>> thank you, andy. ho much time do i have? anne, always a pleasure, bill, chris, great job. destroying this show. that does it for me. i'm greg but felled, see you next time. blain the u.s. economy, while irn responds to talk of war. this is "special report." good evening, i'm bret baier. we'll tell but the new unemployment figures figures ane politics around them next. but we begin with even more talk of israel, possibly launching attacks to make sure iran does not get a nuclear weapon. it all started about 24 hours ago with a shocking prediction from the head man at the pentagon. now iran has thrown more fuel on the fire. national security correspondent jennifer griffin is following

developments from the pentagon. >> after the u.s. defense secretary signaled during a trip to nato headquarters in brussels that israel is likely to strike iran this spring, the supreme leader of iran described israel as a cancer that needs to be cut out. iran's president, meanwhile, watched the launch of a small iranian satellite into space, amid israeli reports that iran is working on a missile designed to reach the united states. all of this a day after israel's defense minister barak, said in a major policy speech that now is the time to strike iran's nuclear program. he switched to english to make his point to an international audience. >> later is too late. >> later is too late. fox's judith miller was at the speech in israel. >> i feel based on everything i heard that a decision has not been made and that had a decision been made, no one would be speaking as freely as they

have been to me this past week. what's going on now is an effort to telegraph to the other side and also to the iranians how seriously each side takes this issue. >> former defense secretary robert gates was asked by cnn's john king about the risk of getting involved in a war with iran. >> this is, i think, one of the toughest foreign policy problems i have ever seen since entering the government 45 years ago. >> there is confusion at the pentagon and white house as to why defense secretary panetta told "washington post" columnist david ignatius during a nato summit in brussels israel was like toe to strike iran in april, may or june. this takes after the secretary told the "wall street journal" that there were problems with the pentagon's massive ordinance penetrate bomb, the 30,000-pound bunker buster that the u.s. has bought to penetrate difficult to bomb underground sites. one former government official surmised panetta's revelation may have disrupted israel's

plan, eliciting age prosecutor republicans in congress. >> israel is our closest ally. we should be reluctant to get in their way. having said that, this is not the type of thing that issue that should be discussed in public. this should be behind the scenes between two close allies. >> according to one source, the white house is, quote, surprised, disappointed and confused by panetta's recent revelations about israel's intentions. white house officials, however, are down playing any tension or rift with the secretary. >> bret: jennifer griffin, thank you. president obama has mentioned is celebrating the january jobless numbers and calling for more cooperation and less drama and delay from congress. the new figure, 8.3%, is down two tenths of a point from december. the economy netted -- had a net gain of 243,000 jobs. we have two reports tonight. first chief white house correspondent ed henry on what this means for the president and

his reelection bid. >> after five straight months of falling unemployment, now at its lowest level since february 2009, president obama was upbeat. >> the economy is growing stronger. the recovery is speeding up. >> so are top republicans from the campaign trail to capitol hill. >> we got good thus this morning on job creation. >> the jobs numbers today are certainly welcome news. >> mitt romney and house majority leader eric cantor quickly added it's still not good enough since 24 million americans remain unemployed, underemployed or stopped looking for work. although the republican economic case against the president is now not as clear cut evidenced by romney's positive caveat. >> this recovery has been slower than it should have been. people have been suffering longer than they should have had to suffer. i will get -- will it get better? i think it will. i don't know how long it will take. >> important to note, the president added negative caveats, a sign he's managing expectations since unemployment

may rise again before the election. >> these numbers will go up and down in the coming months and there are still far too many americans who need a job or need a job that pays better than the one they have now. >> we've been down this road before, such as the middle of 2010 which the white house branded recovery summer, complete with the "new york times" op ed from tim geithner boasting, we suffered a terrible blow, but we're coming back. then the economy stalled. this week the congressional budget office warned unemployment may climb to nearly 9% by november and remain high for years to come. >> the unemployment rate will gradually decline. in our projection, remains above 7% until 2015. >> which is why the president is trying to project the image he's on offense. today rolling out another initiative to get more veterans hired and keeping the heat on congress to pass a long-term extension to the payroll tax cut. >> don't muck it up. keep it moving in the right

direction. >> this was one of the best jobs reports of his presidency, but they're not celebrating yet 'cause they know there are a lot of wild cards in this election year, from the ongoing european debt crisis to those tensions with iran, which could spike oil prices, brett. >> bret: ed henry live, thank you. now for the other side of the equation. jim angle looks at the dark side of today's jobs report. >> a drop in the unemployment rate is always good economic news, but those of all political stripes says it's not as good as it looks. >> it's the best of times, it's the worst of times. >> i don't think we should forget that the as bad as the unemployment rate has been, the actual job situation in the country has been worst than that because of these ways they don't get measured. >> the unemployment rate does t measure is those without jobs, who have simply given up. >> it does not include the number of people who are have become discouraged and aren't looking for a job at all. those aren't capturedn the headline numbers that we see

every month. >> almost 4 million people are in that group. another 8 million have been forced to take only part-time work. but want a full-time job. if those people were counted, officials say the latest rate of 8.3% would be much higher at 15.1%. >> it's really almost double the official unemployment rate. that gives awe much better or much realistic picture of the labor market. >> there is a broader number that troubles others. there are 6 million fewer jobs than at the beginning of the recession. >> fewer americans are actually participating in work force in an almost 28 years. labor force participation rate at 63.7% hasn't been this low since march of 1983. >> and how long will it take the economy to replace those missing jobs? a long time, even with strong numbers. >> it would take 23 more months of growth at this month's pace, 243,000 per month, to regain all the jobs. >> even though the president

must be heartened by the numbers, they hold political risk because of former advisor says he may face rising unemployment rates in the midst of an election year. >> as an economy improves, sometimes the unemployment rate can actually go back up as some of those discouraged workers come out and say, hey, if there is jobs, i'm going to start looking for work. >> now, that's reflected in those congressional budget office projections, that the unemployment rate will be 8.9% at the end of this year, going up to 9.2 in 2013. president obama has to worry that the unemployment rate may be dropping as the election year begins, but might well be rising in the closing weeks of the presidential election. brett? >> bret: thank you. u.s. service companies grew in january at the fastest pace in 11 months. the survey's employment index surged to its highest level since february 2006. the dow closed at its highest level since before the 2008 financial crisis.

adding 157. s & p 500 was up 19. the nasdaq finished 46 ahead. the house today gave final approval to a new funding bill for the federal aviation administration. the faa. the four-year blueprint will speed the transition to an air traffic control system based on gps technology. the senate is expected to vote on it monday. the nation's largest breast cancer charity has reversed its decision to end its association with the country's largest abortion supplier. chief washington correspond sent james rosen tells us why. >> that's known for its annual race for the cure for breast cancer research, the soup g. komen foundation now appears to be running away from its own decision to sever most of its grants to planned parenthood. we want to apologize to the american public for recent decisions that cast doubt upon our commitment to our mission of saving women's lives, said komen's founder and ceo, nancy brinker. we will continue to fund existing grants, including those of planned parenthood and

preserve their eligibility to apply for future grants. >> it just goes to show you when women speak out, women win and women's health has a big victory this morning. >> this is a battle that we have to continue. none of us can ever think that the battle to make sure that politics doesn't come women and their health care is over. >> yet today's announcement left vague whether planned parenthood will receive future funding from komen, which has given close to 700,000 a year to the nation's leading provider of abortions. at first, brinker attributed it to planned parenthood's minimal direct work in komen's field. >> they do not own the mammographyy equipment. they send them out for screening. and treatment and diagnosis. >> if that is still a concern for komen, brinker did not mention it today. she had also expressed concern about an investigation of planned parenthood, specifically whether the group uses federal funds to subsidize abortions by pro-life republicans. brinker said a probe must be,

quote, criminal and concludetive, not political to justify a halt in grants. whether komen will ever again fund planned parenthood remains unknown, at least until the next grant cycle. but what prompted komen's cryptic apology was hardly mysterious to pro-life activists who lamented the fire storm and fundraising frenzy generated by the initial funding cutoff. >> they are being pressured in every way. we are witnessing an absolute shake down of an organization that simply wants to save the lives of women through cancer research. >> i think komen wants to get out of the culture wars. they're tired of the negative publicity that's come with being a formal partner to the nation's largest abortion provider. >> planned parenthood said it has received nearly $1 million in donations in recent days and that komen, whose web site was hacked, fundraising is said to have jumped by 100%. in washington, james rosen, fox news. >> we'll tell but the newest entry into the presidential race later in the grapevine. plus, the republicans who are

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>> bret: we are just one day away from the next presidential nominating contest, caucuses in nevada. three of the four remaining republican candidates are in the silver state tonight. senior national correspondent john roberts reports from las vegas. the odds are leaning heavily toward one of them. >> with nevada voters warming up for tomorrow's caucuses, mitt romney kept the focus sharply on president obama today, telling a business round table the jobs numbers were good news, but -- >> i hope that continues. we get people back to work. that is the antidote, by the way, to falling home prices. people going back to work. able to buy homes. but this president has not helped the process. he's hurt it. >> a similar perspective from ron paul who said the news only looks good on the surface. >> the deception was that unemployment rates are much lower or at 8.3.

that's all fiction because what happened, even this last month, over a million people just dropped out of the work force. over the last three or four years, 5 million people have dropped out of the work force. >> for his part, newt gingrich didn't mention the unemployment numbers. instead, raining more criticism on mitt romney. >> it isn't good enough for the republican party to nominate obama lite. >> gingrich is still struggling to regain his footing after losing badly in florida. and in the face of new nevada polls that show him trailing romney by half. gingrich's campaign is trying to reboot with a new chief of staff and a new ad out today using liberal icon george soros to tie romney to president obama. >> if it's between obama and romney, there is not that much difference. >> we can't afford two george soros approved candidate this is fall. >> the newly nimble romney campaign immediately turned the tables on gingrich, pointing to

the global warming ad he did with nancy pelosi, an ad that was funded by george soros. and rick santorum had gingrich in the cross hairs today, too. in a new radio ad accusing him of fiscally insanity, hoping to brand him as speaker moon base. >> what does newt gingrich suggest? spending half a trillion dollars on a moon colony. >> by the end of my second term, we will have the first permanent base on the moon. >> santorum, campaigning for a win tuesday in the missouri primary, didn't stop at gingrich. comparing romney to john mccain as just too moderate to beat president obama. >> despite all the criticism, romney continues to rack up the endorsements. the two largest nevada newspapers have thrown in with him and looking ahead to the caucuses in colorado on tuesday, romney just got a big

endorsement from the denver post. the post endorsed him back in 2008 when romney won colorado in a landslide. brett? >> bret: john roberts live on the vegas strip. thank you. voting will continue saturday in the main caucuses. some have already been held. but more than half of them will take place over this weekend. 24 delegates are at stake. mitt romney and ron paul are considered the top contenders in maine. results will not be announced until february 11. we will bring you results and analysis of saturday's voting in nevada tomorrow night on a special edition of "special report." please join me at 10:00 p.m. eastern for a look at the nevada caucuses. i'll be joined by fox all stars, charles krauthammer, steve hayes, a.b. to dodard and ann qualitier and others. caucus results expected 10:00 p.m. eastern time. or we hope so. still ahead, google's new privacy rules. up next, turmoil in egypt

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international news, unions and employers associations in greece are rejecting private sector wage cuts being demanded by the until bailout lenders. debt inspectors arrived for more talks with the greek finance minister. nato's top official says regional powers will have to come up with almost $6 billion a year to pay for afghanistan's security after coalition troops end combat operations there. u.s. defense secretary leon panetta said earlier this week that u.s. force also likely move to a support role next year. a human rights group says syrian forces have detained and tortured children as young as 13 during their crackdown on

dissent. amateur video shows military reinforcements arriving as residents mark the 30th anniversary of an assault on that city that left thousands dead. some people here in washington are questioning whether the u.s. should continue to provide more than a billion dollars in military aid to egypt in light of current conditions there. senior foreign affairs correspondent greg has details on a country with a host of problems. >> one year after the rioting which led to the fall of hosni mubarak, the streets of cairo and other egyptian cities have been turned into a war zone. police reportedly using live fire and tear gas, clashed with rock throwing protests for a second day. authorities say at least three people were killed. more than 1500 injured. we were praying when the police threw tear gas at us. the anger is targeted at security force, especially the military-run interim government. activists want the generals to give up power to the recently elected parliament.

>> people want more. they want it now. they're very dissatisfied with a military structure. >> this latest violence was triggered by a melee after a soccer match wednesday night. 74 people were killed. some crushed and some stabbed with police, mostly looking on. meanwhile, in security in egypt spread to the resort area of the sinai. two americans staying there, along with their egyptian guide, were kidnapped by armed bedouins. after negotiations with local authorities, they were let go, apparently unharmed. >> we certainly do appreciate the efforts of the egyptian authorities in securing the release. >> three americans, including the son of transportation secretary ray lahood now sheltering at the u.s. embassy in cairo. they face a no fly order and possible criminal investigations by egypt into the activities of their nongovernmental organization. the embassy tells us there is no change. in london, fox news. >> bret: a spokesman for tokyo's

electric power company says leaks of radioactive water are become more frequent at the nuclear power plant damaged last march in the earthquake and tsunami there. 8 1/2 tons of radioactive water leaked earlier in the week from a detached pipe. next in the grapevine, no super bowl party at the white house. plus this. ♪ for the land of the free >> bret: would you vote for her for president

>> bret: fresh speaking from the political grapevine of the president obama is keeping it low key for this year's super bowl. white house officials say he plans to watch the big game with just his family. that's a break from years past when the obamas had hosted gatherings with big name politicians and celebrities, like jennifer lopez and then husband mark anthony. even global warping skeptics have to concede human activity is definitely to blame for glacial loss in the renal of chile. -- region of chile. police charge add man with stealing five tons of ice. the idea was hawk it to bars for diaper ice cubes. police say the man's refrigerated truck was filled with an estimated $6,000 worth of illicit ice from the glaciers. those wishing for a new entry into the presidential race will get their wish.

actress and comedian roseann barr is throwing her hat in, running for the green party nomination. she summarizes her platform as, quote, make war illegal and legalize hemp. change the demographics of government. and most important, i will outlaw bull, expletive. the green party will determine its official candidate in july at its convention in baltimore. a friday update. a georgia judge late this afternoon rejected a complaint that sought to keep president obama off the state's presidential primary ballot next month. the complaint contended president obama is not a natural born citizen. in his decision, deputy chief judge michael said it has been determined president obama was born in hawaii and is a natural born citizen. president obama's local attorney did not attend the hearing last week even after the judge's order compelling the president and his attorney to attend. the plaintiff's attorney urged the judge to hold the president and his attorney in contempt.

the judge said he didn't condone the move, but also did not hold them in contempt. tonight a who is watching you report. on google's new privacy rules, the company is getting a lot of push back. katherine is here to tell us about it. good evening. >> good evening. the european union is asking google to delay the roll out of its privacy policy scheduled for march 1 until the e.u. has verified it does not violate europe's data protection laws. this is gaining traction on capitol hill where lawmakers met behind closed doors on thursday with google executives about its controversial plan to cross reference data from consumers. quote, it was obvious to me as i left the room congresswoman mary bono mac said this company has established this policy so instead of the consumer being the master of the internet, google is the master of the consumer. i think that is just wrong. as one example, when you sign

into g mail, web users are asked to review the new privacy policy. google says its goal is simplify its privacy policy over dozens of web platforms. by aggregating or pulling together your search history and information from your account, analysts say google believes it can offer an improved service. >> if google knows that i'm searching for a hybrid vehicle and it's going to serve up ads for that, why would is everybody up an ad for a gas guzzling full size pick up when i'm not in the market for that? >> some lawmakers argue that google is building an on-line profile about you. they question whether google searches about medical treatment or a serious illness should be tracked in the first place. they also argue google could do a better job educating consumers about how to opt out of data collection when pressed, lawmakers learned hitting delete is not as final as you may think. >> we just had a hearing where we brought google in and we

talked to them about when a person deletes information from google, mail, what happens is it goes into the trash. but it still remains in the trash for about 60 days. >> in this 12-page letter to congress, google sakes quote, we've built meaningful privacy controls into our products and we are chit to do continue offering those choices in the future. that said, lawmakers in europe and the united states continue to question this change in policy, brett. >> bret: cath rip, thank you. the f.b.i. says it's investigating the interception of a phone call between the f.b.i. and scotland yard concerning computer hacking. british police say no operational risks have been identified. the hacking group known as anonymous, says it recorded the call which it says was about efforts to deal with its tactics. it's friday night, and in washington, that means one thing sometimes. the white house and another late document dump on capitol hill this evening. fox news has obtained these

e-mails from a government source who note they show the energy department made a conditional loan commitment to the solar company, solyndra, in the march -- in march of 2009, months before the full loan. the white house maintains that was previously disclosed and there is still no evidence of political pressure. we are in the process of going through the 313 pages of paperwork on the administration's dealings with solyndra, the now bankrupt solar energy company that received a half billion dollars in government guaranteed loans. republicans in the house are said to be planning more hearings on the matter. again, just dumping the documents on friday evening. we will talk about iran and the kidnapping of americans in egypt when the fox all stars join me after a

>> the zionist regime is truly a

cancerous tumor in this region and should be cut and will be cut. the u.s. military threats against us are to their detriment. a real war will harm them ten times more. the more they threaten us, the more harmful it will be for them in return for such war threats and oil embargo threats. we have our own threats to make in proper time if deemed necessary. >> the result of not taking action will inevitably be a nuclear iran and that dealing with a nuclear iran will be more complicated, more dangerous, and more costly in blood in both meanings than stopping it today. thus those who say in english, later, may find later is too late. >> bret: it started with defense secretary leon panetta and who he said to a "washington post" columnist that israel may strike iran sometime this spring. then you heard the supreme leader in iran. today describe israel as a cancer that needs to be cut out. and the defense minister in

israel saying later may be too late to strike iran. the escalation. let's bring in our panel. steve hayes, kirsten powers, columnist for the daily beast. and syndicated columnist, charles krauthammer. charles, we were trying to figure out what the message was from secretary panetta in saying what he said about israel possibly striking iran in april, may or june. and today more fuel on the fire really from all sides. >> particularly from the leader of iran. he really makes clear what the issue is about. there is no country on earth that is constantly threatened by its advera tears with annihilation and extermination. over borders, fishing rights or whatever. but there is only one country under the threat of complete annihilation and khomeini speak about that explicitly. to cut out the cancer. there is no other understanding

of that. when the iranians parade their missiles publicly, written on them is death to israel. so everybody understands what it's about. the israelis know all of the possible problems with an attack. they know they're going to get thousands of rockets from lebanon, from gaza, even from iran. they're going to be all kinds of other attacks. it isn't as if the israelis are naive and don't understand the risk. they are uniquely understand the threat of extermination and what barak was explaining there is there will be a conflict. it's only will it be a nuclear one or a nuclear one? and that's what i would guess the israeli high leadership has decided it will attack. the only question is when. that, i think, that's what panetta was essentially saying yesterday. i interpret what he said, unless it was an error -- if it was a deliberate leak, i interpret it as a warning from the obama

administration to israel, don't do it. announcement to the world, we tried to stop the israelis. we are not involved. don't hit us in retaliation. >> bret: today the state department, the spokes mensed there is time for diplomacy. they think the sanctions are having an effect in iran, but, quote, we're absolute committed to preventing iran from eye requiring nuclear weapons. what was the message he was sending? >> we can only speculate. i agree with charles. the administration does not want israel to attack iran. they would prefer to use sanctions, let the oil embargo take place. theirs currency is collapsed. they feel they're underpressure. five scientists have been murdered. they see them as on the ropes. when general dempsey came out and pretty much explained the situation as it's existential to them. not to us. that didn't make the israelis feel very good. and sort of feeling like, yeah,

we're going to get wiped off the map. i think right now we don't know whether they'll attack or not. they're posturing in the hopes that iran will be afraid they're going to attack, 'cause obviously they don't want to attack if they can avoid it. >> bret: iran's president watched the launch of a satellite. there is reports that they're working on a missile designed to reach the united states. this back and forth continues to be increasing, it seems, at a different pace than perhaps it was. >> there is no question about it. i think if you take the words of the supreme leader seriously, we have no choice to. they are making preparations for war. i think it's not going to be a limited war against israel which would be bad enough, but a much broader war. i think there are plans -- we've heard reports of iran and its agents and proxies making propositions for terrorist attacks in thailand. that's happening elsewhere around the globe. the concern i have is with words from the administration from

mark toner at the state department saying there is time for diplomacy. you heard robert gates talking about the ability of the united states still at this late hour to change the behavior of the regime, even if these sanctions are having an effect. i think they are. arguably more effective than skeptics thought. but even if that's the case, it is not going to be enough to change the nature of the regime. that's the fundamental problem here. it's the nature of the regime. it's not changing their behavior. this is what they're dedicated to. >> bret: the last time i had an interview with president obama, obviously it was dominated by the health care vote that was upcoming. but i did ask another question about iran. take a listen. >> if iran gets a nuclear weapon before the end of your term, will your foreign policy be a failure? >> it is one of our highest priorities to make sure that iran doesn't possess a nuclear weapon. that's why we're going to go

after aggressive sanctions. we haven't taken any options off the table. we're going to keep on pushes. it is a hard problem. but it is a problem that we need to solve because if iran gets a nuclear weapon, then you could potentially see a nuclear arms race throughout the middle east and that would be tremendously damaging to our national security interests. >> bret: do you think that answer has changed now, charles? >> i think he'd give the same answer about our objective, but the question is what are the means to the end? the administration insists on sanctions and it is true that the economic sanctions are having economic effects. but when we heard the testimony earlier in the week of all the chiefs of american intelligence, they were asked one question: has any of these sanctions and the economic effects had any influence whatsoever over the progress of the nuclear program? the answer was zero. meaning in a decade of sanctions, it's had an effect on all kinds of other things, collapse of the currency, et

cetera. but the one constant has been that it's had no effect on the progress of the nuclear -- of iran's nuclear program. and one other item in terms of an attack, iran is completely isolated. what we don't talk about here is that the arab states are almost unanimously in favor of an attack on iran. they have to beg the us to us do it and we are reluctant. but they would welcome an israeli attack and there would be no iranian allies in the region who will take on either the arab states or the united states. iran will stand alone and it cannot stand alone against the united alliance. >> bret: steve, i want to, since i teased it, talk about egypt just for a short minute here. two americans apparently kidnapped in the sinai, egypt. a lot of chaos on the ground. the situation there doesn't look good. >> chaos is the operative word. this is the problem that we're facing right now and it's a serious one.

if you have the kind of unraveling of the government, the kind of distrust between its citizens, the security apparatus, the standing government that we're seeing, this could spiral out of control very quickly. if you look back at the fact that the egyptian government has detained or prevented from leaving several americans involved with the international republic institute, secretary lahood's son and there is the prospect of them putting americans on trial potentially for observing elections. this is about the -- this gets very scary. >> bret: okay. next up, the friday lightning round, including the latest jobless numbers and the state of the u.s.

>> bret: the president at the white house today and out and

about was upbeat about this. the unemployment figures now at the lowest level since february 2009. five straight months of falling unemployment. unemployment down to 8.3%. as you see from 8.5, creating a net 243,000 jobs. now, january 2009, 12 million were unemployed. that's roughly 23% out of work for six months or more. january, back in 2009. now january 2012, 12.8 million unemployed, 43% out of work for more than six months or six months or more. then you had the congressional budget office projection for this year and next. and the unemployment rate and the projections looking forward, according to the nonpartisan cbo 8.9 to 9.2. lot of graphs to consider there. every week viewers vote on the friday lightning round poll. this week the winner, fast and furious follow. first the economy. kirsten, the white house, very

happy with these numbers today. >> yeah. it was unexpected, so i think there is added happiness to that. and the trend is in the right direction. there are already projections you just read that it's going to get worse again. i think the hope among democrats and people in the white house is that the projections are wrong. they didn't predict this month. they didn't predict last month. maybe things are turning around more than they thought they were. they're looking at corporate earnings are beating wall street expectations, retail sales are up, manufacturing jobs are up, workweek is longer. all the things you sort of look at to say, this is actually happening and i think the hope is that the trend will continue. >> bret: it did outperform. no doubt about that. but the labor force is smaller. it's actually at its smallest point since 1983, charles. >> it is smaller. but one of the reasons that it looks as if there were a lot of people who dropped out of the force, some people said it's actually a misreading, it's a change in the population in the

census. it changed on january 2012. so that's a rehe in connection with of a new census report. in fact, a quarter of a million people who had despaired and no longer looking started looking again, which would normally raise the unemployment rate. in fact, it fell, which is a very good sign, and if it continues at this rate, it would drop the rate by a point every year, which would really help obama. >> bret: steve? >> i think these are good numbers. every month when we talk these numbers, there has been a huge asterisk. this is good, but this. but that. aside from labor force participation, which is a significant long-term problem, the short-term reading of these numbers is that it's very good news for the white house, very good news for the country. >> bret: okay. fast and furious as promised, second topic, eric holder, the attorney general, on the hot seat up on capitol hill. steve, both sides suggest it wasn't a great appearance for the attorney general. >> no. i think it wasn't very good appearance for the attorney general.

most especially because there were further indications that he knew about fast and furious earlier than he had previously said. there is information, there is an e-mail exchange in which his deputy chief of staff said that he's going to tell attorney general holder about the death of brian terry and the fact that there may have been fast and furious involvement in that justice department says no, that notification never actually happenededbut the fact that it't another data point that suggests that holder knew something before he did, that's a problem. >> bret: kirsten? >> i think the most frustrating thing about this is just trying to tease out what holder knew and didn't know. he always seems to have an explanation for well, yeah, i know the e-mail said that, but it never got to me. o well yeah, we were talk being it, but nobody called it fast and furious. they've been asked to release more documents. they say, we've released 7,000 documents. we're not doing anymore. they really need to give the documents over so people can see what's going on. >> bret: tonight's document dump was solyndra document related.

no fast and furious documents. >> but it is a holdout on documents. some of them have to do with a letter that justice wrote in february of last year, saying that the guns had all been -- had been attempted to be interaddicted and they are not. so it was a false letter. holder was asked about documents. he's holding out on that, stonewalling. big mistake. >> bret: all right. susan g. comb be reverse has decision. now will fund planned parenthood. what about that. >> komen looked as if it wanted to get out of the culture wars. it didn't want to have involvement in an institution that has abortion issues. they wanted to be neutral on that. it got caught in a fire storm. now it's back where it started, but it's got a black eye. >> it's not really clear where they are. james rosen alluded to this in his report. a lot of pro-life people think that actually they just -- they haven't changed anything, that they're actually not going to be -- it hasn't said they'll be

funding planned parenthood. >> bret: such a great organization, steve. they did great things, but they seem to, this week, manage to make a lot of people on all sides angry. >> i think they did. the big take away is for pro-lifers who didn't know of the komen foundation's involvement with planned parenthood, now they do. that's going to be a long-term problem. >> bret: okay. final one here. super bowl picks. down the row, steve, you're first? >> the giants are hot. but i think the patriots will be too much. >> bret: you don't have provide detail. kirsten? >> i'm not a theologian, but grace is something you can transfer. brady could beat tebow. nobody, therefore, can beat brady. >> bret: okay. the giants beat my falcons. therefore, i choose the giants. okay. panel, thank you. we'll see how we did on monday. that's it for the panel. but stay tuned to see what expression may there will have run its -- may really have run its course

>> bret: finally tonight, expressions come and go, and sometimes it's very clear when it's time to retire one. especially on the campaign trail. ♪ >> newt gingrich in the house. [ laughter ] >> sorry to see that one go. okay. don't forget, tune in saturday 10:00 p.m. eastern for special edition of "special report." full coverage of the nevada conferences with the up-to-the minute results. fox all stars. ann coulter and michael reagan on the show on the show. next step in this nomination battle and we're here every step of the way. 10:00 p.m. eas t