>> production assistance for "inside washington" was provided by allbritton communications and "politico," reporting on the legislative, executive, and political arena. >> i am announcing my presidency pretende president of the edits -- i am announcing my candidacy for president of the united states >> this week on "inside washington," newt gingrich says makes it official. who is next? get ready for another big brawl on capitol hill. >> without significant spending cuts and changes in the way we spend the american people's money, there will be no increase and the debt limit. >> medicare is going broke.

>> how did osama bin laden managed to hide out in plain sight a stone's throw from pakistan's west point? >> complicity or incompetence -- absurd. captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> the republican field is beginning to take shape. this week, a former house speaker newt gingrich announced with a tweet that he is running for the republican presidential nomination. that is it the first, tweeting your nomination. >> there was a much better american future ahead, with more jobs, more prosperity, greater independent living, a countrythe

10th amendment, with power once again back with the american people and away from the washington bureaucracy. >> two questions come first for mark shields. ken newt gingrich with the republican presidential nomination? and can he beat barack obama? >> he could win at the republican nomination, and i don't think he can beat barack obama. it was set ap -- it was said a british politician, "truth was to him a second home. he lived there occasionally." he constantly makes statements that approver wrong -- that are proved wrong and he is at an awkward position of having to qualify. >> charles? >> unlike politicians -- unlike other politicians, who only speak truth in their first and second homes. he has a long shot for the

nomination and he has a lot of baggage. as a presidential candidate, he would also be a long shot, a general election. >> evan? >> newt is a wonderful political figure in many ways, useful gadfly, but he thinks he is charles de gaulle, and he is not. >> nina? >> baggage? they would not let him on a plane. the press has been generally kind to him in the sense that they don't discuss this i did tell a lot, but that cannot stay that way. i don't see -- he is an interesting intellectual conservative, but i don't see that becoming the focus of our attention. >> in a sense, he is a guy who is great at other positions, great talents. he has a font of ideas. good leader, made a lot of mistakes as republican leader,

but he brought them out of the wilderness and past welfare reform with the democratic administration in 1996. he accomplished a lot, but he is not a president. he would be a good cabinet member, or sort of a think tank writer. i think he is in the wrong place. >> christianity is a faith of the her forgiveness and redemption, but can he get past iowa voters? >> we know his personal career. he twice had affairs while married to wives 1 and 2 with wives 2 and 3. to explain this, he went on the christian broadcasting network and said the following -- "there is no question that at times in my life, partially driven by how passionately i felt about the country, that i worked too hard and things happened at

that were not appropriate." i heard "the devil made me do it," but the patriotism defense -- [laughter] is new and refreshing, as charles said, a think tank idea, and so dishonest. >> leaving your wife while she has breast cancer is also going to be difficult to explain. >> that is why i mentioned iowa, where a large percentage of voters are evangelical. former massachusetts gov. mitt romney it is going to be forced to defend it and attack simultaneously the massachusetts health care plan, and acted on his watch as governor, and attack the president's healthcare plan. >> a lot of pundits say i should stand up and say this whole thing was a mistake. there is only one problem with that -- it would be honest. i did what i thought was right for the people of my stay. >> i agree with mitt romney, who recently said he is proud of

what he accomplished on health care. >> that is a preview of what you're going to hear if he gets the nomination. can he finesse this? >> no. >> fatal flaw? >> no, but it is a millstone around his neck. if he did not have this, he would be to prohibit a front runner. republicans often annoyed one guy early -- anoint one guy early. he would be the guy, the nominee. this is the reason we have a race. he proposed a plan in "usa today" this week which i think was quite reasonable, and he had a chart showing the defense between his plan and obamacare. what he should have said is, "i it did not work, i would not do it again."

that is not how he puts it, and there was no other way around it, i think. >> no good deeds unpunished. >> he has a bigger problem. he sounds dishonest when he is being honest. there is something about him that just sounds funny, even when he is trying to be non- phony. he sounds like he is pandering even as he does that. >> the other thing is that because he has changed on so many other positions -- abortion, civil unions, things like that -- because he changed his position on those, he can i just do what "the wall street journal" editorial-page wanted to do, which was apologize. he made actually an extremely articulate argument for why a mandate is necessary -- is the only way to keep the system: date for itself -- whole and pay for itself.

>> marc, what you think? >> the massachusetts health-care plans the is the signature achievement of his life. he cannot walk away from it, the same way that tim pawlenty could walk away from his cap-and-trade position, which he has done, rather effectively. the problem with that romney on this one is we will find out if he has a glass jaw, can he take a punch. the problem is not one of character as much as it mitt romney is a bad deal maker. -- iw s a dealmaker. he is a salesman. what is it going to take? that is his position. "let me talk to myself manager." a little change on abortion, a little change on gay-rights -- >> -- but > >> that used to make you a successful politician at one time. >> i would say, again, all

politicians and do what our colleague is saying is peculiar to mitt romney. they attack in a compromise -- the attack and the compromises. health care is incredibly complex, we tried a plan that looked reasonable. in the real world, things worked out in a different way, and thus we ought to go in a different way. that is an easy way to put it and i don't know why he doesn't. >> if we followed the traditional model in this town, every side retreats to the four corners of the room and screams at one another. while we're doing that, the meter is running. >> that is a freshman republican congressman. in a campaign advertisement last year, he said, "i will honor the greatest generation by always protecting social security and medicare." he came to washington and was confronted by political reality, and is one of a 42 republican

house members who wrote a letter to obama last week urging democrats to abandon "mediscare" tactics. can you say something to ease his pain? >> no, because they will demagogue this all the way. all this attention on "mediscare" is forcing the country to pay attention to what a big problem is, and you cannot demigod your way through it -- demagogue your way through it. even though it is chaotic and not fair and the political system will look awful, it does call attention to the scale of the problem and get people eventually, i hope, to deal with that. >> this is a case of what goes around comes around. this freshman class got elected with a lot of "mediscare" and then they went home and found that the democrats are doing the same thing to them and they were horrified. i am not as confident as evan

that this will focus people's attention on the fact that you. have to pay for what. >> ultimately. >> but will i live to see it? >> steny hoyer says that they seem to be embedded in their support for medicare overhaul. is that true, charles? >> it is, but i want to make a comment on our weekly republican hypocrisy segment about that congressmen. it is consistent tuesday that he ran to preserve medicare and social security, and that he is adopting the ryan plan because that is the only way we are going to have social cigarette or medicare in the future. if democrats are going to argue that staying with the current system the way to preserve it, that is ridiculous. anybody who looks at the numbers knows that both of them have to be changed in a fundamental way. let's return to steny hoyer. i was distracted with the republican -- >> but he is in a trap.

it gives steny the opportunity to say abandoning the overall -- >> now, there was no abandonment of the plan. what are they i think about is that this is going into effect in 10 years. i would argue that you could try the president's approach on medicare, essentially rationing, between now and 2012. if it works, you can not have the republican plan. but these are not exclusive alternatives. you can try them both. >> the ryan plan will never become law. let's understand the political reality of the situation. it is comparable to the 1993 energy vote in house of representatives, where bill clinton assured the democrats, "you walk the plank and a vote for this, and i will be with you in the foxwell." as soon as they did, if passed, max baucus and other democrats

in the senate said, "now, we are not with you," and bill clinton dropped them like a bad habit. they dropped this already, but it will not be part othe senate, nopart of e publican platform 2012. plan, theng rling florida. mainew lee, mr. shirtless, stecntright now.

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everyby, ten y add onor two. inls i commission -- bowles simpson commission, take way all th plsndheighest is >>oueay iminate all loopholes -- >> that is exactly it -- >> everybodyyby nefits. >> how do you feel about t home mortgage deduction, the charitable deduction you want to deprive hospitals and schools in central cities? there will be a case made -- fit. remember the fight traith exception and to pull -- real-

estate -- exception and a loophole for real estate deals? democrats all over theoury were quaking and other birds. >> wou dag would be a good idea of all of these were elimined >> i think t86f e ea aiemts- >> we agree on that. ought to try to do it again. >>he exempted at the charitable and mortgage. >> try taking away the mortgage deduction and see what happens what tdo abost >> how could osama bin laden in la se t cy d surroundin -- in plain sight in the city? l's t sho jgmt. >> that is ysu gilanipre minister of pakistan.

"let's not rush to judgment." >> ts a about money. altogether if it were not for a up blion dollars. this the 8 millionth example of where you know people believe in bad ways, but we just ignore the 7sovereignty -- >> and fight the guy whos spsie r eigst- >> i am not against it. >> as david ignatius pointed out in his columnn friday, four two aintrions, we have increasingly warned them that you have to do th more agesve, d i don't understand why they don't. they lost 30,000 people to terrorist attacks and pakistan. they lost 80 police recruits at the end of this week. i don't understand this.

i nn furit out. >> i am not going to answer that question. just kidding. >> thank you. [uger >> there is a difference between th government and the military. these countries have a governmentso akha iou no bsurised if they are out of the loop. it is run by the military, essentially, but did the military and isi notno no chance. did the government not now? it is possible. >> 10ears -- he has discovered living in an apartment ith showf e fbi building. there would be an uproar, wouldn't there? >> there would ba sgeio at least that he had some support system wh a law enforcement agencies. i think the i oy re alternatives that you can look at how three options.

one is that they were incompetent, two is that ey re complicit, 3, that they were totally different. -- totally indifferent. i don't think the iomtee argument holds water, because they are quite competent, both military and intelligence service of pakistan. it is inescapable tt ey were either complicit or so monumentally in different that it ought to be -- >> ty, as you say, are divided. their own intelligence service is divided into difre cps d ey are fighting a war on each other. part of the isi was probably sustaining bin laden while the other was trying to find him. >> we are mousetrapped. >> not t fstiminur history that we had unreliable allies. will the war ii -- world war ii -- do you think we trusted

stalin? no, but he was helpful and we needed them. in of personal privilege -- they're stupid, nina. friendly needle. >> i know. >> if the government of pakistan collapses, and it becomes somalia with a nukehe repercussions are absolutely -- they are unthinkable. or they seek the umbrella of china. the options are not attractive. >> what is concerning is the report that they may have shown that the chineseho helicopters, which has a lot of high-tech stuff that we don't want anybody. to. >> you are right, that is disturbing. this is a far cry from our friend and colleague -- a

photograph fromurrid d colleague, and she spent years at the it "post" and for years she was producer and a substitute host of this program. she died this week of lung cancer. she had a fine career in jonisana ndfu family. she was married for 40 years and they raced three marvelous children. recently, to our supreme delight, she became a grandmother. colby king, one of our rular, said one of the things he liked about her, who recruited him for " inside washington," you always knew where she stood. john harris remembers her mpetivess but manyears ago she spotted a "newsweek" writer and said i "you ha got to have him on at."

his name was evan thomas. >> she was lovely, not just because she had me on. she was a truth teller. when you screwed up, she would let you know, and a gracious and lovely way, but you know where you stood with our. -- with her. >> she said, about what we have got to have it nina totenberg," to. >> she gave me confidence. at the same time, she was a tough task-master. she's scared the living daylights out of may that i had to be prepared. >> she had an iron fist and a velvet glove. >> i am grateful that she stuck with me and suffered a for all those years. she was just a lovely person, kind, one market, generous -- warmhearted, genevese. she was our producer for 12

years, and never heard a crossword. terrible loss, shocking loss. >> mark, you go way back with her. >> she never changed. in a city of double talk, where mistakes were made, she was not only fun and talented, she said what she meant and and what she said. she will be best. >> -- will be missed. >> every now and then she would say, "you cannot use that word on television." [laughter] project has been a gift. last word. see you next week. for a transcript of this broadcast, log on to insidewashington.tv.

steves: pause at any street corner to enjoy a vivid slice of neapolitan life. and don't forget to look up. with no yards, families make full use of their tiny balconies.

this is basso living. basso living. what does that mean? it can mean "low." so, literally, low? this is like a small apartment -- two, three bedrooms for five, six, seven, eight, nine people to a family. the traditional, sort of romantic life in the streets. life in the streets, yeah. many people might have money to go away from here, but they still stay here. steves: no taste of naples is complete without a pizza. antica pizzeria da michele is a favorite. baking in just the right combination of fresh dough, mozzarella, and tomatoes in traditional woodburning ovens, this restaurant is considered by many the birthplace of pizza. they brag it takes several years of practice

to get the dough just right. catering to pizza purists, the menu is brief -- just two kinds. marinara comes with tomato sauce, oregano, and garlic -- no cheese. margarita celebrates the unification of italy. named after the first italian queen, it comes with the colors of the italian flag -- red tomatoes, white mozzarella cheese, and a garnish of green basil. italians who come to the states are not impressed by thick and fancy pizzas. judging from the enthusiasm of those munching these hot and tasty pies, what really matters is not the quantity of ingredients, but the quality.