>> three, two, one, beck! glenn: welcome to the glenn beck program. glenn is off tonight. i'm judge andrew napolitano. tonight, general motors is almost out of bankruptcy in just about a month. why isn't anyone talking about how fast and how unconstitutional this has been? also, oil tycoon t. boone pickens drops his plan to build the world's largest wind farm. he is here and he will tell us why, and we go live to alaska for the latest on governor sarah palin. if you believe this country is great, but the government is marching us toward hell, get out of line and stand up. you know the drill! no m&m's, no converse sneakers, but plenty of beck. come on, follow me.

after about a month, the judge has approved the sale of general motors' strongest assets to a newly formed company, a major step towards leaving chapter 11 bankruptcy. here is how it breaks down, the u.s. government, you, the taxpayer, will own about 61% of general motors. the unions will own 17.5%. the canadian government will own 11.7%, and the old general motors will own the remaining 10%. the company will be made up of chevrolet, catd lack, buick and gmc and a minority stake in general motors europe, but aren't there serious problems in handling such a giant bankruptcy, and in such a short time? here is tom woods, the author of "meltdown "a free market look at why the stock market collapsed, the economy tanked and government bailouts will only make things worse, he joins me by phone, and steve

jakabowski, with the coleman law firm, he is appealing -- thank god someone is -- the general motors ruling. tom, to you first. the general motors bankrupcy is one of the largest in american history. it took four weeks. there was no testimony whatsoever in court, and yet the taxpayer is on the hook for $50 billion. without a vote by the congress, but because the president and a single federal judge have said so. what is going on here? >> well, this is one piece in a huge puzzle that involves a whole lot of things that the government has been doing that are unprecedented and have been done essentially without meaningful debate. we had this idiotic stimulus package. we have had cap and trade. we're nationalizing the banks, bailing everybody out, taking over fannie and freddie. how much debate was there on any of this stuff? how much debate is there on what the federal reserve is doing, creating trillions out

of thin air? we have the investing in america being reduced, and this is all being done, as you say, judge, with basically no debate. japan did pretty much all these sorts of things and had been doing these things for close to 20 years now and their economy just contracted at an annualized rate of 15%, which is pretty much banana especially lick territory. what we're seeing is not so much a goodwill attempt to fix the economy. i think what we're seeing is what happened when thugs try to grab whatever crumbs they can from an economy that they and their friends at the federal reserve wrecked. >> steve, you are a lawyer. you are represent a good number of people who have been injured or who say they have been injured by general motors products. do they still have lawsuits against the new general motors as a result of this bankruptcy, or have their rights been wiped out? >> well, judge, the clients

that i represent are only five. i think that they represent a number of other people who are similarly situated. these are basically people who have existing lawsuits, a number of them have been severely injured. one is a quadriplegic. one lost his son in the accident and lost limbs of his own, and so, you know, these are people who have real serious injuries on the basis of the fact that are known to have existed. >> steve, are there many other people out there, maybe in the thousands, who have causes of action for their own bodily injury against general motors who will not see a judge or a jury as a result of this bankrupcy? >> well, not if my appeal is successful, but otherwise the answer to that is yes. there are about a thousand cases out there right now and a number of others that are injured who could bring cases, probably about a half a

billion dollars worth of liability. >> tom, the president and his folks, the automobile czar, the car czar, have the following mantra -- people ahead of profits. do they understand the first thing about the government operating a for-profit business? >> well, a lot of people have this crazy slogan of people before profits. you see it on their bumper stickers and so on, but it shows they have no idea what profit means. if there is high profit in an industry, it means that industry or that firm is producing something the general public wants f there are losses, it means the opposite. the profits entice more capital to go in and expand in that arena. it is the profit and loss mechanism that puts our productive structure at the service of the people. there is no distinction between profits and people. it is what the people want that yields the profit, encourages businesses to expand. now, the alternative to this system is not some utopia where we're skipping through

meadows all day, but the alternative is a system that puts bureaucrats before people, making business decisions according to not what people want but some keep like barney frank wants. >> let me stop you, tom. i think you have said in print and elsewhere that general motors loses a couple thousand per car, and that when they shut down and don't operate at all, they stop losing money. now, if they lose a few thousand dollars per car, how can the government possibly expect that somehow, some way, some day, they will earn enough profit to pay back the $50 billion of taxpayer dollars that are about to be given to them? >> well, they will never be able to pay it back is the answer, and on top of that, we've got this little mobile that the administration wants it to build. this is like living in a george o'er well novel. the result is that this will

become a fixture of american life. i think a lot of americans have moved on, yeah, it's too bad, but i guess there's nothing we can do about it. that's the feeling they want all of us to have, the dreary inevitability of the whole thing and the total helplessness of the voting public. >> steve, your cars, as i understand, come from all walks of life. these people you represent were injured because of manufacturing or design e e defects in general motors automobiles. did you raise these claims before a bankruptcy judge, and if you did, how were those claims treated? >> well, the claims are treated like every other claim in a bank ruch si case. the real -- in a bankruptcy case. the issues that i am facing is under bankruptcy laws whether congress intended to wipe out the claims of my clients against successors under theories of successor

liability. >> if you can't go after the new general motors on behalf of all these innocent injured people, and you're forced to go after what remains of the old general motors, you'll just be going after a shell with no assets from which a jury could order a verdict in favor of your client. >> that's effectively right. the claims are expected to receive about 10 cents on the dollar. >> go ahead, steve. >> well, the key, i think, is that, you know, you've got basically the same company producing the same products with the same management, the same employees, the same brands, the same slogans, the same advertising, and it's basically a successor. about half the population in this country, the state law gives these people the right to go against the successor, under those state laws if, in fact, they're operating the business just the way the old business operates. >> but under the rules of this federal bankruptcy judge, your client would be left out in

the cold. tom, is this inevitable as the chrysler bankrupcy was, in your opinion? >> it looks that way. as i say, it is extremely troubling to me that the general public, unfortunately, i think, is so demoralizeed, even people who want to fight against this, they think that apparently our input doesn't count for anything. this regime is going to do what it wants, and we have to do whatever we possibly can to fight it. i mean, we've got a role to play in the great division of labor of fighting against this, whether it's educating yourself, educating other people, organizing, reading lourockwell.com >> or discussing it as we're doing now. thanks very much for joining us. confirmation hearings begin next week for judge sonia sotomayor, the federal judge, the federal a appeals court judge who is looking to become the first hispanic supreme court justice.

what kind of role does rape playing in her decision making and what will it play in her confirmation? here is jeff sessions, the top senator on the senate judiciary committee. he will be doing most of the questioning of judge sotomayor. he joins us now. senator jeff sessions, welcome to the glenn beck program. >> good afternoon, judge. good to be with you. >> thank you. we've got 7 republicans, a small super 7, but each will have about the same time to question as i do, so i'm looking forward to a very interesting hearing and i hope the american people will join us. >> are republicans looking for a way to stop this nomination? is that the goal of the republican members of the senate judiciary committee? >> my goal is to make sure that we do everything possible to strengthen the american legal system, to make sure that any judge that goes on that bench, and to do everything i can, to see that every judge that goes onto the

bench will be fair, objective, honest and capable in handling the cases that come before him or her, and i think every judge has got to meet that challenge, and there are some things in this nominee's speeches an background that do raise questions that need to be answered. >> you mentioned speeches in her background, senator sessions, and you and i have discussed this on fox and equals where and we have spent time reading her opinions an speeches. her opinions appear to be, though decidedly liberal, within the mainstream of american legal thought, but it is her speeches and her seminars and her off-the-record comments which seem to reveal someone really willing to push the envelope when it comes to a personal philosophy of judging. are you are troubled by anything you have seen in the record that she has said and done outside the courtroom? >> oh, yes. a number of her speeches are

very troubling to me, judge. frankly, they go to the heart of what the legal system is about, as i believe in it, which is that a judge should allow, and it is natural and normal that a judge would allow, she has said in speeches, their personal opinions to influence their decision making, and, indeed, she has said there are sympathies and prejudices that the judge possesses, it's all right for them to influence their decision making. she has said on more than one occasion that her background and ethnicity would -- may cause her to see certain facts and not see other facts. i think a judge should see every fact that comes before the court or else they not being a judge. these are the questions that we will need to ask. she will need to affirm to the american people that she will meet the oath that she must take, which is to be an impartial judge under the law and under the constitution. >> how are you going to deal with one of the most

controversial things she has said, which we now know she said several times, and that is that a wise latin woman, a wise latina, would do a better job of judging than a wise white male. are you going to press her on that? >> that needs to be inquired into, it sure does, because it wasn't just that statement. it was a context that it was given in in part of the whole speech, and it was a dialogue with another woman judge whose philosophy was, which i think is the american judicial philosophy, that a woman and a man with equal facts an equal laws should reach the same decision, and she basically debunked that and disagreeed with it and said she could reach a better decision and made other comments in that speech that were equally troubling, so i think that is a matter that we need to inquire in. will a person that comes before her get a fair shake or not? and if you have empathy or

favoritism or sympathy for one party, have you not have biased against the other? those are the kinds of questions that we need to look at. >> i want to raise one more more issue and that is the right to keep and bear arms. you and i believe that the constitution says and the supreme court has ruled that this is a fundamental right that belongs to all people. she believes that the states or cities like chicago can ban guns and interfere with that right. if you're satisfied that she believes that, does she deserve to be on the supreme court? >> this is a huge issue. it is something that we will need to inquire into. her opinion seems to favor that, but it was based on an old 1890 case, so she will need to explain that, but you are right, judge. if the supreme court, after this washington d.c. heller case were to conclude that the second amendment did not apply to the states, as she has held

in her opinion, and on some other occasions has held, then the second amendment would be eviscerated in any state or city or county and they can eliminate the right to bear arms even though the federal government couldn't. >> senator jeff sessions, thank you very much. >> thank you, judge. >> a new study finds that america is sitting on enough natural gas to last us 100 years! we are the saudi arabia of national gas, and yet for some reason, we're actually the number one importer of natural gas in the world. why? t. boone pickens is here and weighs in next. gecko vo: geico's the third-largest

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andrew: we have not had a real energy plan in over 40 years, do you believe that? one year ago, t. boone pickens shocked the world calling for an end of america's dependence on foreign oil. he unveiled an energy plan to expand the use of domestic renewable energy such as wind and solar and replace oil with natural gas. mr. boone pickens supports the climate change bill that passed the house last month, but thinks we need to do more to get america off foreign oil.

he is here now, energy executive t. boone pickens. boone, welcome here. judge andrew napolitano substituting for beck today. >> oh, yeah. we have worked together. andrew: we have and it's a pleasure, boone. why are we dragging our feet on energy? it is almost inconceivable that we have not had an energy plan for 40 years. >> that is inconceivable but i will say we have been moving faster than we have ever gone. this year we will have legislation that will be the most encompassing legislation for energy in america that we have ever had. andrew: you believe in the free market, right? >> right. andrew: do you support the cap and trade bill that passed the house of representatives that would have washington planning all kinds of private activities and regulating the private use of energy? >> well, that bill has some good things in it, and what i do like in it is the treatment of wind, solar and the 21st century grid. i like all of that.

i kind of look on cap and trade, it isn't my issue. andrew: ok. how much natural gas are we sitting on in this country? >> you won't even believe the number. 2 thousand trillion. 2 thousand trillion cubic feet of natural gas. let me give you what that does for us. 2 thousand trillion would put us number one in the world in natural gas. we would go ahead of russia, iran and the middle east. andrew: why haven't we tapped into it? why are 18 wheelers on the highway using gasoline instead of natural gas? >> we haven't had the leadership in washington for 40 years to have an energy plan. in their defense, oil has been cheap, which has made gasoline and diesel cheap. that has been the thing that we have succumbed to. somebody else is resourced when we have a better resource in america.

andrew: the last time we talked about this, you were telling me i should put a windmill on my farm in new jersey so that we could have wind power, and you were the strong proponent of this out west in oklahoma. what has become of those proposals? >> well, wind has slowed down because -- andrew: you mean the velocity of the wind or wind power? >> we have plenty of wind velocity. andrew: some of it even around here! >> you can put wind in washington and just open the doors and windows. it would take care of the turbines. andrew: there you go. the idea of the turbines, did it pick up? is it still on the front burner or no? >> it is. what happens is that you have to have financing for it. that is in that particular bill that just passed the house. that was the climate bill, but in there, you have the green bank, which is a good idea, and it should be done, but when you have natural gas as cheap as it is, that's good for transportation, but you

price wind off natural gas. andrew: why do we need the government to facilitate our use of natural gas? if we have, i think you said, this is a number that boggles my mind and probably the minds of most people watching us now, 2 thousand trillion cubic either feet or yards. i realize it is in natural gas, cubic feet of natural gas, if we have this number so big that you can't even imagine how many zeros it has, under the earth, and it is enough to power us for the next 100 years, why do we import natural gas, and request hasn't someone like you and people like you tapped into the earth and started selling it? >> well, one, we import some of that, about 15% from canada. that's good. that's ok. we import about 2 million barrels of oil a day from canada from canada, which is good, but we have natural gas to take care of everything we want to use. we can use it for transportation and use it for

power generation, both, and we should. it is cheap, cheap, cheap. andrew: what's preventing us from using it? >> well, we have had cheap oil in the past, and the system is set up to sell gasoline and diesel. andrew: how difficult would it be for 18-wheelers -- i'm only thinking of them because they belch the most obnoxious junk into the air that we breathe, how big of a deal would it be to do something to their engines -- i don't know if it is replace them or add something to it. you know these technical things better than i, so that natural gas can go into the 18-wheelers instead of gasoline which is refined from oil? >> go ahead with the new trucks and as you retire a diesel truck, then go to natural gas that. is in the 1835 bill that comes out tomorrow in the senate, which has been introduced in the house 2 months ago, so in that bill, they give $65,000 incentive if you, when buying a new vehicle, you would go to

the natural gas vehicle instead of a diesel. andrew: you think that will pass? >> yes, i do. andrew: that will revolutionize the way we operate our cars? >> that will get us off of foreign oil. that's the only resource we have in america is natural gas that will replace foreign oil. andrew: boone pickens, what a pleasure to work with you. >> thanks. andrew: coming up, we will introduce to you a marine who is making great strides to honor his friends and help their families. his inspirational story and how you can help, next. p i was always going

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>> mourners around the world watched the star-studded memorial service in los angeles to honor the life of michael jackson. the tribute was concluded with touching words from one of jackson's three young children, his daughter paris. >> ever since i was born, daddy has been the best father you could ever imagine, and i just want to say i love him so

much. >> and democrats in the senate now have their symbolic 60th vote to block any potential g.o.p. filibusters. minnesota democrat al franken was sworn in today by subpoena joe biden. the glenn beck program returns in a moment but first with a special preview of "special report." >> the president says a second stimulus package is not off the table. we'll have reaction. and where does healthcare reform legislation stand? join me at 6:00 eastern for "special report." now back to the judge in for glenn. andrew: people around the world today are remembering michael jackson. family, friends and entertainers gathered with emotional fans to mourn the king of pop. he was quite an entertainer and he will be missed. now for some perspectives, at least 13 service members have died in afghanistan since michael jackson's death on june 25. one of those killed was army

lieutenant brian bradshaw, killed by an improvised explosive decise in afghanistan, but you probably never heard of him. that's because, as his aunt wrote in a "washington post" letter to the editor recently, quote, mr. jackson received days of wall to wall coverage in the media. where was the coverage of my nephew? or the other soldiers who died that week? she described her nephew as having, quote, old-fashioned values and believed that military service was patriotic, and that actions counted more than talk. brian bradshaw was 24 years old. his family buried him yesterday. another young man who possesses those qualities, keith zqer, whose service ended because of injuries he received in combat has not forgotten his brothers.

glenn sat down with keith. >> keith served in the marines when an ied cut short his military career. doctors told him he would have to use a cane for the rest of his life. he was determined he wasn't going to do it. not only did keith learn to walk again on his own, but he just completed 100-mile marathon in just over 30 hours where he raised more than $50,000 for special operations warrior foundation, a great foundation. keith, thank you for your service, sir. >> thank you very much. glenn: tell me about your injurys? >> my injury on july 17, 2006, my vehicle was struck by an ied, and i was in the turret and shrapnel ripped through the muscles in my left leg and i suffered a head injury. i had three surgeries in irak to stabilize me, and then i was leaving iraq to go to germany and spent a few months then in bethesda naval hospital where my leg got

infected and i had another surgery. glenn: you have no feeling in your leg? >> no, i have no feeling in my knee to my hip at all. glenn: you had severe brain trauma or traumatic -- >> i suffered a trauma mattic brain injury, also with some hearing loss in both ears. glenn: first of all, thank you for everything. >> thank you very much. glenn: i know there are a lot of people like you. when you went out and they told you that you were going to walk with a cane for the rest of your life, what was it in you that made you say, no. >> just my life, i never quit anything. i always pushed myself. i took the whole thing with a grain of salt. they expect that you won't, but to me, you know, i'm going to push as far as i can, so through the recovery process, i just kept going on and on.

glenn: how grueling was the marathon? >> the marathon itself was really bad. just training for it, i'm still on heavy doses of narcotics for the pain, so from that and a combination of training up in brooklyn, new york, and then going down to key west where it was 95 and humid, i threw up for a lot of the race. i ciewpts eat for about 45 of 50 of the miles and then i had to get an i.v. on mile 7 a because i lost so much fluid. after, that i had 25 miles to go. they wanted to take me to the hospital but i said i'll drop dead before i quit this race. glenn: that stuck out to me, at mile 75, you were, like, they gave you an environment. you were going to the hospital and you said over my dead body. >> yeah. i said i will drop dead before i don't finish this race. glenn: tell me about the warrior foundation? >> the special war your foundation provides college grants for special operations personnel who died in combat

or in the past and provide immediate assistance to them at their bedside. it is a great foundation. glenn: america, let me tell you something. i know the people involved in this, and what is really sad is, if i'm not mistaken, most of the foundation funds come from the military itself. the guys who are making squat, the guys like keith that have just been in the military and went, you know what, i got to help out. it would be great to be able to fully fund this without any of the guys who actually did all the work having to put in their own money, but it's a great opportunity to help actually support -- everybody says, oh, i support our troops. this is a way to actually support our troops. tell me about this thing we're doing with the fox nation. >> yes, the fox nation was genus enough to put 5% of proceeds from a t-shirt, hat, all the maryland all the merchandise that sold through

fox nation and those proceeds will go through the special operations foundation. glenn: if you need some incentive besides just doing the right thing, go to foxnation.com and buy anything on the site. 5% goes. thank you, keith. >> i appreciate t andrew: keith is an american hero. we take you live to alaska for the latest on alaska's governor sarah palin, next. could someone toss me an eleven sixteenths wrench over here? here you go. eleven sixteenths... (announcer) from designing some of the world's cleanest and most fuel-efficient jet engines... to building more wind turbines than anyone in the country... the people of ge are working together...

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>> i do not know what the future holds. i want to work, right now, for people who are going to work in office or out of office for the right things, those principles that build up america, those who are inspired by the values of america and will not deride or apologize the values that we hold as americans. i'm going to work for those people. andrew: outgoing alaska governor sarah palin talking to fox news about what is going to happen after she steps down from her job later

this month. less than a year ago, most americans didn't even know her name. today it's hard to imagine her name not being front and center in american politics. dan springer has the latest now live from anchorage. dan, what is the latest? >> yeah, hey, judge. well, the governor was back at being governor today. she signed a bill into law. we know that's not going to last forever. just a few more weeks and she is out of office. the big question is what next? will she make a run for the white house, if not in 2012, sometime after that? yesterday she was very coy about that, giving us no indication which way she is leaning. we do know she wants to be a player, but it is not going to be one that she is following the republican party lead. skied her who she is going to get advice from, and she says she is getting people from the republican party who are offering advice but basically is saying thanks but no thanks. she wants to take control of the message again. that is what yesterday was about, getting back out in front.

she took us to bellingham, alaska, a small fishing town where her husband grew up catching sockeye. she was digging in wearing waders and prying salmon from nets. it was a sight to see, and a reminder of that original story about palin as a moose hunter and hockey mom, but palin is also angling for a new position as a national leader without a platform as governor. she went after president obama and what she calls his expansion of big government, and she blasted critics in the media and the blogs. >> these are political shots. other people take a heck of a lot tougher shots than i do. our kids over there in the war zone, people losing their jobs, or their homes right now. they have a heck of a lot tougher than i do taking political shots or hearing bull crap that is broadcast out there on the airwaves. i can handle that. >> palin kept stressing her independence and how partisanship has really hurt the republican party, raising the question, will she

consider become an independent? remember, she ran for governor here by taking on the republican party in alaska, but then became the ultrapartisan during the campaign as john mccain's attack dog. what is her plan immediately after the transition? she is going to finish her book, and then we expect her to go on a speaking tour. she will have her book coming out in the spring. she will do a whole book tour on that. sarah palin is not going to go away, judge. andrew: thanks very much, dan. can the g.o.p. rise again? without one of its rising stars? here now is larry sabato, the year the author of "the year of obama" and director of the center of politics at the university of new jersey. thanks for joining us, larry. do you know why she resigned? >> as i listen to her statement, and as i have listened to her since, judge, i would say mainly she is fed up. she said that during the statement, when she indicated that she had had a lot of lawsuits filed against her. it's pretty obvious that it

bothered her. it bothered her family. that's why her family probably unanimously endorsed the res rig nation. andrew: can she still be considered, larry, a serious contender for the nomination of the presidency? she has been elected to statewide office once. she only served 2 and a half years of that term, and she has an image problem, i think, that a lot of people had, even with people who agree with her on the issues, with her judgment. what say you? >> i agree with you, judge. i think she damaged her future by resigning from that one four-year teerm at the statewide level. she would have been better off to finish the term and not run for re-election in 2010. if her goal with to run for president. we are assuming a lot. there i think she really was trying to move out of the way^ , stop becoming a target, get out there, make a lot of money for herself and her family, and become a force in the republican party independent of public office.

andrew: she stands for a traditional conservatism, almost a western-style ronald reagan conservatism with a little bit of libertarianism in there as well. can she become the head of a republican party that just nominated big government john mccain? >> well, anything is possible, despending on what happening to obama. we will see where obama is in 2012. having said, that i think her own republican opponents in 2012, should she run for president, were pleased that she resigned, because she handed them a mallet that they're going to use against her if she does run. they are going to say it's tough running for president. it's tough being president. you have to be able to take a lot of attacks, and if you can't take it as governor, how are you going to take it as president? that's what they're going to say, and judge, that's not

ideological. that's something a republican can use just as well as a democrat. andrew: you are, of course, a student of history. historically, do the lessons of history tell you, professor, that she would be better off completing a successful or at least arguably successful term as governor and then running for president rather than quitting , quitting and running? >> that's my view, judge. i think she would have been better off finishing that term. some of the points she made are certainly valid, as a lame duck, you don't get as much done, but she could claim mission accomplished. she certainly would have gotten some of her agenda adopted, some more of her agenda adopted in the remaining approximately two years of the term. she won't have that opportunity now. it's not like she is a richard nixon coming back. remember, richard nixon served 14 years as a member of the house, member of the senate, and then eight years as vice president before he rehabilitated himself in time

for the 1968 elections. there really aren't many comparable examples that would suggest that sarah palin can move forward having resigned that one four-year term. andrew: does she need rehabilitation, or stated differently, how is this playing amongst rank and file republicans, larry? >> judge, you know her base. they talk to you, and all of us here in politics, they would love her regardless of what she did. what some of her base don't understand iser they are not nearly enough to get her nominated much less elected in november. i think a lot of the other republican candidates are going to use this against her. i think a substantial portion of the party is going to look at this an worry about what she might do as a candidate and if she were elected as president. that's going to be a major strike against her. andrew: larry sabato, thanks very much. >> thank you, judge. andrew: is the u.s. naive when dealing with russia's two

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>> you mentioned dimitry medvedev four times and not mentioned president putin at all. is that in answer to the question you with asked yesterday of who is really in

charge in russia? >> no. i think president dimitry medvedev is my coupe ter part, the president of russia the prime minister, who i just met today, obviously still has enormous influence. andrew: that was a clip from an interview that president obama did with fox new's major garrett today. how much influence does prime minister vladimir putin have over the russian government, and is the u.s. really dealing with russia's true leader when president obama is talking to russian president dimitry medvedev? colonel ralph peters is a best-selling author, columnist and fox news strategic analyst. colonel, welcome. when the president talks to president dimitry medvedev, is he talking to the person that really heads the government of russia, colonel? >> you're talking to charlie mccarthy, not edgar bergen.

there is one czar, and it is vladimir putin. president dimitry medvedev who, is a placeholder until putin can run for president again. the rush russian constitution doesn't allow consecutive terms. he does have some freedom, as long as it is not an issue that matters to putin. but on foreign policy and other issues that putin holds dear, dimitry medvedev does not utter a syllable. andrew: when president obama speaks with prime minister putin as we see on the tape on the screen now, are you worried that the president might give anything away or believe that he can use his personal charm on a person who is really as cold as ice and as hard as steel? >> well, judge, there is a wonderful very short poem by a.e. hausman. let me unit by you. -- let me unit by you. the russian bear a huge and

wild and has devoured the infant child. the infant child is not aware it has been eaten by the bear. i'm afraid that president obama is that babe in strategic diapers and not necessarily clean diapers at that. he was utterly out of his depth. look, to be fair to obama, he made it all the way to the oval office on sheer charisma. andrew: what is he trying to charm out of prime minister putin? what kind of agreement is he talking about? what does he want to do? >> i don't think the agreement mattered. as far as the discussions with dimitry medvedev, i have been involved in negotiations. the way they work when heads of state work, it's all predetermined. they will chat and talk about this and that, but the documents are already written. what obama needs, badly, is a foreign policy success, and so you saw that staged signing ceremony yesterday, because he has had one foreign policy problem after another. he wants so badly -- and by

the way, i think he desperately needs adulation. he needs the limelight. he is a vampire that doesn't live on blood but lives on applause. he desperately wanted something, the result of which we gave in to the russian position of the russian strategic framework for negotiating nuclear arms reductions, and in return we got a russian agreement to buy more hamburger. not a good deal, judge. andrew: oh, boy. if you need more evidence that our lawmakers are corrupt, you won't believe what is coming up next.

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andrew: a federal jury today saw an f.b.i. video showing louisiana congressman will william jefferson accepting a suitcase filled with $100,000 in cash outside a northern virginia hotel, a key piece of evidence in the bribery trial of congressman jefferson who represented parts of new orleans. he is accused of accepting more than $400,000 in bribes to broker business deals in africa. on the video, an f.b.i. informant asks him if he wants to peek inside the contents of the suitcase, and he says no, i would not. for more commentary on the news of the day, sign up for glenn beck's free daily e-mail newsletter at glennbeck.com. don't forget to set your tivos to watch this show all week. from new york, defending freedom