gail russell chaddock, washington editor of "the christian science monitor" and david leitman from mcclatchy. >> there's a lot coming up this year. we have one week in session next week and then six or eight days in september. then elections. in the fiscal cliff. is congress really have enough time in those eight days plus next week to assure the country that all is well heading into these elections? >> indeed, i think the battle next week may give people some discouragement, though i would hope it might encourage people. we're going back about over one of the key issues related to the long term. that is whether revenues will be a part of the solution. the republicans are essentially saying that we cannot touch the income taxes of the very high income families. that is their position and they are stuck on it, i think it does not bode well. i was looking a few days ago about the income figures for 2010, the latest we have them. the upper 1% receive 93% of income growth that year. the upper 1% receive 93%. when that is true and a very small percentage of people who make under to under $50,000

now has now called theirs or they've now called there's the for three months mcclatchy requested the most recent tax returns from all five hundred thirty five members of congress three months later only seventeen members of congress have actually done it nineteen others reply that they were refusing to release this information and apparently everybody else well they just completely ignored the request to see members of congress they have to file financial disclosure of boards when they run that list their major sources of income earned and unearned there's a lot of information that's emitted that would be our normal tax return including your spouse's earnings so if you're going to go so crazy over mitt romney's tax returns and why not put your money where your mouth is and release your own now sure some people out there might say that it's not as porton as a presidential candidate releasing that kind of information but guess what congress sets tax policy to it's not just the president in fact congress is the body to actually creates the policy. he and the president just signed off on

thing but i just can't understand why they're not picking up on the latest story coming out from mcclatchy see one of the things we've seen a lot of since romney announced that he wouldn't be turning over more of his tax returns is pundits going crazy over it yes but even more so politicians they've been very eager to chime in republican members of congress now for the most part a lot of them have been defending romney's decision the democrats well they've been so giddy they've been jumping all over themselves to take the opportunity to call romney's bluff the only thing is that mcclatchy now he's now called there's or they've now called there's the for three months the glass he requested the most recent tax returns from all five hundred thirty five members of congress three months later only seventeen members of congress have actually done it nineteen others reply that they were refusing to release this information and apparently everybody else well they just completely ignored the request to see members of congress they have to file financial disclosure of boards when they run that list

over the past three months mcclatchy newspapers asked all 535 members of the house and senate to releaseir tax records. and get this, only 17 agreed to. only 17 agreed to do it. yep. >>> and "the huffington post" reports that one of the few things that john boehner and nancy pelosi agree on is they don't want to release their tax returns. >>> the tampa bay times says congresswoman michele bachmann criticized about her remarks on a state department aidcould be a headliner just before the republican convention. >>> and speaking out, it turns out that former president george w. bush and form h.w. bush will both miss the convention. they both decided to skip and one cites health reasons. >>> massachusetts is being considered as the keynote speaker at the democratic convention in september. >>> and "newsday" is reporting that the rental apartment that president obama lived in while studying in columbia, new york, in 1981 is up for grabs. the president paid $360 in rent. well, the price now is $2400. yep. >>> and in a speech event someday louisiana's president hugo chavez calls the capitalist

think that there is some national security interest in danger and only this week as far as i know mcclatchy i believe . they're only a couple of papers came out and said they're not going to give pre-approval or veto authority to the government anymore. but they've given a lot of deference i mean they sat on the warrantless wiretapping story for a year and a half which was one of the biggest scandals the bush administration. so i find this all to be a lot of a lot of hype and photo worry and false worries and fear mongering and again such a broad you could argue anything is going to be detrimental to national security but if it contributes to the public debate and public discourse in our country in the public's right to know in conversations we have about drones or where we have about. actions we're taking in other countries and most people would be completely appalled about. we should be having that conversation and we should also mention that we tried to obtain a statement from carry on but unfortunately we were told that he is not allowed to speak because he is under this gag orders. so

he covers congress for mcclatchy newspapers. thanks very much for checking in with us on this friday morning. >> oh, pleasure, thank you. host: our phone lines are open. you can also join the conversation on our twitter page, twitter.com slashe cspanwj. or on facebook. there's this point, saying representative jackson and his family should know the speculation is probably worse than the actual problem. they've had plenty of experience with it. ryan on the phone from chicago, democrats line. good morning. caller: good morning. i would like to say that i think there's been too much media overkill on this issue. of course, representative jackson is due his privacy. i think the public should remember that in the past, we did not know a lot about the health conditions of elected officials. for example, franklin roosevelt had been a victim of polio, and for many years the public, since there was no television at that time, and he did his fireside chats by radio, they did not know that he was in a wheelchair most of the time. there's b

we're to on a reporter david enders who is a special correspondent for mcclatchy, based in beirut, lebanon he has been to syria four times this year, most recently in june. what is your assessment of what is happening in syria, the significance of the attack yesterday, the killing of the inner circle and the situation on the ground as she listened to our guest from damascus right now on "democracy now!" party of string? >> i think what is happening is this is the trajectory of things for probably the last six months. we seen the rebellion grow in numbers, organizational capability. they have attempted to strike at al-assad and his inner circle many times. this is the first time they have been successful. we have seen the fighting officially moved to damascus and the government for the first time shell neighborhoods inside the city proper is. it is done during fierce fighting in some of the suburbs last six months, but i think what we're seeing is the government crumbling under the weight of a massive rebellion. is simply cannot put it down. >> to want ask about this report the israeli inte

. >> ed, i am not because there was a mcclatchy-maris poll taken at the same time that showed that people by a substantial margin favored a maintaining the tax rates we have now and not raising them on anybody. look, the president of the united states had the ability to raise these tax rates anytime in this first two years when he had 60 votes in the senate and he had big majorities in the house -- >> he didn't have them for two years and you know that. about a year, but that's okay. ari, alex, and michael, thanks for joining us. >>> coming up, the current federal minimum wage is $7.27. people who work hard deserve a livable wage. taking their case to you right now. right after this. as a home, there are things i'm supposed to do. like, keep one of these over your head. well, i wasn't "supposed" to need flood insurance, but i have it. fred over here chose not to have it. ♪ me, i've got a plan. fred huh... fred what is your plan? do i look like i have a plan? not really. [ female announcer ] only flood insurance covers fods. for a free brochure, call the number on your screen. >>> up next,

[inaudible conversations] >> good afternoon and welcome t> the mcclatchy symposium. my name is jim bettinger, and i'll be the moderator of today's symposium, hash tag how social media are revolutionizing the news. the lecture series is sponsored by the department of communications at stanford. it honors -- it began in 1964, and it honors an aggressive and independent editor and executive with mcclatchy newspapers who was known for never giving in to entrenched viewpoints. carlos mcclatchy was a progressive sort, and i think he pretty enthusiastically would endorse the subject of today's symposium, and i know he'd be impressed by the star quality of the participants. so let me introduce them. krishna bharat works for google news, aggregating news from morr than 50,000 sources with more ta than 70 editions posted in more than 30 languages. krishna was born in bangaloreuae and eventually got a ph.d. inano human/computer interaction from georgia tech. i'm also pleased to say that he's on the board of visitor of the knight fellowships. andy carvin is senior strategist on

the associated press, national journal and mcclatchy newspapers have all declared they are banning negotiations new york times" bury the lead in the 38th paragraph? that's how long it took the obituary on sally ride, first woman in space, to mention something the public didn't know. that sally ride was gay and is survived by her partner of 27 years. now, ride had every right to keep her private life private, and there's no reason for anybody to go overboard about this, but the fact that she was in a relationship with a woman for nearly three decades and was using the occasion of her death to come out seems a pretty important fact in summing up of her remarkable life. not something to be tucked into the bottom of a story. >>> that's it for this edition of "reliable sources." i'm howard kurtz. you can check us out on itunes every monday. download an audio podcast. we'll be back next sunday morning 11:00 a.m. eastern. "state of the union with candy crowley" begins right now. >>> i'm candy crowley in washington, and we are just moments away from mitt romney's foreign policy speech in jerusalem.

. >> ed, i am not because there was a mcclatchy mariss poll taken at the same time that showed that people favored a maintaining the tax rates we have now and not raising them on anybody. look, the president of the united states had the ability to raise these tax rates anytime in this first two years when he had 60 votes in the senate and he had big majorities in the house -- >> he didn't have them for two years and you know that. about a year, but that's okay. ari, alex, and michael, thank you for joining us. >> coming up, the current federal minimum wage is $7 .27. people who work hard deserve a livable wage. taking their case to you right now. right after this. eat good fats. avoid bad. don't go over 2000... 1200 calories a day. carbs are bad. carbs are good. the story keeps changing. so i'm not listening... to anyone but myself. i know better nutrition when i see it: great grains. great grains cereal starts whole and stays whole. see the seam? more processed flakes look nothing like natural grains. you can't argue with nutrition you can see. great grains. search great grains and see fo

. >> ed, i am not because there was a mcclatchy-maris poll taken at the same time that showed that peoplel margin favored a maintaining the tax rates we have now and not raising them on anybody. look, the president of the united states had the ability to raise these tax rates anytime in this first two years when he had 60 votes in the senate and he had big majorities in the house -- >> he didn't have them for two years and you know that. about a year, but that's okay. ari, alex, and michael, thanks for joining us. >>> coming up, the current federal minimum wage is $7.27. people who work hard deserve a livable wage. taking their case to you right now. right after this. [ male announcer ] wouldn't it be cool if we took the nissan altima and reimagined nearly everything in it? gave it greater horsepower and best in class 38 mpg highway... ...advanced headlights... ...and zero gravity seats? yeah, that would be cool. ♪ introducing the completely reimagined nissan altima. it's our most innovative altima ever. nissan. innovation that excites. ♪ [romney singing]: oh beautiful, for spaciouss. ski

i tried to go back and find the prior question in mcclatchy and couldn't find it.onfused how you come up with 52%, we at 39, the nbc/""wall street journal"" poll was similar to ours. >> the mcclatchy just came out when i was on tv the other day. >> right. >> here is the challenge. why would you raise taxes, which would slow the economy, and wouldn't help you to reduce spending? what the republicans in congress have done is they've actually written a budget, unlike simpson-bowles which is an outline in haiku, the democrats haven't written a budget, nevermind voted for one in the senate, the republicans in the house passed the ryan plan, in legislative form, written down, it's scored by cbo, it's an adult, grownup, real budget. obama hasn't done one of those, the democrats in the senate haven't done one of those. the republicans have a plan that saves $6 trillion in real spending restraint over the next deca decade, brings spending down to 15% of gdp, as you go out to 2040, by growing the economy and not growing the government, and it does tax reform. >> let me just

politics, political reporter for the "washington post," nia-malika henderson and steve dough ma from mcclatchyhank you for being here. >> i will begin with you first, governor o'malley slamming president bush's policies. is this strategy of blaming the previous administration work? >> you look at the most recent polls, gallup had a poll out showed 68% of voters still blame bush for part, 49% of republicans still lay blame on bush in terms of the state of the economy. i think one of the things they are obviously trying to do is really make this argument that democrats do it better. that is essentially their argument. you will hear president obama talk about bill clinton, for instance, the 20 million jobs created under that they will try to tie mitt romney to bush and just generic republicans because they do have a sense people do still blame bush and polls show that and also congress, especially the republican-controlled house, isn't really held in high regard. i think they are going to continue to do this feel like it's working but i think you will see some push back from republicans. you saw

. >> mcclatchy did a poll on a story that went with a couple days ago.ting is uncle sam helping or hurting the economy and is as nearly three out of four americans want a representative to compromise and find solutions to economic problems and they quote some people that say things like congress needs to work together. the need to work for compromise. but the fed reports of a local minority of 25% including 40% republicans want to stand on principle regardless of the gridlock that could lead to higher taxes and government shut down or higher federal debt. >> well, that goes to -- you were talking earlier about the texas senate race on the primary is on tuesday three there you have a sort of old-fashioned establishment conservative and a lieutenant governor dewhurst and ted cruce is part of this up-and-coming new dynamic winning of the conservative wing and the republican party. back in late may they had their first round of primary balloting and about one print 5 million people voted in that race and he came out on top. he wouldn't have 50% so under the

david currently writes for mcclatchy, and we're delighted to welcome him here to fdd.l also acknowledge the assistance of marc siegel for arranging and helping to have david join us here. after david's report, i'll turn to two of my outstanding colleagues at fdd, first will be ammar abdul abdulhamid, senior w at fdd. ammar writes the blog syria revolution digest, and his perspectives and role with syria's political and its armed opposition have been vital and crucial. finally, we'll hear from reuel gerecht, one of washington's most prolific, knowledgeable and very happily provocative commentators on middle east affairs. as most of you know, he's a former operative in the cia's clandestine service, and he most recently wrote a very interesting and even compelling piece in the wees journal on getting -- in "the wall street journal" on getting the cia much more deeply involved in resolving the syria conflict in a way that begins to meet some u.s. interests. after our speakers finish, i'll ask some questions initially to get the conversation going, and then we'll happily o

he writes for mcclatchy and we are delighted to welcome him. i would like to thank mark for arranging and having david joining us. after david, i will turn to two of my outstanding colleagues. he writes the outstanding blog, syrian revolutionary digest. finally, we will hear from another senior fellow at fdd. he is a happily provocative commentator on middle east affairs. he is a former opera death in the cia's clandestine service -- operative in the cia post a clandestine service. after our speakers finish, i will ask some questions to get the conversation going. we will open it up to your questions from the audience. but for me to paul bunyan. -- with that, let me turn it over to david. >> first of all, thank you for having me. if you cannot hear me in the back, give me a signal. i will try to stay close to the microphone. i should correct. pulitzer's center, not kill a surprise. it is quite an honor. -- not a pulitzer prize. i have been to syria three-time s. i find it is almost easier to work going in illegally. you do not have been constra

. >> mcclatchy did a pool and a story with it. his uncle sam helping are hurting the economy. it says the -- the quote people who say things like congress needs to work for compromises. but he reports -- guest: well, you were talking earlier about the texas senate race. the primary is on tuesday. there you have sort of an old fashion establishment conservative in lt. governor dewhurtst and ted cruz is the new dynamic conservative wing of the republican party. back in late may, they had of their first run of primary balloting. they had about 1.5 million people voting in that race and duhurtst came out on top. he did not have% so in texas there is a runoff. now they expect 350,000 people. those 350,000 people are part of what you referred to as, stand on principle. that is why a lot of people thing cruz is the favored right now. what you get as sort of the primaries become more decided by just the narrow swath of the 350,000 texans who are going to vote tuesday, is i think you get a more hardened, more principled group of people on the right and on the left. it makes of that sor