. >> jay tapper? >> mr. president, a couple of questions.h the economy at this point. [ laughter ] what can they expect out of that? >> thank you for your question. >> dana: obviously, that is a joke. but timing is everything. and coincidently the reporter in the big was abc news correspondent jake tapper who told laura ingraham that the press may have given obama a pass in 2008. >> i said before i thought the media helped tip the scales, i didn't think the coverage was especially fair to either hillary clinton or john mccain. sometimes the storied collection and magazine covers, photo, campaign coverage wasn't the fairest. >> dana: that reminds me about "casablanca" and being shocked there is gambling in a casino. when you have a guy in press -- why are you laughing at me? >> greg: i don't know. >> dana: i saw, you are laughing uncontrol establishment >> greg: you worried that maybe viewers thought it was real. >> dana: i don't want to people to think president obama was holding up -- i blame the producers. seriously, not a joke. when you h

they are criminals and only ones that aren't. >> and then here's what white house reporter jake tapper had to say on laura ingram's radio show. >> we are spending time in the last few weeks, in the political world and politicians are talking about things other than the economy. a lot of people are hurting out and i would like to see more action taken and more echsis given to the issue. >> jake, i do tompt jake tapper is a professional journalist and i use that term junioralist only to a handful of people when you read the stories, you don't know what they are thinking or if they have a bias or perspective. i put jake in that era and categor. he is being hon etch. particularly the white house press corp will spend days and days on a comment whether it is it joe biden talking about republicans squealing like pigs and both of them using a legitimate joke. joe biden said things that are not funny and mitt's comment was a push back against the whole idea of birther. thank you, jake we'll stick to the important issues and not the nutty stuff . which came first? the chicken or the egg. coming

abc's jake tapper has the story. >> reporter: a state dinner, they called it.t lady michelle obama was front and center. >> is this not cool? this is just so very cool. >> reporter: what was so very cool? the trappings, sure. the beautiful centerpieces and the place cards. but what was interesting were the guests. not statesmen, or celebrities or big-money donors. but kids. though they made their big entrances in fancy threads. >> this is one of the best events we've ever had here. our first-ever kids' state dinner. >> how did these 54 children get invited here? they won the healthy lunchtime challenge, part of the first lady's let's move campaign. >> i'm going to be prepping a salad i like to call secret service supersalad. >> reporter: madeline and michael were picked. >> i remember that. delicious. phenomenal, really. >> reporter: this lighthearted day has a greatly serious context. >> one in three kids of this generation will die of diabetes in their lifetime if we don't change course. >> reporter: and then? >> the president of the united states. >> reporte

diane. >> jake tapper, thank you so much. good to talk to you tonight. >>> now, we ahead overseas to afghanistan, we learned an overnight attack at the bagram air base while the nation's top military general was on the ground. his plane was damaged by rocket fire in the attack. two ground personnel suffered minor injuries. general dempsey was in his quarters. he was unharmed. officials say they do not believe his plane was targeted. they're calling it a lucky shot. >>> and back here at home, an undercover investigation has prompted action by federal investigators. they have shut down a supplier for a popular burger chain in-n-out burger whose tag line is quality in everything. here's brian ross. >> reporter: with the quality you can taste, the west coast in in-n-out burger. hollywooders caught miley cyrus and her family pulling in for their burgers. today, the fabled chain was fighting a public relations nightmare after an animal rights group shot this video in june and july of this year at a meat company that supplies at muc

abc's jake tapper tells us there's a history here, right, jake? >> that's right, diane. no small way mitt romney has selected as his running mate president obama's ideal nemesis. he has never personally squabbled with mitt romney, but he sure has with paul ryan. >> reporter: president obama's real feelings about hissiological foe paul ryan were caught by a microphone last year. the president sneered at ryan claiming the mantel of fiscal 1307b9. >> this is the same guy who voted for two wars that weren't paid for. voted for the bush tax cuts. voted for the prescription drug bill that cost as much as my health care bill that wasn't paid for. >> reporter: the public back and forth hasn't nicer. >> the president has pushed. >> it's a trojan horse. >> they want a government takeover of health care. >> they have tried to sell us this trickle-down fairy dust before. >> reporter: ryan was a leading opponent of obama's health care bill. or as he called it -- >> it's a bill full of gimmicks and smoke and mirrors. >> reporter: and the president's budget as social darwinism -- >> fo

>> all right, jake tapper on politics tonight. thank you, jake. >>> and we turn next to healthy living. a thunder bolt today about fathers, mothers and autism in children. we've heard so often about the age of the mother as a risk factor in genetic disorders. but today, a study from the journal "nature" provides new evidence about the age of the father, and how that affects the risk. here's abc's medical editor dr. richard besser. >> reporter: autism, one of medicine's greatest puzzles, has some new math, about older dads. dads like ray siegel. >> let's figure out if there's a genetic factor. >> reporter: his sons oscar and hugo are both youautistic. for the first time, sign tilss are spelling out mathematically, who the je neatic material in men changes as they age. unlike moms, dads have an average of 25 mutations at age 20, growing to 65 mutations at age 40. could that be part of the reason that older men, particularly dads over 50, are much more likely to father an autistic child? we know dads who are over 50, when compared to

jake tapper, abc news, the white house. >> and time now get "the bottom line." i want to bring in "good morning america" co-anchor, anchor of "this week," george stephanopoulos. great to see you, george. what are you watching tonight? >> well, here's the next big thing mitt romney got to fix. he got a big jolt from paul ryan over the weekend. from the abc news/"washington post" poll it shows romney's unfavorability rating. 49% right now much higher than a year ago in september 2011. as more people came to know him that number went up. they've got to bring that down. the convention is the next big place for that to happen. but the romney team says they can win even if he's not well liked, if they convince people he's got a credible plan to fix the economy. >> and what do you see as the next move from the white house? now, what are they saying behind those closed-do doors? >> well, what they want is two straight months of job growth. not much they can do about that. if the debate is about big government, versus small government, the president loses. if it's about

money these candidates are raising more than the money we as a nation are spending, that is what tappers tapping, this frustration, the things that are really important are those issues that media is missing. actually ignoring, not saying that mitt romney with his dog on his car roof is not interesting, but that this economy still being in the dog house is more interesting, i am not argue that president at hollywood fundraisers is not neat to cover but more folks in the unemployment lines is more important to cover, this is not about red or blue, it is getting it right, that does not mean beat up the president or the guy challenging him to be president, how about debating both their economic arguments then decides who will be a better president, that is what matters, we should throttle those who argue this other nonsense, but that is just me, i am a nerd . >> so scott barton saying it is the economy stupid, and the media and the rest of us have to get onboard with that, this is ridiculous. >> it is. just look at will polls, the young voters. a lot of debts building up, that is a place t

giving them a signature tapper grilling. over to bianna now. >>> we'll turn now to the story of the case of missing california woman, who disappeared while her husband said free-diving. police delivered the news overnight, that the family have feared most. new questions this morning. abc's john muller joins us with more. >> reporter: heartbreak for a california family. her body positively i.d. just a few hours ago. they're still one big unanswered question, how did this experienced swimmer die, was this an accident? search helicopters spent the week scouring the l.a. coast coming up empty. it was divers who found the body. off of her favorite beach. for her family who posted flyers on the beach it's the worst nightmare. she was an experienced diver. >> it's so weird for her to fall victim to the water. she's a strong swimmer. >> reporter: rebecca was reported missing by her husband, he told police she left her apartment a week ago to dive at her favorite beach. when she didn't return, he found her suv. and calling 911. homic

mark and jake tapper, let's see them never do another story about mitt romney's tax returns.something we will keep an eye on. thank you. jon: and former coworker, saying peterson offered him $25,000 to find someone to kill his wife. plus the impact of testimony will have on the case against peterson. our legal panel weighs in moments from now. plus, the battle for the battleground state and how close the races. the event congressman ryan is coming on the gop ticket. uma: welcome back, everybody. explosive testimony at the drew peterson murder trial as a former colleague testifies that peterson offered him $25,000 to hire someone to kill his third wife kathleen savio. the witness telling jurors the request was made months before savio was found dead in her bathtub in 2004. the defense accused the witness making up the whole story to get his 15 minutes of fame. joining us now with thoughts on all this, joey jackson, former prosecutor and criminal defense attorney. and defense attorney dwane cates. >> good morning. uma: the prosecutors handed a legal victory from the judge, the

this is jake tapper. >> thanks a lot. that's abc news. we hope

. >> jake tapper said as much on abc saying the democrats wanted to make mr.akin the vice presidential running mate to mitt romney. >> to question richard nixon, i gave them the ammunition with which to destroy me. akin gave them all the ammo they needed. idiotic outrageous statement he made and why any republican candidate is talking about anything other than jobs and the economy is beyond belief. but, the reason it gained so much traction it played in the democrat -- once he fed into that they amplified it and the democrats got onboard with it and using it as campaign fodder. >>> did has been shaking her head. >> i don't think is a liberal vs. conservative issue. i think when you have a vice presidential candidate to be, who has sponsored, with mr. akin, nine, at least nine different proposals to restrict women's rights to abortion and to limit their access or i should say our access to family planning and health care, you can argue about whether or not the republican party is sufficiently sensitive to the -- [ talking over each other ] >> are you saying it

. >> greta: i don't know if you have seen the jake tapper report.news, a blunt straight reporter made a remark to laura ingram on her radio show saying in 2008 the media tipped the scales in favor of president obama. i suspect at this point you don't disagree with jake tapper on that? >> probably not. but i still believe it was the economy and a bad campaign that we he ran. i will take credit. i will take the blame. i really think the economy had something to do with it. but i also want to emfamous again there are certain areas that should transcend party politics. as a george mason study said, 1.1 million job letts be lost. over a trillion dollars out of the gdp. we are just starting to sew some signs of improvement in the economy. i guarantee you in arizona losing 3,650 jobs and 300 -- and $3 billion out of the state's economy will drive us right back into a recession. we are not only talking about national security security, we are talking about the nation's economy. >> greta: coming up federal agents say the obama administration is forcing them

jake tapper of abc news says in 2008, the media helped tip the scales in favor of barack obama away from hillary clinton and senator john mccain. i know you think the media's biased. but do you have instance this is go round wrtd media's done that against your candidate? >> well, i mean, i think so. i mean, i think it's pretty clear that the media has a love affair with barack obama. and clearly eye mean, he's got nothing to run on. i mean, the fact that we could be running days on end about nothing that has anything to do with what barack obama promised this country and what he has delivered, we know that that is what the american people care b. we know that the american people care about, here's what you promised on job, here's what you promised on the debt and the deficit. and what did you do deliver? but instead, the media enjoys playing -- i valid to say, the -- i would have to say, the barack obama media game, over and over again. this is why, greta, to raise the kind of money that we need to raise in order to be competitive because the way we have to get our message out and we do

jake tapper, abc news, theheati. >> numbers for paul ryan have gone up.since dan quayle. long time ago, right. but interestingly enough, guess who is going to be giving the keynote address at the gop convention. >> i hatppen to know. chris christie. governor chris yisy of new jers jersey -- christie of new jersey. >> a very fiery speaker. has in your face, man on the street. a great speech the i guarantee it. >> he said he is drafting it himself. exactly. he says that in his speech, he is going to focus on making the case for electing mitt romney than the one against re-election president obama. he says the word are going to be his own. and i am sure they will be. >> huge platform for him. darling of a lot of people. this is going to be huge, huge primetime spot. >> who was keynote speaker in 2004. >> one president obama. >> want on to win the pre densiy four years later. >> thank you for the quiz. >> i told hem i would ask him. he passed it with flying colors. >>> the federal government is spending millions on drought relief to help farmers and ranchers.

should sh that have been the lead question, and does jake tapper have a point that we get wrapped upuch in day-to-day issues instead of the substantive issues. >> jake is a friend of mine. he was speaking out of frustration. as dana pointed out it is like chasing rabbits, that the media is kind of like grey hounds going after the rabbit on a stick. both campaigns do it. they try to put that rabbit out there for the day trying to steer the day's events by what each candidate or the president is doing and saying. and they throw out little tidbits, and if they are successful the grey hounds follow the rabbit and it ends up into a lead story on some network newscast. to jake's point is that there are so much huge issues in this election. it's like drinking from a fire hose, you have so much to choose from that are big issues, that it's sometimes frustrating when as a group the media focuses on smallish use. megyn: and to his credit at the press conference when it went to jake tapper he asked the president about afghanistan and syria, both serious situations. go ahead, dana. >> the other

as abc's jake tapper reports.n damage control mode hoping to hang on to women voters. >> reporter: in addition to visiting virginia and north carolina -- paul ryan also fielded questions on his stalwart opposition to abortion. even as opposed to mitt romney in cases of rain and incest. >> i am proud of my record. and mitt romney will be the president. the president sets policy. his is exception, rape, incest, life of the mother. >> the rob nelson campaign called attention to ryan's support for a controversial abortion bill. under current law, abortions cannot be paid for with federal fund except in rare cases such as rape, ryan supported narrowing the deaf nfinition to include forcible rape. in a pittsburgh interview, ryan refused to explain or acknowledge this. >> you sponsored the legislation that has the language forcible rape. what is that? >> rape is rape, end of story. >> that forcible rape language meant nothing to you at the time? >> the obama campaign is drawing attention to the issues and not say 8.3% un

but as abc's jake tapper tells us tonight, some top republicans are watching and worrying. >> reporterthis was generally not seen by republican officials as a sign of a campaign on message. >> i want to bring as much clarity as possible. >> reporter: mitt romney with a white board, struggling to help people understand his position. >> so this is the president's plan. >> reporter: and more important, the subject matter. the romney campaign now finds itself consumed by one topic. >> plans by paul ryan. >> medicare as an option? >> mitt romney has his own plan. >> reporter: specifically, the plan proposed by romney's new running mate, paul ryan, to turn medicare into a voucher-like system for future retirees. republican sources say the romney campaign did not expect this much attention on the topic, and its response has sometimes been confusing. one minute surrogates distancing the romney medicare plan from ryan's. >> but it's very different. >> reporter: the next minute. >> paul ryan and my plan for medicare, i think, is the same, if not eidentical. >> reporter: former republican congres