>> the odd couplple -- newt gingrichch and freddie mac. >> no lobbying of any kind. >> solyndra and the politics of energy. >> anything of a politicalal nature -- i would have to say now. >> the president's message to china -- >> we are here totay. >> the super committee deadline. >> 6 people signednath of blood to never r raise revenues. >> what happens if nothing happens? captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- thanks to o lukewarm support for romney, rick perry's lousy debate performances, and herman cain's recent problemems,s, newt

gingrich is having a good week. you even heard the word "front runner" attached to his ne. then the story broke that freddie mac paid gingrich within $1.5 million between 1999 and 200008, and reporters rememinded him that he said in last week'k's debate that he merely advised of freddie mac as a historian. >> well, look, i was speaker of the house and a strategic adviser. i was glad to offer strategic adce. >> gingrich says he did no lobbyingng of any kind, period. is this a rose by any other name evan? >> one of the great scams and washington is former statesmen who are not lobbyists but still get paid millions of dollars in fees. i am not sure who is scamming whwhom on this. i doubt that it was a lobbyist, but he got paid an awful lot of money anand eat it looooks very uncomfortable. >> is this going to come back to

bite him, charles? >> there is a lot of things. people say he has enough baggage as delta air lin, and they normally are talking abo the personal stuff. it is the ideological sff the idea is to p propose in the pastthe association's on health care, global warming, and these particular events, because he had attacked fannie and freddie it relentlessly. d now we learn that he had a monetary association it doesn't look good. >> nina? newt gingrich is nothing iff not glib. unfortrtunaty, there are facts that conadict thehings he said when you say you did not lobby, it becomes a techninical truth. you are getting paid mamet's amounts of money, and the strategic advice is how have access to people he was formerly speaker for and howow to do the

deals you want to do, and then that becomes a distinction without a difference. >> mark? >> nt gingrich, according to newtingrich, told freddie mac whom he was being paid $25,000 to $30,000 a month that ththe business model wasas insane, and at the houousing bubble was goining to blow. nobody at freddie mac ever heard him say this, at least five people say he never d say it. but this is newt gingrich, and coming back to what charles' point was, this is a man who has shown incrediblintellectual flexibility. he is somebody who has been on both sides o of an awful lot of issues and that is going to be his undoing. >> here's a question from fridayay's "wall street journal." "how to politicians who are right in washington, d.c. as men and women of modest means leave as millllionaires?" question posed by sarah pali

>> lots of money in washihington, flds of it, while the rest of the country has been hurting. the washingtoton area has been doing great, and a big part of that is lobbying money to aid ngress is bought and sd legally. that i is the problem. if you don't think that these congressme are bought t and sold you are dreaming. >> taking advantage of inside information that would send somebody ought wall street to prison -- >> the supreme court would say that there is no corruption that justifies restrictions on campaign money. but there are going be billions and billions of dollars spent this year. we won'tt know who spent them and who benefited. and the kind of scandals, you might see, like a solyndra -- we won't know who give the money. >> the conservative critique o of all this is to say that the federagovernment has decided

over the lasast 50 years thahat he would intrude into every avenue of american life -- business, textiles --- everything is regulated in one way. you create a state of thatize, the intrusiveness, of course you of lobbying over every element of american life. the root problem is the over extension of the federal power. if you have the government of jefferson and adams, you have a lot less lobbying because it did a lot less. >> they d not have a population of over three outer million. >> -- ovever 300 million. >> they at did not come at the most corrupt era of american politics was the time before teddy roosevelt took over and was run at a time of the small government by a very big business interests, including railroads and banks where gingrich is really in trouble heres the fundamental hypocrisy of his position.

in 2008, he was riding in "the washington post"dvice f republblicans to go after democrats because of their relationshipip with freie mac demanding they return contributions from frereddie mac saying t that those o had helped freddie ought to go to jail -- democratic officeholders. at the same time, he is cashing checks and walking away with the mone where is the consistcy in this man? >> herman in was doing well despite allegations of sexual harassment then came an interview withthe milwaukee sentinel" and questions about libya which seemed to be wilder him to mr. cain seems to feel that interviews with newspapers art toxic, so this week he stiffed the manchester "union leader." it is s like somebody in the college of cardinals sffing the pope. it just isn't done. >> the manchester "union leader"

can completete the breayou still, i believe. i think it is still come in an election year, can break a candidate. >> an enormously influentialal paper, especially in the republican primary. itits imprimatur or opposition can be dispositive. >> but look, it is not ing to make any difference. what is killing him is not the manchester "union leader." it is that he is in over his head and is winging it and everybody can see a plane estate he said the other day in new hampshire, dismissing the importance of knowing anything about otherr countries, that t what the country needs is "a leader, not a reader." that is a hell of a slon to run for the presidency on. >> romney is going to win

because he is the only one was nonot t a comic figure at all of this. it is kind of exaordinary that in the race for the nomination for e gop, there's only one guy who is not sort of a laughing stock by finition. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [ multiple sounds making melodic tune ] ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] at northrop grman, every innovation every solution comes together for a single purpose -- to make the world a safer place. that's the value of performance. northrop grumman. o0 c1

>> we have gotten a little bit lazy over the last couple of decades. >> that is what our president thinks is wrong with america? that is pathetic. >> ok, at mitt romney has picked up on this too, sayinghat he does not think the president understands america. what the president said was, "we have gotten a little bit lazy over the last couple of decades. we' not out there selling america and trying to attract business intamericica." is this going to fly, mark? >> it will in the republican

praries. it was a bad choice of words by the president did you could make the case that his argument is valid for rick perry, it is a life preserver. he even said john maynard keynes did not know anything aut economics the other day, and i believe him. [laughter] >> i tnk obama made that lazy statement while on the lf course in hawi. i will have to check it is like anything in campaigns. it is an isolated incident, it is nothing to. but if it reinrces a sterereotype -- this is a president who has said that america is soft, it lacks the imagination that bill to the golden gate bridge, he said famously in 2008 that the people in the flyover coununtry cling to guns, d, and bigotry as a way

to overcome theirr bitterness over economic circumstances. that is why it resonates, as a man who does not understand or has been camped in many ways for his own p people -- has contempt in many ways for his own peoplple. >> that was not even a comedy about people. it was about the country taking for granted thahat people would want to bring business here. you talk to any distance prison, and d they will tell you there are all kinds of -- talk to any business person, and they will tell you therere all kinds of barriers -- >> a country consists s of people. >> romney runs against oba which runs againstbama and add the news media, which is not a bad tactic. >> the only way romney is going to win it, because he is basically not all that appepealing a person, is by making obama seem even less appealing. it is going to be a dirty, nasty campaign.

>> now, i think he runs the record. he says 9% on a planet, i am a guy, i am a reasonable --% unemployment, i am a reasonable, i ran a business, i can do it. obama is going to attack romney on the personal stuff and you can be sure of that. >> but romney has electability prlem, and one way to deal with that is by making obama seem likike a cold fish. >> charles has distilled from a strategy, which is a repetition of the 1988 massachusetts governor confidence it, not ideology. >> in 1988, he ran in a b boom time. >> let me ask about the politics of energy. there was a heari on the hill. steven chu, secretary of eney, in the hot seat over solyndra.

$535 million loan guarantee. republicans are saying at they acted illegally by guaranteeing investors would get a break before taxpayers. is this going to come back to bite to the obama campaign? >> it don't look good when half aillion dollars gs down the drain. on the other hd, this program which was marginally with the bush administration, and solyndra was originally ok'd in the bush administration, actually allocated $10 billion for losses because it was supposeded to be as seed money program. it was endorsed by every republican and democratic member of the house committttee that originally approved a. many people think it is a good idea, many people do not. but there is nothing illegal about what went on here, or even political, except that somebody wanted the layoffs and delayed. >> what about the timing of the layoffs? >> oh, yeah, except for that.

>> they should not have done that but there is no evidence that it there is anything political about the awarding of this contract. >> it does show the problem of government picking winners and losers. >> but here is the thing -- china has invested 300 before billion dollars into clean energy. where are we on this? >> that is picking winners and losers. are you gogoing to compete witith china? if you wait for the private sector to do it, china will, on everything. that is the way we bill to the intercontinental route road. >> if china wants to own an industry where every proct it makes loses money, a cafe. what america wants is an industry that is productive. basic research like nih -- [unintelligible] if you try to do it in an industry where you are trying to

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>> the notion that we fear china is mistaken. the notionon that we are looking toxclude china is mistaken. >> nonetheless, the nine-nation trade deal excludes china. the president announcehe's sendingg 2500 marines and d perhaps dozens of bureaucrats to australia. >> this is good news. this is the president- i hav problems with his other policies in the world, but he recognizeses the opportunity. that is goodod. not just amecan good, but helping smaller countriesn at area, opening a sea lanes allowing commerce, promotingng democracy. all gogood.

the chinere growing, and this is a way of putting a stake -- a democratic president who is not known for aggressiveness is doing this, is a message and the chinese abowill get eight. >> don't want to go bigger than th mark? >> it has terrible echoes of beirut -- >> in australia? >> in terms of the transfer of troops where there are too many to die but to view it to fight. -- too few to fight -- >> in darwin, australia? > the united states is the major player in the world trade . our navy, whwhich has been matched disparage, still has more ships than 13, the next 13 natioions in the world. it is a statement of reality

the e united states involvement and engagement in the pacific and it is a trade initiative that charles has saluted and what wch i endorse. >> the bigr military sue hehere is the navyvy. china all of this ship- killing missililes. our navy is vulnerable by chinese technolyy. that is a problem that pentagon has not figured out how to solve. >> nina? >> i really don't have athing toto add to this. >> i do find the comparison between beirut mid-1980's, and darwin australia, is rather stretch. the australians are deeply in ho and all the commercially with china, and our worry is it becomes over-involved in over dependent, is going to lose freedom of action in foreign

affairs. this is a way insuring that remains our strongest ally the region and an extremely importanant ally. >> and that have a jumping off place there, t too. >> right. it meaeans we have a footprint and that is important. >> i think we have exhausted their realitas well as the defense of extending american trtroops around the globe perhs we mightven thinkk about cutting back a few in japan at this point -- >> now, i am with you. germany i would evacuate. >> why further extension of an admittedly sinking force? >> because china ia potential growing threat, and in germany is not under any kind of military threat whatsoer. >> it is not troops, it is ships -- not just troops, it is ships. >> china's deep water navy is growing. >> and its clients are

threatening all the neighbors who was to step in -- who want us to step in. >> we are afraid. >> half a million amerans in vietnam.

>> i am still optimistic, but i don't hear anything -i am realistic as well -- that sounds big and bold. >> what should the american people take away fromhis? >> we should in pmpeach grover norquist. >> that would be the grover norquist to convince the republicans to sgn a no new taxes' pledge harry reid is sound like he's a little depressed t there. >> the only ray of light, as

ruth marcus pointed out in "the washington post," is that a few of these republicans are backing off the grover norquist pledge. you of the super committee guys are now edging away, and there is never going to be a deal unless repubcans give up that pledge. >> what if they do not reach an agreement by wednesday? >> could be really bad. we could getucked into the war tax of the european debt crisis our bond ratings would be downgraded again. we see no particularar way out. the republicans and the folks at ththe defense department will be yeing ababout their pets. -- cuts. there would be a tax increase come the binning of 2013. the bush tax cutwould go into place -- i mean, would go away, and we would be paying the same taxes. washington used to be a place

where deadlines actually concentrated the minds. i'm beginning to thinkhey just don't. >> the federal government will be in business at least until december 16 because they passed another opga measure.. what happens if nothing happens? >> that the amerin people will resolve the issue in november of next year. for all the guns have a plan the ryan plan, -- repubcans and have a plastic, the ryan plan, and have a president who will support it with slight changes, and he will have a mandate or he won't. then we wilrevisit this. obviously, i think the way the government is divided -- these are real ideological distinctions. you are wrong a abouthe tax issue. the republicans, if you start with paul ryan and goll the way to the right, will accept a tax revenueue increase as long as they're -- ashere is n a tax te increase, and you get

when you cut out loopholes. the problem is agreeing on cuts. >> it would not violate the court for norquist pledge? >> it would override the northwest thing -- the norquist thing. of course it would pi. >> how doeone guy gets so much power? >> you are mistaken aid. republicans on the committee have proposed an increase in revenue as long the rates and an increase, and the way it is done is by cutting loopholes. >> republicans need a declaration of independence from grover norquist. there is no doubt that he is calling the tune gr-- >> how do you explain -- >> jon kyl retiring republican member of the senate -- grover norquist said that reven

increases the tax increase -- >> t

captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> business news from the capital region. this is "washington busineness report" with abc7 national correspondent rebebecca oper.