the intelligence analysis, why didn't he have an escape plan and it must be, they believe that he felt he was safe that had he had a network of protection, there are now several factors they're looking at. first and foremost, no escape plan he's found on the:30 floor of a building. no way to get out. he knows somebody is coming up the stairs shooting and it was, of course, the navy s.e.a.l.s. why didn't he have a better plan. why didn't his people at the compound attempt to destroy the mountains of evidence, the intelligence documents, the computer gear, the clues about what al qaeda was up to? why didn't they try to destroy it and, of course, the third thing is he only had three other men at the compound. one of his sons, a courier and the courier's brother. yes, they were trying to keep a low profile in the neighborhood, not attract a lot of attention but only three other guys. that's not a lot of firepower on a good day when you don't have 2 navy s.e.a.l.s coming at you through 18-foot-tall walls, so the feeling is he must have had good reason to feel he was going to be safe. he got complacent. what they're looking for now, what was the support network that osama bin laden felt he had? john? >> another important concern for the pentagon, secretary gates raised this tonight, want to read you what he told marines at camp lejeune in a speech today. secretary gates speaking to those marines. he said this about the raid and about those s.e.a.l.s. there's been a consistent and effective effort to protect the identities of those who participated in the raid and i think that has to continue. we are concerned about the security of our families and our troops and also these elite units engaged in things like that and without getting into any details i would tell you when i met with the team last thursday, they expressed a concern about that. and particularly with respect to their families." barbara, it is clear the defense secretary said they were beefing up security. they are worried that if the names of these elite s.e.a.l.s get out, there could be retaliatory strikes against their families. >> reporter: john, absolutely. this is extraordinary. this is the first indication america has of what this team is worried about, what these men are thinking about. there is always concern about the security of american forces, make no mistake, but these special operations troops, these covert operatives do the most dangerous work every day in afghanistan and now on this mission. there is concern about al qaeda retaliation and secretary gates openly saying they are, indeed, trying to pump up security around these men and around their families. they are very worried about it, john. >> an important statement from the defense secretary tonight, barbara starr at the pentagon, thank you. more on bin laden in a moment. now to new york city where police charged two men with allegedly plotting to pose as jewish worshipers and sneak a bomb into a manhattan synagogue. cnn's susan candiotti is tracking that. susan. >> reporter: the alleged plotters may have been short on details, but they had tall dreams, there was talk of blowing up both crowded and empty synagogue, a church and possibly even new york's iconic empire state building. the plot was busted before it became operational. new york's counterterrorist squad said they had their eyes on the men for seven months and set up a sting and once they sold them three semiautomatic pistol, 100 rounds of ammo and a disabled grenade they popped them on a new york street. >> do the prosecutors think they could have pulled this off. >> reporter: the two are described as self-motivated jihadists. lone wolf, wanna-bes not linked to any extremist groups but new york may are bloomberg calls them just as dangerous. the plot's not linked to the death of bin laden and ray kelly said the men hated jews, called them rats and said muslims, quoting here, are getting abused all over the world and we're not going to take it anymore. as to whether they could pull it off, it's hard to say. the suspects talked about disguising themselves as jews, attending services and then blowing up a synagogue. >> and, susan, who are these guys? you say they're not affiliated with anybody. but what do we know about them. >> reporter: one is 26 years old, immigrant from north africa. one calls a leader and a follower and the second is only 24 years old from moroccmorocco. a naturalized u.s. citizen and he is a livery service dispatcher. the fbi was aware of the case but deferred to the new york city police to lead and prosecute. if guilty they could spend the rest of their lives behind bars. they apriored briefly in court today and their attorneys say they are innocent of their charges. >> susan couldn't yachty, thanks. in abbottadad in a walled compound for as many five years there is still disbelief days later and growing anger at the united states. >> reporter: they're here because they're furious at the united states as what they see is an invasion of their sovereignty by the navy s.e.a.l.s at the bin laden compound. we're seeing protesters holding signs, some in english, also organized flags from one of the main pakistani organizations trying to harness this anger at the united states. >> no apologies for that raid here in washington where the obama administration is racing to search all the files in the bin laden compound for clues to the attack plans and whereabouts of other al qaeda leaders. from our reporting, number one, what have they collected from the raid? we know there was a home video brooib. about five computers. about 100 portable electronic storage devices, dvds and thumbdrives you might use on your laptop. what are they getting? intelligence from those. afghanistan and pakistan viewed as a lower priority. talked about african-american and latino recruitment, disgruntled americans at home to launch attacks. timing something to the september 11th anniversary. disagreements on targets within al qaeda and discussion by bin laden if security is big around washington and new york, maybe you want to look for smaller u.s. cities as your targets. also a lot of communications collected. cell phone, recording devices, a handwritten journal from bin laden and planning documents in multiple languages and printed materials going through. that's what is collected. the question is what intelligence do you get from it? they believe bin laden, remember many officials said he was out of the loop. they believe now he was in regular contact with al qaeda franchis franchises. direction focused on big broader objectives. not so much on specific plans. no apparent contact with the al qaeda in the arabian peninsula leader. the american-born awlaki but he was in touch with other aq/ap leaders. let's dig deeper. greg miller is the national correspondent and your detail is fascinating. in terms of bin laden's activities, what jumps out at you as most at odds with what we thought. >> he is in frequent communication with a very tight circle of people who he trusts and knows. u.s. officials say that circle has shrunk over time. more and more of those people are dead now and more -- and many of them are in guantanamo bay so in regular communication with a small group but also sending broader outlined messages out to groups like aqap in yemen to keep them focused on 9 united states. >> one thing i found fascinate, friction in the ranks. bin laden wants get the united states, go after cities in the united states. a lot had more regional grievances and that caused tensions. >> yes. as one u.s. official described it their reaction is, hey, that's easy for you to say. you're not out here with us. in yemen trying to carve out a place that is safe for them and they're thinking if we mount attacks on the united states then we're just going to have more drones patrolling us and dropping strikes against us. >> peter, as someone who spent so much time studying al qaeda, let's start first on the africa. bin laden is the leader but some of the ground troops, if you will, are having doubts about their thinking. >> they began before 9/11 where people within al qaeda were saying to him, maybe the 9/11 plan or attacking the united states is against islam killing civilians and maybe it actually is going to be counterproductive. we'll have this 800-pound gorilla coming after us which turned out to be true and documents picked up on it. senior members writing to each other saying this was a disaster so this has been a debate going on in al qaeda for over a decade. attacking the united states might not be a smart move but let's do the things locally that we want to do. >> they don't agree that on his grand plan. what does it tell you with the communication, not with the leader in arabian peninsula but a yemeni he knew in the organization. >> well, i think that's unexpected. the idea that he wasn't in strategic control. most experts thought he was. when you join al qaeda even as an affiliate you pledge your personal oath of allegiance to bin laden. he is the dictator of al qaeda and all its affiliates but the fact he was doing operational things with these groups, that i think is pretty surprising. >> from your reporting it seems he was having almost a debate with himself, bin laden. that he would love to do something on the grand scale of 9/11 again but also saying, go to the united states, find oppressed latino-americans, african-americans who might be disgruntled. >> there is a note of almost desperation in some of this. he's looking for ways to replicate that big strike and it's just so -- one of the things i think counterterrorism officials are puzzled by, given his fix indication on this, his inability to follow up on that over this past ten years is striking. >> and to that point, the inability to follow up, is it has surprised u.s. officials that bin laden was foe sack tiff. they thought he was up in the cave, not involved in day to day, what is the assessment now of he's active but effective, that's a question mark. >> well, certainly not effective and i mean it's interesting greg is talking about these latin americans he was hoping to kind from -- the united states to recruelty. there was a guy, neil venus from long island, hispanic american and traveled to an al qaeda training camp and was prized by al qaeda and talked about perhaps an attack on the long island railroad, so it wasn't just an aspirational thing but recruit people who are americans sort of disaffected, converse to islam just as bin laden suggested was the right approach. >> and we've been having a conversation about what bin laden wanted, which is almost in some ways backwards looking because bin laden is now dead. in terms of what they've gathered that gives them forward looking where are people like al zawahiri, what's your sense? >> my sense is it's interesting what is in this material but also what is not in the material and sources i've talked to say that there are no rosters. there are no lists of people and their locations. when he sends these messages out to his number two and number three, they are carried there by couriers but bin laden himself may not have even know where they were in hiding and this may be because of his isolation or the operational security employed by al qaeda, but there are certain things even al qaeda leader appears to be in the dark about. >> that's an interesting question. as someone studied him for so long would that be on purpose? bin laden did not want to know? >> well, certainly would help the operational security, but, you know, this was a guy who intentionally isolated himself from -- i mean i think there was the assessment before bin laden's capture he would be in one place for a very long time, that he wouldn't be in a cave and in this compound and keep the number of people knew where he was to the absolute minimum for obvious reason. >> a surprise bin laden had such a hands-on role after so many years. anything else people have -- your sources say, we didn't know al qaeda was interested in this or didn't know al qaeda was talking about that. >> the more broadly they think it's not surprising that he's so focused and fixated on the united states. i think one of the things that is surprising to counterterrorism officials is something that you touched on at the outset which is the complacency or the apparent complacency here, this is an al qaeda leader who in his last moments appears to have made few preparations for his end or to take care of all of this material that is arrayed around him. >> but you know him as well as anyone, peter. does that tell you he had lost his edge or tell you he felt incredibly comfortable whether from the pakistani security service or military, someone that made him feel so comfortable he didn't plan an exit strategy. >> i don't think we've had evidence of complicity -- i think we'll find incompetence. >> every day you learn something new and a lot is alarming. thank you both. ahead an up close look at the classified photos showing bin laden after he was gunned down. we'll ask who lawmakers who viewed them ha they saw and whether they think bin laden's son should get to see them. did waterboarding help the cia find him? some say yes. john mccain takes issue next. 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>> i think those allegations are not substantiated by the facts. as i pointed out in my piece, the first information concerning this courier abu ahmed was obtained through another individual who is as we know is not subjected to these coercive techniques, in other words, torture. the fact is even though khalid shaikh mohammed mentioned the individual's name, he also gave false. this is one of the problems of torturing, you should get good information and you get bad information. also it's clear you could have gotten the same good information through using standards techniques which do not include waterboarding. >> in the days immediately after the killing of bin laden, director panetta said you can't be completely sure some crumb here or piece of evidence there didn't come from enhanced interrogation techniques. you had exchanges with him as you were preparing to write this essay. was he more definitive with you? >> he pointed out, again, the first mention of the name was from these noncoercive techniques. he also pointed out that the misleading information was provided by ksm and others. he also pointed out that there may have been information gotten from the use of torture, but we also got more reliable information from the standard interrogation techniques. >> did you write this because you just wanted to put an exclamation behind your position that what happened in the past should not happen in the future or do you sense and feel a genuine reviving, maybe we got something here, we should do it again. >> that was the main reason because this flood including former attorney general's statement that they got a flood of information, the first information from khalid shaikh mohammed, that was false and so i felt -- and i had some reluctance, frankly, to get into it that we had to -- had to speak out because i do feel strongly because it really is about the moral standing of the united states of america and the world. >> increasingly when we talk to administration offices, they say they have almost no doubt left that somewhere in the pakistani government or intelligence services, bin laden had a support network. what should happen now? >> it's pretty clear there was some level of knowledge. we're not exactly sure what that is and i think we better set up benchmarks for the pakistani government and the military and isi to meet as a contingency to our further cooperation or assistance. john, it's a complicated issue. they are a nuclear -- they have an arsenal of nuclear weapons. they can provide a safe haven even more so for taliban and al qaeda elements. a failed state in pakistan is not in the united states' interests. there's a downside. there's a downside to a failure of the pakistani government so we'll have to be very careful how we approach this and but yet the status quo is obviously not acceptable. >> because of your role as the senior republican on the armed services committee you are among a select group of members of congress who can, if you want to, sir, go to the cia headquarters and look at the pictures of bin laden to prove to yourself if you need proof conclusively that he is dead. will you take advantage of that? >> no, john. i've lived a long life and i've seen enough dead bodies in pictures. >> you think it would serve no purpose or just you have no doubts and would serve no purpose. >> both, i have no doubts this was osama bin laden and in my view there's no need and i've seen enough of it. >> you have been particularly critical of the case of syria. secretary of state clinton said today that the crackdown in her view, the unacceptable crackdown is a sign of remarkable weakness, her words. what do you think this administration should do more to pressure the assad regime? >> well, i think long ago we should have done away with this idea that ba sthar assad was a reformer. there was no basis for that except wishful thinking. second of all we should be identifying him himself as a subject of sanctions, as you know, we have three others and some others, but he is the one that's responsible. we should be standing up for the people of syria who are lift rally sacrificing their lives in the name of democracy and freedom. ronald reagan proved to anyone's satisfaction during the cold war, you stand up for people, you tell them you're with them. we can't use military force there now. i don't know of any, frankly, viable option but we could certainly tell these people that we are with them and that -- back in the cold war as you might recall that happened and it's so important that we lend our voice especially that of the president of the united states in support of these people and that's what they're asking for. >> senator john mccain earlier from capitol hill. he mentioned his concern about syria. we want to show you evidence of the crackdown. here's the map of syria. most cities have had demonstrations. right up here, this is a six by three-mile area. we'll close this down and want to show you how this works. bring up these right here. close the map here. bring up -- watch these images. watch these. look at the streets. streets are clear. see a little bit of normal traffic. this is a before. now, watch this. as we come across. military trucks here, armored personnel carriers here, tanks on the road. one snapshot of the crackdown. here's another one right here. you see this street right here. bring this over here, you can see the before image. there we go. if you come across, the street is clean. come across, look at that, two, four, six, seven tanks along the side of the road, evidence of one of the government bringing in the military and heavy vehicles as part of its crackdone on its own citizens. we'll keep on top. mitt romney versus mitt romney on first care. first obstacle in 2012 is a health care plan most conservatives can't stand. two lawmakers who viewed the photos of osama bin laden tell us how it felt to know for sure the al qaeda leader is dead. ♪ [ male announcer ] in 2011, at&t is at work, building up our wireless network all across america. we're adding new cell sites... increasing network capacity, and investing billions of dollars to improve your wireless network experience. from a single phone call to the most advanced data download, we're covering more people in more places than ever before in an effort to give you the best network possible. at&t. rethink possible. in an effort to give you the best network possible. what are you looking at? logistics. ben? the ups guy? no, you see ben, i see logistics. logistics? think--ben is new markets. ben is global access-- china and beyond. ben is a smarter supply chain. ben is higher margins. happier customers... everybody wins. logistics. exactly. see you guys tomorrow. but afraid you can't afford it? the obama administration says it sees no reason to release photographs of osama bin laden during and after the raid on his compound in afghanistan. but it is allowing select members of congress to see them. joining us two who saw them. congressman dutch rupe ererrupe and tom rooney. take me through the sequence. how many photos and what do they show. >> we went to thesy. there are probably about six photos total. what we had were photos. facial shots of him alive and dead then there were arrows that showed the facial features that were relevant, body marks, that type of thing but clearly when you look at these photos, my first thought is it is without any doubt at all that they were bin laden. >> congressman rooney, are those taken during the raid or previous photos of him alive. >> older photos juxtaposed next to bin laden after he had been killed. >> okay, and i'll stick with congressman rooney, do you share your colleague's view no doubt this is osama bin laden? >> absolutely no doubt. >> one of the controversies now, one of the questions now is are they too graphic? congressman ruppersberger, you first. there are still some doubters, even his one son said i don't believe you. should they be released. >> anyone you see someone killed and shot it could be considered graphic. the bottom line is we do not want to inflame people who support bin laden or because we don't want to put americans at risk throughout the world. we have americans in all countries all over the world including our military and we're concerned that this could inflame individuals who support bin laden. so i think that -- at this time the president has made the right decision not to release these photos. >> congressman rooney, do you agree. >> i agree with the ranking member for now. i think we should consider reconsidering and to see if, you know, after there's been a cooldown period if it would be appropriate for the american public to see them. they are extremely graphic. >> what do the photos, congressman rooney, to you first, how do they help you, if they do, understand what happened? early on they said there was a firefight and bin laden himself may have fired shot. they say later he was not armed but there were weapons in the room and perhaps some motion toward them. do seeing the photos and narrative you get with them, did it help you understand what happened? >> it did and i know that dutch was a former prosecutor as well. sort of when you see evidence like this and you kind of replay what would have happened or what might have happened in the room that night, you can see how when the shots were fired, what he was probably doing at the time the shots were fired and how he got shot in certain angles and how he fell and that kind of thing, so, yeah, it's -- it's pretty consistent with the way they reported it, you know, from the white house, but part and parcel to our job is being on the intelligence committee is actually to serve as dutch and i were talking about earlier as a check to the administration to make sure everything that they're telling you we can see and would agree with or question if we don't agree with, so this is really a checks and balances exercise that dutch and i participated in today and i think we're both satisfied that, you know, right now may not be the best time t release the photos but maybe eventually we could reconsider. >> well, congressman ruppersberger, keep going on the point. what was he doing? what do the angles tell you? what was he doing when he was shot have. >> what i saw was trauma to the face so there was a wound that clearly killed him right around the eye. but getting back to what tom was saying also, our role on the intelligence committee in congress is the oversight of the intelligence committee. intelligence community. when i first came to congress, i saw that there wasn't a lot of cooperation, that cia, n.s.a., fbi weren't cooperating or working together, right now i think we're as good as we've been based on our research, technology, they're working as a team with the military and i think the message can clearly be sent out to the world right now, if you're going to kill americans, if you're going to attack us that we're going to find you and bring you to justice. >> let me jump in. what message would you send to omar, bin laden's son, that the united states violated international law by gunning down an unarmed man. >> when you kill americans we will he find you and do justice. >> should they allow a private viewing? does he serve that? >> i would not accommodate. if he doesn't believe that he was shot and killed, you know, that's too bad and, you know, i hate to sound heartless but this is osama bin laden we're talking about. this isn't just some run-of-the-mill guy on the streets of america that deserves constitutional rights. he doesn't. dutch said, he killed over 3,000 of our people. he's been wanted. we've been living in what fear of the guy over the last ten years of what's going to happen next. we have the right of self-defense and we took that away -- took any future engagement away from osama bin laden, hurting husband here in the future. if his son has a problem with that, my response would be too bad. >> let me ask you each, what's your personal reaction when you saw this? this is america's and perhaps the world's most wanted man. did it give you a sense of satisfaction to see him dead. >> it was sort of how you're looking at him, vulnerable and pathetic laying there, it was like this is the big bad wolf over the last ten years and almost took on this mythical embodiment because we could never find him and we found him in pakistan in abbottadad. we went in there. we took him out. we had no casualties, you know, lying there dead, you know, with his head half blown off, you just sort of wonder why it took so long, but, you know, there was satisfaction in the sense that we don't have to worry about the next videotape or, you know, what he might is planned because he was still very, very much engaged as the intelligence is showing. >> how about you, congressman ruppersberger? >> my elation came when the director said, leon panetta called me. remember, chairman rogers and i were briefed starting sometime in last february about this mission, but -- i've been on the intelligence committee now for over eight years and had a lot of leads like this before but as it developed, went forward and when lee kwon panetta called me i had elation, i felt like this is so tremendous that we've come this far. >> when you saw those photos? >> when i saw the photos, i looked at it more in my role as a professional. everyone has a role and our role is oversight so my role as not a part of the administration but congress representing my constituents was to make sure that we confirm and did our oversight. again, maybe because i was a former prosecutor and had been involved in homicide cases and seen pictures like this, but i felt the job is done clearly from my point of view, this is osama bin laden. >> let's move past the photographs. you mentioned oversight. you are getting briefings on some of the material, this treasure trove that was seized from the bin laden compound. we hear about his handwritten personal journal and the thumbdrives with instructions and advice to people out in the field. congressman ruppersberger, what is the most important significant thing you have learned that you now know whether it's the cia, fbi or some other government agency is scrambling in a race against time to stop. >> a cumulation. first we want to get as much information as we can to go over other leadership in al qaeda. we want to do that right away. the second priority, find out who is the leadership is. was our intelligence correct? are the people we didn't know that were involved, that's the second phase. the third phase is we have to make sure that we keep moving ahead. we know like in yemen, i just came back from yemen a couple of weeks ago and we know there is an individual, american born, he knows our culture, his name is awlaki. his focus to attack the united states recruiting home grown terrorist, a lone wolf. and we have to make sure we are diligent. we are the best in the world at what we do right now. we came together and took us ten years and the americans can feel very good about our ability to protect our country and to go after al qaeda and other terrorists who want to attack or kill americans. >> congressman tom rooney, republican of florida, congressman dutch ruppersberger from the intelligence committee, thank you for your time. why authorities are considering opening floodgates and the catastrophic impact that might have on those who live nearby. that's next. 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[ professor ] good morning students. today, we're gonna... thanks. distracted driving. it accounts for 25% of car crashes. - ♪ [ dance ] - music, cell phones, food-- the list goes on. this is why safe driving is so important. - correct. - and it's why the best agents... help safe drivers get a lower rate. - oh! - exactly. ♪ another dream but always you ♪ whoa! ♪ it's like a vision-- [ tires squeal ] ♪ [ resumes ] [ man announcing ] we are insurance. ♪ we are farmers bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪ welcome back. if you're just joining us, here's the latest. jan brewer ordered state flags at half-mast to order two border agents killed today as they were chasing illegal immigrants. john ensign of nevada may face criminal charges. a senate ethics committee reports citing credible evidence against him has been sent to the justice department. 3 million acres of farmland are now underwater. the mississippi river already at flood stage expected to keep rising for another 11 days. the army corps of engineers preparing to open a spillway to divert some of that away from baton rouge. ed lavendera gives us a quick look. >> reporter: this is one of the floodgates of the morgan have flood structure. on the other side the pressure is already starting to rise. this structure is almost 5,000 feet long and it has 125 gates. in the coming days some of those will be opened up and when that does a massive water of wall will continue to flow out this way drowning out this area and flowing toward the gulf of mexico. >> keep our eye on that. tonight, country music stars will be performing. one of them there is robin meade. >> this is the set where the telethon will happen from the cmt. i know it looks beautiful and a long way from the horrible devastation that the victims of all these tornadoes and flooding are experiencing right now. but it's certainly close at heart. alabama just got done rehearsing, sounded good. tonight the idea is to not only use music to move them to donate but keep the story in people's minds because some of these flooding victims, they haven't even become the victims yet. i mean they're waiting for the flood and the waters from the mississippi to arrive. so we know the need is great for not only the tornado victims but the upcoming flood victims and so if people are wanting to donate this is going to be through the american red cross so the hoe is on cmt, 9:00 p.m. eastern. by the way, cnn's sister network will reair it sunday night at 9:00 p.m. as well. i'll co-host. i better go back to work and we'll go back to you, john. >> robin meade. watch that program tonight or sunday night on hln. tonight mitt romney tried to get relief for his biggest commit headache. his own record on health care reform. up next, what the governor is saying now. 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>> reporter: most everything is similar, john. it's hard to find the differences. both have individual mandates. both plans have these exchanges set up to buy insurance, there are a lot of other elements, you know, pre-existing condition protections, those sorts of things enormously similar. the differences are in the margins and also that the obama or i should say the health care plan that passed last year nationally includes some ways to control costs and price of insurance that romney's plan did not. but, you know, democrats and republicans will both agree that they -- that one does look a bit like a template for the other. >> governor romney was proud when he signed it. senator edward kennedy, late senator kennedy and others, proud of it then but was watching the blogs and social media when he was giving the speech trying to reposition himself for the republican primaries and conservative criticism is scathing. primaries and the criticism is scathing. >> reporter: it's withering. and it doesn't help that he addressed all this with a power point presentation, which is not usually the most impassioned way a candidate can make his case. but john, what they know is this issue is not going away. i'm speaking to romney's aides. they know this is not going away. this is not the kind of thing that you give one speech and say asked and answered and you're done. his major theme is it worked and it's fine for a state but it's not appropriate for the federal government to take on this issue and it has to be returned to the states. that's the message you'll hear him repeating. they'll continue to refer back to the power point presentation on where romney stands on healthcare insisting that he's being clear on this and not a flip flopper. >> power point, i can't wait. what you have here is governor romney's having problems with the conservative base of the republican party. john mccain, the nominee last time around, also had early problems with the conservative base of the republican party. i was asking a conversation with senator mccain today. i asked him if he thought romney's position on healthcare, the massachusetts law, was disqualified? >> no, i don't think so, john. it's obviously a vulnerability that mitt romney recognizes. and by the way, no one helped me more after the primaries than mitt romney. but it is certainly something that he is addressing and he's going to have to address. but i think the republican voters will be looking at the whole candidate. and we've just begun this fun. >> you have a horse in this fight? >> no. >> many of these other guys are your friends. >> literally every one of them just about are friends of mine that i have a long relationship, and i think it's appropriate for me, as bob dole did and other losers, to stay out of this race and not pick someone and let the voters decide. >> a little background noise while the senator was trying to speech. i love several parts of that. one, obviously a vulnerability. senator mccain had immigration and other issues. it is lower case v vulnerability for romney or is this a big deal? >> reporter: i think it's a big deal. but the issue alluding to flip flopping he's sort of in a darned if you do, darned if you don't position. if he repudiates the policy he passed, then he'll be called a flip flopper. if he embraces it like he tried to do today with some changes, then he's attached to this plan that made the bj wj today call him basically a facsimile of president obama. he should be on the obama ticket. he's going to have to address this issue. but they're hoping that their point to me is that they think you and i care, the pundits and the reporters care a lot more than that than the voters because voters will be glad that he helped more people get healthcare. >> here's my fave right part. senator mccain saying voters will look at the whole candidate and we've just gbegun this fun. you having fun? >> reporter: it's a little windy. what really worries me is that sarah palin said tonight it's too early to make a decision. what kind of world is this when people get going, we're ready to cover a campaign. >> chief power point correspondent jessica yellin. which politician's daughter elicited this reaction from glenn beck? >> are you okay? >> he's sick. what are you looking at? logistics. ben? the ups guy? no, you see ben, i see logistics. logistics? think--ben is new markets. ben is global access-- china and beyond. ben is a smarter supply chain. ben is higher margins. happier customers... everybody wins. logistics. exactly. see you guys tomorrow. an accident doesn't have to slow you down. introducing better car replacement, available only from liberty mutual insurance. if your car is totaled, we give you the money to buy a car that's one model year newer, with 15,000 fewer miles on it. there's no other auto insurance product like it. better car replacement, available only from liberty mutual. it's a better policy that gets you a better car. call... or visit one of our local offices today, and we'll provide the coverage you need at the right price. liberty mutual auto insurance. responsibility. what's your policy? before we go tonight, a taste test. of sorts. here's a snippet from a provocative public service announcement designed to get people to wear sunscreen to protect themselves against skin cancer. >> if you leave the house without sun screen, you might as well be naked. to learn how to protect yourself from this deadly disease, go to mystyle.com. >> i'm done with being naked. >> near the end there was megan mccain. her father senator john mccain is a skin cancer survivor. so is her mother. glenn beck doesn't like megan mccain. this is how beck reacted every time his sidekick mentioned megan mccain. >> are you still looking at the megan mccain -- oh, man, that sounds -- >> understandably cindy mccain took sharp aim. on twitter she said, i'm so glad glenn beck is leaving fox. enough vitriol and hate. glenn, you are no rodeo clown. they are decent and nice. you aren't. earlier today, i asked senator mccain for his take. >> well -- well, i understand very well why my family might be offended by any personal comments from anyone. i now think i can relate more closely to harry truman who took some umbrage at a critic that criticized his daughter's singing. >> that's it? >> well, you know, you don't -- i feel proud of my family. i'm proud of my daughter. i'm proud of my daughters. i'm proud of my sons. i'm proud of all of them. and i think that the american people will judge them for the fine and decent people they are. >> what do you make of somebody who would do that, pick up a trash barrel and false vomit for an extended period of time? >> i don't think i should dig nif fi that kind of behavior with a comment. >> that's fairly subdued. unless you're a student of history and got the truman reference. a critic panned the singing of truman's daughter margaret. when senator mccain said he was relating more closely to. truman wrote that critic a letter and i quote, some day i hope to meet you. when that happens you will need a new nose, a lot of beefsteak for black eyes and perhaps a supporter below. ouch. who says politics is not or can't be a contact sport? that's all for us tonight. we hope to see you right back here tomorrow night. "in the arena" starts right now.