brooke, always a pleasure. bill schulz, jaime weinstein, that does it for me. i'm greg gutfeld. 20th, 2012. >> the roiferl factor is on. tonight. >> everybody who has looked at this says what governor romney is saying is absolutely wrong. >> after nearly two months of playing dodge the white house press corps, the president faced reporters today and it was all politics. >> they can run the campaign that they want. but the truth of the matter is, you can't just make stuff up. >> we'll give you the latest. >> if it focuses on the economy, on president obama's abysmal economic record, republics win. if it's a battle of personalities, republics will lose. >> despite the economic turmoil, could the presidential election really boil down to a battle of personalities?

and what does that mean for mitt romney? we'll debate it. >> this is no get together. this is a party. and nudity on tv becoming the norm? you won't believe what a new study says on the state of undress in prime time television. caution, you are about to enter the no spin zone, the factor begins right now. >> laura: i'm, i'm laura ingraham in for bill o'reilly. thanks for watching us tonight. we are going to have the talking points memo on the biden factor in the next segment. first, we want to get to our top story. today the president answered questions from white house press corps members after more than 60 days of dodging them. now, as you may know, he has been under mounting pressure to take questions after doing a series of interviews with

softball media outlets like people magazine and entertainment tonight. in today's he can change, the president was pressed on whether he feels comfortable with the negative tone of his campaign. >> are you comfortable with the tone that's being set by your campaign? you have asked them to change their tone when it comes to defining mr. romney. >> first of all, i'm not sure all those characterizations that you laid out there were accurate. for example, nobody accused mr. romney of being a felon. >> either mitt romney threw his own words and his own signature was misrepresenting his position at bain to the sec, which is a felony, or he was misrepresenting his position at bain to the american people who avoid responsibility for some of the consequences of his investments. >> laura: oh, how soon we forget, mr. president. but he remained on the defense. >> if you look at the overall trajectory of our campaign, and the ads that i have

approved, and are produced by my campaign, you will see that we point out sharp differences between the candidates, but we don't go out of bounds. >> joining me now to analyze, from indianapolis, republic strategist dee dee ben can i and in new york, fox news contributor juan williams. okay, guys. let's go to you first, yuan. the -- juan, the president was under quite a bit of pressure. he had only done one full-length press conference this year with the reporters. show were all chomping at the bit. did he keep them at bay today. >> i thought he did pretty well. what's interesting about this is the white house press corps, i used to be a member of them have a legitimate complaint which is we want to see more of you, mr. president. on the other hand, you know this is media strategy. media strategy suggests when he does entertainment tonight. entertainment tonight actually has bigger ratings than the three top nightly news broadcasts. it's not foolish and he is not going to get the kind of

gotcha questions. embarrassing questions. he is not going to get beat up by that reporter about immigration, you know, interrupted as he is making a comment. a lot of these guys on the talk shows are going to ask him does he like green or red? what's your favorite sports team? that kind of silliness, from a white house press strategy perspective, it's effective. >> dee dee, i don't know about that the president's approval rating in handling the economy is pretty bad. i think that is a pat of the reason, right? he is very comfortable talking about what's on his ipod and chats it up for an intermably long period of time with that morning mayhem crew in albuquerque. yet, when he is pressed on the specifics of how do you plan to grow the economy, jake tapper asked the question this fall it's very nebulous. all very grainy we don't get a lot of details. >> there is he mr. hollywood. is he mr. cool. and he has had a terrible record which he doesn't want to answer the questions, why?

because he doesn't have a good answer. the reason he did the press conference today one thing is because mitt romney came out in the morning saying that akin did something wrong and i think that the president felt like he had to jump on it. i think it was a surprise to him. he wasn't even going to do the press conference because mitt romney came out for independent women and because he came out against akin that is why the president felt like he had to do the same thing because mitt romney was brave enough to do that against one of his own. >> of course we are talking about todd akin the missouri g.o.p. candidate who i imagine is not going to -- contrary to what he said i have not yet begun to fight, juan. he is on his way out. they have withdrawn his funding from the national republic senatorial committee. american crossroads is not going to fund his campaign. i mean, does he really want to cost republicans the chance of winning back the senate because of these offensive and just factually incorrect statements that he makes?

>> dee dee brings it up kind of out of the blue. but i have got to tell it you is stunning. >> it's damaging to republics and to the fact that republicans have relations have a troubled relationship with american women youwhat's g. obama is winning vote because of this kind of attitude and the republic ranks. and so much. >> juan, mitt romney came out against him. that he was the whole point. >> i think the president wasn't responding to mitt romney. mitt romney came out to save his, you know, duffs. he knew. >> laura: he can't win, juan. >> sit out there he was in big trouble big time. >> that's also true. unlike when we have these claims that mitt romney caused cancer and these ridiculous priorities ads that the president does not coordinate that's a technical rule here. the president wasn't rushing out to say this guy didn't do that he waited until today and

said i don't believe that mitt romney caused cancer. mitt romney came out today and he said this does not represent my views and i think pretty much everyone, sean hannity, mike huckabee, national review, myself today on the radio, i mean, we have all said this guy cannot define the republic party. so republics act swiftly against people who make these kind of statements. democrats let them roam free. >> what about stefanie cutter and what she said. >> you two republic women are running, running fast. it is funny to see here on the factor. >> running fast from what? >> i'm not running fast from anything. >> i'm happy that our nominee came out for women. >> margin right now increases with american women for obama. there is no chance. that's why this guy has done. he has said something so offensive that even republicans are running for the hills. >> dee dee. >> agree with you. >> do you know what i find offensive when you talk about women or maybe they are women in the womb. do you know what i find offensive is the president when he was in the state senate in illinois decided

that babies born alive after botched abortion do not have any right to health. >> oh my gosh. >> that oh my gosh should be reserved for the president. >> you want to talk about everything but what he said. >> i want to talk. >> what's on the table here because. >> i want to talk about the economy. >> i want to talk about the economy. >> how about stefanie cutter saying that mitt romney is a felon. >> we have got to go guys. >> the president doesn't even admit it. >> next on the run down, barack obama accused of being a president of broken promises. weaver going to take a look at that. and later g.o.p. candidate ted cruise says his party will lose the election in november if it comes down to battle of personalities. we are going to debate it coming up.

>> laura: in the impact

segment tonight, the strange case of joe biden. that's the subject of this evening's talking points memo. there is pretty much nowhere you can go online today without seeing a reference to a joe biden gaffe or outrageous statement he has made. one day he is telling a heavily black audience that republics want y'all in chains. and then he confuses time and place. rudy giuliani addressed this yesterday on meet the press. >> joe is a laugh line on jay leno. he is not a vice president. is he a joke. you never know what he is going to say. in one week he thought he was in the wrong state. he thought he was in the wrong century. he didn't know that paul ryan was a congressman. >> >> laura: but it's far more than a laugh line. joe biden may be fun to have a beer with is this really the best that the president can give us as his number two? choosing a vice president is one of the most important decisions any president or presidential candidate will ever make. recent events indicated that

president obama has failed in this responsibility serious people should start asking the question is joe biden fit for the presidency? in the event that something should happen to barack obama? leave it to washington journalist though to focus only on whether biden is a political liability for the president's re-election. >> you heard republicans this week saying he is a joke. he should be dumped from the ticket. is he doing more harm than good to the ticket. >> i don't think. biden came one that hit four years ago. all you hear from giuliani, nine verb and 9/11. and it had a weird impact on giuliani got the comedians. so i think there is a little bit of a personal vendetta between the two. i will say this about biden. i mean, i think what they like him for is what he does in the hand-to-hand campaigning. >> you notice how there is really no concern about whether biden really has the ability to take over as

president? just dismissed out of hand. it seems the only reason for obama' that not to replace biden today involves a purely political calculation. he thinks dumping biden for somebody who is actually qualified and prepared to lead the nation would be bad for barack obama. so biden stays. replace the h in the hope poster for w.n for nope and that sums it up. this is why people are more turned off by politics it seems with each election. own jobs than anything out how to grow them that's the memo. now joining us from new york the author of the new book obama's america, the unmaking of the american dream and he joins us now. all right, dinesh, tell me what you think. joe biden provides late night comics with fodder there are serious issues in this hand and this country is facing

class cat his mick cat chris mick. >> we feature biden in new film 2016. he basically accuses me of linking barack obama with his alcoholic father. and of course barack obama's father was an alcoholic and he says i'm also saying that obama shares his father's dream and, of course, so biden is in his customary way known for making a bit of a fool of himself. >> biden can't be helping barack obama as being considered a serious individual to take over the presidency. if one republic had said one of the things that biden has said in the past two wee,ks there would be no end to the media cat walling to get him removed from the ticket. it might be good for republicans to have biden on the ticket but how is it good for the country. >> it really seems hard to

believe that four years ago biden was brought on the ticket as a statesman who would add gravitas because remember four years ago barack obama was seen as a healer and a unifier. >> laura: well, that's true. and when you move on to nile ferguson's front page cover story "newsweek," you know, hit the road barack where you go through all of the failed promises of this administration, one after the other from his promise about dealing with the financial industry to his promise about jobs. i mean, on one to the next indicator, this hand has failed. but he is a celebrity. he hangs around with clooney and anna and sara jessica parker. and apparently the fool factor he thinks is going to get him over the edge. >> laura, here i want to dissent from the neil ferguson article. while it makes a cogent case against obama, it has a premise that is fundamentally wrong. the premise that obama is a bunk gler he is a amateur.

he promised x but he didn't know how to deliver. he is falling short of his promises. i think obama a very different goal for america than we often think. he wants to redistribute money away from america and toward the rest of the world. he wants to block oil drilling over here but promote it in other countries. he wants america to have a smaller footprint in the world, and specifically in the middle east. so, the point is, obama is often portrayed as getting results opposite to what he he intends whereas in my view he intends the results he is getting. >> laura: so he is trying to tank the u.s. economy? is that what you are saying? >> he is trying to produce a massive shift of wealth away from the united states and toward. smaller economy, a more modest role in the world. >> so what you are saying is american families be damned

then? so if the president sees people really suffering out there. in the old rust belt and people who are working two jobs or under employed, or just given up work looking for work at all that he is not really concerned with that because he wants to re-make everything in some new european image so the people be damned? >> this is not about europe. this is really about the world. and i think when most people look at obama and they think of the 1% and 99%. they think obama is only talking in america. whereas i think obama is applying a global standard. let's remember that even middle class americans. even poor americans are rich by world standards. and that's why i think obama isn't particularly concerned if money is redistributed away from them and toward people in rio de janeiro and mumbai. >> we appreciate it and up next, two democrats will respond and weigh in on the biden issue. and then some key swing states say they are no better off than they were four years ago. is that giving mitt romney the boost he needs? he wool break down some

important new polling. those reports after these messages.

>> laura: the president's broken promises and the biden factor. joining me now from nashville, tennessee. john raleigh a democratic strategist julie also a democrat strategist and fox news contributor. before we get into the biden deal. i know you are both chomping at the bit to respond to dinesh, his point that really obama's view is really a global world view. not that he hates america. but he really does want to reshape america. and if that means everyone's standard of living has to either stay the same or decrease a little bit, we will be okay and the world will be better off. julie? >> i don't know where he gets that i respect his opinion i just happen to think it's dead

wrong. bottom line what barack obama is trying to do is reestablish the middle class that was essentially disseminated as well as senior savings by the events of 2000 will which did not happen in his watch. the bottom line is that this is somebody who is trying to reestablish the middle class to make sure the middle class is brought up and not everybody else brought down. unfortunately running against a team that want to make sure people like mitt romney pay less than 1% in tax while the rest of us have pay more and more taxes for their inability and reluctance to pay. >> laura: mitt romney wants to pay less than 1% in taxes. >> if you look at paul ryan's plan which mitt romney wholeheartedly endorsed mitt romney would be paying less than 1% in income taxes. >> laura: i don't see how that is is possible when you actually have -- first of all, i have seen the plan, and we'll let john get into this. before we get into the nitty gritty of tax plans and mitt romney's personal payment of taxes which i imagine is in the tens of millions of dollars, if not more.

john, the president started off by giving that big cairo speech, reaching out to the world. see the president in a different way. not so hostile. not so aggressive. just on the geopolitical basis. things are spiraling out of control. the arab spring. crucifixions taking place in egypt over the last four days. people were dissenting or actually being hung up and crucified by those of course, mohammed more is i. this idea this vision that obama put out making america look stronger in the world. do you really buy that. >> the old conservative talking point of not being the policeman of the world it's interesting to now have obama attacked on that. i think he has had pretty strong decisive action whether you look at libya. >> laura: where, in iran. >> where you look at also the taking out osama. and i think also in caution in places where you need to have caution. where there is not an achievable victory or path to

victory. if the expectation is this president is going to be bringing peace and tranquility to the middle east. that is a wild expectation that no president has ever had in the history of our country. >> laura: i certainly don't think we should be jumping into every nation. i agree with you on that. i'm there. the question is are we better off as americans, putting aside the fact that the navy seals took out out usama bin laden, upon the order of the president, took a little while to get that decision made, but he made it and he made the right call, setting aside that and the use of the bush tactics, using the drones to strike terrorists, most people do not think that america and you can chime in on this is better off in the world. or that their personal wealth about three and a half years. bottom line is you guys were fully in support and endorsement of george bush going in going to spread democracy to the middle east. exactly what he said in iraq.

frankly thanks to his policies places in syria because of george bush's policies. that's fine. blaming syria on george bush. >> rise has happened because of what happened in iraq. you can't further dissend that and castigate barack obama in egypt didn't turn out as we as americans would like it. am i happy about the muslim brotherhood, of course not. >> laura: do you think the arab spring has brought any kind of stability to the middle east. >> that's not what i said. i said democracy. there is a big difference between democratic elections an stability. i agree with you, there is no stability but you guys talked about bringing democracy to the middle east. if you subscribe to that theory in iraq why wouldn't you subscribe to that theory in egypt. >> when you talk about that theory. >> supported the iraq war and thought it was great. >> laura: john, do you think china or the united states today is growing in influence and strength? who is growing more?

china or the united states? >> well, it's all in proportion. i mean i think if we are going to run -- >> laura: what does that mean? >> their influence and strength was probably disproportionate to the size of their country and their economy years ago i think all the countries in the world are struggling to advance. if there is going to be a referendum on the president's foreign policy then this thing is over. is he going to win. >> laura: i beg to differ. america stronger, not. families stronger, not. i think that's a referendum. great to talk to you both. plenty more ahead as the factor moves along this evening. republicans, including ted cruz saying mitt romney will lose the election if it comes down to it a battle of personalities. we have a fair and balanced debate. and also ahead, new at this in -- nudity in prime time television? it's on the rise. we will tell you what's that

>> in the unresolved problem segment tonight, so-called insider attacks against our troops in afghanistan. the u.s. military's top general martin dempsey met with afghan officials today in an attempt to find a solution in a wave of lethal attacks by afghan soldiers and police against international forces including americans. president obama addressed the disturbing rise in violence at press conference today. >> in the long term. we will see fewer u.s.

casualties and coalition casualties by sticking to our transition plan and making sure we have the most effective afghan security force possible got to do it in a way that does not leave our guys vulnerable. deeply concerned about this top to bottom. hopefully over the next several weeks we will start seeing better progress on this front. >> he doesn't care. >> with us now the author of the best selling book, cain at gettysburg, fox news strategic analyst lt. colonel ralph peters. colonel peters, first we're going to get to what happened in the previous segment in just a moment. watching the president today when he showed up this impromptu in the briefing room, when is he asked that question, i'm so glad he was asked it. it's a substantive question. what are we going to do about this? i would liked to have seen a righteous indignation, a little anger on the part of the president. how does the transition plan

afghan officials protect our soldiers. >> the pennsylvania term is pretzel logic. everything is totally twisted. the president never really had a viable plan. afghanistan has been going down the tubes for years there is no chance of making afghans love us. the bottom line all our efforts in afghanistan is very straightforward. all the billions, hundreds of billions of dollars wasted. you can buy sex but you can't buy love. these assassinations of u.s. troops and nato troops. the military military is making argument. don't worry, they are not all taliban guys. not all taliban guys. we are in real deep kimshe's an old sergeant of mine used to say if he they are not all taliban guys that means the average afghans are turning. this is an absolute mess. the military doesn't know what to do. and the taliban, give them credit, don't like those guys but they counter our precision weapons with three very effective precision weapons of

their own. the poor man's weapon. >> infiltration. one of the assassins was the tea boy who made tea. >> yeah. >> laura: in one of the meeting areas and for one of the local afghan, afghan security a lot of people thought this boy shouldn't be in here there were complaints about that tea boy 15 years old. there was concern that this afghan official was sexually involved with this guy. that was the big story over the weekend in the "wall street journal" our men are dying, 39 nato forces dead in this type of violence. last year 35. the whole year. >> total of so far at least 102 dead. the tall back they use these assassins precision weapons. they use suicide bombers and they use ied's. first 8 months of 2012.

>> over the last few years it's been 102. those are the ones we know about really. >> other people have said this. i just think there was no point in our being there. we still v. to still use drone attacks we still use drone attacks. >> am i responding to terror in the wrong way? i'm happy to be corrected by you or anybody else. >> afghanistan is a waste of dirt. egos are tied up in this now. even if afghanistan works perfectly doesn't matter, gets us nothing. iraq happened. obama threw it away. >> laura: election is based on foreign policy. next guess says obama would win hands down. >> weakest foreign policy president we have had in my lifetime. this man makes jimmy carter looks like around schwarzenegger had his prime. >> laura: new polling voters in key swing states are worse off than four years ago.

not a big shot there what that means for the presidential race moments away.

>> laura: thanks for staying with us. i'm laura ingraham in for bill o'reilly. in the 2012 campaign segment tonight, we have got some new poll numbers for you. and according to gallup, a majority of voters in 13 key

election swing states say they are not better off than they were four years ago. interestingly, president obama and mitt romney tied when voters in those states were asked which presidential candidate would improve levee over the next four years. joining me now to explain all of this, democratic pollster bernard whitman, author of the new book 52 reasons to vote for obama and from houston, chris begala a media. i would like to get your opinion on sound bite from senate nominee in texas ted cruise. >> if this presidential race focuses on issues, if t focuses on the economy, on president obama's abysmal economic record, republics win. if it's about a battle of personalities, republicans will lose. >> well, i don't think that's anything new. i think people understand that obama the personality thing going. nevertheless you can't buy food with permanent.

buy food with money you make and money you take home from take home pay and, chris, you can start with this. that's the question that barack obama said was right to ask in 2007. absolutely. >> that's what voters in swing states are going to ask themselves when they go into the voting booth, laura this key swing state poll by gallup says 66% say they are not better off than they were four years ago 40% say they are. i would also caution 1095 of these respondents are quote, adults. registered voters. the numbers are better for romney because it's hard to get those really likely voters out there. no question about it, this is a big poll. you see 72% of swing voters saying that the country is going in the wrong direction

even though president obama declared that the private sector is doing fine. 14% say the economy is good. these are bad numbers for obama. good numbers for romney romney has still got to lay out a plan. he has to tell voters what he needs to do. he has still got a ways to go in that area. bernard, chime in here. just as a bottom line question. that always seems to be the question that wins the day. personality is great. great to talk to people magazine. great to talk to entertainment tonight. nice family. in the end either your sufficient works or doesn't work. >> no doubt this election is going to be very close. numbers reflect that. i have to differ with my friend chris romney has laid out a plan the reason is he tied in a poll majority of people say they are not better off. they don't trust him. they don't like his plan. they don't want him to be the no, ma'am kneel and they don't

want him to be the president. this is a guy who has clearly laid out a vision for america that is a winner-take-all philosophy where the rich get $125,000 tax cut millionaire. working family with kids. maybe face $2,000 tax increase. this is an administration that would be romney-ryan administration that would gut medicare 33 million seniors. the fact is they have looked at the plan. they don't like the plan. >> the gut medicare line and, chris, you can chime in, i don't want to take up your time. but the gut medicare line doesn't even seem to be selling that well in florida. that old, you know, left, you want grandma to eat kibbles and bits in the street. people are more sophisticated that than that today. >> i agree. it isn't selling because there is a darn little thing called facts. $716 billion of obama care comes out of medicare.

voters in florida and other swing states know that look, we have a sitting president with a 43% against romney. 44, 43 among likely voters in today's rasmussen. when incumbent at 43, is he in big trouble. again, romney has got to define himself. 25% of this country really doesn't know him that well. that's on romney. look. when carter was running against reagan here. carter was up at this time. you tell pee if obama is comfortable right now. no way you will see more garbage like the priority u.s.a. ad. anything to distract. but the bottom line is the economy. it's not doing well. that favors romney. >> laura: all right, gentlemen. we will have you back. in a moment, nudity in prime time television son the rise. have the scales tipped in this culture war? we will take a look at the situation. later, comedian john lovitz enters the no spin zone to discuss his backlash, the backlash over recent criticism of president obama. just ahead.

>> laura: new study saying that nudity in broadcast television on the rise. acore go ahead to the parents television council who put out the report during the 2011-2012 season 37 incidents of nudity compared to 15 incidents on 14 shows the previous year. that's a 407% increase in nudity. here is one of the clips cited in the study. >> hello, hey. >> hey, tom. >> how are you doing? >> come on in. >> is it a bad time. >> no. come on. you can give me a hand. >> oh, be honest. these ones or these ones? think about it.

>> laura: joining me now from san diego bonny, a child psychologist. host of in the zone on foxnews.com. diana, you start here. i mean, as a mom, i find it not surprising at all but disturbing three young children, my kids don't watch it v. this is one of the reasons they don't watch any tv. >> i can understand your sentiment. we have to look at context here. the clip we just saw was comedic context. it's when it becomes a sexual nature that i think that's when the sec should be enacting the indecency act that passed in 2006. >> bonnie, let's get you to chime in here. for me, it's only a matter of time before we have live sex acts, real sex acts on television. i mean, at this rate, with the 407% increase, i don't think the numbers lie. context, yeah, i guess it matters a little. nudity is nudity.

is it not? >> well, i think that's right. we, far be it from me to be the psychologist advocating for more nudity on tv, laura. i think you hit the key factor which is this is about parenting. more government regulation or more sec regulation isn't going to solve this issue. unless you lock your kids up, kids are going to be exposed to this. this is about parenting. >> laura: we should not expect on the public airways, during what is traditionally family hour television, prime time television that these broadcasters have any responsibility whatsoever? and this clip that we are seeing now. i mean, first of all, it's not even good television. it's completely extakennous. it's -- extraneous. not necessary to the plots here. i don't want to be a prude here. obviously just gratuitous stuff. it's easy to do. they think that's going to get me the eyeballs. i have an idea for hollywood. why don't we start writing great stuff. when you start writing great stuff, you get a lot of people

watching. that's my view. >> i think you're right. i think you are right, laura. i think people can turn it off though. they have other options. if we start regulating this more, we have already found out government regulation is not the answer here. it doesn't work. >> laura: so you don't think public airwaves, they don't have any responsibility. and why have any designation for family hour programming at all? why even call it family hour programming? we have got regulations on the book now, laura, those aren't working because parents aren't taking responsibility and networks are always going to find a way. >> first of all, parents aren't taking responsibility because the networks and any regulation on this is out the window. they know they can't watch television with the commercials that are on. a lot of those are referring to things parents don't really want to discuss. parents just say i'm going to opt out to me that's a sad thing. 10:00 at night might be different there is a lot of stuff that slips in at 7:30,

8:00. >> adults should be there watching their children and what they are watching. we already know by the time the average american graduates high school. it 20,000 hours of television has been watched more time, it is the content. parents stop being afraid of the television and start having open dialogues and going do you understand what that nudity means in that context? >> no. >> there is a responsibility from the sec and the patients. >> we appreciate it on deck, comedian john loves the will be here to talk about previous

podcast there, and the nature of podcast, you're just open and honest. that's the nature of a comedy club. there's no language restriction. you basically say how you feel. i wouldn't say that now. you know, it's different in a

club. i do standup, my whole act, i make fun of everybody. you can't say on division what you can say in private. >> i know that. here's the deal, we live in a crazy now electronic world, where everything everybody says is instantly on the internet and whipped around the world. what i'm worried about -- >> right. >> -- even though i'm sympathetic to what you're saying, because i think i'm a little bit like you, in the sense i come from very modest beginnings, work our way up, really work hard, and then when we're told we're not paying our fair share, it's annoying. i'm simpatico, but i want the presidency, the office, to be respected, don't want people using those kinds of terms to describe any president. do you see my point? >> yeah, i do see your point, but to me i'm just a mouse compared to the president of the united states, one. two, you're in a comedy club,

and people talk this way all the time. if you've ever been to a club, what i said was nothing. i also said, he's amazing, what he's achieved in his own life, but that wasn't the headline. the real issue isn't that i said it, but what i said and why it went viral, which frankly is shocking to me. who cares what i think? >> anything like that, they're not going to take it into context either. now, the reaction to you -- >> well, i think that's part of the problem, too. standing up for all comedians, people say, well, just because you're acomedian on the stage in a comedy club, that means you're joking around? the answer is yes. i'm not saying i didn't mean what i said, i meant it, and the reason -- >> no, i know, but correct me if i'm wrong i don't think you meant to be personally disrespectful to barack obama to denigrate the man. >> no. i respect the guy. i think it's amazing what he's achieved in his life, but on this issue i think he's being

not honest, let's say. it makes me angry, because i believe that he's -- this whole 1% versus the 99%, it's pitting americans against each other, and there is -- you know, it's made-up statistics. i can say to you, 10% of the country makes more than 80%. or did you know, bill, that 99% of the top earners in this country make more than the bottom 1%, and that bottom 1% is pissed. i mean, i can make up figures all day long. it's irrelevant. the problem is that -- the problem with the economy isn't because people aren't paying their fair share of taxes. i said they're not paying their taxes. what i meant was they're not paying their fair share. i'm paying