and if you go back to bush sr.'s race against clinton, actually the economy was getting better, but the perception was that bush hadn't done enough and was out of touch. and so i liked all of these numbers and you got to watch them, but how does the average voter feel when you look at all of the polls and it shows people are concerned about the economy. that means, translate, they're concerned about how obama is trying to manage or fix or stabilize the economy. >> you he hasn't answered that question yet. >> republicans gas prices work they're a larger constellation of grievances against obama. green jobs are a dead end. they put a lot of taxpayer money. that's a waste. he didn't do the keystone excel pipeline, he doesn't want to make american jobs. against him for the environment over jobs and energy production. if they can construct it in a larger narrative against obama, i'm not saying they will, but they're certainly looking at gas prices as a look into that and the president is being preenter tiff as saying no

president bush sr. is the ultimate in the establishment. everybody is saying it's over, guys. it is getting surreal. santorum had a rally at the jelly belly candy company. i think he is looking for a golden ticket like "charlie and the chocolate factory," except it doesn't exist and he is not going to get one. >> i have never been to the jelly belly place -- >> nor have i. >> i would like to go there. romney is going to pick up the endorsement of paul ryan, another establishment figure. this is the inevitable thing that is happening now. >> i am glad you mentioned paul ryan, because the ryan budget passed the house this week -- >> and romney embrace that. >> it is not going to make it in the senate, is it? >> it does not have a prayer in the senate. the senate passed a mask transportation bill by 70-plus votes, or more than that, and it the house?ast that really is a bipartisan bill, and it cannot get past the house? >> on the ryan bill, do we get into another brawl on deficit reduction? >> absolutely. this budget demands and requires that committees, with -- six separate hous

occupation on an island in the same island group, but this one, i guess, was made famous by george bush sr. he was ditched out of the water -- pulled out by a rescue helicopter, no, not a helicopter. didn't have them those days, a rescue both. and he became -- the president was. and after i got back in the division i said i went on occupation and after that i went back to the states and i spent the rest of my enlistment in the brooklyn navy yard which was pretty close to home, and it was very nice. so i have not much more to say. except that people that we lost, marines that we lost on iwo was 6,491 dead and over 17,000 wounded. of course, for the marine corps, it was a balance of the airmen that we saved by landing their 29s on the airstrip at iwo. it was like a 16 or 18-hour round trip from where they took off in saipan to japan and back. so a lot of them had malfunctions or problems or other things or severely wounded men and they'd land on iwo and take care, get fixed up and proceed back home. so at the time that this was happening, i said, well, they're saving all these guys, we're ki

he reminds me of george bush sr. in that way. just no good at it.hrough it, and then they look phoney. but i do got to come back to this china thing. as you pointed out you connect the dots, that's where foreign policy and economy connects. the president realize it and tried to get on the defense a little bit talking about intellectual property rights but that's not what the average worker is worrying about hollywood copyrights. >> it will be a fascinateing merge of the foreign policy debate and economic debate as this moves forward. we'll see if mitt romney can get across the finish line and begin to look like a nominee. craig crawford and author of "the politics of life," thank you for joining me. >> you bet. >> you thought the paul ryan was the top story not quite. the scott walker recall efforts coming up next. governor is ... >> with our continuing in-depth coverage of the g.o.p. coverage in wisconsin. you would think it's the biggest political story going on in the badger state put but it's just the side show to the real political circus. the

the republican party, under ronald reagan, subsequently under gingrich when confronting george bush sr has pushed aggressively for cutting taxes, no new taxes, many of the kinds of things you've argued for. but it has been unable, for whatever reason, under republican majorities, under democratic majorities, under divided or shared government to cut spending. so what we have had is the kind of perfect expression of what the american people seem to want, which is low taxes but lots of government services, and there's only one way to square that circumstance, which is to borrow lots of money, which is what we've bohn for the past 30 years. so aren't you to blame for that? >> no because the alternative is to tremendously raise taxes as high as spending has gone, if this is the left's analysis of how to fix the problem. no. >> isn't that -- but let me ask you -- you can characterize it as the left or right, but if you raise taxes to meet what expenditures you want to make, at least you don't have a debt bomb. at least you don't have a debt crisis. at least you don't have a financial collap

million americans get their contraception for title ten and been around for ten years and president bush sr. is the congressman who wrote that law. it is a legitimate issue. >> it is totally wrong. >> no, it is not. and this is the position about the title ten. and we have to have a honest discussion about the facts here. >> it is. and 24% of the funding that goes to america's largest abortion provider comes from title ten, and that is what the president p -- what the republicans want to zero out. >> david gergen. >> well, donna is right about this, because these issues have helped the democrats and helped obama, but it is also important not to universalize or make sweeping assertions, because it is striking to me today that "boston globe" reported that scott brown who has opened up a nine or ten-point lead against elizabeth warren and one of the reasons that scott brown as a republican is making headway over elizabeth warren is over this contraception issue in massachusetts. >> what do you make of that? >> i think that we should make it very careful about broad assertions of how they cut,

bush while he was in town and here is romney's response and listen carefully as bush sr. leans in and asks romney a question. >> you know, i haven't met with president george w. bush. we speak from time to time. >> has he endorsed you yet? >> uh, no. >> did you hear what that means? it means good boys all listen to their mommys. >> w. may get a scolding. >>> a disturbing rise in autism, up 20% in two years, a serious look at what could be behind the staggering increase. >>> plus people spending it in their minds already. i certainly have and i would come back to work -- >> but what would you buy? >> rich people grow their money. they don't spend their money. i'd start thinking like a rich person. we're in the middle of the ticket buying action for the mega millions and get real, rest in grease, send eternity wrapped in bacon, i'm not kidding. check out the blog on our website cnn.com/startingpoint. you're watching "starting point" this morning. look, every day we're using more and more energy. the world needs more energy. where's it going to come from? ♪ that's why right h

endorsing him, and it put the former massachusetts governor in a little bit of a pickle, especially when bush sr. asked him, has he endorsed you? we'll have the details of that conversation for you a little bit later in "fair game." >>> israel is on high alert as hundreds of thousands of people, mainly arabs and palestinians, are flooding the borders much it's being called the global march on jerusalem. demonstrators clashing with israeli troops at a west bank checkpoint, remembering this day in 1976 when six protesters were killed during mass demonstrations against israel's efforts to confiscate arab land. >>> the american support for the war in afghanistan is at an all-time low according to a new poll. 72% now oppose the longest war in u.s. history. only 25% supporting the war. when asked if the u.s. is winning the war, 61% say no, while just over 1/3 say yes. >> as for when all of our troops should be withdrawn, more than half of those polled say before president obama's 2014 deadline. 22% say bring them all home in 2014. >>> and if you love your blackberry like i do, well, hold onto it. the

but bush, sr. had his history of gaffes when he mims was president. r is the awkwardness around george w. bush and that his name has not come up in this campaign at all, his nor dick cheney's. no one's sought the endorsement of them whatsoever. >> susan, weigh in on that. she was talking about it seemed kind of awkward and this stuff dogged george h.w. bush during his career. should we have been surprised by this? >> not really given that romney's been pegged for being awkward at times, too. to go back to "w's" endorsement or dick cheney's, that's not necessarily the surprised thing in this primary or going forward in the election. i'm not surprised to not hear those names right now at all. >> morris? >> we'd love to have them out there on the stump for you guys. i thought the president's socks were awkward, myself, those lavender socks were interesting. >> they were kind of good looking. you're right. that was maybe a little awkward. maybe it's a fashion statement. we're going to go to our next topic with the rnc. a new ad is poking fun. here's a clip

>> well, basically george bush, sr. can tell you after desert storm it drove prices of oil to 44.wn. it put us into a recession, a recession that may have cost him his re-election. bill: you can blame that and ross perot for 1992. >> there you go. thank you. bill: phil flynn for us today. seven minutes past the hour. arthel: we have this now. we are going, we're still talking about the pressure that is mounting in iran over its nuclear program. president obama is saying quite frankly that the window for diplomacy, well, it is closing and israel's prime minister warning that the risk of war is rising. our greg palkot live in london with an exclusive from one of iran's top nuclear negotiators. so, greg, tell us who did you talk to and is the pressure working? >> reporter: arthel, his name is the iranian ambassador to the iranian iaea associated with the united nations in vienna. we pressed him on iran's nuclear program and ukraine yum enrichment program. we asked him is iran building a nuclear weapon or would like to have a nuclear weapon. here is our bit of back and forth. >> nucle

particularly given the fact that george bush sr.o. i do believe that -- >> and barbara. >> exactly. i think this is not a game changer, not a huge boost to the romney campaign. what it does do is give them free publicity for the day and positive publicity. so it provides a temporary small benefit to them. >> is this over? mitt romney way out front? is he not nominee? are you saying he's the inevitable nominee? >> look, fredricka, we have been talking about this, we have been saying this since the beginning of the year, and i think that the double digit sweep in illinois and let's also remember, romney won the woman vote, the female vote, won across incomes in illinois, got blue collar voters, he's peeling off tea party voters and 25% of people who say they really want a candidate who is really conservative still voted for mitt romney in illinois. i think what we're seeing is he is talking the tough talk on obama, he's the most electable of, you know, the three or four hanger -- in the field. and i think he's really shoulders above t

the one was from george bush, se sr., which was not surprising at all.very nervous that romney has not been able to seal the deal by himself. but in the cnn poll that came out very revently where the majority of voters say they still blame george w. bush, the son for the economy and for wrecking the economy, i think that this endorsement by the father is going to just underscore and remind voters that it actually was the son who put in the policies that wrecked the economy and that interestingly enough are the same policies that romney will support and will implement. >> all right. >> the rubio endorsement was, i think, clearly a good one for romney, but his endorsement was so lukewarm, he basically said, well, i'm going to endorse him because he's going to win and, frankly, we wanted others to run but they didn't, so i kind of had no choice but to endorse him. >> let me show you new polling. 69% of the republicans said mitt romney had the best chance to beat president obama. but take a look at this one. 61% said romney is a strong leerksd stronger leade

million americans get their contraception for title ten and been around for ten years and president bush sr. is the congressman who wrote that law. it is a legitimate issue. >> it is totally wrong. >> no, it is not. and this is the position about the title ten. and we have to have a honest discussion about the facts here. >> it is. and 24% of the funding that goes to america's largest abortion provider comes from title ten, and that is what the president p -- what the republicans want to zero out. >> david gergen. >> well, donna is right about this, because these issues have helped the democrats and helped obama, but it is also important not to universalize or make sweeping assertions, because it is striking to me today that "boston globe" reported that scott brown who has opened up a nine or ten-point lead against elizabeth warren and one of the reasons that scott brown as a republican is making headway over elizabeth warren is over this contraception issue in massachusetts. >> what do you make of that? >> i think that we should make it very careful about broad assertions of how they cut,