Transcripts For CNNW State Of The Union 20111023

he's completely out of touch. >> i'm candy crowley. and this is "state of the union." -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com the remaining 39,000 u.s. troops in iraq will be out by december, the fulfillment of an obama campaign promise, the end of a war, the beginning of the unknown. >> i think that they deserve great credit. at the same time, we are now leaving iraq completely which is the number one priority of the iranians. >> another journey into the unknown is full throttle in libya now, after the brutal death of its brutal dictator, moammar gadhafi. only two days earlier, secretary of state hillary clinton was in libya, pledging support to the transitional government. her reaction to gadhafi's death caught on camera while in afghanistan went viral. >> wow. we came, we saw, he died. >> earlier, i spoke with secretary clinton, who was in uzbekistan. secretary clinton, thank you so much for joining us. i want to start with iraq, and clearly the biggest concern here is that with the exit of u.s. troops, iran will move in where the u.s. is moving out. i want to bring to your attention an interview that cnn's fareed zakaria did with president ahmadinejad. >> since there will be a need in iraq for training and support, will the iranian government be providing greater support in that area? >> translator: i think we should have done it sooner, maybe seven or eight years ago. >> i assume the u.s. would not look favorably upon the iranians training the iraqi army and police? >> well, candy, thanks for asking about this, because i do believe there's a lot of questioning and to me, it is very clear to make three points. first, we are continuing a training mission in iraq. that has been agreed to. we will have the same kind of training and support mission that we have with many other partner countries around the world. what we will not have are combat troops and bases. now that was really a decision put into motion back in the bush administration, and president obama has demonstrated great leadership as he has made it possible for our troops to leave, as was promised, and by the end of this year, but leaving behind a training and support mission, along with a very robust, diplomatic presence, also envisioned by the agreements reached back in the bush administration. >> how many troops are we talking about? >> i also think it's important to underscore -- well, but let me just finish. it's also important to underscore that iran would be badly miscalculating if they did not look at the entire region and all of our presence in many countries in the region, both in bases, in training, with nato allies, like turkey, so i'm used to the president of iran saying all kinds of things, but i think it's important to set the record straight. >> can you tell me how many troops we're talking about staying there? is it beyond the usually contingent it's around an embassy, and can you tell me the level of your fear that iran, whether it's in supporting troops or not, is going to be an increased presence in iraq as the u.s. pulls out? >> well, yes. the support and training mission is in addition to the usual marine contingent, the defense attache and other normal relations between our diplomats and our department of defense representatives. this will be run out of an office of security cooperation. it will be comparable to what we've done in many countries, where we handle military sales, the iraqis are buying military equipment from the united states, and we will be working with them as we work with jordanians, colombians and others around the world, and i also would underscore that it is not our only presence in the region. in addition to a very significant diplomatic presence in iraq, which will carry much of the responsibility for dealing with an independent sovereign democratic iraq, we have bases in neighboring countries. we have our nato ally in turkey. we have a lot of presence in that region. so no one, most particularly iran, should miscalculate about our continuing commitment to and with the iraqis going forward. >> madam secretary, 57% of americans said in a recent poll that the war in iraq was not worth it. do you think it was? >> well, i think we can either look backward or we can look forward. i choose to look forward. an enormous amount of sacrifice was made by americans, most particularly our young men and women in uniform, many of whom lost their lives or suffered grievous injuries, and then of course, i'm particularly proud of our diplomats and the other u.s. government representatives in iraq. so we are where we are right now. we have a plan in place. there's been an enormous amount of effort in conjunction with the iraqi government. the iraqi government is looking forward. they're trying to chart a new course that will give them the kind of independence and sovereignty from everyone, including their big neighbor, iran, and we're going to support that. it's very much in america's interests to do so. >> so i'm going to take that as you'd rather not answer that question as to whether it was worth it. let me move you to libya, where the u.n. -- >> i think i'll leave it to others to argue. >> okay. >>ily' leave it to others to argue. my job, president obama's leadership is leading us forward which is where i think america needs to be. >> okay. let me move you to libya, where the u.n. is calling for, wants an investigation as to how moammar gadhafi died, the circumstances, who killed him, what he died of. is the u.s. interested? is it a matter of consequence to the u.s. how moammar gadhafi died? >> of course it is. and we strongly support the u.n. call and we also strongly support the transitional national council of libya's call for an independent investigation. because as libyans move into the future once again, they need to do so with a sense of unity and reconciliation. they need to hold each other accountable, those who do not have blood on their hands must be made to feel safe and included, regardless of whether or not they supported gadhafi in the past, so we believe in the rule of law, and accountability, and such an investigation would contribute to that. >> will the u.s. put pressure on the transitional government to hold accountable the convicted pan am bomber, al megrahi? >> we have certainly raised it in every meeting with the leadership. as you know, candy, there will be later on sunday an announcement of a new government, so once there's a government in place, we will renew our calls that megrahi, who should never have been released in the first place, be returned to serve the rest of his sentence for the terrible crime against those passengers on pan am 103. >> you've spoke within members of the transitional government. has this come up? >> absolutely. i've raised it a number of times. there's not yet a government. that's what we're waiting for, a government to be put in place, the transitional national council said they would wait to declare the liberation of libya, until they were sure that sirte had been taken from the regime loyalists. they would then announce a government. that process begins today. >> and finally, let me turn you to pakistan, where it seems to me the u.s. has spent many, many months warning pakistan to crack down particularly on the hakani network. folks in the administration publicly and privately say they believe the intelligence arm of the pakistani government is, in fact, a supporter of the hakani network which has attacked the u.s. embassy in kabul, among other things. is your patience wearing thin with the pakistani government? >> well, as you know, i led a very high-level delegation of u.s. officials, including chairman of the joint chiefs, general dempsey, now director of the cia, dave petraeus and others, and we had intensive discussions, and i would make three points. first, the cooperation on security that we have received over the past years from pakistan has been absolutely essential, in our efforts to defeat and disrupt the al qaeda network. secondly, the pakistanis themselves, as you know, have suffered enormously from their military actions against the terrorist networks, and of course, that's not only been military losses, but civilians, to the total of about 30,000 over the last decade, and finally, we are very clear, we need to do two things together. we need to squeeze the terrorist networks, including the hakani network, out of their safe havens, preventing them from being able to plan and carry out attacks across the border, and we have to, on the afghan side of the border, squeeze and eliminate safe havens of those who move back and forth, and who use safe havens in afghanistan to attack pakistan, and we have to have a very firm commitment to an afghan-led reconciliation peace process. we're about 90%, 95% in agreement between the united states and pakistan about the means of our moving toward what are commonly shared goals, and we have a work plan and a real commitment to making sure we are as effective as possible together. >> secretary of state hillary clinton, thank you so much for your time. safe travels to you. when we come back, my interview with vice president joe biden. >> no one's guaranteed anything in an election. this is going to be a tough election. the country is inherited very difficult political and economic times. fix it or find a new job, all right? 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i respect it if they think that, but the truth is, we can fix this problem now. >> you don't see it as unfair politics? >> no. this is reality. >> trying to attach this to republicans? >> it's a sill bit like saying we had a major flood. we think we should go in and help people rebuild their homes. they may say no, that's not the federal government's responsibility, or if you do that, we ought to cut their aid to education or something. we just have a different value set. that's all. >> reporter: let me ask you the misery index is out today, that's the inflation and joblessness. >> yes. >> reporter: indexes at a 28-year high. the average income for individuals is about $1,300 less than it was three years ago. you have unemployment 9.1%. worst quarter for wall street in terms of investments and trading this past quarter than the death of the recession. what's your bumper sticker here? how do you sell this for a re-election? >> bumper sticker says let answer get the economy moving. that's what the jobs bill is about. the jobs bill is not just about the individual jobs. it's getting the economy moving. we are moving. we've created 19 months in a row created private sector jobs, public sector jobs are down by almost a half a million. i mean excuse me, yes, about right, about half a million and the second piece of this is a lot of what's happening on wall street now is a consequence of their concern of what's going on in europe and the eurozone, but we can control certain things, and all those independent, vast majority of the respected independent validators out there say if we pass this jobs bill, the gdp will grow by 2%. >> reporter: let me stop you there. bloomberg did a thing and you quoted moody's, but bloomberg did a survey of more than two dozen economists and they said probably, that it will be better than nothing for sure, that it will help the economy maybe keep us from a double dip but the jobs are more around 275,000 next year, maybe 13,000, is that enough and when people say yes, everybody wants the jobs to come back, but you all have had now two and a half years and they're not back, how do you sell that? >> look, we have brought back jobs. we have brought back or saved well over 3 million jobs so far, and so the fact of the matter is that's not enough. look, candy, the six months before we took office, the bottom fell out. there were 5 million jobs lost. before we got the first bill passed another 3 million jobs lost so we started off with an 8 million job deficit that wasn't of our making, and what are these guys now saying? the way to create jobs is go back to what we did before, continue to cut taxes for the very wealthy and unregulate wall street. >> aren't people also saying look we did almost $1 trillion in stimulus spending, and you all at that time said oh, unemployment won't go above 8%, gdp will be higher than it is now and it isn't, and so now we need another leap with the jobs bill. >> nobody can look you in the eye and tell you that the recovery act and that stimulus did not create jobs and did not do very good things for the economy. the problem was in the beginning, the economists said that in fact we wouldn't go above 8%, because they didn't know until this last quarter that the economy shrunk in the last term of the bush administration, almost 9%. everybody thought it was more like 5.5%, and so the point was, we were all operating off of what the blue chips were looking at, and the numbers were wrong. but the fact is, if we hadn't had that stimulus, we would be in a position now where we would be in a double dip recession some time ago. >> do you think that's good enough to reelect the obama-biden team? it would have been worse? >> that's not the argument it would have been worse. it is better, number one, and number two, everything is a choice. there's a clear choice emerging here. >> how do you bring independents back? you've seen that huge dive, i think in virginia where the president was the other day, 34% of independents is what supported that and independents brought him virginia and you see the same thing across the country, just don't think he's been bold enough, they don't think he's had good enough leadership, he's been strong enough. how do you convince them to come back? >> i think first of all convince them to come back because at the end of the day, everything is an alternative, a choice. >> reporter: you're saying this guy is worse? >> no, here is what we're for and here's what they're getting in the way of us being able to do. if we continue to do what we're doing, it will continue to get better. that's why it's so important that this jobs bill be passed, so there's something positive occurring. look, things were moving, and they were even moving relatively well this last spring, until we got downgraded because these guys played roulette with are we going to make a deal on dealing with the debt. >> so you think they're the whole reason, it wasn't the uncertainty? i mean it wasn't, you think republicans were responsible for that? >> i think the fed -- yes, i think the republican -- look, let me make it clear. we could have had a much more significant debt reduction package, but the republican leadership could not sell it to this new republican party. this is not your normal republican party. it doesn't mean it's good or bad. it's a different republican party in the house of representatives. it's different, with a very different view than mainstream republicans have had going into this, and until we get a republican party, it's going to be hard to figure out who can we compromise with. we're prepared to compromise just like on the jobs bill. give us an alternative. >> they did, they had a mccain alternative as you know. >> and independent validators said it wouldn't create any new jobs. where -- and look, well, i'll leave it. >> go ahead. i can tell you were just about to say something. i'm sure i would have loved that. when you look at the gop field right now, who is the strongest candidate? >> candy, i have trouble figuring out my own field you know, and i have no idea. you know -- >> would romney be tough? >> i think they'd all be tough. i think whomever is our opponent will be tough. >> a lot of people used your quote about, listen, you know, they certainly have a chance. >> sure they do. >> extrapolating that you think they might win. i think that's a jump. >> look, i think it's a gigantic jump but the flip of that is they're not someone looking at the camera and being honest, hey, elections, no one's guaranteed anything in an election. this is going to be a tough election. the country has inherited difficult political and economic times. why wouldn't it be tough? elections should be tough. there are tough choices. >> but you think -- >> i think we're going to win. i think we're going to win. you probably know that. >> based on -- i would expect you to say that. >> based on our policies. look, here's, again, i've tried to say this before, you know, when you don't have a job, for whatever reason, you're not a happy man and you're angry and frustrated. why wouldn't you be angry? i've come from a family where i've seen that happen with my parents and my uncles and my aunts, but at the end of the day, they're going to have to decide and they will decide whether or not we're on the right path or whether or not the other team has offered a better path. and i think it's a little bit like when people begin to focus, i think the choice is going to become awfully clear. >> you don't think it will be a referendum on your -- >> no, i don't. i think it will be a choice, like that story i told you about, the former mayor of boston who said don't compare me to the almighty. compare me to the alternative. ultimately you get compared to the alternative. that doesn't mean who is the worst. it means who would offer the best answer, and i think we have the best answer, and i think the people will conclude that. >> mr. vice president, you're going on to your next stop. >> i am. >> see you after that one. thank you. >> thank you very much. >> we would meet later at the tilton diner where the vice president said he was quite open to the idea of running for president in 2016. possibility? you're not closing that door? >> i'm not closing anything. really? 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[ female announcer ] new fiber one 80 calories. yes, you can actually love breakfast. ♪ [♪...] >> announcer: now get a $250 airfare credit, plus save up to 65%. call 1-800-sandals. certain restrictions apply. the vice president is an old pro on the campaign trail. he was in the senate for more than 30 years and ran for president twice. >> how are you? >> he knows how to work it in a new hampshire diner, and he's a people person. he likes to talk to voters. he likes to talk to reporters, so much so that on that day he almost forgot about submitting the official obama campaign papers. >> got to be there by 5:00. >> that's right, oh i forgot i got to file his papers. maybe it can take a long time. >> reporter: slip of mind. >> sorry, mr. president, i was talking to candy. i didn't have time to file the papers. tomorrow, we can do it. >> reporter: let me bring you back to some domestic questions i wanted to talk about. >> sure. >> reporter: housing, a lot of folks have said to me, until the housing market stabilizes, until those prices begin to go back up, there can be no economic recovery. does the administration have anything left? >> yes, we do. that's part of this jobs bill is providing for us the ability to go out there and help people refinance. there's about 6 million people who are at 6% mortgages, above 6%. they could refinance at 4% if the fees were waived, if -- we're able from a federal level to have some impact on that. that would save the average homeowner two grand a year, the difference between being able to stay in the house and not stay in the house. in addition to that, we continue to work with agencies, we can't directly control, federal agencies, that in fact to loosen the restrictions on the ability to refinance, and we're continuing to try to work with banks so they can get in the business of actually doing what we think they should have been doing much more of, and that is sitting down and renegotiating with people who are about to go under. it's in their interest that the house not be foreclosed on, even if it means temporarily they take less in terms of monthly payment or in fact, maybe even draw down on the principal. >> the question on the super committee, one of the reasons that the trigger was put in there, and the trigger being that if they can't come up with this $1.2 trillion in savings, then the defense department will take half of that, and domestic spending with medicare protected to a certain degree will also take part of it. how comfortable are you with the cuts that would go on? we all want the supercommittee to work but how comfortable are you that the alternative will be huge cuts in the defense department, which your own defense secretary says that you just can't take? >> they'll be very difficult, but i was the one who negotiated that. it was designed for two reasons. one it was along the lines of what you'll remember, no one else will know, the graham-rudm graham-rudman-holis, reducing across the board. the other is making a considerable downpayment in drawing down the long-term debt so it's designed to serve two purposes, make it clear to the guys in the committee if they don't reach an agreement this goes into effect. failing to go into effect it is a bad alternative, the only worst alternative is not to do anything about the long-term debt. >> let me ask you a personal question before i let you go. you will be 70 next year. >> no, no, i'll be 69. >> 69 next year, wait a minute i thought you were -- >> i'm 68 right now. >> i'm sorry. i aged you a year. >> it's hard to even say the numbers, 6-8, but anyway. >> reporter: i wonder when you look around, four more years, 2016, have you totally ruled that out in your head? you tried two times to run for president. >> my one focus now is getting the president reelected. that is the focus. and i'll make up my mind on that later. i'm one, probably the best shape i've been in my life, doing pretty well, i'm enjoying what i'm doing and as long as i do, i'm going to continue to do it. let's get the president reelected. >> reporter: okay, but possibility, you're not closing that door? >> i'm not closing anything. >> reporter: do you ever look around when you're in one of the meetings and big things are being done you think i'd have been good at this job? >> well, i wouldn't have run for president in the first place and i don't think the president would have picked me unless he thought i'd be good at the job but my job now and will be and remains vice president of the united states, and we've got the order right,right, president obd vice president biden. >> reporter: thank you very much. i appreciate it. you better go file. coming up, mitch mcconnell on leading the republican charge against president obama's jobs initiatives. 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[ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. delivering mail, medicine and packages. yet they're closing thousands of offices, slashing service, and want to lay off over 100,000 workers. the postal service is recording financial losses, but not for reasons you might think. the problem ? a burden no other agency or company bears. a 2006 law that drains 5 billion a year from post-office revenue while the postal service is forced to overpay billions more into federal accounts. congress created this problem, and congress can fix it. new splenda® essentials™ no calorie sweetener with b vitamins, the first and only one to help support a healthy metabolism. three smart new ways to sweeten. same great taste. new splenda® essentials™. so far, the parts of the president's jobs bill are faring no better than the whole. first up that $35 billion in state and local aid to keep cops, teachers and firefighters employed paid for by a millionaire surtax. it sounded like a great idea to 75% of americans polled by gallup. it died in the senate this week, two democrats, an independent and every republican voted against bringing it to the floor. >> this is the third time in three years the president has asked us to bail out the states. how many more times and how many more billions before someone realizes this is a very bad idea? >> a republican plan to repeal withholding tax on government contractors did attract ten democratic senators but that's not enough to pass a procedural hurdle and the white house threatened to veto anyway because republicans wanted to pay for it with $30 billion in spending cuts. senator republican leader mitch mcconnell is next. from ge capit. but i also get stuff that goes way beyond banking. we not only lend people money, we help them save it. 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[ junior ] ...and they've helped build my business. consumers er wanchai ferry orange chicken... over p.f. chang's home menu orange chicken women men and uh pandas... elbows mmm [ male announcer ] wanchai ferry, try it yourself. mary? what are you doing here? it's megan. i'm getting new insurance. marjorie, you've had a policy with us for three years. it's been five years. five years. well, progressive gives megan discounts that you guys didn't. paperless, safe driver, and i get great service. meredith, what's shakin', bacon? they'll figure it out. getting you the discounts you deserve. now, that's progressive. call or click today. i tell you what i can spend. i do my best to make it work. i'm back on the road safely. and i saved you money on brakes. that's personal pricing. joining me from his home state of kentucky republican senate leader mitch mcconnell. thank you, senator, for joining thus sunday. i wanted to talk to you about so far what's going on with the jobs bill and what's to come, because republicans helped in, not break a filibuster, if you will, in a procedural vote. you basically got rid of that jobs bill, which would have given money to the states, designed to hire or retain firemen and policemen, and teachers. when we look at the polling, 75% of americans supported that, and yet the republicans were against it. so how do you justify that in your mind? >> well, candy, i'm sure that americans do, i certainly do approve of firefighters and police. the question is whether the federal government ought to be raising taxes on 300,000 small businesses in order to send money down to bail out states for whom firefighters and police work. they are local and state employees. look, we have a debt the size of our economy. that alone makes us look a lot like greece. the question is whether the federal government can afford to be bailing out states. i think the answer is no. second, it's important to note that the only thing bipartisan about these proposals has been the opposition to them, that the reasonable number of democrats opposed each of these measures as well for the same reason. look, we are not going to get this economy going by continuing to shower money on the public sector. unemployment, among public sector workers in america, is one-half what it is the private sector. we are not going to get this economy growing again by continuing to borrow and tax and spend and pump up the private, i mean the public sector. washington is a boom town, candy. you know, it's a one town in america that's doing great. >> but the fact is that when you do ask people about this surtax on millionaires, and small businesses as you put it but millionaires in general, people support that, when it comes to not just firemen, policemen and teachers but also the infrastructure bill that's coming up, which you're also opposed to, as i understand it, which would help put people back to work on roads and bridges and rebuilding and that sort of thing, and it seems to me that politicians are always talking about doing the will of the american people, and that the republican party can be seen at least politically as going against that. >> yeah, these bills are designed on purpose not to pass. i mean, the president is deliberately trying to create an issue here. look, the american people don't think, i'm sure, that it's a good idea, four out of five of the so-called millionaires are business owners, over 300,000 small businesses in our country that hire people. i don't think the american people think that raising taxes on business, small business in the middle of this economic situation we find ourselves in is a particularly good idea. i think they'd like to see us begin to get our house in order, which with regard to the private sector, what it needs is for us to quit spending, quite borrowing, quit overregulating and quit threatening to raise taxes. that's the reason the private sector is all clogged up. one final point, during the month of august, when congress was out of session, i spent about half the month in my state and the rest as republican leader. i was around the country, unprompted, everyone i asked who was in the private sector, a small business, medium sized business or a large business, whether they were doing well and only a few of them are doing well, they all said overregulation was the single biggest problem. we have reached the point now -- zsh. >> let -- >> -- candy, where this economic situation is being prolonged by the government itself. >> let me show you, because i know that republicans have always said and continue to say that regulation is stifling business, sticfling jobs growth. a couple of figures from the bureau of labor and statistics, one of them is on the reasons for initial unemployment claims, this is for the first and the second quarter. government regulation a little over 1,000 claims for unemployment were blamed on government regulation. insufficient demand, 55,000. the national federation of independent businesses did a survey. they asked small business owners, the very people you're talking to, what is the single most important problem, they said poor sales. government regulation was at 18%, taxes was at 18%, poor sales, 28% of people said that's what the problem is, so are you focusing on the wrong problem? >> well, you know why people aren't buying. they're unemployed. i mean the private sector is not going to get going here until the government gets its foot off the throat and lets people who know how to create jobs and grow businesses do that. look, candy, all of these people are not making this up. i don't think people who are running companies are making it up. they realize what is making it difficult for them to grow and expand. new health care mandates, the financial, the lenders, the new dodd-frank bill, calling all over everybody, not big banks but small banks, all over my state, making it more and more difficult for them to end. this is to government prolonged recession. >> let me pick up where we left off right after a quick break. we'llen back with you. we're america's natural gas and here's what we did today: supported nearly 3 million steady jobs across our country... ... scientists, technicians, engineers, machinists... ... adding nearly 400 billion dollars to our economy... we're at work providing power to almost a quarter of our homes and businesses... ... and giving us cleaner rides to work and school... and tomorrow, we could do even more. cleaner, domestic, abundant and creating jobs now. we're america's natural gas. the smarter power, today. learn more at anga.us. it's real milk full of calcium and vitamin d. and tastes simply delicious. for those of us with lactose intolerance... lactaid® milk. the original 100% lactose-free milk. senator, i want to move us on to some politics here. i had a discussion with senator joe biden. earlier in the week, and he had something to say about republicans i want you to listen to. >> this is not your normal republican party. good or bad, it's a different republican party in the house of representatives. it's different. with a very different view than mainstream republicans have had going into this. >> senator biden has nice things to say about you, about speaker boehner, about, majority leader cantor but talking about the tea party. has the tea party made your job more difficult? >> the signing of the trade agreements passed by an overwhelming bipartisan agreement that the signing of the bill basically in a room without any cameras. they're a shame to mention any of the things that they do with republicans because it steps on their storyline. their storyline is that there must be some villain out there keeping this administration from succeeding. look, the president's been in office now almost three years. we've had a chance to look at his performance. the vice president said this election was going to be a choice. it will be a referendum, a referendum on the president and his performance. their policies are in place. >> the polls we keep looking at show that most people, 69% say that congress is not addressing the people's problems, and the same polls show that they mostly blame republicans. can republicans in 2012 withstand this kind of blowback from the public, if it holds? >> the president is trying to convince that somebody else, anybody else is responsible that he hasn't done a good job. must be the millionaires and the people in congress. by the way he owned the congress for most of the time he's been in office, it must be people on wall street, must be anybody but him. look, he's the the president. this election will be a referendum on his performance, 1.5 million fewer jobs today than when he took office. the national debt has been increased 35%. federal regulators are crawling over the private sector keeping us from coming out of this recession. this will be a referendum on his performance as president of the united states. >> part of what is being said out on the campaign trail by the democrats is using a quote from you, you said two years ago about the single most important thing we want to achieve is for president obama to be a one-term president. are you sorry you said that? you've explained it many, many times. it's a two-year-old quote but nonetheless, the idea is look the republicans main aim is not to help you get jobs, it's to defeat this president. are you worried that is catching hold? >> i'm amused by that. obviously as a republican leader i'd like a new president. the question is what can we do together now? we passed trade agreements. lapse week i passed part of the stimulus bill, the jobs bill he calls it and the democrats in the senate voted it down. they are picking unnecessary fights. there are plenty of things we can do together. the trade agreements are a good example of it. they don't want to talk about trade agreements because it steps on their story line that republicans won't cooperate with them to pass legislation. we will. >> senate, i need a one-word answer, will republicans take control of the senate in the 2012 election? >> i hope so. that's one word. >> i'll take it. would assume you hope so. senator mcconnell thank you for joining us. we appreciate it. after the break, top stories and then on zakaria gps" interview with mahmoud ahmadinejad. 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[ female announcer ] new fiber one 80 calories. yes, you can actually love breakfast. ♪ with new extra-strength bayer advanced aspirin. it has microparticles, enters the bloodstream faster and rushes relief to the site of pain. it's clinically proven to relieve pain twice as fast. new bayer advanced aspirin. now a wrap-up of the morning's top stories. a 6.6 magnitude earthquake hit southeastern turkey near the border with iraq and iran. the mayor in the town of van says there are no casualties there, but there are reports of up to 1,000 deaths in smaller rural communities. coming up at the top of the hour on "fareed zakaria gps" an in-depth interview iranian president mahmoud ahmadinejad. he told fareed with u.s. military trainers pulling out of iraq, iran expects to step in. >> since there will be a need in iraq for training and support, will the iranian government be providing greater support in that area? >> translator: i think we should have done it sooner, maybe seven or eight years ago. >> i asked secretary of state hillary clinton earlier in this program for her reaction to am minute at-'s ahmadinejad's remarks. >> iran would be miscalculating this if he didn't look at the entire region and all of the presence of many countries in the region, both in bases, in training, with nato allies like turkey, so i'm used to the president of iran saying all kinds of things, but i think it's important to set the record straight. >> libyan interim leaders are expected at this hour to begin a ceremony officially declaring liberation

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