>> i'm ed koch and this is "fox & friends." >> i think we should start with a warning. >> absolutely. >> stay out of new york city. >> go now. leave! >> they're lighting -- you don't know why. in general. you're backing me up. >> today is they say, perhaps, the worst traffic day in new york city history because not only is it a gridlock alert day because they're going to light the christmas tree a block from where we are but also the president of the united states is coming to town. >> remember, in the last few days, new revelations came out about this alleged 13-year affair with a woman named ginger. yesterday, it was very interesting. in the morning, his camp had some sort of a conference call with some of the supporters. and they said something about reassessing his campaign. well, immediately, when you hear

the word reassessing, you might think that means maybe stopping the campaign. >> i would think that. >> they clarified after that went out and here's actually what they meant. >> as to whether or not this is going to create too much of a cloud in some people's minds as to whether or not they would supporters in our court. we're going to continue as usual. >> that's not entirely true. he is not continuing his schedule as usual. he has cut off a major fundraiser in new york city with a lot of people. >> because of the traffic. >> that could be true. matt lauer was supposed to be there, barbara walters, cindy adams but it was going to be a get to know you session but i imagine, there will be an opportunity for people to jump in his camp. >> well, actually, today, he's going to be in can't -- canton,

ohio and he's going to explain this whole thing. they did do a little tweeting yesterday and here's what team herman cain said. the definition to reassess is to consider again, doesn't sound like dropping out. that's mark block. mark block also said yesterday that -- >> the smoker. >> the smoker guy. he said what would possibly push herman cain out? number one, mrs. cain. if she said it's time to go, it's time to go. and secondly, if they wind up going to places and nobody is there, time to pack up their bags. >> the fascinating thing is when the first sexual harassment charges came against him five weeks ago, what happened to the coffers of herman cain? they went up. a lot of republican supporters at that time thought maybe it was a democratic operative behind it. this was dirty politics bringing this to light. i'm not so sure this time around that a lot of people would continue to give a bunch of

money. maybe they will. that's what they are banking on no pun intended for the next few days. >> by the way, john huntsman among those who said yesterday, he should really consider dropping out. he's trying to answer questions about policy and performance and polls and everybody says what do you think of herman cain's latest eruption? a female issue? and on top of that, that's a question we have to ask rick santorum today and governor perry. is he hurting the party and your push to become the nominee? >> herman cain did send a letter out to supporters yesterday and here's an excerpt as you probably heard yesterday, a troubled atlanta businesswoman gave media outlets to fabricate an unsubstantiated affair with me. miss white has made it apparent she was abusing the friendship but now i'm asking for your frendship. i'm also asking for your prayers and support. he does not directly ask for money but on the web page right

above, it did say donate. >> that's an interesting letter. he's calling her troubled and he's abusing her friendship. i don't know, she has hundreds of text messages, does she not? it's going out on a limb. it's going out on a limb so i guess it will be up to his supporters to decide where they fall on that one. >> bret baier, if you're looking for him in washington, d.c., you're out of luck earlier this week, he flew down to talk to marco rubio and talked to mitt romney in a sitdown with mitt romney which is rare but becoming more and more frequent. he's ready to go full bore feeling he's maybe oversaturated in the public eye. he sat down and talked about a myriad of issues, flip-flop on issues, is it really a valid criticism? he's clearly seen the polls that newt is the biggest threat to his campaign right now. he took on newt when it came to his stance on immigration.

>> if he's gonna do what i believe he's gonna do for those who are allowed to become citizens, that would be providing for them a form of amnesty. those who are illegally today should have the opportunity to register and have their status identified and those individuals should get in line with everyone else that's in line legally. they should not be placed ahead of the line. they should instead go at the back of the line, and they should not be allowed to stay in this country merely because they've come here illegally. >> it was very interesting. it seemed that romney was getting irritated for bret baier for asking the tough questions and asking about issues that he had to respond to before like health care in massachusetts. like his stance on immigration. come on. when you're running for president, you're going to continue to be asked for clarification. just like newt gingrich said a few days ago on immigration

himself. >> i'm for controlling the border and i'm for a personal language of government. i am for american history, should make the deportation much easier. if you belong to a gang, you should automatically be kicked out of this country. >> there's some pundits this morning that are saying wait a minute, both guys have plans that essentially would set illegals on the path to some sort of legality in the united states of america. but yesterday, during that 15-minute sitdown there, conchita foods in miami, romney hit back newt gingrich with the first thing in the interview as you saw was hitting newt where he lived, in washington. he and i have very different backgrounds. he spent the last 30 or 40 years in washington.

i spent my last years in the private sector. that's what the country needs right now. >> what he's saying is he's a life long politician and that mitt romney himself had politics in his background but his main strength is being in the private sector and he believes that's what america needs right now based on where the economy is. >> he's definitely open for reassessment on that because i think he was running for senator in 1994. he was a governor of massachusetts so he was very much a politician. he just ran for president and newt gingrich has spent considerable amount of time in the private sector, hence "the new york times" big article today. 6 >> newt talks about his time working with ronald reagan and what not. that's part of the newt story, he was surging in the polls. we saw him fire back from south carolina and right now the augusta chronicle shows that

newt has really leapfrogged. look at that. >> 38. >> romney is at 15. cain is at 13. the real clear politics poll had him ahead 15. now newt is on fire. coming up at the top of the hour at 7:00 and in that hour, we'll have rick santorum as well. this is a really big show. because justin bieber will be across the street doing a sound check, we'll do our best to get him on before we're done in three hours. >> who is supposed to do that? me or gretchen? >> can you see if justin bieber can come over? >> huh? >> i for one don't care if he comes over. i'm not a big bieber fan. i may be the one person in the entire world. >> he's a musical genius. even mozart has more musical ability than him. >> he needs a haircut. the children of missing orlando mother michelle parker are in state custody this morning.

their father dale smith jr. just named a prime suspect in parker's disappearance. she has been missing since november 17th, the same day they appeared on an episode of "the people's court" television show arguing over an engagement ring. the man suspected in the disappearance of a woman in aruba reportedly on his way back to the united states. while you were sleeping, we got our hands on this new video showing him being released from jail four months after robin gardner vanished. officials say they didn't have enough evidence to hold him. his freedom could be short lived. prosecutors will ask a judge to reverse his release later this morning. if they succeed, he could be extradited back to aruba. let's go live to los angeles where police are in full force at this early hour trying to clear occupy protesters. 100 protesters are occupying jail cells at this hour. overnight, the lapd arrested protesters who refused to evacuate their camp by city hall. they were told to leave two days

ago. let's go live to the city of brotherly love where police are showing no love to 50 protesters there. they're under arrest at this hour after cops ordered them out of the campground. they started pulling out tents at 1:00 a.m. this morning after giving three warnings to leave. vice president joe biden's surprise trip to iraq not getting a warm welcome. they chanted "biden, get out of iraq." the vice president meeting with iraqi leaders and taking parted in the ceremony honoring the sacrifices of u.s. troop during the eight year war. american troops are pulling out of iraq by the end of the year. and those are your headlines. >> it's amazing, snuck in and snuck out. we'll be out by the holidays. incredible. straight ahead, her son taken away for being obese. now the mom speaking out for the very first time. why she says it is not her fault. >> that's right and we told you herman cain is still running for now but if he does drop out, who will his supporters turn to? dick morris weighs in on the latest political shakeup,

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no wonder more investors are saying... i'm with scottrade! >> the allegations against herman cain are forcing the reian candidate to reassess his words, his presidential campaign. his campaign manager insists cain will not quit but if he does, how will the shakeup affect the republican field? joining us right now, a man with opinions on that, dick morris, former advisor to bill clinton and author of "revolt" and wrote a book on his dog, dubs. first off, dick, where do the voters go if cain leaves? >> well, first of all, i don't

think he's going any place very quickly. i think, you know, he's not a politics. he's a business type. and when something new happens, he reassesses his business plan. i think that it's not at all clear he's dropping out and apparently, i've heard that he's gotten tons of e-mails to stay in. even if people don't like him, many people do and i do. but even if people don't like him, they're saying don't let this kind of garbage determine who the next president is, for god's sake. were his voters to leave, i think there's a very good chance that bachmann would move up. i mean, obviously, newt and romney would get their share but there is a group of voters who are evangelicals and tea party supporters who have been for cain. they don't like romney, some because of his religion and some because of romney care. many of them see newt as a little too establishment and they're kind of wondering where they're going to go. right now, they may be going a little bit with newt and they may stay there but i think that

you can't count out bachmann in this race. >> right. so dick, i know you do research, you don't just have to opinions but you do research on it but so far, it's just amazing. newt gingrich has shown that cain's problems with women have emerged. if cain were to go, where would your support go to? 37% said newt would be my number -- newt would be 37%. romney will be second. michelle bachmann would be third with 13% of his supporters going to her and rick perry 12%. you just feel differently according to the public policy poll. >> but think of the dynamic of iowa. because that's really where this shakeout is going to occur. right now, you have gingrich in first place at iowa way up there and then you have a tightly bunched field for second place involving gingrich -- involving romney, bachmann, and paul. and a little bit of perry but

mainly those three. more or less tied for second place. so it would not take a large number of votes to move bachmann up to a solid second place finish. if at that point she's ahead of romney but behind gingrich and a strong second, it really could put her into the field so i'm kind of looking at alternatives. i think we're being too quick to narrow this to a two-way race. >> all right. now, i got to ask you in the big picture, i kind of starting to agree with governor huntsman. he's trying to have a conversation. rick perry is having a conversation. mitt romney is having a conversation. it starts with what should herman cain do, what is the latest allegation. he's indicating that herman cain would be better off for the party if he stepped aside. do you agree with that? >> no, i think cain has performed an enormous service in this race. he's taken the debate over let's repeal all of the obama regulations and obamacare and morphed it into a debate about

how do we restructure the economy? the point cain makes is so valid which is the economy before obama came here wasn't much good. it led to this whole recession. go back to that economy and figure out how to improve that one by fundamental changes in the tax code. i think that was a brilliant point and i think he really is reshaping the debate and i hope and pray that he can stay in the race and continue to do that. it's a very positive thing that he's doing. >> that was positive. the last month has not been. meanwhile, don't go anywhere. i know you want to fire back at an accusation about your dog which is personal. dick, have you seen this poll? president obama's approval rating now lower than jimmy carter's in the same week in his presidency. can this president climb out of his hole? and the most bizarre story of the day, a kidnapper suing his victim for emotional distress. it's a true story and we'll share it.

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>> 22 minute after the top of the hour. hillary clinton has arrived in burma making her the first secretary of state to visit that nation in more than 50 years. the military-run country has been isolated recently but the government has been making strong reforms. and he tried to assassinate president ronald reagan and now he wants to go free. today, lawyers for john hinckley jr. are asking a judge to release him from a psych ward at a hospital in washington. hinckley says he wants to go home to take care of his mother. his request is expected to be rejected. >> meanwhile, the president's job approval now at 43% compared

to president carter at 51%. at the same point in his presidency. we're talking about one week averages and you can see president obama is now in big trouble if that's true. >> we're back with dick morris. dick, so far, is this a poll that you would look at if you were in the obama camp be alarmed at or just a point of interest? >> no, i'd be very alarmed at it, i think that it's not just his job rating that's at 43% but then you ask people, do you approve of the job he's doing no managing the economy? >> sure. >> which is the only issue there is. that's at 34%. so if you really cut down to it, he's in bad shape and they ask people which party do you trust more to run the economy? republicans, 48%. democrats 37%. >> that's -- >> that's usually a question the democrats win. >> you were in a similar situation when you were advising president bill clinton and he was able to turn it arnold. -- around. so if you were advising

president obama, what would you tell him to do? >> well, the opposite of what he's doing now. this class warfare stuff isn't going to work and his attempts to hike his turnout on the left by dividing the country just is not going to be effective. worked in 1948 for harry truman and that's the last time it ever worked. >> sure. >> and i would advise him to move to the center like bill clinton did. that's how he got out of it. >> of course, the current president has a terrible economy on his hands as well. that's not working. it's certainly not helping with independents according to gallup. look at this slide. back in january, he had a 40% approval rating with independents and now it stands at 30. can you get re-elected, dick morris, at 30? >> absolutely not. absolutely not. when there are 37% of people trust the democrats on the economy, what you're learning is only the democrats trust the democrats. all the independents either trust the republicans, half of

them or are undecided which means they're leaning that way. he's in terribly serious shape. >> let's see if this is his life preserver. this is a new ad out and let's look and evaluate. >> i'm barack obama. and i approved this message. i need you to do me a favor and it will only take a minute. the 2012 campaign is under way and the outcome will depend not on what i do but what you do starting right now. call the number on your screen or visit joinobama.com to help build our campaign in your community. it's up to you to fight for the values we all share. don't sit this one out. i'd love to see you out there. >> he's community organizing. >> uh-huh. >> well, it's good that his re-election doesn't depend on what he does because that's obviously a standard he can't come up to. it depends on what you do. >> you know what? he's very, very appealing in his delivery. i can see how that ad would be appealing to people. >> well, i think that people are getting a little immune to it. now, i had a bit a dust-up

myself. >> what do you mean? you did? >> my dog is the subject of a book my wife and i and our friend wrote "dubs goes to washington and discovers the greatness of america" and just when dubs was anticipating big christmas sales, his biographer, me, called ron paul a nut on television. >> on this show. >> on this show. and ron paul's supporters told their people go to amazon.com and flood the site with negative reviews of "dubs goes to washington" so -- and dubs frankly is reassessing his candidacy. >> unbelievable. >> stand by your claim of what you called ron. >> well, i hope that people keep dubs in the race by going and buying christmas gifts at amazon.com. it's "dubs goes to washington." because the dog will write again. >> i don't mine attacks and my wife doesn't but my dog does. >> you got to draw the line.

>> i could tell by the way he was drooling. >> see you next week. >> still ahead on the show, a young boy taken from his mother for being too fat. that mom defending herself and speaking out for the first time. why she says now it's not her fault. >> and s&p smacks down the credit rating of nearly every big u.s. bank. stuart varney says it will damage our recovery even more and he's here after the break. in fact, you could technically say he's here now. >> but first happy birthday to billy idol, the guy who kind of snarls when he sings is 56 today. [ adrianna ] when i grill lobster, i make sure it's a melt in your mouth kind of experience. [ john ] the wood fires up the grill a little bit hotter

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>> this is in the state of ohio, it's where cleveland is located. first time this has happened and there's been a lot of debate about whether or not this is the right solution. should we take kids who are obese away from their parents? social services worked with this family, this mom, i think it's a single parent household for 20 months. apparently, they became aware of the situation where the mom took the child to the emergency room when he was having trouble breathing. and now the mom is speaking out for the first time. she says this. they are trying to make it seem like i'm unfit. like i don't love my child. of course i love him. of course i want him to lose weight. it's a lifestyle change and they are trying to make it seem like i'm not embracing that. it's very hard but i am trying so in other words, she's saying it's not her fault. >> well, here's the head of the family services that took her kid explaining what happened. >> we were involved with this family for about 20 months. before that action occurred. the medical community brought this situation to our attention.

this is a medical neglect case. when a child's medical condition warrants intervention by child protective services, we respond. >> look, childhood obesity is a terrible problem in this country and it's getting bigger. but snatching a kid out of a family by the government, that just seems wrong. >> right. i'd like to know more details. >> extreme case, the kid was brought to the emergency room and couldn't breathe. what if he dies? what if he dies? >> but part of the rationale is they say he's on the road to having high blood pressure. all these things that haven't happened to him yet. where too you draw the line? he's 100 pounds overweight. what about 78 pounds? where are they going to do it? it seems like too much intrusion by the government. >> is he going to live with a family that has a live-in nutritionist? because the average family is going to portion out meals. >> the only thing is if you take a kid out of his loving home and put him in with a foster

situation, i mean, that's -- that's going to make the kid nervous. there's a possibility he might wind up eating more. >> this is why since we've discussed this, it's a very complicated situation. foster system in this country is obviously overburdened. not sure that's the right answer. not sure what the answer is in this case. let's do some headlines for you now. a father from new jersey under arrest at this hour, accused of throwing his 2-year-old daughter off a bridge into a creek while she was still strapped into her car seat. the horrific murder happened last week after arthur morgan had a court-appointed visit with his daughter. he reportedly turned up at the home of his friends all the way in san diego on thanksgiving, said nothing about his daughter and even played with their kids. but now he's been apprehended. >> meanwhile, the brits withdrawing some of their diplomats in tehran after iranian protesters stormed their embassy. a car was set on fire. gas bombs were thrown at the embassy which is now closed. prime minister david cameron calling the attacks both outrageous and indefensible.

>> taxpayer money once again being used for questionable use. a former school superintendent in philly arlene ackerman about to get state unemployment benefits just months after she was paid nearly $1 million to step down. while ackerman is getting her double windfall, the school district is drowning in debt. they're expected to lay off nearly 1,000 teachers. >> she is unemployed. >> he was convicted of holding a couple from kansas hostage and now he's suing his victims. jesse dimicks wants them to pay $235,000 for his emotional distress and hospital bills after he was shot by police. he's also complaining because the couple broke their promise to hide him from the cops. they escaped after letting him watch movies until he fell asleep. what's wrong with this system? what's wrong with this system when the hostage guy can sue -- i don't know. anyway, let's move on to sports, shall we? >> all right.

it appears bobby valentine will make fenway park his new home. unbelievable news. several reports indicate that he will be the next manager of the boston red sox and he'll be a big change from terry franconia who was kind of laid back and to himself, bobby not even close, the former mets and rangers managers is well known for his run-ins with players and front office staff and also a baseball genius lauded in japan and -- >> after committing the stomp heard around the world, lions defensive tackle suh is appealing his new two game suspension. look at this. you'll see it one more time. after getting knocked to the ground, he got up and stomped smith right there. and smith was mature enough to get up and walk away and he said i'm sorry for doing that. but when they suspended him for two games, he said i appeal that suspension. i cannot imagine that he's going to win that appeal. the former raider great will be in the meetings to determine if he was oversanctioned. >> all right.

s&p has ratcheted down the credit rating of nearly every u.s. bank including bank of america, j.p. morgan chase and citibank. >> now the credit rating agency says if the eurozone doesn't deal with its fiscal crisis, they may downgrade u.s. banks even further. what's that mean to you and me and stuart varney joins us life live. over on the big screen, we can see the u.s. banks that are involved. a lot of people probably have money in the banks. is the money safe? >> yes. there's no impact there at all. this is a more long-term thing. if you want to get a real solid, robust economic recovery going. you've got to have a profitable banking system that's ready, willing and able to make people like you and i loans. ok? s&p is saying that's not the way the american banking system is at this moment. they're in some trouble. they're in trouble because of european debt. they're in trouble because of the continuing housing hangover.

more than anything else, they are in trouble because they're the punching bag, the banking industry is the punching bag of the obama administration and this new regulatory framework called dodd-frank that's coming down the pike at them. now, if you tell an entire industry you're just a bunch of fat cats. you're making profits, too much money, we're going to regulate you, we're going to restrict you. >> less than 1% work. >> then you send occupy wall street on to the bankers and call them fat cats and rotten guys, what do you think they're going to do? are they going to be in good shape? of course they're not. >> i don't understand why now? i mean, this has been a problem since 2008. >> wait a second, s&p has changed the criteria by which it judges the financial stability of a bank. ok, it's done that. but the european debt situation has gotten much, much worse very recently. the housing industry hasn't gotten any better. yeah, they do and dodd-frank is now coming into effect and now you've got occupy wall street set upon the banks so everything is coming together at this

moment to make it a much worse environment for the banks and therefore, stalling the economic recovery. >> does the united states' massive debt have anything to do with this downgrade? >> it, does not. that's an entirely separate issue. that's the nation's debt vs. the financial situation. auto what if you've maxed out on all your credit cards? >> watch out, you're in trouble. >> listen, viewers, we're not encouraging you to watch you the fox business channel but he does work there across the hall and his program starts this morning at 9:20. >> i'm encouraging people to. >> gretchen was out yesterday. >> get those tv's on. >> they give me a nice promo. >> they do. >> it's called cross promotion. thank you, stuart. yesterday we heard from the professor who took all his students' money to prove a point about the american dream. we'll talk to a student from that class who is not too happy with that lesson. >> and the attorney general of

the united states of america is upset with our own tucker carlson, brian. >> eric holder a bigger problem to deal with? does anybody want to be his friend now knowing that the attorney general wants a piece of them? > >> oh, man! the employee of the month is...

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>> quick headlines now. an update a pilot accused of abandoning a plane full of marijuana near an airport in houston. as a u.s. citizen, police say he has a long rap sheet for drugs including an arrest and that was him coughing at the quantico marine base and accused of parachuting out of a plane that crashed last year and one thing that congress can agree on, it involves our troops. house voting unanimously to allow military personnel on official duty to pass right through airport security faster. the bill goes to the senate

next. i go to gretchen. gretchen next. >> thank you very much, brian. 52 lawmakers on capitol hill now calling on attorney general eric holder to step down over his role in the fast & furious scandal. and eric holder is not happy about it. in fact, he thinks the web site dailycaller.com is behind the movement to get rid of him. >> here to react, the founder of the daily caller and the fox news contributor tucker carlson. good morning to you, tucker. >> good morning. >> the attorney general believes that somehow the daily caller has so much power, they've had the ability to get 52 members of congress to ask for his resignation. >> that we run the house of representatives which is absurd. everybody knows that "fox & friends" runs the house of representatives. >> the whole thing is nixonian. you know. we have a marvelous picture of him waving his finger in the face of neil monroe, one of our reporters yesterday and accusing

us of orchestrating that campaign and the truth is the facts are the fact of fast & furious, the idea that the federal government gave guns to mexican drug lords, the guns were used to kill people including americans are so overwhelming that we don't need to be a part of some diabolical plot. the justice department did this. he runs the justice department. by the way, you wouldn't know that reading the conventional press. they have made excuses for eric holder. 51 house members and three presidential candidates calling for his resignation, that's not news. >> bill o'reilly did a breakdown of how often they covered this story and it wasn't very often. the bottom line is the hearings are completed. where do we stand with regard to -- do you think more and more senators are going to get on board? i understand the first senator came out last night, was it isaacson and asked for his resignation. >> i can't anticipate this and

we're not in control of the legislative branch. would like to be but not. i believe there will be more senators calling for his resignation and the facts are pretty tough. i mean, this was a massive mistake. he is the head of the organization. now, you're seeing various news organizations basically take his side on this. he's responsible for what happened at his agency. >> do you think he had that reaction to your reporter because they haven't covered it. >> we've covered it. we've written a number of stories on this. this is the attorney general of the united states. this is not a small thing. this is not, you know, something about his personal life, this is not, you know, the twist and turns of the presidential campaign. i mean, those are the issues that the press spends a lot of its time covering and frankly, they don't mean very much. this means something. this is the head law enforcement official in the united states of america and you've got 50 members of congress calling for his resignation. come on. >> you actually believe in the end, he will resign.

>> there's a presidential race on and i think the candidates, once they -- republican candidates once they stop attacking one another will at some point, one suspects, turn their attention to the obama administration and this is one of the most appalling scandals of the past three years. i don't think there's any question whoever the nominee is that is going to spend a lot of time talking about fast & furious. i don't know what eric holder's answer, he can't just start wagging his finger in the face of reporters and saying stop being mad at me. >> you need to continue to cover the story. >> of course we will. >> good to see you. we talked to some college students who believe the government is responsible for providing the american dream. we'll talk to one of those students who has now changed his mind. and critics are all over governor rick perry again after he made another gaffe. is the media just looking for a reason to tear him down? are the attacks fair? the governor is here live to respond. [ male announcer ] if you're giving an amazing gift,

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>> welcome back. yesterday, we heard from a college professor at a college in florida who was shocked to discover that a majority of his students believe the government should provide them with the american dream. >> 8 out of 10 students said they wanted free health care. they wanted the government to pay for their tuition and they wanted the government to spend for the down payment on their house and they expected the government to "give them a job." many of them said they wanted the government to tax wealthier individuals so that they would have an opportunity to have a better life. >> well, joining us now is one of those 8 in 10 students. student from vallencia college down in florida right now,

robert newton. good morning to you. >> good morning. >> so your professor said, ok, everybody take out a piece of paper and write an essay, 10 minute essay on the american dream. as he said, 8 out of 10 said the federal government should provide stuff, health care, tuition, downpayment for a house. you said the government should provide stuff. why? >> i felt that the people who are otherwise medically unable to provide to themselves would need help for achieving their american dream. i didn't say that everybody should. but i did say those medically unable to provide for themselves, sure. >> sure. i understand your rationale on that. but you have since after you've listened to the professor a little more, you've changed your mind. why? >> yes. after -- if you took his class, you'd really understand, there's a lot to it and there's a lot of other ways that people can provide for themselves and i feel that as americans, we need

to take a responsibility for our actions and for taking care of ourselves and providing for ourselves. >> absolutely. ok. so let's do a little analyzization here. if 8 of 10 kids in your class said, you know, it would be great if the government would provide free tuition, free health care, maybe a free downpayment on a house and stuff like that, where did that sense of entitlement come from? >> i think it comes from a lot of things. i think it comes from the way we live today. you can see really, really like almost destitute families that are living on the edge of poverty, of not having a home but they're walking around with smartphones and some parents just hand their kids everything they want and the kids never have to work for things. and public schools aren't teaching much of their own responsibility. there's a lot of things that i think have affected it. and created that sense of our

generation, feeling and entitlement. >> that's one. things that your professor mentioned yesterday in the public school system. he said, you know, there aren't many kids hearing from their teachers for the american dream, you need to have some personal responsibility. but as you have learned and as you have figured out on your own, you need to be personally responsible. >> yes, sir. very much so. >> for instance, your father, i understand, he is -- he's had a good job and has been a good provider. did he get any handouts during his life? >> his parents took good care of him. but they always made sure that he worked for what he got. >> exactly. >> is that one of the messages that you've gotten from this class? >> yeah. yeah. i'd say that's a message i got from the class. >> sure. interesting. and i know the occupy wall street thing, there are a lot of -- you have people involved in that movement. do you feel a lot of your

classmates are like them and they feel like hey, my hand is out. fill it up? >> actually, yes. not specifically in the economics class but over the course of being at vallencia, i've had a lot of students very supportive of the wall street movement and of all the handouts and the free tuition that a lot of them are getting and it's actually really upsetting. don't care for it. >> at least you've learned from your economics class the importance of personal responsibility. it looks like you're getting an education down there at vallencia college. thank you very much for joining us live this morning. >> thank you. >> what do you think? e-mail us. friends at foxnews.com. meanwhile, still ahead today, it sure looks like a christmas tree but you can't call it that in the state of rhode island. the governor there taking the christ out of christmas. we've talked to one outraged lawmaker who wants that to change. and critics are all over

governor rick perry again after he said something yesterday. the media just looking for a reason to tear him down? are the attacks fair? rick perry, the governor is here live when we come back. [ male announcer ] attention medicare beneficiaries.

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beyond what you pay for medicare part b. now is the time to look at your options and enroll. start getting the benefits of an aarp medicarecomplete plan insured through unitedhealthcare. but you need to act now. annual enrollment ends wednesday, december 7th. call unitedhealthcare today about an aarp medicarecomplete plan. you can even enroll right over the phone. or visit us on the web. don't wait. call now. >> good morning, everyone. it's wednesday, november 30th. i'm gretchen carlson. thanks so much for sharing your time with us today. the herman cain train keeps on rolling for now. the g.o.p. candidate refusing to quit. but will a fundraiser stick by his side? that's what it's all about. >> and critics are all over governor rick perry again after he made another gaffe. is the media just looking for a reason to tear him down? are the attacks even fair? rick perry here live in moments.

to respond. >> and taking the christ out of christmas? here we go again. rhode island's governor refusing to call that a christmas tree. it's a holiday tree to him! we're going to talk to a state lawmaker who is putting up one of her own. "fox & friends" hour 2 starts right now. >> hi, i'm clay walker and you're watching "fox & friends." i'm one of them. >> that's good. welcome, friends, to the "fox & friends" program live from studio e in rockefeller center where later tonight, they're going to light the christmas tree. not the holiday tree, the christmas tree. >> right. >> governor rick perry around the corner. in the meantime, a couple of quick headlines for you right now. the children of missing orlando mom michelle parker in state custody. officials taking the 3-year-old twins out of the father's home. that's because their father dale smith jr. just named the prime suspect in parker's disappearance. parker has been missing since

november 17th, ironically the same day she and her ex-fiance smith appeared on an episode of "the people's court". they were arguing over an engagement ripping. the man suspected in the disappearance of a woman in aruba back to the united states. while you were sleeping, we got hands on this new video showing gary giordano being released from jail nearly four months after robin gardner vanished. prosecutors will ask a judge to reverse his release later this morning. he can try to cash in on a $1 1/2 million insurance policy he took out on gardner's life. he would have to provide a death certificate and prove no fraud was involved. let's go live right now and see what's going on in los angeles where police are out at full force at this early hour rounding up occupy protesters. >> shhh, they're sleeping. >> they're now occupying jail cells. the lapd arresting anyone who refuses to evacuate their camps near city hall.

they were told to leave two days ago. move over to the city of brotherly love. police showing no love to 50 protesters will now under arrest for refusing to leave their campgrounds. the cops started pulling down tents at 1:00 a.m. this morning after giving out three warnings to those folks to leave. gabe zimmerman, the aide who lost his life in the attack on congresswoman gabrielle giffords will have his memory honored on capitol hill. congress is set to approve a resolution naming a meeting room after him. >> it was special and important for gabe's family to do this because the idea that a name would be named after him that congressional staffers used, it would send a message to the entire congressional staff family about how important their service is was really important for them. >> zimmerman was giffords' director of community outreach. he and five others were shot and killed while giffords was meeting with constituents in tucson when she was shot, too. and those are your headlines.

hard to believe that's almost been a year. i believe it was january 11th. >> yep. all right, with less than one month away from the iowa caucus, former speaker of the house newt gingrich leading the republican field at this hour in shocking fashion over the last few weeks. the latest real clear politics poll show him with 23% of the vote. followed by mitt romney with 21% of the vote and rick perry has 8% of the vote. >> joining us right now is the presidential candidate and governor of the great state of texas, rick perry who, i believe, joins us from new hampshire. >> good morning. beautiful day here in new hampshire. >> beautiful indeed. i'm looking at the cover of "drudge report" right now, governor and it says "then there were two. "there's a picture of mitt and newt. has the media tried to focus this on a two man race when there's so many people in contention. >> the media don't have a vote much the people of new hampshire

and iowa and south carolina and florida are the ones that have a vote. that's the reason i'm up here. our campaign is moving right ahead forward. we're talking to people. let me tell you, here's what people are upset about. they're upset about $7.7 trillion of secret loans that went to wall street financiers. they know that there is a line drawn in the sand in this country right now and that line goes from washington, d.c. to wall street. and they are not happy campers about it. americans are ready for an outsider that will come in and overhaul washington, d.c. and both of those guys at the top of that list are what you would call insiders, substantial insiders on wall street and washington, d.c. so americans haven't decided yet at all who they want to lead the republican nomination. and weir going to be talking about that and we're going to be talking about it in harsh and strong terms over the course of the next four to five weeks as we get ready for those new hampshire caucuses. >> governor, you just mentioned that while secret loans, these federal loans that just -- they

dwarfed tarp to be honest in how much money was given out without telling us. i'm wondering does that mean you see eye to eye with the occupy movement? >> well, here's what i -- i don't agree that you go break the law. i don't think you break the law whether it's occupying a piece of property that you're told to leave or break the law with fraudulent intent if you're a wall street banker. i'm about law and order. that's one of the reasons that the sheriff came in yesterday and endorsed me because he understands that i have run an ethical, a hard charging border security, immigration strong state and that's the type of individual that americans are looking for to lead this kunlt. -- country. is a real leader. not someone who can just get up and make a slick speech, someone who knows how to weave their way through the wall street to

washington way to make a ton of money and then the taxpayers end up having to foot the bill. they're looking for an ethical, moral, strong leader. and that's exactly what i've done over the last 10 years as the governor of the state of texas. >> one of your other competitors, herman cain has come under fire, as we all know. about a lot of these women problems and yesterday, he said that he was going to reassess his campaign and then he sort of took a step back from that saying he wasn't really quitting. if he does, in fact, get out of the race, an interesting poll shows that 37% of the people would go to gingrich. 14 to bachmann. 13% to romney and 12% to you. will that be a huge boost to your campaign if herman cain does drop out? >> well, here's the issue -- he needs to address these allegations. and, you know, that's the bottom line. he needs to address the allegations and if they're true, he has to address with his family and the people of this

country. so how it all breaks out, i think that's -- that's just someone's speculation. again, i think this goes back to americans are sick and tired of washington, d.c. wasting their money, putting this country in jeopardy of being bankrupt, seeing the downgrades of the rating companies, and it's wall street and washington where the problem is. >> i got to say, governor, that leads to the -- wondering if you agree with john huntsman, then, that herman cain's hurting the party by staying in the race with all these distractions instead of staying on the issues that you prefer to talk about. >> again, i go back to he's got to address these issues. and straight up. and again, if these allegations are correct, he has an obligation to his family and to the american people. >> he has addressed them as far as saying -- he says they're not true and he called her a troubled woman, the latest one. let me move on to something else because you yesterday you got a

lot of attention for making what some people are calling another gaffe. i want you to listen to it and we'll have you respond. >> those of you that are sitting in this hall who are going to inherit this country are counting on us. those of you that will be 21 by november 12th, i ask for your support and your vote. those of you who won't be, just work hard. >> so obviously, the voting age is 18 and the -- >> it's 18. >> and the election date, i understand that. the fact that you could even pull out the number 12, hats off to you. but what do you make about the fact that you got the voting age wrong? >> look, from time to time, we all will get something wrong. the president of the united states said there was 57 states one day. and i'm sure he took plenty of heat for a while. here's how i look at these issues. generally speaking, over the course of my 10 plus years of being the governor of the state

of texas, when someone doesn't want to talk about the substantive issues and don't want to talk about the flat tax that i've laid out, when they don't want to talk about major overhaul of washington, d.c., like going to a part-time congress which most of the states operate very well with, they want to find some little error that you made and go talk about that so i'm going to talk to the american people about the issues that are really important. they know -- look, i'm a human being. i'm going to make some d-- i'm going to make some mistakes from time to time in my remarks. if they want a robot as sheriff joe said yesterday, go to japan and buy one. we're all human and we're going to make mistakes. >> if you are going to buy a robot, buy american. >> surely, why not. one of the issues that's very important to a border governor like yourself is immigration. and newt gingrich has taken some heat since your last debate where people have said hey, look, he's suggesting amnesty, he suggested with the essentially modelled after world war ii selective service,

community boards, look at somebody who has been in the country for 25 years and figure out whether or not they could get legality in some way. does that sound like amnesty to you? >> well, i'm not for amnesty in any form and fashion. there's a lot of ideas out there about how you deal with the issue of immigration reform. but they're all just intellectual banter until we secure the border. one of the reasons that sheriff joe came to new hampshire and endorsed me for the presidency, he knows i've been dealing with the issue for the last 10 years. until we secure the border with the strategic fencing and with the substantial number of boots on the ground, the aviation assets that will give real time information down to the law enforcement fast response teams on the ground, none of this really matters. if you don't secure the border, having immigration policy is nothing more than an intellectu intellectual exercise. you got to support and secure

that border. >> right. governor, i think all the candidates say that the number one thing is to secure the border. but then what? you know, some estimates are we've got 10, 11, 12, maybe 20 million illegals in the country. then what do you do with those people who have been here, for instance, for a long time? >> i want to go back to this issue of securing the border, though. there are a lot of people that talk about it, you're absolutely correct. there's only one person on the stage that actually is dealing with it and has for the last 10 years and that's myself. posturing and talking about it -- >> pardon me, how do you deal with the people that are here once you secure the border? >> that is a conversation and a great debate that we can have. a lot of different ideas out there. but i want to listen to the american people. i'm not going to just pitch out an idea and say here's where we're going to go with this. here's how we're going to do it. i think this is one of those issues that if you don't spend a lot of time discussing with the american people how they want to deal with these, you're going to

be in trouble. so my approach to this is to have an appropriate conversation, appropriate debate with the members of congress. and put immigration policy in place that the american people are going to support. not something that some think tank comes up with or somebody pulls out of a poll somewhere. this is a very important issue. >> it is. >> that can really create a great chasm in this country if we don't get it right. >> yeah, and it's one that's been debated for decades and never yet solved. always great to speak with you. enjoy your day in new hampshire. >> thank you. good to be with you all. so long. >> good luck the rest of the day. can you imagine not having access to e-mail at work? now, one company is doing just that. banning e-mail and the employees are loving it. why? because most of this stuff, you don't need. >> after years of protecting fannie and freddie, barney frank calls it quits but still insists he had nothing to do with the financial crisis. our next guest says that's impossible!

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>> welcome back, everyone. congressman barney frank is calling it quit after 16 terms in office. 16. the ranking member of the house financial services committee recently admitted to overlooking some of the insider trading going on in congress but says he had little to do with the financial crisis caused in part by fannie mae and freddie mac. >> notion that the democrats were pushing these is absolutely backwards. george bush in 2004 ordered fannie and freddie to do more lending to lower income people and i objected. i wanted to push fannie and freddie into more rental housing. the republicans bought this. could i have done more? no. >> joining me now from tallahassee to react is peter

sweitzer, the author of "throw them all out." good morning to you. >> good morning. great to see you. >> good to see you. when you hear barney frank take absolutely no blame at all for the financial crisis and fannie and freddie. what's your reaction? >> well, you know, denial seems to be a common affliction in washington, d.c. i don't know if it's in the drinking water or if it's something blowing off the potomac, but he is in complete denial on this. he was at the epicenter of power in the financial services oversight area. and fannie and freddie mac not only were pushed an encouraged to go into making risky loans but when there were efforts to reform it and to look into, let's say, irregular and in some cases criminal accounting problems, barney frank resisted those efforts. so there's just simply no way that he could paint the picture that he tried to do things or he tried to change the system. the opposite really is true. >> it's interesting because not only did he continue to deny it, the few days ago when he announced he was resigning, he

actually continued to blame george w. bush. where do you fall on that? >> well, you know, there's no question that they were both political parties that were pushing this idea. let's use fannie and freddie as a mechanism to encourage more home ownership which is a laudible goal. a lot of times they have unintended consequences and the unintended consequences is banks were encouraged to make risky loans to people that have bad credit. there were both political parties doing that but the fact is that also in 2003/2004, the bush administration was pushing aggressively for more oversight , better accounting starnndards for both fannie and freddie and congressional democrats including barney frank resisted it. we knew the books were cooked almost a decade ago but barney frank and others resisted efforts to look into that and effectively deal with it. >> well, one thing that many lawmakers aren't resisting anymore is coming clean about some of the insider trading that

they had the luxury of cashing in on. quite frankly because of your book. you exposed this saying that look, they have this loophole, none of the rest of us do. it would be illegal that they can cash in on knowing about these inside deals. now, barney frank has written a letter through senator baucus saying "i did not pay significant attention to this when it was first discussed with me, in large part because i didn't see this as an issue of great substance. i think we should take up this legislation and after suitable study, enact some version of it." what's your reaction to that, peter? how could they not know that this was going on? >> well, in barney frank's case, i can't speak directly who what he knew or didn't know. while i disagree with him on probably the vast majority of policy issues, he was not somebody who was an active stock trader but there is this club mentality up in washington, d.c. and they had to know that colleagues were trading some of them very aggressively and doing

so based on their committee assignments so i think again, there's a little bit of potentially denial going on but look, i'm encouraged by the fact that somebody like barney frank has -- has had an about face on this issue. we went from having six co-sponsors to the stock act before my book came out to over 60 and it's been introduced in the senate for the first time. that's very encouraging and i'm glad that barney frank has changed his mind on it. >> a book that's making a big difference. the book is "throw them all out." good to see you. talk to you again sometime soon. >> thanks, gretchen. >> remember the professor who insulted our nation's heroes and said not to donate care packages to them. he called them killers. we have a very interesting update. and it sure looks like a christmas tree. but one governor refuses to call it that. you're about to meet a woman who is so upset, she's going to do something pretty darn bold. with arthritis pain. that's a coffee and two pills. the afternoon tour begins with more pain and more pills.

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>> take a look at this. it sure looks like a christmas tree. governor of the great state of rhode island refusing to call it a christmas tree. he's calling it the holiday tree in the statehouse. our next guest is going with something else and it's pretty bold. joining us is the rhode island state representative doreen, it's great to have you. in january, there was a resolution there in your state legislature saying what? >> call the christmas trees in the statehouse and providence area christmas trees, not holiday trees and the resolution did pass unanimously on the house floor. >> why did you come up with the resolution? who was calling that christmas tree a holiday tree? >> i'm a freshman legislator and we were having our freshman orientation and we were on the steps of the statehouse and someone walked by and said i

think this is a holiday tree or a christmas tree? what do we call it? i looked at the guy and he said it's a christmas tree. it's supposed to be a holiday tree. at that point, i was a little disturbed about that. i walked into my office and i said i'd like to draft a resolution calling it a christmas tree and that's pretty much how it all began, steve. >> look, they got it from a christmas tree farm. it's a christmas tree! >> they got it from -- they got it from big john's christmas tree farm on rhode island and he's also a little upset because he donated a christmas tree to the governor and not a holiday tree. >> i understand they're going to put up a menorah nearby. here's what the governor says. he says "the use of the term holiday tree is a continuation of past practices and does not represent a change of course on my part. i would encourage all those engaged in to discussion whatever their opinion on the matter to use their energy and enthusiastic to make a positive difference in the lives of their fellow rhode islanders. that last part there, doreen. is he saying if you don't like

it, go out and spend your time volunteering doing something. >> go out and volunteer, correct. no one volunteers more than i do in my community and throughout the state. hurricane irene hit several months back when i was in the community pulling trees out of people's front lawns, delivering water to people that didn't have running water, checking on the handicapped, last week i was helping, you know, get donations for the north kingstown food pantry and this week, i'll be packaging -- making packages to send to the troops so i mean, if he wants to volunteer a little bit with me and walk in my shoes, come on, governor. bring it on. >> sure. ironic thing is at the white house, i saw pictures of the obama family welcoming in last week or two the white house christmas tree. so if it's good enough for the president of the united states, you would think it would be good enough for the governor of the great state of rhode island. by the way, for folks who are watching right now and are thinking that's crazy. i should call the governor. we've got his phone number. here it is. >> good. >> give him a call, i'd wait until 9:00, 10:00 this morning. >> actually 8:30, steve.

>> 8:30, thank you very much. the number for the governor is 401-222-2080. and doreen, i understand that when the governor is lighting the holiday tree, you will simultaneously be doing what? >> we will be having a christmas tree lighting so if you want to go to a holiday tree lighting you can join the governor. if you'd like to come to a christmas tree lighting, you can join myself and he's going to be lighting our tree, we're going to be lighting a real christmas tree. and so this could be quite interesting at the statehouse on december 6th. >> right. >> i mean, if it was a maple tree or an elm in there, maybe it's a holiday tree but it sure looks like a christmas tree. >> steve, if it has lights and ornaments and an angel and decorations on top, it's a christmas tree. >> you're right. all right, doreen, rhode island state representative joining us from providence. thank you very much. >> thank you, steve. merry christmas. >> merry christmas to you as well. just an hour and three minutes until the governor's office opens.

maybe you could give him a little surprise. meanwhile, up next, president obama's approval rating now lower than the great jimmy carter. can the president climb out of that hole and that's just the beginning? is he losing independents as well? yes. plus taking a step backwards. one company now enforcing a zero e-mail policy. what?

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>> speaking of obama, the president will attend three fundraisers in new york city tomorrow to raise money for his re-election campaign. seriously, how about holding a fundraiser to raise money for the united states! hello! >> that's why we have china. china is the one that gives us all our dough. >> not really. >> we in return give them money to sustain themselves. figure that one out. >> but ultimately, jimmy fallon is right. the president of the united states, not going to be graded on how much money he has. probably a billion dollars but it's going to be how well the economy is doing and so far, since the economy is not doing well, it's reflected in his polls. and in this poll, they did a comparison to the gallup people who must have a lot of time on

their hands. >> they do. >> and they said compare president obama's approval rating to other presidents at the same period in their four years. >> right. and take a look at this. paul with "u.s. news & world report" yesterday said something about how jimmy carter was regarded as the worst president of the 20th century. look at his number. 51% and you have president obama in the weekly job approval index substantially lower than that. and, of course, the question is can you get re-elected? well, harry truman got re-elected and what was his strategy? he was running against a do nothing congress which is exactly the same tactic as being employed by this white house. >> those darn people down there at the other end of pennsylvania avenue aren't letting me do what i want. >> they decided to do that as opposed to what bill clinton did which was to move to the center to gain ever more popularity. >> he had 51% approval at that

time. bush 43 had 52% approval at this period. >> let's take a look at the vote decideers. those are the pure independents. so when you look at how they fall for president obama right now, they have dropped from january earlier this year, of course, 40% of them supported him. and now it's down to 30% and that's a precipitous drop because as we all know, independents pretty much decide most all elections. >> dick morris was on our program about an hour and 20 minutes ago and he said that you absolutely cannot get re-elected with a number like that. karl rove was on the hannity program last night, i saw him with his white board and he had five different groups, you know, that the president has lost a lot of leverage with them, dropping 20, 25 points in some of them. he says that's not particularly helpful to the president. >> these are all five groups that propelled him to victory last time around. >> these kind of people like him!

but they are terribly disappointed in what he's doing. he has been different in office than they were led to believe. and they believe his economic policies have tended to hurt far more than they've helped. >> you hear what karl rove said first? they like him! it's all about job performance, though, at this point and i think that's why mitt romney is so smart. not saying he doesn't believe it but he always prefaces things before he criticizes and says, personally, he seems like a good guy. but his policies are way off. his leadership is nonexistent and then gets into detail. i think you're going down the wrong road if you think you're going to personally attack the president because i think america likes him as a person like they liked bush. >> that first number on his white board. he's lost 27 points with young people. that's going to be a problem because they really did help propel him. >> or if they just stay home, that would be bad, too, for him. >> sure. 25 now before the top of the hour. other headlines for you on this wednesday. taking a look at new and historic video of hillary clinton arriving in burma about two hours ago. >> in her best burma jacket. >> there you go.

>> she's the first secretary of state to visit that nation in more than 50 years. >> right. the military-run country has been isolated but government has been making serious reform efforts. they have a lovely airport there. clinton is expected to raise concerns over burma's military ties with north korea which are troubling. >> we will be able to spot her throughout her visits with that jacket. starting today, a cheaper version of lipitor will be available to the public. it's losing its patent and steve is amazed. now a drug company will develop a generic and less expensive version of the drug. raxbury laboratories wants to develop its own version but needs f.d.a. approval. according to lipitore's manufacturer pfizer, nearly seven million americans use that drug. i'll be following that story. >> we told but this man, suffolk law professor who referred to our troops as killers and e-mailed his colleagues telling

them to boycott care packages sent overseas. the collection bin for troops has been overflowing with donations and has to be emptied every day. if you want to donate to the troops, you can log on to foxnews.com for more information. >> one of the world's biggest tech firms banning e-mail at work. ceo of atos says e-mailing has become a tremendous distraction and waste of time. do you think? from now on, employees will have to communicate the old-fashioned way. maybe you've heard of it. it's called talking! way to go! which is what we do on this talk show. sometimes we talk about the news and sometimes we talk about the sports and sometimes we talk about that new guy who is going to helm the red sox. >> right, true. and steve, text me about that a little bit later, if that's all right. it appears that bobby valentine will call the boston red sox his new home. everybody is saying he'll be the

next manager of the boston red sox. it will be a big change from terry franconia who is laid back but very successful. valentine is not very laid back. he's well known for his run-ins with players and what he terms incompetent front office staff. he's learned a lot and he's a genius when it comes to the tactical part of the game. i think it will be a big thing, real good thing for the red sox. meanwhile, after committing the stomp heard around the world, he almost ruined my thanksgiving. normally just the lions play ruins my thanksgiving but this was one play in particular. he is appealing his two-game suspension. let's look at the evidence. here are the photos of suh appearing to -- appearing, come on, we're not allowed to see footage anymore because evidently the nfl watches our show and has a 24 hour rule. he was on the ground and stomped on this kid and banged his head into the ground twice. he'll be fined without pay. he'll lose $164,000, and he's actually appealing it. which is a joke.

until now, justin combs, the son of rapper seanp. diddy combs was best known for having an insanely expensive super sweet 16 party. remember that? he can throw the pigskin, too, and wants to in hollywood. he's actually a defensive back. justin has just committed to play football for the ucla bruins starting next fall on defensive end. the two star recruit plays quarterback at iona prep and new rochelle. he doesn't know who his new coach will be because they just fired him. he'll be in hollywood. his dad goes there a lot. coming up on radio between 9:00 and noon, nothing but rapper talk. we'll talk to p. diddy and vanilla ice. >> no! you have my idol growing up. >> my idol. fran tarkinton. marilee matlin. >> fran will be with us a half-hour from right now on this show. >> you trying to trump me? >> yeah, why not? immigration the hot issue ever since newt gingrich said this. >> i don't see how the party --

the party that says it's the party of the family is going to adopt an immigration policy which destroys families that have been here a quarter century. >> newt took some heat for that. what does rick santorum think should be done with illegals? the presidential candidate joins us live this hour. >> and miley cyrus catching slack for her comments that she's a pothead. how does this disney star stay out of trouble? this one right here. joins us on the curvy couch. you know him. he's a wizard, right? or is he? >> and we'll be talking about his career, too, but first, your trivia question of the day. you know what? i don't feel like reading it. i've got nothing against these do-it-yourself steam cleaners.

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♪ hurry up no time flat that's logistics. ♪ ♪ all new technology ups brings to me, ♪ ♪ that's logistics. ♪ >> he's the star of the hit show "wizards of waverly place" and let's just say he's definitely not afraid to play with magic. >> an ewon.

this strap is for safety. >> good point! leaving safety out of the way. let's rock! >> cute kid. jake t. austin causes trouble on "wizards of waverly place" for the last four years but now the show is in its final season but before he heads back to hollywood, i want you to wait a second because a little bit of a problem because jake is not here yet. >> aim it that way over there. he's a wizard and there he is. >> wow, that's amazing! >> how did -- he's real! >> eating breakfast. >> your dreams have come true. you're on our couch. >> yeah. >> i asked in the impromptu trivia of the question, what does the t. in jake t. austin stand for and the answer is. >> taronzo. >> what kind of name is that? >> that's my mom's maiden name. it's actually the name of a

valley in spain named after some ancestors of mine. >> that's great. family connection. >> a little bit. >> can we talk about "the wizards of waverly place." whether it's in a repeat or it's on, it's on my house all the time. >> is it really? >> nonstop. >> wizards fan? >> i'm a wizards fan. so is my 8-year-old and 10-year-old. huge fans. you do a great job on the show. did you sacrifice your childhood for this tv series? >> not entirely, no. i mean, like a lot of times was spent in l.a. so i had to leave my family and friends behind. i go to public school here. i was able to go back and forth. >> in new york? >> yeah. >> blend in with the others? >> i guess so. >> that's actually one of the things you say that keeps you grounded. >> yeah. it's kept me grounded. just, you know, having normal experiences. >> sure, you're probably the only kid in your school with a lunch box with you on it. >> oh, my god! >> right? >> i didn't think about that. i was just eating my lunch. >> a lot of high school kids

aren't bringing lunch boxes, that's why. >> yeah. >> at the end of this season, we'll find out which of the kids has the most wizardly power? >> that will be on the final episode which i believe that airs january 6th, yeah. that's like the series finale. >> coming up shortly for you, though, is a brand new big movie you're in. >> yeah, "new year's eve." what do you do? >> i play seth. seth is a kid from new york who meets abigail breslan's character haley. >> you're going to kiss her. >> yeah, i'm going to kiss her. i'm going to kiss her. it happens on new year's and a little situation with her mom, sarah jessica parker is not really feeling that relationship. >> she doesn't like you. >> doesn't like me at all. >> is this right before the kiss? this photo right there? >> yeah, that's seconds prior. you have to see the movie to see the actual thing. >> what is -- what is the real professional actor thinking before they kiss? are they in the moment or are they thinking there's a crew staring at me? >> what are you thinking? >> there's a crew staring at me about to kiss this woman? >> well, in that picture, i

definitely was more confident than i actually was. >> really? >> i mean, it's awkward because your parents are on the set. >> you're kidding! could you ask them to leave? >> no, it's like that. labor laws, man. >> so wrong! you should get rid of them like thailand. >> any family member give you some tips on kissing? on tv? >> i have my dad and like all my uncles are -- like my uncle is working with on "the today show." >> i want to know. ask his girlfriend. >> another child star, miley cyrus who celebrated a birthday recently and she commented about maybe doing some sort of smoking of something. > >> dalia? >> that was the osborne kid was saying she gave her that shirt,

that bob marlee shirt. >> miley is saying she was joking about smoking so much weed. that's the peril of being a child star. >> you'll have people focusing a lot of attention on you, especially when something that could be turned more negative than it actually is comes up, obviously, people are going to go after that more. do you see the dancing panda in the background? i didn't take that whole situation too seriously. >> right. that wouldn't be a jake t. birthday party? >> definitely not. >> no dancing pandas? >> i did have like oompa lumpas at my last birthday party. no, i think it was taken a little out of context. i think they were just joking around maybe. >> if you need any kissing advice, brian got the best kiss. >> i make out with a lot of people. >> from a soap opera star right on this couch. >> i would probably listen to that. what did they tell you? >> shut up and close your eyes. >> they were pro kissing so i didn't -- it's good to know that another partner likes you. >> i wish i knew that when i was doing something. >> i'll meet with you before you do it.

>> jake t. austin whose middle name is from her mother. he has a teamster uncle that works on the today show and has tips on kissing. good luck to you, son. >> thanks. >> some calling newt gingrich's stance amnesty, up next rick santorum tells us what he thinks about that. ok, people. show me the best way to design a vacation on a budget with expedia. make it work. booking a flight by itself is an uh-oh. see if we can "stitch" together a better deal. that's a hint, antoine. ooh! see what anandra did? booking your flight and hotel at the same time gets you prices hotels and airlines won't let expedia show separately. book it. major wow factor! where you book matters. expedia. yup... it's our annual deal-o-rama! show me the carfax. yeah... show me the carfax.

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>> ok. we'll begin here. g.o.p. presidential candidate herman cain refusing to quit the republican race as of now despite allegations that he had a 13-year extramarital affair. in the event that he leaves, who would benefit?

hoping he gets a lot of the cain supporters is the former senator from pennsylvania, rick santorum. welcome. do you agree with governor -- the governor of utah that the -- herman cain is hurting the party by staying in and he should consider dropping out? >> well, it may be a distraction for herman's campaign for sure. it's not a distraction for mine. i'm just focusing on getting our message out about growing this economy, about strengthening the american family and about having strong national security standing up to a nuclear iran. those are the issues i'm going to stay focused on and the other candidates will have their issues and they'll have to deal with them. >> one of the headlines that came out of the last debate is newt gingrich coming out if you're here for a couple of dozen years, you should be able to stay in this country. we can't be a party of family and kicking out families even if they got here illegally. your stand? >> my grandfather came to this country and left his family. my father and a couple of other kids for five years and had to

work here before he earned his citizenship and was able to bring the rest of the family over. these are sacrifices that americans have made for years and years and years to play by the rules. to do what's right. if you're in this country illegally and you overstay your visa, you get sent home. even if you have family over here and other things, why? we're a country of laws and if you don't comply with the law, you pay the consequences of it. and everybody who came here understood what the consequences were. so yeah, i feel bad. i mean, i don't like to break up families but, you know, the family can go back. we're not sending them to siberia. we're not sending them to any kind of, you know, difficult country. going to mexico which is a great country, a nice country and they can go back like every other mexican wants to come to america and come here legally. >> you know, the president is in pennsylvania today. a state you know quite well. and he is going to have a message of pass his jobs bill and he wants to get america back to work and congress is broken. what's rick santorum's message to the president? >> well,you know, my message is

we need to get america -- the private sector going in america. and what the president is focused on is growing the size and scale of the federal government and not creating an atmosphere for us to be competitive and, you know, i put together an economic plan that pennsylvanians will love because it focuses a lot on lowering tax rates, simplifying the tax code, cutting back the size and scale of the federal government and then really giving it a jump-start to the manufacturing sector of the economy by eliminating the corporate tax for manufacturers which will be a great boom to states like ohio, pennsylvania, michigan, indiana and the industrial states of this country. >> senator, i got to ask you, in the big picture, i've watched almost every minute of every debate and i haven't seen a time in which you were searching for an answer or seemed wandering in your opinions and you've been around it a while. you're very good on the stump. what is it going to take for senator santorum's numbers get into double figures and maybe absorb some of the cain defectors? >> you know, like i said, we're just working very, very hard. you know, i always say i may not be the best looking guy at the

dance when the ladies come in. but, you know, after they've taken a few twirls around the dance floor with some of the other guys, you know, we're the guy that they want to take home to mom so i think we're -- people are going to start making decisions in iowa and new hampshire here in the next couple of weeks and they're going to start looking at the candidates, looking at the record, looking at what their plans are, looking at the courage that they have to be able to fight these battles and looking at their past election history and whether they can win tough states and i feel very, very confident that you're going to see our numbers in the early states start to creep up. they're already doing so in iowa and when the votes start being counted we're going to do very, very well. >> well, if effort matters, you're telling the truth because you put 100% in and you've been doing this for a while. you certainly have the experience. senator santorum, thanks so much. >> thank you, brian. >> coming up straight ahead, the state took her son away because he was too fat. and now that mom is speaking out for the first time. why she says it's not her fault next. and attorney general of the united states of america is upset with our own tucker carlson. doesn't eric holder have bigger

problems to deal with than the daily caller? we'll have tucker's reaction. that's right, we will. so who ordered the cereal that can help lower olesterol and who ordered the yummy cereal? yummy. [ woman ] lower cholesterol. [ man 2 ] yummy. i got that wrong didn't i? [ male announcer ] want great taste and whole gin oats that can help lower cholesterol? honey nut cheerios.

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>> gretchen: good morning, everyone. hope you're going to have a great day. it's november 30. i'm gretchen carlson. the herman cain train keeps rolling loan, at least for now. he refuses to quit over new allegations with another woman. will that change today or will cain keep cashing in with fund-raisers? who will stick by his side? >> steve: the two man race for the republican nomination getting a little more personal this morning. >> i think to get president obama out of office, you're going to have to bring something to the race that's different than what he brings. he's a life long politician. >> steve: oh, he just zinged newt. that's not all mitt had to say. the front runner is going toe to toe on immigration. >> brian: the attorney general of the united states of america, our country, says our own tucker carlson who is also in our country is gunning for him. >> steve: what? >> brian: doesn't eric holder have bigger problems to deal

with? we have tucker's reaction. fox"fox & friends" starts now. >> hi, this is judge jeanine pirro. you're watching "fox & friends." be seated. >> steve: be seated. >> brian: that is true. >> gretchen: when she says be seated, everyone pretty much listens. >> steve: first we would have to all rise. >> brian: like the cowboy. >> gretchen: okay. talk about herman cain because he's going to be speaking out in ohio. last night he gave a foreign policy speech. i believe it was in michigan. today he's going to ohio. what will he say about his campaign? because after this latest woman came out and alleged they had a 13-year affair the other day, mr. cain yesterday told some of his supporters that he was going to reassess his campaign. a lot of people thought that meant he was going to drop out. >> brian: that's what i still think he meant. >> gretchen: he canceled a dinner on sunday 9-11 but here

is his analysis of that word. >> we have to assess as to whether or not this is going to create too much of a cloud in some people's mind as to whether or not they will be able to support us going forward. so this applies over the next couple of days, we are going to continue as usual. >> steve: apparently some sort of a digital recording from the des moines register. here is a tweet from the campaign. they say the definition of reassess is to consider again, especially while paying attention to new factors. doesn't sound like dropping out. >> brian: it does sound like dropping out. you got to be kidding me? how many other candidates said we're reassessing? one did, and one is in the middle of controversy. >> gretchen: is that another example of a campaign from a grassroots level that is not used to dealing with damage control and they let a word out like reassess when other

campaigns would maybe be more careful. >> brian: you might be right, but they should be giving seminars on damage control because they've had the most experience. >> gretchen: but they had a lot of issues. >> steve: i wonder if the reassess was talking about he's got to talk to his wife, because mark block, the campaign guy for herman cain said there are two things that would knock us out. one, if nobody kept showing up whenever we go out into the country and talk about the issues. number two, mrs. cain. maybe herman had to have a little talk with his wife. they had to talk. he's still in. don't know. >> gretchen: we know for sure one of the things would be money and the last time that the sexual harassment allegations came out, he raised a whole lot of dough because i think a lot of his supporters then thought it was a democratic operative trying to smear him in some way. yesterday he went looking for money again and here is the letter that he sent to his supporters. see what you think. as you probably heard yesterday, a troubled atlanta business woman used national media outlet

s to promulgate a fabricated story about a 13 year affair with me. she made it apparent she was abusing the friendship, but now i'm asking for your friendship and asking for your prayers and support. >> steve: he's calling her a liar? >> gretchen: yeah. troubled woman, is pretty strong attack. >> brian: right, especially when you have 80 messages from that troubled -- that troubled woman has 80 numbers from you. >> steve: last night if you were watching the special report program with bret baier, he had -- he's got that segment called center seat, and he's had all of a -- a number of the candidates on the republican side sit down live in the studio. mitt romney was not live in the studio. bret had to go down to a big cuban wholesaler in miami to talk to him and one of the first things they talked about was newt gingrich's announcement about how he feels we should deal with illegals in the country for a long time.

was it amnesty? here is mitt romney with bret. >> if he's going to do what i believe he said he was going to do for those people who would be allowed to stay permanently, become citizen, that would be providing for them a form of amnesty. those people that are here illegally today should have the opportunity to register examine have their status identified and those individuals should get in line with everyone else that's in line legally. they should not be placed ahead of the line. they should go at the back of the line and they should not be allowed to stay in this country and be given permanent residency or citizenship merely because they've come here illegally. >> brian: here is the problem with mitt romney's response and this was tweeted out by newt gingrich on sunday. 2006, we should have individuals who are illegal either begin the process of returning home, or those who are involved in a crime or beginning a process of registering for a citizenship

applying for that and carrying out the process necessary to get there. >> steve: that's what romney was responding to. >> brian: in 2006, mitt romney said that and that was inconsistent with his current stance. but he doesn't seem to think so. >> gretchen: it seems a little bit of a contentious interview last night with bret baier and mitt romney. almost as if mitt romney didn't really expect some of those tougher questions coming from him. he did have answers, but i was glued to the television because it was a very intriguing interview as far as body language and that stuff as well. newt gingrich spoke about immigration to clarify his stance when he was in south carolina. >> i'm for controlling the border. i'm for english as the official language of government. [ cheers and applause ] i am for american history as a requisite to citizenship. we should make deportation much easier. if you belong to a gang like ms 13, you should automatically be kicked out of this country.

>> gretchen: do you think he put a lot of the other contenders on their heels during that debate when -- he stunned them when he came out with what he was going to say about illegal immigration. now they've all had to respond. do you really agree with him? do you not? it's interesting. >> brian: he's not paid the price this iowa that everyone thought because he's lead not guilty iowa. let's look at south carolina, newt gingrich on top 38% of the vote. mitt romney 15. herman cain, 13. ron paul, 7. rick perry, 4. in terms of intensity, how much you like that person, he's also scoring high. >> steve: he is. mr. romney has a score of 9 and newt, more than doubles that. he is at 20%. with regard to the immigration thing, though, a number of people have said, wait a minute. mitt is calling what newt wants amnesty, and they're not really that far apart because newt is saying we should have these community boards, if somebody has been in the community a long time and they would sit there --

because it's local. if you'll have a nationalized standard, that's a little different. whereas with mitt romney, he says you got to go to the back of the line. they are both avenues to wind up with some sort of legal status. are they both amnesty? some pundits are saying yes. what do you think? e-mail us. >> brian: all right. let's go to the headlines. >> gretchen: the children of missing orlando mother, michelle parker, they are in state custody this morning. officials taking the three-year-old twins out of their father's home. why? because their father, dale smith, junior, just named the prime suspect in parker's disappearance. parker has been missing since november 17, the same day she and smith appeared on an episode of "the people's court" arguing over an engagement ring. right now the man suspected in the disappearance of a woman in aruba is reportedly on his way back to the united states. while you were sleeping, we got our hands on this video showing gary giordano being released from jail nearly four months

after robyn gardner vanished. prosecutors will ask a judge to reverse his release and now that he's free, he can try to cash in on the 1 1/2 million dollars insurance policy that he took out on gardner's life. he would have had to provide or he would have to provide a death certificate and prove no fraud was involved. let's go live now to los angeles. a news chopper flying high above the area where occupy protesters were camped out, but overnight, police cleared them out, arresting more than 200 of them. the l.a.p.d arresting anyone who refused to evacuate their camp near city hall. they were told to leave two days ago. in the city of brotherly love, police showed no love to 50 protesters who are now under arrest for refusing to leave their camp ground. cops started pulling down tents at 1 a.m. after giving out three warnings prior to leave. ohio mother speaking out after losing custody of her obese son. the woman, whose identity is not being released, says she loves her son and denies she is to flame for his unhealthy weight.

the boy, just eight years old, already tipping the scales at 200 pounds. child services workers say they told the mother nearly two years ago to try to get her son's weight down. she says she tried, but it's easier said than done. the boy now in foster care. those are your headlines. >> brian: ten minutes now after the hour. straight ahead in the final 50 minute, it sure looks like a christmas tree. but the rhode island governor's refusing to call it that. we're going to hear one state law maker who is fighting back with a tree of her own. >> steve: that's right. and we just showed you that newt gingrich is surging in the polls. why is the dnc obsessed with attacking mitt romney? we're going to talk to our esteemed political panel. good morning, folks, you're next, on "fox & friends" live from new york. capital one's new cash rewards card

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>> steve: former speaker of the house, newt gingrich, surging ahead of the 2012 gop pack. he's hold ago two point lead over his rivals. but don't tell that to the democratic national committee. their latest ad continues to target mitt romney who is in second place. >> from the creator of i'm running for office for pete's sake, comes the story of two men trapped in one body. mitt versus mitt. >> i will preserve and protect a woman's right to choose. the right next step is to see roe v wade overturned. >> steve: so what's behind that strategy? here to weigh in is our political panel, former u.s. attorney, ken coffee, good morning to you. >> good morning. >> steve: nfl hall of fame quarterback and founder and chairman of one more customer,

fran tarkenton. an honor to have you. >> thank you. >> steve: and daily caller columnist and fox news contributor, danine. good morning. >> good morning. >> steve: fran, let's start with you because the fact that the republicans are running and newt is in the front of the pack and yet the democrats have focused on mitt romney, that's incredible! >> that's incredible! things change, don't they? sometimes they blitz you, you got to change your play. probably when they did the commercial, romney was the guy. now old newt -- >> steve: you think it was just in the pipeline? >> yeah. they'll change. they're not that dumb, i don't think. >> steve: what about the fact that -- and we heard this from mitt romney yesterday -- newt gingrich, life long politician, whereas mr. romney brings something new to the table versus barak obama and that is he's a businessman. >> i think the voters see them both as politicians. democrats clearly see romney as the greater threat. the conventional wisdom among

democrats is he might very well beat obama. i think they're going to early and often keep trying to take romney down every time they go because with respect to the surge of any particular republican, the polls have been up and down. don't forget eight years ago, we all know slam dunk who the democratic nominee was going to be. it was going to be howard dean. and he disappeared in a new york minute and anything can happen. >> steve: speaking of new york minute, four years ago, rudy guiliani was going to be the nominee until the caucuses and also primaries and he flamed out. deneen, you say a big part of the attack on romney and not newt is the fact that romney has got a lot of dough. >> well, he's getting a lot of money from wall street. he's getting more money than obama got in 2008 election, which is interesting, because the regulations that are being hit against the bankers and wall street, it's costing jobs. but i think the white house is panicking. obama is panicking and they're hitting romney fast and hard now

because he has been consistent in the polls. >> steve: one of the reasons the white house might be panic panicking is fact they're hemorrhaging the number of independents. they had a substantial number last time and now they're off by ten points. >> because what they've been doing for the last three years is not working. we voted for a president of the united states of america, we got a president of the democratic party. and so people are taking another look at it and he's losing favor because we want a leader that will solve problems and the same problems we had when he came in are still there and worse today. bad news does not get better with age. >> steve: kendall, fran made a good point. the president of the united states should be, according to the republicans, should be leading right now, but he's out running for president instead. we need somebody to lead us out of this economic hole we're in. >> he may have concluded he does better on the campaign trail than getting legislation through in the congress. one of the stats i was struck by that you were talking about

earlier is the drop among young people and why is that? because young people are the ones getting out of college and can't get a job. >> steve: exactly. >> here is the other thing, obama's polls have dropped lower than jimmy carter's had at this point in the election. that's very telling. why is that? because unemployment is high nationwide, especially in the black community. over 16% over 40% among black teens and the stimulus didn't work. so his poll numbers are dropping and they're panicking. >> steve: the white house says the stimulus did work, so they would beg to differ with you. the panel is sticking around because coming up next, we'll talk about this, tim tebow being told to tone down the religious rhetoric by former super bowl quarterback kurt warner. should he listen? i think fran tarkenton wants to weigh in. plus, the attorney general of the united states says our own tucker carlson is gunning for him. doesn't eric holder have bigger problems to deal with? tucker's reaction coming up next. so who ordered the cereal that can help lower olesterol

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>> gretchen: 22 minutes after the hour. he tried to assassinate president reagan and now he wants to go free. today lawyers for john hinckley, junior are asking a judge to release him from a psych ward at a hospital in washington. hinckley says he wants to go home to take care of his mom, but his request is expected to be denied. mcdonald's charging ten cents for happy meal toys now in san francisco. why? you remember that the city outlawed the free toys in an effort to encourage healthier food choices. both the ban and the new fee

take effect tomorrow. mcdonald's says the extra ten cents that they will charge will go to charity. steve? >> steve: thanks. tim tebow and kurt warner both religious athletes and nfl superstars. but now kurt warner, a former super bowl champion, is telling tebow to tone it down. he says, quote, you can't help but cheer for a guy like that. but i'd tell him put the boldness in regards to the words and keep living the way you're living. let your teammates do the talking for you. let them cheer on your testimony. we continue the conversation. fran tarkenton -- he's saying tone down the religious son. >> i'm the son of a preacher man and kurt warner is a religious good person. he wore his religion on his sleeve as much as anybody that's ever played and that's okay with me! >> steve: sure. >> why does he want to go after tebow? >> steve: why do you think? >> i don't have any idea.

this guy is such a good person. he doesn't bother anybody. go after sue who is kicking people in the shin, but don't go after tebow. he won five games for that team and if they would leave him alone and stop trying to change who he is and change how he throw, i think he might be able to play. and kurt warner, about his religion, if god is worried about how tim tebow plays or doesn't play or whether the denver broncos win or don't win, i never have understood that. if that's what he's got to worry about, then we're in trouble. >> fran, i'm call ago 15-yard penalty for excessive media reporting on this. as you say, kurt warner has done this. why are they making such a big deal out of it. they didn't make a big deal when kurt warner was doing it? i wish there was more morality and faith in individuals because we wouldn't have had the nightmare that happened at penn state. so we need more morality and faith. >> steve: kendall, you are a double gator, so i would imagine

tim tebow could do no wrong in your book. >> no wrong, although i wish fran tarkenton would talk to him about i wouldn't issuing his passing. but think about the fact that athletes get millions and millions of dollars to endorse shoes. here this exemplary guy uses a faith -- is communicating about his faith. not selling shoes, not selling sportswear and he gets all the heat. tells you that things are sometimes upside down. >> steve: indeed. and as an attorney, you would say he certainly is entitled to his opinion. >> of course. what more important thing to talk about than faith? he doesn't tell anybody else what they have to previous. he expresses his own faith. i think it's great. we're talking about faith and tim tebow. not about penn state. >> steve: fran, would you ever go out op the field and would you pray? >> before the game, the coach would always ask the most religious guy to say the prayer and he said the prayer and when the prayer was over, everybody yelled, let's go and kill those

s.o.b.s! >> steve: funny, but true. >> it's true. >> steve: great discussion today. i'd like to thank the panel. >> thank you. >> steve: great conversation. meanwhile, she walked away with a million bucks in her pocket. so why is a school superintendent about to collect unemployment? is this where your tax dollars should be going? and another shocker, retailers are putting the christ back in christmas. but are they just doing it to make a quick buck? if so, you okay with that? right back. [ male announcer ] the inspiring story

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ry ♪ >> gretchen: is this where we're supposed to sing? >> brian: no, i think we have to leave it to the pros. >> gretchen: is this perry como? these are the people you want to hear more of during the christmas season. >> brian: i thought for our christmas special it would have been a great segment to have bing crosby, andy williams, all those specials, king family.

>> steve: a little snippet. >> brian: but it turns out we can't afford it because we need the rights for it. >> gretchen: andy williams is still down in branson. >> steve: we just saw the christmas trees in front of our world headquarters here at 48th and 6th avenue and tonight here in rockefeller center, they'll be lighting the big christmas tree. we were talking about how up in the state house of rhode island, they don't have a christmas tree. they got a holiday tree. over the last couple of years, we've noticed a lot of companies haven't been saying merry christmas. they've been going happy holidays, and there has been some push back and the good news is now some retailers are going back to using the word christmas again. >> gretchen: it's about time. let's see, walgreen's, kohl's, best buy, cvs, target. >> brian: they're actually saying christmas? >> gretchen: they are. >> gretchen: martha stewart logo. yeah. you got to wonder if it's having some sort of an effect, if you speak up, does it have an effect? i don't know. >> steve: well, there had been a couple of christian groups have threatened to boycott unless

they changed that. i'm talking about the american family association and liberty council and they've got this naughty and nice list and that's the nice list. they still have a naughty list with a number of companies that still are going to say happy holidays. >> gretchen: all right. in the meantime, we go back to the political scenario and the fast and furious scandal and the attorney general eric holder. he's been under heat during some of those hearings for his role in that entire thing as the top lawmakers in this country. amazingly, after 52 members of congress have called for his resignation, attorney general holder has said in an interview that he actually believes it's somebody else behind the calls for his resignation. >> brian: here is his interaction with a daily caller reporter. let's listen. >> steve: he says that the west side daily caller is behind that and is really ginning it up.

the guy who heads up the daily caller is tucker carlson. he was on the program talking to gretch a little while ago about this brouhaha. >> we've covered it. our reporter, matt boyle, has written a number of stories on this because this is the attorney general of the united states. this is not a small thing. this is one of the most appalling scandals of the past three years. i don't think there is any question, whoever the nominee is, is going to spend a lot of time talking about fast and furious and i don't know what eric holder's answer is. he can't be wagging his finger in the face of reporters and saying, stop being mean to me. it's got to be more than that. >> steve: yeah. why aren't more news outfits talking about fast and furious? we do. daily caller does. where is everybody else? big scandal. >> gretchen: all right. let's do some headlines now for your wednesday. president obama hitting the road today pushing his jobs plan in pen opinion. it's extending the payroll tax cuts set to expire at the end of the year. republicans say that will happen if democrats give up their proposed 3% tax on millionaires. democrats want to pay for that

by taxing millionaires. later today, the president will be rubbing elbows with millionaires in new york city. he's attending several campaign fund-raisers, including a $35,000 per person dinner. ouch. >> brian: downgrading some of the country's biggest banks after changing its credit rating criteria, familiar names like jpmorgan has, goldman sachs, morgan stanley, citigroup all downgraded one notch. that's not all. the credit agency fitch says we'll downgrade the u.s. banks even further if the euro zone doesn't deal with its financial crisis. the downgrades will likely mean higher borrowing rates for the banks and higher fees for you. yeah, you. >> steve: terrific. you're talking about me? >> brian: yes, you. >> steve: and you, too. meanwhile, taxpayer money once again being put to questionable use. a former school superintendent in philadelphia, arlene ackerman, about to get state unemployment benefits. unemployment. now, here is the thing, just months ago, she was paid nearly a million dollars to step down.

now she's getting unemployment? while ackerman is getting her double windfall, the school district is reportedly drowning in more than $600 million in debt. they are expected to lay off nearly 1,000 teachers and yet, she walks away with one cool million and now unemployment. >> gretchen: something wrong with that picture. does this look like a christmas tree to you? check it out. well, the governor of rhode island is calling this blue spruce that resides in the state house a holiday tree. >> brian: how can that be? >> gretchen: it's called pc, brian. defining his own -- defying his own legislature. >> in the providence area, it's christmas tree. the resolution just passed unanimously on the house floor. >> gretchen: the governor is calling it a holiday tree anyway, saying he's respecting the state's history of respecting all religions. if you would like to tell the governor of what you think of his decision to call it a holiday tree, you can tell him

yourself. anyway, the number is easy to remember, it's on your screen. i don't get this thing. like if you respect all religions, who doesn't? if you respect, like christmas is christmas. that's the religion for christians. >> brian: fest ivus is festivus. nobody touch my pole. >> steve: you got a menorah. since i am his body double, i could go up to the rhode island statehouse and start calling it a christmas tree and people would say, oh, he's calling it a christmas tree. >> brian: you could run the state, it's small. >> steve: let's find out where it's raining and where it's snowing. it's snowing, where do you think these pictures are? thank you very much. the words in the corner tell you. it's indianapolis, as you can see, they had a couple of inches

overnight. it's beginning to look a lot like christmas, they would say in many parts of the country. as you can see, a few fender benders, a few kids very happy, probably sleeping in their pajamas inside out with spoons underneath their pillows which would result in, as my children have told me, a snow day. let's take a look at where it is snowing. got snow in the northern plains. you can see the white stuff moving through indiana, into ohio at this hour. kind of dissipating as it makes its way across the great lakes. from the mid atlantic down south, temperatures later today are going to warm up, currently in raleigh-durham. 27 in kansas city. up in boston, brian, currently, they're warming up. >> brian: yeah. it's been a horrible offseason for the boston red sox. and they need a manager. they need a general manager. they got a general manager.

now they have a manager. his name is veteran manager bobby valentine, formerly of espn in japan. he'll be at the helm of the boston red sox. it will change -- be a wig change. francona is a big change. what did they call themselves? the idiots for a while? they were just having fun and they used to win and they stopped winning and he got fired. this guy will come in and it will be very different. he played a huge role in 9-11 and kept shay stadium as a staging area. meanwhile, after committing the stomp heard around the world and ruining joel's thanksgiving, sue is appealing his two-game suspension and big fine. take a look at the evidence. i can't show you the video, evidently the nfl will fine us, but sue appearing to, and he absolutely did stomp on an offensive lineman. before the stomp, he reportedly shoved the guy's head into the ground, which also is not good. he's been suspended without pay.

worse yet, the lions have to play without him 'cause he's really good. a lot of people are saying, yeah, pete diddy is tail everyoned and has money, but what about his kid? justin combs, the son of sean p. diddy has been known for having an insanely expensive super sweet 16. remember that? it was on mtv. now he can bring his mania, which is his dad's, to ucla. he is a quarterback defensive back in his high school team. he will be playing there. he fell in love with it. his dad is in los angeles a lot. so it will be great for him. the only problem is ucla doesn't have a coach and they haven't won a lot lately. eye he'll be there. >> gretchen: coming up on our show, president obama continues his swing state tour in pennsylvania today. but will all these events help him stay in the white house? professor larry sabato looks into his crystal ball coming up. >> steve: we all love christmas, but dread those credit card bills that always show up in

january. stay debt free this christmas season. finance expert dave ramsey coming up next with some tips on how to get you through the holidays without breaking the bank one more gift... [ gasps [ male announcer ] if you're giving an amazing gift, shouldn't it be given in an amazing way?

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>> steve: quick headlines. update on the pilot accused of appan doning a plane filled with 100 pounds of pot at an airport near house of representatives. barington flak is from jamaica but is a u.s. citizen. police say he has a long rap sheet for drugs and he's also accused of parachuting out of a plane that crashed last year. what a guy. he was convicted of holding a couple from kansas hostage and now he's suing his victims. he wants them to pay him $235,000 for his emotional

distress and hospital bills after he was shot by the police. are you kidding? brian, over to you. >> brian: thanks, steve. i felt like i was right over your shoulder. 226 million people went shopping over this holiday weekend. the holiday shopping is just beginning, but before you load up on all those gifts on your credit card, finance expert dave ramsey here with some tips that you need to know. it might be too late for some of you. he's also the author of this book, a best seller. dave, welcome back. first off, when i talk about shopping and credit cards, i hate to even say those words to you because you don't understand it. but is there a way to do it? >> no. there is not a way to do it. it's very, very dangerous. all the studies have shown that when you spend cash, you emotionally feel it. it activates the pain centers of the brain and you feel it. you're better off to use a debit card and at best, stay away from credit cards.

>> brian: debit cards go right into your checking account. >> exactly. you're using real money. >> brian: you make a list and then you put a dollar figure next to all those people so you know not to go over it. >> well, absolutely. i checked with my friend, santa claus, and that's what he says. make a list, check it twice. i suggest writing it on the outside of an envelope, put the dollar amount beside each person's name, total it up, put that amount of cash in the envelope and that will keep you from overspending 'cause you use only that cash to go shopping. here is a hint, when the envelope is empty, go home! >> brian: right. that might be good. don't get involved in sales. i can't wait to see what you get me this year, what my dollar amount limit will be. some viewer e-mails, from sheila in new jersey, we'll zoom down on dave 'cause we love his torso, but not that much. hey, he says this, dave, i went shopping on black friday and received more than $90 in store cash. i put a certain amount on my

store credit card and plan to pay it off when the bill comes in. the extra cash back seems like a great bonus. what do you think? >> well, i think you won this round. but i think that it's not a good way to play a game when you're playing with credit card companies. eventually they're going to get you. let's see, you made money on them and they don't know that. i think they hooked you is what happened and eventually they're going to make their money back. again, i don't think you play with snakes unless you plan to be bitten. >> brian: let's go to ken from indiana. says, dave, the kids' christmas gifts are getting more expensive each year. how can we make them understand it's not about getting, but about giving? >> i think we have a lot of discussions about that. we did around our house. we would do things where the kids would actually participate in buying gifts for others, adopt a single mom in the area, adopt a family that's having struggles in the area. go down to the homeless shelter and serve soup. let the kids get interactive 'cause when they experience

giving, they're going to enjoy it. it is one of the most fun things you can do with money. >> brian: right. finally, randy from ohio says this: working very hard to get our finances in order. my wife and i have decided to go very small this year in terms of gifts for each other. her family, however, has an expectation of gifts and don't understand that we are cutting back. how can we explain this to them so their feelings aren't hurt? >> well, we can't guarantee that their feelings aren't hurt, but if your relationship is only based on money, you don't have much of a relationship. if it's only based on the gift i give you, we don't have much of a relationship. like you and i, brian, we've got a good relationship, so it's not dependent upon the gift. >> brian: right. how much would an autographed book cost you? >> we would have to get you to pronounce the title right first. >> brian: how should i have said it? >> entreleadership. it's all good. >> brian: either way, it's selling a lot.

>> it is. sit down with the family and have the discussion one on one, explain to them you're trying o hit goals that are good for your family's future and that our gift giving is temporarily going to be down. some day when we're wealthy, we'll make up the difference. >> brian: you got it. dave ramsey, thanks so much. >> thanks, brian. >> brian: all right. we move ahead. president obama continues his swing state tour. in pennsylvania today. but will all these events help him stay in the white house? professor larry sabato looks into his crystal ball. first let's check in with martha. she's going to be talking about what at the top of the hour? >> i'm glad you have my shot lined up correctly. looking right at each other. >> brian: it's easy to focus on you. >> thank you, brian. that's what's really important. anyway, if you really want to know what's going on in the gop race this morning, take a look at what is happening in south carolina because it is telling us a lot about who benefits from the cain train situation and why mitt romney now has a real battle on his hands. and is the president done

dealing with the debt? good question, right? tucker carlson is here. bill and i will see you at the top of the hour it's not the bayer aspirin you know. it's different. first, it's been re-engineered with micro-particles. second, it enters the bloodstream fast, and rushes relief to the site of your tough pain. the best part? it's proven to relieve pain twice as fast as before. bayer advanced aspirin. test how fast it works for you. love it, or get your money back.

>> gretchen: president obama has set a new presidential record, holding 54 events in 11 battle ground states in 42 days. and today the president heading to the keystone state of pennsylvania. will these tours help him get reelected? larry sabato is here to look into his crystal ball. he's a political science professor at the university of virginia. good morning to you, professor. >> good morning, gretchen. >> gretchen: i guess lots of presidents have done this, where they think about reelection a little bit earlier than the general public probably would like them to be thinking about it. so they go to these battle ground states, but president obama has done it more than

anyone else. is it going to work? >> it makes some marginal difference, but not a great deal. there have been studies of this that shows when a president comes in, he gets a bubble of support and it disappears in about 72 hours. so the problem for the president is that the election is next november 6. this is the end of november of 2011. so i doubt that any good that's done in pennsylvania today on his 56th swing state visit is going to make much difference in his attempt to win that critical 20 electoral votes which he absolutely has to have to be reelected. >> gretchen: let's do some comparisons. january 1 to november 17 when you look at the past three presidents, president obama, president bush, president clinton, you can see that president obama already has 54 events compared to 49 for bush and 40 for president clinton. so i guess this is sort of the way that all presidents do it, but why do you think obama has

more visits? >> because i think he's had an earlier warning of just how difficult his reelection is going to be. this is going to be a very tough battle. many in the white house will say privately it's an uphill battle simply because of the state of the economy. the president needs a lot of breaks. he needs to work very hard almost every day in order to have a chance of winning a second term. >> gretchen: and some of those people on the inside may not like the results of this poll. take a look at it. his approval rating, president obama, now below where jimmy carter was at the same point in time for this particular week. so you have barak obama at 43%. carter was at 51%. truman, 54. et cetera. what do you make of that? >> well, you don't want to judge too much based on one poll. but it's certainly not good news. i take all the polls together. i like to look at the polls as a group. and as a group, what they say to me is if the election were held

today, barak obama would not be reelected. that's what they tell me. now, the election is a year away. but as i said, the president needs some luck in order to do well and he needs to do much better with independent, too. >> gretchen: speaking of that, i was just going to say, luck and independence, as we both know, end up deciding all the elections, right or wrong. so look how he's doing now with independents. in january, he had a 40% approval rating. now, just 30%, that's a pretty big drop from just less than a year ago. what daubach of that? >> that's the president's number one problem. he needs to increase his support with independents. they were the key swing voters. they determine the results in these swing states. it's his policy. it's not whether they're seeing him or not on these swing state visits. it's the policies. it's the economy. and that's what he needs to focus on because if independents don't turn around in these key states, he's simply not going to win them. there is really not very much

else to it. >> gretchen: yeah, exactly. because a majority went for him in 2008 and it's one of the main reasons why he won. i got to wrap it up there. but i got to say, i like the yellow vest this morning. >> well, you know, it's not really christmassy, but we're not there yet. it's november 30. i'll start wearing red next month. >> gretchen: all right. i like the yellow, though. we'll see you soon. >> thank you, gretchen. thanks a lot. >> gretchen: right and sunny. right? yellow. that's a good way to wake up. nor "fox & friends" just two minutes away

>> steve: all right. tomorrow on the program, we've got a really big show. our bookers have been working overtime. mark kelly, the astronaut husband of gabby giffords will be joining us live to talk about his book. >> brian: john walsh is coming after you, but first he's coming to us, here live. >> steve: he's threatening people with arrests? >> brian: a little bit. it seems to get their attention. >> gretchen: and senator pat toomey, the republicans were talking again yesterday. members of the super committee. >> brian: got back together. >> gretchen: we'll get the inside