this week on the journal, editorial report. newt gingrich continues to surge does mitt romney play a safe strategy needs some rethinking? plus, barney's rubble, the man is retiring. we'll take a look at his legacy and accusations of insider trading have members of congress on the defensive but how big a scandal is it really? i'm paul gigot. with five weeks to go for iowa caucuses, newt gingrich pulls ahead by a wide margin in a new

national poll that has the former house speaker with 38% support of likely voters and he is leading is iowa, south carolina and florida. he has been capitalizing on the momentum pitching himself as the conservative alternative to mitt romney. >> i'm clearly the more conservative candidate. i helped ronald reagan and jack kemp develop the supply side of economics. i helped defeat communism. i helped balance the federal budget for four straight years. reform entitlement and take conservatism is, there is places where i have done that stuff. >> joining the panel, mary oh grady and dan henninger and jane

freeman. dan, what is behind the gingrich surge? >> one of the things that is behind it, paul, there was always structural weaknesses in the come any campaign. he was running a campaign that was going to put one foot in the center. he needed to win independent voters. part of his appeal has been for them and the other has been the conservative camp. the problem is he had to run an early primary, iowa, new hampshire, south carolina and florida, these are conservative voters. he has been lucky so far, most of his opponents were basically pretty weak. i think we have the parable of the tortoise and the hare. romney is the hare. gingrich has been plodding along slowly making his case and finally the conservative problem for romney caught up with him. >> what you are saying, the gingrich surge is not about gingrich, bits romney's

weaknesses, is that what you are saying? >> i think so. >> it's less to do with gingrich's appeal. we had the flavor of the month here. they all popped up and newt is the latest? >> i think you have to give newt some credit. she good debating. this has been focused on debates. it's clear in this race if you are looking at gingrich versus romney, gingrich is the conservative. he is the one that is giving a very aggressive defense of free markets, cut taxes dramatically. repeal dodd-frank and repeal obamacare. >> he is for cap and trade. >> but look, if you are saying who is giving the conservative message, it is gingrich. >> the history is going to be a problem. >> i think romney has two problems. one he was out in front. he saw these weak players and he thought i can hold the ball.

i can just run out the clock. he is going to have to take the fight to newt. the problem that he is facing against gingrich is with george h.w. walker bush called the vision thing. gingrich is better and creating a vision, kind of an exciting change. whereas romney is a techno accurate. data, data, data. he wants to change everything and rearrange it and make it work. i think people are more excited about the vision sense. >> romney has to offer a vision of his own, or are you saying that romney needs to attack gingrich and find a way to knock him down and say, no, he is not the real conservative? >> i don't think he should make it about attacking gingrich. i think he has to come up with his own version of the vision thing. something that would get people excited. the neat hair and controlled discipline campaign is like a lot of people thought.

they both have big government baggage they will not be able to shed. he shouldn't be afraid of that with newt. >> i think its healthy department. mitt romney needs better sparring partners. recall in the 2009 democratic primary it was barack obama versus hillary clinton. that was a heavyweight fight. if it's going to be gingrich and romney, both be better candidates, if newt has to defend himself against the baggage and romney has to clarify who he is. >> is there a vision thing that romney can offer? his political persona, i agree with mary, is as a technocrat. his critique of obama is technical one. he says i know how to do it

because i'm a man of the private sector. gingrich's critique, obama is radical, outside the mainstream and offers a philosophical alternative. the question for romney at this point, is it too late to recast himself? a lot of people coming into the campaign you have to repeated yate your massachusetts health care disaster. whether he can say i'm going to run as a conservative, i don't know. he may get to that. >> what about the gingrich baggage. there is a quote that was reported this week from 2007 where gingrich, even after he had gotten important an million dollars from freddie mac in consulting fees, basically said put it in terms, i think the government sponsored enterprises is a good thing, alexander

hamilton and teddy roosevelt, putting a historical thing on it. >> and hoping the american public doesn't know their history very well. i don't think anybody who is a conservative doesn't want to the re-elect a modern day version of teddy roosevelt. >> is that possible in this race? >> i don't think so. he is always going to be compared to romney, they both have problems. romney says he should raise taxes on the wealthy. i don't think it will be a big problem for him, but i do think he will be able to shrug it off, going with the vision thing. >> we'll see. thanks. when we come back. saying goodbye to barney. that's right, our favorite congressman is retiring. we'll take a look at barney frank legacy. >> one of the advantages for me of not running for office, i don't have to pretend to be nice

to people i don't like. ♪ the weather outside is frightful ♪ ♪ but the fire is so delightful ♪ nothing melts away the cold like a hot, delicious bowl of chicken noodle soup from campbell's. ♪ let it snow, let it snow

>> patti: that was congressman barn if i frank, 16 term massachusetts democratic has been chair of the financial services committee since 2009 where he co-authored the dodd-frank bill. previous clip james, when did he ever pretend to be nice to people. >> we don't remember it. but the comments, he talks about

how he spent time dealing with the crisis and writing legislation. he left out a part about creating the crisis. that would have to do with being part of that washington mania, more and more for home ownership. >> paul: we don't have to worry about safety and soundness. let's roll the dice with those? >> and in answer, but reckless endangerment when a reporter said, what if the people can't pay the money back. what if the home ownership goes too far. he said we'll deal with it if it happens. >> i think another thing that drove him out was the euro crisis. he is man of the left. he is a man of big government. he has enabled government to be larger.

the euro crisis the welfare model is breaking apart. i think congressman frank understood that in the future being a person of the left in congress was not going to be fun. he is a guy that likes to have fun with his politics. it's going to be grim going forward for the next four to eight years. >> paul: his generation of liberals, they had a window of opportunity, they grew up in the '60s and they got the sweet spot. 60 votes in the senate and controlled the house and barack obama coming in. they passed everything they wanted, universal hammer and they fulfilled a lot of -- universal health care. >> right but he may be leaving congress but he may have left us with a ticking time bomb with dodd-frank. it por tends to make this not

happen again but there is a lot of problems and it's global that they haven't cleaned up. i think also --. >> paul: it was jon corzine's firm that recently went bankrupt? >> it was highly leveraged but we were supposed to have regulations to avoid that. what happened to barney frank is the redistricting in massachusetts. there is a good chance he wasn't going to win the election. >> paul: he is going to have face a lot voters he hasn't faced. >> and he wouldn't get the chairmanship of the committee. >> paul: that means chris dodd and frank are out of congress. does that increase that dodd-frank could be repealed? >> it increases the odds. >> i think there is a lot of fixes that have to be made. you recall when he was creating it was about taxpayers behind

housing. what they gave us was derivative trading among other problems love. [ laughter ] >> there are a lot of these issues that anyone in the public they need reform. you have to fix a lot of these problems that went unaddressed while they spent 2300 pages pursuing their liberal social policies. >> all these congressman think they have legacies and glass eagle, two congressmen lasted for 50 years, dodd-frank is not going to last for 50 years. it will be taken apart piece by piece. >> paul: and it was signed by bill clinton. when we come back. with the approval rating in the single digits, members of congress are battling accusations of insider trading

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>> paul: senate held hearings that would ban lawmakers from using non-public information and making trades on wall street. it gained momentum after 60 minutes reported last month that members of congress be trade stocks on information they get from private meetings and other official congressional work. they alleged john boehner and nancy pelosi enriched themselves by purchasing or trading stocks based on such insider information. in a recent "wall street journal", former alaska governor

sarah palin called it an endemic problem on both sides of aisle and they are feathering their own nests. >> how bad is this scandal? >> it's terrible, paul. it really is. no matter what you think about what they are doing, you have to admit that if people in the private selling for were doing the equivalent. these people in congress would not only go after them, they would be leading the lynching party. >> paul: so it's a double standard. >> secondly, a conflict of interest. they have a meeting in a private room. they have enormous amount of power to affect the market and come out and trade on that information? >> paul: they aren't classic insiders under definition like illegal trading laws. i understand you have to be a corporate fiduciary, a lawyer or

board member. those are classic insiders that have inside information what is company is going to do. this is sort of public information about the direction of the economy is. >> but the information is not in the public sector. in order to make it ethical let's do it this way. i had a meeting with ben bernanke and hank paulson today. i can't tell you what the meeting was about, only we can run this. but when i came out i called my broker and bought 1,000 puts on the s&p 500. every night they should report that every night. i'm fine with it. >> paul: are you okay? >> it is outrageous, it's a double standard. there are lawyers the s.e.c. can go after members of congress if they trade on insider information. inside information has been basically defined by case law.

>> paul: when ben bernanke and paulson went to capitol hill and says the sky is going to fall if you don't pass the bill. everybody knew about it? >> everybody knew after it leaked out. >> paul: they knew there was financial crisis brewing? of course, you did? >> i think we see it every day. whenever the fed makes a new policy move, markets react. that is understandable. markets move on information. >> paul: where are you going to draw the line? at congressional hearings? >> realtime information about what they are doing in their stock accounts. at the end of the day. >> paul: you want to go through 535 members of stock trades everyday? >> who people who want to study it, it's journalists and not every citizen can study it and track this and watch how people are voting and what their

transactions are. it is a problem because it is a double standard. you see the situations where the crisis meetings and they are making trades before the instances have been reported in the press, moments before. that is all you need. >> the problem is more of the disease. i'm going to disagree with you and give you a contrary solution. i think each one of these committee's budgets should be tied to the index of stocks to the industries they are governing. if you want to pass dodd-frank and destroy the financial industry, your budget is going to fall with the stock. >> paul: they help certain firms and define the index they help with the legislation, it will go another way. >> that is the problem if you go too far in this you end up with people are people like ralph

nader who above trading in stocks. >> i don't want to preclude them from trading. i want to make it what they are doing transparent. >> what if they were index funds it wouldn't solve everything. when are they buying and when are they selling. maybe they shouldn't do trades when congress is in session. that would prevent them from acting that some provision is getting in the final bill. >> paul: should you put it in a blind trust? >> i'm not saying. that i think they have means to take advantage of the information they have and in order to be ethical and to create more confidence in washington, i think what they are doing in their stock accounts should be transparent. i don't think it's hard to do. >> paul: i'm more worried what they are doing with our money. >> they are affecting our money. >> paul: that is one of lessons, they find a way. i'm going to give myself the

last word on this. [ laughter ] >> paul: we when we come back, our hits and misses of the week. so who ordered the cereal that can help lower olesterol and who ordered the yummy cereal? yummy. [ woman ] lower cholesterol. [ man 2 ] yummy. i got that wrong didn't i? [ male announcer ] want great taste and whole gin oats that can help lower cholesterol? honey nut cheerios. but my nose is still runny. [ male announcer ] truth is, dayquil doesn't treat that. really? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus fights your worst cold symptoms,

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♪ hah

>> paul: time for hits and misses of the week. first to you. >> paul, i would like a cautionary hit to the people of egypt in parliamentary voting had an orderly and peaceful vote unlike the turmoil and violence in tahrir square. you have to be careful about it. it was the islamic parties that won big, but we cannot underestimate the power of being able to cast a pre-vote. we should have modest optimism about it. >> and the crisis manager or has been at the fukishima nuclear

plant, anybody that stuck it out for eight months is a hero. he had to step down because he is ill. it's not been revealed what is wrong with him. he said i am leaving but it breaks his heart to leave the project. i think he is a patriot and a true hero for japan. >> jon corzine the governor from new jersey whose bets on european market destroyed ms global and here we are a month after the bankruptcy and billion dollars appears to be missing from client funds. he needs to explain where the money went. he needs to tell us what he knows. >> about regulation, jane? >> it doesn't work. >> if you have your own hit or miss, please send it to us. visit on the web. that is it for this edition of

the journal editorial report. i'm paul gigot. hope to see you right here next week. . >> with a kind of journalism is that? >> barney frank announces his retirement and the media can't help themselves from putting him on a pedastal with glowing tribute. tim tebow scores touchdowns on the field but is losing it with the press over public praying. are the media tackling him too

hard? a "new york times" writer makes a comparison between the ku klux klan and the tea party. >> as we continue with the fire alarm.... >> unexpected interruptions while delivering the news. >> on the panel this week, writer and fox news contributor, judith miller. cal thomas, jim pinkerton and kirsten powers. fox news watch is on right now >> you think mandating people to buy insurance is the right tool? >> i don't know how many times i've said this, let's do it again. absolutely what we did in massachusetts was right for massachusetts. >> but you did say at other places at times it would be a

model for the nation? >> you are wrong brett. brett, no. the tape out there, read the tape. the tape goes on to say for each state to be able to look at it. >> jon: brett baier pushing him to clarify past positions on individual health insurance and the mandate to buy it. judy, you are shaking your head during that playback. what do you think about mr. romney's overall performance? >> he just doesn't do a chuckle very well. this is most uncomfortable man trying not to jump up and wrap his arms around brett's neck. it so interesting he is thrown off stride by something that is going to be such an obvious line of attack. >> they are all think they are invincible at some level. i think brett had the right to challenge him. i noticed an interview with anne romney, mitt's wife, she claimed

that he held the same positions all his life. that is not factually correct. if you want to play the tape. let's go to the videotape as they say. i think newt gingrich's approach is much better. when he is talking about the commercial he made with nancy pelosi, that the stupidest thing i ever do. but to deny that you had a position on gay rights, on the individual mandate, a lot of other things that republicans are concerned about, is just not correct. >> he brings up the name of newt gingrich. there was controversy involving gingrich when a "washington post" blogger put it on a cattle call, send us the information or dirt on newt? >> share in the fun, as well. look social media has lifted a lid a flag stone off a lot of

stuff that has been going on for a long time. >> jon: anything wrong with that? >> look. first thing you do, in the old days you ask people and google it. it's another way of searching. >> it was interesting a request to go through sarah palin e-mails and then people are looking for dirt seem to be republicans. i can't imagine this during presidential campaign having one say, hey i'm looking for dirt on barack obama. >> that is exactly right. >> jon: newt announced this week he is going to be nominee. >> look, here is the stuff you are getting, chris matthews asked barney franks does newt gingrich personify evil? is that a journalistic question. we study hard so we can ask

those questions. >> that is opinion. i don't think anyone thinks he likes newt gingrich. he is allowed to have it. sean hannity is allowed saying what he thinks. >> jon: barney frank, we'll get to him later. who had the worst week in the media, cain or romney? >> herman cain, no question. >> i think, look, these issues are legitimate if you are going to portray yourself as a morally up right happily married faithful man. i do think that glee is just a show on fox broadcast network. it is a sentiment many people feel when they attack and bring down republicans particularly on a moral issue. >> it's a double standard kirsten mentioned earlier.

however, cain again as cal said, he admitted make the mistake. ask david vitter who is happily re-elected senator. if you deny it and how come you gave this woman money and you never told the wife or her existence. that is to tempting for any reporter. >> it's the cover-up more than the actual alleged incident because he clearly so uncomfortable and uncertain about how to handle this. you get the inevitable backing of american flag, him standing there. and values when your campaign is falling apart. it was actually very sad and painful i thought on a personal level but it was inevitable. >> jon: there does seem to be in watching his appearances, there does seem to be, i don't know a much more humble or chastened

herman cain. there is not the bravado you saw early on. >> he tried that and it didn't work. what he realizes now is people are coming out of the woodwork and he has to continue to answer these questions. in this situation he did put himself out there as happily married man. then you find out he is getting financial assistance with this woman and texting with her. it's inappropriate at best. >> you mentioned double standard. biggest double standard is sex for the media. republicans get hauled out for it. democrats if not get a free ride or an excuse. everybody from ted kennedy, jesse jackson, bill clinton they continue to have it. >> to get a free ride. >> general ed wards was brought down. >> good comparison but they

didn't pursue that story. >> john edwards would not have been pursued if it wasn't for the national inquiry. >> but he was pursued and it did know about it. >> they knew about the woman going around with him. >> jon: let me ask you this. did the media bring down herman cain's campaign or did he do it himself? >> you have to say the media did it. yeah, but the media is reporting the facts in this presidential race as in every other presidential race. whatever party you are in, media is third party, you have to deal with it. it's part of the rules of the road. again, one of the rules is, if you do apologize and seek forgiveness, people are likely to forgive you.

gingrich, he has admitted, i did it. whatever you accuse me of, i did it. voters are forgiving. >> jon: all of you who want to run for president take note. to keep up on the media stories, go to our website and watch the daily bias bash. up next, into l media reaction to barney franks announcement that he is retiring. >> barney frank is retiring after four decades in office. how is the press covering his departure? and an n.f.l. quarterback is taking shots from the media for his religious beliefs on the field. is this an attack on christianity? answers next on news watch. congratulations.

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verizon. really? 25 grams of protein. what do we have? all four of us, together? 24. he's low fat, too, and has 5 grams of sugars. i'll believe it when i--- [ both ] oooooh... what's shakin'? [ female announcer ] as you get older, protein is an important part of staying active and strong. new ensure high protein... fifty percent of your daily value of protein. low fat and five grams of sugars. see? he's a good egg. [ major nutrition ] new ensure hh protein. ensure! nutrition in charge! >> jon: this week, barney frank announced he is retiring from congress after 16 terms in the

u.s. house of representatives. here is how the media reacted to the news. >> one of the most familiar and powerful characters on capitol hill is calling it quits. barney frank who has served for 30 years announced that he will retire at the end of his term in 2012 saying he has enough. >> he was the smartest person in the world. that was one of his strengths on capitol hill. >> jon: so what about it. jim, barney frank had baggage too but you didn't hear a great deal about that. >> a prosecution scandal in the late '80s. he was doing things with fannie mae as early as 1991. yet the media, with the exception of few media types,

dana, look, they said he was a bully that was in the "washington post". >> i want to give you the address of a double standard in media coverage here. >> what they face oftentimes creatures of washington get kid gloves when they leave. it's regardless of the party. it's frustrating to the people. because reporters know them and they like them and they go to the same parties they overlook things and give them the nice coverage that isn't going to destruct their friendship. >> one of the rules in politics is that you don't bash the press. barney frank bashed them all the time on phone calls. he called one up the other day and mentioned in a story he was jewish. report says this is a jew speaking and begins to rake on

him. they loved nirm him anyway. >> he always called you back. he was one of those veterans the relationship with the press maertd. what we were reading was the 16 terms, that is what we were reading. a lot of wit and legislation, a lot of returned phone calls. >> robert straugs s former democratic chairman always came up with an insult but it was endearing. >> he was a left-handed gay jew. a lot of bullying -- >> what about the reasons he gave for his resignation. you didn't see a great deal of examination of that.

everybody seem to take a side but the affecting a is he is not going to be chairman of the appropriations committee unless there is some miracle democrats take control of the house. >> he won't be representing the fishermen. how do you represent fish? i don't know. look it was redistricting it was the fact as you say he was getting out of power couldn't be chairman of the committee anymore. he has maxine waters breathing down his neck. he was tired of it all. that was partially legitimate. >> i think he got beat up in the fannie mae and freddie mac thing but it probably hurt him and deservedly so. anyone want to do a great summation of his 30 years in wch needs to gretchen morgan book,

barney frank is right up there along with jim johnson the ceo of fannie mae as culprits of the whole scandal. >> jon: if you see something that seems to you as media bias e-mail to us. up next, the press tackles tebowing. >> necessity call a penalty of expression of faith. is that fair? they liken the tea party to the kkk. did he go too far? answers next on news watch. ...'scuse me... ...or a big steak... ...or big hair... i think we have our answer.

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>> jon: tim tebow is drawing national attention for his unorthodox football skills but

also outward displays of christian faith on the field. you will see him kneeling in prayer on the sidelines or pointing his finger in the air after scoring a touchdown. his refusal to tone down his religious displays has made media critics uneasy. full disclosure, i'm a denver fan. [ laughter ] >> jon: what is it about him? he seems to be a lightning rod for criticism in the n.f.l. like two other players. >> and he is good guy. we don't want to see him in the slammer. >> to coin a phrase it's a double standard when it comes to religion. some of us are old enough to remember mohammad ali, he would bring up mohammad who the head of the splinter black muslim group in chicago. nobody dared ever questioned or

say anything about him. they write negative things, the press is secular and it is because they think his religion is weird. i'll tell you one thing. he has won four in a row. he wins another one, the criticism will diminish very fast. >> the criticism won't diminish immediately because there is such an anti-christian in the media. the majority of this country is christian. a third is evangelical christian which is what tim is. why is he not allowed to express his faith? it's such a strange criticism. >> there are some muslim players and this they bowed to mecca would they pile on them? >> i think so.

sports is a national religion in a sense and it's supposed to bring us together. but tebow decided to make the pro-life ad and enormous response of the secular left to that ad made him a polarizing figure and that is unfortunate. >> there were cries to pull the ad off the air on the superbowl even before anybody had seen it. then once it appeared it seems to me to be very tastefully done. >> i agree. if you go right to the core of the liberal media sense built its pro-choice on abortion. it's anti-pro-life. therefore tebow, if judy is right that religion, what happens to tebow when he practices christianity in a stadium of other believers. a blogger called it tebow syndrome.

they just can't stop foaming at the mouth. >> let's examine the book review of hundred percent american thomas r. pegram. a review read, imagine a political movement created that moment of terrible anxiety, shrouded in a peculiar combination of manipulation and grass-roots mobilization. it's ranked dominated by christian conservatives and self-proclaimed patriots. and a agenda nationalism and moral regeneration with a whiff of racism going through it. no, not that movement. apparently the professor is trying to compare the ku klux klan which is the topic of the book to the tea party movement. >> if ever i have read anything

less fair and more bigoted i'm not aware of it. >> jon: we have to take one more break. when we come back an unexpected interruption during the nightly news. so you earn 50 percent more cash. if you're not satisfied with 50% more cash, send it back! i'll be right here, waiting for it. who wouldn't want more cash? [ insects chirping ] i'll take it. i'll make it rain up in here. [ male announcer ] the new capital one cash rewards card. the card for people who want 50% more cash. what's in your wallet? sorry i'll clean this up. shouldn't have made it rain.

>> jon: brian williams proved his professionalism earlier this week. he calmly continued his live beoblg while a fire alarm sounded moments in the nightly news. as the alarm continued, he

reassured viewers he has no in danger before reading on. >> this grim u.s. economy, this one gets your attention, you'll forgive us, we have a fire alarm announcement going on in the studio. staying in the air, perhaps not something special anymore. again we have an announcement going on here in the studio. we should advise our viewers there is no danger to us. we would love -- we thought the speakers were turned off but it looks like we have a routine alarm one floor below the studio. all is well. as we continue to deal with the fire alarm, we press on with tonight's broadcast. we are still dealing with the fire alarm problem with new york. we'll go down to andrea mitchell to continue things here. >> unflappable, he trained as a volunteer firefighter. that is wrap for news watch.