feel my lips. >> they feel real. >> i'm looking forward to it. she's back with what she says is the secret to the fountain of youth. plus only in america. why american airlines grounded two very frequent fliers. this is "piers morgan tonight." good evening. breaking news tonight, the foiled terror plot to bomb an american airliner. a senior u.s. official says al qaeda is responsible and the device was intended for use by a suicide bomber. also the would be bomber is quote, not a threat anymore. listen to leon panetta. >> what this incident makes clear is that this country has to continue to remain vigilant against those who would seek to attack this country. and we will do everything necessary to keep america safe. >> we got a big story tonight. the campaign's reaction to the plot and the hot buttons from gay marriage to the economy. six months to go until election day, the president's campaign is in full swing. joining me is david axelrod. welcome. >> good to be with you. >> big story brewing since the weekend over joe biden's comments. the way to tee this up is to play them then come to you for reaction. >> and you're comfortable with same-sex marriage now? >> i -- look, i am vice president of the united states of america. the president sets the policy. i am absolutely comfortable with the fact that men marrying men, women marrying women, and heterosexual men and women are entitled to all the civil rights, all the civil liberties. quite frankly i don't see much of a distinction beyond that. >> i suppose the obvious question to you -- you tweeted almost immediately. you said what the vice president said that all married couples should have the same legal rights is precise this potus position. do you still think everything joe biden said is with the president's position? >> i think the policy joe biden is describing there, that is the president's policy. he believes that couples, heterosexual couples, gay couples should have the same legal rights. and of course that's why we've stopped appealing the douma case. because he believes it's unconstitutional for states not to recognize -- the government not to recognize marriages that are legally recognized by the state. so what the vice president was stating there was very much in keeping with that policy. >> right. but i suppose what people are saying in the gay community is look, we know the president has been very supportive of us. from don't ask don't tell to the issue you just mentioned. and on various other issues. he's been very proactive and very supportive of gay rights. there is an inconsistency between saying i am supportive of all gay rights and gay equality while not saying that you believe in gay marriage particularly when america now has eight states that have legalized gay marriage. given where we were five years ago is a fast-moving issue where the tide is now with increasingly people who support it. >> in fact, the president supported the rights of those states to take that action. he's opposed ballot measured and other devices to try and roll back those rights when they've cropped up. by the way, this is a big distinction between him and governor romney who supported the effort financially in california to roll back who want a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. accordance with the rights of those states to do it. and he wants to make sure that people legally married that those marriages are recognized just as marriages between men and women are recognized. so the whole country is going through -- has gone through an evolution. the president's gone through that as well. i'll let him speak to this himself, but, you know, i think where he lies in terms of the -- of rights and liberties is very clear by the actions that he's taken. >> i mean, i'm struck by the fact that joe biden's a roman catholic which i think gave his comments even more weight. a lot of the catholics -- i'm a catholic myself. i happen to support gay marriage. but it flies in the face of catholic teaching and it takes a brave catholic in joe biden's case to say this. the president has been audacious in many areas but there are other areas where he hasn't been as audacious as people would like. and this is a classic case where everybody kind of presumes he's going to do this. so why doesn't he just do it now? >> well, again, i'm not going to make news for the president here. the president speaks very well for himself, piers. but i think actions speak louder than words. he's taken historic steps over the last three and a half years to stand up for the rights of gay and lesbian americans. and to allow them to serve openly and honestly in the military. to grant them those partnership rights in government. to fight this -- to repeal this -- turn back this law that would have states be able -- not recognize legally a sanction marriages among gay americans. so i think his actions are -- speak more loudly than any words. and i'm proud of him for taking those steps. i think they were -- you know, some would say audacious steps in and of themselves. he led us on that path. >> let's move on to the breaking news today about a cia uncovering a plot to have a more sophisticated form of suicide bomber device. it was foiled successfully. a great success for the cia. what does it tell you about the ongoing battle with al qaeda particularly in relation to the president and his speech last week and trip to afghanistan. saying look we're coming out of here, al qaeda is pretty much dismantled and so on. how big a threat does al qaeda remain if we're still uncovering plots like this? >> piers, i know what you know about the details of this particular case. but it underscores what the president has said which is we have to remain vigilant. we have scored tremendous blows against the leadership of al qaeda located in pakistan. there are offshoots in yemen as a main one where there's still al qaeda activity. we just saw that a -- one of the high ranking members of al qaeda was killed in yemen just the other day. this is an ongoing fight. both here at home we have to be vigilant on homeland security and on threats in other parts of the world. and we've been -- thank god we've been successful in doing that. but every day you have to wake up and with that same level of vigilance. and recognize that the threat still exists. >> the republicans accused the president of spiking the football with both the trip to afghanistan on the anniversary and the ad that starred bill clinton. >> i hardly think he was spiking the football. and the trip to afghanistan was necessary. we have a summit coming up in weeks where afghanistan is going to be the major issue. i think that's nonsense. one of the things that strikes me about it is knowing politics as i do, had the mission gone badly a year ago, had that gone badly -- you know, the folks on the other side would have been the first to be raising this early and often. mitt romney would have been one of the first ones out of the gate. >> let's move to the campaign. it launched officially this weekend. you've got a campaign rolling out. spent $25 million on ads this month alone. let's look at a clip and come back to you. >> instead of losing jobs we're creating them. over 4.2 million so far. we're not there yet. it's still too hard for too many. but we're coming back, because america's greatness comes from a strong middle class. because you don't quit. and neither does he. >> it's an interesting premise. we haven't solved anything, but we're beginning to get there. is that the kind of theme that you'll be looking to press for the campaign? >> there's no question that we are coming back from the most vicious, the deepest recession since the great depression. six months before he president took office, we lost 4 million jobs. we lost 800,000 the month he took office. now we've had 26 months of private sector job growth. 4.2 million new jobs. but the hole was quite deep that was dug. we have to keep being vigilant. there are a lot of head winds yet. there are steps that congress can take to get teachers back in the classroom, to get our transportation bill passed, to help people refinance their homes at lower interest rates even if their homes are under water. there are lots of things we can do to get this economy moving even faster with a bit of cooperation. >> unfortunately i have to move forward as well. to speak to your rival ed gillespie who has come in to help mitt romney campaign. but thank you wsh david axelrod. i want to get to the romney take and charges president obama's been spiking the football on osama bin laden. i'll talk to his senior adviser ed gillespie. today is gonna be an important day for us. you ready? 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[ female announcer ] get the travelocity guarantee anywhere when you book with our new app. you'll never roam alone. take the privileged investing tools of wall street and make them simple, intuitive, and available to all. distill all that data. make information instinctual, visual. introducing trade architect, td ameritrade's empowering web-based trading platform. take control of your portfolio today. trade commission-free for 60 days, and we'll throw in up to $600 when you open an account. my measure, and i look at when things really begin to change is when the social culture changes. i think will and grace did more to educate the american public more than anything anybody's done so far. and i think people fear that which is different. now they're beginning to understand. >> joe biden on meet the press. want to get reaction from ed gillespie. welcome. >> thank you, piers, for having me. >> nice to see a rare moment there of camaraderie between the two warring factions. >> well, david and i spent quite a bit of time together on these shows. we don't agree on much, but we have respect for one another. >> what do you think of the whole joe biden incident over the weekend? i say incident because it seemed to spark a huge debate even though the democrats are trying to say there'sing in new. what did you make of it? >> i found he had a policy break from the president. he prefaced saying i'm the vice president and don't send the precedent the president does, but seems to disagree with the president. the fact is this is not an area of disagreement. one of the few areas that we don't disagree in this campaign which is that we should not change the nature of marriage in this country from being between one man and one woman. clearly the president has some dissent within his own white house. >> what is changing, though, is public opinion. you can't argue with the fact eight states now legalize gay marriage. that will increase over the next year or two. do you not feel you may be on the wrong end of where this all ends up? is it not better to be more progressive now that your man effectively won nomination? >> people's beliefs are their beliefs. and most americans still believe that marriage should remain between one man and one woman. there is a debate playing out in our country. that's the nature of our process. but like i say, it is not a debate between president obama and governor romney. they actually have the same position and the same policy when it comes to government sanction of same-sex marriage. >> let's move to the economy. david axelrod was fairly bullish there. you can see from their campaign ad is going to be look, although it hasn't been perfect, may not even have been brilliant. it hasn't been bad. and we are slowly getting america back on track after eight years of republican administration. >> it was clear to me that ad for what it didn't say. there was no mention of president obama's health care bill which has stifled job creation in our economy resulting in millions of americans losing the insurance they had despite being promised that that would not happen. there was no mention of the stimulus bill which was promised to hold unemployment below 8% which has now been above 8% for 39 straight months. they talked about incomes or at least david did anyway. the fact is that medium incomes for american families have fallen by $4,300 since president obama took office. 23 million americans are either out of work or underemployed, not working full hours as they would like, or have completely disappeared from our labor force. that's why the unemployment rate went down. for every job that was created last month, three people left the workforce. that's not the right way to bring down the unemployment rate. housing values are falling and remain low. that's where most americans feel their sense of wealth. so this administration and this president's policies have been a disappointment. >> is it really going to be a sustainable argument to say to the american people come november, look, you are worse off than you were before barack obama came to power. because by any conventional, dispassionate yardstick, that isn't right, is it? you're not worse off you're just not as better off as you could have been which is what mitt romney is trying to dissuade people of. it's not to say you're worse off, is it? >> piers, the numbers i just cited are accurate. and i think for those 23 million americans who are unemployed or underemployed or have left the workforce entirely, they're not better off. or those people who -- on average their family income declined by $4,300 since president obama took office, they're not better off. or people whose home values if they are still in their home opposed to being foreclosed. the record number of americans living below the poverty line today, they are not better off. >> given all the fury over the anniversary of bin laden's death and you heard the spiking the football issue. tell me this. if it had been a disaster, if bin laden had not been killed or captured and navy s.e.a.l.s had lost their lives and so on, would you guys have launched a campaign using that against the president? >> you know, this speculation from democrats as to what would have happened if things went wrong and governor romney wouldn't have made the same decision, you know, why don't we talk about the facts? the facts are that president obama made the right decision to go after osama bin laden. governor romney applauded him for that at the time as well as our intelligence community and the brave s.e.a.l.s who completed the mission. this is a moment that brought americans together. we were all very proud of the success there. and to take that and make it a divisive issue and try to politicize it, i think has been a mistake. i think president obama on the first anniversary of the killing of osama bin laden would rightly have gotten credit for it if they hadn't overreached. it was a mistake out of chicago. it was a mistake by the obama campaign. i suspect they may regret it. the fact is if they had just noted the occasion as a source of pride for all americans, they probably woufbl better off than where they are today. >> do you have any information for me about the vp pick? chris christie saying through friends he may be convinced. which way are you guys heading? >> the fact is, this is a lengthy process. it's a very serious process. and i think it's a process best conducted, you know, discreetly and giving governor romney the opportunity for him to weigh this very important decision. and as much as i love cnn and your program, probably not the best place to talk about potential vp nominees or how the process is progressing. >> well, when you are rready, i am available. >> i appreciate that. >> thanks very much, ed gillespie. >> thanks for having me, piers. up next bill bradley on keeping america great. and why he says we can all do better. all energy development comes with some risk, but proven technologies allow natural gas producers to supply affordable, cleaner energy, while protecting our environment. across america, these technologies protect air - by monitoring air quality and reducing emissions... ...protect water - through conservation and self-contained recycling systems... ... and protect land - by reducing our footprint and respecting wildlife. america's natural gas... domestic, abundant, clean energy to power our lives... that's smarter power today. are connecting here. linkedin connects with the big board. like a squirrel stashes nuts, you may be muddling through allergies. try zyrtec® liquid gels. nothing starts working faster than zyrtec® at relieving your allergy symptoms for 24 hours. zyrtec®. love the air. mitt romney's been getting advice from all sides. trash talking from charles barkley. listen to what he said during the celtics and hawks playoff game on tnt. >> mitt romney. >> he's at the game. >> we going to beat you like a drum in november. don't take it personally. seem like a nice guy. but you going down, bro. >> joining me now is another basketball star, bill bradley. he's a rm toer presidential candidate and host of american voices on xm. welcome. >> good to be with you, piers. >> what did you make of charles barkley there trashing it out against mitt romney. we're going to beat you like a drum. did you go along with that? >> sounded like a lot of people i knew on the court. >> what it did do, ironically, is lead us perfectly to your central premise of your book which is in all this kind of partisan trash talking can lead to where it seems to any observer that very little gets done as they trash each other. tell us about that. >> one of the reasons i wanted to write this book is to give people hope. we have had problems in the past, depressions, wars. but we've overcome those problems. at the core the american people are good. they're good people. and that we have political institutions that are flexible enough for us to address our problems. what we need are politicians to put country ahead of party and tell people the truth. >> you see, what a lot of americans are thinking right now and this is not to take a side or any side i think like all you would stay in their houses for behavior. but there's no doubt as we head towards the election, you can see an almost paralysis against anything barack obama wants to do from the republicans. because they know it's not in their interests for him to pass anything that's going to be effective. >> there's no question about that. partisanship is at an all time high. i would like to see this about the future, not a blame fest about the past. i think it's important that we hear what each candidate is going to do about the deficits, our role in the world, what is our role in the world, about what's going to happen with the middle class. the big issues. and i believe we have a structural set of problems in this country today that relate to our political system. one is the partisanship which is created by the way we draw congressional lines in the country. a lot of the seats are 60/40 which means people don't have to compete to get elected. they have to worry about threats in p