>> please help. wewe are really in danger. >> this week o"inside washingto" the fate of chen guangcheng. >> the world is watching by the dictators and disissidents. 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 haveuessed we

would look back on the carter year as the good old days? >> n newt gingrich gives new meaning to the phrase "lukewarm endorsement." >> is from a conservative? my answer is simple -- compared to barack obamama? >> roger clemens on trial for perjury. captioned by the national captioning stitute --www.ncicap.org-- secretary of state hillary clinton, long an vocate of human rights, rights in china for aeconomic summit only to find yourself caught up in a human rights crisis. apply to chinese dissident under housarrest slips past his guguards under cover of darkness and seeks refuge at the u.s. emssy in beijing. at the pleading of his wife,

chen guangcheng g leaves the embassy and goes to the hospital. he is no begging to leave the country and wants clinton to take him with her on her plane. >> if these reports a 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 to travel abrd and for this puose. >> at week's end, the state department was saying that chen has a fellowship at an american university ad they expect cha to clear thehe way for him to leave the country. beijingg wants the united states to apologize for keeping him at the embassy, and clinton has said that it was an extraordinary circumstance and we don't expect it to be repeated. when " the wall street journrnal"

says it is a sign n of weakness what is your take evan? >> pny crisis. what you have to keep yourye on this u.s.-chinese relations. that is the larger picicture here. i do't blame him for getting -- he is not the main event. the main event is us getting along with china. that does not mean we hahaveo kowtow to them, but we have to get along. i sliked seeing romney tried to make hay out of this thing because the larger issssue is u.u.s.-chinese relations. >> nina? >> having a political cdidate not make hay out o of it is like having a waterpaniel not go in the water. these ings are i incncredibly complicated. we as a free society want to do everything, anit is in conflict often with our national interests on a larger scale.

in this case, there may have also been aa battle in china among different factions with the military havaving one position and reformer people having anotother. it is compmplex and interesting. on the anybody misled th. -- don't think anything misled him. > charles? >> it is not complicat. a dissident makes his way to the u.s. embassy at the ri of his life, we protect him. we don't accept phony assances unless they y are ironclad. we don't leave him alone and surround him with chinese guards. reagan cared aut our relations with others, also a guy who was unafraid to fend human rights and did not say "i have to get along with the russians, i don't care about ists -- dissident s."

sharansky is alive today because of reagan, and he won e cold war. >> mark? >> i have always resisted the blame america first reaction in these situations. this is an extraordinarily brave person who stood out to not only the central power, but to the abuse and germamany of the local authoritities in -- andd tyranny of the local authorities in his hometown. 19 months, 24 hours a day.. his home was surrounded by thugs. spotlights on hihis house, cannot even sep. we are finding out where human rights does fit in. i hope dear that he makes it to thenitedtates with his family. find where it fits in it when it the other country is our banker. the soviets were never our banker.

>> interesting point. >> it is but the evidence indicates that he did change his mind. i heard from an assistant secrary of ststate who is in on those meetgshe entire time, anand on the day we thought he had been released and d itas a good deal, it was very clear that he is going to have a rough time, he doesn't want to leave china. therefore, this cannot be easy. >> evan, i d the embassy people rush this thing to clear the decks for the summit? >> maybe. my only point is that ids easy to get sympathetic about this guy --s a sympathetic figure -- and be noblebout defending humarights. but without knowing the facts what is the actual impact on u.s.-chinese relations reregardless of whatever the specific facts are? we forget t about that because we

get emotional. >> if you wa to be unemotionanal and very r realpolitik in the long run, the only way we will have a safe world and good relations with china iif it liberalizes, the same way we have much more relaxed relationsns with russia today than at the height of the cold war. for liberalization, one thing mamaers above all, to know that there is a place in the world, a power r in the world, that will deffend you when you stand up. if you speak to sharansky and other dissidents in the kulak they will tell you that reagan's -- in the gulag they will telll you that reagan's "ev empire" speech gave them hope. if we say it they are the

banker it will depress people around the world who want to liberalize societies like china and ththat in the long run is the worst thing we can do. >> have we abandoned them? apparently we have not. >> as of this moment i don't think we have. that is good for him. don't forget, commando mitt romney, one of the toughest guys who never wore a uniform, says we should stand up and defend freedom whenever it is under attack, and when it was, he was missing. [ male announcer ] are you paying more and more for cale and enjoying it less and less? stop paying for second best. upgradade to verizon fios tv, internet and phone for just $89.99 a month guaranteed for two years with a two-year agreement. act now and we'll add a special bonus: $250 back. but hurry,

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>> others will ask, why don't we leave immediately? that answer is also clear. we must give afghanistan the opportunity to stabilize. otherwise, our gains could be lost and al qaeda could

establish itstself on again. as commander-in-chief, i refuse to let that happen. >> president obama made a surprise visit to afghanistan, where he signed a stragic partnership is in karzai. the agement outlines the terms of the relationship of the country after 24. inn address, ththe american people -- in an address to the american people, the president says he realizes americans are tired of the w but we haveo finish the job we started and d the momore responsly "the new york times" says that the president squander the chance to fully explain his exit strategy to a war americans are desperate to see brought to an end. do you agree with that, mark? >> to i agree with "the new york times"? he squandered an opportunity? i would not go that far. is was a convenient statement politically imperative statemen. it served the pupurpose of karzai

that we went to kabul. we had wanted him to come here. we got all kinds of assances the united states -- nomore nighttime raids in homes led by nato troops. it will be done by afghans themselves but i think there is no question that public opininion on ththis war has swung totally and four useyears. four years ago, 2/3 americans were for keeping troops there, and now 2/3 w want them out immediately. >> what about us, bin laden? he talks about it frequently and republicans say he is spiking the footbl. >> this from a party that reveled in talking about 9/11? this is what political candidat do.

you don't get one of your signature accomplishments and hide it under a bush. it is what they -- >> mitt romneyaid that jimmy carter would have pushed the button. is that unfair? >> i thihink that probably is unfair. >>immy carterushed a harder one. he tried a rescue operation, much harder than a killing. yes, of course he would he. showed that in orderingng the reue mission thahat unfortunately did not succeed. >> look theecretary of defense was recommending against this mission. the vice president -- >> my questionon is over the politics of hatred is he gloating over this thing? -- politics of it. is he gloating over this thing? >> of course he is. i guess the most successful and he has done. -- it is the mostst successful

thing he has done. as for romney, i wish -- i know that it has to be ththis way, but romney islways chirpinfrom the sidelines. he always has to take a strong position on everything, whetherer it is the inese dissident -- why doesn't he just shut up? [laughter] >> he is running for president! >> but i don't t think it does him any good. >> there is a fact missing and your presentation of the issue -- i hate to c criticize the host and the producers. the issue is that the democratic national committee put out an internet ad in which it has bill clinton doing the nartion and in it, he says that if the mission had gone bad and se 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 vetans have issued a counter ad saying that it iss astonishing that he would do that, that he w would think of themselves, or that clinton would think of the political interests of the president over the lies of the soldiers. >> -- lives of the soldiers. >> you arehocked? >> the second is that does not just say that obama did it which is ok, he should get credit. it says that romney would not. that is a cheap shot, and they used a secondhand quotation from wolf blitz and not romney himself. >> i agree it was a a cheap shot, but i don't think they are unusual. >> "my heart was in my mouth. i worked for a lot of these guys, and 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 t chiefs of staff. obama's fae general wanted -- favorite general wanted-2 bombers. obama, with 40% intelligence that says that osama was there said to go ahead. wait a cheap

>> over 23 mlion people out of work or stop looking for work can only get part-time jobs. that means households cannonot be formed, peopleho thought t they would be retiring c cannot retire to they still have to work. americans are tired ofeing tired under this economy and

president and they want a real change. >> that was mitt romney in chantilly, v virginia this week. key battleground state. unemoyment dropped to 8.1% last month ronny will argue that the growth is too smallll -- romney will argue th the growth is too small and too slow. his argument this week was overshadowed by the trip to afghanistan. tough competition evan. >> it is, but i know that he should take gratuitous, foolish fights. whye has to wawaive his and every time someone asks him -- he would do much bter if he'd take a smaller approach, congratulating the president when it woorks. >> it was a pretty good presentation. >> he, to attack the ministrati on the econom because he has a real -- h he

ought to attack the administration on the economy because he has a real argument there and sort of a program. >> any campaign for the challenger for this and feels and passed to eak into the news every day. >> i think that is a false god. that is whwhat consultants say but it is nonsense. >> that is fair. mark knows more about this than io, but that is a a fair criticism. on the other hand, you have to be visible. >> romneyid get an endorsement, look f lukewarm -- lukewarm though it might have been, from newt gingrgrich. lost in this was what newt gingrich said it two months ago, "we will not beat barack obama with a guy with a swiss island accounts, o owns shares of goldman shs, a stockholder in fannie mae and freddie mac, who thinks the rest of us are too stud to put together the ts

and understand what this is ababt." this will be in negative campaign and a lot of it is from the republicans. the unemployment figure is bad for the administration. we have the smallest percentage of americans eitherr looking -- the working orooking for work in 31 years. it is disappointing and the discouraging news. >> it has got to be a winner in terms of his argument. >> glad to know that mark always comes prepared. great quotation. the numbers are terrible, and mark is exactly right. the only reason it down to 8.1 is so mamany people of the workforce. it is a perverse way tmeasure things. if you look at the number o of new employment, it is but that could add that rate, unemployment will risese, if you count the people who drop out. u need a quarter of a llion

just to be standing still. the recent it is in a threat to obama is one of the reasons he has recovered in the polls is there was a sense in january, february, and mamarch that we were in some kind of new s stable, sustainable recovery, but it might have been a false dawn because of the good weather earlier in the year to stealing jobs out of the spring jobs that you normallyly get to you gothem in winteinstead. that would show that this would be the third consecutive summer of recery, that not a summer of recoveryy -- it could really hurt,. -- hurt obama. >> who else endorsed romney this week?? michele bachmann, the same one who said he couldot beat obama. >> you've c come prepared as well. >> tre is a kabuki quality get in line. michele bachmann also told a

reporter that ronnnny cannot beat and that is what t people will remember. -- romney cannot beat obama and that is what people will remember. t gingrich is not wrong. conservative enough, compared to obama. >> romney was lucky this week that the whole afghanistan thing happened when one of his day spokespeople -- gayay s spokespeople quit because they did not want to talk because some conservative groups were yelling about eight. that would have been front-page news for a couple of days. >> good point. two story types of the two parties are the democrats are the party the rabble, uneducated -- >> like the tea party people.. >>eah, so they likeke to nominate candidates tt are wellborn, franklin roosevelt adlai stevenson

the republicans are the wellborn and they like to nominate people from humble origins, ronald reagan herbert hoover. the problem with romney is that he reinforces that stereotype of the republicans of the party that is wellbornrn and out of touch.

>> not saying that senator mitchell's report is s entirely wrong. i'm saying the statements about me are wrong. i have n never taken steroids or hdh. >> that is roger clemens testifying before congress in 2008. he is on trial for perrjury. nina you were there. >> the prosecution's star witness was supposed to be andy pettitte because they're under main witness has credibility problem. the problem is that he was not

the icing on the cake, and he basically recanted when the defense lawyer on cross- examination said, "is it possible you are e wrong? what are the odds that this was 50/50 that you are wrong was " he says, "that is about right." >> evan? >> there is a show trial aspect of this, the second time around. me with the edwards' case. when you go for celebrities, are you making a greater point that will deter others? >> i don''t know the merits of the child. i differ to my colleagues especially nina. but i commend it tom davis and henry waxman for holding hearingsgs 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 were held to a higher standard. >> who cares about the trial? go to the ballpark and see the washington nationals leading the league, and they ha a 19- year-old, harper -- if you missed willie mays in 1951, you have a second chance. see him play. he is a phenom. i hope he ends up inhe hall of fame could get your ckets now . >> you get t