leading off tonight, birtherism reborn. in the last few weeks, rick perry has dropped to single digits in the polls after enjoying a double-digit lead. so how did he boost your approval ratings when every debate sends you further in the dumps? you dig up an old, moldy, discredited charge that still has resonance with the right wing, birtherism. rick perry says it's not definitive that barack obama was born here in the u.s. rick perry and birtherism, the last vestige of a desperate candidate who hopes to survive that tops our show tonight. >>> also, which republican presidential candidate back in 1996 called the flat tax, quote, a tax cut for fat cats? and which republican presidential candidate now says, quote, i love the flat tax. the answer to both questions is -- you bet, you guessed it -- mitt romney. romney is just the latest member of the republican parade to shift the tax burden from the wealthy to the middle class. >>> plus, had enough of republicans just saying no to anything president obama wants? so has the presi

flip flopping to birtherism. will the bumps in the road for the men likely to get the nomination spell a winning week for president obama? a few hours ago, rick perry shows that he is feeling the heat for bringing up the president's birth certificate. >> the president is the president. that's a fact. >> case in jeopardy, a glitch in the trial against michael jackson's trial conrad murray and it is not clear the trial will go on. the problem is a request made by the prosecution. >>> i'm tamron hall. a rare snowstorm that could bring smoke for this time of year. the first fledged noreaster could bring up to a foot of snow with temperatures in the 30s and 40s. some northeast residents are getting hit with snow. one said this storm is "uncharted territory for october." karl parker is tracking the storm for us at the weather channel headquarters. everybody who picked out a halloween costume with a jacket or cape may be okay. >> this is a serious storm. a heavy wet snow and a lot of leaves on the trees and quite a bit

i think if at first you don't succeed, you go with the birther movement.ht that this had been put to rest in the springtime. pretty much everybody else backed off of it. rick perry has chosen to march to a different drummer in this campaign. i think he's, in fact, gone farther even than the original birther, donald trump, himself. so even a lot of tea party folks at this point say, don't associate us with the birthers anymore. >> to prove that, nia, let me show you this, no one less than karl rove said this about the birther rick perry incident. >> look, you associate yourself with a nutty view like that and you damage yourself. there's a simple answer. yes, he was born in the united states. yes, he is eligible to serve. and don't associate yourself with sort of this nutty fringe group. >> i mean, karl rove seems to be annoyed because i think he knows this can't win a general election, nia. >> that, and he's certainly no fan of rick perry. but he's exactly right. this is a movement and dana's right, too, that even the tea party, a lot of the folks who were

can you really play both sides of the birther issue? the fire a little bit to the critics out there that still do not believe that the president was born in this country. we know the facts. we know he was born in hawaii. we know there is a birth certificate. rick perry is grasping for straws here. there is only two months left until the iowa caucus. his campaign is in peril. what he is trying to do is speak to the constituency out there that is very conservative, very skeptical of this president and the process may be open to a perry presidency. he is soaking the fire a little bit. he is playing a little politics. it is not fair and right but i know what he is doing. >> let's bring bill in here. pretend that you are joe alba. it is a little over two months until primary caucus season. you are down in the pollses. i believe he is at 6% nationwide. now, you are dealing with this birther issue. you have to sell this flat tax. is it possible to iron this all out before iowa and new hampshire? where does he go with this strategywise? >> i kn

he has reopened this whole birther issue. is that a good idea?not going to see us talking about the birther issue in ohio. our focus in 2010, 2011, 2012, is to talk about the things that are on the hearts and minds of 532,000 ohioans that are unemployed. that's jobs and the economy. we are not going to be distracted by those issues. we are going to be talking about jobs and the economy and really the fact that president owe ba aca ma came and promised a recovery that never happened. he came not far from where i am sitting today and promised a second stimulus bill that he can't get democrat votes for, that he hasn't gotten one democrat co-sponsor for from high high. i think the people are sick and tired of being political props for the white house and are interested in finding a republican or presidential candidate willing to talk about jobs. >> you think that rick perry should stick to his flat tax or some other economic issue and not reopen the birther issue. that was a mistake? >> what we are focused on here in ohio is talking about the number

pete times where he tried to clean up, i guess, his birther comments.'s see if we can follow his thought process, such as it is. let's listen. >> jeb bush the other day said candidates running for president should categorically reject the notion that president obama wasn't born in america. this came after you expressed doubts. >> i want expressing doubts. i was having fun with donald trump. you know, lighten up a little bit. >> you have no doubt that he's an american citizen? >> i have no doubt about it. but here's the more interesting thing. let's lay out our income taxes, let's lay out our college transcripts. mine has been on the front page of the paper. >> so let's all call each other illegal immigrants and have a yuk about it. mr. brown, mayor? what do you make of that defense which was all just in fun? >> well, that's typical of rick perry. rick perry is not ready for primetime, chris. he literally is a fellow texan who should have remained in texas in every way, because his thought processes are pretty much restricted to that state, and under tho

>> rick perry's comments on the birther issue lands him in hot water. did the media take sides?nd michael moore joins the 99 percenters, claim he's one of them. isn't he a big time film maker worth millions? that's next on news watch. ♪ when your chain of supply ♪ goes fr here to shanghai, that's logistics. ♪ ♪ chips from here, boards from there ♪ ♪ track it all through the air, that's logistics. ♪ ♪ clearing customs like that ♪ hurry up no time flat that's logistics. ♪ ♪ all new technology ups brings to me, ♪ ♪ that's logistics. ♪ >> i don't think everybody's run a perfect campaign and actually, these debates are set up for nothing more than to tear down the candidates and it's pretty hard to be able to sit and layout your ideas and concepts with a one minute response. >> that's rick perry this week, telling bill o'reilly his opinion about participating in debates with some of the the other republican candidates. the media, judy have seized on that, the possibility that he won't participate in all of the debates and they're pounding him on it. is that appropriate? >> well, they

>> rick perry's comments on the birther issue lands him in hot water. did the media take sides?nd michael moore joins the 99 percenters, claim he's one of them. isn't he a big time film maker worth millions? worth millions? mamamale announcer ] it's time to make our floor look better and feel softer. how 'bout we start with the guaranteed low price on the carpet... the pad, and installation. let's get peace of mind for a lifetime. it all adds up to better carpet at a better price and a great-looking room transformed. more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot. get 10% off or 18 months special financing on carpet purchases of $450 or mor wh you use your home depot credit ca. whether you're an allstate customer or not. all you have to do is call. [ female announcer ] call allstate now and you'll get a free lifetime membership in good hands roadside assistance. [ dennis ] shop less. get more. make one call to an allstate agent. >> i don't think everybody's run a perfect campaign and actually, these debates are set up for nothing more than to tear down the candidate

is rick perry flirting with the birther movement to rein vig rate?de look at the house where she was allegedly abducted. and much more coming your way in the next hour. chris? >> thank you so much, thomas. >>> the government is tossing a lifeline to underwater homeowners, people living in a home worth less than their mortgage. diana olick is here with the new details. we just saw the president heading out west there. we see air force one taxiing, getting ready to go to las vegas. let's talk about the sheer numbers here. how many people are in this situation? >> well, chris, about 11 million borrowers are currently under water on their mortgages. as you said, that means they owe more than their homes are worth. now, what this program is, it tweaks to an existing government program and it's true fannie mae and freddie mac. so your home has to be owned or guaranteed by fannie or freddie. the original program said you could owe up to 25% more on your loan than your home is worth and be eligible for the government refinance. now what they're doing is taki

apparently, at least reportedly in reaction to the birthers stuff. >> well, again, this is why i say rick perry is not an ideal new hampshire candidate, the live free or day state, i think, is not going to be one determined by social issues or some of the passions of people on the far right in the republican party. it's going to be an economically-focussed state. perry may be able to talk to those people with his tax plan, but mitt romney has been strong for a long time there. it's going to be difficult for anybody to beat him in new hampshire. >> thank you so very much. rick perry's opponents have pounced on his decision to opt out of some future debates, but the governor says it was a mistake to enter the debates in the first place. >> we are not called to be perfect. if any of you have watched my debate performances over the last three or four times, you know i am far from perfect. >> ray sullivan is communications director for the perry campaign and joins me now. hey, mr. sullivan, thanks so much for joining us. let's talk about the debates. was it a mistakes or does he have to b

he's gone into the sewer of birtherism with donald trump.pose for rick perry at this point in his campaign, a donald trump endorsement would be a big deal. he's flailing. he's embarrassed himself. now this is really humiliate to say this, that donald trump doesn't know so he doesn't know either. this is the rick perry way. >> a strange scenario playing out for perry. here's a guy falling in the polls when he has plenty of money. we all know candidates with money don't leave the races. >> no. >> would donald trump help this guy out? >> i don't know. you know, donald trump was kind of laughed off the stage. people took him seriously for a little while and the more he says, he doesn't even believe the president now, the more ridiculous he becomes. i mean, perry today did hire president bush's first campaign manager, joe alba, but, you know, joe supported in 2008 his big savior candidate was rudy giuliani. i'm starting to wonder if rick perry is kind of the rudy giuliani figure of 2012. where he's the guy who everybody thought was going to come

why would rick perry go back to the birther crisis, the birther issue? he was asked, "do you believe that president barack obama was born in the united states?" governor perry, i have no reason to think otherwise. the questioner, that's not a definitive yes, i believe. well i don't have a definitive answer, says perry, because he's never seen my birth certificate. don't get that. but you've seen his. i don't know. have i, say said perry? i had dinner with donald trump the other night and he doesn't think it's real. so are we back to the whole birther issue again? i thought this had been settled? >> well it has been settled, that's -- you thought right its that been settled for a long time, andrea. you know, i think rick perry may be trying to be too cute by half in that kind of situation. in the end of the interview he essentially said it doesn't matter, it's a distraction, no one cares. he should have said that the first thing. opening the door to this stuff it's just we wind up talking about t it's a distraction. rick perry should be talking about texa

. >> believe it or not, the birthers are back. >> birtherism is born. >> donald trump sells rick perry the brooklyn bridge. >> rick perry a very visible republican flirting with the birther movement. >> he was asked do you believe. >> that prosecute barack obama was born in the united states? >> i had dinner with donald trump the other night -- >> i had dinner with donald trump the other night. >> perry, i have no reason to think otherwise. that's not a definitive yes i believe. >> it's a distractive issue. >> he is eligible to serve. >> karl rove is worried. >> these kind of things do not help. >> i think rick perry may be trying to be too cute. >> donald trump, you associate yourself with a nutty view that and you damage yourself. because it starts to marginalize you. don't associate yourself with sort of this nutty fringe group. >> trump is a vulgar clown. >> rove is even more worried about becky, becky, becky stan. >> cain has had a couple of -- >> he didn't know what the right of return was. he didn't understand what neoconservatives were. apples and oranges. >> apples and oranges

birtherism is dead.n of the -- >> a couple months ago on this show i said that by releasing the long form birth certificate, president obama had killed birtherism as a campaign strategy. the birtherism itself, the idea that the president's birth certificate is a fake, birtherism is dead. is that true or false? false. no need for subtlety. birtherism is not dead. rick perry in an interview with "parade" magazine quote, do you think the president obama was not born in the united states in. >> but you haven't seen his. have i am i don't know i had dinner with donald trump the other night. and he satd? he doesn't think it's real. and you said? it doesn't matter. he's the president of the united states. he's elected it's a distractive issue. a distractive issue? that is how birtherism is done. and sure enough today a statement from donald trump quote, despite releasing what is alleged to be his birth certificate, serious questions remain. actually, no. no serious questions remain. donald trump remains as does

let's hope that's the end of the whole birther thing. think it won't be. >>> we're following several other stories tonight. fredricka whitfield joins us now. >> hey, anderson. new bloodshed in syria. 17 people, including two children, killed in clashes between government and opposition forces as opposition leaders call for a nationwide general strike. >>> and better news in eastern turkey. two more people pulled from the rubble there. three days after the 7.2 magnitude earthquake hit. rescuers have been working around the clock looking for survivors. at least 471 people have lost their lives so far. >>> and residents of bangkok, thailand, are urged to leave town because of rising floodwaters. flooding has already shut down the airport and the worst is expected to come this weekend. >>> and good news for mexico. hurricane rina has weakened to a category 1 and is expected to keep losing strength before making landfall near cancun. >>> and the first commercial boeing 787 dreamliner landed in hong kong today. the jet, not the flight, was mor

but i actually think that the birther for him is sort of a positive.think he's pulling away because there's a group of people that think it's something he shouldn't discuss. i don't care. personally, i don't care. i'm doing -- it's a -- i'm a businessman. what i say, i guess, a lot of people are listening to. in fact, many millions of people are listening to and that's why it's interesting when they come up to my office. they don't want my money. they want my endorsement. every one of them. they want the endorsement. i represent millions of people. i will tell you -- just to finish. >> yeah. >> i don't discuss birther. you brought it up. i never bring it up. because the real issue now is jobs, the economy, stopping the world from ripping us, getting back to greatness for this country, which we're going in the wrong direction. but i think it's an issue that if somebody brings it up, it's certainly an issue that's worth talking about. there are a lot of reasons to think that he wasn't born in this country. absolutely. i say that as an intelligent person.

birtherism, tax rates aimed directly at the wealthiest 1%.ho says, wow, this guy is doing my work for me. >> here's the irony of it, chris. having talked to people on both the democratic side and conservative side about this plan, if you take it seriously for a minute. obviously, the democrats and progressives don't like it because of what you've been saying about cutting rates for the rich, which it would do. but the conservatives don't really like it either, because he's not really sweeping away the existing tax system. he's just saying, you can have this as an alternative. so all those lawyers and accountants and all those people he's complaining about, for some people, are still going to be there. >> sure, they get a better deal. >> sometimes when you get criticized from all sides, it means you've come up with a brilliant idea. in this case, when he's being criticized by all sides, he's basically being laughed off the stage. >> and the idea of a multiple choice tax format is an absurd idea. by the way, i love the idea that everybody can d

they made the birthers as they call them in a derogatory term and made the birthers sound like they didn'tnow what was happening. the fact is there are a lot of people that happened to agree with -- with, like, as an example, why wasn't this birth certificate given when hillary and when mccain and when everybody was asking? ultimately, i'm very proud of what i did because i got him to give something. >> you accept what he produced is valid? >> i don't necessarily. >> do you believe he probably was born in america? >> i say he might have been. >> but what does your gut tell you? you are a smart guy. >> my gut tells me a couple of things. number one, you know, it took a listening time to produce the certificate and when it came out as you know, you check out the internet many people say it is not real. okay? it is a forgery. that's what they say. i don't know if it was. >> the internet is nonsense. >> okay, fine. but you know, they go over it and lots of different things and lots of different reasons. and the other thing is nobody's been able to see, you know, the day of his birth, they had