Transcripts For FOXNEWS FOX And Friends 20100816

tour of the businesses impacted by the oil spill. hundreds of tea party activists converged on a remote section of the u.s.-mexico border in arizona. they were there to show support for arizona's immigration law. more than a dozen conservative speakers addressed the crowd and called on the president and congress to send more resources to the area to help with border security. on friday, president obama signed a $600 million border bill that would add 1,000 more border patrol agents to the region. the off-road driver who killed eight people after he smashed into a crowd of spectators apologizing on his facebook page. he writes that he is devastated over the crash and that his thoughts and prayers go out to everyone involved. he was driving his truck at a race in california's mojave desert when he went off a jump and into the crowd. spectators were standing just four feet from the unmarked track. a very sad time for zsa zsa gabor and her family. the 93-year-old is in extremely serious condition and asked a priest to read her her last rights last night. she underwent surgery to remove two blood clots, one close to her heart. she was taken to the hospital on friday after recently recovering from hip replacement surgery. it will go down as one of the cruelest losses in sports history. did you see this last night? for the pga championship being held in wisconsin, dustin johnson needs to make par on the final hole to win. his tee shot puts him in a bunker. one problem, he and everybody else didn't know it was a bunker. touched the sand with his club before hitting his ball, that's a big no-no in golf. he was assessed a two-stroke penalty. johnson finished eventually fifth. and that is a tough loss and those are your headlines. i played golf over the weekend with my 5-year-old son and my husband, we were not playing by those rules. otherwise, i would have had a score of about 3,000. >> you know, he kind of hit it into the crowd and there was just kind of a little bald spot. it was just kind of a little bald spot. apparently, one of the first things they tell you at this particular golf course is any of those bald spots, we designed them as bunkers and so that's why -- >> now you tell us! now you tell us! >> gretchen gimmes over this one. >> few mulligans, yes. that's an illiteration thank you. >> i think the president has gotten a mulligan or two regarding this mosque thing. he had stayed out of it and it was bloomberg who was really stepping in it here in the new york city area and then on friday, at a dinner marking ramadan at the white house, the president said they have a right to build it. via the constitution. well, then the next day, he decided to go out and clarify. and that is never good because that starts to smell like a flip-flop. here's the clarification. >> my intention was to simply let people know what i thought which was that in this country, we treat everybody equally. in accordance with the law. regardless of race, regardless of religion. i was not commenting and i will not comment on the wisdom of making a decision to put a mosque there. i was commenting very specifically on the right that people have that dates back to our founding. that's what our country is about and i think it's very important that, you know, as difficult as some of these issues are, you know, we stay focused on who we are as a people and what our values are all about. >> he wasn't commenting on the wisdom of it. he said he did not to put on a comment out on the wisdom of it. some people over the weekend were talking about the wisdom of the president to get involved in this entire crisis because many thought it was just a local issue and the white house staying out of it was a good political move. now, you have democrats and republicans who are saying this is not a smart move for the president and democrats already had a problem coming up to the midterms and now they have one more election issue. >> and we have congressman peter king, a republican out of long island who has been all over this issue from the beginning. congressman king says the president is trying to have it both ways. let's listen. >> i think the president is trying to have it both ways because on friday night when he said there's a right of religion, everybody agrees with that. that was never an issue. the whole issue was whether or not the mosque should be built at ground zero. whether or not the muslim leadership has not just the right but the responsibility to realize the tremendous harm that they're causing and the president is going to raise this issue as he did on friday night, it's not enough to just address half the issue and talk about the right that everybody agrees on but he should have made it a teachable moment and say the muslim leadership should move the mosque away from ground zero if they're interested in bringing bridges and bringing harmony between and among different religions. >> ed rollins who is a republican strategist is quoted as saying yesterday that the president's new remarks are "the dumbest thing any president or candidate has said since michael dukakis said it was ok to burn the flag." the problem is the white house was hoping to beating up republicans about how they're trying to destroy social security but suddenly, the white house has dragged into the whole mosque thing. they are knocked so far off message, they're going why did we do that? >> you have to wonder why the president decided to make those comments at that dinner party. you know, was this a strategy that he decided since they were at a dinner celebrating the end of ramadan, where muslims were in attendance, was it a strategic move for him to decide, yes, i'm going to finally come out and give my point of view or would it just have been better to leave it alone? >> clearly, there's an unsaleable black letter, red line rule in american thought, in american constitutional history about the free exercise and practice of religion. i don't think anyone is talking about that. but now the president is talking about the wisdom of putting the mosque at that particular site. >> sure. >> when you look at the national polls and when you feel the pulse of the people in new york but across the country and they say, well, we don't believe it's appropriate. we believe that it's hurtful. we believe it's insensitive. we believe it doesn't reflect the nine years of pain that we've undergone in this city and in this nation as a result of the 9/11 attacks, we are not casting any aspersions on the islamic faith but at the same time we're looking for dialogue that recognizes the pain and the suffering. for the president to say i'm not going to comment on the wisdom of that choice, even though he's articulated the constitutional right, that falls short for a lot of americans who say we want leadership on this issue and we want some fidelity and understanding of what's gone on in this country. >> it was an issue he didn't even necessarily have to get into it. that's the whole thing. >> he's told lebron james where he should be playing basketball. e-mail us. he talks about everything. why wouldn't he? what do you think? >> because it's not smart political. >> do you think it's appropriate the president has weighed in on this. does it look like a flip-flop for you? one day he says he has the right to do it but the next day he says i'm talking about whether or not to do this thing. >> down on the border of arizona, where they've had the s. b. 1070, the law and the federal government has sued him. they've been talking about this for some time. this is one of four counties that borders the u.s. and mexico and now one sheriff there is saying that border patrol agents are going to be pulled back potentially because it's too dangerous of an area. wait a minute, if it's too dangerous for the border patrol to be there, isn't this something we should be discussing? if it's too dangerous? >> here's a little soundbite talking about the trouble down south. >> tell them what you want, and they'll do it. i mean, these guys for the most part are warriors, they're soldiers. they either have a middle man in the safe zone, you know, it's too dangerous right there and we're going to cause an international incident, there's shooting across the line back and forth. >> i knew that was a little hard for you to understand. what he said is that the border patrol has reiterated from parts of -- they have retreated from parts of the border because there are certain spots that are too he said in some places is the quotation, the danger is too great. they want to avoid the risk of an international incident. they don't want to have a firefight between somebody in the united states and somebody in mexico. it's that bad! >> well, the sheriff goes on to say i say come -- bring it on. let's cause the international incident. we have the sheriff on the show last week. he says it's so dangerous and they're so afraid of putting border patrol agents close to the scene, there's signs up warning american citizens away from that area, incredible. >> let's move on to another topic i know you'll have something to say about. this has something to do with blackberries. how many are tied to these things at work, personally, whatever the case is, you might just -- my personal one just went out again and now i don't have it for two days. there's a police officer that says look, i'm asked to look at this blackberry when i'm off duty and therefore, i should be compensated for this amount of time when i'm not actually working. how many millions of americans are in that same situation? >> so, this is the case of sergeant jeffrey allen, he's an officer out in chicago and here's what his attorney says. he says these guys, regardless of rank, are spending in some cases hours on the phone dealing with search warrant issues and calls from supervisors about cases and they're not working when it's not their tour of duty. we believe we can prove it's a requirement for people who want to work in the gang investigation unit. apparently, peter, it comes down to -- apparently the case law is pretty simple. it's either if the employee is either exempt or nonexempt. and some people simply are not entitled to overtime. and it determines whether or not if you look at this, is that o.t. even if you're -- >> the federal law guides, the fair labor standards act under the federal law and as you point out, steve, exempt or nonexempt. if you're a managerial employee who is considered to be on the clock all the time, then you're not going to be getting overtime. these folks saying listen, we deserve to have overtime for the time that we expend looking at the -- at the blackberry. it's a big issue in american employment law at this point and it's unsettled in a lot of ways and a lot of people get upset because they're saying, well, you know, i used to be an hourly employee and then i was changed to a managerial title and i lost all my -- all my overtime so in these tough economic times, those shifts are happening and people are saying you're violating the law. i want my overtime. >> the other interesting point is whether or not people can stop themselves from looking at the blackberry. it's one thing to say you want to be paid overtime for it. can you stop yourself from looking at it? i don't know. >> it is an addictive process. >> some in chicago suggested maybe the solution ultimately because some of these guys could be entitled to up to two years of overtime if the courts find in their favor. but one solution would be to only give blackberries to people who are exempt from overtime. >> then on top of it, make a repetitive stress claim. for killing your thumbs. >> let us know what you think about that topic. coming up on the show, democratic strategy looks republicans look like the bad guys. will this work or does it show they don't have their own agenda? two washington insiders will debate that. >> plane crash on lake ear woo. 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>> i mean, clearly, it's talking about political successes and the economy growing, that's what they'd be focuseded on. with unemployment at 9.5% and the republican question of whether the jobs are not being answered, democrats have to find something else besides policy to talk about and an easy target is let's talk about the bush years and say this is obama bush all over again. >> don't you think people are getting sick of people saying on the democratic side, look, we're in a ditch because george bush drove our u.s. economy car into the ditch. aren't people over that? >> what's interesting is the republicans themselves are going after bush, too. i think this is a fascinating election cycle. i call it political calculus. i think everyone has to watch the variables here. races have to be well funded and they've got to be exceptionally well run races. look at pennsylvania where you had sestak come out of nowhere and defeat specter, former republican or look at cokely and brown's face-off. there's nothing you can predict here and i think it's a tossup. i think the best organized and best funded candidates are going to win and i think women are unusually well positioned in this election cycle. >> let's take a look at another fox opinion dynamics poll. of the congressional election, it looks like, according to this, better for the economy, 42% say if the republicans win. 33% if the democrats. it would seem the republicans are in the driver's seat when it comes to the jobs, jobs, jobs and the economy, economy, economy. >> i think they're in a good position. clearly, the public is unhappy with what's happened with the stimulus. they're unhappy with the administration's present policies. having said that, just because they're unhappy with the democrats doesn't mean people are going to vote for republicans. again, 2006 when republicans lost the majority, still in people's minds so ultimately, republicans have to come up with a plan in terms of creating jobs and growing the economy. if we do, we're in a good position to win the majority. >> sam, you get the final word. >> well, bottom line, the voters are mad and you're absolutely correct. it's all about the economy. it's all about jobs and again, ranked 86 in the world in the number of women in elected office, vote for a women and you've got someone that voters trust more and present a fresh face to the electorate. >> there you go. thank you both for getting up early and joining us today from washington. >> thanks for having us. >> you bet. it's a pleasure. >> straight ahead, supporters of the ground zero mosque say it's their constitutional right to build it there. our next guest, a former new york city firefighter who lost his son on september 11th says it's not about rights. it's about common sense and sensitivity. plus, zebra on the loose! new information on what happened when the adventurous animal got caught. eating healthy is important, but only vegetables can give you vegetable nutrition. one of these will get you more than half way to your five daily servings. v8. what's your number? 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[ indistinct shouting ] what's in your wallet? heath mart pharmacies are locally owned. so our pharmacists serve their communities... with a unique combination of clinical knowledge... and personal attention. to see if you live in a health mart town visit: healthmart.com >> at 23 minutes after the hour, here's a quick check of your headlines. in just about 30 minutes, astronauts will begin their third space walk to replace a broken pump outside the international space station. the fix will help keep the station cool. and china has officially overtaken japan as the world's second largest economy. china's second quarter gross domestic product was about 50 billion greater than japan's. at this rate, economists predict china will overtake the u.s. by the year 2027. gretchen? >> thank you, peter. president obama coming under fire for his comments about the mosque near ground zero. he defended the mosque on the basis of religious freedom. joining me now is retired fdny deputy chief who lost his firefighter son on 9/11 and he says the president is missing the point. good morning to you, jim. >> good morning. >> i'm so sorry for your loss nine years ago with your son. this is near and dear to your heart. you say that the president has his priorities not in the right place. what do you mean? >> well, he definitely has them wrong. you know, he's -- it's a national disgrace and slap in the face to the families that we have to listen to him back this mosque. it's horrible. i think he should be more concentrated on the trials. he lied to us on when we met with him in january of 2009. he said he was going to give us swift and certain justice and the terrorists are still there. he hasn't done anything. he's holding off waiting for an election. >> i remember when we were discussing the whole khali shaikh mohammed trial situation and whether or not it should be held in new york, that you were on the side of the fact that even though you lost a child there, you wanted the trials to be held in new york specifically because you wanted action. you wanted to see them come to justice. now, why do you believe that he has not made a decision on that but decided to comment on the mosque? >> he's decide politically. wait until after the election. they're using 9/11 as a political ploy . they should come out and say what's right. our people are dying left and right and these people are staying alive. it's not fair. it's not fair to the families much they're talking about religious freedom and constitutional rights with these mosques. it has nothing to do with that. we're not about that. we're about location. we want to go down. they're going to be in the museum down there. we're going to go visit it. we don't need a 15 story mosque overlooking ground zero. >> let's take a look at what the american public feels about this particular issue. this is the latest poll. building a mosque, appropriate? only 30%. wrong, 64%. some people have said, jim, this is an example of this president being tone deaf to what the american public wants. how would you respond? >> i agree totally. he's made a big mistake here. he's not listening to the families. he sat down with us. he lied to us. told us swift and certain justice. he's talking about a mosque down there. we have an imam that the state department is going to send to the middle east to raise funds, saying we created osama bin laden and these are the people that he's siding with. so american people, you know, they say never forget 9/11 after 9/11. he has a short memory but i think all of america is not going to forget. >> jim, retired fdny deputy chief who lost his firefighter son at 9/11. thanks for your thoughts this morning. >> thank you, gretchen. >> coming up on the show, a slap in the face? homeowners who are supposed to get a big benefit from a program to fight foreclosures are not. instead the big banks are getting it. dramatic rescue caught on tape. people rushing to save the live of these passengers as their plane quickly sinks to the bottom of lake erie. on a much happier note, happy birthday to madonna. material girl, 52 today. 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[ judy ] what are you waiting for? call or click today for a free quote or to find an allstate agent. >> coming up in the 8:00 hour, kids, parents, everyone, the jonas brothers! they're going to be here live on "fox & friends." we're looking forward to it and guys, they're starring in a new movie and talking about their future plans. there could be some secrets revealed. later on our show. >> kevin, joe, nick jonas in the "camp rock" sequel. >> ted on our studio crew is so excited that the jonas brothers are here today, right, ted? >> ahhh! >> absolutely. >> yes. >> go, go, go! >> yeah. just call him nick today. stand by for that. later on this morning, president obama heads to wisconsin. it's a start of a cross-country fundraising swing. steve centanni is up and at them already in washington. good morning. >> good morning, steve. the president begins a five day swing across the country today mixing policy and politics ahead of the midterm elections. now, the obamas spent the weekend, as you know in panama beach, florida, hoping to boost a tourism industry hit hard by the b.p. oil spill down there. today, he goes to wisconsin to visit a plant that makes batteries and fuel cells for renewable energy products. it's the latest in a string of visits the president has made to highlight the recovery act, money that's going to create clean energy jobs. now, the president will also attend a fundraiser for milwaukee mayor tom barrett who is in a competitive race for governor there. then it's off to los angeles for another fundraiser and that's where the president will spend this evening. over the next few days, he'll also stop in washington state, ohio, and florida before heading to martha's vineyard. that's where the whole family begins a 10-day vacation. steve, back to you. >> they must be exhausted. they just had a vacation. >> i know. >> ok. steve centanni, thank you very much for joining us live. >> let's discuss this issue right now. dar darrell issa, maybe you're familiar with that name, republican from california he's been on the war path with several issues regarding president obama. now he's released this new sort of report i guess you would call it on the fact that the obama administration has used propaganda to boost some of his priorities like health care. ding, ding, ding! >> he says there's 11 separate incidents where the obama administration is illegally using propaganda to boost their priorities and on the health care front, talking about a couple of them. one of them a $700,000 andy griffith commercial touting the alleged benefits of the new health care law and secondly, talked about this kind of covert blog operation where justice department spokesperson and, perhaps, others went on line and then anonymously said positive things about the president's plans with regard to health care. >> sure. >> and called him to task on that. >> sure, and also regarding health care, there was a guy by the name of jonathan gruber who is a noted health care expert and he, about the time they were trying to pass this thing, he was in the papers and he was giving quotes to everybody because he's a health care expert. but what was not divulged was the fact that apparently this same guy had gotten 300,000 dollars from the federal government as a consultant, stuff like that, to go ahead and help them out with some stuff, so he's getting $300,000 and he's also sitting on, you know, in the columns of newspapers and televisions saying really good things. so issa says when you add all these things up, it is propaganda because, you know, when things are partisan and clearly, they were. that's illegal. >> because you can't use taxpayer dollars for any kind of propaganda which it all comes down to. so peter, did it, since you're the attorney on the couch, did it violate federal law by having andy griffith give that commercial and paying $700,000 using taxpayer dollars? >> i think the federal government would say it's an informati informational piece of propaganda and not illegal on its face. obviously, the federal government puts out commercials and uses spokespersons, i don't know whether the great andy griffith was paid to do that. i know the production costs were about $700,000 but for people to go on line and anonymously blog and for other folks to, perhaps, receive fees while not disclosing them, there may be ethical issues. i'm not going to speak to the criminal issues there. if there are criminal issues, it will be a grand jury but obviously, this is a political document that's calling them out as to a lack of transparency. is it not transparent? yeah, they're guilty of a lack of transparency. is it a crime? i don't know, i'd have to look at it closer. >> you can do that in a commercial break. >> lawyer -- >> gaive me more evidence on it. new calls for an investigation into the death of the alleged craig's list killer while behind bars. investigators say it looks like he committed suicide yesterday. phillip markoff found dead in his cell with a plastic bag on his head and sources say guards could have stopped him from killing himself but didn't. markoff was awaiting trial for the murder of this woman, julissa brisman, a masseuse to posted ads on craig's list. >> iran announced it would begin construction of a new uranium enrichment site next year. it's a slap in the face at countries aimed at stopping their program, a process that can be used to make nuclear weapons. the plan site is among 10 new sites iran approved last year in a dramatic expansion of their program. >> four british cancer specialists involved in the treatment of the lockerbie bomber are now revealing they were never consulted over the convicted killer's release. they said he was freed by the scottish government last year on so-called compassionate grounds due to a diagnosis of terminal prostate cancer. court doctors said he had three months to live. he's still alive today nearly one year later. >> it turns out the banks not unemployed homeowners may see the biggest benefits from a $3 billion program that's supposed to help fight foreclosures. housing experts say with so many people underwater on their mortgages, there's not enough money to benefit the people. foreclosures were up 4% in july and nearly 10% increase over the same time in that month in 2009. peter? >> and a daring rescue after a small plane crashes into lake erie. it happened off south bass island in ohio. a ferry boat crew, members saw the plane go down and pulled all four people on board to safety. witnesses say they saw the plane coming in for what looked like a water landing before it skipped across the water. thank god no one was seriously hurt. >> it was lucky that the ferry was right there. >> right. >> meanwhile, let's take a look at the weather on this monday and it is a wet day as you can see along portions of the gulf coast. also, portions of new mexico back through arizona. they certainly could use some rain and widely scattered stuff moving through portions of the great lakes on this monday. meanwhile, temperatures as you head out to work or out to school, yes, some folks back to school already. 72 right now in new york. it's 75 in raleigh. about the same for atlanta. northern plains, temperatures in the 50's. central plains, very pleasant 68 right now. kansas city, it's been hot out there. temperatures in the 80's along the gulf coast and back through texas. the hot spots today will be the desert southwest and the bull's eye is on dallas where it should top out at about 100 degrees in the dallas/fort worth metroplex area. it looks like they're going for a high of 82 in chicagoland. and that's a quick look at the fox travelcast. >> thanks, steve. coming up on the show, too, republicans say they've given the president a plan to save social security but he's not listening to it. why not? one of those republicans, republican michael burgess here next. >> a zebra on the loose. wait until you hear where he is now. >> who said this? in "eat, pray, love" my character mostly appears in the first 20 pages of the book and i definitely can say i read the first 20 pages. who said that? ♪ [ instrumental: upbeat ] hey, max. 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[ male announcer ] hurry in to your authorized mercedes-benz dealer for 1.99% financing during our certified pre-owned sals event through august 31st. auto quick check of headlines. lindsay lohan getting out of her 90 day stint. doctors apparently don't think her drug issues are as severe as first thought. the decision needs the judge to say it's ok with him. check this out. great video. zebras on the loose in california. two of them made a run for it in carmichael after escaping from their owner's home. people have zebras at home? police were able to corral both of them. the animals are now doing fine at their owner's second ranch in oregon. took them up. all right. peter. >> thank you, steve. president obama is lashing out at house republicans for supporting a new budget proposal that would change social security. >> one thing we can't afford to do, though, is privatize social security. an ill conceived idea that would add trillions of dollars to our budget deficit while tying your benefits to the whims of wall street traders and the ups and downs of the stock market. >> but is the president exaggerating the intentions of the proposal or even the support it's getting from the g.o.p.? you know, we're joined by republican congressman michael burgess of texas who has co-signed the legislation in question. good morning, congressman. >> good morning, peter. good to be with you this morning. >> thank you for being here. is privatizing social security a good idea or should it be considered? >> well, this -- this road map that has been put forward by paul wright of wisconsin is not privatization of social security. individual accounts allowing a portion of the -- of the 12 1/2% payroll tax to be placed into an account similar to what federal employees have in the thrift savings plan does phase in over time but it is not privatization of social security. that has something the president has set up on this issue and really, when you look at the road map, it is a small handful of republicans who have signed on to this bill. this is really more notice to our side that there are some of us who are serious about us dealing with this long-term fiscal problem that we have, this unfunded promise that we've made to future generations and we simply got to get our arms around it or everything else becomes -- becomes secondary. >> congressman, let's talk about the unfunded promise. president obama says that such a proposal as yours and representative ryan would rely on the whims of wall street traders. and that people like you and me, we have to rely on their whims for our future. is that true? >> no, it's absolutely false and here's the deal, for anyone over the 55 years of age or older, nothing chans. nothing need change for those under 55 in social security unless -- unless they elect to do so. but the thrift savings plan that federal employees have has a long track record of success. paul ryan put a further stop gap in in saying that we guarantee a 1% rate of return. social security doesn't guarantee a 1% rate of return now and of that portion owned individually, it is inheritable. that is if someone dies before they -- before they get to receive any benefit, their heirs are assigned than actually receive that benefit. it's an improvement and a modernization of program that's now 75 years old and i dare say is in need of modernization. >> let's hear what senator mcconnell had to say on the social security issue. he said democrats made an impossible mess out of health care and cut a half trillion dollars for medicare. so i don't know whether the president's fiscal commission will come up with anything on health care or not but on social security, hopefully they'll come up with a credible plan that i can support and my members can support. are the republicans responding to the charge that there are no new ideas and coming forward with new ideas on social security? >> well, look, i don't personally myself, i don't like commissions. i don't think that's what we're -- we're elected to go to washington to make the hard decisions. i don't think that there should be things that are automatically off budget. we didn't do any budget this year so all spending was off budget this year but all things should be on the budget and we should be required to look at that and live within our means just as any american family is required to do in both good times and bad. >> thank you so much for being with us. see you again as this issue moves forward. good to see you. thank you. >> thank you. >> be well. more fallout from press secretary robert gibbs slamming the professional left. is it creating a collapse from inside the democratic party and has the white house failed to recognize the people who put them in office? an insider will respond. and brand new this morning, jet blue releases the first details on its own investigation into steven slater. he's the flight attendant whose dramatic resignation and departure from the jet made him an instant sensation. let's just say their stories don't exactly match. and now the answer to our quote of the day. óó >> welcome back, everyone. white house press secretary robert gibbs in hot water over some comments he made last week attacking the professional left. the people on cable news who speak ill of his boss. gibbs is now downplaying what he said. but is the damage already done? >> erica payne joins us now, the founder of the agenda project and the author of "the practical progressive." good morning to you. >> good morning, how are you? >> fine, thanks. how long have you been a member of the professional left? auto i've been a member of the professional left for 10 years and member of the unprofessional left for close to 40. i will admit it. >> have you been drug tested yet? according to robert gibbs, you should be drug tested. >> yeah, i think that's going to be later today, apparently. they have a whole row of us lined up. >> so you actually think this was motor mouth. this is robert gibbs rogue as you said last week. you don't think this was part of a strategy to get the independent vote? >> definitely not. i think there has been a divide for about the last year of the administration between what i would say is the -- they call it the professional left, you know, the people who are more liberal on the political spectrum and this white house. there's definitely a divide. there's no doubt about it and i think at a certain point especially walking into midterms when there's a lot at stake, they are start to go get a little heated. >> and robert gibbs got in trouble within the last month with nancy pelosi when he said hey, hey, look, you know, there's a real good chance we're going to lose the white house. >> yeah, the fact of the matter is there's a good chance we're going to lose the house so i don't know why you get in trouble for speaking for the truth. >> it sounds kind of like -- when you say they, i'm talking about the top echelon of the white house because he's one of the president's closest advisors and pals. they've been together for seven years. they kind of think that you are in some ways the enemy right now. >> oh, yeah. there's no doubt about it. i mean, if you look at it from health care reform on, the left has been pushing really hard on a lot of different issues and the white house has just had it. >> we have to be more in the middle. >> i'm sitting here listening to you and thinking there's so many people across america who think this president is too far left. >> right. right. this is what i find unbelievable. i went to business school reunion a few weeks ago and hearing from people who had voted for obama just railing about how liberal he had gotten when i know every single person i know from the liberal side of the democratic party definitely thinks that god has just sold us down the river. >> do you think he's a moderate? >> i think there's no doubt in my mind he's a moderate. >> because when it came to health care reform, you wanted the public option. you didn't even come close to that. when it comes to getting out of afghanistan, look, he's had more people. >> when it comes to the torture memos, i don't want the white house putting out executive privilege. i want to see him roll back the power of the presidency and my biggest issue which people on fox news have been hearing about forever is wall street reform which, you know, i think is a great sign of how broken our entire system is when wall street goes in and spends $600 million and lobbyists for 18 months and lloyd blankstein is still running the economy. >> you would have been in favor of wall street reform attacking fannie and freddie and that whole mess. >> here's the thing. they'll walk into fannie and freddie now which they definitely need to disband them, there's no doubt about it and i think liberals and conservatives will say that but the piece of wall street reform that they already passed basically at the heart of the financial crisis was derivatives and at the heart of the derivatives problem was the cdf market and what they basically did in the legislation that just passed is exempt about 90% of the problem from any kind of -- >> you must be thrilled for the president for passing stimulus and talking about expiring the bush tax cuts. >> i'm thrilled with the president -- >> you wanted more stimulus? >> i wanted more better stimulus. >> right. >> i really felt like he came out of the gate with a stimulus that had some good elements and lots of political sort of views, you have this and you have that. >> erica, while they're attacking the professional left, they're gonna need them in november. and now suddenly they're going to -- they don't care about why we're going to vote. >> i mean, i'll tell you this, it's not going to pan out. the white house should be -- is really lucky they got some of the wackadoodles candidates they got to run against, that will turn out in november not as bad as it could have been. >> you're talking about alvin green, right? >> all right, he's a wackadoodle, too. but sharon angle is not going to beat harry reid. can't trade chickens for health care, you know? >> erica payne, member of the professional left. thank you very much. >> thank you so much. >> good to see you. >> coming up on the show, democrats are doing everything they can to blame republicans for the country's problems. does this really mean they have no plan of their own? erica, pipe down! former white house press secretary dana perino will weigh in on that topic at the top of the hour. >> she's live in the green room that's painted red and a new proposal to cage in kids who live near the border. how far parents are willing to go to ensure their kids are safe at school. that prison is actually a school. 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[ female announcer ] relaxing for who? try new market creations from lean cuisine. the new steam pouch locks in the fresh taste of crisp veggies, tender chicken, and al dente pasta, new market creations from lean cuisine. >> good morning, everyone. we made it to monday. hope you had a great weekend. it's august 16, 2010. first the president was all for a mosque to be built at ground zero. he's singing a different tune less than 20 hours later. >> i was not commenting and i will not comment on the wisdom of making a decision. to put a mosque there. >> so where does the commander in chief really stand on the ground zero mosque and does he even have a stand? >> make the republicans look like the bad guys. does it show they don't have their own winning agenda? >> meanwhile, a 7 foot tall barbed wire fence being built around a school. it's not meant to keep kids in. it's meant to keep illegals out. we'll talk to a parent about sending her kid -- their kid to that school. "fox & friends" hour two for a monday starts right now. >> hey, "fox & friends", this is nick jonas from the jonas brothers. >> oh, the jonas brothers. peter johnson jr. is excited. his daughters are already in attendance. >> absolutely. >> my daughters will be coming in. >> en route. >> gretchen has her kids coming in. big day. >> if you thought we were telling you something like maybe the jonas brothers might be on the show, guess what? the jonas brothers are on the show today. 8:40 a.m. eastern time. >> why do you think dana perino is all dressed up today. >> she's always dressed up. >> what's your favorite jonas? >> i don't have children. >> you have a favorite jonas by the end of the show. >> who are the jonas brothers? >> i'm kidding. i do know who they are. i know. >> they're going to be on the show and a lot of kids all around the country looking forward to that. we hope you stay tuned for that. >> dana will weigh in on a bunch of stuff in the news including the mosque mess right here in new york city in two minutes. right now, headlines. >> we begin with the fox news alert. there's word afghan president hamid karzai is about to order all private security companies operating in the country to be shut down. he's expected to set a deadline for their closure later this afternoon. private security companies have been problematic for afghan's own government often taking the law into their own hands and promoting corruption. today, commerce secretary gary locke will head down to the gulf region and tour louisiana seafood processing plant and hold an economic roundtable with businesses affected by the oil spill. meanwhile, b.p. could decide to move ahead now with the bottom kill operation. plugging the oil leak in the gulf for good. thad allen, the guy in charge says the four day process won't begin until b.p. finishes all of its testing. in arizona, hundreds of tea party activists along the border showed their support for the state's new immigration law and called on president obama and congress to send more resources to help keep the border safe. on friday, the president did sign a $600 million bill that would add 1,000 more border patrol agents to that region. >> this is a terrible story. the off-road driver who killed eight people after he smashed into a crowd of spectators apologizing now on the facebook page. he writes that he's devastated over the crash and his thoughts and prayers go out to everyone involved. he was driving his truck at a race in california's mojave desert when he went out of control and then crashed into the crowds. some of them four feet away from that track. looks like steven slater's story about being assaulted by a passenger on that jet blue flight could all be bogus! >> oh, no. >> investigators now say they don't have any evidence backing his version of how he got that bloody cut on his forehead after that alleged feud over a bag. remember? he said it was a female passenger. well, some witnesses claim they saw him with the cut even before he boarded the plane and that he was having a hissy fit on the flight throughout. that's going to be problematic for him. >> changes everything. >> dana perino is joining us and joins us on mondays. good morning to you. >> that guy has gotten way too much 15 minutes of fame. >> he was a hero and now he could be a zero. >> let's talk a little bit about what's going on, just about two miles from where we're sitting right now, down at the ground zero area. they want to build a mosque between two blocks of it. a lot of locals say it's insensitive because it's a graveyard. that there are -- for so many reasons. now, the president on friday, he stayed out of it until friday and then he said they've got a right to build it. then on saturday, bill burton comes out and says we'd like to clarify and that's always a big -- that's a big problem because then the president said i wasn't weighing in on whether or not -- >> when you're a white house spokesperson, you never want to use the words, let me make it perfectly clear what the president just meant. that's -- you're not winning if you're doing that. this is what surprised me about it. when i first heard about it, i thought gosh, why did they do that? they were positioned just fine for this difficult issue by saying it was a local issue. maybe that was unsustainable and maybe president obama wanted to weigh in on it. so i thought that the remarks on friday night were off the cuff. when i found out they were planned and that there was no heads up given, no groundwork laid, not a phone call to the 9/11 families as a heads-up, nothing to sort of anticipate that frustration, when 68% of the american people say they don't want to build a mosque. it's not that people don't want to build a mosque because they're against islam. that's not what this has been about. that's why i think he could have done a better job of explaining his position but then the problem was after he gave the speech at the ramadan dinner on 9:00 on a friday night, the next day to do the cleanup, he does an interview with cnn's ed henry on the tarmac in shirt sleeves with the engines behind him and that's his explanation. >> and we've got that little -- >> let's look at it. >> let's look at it. you heard the lady. >> my intention was to simply let people know what i thought. which was that in this country, we treat everybody equally. in accordance with the law. regardless of race, regardless of religion. i was not commenting and i will not comment on the wisdom of making a decision to put a mosque there. i was commenting very specifically on the right that people have that dates back to our founding. that's what our country is about. and i think it's very important that, you know, as difficult as some of these issues are, you know, we stay focused on who we are as a people and what our values are all about. >> see, the thing that struck me with that, dana, is that he said that maybe it was -- they were not using wisdom about the location. but did the president use wisdom in involving himself in this whole controversy? >> i actually think it would have -- it may have been proven useful to find out what his principled stand was to help all of us who are wrestling with the feelings that we believe in religious freedom but there's something that bothers a lot of us about it being built right there. does it have to be built right there? and presidents with the power of the presidency could come out and lead us, bring us together and maybe most of us still at the end of the day would not agree with his decision. but now we don't even know what his decision is. >> hasn't he created an issue on that, dana, by saying, well, i'm not going to speak about the wisdom of it. once you say that, don't -- >> then his spokesperson has to come out and say to be perfectly clear, the president isn't backing out what he said last night. then they put a further clarification out using the zoning laws. >> doesn't he have to speak to the wisdom of that? >> he might now. >> this is what happens sometimes in august. everybody is tired. you're not firing on all cylinders. you put this out a friday night. then there's no natural way for him to communicate about it further. and so he's down in florida to promote florida tourism, does anyone know that? no. all of us just know about the mosque. >> that's right. and we're not talking about it. there was more firestorm when they announced they were going to try the terrorists in lower manhattan. now, nobody disputes there is a right to go ahead and build that there because we're a very tolerant nation. >> they have the right. >> is it the right thing to do? >> right. >> why does it have to be so close? it's not like there's no mosques in new york city. there's a whole bunch of them. there's hundreds or thousands as kro the country and he even the made comments at our dinner ramadan at the white house. >> that's why i think if he wanted to do this, he could have done it in a different way, given a speech, called the 9/11 families, explained his position more fully rather than just sort of like letting it out on a friday night and then having all this cleanup and now probably what they're going to have to do, this is their pattern. they'll have to set up a one-on-one interview with him and one of the anchors and then he'll get to fully explain himself and he'll complain that the media overblew it and we'll still be left confused about what position he's in. >> doesn't it leave democrats now with the midterm elections coming out with one more issue that they're going to have to answer to? >> yes. in many cases, i think this is what's going to happen. candidates who never would have been asked about their position on the mosque, republicans and democrats are now going to have to be asked about it. and it's not like it's been that easy an issue for some people. some columnists i follow regularly, it took them four or five weeks to sort through their thoughts and feelings and to write their thoughtful pieces about it. now all the candidates will have to comment on it. i noticed yesterday on some of the sunday shows, some of the senators, democratic senators said well, i think that, you know, it is a local issue. they still don't want to comment on it. >> dana, if president bush was still the president, would he have commented on the wisdom of -- >> i don't know. and, you know, i don't speak for the president anymore. what i can tell you when i was president -- i can't speak for him now. what i would say is immediately following 9/11, he made sure to always point out there will be radicals and extremists in islam but islam is a religion of peace and they should have the right to worship here and he went to mosques and he really did a lot of the outreach that president obama has tried to do as well. >> now, we're in a heat -- even though it's august, we're heading towards the midterms, we notice that a number of democrats are running ads where they don't even mention they're a democrat but it seems like their big strategy, if they're not blaming bush, they're blaming the republicans. is that because they've got nothing else to run on? >> right. imagine that you've been in office in the majority for four years. and you've had the presidency for the last two. and you can't run on anything except for that i don't suck as much as the other guy? i mean, vote for me. >> that's a quote. >> is that allowed? am i going to get fined for that? >> no. >> sorry. but i think that that's not really -- that's not a great bumper sticker, you know, can't go out and say we passed health care many we got the stimulus done. we created jobs. no, all of those things that they've done are so unpopular and it hasn't worked so they're going to run against -- it's going to run against the same guy. a the lot of races are local and interested to watch how they turn out over labor day. >> there was a big party last weekend for social security that celebrated 75 years and now the president says -- or that he is, you know, against this republican initiative to once again privatize it. let's listen to what he said. one thing we can't afford to do is privatize social security. an i will conceived idea that wd tie your benefits to the whims of wall street traders and the ups and downs of the stock market. >> yeah. >> he would be better off to stick to the radio. when you watch that, you can tell he's reading it. what you guys ought to do is go back and find what he said in january of 2009 which when he got elected and took over the presidency he said we can't continue to kick this can down the road. we'll have to address it. we have to make it sustainable for the long term. and representative paul ryan has put forward a plan that says let's at least have a discussion to see what we should do to make it sustainable for your children in the future. social security is always a political football. republicans and democrats have used it. but an adult conversation is needed and representative paul ryan has started one. >> before you go, we want you to -- we got some images from dallas/fort worth airport last thursday, you know, when service personnel come back into the country and if they're heading to texas, they're greeted by different people and who showed up last thursday? but the former commander-in-chief, your former boss, george w. bush. >> the u. s. o. makes sure there's a crowd of people to greet the soldiers when they're coming back and so president and mrs. bush decided to go and be a part of the group and other people can be a part of it as well. it's not just -- >> they do it every week. >> yeah. i think it's any time the troops are coming home. so to learn more about that, you can visit the uso but it was really wonderful to see them. they must have been so surprised. >> the troops coming home. no doubt. all of a sudden, you know, they expect to see family and friends. >> he said the thing he misses the most is being a part -- being the commander in chief and that connection with the military. he really has an affinity and love for them so i think that -- >> you can see it in the photos and i've been in an airport when troops are coming in, it sends shivers up your spine and for president bush to be there, incredible. incredib incredible. >> we'll hear from him because his book is coming out. great to see you. >> thanks. >> see you next week. >> straight ahead, could the tea party actually help keep democrats in power come november? 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[ male announcer ] the autobahn for all event. lease the jetta limited edition for $199 a month or get 0% apr. ♪ at red lobster it becomes laughs over new england clam chowder and a crisp grilled-shrimp salad instead of running errands. catching up over wood-grilled shrimp and chicken instead catching up on e-mails. and discovering seafood that makes lunch an hour you wouldn't trade for anything. seafood lunches starting at st $6.99. only at red lobster. >> here's a question for you. is the tea party doing, perhaps, more harm than good for the republican party? a new poll shows 21% of voters would choose a democrat candidate and 12% would pick a republican while 23% said they would choose a tea party candidate. so does this mean the tea party will split the republican vote in november? joining us right now, we've got radio talk show host dana lash from st. louis right there and republican pollster john mclaughlin joining us from indianapolis. good morning to both of you. >> good morning. >> dana, let's start with you. this is one of your personal pet peeves. you hate it when people say the tea party candidate. explain why. >> i do! oh, because i think some people take tea party to mean it's an actual party and it's not. i don't like the term tea party candidate. makes me sick to my stomach. i look at it like this. there are republicans that are running, republican candidates that are on tickets in different primaries that share the same belief system and the same platform as the grassroots movement, but that doesn't make them a tea party candidate. sounds very co-opty to me. >> you feel while some are trying to portray the tea party as spoilers in this, these actually energizing the base. that's a good thing for republicans. >> right, you've seen it. we did a big study in the beginning of the year for national view institute and it's on our web site but it energized the republican primary and now you have candidates that have won these primaries and they can go on and win in november based on the issues of deficit spending, size of government and so they brought a message to the party. >> uh-huh. one of the other things, while a lot of tea party, you know, races where tea party endorsed candidates have been running, a lot of them have already been decided. but come november, john, it's either going to be generally a democrat vs. a republican. it's not like there's going to be a bunch of tea party candidates on the ballots. >> right. exactly. and if the republicans diverges from the message of the basic principles of the size of government, they'll lose those votes and lose to the democrats. there may be a third party on the ballot. some of the parties aren't decided like in florida, the tea party people are backing mccollum over scott because scott created this medicaid scandal. you're seeing it play out across the country. >> dana, let's go back to the question we started with at the beginning. will the tea party act as a spoiler for the republicans come november? >> no. i don't think they will. the only spoiler that could possibly happen are republicans who allow their trajectory, their plans to be defined by harry reid and david axle radioed. as long as they don't start thinking, maybe we're too extreme if we share the same limited government values as the tea party movement does, but no, i think really, republicans stand to be the biggest spoiler. not grassroots conservatives and i think they need to realize and most of them are. we've seen this in a lot of primaries fortunate primari primaries. as long as they stay on that base, they're fine. >> real radicals are running congress right now. they're the ones that have increased the deficit and you have unemployment at 10%. people have to vote this year like they did in virginia and new jersey this year and they'll vote the democrats out and republicans will win. >> look at you. you sound like you're writing a spot for a republican which you probably have done many. john and dana, thank you both for joining us live from st. louis and indianapolis. good debate. good discussion, i should say. 20 minutes after the top of the hour. school safety reaching new heights. illegal aliens forcing a school near the u.s.-mexican border to look more like -- yeah, that looks like a prison. putting up barbed wire. hear from a parent straight ahead. he's worth nearly $200 million. why are david beckham's sister and kids living on the taxpayer dime? good question. thanks to t venture card from capital one, we gedouble miles on every purchase. so wearned an l.a. getaway twice as fast. we get double miles every time we use oucard. no matter at we're buying. and since double miles add up quick... romans! get em! 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[ indistinct shouting ] what's in your wallet? when pain keeps you , nothing is proven to help you fall asleep faster than advil pm liqui-gels. rushing real liquid relief to ease you to sleep fast. for nighttime pain, make advil pm your #1 choic rushing real liquid relief to ease you to sleep fast. ♪♪ a flavor paradises aof delicious fishes ♪♪ ♪ friskies seafood sensations. ♪ feed the senses. >> on monday morning, at 23 minutes after the hour, your news by the numbers. first, 13.6%. that's how much is being slashed from the food stamp program. the money may now be used to fund an $8 million child nutrition bill at the center of the first lady's let's move initiative. next, $255. that's how much money david beckham's sister and mom of three is collecting in welfare in england. sources say the soccer star was unaware of her financial situation. and finally, 33 years. that's how many years it's been since elvis presley passed away. over the weekend at graceland, fans carried candles and walked silently by the king's grave. gretchen? >> thank you, peter. a school that's just about three miles from the mexican border is going to new heights literally to protect its students by building a seven foot high barbed wire fence. is this going too far or just plain necessary for the safety of the kids? sarah supports the fence and her 5-year-old son noah is a student at the school. good morning to you both. >> good morning. thank you for having us. >> i know it's bright and early out there in arizona. thanks so much for getting up so early. tell me about this fence. i know that recently in july, it was approved to add height to the fence. >> yes. i think what they -- what they approved was to have either barbed wire or other wire added to the top of the fence. >> uh-huh. and this little red school sits three miles from the border. why do you need the fence around the school? >> the little red schoolhouse, it has a wash running directly behind where the kids have their playground and illegals, drug runners use that as an avenue to get to the river to follow the river north or to get to the railroad tracks to follow the railroad tracks north. >> you say that combatting this problem has become a way of life for you. how do you describe that? >> it has. >> it's hard to describe. we lived in southern arizona our whole lives and it's just a part of how we live. you fence out the things that affect your life. you get your laundry stolen off your line if you don't build fences. you have cows come into your yard if you don't fence out the cows. it really is a way of life out here. >> uh-huh. so for the safety of your child who is only 5 years old, now going to this school, what is it like for a parent to drop off a child at a school that's surrounded by a seven foot high barbed wire fence. >> you know, it's funny you say that because when you pull up to the school, what you see is a little red schoolhouse. and you see -- you drive in, there's trees, there's a -- there is a fence but it's not the barbed wire fence. the fence does run along the back of the school so it doesn't affect the aesthetics at all. you don't see it until you walk out into the playground. so as intimidating as it seems, you don't see it at first. it was added and added to the back and it kind of -- when you are on the school grounds it does make you feel safer and keeps many kids from wandering off in the trees and getting bit by rattle snakes as well. >> let me ask you this, though. what do you think would happen at the school if there was not a fence. if there was not a fence, would you send your son to the school? >> the little red schoolhouse is the best in the county. it's a fantastic little school so i would send my son to this school. it's an added peace of mind. there are only 20 kids in my class but then again, there are 20 kids in that class. and one can wander off very easily. the fence does add security. i would still send my son to the school, though, if it didn't have the fence. i just appreciate the superintendent's presence of mind to think of my son's safety and add the fence. >> all right. you heard it before this parent, sarah and her son noah, a 5-year-old who is just starting kindergarten. thanks for your thoughts this morning. >> thank you. have a great day. >> have a great day at school. >> thanks. >> all right. well, that school is building a fence and now word this morning that some border patrol agents are being ordered to retreat from their posts in arizona. why? because some people are saying it's too dangerous. but are the feds listening? and a party at odd. big name democrats are turning on members of their own political party in political ads. we'll show them to you. stick around, kevin, joe and nick are here live. jonas brothers ready to talk about their new movie and their future on the music scene. >> all right. welcome back. peter johnson jr. is in today for the vacationing brian kilmeade. good to have you here. >> thank you. thank you. >> we have a couple quick headlines to get to you. >> we do. iran says they will start construction on a new, a new uranium enrichment site by march of next year. the announcement is a slap in the face to international efforts aimed at stopping tehran's enrichment program. a process that can be used to make nuclear weapons. the planned site is among 10 new sites that iran approved last year in a dramatic expansion of their atomic program. >> new calls this morning for an investigation into the apparent suicide of the alleged craig's list killer. phillip markoff's body was discovered inside his boston jail cell yesterday with a plastic bag on his head and stab marks on his body from a pen. the boston city councillor is calling for an independent investigation to determine how markoff got access to the bag and the pen. the 24-year-old is awaiting trial for the 2009 murder of julissa brisman. >> some democrats are pushing the widow of the late senator ted kennedy to run for his old senate seat. "the washington post" says party leaders are promoting vickie kennedy at their choice to run in 2012. if she runs, she'd face off against republican senator scott brown. brown won the special election for kennedy's seat earlier this year. >> the start of the third space walk, you're looking right now. this is a live picture of them working to replace a broken pump outside the international space station. >> that's so cool. >> it will help keep the station cool. they need a.c. up there, right? >> no kidding. >> it looks like my tv reception. really cool. >> meanwhile, take a look at this. it will go down as one of the cruelest losses in sports history. it was for the pga championship in wisconsin. dustin johnson needed to make par on the final hole to win but his tee shot put him in a little bald space near some people. unfortunately for him, they decided, the experts said it was a bunker. moments later, johnson touched the sand with his club before hitting the ball. that's a big no-no. he was assessed to a two stroke penalty. martin keimer would go on to win in the playoff. johnson finished fifth. >> what a bummer that is. >> no kidding. >> all those rules in golf. >> they have a lot of them. take a look, we have a wet day in portions of north texas and much of new mexico today. they could use the rain. they also have rain along the gulf coast and some here in the northeast. in fact, it's been spotty showery throughout the new york city area this morning. meanwhile, current readings. we have a lot of 50's and 60's northern plains. 60's and 70's eastern third, 80's approaching 90's across the southern half. now, later today, things are going to warm up in the mid atlantic. temperatures are going to be in the mid to upper 90's. out in the raleigh area, back through blue ridge. 92 in atlanta. 96 in memphis. going to be 100 today in dallas/fort worth. about the same for san antonio. spots on this map would be new england, caribou, maine today, 4:00 in the afternoon, beautiful 359 degrees. and that's a look at your fox travelcast. remember last week, gretch, we showed folks that ad by a congressman from the great state of indiana. his name is donnelly. now, what's interesting about mr. donnelly's ad is the fact that he talks for 30 seconds about how he's not beholden to the party bosses and he never makes mention of the fact that he is actually a democrat. they don't show it in any way. >> they don't show any pictures of the president or the speaker of the house. well, now, it seems to be somewhat of a trend. take a look at this ad now by south dakota democrat stephanie herset. see what you think. >> i'm stephanie herset and this is zachary. he can help me show what it's like in congress. first of all, they like to eat and eat and eat. and you know what that leads to. they have no concept of money. and pretty much don't listen. when they all get together, you never know what's going to happen. it's why i voted against all the bailouts and the trillion dollar health care plan. it wasn't right for south dakota. zachary or any kid's future. it's why we approved this message. >> so in her commercial, she is akuwa equating congress to toddlers. that's how you have to handle them. >> that's a great ad. very creative and people will remember that ad. wait a minute, is she a democrat? can't tell. she did say she did not vote for health care and did not vote for the bailout so if she's a democrat, she's a moderate one. >> you know she's a common senseical mom from watching that commercial. that's the message that comes across. >> there she is right there. it's interesting, the same ad company that did that did a spot for blanche lincoln down in arkansas. and in the blanche lincoln ad, they use same kind of tone where they show a bunch of kids, there they are right there. that's supposed to be congress and the kid is throwing dollar bills around. oh, man. it's effective but once again, you know, they -- they're not really playing up to the fact that, hey, we're democrats. it's just like that's the situation. vote for me. >> talk a little bit about the illegal immigration situation in arizona. we just did an interview with a mom and son where their school, three miles away from the border is surrounded now by a seven foot barbed wire fence of which they added three to four feet to over the summer to keep the kids safe from animals and also from illegals and drug trafficking. well, now, there's a sheriff down in a neighboring county, there's four counties that border the arizona-mexico border there. the sheriff there, larry deaver says wait a minute. can you believe now that they're actually pulling back border patrol in some of these areas because he says it's been deemed too dangerous for even the border patrol. wait a minute, you're thinking, wait a minute, isn't that what they're supposed to be doing, keeping everybody else safe and now it's too dangerous for them. >> he's pointed out 70 miles north of the border, the bureau of land management has put up a sign along a drug smuggling corridor saying american citizens, stay away because it's too dangerous. >> that's right smack dab in the middle of america. 70 miles from the border. here's the sheriff himself talking about the predicament down there. >> you do what they want to do, they will do it. these guys for the most part are warriors, they're soldiers. they have middle men and upper management, there's no, kind of -- it's too dangerous right there and we're going to cause an international incident if there's shooting across the line, back and forth:>> yeah, apologized for the quality of that. but you can tell at the end, he was talking about an international incident. that's what the border patrol -->> the mid management people do not want somebody from mexico shooting at the united states and somebody from the united states returning fire. and apparently, somebody from the customs and border patrol spokesperson did respond and said, you know, there are spots in the tucson sector where the -- for safety reasons, they don't have people there because it is a little dangerous but they go on to say that we do have remote ways presumably drones or scope vehicles to spot people who come into the country and then they grab them if appropriate when they're in a safe zone. >> in a safe area, they call it. brooklyn. >> i mean, that's incredible. >> once they're away from the border and it's safe. >> they don't have the apprehension going on. >> that's crazy. >> it is. continue to base the situation with illegal immigration with many other hotbed topics here. coming up on the show, while the majority of americans are against a mosque at ground zero, another hotbed issue, president obama isn't doing a good job of clarifying his own opinion. friday night he said one thing and saturday, he said something different. will his decision to get involved hurt his own party in november? >> they helped put president obama in the white house. but now, they're unemployed and very unhappy. meet the college student that's demanding change once again. >> meanwhile, once again, time for the trivia question of the day. born on this date in 1962, this actor and massachusetts native once delivered mail before becoming the boss in scranton. i know who that is. do you know? quick answer, we'll send you a prize. hey, it's great to see you're back after that accident. well, i couldn't have gotten by without aflac! if you're hurt and can't work, who's going to help pay for gas? ..the mortgage, all kinds of expenses? aflac! aflac. we've got you under our wing. aflac, aflac, aflac... aflac, aflac, aflac thanks. i got the idearom general mills big g cereals. they put a white check on the top of every box to let people know that their cereals have healthy whole grain, and they're the right choice... 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we're joined by two young people who voted for barack obama in the 2008 election, 21-year-old tatiana sheers, currently a student at long island university and 22-year-old mike darianzeo who graduated from temple university last year with a degree in business. good morning to both of you. >> good morning. thanks for having me. >> we look at these terrible stats. it's downright difficult to find a job for anyone but especially as a young person, right? >> yes, i totally agree. i was a co-manager and assistant manager for three years and now being in the job market returning, i was unemployed for a year and a half and it is extremely hard. no one is hiring retail. i've even branched out into different industries and different type of ventures but right now, it's been difficult with this economy. >> right, you even say you're going to change your major and possibly go into nursing as opposed to business. you might be able find a job. i know you say this is a luxury because you can live at home with your parents. is that the only thing keeping you afloat right now? >> i hate to say it but yes and i have a lot of friends who aren't lucky enough to be in the situation. my parents were generous enough to let me stay at home while i get myself on my feet and get a real job going. and i just couldn't appreciate that more. but it's the only thing keeping me afloat. >> you both voted for barack obama. what kind of hope in change with regard to the job market did you expect? >> i expected way more change but now doing the research, i realize obama is an illusion of change. he's a lot like bush in many ways and he -- he's a lot like bush in many ways. >> what way? >> it's a fallacy to actually believe that he cares about unemployment when he hired an economic team that's comprised of geitner and it just shows you that -- that these three -- these men were in the past three administrations and they don't really care for the poor and the working class of this nation. but i'm not really disappointed -- i'm not so much disappointed in obama, i'm disappointed with the republicans and the american citizens. far too many americans keep falling for this left-right paradigm when the power structure at the top of both parties is corrupt. they're both sold to the bankers and the corporate interests. >> ok, mike, i know that one thing that really troubles you was that it started to dawn on you maybe the young people actually will be paying for a lot of these programs in the future. >> oh, yes. definitely. and all these programs that are coming out, it's -- we are going to end up paying for them. everything is running out and there's no other way. it's going to happen to us. and kind of going off what she was saying, i agree that barack obama, he sold me on the idea of bipartisanship, that he would take the best of the left and best of the right and he would be right in the middle and just give us -- bring a new lead into a brighter future, almost like an f.d.r. or j.f.k. but it's just all been left. it's not happening. >> well, you heard it from two young people both looking for jobs. we wish you the best of luck in this economy and we hope you can find employment. thank you for sharing your thoughts this morning. >> thank you. >> thank you for having us. >> a horrific end to a race in the middle of the desert. did you see this video? the driver behind the wheel of this truck you're about to see plowed into spectators. well, now he's talking about what happened on facebook and offering an apology. and on this date in history, in 1969, thousands pack a farm in upstate new york for day two, that is, of the woodstock festival and on this date in 1977, elvis presley passed away at graceland. he was only 42. number one hit on this date in 1966, "summer in the city" by the loving spoonful. it's tough to get enough servings of vegetables every day if you don't always like the taste of them. good thing v8 v-fusion juice gives you a serving of vegetables hidden by a serving of fruit. 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[ female announcer ] relaxing for who? try new market creations from lean cuisine. the new steam pouch locks in the fresh taste of crisp veggies, tender chicken, and al dente pasta, new market creations from lean cuisine. >> we got a quick check of the headlines. lindsay lohan already getting out of her 90 day stint in rehab. tmz says the actress could be released as soon as this week. she will get outpatient care. doctors don't think her drug issues are as severe as first thought. decision still needs a judge's approval. check out this great video. zebras on the loose in california. two of them made a run for it in carmichael, california, after escaping from their owners' backyards. police were able to corral both of them. now they're doing fine at their owner's second ranch up north in oregon. >> president obama has stepped into a bipartisan firestorm because of his wishy washy stance on a mosque being built at ground zero. >> can't be there and i don't think he should be allowed to be there if it's going to be some type of way to undercut the truth, realities of 9/11. >> washington, the white house, the administration, the president himself seems to be disconnected from the mainstream of america and i think that's one of the reasons people are so frustrated. >> so how can he survive this political climate and will it hurt the democrats come november? >> joining us right now is former jimmy carter pollster and fox news contributor pat goodell. good morning to you. >> good morning, guys. how are you doing? >> fine, thank you very much. on friday, the president said they had a right to build it there. and then on saturday, they clarified. i wasn't talking about the wisdom of doing it. he's really stepped in it, hasn't he? >> oh, no, this is gigantic. he has turned this into a very emotional issue locally in new york and around the country to a national issue. it is explosive and he will have to deal now with what on the issue of wisdom, he will not be able to avoid that. he has now put every democratic candidate up against it and let me say this, the polls on this are remarkable and have been for weeks. not since he has been president has there been an issue of controversy in which the public is so lopsided on one side including, remember, this is not being emphasized enough. a majority of democrats, a majority of nonwhites, a huge majority in new york of hispanics and jews and nationally, and liberals are split right down the middle. it is -- when you have this, you have something to throw to the democratic party. and let me say now, he's emphasized that every candidate will have to answer this but he's opened the door to something else even bigger. this argument he's made as the senator was saying, the public has had it on health care and immigration with being lectured to and talked down to. we have a straw man issue as far as the public is concerned. last fox poll showed 64-30 in favor. cnn has it 68 against and fox 64 against this mosque. but fox poll, 61 to 34 people believe there's a constitutional right. they are making a strawman issue here, the president did friday. mayor bloomberg. the american people has been commonsense. >> you can tell he's a pollster, can't you? >> pat, you're one of the brightest american political thinkers i've ever met and a lot of people have met. this issue about wisdom, isn't the president digging a bigger hole as you say if he comes out and says yes, it is wise to build a mosque near ground zero, hasn't he really built a tremendous hole for himself at that point? >> he has built a tremendous hole. now, he gets himself into now what he's saying to the american people. there's an implicit idea here that something is wrong with you people. i tell you what you are to believe. the same thing with all of the elite. this is the problem we've had for months. the american people resisting this. if he says that this is ok to do, it runs against common sense, people know you would not put a japanese temple at pearl harbor. the issue is whether they can build the issue is whether it's appropriate. it opens the door to every other iss issue, the funding, why is he overseas raising money? the sharia, all of this will come a national political issue and the biggest thing in the polls that's stunned me is that women have been overwhelmingly much more than men against this which is counterintuitive and may have to do with what we saw on the cover of "time" magazine, the story about what islam does with the face of sharia here and we'll have a discussion about all these issues. >> all right, pat goodell, fox news contributor all wound up today joining us from charleston. not the only one wound up. a lot of people feeling strongly about this. coming up in the next 15 minutes, we'll give you both sides of the issue with former speaker of the house, newt gingrich and new york city council speaker christine quinn both live in the next 15. but -- >> and the mosque has not made it to one of president obama's top priorities. it could. he has a lot of them. is he trying to fix everything from health care to the homeless? or pandering to each group? >> coming up in the 8:00 hour, jonas brothers are here live! >> can't wait. so, we set out to discover the nutritiol science at purina one, we want your cat to be as healthy as possible in some of nature's best ingredients. that's how we created purina one with smartblend. nutritionally optimized with real smon, wholesome grains and essentl antioxidants, for strong muscles, vital energy, a healthy immune system, and a real difference in your cat. purina one improved with smartblend. discover what one can do. you've got to try it, >> gretchen: top of the morning to you for monday, august 16, 2010, hope you had a fantastic weekend. the president over the weekend said he was backing the idea now of a mosque at ground zero. now opponents suggest he is pandering to radical islam? newt gingrich will weigh in on that and he's here live, moments away. >> steve: robert gibbs isn't the ohm one ready to wave the white flag. now republican senator john cornyn is doing the same thing, saying the gop may not win the majority in november. where is the party love and what's that about? we'll discuss it. >> peter: then get ready as we have for the jonas brothers. they're here live this hour talking about their new music ventures and honoring a former friend. here on "fox & friends," the jonas brothers. we begin right now. ♪ . >> steve: welcome aboard to studio e. peter johnson, jr. is in today for brian kilmeade. he can't bring his kids in to see the jonas brothers. all children will be here. >> peter: sweet day. >> gretchen: you can partake in all the festivities 45 minutes away. other news to get to, because today marks the start of the first commercial shrimping season since the oil spill in the gulf. this afternoon, commerce secretary will visit louisiana. he'll tour a seafood processing plant. he'll also hold an economic round table with businesses hit the hardest from the disaster. bp could decide to move ahead now with the bottom kill operation plugging the oil leak for good and thad allen says the four-day process won't begin until bp finishes all of the testing. horrible story to tell you. the driver behind the wheel in that deadly offroad crash in california is saying he's sorry. he posted an apology on his facebook page. he was driving his truck in a race in the mojave desert when he lost control and slammed into the crowd. eight people were killed. president karzai of afghanistan expected to announce soon that he's shutting down all private security companies operating in that country. both the announcement and a deadline are expected this afternoon. private security companies have been problematic for afghan's own government, often taking the law into their own hands and promoting corruption. the new u.s. commander in afghanistan, general petraeus, says the goal of starting an american pull back by july 2011 will depend on conditions at that time. that assessment jeopardizes the president's goal to begin turning security over to the afghans and drawing down u.s. forces. >> my job is, again, to provide my best professional military advice, informed certainly by an awareness of the context within which i provide it, but not driven by it. that's the same way that we approach the very difficult recommendations that we made during the effort in iraq. >> gretchen: there will be nearly 100,000 u.s. troops in afghanistan by the end of the month. a very sad time for zha zha gabor and her family. the 93-year-old in extremely serious condition this morning. reportedly asked a priest to read her her last rites. that happened last night. she just underwent surgery to remove two blood clots, one close to her heart. she was taken to the hospital friday after recently recovering from hip replacement surgery. >> steve: in about an hour, president obama heads off to wisconsin. it's the start of a three-day cross-country fundraising trip. steve centanni has that and joins with us a live report from the white house. >> good morning. the president will hit five states in three days, swinging all across the country, mixing policy and politics ahead of the midterm elections. as you know, the president and the first family spent the weekend in panama city beach, florida to try to boost the tourism industry down there that's taken a hard hit by the bp oil spill. today he goes to wisconsin to visit a plant that makes batteries and fuel cells for renewable energy products. it's the late nest a string of events and visits the president has made to highlight the recovery act funds that are going to create jobs for new green industries and for clean energy jobs. the president will also attend a fund-raiser for milwaukee mayor tom barrett, who is in a competitive race for governor there. then it's off to los angeles for another fund raiser and that's where the president will spend the night tonight. over the next few days, the president will make stops in washington state, ohio, and florida before he heads off to martha's vineyard with the whole family to begin a ten-day vacation. back dow. >> steve: thank you very much. >> gretchen: joining us is a former speaker of the house, along with his wife of the documentary, nine days that changed the world. of course, it's newt gingrich. good morning to you, mr. speaker. >> good morning. >> gretchen: i know you've been very vocal about your position on the mosque at ground zero. what do you make now of the president getting involved, wading into the very controversial waters, and differing on what he said originally from friday night? >> well, it was very unnecessary. he shouldn't have said what he said friday night and then he shouldn't have waffled on saturday. it's kind of embarrassing. but let me draw is distinction. this is not about the legal right to build a community center and mosque near ground zero. so whether or not it's the right thing to do, which is a distinction the president himself began to kind of make on saturday. the congress could, for example, create a national battlefield memorial area, much as we have at gettysburg and elsewhere. we could create a memorial like we have at pearl harbor. this is the largest loss of american life i think since the civil war at any one event at ground zero in new york city. so i think there are a lot of ways to stop the mosque if people decide, the american people have, that it's profoundly wrong to have a mosque that close to ground zero. >> steve: we've alluded to this, for folks who have not seen it, friday night the president said they have the right to build it there, which they do. then saturday it sounded like he was kind of walking it back or clarifying things. here is exactly what he talked about regarding the wisdom of building it there. >> my intention was to simply let people know what i thought, which was that in this country, we treat everybody equally, in accordance with the law, regardless of race, regardless of religion. i was not commenting and i will not comment on the wisdom of making a decision to put a mosque there. i was commenting very specifically on the right that people have that dates back to our founding. that's what our country is about. and i think it's very important that as difficult as some of these issues are, that restay focused on who we are as a people and what our values are all about. >> steve: mr. speaker, was that a clarification or was that -- >> no, i think that's a sign he got a lot of very angry phone calls from democratic members of the house and senate who realize he had taken a position that was not defendable and that was going to make their reelection even harder. this is not about the right. first of all, there are over 100 mosques in new york city. so people have the right to free religion if they want it. i've said it openly, if they want to build this mosque in the south bronks, i'm all for it. governor patterson offered them state land, which i don't know any state which offered a church free land. but he's trying to solve the problem by getting them away from the site. the people who want to build the mosque, who are radical islamists who want to prove they can build a mosque next to a place where 3,000 americans were killed by islamists. they're trying to make a case against supremacy. that's why they won't accept any other offer. i think we ought to be honest about the fact that we have a right and this happens all the time in america -- nazis don't have the right to put up a sign next to the holocaust museum in washington. we would never accept the japanese putting up a site next to pearl harbor. there is no reason for us to accept a mosque next to the world trade center. >> gretchen: i want to talk about the politics of president obama getting involved because now you have a republican strategist coming out and saying that this will be what president obama is remembered for and saying it's a major mistake. you have fleisher saying the same thing. what do you think politically now? >> maybe it was a clever effort on the president's part to avoid talking about 9 1/2% unemployment, the worst unemployment rate, really in many ways, more jobs have died under any president since herbert hoover. maybe this is all a clever effort to keep all of us talking about something other than how bad his record is on unemployment and the economy. but i think actually this is a very, very radical president whose underlying instincts are those of a faculty member at a radical university and he felt friday night, lie he ought to be who he really is, he found out by saturday morning that it was regarded by most of his fellow democrats as devastating. so now he's trying to walk it back and pretend he didn't say what he did. >> steve: coming up, the speaker's feeling. coming up, we've got the new york city council speaker christine quinn, is supporting the decision to build a mosque near ground zero. she will be joining us live. all right. meanwhile, mr. speaker, how many -- this is a question for you -- how many top priorities does the obama administration have? >> it's hard to know because it zigzags so wildly. they tell you employment week and then they go off and do four other things. part of ronald reagan's genius was that he had three goals. they were the three goals he campaigned on in '80. rebuild american morale so we're proud to be american, cut taxes and regulations to create job, defeat the soviet empire. in 1988, after eight years of it, he had three goals. and of course, by 1991, the soviet empire had disappeared. the economy was growing dramatically and we were once again proud to be americans. i think presidents shouldn't have more than three or four goals 'cause you can't move the country this size by zigzagging. >> gretchen: it stems from the fact that was an article written about the president's top priorities and that he has used that phraseology for so many different issues that -- >> steve: top priority. >> gretchen: with energy -- >> steve: there is a dozen of them. >> gretchen: and it gets watered down when you have so many. >> there are times when washington's administration is like watching a 16-year-old who got their very first credit card and didn't realize the bill would come in later. they run around wildly, tackling everything they can imagine. i think part of it just comes from the fact that this was a state senator who became a u.s. senator and then became a presidential nominee and then became president with such speed that it seemed to them that anything was possible. it's not anything -- this is a very hard business. >> peter: there is a lot of discussion about the midterm election. senator cornyn was speaking about the chances of the gop in the fall. he indicated that they may not be able to take the house this fall. let's hear what he had to say. >> realistically, i think it's going to be a two cycle effort, but we're going to try to get as many republicans, because we think that will force president obama to the middle, for example, when president clinton had a republican congress and we think that would be a good thing for the country, forcing things back toward the middle instead of the extreme policies we've seen coming out of washington. >> peter: is his temperance and lack of laking a big prediction, is that smart for the republican party falling into the gibbs trap or is he? >> senator cornyn has a very specific focused job which is to win the maximum number of u.s. senate seats. and he's got a series of very tough races. i think there is an outside chance to take control of the senate, but it's uphill. congressman john boehner, on the other hand, has every single seat up at the same time, 435, and i know that dick morris, for example, is predicting a 60 seat pickup. i think that's a bit optimistic. i think the odds are better than even that john boehner will be the next speaker and i think the odds are one in three that, in fact, mitch mcconnell will be a majority leader. i think senator cornyn is very safe in saying that there will be a lot more republicans elected in november than any time in the last few years. i think he's just being very cautious and not overpromising. i think that's probably right. in the senate it's a harder battlefield. but in the house, i think there will be a republican majority. >> peter: thank you. >> steve: newt gingrich, we thank you very much. >> gretchen: coming up, innocent until proven guilty? that's not the case in one state. police are posting mug shots on facebook for everyone to see after they arrest people. is that legal? >> peter: we're sitting down with the jonas brothers. they're all here to talk about their music. plus one jonas brother's plans to honor the late president. here on "fox & friends." # >> steve: now that the president has weighed in on the ground zero mosque, it's kicking a debate between both sides of the political aisle. critics of the mosque say it's incentive to members of the families of 9-11 victims. but our next guest supports the building of the islamic center. we are joined by christine quinn. good morning to you. >> good morning. >> steve: you just heard newt gingrich and he talked about how he wouldn't mind if they built it somewhere else, but it's so close. you understand those sensitivities? >> i do. i was in new york on september 11. it is the worst thing that has ever happened in our city and one of the biggest tragedies in our country. so i understand that emotion. but i also understand we were attacked. the united states of america, and new york in particular because of what we stand for. one of the things we stand for more than anything is religious freedom. individuals, as everyone has agreed, even speaker gingrich, have is a legal right to make this building a mosque if they want to. if we don't now, we're letting those who don't want religious freedom, and the thing is, it is expansive, you can't limit it, they want freedoms limited. if we say because it makes us uncomfortable, which i understand, this mosque can't be here even though it legally has the right, we are beginning to narrow freedom because the terrorists don't want it to exist. we can't give them a victory. >> steve: why so close? here in new york, there are dozens if not hundreds of mosques. why does it have to be within 500 feet of where 3,000 people died? >> that's a question i can't answer and you can't answer. right? individuals -- >> steve: the man who has been supportive of the president in the past -- >> and not a conservative guy. >> steve: right. he's a lefty. he is taking the mayor to task. he's taking obama to task because they're not listening to the people who matter. in this case, it's the people who had somebody or on 9-11 die or family members or they've got a connection. listen to them. >> and i respect michael's opinion, but the issue here is this spot was chosen and once that act happened, we're in a moment now, 'cause it's been chosen by the individuals who want to build it. we're in a moment now where we either say it is okay or it isn't and we continue with the misinformation. >> steve: what if it was a bad decision to start with? >> the question here is, as everyone has agreed, it's a legally correct decision. so to say you don't get to use your legal right in this case because of the religion involved and because the people who attacked the world trade center misrepresented that religion and tried to use it as a rallying cry, will ultimately send the wrong message. we need to remember al-qaeda is our enemy in this. not islam or the muslim people. emotions -- >> steve: it's just the wrong place. a majority of americans say it's the wrong place. >> and i understand that. i really do. >> steve: so if you have a chance -- >> but you can't -- wait, wait. if you take a wrong decision and then you answer it with a wrong -- >> steve: you're saying because they already decided, it's too late? >> it's not that it's too late. you have a moment where a place was chosen, a place they have the legal right to. we can either say religious freedom means every block everywhere and that's what men and women die for or not. >> steve: all right. christine quinn, the speaker of the city council, we thank you very much. >> thank you. >> steve: straight ahead, your tax dollars being used to fight the battle of the bulge. one state is paying for gastric bypass surgery, but only for certain people. more details straight ahead. >> gretchen: quick check of your headlines. china fishy overtaken gentleman pap as the second largest economy. it's second quarter gross domestic product was 50 billion greater than japan's. at this rate, economists predict china will overtake the u.s. by the year 2027. a live look now at the international space station where astronauts are working to replace a broken pump. it's their third space walk in over a week to try and fix the station's cooling system. peter? >> peter: thank you. state employees in south carolina will soon be able to get free weight loss surgery, all on the taxpayers' dime. get this, it could end up costing them more than $2 million. seriously? joining us now is south carolina's state senator greg ryberg. good morning. >> good morning. i appreciate the opportunity to come on before the jonas brothers. >> peter: we're looking forward to them. stay with us. senator, why is it a bad idea? why should workers in south carolina be allowed to get lap band and gastric bypass surgery? obesist costs south carolina a billion dollars a year. doesn't this help south carolina in the long and short run? >> i think there is a number of answers, a number of issues to your question. number one is the process that this bill took in order to pass was really through the back door. what happened is there was no full discussion of the issue in any committee on the bill itself. it was put in as a proviso in the state budget. i voted and got it voted out of the senate version of the budget, but it stayed in the house version. so what happened was that when it got to a conference committee, it resurrected itself. >> peter: why is it bad, senator? why is this a bad idea? >> the bad idea is this, i'm a business person. been in business all my life. and i do a cost business analysis whenever we do something in business. there has never been a cost benefit analysis done to this lap band surgery. in 2001, 2004, we did an experimental gastric bypass surgery and we did it on a small group of people also and we found that three years or four years after that surgery, their health care costs were three times what they had been prior to the surgery. >> peter: let's talk about the alternative, senator. you coming up am with an interesting proposal. you say let's not penalize the healthy. let's give them a break and a discount on their health costs. >> i think that's what we need to be looking at, peter, and that's basically giving those people that live healthy lifestyles a 25-dollar rebate on their state insurance. but to pick out 100 people, okay, and to give them $2.4 million is actually an insult to some of the agencies that have been told to tighten their belts and to cut back on their expenses relative to teachers, a number of teachers in the classroom. relative to -- >> peter: thank you so much for your time. we're tight on time. you know who is coming up? the jonas brothers are coming up. you let me know after who your favorite was. senator ryberg, thank you for being here. >> thank you. >> peter: up next, outrage building by the day over the right to build a mosque at ground zero. what's the right thing to do? former new york prosecutor judge janene pirro is fired up about this story and will join us live on the curvy couch. then later this hour, the jonas brothers join us live with a project to honor former president and the scoop on their new camp rock movie. can't wait to watch it. ♪ >> gretchen: welcome back. 8:30 on the east coast. we have to bring you up to speed on a couple quick headlines. an investigation into the apparent suicide of the alleged craigs list killer. his body was discovered inside a boston jail cell yesterday with a plastic bag on his head and stab marks on his body from a pen. a boston city council is calling for an independent investigation to find out how he got access to those items. he was awaiting trial for the 2009 murder of a woman who was a masseuse who had posted ads on craigslist. >> steve: iran announced it will begin construction of a new uranium enrichment site by march of next year. a new one. the announcement is a slap in the face, some feel, to international efforts aimed at stopping tehran's enrichment program, a process that can be used to make nuclear weapons. the site is among ten new sites that iran approved just last year. >> peter: you're looking at a live picture of the u.s. capitol where flags are flying at half-staff in memory of former alaska senator ted stevens. a memorial mass will be held today at the holy family cathedral in anchorage, alaska, followed by an official funeral on wednesday. stevens and four other people were killed last week when their plane crashed in the mountainous region of alaska. he served in the united states senate for 40 years. >> steve: meanwhile, it's now possible that steven slater's story about being assaulted by a passenger, remember that with the bag -- might be bogus. investigators don't have any evidence backing his version of how he got that cut on his forehead. some witnesses claim they saw slater with the cut before he even got on the plane. slater landed in the spotlight after he deployed the plane's emergency chute with two beers and exited the plane at jfk just last week. what a story. >> gretchen: hero to zero. the often challenging ordering routine at your neighborhood starbucks finally became too much for just one customer. cops threw a college professor out of a starbucks for getting into a screaming match with a baristat. happened twice now. she's been throwing fits in stores because employees won't accept her order for a large coffee. they say she has to call it the italian way. avenei. in the latest incident, she wanted a plain bagel, yet refused to say, no butter, no cheese. she says she shouldn't have to order the things she doesn't want. >> gretchen: she does have a point. come on. everyone know what is a large is. >> steve: the little one is a tall, it's very confusing. i'm gog sue them and that's why we brought in janene pirro. >> peter: class act for a class act. >> gretchen: what kind of case does he have? >> i go to dunkin dough mutts myself and everyone gets when i tell them. >> gretchen: let's talk about the whole mosque controversy at ground zero. it was a local issue until the president decided to weigh in on it friday night and then again saturday. some say it was a flip flop. what was your sense. >> i don't think there is any question but that the president flip flopped. although the white house gibbs has been saying it's a local issue, aides say for weeks he felt strong about this. he saw the outrage of the public, and he did the same thing with the 9-11 trials. he said i'm going to try them in new york, now we're not. this administration has to understand number one, what their direction is and where they're going, and number two, they can't flip flop. the whole idea of the mosque is just outrageous and if you're a student of history, you know that there are mosques that are often built to kind of trumpet their victories and we've seen it in various stages throughout history. even the name, the cover dough ba initiative, speaks to the term that violence islamists have used when they conquered the christians in spain. so let's not make this something other than what it is. this is is an islamic fundamentalist. and the imam refuses to call them terrorists and he will not say that they are even a terrorist organization. >> peter: let me pose this, why should muslim americans be excluded from the right to worship in any place they want to worship? why should the government decide where and how and when they worship? doesn't that go against our constitution. >> first of all, you're absolutely right ask we all know what the answer to your question is and that is that the first amendment protects religious freedom. remember, we're not interfering with that. there are 100 mosques in new york city. number one. and number two, it would be like the germans building a monument to themselves at the death camps. there are certain things that are inappropriate. and to trumpet this as something that they have the right to do on the footprint where it's basically a hallowed grave site is frightening. and at the end of the day, what you've got here, i think it's going to come down to whether the unions will build there, whether they're going to be protests, whether new york city is going to cooperate. by the way, why are we sending this imam on a state-funded trip throughout the middle east to explain islam in the middle east? is he raising funds for this? where are the funds coming from? he plopped down $5 million. it's going to cost $100 million to build this thing. who is funding this and why? so the issue is, is it provocation? is it celebration? is it triumphant. >> steve: excellent point. what's in that coffee? let's talk about this. there is a police officer out in the great city of chicago and his attorney is saying that because this cop checks his blackberry while he's at home, he is entitled to overtime. so what do you think, judge, should -- millions of us do that. we're off the clock, we're looking at it. saying, i can't believe i just got that e-mail, i'm going to answer back. does that qualify as overtime? >> when investigators, when i was a d.a. worked in my office, the issue was whether or not were they seniors and not entitled to overtime, so management, you make them management, therefore you don't have to pay them. number two, if you want them to work, then pay them. it's that simple. but you've got to corroborate what that blackberry that you spent more than 3 1/2 seconds reading your message. don't give me this hogwash that because i read my blackberry and then on monday i remembered to look at something, that i'm entitled to overtime. but shame on the police department. they should designate what the rules are and who should be reading their blackberry and whether or not they should be reimbursed. >> gretchen: now they're saying they might not give blackberries to people paid by the hour as a result of being sued. >> there you have it. then they're going to say, wait a minute, i need it for my personal stuff! where we get down to why they have it in the first place. >> gretchen: let's get your thoughts on this. a town in new jersey, had they arrest people now, the police department has a facebook page. did you know this? police departments have facebook pages apparently. now they are putting these arrestees on their facebook page before they've actually been convicted of the crime. is that fair and legal? >> good for them. it's about time. look, this is public information. the fact that someone is arrested, we don't have an obligation to protect their privacy and if you read the newspaper, you'll see every day people who are arrested and i think this is a great idea. it's law enforcement keeping up with technology. >> peter: it's kind of a cyber police blotter. >> it's a cyber police blotter. >> steve: if a police officer in that town in new jersey then uses his blackberry to put somebody on their facebook in their offhour, they can get o.t.? >> yeah, they can! maybe they're working on the case. >> steve: always a pleasure. thank you very much. look at alt people we got in the studio. >> gretchen: they've been filing in because it's the moment your kids have been waiting for. the jonas brothers are here live, kevin, nick and joe here to talk about their new movie, what they're doing for president ronald reagan and they're going to answer questions from their fans, all live on this morning's edition of "fox & friends." right back with the jonas brothers. >> steve: we are so cool today. ♪ practice makes perfect ♪ perfect is not working ♪ . >> gretchen: the tv musical event of the year, what am i talking about? camp rock 2, the final jam. we're joined by the jonas brothers this morning live. >> steve: all right. kids! >> gretchen: kevin, joe and nick. >> good morning, how are you doing? >> thank you for having us. >> steve: somebody's birthday yesterday, wasn't it? and you turned 21? >> yep. >> steve: i understand you wanted, my daughter sally told me this -- you wanted a dog for your birthday. >> i did. >> steve: and? >> no dog yet. >> gretchen: oh, no! >> it was our parents' 25th anniversary. so we haven't done the presents yet. >> gretchen: you would know something about it because you have two dogs. >> yeah. i do. we've dog named reilly. nick has a dog. it's awesome. we travel, she travels with us. >> gretchen: let's talk about camp rock. you're coming up on the second steven already. right? >> yeah. it will be the second movie actually. we filmed it back in september, october time. it's going to release very soon in september. we're looking forward to t. it's a movie we've been working on and we're actually on tour kind of promoting the movie. >> steve: world tour as well? >> yeah. >> steve: you got a new cd. the first one was a huge hit. >> it's a great project for us. we're happy to be a part of it and have a second one. >> peter: i watched it eight times. i went to the screening. the premiere here in new york was fantastic. >> we have a screening in new york in a couple days. >> steve: now, we've got a bunch of kids over there and we've got a bunch of kids over on that side who are too cool to sit with the other kids as well. one of the things about your movie your first movie is that kids don't just watch it once. they watch it twice, three, four times. have you heard who is the world record holder for the number of times somebody has seen that movie? >> i had someone say 35 times yesterday. >> steve: really? >> yeah. it's lot of camp rock. >> gretchen: that's where you know every single word. right? >> i think my my favorite was driving on the highway and you can see on the vans 'cause it's like dark outside, the movie was playing and that was probably my favorite moment i saw somebody watching it. >> steve: that's my movie right there! i'm in your car! >> gretchen: the original "camp rock" had 10.1 million viewers. >> that's a lot of people. >> gretchen: but this one could ease esupersede that. right? >> we don't know. we don't have expectations for it. we're happy to have been part of this project again. >> peter: how many songs are you going to sing in the new movie? >> we do like four songs. >> four or five in the new movie. >> peter: will they be on the cd? >> yeah. the cd is out right now. you can pick that up any time. we're singing them on tour which is nice. this tour is really cool because we're bringing out a lot of friends. we brought our friend out and camp rack cast members because the show starts with that and then comes to our set and we were able to incorporate all the jonas brother songs that you know and then we bring out a new camp rock stuff as well. >> peter: you mean so much to so many americans. parents and kids. you got a -- is that a lot of pressure on you? because you stand for so many great things and now you're honoring president reagan. >> you know, it isn't a lot of pressure, we don't like at it that way. we just try to take it day by day, try to do our best. that's all that matters. >> gretchen: you were named, along with jordan sparks, that you were chairs of the ronald reagan youth committee. it's for kids under the age of 23. >> yeah. that's an honor. i was very blessed when they asked jordan and i to be part of it. she's a great friend as well. to be able to do that with her should be a great time. and a lot of people already are very excited about it. >> steve: he was president before you were born. >> he was. >> steve: so are you learning about him through books or looking at videos? >> yeah. i learn a lot about him in school. my parents were big fans. i've come to love him as well. i'm honored. >> steve: very good. >> gretchen: if you guy also stick around, i hope for another segment, we want to talk a little bit more with the jonas brothers and this time their biggest fans, the kids, who are right over here in studio with us. they'll get a chance to ask some questions of the jonas brothers as well. >> steve: right now martha mccallum is in studio j and kicking herself that she didn't bring her kids this morning. >> that's right. we're all from the same hometown. i'd like them to lead into me every day. bill and i joining you at the top of the hour on america's newsroom. a tape you have not heard on why the president decided to go there. why he jumped into the fray on the new york mosque. i think you'll want to stick around for this bun. he landed a plane on the water. not sully, but a new hero pilot joins us live. wait until you hear the story when bill and i join you coming up in a few minutes from now. ♪ . >> steve: we're back with kevin, joe and nick jonas, the jonas brothers! tell us a little bit about your softball team. >> our team the road dogs started last year while we were on the road. we created a softball team, slow pitch, with our crew members med our band members. it sounds kind of funny, but it's quite serious. we're having a pretty good season. we're 1-1 right now. we won our first game. >> steve: who do you play? >> we played espn last week and beat them and shut them out. >> gretchen: i like the union. >> peter: you're playing ball to assist allstate in its message not to text while driving. >> we got to team up with allstate and they're an incredible partner. it's an amazing campaign to be part of. it's so dangerous to text and drive. they're asking people to take the pledge and they're giving out these awesome little thumb bands, texting kills. it's really cool. for us to be part of it and bring out that message as well, it's a huge thing 'cause so many teen-agers are driving and nome that, but families as well. when families are out there texting and driving, you can also just hand your phone off to your kid and say, text back or make the phone call. >> gretchen: as long as it's not the driver. you will have so much influence on young people, they will listen to you. speaking of young people, let's go to some kids who are assembled here and let's get questions for the jonas brothers. >> my question is, how come you guys don't get thrown in jail like lindsey lohan and a bunch of other big stars? >> steve: good question. >> peter: best question of the day. >> wow. that's incredible. why don't we get thrown in jail? we didn't done anything yet. >> that's a great question. >> peter: that's a great question. get right to the point. we're proud of you, zach. >> gretchen: let's pass the -- >> steve: what's the answer? >> the answer is we're just being ourselves and hopefully that's enough. >> peter: good answer. be yourself. >> steve: this young lady right there. >> hi, guys. my question is, how do you guys balance your professional life and your personal life, because you guys work like crazy hours and you're working all the time. >> peter: good question. >> thankfully we have music and we write all of our songs, they're all personal stuff. so when it comes to acting and things like that, obviously that's more professional. so when we get back to music, it's where our heart is and we're able to express how we feel and thankfully we do this with our family. we're able to have time alone with family and friends and we do treasure that, especially -- and we love our family and friends come to our concerts. >> steve: let me do a question for tiger beat magazine. joe, this is for you. i know a lot of people -- you work for tiger beat? >> steve: what is the deal with ashley green from twilight? are you dating or what's going on? >> like she said, we try to balance personal and professional. >> gretchen: good answer. let's get one more question. >> what was your favorite album to record? >> my favorite album to record of ours is probably a little longer. it was our third album and it was a really personal one for me and i'm glad we were able to release it. >> i agree with that. >> steve: guy, we are going to take a quick time out. more with the jonas brothers in a few minutes. you're watching a special ed addition of "fox & friends" live from new york city. >> gretchen: one final question from one of our young fans here. >> what do you enjoy doing more? performing on stage or doing a tv show? >> steve: good question. >> i think right now we love being on stage. acting is something we've always loved doing, but being up there on stage is kind of like home for us. >> steve: and listen, i know at home you're celebrating your 21st birthday yesterday. we have got balloons for you. >> thank you. >> steve: happy birthday, joe. happy anniversary to your parents as well. >> thank you. >> peter: the jonas brothers. >> thank you, everybody. >> steve: check out their new movie, it opens september 3. >> gretchen: they're still on tour and tickets are still available in new york and new jersey. >> steve: thanks for making us the coolest morning show on

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