0 finished with a violent revolution, where a consulate that's relatively isolated should not be -- should not be defended at all. no, that's -- there's going to be an investigation. there's going to be a lot of finger pointing. but the state department has a lot to answer for in that regard. >> well, indeed, there's also a response that has to come. tell me what the appropriate response is from the united states when they have killed the highest official, the person who represents our country, in that country? >> well, without some intelligence, the united states has no idea who it is. i am told that the libyan government, such as it is, has promised the white house that it will assist in gathering the intelligence necessary to identify these people. but whether they will, or they won't, whether they can or they can't is something else again. remember that the government of libya has a domestic support among other people, radical islamists and other crazies and it's going to be extremely difficult for them to cooperate too much with the united states because they're on shaky ground. >> are we leaving everything up to the libyan government to search? i mean, you would think -- >> no. i mean we have the capability of using overhead assets, satellites -- >> drones? >> and some intelligence on the ground, too. but we are not very well situated in libya to try and get human intelligence, and at the end of the day, it's human intelligence that really drives the effort to find people. you can use drones and all that stuff. but unless you're -- unless you know where to look, you're not going to be able to find them. and you can only find out where to look if you have intelligence on the ground. that's going to require the cooperation of the libyan government. which we may not get. >> with respect to this anti-muslim film, when you look at it on the face of it, can you believe the unrest that has happened, now globally? >> you know, one answer is yes, i can. what you really can't believe is how we are surprised -- not you and i, but how the american government is surprised. think about what's happened over the last four decades we've supported blood thirsty despots in a wide variety of muslim countries. then, in the space of a very short time, less than a year, we decide now we're going to support their violent overthrow. and then we're shocked that after the violent overthrow these people we've supported, there is an instantaneously a republican form of democracy, and that there's chaos in all these countries. well, to a greater or lesser extent we've contributed to it by our policies, by the fact that we changed policies. by the fact that we haven't -- we didn't over a period of four decades try to encourage peaceful political change. i think our politicians and our leadership on both sides of the aisle are nuts when they think that you can go from mubarak, or gadhafi, which is a much better continues to calibrate its message on the middle east. nbc's ron mott is with congressman paul ryan and he's joining us from roanoke, virginia, with more. part of a state you're going to be doing a lot of time in, no doubt. ron, good morning. >> hey, there, alex. good saturday morning to you. although this has not been the best week for the romney campaign, and a lot of it stemming from a statement he sent out on tuesday night when these attacks were just known here in the states, critical of the obama administration's handling of that crisis. problem for the campaign is that the extent of the violence there was not fully known at the time, and the statement was actually released by the embassy to try to quell that protest before it turned violent. now mitt romney has been criticized by democrats and the president who came out the next day that he has a tendency to shoot first and aim later. mitt romney has been on the defensive since then. he softened his stance a little bit yesterday in an interview on national television where he said that the statement itself was not appropriate. he said he agrees with the white house that it was not an appropriate statement to be made. that was not the only disappointing news that the campaign got this week. latest polling here by nbc news and "the wall street journal" shows that the governor is falling further behind the president in three key swing states that may ultimately decide this election. here in the commonwealth of virginia, up in ohio, and down in florida. so yesterday, of course, governor romney was in ohio. congressman ryan was here in virginia. and then in just a little bit, alex, we're going to jump on this plane behind us and head down to florida where he's got a rally planned, congressman ryan does, in the tampa-saint pete area. they want to get back on message talking about the economy. that is their biggest weapon against the president at this moment. >> i just want to ask you quickly about the tenor of things as you're following representative ryan. there's a "new york times" headline today and it reads while ryan throws hardballs romney makes friends on morning tv. the implication being that paul ryan, he's getting out there and he's doing some really hard work. and it's not necessarily about personality development there. he's just hitting all the issues tough. do you get that sense that that's sort of the m.o., that's what he's been charged with doing? >> traditionally that's the role for the vice presidential candidate. is to go out and swing a big bat at the incumbents. and that's what ball ryan is doing. yesterday he had some sharp words for the president's foreign policy as well as his domestic policy and he says that job number one in a romney administration will be to get those 23 million americans out of work or underemployed back to work and gainful employment. so they believe that is the message that is ultimately going to resonate with voters on election day. the fact that there have been 43 months straight of unemployment above 8%. and they, again, they want to continue to hit the president on that front and try to perhaps move beyond this foreign policy issue that was created this week with mr. romney's statement on tuesday night. >> all right. nbc's ron mott there in roanoke. safe travels. coming up, chuck todd, nbc's political director and host of msnbc's "the daily rundown." we're going to ask him about the latest swing state polls in the presidential race, including the shrinking number of undecided voters. that's coming up at the bottom of the hour. two u.s. marines were killed, and several others injured during a militant attack on a base housing england's prince harry. the strike happened at camp bastion in soump afghanistan. insurgents breached a wall, firing off mortars and rocket-propelled grenades. a spokesperson says prince harry was never in any danger. earlier this week the taliban said they were planning to do everything in their power to either kill or kidnap the prince. investigators are working to find the people who made false bomb threats at four different schools. first up at the university of texas austin. a man claiming to be with al qaeda said that he had placed bombs on the campus but nothing dangerous turned up during a security sweep. then north dakota state university in fargo got a call about a bomb threat on their campus. that also ended as a false alarm. hours later in ohio, the school received a bomb threat through e-mail. that campus was given the all-clear and then a threat written in graffiti at valparaiso university claimed dangerous and criminal activity would occur but no weapons were found. it is time now for your saturday forecast. we're going to give you a live look outside here in new york city. as we bring in weather channel meteorologist todd santos who is here with the very latest. good morning to you, todd. or maybe not looking at new york city outside. it was very pretty this important. >> it was great this morning out there, alex. it is kind of capping off a pretty epic week for many of us. the cool temperatures in the morning, beautiful in the afternoon. there's a look at the skies over new york where if you were up early this morning, just before sun rise. there were light showers that made their way through. now sunshine through the rest of the day. may have some gusty winds out of the north to northwest. last check at jfk airport there was a gust to 22 miles per hour. we are on the dry side. you see the way some of the showers have thinned out as they've made their way on towards the east, boston, bangor, maybe a few light showers. patches of drizzle with improvement later on today with the winds picking up behind the frontal boundary that's outlined by some of the showers. once you get into the southeast, very similar setup to the last couple of days. florida, at least a few of the showers, east coast, west palm beach towards just about south beach, may see a chance for some more of those as you work your way through the afternoon, get a little daytime heating in, that may increase some of the coverage across florida. you see showers back towards the ozarks, southwestern missouri as well. springfield areas, in and around springfield extending up 44 there. st. louis likely to remain on the dry side, jonesboro, little rock, showers on and off throughout the daytime today. not really heavy rain potential. maybe isolated thunderstorms in there. once you look at the whole map across the country, you get the idea, pretty quiet for many of us, some cool temperatures towards the great lakes and a pretty decent day for many of us. >> it's a lot nicer since i came in. the so-called fiscal cliff. n numbers today on how automatic budget cuts could affect july. and why president obama is still leading in the polls despite the economy. unique insight from a political expert. i have a cold, and i took nyquil,