we are supposedly trying to get the mullahs to heel to what we are looking for, and the very same mullahs know that when there was a real threat to them, we sat on our hands. what does that tell you about our credibility? what does that tell you about our consistency? >> dov, you have written a book about afghanistan. you are the point person at dod on the afghan account between the george w. bush administration. governor romney mentioned the 2014 drawdown in his monday speech. what he did not talk about in that was the strategic partnership agreement that the administration has negotiated with the afghan government, which will keep american soldiers in afghanistan until 2024. do you have a sense about what the minimum soldiers should be going forward? >> let me clarify a couple of things. there are more than a few former administration folks who say i was the focal point on the afghanistan. i was involved, but i share the credit with many others who probably had more influence than i did. the first point i would like to make about afghanistan, and the big difference between mr. romney an

mullah this over! (cheers and applause) boom! iran, you are officially on notice! forget obama's weak-ass economic sanctions. mitt and i mean business. don't believe me? ask yourself why jane fonda doesn't have nuclear weapons. (laughter) we'll be right back. (cheers and applause) (cheers and applause) >> stephen: welcome back, everybody. my guest tonight is a singer/songwriter known for his melancholy lyrics. are you ready to rock yourself back and forth in the shower while crying? (laughter) please welcome morrissey! (cheers and applause) hey! thank you so much for coming on! all right! thanks so much for being here. you're -- you're like a living legend of indy rock, redefined the british sound, last 25 years -- >> you know what the word "legend" means? >> stephen: it means you're dead? >> no, it's something that might be true or might be false. it doesn't really apply. but thank you. >> stephen: well, you might not be that good. (laughter) it's possible. is he that good? (cheers and applause) all right. there it is. colbert nation has voted. you're from england

all of these things suggested, i think, to the iranian mullahs, hey, we can keep pushing along here, we can keep talks going on but we're just going to keep on spinning centrifuges. >> there's never been any proof that the president said that. the only source is an article in the washington post by scott wilson who wrote that the president said this in a meeting with the leaders of many jewish organizations. >> that was nbc's andrea mitchell reporting. >>> a note for you, this week brian williams will be going on the road for an exclusive interview with president obama which you will see on "today," nightly news and rock center. >>> here's a look at other stories making news in america. we'll begin with new developments surrounding jesse jackson jr.'s battle with bipartisan d bipolar disorder. he's said to be in a fragile position. davis and rush visited him in his washington, d.c., home. they acknowledged he needed continued treatment. he's headed back to mayo clinic for further in patient care. >>> philadelphia firefighters were left scratching their head after a tire crashed throu

iran's mullahs may be ready to hang him out to dry. we have details coming up next.ave too much money? ♪ . [ thunder crashes ] [ female announcer ] some people like to pretend a flood could never happen to them. and that their homeowners insurance protects them. [ thunder crashes ] it doesn't. stop pretending. only flood insurance covers floods. ♪ visit floodsmart.gov/pretend to learn your risk. ♪ . melissa: so the obama administration is doing everything they can to play up their all-of-the-above energy policy. just this week interior secretary ken salazar was on a nationwide tour and approved two huge new projects. a wind farm on federal land in southern wyoming and a new refinery in north dakota that women be use to process shale oil taken from the bakken formation. certainly perfect timing right, just a few weeks before the election. but are these new projects going to give the president an edge he needs in the polls next month? joining us is kentucky congressman ed whitfield. thanks so much for joining us. are you suspicious of the timing on this one? >> well i

in america we don't have controlling mullahs. we don't have dictators but when we have that same kind of impulse, when we are horrified by the real information in the world and we want to wall ourselves off from it and create a more comforting, fake truth for ourselves, in america when we have that impulse, it looks like this. >> conservatives obviously not happy with these main stream polls that are out there. a lot of talk about the polls being weighted incorrectly. >> well, if you're curious for another taking to unskewed polls.com which is an attempt to reweight the polls. >> an attempt to reweight the polls. when the polls were particularly dire for the republican presidential candidate mitt romney in the election, presidential election polling this past month conservatives decided these polls showing an american electorate that is choosing president obama over mitt romney, these polls made them feel so uncomfortable they decided to develop a new fantasy electorate that they would poll in theory and their fantasy electorate

all of these things suggested, i think, to the iranian mullahs, hey, we can keep pushing along here, we can keep talks going on but we're just going to keep on spinning centrifuges. >> there's never been any proof that the president said that. the only source for this is an article in the "washington post" by scott wilson who said -- wrote that the president said this in a meeting with the leaders of many jewish organizations. >> that was nbc's andrea mitchell. >>> a note for you, this week brian williams will be going on the road for an exclusive interview with president obama which you will see on "today," "nightly news" and ""rock center"" as well as here on msnbc. >>> here's a look at other stories making news in america. we'll begin with new developments surrounding jesse jackson jr.'s battle with his bipolar disorder. the illinois congressman is said to be in a fragile state while still running for re-election. davis and rush visited him in his washington, d.c., home. they said he had surprising sharpness and they acknowledged he needed continued treatment. jackson is headed ba

all of these things suggested, i think, to the iranian mullahs that, hey, we can keep pushing along here, we can keep talks going on but we're just going to keep on spinning centrifuges. >> reporter: well, brian, there's never been any proof that the president ever said that. the only source for this is an article in "the washington post" by scott wilson who wrote that the president said this in a meeting with the leaders of many jewish organizations. >> that was nbc's andrea mitchell reporting. >>> well, this week with brian williams, he's going to be going on the road for an exclusive interview with president obama. you'll be able to see that on "today," "nightly news," and "rock center." >>> here's a look at other stories making news early today in america. we're going to begin with some new developments surrounding jesse jackson jr.'s battle with his bipolar disorder. the illinois congressman is said to be in a fragile state while still running for re-election. congressman bobby rush and danny davis visited their friend and colleague at his washington, d.c., home. davis and rush said

taliban leader mullah muhammad omar issued a statement on wednesday to mark the beginning of the muslim holy day eid al-adha. in his comments, he indicated the group's intention to resume dialogue with the u.s., saying the taliban would continue while also taking political measures. taliban representatives in qatar who handle this political issue, spoke with nhk in august. they said the taliban halted the negotiations after the u.s. demanded that afghan president hamid karzai's government be included. he added that the taliban is ready to discuss peace if key taliban members are freed. omar's statement this week is intended as a direct call to the u.s. to resume direct talks which keep out the karzai administration. the taliban is displaying a sense of urgency now that negotiations are not moving forward. the united states is trying to withdraw combat forces by the end of 2014 and hand security back to afghanistan. all are eager to put the long-running war to an end. the u.s. is in the middle of a presidential race and is not likely to respond to calls for dialogue at the moment. hideki

on iran, i hope we can do the same thing, continue to work with the world to convince the iranian mullahs to abandon their nuclear ambitions. we worked very closely with the foreign ministers of france, germany and great britain, who have been the folks delivering the message to the mullahs that if you expect to be part of the world of nations, get rid of your nuclear programs. the iaea is involved. there's a special protocol recently been passed that allows for inspections. i hope we can do it. and we've got a good strategy. >> senator kerry, 90 seconds. >> with respect to iran, the british, french, and germans were the ones who initiated an effort without the united states, regrettably, to begin to try to move to curb the nuclear possibilities in iran. i believe we could have done better. i think the united states should have offered the opportunity to provide the nuclear fuel, test them, see whether or not they were actually looking for it for peaceful purposes. if they weren't willing to work a deal, then we could have put sanctions together. the president did nothing. with respect to

we should have spoken out right away when the green revolution was up and started when the mullahs in iran were attacking their own people. we should always stand up for peace, for democracy, for individual rights. we should not imposing these devastating defense cuts. what that does well way equivocate on our values, we sure we are cutting our own defense, it projects weakness. will we look we, our adversaries are more willing to test us. >> with all due respect, that is a bunch of malarkey. not a single thing said is accurate. i will be very specific. number one, this lecture on embassy security, the congressmen here cut embassy security in his budget by $300 million below what we asked for. so much for the embassy security. no. -- no. two, before he even knew the ambassador was killed, he was making political statements that was panned by the media around the world. this talk about this weakness, i do not understand what my friend is talking about here. this is a president has gone out and done everything he has said he will do. this is a guy who has repaired our alliances of the r

the mullahs don't speak a. not loudly enough. not enough of them. there are many courageous want to do but certainly not enough of them. but this wasn't about the video at all. that's the whole point. it was about al qaeda. and that has come up. that's coming out in the testimony this more. it's come out before already. but the administration did not want to admit it was al qaeda, because that would mean we are not destroyed al qaeda. i don't care if it's al qaeda center or al qaeda franchises. that's like saying gee, you know, mcdonald's isn't really selling hamburgers except in san diego. i don't count all the franchises all over the country and all over the world. what difference does it make if it's al qaeda franchise or al qaeda central or a terrorist group by some other name? this dancing around issues is just so frustrating, not for me, not for governor romney, but for the world. for our friends, for those who depend on us. >> all right. another question right here. >> i'm dave stafford, 30 years i worked and i retired recently. my question g

tightened around the people and people would rise up and say we don't want to be under the thumb of the mullahs. >> we need to understand what is happening with iran and the goal of sanctions. the goal of sanctions unfortunately is not to topple iranian government. on the contrary it is to get the leaders to talk to barack obama representatives to make a nice deal so israel doesn't attack and he is not put in a difficult position. that is the problem. what we see right now is a combination of the effect of the sanctions which have begun to bite inside iran and massive economic mismanagement for the last 20 plus years on the part of the iranian regime. the best thing about this is, what you hear the people on the streets chanting and you have that video of them, what they're chant something not, americans you put us in this situation or damn you zionists. it is forget about syria. you, iranian leaders, you're the ones who let us down. they're demonstrating against the regime and in large numbers they blame the regime for what is happening to them. so this has a lot of potential. melissa: walid,

otherwise never know how are they going to act when they are in a room with vladimir or with the mullahs or negotiating with anybody else? the point is that what you are asking for 500 hours every year the sunday morning inquisition which is a good idea. you lock the candidate in with a person who asks questions. a journalist. you extract answers. you don't let him dance around or give you talking points. but what that would do is you would have twin sessions, one with each of the candidates duling banjos. that's not what we want. >> bill: i don't understand why you are supporting this system number two a waste of time. because all the candidates do by rhodes own admission and your own admission is spout talking points. that's all we do. we heard every single thing that was said last night way before. all right? over and over. so the moderator basically is setting them up for propaganda purposes. yeah, you can see a little body language, you can see maybe one guy getting a little annoyed from the ore guy. but so what? all the moderator has to do is make the questions, charles, sharply fo

we in previous administrations were helping the iranian nuclear programs, not once the mullahs took charge for your insight. i'm putting my economics degree to work helping save the u.s. post office. the postmaster general will join me next in a fox business exclusive. i can't wait. we're starting to see impact of the drought on harvest. will food prices be as bad or even worse than we told you? we'll give you details straight from the farm. piles of money and hay coming up. ♪ . ♪ . melissa: post office finding it harder and hearter to deliver. just the other day the agency defaulted on $5.6 billion payment for foot rush retiree health benefits. this is second time in a year it defaulted on benefits bringing total to staggering $11.1 billion. what will it take to save the u.s. pose al service? joining me now in a fox business exclusive, is patrick donahoe, the postmaster general. patrick, great to see you again, as you know i'm not really kidding about this. see the post office as a great business to be right-sized. i think you're the guy but congress won't unleash you to do it. i have a f

we in previous administrations were helping the iranian nuclear programs, not once the mullahs took chargeour insight. i'm putting my economics degree to work helping save the u.s. post office. the postmaster general will join me next in a fox business exclusive. i can't wait. we're starting to see impact of the drought on harvest. will food prices be as bad or even worse than we told you? we'll give you details straight from the farm. piles of money and hay coming up. ♪ . look, if you have copd like me, you know it can be hard to breathe, and how that feels. copd includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema. spiriva helps control my copd symptoms by keeping my airways open for 24 hours. plus, it reduces copd flare-ups. spiriva is the only once-daily inhaled copd maintenance treatment that does both. spiriva handihaler tiotropium bromide inhalation powder does not replace fast-acting inhalers for sudden symptoms. tell your doctor if you have kidney problems, glaucoma, trouble urinating, or an enlarged prostate. these may worsen with spiriva. discuss all medicines you take, even eye drops. sto

would he take the lead in bombing iran if the mullahs were getting to close or just back up the israelisne of his senior advises asked. would he push for peace with the palestinians or live with the status quo? he's left himself a lot of wiggle room. if they don't know, who does? >> steve clemons is editor-at-large and david corn has a new book out tomorrow. you broke that story. steve, i'm going to be pretty broad here and just start with my critique of romney. every time he speaks he lists more fronts he wants to get hotter and he wants to stay in longer whether it's afghanistan or iraq, he wants to go in deeper. should have gone in deeper on libya and syria. should be tougher on drawing a bright line earlier than anybody but the israelis in terms of the iranian nuclear threat. everything is go to war, go to war. name anyone in his family history going back or forward who has ever put on a military uniform. they have no intention of participating in all these wars in any way and yet he wants to fight it as an instinct. it doesn't square. you can't have an instinct for martial activity,

we have no idea what the mullahs plan to do if we attack.hey could unleash hezbollah and it's tens of thousands of rockets on israel, unlash hamas in gaza forcing israel to invade killing any number of civilians. where would we be then? mr. romney's performance in foreign affairs to shhis shoot first and request questions later suggests a bull who brings his china shop with him. i'm joined by "the huffington post" howard fineman, john heilemann, and delaware attorney general beau biden. our special guest must be given the first question. you will not like this question, sir, mr. attorney general. >> it's "hardball." >> general, can i call you general? >> beau is good. >> thank you. >> does romney win if it's a tie tonight? does he win if it's a tie? >> the president is going to be the strong decisive commander in chief he always has been and talk about how he has been such a -- look, he's been the most strong commander in chief in mylitime. he said what he said he was going to do. he ended the war in iraq. you have mitt romney talking about

all of these things suggested, i think, to the iranian mullahs that hey, we can keep on push ago long here. we can keep talks going on but we're just going to keep on spinning centrifuges, spinning uranium, preparing to create a nuclear threat to the united states and to the world. that's unacceptable for us, and it's essential for a president to show strength from the very beginning, make it very clear what is acceptable and not acceptable. and an iranian nuclear program is not acceptable to us. they must not develop nuclear capability. and the way to make sure they understand that is by having from the very beginning the tightest sanctions possible. they need to be tightened. our diplomatic isolation needs to be tougher. we need to indict ahmadinejad. we need to put the pressure on them as hard as we possibly can because if we do that we won't have to take the military action. >> bob, let me just respond. nothing governor romney just said is true. starting with this notion of me apologizing. this has been probably the biggest whopper that's been told during the course of this campai

that president obama sort of somehow trying to make peace, trying to persuade these crazy iranian mullahs not to build nukes? is that the most futile thing you've ever heard? >> yes, it was very strange how it was printed in the "new york times" and then hours later denied by the white house. i mean, i think everyone is expecting some sort of october surprise from the obama administration, maybe some poor -- some poor muslim living in libya is going to have to be the victim of a drone attack so obama can announce he got the leaders of the attack on our consul, but i think there will be something to make him look strong on foreign policy. obviously any commander in chief, any sitting president will have the advantage of having been the commander in chief, but i don't think i'd be citing the cia's intelligence to defend myself from this total cover-up. >> how about this, citing osama bin laden? >> the cia knows less about what's going on in the world than the post office. you may as well say i checked with amtrak food service and they didn't notice that it was 9/11 and didn't notice that th

and, oh, by the way, do you honestly think that the mullahs in iran, that the north koreans, that theradical muslims including al-qaeda which supposedly has been defeated but now turns out to have been part of if not all of behind the attack on our ambassador, the murder of our ambassador in benghazi and three of his colleagues, do you honestly think they pay attention to our budget numbers other than hoping they keep on going down? so then what are we talking about here? we're talking about an administration that talks about a pivot to asia and cutting budgets at the same time. of course the pentagon went along with it. when did pentagon not go along with its commander in chief? that doesn't prove a thing. let's go around the world and have a look at how well we really are doing. oh, we're doing very well in the arab spring. how many embassies were attacked? how many demonstrations have been held against us? of great friends in egypt, president morsi lays conditions down in an interview with "the new york times" as to when he'll have good relations with the united states? this by a m

all of these things suggested, i think, to the iranian mullahs that, hey, we can keep on pushing along, we can keep talks going on, we are just going to keep spinning centrifuges. now there are some tend thousand centrifuges spinning uranium, premier -- preparing to create a nuclear threat to the united states and to the world. that is unacceptable to us, and it is essential for a president to show strength from the very beginning to make it very clear what is acceptable and not acceptable. and an iranian nuclear program is not acceptable to us. that was not develop nuclear capabilities. and the way to mature the understand that is by having from the very beginning the tightest sanctions possible. they need to be tightened. our diplomatic isolation needs to be tougher. we need to indict ahmadinejad. when you to put the pressure on them as hard as we possibly can because if we do that we will not have to take the military action. if >> let me just respond. nothing governor romney just said is true, starting with the notion of the apologizing. this has been probably the biggest what bird