>> and he's the golden boy of the golden globes. >> the hollywood foreign press have warned me if i insult any of you or any of them or offend any viewers or cause any controversy whatsoever, they'll definitely invite me back next year as well. >> funny or not, we report. you decide. big winners from last night's golden globes minutes away. "fox & friends" begins right now. >> hello, friends. welcome aboard on this martin luther king holiday. we have peter johnson jr. in for brian. >> good morning. i'm back. so let's talk about what happened at the cruise ship disaster in italy. unfortunately now, six people have been confirmed dead and now, amateur video is starting to come out of this evacuation.

can you imagine being on this ship? just put yourself in this situation for a moment and maybe you hear that the ship had hit something but you don't know really if anything would happen. look at this. suddenly, the ship tilts completely to one side. people are trying to get to their cabins if they're not in them to try to put on their life vest trying to remember where you're supposed to go. when you get on the cruise ship, they do all these drills but you never really probably think of yourself in that charged with

manslaughter. he says he has done nothing wrong. he we want closer to shore to do a favor of the maitre d' from the restaurant who is from the island and a way of hopping honoring him. rescue operations have been continuing throughout the night and today there's a lot of rough sea that's making it hard for the divers and dogs hunting through the wreckage and so forth. as you mentioned, they have been found dead and also at the moment, 16 missing and there's some reports that two of those missing might be americans. that has not been confirmed. yesterday, they found a 36 hours later, they did find a crew member who had a broken leg that he was able to get out and also two korean honeymooners but i'm actually here at the hilton hotel and i've been talking with a lot of the survivors about --

they've been put up here near the rome airport before they leave and there's been some amazing, amazing stories. >> like what? >> for example, total incompetence. these people had -- there was no drill. you mentioned that a lot of times there are drills. these people had no drills at all. they didn't know where the life jackets were. not only did they not know but the crew did not know. they were like also lied to when they first hit the rock. they first went aground, they kept saying the light went out and everybody started screaming. don't worry, it's just an electric problem, the generator. everything is going to come back on. take it easy. they noticed all the crew people were putting on their jackets and these were 20-year-old crew people who some had been working for four or five days on the boat and had no experience. meanwhile, the captain left the boat, abandoned the ship before everybody got off. that's the accusation. he says that's not true. >> let me ask you this. is it also true that the accusation is that there was no mayday alert and could it be if that's the case it's because he

had gone off course and shouldn't have done that. >> yes, in fact, there was no -- apparently, the mayday alert went an hour and a half after they ran aground. i talked to a u.s. passenger from seattle who said she had been at the captain's table having dinner with them and they kept calling him repeatedly and they were, you know, having a lot of wine. having a good time and he never went up so he -- there's been a lot of dispute about this. she told me specifically she talked to somebody who said they were together in the whole thing and he was totally relaxed about it. >> what you're saying is he had been alerted there was a problem and that he continued to stay at the captain's table and drink wine with guests on the cruise ship. >> well, that's one of their points. i can't confirm that in any way. that's one of the accusations but there definitely have been reports that the coast guard once the -- he had gone off the boat and left the boat around midnight, there were still people on the boat and the coast guard said to him you have to go

back on the boat, get these people off and he didn't go back. >> we're looking at, by the way, live pictures right there. let's go back to the very first point that you made and that was, you know, the reason it's there right now is because it came too close and you're suggesting that the captain drove the ship close to the island as a favor or a salute to the maitre d'. >> exactly. he was from the island and, i mean, it sounds incredible. i actually spoke with one peruvian family and they were on the second floor when the boat ran aground and the rock literally came into their cabin and the water. they're actually at the hotel right now. the mother has three broken ribs because they couldn't get out. and in the boats, there's supposed to be security procedures where they block the doors and so forth. none of that happened. these people finally made it up. they couldn't get on a boat. they had to dive off. and they were terrified. it's pitch-black. they had no idea what was going on and didn't know what they were going to hit. they dove off and sam ashore.

>> amazing. courtney walsh following this for us. we'll continue to follow it throughout the morning as more details come in. thank you so much live on the scene reporting. >> amazing thing, she mentioned a guy who had a broken leg who helped everybody off. the captain apparently was in a row boat, a lifeboat under a blanket. the purser for the ship apparently helped hundreds of people off the ship and into lifeboats. and he was the last guy off until he slipped and fell down and broke his leg and was picked up -- >> there's a notion of people diving into that cold water and swimming to that island, incredible. >> amazing. >> live pictures here again of that costa ship underwater now. most of it submerged. we'll continue to follow this for you throughout the morning. let's turn back to politics now because there's going to be a fox news alert. that's right, it's worthy of a fox news alert. jon huntsman, the republican candidate for president is officially going to drop out of the presidential race later on today.

and he is expected, this is a stunning part to me, he's expected to endorse mitt romney. keep in mind, i guess you could say this for most of the candidates, they have been attacking one another here and there and now he is going to support governor romney for president because he says he believes he is the one person who can defeat barack obama. >> and the huntsman camp put out a statement and said governor huntsman was encouraged in new hampshire but does not want to stand in the way of the best candidate to beat barack obama and will endorse romney tomorrow. and so that's what a lot of folks have done over the primary seasons for many, many years. they say who is going to win this election? and in spite of the critical attacks that governor huntsman made on governor romney, he's apparently throwing his support in myrtle beach this morning to governor romney. >> indeed. let's talk about brand new fox news polls that came out officially seven minutes ago. if the election were held today, how would thing stack up amongst the presidential candidates?

mr. romney is on the top by a substantial margin over second, third and fourth place. look at that. he's now solidly at 40%. interestingly enough, they asked the people who responded and these were republican primary voters, how important is electability. and that, as it turns out, more important to the people who responded than being a true conservative. something like 80% said the number one thing that is important to them is that the republican can beat the current president. as for the bottom question there, is a true conservative? only 42% said that was important to them. >> let's move on to other questions on that poll. can governor romney actually beat president obama? survey says -- ding, ding, ding. pretty darn close if the election were to be held today, 46% of the people asked that question believe that barack obama would win. 45%, mitt romney. of course, that's within the margin of error plus or minus

3%. >> good news with this particular poll regarding mr. romney is the fact that when it comes to independence and really, independents are the gigantic voting block out there these days, independents break for romney, 43% for him. barack obama just 38%. >> that's seen as the critical factor. >> of course. more and more people we've been telling you this year has registered as independents than ever before. huge part of the voting bloc right now, i believe it's almost to 40% of the people who actually go to the polls. >> and speaking of presidential politics, don't forget, there's going to be a great big debate tonight down in south carolina. you can see it live right here on the fox newschannel. it's in conjunction with the south carolina republican party and our friends at "the wall street journal." so check it out. >> now to the rest of your headlines if you're just waking up this morning on a monday. the leader of the pakistani taliban possibly killed in a u.s. drone strike. pakistani intelligence officials say they intercepted taliban radio communications saying he is dead but a taliban

spokesperson says nope, he's still alive. there have been bogus reports about his death in the past. the f.b.i. says a missing montana woman is believed to be dead but her body hasn't been found. they're asking residents in north dakota and montana in help in finding sheri arnold. they are asking property owners to check their land for disturbed soil or anything unusual. the beloved teacher and mother of two simply went for a jog over a week ago and never returned home. two men are in custody, though, in connection to the case. and now, let's go to washington, d.c. these are live pictures of the dr. martin luther king memorial statue as we pause today to remember the civil rights leader. yesterday would have been dr. king's 83rd birthday. to mark the day, there was a wreath laying ceremony at the king memorial on the tidal basin. president obama and his family attended services honoring dr. king at the historian zion baptist church and today the national cathedral will hold a service where dr. king delivered his last sunday sermon before his assassination in april of 1968. the glitz and the glamour of

hollywood taking center stage. at last night's golden globe awards. >> 69th annual golden globe awards! >> that could have been the most exciting part right there, the introduction. thought of as a precursor to the oscars, some surprise wins as "the descendent" winning best family drama. george clooney won best actor. meryl streep won best actress. best animation went to steven spielberg for "the adventures of tintin" and host ricky gervais returning to host the show. >> the hollywood foreign press have warned me if i insult any of you or any of them or offend any viewers or cause any controversy whatsoever, they'll definitely invite me back next year as well. >> and you can't forget showtime's homeland wins top tv drama and looking ahead, oscar nominations are on january 24th. i got home from the west coast last night, guys, i couldn't fall asleep, of course, because

of the time change. i'll watch the golden globes. did i miss the funny parts? >> funny parts. >> did i miss the funny parts? >> first 10 minutes was the best. >> i missed that. >> apparently the funniness never came back. >> it didn't come back. no. >> no, you're ok. >> wanted to know if i missed something. >> you hit it right. >> it is now a dozen after the top of the hour on this martin luther king holiday and take a look as we just told you about the latest accusations in that deadly cruise ship crash like the captain pulling too close to shore to honk the horn for the maitre d'. what consequences could the captain face? the executive vice president of cruise lines international gives us an inside perspective coming up next. >> and victoria's secret revealed. researchers might have tapped into the fountain of youth. will we be closer to looking young forever or closer to victoria's secret? >> just say yes, peter. >> to both, just say yes. wake up!

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>> 16 minutes after the top of the hour. we told you the new details of this tragedy in italy. the captain of the costa de conkorda reportedly sled too close to land to greet a friend with the blast of the horn and a wave. another claim was that the captain was drinking. joining me as a guest, good morning to you, sir. >> good morning, thank you for having me. >> some of these allegations coming out of this horrible disaster are mind boggling. i want to start with the fact that some of these passengers are now saying they never went through a safety drill. having been on several cruises myself, i find that hard to believe. is it a requirement?

>> there is a requirement internationally that the ship hold an abandon ship drill within 24 hours of the departure from its home port. >> so that would be number one. a serious allegation if reported true. >> there is the possibility that on the on board television monitors that they had descriptions of the abandon ship drill and some instructions with respect to doing that. but there is -- you do need to hold a drill within 24 hours of the departure. >> what do you make of the late e allegation this morning that the captain apparently went four miles off course so he could blow the horn and do a salute sort of wave for the maitre d' of the ship? >> i -- if true, it's a very serious allegation. the ship has -- the captain must maintain that ship in a safe manner which includes in the safe depth of water which it obviously wasn't. >> we're just looking now at all the photos of this disaster

area. you can see how rocky this coastline is. another allegation is that the captain is saying that those rocks weren't on the map that he was looking at although that would be hard to know since apparently the other allegation is that he was either at the restaurant or in the bar. >> well, he obviously has other officers that can navigate that ship and are on watch navigating the vessel. but this is a well traveled area. it had -- and i would be surprised that the -- that the depths were not properly charted. >> let me ask you this, sir, the fact that the captain would allegedly abandon the ship before all the passengers were safely off, what does the law or the requirement say about that? >> well, the captain is in charge of the safety of the passengers and the ship at all times. he -- that's a responsibility that he has.

>> so you're not surprised that he's been arrested, charged apparently with manslaughter and other crimes. are you surprised at that? >> well, first of all, this was a terrible tragedy. this was a shocking tragedy because this -- this industry has an outstanding safety record and when an incident occurs like this affecting so many people, it is in fact a real tragedy and the italian officials are doing exactly what they should be doing which is to find out what happened. and to -- to make the appropriate recommendations with respect to either holding someone responsible for increasing safety. >> all right. and, of course, this morning, they continue to search for any survivors or people who have passed away on that ship. the executive vice president at cruise line international association, thanks for your thoughts this morning. >> thank you. >> coming up on "fox & friends",

congress back to work this week? they're coming back? ok. but will anything actually get accomplished? that's the bigger question. >> you can be against having someone re-elected but not have that as your number one goal. that's what's the problem. we have had obstructionism on i repeat steroids. we need to work together. that's the main thing here. >> our washington insiders tackle that one next. and holding on for dear life literally. a father holds on to a son dangling in an elevator shaft for 40 minutes. unbelievable story straight ahead.

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>> at 23 minutes after the

hour, some quick headlines beginning with a fox news alert. a car bomb outside the northern iraqi city of mosul leaving eight people dead. the bombing is the latest in a string of attacks that have killed more than 140 people since the u.s. withdrew the troops last month. and a russian space probe that was supposed to go to a martian moon made a splash landing about 775 miles off the coast of chile. the $170 million unmanned ship got stuck in orbit after it launched in november. most of it burned up in the atmosphere before it crashed in the south pacific. steve? >> thank you very much. as congress returns to the hill this week, they have to tackle the payroll tax cut and keystone pipeline. both expected to be fierce fights. but senate majority leader harry reid is already playing what appears to be the blame game. >> you can be against having someone re-elected but not have that as your number one goal. that's what's the problem. we have had obstructionism on i

repeat steroids. we need to work together. that's the name of the game here. and it hasn't happened. >> really? well, is blaming the other side a good way to start working together? our washington insiders join us live on this holiday morning. we've got former communications director for president bill clinton. and former campaign and white house aide to president george w. bush, didi benke. good morning to both of you. >> good morning. >> is that a good way to get things going, in spite of the republicans, congress has gotten a lot done. >> look, the public is frustrated and fed up with the blame game. it's not going to help anyone. if we're going to go through a whole year like this, imagine what next november is going to be like for incumbents. >> no kidding. harry reid says, you know, it's great that the republicans are coming back to the hill because we're hoping that they will now compromise with democrats. >> i think harry reid is at the las vegas circus circus because it's just a clown show. d.c. is a mess and you know

what? don is right, that's not a way to start out. give props to his former boss, bill clinton was able to reach across the aisle and do a good job. president obama, nancy pelosi and harry reid, that show is not happening. it's the clown show and it's bad and the american people have had it. >> the clown show. don, one of the things that is going on is the fact that when the democrats held both houses of the congress, they pretty much didn't pay any attention to what the republicans had to say, didn't listen to them at all and now, they need to compromise and yet, we've heard from the president of the united states he's going to try to go it alone. >> this isn't a clown show. it's serious business. the country is facing some of the worst, worst challenges we've had in decades. the fact of the matter is the republicans have said since day one that they want obama out of the office. are they willing to work with him as well? both sides that have come together this year for the things they have to get done if they're not going to get them done, then next year will have to be the time. we may have to have new leadership across the board.

the fact of the matter is it's time to get serious. >> you're right and it is serious business. in fact, it's outrageous what he's saying. i'm saying they're treating it like a clown show trying to make blame, give blame instead of manning up and saying we're responsible, too. d.c. is broken and everybody thinks that. unfortunately, the new 99% is the disapproval rating of congress. it is outrageous what's going on here and you know what, the people are going to vote out everybody. the bad republicans, the bad democrats, anything in d.c. and they're going to vote out president obama because we need somebody outside of d.c. and it's going to be president romney come 2013. >> don, you know, there are a lot of people looking in and they've heard that the president going to run on the whole, look, my congress did nothing. the democrats do control one of the two chambers. but it sounds to a lot of people like if they're not going to do anything and obviously, the president is going to make that a selling point in his re-election. we're going to be essentially on ice for a year. not get anything done. that's frustrating. >> actually, it's going to be

worse than on ice. what i'm worried about is a very negative campaign from both sides which i think is going to leave the country even more demoralized. the good news is the economy is beginning to show some good signs. perhaps america will pull through in spite of its politics but it would be great if our leaders on both sides would step up. >> the thing is, obama cannot separate himself from congress. it's not going to work -- you know, he can't go with the campaign. it's not going to work because he can't. he has part of it. in fact, his lack of leadership has brought us here. i mean, we're at number 10 in the world in economic policy and we should be number one. because of him, because of the democrats, we have a zero now, it's one zero instead of number one and that's not right. the united states of america should be number one in the world and we've got to bring in somebody that knows business. >> you're both number one in our books for showing up early on this holiday monday morning. thank you very much. >> thanks. >> you bet. >> all right. 28 minutes after the top of the hour. coming up, a piece of the interview you haven't seen yet.

oprah getting governor chris christie to reveal why he's not running for president. >> never felt right. >> yes. >> and i'm as a politician -- >> what about four years from now? hear his answer to that. as oprah sits down with the christies coming up and stuart varney on deck with another story. another government green energy disaster. tax dollars spent on an ethanol plant that didn't produce one ounce of ethanol. that's not good. come on in, stuart, you're coming up next. [ male announcer ] imagine facing the day

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go to cymbalta.com like many chefs today, i feel the best approach to food is to keep it whole for better nutrition. and that's what they do with great grains cereal. see the seam on the wheat grain? same as on the flake. because great grains steams and bakes the actual whole grain. now check out the other guy's flake. hello, no seam. because it's more processed. now, which do you suppose has better nutrition for you? mmm. great grains. the whole whole grain cereal.

>> this is when she was still miss wisconsin saturday night competing at the miss america pageant but laura kepler, the 23-year-old young woman from wisconsin an aaron rodgers fan from the packers ends up becoming miss america 2012 right here, first runner-up miss oklahoma. now, if that sounds like i know what i'm talking about, i was there! >> great. >> so there she is just when her name is announced. >> so excited. >> she won $50,000 scholarship. miss america pageant is all about education, the largest scholarship program in the world for women. she'll be talking about that throughout her year. and you can hear she's very skilled at opera as well.

she also has a very interesting personal story about her father who was incarcerated and tomorrow, she will be on our show to share with us that personal story. and how it has changed her life. >> it was interesting, guys, she was asked a question on stage, her on-stage question was about the partisan politics going on in washington. and whether or not miss america should say what her party affiliation is and, you know, you're on the spot when you answer these questions. she did a wonderful job and she said look, miss america represents everyone. >> i saw her respond to that. you had a great message for the contestants. maybe we should hear what that was. >> thanks. >> i just want to let everyone in america know what these women are going to do in the future. even the women who are with us behind us here, they're going to go on and be doctors and lawyers and politicians and tv anchors and i hope one day president of the united states. >> sky is the limit. from that point, miss nevada who was sitting there, those are the contestants that had not made the top 10 and the top 15 and

brooke burke said what are you going to do now? i'm running for president. gretchen said it's a possibility i'm going to do it. >> that was your inspiration, right. she said she was going to become the president. >> theresa skanlon was the young miss america at 17 and now done being miss america at 18. that's her goal, to be president one day and a judge first. let's take a look at some of the pictures i captured behind the scenes there. here's a look, these are the former miss americas that came to the pageant this year with the newly crowned miss america and this is -- yeah, there's a little closer version. susan perkins. >> who is doing the bunny ears? >> that's heather french behind me there, she was miss america 2000 and i was one of her judges. we have a lot of fun when we go to las vegas. >> you could still compete, gretchen, nothing has changed. look at that, lovely. >> my parents were able to come. this is the photo. you can see my mom suffered a major injury. she fell right before christmas but she was able to make it to the pageant and i'll tell you, it's a special moment to be there with my parents again all

these years later. >> she's a beautiful woman, too. >> very, very nice. >> family affair. it was a great time in las vegas. thanks very much. >> and congratulations to the new miss america who is from -- >> wisconsin and she will be here tomorrow. >> and she ain't no cheesehead. >> even though she's a packer fan. >> probably has one in the closet hatwise. meanwhile on this monday morning, headlines for you. delta airlines flight diverted because of two unruly passengers. the plane was heading from atlanta to costa rica but it stopped in tampa could officials could kick a couple from germany off. delta says they were refusing to take their seats in first class and demanding food and champagne. they have not been charged. >> same thing happened to me on the way to vegas. came back to the gate to take off an unruly passenger. it's becoming common, folks. could there be a presidential run for new jersey governor chris christie in the future? maybe, that's what he told oprah during an interview that aired late last night.

>> who knows? is the president re-elected, does a republican win? i don't know. but in terms of me, i'll be much more ready four years from now than i am now. >> that is, of course, if his guy, mitt romney doesn't win. then he wouldn't be able to run in four years probably. anyway, he says there's nothing more unattractive than getting there and not feeling ready for the job. >> and here, researchers aren't saying they can turn grandma into victoria's secret supermodel but they're getting pretty close. researchers at the university of pittsburgh medical school used stem cells from young, healthy mice to treat prematurely aging mice and they discovered a mystery substance secreted by the stem cells. it's strengthened the older mice's organs and doubled their life spans. now they're trying to isolate that substance and see if it will work on people. >> no wonder all those mice in my house look so young. meanwhile, let's take a look at where it is raining and where it

is snowing and where it's downright cold. we have rain all the way from portions of the ohio valley down to dixieland and it's raining in portions of arizona, the balance of the country is nice and dry. look at these temperatures. brrr, it's cold. 9 degrees below zero in caribou, maine, 16 out at the airport in new york city. almost two dozen in cleveland. and as you can see, the freezing temperatures go down deep into dixieland along the coast as well. 47 right now is the temperature in tampa. eventually later on today down in tampa, it will be 74. temperatures in the 60's and 70's along dixieland up through the central plain states, temperatures in the 50's. 20's in the northern plains. only 14 today in caribou, maine. and below freezing across much of new england. >> all right, brian is not here today and since i love sports, i guess they're going to let me take a crack at it. in the sports, big football news. eli manning and the new york giants stunned the reigning

super bowl champs, the packers 37-20. manning lit up the green bay packers defense with 330 yards and three touchdown passes. watch that amazing catch. the big highlight, though, a hail mary pass to end the first half. the giants defense shutting down aaron rodgers' high flying offense. they play the san francisco 49ers in the nfc championship game next sunday night. in the afc, ray lewis and the baltimore ravens hosted the houston texans. ravens took an early lead but the texans fought back and threatened to tie the game in the third quarter. for baltimore's defense, they held them off on the last play of the game-winning 20-13. the ravens face tom brady and the new england patriots in the afc championship game sunday afternoon. congratulations to all the teams. >> very nice. >> great day. great day. >> another government-backed green energy disaster which was given millions of taxpayer dollars to produce ethanol fails

to produce any ethanol and sells their plant to a new zealand based company for a fraction of what the united states government paid for it. >> there's reports that another 12 green companies are struggling after taking another $12.6 million in government loans. stuart varney steamed. >> yes, i am. this is my money down the tubes all over again. >> so explain to us what happened here. what is this? >> range fuels built a factory in order to produce cellulosic ethanol. ethanol not made from corn but made from grass clippings or leaves. a new idea. a new technology. the bush administration put money into it. it was followed by the obama administration which put $42 million into it. the state of georgia put $6 million into it because the factory is in georgia and now factory is closed. sold for only $5 million. taxpayer money basically lost. another green energy policy

failure. that's where we are. >> i understand there is a crony capitalist component to this as well. >> there is. there's a gentleman by the name of vinyard cosla and he's a big greeny out of northern california. big supporter of range fuels and the president's green energy policy. well, now range fuels is out, the factory goes up for sale and who buys it? >> he does. >> yes. he buys this factory. >> it doesn't work, does it? >> he's got it for a song. maybe he can convert it to something else. he's part of this new zealand company that bought this company. here we have a huge supporter of green energy and the president's policies on green energy buying the disused assets and taking essentially backdoor the taxpayers' money. >> sounds to me like this was a bipartisan effort. if the bush administration also supported it, are we only really focusing now on taxpayer dollars being potentially wasted because of the deficit we find ourselves in? >> i think what we should concentrate on is the idea that

government, politicians attempt to pick winners in the energy market. that's why our taxpayer money is being wasted. you're quite correct. the bush administration started this. they put the first money into range fuels and the obama administration put in even more money. the point to be made is, is the government the right organization to pick winners? because the government picks on political basis, not on the basis of the pursuit to prosper. >> the government will say some investments win and some investments lose unless it's mitt romney making those investments, right? >> yes, bain capital. this is a lousy time for the green energy policy to say that. >> why are they doing it? >> it's a terrible time. stephen harper, prime minister of canada is going to china. is he going to selleca neighborhoodian oil to china that it cannot come down the pipeline to the united states? >> got to go somewhere. >> just at the moment when our green energy policy is flat on its back. >> we'll be talking about that. that's an outrage, too. >> get into it. >> all right, stuart, always a pleasure, thank you very much. he will kick things off at 9:20

eastern on fox business. >> yes, we shall. >> coming up on our show, the video of marines desecrating taliban corpses is generating a firestorm and now rick perry weighing in. >> really disturbing to me is kind of the over the top rhetoric from this administration and their disdain for the military, it appears, whether it's the secretary of state or whether it's the secretary of -- >> so is rick perry right? we'll report. you decide. >> is martin luther king's dream being hijacked by big government? our next guest says the answer is yes. and she has the numbers to prove it. i had enough of feeling embarrassed about my skin.

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tell your doctor if you're prone to infections, have cuts or sores, have had hepatitis b, have been treated for heart failure, or if, while on enbrel, you experience persistent fever, bruising, bleeding, or paleness. if you've had enough, ask your dermatologist about enbrel. >> as we remember the legacy of dr. martin luther king jr.

today, our next guest says if he were alive, he wouldn't recognize his message because it's actually been hijacked by government welfare programs. joining us now to discuss is star parker, the president of the cure foundation and the author of the book "uncle sam's plantation." good morning, star. >> good morning, peter. good to be with you. >> what's the message of dr. king and how has it been perverted in your mind by american government since his death? >> well, we remember his "i have a dream" speech. towards the end of that speech, he told african-americans to go back into their communities and build. he felt that we had already done the hard work in washington which was to remove governmental barriers so we could live free. well, at that point in history 50 years ago, the black family was intact. we were looking at then 70% of black children in households with two parents married on each other. you fast forward after the social engineering of the great welfare state, paying people to

have children outside of marriage, we are now looking at 70% of black children being raised in single headed households. yes, i think that dr. king would be a part of that third of black pastors that are very, very perplexed by what has gone on in their community as they see families unravel, education in the state that it is in. the crime rate soaring. i think he would be quite disappointed in his legacy when it comes to black family life. >> in the 1960's, senator daniel patrick moynihan who wrote on this subject said one of the problems in the african-american community is the fact that there were fewer and fewer fathers and their families were not intact. you're saying the families have become less intact as a result of american policies. should the african-american community be angry at the government for subjecting them to this kind of dependency? >> well, i believe so, of course. that's why i head a conservative think tank that you mentioned, urban cure. when you think about daniel patrick moynihan at the time, he

was the assistant director of the department of labor so yes, he was concerned that out of wedlock birth rates were about 22%. considering black history in this country, 22% is high but when you think about it in context, slavery, jim crow, the family was fragile but the last thing we needed to do was expand president johnson's great society that told people, don't work, don't save, don't get married and we'll build out this welfare plantation for you. the concerns were legitimate because now we're looking at the numbers in reverse. the family has just totally collapsed and when you have family life collapse the way you do, you're not going to get the educational aspirations, therefore, you're not going to have the economics. >> thank you so much for being with us this morning as you celebrate the legacy of dr. king. good to see you. >> thank you. >> still ahead, the obama administration is outraged over video of marines desecrating taliban corpses. our next guest says don't judge just yet. you have to hear this perspective and south carolina voters are largely undecided so what do candidates need to do in tonight's fox news debate to

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>> welcome back. a lot of people including the obama administration coming out and condemning the four marines caught on tape desecrating taliban bodies but presidential candidate rick perry says this administration is going too far. >> disturbing to me, it's kind of the over the top rhetoric from this administration and their disdain for the military, it appears, whether it's the secretary of state or whether it's the secretary of defense. i mean, these kids made a mistake. there isn't any doubt about it. shouldn't have done it. it's bad but the -- to call it a criminal act, i think is over the top. >> joining us right now from nashville to share his opinion

is conservative comedian brad stine. good morning to you, brad. >> good morning, my friend. yes, and i got to ask you, did they overreact to this thing? i don't know. did al gore get rich off of global warming's pseudo science? yeah, i'm pretty much thinking they overreacted. let me tell you something, steve, this comes out of the playbook of liberal idiocrary. more concerned about what happens to our enemies than what happens to us. you know what? i think they take things out of context. number one, these are 20-year-old guys in war! they're in war. and yes, they're 20 years old and they're guys. if you got drunk and passed out in their frat house in the tub, you know what they would do to you? they'd pee on you. you know why? that's what guys do. it's how we handle pressure. we did the best we could. give them a little slack. i mean, the guys almost got shot and killed. give them a little slack. >> yeah, we don't know the circumstances. for all we know, those dead taliban guys could have been trying to kill them for 12 hours and at the end of a fire fight

they did that. what they did was wrong but is it criminal? >> no. no, it's not criminal. but see, this is my point about the liberal idiotcracy. they're always concerned about the feelings. liberalism comes from a feminine place, feelings. don't hurt their feelings. what if this tape leaks out? leaks out, thank you, i'm a genius but, you know, they get concerned that they're going to be offended if we're peeing on these guys. you know what? i would think they'd be offended that we made dead guys out of them. i mean, i think that's more offensive. you can pee on me all you want. don't shoot me. i think what we're dealing with here is a lack of context and it was a breach of conduct. ok, it was a breach of conduct. but we're going to take care of that. they're going to get in trouble but let's take it in context. all right? we pee on a dead guy. they hang us from bridges. we put underwear on your head. they cut off our heads. all right? then we make them stand naked. they drag our naked soldiers through the streets. remember, obama administration, the taliban, the terrorists,

they're the bad guys! not us. they're the bad guys. >> there you go. and i think in this one instance, you would agree with bill maher. bill maher says it doesn't bother him. >> it doesn't bother me. listen, the obama administration to this day never has admitted that major hassan who murdered 13 of our guys that that was a terrorist attack. it was a terrorist attack and they've never admitted that. that is wrong! to me, that's them peeing on the american public. they have no right to be talking to us about what our soldiers do. was it wrong? yes, but for crying outloud, give them some slack. it's war. if they don't want to get peed on and shot, quit being terrorists. that will take care of the problem. >> brad stine joining us on this monday morning from nashville. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> what do you think about his point of view? e-mail us, friends at foxnews.com. meanwhile, still ahead, inside that deadly cruise ship crash in italy. we're talking live to a passenger who shot this video as the ship tilted over. and david axelrod says a

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>> good morning, everyone. it is monday, january 16, 2012. i'm gretchen carlson. thanks so much for sharing part of your day with us. brand new details from the cruise ship crash in italy. you're looking at live pictures right now as the search for survivors continues and we will take you inside the ship as it went down. the man who shot this video of plates flying off the shelves and so much more as the ship literally tipped over joins us live moments away. >> and just last week, jon huntsman said his third place finish in new hampshire was a ticket to ride. well, apparently, he got a ticket to nowhere. huntsman calling it quits but he's backing another candidate. we're live in south carolina with the latest on the shakeup. >> plus, the big winners and

losers at last night's golden globes and was returning host ricky gervais actually funny? we're going to report, you're gonna decide. you're watching "fox & friends" live from new york city. >> good morning, everyone. hope you had a fantastic weekend. peter johnson sitting in for brian today. bring you to our top story that is the cruise ship and the latest on that now. unfortunately, six people have been confirmed dead. 16 people still unaccounted for. there are reports that two of those people not accounted for are americans. >> yeah, indeed. i think i saw a story somewhere they were from your neck of the woods, gretch, up in the minneapolis area. so there you see the costa concordia. it started to sink at 9:00 on friday, the 13th. it was four miles off course. why was it off course? there are stories circulating today that apparently

prosecutors say that the captain of the ship got the ship so close to the island so that he could blow the horn as a salute to the maitre d' and apparently last august, according to "the daily mail" the ship sounded its horn real close to the island and the mayor then of one of the towns in the island sent the captain a congratulatory e-mail for the fantastic entertainment as well. >> four miles off the course. did the captain stay at the captain's table and drink wine according to one report, not confirmed, did they have something called a harmonic interference, power surge on this cruise ship that caused the power to go down in the ship and being so close to the island, striking the rocks there. a lot of questions. we know that the captain is under arrest and in detention at this point. >> potentially charged with manslaughter. six people have died.

joining us on the phone is a passenger from the costa c concordia and had waited a year to take this honeymoon trip with his wife. good morning to you. good afternoon. i imagine you are glad you are alive today. >> yeah, we're happy to be alive. >> tell us exactly what went down. i know that you shot some of that video that we've been watching as the chaos ensued when the ship started to tilt. tell us what happened. >> we were dining at the restaurant which was towards the back of the ship and then we felt a crash. it was obvious that we crashed and then we started feeling and hearing very strong vibration of something hitting the ground. i don't know what it was. but at that time, the ship started tilting slowly to one side.

we were waiting for it to stop but it kept tilting until everything started falling off the tables and the chair started rolling. >> oh, no. david, we're looking at some of the video that you shot with your camera. it looks like you're in one of the dining areas. when you realized what was happening, did it seem to you like you were in some sort of a disaster movie? >> it -- the beginning, i was very calm. i didn't think anything was gonna happen. i think -- i tried to keep calm. i tried to keep my wife calm. she was very, very worried and she was just trembling. >> sure. >> so i was just trying to keep calm. but the people were going crazy. it definitely looked like a

disaster. >> how did you get to the lifeboat? how did you get to the life raft, mr. saba, and was that a difficult trip from the ship to the water itself? >> oh, yeah. on the way down from the raft to the water was very, very violent. i guess the angle at which the ship was tilted made the raft, made it tilt so when we were going down, we kind of were swinging a little bit. which was very scary. so it took us actually more than an hour, more than two hours to get into those two rafts. we were sitting with the club, there was like a few crew members, young crew members taking care of children when the

alarms sounded. and we were with them. and when the ala sounded, change in their faces, the expression changed. they were all calm until that moment. and they all took the children, they carried the little children. they grabbed the children by the hands and they ran to the sports deck and said just run to the sports deck. we didn't have any life jackets by that time because we kept asking the crew if we had to have our life jackets on and they just break down, and said no, don't worry. you don't need your life jacket. nothing is going to happen. >> it sounds like chaos. i know you were able to get back to your cabin, get the things you brought with you. wallets and credit card. you made it out safely and i'm glad to hear that the crew was helping people get out as well. the allegation is the captain may not have done that. david saba, thanks so much for sharpg the chaos going on on

that ship. thank you. >> and now they are headed to florida where they make their home. let's talk a little bit about the state. two states north of florida, and of course, we're talking about south carolina. later on today, we understand in myrtle beach, jon huntsman late this morning is going to officially drop out. he came in third place and he was so excited in new hampshire. but third just isn't going to cut the mustard. and later on today, he is going to actually endorse somebody he has locked horns with a number of times on the debate stage and that is mitt romney. >> yes, so here's the statement from the huntsman camp. governor huntsman was encouraged in new hampshire but does not want to stand in the way of the best candidate to beat barack obama and will endorse mitt romney. there's politics in everything. you're surprised maybe he's going to support romney. keep in mind, they had a lot of similarities with each other and he did take a lot of -- he did give a lot of barbs to romney but now he's going to endorse him but you have to wonder about the timing. because many pundits have said

the longer these people stay in the race, the other candidates, the better off it is for mitt romney because it's dividing up the vote. you have to wonder, the romney camp saying they're stunned that huntsman is now getting out and endorsing him. but you have to wonder, you know, what kind of discussions go on between these candidates at the time. >> maybe there was some understanding of what the fox news poll is showing. the fox news poll shows that in the republican field, 40% of republicans nationally are supporting or would support mitt romney, santorum at 15. gingrich at 14. paul 13. perry at 6. so everybody wants to be with a winner so it looks like mitt romney based on that poll is the winner. >> right. i guess my point is if you add up all those other candidates, they would be considered to be the more conservative of the candidates. if you add up all those percentages they beat mitt romney. the point is the longer all these people stay in the race, the more they split the vote and it's always interesting. remember last week, there were reports that maybe some of those people would get out of the race and support one conservative

candidate. >> i would take your point. it all goes back to politics. everybody in politics wants to be with a winner. >> sure. >> and with this brand new fox news poll, what's interesting is people are more interested in whether or not the guy can beat the president of the united states rather than whether or not they are conservative. meanwhile, if they were to hold the election today and don't worry, they're not going to, as you can see, it's a dead heat. barack obama and mitt romney would essentially tie in the mid 40's plus or minus, margin of error is 3%. by the way, i'd like to remind you, a programming note. tonight on fox newschannel, you'll see the debates sponsored by the republican party of south carolina. "the wall street journal" and, of course, featured right here on the channel. >> and it just so happens we have somebody right in south carolina. so what are south carolina's undecided voters looking for in that debate. john roberts live for us now bright and early in myrtle beach with much more. good morning to you, john. >> good morning to you, gretchen. they're telling me they want to

hear huntsman endorse romney in chinese. just a thought. over 30% of voters here in south carolina say they're going to be watching tonight's debate to make up their minds. yesterday, i talked to a bunch of them at the sand sculpture that the city of myrtle beach has put together with the faces of all the candidates. it's quite an extraordinary thing. i heard the typical complaints, i'm not hearing enough about the economy and there's what bonnie mcgovern told me. listen. >> what do you need to hear? >> i need to hear more focusing on the economy and less bickering. and i need some real plans like 9-9-9 was at least a plan. >> she wants to hear more plans and she wants to hear less bickering and on that front, senator rick santorum is going to hold a press conference in about a half-hour's time at which he's going to demand the super pacs of ron paul and mitt romney take down what he says are misleading negative advertisements against him including one that claims that rick santorum voted to allow

felons to vote in elections. here's santorum's response. >> i've just run into this with governor romney's super pac today. he's got an ad out that says i voted to let felons vote. now, it's very interesting. i did vote in the united states senate that someone who served their time, came out of jail, had served parole and probation and after all of that sentencing, then they could go out and apply and have their voting rights back. by the way, the exact law that's in south carolina. now, governor romney has taken that and said rick santorum is for felons voting. and that's a lie! >> unlikely that the romney or paul campaigns will take down those ads because as we head into these final days, gretchen, things with tightening up and i would expect that the ads will get even nastier in the next few days. >> all right. that's the way the political scene works. fortunately or unfortunately. john roberts, great to see you.

thanks so much. rest of your headlines this morning. the leader of the pakistani taliban possibly killed in a u.s. drone strike. pakistani intelligence officials say they intercepted taliban radio communications saying he's dead but a taliban spokesperson says nope, he's still alive. there have been bogus reports about his death in the past. the f.b.i. says a missing montana woman now believed to be dead. but her body has not yet been found. they're asking residents in north dakota and montana to help in finding sheri arnold. officials are asking property owners to check their land for any disturbed soil or anything unusual. the beloved teacher and mother of two went for a jog over a week ago and never came home. two men are in custody in connection with that case. holding on for dear life. that's one father did after his toddler became trapped in an elevator well in australia. the 18-month-old boy crawled through the lift and the well walls of the community center and got stuck. his father says he heard his son crying and that's when he found him. he grabbed his hand and held on tight for 40 minutes to keep him

from falling. rescue crews finally pulled the boy out. miraculously, he was not hurt. ricky gervais returning to host the golden globes last night. >> the golden globes are just like the oscars. but without all that esteem. >> that's true. it's kind of a precursor to the oscars. some surprise wins is "the descendents" winning best family drama. its leading man picked up best actor. meryl streep won best actress for her role in "the iron lady" saying she was happy to portray the british prime minister. >> happy to play interesting people who have challenges in one way or another. and really grateful to keep working. >> and you can't forget tv as showtime's "homeland" wins top tv drama and "modern family" is best comedy and looking ahead, oscar nominations are on january 24th. and those are your headlines this morning. >> thanks, gretchen. we just told you about the

accusations. now, david axelrod says the business leader like romney is not what the economy needs. really? we'll ask a man who knows how business actually works. who is going to join us? donald trump will join us in just 20 minutes coming up. wake up! that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm. for half the calories plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8. can you enjoy vegetables with sauce and still reach your weight loss goals? you can with green giant frozen vegetables. over twenty delicious varieties ha sixty calories oless per serving and are now weight watchers-endorsed. try green giant frozen vegetables with sauce.

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>> we just told you about the latest accusations against the captain of that deadly cruise. you're seeing a live shot of it right now, that ship listing there on the sea. passengers reported seeing him allegedly at the bar the night of the crash even though the cruise company disputes that. >> and there are allegations he abandoned ship. bret rifkin is amaritime attorney of over 30 years. he joins us live from miami. good morning to you, sir. >> good morning. >> this is as we look at those live pictures just one gigantic lawsuit. isn't it? >> it's incredible. you know, i've been doing these type of cases for 30 years representing people who have been involved in incidents and

disasters on cruise ships. i've been doing that from miami for about 30 years. this is incredible. i thought i've seen everything. >> let's talk about seeing everything. two points, the law of the sea says captain is not supposed to be getting off that ship before everyone else. right? so that's a big deal criminally. right? >> absolutely. that captain is in charge of his ship and, you know, the old adage. the captain goes down with the ship. he is responsible for that ship and everybody on board that ship. and that's his number one priority. not his own safety. >> in terms of people getting recompense for their pain and suffering and economic damages, is that hard to do against cruise ships, especially something overseas? >> well, it is a difficult journey and you need to have an experienced maritime lawyer and i've been handling these type of cases for 30 years and going against the cruise ship companies is a difficult task.

they're big companies. there's a lot of terms and conditions in the passenger contract if you're a passenger on a cruise ship, you look at your passenger ticket and you see. it's not really a contract. they call it a contract. but really, it's just a bunch of limitations and disclaimers on the part of the cruise ship companies including, you know, where you have to sue, shortening the time that you have to sue the cruise ship companies. and then, you know, the cruise ship companies come out right away and start their own investigations and don't come out -- >> last question, we're running out of time here. lawsuits fine. criminal prosecution fine. how do the people get this out of their mind? the people that were jumping off this ship? >> i don't know that they ever will. this is going to be a terrible recurring memory or nightmare for many of these passengers. and it just reminds us painfully that cruise ships are very vulnerable place to go on board and there are dangers when you go on board a cruise ship and i think that people just don't

realize that but as we see these ships getting bigger and bigger and bigger every year, we're seeing increased dangers of cruising. >> indeed. they're not supposed to sink. they're not supposed to tip over. all right, bret joining us from miami. thank you, sir. >> thank you. >> you bet. >> they taught the school over lessons to their child that jesus was a wine guzzling socialist, they won and they're here to tell us about that. >> good story. plus her book paints a not so nice picture of the obama white house. michelle obama firing back saying she is not an angry black woman. we're going to get the author of that book jodi cantor's take when she joins us live on this monday "fox & friends." in my line of work, it's not uncommon for the term "hero" to be bandied about. but does bringing a floor back to life really make us heroes? [ chuckles ] yes. yes, it does. ♪ call 1-800-steemer

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>> if you're just waking up, it's 24 minutes after the top of the hour. thanks for sharing your time with us. news by the numbers, the average price for a gallon of regular gas is up $0.11 so far this month. due to rising crude oil prices and the repeal of the ethanol tax credit. 24 million, that's how many customer accounts were breached after hackers got into zappos.com. company says credit card numbers were not compromised and $24 million again. that's how much mark wahlberg's "contraband" pulled into the box office this weekend. peter? >> they pulled their son out of school after learning he was being forced to read the book called "nickel and dimed." it called jesus a wine guzzling vagrant and socialist. since amy and dennis taylor appeared on "fox & friends" more than a year ago, that book has been banned there and there's a

new law giving parents the power to control what their kids are taught in school. amy and dennis taylor joining us again from new hampshire. happy new year. good to see you, taylors. >> good morning. >> thank you. >> so what is the law now even though it passed over governor lynch's veto? what rights do parents now have in new hampshire as a result of what you did a year ago? >> well, right now, parents have more of a right to dispute things going on in the classroom whether it's an ideological issue or whether it's a dumbing down of the curriculum or whether the parents feel the material is inappropriate for their students, they now have a right to come in, ask the teacher to create an alternative that they agree with and it's done at parents expense so we thought it was a pretty good balance and pretty good way for parents to get some of their rights back. >> governor lynch was very upset about the notion of this law passing. let's hear what he had to say. under this bill, a parent could find objectionable how a teacher

instructs on the basics of algebra. the school district would have to develop an alternative educational plan for the student. and that plan would be paid for by the parent under the law that's now in place in new hampshire. mrs. taylor, what do you say about governor lynch's objection? why doesn't it hold water? why is this a good law for the people and parents of new hampshire? >> i feel that having the taxpayers, the ones who are actually paying for this education ultimately for their children, that this is a step in the right direction. again, this is the beginning bill and nothing is perfect. can't win a war in one day. but i think that this is a really good start. >> i'd also like to add that, you know, here at the bedford high school, we have something called everyday math, the bedford system, and from what i understand the sylvan learning system centers their tutors are being kept quite busy with students from bedford trying to help them keep up with this math and i also understand before this math had been put in, there

was less need for that. we think it's a good idea to give parents choices and also let the school know that a lot of us aren't happy with the way they're teaching our children. >> in terms of choices, i understand that you pulled your son out of the school and were home schooling him. now that the law has changed and there's an opportunity to change the curriculum, have you decided to put your son back in school, back in the public schools system and not home school him? >> well, i think -- i think it's really come down to a personal choice for jordan at this point. we have almost no trust in the school even using -- even using this system, we have another son ethan who was -- we decided to use the opt out rights last year and gave him fourth or fifth grade material when he was in a much older grade so we think this bill is a good start for most parents but we really have no trust in the bedford high school system. we'll keep jordan out regardless.

>> what do most of your friends say? do they have trust or no trust in the system is the last question. >> i think there's a mix. we have a lot of people in bedford who just want to kind of keep everything under the rug and trust the teachers and trust the principals. these are the same people that gave us religious bigotry in "nickel and dimed" and pornography in "water for elephants" so i really can't say. i'm disappointed in my neighbors and i hope they'll wake up with this bill. >> thank you so much for being here. let us know what happens going forward. >> sure will and thank you. >> be well. >> still ahead, david axelrod says the business leader like mitt romney is not what the economy needs. really? we're going to ask a man who knows how business works. donald trump. joins us next. and michelle obama firing back in the new book about the first family, she says she's not an angry black woman. but author jodi cantor says the

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>> well, according to "the wall street journal" when he was with bain capital, mitt romney once invested $2 million in a company that made dolls that looked like their owners. who would want a doll that looked like themselves? all right, besides donald trump. i mean, who would want -- i mean, ok. >> oh, man. >> i wish we had donald trump on the line to actually have him weigh in on it. we have donald trump on the line. hello, sir. >> you do and they did make a doll of me and i don't know if it was a good one or a bad one. actually i looked very good in that doll. >> of course they did. >> posable action figure. >> yes. let's turn to politics, if we can, because the big news coming out today is that about 11:00 a.m. eastern time, jon huntsman is going to officially announce he's dropping out of the race and expected to endorse mitt romney today. what's the first thing that comes to mind in your mind about this? >> well, i'm not surprised. he hasn't caught on. he seems like a nice guy. i really don't know him. but it just didn't work. he didn't catch on.

>> all right. here's the statement from the huntsman camp. governor huntsman was encouraged in new hampshire. he was third there. but does not want to stand in the way of the best candidate to beat barack obama and will endorse romney tomorrow. i guess i'm a little surprised that he is officially coming out to endorse mitt romney right away. they were for the most part seen as similar in a lot of ways and they traded barbs between the two of them. >> and he was very nasty. i absolutely agree. i mean, he was very nasty to governor romney and he's coming out but you know what? he wants to get back on track and he's doing that. he probably should have dropped out after new hampshire. he did not do well in new hampshire. that's when he should have left. he was doing very, very poorly in the polls. he was down to 2% and 1%. he had no choice, absolutely no choice. >> now, he apparently is out. since we spoke to you last, have you been amazed at how the free enterprise system is absolutely on trial in this country where people are saying, look, bain

capital, what they did, sure, they made a lot of money but cut a lot of people's jobs and livelihood and all that stuff. >> you know, steve, it's on trial but it's not working. if you look at what's going on, it's just not working. people understand what's happening. they're very smart. and they're being attacked. i mean, the capitalism is being attacked but it really isn't working. take a look at the polls. >> yeah. and in fact, david axelrod said on this week here's an example of how they're beating the drum on that side. frankly, i don't think bringing a bain mentality to this economy to running this economy makes him a strong candidate. and, you know, for them to have been devoting so much energy, donald trump, to attacking mitt romney for the last couple of months, obviously, his background in business terrifies this white house. >> well, you know, interestingly, the administration hired bain to look into the auto industry and some other things and they've actually been hiring and talking to bain. so, you know, ba bain, i think,s

going to end up coming out well on this thing. they've done a good job over the years. they've cut jobs but also created a lot of jobs and created a lot of great companies and to attack bain and you have a solyndra in your portfolio, i mean, maybe if they would have used bain to look at it, maybe there wouldn't have been a $500 million waste of money going into solyndra. so, you know, i really think it's been a very strong attack and it's not going anywhere. people understand it. it's politics. >> let me ask you this. we haven't had a chance to talk to you since the other republicans in this race also started attacking mitt romney for the same things. were you surprised at that? >> i was surprised and i'm really against that kind of attack because this country is all about capitalism. it's what made us great. it's what's making us bad right now, we're not using the right people. we're not using the right mind, we're not using the people that know what's happening. i'll give you an example. obama never did anything. there's not much to attack him

on except the purchase of his house. he did one deal in his life. the purchase of his house. and that wasn't appropriate. ok, to put it mildly, that wasn't appropriate. so he never did. and i always said it's very, very hard for a person of success to run for office because if you're successful, you've done things and you're going to be attacked. when you're somebody like obama that nobody knew that didn't do anything, guess what? there's nothing much to attack him on and that may be the biggest attack should be the fact that he never did anything. >> and it's hard to talk about the housing because of the tony resco component so the mainstream backs off. >> the president is putting pressure on banks to not foreclose on people. now, mitt romney says that people shouldn't own homes that they can't afford. where are we on that? foreclosure or personal responsibility? >> right. i'd like to sort of take a ground where the banks and i know the banks probably better than anybody and the banks have

really not come through. they don't loan money. they got bailed out. but they're not loaning money to people and i know a lot of people looking for houses and i see them and i get letters from people, that they're good people, they've never had a problem. they've never had a default. they're looking for houses. they want to buy a house. and the banks aren't giving them any money. even worse, they've had a mortgage for 20 years, they've never missed a payment. the mortgage comes due and the bank wants them to pay off the mortgage or they'll foreclose so the banks have really been helped and honestly what they have done is atrocious. >> yeah, there was nothing in the fine print when they got all that bailout dough said they had to actually give out the loans to people who can pay for them. >> well, they're not loaning money. they're not loaning money. one of the reasons the housing is so low, can't get financing from banks. it's very sad. >> donald trump, always a pleasure. thank you very much for alerting us to the fact that somewhere out there is a donald trump

doll. thank you, sir. >> thank you very much. >> thank you. >> we see him every monday, of course, when he joins us "fox & friends." now, let's do some other big stories making headlines for your monday. a much needed fuel shipment finally reaching the iced in town of gnome, alaska. a fuel delivery was canceled due to a big storm and supplies are starting to run low. a u.s. coast guard icebreaker has spent the last two weeks to clear the way for the town. alaska is suffering its worst winter in more than 40 years. >> couldn't there be a presidential run for new jersey governor chris christie in the future? maybe, that's what told oprah during an interview that aired late last night. >> who knows? is the president re-elected, does a republican win? i don't know. but in terms of me, i'll be much more ready for it a year from now than i am now. >> he says there's nothing more unattractive than getting there and not feeling ready for the job.

>> let's do a couple of sports stories because eli manning and the new york giants stunned the reigning super bowl champs. the big highlight, that hail mary pass to end the first half. the giants beat them, shutting down aaron rodgers' high flying offense and the giants play the san francisco 49ers in the nfc championship game next sunday night. and also, baltimore beat the houston texans. >> meanwhile, let's take a look at the weather on this monday. this holiday monday, as you can see, we've got a little bit of rain moving through portions of dixieland and also out west in arizona. balance of the country for the most part right now is dry but cold. look at this. right now in caribou, maine, that's not the wind chill much the air temperature is 10 below and the wind chill is much lower than that. here in new york city at the airport, we have 16 degrees at laguardia. two dozen in cleveland. we got 33 right now in the great city of chicago. and out in rapid city, south

dakota, only 11 there. front range of the rockies bitterly cold as well. in denver later on today, things will warm up in the 50's and 60's across the belly of the country. 70's across the southern plains back through portions of florida. here in the northeast, stuck in the 30's but new england, stuck below freezing. and that's your martin luther king holiday foxcast. >> and as we remember, dr. martin luther king today, we're asking if his message is being blurred. reverend jesse jackson's daughter here to weigh in. >> michelle obama is fighting back at accusations in a new book saying she's not an angry black woman. what does the author think about what's going on? we go straight to the source when she joins us next. >> your question of the day -- [ ma announcer ] the cold aisle can overwhelming.

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together, we lost 71 pounds with weight watchers online. quit dancing. i didn't do it... [ female announcer ] join for free today. weight watchers online. finally, losing weight clicks. >> welcome back. the first lady firing back about the new book "the obamas." >> i guess it's more interesting to imagine this conflicted situation here and a strong woman, you know, but that's been an image that people have tried to paint of me since, you know, the days that i'm some angry black woman. >> well, the book's author is not backing down and says she didn't portray michelle obama as an angry black woman. >> the author of "the obamas" "new york times" correspondent jodi cantor joins us now. good morning to you. >> thanks so much for having me. >> i think it's so surprising how the book has been

interpreted. right away as michelle obama as an angry black woman. your message is you thought she was a stronger person than the president himself. >> i really wrote this book. i've been covering them for five years at "the times." i wrote this book to convey what happened to their partnership. their marriage used to be two people sitting at home in chicago, a regular union and it's really become this much more political partnership. they've had to translate it to the white house, the east and west wings have had to get along and michelle obama in the book is portrayed as a very strong presence and also, it's kind of a turn around story. she gets to the white house and has a very difficult time, as many first ladies have. and scene by scene, anecdote, by anecdote, we watching her turning it around. >> let's talk about one of the anecdotes, "vogue" magazine whether she should be on the cover of it. >> "vogue" invites her and a

group of women get together and talk about it. the group is split by race so it's a little uncomfortable. what i love about this story is i think both sides have great points. the african-american women really, there have been so many -- so few black women on the cover of "vogue" they really see the role model potential of this presidency. >> they said do it. >> they said do it. the white advisors were more concerned about the economy, about the fact that "vogue" is a pure luxury magazine. gibbs wasn't involved in this one but that was his perspective on a lot of these kinds of debates and they also said michelle obama, you're a woman of substance. you want to be known as america's number one fashionista and so many things in this book apply to both republican and democrats in public life because look at sarah palin and her shopping spree during the 2008 campaign. you know, she's in the same position on the one hand, she wants to look great. on the other hand, the economic circumstance just doesn't fit. >> did she show up on the cover of "vogue"? >> she did.

and there was almost no criticism actually. >> male candidates if there were a male first man, they probably wouldn't face the same kind of scrutiny about the cover of "vogue" which is interesting to me. other thing you point out, maybe she didn't want to come to washington initially. she was going to stay home with the kids. >> not permanently. she thought of delaying a little bit. letting them finish the school year. we see her role as a really protective mom and you could say two things, i think, about that hesitation. on the one hand, it's clear that she really didn't understand yet how the presidency worked. a commuter first lady was not going to fly with the nation. on the other hand, there's a kind of outsider wisdom to that. living with young kids in the house is not easy. like if you remember the news story from a few weeks ago about a bullet hitting the white house. i mean, that's where these little girls play. it is not an easy place to live and there are a lot of stories in the book to that effect. >> are you surprised at how viciously the mainstream media has attacked you? >> well, you know, the hard thing is that people are discussing the book without reading it.

>> right. they're saying you were disloyal. you knew stuff. you shouldn't have put it in. if you know them that well. >> the how, i've been reporting on them for five years. the white house cooperated with the book. the reason the stories in the book, i think, are fresh is because they come directly from white house advisors and from the obama friends. >> the whole thesis is the question going into the 2012 race, what kind of management skills has president obama shown in the white house? that's something that you point out for viewers and they'll have to make up their minds or readers, in your case. viewers in our case. jodi kantor, washington correspondent for "the new york times" and author of "the obamas" thank you so much. >> thank you. >> as we remember dr. martin luther king today, we're asking is his message being blurred? reverend jesse jackson's daughter here to weigh in coming up next. >> first on this date in 1989, the number one song was phil collins "two hearts." i had a het problem.

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>> answers to the question of the day, albert pujols. the winner, we're not sure who the winner is. congratulations. >> i have a dream. >> of course, that was dr. king's final speech before he was killed and that strong feeling of faith he speaks of is something our next guest says we often forget about in the reverend side of who he was today. joining us now, santita jackson, daughter of jesse jackson, one of king's closest aides. good morning to you, ma'am. >> good morning. thank you so much for having me. >> all right. so as we remember dr. king today, i know that you have some

concern that his -- the memory of who he really was is sometimes blurred. in what way? >> well, you know, because as you pointed out in your introduction, we use the handle doctor that emphasizes academic accomplishments and we forget he was actually a reverend and he was operating out of the tradition, the prophetic tradition and not a political tradition. this is a man who sought to fulfill the ministry of jesus the christ. someone who sought to feed the hungry. clothe the naked. set the captor free. he functioned in the prophetic realm and he preached against poverty and he wanted to eradicate that and he wanted to eradicate racism and he wanted us to think critically and eradicate ernabel demillo -- militarism. he should have been used in a way that biblical prophets of

old to be used before when a king would make a decision that would have great impacts on his people, he would always consult the prophets and that's the role that reverend billy graham and others have served throughout history. and that is something that dr. king sought to do, reverend dr. king sought to do in the midst of his lifetime. >> i want to bring you to a new study that i came across this morning that shows how our young people are learning about the legacy of dr. king. and it's not that great, unfortunately, only three states earned an a as far as the civil rights messaging to our next generation, alabama, florida, and new york. are you surprised at that? the study says it's really -- in some cases, we've considered a regional thing so states in the south are learning more about it than states in the north. >> you know, i think that americans make a great, great mistake, a, by looking at his legacy as purely being a civil rights legacy. the fact is dr. king changed the way all americans live. he changed the way all people in the world live.

and so i'm not surprised by that. we look at this, at his example as being one that was just to show the south how to get along. whites and blacks to get along. the fact is he spoke to how americans should treat one another and how americans could be great global citizens. so i'm not surprised by that. indeed, there was, i think, a study in 1981 at boston university that showed that fewer than 20%. fewer than 20%, less than 20 years after he had been killed. fewer than 20% of the incoming freshmen knew who dr. king was so it's really not surprising. i hope that we will do a rethink and reteach, gretchen, just what he wants -- just who he was and what he meant. >> especially on this day as we remember the life and legacy of dr. martin luther king jr. always great to get your thoughts. thanks so much for joining us. >> you have a wonderful day. >> thank you. >> we've heard it before. now david axelrod comes out swinging against george w. bush saying he's to blame for the current state of the economy.

we know someone who will have a few things to say about that. dana perino, the former spokesperson of president bush. and staples has been one company mitt romney has used as a way to defend his record at bain capital. are his comments on job creation the truth? the founder and ceo of staples joins us. [ male announcer ] every day, thousands of peoe are choosing advil. i'm keith baraka and i'm a firefighter. and it's very physically demanding. if i'm sore i not at my best. advil is my go-to. it's my number one pain reliever. [ male announcer ] make the switch. take action. take advil.

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republicans. >> peter: and george clooney had a golden night. we're going over the golden globe winners and losers as "fox & friends" begins right now. >> steve: good morning, peter. thank you for filling in for brian on this holiday monday. >> gretchen: hope odd fap fastic monday. let's kick it off with headlines. more details in the cruise liner crashed, that boat that ran aground off the italian coast. this is a live look at the ship as it's still sinking. crews are still working to find more passengers as a sixth body has been found in the vessel. reportedly the man was found wearing a life vest on the second deck in an unsubmerged part of the ship. no word on his nationality. divers pulled two more bodies from the hull and three survivors yesterday. we spoke with a survivor earlier this morning about what it was like on the ship when it went

aground. >> at the time the ship started tilting slowly to one side, we were waiting for it to stop, but it was tilting until everything started falling off the tables and the chairs started rolling. >> gretchen: the cruise line reloosed a statement saying there may have been, quote, significant human error by the captain who reportedly was so close to the shore, he apparently wanted to blow the horn and send out a wave to try and greet a friend on land. the f.b.i. says a missing montana woman is now believed to be dead. but her body hasn't been found. they're asking residents in north dakota and montana to help find sherry arnold. officials are asking property owners to check their land for disturbed soil or anything else unusual. the mother of two and teacher went for a jog over a week ago and never came home. two men are in custody in connection with that case. let's go to washington, d.c these are live pictures of the

dr. martin luther king memorial statue that you're about to see as we pause today to remember the civil rights leader. yesterday would have been dr. king's 83rd birthday. to mark the day, there was a wreath laying ceremony at the king memorial on the tidal basin. president obama and his family attended services honor king at the historic zion baptist church and national cathedral will also hold a service. it's where dr. king delivered his last sunday sermon before his assassination in april, 1968. returning to host the golden globes is gervais. >> the golden globes is like the oscars but without all the esteem. >> gretchen: that's true. it's kind of a precursor to the ross considers. some surprise wins at the "descendants" winning best drama. george clooney picked up for best drama. meryl steep won for her role in

"thatcher." >> happy to have play interesting people who have challenges in one way or another. really grateful to keep working. >> gretchen: let's not forget tv because show time's "homeland" wins top tv drama. "modern family" as best comedy. and looking ahead, oscar nominations come out before you know it. january 24. those are your headlines. was rickey gervais toned down last night? what i saw, he wasn't funny. >> steve: the first 15 minutes, he let it rip. one of the things about the golden globes, it's more exciting because everybody is sitting this and getting drunk. >> gretchen: that's different from any other hollywood party or get together. >> steve: they did it on camera. joining us is dana perino. good morning to you. >> hello. how are you? >> steve: good, breaking news. sounds like jon huntsman will say, you know what? i finished third in new hampshire. it was good. but i'm going to have to sack up my bats and endorse mitt romney.

>> yeah, i didn't think we would have that news today. i thought he would threat go through south carolina, because it's only next saturday is the primary. it was a little surprising, though, perhaps some people got to him. maybe it was his family that said, maybe we should just get out now or because he is going to do an endorsement today and many people have reported that that is likely to be for romney, perhaps there was some deal making behind the scenes there. hopefully we'll find out more as the day goes on. >> gretchen: that's interesting because the romney folk last night said they were legitimately surprised that he was number one, getting out of the race and number two, endorsing them. but you know the political scenario. a lot of people thought he didn't have a chance a long time ago. why today? >> one thing that was interesting was hard to understand how huntsman, when he got into the race, was going to define himself as different from romney. i don't think he actually did that very well, except for in one respect. the "wall street journal," which is an important editorial endorsement for a conservative, really liked jon huntsman's

economic policies and were lukewarm on those of mitt romney, thinking it was a little more clear cut on the huntsman piece. perhaps now there is going to be some sort of consolidation going forward and we'll see if huntsman decides to do any sort of campaigning for him. huntsman never got a foothold in this race. it was hard for him to get attention. he didn't really participate in iowa. he came in third in new hampshire, that's decent showing. >> peter: someone said in south carolina, it's the last stand of the anti-romney forces. what do these anti-romney forces need to do tonight in the fox news debate to solidify their position, whether it's newt gingrich or rick santorum, what do they need to do? >> i think questions that some people have had about mitt romney's trustworthiness as a conservative have remained. romney needs to figure out a way to help solidify the deal for those guy, if they're still undecided, if he can get them on their side. i think for a santorum and gingrich and perry tonight, it's

defining something they are for rather than what they are just against when it comes to romney. it's easy for us to understand and repeat back all of the attacks they've made against romney, but it's harder to know what are they for. i think that tonight, some sort of a stirring speech that -- and good solid answer cost help them at least battle for second, instead fourth spot. >> steve: there is results for brand-new fox news poll out at 6:00 o'clock this morning. if the election were held today, take a look, this is amongst registered voters in the usa -- look at that. barak obama and mitt romney, essentially would tie. what's interesting, is independents, look at that. 43% to 38% for barak obama. so mitt romney leading with independents at this stage. that's good news for mitt romney >> that's how i read it. the interesting thing is, and the campaign hasn't even begun. mitt romney has spent the past

seven months in particular, while he has criticized president obama, he's had to run against his fellow republicans. that's not been an easy race, especially this last three weeks. when it comes to independents, if i were the axelrod campaign in chicago, which i'm not, i would look at that and know that's where we have to zero in where we have a real problem, because those voters that really did help president obama get elected in 2008. >> peter: the president's got a real problem because some of these polls are showing there is a intensity of feeling in the republican party that they're going to be dedicated to voting against the president. >> they are not persuadable. the people who decided they didn't vote for him last time -- people who didn't vote for president obama in 2008 are not going to vote for him in 20 is it. some of those people that voted for obama and are dispointed, are either not going to vote or for the republican and then the undecided. >> gretchen: the majority who

are voting for mitt romney say it's an anti-obama vote as opposed to the obama voters who say it's an anti-romney vote. i want to get your thoughts on something axelrod said because he's practice limbing your form er boss. here is david axelrod. >> the worst month that we've had at job loss was the month that this president took office. governor romney praised the policies that got us into this mess. he wants to take us back to those policies and he blames the president and says everything that's gone right has nothing to do with him. >> gretchen: your thoughts? >> i think that when it comes to having david axelrod go out, he can be a effective spokesperson for president obama, but they've got to get more specific. what are they specifically talking about? yes, of course, there was a terrible month when they first came in, but then they don't turn it to say, but we did the following four things, that's why things are better. people aren't buying that.

unemployment is up, median household income is down. length of time people are on unemployment is longer. and there is not an affirmative, where do they want to take us from here. >> peter: it's the president's campaign to run against bush? >> probably. they can't help themselves. this is what got them elected in 2008. yesterday, it was starting to blame unseen forces that are coming from europe. i would love to have a candidate, whoever t try to strengthen america's position so that if we do have european recession, that we are in a better position in order to weather that. but blaming them is not going -- >> steve: they blame bush and the tsunami and hurricanes. >> they're really a problem. >> steve: we're going to be watching dana perino live at five along with our other people.

>> gretchen: thanks. a live look now in italy. we've been talking about it all morning. the cruise ship still sinking and rescuers scrambling to find. all of this as questions over the captain's role surface. a maritime attorney is here next to weigh in. >> peter: plus, staples has been one company mitt romney used a as way to defend his record at bain capital. are his comments on job creation the truth? the founder and ceo of staples joins us. [ male annouer ] juice drink too watery? ♪ feel the power my young friend. mmm! [ male announcer ] for unsurpassed fru and veggie nutrition...

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shore. those are the allegations. and as more details emerge about the deadly crash, there is talk of lawsuits. but international treaties could make it impossible for americans to sue or very difficult. mike winkleman is a maritime attorney and joins me live to weigh in on this topic. good morning to you. >> good morning, gretchen. thank you for having me. >> gretchen: all right. so many people do not know when they go on a cruise ship and they certainly don't expect to have this happen to them. what are their rights now with regard to suing? >> sure. i think people really don't know. i think -- i hear so often from my clients, boy, this was supposed to be my dream cruise, the cruise, the trip of a lifetime. and they have nothing but rosy thoughts and then something terrible like this happens and they're faced with a very difficult circumstance. most of which comes from the cruise ticket contract because when you go on a cruise and you buy the ticket, then you are agreeing in essence to a contract with them, which first requires you to file suit in

genoa, italy. depending on the circumstance, we could argue that was unreasonable, as an example, let's say someone was terribly injured. they're from iowa, we would argue to the judge in miami, judge, it's totally unreasonable and unfair to force this person from iowa, who has been terribly injured, to go all the way to genoa, italy. having said that, courts -- >> gretchen: they typically don't agree with that assessment, which makes it more difficult for, especially americans who may have been on board this ship. tell me about the athens convention, what is that? >> sure. the athens convention is really a nasty, international treaty that if appliable, would limit the damages to $75,000. so let's take that same example of the person terribly injured from iowa. let's say they lost an arm. so a case in front of a jury would be worth 5, possibly several million dollars, wobble limited to $75,000. what's interesting, is that neither the united states nor

italy have ratified this treaty. the athens convention, but what some courts or what the cruise lines argue is that, well, hey, it was in your ticket contract. you agreed to it. therefore you're bound by it. but again, you said in the intro it was impossible. there are numerous good faith arguments we make to try to get around the harsh treaties that the cruise lines put in their contracts. >> gretchen: many people don't even read the fine print, myself includes. before i let you go, for the unfortunate folks who passed away in this disaster, is it different for their families if they want to move forward with a lawsuit? >> absolutely. let's stick with the same person from iowa and unfortunately,

children, you provide a lot of benefits to them, but if you're an elderly person no longer working and retired, just like the couple that was found in the dining room that passed away, they probably don't provide any benefits to any dependent beneficiaries. therefore, their cases are dramatically limited in value. sometimes even limited to the value of the funeral expenses. so very harsh statutes come into play when you're dealing with maritime law and cruise ship accidents like this. >> gretchen: very interesting analysis by mike winkleman a maritime attorney. thanks very much for your thoughts this morning. >> thanks for having me. >> gretchen: coming up on our show, back to politics. mitt romney using staples as an example of his success at bain capital. making a company out of nothing. is that the truth? let's go right to the source. the founder and ceo of staples joins us next. and victoria secret revealed. researchers might have tapped into the fountain of youth. could we be closer to look young

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>> steve: republican rivals keep hammering front runner mitt romney over his days at bain capital with attack ads like this one. >> was bain capital the day the company was formed. >> they fire people. they cut benefits. they sell assets. >> mitt romney and them guy, they don't care who i am. >> let's look deeper into his

life. what did he do? >> steve: our next guest worked directly with mitt romney while he was at bain capital. tom stemberg is the founder and former ceo of staples. good morning to you, tom. >> good morning, steve. >> gretchen: i'm sure you've been watching this whole dialogue will mitt romney at bain. was his goal to make a quick buck and get out or grow the business? >> well, the fact of the matter is, mitt didn't just invest in staples when it was an idea, he hung around as a member of the board of directors for close to 15 years and i've been on some very good boards with great directors. i was still raising -- he was the best corporate director. inspirational leader and while staples may have existed without him, i doubt it would have been nearly as big or successful without him. >> steve: sure. so many people are arguing about the number of jobs that mitt romney was responsible for, for instance, at staples. you used to run the place.

how many jobs would you put in the mitt romney category? >> mitt was instrumental in getting us going and helping us grow the business and today staples has close to 90,000 associates around the world. a great company like sports authority that he gets involved with at the ground floor has close it 20,000 associates. bright horizon, the daycare center, has close to 20,000 associates. importantly, a number of these companies like staples, save small businesses tens of billions of dollars over the years. bright horizon provided quality daycare, allowing women to go to work without worrying about their children. so this was not just a job creation, but significant value to mitt's investments as well. >> steve: right. exactly. what about in these ads you see. there are -- they've got these heart wrenching stories of people who say, look, i worked for a company until bain came to

town and then i got canned? layoffs are a fact of life, aren't they? >> you know what happens in business is that you're the ceo. you've got to do things the most cost effective way you possibly can. sometimes that means closing a factory somewhere and moving the manufacturing to china. at other times, just like recently at staples, they shut down a bunch of jobs in massachusetts and moved them of all places to columbia, south carolinaers because they can be done more effectively there. that's the way the world works. >> steve: right. exactly. i was reading your statements on things you have said about mitt romney in the past. one of the reasons he first decided to go ahead and align himself and invest money in your company was mitt romney is a cheap guy. he's a guy who knows the value of a dollar, doesn't he? >> it's a funny story. when i was around pitching the staples idea and the businessman

to folks around the country, many venture capitalists laughed at the idea of trying to save money or paper clips and legal pads. mitt romney, unlike many of them, was immediately attracted to the idea 'cause he couldn't stand the idea of paying 2 or three times as much as he should have for an item as little as paper clips. and when mitt was governor of mass marks he took that same approach and taking almost a $3 billion deficit and turning it into a surplus and a rainy day fund, 'cause mitt knows the value of a dollar and knows he will try to save his constituent, be p a shareholder or voter, every dollar he can. >> steve: tom, guy who started staples, thank you very much for the interview. >> thanks for having me. >> steve: my pleasure. 26 minutes of a the top of the hour. south carolina voters are largely undecided. what do candidates need to do in tonight's fox news debate to

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>> your miss america, 2012 is miss wisconsin! [ cheers and applause ] >> gretchen: that was laura kepler, 23-year-old from wisconsin being crowned miss america 2012 saturday night in las vegas. she won a $50,000 scholarship. the whole essence of miss america is the education aspect. all of the women win scholarship money. and that will be part of her platform this year, promoting education for young women across our country. she also has another interesting platform called circles of support. that is to support children of incarcerated parents. she has a personal story about that. her father was incarcerated recently and she will be here tomorrow to share that part of her story. how else did she win? talent a part of the miss america pageant. she had an amazing opera

performance. her grandmother, her great grandmother went to julliard school of music. so it came down. >> steve: what a voice. >> peter: great singing. >> gretchen: there was great talent. >> peter: really excellent. >> gretchen: i had the honor of participating in the telecast as well. here is a snip of that. >> i just want to let everyone in america know what these women are going to do in the future. even the women who are with us behind us here. they're going to go on to be doctors and lawyers and politicians and tv anchors and i hope one day president of the united states. >> steve: all right. >> gretchen: to which point miss nevada, she's asked the question what, are you going to do now? these are the contestants who had not made it to the top 15. she said, i'm going to run for president! why not? by the way, the pageant up 13%, even up against tim tebow playing in the football game. maybe it was the fact there was a little blowout going on there. so people tuned in to the pageant. >> steve: that's great.

>> peter: people like to see something happy and wholesome and good. >> gretchen: let's look at behind the scenes. these are clean photos that i can show you. just kidding. these are the former miss americas with the newly crowned miss america from wisconsin there. and a little bit of a closer shot, susan perkins and susan powell and heather french doing the bunny ears. these are former miss americas. my parents were joining me again as well. my mom had a little bit of a fall. she has a broken shoulder, but she's in recovery. you have to explain that because you wonder, that's not part of her dress there. that's an actual splint and cast. mom and dad, thanks for everything you've done for me. she'll be better. >> steve: looks like a fun weekend in vegas. >> gretchen: it was fantastic i that. >> peter: the republican battle for south carolina is heating up this morning. just as the candidates prepare to face off in a fox news debate tonight. rick santorum is already blasting front runner mitt romney. >> gretchen: john roberts live in myrtle beach to give us more.

his message is he wants the negative ads to stop because he says they're not true. >> yeah. just about an hour ago in columbia, south carolina, he had a press conference in which he said that he is demanding that the super pacs, outside groups supporting ron paul and mitt romney take down what he calls a misleading negative ad. one of those ads from romney's pac, restore our future, accuses santorum of vote to go restore voting rights for convicted felons. here is what santorum said about that. >> i just ran into this with governor romney's super pac today. he's got an ad out that says i voted to let felons vote. now, it's very interesting. i did vote in the united states senate that someone who is a felon who served their time, came out of jail, had served their parole and probation and after all of that sentencing, then they could apply to have their voting rights, which by

the way, is the exact law of south carolina. governor romney has taken that and said, rick santorum is for felons voting. that's a lie. >> he's calling it a lie, unlikely the super pac will take it down. in the latest poll, he's got a bump over the weekend. if romney were to pull off a win in south carolina, it could all but finish the republican primary process. now, the republican debate not the only game in town. a little ways down the beach, the tea party of south carolina is holding a convention. there isn't any kind of straw poll about the candidates or any kind of effort to reach a consensus, though i did run into a lot of supporters of newt gingrich. a few for mitt romney, but an awful lot for newt gingrich. i talked with tea party supporter michael george who said there is no way romney could ever win a general election simply because he can not get the support of the tea party. here is what he told me. >> obama is going to spend a billion dollars. he'll have a million union people walking the precincts. the only way any republican is going to be able to win is if

they have a million tea party people walking the precincts. romney will never excite them. >> i did talk to another tea party member who said i don't agree with him. i'm a district judge. if mitt romney becomes the nominee, i may not like it, but i'll work 100% for him. it's getting exciting. >> gretchen: john roberts, thanks so much. >> steve: the debate is tonight, you can see it right here on fox. we've got monday morning headlines for you. fox news alert, a live look at a massive fire in wilmington, cal coo, 20 miles from downtown l.a over 100 firefighters are battling flames ripping through the administration building at the conoco phillips refinery. no word yet of any injuries out there. >> gretchen: could there be a presidential run for chris christie in the future? well, maybe. that's what he told oprah during an interview that aired late last night. >> who know as soon as depends on who wins, is the president

reelected d. a republican win? i don't know. but if it's up to me, i'm be much more ready four years from now than i am now. >> gretchen: he says there is nothing more unattractive than getting this and not feeling ready for the job. >> peter: holding on for dear lifement that's when one father did after his toddler became trapped in an elevator well in australia. the 18-month-old boy crawled through the lift and the well walls at a community center and got stuck. his father says he heard his son crying, that's when he found him. he grabbed his hand and held on tight for 40 minutes to keep him from falling. rescue crews finally pulled the boy out. miraculously, he was not hurt. >> steve: that is incredible. talk about a close call, looks like the real deal. some fishermen in hawaii had some company while their boat was off the coast of oahu.

a great white shark circled them right after they hauled in a 300-pound marlin. apparently it belonged to the great while he probably wanted them to throw it back. he hung around for about an hour. that is a little terrifying. as you can see, the shark had no problems getting up close and personal with the boat. he was estimated to be about 15 feet long. whoa! >> gretchen: yikes. they can turn grandma into a victoria secret super model. guess what? they're getting close. researchers at the university of pittsburgh medical school used stem cells from young healthy mice to treat prematurely aging mice and they discovered a mystery substance created by the stem cells. so it strengthened the older mice's life span. now they're trying to see if it will work on people. will it help your skin from sagging? that's the big question. >> peter: the big question is, tell us about who is the winners and losers in football.

>> gretchen: eli ranking and the giants stumped the super bowl champs. manning lit up for 330 passing yards, three touchdowns. the big highlight, that was hail mary pass. it ended the first pass. it was almost like a game ender. the giants defense shutting down aaron rogers offense. the joins now play the san francisco 49ers. that will be the nfc championship game next sunday night. ray lewis and the ravens hosted the houston texans. the ravens took an early lead, but the texans fighting back, threatened to tie the game in the fourth quarter. but baltimore's defense held them off on the last play of the game. winning 20-13. ravens face tom brady in the new england patriots in the afc championship game sunday afternoon. the latest super bowl odds have the patriots at a 44% chance of winning it all. the volunteers a 22% chance.

ravens have 14%. according to the odds makers. >> steve: those are the same odds percentage wise of the people running for president of the united states. >> peter: you're right. >> steve: meanwhile, let's go ahead and take a look at the day ahead weather wise on this martin luther king holiday. on this holiday monday, we got rain all wait from, as you can see, indiana counsel through portions of -- down through portions of tennessee and the dixieland area. a little bit of rain out west. but the big story is it is cold outside as you head out the door. right now in rapid city, it's only 11. only 16 in missoula. caribou, maine. 10 below zero. here in new york city, it's 17. cleveland, below freezing at 28. later on today, cleveland will climb up into the 40s. through portions of big northeastern corridor city, portions of new england, bitterly cold n the teens. same for the northern plains.

through florida, temperatures in the 50s, 60s and 70s. those temperatures extend out west into the great state of texas. later on today in los angeles, they should top out at 58. it's ohm going to be 37 in seattle. that's aing look at your fox travel cast for this busy monday. >> gretchen: we just told you how rick santorum already out this morning blasting the negative ads in south carolina. with you they are not guilty new. remember this one? >> bush and dukakis on crime. bush supports the death penalty for first degree murderers. dukakis not only opposes the death penalty, he allowed first degree murder force have weekend passes from prison. >> gretchen: a look back at some of the most notorious negative ads from that state and how they changed the race. >> peter: plus, martin luther king is honored today. are we doing him justice? his niece says not really. she'll join us next to explain. >> i have a dream

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>> steve: we've got quick headlines for you on this monday morning. a louisiana official is saying no to pjs. a parish commissioner would like to outlaw wearing sleeping clothes outside the house. the move comes on the heels of a recent up decent exposure case at a wal-mart store. scooping up a golden globe wasn't the only big news for kelsey grammar. the actor announced at the awards last night that he and his wife are expecting twins. congratulations. peter? >> i have a dream. >> peter: he's been championed by the left as a hero for decades, but the niece of the legendary civil rights leader says martin luther king, junior would be considered a pro-life social conservative today. we had the honor of dr. king

joining us live. she's also the director of the african-american outreach for priests for life. on this martin luther king day, how are you today, dr. king? >> hello, peter, and to all of your viewers, hello, everyone. >> peter: i'm so happy to have you today with us. how should dr. king be viewed by history? what was his belief system and how would it fit in into how we're thinking today? >> my uncle, dr. martin luther king, you know, it's not so much about labels, liberal, conservative and all of that, but he was someone who lived and gave his life to help all humanity. so that definitely would include conception until natural death. he would want everyone to be able to live, to have food, to have somewhere to sleep and to have a job, you know, all of those things are very important. but he would really support the best quality of life and that is

conception until natural death. >> peter: and was your belief that dr. king would do everything in his power to support the rights of the unborn, to support the sanctity of life, and that he was a minister above all things, a preacherman? >> you know, my uncle said, in justice anywhere, the threat to justice everywhere. the negro cannot win if he's willing to sacrifice the futures of his children for immediate personal confidence safety. that led me to say, a woman has a right to choose what she does with her body. the baby is not her body. where is the lawyer for the baby? how can the dream survive if we murder our children? >> peter: let's talk about ministry, dr. king. you're from a family of great ministers. not only dr. king, but your father as well n my father, reverend a.d. king of the my greater, why martin luther king senior. i'm a minister, my cousin bernice is a minister. my brother, derek, is a

minister. one of my sons. so we come from a family of just preachers. so, you know, i have a dream, it's in my genes. the dream comes from the bible, from god and the principles that are there. >> peter: as we end today, dr. king, there is only -- a lot of people only know the statue. tell us about your uncle. tell us about your father in the 30 seconds we have remaining. what's that memory? >> my uncle and my father were often called the sons of thunder for their preaching styles and they would have preaching contests to see who could outpreach the other and daddy king was there also and they had a preaching style called whooping and they would say, yeah! and so they were great preachers and it was wonderful to see them live as preachers and to give their lives for humanity. >> peter: dr. king, hallelujah and a daughter of thunder. thank you for being with us. god bless you. >> thank you. >> peter: and rick santorum is

fighting back this morning, firing back hard at what he calls false advertising. but negative ads have been part of the south carolina primaries and american politics for decades. remember this one? >> bush and dukakis on crime. bush supports the death penalty for first degree murderers. dukakis not only opposes the death penalty, he allowed first degree murder force have weekend passes from prison. >> peter: i guess they had super pacs back then, too. a look how those ads changed the race. first let's check in with martha for what's on at the top of the coming hour. martha, good morning. >> hey there. good morning. good to see you. happy monday, everybody. so you know the big news, jon huntsman expected to announce that he's bowing out of the presidential race that. will happen during our watch here this morning. stay tuned for that. harry reid with strong words for the tea party. we're going to get their reaction here and governor christie talks to oprah. their surprising exchange, all that coming up, bill and i join you at the top of the hour

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>> gretchen: welcome back, everyone. if you've been near a tv in south carolina, you've been bombarded with negative campaign ads filling the air waves the republican presidential candidates try sway voters before saturday's primary. guess what? it's nothing new. remember this ad that first ran in south carolina back in 1988. well. they'll have to envision what that was. about willie horton. the chair of vanderbilt university, author. i guess you're going to say that that they work? >> they often work, because candidates don't like to tell you why you shouldn't vote against them. but the negative ads do provide

that information. it's important to voters. >> steve: there have been a lot of negative ads. in particular with south carolina, the gloves have really come off. but in south carolina, professor, that is a place that historically there has been a lot of dirty politics. >> there has been. i mean, south carolina was the home of lee atwater, who actually was involved in the willie horton ad and he certainly was somebody who engaged in negativity. but don't forget that south carolina is a crucial primary. it's a little later in the season. new hampshire. and often the issue, especially on the republican side are emotional. it's no surprise there is a lot of attacks going on. >> peter: why is that a negative ad, doctor n terms of talking about the willie horton ad? there was a fellow that was committed to prison for a heinous murder and then furloughed then went tout commit an armed robbery and rape. isn't that part of the public record, that people should point out what public officials have done? if it's untrue, maybe it's negative. but if it's pointing out

something that's factually correct, why doesn't that do the public a service? >> i think if it's factually correct t does do a service. part of the problem in the whole debate is that the term negative is something that isn't very clearly defined. an take tack usually is viewed as negative and a lot of people assume the attacks are often incorrect or unfair. but in most case, they are pretty much on target. the attacks against mitt romney right now about bain capital, it's fair to have those. or the attacks against newt gingrich. these are all fair. it's part of the public record, as you said, and it's important for voters to know. so that's one reason why the attacks are so important. >> gretchen: okay. mitt romney would probably say this pac ad put out by the gingrich pac isn't totally true, just as the gingrich pac said everything that was said about him is not totally true. let's see thousand has been going in history. here is part of a mccain ad. >> i'm john mccain. i approve this message. >> as you hear mitt romney

attack john mccain, consider these words from new hampshire newspapers. the union leader says, john mccain has conviction and granite staters want a candidate who can look them in the eye and john mccain has done that. mitt romney has not. >> gretchen: i want to get your thoughts. obviously this has been in the past. is it something we should expect in the future, or is it something that we should do away with? >> we can't do away with negativity. if we do, we'll have to do away with the first amendment of the constitution. this is part and parcel of democracy. john mccain has the right to air that attack. just as mitt romney or newt gingrich does and the candidate needs o respond. anyone who ends up sitting behind the desk at 1600 pennsylvania avenue -- >> peter: we got to get out. see you again soon. more "fox & friends" works minutes ♪ i believe in dreams ♪ oh, yeah ♪ 'cause i believe in you and me ♪

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then i found new pronutrients omega-3. it's from centrum. it's a smaller minigel. with two of the best omegas to support my heart, brain and eyes. new pronutrients from centrum. >> steve: make sure you watch the presidential debate tonight, 9:00 p.m. eastern time right