>> epa? >> epa there you go. >> seriously? epa the one you were talking about. >> no, sir. we were talking about the agencies of government. epa needs to be rebuilt. >> but you can't name the third one? >> the third agency of government i would do away with the education, the -- >> commerce. >> commerce. and let's see. i can't. the third one i can't. sorry. oops. bill: if comments on a string you want to pull that one back. i do that every day, by the way. stick around for the next two hours. martha: i promise a list. i might run out of the comments before i get to the end. bill: stick around. see what we do here. good morning, i'm bill hemmer. good morning. how are you martha? martha: i'm fine, bill. good morning, everybody. rick perry said this morning talking about all this he may skip some of the future debates. and there are a lot of them. he may have wished skipped this one last night. >> i stepped in it, man. yeah it was embarrassing. of course it was. i will be in south carolina on saturday. hopefully i remember the energy department. bill: thank goodness he was wearing boots last night because he stepped in it. carl cameron is live debate side, detroit, michigan. how damaging can we assess the gaffe, carl? >> reporter: good morning. it is very damaging. that is why rick perry was first candidate in "the spin room" before his staff to clean it up a little bit. that is why he was doing morning shows this morning. it is not necessarily lethal because so many early voting state voters are undecided. 60, 70, 80% in south carolina and new hampshire have not made up their minds. not as if perry will not get a lot of do-overs. a he will get a lot of do overs. a baker's dozen. there are count them, 13, 13, scheduled debates between now and mid-april. if perry hangs on and he certainly has money to do that, he will have plenty of time to improve the debating skills. as he says repeatedly, being president is not debater in chief. he is getting notes of sympathy from michele bachmann and others that is brain freeze and mental lapse, every candidate's worst nightmare. bill: to his strategy he made himself enormously success -- accessible today. the other elephant in the room there, herman cain. >> they were supposed to to be focused on jobs and economy. what may be more interesting and what may be more tell something not herman cain's answer to the question but the audience reaction to the question. listen to this. >> here we're focusing on character and judgement. you've been a ceo. >> yes. [booing] >> you know shareholders are reluctant to hire a ceo where there are character issues. why should the american people hire a president if they feel there are character issues? >> the american people deserve better than someone being tried in the court of public opinion based on unfounded accusations. that's what that -- [cheers and applause] and i value my character and my integrity more than anything else. over the last nine days the voters have voted with their dollars and they are saying, they don't care about the character assassination. they care about leadership and getting this economy growing and all of the other problems we face. [applause] >> reporter: there you heard it really. supportive applause for herman cain from the audience last night and critical boos for the question about this issue of alleged sexual harassment back in the '90s by as many as four different women. having said that cain recognizes this isn't going to go away. he will could have to continue to battle back and fight against these allegations. with the specter of joint news conference with the accusers it will not go away. it is very clear republicans are giving him more than benefit doubt. bill: outside detroit, michigan, carl cameron. martha: lots to talk about last night and the debate was about the economy. that's what it was based on. it could not have picked a better place to talk about that, the heart of america's reeling rust belt. michigan reported 11% unemployment in september. that is the third highest state unemployment number in this country. out of 342 metropolitan areas in the nation, only 32 have higher unemployment than detroit and surrounding suburbs. the city of detroit has over 20% unemployment rate. the people are leaving in droves. the population of the motor city has decreased by 25%, by a quarter, over the last 10 years. bill: it is remarkable how that city and state has changed. mitt romney tackling the question of jobs and the economy saying the current administration spends too much time vilifying corporations. >> our democratic friends think when a corporation is profitable that's a bad thing. the right thing for america is to have profitable enterprises that can hire people. i want to make american businesses successful and thrive. what we have in washington today is a president and a an administration that doesn't like business. bill: he went on to say that, echoing some of the fellow candidates who were on stage last night saying we must get out of the stage of picking winners and losers in government and allow the free market guide the u.s. economy back to a they will think standing. martha: so where do all the candidates stand right now? according to latest real clear politics average here is how it shapes up and this isn't including feedback from last night. herman cain is still in the lead, just over 25% of the vote. this is a mix of a whole conglomeration of polls out there, so it is an average. mitt romney is the 23.3. newt gingrich comes in at 12.2%. rick perry rounds out the top four at 10%. that was taken before the gaffe last night. we'll see over the coming days if it has impact on him. bill: give him a couple days. we'll measure it then. on the trail mitt romney is bringing out the big funds in the first in the nation primary state new hampshire. new jersey governor chris christie making his first appearance on the trail since officially endorsing the former governor of massachusetts. >> i believe in him and i got out and endorsed him this early in the race because i wanted to make a difference. i want to make a difference in this country. and i want to make a difference in this campaign. bill: well, as you know romney was in detroit getting ready for the debate when the comment came. christie was all but begged to run for the nomination himself. he refused, opting to support mitt romney. martha: fox news alert now. what could be a glimmer of hope for the unemployment situation in this country. the labor department reported better than expected jobless claims numbers. weekly claims fell by 10,000, now at 390,000, that is the lowest level we've seen since mid-april. charles payne from the fox business network joins us. chars, good morning. >> good morning. martha: how do you like this thumb per? >> i like the number. i feel we're a year late on these kind of numbers. we should have got them sooner. 80,000 jobs created last month. proverbial drop in the bucket. we need 250,000 to chip away at incredible entrenched unemployment problem we have. 400,000 is psychological number. 390 is a lot better than we've seen feels like we're still so far behind of a typical recovery out of a recession. martha: that may be, the administration will look at the chart, the line on the chart is heading in the right direction. it is likely as they have said in the past they will say, we are digging out of a very big hole but we're heading in the right direction. what say you? >> listen, that is all part of the sales job and to a large degree would be very disingenuous. we create one job last month you can argue that we had positive job creation. i think the american public really understands we're in real serious trouble. wages aren't moving at all. if they are moving they're moving lower. unemployment is entrenched. we've got six million people who have been unemployed for 27 weeks or longer. that is a permanent new underclass in this country. these numbers aren't good enough. we've been able to celebrate mediocrity in the stock market last couple years but i don't think it will play on main street. martha: look at last night. michele bachmann was asked how she would stimulate the economy, get jobs going once again. here is what she said last night. >> i want to create jobs as quickly as possible? >> one thing we know that taxes lead to jobs leaving the country. all you need to know we have the second highest corporate tax rate in the world. martha: is she right? >> she is absolutely right. you could argue japan. realistically, cuba has lower business tax rate than we do. not only our corporate tax rate but the notion of allowing corporations, u.s. corporations to bring money back home, i think if we offered them some sort of window of opportunity to bring that money home we could bring in maybe a trillion dollars. a lot would go to buying back stocks and dividends. bet you, 3, 4, $500 billion would go directly into job creation. that would be absolutely phenomenal and cost nobody watching this show a nickel. martha: great points as always. >> thanks a lot. martha: charles payne from fox business network. here is a little context on this conversation here. we see where we stand now. 390,000 claims is the number for today. a little higher than the low we saw back here at 375 in the recent numbers. we're still well above the number you need to indicate a healthy economy. for that we need to be below the 375,000 mark you can see. this yellow line is the line you need to be at to create jobs in a healthy sustained economic situation. we have a ways to go. bill: we certainly do. martha, thank you. in a moment the child sex abuse scandal at penn state claiming the career of a sports legend and many students are not happy. >> joe paterno!. bill: there were clashes on campus late at night after joe paterno was shown the door at 46 years. martha: a stack of new e-mails subpoenaed from the white house, detailing the early days of the discussions between the administration and the investors at solyndra. what they say about vice president joe biden and his reaction to how badly he wanted that deal. bill: also the pitch was a fastball on the economy and newt gingrich was swinging for the fences. more on the rise of gingrich and how this exchange may help him. >> would you like to try to explain in simple speak to the american people what you would do after you repeal the president's health care legislation. >> in 30 seconds. >> take the time you need. take the time you need. >> i can't take the time i need. >> you want to answer the question tonight on health care or no? 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's heart-healthier than butter. with omega-3s. 64% less saturated fat. andlinically proven to help support healthy cholesterol. ♪ put a little love in your heart ♪ martha: well iran is reportedly ready for more russian-built nuclear reactors. russia's nuclear chief said iran expressed interest after the first reactor began producing electricity in september. the two countries are working on a new agreement. this comes day after a u.n. report detailed iran's progress in suspected efforts to build a nuclear weapon. bill: there are e-mails public subpoenaed from the white house showing the obama administration was ecstatic about loaning money to solyndra, a company that is now belly-up. one message from the kaiser foundation, a wealthy obama political donor, to a member of solyndra's board claiming vice president joe biden's team had quote, an orgasm after kaiser's people mentioned the solar panel company. did the enthusiasm lead the white house to ignore the warning signs? joe barton, texas republican, a member of the house energy and commerce committee. that is the committee that oversees the department of energy. sir, welcome back. >> glad to be on your program. bill: what are you learning from this? >> we're learning that the white house doesn't cooperate with the investigation. they appear to say as long as everything is okay it is okay. we say give us the document, give us the facts and let us determine what's wrong and what's right. bill: the white house is saying the e-mails were cherry-picked? it goes on to say that there is no indication that favoritism came into play on this decision. do you see it the same way? >> i do not see it the same way. they keep saying this was a merit-based decision. we have voluminous reports that this was a very weak technology and should not have been funded. in fact the bush administration made the decision not to fund this specific loan guarantee. bill: george kaiser made 17 visits to the white house. they're saying not one of those visits did he talk about solyndra. do you know what he talked about at the white house? >> well, he was interviewed yesterday by committee staff and i have not seen the transcripts of those interviews but apparently he would the staff believe that while he was in the white house 17 times, everybody and their dog knew his foundation was a major owner of the solyndra company, that it never came up. that kind of begs the question. >> do you think you can figure out either based on these e-mails or perhaps through the interview that was conducted this week why he was there? >> today is the day the white house is supposed to comply with the subpoena request and the indications are that they're certainly not going to be in full compliance. so we'll have to keep pushing but there's a reason there is oversight investigation subcommittee of the energy and commerce committee and that is to get these fact, put them before the american public and determine what really happened. bill: what do you think happened? >> i think the obama administration, for whatever reason, decided to really push this solyndra loan guarantee and those discussions occurred in the white house and i think it is odd to me that the bush administration january of 2009 says this is not a good deal. the obama administration in march of 2009 says it is not only not a bad deal, it is a great deal and let's expedite getting this thing going. that has to, me, implies that there was discussion in the white house about it and it just wasn't a bureaucratic decision at doe. bill: it also appears in these e-mails from people connected to the country at solyndra one e-mail said with regard to the loan and encouragement they were getting from washington, they felt, quote, that's awesome. get as you department of energy loan. isn't that what ticks people off? that is taxpayer money. >> well, again, if this is a merit based decision where is the merit? the treasury department is skeptical. career folks at doe are skeptical. career people at omb are skeptical. what's the merit? the only merit i can figure out is that the solyndra technology did work t was very inefficient and very expensive but at least it did work. it wasn't totally crazy idea. bill: joe barton, thank you for your time. in time we will look for more answers. thanks for coming back. >> we will get the answers. the american people deserve it. bill: thank you. 19 minutes past. here's martha. martha: we've been talking about this morning and americans are struggling to make ends meet right now. mitt romney says one group he believes has really taken a beating. we'll show you something last night. we'll talk about that coming up. bill: this congressman fired up in this heated exchange with voters. what got him so ticked off we wonder. martha: coffee. >> quite for a minute. quiet for a minute or seym going to ask you to leave. you need to listen. 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1975. gerald ford was in the white house. hang in there, alaska. martha: all right. want to see a storm. mitt romney saying that the obama economy has quote, crushed middle income americans and he says, that this is what he would do to help. here's from last night. >> what i want to do is help the people who have been hurt the most and that is the middle class. what i do is focus a substantial tax break on middle income americans. ultimately i would love to see us come up with a plan that simply nice the code and lowers rates for everybody. martha: gerri willis joins me, anchor of "the willis report" on the fox business network. is he right about that and the way to go about it? >> i think this is interesting and if you look at census data it shows without question that the people are struggling in the middle class. between the 1996 and 2011, wages remained stagnant for the middle class. they have not grown. no improvement there. when you dig into the tax data you find that would look worse if it weren't for tax credits because people get the benefit of tax credits. this is not a good news story for the middle class. cutting taxes is better than stroking a check out of the treasury. so i commend him for that. martha: in terms of middle class, he goes through a lot of numbers he talked about. at one point he talked about median incomes dropping 10% in the last three years. he says at the same time gasoline prices went up, food prices went up, health care costs went up. according to our brain room, that decline is 6.39% in median income. that is still a pretty big chunk of change for folks. >> it is a big chunk of change. he is absolutely right about prices go up. i know the federal reserve says we don't have inflation in this economy. i say, ben bernanke, come to the grocery store with me and i will show you some. folks are struggling with rising prices at the grocery store and elsewhere. that is cut in pay. think of it as making less money. martha: everything seems to go up. it is stagflation, right? >> absolutely. we don't know what is going to happen as we go through the next month, the next year. we may get rising inflation into this mix because we baked in so much stimulus into the economy. if that happens, that will make the situation for the middle class even worse. martha: gerri, thank you. it is not a pretty picture and everybody is looking for that to turn around. we'll see who might be the person to do it. thank you very much. good to see you as always. bill: i will crawl in a cave, okay? >> i will come back with better news. bill: could there be a breakthrough in washington over a deal on the national debt? senator jim demint is just ahead on whether or not any progress is being made on slashing government spending. do not miss that. martha? martha: and wow, emotions are erupting on the campus of penn state. legendary coach joe paterno fired after allegations of a cover-up of a child sex scandal. >> our thoughts and prayers are with them and it is just, it has been really difficult to see. this happened, you know, at my university, my alma mater. it has been difficult. ♪ [ gong ] strawberry banana! 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[shouting] >> jo-pa!. bill: it went on from there and got worse. the board firing paterno after allegations following the coach jerry sandusky. the board had no part of that. the crowd gathering at paterno's home late last night. he and his wife stepping outside for a moment to say this. >> i love you all. you're great. [shouting]. >> what do you want to say to penn state? >> why did you guys come out? >> why do you want to say to penn state? >> because i want to say hello to all the great students. when i say, guys and girls too. get a good night's sleep. all right? study, all right? we still got things to do. all right. thank you. >> get out of his face. >> we love you, joe. bill: this story has grown by the day and david lee miller, live in state college pennsylvania with more. and what happened last night, david lee? >> reporter: bill, many people view what is unfolding here as almost a shakespearian tragedy. last night the campus was already on edge. news spread quickly that the board of trustees was going to meet. the entire campus glued to radios and televisions watching the news conference. then it was announced that joe paterno as well as the university president were being terminated immediately. students then erupted into violence. they took to the streets. at one point, they turned over a television news car. take a look and you can see what happened. [shouting] riot police equipped with tear gas were able to control the crowd and the crowd did disperse by about 3:00 in the morning but the controversy here is still very much alive. the board of trustees is going to appoint, they say, a special committee to investigate what took place here, and the alleged cover-up of the sex scandal. that has caused many to question why was paterno and the university president terminated before that investigation seen got underway? it was a question i put to the board spokesman last night. listen. >> what would you say to those who argue this is rush to judgment? there has not been a full investigation so how could you reach this conclusion at this time? >> as i said these are judgements and decisions and balances that boards have to make with thoughtful deliberation. in our view, things had reached a point where a change was necessary and we thought in the best long-term interest of the university. >> reporter: also angering many people here, bill, the former athletic director of the school, in fact he is still the athletic director, tim curleyly who is facing criminal charges here for allegedly lying to a grand jury not reporting the section wahl abuse is on administrative leave and paterno is fired. bill: 46 years. you look at pictures from the time there at penn state. what is expected today, david lee? >> reporter: we expect at 11:00 local time there is going to be a news conference from the interim head coach. he is tom bradley. he is going to meet with reporters. still many people here, bill, they want to hear in a formal setting from joe paterno. there has not been a news conference. many people hope today they will have the opportunity to hear him speak at length. bill: david lee miller on campus. when we have developments you will here about them here on "america's newsroom.". what a scene that was. martha: this was a tragic situation all around. much of the attention in this case centering on legendary coach joe paterno. but it his former colleague, jerry sandusky is accused of the unthinkable. he is accused of sexually abusing and raping at least eight boys over the course of 15 years. children that he met through his own charitable organization. a graduate student claims that he witnessed one of these incidents involving sandusky and a boy in a shower at the university back in 2002. now that student who witnessed this, apparently brought the claim to the coach, to coach paterno. but paterno claims that he did not know the extent of the alleged abuse when he relayed that information to the school officials. many are questioning his moral responsibility in this matter, that led up to the days of his firing >> the third agency of government, i would do away with education, the --. martha: we're not going to play the whole thing. you've seen it enough. that is what happened last night. presidential candidate rick perry now responding to that very uncomfortable moment from last night's republican debate. he says one error will not break or break his campaign. he is out there fighting this morning doing all the morning news programs. he also admits once again debates he says are not his strongest suit. >> well, if anybody is looking for the slickest politician or the smoothest debater, i read dilly admit i'm not that person. what americans do know is that my committed, conservative values has helped lead one of the most influential states in this nation for the last 10 years. martha: meanwhile the latest real clear politics average has the texas governor in fourth place. that was before, you know, what happened last night was ingested into these poll numbers. he trails herman cain, mitt romney and newt gingrich. let's bring in our panel. brad blakeman. former assistant to president george w. bush. and tony cain. national radio talk show host. brad, is he done? >> i don't think he is done but he has a lot of repair work to do. it is not enough to say you're not a good debater. we knew that going into last night's debate. if anything he had to survive last night's debate and not be the lightning rod of criticism he has become. after we get over "saturday night live" and all the comedy shows he will have to get serious and do speeches in iowa and new hampshire that are serious policy speeches to again show he has command of the subject matter. martha: tony, the people may hang in there and be supportive and not a single vote has been cast yet and he does have time. one of the big questions though, one of his fund raisers anonymously suggested already that he is done. he needs to go back to texas. is the money going to dry up for rick perry? >> that is the exact right question to ask, martha, the one argument that perry supporters do have he has more money than any other presidential candidate on hand, more than mitt romney. that is quarter one. what will happen in quarter two not just since last night. since september we have accumulation of "saturday night live" bloopers tape of perry debate flops. this is the problem that is the consistent narrative playing out in this whole thing. not one has been cast. we saw in the herman cain initial scandal that conventional wisdom said he would be in trouble. he might have to drop out. he is gaining in the polls. he is raising more money as a result of his problems. the next couple days are supercritical for rick perry. do people stick with him. yes, this is human nature gap. doesn't represent the totalitity of his candidacy or will this be a scenario, people are like, last strike, last life teen, you're -- lifeline, you're out. martha: when this happens it sucks all the air out of the room in terms of conversation about everything else that happened. i want to take a look at what most of the pundits and most of the folks that watch this stuff saying was an treex extremely good moment for mitt romney and get your thoughts on that. watch this. >> married to the same woman for, excuse me, i will get in trouble, for 42 years. i've been in the same church my entire life. if i'm president of the united states, i will be true to my family, to my faith on to our country and i will never apologize for the united states of america. that's my belief. [applause] martha: so, brad, he is trying very hard to be seen as someone who is constant and steady because being a flip-flopper is, you know, one of the strongest sort of criticisms that has been thrown at him? >> and when you're a politician, you've held governorship, you have to do things in a state of massachusetts that you certainly wouldn't do as president of the united states. the constituencies are different. certainly with mitt romney he has a consistent performance. he's true to his fundamental values and principles which he just suggested last night again. but he was a true husband, wasn't he? he forgot the exact number of years. martha: i was going to say, for all husbands make that mistake, better to go under, right. we've only been married 10 years, right, honey. instead of 50 years. only 10. better to make that mistake all the way around. tony, let's talk about iowa for a moment. that will be the first vote that is cast as we all know in the caucuses. who do you think, given what's happened this week with herman cain and everything else, who wins iowa? >> well, because of what has been happening and the fluidity of this field, martha, i think iowa has taken a more prominent roll than it ever has. if herman cain or rick perry don't show a strong second or first place in the case of cain, finish in against mitt romney in iowa, they will have very hard time for the rest of this schedule. you have new hampshire where romney is super strong. romney is running strong in south carolina where rick perry should have perceived homecourt advantage being a southern governor. iowa will play a pivotal role. i think cain and perry are fighting for number two right now in there. martha: it will be fascinating. you wonder what is going on in rick perry's camp. you wonder whether they put every single egg in iowa and spend all their time there and pull out a impressive performance in iowa. that may be the way they go. gentlemen, tony and brad, great to see you this morning. >> thank you, martha. bill: carl cameron said 13 debates coming up next month and a half? martha: that is lot of talking. bill: that is a lot of talking. a lively meet and greet goes viral. what got joe walsh so amped up. he will tell us and react to this live, next. >> all the marketplace does is respond to what the government does. the government sets the rules. don't blame banks and don't blame the marketplace for the mess we're in right now. i am tired of hearing that crap. why settle for a one-note cereal? ♪ more, more, more... get more with honey bunches of oats 4 nutritious grains come together for more taste, more healthy satisfaction. get more with honey bunches of oats. >> announcer: if you think identity theft is scary, just wait till you try to fix it. >> 58 different individuals are using... absolutely using my old social security number. >> announcer: identity theft has topped the federal government's list of consumer complaints for the last 11 years. it's a serious problem with anyone with a social security number, and it continues to get worse. fact is, on your own there are many things you can do to deter identity theft. protect your social security number. be internet savvy. use intricate passwords. safeguard your purse and wallet. shred and destroy. seriously, are you really going to do all that? or do you want someone to help protect you from identity theft? at lifelock-- the gold standard in identity theft protection-- we're here to help. we take proactive steps to deter identity theft, to help stop it before it happens. get the protection you need right now. try lifelock risk-free for a full 60 days. >> someone was trying to open up a consumer account under my social security number, and lifelock contacted me, and we were able to stop that account from being opened. >> announcer: so why get lifelock? you're nearly four times more likely to have your identity stolen than to have your home burglarized. at lifelock, we believe you have the right to live life without having to think twice every time you fill out a form, make a purchase, or throw out your mail. call today and we'll send you this free, comprehensive identity theft protection kit with enrollment. don't wait until you become the next victim. lifelock your identity today for 60 days, risk-free. order now and also get this document shredder to keep your documents out of the wrong hands-- a $29 value, free. call or go online now. [♪...] [lock clicks] bill: congressman joe walsh is not pulling any punches when it comes to the economy. he is an illinois republican hefting a public event this week when one of the people in the crowd asked about the influence of big banks in washington. here is part of what happened. >> there are already mechanisms in place -- you know what? this pisses me off. too many people don't listen. there are already mechanisms in place to do that. are they doing their job? no. but what do you want to do? you want to bombard them with more regulations, more government? government -- >> reform. >> government screwed this problem up. what do you want? you know what you got? you got dodd-frank. you got dodd-frank now tying everybody's hands. you want more more regulation? that's what you got. do you want more regulation? is that what you want? do you want dodd-frank? is that what you want? >> what did i say back at joe's barrer shop. >> i mead more coffee. it is --. bill: the illinois republic can -- republican is with me now. joe walsh how are you? >> hey, bill. bill: i'm terrific. how are you doing? >> i'm going to lay off the coffee for a while. >> the event was called a cup of joe. i think that was a double shot of expresso. what is the point you were trying to explain in that? >> well, a couple things. a, when i got elected, bill, i said there will be no more accessible member of congress on the planet than me. we've had about 90 town halls. in addition, every weekend somewhere in the district i do this thing called, have a cup of joe with joe where i show up at a coffee shop or a restaurant and anybody can come in and talk with me. bill: what did they say that fired you up? >> well, again, i had too much coffee and i didn't have anything to eat. that is partly why i was on edge. but --. bill: i'm not looking for an excuse. i want to know what the issue was? >> no the issue was this. this continual blaming of deregulation and the private sector and the mess we're in. too many people don't understand, i'm tired of this, too many people in washington don't understand that washington caused this mess. washington meddled and now we're looking at washington to fix the mess and they're already meddling too much. i just, it is so tired of this blaming the private sector when government caused the mess. bill: who was in that room? >> oh, about 20 constituents. bill: yeah. and they came to what? are they folks you see normally? were they new faces to you. >> all of these things are new faces, all of these and a few regulars. the guy i lost my temper with, is a guy who comes to a lot of these things. so he actually is somewhat of a friend. i just, i guess my button, bill, was pushed. i heard this blaming the banks, big and small. one time too many, and i went off a little bit. bill: listen, some people might watch this and say, you go joe. because they might agree with you. >> well, we've gotten, obviously bill we've gotten a lot of responses. there has been a lot of that. people saying, you're right. quit blaming, like this occupy wall street stuff, bill. everybody wants to blame the banks and the private sector, and they look for government solutions when the government policies to begin with that demanded own a home for 40 years got us into this mess. bill: the woman i think we are watching in video, she says, you had said you apologized to her for your language? >> yeah, yeah. bill: she i guess told a reporter that that did not happen. did it? >> oh gosh, yes. she and i were smiling by the end. yeah, yeah. she was a new face. i hadn't seen her before, but i whispered some time near the end, man, i'm sorry. i lost my head. bill: it has gone viral and it got our attention. we will be at next cup of joe to see what happens then, all right? >> you got it. thanks, bill. bill: joe walsh, thanks, illinois republican there. got a question about this? hemmer@foxnews.com. on twitter. at bill hemmer. because you asked. we'll bring walsh on and fire a question his way. martha: decaf only. bill: that's right. martha: the occupy wall street protests getting a bit ugly in california. [shouting] martha: riot police in a tense standoff in santa cruz. we'll tell you what happened after this. bill: christmas around the corner. it is coming. new details on a possible tax on your tree? martha: what? ♪ . ♪ [ male announcer ] each of these photos was taken by someone on the first morning of their retirement. it's the first of more than 6,000 sunrises the average retiree wl see. ♪ as we're living longer than ever before, prudential's challenge is to help everyone have the retirement income they'll ed to enjoy every one of their days. ♪ prudential. bring yr challenges. ♪host: could switching to geico reon car insurance? or more host: do people use smartphones to do dumb things? man 1: send, that is the weekend. app grapgic: yeah dawg! man 2: allow me to crack...the bubbly! man 1: don't mind if i doozy. man 3: is a gentleman with a brostache invited over to this party? man 1: only if he's ready to rock! ♪ sfx: guitar and trumpet jam vo: geico. 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance. bill: new gallup polling numbers just in on election 22. things looking -- 2012. being things looking rosy for romney. nearly half the republicans in the poll say mitt romney is most likely to win the republican presidential nomination that. is more than the other candidates combined. herman cain at 13%. the rest in single digits. what. martha: that is something we haven't seen thus far. u.s. troops returning home from combat the transition to civilian life has the challenges for sure. the army is working to help ease that process. mike tobin live in fort campbell, kentucky with more on the story. good morning, mike. >> reporter: good morning, martha. here at fort campbell we're seeing the first round of troops coming home from iraq for good. the army is not just turning them out on the street. they learned over time, some of the soldiers still have battles to fight. a jet taxis on the flight line. loved ones cheer. and 167 combat engineers arrive home from iraq. [applause] >> welcome home. job well-done. >> thank god. that's all i can say. >> my thoughts, great to be home. i spent four years over there. so good to see that come to a con rution -- conclusion. >> reporter: for all the joy of soldiers, the embrace of loved ones. time together is only one night. there are still dangers for a warrior at home. >> the suicide rate for the army is the highest it has ever been since we've been measuring it. >> reporter: the modern army brings them back to base for seven days. they combat depression, post-traumatic distress, domestic abuse, alcoholism. >> you can not go back tonight or tomorrow for predeployment drinking habits. >> reporter: the army tests for physical and emotional wounds the soldier may carry home. >> we have a lot of emphasis on behavioral health. soldiers, when they first come back they have a big adjustment period. >> reporter: we can't create the impression that all of the guys come home with emotional problems or otherwise. it is just that the army is not ignoring it. it doesn't stop after seven days. in fact the guys are brought back after 90 days to see if any kind of problem boils up. martha? martha: it is important work and they deserve all the help we can give them in that big adjustment. thank you very much, mike tobin in fort campbell. bill: two weeks from deadline day on the battle to reduce the national debt. if you're counting on the super-committee to get a deal you might be setting yourself up for a little bit of does pointment. we'll explain why. martha: newt gingrich, calls the tortoise slow and steady wins the race. after last night's debate is he onto something? we'll ask bret baier. >> i ask the hear a single reporter had a occupy wall street person to a rational question on the economy, who will pay for the park you're occupying if there are no businesses making a profit? 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[ male announcer ] absolutely. a medicare advantage plan can give you doctor, hospital and prescription drug coverage for nothing more than what you already pay for medicare part b. now is the time to take action. you only have until december 7th to make sure you get the medicare coverage you need. call unitedhealthcare to learn about medicare plans that may be right for you. with some plans, you can enroll right over the phone. don't wait. call now. martha: so newt gingrich on a bit of a role? he may be in the catbird seat this morning. one rival had a big problem last night, another is dogged by allegations. so the house speaker is trying to seize the moment. listen to this exchange he had last night with maria bartiromo. >> i want to point out my colleagues have done a terrific job of answering an absurd question. to say in 30 seconds -- >> you have said you want to repeal omabacare. >> let me finish if i may. to say in 30 seconds what you would do with 18 percent of the economy, life and death of the american people, a topic i worked on since 1974, about which i wrote a book sailed "saving lives and saving money" in 2002 and for which i founded the center for health transform aches is the perfect case why i'm going to challenge the president to seven lincoln-douglas-style three hour debates with a timekeeper and no moderator, at least two of which ought to be on health care so you can have a serious discussion over a several hour period that affects the lives of every person in this country. [applause] >> would you like to try to explain -- >> martha: that went on. bill: from there! >> martha: would you like to explain it in 30 seconds, and he said in 30 seconds? and another thing from newt gingrich last night. that's how we get started, have a brand new hour, i'm martha maccallum. bill: i'm bill hemmer. he said he writes books on this stuff. gingrich breaking away from the rest of the pack, real clear politics has been in third place on that poll. martha: that's the question, is he keep gaining ground. bret baier of "special report" joins us, good morning. >> good morning. martha: that's the question. he is the tortoise and little engine that could and stling up that hill. can he gain momentum in an interesting environment for him with a couple of his challengers very challenged at the moment? >> it is lining up that way, martha. we had him on "special report" on center seat earlier this week, he said his campaign is hiring a lot of staff in iowa and south carolina, they had their biggest fundraising week yet this past week, and he continues to perform in debates. as you and bill mentioned, you know, he has a lot of expertise when it comes to big ideas, he is seen as the big thinker in the room, he does have this interesting dynamic with the media, and whether -- how that plays, it's very appealing in the audience. how that plays in the long term, i felt from maria there, you know, the 302nd question is tough, but you do have eight candidates up on the stage to deal with a lot of different topics. >> newt gingrich is clearly getting a lot of attention. martha: he sure is, and seems to have made it a point in every single debate so far to at one point single out the media and turn it on them. it's interesting, though, he really has been unscathed in terms of the opposition research folks and all of the stuff we've seen coming out on other candidates, so if he does gain some momentum and finds himself in that seat, no doubt we're going to start hearing some of that stuff that's going to come up about him. >> well, i thought it started last night with john harwood asking about his contract with freddie mac and the freddie and fannie consulting, and it was a specific question about his past and how much he was paid to consult, and he paused for a minute, but then had an answer that said fannie and freddie did exactly opposite of what he told them as a consultant. he manages to perform well in very specifics. and that's what people are driving at. whether he is the guy who gets the boom lift here and herman cain slowly loses some standing in the polls is yet to be seen, but still, there is this attention on newt gingrich after some positive media, including a wall street journal editorial that said he could win the nomination. martha: interesting. let's play a bit of romney because he was fighting for attention in a way with everything else that was going on, but this is seen as one of his best moment last night. let's check it out. >> i think people understand that i'm a man of steadiness and constancy, i don't think you're going to find someone who has more of those contributes that i do. i've been married to the same woman for -- excuse me, i get in trouble. for 42 years. i've been in the same church my entire life. i worked at one company, bain, for 25 years. and i left that to go off and help save the olympic games. i think it's outrageous that the obama campaign continues to push this idea, when you have in the obama administration the most political presidency we've seen in modern history. they're actually deciding when to pull out of afghanistan based on politics. let me tell you this, if i'm president of the united states i will be true to my family, to my faith and to our country and i will never apologize for the united states of america. that's my goal. martha: steady as she goes, as he has throughout, bret. how did he articulate that last night, what's your take on it? >> besides the marriage number of years, i mean, he had that statement in his back pocket. clearly the deal with the charge of him flipflopping on various issues. and that was -- despite that stumble at the beginning, was delivered very effectively, especially pointing towards the obama campaign and the obama presidency, which is really at the end of the day what all of these candidates want to do is be that person to go up against the president. you know, this is why those issues, those statements out on the campaign trail, when he's in ohio and says he's not going to take a stand on the ohio initiative, but then had a stand in june, that's not that incident, it's just because it fits to the vulnerability, and that's why it's a problem. that answer was a good answer. it's the same thing with governor per yevment it's not the 45 seconds where he throws, it's the vulnerability that he can't perform in debates up against president obama in the general election. martha: it sure is. bret, thank you very much. always good to have you, bret baier from d.c. and don't miss bret's special on the iowa caucus, the first in the nation caucus set for january 3rd, folks. it's right around the corp. fox news will have a debate in iowa. that's going to be one to watch as well. that's coming up in december. bill: in the meantime a fox news alert and breaking news out of washington state where police are not hide their frustration in the search for a missing two-year-old boy. they're saying the boy's mother or someone close to her knows what happened to the toddler. but no one is talking. this as police are saying that details in the mother's story do not make sense and she will not take a lie detector test. >> it's everything you already know. the story doesn't add up, the whereabouts of sky are unknown, the mother's story is falling apart, day to day, and her lack of cooperation so far in regard to providing more information proactively and submitting to a polygraph doesn't help. bill: dan springer is live in bellevue, washington, outside of seattle. let's talk about this mother, who is she, where is the story breaking down, dan >> reporter: well, i tell you, bill, it's becoming painfully obvious is that this mother, julia baricova, has lied to police and is not cooperating. you remember the whole reason for her story for leaving her two-year-old son, sky, in that car alone, as she went to get gas is because she ran out of gas on the way to the hospital when she came back to the car, the boy was gone. well, now police say there was plenty of gas in the tank, and when they got back to the car, it started right up. also, it's suspicious she is not cooperating with police. she has only given that initial statement on sunday when she reported the boy missing and since then, she has not talked to them. she's only been talking to them through an attorney. police are clearly frustrated she's not cooperating more. >> there was a sufficient amount of gas in that vehicle to run it for a considerable distance. i can't specify the exact amount of gas, because it's germane to the investigation but i can tell you there was enough gas to run the vehicle for some distance. >> and police say that they are not only just frustrated about the lack of cooperation, they're also running out of places to search. they also are looking at all kinds of different media, including law and order episode on sunday that had some similarities and also very odd facebook page. she had lots of photographs of her and her daughter, four-year-old daughter, but none with sky, until yesterday, when a photograph of she and sky was posted. so a lot of different questions, and really, the police just want to talk to her, bill. bill tbhail contributes to the mystery. dan springer. they are looking at every corner to find a clue there, in bellevue, washington. thank you. martha: well, this could be a frightening sign of things to come. it is the largest ever municipal bankruptcy in u.s. history. alabama's jefferson county, the state's most populist, is filing for bankruptcy protection, a scandal-plagued sewer project, and some bad investments are being blamed for some $4 billion in debt. >> at this moment, after weeks of intense negotiation, the commission does not have one single agreement from either the receiver or from one of the creditors. the employees will still have their jobs, and today, the vendors that are supplying services will continue to supply services. we're going to taliban to -- continue to operate the county. chapter nine gives the government the ability to continue to operate. martha: bad management at the very least at the municipal level. jefferson county's leaders say they are not sure of the $4 billion they're going to have to pay off. alabama's governor says the county bankruptcy will hurt really the entire state. bill: the tentacles reach long there. wow. how does rick perry recover this morning? what are some calling the -- well, what would they consider now, this flood last night on -- this flub last night on live television to be one of the biggest and most offensive in debate history. this is part of what would happen. >> i would do away with education, theo. >> commerce? >> commerce. and, let's see -- >> bill: oh my. >> i can't. the third one, i can't. sorry. oops. bill: it went from there. we have reaction, new reerks from rick perry already this morning. what he told fox today about his memory lapse. we've been there -- we've been there, haven't we? >> martha: oh yeah. the other big story of the day, a shocking sex scandal claims the job of legendary coach joe paterno and the students at pennsylvania state are not happy. coming up, a student leader on campus on what's going on there. bill: also outrage over the obama administration's decision for a christmas tree tax. what's that all about, huh? senator jim demint out of south carolina says it's one of the dumbest things he's ever heard of. the senator is here to tell us what he wants for christmas. >> ♪ >> ♪ all i want for christmas is you! >> ♪ >> ♪ >> ♪ blank bill: a deadly collision shutting down a major interstate for hours, a truck driver colliding with a tanker truck near phoenix and look at the flames in chandler, arizona, flames shooting in the air and police closing the highway in both directions, evacuating nearby hotels and businesses, possible hazardous fumes and lack of water preventing fire crews from putting out the flames. instead they allowed the fire to burn itself south. -- out. there was no word on what caused that crash but it was something else. arizona. martha: well, with just two weeks left to agree on a decifit reduction plan, new reports that the so-called supercommittee is actually pretty far from a deal as we meet this morning, republican senator jim demint says he is afraid the talks have broken down and he is the chairman of the senate conservatives fund. he's also going to talk to us about this christmas tree tax this morning. senator, welcome, good to have you here today. >> thank you martha, good to be with you. martha: they have been somewhat tight lipped, although we're starting to hear things coming out from the supercommittee and the word is senator pat toomy put forth a deal that would cut $1.5 trillion even offered from the republican side a revenue -- tax revenue increase of $300 billion. but that deal is a no go? >> well, senator toomy, i know, has gone well beyond his comfort zone and mine to try to work something out. but what appears to be happening is the democrats want to take another trillion dollars from hard working american taxpayers and bring it into the government, rather than going through the list of hundreds of wasteful programs, programs filled with fraud and duplication. they're not willing to cut my program on. so we really are at an impasse and it sounds like the democrats have walked away from the table unless republicans agree to over a trillion dollars in new taxes, and they won't agree to give us any real tax reform. so i'm not sure what the truth is at this point. but it was a bad idea in the first place to go behind closed doors with the democrats and let the president define what it was republicans really believe in. so i'm worried about how this thing is going to turn out. martha: let me ask you, it's interesting, because john kerry and patty murray apparently said they don't like the way that they got to that number. they don't like the twhai the republicans raised the revenue that they raised in this deal, and as you say, you know, there doesn't seem to be any interest -- all the talk we've had, we had the midterm elections about really cutting spending and government waste and yet, it sounds like none of that is happening in this meeting. with the supercommittee. >> martha, we really don't have a tax problem. we have a spending problem. and we're still spending more now than we did last year. we passed spending bills last week to spend more next year than they we did this year, so we won't deal with the spending. the general accounting office has given us hundreds of programs full of waste, they duplicate each other. there's no reason we can't go through these, and if we turn welfare back to 2007 spending levels, we could save almost 2 1/2 trillion dollars over the next ten years. so the spending cuts are available without hurting people. martha: let me ask you this. you know, it seems like we're starting to get some word that sounds like we're ing to kick the can down the road again, to use a very overused phrase. it's talk like the deadline isn't the deadline, and i think people are so sick of hearing that. we get the deadline and we go g -- cbo has to have the numbers before thanksgiving for this thing. is this going to be pushed down the road, after all this? >> well, i'm worried about that because when the democrats say that balancing the budget is an extreme idea, you don't have to think too hard to understand that they plan to keep spending more than we're bringing in and frankly, you had a story about default in alabama, at the municipal level, if you add up our municipal state and federal debt, we're worse off than europe is right now. so it took several elections to get us in this hole, we made some progress in 2010, but 2012, martha, is our last chance to turn this thing around. we need some new people in washington who are willing to make the hard decisions to cut spending. martha: you know, when you talk about cutting spending, and lots of places do stories on these crazy named things that save, you know, all sorts of squirrels, and i don't know, all kinds of crazy things but the latest one we're hearing is the christmas tree promotion board, and as you point out, i wasn't aware that christmas trees kneed an image improvement program but it seems that that is what this is. tell us about it? >> martha, there's just one absurd thing after another. we can't really name them all. but this is another example of the president wanting to get the government into more business. and we're going to charge taxes on christmas trees so they can start another government agency to promote christmas trees. we don't need to do that at the federal level. we can't even afford to do what we're already doing, and to add another tax to something and say we're going to create a promotion agency, it just makes you want to pull your hair out. americans have got to get engaged and realize how crazy this government is, it's out of control, we've got to change the people who are in washington in 2012. martha: well, the administration is saying this didn't come from them, it's the usda program, and it has been backed off a bit. now it sounds like it's not going to happen in time for this christmas. it would have added 15 cents on every live christmas tree in the nation. sound like they're backing off. >> this is his agency, martha. he's trying to say he's not responsible for anything and take credit for things he has nothing to do with. this president needs to stand up and lead. and he is really making things worse, almost every day here in washington. martha: all right, well i'll do my own promotion for the live christmas tree people because i like a live christmas tree myself, and that's intd! senator demint, always good to talk to you, thank you very much. bill bill and merry christmas! enjoy! a rising star in major league baseball, kidhapped at gunpoint. the catcher for the washington nationals, now being held for ransom. where this happened and what we're learning about the dramatic abduction. rick perry this morning explaining his memory lapse for last night's debate. listen. >> if anybody is looking for the slickest politician or the smoothest debater, i ready admit i'm not that person. 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try smart balance fat free milk. it's what you'd expect from the folks at smart balance. bill: so now you have texas governor rick perry hoping to get back on message after the gaff during the debate. while trying to list three government agencies that he would cut if elected as president, perry could not remember the third agency. and this is now the moment that many will remember: >> i would do away with education, the commerce -- commerce, let's see -- >> bill: oh my. >> i can't. the third one, i can't. sorry. oops. >> bill: he was up early this morning talking to the broadcast networks and also with fox & friends about what happened last night: >> look, i stepped in it last night, that's for sure, and i think i'm no different than a lot of americans that are sitting around and thinking about it, you know, there's agencies of government that i would like to forget, and i certainly forgot one last night, the department of energy. but in all seriousness, that is the reason that we get up every day, is try to make this country as workable as it can be. i tell people, i said one of my main goals in running for the presidency of the united states is to try to make washington as inconsequential in their lives as i can and the seriousness of that is what we're going to be doing over the course of the weeks ahead as we go across this country, go back into those early primary states and talk about our tax plan that creates a 20 percent flat tax that allows them for the ducks on their mortgages, on their homes, the charitable gifts that they make, those local taxes, take 20 percent of that, send it in on a postcard. reforming our entitlement programs. balancing the budget. as a matter of fact, i'm the only individual on that stage last night that has a budget that will balance by 2020. get americans back to work. and so that's the real seriousness of what is going on. the style over substance certainly happened last night. but the fact is, americans know that as the governor of the state of texas, i've overseen an economy that allowed for jobs to be created, more so than any other state in the nation. bill: so he was up early, and doing so many interviews, including what you just watched there. and now you see his strategy start to formulate. he's going to talk to megyn at 2:00 this afternoon, i think he's going to talk to greta later tonight and who knows what other broadcasts or cable outlets he will reach out to. but viewers and voters are now going to be exposed to rick perry in a way not seen before. let's hope the strategy works. martha: clearly we've seen from our own e-mails and tweets that are sticking by him, saying people make mistakes. the question is whether the money will move to another candidate at this point and one of the biggest fund-raisers said it's time for him to go back to texas. that's going to be one of the big things, the people he's going to talk to -- to have to talk to as we. we'll see. can rick perry bounce back. that is the big political question, the national review's jonah goldberg weighs in on that, plus this : >> bill: there was violence in the streets, late into the night. students reacting to their legendary coach fired after a child sex abuse scandal. we're awaiting a news conference at penn state university. we will take you there live when it begins. >> i would hope that everyone would agree that what we're doing is what we believe in our best judgment is in the best long term interest of the university, which is much larger than athletic programs. like many chefs today, i feel the best approach to food is to keep it whole for better nutrition. and that's what they do with great grains cereal. see the seam on the wheat grain? same as on the flake. because great grains steams and bakes the actual whole grain. now check out the other guy's flake. hello, no seam. because it's more processed. now, which do you suppose has better nutrition for you? mmm. great grains. the whole whole grain cereal. there's no time like the present to consider all your health insurance options. does medicare alone meet your needs? would additional coverage be better for you? well, now is a good time to take a look at an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. get started by calling for your free information kit and guide to medicare. as you probably know, medicare only covers about 80% of your part b medical expenses. the rest is up to you. a medicare supplement insurance plan helps cover some of it. that could save you up to thousands of dollars a year in out-of-pocket costs. and you can visit any doctor who accepts medicare patients. with medicare supplement insurance, you'll find a range of plans to choose from to fit your needs and budget. there are no networks. no referrals to see a specialist. and you could get a pretty good idea what your out-of-pocket costs will be every month. plus, these plans travel with you anywhere in the u.s. don't let this time go by without considering if an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan is right for you. it's as easy as a phone call. rates are competitive. and these are the only medicare supplement insurance plans exclusively endorsed by aarp. remember, medicare doesn't cover everything. medicare supplement insurance plans help pay for some of the rest. you could save up to thousands of dollars a year in out-of-pocket costs. and you can choose any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients. an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan could be an option to get the coverage you need at a competitive rate. so don't wait another minute. be sure to call today. call now for your free medicare guide and information kit about aarp medicare supplement insurance plans, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. martha: we are awaiting a news conference at penn state after the university fired legendary football coach joe paterno. interim coach tom broadly is set to be the one to make the comments today in the wake of this shocking child sex-abuse scandal. [chanting] martha: people were voicing their opinions last night. they flooded into the streets. take a look at this. [chanting] martha: a news van tipped over during these protests. look at this video. the fallout is all over this man, former defensive coordinator jerry sandusky is facing 40 charges. he is accused of sexually abusing eight young boys over a 15-year period. reports that some of these incidents happened right on campus at the penn state football complex, and that is where one of them was witnessed in a shower. paterno was alerted about that one incident back in two, and it is reported that he told the athletic director about it, but he did not report anything to the police. we'll talk about that more. bill: in the meantime, from last night and into this morning how does the perry campaign recover after the memory lapse? that gap is now viral. and we are going to talk about it. you used one word with our producers, you called it deadly. explain. >> reporter: you know what, first of all it's deadly not just because he continue remember it. remember for the first month of his campaign the signature issue of his policy proposals was energy, right. that was his first substantial policy roll out, energy. he was going around talking about developing domestic energy. to forget that you want to get rid of the energy department when it's sort of at the center of your policy program is problematic. it confirmed everything people had been saying about perry from the beginning. if this happened to romney, or gingrich or ron paul it wouldn't be that big of deal. people would say, oh he had a bad night. bill: more so for him than others you believe? >> reporter: i think it was deadly particularly for perry. it just reinforced all the doubts that people have about him. you were saying earlier how perry is using this as an opportunity to get out in front of the media. bill: which is, he's going to be accessible more than ever before and more people are going to hear what he's all about. >> reporter: by that logic maybe in every debate he should spit out milk through his nose or go out with his fly down. bill: we are going to find out in the next week or so based on these polling numbers whether or not americans are more for giving than folks like you, whether they will cut him a brick or not. >> reporter: folks like me don't matter as much as his donors. and i think the spigots will be turned off because of this type of thing. bill: his record in texas is that he can go out and raise money. >> reporter: i think he can still raise money in texas because he's the governor of the texas. the problem is he's been running for president as if he wants to be the president of texas. he didn't get out of his comfort zone. every time he wanders off a little bit from his comfort zone as rick perry from texas he has flubs like this. he's in a very bad place. he's in single digits in south carolina. he doesn't even win the consistent conservative vote any more. that is going to gingrich, and sant sapbt santorum and bachmann. bill: do you think he's done? >> reporter: think he's in a place where he you don't know you're dead for a longtime. martha: a big story this morning out of venezuela after a shock incident involving an up and coming major league baseball star. 24-year-old wilson raeupl most of the washington nationals was kidnapped in his native country. he was apparently at home with relatives when several gunmen burst in and took him away. imagine what this scene was like. so far the kidnappers have yet to contact the family. police believe they have just found a key piece of evidence in this case. bill keating joins me now live in miami with more on this. do the police have any leads at this point. >> reporter: they did find the vehicle that was used by the four armed gunmen to carry him out of the house and speed off in the nearby town, so they are combing that now for any crime scene evidence, but this has all the telltale signs of being a opportunistic gang kidnapping ramos specifically because he's a wealthy baseball player all in an effort to get money. no contact with the family. they were in northern venezuela, that's where he grew up. he was down there for the wintertime living with his family. according to reports four armed men burst into the family house, grabbed ramos. he was there with a couple of brothers and his father, they only took him. they sped away in a green suv. he was down there playing winter ball for thers. they say venezuela and the entire baseball family are saddened by the kidnapping of wilson ramso. the league condems and is saddened by the kidnapping of wilson ramos. the f.b.i. will assist if asked but no requests from the venezuelan government. he is not a u.s. citizen. according to the state department they have warnings on their website. they site venezuela as having the fifth highest world rate in the world and kidnappings by armed gangs are surging in recent years. this is compounding the problem -- it was a great year for ramos, it was his break out year in the majors up in washington d.c. in the nationals. he had 215, knocked in 15 home runs. became a star this year. a really sad situation. everybody is hoping that he'll get released safely. martha: we hope he will be safely returned. this is becoming a rather frequent way of making money for these folks. we hope nobody gets hurt in this situation to be sure. phil keating thank you very much. bill: developments now on the hacking scandal that has pulled news corporation, the parent company of the fox news channel back into the spotlight. a deputy chief operating officer james murdoch testifying today again in london. amy kellogg is on the story live in london. amy. >> reporter: what this parliamentary committee was trying to financed out is whether or not james murdoch misled them when he said in his recent testimony that he was not aware that phone hacking went beyond one rogue reporter. the season that james murdoch had to return to testify again before this committee was this a former employee, and a former lawyer at news international claimed in their recent testimony that they had made james murdoch aware that phone hacking went beyond just one reporter at the now defunct news of the world. so it was james murdoch word against the word of those two former employees, and james murdoch said today that they were in the wrong. >> i believe their testimony was misleading and i dispute it. >> reporter: the questioning was more aggressive today than it had been in the past. at one point tom watson who has been leading this charge on the parliamentary investigation accused james murdoch of trying to buy employees' silence, and also not knowing enough about what was going on at his company. >> mr. murdoch you must be the first mafia boss in history that didn't know he was running a criminal enterprise. >> mr. watson, please i think that is inappropriate. >> reporter: he was questioned about recent revelations that the company had hired someone to con srubgt tkur sraeu lance on some of the lawyers representing hacking sreuplt hacking victims and their families. >> it is appalling, it is something i would never condone and the company should never condone and it was shock when i found out. and it's just unacceptable. >> reporter: now, bill, where we go from here, the committee will write a report that it will submit to the prime minister david cameron. there is an ongoing police investigation connected to the phone hacking. there will be possible convictions. so far there has been 18 arrests. we're also expecting a robust parliamentary debate about press practices generally in the united kingdom and also a judge-led inquiry that will look into how the media dehaeufs and how it should by haeuf and possible regulations going forward. that is the latest from here. back to you. bill: thanks for that report. 20 minutes now before the hour. martha: busy day in all of this. whatever is happening in the 2012 race it will all still ultimately likely boil down to the economy, right? so mitt romney was called out for one of his solutions last night. steve moore weighs in. >> you want to get america's economy going, we know how to do it. is do almost the exact opposite of what president obama has do done. the bundler. let's say you need home and auto insurance. you give us your information once, online... [ whirring and beeping ] [ ding! ] and we give you a discount on both. great! did i mention no hands in the bundler? bundling and saving made easy. now, that's progressive. call or click today. bill: police in riot gear moving in on a protest in california. this all happening on the uc berkeley campus, people trying to set up what they call an anti-wall street camp in california. the university later responding they can stay, but only under certain rules that include no keeping on the site, no tents in cali, mart that. leave it at home. martha: there is a disturbing new report just out on the u.s. housing crisis. foreclosures jumped 7% in the month of october. it feels like we should be getting to the end of all of this, right? look at that october number. up 230,000 and change. more than 200,000 people walked in and said, you know what i cannot pay my mortgage any more. the home is going into foreclosure. it goes to 1.5 million to date. this as presidential candidate mitt romney insisted last night that staying out of the markets' way is the only way to pull the country out of our housing crisis. even his moderators asked what that would mean for those underwater with their mortgages, watch. >> not one of your 59 points in your economic plan mentions or addresses housing. can you tell us why? >> because it's not a housing plan it's a jobs plan. and the right way to get -- [applause] >> the best thing you can do for housing is to get the economy going. get people working again, seeing incomes instead of going down, incomes going up so people can afford to buy homes. you have to let the market work and get people in homes again. the best way to let that happen is to get the economy to reboot. >> are you willing to let that happen in america? >> what would you do instead. >> i'm asking you. >> have the federal government go out and buy all the homes in america? that is not going to happen in this country. markets work. martha: interesting moment, right. steve moore joins me now, senior economic writer at "wall street journal." what did you think of that exchange? >> that was vintage mitt romney. it was some tough love but that's what i think republican conservative voters want to hear out of him. i thought it was a message of, let the market work, and, you know, that is something we've all been waiting for from mitt romney. he tries to be everything to everyone, and now he's finally showing some backbone and principle. i thought he looked more presidential in this debate than he has any time that i've seen him before. you know, on the housing story, martha, you're right, we've been talking about this for three, four years now and we keep thinking we are going to turn the corner and these new numbers only reflect what we saw earlier this week, maybe the most depressing statistic i've seen in the whole four year crisis, half of americans now are underwater on their mortgages, that is their mortgage payment is more than the house is worth. this is a never-ending crisis. i think mitt romney is right. we are not going to get out of the housing crisis until we turn the economy around. martha: and we've protected the situation so dramatically, we've thrown a lot of money at issues over and over and over again. the market feels like it hasn't been allowed to bottom. and nobody wants people to be out of their homes. >> you're exactly right. martha: there comes a point and i think that's what he was getting at and the questioner was getting at as well that maybe have you to let some of these defaults happen. martha: you diagnosed the problem exactly right and so has mitt romney. we haven't let the housing market hit the bottom, so the crisis goes on and on and on. when you talk about we spent a lot of money, we spent hundreds of billions of dollars on these mortgage modification programs. what we find is we help people pay their mortgage who are underwater, six months later or nine months later, guess what they are in trouble again. that's why i believe that the only way out of this is one, to create jobs so people actually have an income so they can pay the mortgage, and number two let the housing market hit its body. i actually believe, i do think once the housing market hits the bottom i think it's going to rocket back up again. you have houses in places like nevada, places like california and florida that are half of what they were five years ago. this isn't such a terrible time to be buying. martha: we can say, steve you were right, it is rocketing back up again. >> people who buy let's say in a hughes like florida or california now at these bargain basement prices. ten years you look back and you'll say oh, my god i can't believe i got this house at this price. it won't happen until the american economy rebounds. martha: thank you very much. steve moore. bill: we will roll into "happening now" in eleven minutes or so. we have jenna leave. how are you doing. jenna: we are awaiting a news conference at the top of the hour from penn state. it of course is following the firing of penn state's head coach and university president as well in the wake of the sex-abuse scandal we've been talking about. updates on staff, and updates on the riots that broke out at the university. we are talking to the first local reporter who broke the story back in march on that. also today, noon eastern time we're going to get word from the white house whether they will comply with subpoenas in the solyndra case. a lot of breaking news over the next two hours, bill. bill: that there is. we'll see you then. we are awaiting this news conference from penn state only hours after the legendary coach joe paterno, the winningist coach in college football was fired triggering riots between students and police. there is a long road in healing a deeply divided community. r on. h, forgot jack cereal. 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[ male announcer ] halls. a pep talk in every drop. bill: fox news alert on the latest happening in the penn state campus now after joe paterno. in a few moments the university's interim football coach will speak to the media there in pa. this was the scene last night. angry students hitting the streets after paterno had been fired for his handling of the child sex-abuse scandal. police in riot gear using teargas to control the sometimes violent crowd. an emotional paterno talk w-g two dents gathering on the lawn of his home earlier this morni morning. >> why did you guys come out? >> what do you guys want to say to penn state. >> you're great students. you guys are great. when i say guys, you know what i mean. you know i mean girls too. hey, look, get a good night's sleep, all right. study, all right? we've still got things to do. bill: there was a lot of reaction on campus now. danielle garano attended the protest last night. she says paterno got a bad deal. good morning to you. why do you think paterno got a bad deal. >> good morning. well he's done so much for penn state, so he deserves to finish out the season, at least have one more home game. like he did what he was supposed to do legally, maybe not fully, or what he should have done morally. he's done so much for penn state an deserves to finish out the season. this is his last year. bill: what about the victims and the allegations when you consider that? >> well, you know, hones honestly i think the media and everyone is focusing too much on paterno and they are for getting what the main cause is, it's because of child abuse. i think they should focus more on that. i know that there is a lady here who was trying to have a blue out for the football game this weekend. she is selling shirts supporting what is going on and everything, and it stands for child abuse. everyone should go by and pick that up to show that we are against child abuse. bill: keep all this in perspective. you say you would be comfortable with joe paterno on the side lines this weekend, when you know the attention of that entire stadium would be on him and not the game or the players, or trying to move this campus forward? >> well, yeah, see, i mean that is just what the huge controversy is. everyone i guess has their own opinions. i do think he at least deserves one more home game and then -- just one more. what is football and penn state without paterno. bill: thank you for your time. we are getting more reaction campus wide. paterno is gone after a statement he made yesterday saying that he will resign at the end of the season. that will not happen, paterno's reign is over. we wait for at nounsment from the campus coming up in a few moments here. when that happens we'll bring you back there live, martha. martha: this is coming up at well, the hunt for a missing washington toddler has taken a very strange twist today. why police are now questions his mother's story. geraldo is here to weigh in on that. that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm [ male announcer ] for half the calories -- plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8. and what it doesn't cover can cost you some money. that's why you should consider an aarp... medicare supplement insurance plan... insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. all medicare supplement insurance plans can help pay... some of what medicare doesn't, so you could save... thousands of dollars in out-of-pocket expenses. call now for this free information kit and medicare guide. if you're turning 65 or you're already on medicare... you should know about this card -- it's the only one of its kind endorsed by aarp; see if it's right for you. all medicare supplement plans let you keep your own doctor, or hospital that accepts medicare. there are no networks and no referrals needed. help protect yourself from some of what medicare doesn't pay... and save up to thousands of dollars in potential... out-of-pocket expenses with an aarp... medicare supplement insurance plan... insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. call this toll-free number on your screen now... for this free information kit, including this... medicare guide and customized rate quote. >> an asteroid yesterday, the size of an aircraft carrier just missed the earth. can you believe that? experts say it was the biggest rock to have no impact since kim