Greatly improved, the iron dome successfully intercepting hundreds of in coming rockets, but, israel is facing a better armed hamas, that has the backing of a new islamist government in egypt. This all presenting a serious challenge for both the United States, and the obama administration. And, new obstacles in creating a genuine israelipalestinian peace process. Well take all of that up here tonight, with admiral james lyons, retired commander of the u. S. Pacific fleet and also, president obama wants more in the 1. 5 trillion in tax hikes, but he has no plan or announced cuts in spending, why those tax hikes dont add up to anything meaningful and well talk with the ceo of cke restaurants, andy puzder and says, tax rates will stifle Economic Growth and our favorite doctors are here, to psychoanalyze the scandal that brought down the head of the cia. We are delighted to be joined, now, by the admiral james lyons, retired commander of the u. S. Pacific fleet. It is always good to have you with us. Thanks for being here. Nice to be back with you, lou. Lou lets turn, to first, the talking pois. Which, it seems that no one after general petraeus made it clear there had been changes in those talking points, the testimony before congress s been surveyed, and congressman mike rogers, the chair of the house intelligence committee, said, it has to be the white house, because everybody else has testified that they didnt. Do you agree . I agree. And, in that deputys committee im hurry the white house representative and the National Securityfrom the National Security agency, council, had his marching orders. Lou his marching orders and petraeus for his part says part of the confusion here, that is primarily, i believe, it is safe to say the confusion between the testimony he gave to congress, three days after september 11th, and what he said over the past few days, to congress, represents what happens when you try to avoid tipping off terrorists, do you buy that . Well, according to congressman king, it certain indicates that petraeus lied during his first testimony. Lou and not a ploy but, rather, straightforwardly misrepresented the truth, to congress. Is it possible for a military man, the head of the intelligence agency, to decide, take it upon himself or herself, the good of the country and misrepresent reality, to the United States congre . I dont know what type of pressures were borne on them, but, certainly, based on what congressman king has reported, in the open press, it certainly appears that way. Lou lets turn to the president , pivoting as the white house is putting it, to the pacific which means he is, obviously, now in southeast asia, you see a more political motivation, here, than if you will, geopolitical or Foreign Policy issues. Well, this is the old wash game when you have a scandal breaking and brewing, in washington, get out of town. Lou and what do you think of the president deciding to use the language of the former military government, of burma, and refer to burma as myanmar, what do you make of that, if anything . Well, i really dont know what to make of it. But, certainly, while hes out there, on this trip, i certainly hope he would take the opportunity to condemn china for its bullying and aggressive tactics and items island imperialism the sou and East China Sea and while hes there, he should make it very clear to china that should their tactics involve any hostilities between our allies, japan, and the philippines, our mutual defense treaty will be brought into play. Anything less than that, will not deter china from its aggressive taics. A shot needs to be fired across our bow. Lou turning to israel and the engagement with hamas, which looks like, rht now, despite the involvement of the United Nations secretarygeneral and others, in trying to mediate, it looks like it could well turn into a ground operation, which the israelis have threatened within a matter of days. What are your what is your outlook . Well, i think that certainly is a possibility, but, lou you have to step back from this. Who supplies hamas . It is iran. And, youve got to look aa irans role in the current conflict. Certainly, egypt has a hand from morsi and his disastrous economic policy. But, what it has done for iran, it certainly has taken the Iran Nuclear Issue off of the table. You cant even find it in the paper today. And, lets face it. Iran has been at war with the United States for over 33 years, they conducted another act of war, just a week or so ago when they fired on our unmanned drone. As usual, we did not come forth to meet the challenge. Lou admiral, thank you very much and as you point out, the national media, not taking note of iran in this context. The conflict between israel and hamas. Not taking note of the president s agenda and the absence of china on his pacifi pivot. Admiral, we always appreciate talking to you. Thanks so much for your time. Nice to be here. Lou joining us now is congressman louie gohmer, elected to a term and vice air of the committee on terrorism and Homeland Security and served as chief justice for the 12th court of appeals. Lets start with the fiscal cliff. I want to go to your call for a special prosecutor. On benghazi, but, going to the fiscal cliff, the speaker making it very clear, that hs going to approach the negotiation of the white house, on the cliff, positive with some sense at least of accommodation, potential accommodation, if his terms are met. That is positive stuff, dont you think . Well, it is positive. T, theres a lot of pressure, right now, and, of course, pressure is what you can use to take care bonn and make diamonds. This is the time to be bold. This is not the time to be defensive and im glad the speaker has come forward with a proposal but, the thing is, we ought to be taking the president s words and sticking them back with him. He wants everybody to pay their fair shar lets do it. Lets ve capital gains, 15 . Lets have income tax, 15 , gift taxes, 15 , lets make sure that Warren Buffett finally starts paying at least as much as his secretary, in the percentage, and, what has been proposed, here, by the president , will not have Warren Buffett paying the same as his secretary, in percentage. Lets have a flat tax, lou. Lets take the president at his word. If you make more you will pay more and this i thenly way that that is going to happen. Lou you know, i believe the speaker boehner, perhaps the president himself may have been talking to you, talking to steve forbes and others who talked about theossibility of reforming the entire tax code. That could this is a great time. You know, the kind of time. And, not only that, lets dont forget the last time that the senate had a budget, it was when harry reid worked with his friend, Speaker Pelosi and nobody in the 2008 budget complained that it wasnt spending enough money. Lets go back to 2008. 2. 5 trillion, and cuts off a trillion in spending, right there. Lou there are all sorts of ways to get there, as you suggest here tonight, and, as suggested in other forums as well, but the idea that this president an boehner are coming together to have at least a civil discourse over what in the world were going to do about the fiscal cliff, six weeks remain, are you any more hopeful as a result of the tone theyve taken on the first day o discussion . Well, i wasnt hopeful with the president s tone, when he said are you being partisan he . Im not being partisan, i am being objective, when i say that the president proposed 1. 6 trillion in new revenue . He wants to destroy the economy . Come on. Whon their right mind will allow that kind of increase to devastate the economy. It will not be hostess going out ofbusiness. Lou that is a good point and it is interesting, no one is talking about the fact that individual tax payments, taxpayer payments, Internal Revenue service, receipts from those taxpayers have risen 26 under the bush tax cuts, over the past two years which tells us that the awer here is growth. Thats right. Lou im a simple fellow and id like to see everybody Start Talking to each other. Let me turn to benghazi, because, the special prosecutor. There is a sense of hopelessness that is palpable in washington, d. C. , right now. Because, i dont believe the congress feels that it has the strength or the tools to actually penetrate the veil of denial and secrecy and opaqueness that is the administration, when it comes to what it has done. Witness the last nine weeks. You are calling for a special prosecutor, and the fellow who has to do that work for the president of the United States. Thats right, the attorney general. The attorney general has to do it. We do you really see eric holder saying, you know what . Congressman, i think you have a splendid idea and what well do is were going to investigate ourselves. Well, if he doesnt appoint a special prosecutor, someone to do an independent investigation what you have is the very people who have floated the idea of prosecuting general petraeus for adultery in the military. Theres all kinds of things floated that they might do to him, theres all kinds of pressure that can be brought to bear. Lou wait. Are you saying you dont think, speaking earlier, with former cia operative, harry bernson, you dont think it is a poincince, all of that hell started raining down on David Petraeuss head as soon as he issued the. With the administration, the timeline on benghazi, did you. Exactly and i love your sarcasm, one of the reasons i love you, lou. That is exactly the problem and the way we do have the tools, number one, we have the purse strings, if it becomes a department of injustice we have the power to defund it. And, when it is clearly being used to exact injustice, it is time to defund the parts of it that are being unjust. We have that power. And, the other thing that is so real quick. When the American People rise up and say, this is crazy, people were crying for help and nobody did anything . You know, the commercial about, who do you want wanting the phone at 3 00 a. M. , the answer we find out, for heavens sakes, somebody answer the phone. And nobody did. The president goes to bed, people were being tortured and terrorized, and killed. And he goes to bed . Who was acting president pro tem . Valerie jarrett . We need to know. Because i tell you what . Were going to fin out the protocol requires that when an ambassador becomes under attack, he has to know within 10 minutes. Who was notified . President pro tem jarrett . Who . We need to know and this attorney general is not going to do it. The American People need to rise up and make it clear, we need an independent investigation. Lou congressman, as always, good talking with you, thanks for being here. Always good to talk to you, lou. Lou from leaders descending on the white house to persuade the president t be pro business. The ceo of restaurant chain carls, jr. And hardees, doesnt think the president is doesnt think the president is listing, 4g lte is the fastest. So, which supeast 4g lte service would yochoose, based on this chart . Dont rush into it, im not looking for the fastest answer. Obviously verizon. Okay, i have a different chart. Going that way, does that make a difference . Look at verizon. Its so much more than the other ones. So what if we just changed the format altogether . Isnt that the exact same thing . Its pretty clear. Still sticking with verizon. Verizon. More 4g lte coverage than all other networks combined. Over lou a group of top ceos also meeting with the president , today, saying they were encouraged, but my next guest says raising tax rates will stifle Business Growth and cost jobs, joining me now, andy puzder, of ck restaants that owns carls, jr. And hardees. Good to have you with us. Good to be here, lou. Lou lets start with the idea that this president wants 1. 6 trillion, in new taxes, that is a heck of an initial bargaining position, isnt it. It is. The president talks about tax rates and wants tax rate increases and converts tha into dollars and the real question here is, can you raise tax revenues . The only way to raise enough revenues to get us out of trouble is private sector growth and you will not have that, if you are sealing the private sector you wil raise their taxes and, their Health Care Costs and their energy costs and raise their labor costs and people are not going to invest, you will not find the job creation you need. American businesses want the president to succeed. I didnt support him or vote for him but i want him to succeed, because his success is tied to my success. And, conversely, his success is tied to the success of american business, and, if he can there ought to be Common Ground here. Im not seeing it yet. Lou what do you think of the idea that a dozen ceos from Big Companies show up at the white house, to talk big with the big guy, but, Small Business, that creates most of the jobs in the country not represented. These folks represent a fraction of our economy. And, they have a major, major portion of the lobbying efforts, and the pressure that is applied in washington. What is your reaction to that, andy . These are good people, smart peop, intelligent people, t, you really have to look at how they are motivated different than Small Businesses would be, and, these Large Businesses can be the judge of govnment actions and it is easy to select them and move them out and they can be ubject to a tax and also are sometimes subsidized, so theyve got to worry about their subsidies and may have government contracts and are concerned about those, Small Businesses arent concerned with those things and could make a much better case to the president. As to what needs to be done in the economy to create jobs. What would it take for sul businesses, business men and women, to create jobs and grow the economy. He needs to ask, i think, he would get a consistent answer across the Broad Spectrum and doesnt need to keep talking to the same highlevel executives he has been talking to and needs to get into the lower levels and talk to Small Business men and women. Lou lets you and i get down to brass tacks here. We are talking about raising the top rate the president is talking about it and we are dragged along with him. Talking about almost 40 , raising the top rate, about 40 and talking about you know, we already see the top 2 , paying 50 of all of the taxes. I dont know what the impact will be. But, i do have a sneaking suspicion that the president isnt aware that the fact that individual tax payments to this government have risen be 25 under the bush tax rates over the past two years and that the real answer is staring him and everybody else in the face, that is, growth. Yes. Lou private sector growth is the only way out and the government has done everything it could possibly do, 800 billion in stimulus and Interest Rates are almost at zero and we are printing money like it is going out of style and the government has done what it can do and now the private sector has to move in and the 39. 6 tax rate, you are not adding in the 3. 8 , obama increase in payroll taxes, it is over 40 and it hits Small Businesses, subchapters corporations and, llc as and flowflew entities and the corpote tax rate goes down and it makes them feel good and the businesses hit by the tax increases are the very small and midsized businesses that create jobs. Lou folks who werent there today, andy. The folks were not there today. Same people that theyll hit with obamacare and internally increases and labor cost increases. Lou what if i told you that i think it makes some sense, give him at the margin what he wants on taxes, okay . Whether that is on investment tanks capping deductions, basically what mitt romney was proposing, which made a lot of sense, i think for most folks, get this done, and, then, sa all right, now what will you do . You will still be left, if you roll all of that up, you are still going to be left with a huge hole called the deficit and it will have to mean cutting the federal budget. So, even if we increase the tax rates, as you noted, by the way, the top 1 in this country makes 17 of the income, and pay 37 of the taxes. I mean, so, the fair share argument really isnt up against a hard out here, and im going to ask you to give us your last thought here. Mr. President , please, please, work with the business community. We want you to succeed. But, you are putting impediments in our way that make it impossible. We want you to succeed, we want to succeed. Work with us. Please work with us. Andy puzder, thanks for being with us. European nations on the wrong side of the fiscal cliff but the president says america can steer clear. President barack obama i believe it is solvable and my budget, frankly does it and i dont the republicans to adopt my budget, i recognize we have to compromise. Compromise is hard. Lou more than a trillionandahalf dollars in tax hikes, no spenng cuts. Tax hikes, no spenng cuts. What is the deal . So, what happens if im in an accident and need to get my car fixed . Progressive makes it easy, because we give you choices. You can pick where to get your car fixed, we can cut you a check, or, at our service center, we take care of everything for you. [ relaxing music playing ] [ chuckles ] whew, so many choices. Take your time. He service center. Okay. Giving you choices now, thats progressive. Call or click today. Lou well the president wants to raise taxes. By 1. 6 trillion. That is his opening gambit. His initial bargaining position. On the fiscal cliff. He wants to that over the next decade. And, this is the kind of math i like, it works out to 160 billion per year, in taxes. Republicans howling about that. Are they wrong to be upset . Lets look at numbers. Earlier this year, the president unveiled a 3. 8 i love this. We talk about these numbers like there is nothing do it. 3. 8 trillion budget. All right, he forecast a 1. 3 trillion deficit. Okay . So that means, if i can figure that out, he had 2. 5 trillio