actually going under? we'll update you on what's happening there. jon huntsman says he is dropping out of the presidential race. he says he's going to back mitt romney but his support may not help where mitt romney might need it the most. we're going to look at evangelicals and who they're supporting this morning. plus, joe paterno in the wake of the penn state scandal says to a kol lcolumnist he wise had done more. that's a quote. we're going to talk more this morning with the columnist who landed that interview. plus, we are celebrating martin luther king day. we'll chat with angela bassett, the actress on broadway in a play that is a modern day retelling of what happened on the last day of dr. king's life. also, in the state of arizona, ethnic studies ban books literally locked up. one of the those books was written by a guy named william shakespeare. "starting point" begins right now.

>> welcome. everybody. the cruise ship rescue mission has now been suspended in giglio, italy. the cruise ship is now slipping which we'll update you on what exactly what means in just a few moments but it sounds like that ship which has been listing on one side is now going under. italian prosecutors have ruled out at this point technical error. the ceo is apologizing. he says he believes it is human error and the captain of that ship has been arrested and charge with manslaughter and abandoning his ship. the ship hit rocks, has 160-foot gash in one of its side. many people think the other side looks the same way. 2300 tons of fuel on board. at this point there is no sign of leakage. there are 14 people missing at lea least, including 2 americans and 6 people reported dead at this point. passengers have been reliving as they tell their story it's a story of chaos and confusion. take a look.

>> there wasn't anybody to help you. really, the passengers were loading the life boats by themselves. >> we had to go about four or five gates down before we found a life boat we could get in to and then the people were very angry that we got on that life boat because it was very crowded. >> the crew was so young and you would have thought they would have handled it better. you would have thought they would have handled it better on shore, you would have thought they would have handles, you know, getting people off the boat. >> it was just bad. like getting the life boats and nobody followed any procedure. the crew was yelling for people to wait their turn. and pretty much it was just a giant every man for himself to get on to the life boats. the first ones before they were even lowered. >> let's get right to cnn's dan rivers live in giglio, italy. i know the ceo of the company just did a presentation. what did he say about what's happening right now with the ship? >> reporter: well, we understand just within the last few minutes

it's still suspended the search. there was concern from the firefighters aboard that the concordia was beginning to move on the seabed where it is behind me. that seabed is very shallow but then it shells away were steeply. i think there's obviously concern that if it continues to move around it may drop offer into that shelf and sink completely. and as you say, that huge amount of fuel oil on board that would be a environmental catastrophe here in these beautiful waters around the island of gigli. elsewhere we're getting more from the lawyer or the prosecutor who sin ve prosecutor is who is investigating the captain here. he remains under arrest, not charged yet but he's facing possible charges of manslaugh r manslaughter, abandoning ship, and causing a shipwreck which would be 15 years in prison if he was found guilty. they're examining the black box, a bit like a flight recorder on

a plane from this ship. they've indicated they think simply that he got too close to the shore, that he was on the bridge at the time. and that he left the ship while there was still a significant number of passengers on board. they so far question more than 100 witnesses both crew and passengers to find out exactly what happened. but all indications are both from the costa cruise company and from the prosecutors that this wasn't any kind of technical problem. it was simply that they got too close and hit the shore, hit the rocks. >> dan, that leads us to the question, but why, but why? technically if gps says there are rocks, are there any -- is there any speculation about why the captain might, in fact, have taken the route that would take you right by the rocks and closer to the shore? >> reporter: well, there seems to have been a bit of tradition

with the costa concordia of coming past this little town because there was a link between the crew and former captain of the costa concordia that lives on the island. some of the crew are from the island of giglio so there was a tradition of them doing a kind of fly by almost, if you like, a sail by where they would wave and sound the horn to their friends on the island. now, whether they got a bit too close having done this for years, that's a possibility, or whether there's some other issue. we don't know. but certainly they came exceptionally close to this town and to the shore with devastating results. >> dan rivers for us continues to update the story that we're watching closely. thank you, dan. let's get right to ron brownstein, cnn's political analyst and editorial director at the "national journal." we're in the studio. lights. >> the table makes some noise

around us just so we feel at home. >> that's right. >> exactly. a lot of bad food. criminal defense attorney. steve joins us. nice to have you. writer and is the co-author of the brand new party joining us around the table spop hello. good morning. i need coffee, too. we have no coffee. >> you are wonderfully preppy. >> 18 cups of coffee will do that. yes, i have. >> i hear you. >> there's a secret to that. let's start by talking about what's happened, the big news politically, which is jon huntsman is out. to me that's a headline and that's it. >> the baby size news. >> baby size news. >> that's news. >> oh, no offense. >> it is a little bit of how can you tell. but, you know, he was running, you know, a very -- >> he was running. >> they spent months and months and months in new hampshire and ended up going to the exit poll winning 10% of new hampshire republicans. but like many other things in this race, it's a marginal

advantage for romney because one of the things was if huntsman could get going they could split up the modern with part of the party and same way that the others are diverted. he's consolidating his side of the party enmore and the other side remains fragmented. >> let's get to peter hamby, i know that you got this news late last night and we saw that come across. what do you think the impact is, divide and conquer on both sides or really, or, maybe it's just big old yawn and it doesn't matter? >> yeah, i mean, the impact, i think, down here in south carolina at least, i'm in myrtle beach where the debate is tonight, is somewhat neg gli jibl. huntsman does haven't any money here and hasn't caught on any measurable way after doing somewhat okay in new hampshire. didn't do as well as he needed to do down here. again, huntsman appeals to that moderate establishment leaning

side, other republican party. what does it get mitt romney? probably not too much, quite frankly. he needs to appeal to the tea party republican base, the more con zservative and evangelical voter, he still has trouble picking up that support. lucky for him that side of the party is divided between 70 candidates. huntsman doesn't have that much support in new hampshire, so not really sure what he gets. he doesn't bring a big financial network to the table. quite frankly, him and mitt romney never really got along. their families haven't gotten along and their staffs don't like each other one bit. >> i'm stunned. i sit here stunned. no, let's listen who that he said back in november, just in november, about mitt romney who he is now endorsing. this is huntsman. listen. >> i think when you're on too many sides of the issues of the day, when you don't have that core, when there's that element of trust out there, i think that becomes a problem. and i think it makes you want

electable against barack obama. >> is it just in this day and age that everybody knows you're going to say mean things and once they're a nominee they're going to say nice thing? mccain and bush. >> same thing happened. >> interesting and glowing personal history between the romneys and the huntsmans. i can remember the race oh. >> they were quite close. >> sure. the two powerful names in utah, and there was a point about a decade ago the race that mid mitt romney's career, when he got elected as governor, he was in utah a year earlier running the olympics me thought the governor of massachusetts, james swift, was going to run for re-election in 2002 and he thought his future in politics would be utah 2004. jon huntsman was looking at utah in 2004. romney came off and became the national star and huntsman has been chasing him ever since. >> all of that interesting drama did not exist at all in the

election because people would have been spieaking more about huntsman. no one talked about it. >> there was a lot of people who thought, hey, he's in this wonderful little niche. he's someone who represents this moderate pragmatic side of the party. the trouble is there was no there there. he wasn't able to compel an audience me also had a conservative record he would run on an caught fire with but it never happened. >> let me throw up a graphic for just a second. let me throw up where huntsman did well in new hampshire was among unsatisfied voters. if you take a look at this you see huntsman was leading that. 27%. then ron paul, surprising, right, that ron paul was second to runts man on that unhappy, unsatisfied -- they have a big independent vote in new hampshire. huntsman, i think, had a problem with sequencing. his original message -- he was out of sequence with the party. original message was republicans had to recalibrate their message to reach out to a broader range of voters. that is a message a party is

open up after they win a defeat. it's not a message a party is really open to after it has a big win like 2010. there were not a lot of republicans came out 2010 saying we got to recalibrate our message we're doing something wrong. once that cratered and he reinvented himself as a conservative, he went with nothing. one in ten republicans in new hampshire, not enough to justify going forward. >> we have spent more time talking about jon huntsman than we did in iowa the other day, which at the end of the day is the $64,000 problem he had. so he is out of the race. we can now move on. other stories making news. there's lots to talk about. let's get to alini cho. thousands of people coming out of hiding to welcome arab league monitors into syria. they're even carrying them on their shoulders. our nic robertson, one of the few western journalists allowed into syria. he was there to witness it. the city has been under siege for weeks. many people fleeing with their

children. this coming as u.n. secretary general ban ki-moon delivers a message to syria's leader assad, stop killing your people. monday ttana teacher sherry arnold vanished more than a week ago while taking a jog. a single running shoe was the only clue left behind. it's the first martin luther king jr. day at the mlk memorial in washington. ceremony there's will kick off in an hour. the government has now said lit correct a paraphrased quote that is carved in stone on the memorial. the inscription says, i was a drum major for justice, peace, and righteousness. the problem is, not an exact quote. and my angelou says taken out of context it makes dr. king sound like an arrogant twit. the markets are closed but markets over seas are reacting to the s&p's mass credit downgrade of european nations.

european markets are mixed but flat this morning. and the golden globes last night, silence was golden. the big winner. the big winner was the black and white silent film "the artist." it won three awards including best musical or comedy. george clooney picked up best dramatic actor in "the descendents" and meryl streep for "iron lady" and michelle williams picked for best actress for her role in "my week with marilyn." >> thank the foreign press association for putting in my hands this award that marilyn monroe herself won over 50 years ago. i'm honored. thank you. >> michelle williams looked great. a lot of talk about head bands last night, soledad, on the fashion pront. >> i want to get one of those. a headband. >> shar l.

still to come this morning on "starting point," we all move to south carolina. we literally will move to south carolina as we head there in a couple of days. what's the impact going to be from the tea partiers in south carolina? the south carolina gop chair is going to join us next. look forward to that race. joe paterno is speaking out for the very first time since the sex scandal hit penn state. we're going to hear how he handled the situation when he was first told at jerry sandusky. [ female announcer ] fashion or food, it's all about taste. and the chefs at lean cuisine are loving tangy lemon, peppery poblano, sweet butternut. we're roasting, and grilling to create must-have meals with no preservatives. lean cuisine. be culinary chic.

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only going up to 44 there. pretty and cold. let's talk politics since we're looking that the shot. this morning in the capital the republican field is now down to five as we told you. jon huntsman is boeing out today. the key will be how the tea partiers and the evangelicals in that state vote. we've got chad conley joining us, chairman of the south carolina republican party. nice to see you, sir. thank you for being with us. we appreciate it. >> good morning. >> thank you very much. i wish you could join us for breakfast right here. we're having bagels and locks this morning. in person win day soon maybe. let's talk about the impact that you think the huntsman dropping out of this race really realistically has. >> governor huntsman ran a spirited campaign. he has had a great political team here in south carolina. i'm not sure what kind of impact it will have. any time a candidate endorses another candidate it's a good thing. i'm sure it's going grab a lot of news today and on the day of the big debate that i think is going to be pivotal in this whole campaign. but i think his followers or whatever, his folk tons ground

will probably dispurse among the campaigns. i don't know if governor romney will get the bulk of that or not. >> seems like governor romney might get the bulk of that. when you talk about the debate and think it's going will be spirited. tell me about that. >> i've been telling people this is just a third in south carolina. i was with my family over christmas and we have four families since my wife and i were both widowed. it was an interesting focus group because i was surprised how few of them had actually seen an entire debate. now i think folks in south carolina are tuning in. starting to really watch. i believe it's going to be pivotal from the viewpoint that people are really watching now and they're making their decisions before saturday's vote. >> i love a man who uses his family as his research. very good thing. rick santorum -- i did the same thing with my family, too. extended families are good for that. rick santorum said that he thinks that anybody who is supporting mitt romney is crazy because he says he cannot win. i want to a little play a little

bbt a what he said. >> and unfortunately, the man who is leading the polls here in south carolina, if you believe them, is someone whose plan was the basis of obama cacare. now, in an election where this is the central issue, freedom, traditional values of the country of free people, free markets, free enterprise, not top-down government control, why would the people of south carolina put out there someone who we lose that issue with, who's wrong on that issue? >> do you think that's a compelling argument, why would the people of south carolina do that very thing? because if you look at the polls, we can throw up a graphic here, mitt romney is winning at 2%. this is south carolina poll likely primary voters. and it's santorum is down, way down, at just 7%. >> i try not to be anybody's strategist and try to stay out of those as much as i can but i think president obama has been so bad for the economy, you know, here in carolina he led

the national labor relations board attack a business in boeing. the doj, the department of justice, has gone after, you know, voter id laws and immigration laws here. so the folks in south carolina are looking at a much broader picture than just one issue. and so i think that anybody we elect is going to be better than what we have in the white house right now. i think you're going to see the voters of south carolina make a decisive vote on saturday. >> i'm sure we will see you when we head down to south carolina on thursday morning. maybe we'll get you to come joyner in a diner somewhere in that state. appreciate your time, sir. thanks for being with us. >> thank you. >> he talks about voters are not really one issue voters. when you poll people the economy, the economy, the economy seems to be the big issue. i wonder that's why santorum is lowdown because he's been going with the values and social issues. >> santorum's theoretical strength once he emerged in iowa was his ability to appeal to sam's club republicans and blue collar republicans with economic message and background, contrast

favorably with romney for those voters. he has not been able to get to that message. went to new hampshire got in an argument day one with college student about gay marriage. never got to blue collar economic messages. he wrote a big op-ed piece. but the fact is he is not drawing any better among noncollege or cloenlg republicans in the early states that suggest the profile we all see in him voters aren't yet seeing in him. >> do you think it would make a difference in terms of santorum if people started talking more about this is santorum, the fact that she was living with someone who is four years older than her, a doctor, abortion doctor? you heard about this story, right? this is a great story that's out there now. >> well -- whoa. >> whoa. but before we even bring this story in which i know nothing about -- >> me, neither. >> dr. allen is his name. >> but the question becomes, if santorum is having a hard time getting his own message out, at what point do you think people should start focusing on the

spouses? >> you saw the clip. the guy has a tone that is not a lovely, friendly, winning tone. and he's talking about this guy, if you believe the polls, you know, who is coming out ahead and just kind of this -- >> but what i have attended, you know, across many states, many of these rallies and the people in the audience love it. there's a part in the rally where you get serious and shout and make jokes. in the audience people love -- they think he is a great communicator. he comes across as very friendly. >> he had on the social conservative i remember and if -- people's families are on the line here. you say you're using your family as a focus group. their families are up for grabs. they have got to bring this out there that mrs. santorum right before she met rick santorum, she was living with dr. allen. he's in his 90s now. there were 40 years apart from each other. and he was aabortion doctor. >> i know nothing about that story. >> i am going to bring up my

blackberry and show you. >> that would be great. we'll talk more about that. we're going to take a break and get real in just a moment. did you guys see this story in arizona? school district that is banning books, shakespeare, the "temp pes" is one of those books. when i grow up, i want to fix up old houses. ♪ [ woman ] when i grow up, i want to take him on his first flight. i want to run a marathon. i'm going to own my own restaurant.

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♪ i love that we change up the music a little bit. thank you. thank you. i'm going to do my tivo moment, thank you, lord, for changing the music. only into our third week. it's time to get real this morning. talk about the largest school district in tucson, arizona, has officially ended its 13-year-old mexican-american studies program. ended last week. falling in line with the state ban on courses that promote, quote, racial resistment. the district was in danger of losing millions, i think a million dollars in state funding every single month it didn't get rid of the program. i should mention it's a school district where 60% of the students come from mexican-american backgrounds. so it was part of trying to comply, the school released an -- the district released a list of books now banned. a district spokesperson says banning books mean they will be cleared out of the classrooms, boxed up and basically be locked

away, a quote according to is la selam. "rethinking columbus." another one called "occupied america, history of chicanos." and "the tempest" written by william shakespeare, banned because they're using race, ethnicity and oppression are central themes. i hate to talk about oppression. that's just not discuss slavery. >> ignoring our history. >> slavery, serve tuesday, of course, are central themes in "the tempest" and written around the time that europe was america's monopoly board gathering everything up. banning shakespeare or any book in 2012. >> the district is interpreting the state's mandate. >> it's pretty clear interpretation. >> this is a big fight in goes with what i have called the brown and gray. arizona is one of those states where the under 18 population has become majority non-white. senior population remains

overwhelmingly white and we see this ethnic conflict and issue after issue. this is the republicans in the state legislature and now the republican superintende in teni schools cracking down and trying to stop tucson from pursuing the program that they believe encourages ethnic division. you see this embedded conflict, generational and ethnic overlay that is going to be part of our politics in decades to come. >> last year we have seen stuff like this, not necessarily banning books but stuff out there at the state level. that's one of the stories in 2011 because that tea party wing of the republican party took control of the primaries in 2010, then because of the climb mat had the great general election. all of these sort of real purery focused outsider tea party types took power in states and this is what we have. >> similar fight in texas where 70% of k-12 is non-white and majority on the board of education. >> we saw the demographic shift happen -- take a break, we see

people breathing to start talking. let's stop. we're going to take a break. we're going to talk a little bit more about this as we talk about the fight for the right. eric erickson was at that evangelical summit last week. they said originally they thought they wouldn't be able to come up with somebody to support. they're going to support rick santorum. we're going to talk about what's happening over that weekend. joe paterno is telling his side of the story in penn state scandal. we'll talk with the columnist who landed that first interview with joe paterno.out ther . but one is so clever that your skin looks better even after you take it off. neutrogena® healthy skin liquid makeup. 98% saw improved skin. does your makeup do that? neutrogena® cosmetics. they sound awesome tonight. and when i do find it, i share it with the world. you landed the u.s. tour ? done. this is fantastic ! music is my life and i want to make the most of it

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okay, welcome back, everybody. that music is okay, too. i'm picky. we don't want soothing. everybody goes back to bed with soothing. we want energetic. 7:32 in the morn pentagon welcome back to "starting point," coming up we're going to talk about joe paterno's first interview. he's talking about the penn state child sex scandal, it's what cost him his job. we'll talk to the reporter who interviewed him this morning. also, today is mlk day, martin luther king day. actress jennifer bassett will talk about this play she's starring in which some people say is controversial. i saw it, i love it. a modern day look back at what martin luther king did on the night before he was killed. first though, an update on the stories making news. and alino cho has that for us. good morning again. >> good morning to you again. rescue operations has been suspended in this hour at the

italian cruise ship tragedy. the weather is making it impossible to safely board the ship, which is apparently starting to slip. costa cruise line's ceo says human error is behind the accident that has left six people dead. more than a dozen missing, including two americans. people onboard the ship describe the scene of total confusion with the crew. >> the crew was so young. you would have thought they could have handled it better. you would have thought they would have handled it better on the shore. you would have thought they would have handled, you know, getting people off the boat, warning people. >> it was just bad, like mad to get on the life boats and nobody followed any procedure. the crew was yelling for people to wait their turn. and pretty much it was just a giant every man for himself to get on the life boats. the first ones before they were even lowered. >> you're looking live off the coast of italy. that is what the ship looks like right now at 8:00 a.m. eastern time. we will talk with two ship captains about what may have gone wrong.

a police raid in thailand turned up a large supply of bomb-making chemicals just days after americans were warned to avoid tourist sites in bangkok. a terror suspect led police to the building in question. it contained more than 300 boxes of fertilizer and ammonium nitrate. the u.s. embassy still hasn't lifted the warning it issued last week. a meet and greet with rick santorum. the gop candidate is holding a town hall meeting in columbia, south carolina, this morning. you're looking at live pictures there. there he is with sweater vest. got a big endorsement from texas over the weekend. we'll see if it helps him at all in the polls. o.j. simpson is losing his house in miami to foreclosure. officials say they acted after late fees, penalties and overdue principle built up. simpson's been in jail in nevada since 2008 for kidnapping an armed robbery. and new york giants are going to the nfc championship game. they defeated the defending champions green bay packers,

37-20, sunday. afc, the baltimore ravens beat the houston texans to punch their ticket to the afc title game, as well. 35 minutes after the hour. so that's what happened, rob marciano, while we were all watching the red carpet golden globes. giants won. >> some of us, yes. but eli manning has done well at lambeau and did well again. congrats to them. take you to seattle, alino, the seahawks didn't make the playoffs but they had this, snow. they get it rev i couple times a year but not to this extent. different spots got different amounts. none the less, it was a treacherous day yesterday. here's the deal. there's more snow on the way for not only seattle but portland. significant accumulations not only at the lower elevations but also at the higher elevations as well. finally from the cascades to the sierras, more in the way of snowfall as -- i moon, their snow pack about 10% of normal. they'll take it.

most of the cold air is bottled up. brief form today. 70 ns in places like texas and northeast. 16 degrees currently in new york. 11 degrees in boston. with this cold air at the surface and some of that moisture and warm air coming in tonight, a winter weather advisory out for parts of pennsylvania, jersey, upstate new york, mostly away from the bigger cities. i-95 corridor should be okay travelwise but freezing rain, sleet, and snow tonight. chicago, detroit, cleveland, st. louis, dallas and denver are the problem spots today. 44 degrees with snow on the way tomorrow in chicago. enjoy your warm-up today. alina, back up to you. >> i'm going to stop complaining about it being a warm winter. soledad o'brien, i'm going to start grabbing a bagel and watch. thank you for bringing the diner to us today. >> i was up all night making bane bagels in my kitchen. the biggest problem may

still be for him winning over evangelicals. got our panel back this morning but also joining us is eric erickson, editor in chief of redstate.com. he attended that summit in texas that we told everybody about on friday. first and foremost, let's show everybody how it ended up, if you pop up this graphic on the air you can see, santorum, 85 votes, gingrich 29 votes. interpret those numbers for me. does that mean that santorum ran away with it ultimately? >> not necessarily. he ran away with the people voting. i couldn't be there on saturday. i was there friday. talking to a lot of people who were there on saturday a lot of people left by that round of voting. it wasn't as strongly for santorum although there was a consensus for santorum. a lot of people really like santorum. he has been a fighter in the movement and to a degree he has been rewarded by evangelicals for sticking up to the pro life position. >> when i talked to tony perkins

on friday he said he thought that going into this meeting and going into this vote that they probably wouldn't be able to back one person. why do you think that changes? >> because they really do want to beat barack obama. but they really want to betemit romney as well. i think that the headline out of this is going to be that mitt romney is going to go into a general election potentially as the mom knee even with less of a rapport with evangelical voters than john mccain had. >> i love when you highlight things for people in media. if you're reading in from the media, i think the story you should tell is mitt romney will probably become the nominee of the republican party can even less good feelings between evangelicals and him and john mccain had. why? >> just starting off with the people in the room, these are the real leaders of the evangelical movement. going back to the '60s to some degree, attacked from the left for years as pig gbigots.

don't be an anti-mormon bigot, consider mitt romney. their concern wasn't his religi religion, their concern was his shiftiness over conservatism over the years. >> the bottom question, unless mitt romney is defeated in south carolina this race could be over. the candidate who seems like the best chance to defeat him in south carolina is newt gingrich. by endorsing rick santorum and potentially splitting the vote has the group made it more likely a romney win sot kaur care and thus wins the nomination? >> i think so. there's a lot of talk in the room that it was already a done deal. they got advice from some people what it was although most wanted to fight on. the fall back csensus to a degree is well, at least maybe we will secure him as the vice presidential slot. i think they're sowing the seeds of division in 2016 because if romney loses rick santorum can go in in 2016 and say, hey, i am the front leader for

evangelicals. >> redstates.com, thank you for. we want to keep it the cnn for the best political coverage on tv. on thursday night at 8:00 p.m. eastern, southern republican presidential debate. saturday, the road to nomination stops in south carolina. tune in for the most comprehensive coverage you can find. also ahead, joe paterno's first sit-down interview since he was fired. he said he wasn't sure how to hand the molestation report. we're going to talk to columnist who got that first interview. and we'll talk to angela bassett about her return to broad kay. she will dell us why the role she the playing right now and through sunday has a very special mean for her, especially on this martin luther king day.

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welcome back, everybody. joe paterno is telling his side of the story in the penn state sex scandal. he admits he wasn't sure how to hand the information with jerry sandusky was abusing a young boy. sally jenkins is a sports columnist for the "washington post" and landed that first interview with joe paterno. thanks for talking with us. give us a sense first, before the interview, how were you able to talk him into give you this

interview? >> first of all, he contacted me. he was looking for someone who sit down with, and i take it that he, i think, liked my work. i had written a couple of things on the penn state jerry sandusky scandal, and i think he probably felt that they were reasonable. so i found him feeble. he had had chemotherapy literally the day before we met. we met on two straight days, thursday and friday of last week. thursday he was pretty good. by friday, he was weaker and, in fact, couldn't get out of bed. and the last half of the interview was really at his bedside. and then he was taken to the hospital. he's having some side effects from chemotherapy. he's 85 years old. and so the chemo is very harsh on him. >> was your sense that this was his effort to clear his name and set the record straight or -- >> yes. very much so. i think he -- it was his attempt to explain to people what he knew and what he did about it, what he didn't do and why he didn't do more and how he felt about it. i think that he had been waiting for, i think, some of the boil

to come out of the water in the state college environment, where things have been pretty high emotional pitch. and he felt that things had quieted down enough that he could be heard. >> let's read through a little bit of some of the quotes that he gave you in this article. he told you, i didn't know exactly how to handle it. i was worried that -- something that might jeopardize what the university procedure was. so i backed away and turned it over to some other people, people i thought would have a little more expertise than i did. it didn't work out that way. i think a lot of people look at that and say, that sense is kind of incompatible with the kind of coach joe paterno was, which was sort of, by descriptions, tough, iron-fisted, and completely 100% running things. did it seem to you to be inkon z inconsiste inconsistent? >> it didn't seem inconsistent but it does seem you have to make a decision about who you think joe p paterno was. he presents himself as somebody who is a very old world gentleman who was out of his depth with the issue of child

molestation. then there's version of joe paterno that is the one that you described, where he was in command of every detail of the program. i will say this, he was 75 when mike mcquery came to him. i think that it's possible and maybe even plausible that joe paterno by 2002 when he came to him was a much older man, was not as maybe powerful and n. state college as he had once been. viewers have to make up their minds about who they think joe paterno was in all of this. >> one of the things he said to you was, quote, in hindsight, i wish i had done more. did he give you examples of what more? >> yes. he said, you know, he should have -- in 2002 he went to his superiors, gary shultz, the vice president of the university, head of come pampus police, and athletic director, i have this report, there was a young man who saw jerry sandusky in the showers doing something with a boy. after that, paterno never follows up with his superiors. what he said to me is, you know,

i wish i had said, where are we with the boy, what's going on with this boy, what's going on with this coach? he didn't do that. he did go back to mike mcquery, the coach who had seen the incident a few tapes and said where are we with this. he didn't push the chain of command. >> when you ask him later about their sort of about their own children. and he says to you, but for me i get a bunch of guys and say let's go punch somebody in the nose. that would be the response if he was talking about his own children. his wife, sue, is much stronger and says, if someone touched my child, quote, there wouldn't be a trial. i would have have killed them. and so i guess it's hard to -- again, the inconsistency with, if someone is going to touch my kid i would smack them in the face inretrospect what i would have done is check in on how that thing went. doesn't that seem inconversations cyinkonconsiste with you? >> those remarks, i thought, were reflective of the two different personalities of sue

paterno and joe paterno. i didn't find that inconsistent. again, you have to ask yourself, you you know, paterno's, you know, idea that he would take someone and go punch somebody in the nose is a quaint, old-fashioned term. and that's very much how joe paterno presented himself in the interview. and, you know, that's who he has always appeared to be. he's from a background, an old italian family in flatbush, brooklyn. he went to brown university. you know, he's 85 years old. and this is the way he's presenting himself now in this story. people have to decide whether they believe it. >> the folks in the atlantic wrote a criticism of your interview and they said basically this, we get a subjective narrative of the sort you would get from a witness who has just been examined by his own attorney. meaning they don't think you were tough enough on him. what do you make of that? >> well, i asked him the tough questions point blank. what did you know, why diplomat you know more, why didn't you do more. you know, i'm not quite sure how

much tougher you're supposed to get on the guy. you know, why didn't you know about the 1998 police report? you never heard a whisper, you never heard a rumor. he says absolutely not pop absolutely no inkling. my job as a reporter is to put his words out there and for people to make up their own minds. it's not my job to tell you whether he's plausible or not. you to do that for yourself. >> sally jenkins, "washington post," appreciate it. still ahead this morning, actress angela bassett honors legacy of dr. martin luther king jr. and we talk to the man who helped dr. king write the "i have a dream" speech.

♪ it goes on and on ♪ yeah ♪ i throw my hands up in the air sometimes ♪ ♪ saying ay-oh ♪ >> i'm so happy with the little things. that was a shot of atlanta, georgia. it's going to be 57 degrees in atlanta. it's cold here in new york. >> 16. >> charleston is warm. >> yes, it is. >> and we're not there until thursday. our cause celeb this morning is

actress angela basset. she has been starring on broadway in a play which follows martin luther king jr.'s last days on earth. do you think that there's a sense of great progress or that much more still has to be done or somewhere in between? >> i don't think we ever reach the end. >> the mountaintop? >> yeah, the end. but, you know, if i were to be so bold as to say, you know, as to sort of, you know, think about what he might say, i think that he would be pleased with the great deal of progress that has been made. but at the same time, knowing that there is, you know, this much further that we have to go, you know, as he says -- as she says in the play, as he thought, as he said, poor people are important. you know, they matter. poor people matter.

you know, and we have not far from here, down in, you know, the park, you know, fighting for that. you know, the haves and the have-nots. that's still very present reality. >> "the mountaintop" the play will close on sunday. if you gys haven't had a chance to see it, it's really good. i thought it was really interesting. you can see my full interview with angela basset at cnn.com. also had a chance to sit down with clarence jones. he was a young lawyer and part of dr. king's inner circle and helped him write his "i have a dream" speech. the final draft of that speech never included those famous words, "i have a dream." take a listen. >> what happened, he was in the middle of reading the material. and then says, tell them about your dream, martin. tell him about your dream. she was his favorite gospel

singer. and i was standing behind him, and i saw him acknowledge her, take the text he was reading, and move it aside, and look out on the 250,000 assembled. and i said to some unknown person standing next to me, because i could watch his body language, and i said to that person, these people here, they don't know aboit, but they are about to go to church. and that's when he started speaking spontaneously using the "i have a dream" which is not the written speech that was prepared. >> i think every year around this time, everybody looks back at the past decade and says, what would martin say? >> let's take the state of the country today. the absence of civility just seems to be anger. anger seems to be -- >> people or elected officials or both? >> both. i mean, it's clear that this anger at one another, all right. there are some obvious things that he might want to comment on. i mean, for example, just on the

high number of african-american men who are incarcerated, in prison. this would be to him like his worst nightmare. his worst nightmare to see that which he struggled and worked and gave his life for. young men, young men instead of having -- instead of taking advantage of the opportunity that he worked so hard, that now they constitute -- that is young african-american men, they constitute on a percentage basis the highest number of men incarcerated. >> where would he find hope? where would he say my work was done well here? >> i think he'd find hope looking at you on television. and other people. i think he'd find hope in the number of what i call the successor generation, of people who look with a little more hopefulness than perhaps even my own generation, because maybe we have become a little cynical.

but i think he would also find hope that in spite of some of the criticism of the so-called occupy wall street, in spite of the criticism of the people who follow ron paul, that there's something out there, where people are saying, the system is not working, and there's an element of pervasive unfairness in the system. the wall street people are talking about how bad corporations are, and indeed many of them are. and indeed, there's no question about it. but not all corporations are bad. and not all corporate leaders are bad. all right? i think dr. king would want us to -- you know what i thought, for example? >> finish that thought. you think dr. king would what? >> well, i think dr. king would either on a quiet basis, maybe without publicity, sit and talk with these corporate leaders, you know, and see if he couldn't raise their consciousness and get them to see a sense of responsibility. >> it's nice to have you. >> nice to have you. thank you. still ahead this morning, some details that are developing

on that crashed cruise ship in italy. we're going to talk about the rescue operation, which is now on hold. somewhere between 14 and maybe 16 people are still missing, and that includes two americans. and then we'll go back to talking about tim tebow and his faith. some people say it crosses the line. hall of fame quarterback fran tarkenton will join us. and also a former teammate of tim tebow will join us. and the golden globes. ricky gervais snarkier than ever, but really we just want to talk about the clothes. that's still ahead. stay with us. what if i can't hide my symptoms? what if this takes too long? what if? but what if the most important question is the one you're not asking? what if the underlying cause of your crohn's symptoms is damaging inflammation? for help getting the answers you need visit knowcrohns.com/tv and use the interactive discussion guide

to speak with your gastroenterologist. ♪ ♪ ♪ one too many... [ male announcer ] it's time to reclaim your garage. the all-new passat. the 2012 motor trend car of the year. ♪ seek your way and go

welcome back to "starting point." i'm soledad o'brien updating you on our top story this morning. that cruise ship in italy is now slipping and the rescue operations have been put on hold. there are some developments that come out of this shipwreck, and also this morning we're talking about jon huntsman, who has announced he is getting out of the presidential race. we'll make that official in just a few hours. it looks like he'll be backing mitt romney. what does all that mean? plus, mitt romney reaching into his wallet and gives money to a struggling supporter. we're going to go inside that good deed ahead and see what was it all about. and the golden globes. ricky gervais was back, almost as mean as he was the last time. >> great. i loved it. >> it does make the show much

more entertaining. here talking about how the golden globes measures up against the oscars. it's very funny. listen. >> so the golden globes are to the oscars what kim kardashian is to kate middleton. basically. a bit louder, a bit trashier, a bit drunker, and more easily bought. [ laughter ] >> i love that. >> name one of the foreign press members. name one. plus, fran tarkenton will join us to talk about tim tebow and talk about whether or not god does care right now. "starting point" begins right now. ok. we start with our new developments to get to. that cruise ship, now the rescue mission, has been suspended. this all happening in italy, because the cruise ship is slipping. italian prosecutors are ruling

out technical error. that means they are pointing to human error, and the ceo is apologizing. the captain of the ship has been arrested and charged with manslaughter and abandoning ship. the ship hit rocks, and there is a 160-foot gash in the side. you can see how it's listed over to the side. 2300 tons of fuel onboard. 14 are reported missing, including two americans. six people have been confirmed dead. the pass the passengers have been talking about what happened. >> there wasn't anybody to help you. really, the passengers were loading the life boats by themselves. >> we had to go about four or five gates down before we found a life boat we could get into. and then the people were very angry that we got on that life boat because it was very crowded. >> captain jim staples is a captain with 17 years of experience.

and robert allahmida is also a former u.s. navy officer. they are joining us this morning. captain staples, why don't you start with exactly what could have happened in your mind. when you see a picture of a ship basically on its side and now looks like it's slipping with a massive gash, and everyone is saying -- the ceo and the cruise line are saying human error. what do you think happened? >> well, my first concern when i saw the vessel laying on its side is what in the world was she doing so close to the beach? any ship master knows you need to keep the vessel in good water. and to be that close, i said to myself, boy, that's probably a lapse in judgment here. something definitely went wrong with some decision making. >> so the captain of the share is named francisco schettino, and here is what he told the media in italy. proip troip i don't know if it

was detected or not, but it was marked just as water. and we were about 300 meters from the shore more or less. we shouldn't have had this contact. >> so it sounds like he is saying that it was some kind of technical error, either the gps didn't work or the maps were wrong. what do you think of that, robert? >> 100 meters from shore and 150 meters from shoal water, and the ship is about 300 meters long. so, you know, it's an open bay at the end of the day. you know, if the ship was even slightly off course or had any mismatch on the runner systems or anything really went wrong, they would have immediately been in abextremitiities extreme situation. so they had plenty of room to leave that bay. there's no reason a prudent mariner would have put himself in that situation. you know, if something went

wrong, they would have been on the rocks. or if they had been -- if their navigation had been slightly off, they would have been on the rocks which was exact he what happened. >> if you look, you can see the yellow line, which is the line that the cruise ship was supposed to take. show my map. there we go. this is google earth here. you can see the yellow line they were supposed to take and then the line they actually did take is the red one. >> had they taken this route before? allegedly, this is supposed to be a route they had taken before. they should have known it was rocks and not water there. >> well, the bigger question to me is the chaos that people describe. literally it sounds like -- >> let's talk about was the crew trained for such an emergency. >> it's funny. i was just thinking, i spent the last month in iowa and new hampshire hearing that the solution to every single problem in society is less government, less oversight. and the first question you ask when something like this

happens, who was regulating? what did this happen? >> my reaction is the opposite because you have to accept that certain things are dangerous, and that you actually -- >> but after? >> that's when you decide it's going to be foolproof, that's what's dangerous. >> let me get back to my experts. captain jim staples, what the passengers describe sounds like utter cha ooschaos, where they getting contradictory advice. and when the captain is out doing television when people are still possibly trapped on that ship, what kind of training goes into this? how off kilter is this? >> well, this is definitely very heavily regulated industry. there are standards in place that the crew has to be trained by. it's through the stcw that there's a standard for certification of watch keeping. every crew member has to go through it, depending on the

level of your job description. but everybody has the basics from abandon ship to fire on boat drills. this is a standard type training that the imo has put in place. this needs to be done. and what we need to look at is the institutions that are training these seamen to see if they do meet the same standards that we have here, say, in the united states or northern europe. a lot of these sailors come from third world type countries. you'll have different ethnic groups onboard, nationalities. you'll have language problems. and this seems to be from what i'm hearing quite a bit of the problem, was the utter chaos. it seems to me that the vessel did not have a boat drill before they left. the crew and passengers -- >> don't they have to have a boat drill? you're supposed to have a boat drill within 24 hours, apparently, and they didn't have one before they left but it was within that 24-hour window, i believe. >> i think it was like 5:00 p.m. that's pretty late. >> that's correct. >> why would you have a boat leave at all without the drill? >> well, that's what the regulations are. and if that's what the

regulations are, that's what the standard is for the company. we have a code out there called solis, and that came about because of the sinking of the titanic in 1914. because of that, solis came out. and this has the requirements that are mandatory for boat drills. but these are minimal standards. these are not the maximum standards. so there's nothing to say that the company could not put in their procedures, which is under the ism, the international safety management procedures, which came about in 1998, to cover the human element that's involved when sailing ships. so there's nothing to say that the vessel could have had a boat drill prior to sailing. it's common sense that this would make a prudent decision to do something like this with this amount of people onboard. you have 4,500 people onboard a ship that are very unfamiliar with anything onboard a ship, with where the life boats are, and the signals that are sounded. it would be prudent to have a drill prior to that. to my understanding here in the united states, it does happen.

>> yeah, it does. >> captain, has the black box been recovered at this point and what do we know about that? >> there's a voice data recorder onboard. this is up on the bridge. and what it does, it monitors not only the voice but also all the data and input being put into this box, so-called box. it will take care of the speed, the gyre oh headings, what the helmsman was doing when he was steering the vessel, the engine order, where the engine was with rpms. if there was any kind of electrical malfunction with the engines, that will show up. so they'll get a lot of information off this voice data recorder as to what was happening. but one thing they will know, they will be able to chart exactly where that vessel was and the time that they had the impact with the ledge. >> captain jim staples joining us, and robert alameda as well. appreciate your time. our other top story this morning is jon huntsman. he is calling it quits today and says he'll be backing mitt romney. now let's get right to peter

hamby, live in myrtle beach, south carolina. impact of this announcement, peter? >> reporter: i don't think there will be a huge impact in the race. huntsman was not really catching on in the polls especially here in south carolina but also nationally. and you have to wonder, will this help mitt romney? probably not. maybe around the margins if there are some moderate leaning voters here in the south carolina primary. and the race becomes a close one on saturday, you know, maybe that could help him. but huntsman doesn't have a big donor network, and there's not a lot of friendliness. they have a frosty relationship. i think the immediate impact on the race you will see in the debates tonight and the cnn debate on thursday night. you have a shrinking stage. have you five candidates, and especially if newt gingrich and rick santorum trying to break out of that anti-romney pack, it gives them more space and more time to train their fire on mitt romney. we have been going through all of these debates over the last year. sorry go ahead.

>> what's the likelihood? it's been really mitt romney leading, even the south carolina polls show gingrich kind of closing the gap fairly well. what do you think is the likelihood with this dropout of huntsman? >> to me this is sort of the perfect microcosm of the huntsman campaign. it will really have a big media blitz today but have no impact on the race. >> mitt romney for john mccain was a very effective surrogate, and huntsman might wind up with a seat in the cabinet, something like that. but i think he does appeal to moderates and even some democrats in a way that other republicans don't. >> the bigger development i think is newt gingrich finally cy cyst g crystallizing the ideological argument about romney. it may be too little, too late. but south carolina is a pretty conservative republican electoral state.

>> i think we have a clip of newt gingrich saying that. let's listen. >> one, you have a governor who put planned parenthood, for example, the largest abortion provider in the country, into romney care by law, with no right to life group. somebody who raised $730 million in taxes. somebody who is for gun control, and who had a 400% increase on taxes on guns. i think it's pretty challenging for a candidate once you get to the real record for that candidate to arouse the enthusiasm and the excitement of the conservative movement. >> where was that in december? >> and november. >> the fact that it's come to this, first of all, at this point and that it's newt gingrich that had has fallen to make this case tells you how lucky mitt romney has been in this process. >> gingrich's heresy is well beyond anything that romney has done. >> the argument is there to be made, but there's no candidate to make it. the story of the race has been that the right is ready to find an alternative to romney and has never been presented an

alternative to romney, and he may be able to achieve what john mccain did in 2008. pulling together those coastal, more pragmatic republican and putting a stake in the race right there. >> and we'll talk about what that means for the general election down the road. thousands of syrians are welcoming arab league monitors in. they are even carrying them through the streets on their shoulders. the city has been under siege for weeks. the u.n. secretary general is now issuing a demand to the syrian president, stop killing your people. a photo has been leaked on twitter appearing to show casey anthony cuddling with a puppy. last week, she talked about having adopted a dog in a video diary also leaked online. now it's revealed that casey is living alone in st. lucie county, florida. 24 million customers at risk.

zappos says it was the victim of a hack attack, and that's how many people were apparently affected. zappos sent an email to customers yesterday telling them about the security breach. it said critical credit card information was not accessed, but other data like names, addresses, and phone numbers may have been. and a failed russian space probe has crashed into the pacific ocean. it went down about 775 miles off the coast of chile. the 15-ton probe was supposed to land on one of the moons of mars. russian officials had hoped it would send back soil and rock samples, but the probe's engines failed to boost it out of the earth's orbit during its launch back in november. houston, we have a problem. >> yeah, a big old problem, houston. thank you. still ahead this morning, mitt romney hands out cash to an out of work voter in south carolina. we'll that you can to her about just how that happened. plus, the golden globes buzz. ricky gervais was meaner than ever, and people loved it. we'll take you live to l.a. in just a moment.

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. >> look at that. the music. this little group here, those are my boys, jackson and charlie in today, and their little friend, lun awho is on camera visiting because of course there's no school because it's a holiday today. martin luther king day. good morning, guys. behave, please. we are talking the golden globes this morning. a black and white silent movie was a big winner. "the artist" took home three awards. >> we can disagree right now. >> i found it to be -- i slept through about 40% of it. >> he called it the most unimaginable -- >> we don't care, you bitter, bitter man. >> i love life. but i just didn't enjoy that

show. i want those hours back. we are live in los angeles with the morning after buzz. we have one hater on the panel, but everybody else loved it. >> soledad, i'm jealous. you guys are having way too much fun there in new york city. you know, "the artist" was one of those movies that you either loved or hated. it won three awards last night. the next big movie, "the descendants" won two awards. but the man that everyone was talking about last night, ricky gervais, he was so devilishly funny. and after last year's feisty performance at the globes, this british funnyman was all the buzz leading up to this year's ceremony. and let me tell you, they began flying right out the gate. but, you know, for the most part, and i was a little disappointed by this, he reeled in a bit this year. we can't wait to see what the ratings are this year when they

come out perhaps later today to see how he fares. he gave the network a slight boost last year. >> that's why they had him back, because people were mad, but then he did well, and they thought, well, you know, take it down a notch and we'll see if it does well. let's talk fashion. >> well, they loved him taking it up a notch last year. >> as long as it's not them, they love it. of course they do. let's talk fashion. i thought viola davis looked fabulous. and the role that she played the last two movies she has done, kind of frumpy women. and then you see her in this gown, to die for. she looked great. who else was great? >> absolutely. there were so many. we have our favorites, and i loved the last hour where you said, that's all everyone cares about, the fashion. some of the night's standouts, charlize theron. her blush-colored dior gown that showed a whole lot of leg. she was quite a vision. look at that. hi heidi klum. and she said she didn't eat much

on sunday because she wanted to fit perfectly into that dress. reese witherspoon wowed in a classic red zac posen gown. and one of the big fashion misses of the night, sorry, sarah michelle gellar. it's hard to go wrong with monique luhlier, but that gown really wasn't too flattering. look at that. >> i disagree. i liked it. >> you like it? >> i don't hate it. and didn't her daughter pick it out? her 2-year-old picked it out? >> you know, something like that -- >> you hold it up to your kids. quick, mommy needs a decision. >> it looked a little harsh on the carpet. >> she is a beautiful girl. and she looks good in everything. >> yes, yes. and that's what counts. >> and the guys are all riveted by the women in strapless dresses, i have to say. >> yes. >> you know, i went to the golden globes a couple of times when i lived in l.a. and was writing about hollywood and

politics. you know, it's a great kind of -- somewhere between an institution and a scam. the hollywood foreign press association, no one can name a single member of it. and they have created this institution. but it is kind of like as ricky gervais says, kind of the warmup for the oscars. >> i feel like i'm not home drinking alone. now i have people drinking with me. it's so much more fun. >> if ricky gervais didn't have a british accent, no one would laugh. it's just the accent. >> you win the hater of the segment. >> well, thank you. i wear it with pride. stay with us. you're watching "starting point."

♪ try to see things my way >> i kind of like this ok. i like it. mitt romney handed a fistful of cash to an out of work voter on saturday. the woman's name is ruth williams, and says she is a romney supporter and volunteer for the campaign now. apparently, he gave her about $50 or $60.

there was no sign that the gift was anything but spontaneous. but there are some people who say this morning that it's an indication that mitt romney is an out of touch millionaire. let's check in with ruth williams to see how she feels it. she is joining us by phone. i know you've had a rough go of it, ms. williams. your son is ill. has had some brain aneurysms. you lost your job in october, and were praying for some guidance when you saw mitt romney's bus. what happened? >> well, we've had a hard -- hi, good morning. it's been a very hard year. my son had three brain aneurysms. he was in a coma like six months. and we had lost our house in foreclosure, and we didn't have anywhere to live. and the other day, we needed our light bill and our rent paid. and i was going to a church called bible way. and i saw mitt romney's bus on the highway. and the lord told me to get off the exit. so me and the bus driver started

saying, go romney, go romney. and god told me to follow the bus. and i followed the bus to the airport. and when i followed the bus to the airport, it just allowed me to -- i talked to the bus driver, and he told me to come to mitt romney and explain my problem, and maybe i could find some work or a way out. and his aide, john, told me to be there too. so i came, and i brought my grandkids, and they were very kind to me. and during that time when i spoke to him, and i told him my problem, he didn't just walk away from me. he held my arm and he called governor haley and a couple of her aides. i think it was curtis lofton. and he went in his pocketbook and he got money and he paid for my light bill. and his head manager, her husband, reached in and gave me money to get food with. and i just -- you know, it's ironic that this thing would be martin luther king's birthday,

and people would wonder why i'm black and i'm going for a mormon. but it's nothing to do with that. i think martin luther king's main thing that he said was not to judge a person by the color of his skin, but his character. >> let's pick up on that. there are a lot of people that are cynical about politics, as i know you know. >> it's a hard thing to discuss. >> yeah. so i think there are a bunch of people who will say this morning, you know, that was a media event, right? he gives her some cash. he could pay her light bill. and now this morning they are talking about it on the news. that was a calculated political strategy. >> no, it wasn't. it was a divine intervention by the holy spirit. and i listened to what god said. i have never known anything about him. i have never done anything for him. i've never even spoken to him. you cannot buy a vote with $55 or $60. it was a divine intervention by god, just like with joseph smith the prophet. they said martin luther king was a prophet.

>> let me ask you a final question. >> who god elects is god's business. i'm just being obedient to the spirit of god, and it kept me and my kids eating this weekend. >> let me ask you this one last question. i know you're now volunteering for the romney campaign. are you on path to get -- do you have a job? has that worked out for you? >> that's what i need. i need work. i used to have a cleaning business but when my son was in a coma we lost everything. all i want is work. my daughter works at kmart, 15 hours a week, and that's how we live. and it's really hard. we don't even have a refrigerator. i work. i work. i will work. i will clean. i'll work. as long as it's honest and i can go to sleep -- i think that's what most people want. >> i think you're right about that, ms. williams. >> i don't think people want handouts. i think you people better when you work for it. i'm 55.

do you know how hard it is to get a job at 55? at 20, it's hard. at 55, it's extremely hard. >> thank you for your time this morning. we certainly appreciate it. i know even though you talked about getting a handout, you'd rather get a job, it was a handout that helped you pay your light bill. thank you for talking to us this morning by phone. >> thank you for having me. >> it was our pleasure. >> two states that have been largely sheltered from the down turn, iowa and new hampshire. you get to south carolina, a poor state to begin with, and you are getting exposed to much more what people are really facing. >> much higher unemployment numbers. with african-americans, those numbers are significantly higher. >> and the news account that i read of this i found quite interesting. when she finally had her encounter with mitt romney, his instinct, one of the first things he did, was to call the governor over and to say, maybe the state can help you. and it's interesting to me because so much of the message that they are feeding into is

there's nothing that the government can do for you, you have to do for yourself. >> romney has given 1/10th of his income in tithes. he is deeply actively involved in the lives of all of these strangers that belong to his church. >> but the instinct is government can help you. that seems to be what he was saying. >> i think you're reading into what -- no. that's deeply reading into a metaphor of bringing governor haley over. but we'll continue our conversation on that. the controversy about the marines. is it outrageous or just kids being stupid? that's a quote. we're going to talk about perry and mccain with very different viewpoints on the issue. plus, tim tebow. my favorite topic to talk about. religion in sports. even though his season is over, we'll chat with hall of fame quarterback fran tarkenton and also a former tebow teammate about what it's all about. you're watching "starting point." we're back right after this. they have carb steady, with carbs that digest slowly

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ah, well played sir. get the app. hotels.com. the progresso chicken noodle you made is so good. it's got tender white meat chicken. the way i always made it for you. one more thing.... those pj's you like, i bought you five new pairs. love you. did you see the hockey game last night? [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. welcome back, everybody. lots of other stories making news this morning. alina cho has an update for us. developing at this hour, cnn has just confirmed that three plain clothed security officers have forced their way into the cnn compound in nigeria. the officers apparently demanded that the cnn crew accompany them and submit to questioning. the country has erupted in chaos over the recent decision to

slash fuel prices. a nationwide strike over the nation's fuel subsidy paralyzed the country last week. the military has been called out into the streets. search and rescue operations off the coast of italy now on hold after a partially sunken cruise ship began to shift and move. bad weather is also making it hard to board the ship. the cruise ship's owner says the deadly wreck was caused by human error. at least six people are dead. two americans are among the more than a dozen people still unaccounted for. pakistani lawmakers are expected to vote today on a resolution calling for support for the country's democratic system. it comes after a weekend meeting between military and civilian leaders. there has been speculation about a possible military coup against pakistan's government. north korea denying allegations that it punished some of its citizens for inadequately mourning the death of their leader, kim jong il, last month. the north is lashing out at what it calls misinformation from the reptile media.

the report says citizens who failed to show tears at memorial services were sent to a concentration camp. no real movement on european markets this morning, and the u.s. financial markets are closed for the martin luther king holiday. and forget girl scouts knocking on your door to sell their cookies. get this. there is an app for that now. >> oh, great. >> from thin mints, tag-looks, they are all going to be available next week. the app is called the girl scout cookie locator. it will be available for iphone and android users. >> we need that right away. i love those cookies. thank you. governor rick perry is making some news with his comments on that marine scandal. basically what he said was it was just kids being stupid. but senator john mccain disagreed over the weekend. let's get right to our panel once again. ron brownstein. criminal defense attorney with us.

do you guys see this interview -- so rick perry talking about this what is now a scandal with the marines who were caught urinating on the dead bodies of what is believed to be taliban fighters. here is his reaction. take a listen. >> the idea that this administration would go after these young people for a criminal act is -- again, i think it is over the top, and did they make a mistake? absolutely. should they be reprimanded and appropriately punished? yes. but going after them as a criminal act, i think really bad message. >> it was john mccain, though, who disagreed. vehemently. listen to what john mccain said. >> i don't object to the commandant of the marine corps looking into this.

it's ooa breakdown in disciplin is what it is. i can't tell you how wonderful these people are. and it hurts their reputation. >> this is absolutely fascinating. he is channelling theid. >> what does that mean? >> a ton of military veterans. perhaps he is thinking, there's a gut instinct on these people. wait a second, slow down. are you going overboard? are you turning these kids into scapegoats? and i think that's not necessarily a widely held view. it's possible that a ton more military veterans take mccain's view, which is they are dishonoring the marine corps. but i think that was rick perry's thought, because he really does embody that id, that conservative instinct of a lot of voters. >> obama is anti-military and is trying to pit obama against the military and have rick perry be the defender of the military for those families in south carolina, is what it feels like. but also a re-enactment of a debate we have been having for decades. >> this is a criminal issue. and that's what the military is looking at.

like what perry is saying is completely inconsistent. on one hand, he is saying it's not a criminal act. and then he is saying they should be punished on. some level, he gets it's criminal to do this. >> it sounds like john mccain is saying ultimately it's not about the taliban fighters. it's about what we believe -- >> well, of course. agreed. >> what we believe as a military. the discipline that the military is -- >> that's why i'm saying this is like a re-enactment. this is abu ghraib. this is torture. there was an incident a year ago when rick santorum got into a public thing with john mccain about torture. rick santorum actually said, what would john mccain know about torture? >> in new york city, it's hard to pass judgments on guys who are on the frontlines. you have no ideas what stresses or pressures they are under. but what john mccain said is right. this is an issue from the point of view from the marine corps about maintaining disciplines within the ranks. >> and the number of friends i have who are marines, who i had a chance to speak to, and it's a small number, but the sense was, we're marines. we're better than that. >> yeah.

>> there will be retaliation for sure. >> yeah. >> and i'm sure other marines and other service members feel that. you know, they feel that they are exposing them to greater danger. but we don't know what these guys' lives are like every day. obviously, it's an outrageous act. but you don't know what came before it. >> but both of those men who were talking perry and mccain do know, because they served in the military. i think they do have some -- >> what makes sense to me, i think we can all agree that rick perry is going nowhere in south carolina. what does newt gingrich say about this? what does rick santorum say about this? and how does that resonate in south carolina with the big military population there? >> has romney said anything about this? >> i haven't heard him say anything about it. >> he never says anything about anything. he doesn't. >> it's also how every act becomes just another wedge in the cultural war. the idea that something like this, where clearly it was outrageous behavior, but these guys are out there fighting every day. >> and clearly against the

geneva convention. but no one is saying it's not clear on this issue. >> and suddenly we are retreating on opposite blue and red corners. it's just the absurdity to which the political fight -- >> absurdity in politics? what? >> you have rick perry saying something on it. >> but i believe he is channelling the id. >> i think it hasn't worked, and -- >> which is a good sign for the country. >> we'll be interesting to see how that does play as we head into south carolina. it will be something we will talk with folks about when we get there on thursday. let's turn now and talk about tim tebow. because, boy, that was kind of a crazy topic last week. not my boyfriend, but a man i -- >> i thought you said he was your secret boyfriend. >> i did. but my husband is unhappy with that. some people love him, and others feel like it's all overrated. that he wears his religion on his sleeve and they find that annoying. he may be the tebow -- or tebowing might be the most recognizable move in the nfl, which compared to some stuff they have done in the past i

don't mind that. it's generated an extreme reaction. some say positive, some say negative. but it does bring us to a conversation about religion in pro sports. on the field, in the locker room. and hall of fame quarterback fran tarkenton is in atlanta this morning. and david nelson is a former teammate of tebow's in dallas. nice to see you. it was great to read your op-ed, mr. tarkenton, because i thought it was so fascinating. i want to run a little bit of what you wrote, which was the question about does god have a dog in the fight when it comes to who wins on the field? tell me a little bit about your experience. because i would guess everybody is praying in the locker room and gets very religious right before the game. >> well, you know, most football players are superstitious. we put on our left shoe first rather than the right shoe, if we've had some success and we won the week before. so you get the same patterns. and nobody wants to alienate anybody. they want to go out with a pure heart and a pure soul. i don't think that anybody believes that god has a part of

winning or losing. and certainly there were 43% of people in "the new york times" that said on sunday that thought there was divine intervention going on in tebow's life in football. i think it was proved differently saturday night with tom brady. tebow may not be the greatest quarterback in the world, but he is one of the greatest guys in the world. and i think it's a great feel-good story. >> let's look at a little bit what tim tebow said in "usa today." he said i don't have to live the roller coaster other people live with my life. it's hard because people try to have an effect. i try to stay centered in my faith and my family, and the close people around me. you knew, david, tim tebow, because you were roommates. tell me eiga little bit about h all of this is affecting him, not just the on the field but sort of the focus on the tebowing. >> tim is a very center focused guy. he loves his family. he loves his friends. loves his teammates. he surrounds himself with people

who he really wants to be around. i think he does a great job with that. and he tries not to let the media and fans get to him too much. he tries to stay within himself and just live his life and tries to be a normal person. you know, with the whole media hype, like how he said it's a roller coaster. and people love him, they hate him. discussions, religion, football player. you know, there are so many things around his life being discussed. and every aspect of his life is always being evaluated. i think what he tries to do is surround himself with people who he trusts, cares about, and tries to just get away from things and just tries to focus on life. >> why do you think, fran, if i can call you that -- my husband would be like call him mr. tarkenton. why do you think there's this backlash of people who, you know, the minute they lost, they were like, oh, i guess god doesn't love, you know, the broncos. i guess that, you know, god has given up and moved past tim tebow. you know, why the backlash do you think? what's that about? >> well, tim tebow is being tim

tebow. he is not causediing any of the backlash or the interest in him. he is a football player. a good christian young man. he has great morals and his life is balanced. but quarterbacks are controversial. if you win, you're great. if you lose, they forget about you. you won't read about aaron rodgers anymore. you won't read much about tim tebow. you're going to read about tom brady and eli manning and the other quarterbacks in the playoffs. and that's just the way it is. nobody knows who the runner-up in the super bowl ever was. i was a runner-up three times. nobody remembers that. they remember who beat us. >> we remember now, now that you mentioned it. let me ask david a question. how does tim tebow deal with the mocking? as much as people cheer him, there's a lot of mocking, you know, when "snl" does pieces on you. does it bother him at all? >> i think he's fine whenever it's attacking him personally. i think he is a person that's very confident in what he can do. he is very focused on his ability and his leadership roles

and his part on the team. but i think where he draws the line is when you question his faith or mock his faith. i think that's where he draws the line. it's something he is very serious and very passionate about. so many times, so much is made of what he does on and off the field. and he is very passionate about what he does. at the same time, he draws the line whenever you start making fun of what he believes in with his faith in jesus christ and god. >> david nelson and fran tarkenton, nice to have you with us this morning. certainly appreciate that. anybody want to tebow out of this segment? >> i want to know if you watched the game. >> i did watch the game. i went to a friend's house. i did take a nap kind of in the middle of the game because they were getting killed. >> did you take a nap between the 30 minutes, five touchdowns, tom brady connected, and my mvp is gronkowski. >> unbelievable. >> ridiculous. >> anybody going to start gronking? >> tim tebow, great young man. head on straight. >> i hear a but. >> but "saturday night live" got it right in their sketch when

they had jesus say to him, you know, i may be the son of god, but tom brady must be like the guy's nephew. because that first half was, you know, kind of a reminder that media hype is one thing. but there's a big disparity on the football field. >> some of the comebacks he orchestrated this year were some of the most amazing things i have ever seen in sports. but the reason was because he played so terribly for the first three quarties. >> i believe fran tarkenton said that it's about winning ultimately. if he's not winning, no one is going to tebow. that's the bottom line. still ahead this morning, we're going to talk a little bit more about that cruise ship that crashed. apparently in its past, there were some problems with that cruise liner. we'll take a look at that straight ahead. stay with us. school science tear made me what i am today. our science teacher helped us build it. ♪ now i'm a geologist at chevron, and i get to help science teachers. it has four servo motors and a wireless microcontroller. over the last three years we've put nearly 100 million dollars

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deaf caused welcome back, everybody. for today's reveal, we go to our top story. six people dead, more than a dozen people missing. and now the cruise ship company is reacting to what happened. the ceo of costa cruise line says it was likely human error that caused this crash. in fact, the police have arrested the captain for manslaughter, and it is now being revealed that this is not the first time that this actual

ship has been in an accident. on november 22, back in 2008, the concordia collided with a pier in sicily during a storm. you can see a little bit of the damage right there to the bow. people on the ship at the time say wind blew the ship about half a mile away from the dock, and it also crashed sideways into a tanker. nobody was hurt in that accident, and we have not been able to confirm who was captaining the ship at the time of that incident. and then as far as costa cruise lines, there have been at least two other collisions involving costa ships since then. one resulted in the deaths of three crew members when the ship smashed into the pier in the egyptian resort town. they were reportedly asleep in their beds at the time of that crash. as far as the concordia crash this time around, officials say they should have some information from the voice data recorder very soon in order to reveal to us exactly what happened. straight ahead this morning, the end point with our panel is up next.

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♪ >> it's been so nice to number the studio today. before we get to our end point, we want to run a little clip of stephen colbert talking about

his competitor, because now he is in the race, mitt romney. listen. >> corporations are people, my friend. >> but mitt romney has a secret. as head of bain capital, he bought companies, carved them up, and got rid of what he couldn't use. if mitt romney really believes -- >> corporations are people, my friend. are people, my friend. >> then mitt romney is a serial killer. he's mitt the ripper. >> that is very, very funny. and totally underscores the ridiculousness to some degree of some of these conversations. >> the best part, the actor doing the voiceover is john lithgow, whose most recent role was playing a serial killer on "dexter." >> so the end point today is -- >> i think you're finally going to hear tonight in the republican debate in south carolina the ideological case that the right has wanted against mitt romney in the whole race. it will probably be too little,

too late, but it be there thursday when cnn debates as well. >> mlk day. there are over 3,000 homeless shelters in the kitchen. over 2,000 soup kitchens that can't survive without our donations. i'm asking everybody to go to homeless shelter directory.org, find your local shelter, drop off a couple of dollars, a coat, a blanket, do something good today. >> if you find the prospect of a 10-month campaign against mitt romney and barack obama depressing, enjoy this last week. >> that is so true. >> a fascinating factoid. there are 1 million americans who are born in africa. that is to say, genuine african-americans that the texture of black america has changed dramatically since martin luther king's life, and that's one of the things that makes american life so exciting today. i'll tell you a story in our last minute about something i experienced on friday night. i interviewed two boys, both freshmen at moorehouse, and

asked them about their high school preparation and they were trained to go into college and school for the first time. and i said what is the best thing about going to moorehouse? and they said to me, i feel full for the first time. have i been hungry. have i never had three meals a day before. and at moorehouse, i'm on the meal plan. and for the first time, i have actually been able to eat. and the lights are on, and the heat is on, and i don't need to wear a coat while i study. and i thought it was so sad, and so heartbreaking. so as we head towards south carolina where we know unemployment and a lot of these figures in poverty are higher than the two states we have been in, it will be really interesting to look forward to, you know, poor people in this country. and how that is going to shape some of these conversations from the politicians. these boys are there desperate families. not sure they are going to be able to pay the tuition at moorehouse. where does that conversation take us? >> in a very stark way, mitt

romney and barack obama want the center of the campaign about how to expand opportunity for americans. there are fewer people working today than there were 10 years ago. the only other time in the 20th century that was was during the great depression. we have a deep hole. >> no question. and i think that is going to be the haves versus the have-nots is going to be a real focus, and the opportunity in this country a real focus of not only the debates but i think as a conversation as we move toward a general election. that was how i spent my weekend. we are going to take a break. time for cnn newsroom right now with kyra phillips. "starting point" is done for the morning, but we'll see you back here tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m. eastern. good morning. good morning, soledad. looks like jon huntsman is out of the hunt. he is expected to announce he is dropping out of the presidential race, and a source says that huntsman is going to endorse mitt romney. peter hamby was the first to report the story last night and he is joining us live from my