prestige of newt gingrich. prestige of the speakership of the house. that's what they're selling. it's the newt gingrich signed gavel and newt gingrich framed certificate and the party where you're allowed or guaranteed you'll be allowed to be near newt gingrich. it is the letter you get from the desk of speaker newt gingrich. and today we have learned that it's not just small businesses and doctors who've been suckered into the whole access to newt fund-raising spam scam. it's big companies, too. today "washington post" reports that the newt gingrich's health care think tank, the center for health transformation, collected $37 million over the past 8 years from some of the biggest health care companies in the country. companies like astrazeneca and blue cross blue shield and ge health care and wellpoint. all of these companies would pay newt's for-profit health care thing $200,000 a year in membership dues. what would they get for their membership dues money? in part, they'd get special access to the former ho

gingrich. mr. gingrich's stepfather, with him on the family trip in france at the time, said newt never mentioned anything about that trip was all that important to him at the time. "he never said anything about it. he never discussed it." regardless, that's the myth now. this whole my political career started when i was in france on vacation at the age of 15. that is part of newt gingrich's myth making, building himself up into an important seeming, serious seeming guy. buy my book. he's also told other origin myths about himself like the one where he only ended up in politics reluctantly after abandoning his long held dream to be a zoologist. that's another newt gingrich origin myth he tells whenever he's photographed near adorable animals. or when he was trying to sell himself as an environmental. one of his two dozen books has that environmentalist title. it's called "a contract with the earth." you can get an autographed copy of "a contract with the earth" at gingrichproductions.com for $9.99.

prestige of newt gingrich. prestige of the speakership of the house. that's what they're selling. it's the newt gingrich signed gavel and newt gingrich framed certificate and the party where you're allowed or guaranteed you'll be allowed to be near newt gingrich. it is the letter you get from the desk of speaker newt gingrich. and today we have learned that it's not just small businesses and doctors who've been suckered into the whole access to newt fund-raising spam scam. it's big companies, too. today "washington post" reports that the newt gingrich's health care think tank, the center for health transformation, collected $37 million over the past 8 years from some of the biggest health care companies in the country. companies like astrazeneca and blue cross blue shield and ge health care and wellpoint. all of these companies would pay newt's for h-profit health care thing, $200,000 a year in membership dues. what would they get for their membership dues money? in part, they'd get special access to the former

four months ago, if we were on talking about the renaissance of newt gingrich, newt gingrich as the hot, young thing in the republican presidential race, we would have laughed a lot more than a republican convention. this is an unpredictable electorate in an unpredictable election cycle. i would agree 100% with susan. it's not going to happen because the republican party poobahs won't let it happen. >> this is the scariest vision i've come across since ebenezer scrooge spotted jacob marley on his doorknob. thank you, chris and susan. >>> up next, mitt romney's campaign released an ad last week which clearly took the president's words out of context, in fact, i think totally distorted them. and now susan -- susan? now stephen colbert has taken his revenge. that's coming up in the sideshow. colbert to destroy romney. you're watching "hardball," only on msnbc. [ knock on door ] cool. you found it. wow. nice place. yeah. [ chuckles ] the family thinks i'm out shipping these. smooth move. you used priority mail flat rate boxes. if it fits, it ships for a low, flat rate. paid for postage onli

gingrich. in order to understand the wa way in which newt gingrich is peaking in the post-thanksgiving flush, in order to understand that, you have to understand this guy. >> america, we do not promise that everyone wins. only that everyone gets a chance to try. and you have given me that chance. i took advantage of it as well as i could. i appreciate it. and thank you for it. >> that is pete du pont speaking in 1988 about five seconds after losing really badly in the new hampshire republican presidential primary. pete du pont came in fourth out of five candidates in new hampshire that year and promptly dropped out, never to be heard from again. pete du pont was a late '80s version of one of the koch brothers today. he was a zillionaire inheriter of his family's chemical company, a company not called koch industries in his case but called du pont. mr. du pont used his family a's fortune to run for office and create a big intrusive government for regular people, government all up in your busines

they hired vendors such as the gingrich group run by a gentleman named newt gingrich. newt gingrich is being paid to administer the newt gingrich fund-raising empire which spends a large amount of the money it raises on newt gingrich. newt gingrich is really good at raising money from people who think they are donating to a cause. when really the money raised just goes to newt. it is the same scam as the tea party express. it is a scam. it is a scam. if you get anything in the mail or in your e-mail or on the twitter from newt gingrich, check for your wallet. now since everybody gets a turn in the republican primary this year, everybody except rick sanatorium, newt gingrich gets to be tied with mitt romney this week. everybody gets a turn. as mr. gingrich luxuriates in the newt surge, he cannot stop himself even now, he cannot stop himself even now. he cannot make himself seem less scammy even now, even in his moment in the spotlight. >> i recently wrote a book called "a nation like no other" designed to deal with american history. recently made a movie called "a city

>> i think he has to engage gingrich. running this campaign against president obama, which makes sense when you're the de facto nominee but begin rich nin begi leading in the polls. >> this is a -- that sound bite you just played is a fedex envelope to southern new hampshire. because he knows with union leader endorsement, what comes with the endorsement -- the endorsement is nothing. what comes with the endorsement is the daily drum beat against any opposition candidate now to newt gingrich, so that is just feeding into the endorsement, feeding into i'm more conservative than he is, so get out and vote. >> you're exactly right. this is a fundamental conversation at republican parties. what you really have, you have a moderate candidate in mitt romney or a conservative candidate in newt gingrich, which direction do you want to go? >> exactly, there are ads with nancy pelosi, even his stance on immigration which he -- >> look, i'm with you. >> but only on three issues. only immigration -- only immigration. it's a big issue

romney or gingrich? well, the latest polling out of new hampshire from the university of new hampshire shows that in a general election match-up, president obama leads mitt romney but just marginally. but look at the matchup with gingrich, it's got the president ahead, 52/40. but jennifer, this time you start, it seems to me in terms of just a pleasant outlook for the year, this president, barack obama, would want to prefer, it seems to me, looking forward to series of genteel debates with governor romney, where he's sort of predictable and he'll throw his sunday punch, but you know what it's going to be, whereas newt will have 40 or 50 follow-up punches and they may be thought up on the spot. go ahead, your thoughts. >> i totally agree. i think that newt gingrich turns on a dime. he's a great debater. he's not afraid to really go for the jugular, but he doesn't do it in a very negative way, either. i think he actually could do it and dismantle obama and make it very difficult for obama to be -- defend h

yes, that newt gingrich. newt gingrich announced his presidential campaign six weeks ago. on that day i asked how soon he would drop out of the race. i didn't have the awe das city to imagine his campaign didn't last a week. it's no functionally over for gingrich. he will have enough money to continue traveling for months and actually wait for votes to be counted in iowa, new hampshire, or even south i=1%99ñ >> well, the republican presidential roller coaster has suddenly turned up this week for newt gingrich. he is as of this moment in some polls one of the front-runners for the republican nomination. in the new poll, president obama has 47% to gingrich's 45%. that's within the margin of error. by comparison the president is beating mitt romney 48% to 44%. a fox news poll released tonight showing gingrich leading the republican pack. gingrich has 23%, romney struggling in and out at 22%, herman cain has 15% and everyone else in sing digits. as soon as gingrich's candidacy has shot up in the polls, he is mired in a controversy for working for freddie mac after bloomberg n

gingrich. and in order to understand the way in which newt gingrich is peaking right now in the post-thanksgiving flush, in order to understand that, you have to understand this guy. >> for in america we do not promise that everyone wins, only that everyone gets a chance to try. and you have given me that chance. i took advantage of it as well as i could. i appreciate it. and thank you for it. >> that is pete du pont speaking in 1988 about five seconds after losing really badly in the new hampshire republican presidential primary. pete du pont came in fourth out of five candidates in new hampshire that year and then he promptly dropped out, never to be heard from again. pete du pont was sort of a late '80s version of one of the koch brothers today. he was a zillionaire inheritor of his family's chemical company, a company not called koch industries in his case but called du pont. perhaps you have heard of the dupont company. mr. du pont used his family's fortune to run for office and to promote

check out newt gingrich. his website has shiny, new explanations for why he's changed his positions on the health care mandate, on global warming, on t.a.r.p., on what he called paul ryan's right wing social engineering medicare plan and luckily for newt, all of his new positions line up nicely with the conservative republican primary voters. well, also the veto -- >>> the video that went viral this weekend. campus police pepper spraying peaceful occupy protesters out at uc davis in california. the university's police chief was placed on administrative leave today and many students are calling for the university's chancellor to step down. >>> and look who has decided to take a chance on iowa, mitt romney. he may be trying to win it all up front, but if he loses out there and loses big, it could be all over for mitt. >>> finally, let me finish tonight with why i think november 22nd, tomorrow, should never be a day to remember john f. kennedy. >>> we start with the super committee's failure to reach a deal toda

she quotes, gingrich's neighbor and campaign treasurer tip carter who tells this story about gingrich? i have newt's daughters, jackie, sue, and kathy with me. i was cutting across the yard to go up the driveway. there was a car there. as i got to the car i saw newt in the passenger seat, and one of the guys' wives with his head in her lap going up and down. newt kind of turned and gave me his little-boy smile. fortunately jackie, sue and kathy were a long younger and shorter then. there are some voters who would score what gingrich was doing in the driveway as an awful lot dumber than agreeing with nancy pelosi about climate change, and, of course, limiting himself to recent years allows gingrich to ignore the $300,000 fine that the house ethics committee hit him with in 1997. as is newt's habit, when confronted with something politically embarrassing, he lies about it. when he was yontsed with the million and a half dollars that freddie mac paid him for his help dealing with congress, he, of course, had to lie and claim that he was being paid as a historian. not a lobbyist. with o'r

that endorsement should help gingrich narrow romney's lead in new hampshire but today gingrich was doing his endorsement victory lap in south carolina where he now has a strong chance of actually beating romney. in an interview with a south carolina radio station, gingrich was asked about the union leader's statement that he is by no means the perfect candidate. >> anybody who is knot honest about it knows that no person except christ has ever been perfect. so i don't claim to be the per effect candidate. i just claim to be a lot more conservative than mitt romney and a lot more electable than anybody else. newt gingrich is now actually being considered for a possible endorsement from the iowa-based conservative group "family leader" a group that ruled out the possibility of endorsing former liberal mitt romney. asked about gingrich's several marriages and the affairs he's conducted during those mam marriages the family leaders director of development said i have heard him speak candid di about those thing and i've been convinced he is remorseful. i'm willing to forgive and move on. this

let me ask you about gingrich, stu. is there a conflict between gingrich, mr. outside, appealing to the republican conservative base and tea partiers and gingrich, mr. inside, running the gingrich company which sounds as though he's the principal of it. whoever got the money from freddie mac a lot of it had to filter to him. >> there is absolutely a contradiction here. i think what makes some republican conservatives uncomfortable. it's hard for the former speaker of the united states and now a washington insider to run as an outsider. of course he wants to. that's the vacuum in the republican race as the alternative to the establishment candidate. he's not really in a position to do that. the money he made is one problem. when you look at his record on the mandate, medicare part d, a number of issues conservatives will become very agitated about, that's a bigger problem. herman cain had a personal problem and that's rallied some conservatives. newt has multiple problems. some are ideological. >> stu rothenberg, thank you very much. jonathan çalter, thanks fo

gingrich. let's go now to capitol hill whereç congressman barney fran is thankfully not in handcuffs. good afternoon, sir. >> good afternoon. >> newt gingrich called for your good self to be tossed into jail following the financial crisis in 2008 but he never mentioned once that he had earned almost $2 million from freddie mac when he called for your incarceration. can i have your response, sir? >> it's part of a pattern in which the republicans who were the ones responsible for fannie mae and freddie mac during the bad times incredibly tried to blame us. newt gingrich was speaker of the house in 1995 through 1998 for four years. during that period, he never moved anything to restrain fannie mae and freddie mac. his fellow republicans continued to control fannie mae and freddie mac until the end of the 2006. george bush tried to get congress to do something about fannie mae and freddie mac, although he was contradictory there and the republicans refused. nothing happened to restrain those two

when cain drops, gingrich gains. in new hampshire, a rasmussen poll, a conservative leaning poll, we've seen over the last month herman cain dropping by 12 points, newt gingrich rising by 16 points. public policy polling which is a left leaning firm, they took a really interesting approach to this question. they called herman cain's supporters in ohio, mississippi, iowa, california, arizona and pennsylvania and essentially asked cain supporters if herman cain drops out, who do you like? here's how ppp signed up per their findings. "cain supporters absolutely love newt gingrich and absolutely hate mitt romney." among cain supporters, gingrich has a plus 52 favorability rating. mitt romney's favorability rating among cain supporters is anythi negative, really negative. as herman cain's numbers drop like a stone, it appears to be newt gingrich's gain in the presidential race, at least for now. and that is sort of amazing when you step back from those numbers and you consider what kind of scandals exactly are causing her

when cain drops, gingrich gains. in new hampshire, a rasmussen poll, a conservative leaning poll, we've seen over the last month herman cain dropping by 12 points, newt gingrich rising by 16 points. public policy polling which is a left leaning firm, they took a really interesting approach to this question. they called herman cain's supporters in ohio, mississippi, iowa, california, arizona and pennsylvania and essentially asked cain supporters if herman cain drops out, who do you like? here's how ppp signed up per their findings. "cain supporters absolutely love newt gingrich and absolutely hate mitt romney." among cain supporters, gingrich has a plus 52 favorability rating. mitt romney's favorability rating among cain supporters is negative, really negative. as herman cain's numbers drop like a stone, it appears to be newt gingrich's gain in the presidential race, at least for now. and that is sort of amazing when you step back from those numbers and you consider what kind of scandals exactly are causing herman cai

romney or gingrich? well, the latest polling out of new hampshire from the university of new hampshire shows that in a general election matchup, president obama leadses romney. but look at the matchup with gingrich, it's got the president ahead, 52/40. but jennifer, this time you start, it seems to me in terms of just a pleasant outlook for the year, this president, barack obama, would want to prefer, it seems to me, looking forward to series of genteel debates with governor romney, where he's sort of predictable and he'll throw his sunday punch, but you know what it's going to be, whereas newt will have 30 or 40 follow-up punches and they may be thought up on the spot. go ahead, your thoughts. >> i totally agree. i think that newt gingrich turns on a dime. he's a great debater. he's not afraid to really go for the jugular, but he doesn't do it in a very negative way, either. i think he actually could do it and dismantle obama and make it very difficult for obama to be -- defend his record. and i also th

newt gingrich did a fine job tonight. it was interesting to see michele bachmann is the one person who did take a swipe at him on the immigration issue and challenged him going down the same path that torpedoed rick per perry's campaign a few months ago. newt took a body blow. i'm interesting to see if that makes movement in the polls. overall newt had a very grasp of the issues and he's going to probably stay solid in the polls at this point in time. >> ron, let me stay with you on this immigration question, because it seems to me that newt gingrich found a new way of talking about it. perry's way of talking about it was obviously disastrous within republican party politics. but you heard some new sounds and some new angles from gingrich on this. has he found a way to make this more open notion about what might be possible in immigration policy, acceptable to the republican primary audience? >> well, certainly he brought -- he packaged his position in a much more palatable mode. whether or not, there are a lot more repub

newt gingrich did a fine job tonight. it was interesting to see michele bachmann is the one person who did take a swipe at him on the immigration issue and challenged him going down the same path that torpedoed rick perry's campaign a few months ago. newt took a body blow. i'm interesting to see if that makes movement in the polls. overall newt had a very grasp of the issues and he's going to probably stay solid in the polls at this point in time. >> ron, let me stay with you on this immigration question, because it seems to me that newt gingrich found a new way of talking about it. perry's way of talking about it was obviously disastrous within republican party politics. but you heard some new sounds and some new angles from gingrich on this. has he found a way to make this more open notion about what might be possible in immigration policy, acceptable to the republican primary audience? >> well, certainly he brought -- he packaged his position in a much more palatable mode. whether or not, there are a lot more republica

newt gingrich is serving in the polls. newt gingrich. to sit in lincoln's chair, and perhaps sleep in lincoln's bed. well, fact is, with cain fanning and perry paring, it's newt positioned to become the next anti-romney, and the gingrich that could steal christmas. will newt become the first republican to self-destruct, or the first one to put a real scare into mitt? he scares me. also, the spooky 1987 television interview with penn state's jerry sandusky talking about how much he loves children. we've got the ghastly video and the latest on this story. >>> and how about the law on reporting crimes against children? does it need to be strengthened? >>> plus, a new wrinkle in the herman cain alleged sexual predator story. sharon bialek's then-boyfriend backs her story that the two met cain in the late 1990s and that she told him that cain grabbed her during an evening together. we'll ask the cain strategist whether cain can survive. >>> and the anybody but mitt contest, which has become. i bet he does. and we'll ask p.j. o'roarke what he

gingrich leads the pack ahead of mitt romney. this is the sixth national poll to put gingrich in the lead. but on the issue of having strong moral character, well, newt gingrich only musters 9%, well behind mitt romney. five months ago we were all writing off newt. i mean, he went to greece. his campaign staff was so upset, they went over to some guy in texas named rick perry. but he's back on top. talk about a political reclamation project, there it is. republicans, well, they are starved for someone besides mitt romney. now republicans don't really care about these three marriages, do they? they probably love it when he says he wants to get rid of child labor laws so he can put poor kids to work. well, newt gingrich says the ç 99ers should get a job after they take a bath. this is the strong moral character republicans are looking for. let's bring in radio talkers, bill press and also radio talk show host joe madison. gentlemen, good to have you with me. oh, my goodness, it's like a kid in a candy store. where do we start? bi

to gingrich's 15%. and the difficulty that romney still faces, though, is conservative credentials jon meacham and that's what this endorsement is addressing. >> totally. there isn't anybody but romney phenomena. and gingrich, i think, has finally become sort of bush at had his dole, reagan had his bush, bush had his mccain, and romney and gingrich are the two. but people don't trust romney in the republican party because he seems to be all things to all people. and when he was the massachusetts governor, he wu a rockefeller republican. when he wanted to be the republican nominee, he became more conservative. i think there's a great unease here that continues and shows no sign of abating. >> in fact the "union-leader" gets to that later on in this endorsement for gingrich there was, as well, kind of a dig at romney, doris. we'll put it on the screen. we don't back candidates based on popularity polls as they indicate in the endorsement, or big-shot backers. we look for conservatives with courage and con

the gingrich bubble. is it is your sense this is an exploration of is there a romney alternative and that it has built in to it all the curve that all the bubbles have had a few week and it's gone. >> it's remarkable. the thing i come back to is if you are mitt romney you are looking at the rest of the field and you are saying, who's the complete package? who puts it together the anti-establishment, tea party base, pop list, anti--washington type, who puts it together? it was perry. he was the one that was supposed to do it. newt gingriching was not the leading man for that role in that movie. what he's done here is attack the media. he's positioned himself in debates where he's not really going after his rivals. he's going after obama and he has caught a little something here, largely because of the debates. what is he doing, challenging the moderator and the predicate of questions and he is saying some pretty, to a lot of ears, outladies and gentlemen rageous things, going after the fed. he's drafting a

gingrich is providing leadership. he's saying what is right to allow people who have been here longer to stay here in this country and i think people are looking for someone who's a straight talker, like mccain was in 2008. i think gingrich now appear to be the straight talker in the group. and so if he can whittle this down to a two-man race, he's got a shot at this thing. >> 36 days until iowa. jennifer, thanks for your time this morning. >>> egypt votes in the first historic election since the uprising that deposed mubarak. live inside cairo with the very latest. >>> american students, they are speaking out about their ordeal after being detained in egypt. some claim they were beaten. we'll speak with one of them coming up later in this hour. >>> plus, he left congress with ethical questions swirling around him. now, newt gingrich has built a multimillion dollar empire, centered around newt and his contact. so how did he do it? will the same strategy win him the gop nomination? that and much more after this it's li

that's gingrich. keep in mind there's a chance jon huntsman can make a run at this thing but his votes are going to come primarily from people who would consider mitt romney as a candidate. >> he's dry toast but he's a smart guy. michael, who gains when cain tips over in this race? >> it's a seussian nightmare for herman cain. the guy who stole christmas is here. there's no question that newt gingrich benefitses from this. because he's been straightforward about his own peccadillos and downfalls, he accrues a kind of moral authority in inverse proportion because he's not trying to diss anybody but at the same time his own funkiness is out there. >> he's saying i've been there, done that, i know not to comment on. michael eric diszen, sam stein, good to have you on. >>> answer tonight's question at the bottom of the screen and share your thoughts on twitter with #edshow. we'll be featuring your tweets throughout the show tonight. got a lot of response on that last night. >>> coming up, newt gingrich co

gingrich is 68 years old. he talks about his campaign for the presidency having started 53 years ago, which would mean when he was 15 years old. delving into the mythology of newt gingrich, it's easier than with most candidates because he's wrote so many books about him. dealing with this puzzle just involves delving into books about his own career. his political career started when he was 15 years old. his political career started when he was 15 years old and his family took a vacation in france. naets where it started. that's when he started to prepare for president, on vacation in france at the age of 15. when he was at the height of his powers in congress in 1996 roughly, the pbs program "front line" did a big in depth biography on mr. gingrich. in that biography mr. gingrich's stepfather, who was with him on that family trip in france at the time, said that newt never mentioned anything about that trip was all that important to him at the time. quote, he never said anything about if it. he never discussed

gingrich. in order to understand the wa way in which newt gingrich is peaking in the post-thanksgiving flush, in order to understand that, you have to understand this guy. >> america, we do not promise that everyone wins. only that everyone gets a chance to try. and you have given me that chance. i took advantage of it as well as i could. i appreciate it. and thank you for it. >> that is pete du pont speaking in 1988 about five seconds after losing really badly in the new hampshire republican presidential primary. pete du pont came in fourth out of five candidates in new hampshire that year and promptly dropped out, never to be heard from again. pete du pont was a late '80s version of one of the koch brothers today. he was a zillionaire inheriter of his family's chemical company, a company not called koch industries in his case but called du pont. mr. du pont used his family's fortune to run for office and create a big intrusive government for regular people, government all up in your business

gingrich is tops. over the weekend, the gingrich campaign launched a website tows pl a right-wing social engineering. well, newt now says his words were too harsh. how about his past support for health care -- a health care mandate. now he see as the error of his ways. he thinks mandates are wrong on principle. the 2007 political ad with nancy pelosi that argues for climate change, does that still work? no, he refers to the interview recently where he calls it, quote, the single dumbest thing i've ever done. for the latest on newt gingrich and whether conservatives will buy his explanations, let's bring in mother jones' washington bureau chief, david corn. and tony parkinson is head of the family research counsel. tony, i want you to go to this one here. this is where he explains his position on impeachment. the gingrich answers website has this to say about newt's tenure during the clinton impeachment. of course. he was speaker back then. quote -- actually, this is a group of people designed as newt,

it could be the current gop poster boy, newt gingrich. but with so many republicans saying anyone but mitt, isn't newt the logical choice? so the obama campaign right now is focusing its energy and charges at mitt romney. it's a win-win strategy for them. help newt knock him out now or finish him off yourself in november. the dnc has put out a second anti-mitt video in two days. this one taking romney to task for his dishonest ad last week, and wait until you see stephen colbert's takedown of that romney ad. it's in the sideshow. finally, let me finish tonight with this exit of barney frank and this rise of newt. talk about bad tidings of the season. >>> we start with the possible end to the herman cain campaign. dana milbank is a "washington post" columnist and satirist, and jim vandehei is editor in chief for politico. it's very hard -- let me go to the hard news reporter now for the entire organ of politico. jim, thank you for joining us. you've got the entire resources of politico working this story, i assume. yesterday cain said he w

conservatives attacking gingrich. that's next in the "rewrite." so i took my heartburn pill and some antacids. we're having mexican tonight, so another pill then? unless we eat later, then pill later? if i get a snack now, pill now? skip the snack, pill later... late dinner, pill now? aghh i've got heartburn in my head. [ male announcer ] stop the madness of treating frequent heartburn. it's simple with prilosec otc. one pill a day. twenty-four hours. zero heartburn. no heartburn in the first place. great. gives you a 50 percent annual bonus. so you earn 50 percent more cash. if you're not satisfied with 50% more cash, send it back! i'll be right here, waiting for it. who wouldn't want more cash? [ insects chirping ] i'll take it. i'll make it rain up in here. [ male announcer ] the new capital one cash rewards card. the card for people who want 50% more cash. what's in your wallet? sorry i'll clean this up. shouldn't have made it rain. congratulations. congratulations. today, the city of charlotte can use verizon technology to inspire businesses

but newt gingrich is different. newt gingrich is different from all the rest of these pachinko ball front-runners for five minutes. newt gingrich is fun to cover in his moment in the sun here. because newt gingrich has been around in politics in one incarnation or another basically forever. to trace the origins of the eyebrow raising stuff that newt gingrich is promoting now that he's the presidential front-runner, go back to newt gingrich's old cassette tapes. remember cassette tapes? for all viewers younger than me, this is a cassette tape. used to have boom boxes and machines in our cars that would play these things and sometimes your car would mess it up and the tape could get tied like this. one of the things newt gingrich did when he was on his way to becoming speaker of the house newt gingrich -- look, i broke it. no, there it goes. he took over a republican organization called go-pac and he would send republican coaching cassette tapes to republican candidates for office all around the country. not just peop

why is newt gingrich different? >> i don't think gingrich is different. and i think it's still the case that gingrich is the most likely to get mitt romney one-on-one, and the least likely to beat him one-on-one. >> last night, gingrich was on the defensive about all of this and said he was never a lobbyist. >> my interest in housing and helping relatively poor americans to buy a house goes back a long way. i was approached to offer strategic advice. i do no lobbying of nip kind. i never have. i have never done lobbying of any kind. >> we can make all the jokes we want about herman cain. this guy's vulgar. this guy was getting a check of $150,000 a month as he's saying the things he said in the previous bite. i find an offensive human being. forget politics, am i crazy? >> that's coming from donny deutsch -- >> i like everybody. what does that mean? >> all right. i have that, i feel like i'm piling on. but -- >> you're barely keeping up with the torrent. >> you've just taken the egg roll, you haven't gone for the wantons or anything. >> here's a wanton fo

you look at newt gingrich, you wouldn't say that about newt gingrich. he wouldn't say that about others, but, again, here you have the only guy supporting, supporting paul ryan's plan. the only guy that is rock solid, prolife, prosecond amendment gun. it's a joke. these people don't -- >> they don't want to win. >> it becomes all about symbolism. >> when it comes to the endorsement of manchester union leader. >> by the way, we will continue to call it manchester union leader. it is the manchester union leader. >> it does not have the one caveat that the publisher of that paper looks for. the ability to truly annoy the left. that's what he looks for. >> is that it? >> newt gingrich has the ability to truly annoy the left as well as to really touch up mitt romney. >> he also, though, he cannot win. newt gingrich can't win a general election. >> that's the thing, on top of it. >> he can't win the new hampshire primary. >> he won't win the new hampshire primary. this is the uother amazing thin. he has the conservative record on nine out of ten issues. newt

we start with the apparent gop front-runner right now, newt gingrich. david gregory is the moderator of nbc's "meet the press." and howard fineman is an msnbc political analyst and "the huffington post" media group editorial director. david gregory, great to have you on. we'll talk about "meet the press" coming up this weekend. but let me ask you about this whole thing. don't you think just in a psychological way, what do you think it can does to mitt romney, who's been running for president since the last time to realize that newt gingrich is now the preferred candidate of the republican party, with all newt's baggage. i mean, totally, objectively, he's carrying so much baggage, serial marriages, reprimanded from the house of representativess, basically moved out from his own party caucus from the speakership. and here he is back as if none of that happened. >> i think it's troubling for romney. at the same time, i think there's a level of resignation in the romney campaign, that their campaign was not predicated on setting the electorate on fire. by b

tonight's lead, the secrets of newt gingrich. coming out, a bombshell report from "the washington post" shows over the last eight years, gingrich's think tank has taken $37 million from the health care industry. according to the polls, health care companies paid millions for, quote, access to newt gingrich and direct newt into action. get this. at the same time he was making $37 million off the industry, he was saying things like this. >> to have a 21st century intelligent health system or goal has to be for 100% of the country to be in the system, including you have to either have insurance or post a bond. >> a requirement to buy health insurance. >> it sounds like a mandate. but check out newt now, when the money is already in the bank and he's running for president. >> i am completely opposed to the obamacare mandate on individuals. >> i am opposed to a federal mandate. i am opposed to obamacare. >> when it comes to the money, it looks like to me he loses all his old inconvenient convictions. remember, all this comes just days

we start with the apparent gop front-runner right now, newt gingrich. david gregory is the moderator of nbc's "meet the press." and howard fineman is an msnbc political analyst and "the huffington post" media group editorial director. david gregory, great to have you on. we'll talk about "meet the press" coming up this weekend. but let me ask you about this whole thing. don't you think just in a psychological way, what do you think it does to mitt romney, who's been running for president since the last time to realize that newt gingrich is now the preferred candidate of the republican party, with all newt's baggage. i mean, totally, objectively, he's carrying so much baggage, serial marriages, moved out by his own caucus for the speakership. and here he is back as if none of that happened. >> i think it's troubling for romney. at the same time, i think there's a level of resignation in the romney campaign, that their campaign was not predicated on setting the electorate on fire. by being this charming historical figure. this was going to be a different

gingrich, speaking to fox news, romney brushed off gingrich's endorsement for the new hampshire leader newspaper. romney saying he never expected to get that nod. >> you know, the union leaders have not always been happy with me. ibe terribly surprised. gingrich spent his last 30 or 40 years in washington. i spent my career in the private sector. i think that should be what the country needs right now. >> romney continued to defend himself against charge that's he changes his positions for political gain and did that while again taking a jab at gingrich. >> this whole stream of thought that you began with which is you need it to get elected. if that was the case, would i still be defending massachusetts health care? if i were willing to say anything to get elected, wouldn't i just say it was a mistake? i watched other people on the stage when they talk about the cap and trade policies. they say that was a mistake. when someone says i did this ad on global warming, that was a mistake. so they just dust it aside. and that makes them more attractive in a primary. i'm standing by what i di

gingrich, are clean. but i'll tell you what, newt, if we all take on extra bath, could you tell us where we go to get those jobs? where? give me the address. call me. give me the place that we go. you got the number, newt. you call me for my birthday. oh, iowa is listening. thanks for washarpton." hardball starts right now. >>> let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington, leading off tonight, veto threat, as afternoon turned to evening today it looked like president obama was caught off guard. republicans in congress were gathering momentum to block those automatic spending cuts that resulted from the super committee's failure to reach a deal on the debt but the president took the microphone to say no way, i'll veto any attempt by congress to undo the automatic spending cuts unless the congress comes up with a bill to replace $1.2 trillion in cuts. so is this how the debate will be framed in the 2012 presidential race? >>> plus, when you hear republican flip-flopper, you think mi

but newt gingrich is different. newt gingrich is different from all the rest of these pachinko ball candidates for five minutes. newt gingrich is fun to cover in his moment in the sun here. he's been around politics in one incarnation or another basically forever. to trace the origins of the eyebrow raising stuff that newt gingrich is promoting now that he's the presidential front-runner, go back to newt gingrich's old cassette tapes. remember cassette tapes? for all viewers younger than me, this is a cassette tape. used to have boom boxes and machines in our cars that would play these things and sometimes your car would mess it up and the tape could get tied like this. one of the things newt gingrich did when he was on his way to becoming speaker of the house newt gingrich -- look, i broke it. there it goes. he took over a republican organization called go-pac and he would send republican coaching cassette tapes to republican candidates for office all around the country. people running for dogcatcher. if you were a

. >> we have known gingrich for a long time. he at the head of the class. >> gets a line of credit from none other than bill clinton. >> he is articulate and tries to think of a conservative version of an idea that solves a problem. >> mitt flip flops on to hard times. >> people understand i'm a man of steadiness and constances. >> the sprint for the republican nomination is on. >> we begin with newt gingrich surging to become leader of the pack, grabbing the coveted endorsement of new hampshire's largest newspaper. they boost in the nation's first primary state and make no mistake, the paper's touting of newt's courage and conviction hands a backhanded blow to mitt romney. gingrich is by no means the perfect candidate. we would rather back someone with whom we may sometimes disagree than one who tells us what he thinks we want to hear. ouch. i guess mitt would be getting their vote for homecoming king. despite living in the granite state at his family's lakefront estate, i guess romney has only been courting the paper for sever

gingrich versus obama? it would be fabulous. >> i think the debates would be unbelievable. >> they would be fantastic just as a pure political theater. >> here's -- i mean, here's why newt gingrich has at least something of a shot of sticking around. rick perry has disqualified himself in the mind of voters, bachmann and santorum are out of the campaign. >> haley barbour saying he's not endorsing endorsinging anybody. >> everybody else has disqualified themselves in one way or another. cain will drop out in a number of days or his campaign will go no where if he decides to plug on, so there is this moment where there's the possibility for the anti-romney forces to coalesce around one person. >> i don't see the incentive for herman cain to drop out. >> i don't either. i think that's cutting it close. >> elaine, reid, jen, stick around, we'll talk a lot more, maybe a little rick perry after the break. but trivia question we asked ronald reagan's so-called 11th amendment, thou shall not speak ill of a fellow r

is newt gingrich, is he working every county? is he going to be able to -- who's got the best ground game in iowa, to your knowledge? >> he's doing better. romney theoretically has something that can be activated. remember, he got 25% last time and has a network there he worked very diligently, very under the radar as we've been chasing other candidates. going riff has staffed up, but the thing about iowa is the person who spent the most time there is rick santorum. he visited 99 counties. people who bought the most ads there are michele bachmann, ron paul, rick perry, rick perry super pac. this is not shows up in the polls. a lot of us are waiting to see if the people who put the time in there, like santorum, are going to do better or if romney has a support base that's not shows up in all the flash of these candidates who rise for two months then collapse. >> yeah. well, we haven't mentioned rick perry. he's down at 7%. he's got a lot of money. and we should point out that the evangelical christian vote in rural iowa is going t

that there will be no moral scandal in a gingrich white house." well, that's, of course -- let's go on here. well, newt has tried to explain his past, not always very successfully. earlier this year, he was asked about his past on the christian broadcasting network, a great platform there, and here was his response, which i count as the greatest piece of malarkey i have ever heard in my life. let's listen. >> there's no question that at times in my life, partially driven by how passionately i felt about this country, that i worked far too hard and that things happened in my life that were not appropriate. i found that i felt compelled to seek god's forgiveness. not god's understanding, but god's forgiveness. >> you know, david, this is tricky business, because it's about a guy's personal life. but here he is, blaming his patriotism for his third marriage. and the use of the word "passion" is so out of sorts here. it's like that word where you take the wrong adjective and apply it to the wrong noun. i mean, passion is probably the reason he got cal