Transcripts For WJLA This Week With George Stephanopoulos 20151108

With George Stephanopoulos begins now. Good morning. One year away from election day, another big week on the campaign trail and both republican frontrunners, donald trump and ben carson, join us live this morning after this report from jon karl. Ladies and gentlemen, donald trump reporter live from new york, donald trump took center stage on saturday night. Donald. Enrique. I brought you the check for the wall reporter but on friday, it was trumps chief rival in the polls, ben carson who put on a show. What a bunch of garbage. Where is the exaggeration . That is the most lame investigation i have ever seen. Reporter the usually serene carson is lashing out after accusations that parts of his life story dont add up. They have been talking to everybody i ever known. Theres got to be a scandal. Theres got to be something. Theyre getting desperate. Reporter the latest questions raised by the wall street journal, center on a story that carson told his in autobiography gifted hands. As a student at yale, he was only one out of 150 students who didnt fall for a teachers hoax. He was then named the most honest student in class. His photo taken by the yale daily news. But yale tells the wall street journal, there was no class by that name and no such photo in the yale newspaper archives. When ask about the report, carsons Campaign Said there are no allegations and he probably doesnt remember the name of the class. Carson has also faced criticism on claims he offered a scholarship to west point. And whether he was angry when he was young. At age 14, another teenager angered me and i had a large camping knife. I tried to stab him in the and. Reporter but he says that is when he rejected anger and gave his life to god. Donald trump isnt buying the transformation. Do you think thats theight temperament to be president . I dont think so. Reporter since trumps vowel neshlt, carson sees just the other. Guys trying to pile on, it may help him. Reporter carsons Campaign Said its raised 3. 5 million this week, thanks to the socalled bias media. For this week, jonathan karl, abc news. Dr. Carson joins us by phone. Thank you for joining us this morning. You showed anger this week, in the end, do you think all these questions are really going to help your campaign . Yeah, because, people are clearly able to see whats going on. When im out in the public, the number of people who come up and say, dont let them get you down, we got your back, we know what youre talking about, we believe you. And, you know, you look at the political hits this week, even some of you guys in the media called them out on that. Thats pretty sad. Today, when the wall street journal comes out and says, questioning the psychology course, you said, we didnt find any evidence of it. We found it, were going to be putting it out. We found the article in the yale daily news. Why can we find it and they cant find it . Explain that, dr. Carson, explain that. The wall street journal said in this class youre named the most honest student, but they couldnt find the name of the class or any record of it at yale, what exactly have you found . Well, we found the article from the yale daily news about the whole scandal but we found it. The course i guess was called psychology 10. You know, when you write a book with a cowriter, and you say there was a class, a lot of times theyll put a number or something on it to give it more meat. Obviously, decades later, im not going to remember the course number. If its not just the press who raised questions, as you know donald trump has put out a series of tweets about you this week, saying the story about the rotc and west point was one of many lies about ben carson. He says this is the beginning of the end of your campaign, what is your response . Well, its been proven that it wasnt a lie. But, you know, what does it say about people who immediately jump on the bandwagon if they hear something rather than waiting and finding out what the truth is what does it say . Well, let me put it this way, i would not be anxious now, there have been a series of questions about the stories you told about your past and, as you pointed out, you have had explanations from many of them, other cases they dont match the Public Record or the memories of others involved, is this really all the medias fault like what . Give me an example. For example, when you talked about a scholarship to west point, you went on to clarify wait a minute, george, go look on the west point website and youll see those specific words, full scholarship to west point, so, even though it is given as a grant for anybody who gets in, those words are used, and if a recruiter or somebody is trying to get you to come there, those are the words that they would use. Its on their very website. So, dont say thats not a lie. I didnt call it a lie, it didnt match the Public Record of the precise memories of others, so thats my question, do you believe that youll have to get a little more precise in your documenting of your past . Well, show me somebody, even from your business, the media, who was 100 accurate in everything that they say that happened 40 or 50 years ago. Please show me that. Because ill sit at their knee and learn from them. Going forward, no changes in your campaign . Absolutely not, our campaign is the same. We tell the truth, we deal with the issues. And, you know, im not a politician, so, you know, youre not going to find me acting like a politician, i dont do that. Im somebody whos extremely concerned about the direction of our nation and whats going to happen to us if we continue down this pathway and i am very hopeful that the people in your business, the media, will soon recognize the role that they play in helping to restore the american dream. Dr. Carson, thanks for joining us this morning. Thank you, george. And joining us now donald trump also by phone this morning. Mr. Trump, thank you for joining us this morning. You just heard dr. Carson respond to your tweets from earlier in the week. Your response to dr. Carson . Look, i hope it works out for him. Its a strange situation. When you talk about stabbing somebody, but the knife saved him. You know, the belt buckle saved him. I mean, its a weird deal going on. And i hope it all works out. Because i dont see ben have problems over this stuff. Its a very strange situation. I guess a book was written before he ran for politics. But he said he has a pathological disease in the book, thats a very serious problem, because thats not something thats cured. Thats something that you have to live with and thats a very serious thing to live with. But in the past, you have admitted to inflating the value of your properties. Is that what carson is doing here . I dont know what hes doing. I can say that i never tried to hit my mother in way, shape or form. By the way, my properties are some of the most valuable properties in the world. You know some of them. I have some of the Great Properties of the world. I built an Amazing Company with a tremendous net worth, whether its 5 billion or 10 billion, everybody agrees its magnificent. So, i dont know what youre talking about. If ben carson falls, where do the votes go . Is he your top rival . Well, it seems. You know whos number one. Im number one and hes number two. I would say the person whos number two is my top rival. And in all fairness to ben, hes been the closest with all of these politicians running, ben has been the closest to i have been there for 110 days or something, hes been really up there, the closest, and hes hanging around. So, lets see, and i hope this work out for him, frankly, i hope theres not going to be a problem for him. But a lot of statements that are very troubling statements. And for him, too, he understands that. Lets turn to isis, more evidence that this plane was brought down this russian plane was brought down by some kind of explosion, do you believe isis was behind it and what should the United States do behind it . Well, i think it was an explosion. Not sure if it was isis. There are a lot of groups over there. But well have to do very strong over there. The world is really going to be cratering. If you stop transportation, youre talking about the blood of the world and well have to be very, very strong. Well have to take away the energy, the fuel, the money from isis, because and in the case of isis, i have been saying this for years, we have to stop the source of money and the source of money is oil. And we have to knock the hell out of the oil and were going to have to do it because isis is making a fortune, they have better access to internet than we do. Theyre recruiting people from our country and who knows what theyre planning. We better do something, we better be smart. Dont forget, i wrote about Osama Bin Laden in my book before the World Trade Center was knocked down and a lot of people are saying, wow, trump actually predicted that. But i was writing about Osama Bin Laden before the World Trade Center came down. You would step up the campaign against isis even though you believe that Vladimir Putin is getting stuck in a quagmire im looking to take the oil. I want to take the oil. I want the oil and i have been saying that for a long time. The middle east is one big, fat quagmire. Whether its afghanistan, putin, if you look at the soviet union, it used to be the soviet union, they essentially went bust and it became russia, a much smaller version. Because of afghanistan, they spent all their money. Now, theyre going into syria. Im all for russia going in and knocking and dropping bombs on isis. As far as im concerned, we dont have to have exclusivity on that. But well have to do something about isis and whats going on over there. Probably it was a bomb and probably it was planted by one of the groups over there, whether its isis or somebody else. Well have to take some very, very serious actions. Let me ask you about something that came up in this new biography of george h. W. Bush by jon meacham. In it it says the new york developer donald trump mixed his availability as a Vice President ial candidate to lee atwater, bush thought the overture, strange and unbelievable. Thats what he wrote in his diary. You know, lee atwater was a very good friend of mine, as you may have known. He was a great guy and i was a very political person for a long period of time and i was a big contributor and i was asked that question by lee, he said, what do you think about that idea . I said, lee, i dont know. It doesnt sound right. At that time i had no political aspirations. He made the overture to you . Thats right. Lot of talk about addiction on the campaign trail in New Hampshire. Youre not excluded from this issue. You have never used drugs, no smoking, no drinking, what shaped that decision . Well, you know, really, i have so many people over the years where they became alcoholics, and so many people and so tremendous in every respect, they became alcoholics or they started taking drugs and it became addictive, and i watched it, and i never drank and i never took drugs and i dont smoke. You know, im lucky in that respect. I have friends trying not to smoke, for example. Still its a problem. I dont understand why would they smoke, drink or take drugs . The way you dont understand it, you dont it. I always try my kids, dont smoke, dont drink. Who knows, i think they dont. But who really knows whats going on, but its a tremendous problem. You know, in New Hampshire, i have developed such great friendships in New Hampshire, they are having a tremendous drug problem. Tremendous heroin problem in New Hampshire. Which will be stopped because im going to build a wall. It will be built, if you look at the numbers with mexico, theyre making a fortune off the United States and well stop that problem to a large extent. But the heroin problem in New Hampshire and other places and we have to stop it. You used to think that legalization take, taking the profit out would solve that problem, wt changed your mind . I did. Not think about it. Something that should be studied and continued to be studied. Its something that maybe it has to be looked at, because we do such a poor job of policing. We dont want to build walls, we dont want to do anything. If you dont want to do any policing you have to look at other alternatives. I looked at it. If we police properly, we shouldnt do that. As you point out, youre going to be front and center at the debate tuesday night, what do you expect . I think its going to be more of the same, questions, i think its going to be fair questions. A good group of people. Neil cavuto, and maria, i think its going to be very fair questions. Unlike the last deal. Donald trump, thanks for joining us this morning. Thank you very much. When we come back, the roundtable weighs in on all of the weeks politics. Bernie sanders joins us, too. And all the latest on the plane crash in egypt and the new security measures to keep our flights safe. Announcer this week with George Stephanopoulos brought to you by bdo. Everyone needs a bff. Even your smile. Colgate optic White Toothpaste goes beyond surface stains to whiten over 3 shades. In fact, it whitens more than the leading express whitening strip. Its your smile bff. Whiten more just by brushing. You do all this research on the gas mileage, horsepower torque ratios. 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Reporter in the weeks since the plane went down, virtually every piece of evidence gathered from the plane, u. S. And british investigators arent still allowed access to the accident scene in the desert. But this morning, the u. S. Says the russians have accepted an offer. Officials in cairo saturday, for the first time, described a distinct but undetermined noise heard just before the cockpit voice recorder stopped working. A loud noise was heard in the last seconds of the cvr recording. Reporter u. S. Experts say its possible and very quickly to determine if that noise was a bomb and, if so, where was it placed. That noise is very sudden, very sharp, it has a very distinctive profile to it compared to other noises. So, you can tell bombs, they stand out. Reporter but there is already a growing consensus by those in the u. S. And british Counterterrorism Community that isis smuggled a bomb on the plane at the Sharm El Sheikh airport. The key here was to get it on there, to corrupt somebody whos in the process that can get out on the ramp and do the kind of things that were necessary in this case. Reporter u. S. And british officials tell abc news that electronic intercepts of isis fighters before and after the crash, indicated they had likely infiltrated or compromised airport security, which led british officials to cancel all flights in and out of Sharm El Sheikh. Fearful that increasingly jihadist groups are sharing bombmaking information, crowd sourcing terror techniques. Egyptian investigators say it still could be days more before an initial determination that brought down a plane is made. Okay, brian, thanks very much. Lets talk now to two congressmen keyed into this investigation, republican peter king, democrat adam schiff. Congressman king, do you join this consensus that this was a bomb planted by isis . From everything i have seen, that it was isis or an isis affiliate. To me thats the general consensus among the people i have spoken with. Until its final, we cant say. But right now all of the evidence puts in that direction. Evidence puts in that direction. And mr. Schiff, this was likely put onboard by an airplane worker . Well, i share peter kings assessment that this was a bomb, still not conclusive. But a growing body of evidence. I also think that isis best way to defeat airplane defenses was not to go through but to go around them with the help of somebody on the inside. Probably at least a dozen airports in the region and beyond that are vulnerable to the same kind of approach, which is exactly why we have to harden those defenses. And congressman king, this would be a gamechanging strategy by isis, not local, regional, global, what are the implications . These are very serious implications. Right, isis hasnt gone international, certainly not to this extent. What adam said is 100 . Number of airports, Regional Airports which dont have the anywhere near the security they need. Well have to assess that. Security will be tightening up. I think western countries have to play more of a role in firming up the security at those airports. Absolutely. Congressman schiff, this announcement from the tsa on friday, tightening up security here in the United States, what more needs to be done overseas . A lot more needs to be done overseas to make sure these airports have the precautions in place, examine employees that have access and responsible for the security itself. This is a vulnerability in every country in which isis or al qaeda is presence. I want to underscore, this is a problem here at home. When we test the tsa, they fail. And i think we really need to step up our security here, but i do think, george that, with this, if this a bomb by affiliate by isis, isis has eclipsed al qaeda as the gravest Terror Threat in the world. President obama will have to do more in the fight against isis in the region . I think we have both u. S. , russians and others, we have to keep this up, we have to have at least observers on the ground. The air attacks havent been effective. Reports our allies are falling back, the u. S. Is falling back. This has been an allout effort. I dont think the president has done enough as far as having the forces on the ground that are necessary to make the air attacks more effective. Congressman schiff, do you agree with that . Well, i agree with that president s approach has a battlefield thats pretty static and more is going to have to done, frankly, well have to see whether the turks and jordanians will do more. A longterm battle. Congressmen, thank you very much. Coming up, the roundtable weighs in all of the weeks politics. Plus, we talk to the author of the new biography of george h. W. Bush, jon meacham. Lifes simple pleasures. Now its our turn. Im doing the same for my family. 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Onceaweek tanzeum works by helping your body release its own natural insulin when its needed. Tanzeum is not recommended as the first medicine to treat diabetes or in people with severe stomach or intestinal problems. Tanzeum is not insulin. It is not used to treat type 1 diabetes or diabetic ketoacidosis, and has not been studied with mealtime insulin. Do not take tanzeum if you or your family have a history of medullary Thyroid Cancer or multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, or if youre allergic to tanzeum or any of its ingredients. Stop using tanzeum and call your doctor right away if you experience symptoms of a serious allergic reaction which may include itching, rash, or difficulty breathing; if you have signs of pancreatitis, such as severe stomach pain that will not go away and may move to your back, with or without vomiting; or if you have symptoms of Thyroid Cancer which include a lump or swelling in your neck, hoarseness, trouble swallowing, or shortness of breath. Before using tanzeum, talk to your doctor about your medical conditions, all medicines youre taking, if youre nursing, pregnant, or may become pregnant. And about low blood sugar and how to manage it. Taking tanzeum with a sulfonylurea or insulin increases your risk for low blood sugar. Common side effects with tanzeum include diarrhea, nausea, injection site reactions, cough, back pain, and cold or flu symptoms. Some serious side effects can lead to dehydration which may cause kidney failure. Ask your doctor if adding onceaweek tanzeum is right for you. Go to tanzeum. Com to learn if you may be eligible to receive tanzeum free for 12 months. Make every week a tanzeum week. At ally bank no branches equalsits a fact. Kind of like mute buttons equal danger. That sound good . Not being on this phone call sounds good. Its not muted. Was that you jason . It was geoffrey it was jason. It couldve been brenda. I think that when president obama was running for reelection, i was glad to step up and work very hard for him while senator sanders was trying to find primary him. Im a democrat, a lifelong democrat. Im not a former independent. Im not a former republican. I believe in the party of roosevelt and john f. Kennedy. Thats martin omalley. The senator hes talking about is Bernie Sanders, he joins us again. He was bringing up that whole issue of not being a life long democrat, being disloyal to president obama, what do you respond to what martin omali said on friday night . Let me respond. Im proud of the fact that im the longest serving independent in the history of the United States congress, thats what the people of vermont voted for. I made a decision in this president ial election that ill run as a democrat. Im a democrat now. As the democratic nominee, if we win this thing, to create a new and democratic party, to involve millions of people, george, who have given up on the political process, workingclass people and young people who today, say, you know what, the economy is rigged, nothing i can do about it. Campaign finance system is corrupt. Big money controls what im what is going on. What im trying to do is bring out large number of young people, were going to transform america. And create an economy that works for everyone. Were going to get rid of the citizens united, Supreme Court decision, and create a vibrant democracy so that we dont have the lowest voter turnout of almost any major country on earth, but one of the largest and strongest voter turnout. What about this trying to gin up opposition to president obama the last time around . No, this is media stuff. What i have done is a radio show every single friday, somebody asked me years ago, do you think there should be a primary opponent to barack obama . I dont know exactly the words that i said, whats wrong with the primary situation . You said one of the reasons one second, george. Heres what you said. Thats categorically false. Okay. Im sorry you would be talking to people a bit about having primary opposition. Well, the answer is, i worked very hard to see barack obama elected. He came to vermont to campaign for me. I worked for him in 2008 and 2012. And listen, i think under the incredible republican obstructionism. President obama and vice and Vice President biden have moved this country forward than when bush left office. Do i have disagreements with obama . Do i disagree with him on tpp . Yes, i do. But barack obama is a friend of mine. I think hes been a very strong president and guided this country under a difficult moment in history. How to take on isis, you opposed his new decision to put special opposition boots on the ground. The threat seems to be expanding not receding, how would you counter it . Well, heres what we have, as you know, in 2002, when bush and, you know, suggested and cheney we should go to war in iraq, i listened very carefully to what they said. I voted against that war, i think that history would recall that as the right vote. On t senate floor, im listening to my republican colleagues, they want boots on the ground, they want to expand our look, you got an unbelievably complicated mess, what the president is to thread a difficult needle, hes trying to defeat isis and trying to get rid of this tremendous dictator assad. Im more conservative on this than he is and i worry that once we get sucked into this, once a plane gets shot down, then we send more in. This place is a quagmire in a quagmire and i fear perpetual u. S. Warfare in that area. It must be defeated by the muslim nations in that region. America cant do it all. And we need an international coalition. Russia be a part of it. Uk should be a part of it. France. Fighting for the soul of islam and defeating this terrible isis organization. You also have started express your differences with Hillary Clinton more and more, but is it any right for you to tell the boston globe, i disagree with Hillary Clinton on virtually everything . Well, the answer is yes and no. Yes, we do agree on a number of issues. And by the way, on her worst day, Hillary Clinton will be an infinitely better and republican presidecandidate best day. But having said, we have significant differences. I see a nation in which we have a grotesque of wealth and inequality. I see a litical system which is corrupt, where superpacs are able to receive huge amounts of money from millionaires and billionaires. I think if you look at my history and what im saying in this campaign, we need a political revolution. We need to stand up to the top 1 , we need to transform american politics and the way we do economics and, by the way, george, if i may, we need have a media more interested in the issues facing middle class. Rather than political so, do i agree with Hillary Clinton . Of course, i do. On issues like wall street, you know, i believe these guys who drove our economy into the ground, destroyed so many lives, i think at the end of the day, what we have to do is reestablish, we have to break up these huge financial institutions. Thats not Hillary Clintons position at all. You know, i was there on the tpp from way back. Hillary clinton took a little while to get there. Senator sanders, thanks very much for joining us this morning. Thank you. Up next, former george h. W. Bush blasting his sons in a new book. Find out why when we talk to author jon meacham. Back now with that new biography of president george h. W. Bush making big headlines this week. Pulitzer prize winner jon meacham was granted unprecedented access to the president for the book. The former president s first public critique of george w. s presidency, tough words for dick cheney and Donald Rumsfeld and the rhetoric of his son. States like these and terrorist allies constitute an axis of evil. Axis of evil didnt like that. He thought the swaggering image of bush 43 administration, was a diplomatic problem. He held cheney and rumsfeld to some degree responsible for it. But gentlemanly, and honestly, intellectually honestly, he did tell me ultimately its the president s fault. Reporter bush told meacham that cheney is hardline, a man who built his own empire. Also goes against his code as Vice President. I think its fair to say that dick cheney saw it himself as much more of an operational officer. Of the government. And when i told cheney those remarks, he said, we just have two very different visions of vice presidency. Reporter not pushing something on 43 . No, no. Reporter 41 calls rumsfeld as arrogant and served the president badly. Rumsfeld hasnt responded. All ill say to secretary rumsfeld on that, the comments were made beginning in 2008, so, seven years ago, it was not a passing comment, i took a transcript of all of those remarks to president bush 41, and i said i cant take these off the record, but if youd like to say, i said this in the heat of the moment, i rethought this, ill note that. He looked me right in the eye and said, thats what i said. Why do you think he chose to speak out in this way . I think the sons presidency was ending. I think that he does believe in history, i think that he understood that there was fairly, and unfairly, a sense that the 43 administration was swaggering too much. There was too much swagger and not enough diplomatic substance. And he kind of believes that . He did believe it. 43 disagrees with it. Reporter his own years in the oval office. He had these great triumphs. The gulf war, managing this transition at the end of the cold war, which leads to, in your words, the great despondency. The great despondency, he was so down after the gulf war. Aggression is defeated. The war is over. [ applause ] he said in his diary that there is no battleship missouri moment. What kind of victory is it when the enemy remains in power . He was as frustrated about that as a lot of other americans were, but he knew that he had done the right thing. Clinically depressed . I dont think clinically depressed, i think he was very, very down. I think hes beginning to move into that thyroid condition which can affect your mood. Reporter driving bush to consider a dramatic move. He really believed that he might one day walk in to press room and say im not going to run again. He fantasized about that. Do you think he wishes now that he would have . No. Hes too competitive. Reporter all throughout the book, hes a proud father. He said that topping saddam was a proud moment in america history. Reporter and jeb bush . And on his own legacy, bush is strikingly modest. He leaves the white house and his judgment to him, in retrospect, that hes an asterisk in history. He said i feel like an asterisk. On another occasion, i feel lost between great hero the trumpets of reagan and the trials and tribulatis of my sons. What is his place in history . I think he looks better and better, a president of great consequence. Roundtable is up next, their take on the targeting of ben carson, Donald Trumps standup very popular still, if you were running against your husband right now, would you have won that race . I think you have to have that kind of confidence if youre in this arena right to be president. So, if i were to run against him, would i win . Yeah. And that debate might break ratings records as well, hillary versus bill. Lets talk about all the weeks politics with our roundtable. Donna brazile, Alex Castellano Maggie Haberman and rich lowry. Lets begin with ben carson, you saw him come on this morning, again taking on the press on all these questions about his past, he says theres nothing there, he said its going to help him, rich lowry, is he right . Its going to help him. Media coverage is extremely important. Negative coverage is gold for these candidates. He should have been more precise in some of the things that he said in his book. To most republicans its going to feel like a campaign of character assassination. From the media . Absolutely. Do you agree with that, alex . Absolutely. Ted cruz in the last debate the biased media was unfair, ben carson has just been given that opportunity. He can run against ben carson deniers who say hes not the man he is. And this helps him, because we know hes a man of service, a humble guy, soft spoken, now he has the opportunity to demonstrate strength. But look, george, everyone appreciates, and i think respects ben carsons life story, not one of us would take i think objection to his childhood and his socalled journey, but the central case of his campaign is not his ideas, not his politics, its his bio, his character, so these questions undermine some of the central points that hes been making about himself. Therein lies the danger that hell face in the primary campaign. Do you think this will cause the media to push back and not go after these questions . I dont think so. On this issue of what happened in college at yale, whether he was photographed as the most honest student, he said we found it. I think there will be pressure on him to release that and put that out. Negative Media Attention has been a huge boon to republican candidates. Trump has shown us that you can say things that arent true, but if you can say them with authority, it doesnt matter. Usually when a politician is accused of exaggerating its to glorify himself or herself. To say i was more courageous than i was. This is ben carson, more about his you temper, its about glorifying god. Telling the story about how god transformed his life. You Better Believe every single evangelical voter in iowa understands that. Marco rubio started to rise, coming out of that last debate, getting more questions, some krcriticism from donald trp over his credit card charges. Hes put out now all of the charges going back to 2005 and 2006. As i look at that, i wonder if jeb is going to repeat the attack his campaign had the last time around . Doesnt seem to be a lot there and right now, taking on marco rubio doesnt particularly help jeb bush, its still a very crowded field, and jeb isnt necessarily next in line. He has to take out marco rubio, doesnt he . Not until he becomes a place where votes can go. Another candidate whos really poaching moderate voters that jeb needs. But hes not chosen his adversary as well. Trump, he didnt win any of the exchanges with trump. He was embarrassed when he went after rubio in the last debate, including the credit cards. And there appears to be nothing there. Scott walker left the race and jeb bush had a lane to sort of drive ahead and he finds himself now in a collision with marco rubio but, i think jeb bushs problem is that Jeb Bush Still cannot articulate why hes running for president. He talks a lot about himself. He keeps turning the camera on himself. I know i have to perform better. I have i have to do better. John mccain in 07 and 08 didnt talk about how he was going to be better, he just went out and performed better. And jeb bush so far, he hasnt. We need to see in the debate this week a much better performance. What would that be . Forceful, winning some exchanges with people. And hes talked about performance kind of slightly the last few weeks. Performance is important these last few weeks. Maybe Calvin Coolidge could have gotten away with it. But not in the modern media age. And as we come in on the next debate, and we close in, 90 days away from iowa, donald trump and ben carson getting over 50 of the votes, are republicans in the establishment, coming around to the idea they might get the nomination . 60 of republicans think trump is going to be nominee. Carson wins iowa, probably the most likely scenario at this moment. We go to new we go to New Hampshire, and then New Hampshire gets to validate an alternative. Right now, that would probably be donald trump. The races are decided, no nominee has been chose on the republican side in the modern media age since kennedy or nixon who didnt win one of these two states. Because they vote in these states. But the campaigns are seen nationally. No other story than what we see in those early states. That could be the race. Nevada, South Carolina, you get the big s. E. C. Primary on march 1st. And if trump is ahead at that point, i dont know how you stop him. On the democratic side, maggie, we just saw Bernie Sanders right there, he seems somewhat ambivalent about how hard to take her on . Thats right. It was toughish. He has advisers that want to go further and more narrowly at her. You see it as you say in his conversation, you see it in what hes talking about in this forum in South Carolina the other night, he didnt look like he wanted to repeat some of attacks he made against her. Last week in an interview, he suggested forgiving her for those emails was maybe not such a bad idea. Its a legitimate issue. Its appropriate to talk about. He didnt talk about it on friday night. He said, you know, she would be light years better than any other republican. He doesnt want to damage her too badly. Yeah, i think this is a key ambiguity. Lot of it has to do with what the nature of the democratic electorate. They really dont want to hear about Hillary Clintons vulnerabilities. Now, this discord with the general public, where a lot of these matters have hurt her, but democrats dont want to hear it. Democratic voters overwhelming say, they say this isnt a voting issue. He followed the line in New Hampshire. And democrats want to hear about ideas. Bernie has been really good talking about the political revolution, talking about Campaign Finance reform, and issues that energize democrats hell do very well. Talking about what rich was talking about, democrats are looking to preserve the democratic brand, do you think that same dynamic is holding on the republican side . Preserving the donald trump brand. I think were slightly too chaotic for that at the moment. Were a party, were a dumpster fire, theres nothing to preserve. Bernie sanders is interesting, hes had go big problems. One, what tina fey to sarah palin, larry david is doing to Bernie Sanders. Hes got no campaign now. Hillary clinton has absorbed his campaign and the message, and she looks like shes going to win. So, he has very little to say thats different. Hes trying to find differences that are platable and there arent any. I think voted differently on the war of 1812. Hillary clinton trying to close the gap on any issue except guns. Shes running a smart campaign. Shes trying to get back to talking to to the middle. I think shes going to do very well. But look, this campaign isnt over with. We have two debates this week. Democrats are real excited about the debate. We dont have to talk about the republican debate. But the truth is, the Republican Party is in chaos because they dont know exactly what they stand for anymore. We very clear to getting money and growing the economy. Thats the last word today. Thank you all very much. Up next, bob woodruff reports from the South China Sea on that breakthrough between taiwan and china and what it means for the u. S. That breakthrough between taiwan and china and what it means for the u. S. There you see the first handshake between leaders of china and taiwan in 66 years, it lasted a full minute. Opening talks to signal a new phase for those two countries. All of asia and the u. S. , as bob woodruff explains from his visit to the South China Sea with defense secretary ash carter. Reporter we met defense secretary ash carter on the uss roosevelt. On patrol in the South China Sea, the accept center of this new clash, America Surveillance shows china on a building spree. One of the biggest back in 2012. Here it is today. The new construction is making other countries nervous, this territory around the Spratly Islands is claimed by many, including vietnam and the philippines. They built hundreds of meters in the past couple of months. Reporter u. S. Military planes watching from the air and this week going further, president obama sending a guided missile destroyer within 12 nautical miles of one island. Cruising right by the roosevelt during our interview. What are we trying to accomplish do you think shoo that are going to stop doing what well, what were doing is what we have done for decades, thats a reflection of the American Military presence in this region, and were strengthening that with president obama. Why is that . Because if the american strength here has kept peace in the region which has no nato, no security structure, thats the reason were out here. Reporter the u. S. Is also here because more and more Asian Countries want to keep china in check. Also former enemies like vietnam. Secretary carter was there in june. Who would ever thought that vietnam would want us back here . I remember very well a time when we were at war with vietnam, now they very much want the american presence and that relationship and that was my purpose. Reporter regarding this new dispute, chinas president saying this area has been chinas territory since ancient times. More aggressive china under president xi . Well, this is widely viewed in the region as an aggressive act. And the United States regards it by the way, china is the only country doing this. We challenge all of the president xi, when he came to the United States to visit president obama, pledged, said he had no intention of militarizing that region. And he needs to be good to his word. For our part, well continue to sail, fly, operate wherever International Law permits. Reporter for this week, bob woodruff, abc news, on the uss roosevelt in the South China Sea. Thanks to bob for that. Now, we honor our fellow americans who serve and sacrifice. In the month of october, nine Service Members were killed supporting operations in afghanistan and iraq. Thats all for us today. Thanks for sharing part of your sunday with us. Check out world news tonight and ill see you tomorrow on good morning america. Check out world news tonight and ill see you tomorrow on good morning america. Defense news, an update on efforts to commemorate the first world war. First, 75 years ago, britain won the battle of britain. It involved ousands of reddish forces but it was the britis forces. Are like today and one of them is the only surviving ace with 14 kills. Tom neil was a hurricane pilot. His only mishap, bailing out of his plane after his commander collided with them. He commended a Training Squadron and was the british liaison to the u. S 100 fighter wing. He also fought in the invasion of europe. His career started in 1938. He flew early jet fighters after the war ginger