just beginning to pay attention to some of its explosive content. trust me tgoes well beyond eating dog meat. over the next hour, we will help the obama administration allies and the press, doing some of their own work for them and systematically walk through the controversial book, let you hear from the president, in his own words. we have a studio audience, many of whom, i am sure you will recognize. do we all agree, probably in the course of this campaign, the top issue is going to be the economy? anyone disagree? you disagree? economy? agree. second biggest issue, national security? disagree? all right. everybody agree, national security. third biggest issue, obama's record. right? as president. okay. because that brings us to those that would be critical of going back and maybe trying to understand the president a

little better. what motivates him. where does his thought process come from. in other words, why did he never show a pragmatic side, a triangulation, like say bill clinton, the end of welfare as we know it, the erav big government is over. questions i would like to know, for purely political purposes. that leads us to this question. eric rush, i want to start with you. you broke the story on reverend jeremiah wright. we have now this book, we are going to be playing excerpts. why is this important? >> i think it's important because you can extrapolate from the sorts of thoughts that he had during his formative years, early adulthood, people he associated with and extrapolate the types of decisionses he has made as president, how it's affected the economy, how we get along with each other, every facet of our society seems to have been deleteriously

affected, going all the way back to -- trinity, united church of christ, for example, reverend jeremiah wright, the people who hung out with in college, in his own words, and the policies he has now and the effect of them. >> sean: do we all agree -- does anybody think the media in 2008, up until today has done a good job vetting the president? anybody think that? nobody. >> of course, the media fell in love with barack obama. they -- part of the left wing establishment media wanted barack obama desperately to be president. that's what we got. we got a glossing over of his record. at the same time, we got a delving into john mccain's record who, served this country admirably and everybody knew. everybody in the mainstream media's going to say, what are you talking about? we know these things and they are going to try to triangulate

against the questions. >> sean: by the way, you are demonized because of the citizens united case -- [overlapping dialogue] >> sean: to be fair, that's why we have the series called the vetting, to be fair. the mccain campaign, one of the responsibilities of a presidential campaign is lay out your agenda and to vet the candidates. like in golf, you protect the feel as a player. mccain's campaign systematically failed. they didn't take on president obam on anything that happened before he was a state senator in illinois. so the president was never vetted in 2008-- sarah palin, interestingly, thought it was a mistake. >> big mistake. >> sean: now, this week, mitt romney came out and said, for example, that the issue of reverend jeremiah wright's off the table. >> yeah. i think he was right on that. i think that's an issue that ought to be dealt with by commentators, pressure-- that's your job, hannity.

>> absolutely. another reason i think the romney shouldn't handle it is because the reality is, as bad as the relationship with the reverend wright was, he has not governed as president as a candidate of black liberation theology. -- cornel -- >> cornel west is a follower of black liberation theology. he hate obama and feels betrayed by him. i think it's a very slippery thing because what obama does very well is -- he's a performance artist. that's what the book's about. i have many identities. i am the first jewish president. i am the first great president. the first environmentalist president. >> sean: that's what newsweek said. this brings us to the point. let's go to some of the book, which we are going to be interspersing throughout the

program. first, which i think is foremost important. the pd president says that he stands by the stories in the book. in other words, which he narerates himself. >> i cannot say i would tell the story differently, even if certain passages are inconvenient politically, the grift for opposition research. >> sean: all right. he says -- all right. that's his comments about the book. now let's start with imagine if mitt romney was on tape, admitting that he attended school sparingly, he was drinking heavily and did drugs enthusiastically. let's imagine for a minute, this is mitt romney saying this. >> i spent the last two years of high school in a daze, locking away the questions that life seemed insist ept on posing. i kept playing basketball, attended classes sparingly, drank beer heavily and tried

drugs enthusiastically. i discovered it didn't matter if you smoked refer in the van or in the dorm room or on the beach with a couple of hawaiian kid who is dropped out of school and spent most of their time looking forab excuse to brawl. >> sean: show of hands. how many think that's important? you are halfhearted. go ahead. >> it's as important as mitt romney bullying a kid when he was 14 years old. obama was a little bit older. both things are of limited use. it is an interesting part of his history. it's something he says he has gotten beyond. he has said so long ago. it's an interesting part of who he is. >> sean: dr. king. >> we have all done thins in our past. but the remark or i really wish i hadn't done that, that was a mistake. i am all grown up now and ready to lead this country responsibly and i want to build family. i want to build marriage. i want to protect everybody, the

young and the old and the elderly. that's what i would really like to hear. but to say i did all this and i want to do more things that are in the same pattern. >> sean: it's interesting because when he would go to the comedy show, did you inhale? >> well, that was the point, jay. >> sean: david -- >> here's the thing we have to realize about this. i agree that the issue is not the top issue. that's clear. >> sean: we all agree on that. >> but it's the evolution of the human being. we all do thing when we are young. we evolve as adults. does obama evolve from irresponsible behavior into responsible governance as a president. the fact is we have seen an idiolog in his formative years, acting as president as he was in his formative years from a governance and policy point of view. my other caution, back to the earlier question, stop getting into the wrong argument. don't lettuce lead them into the top issues. stay on the issues, if you are romney. let the commentator, the media,

those of us who are responsible talk to the people of america about the other issues. >> sean: here's what's fascinating to me. i -- when i first played that tape, he has been president almost four years, do you know how many people told me they had never heard it? never heard it! quick, pam. >> this is one -- one insignificant piece of a puzzle that we know about, since 2008. my obama book, i wrote in 2008, did the background, indonesia, growing up, the a.p. sitting on the school record of islam, what shaped him, what makes him the abandonment of israel. >> sean: if the american people haven't heard this, we have to ask ourselves, would a republican get that pass? no. i promise, we are going to have plenty of time and do more. coming up, more from the obama autobiography. we will play the clip, including who he admits to surrounding himself with throughout his life. a closer look at his inner

circle. later, hear from the president as he describes how race relations helped shape his world view, as we continue our special audience edition tonight on audience edition tonight on "hannity."

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>> sean: welcome back to "hannity." we are take you inside the president's autobiography, "dreams from my father," to discover who helped shape barack

obama into the man he is today because it gives us a close look at his inner circle. in fact, our future president spoke about the process that he used to select his friends while growing up on page 100. listen to this. >> to avoid being mistaken for a sellout, i chose my friends carefully. the more politically acteddive black students, foreign student, chicanos, marxist professors and punk rock performance poets? >> punk rock performance poets. good to know that the president was close to them and the marxist professors. here to talk about this is the editor from the washington examiner. good to see you. what do you make of that? >> i think it's very interesting. just prior to that in the book, you are seeing the story of a young barack, through his father/son relationship with frank marshal davis who, is one

radical, being led to a despair about his place in the world as a black man, begins to read some very radical, many communist author, like richard wright, ralph ellison and then, you know, forms a lot of ideas that lead him to college to the point where his chief concern is not being viewed as a sellout. that's how he formed friendships and he talks about grinding cigarettes into the carpet to stick it to the man, fighting oppression and bourgeois alienation. >> sean: this is him describing attending socialist conferences and other conferences at occidentalcollege. >> the type that had at one time seemed purposeful, seemed like the conferences from cooper union, where the african cultural affairs of harlem and brooklyn in the summer, a few of the many diversions new york had to offer, like going to a

foreign film or ice skating at rockefeller center. >> sean: oh, hannity, his admitted drug use in high school, maybe early college years, he is talking about socialist influences -- that's early. but didn't this continue? isn't that what black liberation theology is about? then bern dean dporn, bill ayers. where did it end? >> the story -- a lot of people mispronounce, it's "dreams from my father," obama's looking for a mentor. he is abandoned by both parent, raised by his grandparents and has a difficulty early in life and has a feeling that his grandparents will never understand his experience. he is looking for somebody to fill the vacuum. he goes to the people and he finds each one of them wanting. the messages are pretty radical and disturbing and pretty negative on american life at the time when he is growing up in the 70s and 80s, this is not

a turbulent time in american life. you can see him going from mentor to mentor, almost mentor shopping and then he gentleman comes to reverend jeremiah wright. av -- of all the people in his life, reverend jeremiah wright is the most stable, the most successful, the most normal, kind of surprising and shocking. >> sean: reverend jeremiah wright said he was never a big churchgoer, that this was about political ambition for him and now feels that barack obama abandoned everything. he is not liberal enough, not left enough for jeremiah wright. >> interesting that in his state senator day, chicago state senator days where obama talks about attending church every week, week in and week out and jeremiah wright videos came out and he said, with young kids, it's hard to get to church every week. most illustrative about reverend jeremiah wright is that obam told us, he had never heard the videos we have heard, the

incendiary messages of reverend jeremiah wright, but said he had never heard jeremiah wright say anything controversial. this is not a guy who suddenly turns it on and off -- obam's coming, be on your best behavior. >> sean: he said, he is like family to me. >> he married them. >> sean: he appears to praise malcolm-x's autobiography, well known for the term blue-eyed pebbles. >> only malcolm-x autobiography seemed to offer something different, the repeated acts of self creation spoke to me. the blunt poetry, his unadorned insistence on respect, promised a new and uncompromising order, discipline through force of will. the talk of blue-eyed devils and apocalypse was incidental, religious baggage that malcolm seemed to have safely abandoned toward the end of his life. >> sean: he did point out that

malcolm had some conversion, evolving from white, blue-eyed devils. but what is he embracing and saying? he seems to be talking about... the controversial side that he embraced as l. am i hearing it right? >> that's how it sounds to me. even if obama did not share the idea that white people were not evil or anything like that. it is a little bit embarrass in that quote, as you point out. but it is really interesting that these controversial authors form obama's sense early on of justice, for example, his personal philosophy, ideas on what is right and what is wrong. those are things that, to some degree as you read the entirety of "dreams from my father," that carries on. you see he is bringing part of that along with him. >> sean: it's interesting because, you know, there are so many views on it.

it's just -- again, it's part of a fabric we are not getting in the media. guys, we are going to hear frulater in our studio audience. coming up, media mash is back, looking at how the press is trying to cover up the most outrageous details of the book. the prominent theme of the obama autobiography, race and its impact in his upbringing. hear that in his own words, coming up on this special edition of "hannity." we charge everything else... maybe it's time to recharge the human battery. only the beautyrest recharge sleep system combines the comfort of aircool memory foam layered on top of beautyrest pocketed coils to promote proper sleeping posture all night long. the revolutionary recharge sleep system from beautyrest... it's you, fully charged. right now, receive two free recharge pillows with the purchase of select beautyrest mattresses.

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>> sean: tonight, i am joined by a studio audience of political commentators, journalists and authors to discuss the president's own autobiography, which has been ignored by the mainstream media since its publication. perhaps, the most controversial portions come when our future president discusses race and the role it had on its upbringing and one of the prominent figures he has tushed to on that subject throughout his life has been reverend jeremiah wright. in fact, he quotes the reverend on page 93. lich. >> does this world, a world where cruiseships throw away more food in a day than most residents in port-au-prince see in a year and apartheid is in one hemisphere, apathy in another hemisphere, that's the

world on which hope sits? >> sorry, 293. joining me, two men who have studied at great length, the life of barack obama. now, i have listened to this. i have read this, over and over again. i don't think most americans, i guarantee, there are many people for the first time tonight, hearing the voice of barack obama talk about white folks breed, running a world in need. what would they think of that? >> well, i think that they should become a little bit more curious about obama's so-called faith, the black liberation theology. for example, i look at that as something that is used as a -- a device to keep black americans perpetually out of sync with mainstream america, victimized, resentful and so forth, when we came out with the story on

reverend wright and then reverend wright came on and chastised us for not knowing anything about james cone. so we read that. if americans were to read james cone, they would recoil in terror-- let me remind people. you wrote the story. i interviewed you. then interviewed reverend wright -- >> the next night? >> the very next night. he was, you know, excoriating me. i said if we take the black value system and every time you replaced the word black with white, what would you think about this? you broke the story. you were excoriated for exposing thisue still are. >> yeah. definitely. i mean, it goes against that sort of racial another doxy they are trying to promote. it's part -- it's just part of the cultural balkanization that the political left tries to do. you know, it's what they are doing in the black community.

there are other ways they go after folk, you know, students, gays, latinos in different way, but it's been very, very effective, aso -- as we can see. >> sean: white folks breed, while the world's in need. most people had never heard benefit that in 2007-08. he said he didn't know that reverend jeremiah wright was controversial when he is quoting him. >> let's just be rational about this. the president is the smartest man in the room, according to the left. lazy so intellectual. he got to harvard, columbia -- all of this mixed together. so therefore, if he is that intelligent and choice and governance, to some degree, where does that come into it? we are about the same age, president obama and i. this president had choices to make. i had choices to make as a young man about those same time in the

80s. i saw the same things he saw. i come from a mixed-race family. he says he used drugs to relate with with his identity. i come from a family that taught me not about racism, but working together as a family, as a community, and being a part of something larger, not black values, but american values. >> sean: or if you are in a church, christian value, with brothers and sisters in christ. >> when we are taught thing, whether by our parents, influences, jeremiah wright or anyone else, at some point, we have to make a choice -- i made a different choice than barack obama he made a choice. we have to stop saying he is a product of how he was brought up. we have to stop making the excuses. >> sean: he chose who to hang out with, who to associate with, what value system to adopt -- >> absolutely. >> sean: he said he would be inspired by and fortified by listening to tapes of jeremiah wright on the road. he describes how he and a friend came to use the term "white

folks" and talks about them, being cruel. here it is. >> just how white folks will do you. it wasn't merely the cruelty involved, i was learning that black people could be mean and then some, with a particular brand of arrogance, an obtuseness in the bitter laughter. it was as if whites didn't know they were being cruel in the first place, or at least thought you deserving of their scorn. >> this goes right along with what i am talking about, the difference between choices and presenting things. obama made a choice. i made a different choice because i chose not to think of white as white but one race, human. i have an irish stepfather, viscottish, black, english, everything mixed into my family. yet, me family didn't teach me that. but i decided, this was a good value system. i had the influences -- i worked around rock 'n roll bands and nightclubs. i saw the drugs.

i was around stars. i was living the life that people would have loved to have. but i made choices along the way. that's important. >> sean: erik? >> this is also why reverend wright and liberation theology appeal to him because not only did it have that race angle but liberation theology in itself has its roots in marksism. >> sean: socialism -- marxism -- >> marxism, socialism, social justice. he has never thought of hip as an american. he thinks of himself as-- you believe that? >> i don't think so. i think he considers himself sort of -- you know, a child of the world, who needs to teach america-- bring us together. >> teach america a lesson, basically. >> sean: wow. >> that's a victimology that comes out from obama. you have to divide. you have to have people in groups and sectors to achieve equal outcome, rather than equal opportunity and risk and reward.

>> sean: good to see you both. thank you both. we are going to come pair how the media covered allegations of his conduct in the past. now, the jung george w. bush, versus how they ignored barack obama's admission that he used drugs. later, our cameras took to the streets of new york city to see if the average american is aware of the details in the president's autobiography. here's a sneak peek. >> that's amazing. >> that's amazing. >> that's horrible as well. yea. didn't know that. didn't know that. agai [ rosa ] i'rosa and i quit smoking th chantix.

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[ female announcer ] everyone grows with miracle-gro. >> sean: welcome to this special edition of media mash as we continue to vet the president and his autobiography, as we have been reporting tonight. the press has been very quick to criticize mitt romney, for his dog and his wife being a stay at home mom and that he once bullied a kid in high school in

1965. but the same standards do want apply to president obam a. here to help explain all of this, the the president of the media center, brent bozel. >> highway are -- hi, how are you? >> the president loves to talk about president bush. let's look at the media attack on george w. bush. the issue -- drug use. >> after side-stepping the question for months. george w. bush has issued a limited defwhiel past drug use, saying he has not used illegal drugs in the last 7 years, an answer sure to raise more questions. >> did george w. bush ever use cocaine or didn't he? the question is dogging his otherwise smooth campaign. >> as for whether bush ever used cocaine or other drugs, his plan to refuse to reply directly to such quis has been modified on the fly, as the press and opponents pursue the issue.

>> there are 13,000 people, perhaps watching this broadcast in prisons in the state of texas, who are in prison for the sale or possession of cocaine. the act of using it is a felony. is it not jermaine as we near the election for a presidency, is it not jermaine to know that about someone's background? >> sean: president obama admits that he drank heavily, did drug, plural, enthusiastically and admitted to to doing a little blow -- cocaine. the media fair? >> sean, it's very simple here. there is one reason special one reason only that george bush did not come out and say i did cocaine. he all but suggested it and he never used those words for the simple reason that it he said those words, you know and i know and nobody can deny this that every single newspaper above the fold would with the next day -- bush: i did cocaine. every national network news

story would lead with story after story about how george bush did illegal drugs. that would have been the end of his campaign. now a new minutes ago, you were talking to your guests and you said the people you talk to have never heard about barack obama doing drugs. here's the statistics that you are going on love. in 2008, in the primaries, there were 1,365 stories of barack obama. how many stories dealt with his drug use? >> sean: none. just a guess. >> he admitted he did it. not one single story on him. >> sean: all right. now, we have the benefit of being able to go back and compare and contrast. we showed the media coverage, george w. bush. you heard from charlie gib on, world news, today show, matt lauer, cbs, meet the press. let's watch the media coverage of barack obama, same issue. >> i'm thrilled that i have my mother and my daughter with me

tonight -- >> hillary clinton's new ad may be uplifting and positive, but a top official with her campaign this week got right down into the gutter, focusing on barack obama's teenaged experimentation with drugs. something obama has never tried to hide. >> rolling the dice and in maui and the guy used cocaine and the guy has an islamic background, there is a lot of slur. >> you said you turned to drug, alcohol, cocaine even because you couldn't find your place in the world. what was that like for you? >> you smoked marn -- and inhaled? >> right. i did. i did. >> and did a little blow, as you put it, when you could afford it explain that. >> sean: i mean, it's so -- transparent, the double standard. >> yeah. sean, think about it, first of all, in all of those clips, there is not a story, still. those are all mentions, there is not a story devoted to his drug

use. but think about this, if what hillary clinton did in raising the subject of obama's drug use is getting into the gutter, then what do we say about the press with george bush? they did dozens and dozens of stories. somehow it's getting in the gutter if you do it about obam abut it's okay if the media did the exact same thing about bush. >> sean: it's amazing. we have one more example. this is the media coverage. remember the october surprise in 2000, which i would argue had a pretty big impact on the race, that was the issue and the coverage of the dwi, just priorho to election day, as we may all remember. >> the reporters were chattering and saying, wait a minute, if he has this skeleton in his closet, which else is there? remember, he never answered the questions about hard drugs. >> governor bush didn't want his daughters to know it. the problem with that explanation is that it doesn't quite pass the smell test. >> the bush campaign has

continuously labeled vice-president bush -- vice-president gore in the past as deceptive. so why don't you think this is legitimate fodder for the campaign, given some of the bombshells that the bush camp has lobbed toward vice-president gore? >> right before the campaign, boy. there's an urgency, an intensity of moral indignation there? >> sure. there is a rule of thumb here. if it deals with obama or clinton or gore, let's move on, let's move on, let's moveomp that's why we have move on. if it deals with romney or bush, let's get back to it. let's get into it. we are talking about mitt romney on something that happened, folks, one half a century ago. but we have to cover it. >> sean: by the way, remember, knows, they flip-flop. but democrats like the president, they evolve. very big difference in the coverage. >> they don't just grow, they

evolve. >> sean: good to see you. glaring double standard. coming up, the daily caller's michelle field takes our cameras outside to the streets of new york city to see how much the average american knows about the unusual information inside of obama's autobiography. that and more, coming up next. down here, folks measure commitment by what's getting done. the twenty billion doars bp committed has helped fund economic and environmental recovery. long-term, bp's made a five hundred million dollar commitment to support scientists studying the environment. and the gulf is open for business - the beaches are beautiful, the seafood is delicious. last year, many areas even reported record tourism seasons. the progress continues... but that doesn't mean our job is done. we're still committed to seeing this through.

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>> sean: welcome back to this special edition of "hannity." you may have learned a lot that you didn't know about the 44th president of the united states. you are not alone. michelle fields took our cameras into the streets of new york city to see just how much the average american knows about the obama autobiography. as you can imagine, some of them were pretty surprised at what they heard. take a look at this. >> reporter: have you heard about some of the controversial statements in president obama's

"dreams from my father" book? >> black students, the foreign students, the chicanos, marxist professor. >> reporter: how do you feel about that? >> concerning. >> reporter: how do you feel about the president hanging out with marxists when he was a young man? >> i hung out with some bad people, so i don't think it's that bad of a thing, so long as he's not with them. >> i didn't know that. >> i do want respect that. i do not agree with that. >> wow. that's pretty deep there. >> doesn't make sense to me. why hang out with marxists? >> he admits to eating dog and called it, quote, tough. >> i would have to know the circumstances where he was. >> eating dog -- no. >> reporter: did you know that president obama ate dog and said that it's quote, tough? >> i didn't know that. >> reporter: no? >> that's extraordinary. it's awful! [laughter] >> this is america, i mean, come

on. little brazil. it's everything, all over the place. not surprising. >> political discussions that had once seemed so intense and purposeful, take on the flavor of the socialist conferences i sometimes attend the at cooper union. >> reporter: he admits to attending socialist conferences when he was in college. >> that's not a good thing. that's probably not where we want to be today. >> what's the reason behind that? what's the motivation? is he interested in it? does he believe in it? does he embrace it? those are the greater question, right? >> that sounds, is that truthful, if this is all coming out in a book. >> no, i didn't know that. >> i don't like that. that's one of the things -- wow. okay. i should read this book, then. >> i kept playing basketball, attended classes sparingly, drank beer heavily and tried drugs enthusiastically. >> reporter: he wrote that he dolled, quote, a little blow when he could afford it.

>> well, that sounds kind of weird. i don't know fiwould want somebody to lead the country, making big decisions. >> i think that's okay, as long as he didn't get addicted. >> that's amazing. >> reporter: amazing? >> that's horrible as well. >> reporter: what do you think about the president having done blow. >> definitely not what the american people want to hear, that's for sure. that's not leadership material by any means. >> whichn college. that's college. he's not doing it now. hopefully. >> i don't know why he would write this. this book seeps like a disaster. >> sean: pretty much sums it up. my first question -- you are out on the streets of new york city, did you meet one person that had heard any of these things before? >> no, one person had heard of him doing marijuana. but no one knew about the book. no one had read the book. most of the people had never heard of this stuff and some of them didn't believe me. this information hasn't been out

in the media. they haven't heard about it. a lot of them are worning how is it that a man ran in 2008 to be the leader of the free world and yet he attended socialist conferences and hung out with marxists? >> did people say that to you? can you see their faces, they seemed pretty shocked. >> they were shocked that they never heard about this. how is this not front newspaper stuff? why isn't this on every single television. >> sean: in the beginning, we said, this is not the driving issue in the campaign. this is going to be the economy, foreign -- you know, national security and all of these other issues. but wh would any republican get away of saying all of these things and not be asked exhaustive questions? >> i think the issue is why don't people know about this. we know about romney in prep school. why don't we know about obama's time at occidental. why don't people know this information. >> sean: i have one question

about the dog. how many prefer tock the dog shamus that lived or the dog that was eaten? anybody for the dog that was eaten? just checking. all right. which was one of the more humorous things in the book. thank you for doing that. up next, our studio audience will sound off for a final time in this sperks dition of "hannity." we are glad you are with us. thanks for watching fox. having an irregular heartbeat called atrial fibrillation puts you at 5 times greater risk of stroke. don't wait. go to afibstroke.com for a free discussion guide to help you talk to your doctor about reducing your risk. that's afibstroke.com.

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>> sean: welcome back to this special edition of "hannity." woe are joined by our studio audience. let's start with you, jejedediya, everybody here has a strong voice in the media. where do you think this goes in terms of the campaign? it is not the economy. it is not national security. do you think this begins to resonate? >> i do. i think because he has a record, it's important to go back and see what led him to this type of policy. what shaped this policy that we see now, the big government agenda? where did it come from? i am so glad michelle did this. in 2008, when i wrote my book, i importanced the same thing. i would meet people, they had no idea why they werede defending this guy, they knew it was cool to do it. but they had no idea why.

it is not too late. let's figure out what he's about and how all of this policy that's so ineffective, where did he get that from? what is he about. >> sean: you wrote about being a conservative in new york and you wrote a book, backlash, best seller, did very well. but you start in the beginning of the book how, figoogle your name, you are excoriated by people because you are african-american, you are a conservative. >> absolutely. any time i talk about my conservative views, i am attacked, spocial your show, sean-- it's always my fault. >> but we talk about the importance of vetting obama and how it was not done by the medeiasm it's really important the federal american people to do so. when you look at his energy policy, for example, our economy runs on energy, it's the lifeblood of our economy. he has a war on coal, a wooer fossil fuels. it's hurting hard-working americans, it is harming businesses. our energy prices are going up.

he talks about wanting to fix things. but look at his actions and his policies. they are harming our country and people are hurting? >> in other words, one thing that we never have seen, jeffrey lord, american spectator -- we have never seen the evolution. he just keeps doubling down. he has had so many moments to have a sister soldier moment and reject bill maher's contribution or change the policiesism he is not going to go there. >> sean: why? >> he is committed. 9 one thing that is important to understand is, all of these stories about romney and the bullying and all of this kind of thing, it's building a narative as they did it with george w. bush. this is what they did to barry goldwater in 1964. one of the reasons is that the policies on the left can't sustain the light of day because as they begin to take hold, when lyndon johnson was 2 years into office, he was thoroughly

rebuked because all the things he promised, got passed and there was an overwhelming rejection of the great society in 19sticks. this is why they concentrate on the bullies and the old stories like that. >> sean: to pick up on that point, it is very simple to me -- if the president could run on his record, he would run on his record. but he can't. so, in other words, he doesn't seem to have the willingness to acknowledge that it's failed. >> right. >> sean: so does -- what they are adopting in terms of tactics and strategy, does it work? >> of course not. that's why he has to end up creating this whole war on women strategy. that's why he has to come out and say that he is endorsing gay marriage at this point. he has to start firing up his base because he knows that at this point, everything is a very tight poll between him and romney. he is not thinking about the independents. he is thinking about making sure that he can get his base out and

get them to the polls, he is concerned about everybody who is sitting on the couch. you had david dinkens, elected very popularly by bringing out his base. and then second time, he came out for his re-election, that base didn't come out. he doesn't want to be david dinkin-ized. >> sean: or jimmy carter-ized. we are wrapping up. by the way, thank you all for being here. you are all very busy, influential opinion makers in the country. you do a lot of hard work and research. i really appreciate it. how many of you think that barack obama will win re-election? you do? you do? i didn't ask if it's possible. how many think he's going to win. >> sean. >> you think the american people know about his record that the media has vetted his record, do you think the american people know that we have lost allies from the past 30 and 40 years, secular regimes to islamic-- that's why we are doing the

show, pam -- we have 30 seconds left. how many are confident that mitt romney is going to win? confident, comeconfident? i am with you. you think it's a tossup. you don't think so. steve banon, you are an important voice. >> i think that david axelrod are going to define mitt romney. it's 8 state and 125 counties and 6 million voters. >> sean: we will do the mainstream media's job. thanks to all of you. that's all the time we have left. as always, thank you for being >> good morning, everybody. it's saturday, may 19th. i'm juliet huddy in for alisyn blind chinese activist is said to be heading for the u.s. will he be open welcomed with open arms? david? >> vice president joe biden saysis