jared bernstein and ron christie. e that deal on a napkin for $4.7 trillion, buddy. >>> the wealth gap in this country is the wide nest in a quarter century. but a new report shows when it comes to having more money, it sure helps to be white. >>> and one of fox's news anchors thinks we should stop paying grandma her social security checks so we can go to war. every day, all around the world, energy is being produced to power our lives. while energy developement comes with some risk, north america's natural gas producers are committed to safely and responsibly providing decades of cleaner burning energy for our country, drilling thousands of feet below fresh water sources within self contained well systems and using state of the art monitoring technologies, rigorous practices help ensure our operations are safe and clean for our communities and the environment we are america's natural gas. excuse me? my grandfather was born in this village. [ automated voice speaks foreign language ] [ male announcer ] in here, everyon

jared bernstein and ron christie. e that deal on a napkin for $4.7 trillion, buddy. >>> the wealth gap in this country is the widest in a quarter century. but a new report shows when it comes to having more money, it sure helps to be white. >>> and one of fox's news anchors thinks we should stop paying grandma her social security checks so we can go to war. mine was earned over the south pacific in 1943. vietnam, 1967. i got mine in iraq, 2003. u.s.a.a. auto insurance is often handed down from generation to generation, because it offers a superior level of protection and because u.s.a.a.'s commitment to serve the military, veterans, and their families is without equal. begin your legacy. get an auto insurance quote. u.s.a.a. we know what it means to serve. >>> welcome back to "the ed show." you know, from time to time on this program, i talk about the income disparity and also the concentration of wealth in this country. well, here's another side effect of a lousy economy. the financial gains made by minority communiti

and ron christie. good to have you with us tonight.proof positive that here she is surging in the polls, raising credible money, she's gone from 4% to 13% nationally. she's right behind romny. there you see the numbers. she's a force in gaining. is she a threat to the establishment republicans, and this is one of these stories they can't wait to get out there. what do you think? >> sure, ed, you're right. look, it is a hit piece, and i think a lot of people in the republican establishment are wishing that you and some of the rest of us have succeeded in getting rid of her in the 2010 election, but the tide was too strong. the real question here is, they can't say what they object to. it's not her headaches, her head is filled with dangerous fantasies that she makes mistakes, that she seems is far out of the mainstream. and they think she can't win, the problem is, she can win the republican nomination, because one person's fantasy is another person's fate, she can command a legion of tea party faithful and conceivably win that nominati

ron christie is a republican strategist who worked for both presidents bush. tart with you as we take a look at those numbers. is he losing steam? trying to raise money in london at the moment. wouldn't he have already got what he can get at this moment when you take a look at fund-raising? >> good afternoon, richard. i think actually governor romney is in remarkably strong shape. if you look at the $18.5 million he collected in this last quarter, this is money that's going to be spent only for the primary election. the distinction between a lot of the other candidates that are raising money for the primary and the general, the $18.5 million romney raised was just for the primary. he has several more months to go, several more fund-raisers to attend. if people don't look beneath the surface they don't realize how strong the numbers actually are. >> it is early going. mark, giuliani and perry, going back to that poll, two noncandidates polling higher than pawlenty and huntsman at the moment. why haven't we seen settling in the group as of yet? >> let the crazine

really want, we're joined now live by democratic strategist crystal ball and republican strategist ron christieou know, republicans have said time and again they won't budge on the tax issue. and some of them would like to be on record saying they did not vote for the debt ceiling. when you look at this, is this realistic? >> i think it is very realistic, richard. i think there are a lot of republicans out there that are looking at the crushing debt we have in this country and say 14 trillion is enough. we don't knee neneed to increas, we have a spending problem. but at the same time in a short-term fix we can raise the debt ceiling but we're not going to give the president 2, 3 trillion dollars because that's only adding to the spending addiction. >> crystal, on the democrats' side the debate is really back on the hill at this point away from the white house. so we're hearing at the moment. there's some criticism that the president came to this debate a little bit late in the game. what do you think needs to happen right now in terms of political cover on the president's side as well as from t

tara and ron christie joins me this morning. tara, i want to start with you. one report described this as mr. compromise as mr. my way or the highway. now we are hearing from luke and hearing about the boehner bill and saying from the speaker this morning to his people, get your tail in line. get behind this. now is it mr. my way or the highway to his own people? >> i think john boehner is being my way or the highway to his own people. as we have seen, he is having a difficult time getting consensus and support within his own party. he is determined to advance a bill he cannot get through his own party. i think what needs to happen is seven out of ten americans said this in the latest pew poll. they want to see compromise. the democrats have shown a willingness, too much of a willingness to compromise and try to build consensus to save our country from worsening the economic crisis that we are already in. >> ron, what is your opinion? we are talking about the left and the right and we are losing out with the compromise. to come up with a draft to agree on and

with me is political reporter for the washington post, nia çmalika henderson, a gop strategist, ron christielicans in his handling of the debt fight has some wondering if his job as speaker is in jeopardy. he talked to nbc's bryant williams about it today. >> mr. speaker is it fair to say you have a bit after rebellion on your hands? or do you feel -- >> oh, i've got a little rebellion on my hands everyday. it comes with the territory. >> never let them see you sweat. >> williams then asked if his speakership rides on this. boehner responded, quote, oh, i wouldn't go that far. but this is a big moment. so ron, would you go that far? does list speakership rider on this debt fight? >> good evening, reverend al. i think he is in perfect shape. have you 78 members of the freshman class trying to stop the spending addition we have here in washington. he brought his responsibilities as speaker of the thousand govern the ins tougs but the fact that people are suggesting that his speakership would ride on the balance that there's not a deal that's accept a f acceptable is nonsense. he is well liked

christy, used to work for the vermont governor, ron, used to work for deny hastert. enjoy the rest of your weekend. >> thanks so much. >> arthel: this is a fox news alert. heavy fighting in libya. the rebels holding the high ground on the outskirts of tripoli. we're getting reports of pro-gadhafi forces unleashing a brutal attack, killing at least ten rebels in the key oil port of braga. leeland vittert with the latest. >> arthel, we're having these battles go back and forth. and you see the grad rockets being fired. it's dramatic video, but neither side being able to make any gains on the battlefield. you were talking about big distances and very key cities, especially when it comes to the town of braga, which is where the video you're seeing is coming out of. it's a fierce battle because of the key oil refinery that gadhafi holds and there is a battle going on in the western mountains as the rebels try to cut off an oil pipeline supplying tripoli right now. but the rebels aren't able to project enough power in order to take any of these towns. gadhafi's forces aren

christi in texas. good morning, matt. >> reporter: hey, ron.ell, this is exactly what texans did not want to see this morning, clear sky, just a gentle breeze and dry pavement. tropical storm don broke up almost as soon as it hit the texas coast. that's how dry and how hot it has been here. the only rain that some parts of texas did get is brownsville, texas, only half an inch and, unfortunately, brownsville was one of the places that didn't need it. cotton farmers were concerned that it would rip cotton off the stalks, so they frantically harvested it yesterday. apparently there was no need to do that, so as a drought buster, tropical storm don wasn't really effective, and this place still needs 15 inches of rain, ron. >> okay, matt gutman reporting from corpus christi. >>> finally the phone hack iing scandal rocking rupert murdoch's british newspapers may be reaching across the atlantic. reporters at the murdoch owned "new york post" have been told to hold on to any documents that may be related to phone hacking or paying off british police.

tim pawlenty, ron paul, michele bachmann, even governor chris christie who says he's not running areucus state today, and that's where we find steve brown. he's in ames, iowa, keeping an eye on all those running and, i guess, not running. >> reporter: or in some cases almost not running. [laughter] the level of activity has everything to do with the straw poll which comes up on the second saturday of august. it's traditionally an early indicator of which organization, which campaign organization really has the muscle to be able to move people in a caucus-like way that they're going to have to do coming up in february. ron paul's name you probably should watch out for. some of the other iowa campaigns note that paul has been very active but off of the radar. and while most candidates and campaigns try to dumb down expectations saying, oh, we won't do that, well, so that they can exceed expectations, apparently ron paul hasn't gotten that memo. have a listen. >> i wished i could say that i am the front runner, and nobody's ahead of me, and it's a shoo-in. but the truth is that we can d

congresswoman michelle bachmann and texas congressman ron paul and there is one major noncandidate, in iowa today, and that is new jersey governor chris christiever, still insisting he's not in the race. bill: good question for steve brown, right, live in iowa now, not talking presidential politics. what brings the new jersey governor to iowa, steve? >> reporter: well, actually, it was an invitation by the iowa governor, and, he's putting together a several-day education summit beginning today and months ago, they reached out to christie noting what he had done in terms of trying to change the educational landscape of new jersey and invited him in and of course, despite the fact that christie's answers on whether or not he'd run for the white house, he said, no, no and no. and, he is still probably going to get questions about whether or not there would be some set of circumstances, and certainly there are a number of folks, nationally and in iowa who have visited with him to try to convince him to run but he has not yet. bill: so the two minnesotans in the race now, are trading sharp elbows, bachmann... >> reporter: and tim pawlenty, absolute

christie in iowa. he's visiting the battleground state to help republican congressman steve king's re-election and to attend an education summit. also in iowa today, republican presidential candidates michelle bachmann, tim pawlenty and ronl. staying busy. gretch, over to you. >> countdown is on now. eight days left for lawmakers to reach a deal on the debt ceiling. president obama talking about the importance of getting serious about the national deficit but do the president's words match with his leadership? joining me now this morning is our washington insiders katie pavlich, news editor of "town hall" and david mercer, former national deputy director for the dnp and political strategist. good morning to both of you. >> good morning. >> let me start with you, katie, because up until recently, the president didn't seem to be that involved in the debt situation, your thoughts? >> my thoughts, i think it was clear over the weekend the president is more concerned with his re-election campaign than actually getting a deal done. at this point, we have right on time a short term deal is the only thing going to get us through and i think he needs to understand that august 2nd is not when the debt debate is going to end. we ha