he worked at the white house under george w. bush. the white house. here is what he had to say. >> the obama white house developed their own website. they are in charge of white house.gov. they are responsible for monitoring that. they are responsible for making sure people can't misuse whitehouse.gov. from that point they failed. in that respect the explanation is not thorough. in my view, place blame where it shouldn't be instead of pointing in the mirror and looking at third parties. >> we'll continue to go after the third parties to get some answers about what they knew and how they could have played a role, possibly. bill: shannon bream live in our d.c. bureau in washington. megyn: the windy city is running out of money and something has to give. what happens when a major city completely shuts down? you're about to find out live in chicago. bill: also, what was bob dylan doing in back of a police cruiser? wouldn't you like to know? cheti) ( whooshing, riders cheering ) gathering dust, as pollen floats through the air. but with the

do you think the white house, president obama specifically, allowed critics to take control of the messageto get out? >> well, i think what has happened, jamie, is a very common mistake that many white houses make. that is the president took this debate to a high level. he took it public so to speak in a very, in a very big way. if you go back to june or so when they did the primetime evening program with charl char gibson at abc, the poll numbers began to fall at that point in time. this isn't just a criticism of president obama, many have fallen in the same trap of thinking they can be more persuasive than they really can be. what happens when white house goes public are three things. number one, their own supporters tend to become the most positive. it's like preaching to the choir. there is countermobilization on the other side where people who might not be attuned to the president get active and opposed. that's what we've seen this summer. there is a third group of people in the middle, the independent voters, people maybe who aren't paying that much attention. once they see the decib

the white house says, we do not really have a plan yet. we're waiting for congress to work out the details. the white house said today in an e-mail, essentially what the white house is looking for is health insurance reform, ways to require health insurers to provide insurance, not allow them to knock people off for pre-existing conditions. some of the things that a year- and-a-half ago, the health- insurance industry voluntarily agreed to do to try to head off more comprehensive health-care reform. it appears the white house is defining success differently than it did when this began in large measure. as it has pushed for more more ambitious health-care reforms, the public has gotten more skeptical. trace: i want to talk to you about pharmaceuticals. everybody is concerned about this. what can you tell us about the push for shorter patents? >> is a big debate within the whole health care issue that deals not with the kinds of drugs that are derived chemically, but biologics. these are new way of drugs derived by living plant or animal sale

>> because it's the white house. neral public gets access after a certain number of years. >> if you e-mail the white house it's a public situation and they can't mess with it. >> yes. even the aclu has come out and said this is a bad idea, white house, you shouldn't be doing this. >> they don't need people to inform on other people. >> it shouldn't be americans against their neighbors. you gotta look at the greater context. you have nancy pelosi saying these people are swats stickers. you got president obama saying these going to fight them. high ranking democrats. the white house reaching out to people saying your neighbors are saying something about healthcare. send their complaint with the e-mail. >> there's one good thing about this thing, that hemmer may go to jail. if you sent the e-mail that hemmer was complaining, he might go to jail. >> hemmer wasn't really complaining. minor story. cop's wife poses in playboy. >> housewives, 2008. >> since that happened, his wife has been a living hell because the city is g

it's the big story at the white house today. so we want to bring biin bill burton, the white house deputy press secretary. thanks for being with us. >> you betcha. >> for the first time in several months, more than a year, actually, we saw the unemployment rate actually drop. my question to you is, number one, does the white house take credit for that? is this white house policies in action? number two, if that's the case, how do you square that with the fact that you still expect unemployment to top 10%? >> well, savannah, we think that the report today is obviously the least bad report that we've had since this year started. and when you combine that with the gdp moving in the right direction from last week, we do think there are some encouraging signs in the economy. obviously, that's little comfort to the 250,000 americans that lost their jobs. but the president believes that the recovery plan has had an impact and has gotten people back to work, has kept some people in their jobs. and has moved economic growth in the right d

what has the white house response been today, dan? reporter: suzanne, on the latest developments, the white house continues to have a no comment, but clearly here, this is a situation they are saying sensitive, they want to be cautious. i do want to take you behind-the-scenes, bring you up to date on how we got to this point. the story first broke last night roughly between 8:30, 9:00 is when we first found out about it, it reached out to some of our contacts here at the white house and given some indication the white house was receiving a statement, that was according to source. quickly, the white house decided to take a no comment stance. it didn't matter what information bed wed been giving by sources earlier, they simply said no comment t wasn't until this morning, almost ten hours later, that a short statement was put out by the white house and essentially suggesting they would make no former comment as long as this mission by former president clinton was on the ground that gives us an indication of where the white house is in te

citizens will be the reported to the white house. ne the outage if your predecessor asked e-mails to be forwarded to the white house. i suspect you would have been leading the charge in condemning such a program and i would have been at your side denouncing such heavy-handed government action." what about this, michael? >> i think senator cornyn is getting a little overwrought about this, but this should not have come from the white house t might be legitimate coming from the democratic national committee or one of the democratic astroturf groups out. there i mean, david axelrod, the president's chief advisor was an astroturf special specialist in terms of organizing people that would come together. bret: as opposed to grassroots. >> yes, as opposed to grassroots. it is a weak attempt to intimidate people. what is fascinating when pro democratic healthcare groups sent out these mass e-mails that say show up, come here, show how much you're in favor of the president's position, they get a handful of people. these other groups, or just

we begin tonight with more on the issue of privacy, and how the white house obtained e-mail addresses for hundreds of people who never gave them to the administration to get information on healthcare reform. senior white house correspondent major garrett tried to he get some answers thursday from the president's chief spokesman. he has the latest now on his continuing investigation. >> i would be interested to see who you got that e-mail from and whether or not they're on the list. >> well, you're asking me if they are on a list. i can't double-check without the list. >> fox news has received hundreds ofest mails who say that this letter from david axelrod landed in their in-box without them having requested any communication whatsoever from the obama white house. fox has repeatedly offered to share e-mail addresses with gibbs to find out how the recipients landed on the whiteh. gibbs has declined to respond. some recipients like lou pore that of uta are irked. >> it is not a function of the white house to get somebody's e-mail address, and don't know who they are distributing it to.

it's an attempt by the white house to stop the president's health care plan from collapsing altogether. dan lothian has our report from the white house. dan? >> indeed. the white house, as you know, has been hosting these town hall meetings around the country and they also put up this meeting to debunk the myths out there. now comes this e-mail from david axelrod who is the senior advisor to the president. it reads, "across the country we are seeing vig yous debate about health insurance reform. unfortunately some of the old tactics that we now are back. even the viral and where we do disagree, let's disagree over things that are real, not the misrepresentations that bear no resemblance to anything that has been proposed. this, again, is showing how the white house is concerned and perhaps even frustrated that their message is getting lost in all of the noise. take a list zone to what robert gibbs had to say today at his daily briefing. >> i think he believes very strongly, as we talked about how to address misconceptions or misimpressions about the bills. i do believe that the preside

fox has offered the white house examples of what hundreds of people all over the country are saying, ived e-mails that they never requested. fox senior white house correspondent major garrett is live in washington and pretty much at the center of all of this. you posed all the questions that essentially got the white house to finally respond and now, when they do respond, they say, they did not send e-mails to those that did not request it so what gives? >> the white house is essentially, julie blaming third parties, either interest groups on the left or interest groups on the right and the mechanism that the white house tell us they believe is behind people receiving e-mails from the white hou house, that they did not request and do not want is that these interest groups have essentially conducted the white house says to me, online petitions. meanwhile they complain or they support something that the white house is doing. and send in all the membership lists on their various advocacy groups in the form of an e-mail. these e-mails then because of the online activity on the white house

tomorrow the president will be holding what the house white house is calling a live strategy meeting with grass-roots supporter. keith boykin is a democratic strategist and editor-in-chief of the daily voice. good to see you. these legions of grass-roots supporters, will they support the president on this. >> i think they already have been. the problem is they don't know where the president is or will be on the health care issue. they need to see some clear definitive statement he's going to stand by something, for example, the public option so they don't feel like their feet are being out from underneath them. >> and so then i wonder what can be gained by tomorrow's session if we've already heard that the president has not decided on for example, as you bring you, the public option something we believe is of great interest to many of the grassroots activists. he's not going to decide that we hear for at least a month, what kind of message will the president bring to gather their support. >> i think what the president needs to do is reassure the liberal democratic progressive activity

i don't remember hearing these words coming from the bush white house and i'm not a defender of the bush white house by any stretch of the imagination, but i don't remember anyone saying anything like that coming out of george bush's realm. they're political hacks that said some awful things, but this, really, calling the republicans a mob. >> it is character as nation. it began in '94, '95 with the clinton administration, with the monica lewinsky thing when anyone said what happened here? if you challenged the clinton administration, they went after you, your family, your business. it is a viciousness that you see on the left. glenn: i mean, look, i'm a political talk show host and anchor. i have said vicious things. that's different than the administration coming out and saying these kinds of things. you have an official endorsement of this kind of talk is dangerous in this country, is it not, frank? >> this is what happens when there is no accountability. the republicans are so weak in washington that it is so hard for them to hold the democrats accountable and the american people are

he just has to be very careful to make nice with the north koreans and leave the rest to the white house. >> there's the north korean news agency and it's not been confirmed by msnbnbc, but they reporting that the white house has created negotiated a special pardon for the journalists. but as far as how this story will play out, would you expect that first word about the american journalists and the possible success of bill clinton would first come from pyongyang. >> something like pardon is something that they will use because that means that there was a crime commit. and i think that the north koreans want to say to the world, these people did something wrong, they were tried and found guilty in our legal system, but as a favor to the united states and as a hum humanitarian gesture, they are now going to pardon then. >> kevin sullivan, "the washington post" foreign editor. and tamron just in the few seconds we have been on, now it says that kim jong-il has ordered the release of the two journalists. this is a huge story on so many levels, whether it's bill clinton's legacy, or the pers

the white house says that if you do not want to receive anything from the white house, he will not getonsible for the spam, but that the third parties were responsible. more broadly, they were responsible for what happens on the larger level. megyn: going back to that first piece of news in this, first we had the white house e-mail asking for a suspicious e-mails. then we had all of the spam, which they said was attributable to a third party user is getting on the web site. what about these fishy e-mails? have they officially denied that any of these -- like if bill hemmer sends me that death panels are bad and the white house will have them, i say that that is fishy and i send it to the white house. then bill hemmer get an e-mail from the white house. has the white house clarified if they are sending e-mails to people like him? >> the white house has tried to clarify that, saying that the only way that bill hemmer could receive an e-mail address, it would have to be of some one put it in on his behalf, they always said that they were never using anything reported to move the data over

mixed messages from the white house. a's health care plan must include a government-run insurance program known by the white house as the public option. and federal prosecutors have charged a man in florida in the largest credit and debt card scam in history. a theft case really the feds say the suspect tried to steal 130 million account numbers. and on this day in 1969, hurricane camille slammed into the mississippi gulf coast as one of the most powerful hurricanes of the 20th sen trismt the fast-moving storm had become a hurricane just three days before. it had strengthened to a monstrous category 5 in fewer than 48 hours. for many, there was simply no time to board up or head to higher ground. camille hit with a 25-foot storm surge. winds estimated nearly 200 miles per hour. in the end, the storm killed more than 250 people and caused billions of dollars in damage. the most devastating storm to hit the gulf coast until katrina. camille was one of only three category five storms ever to make landfall in the last century

the rest of the white house website is running. it appears as part of the service has been disabled. we are winning for official confirmation on this. -- waiting for official confirmation on this. trace: thank you. the president now speaking at the vfw. >> thank you. please be seated. commander gardner, thank you for your introduction and for your lifetime of service. i was proud to welcome your executive director to the oval office just before the fourth of july and i look forward to working with your next commander. i also want to acknowledge gene gardner and sharon tradewell and all the spouses and families. america honors your service as well. also, governor in denver of in it -- arizona is here. phil gordon, our host. i want to acknowledge dr. joe shirley jr., president of the navajo nation. this was not on my card, and you may have heard about her extraordinary story, but i want to acknowledge helen denton, the secretary who typed up the orders for the normandy invasion. what an extraordinary story that is. [applause] members

the white house is exempt from the freedom of information act. so this is something that the white house does not have to reveal, does not have to make public. and, also, it has to keep, and they can say they are not collecting names but the e-mails or communications that are sent in is something the white house is required to keep, i will say, though, i think that since it has so much publicity it could be back firing on the white house and you have people calling up talk radio saying since they found out about the white house site flag at white house.gov have been sending e-mails saying, here i am and i oppose the president's plan, come and get me and my guess is they've gotten a lot of protest e-mails or prank e-mails, maybe more than they planned for. >> jamie: but more to the point, and -- of such conce o out there is this fact that the question of whether or not the privacy act applies you say the freedom of information act does not apply but the senate judiciary committee is looking at this, this request, that people knock on their -- narc

>> i think that is very, very unlike lism the white house does not want that to happen. there is tremendous concern in the public, more than we've seen in a long time, about levels of spending and debt and deficit. i think the white house is $800 billion is enough of that hit to take and they would rather not have to do it and if they can feel confident that the economy is in fact turning around i think they very much don't want to go there, would only do so with great reluctance if democrats force their hand in congress. >> do you get any little sense that there say sort of i told you so here? we said this stimulus would work and here it's working? >> yes, but again you've got to be careful with that because one of the reasons unemployment ticked down this month is because some people left the labor force, stopped looking for jobs. to -- so they're not counted. there is still a very, very si really going alt each other, that's going to polarize the debate and likely extinguish any chance the gang of six will come up with a product. is that what it looks like to new >> we

that's the big question facing the white house and congress this week, starting with the white house, chuck, how are they doing on this? >> well, it's less good. gwen: i dare you to throw that out. >> one thing that's perplexing is the numbers definitely are not good for obama. they're coming down across the board. his general approval ratings. the elements of the health care debate. and yet if you break out, well, how are republicans? they're worse. they're less good. i think it's perplexing to the white house and their allies, really, in that obama himself -- and dan can talk about this more when we talk about polls, still remains relatively popular. and people seem to like him and want him to do well. when you start looking at the specifics of especially his health care plan, for example, that's when the numbers start dropping down and it's a frustration that i think the white house is trying to figure out, how can we transfer or at least -- i don't know if transfer is the best word but that popularity and explanation and get the numbers up for health care. gwen: let's talk about t

bret: is the white house treading water here? are they concerned? f they're not concerned, they should be concerned. i think once you have the president having to try to convince you he is not going to kill your grandmother, you're in trouble. that's where he has gotten. i think that they underestimated what was going to happen from the conservative side. it's similar to immigration, frankly, immigration reform where there are real fears out there and people have tapped into them where they are not able to stop immigration reform. now they are doing it through town halls and going out and really making a lot of tubal for the white house. i don't think they were anticipating it. bret: was it a strategic error to talk about the town halls as they did from the podium and how they have handled this up until now? >> well, i think they tried to exploit the fact that there was rowdiness, and i shared the view that that would actually hurt the opponents of healthcare reform as presented by the democrats but the polling has shown the opposite. it has shown th

to know about, i don't see why the white house -- >> would anybody send an opinion to the white house. >> us go further. politics to a new political website reported the obama white house has reversed a nine-year-old policy to not keep track of the people -- the cookies people put him on the go on the white house website. for the first time in nine years if you go to the white house website and click around there keeping that as well. the that's a violation of the bush era of privacy understanding. >> we're taking a break but we have a lot available to you on our website including spirited discussions and are about to break out in the studio. you can hear them after the show foxnews.com /fox "news watch." we will be back in two minutes with this package you to come in for two american journalists caught by north korea. is there more to this story. and has twitter become a national security threat? answers per next time his watch. (announcer) gillette fusion's indicator strip fades to white when it may be time to change. fresh blade. better shave. >> jon: on wednesday the news me

you have other opinions written by the leader of the house and the speaker of the house in which they said that these people were acting at american. you have the white house through organizing for america, this is the front group for obama, they sent an e-mail that said that these people were tools of the insurance industry. these are ordinary people, many of whom have never been involved politically before, who feel extraordinarily concerned about this gigantic monster of a bill that seems to be rammed down everyone's throat and they want to make their opinions known. there are many people who do something for the first time, the first time they participated in politics so they are rushed around the edges of -- rough around the edges. they're not exactly polished. as a result, members of congress should pay more attention. greta: it is almost like this bill has moved so quickly is that if the people were to be considered and if the government knew best, they came on so strong that i think that they've forgotten that to the american people want a voice in this. they want to know. they want to be heard. >> that is a good point. this did not happen in

the white house once to counteract what it calls "disinformation." -- the white house wants to do that. so to ask other americans to sort of bring them things that they think are disinformation that they hope the white house will agree is disinformation-is something i have just never seen before. -- the white house would agree is disinformation is something i just never seen before. that is why i asked my question. it might be alarming in and of itself. neil: the-you're white house pass still work? >> yes, indeed -- does your white house pass still work? neil: i am looking out for you. all right, next guest says one is for sure. the more they snooped, the more the protests will golan -- my next guest says one thing is for sure. the more they snoop, the more the protests will go on. >> something is wrong with it, and one of the things that the graphic you put up did not say is another piece of the quote that was from the white house blog that kind of embodied the specific types of information they would like you to report on. one was emails, one was websites, and also, and i took great

during the course of today's white house briefing i asked robert gibbs because some people are h. ntacted me before the briefing said i never asked the white house for correspondence on health care or any other topic i received. this how could this be? this went on for quite some time. we will show a bit of that in a second. robert gibbs asked me for emails i received so he could check it from a white house list it went on from from. >> again, but i just want to be. >> what you are telling me is i need to you give you these people emails so you can check them on a list. i'm just asking you. >> you are asking me if they're on a list. >> no, they are telling me. >> we have a different way of checking without asking me to double-check the names. i'm happy. >> they're telling me they can't be on a list because they never asked for an email from the white house. trace: where do things stand now, shepard, during the briefing, robert gibbs as you just heard asked me for emails. during the briefing i didn't have -- give emails to the white house. i have it now. i told robert gibbs i'm will

judge: you have a microphone bigger than the white house. the white house does not. they can audit me. clinton did that three years in a row. they can come after me. >> you said it right when you were speaking with lanny. the white house is the pinnacle of power in reality and in perception. the average joe thinking that the white house is going to record his name and his words. bill: i don't think so. i don't think the average joe sin tim dated by. this i hope not. bill: it sends the wrong message. i don't think there is one person watching me tonight, not one who is not going to give their opinion on health care because of that dopey web site. >> i think you are right. but it sends the wrong message and it's illegal message and the president took a an oath to uphold the law. >> my wrap up is to bring the three of together in agreement that this particular president barack obama is not a man who wants to suppress any speech and invites vigorous debate. if the wording were changed. bill: lanny, if i get audited, you are paying my costs because you just said that we wi

the white house says that is not the case. he said the president was under strict instructions not to go beyond this brief at all. only talk about the journalists. north korea has been looking for ways to get around the six-party talks. >> it's interesting if this causes a precedent. the iranians are holding three americans who have crossed their borders, and you wonder if it may cause other nations to grab americans. >> as happy as everyone will be to have the journalists home, the white house is quite anxious about it. they're anxious iran will say we know what to do with the hitchhikers in the mountains. >> thanks. >>> politics next. members of the house of representatives are already back in their districts in summer recess, most holding town hall meetings to see what's on their minds, and most of what they'rehering is about health care reform. that's causing the white house to push back. >> reporter: at a town hall meeting today, steny hoyer got an earful. it was just the latest such episode of peep protesting health care

the ranking republican on the house republican oversight reform committee, his letter to the white housere are some questions, invoking the presidential records act, invoking rules and records for preserving e-mails and record within the white house. he is asking a lot of specific, legal questions. this is where it goes from a political today potentially legal problem. by the way, they shut down the fighting at one house -- whitehouse.gov but they have opened up a similar one. trace: we are talking about lobbying and advertising here. >> the white house is not supposed to be lobbying. that is not their purview. the other possible legal error that you could look at is if they are purging these records. if so, is that a violation of the presidential records act? are they keeping records? if so, does that mean you have an enemies list? certainly, the people are disagreeing with the government. why would you keep the names of the people disagreeing with you? what purpose does that serve? i know they talked about conspiracy theories, but it does not take a big leap of imagination to imagine t

so, first of all, major is hitting on an important issue, is the white house spasming people's e mails and if theyr where did they get it from? >> we don't know what the answersr but there are two zones. i think the white house has to be worried about. i was on ronald reagan's white house staff for six years and there were a lot of protocols about what you could and couldn't do, what you can use for information for partisan purposes versus governmental purposes. and the general counsel of the white house is always careful to let us know what we could and couldn't do. here, you have a number of problems that may or may not be legal, but he also -- we don't know the answers yet. and we have a political problem, because even if they've got the information and are using it legally, the use of e mail and spasming e mail may be a bigger political problem than ethical problem they may or may not have. the first danger for any white house is to refuse to be forthcoming and now we are a couple of days into this and at least as of now, i believe, they haven't explained the details yet. so every

the white house today trying to play down that controversy over remarks by two of the leading administration economic officials who refused to rule out such a tax increase. senior white house economic adviser, lawrence summers, and treasury secretary, timothy geithner, both declaring that it would be wrong to pass judgment on any tax increase now. today, white house press secretary robert gibbs says summers and geithner were speaking hypothetically. dan lothian reports from the white house. >> reporter: the president's two top money men may have a good grip on all the numbers, but their words may have gone offscript. >> i think they allowed themselves to get into a little bit of a hypothetical back and forth. >> reporter: that's the clarification of comes made by treasury secretary timothy geithner and economic adviser, larry summers, on the sunday morning talk shows. the two seemingly leaving the door open to a middle had-class tax hike in order to pay down the deficit and afford health care reform. >> it is never a good idea to absolutely rule things, rule things out, no matter. what. >> w

let's ask it a different way f the white house believes a public option is the best way, is the white house willing to fight for a public option? >> well, here is the president's feel. it's that after looking at all the different ways we can do this, spending a lot of time on the issue talking to his advisers, working with people inside and outside the white house on the republican and democratic side and out in industry, he thinks the best way to do it is to go forward with a public option. now, the president isn't particularly ideological when it comes to good ideas. if you've got a good idea, he'll take it. it doesn't matter what political stripe it comes from. all he wants is to find the best way that we can build consensus behind health care reform that will bring down costs so that -- this is a bigger issue than just, you know, this one piece, this public option. this is about -- >> it's good you mention costs. >> how do we stabilize costs. >> it's good you mention costs because senator conrad said on another network and he was asked specifically about the co-op proposal he's wo

they want what the white house is increasingly shrewdly begun to call health insurance reform, a curbof the worst element of the private insurance system. nia makes a good point about the base. the problem that a democratic white house has, while the democratic coalition as a whole is quite big, the democratic liberal base is small. probably only 1/5 of the country. democrats more than republicans cannot afford to govern from the base. >> david gergen, there are liberals who are saying does president obama have a backbone to fight on any issues. he called himself a fierce advocate of gay and lesbian issues. gay and lesbians don't think he is that right now. he seems early on in the process willing to give up a key cornerstone of his plan. >> president obama is rewriting the book on leadership in his own way. perhaps this will work out. but i think from the traditionalist point of view, what we look to is a president who sounds a clear and certain trumpet. someone who says follow me, here's where we're going and here are the three things i want. if i have to give up one to get to two,

the white house is overseeing tough terror interrogations. thousands line the streets and wait to pay respects to the late senator ted kennedy, and an american military helicopter is targeted by somali pirates. we'll show you that video. all that plus the all-star panel, right here, right now. welcome to washington. i'm bret baier. the effort to make sure all americans are covered by health insurance could end up costing millions of workers their jobs. that's the finding of a new study on the current plans offered by congressional democrats and the president, but is it a fair conclusion? we report. you decide. here is correspondent shannon bream. >> healthcare reform is not going to be free. >> in a study commissioned by the heritage commission, a price tag is put on the legislative proposals as they exist now on chill. the news is not good for america's employers. under the pay or play mandate, which would require them to offer health insurance to their employees or pay a tax to the federal government, the study shows that it will cost employ

major garrett is at the white house. first, shannon bream the public option has been key democrats' plan. >> you are absolutely right. you know the sunday shows are all important for getting a message out and floating an idea. yesterday, it was kathleen sebelius whose said that a public auction was not necessarily an essential element of the reform plan. we even heard the president at a town hall say, whether we get a public option or not, it is not the entire plan. both of them sound like they are backing away from the possibility that has stirred up some much controversy. shepard: they do not have the votes to keep the plant alive with the public option in play. >> absolutely. we heard from senator kent conrad as well. he is an important member. he is part of the gang of six, the bipartisan group of republicans and democrats who are trying to negotiate something out of the senate. >> the fact of the matter is, there are not the votes in the united states senate for the public option. there never have been. to continue t

levers controlled by ben bernanke and the federal reserve than there are by folks who work at the white house. but the president and his senior advisers, the secretary of the treasury and the folks working at the white house in economic policy, clearly have an impact on the psychology of america when it relates to the economy. so the words that they say make a difference and the policies that they espouse make a difference and they have to be careful with the words they use and the policies that they look to put in place. and they've got to work with congress. remember, the president alone cannot make economic policy changes. congress has to ratify them or at least embrace them. >> but you do think, andy, that this white house has more control over the economic levers than any white house you've seen in 50, 60 years? >> well, because of the changes that came through the stimulus packages, the ones that were passed before president obama took office and the ones that passed since he took office, gave the president a disproportionate amount of authority in regime of our economy. yes, that makes

so, first of all, major is hitting on an important issue, is the white house spasming people's e mails and if theyr where did they get it from? >> we don't know what the answersr but there are two zones. i think the white house has to be worried about. i was on ronald reagan's white house staff for six years and there were a lot of protocols about what you could and couldn't do, what you can use for information for partisan purposes versus governmental purposes. and the general counsel of the white house is always careful to let us know what we could and couldn't do. here, you have a number of problems that may or may not be legal, but he also -- we don't know the answers yet. and we have a political problem, because even if they've got the information and are using it legally, the use of e mail and spasming e mail may be a bigger political problem than ethical problem they may or may not have. the first danger for any white house is to refuse to be forthcoming and now we are a couple of days into this and at least as of now, i believe, they haven't explained the details yet. so every

the white house signed on this. the reason you know this is that big pharma, the industry, was starting to spend, they had $100 million white house. they under it the other day to 150. they didn't give the extra 50 because they walked away. it's because they know they have a deal. the problem is big pharma is now giving 57%. first time in history the majority of his money to dow in the 2007 cycle. this is what i am saying about buying special interest. the problem is if the party finds out in fact instead of out there the bad drug companies and bad health care we are in bed with them. this is what doug said. the left is going to go crazy. >> the real intriguing part of this is to see how the white house moves forward because pat is so right. you have got the left wing of the democratic party saying you are not giving us what you promised. you have got the town hall meetings that are breathing down their next. i'm telling you, this is going to be one of the most intriguing political subterfuge acts to figure out how t

the white house officials say nothing is changed. what is going on? >> almost every major newspaper in the country led with the fact there seemed to be a retreat on the pat of the white house. the press wasn't being hysterical. that was the logical interpretation sfeal when president obama said the public option is only a sliver of his whole plan when it seemed to be a central part of it. i think what is going on is the white house has tipped its hand it is willing to give it up in a much more open manner. it is seening as a pre-emptory retreat by the left, by the liberals who have always seen the public option as being the holy grail of health care reform. for liberals, anderson who believe in a single-payer system, the government runs the whole system the public option was a way to build up a large government system and eventually open the door to single payer. so from a perspective of the left the white house seems to be giving away this essential element of the plan even before some of the tough negotiations start. >> nia, is the reality that town

he will share them with the white house. pent with clients and the fact that he gets a paycheck from them, does that somehow influence his thinking? that is hard to tell. at the end of the day, should the administration tried to push for health care reform with an insurance form that can push around the industry, he was or is in his book. now, he takes a more moderate stance. -- he was for it in his book. there was a co-op plan that senator conrad is proposing, his friend. greta: what about his clients? do any of his clients back at his law firm wanted this? >>-- want this? >> they would certainly prefer to see a co-opçç than a public plan. greta: so when i read your article that he used to before the public plan, and now he is for the co-op plan, and he represents one of the biggest insurance companies, and he is going in and out of the white house -- >> look, united healthcare, i personally think the best way to go is that plan. that is what he says. what he says to the white house is, "you know what? it is not going to g

my next guest says this whole mess is just the white house's didn't that tax. what is really going on here? >> i think the fact that the white house is not moving on this and the fact that it does not seem to be a priority -- they are continuing a long standing, foolish policy that forces us to pay billions of dollars more for sugar -- is a deliberate policy choice. want us to pay more. they want to manage our lives. they want -- they do not want us to do unhealthy things. we already saw the cigarette tax rates. we have seen things like the sugar beverage tax floated as a way to pay for health care, and i think this is all part of an agenda for the government to micromanage what we can and cannot do in our lives. neil: we have a monsoon in india, and we have had adverse weather that was affecting the price of this stuff long before the rumors of what the administration was trying to do on imports. >> you are right. this is a longstanding bonehead policy we have had of having price supports that makes sense only for political reasons because they help the farmers

it's apparent. >> they never asked for an email from the white house. : the fear is that the white house is slamming emails out to everybody. that's the fear here. joining from us washington laura ingraham with some thoughts from the ingraham angle. we just began the show less than 10 minutes in. all kinds of hell breaking loose here. go. take it where you want to take it? >> look, robert gibbs has gone through a number of different iterations on this health care issue. first the people showing up at the town halls they were part of, what, a mob. part of the cable chatter. this was the food fight that was really not representative of the american people. i mean, they have tried everything. and now they are trying these emails that are going out under david axelrod's name and he is urging people to get involved in the health cared reform debate. now, major finds out that a lot of people are getting these emails who never have submitted their names or information to the white house, certainly not for organizing for america or any of these groups. and so wh

the town. they remain holed up in their houses. the fight continues. greg palkot, fox news. bret: the newest supreme court justice was welcomed to the white house this morning. sonia sotomayor was the guest of honor in an east room reception. president obama's first high court nominee was confirmed by the senate last week. >> her extraordinary breadth and depth of experience, justice sotomayor bringings a mastery of the letter of the law and an understanding of how the law unfolds in our daily lives. ai ask not just my family and friends, but i ask all america to wish me divine guidance and wisdom in administering my new office. >> the head of the u.n. says the end is near if we don't cool down global warming, and is the end of the recession already uponth us? readyfill at cvs pharmacy automatically refills my prescriptions and reminds me to pick them up. you mean, reminds me to pick them up. [ chuckles ] stop by your local cvs pharmacy to ask if readyfill is right for you, and get a $25 coupon book. readyfill, only at cvs pharmacy. ( choral grunts ) - ( ringing ) - ( skidding car tires ) ( mechanicals from inside titanic engine room ) -

>>> well, it looks like the white house is finally starting to get it. the republicans are not interested in an honest debate. i've said it all along. you know, this death panel thing. you know what that was? that was an intellectual car bomb driven into the market place of ideas. it wasn't about debate. the republican party is practicing intellectual, political terrorism on all americans. they're only interested in destruction. they want to destroy obama and his agenda. they want to kill any intelligent, reasoned debate on this issue. you know, grandma's going to die, death panels, the president's a fascist, socialist, nazi, he's like hitler. give me a break. you know, this just isn't coming from the town hall kooks. it's elected republicans who are fueling this fire. >> we should not have a government program that determines you're going to pull the plug on grandma. >> a lot of people are going to die. this program of government option is being touted as being this panacea, the savior of allowing people to have quality health care at an affordable price

but what he said was not helpful to the white house. the senate finance committee, grassley is still at the table for the mom. in the town hall he said he doesn't care for the talks of doing this in an entirely partisan way using reconciliation rules that the president has acknowledged in so many words that's still on the table. in other words, he can't get a bipartisan deal done. they are not afraid to ram it through on a democratic only basis. he's still at the table. those statements at the town hall don't help. you know, the white house is trying to keep it all in perspective. >> what do you think when you hear what savannah just shared. >> one question i have from you, if you're hearing from the white house, any concerns they have on the senate side they are trying to obviously create a bipartisan bill, on the house side they have drawn some pretty clear lines in the sand. at some point we may get to a place where the white house will have to abandon the idea of this bipartisan bill. i'm wondering how concerned the white house is or

are they buying the explanation coming from the white house? able to talk to have been very skeptical about how the white house got their addresses. they received this email from david axelrod about health care last week. a young woman i talked to specifically this morning now that we have an explanation from the white house said i find it hard to believe it came through some third party. she said she got an email at her work address. she has only been there about three, four months. she has never used that email address to sign up for anything political. trying to keep it separated from her work. here is what she said when she heard the explanation and what she makes of the white house now having her email address. >> i find it very disturbing and a little scary, to say the least. that, like i said, i have no idea how they got my email address and they have it. >> of course like a lot of other people, her next question is what are they going to do with it? what kind of list am i on? for her the explanation so far hasn't been good enough. jane:

so obviously, the white house is not connecting with the american people. i need you to respond to that. >> well, ed, you're absolutely right. none of those things is true. and the white house has made it very clear message to the country that we understand that you need protections against unfair insurance practices. we understand you need relief from rising costs, something the public has been waiting for the government to act upon for 16 years. we understand that your wages haven't gone up because your employer is now paying you in health benefits rather than paying you in wages -- >> then linda, how can -- i have to interrupt you. how in the world can you be winning the battle against the republicans on health care reform when more than half the country believes, on four key elements that are lies? >> well, you know, first of all, this is a poll. it's a snapshot. it's a moment in time when people are being buffeted back and forth between e claims and claims dollar going around. you know there's a lot of misinformation and dis-information out there. >> tr

this whole thing is the biggest fairy tale i have ever seen. >> reporter: al gore told the white house the north koreans wanted clinton. president obama gave the go-ahead. >> the white house reached out as they said to my husband to ask him if he would be willing to do that. >> reporter: now a team of rivals one better, president obama and two clintons. the final step if bill clinton were to go would it be a done deal? the north koreans messaged yes. the wheels were in motion. and those wheels were pretty fancy. a private 737 owned by clinton friend and hollywood producer, and former clinton chief of staff, john podesta went along to file the paperwork of the pardon in a north korean court.

the white house is out. ere you have shown the clips of them making the case that the stimulus is working, the stimulus is working. the problem is they have been saying that when 3% of the stimulus was out. but republicans have to retool their talking points, too, because i think they're getting caught blaming the president for the economy, and you're likely to see some kind of uptick. >> i disagree. i think this is at least a 35% chance that some of the leftover money will be used, let's say, in healthcare to try to save it if the economy really starts rolling sometime soon. i think we should be aware of that possibility. bret: that's it for the panel. stay tuned for something, well, a little different. . (announcer) this is nine generations of the world's most revered luxury sedan. this is a history of over 50,000 crash-tested cars... this is the world record for longevity and endurance. and one of the most technologically advanced automobiles on the planet. this is the 9th generation e-class. this is merce

elaine quijano from the white house, thanks. >>> now let's look at the process of health care and for that i wan to bring back in dr. sanjay gupta, a white house fellow -- he was a white house fellow during the clinton administration, against offering unique perspective here. there appears to be mixed messages, or at least back-pedaling when it comes to the public option. >> it was somewhat difficult to cover for a journalists. what caught my attention is when president obama said the public option is just a sliver of health care reform. i think many people who have been working on this for some time said it was really the basis for a lot of the health care reform. it was surprising. but then as elaine said, they're going back to saying public option is absolutely necessary. what's interesting, a lot of people who say it is not reform without a public option. unless you offer something like this you aren't going to create the increase in competition. >> same thing all over again. >> that's right. you may have insurance reform but a lot of people who are critics of the publix option sa