what do you think of when you see a tree? a treatment for cancer? alternative fuel for our cars? do you think of hope for the environment, or fruit, clothing, shelter? we do. weyerhaeuser, growing ideas. >> please help. we are really in danger. >> this week on "inside washington," the fate of chen guangcheng. >> the world is watching, both dictators and dissidents. the administration must be bold. >> the president's surprise trip to afghanistan. >> as you stand up, you will not stand alone. >> mitt romney tries to go on the offensive. >> who would guess we would have

looked back on the carter years as the good old days? >> newt gingrich gives new meaning to the phrase "lukewarm endorsement." >> is mitt romney conservative enough? my answer is simple -- compared to barack obama? >> roger clemens on trial for perjury. captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- secretary of state hillary clinton, long an advocate of human rights, rights in china for an economic summit only to find herself caught up in human rights crisis. a blind chinese dissident under house arrest slips past his guards in the cover of darkness and seeks refuge at the u.s. embassy in beijing. then at the pleading of his wife, chen guangcheng leaves the

embassy and goes to the hospital. he is now begging to leave the country and he wants clinton to take him with her on her plane. in politics, a crisis is a terrible thing to waste. >> if these reports are true, this is a dark day for freedom and a day of shame for the obama administration. >> it looked like there had been a breakthrough. >> we are also encouraged by the official statement issued today by the chinese government confirming that he can apply it to travel abroad for this purpose. adweek sent they said chen has a fellowship at an american university and they expect china to clear the way for him to leave. the secretary of state says that it was an extraordinary circumstance and we don't expect it to be repeated. "the wall street journal" says

it is a sign of weakness. what is your take, evan? >> phony crisis. what you have to keep your eye on is u.s.-chinese relations. that is the larger picture here. the main event is as getting along with the chinese. that does not mean we have to kowtow to them, but we do have to get along. i disliked seeing romney tried to make hay out of this thing. >> nina? >> having a political candidate not make hay out of it would have been like seeing a water spaniel not go in the water. these things are incredibly complicated. we as a free society want to do everything, and it is in absolute conflict often with our

national interests. there may have been a battle in china among different factions, with the military having won a position, and the reform people having different positions. it is complex and interesting. these things happen. >> charles? >> it is not complicated. a dissident makes his way to the u.s. embassy at the risk of his life, we protect him. we don't accept non-assurances or phony assurances on the state and are ironclad. somebody who is not even able to walk, we don't leave him alone with chinese guards. reagan cared about relations with others. reagan was also a guy who is unafraid to defend human rights and not say, "i have to get along with the russians and i don't care about dissidents."

sharansky is alive today because of reagan, and we won the cold war, and the way you win despite being an equivocal about human rights. >> mark? >> i have always resisted the blame-america-first reaction in these situations. this is an extraordinary person who stood up to not only the central power but to the abuse and tyranny of the local authorities in his hometown, where he has paid dearly. 24 hours a day, his home surrounded by eight thugs, he has spotlights on his house and cannot even sleep. we are finding out where kim rights does fit in, and i hope dearly that -- he that -- which human-rights does fit in, and i hope dearly that he makes it to the united states with his family. the soviets whenever our banker, -- were never our banker, and

that is a major difference. >> interesting point. >> the evidence indicates that he really did change his mind. i heard in an interview with the assistant secretary of state who was in on those meetings with him the entire time on the day we all thought he would be released and it was a good deal, and it was very clear that he was going to have a rough time, -- and itt want to l was not going to be easy. >> the u.s. crushed this to clear the decks for the summit? >> maybe. it is easy to feel noble about human rights, but what is the actual impact on u.s.-chinese relations regardless of what the

specific facts are? that is the larger issue. we get emotional about defending the sky. >> if you want to be an emotional and very realpolitik and purely strategic come in the long run, the only way we will have a safe world and good relations with china is if it liberalizes. for liberalization, there is one thing that matters above all, to know that there is a place in the world and a power in the world who will defend you when you stand up. when you speak to sharansky and other dissidents who were in the gulag, they will tell you that evil they heard reagan's " empire" speech, it gives them hope. if we abandon the little guy because we care about the banker, it will let it be known

that the u.s. is not out there and able to press people around the world who want to liberalize societies like china and that in the long run is the worst thing we can do not. >> have we abandoned them? >> at this moment it does not appear so. don't forget, commander mitt romney, one of the toughest guys who never wore a uniform, said we should defend freedom whenever it is under attack. when it was, mitt romney was missing. >> is and what makes the trip to afghanistan. is he spiking the football? >> people ask, why don't we leave immediately? that answer is also clear. we must give afghanistan an opportunity to stabilize. otherwise, al qaeda could form

itself once more. as commander-in-chief, i refuse to let that happen. >> president obama made a surprise visit to afghanistan, where he signed a strategic partnership with president karzai. it outlines the terms of the relationship after 2014 the president said he recognizes that americans are tired of the war, but we have to finish the job started afghanistan and end the war responsibly. "the new york times" said that the president squandered the chance to explain his exit strategy to a war that americans are desperate to see brought to an end. do you agree, mark? >> with "the new york times"? that he squandered an opportunity? i would not go that far. this was a convenient statement, a political imperative statement. it served the purpose of karzai that we get to kabul.

we wanted him to come here. we got assurances, no more nighttime raids by nato troops. it will be done by afghans themselves. no question that the public opinion on this war has swung totally in four years. four years ago, 2/3 americans were for keeping troops there. now 2/3 want them out immediately. >> what about the home bin laden issue? republicans say he is speaking the football, that he should not be gleeful about this. >> this from a party that rattle -- reveled in talking about 9/11? this is what candidates do. you don't take one of your signature accomplishments and hide it under a bush.

it is what they can do -- >> mitt romney said even jimmy carter would have pushed that button. is that unfair? >> i think that probably is unfair. >> jimmy carter pushed a harder one. he tried to arrest operation, much harder than a killing. so yes, -- he tried a rescue operation, much harder than a killing. so yes, of course he would. >> look, the secretary of defense was recommending against this mission, the vice president was not fully in favor. you cannot say -- >> my question is the politics over it. is he gloating over this thing? >> of course, he is -- of course he is, because it is the most successful thing he has dined on afghanistan he is -- he has done. on afghanistan, he is muddling through.

as for romney, i know that it has to be this way, but he has always chirping from the sidelines. he always has to take a strong position, whether it is the chinese dissident -- why doesn't he just shut up? [laughter] >> he is running for president "] >> there is a fact missing from your presentation of the issue -- i hate to criticize the host and the producers. the democratic national committee put out an ad bill clinton doing the narration, and in it he says that if the mission had gone bad and some of the seals had been killed or captured, it would have been really bad for obama. he says that in the ad. >> what about the seals? >> that is exactly the point. some veterans have issued a

counter ad saying that this is just astonishing that they would do that, that he would think of themselves or that clinton would think of political interest over the lives of soldiers. >> you are shocked? >> the second point is that it does not just say that obama did it, perfectly ok, he should get credit. it says that romney would not have. that is a huge tactical error, it is and a cheap shot, no way you can know, and they used at second hand rotation said by wolf blitzer and not romney himself. this is a way for romney to get advantage out of this and he blew it. >> i agree it was a cheap shot but i don't think they are unusual. >> "this is one of the most courageous decisions i've seen a president make" -- robert gates. "not everybody does it" -- vice

chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. obama's favorite general wanted b-2 bombers to drop bombs. obama, with 40% intelligence saying that osama was there, said bill ahead. was it a cheap shot to put romney in the piece? yes, a counter productive. >> over 23 million people out of work, or can only get part- time jobs. households cannot be formed, people bought date and would be retiring -- they would be retiring. they are tired of being tired. >> unemployment dropped to 8.1% last month.

the administration will talk about 26 straight months of job growth. ronny will argue -- romney will argue that the growth is too slow and too small it was overshadowed by the trip to afghanistan. tough competition. >> yes, he is running for office, but when he passed away this and every time something happens -- why he has to waive his little head every time something happens -- he would do better by taking a low-key approach in congratulating the president when it works -- >> pretty good presentation. >> he ought to attack the administration on the economy because he has a real argument there. >> the reason he does it is any campaign for the opposition, the challenger, feels they have to

break into the news every day. >> i think that is a false god. i guess what consultants say, but it is nonsense -- it is what consultants say, but it is nonsense. >> mark knows more about this, that is a fair criticism. >> he did get an endorsement, lukewarm though it might have been come from newt gingrich. lost were the words that newt gingrich spoke just two months ago -- "we will not beat barack obama with a guy who has a swiss island accounts, shares of goldman sachs, a stockholder of fannie mae and freddie mac, who thinks the rest of us are too stupid to put together the dots to understand what this is about." this is going to be a negative campaign and a lot of it is coming from republicans. the unemployment figure is bad for the administration not smallest percentage of americans eager working or

looking for work in 31 years. discipline and the discouraging news. >> it has got to be a winner in terms of his arguments. >> glad to know that mark always comes prepared. great quotation. the numbers are terrible. the only reason it went down to 8.1 is because so many people left the work force. perverse way to measure things. if you look at the new appointments, it is pathetic. at that rate, unemployment will rise because of people dropping out. you need a quarter of a million for it to a standstill. one of the reasons obama had recovered in the polls is there was a sense in january and february and march that we were in a new sustainable recovery,

but it might have been a false dawn because of the good with the bank earlier in the year stealing jobs out of -- but weather earlier in your stealing jobs from spring jobs. it happened and in winter instead. this would be the third consecutive summer of recovery that is not a summer of recovery, and it could hurt obama. >> who else endorsed romney this week? michele bachmann, the same one who said ronnie could not beat obama in the general election. >> you've come prepared as well. >> the democratic national committee will have a reel of those. i quality, atkabuk getting in line. michele bachmann also told a reporter that romney could not beat obama, which is what people will remember. but gingrich is not wrong. conservative enough compared to obama? yes.

>> there will be felt that happened in the campaign, and romney was lucky that the afghanistan thing happened when one of his gay spokespeople quit because some conservative groups were yelling about it. he was lucky, because otherwise that what it's been front-page news for a couple of days -- would have been front-page news for a couple of days. >> good point. that two story types of that two parties is that the democrats are the party of the rabble, uneducated -- >> like the tea party. >> so they like to nominate people who are wellborn, franklin roosevelt, unlike stevenson. republicans oother part of the wallboard, so they nominate people from humble origins,

ronald reagan, herbert hoover. ronny confirms the stereotype of the wallboard. >> i don't understand why they keep stumbling into that. that is a problem he has and he has to be careful about how he handles it. i am surprised he is so careless about that. one point mark brought up about the stereotype of democrats being the party of the uneducated rabble. that stereotype shifted to the tea party, who were considered and a ticket rabble, -- uneducated rabble, and they have raised the level of discourse by making people look at the constitution. let me just say one thing about romney and newt. newt's endorsement is not important, but santorum's will have some effect. i don't expect newt will get

anything in tampa. santorum gained influence with social conservatives, who are still not enthusiastic. it will be hard for him to do it, but if he did something for romney that is half-sincere, it would help to shore up the base and let it run the appeal to the middle. -- romney a bill to the middle. >> it is problem that romney is seen as cold and out of touch, but obama has the same problem. he is a pretty chilly guy. it is the weird thing in this election, this age of populism, that we have these chilly technocrats who graduated from harvard law school. they don't want people to know that, -- >> a book coming out about obama -- >> making the point to his old girlfriends about what actually guy he is -- a chilly guy he is.

>> michelle, shot a lot of j. crew and any -- michelle obama shops lot of j. crew. >> trips to spain and elsewhere. >> the point is that that is easy not to do. >> it is the problem for romney, sometimes they have to be aware of -- something they have to be aware of. about that's point two candidates, that is inside the beltway, because obama is seen as more likable than romney. romney has the worst likability scores of any presidential nominee. >> which is why he is bringing ann romney into the discussion. >> with her blouse or $40

sweatshirt. the key is george w. bush -- who would you rather have a beer with? probably not with either one of them. maybe joe biden. >> shockingly, i think you are right. obama is chilly, but he also is charming. romney is solid, dependable. you want to come to buy him, but if you marry him, -- you are not charmed by him, but if you marry him, you have a stable life, maybe with a dog on the roof. [laughter] charm could be decisive. >> dale collins will put you in her next column. >> security is not a small thing

. >> i am not saying senator mitchell's report is entirely wrong. i am saying that the statements about me are wrong. i have never taken steroids. >> roger clemens testifying before congress in 2008 about steroid use. he won seven cy youngs, but now he is on fil. -- trial. nina, you were there. >> the prosecution's star witness was supposed to be andy pettitte. the problem was, he was not the icing on the cake, and he basically recanted when the defense lawyer on cross- examination said, "is it possible you were wrong? what are the odds that this was 50/50 that you are wrong?"

he said, "that is about right." >> there is a show trial aspect of this. a little like the edwards' case -- if you go after celebrities, are you making a greater point that will deter others? >> i don't know the merits of the trial. i defer to my colleagues, especially nina. but i commend tom davis and henry waxman for holding hearings and forcing baseball to confront the drug epidemic. these guys had blown up like the incredible hulk, and they all looked the other way until they help them to a higher standard. >> who cares about the trial? go to the ballpark and see the washington nationals, leading the league, and they have an 19- year-old, bryce harper.

if you missed it willie mays in 1951, you have a second chance. he is a phenom. i hope he ends up in the hall of fame. get your tickets now. >> you get the last word. take me out to the ballpark.

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