closed captioning courtesy of wjla captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> production assistants for "inside washington" is provided by albritton communications. ♪ >> we send a clear message to the washington insiders. >> of this week, fear and loathing of incumbents on the campaign trail. >> it ain't over yet. >> delousing housing numbers spell bad news for the obama white house. >> i have had a house that has been sitting parenti for a year- and-a-half. >> they square off on housing and the economy. >> 19 months of government asking to be reorganized. it hasn't worked. >> for eight years before we

arrived in the west wing, mr. behner's party ran the economy into the ground. >> glen beck comes to the lincoln memorial for a rally to restore america's honor. >> hi, how are you? ♪ >> the incumbent republicans be aware -- nobody is seen as a sure thing. democrats are banking on the economic recovery and that is not happening. they could lose the house and senate. you also have a huge enthusiasm gap. 3000 more republicans have turned out what is happening out there? >> i don't know the full extent. washington insiders are not in charge.

>> it is warm sunny and unusually dry out there. democrats had a message tuesday. they are screwed. >> what we have seen here is that sarah palin has emerged as a leader of the republican party. the intellectual foundation of the republican party as well. >> it is not a good year to run as a washington insider. i think that is fairly well established. i don't know anybody who is doing so. >>as inside as you can get. i was born at 14th wasand k. >> a thursday editorial says republican incumbents from the far right did well in tuesday's primary. what their campaign's lack in logic and compassion seems to be counterbalanced by eight fiercely committed voter base where there is nowhere to be seen on the democratic side. however, insurgents did not win

everywhere. not in arizona. >> this will be a consequential election. no one should have any doubt about that. no one is satisfied with the current condition of our country. i know arizonans like americans elsewhere are rightly concerned with the direction we seem to be heading in. staggering unemployment, a devastated housing market, that shows little times of improvement, a river of red ink. >> i would say that that pretty much states the case parade you cannot argue with that. >> john mccain did win an impressive victory. make no mistake about it. j.d. hayworth was within single digits of him and john mccain put together eight formula which is make your opponent the issue. pointing out every flaw that your opponent has. j.d. came with a lot of baggage

per . our good friend jack a. graaff -- a term of them --abramoff. >> sarah palin was a factor. she went to arizona and spoke up for john mccain. that underscores the point i am trying to make about sarah palin not only being a political force but also an intellectual force in the republican party. >> he is trying to bait me. i will not take it. >> i am far from beijing you. >> john mccain ran right. he was the man in the middle and the man who work with kennedy, fine gold and all the immigration. this year, if you run right at

you generally wind. if the air is no ideological difference. if there is no right in florida, scott, the guy with the money runs against the guy who has been in washington forever, you win. if there is no ideological split, being an outsider helps you. generally speaking, this will be an ideological year. >> there was an on known alaska lawyer and had the backing of sarah palin. tell us about that. >> this is a case were all those polls we talk about we should stop talking about as much as a prognosticator is can't figure out, the polling is not touching in the right places. no where was down from more rakowski the incumbent senator, he had 20 points in some cases.

he comes out of nowhere and basically the race is a draw and it will come down to the absence the -- absentee ballots that have to be counted. sarah palin has a lot of jews out there. -- most of the juice out there. you can combine that with a general frustration with washington. we have yet another republican incumbent who could go down in their own primary. i would believe she would be the third republican incumbent. it is further evidence that the real anger on -- is on the republican side for the democrats have to be wary because they have apathy on their side. that is a lethal combination for the democrats. >> jo miller is fascinating. he is an anomaly. he is an ardent conservative. he wants to privatize social security. he thinks unemployment

insurance benefits are unconstitutional. more than that, he is against federal spending. in alaska. alaska gets $6 for every dollar it sent to washington. that has been the organizing principle that every alaska politician of either party and here is joe miller coming in with heresy. he does not want federal monitor if that doesn't become an issue, then it is a >> what about ted stevens? >> fla., this guy scott was a former ceo of a company that paid $1.7 billion in fines? >> it was for medicare fraud this is an issue that republicans tried to use against him in the primary. it did not go anywhere. the test that we have to see is whether independence can be played by these kind of arguments. he is one of several very wealthy candidates where the

money got them in but the money can become their biggest weakness. they get attacked from that front. we don't know how independence might respond to those kind of candidates. >> the democrats looked out on this because scott is the weaker of the two candidates because of his financial history and problems. ironically, on the senatorial side, i think the republicans had a break because meeks, the guy who was the establishment candidate who was a reasonable candidate, democrat, won against -- ran against the greene. meek will split the democratic vote with charlie crist which means you will likely get a rubio as a result of that primary. >> rubio will help the republican candidate also.

>> we will come back to politics in a minute. let's listen to house minority leader john painter and joe biden. >> president obama should ask for the resignations of the remaining members of his economic team starting with secretary tim geithner and larry summers, the head of the national economic council panel they took a $237 billion offering surplus inherited from the clinton administration and left us with a $1.30 trillion deficit in the process quadrupled the national debt all before we literally turned on the lights in the west wing. >> the vice president wants us to look back to the previous administration. what the voters heard this week is that on president obama's watch, sales of new homes plunged in july and sales of existing homes dropped more than 27% and that is a record. >> it is. i think john behner is now

hoping there will be economic recovery in this country and that we will get unemployment down to 4% he hopes to get the manufacturing sector going. he wants to see economic recovery more than anything in the world. do you believe that? this is good news for republicans. they want to keep it just like it is through the election. >> the gdp was much lower than expected, 1.6%. >> this has been an awful week. you are getting a return of fear. what we had for a year-and-a- half is bad economic conditions which hurt incumbents. we had a panic in 2008 with the collapse of lehman brothers and that was new and that affected the governing party. you are getting now historically unprecedented housing numbers which trouble lowest in 50 years. we have a decrease of gdp.

the market is retreating. you have people now afraid that we may have a double-dip recession or even worse. that return is what will hurt democrats. it is bad enough that conditions are lousy and you're getting slow recovery. the idea that you might be headed over a cliff and we had that sense in 2009 but we averted that. obama said he was right in calling us back. there is a sense now that we are heading into thelma and louise territory. >> tim geithner says we are on the road to recovery. no, we aren't. why are people who know better? paul krugman says it is about he evading responsibility. >>this is not behner's solution, paul krugman says we did not

spend enough money. >> it was a $1 trillion stimulus and he wants another $1 trillion. >> they cannot be laid responsibility. that is just ridiculous. whatever happens will happen on their watch and they will be tagged with it. what is interesting is when you look at the clip you set up between behner and biting, that is the message for the fall. this will be a class war for election. it will look backward and forward because both sides want to make that argument. >> you are absolutely right. john behner has introduced a campaign strategy which is vaguenessd. that will be the agenda and the platform. he is asking to fire people. the problem for the democrats is this -- the energizer bunny for

the 2002 debt -- 2006-2008 campaign has disappeared because of george w. bush being a circumspect and discreet former president. it makes it very difficult for democrats to demonize him again. he has become a non-per cent. >son. he has not said anything controversial and that makes it a tougher fight for joe biden. >> hope and change was specific? everybody is out of power especially if conditions are bad they promise everything vaguely and this will be a referendum on the incumbent >> let's get back to primary politics. >> this will be a battle royale on this issue of tax cuts.

the middle class needs more tax cuts. small businesses need more tax cuts. the tax cuts for the super- wealthy, they can't count on me to stand by them. i am standing by the folks that work everyday. >> that was kendrick meek who won the primary. he has an uphill battle? >> that is a tough battle i think rubio will get a lift because democratic constituent groups will rally around meek. i watched the primary and jeff green, the bizarre billionaire, who is not a big issue and his friendship with mike tyson and fleiss and other exotica and erotic figures, he made one of the great concession speeches i have ever heard it was

uplifting. it was mature. it was generous. he endorsed meek and promised to help him and meek came on and blew a chance to make a case for himself. he thanked every town and hamlet and city in the state of florida. it was everybody on his christmas card list, i think. he blew a great opportunity. the question will be where does charles crist go from this point, the republican governor. ? if he doesn't do it, to injectmeek could be more -- kendrick meek could be more competitive >> when jeffrey green was accused, he said drugs were used on his yacht. mike tyson said he only used drugs off the yacht and never on the yacht. when mike tyson was there it was

a problem. the democrats would have a problem if jeff green had run. the democrats would have supported charles crist and he would be rubio. with meek in the race, he will get the african-american vote, the democratic support and they will split the democratic constituency and rubio is up by about 10 points in the latest poll that i think it is bad hopes for the democrats in florida. >> i believe we are headed toward a quick vote which is anti-rubio. crist has money in the bank and he will fight and that's well heardmeek. you move backwards and you scott fits into this. the government wants scott as

the for governor but they want his bank account. he can now finance a full state operation which they were not sure they had before. that will help rubio and everybody on the ticket. all at all, this is bad news for the democrats. >> the top democrats are pretty gloomy about holding on to the house. what about the senate? >> i think we will not see a republican takeover of the house. >> i think you are the minority now than i am the minority and other ways. >> i am the minority in other ways. i think we will see the obama campaign. i think we will see a change. i think meek did this right.

he will need his base to get going. he did not reach a national audience but he introduced himself to people who will help him in florida. he is a meat and potatoes guy. he is not flamer at all. >> what will the new house and senate look like? >> from the republican point of view, the ideal situation would be that at the end of the day, when the dust settles, there will be 220 democrats in the house and to moderate 15 republicans and 51 democrats in the senate and 49 republicans. i say that because that would set up 2012. that would give democrats responsibility. it would not give them the power, no ability to get things done. this would be impossible for them to pass anything except a mother's day resolution.

the republicans would have no accountability going into 2012. bad for the country but good for the republicans. >> how will the public reacted to two years of gridlock? >> we have gridlock and that is why the voters are mad. they pass health care reform. we have health care reform, financial reform, stimulus, things pass. >> that is what has upset the voters. what else is upsetting them? >> the economy is number one. secondly, obama over reached his agenda and democrats controlled the house and senate and led the 2008 election as a mandate to change america in a liberal way and i think they overdid it. the democrats passed health care, the most sweeping social reform in 50 years. even if the presidency ended yesterday, he will be remembered for a decade.

financial reform and the stimulus, people have seen no results that they like. as a result, they will blame the president, the congressional leadership, and the ideology. i think it is an ideological election. >> we are fighting two wars at the same time. >> according to our administration, the iraq war is over wednesday. >> there are still is -- there are still 50,000 american troops over there. >> they are not involved in combat. >> he is your president. >> i know. >> americans are being shot at and take ied's every day over their. >> is it 5%? barack obama and the democrats will be in good shape and that will be seen as a significant and historical legislative achievement. the economy is it.

jim baker went to war in 1991. he drove saddam hussein out of kuwait. he said it was about jobs. that was his explanation. that is what this campaign is about miraculously, unemployment would have dropped by hello wayne to 7%, there would be a lift in a democratic support. >> this was about the economy and not the 2008 election. it is about the dissatisfaction of the dissatisfaction with george bush. >> we are in the midst of a financial collapse. >> the way the war fits in is that that weighs in on the liberal side. that is an important aspect of

what is happening. you have all this anger among conservatives and independence about spending and the legislation that was passed. meanwhile, you have the left up said about about afghanistan and not happy about how it has been a result in iraq. they feel the legislation did not go far enough. on the left you have apathy and on the right you have anger and the democrats are caught in a metal. i recently was talking with moveon.org and i asked them if they are going to work to try to hold the majority or not. they conceded that their members are very ambivalent about where things are that will cost a seat or two in the house easily. >> i don't think that will be the end of the story. over the next two years the

economy will improve. that will put barack obama in a different position when he gets ready to run for president again. there is fear over the health care reform and that will guide some of the positive aspects. we are likely to be where we are right now. >> i can hear the slogan, cal"is a new morning in america." i am not sure we are having a recovery. >> we don't know. >> the first debate continues when glen beck comes to america to restore honor to america about you cannot do this overnight. you have to have some examples. you have to be able to see

somebody who is honorable pamela glen beck says he is restoring on record -- honor to america. it is on the 40 of anniversary of dr. king's speech on the same day. some people are defending the right of muslims to vote on a mosque at the ground 0. >> you are wrong about very low ,bob. i will make a prediction about this weekend. as people do remember everywhere the immortal lines of martin luther king," i have a dream," that nobody will be quoting 25 years from now, i have a black book which is glen beck contribution to the education of the american people. >> the argument about the mosque is that you have a right

to build a mosque. but is it right? is it sensitive? it is a provocative? those questions were asked. in this case, glen beck has a right to do what he will do tomorrow. on this occasion, on that date, at that location, given what he has said about obama being a racist and not liking white people, is inappropriate for him to be doing what he is doing? people make a judgment about the mosque. i don't want to dignify them with any other kind of response that i feel that the glen beck controversy and the most controversy are very much insider stories. i have been out on the campaign trail. the people out there all talk about jobs. they talk about the economy. this is just fodder for us and

cable news. glen beck can have this event but i will teach my daughter what honor and values are and he should teach his own family. >> i think it is rather historically interesting. the tea party has been thought of as a movement of opposition. i think what we might see and what he is trying to do is to put a happier face on the movement and speak about what it is about. it will be interesting to see how he and the other speakers will frame it. i think they are trying to transition from opposition to something that might be better. >> we will see you next week . for a transcript of this broadcast, log onto "inside washington.tv."