madashell@foxnews.com. thank you for joining us, i am bill o'reilly, megyn kelly is next, we're looking out for you. welcome everybody, developing tonight a fire storm of fallout from what one newspaper is calling the hand shake that rocked the world. welcome to the kelly file, still suffering with this cold, no one wants to hear the covughing. it happened at the big memorial for president obama, the president finding himself face to face with the president of cuba, shaking hands with raoul castro, specializing in taking

political prisoners. in just one month last year, cuba jailed more than 100 political dissidents, and this hand shake took place at the memorial for the symbol of freedom. the new york city times asking if this will lead to another new headache for president obama. the political website pointing out that the white house statement, that the hand shake was not planned. see that there? while the new york daily news says it was still much more than just a gesture. and senator john mccain compares it to chamberlain shaking hands with hitler. >> sometimes, a hand shake is just a hand shake. but, when the leader of the free world shakes the bloody hand of a ruthless dictator like raoul

castro, it becomes a propaganda coup for the tyrant. raoul castro uses that hand to sign the orders and repress and jail democracy advocates. >> it was fidel's brother, not his son. chairman of the house foreign affairs committee and a cuban american. congresswoman, good to see you now. i know you're upset about this. for the people who don't follow the relationship with cuba as close as you do, why was this a big deal? >> well, i was born in cuba, and like many in my district, i had had to flee the country, my district is felt with cubans who have felt the sting of communist oppression. he jails dissidents, and it is

so incredible that today is the international human rates day. and yet what happened in raoul castro's cuba's the man that president obama shook, he jailed and detained and beat human rights activists who were trying to commemorate international human rights day. that is why it matters, people are dying to come to the united states from my native homeland of cuba, to free that oppression, raoul castro does not deserve to have a hand shake. he should have shunn ened him a ignored him. he really should have ignored him and shook the hands of democratically elected leaders. >> let me ask you, the white house was now saying this was not planned. and yet political experts from both sides of the aisle, you know, democratic and republican have been saying, not sure if that is true. because these events are

generally very careful coreographed, and the white house would have known. >> i think the president did know. i think his security details for sure knew who was going to be sitting around him. i don't think it was by chance or accident that the president of the united states was seated in front of raoul castro. i'm not saying he was in charge of the seating, but he knew who was going to be behind him. he could have easily turned the other way and ignored him. and it just happened. what matters most is the policy. >> if it was intentional, what was the president trying to say? >> well, i hope it doesn't signal a shift in policy, that is why i wanted to force secretary kerry to admit that raoul castro is a dictator. and that this does not mean a shift in policy, we saw a shift

with syria, with iran, now we're trusting iran to dismantle its nuclear program. it is unbelievable. and i think that the president wants to make good on the nobel prize that he didn't deserve, still has it now, and in the second trm term i fear the worst in this presidency when it comes to foreign policy, he is tip toeing around the thugs. we should advocate for democracy, not shaking raoul castro's hands. >> thank you for joining us. >> feel better, you did great on leno. >> thank you so much, i was able to keep the coughing under control, and yet today, not so much. just adding a little drama to you for the show tonight. well, it was not just the hand shake getting the attention today at the nelson mandela memorial, photographers captured

this. >> president obama posing for a three-way selfy with two other world leaders. our panel weighs in on this photo op, causing a lot of controversy just ahead. and breaking news, trouble for democrats from the white house on down, president obama's approval rating dropping to its lowest rating ever in the national polling, look at this. 38% now say they improve of the job he is doing. 57% disapprove. that is nearly a complete reversal of the numbers president obama enjoyed back in 2009. and it gets worse here for democrats, if the election were held today, others say they would vote for republican news charge of the house and senate. and the spread is even larger when you talk to independents. 50% say they would rather see republicans in charge of congress, 35% say they would go with the democrats. how about that? wow, chris stirewalt is host of

"power play." chris, the thing that is so striking about it, we talked many times about how on the generic ballot, the republicans have been disadvantaged for many months. and now what a reversal to see in the overall, they have an advantage and with the critical independents they have a significant advantage, what do you make of it? >> well, the republicans are disadvantaged in the generic ballot historically, for decades, this is a majority democrat country. when people become ready, and remember, this is just registered voters, not likely voters. among all registered voters, you find a general preference for republicans. if you get there in a majority democrat country what you find out is there is a serious systemic problem. and you find the contours of the wave of election shaping up for

2014, that is why you have republicans like ed gillespie, against others like ed warner in what was thought to be a safe seat. that is when the money comes in and people start to think bigger. >> you know, this quinnipiac poll, the words are, it is a rousing chorus for ba hum bug. and the president came out, trying to take responsibility for the rollout of health care, it is not good for him on obama care and trustworthiness, they don't think he is trustworthy or

honest. >> it is one thing if you think that barack obama is bad at being president. that is something that could change, well, he is doing a little better, worse, up and down. if you think he is not honest, if you think you can't trust him and in this poll, more out of four out of ten of the folks said -- only four out of ten of the folks said they thought he was trustworthy, among independents, 60% said they thought he was not trustworthiness, this is not something you fix by saying hey, we fixed the broken website, it is getting better. fewer people are getting insurance, this is the incremental scale, medium scale, bad governance, people don't trust you anymore. remember, this comes on the heels of benghazi, nsa, they don't trust you.

>> people may have disagreed with him on policy, they liked him, the polls suggest they're liking him a little less which gives you a little less cash in the bank when you are trying to persuade people. and news about the health care insurance, millions of americans finding themselves uninsured, through no action of their own. brit hume has more. and what about this ad, ripping on the unions for failing our children. in the kelly file first, the head of one of america's largest teacher's unions joins us live next, looking forward to this. >> plus, if you didn't see leno last night, we have the story for you from behind the scenes, don't go away.

c . from the world headquarters of fox news, it is "the kelly file," with megyn kelly. well, new reaction tonight to nationwide teacher protests. the most politically powerful teacher's unions in the country, staging rallies in 60 cities, from san francisco to new jersey. trace gallagher has more from the west coast news room. >> reporter: and megyn, they say

that public education is under attack, and two, it is under-funded. but look at this, the united states ranks number five in the world in per student spending, and yet we rank 19th in math, science and reading. now, during the national day of action you talked about teachers from across the country came out to re-claim public education, some of those oppose these common core standard's being adopted in many states across the country. the american federation of teachers supports common core as the way to level the playing field for kids of all income, but also cautions it is not a silver bullet. critics say the real problem is the unions, they claim that the unions protect teachers at the expense of students. the student for union facts took out a full page in the new york times attacking the president saying, and i'm quoting here, the teacher's union continues to protect incompetent teachers and refuses to award outstanding

teachers with merit-based pay. the fact is the union has seen better days, the national association of teacher's union is losing members, holding teachers but losing revenue. this debate over the effectiveness has been going on for the better part of a century. but consider this, after world war ii in high school graduation rates the united states was number one, and today, the united states is number 22, as the debate goes on, megyn. all right, trace, thank you. joining us now, the woman in the advertisement, randy winegarten, thank you for joining us. >> thank you. >> let's start with that critic, the critics say that unions are the bad guy. >> it is so disappointing that richard berman would put an ad

like that in today after the biggest actions of frankly parents, students, and frankly teachers all across america. let me just say this. number one if somebody can't teach they shouldn't be there. and frankly, our union, as well as others, in fact "the daily news" basically said the ad was wrong. we have been actually trying to figure out how to make sure you have great teachers in every single school. number two, where the ad and you know, frankly all that stuff about this is so wrong, some countries have unionization, and actually value their teachers. the issue they have is how do you give the teachers the tools and the time that they need to do a great job. because what happens in those countries, the big, big difference between 50 years ago as now, is poverty. >> but we outspend them. we outspend them, 4-1 in most

cases. i know you were also complaining about standardized tests, but they also use those big-time in some of these countries, korea, japan, singapore, all of whom bested us, they heavily rely on testing. >> actually they don't. >> mostly generally they do. >> they actually have maybe one or two or three standardized tests for kids for their entire careers. what they rely on is great teachers, parental involvement, real engaging curriculum which is one of the reasons that we are very much into the common core. but this is what we see. in the united states of america, if you actually factored out poverty and looked at the schools with less than 20% poverty, we actually outflank everybody. what we need to do is level out the playing field for kids who are at the poverty level. >> what does that mean, what do you actually want? >> we want to make sure you have

project-based instruction for kids which is what i had when i was growing up and -- >> what is project based instruction. >> meaning like if you have a robotics course, if kids are actually making robotics, look at the ibm tech school in new york that the president has just been to. the performance consortium schools where kids actually do a dissertation-like study. >> all right, it is a different approach. let me ask you one more question. >> let me just also say you have to have early kindergarten and wrap around services and you have to level the playing field for poor kids. >> here is my other question, the union took a lot of flak for standing up for bad teachers, the union says it is due process, due process. but one example, which is one of many, this one guy, mark bernt, a veteran teacher who pled guilty to lewd acts of the

students, but the district out in l.a. paid him $40,000 to resign. they paid him to get rid of him. a guy that pled guilty to molesting kids. that is the kind of story that makes people say, the union! >> all right, i totally agree. when i was in new york city, we made sure we had the strictest rules about that stuff. there should never be anyone guilty of sexual misconduct teaching our kids. >> or who gets one dollar of the school -- >> i don't disagree with you. but the bottom line is, the bottom line is, we got to keep the great teachers. we got to make sure we value teachers. >> and i agree we have to keep the great ones, but we have to boot the bad ones. >> thank you. >> thank you for joining us, we'll continue it another time. we're less than two weeks from a critical deadline that could leave millions without health insurance. brit hume with what it means for the white house and the country. plus, the 6-year-old suspended for sexual harassment.

how ridiculous is this? he kissed a classmate on the hand. does anyone else feel a little upset about that case of quote, justice? our power panel here to debate coming up. >> and i didn't know -- i kissed her on the hand.

developing tonight, fox news learning that secretary of state john kerry will brief the senate behind closed doors on iran tomorrow. ultimately at stake is the worry over the iranians getting a nuclear weapon. here is secretary kerry on the development this afternoon. >> the title of today's hearing

is "the iran nuclear deal." does it further u.s. national security? and i would state to you, the answer is yes. the national security of the united states is stronger under this first step agreement than it was before. israel's national security is stronger than it was the day before we entered into this agreement. and the gulf and middle east interests are more secure than they were the day before we entered this agreement. >> joining me now, israeli deputy minister of defense, good to see you, the stakes here are if the senate -- passes or votes in favor of new sanctions, the iranians are saying the deal is off. they said the entire deal would be dead if congress passes sanctions now because they believe it would be a showing of bad faith. i know they don't like the deal,

but as secretary kerry says, it halts the production of iranian until a better deal can be had. >> it is a bad deal for the united states, and american people. it puts the lives of the u.s. people in danger, and clearly to the white house in washington, don't hide. in the path it was black and white, there were sanctions and nuclear reactors. and today, secretary kerry created a gray area, the iranians are happy. look who is happy in the middle east, the enemies of the u.s., and they're not talking only about israel, the saudis, the egyptians, the gulf states. >> i know, and they're unhappy about the deal. but the point he kept hammering over and over was they have halted some progress being made by iran, which is a step further than we were yesterday, or before this deal. like it is not everything, but

it is something. >> but look on the other side, look what happened to the economy of iran, look what happened to the sanctions, at a crucial moment, the western society has backed up. i think it was a mistake, today, the people in iran are happy. the economy is going up. the investors are coming back to invest in iran, it will be very hard to go back to the point where we were before the agreement was signed. >> so you think the senate should impose new sanctions, and the deal should fall apart? >> i'm not defending the politics, we have enough politics in israel, we're saying watch what they'reot what they're saying, we keep all options still on the table. >> danny danon, thank you for joining us. >> thank you very much, megyn. all the best. coming up, a new warning about the possible obama gaps. and president obama's selfy

at nelson mandela's memorial service prompting a fiery debate about what is appropriate and when. our power panel ahead. and plus, we'll go behind the scenes with my very first appearance on the jay leno show last night. stay tuned for the story right here. .

new warnings for hundreds of thousands americans, maybe more who may find themselves uninsured in the coming weeks. the director of health at the white house office of management and budget, also the ceo and founder of avalier health.

dan, thank you for joining us, so you're a supporter of obama care but you have a warning for we believe it is millions of americans tonight that they may find themselves uninsured january one, many of whom have no idea that that is a possibility. what say you? >> yeah, the study released today say there are four groups of people who have to actively go out and sign up for insurance in less than a two-week period of time. so there is a deadline, december 23rd, and millions of americans who are going to go out and do this. >> and the first group of people you focused on, the people who had their plan, liked their plan, lost their plan thanks to obama care and have no choice now really but to go on healthcare.gov. >> yeah, i think the important thing here is the law fundamentally changes the way insurance companies make money. and there are a lot of policies that were not really economically viable under the framework. >> but there were a lot of policies that people loved that got cancelled, too. >> well, they may have loved

them, but they were not available. the law changes the rules for insurance companies, the amount of money they can make, it limits their ability to discriminate for people with chronic illnesses. it forces them to go in where there is a very tight structure of doctors. >> let me point out in your report, small networks in hospitals for doctors, this is one of the problems, is the people that are uninsured. another one of his promises are about to be broken, which is if you like your doctor you can keep your doctor. >> well, there is an upside and down side to the very narrow networks, the upside is they lower costs, the down side it restricts patient's choice, one thing that has not been pointed out is a restrictive network makes it also possible for a health care insurance company to make sure that the quality of health care provided is high. >> how? >> the plans are getting paid on the basis of quality.

and they're moving these quality incentives down to doctors a and hospitals and holding them accountable for actually -- >> you know the argument on the other side of that is if i'm getting paid only if i produce quality, i'm not going to take the sickest patients, i'm going to take only the ones i cure. >> well, that really depends on the quality measures, look if the quality measures used on medicare are to give people shots against the flu, that will not affect whether you take a sick or healthy patient. >> we have had doctors come on the show saying the quality measure, while it sounds good, will remove the quality of the sickly patients, which is contrary to the intentions of the act. >> i think a lot of doctors are not happy about being measured. and frankly as a patient and as for someone who advocates for system change, i want doctors to be measured. i want there to be quality incentives. i want there to be a system that doesn't penalize them for taking

a sick patient. >> the doctors don't want to go answer to ipad or kathleen sebelius and have her in between the doctor/patient relationship. we'll see how it shakes out. dan, thank you for joining us. joining us now, fox news senior political analyst, brit hume. and that is the next question, the next shoe to drop, such as if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor, oh, no, wait, you can't. >> that is something that reveals the fact about this whole situation. the first problem was you couldn't get in the door because the website didn't let you in to look around. now the question is, what horrors or what benefits do you find once you get in. and for a great many people as you point out, the question arises, you go in, you look around, scout for a plan and find one that looks pretty good, that is reasonably comfortable, compared to what you had before. maybe you had a reasonable subsidy, and you look to see if the hospital you're going to,

the medical facility, whatever it is, and the doctors you're used to going to or covered or included in that plan. and so far, a lot of people are finding that they're not. you heard the argument made there by mr. mendlesohn as to why you compress the amount of doctors included and maybe you can keep a sharper eye on them. well, maybe, on the other hand, this gets more to the core of this, the decision about what constitutes good care. the decision not being made by you and your particular preferences, but more and more by some centralized authority, whether it is an insurance company or the independent payment advisory board that you spoke of, ipad, the one that people said was false death panel. but it certainly is not really what it was supposed to be, which was more patient centered. it seemed in that respect, at least, not to be. >> we haven't even gotten to the

days of ipad, we're not even there, brit, this chestnut awaits the american people. and there is a real question on how it will play out. of course, you think of nancy pelosi, we have to pass the bill before we can see what is in it. americans are starting to see what is in it. they can't keep their plan or their doctor, they can't keep their hospital. and now, it may be that they actually have a bureaucrat telling them what tests they can or cannot have. i mean, what happens in this country when we get to that point? >> well, it is not going to be popular. that is the problem with this, as a political matter, megyn, just judging it as a political matter. it is possible that the scenario as mr. mendlesohn described, you have a sharp eye as described by the insurance company or some other authority, constraining the costs. on the other hand, that doesn't mean that people will get the best care available. certainly doesn't mean that the people get their care from the

institutions, that they are used to getting, the issues you raised, until this facility within this website is finally built that allows the information from the website to be reliably transmitted to the insurance companies we're in a situation where people will sign up, enroll. remember, we're always hearing about sign-ups and enrollments. we're not hearing much data about actual purchases. because the facility for doing that is not finished. the insurance companies are going to need to know the information about what is signed up with their policies so they can complete the premiums or what the premiums are, so they can then send them a bill. and until you actually get a bill and pay it, you're not fully, legally insured. so that is another issue. what a lot of people worry about. the window is so tight now for people that have lost their coverage, as of the first of january. they think they're signed up. and of course they find out that they may -- find out in significant numbers that they are not.

which is the kind of problem that nobody wants to have. it certainly is not going to lead to an improvement in the poll numbers you discussed with chris stirewalt earlier in this hour. >> and it remains to be seen just how many will show up to their doctor's office or to their hospital in the new year, only to be told that they are not insured. contrary to what they believed. i got to run, brit -- hey, did -- >> i saw you on the tonight show, i heard your shout out to my wife, kim, who discovered you, thanks. you were good on leno. >> thank you. and thanks to kim, too, where it all started. coming up, we'll show you more on the appearance on leno and get some behind the scenes color. and after all of this health care controversy, how is it that kathleen sebelius may be "times" person of the year. really? we'll look at that. and he is just 6 years old, and he has been branded a sexual

harasser. our panel will be here to weigh on the hot topic, next.

it can he wiscons . back now to a story we mentioned at the top of the hour, president obama taking flak after posing for a selfy.

the critics started in on whether this was appropriate. this is danish prime minister, and david cameron of great britain. still, the critics are saying, who takes a selfy at a funeral, basically, a memorial service, and they say it was disrespectful. david, i'll start with you on it. >> it was, and i mean, whether it is -- you're a head of state, megyn, cameron, the british prime minister, and president obama, better places to do this. you're a head of state. i would be more worried about what michelle says about the president's apparent jocularity with the danish pastry next to him. apparently she is unhappy, and she sat between them. so i think obama might be a little chilly.

>> as he leans over, come on, what is he supposed to say? like you're being o-- he is supposed to say no. i've been racking my brain trying to figure out when is it ever okay for the leader of the free world to take a selfy? and the conclusion is, never, save this for the irish funerals. this was not okay, he is at a memorial for another leader. this makes absolutely no sense, and i agree, michelle obama probably gave him a piece of her mind when they got home. >> his critics are saying that it you know, it shows he was not really that you know, moved. or taking it seriously enough. and that you know, it was a breach of decorum by our leader representing us. >> the people who criticize us, have no idea what a south african funeral is like and how south africans celebrate in honor, their >> they could be d streets after nelson mandela died. you have a point there.

>> this was actually at a stadium where there was singing and dancing, if people really think that the president was not giving nelson mandela and his legacy its due, i would like to refer them to the very stirring eulogy the president gave on his behalf. >> oh, boy, i'm sure people -- >> there were no pictures of the eulogy, mark, it is just inappropriate, for a head of state. >> we'll apparently find out tomorrow who the person of the year is. kathleen sebelius, look at this picture we have of kathleen sebelius, she looks like she is about to give us a shot. the question is whether she should be on the list given the enormous troubles we have seen with healthcare.gov. the rollout of obama care has been a disaster, mark, let me start with you, both sides of the aisle agree to that. what is she doing on is that list? >> time magazine's person of the year is meant to represent

somebody who is influential, so you see on that list, ted cruz, who is a symbol of our divisiveness right now, he was the first person to appear on your show, maybe he deserves to be the most influential because he made that debut. >> you made a good point. >> i love that, mark goes for the negative on ted cruz, they're polarizing figures, they want the attention on miley cyrus for twerking. kathleen sebelius, can have a global effect, she heads obama care. i may have had a little perspective on this, having been times person of the year. it is really about a person who has influence, something about the movement, like the tea party, something kathleen

sebelius who can have influence on us. >> nicely done, all right, john, let me ask you about this next case. a 6-year-old boy from colorado has been suspended. and now has sex harassment offender on his permanent record for kissing a classmate on the hand. and just in case you wonder, how evil this child clearly is, listen to him for yourself, just listen to him. >> i was in class -- we're doing a reading group. and i leaned over and kissed her on the hand. >> i mean, it is a miracle it has taken this long to get that kid out of this school. what is the world coming to? >> this is absolutely insane, i'm going to admit on the record that when i was five, me and dougie rainy used to kiss each other on the mouth when we didn't fight over the broken crayons, dougie raymond, if

heahe is out there, facebook me, a kid under seven is legally incapable of forming malintent, other than if he should turn over the candy board to his sister. there is a zero tolerance policy when it comes to sex harassment, when you're dealing with a 6-year-old, that is nuts, the school should be held liable for that. the school thinks he did something wrong. >> she is ignoring the prior histo history, there is another incident in which he actually kissed this little girl, who by the way has a problem with it. >> this kid -- what is really a problem here is the fact that it trivializes actual cases of sexual harassment between adults -- >> right, don't start until you're a teenager. >> right, this is a real problem, saying this is an example of sexual harassment, we're basically delegitimatizing the other cases in the country.

we can agree on this, this is absurd, thankfully, i don't think his elementary school record will transfer over to an older record. >> i hope some college gets a good laugh on this, on his permanent record. of it says much more about this school district than the little child. >> poor romeo. coming up, my first appearance on "the tonight show" with jay leno. it happened last night, we have behind the scenes photos for you, go to facebook.com/thekellyfile. let me just name off two states right away. idaho where mark furman lives, they don't promote blacks to go to those states, we have private clubs that are all white. utk z

. so that is actually "the tonight show" band playing the theme to "the kelly file," which is just too cool. and last night i appeared for the very first time on the jay leno show. >> you seem pretty straight down the line. >> i am, i am a straight news anchor, not one of the opinion hosts at fox, but i always laugh because i'll have a conservative pull me aside and say i love your conservative principles, and then i say you assume too much. and then i have the liberals pull me aside and say, i know you're one of us, i don't care about pandering to the left or right, i care about my audience, my boss pays me to go out there and ask the questions because he

thinks i know the questions my audience wants answers to. >> how do you think about the raising the minimum wage? >> i liked the system, when i was in college, teaching aerobics, which was another life and another body. i used to do telemarketer work on the side, you get paid by the amount of work you did. i called up, and i was rachel, she was very good at her job, the more she sold, there were 1-900 numbers. right now i sound like i could do a 1-900 number. if you're walking around with that kind of secret, anthony weiner, wouldn't you dial it back a little bit, be on egg shells? >> a little, i don't know. >> and when anthony weiner is in your face, it has a whole

different meaning. believe me, believe me. it is a whole different deal. >> that was so much fun i have to say everybody was so nice. and i got a lot of attention on line for my shoes. did you check out the shoes, they were totally fabulous, ladies they were by sergio rossi, and they rocked. i felt like a princess in those, they were amazing, and can i tell you they were actually comfortable, as well. now, coming up after this break, i'm going to tell you about a moment i had, including what simon cowell told me about a very well known fox news anchor. that is next.

. i had a great time last night, it was a one-of-a-kind experience, and i wanted to explain a couple of things. when i walked out on stage, simon and i did a fake air hug, and he actually came up to give me a very nice greeting behind stage, and i said oh, i have a cold. and he pulls me aside and says what is the name of that morning anchor who keeps wanting to interview me? i said brian kilmeade, he said love that guy. and he is the hardest working

man in television. i brought my husband, doug and our little 4 month-old baby, thatcher with us, he charmed everybody. and i want to say thank you, we'll miss jay leno, thank you, take care. you want to see a bunch of first responders lose their job because you want to protect special interest tax loopholes? >> not so fast, it may be that obama care is responsible for closing thousands of fire departments around the u.s. the new york times wants you to believe that healthcare.gov is magically cured. but tonight, we have cold, hard evidence to show you just how ridiculous that assertion is. >> he shook the hand of a murderer, a thug, and those are bloody hands. >> the president embarrasses the nation yet again, by