0 the square. they've been very loud, boisterous, but very peaceful. men, women and children. it's been like this now all afternoon. the violence and there be hasn't been much here. again, it's more of a robust protest and some rock throwing. that's been taking place inside of that bubble and it's clear that most people did follow the muslim brotherhood and request the appearance on tv today where the president demanded if there are demonstrations they should go off peacefully. >> thank you very much. let me bring in our guests. let me talk to you about the spread of this. obviously a better situation in cairo than what we expected this time yesterday. it was said by jim maceda we didn't know what would happen. president morsi sent out the word this is not acceptable. even with peaceful protests. but the spread of this, andrea is still with us. she tweeted out drawing attention to due nae sha especially and the loyalty to the united states. if this goes to an epic proportion there as far as outcry, where does the united states stand with some of these countries that we backed? >> i think this is a critical day. it's friday. it's the height of prayer day. the height of protest day. if everything cools down over the weekend, i think that this -- we might be through the worst of it. i think the thing that we need to keep an eye on is not so much what happens over the next one or two or three days. unless it really kicks off. the thing that is most distressing is that a piece of propaganda, if you will, can you plucked out of thin air on the internet i ma'ams and rebel rousing. we should fear for this the next time this happens. it seems to turn on and off at any moment. >> what can you do? we're not afghanistan. you cannot block youtube. we're not china where you will sensor and limit the information available. there was a report even with the block put in place in afghanistan, you could easily access this video in that country despite the efforts by the government there. >> i think this story is simultaneously a little bit smaller and gigantically bigger than we're giving it credit for. i think that these particular protests unless some government is destabilized over the weekend, they're going to blow over. the bigger problem is somewhere, somehow the united states is losing the macro info strategic war. there are people in these countries that don't understand that every piece of information over the internet is not sanctioned by the u.s. government. >> i want to bring in joan on this. there are many online especially commentators and the like who say precisely what jim is pointing oout. why it's not a foreign policy issue. not our standing of enemy or ally. egypt receives from the united states and the attention given to quelling it right after this has started, that's when the relevance of foreign policy comes into play here, andrea. >> in fact, the relationship with egypt is the critical relationship and one that is very troubled. the u.s., this administration does not know how to deal with morsi. the fact that the president described him as not an ally, not an enemy. it was a new formulation. it was a rocket fired across toward cairo because the president in a very tough phone call later that night told him in no uncertain terms they did not rise to the challenge of their legal obligation to protect our embassy. that is cairo separate from benghazi. if they don't get this relationship right with egypt, we're in a world of trouble. that is the most important arab partner, nation, ally, nonally, whatever you want to call it in the world. >> the white house points out they were using legal language. you have two dynamics here, the internet and how this information can now be sent out across the world. how to deal with that. also, our relationships now with a dozen or more countries. many of them where the united states backed the popular uprising of the people and fought back dictators who stood on these people for generations. >> right. that's why i do think that it was so important, tamron that secretary of state clinton and the president have tried to make clear that we in no way endorse this horrible propaganda garbage. that's why it's so sad that that message became politicized. i think it's important. i think it's important tenant of diplomacy to make clear to the world as president bush did that we are not at war with islam. that we are not declaring war on the islamic world and these crack pots and fringe characters of hearth do not speak for the american government. when that attempt to accepted out that message gets politicized, it really is a sad day. >> it's just in this latest interview with abc news that governor mitt romney acknowledged that this video, this anti-muslim video was an awful thing. the language was not nearly as strong as secretary of state hillary clinton. but nonetheless, it took so many days where initially he thought it was more relevant to talk about free speech than perhaps have a dual line of conversation about the awfulness of this video and of course, our relationships with these countries and the sentiment toward anti-islam videos that come out from many times this country. >> many foreign policy advisors and john mccain and others are saying he should lay it all out in a speech and explain what he should do. why is it that his foreign policy advisor told "the washington post" that under a president romney this wouldn't have happened. what would he have done to prevent it? >> that is the question. let me play what senator john mccain said just a a short time ago and get your thoughts here. >> fl the long-term everything is unraveling in that part of the world because the united states is weak. this president is not understand the importance of american leadership and he continues to want to in his own words lead from behind. >> here's senator mccain saying the president leads from behind. you have the foreign policy advisor for mitt romney saying this would not have happened under his presidency, mccain, williamson, nor governor romney have indicated what they would have done differently. >> i'd like to know what would be different. a potential president romney would have done differently at this point. the problem that the president is struggling with is yes, we did help install these democracies. these democracies are extraordinarily weak. president morsi is walking such a fine line. not only does he have his own muslim brotherhood. he has what some people call the tea party of the muslim brotherhood. 25% of his own parliament. he cannot alienate them too much. they're the ones calling out the protests. morsi might be personally offended by the video. he didn't come to the condemnation that he should have in the views of the american government. at the same time, president morsi has an obligation to look out after the best interest of himself and his administration and his own country. i think he himself is saying he would say that he's doing the best that he can walking this fine line. >> you mentioned people looking out for their best interest. joan, you've been critical of governor romney including those within his own party question if he was looking out for his best interest in the initial statement. irreconcilable difference put you've got this value summit going on. bill bennett just read the exact statement mitt romney. >> to cheers. >> despite the fact that andrea, myself and others have presented that this statement was released prior to the attack to cheering conservatives within the last couple of hours. he read that statement double down, triple down whatever you want to call it, they are sticking with romney on this. >> they are. they think it's a winning issue for them with their base. i'm really disappointed in senator john mccain who's often been a voice of wisdom to say in the president's own words he's leading from behind. that comes from a profile by ryan lizza. that was from an advisor. that's an unfortunate dishonesty coming from senator mccain. >> thank you. we're going to continue to follow this breaking news. in fact, we have another few stories that we've been following. we're going to go to break and i have a cold, and i took nyquil, but i'm still stubbed up. 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