>> production assistance was provided by albritton communications and "politico." ♪ >> welcome back to the jersey shore. open forrsey shore is business. >> the odd couple together again. bob dole possible vice to his fellow republicans. dole's advice to his fellow republicans. >> eric holder would resign. he is damaged goods. hackinga accused of ca

into our weapons technology. >> different laptops, computer systems that have been compromised. >> michele bachmann decides to pack it in. >> i anticipate the mainstream liberal media to put a detrimental spin on my decision not to seek a fifth term. >> this is the latest poll, negative approval rating for obama despite the improving economy and a renewed health and the housing market. 49% of voters disapprove of his performance. voters are almost equally unhappy with both political parties. three percent of them trust the government to do the right thing all the time. the president said at a

fundraiser the reason washington politics are stuck as because people spend more time thinking about the next election than they do thinking about the next generation. easy for him to say. he does not have to run again. one person thinking of the next election is chris christie. he has a 69% approval rating. see teamed up again to what more than 3 billion federal dollars could do for the jersey shore. wistful ast sounded he watched them making nice. >> i admire they have worked together. >> the parties should be working together in washington. why aren't they? bob dole told fox over the weekend that republicans should put up a sign that says closed for repairs and he blames president obama for failing to cultivate relationships. he says his party has changed

so much ronald reagan and richard nixon would no longer be welcome to them. any of that ring true to you? >> yes. several factors. is ontobob dole something. . he was a certifiable conservative, five times a candidate for the highest office. and i do think that what we saw in new jersey was an example of a crisis that worked last summer to the advantage of president obama he was running for reelection and now is working to the advantage of governor chris christie. theforgotten party is democratic nominee who could not get her picture taken with the president. shouldn't they work together? if youother contest -- believe obamacare is going to aeck the healthcare system,

train wreck coming, you should oppose it. if you look around and see what obama has a train wreck coming, you should oppose it. if you look around and see what obama has and one of the reasons his numbers are down, you have an irs out of control, a justice department out of control, the anghazi scandal, which is dereliction of duty, and you say here is a president will -- that wants to put the irs in charge of healthcare? i say you work together with people who share your goals. if not, you oppose them. that is what the opposition is supposed to do. >> they should work together because they are not. [laughter] it is pretty obvious to the rest of the country. >> we do send them to washington to do something. is that what you're saying? your speechless. rachel. >> i do not know if i can top that. be thel test will immigration bill.

that is the big one, the only big issue that has potential to move forward with support from both parties. the senate is going to take up debate this month and then a real question of what happens to it in the house. ,> out of respect conservatives genuflect before the rule of law. the last time i checked obamacare had passed congress and inside by the president and affirmed by the supreme court. fox news has not approved it but to that i would also point thethat we have seen recurring theme, the mantra of the republicans, pass the budget. the senate has passed a budget. albeit tardy, but they have passed a budget. is it going to work? they go together and they work out the differences.

saying? this is not going to work. to do what isng required by law, tradition and the values of this country. that is where they should be working together. >> i was struck by what obama said politicians worrying about the next election. of hypocrisy. if you really believed that, he would get off his duff and start talking to more on the other side, actually be a president and he would be honest with the american people about the hard things you have to do to protect future generations. >> is the second term blues or an indication of a serious leadership vacuum? >> can i adjust my colleague, mr. shields? you can call me charles. iis is not a week where would raise the issue of the rule of law. you just heard about the irs illegally targeting

conservatives for all kinds of scrutiny and all kinds of stuff you should not be asking, what is the content of your worship. it is a week in which we learned the attorney general sought an indictment of a reporter which has not been done since the nixon administration and even nixon gave up on the prosecution. so it has never happened. and then he's tells congress he withothing to do criminalizing good journalist, which of course he did. he is looking at a perjury charge. it is not a good week to raise the issue of the rule of law. >> i want to go to hold her in a minute but i want to ask you about the democratic candidate for governor of new jersey. you do not even give her a shout

out? >> we barely know her name. barbara hill? should do a search about the number of times bromance was used in the stories. you can't get better visuals than the president and the governor at the arcade and president obama trying to throw the football and there is a teddy bear in the picture. been talking about the scandals. it was a good moment for president obama. he got out of washington, dealing with benghazi and the irs and the justice department and he got to hold a teddy bear. >> that is why you lead with it. >> not a good moment for barbara. holder. of >> with regard to the prosecution of the press for the disclosure of material, that is not something i have ever been involved in or heard of or

would think would be a wise policy. >> one week after that testimony, the justice department confirmed he had been involved in the decision to go after a fox news reporter. >> he crossed the line, a very important one. he endangered a free press. if you were a rational actor he would resign. he is damaged goods. i do not know why he would want to keep limping along. he needs to be fired. , a harshan turley critic of the bush administration, and no enemy of the obama administration, reported that knows career was about to conduct a nuclear weapons test however he also reported a source inside had informed the cia of that fact. i guess that is the revelation that the cia had a source inside of north korea. to gonderstand the need

after leaks. it is a real thing. but prosecuting a reporter under a 1970 stm knowledge act act, that is completely nuts. it is hard to understand what holder was doing. i have also heard he is a wonderful guy but too nice. he has trouble saying no and sometimes in the job you have to say no. prosecutors push you to do these things and somebody should have said no. can holder survive this? is he really -- is his job in jeopardy? >> 11 thing he has going for him is the low tolerance for journalists. it is hard for them to get too exercised when journalist are

in the hot seat. it is a complicated case. national security ramifications. the problem is he went before congress and he said he knew of no cases that would involve criminal charges about journalists. he had never heard of such a thing. he spoke in strong terms and then emerges after that that james rosen was named as a possible co-conspirator. this was an effort to get his e- mails. ,> two things, first of all eric holder, whose praised by people that work with him, a good judge, has had one great test prior to coming to the justice department and that was the pardon he did. he said at the time he was neutral and leaning favorable. he could not say no to power.

rings to thejames job of the fbi, if he is nominated, the ability to say no to power, to a president who is making a mistake. -- it remains a blight and a failure of bill clinton and of eric holder. and a tribute to the people it. fought to stop it is a disgrace to america. >> charles. cracks one of the issues we have not touched on because we wanted to talk about the bearhug between christie and obama, which you would lead with on a week like this, is the statement you show is clearly a false statement. the only question is was it a

deliberately false statement? he not only signed off on the search warrant, which named him as a criminal co-conspirator, but the justice department said he was in discussions about it. the question is what did he know, did he forget, did he not check on this? this is a serious issue. i do not want to nail him on perjury but if you have a justice department flying to congress, he cannot stay in that office. >> i want to go back to the irs thing in terms of the pole. there is public support for the naming of a public prosecutor to investigate the irs. likes the irs? they are an easy target. morepect, it is ever complicated. nobody can figure out who is to blame. maybe you need somebody just to

explain it. the number you mentioned at the outset, three percent, it is only a generation ago when they had faith in the government to do what was right. don't seem to understand they are the party of government. republicans have been the party against government. if you really are going to be against government, republicans are going to win. and you had better restore some faith in government. him becominglk of fbi director, i had suggested someone else which you need somebody of that stature and of that independence to do it to make sure it is on the up and up. >> the irs scandal transcends all of the controversy we have been hearing. the poll made it clear that is the one that is resonating with the american people.

>> what are the chinese up to now? >> if you mess with that software, the airplane won't fly, and the ship might not get to where it was intended to go. talking to cnn. and the chinese president are going to meet next .eek they have a lot to discuss. alleged chinese hacking into sensitive weapons data and an op-ed in the la times on they are saying that china is configuring its military forces to fight hours and there is something very chinaat the core of the policy and the pentagon. charles? beyondink we are way talking. there is a new report in this week showing that to not only are chinese cyber attacks

hurting our economy, which we knew, stealing intellectual property, but is doing damage to our national security and arming the chinese with the equivalent to weapons and antidotes to our weapons. this is a national security issue. up until now, we have been doing defensive measures, which the chinese are able to get around. in this war, the offense is stronger than defense. the issue has always been doing counterattack the cyber attacks? i think we have reached a point where we are going to have to organize, as we did in the war on terror. a way to counterattack and say to the chinese, we are serious. they are not going to listen to us. up it willbring it be brushed away in the chinese will deny it. unless the chinese worry we are going to do to them what they are doing to us, this is going

to continue and be seriously harmful to the united states. >> are we doing to them? >> i hope so. but i think we are not. i did stand out a little bit but then they started up again. internal bureaucracies have a life of their own. they're going to keep on doing this. there was little discussion about deterrence of this. we talk about deterring nuclear weapons, there has been basically no dialogue about how you -- do you attack? do you threaten to military stuff? what do you do? >> there was a naval exercise with the chinese. does that make any sense? >> the administration is wrestling with how tough to make the rhetoric. we have seen them and bid up but we expect the tougher talk to become -- to come behind closed

doors. how much is that going to spill over? >> business people will tell you privately this has been going muted they have been because the profits have been there. this is part of doing business in china. this is the modus operandi. the idea they have penetrated our national defense and our capability and the uniqueness of of concerne a cause to americans. almost as great of a concern as the takeover of smithfield hams. has is a country, china food safety concerns? anybody seen the river with 10,000 dead pigs? that is like saying jeffrey dahmer had to nutritional problems. it is not a major issue.

for my people. safety is only one issue. there is a larger issue with the takeover, an iconic, quintessential american brand. >> are going to call them chinese hams? >> there was an interesting piece on friday by david brooks about how the chinese have failed at branding. what chinese brand do people want to buy? apparently they're going to buy our brands and sell them back to us. that is the way they're going to deal with it. >> the volvo car company. now it is a chinese company. >> they have not figured out how to sell something they make that we want to buy. >> for those of you out there, i was referring to my co-religion. haves the press won't michele bachmann much longer.

>> this decision was not impacted by the recent inquiries into the activities of my former presidential campaign or my staff. announcingbachmann she is not seeking reelection. she says the investigations are not a factor. what do you think? such a memorable moment with the triumphant music in the background and the investigations had nothing to do with it. she was facing a tough reelection. she'll most lost last time the democrat was going to be very well-funded and not to mention the multiple investigations against her right now. >> we are going to miss her because we love to talk about her. crags the republicans are lucky to be rid of her. she was to air her-prone. prone. error- she had a rare gift in

politics. her departure is better for the republicans and worse for the democrats. but she had a gift to be unapologetically wrong. when she announced her candidacy, she talked about john wayne being a fellow townsmen. the fellow townsmen was john 33ne gacy, the murder of young men who used to dress up as a clown. >> picky, picky. >> most of us would be embarrassed. >> unapologetically wrong. to do is towant well on the negative. the details. she was prone to errors. talked about cancer spreading by contact or something. i think she was a very good spokesman for her part of the party. she represented her point of

view well. she will probably continue that. in the media, she may not have been a great candidate but she is an asset to the country. >> the tea party (. we're coming up on elections. the tea party getting stronger. >> they are having quite a moment. they are still strong in the country. i have driven the political debate. you only have to look at the campaign mitch mcconnell put up this week with nixon comparisons to see the influence the tea party has had. that in congress not that much influence. michele bachmann did not oversee a committee. we are seeing a gap between the ability to drive the debate and to have power in the more traditional sense. >> it reflects a widespread view that began in 2000 and nine and 2010 that government is too large.

it is not about social issues. we have liberals having to do a lot of defending about government being out of control. david, the guy who worked for obama, axelrod. he said when asked about the scandal the irs, he said the government is so big, but that is the point. ,hen government metastasizes regardless of the intentions or the motives of the redness of those at the top, that is the kind of thing that people are reacting to. when occupy wall street emerged, the times in the media built it up as the counterpart to the tea party. it was always a fraud because the tea party represents a strong strain in america and that is why it remains important. >> how do you shrink the government? >> a great question.

>> you stop expansion. >> the republicans have their way, increase defense spending more and more. in perpetuity. wants to come up with some positive republican program that adjusts his the social injustices and needs of the country. he has been thwarted by the tea party that does not want this. we have a total reversal of our political system right now from where we were two generations ago. it is pointed out by the brilliant political analyst who said the republicans dominated presidency from 1968 all the way through 1992. which is true. the democrats have the presidency once. but the democrats own congress. since 1988, the democrats have won the popular election.

they have dominated the electoral college. the republicans have the house of representatives. of our the dilemma system. that is where the roadblock occurs. republicans want to say no and that gives them great leverage. >> i think most americans like divided government. n instinct, separation of powers. >> they may like it but they complain nothing is getting done. >> they do not like the act -- the lack of action. >> the other thing going on, obama remains popular in the country. people like him. but in washington he is getting unpopular. people think he is cold, he's petulant, self-involved. his stock in the press is also going down because of these investigations. gap betweene is a

the popular perception of obama and the washington perception. ifhave you close the gap you're sitting in your second term and things aren't going that well for you? he started the so-called charm offensive that we kept calling it. making efforts to have outreach, lunches and dinners with republicans. right as he was getting going, all of the scandals erupted and then change to the debate. >> our charm offensive is over for the week. see you next week.

>> bill moyers: this week on "moyers & company --" the highs and lows of silicon valley. and -- >> sherman alexie: because i'm ambiguously ethnic looking, you can be anything. people generally think i'm half of whatever they are. you know, i can be in a room full of indians and non-indians, and i can switch in the middle of sentences. i end up feeling like a spy in the house of ethnicity. >> announcer: funding is provided by -- carnegie corporation of new york, celebrating 100 years of philanthropy, and committed to doing real and permanent good in the world. the kohlberg foundation. independent production fund, with support from the partridge foundation, a john and polly guth charitable fund. the clements foundation. pa