'This Week' Transcript: Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett

WASHINGTON, Nov. 13, 2011— -- (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AMANPOUR (voice-over): This week, the reckoning at Penn State, rioting, and regret, as a football icon and top college brass stand accused of shielding an alleged pedophile in their midst.

OBAMA: I think it's a good time for us to do some soul-searching.

AMANPOUR: Our headliner today, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett. As state attorney general, he launched the sex abuse investigation that exploded into public view this week.

Also today, unanswered questions in the sexual harassment scandal engulfing Herman Cain, as Newt Gingrich rises...

GINGRICH: Our model is the tortoise. Every day, we get up and we go a few more steps in the right direction.

AMANPOUR: ... and Rick Perry falls.

PERRY: Oops.

AMANPOUR: The roundtable on a dramatic week in the race for the White House.

And later, a dreaded headline on Iran. U.N. weapons inspectors reveal new evidence the country is working on a nuclear weapons device. Can the United States do anything to stop it now?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Live from the Newseum in Washington, "This Week" with Christiane Amanpour starts right now.

AMANPOUR: Good morning, and welcome to the program.

Today, we address the lack of accountability and public trust on the gridiron and on the campaign trail. Lots to get to this hour, but we begin with some news since your morning papers.

Violence last night at several Occupy Wall Street protests around the country. In Portland, Oregon, demonstrators clashed with police, defying the city's effort to roust them from a city park.

And in Philadelphia, police say a woman was raped by a fellow protester in a tent set up outside city hall. The alleged attacker is under arrest.

In South Carolina last night, it was the world according to the Republican candidates, as they laid out their prescriptions for foreign policy in another debate. The hot topic was how to deal with Iran's nuclear program, which we'll discuss later in this program.

But of course, everyone was watching to see if Rick Perry would make it through unscathed. He did.

Of course, this year being what it is, Rick Perry will get many, many more opportunities to prove himself on the debate stage. It's hard to overestimate how much grief the Texas governor got over the past few days. And our man, Jon Karl, has the play-by-play in his special trip through this week in politics.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KARL (voice-over): What would a week in politics be without one of Mitt Romney's opponents blowing himself up?

HARWOOD: But you can't name the third one?

PERRY: The third agency of government I would -- I would do away with, the Education, the...

(LAUGHTER)

(UNKNOWN): Commerce.

PERRY: Commerce. And let's see. I can't. The third one, I can't. Sorry. Oops.

KARL: A disaster, no doubt, even if we really liked Perry's Top 10 excuses for why it happened.

LETTERMAN: At number six...

PERRY: Hey, listen. You try concentrating with Mitt Romney smiling at you? That is one handsome dude.

(LAUGHTER)

Oops.

KARL: Was the gaffe big enough to destroy his chances? Maybe. Debate flubs already had Perry on thin ice.

PERRY: ... was -- was before he was before...

KARL: But Perry isn't slinking away. He responded with the biggest media offensive of his campaign, a blizzard of interviews and a million-dollar ad buy on Fox News.

PERRY: I learned the values of hard work, faith, and family.