you know newt gingrich. was he speaking from the heart last night, or was this just a political ploy to get the latino vote? what do you think? >> normally it would be a political ploy, but no rational person thinks we could or should deport 12 million people, particularly if they raise their kids and grandkids here. many have volunteered for the military and so on. romney's position is a nonstarter. it's just fascinating how the level to which he'll prostitute himself in order to pander to the tea party republicans. newt is a fascinating case. i wouldn't want him, ed, ever teaching history to my kids, but he has made history. when you think back, he's the one that got rid of speaker jim wright back in the '80s, largely because wright was upset about the reagan administration's funding, the right wing death squads in central america. he got rid of them largely for the same reasons that he was fined $300,000 when newt became speaker. then, of course, he's the one that ushered in this republican resistance to

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

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

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

i'm going to predict a newt gingrich boomlet. i think newt gingrich will be a beneficiary of herman cain's scandal. >> you don't really see the president of harvard lobbying in washington, pounding the pavement. she was here the other day with other university presidents who are extremely worried about teaching hospitals and that there's no super committee deal, healthcare research and especially the post graduate training of doctors in university hospitals is going to be absolutely decimated. university hospitals around the country are frightened about how to survive. chris: when we return, our big question this week. 75% of americans in their 20's think this country is not the greatest country. is that pessimism? chris: a pugh research poll asked americans if this is still the world's greatest country. 75% of our kids, college aged ones and those under 30, do not think so. they say this is one of several great countries which brings us to our big question this week. is that passimism or realism? >> china has money. that's what

>> newt gingrich, according to newt gingrich, told a freddie mac while he was being paid $25,000 to $30,000 a month, that their business model was insane. nobody at freddie mac ever heard him say this, and at least five people say he never did say it. but this is newt gingrich, and going back to what charles' point was, this is a man who has shown incredible intellectual flexibility. he is somebody who has been on both sides of an awful lot of issues. i think that is what is going to be his undoing. >> here's a question from friday's "wall street journal." "how to politicians who are rife in washington, d.c. as a minimum of modest means the as millionairess?" -- leave as millionaires?" question posed by sarah palin. >> while the rest of the country has been hurting, the washington area has been doing great, and a big part of that is lobbying money. congress is bought and sold legally. that is the problem. if you don't think that these congressmen are bought and sold, you are dreaming. >> taking advantage of inside information that would send somebody on wall street to prison. >> the supreme

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's position 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 1978 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 '90s and that she told him that cain grabbed her during an evening together. we'll ask the cain strategist whether cain can survive. >>> and we'll ask p.j. o'roarke what he thinks of the republicans running. >>> we start with the search for

>> i hope so for newt gingrich. but a lot of things happened back then that maybe they would want him -- >> we also had welfare reform and a balanced budget. >> and he also proved th he understand votes are in the middle. he's to the left. >> and the immigration comment? >> and also healthcare. he's for the individual man date. >> the end of the day i think more conservatives will hold their nose and vote for romney than independents will hold their nose and vote for newt in a general election >> let's go to the ad on former governor palin that came out today. >> we need sudden and row relentless reform and that will return power to we the people. we need people with a proven record of reform. i served in public office in state that had core bankruptcy problem. i fought that. i took on a lot of corrupt and compromised middle class. the challenge is not to replace obama in 20 is it 11, the real challenge is who is what will we replace him with? >> i think she's made her decision. we all know that. will her endorsemen

newt gingrich said he was for it. and even as recently as a year ago before the latinos in the united states. he came out with the policy that said he stands for amnesty for illegal aliens. >> bachmann pointed out no mention of the 25 years and law-abiding and the other qualifiers that newt gingrich is putting on it now. what about that? >> first thing, i think you have to acknowledge that speaker newt gingrich is the only presidential candidate in all of the years that i have followed politicings who will affirm that the united states has a sovereign right to define and protect its border. you never hear anybody else talk about that. and the other thing you hear speaker newt gingrich talk about. yen 20 13. he will have provided operational controls of the u.s.-mexico border. currently, you have the secretary and department of homeland security say we have 40 percent control. i am sorry, that is a failing grade . speaker newt gingrich is talking about operational control in one year's time. if you have operational con

you get that sense with newt gingrich. i hesitate to say this one's going to last when it comes to this search for the anti-romney. but i thought you put it very well. i think the conservatives that are not sold on romney, that are basically looking for anybody but romney won't be embarrassed by gingrich. there was a sense that, well, cain may embarrass me by supporting him. maybe rick perry embarrasses me because i don't like the fact that he's not coming across as bright as he should be. newt's not going to embarrass me if i support him. i think that does matter to a republican electorate that's paying very close attention to this race and really wants to win but wants to do so on a set of princeles. >> john, you're a deep south southern, evangelical by your religion. you can answern't go with herman cain anymore. he's getting more embarrassing every day. he keeps changing his story about him. you've got romney who's certainly not acceptable to you because he's a rhino who keeps swapping back and forth. and then you have

newt gingrich was very critical of tis moment. i want to play something he said and ask for youview on it. this was newt gingrich in iowa. >> all of the occupy movement starts with the premise that we all owe them everything. they take over a public park they didn't pay for. to go nearby to use bathrooms they didn't pay for. to beg for food from places they don't want to pay for. to obstruct those who are going to work to pay the taxes. now that is a pretty good mptom of how much the left has collapsed as a moral system in this country and why you need to reassert something as simple as sing to them, go get a job, rig after you take a bath. >> do you agree with that? >> well, i think it expresses the attitude of a lot of these folks who somehow think money grows on trees and they're entitled to it and they don't understand how wealth is produced in this country. it's produced b people who work and who invest, who take a risk in amall business, for example. they hire people. and that produces wealth to the government that they can

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

of course the endorsement of newt gingrich. they say gingrich is by no means the perfect candidate but we would rather back someone with whom we may sometimes disagree than one who tells us what we think they want to hear. that is clearly a slap to mitt romney. >> we're proud of the strong endorsements we have in new hampshire. we have governor and a lot of strong conservative support in new hampshire. >> you know, governor romney knows this is an important election and he wants to take his message directly to each voter. >> i want to ask you about a bloom berg article. >> is -- with that history, is that similar to what we are seeing now in the match up between newt and mitt romney on immigration? >> governor romney discussed his position on immigration and illegal immigration extensively in the last campaign. that's nothing new. he proved that he does not support amnesty or illegal immigrants cutting in line between those who are trying to come to this country lawfully. if you look at his record, he vetoed for illegal immigra

and they twinned him to newt gingrich. framed him as being much more of an ideological conservative than he actually was. and that stuck. when you get the momentum going your way at that point, you can carry forward all the way to november. chris: let's try to interpret this. it seems like you can look at some facts. one is this is remarkable. everybody nights to get on sunday television. meet the press, other shows. here's romney avoiding them like the plague. he hasn't done a sunday show and they're clamoring to get him. has that hurt them where 1968 nixon lost his momentum and hits from the press and is that why he stuck into the low 20's? >> they're unrelated. that's ideological. and why wouldn't you go out there? why wouldn't you subject parts of your record to scrutiny? i think if you're the romney campaign, you look at economic data. you understand that he can sound masterful and like a technocrat. talking about points on the economy. and for now, that's fine. chris: let's get out of our rut here about assuming romn

so no problem with newt gingrich. good man. but a very different person i am based on our life experiences. >> if speaker gingrich became the republican nominee, do you think he could beat president obama in november 2012? >> i think i stand by far the best shot of replacing president obama among the republicans in the field. that doesn't mean that others wouldn't have a good shot at it as well, but i wouldn't be in this race if i didn't think i had unique background and vision for america, and the capacity to actually replace president obama. i think to get president obama out of office, you're going to have to bring something to the race that's different than what he brings. he's a life-long politician. i think you have to have the credibility of understanding how the economy works. and i do. that's one reason i'm in this race. >> like the "union-leader," your critics charge that you make decisions based on political expediency and not core conviction. you have been on both sides of issues, and there's videotape going back ye

i think a lot of newt gingrich. but mitt romney was in atlanta and gave the great speech i ever heard. he sounded like ronald reagan. i m 200% behind mitt romney. i think he will be elected and the the the greatest president in history. host: why do you think the numbers are going up for newt gingrich, and the concern among mitt romney's people that the former speaker may overtake him? caller: i cannot think so. we're so fired at, i cannot even sleep a night. i think mitt romney will move out ahead in the next two weeks and stay ahead. if think a lot of newt gingrich but i think mitt romney will be elected. he will be the greatest president. once he starts advertising, i think he will move up and definitely be the next president of the united states. and i love c-span. host: next up is adam on a line for independents. adam is not there. project onto on a airline for democrats. andrea. caller: good morning. i think they should fight it out in the polls as dirty as they want to. yes, they should run against each other

we start with newt gingrich. howard fineman is an msnbc political analyst and the "huffington post" media group editorial director. and melissa donohue is now a fellow with the eisenhower institute. the new hampshire leader endorsement had a subtle slap at 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." boy, that is a shot. howard, tell me about this. this is an endorsement that doesn't mean you win, but it means what? >> well, you don't want to get in the gun sights of the union leader. and it's clear that mitt romney is right there. sure, joe mcquaid, the publisher and president, who i spoke to just a couple of hours ago to ask him about the endorsement is thinking behind the endorsement. and the first thing joe mcquaid said to me was, did you see "saturday night live" last week, in the skit that they did about mitt romney? that's the one where the comedian plays mitt romney and mitt r

i would go with the speaker of the house, newt gingrich. guest: this explains that mitt romney has some work to do. a lot of conservatives just do not trust him. we have to find a way to reestablish that trust. on taxes and regulations, a couple of years ago i started my own small business. it was a nightmare dealing with the regulations. if you are working on a very thin margin, you have to deal with state, local, federal regulations. it is a disaster. just keeping up with all the regulations, you deal with the local governments. it is really hard out there. the odds are stacked against small-business owners. host: will go back to phoenix. the television set is turned down. caller: this is for the republican strategist. right now, i do not know what is wrong with the democrats right now. host: we will get a response. guest: if you are talking about the current tax structure, it keeps a lot of money overseas. if we can repatriate that money, lower the taxes so that companies have been set up to bring a trillion dollars back in from overseas

watch this. >> i've come out and publicly everybody dorised newt gingrich. >> newt gingrich? he's never going to win the nomination. come on! >> really! do you want to bet a nice steak dinner on that? >> i will hold you to that wager on dinner. >> just tell me how you like your steak. >> are you still up for that steak dinner? and michael, would you like to join us? >> i'll join you. i'm carniverous. i have a steak in that plate and a dog in that fight. >> thanks so much for joining us. >> thank you. make mine medium rare. >> i will. >> let's turn now to the president and his trip to secure america's role as the dominant force in the pacific. or his trip to -- well, i'll leave sean hannity of fox news to explain and then we'll decide. >> for much of the week the president has been rein beautiful hawaii under the guise of the apex summit. he's at the golf course with friends, he's hosting fund-raisers but it is the republicans who are to blame -- >> hold on, hold on. could you just scrollç back to those friends the president is being golfing with? yes. if i'm not mistaken, t

i served with newt gingrich. sorry i don't know governor perry but i know governor romney and so on. all of these candidates are going to have their moment when there's a spotlight on what they have done and what they would do. and i am -- i'm not going to endorse anybody. i'm waiting to see how that process works. >> my point is, you know gingrich. do you think he can get the nomination? >> i don't know whether he can. and i think one of the things that this demonstrates is that you do have a group of republican candidates who are united around one principle, and that is that another four years of barack obama as president would be very harmful to this country. >> i want to ask you this, the occupy wall street movement, and protests around the country, have become a political issue. and as we talked about, income inequality, we talk about america's debt, this was the scene in northern california, u.c. davis, pepper spray being used an protesters. newt gingrich was very critical of this moment. i want to play som

look at september, newt gingrich was at 8%. 27% now. september to november, that's two months, that much math, i can do. romney's stayed stable. but to the point david makes about staying power and the risks the speaker took last night he has a lot of tea party support and glowing tea party support but he also made a play last night, i believe, what he was doing deliberate rately, because he explained this in detail in new hampshire early in the week, moderate, independent voters in new hampshire, yes i'm conservative but i'm going to take a risk on immigration and reach for the middle, that's reaching for romney voters. >> it is. newt gingrich was nowhere, as you point out, in iowa. if he doesn't win iowa but he does pretty well in iowa, it will be important for him. then he can move on to new hampshire. nobody expected him to win in new hampshire. if he does well in new hampshire and don't forget, it's open to independent voters, that's jon huntsman's play, he think his can get independents in the republican primary, but what if newt

interesting thing, perry couldn't take on newt gingrich. newt gingrich is newt gingrich. he'll surprise you and you never know which newt gingrich will throw up. the unafraid or sour, nastier newt gingrich that is not likeable. i think the first knute bring ri ging /* gingrich was at your debate. >> all of a sudden, new polls show he's right in the thick of things. >> it's changing the way you run for president. >> we'll see if this last debate winds up helping or hurting them. don't go too far away much woo. we have lots to discuss. and the candidates calling for profiling of muslims? and a clash of military position in afghanistan. [ male announcer ] sometimes, a hint is all the wrapping a gift needs. is that what i think it is? ♪ [ male announcer ] the lexus december to remember sales event is here, but only for a limited time. see your lexus dealer for exclusive lease offers on the 2012 is 250 and, as a gift from lexus, we'll make your first month's payment. congratulations. congratulations. today, the city of charlotte can use verizon technology to inspire business

there is an unromney and his name is newt gingrich. take a look at new polls that came out, first the -- let's look at the first poll first. mitt romney on top 23% and then newt gingrich at 19%. he has moved into that unromy position. he is sliding it with herman cain. and then you see ron paul and rick perry. this poll, we should note, is interesting in that it was taken in part after the gop debate on wednesday night when rick perry had that big oops moment. so that potentially has hurt him in this race for the gop nomination. now to the cbs poll which also confirms newt gingrich in a near front-runner status. herman cain there at 18%. mitt romney at 15%. not good news for mitt romney there. but newt gingrich right there at 15%. so what is old is newt in the race for the gop nomination. he has been bouied by the debate performances. you see him go after the media. conservatives love that. >> he's been slow but steady on the increase. he is clearly moving up. rick perry's been massively involved in what we call damage control. >> he h

>> i hope so for newt gingrich. but a lot of things happened back then that maybe they would want him -- >> we also had welfare reform and a balanced budget. >> and he also proved that he understand votes are in the middle. he's to the left. >> and the immigration comment? >> and also healthcare. he's for the individual man date. >> the end of the day i think more conservatives will hold their nose and vote for romney than independents will hold their nose and vote for newt in a general election >> let's go to the ad on former governor palin that came out today. >> we need sudden and row relentless reform and that will return power to we the people. we need people with a proven record of reeeerrrrr i served in public office in state that had core bankruptcy problem. i fought that. i took on a lot of corrupt and compromised middle class. the challenge is not to replace obama in 20 is it 11, the real challenge is who is what will we replace him with? >> i think she's made her decision. we all know that. will her endor

so no problem with newt gingrich. good man. but a very different person i am based on our life experiences. >> if speaker gingrich became the republican nominee, do you think he could beat president obama in november 2012? >> i think i stand by far the best shot of replacing president obama among the republicans in the field. that doesn't mean that others wouldn't have a good shot at it as well, but i wouldn't be in this race if i didn't think i had unique background and vision for america, and the capacity to actually replace president obama. i think to get president obama out of office, you're going to have to bring something to the race that's different than what he brings. he's a life-long politician. i think you have to have the credibility of understanding how the economy works. and i do. that's one reason i'm in this race. >> like the "union-leader," your critics charge that you make decisions based on political expediency and not cre conviction. you have been on both sides of issues, and there's videotape going back yea

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

in this incredibly important election, that candidate is newt gingrich. 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 candi

how can newt gingrich capitalize on this? >> well, he needs to invest a lot of time in the state and that's going to be hard. he should focus solely on iowa and new hampshire now. the one thing about new hampshire is, independents can vote in the primary. i think romney has an edge with under pent voters because he's a centrist republican than gingrich is. but gingrich has the ability to appeal to the movement republicans, conservatives who don't trust mitt romney, who romney just can't seem to move into his camp. gingrich really has potential with that part of the base. and i think that gingrich can speak their language. the contract with america, bringing in the republican leadership in 1994, those are things that the republican party is very proud of and would like to get back to. gingrich offers the hope of that kind of thing. >> well the former speaker also got good words from his nemesis from 1990s. take a listen to this. >> he's articulate and he tries to think of a conservative version of an idea that will solve a leg

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

. >> newt gingrich, who has had a history of infidelity? i mean, this is the question. >> look, here's the unfortunate truth. the unfortunate truth is that there's many politicians out there that are survived sex scandals. go back to bill clinton and so forth. that's not the real issue. the real issue is whether or not the american people are comfortable with a candidate that has some of these issues. when you take a look at herman cain, there was an interesting phenomenon, the 9-9-9 plan, very simplistic, overly simplistic but the american people, according to the polls said, this is something here because for the first time throughout this presidential campaign so far, someone is talking directly to me. so you can't dismiss that. >> right. but let's be honest about herman cain, i actually think -- i think what we do in this business more and more is confuse what happens on cable in a 24-hour cycle with something that's of lasting interest to the american public. i don't think it is. i think we occasionally show something that has legs. bu

i have been following your columns and you followed newt gingrich's rise. how much longer can newt remain in place given that up to now he simply abused the broadcast media and blamed us. he said nothing about the other candidates. >> he is has now edged into the lead in some polls. that's a dangerous place to be in the republican field. that's a signal for the others to open fire on him which i predict they will. he will have to fire back. it's certainly not in his nature to sit there and take it. he won't be able to do that much longer. you see fireworks fairly soon. >> thank you so much for joining us this afternoon. >> eugene, welcome to the broadcast and we forward to having you in this chair tomorrow. we get set to debate the foreign policy. close your eyes and cover your ears. >> in china there no student loan programs. there is no food stamp program and no af d.c. program and no retirement program either. ♪ [ gasp ] [ mom ] my husband -- he thinks it's a 3-sheeter. i say 1-sheeter. bounty can clean the mess with less. [ female announcer ] in this

in the part of newt gingrich. i spoke to him afterwards and he said that's how he feels and he was willing to take that stance. that was a politically, a politically courageous move, even if it's going to cost him some political grief in the weeks ahead. but we'll see if it does. >> you know, i was curious to know what you thought about this because heading into the debate, as you know, newt gingrich was on top of the polls. polling at about 24%. you know, he sort of played the frontrunner last night, didn't he? maybe i was looking for it. but did you sense that, as well? >> this was the first debate that the polls showed that he really, together with romney at the top nationally, they're both statistically in the tie, at least in our cnn/orc polls and he's doing really well in iowa and south carolina and even in new hampshire. so, you know, he's got a lot going right now, but he was, look, he has been good. he has been good at all the debates. he's been around washington for 50 years. he knows these issues and, o

we start with newt gingrich. jonathan alter is an msnbc political analyst and michael scherr is the white house correspondent for "time" magazine. here's this from last night's debate getting the most attention and it's newt gingrich on illegal immigrants who have been in the country for years. >> if you've been here for 25 years, three kids and two grandkids, you've been paying taxes and obeying the law, i don't think we should uproot you forcefully and kick you out. i don't see how the party that says they are the party of the family is going to adopt an immigration policy which destroys families that have been here a quarter century, and i'm prepared to take the heat for saying let's be humane in enforcing the law without giving them citizenship but by finding a way to create legality so that they are not separated from their family. >> governor? >> michael, he says he's prepared to take the heat. what is the extent of the heat? what's the net effect? >> well, there's going -- there's national heat and state h

newt gingrich campaign. newt gingrich still doing more than a third of his upcoming events as book signings and dvd screenings. running for president it turns out is a great way to sell your stuff. the whole idea behind newt's stuff, the whole idea behind newt incorporated is that you should want to buy newt gingrich books and should want to buy newt gingrich dvds and want to pay thousands of dollars to get fake awards from newt gingrich enterprises because newt gingrich is such an important and very serious man. that is the whole marketing concept behind newt gingrich incorporated. and that dovetails really nicely with running for president because if you're newt gingrich, running for president sort of givings you a justification to talk about yourself in rather grandiose terms. for example, late last week at an event in michigan, mr. gingrich was asked about judges. dave wiegel at slate.com was at the event and quotes mr. gingrich as responding this way. "if you go to newt.org, you'll see an entire paper o