from washington, the mclaughlin group, the american original. for over three decades, the sharpest minds, best sources, hardest talk. issue one, it's really horrific. >> i don't have the words for it. it's really horrific. >> the typhoon that hit the philippines a week ago was arguably the most powerful storm on record. typhoon haiyan killed to date at least 2,357 people. and the death toll is expected to rise. 600,000 people are now homeless and at least 9.4 million people are hurt by the storm. survivors scavenge for food, shelter, water.

the u.s. dispatched naval and aircraft vessels, including the george washington aircraft carrier. as well as pledging $20 million in aid. the uk, $22 million plus naval ships. the european commission $17 million. japan and australia, $10 million each. japan is also sending 1,000 troops to the scene and what is likely tokyo's biggest post world war ii deployment. south korea and canada $5 million em. indonesia $2 million. mexico $1 million. lesser cash rich nations are sending relief supplies. but there was one notable exception in this international outpouring. china. a neighbor to the philippines and the world's second largest economy. china initially pledged only $100,000 in relief. plus another $100,000 to its red cross. the donation reflected china's soured relations with the

philippines. the two have been over disputes where asian nations are vying to explore for energy. china's typhoon donation in the philippines was also noted within china. by even its own global times newspaper quote, china has a responsible power should participate in relief operations to assist the nabbing country no matter whether it is friendly or not, unquote. china upped the donation from $100,000 to $1.6 million. >> on friday, the official death toll from the hurricane was reported to be 3,621 killed and that number is expected to rise. question, is china wise to temper its aid to the philippines? pat buchanan. >> john, spirit of mother teresa does not permeate the chinese communist party. the spirit, are you your brother's keeper and helping

your neighbor, frankly the christian west, i would add, japan and add the social gospel folks. it's a tremendous tradition of the united states and west and the united states that we go to the aid of these folks. this is a good thing you brought up. it is character. it reveals what the chinese leadership is all about. they have politics and they got this ruthless capitalism. let the devil take the high most, and i think fact that we see that now that the chinese did something that is very stupid because they would help themselves immensely if they stepped in there, they might have helped themselves in the negotiations over the south china sea. >> the president opened up his news conference with a reference to this disaster. you think you did the right thing? >> i'm proud of the u.s. i think defense secretary hagel immediately offered up our military where one of the top donors and when you put an aircraft carrier in there and the military hardware that we have, we are very helpful and we are in the forefront of

these disasters. it's not really just about character, pat. the political advantage to be held here and not all these countries are going in simply because they feel this in the bottom of their heart. they understand there's political impact and that's where china is mising the boat, you might say. i mean, they are now being labeled an international laggard. half of what ikea is giving and their explanation is they give to development projects all around the world. and those are not charitable contributions. those are hard-nosed business decisions. so we can sit here and be critical of their reaction here, but they may have the last laugh because they are funding all these infrastructure projects in developing parts of the world. >> the one over there were sustained 195 miles per hour. isn't that incredible? that must be a world record, is it not? >> category one hurricane and low lying 7,000 islands, total disaster. >> one of the strongest typhoons ever to hit the area

and one of the saddest parts is the vast majority were children and just really the most vulnerable people. but i think for china's sake, they did finally catch on at the last minute to think, if they were trying to increase their area, which clearly they are trying to do with other countries in the region, they can't make themselves look like total cheapskates. question is, was it enough? you know, they have these joint exercises coming up with the united states and hawaii pretty soon. china clearly show they are a player on the world stage. but this shines a spotlight on what a curious country they are as they try to elevate this status. >> you remember hurricane camile? >> yes. >> what were the sustained winds? >> let's see, 170 miles an hour? >> no, no, no pat, come on. >> 150? 145? >> 190. >> really, wow. that's category one, i believe anyhow. >> but we don't get the hugest storms on the east coast because they can't generate that much power in the

atlantic. the pacific is a much bigger body of water. >> huge prior notice. >> this hurricane may exceed that speed by .02%. and probably is an all-time world record. >> it may be, but that is an area of great exposure to hurricane, to the nuclear plant in japan. >> fukushima. >> yeah. >> that was a huge weather system also that destroyed it and that there was just a big scandal over that because leading flierk scientists said the government lied about the consequences, god knows how many nuclear rods that are still charged in the water and if there's a number 7 hurricane in that part of the world, permeates all of those waters, poison those waters, it will affect the west coast of the united states. so that part of the world now is really vulnerable and we are

vulnerable because of what's happened. >> we didn't have 100 years ago when they had the storm that killed 6,000 americans. we get tremendous notice. these guys see them forming up over in africa and tell people where to go. if they are going to hit texas, they move out. these poor people sitting -- nowhere to go. and sitting there hunched almost on the beach in this title wave comes in. >> what's the history and the relationship with the philippines? >> we took over the philippines -- we took them from spain and went in there and slaughtered a lot of folks. >> was it a simple and friendly transfer? >> it was not -- we killed 200,000 philippines. but mcarthur came back in '45 and liberated them from the japanese and mckarr mcarthur. >> his wife and shoe collection and all of that, but we have had recently and

historically, a friendly relationship and we had a big naval base there and i think that's going to be coming back. >> we left because they wanted us out. >> but they want us back now. >> but we aught not to go back because why should we go back and undertake again the defense of these islands after they threw us out. you know, tell them -- >> because we're building a ring around china. >> how many philippine- americans are there today? >> there are third or fourth in terms of the numbers. >> i don't think so. >> i would say, sure. >> we'll have to turn that over to the research assistant. issue two, obama's fumble. >> we fumbled the rollout on this healthcare law. a whole bunch of things that are working really well, which people didn't notice. because they weren't controversial.

i am very frustrated, but i'm also somebody who, if i fumbled the ball, i'm going to wait until i get the next plane and i'm going to run as hard as i can and do right by the team. so, ultimately i'm the head of this team. we did fumble the ball on it and what i'm going to do is make sure that we get it fixed. >> question, can president obama regain the ball? mort. >> we have a tradition in america of people apologizing for their mistakes. but i would have to say that this administration kind of is abusing that particular process. they made a lot of mistakes. they try and say i'm sorry. a lot of people are sorry they voted for him, as i said before. i think he's in deep trouble on this thing. i don't think he will escape the problem. i don't think he gets out of it for a long time. this program affected millions and millions of people. they misjudged not only the website, but how this program would rebound. now he has given into a lot of

pressure from the democrats who will be running in fear. what the consequences were, his popularity collapsed in the country. he's going to have a tough time doing it because a writer in vanity fair said about him. he's the only community organizer who doesn't like people. obama does not come across anymore. he lost whatever that image he had, he is in deep political trouble. >> he likes people enough to make sure that everybody has affordable healthcare coverage that can't be dropped if you get sick or have a preexisting condition. he did what he had to do. he was facing a fire storm from congressional democrats and this is an administrative fix. the hope is that the website will be fixed by the end of this year. this will smooth out. in the meantime, he has a struggle and it cost him in terms of his popularity. but i don't think he's not done yet. >> okay. >> the fight you just saw he's not running away from this. >> how about your website,

sir? >> i was not informed directly that the website would not be working the way it was supposed to. had i been informed, i wouldn't be going out saying this is going to be great. you know, i'm accused of a lot of things, but i don't think i'm stupid enough to go around saying this is going to be like shopping on amazon or travelo contribution ty a week travelocity. >> any theory on why obama didn't know why his website was working? >> either his staff is uninformed or administration is uninformed and where eleanor is wrong is, the main problem, not this stupid website thing, which is a debacle, he damaged his credibility and this is a guy that tells us the truth because he is systematically deceived the country about whether or not they could keep

their healthcare plans and millions and millions have been knocked off and how has he been responding? one day after another he tries to approach to say in effect, i didn't tell you the truth. >> taking a hit and let's not lose sight of the fact that healthcare is being extended. you're not going to get punished if you have a preexisting condition. he is taking on a complicated task. >> back to the question of him not knowing. he is rather isolated from what is happening. he kept separated from what's happening on the day-to-day. this emphasizes the point that he is not a hands on president. he wants other people to hand the details. but back to what eleanor was saying, if it turns outs well and everyone gets affordable healthcare, so far, it's not looking that way. if it continues like it is now, his legacy, his presidency will be rated as nothing short of a disaster. you can't argue any other way unless it goes away. and you cannot say it will based on what's happening now. >> and you can't say it won't.

>> how can you say that? >> and you can't say it won't. the thing is, they did not name one single person to really oversee this project. when there's too many people and it's a committee effort. nobody is in charge. >> this is a committee effort. i'm ahead of the committee. what am i doing? what about your offer to promise that americans can keep the insurance plans that they already have? >> my expectation was that for 98% of the american people, either genuinely wouldn't change at all or they would be pleasantly surprised with the options in the marketplace. and that the grandfather clause would cover the rest. that proved not to be the case. and that's on me. >> what do you make of that? >> it will be on him. this is the biggest problem with the law. glitches can be fixed. unaffordable healthcare

insurance can't be fixed if the law is set up in a way that people that are not upper middle class, but are just middle class are paying for the very poor to get insurance. it's not a health insurance plan for america as the president sold on the campaign trail, but redistributing medical costs so that the very poor can finally get health insurance. if he sold it that way from get go, nobody would have supported it. >> look, this is a really very damaging experience for him. he can say it's on me, but he has the obligation to ask the right questions. you had 55 companies setting up this website. they had a very good web operation for his political campaign. how come he didn't make sure this is happening here when this is critical to the success of his program? what it tells you, frankly, and if you were in any other world other politics where you can make speeches to cover it up, you would be fired from that job. you cannot buy the program that you're now obligated to buy

because it's so screwed up. >> he's on a slippery slope, john. >> he's explaning what has gone wrong in a very complicated market and frankly, you can run a campaign because you can run ads, billions of dollars, you can get the people you get when you're in the government. you go through procurement. >> eleanor, pat wants to straighten you out. go ahead, pat. >> at all defending the plan for americans to get healthcare. >> okay. we all want americans to get healthcare, but he is on a slippery slope to a broken presidency right now. >> you know,. >> after the website is up and running. >> he writes for the washington post. he says the insurance industry is furious. they have been working with the white house to get healthcare.gov up and running and now they want to make them into a scapegoat. >> exactly. >> they are the ones who are making the decisions and this

is a jerry built -- excuse me, it's a jerry built plan to keep the insurance companies in the picture. they are the ones deciding to raise premiums, to cut out plans. >> the insurance companies have been ordered to make these changes, get rid of these programs. >> they have not been ordered. >> the law orders them. >> obama back in, okay. friendly fireworks? >> i personally believe even if it takes a change in the law, the president should honor the commitment to those people. >> with an interview, former president, bill clinton, weighed in on the cancellation of millions of health insurance policies. mr. clinton had some candid advice for president obama. keep your word. even if it means letting congress revise the affordable

care act. on the same day as the clinton interview, the latest poll came out. mr. obama's approval rating has dropped to 39%. with 54% disapproving of the job he is doing as president. among independents, 63% disapprove. 30% approve. among women, 51% disapprove. 40% approve. worse still, 52% of respoon daunts say mr. obama is not honest or trustworthy. 44% still trust obama. question, what part did bill clinton's advice play in president obama's decision to hold a news conference on thursday to announce his fix for the insurance policy cancellation. susan. >> white house officials told us in a conference call they have been working on this for a week. they made a point of saying that yesterday. but i think what the president

said, the former president said forced all -- covered all the democrats who really oppose what's going on and forced the president to do something to accommodate the democrats who have gone to the white house several times to say, do something about this. then out came the dean of the democratic party essentially saying, this thing is a mess, you have to keep your promise. the president came out. >> republicans have been saying it's a mess and the president, former president, bill clinton, says the republicans were right. so that whole argument loses itself. >> stampeded the herd of democrats on capitol hill. it caused the guys to go into the oval office and say mr. president, you'll have to move yourself a little further for taking responsibility and misleading the president when bill clinton says you have to let those folks have those programs. >> gave his word. and he did give his word and he knew about it. >> guys and gals were in the

oval office because they knew they had a big problem on their hands. >> you don't think they will pour water on a drowning man? >> bill clinton spoke the truth. i think it was fine what he said. >> let me get a little more cryptic here. here it is. leading democratic strategist such as doug sherman. clinton's poll, are warning that obama care will cost the democrats in 2014 and may fatally damage hillary clinton's presidential campaign in 2016. is that why we have the interest of the pot? >> president? >> he understands how critical it is for a president to keep his word. somewhere in his calculation, he was thinking about the political campaign three years out. i don't know why i think that. i'm talking about bill clon ton. >> clinton. >> he was -- exit question.

is the democratic party erupting into a civil war on the left plank? and the clinton democrats on the right plank? >> no. they are just following bill clon ton who knows when the water reaches the main deck, you follow the raft. >> the president is giving bill clinton the presidential medal of freedom next week. all is well. >> i don't think it's a civil war. everyone is panicked and scattering in different directions not knowing what to do to save their political skin. that's what it is. >> the reason why it's not a civil war. obama is joining the other side. finally, they all knew it was wrong. they came to see it, it was a political disaster for the democratic party. it revitalized the party. the shutdown of a congress. this is a huge mistake for the democrats and they all know it. >> the answer to the question is that there is a civil war. the civil war is between clinton and obama progressives.

you got it? >> you're wrong. >> that's the war. issue three, the kerry shuttle. >> i'm happy to be here with my former colleagues because i joined with them in putting these sanctions in place. and we put these sanctions in place in order to be able to negotiate. our hope is now that no new sanctions would be put in place with the simple reason if they are, it could be viewed as bad faith by our people we are negotiating with. it could destroy the ability to get agreement, and it could actually wind up setting us back in dialogue that has taken 30 years to be able to achieve. >> secretary of state, john kerry, is shuttling between geneva and washington this week. he is trying to talk about iran's nuclear program. expectations were high that a breakthrough would be achieved last weekend in switzerland where the p5 plus 1, germany,

france, great britain, russia, china, and the united states met with iran's negotiators, but hope for a meeting when the foreign minister objected to the terms being offered by the obama administration. he called them quote, unquote, a fools game. the french protest centered on tentative agreement failure to get iran to surrender its stockpile of enriched uranium of its nuclear reactor. which is seen by some as capable of producing weapons grade plea tone pletonium. on capitol hill, senator john mccain, a proponent of tougher sanctions against iran tweeted, viva la france. when he heard that france has a deal. secretary kerry must now forge unity on three fronts. one, to persuade congress not

to impose new sanctions, two, maintain the sixth nation p5 plus 1 unity around a tougher set of terms, and three, persuade iran to agree to these terms before tox resume. >> question, why do the u.s. congressional hawks and the french and the isrealis reject this approach? >> because it's not working in the past with other countries or with iran. we keep talking and talking and talking. they are working on building nuclear weapons. the talks are few tall and you are allowing them more time and giving them more space. however, many people back the president and back kerry on this and one of the key democrats on this issue in the senate just announced on friday that she does not support the idea of any amendment to any senate bill by new sanctions. that scuttles that possibility

and gives kerry more time to work this plan. >> is that a wise move on her part? >> it depends. a lot of people think it is more to buy more time. >> there's no question unless you look at the iraq reactor, which is a pletonium base. it will be impossible to destroy it because of the nature of the beast. it will spread nuclear material all around. so it's impossible. so what iran has the chance of doing in a weak agreement and a french foreign minister went public on this thing, to the astonishment and the french have the most sophisticated understanding. they have a big iranian community. he said it's a sucker's job, basically, because that terrible deal he said, you didn't accomplish what you had to accomplish. it didn't take back and he was critical. >> let me enter decent.

the reason the isrealis and mccain and all the rest of them, they don't want to deal. they don't want -- they want the united states to maintain sanctions on them to break the regime and possibly go to war and finish off iran. that's what they want. you mention iraq. we learned the iranians stopped moving on iraq. the iranians have taken most of their 20% uranium and cut back. the iranians want a deal. >> we only have a few seconds. i want to know on a scale from 0 to 100, what is the likelihood that the two sides will reach an agreement when the talks resume next week? >> i think there's a good chance, basically, it would freeze things -- >> better than 50%. >> i'll go with pat. i'm with pat on this issue. >> 0 to 100. >> yes. >> you give them 100. >> and i think it is less than 50. >> you do? >> yeah. >> what do you think?

>> i'm going on a less than 50. the answer is 75. that's pretty clear. prediction, pat. >> obama will get nothing on cap and trade and immigration, nothing on gun control. legislative agenda is dead until the election of 2014. >> eleanor. >> i agree. after the republicans get through the primary season early next year, immigration reform has a chance. >> susan. >> i have no idea how you can predict that. i will say that there will be no sanctions on iran that come out of congress. >> mort. >> the current weakness in the economy, especially in retail sales. the federal reserve board will not introduce what they call tapering for quite a long time. not only through the end of this year, but through most of next year. >> can i get in now? predictions. >> joe and marilyn monroe were married around the 60s and they

got a reception. reception of our new ambassador will be bigger than the earlier couple. who am i speaking of? >> caroline kennedy. >> it was the 1950s. >> bye bye.

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