grilled by the senate judiciary committee, over his refusal to allow an independent prosecutor to oversee the investigation. holder claims his decision to tap two u.s. attorneys is sufficient enough. but as texas senator john cornyn claimed, one of the attorneys happens to be a big fan of -- well, president obama's. he is ronald machin. wouldn't you know it? he was originally hired by eric holder in 1997. let's watch this. >> it would surprise to you know that he is a political contributor to president obama's campaign and served as a volunteer in obama for america and assisted in the vetting of potential vice-presidential candidates? >> i am confident that he has the ability, the capacity to investigate this case in a nonpartisan, independent, thoro and aggressive way. >> well, i would suggest the question that that raises by your answer is whether you have

the independence and ability to conduct the investigation? >> sean: joining my to discuss the cloud that is now engulfing the presidency is the former mayor of new york city, he is also a former u.s. attorney for the southern district of new york, the one and only rudy guiliani. if it wasn't so serious, it would be funny. >> it is very issue very serious. i think it's more serious than people realize. these leaks were massive. this is not a little piece of information, this is a leak of an entire program of attempting to interrupt the iranian -- the iranian nuclear surge, which they are involved in. it's the leak of how we -- how we found osama bin laden, a man is sitting in prison for 33 years as a result of the leaks from the obama administration. and i think -- president obama is playing a word game with us. you know, what does "is" mean? he is telling us the leaks don't come from the white house.

but when you read the article, the articles say where the leaks come from, "high administration officials." one of them, i think, talks about something like 22 high administration officials that spoke to the reporter. so... maybe they're in the state department. maybe they are in the cia. these are obama administration people. it's his administration that is responsible for the man being in jail for 33 years. president obam should be expressing a great deal of concern about that. president obam should really feel terrible about it. even if he didn't do it, if he didn't order it, if somewhere below him, some man is in jail because the people in his administration are so desirous of making him into a super hero, what this is all about-- turn obama into a super hero? >> they are trying to turn obama into a super hero. he got a worm into the computer of the iranians. he snatched bin laden. he has a kill list and he only

makes the decision -- this is outrageous, this is highly classified information. this is information that puts the lives of people in jeopardy. people are going to be killed as a result of this. one man's in jail already. one man is in great jeopardy over this. who the heck should do business with us? this requires an intense investigation by a special prosecutor. when i wasay associate attorney general of the united states in the early part of the reagan administration, it was my job to oversee the independent council statute. i recommended a special prosecutor twice. i recommended against a special prosecutor once because the evidence was insufficient. and as district attorney, a requested a special prosecutor. these were people in my administration, people higreat respect for, in some cases i didn't think they did what was alleged about them. but i knew that the way this works is, you can't have the president and the president's people investigating themselves.

they are investigating themselves. they can't blame this on bush -- they would love to-- they might in the end. >> this is them. they are leaking it. nobody else is leaking it but them. it's a joke to suggest that it is anyone else. >> sean: peter king says it in watergate. john -- you are pointing out the key to all of this, for whoever got that bug into that computer system at the iyanomami nuclear site, they are probably dead. they will die. they will be caught. >> yes! iranians are slaughtering people left and right, right now! the mek and from all of these groups that they feel are a threat to them. this other guy's in jail for 33 years, sentence in pakistan because he helped us. this is outrageous. and the reality is -- in a criminal investigation... i did many, hundreds -- it always begins with, you follow

the motive, who has the motive to leak this? >> sean: make the president look like -- i am tough, to insulate him against republican attacks for weak on national security, for being weak on terrorism. so it is -- you would have to be an idiot not to realize this. >> sean: should holder resign as cornyn says? is this worse than watergate? >> is it worse than watergate? we'll find out. it could be because it involves very, very sensitive, classified information about which people could be killed and that may be worse than watergate nterms of the taking of human life. i don't care if holder resigns or not. what i care about is an independent council should be appointed, a truly independent council that does not report to the attorney general, that reports to a court because, how can he possibly be reporting to attorney general holder? attorney general holder may have had information about this?

he may know about this -- i am not saying he is a subject or a -- or -- or a focus of this investigation. but he may be and his boss might be. we don't know how high it went. the kill-list article sounds like it came right out of the white house? well, it had to. there were only so many people inside that room -- doesn't that tell us -- >> are the reporters lying whether they say it is coming from high administration officials? high obama administration officials-- with direct knowledge. >> with direct knowledge and tremendous motivation to do it? all right. last question. when you think of the issue of valerie blame. she wasn't even a covert operative. we knew who the leaker was from the beginning. when you compare joe biden and barack obama and the democrats, all wanted a special prosecutor appointed there, how much worse is this? how worse is this? >> the valerie policemane case case -- valley plame case was

like a traffic ticket compared to this. she was not a covert person, she had been out of covert work, she only did it 5 years. it's a five-year limit. the beginning of the investigation, they knew who the leaker was, armitage twasn't stewart or libby. it became a national scandal. new york times wrote a hundred articles about it. if you need a demonstration of how unbelievably unfair the coverage is to a republican as opposed to a democrat, this is a great example of it. much more is at stake here. in that case, valerie plame's safety, allegedly was in jeopardy t. really wasn't, but allegedly. here, the safety of hundreds of people are in jeopardy -- people have been put in jail as a result of the gross negligence -- here you can do this for sure. there is a man in jail 33 years based on the gross negligence of the obama administration in keeping secrets. >> sean: who is going to want to

trust us in the future? >> trust us? >> sean: what covert operative? >> we are sticking worms in the iranian computers with israel. they are going to do it with us. >> sean: how would you feel if you were the guy who took the risk to do that? >> i would be so angry right now. if i were sitting in the israeli government right now, i would have so little confidence in the united states, i would be-- frightening. >> i would be outraged. >> sean: we are going to continue to follow the scandal. thank you. we have karl rove, dana perino, colonel oliver north and democratic congressman -- believe it or not -- charlie rangel, in the studio tonight to discuss the many scandals that are plaguing the obama administration. will he defend them? it's jam-packed, straight ahead. [ male announcer ] knowing your customers

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and cranberry almond crunch. >> mr. attorney general, it's more with sorrow than regret and anger that i would say, you leave me no alternative than to join those who call upon to you resign your office. >> >> sean: that was texas senator john cornyn, demanding that eric holder resign from his post as attorney general, days before he could be found in contempt of congress for obstructing the fast & furious investigation. the request came moments after he said this. >> given your track record, i just want to go over -- >> well, my track record -- >> i didn't ask you a question. >> well, no. >> i will give you a chance to

respond. >> my record, i think i will stand on. >> the filibuster at the time, let me talk about your record, you misled congress in february, 2011, and claimed there never had a gun-walking program and had to retract that in november 2011. you won't tell the truth about what you know and when you knew it on fast & furious. you won't cooperate with the legitimate congressional investigation. you won't answer my questions about gun walking in texas. you won't take any responsibility for the failures of your inner circle, and you won't acknowledge what your top aides knowingly misled congress about over 8 months and you won't hold anyone accountable. >> sean: joining me with reaction as the scandal grows, karl rove. the ark tect, welcome back, sir. >> thank you for having me. >> sean: here we have this obstruction that's gone on for a year and-a-half. we have done full-hour specials on this program about fast & furious. we have lost agents, gunned provided by the government. yet they refuse to cooperate

with congress in that case. now we have this leak issue. how big are the scandals going to factor in? can we determine for the 2012 re-election of obama? >> we really can't. but today was a pretty extraordinary. >> greta: vent. let's put this in context. u.s. senator from texas is a former supreme court justice, he spent eye think about 20 years on the bench. high is a judge, a respected judge. he is the former attorney eligible of texas. he has a very keen understanding between the tension of the legislative and the executive branch and a very keen noting of the law. he is not a man to make rash or untempered remarks. he has looked at this carefully. he has become exasperated. i thought it was a very strong statement that this man that understands the prerogatives of the legislateddive branch and used to looking at the perspective of both. holder himself was a state attorney general, from a position of having been a judge,

a supreme court justice, he is fed up. i thought it was an extraordinary statement. >> sean: all right. republicans and democrats and dianne feinstein was among them, including chandliss and rogers and a top democrat. said that the leaks jeopardize american lives, talk about this leaks that make obama load good, including the president deciding who is on the hit list every week, every tuesday in the oval office. seems to me, the administration's denials are falling flat because if the president did that, the only people who would know that are people in that room. then he went on to say that it could be damaging in a lot of ways, jeopardize people's lives and undermine our security. >> yeah. this is unseamly to take the secrets of the united states government and reveal them for partisan, political purposes to get himself re-elected, it's really astonishing.

it is not one, it is not two. i mean, the new york times article says several dozen high-ranking administration officials. we know some things we shouldn't be knowing. we are also knowing things, once we know them seem completely inappropriate. the president's chief political adviser is sitting in the private sessions to pick targets for the drone. what message is that sending? we need to get to the bottom of this. this was clearly a deliberate leak by a number of people within the administration. i believe from reading the book and reading the articles that inside the white house itself, including the national security council, people in the swaikz room with awareness of the top-secret nature of the programs were willing to spill their guts to journalists and writers in other words to make the president look good. >> sean: it seems they are having a very hard time getting in front of this and it is getting worse day by day as it leaks out and no admissions are

forthcoming. let's go to the economy. friday, the president saying that the private sector is fine. if people would just by thing-a-ma-jigs -- president's words. and the discovery that in the last 3 years, the weth of families in this country has declined 39%. how big an impact does that happen? do you think they can recover economically, between now and november? >> i think the economy is a central issue of the race. look, we didn't need a federal reserve study to tell people have lost a lot of wealth. the last 3 or 4 years have been bad for americans in prosperity and we have an anemic recovery. their view is that we go through periods of recession. we have gone through tough times before. but we haver have alms come roaring out out. this time is different because we are trying to tax and spend our way to prosperity and that has never worked in the history of the world. so when the president says we are on the right track or we are

getting prosperity or we would be worse off, the american people don't buy those line. >> sean: did you see democracy corp, carville's group? shift the campaign narrative away from the economy or die. >> yeah. >> sean: pretty dire. >> pretty dire. but though it does suggest what you need to do is do one smart thing, talk about the future, but do another thing, which is make this -- you know, disqualify mitt romney by attacking him, which is going to run counter to the president's stated promise in 2008 to change the tone in washington and be a different kind of president. >> sean: karl rove, the architect, thanks for being with us, great to see you. >> thanks, sean. >> sean: the average american family's net worth has dropped 40% under this president. when we come back, how is this impacting you, your family, our children and grandchildren? rick perry and stuart varney here to talk about what would happen if president obama had 4

more years. you can't miss the outspoken charlie rangel. it's been years since he's been on the program. he's back tonight. [ male announcer ] research suggests the health of our cells plays a key role

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>> sean: tonight with the white house in damage control mode, we continue to monitor the many

scandals plaguing the administration, the relentless stream of bad news facing team obooma has led to new reports that indicate that the president's message is not only falling flat with independents, his base is beginning to express doubts about his re-election chances as well. joining me to discuss that and much more, somebody who ultimately endorsed barack obama in 2008, new york congressman charlie rangel. why -- >> it's good to be back. >> sean: you have been dodging me because you were afraid i was going to beat you upon on the scandals. why have you not been on the show? >> the record is clear, i haven't been invited? >> you are absolutely false. >> one of the first questions i was about to ask to you throi you off guard, why haven't you invited me because i thought there were a lot of things going on and changes here? >> sean: we always got along. i think you made some bad decisions. you admitted t. they are over. vinothing to ask but t. you have dealt with it. >> have you never seen me run

away from any show, sean. i don't know yuare bringing this up. i am telling you, my records are clear that your popular show has not been requested because i enjoy being on your show. i mean, this isn't -- this is an exchange of ideas? >> an exchange of ideas. >> and it's a well-known show. >> sean: i appreciate you being here. welcome back. look, the president's got problems. >> you bet your life. >> sean: big problems. >> yes. >> sean: here's the question, do you really in your heart of hearts believe we are better off as a country with $5 trillion in new debt, 15 million more americans on food stamps, more americans depending on the government than ever before and this article i pulled up, which is that 40% of people's wealth, the american families' wealth has evaporated in the last 3 years? are we better off? >> well, if you take a look at the millions of people who want to get into this country, i would like to believe that we're still the number-1 objective for people looking for a better way

of life. this is the best country in the world. we have the best economy in the world. and it is bad. it is not what we used to. we shouldn't be there. and the solution to all of this is just like in the family or a company. if you are spending too much, you cut back on spending and you raise your revenues. and that's it. >> sean: you cut back on spending. when you say raise revenues, you mean raise taxes? >> lyou know, that's a very, very carefully worded question-- no, it's not. it's a simple, basic, you know -- yes or no question. >> what would you call it if we have a trillion dollars in the tax code now that should not be there? preferrential treatment that maybe at the time the congress gave it to them and the executive signed it, it was necessary, but they don't make record profits tshouldn't be there. when there is an attempt to close the loopholes, the majority in the house would say, that's raising taxes. technically, the reason i paused

was, it is improving the tax law. and for those people who are getting tax relief that shy shouldn't get, yes-- i live in the great state of new york. when i add my state, local and federal and county taxes, property taxes and all the other hidden taxes, i pay 55% what have i make goes to the government. am i over taxed? >> i just wonder when you were a kid-- forget about that -- >> pray that you could possibly be in the position where you are in that tax bracket? the president hits me and other people over the head saying we are not paying our fair share. i think 45 septs of every dollar, i think i am giving away too much to the government. >> you are much too polite because the questions. >> sean: i am not too polite. >> you are! if you don't like a president under this great democracy, you vote no. >> sean: i will. >> the thing i thought we were talking about is why can't we get the congress to try to cooperate, whether you like the president or not?

>> sean: you can't -- president obam got everything he wanted. he had nancy pelosi, harry reid, majority in the house and senate, he got his budget, his stimulus, health care bill, everything he wanted. here's what he said he would do, he said he would cut the dev snit half in four years. he has given us by far -- $5 trillion in debt. he called bush unpatriotic for $4 trillion in 8 years. never got rid of earmark, never got rid of line by line, never got rid of lobbyists. has he failed the american people, not keeping those promises? >> if you see what he inherited and what he hable able to do in saving the economy. >> sean: saving the economy?! saving the economy? >> do you really think he had not got the congress -- this was almost done before he was sworn in, do you think we would have survived as a country had we not given in-- yeah. >> and put in -- were you one of the people who said we shouldn't bail out the corporations? i don't think we should have

bailed out the corporations. >> but did you say that at the time? >> sean: sure, sure. >> weren't you part of the minority of the business voices saying that? i am asking. >> sean: the answer's not government. ronald reagan had a great line. he said, the problem isn't that government is not taking in enough revenue. government's spending too much. we are borrowing 40 cents of every dollar. you don't need a calculator or accounting degree to realize we are robbing from our children and grandchildren. i know you care about your kids and our future. we cannot continue this way. every time a republican says we are going to manage spending, democrats cry we are throwing granny off the cliff. we are have to stop spending. >> listen, you don't have to raise your voice to me. have you to stop spending and raise revenue. >> sean: you want to raise taxes? and i pay 55 cents every dollar itch i was asking you whether or not you think that closing loophopes is a trillion bucks there -- is that raising taxes -- is it raising tax.

>> sean: you would have to give me the specific loophole. i don't have loopholes or deductions. >> i never said you. >> sean: the average new yorker's in my position. >> let's talk about the corporate tax. we got the highest corporate tax in the entire world, maybe china or japan may beat us out. but the truth of the matter is, they pay a lower rate because of the loopholes that are there-- you think g.e. should pay more in taxes? >> don't pick out g.e., are you prepared to say we ought to get rid of the loopholes-- i support a fair tax. do you support that, national sales tax? not on top of income tax? >> well, i know. you are not going to do away -- the republicans at the house, they haven't introduced any bill at all to deal with the tax. >> sean: paul ryan dealt with the entitlement reform and it was a paul ryan look-alike throwing granny over the cliff. >> they threw a lot of

republicans over the cliff with it. >> sean: you haven't lost your sense of humor. i heard you just got out of the hospital. i am glad you are feeling better. >> i am. keep those invitations coming? >> they will come. you may regret t. coming up, rick perry and stewart varny and two men at the center of some of the best-known scandals ever at the white house. lanny davis and oliver north. here to talk about the growing storm, the cloud hovering over the white house, straight ahead. ♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] the jeep grand cherokee has won more than just respect. ♪

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>> sean: president obama claims the private sector's doing just fine. a new survey shows that an american average family has a net worth dropping a staggering 43% fromn 3 years. a brand-new report released by james carville-- the same guy who coined the phrase -- it's the economy, stupid, in the 1992

presidential campaign. he says if the incumbent makes the 2012 race about the economy, he, quote, will fail. joining me to help break down all of this, the co-host of "the five," dealing with bob beckel five days a week and stuart varney. here's theh line in "usa today." family wealth die dives 39% in 3 years. now this is -- this is massive to me. this is what i was thinking. if we elect -- re-elect president obama, is it going to be 80%? 90% are we going to lose all of our hard-ern earned mony? >> a lot of that is tied up in people's houses. that's the elephant in the room that people are not talking about, in particular in nevada, where that is a swing state, where you are looking at not being able to sell your house and you might not be able to sell it for a long time. none of the housing programs are working. we haven't reached the bottom

yet. plus have you two-thirds of the global economy in recession or heading towards it. the developing nations, developing at a slower pace, all of this trickles down to americans are bearing the brunt of policies that haven't been working. >> sean: you said the words "we didn't hit the bottom yet," on the housing market, i have read three articles and i hope they are wrong, that says we have another housing bub they'll has yet to burst. true or false? >> housing prices have not stopped falling. on a national basis, that's what all the surveys will tell you with hard numbers, prices are still falling. that's the principle reason for the wealth destruction from 2007 to 2010. the problem is, president obama has spent several hundred billion dollars, trying to fix the housing problem. that hasn't worked. so we are getting worse off. the average middle american is worse off than they were in 2010, president obama's problems

have not fixed that wealth problem. >> sean: this is the thing. more people are out of work and more peopler food stamps than ever and more people near poverty than ever before. the worst part is that we already spend $5 trillion that we didn't have. >> that's the problem. we are getting worse off. the whole country feels like you are really -- not in poverty, but we don't feel like vigorous americans. at the same time, we have spent all of this government money and got an extra $5 trillion into debt. do you know what the deficit was in the month of may alone? $twenty one give billion-- ib sane. >> that was announced today. >> sean: insane. >> what does that tell you about the policies and the aftermath effect on the debt. >> sean: let me read two sentences from the carville memo. it's a shift in narrative away from the economy or you die, meaning they won't be re-elected. and the focus work done by democracy corp says that voters know we have a new normal, where life is a struggle and convincing them that things are

good enough for those who have found jobs is a fool's errand. this is goes with what the president said friday, the private sector's fine. they are saying, this is a dumb thing to say. >> when memos like that are from your own side are not the most helpful, though it can spur new ideas. i don't know what president obama is supposed to run on, if he is not going to talk about the most important issue, i don't understand what they think -- [overlapping dialogue] >> sean: 3 1/2 years of rigid, radical ideology -- >> without a sort of a road map going forwards, what would you do in a second term to make this better? if you increase taxes on the rethiest people making over $1 million this, won't change it-- how does he retreat -- >> when has this president ever changed? the november elections of 20 tent, wasn't the writing on the wall, move to the there and you have a chance of winning in 2012

-- >> but -- [overlapping dialogue] >> he doesn't change. >> sean: but the interesting thing is, he had the opportunity to do it. and he doubled down. remember, 2010, the summer of 2010 was the summer of recovery. >> yeah. >> sean: we were supposed to have 500,000 jobs created every month. >> 2011 and 2012, they realize, oh, my gosh, it's not happening? >> they are just figuring it out, what we have known for a long time. >> yeah. >> three gleerz a row, every spring, we have had green hopes of a nice expansion. 3 years in a row, the hopes have been dashed. they never take the message that the policies have failed. no, they go on the attack. >> the other thing that i think is sitting like a lead blanket over the economy is the uncertainty of the tax rates at the end of the year and the health care bill. we will get an answer from the supreme court-- it's going down. >> it just might. maybe that helps. some people make a decision but it doesn't clear up the

uncertainty-- last question, isn't dick morris right, if people haven't made up their minds by now, those people, the vast majority will go against the incumbent? -- >> that's historically is true. but, like carville says in the memo, are we in a new normal where people don't believe that? if the trust factor is that he will protect the middle class better than mitt romney, 8 to 10% of people who are undecided, will they decide -- will they follow the historical trend. >> sean: family wealth dives 40% in 3 years. it doesn't feel like vigorous, dynamic america. >> which is funny, hearing you say that. >> look -- >> but you are a very good american. >> sean: here we go. >> i know how america is supposed to feel t. doesn't feel like it's supposed to feel. >> sean: that's the thing i. right on. >> sean: behind every one of these statistics, 45 million people on food stamps. 48 million americans in poverty. 67 million americans getting a

check every month from the government. those are real lives, real families, uprooted. >> people who can't sell their homes, trapped in bad school, losing their health care. >> sean: real people. real families, really hurting and they have not been helped. >> they are tired of this. >> sean: they are tired of this. i love "the five" and i watch you every morning. >> glad to hear it. >> sean: coming up, lanny davis and oliver north. lanny ripping the white house. they will give their unique perspective facing team obama. will the president and his top aides weather the storm? tell impact the 2012 race? that's coming up

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>> sean: tonight, two men at the center of some of the biggest storms to hit 1600 pennsylvania avenue are here in the studio to answer a very simple question: will those anom none musobama aides and eric holder be able to

weather the leak scandal and the fast & furious investigation paralyzing the administration? joining me to respond, special counsel to former president bill clinton, lanny davis. and our good friend, colonel oliver norg. tune in friday night, after "hannity" for a fox file, the enemy within. all right. will the president be able to withstand this? >> i think that will depend on whether he's going to be... pushing some of to those folks out the door who are responsible. eric holder with fast & furious. holder has a bunch of stuff on his plate to deal with, not only the likely -- citation he will get from congress-- contempt. >> and a first, as i understand. you are the lawyer here. but it strikes me swlaw is an administration that is in paralysis. you see the evidence of that in the lack of the president's being able to articulate what he wants to do. two quick examples. his private sector is doing fine

comment, made the other day. and yesterday, he gets up and he says, look, europe is our number-1 trading partner. well. >> greta: i'm an infantry officer, i know canada is our number-1 trading partner, china is number 2 and mexico's number 3. europe is number 4. he's distracted. >> sean: there is one other thing, for the president to have the tuesday meetings where he gets to mick who will get assassinated to make him look good, leak to the new york times, especially with iran, somebody walked that virus into the facility. now he has put lives in jeopardy. who will ever want to work with us. lanny is that not problematic with you? where were you on the valrery plame issue. >> i thought there should have been an investigation. >> sean: she wasn't an operative. >> scooter libby read that material to a new york times reporter and that was wrong -- >> it would be wrong -- [overlapping dialogue]

>> sean: richard armitage leaked it. we know who the leaker was -- which is worse, that or leaking information -- >> national security information, i served on a privacy board that president bush appointed where we had access to national security information. i took the oath to keep that secret very, very carefully. there should be an investigation. i don't agree with my friend ollie, i think that eric holder is a man of great integrity. >> sean: you are dreaming itch the fact that a partisan republican congress-- partisan, he has not been forthcoming with documents, colonel i. on top of that, this is the same eric holder that wanted to try the 9/11 masterminds here in new york city. i mean -- >> you talk about a 10-year or the stone between your ears, this is a guy who has describes as workplace violence, the

atrocity that happened at ft. hood with major asawn. fox files 10:00 p.m. friday will take a very close look at all of this. what have you is, it strikes me, an administration that has literally lost its balance. i mean that because of the president's comments, the inability to articulate a clear message and the mean spiritedness. lanny, i cannot imagine those people sitting in a conversation like this, among three friend who is differ without it getting very, very viulent. >> sean: you said in a recent interview, the people who were working for this president -- you used the word -- are viciousful you went on to say, disagreeing with the kool-aid-drink people in the obama campaign who think the way to win the presidency is to trash the other guy, rather than defend your guy's record. >> couldn't have said it better myself. >> i was talking about declaring cory booker as dead to us, after cory booker is a loyal obama

supporter. i think that's vicious. >> sean: and clinton you? are furious with him -- how many more people are going to do the videos? >> bill clinton and cory booker and ed rendell and i all support president obama's policies and the election. if somebody says we are dead to us because we disagree on tactics, not policy-- you know what he says about colonel north and -- we want dirty air and water. we want kids with autism and down's syndrome and for the elderly to fend for themselves. >> right now, with all of you have just said, don't gloat to quickly, he is in a dead heat with mitt romney-- a sitting president with bad economic numbers and things getting worse. how much do you want to put. >> i will bet you $10,000. >> sean: i will bet you $10. i am innocent your league. >> i like to fire people, too. gentleman, come othere are

gaffes on both side and the gaffe that president obama made and he changed immediately was -- >> reset button, iranian sanctions, disaster of the arab spring, the back of the hand to riz rail, those are national security issue, not economic. >> sean: all right, guys. appreciate you. thanks for being here. lane, good to see you. coming up, howard dean takes democratic distortions to a new low, comparing mitt romney to this dictator's comments. take advil, and maybe have to take up to four in a day. or take aleve, which can relieve pain all day with just two pills. good eye.

>> when people say mitt romney wants to take us back to the 50s, they are not talk about this 1950s, they are talking about the 1850s with the know-nothing party. they didn't like immigrants, catholics or jews, they didn't like gay people, but they didn't believe gay people existed. i think it was president ahmadinejad, they would like that maybe again. i don't know what the republicans want. >> sean: really? that was forminger dnc chairman howard dean, attacking republicans at the conference. peter johnson jr. is here.

mike gallagher, what do you say to that? >> lyou say it's going to be the meanest campaign season in american history. that is sick. and so when you call the other party racist, when you say that they're against homosexuals, when you say they are against jews and catholics, that they are nativists and harken to the worst in our history? that's sick. >> it's a call to violence. >> that's just it. there is more than just rhetoric. there have been conservative bloggers who have had this whole spoofing of phone numbers, calling 911, their lives are put in jeopardy by liberal activists-- saying they have guns. >> i just killed my wife, the spoofer says and gives his number to 911. and three prominent conservative bloggers have been targeted? >> what did you say, this would spark violence? >> this was a call to violence, implicitly, when you engage in that kind of divisive language that sets people at each and other falsely accuses an entire

party of the worst aspects, the most base defiling behavior that you could summon-- they are dehumanizing conservatives. >> conservatives, republicans. how much you can tear apart the fabric of a country over the ambition of a party? >> but it's due to the air of desperation, they can't run on the obama record, they know it. they are scared and when you get scared, it's like the argument escalates, you lose lousy rhetoric and you lose your cool. >> sean: is it -- it starts at the top. >> it backfires at the poll. the natural sequelia of it is bad. i don't think we understand how bad it is. it is beyond the pale of normal political discourse. >> bill maher, the religious bigotry against mormonism and mocking american exceptionalism,

we're in a war. if that happened in world war ii, bill maher would be tried for treason. now he's an entertainer? we have discussed this all the time about not silencing free speech. my concern is what percentage of the american people believe the propaganda? the misinformation isn't lies. >> when you are uh-uhidated with it. when it becomes part and parcel of the daily conversation, it creeps into the system. so it becomes a part of us. we have to fight that it doesn't become a part of us, as democrat, rindependents, former head of the dnc -- >> these are important people saying reckless, dangerous things, it is up to republicans to stop bringing a butter knife to a gun fight. >> sean: barack obama said they bring a knife, we bring a gun. that's his rhetoric. >> have you to fight har with truth, facts and lodgic and not with the empty rhetoric. >> fight the good fight. >> sean: that's our time.

thank you for being with us. let not your heart be troubled. greta's next. see you tomorrow night. >> greta: tonight, fighting for his job, attorney general eric holder firing back at g.o.p. senators trying to give him the boot. >> you violated the public trust in my view, failing and refusing to perform the duties of your office. >> i don't have any intention of resigning. >> greta: calls for his resignation, even a contempt vote coming up. can attorney general eric holder survive his battle in congress? chuck grassley goes "on the record." the hits keep coming for president obama. the president and his economic message under fire from his own party. why are democrats warning the fot change his tune or risk the election? that's just minutes away. but first, senator john mccain warning the obama administration that it cannot police itself. he is calling for special, outside counsel to investigate the leaks of highly classified information. attorney general eric holder