behind a stalemate at home. >> i trust in god but god wants to see us help ourselves by putting people back to work. to tend to the economic crisis abroad. >> are you kidding me? >> i'm afraid this is no joke, mr. speaker. we begin with the case of herman cain and everything it says about republicans' epic struggle to find a credible nominee. and we hate to break it to the godfather, but the slow drip of a sexual harassment scandal, that may be the least of his political liabilities. today the cain campaign is struggling to put on a show of business as usual with three campaign events, including a visit to capitol hill. indeed, this was supposed to be the culmination of a three-day attempt at courting the washington establishment. running shoulders with senators at a steak dinner. as one accuser's attorney said

she wants to come forward and pressure mounts, the herman ator failed to make it through the morning without tempers fraying. >> don't even bother asking me all of these other questions that you all are curious about. don't even bother. what did i say? >> are you concerned about -- >> excuse me! excuse me! >> excuse me, mr. cain. but when a leading president did he know candidate is accused of sexual harassment, and when his accusers have received payouts as a result of their claims, that is news. and even herman cain has to admit that he should have been prepared for this. >> i absolutely agree we could have been better prepared. in the future we probably will be. mea culpa. >> i don't believe it has hurt my campaign at all, based upon not only the volunteers and the phone call but the fundraising has gone up dramatically. my campaign was made aware that this story might break ten days ago. but we made a conscious decision

not to go chasing two anonymous sources and not knowing what the rest of the story is going to be. >> if you were made aware ten days ago, that this could have, could be in play, shouldn't you thenning over it with your attorneys, formulated a response. they call it a rapid response team. all campaigns have them. so when it did get public, then you calmly went over and said these are the facts. you seem to be caught somewhat offguard. you just said you didn't recollect. shouldn't you have had all that in your file ready to go? >> we didn't have all of that, bill. what happened was when questions got asked, some of them i didn't anticipate and i was trying remember some of those facts in the middle of a very busy day. >> mea culpa. we've mattered before, i believe it was when mr. cain joked or didn't joke about having an electrified fence along the nation's southern border. >> i apologize if it offended

anyone. mea culpa, mea culpa, mea culpa. >> yes, there are a lot of mea culpas these days. isn't it even more revealing that harass many aside, many cain wasn't prepared to have his stance on immigration as outlined in his book, taken seriously. and we know he was not prepared to have his political philosophy taken seriously either. >> i'm very conservative. you're familiar with the neo conservative movement? >> i'm not. >> it's on questions of foreign policy that mr. cain's lack of preparedness really shines through. for example, his views on china's nuclear capability. >> i do view china as a potential military threat to the united states. they've indicated that they are trying to develop nuclear capability. >> china, of course, tested its first nuclear weapon in 1964. and forget us beck stan. we'll be heading to war with iran if hem cain is president as

he will an incredulous bill o'reilly last night. >> iran understands only two things. economic pressure and our military might. >> you're going to put the warships in the persian gulf? they'll attack them. you know they're going to do something if you put them there. >> that would be perfectly all right. >> then you're in a shooting war with iran. do you really want that? >> well, i don't want that but if they fire first, we're going to defend ourselves and defend our enemies. >> defend ourselves and defend our enemies? and yet, this is the man republicans currently favor by seven points to become their challenger to president obama. let's get more on the godfather and the gop. we're joined by chris matthews, host of hard ball, professor of history and author of a new book, jack kennedy, elusive hero. good afternoon, chris. >> martin, my friend. there is the beautiful book itself isn't that done well?

>> it's wonderful. and i've actually read it. the truth is, nobody is perfect. and anyone running for high office is going to be subject to serious scrutiny. but before we talk about the personal aspects of herman cain's candidacy, let's focus for a moment on policy. his plan for the economy has been derided. yesterday he talked about foreign policy and seemed all at sea. particularly with him proposing u.s. naval assets be positioned in the persian gulf for a shoot-out. so focusing on content, on policy just for a moment. is herman cain a serious candidate for president? >> no. and the reason he's not, he is not prepared even to the point of being a newspaper reader. i can tell when, we all can, with when one is familiar with a term like neo conservative which has been at the heart of the whole debate with iraq. which neo conservatives fighting very hard to wage that war and others opposed to them for that reason. to not know that the chinese have had the prc has had nuclear weaponry since the 1960s is

ignorance. these are facts of our fundamental national and international situation. everybody knows this. when i say everyone, i mean everyone who is involved in discussing the national life of this country. >> so has it become hip to be dumb? to parade your ignorance almost as a badge of honor? >> yes. when sarah palin is avril hairyman compared to this gentlemen. i'm as guilty as anyone. i do love some of the lingo of anti-elitism. i do like people who go after the elite because they think they're better than us. i do agree with the american democratic attitude which is don't get so high fluting that you're the best and the brightest. in the past the best and brightest took us into vietnam. i do accept that deep seated skepticism about the elite. as for intellectualism, and

anti-academics, i can't subscribe to it. we're involved in a global struggle with the smartest people in the world, the chinese, the russians, they are taking science if you will tilt. and to say we don't have to know anything except the old testament. we just have to retreat to what we were taught in school is scary. then to say if we don't act like we went to an ivy league school, we must be one of the people. we must be a regular person. a joe the plumber. one of these iconic cartoons out there right now. and i do worry about it. look at the competition we're in right now. we're worried about losing our status in the world. we're worried about the fact that our labor force is being outbid basically by cheap labor in the world. not just, that sometime better products. and it is a problem. and are we not facing it? >> chris, you've written this compelling book about jack kennedy. he had his own personal foibles as you know. would he be able to survive the kind of intense scrutiny that is

now brought to bear upon political candidates? do you think he could cope with this? >> i think he would have dealt with the reality around him. i think he was able to operate in much more liberty when presidents weren't under the spotlight. i'll tell you one thing. if you ask me why the people were recently asked who should be on mount rushmore with washington and jefferson and lincoln, of course, the great hero, teddy roosevelt. they say jack kennedy. over fd are not. over reagan. do you know why? because at the time he was president, for those brief three years, this country believed co-do things. because we had a gutsy president who did things. and he put the man on the moon. we can beat the russians, let's get to the saturn rocket which he loved. he sent young people around the world because he fwleed united states could win the cold war because we could show how to develop ourselves. he took on jim crow and the horrors of racism. he said we'll have a civil rights bill and he web toe to toe with people like george wallace and he went toe to toe

with big steel when they tried to inflate prices and he was willing to fight. he was a great president. he made the american people feel great. he was a leader. he wasn't some guy out there all alone as they say out for number one in showbiz. he was leading us. he was saying, we ask not what your country can do for you. what do you know to your country. he was bringing us in. bringing us in to leading our country. it was the wonderful thing about him that separates him from all the other leaders. a we, not a he. >> when you compare his perform yanls as president, albeit brief. is there really any comparison? >> to go google. anyone watching right now, if you have a little time tonight. watch the nixon-kennedy debate. two young men in their 40s who could beat the pants off the current crowds. who were prepared in 1960 to be president of the united states. yes, they had their foibles and yes, nixon did have a character problem eventually. but let me tell you, they were smart, they knew their stuff and

they were eligible intellectually to be president of the united states. they took trade craft of american politicians seriously. it wasn't about walk around and pretending you're a man of the people. it was knowing you could lead the people. and i think there was a. higher standard. isn't that awful? a much higher standard 50 years ago than today. >> i think it is compelling and accurate. you suggest there are key aspects of jack kennedy's leadership that president obama would be wise to follow. what are they? >> yeah. >> what are they? why would they serve the current president well? >> two thing. let me start with the one i mentioned. we. we the people. ask not what your country can do for you. that was a profound difference in american politics. he wasn't saying i'll give you patronage or pork barrel. i'll give you this or that. he said no, i'll call upon you to do something. in match developian politics which is 500 years old, the zprenth the loyalty of a person come from being asked to do something. from being asked to give to something. that's what you invest in. you invest in your children.

if you work for someone, you invest in that relationship and you're all the more loyal on what you do for your children. ungratefulness is common. people never forget what they do for someone else. why do you think the service man or woman who come back from second his country is so loyal for the rest of their lives because of what they've given for the country. most politicians think if i do something, you'll like me. do i bring knew and share the leadership of this country with you? do you feel good about it? people don't mind being used them mind being discarded. he left the american people on the washington mall the day he was inaugurated and said watch me, i'm smart. he said watch me. you don't say watch me, i'm smart. you say i need you. here's what i would like you to do. a massive ccc program. a massive call for fair tax. asking the rich to pay their share. yeah, they would resist. they would resist it. but the american people would see themselves being called together and united. that would be better than what

we're seeing now. and i think this idea of making a mistake now and then. jack kennedy made a huge mistake with the bay of pigs. he listened to his generals and warriors and they said it would be a campaign against castro. he didn't ask the right questions. he learned his lessons. when he said i'm the officer in charge, difference one who blew the bay of pigs, his job approval went to 83%. the highest of his presidency. it wouldn't hurt president obama to say, you know what? that stimulus program, it wasn't quite accurate in what it was going to achieve. christine was wrong saying we would get it down to 8. it didn't work out. the let me tell what you we're going to do now. if you don't show you made mistakes, then you can't show you're learning. if you don't show you're learning, why should a guy get a second term? this is gas as it get? this is as good as it gets? that's his campaign? he has to say we made these mistakes. we'll correct them. otherwise why should any american assume it will get better unless he shows he's made

mistakes. he will make corrections. he will learn. arthur once said at the ideas festival. politics is essentially a learning profession. unless you see your leaders learning and getting better, why reelect them? >> indeed. chris matthews, thank you so much. we look forward to watching "hardball" in a couple hours. and you can learn more about his book on the "hardball" facebook page. snm when we come back, social security. or a tax increase for the wealthiest 1%? >> it's not exactly a state secret that republicans and yes, some democrats don't think we should be raising taxes right now on the very people we're counting on to create the jobs. sam: i'm sam chernin. owner of sammy's fish box.

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senator harry reid accused republicans of putting their bridge to grover norquist above their duty to the country. >> they're in submission to a man whose singular focus is keeping taxes low for the very, very, very wealthy no matter what the effect is on this nation. he can't murder you. he can't burn your house. the only thing he can do is try to defeat you for re-election. if that means more to you than your country, you shouldn't be in congress. >> few moments later came minority leader mitch mcconnell who ignored the attacks on the blind attacks on grover norquist. >> a democratic majority in the senate that is teamed one the

white house on the strategy of doing nothing. nothing. all for the sake of trying to score political points and spread the blame for an economy that their own policies have cemented into place as they look ahead to an election that is still more than a year away. >> one of those most committed to making sure social security survives this battle intact is congressman dennis kucinich, democrat from ohio. i'm delighted to say he joins us now. >> good afternoon. >> recent polls show 68% of americans and 68% of millionaires themselves favor raising taxes on the wealthy. yet so far, all we've seen from republicans is the budget plan and at least one presidential candidate who thinks social security is a ponzi scheme. who are republicans appealing to with that kind of message? >> well, i can tell you for my own constituency, and i think for people across the country, social security is very important.

social security didn't create the deficit. the problems to the extent they may have any problems can be solved by lifting the cap on the amount of money that is subject to social security taxation. so we have a fake crisis here with respect to social security. now we have a real problem with respect to our economy. got to get america back to work. that creates more tax revenue. we have to stop these wars and stop wasteful spending from the department of defense which is spread out all over the gloefbl it's not like we don't have places we can cut. >> yet republicans refuse to even consider a balanced approach which might include raising revenues. >> i think we're looking at a whole new scenario. if this super committee doesn't come up with any viable solutions which who knows, we have to just go back to where we are as a nation. we have to get america back to work. that will produce more tax revenues. we have to do something about this trade deficit which is undermining our ability to be able to stand as a nation. we must stop these wars.

we must stop the spending for wars. we must stop this far flung military empire which is waste ourg money all over the globe. start taking care of things at home. that should be a bipartisan concern. america doesn't have to be limping across the globe as some weakened giant. we can regain our strength by focussing on rebuilding our economy here at home. that's what we ought to be doing. >> you mentioned the syrup committee. it remains with the thanksgiving deadline looming. steny hoyer said today, expectations for the success of the committee are low. do you have any confidence in this super committee? >> well, the people of the united states of america elected 100 member to the senate and 435 members to the house themselves didn't vote for a super committee. the whole process is flawed. number one. number two. we have an obligation as a government to get this country moving again financially. americans have a right to expect that there will be jobs for all.

health care for all, education for all, retirement security for all, and peace. and the leadership needs to come forward with a whole new discussion. by meyering ourselves in this discussion about debt we're losing the opportunity to talk about how we can create more wealth and how we can stop wasting money and that's really where the discussion needs to go. >> just as republicans refuse to countenance the idea of raising a cent in revenues, they would charge with you the criticism that you're not prepared to consider cuts in entitlements. >> well, listen. if someone works a lifetime and pays into a system, are they entitled to be able to get their money out at retirement time? you bet they are. social security is a covenant between the government and the people. and it is an intergenerational covenant. not a handout. people put the money in. they should be able to get it out. and i don't think, when you start talking about things as though they're disconnected from a system that people have

participated in for over 70 years, wrong direction. let's reaif i recall our commffo each other. we need to pledge once again to each oog, lives, fortunes, sacred honor. we're all in this together. we can't start separating ourselves, democrats, republicans, independents. we have to be americans and put americans back to work and stop going into these wars all over the world and hold on to our money and use to it create jobs and create wealth here. we have to take a new approach. the approach that we're using right now is against the broad base interests of the american people. it will not create wealth and will mire us in debt. thanks to those republicans redistricting in ohio, you may find yourself running against joe the plum here became a household name for challenging president obama during the 2008 campaign. what's your feeling about that possibility personally?

>> i represent a district that's concerned that jobs, health care, retirement security, the education of their change, holding on to their homes and peace. and i'm going to continue to take that stand. i don't -- there's no decision made in ohio about where the districts might be. so i don't have any last word on that. i can only tell you what i believe in. who i'm fighting for and if given the chance, i'm going to keep doing that. >> congressman dennis kucinich of ohio. you keep doing that and thank you very much for joining us. >> thank you. coming up, the day's top lines just ahead. >> are you going to put the warships in the persian gulf? you know they're going to try to do something if you do that, put them there. >> that would be perfectly all right. [ male announcer ] one-hundred-nineteen data points.

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>> it was an odd feeling for me when i had the sense that the lord was calling me to participate in this race. >> it was a great crowd, a good response, and i guess you can do anything you want with a video. if i could look anyway you want. >> this is such a cool state. come on. live free or die? come on. >> i felt great. i think the message came across very well it was. good speech. >>ley free or die, victory or death, bring it! >> there was more than one incident that my client perceived as sexual harassment. >> shouldn't you have had all that in your file ready to go? >> we didn't have all of that, bill. what happened was when questions got asked, some of it i didn't anticipate and i was trying to reccollate -- >> this is the year when we can't settle. we can't have any surprises with our candidate. >> there are factions trying to

destroy me personally as well as this campaign. >> do you think that race, being a strong black conservative, has anything to do with the fact that you've been so charged? >> i believe the answer is yes. but we do not have any evidence to support it. >> actually, i'll someone who doesn't believe in playing the race card. >> it's not every day you can look in the mirror in the morning and say to yourself, i'm running to be president of the united states of america. >> when we come back, we put out an apb. mitt romney, where are you? chloe is 9 months old. she is the greatest thing ever. one little smile, one little laugh. honey bunny. [ babbles ] [ laughs ] we would do anything for her. my name is kim bryant and my husband and i made a will on legalzoom. it was really easy to do. [ spits ] [ both laugh ]

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where in the world is mitt romney? these days he's has hadder to find than our colleague on the "today" show, matt lauer. the inevitable gop nominee as he is called has kept a deliberately low profile even as

his two main rivals fight off allegations of sexual harassment and deliver bizarre speeches. is it enough to be the stealth front-runner? a man permanently under the radar? a columnist with the new york daily news, clarence page with chicago news. do you think this is a deliberate strategy? minimize mistakes. don't go out there. don't do too much. hold steady and basically hold steady in the polls. >> absolutely. mitt's campaign is nothing if not disciplined. they have the benefit of having been here before. they've done this before and he's largely been vetted by the media already. he knows how long his campaign season is. his strategy is lay low, let the others fall by the wayside and be the last man standing. they know it's easy to go out and be aggressive and make headlines and get attention. it's a lot harder to be disciplined and they're betting that that discipline will pay off. >> clarence, i want you to

listen to mitt romney today speaking with kusa in denver. listen to this. >> governor romney know you're campaigning as the man who can fix the economy. let's look at your record, sir. >> i really don't have any information about herman cain's setting. i've only seen what has been on tv and what i've read in the newspapers. so all the questions relating to his issue there, i think have to be addressed to him and to his campaign. >> he's being slightly -- very reluctant to kind of come on and say anything. >> well, i think he said never get in the way of your adversary when he's destroying himself. i think that's become mitt romney's tactic now. everything else he's done, fail to move him up any farther in the polls than that hard core of supporters that he appears to have. so i will let the other

candidates get in trouble as we've seen happening in recent days with cain and rick perry. >> the quinnipiac poll has him leading at 30%. why doesn't everything for herman kaip? >> i think he realize that's allowing cain to be cain is alle help he needs. >> you think he'll fizz out. >> i'm not sure but i think that's what he's anticipating. whether it is these scurrilous allegations, or his foreign policy flubs and his fuzzy math on the 9-9-9. i think mitt romney is boong herman cain to reveal himself to be simply unqualified to be president. >> clarence, president obama's allies have launched a new website. priorities usa action. this pac is run by former white house aides. they've release ad web ad that goes off to romney. it says romney is in wall

street's back pocket. that he's the 1%. is that going to be their entire strategy? >> that appears to be their strategy, to go after romney. there is a sense, not only in the white house that mitt romney is the inevitable nominee. that the republican party by tradition respects seniority. and once actual votes get cast, and that mitt romney is well positioned like john mccain was four years ago, even as we speak, when he was viewed as being out of the running and we see he eventually got the nomination. the obama campaign appears to be convinced that romney is going to be the guy to beat. and also know all the polls show that he has the best chance of possibly beating president obama. so if they can beat mitt romney, they figure they can beat the rest of them. >> rick perry, you've followed him and you were quite positive about him early on. what did you think about that performance recently where he

appeared either to be on a form of elicit drugs of some kind or drunk maybe. it was bizarre. that's what i mean. >> bizarre. >> was it ludicrous? was he in control of himself? >> i wasn't there. i don't know what was going. on but it was a bizarre moment. that's what i mean by discipline. that would never happen in a mitt romney campaign. a lot of the mistakes these candidates have made would never happen in a mitt romney campaign. i do not count rick perry out though. despite the debate performances and this weird moment, he still has a ton of money and support and he is a, he has a legitimate pedigree. >> he is singing in the polls. where is he in the moment? >> he is down in the basement. but it's a long campaign season. this is not over. it might end up being a romney-perry stand-off as the months go on. >> clarence, do you think that the salacious allegations that have been reported and we now know that one of the women concerned wants to come forward and give her side of the story.

do you think that herman cain is ultimately going to be damaged more by his personal proce proclivities? >> there's a third possibility that martin the way herman cain handles this flap could bring him down. the old saying, it is not the scandal. it's the cover-up. the way hem cain has handled his damage control has given misgivings to a number of republicans who wonder if he is having this much trouble with this kind of a controversy accident how will he handle the presidency? and that's the kind of thing i think herman cain is not doing himself a favor by dodging reporters as he did earlier today. by refraining from really giving direct answers to these questions. and failing to get front of this controversy. >> who is behind these attacks on herman cain? >> it's interesting. when you're talking about mitt romney and herman cain. if i'm a cynic i could say maybe

he's not talking because mitt romney is feeding this. if i'm a pollyanna, i'm thinking maybe mitt romney isn't saying anything because he might invite herman cain to be his running mate one day. there are a couple of possibilities here. >> who is behind the attacks on herman cain? who is driving these allegations and pushing them into the open? >> i think he would be wise if i'm on hem cain's team, he would be wise to assume it's coming from the right. >> why? >> because then you can sort of better attack. but the thing you have to remember, i think charles was right that herman cain is essentially winging this. you get two things when that happens will one, you make mistakes. but two, end up looking authentic and unrehearsed and that's what people love about him. >> and they really do. thank you so much for joining us. >> thanks. >> stay with us. so i took my heartburn pill and some antacids.

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before heading to france tonight for the g-20 summit, president obama is once again out pushing his jobs bill which continues to stall in the congress. >> congress tells you they don't have time, they've got time to do it. you had legislation reaffirming that in god we trust is our motto. that's not putting people back to work. i trust in god but god wants to see us help ourselves by putting people back to work. >> 14 million people still out of work. but at least we have our national motto. for more on this, i'm joined by peter walsh of vermont. good afternoon. >> good afternoon. >> the president was out reminding the public that 72% of americans support his jobs bill. meanwhile, mitch mcconnell and john boehner have said there are 15 bills being held up by senate democrats. what's wrong with those bills? they blame the president for a failure to act.

are boehner and cantor right on that? >> no, they're not. the bills are pretty much political documents. trying to clamt it through imagine of getting rid of some regulations like the clean air act or letting mercury be labeled as something that is healthy for that you will create jobs and it won't. we have a big problem. people are not going to work. they don't have jobs. and it is because of a lack of demand. it is because of a debt overhang and deleveraging. because of the housing bubble and we have to address those problems very directly. >> you mentioned mercury. can you explain that? what's the issue about mercury? >> well, the republicans in the house passed legislation that basically is doing away with the clean air act. there is almost a premise in there that we can get rid of global warming or health hazards bypassing a law saying it doesn't count. that's the absurd definition of it. the bottom line is that there is a concern about regulations. there always should be. we should be skeptical.

if a regulation gets in the way and doesn't accomplish something, we ought to eliminate or revise it. it's not as though we could get rid of every regulation in this country and it wouldn't result in people going back to work. it's a problem with too little demand. corporations not having confidence that if the cash they have on the sidelines, in the trillions of dollars, they put to work people would be able to buy the product that they produce. >> sorry. if i can interrupt. 68% of both millionaires and the general public say that the wealthiest should have their taxes increased. and yet republicans are talking about putting food stamps on the chopping block. >> see, what it tells you -- >> what does that tell you? >> it tells you that what we've got here is a republican leadership that is looking at our challenge as an ideological battle rather than a practical battle. it's pretty absurd. the millionaires and billionaires have done quite well in this recession the top

1% has doubled the amount of productive benefit of this economy. and we're acting as though if you took food off the table of the poorest americans, made them do less, if you took fuel assistance away from the coldest americans, somehow that would a, be effective in addressing the kris yet food costs are set to rise between 3.5 and 4.5%. and yet you're saying republicans think that at such a time as this, the best thing to do is to hammer the poor and the needy. >> if your goal is basically to tear down government, that it is part of the problem, then your assault very directly is on those governmental programs. what we've got is an attack on the food stamp program, on the commodity program. we've got an attack on dodd frank, the s.e.c., the consumer finance protection agency, all

of these institution that's have to play a role to level the playing feel in the economy. to provide a safety net for people who are the victims of the real weak economy. those are all under assault. and that is the ideological divide. in fact, it is very disturbing because there's some legitimate points that conservatives make. we've got to be willing to make our government programs work better. we've got to control spending where we can. but obviously there has to be revenues and the folks who have done real well, they have to contribute. warren buffett says that. practical americans know that. it is give and take on both sides. if the approach is an ideological battle, there will be a lot more harm that we do. not just the poorest americans but the middle class. >> we know that if you persist with that ideological battle, the outcome is a worsening wealth disparity. we saw last week that the top 1% of the country have benefited 275% in terms of increase of their income. >> you're exactly right. and there's a fairness issue which you just spoke to. there's also a practical issue.

henry ford understood when he gave his workers $5 a day which was an amazing wage at that time, it was good for his economy. he was going to be able to sell more cars. when you have a collapse in demand because the middle class is no longer middle class and they can't afford to buy things they need, then that eventually cycles around so that the producers are going to have less business, less profit. so this is a downward spiral and we cannot have this austerity approach be the panacea. >> thank you very much for joining us. the president prepares to face a european union in disarray. having tripletsha ha hais such a bles. not financially. so we switched to the bargain detergent, and i found myself using three times more than they say to and the clothes still weren't as clean as with tide. so we're back to tide. they're cuter in clean clothes. that's my tide. what's yours?

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in just a few hours, president obama heads to the g-20 summit in cannes, franz to add his weight to the eurozone.

although the greek prime minister has decided to hold a referendum on the plan, both the german and french government have said the proposal is not up for negotiation. let's brick in white house correspondent week viqueira and the host of "street signs" brian sullivan. do you have any sympathy why greek prime minister papandreou has decided to seek his nation's support? >> reporter: a genius political move. germany and france and everybody else that's involved in this and benefits from a bailout certainly don't like it, martin. think what papandreou is doing. knows that the people have been protesting in the streets of athens and the square, but, folks, you don't like it. i'm going to put it to you. you decide. do you want this, and by the way, they know that if it fails, and they basically reject this debt deal/bailout, that the membership of greece in the eurozone monetary union is itself at risk. it's not a tasteful decision but i think politically genius.

>> mike, what kind of pressure does the president hope to bring to bear upon the eurozone by attending? >> well, it's funny. today his spokesman said all they are asking for when they go to france for the g-20 is quote, unquote, unity of purpose without really specifying what they are looking for unity on. they have been sort of agnostic, very detached publicly saying this is up to the europeans. the europeans have the ways and means but what they don't have right now is the will to finish this bailout deal with greece. obviously greece, the birthplace of democracy having that referendum. that's not going to be until january, so people will have a lot of white nukeles around here. obviously between now and january. obviously the u.s. government wants to build in europe. obviously they are worried about the banks, that the german and french banks that hold greek debt that have already agreed to a 50% write-down. also they are concerned about a contagion economically to this country. i don't think they care whether greece goes back to the drachma

or something. >> those are all great points. let's not forget the interconnectedness of the banks. our banks have said we don't have much exposure to greece and the german and french banks. everything is interconnected and if we see pain there, we could see pain here. there's direct u.s. involvement whatever they say. america is the single biggest stakeholder in the imf. we kick in the biggest chunk. the imf is the part of any bailout or debt deal so the american taxpayer on the back end is indeed contributing to this. >> and that brings up a great point, martin. the question really is what can the united states do? what can president obama do here politically? i mean, it's not as if he can push through a greek bailout bill. can't even get his own jobs bill. what phrase you do not want to say out loud here is leading from behind, but, i mean, similar to what they did militarily on the security side in libya. i mean, they are trying to encourage the europeans to take the lead here, but the bottom line politically what kind of

choice, what kind of options are here on the table in the united states? not many. >> have a nice trip to the south of france. mike viqueira and brian sullivan, thank you. and we'll be right back to clear the air. what's better than gold ? free gold ! we call that hertz gold plus rewards. you earn free days, free weeks and more fast. that's a plus. upgrade your ride. that's a plus. rewards with no blackout dates so you can redeem anytime. and it's easy to redeem your points online. already a gold member ? just select gold plus rewards in your profile and start rewarding yourself now. just go to hertzgoldplusrewards.com to join. hertz gold plus rewards. journey on.

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it's time now to clear the air, and although the question of whether herman cain sexually harassed two women in the 1990s is clearly an important insight into how he might like to deport himself, the real thing about this controversy is people are paying clear attention to what he says and how he would lead the economy. so on the economy, his 9-9-9 plan has been derided and dismissed at worst superficial and at best favoring the rich and hammering the middle class,

only increasing the disparity of wealth in america. on immigration, he'd build an electrified fence and a moat and the moat would be full of alligators, and he says if an illegal immigrant can survive all that, then he would give him a job. on foreign policy he seems to favor up lining up u.s. naval assets in the persian gulf and then goading iran into firing first, thus provoking yet another war for a war-weary nation. and how about this on china. >> i do view china as a potential military threat to the united states. >> in what -- >> they indicated that they are trying to develop nuclear capability. >> once again, mr. cain section posed as a man without even rudimentary knowledge about the modern world. for the record, china tested its first nuclear weapon in 1964, nearly 50 years ago. you see, whether mr. cain sexually harassed two women is important for us to know. it tells us a great deal about

his character, his integrity, his regard for other people, but what ultimately disqualifies him from ever holding the highest elective office in the modern world is that he doesn't know what he's talking about. he speaks loudly and often, undoubtedly charismatic, but his words make no sense. and if all that's required to become president of the united states is a successful business career and a high public profile, then some would argue kim kardashian is better qualified than herman cain, and she's also now available. thank you very much for watching. dylan ratigan is here to take us forward. dylan, all yours. >> i'm just glad to see that kim made it into the show, as i really think that the end game for the kardashians is to be talked about on every major broadcast in america on every network in a single day at which point i believe the takeover will be complete. >> it's happening. >> all right. i can feel it. it's going to