>> yes, we begin with the gop circus, gearing up for the big show in iowa. four candidates circling the hawk eye state and a new poll showing a four-man fight to be the ringleader. herman is humbled that he is leading in iowa with 20%. a gold change in government is coming, he says. look closer that bloomberg poll is a dead heat statistically with cain, paul, romney and gingrich within three points. the cain train rolls on come hell, high water or harassment charges. he lives to see another day and another debacle. it's foreign policy and an epic performance in front of journalists at the milwaukee journal sentinel. >> so you agree with president obama on libya or not?

>> libya? president obama supported the uprising, correct? i do not agree with the way he handled it for the following reason. nope, that's a different one. i have to go back. got all this stuff swirling around in my head. >> remind you of someone else in the gop? it was just last week when rick perry suffered his nightmare and work up on stage at the republican debate. so much from learning from others's mistakes. what's more amazing is that even after cain recovered from his fumble, he didn't have an answer on libya. he gave the same response that he offered on afghanistan, but the very first republican debate in may.

. >> how would you define winning in afghanistan right now as you are looking at it as a candidate? >> my point is the experts and their advice and input would be the basis for me making that decision. i'm not privy to a lot of confidential information since i'm not in government. >> when he said he has a lot swirling around up there, it doesn't seem like it's foreign policy cluttering his mind, but perhaps congested with stats. he seems to have been to quite a few games lately including last night packers and vikings matchup where cain gave the campaign the real answer of what's rattling around up there. >> mr. cain, you think the libya comments reinforce? you don't have a thorough understanding of foreign policy?

>> 9-9-9. >> brilliant. let's bring out in our panel from washington, msnbc political analyst david corn and with us from atlanta, goldie taylor from the goldie taylor project. i will start with david. i was reading herman cain's book entitled speak of a leader. speak as a leader published in 1999 and offers gidsance on what to say. he said expect the unexpected question and think sound bytes and plan sometime ahead. what happened yesterday? >> you talking to me? >> yes. >> it's like he didn't know what to say. this man wants to be commander in chief, but yet he had no opinion or a well formulated opinion about one of the major

military actions of the previous year. i want to say it's stunning. it's surprising. it's astounding, but actually it isn't. the only question i think we have to ask ourselves now is whether we say someone is pulling a cain or pulling a perry. these guys, i have never seen them so unprepared and running. we have to go back to pat robertson and never led a national poll. he came in second in iowa and the republican party nationally and the state polls could have herman cain at the top of the heap, even if it's a tie with others shows you this is a party full of people who just don't care about facts, expertise, experience, or good pizza. >> quickly if you compared the two, do you think mr. cain's performance yesterday was worse

or i guess better than perry's? >> i think he was the rolling stones compared to a bar band. that was the one -- one of the greatest unforced errors of presidential politics. anyone can forget something and become flustered which was what happened in rick perry's case, but in herman cain's case, he wasn't wasn't flustered. he didn't know. you can watch it. the mental index cards. trying to find the right to read the sound bide r byte per the advice he gave in the -- he couldn't do that when he got around to answering the question. it was substantially wrong. >> sorry there an inverse form of racism at work where cain is in effect being given a pass at every juncture because the right doesn't want to apply the same standards to their favorite african-american as they do say

to someone like mitt romney. >> i think there is actually a bigger factor at work here. republicans have precious few in the way of candidates they can hold on to. clinging to cain as he implodes, where else would they have to go? perry has imploded and it's an anybody but romney kind of race. there is newto mania on the rise. >> they can go to rick perry. >> don't be rick santorum. >> they both imploded themselves. there is no place for them to go. watching the video, it was comical at first, but then i found it tragic. this is the guy who wants to answer the phone at 3:00 in the morning and can't answer a question for reports at 3:00 in the afternoon. it's all very, very tragic to me. >> you are a compassionate woman. david, these candidates

regularly attack journalists. they say they hate the media for gotcha questioning and catching them off guard. those reports at that newspaper were the most polite, courteous people imaginable. all they did was ask him a question like do you agree with the president's position on libya? poor mr. cain couldn't respond. >> there is a technical term. these are softball questions. what's your view on this or that? there is nothing wrong with those questions. i think what's your view on deficit reduction or afghanistan or what we should do with china and the currency? you throw it up and you see how the candidate responds and if they say anything that is right on substance and smart and receptive and shows any experience, in this case he completely wifed it. he had no idea. one reason why this is scary

since he is republican reach of perhaps winning a couple of primaries, he had no fall back position. usually if you don't know right away, you have a template. politicians walk around with templates on foreign policy. how to put questions into it and they talk about broader issues in terms of national security. he had no clue on any level here. he was trying to find the easy answer. >> indeed. >> he said listen, the problem was that obama didn't identify the opposition before he went in and should have talked to the intelligence community. obama did and he was trying to prevent a massacre. he didn't know what he was talking about. >> it's worth remembering he has been in the campaign for months so he should have read something and libya's only just happened. i want to get in a clip from herman cain's wife in her interview last night with fox's greta van susteran. she describes her husband as old

school. take a look at this. . >> if he understands what old school is, that generation where men still wanted to open the doors for women. if you are walking along the street, he wants me to walk on on the outside next to the curb. old school people think they are supposed to be women protectors. >> goldie, she is defending him, but might some people see the use of that phrase to describe someone who thinks women should be kept in their place? >> i was about to say, that old school sort of cuts both ways. my household, we are an old school household like children need to be in bed by 8:00. things have order and tradition. it cuts another way when you talk about a southern man and old school for us down here sometimes means show chauvinist.

i understand someone having a higher regard for women, but in the context of herman and this, it means something very different. >> cain's negatives are swiftly on the rise. a "washington post" poll shows negatives jumping by double-digits since october. do americans have the right to be horrifies to a man who can't respond to a general question about libya and wants supreme control over the american armed forces and nuclear weapons? >> it's not just the one instance. you point out afghanistan and other debates and forums. he clubbed other things about foreign policy. we have seen this pattern over and over again. the republicans out there who so desire anyone but mitt romney,

they fall in love really quickly. they wake up the next morning and look at the person in the bed next to them and say i don't know about this. maybe i should do a background check. it's too late to take precautions. that keeps happening. it's not surprising that once you look at the lack of experience, listen, i think it was mitt romney and the republicans who raised the issue that his 9-9-9 plan raises taxes for most people. that has not gotten enough attention either. very little that can survive scrutiny. >> you are raising the somewhat unappetizing protect of waking up in bed next to newt gingrich. thank you very much indeed. >> ouch. >> on that note, thank you. coming up, the coach charged with the unspeakable breaks his silence. >> innocent? completely innocent and falsely accused in every aspect? >> well, i could say that i have

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all eyes where for the first time being released on bail we heard from accused predator and former state coach jerry san dusky in an interview exclusively with bob costas. >> i am innocent of those charges. >> innocent? completely innocent and falsely accused in every aspect? >> well, i could say that, you know, i have done some of those things. i have horsed around with kids. i have showered after workouts. i have hugged them and i have

touched their leg. without intent of sexual contact, but so if you look at it that way, there things that would be accurate. >> when asked out right if mr. sandusky was sexually attracted to young boys, he gave this very tortured response. >> are you sexually a trackeded to young underage boys? >> am i sexually attracted to underage boys? sexually attracted? i enjoy young people. i love to be around them. but no, i'm not sexually attracted to young boys. >> a bit jarring to hear after sandusky's lawyer referred to him as a big overgrown kid.

the new york times is reporting close to ten more alleged victims are coming forward. the police working to confirm these new allegations. for more i'm joined by former pennsylvania congressman. good afternoon, sir. jerry sandusky was asked if joe paterno expressed disapproval with him and sandusky said no. do you find that at all alarming as consider the story and what happened? >> since joe paterno had not turned this into law enforcement, i do. if they hold them to keep quiet, that's one thing. but our leaders are giving great responsibility and authority and with that goes accountability and it wasn't done. >> you are shocked by mr. sandusky's assertion that joe paterno said nothing. >> i don't know what to take

from that man. as i listen to the interview just then, shivers go up one's back. i think of my child in a shower and excerpts of the interview, we talk about horse play with my child? like what you describe? unless it was something with a law enforcement saying don't talk, i think action should have been taken and mr. paterno on his own should have. >> i think all of us share your discomfort and the state community is a massive institution as you know. seems that everybody in the state has ties to penn state or jerry sandusky in way or another. the judge that let him out on bail is involved in his charity. it seems as if getting justice in this case through the state alone may be difficult or virtually impossible. isn't it time for the federal

government to say look, let's forget about local individuals and agencies being involved. we will act and investigate independently at a federal level. >> in the u.s. navy which i served for 31 years, when there was an accident on the ship or something occurred an outside group came in to do the inspection and investigation. because of the points you brought up, i think that is extremely important right now to do. to have the vice chairman of the board of trustees with the politically appointed department of education and begin to do an investigation in an institution that for a decade wasn't able to handle cover ups. calls for an inspector general of some sort to come in from the outside. there is too much of this establishment, the old boy's network that you may not and

probably won't get that probing type of questions that need to be done. if there is anything that has to be regain for penn state, it's a sense of accountability for the students and who they are charged with teaching principals going forward. someone from the outside needs to do this. >> do you also share the view that the football program might be best canceled for the moment while as you said it yourself as a federal investigation takes place so that there is real credibility attached to a house cleaning process that goes right through the institution? >> those men who played football came there and did nothing that we know of wrong. i don't think that should be the point right now. this is about the leaders of an institution. all across america right now from wall street to the head of the two political parties, everywhere i go, i feel and

listen to the sense of loss of faith in our leaders. when you have responsibility and no one has trust any longner that responsibility because someone appears to be above or believes they are above accountability, that's when you start to have a disintegration into a less than perfect order. that's what happened here. i don't think we blame the team, but i do think it has to be done is some group has to come in and truly walk through what occur and what are the lessons to be learned from this. not just for state, but another step towards regaining accountability for how they are not going by the technicality of the law, but what they know they are responsible to really do. >> a lack of trust, sir. former pennsylvania congressman, thank you very much indeed for joining us. >> coming up, the day's top

lines. >> i don't think anybody else is in the race. i don't mean it as i an act of evil. i don't think there is anybody else in the background. what's better than gold ? free gold ! we call that hertz gold plus rewards. you earn free days, free weeks and more fast. that's a plus. upgrade your ride. that's a plus.

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the thanksgiving deadline tasked with finding a solution for the nation's ballooning debt now hangs like a butcher's knife over the neck of the turkey. we have yet to hear anything concrete from the members as to whether or not they are close to an agreement on anything. nbc's kelly o'donnell is live from washington. speaker boehner today expressed optimism that an agreement would be reached. senate leader harry reid spoke to reports and said republicans on the committee are responding

to threats from grover norquist. is there any hope for progress before the deadline? >> it's hard to read the motivations and intentions, but as you set it up, speaker boehner and the withins in the senate believe they are willing to make changes to the tax code and that would be progress. they believe they have got to get a deal before the deadline. harry reid really put a firm point on this. as you know, grover norquist who is the anti-tax cheerleader who gets so many members to sign a pledge not to raise taxes and harry reid said the republicans should impeach him to reduce influence. the leader eric kantor was asked and he said it's not about him, but the pledge that republican members have made to their own constituents. with all of that stew, what it comes down to is can they get it done? many predictions they won't and many are trying to say they will

get it done. they will put off the pumpkin pie and the turk to get something done. >> eight days and counting. thank you. >> you bet. >> stay with us. surprise, surprise. the cain train makes a stop in the day's top line. >> that's a different line. i got to go back. [ male announcer ] just how many appliances are on our wish lists? 'cause this season, the timing couldn't be better. right now, we can get those black friday prices without fighting through all those black friday crowds, which means we can do more this year without waiting around for the season to start. ♪ more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot.

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or a can of paint, you turned millions of votes, and hundreds of volunteer hours, into a real difference for over 100,000 people. what's next? tell us on facebook. pregnant pause. i think that's an offense to pregnant women everywhere. here are today's top lines. >> if you are going to become the front-runner to be president of the united states, you had better expect a very thorough ma

ti tickulous effort to take you apart. you are not tough enough to with stand this kind of scrutiny. >> you are not tough enough to be the president of the united states. >> it was a pause. that's all it was. good grief. >> they're prefer my approach of being positive than the negativities that i think hurt them. >> i don't think there is anybody else in the race. i don't mean this. i don't think there is anybody else. >> romney is the mormon and newt gingrich is the one with three wives. >> i was in greece with the flack from the press from going on. it was very helpful. i talked to people in crisis. >> the new top position in the polls tonight by doing a dvd

screening. newt and calista with nine days that changed the world. running for president is a great way to sell your stuff. >> you think the libya comments reinforce the idea that you don't have a thorough understanding of foreign policy? >> 9-9-9. >> let's get right to our panel now. with me here in new york, msnbc, columnist for bloomberg view and with us at san francisco. if i can begin with you, you described newt gingrich as a man whose baggage comes with baggage yet he is confidently boasting that his life prepared him for this moment right at the top of the polls. >> you know, newt has never been short of self esteem. there you go. i was listening to that clip and

it's really, really kind of bold of him to say that. he is correct on one point which is there is a lot in the public record about newt. so there is a lot out there and he withstood the scrutiny. innocent because he has been so far back in the pack, neither the media or rivals have bothered to focus in on all the thing they could have been talking about. every time somebody gets a turn in the spotlight, they get a lot of attention and tend to wither on the vine. now newt is full of that so he will not wither, but he may not lead good digging into the ethics charges. we know about the wives, but the callus way he left his wives and the history of divicive statements, blaming all sorts of things on democrats and really trashing the president in an ugly way. he's got so much to give us in the next couple of weeks.

>> joan, i have to tell you that you are saying that people haven't noticed newt gingrich, but jonathan altar has. last week on this broadcast he said newt was going to rise and behold, you are a prophet. >> for didn't take too much. >> but he has risen. do you think newt believe like getting another wife, it's like a new live and a new beginning? >> in some ways it is. newt's hero is winston churchill who went through all kinds of things earlier in his career. it was a very controversial figure with politics and his country needed him he turned their lonely eyes at the on set of the second world war. he sees himself in those heroic terms and thinks he is the next churchill. for him it's all part of i guess god's plan for him. he is one of the ways -- >> the divine right. >> he is in charge of the

process. and for him it's a natural thing. >> the clear thing that developed is that the process is not going to take place the way it has in the past. when you lose a primary and you are out of money, you then dropout. these candidates will stay in as long as there was a television debate. the debates are getting good ratings. >> yes. >> as long as they are invited to the debate and they did reasonably well, the cast of characters on the reality show will be with us into next spring. >> is certainly is entertaining. they have a fondness forative 18 jewelry and with the credit account, we had fun outside

tiffany here in new york. watch this. showing women a photo of you and asking how much tiffany credit they want to have a date with this man. take a listen on what they said. >> probably about an eight carat diamond. he has been married three times. i don't know how trustworthy he would be. >> buyer a half million. >> a couple hundred thousand. he's not that attractive. >> might as well go for a million. >> i think she's about right. it's a good laugh, but people do have short memories. things like a credit account and do you think newt potentially could claim that those women voters who were fleeing from herman cain may get go to newt? >> i think that's a tough sell. women vote on the issues and tend to be liberal because he

tent to be worried about the economy and the vulnerable. women are not going to enjoy the stories about him leaving if they don't know it already. serving his first wife with divorce papers and i believe he told his second wife he was leaving her. she had been the mistress and he told the second wife over the phone, there was a character issue here that the more women get to know him the more it's going to be hard to trust him. even if he was giving each and every one of us a big rock from tiffany. >> you are making newt gingrich sound like a gentlemen compared with herman cain or the other way around. do stay with us. we want to get more from you after this. when we come back, rick perry's next gig. the opening act at the sands. >> i think the answer is to every problem, let's just add a new agency of government. i can remember most of them.

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>>. >> the 2012 race for the republican nomination is liberally sprinkled with the most awkward and embarrassing moments in the history of campaigning. it's how the candidates react that provides us with the herman necessary to make it through the process and texas governor rick perry is emerging as the comedian in chief of the gop. here's a taste. >> i'm glad i had my boots on because i stepped in it. >> you advocate the elimination of the department of energy. if you eliminate the department of energy -- >> you remembered it. >> i had time to think about it, sir. >> me too.

>> tonight if i need a lifeline, i'm going to look to you. >> i will fill in the blanks. >> all right. >> still with us, msnbc analyst and joan walsh is the editor at large. joan, comparing realistically, can he stay in this long enough to win the nomination after a dire series of debate performances? >> no, i don't think so. i even wondered if he would be the 1 person who dropped out. the rest have nothing to lose and most of them don't have jobs. they are selling books and all this is good for book sales. he's the person trying to run a state. he never lost an earthquakes lection and the only who really is risking something by staying in the race. look, he is funny, but funny is not the point. we saw him at that new hampshire speech.

he was hilarious and we started laughing and wondering, is he serious? is something else going on? what is he laughing at? continuing with this being funny, i laughed at some of the those clips as hard as anybody else. it's still all raising more questions about what the heck is going on in this gi's brain? >> you can't count perry out. he never lost an election and he's got a financial war chest which is considerable. >> why would he dropout now? it seemed like he was dropping out. he was humiliated. he has several other debates to show improvement from a low standard. he gets out there and does well in the next couple of debates, even if he does okay, it will seem like he did well. he got high marks from being mediocre because it was better than the debate the week before.

he can claw his way back in the respectability. if he loses it won't seem like he is going with his tail between his legs. since romney hasn't made the sale, he can think he has a chance for the nomination. this thing is much more open than people realize. there is this assumption and everybody wants to be the savvy analyst. romney will be the nominee and i know. nobody knows. this thing is not done yet. a lot can happen in the next couple of months. things can happen after iowa and new hampshire. >> can we say that herman cain is done. that performance yesterday, rick perry knew the name of the department of energy. he just forgot it, as painful as it was. herman cain i'm convinced had no idea what the reporter was asking about. if it was libya or syria or narnia.

>> if it was a lady called libya. >> herman cain never had a chance at the nomination. the republican party is not going to nominate the godfather of pizza ceo when they can win back the white house. >> they were flirting with him. >> it was a flirtation and fun for the media. >> leading him along. >> exactly. >> thanks so much and thank you for staying with us for two seconds. >> next, a voice for those left out of the debt debate. before that, a check on the market. sue herera has the market wrap. >> here's a look at how we are doing in the stock market. a steadier day than in the past. up 60 points on the dow and nine points on the s&p and up 34 points on the nasdaq. technology is the big leader today. before the holiday shopping season kicks into high gear, retailers got a boost in october. it is the fifth straight month and the beginning of what

promises to be a solid quarter for the retailers. the credit agency reports an uptick in the number of credit accounts to high risk borrowers. there is a risk of late payments, but the bank profitability rises and of course the fees associated with high interest balances of risky borrowers. that's it from cnbc. we are first in business worldwide. martin is back in a minute. analysis. information. i trade on tradearchitect. this is web-based trading, re-visualized. streaming, real-time quotes. earnings analysis. probability analysis: that's what opportunity looks like. it's all visual. intuitive. and it's available free, wherever the web is. this is how trade strategies are built. tradearchitect. only from td ameritrade. welcome to better trade commission free for 60 days when you open an account. that's me

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>> today is tuesday, november 15th. why remind you of that? president obama stood in the rose garden, waving a copy of his $447 billion jobs plan, pleading with congress to act. what's been done in the past two months? very, very little. with me now, democratic congressman of arizona and also the cochair of the congressional

progressive caucus. sir, before we get to all of that, i wonder if you mind if we played a from your colleague, congresswoman gabrielle giffords. take a listen. >> it's been a hard year, for all of us. thinking about that day makes me sad. six people died. six innocent people. so many people hurt. there is a lot to say. i will speak better. i want to get back to work. >> i imagine, sir, that that's consistent with the woman that you know? >> absolutely. the uplifting, inspirational, and affirming, that, you know, the human spirit and if gabby is saying that she's going to come back, i guarantee you, nobody should doubt her. >> congressman, your caucus is

hosting an ad hoc hearing tomorrow, gathering some of the leading minds on job creation. and yet the caucus unveiled its own jobs plan earlier this fall. has anyone taking any heed of your suggestions? is anyone listening? >> not to the significance that they should. we proposed a budget that balanced the budget by 2020. we proposed $4 trillion in savings to the super committee. and at the same time, reinforcing the programs we need to protect and creating the surplus necessary to put people to work immediately and not wait for a trickle-down process that hasn't worked up to this point. >> you've also invited members of the so-called super committee to attend. do you have any idea of whether they're going to cooperate with your members? >> i hope they attend. the point is that the progressive caucus has been on this message now for eight, nine months. there has been no job creation by the majority, the republicans in congress. no piece of legislation.

and we feel that the super committee needs to listen to a point of view that is common sense, and i think very, very responsive to what the american people are telling us right now. create jobs, the taxes should be fair, everybody should pay their fair share, and let's put people to work and protect the programs that are going to make america strong. they're saying that over and over again. i think the panelists that we have, significant economists from saks to irons to mr. gossich, all giving us testimony about the importance of creating jobs to turn this economy around. >> and yet, sir, and i hate to damn your efforts in such a negative way, but you know as well as i do that the republican majority are seemingly focused on opposing the president, opposing his jobs plan, opposing you. >> no, i think their opposition to a real jobs bill, their

opposition to the president has become pathological, in the sense that they cannot do anything else but that. and i hope that what we're doing is to bring light and public attention to there are really solutions that don't hurt people, that put people to work, and i think public opinion and the need and the public will push some of these republicans in a direction that makes them more compromising and more open to suggestions. >> congressman raul grijalva, thank you very much. >> thank you. now to our play of the day. secretary of state hillary clinton gets a good laugh when a half-naked man wearing just a loincloth runs by with a torch, interrupting an official photo op at the summit in hawaii. >> i hope you all captured that!

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it's time now to clear the air. and we've spent much of today's broadcast focusing on the latest display of ignorance and incompetence on the part of herman cain. but just as his ambition to be president has been exposed as, at best, wishful thinking, one man has begun to benefit from the gaffes. newton leroy gingrich, who is now rising in all the polls, and mr. gingrich himself is very happy to exploit the opportunity. >> i don't think there's anybody else with the range of experience, the range of background, the willingness to take the lead, that i've exhibited in 53 years. >> but if you think that herman cain has problems, then you need to remember the background of newt gingrich. first, look at the man's record. mr. gingrich is the only speaker

in the history of the house to have been disciplined for multiple ethics violations. way back in january 1997, special counsel james cole issued a damning report that concluded that gingrich had violated tax law and lied to an investigating panel. beginnigingrich was fined $300,. then, second, look at the man's friends. at the time of gingrich's censure, his greatest supporter was tom delay. yes, the same tom delay who six years ago was forced to resign from congress because of an investigation into a campaign money laundering operation. mr. delay was convicted last january and sentenced to three years. as you might expect, he's appealing against the conviction. so look at the man's record, look at the man's friends, and thirdly, look at how he takes responsibility, or doesn't. mr. gingrich recently offered a novel explanation for why his

life has been marked by a tendency to commit adultery. he says it wasn't lust, it was love for his country. >> there's no question that at times in my life, partially driven by how passionately i felt about this country, that i worked far too hard and that things happened in my life that were not appropriate. >> wow. hard work leads automatically to adultery. who knew? in virtually every debate, mr. gingrich has consistently blamed the media for a failure to report the truth and for being inaccurate about all kinds of issues. so here's the unadulterated truth about newt gingrich. mr. gingrich is a tired, adulterous, cantankerous, petty former speaker who was the first in the history of congress to be disciplined for ethical wrongdoing. and he, that man, wants to be president.