promise kept. president obama fulfills a campaign vow and announces american troops are leaving iraq. how much will this help him in 2012? campaign meltdown. what happened to michele bachmann's team in new hampshire and where does she go from here? plus, office politics with dylan rhadigan. why hes the rise of the tea party and occupy wall street has more in common than you think. good morning, everyone. welcome to msnbc saturday and "weekends with alex witt." it is 9:00 in the east. 6 a.m. out west. let's get to what's happening right now out there. american troops will be packing their bags and returning to the u.s. by the end of this year, effectively ending the war in iraq. president obama made the official announcement yesterday. >> here at home, the coming months will be another season of homecomings. across america our servicemen and women will be reunited with their families. today i can say that our troops in iraq will definitely be home for the holidays.

>> well, the president made that decision after speaking with iraq's prime minister. more than 39,000 american troops will be departing iraq after more than eight years of fighting. well, less than an hour after the president's announcement to withdrawal all troops from iraq, he started taking shots from the gop field. mitt romney said the full withdrawal puts at risk the progress america's made so far. he released a statement saying the unavoidable question is whether this decision is the result of a naked political calculation or simply sheer ineptitude in negotiations with the iraqi government. and you know it's political when the president's re-election campaign responds, his press secretary fired back, mitt romney didn't lay out a plan to end the war in iraq in his foreign policy agenda. he barely even mentioned iraq but he's apparently willing to leave american troops there without identifying a new mission. herman cain attacked the president's strategy saying he's showing too. of his hand. >> the thing that i wouldn't do the president is doing is telling the enemy how many

troops you're going to bring out and when you're going to bring them out. i don't think that's a good strategy. >> meanwhile, ron paul blasted the president on recent news of gadhafi's death and his other military achievements. >> he, of course, has been able to come up with idea that more dictators he kills and brags about, the more he undermines the republicans. they think that's a republican issu issue. i find that disgusting you brag about how many people he just killed or even assassinating an american people. >> you to want watch "meet the press" tomorrow. among guests, ron paul and speaking with secretary of state hillary clinton about the troop pullout in iraq, and plus what lies ahead for libya following the death of moammar gadhafi. it's all there for you tomorrow on "meet the press." life after gadhafi, just a short time ago libyan prime minister jabril said libyan should be able to vote within eight months to draft a new

constitution following the violent removal of moammar gadhafi. now, that council would also be tasked with forming an interim government nor the newly liberated people of libya. meantime, nato is planning to enthe air campaign by the end of this month. >> we agreed that nato will wind down the operation during which period, and that means until the 31st of october, during which period nato will monitor the situation and retain the capacity to respond to threats to civilians if needed. >> libya's new leaders are expected to officially declare liberation on sunday. the heir to saudi arabia's thrown died last night, who was 86 years old. he was the half brother of the saudi king, the kingdom's deputy prime minister and minister of defense and aviation. a stunning new development

in the search for missing missouri baby lisa irwin. police say an fbi cadaver dog reacted to the scent of a dead person inside the home and investigators say they found soil in the backyard that was recently disturbed. the parents reported their 10-month-old baby disappearing on october 4th. they deny any involvement in the disappearance and their attorneys say they're fully cooperating with police. after a turbulent week wall street ended friday on a high night. the dow jumped 267 points while the s&p climbed 22 and the nasdaq gained 38. walmart announce it's scaling back health coverage for future part-time workers and raising premiums for full-time employees. they say rising health care costs are behind the changes. walmart employs more than 1.4 million people. and the popularity of the apple ipad appears to be waning. the ipad share of the global

tablet market slipped from 96% to 67% in the face of growing competition from the android slates. industry experts say sales have slowed because many people willing to spend $500 auto-o a tablet have already done so. more notable names are joining occupy wall street demonstrations. folk legend pete seeinger and arlo guthrie marched friday night. seeger sang as the group made their way through the city and joined up with guthrie along the route and they all sang "we shall overcome". very strange. a man scaled 30 feet in the air and perched up there. as we give you live pictures. they're currently in communication with him. we'll bring you more details. president obama says all u.s. forces in iraq will be home by the end of the year.

the president's decision ends months of talks about whether u.s. troops would stay to train iraqi soldiers. nbc ace kristin welker at the white house. what's the latest on this? >> reporter: good morning to you. the latest is all 40,000 troops will be home, will be home for the holidays. that's in the words of president obama making that announcement on friday. the big question now is what happens next. the president announced the united states and iraq would continue to have a strong partnership. and he seemed to leave the door open, that some american trainers might help iraqi forces with this transition process. so, the question is, will that happen, and if so, what would that look like? in other words, woot trainers help train iraqi forces in another country? kuwait, for example. those negotiations haven't started, though, alex. as of right now, this administration focused on bringing those troops home. also focused on having a strong partnership with iraq. in fact, the president also

announced yesterday that he invited the prime minister of iraq to the white house in december. >> all right. kristin, question here with his decision, it fulfills a campaign promise to end the war in 2008, right? a lot of people feeling it's a campaign promise. >> reporter: that's right. remember this president ran as a candidate who was opposed to the iraq war. this is one of the stark contrasts he made with then-candidate hillary clinton. so, if you look ahead to this coming election, you will likely see him make the point this is a promise made and a promise kept. but as you mentioned, alex, in your open, the gop candidates have already come out to oppose this decision to bring all 40,000 troops home. a lot saying it could potentially lead to an unstable transition process. so, certainly they will be watching for that quite closely. what it does, though, it makes it difficult for the gop to attack the president in terms of being weak on foreign policy. when you look at iraq, when you

look at the fall of gadhafi, the death of osama bin laden and anwar al alaki but the number one issue is the economy. >> yes. more on the president's announcement of iraq, withdrawal of troops means they'll be coming back to u.s. in the next ten weeks. joining me in studio, bobby gosh, editor of "time" magazine. the president said he was going to do this. doesn't come as a surprise, does it? >> no, it doesn't come as a surprise. for many point of view, the fact that they were -- that he brought the troops home or the fact he was unable to persuade the iraqis to allow a certain number, a few thousand american trainers to remain, because that was not surprising at all because iraqi politics never would have allowed for that. >> fleets go with the iraqi politi politics. can you tell us what happened, the demand for americans in

immunity and iraqi refusal to give that to them. what broke this down? >> american troops in various countries, korea, japan, enjoy a certain amount of immunity from prosecution. if an american military truck, for instance, were involved in an accident in the street. -t would not be -- local judicial authority would not be able to prosecute. that was never going to happen in iraq. in iraq the american presence from the beginning has been quite unpopular with large sections particularly shiites and there have been incidents actually involving much more contract fight rather than american soldiers where iraqi civilians have been caught in the crossfire or sometimes been killed, you know, there's been sort of too much of this sort of thing going on in iraqi cities. iraqis have read or experienced too much of this. and they don't want this kind of immunity to be given. >> so, are we experiencing here a pullout or a kick out? >> well, i would -- the correct

answer is a little of both. the pull out is in line with what the president said, he was going to bring almost all of the soldiers home in any case. the question is whether a few thousand, and the exact numbers were never clear but a few thousand american soldiers would remain as trainers. the iraqis need this training but they decided that they're not going to allow the american soldiers to remain on their soil. >> how is the military community reading this? i mean, certainly senator john mccain said, no military officer or commander is going to think this is a wise decision. >> i'm sure there are mixed feelings. look, american soldiers have fought long and hard in iraq for eight years, losing 4,000 -- >> 4400 lives. >> they work very hard to create the space in which iraqi politics can find its feet a little bit. soldiers leaving the battlefield are always worried about -- what they fought for will now be erased and whether, if you like,

the bad guys will come back. so, i'm sure they have mixed feelings when you know you've spent all this time there, you've lost your colleagues there. the nagging fear that the moment you withdrawal, the people that you fought against will come back and reclaim that territory. that's hard to live with. but on the other hand, the military is overstretched. they have a harder war to fight in afghanistan. there are conflicts in other parts of the world. i think commanders at the top of the chain of command are probably relieved not to have one more war to fight. >> with regard to iraq, though, bobby, the concerns that iraq may slip into a bad pattern, i mean, how possible is that? how strong is the iraqi government at keeping control of the people? >> the picture is mixed. they've gotten better with every passing month. but there's still a lot of violence. only in last month, more than -- nearly 200 iraqis were killed in

violent action. al qaeda and other extremist groups still exist. there are still groups that want to destabilize the country. iraq has neighbors who have -- iran, for instance, who have a history of poking their noses in the iraqi business. so, it's -- it's going to be quite tricky. the iraq government, they haven't really had the opportunity to stand on their own. >> and prove themselves. >> and prove themselves. now they have no choice. now they won't have the americans to turn to. they have to do this for themselves. can they? that's going to be -- that's going to be the big question. they're taking a risk. prime minister maliki is taking a huge risk. >> "time" magazine's bobby ghosh. trouble in new hampshire. what happened to michele bachmann's staff in the granite staff? you heard about prince harry's new american woman and her tattoo. live in london about that. later, dylan rhadigan tells me what's really fueling the occupy office movement. [ male announcer ] this is lara.

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the war in iraq is officially over at end of this year. president obama made the announcement yesterday and american troops left in iraq will all be heading home within weeks but while bringing home troops be political gain to the president. joining me from washington is dana millbank of "the washington post." how much was political? you have republican candidates making a charge right now. you know what those charges have been. so, political or from a military strategy point this was appropriate? >> well, you know, it's anybody's guess what's actually going on inside the president's brain.

to me, this was sort of anticlimax. not that big of a deal. basically the president was completing what he had already said he was going to do and what president obama said he was going to do. i think a lot of the republican criticism of this, particularly from the candidates, reflects of criticism. if the president at this point said, good morning, the republican candidates would be quarrelling about the merits of how good it was. so, i think that's really the season we're in, whereas the whole nation is sort of moved on. and i think a lot of people are saying, wait, i thought we were pulling out of iraq. this is basically crossing the t, dotting the i and being done with it. >> that's a pretty funny argument. >> we can have that argument. >> no, we're go on to something more substantive. with regard to what this does for the re-election campaign, is this a game-changer or does the economy put a damp other that? >> this election will be all about the economy. sort of the irony here is the president came in and a lot of

people said he didn't have experience in foreign policy. that's his strongest area with the killing of osama bin laden and now gadhafi and completing the pull out in iraq, pressing the case in afghanistan. he's fairly unassailable in foreign policy barring, god forbid another terrorist attack. but for the president that's no longer where the discussion is. it's all about jobs right now. and that doesn't look good for the president. so if this were a foreign policy in 2004, he would be in a great race but that's not the case. >> trying to make the turn from victories in iraq and libya to his push for the jobs plan. let's take a listen to this. >> as we end these wars, we're focusing on our greatest challenge as a nation. rebuilding our economy and renewing our strength at home. over the past decade, we spent a trillion dollars on war. borrowed heavily from overseas.

and invested too little in the greatest source of our national strength. our own people. >> so at the end of the day, dana, if the president can't deliver on jobs, do all of these significant foreign policy accomplishments even matter? >> alex, i really don't think they do because if you look at what voter concerns are, they're not high among pem. the president can say, yes, we can devote more energy at home but i don't think anybody really believes that pulling the last troops out of iraq is going to boost the american economy. everybody will bedd looking at what the stock market's doing, what unemployment numbers are doing. forecasts don't say the president will be in better shape next november than he is right now. that's not good news for mitt. means his only path to re-election is to beat down whoever his republican opponent is. >> dana millbank from "the washington post." good to see. >> you and it is a good morning, by the way. >> it is a good morning for having spoken with you. thank you. so, the iraq pullout, more about military strategy or keeping a political promise? you can talk to me on twitter,

my handle is @alexwitt. new worry for retailers throughout the holiday season 37 will they be seeing more sticky-fingered visitors? the new report about prince harry's girlfriend. she even has a tattoo. but first you're about to see a slow motion disaster for wine lover. it's painful. look at the left side of your screen. back in july employees of a wisconsin liquor store had to run for cover when 78 feet of shelving gave way. sending all those bottles crashing to the floor. about 7,000 bottles of wine were shattered. >> the wine was running out the front door, running out the back door. there was wine everywhere. >> the store's insurance policy covered the damages, including the stronger shelves, which sounds like a really good thing.

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a shocking turn in the case of that missing baby. police are revealing details about what they found during a search of the kansas city home. let's go live to kansas city and nbc's ron mott. good saturday morning. what do authorities say they found? >> reporter: good saturday morning. unfortunately, this case seems to be taking a turn toward the more ominous. on monday investigators voluntarily went into the house. the couple let them in and brought cadaver dogs with them. one of the fbi-trained cadaver dogs had a positive hit for the smell of human decomposition on the family's bedroom. two days later authorities came back with a search warrant and spent 17 hours on wednesday going in and out of that house. they brought a number of items out of that house, including blankets, some baby items, carpeting, we're told, rolls of

tape and a tape dispenser out of that house. they have a huge list of things they brought out. they also got the court to approve blocking certain other items they took away from the house because they thought it would hinder the investigation if the public were to know some of those details. this case has taken on a new turn. police have said this couple has not been cooperating with them. yesterday the couple fired back through their attorneys who wrote in a statement they have given their full cooperation to authorities in this case by all the things they have done, letting them in the house, taking swaps and dna and that sort and that all of this family wants is to get their little baby girl back, the 11-month-old who's been missing now almost three weeks. that's kind of where we stand right now. in this investigation. obviously, cadaver dog is a pretty big development in this case. makes you wonder whether police are now looking for a dead body as opposed to a little girl who's simply missing. >> ron, also something about recently turned over dirt in the backyard?

>> reporter: right. i think what happened on wednesday, in particular the police went to the court either monday or tuesday to compel the court to give them a search warrant. they said they needed to do a systematic, thorough investigation of this home. one of the things we learned in the affidavit that was released to the public yesterday was that debora brantley initially told police according to the affidavit she was, quote, afraid to look behind the house because she was afraid of what she might see. authorities obviously wanted to then take a closer look at the grounds in the house you see behind me. obviously at this point there's been in disclosure about what they found back there. but they did take away dirt samples as we understand it. so, this case could take a new turn here in the ensuing days. all folks in this neighborhood and across this town and obviously the nation want the safe return of this little girl but because of that cadaver dog information we saw from monday, chances are that probably isn't going to happen. but everyone's holding out hope that they will find this baby

alive, alex. >> nbc's ron mott there, thank you so much. a memorial service is about to get under way in st. petersburg, florida, for dan wheldon. wheldon died last sunday in a horrifying crash in las vegas. the two-time indy 500 crahamp w in the middle of a 15-car pile upwhen his car hit a wall and burst into flames. wheldon originally from england made his home in st. petersburg and the service is open to the public. there will be another service tomorrow in indianapolis. libya's national transitional council is expected to formally declare the country liberated tomorrow. that move will jumpstart the countdown for election and drafting of a new constitution to form an interim government. what lies ahead in the eight months before those elections are expected to begin? nbc's adrian long is live from misrata. good morning to you. let's talk about the uphill battle the next eight months bring before an election. how difficult are those challenges?

>> reporter: good morning, alex. well, there are many challenges. there is, first of all, making sure they can restore security completely everywhere. there's still been rather thorough search through every house in sirte, the hometown of gadhafi where he was captured on thursday. they want to make sure they've gone through and found every single last loyalist troop. there was a report earlier this morning in "the los angeles times" saying gadhafi are sequestered something -- stashed away something like $200 billion u.s. dollars around the world. of course, there have been rumors of concerns that this money is being used to keep loyalists troops strong, even though he's no longer here to lead them. i think the other issue, of course, is how do you start rebuilding some of the infrastructure. a lot of people we spoke to yesterday during the friday prayers on the square, freedom square in misrata, here said maybe the first priority was to

make sure there was proper health care across the country, especially for injured soldiers, injured fighters who were -- who were involved in participating in this uprising. >> adrienne, you mention the loyalist troops that still seem to be in effect. are they powerful enough to derail a smooth transition of power? are there that many in number still out there? >> reporter: well, it's very unclear how many loyalist troops there might still be out there. i think a lingering concern is the fate of one of gadhafi's sons, saif. there were reports yesterday he had, in fact, been captured and was wounded in the leg but it's turned out that may not have been the case and that he is very much still at large. it's not clear where he is. there have been some rumors saying he's probably headed for the border of niger. but he is a potential opponent to the transit'sal team trying to get started with a new

government in the country. >> do you know what the status of gadhafi's body at last report it was somewhere in a meat locker where actually people were filing by to look at it? >> reporter: well, i don't know if you could say they were just filing by anymore. the body, gadhafi's body, is still in this commercial freezer. we saw it yesterday afternoon just as the day was coming to a close. there were very clearly thousands of people running through, filing at that time into this small room to see the body of a man they'd once feared so much. we've heard that the freezer was opened again today to the public. and from some of the scenes we've seen, it looks like it's not just filing, it's people really crowded outside, wanting to get a look. we've heard there are people coming from outside misrata, traveling all the way to see the body of this man. >> parents with their children, is how we've had it described. all right, adrienne mong, thanks

for that. nbc news has learned bachmann's entire new hampshire staff has resigned, following a day of conflicting reports with bachmann previously denying reports of those departures. nbc's campaign embed and following this closely. the story here is that we have this confirmed now, yesterday her campaign was saying, no, this is not true. why would they say that? were they unaware of what was happening? >> yeah. interesting view into the life of a campaign. they, in fact, said two things. they said, this is not true. the congresswoman called into popular iowa radio station and said, these reports are not true. she raised the possibility that they, in fact, were floated or they -- or possibly floated by another candidate or another campaign. later in the day, the campaign manager released a statement saying, we haven't heard from them. that's the key thing. got an e-mail this morning from

the campaign spokeswoman saying to date, as of now, i haven't heard from them. and we confirmed they left. they left and they never told the campaign. >> yikes. what kind of a position does this leave her in, then, for this all-important state of new hampshire? i mean, literally, if she has nobody organizing on the ground, how fast can she get that up and running? >> it's a great question. the campaign has been very clear about the fact they have an iowa strategy. they're hoping they can win in iowa. there will be momentum coming out of that. a new round of media attention. and when they arrive in new hampshire, they'll arrive the iowa victors. and it will be okay that they had -- that they had essentially been somewhat absent in new hampshire prior to iowa. >> are they clear about mike huckabee's record from the last go round? >> right. well, it's interesting you bring that up. it's smart of you to bring it up because a number of top staffers on bachmann's campaign worked for governor huckabee. this is in some ways a huckabee strategy. they're hoping she's an iowa

native, they're hoping that her strong christian faith, her relationship with evangelical community, relationship with area pastors will translate into victory there. and then after that, they can take new hampshire and south carolina. they've been very clear, this is an iowa campaign. >> yeah, it's a smart question for me because you and i had a great conversation during the commercial. thank you very much. i appreciate that, jamie. cash speaks, people don't. that's what msnbc host dylan rhadigan told me in this week's "office politics." i spoke about what is fueling the occupy wall street movement and i asked him, what sparked it? >> you know, your guess is as good as mine. my sense is this, it became apparent at the end of the bush administration that we had a corrupt government, to most people in this country. that waszlñ -- >> define corruption. >> corruption meaning there's platinum citizens, financial institutions that have control over our government, that get treated differently than everybody else in america.

>> there was as if there was approval of that. >> no, tim geithner said there are two kinds of citizens. platinum citizen who is have the rights of the too big to fail banking institutions to take as much money as they, gamble as much as they want and then, you feel, the nonplatinum citizens, all the students withtudent debt, the unemployment in this country, all retirees getting zero percent interest because of policies advocated by tim geithner at the treasury department so you create that split, right? that is behavioral economics 101. this country, as a group of people, rejects outright breach of fairness almost more than anything else. we saw amendment voting in age 18 vietnam, how can they fight if they can't vote? we found ourselves in another breach of fairness, platinum citizenship advocated by tim geithner and predecessors and everybody else. the tea party shows up and says, this is nonsense. the upwelling of energy,

rejection of fairness, rapidly became a political vehicle for all sorts of interests that had nothing to do with what the tea party started on and you don't have to look any further than the tea party's refusal to engage the banks. i'm an anchor at msnbc, man, when the pank reform comes, tea party will be on their throats. no way they can get away from it. tea party nowhere, nowhere. you get this first reekz jekz of tea party. then the obama wave which is, obama's going to fix this. senator obama will become president and he will fix this. didn't happen. i believe the occupation is like the third wave. think of it like sets of waves of energy or hands in a blackjack table. the origins of the occupation, which i don't know. i don't know if anybody will ultimately know. i think are less -- for me, are less relevant than the energy of the rejection of unfairness that is being expressed through the. the of president obama and his candidacy, which is the perception that would fix it, the emergence of the tea party

before it was co-opted and now the occupy movement, which honestly, that -- if history is any indication, the occupy movement won't go anywhere either, by the way, but you'll see waves of rejection of unfairness because the world is so transparent now that everybody can see it. everybody knows the problem. the problem is our government is bou bought. democratic party is bought. republican party is bought. that's not an opinion. remember, 94% of the time, a fact, 94% of the time, the candidate who raises the most money wins. that is not a democracy. that is an auction. >> so, are you saying special interest is what happens when people raise that much money, they're beholden to these special interests and it's -- i mean, who is -- who's the candidate out there speaking for all those 99% standing there occupy wall street? >> nobody, absolutely nobody. >> i want to ask you about this photograph. are you a surfer? >> i am a paddle boarder, which

i consider to be a way to surf, if you can't surf. >> have you ever tried surfing? >> many times. >> can you stand up? >> oh, absolutely. the reason i end up getting up on a wave when i go surfing is to get back to the beach because i can't take it anymore. >> it's so tiring, isn't it? your whole body aches. >> you get annihilated. the waves work you. eventually you realize if i don't get back, i'm going to drown, which gives you the proper motivation to surf back in and then you get on a wave and you say, i hope this takes me back to the beach because i think i'm going to die. there's a certain point where that loses its entertainment value and, fortunately, they innovated the paddle boarding which gives you you a lot more control. it's easier to not get destroyed by the waves. >> coming up later at 11:30 eastern, surf dude dylan will tell us why the folks if washington have it all wrong about the economy. you'll see why he's wigging out. oh, yeah. >> you think i'd have more credibility if i explained my issues with lack of capital

requirements like this? >> i think the answer is no. you can catch "the dylan ratigan show" at 4 p.m. will he lose luster over questions about his family history? that's next here on "weekends with alex witt."

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mother backpelgtsdzing from herman cain on the eve of a major conservative conference in iowa. he may need to further explain his stance on abortion at the faith and freedom dough licoali after these remarks this week. >> it's not the government's role or anybody else's role to make that decision. it ultimately gets down to a choice that that family or that mother has to make. not me as president. not some politician. not the -- not a bureaucrat.

>> then he tried to walk back those comments friday. >> i was misinterpreted when i was talking about the whole abortion thing. it's very clear where i stand on abortion. i am pro-life on conception. no exceptions. i will not -- i will sign anything to defund planned parenthood. >> joining me, susan and former democratic congressman from texas, martin frost. thank you for being here. susan, i'll begin with you. is he not doing his homework or are his advisers not preparing him properly or do you think there's an internal conflict as to what he mrooefz? . >> yes to everything. he's having a problem. he's not a regular candidate. he's never gone through the process of running for office before and i think it looks like the campaign was taken aback that he had gotten into front-runner status so quickly and now he has to become a candidate and not just going on a book tour. it's a hard thing to do, as we saw with rick perry when he came in. but his plans and his

consultants and everyone really need to think things through instead of letting him go off the cuff. >> who is advising him? >> i have no idea. it took the folks in media 48 hours to find out who came up with 9-9-9. it's hard to figure out. >> tells you something right there. cain denied a comment he made about releasing guantanamo bay detainees and later he admitted that comment and said he had misspoken. all these instances, how much are they hurting his credibility? >> alex, it's clear. he's not really ready for prime time. he's an interesting fellow. he's anti-romney. he will fall by the wayside at some point. the question is, who's going to be the anti-romney? is it going to be a revived rick perry? gingrich will come back? someone will be the anti-romney and it's not herman cain. it's not ready to be a national

candidate. >> let's turn to marco rub crow. he rubio, but a rising star in the gop. a washington post report accusing him of lying the timing of when his parents came to america from cuba. tell us why it matters. >> he pushed back on it. i think it matters because he's coming under the national spotlight. this is part of getting ready for prime time. they'll take apart every little thing he said. he came back with a statement which frankly explained it very well. these are his parent recalling -- >> he got the information from them. >> right. again, it's not like he was elected for those -- for those single facts. it was talking about his background, his heritage, and that's all still the same. >> whether the family came pre or post-castro regime. >> right. and he addressed it and he can put it away and go forward.

i don't think it will be an issue. >> rubio said this. the post story misses the point completely. the essence of my family's story is not about the date my parents first entered the united states. the essence of my family's story is why they came to america in the first place and why they had to stay. do you see this as having tarnished his narrative or as susan said, he can recover from it, he's dealt with it and move on? >> he can recover. candidates need to get their stories straight, however. we've seen candidates say they served in vietnam when they didn't, candidates who said they had college degrees when they didn't. facts are important. in his case, all he need to say are two things. one, he wasn't even born then. he was born after they came to the united states. two, they came here for the same reason most immigrants come to the united states, for a better way of life. his initial response was kind of silly, in which he said he didn't carry around passports and carry around immigration documents. he's now tried to clean this up.

i think he'll get beyond this. i think he's an attractive young man and he just has to say his parents came here for a better way of life, just like my parents -- my great grandparents came from lithuania for a better way of life. >> big question quickly. does did. >> does this 40-year-old indicate he's a darling and on the short list for v.p.? >> i think he's on the list but he's very young. people would have the same response as they did for obama. he didn't have enough experience. >> he's denied it but he would be a great first choice. >> appreciate it. there's a news buzz this morning. while she bear as resemblance to kate middleton, harry found his lucky lady across the pond. that is right. the prince is dating an american. all right. we want to hear more. good morning, anabel.

>> right. pr harry seems to be making pretty good use of any time off. remember he has a reputation for joining parties and he's been spotted inside clubs and bars in san diego, paying a lot of attention to one lady in particular. this is the 26-year-old who's caught the eye of prince harry. jessica donaldson may bear a resemblance to kate middleton, though obviously not a tattoo. he met jessica on his first weekend off at the hotel in san diego where she works as a waitress. >> i think the media was slightly stunning that he's been in the u.s. for two weeks and there's a slight rummings of a girlfriend. two weeks? what took you so long, prince harry? it usually takes you two

minutes. >> harry is one of the most eligible bachelors around, but a bachelor with a reputation for partying. >> i think the moment prince harry puts down his cocktail glass and moves away from the bar, he'll forget about jessica. of course, if there's a next blond walking past on a beach or whatever and she catches his eye, then prince harry will definitely go on a date with her. don't think this is serious. don't mean to break jessica's heart, but really it's not the romance of the year, trust me. >> if he passes his training in california, he may return. something he badly wants to do. leaving any new romances far behind. while his last tour in afghanistan was cut short when news of his role became public, one thing is true. the man who is third in line to

the british throne leaves a lot. >> it's a fling. ohio is trying to put a stop to it. should exotic pets be outlawed? you're watching "wealths with alex witt." 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 ] [ shapiro ] we created legal zoom to help you take care of the ones you love. go to legalzoom.com today and complete your will in minutes. at legalzoom.com we put the law on your side. go to legalzoom.com today and complete your will in minutes. go to legalzoom.com today and complete your will in minutes. ♪ we're centurylink... a new kind of broadband company committed to improving lives with honest, personal service, 5-year price lock guarantees and consistently fast speeds. ♪

said he is cracking down on exotic pets. it comes three days after an animal owner in ohio set dozens free and then committed suicide. mike taibbi has more. >> reporter: many of them dangerous animals like bears and predator big cats, release by private owner who then committed suicide, it showed in disturbing relief a problem governor john kasich said will now be addressed. >> we'll be looking at what authority we can bring in to clearly put ourselves in a

position of determining whether anybody out there is qualified and whether they have the ability to even hold these animals. >> reporter: kasich ordered that all wild animal permits will be newly reviewed and wild animal auctions will be sharply restricted or shut down. but animal activists said tuesday's-making horror show was only one of a number of incidents. in fact, terry thompson had 35 tigers and cheetahs in what was essentially a private zoo. >> it's hard to imagine that a private person would have enough resources to take care of 33 cats. >> reporter: conditions on thompson's property were deplorable but there was nothing under the law then that they could do about it. for reasons not yet clear he released his animals tuesday before turning the gun on himself, leaving law enforcement officials with what was little choice but open fire on the

free-running animals, all but six of them killed. as u.s. troops look forward to leaving iraq by the end of the year, questions remain about what they'll leave behind. stick around, everyone. [ male announcer ] whether over a cup of maxwell house...

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from the death of moammar gadhafi, two foreign policy success stories this week for president obama, but will voters remember when they go to the polls? also, the 9-9-9 becomes the 9-0-9. what's the story behind the numbers plan? good morning, everyone, and welcome to "weekends with alex witt." all u.s. forces in iraq will be home for the holidays. president obama says there's no agreement for legal immunity for american troops to stay in iraq, so they'll all be heading home

by the end of the year. nbc's kristen welker is live from the white house. good morning. how are you? >> good morning. here's what the issue was. there was some discussion about leaving three 3,000 to 5,000 trn iraq to help them with the transition process, to help them make sure it is a smooth process, but the iraqi parliament would not grant legal inmunty to those forces, so they would be subject to the iraqi legal system. america said, we account do that. at this point the united states has said all u.s. troops will be out by the end of the year, so that certainly did seem to be the sticking point, alex. >> okay. there are some soldiers, though, who remain because they've got to deal with security at the u.s. embassy, right? >> that's right. there are about 160 personnel who will remain to guard the

u.s. embassy. they will have legal immunity. plus 5,000 or 6 thousand con traerkts and cia will still have a presence. so there will still be a presence. it is possible the negotiations could open up again about potentially some trainers helping iraqi forces. the question is, a, will they happen, and, b, what could that training look like? it could take place in another country. you could see iraqi forces come to other american train tag silts. those negotiations have not started, i want to make that clear. something that the president and leon panetta left open. >> how is this going to play out politically? >> reporter: you know, it will be interesting to see how it plays out politically. i suspect it will have something to do with how the drawdown of

troops occurs, if it is, in fact, a smooth process. the president will likely make a point that this was the process i made while i was campaigning and now i have fulfilled this promise. what you saw yesterday, alex, with the gop candidates come out quickly in stark opposition to this, mitt romney who has, of course, been one of the front-runners made the point that he thinks this could open up iraq to instability during that transitional process. but what it does, alex, it makes it tough for the gop candidates to hit the president on foreign policy, in terms of making case because he is weak on foreign policy because now you have the fulfillment of the campaign promise. you have the fall of gadhafi. we'll have to see how the transition process actually moves forward. >> absolutely. life after gadhafi.

the prime minister says he expects to step down once the government takes full control of the country. he expects libyans to be allowed to vote within eight months. meantime nato is planning to end its air campaign by the end of this month. >> we agree that nato will wind down the operation during a quick period, and that means until the 31st of october. during which period nato will monitor the situation and retain the capacity to respond to threats to civilians if needed. >> libya's new leaders are expected to officially declare liberation on sunday joom herman cain reveals a new number after a week of intense criticism. he said the plan will include opportunity zones for the poor.

>> if you added the low of poverty left. your plan isn't 999. it's 909. >> mitt romney's taking a break from going after his gop opponents. he made a stop in the reddest of red stakes, oklahoma, where every county backed john mccain in 2008. here's how romney went after the president. >> we're going to be highly united as a party, and i think is barack obama. i think he's brought together the conservative movement in a way no one would have imagined you know, he was once a community organizer and he's doing it once again. and today top republican leaders in nevada will vote on whether toe change the date of their caucus. they're in a standoff right now with new hampshire. the granite state is planning to

move its primary. let's get more on the primary scramble. good morning. >> good morning. >> let's talk about nevada. how likely is it they'll change their date? i think they'll move it back to february 4th. also the state's republican governor brian sandoval also supports that. it depends what the rank and file does. this game of chicken wherein new hampshire has threatened to go perhaps into december, you have all these candidates who have decided to boycott nevada, that would all be over. >> okay. let's talk about a few of the other primary states.

a new university of iowa poll has him trailed herman cain by ten points, so what do you think of his strategy there in the hawkeye state? >> talking about gambling in nevada, there's a high-stakes game. there are a couple ways this could play out you have the campaign. essentially knowing that they have a better situation, better poll numbers in new hampshire, don't mess up anything there. it was just four years ago where mitt romney went all in in iowa and ended up finishing second place. he finished second in new hampshire and that blew up in his face. but if mitt romney decides to go all in in iowa, you know, he could conceivably end the entire republican nomination process. win iowa, win new hampshire, it's all over. but if he decides to go all in, airing tv ads, putting more campaign staefrs in any fall

short, finishes second or third, that could really hurt his campaign, particularly when he has that really big lead in new hampshire. >> there was this western republican leadership conference. is herman cain the major kind of chink in the campaign strategy? >> herman cain is certainly doing very well. in our own nbc maris polls it showed herman cain leading. you could say it's herman cain or perhaps someone else. i'm actually kind of looking at -- mitt romney has kind of hit a ceiling in these stating. his percentage is around 25, 26, 27%. he could win them all if somehow that conservative vote is split. but if the conservative vote

coalesces around someone else, romney could be in trouble. there are two ways of playing around it, that mitt romney ends up getting it or the conservative vote with which doesn't know. coalesces around one ss>ujjr @&% >> i was almost going to say we got through an entire con vir sags without talking about rick perry, but you just did. thank you very much. >> locality's move on to what's pretty much on everybody's mind, our struggling economy. a mixed bag of economic headlines starting this week with apple. not a problem at mcdonald's. the fast food giant continues to grow despite the struggling economy. and there's cash in costumes. halloween expected to bring in big bucks. what can we make of that?

good morning to you. >> good morning, alex. apple, losing its shine? >> it's amazing. for any other that would be considering enveeable but they were deggs appointed they missed their estimates they missed estimates because people didn't sell as many iphones. they had crazy expectations they were going to sell 20 million. this quarter shaping up nicely. they're going into the holiday season with momentum. >> what is mcdonald's doing, right? >> they've redone the menus, healthy things, the high-elkds

marriages. they're getting more customers. they eels also ben redoing their restaurants. i think they're making them hipper, cooler. >> beyond lighting. >> they changed things up. you're sighing wi-fis and tv. so they are continuing to chib away at to koechl petition and they're dpoink gain busters. >> you know what's going gang bussers, the costumes. >> that its about a billionmore than last year. they'll circulate on the. you'll see anthony weiners, schwarzeneggers. >> i don't wlkts to sight and zok zomg bys are having fun.

now take a look at the weather. beautiful scenes here from shenandoah valley in virginia. so how's the weather going to be for you? nbc meteorologist bill karins has the details. >> good saturday morning to you, alex. i giving this weekend forecast an a. not an a plus. i'll explain the that in a second. aet love of people will be getting their pumpkins, the fall foliage is absolutely gorgeous. the areas of red found through chicago, detroit, the spinal appalachians, this is your week. in the west they're past week. now we're getting color through the appalachians and through the clans. that's still bringing many cool air into the great lakes and

northeast. it's not going go a warm weekend but it will be sunny, school, and crist. that's why we didn't give this weekend an a-plus. you see that. it likes are you be dealing with a damp saturday morning. saturday looks really nice. philly and d.c.,ite's not that wafrmt the southeast looks u cool after a cool there. the only little problem we vl otherwise, 60th, 70th, 80th. back to you. >> we thank you very much. steve jobs new revelations that's about to hit the store shelves. and we'll hear from an iraq war veteran and the troops about to pull out. [ man ] i got this citi thank you card

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it's the economy, stupid. it was and always will be. the president could not get lawmakers on board with his jobs plan. one part of his proposal, to send $35 billion to help teachers, police and firefighters failed in the senate this week. meantime senate democrats say they're pushing ahead with another piece of the proposal, a $60 billion structure.)dzs they'll take a vote when they return from recess after halloween. good day to both of you. >> good morning. >> okay. jenny, i'll begin with you, any

hope for this passing after halloween? >> i unfortunately do not think so. it's never great for republican candidates. this new strategy that senator reid has put together, i think, is a big problem for the republicans because they've broken up the bill into a series of smaller bills and the republicans are going to be voting against fixing or roads, against teachers and firefighters. the bill was thought of very smartly with the way -- bipartisan ideas about how to fix the country, and i think it's making congress and especially republicans very political and putting their interests ahead of the people. >> okay. so, susan, jenny's describing the republican as a party of no. a lot of people are saying

what's happened? does the president win? >> no. because he can't get them on their side either. there were many democratic senators against it. >> i apologize. >> but in this particular bill, the infrastructure bill is a harder one. i think out of everything this is the hardest vote for republicans that they're going to have to take. >> well, i would just -- i mean the one thing i'd add only that is i think -- look. jobs aren't republican or democrat. jobs are helping people in this economy who have been helping for a long time and there's a pal papable frustration out there that nothing is happening. and i think the republicans who control the house of representatives and control the at love them in the senate are playing a risky game.

they think the electrode is in the same mood when they elected them last time, but i don't think they care if the republican wins or the democrats win. >> you're correct, but i think they're holding the president accountable and that's what happens. the president is always head accountable for this for the first two years and still couldn't get any -- create any jobs. >> well, i would disagree. i think this are lots of new jobs created and lots of policies, especially through the recovery act which actually started app investment. which lead to infrastructure and investments. americans are smart. they all grew up taking history. they understand what the economists can do and the president can do. it's very clear that the republicans are out bragging about it that they want to stop the president and i don't think the electorate is in the mood

for that right now. >> they're flawed. >> they're not flawed. >> they absolutely are. >> look. there's. >> bipartisans voted them down too. >> people are acting politically? >> can i ask you both quickly? do we want to talk about tacks because there are people without jobs. among the people who want this job at 1600 pennsylvania is rick perry. we're going to speak with him tomorrow on this show. is this plan going to be for perry as what 9-9-9 was for him? >> i don't think so. cain is very chafrming. breaks things down into sentences that people can really understand. i think flat tax starts to sound more wonky. they do not help the people they're claiming to help. >> i've got to get susan in here to react to the flat tax plan.

it's a big discussion, it will be so with perry, with cain. is this what people really want to be talking about right now? >> they want to know with some kind of certainty wlrks it's businesses or individuals. what are we going be facing? what is the president going to come out and say and this is our tax plarngs this is how we're going to get the economy moving. it's part of moving them forward and creating jobs. >> thank you so much. here's a question we've been asking all of you this morning. the iraq pullout. here are some our your twreets on that. >> raniahb 2011 writes the decision is military and the timing political. kurtmichaelson says bad decisions for president obama regarding military withdrawal from iraq. he should have stood stronger.

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at&t. in today's tech watch new research shows a connection between facebook friends and brain size. a study in london found social networkers had most grain matter in their brains. it included those affecting the memories of faces anded names. now a rundown, but first and sometimes worsts, it's today's illustrious lists of number ones. readers of askmen.com name him the most influential man of 2011. second on the list, the navy s.e.a.l. team that took out osama bin laden. third, google founder larry page followed by warren buffett and

kanye west. speaking of page, he loses out to mark zucker berger on fosh's "40 under 40 list." on "the daily beast" list of the 25 worst cities to be young, orlando, florida, gets the dubious did tings. it's based on young educated adults unemploy and in debt. seattle, virginia beach, virginia, dayton, ohio. those make the top five. the number of vacant homes in america since 2000 has come up with a list of the emptiest cities of merge. and leading that list, tucson, arizona, where almost 7% of the homes and 16% of the apartments sit vacant. indianapolis and ohio ran up the top three. cat videos litter the internet and make us all laugh.

they say men are funnier, but just by a hair. it found that men are funnier to other men, so you know guys are trying to impress the ladies with a little humor you might want to forget it and leave the laugh-making to felines. just a little wit with "weekends with alex witt." there's only one bottle left ! i've got to tell susie ! the vending machine on elm is almost empty. i'm on it, boss. new pony ? sorry ! we are open for business.

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tarantino. tom, good morning do you. >> good morning, alex. >> your reaction to the president's decision to bring the troops home? how do you feel about it? >> i mean as an iraq veteran myself, i feel good. you know, basically iraq veterans and veterans of afghanistan, they've met every challenge both personally and operationally throughout this entire war. unfortunately when they come home, those challenges aren't over. right now veterans in iraq and afghanistan are coming home to record-high unemployment levels and record levels of suicide in the military. so i think it's time that we as a country take this announcement as a call of action to step aunld serve those who have served us through this last decade of war. >> you make a very valid war. of course, we don't want our troops to have to come home and fight other battles on the homefront. with regard to the pullout, you have senator john mckane saying commanders are against this. how about the troops on the ground? you always hear that the concern

with departure is things will slide backward and all the advances that u.s. troops have made might be, you know, diluted. >> you know, that's a question for strategists and senior commanders. i'm proud of everything i did. when i was there, i met my mission, i came home. for us, it was a victory for our unit. when you ta uk to soldiers on the ground, that's how they feel. but when you talk to veterans coming home, you know, they're not worried about the long-term strategy and the historical implications. they're worried about coming home to a country that can give them a job. they're worried about coming home to a g.i. bill that can pay for college and help them transition and help become the world's greatest generation. >> with regard to the sticking point of bringing them home earlier than expected was this level of immune tie that would be offered to american troops in iraq and the fact that the iraqi

government said they can't do that. what does that mean? what does immunity give to troops when you're over on foreign soil? >> it's a very easy way to talk about something. whenever they operate in a foreign country, we have agreements with them how we're handled when we're out in the civilian population. we're okay with, you know, being in germany, places we know when we trust the justice system to be able to deal with german laws. in places like iraq, having the military subject to iraqi law, this is a, you know, growing new justice system, that's simply unacceptable. so i understand that decision. you know, i understand the decision that the president made and i think that was a mutual decision between our government and the iraqi government. >> all right. tom tarantino there with the iraq and afghanistan veterans of america. thank you so much, tom. we're now one day from the libya's new leaders. u.s. led the initial push to remove moammar gadhafi from

power before taking a back seat to nato forces but how much credit can they take? they transition toward a democratic government. >> there will be difficult days ahead, but the united states, together with the international community, is committed to the libyan people. you have won your revolution and now we will be a partner as you forge a future that provides dignity, freedom, and opportunity. >> i'm joined now by james traub, a contributing writer for "the new york times" magazine. good morning to you. >> good morning, alex. >> what does that mean to the united states people, we are committed? how do you see that because some people are starting to think, oh, wow, will there need to be troops there? >> no. there wouldn't be troops and there may not need to be that

much money. libya has enormous amounts of money in reserve which will be released over time, tens of billions of dollars, but they will need a huge amount of help. not necessarily in forms of money, training, advice, diplomacy. it's a strange situation. here's a country that hasn't had a way of government. they've had this charismatic nut for 42 years who didn't believe in state institutions and now here's our euphoric moment. he's gone, he's dead, the country belongs to the people. but no one there has ever had experience of running a country. i couldn't help feeling at the government there said, you know, we're going to wait until we've subdued the whole country, wait till we found ka ga gadhafi. they know there's an experiment there that no one can know the endpoint of. >> you wrote back in march that

even though libya does not meet any of the criteriahs?t of humanitarian. going from alley to alley to root them out, closet to closet, fast forward seven months. you've got gadhafi dead, libya liberated. how large a role can you kred it the u.s. with playing in all of this? >> well, i think, alex, without sayingíi[ the u.s. was number o you can say without the nato intervention, this would not have happened. without the u.s. role in the nato intervention, nato wouldn't have succeeded an therefore this wouldn't have happened. that's not to say the u.s. role was big and their role was small. all these things had to happen together. that's in that sense think what a better hammer dine this is than the bush administration's regime change program in iraq where there was tremendous resentiment in iraq of the huge

role, of course, played by outside forces. >> but do you have any concerns, james, that if it's not a relatively smooth and/or fast road to get libya standing on their feet that we own this and we do have to be involved in a very hands-on way? >> what does that mean? first of all it's not going to be smooth or nice. it's going be really ugly. it's not just in libya. it's true in egypt. these are countries -- it's not like eastern urine after the fall of the berlin wall. these are countries that have no experience of democracy. it's going to be really bad and require a lot of patience on everybody's apartment when you say own it, which is a colin powell sense, first of all it wasn't we who broke it. second after all, libya is never going to want to have foreign troops there. what you'll see are lots of trainers. once of the biggest problems they're going to have -- there

is no libyan army. that has disappeared. when you now have our city-based and clan-based mill live shahs, turning those into an army, it's going to be really hard. outsiders like the united states can help with the process. >> james traurb, thanks to be with you. a memorial service under way for the indycar driver who was killed last weekend in a horrifying crash. nbc's mark potter is outside that service in florida with details on how dan weldhel don issing with. >> we heard from ashley judd singing "i can only imagine." they say this town fell in love with dan wheldon when he moved here six years ago.

they're inside this church because it really is true that dan wheldon was so well regarded here. in st. petersburg, florida, dan wheldon was a favorite son and beloved neighbor that everyone seemed to like. he and his wife bought a house here six years ago and it's been a tragic blow to the community. >> he's been a great citizen, great husband, great father, and this entire community will miss him. >> reporter: he was killed during a race in las vegas during a horrific 15-car pile-up in which hesitate vehicle flew into the air, hit a wall and burst into flames. a team of doctors worked feverishly to sab him but his injuries were too severe. >> indycar is sad to announce dan wheldon has passed away from injuries. >> he's a two-time winner and reigning champion.

he leaves behind his wife suzie and two boys. she's invited the community to the funeral service and wrote a public note of thanks saying although the last few days have been unbearable for our family, the overwhelming love and support we have received are rays of sunshine during these dark days. matt once provided free food for his fans in change to meet wh pe eldon who invited them to his house. >> i went over and met him, playing with his kids, rolling aunld on the floor and a down to earth guy. >> this was a neighbor who witnessed the love between wheldon and his wife. >> they had reached such a good part in their life and when i saw that car flying, i thought, oh, no, it's over. >> friends and neighbors now mourn the loss of a champion who they knew as a regular guy.

now, wheldon is being remembered this weekend at nascar events in talladega and tomorrow in indianapolis, the famed racing town where he became an international star. alex? >> such a sad weekend. tough for someone who loves that guy. thank you so much. the authorized biography comes out monday and raises questions about the choices jobs made. nbc's kate snowe has more. >> reporter: any time he took the stage the world expected another innovation. >> today apple is going to reinvent the photo. >> reporter: steve jobs was a pioneer on the cutting edge of technology but the new biography raises questions about why he waited so long to take advantage of cutting edge science to help himself. in 2003 he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. two weeks later he told

graduates at stan fords university he had beaten it sniet turns out to be a rare form that's curable with surgery. i had the vurj i and thankfully i'm fine now. >> reporter: but author walter isaacson tells "60 minutes" that jobs initially resisted the surgery doctors were recommending. >> he tries to treat it with diets, goes to spiritualists, goes different ways to do it may crow bilaterally and he doesn't get the operation. >> why doesn't he get operated on immediately? >> i asked him that. he said i didn't want my body to be opened. i didn't want to be violated in that way. >> reporter: isaacson conducted more than 40 interviews with steve jobs in two years in which jobs revealed some family secrets. he discovered his birth father, a syrian immigrant that he ran a restaurant he wasn't frequented. he said he had no interest in developing a relationship. i with us a wealthy man, quote,

and i did not trust him to blackmail me and go to the press about it. >> building a company's really hard. >> he was less generous in this biography. bill is basically unimaginable unimaginable naive. he shamelessly ripped off other people's ideas. he saved his harshest comments to google. whole sale ripped off us. grand theft. google declined to comment. as for why the notoriously private moelgg all agreed to speak so candidly. jobs told isaacson in august i wantedmy kids to know me. i wasn't always there for them and i wanted them to know why and to understand what i did. >> and that was kate snow reporting. >> he told his autobiographer no subject was off limits. there's a new study that

says, yes, uh-oh. you're watching "weekends with alex witt." [ charles ] when you can make a person smile

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just in time for halloween. it's another round of paranormal activity but it's the third installment of the series a must-see? well, take a look. >> did you hear that? >> that's okay. >> it was scary. [ screaming ] >> we're getting out of here. get in the car and drive. >> okay. that was scary. let's get the details now from entertainment rorner dawn. good morning. first two in the franchise, very successful. >> look. it's been getting mixed reviews.

i'm going to say it's a must-see. the box office has been in a serious slump so far this year. this movie han made $23 million. it's expected to make $45 million. >> and you love scary movies. >> i love scary movies. >> another big movie out there. the update of "the three musketeers." let's auk take a little look. >> both sides will stop me from doing so. anything elsesome. >> snow. >> then i really only have one question for you. why in the world would i do that? >> i saw that one coming a mile away. what is this? must see or must avoid? >> this one, up fortunately is must avoid. this is from the director of the "resident evil franchise.

. it'sing more like a video game. >> can you talk about the must avoid that our first lady was talking about? what is that all about, something with regard to her daughters and those kardashian girls. >> our first lady was at a roundtable interview earlier this week and this was the quote. barack really thinks some of the kardashians when they watch that stuff, well, he doesn't like that as much. now, apparently the kardashians were a little bit veksed and perplexed by the statements of the first lady but personally i kind of find it reassuring. let's face it. the kardashians seem like very nice ladies and successful. michelle is talking about not watching anything they want and talking about lessons they learn. >> at least we know must avoid at 1600 pennsylvania ave you for

this show. i have to say, kim is such a nice girl. i met her once. she is so nice. >> and she just turn third degree 1. so happy birthday to kim. >> thank you very much, dawn yanek. they're overeducate and unemployed and they owe a lot in student loans. [ female announcer ] to get a professional cleaning system you could spend as much as $200. olay says challenge that with an instrument that cleanses as effectively as what's sold by skin professionals for a whole lot less. new olay pro x advanced cleaning system.

ja the cover story on the front page, here's a quote from that story. this is not just a rotten moment to be young, it's a putrid, stifrmging several-months-old, stringy-goat, meat moment to be young. i'm with norene malone who wrote this. thank you very much for being here. >> thanks for having me. >> we have pretty bad stats to share here. 2006 to 2010 cannot find full-time work and yet you say some people are dealing with this reality pretty well. how are they surviving?

what are the tactics they're using? >> just in terms of economica y economically, a lot of people are living at home. 39% of young people are getting help from their parents. >> including your sister. >> right. my sister is living at home. that's going up to age 34. 25% more young people are living at home than they were since the beginning of the recession. that's a remarkable amount. many people aren't able to make the payments on their student loans. that's another way. i don't know if people are surviving doing that but that's another thing happening right now. >> you're talking about the emotional toll. talk about that. >> one of the interesting things about this generation is we were raised, first of all, in one of the greatest times of prosperity. >> you saw your parents hand over first climbing up the ladder. >> in the '90s. many people were on the upward track of mobility, so that was in the back of our minds, that's what happened, and would happen.

if we worked really hard, we would be able to get to that point ourselves and all of a sudden we graduated and that wasn't there. that's been really hard for people. we are also a generation who has record-levels of self-is scheme. we've literally broken the scales for self-esteem. a lot of people criticize it as entitled. i don't know that that's a bad thing. when you're sending out hundreds and greting rejections, it's not bad to have the self-worth. >> what about the g-chat generation as you call it? are they able to maintain that self-esteem, the desire that they'll make an impact? is that being decimated right now? >> i don't think it is. if you look at large-scale studies of this generation, like the pew center does.

we're more optimistic in certain ways than before. we've become more optimistic than we were in 2006 which i think is fascinating and i think it has to do with inch chaing our expectations. we've become less materialistic. we were this incredibly materialist materialistic. you know what? that has become less important and it pore tends well for what's to come. >> tells me you're a half glass full kind of girl there with new york magazine. thank you very much. it's a great cover article. thanks for sharing. >> thanks for having me. we talk ye olde politics with daryl hanigan. on "weekends with alex witt." and we switched to fedex cause a lot of their packaging contains recycled materials. tell them what else fedex does. well we're now using more electric trucks and lower emission planes.

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plus, shark attack. an american overseas falls victim to a great white. heading home soon, but what will u.s. troops leave behind in iraq. and cheating hearts. today's tough economy is now being blamed for american infidelity for which spouse is strained. good morning. welcome to "weekends with alex witt." it's just past 11 a.m. in the east and 8:00 a.m. in the east. as we go to the latest development of the messing baby in missouri. lit's get the latest now from ron mott in kansas city. good morning, again, to you, rob. what did they find? >> reporter: hey, there, alex. good morning to you. back on monday, this couple, miss bradley and her husband, jeremy bradley, let police in to conduct another search of their house. police brought in some dogs. they then told us meadia yesterday that the dog picked up

human decomposition on the bedroom floor of the parents' bedroom. this investigation seems to have taken an ominous turn. armed with that information police went back to the house on wednesday, this time with a search warrant. they spent 17 hours inside the house, outside the house as well. they recovered a number of items. they brought out a numb were of blankets, shorts, disney character shirt, rolls of tape and tape dispenser among other items. they restricted information going to the public. they argued with the court and got the court to agree with them that certain information should not be released publicly, evidence brought out in the case us that they don't want their case to be hampered by knowing specific details that they've found. police have said for the past few weeks that the couple has not cooperated with them. yesterday through attorneys deborah bradley and her husband jeremy irwin said they have

fully cooperated with the authorities in kansas city and what everybody wants is the safe return for this 11-month-old lisa irwin. but with some 600 tips, they're still waiting for the one tip, alex, that's going to find this still missing child. >> okay. thank you very much for that update, ron mott in kansas city. president obama says all u.s. forces in iraq will be home by the end of this year. it ends months of talk about whether some u.s. troops would stay to train iraqi soldiers. nbc kristen welker's at the white house. another good morning to you. what's the latest on this front? >> reporter: hi, there, alex. the latest is according to the president, all troops will be home by the holidays. that was really the headline yesterday. a lot of military families saying that that one statement certainly did mean a lot to them. but the big question is what happens next? there had been a lot of discussions about whether a couple thousand troops would remain in country in

help with the transition process and there was an issue with that because the iraqi parliament wouldn't provide legal immunity with those troops, so they're not going to stay in country. all of those troops will come home, and now will there's a lot of question about how this transition process will actually be carried out. a little bit of discussion about potential future negotiations for some american trainers to help with the transition process, but as of right now, alex, bottom line is all troops coming home by the end of the year. >> which is often met with cheers by everybody. where's the criticism coming from? >> reporter: that's absolutely right. sort of what you'd expect. democrats came out and cheered the president's announcement. republicans, some of them, were quick to criticize it including john mccain. aisle read a little what he says. today marks a harmful and sad setback for the united states and the world. i respectfully disagree with the president. this decision will be viewed as a strategic victory for our

enemies in the middle east and gop candidates were expected to come out. herman cain, michele bachmann, mitt romney. the president lashed back at them and said, look, this is the fulfill management of campaign promise. a lot of eyes will be watching this over the next several weeks and months. >> thank you very much. libya's transitional council is expected to formally declare the country liberated tomorrow. that move will jump start the countdown for elections. what lies ahead in the eight months before those elections are expected to begin? nbc's adrienne among is live for us in is rah ta, libya. good morning to you. has it truly been one for him or do you see it could still be on the rise for a smooth transition? >> reporter: right now it looks

very hopeful. they've pretty much wrapped everything up. the finances could continue to fund royalist troops they fear. that's not clear how many exist. one of his sons is still at large. he's considered the only credible threat here to the transitional council trying to get ready for the next chapter of libya's history. but at the moment, it feels quite hopeful, and even as i speak, behind me on the main road in misrata, there appears to be a long convoy of fighters returning perhaps from the front line after their major victory two days ago. >> that's interesting. and i know, adrienne, you were talking about the people and their reyaks to moammar gadhafi and you're suggesting that people are coming from all over the country to try now to see the body of him lying there in a meat locker. it sounds rather gruesome. >> reporter: well, yes.

i think to many people not familiar with the sort of conditions that the libyans may have lived under, it seems strange. but to the people who lived here who rushed to see the body of gadhafi, some of them did it because there was this perhaps disbelief that somebody so powerful and so feared could have been caught so quickly and so easily. there is, of course, a lot of natural curiosity. one man described to us what he thought gadhafi was like. he with us like a dracula to them or he was their version of saddam hussein. >> all right. then it all makes sense, that reaction. adrienne among in misrata. thank you so much. with tomorrow being liberation sunday, what will libya's rebirth really look like? good morning, sir. after gadhafi, we're talk 4g 2 years with gadhafi. what are things going to look like? >> i don't think they're going to change dramatically from what they are right now.

disarr disarray. you're not going to have elections for six months. i think there's going to be turmoil on the streets in a few places despite the fact that gadhafi himself is dead. he still has some loyalists and there are plenty of guns in the areas. there will be turmoil in the next few months. there'll be some control. >> does libya like iraq have all these tribal factions that can come up against each other and make having a uniform approach very challenging? >> at one level of analysis, yes. some of the factions are out in the middle of the desert and are of no consequence. but don't forget libya doesn't have very many people. >> 6 million, right? >> yeah. and iraq has got two things. it's got lots more people, 30 million -- 32 million. it's got lots more. they're very urbanized in iraq.

iraq has them located in a cob jest congested area. they're very cosmopolitan. everything you see in iraq, you'd probably multiply in libya. there's going to be turmoil for quite some time. >> talk about the u.s. role and the extent for your which you can understand what the president means when he said yesterday we we'll do is stand shoulder to shoulder, we will support whatever they need -- actually lit it was thursday in the rose garden. >> we're not going to be there. >> that's the question. we will not be there, so we'll support how? >> well, thing the support is mostly going to come from other places like egypt, for example. i think a lot of the middle eastern countries have already engaged in libya and want to participate in assisting in whatever is going to take place there. don't forget it's always a

maritime country. we've got a huge fleet offshore and we can assist from there too. but in terms of sending people down there so that they can have a new libyan army and all the rest of that stuff -- we might have some -- we might have mobile training teams but they're going to part of international mobile training teams. people most likely involved are nato and egypt and other countries as well in the middle east. we're really going to stand off, and we have been. have we participated up till now? >> not with troops on the ground. we sent sea lauchb missiles, guided missiles, awax -- we every oob done it in an intelligent way. we've assisted but not on the ground. i think we ooh going to kolkt to assist, but not on the ground. >> thanks for weighing in. >> good to be with you. we want to remind you secretary of state hillary clinton will be david gregory's

guest tomorrow on "meet the press." the king of the throne has died due to an illness. sultan bin abdul aziz al saud has died after a long illness. war and peace. can he command his successes to win another four more years? ja plus looking for economic helpers. can they repair america's broken economy. and believe it or now, not the recession is being blamed for caution extramarital affairs, but which spouse is breaking the vows? >> you're watching "weekends with alex witt." ♪ everything you need to stretch out on long trips. residence inn.

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police in western australia say an american was killed off the coast by a great white shark. he was dived off a boat in a popular tourist destination. authorities haven't released the man's name but said he had a work visa and was living in australia. this is the third fatal shark attack off the coast of australia this year. it's voting day this morning in louisiana. bobby jindal is up for re-election there. ron paul may be in the single digits but not in the millions. he's raked in more than $12 million and he's spending it on mavis tv ad campaigns beginning today. >> the role of government ought to be for the protection of liberty, not for the intrusion of economic affairs. >> we've spent too much, taxed too mump, borrowed too much. >> it's bankrupting this coun y country. well, president obama is

heading out west to push his americans jobs act but on tuesday he returns to the comedy stage taping an interview with "jay leno" for your the "tonight show." it won't be too unfamiliar to him. you may remember back in 2009 he became the first sitting president to appear on a late-night talk show. they're vowing to bring the next piece of the jobs plan on the floor. majority leader harry reid will put forward a $60 million infrastructure bill. it's been a rough few months in the polls. the tracker shows this past quarter has been his worst since taking office, averaging just a 41% approval rating, which is down nearly four points since the third quarter of 2010 when he averaged just under 45%. joining me now is david, national political reporter for politi politico. david, good day, good to see you. >> good morning, alex. >> this week he had these two major foreign policiy

achievements with gadhafi's death and ending the war in iraq. do you think he could run as a war president? these are flash points and certainly victories for the president and things we can get excited about. when you have 5a 9.1% unemployment rate. you saw the gop presidential candidates coming out, attacking the president saying this was a political decision, so do conditions in that country deteriorate this year or do they get better, and that will sort of set up the debate for next fall on foreign policy. >> hmm. okay. take a look at this new "associated press" poll with the numbers we're viewing here. 43% agree with his job on the economy. nearly two-thirds of them approve on terrorism. do you expect that only to rise

with the latest news on libya and iraq? you talk about them as being flash points, but as you see pictures of soldiers coming home from the war and that will be indelible in people's minds. i remember them from years ago. >> yeah, thing that's absolutely true. i this ink you'd forecast that on foreign policy, on terrorism. the president will get a bump. but remember back in may after the killing of osama bin laden, his poll numbers overall rose but then came back down because, again, voters usually come back to what they care about most, and that, is you know, fortunately or unfortunately, here at home ec nomic concerns and unemployment rate and the jobs legislation that's being dealt with in congress right now. >> i should tell you msnbc reached out to george w. bush about the ending of the war in iraq and he said he did not plan to make a comment. what do you make of the fact that he won't make a comment?

>> since president bush has left office, he's been an anti-cheney. dick cheney has been on this network, speaking to reporters, critical of the president on several aspects but president bush has tried to stay out of the spotlight. thing he knows having been commander in chief, taken the air rows, the criticism, for eight long years himself he wants to respect the president and give him his own space, you might call it, on these big issues because he sure knows what it's like to get criticism, especially on foreign policy issues. >> yeah. gee, you think? anyway david cantanase, thank you for joining us. marital infidelity, who's being unfaithful? is it husbands or wives? we're going to talk about that next. before the break we're going to check out the video of queen elizabeth meaning a member of the basketball team. she was wowed by the size of elizabeth who then said the

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recession may not only be taxing americans' wallets but may be leaving men broke in more than one particular way. a threatening environmental such as a recession causes men to want to cheat. our financial analyst vera gibbons is here to help me dig into this one. what? is there any truth to this? >> really, no. well, you know -- why i'm laughing, the study has the science behind it. i ran it by jeff, the renowned psychologist, and he says he is seeing it more in his practice, actually, where the weaker the economy, the more men are inclined to cheat or are taking

it to the next level and actually cheating. >> so we have some statistics that show they want to cheat. >> he says they're actually doing it. you know, they become depressed, right? they've lost their job or their wages are flat or they can't get a job. the environment as you point out is threatening and it's threatening to them, so they go out and they try to make up for their manhood by having these extramarital affairs, and jeff gua gardier says they're drinking too. >> who are the chicks who are cheating with them is what i have to question. a guy comes and says i lost my job and i'm depressed. oh, yeah, come on. if the economy improves does that mean men are not going to continue cheatingsome. >> you know my take on all this. the study found when things are safe and sound and everything's so, we're more inclined to stay

with our respected partners, more krit kmited to the relationship, the monogamy and the children we actually have. but it's happening. it's happening. they're fulfilling this void by having these sexual conquests. they're in essence self-medicated because of the weak economy, the environmental, because it's all doom and gloom out there. they're looking for something else to fill a void. >> all right. according to a study and vera gibbons. >> and jeff. >> and jeff gardier. the talk this morning is prince harry dating a california girl. go, california girls. this is 26-year-old jessica donaldson. she bears a resemblance, but she also sports a bold tattoo. what do you think? fling or we're going with something? >> fling. >> have fun, though, jessica. go abigail higgins had...

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some vicious sparring during the gop debate earlier this week is still making headlines this weekend, specifically over illegal immigration. mitt romney and rick perry took aim at each other with accusations flying. what's fact, what's fiction, let's find out. rob, good morning. >> good morning. >> first we're going to play a clip from the debate that's got a lot of people talking. this is governor perry slamming mitt romney over illegal immigrants. here it is. >> mitt, you lose of your standing from my perspective because you hired illegals in your home and you knew about it for years. the idea that you stand here before us and talk about that you're strong on immigration is on its face the height of hypocrisy. >> all right. so is this fact or fiction? >> well, as in the case with a lot of debates, you oovg got a

little bit of fact and a little bit of fiction. i'm going to have to say this is fiction though. governor romney in 2006 the boston globe found that a contractor he was using for landscapers had sent illegal immigrants to his house to do landscaping work. when he spoke with the company they said it was taken care of. in 2007 he found they they were still hiring illegal immigrants. however, saying he hired illegal immigrants and knew about it for a year is a bit of a stretch. it's not like he knowingly hired them. he was using a contractor, and -- >> and i want to go further with this to even expanhandle on this because romney responded in his quote says, i don't think i've ever hired an illegal in my life. is that fact or fiction? "ever" is the operative word. >> i believe that's fiction. in both cases it's whether he

knowingly hired an illegal immigrant. he did, even if it's through a contractor. it's all disingenuous of governor per yo to say he knowingly hired an illegal immigrant and kept this person on staff even though he knew about it for a year. >> romney also turned the tables on perry and his immigration in texas. listen to that. >> if you look over the last several years, 40%, almost half the jobs created in texas, were created for illegal alien, illegal immigrants. fact or fiction, rob. >> i'm afraid i ooh going to have to give fiction again because governor romney doesn't give the whole scope of the 40% figure he used. that was taken from a recent report from the center of immigration studies. this is a group with the goal of reducing immigration. they took that showed that 80% of new jobs in texas were going to immigrants. they said they figured about half of those immigrants were

illegal, so you get 40% of illegal immigrants. however, the same report also says that this is just a sort of a broad estimate, could be high, could be low, and they also provide another first in the report that takes into account that there weren't just immigrants arriving in texas. some left, some exited the job pull, and that figure said that it could be 27% of new jobs went to illegal immigrants. so for not saying, you know, it's somewhere between 27% and 40% or for not saying this is a rough estimate, i would have to say that's fiction. >> okay. thanks for digging for the facts. we appreciate that, rob margetta. thanks. we're going to get more on our top stories. president obama told american yesterday that u.s. troops will be leaving iraq at the end of this year. and joining me from philadelphia is former congressman patrick murphy, the first iraq veteran elected to congress. good morning to you. >> good to be with you, alex.

thanks for having me on. >> i'm glad to be with you. i want to hear your reaction when the president made the news he made. >> it's great news. it's wonderful news for the american veterans. they're now coming home and hopefully we can do all they can that they're going back to work, that they have opportunities that previous veterans had like the new g.i. bill such as job placement because as you know, through 25%, some say up to 50% of them suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder or traumatic brain injury and we need to make sure we take care of these heroes and invest in that money back here at home. >> yeah. is that what would offer the suggestion of mixed feelings about this withdrawal among vets like yourself? is it what they have to come back to or the job accomplished in iraq there may be some back sliding when the americans leave. >> listen. it was an honor for me to serve over in iraq with the second air button division. i was there in 2003 and came back in 2004 and our troops did a great job over there.

what president obama clearly said in his campaign and as commander in chief is we need to refocus our efforts on bin laden and where bin laden was because he was responsible for as you know murdered 3,000 innocent americans, so it was a redeployment of our troops from iraq, we were focused on getting bin laden and now we have a time line in afghanistan since we got that done to start bringing our troops home. that's important now because as you know, we need to stop -- you know, we need to make sure we're focusing on our troops and jobs here at home and i will tell you, you know, part of what i take issue with really folks on the other side. instead of saying this is a great day for heroes who served over there. people like mitt romney says, this is wrong, we should stay in iraq. let me tell you something. we focused bin land from day one and we got him finally. the reality is these heroes, military families have been stretched so thin and now's about time to bring them home.

>> okay. what about the scheduled pullout from americans in afghanistan by 2014? how do you feel about that, considering what's going on there? >> well, several things. in afghanistan we need to make sure we all understand. it's up to the afghan people to stand up for their country for security and they're doing just that. my former division manager is leading those efforts. they're making tremendous strides. they have a lot of issues. most afghans are illiterate. only about 18% of them can read or write which is hart when you're trying to train them to be in the military profession. but they're doing that. they're getting families working over there. but i will tell you we can't do everything, alec. we need to make sure we're investing here at home. when you see what's going on not just with the multiple deployments of the troops and the military families but making sure we're putting people to work here at home, especially the veterans community, the

unemployment rate is much higher for a veteran coming home than everyday american. if grow fighting for america overseas, you shouldn't have to come fight for a job here at home when you return. >> absolutely. hear, hear to what you're saying. >> if i could mention one other thing. >> sure. >> i think this week was a great week in keeps america and our world safer. the fact that i mentioned about bin lad p and number two of al qaeda and obviously saddam hussein, but also gadhafi. where are the republicans. they criticized president obama for not acting fast enough and now he's gone they're like we should have done it to begin with. we should stop with the politics at the the water's edge of our country. they don't know what that means. should put our country first. i'll tell you that gadhafi, as you know, he killed american service members in europe. he killed american civilians.

there's a young woman. she was 21 years of age. she was taking a semester overseas in scotland. she's from greensburg. she was on her way back when she was murdered by gadhafi. and these republicans aren't saying, hey, commander in chief, good job or this is a great day for americans, finally bringing this guy to justice. they're mooute. that's what people hate about politi politics. >> i'm glad you aired all of that, reminded us of some important things. thank you. those with deep pockets talk louder than those without. nowhere is that more true than on wall street. daryl ratigan spoke with me about the influence of banking in washington and our economy. i asked him if any candidate right now is prepared to tackle financial reform.

i don't think the politicians understand the banking system. the single largest contributor to every party is the banging system so reforming the people that bank roll you when you don't understand what they do, so you have a bunch of people, politicians, who don't understand what the bankers do who are depep penalndent on the money. it's going to be easier for good bankers to help us develop things to make money and quite honestly our politicians have not the understanding on or resolve. the problem is not a front-ent problem. everybody is debating what should we do with taxes and spending. imagine you've about got a bucket with a big hole if the bottom where all the money is getting sucked out. and imagine you're trying to figure out how to fill the bucket and you're like we've got figure this bucket because the bucket keeps getting empty. i don't understand. doesn't matter how much you put

in the, the bucket gets in. retax the rich to fill the bucket. tax the rich to fill the bucket. don't tax the rich to fill the bucket. stop spending. that's the idiotic political debate that merge is being sub jeked to that and while we're being subjected to that idiotic political debate, there's a giant hole in the bottom of the bucket that is banking system that is running a gambling partner that is worth f $00 trillion that is run in blackness that we are all paying for. and so you've got -- let's see, you've got a tax code that says take your money out of america. a trade policy that says trillions are going to leave america. and you have a banking system that says we're going to subsidize a $600 million casino and sit around and wonder why there's no money. and honestly it's insulting to american people because they know that raising taxes or cutting spending has nothing to

do with the problem. >> can e ask you about the place we're shooting at now. look at all the tice. what is this? fashion in style? >> this is -- shoot around the room. the irony of a fashion & style profile, but -- >> you're in "times." look at that. >> let's be very honest. if i'm a fashion style icon, then fashion style's got problems. here tees best thing here. you want to see the best thing i've got? this is from the good old days. i want to show you something. this is my thomas jefferson costume from halloween last year. >> is it going to be resurrected? >> i don't think so. i don't know what i'm going do. there's my thomas jefferson costume. i've got my little cuff. >> you've got the lace on the cuffs. >> i've got the wig. >> put it on.

i want to see. you could be a british bear is ter right now. >> maybe they would take me more seriously on the issues of the banking system if i dressed like this. do you think i would have more credibility if i explained my issues with the lack of cam tall reequipments like this, go to the treasury secretary? probably not. >> what kind of brain food do you have at lunch to motivate you for your 4:00 show? >> my dietary habits have been questionable. just in the sense of i've been -- i will dogo long periods of time with no food. many days i go without food at all. >> you wolf down dinner? >> yes. but this has to be changed. this is unsustainable. >> my diet -- my dietary habits are equivalent to the american banking system they're both in desperate need of restructuring. >> you can catch the dill began

ratigan show every day. does herman cain have the staying power? you're watching "weekends with alex witt." capital one's new cash rewards card gives you a 50 percent annual bonus. so you earn 50 percent more cash. if you're not satisfied with 50% more cash, send it back! i'll be right here, waiting for it. who wouldn't want more cash? [ insects chirping ] i'll take it. i'll make it rain up in here. [ male announcer ] the new capital one cash rewards card. the card for people who want 50% more cash. what's in your wallet? sorry i'll clean this up. shouldn't have made it rain. sorry i'll clean this up. sun life financialrating should be famous.d bad, we're working on it. so you're seriously proposing we change our name to sun life valley. do we still get to go skiing?

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a vicious debate. campaign staffers walking off the field. many are licking their wounds this week. our big three topics this week. herman cain, in it to win it, a bare-knuckle brawl between romney and perry. and bachman, iowa or bust. joining me now, msnbc political analyst, abbie and back with us jenny backes, a democratic strategi strategist. welcome to all three of you. good morning. pat, i'll start with you. he's alternated between the campaign and a book tour, he's made a quarter million dollars off prieshts speech, he's running for president, or is he running for fame and fortune? >> well, i think he's certainly

got a complex life. no, i think he's running for president clearly and think he's astonished that he's a frontrunner at least in the polls. but, alex, the facts you laid out there tells me he doesn't have the legs to go on in my judgment to win the nomination. even if he won iowa and then south carolina, don't think he's got the organization. i don't think he's got the staff. i don't think he's got the money to win a republican nomination, so i think he will fall short. and my guess is he will start to decline somewhat in the polls in the next couple of weeks. >> well, i want to pick up on that with you, abbie, because kane's latest gaffe, what does that tell you? >> what herman ca maherman cain is someone with a set of beliefs that are internally coherent to him but they're not necessarily

the things he needs to be saying on the republican primary campaign trail. when he goes out there saying the government needs to get out of the decisions of individuals, that sounds to republican voter like a line that a liberal candidate would say to them. so he needs to get some of these ideas clear in his own mind and thend convey them even more clearly to the voters. at this point he hasn't done that. >> you think it's in his own mind as opposed to how he's being prepped by his campaign staffers? >> look. part of it is that herman cain is his own man. he marches by the beat of his own drum and it's not clear that he has a whole lot of sway over what he does on a day-to-day basis, so it must be that this is herman cain figuring out what herman cain wants to talk about. >> jenny, the gloves came off during the debasement rick perry seems to really be getting under mitt romney's skin. are they handing a script?

>> it's always helpful when you're an incumbent and you have your opponents doing all the dirty work for you so you don't have to engage in a strong comparison, but think the other thing that's really interesting is a little bit about what abby was alluding to a second ale. herman cain is an un-politician. it's definitely different, 2008, 2010, and now 2012. the electorate is very tired of how washington is working and the republican electorate, they're wanting something different. with rick perry, you have another consummate politician and then you've got this guy r herman cain is happy, he's a happy warrior like pat. he's something, if you look at the last cycle when mike huckabee won in iowa, the voters

like someone who's in a good mood, share their conservative opinions. he's going to have to go fix things. but i think the orr guys, it's a ms. a little bit. >> pat, i want to ask about net gingrich who said in the debate, maximizing bickering is not the road to the white house. do you think this is getting too ugly too quickly? >> i don't know that it's too ugly, but newt is right on that. this debate was a disappointment, and i've been on the road myself and one conservative, a prominent leader in communications told me that this is the republican party that ought not to be put in power if this is what they're going to do. it wasn't that it was a sharp, tough debate, but there was a lot of bickering back and forth. but herman cain, i mentioned iowa and south carolina, that strategy. this position that he's taken on right to life is almost a killer if he holds to it in iowa.

in other words, it's a woman's decision to choose, because i've been in iowa and you must have 60%, 70% of those republicans are deeply pro life, and that is a voting issue with those folks, as it is with most of them down there in south carolina. >> we're going to have to wrap, but stay with us on the other side of the break. we're going to come back and rate the week. the panel weighs in on the president, the good, the bad or was there any bad actually or even ugly? opens its doors or creates another laptop bag or hires another employee, it's not just good for business. it's good for the entire community. at bank of america, we know the impact that local businesses have on communities. that's why we extended $7.8 billion to small businesses across the country so far this year. because the more we help them, the more we help make opportunity possible.

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it's time now to rate the week. president obama didn't get a jobs bill passed but did get a dictator removed and bringing thousands of troops home for the holidays. so jenny, i'm going to begin with you. the president has been all over the country selling his jobs plan. it's being blocked every step of the way in the senate. how does he emerge from this? >> what's emerging is his

message and vision how he would fix jobs here. he's setting up a clear comparison for the next electoral cycle. plus, it's going to get increasingly difficult, especially if the economy stays the way it is for republicans to continually vote no, no, no on every idea out there. if you know what's inside the jobs bill, it's bipartisan. i think it's going to be harder and harder for the republicans to keep voting it down and the senate will keep bringing it up. >> abby, what about the big developments for the president on the foreign policy front? how did he handle them? >> the white house is going to be use thing as an argument for obama's electability. this is about whether he's a leader, whether he kept the promises he made and whether going forward he's the right person for the job to deal with the global challenges. that's going to be the argument

you're hearing from the white house. i have to say that it's a problem that on the jobs front, the president has not been able to make any progress on this jobs bill. and every time that we get a new jobs report from month to month, we're going to continue to see that these ideas are going to sink in to the american people's mind set. they're going to be wondering where is the job, what is the president doing on that front and that's what this election is going to be about. >> with the president bringing troops home and killing terrorists, is he sinking his claim as a war president? >> gadhafi went down, the americans were the main power behind it, you've got him bringing the troops home from iraq as he promised he would do. i consider that a success for him. and for the country. but i do agree with abby on the jobs bill. the u.s. senate was a 50-50 vote. he lost a couple of democrats and he comes off as ineffectual.

i don't think that's a good position to be in going into the election of 2012, which is the economy and jobs. >> that's a wrap. many thanks for that. i'll be looking for you tomorrow morning, 10:00 a.m. eastern time for the sunday edition. see you then. [ male announcer ] you are a business pro. your core competency is...competency. and you...rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle...and go. you can even take a full-size or above, and still pay the mid-size price. i'm getting an upgrade. [ male announcer ] as you wish, business pro. as you wish. go national. go like a pro. now through january earn a free day with every two rentals. find out more at nationalcar.com. no, i wouldn't use that single miles credit card. nice ring. knock it off. ignore him. with the capital one venture card you earn...

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