jer@foxnews.com. that's it for this week's show. thanks to my panel. thanks for watching. i'm paul gigot. hope to see you right here next week. rescue operations underway now for dozens of people trapped by floodwaters in what has become one of the worst natural disasters in colorado's history. hello, everyone. i'm greg jarrett. welcome to "america's news headquarters." and i'm uma pem maraju. hundreds remain unaccounted for. and making matters worse at this hour, the weather. new rainfall hampering rescue operations all day. many people living near the flood zone say they can't believe just how bad it is. >> it's really hard, as somebody

who's been here most their life, they can't picture it now. but now it's gone. you kind of look at it and go, well, i can't tell it anymore. >> my greatest fear when i moved here was fire. i never thought this river would do this. it's amazing. >> dominick is joining us live from ft. morgan, colorado. we see the south platt river flooding behind you. how bad do you expect it to get? >> just 40 miles upriver from where i'm standing, there's a 2-foot surge coming through. just less than 24 hours we saw a surge just a little bit bigger than that. actually, i'll have my cameraman zoom down behind me. this is ballo road, that just crosses the i-76 here in ft. morgan. and you can probably see the current already picking up speed there. just pulled out of it, you can see the local gas station. that's completely flooded there. completely inundated and slightly out of shot, we've got a couple of hotels that have to be evacuated. now to really bad news for the locals, because those who have

already had to flee their homes because of the oncoming waters are using the local hotel, so that's probably taking another couple hundred rooms out, and that's really going to make life detail for people here. extra flash flood warnings are just gone into effect further south to where we are. avad da county, denver county, and adams county, flash flood warnings in place until 4:30, uma. >> what are authorities doing there to find those who are unaccounted for at this hour? >> it's really difficult today, because this rain just hasn't let up, as they thought it might do. the national guard helicopters have so far just not got in the air today. 500 people now unaccounted for. twice as many, nearly, as were unaccounted for yesterday. and you know what, with the death toll creeping up, they're getting concerned that there will be more deaths. this is how the authorities are describing that. >> fatalities could come, because a house was completely washed away. but there are certainly a lot of other potential, where somebody

just got caught up in the flow. >> reporter: uma, come back to us in the next hour, because we'll bring you those pictures of the crest when it comes through. >> thank you so much for the update. >> secretary of state john kerry sending a very strong warning to syria affirming the threat of military force is real, if syria does not hand over its chemical weapons. kerry issuing that statement during his stop in jerusalem, after talking about the new u.s./russian plan to secure syria's chemical weapons with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu. meantime, greg palcott has reaction from inside syria's capital of damascus. >> greg, we have been here in damascus for just a brief time, but it's enough to get a sense of what is happening here. we have yet to hear a detailed response from the government, regarding that plan hashed out between secretary of state kerry and russian foreign minister lavrov, regarding the disposal of chemical weapons here. short of that, we went out to

hear what the people think about the deal and about the events of the last couple of days. accompanied, as we often are when we are in damascus, we'll say, by a representative of the government. take a look at what we saw and maybe more importantly, what we heard. a busy weekend afternoon in central damascus with the threat of u.s. military strikes lessened, more people are out. but the war is not far away. we can hear the artillery in the distance. so there are new hopes, with new talks for peace. >> we didn't see sympathetic wrong will happen in syria. >> i feel, we have to make peace in this area. of course, in syria. >> reporter: supplies were pretty plentiful at one market where we were at, but we were also told that the lengthy war here is taking its toll on the lives of just about everybody. there are shortages across the board of food, fuel, and other essentials and prices are soaring, as much as 50%, just in the last year. and at the center if damascus

felt busier, it's maybe because other areas of damascus are off-limits due to security reasons. checkpoints and blast walls all around. again, the government presence here is pretty constant, but also constant, the sound of war. during our visit so far, we have heard the steady thump, you can hear it now, of artillery against positions held by the rebels on the outskirts of the city. and we have heard incomie ining mortar hits by the rebels towards the center of damascus. a sign that perhaps while negotiations are revving up, the war very much going forward. greg? >> greg, live in damascus, syria. thanks very much. uma? well, president obama is planning a major speech to mark five years since the financial meltdown that sent the u.s. economy into a free fall. we're live in washington with a preview. >> and new concerns that america is now playing catch-up in the middle east. russia taking the lead in reaching a deal to secure syria's chemical weapons. our political insiders are here

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welcome back, everybody. well, the u.s. economy getting a bit of a checkup five years after the financial meltdown. president obama boasting steady progress since 2008. progress he says could be reversed should republicans threaten a government shutdown. now live from washington, steve, how is the president speaking out about this? >> well, uma, he'll hold an event in the rose garden at the white house tomorrow. and today he appeared on a sunday talk show. he's marking the fifth anniversary of the collapse of the lehman brothers by pressuring congress to do more to strengthen america's middle class. and he's trying to highlight progress in the economy.

more jobs, steady growth, a rebounding stock market. today he appeared on abc, blasting republican threats to refuse raising the debt ceiling unless spending is cut. >> i think it's fair to say that never in history have we used just making sure the u.s. go government is paying its bills as a lever to radically cut the government at the kind of scale they're talking about. it's never happened before. >> the president said today he will not negotiate on the debt ceiling, uma? >> well, at this point, do you see any sign of a compromise on the gop side? >> no, even as house speaker john boehner said, he's trying to find ways to avoid a government shutdown. some conservative republicans appear determined to stand their ground. >> the president is the individual who's talking about shutting down the government. the democrats in the house and the senate are the individuals talking about shutting down the government. we want to fund the government and protect the american people from a destructive law as it

relates to health care. >> a house effort to defuse that crisis was derailed earlier this month because it lacked conservative gop support. >> the drama continues. steve, thank you so much. new concerns being raised with the united states and russia securing now an agreement on securing syria's chemical weapons. how does this impact u.s. foreign policy and what about the president? let's bring in our political insiders, john, former republican congressman for new york, fox news contributor, former pollster for president jimmy carter, doug shaun, a former pollster for bill clinton. did president make things worse? >> well, in the short-term, i think the settlement with the russians probably brought him some time. but the speech on tuesday, if i have my dates correct, clearly from the polling, didn't. moreover, we're looking at a

situation where the syrian government and the russians have the upper hand in terms of the verification of the agreement. we have a budget that is doa, a debt ceiling that is still to be litigated. obama care still up in the air. bottom line, all that's happened this week is we've bought some time, and there are a lot of unanswered questions. >> let the throw a couple of polls up on the screen here. real clear politics poll averaging president obama's job approval. boy, it continues to tank here. and then you look at his "wall street journal" poll, and it's even worse. pat, what do you make? >> i think he's deteriorating. i think held be if the republicans had any message at all, he would really be in trouble. this was not a good week for his leadership. he was bailed out, as doug suggested. putin threw him a life preserver, but a lot of us think it was filled with lead. what prevented was the

humiliation he was about to have in the congress on the question of whether or not he would support the war. right now we have a country where we don't believe anybody's leading anything. >> john? >> i would say we've just been watching one of the single most inept supposed of presidential leadership in our lifetime. >> really? >> absolutely. he fumbled this thing so badly, it ends up being a handoff to vladimir putin. >> who now runs the world. >> right, he's the savior of the world who's on his way to iran to do a deal there on their nuclear program, which will not be good for the united states and the west. he took snowden in, obama insulted him. four weeks ago on this show, greg, our friend here, doug schoen said that the comment the president made about putin, he's the kid slouching in the back of the class, that would cause a backlash from putin. now we're going to see it.

>> i want to put up a call of gallup polls. they're very revealing. normally when a president give a speech to the nation, urging action, people rally behind it. just the opposite here. look at this. his speech made it worse, arguably. more people after the speech rallied against him show up the next one here. u.s. air strikes in syria. more people now are against it after the president's speech. >> right. and this is why what john is saying is so important. short-term, the tpresident was either going to lose the vote badly or pull the bill without even a vote. the russians knew they were on strong grand, so the deal they got, which doesn't even include an explicit guarantee if the deal isn't kept, and i don't think there's a person watching who believes the russians and syrians can be trusted. bottom line, the russians have won, the president looks weaker, and we are in a situation where the american people, as pat was saying, are losing any

confidence in this president. >> who looks weaker, obama or boehner? >> it's hard to choose between the two of them, frankly. because the republicans continue fail to have any message at all. but i want to come back to the numbers in this poll. we're looking at something very significant. the administration, the president, mr. kerry, and the leadership in congress, both parties, went out and told the american people they have to eat the dog food and the dogs didn't eat it. then he gets up and gives a speech and demands that he do what they want. and they take all the undecided, that's the important numbers we saw in those polls, like in pew, from 23 to not. as soon as he spoke, they all went opposition. and the republicans, leadership has been part of that. the leader of the republican party got, what? >> john, you have been very critical of the speaker of the house, john boehner. who's more incompetent or inept? the president or the speaker? >> i think the speaker is marginally more incompetent and inept at the moment, including

in this episode, because he immediately came out along with the majority leader, cantor, in favor of bombing syria, without ever asking the members of his republican conference where they're at. and when they did a head count the day of the president's speech, they had a dozen members out of 190 or whatever. it's pathet -- or 200, it's pathetic how little these guys know how to lead. i want to echo something bigger than this. that 63% number in that poll, that is two-thirds of the american people telling the government, we're not doing it anymore. we're not -- like the movie network, we're mad as hell and we're not taking it anymore. and there's no leader leading that. there's no guy on tv rallying. it's grassroots. >> it's all spontaneous. >> is it foreign policy by accident? >> it is foreign policy by accident. and i sense that it's being made on the fly, along with domestic policy being done on the fly. >> the president said the only thing that counts is the end

result. it doesn't matter how messy it is. >> and that's just not true, greg. bottom line, the american people see a government that is going from crisis to crisis, that is rudderless, where there's no leadership on the democratic or republican side, and confidence in institutions, which has already been low, is getting worse. >> and here's the key thing, greg, about this, what took place. the american people, as john said, the spontaneity with which they've responded. normally, historically, when a president gives a speech or the administration says we have to take action, the country will rally around. these are the worst numbers -- >> just the opposite. >> the opposite. and more importantly, it's across the board. it's democrats, republicans and strictly independents. and it is the elite. it is the political class in washington saying, we want this in the mainstream of the country, from all parties and all ideologies going, no, no, no. this is historic. if it spills into domestic politics, it can be really big. >> stick around. our political insiders are back in a flash. don't go away. ♪

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there's a new fiscal showdown looming on capitol hill. obamacare and a possible government shutdown at the end of the month. as it stands, republicans are undecided which issue to tackle first. let's bring back our political insiders. doug, what's your take on this?

this could be really bad for the gop. >> that's what the president is counting on. he made it clear this morning with george stefanopolous. bottom line, his numbers are going down, but as weak as he is, the republican rating is actually lower than the democrats'. so the president is going to stand firm, no negotiations, and hope the republicans allow the government to shut down. the republicans will be blamed, and it is the only possibility i see in the numbers for the democrats to win the house. >> you know, pat, the republicans could easily pull a newt gingrich and self-destruct. >> yes. and by the way, they seem to have a propensity of that for the moment. we have not had this in politics for a long time, just letting it be wasted away by the republicans. if they had a confrontation on obamacare, for instance, if they did what we said on the show, which is delay the original mandate, if they confronted the

president in a way that was successful and united as opposed to shutting down the government, that will be a disaster. but the president needs this desperately. when he says he won't negotiate, that's the opening for the republicans, because that strategy didn't work for him too well in 2011. >> john, the afl-cio, the biggest backer of obamacare now suddenly hates obamacare. they met with the president behind closed doors. there is going to be an ugly deal struck that's going to help the union. >> john boehner and eric canter, i would bring in big labor. get them in there to meet the republican leadership and say, hey -- >> why don't they do that? >> they don't do anything. they are so divided. >> the stupid party. >> the stupid party and the gop can't decide which side of his party to work with. the tea party guys don't want to make a deal on anything. i think boehner would like to make deals with obama, but he can't and remain speaker at the

same time. he tried on thursday. he had a press conference and he'll ask democrats to come guard and work with them to save them because he can't get the votes. >> is obamacare just a death star? >> it is a death star. the only way it helps obama, and in most ways it doesn't, is if the republicans decide they want to close the government down over funding it. that would be a disaster for the republicans even though the issues -- >> they'll probably do it. >> yeah, i think that's right. >> the democrats are like pearls before swine. they're going to set pathway for this, praying that that's what they do. you keep wondering who will stop them, which john just said about the unions or what you suggested, right, the republicans should have done this weeks ago. they should have said, we have allies here who agree that obamacare is bad. we should delay it. no, they're going to wait until the white house buys off the unions because they buy off everybody in the end if they have to.

>> gentlemen, thank you so much. political insiders is always great stuff. you can catch more of the insiders every monday at 10:30 a.m. eastern live.foxnews.com. you can also follow them on twitter at fxinsiders. twitter at fxinsiders. don't go away. we'll be right back. did i tell you i am on the... [ both ] chicken pot pie diet! me too! [ male announcer ] so indulgent, you'll never believe they're light. 100-calorie progresso light soups.

welcome back, everybody.

well, the nation pausing to remember one of the nation's darkest chapters in history. today marks 50 years since the deadly church bombing in birmingham, alabama that killed four little girls. a memorial service in alabama honoring the victims. one civil rights leader says he remembers how painful that day was. >> i remember that i was at church getting ready to either have sunday school or the worship service, and one of our teen aged girls came up to me and had just heard about the bombing. i remember we just stood together and cried. and there was no other way to respond. >> well, these are the four girls who were killed on that september day, a testament to the suffering of the civil rights era. amazing it's been 50 years. >> it's hard to believe. that's going to do it for now. we're going to be back, though, in 30 minutes with more headlines inside america's news headquarters. and by the way, you'll want to check it out. a