[captioning made possible by fox news channel] captioned by the national captioning institute ---www.ncicap.org--- bret: next on "special report," the commander in chief meets with the man many believe is in charge in russia. the president doesn't reject the idea of a second stimulus package. some lawmakers on both sides of the aisle already do. while the head of the g.o.p. isn't counting on sarah palin running for president in 2012, she tells fox she can't rule it out, and relatives of a dead soldier wonder why michael jackson is getting so much attention. all that, plus our all-star panel, right here, right now. welcome to washington. i'm bret baier. there was a bit of a chill left over from the cold war as president obama med with russian prime minister vladimir putin today.

the president told senior white house correspondent major garrett that he doesn't expect a meeting of the minds with putin at any time soon. >> it was very nice weather in moscow. >> that's one of the few things prime minister putin does not control. putin devoted nearly an hour to a lecture on the cold war and all that has gone wrong in u.s.-russian relations since. in the second hour, mr. obama talked about iran's nuclear ambitions, alternative energy and climate change. senior u.s. officials described putin's tone as cordial. this contrasts with khrushchev's hectoring in vienna of a young president john kennedy. after his session with putin, fox asked if the president still believes as he said five days ago that putin still has one foot stuck in the cold war. >> i think that he would admit that his formative years were

shaped in the cold war, and that some of his continued grievances with respect to the west are still dated in some of the suspicions that came out of that period. i found him to be tough, smart, shrewd, very unsentimental, very pragmatic. >> and who wields more power? >> the prime minister, who i just met today, obviously still has enormous influence. interestingly, nothing putin said contradicted anything that dimitry medvedev has said. it was consistent. >> translation, mr. obama would not and could not take to the bank what he heard yesterday from president dimitry medvedev until putin verified it. on missile defense, senior obama officials say russia is moving closer to seeing iran as a potential nuclear threat. mr. obama is reviewing plans

to build iner interaccept interceptors in poland. u.s. officials reject that but have offered russia flexibility in the final staging of those interaccept stores -- interceptors. >> in terms of missile defense, there is a chance for collaboration on this issue. >> on proposed cuts in nuclear warheads and bombers and missiles, mr. obama vowed not to give up warheads for obsolete russian ones or trade away bombers and subs that can deliver non-nuclear payloads. >> everything that we are doing is being thoroughly scrubbed by our nuclear experts, by our defense department. we will not do anything that endangers our national security. >> back to that lecture from putin, it got started when president obama asked what he thought was an innocuous question, how did we get to where we are in relations? putin ran off from there in the next 50 minutes. when asked if putin's history lesson was accurate, a senior

u.s. official said, well, it was from his point of view. bret: to be in that room. i understand that the russians asked to host a middle east peace summit. what is the latest with that? >> that's right. they volunteered to host a middle east peace summit. the united states delegation agreed but said don't schedule one yet because there's nothing to talk about yet. once this are deliverables on middle east peace, a peace conference will be held in moscow. france offered the same deal a little while ago and the united states, president obama said no, france, we don't want you to host it, and now it looks like it will be russia's turn when there is a deal, if there is a deal. bret: major garrett traveling with the president. president obama also told major there is a chance he will try to come up with a second economic stimulus package. critics say of the first plan, don't be in a hurry to repeat a mistake. reworth we report. you decide. here is wendell goler. >> vice president biden said the administration misread how bad the economy really was and

the president refused to rule out a second stimulus package. >> i don't take anything off the table when unemployment is close to 10% and a lot of americans are hurting out there. >> more jobs were lost in june than may, but less than in any of the first four months of the year. house majority leader steny hoyer says congress needs to be open to taking additional action, but senate majority leader harry reid says 90% of february's stimulus mop ny hasn't been spent yet. >> there is no showing to me that another stimulus is needed. >> republicans bristleed at the thought of a second stimulus package. >> down home, we used to say there is no education in the second kick of a mule. >> they think the first bill was poorly written. the largest portion is devoted to infrastructure improvements like road construction and energy efficiency, things that take the longest time to make jobs. the small sefts devoted to tax cuts which get money into the economy faster. >> a second stimulus is a worse idea than the first stimulus, which has been

demonstrably proven to have failed. >> it is clearly counterproductive if it is just simply going to add to the debt. >> still, economists don't necessarily find the jobs numbers disappointing. >> i think now we have lost 2.1 million jobs in the first quarter. 1.3 million in the second, and the stimulus is working reasonably well. we should lose 3/4 of a million in the thirts quarter and 400,000 in the fourth. mark brandy, a democrat who advised john mccain said since unemployment usually grows for more than a year after a recession ends, there is still a long tough road ahead. >> more reasonably we should expect meaningful job growth in 2011. >> meanwhile, stopping our job losses, the president says, is only the first part of the nation's economic problem. >> that's where this debate around healthcare, energy, education, and the shape of our government long term, that's going to be so critical. >> republicans hope they can

use disappointment in the stimulus plan to head off the president's healthcare reforms. they say the country can't afford what they call another costly mistake. the president says we can't afford the continuing rise in healthcare costs. bret: stocks were down today. the dow dropped 161 and the s&p 500 lost 17, and the nasdaq fell 41. now, the president is overseas. one of the president's big agenda items is getting serious attention on capitol hill. shannon bream has an update on the progress of healthcare reform. >> it is clear with five congressional committees at work and endless sniping, that there is still more questions than answers when it comes to healthcare reform. as evidenced when democratic senator chris dodd tried to get things back on track today in the senate. >> mr. chairman, with all due respect, i would rather fail than saddle this country with an unsustainable amount of debt.

>> in a written statement today, president obama said, quote, one of the best ways to bring down costs, provide more choices and assure quality is a public option that will force the insurance companies to compete and keep them honest, but employers who provide health insurance coverage to roughly 160 million americans worried about possible mandates to provide more expensive insurance for their work hes and less flexibility. >> even if things go very well , it will still be a huge adjustment, because we're not talking about modest reforms here. i think the grand scheme for all the proposals is a huge overhaul of our healthcare system. >> what about the 70% of americans who say their current coverage is good or excellent? >> for people who are in big firms, where the markets are working reasonably well, they're going to stay where they are, and there's not going to be much change for them. that's what the president and leaders of congress mean when they say you can keep what you got if you like it. >> the truth is that the political slogan that you can

keep what you have if you like it is not true. it's not true under democrats. it's really not true under republicans either. things have to change. that's the reason why we're all talking about reforms. >> even those who support reforms do concede it is an expensive proposition but they say it is the only way to get a handle on skyrocketing healthcare costs that. may be the only thing that both sides agree need to be done. bret: the senate is also gearing up for sonia sotomayor's confirmation hearing next week t sounds like the g.o.p. is getting very organized in its growing opposition. what is the latest with this? >> you're right. we heard from two key republicans today, a ranking republican on the senate squish are ry committee and also the minority leader, senator mitch mcconnell and they are sounding alarmed, whether referring to the discrimination case with white firefighters or the statement about a latina judge coming to

a better conclusion than a white male, and they are talking about her biasness that is inappropriate, and there will be thorough questioning on that next week when she finally appears before the judiciary committee. bret: minnesota democrat al franken is now a u.s. senator. the former funny man was sworn in by vice president joe biden who he even concedes is sometimes unintentionally funny. franken defeated republican norm coleman after a recount and long legal challenge. the former head of a defense contractor with ties to democratic congressman john murtha has been charged with taking kickbacks from a subcontractor. federal prosecutors say richard ianari took two $100 rkdz 000 payments while he was chief executive of coherent systems international. murtha has channeled millions in earmarked to that company. we will tell you who is comparing the effort against climate change to defeating hitler and the nazis, and sarah palin talks about her

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bret: governor sarah palin has broken her silence about her ip teng to leave alaska's statehouse in two and a half weeks. one of the reporters she spoke with is our correspondent dan springer. >> alaska governor sarah palin took a handful of reporters on a fishing boat in the bristol bay werr her husband and daughter piper were were netting sockeye salmon. palin told fox news she could not rule out angling for the white house. >> i do not know what the future holds. i want to work right now for people who are going to work in office or out of office for the right things, those principles that built up america, those who are inspired by the values of america and will not deride or apologize the values that we hold as americans. i'm going to work for those

people. >> the former republican vice ve presidential nominee was eager to talk about her stunning decision to step down as governor but said she doesn't consider herself a quitter. >> i am willing to step aside and not allow distraction anymore to this administration's good positive agenda. i will step aside. i'm willing to do that because i love alaska. >> she complained of a media double standard that made a target of her children. she blasted bloggers and political partisans in alaska who filed 18 ethics complaints, all dismissed but one in which she agreed to reimburse the state for her children's travel expenses. palin says all of that paralyzed her administration and cost state taxpayers millions. >> these are political shots. i mean,0th her people take tougher shots than i do. our kids over there in the war zone, people losing their jobs or their homes right now, they have a heck of a lot tougher right now than i do taking political shots or hearing political bull crap broadcast on the airwaves. i can handle that. >> the governor also had harsh words for her own party,

including some members of the mccain election team. now it appears that she is going solo. >> we have so many people who offered a vice, you know, but i will continue to be, whether some of them like it or not, pretty darn independent and not get wrapped up into a strong political machine that hasn't been extremely successful in some ways. >> in the near term, the governor says she's going to finish her book for release next spring and get out on the speaking circuit. her political action committee has seen a fund raising boost since her announcement, clearly sarah palin has no intention of fading quietly into the alaskan sunset. in anchorage, dan springer, fox news. bret: well, the head of the republican party seems to be dismissing any thought of a presidential run for palin in the short term. republican national committee chairman michael steele says he would love to see palin become more engaged in national politics but he doesn't see her running right away. >> from my standpoint, again, not knowing anything, not

having talked to the governor, i would take 2012 off the table. bret: palin, however, has not taken herself out of the running for 2012. there are indications she will have plenty of options, as dan springer talked about. let's bring in carl cameron. what about michael steele's comment there? what is the reaction here in washington? >> hi, bret. n.c. says that essentially what the chairman was saying is discussion of her viability or lack of viability in 2012 ought to be off the table because her decision was based on her local political situation in alaska and it's up to sarah palin to determine her own future. steele went on to say that in as many words, but there is an awful lot of republicans in washington who simply cannot understand how this is in any way, shape or form a launch of an additional political career, that they effectively believe this ends it. bret: a lot of panelists, a lot of analysts in washington say this was the wong move, but is there something about sarah palin tapping into

this atmosphere of tea parties an facebook and twitter, and is there something that people inside washington is missing? >> yes. i think inside washington is missing how toxic the environment was for sarah pailen in alaska. we don't see or hear what she goes through every day. as for the mills out there, everybody close to her in alaska and everybody who would like to support her believes she can make a lost money doing speeches, write a book and tour that and use that to moat sate a great deal of political populism. in america, everybody talks about second acts in politics, whether it is 2012, 2016, 2020 or any 2024, she has 20 years of political years in her, and she is by far the most popular and charismatic republican in pollingite now. bret: thanks, carl. south carolina republicans have voted to censure governor mark sanford. they are upset over revelations of sanford's affair with an argentine woman

and his disappearance last month when he went to see her. sanford's office responded "the governor fully appreciates the party's position and intends to work diligently to earn back its trust." there was fresh debates about what rights accused terrorists will have after guantanomo bay is closed and the family of a fallen soldier questions why he received little attention and michael jackson got so much. wçñcçñwñ

bret: admirers of michael jackson packed the staples center in los angeles today for a memorial to the late singer. luminaries from music, movies and sports spoke to the crowd. jackson he's death has, of course, received extensive worldwide media coverage,

including significant time on this network. now, relatives of a soldier killed in afghanistan are raising some questions about that. correspondent molly hennenberg has the story. >> 24-year-old army lieutenant brian bradshaw deployed to afghanistan in february. his father said he wanted to try to help people. >> one of the first things he asked for for after he got there was to send candy and gum that they would pass out to the children as they walked through the villages. >> lieu ten apt bradshaw was killed by a road side bomb on june 25, the same day michael jackson died. bradshaw's body was brought back to the u.s. june 27 and he was buried yesterday in kent washington, near his home. buried with full military honors but no national fanfare, and that upsets bradshaw's aunt, martha gillis, who wrote in and letter to the editor of "the washington post" that her nephew was, quote, a thoroughly decent person who believed military service was patriotic. she went on to write, quote,

what more than that did michael jackson do or represent that earned him memorial shrines while this soldier's death goes unheralded? it makes me want to scheme. one media analyst says the death of a music legend like jackson is national news but says military families have an argument here. >> if you look at the coverage the last week, the story of michael jackson got more than three times the coverage of either iraq, where we were pulling out u.s. troops or of afghanistan. >> bradshaw's father says he understands that many people loved jackson, but he also suggests that americans are forgetting those in uniform. 20 have died in iraq and afghanistan since june 25. >> what does bother me is that not just my son, it's not about my son, but all of the people who served, all the services, all the men and women, and so little is said and done for them. >> some veterans are incensed by the lack of attention to

the fallen. >> people in union forms who have been maimed or decorated for acts of stunning valor, and we don't even know their names. >> more than 600 people attended lieutenant bradshaw's funeral yesterday. he is survived by his parents, paul and mary and his brother robert. bret. bret: molly, thank you. a senior u.s. defense official says a u.s. soldier kidnapped in afghanistan is being held by a taliban faction. the group is run by jalaween-akani, the same faction that held a new york times correspondent and his translate fore7 months until they escaped. the man who is leading the taliban resistance to u.s. marines in southern afghanistan is a former guantanomo bay detainee. a senior defense official con tirms that he was released from the prison in late 2007.

so far, american officials will not produce a photograph and will not say why he was freed after six years in custody. the e.p.a. says u.s. efforts to fight climate change probably won't work alone, and al gore says fighting global warming is similar to the struggle against nazi germany. ow we've made a great product even better. now every drop of shell gasolines... contain a nitrogen-enriched cleaning system... that seeks and destroys engine gunk... left by lower-quality gasoline. it protects engines from performance-robbing gunk. try new nitrogen-enriched shell gasolines.

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