tears. >> we begin with newt gingrich under fire as his campaign come back puts him and his personal history back in the spotlight. those are live pictures defending his record. both personal and political. today's attack on newt's credibility comes amid new references to that l word. lobbying. a recommendation for a health care mandate and an issue that he has already flip flopped all over. gingrich's center for health transformation offers a variety of health care reform inside on its website including this one. require that anyone who earns more than 50,000 a year must purchase health insurance or post a bond.

it comes after housing giant freddie mac that earned $1.6 million for what he said was advice from a historian. even michele bachmann is not buying that. >> whether former speaker gingrich made $300,000 or whether he made $2 million, the point is that he took money to also influence senior republicans to be favorable towards fannie and freddie. while he was taking that money, i was fighting against fannie and freddie. >> absolutely. all right, what about the voters? gingrich said they will have to wait and see. >> i confront it in an even-keeled way, everyone will relax. if i blow up and it's something

stupid, they will say gee, i wonder who the next candidate is. >> for those who know gingrich, the latter is more likely as congressman bonnie franking issed to us on this broadcast. >> newt gingrich never stood for anything and he is clever about that and the current level of politicked. >> introduced vitriol? really? we thought that was john boehner. happy birthday, mr. speaker. the birthday boy that threatened to lock republicans in his office until they came up with a debt deal may find his grand bargain is shut down once again as the committee deadline fast approaches. from the halls of congress we are joined by keith ellison, democrat from minnesota and cochair of the congressional caucus.

i watched the progressive caucus on job creation that you hosted yesterday where professor jeffrey sacks said in 1973 earnings peaked for the middle class and in 1979, jobs peaked and since then the middle class has been in purgatory. is that you why felt motivated? >> absolutely. these issues must come to light and professor sacks is well able to articulate that message. also they talked about the millionaires and the economy would improve. they don't need the extra money. that could be to infrastructure. and the panel points towards one thing and create jobs and austerity is not the way. >> on a single republican member

of the house who was present? >> they were not, but they were welcome and invited. we would love to have had them. we wanted to offer them an alternative point of view. we will keep trying and not going to quit. >> six days from the committee deadline, how does it look for the house col veegs attempting to reach a bargain to reduce the debt? are there hopes of a compromise in the corridors around where you are standing? >> i'm an optimist and i hope there is a sort of compromise that is good for america. of course a compromise is not the only thing on the table. it's a good compromise that we need, not a bad one that would basically put revenue up for a whole host of middle class killing cuts. it all depens on what the bargain is if there is one. i said time and time again, i hope there is a good bargain,

b but. >> some republicans might be willing to ease their anti-tax doctrine. dare we dream or will it be crushed by the commitment to grover norquist. >> never be afraid to dream and we will urge them to do the right thing. i urge all americans to expect that everybody who holds an election certificate will do the right thing. that might be too much to ask for some, but we should urge and expect people to come up with real money and ask the most privileged americans to pony up and do the right thing by america. just like the patriotic millionaires. >> i hope you won't mind me moving from the serious to the ridiculous, but it would be remiss if i didn't ask you. as one of two muslims serving, herman cain's recent comment to gq magazine when he said "

i had one very well-known muslim voice say that a majority of muslims share extremist views." it's very clear he is talking about muslim americans. that's his view. how would you respond to herman cain saying that? >> it's like saying i talked to an american guy who said all of us 306 americans or most feel this particular way. it's an absurd ridiculous gross overgeneralized. that leads me to the conclusion that he is just not telling the truth. herman cain distinguished himself as being not worthy of the presidency or the candidacy many times. not a surprise coming from him. >> another candidate is newt gingrich. as you and i talk, sir, he is doing a live event at this

moment in jackson will have, florida. he was paid to give advice as a historian. i wanted to ask you. you are an educated man. do you know of another historian who got paid $1.6 million to give advice to a company that prepares loans to be given to individual citizens? >> i think studying history is a labor of love and no story i know had gotten paid so handsomely in such a way. it's another thing that proves newt gingrich again is not one to be the president. i haven't seen anyone in the field that the republicans put up who is even worthy of the candidacy let alone the presidency. they are an interesting cast of characters. i am ever more grateful for barack obama. >> i'm sure you are. rick perry said he believes the

current president, barack obama, has been privileged and hasn't worked for anything in his life. >> wow. >> is this anotherplate -- discriminating who implied that he never achieved any of his qualifications. >> it's an absurdity. barack obama is the child of a father who was never in his life, a mother who died when he was still very young, raised by his grand paurnparented and wor very hard despite difficult odds. they don't want to allow him to credit and they want to assault him based on personal qualifications. the president stands tall and ushered through the most sweeping health care reform and the act and a host of other personality legislation. >> it seemed incredible that someone like rick perry who couldn't remember the three

departments he wished to close and has appeared in the debates as a man who is seriously challenged as far as his intellect and cast dispersions on the president who is formidable when it comes to public speaking and abilities. >> i will say this about this whole race. this is a basic question. without regard to individual intellect, this is a question about do you want to invest in america for prosperity or austerity and cut taxes for the most privileged few? this is a clear choice and i tell all americans get off the couch and get in motion. our future is on the line. at the end of the day, the people who back cain, romney, perry, and all the rest don't choose these people because they respect women or have good memories or are consist nept their positions. they back them because they are willing to cut the network of government services even more and cut taxes for the richest

even more. this is why they get support they get. they are willing to dismantle the american middle class. it's not a failing, but a matter of what they will do if they get in office which is take it to the middle class and be more abusive to the poor. the choices are clear and i'm glad they are revealing their failures and personal mistakes because the american people have a choice to make. >> we are glad that you joined us this afternoon. thank you very much indeed. >> thank you, martin. >> herman cain gets his priorities right for a change. >> the first day after election day when you all elect me president, i am going to take a nap. i will be tired. pjs, non-slip slippers, a streaming player, and... a sony big screen hdtv.

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candidates turns out one gift or gaffe after another. with just a week until thanksgiving, we wanted to give an early thanks to herman cain. he found himself in the midst of a mob scene in florida as he tried to get in with the local cuban population. >> how do you say delicious? >> deliciouso. >> deliciouso. >> that got us thinking. where have we heard that kind of fluent cuban spoken before? >> backpack, backpack.

muy bien! deliciouso! >> here to help us translate what's going on in the scramble are political writer of salon and msnbc contributor and skrat gist crystal ball. crystal, today mr. cain dodged a scheduled interview with the editorial board of the union leader newspaper in new hampshire days after his infamous libya pause, some would say very long pause. i thought mr. cain was not a siszy and puts meat on his pizza. is he running scared? >> it seems that way. what's being reported is that he balked at the interview after they wouldn't caught it to 20 minutes. he thought 20 minutes should have sufficient. they wanted it to be on camera

and those reportedly were the two sticking points. i would say just from a pure strategic perspective, after having such a huge gaffe with the last board, the best thing he could have done is taken the interview and prepared for it and tried to knock it out of the park. he seems like he wants to push the limits. he wants to show that she the guy people want to have a beer with. who care fist the tell us doesn't make sense. he's charming. >> the reaction is different from rick perry. after rick perry's forgetfulness, the first thing he did was went on the david letterman show and made light of it. do you think herman cain is too vain to do this? >> i'm not sure. i thought rick perry handled his moment very well in a self-depp riicating and funny way. >> he got a lot of credit. >> i don't think he will get a huge bounce in the polls out of

it. herman cain came off looking prickly and going after reporters. his strange response of saying 9-9-9. he is taking the wrong approach and it's showing up in the polls. americans want to know their presidential candidate has a base level of knowledge about the world and the country. >> i think she is right. cain was at it again, claiming that a command of facts is not essential to be president of the greatest country in the world. listen to this. >> who knows every detail of every country of every situation on the planet? nobody. we need a leader and not a reader. >> we need a leader and not a reader. your reaction? >> these sorts of things can sound different depending on the candidate. when george w. bush was running for president, somebody gave him a pop quiz.

>> i remember he was in one country and he refers to the president as if he was standing next to him. it wasn't great. he had a lot of power peaceful and people interested in making him the nominee. is a one-man band and he doesn't have much of a political operation. she out there winging it. when he makes mistakes like this libya thing and countless others during the campaign, he doesn't have anybody to protect him and tutor him to get him up to speed to handle these things. he has shown he can't fake it. that's the difference. he will start to unravel right now. we are seeing him unravel because it looks like amateur hour. when we come back, the 12. stay with us. >> yes, the super committee! a group of 12 lawmakers.

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questions ... and impartially shop the highly rated term life companies selectquote represents for your best rates. give your family the security it needs at a price you can afford. call this number or go to selectquote dot com. selectquote. we shop. you save. this is your birthday song ♪ ♪ it doesn't last too long, hey! >> a very happy birthday to john boehner. 62 years young today. the clock now ticking for the super committee to strike a deal. if today's press conferences by boehner and nancy pelosi are any evidence, don't hold your breath. the birthday boy moved to tears.

he may cry again. consider that with the approval of congress at an historic low and finally some signs of republican support for tax hikes, 72 house republicans sent off a letter restating their unwillingness to accept any new revenues. not a penny. goodbye, grand bargain. luke russert is on capitol hill. when you boil this fight down between republicans and democrats, revenues and entitlements, isn't this all about republicans trying to preserve the bush era tax cuts? >> that's personal part of it. >> part of it? >> all the gop plans do preserve the tax cuts. >> thank you. that's not part of it. >> it's an important part because that is what the mo has been. they don't want to see taxes raised. you saw the 72 house republicans, that is a very

sizable group within the house that shows if there is a small amount of revenue such as the plan by pennsylvania senator they would run into the chain saw. they don't top the see that. the issue of taxes and entitlements is the issues that plagued this committee and congress and democrats do not want to see them touched unless the taxes are raised. republicans won't do that. that's why the idea of big balanced plans i can guarantee that's not going to happen. $1.2 trillion, the minimum, that is most likely not going to happen. yesterday was the critical day. they didn't move on it. >> no. have we been misled about the deadline? have they known there was never going to be a resolution? >> i think from the conversations i had, when you had the super committee and given the special set of rules and when you go through the

senate without a filibuster which is the golden nugget, there was an idea that these are not extremists and maybe they can go around the big idea and have new revenue. it's shown that the partisan fights and the camps in both sides don't top the move at all. boehner's staff wanted to get a dollar bill if you saying the song on air. >> i hope you wished him a happy birthday. breaking news on the shots fired at the white house. a man from idaho is being charged with attempting to assassinate president barack obama. a justice correspondent joins us now. what happened? >> he has been formally charged with attempting to assassinate the president. oscar ortega who appeared in federal court in pennsylvania and was formally charged with this offense. it's a serious offense that carries a maximum penalty of life in prison. the same charge against the man

who fired several shots outside the white house in the clinton administration. what discreetly service said is they talked to two friends of ortecha's who have known him in idaho. 1 said he is agitated over recent months and concerned that there is a government experience against him and he wanted to hurt president obama and referred to him as i quote from court documents, as the anti-christ and told his friend that ortega said to kill him. a second has known ortega for six years said his opinions about the president have grown worse and he called obama the devil and said obama needed to be taken care of. that's the essence of the charge here. it is attempted assassination and legally it doesn't matter whether the president was in the white house or not. he was not there at the time.

the point of the government is that this was the intent that ortega had and he went to the white house and one question these do you means answer is how it was possible that he was able to hit the white house from what at first witnesses said was a moving car. now we are told that two witnesses saw the car that the agency say he was driving that night pull over and shootout the passenger window. the car was -- he had pulled over on constitution avenue when the shots were fired. >> up to the minute information. thank you so much. stay with us on that story. we'll be right back. ustralia to a u.s. lab to a patient in time for surgery may seem like a trumped-up hollywood premise. ♪ but if you take away the dramatic score... take away the dizzying 360-degree camera move... [ tires screech ] ...and take away the over-the-top stunt, you're still left with a pretty remarkable tale. but, okay, maybe keep the indulgent supermodel cameo...

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million, he took money to influence senior republicans to be favorable to fannie and freddie. >> i don't know if he will survive this. he engaged in the exact corruption that america disdains. >> it makes sense that gingrich is rising. he is the only candidate that appears to be made of dough. >> i provided advice to many large companies. i can't verify the amount right now. i did no lobbying of any kind of. >> he's a lobbyist. lobbyist and liar. >> i will go to washington, d.c. and step on toes. i may have to take a sledge hammer with me. >> i have been asked what is your number one priority. >> i hope this election doesn't revolve around who the best evader is. >> the first day after election day when you elect me president, i'm going to take a nap. i will be tired.

>> we have been a little bit lazy over the last couple of decades. >> you can believe that? that's what our president thinks is wrong with america? that americans are lazy. he grew up in a privileged way. he never had to really work for anything. >> how do you say delicious in cuban? >> deliciouso. >> deliciouso. >> americans will be twice as good off at least. >> twice as good off at least. jonathan cape hart for "the washington post" and michelle coppell of news week and the daily beast joins us from washington. i have to start with you. when perry calls the president privileged, said he hasn't worked, isn't that the same discriminating nonsense that donald trump said about the

president alleging that he never achieved any academic qualifications and he never worked at the studies that in fact he was the recipient of affirmative action and that's why he is where he is. >> that is the dog whistle rick perry was going for. the president was not raised privileged and handed anything. he absolutely had to work for everything that he got. for rick perry to say that president obama was privileged and didn't have to work for what he got, the code is he got into columbia university and got into harvard university not through merit and not because he is smart, but because he took the place of someone else through affirmative action and that someone else is someone white. >> basically it is a racial slur on his academic qualifications? >> you can call it a racial slur. >> it's demeaning. >> demeaning is the better word to say. >> the best form of defense is

attack. after perry was exposed as almost educationally subnormal during the debates, he comes out and attacks the president. >> exactly. if you are not enjoying the way the conversation is going, you change the direction. that is what he is doing. you talk about a time when the republican base in particular is feeling very feisty and they want someone who is going to score points and wave his sledge hammer and pull a little cowboy magic for them. i think he is shrewd with this and get mad and get angry appeals to the sense that life is not fair and they have been cheated. >> yesterday, congressman bonnie frank described these competitors. bums of the month. it would appear that perry is in decent if you look at the polls. is this a desperate act? >> sure. you take what he is saying about the president and policy-wise and term limits for federal

judges is one thing he put out there. it's all about trying to recapture the magic he had in august when he jumped into the race. he was the flavor of the month or in barney frank's words, bum of the month and precipitously fell one performance after another. when you get this desperate, i don't know if you can climb out of the hole. >> you think he's done? >> sure. newt gingrich is the who is now climbing up and having a resurgence. >> perry challenged house leader nancy pelosi to a debate, sending her a letter of his proposed reforms, making congress part-time and having their pay and so on. he may not have realized that she is no longer the speaker. >> we don't know what kind of information he is working with, but what he does know is pelosi has been a very effective boogie man for republicans to use. they ran against her to in past

races. regardless of what state the congressional district they were running in. perry knows she's a very effective boogie man. >> here's nancy pelosi's response to mr. perry's note. >> he did ask if i could debate here in washington on monday. it is my understanding that such a letter has come in. monday i will be in portland in the morning and visiting some of our labs in california in the afternoon, that's two. i can't remember what the third thing is i'm going to be doing. >> how about that for a response? >> pretty brilliant on her part. rick perry is going after nancy pelosi and that's great for the base, but he is going after the wrong target. if you are running for president of the united states, the person you challenge is the sitting president of the united states.

>> to be fair, what is he doing challenging anybody to a debate at this point? it's madness. >> and all the time, both of you very quickly, the president's approval ratings are climbing. that must mean the winner from all of the republican debates is the president. >> yes because you have the guy who is in office with a pile of mess to deal with versus people who are talking a bunch of nonsense from one debate to another. the president looks good by comparison and the other thing the president has going for him that no one talks enough about, people like him personally as long as his personal approval ratings are high, his job approval ratings will be high. he should not be at 46 or 47% given the state of the economy and the mood of the country. >> thank you for joining us. >> thanks, martin.

>> they see their opportunities and they took them. congress and insider trading, coming up.

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[ male announcer ] when life changes, so can your insurances needs. use travelers free guide to better coverage to stay prepared. is your auto and home insurance keeping up with you? contact your local travelers agent, or call 800-my-coverage. mention everything from bernie madoff to gordon gekko comes to mind. congress has exempted itself from laws that have already put some of their own constituents behind bars. the issue got the attention of millions of outraged americans on 60 minutes this week. leaders were asked about their insider dealings. both denied wrong-doing. the congresswoman is a democrat from new york and the ranking member of the house rules committee and good afternoon. >> you introduced a bill to eliminate this practice in 2006.

it wasn't until after the story your list grew from just 9 to 43. is that because so many -- >> 68. >> sorry that because so many in the house have benefitted from this practice? >> it's the power of the press. >> power of the press? >> you must think of me as the polly pure heart of the house of representatives. i was be moaning the lack of ethics of the united states supreme court if you recall. i still feel strongly about that. this really has been a serious problem for some of us and there were both staff and trading on information that they got from the job as a public serve and to make money.

how did they get away with it? >> i don't think there was a mote exempting it. there never was one. not until they started day traiting. congress as far as i know, i do know that the institution and intelligence which i deplore has been around much longer than that. it is lucrative and part of this said lobbyists who only collect intelligence for their clients have to register with the house and the senate and tell us what they are doing. that's part of the involvement as well. they have been exploiting the opportunity as much as republicans. >> i don't know about that. i have not heard of a democrat being mentioned on it as yet. many of us in the leadership

meetings with bernanke and paulson and not a soul in the crowd told anybody about that. most of us understand innately that as one of 535 persons in the country who have been privileged enough to serve in this congress, our obligation is to do it right. to do it well and honestly. i deplore the fact that we have to keep bringing up shall shalt notes here. >> here here. a new report out reveals staggering numbers about the actual wealth on capitol hill and shows 11% have a net worth of over $9 million and 249 members of millionaires. why on earth to members of congress need inside information. they sound like they are wealthy already. >> maybe some of them got it that way. that would be the saddest part. we had a huge well. i don'think that's ever

mentioned, but i know one congressman from texas who is the wealthiest member of congress had a great legacy from the member of his family that moved him up considerably and moved the members up. the only stock i have had is pr procter & gamble. i kept it for sentimental reasons. that's the way i feel about that stock. if you were to tell me trade on something, i would tell you to get lost. i have no idea what that means. >> i'm the same as you i'm afraid. do you expect the spill to see its way through? >> the way it's going, i do. i got a wonderful letter from barney frank that he had written to spencer bacchus saying while he did not recognize when we tried to push the bill earlier, he sees the necessity now. >> congresswoman from new york, thank you very much. >> thank you very much for your time. >> coming up, has the occupy

wall street movement been effectively crushed? half to halfton pearson is here. >> she is a tough act to follow, but let's look at the stocks with 15 minutes left in the trading day. the dow is down about 197 points and the s&p down 26 and the nasdaq down about 59. the number of americans seeking unemployment fell by 5,000 last week. the fourth decline in five weeks and the number of recipients at the lowest self since early april. people are predicted to travel this thanksgiving and according to aaa it's the highest since the start of the recession. more people are driving rather than flying and if you plan on being among them, head out early. say tomorrow. that's first in business worldwide. luck? i don't trade on luck.

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far. >> it's two months since protesters sprang up around the. from new york city, where huge crowds marched to the stock exchange, facing off with police, at least 175 people were arrested and several nypd officers were also injured. to los angeles, where hundreds turned out in the downtown financial district, to portland, oregon, protesters marked this day of action, squaring off with police. but is a movement once garlanded with praise by some politicians and celebrities coming to a natural end? jeff sharlet has followed the protests from the start and written about it in the latest edition of the "rolling stone" magazine. good afternoon, jeff. >> good afternoon, martin. >> is this movement now on life-support? >> i don't think it is.

and i think those who are on the ground, both the activists and also the journalists like me, who have been following it for a long time, see what happened, especially in new york. every kind of big move that the new york police department has taken. every kind of step across the lines has ended up revitalizing the movement. and that's what happened on 11/15, a movement that was fraying suddenly has a lot of new energy. i saw more energy there than i'd seen in weeks. >> and despite that, jeff, there's some polling that shows that some people prefer the tea party more than they prefer the occupy movement. how did that happen? >> and last week they preferred the occupy movement more than they did the tea party, which i think says a lot more about that polling than the political temperature. but the reality is, neither of those movements, to be fair to the tea party, neither of those movements are sitting there reading the polls saying, i guess we'll go home. social movements don't work like that. they work historically in the

present, you know with a growing core of people who are dedicated and they're in it for the long haul. this movement has punched so far above its weight, achieved more than any leftist movement has in 40 years. for them to say, well, this week's poll numbers are down, let's pack it in, that would be truly absurd. >> when you were following the development of the movement, as you write, you say the movement started with some anarchists, moved on to the mainstream, and is now a circus. i have to say, it sounds almost like the republican race for president, but is it a circus now? >> well, i think you're paraphrasing me there a little bit. it started with anarchists, has always been anarchists, and i think one of the things that's been interesting is how much you've seen the mainstreaming of some anarchist ideas, which are not crazy, radical ideas, but things like, let's build a free library. and there was a functioning library there. let's have a great kitchen, where we can feed 2,000 meals a day.

let's have a medical clinic. that was a mainstreaming of those ideas. and is there a circus element to it? you know, there is in the sense of you know, i was speaking to people on my way over here, speaking to the librarians and others. the mood is buoyant. and that's one of the things that a lot of us in the press fail to understand. we look at that word "protest" and think of rage or anger or the tea party. this has been a movement that's been defined by this sort of feeling that a lot of people have of joy. so sometimes that goes over the line, we'll say a drum circle that goes on too long, with circus-like elements, but i wouldn't use that in any way dismissive. i think that's what made this successful where other leftist movements haven't been. >> indeed. jeff sharlet, thank you very much, indeed. now to our play of the day. in one of herman cain's campaign catchphrases, it sounds awfully familiar. who knew he was such a big fan

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it's time now to clear the air. i wonder if you've noticed a sudden inconsistency in republican rhetoric on the subject of states' rights. republicans have repeatedly invoked the right of individual states to decide on matters of importance. so on a woman's right to choose, they've argued that states should determine the rules on whether a woman should be allowed to terminate a pregnancy. on education, republicans, including those hoping to become president, repeatedly chant a single slogan, get the federal government out of our schools. >> the federal government has no business telling states how to

educate our children. >> you need to dramatically shrink the federal department of education. >> if you care about your children, you'll get the federal government out of the business of educating our kids. >> what i would do as president of the united states is pass a mother of all repeal bill. then i would go over to the department of education, i would turn out the lights, i would lock the door. >> on wednesday, there was a sudden vote fast, as the house voted 272 to 152 in favor of the national right to carry reciprocity act, a bill that would force states to automatically recognize each other's permits that allow citizens to carry concealed weapons. so now, on the issue of concealed weapons, the vast majority of republicans are suddenly in favorite of the federal government. they don't want national standards for education, but they do want the federal government to rule on permits for concealed weapons. interesting, suspect it? according to a public interest law firm, the legal community against violence, 22 states have already weak pd or eliminated

laws that regulate the possession of concealed weapons. in arizona, for example, citizens are allowed to carry weapons without any permit whatsoever. kansas allows permit holders to drink while carrying a concealed weapon. and in utah, permit holders can carry concealed weapons into public schools. the right to bear arms is obviously a constitutional right and in no way am i challenging that right. but in a week where gabby giffords made her first public comments about being shot in the head, does it really make sense to override the role of the state when it comes to this important issue? because as representative alsoey hastings made clear, it isn't just citizens who may be in danger, but law enforcement too. >> by overriding state-based conceal carry laws, enforcing states to recognize conceal carry permits from every other state, we are