>> production assistance for "inside washington" was provided by allbritton communications and "politico," reporting on the legislative, executive, and political arena. captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> now is not my time. i have a commitment to new jersey that i simply will not abandon. >> this week, chris christie says no go and sarah palin is a no show. how will this change the 2012 race for the white house? >> i would like mr. cantor to come down here and explain what exactly is in this jobs bill he

does not believe in. >> the president pushes his jobs plan and takes aim at his opponents by name. >> people are angry but they have nowhere to get the anger out. >> anger over the economy starts demonstrations as we observe another anniversary in the afghanistan war. >> i did not see this war being one or loss in the next several years. i think it will continue. >> welcome to "inside washington." i'm mark shields. gordon peterson has the week off a bank. new jersey gov. chris christie went from i object of intense republican desire to the big one that got away. >> the people sent me to trenton to get a job done and i am not prepared to walk away. i know not everyone agrees with my decision. but my loyalty to this state is

what it is. >> christie had company. a former alaska gov. sarah palin. how does this bear well change things for the 2012 race? charles crowd hammer? >> i do not think it changes anything. i do not think there was any chance for chris the bank to come in. -- gov. christie to come in. he would not have one and if he lost the would have been diminished and could not go home to his home state. palin, i think, has never been serious about running for the presidency. and it would not make sense for her, either. i think the field isn't what it is and i think on the inside never expected anything really different. >> whom does it help, nina? >> i am not saying anything you have not read a million times but it obviously helps romney.

for some reason it has also helped cain as well. it helps romney because he is the person who can carry the banner. that is a way it looks. now, perry raised $17 million in the first quarter and it kept in -- the political establishment said he could raise a lot of money but he has to be a better candidate and at the moment he has not shown he can be a better candidate except for raising money. and that is not enough. >> colby? >> it will affect the race this way. people sitting on the sidelines holding their money now realize they are not to be considered -- so the money raised is really on. -- race. i don't think it is fair to say gov. perry is out of this. this weekend you have perry been blasted by mitt romney as

hitting an attacking him on immigration. you have perry attacking romani's environmental effort. you will see the attacks increasingly over the next several weeks especially with the change in the republican primary schedule. >> i agree it is a mistake. i notice the smart guys are already riding of perry. it does not sound right. he is an enormously attractive characters a lot of people -- maybe not to the know what bugs and the press but an awful lot of voters. i did it will be a long and probably ugly fight. perry what and of money to keep it going. >> let me speak on behalf of the know what bugs in the press. it is not just the press. his poll numbers have been cut in half. he came in about 20% -- 28%, at a romney, and now 17. it is only explanation is the performance in the debate. i do not think he has been out

there anywhere else where he would have had an impact. i think it is interesting how these debates, they also account of the rise of cain. no other explanation. it is so interesting that so early on, but the odds with nine people on the states have had such an impact -- debates with nine people on the stage have had an impact. >> romney, compared to four years ago, he is a superb candidate. i believe it -- agree that he is bloodless, and that is his problem in the general election. but you see the republican constituencies -- it is the flavor of the week. they don't really like him. they don't trust them and they want somebody else. michele bachmann, cain, perry. maybe perry can come back. i did not write anybody off. >> hypothetical -- republicans are behaving like democrats. democrats have to be a low --

emotional, they have to be glandular before they support somebody. whether it is obama -- emotional. they have to love their candid. republicans accept bob dole, george bush the first. this time, watching the feverish pursuit of chris christie by sensible republicans and practical shoes, they were light justin bieber fans. >> that is because they are not happy with the rest of the field. romney is acceptable but he is not the one that turns them on. perry on the other hand does have an exciting days. the question is will romney -- the next several weeks or months as they go to the vote. that is the big question, can he sustain this. >> he has been amazingly discipline, romney has, and he has run a really good campaign.

error-free. but i still think that perry is kind of a protean force. he is likable to an awful lot of people. and in this time, this time where we are living where passions are running and fear is great, a democrat the -- demagogue has a chance. >> let me buy into your hypothetical that democrats have to get glandular and republicans never did before. i think it is partly true. but i am not sure -- even when clinton and obama were going at each other, except for the 3:00 in the morning had, -- ad, having vicious attack ads of this early inside of the party strikes me as a party not used to doing this. i do not know how it affects their prospects. >> one exception to the shields glandularity faces -- john

kerry, i do not know if there were people going hormonal over him. but he lost. but on the republican side that is the story. romney is the man who wants to be the last man standing in he is the one i think in the end will be considered acceptable -- just conservative enough. but it is early. so, if you are energized as republicans are over obama, you don't want to settle early on conservative enough. you want somebody who is really conservative. that is why you have the rotating dates -- bachmann, perry. >> speed dating on the republican side. >> president obama appeals for public support. >> i am dealing with a majority leader who says his number one goal was to beat me. not to put americans back to work, not grow the economy, not help small businesses expand, but to defeat me.

>> that is the president defending why he is appealing directly to the public to support his jobs plan. the plan is going to be paid for by increasing taxes on the wealthy. how you think the republicans would react to the idea? then i assume he thought they would reject it because it bought the -- >> i would assume he thought they would reject it because that is what they did before. but the problem goes beyond eric cantor and the republicans in the house. his plan today could not pass the united states senate. he doesn't have the votes. as a matter of fact, our earlier this week, ms. mcconnell proposed to have an up or down vote on the plan -- harry reid, majority leader, wisely it withdrew that opportunity because the bill would have failed in the senate. not just because of republican opposition. he doesn't have enough democrats to push the bill over.

>> compensation -- he does not do it with his own people. >> he has to do it -- i understand the political argument but the government is not exclusively limited to the house of representatives. >> well, as the president's record on consulting democrats when he puts something for is not a good one. however, turning to the question at hand which is, is it smart to do this -- yes, it is bark -- smart to do this. republicans are about to go into full campaign mode. >> about 2? >> he got nowhere being reasonable and responsible and now he wants to keep this job, you better act more like a partisan. >> charles, on friday morning we learned the unemployment rate remained at 911% despite 103,000 jobs created in september -- 9.1%. >> 100,000 jobs is not really a

lot to cheer. better than expected but you need about a quarter of a million to stay up with increasing population. it shows that either unemployment will continue to increase or be flat. i think as a candidate, which obama is right now, he is looking at a landscape where next year running at 9% unemployment -- historically high. nobody has been reelected at anything over 7.8% except fdr and that is a long time. he is in full campaign mode. the hypocrisy is remarkable -- in one of the speeches he said we need action right now because the country can't wait a year and two months to get action. he proposed a bill that ino's has no chance of becoming law. pacino's that the jet -- democrats in the senate will reject. he knows it will not have an effect on the economy. it is entirely campaigning and he has ended the governing stage and all in campaign mode and nothing else. >> if he is lucky, and

unemployment will be 9%. we are heading the something much worse. you talk about fiddling while rome burns -- politicians all over the west are fiddling while the global burns and happens -- it is happening in europe and here. an unbelievable a disconnect between bill act -- absolute lack of political will to get anything done, including europe, and a tidal wave. >> one example is dick durbin and many people in the congress railing against citibank over a $5 surcharge on a cards white -- >> bank of america. >> is it bankamerica? -- of america? urging a run. at a time the economies are completely allowed to imploding. i think he is right -- they are simply not facing at all the magnitude. >> banks really are not an object of sympathy.

>> but up $5 surcharge is not what the american economy hangs on. >> but not exactly for the one island of prosperity in a sea of misery. >> let's set -- set the record straight on the political campaign. it is happening on both sides. the effort to defeat barack obama started two and a half years ago and it has been sustained. obama, yes from he is in campaign mode and the question is has he gotten to the mode to late. >> president of the united states. he had a debt commission last year that he ignored, a budget he submitted this year that was laughed at in his own democratic senate. he has not governed at all. >> know it is your fault, no it is your fault. after a while somebody -- >> i don't think the history is quite equal. i think level performance over

the raising of the debt limit was so disgusting, and it was mainly -- that one was mainly on the republican side. and it really did shut -- >> approval rating of the congress. it is at an all-time low. 14%. >> obama did try to do the right thing then, but after dropping the ball -- he dropped the ball on the commission, and then in the state of the union -- he consistently dropped the ball. when push came to shove he was a really bad politician and failed to bring it home. there is blame on everybody. >> demonstrators take to the street. what street? wall street. >> dissents is part of our democracy. this is the epitome of dissent -- a protest in the middle of the financial district. >> 35 years after the movie "network" made the phrase

dennis, the as brothers have turned out to declare they are mad as hell and not going to take it anymore. exactly what they are mad about is up for grabs but the crowd on wall street. signs that ranged from anger that banks to concerns about the middle class. then i think and a sociological sense it is significant. at this is sort of the tea party of the left. but they don't know what they want. and organized labor has joined in, which is certainly politically they have a little more clout. but it you have to have something you want. a specific thing or two that you want and there is no consensus. >> i would just point out that when the tea party began, with rick santelli -- he said how many of you people wanted a for your neighbor's mortgage to has an extra bathroom and can't pay your bills? that was the give me liberty or

give me death or the tea party. not all movements began with a specific itemized agenda. >> this is will be kids banging on drums -- easy to dismiss. but to me, it is a fire bell in the night. it is a significant thing. it may or may not turn out as the tea party to the left but what it does signal is you will have this civil unrest. as the politicians grow around and do nothing. it is not like people will go home and wait to die. there is going to real unrest. it is happening in greece but it is coming to our shores. we are on the verge of a 1960's kind of period of time -- tremendous instability and unrest. >> the difference between this and the tea party is these people had it minutely no idea what they want. where is the tea party, which are reportedly the to list proletarian an underclass turn out to the people -- this is how they were covered all through

"the new york times" the first year, ignorant peasantry -- they had an idea -- a smaller government, less regulation, lower taxes. you can disagree but, but it is an idea. unlike these indignant indolence and the streets today on wall street who are caring around their ipods, wearing their nike shoes and designer levi's what protest in corporate america. >> all protest movement start with a grievance. >> what is the grievance? >> several grievances. >> give me one. >> the lack of jobs, for one, that they think wall street has benefited but maine's three has not, they can't find work -- main street has not. >> the rich get richer. dam it coalesced into something greater. we are at the early stages.

but to listed as a bunch of hippies out there -- a sound bite but not a reality. >> it is worth remembering that historically fdr really in some ways saved capitalism because there was enormous unrest in the depths of the depression. they could have turned into real violence, could have turned into a genuine socialist state, even communism. there was a threat are real undoing. >> you get median family income dropping in this country as dramatically as it has in the past decade and you are going to get on arrest. >> the people out there are not the unemployed steelworkers of pittsburg. take a look at them. >> charles, do not stereotype any more than they stereotype tea party people. >> this is an eclectic group -- >> children of people who have no jobs. >> afghanistan, 10 years after

the u.s. invasion. >> this is where they are bringing weapons, drugs. this is where they are bringing money all through here down the border. we are here to just make it harder for them. >> that it is army specialist anthony cook from largo, florida, explaining his mission in afghanistan 10 years after we entered the troubled country to topple the taliban. there are about 90,000 americans in afghanistan, expected to leave by 2014. how will history judge in this operation? >> as a tragedy that was inevitable. once you have 9/11, the united states, the great giant was going to go stomp on somebody. one of the first place was afghanistan. but once they are in we can't get out. i think once you go win, we just got stuck there. i see and not some much as anything other than a tragedy, inevitable tragedy. >> charles, how can you nation

build a country where you have 72% over the age of 1611 and the second highest in been mortality rate? >> the can't. that is the lesson of the afghan war. somehowmplication was we want to show our manliness. that was not an act of manliness, it was self-defense. al-qaeda was active out of there, they planned out of there and we smashed them. we have had remarkable success against al qaeda. of the problem is when you talk like government you have to replace it. we did well in japan and germany and other places. in a place like afghanistan, there isn't a nation. and the first couple of years it was quiet until about 2005 or 2006 and then the taliban and return. i agree, i think it is a question we ought to look at but not sure it is a responsibility. >> 98% of afghan revenues come from foreign aid.

>> and the rest of that comes from the poppy fields. faugh the prompt -- the problem was, it was not inevitable. we went into afghanistan to go out after al qaeda, that was the source. we went in there and we had to disrupt the talent than but we did not have to stay. -- does up the taliban, but we did not have to stay. there was no government to save. it expanded by choice. but we did not have to do that. >> well, we also took our eye off the ball and went into iraq. and i don't have any idea what would happen if we really concentrated three or four years there and got out. that would have been i felt what we should have done it and i, like evan, think it is a tragedy and to many young lives being lost. >> there is never a clear choice. gee, which cannot be in iraq but the real war was in afghanistan

-- i think president obama said that. >> and we think it out. >> one big story this week was the passing of steve jobs who founded apple. the meaning of his life and career? >> i think almost disproportionate response. i think he did great things the people are going crazy about him. my take on this it is because he is the only hero of our modern age. he is it. we have not advanced than any other area -- in cancer, airplanes and not fly at a faster. there has not been that much innovation accept -- except in this one and that is an enormous and he is the one american that seems like the old days -- the great inventor. he conjures up this vision of american greatness in a solitary fashion and i think that is why there has been is overwhelming reaction to his death. >> i think that really it

underestimates the difference he made. it is like saying -- only invented the airplane. or, he only invested, invented the combustion engine. he changed the way in everything works. for good or ill. for all the people who walk around like this -- it or all the people who don't read real books or newspapers. all the people who can do things because of the kinds of computers and digital stuff that he did it come instantly do what used to take millions of people to do. >> he was going up one the rest of us were going -- >> let's not go overboard. we have had a number of heroes in this country. david petreaus comes to mind. an outstanding military man. we have seen it and other fields as well. america is not in decline. it seems to me it is the genius

of the individual. a person who did not finish college but had something in him -- ideas -- to explore. we have people like that all over the country, if they have the opportunity. this argues more for extending an opportunity for individuals, because that person was not alone. there are others like him who can do the same thing if they had the opportunity. >> this is like the joke about the four people who examine an elephant and eads gives you a different description of what kind of animal he is. i see him as the edison of our time. the affect of what he did was to change many things and our lives. addison davis the moving picture, the phonograph, and the light bulb. -- thomas edison gave us the moving picture, phonograph, and light bulb. and he gave us new ways of reading. think of how many industries he killed -- cameras, newspapers,

publishing. even travel agency. all the middlemen and life. -- in life. >> revolutionize the culture of this country. it could go down the list and find examples. >> thomas edison had a role in the beginning of the last century where he gave us a world we live in that had never existed, but he did it in the actively. he tried everything and laboratory. there was no evidence. he experimented and if it worked and if it did not, i think he had a thousand light bulbs. jobs had this sort of zen mind, an idea of how it should look, and he said to 1000 people, here is how i see it -- you make it. that is what made remarkable. >> and the people who make it and who made it -- for example, they say that, by the way, the

government needs to play some role. the former ceo of intel said that intel would not have existed without some additional help from the government to commercialize an idea that was already supported. >> how did the government held a apple? >> i don't know. and i don't think it did. >> last word. that is it for this week. tune in again next time for "inside washington." >> for transcripts of this broadcast log onto insidewashington.tv. broadcast log onto insidewashington.tv.