it was his find shift as an ref search and rescue pilot on tuesday. he's going to focus on his charity work and, of course, adorable prince george. that's it for us. thanks for watching. have a great weekend. "special report" is next. the u.s. and russia huddle over syria. but is the russia deal real? and is it affecting u.s. credibility around the world? this is "special report." good evening, i'm brett baer. both sides are saying the right things cordially, if not sincerely about sere wra. but there's growing concern tonight about whether russia is taking advantage of a u.s. president anxious to get a deal so he can avoid another bruising battle in congress over his threat of military action. chief white house correspondent ed henry has tonight's top story. >> reporter: another day, another shot from russian

president vladimir putin over syria. >> translator: we believe that any military intervention into this country from abroad without the sanction of the united nations security council is unacceptable. >> reporter: and at a summit in kyrgyzstan today, putin met with the new iranian president. amid reports the russians are offering to supply tehran with five ground air missile systems. top aides to the president down play the move by saying it's mostly bluster and note while putin is also offering to build a second reactor for iran's nuclear plant, the u.s. and israel are more concerned about iranian plants in places where more uranium has been enriched. >> we continue to be focused on engaged in the effort to have iran fore sake its nuclear weapon program. >> reporter: the president met today in kuwait, senior officials for the first time privately put a timeline on the chemical weapons talks in geneva saying they want to see progress

within a few weeks. >> i shared with the amir my hope that the negotiations that are currently taking place between secretary of state kerry and foreign minister lavrov in geneva bear fruit. >> reporter: senior officials also said they expect a u.n. security council resolution to be the mechanism to ensure syria's chemical weapons are being turned over. though the officials acknowledge it will not be written as a chapter 7 resolution because putin will block language including military force mean it may lack teeth. senior u.s. officials downer syrian president bashar al assad told a russian tv network he will not turn over his weapons until mr. obama takes u.s. military action off the table. validation for them the president's threats have resonated. except assad has continued shelling rebel areas, leading some experts to believe assad will stay in power with putin pulling the strings. >> putin has told assad that, number one, he's not going to use chemical weapons again.

whether the u.n. steps in or not. secondly, if he follows his instructions from this masters in moscow, he's going to win the war anyway with conventional weapons. >> reporter: now, breaking tonight, "foreign policy" magazine says a russian paper agreed to let senator john mccain write a column attacking putin, a rebuttal to the infamous "the new york times" top piece. one official chuckling saying that's something they might agree with mccain on. >> ed henry live on the north lawn. thank you. secretary of state john kerry is carrying the ball for the administration, negotiating with his russian counterpart and other diplomats in geneva. chief washington correspondent james rosen is traveling with the secretary. >> reporter: after meeting with u.s. envoy brohimi, secretary of state john kerry made clear it can only happen if the u.s. and russia first make progress in their talks here which are aimed at the dismantling of sere wra's

chemical weapons arsenal. >> we're committed to work together beginning with this initiative on the chemical weapons in hopes that those efforts could pay off and bring peace and stability to a war-torn part of the world. >> reporter: on thursday, kerry's negotiating partner russian foreign minister sergei lavrov rebuked america's top diplomat for making a quote/unquote political statement. today a subtle shift in tone from kerry was evidence. >> both of us, sergei lavrov and i, our countries, our presidents, are deeply concerned about the death toll and destruction, the acts on both sides, all sides, that are creating more and more refugees, more and more of the humanitarian catastrophe. >> reporter: lavrov stated

flatly the assad regime has joined the chemical weapons convention of 1997. a u.n. spokesman said only that that process had begun and the head spoke of assad facing justice even if he gives up his stockpiles. >> he's committed many crimes against humanity, and therefore, i'm sure there will be a process of accountability when everything is over. >> reporter: a senior administration official said the u.s. and russian delegations are now closer to an agreement on the actual size and scope of syria's chemical weapons arsenal. the two sides agreed to extend their discussions by another day into saturday. an aide traveling with secretary kerry told me he informed minister lavrov, have the ability to talk straight with each other. while technical advisers huddle in smaller working groups and this created a, quote, real opportunity to move forward. >> james rosen traveling with the secretary in geneva tonight.

thanks. taliban militants hit an american diplomatic facility in the middle east today. we're told no americans were hurt. so it was not another benghazi, but it does raise the question of whether the u.s. is now perceived as too weak or reluctant to defend itself or to go after terrorists responsible for attacks. national security correspondent jennifer griffin reports tonight from the pentagon. a warning here, her story contains images you find disturbing. >> reporter: the taliban attempted to complex attack on the u.s. consulate in western afghanistan. a sleepy part of the country near the border with iran. at dawn, two vehicles packed with explosives approached the u.s. mission. a gunfight ensued. seven attackers, some wearing suicide bomb belts were killed by afghan security forces. four afghans were killed. 20 wounded. >> the consulate's front gate was damaged. however, the consulate's interior compound was not breached. >> reporter: it was a copycat attack launched just a year after benghazi and at about the same time al qaeda leader

zawahiri released new message tied to 9/11 calling for attacks against interests. days after the u.s. says the syrian regime used chemical weapons against its own people, terrorist forces in iraq aligned with iran allegedly assassinated 52 iranian dissidents who had helped the u.s. expose aspects of iran's nuclear program. all of this while the u.s. was debating what to do in syria. >> there's only 10,000 members subscribed to al qaeda operating in the eastern part of syria. and they're talking about locking off a safe haven. where have we ever seen pooling of that large number of fighters, right? and guess what, they're coming from all over the world. >> reporter: then there is north korea, seeing the u.s. unable to rally international intervention in syria announced it would be restarting its yongbeong nuclear

reactor for the first time since 2007. in 2012, some 29% of voters said the u.s. was more respected around the world now than in 2008. new polling shows fewer than half that number feel that way today. >> i visited with two ambassadors yesterday that are very concerned because they're in the region, and they said when we lose credibility, it hurts them in the region. so it's a serious problem. >> reporter: a new gallup poll shows americans' trust and confidence in the federal government's ability to handle international problems has reached an all-time low. 49%. two percentage points lower than the last record low back in 2007. brad? >> jennifer griffin at the pentagon. jennifer, thank you. up next, trying to get big labor back onboard for obama care. first, here's what some of our fox affiliates are covering tonight around the country. fox 25 in boston has three friends of accused boston

marathon bomber in court pleading not guilty to obstructing the investigation. fox 5 in las vegas has an unbelievably interesting story about a scathing obituary announcement for a mother of eight, written by her children. here's an excerpt. "we celebrate her passing from the earth and hope she lives in the afterlife, reliving each gesture of violence, cruelty and shame that she delivered on her children." and this is a live look at orlando, florida, from our fox affiliate wofl. the big story there tonight, workers at seaworld getting their hours cut because of obama care. that's tonight's live look outside the beltway from "special report." we'll be right back. want to give your family more vitamins, omega 3s, and less saturated fat? it's eb. eggland's best eggs. better taste. better nutrition. better eggs.

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we are a little more than two weeks away from the debut of the obama care insurance

exchanges. pretty much the starting point for the president's health care overhaul. today, the president was trying to put out fires among his core supporters who are burning mad about some parts of the plan. here's chief political correspondent carl cameron. >> reporter: a smiling afl-cio president richard trumka arrived at the white house for a closed-door meeting with the president and vice president on labors' mounting objection to obama care. he left flanked by other upbeat labor leaders saying little. >> going to try to get it done next week. >> next week? >> yep. >> an act of congress? >> a solution. >> reporter: as the nation's top union boss, trumka's complained the affordable care act has inadvertent holes and was not thought through. at the afl-cio convention in los angeles this week, union workers condemned obama care as, quote, highly disruptive and a tough resolution warning the cost of union health plans will be driven so high workers and employers particularly in retail, construction and transportation will drop their

coverage. >> we'll be damned if we're going to lose our health insurance because of unintended consequences and the law. it needs to be changed. it needs to be fixed. and it needs to be fixed now, brothers and sisters. >> reporter: labor is demanding cadillac plans for high end health care coverage not be federally taxed and carveout sc. if the obama administration won't fix it, labor asked congress to act. republicans have been trying to repeal or defund obama care as unworkable since the first day it passed. senate republican leader mitch mcconnell complained yesterday. >> so we know big labor is leaning on the president. we know they want him to let them rewrite the same law they helped ram through, and apparently he's listening to them. but what about everybody else? >> reporter: plagued by implementation problems, the white house postponed its deadline for mandatory employer participation in obama care by a full year, but the individual mandate remains. in two weeks, registration opens

to join obama care's so-called exchanges from which the uninsured are required to select coverage options. big labor wants big concessions on a health care law they help pass from a president they helped elect. trumka suggested what they called a solution could come within a week, but if the president caves to union demands, expect to hear a whole lot more of the critics asking, what about everybody else? brett? >> we'll watch this one closely. carl, thank you. what do you think? do you think the president will be forced to change his health care law? let me know on twitter, @brettbaier. retail sales were up .2% in august. the dow gained 7 5 today. s&p 500 up 5. the nasdaq finished 6 ahead. for the week the dow had its best week since january. surging 3%. the s&p 500 was up 2%. the nasdaq was up slightly less. we referenced the ben gauzegauze

benghazi terror attack earlier. the one-year anniversary was wednesday. no one has been brought to justice. tonight, we have the fascinating story of why that is. >> reporter: the administration's determination to prosecute the benghazi suspects in criminal court also known as article 3 courts has thrown up road blocks. >> treating this like a criminal event and using this article 3 which is an american citizen would go through with all the rights of the constitution, i just think -- i don't know how anyone could come to the conclusion and hasn't slowed it down. >> reporter: based on intelligence reporting, the delay has allowed the benghazi suspects to remain free and engage with their terrorist groups. as for targeted drone strikes, counterterrorism analysts say the obama administration's prosecution strategy has effectively pushed aside the military option. >> u.s. intelligence officials and our war fighters in the defense department are ham strung by a law enforcement model because there are a lot of guys who are known terrorists or known suspects in the benghazi attack who could be taken off the battlefield right today. >> reporter: guantanamo bay is

off the table for holding and question them. >> i think our position on gitmo is certainly clear that we're not sending anyone to fwit m gitmo, we're working to reduce the population of gitmo with the goal of closing it. >> reporter: by the time the fbi reached the consulate last fall, the crime scene was contaminated and the libyan government according to the outgoing fbi director is too unstable to offer the u.s. the support it needs for a complex international case. >> it's hard to know who to deal with you do not have the security forces we develop a rapport with or have the capabilities we would hope. >> reporter: this week's capitol hill briefing on the status of the case underscored the obstacleses of a law enforcement model. >> certainly i'm frustrated, i think the committee is frustrated. by the way, the people who do this for a living are really frustrated. >> reporter: fox news asked the justice department why it's committed to a criminal prosecution in the benghazi case given the hurdles and allegations is slowing down the investigation and there was no immediate response. brett? >> thank you.

still ahead, get ready to join our all-star panel with the sr bing polls. first, another horrible episode on the jersey shore. [ male announcer ] centrum has been a leader in multivitamins for over 30 years. and it's now the most doctor recommended, the most preferred and the most studied. so when it comes to getting the most out of your multivitamin, the choice is clear. centrum. we need a new recipe. hmmm. let us consult the scroll of infinite deliciousness. ♪ oh! perfect. [ wisest kid ] campbell's has the recipes kids love.

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hey, the second time in less than a year, authorities in new jersey are trying to figure out how to rebuild parts of the iconic boardwalk. first, it was superstorm sandy. yesterday, fire. senior correspondent rick levinthal is seaside parks. good evening. >> reporter: good evening. governor chris christie calls this devastating, a ten-alarm blaze that erupted a quarter mile of businesses and boardwalk leaving weary residents stunning wondering how much more they could possibly take. >> oh, no.

>> reporter: the fire roared for eight hours. destroying roughly 50 businesses and several blocks of boardwalk on the jersey shore. much of it rebuilt this past spring to repair damages from last year's superstorm sandy. 400 firefighters from across the state battled the blaze, describing it as more like a forest fire. >> as the fast-moving fire was making its way north, construction crews frantically cut two chunks right out of the brand new boardwalk to try and stop the flames from coming any further. the first cut didn't work. but this one did. now the focus is on cleaning up and helping businesses rebuild yet again. >> the only thing i can do is come down here and make sure they have the resources they need and make sure they know i'm here and going to be supportive. and that's, i think that's a job of the governor and that's the way i do my job. the only way i know how to do it. >> reporter: firefighters will be here over the next day or two to put water on hotspots. investigators are here collecting evidence to try and determine if this was an

accident or arson. brett? >> rick levinthal live in seaside park. one disaster now to another. the threat from flooding is still very real in colorado tonight, and the death toll has just been raised to four. our correspondent is, once against, watching the waters in boulder. hello. >> reporter: hi, brett. the rain has stopped for now. authorities warn now is not the time for residents to stand down. at least two communities were cut off after floodwaters destroyed all roads in and out. national guard troops are finally getting into the small town of lyons with tactical vehicles. and in nearby jamestown, the weather finally allowed rescuers to reach locals by helicopter. nearly two days after this storm first hit. >> i've never seen it like this. you know, we sort of roll our eyes when they say, you know, be prepared for the 100-year flood, but here we are. >> once this rain begins to recede, we certainly are going to need help with the recovery.

>> reporter: and help is is on the way. president obama approved federal disaster assistance for the front range mountain area thursday night. safety remains the top priority for rescuers. the next step is assessing the damage and governor john hickenlooper warns recovery won't be swift. >> this is not going to get fixed in a week. all right? we have lost a great deal of infrastructure, and it's going to take, you know, many weeks. >> reporter: and for the third time in school history, the university of colorado postponed its saturday football game with fresno state. the chancellor explaining it would be inappropriate to put additional pressure on the community. brett? >> alicia live in boulder, colorado. thank you. so do you feel lucky on this friday the 13th? we'll tell you about some folks willing to really take a chance. and from the fourth estates to the white house, a pattern may be developing. the grapevine is next. vo: two years of grad school.

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now some fresh pickings from the political grapevine. "time" magazine managing editor is is getting out of the media business to take a job at the state department. he chose a career change that has been very popular with journalists over the past few years. joining the obama administration. within a dozen members of the media have moved to the public sector since president obama has taken office. among them, white house press secretary jay carney who also used to work for "time."

former cnn senior producer who became the spokeswoman for the transportation department and is now chief of staff for the faa. and others. of course, it's important to note that other presidents have hire ed journalists as stafferss well. president george w. bush's press secretary, former reporter and fox news anchor david snow. and geoff morrell went to work for the bush administration in 2007. google's founders may have to adjust their budget a bit after losing a little known perk allowing them to buy deeply discounted jet fuel straight from the pentagon. the "wall street journal" reports google paid about $3.to a gallon for fuel in contrast to other companies that paid about $4.35 per gallon. it started as an agreement with nasa in 2007 for google to provide scientific flights and other transportation, but there are now questions as to how many pentagon subsidized trips were really for government business. the pentagon ended the

arrangement last month when nasa did not ask for an extension. republican senator chuck grassley is now calling for an au dit by the inspector general. united airlines is not saying it will honor tickets many passengers bought for essentially nothing. yesterday the company accidentally listed several flights as costing $0. about 5 bucks with tax. customers swooped in taking advantage of the deal. too good to be true. one woman who was buying a ticket home to washington for christmas decided the deal was too good to pass up and also bought a ticket for this weekend. realizing the error, united shut down its website quickly to correct the mistake. and finally, on this friday the 13th, would you be willing to board a flight that had the name flight 666 to hell? for many people the answer is yes. fin air's flight 6 jfr 6 to helsinki was at last word nearly sold out despite today being

unlucky friday the 13th for the superstitious. the pilot says it's a coincidence and doesn't bother him. still he is hoping for clear skies. get ready to participate in our all-star panel tonight. where, again, we're using the first of its kind, sr bing polls this evens. just in case you need it, here's a refresher on how you can be part of the action. >> basically all agreeingt on - >> bing isn't sure about that but we'll tds. >> let's take a moment to walk you through how you can have a seat at the panel. first you need to go to bing.com/politics on your home computer or even a handheld device. once on the page, pick your political affiliation. there are three options. for this one, republican, democrat, or independent. we'll click independent. then state your gender. male or female. of course. now, you are on the panel, too. as the discussion begins, you can have your say. you can vote and vote often. every five seconds if you'd

like. just click one of the five buttons on the screen. ranging from strongly disagree, to strongly agree. click on strongly agree here a couple times, and now it's time to see what you and others think. we will show you the results throughout the show. updating you in realtime. and you'll be able to see who's peaking and who's tanking, who's grabbing attention and who's falling flat. so here's a question. how do you read the graph? there will be a pulse score of 0 to 100 for each group. democrat, independent, republican, male and female. a high poll score closer to 100 shows that group agrees with what's being said on the panel. a low poll score closer to zero shows that group disagrees with the panelists. we will also measure the intensity score. highlighting moments throughout the show where the greatest number of viewers vote at the same time. it's not about agreement or disagreement.

it is where the graph is showing who is getting the most clicks, period. agree or disagree. this is a first for an evening news program. something you can take part in. and we have partnered up with our friends at bing to bring it to you. >> this is the first ever time where americans get to sit in their living room, or look at their phone, and watch fox and vote realtime on what's happening. it's revolutionary in how we're going to watch television. >> we had more than 12 million votes during the state of the union and it worked. people said, this is great. i get a chance to actually talk back. we said, what else can we do this week? >> so there's your refresher. get ready to join the panel. first up, is america being perceived as weak around the world? we will discuss it with the all-star panel and get your feedback, of course. you're on the panel tonight. when we come back. ♪ ♪ we go, go, we don't have to go solo ♪ ♪ fire, fire, you can take me higher ♪ ♪ take me to the mountains, start a revolution ♪

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i shared with the amir my hope that the negotiations that are currently taking place between secretary of state kerry and foreign minister lavrov in geneva bear fruit, but i repeated what i've said publicly which is that any agreement needs to be verifiable and forcible. >> i visited with two ambassadors yesterday that have very concerned because they're in the region and they said when we lose credibility, it hurts them in the region. so it's a serious problem. it's been like a comedy the last couple weeks where they change positions on the run. >> how has this situation with the u.s. dealing with the syria crisis affected u.s. credibility around the world? as russia continues to negotiate on the deals of this syrian, on the overall syrian deal? take a look at the latest fox news poll on the question, is the u.s. more or less aren'ted

around the world today compared to 2008? and there you see more dropping 14%. less up to 48%. with that, let's bring in our panel. nina easton, columnist for "fortune" magazine. columnist peter waner, and julie, white house correspondent for the "associated press." julie, what about this? is it a real concern for this administration? what are you hearing over there in. >> i think this is actually the biggest concern for this administration right now. in second terms, as you know, your window as a president to work on domestic issues is relatively short. you expect to have your full four years to work on international issues. if the president doesn't have some type of response to seyria crossing this red line, it's going to be very damaging for his credibility as he tries to work on issues with iran, with north korea. and it doesn't have to be a military strike. could be this deal with the russians. but if syria launches this massive chemical weapons attacks and there's no response from the united states, i think the president is going to have a very difficult time on the world stage. >> especially, pete, by what he

said already. trying to make the case to congress. the consequences are going to have to be there. >> well, that's right, and i don't expect there will be consequences. the president is showing every way he can that he doesn't want to act. he's ambivalent. he has irresolution. my suspicion is they're going to let this story play out for a couple weeks and run away from it as soon as they can, as fast as they can. you won't hear the word syria from the president's lips for a long, long time after that. and i want to underscore the damage done to america, american credibility is just tremendous. it's a historic moment in some respects. congressman said it was a comedy, i'd say it's a tragic comedy. there are going to be a lot of consequences, a lot of challenges to america to come. >> there's a lot of blowback already. you see potential other world actors acting up. north korea restarting a plant. a reactor. you saw the attack in the

taliban and that may have happened anyway. but there could be some effort to be emboldened by u.s. enemies. >> and russia threatening more weapons sales to iran. i mean, there's a lot going on out there. you know, it's interesting because liberals often think that american military strength is provocation, but in fact, when you're talking about dictators and autocrats, american military weakness is provocation. all you have to do is go back to 1998 when osama bin laden cited america as a paper tiger, its low morale among its soldiers because we hadn't responded thoroughly to previous al qaeda attacks. that was very much at the forefront of his mind when he attacked 9/11 and took down the world trade center and the pentagon that day. it doesn't have to be a use of military force, but you have to have a credible threat of military force. what the president has done in the last two weeks, as both of

you pointed out, kind of wring his hands and make it clear that he really doesn't necessarily believe in a credible military threat. >> i want to play two sound bites. one is from jay carney about the question of commander in chief. and the other from senator corker. take a listen. >> the american people, at least in my assessment, appreciate a commander in chief who takes in new information and doesn't, you know, celebrate decisiveness for the sake of decisiveness. >> the president just seems to be very uncomfortable being commander in chief of this nation. he's very good in an interpersonal setting. he just cannot follow through. he cannot speak to the nation as a commander in chief. he cannot speak to the world as a commander in chief.

he just cannot do it. and i don't know what it is. he's a diminished figure here on capitol hill. i can assure you that. >> julie, senator corker is a senator who's been working with the administration on a number of different fronts including on syria. he had dinner with him just this past week. it's really something to hear that. >> there was a lot of frustration from senator corker. a lot of frustration from other lawmakers on capitol hill. i think there is something to what jay carney said about decisivene decisiveness. you want to have a president willing to look at the situation and say maybe we're going down the wrong direction and be willing to change his mind. what i think is so fascinating about the way this has played out with syria is a lot of the things the president has said in more recent days i actually would not have been surprised about if he said them originally. the idea of going to congress. the idea of working through the u.n. those are all types of things we would expect from barack obama, but it's just the way this played out where you had such a buildup toward military action and then this very public

reversal and that's what i think has really caused a lot of concern for lawmakers. >> pete? >> yeah, when jay carney is assessing new facts, new information, that's fine. that's one thing. head snapping shifts, contradictions. foreign policy that could be described as bipolar is not sufficient. there are costs to that kind of thing. he's quite right. this is the history of the 20th century. weakness and irresolution invites challenge and aggression. we're beginning to see it now. we're going to see, i fear, a lot more later. i don't think barack obama is up to the task. he's in over his head. >> nina, we're talking about aggression and action by world actors. you could also translate that to capitol hill where lawmakers who maybe would have fallen in line with the president because of what has transpired may be feeling emboldened. >> falling in line early on. jul julie's point was exactly right. if you were going to go to congress, do it right away,

powerfully, swiftly with resolution. don't think out loud about your ambivalence, about the size of the military strike. don't undercut your secretary of state who originally described the chemical attack as a moral obscenity and is trying to keep up with the president. now he's calling it an unbelievably small potential military attack. don't do those things. i think this is a moment that will weaken him on domestic issues as well as international on the hill. >> let's say he pulls it out. let's say russia does come through. >> let's say putin's a great guy, doesn't have the interests of assad at heart here. possibly -- >> that's a lot of disbelief. >> i said before, there are some reasons that russia has a self-interest in getting control of these chemical weapons. keeping assad in power. and making sure these chemical weapons don't fall in the hands of terrorists or causing a broader regional conflict. there's some interest on russia, and coming, you know, undercutting the peace sensibility of the president and

coming and looking like a hero as putin tried to do this week. >> pete, quickly, does this come to fruition? >> if pigs can fly, it won't. this is impossible. even under ideal circumstances, meaning if syria was at peace, it would be very, very difficult to make this work given the amount of chemical weapons. in a civil war, it's impossible. >> julie, last thing. do you buy the turning the page? do you think this administration could possibly shift or pivot or something? >> i think they'll certainly try. a lot of focus on domestic issues at the white house next week. the president goes to the u.n. the beginning of the week after that. syria is not going away any time soon. okay. next up, the friday lightning round. ♪

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vote online for your favorite friday lightning round topic. this week you chose the latest with the benghazi investigation. we're back with the panel. here is house intelligence committee chairman mike rogers. >> it is my understanding as of today they're pursuing an article 3 criminal investigation into this matter, and that in and of itself is why i think it has taken so long, and right now it's far too difficult. there are far too many lawyers. there are far too many hurdles in trying to do a criminal investigation on what, in my mind, is a -- >> what about this? we're back with the panel. nina? >> well, i would just say the other thing that's holding up this investigation is the fact that the libyan government rebuffed efforts for us to arrest suspects. we have suspects, but in order to get any information on what exactly happened in this plot, we've got to get our hands on

those suspects. libya is standing in the way. we'd have to snatch them. an interesting development that came out about benghazi this week is word there was actually help sent, cia officers and em be say officers, this came leve attack, during the attack and after the attack. the obama administration knows this. so they've been conducting a so they've been conducting a and coverups i think for a year and that's going to continue. so they want to treat this as a crime because they don't want the truth and the reality to come out because, if it it did, when it does, it's not going to reflect well on them. >> bret: julie, next week we have another hearing with admirable mullen and ambassador pickerring. so this is not going away. >> it's not going away.

i don't know how much new information we are going to get out of these hearings. the republicans on the house want to continue to have them just to keep this issue in the spotlight. as these investigations play out and as this effort in libya to try to get these suspects in custody plays out. but i think the chances of having some new information from mullen and pickerring next week is actually fairly low. >> bret: next up. colorado recall. a big recall for two state lawmakers and gun rights advocates essentially got them out of office. julie? >> well, there is two ways to look at this. on the one hand you have progun groups who are going to be saying look, these are real sign that gun control advocates are going to be in trouble in future races. gun control advocates saying this is a 'special election, blip on the radar there is a little bit of truth in both of these sides. we all know that statewide special elections do tend have-to-have funky results sometimes. we have to wait until a couple more races to that have a similar element to them play out before we can see if this is a national trend. >> bret: pete? >> it's more than that one

of these local elections that will have national implications. it wasn't a run of the mill election. it was the first recall in colorado miss strismt it happened in a democratically leaning state and the two senators who were powerful, democratic senators in colorado, lost two districts that barack obama won by 20 points virtually in both cases. one was beat see siively one by two points. this is also a situation in which the gun control advocates poured a lot more money than the other side and still the gun control advocates lost. i think this is the kind of thing that will be read by national politicians and democrats much like happened after clinton and his assault weapon ban will back away from this issue. >> bret: nina? >> this is where my big pulse drops. i think this is going to be, i think pete is absolutely right. this is a case study in what a lot of us think is reasonable gun control, meaning expanded background checks and limits on magazines, particularly after these school

shootings. that they face tremendous head winds going forward and congress hasn't passed serious gun control or any kind of limits on guns for years and i don't think -- i think this shows we are probably not going to see it for years to come. >> bret: winners and losers. winner first and then losers? >> obvious windsor putin. he protected his client assad while he got to lecture the u.s. president on democracy in the pages of the "new york times." and losers. i would say the sex scandal come back is a loser strategy. in the mayoral race. and the comptroller race in new york. comptroller, of course, is eliot spitzer. and the mayor's race was. >> bret: anthony weiner. >> anthony weiner, sorry. both of them thought that they could come back, have redemption and now they have to find a different way to go through the rinse cycle. >> bret: pete? >> bashar assad is unfortunately the winner. six months ago it looked like his rule and maybe his

life was on the brink. right now he is as secure in power as he has ever been. allied in the dominant power in the middle east and is he going to continue his reign of terror and kill many more innocent syrians. and he and russia won't forget about this war. america and united states will loser the allies of the united states it was set in concrete this week that we're not a reliable ally and some of our friends and allies are going to have to begin to cut deals with our adversaries. >> bret: julie? >> windsor john kerry. may have been unintentional but rhetorical arguement that aides say securing chemical weapons. may have given an out to the military strike in syria. loser syrian opposition. they have been losing ground for several months. the delay in action. responding to the chemical weapons attack is only going to set them back further. >> bret: panel, thank you. we should point out that charles is atoning tonight on i don't mean can i poor.

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near you. sleep number. comfort individualized. visit sleepnumber.com to find one of our 425 sleep number stores nationwide. >> bret: okay. thanks for being a part of the panel tonight. here are some of the pulse ping highlights. the panel greedz with pete's comments that the president seems am bif lent on syria. everyone agreed that the president's foreign policy is bipolar. democrats included. most intense moment of the segment, juan, overwhelming disagreement with the viewers with jay carney's statement that the american people agree with the president. we had 44,712 votes every minute during segment one. in panel 2. as she predicted, everyone trended down as nina claimed that reasonable gun measures will be hard to pass in years to come

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