. >> after 9/11,a stued united stat sent itspies to war, and the white use rewrote the rules on interrogaonorist spects. tonit we're learning more about what that meant and how some c.i. ofcers may have broken even the bh administration's new ules. it's all in this repo from 2004 written by thec.i.a.'s own investigator now, we' arning what's under all that blacking ou takehe case of the mbing of the u.s.s. cole in 2000. 17 amecan slors dead. an al qaeda operative s arrested in 20. c.i.a. inteogators, the report wi revealhrtened him with an electri drill. they fireda handgun and threatened execuon. another al qda figure was reportedly told hishildren would be killed if he didn't cooperate. other, that his mother would be sexually assaulted. all this may ha been illegal even under th bush strrgdz's newly rewritten -- the bush administration's newlyrewritten rule bk. >> officials should hav known the techniques were illegal and thenteringors should have knowthey we illegal. it is absolutely essential that dividuals who both authized the techniquesnd those who implemented th be held accountable

clearly an astroturf group that i want the white house to know about, i don't see why the white house -- >> would anybody send an opinion to the white house. >> us go further. politics to a new political website reported the obama white house has reversed a nine-year-old policy to not keep track of the people -- the cookies people put him on the go on the white house website. for the first time in nine years if you go to the white house website and click around there keeping that as well. the that's a violation of the bush era of privacy understanding. >> we're taking a break but we have a lot available to you on our website including spirited discussions and are about to break out in the studio. you can hear them after the show foxnews.com /fox "news watch." we will be back in two minutes with this package you to come in for two american journalists caught by north korea. is there more to this story. and has twitter become a national security threat? answers per next time his watch. (announcer) gillette fusion's indicator strip fades to white when it may be time to change. fresh blade. better shave. >> jon: on wednesday the news media fixated o

the diute is over an issue the white use vowed to leave behind. whether the bush administration overstepped when c..a. operatives grilledsuspected terrorists f information. attorney geral eric holder has appointed a prsecutor to investigate alegations of abuse. c.i. director leon paetta objected and in e end, everybody seemed to be unhapy, pete. >> they d. because something some said he went too far and his has been explored. something he didt go far enough. what he'done here is asked a reer federal prosecutor t look at what we're tld is abt 10 cass. where it appears that c.i.a. operives went way beyond the rules for what the c.i.a. called enhancedinterrogation techniques. anseveral of these cases were reealed this week a report from the c.i.a.'s insector generathat was partly declassfied. the groups that representhe detaies say this was way o limited. that it should look not jus the ield operatives but the people atheadquarters and the white hse and others involved in the interrotion methods. others say it's wrong suect c.i.a. oeratives to investa

fall-out from the white house admission it hired a government contractor to send out the controversial e-mails, urging support for the president's healthcare plan. the white house confirms it used a minnesota based company called govdelivery.com. gov delivery sends out 140 million e-mails and text messages a month for the state, federal and local governments. critics this morning saying the white house crossed the line by using a government contractor for what they say was essentially a political e-mail from top obama aide david axelrod. all apparently paid for by taxpayers. republican congressman thaddeus mccotter of michigan joins us now, and also the chairman of the house republican policy committee. congressman mccotter in detroit. good morning. good to see you this sunday morning. >> good to see you, eric. >> eric: what is so wrong with the white house, do you think, sendsing out an e-mail, using a private company that sends these out for business by sending this axelrod e-mail out? >> well, eric, i think it again becomes part of a disturbing pattern that we see on the part of the administration. the public clearly finds the radical healthcare proposal repugnant. the democ

and response to our report and chairman of the republican policy committee today is calling the white house use of delivery another ominous chapter in the campaign to jam the radical health care scheme on to an unwilling public by any means necessary. white house in a statement to us says that they were not removed in any lists and they have worked for some republicans such as governor perry and miss daniels of indiana. >> eric, that is tough talk and other critics. eric shaun bringing us up to date on the white house e-mails on the health care reform plan. have a good day. >>> following something else, wall street ending the trading week on a high note. dow as many of you noticed closing above 9500. ben bernanke adding to the good vibes by offering the most optimistic assessment since the recession begin but he cautions the recovery will likely be a slow one. are we gag bit ahead of ourselves. tracy burns to give us a dose of reality. good to see you. >> should we be happy and running out there to invest in wall street because of this 9500 dow? >> look, we had enough news to get the market goi

close quote commerce and macarthur is concerned that the white house could use the government to spread the political message using this company in the e-mail. >> julie: what's the word from the company hired by the white house russian ark. >> the white house says the company wasn't involved. that's money when we broke the story about the delivery, that no comment or it there telling us now to talk about their clients, but julie pippen and a request for an interview to find out more about government ridge road of these controversial e-mails. she went eric shawn on the phone with us. thanks much. >> new details on the contents of a long-awaited cia report about staged executions. as part of an interrogation of terror suspects sources confirmed to "fox news" report describes a mock execution designed to make it the cheney think another suspect had been killed. this despite antitorture laws that forbid wrapping a detainee with that. the report also details harsh tactics used against a man accused of taking part in the 2000 bombing of the uss cole in which 17 american soldiers and sailors w

everyby has said, very democric leader, the white use, etc., thathis is not about proving health care to illegal immigrants. gwen:here is this comi fro? >> thee has been a few hot button isues that have been introduced into the alth care debate. illegal immigration isne of them, abortion i another, en of life is y a third. i think tere is consously or unconsously an attemptto eject these volatile issues into the debate. it ts people worked out about it that otheise might not be concerned abt it and such stngopponents. wehave seen that interestiny across the boardin every volatile soal issue can name, it's been broughinto this. >> whais really ieresting was watchi thattownhall that u showed aclip o barney frank. he is ask about this isse, why are you coving illegal aliens and he say we don't. th say read the bill. he picksp a cpy of the bill and the passage ys there isno overage for illeg immigrants in the bill. theyoo. they don't believe him. there a deep well of skepticsm and istrust an cynicism some part ofthe electorate at least that the don't lieve the facts as they are being pres

trace: major garrett has the news for us from the white house. there seem to be some backpedaling going on here. >> when the white house began shifting its message from health care reform to health insurance reform, it appears this government-run component became a casualty. the president on saturday said, essentially, this was not mandatory in any final product. on sunday, kathleen sebelius, like every other cabinet member, is given points to talk about over the weekend, and she said the same thing. a public option is not an essential element of reform. the white house is saying nothing has changed and it remains a priority but legislatively, it is losing steam in the polls. there does not appear to be the votes in the senate or in the senate finance committee, which need to act by next september. interestingly enough today, howard dean said that there was no reason to go through the effort and expense of health care reform if you do not have a public option. his projection was that if this stalls, there will be in the public of rising to put it

the white house is going to say ," , pull the plug on these meetings, or make sure you have the right people therea' -- the white usto say, "pull the plug on these meetings or make sure you have the right people there." greta: i think they should be pounding the pavement,ç looking to see what works. we went to the cleveland clinic to see what works. do your homework. >> we know what reforms are out there necessary to make change. this is not what obama isç abo. he is not about reforming the system. it is about taking government control of the health-care system. that is what this is about. it is not about fixing the system. i will give you one great example. medicare. there is one part of medicare called medicare advantage of that is private sector, a managed-care program, and seniors can have a completely private-sector experience, and medicare, he wants to shut it down. i am telling you, he wants to pull it over into a government- run plant where he can control health care. greta: it is alienating the american people, and when they are protesting to insult them, i think it will backfire on them. >> it is backfi

if you go to the white house website and go to the contact us section, you will find two things this morning that you didn't find last night. one is a check box where you can opt out of receiving any emails from the white house even though you're commenting to the white house on any given topic. previously, if you sent a comment in, you would probably receive an email from the white house even if you didn't want one. there is a read-in vare fire. you see it in the lower left-hand corner of the screen. that's the squiggly letters there. frequently if you go on a website to buy tickets for a sporting event or concert, you have to do that read-in vare fire to verify your intention. if you don't want to receive emails or even if you do, you have to type in that vare fire to confirm your own personal interest in either not receiving an email or receiving one. as a matter of principal, john, i suppose the third party groups which the white house theorizes put a lot of email addresses on their list that were not meant to be there. i have talked to some internet professionals who say what the

the white house says they just were at the end product, the distributor. in other words, sending them out. they are being criticized heavily, some questioning where why would the white house use a government contractor to send what they think is a political e-mail. they want an investigation. here is a quote, statement from the head of the house republican policy committee, congressman there michigan, said, quote, this is yet another ominous chapter in the administration's to jam its scheme by any means necessary. that congressman is concerned about using a general government contractor for these kinds of e-mails and this type of use. >> the name of the company is gov delivery. what are they saying? >> they're not saying anything at the moment. i talked to its president on monday asking if he represented the white house and if they did send those e-mails out and he said no comment. it is the policy of the company, we're told, that generally don't talk about their clients or use of their systems. we have put that request in for an interview to find out their view. the white house saying -- they will not say last week. >> i'm assume nothing taxpayer money went to this private c

but is certainly in terms of the administration's use of technology we are seeing a lot of that but we need to see it and more sort of genuine ways. i think there is the white house use of technology and then there is the message they send to the administration. there is no question at the top level of all the agencies and departments they understand technology is key in building trust in their work and they understand they want to do that but then there is a sort of cultural resistance beneath the top layer making it a slow road in terms of the fruition. >> culture resistance primarily by ho? >> i think it is a middle level bureaucrat. we see it on capitol hill as well who are not used to giving out this data. they think of it as their data and information and not for public consumption. that is the way it is. it's hard to understand why. was it thomas jefferson his information is power? and certainly members on capitol hill understand the power so they want to keep it close but what is happening is the barriers are falling down because citizens expect to be able to find what they want to find online 24/7. if i want to make a plane reservation at the clock

mystery at the white house, how is the white house obtaining private citizens' email addresses and why is it sending unsolicited emails pushing health care reform? the white house says don't blame ushis morning. shannon, good morning to you. so the white house says third party groups may be the ones to blame here. third party. how would that work? >> you know, actually, we have reached out to look at a lot of websites and organizations that you would think have the same goals and some of the same aims as the white house that have used the internet to their advantage. things like moveon.org and other top political leaders on the democratic party, those kinds of things. we're trying to get answers from them about what they may have provided. it's very interesting to look at their privacy policies on their websites as well. we have one for organizing for america which has been born out of barackobama.com. they say on their website. >> bill, we have calls out to a lot of these groups to find out if those group connections there could mean white house.gov. bill: would the third-party explanation explain it all away, shannon? >> we have heard from plenty of people who say i didn't sign

so when you have -- on this email business, a question raised regarding the improper use, if it's that, data that the white house has and raising the same privacy issue that a lot of us are going to have regarding the substance of the bill, it's only a bigger political problem. i would advise the white house and i'm sure this is something that should be worked through with the general counsel and chief of staff that they start getting on top of this quickly, because every day that this hangs out there, if they aren't able to manage information as something simple as an email, what happens if this becomes law and they have all of our health data. sean: we did a focus group on the program last night -- >> i saw it. sean: we have 14 obama supporters and 13 who voted for mccain, but they were almost unanimous in being concerned about this aspect that an or wellian nightmare that neighbors are going to rat out neighbor if they are sending out misinformation. >> look, i mean, maybe the white house staff is not sufficiently experienced in national politics. they ran a wonderful campaign, but there are certain thi

us some insight. do you think at this point that this was something orchestrated by the white house or that the former president of the united states decided he wanted to make this trip or perhaps something in between. what can you tell us? >> sure. for quite some weeks now there have been a number of contacts going on in new york, not only the contacts -- nongovernmental contacts such as mine and others. our department has been engaged with the north koreans with quiet discussions and diplomacy. to try to frame the issue and an understanding of what it would take to get the two journalists home. this did not happen overnight i was listening to somebody on the program describe this as waex and wee weeks and weekings in the making. that's right on the mark. the decision to send president clinton as the envoy to close the deal was something that happened farrell la happened fairly late in the game. the idea of an envoy and the conversation that's been going on about how to bring this result about is one that is of long-standing. the families have been involved in it much the families have been kept invo

>> we asked the white house, why are you you telling us this? you don't have to tell us everyone that comes to neat in the oval office. the answer was for the sake of transparency, something they wanted out there. if we had seen former senator daschle going into the white house unannounced we would have made a lot of that and questions about what role he was play, since he wasn't confirmed, nominated as the health czar and the hhs secretary and withdrew it, so there would be questions what he was doing. they also wanted to show that the president is listening to a lot of people, to people who know what they're doing, trying to really figure out a way to move this forward and former senator daschle is someone who knows the ropes, would have played a pivotal role here in washington, had he had those jobs. they wanted to signal to us that the president's listening. >> yeah.

i mean in terms itf the white use, involved in both situations. >> fred? >> i would highlight the importance of seeing the litical side of this through. i think we have an opportunity in iq that comes maybe once a geration. an it's an opptunity really to reorient o strategy in the mile east in a very fundameal way. but only if we rein commted toelping the aqis navigate the iraqi scholls of the upcoming political transition i'm a little bit worried about the adminiration taking it's of the ball. i'm a little bit wried about themotions that hav surrounded this iss and the campaign making it harderor some peopleto see the real opportunies that we have. and i do recognize the dangers. and i think that michael and alissa are th absolutely right. that ts is not something that we can pocket and move on. you shld never turn your back on a war. th is, there is still a war there. olence is at very low levels b that didn't mean it c't come backment and our enemy, an enemto the aqi state have not given up. so i think thathis is something that i tnk the draw down mes se

the white house regarding health care. the chinese attributed to a third party groups on the white house website using software programs that will then get cycle through and be sent out to use information. so flag@whitehouse.gov is now dead. the white house said it was trying to track rumors that were there. it invited the public to send an e-mail if they can cross anything that seems fishy. that provoked a considerable amount of debate and some controversy. it says on the blog that it is no longer operational. to better understand what new operation is bubbling up online, they say, we what suggestions about topics to address through the reality check part of the website. you can see much gentler language about the offering people to send them suggestions to discuss things about health care, not tracked rumors or casual conversation and fly them to the white house's attention. you can clearly see a deliberate attempt not only to soften rhetoric, but to step back from this idea that the white house wants to do this. they are not conceding something in public, except for the fact that this was a blog post, and no white house

so when you have -- on this email business, a question raised regarding the improper use, if it's that, data that the white house has and raising the same privacy issue that a lot of us are going to have regarding the substance of the bill, it's only a bigger political problem. i would advise the white house and i'm sure this is something that should be worked through with the general counsel and chief of staff that they start getting on top of this quickly, because every day that this hangs out there, if they aren't able to manage information as something simple as an email, what happens if this becomes law and they have all of our health data. sean: we did a focus group on the program last night -- >> i saw it. sean: we have 14 obama supporters and 13 who voted for mccain, but they were almost unanimous in being concerned about this aspect that an or wellian nightmare that neighbors are going to rat out neighbor if they are sending out misinformation. >> look, i mean, maybe the white house staff is not sufficiently experienced in national politics. they ran a wonderful campaign, but there are certain thi

he's back here at the white house, but he spent half a day working, half a day on the golf course. brian? >> chuck todd at the white house for us tonight. chuck, tha> erseas, the moh st has been the deadliest month yet as it it's offl,ff ill killed in the war this month, r 45 set just this past july. 45 set just this past july.45 d st anens 9 d tbeeahe yef ar o year of thei 182 americans killed so far with 4 months yet to go in the year. among those honored dead, marine sergeant bill care, buried today with full honors at arlington national cemetery. sergeant care was killed in action on august 13th. he leaves a wife who's expecting twins. bill care was once a congressional staffer to ted kennedy, and last week his family received a letter of condolence from the senator with a signed copy of the book "profiles in courage." it arrived the day before senator kennedy died, believed to be among the last letters the senator sent out. >>> back to california now and the story that has shocked people all across this country. the kidnapping of jaycee dugard, held in captivity for almost two decades. police are now getting a good look ar

so when you have -- on this email business, a question raised regarding the improper use, if it's that, data that the whitese has and raising the same privacy issue that a lot of us are going to have regarding the substance of the bill, it's only a bigger political problem. i would advise the white house and i'm sure this is something that should be worked through with the general counsel and chief of staff that they start getting on top of this quickly, because every day that this hangs out there, if they aren't able to manage information as something simple as an email, what happens if this becomes law and they have all of our health data. sean: we did a focus group on the program last night -- >> i saw it. sean: we have 14 obama supporters and 13 who voted for mccain, but they were almost unanimous in being concerned about this aspect that an or wellian nightmare that neighbors are going to rat out neighbor if they are sending out misinformation. >> look, i mean, maybe the white house staff is not sufficiently experienced in national politics. they ran a wonderful campaign, but there are certain things

the white house has confirmed to fox news it hired a private communication company to distribute the unsolicited mass e-mail. eric shawn has been following the story and joins us on the phone. what is the latest? >> the white house confirming to fox news it did use a government contractor to send out the david r axelrod e-mails. it's a controversial issue sending out the e-mail. the company is govdelivery.com. based in minnesota started by two 30-year-olds and the largest, they claim, firm that sends out mass e-mail for the federal, state e-maie-mail s around the country. they boost by my count 11 cabinet agencies as clients including the department of defense, state, justice, the atf, the f.b.i. and i.r.s. but i could not find if they claim client was the executive office of president, which the white house. we broke the story because fox news viewers sent us their copy of the axelrod e-mail which investigation showed it came from gov delivery. scott burns the president of gov delivery refused comment and would have no comment whether his firm sent the e-mails to theous, but now they admit gov delivery was used and only used as inproduct e-mail dlis tribbor.

your sense of the extent to which the white house is using back room deals whether in the car deals withbailout and seeing on the reporting with the drug company or some behaviors in the past and potentially in the future. what is your sense of how much of our policy is made in private and how much is being debated in public? >> well, you made a good point earlier in your program about the fact that part of this debate, it should be a healthy debate based on fabts and based on trying to reach an accommodation with each other that produces a product that is good for american people in terms of health insurance. and while we stumble along and do our dance, try to get to someplace that is agreeable, we discover that there has already been a decision made as to what that compromise is going to be and the involvement of the congress is nonexistent or limited. for example, if cost containment and affordability for the american people is one of the cornerstones of moving health reform forward, then all avenues should be open. yes, pharma said $80 billion of future profits would be on the table

us, with this morning. >>> when we come back, the white house launches a video counterattack after the drudge report features clips of president obama singing a different tune on health reform. linda douglass joins us next. >>> and we've been asking people on the street what they think of the first 200 days of the obama administration and also the question of what they think about the media. let's show you some of that. >> they really like the president right now. i think the republicans have kind of gotten little attention. >> i think the media has been inconsistent. it's hard to decipher what's true from what is not. >> you're the media, to be honest, d minus. the media takes everything that is a small nugget and makes it into a nightly news story. geico's been saving people money on car insurance for over 70 years. and who doesn't want value for their dollar? been true since the day i made my first dollar. where is that dollar? i got it out to show you... uhh... was it rather old and wrinkly? yeah, you saw it? umm fancy a crisp? geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insuranc

using cookies. the administration says that it would lead to greater ease and transparency when people use government websites, but critics fear the government or internet providers could collect data on citizens use. the whitese has been down this road before. earlier this year, embedded cookies of videos of the president were discontinued. apparently, this rule would only apply to federal agencies, not to other web sites like google. critics say the administration is too cozy with the internet giant and several top executives have joined the administration. it is pointed out that eric schmidt is a member of the council of advisers. the company has worked with the white house to protect the privacy of users. as for the formal groomer and executives part of the administration, they say that they respect their decision to work in the public sector. we also asked about current executives forming in the administration. omb has told us that any change would be in full compliance with the privacy act, and they point out that no decision has been made. juliet: thank you. we will be watching the story. trace: want to see an allegedly creepy guy? this 53-year-old man charged with stalking teenage star miley cyrus. m

the white house, it is a friday afternoon in august. the president has just left for vacation, and the white house has told us late this afternoon that thedministration expects the federal deficit to be $2 trillion, bigger than previously estimated. now, you see the old estimate, $7 trillion, and now the new estimate is $9 trillion. the news coming late in the afternoon, and, of course, coming as the administration and the president continue to push health-care reform, and the cost of that factoring in a senior writer for "the weekly standard," syndicated columnist charles krauthammer, and juan williams join us. this one was a big one. it is tough to get your arms around $2 trillion more. it is 2000 billion more. >> that is why the word trillion ought to be abolished. it does not have the gravid tass, the enormity, of the numbers of zeros that underlie it -- it does not have the grappa tossed -- gravitas. they are estimating that the annual deficit will be $900 million, every year. that is unsustainable. that will destroy the dollar, and the only way that kind of debt is paid off is not in taxes. it is in inflation, and everyone will see

the white house asked for that. they just want to know. >> the white house said if there is anybody that says anything fishy about the president's program, tell us. bill: was it anybody or anything fishy. >> i don't know if it was anybody or anything. bill: there is a big difference. >> no. there is no difference. if people are worried about criticizing the government, that the government might take down their names it, will deter them from criticism that violates the first amendment. bill: perception that they may be under some kind of surveillance. what say you, davis? >> i say that judge napolitano is a great just -- jurist but is wrong on this one. he has identified a legitimate concern. the reason i say he is wrong is that the distinction is between correcting misinformation and the white house is asking for the opportunity to do that versus identifying individuals who suppress their speech. but i do agree with the judge that there is a probable misperception in using the word fishy and i think the wording could have been much better. bill: you are putting a happy spin on this. listen to me. the house isn't like your web site. few have one

the white house. and it signals if republicans do not get on board, the president will ram legislation through the senate without them, by using an obscure maneuver known as reconciliation. >> with those, we want to see health care reform. >> reporter: the third big obstacle, countering allegations the white house is using the official website to crush decent. by asking reporters about the health care debate. with republicans like cornyn involved. >> all we're asking people to do, if they're confused about what health care reform is going to mean to them, we are happy to help clear that up for you. nobody's keeping anybody's names. >> now, robert gates has said the white house will not save any names or e-mail addresses from information they get about any of the president's critics and that their sole goal here is to push back and debunk what they call myths about the health care reform, lou. >> at this point, are they thinking about withdrawing that idea which has obviously just fueled extraordinary energy on the part of the republicans? >> no they're standing behind it. i mean, that was initially something, a message, basica

understood that that was the next move on the w to reclaiming what was rigfully the kennedys', namely, the white usenarrator: the same nht robert kennedy won s relatively narrow victory in new york, in massachusetts, edwa kennedy was swept ck into office by a landsde. i thk i asked him whether heas as ruthless in new york as. no. (laughter) i was just saying th he's getting awl fresh since he's be in bed. his wife has won the campaign for him. he'll make a spch, if you don't lo out. any of you fm new york? (lauter) ("hail to the chief"laying) warren: you, lyndobaines johnson, do solemnly swr.... i, lyndon baines johnson, do solnly swear... ..hat you will faithful execute... ..that i will faithfully ecute... ...the office of the psidency of the unitestates. narrator: joseph kendy's surviving sons watched from the sidelines ashe man who inherited their murdered brother's esidency assumed offi in his own right, and one was alread positioning himself to run for president. narrator: arou the world, robert kenne was seen as the inheritor his brother's legacy. ed harris: if you evetraveled with robert nned

. >>> the deputy defense have ordered a review of the use of internet for recruitment. >>> the white house is using the world wide web to strike back at an unknown critic. someone put together video clips saying he wants to eliminate health care. a spokesperson said the blogger took the words out of context to give a false impression. >>> although alcohol can raise the risk of cancer, it has been shown to have protective effects. how alcohol can reduce your chances of developing one of the most common forms of lymphoma. >>> ray is my care taker, my oldest daughter. >> reporter: 64-year-old esther is a proud mother and grandmother. her family keeping her going. >> as long as i don't know how bad it is, i can fight. but once i know how bad it is, i might give up. >> reporter: esther has stage three lymphoma, a diagnosis about 74,000 americans receive every year. one surprising means of protection is moderate alcohol consumption. >> whether beer, wine, or other alcoholic beverages,. >> reporter: researchers established alcohol consumption can help reduce lymphoma. now scientists think th

the laura ling and una lee family members. david axelrod is a senior adviser to president obama and joins us live from the white house north lawndavid, thanks for being with us this afternoon. >> good to be with you, savannah. >> david, i know the white house is really not commenting on this issue about north korea, but i've got to try to take a crack at you here. did the white house know in advance that this mission was happening, and does president clinton have any authority to speak for the administration? >> this is a, it's a private humanitarian mission on the part of president clinton, savannah. beyond that, i'm not going to comment, because our only interest here is to see to it that these two young women come home safely. and we want the president to have the maximum flexibility to get that job done. >> david, sort of setting aside the issue of the journalist, i wonder if i can ask you if there's any hope within the administration that this kind of meeting might lay the groundwork, might bear some fruit beyond the journalist's plight. >> again, i think that what's happening in north korea is a private humanitarian missi

the debate. whether it's honest or not. as you point out, she's doing it from facebook. when this white house was supposed to be the facebook white house. she's using new technology to drive the debate. now, the white house will say to you, she's hurting herself. she doesn't seem legitimate. at the end of the day, they were responding to her not the other way around. >> the basic problem sarah palin has as a political figure, she's kind of a king or queen of a narrowing island. this does that further. the basic problems that she has, on election day, 60% of the public said she's not qualified to be president, but it deeps the problem with everybody else. this will contribute to her long-term marginalization as potential president. if it wasn't this charge it would have been something else. because the health care debate is about much more than health care. especially from the point of view of opponents. i was out friday, at town meetings in colorado and frio and edwards, with senator bennett, and it's very clear that health care is a subset of a much broader set of concerns about the overall direction of the obama administration, among the conserva

the white house. linda douglass is good enough to join us from the white house, to bring us up to date on what's going on. she's the president's communications director on health care reform. linda, thank you for being with us. >> thanks for having me. >> this town hall strategy, did it come from the white house, and is it working, given all the chaos that we've been seeing going on, really, all over the country? >> well, you know, typically, during any recess when congress is not in session here in washington, members of congress go home and talk to their constituents about issues they are grappling with in washington, and every recess the members have gone home and held town hams to talk to constituents about health reform and the rising cost of health care and the imfact it's having on their lives. first of all, people want to hear from their elected representatives about how this is going to work. secondly, the representatives want to hear from the people about how they're coping with rising costs. >> yeah, yeah, but -- we know all that, linda. the question is, what do you say about all these peop

and i think that certainly is the white house will use democrats will use the name, the aura of senatoro be done. you can see certainly tactically them pushing for a vote. making republicans oppose universal health care. and the other aspect of this is some of the things ted kennedy fought for over the years going back to the late 60s on health care are things within the realm of possibility now in a way they weren't before. >> part of this goes to the vacuum now being left in the senate and the fact is harry reid and mitch mcconnell have the title of leader but there seems to be universal acknowledgement when teddy was at his active best, he could command that leadership in the senate. is there any way that vacuum gets filled short term or is it going to take awhile before the senate self-selects the next teddy. >> i think a couple points about that. a younger generation of reporters are covering washington and covering it at such a polarized time. you talk to brokaw or tim russert when he was alive, you recall an era where bipartisanship of the type ta we saw with ted kennedy was poss

. >> the president that used the web to fight the white house might use it to fight health care. >> everything you say publicly or privately is recorded. so no longer the case that you can contradict yourself with impunity. >> melinda roeder, fox 45 news at 10:00. >> and you can watch the internet videos, and the white house response by going to foxbaltimore.com/news links. >> a scam threatening consumers with arrest is making the way across country. the better business bureaued the scammers have personal information about the people they are trying to rip off. the bureau said you should always receive official documentation regarding any outstanding debts. >> the consume gets the phone call, and they use authoritative tone. demanding payment be wired. or bank information to transfer funds but they want it within the next 15 minutes. they want it immediately. >> now, if you think you have been a victim of this scam, you are asked to contact the maryland attorney general, and the better business bureau. >> the hospital ship usns comfort comes back to baltimore. karen parks is live in canton wit

in return, the white house got the industry to agree to $80 billion, but not more than that, in savings. >> savannah guthrie is at the white house for us today. any reaction to this story yet? >> the briefing is going on right now with robert gibbs and he was asked about this deal. the bottom line is the white house did make a deal with the pharmaceutical industry to get this $80 billion in savings. gibbs also says he expected the senate finance committee to reflect that deal, that 80 billion savings, part of which will go to relieve the donut hole, the space where recipients are getting prescription drugs. gibbs defended the notion of dealing with these industries. >> you're not going to get health care legislation without involving the hospitals, those that provide medications, without talking to groups that represent doctors or patients or -- seniors, nurses, what have you. >> meanwhile, the public relations offensive continues something a little different. david axelrod sending out on e-mail today asking people to forword it on. the e-mail he sent has a bunch of information about health care reform and reports to correct what they

in the white hall section of baltimore county, downed trees at greystone and old york roads, use caution there. a crash still on the scene in essex, marlin avenue and catherine avenue. this is mlk at fayette street, looking good downtown. looking for a business you know you can trust? let your better business bureau do the work for you. you can easily choose an a-rated business today by logging on to abc2news.com/bbb. back to you. >>> i think you would be hard-pressed to find a working magic marker or poster board today. >> it was all used up last night at the town hall meeting with senator ben cardin. sherrie johnson reports, everyone heard the message about health care. >> reporter: good morning. yes, things got pretty heated last night at a health care town hall meeting at towson university. many people upset over president barack obama's proposed health care plan. senator ben cardin hosted that meeting. he faced a lot of opposition to the president's plan. cardin defended health care reform. he says the bill would provide more choices. he also says several committees in congress are

. >> white house senior advisor david axelrod met with the house democratic caucus this morning to discuss the health care fight going forward and joins us now from the north lawn of the white house. good evening, david. >> good evening, keith. why are you talking with that phony british accent? >> you figured me out already. so okay. jokes aside, what did you tell the democratic lawmakers today and what concerns did they have for you especially as they head back to face voters and those rabble rousers in their districts? >> what we spoke about was a very, very strong case we have to make to the american people. you know, while there is still work to be done to complete this health care reform, this health insurance reform plan, it is embedded in all the versions of it are really significant protections for consumers in the health care system. and these are things we want to call people's attention to. they haven't been well covered. but they'll make an enormous difference, the fact that under this bill, under this law people would not be excluded from insurance because they had preexisting conditions. they can't be dropped if they have

. >> also covered under the presidential records act is all comments used on the white house account used on twitter and facebook and on video sharing sites such as youtube and video, an on the photo sharing site flicker. as the white house learned from the public uproar over what it said was inadvertent spamming of this healthcare letter from david axelrod casting your web too wide can be risky. >> a little bit of spamming. they can do better but they're trying to reach the public and aggressively so. that's ok. we can give them a pass on that. >> that's not to say that insiders don't have more advice to the white house about how to clean up the e-mail list. one thing they say they could do is add a double opt in just a simple request, do you want future e-mails from the white house f you click yes, you would get them. if you click no, you wouldn't. they say that would clear all of this up. the white house says it has carried out the steps it intends to dake so far but will always review procedures going forward. bret: wholesale prices dropped 9/10's of a percent in july. a 6.8% over

. >> reporter: the problem caught at tension of the white house, using it as a back drop for the economicovery plan. >> we may have had 20% unemployment. we still have 80% of our people working here in the area. >> reporter: gerber admits that the board had to pull back on the budget somewhat is offer less high-cost entertainment. like the fair board, the 4h was concerned that they would lose sponsor ship of their programs. >> when i went to pick up the checks, several of them said that their business was down, but they were going to still support the kids because it was important that they support the kids. >> i think in these hard economic times, we have seen an increase in enrollment in year. but we also have seen it increase in the number of projects that we have in our 4h building. >> reporter: the ominous clause of the economy may be helping attendance at county and state fairs as they offer a less expensive get away closer to home. checks to local fairs show better than average attendance. >> all of us 4hers look forward to this all year. this is all of the hard work that we have p

the audacity of hops, and a cure for what ales us? some of the headlines the morning after the beer summit at the white house. howard professor henry gates and cambridge police sergeant crowley sipping suds with the president and vice-president there, two weeks after gates was arrested by crowley follow the acting stupidly comment by president obama, kept the attention of the media and sergeant crowley talking to the press after the beer. >> i think what you had to do is two gentlemen agreeing to disagree on a particular issuement i don't think that we spent too much time dwelling on the past. we spent a lot of time discussing the future. >> so, jim, this controversy got a lot of attention in the press, almost knocked the president off stride or actually did knock the president off stride when it comes to the health care debate. did the crowley comment which a lot of people thought was a generous statement afterwards, did that sort of put the story to bed? >> i don't think it did because it-- the narrative of this story didn't have a satisfying conclusion, where to the media and to the public frankly where so

for weeks the white house has been preparing us for double digit unemployment. that again today, but people around her figure the white house was relatively happy today when it got the monthly jobless news. the unemployment rate actually fell by 0.1 of a point to 9.4% and job losses last month totals 247,000, down from recent months. no one is suggesting these numbers are good, but, yes, they beat expectations and could give the president's poll numbers and leverage on health care a boost just when he needed it the most. why? because they say that his economic program of targeted and overall fiscal stimulus is beginning to pump some juice into this economy. >>> plus, let's ask this question plainly. is the anger at those health care town hall meetings only about health care or is it really about the culture war? and yes, sadly, about race? there's no question that many people generally oppose reform, but a lot of people think what's got some of those protesters so upset is that they can't accept an african m.a.s.-american as president. how much of is about healt