Transcripts For KTVU FOX News Sunday With Chris Wallace 20130721

From the verdict with a rising conservative leader dr. Ben carson. And democratic congresswoman Donna Edwards of maryland. Then americas motor city runs out of gas. Detroit was once riding high as the car capital of the motion, the birth of motown. Detroits broke. Well discuss the historic bankruptcy filing with the city manager kevin orr only on fox news sunday. And our power player of the week, author of this town the bookkeeping d. C. Up at night. All right now. On fox news sunday. Hello again from fox news in washington. One week after the acquittal in the George Zimmerman case thousands of protesters took to the streets in more than a hundred cities saturday to demand justice for trayvon. There were no reports of violence or arrests. Trayvons fooather appeared in miami, his mother in new york. Of course were hurting, shocked and disappointed. But that just means we have to roll back and continue to fight. All the this after president obama tried to explain friday why the case has been painful to blacks. Joining us now to continue the conversation a rising conservative voice, noted pediatric surgeon dr. Ben carson who is in sun valley, idaho. And democratic congresswoman Donna Edwards of oh maryland. Lets start with the president s remarks in which he talks about being profiled as a young black man. Then he said this. If a white male teen was involved in the same kind of scenario from top to bottom both the outcome and the aftermath might have been different. Dr. Carson, some conservatives are criticizing the president for making this about race again. Do you agree . Well, you know, what one has to recognize is all of our opinions are based upon our lifetime experiences. You know, for instance, if you think somebody loves you, everything they say will be interpreted as loving. If you think somebody hates you, everything they say will be interpreted as hateful. In a situation like this i can certainly understand why there is such divergent views and outrage. You have a young black male, walking home, not doing anything incorrect. He ends up killed and nobody suffers consequences. On the surface, that would appear to be a gross miscarriage of justice. However, one also has to integrate into that the fact that we have a legal system in which we appoint jurors and which they have access to all of the facts. We dont have access to all of the facts. They then make a judgment. Its not a perfect system. But its the best system that we have. We have to decide whether we are willing to live with that or not. Let me bring congresswoman edwards into the discussion. There was no evidence in the fbi discussion beforehand or oh in the trial, no evidence that George Zimmerman killed Trayvon Martin because he was black. So was it constructive for the president to talk so much about race . I think it was. When i talk to my son whos 24 and to his peers, what they say is the president gave them their voice for their experiences. As the president described being followed around in a store, clutching bags in an elevator, our sons have had. Ces my son, it gave them a voice. I thought it was important for the president to validate and articulate that. Some civil rights leaders are now demanding the department of justice either file hate crime suits or civil Rights Violations against George Zimmerman. It seemed to me the president made it clear that people should have a clear expectation thats not likely to happen. Does it disappoint you . I think both attorney general holder and the president have indicated the limitations of federal law. Although there is an open investigation the attorney general said this. I have an expectation that it will be a thorough investigation but there are limitations of federal law. It doesnt mean there arent things, as the president said, we shouldnt do whether it is about Law Enforcement training, about people organizing to change state laws and the things we can do on a federal level to make sure that all of our young trayvons have justice. But if after an investigation eric holder, the attorney general, says we cant bring federal action on hate crimes or civil Rights Violations you will accept it . In the same way people said we wanted to make sure there was justice in the Justice System and that those charges be pursued in florida, that happened. A jury verdict happened. We might beaappointed with it but it did. The same might be true of a Justice Department investigation. In the Peaceful Demonstrations yesterday, its clear that people want not only justice but change. One more question and i will bring dr. Carson back. Some of oh your leagues in the Congressional Black Caucus say they are supporting the reverend Jesse Jacksons call or threat of an economic boycott against florida which he calls an apartheid state for its passage of stand your ground laws. Do you support jacksons rhetoric and the call for an economic boycott of florida . I havent examined that, to be honest with you. Ma of us und sometimes when we call for those kind of economic boycotts, the impact on our communities could be tremendous. So i want to examine that. I dont think theres been a unanimous call within the Congressional Black Caucus. In fact, we havent discussed it to my knowledge. Dr. Carson, it turns out that, in fact, in florida blacks have made onethird of the claims understand your ground in homicide cases they were involved in double their representation of the population of florida. On the question of stand your ground and other discussions about hate crimes or civil Rights Violations, what do you think of those calls . We have a tendency to overemphasize superficial aspects of people. I was asked by an npr reporter why i dont talk about race that often. I said its because im a neurosurgeon. I said when i take someone to the operating room, take off the bone flap and open the dura, i am operating on the thing that makes the person who they are. It is not the covering that makes them who they are. It is the brain. Thats what Martin Luther king talked about when he said lets talk about the content of ones character rather than the superficial characteristics. We need to tone down the rhetoric. Those of us in leadership positions need to be looking for things that we can take out of the situation that will be helpful. Not things that inflame the situation. That doesnt mean we shouldnt look carefully at laws. We shouldnt look carefully at this verdict and outcome. Make sure everything has been done correctly. The is have been dotted, the ts crossed. Lets tone down the rhetoric and recognize that we, the people, are not each others enemies. Dr. Carson, really to be clear, there are deep systemic problems that impact africanamericans in the system that have to be addressed. I think the president spoke to some of those. We cant ignore that. Im going to acknowledge like anyone else that everything is not about race, but there are some things that are. We have to acknowledge those and make the systemic changes that are important to advance our communities so people can enjoy things and the benefits that dr. Carson enjoyed. Lets talk about another aspect of this. A systemic aspect of that. The president talked briefly in his extended remarks about blackonblack crime. As i looked into this, the numbers are staggering. Lets put them on the screen. Africanamericans make up 15 13 rather of the population. Between 1976 and 2005 they committed more than half of all the murders in the u. S. 93 of black murder victims are killed by blacks. Congresswoman edwards, should the Africanamerican Community be focusing on that the blackonblack crime, carnage in the inner cities, and not on George Zimmerman . Let me be clear. When we are focused on addressing issues of poverty, when we are focused on improving the Education System, when we are focused on changing gun laws because there is such a rampant availability of guns in the inner cities and we have no inner city agenda in this country, thats focusing on statistics that you talked about. When you have people demanding, lets go after George Zimmerman. Hate crimes. Economic boycotts of florida. That isnt talking about the real problems in the inner city. Im going to say because there have been calls for those actions doesnt mean we are not one trick ponies. We are able to focus on a range of things. If you just look, even in the last two weeks in congress, the debate in congress has been about things like do we provide for food and nutrition, address issues of poverty, are we going to have an Education System that works for all of our young people so they can succeed and to the president s call, are we going to address the laws that actually contribute to the problems in our city . Let me bring dr. Carson in. I understand the concern with racial profiling. Is that the real threat to young black men . I dont think it is. Obviously i grew up in the inner city. I had an opportunity to experience a lot of the problems that were there. Many of those problems are a result of the environment in which people grow up and the philosophies people develop. For instance in the inner City Community if its late at night and you are walking along and somebody starts following you, you know, thats a serious issue. You know that immediately. You go into a fight or flight mentality. That may not happen walking in a gated community in palm springs dr. Carson young men it depends on excuse me. Young men excuse me. If i could finish i would appreciate that. May i finish . I just want to say, dr. Carson, you cannot ignore the fact that our young black men are profiled. I have a young man who works for me. Hes a college graduate. Three times in the last month hes been stopped by Law Enforcement going to work. Were about out of time. Lets give dr. Carson the final word. Thank you. I appreciate that. The final point is is George Zimmerman a diversion from the real threat facing young africanamerican men . Right. What i was trying to get across is that when you grow up in that environment you develop a different type of philosophy. In fact, Trayvon Martin may have had that philosophy and went into this fight or flight mode. So we cant necessarily say that hes evil or horrible more than anybody else when you grow up with that particular mentality. Again, i want to come back to what i was saying before. So often we take any kind of situationoccurs in america and we hurl hand grenades rather than engaging in intelligent discussion. This is what we need to do. Do we have a perfect system . Absolutely not. Does everybody think about things the right way . Absolutely not. We are never going to get there if we continue to make ourselves enemies. Well leave it there. Dr. Carson, congresswoman edwards we hope we contributed to the conversation. Thank you both. Thank you. My pleasure. Up next the city of detroit makes history reaching a new low declaring bankruptcy. Well talk about citys emergency manager next. Be an Even Better Company and to keep our commitments. And weve made a big commitment to america. Bp supports nearly 250,000 jobs here. Through all of our energy operations, we invest more in the u. S. Than any other place in the world. In fact, weve invested over 55 billion here in the last five years making bp americas Largest Energy investor. Our commitment has never been stronger. [ female announcer ] some people like to pretend a flood could never happen to them. And that their Homeowners Insurance protects them. [ thunder crashes ] it doesnt. Stop pretending. Only Flood Insurance covers floods. Visit floodsmart. Gov pretend to learn your risk. If youve got it, you know how hard it can be to breathe and man, you know how that feels. Copd includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis. Spiriva is a oncedaily inhaled copd maintenance treatment that helps open my obstructed airways for a full 24 hours. You know, spiriva helps me breathe easier. Spiriva handihaler tiotropium bromide inhalation powder does not replace fastacting inhalers for sudden symptoms. Tell your doctor if you have kidney problems, glaucoma, trouble urinating, or an enlarged prostate. These may worsen with spiriva. Discuss all medicines you take, even eye drops. Stop taking spiriva and seek immediate medical help if your breathing suddenly worsens, your throat or tongue swells, you get hives, vision changes or eye pain, or problems passing urine. Other side effects include dry mouth and constipation. Nothing can reverse copd. Spiriva helps me breathe better. Does breathing with copd weigh you down . Dont wait to ask your doctor about spiriva. This week detroit became the largest city in u. S. History to file for bankruptcy facing an estimated debt of 19 billion. Kevin orr is the emergency manager of the city who has to figure out how to run detroit. Welcome to fox news sunday. Thanks for having me. On friday a county judge ordered the bankruptcy filing be withdrawn because she said it violate it is rights of the city pensioners. Lets put it on the screen. Article 9, section 24 of the michigan constitution says the financial benefits of each pension plan and retirement system of the state in its political subdivision shall not be diminished. The state is appealing the court ord order. Is the county judge wrong . As you noted thats in litigation on appeal to the Michigan Court of appeals. Because of that im limited in what i can or oh should say. They are important questions of federalism involved. The automatic stay had attached already prior to that. It will be litigated in court. To follow up when you file bankruptcy you knew what the Michigan State constitution said. So why didnt that stop you in. Well, we have grievous problems as you mentioned, significant debt. This is the only way we think we can resolve it. We were compelled to file bankruptcy. Lets talk about the pensioners. Roughly 10 billion of the 19 billion debt of detroit is unfunded health and pension benefits to people who have worked for the city for decades. Mmhmm. That raises the question. You promised to pay the pensioners full payments for six months. After that, isnt there a real possibility the pensioners who worked for the city for decades who thought they had a contract with the city, that they are going to be in real trouble . There is an issue there, chris. As we said in the proposal we put out june 14, 5. 7 billion of 9 billion is unfunded health care liability. Another 3. 5 billion is unfunded pensions. Well have a dialogue with the Pension Funds about what we can do. There are two different funds police and fire and general services. They may have Different Levels of funding. All we are talking about in the restructuring is the unfunded component of the Pension Funds. I want to be clear billions of dollars. Significant money. There have to be cononcessions. You are saying that pensioners who worked for the city for ke kdecades arent goio get the benefits. There are going to be adjustments. What do you say to thousands of people who thought they had a deal with the city. Im highly sensitive. My moth ohher is a pensioner. This is personal to me. I have talked to them, seen them. They come up and say first of all, im empathetic. I also say we dont have a choice. We have crossed the rubicon. We have 18 to 19 billion dollars in debt. No funding mechanism for it. This is a question of necessity. The Obama Administration made it clear there will be no federal bailout for the city of detroit. Here is what Vice President biden said this week. Can we help detroit . We are now going through in detail. We had a meeting yesterday just getting a brief on the status. The question is we dont know at this point. We dont know. What would you like to see the state of michigan do to help detroit . What would you like to see washington do . Im an appointed, not elected official. Im going to stay in my lane, not stray into politics. But i would say we operate on the assumption we have to clear the process, the problem on our own. We are not expecting the cavalry to charge in. We have to fix it. We dug the hole. Thats the assumption we are operating on. Who is we . City of detroit . State of michigan . City of detroit. The debt, the practices in my june 14 report, the deferrals, unfunded obligations, borrowing, addiction, the debt. Even a level of corruption from 2002 to 2008 which was significant have created the problem. Steven ratner, the former car czar for detroit says he believes washington should help. Lets put on screen what he said. He writes the 700,000 remaining residents of the motor city are no more responsible for detroits problems than were the victims of Hurricane Sandy for theirs and eventually congress decided to help them. Question, do you agree . Is what happened to detroit like a Natural Disaster . Well, Natural Disaster and acts of god, you cant plan for. Some of the situations we are in have been coming for 60 years. Certainly more acutely in the last ten years. Im sympathetic to the sentiment something needs to be done but this is different. Hope is not a strategy from my perspective. I cant plan on the basis of what may or may not happen or the help that may or may not come. I have to deal with realities on the ground now. If that comes and there is help, great. If it doesnt, i cant stand around waiting for it to happen. Im dealing with reality. Do you think the country, washington, has a responsibility to help detroit . Im going to do i think the country has a responsibility . I think detroit has a responsibility to help itself. If it gets other assistance, great. But washington doesnt have to help . Im not going to stay it does or doesnt. I am dealing with the reality on the ground. You talk about detroit and its own responsibilities. Detroit has special problems. You have the car industry. Right. That cratered. The city has only 40 of the population it had in its heyday in the 1950s. Detroit is huge. 140 square miles which makes servicing the city that much harder. How much of this is the responsibility of detroit city officials over the years who made commitments either to the residents or the city workers that they couldnt keep . I think that certainly has a significant component. Detroit with a footprint of 139 miles you can fit boston, manhattan, and San Francisco into our footprint. It is a colossal piece of real estate. There has been dissonance coming back quite a ways in city leadership. Mayor bing tried to to a yeomans job of this. He reduced government by 20 . Its been well documented, a lack of focus on the problem for a long time. You have talked about possibly having to sell city assets including the International Airport in detroit, including bell isle park, including the valuabable treasures at the Detroit Institute of art. Everything is on the table. Questions regarding some of the grandmothers fine china and heirloom silver we have to address. Well rationalize assets as best we can. Some bankruptcy experts since you made the filing this week said you made a mistake. Standard poors has dropped detroits bond rating to the lowest level. It says youre going to have great difficulty in getting investors to ever trust the city if they try to borrow money again. I have heard it in many con oh text contexts. I also heard people would never buy from a bankrupt auto company again. Like chrysler. Every restructuring i have heard doom sayers say it will h ruin insert enterprise here ruin it. Certainly the credit markets responded. But the reality is they are going to look at the Credit Rating of a rehabilitated city. If that city is capable they will make rational decisions because they are financial institutions. If they can make Money Lending money to detroit well be back in business. How long will it take . Im going for fall of 2014. Thats a little more than a year. We now have a judge. The judge will have his own ideas about how it should go. Well be proactive. Asking for a scheduling order, the appointment of a retiree committee. Finally we talked about detroits special problems, but is there a cautionary tale here . Could the same thing happen in other cities where other political leaders made promises that cant be kept . Chris, im focused on detroit. Our problems are so unique that i would not extrapolate what happened in other cities. I would say delay doesnt produce positive outcomes. Whatever the problems are, deal with them. Deal with them now which is what we are doing. Thank you. Thank you. You have a tough job. Thank you for sharing your sunday with us. Well follow what happens in detroit. Thank you. Obama care under fire as big labor demands democrats fix it and republicans vote again to sharply curtail it. Well chew it over with the panel next. Look at em. Living on cloud nine with that uverse wireless receiver. You see in my day, when my mom was repainting the house, you couldnt just set up a tv in the basement. I mean, come on nope. We could only watch tv in the rooms that had a tv outlet. Yeah if we wanted to watch tv someplace else, wed have to go to my aunt sallys. Have you ever sat on a plastic covered couch . [ kids cheering ] youre missing a good game over here. Those kids wouldnt have lasted one day in our shoes. [ male announcer ] add a wireless receiver. Call to get uverse tv for just 19 a month with qualifying bundles. Rethink possible. There are still a lot of folks in this town rooting for this law to fail. Some of them seem to think the law is about me. Its not. The president cant just go in and pick and choose what he wants to implement or delay or defend. So what we are saying is, mr. President , you are finally realizing this is not workable. People dont want it. President obama needs 2. 7 healthy young people to sign up for obamacare in the first year to keep premiums down. Congresswoman blackburn and other republicans sense new worries as the program gets closer to implementation. Time for the sunday group. Bill crystal, Kirsten Powers of the daily beast, former republican senator scott brown and former democratic senator evan bye. Its fair to say the most Interesting Development has been the letter that three big union chiefs including james hoffa of the teamsters sent to Democratic Leaders and the president. Congress wrote this law. We voted for you. We have a problem. You need to fix it. The unintended consequences of the aca Affordable Care act are severe. Thats blunt for one of the democrats biggest voting blocks. I love when they speak to the representatives of the u. S. People. We have a problem. You have to fix it. This is why unions are doing so well in Public Opinion for the last 40 years. Obama care is failing. Its not that some of us are rooting for it to fail. Look at the evidence. He suspended large chunks of it. Probably acting illegal ohly to do so. The employer mandate. He didnt suspend the individual mandate. Thats even more of a problem now. They are not going to be able to enforce eligibility rules. People will say what their income is and get involved in tex changes which is the big core of obama care. Those are the marketplaces where people will go and shop among various insurance. There is evidence that they have huge problems coming with errors, fraud, privacy concerns. I think that will be the next focus. Those are to be set up by october first. Between the mandates and exchanges, i wont be surprised if Congress Moves to not only delay the parts but the exchanges. I wonder if the president will accept that. Do you believe it . Of Course Congress will do that. They have tried to repeal it 40 times, i think. They will do what they can to stop obama care. But the trouble no, i dont. You cant say its failing when the exchanges havent started yet. We havent had a chance to see whats going to happen. The unions are upset because this is a crisis for them. This is going to give Union Members an opportunity to get Good Health Care outside of the unions. I understand where the unions a ming from. It proves the opposite about obama care. Obama care is going to offer Good Health Care at good costs to people. Meanwhile the gop majority in the house voted for the 38th and 39th times to either repeal or curtail obamacare this week. Senator brown, isatto comment o kirsten said. The unions have the cadillac plans. As a result of whats happening the plans will cost 10,000 more. Thats why they sent the letter. Is it a move to try to repeal it . Its a train wreck. Employers are reducing hours so they dont have to comply from 40 to 30. Costs are out of control. The 18 new taxes are going to click in affecting individuals and businesses. It is a job killer. Thats a fact. Put flowers on it, but its a mess. It is interesting. You wonder, given the fact that this was predicted by republicans, the unions are realizing under obama Care Companies only with 50 employees or more are subject to it. So there is an incentive to have 48 or 49 employees and it only involves 30 hours in the work week or more. If you work 29 or 28 youre not covered. Why did it take the unions so long to realize that could be a problem for them in terms of jobs and length of work week . It is a huge, complex piece of legislation. There were always going to be problems and would take time to work through them. Some things can be solved. Thats a reason why delay makes sense. The 30 hour work week, for example. Susan collins, maine. Our new senator from indiana. Have introduced legislation to make it a 40 hour work week. The subsidy for people in Larger Companies is a tougher nut to crack. What they are going to do about it, i dont know. The problem is the far right wasnt dunt want to solve problems. They want the bill to fail. The far left may not want to because they would prefer to have a more expansive governmentcentered program. The administration is trying to find a sensible middle ground and delay may make sense because it is better to wait than have a train wreck. Theres been no initiative at all. When i was in the senate and when evan was there, harry reid made no effort to try to fix it. We had opportunities to take up reasonable common sense amendments that would have dramatically affected the way the aca stands now. We wouldnt talk about this. There was no effort to make changes. We are dealing with what we have now which is a mess. Do you think the white house decision to delay the employer was announced during the week of oh fourth of july holiday. Do you think thats shaken supporters who realized this thing is in more trouble than we thought . As we get close, the key point is we are not in the politics stage now. We are not in rhetoric. We are in the implementation stage where the rubber hits the road. Do you think as we get close to it the white house says well have to delay in employer mandate has a year has shaken supporters . Certainly people would prefer the administration to be on top of things and get people informed. Thats the sense that businesses arent informed enough about the law. I think ultimately there was a letter written by 30 economists who said they support the delay. They think it makes sense. At the same time it doesnt make sense to delay the individual mandate which is Something Congress has been pushing. Thats really critical to expanding the pool. If you go back to medicare there were a lot of problems with implementation. Conservatives were also claiming it would be a huge failure. When you have people who want it to fail it makes it difficult to implement it. The individual mandate is more complicated to implement. The argument is the one you mentioned. Hey, obama care needs healthy young people in the pools or the structure falls apart. Why is that . Having individuals show up in exchanges they are setting up on the fly with huge privacy and concerns is more complicated than having employers thats not why it is delayed. The case for delaying the individual mandate is strong. I disagree. This was announced on the 5th of july, really a dead day. The government will have no way i as a young person, just suppose, if i apply thats not funny. If i apply for a subsidy and i say, here is my income level and here is my employment status, the government has no way to verify it. Isnt it rife with the possibility of fraud . Yes. But fraud cannot be the argument against everything. This is the argument against every government program. [ all speaking at once ] senator. The bottom line is that creates a problem. You will see headlines about fraud and abuse. You have to wait long enough for a Critical Mass of competency that can be implemented in a reasonable fashion. If you wait for perfection you will never go forward. We have to take a break. When we come back, president obama gets personal talking about Trayvon Martin and well mark the passing of a legendary report ohher. Er. Check out fox news sunday. Com for behind the scenes features, panel plus and the monday preview of the week ahead. Find it at fox news sunday. Com. Let us know what you think. Stay tuned for more from the panel. I just ask people to consider if Trayvon Martin was of age and armed could he have stood his ground on that sidewalk . Do we actually think he would have been justified in shooting mr. Zimmerman who had followed him in a car because he felt threatened . President obama on friday talking about the very different ways whites and blacks are reacting to the shooting of Trayvon Martin. We are back now with the panel. I think its fair to say its been a remarkable week for the country as we all sort through feelings about race, justice in the George Zimmerman Trayvon Martin case. Do you think the president s comments were helpful or not . Not particularly helpful but didnt make much different. Most of the country decided this was an unfortunate, tragic incident. There was a serious judge and a jury convened at a trial. The trial was a fair trial. They bent over backwards to prosecute mr. Zimmerman. The point of trial is to resolve things and move on. Not make it a symbol for broader causes. I think the country moved on. I wish the president would, too. As president barack obama generally has stayed away from race i think its fair to say these were his most expansive and personal thoughts about race since back when he was a canada at that time and made the race speech when the Jeremiah Wright issue broke. Did he strike the right note . Yes. It was personal. He was speaking off the cuff in a heartfelt way about something i dont think people have moved on from. At least maybe some americans have, but certainly in the media there is an ongoing debate. In the Africanamerican Community they are upset about it and the family doesnt feel justice was served. The family doesnt feel there was a fair investigation. I think there are different perspectives. What the president is doing and even the reaction from conservatives calling this divisive, it was the least divisive thing i have seen him do, frankly. He was saying, look, i will give you perspective here. Like you heard from ben carson. There is a different perspective for africanamericans and thats what i want to talk about. I understand the focus and we in the media contributed to it. When you look at the crime numbers i discussed with Donna Edwards and ben carson lets put them back on the screen. Africanamericans this is astonishing. Africanamericans make up 13 of the population but commit more than half the murders in the country. 93 of black murder victims are killed by blacks. Senator brown, should civil rights leaders be focused on that and not what one Neighborhood Watch person did in sanford, florida, 17 months ago . Its tragic as a father of two girls. Its a tragic situation. In this instance, the black on black violence is something that is an epidemic portion. Its an epidemic now. I would encourage civil rights leaders to get involved in that. If we dont start addressing that right away, its only going to get worse. What do you think of the focus on George Zimmerman, hate crimes, civil rights violation, stand your ground when you have 93 of blacks first of all, half of all the murder victims and they are being killed overwhelmingly by their own race. They were asking for tips when the jury made their decision known. What attorney general holder has been doing by making it about politics, i think is wrong. I thought what the president did yesterday, there was good and bad. In his comments he did address blackonblack violence and the fact that we have to look inward for this problem. Senator . Its a tragedy, chris. There are no winners here. We need to reach a point where we get beyond race. We are not there yet. I think the president was appropriate to speak to this. Naturally, he brought his own personal experiences the to bear. Much as Robert Kennedy did in indianapolis, indiana, following the killing of Martin Luther king. He talked about his brother assassinated by a white man. He said we have to move beyond it. Lack of positive role models for young men, educational failure, kids having kids which doesnt help anybody. Hopefully we can take the tragedy and move to address some of the things so the statistics you put on screen will eventually go down. When all of the energy is expended talking about George Zimmerman is that getting us on the right track or the wrong track . We need to pivot from that and focus on the underlying problems. Its a tragedy now without closure. If Trayvon Martin is going to have a memorial it will be a living one. Hopefully we can take the controversy and get away from the current brouhaha and focus on the underlying problems that leave many young men, regardless of race, not having the opportunity we would all like to see. Thats where the energy should be expended. They have a moral obligation to get involved and find solutions instead of creating more rhetoric and divisiveness pursuant to the president s speech in massachusetts. Black, white, latino United States, no, its the United States of america. We need to be more united on the issues. Great to have the conversation but lets have it in a z po mpo manner. I dont want the panel to end without marking the death of helen thomas at the age of 92, legendary white house reporter. Now i will take your questions. Helen . Mccain said he resented being called clinton or clintonlike and a few other things. What do you say . My question is why did you really want to go to war . Do you know of any country in the middle east that has Nuclear Weapons . She covered ten president s over half a century, broke a lot of barriers for women reportes r in this town and some say she crossed a line expressing pro arab views from the front row of the White House Briefing room. Kirst kirsten . She was a trail blazer, the first woman to cover a president. She led the campaign to get women in National Press club, to get women into the White House Correspondents dinner. In fact, asked president kennedy not to go unless women could go. He agreed to that and women were allowed. I think she was somebody who wasnt cowed by president ial power. She asked tough questions. Sometimes that made people angry. Bill, your thoughts about that. I think we should point out that in 2010 helens career ended when she was asked by a rabbi outside the white house what she would say about the situation in israel. She said they should get the hell out of palestine. That was her quote. And go back to germany, poland or wherever they came from. On the other hand, she was a fierce advocate for openness and transparency for over 50 years in the white house. She really did ask tough questions. Your thoughts . I have a difficult time getting past the final comment about the ju jews getting out palestine and going back to germany. She asked tough questions. Not just a White House Correspondent who rolls over for president reagan and all that. Wasnt it famous she was the first up and the last to sleep and filed stories while chris and everybody was out in some fancy restaurant in paris, rome. How did the tribute to helen turn into an assault on me . You knew her the best, chris. Look, i was shocked by her comments and the way she openly expressed them about her personal views about the middle east. On the other hand, she was one tough reporter. I certainly admired that. Youre right. She came in earlier than any of us and stayed later. Thank you, panel. Remember our discussion continues every sunday on panel plus. Find it on our website, foxnewssunday. Com. Follow us on twitter fox news sunday. Up next, a live power player of the week gives us a look at how washington really works. Well talk with mark liebovitch. Author of the hottest book in town next. Every day were working to be an Even Better Company and to keep our commitments. And weve made a big commitment to america. Bp supports nearly 250,000 jobs here. Through all of our energy operations, we invest more in the u. S. Than any other place in the world. In fact, weve invested over 55 billion here in the last five years making bp americas Largest Energy investor. Our commitment has never been stronger. The hot book in washington right now is not the new crime thriller from j. K. Rowling. No, its a book called this town by Mark Leibovich of the New York Times which explores d. C. s obsession with itself which is why we are talking about it. Welcome to fox news sunday. Thanks, chris. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. My name doesnt appear a single time in the book. Is that true . There is not an index so you had to look for it. I read the book. I was reading the book because i liked it, enjoyed it and maybe because my name didnt appear. Youre tough on what you call this town, washington, d. C. You talk about a people who come to washington to do good and stay here to do well. Their membership in what you call the club becomes paramount and selfdefining. They become part of the system that rewards more than anything selfperpetuation. Then there is this. You still hear the term Public Service thrown around but with irony and full knowledge that selfservice is now the real insider play. Right. Is it really that rotten here in washington . I would say that it has gotten to be quite a carnival in washington to a degree to which people outside of washington dont understand. You mentioned obviously its a hot book in washington. People love to talk and read about themselves. There is a level of outrage and a level of surprise that i have gotten from outside of town thats been very, very gratifying. What is it they dont understand . I think they dont understand the fullness of the carnival. The selfservice Public Service distinction is important. There is so much money in and around government it is easy to do well instead of doing good. This city was supposedly built on Public Service. The book begins at the Memorial Service for our beloved colleague tim russert in 2008. You describe how hat a moment they are supposed to be mourning the poll oh techniciiticianpoli reporters are jockeying for position in a gold rush of finance by us, by taxpayers. That was a Striking Team for us. Tim russert, a giant. I was a guest. I was struck by how everyone was throwing business cards around, working it. It was about them. That made the larger point placing us in history but also in the character we are talking about. Back in 2008, barack obama famously ran, promising to change the culture of washington. To what degree have he and the team around him fallen subject to the rules of this town . Its selfevident. There is an anecdote in which robert gibbs in a soul searching meeting says former White House Press secretary did we change washington or oh did washington change us . If you look at how many people around president obama, the president who was supposedly going to close the revolving door have gone out and dove into the permanent feudal class its been selfevident. You talk about Valerie Jarrett and when 2k5i6d david a gets protection because somebody who shot up the Holocaust Museum knew about him. A lot of people suspected after david got secret Service Detail valerie insisted upon it. She would say the president makes the call. Its something people inside the white house or worked in the white house are talking about. You puncture some blownup egos in town. There arent any egos. Steve schmidt, former republican consultant who ran the mccain 2008 campaign, advised him to pick sarah palin and made a career out of bashing sarah palin. You say, quote, it was another instant of the media swooning over republicans with sel selfflagelating tendencies. If you look at john mccain in 2000. He was a media darling. The main stream media loved him. He was a maverick republican. If you look at the example of Joe Lieberman who was a democrat who bucks the party and, you know, assumes a more conservative posture he becomes the turn coat. There are examples of that in every direction. Finally, what is the reaction to your book then . Are people more upset about what you say about them . You say mean and funny things. Or are they flatterered to be in the book and however bad it is in the book it would be worse not to be in it . Its a combination. So much has reinforced the premise of the book. The criticism from washington has been in the vein of how dare someone who defensives here, someone in the club talk ill and critically about the rest of the club. To which i say if that makes people uncomfortable and washington journalism needs more discomfort they welcome it. Youre part of it. Thanks for coming in today. Good luck with the book. Thanks, chris. Thats it for today. Have a great week. See you next fox news sunday. 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