the top of the polls. >> there is a desperation on behalf trying to find way to tarnish me because we have been looking through everything. they have been talking to everybody i've ever known. >> dickerson: we'll ask him about the controversy surrounding his campaign. new york democratic senator kiir tin gillibrand will also be with us as likelihood grows that it was bomb that brought down that russian jetliner, we'll talk about what that could mean for the war on terror. plus we'll have analysis on all the news. it's all ahead on "face the nation." captioning sponsored by cbs good morning welcome to "face the nation" i'm john dickerson. we're joined now by donald trump on the phone fresh off his appearance on "saturday night live." mr. trump i want to start with some of the stories about ben carson, your rival in the republican race. you suggested the stories about his autobiography are important. why are they important? >> well, first of all i hope it

works out well for ben. i am not looking to see anything bad happen to him. i've gotten to know him and like him. but tough stories. i guess he wrote a book before he was thinking to be politics we all have done that, perhaps. pretty tough things come out. when you talk about hitting your moreover the head with a a hammer i'm sure you never said that. i never said that or thought that. hitting friend in the face with a lock. with a padlock. stabbing somebody and, you know -- saying you have -- when you have pathological disease which he said. now the whole thing comes out about west point where he was talking about scholarships at west point and i know a lot about west point. they don't do the scholarship thing. lot of questions are being raised and the pyramid situation is a little bit different because frankly if you know anything about the pyramid, they are pretty solid structures, they don't have -- didn't have

steel within the span to create big vacuum. those are solid structures. talk about storing grains in the pyramids. they have very little space. space for small rooms where the pharaohs had their coffins and where they were buried essentially. lot of things are going on. i don't know. i just don't know what to think. i hope it works out fine for ben. i just doane know what to think. >> dickerson: working out fine means beating you i can't imagine -- >> not that fine. that's too fine. other than that i hope it works out fine, you're right. >> dickerson: he of course has responses to all of those questions that have been brought up. aren't they all really quite secondary to his story which is he grew up in poverty, became a famous neurosurgeon this other stuff kind of pretty much on the side, isn't it? for somebody who is also had some issues with the press, why not be on ben carson's side here about stories that really don't

>> when you say that you stabbed someone, was saved by a belt buckle that's unlikely because a belt buckle will turn. a belt buckle is not going to stop a knife. the built buckle will turn. you hit your mother over the head with a hammer or tried to, those are pretty -- when you write in book that you have pathological disease, path logical disease is not cured. you know, you had dinner with wes motherland. may not have been in the area where the dinner took place at that time according to his schedule. i don't know about that. maybe it's right. maybe it's wrong. but those are pretty tough charges. they were written by him himself. pathological stuff was written, that's very serious, pathological disease. i just don't know what to think. all i can say is i hope it works out for him, i don't know what to think about it. >> dickerson: let me ask you side. you are in the poll position on the next debate, fox news, that

means you're number one in those polls. but ahead in lot of the states but ben carson -- >> all of the states. dickerson: definitely graining on you. i think in iowa there might be be -- he might be ahead in some polls. but clearly in the other stacey you are well ahead. but give us your sense as a student of the polls that you are about carson's threat to your candidacy. how real is it. what do you make of his rise in the polls and his gaining on you? >> i think everybody is real. you have a lot of people, have lot of talented people that are running. people -- some of the people i like, i like ben. but some of the people that i like very much i think everybody is a threat. i've never done this before. i've built a great company, made a lot of money, i want to put that thinking for the people of the united states and we're just being ripped off by everybody. ripped off by every single country that we deal with. we're being ripped off in purchase of military equipment. i look at the kind of prices that we're taking, it's

absolutely ridiculous, we can get better equipment for less money. so many different things. i view everybody as a very good competitor. even the people that are much lower in the polls than myself or that ben or anybody else. everybody is a competitor. >> dickerson: i want to ask you question about your tax plan, we'll play clip from "saturday night live" last night. then i want to ask you coming out of that. >> jimmy, how is the economy? >> amazing, sir. in the word of our new national anthem, it's huge. after your tough negotiations with china you are killing them on trade. they're now borrowing money from us. i have no idea how you did it, sir. >> you know what, i don't have to get specific. with me it's just works. it's magic. it's just -- always been that way my whole life. >> dickerson: you were kidding there. but when you announce your tax plan in september you said that these two would be specifics about what you would cut in order to make the numbers add up. when are those -- when are we going to see those specifics

>> you'll be seeing them soon. very easy thing to do, because you look at the fat and the waste and the fraud and the abuse that we have. it's incredible. the other thing i'm going to do bring back jobs. i'm going to bring back great numbers of jobs from china, from japan from, india. from brazil. from so many countries that have been just absolutely stealing our jobs. and, john, it's going on to a level this you've never seen before. we now have corporate things that companies are moving out of the united states, they will be moving out. big numbers if we don't do something quickly and my plan stops all of that. and it will stop it. you have to be smart to stop it. used to be when people would leave new york for florida because of taxes or leave new jersey for texas or something. now, they leave the united states for ireland and europe and different -- and asia where they get better deals. >> dickerson: you want to close the loopholes. >> and bring back trillions of dollars that is stuck in other

countries that we won't let back in because we don't have intelligent people running our country. >> dickerson: what about other loopholes, charitable giving. >> mortgage interest deduction would stay, absolutely. charitable interest would not stay that was the one of the ways that the hedge fund guys who make a lot of money pay very little tax. they carry interest defix. hung fund folks are not exactly happy with me that i can tell you. >> dickerson: any other big cuts you can preview for us. you have a lot of math to cover up there. >> you have a lot of math but we start making our country strong the numbers become incredible, what happens. john, when the country starts kick can in, we have dynamic economy again, the numbers are unbelievable what happens. right now, you want to unleash the genius that is america. that's our country. and you just unleash it. that's what is going to happen under my plan. much more so than any other plan. one thing i will say, you talk about polls, every poll said that when it comes to the

and the economy, i'm many times higher than my next highest rival. that's a pretty important thing, i think. >> dickerson: okay. donald trump, we'll look forward to having you back on to talk about those spes i have, thanks for boo with us. >> thanks very much, john. dickerson: earlier we spoke to former neurosurgeon dr. ben carson from san juan, puerto rico. some back and forth that took place about passing note in your autobiography by being offered spot at west point. here is something this you said at proceedings conference on friday. >> i never said i received a full scholarship. i never -- wait a minute. don't lie. i never said that i received a full scholarship. no way did i say that. >> dickerson: full scholarship how they refer to the tuition program. but you told charlie rose about a full scholarship back on october 9th, let's listen to this. >> i was oered a full scholarship to west point,

congressional medal of honor, but the fact really my pathway would be medicine. >> dickerson: straighten all this out for us. >> you notice i said, was offered. i didn't say i received it. it was in the process of some kind of banquet where lot of military officials there. they were very impressed with my incredible rise to sitting executive officer faster than anyone had ever done that before. said that we would be able to get you a full scholarship to west point. and i said, that's wonderful. i was very flattered by that. but i had already determined that i was going to go to -- on to college and on to medical school. that's what happened. i was offered that. but that was not something i wanted to take. i had tremendous admiration obviously for west point which is why i included that story.

the people who served in-country for people to try to take this and twist it and make it seem like something dishonest seems like dishonesty itself. also i said, within the book very close to that, that i only applied to one college. i said only had enough money to apply to one college i told the story behind that. how could i have applied to west point if i only applied to yale. that doesn't make any sense it seems to me that some of these people that do these investigations are not very good at investigating. >> dickerson: the scrutiny you're receiving, senator obama received some about his autobiography, hillary clinton got things wrong in the stories she told. seems to be something that happens to candidates or do you think it's -- do you think you're getting special scrutiny with these investigations that you just referred to?

lot of people who are very threatened, they seen head to head polling against hillary and how well i do. they are worried. there is no question about it. and every single day, every other day or every week, they're going to come out with, well, you said this when you were 134 1/3rd. did you this. and the whole point is, to distract the populous, distract me. if you got real scandal, if you got something that's really important, let's talk about that. yesterday it was the "wall street journal" that comes out says, well, he reports in his book that he took this psychology course but we went to yale. there was no such psychology course. there was no such -- what happened to investigative reporting. because we were able to find the article and it will be coming out in the next day or two showing what happened with that psychology course. why could we find it and they could not find it.

why do people put that out there to make the accusation, make somebody seem dishonest then disproven, let's go to something else. give me a break. there's so many important things that need to be talked about. >> dickerson: let me ask you question about what you wrote very popular post on facebook that you wrote answering some questions that you said supporters have brought up in terms of your political experience. you said that signers of the declaration of independence people who were not professional politicians on that list but the founder president were people who were men in public life. either commanded troops or been in the cut and thrust of public conversation for a long time. where would you point your supporters for that kind of experience in your background? >> i would say that we all have different experiences in life. that our country was designed for citizens statesmen not career politicians. i've had lots of experience in

life growing up experiencing every single socioeconomic level. a whole multitude of different jobs, being appointed of neurosurgery at very young age when it wasn't even on the map. working very hard over the years to establish it as a very important program in the united states so that by 2008, u.s. news and world report ranked it number one in the nation. experience on corporate boards, international business. as well as domestic business. starting a national scholars program which is active in all 50 states, a reading room program that have won national awards that are only given to one organization in the country. out of tens of thousands. that's a lot of experience. in terms of the two and three o'clock in the morning phone call when you have to make life and death decision i'm sure i've had lot more of that than

everybody else combined. >> dickerson: an issue that has risen to the top in new hampshire and particular a pool that showed biggest problem facing the state, 25% of the people thought that drug abuse and drug addiction was the biggest problem facing voters there. as a doctor, what is your sense of human side of addiction, where does it come from. how should it best be treated. >> there are all kinds of addictions. usually addictions occur in people who are vulnerable. who are lacking something in their lives. we have to really start asking ourselves what have we taken out of our lives in america. what are some of those values and principles that allowed us to ascend the latter of success to the very pinnacle of the world and highest pinnacle anyone else had ever reached. and why are we in a process of

throwing away all of our values and principles for the sake of political correctness. now let me just specifically talk about a type of addiction that's going on that is very alarming. heroin addiction. because there is a transportation of heroin through our southern boarders that is unimaginable. i was down there with the sheriffs they were showing me the stashes and how easy it is to get the stuff, that's why the price has gone down so low. you can purchase it so easily. this is not a good thing for us. we need to not give up on this war on drugs and certainly not to facilitate it. we can do this, but we have to have the national will to do this. >> dickerson: you've gotten secret service protection, have there been threats made against you during this campaign? >> the way it works, you don't get is service unless there are credible threats.

>> dickerson: been a lot of those? >> i can't really go into the details. i've been advised not to publicly go into the details of the threats. >> dickerson: dr. ben carson in puerto rico, of course, thank you so much, doctor. >> always a pleasure. dickerson: be back in a minute.riety of market conditions... you can feel confident... ...in our experience. call a t. rowe price retirement specialist or your advisor ...to see how we can help make the most of your retirement savings. t. rowe price. invest with confidence. it's easy to buy insurance and forget about it. but the more you learn about your coverage, the more gaps you might find. like how you thought you were covered for all this... when you're really only covered for this. hot dog? or how you may think you're covered for this... but not for this... whoa! no, no, oh , oh!

...or this. ...or that... talk to farmers and see what gaps could be hiding in your coverage. my heaven! we are farmers bum - pa - dum. bum - bum - bum - bum >> dickerson: the crash of russian passenger jet that killed 24 people. u.s. intelligence believes it is now likely the russian plane was brought down by a bomb. joining sus cbs news senior security contributor former number two at the cia, michael morell. how can they get so likely without having access intelligence to the crash site? >> so, i think we're talking about the communications that are being intercepted of the conversations among the terrorists. early on there was just chatter, there was just individuals congratulating each other, that wasn't enough to get you to a

could be circular with the claim of responsibility by isis. but now getting to more senior conversation among isis, conversations among guys be in the know that they actually did this. i think that is what pushing us from a possibility to likely. >> dickerson: what does this tell us, what are implications in terms of what this tells us about isis and they shifted? >> i think this is very, very significant -- this will be only the third aircraft brought down by a bomb in the last quarter century. this is a very big deal. largest loss of life in a plane brought down by bomb since pan am 103 overlocker bee, scotland. it's going to add to the perception that isis is winning. that is been key strength infers of attracting followers, attracting recruit. that's one implication. another is that isis now has about 20 different affiliates around the world, militant groups.

for who can do something like this. then you have al qaeda which since 9/11 has worked very hard to try to bring down an airliner they have been unsuccessful this must be kind of message to them that we need to do something like this to keep our brand alive. and then the last implication i think is in russia. where there will be two dynamics. one is they will be suspending our intervention in syria brought this one, a little bit of political blow back against putin but at the same time they're going to see putin's reaction of i'm going to get revenge here, i'm going after isis big time to make it clear that i'm not going to stand for something like this. >> dickerson: if the military operations against isis had been taking place in syria and iraq, what you describe affiliate network. and what about all these other places? >> as i said, there's been militant groups in 20 countries that always existed that have been focused on local targets that have been focused on local issues that when isis was doing

exceptionally well, they decided to brand themselves as isis. they decided to go with the lead team, so to speak. the consequences that have they're no longer just focused on local issues now focused on the broader war. they're going after more international targets. this is perfect example of that. >> dickerson: what about u.s. targets? >> i think we've already seen it. one of the isis groups in libya, several months ago went after an international hotel in tripoli frequented by international businessmen and americans were killed there. more that have kind of attack include can attacks against americans. >> dickerson: in terms of the russian response, what your sense of -- outlined couple of different responses that's your guess about what putin does? >> i think he uses this to try to rally the russian people to follow him. but i think there will be people in russia particularly in the middle class who believe that he's taking the country in the

speak up about what's happening. >> dickerson: the last 30 seconds, there was report that political report friday that hillary clinton's e-mails were not actually classified material. if it's possible, taking a politics out of it, does that surprise you. >> john, it does not. the working people in the intelligence committee whose job it is to decide whether that's classified or not are really good people. they are really working hard. but they have a bias toward saying something is classified. why? because they only get in trouble when they look at something that is classified say, it's not. so they have a bias in favor of saying it's classified. i have personal experience with this on both sides. when i was do you tee director of cia i was adjudicator looking at a judgment somebody side, no, that's not classified. then wrote my book i was on the other side and senior people saying, that's not classified. >> dickerson: michael morell.

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>> dickerson: donald trump introduced new elements to the presidential campaign. rides for the kids at the iowa state fair. buzzing a stadium in his private jumbo jet. and last night he became the first candidate to imagine a presidential cabinet meeting with the help of the cast of "saturday night live." exaggerations are only a little smaller than the ones he makes in his actual campaign. >> madam secretary, how is the situation in russia? >> never better. your face to face meet can putin has withdrawn from ukraine. you do not want to be called loser again. he cried for hours. >> i'm sorry i just had to do that. keep up the good work amorosa you're doing fantastic.

>> mr. president, the president of mexico is here to see. >> that's great. send him in. >> donald. >> enrique. >> i brought you the check for the wall. >> that's so wonderful. [ laughter ] >> this is far too much money. >> i insist. consider it apology for doubting you. history shows us nothing brings two countries together like a wall. >> so sorry we have big problem. >> what is it? >> the american people, sir. >> what that. >> they're just sick of winning. they're winning so much! it's just too great, sir. >> look, i know how they feel. it's exhausting. that's what really -- that is the price you have to pay. winning is tough. it's not that easy. if you think that is how it's you're wrong. >> dickerson: we'll be right back.i history matter to you?

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>> dickerson: new jersey us now. sir sten gillibrand. talk a little about the news of the day. president obama said it might have been possible that there was bomb on this russian airliner that went down. perhaps terrorist act what do you know about that as member of the armed services committee? >> well, we have no intelligence beyond certainly what the president has.

it is interesting that u.k. intelligence think more likely than not that it could have been a bomb. it's a serious issue. obviously this issue of terrorism really weighs on the american people. i think it's important that we fully investigate it. that we know all the answers. and understand really what was at play. >> dickerson: if, this is a big if, if isis was involved, what does that tell you about their changing profile and the u.s. fight against isis? >> it would seem to be a change in profile. it would seem to be a different level of capacity that we've not seen in the past. and obviously that would cause grave concern for many of us who focus on national security, as new yorker we are often the number one terror target we've been table to avert attempts in the past. it's very important that we do this whole investigation so we are knowledgeable. >> dickerson: what is your feeling about the war against isis. particularly in syria the president has 50 special operations troops in there, what did you think that have note?

>> well, i think he needs an authorization from congress. he would need -- if he wants to put troops on the ground in syria he does not have authorization to do that. i did not support his strategy to arm the rebels, i didn't think that would work. i thought those arms would end up in the hands of isil i was very concerned about that the and voted against the armed services bill because of it. i do think he needs to come back to congress if he wants to create this new strategy of radio 1/5 advisors who will be on the ground in some mission, i think it's important that he get permission of congress to do so. >> dickerson: what is the underlying choice that have strategy? >> i think it's -- i don't think it's a strategy that will work long term. i think isil is great threat. i think what we could be doing more of dealing with humanitarian crisis. i wish we were focused on how we can create relief for millions of families that are streaming out of syria. i see our european partners pick

responsibility for these families, what germany has done is outstanding. america should be doing more. >> dickerson: does it mean no fly zone to protect them? >> that is something that the administration has been considering. no fly zone require, if it's humanitarian no fly zone require boots on the ground. that's not something that i support right now. not something that the american people want to see. thousands of troops in seary we need to do something about the humanitarian crisis. i think we should be stepping up, we should be receiving more families, we should receive them before 2017, be doing it now. i see pictures of children dying, crying, suffering, we should be doing more. >> dickerson: let me talk to you about thing you've been working hard on getting funding for the 9/11 first responders, what is the state of the legislation and funding for those who rushed in after the attack? >> it's more outrage that we're not standing by our first

these are the men and women who reached the towers when everyone else was coming down did awful hard work looking for responders then looking for remains. if you remember the days after 9/11 the toxins were streaming out of the site. they were breathing in these toxins for weeks and months. unfortunately these men are now dying. more police officers have died since 9/11 than on 9/11. over 200 first responders have died since 9/11 from these diseases. they are thousands that are sick. tens of thousands who are being treated today in every state in the country. i think it's a moral outrage that members of congress are not doing the right thing and standing by them. we need to reauthorize the program, it needs to be permanent, we've had this program up and running for five years, it's been fluent. we've seated cancers and other diseases now directly caused by 9/11 toxins it's been proven. there's no reason that anyone should stand in the way, if they do they're putting politics before people.

mistake to not support them. >> dickerson: let me ask you about wall street. your constituent in the democratic party there is a big conversation about the role of wall street. a lot of democrats, lot of liberals say, we got to go right at wall street to tilt the economic field, but also because it's an important symbol we need as a party to be tough on wall street, because it shows all across the country that we are for thed 9% not for the 1%. what do you make of that? >> i think there's a huge issue in the country about income equality and lack of community. if you're talking about inner city with more likely that young african american male is going to go to jail than graduate from college, that's a huge problem. we have to fix that. there is injustice throughout our economy. throughout opportunity, throughout access to education. the fact that young kids aren't getting universal pre-k in too many cities aren't getting universe call kindergarten. access to affordable daycare is harming the future for our

children in every part of this country. in terms of wall street, worst thing in the world for america to have another financial collapse. legitimate issues that need to be reviewed to make sure we have the right oversight and accountability over our banking institution. to make sure that the way the agencies are being held accountable for how they will play in the financial class. we want the financial markets to always be there for us to fund our businesses, to fund the economy. and i think both sides of that coin are legitimate areas for debate and discussion. >> dickerson: do you think there is a little over doing it in going after wall street as the heart of this inequality that you describe? >> i think it's shorthand for the larger picture. people will target wall street because they're talking about income inequality because lack of opportunity. that dough don't have paid leave in this country. that more often than not women are -- can't reach their full earning potential.

those are issues that trouble people. so, oftentimes summarized into some negative talking point about banking or wall s. but i think substantive issues are very legitimate. we do need more reform to continue to keep our markets stable. >> dickerson: donald trump is constituent of yours do you think he'll get the nomination in the -- >> you are the pundit is, not me. i have no idea. >> dickerson: all right. senator gillibrand thanks so much. we'll be back in a moment. it's the final countdown! the final countdown! if you're the band europe, you love a final countdown. it's what you do. if you want to save fifteen percent or more on car insurance, you switch to geico.

>> dickerson: we're back with our political panel, molly ball is with the atlantic. david ignatious columnist with the "washington post." ben domenech and ed o'keefe covers politics for the "washington post." ed, i'll start with you. ben carson in stories about his autobiography is this a threat or a natural to be swatted away? >> he thinks it's a natural. his opponents as mr. trump planned to seize on it. i'm fascinated with you his response to all this. the idea that presidential candidates especially those

get vetted, don't get scrutinized lot more. he's clearly struggling with this. the suggestion that others have not gone through this, ignores history. gary hart, joe biden, bill clinton, certainly president obama. can they change the subject or ultimately derail their candidacy. >> dickerson: in the case of his back story, though, this isn't a central claim at the heart of it. his story is from poverty to famed neurosurgeon. west point is a little bit of side show. >> it is. i think ed is right that idea that candidate would be vetted not at all outrageous but ben carson has won this round. there is no doubt. the fact that he had a plausible explanation for the west point thing. even if there was maybe minor exaggeration, original story did not hold up to scrutiny. frankly i think lot of people want to see ben carson be tested. because he hasn't been in politics before.

story and for his belief you want to know that he can handle a little bit of scrutiny. so far he has handling it i think pretty defendantly. you got under his skin, started to seem a little irritated but for the most part this is man who keeps his cool. >> dickerson: ben, he's raised a lot of money off of this. you could argue that you basically couldn't design better thing as primary candidate. gets to say the press is after me, which keeps him from being asked questions again. gets to raise money off of it. as molly says looks like he's won this round. >> i make it general policy not to disagree with molly unless i think about it very seriously. i agree. absolutely benefits ben carson. he is the candidate of course who is basing his entire campaign on his biography this narrative about his life. the one problem for candidates like that is that when that is the only basis they have, when they don't have the political career and record to shift the

questions are raised about the biography it gives them less of an alternative point to make. i think in this case the mistake was going after candidate basically saying that he was lying about something that he had never said exactly in those terms, i think it was there for over played. certainly came to his benefit. >> dickerson: i talked to dr. carson about experience. he wrote his supporters said, the planners of the declaration of independence didn't have lot of experience from, a national security perspective, we're having a conversation in this campaign about as senator have better experience, does a governor now two people running, three i guess if you include carly fiorina without any of that experience, give me your sense of what the test is. can they just walk in to the job of the president. >> they shouldn't. the purpose of this period in the campaign for hard questions to be asked in debates, in

of these candidates unfortunately sometimes becomes the gotcha primary, instead of asking the fundamental question, is this person qualified do they have vision or anything else we instead focus on small inconsistencies, gaffs, things we dig out 20 years ago. people getting angry at. that the fundamental work of asking what would this person do as president. what really are their views. that's what we need to really he can focus on. won't be pushed back by ben carson complaining about our questions and vetting because that's key job. >> it's not so much due to the media as to the priorities of the people themselves. right now we just saw donald trump go on demonstrate qualities that one needs to be commander in chief which is ability to dance to drake and send out particularly funny tweets. frankly if your attitude is

guy who seems like barnum and bailey. as much driven by demand of the people for entertainment than media actually asking questions. if you want to dig into policies related to what ben carson thought about tpp or trade, about foreign relations or the like that's probably going to get lot less attention than anything something about the pyramids. >> in the end comes down to voters. if they are satisfied with the kind of huxterism, to be great reality tv star that is going to be decisive. we'll see the numbers. we've never had primary season quite like this. is. >> dickerson: one of the candidates who hopes will move back towards serious business of governing to jeb bush. he is guy been trying to reboot this week. he's had a bus tour, done a lot of interviews, talked compellingly about his daughter's struggle with addiction.

where -- debate coming up with the republicans, where does the bush campaign stand and is this debate make or break for him? >> i think it is another make or break moment. the last one certainly broke him a little bit. and he stood farther back, he's no longer center stage, he's in single digits nationally despite depending millions of dollars. this week is even more critical because, can you keep to this new theme, can you remain disciplined with unmessaged as you were last week. his campaign downsized. there's no doubt that the staffers have taken pay cuts, parted ways with others, reassigned others. but still a guy who wants to be everywhere as much as possible. the question will be, can he really focus relentlessly solely on places like new hampshire, maybe south carolina, a little bit in home state of florida. just keep doing that circuit. john kasich, chris chris tree proved if you focus on one place, your numbers will rise potentially sparks will fly. but the other thing that was

stunning about this week, that book that came out about his father, the idea that one former president is critiquing another former president in tell all is unprecedented to begin w. fact that they're both related to someone running. creates new questions about his family what he believes, whether he agrees with his brother or dad. just creates another headache at really tough time. >> dickerson: what did you make that have book? about george w. bush. >> captured fundamental dilemma for jeb. is he with his brother, bush 43 or dad bush 41. his dad was so critical the knew o'connor servetive advisors, people around bush 43, those are the very people that jeb has brought into his campaign as advisors. you have to say bush family primary jeb is voting for his brother over his father in recent months. >> dickerson: the rest of the republican field, chris christie

not making debate stage. as i mentioned gaining ground in new hampshire, not making, is that a big deal,. >> this is deal for him for mike huckabee who got kicked off the big stage. we are seeing narrowing maybe forced narrowing, people aren't dropping out it's remarkable that no one has dropped out since scott walker saw the writing on the wall. we do have the debate now coming down to eight people, jeb as ed said moving farther from the center of that stage. only so far you can get out to the wings. i think trump is still in the middle that have stage. he is still the front runner this has been a durable phenomenon. part of what you see happening is that his support has solidified. people have wandered about from him. saw a dip for him. then went back up because people didn't find anybody else that they liked. i think we see voters who maybe once just glommed on to trump because he was interesting now hardening because they don't see

anything better out there in the field. >> there's an effort on the part of backers of michael rubio to make a push at this moment, to push forward the endorsements and backers and push jeb bush and others out. realize he needs to slit file that support in order to position himself for the long haul. >> dickerson: alternative person to the trump, carson side. we'll pause there. we'll be back with our panel in

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e you can actually count on. dad: hey, culligan man. culligan man: hey! dad: this is great! culligan man: i know. >> dickerson: we're back with more of our panel. david, talk to you about this russian plane and the claims of responsibility by isis, what is your take? >> as evidence grows that this was a bomb that brought down the russian plane over sinai, i think it's causing some fundamental concern, the analytical view of isis that they were so focused on building their fate, not seeking external actions, not other than low risk attacks isolated not all that damaging.

i could da style. this shoot down of the plane if that is what it proves will change that assessment. as michael morell said, the demonstration for other groups and for other branches of isis look at the uproar that it's causing, cancellation of flights. say we want to get in that game, too. that is a real problem. >> dickerson: change response from the u.s. in terms of -- >> u.s. in very tricky position. i was told this morning is seeking to be helpful to russia, and to equip in this investigation providing intelligence. but u.s. does not want to signal to russia that it's back to business as usual. there's insistence, as long as you have troops in eastern ukraine, long as crimea is resolved. >> seriously situation where you have the russians have an opportunity to demonstrate to once again that they are more

we've seen it happen before it's going to continue. obviously there are risk for recruitment in terms of domestic as michael morell mentioned. just a western nation experiencing blow back. the president really should be talking to the egyptians i feel like demonstrating that we are going to be patron. >> dickerson: we'll switch back to politics now. molly, "des moines register" has headline today that means, as iowa debate approaches, clinton seems inevitable again. is that where the democratic race stands? >> she is in commanding position. there are only three candidates left, hillary clinton and bernie standers and martin o'malley -- completely -- bernie has fallen back since hillary has had run of good news. debate performance if she pulls off another performance like

last one just going to be more of this narrative i think that she is on top by a wide margin and nobody seems to be able to knock her off. and i think looking ahead, obviously unexpected things could happen. we in the media get bored when there's no conflict, we try to start some trouble, i think that's part of what this bernie has gone negative scene has been about. just the desperate desire for some kind of real contest. but barring something unexpected, potentially she wins iowa the whole thing is over. >> dickerson: bernie has gone negative. he's gone there in slow steps. somewhat reluctantly i think. it's on the margins. what is fascinating, too, is the pushback he's gotten either suddenly or explicitly from the clinton camp with the idea of sexism. i think very interesting to see how he rides that out. but also how republicans handle that. there is -- lessons to be

rick lazio has the wounds to remind of how you campaign against a woman like her. but it will be very interesting to see if sanders comes up with anything that sticks and raises fresh doubts with liberal voters about her. because so far in the last few weeks. also part of the reason why republicans are getting anxious, oktad about consolidating the sooner they can do that, focus the fire on her not be squabbling among themselves and potentially blow an opportunity. >> i feel like in this situation bernie sanders has enormous opportunity to be more critical of hillary clinton to the fusion that she did sign this non-disclosure agreement related to the materials to her e-mails this is situation where if bernie wand to be more critical as commander in chief, potential president he could be. fact that he isn't sends the message this is more about ideas that he wants to espouse. >> dickerson: david, a quick

clip from president obama here. talking about the republicans and their debate. anger at the cnbc moderators. >> it turns out they can't handle a bunch of cnbc moderators. [ applause ] if you can't handle those guys -- you know, then, i don't think the chinese and the russians are going to be too worried about you. >> dickerson: i play that because it seems like he's in a sweet spot before nominee gets named where he can have fun at the republicans expense. what did you make of it? >> i thought a great line. i thought there some was truth to it. the republican debate may have been a disaster for the media asking the questions, but i didn't think the bulk of the candidates came out very well. and all the squabbling, media so mean, they're asking nasty

i think that makes republican candidates diminishes them. if they stay on that, may work with some republican primary, but i can't imagine effective with the electorate as whole that people are looking for someone who can be commander in chief that's not the person who whines about media coverage. >> dickerson: we'll have chance to see tuesday night. have to end it there. as your moderator cuts you off. mean moderator. we'll be right back. bob dylan. to improve my language skills, i've read all of your lyrics. you've read all of my lyrics? i can read 800 million pages per second. that's fast. my analysis shows your major themes are that time passes. and love fades. that sounds about right. i have never known love.

maybe we should write a song together. i can sing. you can sing? do be bop. be bop do. do be do be do.

>> dickerson: neat all we have time for today. be sure to tune in next saturday for democratic debate break university in des moines, iowa. live at contract p.m. eastern 6:00 pacific. plus "face the nation" will be broadcasting from the debate site the next morning. until next week for "face the

stacey: right now on "close up." just 6 days until the 3 remaining democratic candidates descend on des moines for their second debate. coming up, what to expect when hillary, bernie and martin hit the stage. kcci 8 news close up starts right now. >> this is iowa's news leader. you are watching kcci 8 news close up. stacey: welcome to kcci "close up." saturday, kcci 8 tv will co-host

the second democratic debate