we' >> newly released benghazi e-mails put the white house back on the defense and raised big questions for hillary clinton as she gears up for 2016. harry reid in the hot seat as the senate demands a vote on the keystone pipeline. and welcome to "the welcome to the journal, editorial report, fresh questions this week about the obama administration's efforts to shape the narrative in the

days following september 11, 2012 terrorist attack on the u.s. mission in benghazi, libya, that killed four american diplomats. newly released video shows -- susan rice for her controversial sunday talk show appearances with deputy national security advisor ben rhodes writing in an e-mail two days before that the administration wanted her, quote, to underscore that these protests are rooted in an internet video and not a broader failure of policy. joining the panel this week, "wall street journal" columnist and deputy editor dan henninger. and columnist mary o'mcgrady. you've been following this for us. i thought all the e-mails were supposed to have done the least long ago. >> how did it turn up now? >> so did congress and all the media this one came out of

judicial watch, a conservative watch dog group who put in a freedom of information act request saying there's more stuff there, we want to see it. they fought it, but they eventually released it last month. >> but it got turned over to the committee in the last several days? >> turned over to the committee and the watch dog group. the narrative put out by the white house, this is all information from the cia, everything we said in the first week after the attacks was based on what the intelligence community -- >> that's what they had been saying. >> it was a protest that got out of hand. but it turned out that ben rhodes was very successful in directing the blame away from the white house and putting the narrative on the video. >> and ben rhodes, he's not like some cheap strategist, he's no

henry kissinger? >> he's a political operative at the nsa. >> and to that point, go back to what he said, that it was blamed on islamic video, and, quote, not a broader policy failure. >> so that's the key point there. >> yeah, it's a political statement. the argument that emerged after this was whether it was an act of terrorism over the islamic video. he's putting this blanket over it saying we were not at fault and they were not at fault because barack obama was running for president at that time and he was claiming that he was putting on a lid on al qaeda and terrorism. >> why didn't they just admit that it was a terrorist attack? the american public knows that terrorist attacks happen. and if they had been honest about it and saying this is despicable, we're going to fight back, i think the public would have said, okay, it's awful,

what did you do to prevent it? but i don't think we would have had this ongoing story. >> i agree, except that there were a lot of things leading up to the terrorist attacks that they didn't do. it did show a failure of policy in the region, the consulate did not show -- hillary clinton was not really responsive to threats that were in the area. this was something they didn't want to get out. so they had to say, no, it wasn't something planned that we should have never about, it was something we could never have known about. >> and it wasn't just susan rice who referred to the video. it was also jay carney who went out and said this is basically reaction to that internet video. hillary clinton on the same day went out to andrews air force base and mentioned it in this

context. so this was a systematic attempt to spin the story, or so it sure sounds like. >> eight days after the attacks, on that same day within hours, there was cell phone images, both the cia guy and the diplomat in libya said, this is a militia that had planned this, it was too well organized. i think the problem with the rhodes e-mail speaks to a broader failure of the administration here, they never took this seriously enough, four americans died, including the ambassador. first time in 30 years this happened. and they were playing campaign games instead of answering very hard questions about why weren't we prepared. what did we do during the attacks to stop this from happening and the way they played the aftermath. >> i think that's the point, brigadier general robert lovell

said there wasn't a military response to try to help these guys that were under attack. >> the memo was directed to -- basically this brings her into all of this, the spin control at the time, is that she's running for president. #. >> i think it's really ---on september 11, she attributed it to the video, she's in public on video on september 12, and september 13 saying this was undoubtedly resulting from this islamic video. i think those public statements are going to be used against her if she runs for president. because her statements are so soft soaping of what's going on, we're investigating. it sounds terrible. so i think it's going to be a huge problem. >> will it matter if the press corps doesn't care about this? the fact of the matter is that most of the media says we don't

care. >> i think it's going to come back on her, her testimony in congress, why does it matter, she got very emotional in the senate. why does it matter what really happens? for many americans actually it does really matter what happened and how the white house was explaining what happened in libya. >> especially if you want to be commander in chief. keep warring democratic factions in line as the mid terms approach. ♪

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thursday by democratic senator mary landrieu of indiana is sponsored by all 45 senate republicans and 11 democrats, many of whom are facing tough election campaign this is year. i'm joined by james freedom and washington columnist, jane strauszal. harry reid wants to block anything from passing the senate in a desperately avoid anything getting to president obama's desk, that he might have to veto, senate democrats want to vote to show they're in favor of it. how does harry wriggle out of this one? >> harry really is in a rock and a hard place. they are worried about losing the money of people like tom steyer. >> this money is really what

they're after, right? >> they want this $100 million to be in that most vulnerable races. they know it will go away if they don't approve this pipeline. you've g you've -- >> how does harry reid get out of it? >> so harry reid does what he always does, he is attempting to try to find a way in which his guys get to vote for it, but the legislation doesn't even matter, either because it's a nonbinding resolution, or because the white house is able to veto it, but he's trying to cut the cookie so that everybody gets something they want. >> but can he stop it from getting the 60 votes that it needs to pass the senate? if it does pass the senate, then it will get to the president's desk. can he find some way to block it in the senate? >> right now there's about 56 members that are publicly on

board with this. there are several more, at least six democrats who in the past have voted in a nonbinding fashion for legislation like this. so they're going to be under a lot of pressure to vote this time. he may not be able to stop his 60 votes. >> speaking of mary landrieu, let's listen to one of her ads as she's running for re-election. >> for years she's forced washington to respect louisiana. like p stopping offshore drilling. >> nothing about this moratorium makes sense, nothing. >> so she forced to it end. >> in just louisiana, there's 300,000 people who go to work every day in this industry, you can't just beat up on them. >> you got to admire a professional at work, what party is she from, again? >> i think we that raises the

problem she has, in which harry reid manages with the president to prevent once again this pipelining from being built. what she's saying is you got to keep me away from the chairman of the committee to keep my influence, what influence? no pipeline, not much in terms of exporting liquid natural gas. so the anti-energy policies stay the same if you buy her argument. i doochbt get it. >> what about the junkunderlyin who are getting killed because they're not in favor of keystone. >> i would argue more than 100 million, there's also a lot of big money going in here. >> absolutely, but you have to

go back to, her main problem is obama care. i know we're talking about energy. >> mary landrieu? >> they were looking good last summer, since then they're now polling in the low 40s. she's trying to change the subject and it looks like harry reid is not helping her because now we're going to a subject that is not going to get a win for her. >> mark udall of colorado, he's come out of the environmental movement, he did not vote for key phone last time, even in the nonbinding challenge. is he -- is he going to change his vote? what's the pressure on him? >> this is why reid and the white house are nervous. there are a growing number of democrats that were under pressure because of obama care, because of the economy, and they see energy as a safe haven. they're really pumping for

american industry. so you have guys like mark udall who was supposed to represent this western environmentalist democrat. suddenly now he cannot say enough nice things,natural gas and he's up again it on keystone and other issues. toyota announces it will move its headquarters from california to texas. will other companies follow the automaker's move? and signs that perry's gearing up for a presidential run. weekdays are for rising to the challenge.

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toyota announced it will move it's headquarters and thousands of jobs to the lone star state after 30 years in california. it's a big win for the governor who has made it his mission to draw companies away from high tax states. >> we have a few problems, we have lots of little burdens and regulations and taxes, but smart people figure out how to make it. and to that i would say, you get what you pay for. >> "wall street journal" editorial page writer, elisa finnedly. what did toyota say about their move? >> basically they were there are diplomatic about it, texas has -- this has nothing to do

witha california's anti-business environment. >> but he touted the pro business climate of texas. >> let's dig a little bit into those costs. what is the relative cost burdens, what are they, what are the advantages from a texas point of the of view. >> you don't have to join a union? >> that's right. >> so it reduces union labor. >> lower energy prices. >> why? >> because they don't have all the green policies essential, renewable mandates. >> renewable mandates are for solar and wind which are higher cost and because california imposed that on their energy industries, costs are higher in california than in texas, does that sum it up? >> 50% higher. >> 50% higher? >> and they could go up even more. >> what else? >> gas prices are about 70 to 80 cents cheaper in texas than the

rest of the south. >> the top marginal tax rate is what? >> 30.2%. >> and in texas? >> 0%. >> that would get anyone's attention. >> that's why you have seen texas really be the job creation star in the united states over the last decade, and also creating the middle class jobs, but the national economy in california has not been creative. >> that's a good point, this middle class point, a lot of people look at california and they say, look, this is silicon valley's booming, the tech mecca and so on and so forth, but a report that you've looked at, talks about california having a barbell economy. explain that. >> particularly outlay which is really kind of a microchasm of california's economy. you have the really rich on the one side, and then you have a growing group of poor people and

really a shrinking middle class, whom blue collar people who used to work in manufacturing, industrial output, that has since disappeared from l.a. entirely almost. >> so the boom in high-tech, which affects the rich, that hasn't spread out to the rest of the state? >> if you look at the unemployment rates, central valley, where all the farms are, it's 13%, in the city of l.a., it's 9.7%. >> -- creates one-third of the jobs in the united states. he's right. there were 5.3 net new jobs -- >> 5.3 million? >> texas created 1.75 million of them. that's about a third. they do have a pro business climate down there. they help you. i think the question for rick

perry is, whether that can translate into running the national government or washington. that's why we have federalism, states like texas and south carolina are able to do these things to attract business. but what is he going to do to translate that to the federal government? >> relative performance is one of the big stories in the united states. the red states have tended to do better, whereas illinois and connecticut and to some extent, california, at least parts of california, not doing nearly as well. >> we talked about the california-texas contrast, you also see the contrast between deep blue illinois and its mid midwestern neighbors, gloeing their jobs and growing their economies. as far as california and texas, i'm not sure california realizes the size of the job. we have talked a lot about texas's economy, low tax, low regulation. but it's become a cultural mecca, houston and dallas, a lot

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time now for hits and misses of the week. time now for hits and misses of the week. kim, let's start with you. >> a miss to retired supreme court justice john paul stevens who think week lectured that political money is not speech. justice steven's problem is that the supreme court says it is. he was never able to marshall an argument to get the court to change its mind. now he's back under a second branch of government to crack down on the first amendment. he would be better off paying some deaf. >> senate democrats wanted to raise the minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to $10.10 an hour.

senator republicans blocked it this week. so it's a hit for senate republicans because they stoop up for people who want to work. >> especially at the poorest end of the labor scale. matt? >> paul, here's a hick to my name sake, but no relation, unfortunately. frank comiskey, who's a star ú basketball team who's announcing that he's staying an extra year in college and will not be a top nba dpraft pick. comiskey says that that the northbound is flat out boring. he wants to stay in college, unlike a lot of star college players. >> and remember if you have your own hit or miss, sent it to

jer@foxnews.com. that's it for this week's show. thanks to my panel, and thanks to all of you for watching. we'll see you right here next week. fox news alert, a horrible accident, shocking families enjoying a day at the circus. welcome to america's news headquarters. we want to warn our viewers first, though, that the next images are quite disturbing. here's what happened. eight circus performers falling several feet to the floor during a high wire act. one dancer on the ground was also injured. it happened during a performance of the ringling brothers and barnum and bailey circus. >> the ringling brothers sir