Transcripts For FOXNEWS Americas Newsroom 20101109

of what their sense -- the sense of what their plan is. bill: boehner says we've got a lot of hard work to do to fix the house and do the peoples' business job. we'll bring you back to the speaker-designate's comments as they get underway. in the meantime the transition team held the meeting with boehner last night, including lawmakers with a range of experience on the hill all eager to get to work as the new majority. >> i came in as a freshman, i didn't create this mess, but i like to say that i want to help clean it up and i want to make sure these republicans aren't going to the democrats what the democrats did to us. there are things in the process that were just wrong and we need to be above that, we need to be more open, transparent, effective, efficient, and working closely as best we can with the democrats. they, too, represent a constituency. nothing has been decided but we kind of talked about principles and what we need to do to restore that accountability and peoples' faith in government and make sure that we're operating very transparently, so we begun the conversation. i see a lot of talk and doing over the next few weeks. bill: so here is your breakdown in the house with several races undecided, democrats hold 188 seats, republicans, 239. republicans also showing voters they received the antiestablishment message that helped them win the majority. house republicans, adding a seat, for a treasureman -- freshman lawmaker at the leadership table, fellow freshmen will choose who fills that seat. martha: the election is not over, eight house seats are still up in the air after a full week of the election period here, two races in california still open, undecided, two in new york, the remaining are in kentucky, virginia, illinois, and texas. democratic incumbents hold slim leads in three of those races, but the party is trailing in the remaining five, so the final numbers, they're in dispute. bill: repealing the new health care law, is that possible? one of the top goals of republicans who will soon call the shots in the house and apparently, more and more americans believe it's not just some empty political promise. according to rasmussen reports, 46 percent of likely voters now think health care will be repealed, the highest level since the bill's passage, 44 percent say a repeal is likely not to happen. the majority of voters have favored repeal in every weekly rasmussen survey since democrats passed that law in late march. martha: these are pretty striking numbers. weigh don't -- we want to hear from you, log on, take this poll, today, here's what the question is: do you want your states to take action on health care. and the first response is yes, i would like to see my state fighting it. the second is no. i do not want to see my state opposing the health care reform. weigh in. we'll see what others are saying. this is going to be an interesting one. bill: that will. in the meantime, talking about printing money, backlash mounting around the world following the u.s. federal reserve's move to pump hundreds of billions of dollars into our ailing economy. the germans say we are clueless. and the chinese say we're just creating more bubbles. president obama, defending that plan, but some of the biggest concern is coming from critics right here in the u.s., including former governor, sarah palin, stuart varney, anchor of varney & company and fox business network, i know a lot of germans, they have it right here, are we operating without a fiscal clue, stuart? >> that's a value judgment i am not prepared to make. i am prepared to tell you that the opposition to this printing of $600 billion, the opposition is absolutely unprecedented. you told the audience what the germans are saying, what the chinese are saying. sarah palin, governor palin, says hey, you, fed, cease and desist. and rand paul, who is going to chair a committee that oversees the fed next year, he says lay off with this money printing, and as of this morning, bill, there are three top federal reserve officials who are openly saying maybe we should have second thoughts about the policy of ben bernanke. unprecedented opposition, bill. that's what's happening. bill: a question: how many sit on the federal reserve board? >> i think it's 12. bill: 12. so three of the 12 are saying maybe we should rethink this. but it doesn't matter what rand paul thinks, it doesn't matter what ron paul position, it doesn't matter what sarah palish position -- sarah palin thinks, they don't have a vote, they don't make the decision. >> what they're doing is raising the possibility of serious inflation down the road. you've gore will -- you've already got some inflation. think of it, where is the $600 billion going? where is it going? i'll tell you where it's going, some of it is going into oil, which is close to $100 a barrel, 87 as of this morning, that is pushing up the price of gasoline, 2.85 national average, getting pretty close to three bucks a gallon, and as of this morning, bill, the price of gold has hit 1418 an ounce. that's inflation. that's where that money is going. that's what ron paul and governor palin are talking about. bill: i remember folks like you a year ago saying gold is going to $1500 i said you're full of it. i didn't say you're full of it but i didn't believe you! ben bernanke thinks he is print money and keep us from going -- well, he will print money in order to keep uses from going over thecally. in 15 seconds, give him the benefit of the doubt, will it work? >> personally, i don't think it's necessary. you've already got signs that the economy is expanding. chuck in an extra $600 billion, you could be asking for inflation trawbl. bill: stuart, thank you. see you at 920 time, barney & company -- varney & company, fbn. martha: a startling revelation in the wake of a plot to send bombs on a fedex and ups jet. we remember these startling images a couple of weeks ago. we're finding out the government has known for years, even decades in some cases that terrorists could sneak bombs on cargo planes. they were expressing a concern about this. but they failed to close some glaring security holes under pressure from shipping companies who were fearful of exorbitant security costs and delivery delays. as a result of that. greg palkot has been looking into this, live from london. what are you hearing about all of this pressure from the shipping industry when it comes to protecting our cargo? >> reporter: yeah, martha, following that foiled mail bomb plot, there is new attention being paid to what the government has done and what it has not done to stop terror packages coming to the united states, specifically the explosive devices from yemen were shipped by fedex and ups and they were only snagged in the airport like the one here in the u.k. due to an intelligence tip. there are charges being made that shipping companies and others have been putting pressure on the government for years to avoid blanket checks of cargo coming into the united states, that the cost would be too high. we talked to one industry insider today and he said that kind of security would devastate the industry. in fact the measures announced yesterday by the head of the department of homeland security, janet napolitano, while extending the cargo bans not just to yemen but another terror hot bed and also extending it to high risk cargo coming from elsewhere stopped short of a blanket security check martha. martha: what about the future, greg? what are governments working on to kind of close these loopholes? >> the bottom line, martha, is this: the u.s. cannot tell the world what to do. it's got to depend upon the cooperation and intensity of other countries to get into this. yesterday, in brussels, we saw the european union security chiefs get together, they're working on a plan that's a mix of things. first, they would black list countries, not just yemen and somalia but terror-based and getting full access to terror bases so they can pluck anything from anyone from anywhere that looks fishy, also, more sharing of information, more tightening of security. yes, this will cost money. and the german interior minister yesterday, martha, summed it completely, he said if this is going to be more expensive, then it will be more expensive, no security is for free. back to you. martha: got to do what you got to do. thank you very much, greg palkot from london. bill: we're going to bring in mike baker in 30 minutes, he has stunning things to say about how this pro-- process has worked or not worked going back to 9/11. stay tuned for that. it's something you need to hear about. >> in the meantime they are paying the price for allegations of voter fraud, a former member of acorn cut ago deal and you would not believe the allegation from 2008 that is now sending her to jail. it's coming up. martha: a lawmaker in the lone star state getting a lot of attention today. we're going to tell you what white hot news has her camping out in front of the capitol. bill: also republicans promising big changes when they take control early part of january, but will america see a repeat of 1994? here's cantor are greta last night. >> the last question, greta, was -- the election was really the american people saying they are tired of a lack of result in washington so let's get back to what americans are looking forks that's results, that's more jobs, that's less spending, that's less government. >> i certainly hope that we can produce results with this congress, because that's what people are looking for. and they're looking for cutting spending, they're looking for more jobs. and if there was one thing i can tell you about my relationship with speaker pelosi, it is really one that hasn't produced much at all, because she's an un-- she's been unwilling to sit down whatsoever to talk about policy. bill: that's eric cantor from last night with "on the record" with greta. we're now seeing videotape from washington, the republican transition committee sitting down at a table. they're actually two hours early. what about that, hey, washington is ahead of schedule, people! doug schoen, fox news contributor, brad blakeman, former deputy assistant to president bush, he's live in vegas today, how you doing, gentlemen? we're going to dip in and out of this video, okay? this is what the electricals were -- the elections were all about, the balance of power shifting from democrats to republicans on capitol hill. can i drop in on this? or is there sound to listen to? all right. we'll unwatch the video here. there's a working lunch that's titled the following today, doug: lessons learned from the 1994 transition. what's that tell you from 16 years ago, reflecting now? >> well, as somebody who was there, bill, and advised president clinton, and frankly, skunked the republicans then, they've got a lot to learn, because they were co-opted, we won that battle, bill clinton was reelected, and we ultimately won the house and senate. so they've got to learn how to stick to their principles and avoid being divided among their tea party members and their mainstream washington centric members, so they've got a lot to thern. bill: brad, do they have a lot to learn or is today just day one? >> no, we have a lot to learn. you either learn from history or are condemned to repeat it. these 35 members of congress are not free agents. they work for teams, whether it's a democrat or republican. i think the new speaker of the house and his supported leadership are smart to get the members together, understanding that washington is a town of process and procedure. it's not necessarily what you want to do, it's what the party and the nation needs to be done, and unless you're a team, you're not going to get anything done, and understand what is possible. bill: they're not free agents, they are a team. doug, you think it's more difficult now than it was in '94? >> oh, i do bill. bill: how so? >> i think with the election of tea party members, who as brad correctly points out are much more responsive to their constituents than they are to the power brokers in washington an were elected on anabsolute program of cutting spending and taxation, compromises on things like the debt ceiling are going to be difficult to achieve and keeping them together, as brad suggests, as a team, it's going to be a tough challenge. bill: brad is making the case they're not free agents, they are part of a team. >> well, they're part of a team, answering different audiences and different constituencies, and can they hold together i think is the question brad is correctly asking. bill: you know what trent lott said about this on the senate side, it's like herding cats, brad. >> it is. it definitely is. but look, once these guys get to washington away from their districts they're going to be indoctrinated into a system that's pretty much foreign to a lot of these new legislators and they have to understand the way to progress is by acting as a team. you're not going to get all of what you want but get a lot on what you're elected upon and that's what the american people want. they want progress. bill: it's clear the incoming freshman class, which has already made history, brad, they will have what we're told a larger voice. they will be able to pick one of the incoming freshman and make them part of the leadership teen. suggesting what? that they're going to have a role. >> absolutely. and they should have a role. the republican party and the house has a very big tent, we have a lot of new members and they should have a voice, but they're not only going to be the only voice and they have to understand, they're the minority within the republican party and they're not going to get everything they want but they're going to get a lot of what the party needs to accomplish for the nation. if they understand they're better off as free agents, we're going to have tremendous success and the leaders are smart to reign them in at the beginning. bill: should we move on to the merlot summit? >> i was going to say, i think it's going to be a tough challenge because the tea party members are in no mood to compromise and they expect all of what they want, and i don't think that they're in any way going to play the washington game. bill: you think the story is just beginning now. >> oh, absolutely bill. this has got a lot of chapters to be written. >> thank you doug, brad, thanks to you as well. enjoy the day, guys, all right? see you brad, see you pal. eighteen minutes past. martha. martha: still ahead, republicans say they want the bush tax cuts extended for all americans across the board, above 250, below 250. president obama says we cannot afford to do that. but how much would leaving these in place actually cost? bya coming up, because you asked. bill hemmer. bill: because you asked martha maccallum from new jersey. martha: that's right. bull bill sarah palin, not filling anyone's campaign coffers. who doesst benefit you wonder? and wait until you hear where she's -- where she's going, a major swing district in america that flipped yet again. back in a moment. in the meantime, check out foxnews.com online while we're on the break. bill: sarah palin is taking to buck county, p.a. today, a significant part of the country, the former alaska governor in town to raise money for a local school, talking to teachers at the plumbsted christian school, buck's county is outside of pennsylvania, considered a major swing county which president obama took back in 2008, bottom righthand corner, right outside philadelphia. twenty-two minutes past now. here is martha. martha: thank you very much, bill. all right. let's bring you over to downtown manhattan now where the defense is expected to give its closing argument today for the first gitmo detainee facing a civilian trial in this country, prosecutors called ahmed ghailani is cold blooded mass mur, taking part in the 1990 aattacks on two u.s. embassy necessary africa which we all know about, 224 people were killed in those attacks, a dozen, americans. david lee miller joins us live from the courthouse. the prosecution wrapped up yesterday. what else did they tell the jury before they they did so? >> reporter: indeed we heard chilling words from the prosecution yesterday. we should also point out that the prosecutor, assistant u.s. attorney harry chernoff, spoke for the entire day yesterday, more than five hours going through the highlights of the government's case. as you mentioned he told the jury and i'm quoting him now, sitting among us is a mass murderer, he went on to say that ghailani has the blood of hundreds on his hands, 224 people killed in those twin plasts, and then in detail he reviewed ghailani's role of allegedly buying thatry fridge rater truck, the acetylene that converted it into a gas explosive, he reminded the jury that in ghailani's home, investigators found a detonator gap and explosive residue that linked him to the crime. and he pointed at ghailani and looked at jury, this is on ghailani, this is al-qaeda, this is a terrorist, this is a killer. and with that, the court ended yesterday, martha. it is going to be getting underway in a few moments' time. martha: pretty powerful stuff, david lee. the defense did not call a single witness in this case, yet, they say their client is not get. what -- not guilty. what do you expect in closing arguments on his behalf? >> this is going to be a head scraffer. that's right, the defense case lasted less than half an hour. how much are they going to say today in closing arguments is not entirely clear. what we believe they will say based on the opening statements is that ghailani was essentially a dupe, he was very young, he was immature, anxious to please, he was a follower, he spent time with al-qaeda members, but he was not one of them, and yesterday, martha, i should point out, the very first time during this trial, we actually heard ghailani speak, the judge asked him, would you like to testify in your own behalf, he replied simply shaking his head, no, sir. martha. martha: wow, looking at those devastating pictures from those bombings, it all comes back. david lee miller, thank you very much, downtown. bill bill first week in august, 1998, 12 years ago and just now you're getting justice perhaps in that courtroom. martha: a long time, right? but as long as it comes eventually, we'll take it. bill: in a moment, acorn workers accused of getting paid to register voters during the election of 2008, now we've got a verdict and it's become -- well, we got a verdict on that so you'll hear about that. and it has become one of the most iconic scenes in u.s. history. >> i can hear you. the rest of the world hears you. and the people -- >> [cheering] >> and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon. [applause] >> martha: what a moment that was, up close and personal with president george w. bush in a new interview, how the former commander in chief felt right after the 9/11 attacks in his own words. >> the nation sends its love. and compassion. martha: a new report out of iran that says that the country would join a new round of nuclear talks on november 15th. the news agency with ties to the iranian government says those talkies would include iran, u.s., china, britain, france, germany and they may take place in turkey. we'll see how that develops. a new development in the connecticut governor's race, tom foley concede to go dan malloy, this was a very tight race and despite questions about the use of photocopied ballots that emerged at the polls in bridgeport, connecticut. and police in mexico, arresting an associate of the country's most wanted drug lord. manuel fernandez valencia allegedly worked for the cartel on a plan to smuggle 8 tons of marijuana into the u.s. by the end of this year bill: an acorn workers, copping a plea in a voter fraud case, a former supervisor for the group in las vegas pleading no contest to charges that volunteers were illegally paid in order to register voters during the 2008 presidential campaign. eric shawn has the fallout, live in our newsroom in new york. what did you find out? >> reporter: bill, it's another voter fraud related acorn plea, the former regional director of voter registration in nevada, she's pled to charges related to an illegal voter registration scheme there from the 2008 presidential lks. she has also been a top voting official of project vote, that's the activist group president obama once wrote for, she's pled guilty to two misdemeanor counts in nevada, the charges knocked down from felonies in connection to what prosecutors say was the acorn plan to pay for signing up votes which is illegal in that state. the acorn plan was called blackjack, or 21, quite appropriate for las vegas. court testimony revealed acorn paid voters. edwards copped a plea, he testified against acorn and boshevik, he said that she approved the plan and if acosh workers did not meet the quota, they were fired. acorn las vegas office came under fire for fake registrations, including send -- signing up the starting lineup of the dallas cowboys, for example. acorn itself faces felony criminal charges in las vegas. they've denied the charges and acorn has since filed for chapter seven bankruptcy. as for ms. busevik, she will be sentenced in january and will probably receive according to reports a fine and community service and according to project vote she has been the group's field director who helps register high school students across the country to vote. she say the 2008 voter registration program, project vote says they signed up more than 1 million new voters and of course you've been reporting on voter fraud on fox news for more than two years. if you have an issue where you live, we want to know about t. voter fraud, fox news.cole and bill, we're getting e-mails from people in nursing homes or group homes or mental health facilities who relatives say are not competent to vote, they're angry and outraged, so if anyone knows about that happening, we want to know, we're going to be investigating. bill: were they voting for roger stalbeck or tony romeo? >> tony romeo was allegedly registered by acorn in las vegas. >> i bet the dodgers have something to say about that! eric shawn, thank you. martha. martha: here's the headline this morning, the u.s. is, quote, on the right path to a better relationship with the muslim world, these words from president obama this morning as he travels through indonesia. meanwhile, positive reaction coming out of the muslim world in india to a promise that mr. obama made an jihad on sunday. here he is. this has gotten a lot of attention, this sound bite. here he is answering a question that was posed to him during a town hall event at a college in india. take a look. >> what is your opinion about jihad? >> the phrase jihad has a lot of meanings within islam and it's subject to a lot of different interpretations. i think all of us recognize that this great lingon in the hands of a few extremists has been distorted to justify violence towards innocent people that is never justified. i think all of us have to fundamentally reject the notion that violence is a way to mediate our definition. martha: there's the statement that got a lot of attention. juan will will -- williams joins me now, fox news political analyst. juan, what was your reaction to that statement? do you think he did a good job handling that question or in the? >> i think it depends on the audience, martha. i think for the audience that he was speaking to in india and in the rest of the islamic world, it was effective, because he made it clear that this is not a -- does he not feel anger toward islam, he still regards it as a great religion, a religion of peace, but he says it has been distorted by the extremists, but to the american audience, martha, i think when he said that there's no way you can justify violence against innocents, it opened up the question well, i guess some people don't think that we are innocent when they fly buildings into planes and they think that anybody who's an american is somehow, therefore, guilty of something, and the question is, is exactly what is it that we have done that would allow them in their minds using islam to justify attacks on americans. martha: you know, i think everyone understands the sort of hesitation and deliberation that he took in answering that question in the environment that he was in, that is to be sure, but then i go back to -- i mean, the question isn't what is the meaning of the muslim religion in the world, the question was what is your opinion of jihad, and it was also an opportunity for the president of the united states to say that the muslim religion and many people who practice it have perhaps not done enough to denounce these acts of violence. was that a missed opportunity on his part? >> well, i think it was, in the sense that, as you put it, he could have used that opportunity to say we need people to stand up and denounce, people who, in fact, use islam as a means to connect with god and to express their belief in peace and a common humanity, the highest aspirations of islam, we need those people to stand up very clearly and condemn what the jihad is are doing. now, jihad comes, of course, from the curran, so people have this concept that you are warring against infidels and all the rest and i think for him to have expressly said this is, you know, a distortion begins to speak to that concept. the missed opportunity was not in the expressly saying we need more people to stand up and not tolerate this, it can't just be the western world taking on the jihadists, it has to be people who are at the heart of islam. martha: and you know, what about the opportunity that was also presented there to say you know, at home in my country, in the united states, people are worried about this, we've had a number of, thank god, failed attacks, we've had packages that were headed for our shores, we've had an attempt in times square, an attempt on christmas day, we have the rise of al-qaeda in yemen, so you can understand, audience here, how my people in the united states feel about this. i mean, i think that's where some of this controversy, and we heard it all over the opinion shows last night, where some of this controversy is coming from and this frustration. >> i think, again, it goes back to this concept i was talking to you about earlier, martha, it depends on the audience, and i think this is a speech and a question -- the whole trip has intense focus from the muslim world. they are very interested in seeing where the president stands, given that the kind of comments he made a year ago, after he was inaugurated, you remember the famous speech in the middle east, where he stands on these issues. but for the audience at home, it was a missed opportunity that stands out in terms of saying to the islamic world, you guys have to do a better job of restraining these violent jihadists. but for i think many people in the islamic world, to hear the president say, and we affirm the idea, once expressed by president bush, that this is not a war against islam, it played very well. martha: certainly the people in mumbai are well familiar with the missouriern day meaning of jihad, given their own experiences. >> that's why they asked the question. martha: exactly. exactly. juan, thank you very much. >> you're welcome, martha. martha: see you soon. bill: interesting how president obama goes overseas at a time when president bush is now becoming public, and he is everywhere, too, he was on nbc last night. martha: it's an interesting juxtaposition and makes you remember -- and we're going to talk about this in the next hour, all of the tumbles of the bush presidency and -- tumult in the bush presidency and what he was experience while in president obama's shoes. bill: and something people on this earth can relate to with one another. in this televised interview the commander in chief recalling the reaction and the horror and hope that he felt during one of america's darkest hours: >> i'm trying to be the comforter, and these guys are looking at me like are you going to go get these guys or not. calling me george. it was fine. >> not mr. president. >> it was george. george, you know, and i believe in justice, and not revenge. and i was overwhelmed by the palpable anger and emotion. so i got on the rubble -- >> as we mourn the loss of thousands of our citizens -- >> saying listen, we appreciate your service, and this, that and the other, and -- >> we can't hear you. >> and there wasn't a soft we can't hear you. it's we can't hear you. >> i can hear you. i can hear you. the rest of the world hears you. and the people who knocked these buildings will hear all of us soon. bill: that's the first time i heard that story. they were calling me george, and you could see the ang ner their faces. it was like i get it. i know what you want. martha: and he needed to respond to that. bill: i know what you need. martha: and it was such a great spontaneous moment, you know. so much of what we see from our presidents is scripted, and it was just -- it was such a spontaneous human moment and i think that's why it's so seared in everyone's memories forever. bill: that was on nbc but sean hannity has the first cable interview, an outstanding interview with the president. you will see it later tonight, 9:00 eastern time, special edition of hannity, of the difficult, defining decisions he made as president, also what he thinks of today's scene and what he thinks of the tea party, all this coming up later tonight, prime time, 9:00 eastern. martha: looking forward to that. well, a stunning admission on the cargo plane terror plot. officials have known about this gaping hole in our national security for decades, and apparently, they're nothing. why -- and they're done nothing. why would that be? bill: google sparks an invasion in central america? what went wrong there? that's not easy to pull off, is it? martha: a bit of a google maps glitch triggered an invasion, so to speak, in central america, the website wrongly redrawing a border that has been disputed by nicaragua and coasta rica for a very long time, so nicaragua entered the area seeing that. the dispute between the two countries over this particular border has been going back over a hundred years so it caught attention in that area. google says no problem, we will fix our error. bill: i bet they are. it has been a dirty secret when it comes to u.s. security going back to years. the u.s. government has apparently known that cargo planes are a weak link in our homeland security and then there's the sheer difficulty of checking all that cargo. make baker is former cia covert operations officer, president of diligence l.l.c., the global intelligence and security firm. mike, good to have you back here. the problem is on numerous levels, as you point out to our producers earlier today, but not only have they known about it for years. >> you bet. bill: they've been worried about it for years. >> this has been on the table for quite a while, not just with us but our liaison officers. the problem is the cargo system, the transportation system, is obviously a global issue, and so people think of cargo and they think dhl, fedex, ups, but it's not contained like that. it involves a huge number of distribution centers, carriers, transportation facilities, warehousing services, all around the world. and so in reality, there never has been a consistent process for screening, securing the cargo. it's been a very wide ranging, from very secure here in the u.s. and some other countries to very haphazard in other parts of the world. bill: this stuns me, it was august, nine years after 9/11, did we require that our cargo be screened on u.s. passenger flights. >> right. and that's going to shock a lot of people. bill: it surprised me. back to the cargo issue. what you're saying is you could put a box on board a fedex plane and that might be a cargo plane, but at some point, in transit, that package can be transferred to a passenger jet. >> and that's the part that a lot of people will stop, wait a minute, i'll taking my shoes off in the airport, dropping my liquids in a bin but in the cargo hold of the passenger plane there could be cargo that hasn't gone through a thorough screening process. at the end of the day a great deal of the cargo that gets moved around is -- i think it's almost 20 percent domestically in the u.s., domestic cargo transportation, either inbound and also outbound ends up in passenger planes, the rest is in the cargo carriers. bill: that is something i think a lot of people did not know. don't want to cut you off but the reason why this has not been enforced until partly you could argue now is because of money. >> it's a huge cost issue. and there has been a general understanding that we can't allow security procedures to impede or negatively impact on global economic processes. so at a certain point, there's an untdzing we can't check every package. it's not going to happen. but what they've been trying to do is, a, they've been trying to screen as much of the cargo that ends up on passenger planes as possible but they've also been working for quite some time to try to establish a consistent process and also consistent technology, and technology is a big part of this issue, trying to say -- it's one thing to shove a single package through a scanning machine. bill: but if you want to put 100, 200 at a time, that's much more difficult. >> the way the packages get consolidated in distribution centers where they're heading to the same location, they get put on pallets, shrink wrapped, once -- trying to screen those is very expensive. >> this are two things we know, if you put an ink printer on a cargo plane, it will get screened and now the guys over there in yemen, they know this. >> right. bill: the other thing we found out yesterday, that the ministers in europe, they want to ban any shipments that come from areas they consider too weak in security, i'm assuming that would be yemen, would that be somalia -- >> any place where we've had concerns or where there have been essentially safe havens for terrorist activity in the past, those are obviously on the top of the hit range, saying we're not going to be accepting packages from those, and that's one way to try to do it in a more efficient manner. bill: are you okay with that? >> yeah, we have to do something. obviously we're acknowledging they've been looking at this, running tests against this and we know that prior to what they did they ran test cases out of yemen with packages, just random materials, and now we understand that that was a dry run for what happened more recently. but a big part of this, again, it comes down to, as with a lot of the processes of security, it comes down to technology. if we can mass produce at a reasonable cost screening machines that would then be distributed out to the primary distribution and warehouse facilities we're going to get our hands around this problem. bill: that's the solution. i hope we can get to it sooner rather than later. mike backer, thank you for your time. martha. martha: a quick note about that google story we were talking about, we were talking about central america in that story, not south america, of course, and moving on, still no winner in the senate contest for alaska, as alaska starts counting those absentee ballots. joe miller joins us to tell us what he thinks all this will mean for him when we come back. >> anticipation. >> ♪ >> ♪ bill: if you thought this was about time, you'd be wrong! martha: we just wanted to play that nice song, anyway! bill: patience, people, and a state lawmaker in texas want to go crack down on illegal immigration, so much so that republican debbie reynolds camped out in front of the clerk's office this weekend, she wants to be the first in line to file bills on the issues come monday, requiring voter i.d., a ban on sanctuary cities and keeping track of undocumented children in public school systems. >> the people of texas are no longer asking, they're demanding, and we have got to make some significant steps regarding illegal immigration and in addition to that, border security. bill: several other republican lawmakers filed similar bills on that same issue. the texas legislature will convene in january, we'll let you know whether or not carly simon is there for that! march par good to be first in line. we could hear more harrowing testimony from elizabeth smart when she takes the stand for the first time against the man accused of kidnapping her when she was a 14-year-old girl who hell her captive for most of the year. who can forget this. nobody thought this girl would be recovered, yet she was. today, she stands to tell her story and she told jurors yesterday what it felt like. she said she woke up in her bedroom with a knife held against her neck and the moment of that is what began her nine-month ordeal. kris gutierrez is covering this story from the federal courthouse in salt lake city. what else did we learn in elizabeth smart's testimony yesterday, kris? >> reporter: martha, it was very difficult to listen to elizabeth smart testify for roughly three years. she sat there in a bright red jacket, they are voice never cracked as she outlined in vivid detail how mitchell raped her repeatedly, forced her to drink alcohol and licker and made her watch as he and his estranged wife perform sex acts. she also testified that she knew people were out there looking for her. remember, she was held captive for nine months at that remote campsite in a mountain area. she says she knew people were looking for her because one day she recalled hearing voices in the distance calling out her name but she says she was afraid to react and act on that because mitchell, according to her testimony, threatened to duct tape her mouth shut and kill her and her family if she tried to escape. this was a girl who at the time was 14 years old, she says she feared for her life. martha: boy, what a story, and the poise with which she has held herself in all of this is just extraordinary. kris, thank you very much. >> absolutely. martha: kris gutierrez. bill: i remember the day she was found, it was like wow, it's a miracle, america. hope has sprung. in a moment the former president bush in an extended interview telling sean hannity about some of the toughest decisions he had to make it office. this is a great interview and we'll show you it in moments. martha: they're promising to take the health care law apart, piece by piece, republicans already taking aim at the president's signature overhaul. how do americans feel about this? go to our website, fox news.com/"america's newsroom". do you want your state to take action on health care? there are two different responses there, yes or no. tell us how you feel about it. we will show everybody how all of the votes are coming in right after the break.  martha: the man who led america through one of its most turbulent times in history, former president george w. bush is now speaking out. he's discussing everything from terrorism, to the wars overseas, and, even to some of his own regrets, about different things during his presidency, he sat down for an interview, with our i know sean hannity. take a look: >> i think, for the sake of history it is important to put into the book, prior to my arrival congress overwhelmingly passed a resolution that, for the removal of saddam hussein from power, and it was embraced by my predecessor. martha: brand new hour of "america's newsroom," we pore over everything, coming in, the interviews with president bush and sean hannity's interview to look at, too, good morning, everybody i'm martha maccallum. bill: i'm bill hemmer. good morning, think of the years he was in office and how much world history we went through together during that time. the former commander-in-chief, author of "decision points" a straightforward walk through his 8 years in the oval office and this is big stuff. martha: and there's more than a few things in there that you did not know about our 43rd president, brit hume, fox news senior political analyst joins me now. good morning to you. >> good morning, martha. martha: reading the book and as americans we move on quickly to the next stage of our own history and you go back and realize how much pressure and extraordinary circumstances this president was functioning under. >> this was a consequential presidency and, bill clinton as successful as he was politically and as popular as he was when he left office, i think has indicated that he almost wished that his -- the time of his presidency had been a more tumultuous and consequential time and the bush era was a momentous aera, no doubt. martha: the partly part of his presidency was pre-economic crisis and now we are so mired in it, the things he was under pressure most was the iraq war and interrogation of suspects and let's play this bit of the interview he did on nbc with mat lauer and i want your thoughts on this part, brit. >> a former republican co-chair of the 9/11 commission said they got legal opinions they wanted from their own people. >> he obviously doesn't know. i hope mr. cane reads the book. i've written the book and he can draw whatever conclusion they want, but, i will tell you this: using those techniques saved lives. my job was to protect america and i did. martha: he says later on in this, brit, and i remember him saying as president he wanted to be able to look himself in the the mirror and feel he did everything he could to protect the american people and that was the bottom line for him. >> you know, remember toward the end of his administration he said that after several years, in which there had been no attacks the country moved on, from 9/11 and, the aftermath and the tremendous anxiety over terrorism and as he said, he never did and said, i never did, and, this book really does take us back to those early days, hours and months after 9/11, when these decisions were being made, it was an extraordinary moment and i don't think any of us in the aftermath of 9/11 imagined we'd be this far down the road as we are today, and there would have been no further successful, truly successful major attack on the american people and we thought it was the beginning and that is what he thought about and worried about and i was very struck by his discussion of the enhanced interrogation measures, which were regarded in many quarters as torture used to extract information from the terror suspects. mike heyden, later the chief of intelligence, said that this was the most successful technique they had, the most successful method the intelligence agencies had for getting information in advance on possible terror attacks and when you heard the president say, as straightforwardly as he did, these methods, this information, saved lives, and, that is compelling in a way and i think also, martha, it is important to note you third criticism from former governor kaine, they got the legal opinions they wanted. and, people said, you know, the justice department was engaged in trying to make torture legitimate and my sense about this was they were looking for ways to see how far they could legally go and these memos, written, the so-called torture memos are actually carefully constructed legal arguments trying to define the line between acceptable but very tough interrogation techniques and torture. and, the president obviously felt he walked up to the line and never crossed it and i think probably makes the case for that, in a way maybe more effective in the book than it was made at the time. martha: one other situation, you talked about, is abu ghraib, which was so disturbing to everybody. and, let's play his thoughts about that moment when he realized the extent of it. >> they not don't disgraced the prisoners, they disgraced the military and stained our good name. >> you said you felt blind sided. >> yes. because i wasn't aware of the graphic nature of pictures until later on and, and some people in the white house expressed that my... my view into the newspapers, which then caused secretary rumsfeld to come in and offer his resignation. martha: what about that, brit? >> that was an interesting time. you could have made a good case that rumsfeld should have been dispensed with at that time. it happened under his -- under his ultimate control. obviously without his knowledge and certainly without his consent and ultimately he was the man responsible and a lot of people think he should have taken the fall right then and two things weighed on the president and he expresses, he didn't have another one to go to at the time and the second is, i think he liked rumsfeld, i think he liked him a lot and he had a powerful ally within the high council of the administration in one who at the time the president was relying on heavily and that was vice president cheney and he and rumsfeld go back many, many decades and are very dear friends, and i think it was a difficult choice the president made, and, he was in the middle of these conflicts and didn't want to change, you know, the overall commander. and of course when he made a change he made the change to somebody else who has proven so well regarded he's a holdover in the administration, so, you know, arguably, could have made the change sooner, and, you know... martha: it is clearly something he struggled with and talks about that a lot in the book and it's all about those decision points in his presidency, fascinating. brit, thank you so much. for your in sight. >> you are welcome, martha. martha: always good to see you and coming up, few people, really, know president george w. bush, perhaps, and worked with him more closely than former white house chief of staff josh bolton. he was there in the oval office during so many of these decisions, and the toughest times in our recent history. he joins you, coming up, ahead, in "america's newsroom." bill: one thing he said about leadership, when you are elected president you have ideas about what you want to do when you become president. but, so many of the forces that are unplanned, and he explained that is the true test of leadership. how you react to the events that are unplanned. so, hannity tonight at 9:00 eastern time, by the way. more great stuff, tonight you'll see in primetime here on fox. martha: we'll have a lot of interviews coming up with him and it starts tonight and we look forward to that and josh bolton talking moments from now. bill: the deadline for withdrawing out of iraq may not be a deadline after all? america is open, apparently to the idea of keeping troops there past next year's pullout deadline. if the iraqi government makes the request. this according to secretary of defense, robert gates, who says the u.s. will, quote, stand by for that request, once baghdad ends an 8-month political gridlock. waiting for a new iraqi government to form in baghdad. martha: overwhelming support for negotiating with the taliban, in afghanistan. a new survey shows that 83% of the afghan adults support peace talks with the heavily armed rent gait paramilitary group, up 10% from last year, 81% say they support offering jobs in housing, to taliban fighters, in an attempt to lure them off of the battle field and back into society. these are really interesting numbers, that we are seeing from the afghan people in this poll. it was conducted by a group called the asia foundation, supporting the afghan government's efforts to reconcile, so that is the viewpoint they come at it with, but, still interesting numbers there. bill: in the meantime, president obama is in indonesia, the nation where he spent part of his childhood, a short time ago, holding a news conference with the president of that country, indonesia has the world's largest muslim population and, u.s. muslim relations. just one of the many topics touched on today. >> president barack obama: what we are trying to do is to make sure that we are building bridges and expanding our interactions with muslim countries so they are not solely focused on security issues. bill: there is more from that area where the president has been forced to cut short his trip in indonesia due to volcanic ash, being spewed from the mountaineer by and the president plans to fit in a speech to the people, and we'll wait on that and those people waited nearly two years to welcome back their adopted son, and david piper has more on that story out of jakarta, indonesia. >> reporter: it was the late 1960s when six-year-old barack obama came to indonesia with his mother, ann to settle in the capital, jakarta, living in a modest house on the outskirts of the city with his sister he saw the grinding poverty in the country and learned valuable lessons about the different culture from the one back home in hawaii, the president's childhood in jakarta, is remembered with fondness and pride at the schools he attended and at the elementary school a statue of a young barack obama stands at the entrance and at the catholic school where he spent three years his pictures adorn the walls. he was registered then as barry sotoro taking his indonesian stepfather's name and the records show he was born in honolulu, hawaii and his religion was islam and the schools's head mistress said it was usual a child would automatic kale be listed with a religion of his father in official documents. obama's years at the school were some of his most important formative years and one of his teachers believes he showed leadership qualities at an early age. >> since he was a kid he was used to leading his friends while playing games and many of his friends, since he was bigger and taller were afraid and did everything he said. >> reporter: he left indonesia after four years and went to live with his grandmother in hawaii, because his mother wanted her son to get a good education. and, the rest, as they say, is history. in jakarta, indonesia, david piper, fox news. martha: this is not much of a vacation, folks. there is a serious situation that developed on a cruise ship yesterday morning, we're getting an update on it. called the splendore and it was struck by a fire, the carnival splendor, no injuries to the crew, but for a while, it was not a lot of fun, and they had no air-conditioning and no electricity and showers and no toilet service and no telephones and happy vacation, right and so far they have been able to restore some services to the ship and it is on its way back to california and i read they'll give everybody another free cruise. to make up for it. i don't think i would want to get back on, though, i'd rather take a check. bill: i'll take a check! they were like camping at sea, weren't they, no power, can't go anywhere. martha: not my idea of a good time, how about you. bill: no. martha: no. bill: scandal in tiny bell, california, rocked communities across the country and drew attention to city leaders using trumped up tax money as their personal piggy bank and new details how tangled the corruption turned out to be in moments. martha: and, still, a week later, we have got to winner in alaska in the senate race there. but, republican joe miller is holding out hope, that the numbers will swing in his favor, he joins us live, moments from now. bill: and shocking poll numbers, on how americans feel about the overhaul of health care. do they want it or not and whether or not republicans can ultimately block it? >> the american people are not excited about the government takeover of health care. and, they need to come to the table fully repeal obama care. ÷ [ male announcer ] gout's root cause is high uric acid. ♪ if you have gout, high uric acid can lead to more attacks. ♪ to help reduce attacks, lower your uric acid. uloric lowers uric acid levels in adus with gout. it's not for the treatment of high uric acid without a history of gout. uloric reduces uric acid to help you reach a healthy level. 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[ male announcer ] if you have gout, ask youroctor about uloric. to stay fit,announcer ] you might also wantut, to try lifting one of these. a unique sea salt added to over 40 campbell's condensed soups. helps us reduce sodium, but not flavor. so do a few lifts. campbell's.® it's amazing what soup can do.™ or annuity over 10 or even 20 years? call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today. ♪ [ female announcer ] the cleaner the counter, the smoother the counter. with bounty you can be confident you'll get your counter clean. in this lab test, one sheet of bounty leaves this surface 3x cleaner than the bargain brand. ♪ big mess? bring it. super absorbent, super durable, super clean. bounty. the clean picker upper. and for huge value, try bounty huge roll. martha: this is a big number, a new poll shows 46% of americans believe that the health care law will likely be repealed and according to rasmussen 44% say it is not likely and, it leans toward repeal by a slim margin and republicans have gained 11 gubernatorial seats in this election cycle. that is a lot and many of the candidates promise they'll fight for the repeal of this overhaul of health care, or at least work -- and this is maybe where we'll ends up with all of this, to weaken the implementations in their states which is a very powerful tool for them. it turns out. what does it mean? for the future of the law? judge andrew napolitano is our fox news senior analyst. good to see you. >> pleasure to be here. martha: let's talk about the fact, legislatively, in washington difficult to repeal this. and the effort would do so would be vetoed by the president and these governors, we're finding out have a tremendous amount of power in terms of how it is implemented in their state. >> there are two parts of the health care law that are -- have profoundly offended the american people and one is this mandate, requirement that you buy health insurance and that is addressed by a variety of federal courts. martha: constitutional challenge. >> correct, the other is a little bit more complicated. question, can the congress tell a state legislature to raise taxes and have us spend those taxes? if the answer to that is yes, then, congress can commandeer, take over the sovereignty and independe independence of the decision making power of those states, and fast forward to january 2011, 34 states will be controlled by republicans an at that point in time those state legislatures can say to congress we will not do it. we will not raise taxes and if we do we will spend it how we think it should be spent, not how you tell us and that is a form of nullification. states refusing to obey a federal law when the federal law interferes with the internal sovereign operation of the state. that is what you will see happen. a little bit here, a little bit there, before you realize it -- >> we have seen a lot of this, pushed back to the states in terms of medicare and medicaid and all of the states have to fatten up their own coffers in order to cover those expenses and this is where they are saying, no, the power of the purse is powerful, when it comes to these -- >> nothing the states hate more than what is called an unfunded mandate. congress making them do something and not giving them the money for it. making them pay for it and now you have 36 republican governors who could easily veto something, from a state legislature that requires them to do what the congress wants them to do. martha: i know you will stay on top of this and we'll follow it through. thank you, judge. always a pleasure to see you. and catch the judge on the fox business network weekend, a fantastic show, called "freedom watch", and you can get to -- get it ale throughout the weekends, saturdays and sundays, check your local listings and don't miss it. freedom watch over the weekend. bill: judge doesn't leave, does he. martha: he doesn't leave! you can always count on him. bill: guys are very kind. and keeping the bush era tax cuts for the wealthy, just for the wealthy, it costs $700 billion over a ten-year period and how much would it cost if you kept the cuts for the middle class? interesting answer, because you asked. if you live for performance, upgrade to castrol edge advanced synthetic oil. with eight times better wear protection than mobil 1. castrol edge. it's more than just oil. it's liquid engineering. >> ♪ ♪ 'cause i'm the tax man... bill: this is going to be debated the first of january and maybe perhaps by then we have a resolution. leading republicans now say they might be open to a compromise in the bush era tax cuts, by abuse you asked, voice of sanity, and, keeping the bush tax cuts for the wealthy will add $700 billion over ten years and how much is added by keeping the tax cuts for those making less than $250,000 a year? the middle class tax cuts, eric bolling, anchor of "money rocks" is here with cards and numbers... and money and, the guy has gold in his pockets... >> i don't have golden my pockets. bill: by the way... some facts. if you allow the wealthy to keep their tax cuts, does it cost $700 billion over ten years, yes or no. >> yes, over $70 billion a year. bill: if you give tax cuts to people making less than $200,000 a year and families less than $250,000 a year, how much is that costing us over ten years. >> closer to 2, and a "t" next to it, $2 trillion. >> $200 billion a year. is that a lot of money? here's one for you. take this one, camera 2. $3.8 trillion, in the 2011 budget and knock 5% off of that, 5%, tough economy, and, recession, and households cut back, if i cut back 5% i can do that, if the federal government cuts back, 5% you can extend the bush tax cuts for everyone making $250,000 for less. bill: i've heard the figure before, i think it was stimulus. $700 billion. >> one shot deal, that stimulus. bill: t.a.r.p. was $700 million. >> 8 -- came out to -- 800 and change, and there were 862 or 850, and not sure exactly how much that will cost and these are big numbers and one-time deals and if you take the $700 billion an divide by the ten years, the cbo estimates it is $70 billion, not a lot of money and these are the people who generate jobs. >> you mean $700 billion. >> $700 billion over ten years, $70 billion, per year. these are the job creators, who would be getting these tax cuts. bill: orrin hatch, republican out of utah, renew all the tax rates permanently and would consider a short-term freeze, say for a period of two years. peter orszag -- >> bad idea. bill: it takes you past 2012 and kicks the -- >> bad idea. bill: and maybe have a different makeup in congress and get it done permanently. >> you know what is african bad to give us one or two years, i'm talking about americans, who want these tax breaks, if you do it now in lame duck congress and say, we'll give you a year, two years, bad idea. businesses plan five and ten years forward, bill, they don't plan for the next year or two. you don't look down the road two years, when you buy a house, extend the cuts permanently and you will start the economy again. bill: 50 some-odd days and counting to get it done. >> lame duck. bill: check out eric bolling, 8:00 on fox business, he follows the money, if you wahave a question you want answered, twitter@billhemmer.com and, what is. the mail there, "voice of sanity". martha: that is me, me, under another name, what i call myself today. well there is a book that has a lot of folks talking and we talked about it a bit and president george w. bush's memoir, "decision points" is the name of it and actually released today, we'll talk to one of the men who truly had a front row seat for these decisions, former white house chief of staff, josh bolton. 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[ amy ] boost drink gives my favorite patient the complete nutrition she needs to keep doing the things she loves. bill: new details with the bell california scandal that sparked angry protests, auditors revealing how much taxpayer money was misspent, they say city leaders collected nearly $7 million over three years by illegally raising property taxes, and other fees. the city's 6 highest paid administrators had a combined annual salary of $6 million. some of them facing charges and have pleaded, so far, pleaded not guilty, 10:31. martha: what a way to run a business, bill. one week after election day, and the race for illinois's 8th congressional district remains tight out there, folks, it is not over yet. republican joe walsh, a tea party favorite now leading democratic congressman melissa bean, we do not know who the winner is and we'll find out -- will not find out until next week, walsh declares victory and bean refuses to back down and we have seen how these things go and steve brown is watching this from illinois, how many votes separate the candidates, right now? >> reporter: a small number, 350 votes and this is after all of the early voting, that took place, all of the election day voting that tools. and, provisionles and other absentees that have been counted, down to about 350 votes and what will decide this, certainly, will be the absentee that comes in and provisionals that have been cast and those we understand, cook, lake and mchendry county will not be open until the 16th and the ballots will be examined and determined and counted if they are and the gap is 350 and how main provisionals and absentees are there, lake county we are looking at 560 votes. and, cook county, there is a block of something in the neighborhood of 2 to 300 and mchenry county, far fewer and probably the neighborhood of 200, and why do we say probably? well, in that county they have two congressional districts that run through there and it is going to be a narrow margin with votes still to be tacked on a week from today. martha: who is bill waljoe wals >> reporter: i third time around candidate and ran for congress and the state house in the '90s and did not win either race and put his hat out there, if you will, for the 2010 republican primary in this district, was not the favored candidate, endorsed candidate and won any way and ran a campaign with something in the neighborhood of 3 or $400,000, worst of donation, versus his opponents, melissa bean who had millions. martha: what has she been doing and saying about this. >> she kept a very low profile and is currently the representative for the 8th district and has duties to take care of in congressional offices and constituents to take care of but has a lower profile and has not done interviews and has a legal team in place and they are pursuing this but she is not actively out there talking about what it is, that her team is up to. martha: tense times in waukegan, illinois. beautiful day, though, steve, thanks very much. bill: here's another race that is not yet settled, undecided in alaska's senate bid, joe miller fighting for victory, versus, quote, write in candidates that include lisa murkowski and the race for senate is too early to call and joe miller now is with us live in anchorage to tell us what is happening there, good morning, sir and thanks for your time today. >> good morning, thanks for having me. bill: little bit of a delay on the satellite, so our viewers know that. appreciate your time. how will you win this thing? >> well, by making sure that every ballot vote is counted. we have 37,000 absentee ballots we'll start counting today, we're confident we'll run strong amongst those ballots and many of them military. bill: okay, now, you are -- well the write in votes, picked up 41% of the overall tally. in fact, 13,000 more votes for the write in candidate have been cast, than what you have received to date. so, is that where you trying to overcome and think the military ballots put you over the top? >> well, with 37,000 absentee ballots you see a lot of ground can be covered there and we will take a majority of those, we know and in addition, if you look at past write-in campaigns, the last one in the state, of any significance was robin taylor's, in 1998 and 8% of the ballots in that race did not counted, so, there is going to be a number of ballots that fall off on the ends and other candidates, were write-ins, including, we heard, anecdotally, myself. so those votes will be counted, we'll ensure we have people on the ground, to make sure they are counted in a proper fashion. and, we're cautiously optimistic. bill: you mentioned the race in 1998. that was a governor's race and thousands of votes were not counted, and those were write-in votes and that is part of how you make the argument now. >> a lot of it goes to voter intent. now, based on how you interpret the law, what does voter intent mean to you, if i write "lisa-m" is that a vote for her. >> our approach is the rule of law has got to apply to the situation. if you put some sort of subjective standard in place, really, all that means is that you have somebody in different teams, in fact, the lieutenant governor said he was going to have 15 teams set up to review the ballots, if you have got something other than a clear standard then you have no standard and that is our concern. want to make sure the statute the legislature passed, that governors this type of an approach, i mean, it is a different approach than a normal election, when you pick a right-in approach you deal with a stricter standard and that is what the legislature intended and we want to be sure the law is written. bill: you have hired lawyers and she has hired lawyers and it could go on for days, if not weeks to come. there are thousands from what i understand, you referred to this in your first answer, i think, thousands of absentee ballots that have not yet been tallied. is that where you think joe miller's votes are? >> well, we know we are going to gain votes there. no doubt about it and again, a large percentage of those are military. we have anecdotal evidence from people at the polling sites right now that have seen the ballots that were running very, very strong amongst those and we expect to gain significant votes, to the -- >> i know you don't like to think about this but if she beat you, why did she beat you as the write in candidate. >> now we are foescusing on makg sure we have accuracy in the counting and people on the ground to review the process and that is our main focus. >> tomorrow the rubber hits the road. the counting starts tomorrow, wednesday, in alaska -- >> we actually have -- have some ballots that are being counted today and it is our understanding the absentees themselves will start with the count today. the write ins tomorrow and the absentees today. bill: a nail-biter. good luck, thanks for coming on today, joe miller, also our invitation is out there as always to lisa murkowski, if she takes up or invitation. we'll certainly put her on tv first thing tomorrow, joe miller, thank you, we await her answer, on that invite. all right, 22 minutes now before the hour. martha: coming up, president bush revealing inside details of his 8 years in the oval office in a new book about his presidency, a man who lived it, front and center, for one of the most turbulent times in recent american history. we'll talk with josh bolton after this break. >> you think your brother jeb will be president one day. >> i wish he would be. he has to run first. and he has made it clear he's not running. in 2012. and, when the man says i'm not running, he means it. and, i wish he'd run. let me tell you about a very important phone call i made. when i got my medicare card, i realized i needed an aarp... medicare supplement insurance card, too. medicare is one of the great things about turning 65, but it doesn't cover everything. in fact, it only pays up to 80% of your part b expenses. if you're already on or eligible for medicare, call now to find out how an aarp... medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company, helps cover some of the medical expenses... not paid by medicare part b. that can save you from paying up to thousands of dollars... out of your own pocket. these are the only medicare supplement insurance plans... exclusively endorsed by aarp. when you call now, you'll get this free information kit... with all you need to enroll. put their trust in aarp medicare supplement insurance. plus you'll get this free guide to understanding medicare. the prices are competitive. i can keep my own doctor. and i don't need a referral to see a specialist. call now to get a free information kit. plus you'll get this free guide to understanding medicare. and the advantages don't end there. choose from a range of medicare supplement plans... that are all competitively priced. we have a plan for almost everyone, so you can find one that fits your needs and budget. with all medicare supplement plans, there are virtually no claim forms to fill out. plus you can keep your own doctor and hospital that accepts medicare. and best of all, these plans are... the only medicare supplement plans endorsed by aarp. when they told me these plans were endorsed by aarp... i had only one thing to say... sign me up. call the number on your screen now... and find out about an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan. you'll get this free information kit... and guide to understanding medicare, to help you choose the plan that's right for you. as with all medicare supplement plans, you can keep your own doctor and hospital that accepts medicare, get help paying for what medicare doesn't... and save up to thousands of dollars. call this toll-free number now. >> i'm jenna lee, we have stunning revelations about cargo security and why the soft spot, the fault of big business, government or both? and the search for a suspected cop killer and the murdered cop a military veteran, the latest on the man hunt in california and, also, our america's asking town hall u.s.a. continues, what do you want to know about the president's trip, government spending and the slurpee summit? have you heard about that? send us your questions, foxnews.com/happeningnow. we'll see you in 17 minutes or so, back to bill and martha. martha: president wish wish's new book hits bookstores today. the former president maintained a low profile, since he left public office, at the white house. but, now is really starting to open up a lot about a range of topics, in the book, "decision points" and interviews he has been giving during the first cable interview with sean hannity he discusses one of the most frustrating points in his presidency. take a look: >> you talk a little bit about wmd and he didn't use it on the troops, i was relieved and talked about the absence of wmd stockpiles. >> yes. >> frustrating for you. >> unbelievably frustrating. of course it is frustrating. everybody thought he had wmd, every intelligence service, everybody in the administration. >> a lot of democrats. >> light of members of congress. martha: president bush's book also delved into his decisions during the financial crisis that hit this country. we'll talk to josh bolton in a moment, sworn in as white house chief of staff in april of 2006, replacing andy card and first joined president bush's cabinet in '03. at that point he served as the director of the office of management and budget and alsos worked as a policy director for the bush-cheney presidential campaign in 2000 and he was very close to the administration, and very much a part of it, and has been out of the public limelight quite a while and we're delighted that he joins us today to talk about his recollections and about this period in his life and the president, josh, welcome, good to see you here. >> nice to be with you, martha. martha: i loved going through the book. some of the sort of less big headline items caught my attention as well, and there's a moment when you brought hank paulson to the white house, as the president was considering making him the treasury secretary, and, the president says that he later learned that hank paulson was sort of the only conservative in his family and hank paulson's mother cried when she learned that her son, little hank was going to join president bush's administration. what do you think about that and what was the period like for you? >> we didn't know all of the -- exactly how much difficulty hank was having with his own family, but we knew it was an uphill fight. i approached hank paulson weeks before the episode that is recounted in president bush's book, to try to get him interested in serving in the administration. and, it took a long time to get him into the place to be there, and, the president i think, very, very effectively described the moment when he sealed the deal with hank paulson. to bring him on board, and i think it is one of the more important bits of personnel recruiting in modern economic history because hank served so brilliantly during really the toughest economic time in modern times. martha: you know, i have been fascinated by president bush's decision to put the government to work in the way that he did and he has been criticized for it by a lot of free market capitalists who believe that none of the entities should have been bailed out but, when you look at the book and it goes into the details, what was happening at that time, right after lehman brothers collapsed. and jp morgan had been saved in the final hour, by bear stearns and he says over the past few weeks, from the president's book, we had seen the failure of america's two largest mortgage entities, the bankruptcy of a major investment bank, the sale of another and nationalization of the world's allergiesest insurance company and now the most drastic intervention in the free market since the presidency of franklin roosevelt and russia invaded and occupied georgia, hurricane ike hit texas and america fighting a two-front war, an ugly way to end a presidency and he talks about the fact that he believed that god would not ask more of him than he was able to carry out. it was a very, very dramatic moment. >> it was, and, one of the things that struck me when i had a chance to read the manuscript of the book was exactly how much happened during the one man's tenure as president. how much happened to him and how many important decisions he had to make and very little of the presidency, though, had more compacted and repeated crises than the last few months when we were facing the economic crisis . the book does a good job of conveying what the mood was like and i think a pretty good job of conveying what the president was like, which was calm, resolute, determined, and willing to put aside ideology for what his advisors... martha: and, he has been attacked so often and he says self-pity is not the quality of a strong leader and, i have a couple of quick questions about the period. do you or do you think the president has any regrets about any of the bailouts, about not saving lehman brothers and going on, for these bailouts, given the extent to which the government has now become involved in private enterprise in this country, do you feel like you got that ball rolling to any extent? >> well, i mean, you know, hindsight will always say maybe i could have done this better and maybe i would have done that better and one of the things this book does so well, it is not really a memoir, it is a set of decision points, but one of the things the book does so well, is it puts people into the shoes of the president. and where he says, here's the information i was giving, here's the principles i brought to the decision, and, here's the decision i made. you can make up your own mind whether you think it is right or not. and, he does that with respect to the decisions on the financial crisis, and, i think most people, if they had been sitting in his shoes with the information he had, would have made the right decisions. i believe, strongly, that most of those decisions were absolutely the right ones, very courageous ones, at a difficult time and i believe saved not just the u.s. economy but the global economy. martha: i'm running out of time. before i let you go, do you think we'd still be in the kind of economic distress at this point in our country's history then. >> i didn't -- i knew it would be a long road to recovery. i don't think most of us expected that it would take this long. and, hopefully, we bottomed out and we'll start seeing real recovery, in the future. martha: we'd love to talk to you more about that in the future and hope you will not be a stranger. very good to see you back on our show, josh bolton, thank you so much. >> thanks for having me. martha: sean hannity coming up with president bush, tonight, 9:00 eastern on the special edition of hannity and we have seen little pieces of it and it promises to be extremely compelling. bill: and when we talks about all the events he experienced over 8 years in the white house when we were in tallahassee covering 37 days of the recount... everybody thought, about it, what is going on here, what is shifting in our world. martha: quite a start. bill: that is where it began. aboard the uss midway in san diego, you will find proud sailors and you'll find adam housely. what is doing, adam! >> reporter: bill, what better way to show patriotism than a jeep wrapped in old glory, we'll tell you how to get involved with the wounded warrior project coming up live on fox. yellowbook has always been good for business. but these days you need more than the book. you need website develoent, 1-on-1 marketing advice, search-engine marketing, and direct mail. yellowbook's got all of that. yellowbook360's got a whole spectrum of tools. tools that are going to spark some real connections. visit yellowbook360.com and go beyond yellow. one month, five years after you do retire? 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[ male announcer ] visit ameriprise.com and put a confident retirement more within reach. bill: a bit later in the week on thursday, just in time, fox news getting up a close look at a -- a rather special vehicle. nicknamed the spirit of liberty. two of the vehicles are painted red, white and blue and next year will travel the country, raising money to support our wounded warriors and the families of the fallen. not that picket fence there or that chain-link fence, that guy, right there, adam housely, you are aboard the uss midway in san diego. >> reporter: you talked about the jeep and you can buy one like this, two door or a four door, also, which are -- our camera is in now and you can buy one at your local jeep dealer and part of the proceeds go towards the wounded warriors project and that is one way you can do it and the second way is sponsor segments of these two jeeps, drive across country as they begin here the friday in san diego, the friday before memorial day, 2011, and will drive 43 states, and, actually touch 12,000 times, all told and you can actually bid on some of these miles and put money down and the money goes toward the wounded warrior's project and you can bid to drive the jeeps and celebrities and politician will be driving them and sports personalities will be driving them and all to help raise money and at the end the two jeeps will be auctioned off and if you don't want to buy one at your local dealership and buy one driven by somebody famous you can actually buy one of these two, the one i'm here, the two door or the four door, there and it august starts the friday before, aboard the uss midway and what better way to start in san diego than aboard the first ship christianed after world war ii and served up through desert storm and ends on the intrepid, right before september 11th, 2011 and the money goes towards the wounded warrior project, a great cause and featured many times before and the wrapping job here, if you buy one at the local jeep dearly, it is $3,000 for the wrap and all the proceeds go towards the wounded warrior project. bill: you have a great gig, there, enjoy! martha: i want the one driven by adam housely. bill: we'll bid on that, the more you drive, we'll follow you. martha: that is the within i want. bill: you can read the blog and live shots page and find a link if you want to contribute to the wounded warrior's family support fund, an outstanding organization. so, you can find it -- >> they need your support. bill: thank you, adam. martha: how about this, dallas cowboys firing their head coach, after starting the season 1-7. not a great record. maybe they should take tips from these guys, right, bill, page out of a play book, how the player walked right past the defense. i love these kinds of stories! 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