so they are looking at rick perry and right now, rick perry's biggest competitor is rick perry. because he's got to introduce himself to the american people. he's using these debates to do so. and so, republicans and the rest of mer car looking at him and trying to figure out just who he is. so far, republicans like what they see. >> now rick perry seems, gloria, to have backed away from his long time critique of social security. he called in his book "fed up", calling it a ponzi scheme. but it looks like mitt romney will try to hammer him on it tonight. what does mitt romney try to do to chip away at rick perry. are romney people shocked at rick perry's rocket rise to the top? >> well, what rick perry did today, in a piece in usa today's kind of nuance, brooke, he didn't quite back way from it, but he said we need to reform it. not kill it. we need it reform it for younger voters. i would argue that's a little bit avenuance shift. but of doesn't really matter because mitt romney and perhaps michele bachmann are going to, not chip away at him, they are going to hammer away at hi

we want you to vote for rick perry too. but not their rick perry, our rick perry. on august 13th write in rick perry, that's perry with an as q as for america, with an "a" for iowa,-- that's right. (cheers and applause) i'll join you. i'll join you. folks, i want every one in the iowa nation to go to the ames straw poll this saturday, going to be a beautiful day. there's food, there's booze. and write in rick perry with an "a" why "a" because there's no "e" in team. and this evening-- (laughter) >> and this evening at 1700 hours we struck again with our second ad in the greater des moines metropolitan area. jimmy? >> iowa, a land of good people who can make up their own minds. but outside groups like jobs for iowa superpac are trying to pander to iowans with pro perry ads featuring cheap cornography. >> just so you will vote for rick perry at the ames straw poll. >> but americans for a better tomorrow tomorrow believe that iowans deserve better. and we're going to give it to you. >> oh way. on august 13th. write in rick perry. that's perry with an a for america, wi

rick perry says he can't be bought for $5,000. he was lying about that in that we have specific records indicating that merck gave him directly a lot more than $5,000. in fact, gave him $6,000, then $16,000, then $7,500. the number perry made up as the number that you can't buy me for that merck supposedly gave him is actually a much higher number. he's leaving the question sitting there. how much can he be bought for? >> it's pretty funny because if you talk to lobbyists at the texas capitol right now, the going rate, everybody says before you even get into a conversation with his officers and staff, is about $200,000. he's right. he's a bit pricier than $5,000. it's also considerably ironic that this guy runs around saying that he wants to make government as inconsequential in our lives as possible. but to benefit his friend, mike toomey, he's willing to insert government into the lives of young women, age 11 and 12, and force them and their families to get a vaccine. this is the way it's been in texas under rick perry, lawrence

one would seem to run counter to what rick perry was saying, but rick perry did certainly hit upon something. there is problems with social security. look at this number right here. are there problems with social security? and here, major changes, are they needed? 55% say, yes. that is the case. of course, this is all tied in to one thing. the economy, ali. >> and this is -- this is interesting, because rick perry kind of made this an issue. social security's sort of a back burner concern to a lot of people. it's tied to our debt and deficit concerns but he's put this in the forefront. does this help him ultimately or not that these polls show not everybody believes his characterization of it? >> could be potentially a devastating issue in the general election. republican versus democrat. right now in the primary, it's not hurting him. in fact at the debate, that wasn't the big issue. we saw social security, up to last night, for rick perry now it's about mandates he has to deal with and illegal immigration. >> we'll be talking a lot more about it. thank, mark preston. back to christine. >>

rick perry called social security a ponzi scheme. romney and perry went head to head each accusing of scaring the seniors. back live, john king host of john king, usa, david gergen and the chief political analyst -- eric eric son of red state.com and paul la gala. ari fleischer. and roland martin. i don't know how many folks we have. i lost count. we just talked to john king. john, there's one particular exchange on social security between rick perry and mitt romney that got a lot of people's attention. we heard a bit of it before. i want to play the extended version right now. >> but the question is, do you still believe that social security should be ended as a federal program as you did six months ago when your book came out and return to the states or do you want to retreat from that? >> i think we ought to have a conversation -- >> we're having that right now. we're running for president. >> are there ways to move the states into social security, for state employees or retirees? we did in the state of texas in the 1980s. i think

is rallying around rick perry. >> no way rick perry can win a general election, no way. >> and sarah palin makes her big announcement to the tea party, announcing nothing. >> and unless and until fox drops her from her contract, i will not believe she's running for president. >> right on, better late than never. >>> good evening from new york. with still 14 months left in the 2012 presidential campaign, a new nbc/"wall street journal" poll shows president obama with now the lowest approval rating of his presidency, 44% approve of the job the president is doing, 51% disapprove. though the president's approval rating is now the lowest of his presidency, it has not dropped significantly over his last 21 months in office, according to the nbc/"wall street journal" polling. the approval rating first dropped below 50% in december 2009. it was at 47%, within the margin of error of his approval rating this month. since then, the president's approval rating has dipped to 45% four times. despite the jobs crisis, a controversial health care bill, the deep water horizon disaster, midterm electio

the other conference from rick perry. but i thought the important thing for the horse race, romney did it in a very well thought out, politically well thought out way. his best performance in terms of thinking out the politics of it and the way he could -- uchbl s >> you know what? we've been in this business so long. grab an issue, answer it with gut and feeling. the other, brilliantly handle the issue. he handled the issue. >> all the -- >> you see a guy out there handling an issue. they say he's not my guy. >> of course. >> playing a game here. i'm in the tea party and proud of it. i know they don't have membership cards. what a mickey mouse dhaumt was. it's not captain midnight's club. you don't have to have a card. it's a question whether you want to embrace -- are you part of those people out there or aren't you? he said i'm not weren't of them, although i embrace some of their views this is a time to draw a line -- >> why did he say it? >> he knows embracing the tea party is trouble for him in the general election.

we've seen rick perry talk about ben bernanke. we've heard from ron paul about getting rid of the federal reserve and the gold standard. we've talked around a lot of things that don't have anything to do with jobs. how do you refocus everybody's energy into jobs? >> well, i think that, you know, these candidates go out and talk about social issues, foreign policy and other things we do not focus on. we are focused on the fiscal issues. when people go to the poll, that's what they're voting on. it is about getting americans back to work, paying down our debt and deficit. having a balanced budget. washington should live with their means just like small families and business shos live with their means. that's what we'll be focused on and if the candidates are smart they'll come here and tell us their ideas and solutions to create an environment where businesses will create jobs instead of cisco systems sitting on a $2 billion surplus and cutting 50% of their workforce. >> we saw jon huntsman come out with a jobs plan. mitt romney com

if no republican candidate can stop rick perry, might the author, rick perry, stop rick perry? joining me now, co-author of politico's article today about this book, senior writer maggie haberman, thanks for joining me tonight, maggie. >> thanks for having me. >>> perry keeps getting caught in the pages of his own book. today, i did, just when i sat down at this table before the show, i flipped it open randomly to any page, because i believe i can find something nutty on any page. i landed on page 41. i promise you, i swear, and it says -- "this leads me to the great milestone on the road to surfdom, the passage of the 16th amendment." what's he talking about there, and when is it coming? >> it's going to come if we don't take all of these things back and revert to federalism, according to this book. i think this book is a tremendous potential problem for him in the general election, as you said, it's also a problem in certain primary areas. in florida, as you noted, this is not a good thing. seniors get alarmed about a change to social security. they do not want to hear it com

perry worries gop. rick perry, beginning of the end? here is a talking points memo are the headline running with rick. they turn on perry after the debate and bill crystal wrote a special editorial with the headline yikes. no front-runner in a presidential field has ever had as weak a showing as rick perry. it's as close to a disqualifying two hours for him. thank you for joining us so much. >> thank you for having me. >> among republicans, that's the target audience through next spring. how bad did rick perry do? >> he had a tough night. it's difficult to say, it's a difficult night for perry. more than that, he created an opening for governor romney with 3500 republican activists gathered in orlando. this is a straw ballot that romney declined to participate in. there's been an opening created. you have to remember, we are very early. at this point, rudy giuliani was the darling of the media and leading in the polls. things can change quickly. >> politics gets more advanced every four years, things move faster. rudy giuliani was the l

but that's not where rick perry went. he went and said that a position that most people in the republican party hold is heartless. >> thank you, it's great having you on. please come back. one of the young genius's i read off. >> i'll take it. >> up next, michele bachmann says no payment for government. this is like the old roosevelt thing. it won't cost anything if you vote for me. that fence i want -- my salary is free. how far is she going? who is going to pay her paycheck if we don't pay taxes. stick around. she belongs there, the side show. you're watching "hardball" on msnbc. i habe a cohd. yeah, i toog nyguil bud i'm stild stubbed up. [ male announcer ] truth is, nyquil doesn't un-stuff your nose. really? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus liquid gels fights your worst cold symptoms, plus it relieves your stuffy nose. [ deep breath ] thank you! that's the cold truth! today i own 165 wendy's restaurants. and i get my financing from ge capital. but i also get stuff that goes way beyond banking. we not only lend peo

>> mitt romney and rick perry kicking it up a notch. >> mitt romney and rick perry went at it. >> mitt romney and rick perry go face to face. >> it was nothing but fire. >> it was exactly the thing you thought it would be. [ laughter ] there's only two explanations how that could have happened. one four months before any vote is cast. you decide the nomination is down to romney and perry. frame the debate by pitting the two against each other or your precogs. i'll let the audience at home decide. [ laughter ] >> governor romney, your private sector experience as governor perry's strategist recently put it consisted of being quote a buy out specialist. your response to that? >> governor perry you clearly don't like the massachusetts plan as an example for other states. >> governor perry a 30 second rebuttal. >> governor -- >> governor perry he said your state is filled with steers and queers, feel free to answer in the form of punching. [ laughter ] my favorite moment of debate came from niece news and their -- nbc news and their decision to do. this i want to introduce another colleagu

is rick perry going to choose somebody else. what else will come out about rick perry's book. romney might not have to do that much in terms of strategy with dealing with perry. >> michelle is exactly right. mitt romney has basically won every debate he's come in, or come in second. he's doing very well, running behind perry right, but perry will be gone after by michele bachmann and by ron paul as well. they're going to have a battle. what romney should do, he should be prepared, about el what he is, personal, nice guy, strong leader, but be ready to throw a punch in perry comes at him. >> absolutely. >> last person, michele bachmann, i mentioned her a moment ago by accident. michelle bernard, is she out of the race? these two guys seem to have grabbed the lead. >> i think we will, from now throughout the rest of the year, for bachmann, a lot of it will depend on, will sarah palin enter the race or not? if she enters, we'll see them battling out for the tea party vote. i think if sarah palin enters the race, michele bachmann is out. she's got to get her mojo back. if rick per

this is a catch rick perry night. right now, these cnn numbers, which i think are really important numbers, are saying it is not a two-man race that rick perry is pulling way from the field. we will see how that evolves over the month. once he is in the spotlight but right now rick perry is the man it catch. >> you know this well, james, these are national numbers for republicans. >> right. >> not iowa, not new hampshire and not south carolina. not florida. national numbers. if you believe the national numbers, alex, you remember rudy giuliani would have been president of the united states. hillary clinton would have been president of the united states. james, good ahead. >> there is something to this. our numbers show us as do the other good polls that are out there. and you know, he got in and went right into the league. and is staying there. and a lot of the, you know, people on cable television are editorial writers, thought that rm knee had such a good first but they aren't the ones that nominate the republicans.

also, rick perry is about to feel the heat. >> rick perry doubled spending in a decade. and this year rick perry's spending more money than the state takes in. >> that's not from the dnc. that's from michele bachmann's pac. the word is that sarah palin is about to go after perry as well. it's not easy being the front-runner. democrats and republicans alike are taking it to cantor to say that fema money for hurricane victims has to be offset by spending cuts elsewhere. and the new jobs report, no new jobs created. as we head into labor day weekend, some say let's remember who got us here. george w. bush and dick cheney. and finally, let me finish tonight with the catch 22 of the republican party. anyone conservative enough to be nominated might be unelectable. and anyone moderate enough to be elected can't get nominated. we start with the disrespect shown towards president obama. roger simon is chief political columnist for politico and ron reagan is a political commentator. i want to show you something from "the new york times" that ran today. it says this. american pres

i think right now the idea of rick perry is polling very well. better than perhaps rick perry himself will do as michael just referred to. once people get to know him they may not like him as much. but it's certainly clear that the candidate who's in the lead of the republican primaries until voting day will be whoever wins the "i feel your anger" contest. we're talking empathy. the republicans are mad as hell. they hate barack obama. they hate the federal government, and they want someone to reflect that. that's why michele bachmann looked so attractive not so long ago, but questions about her electability. now, rick perry has come in and lassoed up support without people knowing much about him or even reading his book. >> yeah. the problem with romney is he has a voice that's so st. paul, so prep school. you're laughing already, michael. that's why i like you. reminds me of my friend dr. bob arnott. another extremely well educated, intelligent guy, that wonderful el cougs that doesn't seem to have the passion of the working stiff. >> you're abs

and you show rick perry falling there. so i think the numbers in florida, lawrence, are an indication of what we're seeing at the national level, and we'll see in the debates going forward how rick perry continues to stack up. but for sure this is going to become an increasingly big part of mitt romney's campaign so long as we see numbers like that. >> does rick perry have to find a way to back off, to distance himself from his past statements on social security? >> i think those statements on social security, there's a strong case to be made that they render him unelectable. and i think there's a strong case to be made that his statements on social security are enormously problematic in a republican primary. if you look at the migration into south carolina, the coastal areas, and horry county among northeastern retirees, and obviously you look at the retiree population in the state of florida, many of whom will be voting and participating in a republican primary, a debate about social security as opposed to the republican

>> i think president rick perry -- governor rick perry, let's not get ahead of ourselves. he deserves credit for bringing up the issue of entitlement reform. he made it very clear that he wants to protect social security for seniors. he also made the point that the current structure is not sustainable. since 1982, social security took in more than it paid out, but that trust fund will not be there, it will be broke. we have to protect social security for the seniors already in that war are nearing retirement. we'll also have to preserve social security for the younger workers for whom it will not be there unless we take action. i want to honor president reagan for not criticizing fellow republicans. i will say this. i do not think any republican candidate should the engage in the same kind of negative political attacks from do -- that we would expect from the political party. they are brave about talking about in, reform. we see those same types of attacks over and over again. i am not here to criticize an individual republican candidate. i am endorsing rick perry and supp

is rallying around rick perry. >> no way rick perry can win a general election, no way. >> and sarah palin makes her big announcement to the tea party, announcing nothing. >> and unless and until fox drops her from her contract, i will not believe she's running for president. >> right on, better late than never. >>> good evening from new york. with still 14 months left in the 2012 presidential campaign, a new nbc wall street journal poll shows president obama with now the lowest approval rating of his presidency, 44% approve of the job the president is doing, 51% disapprove. though the president's approval rating is now the lowest of his presidency, it has not dropped significantly over his last 21 months in office, according to the nbc "wall street journal" polling. the approval rating first dropped below 50% in december 2009. it was at 47%, within the margin of error of his approval rating this month. since then, the president's approval rating has dipped to 45% four times. despite the jobs crisis, a controversial health care bill, the deep water horizon disaster, midterm election

rick perry clearly does not. and he needs to be on an extremely steep learning curve because basically the next -- of course, there are a million republican debates, but in the next debate or so, he had better perform, you know, with a lot more skill and verbal dexterity than he has up till now or i think that we're going to see this front-runner status really start to come down. people -- this immigration issue, especially, is really going to hurt perry and it is, as chris hayes observed, in my opinion, it's an issue, perry is right. it's certainly a position that's highly unpopular with the republican base. and that plus his fumble mouthedness might seal his doom. >> it doesn't look like there are any points to be scored by being right in this republican primary. "washington post" columnist eugene robinrobinson. thanks for joining me tonight. >> great. have a great weekend. >> you, too. >>> coming up, we take a look at the republican myth that president obama is the worst thing that ever happened to small busin

rick perry, mitt romney. mitt romney's been a guy that's been described as somebody that you're not sure if he's comfortable in his own skin. rick perry seems like, hey, i am who i am. >> one thing about mitt romney, i think mitt romney in private settings, sort of interesting, charming, engaging, in public not so much. i think perry feels like more comfortable in his skin. i think these guys spend too much time. i blame the candidates, because ultimately it's about the candidates, they spend too much time thinking about how they're coming in cost. and it's partly our fault. if he had said that thing, i wouldn't even see it. >> exactly. >> makes me blush. >> but can you imagine what they would have done -- >> but very quickly, it's a point that we all say we want authenticity and the minute a candidate is authentic, we all kill him. >> i know a little bit about that. >> oh, no. >> that's part of it. >> so washington folks can't handle these guys who really aren't comfortable with themselves like a rick perry

>> probably the spotlight was on rick perry. he had a couple shaky debate performances heading into last night's matchup. he struggled. he almost always starts off pretty strong in the clips that you just showed. pretty much happened at the beginning of the debate and some of perry's better moments in fact. as the debate wore on he wasn't as quick on his feet and didn't seem that prepared and he tried one line of attack accusing mitt romney of being a flip-flopper and it just fell flat. >> what about mitt romney? what did we learn from him? it seems with each debate mitt romney seems to be fairly unflappable in settings like these. >> it's a sign that it helps to have run for president before as mitt romney did just four years ago. he seems a lot more comfortable. a lot more polished than he did back then. so this is now -- he's participated in five debates. been five solid debate performances. in one striking departure from last cycle, last time around you had john mccain, mike huckabees all piling on mitt romney. this time aro

this is not rick perry's first rodeo. he's going to stand up and be a punching bag, pinata, because that's the nature of being a front-runner. he certainly didn't hurt himself. these things get analyzed instantly and they sink in, and what sunk in is that he's still the front-runner by substantial and solid margin, and there's a reason for that and it's his record in texas and it's he walks, he talks, and he looks and sounds like what conservative is and what should be and what the republicans are looking for. but this things far from over. we have many more debates and many more contests in front of us. >> he refused to walk way from some of the controversial positions that he had, positions that some of those tea party supporters aren't very happy about, for example, allowing that in-state tuition for children of illegal immigrants in texas or the vaccine for young girls, he didn't back way from that. he was firm. >> well, first of all on the vaccines he did apologize for not going to the legislature to get that done ve

talk about rick perry first of all. 's doing very well in the polls but you now have a new poll that shows he's even more dominant? >> reporter: yeah. he's doing incredibly well. this has been a very unsettled field, as you know. but take a look at our most recent cnn/orc poll which we just released. which republican candidate has the best chance of beating barack obama? that's the key question here, randi. if you look, rick perry, 42%. mitt romney, 26%. that's not good news for mitt romney. he's been portraying himself as the most electable candidate. republicans above all else, as you know, want to win this election and suddenly they see rick perry as more electable out there. they also believe that he is somebody who will fight for his beliefs. another question we asked. and 3 in 10 believe he will fight for his beliefs. only 1 in 10 believe mitt romney will fight for his beliefs. so that gives you a real sense of the fight that mitt romney has on his hands right now. >> let's talk a little bit more about mitt romney

rick perry said he understands health care because his wife is a nurse. yeah, he also said he understands terrorism because he watched all eight seasons of "24." >> governor perry, question about texas, your state has executed 234 death row inmates, more than any other governor in modern times -- [ cheers and applause ] have you -- >> the biggest applause line of the night was the mere mention that rick perry had executed 234 people. holy [ bleep ]. >> whoa! whoa! whoa! there's lethal cocktail all over

it's all eyes on rick perry. mitt romney trying to make himself the candidate, the re-establish himself as a front-runner. michele bachmann trying to reignite her campaign. she is placing far behind the pack. and of course the other candidates trying to make a real impression on a broad swath of voters. you can see it tonight, the tea party debate, live from tampa, florida. the site of the 2012 republican national convention. wolf blitzer will moderate. on at 8:00 p.m. eastern. back to new york with carol and christine. >> ok. we didn't get back to your talk back question. but i'm really sorry, but thank you. continue the conversation. facebook.com/americanmorning. >>> that will do it for us today. "cnn newsroom" starts right now. >>> thanks so much. just hours from now, eight presidential candidates will square off in tampa, florida. rick perry the front-runner and also the main target of his fellow republicans. and perry may have made the bull's-eye even bigger by attacking social security, a program considered

perry, among the hidden text she had hidden on her website was the phrase, rick perry gay. she actually had rick perry gay up on the hidden text of her website twice. when asked by the "austin american-statesman" about this the hutchison campaign said they had not done it on purpose, they said it was a computer generated result of the fact a lot of people were searching the phrase rick perry gay. even in saying they would make sure that hidden text was going to be taken down right away, the campaign made sure to get this quote into the newspaper. listen to this. "we did not know these offensive word associations were being searched for by hundreds of thousands of texans every day nor do we condone the computer generated existence on our website. they will be removed promptly." in other words, we're not saying rick perry is gay, we would never say that. we find the whole idea offensive. apparently a lot of people want to know. it is not unheard of for candidates to launch whisper campaigns and insinuate their opponents are gay. it happened in 1994 when george w. bush ran suc

. >> rick perry is in trouble. >> no question rick perry had a rough week. >> number ten, lost support from both the whack jobs and nut jobs. >> it's a ponzi scheme. >> the number one sign rick perry campaign is trouble, even michelle o'bachmann thinks he's nuts. >> all due respect, he's not up to primetime. >> it's like the republican primary is a season of "american idol" in reverse. >> i believe in science, revolution and climate change. >> the world is changing. >> republican base, meet me at camera three. have you ever considered the possibility that maybe your candidates aren't the problem, maybe it's you? >>> while president obama continued his jobs bill campaign in denver today, republicans were still looking for a 2012 presidential candidate. their hope for an alternative to front-runners rick perry and mitt romney and apparently now possible front-runner herman cain will be dashed tonight when new jersey governor christie fails to announce a bid for president in a speech at the reagan library in california. christie's brother, a republican fund-raiser, told a new jersey paper

. >>> and also, rick perry is about to feel the heat. >> rick perry doubled spending in a a dick aid. and this year, rick perry's spending more money than he takes in. covering his deficits with record borrowing. >> that's not from the dnc. that's from michele bachmann's pac and word is that sarah palin is about to go after perry as well. it's not easy being a front-runner and eric cantor is getting it if all sides, democrats and republicans alike are taking it to cantor by insisting that fema money for hurricane irene victims has to be offset by spending cuts elsewhere. and no new jobs created, reminds everyone how tough times are. but the weekend, some say let's remember who got us here. the two guys who have been on tv much of the week, george w. bush and dick cheney. >>> and let me finish tonight with the catch-22 of the republican party. anyone conservative enough to be nominated might be unelectable and anyone moderate enough to be elected might not get nominated. we start with the disrespect shown towards president obama. roger simon is chief analyst for politico and ron reagan

how scared of rick perry is the republican establishment? well, in one short month, perry shot to the top of the gop chart with tough texas talk about state's rights and saying the federal reserve chairman may be guilty of treason. it's raw meat for the base, but the party's grown-ups, if you will, desperate to beat president obama, are growing worried. perry's loose lips could sink their ship. and it's not just the republican establishment hitting perry. look at what happened last night. the texas governor got beat up from the right at that tea party debate with michele bachmann and rick santorum leading the attack. can perry take the punches and keep on swinging? plus, why has rick perry caught fire so quickly? we're going to ask ad guru donny deutsch, who thinks perry's got just what the right wants these days. plus, president obama goes to ohio, home of house speaker john boehner to sell his american jobs bill. and if speaker boehner doesn't think there's work to be done, we've got the list -- oh, you knew we would -- of 95 bridges in bo

rick perry over his head? charles, there are people over there is fiercely underwater. >> last time i checked, neither of those people is president of the united states. >> undoubtedly -- if sarah had it in 2008. >> you had so many people trying to obstruct, obstruct this president. if he walked on water, they would accuse him of not being able to swim. >> the democrat opposes a republican who is in the white house, that is opposition. if the republic of both the democrat in the white house, it is obstruction. explain the difference. >> beg your pardon? [laughter] >> charles. that is silly. it is not opposing him because of policies. before he had a chance to do anything. it was already declared that he would be a one-term president -- mitch mcconnell, but for the first year in office. >> we talked about the president's numbers, with not very good, but look at the numbers congress are getting. >> really bad. according to "the wall street journal" nbc poll, congress that a disapproval rating is 82%. this is ama

rick perry proved he's not interested in being anyone but rick perry. that's a strength and a weakness. perry doubled down in a view expressed in his book that social security is a ponzi scheme. he actually used the phrase before anybody used it first. listen. >> it is a ponzi scheme to tell our kids that are 25 or 30 years old today you're paying into a program that's going to be there. anybody that's for the status quo, with social security today, is involved with a monstrous lie to our kids. >> in the book "fed up," you say by any measure social security is a failure. you can't say that to tens of millions of americans who live on social security and those who have lived on it. our nominee has to be someone who isn't committed to abolishing to social security but is committed to saving social security. >> the republican electorate is not young. the republican electorate is very old. perry showedes willing to poke it tighter and make the case he's the truth teller. he won't roll over for politics. romney's camp made clear in the spin room that they se

contrast with governor rick perry. he has consistently fought against excessive regulations, held the line. first governor in decades in texas to cut general revenue spending. but here's the most important fact. he has got a proven track record. not only does he talk the talk, he has walked the walk. in texas, they have created nearly half the jobs that have been created in america over the last two years. under president obama, the country has lost millions of jobs. under governor perry, texas has created nearly 1 million jobs. so for me, you've got a fundamental choice in this election. president obama wants to continue to take us to the left, continue to spend money we don't have, continue to raise taxes. governor perry understands that when the governor creates jobs, it costs taxpayers money. when the private sector creates jobs, it actually creates money for taxpayers. i don't think the choice could be more clear. i think his executive experience, i think his proven track record make rick perry the right lead e th

rick perry has to right his ship how? it does strick me romney is in this unenviable position where if he has one bad debate performance, everybody will pounce on him and rick perry has to not throw up on himself. >> he lowered the bar. one good debate. ronald reagan came out. >> george bush didn't have good debates either. >> i think it's silly -- i've read people writing rick perry off. >> that's ridiculous. >> that's way premature. i think he has to be much more substantive, much more serious and measured and thoughtful and drop some of the cowboy stuff. >> interesting, this has been a substance and style problem. here's perry on immigration. i want to talk about immigration versus health care. >> if you say that we should not educate children who have come into our state for no other reason than they've been brought there, by no fault of their own, i don't think you have a heart. we need to be educating these children because they will become a drag on our society. >> conservatives would be okay if he defended his pos

with a protest vote against rick perry or all of the above. while florida raises cain, it's all about mitt romney in michigan. we'll talk to the michigan republican chair. >>> courting chris christie. even "snl" is weighing in. >> that concludes tonight's debate. as a reminder to chris christie, it's wide open, buddy. an accident doesn't have to slow you down. with better car replacement available only with liberty mutual auto insurance, if your car's totaled, we give you the money for a car one model year newer. to learn more, visit us today. responsibility. what's your policy? ♪ [ dog barks ] [ birds chirping ] ♪ [ mechanical breathing ] [ engine turns over ] ♪ [ male announcer ] the all-new volkswagen passat. a new force in the midsize category. ♪ whose non-stop day starts with back pain... and a choice. take advil now and maybe up to four in a day. or choose aleve and two pills for a day free of pain. way to go, coach. ♪ i'm sore. use new bengay cold therapy, the only one with pro-cool technology that relieves pain with a blast o

the whole story is about rick perry. it's either rick perry survives, blows the roof off, or collapses. >> bhob, let me ask you this. let's say he surprises everybody and survives tomorrow night. maybe not a knockout punch, but comes out even or ahead on points. you how does a guy that represents these thoughts that has said in his book that's only 10 months old that certain things are unconstitutional that said that social security was a ponzi scheme. i mean, this guy on stage against barack obama, who has said medicare and medicaid unconstitutional, laws protecting civil rights, national labor laws, national minimum wage laws, all bank regulations, how do you put a guy like this in a general election on the stage and expect that he would even come close to winning. >> he would have to figure out how to back off a lot of that and reassure people, which is what ronald reagan good in 1980. i don't think this guy will wilt tomorrow night. as i watch him on the campaign trail, he's got over the line a bit, but he's pulled b

it will be a high bar for rick perry. and there should be low expectations, and probably will be as there ought to be. >> mark, that was the perfect answer to build suspense for what the perry performance will be in the msnbc debate. thank you very much for joining us tonight, mark. >> kick it, lawrence. thanks. >>> coming up -- why we wish f. scott fitzgerald could mean warren buffett. that's in "the rewrite." >>> and later, is america safer now than it was before 9/11? richard engel will join me. >>> buffettism is spreading. from capital one, we get double miles on every purchase, so me and the boys earned a trip to dc twice as fast! oh hi! we get double miles every time we use our card. and since double miles add up fast... one more chariot please. ...we can bring the whole gang! i cannot tell a lie. he did it. right... it's hard to beat double miles! read my lips -- no new axes! [ male announcer ] get the venture card from capital one, and earn double miles on every purchase, every day. go to capitalone.com. what's in

we expect to be outraised by rick perry. his finance team has been talking about 400 bundlers that they have on board. there was a report yesterday in a dallas newspaper that they raised $20 million in the first three days of his announcement. we expect he'll do very well. he's the governor of the second largest state in the union. he is the chairman of the republican nors association, he's got a good deal of fund-raising experience. we expect him to do very well. >> i always find it interesting. campaigns will praise the other side when it comes to fund-raising expectations. ray sullivan, i want to move to immigration and give you a chance to react to something that chris christie said last night about immigration. here's what he said at the reagan library. >> ip every child who comes to new jersey to be educated. but i do not believe that for those people who came here illegally that we should be subsidizing with taxpayer money through in-state tuition. and let me be very clear from my perspective. that is not a heartless

rick perry presented himself as a job creator. 1 million jobs. texas unemployment hit 8.5% last month, the highest in texas in 24 years. zero jobs created. where is the texas miracle now? how long will it be before mitt rock knee or the obama white house sink their teeth into these numbers? coast to coast, republican state legislatures are searching for ways to restrict going to the voting booth. restricting registration. what do they have in common? they are aimed at preventing democrats and some believe african-americans in particular from getting to the polls. it's a dangerous game and the lead story tonight. plus, why does wall street hate president obama? hate him? it's because the president hates them, even business itself. really? let's get into that one. and the new book on sarah palin, the rogue. will this book hurt her chances? let me finish with the hard test. the republicans are willing to stall the economy in order to defeat him. we start with what texas miracle. we are asking that question, what texas miracle? we have jerry jones an

as weak a showing as rick perry. it was close to what he called a disqualifying two hours for perry. some of the pundits are now calling rick perry texas toast. is it that bad for perry? >> it's bad for two reasons. on the style points he was bumbling. his answers were unclear. there was a foreign policy question on pakistan. he seemed to be just kind of making it up as he went along. that stuff is only bad in an appearance sense. in a policy sense he was on the defensive on a number of fronts. the biggest problem was immigration. he supported a measure in texas to ahow children of undocumented workers to get lower in-state opinion. he said i'm a truth teller. i'm going to tell you what i believe. when he defended it he says anybody who thinks these children should be penalized through no fault of their own, i think you don't have a heart. you can disagree on immigration. he attacked a lot of people who care about immigration, attacked them in their heart. what he's done is given them something to be angry about and

rick perry over his head? charles, there are people over there is fiercely underwater. >> last time i checked, neither of those people is president of the united states. >> undoubtedly -- f sarah had it in 2008. >> you had so many people trying to obstruct, obstruct this president. if he walked on water, they would accuse him of not being able to swim. >>he democrat opposes a republican who is in the white house, that is opposition. if the republic of both the democrat in the white house, it is obstruction. explain the difference. >> beg your pardon? [laughter] >> charles. that is silly. it is not opposing him because of policies. before he had a chance to do anything. it was already declared that he would be a one-term president -- mitch mccnell, but for the first year in office. >> we talked about the president's numbers, with not very good, but look at the numbers congress are getting. >> really bad. according to "the wall street journal" nbc poll, congress that a disapproval rating is 82%. this is amazing

rick perry, 53% would consider voting for him. but 44% say no. summing up every single poll, every single one, tells the same story. barak obama losing support everywhere, except at nbc news. with just 13 1/2 months to the vote, situation for the president has now reached critical mass. that's a memo. top story tonight, the big fox news google debate on tap this evening from florida. joining us from washington, fox news analyst laura ingraham, author of the best seller "of thee i zing." what do you want to see at this debate? >> first thing i want to see is a blueprint, okay? i know that's asking a lot. but i think we've done the hpv thing. we're doing these got ya questions and they're important, but america is in a desperate state of decline, bill. you've been documenting this. i've been documenting this for years on my radio show. we are in a state of seemingly inexorable deterioration. we need these candidates to give us the specifics, how can america once again be in a position of dominance for as far as the eye can see? right now five years

she had rick perry back on his heels. she took him across her knee, and spanked him hard last night. and he deserved it. i thought she was very, very good. >> all right. heidi and mike, always a pleasure to have you with us tonight. spirited debate on that. thanks a lot. that's "the ed show." i'm ed schultz. tomorrow night, "the ed show" goes to toledo, ohio, and you're invited. we'll see you from the corner of south huron and washington tomorrow night with a live performance of "the ed show." hope you can join us if you're in the neighborhood. >>> playoffs. let's play "hardball." >>> good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. leading off tonight, fear factor. how scared of rick perry is the republican establishment? well, in one short month, perry shot to the top of the gop chart with tough texas talk about state's rights and saying the federal reserve chairman may be guilty of treason. it's raw meat for the base, but the party's grown-ups, if you will, desperate to beat president obama, are growing worried. perry's