>> what you think of when you see a tree? a treatment for cancer? alternative fuel for our cars? to you think of hope for the environment, or food, clothing, shelter? we do. weyerhaeuser, growing ideas. >> this conspiracy was conceived, sponsored, and was directed from iran.

>> this week on "inside washington," the plot to kill an ambassador on american soil. >> we call upon other nations to join us in condemning this threat to international peace and security. >> the senate defeats the president's jobs bill. >> i will not take no for an answer and i hope you won't either. >> republicans now have a jobs plan of their own. >> the president believes the government money creates jobs. we believe business creates jobs. >> is a herman cain just another flavor of the week? >> the difference between flavor of the week and häagen-dazs black walnut, because it tastes good all the time. >> a new hampshire primary it before christmas -- are you kidding? [unintelligible] captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org--

>> the united states government this week accused the government of iran of plotting to assassinate the saudi ambassador to the united states on american soil. the alleged plot reportedly involved the payment of $1.5 million to a mexican drug cartel to kill the ambassador and carry out other attacks. attorney general eric holder said that the plot involved elements of iran's quds force. a spokesman for iran says the country categorically rejects "these baseless allegations." >> we are going to continue to apply the toughest sanctions and, you know, continue to mobilize the international community to make sure that

iran is further and further isolated and that it pays a price for this kind of behavior. >> "pays a price for this kind of behavior" -- what do you make of that, charles? >> that is obviously empty rhetoric, the way of avoiding the issue. this is a serious issue because it is a clear escalation. the iranians have been killing americans by proxy in afghanistan and iraq, and, as we know, using hezbollah in the attack on the marines in the early 1980's. but to attack us on our soil is really something new, different, and it shows abrasiveness -- a brazenness and a lack of concern about of any american response which is quite alarming. >> colby? >> having made the announcement, and the timing was in the hands of the u.s., the response has been kind of tacky. it seems to me once eric holder

made the announcement, the administration should have been able to say specifically these are the steps we are going to take beyond the two things and they always say, we are going to increase sanctions and further isolate them. that is the part that leads to such an uncomfortable feeling. >> nina? >> i am still left with a slightly uncomfortable feeling about the plot. there is a limit to what we know about the iranians. clearly, if we accept the information, and we have no reason not to, there was some iranian government role in this. the question is how high did it go, what was the knowledge? did everybody thinks some jerk was going to try something, oh, well, we might as well let him, or were they actively involved in encouraging it? >> mark? >> i think is serious, and at the same time, there are

remarkable details to it that just fascinate anybody. i mean, hiring an assassin from a mexican drug cartel for $1.5 million? this is kind of a novel concept. and just exactly who was being paid and who was doing the paying. at the same time, i am a little concerned about that fire-aim- ready caucus in the united states that wants to immediately go in and send in regions of drones into tehran. that is a good reminder that the reason that iran is now dominant in iraq in its influence is because the united states opened up and forged an alliance with our invasion and occupation. >> this does not have anything to do with the influence iran has in iraq. this has to do with the fact that the regime in iran wants to

demonstrate something. if you want to kill an ambassador, is easy to shoot or poisoned him, or do it in london or paris. why do it in the united states, in a restaurant in the capital? it would be a huge of that. it would not be an assassination, it would be a massacre. in the complaint, they speak out about that of mass destruction. that means they want to show something. we are acquiring nukes on one hand and we can infiltrate the united states, make you worry about retaliation on that scale. >> is there any doubt about iran's involvement in this and how high it goes? >> the transfer of money from iran -- that amount of money being transferred at to have some kind of government involvement. you did not have a private citizen in iran transferring money to a u.s. bank. there is clearly some involvement. now, the extent to which it goes up or down the ladder, we don't

know at this point. we heard the initial reaction -- peter king saying is an act of war -- congressman from new york. you have others standing up and are coughing and popping. nobody is seriously talking about military action. >> would sanctions deter this kind activity, nina? >> the explanation for such a goofy plot that i read that makes sense is that the whole iranian government is under enormous pressure, and in doing things that it has not done before and it sometimes not doing them well. if the quds, which is supposed to be disciplined intelligence organization -- they should know, for example, that when you transfer money in $250,000 chunks, and of transfer is monitored. it sends up red flags. that is the whole point of watching the currency post-9/11.

if they did not know that, they are not doing very well. that is a good thing for us, because they are not doing well. >> the pressure that the administration is trying to exert right now is on china, russia, europe, and india, as far as the isolation of iran is concerned. that is why making this evidence available by private consultation -- it is now up to them out today choose to reject this and turn their back on it? it does look persuasive. >> you have another one involved in this as well, saudi arabia. an attack on him is an attack on saudi arabia. the saudis understand this, they are major players in this. the saudis and iranians are the two antagonists in the region. >> different views of the faith. >> well, it is more importantly

cry for relief for control of the region. the saudis and the gulf arabs are scared to death, as are other arabs, of a dominant iran in possession of a nuclear weapon. it is not worry about is real or even about the safety of americans. it is about domination of the region. once iran has nukes, it is not as if it will drop a nuke on saudi arabia, but it could have conventional aggression and have no retaliation because it has a nuke. it disarms all the neighbors in the region. >> no other jobs plan has that kind of support from actual economists. no plan from congress, no plant from anybody. but apparently, none of this matters to republicans in the senate. >> well, republicans and two democrats, ben nelson of nebraska and jon tester montana. he needed 60 to move forward.

no dice. the president is going to try to get pieces of it through congress. any chances it could happen, colby? >> i think there is, but the jobs bill was not defeated. what happened is that this senate prevented the jobs bill prevented it from being considered -- prevented the jobs bill from being considered by a filibuster. it could have gotten the votes to get past at they could have gotten into the floor. there are pieces of the bill that are probably attractive. you already have house republicans talking about coming up with infrastructure proposals of their own. they know they have to do more than just say no, no, no. >> mccain says their plan will create 5 million jobs. >> oh, come on mccain's plan is more of a fantasy that obama's plan. this plan was never going to

pass, and what we're seeing now is just kabuki. something may pass that is small, but nothing will pass that is significant. >> what is going to pass, mark? >> i think the wages, the payroll tax will be passed, as well as unemployment extension. what is fascinating is the "wall street journal"-ntc paul -- nbc poll, that only a small plurality of people favor the president's jobs plan. however, went they spell out what the details are, it goes to 63, 64%, and the same two-to- one that the millionaires' tax should pay for it. the political advantage, when the case is made, is very much with the democrats and with the president. as an admission, an indictment, that they have not made the case. >> they have not even made it to the democrats in the senate,

because the vote was -- there were two democrats who defected on this. however, there were two others, webb of virginia and manchin of west virginia, who said they would support the president to have the bill proceed, but would have opposed it had it come to the floor -- opposed the substance of it. you added up, you have four democratic senators who presumably would have gone against it, which means had gotten to a vote, it would have failed. >> according to a survey of economists, the income of the american people has declined by 7% since 2000 and will not improve before the year 2021. this might give you some idea of white people are out in the streets protesting this, although a friend of mine wrote this week, "starbucks-sipping, levi's-clad, iphone-clutching protesters denounce corporate

america even as they weep for steve jobs, corporate titan billionaire eight times over." that is a terrific sentence. >> i appreciate that. i like hearing my own words recited to me so wonderfully by so experienced an anchor. >> i am actually surprised that the current polling -- it won't necessarily continue this way -- seems to sort of like the spokes. -- like these folks. they get decent approval ratings even though nobody quite knows what they are for -- >> even they don't. >> even they don't. what people do know -- one the top 1/10 up 1% control 20 or 30% of income in but country, the income gap is the kind of

thing that existed hundreds of years ago that people came to this country to avoid. >> does this remind you of the early days of the anti-war movement in the late 1960's and early 1970's? >> the anti-war movement had specific things to point to. this is a manifestation of unhappiness. i'm not saying that the people who are doing it are the ones who are deprived, but there are people on the sidelines who are cheering it is because they feel they have been victimized. >> it has forced the debate. we are discussing it, greater awareness of it, an alliance between the two parties are drawn. when the republicans say is all because of regulation, the problems, that if wall street were just left to do whatever it wants whenever it wants, the country would be in clover and honey, i think that just begs any sense of reality. >> the problem is lack of economic growth. you can redistribute all the money you what.

if you get economic growth, of which we have none today, you won't have this kind of inequality and stagnation. >> 9% corporate business that tax, 9% personal income flat tax, and% national sales tax. >> when i hear 9-9-9, i want to call 911. >> that is the wife of rick perry. she says her husband has been brutalized by opponents in the campaign. herman cain, former ceo of godfather's pizza, in the latest poll leads the other republicans in the race. romney is sort of hovering at 23%. >> what do you do if you are romney? you have four flawless debate performances, you have raised money, you have put together a super campaign, you are a far better candidate than you were, and you are at 23%.

they don't like him to 80% of republicans say they would vote for him against obama, but the non-romney constituency in the republican party is enormous. it was rick perry, is now herman cain, it could be rick santorum or newt gingrich tomorrow. >> 55% of tea party voters in view romney ever, 60% of the very conservative republicans view him favorably. >> yeah, but what does that mean? given the choice, he will rank high with them, but he does not excite them. i think there is a residue of doubt about romney. what does he really believe? this flip-floping charge he has been fighting the last four years is going to stick. he still has problems with the massachusetts health plan, the way that was done. >> i think they are going to have to marry him. >> shot down?

-- shotgun? >> i just don't know if it is going to be a good relationship or not. [laughter] >> why the enthusiasm for mitt romney? >> he was in northeast republican governor of the blue state, and he governed at way, ran that way, and he has matrices. one specific issue is that the republic -- and he has major heresies. one specific issue is that the republicans would like to use obamacare as a proxy for big government and big spending, as in the midterm when it was extremely effective in defeating democrats. romney is disarmed on that because of massachusetts. however, in the end, there is no passion among the republicans in favor of romney -- however, if he is the nominee, the passion will come from the anti-obama sentiment. you are not going to have to love romney. it will be getting rid of obama which will be the driving force. there will be enthusiasm even if

romney is the nominee. >> award for herman cain the olls to journal"-ntbc p was surprised by his surge and interviewed people who were supporting him. they knew who herman cain was, they liked the fact that he never ran for office, they understood 9-9-9 -- >> but they didn't understand -- >> they said he was a real. >> he was a real, it did not sound like a politician. >> the gallup poll echoed that poll in that people who were most enthusiastic about the race favored herman cain. >> that is why they like christie, who just i endorsed romney. >> rick perry is on the cusp of

a falling into that terrible meredith -- narrative -- "i can see russia from my lawn," sarah palin. after the debate, he spoke to dartmouth students about the american revolution occurring in the 16th century. little slips like that -- >> obama spoke about the 57 american states. that is heinz, not america. it is a slip of the tongue. perry's problem is that he had this terrible debate and did not have answers that he should of thought through. >> rick perry is speaking on friday about his plan for american jobs -- make what americans buy, buy what americans make, and sell it to the world.

mitt romney as an op-ed in "the washington post" saying we should get tough on china. >> the romney editorial is interesting, very well written, a very good, except that he says we have got to get tough on china and then he does not really say how. all the points he makes about why we should do it are prickly -- >> monetary policy is one thing he talks about. >> sort of. he just says we ought to say that they are currency manipulators. >> in fact, that is what america is doing. quantitative easing essentially lowers the value of the dollar. we are in kind of a reciprocal arrangement -- >> race to the bottom. >> where that historically happens. it is one way to do it without raising tariffs, which, incidently, passed the senate by a large majority, the bill

to impose punitive tariffs on the chinese. in theory, it sounds great, everybody loves it, but he would be a catastrophe. it would be smoot-hawley. we've tried this in the depression and it beggared everybody. >> there is not a candidate at the national level who does not say we have got to get tough on china. when you get into the office, you consider the full range of relationships with the country and is not that easy. i don't take granit seriously on this. he is playing to a base -- i don't take romneycare seriously on this street he is playing to the base and will not deliver. it will take at john boehner to prevent this bill from becoming law. deficit with as i china, 2.8 million american jobs

were either lost or put aside as a consequence. we had an update on nafta, or only 637,000 jobs displaced or lost asset consequence of that . the reality is that there is a constituency out there that understands what is going on, but leadership that just absolutely caves. >> what should deleted should do? >> -- what should the leadership do? >> the leadership should confront china and say that we are concerned about american jobs -- >> ok, we say you are very unhelpful people, and they say too bad. what do you do? >> we will impose selective tariffs upon them so that we are not -- >> then you get into a trade

war. >> wouldn't they also impose -- >> because we are the biggest market -- >> you go back to smoot-hawley -- >> we did this in the 1930's -- >> no -- >> they are sitting on a $1 trillion of our money as well. ->> when you go, what you see? american cars all over the place. american businesses doing business there bank because of the cost of labor. -- there because of the cost of labor. i was trying to make a phone call from my blackberry, and every time i made the call, i was talking to somebody from manila. >> that is a whole other issue -- or india. >> i am concerned that the process is in jeopardy because of the states like florida and nevada. >> sorry about the audio.

they must've interviewed him in the men's room or something. terrible. former senator rick santorum, talking about the musical primary dates triggered by florida's decision to move its primary up. according to the new hampshire secretary of state, they will go in the first or second week of december. >> the secretary of state is following in new hampshire law. it is state law that there has to be seven days between new hampshire at the next similar test. that is what nevada has done. the republican party's national leadership has abdicated any responsibility. when the democrats tried to do this in michigan, with john dingell, a powerful chairman, carl levin, the united auto workers, the governor, terry mcauliffe, democratic national chairman, said not on your life. they ended it. that is what the republican leadership should have done,

because iowa and new hampshire give the underdog, dark horse candidate a chance to connect with real voters and a chance to overcome the big bucks candidates. >> while we are not watching, except for the cognoscenti, there is an entire new structure of funding that is going up with these superpacs that is not only hundreds of millions of dollars, it is secret money for the most part. >> in the end, is this a threat to democracy? >> no, it is not a threat to democracy, but it is -- it means the voters will not really get a chance to hear from the candidates. from the standpoint of the republican party, the department is earlier in the year, it is did -- their advantage if you had this early in the year, is to their advantage. >> what the hell?

get it over with early t. if he wins iowa and new hampshire, we could just relax until august. >> you can start attacking obama early. the minus is, if something goes wrong about the chosen candidate, at the likes of us find something unpleasant, you are stuck. >> it is romney, and we have not found something in the five years he has been running -- >> be careful about that. >> there is an enormous advantage to sustain primary fights. barack obama was a far better candidate by the time he was nominated after the fight with hillary clinton -- >> it started in march. not exactly abbreviated. >> last word. see you next week.