iran continues to expand

its program both increasing its stockpiles, we now think they have close to five bombs' worth of enriched uranium, and as they keep on moving that program underground to places which will be beyond our capabilities, then it's built in that our considerations, our clocks are moving faster. megyn: meantime, after five months of attempted diplomacy, white house spokesman jay carney insists there is still, quote, time and space for diplomacy to work here. ambassador dan gellerman is a fox news contributor. ambassador, welcome back to the program. there you have it, the white house saying there is still time for diplomacy amidst reports out of israel that israel has given the united states and president obama a deadline of september 25th to clearly state that the united states will take military action in this conflict.

>> well, actually, it's good to be with you. one thing that ever american and every person around this world has to understand is that what we're watching in very real time is not a reality show. this is reality. this is not survivor where you get chucked off the island. this is about survival of the jewish state. and it is not a game. for us it is truly a matter of life and death. it is a matter of to be or not to be. now, the united states and others may think there's time. we believe that time is running out rapidly. and we cannot afford to make a mistake. the united states is a huge country, is a strong country, it is very far away from iran. we are right on iran's backyard. the united states has never been threatened by iran.

iran threatens daily to wipe israel off the face of the map, and we have to take it seriously, and we are taking it very, very seriously. and we do believe that iran is very near to a point of no return. we don't want to be there at that point of no return and, therefore, we're doing everything possible to prevent iran from becoming a nuclear power. we do hope that sanctions and the international community's resolve will make sure it doesn't, but if we feel time, indeed, is running out, as i said, ashley, we cannot afford to make a mistake, and we will take every action. and the israeli prime minister is committed to the safety and security of the israeli and the jewish people and will not preside over a second holocaust. and, therefore, we will much rather -- i would much rather have the world condone a living israel than console a dying

israel. megyn: ambassador, you have the timeline now lining up. there are reports out of the israeli media that president obama has been given a deadline by israel of september 25th to say that america will take action amidst reports out of the israeli media that prime minister benjamin netanyahu has decided to unilaterally act sometime this fall before the u.s. presidential elections, act alone if it has to. is there anything in your view that can stop that from happening? if america says we're not taking military action against iran, is there anything right now that could stop israel from doing so in that time frame? >> there certainly are things that can stop israel from doing it. israel is not gung ho, and it is not gun happy, and it is not eager to do it. israel will only do it if it feels it really has no choice. but if the united states as the

leader of the free world and the international community make it very clear to iran that the military option is no longer just an option on the table, but is real and will be taken if iran approaches that point, we will be very, very happy to see the international community take care of it not only because we don't want to do it alone, although we can, but because iran is a threat not just to israel, but to the international community as a whole. it is the world's major engine, perpetrator, exporter, harborer and financier of terror. and it has killed americans just as it has killed jewish people and israelis around the world. and, therefore, i hope that the president of the united states will make it clear to the iranian leadership that the united states will not stand for a nuclear iran and will take action. but if it's too late, we will,

we can, and as the president of the united states said four years ago, yes, we can. and i assure you, yes, we will. megyn: ambassador, thank you so much. coming up, a new report today showing when it comes to cars, money won't necessarily buy you safety. [ kate ] most women may not be properly absorbing the calcium they take because they don't take it with food. switch to citracal maximum plus d. it's the only calcium supplement that can be taken with or without food. that's why my doctor recommends citracal maximum.

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megyn: well, two republican stars awarded prominent spots at the republican national convention. new jersey governor chris christie and florida senator marco rubio will both be speaking at the convention in tampa. both were also rumored to be on governor romney'short list for potential running mates. governor christie will deliver the keynote address, senator rubio will introduce governor romney on the convention's closing night.

well, new concerns for students over a major supreme court case on affirmative action that could determine who gets into college, where and how. the supreme court is set to hear arguments on whether the university of texas can use race as one of the standards in its admission policies. and the obama administration is now throwing its full support behind the school and that practice. gregg jarrett has the dales. -- details. >> reporter: well, the military and the government both need racial diversity and, thus, minorities should get preference in college admission. well, that's the argument at least that president obama's administration wants to make before the supreme court. the university of texas automatically accepts applicants who rank in the top 10% of their classes. after that the school uses race and other factors. abigail fisher, who's white, scored in the top 12% but was rejected, and she argues she would have been admitted if race had not been a factor. so she sued claiming her equal

protection rights were violated under the 14th amendment. now, nine year ago the u.s. supreme court ruled that racial quotas are unconstitutional, but they said race may be used as a factor. it's a subjective approach which president obama's solicitor general donald verrilli says is properly being followed by ut. quote: race is not considered on its own, and it is never determinative of an applicant's admission by itself. rather, race is one of a number of contextual factors. the current supreme court is considered more conservative now and perhaps more likely to reverse that previous 2003 decision. if so, it could bring to an end race-based admissions in highe education. meg? megyn: be so is this, like so many decisions we've seen -- not obamacare, interestingly -- but so many decisions likely to hinge on justice anthony kennedy, the guy sort of

considered to be in the middle ideologically on this court? >> reporter: probably. kennedy, as you know, is invariably the swing vote, and he has been a critic of racial quotas. but he's also published some fairly nuanced opinions on race and college admissions. now, importantly, elena kagan has recused herself from this case because she worked on it when she was solicitor general. so that means there will only be eight justices joining. if kennedy joins the liberals, then it's a tie and a lower court decision stands upholding the texas plan. if kennedy comes down somewhere in the middle maybe with a separate opinion, well, affirmative action at public universities and colleges in america after all these years could finally come to an end. meg? megyn: and as for chief justice roberts who did not so side with the conservatives when it came to obamacare, he said something

to the effect this is a sordid business, this dividing us up by race, if memory serves. >> reporter: so he and alito and thomas and scalia, you can pretty much count on them voting this down. megyn: gregg jarrett, thank you, sir. serious concerns about the tone on the campaign trail with new calls to get the presidential campaign out of the gutter. in three minutes, we'll speak with two major political voices. peggy noonan, in her first appearance here on "america live", and joe trippi, who we also love. and we will ask if this 2012 race is damaging america's largest political process. how's it making you feel, the way this race is going? also, a navy sub commander in a whole lot of hot water. what he is accused of doing that got him relieved of his duties. and a major development in the george zimmerman/trayvon martin murder case. why mr. zimmerman's attorneys are saying they're now not using what was considered by in the best option to get their client

cleared. >> that's when my jacket moved up, and i had my firearm on my right side hip. my jacket moved up, and he saw it. i feel like he saw it. he looked at it, and he said you're going to die tonight [bleep]. and he reached for it, i felt his arm going down to my side, and i grabbed it, and i just grabbed my firearm, and i shot him.

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megyn: fox news alert, we've got live pictures coming back from lakewood, colorado, where republican vice presidential candidate paul ryan is now holding a rally. he is looking to win over voters in that key battleground state. meantime, the romney-ryan team is expanding an ad buy in iowa which is where the president is campaigning. they are questioning president obama's refusal to denounce an ad from his supporters that appears to link governor romney to a woman's death. take a look. >> what does it say about a president's character when his campaign tries to use the tragedy of a woman's death for political gain? what does it say about a president's character when he had his campaign raise money for the ad, then stood by as his top aides were caught lying about it? megyn: so is the tone on the campaign trail getting even uglier than we thought? joining me now, peggy noonan is here. she's a "wall street journal" columnist and a former reagan speech writer.

this is very exciting, because she's never been to "america live" before. also joe trippi, a fox news contributor. he's been here many times, so we're less excited. [laughter] >> oh, great. megyn: just kidding, joe. >> i'm excited. megyn: i love your columns, peggy, and i thought you had one this past week that was entitled "the nation that believes nothing." and you talked about how you believe mitt romney didn't respond with enough outrage initially when he was hit with that ad and talked about your experiences with president reagan and about how he was a man who knew when outrage was called for. your thoughts. >> yeah. it's a funny thing. political figures on both sides often think that they have to maintain a relentless and imperturbable sunniness. well, sunniness is great and being an even-tempered person is really wonderful, but sometimes you've got to be indig in and --

indignant. sometimes you've got to get a little bit mad not only for yourself and your candidacy, but for the american people. honest indignation is a good thing this politics. megyn: do you think it is coincidence that after this column mitt romney comes out saying -- >> yes, i do think it's a coincidence. [laughter] i would love it not to be. but i think one of the great things about romney this weekend is that for the first time he was standing there on the stage with someone else. it was paul ryan. it was a guy he respects. and it's as if being part of something, the two of them, made him a bit more -- i can't think of the right word, proactive comes to mind, but that's not the world -- made him a fighter, made him punch him out a little bit. he handled the guy in the audience who was heckling him with a certain dispatch. so the fight is on, and it was good to see. megyn: joe, i want to ask you because you talk about how ronald reagan knew, we think of him as such an optimist and so

sunny as you point out, but you say he knew when to become indignant, and you point out a famous moment back in 1980 where he did show a bit of his fiery side. watch here. >> would the sound man, please, return mr. reagan to -- >> is this on? mr. green -- you asked -- i am paying for this microphone, mr. green! [cheers and applause] megyn: why was that moment so impactful? >> i believe he won the new hampshire primary at that moment. because he showed, first of all, some guy was trying to bully him. some guy was saying put off that flow's microphone. and you didn't say that to microphone. you didn't say shut that guy up.

he became indignant, he happened to have a local, really good issue which was that a number of candidates weren't being allowed to speak at that debate, and so he stood up for them and himself. and it was kind of a three-for. he made george h.w. bush look hapless and weak. so as a political moment, you don't really get better than that. but it was honest indignation, that he understood don't tamp it down. don't make believe i don't feel this way. feel it, go with it, use it. megyn: how does that compare to what we're seeing today, joe, in terms of the ugliness of this campaign at times? and we've seen mitt romney, for example, demand an apology when an obama spokesman suggested he might be a felon. but is that the same as ronald reagan and i am paying for this microphone, you know? i mean, what are the differences you're seeing? >> i don't think romney has that yet. i mean, he hasn't displayed that ability that reagan had to

really read the moment and turn that indignation on when he needed it. and i agree with peggy, he won the new hampshire that day with that exact moment. but the thing that's happening in the news cycle is completely different now than it was then. and i think you can't, you know, it's a mistake, i think, to answer this with an ad. the ad that created this whole thing -- megyn: right, which was by the super pac, priorities usa. >> priorities usa, right, supporting obama. never ran on paid television. it ran on the internet. and the romney reaction to it, is what gave can it the fire that allowed the press and the media and all of us to spend all this time talking about it. megyn: but did it strike you as ugly? it's not the first ad that's gotten ugly. feels like we've seen a lot of ugliness in this campaign that's created the disdain, a distaste

in the mouths of the american voters. >> that's because, one, a base election and two things; do everything you can to excite your base and everything you can to turn off the base of your opponent. and both campaigns have been doing that. and the other thing i think that's very different about this cycle is there's no price to be paid from the super pacs. they didn't work for anybody. there's not a candidate that you have to go and say, i want to show you the ad. and, you know, as somebody who makes those ads, i know how many times i've gone to a candidate, and they really do sit there and go, huh-uh, i'm not doing that. that happens on both sides, that's true. megyn: so is it getting uglier? you write in your column, peggy, that you believe we are becoming a nation that believes nothing. >> yeah. and that's not actually a good place for a nation to be, you know? you can have skepticism is a beautiful thing, but in endemic cynicism is not good. it just leaves you a little weaker if you can't believe in anything. i think one of the problems

we're about to see in the ads that are coming up is that we're going to be debating medicare, the size of goth, cutting government, who said what, who voted for what. that means everybody's going to be flashing with dramatic music and threatening voice tones. they're going to be saying, he tried to cut 700 million. no, he tried to increase 1400 million trillion billion. it's all so confusing, and everybody knows it's meant to be confusing, it's meant to excite your anxieties, and you're supposed to vote on your anxieties. it's rather wicked, and oddly enough, i don't think at the end of the day it wins. >> i think the problem is people are tuning it all out. i mean, billions of dollars will be spent on this election. and, frankly, in very few places. so you have hundreds of millions of dollars being spent in one state, and all the ads are negative in attacking.

and i think people have learned to tune 'em out. and so that's one of the reasons you're also seeing the crossing of the line. how do i get anybody to pay attention -- megyn: right. the more outrageous -- >> boy, that'sr tue. megyn: listen, thank you both so much. what a pleasure. this is a thrill for me. i hope we see you both again. well, coming up, speaking of the on the on the campaign trail, it did not take long for one media commentator to describe the paul ryan pick as vp as a death wish by romney, another one saying this is not a pick for women, but it was for the gop base. in three minutes, bernie goldberg on the firestorm of media attacks. and a new report out on the u.s. auto bail delivering bad news for the taxpayer just weeks after president obama said this: >> what if america had given you the power? their hope? would you have spent trillions

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megyn: republican vice presidential candidate paul ryan facing a growing onslaught of

attacks from some of the mainstream media already. a live look here at lakewood, colorado, where the congressman is rallying supporters. mr. ryan so far appearing to be unfazed by the media's first round of political assaults against him. here is just a sampling of those. >> what does he say when you whisper to him when he coming out with his budget that basically gives a great break to the richest people in the country and really screws the people that desperately need medicare and program like that? >> this is a base election x this is not a pick for suburban moms. this is not a pick for women. >> not every republican has signed on to this kind -- i mean, they will publicly, but there is some trepidation. >> they're afraid. >> that this might be, looks a little bit like some sort of ticket death wish. >> yeah, the people he doesn't expect to vote for him, he's screwing. megyn: joining me now, fox news

analyst, bernie goldberg. welcome back to the program. you expect, obviously, barack obama and joe biden to go after paul ryan, that is part of the process. straight news anchors and reporters, that is not necessarily what you expect. >> that's exactly right. but i would caution my conservative friends who are watching us right now, don't get paranoid over this, over perceived bias, and certainly, don't be too thin-skinned about it. if a reporter says, you know, the democrats say congressman ryan, the democrats say you want to gut medicare, that's a legitimate question because that's what democrats say. that's not an attack. you played chris matthews. i would say chris matthews is not an important person in the culture, he's not even an important person in the media. the last thing he said that's worth talking about is when he said i get a thrill running up my leg when i hear barack obama speak because that showed how

silly he is. and just yesterday to talk about this paranoia and lack of focus, i got an e-mail from somebody who watches this network who said i'm very unhappy with the left-wingers they picked to moderate the presidential debates, and here's my list of people who should moderate it. and the list included people who appear on this network who nobody would confuse with being middle of the road. so what i'm saying is, yes, they give us ammunition, they give conservatives ammunition with their bias,es, but not everything is a bias. not everything is a bias. megyn: what do you make of andrea mitchell? >> that was a bias. megyn: but let me challenge you. she says this is not a pick for suburban moms, for women, this is a pick for the base. could she have simply meant, you know, they could have gone for someone who would be obviously appealing to women or moms like a woman, like condi rice, for

example? >> well, it's the, it's the leap of logic that just baffles me. you could, you can make the case that what preceded her saying this is not a pick for women is paul ryan saying our rights come from god, not from government. okay, whether you think they come from god or whether you think they come from government, frankly, i don't care. but how do you go from that to saying this is not a pick for women? when andrea -- what andrea mitchell means is that this is not a pick for the liberal women i, andrea mitchell, hang out with in georgetown. that's what she really means. if she decided to visit a country that happens to be between malibu and manhattan, it's called the united states, she might find women who don't find that comment offensive. so i think, i think there are -- obviously, i think there are

biases, but i don't think everything is a bias. megyn: but this is the dangerous in straight news people being opinionated, especially on matters of politics that are very incendiary because you may think that you are speaking for everyone, but you may have exactly the opposite effect, you may be alienating large portions of your viewership. >> you're not only absolutely right, but this is, this is -- that question should be discussed far more often on television than it is. it's one thing if you're a commentator, okay? like when chris matthews said i get a thrill running up my leg, you know, when i hear barack obama speak, he's a commentator. he's entitled to political commentary. that, however, wasn't commentary, that was a man crush. but let's set that aside. [laughter] but when you're a hard news reporter during the week and you cover hillary clinton visiting saudi arabia or this country or that country and you cover hard news but then you go into political opinion, i think it's legitimate for the person at

home to say, well, wait a second, which -- megyn: i want to stand you by because i'm coming up against a hard break, but we're going to continue with you on the other side, and i want to ask you what we are now likely to see in thef media coverage of paul ryan next. flsh 8% every 10 years. wow. wow. but you can help fight muscle loss with exercise and ensure muscle health. i've got revigor. what's revigor? it's the amino acid metabolite, hmb to help rebuild muscle and strength naturally lost over time. [ female announcer ] ensure muscle health has revigor and protein to help protect, preserve, and promote muscle health. keeps you from getting soft. [ major nutrition ] ensure. nutrition in charge!

megyn: so, bernie, sarah palin has already come out and said that paul ryan's just going to get excoriating, and she believes her media people in the mccain-palin team did not have hers, that's her issue. does she have a point, though, that the media's likely to go after him with the same frosty that they did her? -- ferocity that they did her? >> well, i don't know if it's the same ferocity. there are significant differences between sarah palin and paul ryan. but, yeah, i think they go after

him. and i'll tell you something, megyn, i don't have a problem if they go after his policies meaning scrutinize his policies. what i have a problem with is their going to -- they're going to devote a lot more attention, they're going to have a lot more curiosity about paul ryan than they ever had about barack obama. i mean, can you imagine, and now i'm going into make believe territory, can you imagine if it turns out that paul ryan went to the same church for 20 years and had a pastor who was a racist? that would come out a lot quicker than the jeremiah wright story came out which only really came out after the tapes came out. if there were no tapes, i don't think we'd know very much about jeremiah wright. could you imagine if he had a friend where he started his political career in his friend's living room, and the friend used to blow up federal buildings the way bill ayers did? i mean, the media would show far more attention if that were the case than they ever did with barack obama.

that's, that's where the double standard comes in, and that's bias. megyn: so negligent was the coverage of barack obama when he was running that somebody, somebody actually wrote a book about it. who was that? [laughter] >> a slobbering love affair. megyn: bernie goldberg, thank you so much, sir. good to see you. >> thanks, megyn. megyn: coming up, a new report on the u.s. auto bailout delivering devastating news for the american taxpayer. just a few weeks ago president obama said gm was roaring back. we'll bring you an update on that. plus, a fox news exclusive. brit hume in the first one-on-one interview with governor romney's vp pick, congressman paul ryan. brit joins us at the top of the hour, that's right after this break, just moments after he wrapped his interview. >> this ad suggests, or i gather the it's going to be seen a lot of places, that you and governor romney think that medicare, which has been a very difficult issue for republicans for a very long time and polls suggest that

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i have a lifetime of experience. so i know how important that is. megyn: over one-third of the american electorate have no idea if governor romney was right to pick paul ryan as his running-mate. but maybe that's about to change. an exclusive one-on-one with our own brit hume. welcome, i'm megyn kelly. congressman ryan is campaigning in colorado while governor romney finishes up his bus tour in ohio. congressman ryan wrapping up a rally there, but just before taking the stage he took time to sit down with brit hume in his first one-on-one interview since he was chosen as the running

mate. this is a decision by the romney-ryan campaign to make a national ad buy with a spot that goes after the obama team on the issue of immediate care. here is a look at part of that ad. >> you paid into immediate care for years. every paycheck. now when you need it obama has cut $716 billion from immediate care. why? to pay for obama-care. megyn: brit hume joins us live from lakewood, colorado. brit, aren't you retired? >> reporter: so i thought. megyn: you told me not long ago you were going to focus on god, grandchildren and golf. as it turns out you made time for politics at a critical juncture. what did you learn? >> reporter: i learned the ryan campaign -- the romney-ryan campaign is doing something republicans have not often thought capablof doing, that's

making immediate care which the democrats are howling about, a winning issue for them, for the republicans. they are going up with the ad you just showed a piece of today. and i think it's an unusual approach. but one that might just work. ryan makes a pretty good defense of it. he makes the point that it's true that obama-care does contemplate using a lot of savings that they are going to make in immediate care to finance obama-care. one estimate that that ad uses is upwards of $716 billion. that's something that is vulnerable to attack because it is basically true. the democrats are saying it's false about it's not false it's basically true so they have something to go on. the question is whether the romney team doesn't contemplate making savings in cuts in immediate care as well. they do, but they say those cuts will be used as savings to keep immediate care going. megyn: that's the big question

that romney has added ryan to the ticket. what about immediate care? is somebody looking to save the, somebody looking to slash it. this is suppose to be the third rail of politics. entitlements, don't talk about reforming social security or immediate care, it won't get you elected. did you talk to congressman ryan about that? >> reporter: i did. i said can you win on this issue and he said absolutely. there was a house race in nevada. a special elections to fill the house seat that was vacated when dean heller who is now in the senate ran for the senate. this was a special election. the democratic candidate who was the state treasurer was attacking the republican candidate on the immediate care cuts embodied in the ryan budget. he turned around and attacked her for supporting obama-care with its cuts and the outcome

was remarkable. they turned the race around and the polling around on that issue. it was quite a surprising development. it was one i wasn't keenly aware of. but i know paul ryan was aware of it and the romney people are aware of it and think this can be done. megyn: the conventional wisdom is people don't pay that close attention. you just tell them the republican ticket wants to cut care for seniors, then force them to get into the details. if they are explaining they are losing. you talked to congressman ryan about this issue. we'll play a clip of this. >> this ad suggests, i gather it will be seen a lot of places, that you and governor romney think that immediate care which has been a -- that medicare which has been a difficult issue for republicans for a long time and polls suggest people automatically think republicans are hostile to medicare can be a winning issue.

how? >> absolutely because we are offering a plan to protect medicare, to strengthen medicare. we are the ones not raiding medicare to pay for became care. we are the ones continuing the guarantee of medicare for people in or near retirement. and for the younger generation. stick to the current generation. president obama is damaging medicare for current seniors. megyn: that's a preview of how they are likely to handle that issue. i want to ask you before i let you go. i want to ask you as a seasoned political analyst. knowing what you know about politics. what were your impressions and what do you make of him as officially on the gop ticket? >> reporter: he's an unusual person. relatively young man with quite a lot of experience. he has a very deep knowledge of the issues.

he's very concern and -- he's very conversant. he's comfortable with all of this an do it in a way that's strikingly cheerful. he's disarming. these qualities will serve him well as a candidate. he's not --'s a little bit of a hard target to attack. he's going to be attacked. i don't think he will be attacked personally. he's personally quite appealing. you hear this. you sense the democrats know this. you hear it in the remarks president obama made about him being a decent man and family man, all i think is clear when i asked what president obama said about him, he said he would say the same thing about him. and he went on to echo what obama said about him, which is that they represent profoundly different philosophies. and clearly they do. but i think he will be an effective candidate. now, we have got an

unprecedented situation here. we have got this certified budget cutter willing to take on entitlement programs which you mentioned earlier have bent third rail for a long time that you couldn't touch without dying and they think they will not only live to tell about it, they might even be able to win on it as this ad buy suggests today. megyn: god, golf, grand children and good stuff for us on the side. brit hume, thank you. >> reporter: thank you, any began. megyn: you can watch more of brit's interview later tonight. 6:00 p.m. with our own bret baier. and you can catch the rest of today's interview along with the latest top headlines. president obama also on the campaign trail on day two of his bus tour through the state of iowa. green energy failures have cost the taxpayers millions of dollars.

governor romney and congressman ryan will also be talking energy today suggesting the president's policies are taking america in the wrong direction. ed henry is live in oskaloosa, iowa. >> reporter: one of the differences is energy. you mentioned governor romney blasting the president saying his energy policies have been disastrous to coal country. the president saying wind energy is very important and governor romney opposes a wind energy tax credit that a lot of popular republic chance in this state support because it involved 7,000 jobs here in the state of iowa. the president just went after governor romney by talking about a comment where governor romney recently said and mocked alternative energy saying you can't drive a car with a wind

mill on it. so the president decided to bring up that old story about romney putting his dog on the roof of a car. >> he said you can't drive a car with a wind mill on it. that's what he said about wind power. you can't drive a car with a wind mill on it. >> reporter: then he went on to say, but i know the governor has put other things on top of his car. the first time the president has gone there in this campaign so far. megyn: we cut that sound bite a little short. ed henry, thank you. it came out in his book he ate dog. ed, thank you. fox news weather alert. wildfires ravaging the western part of the u.s.

in lake county, california two large fires are forcing hundreds to run for safety. crews are working to keep the flames from merging into one massive wildfire. a falling tree killed a firefighter. >> reporter: those video coming into us out of san francisco flying over the fires. some dramatic pictures. it shows you how difficult the fire conditions are. there are major fires burning not only in northern california, but in oregon, in washington, idaho where that firefighter was killed over the weekend and in nevada. we know of another female firefighter who had to grab her fire blanket and dive under it as flames swept through. there is still a couple months left in fire season. the conditions are tinder dry.

triple digit temperatures across the west. and the winds haven't kicked up most of these fires so you don't have the trifecta. if the winds do come it makes it that much worse. the firefighters are concerned about what they are facing the next couple months as they march on into summer and the conditions get drier. megyn: there is a major development today in the george zimmerman trayvon martin case. defense attorneys say they will not be using what some argue is their best chance to get their defendant off. president obama calling for what he termed as a return to an america in which prosperity is shared. we'll show you the fallout in just a bit. >> everybody is so pinched that business is bad for everybody. i think when you spread the wealth around it's good for us.

megyn: since governor romney added congressman ryan to the presidential ticket saturday we have heard a growing number of comparisons between mr. ryan and former president ronald reagan. the president's conservative ideas, optimism and language have been compared to the former president. take a listen here and you may be able to discern why. >> in this present crisis government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem. >> my dad died when i was young. he was a good and decent man. there are a few things he would say that have always stuck with me. he would say, son, you are either part of the problem or part of the solution. well, regrettably, president obama has become part of the problem and mitt romney is the

solution. [cheers and applause] >> without god there is a coursenning of the society. and without god, democracy will not and cannot long endure. [applause] if we ever forget that we are one nation under god then we'll be a nation gone under. >> america is more than just a place. america is an idea. it's the only country found on an idea. our rights come from nature and god, not from government. [cheers and applause] megyn: michael reagan is a political consultant and chairman of the reagan group an is one of those who believes the

congressman sounds like his dad. >> it's interesting. you can tell the difference between somebody who just talks about ronald reagan of which there are many and those who have studied ronald reagan. paul ryan is one of those people who studied ronald reagan and also grew up in the midwest like ronald reagan. i was listening to that first sound bite thinking about what paul ryan said about his father. my dad wrote it in his book. it was in the days of the depression and the government was trying to make work with fdr. my dad's father was working in those programs. he drove his son ron around and pointing at lines of people. he said when the government starts paying you not to work, why work? my father never forgot those words of his father. he taught me those words and it seems like paul ryan's father taught him the same thing. megyn: people have been looking

at clips of paul ryan as of late. lot of americans have never heard of paul ryan before and they don't follow congress that closely. but they have been showing clips where he is not afraid to confronts. when they had this round table with president obama talking about ball care he was one of the first to sort of challenge the president and get on him about differences in their world views. he's a young guy but he's not afraid to assert himself. was your father the same? >> you know, it's interesting. earlier you had my good friend peggy noonan on talking about my far it and new hampshire with that microphone incidents. when my far it said "i paid for this microphone," my sister maureen and i said it's about damn time." it was god to see it in my father in 198.

if you are going to win this election, you have got to learn to fight. this is a blood sport and it's gotten bloodier and the fighter has come onboard to be able to do battle against obama and the democratic machine. megyn: let many watch it again, just for kicks. ronald reagan. 1980. >> would the sound man please turn mr. reagans's microphone off? >> mr. green -- i am paying for this microphone, mr. green. megyn: he was such a leader. it seemed to come naturally. he knew who was, he knew what his principles were and he stood

up for himself. is that existent on either side of the ticket? do you see that romney-ryan, obama or biden? >> i see tonight paul ryan who can debate the issues. you go back to my father's speech he gave in the 1980s about bold colors of the republican party and not pastels. somebody entered the fray, who is bold? the bold because he has something he can actually talk about. and bring the campaign to. and that is a very, very good thing. ronald reagan in 1980 got to that point where he said, i'm not only running for president, i want to be the president of the united states. and that's the pittsburgh mitt romney has -- has got to get into. he helped himself by bringing paul ryan on board. i remember at one time jimmy stuart, a great friend of the family talking about my far it and jimmy stuart said ronald

reagan starring as best friend. that was how my father was, but that day in new hampshire is the day he said i want to be the president of the united states of america. mitt romney has to reach that point if he's going to win this election and he helped himself by bringing paul ryan onboard who understands the middle part of this country. because this is what america is all about. when ronald reagan talks about god. when paul ryan talks about god, not that he doesn't exist outside the middle part of this country. but he's alive and well between new york and california. megyn: a lot of people didn't know jimmy stuart was a lifelong republican, but indeed it was the case. >> that's true. megyn: coming up, bad news for the american taxpayers. what a new report says about the u.s. auto bailout and the future of general motors. plus controversy over president obama's quote new vision for america. he has just laid out the 2012

version of that vision and some believe this may be the new spreading the wealth around comment. we'll have a fair and balanced debate on that. [ male announcer ] this is rudy.

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>> i believe in american workers. i believe in this american industry, and now the american auto industry has come roaring back and gm is number one again. megyn: that was the president about a week ago. but brand-new numbers on the auto bailout are raising new questions about that claim as the treasury department says it expects to lose more than $25 billion of your taxpayer money on the auto industry bailout. and they say it could get much worse. doug mcelway live in washington with more.

>> reporter: the president has been touting the benefits of the auto bailout. >> when the auto industry was on the brink of collapse, more than a million jobs at stake, governor romney says let detroit go bankrupt. i refused to turn my back on one of the great american industries. i bet on american workers. i bet on american manufacturing. three years later the american auto industry has come roaring back. >> reporter: new figures released about it treasury department show that bailout will cost taxpayer as $21.5 billion. the problem is largely the result of gm's steeply declining stock price. to break even it would have to sell the shares at $53 apiece.

as part of the bailout, 200 auto dealerships were forced to shut down. 20 of those dealerships are suing the government. the romney campaign features one such dealer there a recent ad that ran in ohio. >> i received a letter from general motors. they were suspended my credit line. we had 37 employees who were out of work. my wife and i were the last ones there. it was the dream that we worked so hard for was gone. >> reporter: some critics say the bailout failed to correct one of the costs that strangled gm in the first place, gold plated pensions to union workers. almost twice as high as workers in right to work states. megyn: there is a new development in the murder trial of george zimmerman.

zimmerman's attorney says he will not rely on the so-called stand your ground law in defending mr. zimmerman and his case. why? we'll discuss it in "kelly's court." president obama's quote new vision for america sparking new controversy. president calling for a country where possible pair it is quote shared. d from prosperity is quote shared. but who is that prosperity being created. whose building it and is this another spread the wealth around comment? >> the question in this electio? do we go forward towards a new vision of an america in which prosperity is shared or do we go backwards to the same policies that got us into this mess in the first place? you know, i believe we have to go forward. i'm a marathon runner,

in absolute perfect physical condition and i had a heart attack right out of the clear blue... i'm on an aspirin regimen... and i take bayer chewables. [ male announcer ] be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. he's my success story. [ laughs ] i'd like to thank eating right, whole grain, multigrain cheerios! mom, are those my jeans? [ female announcer ] people who choose more whole grain tend to weigh less than those who don't. multigrain cheerios 8% every 10 years.age 40, we can start losing muscle -- tend to weigh less than those who don't. wow. wow. but you can help fight muscle loss with exercise and ensure muscle health. i've got revigor. what's revigor? it's the amino acid metabolite, hmb to help rebuild muscle and strength naturally lost over time. [ female announcer ] ensure muscle health has revigor and protein to help protect, preserve, and promote muscle health. keeps you from getting soft. [ major nutrition ] ensure. nutrition in charge!

megyn: questions about what president obama calls a new vision for america. in comment sunday the president said we need to go back to what he describes as a time when prosperity what is shared. take a listen. >> too many folks don't have a sense that tomorrow will be better than today.

and so the question in this election is, which way do we go? do we go forward towards a new vision of an america in which prosperity is shared or do we go backward to the same policies that got us into this mess in the first place? you know, i believe we have to go forward. i believe we have got to keep working to create an america where no matter who you are, no matter what you look like, no matter where you come from. no matter what your last name is or how love, you can make it here if you try. megyn: some political commentators have suggested that that sounds similar to what we heard from mr. obama in 2008 when he said this to joe the plumber. >> i work 10-12 hours a day. buy another truck and add

something else to it, build the company, i'm getting taxes more and more. >> i don't want to punish your success. i just want to make sure everybody behind you that the chance, too. everybody is so pinched business is bad for everybody. i think when you spread the wealth around it's good for us. megyn: joining me -- >> here is the thing. i'm wondering if leslie will share some of the prosperity of her doctor husband. i'll bet he makes more money than i do. i'll compliment the president. he has been consistent talking about using the government's power of the irs and he's consistent today. he wants the spread the prosperity around through government. the fact is the marketplace spreads prosperity just fine. bill gates comes up with an idea, becomes a billionaire and

thousands become millionaires because of this and tens of thousands of people get fantastic jobs because of him. now the president want to redistribute that wealth at the point of a gun. it's crazy. megyn: there has been a theme from this president in 2008 where he said we need the spread the wealth around to 2012 where he said we need to share the prosperity and a few months ago he said we need to be our brother's keeper. we don't need to play that. he talks about how we need to look out for one another. i am my brother's keeper, i'm my sister's keeper. that sounds fine in the abstract. but when you string them together it creates a belief by some like lars that he's talking about taking from some people and giving to others. >> you heard he wants to take from my husband and, lars, he makes far less than you do, trust me. this comes down to once again. i know you head this phrase,

those on the right, it takes a village or to whom much is given, much is expected. this is not a new theme with the president. it's the same premise going forward. what i hear from mitt romney is that, look, we need to release the binds of business years ago we saw what happened with wall street. we saw what happened with the banks and we saw what happened with this country, not just the jobs but with our economy. what the president is talking about are those corporations giving back to this country by insourcing instead of outsourcing. the state department issued 6,000 investor visas. that's a record-breaking numbers. that means foreign investors are willing to invest in america. >> what's wrong with foreign investment. >> leslie, the rich will invest in america when the obama regulations are backed down.

megyn, this is the problem. i'll bet there were plenty of people at albany law school who tried hard and didn't become successful lawyers like you. the president wants this thing that guarantees success. america guarantees opportunity. what you do with that opportunity is up to you. and unfortunately a lot of people try hard and are not successful. but the opportunity is there. so the president wants to go beyond that and just equal opportunity and say if you dent succeed we'll take some of the money or other things from the people who did succeed and we'll give it to you. megyn: what about that, leslie? he's making comments about how the rich are fortunate and blessed and lucky and not terming success in the way that lars just said, the result of hard work. we talked recently about how he made comments about i love the successful people who think they are so smart and so hard working and that led to that "you didn't build that comment" that's been such a topic.

>> lars keeps talking about and a lot of people on the right will say the president is anti-business and wants to take it robinhood versus the romneyhood. but the reality is when you continue to have bush tax breaks, credits, whatever you want to call them and you say we need those because these private sector ceos are the ones that create the wealth and invest in this country and create the jobs but they haven't. when we didn't have the binds, the shackles on business as you paint the picture that it don't believe is entirely true of the president and we saw quite frankly not in bandage during the george w. bush administration, yet we saw the unemployment rate go up after he took office and once the president took office and continued to go up temporarily. then you also have those out there saying wait a minute. you had no binds, you had the bush tax credits and you still

shipped the jobs overseas and did not create more jobs. >> leslie knows what happened to the economy was largely the fault of the government by moneying around spreading success. barney frank said let's make sure everybody can buy a house even if they can't pay the money back. that helped create a bubble, the government holding interest rates down artificially. handing out money to people who couldn't pay it back. megyn: wall street was allowed to trade on a hughes of cards. >> a house of cards created by the government. if the government hadn't put its stamp of approval on those mortgages wall street would have looked at them more carefully. so that part of the problem. leslie hasn't addressed this idea. the president's idea of shared prosperity is to take from one group and give to another. as for the tax cuts. you know those tax cuts were give up out in the proportion

people pay. rich people pay a lot of taxes they got a big break. megyn: always a good debate with you two. thank you very much. >> love you, leslie. megyn: and they mean it. fox news is america's election head quartsers and the republican national convention is less than two weeks away. we'll be broadcasting live from tampa august 22. you can see is live from the site. we'll also be at the democratic national convention the week after. you can check in with our complete fox news election team. the official coverage kicks off sunday august 26. we hope you will join us. growing controversy today over the new hit prime time reality show "stars earn stripes."

why a group of nobel prize winners is taking on the show, the producer and general wesley clark. plus big developments in the trayvon martin shooting case. george zimmerman's defense team says it will not use the so-called stand your ground law to defend this man in this case. "kelly's court" is next. >> i student an grabbed me by the head and tried to slam my head down. my body was on the ground. my head was on the cement. and i said "help, help." roblem? these are hot. we're shipping 'em everywhere. but we can't predict our shipping costs. dallas. detroit. different rates. well with us, it's the same flat rate. same flat rate. boston. boise? same flat rate. alabama. alaska? with priority mail flat rate boxes from the postal service.

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will not rely on florida's so-called stand your ground law in defending his client. that's what everybody those was going to do. zimmerman is facing a second degree murder charge in connection with the fatal february shooting of the 17-year-old martin. here is zimmerman's turn explaining his decision. >> someone confronts you with potential deadly force and great bodily injury you can react immediately with deadly force. you do not need to retreat. this is not i would suggest -- the facts don't seem to you for a stand your ground defense. he was confronted with great bodily injury force. he had his nose broken. reacted first by screaming out for help for 4. >> seconds or more. and then he uses the gun. so i think it's more a

traditional self-defense. megyn: what does that mean? joey jackson and mark eiglarsh are here. mark practices in the beautiful state of florida. here is my question to you. huh? >> right. i would say stand your ground does apply. how could you possibly say it doesn't? it gives you the chance by a mere preponderance of the evidence, a much letter degree of evidence put forth to get this case shelved out of the jury's hands. you could win immunity if you can persuade a judge that the defendant was standing his ground. any way you can say this is standing your ground, that's what you should say. megyn: if he does that successfully t deal with a jury. it gets thrown out by the judge. but the way i read what he was saying, joey. he seemed to be saying, i don't

have to assert stand your ground as my defense. i can get the whole thing thrown out by a preponderance of the evidence before the judge without getting to a jury just by arguing pure self-defense and not relying on this weird law. >> for a change i'll agree with mark. he set it up pretty clearly as to why stand your ground would apply. we are in front of judge lester. this is the same judge who increased the bail and made a decision that essentially said mr. zimmerman is not to be trusted, has no credibility and just excoriated him in every phase of what you can imagine. in the event you have a stand your ground hearing, who is it going to be before? it will be before this very judge who said your client has no credibility. why take that shot when he's going to say no anyway.

>> maybe not. the defense already feels i think rightfully show that they don't have a shot of getting fair hearing in front of this judge. they will let the appellate court decide whether the words that flowed from this defendant's mouth could cause the defendant to feel they couldn't get a fair shot. megyn: are they going to get the judge thrown off the case in the judge was ticked off because he felt that zimmerman lied at his hearing. he said you lied, you misled the court. you don't get judges thrown off cases for that, do you? >> it depend on how they interpret the overall blanket state he made. is there a 5%, 10%, 50% chance if you are shooting that high that this judge may take this out of the hands of jurors?

looking to find them guilty no matter what. megyn: this is what he said. he was asked, why are you doing this? go before the judge and try to get it thrown out. he says the statute gives us the opportunity to go before the judge on a self-defense or immunity hearing. he says you can argue stand your ground but you don't have to. you can go before the judge and just argue traditional self-defense and get the case thrown out before you get to a jury that way. is that true? >> what i believe he's doing -- i don't think they like this judge to be deciding this case based upon the things he said about this clients and i don't think he's inclined to have his proof before this judge. lay out all his evident and have his client testeddify. -- have his client testify.

megyn: can he have the case thrown out by arguing self-defense and ignoring the stand your ground law? >> no. self-defense is for a jury to decide and stand your ground is for a judge to decide. it's like the guy who says i never give money to beggars. i give them to roadside entrepreneurs. it's like calling it something different so it doesn't look like he's getting out of stand your ground. megyn: if what you are telling me is correct and he's giving up his right to this hearing. he's going to hold his cards to the vest to give it to the jury even though we have heard from mr. zimmerman repeatedly about what his case is about? >> he's too smart for that's the benefit is you get a chance to question all the state's witnesses. i would get transcripts and use

it against them at trial. >> it's not a one-way street. >> here is the proof of the pudding. if the event they do disqualify we'll see why he's saying no stand your ground.

megyn: that was a clip from the controversial new show "stars earn stripes." the reality show pairs stars with military experts as the teams race to complete missions.

but critics claim the reality show glorifies war and glorifies u.s. service members. >> reporter: the new reality show "stars earn stripes" has offended 9 winners of the nobel peace prize. but so what. it attracted a 55% larger audience than nbc had in the same time period a year ago. it placed second only for gordon ramsay's new show "hotel hell." it paired actors and celebrities with military veterans. train them to fire long range weapons. fun stuff. they include dean cane, the husband of a a palin. reality tv apparently makes for

strange bed fellows. and wesley clark insists they aim to honor and salute those who serve in the armed forces. but desmond tutu and 8 other nobel laureates have called for its outright cancellation. the letter says this program pays homage to no one anywhere and expands on an inglorious tradition of glorifying war and violence. the requires among the nobel peace prize winners. by am not among them. nbc says the show is staying on air. megyn: unbelievable.

you heard of tennis elw?