answer your questions on housing. the date is thursday, september 27, from 6 to 9 a.m it completely is free. go to rebuilding your dreams at our web site to sign up. you can also find out about lauren bush-lauren's feed run at our web site. >> steve: we'll talk to her in the after the show show. make it a great day. listen to him on the radio. see you tomorrow. bill: let's get it going. fox news alert on growing anti-american demonstrations happening around the world. here is one of them. [shouting] that is the scene in islamabad, pakistan. hundreds of lawyers, believe it or not, forcing their way into an area that houses the u.s. embassy and other foreign missions shouting anti-u.s. slogans, burning the american flag. briefly getting into an area before police managed to push them back. that is where we start. a few more hot spots to get to. i'm bill hemmer. on we go again. martha: very familiar

pictures these days. i'm martha maccallum. we have violent demonstrations breaking out in east jerusalem to show you. angry mobs chanting, we will all sacrifice ourselves for the prophet muhammad. hundreds of people hurling rocks and fireworks and all of that aimed at israeli security forces. bill: a prosecutor in egypt issued a arrest warrant for several people here in the u.s. with ties to that film some believe started all this. this is a former u.s. ambassador in iraq, in afghanistan, warns that what we're seeing today might only be the tip of the iceberg. >> we're at the beginning of the air awakening. when the tv lights went off in tahrir square, you know, after mubarak stepped down, you know, like usual we said, end of story, end of autocracies, end of problem, you know.

now it is a wonderful new world out there. well not exactly. bill: leland vittert now leads our coverage. he is streaming live again today in cairo. what's all this business about arrest warrants issued by the egyptian government, leland? >> reporter: bill, this really shows how much influence the islamists, the very hard-line jihadists have here in egypt in the sense that now the courts here, the general prosecutor, has kowtowed to their demands that these people behind the film be punished. obviously this is symbolic. the egyptian arrest warrants don't have any meaning in the united states. it stems from last tuesday here near the u.s. embassy in cairo where these protests all began. when they marched down towards the embassy. they ripped down the american flag to protest the movie. now the egyptian court wants to arrest seven coptic christians and one u.s. pastor allegedly behind this film. that is interesting i sat down with one of the organizers of one.

protests a couple days ago, a man with very strong ties to al qaeda. he told me wants people tried by sharia law. under sharia law you are convicted of the insulting the prophet muhammad and don't repent you are executed. this move i about the egyptian courts shows how much egypt changed in 18 months. we went to a place a moderate islamic state to one really kowtowing to the demands of hard-line islamists and here demanding people's arrests, bill. bill: we watched it all flare up on friday last week. what is your sense of the violence, the potential of violence throughout the region? will it get worse? will it escalate or not, leland? >> reporter: we're at the point where the fuse burned down almost to the dynamite. here on the ground in cairo we were just out in tahrir square behind me and the u.s. embassy. there are literally dozens of police vans, with not

hundreds or riot police in them waiting for the next problem. as we see around the middle east, protests continue in afghanistan. they happened in pakistan. also in thailand they have happened people chanting we are slaefs slaves to the holy prophet. with our soul and blood we will defend you, o holy prophet. the question is this part of a movie and will it die down or is this a larger amount of anti-american sentiment playing out around the region? the other big question here, bill, will the salafist jihadi protesters and leaders call for more protests or step back a minute? still too early to tell. bill: leland vittert leading our coverage in cairo again today. here is martha again with more. martha: that is the big question. could the violence being getting started as ryan crocker suggests? france is shutting down 20 of their embay -- embassies

with a french magazine published crude cartoons of the prophet muhammad. the french defending the right of the magazine to publish the cartoons. as we've seen in the past cartoons depicting muhammad sparked angry and violent protests. there are new questions what the white house knew in the days leading up to the attacks in benghazi and what they did with that information the. the state department confirming it knew of possible protests in egypt and it passed on intelligence to u.s. personnel working and living there. listen. >> when we had the difficulty there is was actually minimal staff in the building because we were already alerted and we alerted the egyptians as well. bill: what about libya then? the violence, what many describe as a coordinated assault, all hoe though the white house will not call it that. what did they know about libya and why it is being describeds a terrorist attack. that is coming up with kt mcfarland, steve hayes and a

load of other. >> call it the tale of the dueling tapes. we're getting new reaction from the romney camp after the governor's comments at a private fund-raiser were leak need yaw. now a recording from president obama's past is also getting some attention. the then state lawmaker in this video talks about spreading the wealth. >> i think the trib is figuring out how do we structure government systems that pool resources and hence facilitate some redistribution because i actually believe in redistribution, at least at a certain level, to make sure that everybody's got a shot. martha: raises a lot of philosophical questions about the differences in this campaign. chief political correspondent carl cameron riding the bus with the romney campaign. and he is live from dallas on the way to the airport this morning. good morning, carl, how is all this playing out? >> reporter: well, for republicans, martha they see this something of a

rhetorical gold mine opportunity. when you listen to what the president said back when he was a state senator in illinois in 1998 he said structure government, pool resources and redistribute wealth. that to republicans is proof what they have been alleging since the obama administration started, that in effect, the president is trying to completely rejigger the economic situation. in his words, to sort of level the playing field and give everybody a shot. in mitt romney's words, bad idea, not the right course for america. listen. >> this idea that the president has of a redistributing, i know there are some people in our country who want have a government take from some to give to the others. they would like to be the others on the receiving end of that and feel that a redistribution model makes sense. the president some years ago said he favors redistribution. i don't. >> reporter: republicans see this as much more than just an answer to the five-month-old romney video which he talks about the 47% of obama's support what

democrats say is very derisive view. they see this as definition of final seven weeks of this election campaign. from mr. romney today, a usa today op-ed going further on this. from the republican party and gop, the right in general a blizzard of e-mails and news release, buzz on the internet. the republican right using this, they hope to pin down barack obama and close out the race, making the argument, as many republicans have. in fact as the republican national committee voted when president obama was first inaugurated his policies borders on a socialist european economy. that is what their argument has been. it has been in part of the republican parties votes. they have then state senator barack obama talking about it 14 years ago. martha. martha: the question is this one of the moments in a campaign we will look back on and a lot of conservatives say there is an opportunity here for the romney campaign to sort of turn a corner. how does all this play out, carl, from where you are? >> reporter: well, it is

probably too early to tell based upon the polls but a lot of commentary, punditry about dispirited republicanism is kind of stuff that plagued mitt romney's campaign began year-and-a-half ago. we find him now according to virtual all of the national polls an battleground polls in virtual tie. associated press in its new poll and the gallup tracking poll today show it is a one point con test across the country. gallup has battleground state polls, according to gallup, all 12 are basically within the margin. hear is the most important thing, martha. the gal lup poll says mitt romney's support is 39% solid. barack obama's support is 38% solid. people aren't likely to change their minds. but the number really the one to watch, 22% according to the "gallup poll" could change their minds or are undecided. with seven weeks left before the election, one out of five voters possibly still changing their minds suggest this race is every bit as fluid as it was months ago.

the last seven weeks will be a trench war over bumper sticker videos with democrats saying mitt romney is out of touch. republicans say barack obama has an approach that would essentially undo the american idea of liberty and pursuit of happiness to redistribute the wealth. martha. martha: i ask how that looks where you are and where you are is changing moment by moment. thank you very much. on the bus. trip to dallas. going by in the background. bill: hey, carl, up it tra driver, okay? get back to us on that. president obama raising eyebrows last night on the late show with david letterman because of this remark on that growing national debt of 16 trillion. >> we don't have to worry about it short term. right now interest rates are low because people still consider the united states the safest and greatest country on earth, rightfully show but it is a problem long term. even medium term. bill: well the nation's debt

has risen $6 trillion since president obama took office in january of '09. stuart varney, anchor of "varney & company", fox business network with me now. what do you make of that comment? >> the president made three remarkable comments on debt last night and they have been totally ignored by the media. this is key issue, the remarks have been ignored. as you point out, bill, the president said we don't have to worry about $16 trillion worth of debt in the short term. wait a minute. it is ben bernanke who is int mr. ing up the money. that's a problem. interest is running at 9 billion a week. that is a problem. we've reached european style debt levels. is that a problem? last week we were downgraded. all these are causes for concern right now. point two, the president blames president bush for much of this debt. the wars and the tax cuts. that's what's to blame. the president's ignoring massive increases in spending, a stimulus program and a failure to reform long-term entitlements. number three, he was asked

how big was the debt when you came into office? he couldn't answer. he said, i don't remember the number precisely. yet in the campaign, in '08 he had said repeatedly george bush's debt was unpatriotic. seems like the president conveniently forgot the $10.6 trillion when he walked into office. bill: 10 trillion. i thought it was nine trillion. what he said we have to do it in a balanced way. that's code. >> that's code for a tax increase. it is code for, to balance you've got to increase taxes, and he says, cut spending. but his spending cuts take place long term, way down the road. the tax increases come in now. but all of these statements on debt bill, were completely ignored by the establishment media in sharp contrast to the way they treated the remarks of governor romney from last may. bill: you got something to talk about on your show too. >> yes we do. bill: "varney & company". thank you, stuart. talk to you again shortly.

12 minutes past. martha. martha: on a wednesday we're just getting warmed up. police now in arizona are asking people as they pull over to show their papers. a judge has ruled and now it is the law of the land in arizona. this hardly means this hot fight there is over. bill: also these violent anti-american protests continue. senator lindsey graham is speaking out. what he says are the flaws in the president's foreign policy. martha: and new questions about what the white house knew before the murder of our ambassador and three others in libya. was a critical warning missed? >> we do not have any indication at this point of premeditation or preplanned attacks. we're not making declarations ahead of the facts here. years? call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today.

bill: is there a crack now in the story from the white house over the events in libya? four people including one of our leading ambassadors, chris stevens, killed there after an attack in benghazi. so far the white house

called the a spontaneous event on 9/11. after yesterday there is investigation that is not yet complete. >> we have provided information what we believe was the precipitating cause of the protests and the violence based on the information that we have had available. there is an ongoing investigation. the fbi is investigating and that investigation will follow the facts wherever they lead. bill: kt mcfarland, fox news national security analyst, stephen hayes, weekly writer for "the weekly standard", fox news contributor. >> good morning bill, we talked about this on monday. kt is there a crack in the story we're seeing? >> yeah, sure is. why are they doing it? i think they're haunted by the image of jimmy carter losing the presidential election in 1980 because of hostages in the middle east. the situation is very

similar today. the economy is lousy. high oil prices. crisis in the middle east. so they do not want to be compared to that. i also think that they're sticking to kind of cockamamie story that it was spontaneous because of a dumb movie because it absolves them of responsibility. >> how so? >> i think there will be more incidents going forward. can you imagine where we would be instead of assassinating those four diplomats turns out there was a al qaeda hostage taking event where four american diplomats on their knees blindfolded with simi tar yielding terrorists standing behind them? we would have a very different conversation today and i think that is what the administration politically is worried about. bill: steve what about this? is there a crack in the story? >> yeah, i think there is. bill, we talked about this on monday as you point out. remember when you go back and look how the administration has talked publicly about previous attacks or attempted attacks, this is the pattern. you see the administration

in an effort to get out in nt frost story and downplay it almost i will

political arguments f he says that there are indications the attacks were preplanned, then there are indications the attacks were plea planned. bill: kt continue. >> you want to know the one thing really very telling? why was the united nations ambassador on is undergoing from talk show to talk show saying it was spontaneous, and it was movie. why. she doesn't have any responsibility for american -- overseas. bill: who does. >> secretary of state does. bill: why not? >> i don't think they wanted to touch it. i think they know it is a false story. it is going to look like george bush saying mission

accomplished and the secretary of state is too smart politically to have those words come out of her mouth. same secretary of defense. same with head of cia. bill: today's briefing at white house should be interesting. kt, thank you. stephen hayes, thank as well. 21 past. martha. martha: he was convicted of killing his pregnant wife and two young children back in 1970. the new evidence we head yesterday that could set jeffrey macdonald free. we'll tell you about that. bill: wow also a landmark day in the history of nasa's retired space shuttle fleet. look at this picture. it will be one of the last times we ever see it play out. >> space shuttle endeavour soaring atop nasa's shuttle carrier aircraft, about to begin a 20-minute flyover of the space coast area. uh, i'm in a timeout because apparently

riding the dog like it's a small horse is frowned upon in this establishment! luckily though, ya know, i conceal this bad boy underneath my blanket just so i can get on e-trade. check my investment portfolio, research stocks... wait, why are you taking... oh, i see...solitary. just a man and his thoughts. and a smartphone... with an e-trade app. ♪ nobody knows... [ male announcer ] e-trade. investing unleashed.

bill: 24 minutes past. some of our top stories right now. severe thunderstorms tearing up the east coast. maryland seeing some of the worst damage including flooding and power outages. one woman said she barely survived a tree that crushed the side of her house. newly-released photos show china may be developing a new stealth jet. critics say the release of the images was timed to coincide with the visit of secretary of defense, leon panetta. actress lindsay lohan arrested in new york city leaving the scene of a crime. the 26-year-old allegedly clipped a new york pedestrian with her car and did not stop. lohan was ordered to appear in court. martha: never a dull moment for that young lady. bill: another night out on the town. how about that? oh, there we are. martha: the music means we're in trouble.

all right. well an evidence hearing that is set to resume in the fatal vision murder case, a day after a voice was heard from the grave in this story. the brother of a deceased witness says his sister said that she was in jeffrey mcdonald's home the morning of those 1970 murders. mcdonald, the former green beret doctor, always insisted on his innocence saying for years it was a group of drug crazed hippies that murdered his pregnant wife and two young daughters. jonathan serrie from the courthouse in wilmington, north carolina. jonathan, what do we expect today? who is on the stand? >> reporter: jerry leonard was the court appointed to now deceased woman you're talking about admitted drug user, helena stokely, who claimed she and three were inside jeffrey macdonald's home at the time of those three murders. yesterday her brother gene

described the argument she said those 1970 murders. another witness, sara mcmahon, who opened her home to helena stokely and her newborn baby in 1982 testified quote, the helena told me the men that went did the murdering. they told me they were going to rough jeffrey up and she would become a wizard in an occult group. stokely was called to testify in jeffrey macdonald's 1979 murder trial but said she had no memory of the hours of the crime. the lawyers are trying to use say that prosecutors use the threat of murder charges to dissuade her from testifying that she and others were at the scene of the crime. martha: thank you very much. >> reporter: certainly. bill: as violence spread there were questions what led to this moment.

senator lindsey graham on that and a stern warning he has now for the white house and foreign policy. we'll bring that to you. martha: plus governor romney fighting back against a secretly recorded video but does another recording of a young barack obama tell another side of this story for the decision to be made in america? a fair and balanced debate on that next. >> as i actually believe in redistribution. at least at a certain level, to make sure that everybody's got a shot. jack, you're a little boring.

boring. boring. [ jack ] after lauren broke up with me, i went to the citi private pass page and decided to be...not boring. that's how i met marilyn... giada... really good. yes! [ jack ] ...and alicia. ♪ this girl is on fire [ male announcer ] use any citi card to get the benefits of private pass. more concerts, more events, more experiences. [ jack ] hey, who's boring now? [ male announcer ] get more access with the citi card. [ crowd cheering, mouse clicks ]

i've got a nice long life ahead. big plans. so when i found out medicare doesn't pay all my medical expenses, i looked at my options. then i got a medicare supplement insurance plan. [ male announcer ] if you're eligible for medicare, you may know it only covers about 80% of your part b medical expenses. the rest is up to you. call now and find out about an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. like all standardized medicare supplement plans, it helps pick up some of what medicare doesn't pay. and could save you thousands in out-of-pocket costs. to me, relationships matter. i've been with my doctor for 12 years. now i know i'll be able to stick with him. [ male announcer ] with these types of plans, you'll be able to visit any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients. plus, there are no networks, and you never need a referral to see a specialist.

so don't wait. call now and request this free decision guide to help you better understand medicare... and which aarp medicare supplement plan might be best for you. there's a wide range to choose from. we love to travel -- and there's so much more to see. so we found a plan that can travel with us. anywhere in the country. [ male announcer ] join the millions of people who have already enrolled in the only medicare supplement insurance plans endorsed by aarp, an organization serving the needs of people 50 and over for generations. remember, all medicare supplement insurance plans help cover what medicare doesn't pay. and could save you thousands a year in out-of-pocket costs. call now to request your free decision guide. and learn more about the kinds of plans that will be here for you now -- and down the road. i have a lifetime of experience. so i know how important that is.

martha: governor mitt romney fighting back about the 47% video saying that he wants to help the country become better for all americans. doing some damage control he spoke yesterday with our own neil cavuto. romney also seized in that comment on a new video that has surfaced of a young barack obama talking about government redistribution. here's romney first. >> there's a tape that just came out today where the president is saying he likes redistribution. i disagree. i think a society based upon a government-centered nation where government plays a larger and larger role, redistributes money, that's the wrong course for america. that will not build a strong america or help people out of poverty. martha: all right. here's part of that audio recording from 1998 that he refers to. take a look. >> i think the trick is figuring out how do we structure government systems

that pool resources and hence, facilitate some redistribution because i actually believe in redistribution, at least at a certain level to make sure that everybody's got a shot. martha: well that was a long time ago that he said that. it was more than 10 years ago but in '08, then candidate barack obama had a similar theory really when he spoke with "joe the plumber". remember this? watch. >> not that i want to punish your success. i want to make sure everybody is behind you that they have got a chance at success too. right now everybody is so pinched that business is bad for everybody and i think when you spread the wealth around it is good for everybody. martha: so some folks think that all of this may sort of focus the debate that is before us in this election. alan colmes joins me now, host of the alan colmes radio show. pete snyder is chairman of the 2012 virginia victory fund and also a fox news contributor. welcome gentlemen. good to have you here. >> hi, martha.

martha: alan, is mitt romney sort of articulating the debate here in a way and by bringing up those comments by then, senator barack obama in the original comments? does it become more defined? >> "joe the plumber" incident four years ago didn't hurt barack obama. in terms of the 1998 tape that you played, he said distribution of resources, government resources. he didn't necessarily say money, said to a certain level. isn't tax breaks for the rich redistribution? breaks for small businesses redistribution? thinking the money will trickle down redistribution? he wasn't talking specifically about money but if we want to specifically focus on money, we could look at the trickle down theories of redistribution of wealth. we found out over a number of years that that kind of redistribution, making wealthy, wealthier has not worked in terms of it helping the lower income people. so that is redistribution, isn't it? martha: all that may be true but my question really is, are we defining the issue that is before the american

people here, pete? do we want to be a country where we have larger and larger numbers of people depending on a check in the mail from the government, or, do we want to get people off of depending on that becomes the question, pete? >> martha, i think this is a great way to really encap suize the debate going on and what is at stake for our country. we have free enterprise at stake right now. look, first and foremost, i think gotcha videos and all this kind of stuff is relatively silly. we just had an american ambassador murdered last week and the obama campaign is trying to distract from the turmoil in the middle east which is a direct result of the weakening of america. but if they want to play in this area, i think it is redistribution, the president firmly believes that. i'm an entrepreneur. that is my background and, when the president says to entrepreneurs like me, you didn't build your business, that is very telling. >> he didn't say that. >> when he says that the private sector is doing fine,

that's very telling. this is an important debeat for america. martha: does any of this, alan, does it bother you? when you hear the argument more and more people are on food stamps does that bother you? would you like to see fewer people on food stamps? >> yes and so would everybody. mitt romney talks about 47% and equates that same 47% who will vote for barack obama he is ignorant of the notion and facts of that 28% of people who have jobs pay all kinds of taxes but give enough tax breaks. >> alan. >> please let me finish but zero out because they get all kinds of tax breaks. 10% of retirees are wealthy. some are veterans. and about 6.9% of them are people that make under 20% a year. to say all of those people are people who don't want to be productive as romney has said --. martha: alan, are you concerned at all, that there is growing number of people in this country, who, for whatever reason, decide that it is easier to, collect a

check than it is to -- >> that is not 47% as romney suggests. martha: alan, assume for argument right here that the 47% number is larger than it should be when you're focusing on the problem in this country that we're discussing, okay? my question for you guys is, are you concerned, first alan, are you concerned about that? does that trouble you? >> i don't buy the notion that more people than republicans state are somehow interested in just living off government money. most people have pride. most people want to work. and some people need a little bit of a helping hand. >> alan, the problem here is barack obama's campaign has solely focused on cradle to grave, what can government do for you. >> no, it hasn't. >> what is julia's story all about? only ignorant thing in this debate talking about redistribution and saying that taking it from the wealthy is redistribution. alan it is taxpayers money. that is the problem. the whole fundamental premise of your argument is

forgets that it is actually the taxpayer's money, not the government's money. martha: let let's get one last thought from alan. go ahead, alan. >> redistribution when you give money to the wealthy, and give tax breaks to the wealthy. >> it is their money. >> corporations get all kinds of tax breaks, that is redistribution to the rich. martha: alan, i have to hear the response. it theirs money. they paid the money. >> it is money of the 47%. >> it is not other people's money. >> of the 47%, many of them, a large number of them pay into social security, medicare, medicaid. that is their money too they eventually get back in some way hopefully. that is their money too. mitt romney totally misstated it to say 47% really are not motivated. >> some are argue they should keep more of that money in the first place as well. that. >> that is debate. martha: that is the debate. i think, maybe this whole thing will focus the debate and we're only a couple of weeks away from the big

debate. we'll see. thanks so much, you twice. >> thank you. martha: alan, pete, good to see you. >> alan, thanks for making my case. bill: giving space shuttle endeavour a fond farewell. hundreds gather as the shuttle make as final journey as a museum piece. steve harrigan in miami. weather concerns in the end were put to bed. all systems go. good morning, steve. >> reporter: twice delayed for weather but a takeoff at 7:20 this morning. thousands of floridians looking at a fine look at space shuttle endeavour. it will fly low over the space coast and other nasa facilities. it will finally end up in los angeles at los angeles international airport on friday. for mom floridians a bittersweet day. they're excited to see the shuttle up in the air bolted on the back of a modified 747. but it also means the end of a program they worked on the past three decade, bill. bill: steve, something to

see once it arrives at the final destination. thank you, steve harrigan live in miami. go ahead? >> reporter: might be the most challenging and interesting part once it gets on the ground there in los angeles they have essentially have to drive it through parts of los angeles. like moving a five story building at one mile per hour before it reaches its final destination in the california science center. bill: holy cow. helicopters will be in the air for that. that will be another image we'll watch. thank you, steve harrigan in miami. martha? martha: there are serious concerns for our diplomatic workers overseas as violent protests against the united states continue to spread every day. we have brand new pictures like this, burning flags, people stamping on them in the streets. we'll speak to south carolina senator lindsey graham about all of this and the u.s. response to it all. bill: president obama seeing a bit of a bounce in the polls after that convention in charlotte. now the new polls are out. where did the bounce go?

>> thank you so much

rachel quit the corporate grind to start her own interior design business. she's got a growing list of clients she keeps in touch with using e-mail marketing from constantcontact.com. constantcontact is easy and affordable. it lets her send out updates and photos that showcase her expertise and inspire her customers for only $15 a month. [ dog barking ] her dream -- to be the area's hottest interior design office. [ children laughing ] right now, she just dreams of an office. get a free trial at constantcontact.com.

bill: we showed you these images about 45 minutes ago. there are more angry american protests spreading now to various countries. this is what we saw in islamabad, pakistan. several hundred briefly gaining access to an area that houses the u.s. embassy and foreign missions there. south carolina senator lindsey graham, republican, member of the senate armed services committee says we're about to see it go from bad to worse. senator, good morning. >> good morning. bill: what do you mean by that? >> well i think syria is a contagion that is really affecting the whole region but i doubt if there is anybody in modern times been more ill-prepared to be president than barack obama. he has never create ad job. really never had private sector experience. and on the foreign policy front i think his foreign policy was simply, i'm not bush. i'm a new kind of person. i'm a reasonable, rational

person. i will engage the world. he went to beryl line and -- berlin and throughout western europe with thousands of adoring fans shouting obama. he went to cairo to make a speech and say let's start over. he got the nobel peace prize for being not bush. i think he is a well meaning fellow and --. bill: senator what do you believe he should have done, do you believe? >> i think he should have understood what is going on at this moment in history. that the political upheaval you see on the screen is a contest between people who reject totalitarian corrupt dictatorships and want a different way of life and better way of life and people who are radical islamists who want to take the world and the region back into darkness. we're on the sidelines and we're weak. he said two things we've done. we killed bin laden on his watch. he deserves credit for that tactical success, a strategic opportunity lost but is anybody in the middle

east intimidated by the fact that we killed bin laden? has it translated to make us safer? no. it was a tactical success, strategically it has been a complete blunder. john kerry at the democratic convention said, ask bin laden if he is better off? here is my retort to that? ask our diplomats and american interests in the middle east if they're better off? bill: want to get to benghazi in a moment because i know you don't believe the fact that these demonstrations were spontaneous. you said that throughout the week here. but even you supported the overthrow of qaddafi. >> i did. bill: supported over throw of mubarak. >> yes. why? because the people, the islamists lost the election in libya big-time. they got 10% of the vote but they're not going to go away because they lost the election. they're trying to undercut the libyan government and drive us out of the region. the people in egypt who are inspiring violence against our embassy are salafists. they got 20% of the vote.

when there is lack of american leadership people fill in these vacuums. when you asked me what is barack obama's foreign policy, i think it is tepid. i think it is leading from behind at a time when we need to be leading from the front. bill: you know what everybody was shouting to the demonstrators take to the street and bring back democracy to places they had never seen it before everybody thought that was a grand, great idea. now in egypt you're left with mohammed morsi, who clearly publicly, who knows what he is saying privately that he is not necessarily a friend of united states policy. that is a big deal. >> you either shape history or let history shape you and morsi was meetings with 50 american business people at the time the embass is i walls were breached talking about opening up business opportunities for americans in egypt. as egypt goes, so goes the arab world. the muslim brotherhood's charter is disturbing but if democracy is allowed to progress they will either reform their agenda, deliver

for the egyptian people or get beat. it is our interest to be in on the ground in egypt and make sure democracy continues to evolve. it is not in our interest to let our consulate in benghazi libya go unguarded. to say this was not a coordinated attack by islamic radicals is a very dangerous misunderstanding of what happened. bill: there are two points i want to get to in the short time we have left. you say it defies common sense that this was spontaneous. you're calling for congressional investigation. what do you think was at work here? >> look at egypt. did anybody come with a truckload of mortars? did anybody come with heavy weapons to breach the walls in egypt? what was up here was a preplanned attack in my view of islamic radicals trying to drive us out of libya and undercut the libyan government. the salafists want us to leave. they could care less about a modern egypt. we're fighting forces of people who will live with us differently than we are but in peace in the modern world

versus people who will take us into the darkness. i think congress should investigate what happened at our consulate in libya because i think, the difference between a planned attack and a riot is night and day. bill: one other point here, afghanistan is popping yet again. >> yeah. bill: what is our policy there in 20 seconds or left? >> poll-driven politics. commanders wanted 40,000 surge poreses. forces. they got 30. when he announced surge forces going in he announced date they were coming out. announced surge forces against commander's advice. the situation deteriorated in the region. people think we're leaving. our enemies are emboldened and our friends are are concerned about us and things are falling apart. bill: we'll see what happens in this investigation in congress. lindsay gram from south carolina. martha. martha: a judge has ruled and arizona's controversial immigration law goes into effect today. judge napolitano next.

i was bor. without shriners hospitals, my life would be completely different. they gave me my future back. send your love to the rescue. donate to shriners hospitals, today. to meet the needs of my growing business. but how am i going to fund it? and i have to find a way to manage my cash flow better. [ female announcer ] our wells fargo bankers are here to listen, offer guidance and provide you with options tailored to your business. we've loaned more money to small businesses than any other bank for ten years running. so come talk to us to see how we can help. wells fargo. together we'll go far.

martha: fox news alert. the most controversial section of arizona's immigration law will now immediately take effect. a judge has ruled this week that police can start enforcing the quote, show me your papers provision. allowing them to check people's immigration status. judge andrew napolitano. fox news senior judicial analyst. judge i think you feel this doesn't have a lot of meaning? >> it doesn't have a lot of mean, martha. this example of overwhelming popular will and great numerical support for legislation when tam pered with by the courts becomes meaningless. the so-called, we keep

saying so-called, everyone will understand why in a few seconds, so-called show me your papers statute does not actually require immigrants to carry papers because the portion of the arizona statute that required them to carry papers was invalidated by the supreme court. so if, for example, the police in arizona stop someone for speeding or for bank robbery or anything in between and they have reason to believe that the person might be here illegally, they can ask them, but they can't demand that the person physically present papers because that portion of the statute was invalidated f they conclude, say, via computer check that the person is here illegally, they can't arrest them because being here illegally, which was a crime under arizona law, that portion of that statute was invalidated by the courts. so that now the police are left with just the ability to interrogate people, not to incarcerate, not even to investigate, but just interrogate them on the spot once they stop them for a

violation of a state law, not a violation of federal immigration law. martha: but it has to, you know, even in keeping i believe with the original arizona law, be in the process of carrying out some sort of law enforcement action? >> yes. martha: you can't just walk up to somebody, you never, according to this law to walk up to someone on the street to say, hey, let me see your papers, right? >> correct. the people challenging this law in arizona, martha, the way the supreme court opinion is written this is continuous challenge. they lost their challenge yesterday. they can find a new challenge tomorrow. the people challenging it fear the police will walk up to people and say, hey, show me your papers. if they find instances of that and if the court believes that testimony, then the court could invalidate even this part of the statute. remember this, being here illegally is not a federal crime and no longer an arizona crime. if a person is here illegally, they don't get arrested by the fed or by

the state. they are quote, deportable but they remain free until their deportation case is heard and concluded by a federal judge. martha: so they can inquire about your status and if they have reason to go further they can do a computer check, but then the means they can, go to are limited? >> correct. martha: judge, thank you very much. good to see you. >> good to see you. bill: on another legal front we're awaiting on a conclusion from "fast and furious." that report comes out today. so we'll keep you updated on that. new concerns that al qaeda is using protests in the region to encourage more violence against americans. what the terror group is calling for today. [shouting]

martha: fox news alert, amid new concerns from the state department that terrorist are jumping on opportunity of chaos in the middle east. a group linked to al-qaida

calling for more attacks on u.s. diplomats and other americans. that's how we start a brand-new hour of "america's newsroom." i'm martha maccallum. bill: i'm bill hemmer. good morning to you at home. al-qaida in north africa threatening new attacks as several demonstrations turn deadly. at least two protestors have in kashmir. martha: wendell goler has the latest. >> reporter: the death toll is rising, martha as officials here are concerned that extremist groups are exploiting anger over the film. at least two dozen people have been killed in the pass wee post weak. in pakistan, indonesia, cast mere. they are worried they are exploiting anger over the film.

a spokeswoman called it piling on. late yesterday hillary rodham clinton had a warning for arab leaders. >> there are extremists in all of these societies and on the outside that are working to take advantage of broad outrage in order to incite violence and specifically incite violence against americans and american facilities, and i think it's important at this moment for leaders to put themselves on the right side of this debate. >> reporter: al-qaida says the film is proof that america's war on terror is really a war on islam and officials in this country have struggled, frankly to convince the arab street that the u.s. government really doesn't have the authority to keep this film off the internet. martha. martha: now a french magazine is adding fuel to this fire wendell. >> reporter: this is the same magazine that published charactepictures of the prophet

muhammad, last year. the u.s. embassy closed in tunisia it was closed by a french embassy and school there today. a statement from al-qaida citing the filmed urged muslims to kill american ambassadors in islamic countries. intelligence officials denying a report that the u.s. consulate in benghazi received a warning of the attack although they say the embassy in tripoli were caulked about a protest. bill: the protests extending to southeast asia, the u.s. embassy in thailand has been temporarily closed. [chanting] bill: hundreds of muslims marching the embassy in bangkok. several hundred police officers called in to prevent violence there, largely peaceful.

demonstrators say they will continue protesting until america takes responsibility for that film and apologizes to muslims around the world, which has already been done repeatedly by the u.s. government. martha: a similar situation in indonesia, a u.s. consulate in one city has also been temporarily closed because of demonstrations. 300 members of an islamist movement rallied today on the third straight day of protests that we've seen there. on monday protestors through rocks, incendiary devices outside of the embassy in jakarta which is the capitol of indonesia. bill: raising fears that syria could be threatening to use chemical weapons in the civil war. the syrian regime brought in iranian officers to help test the weapons. rick leventhal is tracking all this from jerusalem. what do we know about this

report. >> reporter: the defected syrian general told the times of london that the regime would deploy chemical weapons as a last report. now we are hearing from that german weekly that the syrians tested delivery systems for chemical weapons less and month ago. the report suggested the syrians took these chemical weapons tests within the last month or so at a research center he's of aleppo. they say tanks and aircraft fired empty shells capable of delivering chemical gas with iran kwropb officers flown in nor the testing. it sparked residents to double request for gas masks in the past few months. they say the bashar al-assad had plans to transfer chemical weapons to hezbollah for attacks.

bill: what about the violence today? what does that stand in that battle? >> reporter: well, in fact, bill, the last month has been the bloodiest in that one and a half year revolt in syria. rebels are making gains but they are paying a very heavy price for that. just today the rebels took another border crossing point along the syria turkish border to the north. they took control and brought down the syrian flag and taking that crossing would make it easier to move in armed supplies and reinforcements, but the syrian army and fighter kwrets havfight fighter jets have been pounding rerb rerbl positions. 61 people were killed today alone. the government says they are killing terrorists but many off the ground say many include innocent civilians. bill: senator lindsey graham was on our program 20 minutes ago,

they contends that all of this is the result of a lack of policy in syria. we'll get into this later this hour. martha: governor mitt romney with a new message today really engaging the argument that was prompted by his caught on tape comments. he is promising to delivery cover renot dependency if he wins the white house. this comes in a new usa oped. we will create personal freedom instead of a web of dependency. a new poll president obama's convention bounce isee srab greating aeu carding to the poll of registers voters, it shows he's leading by one point down from a 7 point lead in that particular poll last week. this is a good sign for president obama, the "wall street journal" poll of likely voters shows that the president has a five street lead.

we bring inned roeupbls, former campaign director for reagan and bush. good to see you this is a sweet spot, an important moment for the romney campaign. what do you think about this new slogan i guess it's called. >> it's a very legitimate debate issue to have. do you want government to do more for people or do you want to go out and you create jobs and put people back to work i. think most persons want jobs and don't want to be dependent on government programs. i don't like the word entitlement. there are benefits that people have paid into like social security and medicare that they paid into and they are entitled to. when you have things that people become very dependent on you can't afford them any more and you have to reset. martha: 12 states will start early voting.

the moment and the window to kind of focus the message and to get mitt romney out there, communicating the met message that a lot of folks and others seem to want him to indicate is smaller. >> the last group of voters are the ones who pay attention in the last closing days. you'll be wall to wall with commercials and visits to critical states. it comes down to four or five states. it's not a national election any more, it's really targeted states and they are dead even. like in the national polls with the exception of the "wall street journal" that basically doesn't have a whole lot of difference between this month and last month, it was 49-44 a month ago, now it's 50-45. so it's still within the margin of error. all the other polls have it dead even. my sense today is that this is a dead even race going into the closing days here. we have three big presidential debates, still plenty of time to close this thing and for romney

to get out front. martha: how do you feel about how romney is spending his time. there is some view that he's spend time at fundraisers and he should be out there more. >> he does need to be out there more. no republican has ever raised more money than he has. he has to settle his staff down, it's not a democracy in a staff. every campaign starts coming apart in the closing days because you're tired and there is all kinds of second-guessing. at this point in time he's got to take charge, put one person in charge, say here is our game plan, figure out in the next 48 hours this is what we're going to run on for the section six weeks and don't get off message. martha: what about paul ryan. it feels like he's not out there that much. >> he is out there and you don't see him every day. that is the traditional vice presidental role. the only time he make news is if he makes an attack on the president. martha: is he an asset that

could be used to a greater effect. >> he's a tremendous asset. have you four or five days here to settle this campaign down, to decide this is my message. i would say paul explain to all of us the nuances of the federal government that nobody knows better than you do and give us our good debate points to go out on and draw the difference between us and the p. martha: good to see you. bill: we are about to get a new response from the romney team on the heels of two pieces of paper circulating on the campaign trail. what governor romney is saying about that. did you hear what was uncovered when a then state senator talked about his views of government. martha: governor romney is

asking the world for help to keep americans state. some republicans say this is asking for report. bill: a report set for release today on the fast and furious gun-running operation. will that report finally provide the answers for a family of a murdered border patrol agent. >> if the truth comes out i'll be happy with that. but i think i'll just sit there and listen to lies and cover up to pacify me. [ mom ] what? shut the front door. right? woop-woop! franklin delano! [ male announcer ] there's oreo creme under that fudge! oreo fudge cremes. now in two new flavors.

i've got a nice long life ahead. big plans. so when i found out medicare doesn't pay all my medical expenses, i got a medicare supplement insurance plan. [ male announcer ] if you're eligible for medicare, you may know it only covers about 80% of your part b medical expenses. the rest is up to you. call and find out about an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. like all standardized medicare supplement plans, it could save you thousands in out-of-pocket costs. call now to request your free decision guide. i've been with my doctor for 12 years. now i know i'll be able to stick with him. you'll be able to visit any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients. plus, there are no networks, and you never need a referral. see why millions of people have already enrolled

in the only medicare supplement insurance plans endorsed by aarp. don't wait. call now. bill: breaking news, as if you could anticipate this. these are more protests now coming in from lebanon now. this is in the eastern mediterranean. there are demonstrations against what they call this anti-islamic film in tyre, lebanon. we saw protests yesterday and the day before in beirut called on behalf of the leader of hezbollah. there were thousands if not tens of thousands in the streets protesting. we'll watch this. largely peaceful for the

moment. hope it stays that way. tyre, lebanon. martha: the justice department is releasing its long awaited report on fast and furious today. that is the government's botched gun run tracking sting we have talked about and it allowed thousands of weapons to cross overt mexican border and fall into the hands of some of the most dangerous drug cartels. william la jeunesse is live in los angeles. we've been waiting for this report for quite some time. what do we expect from it? >> reporter: there is going to be a lot in there, martha. it's important to tell you for four reasons, number one it goes down as the official record of a u.s. operation already credited with the death of one man and could be tied to as many as 300 more. the department of justice has had the information, they refused to give it out. the inspector general's report could tell us numbers if not names. secondly the scope, the brian terry family, members of congress, the public have gone

almost two years on this. january, 2011 they denied this operation existed. only after senator grassley unmassed this mountain of evidence did the attorney general appoint the inspector general to basically look into this to get congress off his back. they looked at 70,000 documents, that is ten times more than congress so we should know a lot more. thirdly right or wrong this is a partisan issue, many conservatives believe that the administration cooked this up as a way to justify and impose stricter gun controls or laws if you will. there is some evidence to say that is true. democrats say that is insane no one would actually allow guns into another country knowing that they are killing people to push a political agenda. and finally, finger pointing the department of justice says this was arizona's fault. this was created and executed solely by officials there, arizona says wait a minute, washington with us not ignorant we told them the entire time, if we're guilty so are they. martha: it's going to be interesting to see the documents

that they were able to really look at in order to conclude all of this. so what will happen next after the report comes out, what do we expect? >> reporter: well, we expect that -- several things. number one, this is going to assign responsibility to those people who are involved, who approved this thing and so we believe that we could have swift and sure punishment, if you will, people could got fired within -- demoted or suspended within 48 hours. i'm told there is a lot of code language here and sometimes you have to read behind, between the lines a little bit. also congress will be looking at this. not just to see that those responsible are held accountable but possibly government reform soess doesn't happen again. >> we'll look for where is the highest level the break down occurred? was it just bad judgment as it was with some of the local agents in phoenix? or was it in fact some sort of institutional problem that needs

to be corrected by legislation or regulation. >> reporter: bottom line, martha, we should have that some time in afternoon eastern time then we'll look at 400 pages and tell you what it says. martha: we know what you'll be doing tonight. william thank you very much. bill: there is deadly violence triggered by a movie insulting islam raising new questions today about why it's okay to mock other religions. a closer look at that in a moment. martha: the fed taking action to help get the economy back on track, but will it ultimately create any more jobs? >> what we're about here is trying to get jobs going, we are trying to create more employment, we're trying to meet our maximum employment mandate, so that is the objective. woman 1: this isn't just another election. we're voting for...

the future of our medicare and social security. man 1: i want facts. straight talk. tell me your plan... and what it means for me. woman 2: i'm tired of the negative ads and political spin. that won't help me decide. man 2: i earned my medicare and social security. and i deserve some answers. anncr: where do the candidates stand on issues that... affe seniors today and in the future? find out with the aarp voters' guide at earnedasay.org

very latest anti-american protests that we have, brand-new

video coming in. this is tyre, lebanon, where you can see a large gathering of people that have come into the streets. we've been watching all of this in tunisia in yemen, in libya and in cairo of course as well. . in part at least in response to that video. that anti-islamic video that was released. that is the scene there. we'll keep you posted as we get more developments on those. bill: to the u.s. economy, a high profile official with the federal reserve coming out in support of stimulus spending. in a speech saying quote this was the time to act, with the feds buying up about $40 billion a month in long-term securities and that brings us now to bya, because you asked, chris edwards writes the following, what indicators does the fed chair ben bernanke see that tells him printing and pumping $40 billion a month into the economy creates jobs. does he need permission to do so.

charles payne is here. are jobs created because of it? yes or no? >> no. although that would be the simple answer answer. answer. the fed is trying to smashing or in dues a virtual cycle. the only way they think they can do it now is somehow inflate. they understand the problem is ultimately inflate means they can inflate the price of milk and gasoline and those things. initially they are hoping to inflate the value of our assets. listen, you go home you open your 401k it certainly feels a lot better than it did in january of 2009 but does it feel good enough for people to look at that and say okay i'm going to go out and buy this new car, my car is 12 years old. i'm going to go to the mall and hangout for an extra hour, not to window shop but to actually spend money. ideally if that sort of stuff happens, that will create demand and create jobs. bill: a virtual cycle, is that

your phrasing, by the way? >> it's old phrasing. i think confucius came up witness first. bill: we'll give him credit. the idea is to make you feel better about your own lifestyle and that will encourage you to spend. its that working? >> it's not working. people are spending but they are not going overboard. credit card spending is actually down. there is an odd trend in this country, people seem to be living in the moment. they are not saving like they used to, what they do save for they say is for an emergency or to have fun. they are not saving for school, college, retirement or any of that stuff. people are living in the moment, they are not using a credit card, they are using cash on hand and i think the fed wants to seduce people into going on the limb buying the house that maybe you cannot or can afford. spending at the small, buying a new car, those types of things. bill: you've been tweeting this past week and your frankly ticked off. you call america a drop out nation. what have we created?

>> we have created a drop out nation. in the last four years 9 million people have dropped out of the jobs market, to me that is one of the most frightening things out there. we have given up on the notion of even being involved, even looking for a job. our marriage rates are at all times lows, our birth rates are declining rapidly. we are apartment dwellers for the most part real willing to pay rent when owning a home is more affordable. to the president's point about a economy built to last, we do have that that's why we haven't gone into a double-dip recession. i think the fed knows, we can only skim the surface for longtime. they talk about bull parks markets and bear markets. i always say we have a shark economy. once we stop swimming we die. it's all about belief and i don't know that the fed can get people to believe that has to come from somewhere else. bill: good look to all of us with our sreur ooh to us.

i know you're on giving varney a hard time every morning at 9:20. check charles out there with varney & company. if you have an email you want answered contact me at foxnews.com, or on twitter. martha: this is the final mission of endeavor lift will be in houston to welcome lots of visitors. it flew over the i10 traffic corridor along the gulf coast and it flew over two places where it was tested in mississippi and new orleans as part of its path. we will keep a close eye on it. both of those test sites were places where the shuttle engines and the external fuel tanks were built respectively. a bit of a walk down memory lane for endeavor as we watch this beautiful, final mission for

that shuttle. straight ahead the romney camp is in response mode now to a secretly taped video of the governor's remarks about the so-called 47%. and a new tape has surfaced of then state senator barack obama talking about redistribution of wealth. has this defined a major issue in this campaign these two quotes? ed gillespie from the romney campaign joins us next. bill: the tradition of the father-daughter dance banned, and that goes with the mother-son ball games as well. banned. martha: terrible. bill: what is happening, america? ♪ fathers be good to your daughters. ♪ ♪

bill: fox news alert right now. i want to take you to the treats of tyre, lebanon, this is what we're seeing now, thousands in the streets now, largely peaceful demonstration. we saw this in beirut two days ago, and the crowd was large, when the leader of hezbollah told them to take to the streets they did and they followed orders. we are watching that. there was a more violent confrontation near one of of the u.s. embassies in islamabad, pakistan. and there is a demonstration underway in bangkok, highland. we are watching all of this. martha: a new wall street editorial asks a very pointed

question, why is it okay to mock one religion but not another? this is the take on it. in the consensus view of modern american hreuber list eupl it is hilarious to mock mormon and mormonanism but outrageous to mock muslims and muslim list eupl. maybe nobody has been killed making fun of mormons so far. this is free speech as pizza in an editorial that he wrote in the "wall street journal." joining me now is a "wall street journal" columnist and a speech prior for george w. bush. good to have you here this morning, bill. this was one of the most read items on the internet. talk to me a little bit about where brett was going with this. he uses the musical book of mormon as a jumping off point here. >> i think anyone who hasn't

should look at brett's column which is still up on the website. he focused on liberal list eupl, mormonism and islam and pointed out that when you write a. [musi musical pointing fun at mo r*rbgs non you're heralded for your funniness. when you produce a film on islam you get sheriff's deputies at your door and you have the state department apologizing for it and other officials naming you. it goes to show what another former colleague of mine once said, behind every double standard is a single standard. martha: let's look at a quote that came out from the church of the latter day saints in response. they weren't happy with the book of mormon. if you need to see examples of what happens in it you can read brett stevens piece, some of which he points out is not

really television talk. they say the production may attempt to entertain audiences for an evening. but the book of mormon as a body of scripture will change people's live forever as bringing them closer to life. i think that can be looked at as a rational response, they speak on their own behalf but they say this is not our style of entertainment. >> it's not just mormonism, it's evangelical christianity, catholicism, judaism. these are the favorite means of attack from hollywood, from much of liberal america and not only are they attacked, for example, when there was that madonna splattered with d u.n. g at the brooklyn museum under guiliani, they win awards and they are celebrated. they get celebrated for their edginess and at the same time they win awards. when it comes to islam they are silent. i'm a person, i don't believe people should be writing things

just to be offensive to religion. i don't think the answer to what these mobs that you're showing are doing is to insult the religion of islam. but let's not indulge a lot of these fake pie pieties. martha: in the article he points out he quotes that he calls the closes thing that sunni islam has to a pope, a leader. he praise edz hitler for exactly devine finishment. he's saying if islamists want this kind of respect, this sort of completely sort of perfect ability to never, ever be ridiculed in anyway, should x no not ask that they return that respect for religion nasa broader way. >> i think we shouldn't even mention this film which almost no one writing across the middle east has scene, few americans

have own heard about before, it isn't clear there is even a film it's a clumsy trailer. there is a first amendment right to make these things. it doesn't make it right to make them, but the larger issue is we're talking about a film when christian as jews are finding their fundamental rights violated all over the islamic world and the middle east, at least most of the arab world, in pakistan and iran and that's the real issue, and that's the real issue for the future of those countries. can they embrace or protect minority rights? so far it's been very difficult. martha: as you point out tolerance for christianity in egypt, the estimate that i found 86 coptic christians murdered. people hear hear very little about it. >> i think the news coming out of cairo if i'm correct is that the one synagogue is not allowed to hold services or they are highly restrictive.

there are reasons that jews have fled their ancestral homes in the middle east and christians are doing the same. martha: christians are fleeing in large numbers. thank you so much. the piece is on the "wall street journal".com by bette stevens. good to see you. bill: take a look at american history now pulling into the skies overhead of houston, texas. that is the space shuttle endeavor that left florida just about an hour ago. space shuttle endeavor lifted off on its final trek out of cape canaveral. it bolted to the top through -- you'll see fog or haze. bolted to the top of a 747 jumbo state make its stop in houston today before aeu arriving in los angeles on friday which is the final destination. the the nasa spacecraft left kennedy space center for the first of what will be two legs on the final flight to california. you remember when the shuttles were doled out.

l.a. got one, washington d.c. picked up one. the people in houston were overlooked. they were not happy about this. martha: houston we have a problem with this whole arrangement is what they may be saying today as they do the fly over that some wish could be the final destination. bill: the i imagine in houston we'll see a similar thing as what they did on the hudson liver river with the last shuttle. martha: they are calling for full cooperation with muslims with dealing in the spread of anti-muslim sentiment around the world. governor george pataki joins us with his take. bill: a family of eight all together for the first time. martha: oh, my. bill: after an incredible and sometimes harrowing four

months. martha: a little school bus. bill: eight is enough don't you think? my lord. i'm only in my 60's...

i've got a nice long life ahead. big plans. so when i found out medicare doesn't pay all my medical expenses, i got a medicare supplement insurance plan. [ male announcer ] if you're eligible for medicare, you may know it only covers about 80% of your part b medical expenses. the rest is up to you. call and find out about an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. like all standardized medicare supplement plans, it could save you thousands in out-of-pocket costs. call now to request your free decision guide. i've been with my doctor for 12 years. now i know i'll be able to stick with him. you'll be able to visit any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients. plus, there are no networks, and you never need a referral.

see why millions of people have already enrolled in the only medicare supplement insurance plans endorsed by aarp. don't wait. call now.

bill: this is probably one of the cooler sights you'll see today, space shuttle endeavor now attached to that giant 747 jumbo jet getting ready for a landing in houston before it takes off for los angeles and finds its final destination on the west coast. this had been planned for monday. they had bad weather in florida the last two days, that's part of the reason for the delay. martha: you would be exhausted after all this. it's a long trip. it will need a rest. bill: we'll bring you back there once we see touchdown. martha: there are new questions about president obama's latest response to the ongoing anti-american protests overseas calling for, quote, his quote, full cooperation from muslims on all of this during an appearance

on hraeuf david letterman's late show last night. >> our first job is to make sure we are reinforcing security at the embassies and fully investigating what happened and bringing these murderers to justice that is our number one priority. the message we have to send i think to the muslim world is that we expect you to work with us to keep our people safe. martha: former new york governor george pataki joins me now. governor, welcome. good to have you here. >> good morning, martha. martha: is that a forceful enough message in your opinion? >> it's not a policy, we expect the muslim people to cooperate with us? all you have to do is look at recent history since 1993. there are those islamists across the muslim world that hate the freedoms that we take for granted too often and want to attack us because of them. and we can't ask them to say, please be polite. it hasn't worked, it will not work, it is not a policy.

martha: given what is happening across the middle east, you know, some people have taken issue with the appearance on david letterman, the fundraising that took place last night in new york with jay-z and beyonce, awful which happens i guess in the political scene these days, but do you expect him to do more, to talk more about what is unfolding in the middle east? >> it's stunning to me that when we have had this mobile, mobile tragedy in libya, and when we see violence that is going on now across the arab world, this president acts as though it's business as usual. it's not. one of the real tragedies i think of the last three and a half years is we are engaged in a war, a war of values, a war of the civilized against the bar bash i can, against the islamists, and i don't think this president has ever understood this. the fact that they blamed a movie that no one saw for this uprising is just absurd. we have had consistent attacks

on the west since 1993 by those who want to change the way that we live let alone not allow us to try to spread our values to the islamic world. his policy is not a policy, it's not leading from behind, it's basically hoping things get better, and they have not. martha: if you feel that way, what should the policy be? what would you like him to say in. >> i think we node a far more aggressive policy saeupld a aimed at supporting those in the islamic world who are on our side and going after those who are not. we sit back passively in syria but in libya we were aggressive in creating the support so that the coalition could overthrow the moammar qaddafi regime. we have no consistent policy. support those who support the rule of law, support tolerance, and oppose those who would try to seek to impose islamic terror, islamic fund today meant ta list eupl not just within their countries but across the world. martha: obviously it's very

complicated. >> sure it is. martha: right now you have the dictator in position in syria and you have people arguing that it would have been better to leave some of these dictators in place in some of these countries where we're seeing so much unrest today. >> sure it's complicated. when you have the president of egypt not chastising at all violent protestors, who broke into our embassy, burned our flag, we know he's not our friend and we should stop treating him as our friend. martha: are you saying egypt is not an ally. >> the islamic brotherhood government is not our ally. i think that is pretty clear. there are those winnie egypt who are very pro western, very much on our side, we should work with them, and obviously the egyptians have the right to choose their own government but we have the right to defend our own interests and i fear this president has not done that. martha: one question about afghanistan, because i think this isn't talked about enough right now. 51 of our own nato forces killed in violence that has -- green on

blue it's called from the soldiers who were supposed to be training in afghanistan. ihas the president addressed this enough and in what say do you think he should. >> the president basically tries to pretend afghanistan doesn't exist until after the election. you never hear him talk about it. and the violence by afghan-trained soldiers or police against the coalition, particularly u.s. military is appalling. in just the last couple of days we suspended most of the joint operations with the afghan forces. the president doesn't talk about this. martha: he says we're leaving, we're leaving responsibly. >> what he has said is that we are setting a date certain so people know a year and a half from now we will be gone, and in the meantime it's not supporting us, it's jocking for position to fill the void that we are creating. this is not a policy that is successful. we are seeing that. with the attacks on americans, the terrorist attacks in kabul there was just a recent attack that blew up eight harrier jets,

that has never happened before. martha: $200 million worth of jets, that's right. >> we have no policy in afghanistan other than this administration wants to look the other way until after the election, that i not right. martha: governor always good to see you. >> good to see you martha. bill: on that note about afghanistan senator mccain and lieberman and senator graham too, we were talking to senator graham a little earlier today, they have come out with a strong statement warning the white house not to change policy right now when you think about how the violence is popping up in afghanistan, after all the gains you have made in 12 years, what do you do now. martha: frightening time for the nato forces there. bill: jon scott standing by "happening now" rolls your way in eleven minutes. no shortage of news, is there now, jon? jon: there is not especially on the political side, campaign 2012 is in full swing. it is the battle of the tapes today with mitt romney standing firm on his comments about an entitlement society and a new audiotape of president obama talking about how he believes in

redistribution of income. plus, a slew of new polling showing the race is very tight and it is still a race to november. we are also taking a look at two battleground states, iowa and wisconsin where do the numbers fall. breaking news out of the arab world, you guessed it, more anti-american protests. we'll have it "happening now" now. bill: see you at the top of the hour, jon scott "happening now" now. there is a major disappointment here. why would the school cancel the father-daughter dance, and the mother-son softball game. >> we are aoebg >> we were excited, it was something we shared. >> we had a great time, he absolutely loved it. he couldn't wait for that da day to come. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today.

♪ [ male announcer ] introducing a stunning work of technology. introducing the entirely new lexus es. and the first-ever es hybrid. this is the pursuit of perfection.

bill: the father-daughter dance has been canceled reportedly after a single mother in a school district in rhode island complained. >> not everybody has a father in their life and we figured a lot of kids around here have someone else in their life that they could bring. bill: why would they do this? lis wiehl with us now. they even tried to call it me and my guy dance to avoid offending students without father tph-s their lives. what is going on here ladies. >> mom of two here, okay who was very happy taking my kids to all these different things. bill: still got the picture. >> exactly you know it. here the thing the title 9 says no gender discrimination. that's the federal law. title 9 says there are exemptions for something like this. it's a fun kind of thing it's a party, a school event that is okay says the federal law. rhode island law though, the

state law is much broader than that. they don't have that kind of exemption. what they need to do in rhode island is rewrite the law quickly and hope in time for the dance. bill: you say -- when was this law written in rhode island? >> in rhode island it's been on the books forever. bill: forever? it's just now that the father-daughter dance is canceled and the mother-son ball games are canceled? come on. >> and through the aclu that comes in and -- like they don't have anything more important they could be doing. they take on this case, and it's crazy because just name it something else, name it lady's choice, for example. bill: you're saying the aclu did this? >> yeah,. bill: they took the case of the single mother complaint. >> yes. i understand the point of the single mom, i get the it, i understand it but to penalize all the other kids so you completely ban everything. bill: i hear you. the aclu says public schools have no business fostering the

notion that girls prefer to go to formal dances while boys prefer baseball games. this type of gender tere kwroe taping only perpetuates outdated notions of girl and boy activities. i tell you what i'd much rather go to the baseball game. and you'd probably much rather go to the dance. >> i hope my son is not hearing this now. i took him to square dancing and we had a great time, come on. bill: did he really? >> well he said he did at the time. bill: listen, you say you have to change the law, is there a possibility they change this law in rhode island? >> yes i think they will change it. i think it's silly to have to get to this point. we have so many other things that we should be dealing w. forget about the four parents it's the kids. they really want to go through all this? bill: you are robbing them of an opportunity to spend time with their mom and dad. >> exactly. we are always talking about we want parent involvement we are robbing them of that opportunity from that parent involvement. bill: you stay on top of it. >> you got it.

bill: if the law changes, or if it doesn't you come back either way. >> you got it. bill: see you later. martha: let's take a look at this as we wait for endeavor to land in texas, it's a pit stop on its way to its final home in california. can you see it? isn't that a great shot? it's in there somewhere, we promise. i think you're going to -- it will come into view any minute now if you hang in there with us. that is the sky you're looking at. people waiting on the ground for endeavor to make its stop in houston as it flew by some of its greatest hits and memories along the way. there it is. bill: bingo. you promised, you delivered. martha: we'll be right back. mom: ready to go to work? ♪

♪ ♪ ♪ every mom needs a little helper. that's why i got a subaru. announcer: love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. why not take a day to explore your own backyard? with two times the points on travel, you may find yourself asking why not, a lot.

chase sapphire preferred. there's more to enjoy. hor get the yard ready for cool energy bill weather?size? the answer? a lot less. the great american fix-up is going on now... ...with new projects every week and big savings every day. so you can do what needs to be done. today. more saving. more doing.

that's the power of the home depot. show the yard who's boss with this echo blower for just $159. woman: what do you mean, homeowners insurance doesn't cover floods? [ heart rate increases ] man: a few inches of water caused all this? [ heart rate increases ] woman #2: but i don't even live near the water. what you don't know about flood insurance may shock you -- including the fact that a preferred risk policy starts as low as $129 a year. for an agent, call the number that appears on your screen. bill: endeavour is about to take her final bow. that is kind of cool, huh? coming in for a landing at houston, texas. stay there about a day. do a flyover on mississippi and new orleans along the way. a wink and a nod and heading out to