our recent scandals are take tharg toll. sharp divisions over syria lead to an icy encounter at the g-8. is u.s. t u.s. at fault? is the conflict too little too late? does russia have the upper hand? and governor rick perry takes aim at new york and connecticut in his bid to lure jobs to texas. could your state be his next target? welcome. some troubling poll numbers for

president obama this week indicate that recent controversies including nsa surveillance and irs targ iing may be taking their toll. the president's overall job approve rating dropped 8%. 45% approving. 54% disapproving. that brings his real-clear politics to average well under 50%. but perhaps most worrisome for the white house is 17-point drop over the past month among people under 30. joining the panel this week, "wall street journal" columnist and deputy editor dan henninger. james freeman. and washington columnist kim. how do you read the drop in number? >> you are seeing different scandals ares are naturing with different groups. looking at the independents that cnn poll, you know, going back a

month ago, 36% of independents thought that this was somehow -- tied the irs scandal to the white house. that number is more than 51%. then you go over to the millennials that 17-point drop you mentioned, that seems to be more related to the nsa. these are nays book, twitter crowd people and -- they are concerned the claim of big brother. that is -- when you put all these together, and feed -- that's why you see an overall erosion of the president's job. approval rating. >> interesting. to what extent, dan, does this affect presidential leadership? and the perception of presidential leadership and credibility, is that -- are those central issues here? >> oh, absolutely, paul. i think what it affects is presidential stature and authority that the -- this is the president that he's supposed to be able to lead the country but for that he has to have support and authority and i think that this -- these things aren't eroding that authority, not just the country but

outsiders, insueders on capitol hill. this is a cumulative peck. first benghazi. what's the they say publicly. we had stories about the democrats doing the immigration bill, asking the president not to get involved because they are doing just fine. >> that's because when he got involved in the deficit negotiations they went south. the problem is that this president simply does not have significant political skills at that level. he does not like to do that sort of thing. so he pulls himself away from the pearl, early -- politics and in this case, nsa scandal where he -- has refused to come forth and defend a defensible program. >> for a full week. >> for a full week. >> gave a press conference and for eight days radio silence. nothing. >> nothing. all of that is eroding -- support. >> we created the support. no, we didn't.

in wait it was applied to overseas wiretaps. he inherited that program, james. where is this irs scandal now going? lot of democrats saying, you know what, it is over. we talked to a couple of people in cincinnati in our investigation. they say that -- you know, no big deal. is that true? >> all right. it is not over. i think that cnn poll tells you that the american people don't want this to be -- striking findings. not just in terms of how much distrust there is about the administration's story but a full 25% of self-described liberals in that poll think that the irs targeting was directed by senior officials and the white house. we are going to find out what to -- any extent there was -- political white house or -- or political appointees involved in this. >> are we going to find that out? >> this is the question. the question of leadership and president obama, whether or not you think that the political leadership was involved, what has been absolutely true is that

his leadership on this issue has been terrible. the moment it came out he claimed that the irs was an independent agency and it is not. they worked for him. this was a way to try to distance himself but he -- >> saying -- let's investigate and has eric holder investigating and he has the fbi investigating. >> mr. holder last month announced an investigation. a month later, head of the fbi goes to the house and -- says i don't know who is running that. i don't know how many people are working on it. this week he -- before the senate and -- had more answers than okay, he has agents on it. but what we are not seeing is any evidence there is an investigation happening in terms of witnesses being interviewed. you don't see tea party people being interviewed by the fbi agents. i think that -- if -- if the president wants to work on these polls, he has to show leadership and say i reck maze this is a big problem. the government is targeting may political enemies. i want to find out what happened. >> kim, how is the investigation on capitol hill into the irs going behind the scenes? sit percolating along?

is it making progress? >> it is. i think that what the republicans learned, there's prior investigations. even call in the big name officials like they did of lois lerner, head of the tax exempt unit and took the fifth. that's good theater but does not get you much. they learned have you go and start at the bottom and interview the people. what we have seen from some of the transcripts that have been -- released or portions of the transcripts released, those people on the ground are beginning to give real information. name some names and explain how this process actually worked and who was making the decisions. now, that's not been released in full but that's what the house republicans are working on behind the scenes. that's why you have seen a bit of a lull is because this is a heavy duty investigation. >> okay. >> we are still trying to figure out how exactly it all started. one thing that's clear is that washington sat on a lot of the applications and to this day is still sitting on them.

>> that poll rating has 50% his entire presidency. the american people give this -- historic presidency the benefit of the doubt. that five-point drop is really a bad sign for barack obama. if he starts falling like that, everything is going to start to pull back for him including the democrats, i think, in washington. he can be a lame duck by the end of the year. >> all right. dan, when we come back, an icy encounter at the g-8 as president obama and vladimir putpu putin stare each other down. all business purchases. so you can capture your receipts, and manage them online with jot, the latest app from ink. so you can spend less time doing paperwork. and more time doing paperwork.

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a chilly meeting between president obama and russian president vladimir putin at the g-8 summit in northern ireland this week where the two sides clashed over the best way to end the 26-month-old civil war in

syria. came days after the obama administration announced it would supply small arms to the syrian rebels. critics say it is too little too late. for more joined by foreign affairs columnist brett stephens and editor yeah board member matt kaminski. they didn't succeed. >> surprisingly so for the last two years, they have tried to get russia to press him to leave. the reason they didn't succeed was because russia does not want him to leave. most importantly, putin does not want to have happen to assad happen to qaddafi. he does not want to see the west intervene into another country and patient the leader out. it is a bad precedent for him at

home. >> one of obama's big goals coming in, reset the relations with russia. what's he have to show for it? >> what he has to do, the stark treaty and saw him in berlin. nuclear arms. nuclear reductions, which an obsession of his. otherwise, very, very little. by the way, was not the first president to try to restart relation was russia. george w. bush trade it in 2001, 2002. you find yourself dispointed by putin because he is a soviet man who believes that the greatest tragedy of the 20th century was the fall of the soviet empire and what he has been trying to do in his own way is reconstitute that empire. so keeping syria and humiliating the united states is part of that strategy. >> what about syria? the president dar not having arms. and the same day that they announced this change, president didn't do it himself. he sent his deputy of national security adviser to his -- to --

alert the press of this change. they almost undercut same day by saying he was reluctant do it and wants to get assad to the negotiating table. undercut the message on syria. how seriously should we take this arming decision? >> that's a very good decision. that's kind of a recurring problem of this president. what's the level of his commitment? is he in or out? somewhere in between. people feel he is often in between. secretary of state, john kerry is about to go on an overseas trip. he is visiting seven different countries in a two-week period. starting starting starting in qatr. but to talk as well, again, about drawing russia into negotiations in geneva.

that has to confuse every party involved in what is going on in syria. what exactly do they want? >> especially so because -- what's the incentive for either assad or the russians to answer these negotiations? they are winning. this is something that we haven't really -- in the way that we -- that we should. assad forces are making serious inroads and are -- using their allies in hezbollah and allies in iran to asystematically defeat the sunni insurgency. we are trying to provide the insurgency with things that they cannot really already get. not the things that the united states can uniquely supply like a month-fly zone, like bombing runways. those are the things the u.s. can do very effect. >> isn't the president, president obama, doesn't he have public opinion on his side here? there's really no american desire to get involved in another middle east conflict is will? >> he does.

mostly because never spoken about syria himself. the president has to lead. americans will not be happy to go to war. but they will be -- will support a president that makes a case for a military kind of intervention. again, doesn't mean that american troops will be in syria. it just means that the u.s. will get in the game. and really the only kind of game changer would be to change the military balance on the ground in syria and is to ground assad's plan and that will require american planes -- >> what is the end game for you if we do that? what do you think -- what do you want to see? where do you think -- what should the u.s. push for? >> we want to topple the assad regime and that -- >> after that happens, we sort out what happens in syria with the rebels. definitely will be a clash between the islamists or rising in that movement and more mainstream opposition. the bottom line is that no arab country has ever willingly supported an al qaeda-type regime. >> you are saying -- >> support for them in syria.

>> our responsibility not to ensure a democratic stable outcome in syria. our responsibility is to ensure that this enemy of the united states is toppled and with chemical weapons don't get out of the country and iran is strategically defeated in a key theater. okay. we don't need to then make sure that there is a non-sectarian government that's going to respect the interests of all the people. that's a syrian problem. we have to look at what the american interests is in syria. it does not necessarily mean trying to re-engineer iraq with the democratic government. >> all right. thanks very much. when we come back, rick perry has blue state governors seeing red over his attempts to lure jobs to texas this. this week he set his sights on the high tax states of new york and connecticut. could yours be next? to fly home for the big family reunion. you must be garth's father? hello. mother. mother! traveling is easy with the venture card because you can fly airline anytime. two words.

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first it was california and illinois. this week texas governor rick pair write took his lone-star swagger to new york and connecticut. in what some are calling his job poaching tour. it is all part of perry's campaign to recruit business essay way from high tax and high regulation places like the empire state. >> you took the book of rules and regulations to new york state, it is one of the reasons business owners tell us new york is such hard flies do business. >> it is not looking good. lot of those business owners tell us they can't afford to hire more people because of how much it costs them. >> new york city planning to outlaw sales of big sodas and other sweet drinks. >> do not have the right to dictate what people ate. >> but to say it is against the law? >> it is so for. >> why more jobs and businesses are moving to texas than any other state.

our state is number one for business because we have no state income tax. texas was ranked number one for business for the ninth straight year. added more jobs than any state in the nation over the last five years. >> so, james, what do you make of the texas jobs tour? >> i did -- excited. i think that this is really -- public service announcement. ought to be aired for free because he's really doing the public service. this is what we hope for when we talk about state competition, where -- the -- they compete and pursue different models. we are seeing in texas the low tax and low regulation model. we are seeing job gains, gdp growth, unemployment rate, lower than new york or new jersey or connecticut. it is -- you know, it may be the precursor to a perry presidential run. i think it is a great public service to say let's follow this

model. >> i was doing research much and the states in 2012 that had the fastest economic growth of their country where -- north dakota, oil and gas. texas. number would. 4.8% increase. in 2012. now some of that is aisle and gas. it is more a diversified economy than north dakota's. is this red state/blue state model argument that pair write is making, is that something that you think is going to have real legs? >> oh, yeah. i think it has legs because what he is talking about is real. they talked to business owners. large corporate ceos and business owners. if they go to texas i looked into this some. what they will find is not this environment that you described but public officials, whether it is the governor, the attorney general, comptroller's office, if you have a problem it will say let's work it out and try to

help you succeed rather as in new york, attorney general's, job who seems to be hire and sue -- hammer and sue businesses. it is a completely different environment. it is not saying that they don't have regulation in texas. we have to comply but not an adversarial relationship as it is in the blue states. >> jerry brown, governor of california, seemed to resent this. took the perry -- they had a paid public kind of flap about it. new york governor cuomo ignored it. much like he ignored the upstate new york economy. >> right. >> it is -- it is hard for these blue state governors to figure out how to respond. because he has got pair -- perry has the better economic story. texas is working. their states are not. so -- they have high taxes and have budget problems and they have -- high unemployment. mr. cuomo is part -- part of his response is -- making excuses for my taxes can be cut here and

i think that's the power of the texas example to say without an -- state income tax, look at all the prosperity. >> this could be a prelude to rick perry running for president in 2016. didn't do very well in 2012. he had would ons. don't do it if you are injured. he had surgery. don't get in late. if he gets in he will get in early. is this a good idea? there are more blue states than there are red states. you have to win more states to win the presidency. is this the -- a good feed? >> i think that the theme of economic success is a good one to run on. even in blue states. these are average people that are jobs and good jobs. that, i think, works. i would have one going to rick perry's concerns. participate something presidential primaries. >> little trouble speakinge -- >> not more blue states.

more populist blue states. >> i think mr. perry if he chooses to go this time, may be more formidable. last time he got in late because he really -- i don't think intended to run for president. if he intends this time and prepares he may forego. >> james, one more break. when we come back, hits and misses of the week. hey linda! what are you guys doing? having some fiber! with new phillips' fiber good gummies. they're fruity delicious! just two gummies have 4 grams of fiber! to help support gularity! i want some... [ woman ] hop on over! [ marge ] fiber the fun way, from phillips'. good thing she's got the citi simplicity card. it doesn't charge late fees or a penalty rate, ever. because she's got other things to stress about. ♪ go to citi.com/simplicity to apply.

times for hits and misses of the week. you start us off. >> hit to the 6 the republicans that nearly killed the farm bill in the house. you know, paul republicans like to brag about their reform credentials and also like to complain to democratic president and senate stymie them for moving ahead. here you have a bill they have leverage with where they could have done some of their smart ideas and reforming food stamps and fad programs. instead we have the sort of big

spending subsidy blowout of every farm bill. congratulations to the 62 reminding the party what they are there in washington for. >> this is a miss to palestinian president abbas. and john kerry trying tone gin ear peace talks. the other day the palestinian primary minister has been in office for two weeks and decided he would tender his resignation. >> matt? >> paul parish, eiffel tower. new york has the empire state building. haas ton, eighth wonder, moth ball for years. destined to become a parking lot. but this week, the harris county board stepped in with $194 million plan to turn the astrodome into a texas-sized convention center. small price to pay to save the texas icon. >> doesn't remind me of the roman coliseum.

okay. all right. that's it for this week's show. thanks to my panel and all of you for watching. we hope to see you right here next week. with scandals engulfing the white house, irs targeting tea partiers and nsa snooping on americans, eric holder, the justice department going after journalists, the president takes a road trip. world leaders. but charm offensive falling flat and his big speech not so big. how did the media rate his perfect form answer? dick cheney condemn it is actions of the nsa leaker. the liberal media ignores the details and attack cheney. the leaker goes public again with more details and slams the media for doing their jobs. the governor of maine is tired