of course, two close lieutenants of his from al qaeda on the arabian peninsula, samir khan and a bomb maker respectively. they were killed. the president lauded the operation at a speech retirement ceremony at a retirement of the joint chiefs of staff on friday. he said it was the most actively operational wing of al qaeda and puts a serious dent in their operational capability. alex, you've been reporting on this, on the fort hood shooting, the christmas day bomber, other potential attacks, times square as well. seen as a victory by the administration and many others around the world. the questions persist, was it legal? this morning, a former congresswoman a top member of the intelligence committee heading the woodrow wilson center has called for release of a justice department memo that gave the legal justification for the killing of al awlaki. alex in. >> okay. mike, thank you very much for

that heads-up. something to be vigilant about today. protesters on wall street are accusing the nypd of tricking them into breaking the law. several hundred were arrested as demonstrators marched over the brooklyn bridge. the protests blocked traffic and jammed up traffic for miles. michelle franzen is joining me us. good morning. how did they get tricked? >> they're thinking they were lured there. they're saying the nypd lured them to this area. the protesters have been camping out the past two weeks at this park a few blocks from wall street. yesterday, their numbers swelled during that march across the brooklyn bridge. they were supposed to stay on the pedestrian path but spilled over on to the rote and closed off traffic as mentioned. nypd arrested some 700 protesters criticizing police for using excessive force yesterday and several incidents over the past two weeks. >> it was civil disobedience.

it's still disobedience. but we were being peaceful. we weren't doing anything bad. they weren't only arresting young kids either. they were arresting elderly woman and a 13-year-old girl. >> we realize that the marches stopped, the -- we couldn't leave. if we left, we tried to turn around and go back, that's when they would arrest you. >> the protesters are expected to be back out today. they've been speaking out about big government, about how they feel that there's social inequality going on and grabbed the attention of activists, including michael moore. >> so when you look at the message, though, what is it the protesters are trying to get across? it doesn't seem a very cohesive one. >> the platforms are diverse. mostly centered on speaking out against corporate greed and social inequality. they also said they're trying to let people come together and speak their minds and find a way to how to get their message out.

they're still developing exactly what they want over this time. but they're also getting union leaders behind the movement. that could give them more resources in the backing alex needed to keep this movement going for months. >> okay. nbc's michelle franzen, many thanks for that. let's go to 2012 politic. americans clamoring for another candidate. may get their wish. new jersey governor chris christie is seriously considering running for president. his advisers are analyzing if they can move quickly enough to get a national campaign in place. meanwhile, mitt romney is looking to make it clear, he's a different candidate now than he was in 2008. last week he sat down with mike huckabee and spoke about why he failed in the last election. >> if you asked at the end of the campaign, right down to one word what barack obama stood for, you would say change or hope. they said about hillary clinton. can't come up with anything. how about mitt romney? same thing. i talked about a lot of issues. but it wasn't clear what i stood

for. i wanted to make sure in this race, win or lose, people know i'm the guy that will put americans back to work. >> governor rick perry's drawing controversy for comments made yesterday in new hampshire. the texas governor says that he would consider getting the u.s. military involved in the mexican drug war. >> we were able to stop the drug cartels in colombia. was with the coordinated effort. it may require our military in mexico working in concert with them to kill these drug cartels and to keep them off of our border and to destroy their network. >> and herman cain takes another straw poll this morning. just minutes ago the national federation of republican women announced cain won nearly 50% of the vote in their poll. rick perry and romney finished second and third. both were more than 30 points behind him. president obama is criticizing his gop rivals. he spoke at the annual dinner

for the gay rights organization, this in washington, d.c. last night. he slammed the gop presidential candidates for their actions during the last republican presidential debate. namely, staying silent when people in the crowd booed after an american soldier serving in iraq asked a question via videotape. the soldier said he was gay. >> we don't believe in the kind of smallness that says it's okay for a stage full of political leaders, one of whom could end up being the president of the united states, being silent when an american soldier is booed. we don't believe in that. [ [ applause ] >> we don't believe in standing silent when that happens. we don't believe in them being silent since. you want to be commander in chief, you can start by standing up for the men and women who wear the uniform of the united states. even when it's not politically convenient. >> now, some gop candidates say they didn't hear the boo'ing.

the president also talked about his support of repealing the -- although he stopped short of endorsing same sex marriage. joining me now with more on today's political headlines, white house reporter david nakamura, good morning. >> hi, alex, how are you? >> i'm well. thank you for asking. you're talking about going after gop candidates. we're 14-ish months, closer to 13 out from the election. is the president in full campaign mode in is he going to be consistently weaving in his jabs at contenders now? >> absolutely. he's going around the country doing this jobs tour to promote his jobs package. make no mistake, a lot of it is politically aimed and motivated. you've seen him go to a number of states where his biggest republican rivals are based. this coming tuesday, he goes to texas. home of rick perry. last week he went up to the west coast to raise money for his campaign and he's first started this sort of line of criticism saying that as you just heard, that the republican candidates

are not stepping up against the value kind of issues that he says americans stand for which is to boo, they're boo'ing this kind of statement from a gay soldier in iraq and he says, very strongly, a command ner chief needs to stand up to that. he's trying to set a bar which differentiates the democrats and the republicans as we go forward. >>let face it, right now it's all about jobs, though, for so many. the president was talking about that certainly during his speech yesterday and getting help from dnc chair debbie wasser man schultz. let's look at what she said yesterday. we can't afford to wait, can't spend months or weeks waiting for scores. we need to act. she's in congress. it's been three weeks. why are democrats in the senate or house not moving on this? >> this is an interesting point. i think what you saw just last week is that the democrats just don't have the votes for this bill right now. even in the senate where the democrats have the majority. they're having trouble rounding up enough votes.

what i think dick durbin said, the senator, is that there's a number of senators from oil-producing states with concerns about part of the president's plan that would raise the revenues to pay for the jobs plan by cutting back tax loopholes for and gas -- oil and gas companies. the chal challenges in the senate and the house side a number of leaders won't stand for a lot what's in the bill. it's a high bar. >> david, when you talk about democrats, can he then squarely place the blame on republicans when even people in his own party are not lining up behind him? >> well, no. some of the proposals that he has, especially to raise revenues to pay for this jobs plan have actually been tried before by this administration. has not passed in part because of democratic opposition. the president's spokesman jay carney told press last week that he expects very much the congress to take action by the end of the year.

he would bioowe i don't see a path right now for that to happen any time soon. >> washington post, david nakamura, thank you. >> thank you. let's go to italy where amanda knox is preparing to go before the court. she will speak in court tomorrow. a verdict could come soon thereafter. the 24-year-old is appealing the conviction of murdering her british roommate in 2007. her father spoke this morning on the "today" show about his daughter's statement planned for tomorrow. >> it's going to be a heartfelt statement that she'll make. i think she just wants to have the judge and jury hear one more time that she had nothing to do with this horrific case and that's she's innocent of the charges and she hopes for an acquittal. >> let's go live now to perugia italy with chapman bells. is there any word on specifically what amanda knox may say tomorrow? >> reporter: good morning, alex. nobody really knows what exactly she will say. in fact, that's one of the remaining questions. that and what will the verdict be for this appeal.

we have heard from her family, as you heard from her father, kurt knocks, it will be emotional and heartfelt. other friends and family members have said that amanda has been focusing on this statement that she'll deliver to the court for about three months now. she wants to deliver it in her own words. she has taken a beating of over recent days on her character. perhaps she'll try to tell them she's not this evil monster, not a witch but as she said also in court in statements, that meredith kercher was her friend and she had nothing to do with it. i think it will be heartfelt as kurt knox said. he also told me earlier in the week it would be anything but short and sweet. i think she's really going to focus, it is her last chance to stand up in court and tell the judge and jury and hopefully to get a verdict of not guilty so she can be out of the courtroom and here in italy and on the plane home to seattle. alex? >> david chapman, are you getting a sense from family and friends in perugia, are they feeling confident? >> reporter: well, i think there

is a confidence. but they are leaving it up to the judge and jury here to decide. it's not their decision. they say she's innocent. but it has been a long week and no court on saturday or sunday this weekend. i think everybody is ready to get in the courtroom and find out what the verdict will be. >> okay. nbc's chapman bell, many thanks. coming up next, i'll speak with presidential candidate about his campaign. outrage against bank of america over its plan to charge you to use your atm card. the bank says it needs to make up losses. why is it always have to be on the backs of customers? we're america's natural gas and here's what we did today: supported nearly 3 million steady jobs across our country... ... scientists, technicians, engineers, machinists... ... adding nearly 400 billion dollars to our economy... we're at work providing power to almost a quarter of our homes and businesses... ... and giving us cleaner rides to work and school...

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does not accept campaign donations over $100 or any political action committees. he got into the race in july but has been shut out of every national gop debate. buddy roemer, the republican candidate for president joins me now. he's also the former governor of louisiana and a four-term congressman and a democrat for most of time. thanks for joining me governor roemer. >> good alex. i've been enjoying watching you work. you have a tough job. >> i love my job. let get to the job that you want to get to. you've said that politics is corrupted. especially by dig donors. is this realistic to only accept small individual donations, a hundred bucks at a time rather than huge sums of cash? >> i need a million people. i need a million people who are looking for decent work who think trade with china is unfair the way it's practiced who want to grow america and who don't

think wall street should own washington. i need a million people at a hundred dollars. you know, we have contributions from all 50 states, alex. we're the only guy running who has been a governor and a congressman. i grow jobs. that's what i do. small business, drilling for oil, safely and freely. we can do this. i've got a catch on. i need to be on a debate. i watch the people debate. it's often frivolous. it's often silly. but it's the only way to get known in america. i ask it again. why not me? i'm climbing in the polls, alex. i've spent my money wisely and well. i raise more money in the last quarter than i ever have before. it's beginning to happen. >> all right. governor, how many people are supporting you thus far? how close are you to getting to that million people? i will grant you, you've only been in the race for about three months or less. >> i announced six weeks ago in

new hampshire. i live here. it's an important state for me. i'm from baton rouge, louisiana. it's taken a while to introduce myself as being from southern new hampshire. but i'm making progress in the national polls, the last two weeks, i've had one and 2%. now i'm slowly climbing. i haven't been in politics in 20 years. i'm doing it the old-fashioned way. i'm earning it. i'm not being a big shot about it. i'm being very specific in my ideas. and they start with trade with china. we're getting killed in this country and nobody has the guts to say anything about it. >> governor, you say that you have not been in politics for 20 years. what is the difference with politics today as opposed to when you got out? >> the debates. you know, it used to be the debates were reserved for kennedy versus nixon or mccain versus obama.

at the end of the election cycle, you would have one or two debates. i would love to debate president obama on jobs or foreign policy. that will happen. but what's interesting now is two things. the number of debates. there's one a week. they happen in the primaries. that's very interesting. and i think very useful to a guy like me. and finally, the influence of money. i've never seen anything like it. the lobbyists and pacs in washington gave more money four years ago to presidents than 32 states combined. i think our president needs to be free to do the right thing. i say no to wall street money. i say no to the big checks. i want ideas and real people. you can turn this country around, alex. you can do it. >> dpof, igovernor, what are yo when you knock on the door -- >> at first i was told a new candidate i hadn't been around

in 20 years. you know, i built a very successful bank about a billion dollars worth of bank, very profitable. i did it the old-fashioned way. i think that's a good story for the debate. but i was told that i was unknown. so i began to work in new hampshire. i begin to give speeches, i began to shake hands and kiss babies as it were. like i was running for governor of new hampshire. i moved here. i got to 1% in the polls. then 2% in the polls. nationwide, there were two other candidates on the last debate that did not have the poll numbers that i did. look, it's a catch-22. if you don't take the corrupting money and buy a presence, you need to get on the polls. but you -- i mean, you need to get on the debates. but if you can't get on the polls, they won't let you on the debates. >> all right. >> it's a catch-22 alex. i'm going to ask you, sir, will you feel like you have accomplished something if your

candidacy results in being a statement candidacy or will you only be happy if you have to send out change of address cards to 1600 pennsylvania avenue? >> it's not about me. let me straight with you. surely there are better people than me somewhere who ought to run. i know a couple of them are thinking about it. but i'll be happy when america changes. i'll be happy when america treats working people fairly. i'll be happy when small businesses get heard. i'll be happy when we're energy independent. it's not about me making america happy. it's about america coming together. i'll reach across the party, i'll reach across the country and we will rebuild a nation. not afghanistan. america. >> presidential aide buddy roemer, pleasure talking with you sir. best of luck. we'll be following you. >> thanks, alex. it used to be a free and easy way to pay cash and get

groceries. for bank of america customers debit cards may be an inconvenience. they will charge debit card users $5 a month if they use them to make purchases much the question is, are other banks going to follow suit and do the same. she covers financial news for the washington post. >> good morning alex. they have to do this to compensate for $15 of lost revenue. how do they lose that much and why is the burden on our backs now to fix it? >> there are two big fees that the banks have lost in recent yea years. the first one last year was overdraft. they were prohibited from charging overdraft fees. several big banks said we're getting rid of this program. it's not worth while. the second thing they lost, because of a rule that went into place yesterday, that limited the amount of money that they can get from merchants each time you swipe your debit card. so typically, if you go to a store and you buy something like your debit card, it's the

retailer who pays the bank a fee. now that the fee is limited, the banks are saying we have to make it up some kind of way and we'll charge customers for it. >> wait a minute. does it cost b of a anything to use a debit card? >> that's something that's been hotly debated. what the banks say, it costs them a lot to set up the system for processing debit cards so they have fraud prevention centers and they have all of the networks and cables to allow stores and banks to communicate with each other and make your life easy. that system costs a lot of money. however, each time you swipe your card, it costs them pennies on the dollar or less. each transaction doesn't necessarily cost a lot. but they're saying the system as a whole is quite expensive. >> okay. owe once implementing this, how much do they stand to make and is it at the risk though of alienating customers? what if other banks don't follow suit. there will be a lot of people taking money out of b of a and

stick it somewhere else. >> they know they're looking at probably 8 to $10 billion of lost revenues because of the limits on the fees. how much they make from it depends on whether or not customers are willing to accept it. i have heard a lot of people on twitter, facebook and just in conversations saying that they're really mad approximate this fee. they're irritated because it feels like consumers are getting nickel and dimed by large corporations for a variety of things they used to enjoy for free. it depends on how many people stick with the fee or how many people move their money. >> okay. ylanmui with the washington post. thanks as always. looking at a few stories that caught my eye this morning. a man in thailand had a scare when he saw a crocodile swimming in his flooded bathroom. he locked the door and called for help. rescue workers released the crocodile safely outside. it's believed to have escaped from a farm flooded in last week's typhoon. quite a sight in new mexico

where there was a balloon glow. hundreds taking off in albuquerque in the early evening. shining for spectators, young and old. it was the blue angels flying high in california. all part of the miramar air show. it marks the 100th anniversary of naval and marine aviation. an era will come to an end tonight as andy rooney airs his commentary for the last time on 60 minutes. he's been part of that show for 33 years and he will be missed. this will probably go into a different record book. 357 women in a bikini parade. the swimsuit clad ladies shattering the record set last year in the cayman islands. i want you to know that nick put this one. dry mouth may start off as an irritant.

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headlines right now. an apparent mel tear i accident in yemen. a government warplane bombed one of its own army bases by mistake killing at lealeast 30 soldiers. the state department says it's worried about retaliation against american citizens. anti-wall street protesters are still in lower manhattan right now despite the arrest of 700 people yesterday at the brooklyn bridge. even more events are planned for later today. a busy day for the supreme court tomorrow as it opens its new term. legal challenges to president obama's healthcare law is first up on the agenda. you're watching "weekends with alex witt." ♪ ♪

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set out to create a different kind of cold remedy using powerful medicine and natural ingredients from around the world. he called it vicks vaporub. today, the vicks journey continues. introducing new vicks nature fusion cold & flu syrup. powerful multi-symptom medicine flavored with natural honey instead of artificial flavors and dyes. so you can feel good about what you take to feel better. welcome back to "weekends with alex witt." just past a half hour, amanda knox's appeal enters the final stages in italy, the world is waiting to hear what she will tell the jury in her defense. she's convicted for the 2007

murder of her british roommate. what can we expect? let's get answers from lisa green. legal analyst and head of communications at the law firm paul weiss. welcome back. good to see you again. >> very good to be here. >> i mean, to say it's been fascinating to watch this case make its way through the legal system over there, so much different than what's going on here. this appeal, is it really a new trial? >> yes, this case has been like a crash course in comparative law, alex. this is just one of the many examples in which it's different than what might happen in the u.s. when amanda knox and her co-defendant sought an appeal, they got a complete do-over. we're seeing the closing sections of that. >> she is going to speak tomorrow. with wo that happen in the u.s.? not necessarily in a murder case like this. >> here's the thing. in the u.s. during a trial, if the defendant were to get up and say i'd like to make a statement to assert my innocence, a marshal would come and sit that person back down. you have an opportunity to speak as a defendant sometimes during sentencing. but there's no equivalent here.

of course, what this means is high drama tomorrow when she and her co-defendant get up and make an impassioned plea for their own defense. >> i'm thinking about the dna evidence in the trial. independent experts went there and basically said you can't use this because we're not definitively certain that this evidence leads all trails to amanda knox. is that something that will be enough to win her an acquittal? >> that's the huge question we're wondering about. of course, in the second round essentially a new trial, the dna evidence was taking a sledgehammer to by independent experts. the charges remain. the prosecution has not backed off. of course, we're not in the jury place, in the jury room and the thing about trials and sort of predicting outcomes is, it's very different if you're there and we've seen that here in the states. that's even more true in italy. a different system. >> does it say anything to you, though, that the prosecution not only saidlet uphold the sentence she first thought.

but let's push this. we're going to ask for her to stay in jail the rest of her life. >> it's amazing. there are many different possibilities when the jury and the judge come back tomorrow. amanda could be acquitted. her conviction could be upheld. she could get additional time or a reduced sentence. after that, both sides can appeal the outcome. >> so if she has to go back and be incarcerated. this isn't over. we have a trial. >> there's a third part. the italian supreme court. again, alex, if she's acquitted and flies home, prosecutors could appeal her acquittal. >> now, what would happen, if she's home, talk about extradition. do you know anything about that? i'm thinking would the u.s. say amanda, you're home but you have to go back even though you were acquitted. >> it's reported that the state department has said, we have an extradition treaty with italy, but this is getting well ahead and we're not going to speculate. certainly it's the case that amanda will not stick around and wait for appeal.

she, if acquitted she will be heading home back to america. >> this jury was not sequestered during this trial. you can't go anywhere, it's reported this will be live when she makes her appeal and have the ruling by the judge live on television. how has that affected this case? >> well, i mean, not so different than cases here. but on a much higher scale. this case has played out in the media from the beginning. of course, the jury has been privy to all sorts of different spin. i guess i would point out, alex, that the u.s. take on this case is very different culturally than both the italian take and of course the take in great britain where the murder victim lived and people are quite upset about that understandably. so it sort of depend almost a different take depending on which newspapers you read about this case. which is why tomorrow's outcome will be so dramatic. >> it will be. so good to see you lisa green. you've been working at paul weiss. come back with us frequently. >> pleasure always. day five of the trial of michael jackson's trial picks up again tomorrow in los angeles. conrad murray charged with

involuntary manslaughter in the death of the king of pop. the testimony will resume after a week of high drama in the courtroom. so far the prosecution called jackson's former bodyguards and chef to the stand. jurors also heard explicit testimony from paramedics surrounding the moments of jackson's death. back now to that worldwide terror alert that the state department issued for americans abroad. this alert is tied to the debt of top al qaeda figure anwar al awlaki on friday. his preachings inspired the fort hood shooter and the underwear bomber among others. the state department says terrorists could try to avenge al awlaki's death by attacking u.s. citizens. i spoke with former cia officer jack rice about the drone that killed him. he said why it may mean a win in the short term, it's a more complicated picture in the long-term. >> the problem is, this isn't a zero sum game. there's only so many people out there. that's not true. the concern we always have to have is everything that we do

could possibly increase the number of people who want to come out and kill us, if you will. what we always have to balance is the ability to go after our enemies on the one side while not motivating others to sort of join the fray against us. so we balance those two constantly and we should. >> the attack that killed al awlaki, killed samir khan and also believed to have killed the top bomb maker, ieb rah ham al asiri. >> the battle -- with congress over jobs and taxes, what's in a name. the president has been saying he's a warrior for the middle class. which may be part of the reason he's being attacked for class warfare by opponents. joining me from washington, eleanor clift of newsweek and the daily beast. eleanor, good to see you. >> good morning, alex. >> what's the problem here? what should the president be doing that he's not doing? is it all about this word class? >> middle class is a state of mind. a lot of people who make more money than would technically

qualify them to be in the middle class as we define it think of them as middle class. the better phrase is middle income. inherited wealth, country clubs is another caricature of high class. nobody wants to be called lower class. middle income, lower income, upper income would help us confront the inequities that exist. >> we don't say lower class, or upper class. should we not even say middle class? >> well, i think -- i can't issue a ruling that nobody say middle class. it's now become part of the culture. and bill clinton, i think, used to consider himself a president who cared about, i think he used the phrase forgotten middle class. michael dukakis in 1988 said he was fighting for the middle

class. democrats typically are fighters for the middle class. republicans may give it some lip service, but generally the way we think of the two parties is that the republicans are more concerned about protecting the interests that they would say job creators. i think that's borne out in the polls. people think that democrats are generally more on the side of working people. although that doesn't bear out necessarily in the way people work and we've had a phenomenon called reagan democrats who associated with the republican party even though their economic interests seem to lie are the democratic party. there are no hard-and-fast rules here. i think even democrats are a little nervous about the president's rhetoric that it may -- it's populous rhetoric, makes liberals in particular feel good. whether it will work in terms of expanding his voter base is questionable. >> is there a hard-and-fast definition for middle income? is that quarter million dollars dividing line?

>> boy, quarter million dollars sounds so much more than $250,000, doesn't it? >> it does. it's all in a word as we're saying. >> exactly. i think if you have two pro professional people who are not hedge fund managers, they could match that reach that $250,000 and they would hardly consider themselves upper income. and so i think when we talk about equalizing the tax structure, i think it would be better to think of gray dashians. warren buffett is the crusader for this. he wants to pay more taxes. if you have people pulling down millions each year, it seems to me that they could pay a somewhat higher proportion of their taxes than they are currently paying. >> okay. eleanor clift, as always a pleasure. many thanks. >> thank you, alec. the post office is out with new commercials to help them stay in business. new tv ads for the u.s. post office say that letter carriers are reliable and that the mail does not get lost.

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it's time now for the big three. three topics, three talkers. we're looking at 2012. the new rankings, some sharp words from president obama for the gop and wall street on notice. joining me now, real clear politics reporter erin mcpint.

washington post reporter, ann karn kornblut. good morning to the three of you. >> good morning. robert, i'll begin with you. who are the protesters on wall street? what do you perceive them to want? did you have a clear sense of that? >> to answer to your last question first, i think who they are -- let me back up they remind me of the tea party, this loosely defined group of people that are fed up with the status quo. they strike me as average americans out there frustrated with their banks. frustrated with wall street. they feel like no one is listening to them. they're frustrated that they're being charged to use their own money. that they're being penalized if in fact they choose to use their money the way they see fit. they feel like perhaps these big banks out there are only about greed and not about the little guy. what you see is quite frankly like a tea party movement, rank

and file ordinary folks coming together with one voice saying enough is enough. >> i know you're talking about that -- we're going to get to the bank of america increasing fees. anne, to you, what about the social issues here? i mean, you can look at it from a financial perspective. are they mixing in social issues as well? >> i think it's too soon to see whether it's a fledgling political movement or not. so far it's been pretty contained. it's on wall street. we haven't seen them run any political candidates yet. although some famous people have shown up. people with political leanings and they seem to be on the liberal end of the spectrum so far. i do agree with robert in that. they are like a tea party perhaps for the left so far. it's not clear what exactly they're going to tie themselves to. all the stories are a group of people who don't know what exactly they're demanding except that they're angry. they've asked for specific things in terms of bank fees. there's no real political movement here. >> erin, let's get to the report

by bank of america. reports that they'll be charging people $5 a month if they ever use their atm cards anywhere other than just getting cash out of the bank. also, report now that citigroup will start charging fees to customers with low balances. so do these protesters have legitimate gripes? >> they seem to. again, as they were saying earlier, the idea that the tea party movement actually was borne out of this anger about wall street and the bank bailout in 2008. do they have legitimate gripes? sure. they're acting on them. >> robert, what about the protests, these are not just only here in lower manhattan and those on wall street and crossing over the brooklyn bridge. we have solidarity marches in chicago, l.a., portland, up in maine. the reaction in d.c. has been what and do you think that lawmakers are listening and hearing these protests? >> i think the reaction here in d.c. so far is kind of a raised eyebrow, a wait and see for

lawmakers on capitol hill. however, lawmakers on capitol hill almost all of them are up for reelection or at least a third of them are next year. they obviously want to be in front of this mood out there. i go back to the philosophical question or statement that i reached a few moments ago. why am i being charged for using my own money in first of all, this is the era of fiscal austerity and pinching our pennies and being cautious about what we spend. if in fact i want to pay cash for something or use my debit card, i'm penalized for that? this is ridiculous. i think a lot of people are asking themselves that. >> anne, do you think washington has a deaf ear or just a slight ear turned right now? >> well, i don't think it would take protesters for people who are up for reelection to know that voters are angry across the spectrum and mad about the financial of their own personal financial situations and the economy at large. forget the $5 bank tea from bank of america. they're cutting 30,000 jobs. i think that's something, especially on the heels of a big

bank bailout that we've seen and wall street still turning in mighty fine profit, voters upset about. i think that's something washington has been a tuned to. how the respond is differently. i don't think this is a news flash. >> you three will stick around. erin, you'll be up first after the break. in the meantime, wheef been asking all of you this this morning. do you think the occupy wall street protest is a waste of time? here are your tweets. lee bee gee 3 says definitely a worthy cause. the left needed a tea party of some kind. jen 10021 thinks, occupy wall street is a waste of time. it's a nuisance. another tweet. nothing that promotes progress and change is a waste of time. ziend worthy cause. the 99% want their future back from the clups tches of the 1%.

i will read more tweets on weekends wi "weekends with alex witt." the president's sharp message to the gop candidates. plus a bonus. take a look. this is a spectacular sight. besides our three guests in washington, d.c. this morning. we'll be right back.

it says its okay for a stage full of political leaders, one of whom could end up being the president of the united states being silent when an american soldier is booed. you want to be commander in chief? you can start by standing up for the men and women who stand up for the united states even when it's not politically convenient. >> he is referring to the moment in the recent gop debate where a gay soldier asked a question and then heard boos from the

audience. and erin, your reaction to the president there? >> i think he was channeling some, if you read more of his speech last night, i think he was channeling the 2004 speech that he gave at the democratic convention had he talked about not having red states or blue states, and he tried to recapture the political hef that he had back then. gay groups have been upset with him when he took office and he is reminding them that he is on their side and the republicans aren't. it was a easy hit for him. and one of the things santorum said was when he was on the debate stage, he could not hear the boos. so is it possibly unfair? possibly. >> do you think they really did not hear the boos?

>> i want to be fair to senator santorum, as everybody knows i used to work for him, and he is a straight shooter and somebody that tells the truth, so if in fact that is what he said, i believe him. however, after the fact, and after it was reported that there was boos in the audience, i do believe all of the presidential candidates should have issued a statement saying that was completely and inappropriate and condemned the boos. but there is a political wedge issue to the other person's point that president obama, this was a softball for him and he did a good job of addressing that issue. i believe the president spoke to my heart and most american hearts when he talks about no matter who you choose to sleep with, if you wear a uniform, you should be able to say that and do it proudly. and now turning to the gop race with mitt romney's appearance on mike huckabee's show, his formal rival.

huckabee reaches a very conservative social crowd. what does this buy mitt romney? >> it's tough to know what one radio appearance can buy him, but it gave him an opportunity to talk about the economy. he said over and over that that is his focus this time. he will be focused on jobs and the economy, and he will have a sharper message than in 2008. whatever venue he takes that to, whether it's in a debate or on anybody's radio show, he will be able to appeal to conservatives that will see that not only as the number one most resident issue to all voters, but something that could make him electable in a general election and not just in a republican primary. very quickly, and with chris christie, there are some saying he needs to seize the moment now and he may not have another chance to do this, and what do you think about it? >> i don't buy that he is going to do it until we hear from his

mouth that he really is thinking about it. he has not changed his own tune just yet. >> all right, many thanks, and good to see you all. >> thank you. appears wrap up of the msnbc live coverage, and stay for the coverage of the news as it happens. this is a view of the washington monument. have a great day, everybody. pick up what we need. roll out... caulk...and install. and pretty soon, we're seeing the fruits of our labor right there at our bottom line. more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot. owens corning ecotouch attic insulation is only $9.97 a roll.

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