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tv   MSNBC Live  MSNBC  December 5, 2011 8:00am-9:00am PST

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was he digging his own hole and why is his laura loug him to talk. i'm thomas roberts. we get to the latest poll numbers showing newt gingrich soaring to the top in the critical state of iowa. according to the new nbc maris poll, gingrich leads the pack with 26% support. mitt romney lags eight points behind at 18%. gingrich is second with 23 in new hampshire. that's higher than in october. his momentum is growing. just moments ago, gingrich arrived to a mob scene at trump tower here in new york. the two of them are due to speak to reporters at any time now. nbc news deputy political director joins me to talk approximate this. >> mark, is this the next step in the process here? everybody has to go at some point to be anointed by donald trump in a new york meeting and mute is the next one on board? >> it seems that's the case. newt gingrich is meeting with
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donald trump and donald trump has met with almost all the republican presidential candidates, including mitt romney, rick perry, michele bachmann. the list goes on. donald trump, since he first started flirting with the presidential bid in the spring of 2011, has almost represented the very personal in your face style type of politics we've seen in the republican party. very anti-obama. it does seem that donald trump giving a candidate blessing is almost an i am pra mature on that type of politics. >> most importantly, newt gingrich was one of the first people to sign on to the debate also rick santorum. ron paul and jon huntsman are not on board i understand. how important is that? does that play into this meeting? newt is on board. for that debate. excuse me. >> there are a couple of ways to look at it. one, newt gingrich, saying he's going to participate in the debate is trying to solidify all the tea party support around
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him. that donald trump, even if he gets herman cain's support of the tea party, has chosen newt gingrich. orthopedic, we've seen donald trump doing other things. that could make newt gingrich even more toxic to swing voters, come a general election. even some of the independents that would vote in the new hampshire primary for instance. >> you know that newt is surging ahead when the other people are taking shots at him, including the presidential candidates came out swinging against newt over the weekend. take a look at this. >> he's been a part of washington, d.c. for over 30 years. he's as establishment as you get. his address is located on the rodeo drive of washington, which is k street. >> there's a lot of candidates out there. i'm not inclined to be a supporter of newt gingrich's having served under him for four years. >> someone who like issues in 80, 90% of the polls and they're generally not necessarily conservative, strong conservative issues. >> you got to give it to michele
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bachmann with that line of being on the rodeo drive of washington, k street. how scared are the republicans that gingrich could get the nomination? >> everyone starts trying it chase you. you become the political pinata. everybody tries to take a hit. this is one of the great test stud i was the republican party today. in 2010, during the midterm primaries. we saw a lot of time that the establish. didn't have much power. whether christine o'donnell in delaware or sharon engel in nevada wended up winning. will the establishment strike back and i just don't know in anyone has an answer yet. >> newt is taking it to the people in iowa with his first tv ads. let's look at this. >> some people say the america we know and love is a thing of the past. i don't believe that. because working together, i know we can rebuild america. >> so mark, obviously, this part
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of the effort to build up the organization for newt gingrich in iowa. the caucus is four weeks away. if he wins, the iowa caucus, what's next? >> well, if he wins, it's trying to do well in new hampshire. try to beat expectations there. our new maris poll showing his numbers are going up there. it's important to note that mitt romney is from neighboring massachusetts. he's always been expected to do well in new hampshire. if newt makes it a race, he doesn't have to finish first. but makes it a race,goes into south carolina and then you set up florida for a big fight. but thomas, we have a very long time to go. newt gingrich, has the new tv ad. the question is, does he have the money and the campaign organization infrastructure to beat mitt romney in a head to head fight? as we've often seen, who is up one month can be down the next. we still have a month to go. so a lot of twists and turns ahead, thomas. >> takes a lot of stamina. mark murray, appreciate it. since herman cain suspended his campaign, the candidates are
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scrambling to grab his supporters. cain may announce he's endorsing gingrich today. joining me now is andrew rafferty, covering the cain campaign and jennifer jacobs joins us, chief political writer for the des moines register. andrew, i'll start with you. what are you hearing about the possibility that cain is going to endorse newt gingrich and also is there a revised public schedule now after this weekend's announcement, at least this week, in lieu of what's supposed to take place? >> reporter: good morning thomas. what we're hearing is the herman cain endorsement of newt gingrich seems a matter of when as opposed to if. he's going to oklahoma city tonight. he'll have an event there where there were reports that he would use that to, in fact, endorse newt gingrich. those close to cain say that's not necessarily the case. no one is denying the fact that this could happen. they are denying that it could happen today. now, anyone who has covered herman cain knows it's very common to hear mixed signals even from cain's closest
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advisers. but given the relationship that cain and gingrich have, it seems common that that could happen. that endorsement will happen in maybe the coming days. obviously the calendars is compacted with caulks uses on january 3rd. >> andrew, how much of the public schedule of herman cain changed since this weekend in. >> well, what we know is he'll be in oklahoma tonight. that's been on the schedule for a while. other than that, nothing, the public that we know of at this point is still going to the gop fundraiser. but the rest of the week is still up in the air. that's going to give some clues as to when this endorsement might happen as to when we might see cain pop up back in either south carolina, iowa or new hampshi hampshire. >> would the endorsement of herman cain directed toward newt gingrich help or hurt his campaign, jennifer? >> i'm sorry, what was the
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question again? >> would the endorsement of herman cain help or hurt the campaign of newt gingrich? >> oh, absolutely. newt gingrich would definitely benefit from that. our iowa poll this past weekend showed that newt gingrich is the biggest beneficiary of cain's voters. we looked at second choice voters and about three points would go to newt gingrich without herman cain in the race. >> so why are cain supporters really on team gingrich? why would they go that way and not someone like ron paul? >> well, it's about message. they think that newt gingrich is the most competent. they like his confidence. you like at mike huckabee from 2008, he beat mitt romney on a shoestring organization. there are a lot of middle aged republicans in iowa who revere newt gingrich from leading the 1994 republican revolution. there's a lot of holdover from that. they've liked him all along. now that they think he has a
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shot, there's a lot of people behind him. >> we don't want to discount the perry campaign. he's trying to grab some of cain's votes. they put up a letter to appeal to cain supporters. it says in quote, i'm truly the only washington outsider left in the race. i'm simply a conservative governor who has led based on strong faith and will chart a conservative course for the country. jennifer, one person that we haven't talked about yet really specifically is ron paul. he's in second place in the des moines register. could paul become the new romney in iowa? >> he definitely could. the interesting thing about ron paul, he has support from a nice group of newcomers. so i think his campaign is targeting fresh faces for the caucuses. he also does well with the more moderate voters and liberal voters. if he can bring in that whole new world of newcomers to the caucuses, he is going to do really, really well. >> we continue to watch this unfold. very fluid. andrew rafferty, jennifer jacobs, thanks for your time this morning. 14 states have new laws on
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the books putting restrictions on voters when the naacp says the laws are targeting minority. it could possibly disen frn chies millions of voters. i'm going to talk to al sharpton about that congress. plus congress is down to the wire yet again battling over your payroll dollars. how it could affect your wallet and your family after this. i trade on fundamentals. 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.
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the naacp is launching a campaign today against new laws in 14 states that tighten qualifications for voters. a report released today by the naacp and the naacp legal defense and education fund which are two separate organizations finds the laws tend to suppress minority voting. the new laws cited include voter
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requirements in certain states. laws restricting early voting days and prohibiting voting by those with felony convictions. joining me now is host of msnbc's politics nation, the reverend al sharpton. at the heart of this, the so-called voter i.d. laws. explain to all of us, i know they're trying to frame had in the fact that they're trying to avoid voter fraud in this country. what's the deeper look that we're supposed to be figuring out here? >> well, first of all, it's a solution looking for a problem rather than a problem looking for a solution. when you mentioned the right looking for voter fraud. when you look during the bush administration, in their own investigations, they couldn't come up with 70 cases of voter fraud nationwide. when you had millions upon millions of people in voting. so when you look at the fact that there is no pattern of voter fraud and you see the downside of disproportionate
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amount of minorities, seniors, young people that do not have state issued i.d., that have already voted, you can only say with some degree of certainty that this is designed to try to suppress a lot of votes that would normally go against right wing candidate. >> we have one of the graphics up that says in this report, 25% of african-americans and 19% of latinos do not have a government-issued i.d. that's compared to only 8% of whites who wouldn't have one. in your estimation how big of a hurdle is this for minorities to overcome by election day? >> it's a big hurdle. it's difficult in some case toss get a state i.d. or in terms of going to places i documented on my show, the dnc's come out with a report, my group come out with a report where people don't have the funds, we've seen where you in south carolina you only had a limited amount of locations to get state i.d. this is not as easy to say why
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can't they get an i.d. state issued i.d., you have to get them certain places. seniors on fixed income, it affects their ability to o do it. it's something, again, that is unnecessary sin it's not a rampant problem of fraud. the real question is why are they doing it? >> i haven't hit the dmv in new york. it's too hard. i have mychal california license. are people going to take the active stance that they need or is this just too daunting of a task to try to overcome, especially if the laws get stamped into place more and more? >> no. i think that clearly going to take an act of -- it was part of the big march october 15th, naacp, labor, all of us we'll be marching this week in new york, 25 cities is going to be dealing with this on this friday. and the legal defense fund is going to challenge it legally.
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there's going to be an all-out attack on this on several fronts. like i said, the dnc came in with a report that we featured friday night on the show. a lot of people are going to get in this. >> we had the news and the video of newt gingrich showing up for donald trump. all republicans are the party of job creators. what does it say to you watching how the gop side of things is unfold r for the presidential candidacy from the right? do you think newt there take an president obama? >> it seems he has the momentum. there's a different flavor of the month every month. the reason you can't discount newt gingrich is unlike the rest, this is closer, we're under five weeks to iowa. and he does have government experience and he is going up rather than down. and if the reports that cain is going to endorse him, that doesn't hurt him with that crowd. i toured with newt gingrich on
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education reform at the request of the president. he's a smart guy. he's -- he has brilliant premises and wrong conclusions. he almost never misses being wrong. >> in politics, you want to be a lonestar not a shooting store. he's peaking right now. with the message or the statements he's been making about the occupy wall street, they need to take a bath before they look for a job. >> poor kids. >> they don't have somebody showing up for work on mondays. to show them how to get cash to doing this and they turn to illegal activities instead and democrats are the party of food stamps. is that the message that moderate republicans want to hear? >> i don't think moderate republicans and i don't think a general election public is going to buy it. the question is, is the he can treem forces in the republican party, are they going to give them enough momentum in iowa, in the early primaries that he's
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unstoppable? we saw the extremist take that party in 2010 during the midterm elections. the question is do they have enough attraction, the extremeness in the party to decide the republican nominee. if they do, i think it makes the democrats' job easier even with a bad economy. if they don't, i think that we'll see. but romney is not moving at all. the problem is the moderate forces or the more moderate forces don't have a candidate because mitt romney just is not getting it and there's no -- there's some questions about where his positions have been in the past as opposed to right now. they're in a real quandary. >> reverend, we'll see you tonight at 6:00. all this week on politics nation with al sharptonment tune in for the series. an investigation of new voting laws around the country. that's politics nation. 6:00 p.m. eastern time on msnbc. right here. we'll look at how the laws impact college kid with heather
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smith of rock the vote. fallout today from the surprising interview that jerry sandusky gave to the new york times. the former assistant coach denied molesting young boys. many are questioning whether he hurt his defense. he needed help from his lawyer when asked to explain his comments last month to nbc's bob costas who asked sandusky if he was sexually attracted to young boys. >> what in the world is this question? you know, am i going to be -- if i say no, i'm not attracted to boys, that's not the truth because i'm attracted to young people, boys, girls. >> but not sexually. you were attracted -- >> i enjoy -- that's what i was trying -- i enjoy spending time with young people. i enjoy spending time with people. >> joining me now is criminal
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defense attorney ted simon. a lot of questions swirling in my head right now. but i'll start with this one. why would his attorney allow sandusky to do this extensive four hours, four-hour interview with the new york times? many legal analysts calling this completely an unusual strategy. how is this remotely helpful? >> i would start from the premise that i don't believe it's good professional practice for one lawyer to publicly grade the paper of another lawyer. particularly in a high-profile case where there's a lot of complex choices to make. you start from that premise. i would secondly say, i neither endorse the choices or do i denigrate. having said that, there are reasons we can identify that someone may want to speak publicly, including to negate the obvious avalanche of pretrial publicity. if i may. -- >> jerry sandusky for me then, if you were representing him, how did he do in this four-hour interview with the new york
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times, especially revisiting nbc's bob costas' interview and going over that question, are you sexually attracted to young boys and still not being able to say definitively no? >> there are two issues. there's the choice to do it and the second is the execution of it. obviously, there are aspects of his presentation that are not ideal. however, i think what gets somewhat lost in this is that the -- you know, every citizen, regardless of offense and particularly in this country has certain foundational and fundamental rights, including the right to be presumed innocent. the fact that a government has the burden of proof at all times and the government must prove every essential element beyond a reasonable doubt. what's o lost somehow in this avalanche of negative pretrial publicity, the recognition of the important principles that are more important than any one case and no one seems to mention them. also keep in mind as well, there
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have been many people that have been publicly convicted and later exonerated. i'm sure you remember richard jewel from the olympic bombing case, the mcmartin school case and the ramseys. this is not to side with one side or the other but hope that there is fairness in the evaluation of the case. certainly, if i was representing a complaining witness, i would advocate for them. if i was representing the defendant, i would advocate for that person. as far as the press goes, there should be a more even handed approach to what is going on. these are allegations. the best place to review those will be in a court and more important than anything else, be mindful that in in country, unlike many other countries, we're fortunate to have the foundational principles where we're presumed innocent, the government has the burden of proof and not found guilty until it's proven beyond a r&d.
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reasonable doubt. there is precious little that is spoken about. >> ted, you're on the defense for jerry sandusky based on the information that you know about the 40 criminal counts, based -- that are levelled against him with an open investigation, meaning that more criminal charges could be coming? that the media spun this story about a guy? we're being too negative on a guy charged with 40 counts of abusing counts? >> whether they're four or 40 counts. i'm not siding for or against mr. sandusky. i'm trying to provide an independent view of the criminal justice system in the united states, which requires each defendant, regardless of the offense, to be presumed innocent, but the government has the burden of proof. >> we're not broad-brushing the politics of the defense. we're looking directly at jerry sandusky. to broad-brush it with richard jewel and patsy ramsey, it's totally taking it out of context. >> i don't think so. i'm throwing an analogy between
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there have been people publicly convicted and later exonerated. >> people who are guilty and their story comes out ahead of type and then convicted of it. >> absolutely. everyone, regardless of charge, however horrific it may be, is an allegation and in this country, we're fortunate to have those important principles and that is something we should savor. >> ted, nice to see you today. >> nice to see you. iran claims it shot down one of four drones. the u.s. military denies it. is the military hiding something else, like a secret war? snail mail is about to get slower. what we need to hear around the holidays. the details of that and much more right after this. in america, we believe in a future that is better than today. since 1894, ameriprise financial has been working hard for their clients' futures. never taking a bailout. helping generations achieve dreams.
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today about whether the u.s. is engaged in an escalating covert war with iran. these questions follow recent incidents including iran's claims sunday that it shot down a highly sophisticated u.s. drone. nbc news pentagon correspondent jim miklaszewski joins us live to explain. mick, the stealth itself, the drone that iran says it recovered, they said they did so and it's mostly intact, correct? >> that's what they're claiming. they've offered no photographic evidence that they have in fact recovered what would have been a crashed drone. and in this case, they claim it's an rq 170. which is an advanced super secret stealth drone that the u.s. has used in operations such as the killing of osama bin laden in pakistan. but in terms of the covert war, u.s. military and officials here in the pentagon stress that the u.s. military is not flying drones, neither is the cia, flying drones over iran. they claim they've got enough satellites in the sky to collect that kind of information that
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they might glean from a drone. in this case, they say they were flying a drone on a routine surveillance mission inside afghanistan when they suddenly lost control of the drone. it appears to have crossed over into iran. maybe run out of fuel and eventually crashed. again, despite iranian claims and the u.s. acknowledgment they've lost a drone, we still see no proof from iran that its military actually has the drone in its hands, thomas. >> jim miklaszewski at the pentagon. nice to see you. newt gingrich is on the top of the polls an also meeting with donald trump right now. will it be pizza lake palin or jean skrorj like perry? wall street had one of the best weeks last week. what are we in store for now? back with much more after this. i can see who's on my network people! lance? lance? yes, yes you are next. all right. dave, i'm in. ♪
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at bank of america, we're lending and investing in communities across the country, from helping to revitalize a neighborhood in brooklyn to financing industries that are creating jobs in boston or providing funding for the expansion of a local business serving a diverse seattle community and supporting training programs for tomorrow's workforce in los angeles. because the more we can do in local neighborhoods and communities, the more we can help make opportunity possible. welcome back everybody. newt gingrich is following the front-runner script to the letter. step one, make a splash in iowa and new hampshire.
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step two, get the donald on your side. they met ahead of the gop debate that will be moderated by none other than the donald himself. >> 100% americans and i think that the issue is food stamps versus paychecks. every state in the country will be in play and i intend to run as the paycheck candidate. i'm delighted to be here. in addition, meeting with donald trump as you know, i've been making the -- we need to work very hard to help poor children in poor neighborhoods acquire opportunities to work and i have asked him to take one of the poorer schools in new york and basically offer at least ten apprenticeships to kids from that school to get them into the world of work and get them into an opportunity to earn money and get them into the habit of showing up and realizing that effort gets rewarded and that america is all about the worketh ib. we had a great conversation about it. i'm a big fan of his. he was in the last movie shall the city upon a hill.
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did a great job. let me just say, he's been -- i'll let donald trump tell you himself. >> well, it was a great honor to have newt up here. it's amazing how well he's doing. and how it's really resonated with so many people. he did mention if i could do something for some of the kids in very, very poor schools throughout the city, i thought it was a great idea. we call it an apprenticeship and we all know about the apprentice. we're going to be picking ten young wonderful children and we're going to make them apprentic apprentices. we're going to have fun with it. it will be something that will prove results. i thought it was a great idea. it was newt's idea. >> the possibility of still running for the white house. how can you do that and debate in iowa -- >> the debate is december 27th. i'm looking to endorse somebody after that debate.
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i'm not looking at anything. if the wrong person gets in,that's different. i'm not looking for the wrong person. i don't think the wrong person will be chosen. >> there we have it. the donald there talking about the fact that news max debate on december 27th. the only two people who signed on to that are the man to his left, newt gingrich to meet donald trump as well as rick santorum. two people declined, jon huntsman and ron paul. i'm joined by nbc news campaign jamie, what do you know about the meeting today between trump and newt gingrich other than the fact that newt gingrich is asking for donald trump to take in ten apprentices from a poorer school here in new york? >> caller: how are you? >> we doesn't know much about what they discussed besides that plan. what's interesting about it is, this is something that plagues speaker gingrich. he got a lot of press on his remarks about children in poor
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neighborhoods and this is him spinning into something that might garner better press and release a lot of interest with donald trump involved. >> jamie, the fact that newt and donald trump have a long history together, as we heard that he appeared in one of his production company's movies. we also know that newt gingrich is a country club member at one of trump's country clubs in the mid-atlantic region. i think in virginia. explain the interesting, behind the scenes relationship that these two men have that we don't get to see on the cameras. >> well, you can tell that there was a lot of camaraderie. the two of them enjoy each other. there was a lot of shoulder patting and that sort of thing as they walked from the elevator to where the press room was. huge tangles of microphones waiting for them there. then as they said goodbye, donald trump walked to the elevator. these are clearly two men that get along.
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i don't know what they talked about privately. you can tell that they like each other. >> nbc news campaign, jamie novgrad. nice to talk to you. he's a business and real estate mogul. what makes him qualified to moderate a presidential debate and what's on the donald's agenda. david good friend is a former clinton white house staffer and michael steele is an msnbc analyst and former chairman of the republican national committee. gentlemen, nice to see you this morning. michael start with you. karl rove said this morning that the rnc chair should step in. tell the candidates not to take part in this debate. if you were in that position still, what would you recommend? >> oh, i would probably say something along the same lines, particularly if the rnc had taken the position that debates are sanctioned versus not sanctioned. you don't know exactly what this means. you know, donald trump is a larger than life figure. certainly, having sort of this surreal type of debate where
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he's asking the questions, having once toyed with the idea of running and may yet again run is a little bit out there. i don't know exactly what that's going to look like, that only two of the eight or seven candidates decided to actually join up for this says a lot. you know, but i suspect that the rnc won't dip its toe into this particular pool because it's probably not necessarily necessary for them to do. >> we did report earlier that ron paul, jon huntsman declined refusing to play part in the debate. playing devil's advocate could this endear him to voters and viewers, lure people in to want to watch this. to see what the candidates have to say, especially younger voters? >> trump's business expertise. he's gone bankrupt several times and n inherited a fortune from his father. that's not the guy i want to take advice from. >> that's what he would tell you.
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look at his statements, david. >> i'll see the proof. but look, donald trump is a master self-promoter. the don king of politics without the hair or a different kind of hair. the guy is out there to promote his own image. newt gingrich is similarly very adept at press manipulation. we're not talking about the fact that he broke up with his wife on her cancer deathbed. not the fact that newt gingrich owes money on the tiffany bill of half a million or whatever it was. we're not talking about the ugly facts in his past because r because newt gingrich has come out with outrageous ideas rolling back the child labor laws and doing this debate. two master manipulators of self-promotion can get us high ratings here in america. isn't that wonderful? >> a while ago, david axelrod took his shot at newt gingrich. take a listen. >> i was amused by the newt gingrich ad by the way, because he talked about bringing the country together to solve problems. you're talking about the
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godfather of gridlock here. the guy who two decades ago really invented the kind of tactics that have become commonplace. >> michael, i'll start with you on this one. would the republicans be gleeful to see newt gingrich rise over romney? >> yeah, i think in the long run, yeah. newt is a proven fighter, gone toe to toe with democrats of all stripes in the past, worked with democrats. the idea of having the president and newt gingrich on the same stage, whether a three-hour lincoln douglas-style debate or what we've seen already about the future of the country, is something that excites a lot of people. i think newt is one of these guys who won't back down at the end of the day and all of the foibles and personal baggage that our friends on the left like to throw up, that's baked into the newt story for a lot of people. it's not resonating the way some folks would like it to, both inside the republican party and outside the republican party. and i think newt has right now an opportunity to move forward
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provided he doesn't step on his own message, which he has a history of doing. we'll see what happens. >> david, same question to you. would president obama and the democrats be gleeful to see newt rise to the top? >> well, actually yes. i think that he represents an even more stark contrast to the policies of inclusion and middle class growth that the democrats are pursuing. personal character matters. if you look carefully at the polling of president obama,let start with him. the personal a o profl, do you trust this man, like this man. still very high. by contrast, newt gingrich scores very low. overall, approval is one thing. personal in a presidential race really matters. is it somebody i like, trust, relate to. obama would beat him hands down. i would welcome that fight. >> we have a ways to go. stamina, gentlemen. david good friend, michael steele. thank you. appreciate it. here's a look at other stories topping the news. the holiday cards may come slower than expected.
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post office officials announcing closing half of all ro sesing centers and 3700 local post offices slowing the time it takes to deliver first class mail for the first time in 40 years. changes will occur as early as next spring. the holiday shopping frenzy started by black friday and cyber monday is still going strong. the on-line tracking firm com score now says americans spent nearly $6 billion last week in on-line purchases. that's up 15% from the same time last year. also up, let's look at the markets. we return to work this week. we have the dow jones up by almost 140. the s&p up by almost 20 and the nasdaq over 40. investors pretty confident in how things are going across the pond there. restoring the euro. the campaign train -- think about a karl i simon song. royal spending cuts. the sluggish economy takes its toll on the royal family. what's being stripped from their budgets? breathe robert, out of your mouth.
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welcome back to msnbc. time for the sidebar. eva longoria might be a desperate housewife. she wants newt gingrich to know that the latina community is not desperate in looking for illegal work rmt. the actress blasted his comments poor children have no work habits unless it's illegal. she tweeted at newt gingrich, you clearly know little about the latina community. they start businesses at six times the national average. latina children do have the highest poverty rates. ron paul, never considered a threat for the nomination is gaining ground in iowa. the republican congressman from texas doesn't consider himself to be a flavor of the month. instead, paul says he's a flavor of the decade. it's a big night in the nation's capitol. at least last night for the kennedy center honors ond those attending d.c.'s version of the academy awards. cellist yo-yo ma, meryl streep,
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musician sonny rollins and barbara cook and neil diamond. neil diamond in the room, how could they not all sing sweet caroline. especially the woman it was named for being there, the host of the show. caroline kennedy. after dropping out of the race, herman cain decided to give his first interview to saturday night live. well, sort of. take a look. >> it's garbage. the truth is that we're friends. yes, i gave her money because that's what friends do. seth you and i are friends, right? >> i guess. >> take some money. >> well, thank you. >> you know that money ain't free. >> i'll just give it back. as the rest of the gop field fights for cain's supporters, some are suggesting there is something else that they can gain from cain's departure that is a lesson in u milt. a special correspondent for newsweek and the daily beast and joins me now. his news story is in the december 12th issue of newsweek.
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good to have you here. you say that cain's arrogance did the campaign in than any other factor. explain how you mean that. >> i think it's undoubtedly true. the conventional wisdom on herman cain for a long time is that he's not a serious candidate. he's in this to sell copies of his book or to jack up his speaking fees once this all comes to a crashing end. so on and so forth. i guess i kind of subscribe to that for a little while. then i read his book. this is herman cain. which if you read it, by the way, thomas, i don't recommend that you do that. you probably have better things to spend your time on. if you read this book, which i did, you see from page 1 just a supreme narcissism that leaps off the page. it's very clear that this guy did not regard his candidacy has a joke. had fact, he regarded all the other candidates as a joke. assumed he was going to be the president of the united states. pretty astonishing little document. >> i did download the free sample on my ipad. that was good enough for me. >> yes. >> cain isn't the only candidate
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accused of narcissism, lacking humility as well. listen to recent comments made by newt gingrichment. >> i'm going to be the nominee. i helped ronald reagan and jack kemp develop economics, i helped to lead the effort to defeat communism in the congress. >> i was charging $60,000 a speech. i thought it was going to be mitt and not mitt. it may turn out to be newt and not newt. >> michael, gingrich surged in the past month. according to the new nbc news marist poll, why doesn't this perceived arrogance seem to be a liability for gingrich as it may have been for a candidate like cain? >> i think it will become a liability for gingrich. if he remains the front-runner and if he become the nominee. the clips you just played, he's going to say 200, 300, a thousand more things like that. it's just going to weigh him down.
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it's going to become too much for people. but i will give gingrich this. even though some of his ideas are really nutty and really out there, he at out there, he at least does have some policy depth. unlike herman cain. that is the key difference between those two. you have to have an incredible self-of sense, an unbelievable degree of self-confidence to put it mildly to run for president. you should also have some sense of the country and why your skills, your attributes match what the country needs right now. that's a successful presidential candidate. if you just have the first thing, the great sense of self, that's really not enough. >> michael, nice to see you this morning. thank you. >> thanks. tiger woods back on top. he won his first tournament in over two years at the chevron world challenge. it's not a regular pga tour event. but it is a tiger woods tournament. it was established to benefit
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his charities and he is the host. plus, 06 minutes of football and at least four minutes of madonna singing. the rumor confirmed. madonna will be performing at the upcoming super bowl on february 5th at nbc. and madonna is a super bowl virgin. she was close to signing up twice before, but both deals fell through. americans are always ready to work hard for a better future. since ameriprise financial was founded back in 1894, they've been committed to putting clients first. helping generations through tough times. good times. never taking a bailout. there when you need them. helping millions of americans over the centuries. the strength of a global financial leader. the heart of a one-to-one relationship.
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these are tough economic times for almost everybody now. even queen elizabeth and the british royal family are feeling the pinch of new austerity measures in the uk. we go live to london. stephanie, i understand the queen facing a pay freeze and prince charles having to foot some major expenses as well,
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too? >> the british government pay for the the royal budget. the british government is making cuts across the board. of course, the royal family is going to feel that as well. effectively a pay freeze for the queen until 2015. kate and william's travels are going to be footed by prince charles. there were repairs in the works for windsor castle there were leaky roofs and bad plumbing. that's going to be put on hold. the palace has been allowed to rent out some rooms in st. james palace for the olympics. the queen herself is spearheading some of these cost cutting measures. she reportedly is going around buckingham palace and switching off the light switches. >> wow. misery loves company. stephanie, thank you so much. that's going to do it for me today. i'll see you back here tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. eastern time. don't go anywhere "now with alex
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newt gingrich and donald trump are joining forces to create the biggest ego in the world. it's monday, december 5th. and this is "now." joining me today from the daily caller, matt lewis, maggy from politico, joanne reed and arry mel december burr of the nation. we are dedicating this segment to the rise of the super ego. there's a lot to unpack here. i want to start with the press conference that just happened between donald trump and newt gingrich. it's amazing that the two egos could fit in the same room. maggy, you were there. >> it was surreal as you might expect. there was a crush of media, a ton of cameras. it was a little crazy. i have to admit, you're watching the front runner for the iowa caucuses right now and he's in new york talking about educating poor kids in new york city