i think it s heartening they re at least entering the conversation. because it raises the question, if objectively we have an inequal tuty problem, what s the gop solution? and economists say the official poverty vat 159%. but there s misleading statistics around there. it doesn t include food stamps, earned income tax credit, medicaid. maybe the war on poverty has been more successful than numbers sut, bob, because we have a safety net toyed we didn t have before. you can argue about the numbers to any extent that you want, but try to imagine what the situation, what the landscape would look like right now, if we hadn t had medicare, medicaid, the food stamp program, school lunches and that sort of thing. so to that extent, the war on pvty really helped a tremendous number of people, but going forward i think you ve made the essential point. you can t take care of inequality, upward mobility, poverty, any of those things
many are looking at the gop presidential candidates with a fresh eye. did rick perry do anything to damage his status as the frons runner? i ll ask newt gingrich about his performance as well. stand by. he s joining us live. plus, a brazen taliban attack on the united states embassy in afghanistan. some insurgents may still be on the loose now. we have new pictures and information coming from kabul and some top california politicians are trying to figure out what, if anything, is left of their stolen campaign war chest. a well-known democratic campaign treasurer stands accused of swindling more than a million dollars in campaign donations. i m wolf blitzer. you re in the situation room. rick perry may have walked away from his second presidential debate feeling battered and bruised. the tea party face off proved to be a very tough test for the texas governor. less than 24 hours after the republican candidate stood on stage with me in tampa, reviews still are coming in about