0 way. from the left i'm dan jones. >> from the right i'm newt gingrich. join us tomorrow from another edition of "crossfire." erin burnett "outfront" starts right now. >> "outfront," president obama gets snubbed. and the biggest news from the u.n. was not what happened but what didn't happen. a female body has been found among the attackers in kenya. was the woman known as the white widow involved in the massacre? and ted cruz is in the middle of a marathon speech over defunding obamacare. is he tilting at windmills? good evening, everyone. i'm erin burnett outfront. president obama snubbed the white house, says it offered to have a new encounter with the new rannian president. iran's response said it was too complicated for them back home. still, both leaders did find the time to send a message to the other one. >> we are determined to prevent iran from developing a nuclear weapon. >> translator: iran pose noes threat to the world or the region. >> they were in the same place at the same time. so why did not they meet? jim shuuto is with me now. there was a lot leading up to the u.n. meeting. they were in the same place at the same time and the white house made it clear that they were willing for their to be some sort of a meeting. why was it so difficult to have one in. >> as you say, the white house put itself out there. i was listening to an interview that president rouhani is giving. she asked him the question and he said he had permission from tehran to do the meeting. he said they discussed it but decided diplomacy takes time and the time was not right. it may be that he made a political congratulations. a domestic political congratulations. he is getting a lot of grief from hard liners from tehran for the outreach he's done, including his statement before the speech saying that iran has no intention of building a nuclear weapon. this kind of thing. he may have calculated that he's gone as far as he can and is withstanding as much political opposition as he can. and then a meeting with obama would have been a step too far. as you say, the u.s. put itself out there and in effect was snubbed. >> and at the edge of the day, ayatollah is still pulling the strings here. look at the words the white house used to explain why iran chose tonight meet the president. it was too complicated back home. you were talking about that. is that a reference to the fact the man calling the shots isn't hasan rouhani. ayatollah khomeini said no, could it be a warning sign that the president may say what he is going to say. the president of iran. but the guy calling the shots on the nuclear program is back in tehran right now and there may be no change if the relationship. >> true. we do also know what rouhani has been able to say, he couldn't have done without the supreme leader's permission as well. 16 years ago we had another reformist president. there was a lot of excitement similar to what we have today and it was the supreme leader who allowed him to do that kind of thing. make those gestures and pull him back. i think when you look at iran, even the supreme leaders is a rational cagey man. i think what's driving this, the economic sanctions are hurting iran. and he like everyone else is waiting to see if there is a window where they can get out from under and not give too much. >> during the elections, we saw the sanctions and there was no question they were hurting. reporting live from the united nations tonight. our second story "outfront," senator ted cruz has been talking on the national floor for four and a half hours. and emhe will go all night long. at this very instant, some of his friends have come by to help him fill the time in case he needs to eat a canny bar or something like that. so marco are notio has come by, rand paul has come by to bring him a candy bar. cruz is trying to block the senate vote on the house plan in exchange for not shutting down the government. cruz supports the house bill. but he knows it won't pass the senate. it is ugly, messy, washington at its best. dana bash is "outfront." >> reporter: ted cruz seized the senate floor and vowed not to let go. >> i intent to speak in support of defunding obamacare until i am no longer able to stand. >> reporter: to be sure, this is theater. whether he speaks for hours or not, the vote timing and the outcome will be the same. his aides fully admit he is using the stage to speak directly to his audience. the activists who fueled the tea party upset last year. >> where is the outrage? where are the senators saying when a travesty that young people are being denied a fair shot in the american dream because of what we have brought. because of obamacare. >> cruz' talk fest is exactly with a his republican leadership who opposed his tactics were trying to avoid. in fact as he started, the gop leaders were talking to reporters a if you feet away, urging him to abandon what they consider a complicated fools errand. for procedural reasons, cruz is opposing the bill he supports. funding the government but defunding obamacare. if you don't follow, that's why many worried republicans are exasperated. >> saying you are not standing with him means it is washington's business as usual. does he have a point? >> well, look. we would be hard pressed to explain why we were opposed to a bill we were in favor of. >> cruz' scorched earth strategy, tying obamacare to a must-pass spending bill is inflaming many republicans who think if this cause as government shutdown, many will be burnld. what's your end game? you knew you couldn't defunneled obamacare. >> with respect i disagree with your premise. i believe if we stand together, we will defun obamacare. gop senator bob cork he said i didn't go to harvard or princeton but i can count. part of the problem is the senate runs on relationships and he doesn't have many. something he acknowledged with uncharacteristic humor. most americans could not give a flying flip. about a bunch of politicians in washington. who cares? it's amazing when you talk to him. he said he believes. he questions the premise about whether this has a chance of passing. but now what? you have marco rubio, mike lee coming to help him and relieve him to keep this talkfest going. is it really going all night? >> reporter: that's what their plan is. a lot of focus will be on whether or not he deals over between now and tomorrow. maybe around noonish. as much as what he is actually saying substantively. you mention that had his compadres are going down there to talk to him. maybe to relieve him but let's be honest, it is to be a part of what he is doing. he is very much riling up the base right now. they have a #, make d.c. listen. they're getting all kinds of support on twitter from the very grassroots supporters that have fueled many of the campaigns. ted cruz, rand paul and others. >> then he's back now. i'm looking at a live picture. he is back. to fill this time he can talk about anything he wants. there's been some kind of ridiculous conversation going on, too. it is not all obamacare. >> we had a lot of information about his shoes about, the fact that he is not wearing his ostrich boots which he wore as solicitor general of texas many times when he made arguments before the supreme court. they are generally his good luck shoes. today he is wearing sneakers. those are important facts that we're learning on the floor of the senate. most of it to be fair is really about obamacare and why substantively he does not think this is the right way to go for americans. >> all right. dana bashful thank you very much. hopefully you don't to have stay up all night too. >> thought delaying in washington makes it worth remembering what is at stake that is so very serious. the full faith and credit of the most important economy. that reputation has taken hit. it has been 780 days since the u.s. lost its top credit rating. it is not too late to get it back. still to come, four days ago 67 people murdered when militants stormed a mall in kenya. a woman was one of the attackers. is she an infamous terrorist? we have a special report next. and then with the fiscal year almost over, because they do everything a little twisted in washington. so it ends on september 30th. that means this is like a gusher of a week. so much money is being spent, so much money on such strange stuff. christmas in september and there's an "outfront" investigation. plus we've all heard stories about embarrassing videos coming back to haunt people. we'll explain why that could be a thing of the past. and one photo got the internet so excited, it is absolutely dumb how much money this means. i was made to work. make my mark with pride. create moments of value. build character through quality. and earn the right to be called a classic. the lands' end no iron dress shirt. starting at 49 dollars. they always have. they always will. that's why you take charge of your future. your retirement. ♪ ameriprise advisors can help you like they've helped millions of others. listening, planning, working one on one. to help you retire your way... with confidence. that's what ameriprise financial does. that's what they can do with you. ameriprise financial. more within reach. help the gulf when we made recover and learn the gulf, bp from what happened so we could be a better, safer energy company. i can tell you - safety is at the heart of everything we do. we've added cutting-edge technology, like a new deepwater well cap and a state-of-the-art monitoring center, where experts watch over all drilling activity twenty-four-seven. and we're sharing what we've learned, so we can all produce energy more safely. our commitment has never been stronger.