right now, can't we all just get along? two powerful members of congress, a democrat and a republican, paul ryan and chris van hollen in their first joint interview right here. a campaign already trending down trying to avoid a total crash. >> they're attacking my character, my reputation, and my name, in order to try at bring me down. and for the first time mitt romney comes out swinging at newt gingrich, while newt tells south carolina voters he was just too rich to lobby. >> i was charging $60,000 a speech, and the number of speeches was going up, not down. plus get out of town. britain tells iran to clear out of london and pulls all brits out of iran. while hillary clinton makes history, the first secretary of

state to lawn in myanmar or burma if you prefer, in more than 50 years. bells are ringing, but nothing stops our brian williams. >> we have an announcement going on in the studio. tom costello, we should advise our viewers, there's no danger to us. we'd lick to make this stop, why don't you take it from the washington bureau. andrea, thanks the fire alarm we all sure was given the all clear is back on. >> it went on for 30 minutes. less than five weeks to go from iowa, and the explosion of herman cain's campaign is setting up what could be the matchup, a contest between mitt romney and newt gingrich. cain claims that character assassination is in play, but the woman who said they had an affair for 30 jeers gave more details today. >> it was a very casual affair. am i proud to admit to that? no, i'm not. i went on several trips with

herman. one particular trip was the mike tyson/holyfield fight in las vegas. you know, you can't make this stuff up, and frankly speaking, i wouldn't want to make this up. >> msnbc contributor and managing editor of post politics.com chris cillizza. i don't think you would forget that fight. it was a memorable fight. >> the ear biting. >> the other point here is we should point out she did not come forward. it was that she had been told they already had all these details from some tipster. that is after a lot of harassment of her family and herself. that's when she came forward. can cain recover from this? >> i don't think he can. it's the totality of it all. it's the totality that herman cain is asking us to believe it's either four or five women, i believe four women have come forward alleging sexual

harassment against him, and no ginger white alleging an affair. the totality of it, the weight of that, five people all alleging this? all of whom are lying 100% lying flat out? it's just hard to believe and a little implausible. newt gingrich is the likely inheritor of cain supporters, how dangerous is it what "the washington post" started laying out earlier, as much as a hundred million according to the post, but tens of millions from what seems to be trading influence, whatever you want to call it, newt gingrich says it's not lobbying. >> by the technical definition he was never a lobbyist. i'm sure he was careful to keep that. he always wanted to preserve future running for office. it may be a distinction without a difference.

i'm interested to see how people may benefit. gingrich has a long record to look through, but there are only 34 days before iowa. it may be that voters simply don't get educated or don't care about some of these things, they just want a conservative alternative to mitt romney, and newt gingrich is their guy. >> chris, thank you very much. a bipartisan effort, the house budget committee is introducing a new line-item veto bill today, something that presidents since nixon have sought. and it's being championed by two lawmakers who join me now. what is their first joint appearance on this issue, ranking democrat, congressman chris van hollen from maryland, and of course the republican chairman of the house budget committee, congressman paul ryan from wisconsin. welcome both. >> thank you. chairman ryan, what do you think the line-item veto could accomplish? and how can you get it passed?

>> we're not suggesting it will fix all our fiscal problems, but what we think this will help do is help change the culture of spending here, that both parties have been a party to. what we want to do is basically give us this tool so that we can impair race the wasteful spending out of these spending bills. it's a constitutional version, so the president can pull a piece of pork out of the bill, send it back to congress, congress has to vote to it, no amendments, can't duck the vote, so we take the execution, the action, therefore it's constitutional, but this is a way of embarrassing pork out of the bills in the first place and getting after it if it's been put in there afterwards. again, both republicans and democrats have messed up this system. they have given us a lot of wasteful spending. we think this is a good tool that both of us agree on going after that wasteful spending. we want to show that we don't always go at each other's throats. we can great on some things. this is one of those we agree on. >> i think we're all going to post shots of the two of you standing next to each other, because usually people are

firing salvos from opposite corners. but congressman van hollen, in june of 1998, the supreme court struck down a previous attempt in a concurring opinion wrote that failure of political will does not justify unconstitutional remedies, meaning that failure to attack of budgets was a 6-3 decision, the court ruling the majority opinion was delivered by justice stevens at the time. why would this be constitutional? i think congressman ryan was getting to the point this would be another vote. >> well, that is the remedy, that's why this is constitutional. as you know, paul and i obviously disagree olots of policy issues, but we both agree we need to be good stewards of the taxpayer dollars, we need more accountablity, oversite and scrutiny. that's what this does.

why this is different than the law that was held unconstitutional is back this says a president can present congress with a list of proposed items he or she doesn't think we need to be spending money on. by this version congress then acts and by a majority vote we agree or disagree, but we'll make sure congress acts. we believe congress has a responsibility to take a position up our down on whether or not that spending is something that the country needs or does not need. >> congressman ryan, can you get this through the house? and do you have any senate support? >> i passed this bill the last time we were in the majority. john mccain and carper i think are echoing a version over there, so it's bipartisan. we consulted with the attorneys who argued successfully against the earlier version in the supreme court. this is a constitutional version. i agree with that ruling you were talking about. what we think this does is it

gets after the shenanigans played at the last minute when writing appropriation bills tucking a spending provision in there that nobody ever sees. this goes after those games, which both parties have been a party to. we banned earmarks, but that doesn't get at the heart of this issue, and we think this is a step in the right direction. >> what it does, andrea is makes it much harder for a member of congress to sort of quietly slip on a spending project that may not be in the national interests. >> right. >> and sneak it on by sticking it with everything else that is legitimate spending. it's kind of the christmas tree approach, where a lot of people may want to add their ornament. this says we're going to take an opportunity to have an up or down vote on the things that may not be necessary. >> now that i've got you both there, more or less a captive audience, you've agreed on the line-item proposal. how about the payroll tax?

can we work something out about that now? congress mast ryan? >> i think so. we're in discussions about that. we want to pay for it. this was meant to be a temporary tax rebate, i don't think the. >> you think it's a sugar high? >> yeah, i do. i do, but of course i likes the idea of people keeping more of their own money. if el got a chance at cutting wasteful spending, that to me is two steps in the right direction. we have to watch making this perm nent. if we do that we're accelerating the bankruptcy or social security or complicit with general funds transfer, which turn into a cash welfare program, so this is meant to be temporary policy, we should treat it that way, and i don't think it's very good economics, but at the end of the day i think it's great and fine that people deep more of their money. >> what if you paid for it, guys with how about taxing the rich?

>> well, small businesses, actually, so what we don't want to do are tax those successful job creators. we don't want to advance meet yolker economic policy with bad economic policy to pay for it. we want to get after spending. there's enough spending cuts that we think we have agreed to in the past that we could take stuff out of the president's 2009 budget he proposed and moved that. >> well, we spent a good part of this interview talking about things we obviously agreed on, now you've gotten into an area of disagreement. i think it's important, when you have a fraj it will economy, that we have today, that we not take more money out of people's pockets. we need people to have that income to go out and spend on goods and services, so small businesses can sell those goods and services and hire more people. i think it's important, it should be temporary, it should be designed during this period when we have a very fragile economy, social security is kept

entirely harmless, and i do believe we should be asking those folks who are doing very well to take a greater part of responsibility in reducing or long-term deficit. those are areas we're going to be debating in the days ahead. >> let's get back to -- >> on this important measure. this won't solve the deficit problem, but it's an important measure in send ago signal we're going to try to get rid of the wasteful spending, unnecessary spending and increase accountability. so let's focus for a moment on what we think is an important measu measure. >> good for me. i think you're a great tag team. any regrets that you decided against running this year? >> no, not really. >> could you be persuaded? there a paul ryan draft down the road? >> look, you have already past the filing deadlines. i've had people show me the deadlines. >> you've checked the deadlines. it was a serious deal? >> i didn't check it. i've been told. >> c'mon, it's not too late,

paul. >> it is too late. let's get on with this. >> always happy to have you back. it's great to see you together. up next, the family research council's tony perkins. how about that sixth commandment? and have a question you want me to answer? whether it's about the 2012 campaign, what's happening on the hill or foreign policy. join me today for a live web chat between 2:15 and 2:45 eastern online. this is "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. [ groans ] [ marge ] psst.

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so with the latest

accusations a deal breaker? people who went to listen to herman cain were not buys his story. it's 2011. we have been there before with other presidents. sometimes where there's smoke and lots of smoke, maybe there is fire brewing. >> as his poll numbers went up after the initial fall. >> can herman cain get the support of evangelical christians giving all that's been said? >> i think it would be difficult. probably more so in the way his attorneys responded on his behalf to the latest allegations in the statement they put out, basically saying no one has a right to look into his personal life.

i think there's a problem with that. they look at booth in the sum total. i think the response has been more troubling. >> and newt gingrich seems to be the likely inheritor of cain's support he's undergoing some scrutiny, as you mentioned. how the new york times ran a piece today about his ties, and whether or not he's an insider. i think it's hard to make the case he as an insider. four next newt gingrich made it

clear he was wrong about these relationships, but what becomes a pattern, and i think people are working through that process. i think that forgiveness and understanding we're all humans, that's one thing, but whether or not we place trust in someone like that to be the president of the united states is another. i think the next couple weeks will be very important. whether he can handle the scrutiny. >> well, you've known him for many, many years, and you know these also has a mixed record. which you -- >> i think that's the more important issue. >> when you look at that and everybody he's said. it does seem to be boiling down to those two choices.

>> i think some are still waiting. there are other candidates that have not yet had their day. rick santorum is the one in the field that's not had the front-runner status. if you look at his new contract with american, it's void of social issues. mitt romney, when you look at him from a character standpoint, he's someone that everyone should be attracted to, but when you look at his policy issues of the past, his record as a policy maker, it's problematic for him. the other side with a trouble professional past. >> it sounds like you're still

not on board. >> i'm waiting for the process. we're still five weeks away, but a day can make a lifetime. so we're waiting to see what happens. >> tony perkins, thanks so much. up next mike allen, the man himself on on the resurrection of newt gingrich. stay with us. es you a 50 percent annual bonus. so you earn 50 percent more cash. if you're not satisfied with 50% more cash, send it back! i'll be right here, waiting for it. who wouldn't want more cash? [ insects chirping ] i'll take it. i'll make it rain up in here. [ male announcer ] the new capital one cash rewards card. the card for people who want 50% more cash. what's in your wallet? sorry i'll clean this up. shouldn't have made it rain. is the pain reliever orthopedic doctors recommend most for arthritis pain, think again. and take aleve. it's the one doctors recommend most for arthritis pain...

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>> i don't think tony perkins did newt gingrich any favors, didn't give him a lot of rooms, because newt's past will come rushing back. he's been focusing on capable tv, building his brand, so people have forgotten a lot of the objections. a young woman was saying she liked newt gingrich. i asked, you didn't mind all the stuff that didn't happen during clinton? she said i was in fifth grade. so that's a reminder that a lot of time has passed, but there will be a huge focus on it. the magic of e-books, it was just two weeks ago we were able to do an interview with the former speaker. he said there he was the only person that didn't recognize he wasn't dead. he said he was happy for the staffers who left that we saw covered on the show. he said they were running a compare from 25 years ago worried about things like dirty

tricks in south carolina, based on the fact that he has a much younger wife. >> that's a great point. this is one of the lessons of this cycle. you don't need a big campaign. if tim pawlenty were driving around in an suv somewhere, we might be the front-runner. yet he was at the front of the pack. he says he hayes focusing on social media. you know the former speaker is never shy. he said watching his campaign is like watching ray crock build pluck donald's or sam walton

build walmart. >> he doesn't compare himself to steve jobs, though. one of the quotation is that he's crediting his wife calista, third wife, former aide on the hill. he said we privately discuss everything. she sees all the e-mails traffic that matters. she's very, very good at certain kids of editing, visualses, increasingly comfortable going out and talking, giving speeches. the closest analog to his wife is nancy reagan, he said, in that nancy was extraordinarily close to ronny, and they discussed virtually everything. >> this reorganization is fascinating. for people who like the business of politics, it's an amazing story. she didn't want him to campaign in the early states a couple nights in a row. hey, you've been out on the road. that's how you run for

president. they say she wasn't letting them do her job. now the speaker says he's empowered her even more, and so far it's worked. >> it takes a lot to compare your life to one of the great stories. >> if you're out there comparing yourself to churchill, maybe not. we have the great evan thomas and john meech many with the editing. >> what a team, the dream team. mike allen, thank you. >> thank you, andrea. coordinated action by the central bank sends stocks flying today. is it a quick fix? stay tuned. from whole roasted nuts and dipped in creamy peanut butter, making your craving for a sweet & salty bar irresistible, by nature valley. or creates another laptop bag,

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the man is not among the eight victims mentioned in that grand jury report. explosive testimony from the former deputy editor now defunct "news of the world" he said they knew about methods and is defending their actions, even went on to defend the practice, including paparazzi car chases like the one that killed princess diana. a new study from "consumer reports" has frightening results about the safety of apple and grape juice. the study found that 10% had arsenic levels exceeding federal drinking water standards. right now there's no defined limits on fruit juice standards. the markets are soaring today after central banks around the world decide the to provide greater liquidity to the banks. that how the dow soaring.

a sure sign for investors. david walker is the founder of comeback america. and ron aassante is a contributor for msnbc. perhaps this is a short fix. >> first, i don't believe there's an official -- secondly these are short-term perspectives. you can understand why they are moving right now. if we don't start taking steps to deal with the global sovereign debt crisis, which includes the united states of america in the not-too-distant future, we're going to have a lot bigger problems and see them go in a different direction. >> ron, is there any sign that anyone here or in europe is really looking at the global sovereign debt crisis?

>> not really. i do think -- the and the broader says temperaturic issues. and we should distinguish between the immediate problems that european countries are having. we're in very different places. clearly the understanding is not pays up. and the immediacy of the crisis here is not quite the same, which is large and dangerous been to be sure. is the problem in europe is systemic. you have countries with vastly different fiscal and monetary policies, and down the road, can they patch this thing together? >> it's difficult to tell. to me it looks like a 50/50

proposition. either they're going to form a complete political and economic union or they're going to break apart. it's almost a binary option in a certain sense. their banks are imploding in a certain manner, otherwise you wouldn't have seen this coordinated action that really went from beijing to berlin to washington. all the central banks are getting involved in lowering interest rates and providing more liquidity just as was the case with the lehman collapse. this is centered in europe. the sovereign debt crisis in europe needs even more resolution. they have not yesterday come up with a plan to handle their budgets and also getting their banks off the hook. >> so david walker what should we be do in an ideal world in the united states to prepare for what could be a drash down the road in europe which could have an impact on our system as well. >> the biggest failure we have here in the united states is a leadership deficit. we saw it with regard to the super committee.

the cochairs didn't do their jobs, the leaders didn't appoint of right kinds of people. the president was out of town when crunch time came. we're going to have to go to the american people, as ross perot did in 1992, with the facts, the trust, the tough choices. we're going have to make the political price associated with doing nothing, which is washington is adept at, greater than the price of doing something that would involve social insurance reforms, defense and other reduction, comprehensive tax reform that will generate more revenue. that's the reality and we're going to start very soon with that effort. >> andrea, if i may, simpson bowles is -- is simply beyond me. i don't know if dpafd agrees with me, but this is the thing that american people should be fixated on. there's a workable plan, and no one, absolutely no one, is using

it. >> it's been there for a year now, saved, and tom friedman was here a cup days ago why can't the president say let's go back to the blueprint and let's adopt it. >> the fact is neither simply bowles, nor the gang of six nor the super committee did anything beyond the beltway. while i agree there's a lot of positive things about simpson bowles, i don't think you want to go to the american people with a particular plan. i think you want to go to the american people with where we are, where we're headed, how we need to make tough choices, and provide illustrative examples. >> where do you see that happening? what steps would you take? >> first i think we have to recognize today that there's so many technologically capabilities available through the web, through social networks that just didn't exist in 1992. one of the things that comeback america initiative is going to

start with in the next couple weeks we're going to issue a fiscal i.q. test for both citizens as well as elected officials to help understand some basic facts and also whether or not they're likely to be more part of the solution or the problem. we need to start 59 that level, and i'm looking forward to seeing the results. >> well, come back then and we'll take the test together. i'm afraid i flunk. >> i want you to take it. i'm going to hold you to that. >> i promise. thanks to you, david walker. i will do it. and rob assante, always great to see you. on friday former white house budget director peter orszag will be joining us, to talk about the struggling economy, washington's failure and budget gridlock. newt gingrich says he is not a lobbyist, but according to num "new york times" and former clients, he made millions offering advice.

for instance -- he could direct us to the right places in washington and elsewhere. mark halperin is senior political analyst for "time" and msnbc. mark, it's a distinction without a difference. it sounds like it depends on what the definite acquisition of "is" is. if people of the tea party saw chapter and verse what he did in terms of what he got paid for, in terms of the limousine travel he took, they wouldn't like it one bit, but as chris cillizza said earlier, it may not be in the next 30 days there's any messenger out there in the media, "new york times," among the other republican candidates, who can break that message through as long as gingrich stays disciplined talking about what he wants to talk about. >> so it sounds like romney has gotten the focus that gingrich is his main challenger. >> certainly a bit in the interview he did yesterday with fox, he certainly raised one of the themes he would like to do

to contrast. they're both guys in and out of politics. romney is right he's gotten more corporate/private sector experience, but both of these guys are flawed candidates. when people start to say newt can't be the nominees, or romney can't be nominee because of the individual mandate. right now where we are today, these two guys are dominating the prospects of being the republican nominee. it's going to be one of these two, and the romney campaign has very adroit at figuring out who stands in their way. we do have some debates coming up, where i suspect they will engage. >> mitt romney doesn't do too many interviews. he has even fewer news conferences, but he did go on with bret baird, and got a little testy. let's watch. >> climate change, abortion, immigration, gay rights, how can

voters trust what they hear from you today is what you will believe if you win the white house? >> well, bret, your list is just not accurate. so one we're going to have tore better informed about my views on issues. >> so it looks like even in a fairly comfortable setting, he's not comfortable doing interviews. >> you're going to have to be better informed if you're going to ask me about that interview. just kidding. bret baird does a good job. >> right. >> to some extent what stands between romney and the white house, if he can rehabilitate his image about a figure of constancy, that last night did not help im. so every day, you know, another thing he did yesterday was tell reporters i have press availability every day, the reporters covering him who do a lot to frame the narrative know

full well he doesn't have a press conference every day. any day he goes out and makes his image worse along that dominant narrative about him, as someone who doesn't tell the truth, who doesn't stick to his guns is a bad day for him and what he said about that press availability every day is just not good for him, and it helps gingrich, because there's going to be room for votes besides the mitt romney gets, and he's not helping himself increase his prospects when he reinforces the most negative images about him. >> mark halperin, great to see you. >> i was kidding about that not being prepared. >> i know. i know. >> just making sure. coming up next, people wlor always prepared, hillary clinton arriving today in a country that no secretary of state has visited in more than 50 years. we'll telling you where, next. and vice president joe biden on the road. he met with iraq's prime minister today to discuss what happens next when u.s. troops pull out next month. biden says the u.s. will remain a strong presence in the country even after the final troop

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hi there, everyone. coming up on "news nation" at 2:00, is newt gingrich getting to mitt romney. romney takes direct aim at gingrich, calling him, quote, a lifelong politician. meanwhile, "new york times" reports that gingrich made millions giving companies who hired him access to important people on capitol hill. gingrich says he's not a lobbyist, but more like a celebrity in those are his words. we'll have the latest on herman cain, and another example of the hard times facing so many americans, a 104-year-old woman and her 83-year-old daughter were about to be kicked out of their home after the bank forecloseded on their house, but minutes before, you will not believe who stood up for them. we'll have that for you at 2:00 p.m. eastern. the mob attack on the british embassy in tehran has set off shockwaves.

the uk announced it's pulling out of iran and is ordering iran's diplomats to just clear out of the great britain. at the same time france and germany have recalled their am bass endorse from tehran. stephanie gosk is live in london. stephanie, this is such a huge deal. europe has been sort of the bulwark of -- and now iran is much more isolated. >> we're seeing this cascade of diplomatic solidarity behind the uk. france pulling out its ambassador, germany as well. there will be a meeting in brussels and talk of further sanctions, including an oil embargo. we have an official response saying it views britain's decision as hasty and it will retailate for that decision, so a real ramping up on the rhetoric, and spurred, as you know, from that i want aea

report, the u.n. watch dog on iran and nuclear activities, suggesting that they were pursuing weapons, nuclear weapons. >> of course iran has already accused britain of being part of an assassination exactly a year ago yesterday of one of their top nuclear scientists. they accuse britain, the united states and israel in complicity of that. there have been some suspicious explosions at military sites as well, so there's a lot of prizing tension. the u.s. certainly feels that it can sit back and say "i told you so." >> well, to a certain degree. it's also worth pointing out there was an attack on the british embassy -- rather the u.s. and israel is the only country that had an embassy in tehran. britain has historically been kind of the archenemy of iran. really britain holds that place in iran, and what happened just this month on the 22nd of this

month as the uk severed all financial ties with the country, which infuriated the government and really triggered this attack in a lot of ways. andrea? >> an attack clearly authorized by government-related forces. and secretary of state hillary clinton is on an historic trip to myanmar. kristin welker is traveling with the secretary. >> reporter: good achb, andrea. we are 11 1/2 hours ahead of you, where secretary of state hillary clinton arrived just a short while ago. she is the first secretary of state to visit this country also known at burma in more than half a century. she'll by meeting with aung san suu kyi, a nobel peace laureate. she was a political prisoner

here in this country for 15 of the past 22 years. she is the head of the pro-democracy opposition movement. according to members of her party, she is expected to announce she is reentering the political system. this all came about when about two weeks ago president obama announced he was sending secretary clinton to myanmar because he saw what he called flickers of progress, including the fact that the government has opened up a dialogue with aung san suu kyi, released some of its political prisoners and also eased some media restrictions. the president says this country still has a long way to go, in part because they still -- because they've been widely criticized for their treatment of ethnic minorities and also because of their relationship with north korea. analysts say it's important that the united states walk a fine line. it can't look like the united states is giving too much too son. during her visit she's bell meeting with the president and

other top officials. she will impress them to enact more reforms and assess how serious they are about this reform process. as you know, united states has against myanmar. the top state department officials say there is no chance those sanctions will be lifted as a result of this trip. now, the highlight of the visit will really be when secretary clinton meets with aung san suu kui. back to you. what political story will make headlines in the next 24 hours? we'll have that next coming up. but first, in a washington courtroom today, dramatic testimony. secret service agents testified against john hinckley's request for more freedom from the mental institution in which he has been held since his assassination attempt against ronald reagan in 1981. the secret eshs semifinal said that hinckley lied when he claimed he went to see movies near his mother's home. in fact he had been at barnes

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which political story will make headlines in the next 24 hours? chris cillizza rejoins me now. we've got the president going to scranton, pa. an important part of the battleground state. he is heading there right now. >> headed there right now. he will give a speech there trying, i think, pressure congress on the pay roll tax. then doing three events in the few hours that are fund-raisers that also coincide with the tree lighting at rockefeller center. if you are anywhere in new york city, you are in for a nightmare. he is being blald for coming at

rush hour. donald trump, who else. the president obviously raising quite a bit of money for the re-election. >> everyone works in and around rock center, i can tell you is bracing for this. he is going to be only blocks away. he's got three fund-raisers on a normal day it's a mess. at least it's been raining, at least from the live picture we're watching. but it is not going to be fun. we'll watch it on tv. we'll watch our friends with the lighting of the christmas tree and hope that the traffic alert goes out. thank you, chris, we'll see you tomorrow. that does it for us for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." tomorrow, rick santorum. and joining me for a live web chat between 2:15 to 2:45 p.m. eastern. give me your questions. i'll answer them. my colleague has a look at what's next. >> i'm going to miss your web chat. i'm going to submit my web

questions anyway. we've got a lot of developing news. president obama's arrival in scranton, pennsylvania. he is making a push for republicans to finally support an extension of the pay roll tax. but the president's visit is just the back drop we know to the larger issue of whether he can win that state and the vote from the white middle class people who live there. mike smerconish, a native, will tell us where the voters stand. plus the penn state sex abuse investigation. it was expected but now official. the first lawsuits have been filed against jerry sandusky, penn state and the second mile charity sandusky founded. [ baby coughing ] [ coughing continues ]

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