, good night, america. [captioning made possible by fox news channel] captioned by the national captioning institute ---www.ncicap.org--- captioned by the national captioning institute ---www.ncicap.org--- bret: next, the president holds a job summit and the house gives new life to the death tax, and we look at why millions of americans don't pay any income tax at all. top presidential advisors return to capitol hill today to explain the new afghanistan plan, while the homeland security secretary issues a blunt assessment of domestic terrorism, and the white house insists that the social secretary doesn't have to testify in the investigation of the state dinner party crashers. all that, plus the fox all-stars, right here, right now. welcome to washington. i'm bret baier. we begin tonight on the fox news job hunt. president obama hosted a jobs creation summit at the white house aimed at resuscitating the still declining job market. we learned today that 45 450,000 -- 457,000 people applied for first-time unemployment benefits last week. it is down 5,000 but still over the $425,000 threshold that would indicate positive job growth. major garrett reports on today's meetings. >> we're looking to you. we're counting on you. we need help. >> with, that vice president biden opened a white house forum on job creation, one president obama said faced some doubts a threw is extraordinary skepticism that any discussions like this can actually produce results. i'm well aware of that. >> the white house plowed ahead anyway, inviting dozens of c.e.o.'s, business leaders and academics to conjure up job creation. >> i am open to every demonstrably good idea. >> the president dropped in a a breakout session on green jobs innovation, among six topics including infrastructure, trade and worker training, all streamed live on the white house websites. house republicans blasted the president's stimulus spending and tax increases tied to healthcare and climate change legislation. >> the biggest problem that we heard from our economists with regard to why employers aren't hiring is all the job killing policies that are being offered by this administration and this congress. >> the white house steadfastly defended the $787 billion stimulus, which the president's economic team wrongly predicted would keep unemployment below 8%. with the jobless rate now at 10.2% and likely to rise, the administration's defense amounts to "things could have been much worse." >> it is amazing what we have forgotten already in ten months just how dire and bleak things looked ten months ago, and so the recovery act has put us on the papghts to recovery and pulled us back to the brink. >> still, mr. obama conceded washington through taxes or regulation might be part of the jobs' problem. >> there are things we are doing in washington that are inhibiting you that we want to know about. >> during a question and answer session, the president called the current recovery weak and says he is open to job creating tax cuts but added that he is worried about rising deficits and debt. >> we want to leverage whatever public dollars are spent, and we are under no illusion that somehow the federal government can spend its way out of this recession. >> in that same question and question and answer session, the president was asked about rising business concern about uncertainty dealing with his aggressive legislative agenda, presumably a reference to pending healthcare and climate change legislation a few moments ago, our colleague asked the same question to treasury secretary tim geithner, and here is his response -- >> businesses want certainty. they need certainty so they can make long-term plans today. that's why it is so important that congress gets healthcare behind us, that we bring financial reform in place. >> those two items high on the president's agenda but still pending in congress and may not get done this year, and maybe take until early next year. bret. bret: major garrett live on the north lawn. thank you. one prominent republican is staging his own jobs creation tour. it's in jackson, mississippi tonight and that is where we find correspondent jonathan serrie. good evening, jonathan. >> good evening, bret. you see a fairly packed auditorium. this event has drawn approximately 400 to 500 people here at millsaps college. as we speak, the former house speaker is soliciting questions and comments and ideas from the audience. >> if you're not focused on creating jobs, you don't get it. >> in a conservative response to the white house jobs summit, former are republican house speaker newt gingrich is taking his ideas to the public, hosting town hall-style meetings starting in cincinnati last night. >> the american people, in order to compete in the world market, need to have a smaller, leaner, more effective government, and we're for whatever level of change that requires. >> with unemployment at its highest levels since 1983, joblessness has become a political hot potato for leaders of both parties who want to own the solution while blaming the other for the cause or lack of progress. gingrich is borrowing a phrase from across the aisle to criticize the current administration. >> james carville, back in 1992, had a sign in the clinton campaign headquarters in little rock that said "is the economy stupid?" i would say that the president would be webl served to borrow the sign and put it up in the oval office. while gingrich and the white house say they are looking to the private sector for a solution, they also say controlling legislation and lowering taxes are necessary. gingrich also says that america could create more jobs by focusing on energy independence instead of limiting investment to green energy programs. >> create an american energy plan, which enables us to use american oil, american coal, american gas, american nuclear power, american biofuseels -- biofuels. >> tonight's meetsd something intended to be the -- tonight's meet something intended to be a second in a series and newt gingrich plans to schedule meetings like the one behind me in different places throughout the year. bret: jonathan serrie live in jackson, mississippi. thank you. we have a new "on the job hunt" feature on foxnews.com, a full interactive map and full topics page where we are slowing job-related news. click onto top of our home page to launch this new feature. one of the biggest questions here in washington these days is how to do anything without making the deficit grow. chief washington correspondent jim angle concludes his series on taxes with a look at how government is trying to do more with fewer people paying in. >> democratic leaders in the house want a surtax on the wealthy to pay for healthcare reform. others want a surtax to pay for the war in afghanistan, but washington's in a bind. it has excluded so many from the tax rolls, 1/3 of filers now pay no income taxes that it gets harder and harder to raise revenue. >> that's more than 46 million tax filers have dispeer row income -- have zero income tax liability at end of the day. another 15 million don't earn enough to pay taxes, meaning 60 million adults pay no income tax. one reason is that tax credits have proliferated are so a family with children that makes as much as $35,000 to $40,000 per year, for instance, can pay no income tax. even those who owe no tax can get the read credits anyway, meaning they get a check from the government. with so many companies paying tax, what do they care if the deficit is expanding at alarming rates? >> people who don't pay taxes have less of a stake in what government does with the money that's collected by the treasury r >> we have innoculated these people from the cost of government. they no longer have any skin in the game, and so they will endlessly demand government benefits, because they're not sharing in any of the costs. >> that also leads to another problem, the president and others say they only want to tax the rich, those making more than $250,000, but there aren't enough of them to be the cash cow for all the things congress and the president want to do. >> there is just not enough money up there. we can't tax only the rich the way that president obama proposed. >> in fact, the tax foundation looked to see what it would take to balance the budget over the next ten years taxing only the wealthy. >> you need to increase tax rates by 30 percentage points. we're talking about marginal tax rates in the 60 to 70% range. >> rates not seen since the 1960's which most believe would reduce investment, hurt the economy and reduce jobs. >> it's very hard to enact at this point sensible tax policy, because so many people aren't paying taxes. >> one expert says when you add more than 60 million americans not paying income taxes and thinking someone else is paying the bills, they will back any government crazy scheme to spend more as long as there is a chance it will benefit them. bret. bret: jim, thank you. following up on part 2 of jim's series, the house has voted to extend the inheritance tax or estate tax at its current level. that means the first 3.5 million would remain exempt and the rest taxed at 45% f the legislation is not approved, the tax will expire next year but urn in 2011 at a higher rate a similar measure is pending in the senate. the dow today lost 86 1/2. the s&p 500 fell 9 1/3 and the nasdaq dropped almost 12. federal reserve chairman ben bernanke chairman went to capitol hill to hold on to his job. he has been nominated for a second term and told the banking committee he will work with congress on stronger and more effective supervision of the nation's financial sector but admitted to past lapses in oversight. at least two senators have said they will try to block bernanke's confirmation. taking nasa to court, taxing your mountain dew and getting hot and bothered over a government phone number. that's later on the grapevine and democrats cry foul over republican plans to block the senate healthcare reform bill. bret: senators today took action on early amendments to their healthcare reform bill but major issues remain, sources of great dispute. carl cameron explains. >> after four days of senate gridlock, the democrats' first healthcare reform amendment by maryland democrat barbara mcculski to expand women's health screenings and curb copayments an deductibles passed 61-39. >> healthcare is a woman's issue. healthcare reform is a must-do woman's issue and health insurance reform is a must-change issue. >> two democrats, ben nelson of nebraska and russ feingold of wisconsin, joined most republicans voting against the measure, but the g.o.p. cosponsor, olympia snowe of maine, with republican collins of snowe still oppose the overall plan. they initially voted against even considering it, and now have used every tool in the book to block t democrats used the same tactics when they were a minority and cry obstruction now. >> this is no way to legislate, no way to lead and no way to lead our country. >> medicare is part of the whole way to cut costs and john mccain sponsored the first g.o.p. amendment to protect medicare from the democrats' acts and send the bill back to committee for a rewrite. >> i urge my colleagues to vote in favor of this amendment. send it back to the finance committee. do the right thing for the seniors of this country! >> republicans have railed for weeks that democrats don't just cut waste, but that they end programs that people count on. >> medicare is $120 billion. madam president, it is a fact that hospitals that treat medicare patients are cut by $135 billion. >> nursing homes in hospice get cut another $22 billion, but the american association of retired people come out against mccain's amendment, ostensibly opposing medicare cuts. the g.o.p. had a message for the elderly -- >> take your aarp card, cut it in half and send it back. they have betrayed you! >> in the end, mccain's vote was rejected. >> republicans do plan more medicare amendments. democrats still insist they can pass the bill by christmas, even though they don't have the 60 votes needed to end debate on anything containing public options. leaders of both parties said they were willing to work 7 days a week if that's what it takes. don't bet on t bret: president obama told newspaper reporters today that he could not have more confidence in the secret service, but lawmakers on capitol hill still want answers about how a married couple was able to get into last week's state dinner without an invitation. correspondent brian wilson has more. >> the director of the secret service was in the hot seat on capitol hill, mark sullivan said michaele and tareq salahi had not been allowed to mingle with the president and vice president at the state dinner admitting there was -- >> in their judgment, a mistake was made. in our line of work, we cannot afford even one mistake. >> and sullivan says three uniformed officers have been put on administrationive leave. republicans say they know it is the job of the secret service to take a bullet for the president but some republicans believe that the director of the secret service is taking a public relations bullet for the white how the. specifically, many republicans want to ask the white house social secretary, desiree rogers, why there were no white house staffers working at the checkpoints with the secret service, as has been past practice? >> if somebody is the social secretary's office, where they have always stood in the past, the salahis would not have gotten in. >> the white house is blocking rogers' appearance and republicans are pushing to subpoena her, but chairman vinnie thompson and the other committee democrats are against the idea. ms. rogers is not a central figure in this security matter, in so much as her role onto executive staff does not encompass security. >> since there are more democrats than republicans on the committee, republicans seem destined to lose that battle, heading off a privilege fight with the white house. the committee members are in agreement that they want to hear from the salahis. it seems likely they will be subpoenaed and ordered to appear, but with a criminal investigation underway, they might choose to take the 5th. in washington, brian wilson, fox news. >> three senators working towards a compromise on climate change legislation today tried to ramp up momentum for next week's summit in copenhagen, but no agreement is in sight and the senate has delayed voting until next year. critics say the proposed legislation is a major job killer, but supporters today insisted their bill would help create new jobs. >> as i look at our economy as we're coming out of the recession, there is no single piece of legislation that can do more to create hundreds of thousands, millions of jobs in america than this climate change energy independence legislation. >> and while the obama administration insists man-made global warming is a scientific consensus, a new survey from rasmussen reports indicated 52% of the respondents believe there is significant disagreement within the scientific community over global warming. she was once reluctant to even use the word terrorism. now the homeland security secretary says homegrown terrorism is here. boss:hey, glad i caught you. i was on my way to present ideas about all the discounts we're offering. i've got some catchphrases that'll make these savings even more memorable. gecko: all right... gecko: good driver discounts. now that's the stuff...? boss: how 'bout this? gecko: ...they're the bee's knees? boss: or this? gecko: sir, how 'bout just "fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance." boss: ha, yeah, good luck with that catching on! anncr: geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. bret: the threat and reality of terrorism within american borders are the subjects of our next story. national correspondent catherine herridge reports the official in charge of domestic security is painting an unpleasant picture about the future. >> it was a blunt assessment from homeland security secretary janet napolitano who referred to, quote, man caused incidents or disasters just nine months ago. >> the fact is that home-based terrorism is here. >> speaking to the american-israel friendship league in new york, the homeland security secretary said the spate of recent terrorism arrests are led no doubt that extremists are rin side the country. >> we are seeing young americans who are inspired by al qaeda and radical ideology. >> napolitano studied the case of najee, the shuttle bus driver arrested in september after allegedly training in pakistan. he was an american resident. he was in court today as more charges are considered is part of a growing body of evidence that americans are being radicalized. >> we are seeing increasing links between al qaeda and these citizens for purposes of planning terrorist attacks. >> contrast his bold statements about terrorism with the secretary's comments to a group of firefighters in march -- >> you think about both from the--caused incidents, weapons of mass destruction involving a hazardous or chemical biological weapon is very high up on the scenarios that we are seeing. >> in february, secretary napolitano's prepared remarks before a congressional committee rewere leaked to the media by the republicans because there was no word "terror." a homeland security spokeswoman said the secretary spoke frankly wednesday night about the threat from those living in the u.s. and those influenced by overseas terrorists n washington, catherine herridge, fox news. bret: the president's top national security advisors were back on capitol hill today for a new round of talk on afghanistan strategy. >> one of the purposes of this date, and important element of this july 2011, is to put the afghans on notice and give them a sense of urgency that they must begin to accept their responsibility for their own security and it's going to start then. bret: let's get some perspective now on the situation in afghanistan from fox news military analyst, retired major general robert scales who joins us tonight from roar lan dough. good evening, general. >> hi, bret. bret: i know you had extensive conversation with a senior administration official and have talked to folks in the field. what are they saying about the july 2011 date? >> well, what this official said to me -- and he took a great deal of time with me to try to dispel the misperceptions of the so-called withdrawl of 2011, and these are the facts. he said the administration will conduct an assessment of selected units a year from now, in december 2010, but the assessment won't be made of the surge units. it will be the units that were deployed this year in 2009, so when the assessment is made, those units will have been in afghanistan for about a year, assessed on their ability to establish governance and security in their respective provinces. he mentioned units like the army striker brigade in kandahar and the marines in helmand province, and he said the data that comes from this assessment will be used to establish the baseline for the decision to withdraw or not withdraw american forces in the summer of 2011. bret: i know they have potential pitfalls that they're worried about in afghanistan. >> yeah. bret: but one of the things that struck me is a statement by a senior administration official before the speech that iran potentially would help with the effort in afghanistan. that seems counter to everything we have been hearing and reporting. >> yeah, that's really strange, bret. i mean, the president's own intelligence leadership, and for that matter, general mcchrystal's own assessment is that the iranians are meddling in the affairs of afghanistan as we speak. look, the greatest killer of americans in afghanistan are ied's and the iranians are training the taliban to use ied's in afghanistan. if that's a signal that they're not involved, then, frankly, i just don't believe it. bret: ok. we'll follow t general scales, as always, thank you. we'll tell you why the government is spending a million of your tax dollars to study whether it should increase your tax bills, and nasa is the latest target of global warming skeptics. i've been growing algae for 35 years. most people try to get rid of algae, and we're trying to grow it. the algae are very beautiful. they come in blue or red, golden, green. algae could be converted into biofuels... that we could someday run our cars on. in using algae to form biofuels, we're not competing with the food supply. and they absorb co2, so they help solve the greenhouse problem, as well. we're making a big commitment to finding out... just how much algae can help to meet... the fuel demands of the world. bret: now some fresh pickings from the political grapevine. an american researcher is threatening to sue nasa over its alleged distortion of climate change data, following revelations that scientists at a brittish university have changed or destroyed similar information. christopher horner, a senior fellow at competitive enterprise institute believes nasa manipulated temperature information to support its claim that the present decade is the warmest on record. quote "they don't want to admit the trend. it's cooling, and they're trying not to say that. when you talk about temperatures this decade and compare them to 1885, where we were measuring the temperature, -- where were we measuring the temperature in 1885?" dees spite the controversy over the climate change data, since the brittish e-mail story broke 13 days ago, the major broadcast networks have not covered it on their morning or evening news shoats, according to media research center, even with president obama heading to a climate change summit in copenhagen next week. from the "our stimulus dollars at work" file, will increasing your taxes trim your waist line? that's what the government is spending $1 million in stimulus money to find owssments the government has awarded a grant to the university of illinois in chicago to study the relationship between fat taxes and food consumption. the university says previous studies suggest the correlation between food prices and consumption, but some experts say consumers will just buy alternative high-sugar drinks like kool-aid if their favorite soda gets too expensive. researchers at the illinois policy institute say if that's the case, a tax will not have any impact on diet quality or weight reduction, adding about the stimulus expenditure, quote, taxpayers are, in essence, funding a study that will likely call for even higher taxes on the products we consume every day. this isn't change we can believe in. and florida parents applying for children's health insurance got more than they bargained for when their calls to governor charlie cyst's office for kid care directed them to a phone-sex chat line that. number, for some reason, has actually appeared in several publications, including the west palm beach report on water quality, a medicare information line in pittsburgh and a toll-free line in virginia that notifies residents when a sex offender moves to their neighborhood. crist's office says it has corrected the problem. russian prime minister vladimir putin says he will think about trying to reclaim the presidency in russia. putin made the comment during a television appearance today. putin was president for two terms and is eligible to run again in 2012. he is also vowing to get tough with terrorists, following last week's deadly train bombing. correspondent dana lewis has that story from moscow. russian government sources say after interviews with 400 witnesses, they still have no firm idea who carried out the attack where 26 were dead and 14 injured, with signs of a 14-pound bomb on the tracks but still no idea who put it there and why. today vladimir putin spoke with the nation and promised to act tough with the terrorists and asked for russians to be more vigilant and said security services need to yun grade their work. two groups have claimed responsibility, combat 18, a violent neonazi organization. the kremlin says that claim is suspect. and a chechyian guerilla who threatened more attacks. this claim is taken seriously, say sources. today russian transport police released four pictures including a woman they believe may be linked to the bombing. experts say the terror attack was likely to be sent by cheshian extremists looking to wage a lengthy battle with the kremlin. >> it is also a message of revenge that we will come to you and hurt you. >> russian president dimitry medvedev also appeared on television today ordering a tight deadline in solving this attack. many say chechyian extremists who may have carried are out a similar bombing on the same train in 2007 have become more sophisticated saying their terrorist networks are larder to crack and they now share a an extremist philosophy similar to al qaeda. >> it is no longer accept pa tivities that drive violence. it is extremists that are known as jihadists. >> chechyian rebels are often in afghanistan helping insurgents there fight american forces but they also describe links between chechyian grill laz and al qaeda -- and chechyian guerillas as tenuous at best. they are racing to find those responsible for the attack, knowing another bombing could come at any time. in moscow, dana lewis, fox news. >> in somolia, a male suicide bomber dressed as a woman attacked a medical school graduation ceremony in mogadishu. at least 19 were killed including three cabinet ministers. it was only the second class of students to graduate from that school. >> president obama held a job creations summit today, but it did it do any good? we will ask the fox all-stars in three minutes. i have asthma. and when my 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(announcer) if you cannot afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. >> there's extroordz necessary skepticism that any decisions can actually produce results. i don't mind that. i don't mind skepticism. i'm open to every demonstrably good idea. >> the biggest problem we heard from our economists with regard to why employers aren't hiring is all the job killing policies that are being offered by this administration and this congress. this is creating an awful lot of uncertainty for employers. bret: the white house held a jobs summit today, as did republicans. now, the president is saying that he is open to anything, even tax cuts, and that he is worried about rising deficits an debt as well, but wants to turn this recovery, which he calls weak, around. more about this. let's bring in our panel, steve hayes for "the weekly standard," jennifer loven for the associated press and syndicated columnist charles krauthammer. jennifer, let's start with you. do you think they got a lot out of this summit and what is the feeling at the white house? >> as you know, the president will give a speech on tuesday where he is going to lay out what he thinks would be good idea for a new jobs bill and today was a precursor to that so they could say they talked to a wide range of people from business and economists and academics and try to gather some of these ideas, but some of these ideas are already set, as you know. they wouldn't be going into a speech tuesday without knowing a lot of what they plan to do, and the president gave a little bit of a hint today, that one piece that i know that the white house is talking about with the hill, with democrats on the hill, is more money for weatherizing homes, making homes more energy efficient. that would create jobs, and presumably help the environment as well. bret: charles, noticeably absent today, the u.s. chamber of commerce. they were not included in the dozens of c.e.o.'s and small business owners and union leaders. what about this jobs summit? >> well, it is obviously a p.r. maneuver. unemployment is high. people that showed on election day in november and have shown that the administration and congress are spending all their time on healthcare, which is not a high priority. high priority is the economy. it is the conceit of liberals in power to imagine that the government not only should but can create jobs. outside of world wars, it doesn't. generally it gets in the way. i mean, there are things that you can do by clearing the brush. number one, kill healthcare. with all of the job-killing mandates and penalties which are holding up employment. secondly, kill cap and trade, which will destroy what's left of the industrial midwest. kill the stimulus package, and distribute the remaining billions either to individuals or to the treasury. the other thing they can do is to approve the free trade agreements with columbia and south korea, which will create american jobs a lot of economists have a consensus on that, and lastly, and the most important here is sort of a reprise of 2008, lift unbelievably absurd restrictions on drilling for gas and oil, which would create a gold rush of jobs in the country, and help us in terms of national security and the economy. you know, that's a way to save the economy in five points and i wasn't even in the jobs summit. perhaps i should have crashed it. bret: you might have been welcomed at the republicans jobs' summit, because they went through a lot of those points today. steve, what about this battling jobs summit and the politics involved? >> i think republicans wanted to show that they had their own ideas and that their ideas were ideas that have been proven to have worked right by and large. i think things like removing the uncertainty for small business owners about the kinds of effects that we'll see with a cap and trade bill, with healthcare, and this isn't hypothetical. i mean, i have had discussions with small business owners and medium-sized manufacturers, and they will tell you, they say, "look, i would like to hire people. i can't do it right now, because i don't know what it is going to cost me when and if we have new healthcare mandates." so it is a significant issue as they think about how they're going to conduct their business in the next year and on down the road, but beyond hypotheticals, the second point i would make is that the congressional budget office put out a letter to harry reid on november 18, and it talked about the fact that the proposals that they're talking about, particularly the payments, the penalties that small businesses or businesses would have to pay would, indeed, cost jobs, keep people from hiring, so while vice president biden is saying that the president has been focused on nothing but jobs, jobs, jobs, in fact, what he has been doing is pushing healthcare, and healthcare, i think, is one of the major reasons that we haven't seen more hiring. bret: jennifer, there is a major defense still of the defense package. the vice president did it again today and we have heard that many times. the president has mentioned numerous times lately a concern about the deficit and the debt and that taxes and government spending can't do it all. how does the white house match up healthcare, cap and trade, all of these agenda items with that statement? those statements? >> well, i think, you know, you have heard some people at the white house talk about what they're going to do next year is have more of a focus on the deficit, as you mentioned, and yet at the same time there is now a big push internally and externally to focus on job creation, and you're right. they're going to have to match that up. i'm not sure they know exactly how they're going to match that up yet. it's not clear to me. i mean, you have the president giving a little bit, you know, of both messages today, talking about the need to figure out new ways to get jobs into the pipeline. at the same time, he said to some of the people in the room, government isn't the answer. the private sector is the one that creates the jobs. bret: but you get the sense from the president that everything is on the table and if republicans came to them with some ideas about tax incentives, et cetera, that he's open to it? >> that's what it sounds like. that's what he said. we'll see what he comes up with. the speech is intended to lay out the road map. i think you will get a hint of what he thinks will be the right way to go and whether, in fact, he will take in some republican ideas. bret: charles. >> another speech on politically the law of diminishing returns. i'm not sure he has gotten attraction on any of the major speeches in afghanistan and any of the 28 million speeches on healthcare, so let's see how he does. i don't hold out a lot of hope that it's going to sway the public concern about lack of jobs an high unemployment. >> i don't think it is any mystery that he is talking more about jobs now and government spending. those are the two issues that rate highest on poll after poll after poll by organization after organization what voters are concerned about. of course he needs to talk about it. bret: i think charles also has residency here on that. >> i will take second to charles. >> i'm happy to take a partner at any time. bret: acceptation of powers, executive privilege for a social secretary. is that what the white house is claiming in this dustup over last week's state dinner party crashing? we'll talk about it when we come back. >> a mistake was made. in our line of work, we cannot afford even one mistake. >> if somebody is the social secretary's office was standing where they have stood in the past, the salahis would not have gotten in. >> it would have helped. >> ms. rogers is not a central figure in this security matter in so much as her role on the executive staff does not encompass security. bret: well, that's the house hearing on this whole dustup over the state dinner crashers. there they are, the salahis meeting the president. ms. rogers is desiree rogers, the white house social secretary and the white house is saying that she will not testify before congress because of separation of powers, essentially if she were subpoenaed, they would presumably issue executive privilege and prevent her from testifying before congress. for a white house social secretary r we're back with the panel. i know the story is crazy, but on a house hearing day and the secret service director testifying we wanted to get your thoughts, jennifer, let's start with you. >> well, let's first ask the question why congress is taking the time to have a hearing about this? i think that's interesting when there is a lot of other things going on. another thing that is interesting is this thing over executive privilege. we see it in every administration. president bush has used it numerous times and republicans backed him up to the hilt. now they're sort of prepared to argue with president obama as he asserts it, but president obama is going to run into a bit of his old history if he gets too strident about t one thing he said as a candidate, he said "this blanket notion that you can't subpoena white house aides where there is evidence of genuine wrongdoing i think is completely misguided." he said he would be willing to let the precedent be set if it seems like the right policy. he left himself some wiggle room but at the same time he seemed like it was something he would be ok with. bret: let's remember this is about a couple getting through security to this dinner. the house committee just wanted information. they weren't putting a subpoena on the table for desiree rogers and yet the white house came back with this. charles. >> i love this story. i'm glad to see that our sit zens find this contagious. every time you invoke power, you invoke executive privilege if you don't want to be embarrassed. the opposition declares itself shocked and outraged at the hiding of information and obstruction of justice, which is comical, because it's being invoked for a social secretary in a circumstance where in the original supreme court rulings , it was intended for high officials with important state secrets. what was the state secret here? the nature of the flower arrangements at the head table? you know, it is as if somebody is invoking the fifth amendment in a dispute over a parking ticket, but there was one real piece of news in this hearing, and that was that the head of the secret service was asked if there has been an increased level of threats against president obama because, you know, there was a rumor in the summer that had increased by a large percent, perhaps doubled or even worse, and he said, mark sullivan said, that the level of threat against president obama is the same as against bush and clinton, which i think is heartening, and i think it refutes a lot of the rumors and the insinuations that we heard this summer when there was a lot of opposition to obama policy. bret: right. the house speaker came out and gave a statement about the tea parties at the same time saying she was worried about the violence that could stem from them. >> right. bret: steve, more on this story as it develops? >> let me make it less serious after charles made a serious one. i think this is the least interesting story since obama has become president, surpassing even the countless stories about his dog search and about the first lady's arms. on the one hand, i'm torn -- >> it's great to you have on this panel. >> thank you. good to be here. on the other hand, i'm torn because if you have members of congress doing that, focusing on this rather than coming up with a second stimulus, which would cost us more money, raise our taxes, not do any good, then i'm for it, but on the other hand there are serious things. the homeland security committee hasn't done an serious investigations into the shootings of fort hood as representative hoekstra made clear. it's been more than a month. it's been a week and we have socialites who show up at the white house in a pretty dress and we're investigating that but we haven't had a serious investigation of fort hood. that is the point where it does get serious. that is ridiculous. what are they doing? bret: any thoughts, jennifer? >> i feel this whole thing is fake anger at the original incident. now there is going to be a new round of potentially fake anger about the lack of testifying or maybe she will, i don't know, but this ratchets up another round. >> the couple, you mean? >> yeah. bret: you mean desiree rogers? >> yes. we have a vehicle now to keep whittling out these sal lay tious details and focusing on a couple who is interesting for a lot of reasons that maybe we shouldn't pay attention to. >> and the irony is that all the fake ry is in the name of a spot on reality television. bret: this is probably the last panel to discuss that, but stay tuned for a press conference that got a little out of hand. . e ney they could be saving by switching to geico.. gecko: yeah, 'course. boss: boy, did we miss you last week. that temp wasn't working out at all. exec: took me all morning but i got those quarterly figures for ... you. (hissing noise, gulping) gecko: aw, he ate all my mints. anncr: geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. . bret: finally tonight, remember that iraq man who threw a shoe at president george w. bush when he traveled to baghdad? he went to jail, then he was released. well, this week that shoe-thrower held his own press conference. and, well, you can guess. >> here he is now, watch, here is the shoe come flying by. now, can we cut to the crowd? cut to the crowd. look, see who it is? i was stunned when i learned this. look. wow. wow. we were waiting for him to appear. thanks for inviting us into your home tonight. that's it for "special report." fair, balanced, and unafraid. we leave you tonight with the national christmas tree lighting ceremony in washington a little earlier. >> 3, 2,