our guest wendell potter. >>> worsts. british police want you to be on the lookout for this man. >>> the delaware senate race, also known as seriously? o'donnell denies she spent campaign funds on rent. she defies description on her explanation of white house czars. >> no title of nobility shall be granted by the united states. there you go. so i would say to president obama that czar is certainly a title of nobility and therefore it is unconstitutional. >> so what about lady gaga or peter king? oh, and she pulled an angle. >> thank you. i answered it. >> no you didn't answer it. >> all the news and commentary now on "countdown." >> sorry i have to rush out. >>> good evening from new york. today republican senators blocked the defense authorization bill, holding hostage funding for our troops over opposition to repeal for "don't ask, don't tell." in our fifth story, the opportunity to end a 17-year-old starkly discriminatory policy may have been missed. and then there is president obama who has the authority to stop by ex

thank you very much, wendell potter, you are much respected. thanks for coming on the show. >> chu, chris. >>> up next, president obama and sarah palin join forces, in fiction at least. you won't believe what a throwback this is when you check out the side show. coming up next, you are watching "hardball," only on msnbc. [ male announcer ] luxury seating for up to seven. the performance of a mercedes-benz. maybe you don't have to settle for a minivan. maybe you don't have to settle...period. introducing the newly-redesigned 2011 r-class. ♪ ♪ well, it feels so good [ female announcer ] when you have a softer bath tissue, you can enjoy going more... while still using less. introducing new charmin ultra soft. new charmin ultra soft has an ultra-cushiony design that's soft and more absorbent. so you can use four times less versus the leading value brand. [ both ] ♪ soft to the touch... [ female announcer ] using less never felt so good. new charmin ultra soft. enjoy the go. - be my wife. - miss dimitra, marry me. - marry me. - marry me. - marry me.

thank you very much, wendell potter, you are much respected.hanks for coming on the show. >> chu, chris. >>> up next, president obama and sarah palin join forces, in fiction at least. you won't believe what a throwback this is when you check out the side show. coming up next, you are watching "hardball," only on msnbc. the ♪ ♪ for a chain of supply, that's logistics ♪ ♪ when the parts for the line ♪ ♪ come precisely on time ♪ that's logistics ♪ ♪ a continuous link, that is always in sync ♪ ♪ that's logistics ♪ ♪ there will be no more stress ♪ ♪ cause you've called ups, that's logistics ♪ everybody has somebody to go heart healthy for. who's your somebody? eating campbell's healthy request can help. 25 delicious soups with low cholesterol, zero grams trans fat, and a healthy level of sodium. because heart healthy is good for your life... and the people in it. healthy request from campbell's. it's amazing what soup can do. >>> back to "hardball." time for "the sideshow." first up, "fox and friends," remember when sharron angle said she would be s

>> shepard: wendell goler, live at a very rainy night in the north lawn, wendell, thanks a lot. fox news confirmed today that tomorrow morning president obama will announce the resignation of the white house chief of staff, rom rahm emanuel it is widely reported that he is stepping down to run for mayor of chicago and he has been with the president since day one of the administration and we're told he could leave washington, this weekend. so he can begin campaigning immediately. so what about a replacement? we're told the white house senior advisor, peter rouse is a likely candidate to fill in, as interim chief of staff. prosecutors reportedly considering hate crime charges, in a case that has gotten national attention. the new jersey college freshman who killed himself after his roommate and his roommate's friend are said to have secretly sent out a live internet feed of the fish man hooking up with another guy. the victim, was tyler clemente who jumped off the george washington bridge the day after prosecutors say the roommate tried to pull the stunt a second time. the pair al

thank you very much, wendell potter, you are much respected. thanks for coming on the show. >>> up next, president obama and sarah palin join forces, well in fiction at least. you won't believe what a throwback this is when you check out the side show. coming up next, you are watching "hardball," only on msnbc. look at all this stuff for coffee. oh there's tons. french presses, expresso tampers, filters. it can get really complicated. not nearly as complicated as shipping it, though. i mean shipping is a hassle. not with priority mail flat rate boxes from the postal service. if it fits it ships anywhere in the country for a low flat rate. that is easy. best news i've heard all day! i'm soooo amped! i mean not amped. excited. well, sort of amped. really kind of in between. have you ever thought about decaf? do you think that would help? yeah. priority mail flat rate box shipping starts at $4.95, only from the postal service. a simpler way to ship. it certainly will. i think this could be a win-win. maybe. this is going to be a win-win. win-win.

we begin with wendell goler on the latest efforts to overcome what's being called the enthusiasm gap. >> in a back yard economy discussion in albuquerque, president obama showed a glimpse of frustration in the fall elections. >> that's choices are going to mean something and you've got to ask yourself what direction do i want this country to go in. >> across the country at penn state university, vice-president biden was all, but apologizing for expressing his feelings more openly. >> yesterday, i was up in new hampshire and i was talking to a bunch of folks and i did say that i was tired about some of the whining coming from our supporters. and i got roundly criticized today. >> with biden asserting people would decide later than usual who to vote for in mid term elections, the president headed from new mexico to the university of wisconsin aiming to rally the young voters who made such a difference in 2008 to vote for democrat congressional candidates this fall, but experts say the numbers are against them. >> you'd expect the falloff in younger voters, but we're seeing a very seriou

obama choose that person and then step aside. >> bret: wendell goler on the north lawn. thank you.hina slightly increased holdings of u.s. treasury debt in july edging up to 846.7 billion dollars, the increase came after two months of declines. meantime, the obama administration is vowing to take a tougher stance with china on trade issues. treasury secretary timothy geithner says china must move faster for the rise of the u.s. dollar. a senate ratification for a nuclear arms treaty with russia. the new start as it's called seeks to shrink the streak warheads by about a third and change some procedures by inspecting each country's arsenals and compliance. the treaty heads for a vote. the united kingdom where the pope is speaking towards the growing trend toward secularization and making the case that religion is of benefit to the world. the poll, the question tonight, how concerned are you about the secularization of society? you can text your answer to 36288, type sr 1 for very concerned. sr 2 for slightly concerned or sr 3 for not concerned. we'll bring you those results at the e

he will face a tough race. >> chris: wendell goler on the lawn of the white house. thank you for that. the world's largest amburger chain is denying a published report it may drop healthcare coverage for some employees because of the new obama care reform law. correspondent molly henneberg looks at what is happening beneath the golden arches. >> mcdonald's says it deserves a break today, or a waiver for part of the healthcare law. the corporation reportedly told regulators barring an exemption the law signed by the president last spring may force it to drop health insurance company for 30,000 hourly workers because according to a memo obtained by the "wall street journal", it would be economically prohibitive for our carrier to continue offering it." come january, the law requires insurance company to spend 80-85% of the premium revenue on patient care rather than expenses or salaries. critics say it won't work for limited plan covering basic doctor visit for hourly workers, often in industry with a lot of turnover and therefore lots of paperwork. >> you have little

wendell goler is live at the white house with this story, wendell. >> reporter: jenna, the president is holding back yard event necessary demoines and richmond, virginia today which are not suburbs but the events are designed to appeal to suburban voters who make up half the population and a bit more than half of the congressional districts, up from one third in 1980, it's the reason the president went to nicole armstrong and john nicholas' back yard in fairfax, virginia outside washington a couple of weeks ago, voters in fairfax and other northern virginia suburbs clenched that state for him in 2008, first time virginia had voted for a democrat since lyndon johnson in 1964. the tough news for democrats is fairfax county voted for a republican governor the following year, and there are signs other burbs may be swing swinging back into the red column. got a live picture of the president in demoines right now, republicans focusing on the suburbs as well, california congressman kevin mccarthy says if you can't win the suburbs you can't get to a majority. it's as simple as that. just bec

wendell goler is at the white house. personal mean familying. >> all about family. rahm emanuel just moved his family here at the start of the school year, which meant taking his kids out of the schools they attended since he was a member of congress and if he decides to run for mayor of chicago, he'll have to move them back. he'll probably also have to find another house since his renters reportedly refusing to move right now. over the past week or so, he has met with several members of congress from chicago who are also considering runs for mayor, including jesse jackson, junior, mike quigley, danny davis, quigley was elected to the seat that rahm emanuel vacated. the message in all of the meetings was if we decide to run against one another, let's keep it on the up and up and let's not let it get ugly. >> shepard: if he goes, they have to replace him. what's the talk of who that might be? >> the betting is on one of the senior white house advisors, peter rouse, to take over as interim chief of staff. he and the president go back half a dozen years or so, then sen

white house correspondent wendell goler shows us. >> reporter: des moines, iowa, president obama struggledince a small businessman, his anti-business rap is a bad one. >> as the government gets more and more involved in business and gets more involved in taxes, pay for a lot of programs. what you find is you are strangling the job creation vehicles. >> your taxes haven't gone up in this administration. your taxes have gone down in this administration. >> the backyard discussion with voters was his second in as many days and it also brought him face to face with his fears of a small voter turnout among young people this fall. >> they are losing their hope. which was a message that you inspired them with. >> the night before at the university of wisconsin, mr. obama warned his largest crowd since the inauguration not to sit out the mid-terms. >> we need you to commit to vote. we need you to pledge to vote. we need you to knock on doors. >> reporter: as must have as he needs to reignite enthusiasm among young people to keep democrats from losing the house and senate this fall, mr. obama needs

wendell goler at the white house tonight.ore about what is in the bill that the president signed today. >> reporter: the bill contains eight small business tax cut or credit designed to go into effect immediately to encourage owners not to wait until next year to hire new workers or invest in new plants or equipment or expand healthcare coverage for workers. it also contains a pot of money for government loan subsidiaries allowing president to give good news to 1400 people waiting for small business administration loan approval. >> these are people ready to hire and expand and approved by their banks. well, when i sign this bill, the wait will be over. [ applause ] >> reporter: the president says the checks will go out in a matter of weeks and hopefully the small business owners will start expansion afterwards. >> shepard: again, republicans focussing on tax breaks and letting the bush era tax cuts expire, they say is not a good idea. >> reporter: the logic, republicans say, for extending the tax cuts for people making more t

they need to realize the consequences of their actions here. >> wendell potter, thank you for joining us. a lot of people will be talking about this. >>> what do you think about idea that major insurance companies would stop selling health insurance policies to children? let me know. twitter.msnbc.com. we'll pick out a tweet of the day. >>> eight current and former officials from bell, california, face a judge today. they are accused of bilking millions of dollars from city coff coffers. the mayor, the ex-city manager and six current and former officials from the l.a. suburb were arrested tuesday. a new audit released by the state controller's office shows that city of bell mismanaged more than $50 million in bond money. residents actually celebrated when they heard the group of eight would face their day in court. >>> america's top security leaders say it's now harder to find and stop home-grown terrorists. that was one of the rev lashzs from a senate hearing just today. the nation's top security officials including homeland security secretary janet napolitano and robert mueller appe

jon: wendell goler at the white house, thanks. jenna: it's tough to put some of those jobless claims in context. it is better than the previous week, historically -- but it's historically so high and this morning we heard about more job cuts coming from fedex, it's going to happen in january, 1700 people. fedex is that big shipping company base -- based in tennessee. businesses are saying hey, things are going to look up but we're still going to slim down our staff and run things mean and lean. however if you're out of work, one of the things that some economists are looking at are some of the temporary jobs, you know, for halloween shops or christmas and retail, some of that might pick up things at least temporarily going into the bad part of the year. so if there's a silver lining, that might be some good things coming out. jon: all right. this fox news alert. tropical storm karl in the gulf of mexico has become a hurricane. category one hurricane. you can see it there over the yucatan peninsula, just formed in the gulf and is a

percentage wendell down here and a lot people are finding shelter for the night. >> first has been phenomenal place. connecting and you can actually see the family and the shelters in the area and the churches sense it is " god to the insurance office to be out here all night. a special thanks for being out here >> this is going to remain a point of contact for some time to come? >> absolutely people. bill be here to last persons temporary housing. >> the expecting more people to come down here after they realize that the roses are not acceptable now? >> i do not see that potentially a problem. a comeback in the morning and look at the house if. will be the wee hours of the night and which these people are finding shelter for their friends' houses are hotels. >> what is the forecast for people to get into their houses. >> you know or disliking net the emergency situation so the plant would look far gets put out. >> the fire department's is working, you also going to be securing the area? >> yes work looking at individual aid request and officers are coming in early on day shift. they're comin

wendell goler live at the white house. wendell?ident's first choice to run the consumer financial protection agency. he says the agency was her idea in the first place which she would have drawn a huge confirmation fight and, perhaps, for that reason, if not others, officials say privately, she didn't want the job. warren served as the congressional representative on the tarp oversight panel. she sharply criticized banks for causing the economic meltdown, push to increase their capitalization requirements. republicans say she was out of her area of expertise which is bankruptcy and they still see the job that the president has given her which is setting up the agency that will set the rules for credit cards, consumer loans and mortgages as being an end run, a way to bypass congress. >> this is like the czar of all czars. and so let's just talk about process, the fact is this person, the process is being circumvented because the president knows that this person could not be confirmed. i just find that to be abusive. certainly out of

. >> reporter: wendell france is the commissioner of the division of pretrial detention and services under the state's division of correction. the officers in that department monitor prisoners who are waiting for a trial or waiting to postbond. none of them were injured. the commissioner says what triggered the incident is still under investigation but he says all the officers on leave were either directly involved with the attack or they watched it go down. >> sometime in the near future we'll be ready to make some decisions as it relates to what that level of participation was and what sanctions will be placed. >> send them through the process. let them see how it is on the other side. all it is is people that get a little bit of taste of power and exploit it. >> reporter: gregory williams says he wants to see more action against police brutality. in 2008, nine officers at a western maryland facility faced criminal charges for beating an inmate until his eyes were swollen shut. >> if they begin acting as the population acts, then we've lost control over what goes on here. >> report

i mean if franklin roosevelt, teddy roosevelt appointed oliver wendell holmes, within three months, holmesed to dissent in northern security case, major case for roosevelt, antitrust, and on the wrong side. roosevelt said, i could carve a judge with more backbone out of a banana. he was pretty annoyed. there we are -- >> larry: to your knowledge, did a president ever call a judge after a case? >> not to my knowledge. >> larry: "making our democracy work, a judge's view." mom, new shoes? old legs. p.a.d., the doctor said. p-a-d... p.a.d. isn't just poor circulation in your legs causing you pain. it more than doubles your risk of a heart attack or stroke. i was going to tell you. if you have p.a.d., plavix can help protect you from a heart attack or stroke. plavix helps keep blood platelets from sticking together and forming clots, the cause of most heart attacks and strokes. call the doctor about plavix -- please? i will. [ male announcer ] certain genetic factors and some medicines such as prilosec reduce the effect of plavix leaving you at greater risk for heart attack and stroke. your do

. >> [unintelligible] >> wendell. >> thank you, mr. president. i wonder if i could get you to weigh in on building -- on the wisdom of building a mosque near ground zero. what would it say about this country if they were talked out of doing that? have not the florida minister's threat to burn a couple hundred copies of the koran itself put american lives in danger? >> on your second question, there is no doubt that, when someone goes out of their way to be provocative in ways that we passionsinflatinflame the of 1 million muslims around the world at a time when we have our troops and a lot of muslim countries, that is a problem. it has made life a lot more difficult for our men and women in uniform who already have a very difficult job. with respect to the mosque in new york, i think i have been pretty clear on my position. that is that this country stands for the proposition that all men and women are created equal, that they have certain inalienable rights. one of those in alienable rights is to practice their religious freedom. but that means

. >>> joining me now is wendell potter, senior fellow at the center for media and democracy. author of the forthcoming book "deadly spin." mr. potter, good to have you with us tonight. >> thank you, ed. >> who is doing it, and what are they doing? >> well, the insurance companies are showing their true colors. soon after the president signed this bill into law, they were tripping over themselves to -- as part of their pr charm offensive to say they'd be accelerating one part of the bill, to be sure they were covering young people up to the age of 26 on their parents' policies, which the new law requires. that will take effect this week. that was -- they're not even making good on that promise. what we're seeing now is what they're doing is showing that they have the interest of wall street more at heart than they do the young people of this country. >> so does the bill have teeth? what can the government do? what can the congress do? the law has been passed and now you've got complete defiance by these insurance companies. >> the democrats need to point to this as -- to remin

i mean, if franklin roosevelt, teddy roosevelt appointed oliver wendell holmes, within three months,case, major case for roosevelt, antitrust, and on the wrong side. roosevelt said, i could carve a judge with more backbone out of a banana. he was pretty annoyed. there we are -- >> larry: to your knowledge, did a president ever call a judge after a case? >> not to my knowledge. >> larry: "making our democracy work, a judge's view." stephen breyer. back with more. copd doesn't just make it hard to breathe... it makes it hard to do a lot of things. and i'm a guy who likes to go exploring ... get my hands dirty... and try new things. so i asked my doctor if spiriva could help me breathe better. spiriva is the only once-daily inhaled maintenance treatment for both forms of copd... which includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema. spiriva keeps my airways open... to help me breathe better for a full 24 hours. and it's not a steroid. spiriva does not replace fast acting inhalers for sudden symptoms. stop taking spiriva and call your doctor right away if your breathing suddenly worsens, your

his name was wendell willkie. kara, go again. i'll try indiana jonesing for $400.sville? okay, um, 20th century history for $400, please. it's the city where the heroic action seen here took place in 1989. what is beijing? uh, 20th century history, $800. now i am in control. (beep) correct response-- who is alexander haig? claire, go again. 20th century history, $1,200. all right. it's nice when you're trailing to run into a daily double so you can do some catching up. okay, let's make it a true daily double. all right, you're gonna wind up with $7,200 if you are correct. it's the year of the promised return seen here. what is 1948? oh, no. it was the return of general douglas macarthur to the philippines in 1944. so you're now in third place. select again. sacred to this religion, $1,200. the kaaba in mecca, sacred to islam. back to you, claire. it's about time, $400. what are the minutes? indiana jonesing, $800. and that would be lucas oil. kara. 20th century history, $1,600. look to the heavens and name this duffer seen here in 1971. and that was alan shepard sw

joining me now is wendell potter, senior fellow at the center for media and democracy and he is the authork, "deadly spin, an insurance company insider speaks out on how corporate pr is killing health care and deceiving americans." mr. porter, good to have you with us tonight. >> thank you, ed. >> who's doing it and what are they doing? >> well, the insurance companies are showing their true colors. you might remember that soon after the president signed this bill into law, they were tripping over themselves to, as part of their pr charm offensive to say that they would be accelerating one part of the bill to be sure that they were covering young people up the age of 26 on their parents' policies, which the new law requires and that, too, will take effect this week. that was -- they are not even making good on that promise, but what we are seeing now is what they are doing is showing theft interest of wall street more at heart than they do the young people of this country. >> okay, so, does the bill have teeth? what can the government do? what account congress do in the law has been passed

wendell goal be joins us live with that. this started yesterday afternoon.hat's still in the maybe category. the white house says the democrats will do what they need to do to get reelected. the president will do what he can to help them, whether that means campaigning with them or staying away. since some of their biggest legislative achievements have started out not to be big vote getters, we're talking about the health reform bill and $800 billion stimulus package, house members may knock off a week or so early to go back home and give them a chance to talk more with their constituents in person. house speaker nancy pelosi says talking with their constituents in person last year made a difference and says these guys are all independent representatives of their districts. here is a bit of what she had to say last night. >> last summer was a tough summer and our members saved the health care bill by going out, having thousands of town meetings and other public events in order to communicate with their members. >> at least a half a dozen of the 34 house demo

>> well, suzanne, going back to the 1990s there was the wendel key case where he was alleged to give to pass were the most secret and the most important secrets that we have in the nuclear program, so there is a tremendous effort since that wen lee ho case, to monitor those who have access through informants and try to identify the spies before they are able to pass the information, and it sounds like what we know so far, the fbi took it seriously, and by the way, the electromagnetic pulse tract is one of the things greatest feared by the government, and you can imagine launching an attack and wipe out the electrical grid in urban area, and the sort of chaos that would cause. i think that this is the sort of thing, and it also sends a deterrent signal of others who think about misusing their access to this sort of information. >> fran, how difficult to prosecute these cases? >> well, if they have this taped, and if they have the documents marked restricted data on them, it should not be that hard. the tougher part is identifying those who have access and misuse it. >> thank you, fran

at that time, the great jurist on the supreme court was a man named oliver wendell holmes. the battlefield maps lincoln. when abraham lincoln was a boy, the present of the united states was it john quincy adams. when john quincy adams was a boy, in his childhood home, he heard the gunfire at bunker hill. that is only four generations back to those truths. the family doctor of the adams family in boston was a man named joseph warren, another for don hero. -- another forgotten hero. the british escaped back to boston. boston was now surrounded by all of those who came out of lexington and concord. many of the revolutions had fled the city to preserve the revolution. some remain. joseph warren the family doctor was the head of the committee to defend ballstooston. he took a position, a weak position, and defendable, looking straight across the harbor. joseph warren went there. he been appointed a general, but refused to accept it and instead went to fight with his fellow revolutionaries in the trenches. the british cannot stand them and attack them frontally. you might remembe

wendell goler is live in the city of brotherly love.are the teachers complaining about. >> reporter: the concern is whether the president's push for education reform and higher teacher standards has compromised his support for teachers themselves, in particular a 4 billion-dollar federal program that teachers' union officials say encourages failing schools to fire all their teachers to qualify for federal aid. many states have gone that route. the hefd the national education association says that's an approach where no one wins especially the students. the president said after the rhode island firings, if a school continues to fail its students year after year there's got to be accountability. the teachers' union prefer a transformational model where teachers work in collaboration with administrators. the unions didn't invite the president to address the annual convention this summer which he had done twice as a candidate. one union member said he ways afraid mr. obama would be heckled. jon: is he going to address that issue today? >> r

bringing politics into the classroom this year, a big difference, coming from a different crowd, wendellm philadelphia. good morning, wendal. >> reporter: good morning, bill, the continues various, left a political fight and a family feud and last year's back-to-school speech was caught in the toxic battle of health care reform, in part because of a poorly written lesson plan released in advance suggesting kids would be asked to write about how they could help the president achieve his goals and that led parents to say their kids were being socialized and, didn't want them to watch the televised broadcast of the speech and the white house released a copy of the speech in advance, and there was nothing political in it, and the lesson plan was changed to how the kids would achieve their own goals, and this year, once again the white house has released the speech in advance and there. martha: agai-- is nothing polit in it and, he'll say your fiech is in your hands and your life is what you make of it and nothing is beyond your reach, so long as you are willing to dream big and work hard and

wendell expect to see any action on this? guest: the dream act should come to the senate floor next wednesday. that is providing the defense authorization bill even goes ford -- the decision will be made by the end of the week. host: please come back. the house is going into session as we speak. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] they will be in session for most of the day. the president has several events on his calendar and is living with his economic team and with the vice president. his meeting with senator menendez about immigration today. he is attending a fund-raiser for the democratic national committee tonight. that is all going on today. nancy pelosi will hold her weekly press conference today. it is something c-span will be taping and covering. ." . . [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house pr

. >> [unintelligible] >> wendell. >> thank you, mr. president. i wonder if i could get you to weigh in on building -- on the wisdom of building a mosque near ground zero. what would it say about this country if they were talked out of doing that? have not the florida minister's threat to burn a couple hundred copies of the koran itself put american lives in danger? >> on your second question, there is no doubt that, when someone goes out of their way to be provocative in ways that we passionsinflatinflame the of 1 million muslims around the world at a time when we have our troops and a lot of muslim countries, that is a problem. it has made life a lot more difficult for our men and women in uniform who already have a very difficult job. with respect to the mosque in new york, i think i have been pretty clear on my position. that is that this country stands for the proposition that all men and women are created equal, that they have certain inalienable rights. one of those in alienable rights is to practice their religious freedom. but that means

. >> well, look, obviously on, i think, on the call that wendell was talking about, there was a discussion about closing tax cuts for oil and gas companies to pay for an increased amount of infrastructure spending, which would fall -- which would certainly fall in the non- security discretionary spending. >> just wondering how you decide, because some things you did identify pay-fors. others you don't -- >> again, i think some things are designed to -- some things are designed as part of, as you said, a bucket of otherwise discretionary spending, and some are designed to -- for tax incentives that will take capital and money off the sidelines and put it into the economy. >> i guess, in other words, you're prepared to deficit-spend right now, notwithstanding this spending freeze. >> well, there are certainly proposals in here that would do that, yes. >> okay, and a quick one. on our poll, 58 percent believe that if the republicans get control they will have different ideas than the bush administration, 35 percent believe they'll fall back on bush policies. it stands out because it seems lik

. -- wendell. >> i wonder if i could get you to comment on the wisdom of building on moscow a few miles from a mosque to -- a mosque a few miles away from ground zero. and with the threat to burn copies of the koran -- has the threat itself put americans in danger? >> on the second question, there is no doubt that when somebody goes out of their way to be provocative in ways that we know can inflame the passions of over 1 billion moslems around the world, at time when we have our troops in a lot of muslim countries, that is a problem. it has made life a lot more difficult for our men and women in uniform, who already have a difficult job. with respect to the mosque in new york, i think i have been clear on my position. this country stands on the proposition that all men and women are created equal, that they have certain inalienable rights. one of those rights is to practice their religion freely. what that means is that if you could build a church on a site, you could build a synagogue on a site, if you could build a hindu temple on a site, you should be able to build a mosque on the s

. >> [unintelligible] >> wendell. >> thank you, mr. president. i wonder if i could get you to weigh in on building -- on the wisdom of building a mosque near ground zero. what would it say about this country if they were talked out of doing that? have not the florida minister's threat to burn a couple hundred copies of the koran itself put american lives in danger? >> on your second question, there is no doubt that, when someone goes out of their way to be provocative in ways that we passionsinflatinflame the of 1 million muslims around the world at a time when we have our troops and a lot of muslim countries, that is a problem. it has made life a lot more difficult for our men and women in uniform who already have a very difficult job. with respect to the mosque in new york, i think i have been pretty clear on my position. that is that this country stands for the proposition that all men and women are created equal, that they have certain inalienable rights. one of those in alienable rights is to practice their religious freedom. but that means

wendel. >> thank you, mr. president. i can get you to weigh in on the wisdom of building a mosque a couple of blocks from ground zero. we know that the organizers have the constitutional right. what would it say about this country if they were somehow talked out of doing that, and hasn't the florida minister's threat to burn a couple hundred copies of the koran, hasn't the threat, itself, put american lives in danger, sir? >> well, on the second, on the second question, there's no doubt that when someone goes out of their way to be provocative in ways that we know can inflame the passions of over 1 billion muslims around the world at a time when we have our troops in a lot of muslim countries, that's a problem. it has made life a lot more difficult for our men and women in uniform who already have a difficult job. with respect to the mosque in new york. i think that i have been pretty clear on my position here. that is that this country stands for the proposition that all men and women are created equal, that they have c

like henry luce, the publisher of times and is editor of fortune was also the campaign manager for wendell wilkie 1940 convention thing to go into the rockefeller republic. there was sort of an establishment that those people are all dead now. and most of them have done for a long time. and you kow, so i don't know what the establishment republican power. and i just, you know, is michael steele the established republican? faq sort of an odd duck. i do't do so. you know, so i don't think it's really a fertile way of thinking about 2012 in those terms. i think in evaluating presidential candidates and i think our presidential nominating system is the weakest part of our political system, one incidentally not covered by the constitution at all. i've been thumbing through my copy of the constitution to try to find kind of prvisions -- every often i look at it to say iowa and new hampshire buffers. if anyone has found that it be happy to hear about it because i haven't been able to find it. but i think, you know, evaluating candidates for president is an important thing. but it didn't, you know

included people like henry luce whose editor of fortune was the campaign manager -- forn the willkie's wendell willkie. there was an establishment for that. those people are all dead now. most of them have been for a long time. i do not know who the establishment republicans are. is michael still the establishment republican? he is sort of an odd duck. i do not know. i do not think it is a fertile way of thinking about 2012 in those terms. in evaluating presidential candidates, and i think our presidential nominating system is the weakest part of our political system, one not covered by the constitution at all -- i have been thumbing through my constitution trying to find the provision that says that iowa and new hampshire vote first. if anybody has found it, i would be happy to hear about it. but evaluating candidates for president is an important thing. the mantra of establishment versus conservative outsiders is not a useful way. >> richard, do you have a quick response? >> michael, if you have not read an article in the current issue of "the american spectator" called "the ruling class," i

>> on the call wendell was talking about, there was a call for oil and gas companies to pay for an increased number of infrastructure. that would fall in to the non- security discretionary spending. > >> [inaudible] >> some things are designed as a bucket of otherwise discretionary spending and some are designed for tax incentives that will take capital and money off the sidelines and put it into the economy. >> in other words, you are prepared to deficit spend right now? >> there are certainly proposals in here that would do that, yes. >> 58% believe that if the republicans get control, they will have different ideas than that this administration but 35% think they will fall back on old policies. it's in black voters are directly rejecting arguments the present -- it seems that voters are directed rejecting arguments that the president makes. >> i think the sessions of verbatim that we want to return to those policies. >> it seems voters don't know that. >> we will spend the next couple of months sharpening that argument if need be to ensure that people know that. >> in the peter orszag pie