>> now you want to put a system in that no one understands. >> if you could have heard her. "i am sir -- so nervous about going out there with you." boom, boom. [laughter] sean: thank you for being with us. greta is next. see you tomorrow night. [captioning made possible by fox news channel] captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- greta: tonight, the president is on letterman. when in doubt, blame the media. the president just took a swipe at us. we will play you the tape. plus a republican congressman, hammering the president and the attorney general. he wants to stop them. that is not all. he goes on the record in a minute. first, president obama is on a media blitz. we have a sneak peek of him on

"the tonight show with -- the late show with david letterman." >> is this something where you think, for heaven's sakes, do i have to go on letterman? [laughter] >> it was unexpected to see that appear on my schedule. [laughter] that is one of their -- one of those ones where you ask your advisers who is responsible for this. they pull out their blackberries and no one is accountable. [laughter] >> jimmy carter started talking about this behavior, speculating that perhaps this unease or poor decorum was rooted in racism. is he on to something there? is that just something to talk about? >> first of all, it is important to realize that i was black before the election.

[laughter] [applause] this is true. this is true. really. >> how long have you been a black man? greta: for someone who likes interviews, the president has a low opinion of the media. >> frankly, the media and encourages some of the out fires in behavior. face it, the easiest way to get by on -- get on television right now is to be really rude. even if you are being sensible, you not get time on the nightly news. greta: is that true? joining us live is tucker carlson. >> that is pretty over the top, if you think about it. any person lecturing the president of his many shortcomings really tried to tell the truth, most of the time.

politics on both sides, whenever we are lecture by elected officials -- for barack obama to say that the media is taking the low road when many of his allies have accused his opponents of racism. where was he when jim clybourn accused his opponents of racism? you heard not a word from barack obama. for him to claim that the media is stoking this race talk, it is his own allies. greta: what about viewers that complained that he would not do fox news after doing all of the other news organizations. 1, he is mad over the fox broadcast of his prime-time speech, or he does not like the fox news channel because we have been harsher on him than the other networks. >> it looks small and it is self-defeating, in the end.

he should speak to all of america. this channel gets sometimes literally three times the ratings of cnn and msnbc combined. to snub chris wallace, who is hardly any kind of ideologue, one of the fairest people on television, it makes him look stupid. greta: did you know who joe wilson was before he yelled out that comment? >> no. greta: so there is a bit of truth that there? >> when that happened, everyone said that he was the weakest person in the world. greta: being rude does get you on the news shows, that is true. >> news is something out of the ordinary. yelling at the president in the middle of a joint session of congress does not happen every day.

it does not mean that we are lionizing joe wilson. let me say clearly, it was the obama campaign that dropped the race question. that said the clintons were racist. they made the case to reporters off the record that the clintons were racist. for him to get up with a straight face and say this, -- greta: how did they bring it up? >> it was a whisper campaign that the clintons did not like him because he was black. famously it was lyndon johnson who side -- signed the civil rights act. somehow it became a racist statement to allies of barack obama. he allowed that to happen. he allowed it to fester, that they were animated by bigotry. he did nothing to clear the air. i do not want to be lectured by

him in this sanctimonious way that we are perpetuating a healthy raise talk. -- unhealthy race talk. greta: we have gotten more viewers by his attacking fox news. >> i do not pretend to understand what gets viewers. [laughter] not sucking up, i am proud to be affiliated with a network that is not afraid to say what it thinks. the greta: i am happy to be back working with you, as you know, tucker. thank you. president obama, last week's seven former directors of the central intelligence agency urged him to stop the investigation by eric holder into cia interrogation. the president says that the investigation will go forward, which has some people up in arms.

a republican congressman joins us live, he says it is a witch hunt. congressman, the president is not backing down. he is backing up his attorney general. a witch hunt? >> i think so. absolutely. this is clearly an attempt to settle a political score in what the president is doing. he is catering to the left wing of his party. these individuals were investigated by his own agency, investigated four years ago. many of them were prosecuted, there is no reason to go back over this. that is why seven directors, former directors of the cia, it is unprecedented that you would give former directors making such a unified statement to the current president, saying that this is wrong.

greta: looking at it from the other side, suppose that the president said that he had seven letters from this director, now saying that they have an interest because of the reform positions, that he went to the attorney general and said that he could not do it. now the attorney general has lost any sort of independence, he is that week. would that be a bad thing or a good thing? >> there is an element to that. clearly the president should have sent the signal to the attorney general the few months ago that said we would not go down that path. i think he tried to send that signal when he said that he wanted to look forward, he wanted to look backwards -- wanted to look for words, thnot backwards. clearly the right thing to do is to stop this investigation. not only is this a cause for

concern over the intelligence being gathered today, but also there is an impactn the relationships with foreign governments and their willingness to work together. the bottom line is that we are still at war, we need a vibrant cia, this jeopardize is that. greta: is there a way to know whether or not the president's decision to go with the attorney general, is there a way for us to know if he made it because he thought it was the best judgment or if it was because of political reasons to keep certain people in his party happy? >> we cannot determine that. we can read into the president's mind, but our own observations and values on that, but only the president knows exactly why he is doing this, letting it move forward.

with these seven former directors, along with other decisions, he is jeopardize the national security. greta: is there a democratic congress person that you have come in contact with who has come up to you and said that you are wrong, the president is right on this? >> i have heard some of my colleagues on the networks talking about these issues. they are supporting the president on this issue. on this issue we happen to disagree. these are the same individuals who have been attacking the cia. they have a different way of building a strong and effective community. i think that at a certain point in time, after these folks have gone through this, we need to recognize the they are taking the various jobs and most risky jobs in america.

we need to support them and stand by them after they have been cleared by the previous justice department. we cannot put them through continuous jeopardy where their careers and actions are going to be judged on going from one to the next. it is not fair to the individuals. greta: thank you, congressman. next, is president obama the political meddler in chief? is he out of line sticking his nose in a political battle outside of washington? later, hope that this is not your politician. drunk, stripped down, trying to hail a cab near the white house. stick around.

greta: well, sneaking around, president obama is the meddler in chief, the president sending back channel messages to david paterson, telling him to hang it up and not run for governor of new york in 2010. neither the white house nor the governor is denying that report, the governor is still running high in 2010. check this video out. president obama our live in new york, showing an awkward cod with president obama. -- hug with president obama.

>> that is how you might hug an ex-girlfriend. greta: [laughter] what is going on here? they do not deny it? >> the white house press secretary denied it, patterson has been denying it. basically, they have suggested that everything written until this point was true. it looks like david paterson is going the lose. greta: why does it matter so much to him? in the stand the race in massachusetts, that is a democrat in the senate. this is a new york governor. >> there is going to be redistricting in 2012. if there is a republican governor in new york, there will be one seat less for democrats. in addition to that, if you are

the president you want to knock out as many potential republican contenders against you. i rudy giuliani is seen as a potential contender, even though he was lackluster last time around. greta: when president obama spoke today he said he wanted to mention the dignitaries, mentioning the governor patterson, then giving a nice share or andrew cuomo. >> he teased him a little bit. sarcastically, he is not really any of the things he said. the president had an awkward balance today in terms of seeing governor cuomo and david paterson. greta: did andrew cuomo announced that he is running against david paterson? >> in 2002 he ran for

comptroller against carl mccall, leaving a lot of bruises in the african-american community. he has tried to repair that damage, and he has done so successfully. greta: he would love it if president obama would push gov. paterson out? making for an empty seat? >> he would love it. greta: is this president doing something different from other politics in terms of getting involved in state politics? >> not at all. it looks like he is pushing these people around, but george bush got involved in many races. katherine harris, 2004, he pushed her aside. greta: after 2000? >> the only person that was seen as being the most responsible for getting him in. most interesting, arlen specter, bush endorsed him in 2004.

now president obama is endorsing him in 2008 -- 2010, i mean. who knows what will happen. we might have an independent president pushing other independents in 2016. greta: next, is the president trying to can decode his new tax? of that is coming out. we report, you decide. if you are outraged about this, you are not listening. a bank that you bailed out to the tune of $45 billion just blew off congress. why? coming up.

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greta: what is a tax and what is not a tax?

the bands and he asked. the president is supporting an individual mandate that would order people to purchase health insurance or pay a fee or penalty. is that a tax hike? the president insists that it is not. >> for us to say that you have got to take the responsibility for health insurance is not a tax increase. it means that we are going to have other people carrying more burdens for you. >> merriam-webster dictionary, it defines it as a charge of personal property o. >> of the fact the u.n. to the dictionary indicates to me that you are stretching. >> critics say that it is a tax increase. >> by critics say that everything is a tax increase. greta: steve, is it a tax or not?

it costs more for some individuals. >> there is an old saying, if it walks like a duck and looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, it is a duck. that was a tough interview, george stephanopoulos, he is my new hero. a tax is when you take money in voluntarily from people can use it for a public person. -- public purpose. this is a big tax we are talking about. $3,800 per family if they do not have health insurance. who are the people that do not? mostly middle-class families having a hard time making ends meet. to propose a tax on top of that, that will be real financial hardship. the president's most memorable promise during the campaign was that people that make less than

250, that -- less than 21 and $50,000 would not pay a new tax. guess it is out -- less than $250,000 would not pay a new tax. guess that is out the window. greta: more than that, this is the thing that bothers me. in the run-up to the election, saying that there will not be taxes for the middle class, what it is is a burden. a financial burden. how do you characterize it? it implies that the middle class would not have this burden. i do not like the aspect that we are being had by the language, that we are candy coating it. >> congratulations on reading the bill, that puts you ahead.

even the democratic founders are reading it is a tax increase. then the question that you have to ask, why are these big taxes being imposed? it was always a fairy tale that barack obama would create this entitlement that would create the death -- deficit in half. -- that would cut the deficit in half. what the obama administration is starting to recognize is that if you want to raise the revenues to do these things, you will have to raise taxes on middle- class just like in europe. greta: is it a penalty and not a tax? that is another thing. is this a penalty, is that the same as a tax? 30 seconds. >> [laughter] that is what the president says. i maintain that it is a tax. what gives the government the

right in the constitution to tell people that they have to buy health insurance? i never found it in the constitution. it is not right for the president or congress to dictate that to the american people greta: bank about -- american people. greta: thank you. bank of america, they did something dirty. that is not all. hours from now president obama and the iranian president will speak at the general assembly. full report. eople about geico - great claims service and a 97% customer satisfaction rate. show people really trust us. gecko: yeah right, that makes sense. boss: trust is key when talking about geico. you gotta feel it. why don't you and i practice that with a little exercise where i fall backwards and you catch me. gecko: uh no sir, honestly... uh...i don't think...uh... boss: no, no. we can do this. gecko: oh dear. vo: geico. fifteen minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance.

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greta: how would you like to be a fly on the wall for this? president obama's meeting tomorrow with benjamin netanyahu. that is not all. it is a busy week for the president. wednesday he is speaking at the u.n. general assembly, the same day that the iranian president makes his speech.

>> good to see you. greta: mr. secretary, the meeting with the palestinian and israeli leader tomorrow, do you expect any great progress? >> and none at all. i do not expect them -- in fact it will be lucky if they get out there without -- out of there without arguing in public. i do not see any chance for anything at all. i think that most sides are worked hard over right now, there will not be much of a chance to do anything other than talk a little about change. nothing will happen. greta: there have been so many before this president that have tried to do this and everyone else has had no success. does this fact of no great progress mean it is not a slap

at the president? >> we have flunked on this one for years. back when i was in the state department, i flunked on it. henry kissinger flunked on it. we have all flung on it. the fact of the matter is that it is going to take more influence and clout than we have. both sides are intransigent and ready to choose each other, but not ready to settle anything. >> what do you make of the president of iran, ahmadinejad, speaking before the president on wednesday? do you expect them to acknowledge each other in any way? >> the obvious answer to that is no. i would not fall over in a dead faint of one way or the other ahmadinejad would try to embarrass the president by shaking his hand or slapping him on the back for something. nor, frankly, would i be

surprised if the president felt it was a good way to break the ice. he might move in some way to talk to him. certainly there is nothing planned. it will certainly be a surprise if they do do anything. i do not trust either one on this one. i think that the president really wants to find a way to start talking with the iranians. i would not be surprised if he was prepared to do some game playing to get there. greta: my favorite international story, not getting a lot of reporting, but we are pushing in here -- honduras. tonight the ousted president is back in that country, apparently in the brazilian embassy. the interim leader is not happy. is the united states right in its position in backing the

president or not? >> absolutely not. you have been a hero of mine for a long time, particularly when you took this on. first of all, i have to admit that my first post in the foreign service -- way back along time ago -- it was in honduras. my first post as a junior foreign service officer. it was a great little country. i love that country. in this particular case it is the government itself, not the president, that is trying to protect their democracy. the president was clearly planning, and still is, planning to try to take over the government and continue in office. frankly i think that his model is what he would like to be is another hugo chavez, like venezuela. the rest of the government has not allow him to get away with it. nor should they. we should shut up and stay out

of it. greta: why we back to the president if that is wrong? >> -- why have we backed the president if that is wrong? >> one thing that this administration has shown so many times, it is amateur hour. i exclude the secretary of state. i do not understand how that person has been able to stay with it so long when the president clearly ignores her as often as he can. it is an easy thing to say, they must keep him in because he is elected? the only difficulty is that they have not gone into the facts. if they had they would see that the president was planning to steal the office. greta: as you pointed out, they have asked that they come down and take another look. maybe they will if we keep reporting.

thank you, mr. secretary. >> my pleasure. thank you. greta: we know that this story out rages you. getting worse, you gave bank of america $40 billion for a bailout. they bought merrill lynch this winter. their executives were given $3.6 billion in bonuses. here is where it gets worse. no one told the short -- shareholders about the bonuses. congress is now investigating. by noon today bank of america was supposed to submit documents to congress. guess what? joining us live, did bank of america turn over the documents? >> they did not. not a big surprise. many of us have been following this, like you, and they have been resisting every call to provide documents about what their lawyers told them about the merger. they did not meet the congressional deadline.

greta: interesting, they are hiding behind the attorney- client privilege, but that is the privilege that is supposed to be asserted by the lawyers. not the client. the client is using it as a shield? like it could have a chilling effect across corporate america. you have got a corporate lawyer groups coming out and saying not to give -- let them give of the attorney-client privilege, make this a bigger issue in that way with other companies. greta: bank of america, would we not find out who is responsible in hiding from the shareholders those bonuses? someone is covering for somebody. >> we would find out who made the decision not to disclose the bonuses, not to disclose the losses, and who may be ignored the advice. we do not know what they were

biased. that is why congress, the sec, and the attorney general of looking for answers. greta: supposedly advice for people to start talking now, they are closing in. they are going to have to, at some point. a federal judge has said that he will sign that one agreement, the settlement, because he wants to know. >> in congress the attorney- client privilege does not apply. it applies in court and other cases, but not in congress. bank of america had the knowledge that it did not apply in congress and asked to follow it. because of congress said that they would ignore it, that would make it not apply to other cases. the greta: i have read in your article, -- greta: i have read

this in your article, who is holding their feet to the fire? >> he is a democrat from new york, a bunch of new yorkers in there, it is also andrew cuomo going after this. now we have got this congressman from new york who is going after this. greta: we also have that story from "the new york times." thank you. next, craig ferguson goes on the record in less than 90 minutes, one hour after this, he is going to be doing something big. you will get a sneak peak next.

greta: next, craig ferguson goes on the record. first, to our new york newsroom. >> thank you. water works under way for the southeast after days of killer storms. the downpour, which one official describes as historic, has claimed at least six lives. one rivers on the verge of overflowing, forcing people to leave their houses. 30,000 are without power. forecasters say that another storm could hit overnight. federal authorities are warning transit systems around the country that they could be open to terrorist attacks. police and security officials are being advised to conduct services against stations,

buses, and trains. the warning comes as the fbi investigate the possible plot. three men were arrested. we now return to "on the record ." thank you for watching. greta: we are going late night. host of the late, late late show, his book is available at midnight tonight on line, " america on purpose." >> i am disappointed that you are not here. greta: i am disappointed as well. let me hold of your brand new book. the first thing i have got to say to you is that you are very proud to be an american. also proud to be a scotsman. why? >> being an american is something i wanted to be for a very long time, probably since i saw the moon landing as a child.

at that point i wanted to be an astronaut. it did not read it worked out. i thought that if i threw my lot in with the americans it would be more likely than scotland developing a space program in my lifetime. greta: interesting. in the book you even talk about how proud you were when you got a color nasa poster in the mail. >> when i was a kid i sent away to nasa. they would send back these big posters of all the planets. it was so shiny and colorful. this was a very vivid, exciting poster, with information and pamphlets coming from america. fantastic. i do not think that they would do that anymore. greta: it was fascinating to read the book. in january of 2008 you become an

american citizen. two months later, there you are with the president. >> very strange. i do not think that happens in other countries. there is no welcome to afghanistan, here is the president. a very welcoming culture. greta: what did you think of meeting president bush and vice president cheney? >> what did i think about it? greta: you wrote a little bit about it, which is funded read, but what is that like? >> very intimidating, especially the vice president, who is that classic bond villain. president bush was very friendly and kind of candid and open. it was an interesting meeting. the president himself was very friendly, very nice, very open. greta: when reading your book,

it is interesting, in the beginning of talks about how exciting the white house correspondents' dinner, then the sadness in the end with your mother. i do not know how else to explain it, but in the middle you talked about coming back from drinking too much. let's [laughter] maybe it was -- >> [laughter] maybe it was the hell of not being able to drink enough. i could not get enough in need to work. it was a difficult time. i am concerned, coming out saying -- and it is another guy on tv talking about this, but my life sucks, but now everything ok -- is ok. greta: how were you able to climb back from that? >> getting out of the hell of alcoholism was something i did

not do alone. other people helped me. i was desperate to not be the person i had become. by the way, i am not saying that i like myself now, but i do not hate myself to the point of drinking this suicidal access. greta: in the beginning you get to meet the president, the vice president. then we go through the rather difficult challenges in your life. you talk about how proud you were to be an american. at the end it is sad, you talk about your mother's death and being back in scotland, seeing the country that you love as well. >> anyone who has become a citizen, many watching now, i am sure, to become a citizen of the u.s. is a great honor and thrill. it is a momentous occasion. to leave the old world behind,

there is a sadness attached to it. anyone who has become a citizen understands that. what i did not understand until i became an american citizen is that you can be your ethnicity and an american, which is different from any other country i can think of. america, for me, is an aspiration. a dream, in a wave. -- way. where i am from, hundreds of years ago, this is a young country. a post-indictment country. the attitudes that exist here, i am very attached to them emotionally. there is a sadness about moving on from the past. that does not mean that you do not want to. greta: the book has a great cover, as i am holding up for

the viewers. of course the title, "america on purpose." could that be a better title. good luck with your show. >> good luck with your show, too. greta: next, the best of the rest. did you think that it could not get worse for acorn? well, it just did. plus, take a look at this. tara wheeler, with a shaved head. why? find out, coming up. ( conversation ) garth, you're up. hold on, i'm at capitalone.com picking a photo... for my credit card. here's one from my prom. oh, what memories. how 'bout one from our golf outing? ( shouting ) i know, maybe one of my first-born son. dad, mom says the boys gotta go.

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greta: here is the best of the rest of the stories. it gets worse and worse for acorn. we should calm -- we showed you those stunning undercover tapes.

now the justice department has planned to investigate acorn's application for money from the justice the bargain. there ceo spoke to chris wallace. she tried to defend herself and her organization. >> we will be looking at doing an anti-acorn amendment, and president obama is a very smart and thoughtful person. what he does is his decision. i would never presume to tell the president whether he should veto a bill or not. >> one year-ago you went in to clean up acorn. is this the new and improved acorn? >> what did i do? immediately they were terminated. they were terminated immediately. those folks were terminated immediately. what did i also do? make sure that we had an independent review, make sure

that we suspended what can activities. greta: president obama wants nothing to do with this controversy. >> is that true of the other side as well? of course that is true. frankly, it is not something i have followed closely. >> what about cutting it off? >> all i know is that what i saw was inappropriate. >> you would vote to cut off funding? >> this is not the biggest issue facing the country. greta: here is your miss virginia, 2008. she has a nice head of hair, that she not? i should say that she used to. why would she do that? a good cause. she is raising money for an organization that raises money for children's cancer research. she looks great, does she not?

good for her. we want to commend the wisdom of the fine citizens of the state of wisconsin. they are going to permit nfl teams to run red lights on the way to lambeau field. the famous stadium where the green bay packers play. the state assembly approved the bill in june. we will be watching the news from wisconsin very closely. there you have it. the best of the best. let's hope that this is not your politician -- getting drunk, stripping down to his underwear, trying to hail a cab. pizza is also involved. who is the politician? that is next.

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greta: flash those studio lights, last call. 14 leader had one too many drinks on his last trip to washington. a new book about the clinton presidency included a drinking story about boris yeltsin. in 1995 he was staying at the blair house across from the white house. apparently he was a bit of a party boy. he allegedly had to many, turning up late one night alone on pennsylvania avenue in his underwear, trying to hail a cab. according to the story he was hungry for pizza. do n