i think there have been a lot of attention to bengahzi.ough time making sense of that. romney is right to hammer the president about it because it creates the general impression is he as strong a leader that you need. but i don't think voters are going to vote on that. >> eliot: interestingly, romney, after he failed in that moment. that may be the emotional pivot >> i'm jennifer granholm. tonight in the war room, the president wipes the floor with mitt romney, the tigers wipe the floor with the yankees all is not right with the world but it's a hell of a start. [ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> this year, there are 54 million women eligible to vote. 2.5 million more women than men. enough to decide the whole election. as november 6 draws near one women are doing a lot of thinking about about a lot of

i think governor romney has scored point in bengahzi.ws media coverage has hurt the president some, i don't know, but when he first spoke out the day after the attack, it hurt him. in the debate when he tried to use it as an offensive line. he misstated it, and it hurt him. >> jennifer: don't you think cenk, that he is using this, that romney is using what happened in terms of this lag in intelligence as a way to cover up for the way he came out of the barn with both guns blazing before he had the information? >> cenk: well, yes and no. is mitt romney being political opportunist? of course he is! on the other hand i'm a little bit of the minority here in the over all issue. i saw susan rice going on those sunday talk shows saying it was related to the video was really curious. at that point i felt that we already had a decent sense there was an organized attack, and heavy weaponry. i remember being really surprised that she had gone in that direction and i felt that perhaps it was to ward off this criticism that they should have been pre

i think there have been a lot of attention to bengahzi. voters have a tough time making sense of that. romney is right to hammer the president about it because it creates the general impression is he as strong a leader that you need. but i don't think voters are going to vote on that. >> eliot: interestingly, romney, after he failed in that moment. that may be the emotional pivot point of the debate last night when candy crowley came in, after saying to the president you got it wrong. when it's blamed on this youtube video he would have been correct. >> it's unfortunate it seemed for a long time that the president and the white house were we had wedded to the videotape did it, and not to blame terrorism, but by saying the president didn't say act of terror he chose the exact wrong detail and lost a point he should have won handily. >> eliot: you're right when you have one point that is wrong the entire argument falls apart. >> and to make matters worse i felt bad watching it, he was so proud of himself as he edged up to it. oh, wow, now i

and now being held by authorities in connection with the bengahzi attack on.cipant and not commander of the assault. among two dozen individuals on the list of suspect who is are linked through intelligence traffic, who was bragging to a close circle of friends and in a video from the compound. >> cenk: are we buying it? did they get a guy involved right before the election? the republicans are not buying it. guys look a little convenient. he's among two dozen suspects. he's arrested in a very friendly country in turkey, are you buying it or not buying it. let's go to the middle east correspondent first. >> they made it clear they didn't get any sort of leader. i think--the guy is not going to have a good time for the next few weeks. i'm sure he'll be detained until then, but this is not a political move. they've been investigating and searching these folks. one guy out of 12 not a victory. >> cenk: they were going to arrest somebody before the election. >> of the things i wish i would have said out loud. oh we're going to hear about it i can't believe they ga

giving the president obama a four-point lead the attack in bengahzi on september 11th that killed four americans including ambassador chris stevens. president obama was requested about who was to blame for the attack on the jon stewart on "the daily show" with jon stewart. >> obama: every piece of information that we get as we got it we laid it out for the american people. >> i would say even you would say it was not the optimal response at least to the american people as far as us all of us being on the same page. >> obama: here's what i'm going to say, as far as four americans getting killed, it's not optimal, and we'll fix it. >> all of it. >> obama: all of it. >> eliot: john mccain is it not like either response on the fox news this morning. >> the optimal line was regrettable and makes me sad. for him to say that every piece of information they got they laid out to the american people was one of the most disengenius statements i her heard. >> eliot: reporting within 24 hours of the attack that there was evidence it was carried out by militants and not an mob-angered anti-muslim vi

what are you going to make from the presence of al-qaida surrounding bengahzi is this the result of a vacuum because the libyan government does not have the capacity to inject itself and enforce the laws? >> in fact, that's part of the analysis that came forward in the hearing today. it's unclear that if you put more security personnel inside the compound you could have repelled this attack because outside of the fence that responsibility of security rests with the host government, in this case libya understanding that this government, new as it is is challenged, and it does not have the capacity that you would expect in a developed country, for example. i think that came forward today that even with more personnel you can probably construct a credible scenario that fewer people might have been killed. you could construct a credible scenario that fact more people would have been killed if there were more significant confrontation with this armed element that did, in fact, penetrate consulate perimeter. >> eliot: p.j. crowley, former assistant secretary of state for public affairs for

consulate in bengahzi was deliberate and organized. peter king of new york called on susan rice to resign as u.s. ambassador to the united nations after she initially claimed the attack on the consulate was part of the spontaneous protest after an anti-islamic video. yesterday paul ryan and john mccain slammed the administration's handling of the deadly attack. >> the response was slow, confused, inconsistent. they first said it was a youtube video and a spontaneous mob. we now know it was a planned terrorist attack if this was one tragic incident that would be a tragedy in itself. the problem is it's part of a bigger picture that the obama foreign policy is unraveling before our eyes on tv screens. >> i think it interferes with the depiction that the administration is trying to convey that al qaeda is on the wane, everything is fine in the middle east. >> you think it's political? >> how else could you trot out our u.n. ambassador to say this was a spon ttaneous demonstrati? >> maybe they thought that at the time? >> on "meet the pres

imagine how shocked i was to learn that he was one of the two navy--former navy seals killed in bengahzi weeks ago. >> cenk: the republicans on fox news channel have this strategy that they do before a debate. it's called the preemptive strike. the republicans are familiar with that. this month they're doing it to martha radis. how are they doing it? oh she's bias, she likes obama. a daily caller put out an article. president obama was guest of the 1991 wedding of abc senior foreign correspondent of martha radis. now the obama camp and "abc news" said wait a minute, president obama attended the wedding of someone who was republican. and here is a timeline. 1991, the divorce was 1997--15 years ago--and he became chairman of the sec in 2029, 2009, . and in the article, they say what a nut job. they is it this to president obama right before the debate. and they said, barack obama being an angry black man. >> obama: what is happening in new orleans? where's your dollar? where is your stratford act money? >> cenk: he wasn't an angry black man. everybody had seen that tape. but that wasn't th

let's talk about libya which has been the hot spot with the horror of the bengahzi consulate.s has been the biggest problem for the white house where you have the strategy. >> yes. >> eliot: it seems at a political level mitt romney is capitalizing on what appears to be a moment of weakness by the administration but is not libya in essence a success story. >> yes, it's difficult for romney to talk about. he says today we're still in a battle between the tyrants and the democrats. that's not what is happening in libya today. that's what happened a year ago. when that happened, as jay carney pointed out, he was on the wrong side. he was not in favor of getting rid of gadhafi. you have these weak fragmented states, it's not clear what romney would do to assist these weak states to keep them from falling apart. >> eliot: in romney's speech, early in the speech he said and he goes on at some length after the attack this is in bengahzi, tens of thousands of libyans held a massive protest against the extremists who murdered the ambassador, even in an odd way there is internal inconsi

we turn to bengahzi. this is where the president was supposed to be in trouble.t romney accused i am half making. political. >> obama: the suggestion that anybody on my team, secretary of state our u.n. ambassador, anybody on my team would play politics or mislead when we've lost four of our own governor, is offensive. that's not what we do. that's not what i do as president. that's not what i do as command center chief. >> cenk: now i'm going to say controversial here, but i don't believe him. i think they did make it political. i think they make things political all the time. nonetheless, he said it very forcefully and seemed to have won over the crowd. do you want to keep going governor? >> obama: proceed, governor. >> cenk: oh, he made the makes of proceeding. watch what happened next. >> romney: i think it's interesting that the president said something interesting. on the day after the attack he went to the rose garden and said this was an act of terror. you said in the rose garden the day after the attack it was an act of terror. it was not a spontaneous d

her son, sean smith one of the four americans killed on september 11th on that terror attack in bengahzi, libya. sean smith, one of the computer specialists at the consulate there. a month after, she watched her son's casket come off a cargo plane, a month after she says everyone promised her answers, everyone all the way up to the president of the united states, she says she is still waiting to hear. still waiting for answers. waiting for a call. congress held hearings today. we'll talk about that shortly, but first, my conversation with sean smith's mom, pat. i appreciate you being with us. i'm so sorry for your loss. what do you want people to know about sean? >> oh, god. he was my only child. he was good. he was good at what he did, and he loved it. >> he loved working with computers? >> computers, radios. he was good at what he did. >> was that something he had done with a kid? was he always good with computers? >> we'll, when he was a kid, computers weren't out yet. and then they were out and i got a computer and he started showing me how you could build a flame thrower by watching

imagine how shocked i was to learn that he was one of the two navy--former navy seals killed in bengahzid he is when his mom said, cut it out. i don't want you to talk about him any more. and then mark hamill. look at this. awesome. the force is with us when we (vo) what is said here could decide the election. current tv presents coverage of the vice presidential debate. with unrivaled analysis and commentary. >> was this the game changer? is this going to change the dynamic? (vo) the only network with real-time reaction straight from the campaigns and from viewers like you. >> so keep on tweeting and maybe you'll have your voice be part of this democracy and see your tweets up on our screen. >>now that's politically direct. [ ryan ] it doesn't get any better than endless shrimp at red lobster. you can mix and match all day! [ male announcer ] don't miss red lobster's endless shrimp just $14.99! try as much as you like, any way you like! like parmesan crusted shrimp. hurry in, offer ends soon! i'm ryan isabell and i see food differently. get irresistibly clean and fresh carpets in your h

consulate in bengahzi libya, last month. as you know, heavily armed militants stormed the compound on september 11th. chris stevens and three other americans were killed. security at the embassy was modest at best. just a short time ago, this evening, secretary of state hillary clinton traveling in peru said the buck stops with her and she takes the blame for the assault. >> i take responsibility. i'm in charge of the state department, 60,000 plus people all over the world, 275 posts. the president and the vice president certainly wouldn't be knowledgeable about specific decisions that are made by security professionals. they're the ones who weigh all of the threats and the risks and the needs and make a considered decision. >> her statement comes hours before the second presidential debate. i want to bring in elise who had that interview. this is the first time secretary clinton talked about that night in depth. what else did she tell you? >> anderson, you're right. it's the first time she talked about the attack and she ta

the foreign policy issue many predicted would dominate the high, the attack in bengahzi essentially swept under the rug. out of the gate, the candidates focusing on a wide range of issues from iran to afghanistan and for a while even the auto bailout. less than five minutes into the debate, romney mentioned the death of osama bin laden. president obama came out as the aggressor and quickly fired back. >> a we're seeing is a dramatic reversal in the kind of hopes we had for that region. the greatest threat of all is iran, four years closer to a nuclear weapon. and we're going to have to recognize that we have to do as the president has done. i congratulate him on taking out osama bin laden and going after the leadership in al qaeda. but we can't kill our way out of this mess. >> governor romney, i'm glad you recognize that al qaeda is a threat. a few months ago when you were asked what is the biggest geopolitical threat facing america, you said russia. not al qaeda. you said russia in the sirussia. the cold war has been over for 20 years. but, governor, when it comes to our foreign policy,

is that why they told us that the libyan incident in been gauzy -- bengahzi was a direct counter?ou said that early on in any presidency there is a moment of truth. this president had won in iran. the president refused to line up with the green revolution, that he would not get involved in the sovereignty in iran. there is now no well-organized opposition in iran because it was completely demoralized by the president's lack of engagement. host: that was florida senator marco rubio, on cbs yesterday. selena, what question would you ask in the debate tonight? caller: by the way, that is selina. host: thank you. caller: i called it that, too. when i first got here. host: what would you like to ask tonight? caller: it seems that as our country its older we do not pay attention to things we should have learned in the past. i was a paratrooper in vietnam. this lady previously said people voting for mitt romney are not patriotic, this and that, right? listen to me, in the first place, we never should have been in iraq or afghanistan. there was a great man at one time to said that you can

meanwhile, republicans try to make a campaign issue out of the attack in bengahzi, libya, that killedistopher stevens and three other americans. >> folks want to know two things. why wasn't the security there and why did the administration try so hard to create the wrong image as to what happened. >> eliot: south carolina republican senator said white house confusion reflected effort to hide the administration's failures in the middle east. >> when something goes bad, they deny, they deceive, they delay. the truth is we're not safer. al-qaeda is alive. >> the day after the attack called it an act of terror, and charged every with the responsibility to get to the bottom of what happened. >> eliot: ambassador chris stevens father said, the security matters are being adequately investigated it would be really abhor rent to turn this into a campaign issue. joining us sam seder and alexis mcgill johnson. thank you for joining, both of you. sam, let me begin with you. this is a shocking turn of events with the president maintaining a solid lead completely collapsed after one debate why? >>

to the investigation helping the communication between these divisions not just what happened in bengahzi, but what happened within. i don't know, i would say even you would admit that it was not the optimal response to at least the american people as far as us all being on the same page. >> they were afghani a conversation. the interviewer said optimal. the president said optimal back. that was the it mr. mccain. here is kelly iot. >> the president's statement today was astounding. the murder of four americans is tragic and totally unacceptable. and i would say this is part of a bigger pattern. do you remember the leaking that they did when things went well, particularly how quickly they got the information out of seal team six. >> of course they got the information out of seal team six quickly. it was their information. it was their plan. it was their their placing. what happened in libya the last time an ambassador was killed was in pakistan, we still don't know all that happened, and that was years ago. it was not all serious business because he was on "the daily show," and this was t

> how much will the bengahzi attack play in tonights debate. > have yyu heard of any chhnges or aboutnterjectionn or scheiffe- comments he may make during the debates? coming up... thousands of nissan carr... being recalled today.the problem being detected... and what owners arr being encouraged to do. p(joelllive tease)) you're news.. all local.. all 3 morning. ((breaa 4)) presidential debate.how the candidates are p,3 - 3 3& 799 map 33 3we are followiig breaking news out of ederal hill this morning...where 5 peoppe.. pncludiig 2 chillren... building.firefighttrs have been battling this fire since just before 4 this morning. this fire is so hard or them 3 to control..oel? joel? prinne george's county police pnow what caused the crash that killed officer kevin bowden.thisswas the scene kkvin bowden.killed officer caused couuty police now - prince georgg's p, 3 prince george's county police now now what caused the craah that kiiled officer kkvin bowde. bowdennthis was the scene bowden waa off duty when his cruiser was hit by an s---v and thenncrashed into a pple. police ssa a 61-year--

then later in the program obama administration well, there is breaking news on bengahzi.ll bring in the tyt supreme court. are they bluffing or are they telling the truth. we'll get real, you know it. >> another alert saying the embassy in tripoli reported the islamic military group claims responsibility for the bengahzi attack on facebook and twitter and has called for an attack on the embassy in tripoli. [ ♪ music ♪ ] u>> i'm not prone tot. understatement, so explain to me why that is. i think the mob learned from wall st., not vice versa. [ ♪ theme music ♪ ] >> cenk: now with less than two weeks left before the elections of course, there is a lot going on in the campaigns. i'm going to break down that news for you guys, and interpret it for you. for example both sides now have talking points about how they're going to win. a little different from what they were saying before. here is romney. >> romney: did you get a chance to watch the debates? [ cheering ] >> romney: they have super charged our campaign. i got to tell you that. >> cenk: all right we're going to win! t

her toughest question of the night was the first one about bengahzi to joe biden. sense of the moderator there? >> i felt she did a great job. if pulling from it they send too much time on foreign policy, i would like to see more on domestic policies. but counting interruptions. what about counting specifics. if you want to count the specifics that the vice president was able to come with versus the specifics and substance that ryan was able to come with, it's no contest. here we are sitting, talking about counting the interruptions, counting the smiles. i thought martha raddatz did a good job. she totally surprised me and i'm sure the vice president opening up with that bengahzi, libya question. she did a really good job i thought. >> cenk: that's how a moderator should be. tough and aggressive to both sides, and again it's a tell tale sign that the republicans have lost when they cry about the moderator which they do every time they lose, which is quite often. >> cenk, you're a huge sports fan. when you see complaining about the revenue know your team did well. w