true. that s because he gave no evidence to back it up. today, edward snowden from russia denied the implication, calling it absurd. so, that leaves his word against congressman rogers. mr. snowed jen exiled in russia, so we re unable to talk to him. we thought we would have better luck with chairman rogers, so we invited him on to the program to tell us what he could on the claim, and he declined, leaving the claim out there totally unsubstantiated. we ve taken public servants on their word before only to find out they weren t telling the truth or were exaggerating. listen to this exchange from senator ron wyden and director of national intelligence james clapper. what i wanted to see is if you could give me a yes-or-no answer to the question does the nsa collect any type of data at all on millions or hundreds of millions of americans? no, sir. it does not? not wittingly. there are cases where they
retirement. do necessity they need to? kicking back may not be so bad, though. i m not going to give you a yes-or-no answer. you refuse to answer that question? ouch! the president s nominee for defense secretary having a pretty tough time in the hot seat. will chuck hagel get confirmed? our political insiders are here to weigh in on that. we begin with the hostage crisis in alabama. today, a bus driver shot to death by a man who abducted a five-year-old has been laid to rest. in the meantime, police are continuing to provide the little boy with as many comfort items as possible as they work to secure his release. now to alabama. jonathan, at funeral for the bus driver, what did people say?
are can you answer the question? the question is, were you right or wrong? that is a straightforward question. i would like to have an answer. i am not going do give you a yes-or-no answer. he refused to answer the question for the record. gregg: john mccain may have missed his calling, he should have been a lawyer. so, how many republicans will vote for their former colleague. we have john leboutillier, former republican congressman, for new york. pat caddell, former pollster for president carter and doug schoen former pollster for bill clinton i googled worst confirmation hearing ever and up popped chuck hagel. i thought it would be john tower or bork. hagel got the worse. here is what happened.
the concerns that have come of it, but i think . trace: were you drinking? were you drinking at the time? guest: i have no, i had, i had, i had been drinking before. trace: yes-or-no when you threw your own son over the boat? the people on the boat said you appeared to be drunk? we just want do know, we have known that you have pleaded guilty of not paying your child support, do you believe you are a good father? do you think it was the right thing to do? would you do it again toss your seven-year-old son over the side or the back or the bow of the boat or out the boat? guest: no, i do not. however, i want to make it clear that it was jumping in together, not tossing him over the side. trace: you tossed him and you jumped in and others rescued him and the 9-1-1 call started going right there at 85 people
up their chests and say they are the voted representatives of the people and how dare you. do you not realize you are infringing and on it goes and on it goes. and if it wasn t so comical, it would actually be serious because these are the very same people who will happily talk the hind legs off the donkey if given a chance. and they won t give a yes-or-no answer when asked about national policy. good to know we are all exactly the same around the world, richard. can i just jump in quickly? i agree with richard about this theater and i do think politicians are drama queens wherever you go, but on consumer protection, actually when it comes to financial products, american consumers have less protection from the government than consumers in a lot of other countries.