[laughter] [cheers and applause] >> cue the bells. you know what? that reminds me of one of my favorite figures in history, i'm a big fan of winston churchill and i have a bust of winston churchill in my office. [cheers and applause] >> churchill said, the americans can be counted upon to do the right thing, but only after they've exhausted all the other possibilities. [laughter] >> i think that is kind of where we are right now. the good news is, it's not too late. we can get people back to work. we can get people out of poverty. we can reignite prosperity. we can save medicare, and we can do this by electing leadership. and the man who is going to lead this come back for america is the man standing next to me, his

name is mitt romney an is going to be the next president of the united states of america. [cheers and applause] >> thank you, paul. oh, what a treat to be here, thank you. what an honor, thank you so much. paul, you're terrific, thank you. and to frank and charlie, kelly, what a team here. and only -- only a catholic guy would be able to get the bells to toll just at the right time, do you know that? father, you did that for him, i know. oh, my goodness. so many friends here in new hampshire. gosh, i feel like i'm almost a new hampshire resident. i come here -- it would save me some tax dollars i think. but it's great to be here with you. you've been here for me on the day that i announced. you've been with me time and time again at town meetings like

this. and you voted for me when it counted most and got me the nomination in a lot of respects and i owe a great deal to the people of new hampshire and appreciate your willingness to be here with me today. thank you so much. it is delightful to have a guy part of my team who has character, and integrity, who has the capacity to take on tough issues, who is willing to take on tough issues and not just kick the ball down the field and hope someone else will deal with america's challenges. i appreciate a man of courage, integrity and strength as paul ryan is. [cheers and applause] >> i appreciate the fact that he's learned how to work with people on the other side of the aisle. as you may appreciate, having served as governor of massachusetts, you either did that or you perished, because my

legislature was 87% democrat. [booing ] >> they were okay, that's all right. anybody here from massachusetts? [cheering] >> oh, my goodness. wow. i always comment there is a border security problem here, all right. thanks for letting me across the border this morning. [laughter] >> this is a guy who has been able to work with good democrats, find people who could look beyond partisanship and find common ground to get things done. that's what we need to have happen. i plan on going to washington with paul ryan and we're going to get this country back on track for the american people. [cheers and applause] >> i'm asked from time to time, why are you doing this. mitt, why did you get into this? you know the reason, you've heard me say this before. you see i want to make sure that everybody in america who wants a job could get a good job. i want to make sure that everybody who is thinking about

retirement or in retirement knows they have a secure retirement. i want -- i want people to know that if they get ill they'll be able to get treated, they'll have healthcare that is affordable. and i want every mom and dad to know that their child will get the best education in the world. these thins we hav things we have to provide to americans across the country. and i know, i know what it takes to get those things done. i've had the experience of working in the real world, if you will, the private sector and seeing how enterprises get started and how they change the lives of people when they're successful. and how, by the way, sometimes they're not successful and how we lose jobs. i understand those things. i want to bring that understanding to make sure we can create good jobs for every american that wants a good job. we've got to do that. and so, i have a deep desire to make a difference for the people of america, of the

middle class, of all classes that we love so deeply. this is a great land and we owe our people a bright and prosperous future and that's what paul ryan and i will do with every ounce of our energy. that's what we'll bring to the american people. [cheers and applause] now i've seen something about what it takes. and one of the fun things of this campaign over the last year and some odd months has been to get to know the people of america and see just how we tick and how, actually how new hampshire ticks as well. i was at the madison lumberyard. i don't know whether you know, madison, new hampshire. a couple of guys there, jim smith, ken moore. international paper owned the lumber mill there. and they decided lumber was the. they were going to close it down. these two guys went to the bank and got investors and loans and bought the lumber yard, lumber mill rather, from international paper and they keep it in business and they employ a lot of people there.

and i respect that entrepreneurship, innovativeness of individuals who step in, take a risk and make things happen. i met a young woman. i was in high point, north carolina just a few days ago and, her name is melanie mcnamara. she is in the furniture-making business. and i'll tell you the chinese killed one job after another in furniture manufacture for a lot of unfair reasons but putting that aside she figured she was going to lose her business and the jobs of people that worked for her unless she could find some way to keep in business and she had this idea. she will make furniture after very specific nature. furniture that goes in the waiting rooms of hospitals that is her niche. she does that well. the 27 people who work for her are happy to have a job because she figured out how she could compete with the chinese and win and we're going to do that from all over the country. [cheers and applause] i, i met a guy in, no, in

southern illinois. jim leotode is his name. jim graduated second in his class in high school, second from the bottom, that is. [laughter] he decided that college was not in his future. and, so he went to his dad and said, dad, can i borrow some money? i want to start a little business. he and his dad worked something out. he and his dad would own half the business. of he would serve food. went to buy hamburger griddles and rollers that make hot dog. you need the big hood to take out the smoke and all that. by the time he costed it all out he didn't begin to have enough money to buy all that stuff. as a matter of fact the conclusion was all he could really do was make sandwiches. so he got some tables and went to a friend's garage and made sandwiches and then delivered them to people's holes. that was his idea, good sandwiches, delivered at

work. now jimmy john's has 1500 restaurants and employs 60,000 people. isn't that amazing. [cheers and applause] it is just, you see it is just the way america works. it is individuals in their own ways pursuing their own dreams, who take a risk in some cases, who work harder than they ever imagined they would, who use all their brain power to come up with ideas, okay we'll make hospital furniture. or we're going to find a way to make this lumberyard work even though this big company that owns it can't make it work profitably. we'll start this little restaurant and it will grow and go all over the country. this is the way america works. i understand that. the founders understood that. when they decided what america would look like, they had extraordinary, i'll call them inspirational thoughts. one was this. that our rights did not come from government. our rights came from the

creator. [cheers and applause] and among, and among our rights, among our rights were life, and liberty, and by the way, that includes religious liberty. we respect the right of religions to practice in a free and tolerant way. [applause] and number three, the pursuit of happiness. americans would be free to pursue happiness as they choose. you see the founders recognized that far more effective in guiding an economy than having bureaucrats try to tell people what to make, where to sell it and how much to charge for it, instead of that we would let free people decide what they want to do. each person going off for their own way, building

enterprises like making sandwiches or hospital furniture or cutting lumber. this would create, as you know, the most powerful economy in the history of the world. you see america's economy is driven by freedom. freedom is what makes america work. [cheers and applause] and the president, the president says something and paul alluded to it just a moment ago but the president said something extraordinarily revealing about himself and about how he thinks about the economy. you could see where he was coming from with what he did. you know with the stimulus dollars, do you know how much money he invested in so-called green energy companies? $90 billion. $90 billion. i guess he likes to pick winners and losers. in his case losers.

and those businesses, those, he thinks that in some respects he and his people by picking businesses can do a better job than free people, consumers making the choice of what is better for them. it hasn't worked. it is the wrong approach. and what he said underscored his philosophy. he said this, and you heard it. he said if you have a business, you didn't build it, someone else did that. [booing] he said, look, mitt, you're taking me out of context. that is not really what i meant. so by the way, go on youtube look at the context. the context is worse than the quote. because he says, if you're a successful you think it is because you're smart and there are a lot of smart people. if you're successful you think you may work hard but a lot of people work hard. i wonled irwhere is he going with this? is there something wrong with working hard or being

smart? in america we value people for working hard and taking risks and build things for others. [cheers and applause] and we recognize, we're in this together and help one another. and americans coming together, by the way, out of many one, us coming together and uniting, that creates a stronger nation. but nonetheless we recognize and celebrate the success of each individual. and we, acknowledge their success. we don't denigrate it. we don't divide americans based upon their level of success. we come together. the other day, i thought about a kid that works hard to get the honor roll and she works real hard. i know to get the honor roll she had, she had to go on a school bus to get to school. when she makes the honor roll, i credit the kid, not the bus driver. [cheers and applause]

and so, as opposed to having a president who thinks that government, that government creates our economy and allows it to grow i understand it is free people and freedom that drive our economy. i'm going to do five things, when i'm in washington with paul ryan, five things we're going to do that will get this economy jump-started again. number one, we're going to take advantage of our energy resources, our coal, our oil, our gas, our renewables, unnuclear. number one, energy. we have got a lot of energy. low-cost, low-cost natural gas will bring manufacturing jobs back. by the way, keep our utility bills down. number two, i'm going to make sure that our schools are second to non. we need our kids to have the kills to suck -- skills to succeed. that is number two. number three, i want trade that works for america. that means we'll open up new

markets for our goods in latin america and other places and we'll crack down on cheaters like china when though play on an unfair basis. number four, for people in this audience to take a risk to start a business or to invest with a friend that has a good idea, or some big corporation overseas thinking about building a factory maybe in the united states or maybe somewhere else, for them to put money and put it at risk in america they have to know we're not on the road to greece. so we'll have to do something and do it soon. we'll have to show america that this team can put america on track to a balanced budget and stop the deficit spending. [cheers and applause]

>> mitt, mitt, mitt, mitt. >> and there's one more. and there's one more. and that's this, i want to champion small business. i want to make it easier for entrepreneurs and innovators. i want the small businesses you work in to find it easier to hold onto capital so that he can grow their enterprise. the president wants to raise taxes on small business. i want them lower. i want to make sure regulators and regulations are kind to make sure we encourage small business. by the way i want to take off that big cloud that is hanging over a lot of small businesses, and that is i want to make sure we get obamacare out of the way and replace it with something that will help encourage job growth in th country. you know how important this is. you know what a difference this will make for america. for the 23 million americans

out of work, one out of six in poverty. we need those things to help folks. we need the things to help the coming generation. one more thing. americans strength is critical not just for us in this country but also for the world. i was fortunate enough to be in poland a couple weeks ago and have the chance to meet with lech walesa, a world hero. [applause] i just met with prime minister tuscan and i came in and lech walesa looked at me. he said you must be tired and came in from overseas. he said, sit down, i talk, you listen. >> so i did. and i spoke for about 15 minutes and he kept on hammering me with the same point. we need american leadership. where is the american leadership? look at the challenges in the world. look what is happening in the meestd. look what is happening around the world. we need america to lead. let me tell you if this man

is your vice president and i'm your president we will do everything in our power to keep america strong, to lead in the world, with strong values, strong homes, strong principles. we'll lead with a strong economy, get this economy going again so people have good jobs and so we can make sure we have a military that is second to none in the world. it is essential that america is strong. [cheers and applause] >> mitt, mitt. >> that's my commitment to you. we're going to get america back. we're going to make sure it remains strong and my request of you is that you also make a commitment. i'd like you to find one person, one person who voted for barack obama, who you can convince to vote for paul ryan and me, all right? you each know someone, you

each know someone who voted for barack obama. i know there are a lot of them out there not sure what you're going to do. you guys i want you to meet with them. talk to them. i tell them we'll help get good jobs and restore our homes and strengthen our schools. suite get america's economy so strong we can afford a military that protects liberty for ourselves and preserves peace on the planet. if you do that job i can make sure we win in november and not just here in new hampshire but help this man and i become the next president and vice president. we'll help get america back. thank you so much. thank you. [cheers and applause] now, it's your turn. we're going to take some questions, and, small audience back here. please. just shout it out. i'm not sure you need a microphone.

>> our national -- politicians often talk about ending the national deficit but that's not really the real problem. it is our national debt. i'm wonder what you can say will help us know what you will help end the national debt, not just the deficit but the actual debt itself? >> well, as you know, we have about $16 trillion of debt, which is about the size of the total economy. and, passing on this debt to our kids -- oh, and by the way, not just the debt, but also unfunded promises to coming generations and our generation. that is about another 62 trillion on top of that. we're passing these burdens on every year the folks at "usa today" calculate the amount of debt and unfunded promise per household. it is over $500,000 per household. you don't know you're carrying and will carry and interest on that and most likely my generation will be

gone about all that interest and debt is paid off. these are burdens for things we have purchased during my lifetime that will get paid for by our kids. in my view, it is not just bad economics it is immoral to pass these burdens on to coming generations. so what do i do? [applause] first i've got to end the deficit and start, accumulating, if you will, reserves and growing. that's what we did. most states figure out how to do this. they balance their budget in my state i came in we had a $3 billion budget gap. we balanced budget. we built a rainy day fund t was over 2 billion when i left. three things i do to one. get rid of the deficit. how we'll also start pulling down the debt. three approaches. number one, we're going to get rid of programs we don't need. my test is this. i look at every program, is this so critical, as a program, it is worth borrowing money from china

to pay for it? on that basis we'll get rid of some programs like obamacare and some others. number two, we're going to take a lot of programs and send them back to the states where they can be run more efficiently and less fraud and abuse. [applause] and number three we'll skinny down the size of the federal workforce that remains through attrition to make sure it is more productive. how do you get to a balanced budget to start paying off the debt. the answer is there are three mathematical ways to do that. you could raise taxes. not going to do that. that is mathematical way. two you could cut spending. i'm going to do that. three, most important you can grow the economy. and so when democrats say, oh, just raise taxes what they don't understand is that raising taxes slows down growth. and, like a dog chasing its tail. you will never get to the balanced budget by raising taxes. you have to encourage growth. that's why our policies are focused on one, bringing

down spending, two, encouraging growth. that's why we champion small business. make it, that's why we champion the energy resources. we want to bro this economy and cut federal spending. you do those two things we get to a balanced budget and ultimately we get rid of this debt. thank you so much. paul? this buy. i want to hear what he has to say on this topic. he has been working on this last 14 years. >> i can't really talk about that. that is the magic secret, pro-growing economics to get people back to work. going from collecting unemployment check to creating and building businesses to having a paycheck. that brings in more revenues through economic growth. cut spending. reform government programs so that they are paid for. the problem is we've had decades of politicians, from both political parties, making lots of empty promises to voters to get reelected. what will happen, if we have a debt crises those empty

promises become broken promises with painful consequence unless we act. turn on your tv when you get home. look at europe. that's what happened. they made all these empty promises. they have a debt crisis. they're in recession. they're slashing health and retirement benefits for current seniors. raising taxes, slowing down the economy. young people don't have jobs. we need to prevent and preempt that and that is what it is designed to do. get people back to work. cut spending. reform government. prevent us from being europe and we'll be the port in the storm in the global economy. america will be the place you want to create jobs, you want to have your company. this is the engine of economic growth we've had before. we can turn it around. if we do that, then we'll get our debt under control and get it paid off and our kids and our grandkidlls wi have a debt-free nation just like our parents. they took on the challenges in their generation. we do that. we revive the american idea and american legacy. [applause]

jenna: that is mitt romney and paul ryan, tag-teaming if you will on this town hall in new hampshire. you can continue to watch questions from the crowd. the crowd is described by the campaign as several thousand strong today in new hampshire. if you would like to see some of the questions being asked to mr. romney and mr. ryan you can do so at foxnews.com. we're glad you're with us today, everybody as we start off this week on "happening now." i'm jenna lee. jon: i'm jon scott. new hampshire four electoral votes but it is pivotal this year. both campaigns think they might be able to win new hampshire and that's why you're seeing so many appearances there. president obama was there over the weekend. after a week of solo appearances the gop presidential and vice-presidential candidates taking town hall questions there. president obama was there as i said. new hampshireis a battleground. four electoral votes up for grabs. the big issue on the campaign trail still seems to be medicare. congressman ryan addressing it just moments ago. >> next time you get your paycheck, look at the line

about payroll taxs. we pay our payroll taxes for two programs, social security and medicare. that is the law. that is is how it is supposed to work. but now because of president obama, it is being siphoned off to partially fund obamacare as well. that is not an achievement. that is a raid on medicare. mitt romney and i will stop the raid on medicare. we'll restore the program and get the bureaucrats out of the way standing between our senior citizens and their medicare. jenna: congressman ryan talking about medicare but certainly a lot of the conversation on the economy. chief political correspondent carl cameron is there live in manchester taking a look at his notes before he joins us. your old stomping ground there. what is going on? >> reporter: nice to be home. this is big town hall meeting for mitt romney. this is his 100th, centennial town hall meeting for soon to be official republican presidential nominee. the campaign worked hard to reserve this last opportunity for romney to

introduce his running mate to the granite state as he opened up his remarks today. he said that they effectively started his victory path here. iowa he thought he won. then thought santorum won. we may find out at convention ron paul got the most delegates. this was his first victory. bringing paul ryan here was a kickoff to the sprint to the republican convention. first caucus state in iowa and then at the he will go to michigan, his native state. that will be a symbolic nod to his dad who ran for the republican nomination in 1968 and didn't make it. he will go off to the convention next week. themes this morning typical not a lot of new news. paul ryan clearly got in step with romney's message on medicare. pushed the ball for the republican party. tried to dominate the debate and campaign discussion on welfare reform and the gop's assertion that the president and democratic administration gutted medicare of 6 -- $716

billion to fund obamacare. there is new ad ad from the republicans and romney campaign will reiterate that the assertion that obama administration gutted welfare reform by gutting the work requirement. this is only state that doesn't have a sales or income tax for a republican arguement government is too big and president obama ballooned the deficit and debt, let government grow and regulatory arm reach far too deeply into the home and privacy of americans. at a consequence the economy is stagnant and needs somebody with experience in creating jobs in the private sector. romney's argument throughout his two campaigns now, going back to the 08 race and now has said consistently he has the private sector experience that would make that possible and now with paul ryan on the ticket he has a congressional insider, no less than the chairman. house budget committee, titled and credited with being something of the intellectual leader of the republican party because of

his budget proposals. romney hopes to focus this on the failed obama policies in the gop view and as paul ryan said today, emphasizing pro-growth, to get economy growing and money into people's pockets and jobs into the economy itself. jenna. jenna: carl, mitt romney continues to answer questions. we'll watch his responses and response from the palm camp as well. carl, thank you very much. jon: chief white house correspondent ed henry is live from the white house. you heard mitt romney saying he believes they can win this medicare debate. what's the status there at the white house? >> reporter: well, jon, i can tell you obviously the obama camp feels this big, big issue for them not just in florida but states like new hampshire all around the country where they're making the case to senior citizens paul ryan will end medicare as we know it. that is what they have been saying over and over again. it was interesting over the weekend though, paul ryan brought his mother, who is retiree in florida out on the campaign trail there in

the sunshine state, pushing back on these charges from the obama camp and the response from obama aides is look, it was the president and his health care plan that came up with savings in medicare that will extend the life of it for eight years. here is robert gibbs. >> well, i think if he wants to protect medicare for his mother he then first of all should thank president obama for what he's done in the past few years to extend the life of the medicare trust fund, to help seen jurors with their prescription drug costs. to help seniors get free preventative care. >> reporter: in the case this morning from obama advisors if the romney-ryan ticket gets elected they're making the charge that medicare would go bankrupt by the end of the first romney any-ryan term that is obviously a heavy charge. you heard the republican ticket pushing back on it. it is becoming clear that medicare is one of the define issues in this campaign, jon. jon: it is one we'll continue to watch until

election day. ed henry at the white house, thank you. jenna: the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff meeting with the top commanders in afghanistan how on to reduce the threat of insider attacks on our troops. we'll have a live report from afghanistan just moments ago from now. a man survives 24 hours in sweltering heat, trapped in a concrete hole. more of the amazing rescue individual very and -- video and as l answer to the important question, how did he get there in the first place? hello?

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jon: well you heard some of it in that town hall meeting. medicare. it trace additionally a key democratic issue. now the republicans are trying to take ownership of it, putting it center stage in the race for the white house. this even as president obama and his top aides warned seniors a key voting bloc, that governor romney and congressman ryan, in their words, would gut medicare. congressman ryan weighed in just moments ago. >> now, we've heard a little bit about medicare lately from the president. we want this debate, we need this debate and we're going to win this debate about medicare. [applause] jon: david drucker is associate politics editor at "roll call." so you heard it there. congressman ryan saying bring it on. we want to talk this debate. we want to win this debate. can they? >> well the only way, jon, to actually win a debate

like this is to be aggressive and positive about it. if you look defensive and act like you're not going to talk about it you will clearly not win. what has changed about the debate over medicare as opposed to years past you have the affordable care act which the republicans refer to as obamacare, even the president calls it that. although this is disputed it is true there is $716 billion that is either taken from medicare or used in a different way. but when the bill was being debated, when it was passed and when we litigated this in the 2010 elections it was clear that seniors didn't like what was done in regard to medicare to help fund obamacare or to reform the health care system. so republicans go in with a brand that works for them and that seen jurors already don't like the affordable care act by and large. that could, it could give them a leg up in the debate going forward. jon: i wonder about the confusion though.

you have mitt romney and congressman ryan there in new hampshire today right now saying we're going to strengthen medicare. yet president obama there saying over the weekend, saying i'm really the one who strengthens medicare. if both sides, both sides are making similar charges, ultimately who wins? >> well, maybe it is a wash. if it is a wash it means the republican don't lose. if they don't lose this issue isn't a problem for them and doesn't help the president as he is running for re-election. jon: gives the republican team something to go on the attack about. if you're on the attack that is generally a good thing in politics, isn't it? >> well, yeah. the old cliche if you're explaining you're losing, i don't always believe that. i think you can explain some things and come out on top. i think the point here when everybody saw the ryan pick, the immediate, the i am moo i can't think speculation -- immediate speculation and i wonder myself, medicare is not a good issue for republicans. and it will distract from

jobs and economy and therefore it is a big net loss from the republicans. what we've seen from the romney campaign that is smart if they are going to win, they were the first ones out accusing the president of gutting medicare. they have been hammering this every single day. they have a brand name, obamacare, that a lot of voters, a lot of seniors in florida and elsewhere don't like. so it gives them a chance to win the argument. now clearly, you know, we believed all along, as analysts of this campaign, that if the president doesn't have to talk about jobs and the economy, he is in a better position but, there's also the idea it is so baked in the cake that people aren't happy, if you throw one other thing or two or three other things out there that people don't like it become as snow ball effect against the president. on the other hand, maybe this allows him to remind people that democrats are generally trusted to strengthen and keep the social safety net alive and it puts republicans on the defensive. i don't think we'll know how this plays out until we get

into the middle of september. jon: david drucker, who keeps a close eye on politics is the associate politics editor on at "roll call". david, interesting, thanks a lot. >> thanks. jenna: we have live pictures of paul ryan taking questions the crowd, a crowd of few thousand people according to the campaign, the first question paul ryan fielded today was not medicare. despite the all the talk over the weekend about entitlements and this is a debate we want to have the question coming from the crowd is the debt, deficit and economy. that is what we want to talk about as we move ahead. we're 11 weeks away from the election. we're only a week away from the republican national convention that goes right on into the dnc. one of the questions we're asking today, what about the plan for job creation? when does that take center stage again? chris kofinis, former chief of staff to senator joe manchin. ron bonjean, former communications director to

dennis hastert. chris, what about that. what about the campaigns going off on talking about medicare and not talking about job creation? why? >> it is an interesting strategy. what is happening here the agenda changed once the republicans made the decision to focus on medicare. now listen, personally from a, not just from a democrat perspective from a strategist perspective i think it is boldly foolish because it is an argument that when you scratch the surface the republicans don't have a good argument. same thing they're criticizing president obama for, the $716 billion savings, cost savings, it is knot a cut, right is same thing ryan has in his budget. you start scratching past the surface of the rhetoric, what you realize is voucherize a program and create a lot of anxiety among seniors who are currently on --. jenna: we're going down the road again. just replaying the covers everyone had over the last weekend. no one is asking for specific details about it, how we get jobs back to the economy. so, should democrats not

indulge the republicans in this conversation and should democrats like the president, come out strongly and boldly with a very clear plan for the united states and what the next four years are going to look like as far as growing jobs? >> well, i think in fairness the president has been out there talking pretty aggressively about the economy and what he plans to do. when you're talking about, to, in terms of tax reform and having reform that basically makes sure that the top end are paying their fair share and you structure the codes that basically allows the middle class to have tax cuts, and that way you allow more money to go into the economy to create jobs, that is talking about the economy. when you're talking about addressing the deficit and debt in balanced way, that means revenues as well was savings and spending that is talking about the economy and creating jobs. jenna: ron to come in here. ron is now joining us. ron what chris said is this conversation that the republicans are having on medicare is, in his words, boldly foolish. he says the president is talking about job creation by talking about tax reform and tax policy.

what do you think republicans should do? should they remain in the conversation on medicare or should they release to the public in the last 11 weeks before the election a detailed plan on job creation? >> well, let me just say this. i think it is brilliantly bold and brilliantly, just smart politics for ryan, romney-ryan team to do this. why? because the democrats were going to attack him on it anyway as soon as paul ryan was selected. they were going after medicare. instead we are, the campaign did what we call, political jujitsu. we took the opponents energy flipped it and gone on the attack against president obama's campaign and said look, you will take $700 billion out of medicare to pay for obamacare. it is smart. it put them on the defensive. what they're doing now over the next week or so they're beginning to neutralize this issue. turn a positive impression --. jenna: ron, once you make that switch, you got the jujitsu move? >> switch it during the convention.

that will switch out to jobs and economy. but what they have to do is neutralize this issue right now and doing an effective job over it. they know voters, number one issue of voters minds right now is the economy but they ey want to keep the senior vote, they want to keep it in the romney camp and don't want it to go away. in fact florida seniors approve of mitt romney and approve of paul ryan far and away to president obama. jenna: so, chris, we knew about the p 90 x with paul ryan. we didn't know about the jujitsu moves ron is talking about here. >> i didn't know the republicans knew jujitsu. >> oh, yeah. jenna: if jobs is the move. let's say ron is right. they will switch back to jobs and economy next week during the conventions. the democrats can sit back and plan accordingly their next move, chris. what do you think the democrats will go for during the convention. what will be the message? >> i think what you do you point out the pathological

hypocrisy of this ticket. here is what is so frustrating for the american people when you look at romney and ryan. they will sit there and criticize democrats about deficit and debt by his own budget they don't have any idea when the budget gets balanced and add trillions to the debt. they talk about medicare but their program actually guts medicare. criticize the president about stimulus and you learn ryan actually sent letters to his constituents supporting the stimulus. and so i think when you do is, you expose the fact, when you scratch past the surface you see nothing new, no new agenda. no new policies. jenna: ron, only 20 seconds. quick final thought. >> we have had 3 1/2 years of watching president obama give us a phoney, basically a phoney administration. we still have high unemployment. we have high deficits. we have high debt. high-end ising. he has nothing to show for it. voters do not feel better off today than they did four years ago. jenna: we'll leave it there. look forward to having you

both back. we have 11 weeks to talk jobs, details and talk jujitsu. we look forward to having you back. >> all right, thank you. jon: fox news alert. we'll take you to silver spring, maryland. look there, just behind that tree. a bus slammed into a house. no injuries reported. @ [ pilot ] now when you build an aircraft, you want to make sure it goes up and stays up. [ chirp ] with android apps, you get better quality control. so our test flights are less stressful. i've got a lot of paperwork, and time is everything here.

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jon: "happening now" in afghanistan. america's top military officer, joint chiefs of staff chairman general martin dempsey, is visiting soldiers at bag gram airbase. this comes as deadly surge of insider violence against nato troops. jennifer griffin is live at bagram airbase. >> reporter: you can hear the sound of military transport planes here at bagram air force base. interesting thing when i was in afghanistan a few months ago, there is so much talk about these so-called insider attacks, afghans and

in police security force uniforms killing nato and u.s. servicemembers. one in four of service deaths are a result of the these afghan insiders. i asked general dempsey about this latest trend in an interview today. sir, when we arrived there there was report of another insider attack, an afghan policeman that killed an american. did this come up in your discussions and what if anything did you decide to do about it? >> the individual that came up is the most recent but the larger issue was actually the topic of part of our conversation and, i'll tell you what's different this time than other visits i've had and in particular what's different about this conversation is that the afghans themselves are now are as concerned about this as we've been. i had a meeting with my counterpart and hon festly we're there for 30 or ha

minutes and 25 minutes of it were him telling what they are going to do. >> reporter: other fibls downplayed the attack because they account for less than 1/100 of 1% of those the u.s. and others trained past few years in afghan security forces. by october the afghan security forces are slated to grow to 352,000 afghan troops but general dempsey and a intelligence officer here says this trend has strategic about implications and needs to be addressed urgently by the afghan authorities. is the some of it because of cultural slights by americans? >> sure, some of it is a result, sure. of all the incidents there are a percentage which are in fact infiltration. there are a percentage which are cultural after fronts. there is a percentage of ptsd. you know these, these young men have been at war for 30 years. >> reporter: these insider attraction will change the withdrawal timeline?

>> no. >> reporter: there was no discussion of that? >> no there was no discussion of that. >> reporter: intel officers here estimate that the taliban has about 17,000, to 22,000 supporters. that is not very many -- afghanistan. back to you. jon: jennifer griffin, joining us live from afghanistan at bagram airbase. jennifer, thank you. jenna: more on that important story as we get it. in the meantime the rover curiosity, the mars rover, had a very tricky landing there out on mars and that was just the beginning of its adventure. hours ago a landmark for the rover. what was in the sights of its laser gun and what's for it and its team? are you receiving a payout from a legal settlement

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planet and now the fun begins. the rover blasting a rock with a high-powered laser to analyze its mineral content. after days of system checks it is finally ready to begin exploring the martian surface. let's talk about it with tom jones a former nasa astronaut and a fox news contributor. they spent a lot of time making sure it is all systems go. we've been updating the software on this thing. now it is about time for the rover to actually get to work, huh, tom? >> it has been two weeks since curiosity landed on mars inside gail crater and with everything working are making up the plan for the first drive across the martian surface. this week they will spin the wheels a little bit. go backwards and forwards about 10 feet and make sure all the drive systems are working. they are going to set course for this place which is an interesting bedrock outcrop about 400 meters away. jon: so they're going to check out this outcropping of rock. what are they hoping to do,

hoping to find? >> this is an interesting place in the landscape, about a third of a mile away where three land forms come together. the same desert plains that the rover landed on two weeks ago plus harder and older bedrock on and layered outcrops where they think they can use the drill on curiosity and understand the minerallology and look for organic compounds for traces of past life. jon: they blasted, sort of a trial of this laser. what do they hope to learn from that or hope to accomplish? >> that is pretty amazing instrument for analyzing rock composition. it is a buck rogers laser gun and lasers a tiny spark of the surface and measuring it with a spectrometer and microscope and tell you elements in the cloud without having to drill or bring a sample to the lab. jon: tells you what the martian surface or what that

particular point of the martian service is made up of? >> you can tell from the elemental break down of the rock as to the minute rolg. if you want organic compound are in place and you have to grab a sample and put it into the chemistry lab on the back of the curiosity rover. jon: we've always been concerned about invasions from mars. that was the big worry in this country. now we're out there blastin the martian surface with a laser gun. so we're going -- >> probing and scratching. that is the idea. jon: if there is life on mars they will be pretty ticked. thanks very much. >> you're welcome. jon: tom jones. jenna: take you live to montgomery, county, maryland we're getting life pictures after bus going into a home. silver spring, maryland in fact. according to local reports, 10 to 15 people on board this monday morning when that bus went into that house. surprisingly at least again according to the initial reports we have a few minor injuries for the folks on

the bus and no injuries of those inside the home but quite a repair job i would imagine. you see that car, the black car in the middle of things. we'll try to get you information and bring you updates during our next hour of "happening now" imagine living your life with less chronic low back pain. imagine you, with less pain. cymbalta can help. cymbalta is fda-approved to manage chronic musculoskeletal pain. one non-narcotic pill a day, every day, can help reduce this pain. tell your doctor right away if your mood worsens, you have unusual changes in mood or behavior or thoughts of suicide. antidepressants can increase these in children, teens, and young adults. cymbalta is not approved for children under 18. people taking maois or thioridazine or with uncontrolled glaucoma should not take cymbalta. taking it with nsaid pain relievers, aspirin, or blood thinners may increase bleeding risk. severe liver problems, some fatal, were reported. signs include abdominal pain and yellowing skin or eyes.

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jenna: a brand-new hour of "happening now." a very busy day on the campaign trail. jon: we are following the big stories. augusta national, home masters makes history today. one of the big names from the george w. bush administration is part of it. we'll tell you who will be getting her green jacket combing up. also, as the fighting rages on in syria, the embattled leader makes a rare appearance. a live report from north of the border in turkey. hollywood stunned by the suicide of a leading director, the man behind huge hits like "top gun" and "develop hills cop 2" the

very latest from los angeles. jenna: governor mitt romney and his running nature congressman paul ryan wrapping up a town hall-style event in new hampshire answering a lot of tough questions about the key issues of the moment, everything from the question, to medicare to the national debt. the public asked some really hard questions, right. jon: good questions come out of those town halls. jenna: we are glad you're with us, everybody, i'm jenna lee. jon: i'm jon scott. 3,000 people turning out for that event in manchester, new hampshire. here are the candidates talking about the issue of the national debt. >> we are going to get rid of some programs like obamacare and some others. number two, we're going to take a lot of programs and send them back to the states where they can be run more efficiently and with less fraud and abuse. and number three, we're going to skinny down the size of the federal workforce that remains with attrition to make sure it's more productive. >> get people back to work, cut

spending, reform government, prevent us from being european then we'll be the port in the storm in the global economy. jon: congressman ryan's medicare plan could encourage future retirees, people under the age of 55 right now to consider private coverage that the government would help pay for through a voucher-like system while keeping traditional medicare programs as an option. jenna: medicare certainly the hot topic over the weekend. wong man paul ryan offering a personal story about his families experience with medicare and criticizing the president's cuts to the program. >> what president obama will not tell you is that his signature achievement, obamacare, raids $716 billion from medicare to pay for obamacare. [booing ] >> once more, he puts this new board of 15 unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats that he's about to appoint who are required to cut medicare every

year in ways which will clearly lead to denied care for current seniors. jenna: the personal story we probably were referring to there comes with paul ryan appearing with his mom overt weekend who is of the age to receive medicare. top obama campaign adviser robert gibbs sat town with chris wallace explaining the president's medicare plan. >> there is a -- we found $716 billion in efficiency and savings, primarily by reducing the subsidy that the government was paying to medicare advantage through private insurance companies, something that was costing medicare not saving medicare money as it was originally designed to do but in fact costing medicare about 16% more than traditional medicare. we took those subsidies out and lo and behold the enrollment for medicare advantage is actually up this year. jenna: the democrats are saying you get the inefficiencies out of the system it becomes more efficient and runs better. governor romney says he will repeal the president's healthcare law including the

$716 billion of cuts. jon: we also have new polls out that shed some light on the state of the race of the white house. according to gallop a majority of voters in the important swing states, 56% say they are not better off now than they were in 2008. that's up slightly from a year ago. gallop focused on these 12 battleground states, the ones you see illuminated in yellow there on your screen. let's talk about it with steven hayes, a senior writer for "the weekly standard" and a fox news contributor. that is always a key question come election time, are you better off than you were four years ago. to have 56% of the people in those critical swing states say they are not, that doesn't bode well for the obama administration, does it? >> it sure doesn't. theoretically that is the key question. are you doing better than you were four years ago. if you're not presumably there is a strong tide against the incumbent. it traction with the right track

wrong track question that most pollsters believe is the best single indicator of the outcome of elections. president obama is struggling at least on that one finding. jon: president obama when he talks about the condition of the economy, he always talks about the have deep hole that the nation was in when he assumed office. again, gallop asked voters if, you know, who do you blame for the condition of the economy. 20% said it's president obama's fault, 15% said george bush. 14% actually said it's a little bit of both of them. i guess you could say according to this poll he owns this economy in the eyes of most voters. >> yeah, you know and that's a number, jon that we've seen steadily move toward president obama as people come after three and a half years to blame him more for the economy than they did initially when they blamed george w. bush. i think that is fair. even paul ryan and mitt romney

will say it's clear that president obama inherited a bump economy. this was not a good economy that the guy was handed, but of course if you look back at the arguments that president obama was making in the final six weeks of the 2008 campaign, he laid out specific plans and policies to remedy what was wrong with the economy, and i think, you know, what we're seeing in these polls is that most voters believe that that has not actually worked. jon: there is a question that gallop also asked that how president obama has performed regarding his handling of the economy. they essentially asked, how president obama been as -- has he done as well as expected, as you expected. 52% yeah, he's done about as well as they expected. 46% say no. what do you make of that question and the answers? >> it's a weird question. i mean i think it's a weird question because of course the unknowable there was what were people's expectations before.

you can ask people who are skeptical of the job president obama has done, did he do as well as you expected him to do, they'll say yeah, i think he did as well as i expected him to do, because i didn't expect him to do that well, i didn't agree with the policies that he laid out. jon: you have a lot of people in very important swing states saying that they are not better off than they were four years ago, and, you know, those are the people who are going to be making the decision, really, those swing states are going to be deciding who the next president is going to be. it's an absolute tie there in this usa today gallop poll, 44% for president obama, 44% governor romney. who would you feel better off in four years? >> right, and that is the thing i think that you've seen especially over the past week with mitt romney having chosen paul ryan as his running mate, trying to layout the case that this is something republicans will do. we are going to take you on a different path, as republicans,

than president obama has. i think that's what you're hearing mitt romney and paul ryan trying to say and it's something that they hadn't done nearly as much over the first several months of the general election campaign, and something that i think that we'll hear dwigh kwao*eu quite a bit more about at the republican convention in tampa next week. jon: thank you. jenna: we'll zero in on one of the swing states, missouri, where there is a growing controversy over comments by a republican candidate for the senate. just to put this in context according to recent polls from survey usa if the election were held today in missouri 44% would vote for president obama, 45% would vote for mitt romney. you've got to consider the margin of error. if you consider that really it could go other way. let's get to the controversy over comments by todd a i-k en who is trying to unseed the

democrat, claire m makascall. he was asked, should abortion be legal in case of rape. >> if it's a legitimate rape the female body has ways to shut that down. let's assume that didn't work or something. i think there should be some punishment, the punishment should be on the rapist but not attacking the child. >> here is reaction. she said this statement is a window into todd a i-k en's mind. i hope this is one of the gut-check moments for the people of missouri when they say this is not someone we want speaking for us on the floor of the united states senate. reaction from mitt romney he said this. congressman a i-k en's comments on rape are insulting, inexcusable and frankly wrong. like millions of other americans we found them to be offensive. for his part congressman a i-k en issued a statement that he

regrets misspeaking. as this develops we'll bring you up to date. jon: augusta national golf club is breaking new ground now admitting women as members. the club is inviting former secretary of state condoleezzaa rice and south carolina business executive darla moore. both women have accepted the invitation. they will become the first female members in the 80-year history of the club when it 0 opens for a new season in october. augusta is the home of the masters tournament, one of the most exclusive golf clubs in the world, and yes they are going to get fitted for their very own green jackets. jenna: nice a new age there. syrian president bashar al-assad making his first public appearance in weeks attending prayers at a damascus mosque to mark the start of a muslim holiday. its the first time we've seen him since a july bombing killed four of his senior aides. in the meantime the last of the u.n. military observers are leaving syria today after failing to negotiate a ceasefire

between rebels and regime forces. steve harrigan is streaming live from southern turkey with more. >> reporter: jenna, we're seeing government forces rely more and more on air power, on warplanes as well as helicopter gun ships. this as the area of the fight inside syria continues to expand. a rag tag rebel check-point with one rifle between five fighters offers no defense against government air power. but even after their neighborhoods have been destroyed some syrians refuse to leave. this man has been digging with his hands for two days to find the bodies of his tucsons. he won't leave without them. his neighbor also lost her son. help us, she cries, save us. the dan on family lived here, an air strike last year killed usef dannon age 80, along with othe

with many others. 17 family members. this man survived. my mother, fathers, sisters, cousins are all dead he says. air power has been enough to take control of certain territories but not to keep the territories quiet. witness the fighting still going on in the outskirts of damascus and inside aleppo. jenna back to you. jenna: 17 members of one family brings it home to all of us here, steve, thank you. steve harrigan a reporting live from turkey today on the situation in syria. jon: absolutely awful. and the fighting, no signs of it ending. jenna: or changes, that is the big question. jon: in this country three emergency landings over the weekend raising serious questions about one of the nation's largest airliners. we'll tell but that. jenna: we certainly need to hear that as a nervous flier myself,

jon as you know. a six-hour spacewalk underway right now hundreds of miles above the earth. we'll tell you what they are doing up there, coming up next. jon: good news for fans of country music legend willie nelson. we'll tell you more about that coming up. ♪ on the road again. just can't wait to get on the road again. the life i love is making music with my friend, and i can't wait to get on the road again. ♪ ♪ i can't wait to get on the road again. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] after years of celebrations, marie callender's gives you a way to make any day a special occasion. new mini cream pies for one. real whip cream and a cookie-crumb crust. marie callender's. it's time to savor.

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jon: two international space station crew members are in the middle of a six-hour spacewalk right now. the two russians are installing a shield to protect the iss modules from any space debris. a second spacewalk scheduled for august 30th. country music legend willie nelson says he's feeling better after canceling a weekend performance. the 79-year-old was reportedly having trouble breathing. his spokesman says no other shows will be canceled.

and the national transportation safety board investigating a small plane crash that killed two people sunday on new york's long island. the single engine plane crashed on a residential street. one person survived. jenna: united airlines doing some serious damage control after three, three emergency landings over the weekend. the incidents left hundreds of people stranded and left many wondering about the safety of united's fleet. it's sort of an on just yes. patti ann is live with more. >> reporter: that's right, jenna, the spotlight is on united's maintenance after the three emergency landings in one weekend. on saturday night united flight 96 to berlin returned to newark liberty airport in new jersey two to problems with the left engine. united flight 409 also out of newark returned to the airport after the crew, quote experienced an unusual smell in the cockpit according to an airline spokesman. it was headed nor seattle. united flight 1144 out of george

bush airport in houston returned to the airport due to engine problems. it was bound for boston. united said the last landing was out of an abundance of caution due to a possible mechanical issue with the engine. in the flight to seattle the faa says the condition was a possible problem with the air-conditioning system. in the saturday incident there were unconfirmed reports that pieces of a blown tire may have been sucked into an engine sparking flames. so far they think the flight overheated on take off. no one was hurt in any of the incidents. hundreds of passengers were delayed. it is raising eyebrows especially since united merged with continental in march. the faad are investigating. jenna: we'll take an abundance of caution over the opposite. maybe a little caution is not a bad thing. patti ann, thank you. jon: turning our attention now to a growing wildfire threat in northern california. the situation there going from bad to worse. a wildfire about six hours north

of san francisco has now burned 1900 square miles of forest, destroying several homes in the process. at least 3,000 more potentially are in danger. the state sending in nearly a thousand firefighters to try and get the situation under control. claudia coulclaudia cowen is live from san francisco now. what about evacuations, there must be some. >> the pond toda ponderosa fire has forced people from their homes. crews are attacking it from the air, check out the pictures making the bright orange phoscheck drops. three helicopters also making drops on this fire. conditions are tender dry. one evacuees describes the inferno. >> i was on the road and saw flames on the road on either side, and i looked up and

everything was black, it was like i was in a black box, and i just drove through it, and i couldn't breathe, and then there was fire everywhere, like you turn around everywhere it was on all sides of you. >> reporter: fire officials have not determined the cause but it started off a series of lightning strikes, and, jon, lightning has caused dozens of wildfires throughout the state. back to you. jon: and other western states aren't doing much better, huh? >> reporter: yeah, dozens of fires burning right now. i'll take you first to idaho. 350 homes near boise are threatened by the trinity ridge fire, it's burned 138 square miles already. heavy smoke as you can see making visibility a big problem there. in central washington better weather conditions are helping crews gain ground on a fire that broke out last week and burned dozens of homes. they expect to have it fully contained later today. voluntary evacuations in effect on the hawaiian island of

kaaui. crews are making progress in utah where evacuation orders have been lifted east of park city. dozen of wildfires are burning in nine drought stricken states. we'll have up dates throughout the day. jon: claudia thank you. jenna: up next we're tracking a bizarre case here in new york city, a father reaching from beyond the grave writing a provision in his will that his gay son has to marry a woman for his son to claim his inheritance. for his grandson to get his in inheritance the son of that man has to change his life. our legal panel weighs in on whether or not that is for example legal to do. congressman paul ryan attracting big crowds on the campaign trail, reminding many of then senator barack obama four years ago. will he help drive young people

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>> i do think it's too far, jen a. i wasn't sick in property class when they told you you're allowed to dispose of your property to anybody you want. he continue give his property to terrorists who want to kill americans. there are restrictions on what he can do with his property. i have four young children, as a parent our job is to love our children unconditionally as long as it's not breaking the law. you have to put your prejudices aside. for him to try to continue to try to do this. talk about him being the worst child in the world.

jenna: we looked at other cases in new york city courts. one father said of his grandchildren that they would get his personal property only if they married jewish spouses. we had another one where a grandfather said, okay i'll give my grand kids money but they have to be raised roman catholic. and the courts upheld both of those and those have to do with beliefs too. is this legal? >> absolutely. i mean fred is making an emotional argument from the heart, but the legal side of things is totally different. you can't disinherit your spouse in most states, but you don't have any obligation to provide an inheritance for your children or grandchildren. and you can put conditions on gifts, like frank mandleba u.n. did in his will. this is absolutely legal. you can see from other cases there is precedent in this. courts are very reluctant to look into the person making the will, their beliefs or thoughts at the time they are making the will. as long as the will is valid pretty much they'll go along with whatever you're asking to do, as long as it's not, you know, providing ammunition to

terrorists or -- jenna: there is a crime involved. >> doing things totally crazy like fred brought up, exactly. >> wait a minute. the will requires the son to engage in a sham transaction, quite frankly. >> no it doesn't. >> yes it does. yes it does. >> no it doesn't fred because all it does -- go ahead. >> yes it does. his father knew he had lived an alternative lifestyle. the knew in order for the son to do this he would have to engage in basically a sham marriage. how can you foster and encourage that. jenna: is this a crime as well? if this guy divorced his partner and then married somebody else but it wasn't a real marriage is that then indulging in another crime, for example, like fred is pointing out, then there is a case here. >> jen a that is another legal issue that you would have to take up there and then. at the time if it was a sham marriage the wife could come in and say this was a total fraud and i was duped into doing this. i mean that would be sort of a different case. the grandfather is not requiring anything except, you know,

making his son marry the mother of the child in order to get the inheritance. so he's not forcing him to commit a crime. he's actually giving a condition for receiving the inheritance. >> he's forcing him to engage in a complete and other some o sophestry. that is not correct. >> the son doesn't have to do it. you know, the son could provide an inheritance to the grandson himself if he's concerned about this child. jenna: there are so many parts of this case that are interesting as all of us look at our own families, right. we all know somebody written out of a will or not given something for other reasons. apparently the son himself, the son of frank wasn't necessarily cut out of the will and wasn't shunned from the family, it was a condition for the grandchild. so not that that makes it right or wrong, that is up to our viewers to have their opinion on that. but go ahead. >> and the courts ultimate lie. it's up to the courts ultimately.

if the son brings a case to the court it will be up to a judge. you know, this son is a judge himself. he should know better than trying to -- jenna: final comment from you fred. what about the grandchild? when he grows up does he have a case against his dead grandfather for this. >> i think it's actually worse. the grandfather is punishing that grandchild because he doesn't agree with the father's lifestyle, that is even worse, that is a terrible message to send to a grandchild. >> neither the son or the grandchild have a leg to stand on in this one. jenna: we'll continue to watch this case, a very interesting debate. we appreciate your expertise, thank you. jon: a tragic end for one of the most successful filmmakers in hollywood. tony scott took his own life. now hollywood is asking why. a live report coming up. new charges that the media are biased in covering the election. our news watch panel takes a look. it's something you're born with.

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jenna: turning back to this year's race for the white house, four years ago young people came out in droves to support the president's candidacy, but republican vice presidental pick paul ryan at age 42 is said to be doing something similar to energize the g.o.p. ticket. will he help republicans attract the youth vote this november? doug mcelway is in washington with more on this. >> reporter: one pollster calls

them sangas. colleg educated not going anywhere. these are the young people who bought into hope and change three and a half years ago. today they may be living back in their parents' home, unable to find work and repay their college loans. four years ago two out of every three people in the 18 to 29-year-old demographic chose obama over senator john mccain. that now appears to be changing. >> the flip side of that you have 8 million new voters who have come of age since 2008. these are college freshman and som sophomores who saw their older brothers and sisters get caught up in hope and change. we are seeing those people are more conservative. they say they don't want to me the same mistake as my holder brothers and sisters did. >> another appeal is medicare and social security. those young people who have jobs are paying into those entitlement systems but are pessimistic that the programs

will exist when they come of age. >> of those who do believe it will be around only 5% think it will be funded to the level it's funded today. this is a generation that is willing to accept that and say now it's talk about it. let's have a conversation as a country about what we can do to fix that. >> reporter: hard numbers on the swing in youth voting are really hard to come by. most polling is done by hard telephone line and most young people as we all know use cell phones these days. and the regulations governing cell phones are more strict. we do sense a little bit of a sheufplt it should become clear in the weeks to come. jenna: those crazy kids with their cell phones. college educated not going anywhere, that is a little harsh doug. >> reporter: it doesn't apply to awful them. i know young people who have jobs. jenna: and they have goals to go somewhere some day. thank you an interestingus toda. jon: i'm going to have to

remember that. there have been accusations from some surprising sources that the mainstream media are in the tank from phez. president obama even like mark halperin. he said the media is very susceptible to doing what the obama campaign, specifically in this case he was referring to focusing on mitt romney's taxes. so are the media being fair or unfair in this race so far? let's get into a debate with jim pinkerton a contributing editor and writer for the american conservative magazine. alan colmes is host of the alan colmes radio show and you know him well from his many appearances here on fox. thanks you both for being here. so, jim, take us to what mark halperin said over the weekend. mark halperin far from being a conservative. he said essentially that the media are susceptible to doing what the obama campaign wants, namely focusing on mitt romney's tax returns. >> right, i'm kind of curious

what alan's reaction to that is and how he talks himself out of that one. given the fact that mark halperin is a veteran of time magazine, a total, total establishment magazine. he says the press core is doing what the obama campaign wants. he says the voters are interested in the economy and medicare, for some strange reason which is to say david axelrod is telling them so the media is preoccupied with mitt romney's statements. that is a statement from inside the belly of the beast. i don't know how he's going to talk out of this one. >> my career is over. how hreu get out o will i get out of this hoerbz mace that i horrible maze i'm in. mitt romney is talking about his taxes. he keeps it front and center. he said at the end of the week he'd release his 2011 taxes by

october 15th. his wife ann romney gave an interview and acted angry when asked about the taxes. paul ryan released his taxes, they are putting out ads about medicare lying about barack obama, they are claiming that he doesn't require work in order to get health. that is not true. they are the ones mismanaging their own campaign and not talking about the economy. it's not the liberal media doing it, it's the romney campaign that is keeping front and center things that they probably should not be talking about if they want to win this thing. they are not talking about the economy. >> they are being -- romney and mrs. romney are being asked at every interview about their taxes. by contrast mr. and mrs. obama aren't be asking about tony resco. >> that is six years old, come on. >> romney's taxes are ten years old. >> you know romney's father set the standard for release of taxes. romney himself, his campaign just said we'll release 2011 on october 15th. ryan did a media dump late friday afternoon, you know, in

august to release his tax returns. they are making this front and center. they are talking about medicare which is a nonstarter for a republican campaign. they will not win on the medicare issue. >> mark hal principa halperin says you're wrong. he says they are doing what the obama campaign wants to do. >> i disagree with him. can i have your permission to dis disagree with him please. jon: what about the president's quote when he said you make a big election about small things. on balance aren't mitt romney's tax returns a relatively small thing. >> you can easily solve the problem by doing what every other candidate has done. i guess he gets asked about it. you have got the document dump friday afternoon. the statement about october 15th. you've got him saying, he's bringing up -- you have ann romney reacting angrily rather than in a light hearted matter. they are keeping this front and center, they are talking about

medicare and welfare, things that are not as related to the economy as they should be. they are talking about obama not requiring work in order to get assistance which is not true. they are putting out falls information. as long as they keep doing that, they are not direct being the narrative in a way that would help their campaign. >> as long as the press core aren't interested in the source of the white house leaks, and as long as the press core aren't interested while david plaugh sits in the white house after getting a hundred thousand dollars from a company that does business with iran, that is proof, because the great defects of the obama campaign, which is to say again, did they leak their way to get reelect wil reelected and someone took money from iran to get reelected. those are bigger questions. >> we can talk about jobs lost by bain capital. that is a nonstarter for the romney campaign. they have paul ryan on the ticket to claim that's what they want to do, talk about the

economy, it hasn't worked that way. they have no bump with ryan. they are in trouble. jon: in the moan time you have "newsweek" magazine, which, you know, has -- well i think president obama is on the cover more times than any other human being, puts him on the cover this time saying, hit the road, barack. jim, i just want to know what you thought when you saw that cover. >> i mean, you had to laugh. a few months ago "newsweek" put a gay halo on top of obama, and then they do this. i mean it's so -- and they called romney a whimp. there is a reason why the publication sold for a grand total of $1 two years ago. that's about what it's worth and they are kind of desperately flailing. i don't doubt they will change their position ten more times between now and november as to who is up and down on their cover. >> we heard conservatives rail about how liberal "newsweek" magazine is. now they put out this cover. i have to agree with jim in this

case, it's desperation in an attempt to breakthrough the media noise and get some attention. jon: did i just hear you're agreeing with jim? >> on this one minor point. it's a one off like halperin. jon: let me mark that on my calendar. good to that you. thank you. you can watch news watch every saturday 2:30pm eastern time. we cover the coverage of the week's big stories. and we'll be right back. >> announcer: meet mary. she loves to shop online with

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jon: new controversy over the bailout of understand water home owners in california. under the federal program the government and commercial banks are supposed to help pay down mortgages, splitting the costs 50-50. the banks are holding onto their money leaving taxpayers to pick up the tab. william la jeunesse is in los angeles to explain. >> reporter: you remember taxpayers were told they would not bear the full brunt of the housing crisis that responsible

homeowners would not have to bailout the banks. well that is exactly what is happening with your money. >> they pay my monthly mortgage payment of 2578. >> reporter: they is you. american taxpayers are paying her mortgage for six months after her husband lost his job. when that money dries up ramirez hopes for even more government help. >> i'm hoping because we've already qualified for this that we may well be able to qualify for that next principle reduction. >> reporter: that means a reduction or write down of her mortgage principle under the keep your home program. >> the best part of the pla will require both buyers and lenders to step up and do their part, to take on some responsibility. >> reporter: yet banks receiving billions in bailout money were not required to step up and pay half of the mortgage write downs. the other half coming from government. >> so we thought, you know, 50-50 was much more attractive and we would have much more

traction with lenders. it didn't turn out to work as well as we would have liked. >> reporter: california became the first state to use 100% taxpayer dollars to reduce homeowners mortgages by up to $100,000. >> i think taxpayers should be furious at the idea, again, that everybody gets completely off the hook. >> reporter: yet california officials defend the program. >> i'm acutely aware of every home that goes into foreclosure in my neighborhood. my property values are going down. so if we can help save some of these people, you know, that's to my benefit. >> reporter: so 19 states received $8 billion to buy down mortgages. most states have refused to go all in fearing it would encourage people to abuse the system because other people were picking up the tab when banks renews to do anything. california decided to go 100%. as a consequence we are only helping about 9,000 homeowners rather than 24,000 because such a large chunk is going to so few

home ow homeowners. jon: what a mess. thanks. jenna: taking to the air to combat the worst outbreak of west nile virus in the country. we'll tell you where it is and the challenges they face coming up next. plus hollywood is stunned after a legendary filmmaker takes his own life. according to police in hollywood. reaction to the death of "top gun" director tony scott, next. 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. 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

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jon: in texas they are pressing on in the fight against the worst outbreak of west nile virus in the country, planes launching a new round of spraying in the dallas area. public health owe fashio officials say all areas have seen one spraying of pesticide.

heavy rain could stof them from finishinstop them from finishing the job. janice dean is live in the weather center. they don't need rain, because it interferes with the spraying and standing water is the problem. >> you want to make sure folks have the spray that you can put on that has the deet in it. my husband and i got some this weekend. that is really important. yes, in terms of weather, we are looking at storms to the south here along the gulf of mexico, as well as moving out of parts of new mexico in towards the panhandle and oklahoma. i know they were planning to spray in and around the dallas area, but storms to the north and west of them, they need to keep an eye in the sky. a quick look at the future radar as we go further out, overnight tonight looking at this little thunderstorm cell as it continues to move a little bit more south and eastward. there is dallas. this region here we are watching the potential for not only thunderstorms but some that could actually turn severe with hail, damaging winds and isolated tornadoes. we'll certainly keep an eye on

that region. jon, we are reaching peak season in the tropics. watching this area of low pressure that is going to bring some inclement weather across the gulf of mexico in the texas region, and then this area very, very watching this area carefully as it could become our next tropical system izaac. this is getting too close for comfort across the u.s. back to you. jon: doesn't look good. janice dean, keep an eye on it thank you. jenna: to hollywood, there are new reports that "top gun" director tony scott may have been diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor before he jumped to his death from an l.a. bridge just yesterday. adam housley has more on these breaking reports. adam. >> reporter: yeah, jen a we've been able to confirm there were some notes we're told left in his car, the tie oath a tre toyota prius. it's the vincent thomas bridge.

that's the bridge it's basically above the cruise ships. heped 185 feet to his death. right a way when we heard this happened people in hollywood were shocked. here is a man whose career still has been going very well. his family life from all reports had been fine, and there were a lot of questions. now we've been told there were notes found in the car, as well as at his office and that a number of reports have suggested that in those notes he explains that he has inoperable brain cancer and that was what led him to this. we are trying to confirm that. there have been multiple reports saying that, along with the notes that we have been able to confirm. i can tell you at this hour there is also an autopsy underway at the los angeles coroner's office. we will get that information to you once that has been completed. meantime the movies he's directed are really, i mean it seems like one after another. he really developed that niche of the movies, everything from, you know, "spy games," "true

romance," "beverly hills cop ii." the taking of pelham123. one after another. we are getting feedback from hollywood. this happened late in the day by the time his body was found. the information didn't come out until later on in the evening. we are starting to hear from stars and directors alike. ron howard on twitter made a statement, he said no more tony scott movies, tragic day. value kill more followed with rip tony you were the kindist film director i've ever worked for. you'll be missed. roger ebert said the death of tony scott is shocking and sad evening. he was an inspired crafts man. we heard from julian brey had this to say about the director tony scott. >> tony scott has left behind an amazing raft of work and there are a lot of people who will be very, very grateful to him for what he's done. >> reporter: scott was 68 years old he leaves behind a wife and

two twin sons. jenna: you think of his family today. adam, thank you. >> reporter: absolutely. jenna: we'll be right back. ♪

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