>> production assistance for "inside washington" was provided by allbritton communications and politico, reporting on the legislative, executive and political arena. >> we have the sendak's ready and the extra food. >> we hope for the best prepare for the worse. >> this week on "inside washington," as irene batters the east coast, fought on the politics of climate change.

>> the minute the republican party becomes the anti-science party, we have a huge problem. >> quick. it leads the field in a number of polls but --. these the field in an number polls but mitt romney acts as if he has one opponent, barack obama. >> the most anti-business policies we have seen since jimmy carter. >> more than 100 c.l.'s pledge to halt campaign contributions until washington gets its act together. after 40 years in power, gaddafi is on the rhine. >> the regime is finished. >> at a memorial dedicated to the memory of dr. martin luther king jr.. captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org--

let me be up front, we are somewhat focused on a national events in washington -- natural events in washington. hurricane irene is speeding up the east coast. we also had an earthquake, unusual for us. i think it is fair to say that it generally scared the hell out of a lot of people. the beauty of our business is that we can work politics into just about anything. as irene does for worse, let's talk about the debate in the republican party about climate change. rick perry says it is a scientific theory that has not been proven to jon holtzma -- jon huntsman told a capper that if republicans position themselves as the anti-size but, it will cost them 2012. >> it is what the national academy of sciences has said about what is causing climate

change and man's contribution to it. i think we find ourselves on the wrong side of science and therefore in a losing position. >> do you agree, charles? >> well, global warming is somewhat problematic because a majority of scientists say it is so. i happen to believe that probably is. i am not sure i believe the models that predict what is going to hundred have been brit hume and the pumping co2 into the air does change something, but we do not know what the common aesthetic effects -- call me a static of facts, the cell- killing effects, the capacity earth has. i am perturbed when i hear republicans talk about evolution as a theory, like keynesian economics. that and a denial of the science is infinitely more troubling. >> mark? >> gov. perry takes it to a different level. instead of simply questioning

science, what he does is basically charged that scientists involved are on the take, that they are in for mike, which is a pretty venal -- they're in for money, which is a pretty venal as well as unbased charge. >> colby? >> this week we have seen natural events with the earthquake and hurricane coming this way. in the case of climate change, if you try to dispute that and call that into question, you are part of the flat-earth society as far as i'm concerned. >> evan? >> pat moynihan had a great line about how men are entitled to their own opinions and not their own fax r people -- but not their own facts. people have always believed the things that are not true. that is creeping more into our system, where people believing

in climate change have steadily gone down. for the first time, it truly is a worrisome thing. there is bogus science out there that is dangerous. >> about three months ago, mitt romney said he believes there is getting warmer, and that siemens contribute, but on wednesday he says he is not too sure -- and that humans contribute, and on wednesday he says he's not too sure and we should not spend billions of dollars on things we're not sure about. >> he is right about that, and there are environmentalists in denmark who have looked at this. it is a fact that we are pumping more co2 into the air than ever before, much higher than a natural right, and it is having an effect on the atmosphere. the other part, however, is a problematic one, which is not a fact. the models that predict how the earth and climate will react. our models are extremely in complete, as we see in weather predicting.

predicting 20, 50, 100 years in the future -- our predictions are changing, which ought to tell you that the models are at least incomplete and efficient. >> he has appointed meteorologi -- he has a point. meteorologists give you a seven- day forecast but they change it. >> they do so at their own peril and get the beach furniture in before it comes . romney is the zelig of politics. he becomes whoever he is with. he is more precarious than ted choice and- more pro- ted kennedy. now he is a greater science rickre tha -- denier than

perry. he has to decide it to his every morning. that has to be fatiguing. >> who can argue with that? the burning of fossil fuels has produced this greenhouse gas act. if you argue with that -- >> no, it is the second step. can the atmosphere self-correct -- >> can we also agree that in -- since 1850, when we started keeping track of these things, yearsight warmest since 1858 occurred since 1998. do we agree? >> we agree on that, but let me explain what the problem is. in the human body, if you increase the amount of co2, the

body has corrective mechanisms. it excretes hormones would create changes in physiology and it brings it down. at a certain point, it cannot handle the access of co2 and you die could the question is, the globe has its own mechanisms of self correction. exactly how they works, how the ocean currents -- >> i hate -- >> is there a point at which it gets overwhelming? we do not know. >> c. lovell actually dropped a little last year. -- sea level actually got a little last year. i hate to feel that side of it, but it is a dirty side -- >> but it is obama -- he promised the rise of the oceans would begin to recede. >> and the oceans would part -- >> i am going to part the waters right here.

excuse me, i am moses at this point. >> i am in a race which is going to be exciting. a lot of people in the race. we have a great field of people. but i am the guy who spent the time in the private sector to know how it works and spent some time in government and knows how to get the job done at there. >> mitt romney was perceived as the front-runner for the campaign for the republican nomination. then came rick perry. history tells us that it is a mistake not to take a proven vote-getter series se -- seriously. polls showed him out the top of the republican lineup. what do you think, mark? >> is attributed to p -- it is a tribute to perry and immediate action. -- the media traction.

romney is only playing new hampshire. that could be a problem for him. don't forget, as well, we had the boom for donald trump and 4 michele bachmann. republican voters have shown -- first week, the punditocracy dismissed him as a clown. that is not the primary voter -- the very fact that he was -- "newshour" colleague david brooks says he could be the next president. do you agree? >> absolutely. it could be a fluke, but i think it is deeper than that. brooks is right in his column, that he has a simple message.

small government, i made it work, i created jobs. it is what power at the republicans to their astonishing success in 2010. paul ryan without the numbers and the nuance. if he keeps it simple, i think that could be a winning message in the primary and even in the general election. >> we mentioned jon huntsman earlier. he is trying to separate himself from the rest of the pact. how does he win the primaries? >> he doesn't. simple, he is not the person who is going to be the nominee of the republican party. he has to understand that at some point and get out of the way. i looked at rick perry's first week i thought there was weakness there, but the question was how does he respond to it. quite well. unlike mitt romney, rick perry

comes across as a warm person, a person you would like to share that year with. > -- that beer with. >> so does george bush. >> there is an engaging side to him. as mark aptly pointed out, romney cannot define himself in any clear way. >> there is also the issue of substance. perry is the only one who is successfully zeroed in on romneycare. the reason romney was ahead of the fact is that nobody laid a glove on him on the major issue be as g -- major issue he has. romney has trouble defending it.

he speaks of the federalism as his defense. that doesn't really work. he has to find a way to defend himself on romneycare. >> howard schultz, the ceo of starbucks, has gotten more than 100 c l's to sign a pledge to halt all political campaign contributions until washington gets its act together and get business. where have the ceo's been entering this debate? >> pretty quiet, and they shouldn't and louder. ceo's -- one of the odd phenomena is that corporations had huge profits. mostly making it abroad. they don't really worry about the united states that much. are of these global ceo's not rooted in how they are doing. >> warren buffett held a

fundraiser for barack obama and put $5 million into -- $5 billion into bank of america. >> we would still have the child labor at 8 cents an hour working at mills. they have hardly been at the vanguard of social change. the problem with mr. starbucks, tz's approach, is that it is disarmament. if he stops printin -- if he stops contributing, who will? the other side. >> shareholders will get rid of don't makef they money, pierre and simple. for him to make at grant's

statement -- that grand statement means nothing. >> i am skeptical of the statement from a guy who makes a dollar coffee. > -- $8 coffee. >> we mentioned barack obama in passing. what are his prospects? >> he went from the overwhelming favorite, especially among democrats who thought his defeat was unthinkable, to great worry and anxiety and concern on the part of democrats, helping republicans nominate somebody who is manifestly -- hoping republicans nominate somebody who is manifestly unelectable. that is a terrible position politically, depending on your opponent to make a mistake. >> they are out scouring the nation trying to bring people into the process -- >> energizing the base that has soured on them. here is what could affect obama.

assume the house of representatives remained in republicans' hands, and that they strengthen their hands in the senate -- i am not saying take the senate, but strengthen their hands. what difference will obama make in the next four years? that question will cause, i think, some democrats to say "maybe i can improve that scenario." you think of the way obama handles this republican house and republican-influence senate, what makes you think he will do any better? >> that is a great question. what difference would an obama victory make? >> it would prevent counterrevolution. 1/6 of the american economy, that is where a lot of republicans worry. yes, we will hold last, yes, we will probably win the senate, but unless we win the white house, americans will change

indelibly and republicans will think obamacare -- >> obama must be sitting in martha's vineyard asking himself, can i be the same old guy i have been or, or do i have to be something radically different? for the first time he has to be asking himself that. as the numbers get worse, he has to look for some big thing that gets the attention back on him. tax reform, there are other ways to go, but it is a fundamental question for him because of the sort of rope-a-dope coasting into re-election is looks more precarious. >> he has to look for 41 democratic senators. if he does not, but he is in trouble. >> well, he will -- >> he has got to thwart republicans in congress. >> before we start panting for

invitations to rick were's inaugural, there presidents with similar numbers now.ow obama jimmy carter, ronald reagan, bill clinton. reagann and clinton 01 strong reelection campaigns. the president whose numbers were higher than obama now was george herbert walker bush. august's of the year before an election is not the best time to predict. there is a lot that can happen, and i am not ready for. perry -- for rick perry >> remember when we were predicting that rudy giuliani and hillary clinton would be the nominees? >> the thing about george

herbert walker bush is that he got a republican challenge in pat buchanan, who made him spend time and energy treasury paid by the time he got the nomination, it was not -- >> i am trying to think of mark in cowboy boots at the inaugural. >> looks like gaddafi is finished in libya. >> there is no way back for the gaddafi regime, and many of its key members are on the right. >> i wish i could talk like that. that is william hague, british foreign secretary. looks like the rebels have won. evan, who can take credit? >> everybody will until it turns bad. i been a critic of the obama administration for working -- intervening on this, and it turned out better than anybody expected because gaddafi is gone. there could be civil war that

comes out of it, but look, it is better than gaddafi. the west can generally take the credit, a brief people who overthrew him to take credit -- brave people who overthrew him can take credit. >> how about nato? >> they came through with the air cover and the air strikes. they had to learn how to do this thing. i think the u.s. -- our better position is that we've not lost a cell in the fight. >> does the president get advantage in this politically? >> not if the republicans have their way. as someone who was a critic of the intervention myself, basically because it was not done legally and congress was mute in its usual self, the fact that there were 17,000 sorties flown in to powers did a

difference. the question has become, is this a human rights intervention to save a massacre, does that make invasion of iran that much easier? >> charles? >> well, that is never going to happen. the question is does it make a difference on syria? the administration has no intention of thinking about military intervention in syria, which i think it makes sense. unlike libya, basically and oil well with the beach, syria is a real country with tremendous apparatus of repression and as iranian and hezbollah agents active in this repression. sets up a dominoes which wwill give us some optimism to the people who were being shot and tortured. as for nato, the loser is germany, which ostentatiously

sat out the entire operation and refused to allow ships to be engaged in the interdiction. it was not really an nato operation, it was a french and british operation. some italian assistance. >> i am not the least bit enthusiastic for germany to step up military for anything. i would like it to keep doing what is right now. >> i do understand it was world war ii, but it was a while ago. another example, japan, which was rather nasty at the time, would be a tremendous ally in the pacific if it were to announce -- renounce the kind of passive role it has adopted as a result of the guilt of the second world war. the second world war is over. >> will they announce that because of china's military buildup? the pentagon says that china is on track to build a modern military carriers, stealth fighters, a number of the space launches. >> well, you have got to

remember that part of that is justification for the pentagon's seventh fleet. >> oh, come on. >> i am for the seventh fleet, i am. >> china's personal -- >> the chinese have never historically been all that aggressive. as empire's go, they have been relatively tame. some of this is it justify expenditures by americans. having said that, it is good that we have a military presence over there. we have kept the peace and i hope we continue to keep. the scary thing is if china starts to crumble and they need a diversion, and that would be the invasion of taiwan. that would not be so far- fetched. you could have enabled conflict between the united states and china. >> we can have a debate on this, but i think china having an air force is going to threaten our command of the airwaves.

right now we rule the airwaves. i think ruling the airwaves is important. >> a word on a washington's newest memorial, to martin luther king jr.. went they ask you as the scholar, people were upset because you did the sculpture of mao zedong. >> art has no nationality. >> that is the sculptor of the new martin luther king jr. memorial in washington. it sits between jefferson and lincoln memorials. hurricane irene has triggered postponement of the dedication. charles, you wrote about it this week. >> it is a deeply moving morial. there a flaw in the art self. othe

or america,o ava at of s o gritnot thought of that. aee think ithoul

n e yone wk. n e yone wk.