the republican party has gone insane. for the better part of the last three years, the republican party has exercised itself into a frenzy over the need to repeal obama care. the individual mandate and t.a.r.p. draw the ire of scores of primary voters. and our two front runners for president? they both support an individual mandate and they both supported t.a.r.p. i want everyone to make sure they understand everyone -- even rick santorum are still to the race. and sarah palin isn't ready to endorse anyone. >> at what point will you endorse someone if you do plan to? >> you know, my endorsement is going to be with sincerity and enthusiasm. and i am just not there yet with the field as it stands. and there's no need to endorse until that enthusiasm really is within me. in my gut. >> joining me now, washington post editorial writer and msnbc analyst jonathan kaport. thanks for joining me. it's not in sarah palin's gut because the polls are not clear enough to tell her who the front runner is so she can get on that train and

among republican party voters. republican party voters watch fox. and they watch very little else. and if fox says no, it is hard for them to say yes. in defiance of fox. at least it's hard for them to defy fox for long. that's part of the reason i think why the newt gingrich surge has been wobbly and short lived. that's why even if ron paul is able to hold on to his lead and win in iowa a week from tonight, no one believes that will translate into electoral. like when they picked huckabee. or buchanan came in second. no offense. and so week out of iowa, newt gingrich and ron paul have surges there. but the surges are sort of weak. and neither one of those candidates has fox news in their corner. and so there remains only one candidate who nobody has tried on yet. one candidate who might not have a fox news problem. and who has the great asset of being very, very explicitly underestimated. particularly here on this set on this tv show. are all of these guys really in play? do they all really have a shot? apparently

party say is right for the republican party? joining us for the interview, professor of government and socialology at harvard and vanessa williamson, ph.d. student there. co-authors of "the tea party and the remaking of republican conservatism." it's a thank you both for being here. >> let me ask if i got anything dreadfully wrong in summarizing parts of your book. >> you hit the nail right on the head about the views about work. when newt gingrich says the dignity of work, he's hitting just the right chord with many conservatives. and tea partyers. and they make a distinction between benefits for those people and things going -- even like pell grants for college students that go to folks who haven't paid their dues yet. >> because which you can't have done as a young person. >> that's right. >> what is the difference between people who are in the tea party movement? what is the difference between the tea party movement and the conservative base of the republican party that existed before we ever talked about tea parties? >> i t

that's a great republican party promo right there. and let's throw in "the apprentice" because we know that's just so important to society. first of all, there's obviously nothing new about internships. i even had one in college. or work study programs, for that matter. that's not what gingrich is really talking about. he's got a few other targets. one of them is poor people. the other is poor kids. >> starting with following two facts. really poor children in really poor neighborhoods have no habits of working and have nobody around them who works. they have no habit of i do this and you give me cash. unless it's illegal. what if you paid them to work as the assistant librarian? what if they became assistant janitors and their job was to mop the floor and clean the bathroom? >> yeah. what a great idea. newt, is that your jobs program? just get them going early doing the cheap labor stuff and keep them there throughout their entire career? poor. really poor. did you know that there's a difference between poor and really poor? you show

i think newt gingrich is, look, somebody who has been a party favorite of the republican party going back to the mid '90s when, you know, when he wanted to do certain things like have medicare wither on the vine and provide tax cuts for the wealthy. i think that what's interesting is, when you boil this down, you have one different... you have a very different political philosophy. you have a philosophy that says let's let the well=to-do continue not to pay their fair share. and for middle class america, well, we're just going to close the door to greater and greater opportunity. i think that's the defining debate in our country right now. i think the president has a plan for strengthening the security of the middle class. >> schieffer: in the end, you think romney will get the nomination. >> i don't know. i have to say i think a lot of people in... inside the belt way and outside the belt way woke up today to a very different political environment, and one in which newt gingrich is very much for real. i think... again, i think there's great skepticism. >> schieffer: does that make y

i think newt gingrich is, look, somebody who has been a party favorite of the republican party going back to the mid '90s when, you know, when he wanted to do certain things like have medicare wither on the vine and provide tax cuts for the wealthy. i think that what's interesting is when you boil this down, you have one different... you have a very different political philosophy. you have a philosophy that says let's let the well to do continue not to pay their fair share. and for middle class america, well, we're just going to close the door to greater and greater opportunity. i think that's the defining debate in our country right now. i think the president has a plan for strengthening security of the middle class. >> schieffer: in the end you think romney will get the nomination. >> i don't know. i have to say i think a lot of people in... inside the belt way and outside the belt way woke up today to a very different political environment and one in which newt gingrich is very much for real. i think, again, i think there's great skepticism. >> schieffer: does that make you happy

that's a great republican party promo right there. and let's throw in "the apprentice" because we know that's just so important to society. first of all, there's obviously nothing new about internships. i even had one in college. or work study programs, for that matter. that's not what gingrich is really talking about. he's got a few other targets. one of them is poor people. the other is poor kids. >> starting with the following two facts. really poor children in really poor neighborhoods have no habits of working and have nobody around them who works. they have no habit of i do this and you give me cash. unless it's illegal. what if you paid them to work as the assistant librarian? what if they became assistant janitors and their job was to mop the floor and clean the bathroom? >> yeah. what a great idea. newt, is that your jobs program? just get them going early doing the cheap labor stuff and keep them there throughout their entire career? poor. really poor. did you know that there's a difference between poor and really poor? you

thing about the republican party and ron paul is that the republican party officials in iowa between threats from anonymous occupy i will caucus and ron paul might win have said that they're going to lock down their voting tabulators the machines and they're going to take them offline and they're going to make them on a hackable when they're going to make sure nobody can see what's going on so they can make sure they've got a real count now is this a they're really afraid that is going to get hacked and if so i mean shouldn't we like go back to paper like every other civilized country in the world has or be is that the republicans get ready to nail this sucker down so the ron paul does not win because they can't afford it well i think we all have an interest in a clean election if it means a paper ballot we have paper about if these things can be hacked i'd rather know about it in the iowa caucuses than on election day in two thousand and twelve and so i mean that's part of the back of the election ninety eight first or get you just oh sure but i mean it's like let's make that part o

party say is right for the republican party? joining us for the interview, professor of government and sociology at harvard and vanessa williamson, ph.d. student there. co-authors of "the tea party and the remaking of republican conservatism." it's a sociological analysis of the tea party movement done through research and field work. it is empirical. thank you for being here. let me ask you if i got anything dreadfully wrong in summarizing parts of your book. >> you hit the nail right on the head about the views about work. when newt gingrich says the dignity of work, he's hitting just the right chord with many conservatives. and tea partyers. and they make a distinction between benefits for those people and things going -- even like pell grants for college students that go to folks who haven't paid their dues yet. >> because -- which you can't have done as a young person. >> that's right. >> what is the difference between people who are in the tea party movement? what is the difference between the tea party movement and the co

and there's the other republican party which is the tea party, the extremely ideological republican party that did come to town to blow the town up, essentially, and that does not care. does not care that it is inconveniencing and perhaps really damaging the party's electoral prospects, both long term and potentially short term. >> but if there are two parties, then romney is certainly of that older and orderly kind of gop republican party. so what do you think of romney's response to chuck todd today? i mean, he's got cover from plenty of republicans including mitch mcconnell, scott brown, "the wall street journal." why take this position instead of a more reasonable, responsible one? >> because look at romney's numbers. romney's trying to win this nomination. and the energy and enthusiasm is in the tea party wing of the party. and romney's numbers for months and months now have been essentially flat-lined at around 25% of republican primary voters. they are sold. they are going to vote for him. but the rest of the party is looking around. and they've looked at all the non-mitt candidate

if you are looking at this and you are saying here's republican, you've been in the republican party, ran for governor twice, as a republican, et cetera, couldn't get any traction in the presidential race so you switched to the libertarian party. this looks like a move that is more about opportunity than about principle. can you give me some look into your thought process? >> well, candy, i would argue just the opposite, that it is about the message that it's about the agenda that it isn't just ron paul that's delivering this agenda, this message. that it's me, too. i was excluded from 16 out of the 18 debates. i felt that that was really unfair. and the exciting notion for me here is, is that if i'm the libertarian nominee, which is no done deal, but if i am, i'm on the ballot in all 50 states and it's an opportunity to continue to be able to talk about the agenda to talk about the message, as opposed to being sent lohome. i happen to think the biggest growing segment of the republican party have those that are libertarian leaning. >> you almost said it yourself, which is you're look

and there's the other republican party which is the tea party, the extremely ideological republican party that did come to town to blow the town up, essentially, and that does not care. does not care that it is inconveniencing and perhaps really damaging the party's electoral prospects, both long term and potentially short term. >> but if there are two parties, then romney is certainly of that older and orderly kind of gop republican party. so what do you think of romney's response to chuck todd today? i mean, he's got cover from plenty of republicans including mitch mcdonnell, scott brown, "the wall street journal." why take this position instead of a more reasonable, responsible one? >> because look at romney's numbers. romney's trying to win this nomination. and the energy and enthusiasm is in the tea party wing of the party. and romney's numbers for months and months now have been essentially flat-lined at around 25% of repuan voters. they are sold. they are going to vote for him. but the rest of the party is looking around. and they've looked at all the non-mitt candidates in success

the republicans have the tea party to thank for this. they wanted somebody who would be the very opposite of barack obama and by extension the very opposite of mitt romney, which is what created this whole circus in the first place. now the only alternative to mitt romney for the rush limbaughs of the world is newt gingrich. on the other hand, you have the likes of glen beck saying the heck with all them. he's going sort of a lost cause of michele bachmann. there's a lot of disillusionment on the right but they have caused it by eliminating all of these legitimate candidates in the first place. >> millions of people in the suburbs of philadelphia and new york and chicago and cleveland and all around the country, middle of the road voters who thought they were going to have an option in the upcoming presidential campaign, if they were a little bit disappointed with president barack obama, perhaps hopeful but still disappointed, it looked like they would get a choice. it looks like the republican party is not going to give them a choice wi

out on it. >> it is harming the republican party. it is harming the view, if it's possible anymore, of the american people about congress. and we've got to get this thing resolved and with the realization that the payroll tax cut must remain in effect. >> are republicans getting killed right now in public opinion? there's no question. >> president obama called boehner today and told him there was still time to take the senate's package. boehner refused and asked the president to call on harry reid to get a conference committee together. the speaker has his head completely stuck in the sand on the golf course. today boehner and his buddies held a photo op to pressure democrats. >> we're here, we're ready to work. we're looking for our counterparts to sit down with us so we can do what the president, bipartisan leaders in the house and senate all want, and that's to extend the payroll tax cut. >> really? while boehner was doing his photo op, house minority whip steny hoyer was trying to do the people's business. hoyer went to the house

the republicans have the tea party to thank for this. they wanted someone that would be very opposite of barack obama, and by extension, the very opposite of mitt romney, which is what created this whole circus in the first place. now the only alternative to mitt romney for the rush limbaugh of the world is newt gingrich. on the other hand, you have the likes of glenn beck saying, the heck with all of them. he's sort of going a lost cause of michele bachmann. there's a lot of disillusionment on the right now, but they've essentially caused it by eliminating all these legitimate candidates in the first place. >> yeah, well, in the country suburbs, millions of people in the suburbs of philadelphia and new york and chicago and cleveland and all around the country, middle of the road voter who is thought they were going to have an option in the upcoming presidential campaign, if they were a little bit disappointed with president obama, perhaps still hopeful, but disappointed, they thought they might get a choice. it looks like the republican

he's not only unacceptable inside the republican party, outside the mainstream of the republican party, he's unacceptable in america. he's a disqualified presidential candidate, and not just because of what he's written. but he could win iowa. look, as steve knows very well, because he and i spent a lot of decembers and januarys in iowa, iowa operates a little differently on the republican side than the democratic side. since 1980, in contested iowa caucuses, the democratic winner has gone on to the nomination 84% of the time. for republicans, that figure is only 60%. pat robertson, for heaven's sake, finished ahead of george h.w. bush in 1988. that didn't mean that republicans didn't come back in 1986 and contest the caucuses. they did. but i can tell you right now, there's a real chance, i think with that iowa can take a flyer here, unless those gingrich bleeds all go to romney and romney pulls an upset. then romney has an ideal situation either way. either he wins iowa, he's on a roll, or he gets to run against ron paul, and i can't conceive that he wouldn't the republican nominee u

republican party officials in iowa are taking this threat seriously as the a.p. reports republican party officials and i were taking new steps to secure their vote counting systems investigators aren't sure whether the video is authentic but party officials have instructed precinct caucuses to use paper ballots as a backup system and of taking other steps to protect the database and a website that displays caucus results so what does this threat whether it's real or not say about the security of our elections is our of all is our democracy vulnerable to hacking to answer that i'm joined by brad friedman editor brad blog brad walcott. thanks tom great to be here my friend great to have you with us first the iowa caucuses don't have a particularly normal voting procedure so how could a activist group like an anonymous mess with their results yeah it's strange in the republican caucus is different from the democratic caucus but in the case of the republicans they actually vote on a secret ballot on paper in most cases i think where the problem can't make come in is

republican party establishment's biggest nightmares. we'll ask congressman ron paul what happens if they wins the iowa caucuses. >>> plus, this warning. washington's budget cutters may be leaving us unprepared to face a bioterror attack. cnn's dr. sanjay gupta is here to explain. >>> the house rejected a two-month extension of the social security payroll tax holiday. that's the only option that was left on the table by senate democrats. that means the government could start taking a bigger bite out of your paycheck starting january 1st. that caused the president to make a rare appearance in the white house briefing room to blast house republicans, blaming them for the gridlock. >> and let's not play brinksmanship. the american people are weary of it. they're tired of it. >> minutes later, the house speak, john boehner said, no, this is the democrats' fall for refusing to pass a year-long extension. the republican speaker called on the president to order senate democrats back to washington. >> i need the president to help out, all right?

and there's the other republican party which is the tea party, the extremely ideological republican party that did come to town to blow the town up, essentially, and that does not care. does not care that it is inconveniencing and perhaps really damaging the party's electoral prospects, both long term and potentially short term. >> but if there are two parties, then romney is certainly of that older and orderly kind of gop republican party. so what do you think of romney's response to chuck todd today? i mean, he's got cover from plenty of republicans including mitch mcdonnell, scott brown, "the wall street journal." why take this position instead of a more reasonable, responsible one? >> because look at romney's numbers. romney's trying to win this nomination. and the energy and enthusiasm is in the tea party wing of the party. and romney's numbers for months and months now have been essentially flat-lined at around 25% of republican primary voters. they are sold. they are going to vote for him. but the rest of the party is looking around. and they've looked at all the non-mitt candidate

thing about the republican party and ron paul is that the republican party officials in iowa between threats from anonymous occupy i will caucus and ron paul might win have said that they're going to lock down their voting tabulators the machines and they're going to take them offline and they're going to make them on a hackable when they're going to make sure nobody can see what's going on so they can make sure they've got a real count now is this a they're really afraid that is going to get hacked and if so i mean shouldn't we like go back to paper like every other civilized country in the world has or be is that the republicans get ready to nail this sucker down so the ron paul does not win because they can't afford it well i think we all have an interest in a clean election if it means a paper ballot we have a paper about it these things can be hacked i'd rather know about it in the iowa caucuses than on election day in two thousand and twelve and so i mean that's part of the back of the election in ninety eight the first to get it was oh sure but i mean it's like let's make that

to another day of madness in the republican party. it's friday, december 2nd, welcome to "morning joe" in washington, d.c. today. try and get our arms around this. with us onset, "time" magazine political analyst mark haleprin, we also have former chairman of the republican national committee who is here to explain everything that's happening in his party, michael steele. also, the political writer for the "huffington post," sam stein, and we've got the great willie geist in new york. boy, mark haleprin, he's sounding kind of confident. says he's going to win. you look at the recent polls, it's his. >> people in this city, there's an irony. he's former speaker of the house, one of the most powerful jobs in this city. but in this city, people still don't take newt gingrich seriously. around this table we do. we were talking before, we think he can be the nominee. but he is -- he has had a 30-year relationship with the grass roots of the party and he is reaping the benefits of that now. mitt romney is a stranger to most people in the re

why can't mitt romney bring the republican party along right now? sgl that's the question. that all of this is anybody but romney still. >> romney has been stuck at about 25% in the republican polls for months and months and months. which about 75% want someone other than romney. on january 3 in iowa, they're going to have to decide. but -- >> he's been dropping from 25. gingrich has been rising and romney has been falling. he's falling in iowa. falling in new hampshire. gwen: and four years ago right now, we thought rudolph ghoul an was leading -- rudolph ghoulian i was -- guliana was leading in the polls. the president chose to start drawing contrasts with republicans who want his job. from tax cuts to foreign policy to consumer protection, president obama's basic argument was this wasn't about politics. >> i just want to make sure, this is not about me. they shouldn't extend the payroll tax cut for me. they shouldn't extend unemployment insurance for me. this is for 160 million people who in 23 days are going to see their taxes go up if congress doesn't act. gwen: it sou

what does that say about the state of the republican party? >> there is great fear among the republican party that ron paul may take iowa. >> if he does win the iowa caucus it does show how irrelevant the iowa caucus has thus become. it's never i have never put great credence in and if ron paul it's tend of it oi aye oh what caucus. >> let's move on to mtv. mtv is launching a revamped fantasy election game, the power of 12. so we know those of us who were around in earlier years that choose or lose used to be their slogan. now it's the power of delve. one of the sort of assessments as to why mtv is changing the slogan is because the youth of today is considerably disenfranchised and losing is something very much with them. i wonder what you guys make of the change and the gaming of the presidential election. sn apparently it's going to be a lot like fantasy football. >> i don't know how we get youth back. we started this hour with the payroll tax extension and what congress looks like right now, a dysfunctional mess. if you're a young person i

he's not only unacceptable inside the republican party, outside the mainstream of the republican party, he's unacceptable in america. he's a disqualified presidential candidate, and not just because of what he's written. but he could win iowa. look, as steve knows very well, because he and i spent a lot of decembers and januarys in iowa, iowa operates a little differently on the republican side than the democratic side. since 1980, in contested iowa caucuses, the democratic winner has gone on to the nomination 84% of the time. for republicans, that figure is only 60%. pat robertson, for heaven's sake, finished ahead of george h.w. bush in 1988. that didn't mean that republicans didn't come back in 1986 and contest the caucuses. they did. but i can tell you right now, there's a real chance, i think that iowa can take a flyer here, unless those gingrich bleeds all go to romney and romney pulls an upset. then romney has an ideal situation either way. either he wins iowa, he's on a roll, or he gets to run against ron paul, and i can't conceive that he wouldn't be the republican nominee und

liberal republicans who were in the republican party but would be in the democratic party to date. in those fights and in that fiscal context, he was right. he drew a lot of important lines in the sign -- sand. i think it is telling that he has moved from having those kinds of fights to having fights where he is accusing tom coburn and pat to me who are not javits, not liberals or moderates by any standard. that shift tells us something about the larger shift in american politics and the fact that people like coburn and it to me are responding to the reality of 25 or 30 years with a tax first spending second republican approach to politics. i think it has not caught up. >> i did have handouts here that i want to make sure everybody gets. we cannot go through everything. it walks to the tom coburn, and how we had to work with republican leadership and conservatives to get them surrounded and the feet efforts to go for a tax increase when we could have had a vote to get rid of the ethanol mandate that tom coburn supports. the idea that he is a free market guy, a critic of the ethanol

and the republican party is 49% of the 99%. i want to have this conversation with libertarians, tea partyers, independents, moderates, everybody should be in on this conversation. and it's no surprise to me that fox news just does not want to have an honest conversation. >> jesse, good to have you with us. keep up the good work. >>> republicans are stalling economic progress by holding up a payroll tax cut in congress. the president isn't standing for it. bernie sanders, he's got opinions on it next. stay with us. ♪ it's nice to see you ♪ in my bed ♪ ♪ there are diamonds in her eyes ♪ ♪ ♪ and they sparkle in the night ♪ ♪ when the moment comes alive [ male announcer ] this is your moment. this is zales, the diamond store. take up to an extra 15 percent off storewide now through tuesday. and here's what we did today: supported nearly 3 million steady jobs across our country... ... scientists, technicians, engineers, machinists... ... adding nearly 400 billion dollars to our economy... we're at work providing po

republican party officials in iowa are taking this threat seriously as the a.p. reports republican party officials and i were taking new steps to secure their vote counting systems investigators aren't sure whether the video is authentic but party officials have instructed precinct caucuses to use paper ballots as a backup system and have taken other steps to protect the database and a website that displays caucus results so what does this threat whether it's real or not say about the security of our elections is our of all is our democracy vulnerable to hacking to answer that i'm joined by brad friedman editor brad blog dot com brad walcott. thanks tom great to be here my friend great to have you with us first the iowa caucuses don't have a particularly normal voting procedure so how could a activist group like an anonymous mess with their results yeah it's strange in the republican caucus is different from the democratic caucus but in the case of the republicans they actually vote on a secret ballot on paper in most cases i think where the problem can't make co

again in the republican party. michael eric dyson on why the grand old party still can't stand the first black president. >>> oh, we got a lot of correcting to do tonight, don't we? americans, great to have you with us. your taxes are going up in 11 days. how do you feel about that? here's what happened. house republicans killed a two-month extension of the middle class tax cut and unemployment benefits for this many people. 160 million americans will see less in their paycheck starting january 1st. happy new year. john boehner and the republicans are leaving washington, d.c., going home for the holidays. they don't have a deal. harry reid has no plan to bring the senate back for a conference committee. i know that's a little minutia, but that's where we are right now. the president, he took the offensive today. he hammered house republicans for comparing the negotiations to a game of high-stakes poker that will effect the lives of 160 million americans. >> i saw today that one of the house republicans referred to