so i think it's a very half-baked plan. >> woodruff: come back to you stephen moore. it's not just rick perry, it's herman cain with the famous 999 plant, it's newt gingrich, governor jon huntsman who are talking about a flat tax. as you look at those proposals, is there one that's better than the others in your mind and how many americans are paying taxes today. what percentage of americans pay taxes? >> great point, first of all, i think newt gingrich said something very wise in the last republican debate when he said "look, at least republicans... they have all these different plans out there, the 999 plan, this flat tax. they're having a very substantive debate about what to do about this tax code which is simply indefensible. everybody agrees we have to get rid of it and start over-- at least among republican voters. so it's a very healthy debate and liberals are reactionary. they want to defend the status quo, not move to something perot growth. and probability, here's the key point i would make about this plan. you say it's regressive and the poor will get hit

stephen moore still with me. weight do you give this whole notion that the divided congress is a reflection of a divided nation. if you're mad at washington, mad at yourself. >> no question the congress does reflect a big divide in the country in terms of where to take it. you see it in the polls. the democratic party has moved to the left. i don't think there's any question under obama. the republican party is more of a conservative party than it's been at least since the 1980s. that does reflect divisions among the public about what to do about this country. it's interesting, normally when you have divided government in washington, usually the economy does very well. the economy usually likes divided government. >> checks and balances that brings things toward the middle which is where most people live. in this case we have gridlock that pushes us to the edges. >> right. the deals aren't getting done. there's no progress. what you've got is paralysis now not deals. >> it's not even paralysis i think. i think it

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stephen moore, a good friend of the show, editorial writer with the "wall street journal." this week, as expected, president obama's jobs plan failed to pass the senate with an election in november 2012, just over a year away, are we looking at another major overhaul in congress and perhaps the white house? are we looking at a situation where voters might say throw all the bums out? >> yeah, we are. i've been looking at these numbers. you have, too. i've never seen incumbents in washington so unpopular, even more unpopular than in 1994 when we had a big election and threw the bums out. this is not a good time to be an incumbent, republican or democrat. some of the political pros i'm talking to are thinking maybe as 100 incumbents in the house could lose, which would be a near record. >> for conservatives like you, fiscal conservatives like you, what is the best strategic way to achieve your goals given everybody is mad at everybody right now. >> look, i do think it starts with the president. i don't think this plan that he put forward is a serious jobs plan. to increase tax

. >>> chrystia freelander and economist stephen moore. the president traveling through battle grounds on a key trip, wants to push congress to pass every part of his jobs act piece by piece. what is this about? whose job is he looking for. >> my view is if he had really been serious about passing a jobs bill earlier this year, if he had moved to the middle he might have gotten something through congress. once he started talking about a big tax increase on the rich, there was no way republicans were going to go to that. i think this has become a polit debate, not what we can pass now. that's a problem when you have 4 million unemployed people. >> didn't they teach the white house there was going to be no consensus and trying to do a deal, trying actually to move to the center is what the white house tried to do over the debt ceiling isn't going to work. you talk to the white house -- precisely for that reason you talk to people at the white house they say actually we really tried hard to do a deal and we think it's a huge mistake because t

. >> stephen moore, thank you so much. on you can pick up steven moore's book called "return to prospirty." we love steven moore because sometimes he goes against the far right and stays in the middle. >> i'm not sure that i agree with his views on this, but he certainly lays them out very well. big kudos to stephen moore and to herman cain for putting some meat on this conversation. everybody on both sides of this debate say, i would like tax reform. somebody said something about it. >> at least herman cain has a plan. you can't say that about the other candidates. >> mitt romney and -- >> oh, yes. 59 point. >> there's something every election there's some simple plan, right. last time huckabee came out with the flat tax idea and paul ryan -- ron paul has ideas about eliminating taxes but this one caught fire this time. >> he's talked about it a lot. host the western republican presidential debate in las vegas live next tuesday, october 18th at 8:00 p.m. eastern. anderson cooper will moderate and carol costello will be the

stephen moore from the "wall street journal" will be here. that situation getting pretty interesting. how about this, tragedy under "friday night lights." it happened on the sidelines of a high school football game. how a 16-year-old cheerleader lost her life. gregg: plus he rocket he had to the top tier of the republican field, so is the former ceo of godfather's pizza a real threat on the campaign trail? who herman cain is going after now and some newfound publicity. >> we need your help. we can defy the odds. with your help you can send a problem-selfer to the white house in november 2012. [cheers and applause] gregg: a fox news alert. the gop primary season and dates for individual primaries being shaken up. fox news just learning that south carolina primary will be the 21st of january. that moves it ahead of florida, which it announced days ago that they were going to leapfrog over the republican schedule and hold theirs on january 31st. larry sabato, director of center for politics at the university of virginia joins us, and larry, we w

stephen moore, good morning to gliew hi bill, great to be with you.l: i guess you're doing something right if you're hit from both sides. is that the way the saying goes? if neither side likes it? >> i think herman cain has by far the boldest plan of any presidential candidate in the republican party and much more bold than what president obama is proposing. i don't like everything about the plan. we wrote somewhat critically about it last week, saying what made us nervous about the plan, bill, is the idea of adding a 9 percent sales tax on top of the income tax. that's sort of the more europe model where you have income and national sales taxes at the same time. but i will say this, if you can get those tax rates on corporations and small businesses down to 9 percent, that would be like rocket fuel for this economy. bill: you think that's a winner. so the business flat tax would be 9 percent, the individual flat tax, 9 percent, national sales tax would be 9 percent. the left is saying that lower and middle income families would pay more, the right is

stephen moore and "the wall street journal" joins us on that. >> we're from florida. i will be probably going home and starting my own movement in florida. we came here friday and got arrested saturday. the best approach to food is tkeep it whole for better nutrition. that's what they do with great grains cereal. they steam and bake the actual whole grain while the otr guy's flake is more processed. mmm. great grains. the whole whole grain cereal. me too. you booked our room right? not yet, thanks for reminding me. wait, what? fret not ma'lady. i have the hotels.com app so we can get a great deal even at the last minute. ah, well played sir. download the free hotels.com app and get exclusive mobile deals. hotels.com. be smart. book smart. bill: got a fox news alert now and breaking news. 70 people now reported dead after a catastrophic attack. branch al qaeda, this is somalia. truck bomb be blast tearing through a crowded security check point. al shahab claiming responsibility. two somali women out of minnesota were indicted on charges sending money to the group. most

art latford, currently head of lat fehr center and co-author of stephen moore on return to prosperity and wrote an article published in the wall street journal that refuted all of the false claims made against 9-9-9 the other night during the debate. before i tell you what he concluded with his own analysis, it never felt so good being shot at. never felt so good being shot at. because as alvita king said, they didn't think of it first and they don't have a credible plan. to the accusation that a new sales tax could be raised in the future, not the laffer response, so could any other tax. what makes that one any different? to the accusation that it is not revenue neutral, dr. laffer concludes, i believe his plan, herman cain, will be status revenue neutral and the boost it would give to the economic growth it would bring in even more revenue than expected. and to the accusation that this will not generate economic growth, dr. laffer puts out, output will soar as will jobs. tax receive news will also increase enormously. not because tax rates have increased but because marginal tax rat

gale, from four things, followed by growth in requests , -- grover norquist, and then followed by stephen moore. bill? >> thank you for inviting me here. i want thank aei hosting the event and having mr. cain come in and talk. the very entertaining discussion. it is appropriate that we talk about 9-9-9 on halloween. i did not mean backup it is haunted. i mean the premise of the plan is based on a trick and a treat. the tricks -- and i really was this trip were true -- is that tax reform will unleash massive economic expansion. the tree is what many high- income households will get under 9-9-9. i say this as someone who has long talked about tax reform and would like to see the tax reform. i think herman cain and i agree on a number of issues. i believe we should change the income tax to reduce, curtail, or eliminate many of the current deductions, exclusions, special subsidies, etc. i have been writing about this for 15 years. some people say ad nauseam. like herman cain, i believe the u.s. should set up the value- added tax, joining the 150 other countries around the world who use that tax. i