from washington, "the mclaughlin group," the american original. for over two decades, the sharpest

speaker was given an tune to be the leader offer auer party in 1994, and at the ends of four years he had to resign in disgrace. >> i'm the only speaker up to that point since the 1920s who led the republican party to three consecutive victories, by the way in 2006 when you chaired the governor's association, we lost governorships. >> g.o.p. front-runners mitt romney and

newt gingrich are facing off to win florida's republican primary this coming tuesday, january 31. florida is the bellwether state. g.o.p. primaries and caucuses are on the calendar through june, but florida is the de facto determine 88ors. gingrich received a 15 million collar donation çfrom sheldon, vegas casino mogul. speaker gingrich on sunday identified his political conservativism as the same as that of ronald reagan. and that philosophy will carry him to victory. >> i just think a clear reagan conservative has a much better chance of defeating somebody who comes out of the massachusetts moderate background. >> reagan conservativism essentially means three things -- a robust foreign policy,

less government regulation, and fewer taxes. the problem is that speaker gingrich was far from being a supporter of president ronald reagan. the current issue of the influential skillfully edited national review, publish this week, this 1980s quote from gingrich -- >> mr. gingrich also deployed president raking on's 1985 meeting with mikhail gorbachev, and iceland. he said it was "the most dangerous summit for the west since adolf hitler met with met

1938." question, has newt gingrich overstated his role in the reagan administration? pat boone. >> first, that's an outrageous comment, where i was with ronald reagan right down there in lofty house. and -- and that the comment this compare this to munich was outrageous. gingrich's comment. but look, in the reagan white house, newt gingrich was considered quite frankly by a lot of folks to be something of a political opportunist and who was not trusted and who had played no role whatsoever. he was a rockefeller republican in the great goldwater battle, where conservativism came of age. i do think this, though. newt has been pounded managers leslie, had people he worked with basically turn on him and dump on him down there in florida, which somehow i think may have had some role in the fact that the great fighter and battler of south carolina had no fight in him whatsoever in the monday and thursday debatesç in florida.

he let mitt romney punch him silly. and he has lost all his momentum. and john, i'm not going to make any prediction but i thought the battle of south florida would win florida, but romney is surging and it looks like he may win florida. and if he does, it's all over. >> eleanor? >> gingrich was a backbencher during the reagan years and more of a thorn in their side. but there is a video clip of nancy reagan in 1995, after gingrich had led the republicans to power in washington, saying the torch has been passed from ronnie to newt. so he has some claims on that era. but that's not -- that's not his problem, is he reagan enough. he's been promiscuous throughout his career so he can get hit from the left, from the middle, from every side. and republican establishment

and conservatives have landed on him, and i must say that period that you've just featured in the he isup, newt wasn't the only conservative who thought reagan wasn't being tough enough, wasn't funding the contras enough. that was not an unusual position for a true conservative to hold at that time. >> meanwhile, reagan was working closely with tip o'neill in the house leadership -- remember that's days? >> yes. >> the question is, who is more reaganite, newt or mitt romney. >> it's not even a close question. was newt exaggerating the extent of his cooperation with ronald reagan? there's no question about that either because exaggeration is what newt does. and what he did through force of will and personalities, after new hampshire he made this to sound like the kind of fight that every conservative is familiar with this thrills to, a fight between a conservative and a moderate. and he rode this wave out of south carolina, amazing debates, and it feels as if the

fever has broken, as pat referred to he couldn't replicate those performance in florida. the first audience was mostly silent. the second audience was somewhat pro-romney. he felt tired. he felt worn down. he felt unprepared. and the fact is he is one guy out there fighting a vast machine that is just dumping millions of dollars on his head every single day. >> mark? you know, there is a huge difference between gingrich and reagan. reagan had the ability i think as with the speaker of the house to a complete reform program of social security. you think about what that would be like today if we had somebody who could reach across the aisles the way reagan did. this is not gingrich. gingrich did not reach across the aisles. he's throwing fire and water and everything else at the other people, including within his own party. so he is more destructive. reagan was not destructive. so i think they're not comparable at all. >> he did reach across the aisle and worked with bill clinton when he was speaker. so have to give him credit. >> social security.

>> but he's not sunny like reagan. raking han a sunny personality. newt has big ideas and some i like, and i like the fact he thinks we ought to inspire young people to get interested in math and science and all that. and romney is making fun of him. but there's just so many ways you can attack newt gingrich. it's just -- he's a walking target. >> you get close to his core and his substance and he's a center-right guy like mitt romney. it's his tone. >> i don't think me has a core or fundamental political core. i think he moved, a rockefeller republican, he comes out -- meeting him in '78, and he is knocking reagan. let me are me tell you will about south african sanctions. reagan believed sanctions on south africa would cripple the economy, that the africans would inherit. so it was a tough decision. reagan vetoed it. and he scored points off us by

voting for the sanctions and doing that i don't think he has a ideological core. he moves from one issue to another to another. >> talking about mitt romney, everything you just said of mitt romney as well. >> he lived in massachusetts and that's a very -- [everyone talking at once] >> about that speech on the contras that we opened with, it's a criticism from the right. but it's mostly a criticism from above. it is newt gingrich saying, i'm smarter than everyone else in this town, including ronald reagan! >> i can't find difficulty with any of these views. however, there is an ap photograph of the two candidates together, and i think it speaks for itself. i mean, there is gingrich smiling at romney, and they're greeting each other, and that's the american way. >> michael corleone's way! >> here's the question.

who is florida? >> i'm going to say mitt romney and contradict what i said last week. >> i'm going to agrees with pat and -- calling romney the comeback kid. >> i say romney narrowly last week. i'm say romney by double digits this week. >> i think romney will win decisively and transform the nomination race. >> i said decisively a win for romn so -- >> very the state of our u getting stronger. in the last 22 months, businesses have create more than three million jobs. [applause] last year, they created the most jobs since 2005. american manufacturers are hiring again, creating jobs for the first time since the late 1990s. [applause] >> president obama delivered his state of the union report,

called for by the u.s. constitution. it lasted 65 minutes. it was composed of some 7,000 words. the overall theme of the address is national recovery. economic data appeared to contradict the president's rosie view. there are almost two million pure jobs than when he took offers and the federal reserve predicted the u.s. economy for 2012, this year, would grow at a rate of 2.7%. widely seen as anemic. question, what would president obama's political objectives with this speech -- eleanor? >> first of all, i think he rebutted the theme of his likely opponent, mitt romney, saying that america's a nation in decline. i think he came back with an optimistic view, in particularly in terms of foreign policy and how we're regarded around the world. and he really wears the role of commander in chief well and has some significant successes. so i thought that was good. he also wanted to frame the

coming election as one that will talk about fairness, not to punish the rich but to open up opportunities for more people to succeed. and all of the discussion about romney's taxes has really revealed to the american people how the tax system in particular is rigged against him. so that's a good theme. and then rebuilding america, with a focus on the manufacturing, which coincidentally affects the sloth of midwestern industrial states that he would like to win, and where they voters has under done well, the hillary voters. it was a very well constructed and delivered speech. >> he declared he will be tenacious, stay the course. secondly, he declared he will be supportive of the middle- class. >> right. that's the key here. >> and thirdly, he's going to blame the congress for any inaction. those are the three objectives. >> i think there are a lot of political objectives. it was an outstanding political speech. when you open up and say bin laden is dead, the boys and

girls are home from iraq, and general motors is selling more cars than anybody else, it's a good opening. secondsly, he went on trade and talked about manufacturing, we're going to crack down on the chinese, give tax breaks to companies that build -- manufacture here and put tax penalties and -- export jobs, talked about regular lace. that was a very centrist speech. he's touching all the key issues in the primaries. he's going to run in the center, and i think politically, i thought it was an extraordinarily effective speech. there's very little that i could find anything that angered me at all, in the whole speech. >> really? >> try harder, pat! the president did not cause the economic and fiscal crisis that continue in america tonight. but he was elected on a promise to fix them. and he cannot claim that the last three years have made things anything but worse.

the percentage of americans with a job is at the lowest in decades. one in five men of prime orking age and nearly half of all persons under 30 did not go to work today. the president's grand experiment in trickle down government has held back rather than sped economic recovery. no feature of the obama presidency has been sadder than its constant efforts to divides us, to create favor with some americans by castigating others. >> question, handling of the response. >> excellent. doesn't have a lot of stage presence but there's a lot of substance there, more memorable lines than the president had in 70 minutes. and he got to what are generally the big issues facing this country. i agree with pat, the state of the union was a centrist speech, catalog of that won't go anywhere in congress. and it evaded the big issues, labor force participation, the deficit out of control, the

debt out of control. >> the state of the union? >> yes. if president obama didn't address any of that. he said it was minor stuff. then this buffett rule, which is basically a proposal for doubling capital gains rates effectively, at a time when even democrats in the senate would be reluctant to that, and we're suffering from not enough business -- >> buffett rule is not targeted to you, rich. he's speaking to -- [everyone talking at once] >> we're going to take the capital gains rate and -- >> even mort would go with that. >> what did you think of the opposition speech? republican speech. >> i thought had it had some very, very good policy stuff in. i agree, i don't think the delivery was exactly inspiring. but it was an intelligent comments. he amongst other things on the economy, the most important thing that he said was we shouldn't get much attention is the complete revision of the tax codes, which is the one thing that we absolutely must have if we're going to revive the economy both consumer and business side. the second thing he said, which

again i think was quite interesting, he said the wealthy should start paying for some. things they're getting, like medicare and medicaid. those are things it seems -- [everyone talking at once] >> in the obama speech did you i did text any protectionism? he talked about getting touch with -- and taking incent he was for corporations away from sending jobs overseas. >> yep. >> little protectionism there. >> there was a lot of pot ticks and a little bit of protection in that. its easy to say we'll send the jobs overseas. >> open up an office and monitor china. >> we are all monitoring china. to me that's just -- the whole idea [everyone talking at once] >> economic nationalism goes right to ohio, in indiana, michigan. what he is saying is, all those people detest math -- >> playing -- >> no -- [everyone talking at

once] >> a to f, a letter grade, of the state of the union address. >> i'm going to give it a for politics, and give it about a c for substance. >> he gets an a for politics and substance. if you're a voter out there and -- [everyone talking at once] excuse me, but think that you should reward companies for shipping their jobs away, and punish them if they stay in this country, reversing that -- common sense. [everyone talking at once] >> quickly! >> it's a b+ for politics and d on substance. >> i think it was a d on substance. i still give an a minus for politics. 65 minutes, i thought was a bit long for me. >> i think it was not a state of the union address, it was a state of the budget address, with a little cicero at the

end. but there was no big concepts in there. >> but -- >> and i don't think it's worth more than good job tonight. good job tonight. >> it was at first a mystery why president obama on his way to the lectern congratulated defense secretary leon panetta last tuesday night. the verbal high five, it turns out, was to salute him on the masterful rescue of two danish aide workers, jessica buchanan, a u.s. citizen, and paul fisted, a citizen of denmark. buchanan and fisted were held hostages in somalia for three months, sings october 25th. earlier mr. obama had received intelligence of miss buchanan's whereabouts and word that her health was failing. he then set in motion the process of rescue, authorizing the mission to go forward.

he did so on monday night, almost 24 hours before the state of the union, on tuesday afternoon 20 members of a seal team, the seem team 6, the same seal team that executed osama bin laden, the seam parachuted center a care or carrier on to the area where the hostages were being held. the seals killed all nine somalis first, and then rescued the two hostages. this occurred two hours before the state of the union address. mr. obama received word that both buchanan and fisted were rescued. the president then relayed the news to the father of jessica buchanan that his daughter was safe and notified danish authorit danish authorities to pass on the good news. exit question, zero to 10, zero meaning zero impact, 10 meaning metro physical impact. what is the political impact of this dramatic seal rescue of president obama's -- >> i say 4 or 5. but niece

things fade very, very rapidly. and i think in two months and months it will fade to almost zero. >> there could be more of these rescue attempts, and it certainly does speak well of our military the way they can perform, and if this had gone awry, we would be having a very different discussion here about the state of the union. so i give this president a lot of credit for taking risks that he needs to take in international affairs. >> i a sights a one or two because it does very marginally augment the sense that president obama is tough and willing to order these raids. but ultimately, no one cares about somali hostages, i'm afraid to say. >> they put it together. >> yes. >> they care about americans that were kidnapped. >> it was fascinating to realize how they did this. they landed in helicopters, walked two miles. >> parachute in! then -- they parachuted in in the night, then walked! >> well, okay.

>> the drama -- [everyone talking at once] >> they took this -- brilliant operation. and it's tells you something about the navy seals and we have developed special forces capability under this administration are quite impressive. >> it says a lot of obama. he has fortitude. he's willing to take a real chance with this. >> it worked perfectly. >> i'm going to give him an a+. >> associated with something that is really positive. >> right! >> downside of what these -- my income comes overwhelmingly from investments made in the past. >> the operative word is, of course, investments. republican presidential contender mitt romney was asked last week what tax rate he was paying on his investments. his answer -- >> it's probably closer to the

15% rate than anything. >> why is mitt romney paying a 15% tax rate on his investments? because his big money comes from investments. stocks, bonds, real estate. they earn. it does not come as salary or fees, as in doctors' fees or lawyers' fees. the investments sit there by at all americans are still taxed. the tax bracket rate for investments is 15%. no work involved, but there is risk. lehman brothers risks, they went under big-time. so? to cover your risk and your investments, the i.r.s. says 15% is the investment rate to cover any risk of any kind of stocks, bonds, real estate,

et cetera. now, mr. romney's income, the word income covers all revenue gained in the calendar year, involving work, commonly known as salary, or as if a fee, as in doctors' fees, lawyers' fees, lecturer fees. the i.r.s. says the salaries are taxed during the calendar year. the taxes 35%. now, yearly mr. romney gives a lot of speeches. he collects lecture fees. last year, 2011, he gave lectures and for which he received fees that amounted to $375,000. that $375,000 has been taxed by the i.r.s. already as 35%. americans who ighest of the six

earn, that is worked for this money as opposed to money from >> i'm turning to, mort, for obvious reasons for your business. do you know your income into investments to collect 15% tax, rather than the tax for fees or work that you've done -- >> not salaries it's called. >> wages. >> call it what you will. hourly wages. >> -- >> you can't shift this around without -- basically -- >> you can get it -- [everyone talking at once] >> you can buy stocks. >> but the purpose that much is to intercept advise people to save moment for investment funds. it's been like that forever. because we need that kind of and your regular income -- >> why -- such an interest in having invest funds? >> because that's critical to the growth of our economy 92 okay. some of those statements you just made -- i don't think

people understand this. very important to have a good stock market, is it not. >> absolutely. >> it's good for the economy. it builds the economy. >> absolutely. >> you become richer as a nation. >> and we also need a good finance market that, is debt. we need both equity and debt in a sense to grow the economy and stimulate the economy through expansion of the basic gas ty in the economy. >> the interest on municipal bonds is taxed at zero. i've got some municipal bonds in virginia. with the dividends -- >> wait a minute! >> deliver descends are taxed at 15%. capital gains are taxed and carry interest. wages and salaries go up to 35%. it's understandable -- one reason something, you put your money in -- stock, and you leave it there 30 or 40 years, and the -- it may not grow and -- it grows in inflation, that's why they don't tax it -- >> exception and they get no tax -- tax at all are the munis, municipal bonds as many that true? is that the only thing -- [everyone talking at once]

>> that's the only one i know of. >> capital gains has not always been at 15%. when reagan came to town, the rates were high and he got money as movie actor so he wanted to bring those down, which he did. when the bushes came into office, they wanted to reduce capital gains because a lot of their main came from investment income. the 15% we arrived at when w bush was in office and it has not always been that well, and i'd like to know why mitt romney has so many bank accounts in so many places around the world. he -- [everyone talking at once] >> what is the meaning of that? >> the meaning of that is -- >> checking accounts? >> well, he has accounts in -- predictions, pat? >> after ethiopia, nigeria already the next great african country to break in half. >> obama will get political attraction on the buffett rule. >> rich? >> if not and romney is the nominee, the finalist will çbe

rob portman of ohio. >> the new york giants will beat the new england patriots this sunday in the super bowl. >> next sunday. >> effectiv