if not, maybe we will have a white christmas here in washington. >> a winter's tale. >> god wanted me to be a bear, not a gazelle. >> this bear is on the loose. >> big bear chase -- big bear chase me! >> sorry, folks, this shakespearean tale is no comedy. it may be chilly december, but the mitts are off as mitt romney comes out swinging against newt gingrich. the speaker getting bigger and badder with each passing day. the alpha dog turned super underdog is sharpening his teeth to go after the big bear in iowa. how can he not just look at newt's ballooning numbers. newt taking a full third of the vote in iowa. gaining ground in mitt's

stomping ground new hampshire. she is blowing mitt away in south carolina. holy firework, look at florida. newt got nearly double the vote, almost 50%. folks, this is for real. mitt romney has not put new hampshire in hand and behind the smooth veneer, he has given the order to release the dogs of war. in this case campaign surrogates like senator john who who attacked the fabric of newt's conservative character with msnbc's chuck todd this morning. >> do you believe gingrich is a faux conservative? >> i think he is a gingrichite. all he cares about is newt gingrich. he doesn't care about conservative principals. he cares about newt gingrich. >> that comes after mitt's ad highlighting the constancy of his marriage over 40 years and a jab at his serial adultery and

multiple marriages. guess who is playing mr. nice guy. the former speaker famous and listen to what he said about the attacks. >> i'm going to stay positive and how we solve the country's problems. i have one opponent. barack obama. >> gingrich proved going after the president's allegedly socialist economic policies. >> i'm not into wealth redistribution. i'm into wealth creation. this is the most effective food stamp president in american history. i would like to be the most effective paycheck president in american history. >> he certainly is into creating wealth isn't he? how uls would he keep shopping at tiffany's. the foreign policy swipes at the president on wednesday before the jewish coalition where mitt romney got in the game. >> defending freedom and america

is the first business of the state department not appeasing our opponents. >> president obama adopted an appeasement strategy. appeasement betrays a lack of faith in america and strength and in america's future. >> the president was not taking those remarks lying down, getting fired up in the white house briefing room. >> ask osama bin laden and the 22 out of 30 top al qaeda leaders taken off the field whether i engage in appeasement. or whoever is left out there. ask them about that. >> indeed. it appears the mitts are coming off all-around. let's get more with the panel. with me in new york, correspondent for the nation and joining us from washington, jonathan cape heart, writer for "the washington post." get afternoon to you. can i start with you and describe how mitt romney must be

feeling today. he is campaigning for years and cruising as the assumed nominee and now he is being trounced by a man with the most poisonous reputation of any republican in the country. romney must be suffering a form of political ptsd. >> remember there is a time magazine cover i believe it was last week where it had the question with mitt romney's face on it, why doesn't anybody like me. this guy has been running for six years and has a ground game and has a campaign. he has got everything you need to be a successful nominee. the only problem is he is trying to be a nominee of a party who made it clear time and time again since august. they want anyone but him. when ron paul is inching up in the polls, setting himself up possibly to be the next anyone but romney, you know you are in trouble. >> we know that newt has done well in the debates and he has

performed relatively well. not much compared to those who he competing with, but we know his success in the polls has everything to do with the fact as john says that people don't like mitt romney. >> obviously the door swung open for a while and different people have been in the doorway and some seem like they were coming through and shifted away and now we have one more souter. that's a big dynamic in the race. the other thing is if you were famous before you started running for president in this modern system, you do much better. people can look back and say senator at this time in his cycle was out of cash and considered disliked. >> problems in his own ground game. >> all kinds of problems and i don't think anyone would deny a famous war hero who was part of american life. i don't think he is famous in quite the same way in terms of public perception, but he is famous. there is an ability to rise from the ashes because of the high

name recognition. if you look at the caucus poll of likely caucus goers in iowa and in the register this week, the candidate who leads among the idea of what is best suited for president. i think it reflects leadership person in government. it came out of nowhere. >> we have another debate that won't be moderated by your friend the trumpster. we have seen mitt romney aim shots at newt's past. i assume you expect this saturday to be an all out brawl. >> i think that depends on how mitt romney decides to attack newt gingrich and whether newt gingrich decides. >> he has no choice. >> we have been through a lot of debates where mitt romney would mix it up, but he has to did something to slow the surge in the poll numbers of newt gingrich. he does have the strength of

having a campaign apparatus behind him as newt gingrich was trying to build the plane which we have seen is almost impossible. he does have to at least put in a kernel of doubt in the minds of primary voters in the first two contests that they might be taking a chance on voting for newt gingrich, someone who conservatives are going after every day hammering him about his leadership style as speaker of the house. his business dealings and his moral failings and as a husband and as a person on a daily basis. if mitt romney can do it in a way that doesn't turn off the voters, he could maybe slow newt's role. >> it's incredible. he makes the point about conservatives attacking and gingrich himself is floating above it all and saying i'm not going to get involved in dirty name calling. it is incredible.

yet there is also this problem with voter enthusiasm among republicans. it's fallen from 58% in september to 49% now. overall. are some republicans throwing in the towel and planning not to go out and vote? >> i don't think they are throwing in the towel and there is a weariness. if you go back six months and an excitement. an idea in republican circles that the republican was weak and no economic recovery and thus the wins were at their back also. the debt ceiling which everyone remembers. the mood is different now and i think there is a collective fatigue. newt gingrich is doing something smart here. he is not playing the field. he missed the voting deadline in ohio to get on the ballot. what he is doing right is playing only for iowa where people don't like negative attacks and it makes him look big. all the attacks add up and people respected republicans swinging at him and saying you

must be worried about me, but i won't go down that road. that plays well for a one-state strategy. he can only afford to worry about one state. >> a final question to you. many of us were staggered when we heard mitt romney level the charge of apiecement at the president. you and i know and especially as i do coming from europe when you use that term, that has a terrible amount of weight associated with it. the murder of millions of people, over six million jewish people at the hands of hitler. what was mitt romney thinking when he used a term like that against president obama who would have nothing to do with chamberlain and appeasing hitler. >> this has everything to do with throwing red meat to the base. the base clearly loves it when republicans take the fight to the president when they call him a socialist and when they call him a foreigner basically and question his legitimacy to sit in the oval office.

they like these things. they don't dive deep into what the words mean. they sound good and they know they are negative and against a person they want to defeat. the problem is there a bunch of other people who are willing to hold their felt to the fire and you showed the clip earlier the president responding to two comments like that. the response was pitch perfect. >> it was robust and should remind viewers that it wasn't just mitt romney who targeted that term at the president. it was also newt gingrich. thanks as ever. next, the clock is ticking. will republicans really let the tax break expire? humbug indeed. >> this is not about me. they shouldn't extend the payroll tax cut for me. they shouldn't extend unemployment insurance for me. this is for 160 million people who in 23 days are going to see their taxes go up if congress doesn't act.

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>> moments ago the senate failed to pass a plan to extent the payroll tax holiday. unless it passes by the end of this year, the average american family will see taxes jump by at least $1,000 on january 1st. the president made it clear he will veto anything but a clean bill. nobody including himself should even consider a christmas vacation until this matter is resolved. >> rather than trying to figure out what can they extract politically from me in order to

get this thing done, they need to be focused on what's good for the economy. what's good for jobs and the american people. i made very clear i do not expect congress do go home unless the payroll tax cut is extended and unless unemployment insurance is extended. >> congressman elijah cummings is a democrat from maryland and the ranking member of the committee on oversight and government reform and i'm delighted to say he joins us. good afternoon. >> good to be with you. >> average american families stand to see tax guess up by at least $1,000 if this payroll tax holiday is not extended. we know that republicans have pledged never to raise taxes. given that promise, why are they finding it so difficult to agree to the president's proposal? >> i basically think that they do not want this president to have any success. they are looking at the next

election and not taking care of their own constituents unfortunately. i hate to say it and it pains me to say it, but this is what it's all about. keep in mind they were pushing the extension of the tax cuts for the rich big time. we have a situation to make sure that the middle class, 160 million people have an opportunity to get this payroll tax cut which would allow them to save $1,000 or have $1,000 in their pocket. suddenly they are saying no. they always said that folks ought to be able to keep as much of their money as possible. when it comes to a time where our people need it and the economy is in bad shape and families need this badly, they are saying no or they are hmming and hawing.

>> the president made it clear that any attempt to tie the pipeline deal to the payroll tax, any attempt to merge the two, that bill will never fly. here's what john boehner said about this today. >> the project will create tens of thousands of jobs immediately and has bipartisan support in the house and senate. it's clear that the president decided to push this decision off for a year conveniently until after his next election. >> is that the speaker putting his thumb in the president's eyes and what are the implications for ordinary americans if congress cannot reach an agreement before deadline? >> it's ridiculous. john boehner needs to take his political cap off and put it down and get this done. i think the president is right. this is not time to play politics. they want to put all kinds of

writers on this legislation. one of the things is reduce the amount of money going to the epa and it's effective so it won't be as effective as we would like it to be. this will go on and on and on. the president is right. we need to shut the doo door and take care of the american people. i think again mr. boehner is playing politics and some of my republican friends are playing politics. this is no time for that. they set their politics to the side. >> there is concern that extending the holiday will affect the solvency of social security. the budget office said it's to 2038. is this republican seeking simply to injury the president by any means even if it means injuring 160 million americans who would have to pay more tax if this matter is not resolved? >> i have to answer with a yes

because we also heard from the actuary that made it clear there would be no harm done by doing this tax cut. again, we can find excuses not to do things, but the american people are depending on us to do something and do it right. if we are not, we need to get out of office and let somebody else come in and do this. they are depending on us and i'm tired of the contradictions and the hypocrisy. on the one hand, republicans guarding with all of their might making sure that there is no tax hikes on the rich, but when it comes to a tax hike on the 160 million hardworking americans, suddenly they say no, no, no. >> senator chuck schumer said he is going nowhere unless this is resolved and not take the holiday. the president himself and his family can go off to hawaii.

will you stay in d.c. until this matter is resolved? >> i will stay until it's resolved. i have constituents who are in big trouble trying to take care of their families and not trying to get a trip to france and get to have a decent christmas. they are not looking for filet mignon, they are looking for hamburger. i want to make sure they are taken care of. i can't sit in comfort until they are comfortable. every member of congress is taking the same position. >> elijah cummings from maryland, thank you for speaking such sense on the issue. >> thank you. >> consumer watch dog? we don't need no stinking consumer watch dog. republicans thumb their nose at the idea of someone watching out for us. stay with us.

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the president unexpectedly made an appearance in the white house briefing room after senate republicans refused to allow the nomination of the head of the consumer financial protection bureau to go forward. to say he showed up ready for a fight is putting it mildly. nbc's luke russert is live on capitol hill. i watched that briefing and seemed to me as though the president was beginning to lose patience. >> it was unexpected in the briefing room this morning and it wasn't that the nominee to head the cfpb that the board was going to go down to defeat. one notable exception on the republican side voting for continuation of a debate to bring it to a vote, it took 60 and they got 53. scott brown. who is he running against? the architect of the office to

begin with. elizabeth warren in massachusetts. telling politics and he said he is perfectly willing to do a recess appointment. he left all options on the table. will the senate be going into recess at all? >> some reports that speaker boehner and eric kantor may not be on the same page on how to deal with the payroll tax and jobless benefits issue. what are you hearing from your sources? >> i actually asked speaker boehner that question this morning about the idea of repatriation and whether to lower the taxes on money made overseas and brought back to the united states. john boehner did not want to have that be part of the payroll tax and eric kantor did. they harshed out differences last night and i asked that question and he said theyor the same page and think it's not the right time to do the legislation. we will do it as part of a tax reform. the gop plan for a payroll tax

cut holiday will pass out of the house and go nowhere in the senate that will lead to what we have seen all year and an 11th hour deal between speaker boehner, harry reid and president obama and all the things that need to be completed. the payroll tax cut holiday and medical documents. quite a holiday season. >> many viewers are asking that question. does that mean neither of you get a christmas holiday? >> it may not be in a little grass shack in hawaii. it might be in washington. >> i will be here until the 25th, but i might take religious observation for the lord's birthday. that will be my out. >> mike viquiera and russert. stay with us. christmas is under attack and so is the vice presidency. the day's top lines are coming up. >> being vice president is not worth a bucket of warm spit. all energy development comes with some risk,

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>> welcome to "morning joe." it's 6:00 a.m. on the east coast.

from wedding bells to jingle bells. here are the top lines. ba humbug. >> i'm not going to pick a fight over mitt romney. we like mitt and ann. >> i have been married to the same woman for 25 -- i'm sorry. 42 years. >> i don't think that anybody has been flawless. >> all of the republican field is going to be pro live and for marriage. >> i have a strong marriage to calista and people have to decide is he now a person who matured? >> people understand i'm a man of steadness and constancy. >> if you got the nomination asking him to be your running mate? >> he could be on the list. >> being vice president is not worth a bucket of warm spit. >> i'm a business guy. >> i wasn't there. i was there as the leader. >> so angry, aren't you?

so terrible. work it all out. >> i saw a poll as we came in that had me in second place. it was off the internet. i think hot gas. >> quit nit picking at one another. >> you don't need to be in the pew every sunday to know that gays can serve openly in the military but our kids can't openly celebrate christmas. >> ♪ >> as president, i will end obama's war on religion. >> i agree, jesus christ is the lord. i believe in that. i think the young man may have left his jacket. >> let's get to our triple panel now. with me here in new york, contributor and strategist crystal ball and in washington, political analyst and georgetown

university professor and good afternoon to all of you. professor dyson. perry ad where he talks about a country where gays can serve in the military and children can't pray in school. isn't this a blib rate attempt to go back 25 years to the culture wars that sicken the political debate in the country. >> absolutely. we had a good reason for having a separation of church and state. the founding fathers understood that everybody ought to be able to embrace their religious identities and realities and the thick wall of separation should obtain because we don't want them being be enshrined as the religion. all religions would be protected if no religion would be treated in a special fashion. rick perry wants to go back to prosecute more cultural wars, he wants to jump wack back with relitigate the arguments over the declaration of independence and at the basis of this nation. for guys who claimed themselves

to be original constructionists and instruct constructionists, they always want to undermine the constitution at their own discretion. i think it's ridiculous. >> crystal, is this not an act of sheer desperation? he has been utterly embarrassed and poll ratings collapsed and he wants to sell his faith for 30 pieces of silver and 30 votes? what is this? >> you are right it. smacks of desperation. rick perry knows that if voters go to caucus and they think about the economy or who has the best grasp or the best leader, they won't vote for him. he has to frame it as a values thing. it's a rhett meat about obama and the race stuff they have been doing all along. this is about mitt romney being mormon and newt gingrich and his past infidelities. for rick perry, he is doing this very despicable and cynical framing.

>> in the same week that lady gaga goes to the white house and the administration supports anti-bullying measures, does it make sense for rick perry to go after gays in the military? i thought that was dealt with. >> i think it makes sense in iowa where there is this strong evangelical voting block that has the ability to tip the caucuses. rick perry is going all in on iowa to get back to crystal's framing of this desperation. he acknowledged that he needs to do well in iowa. we learned that politico is going to start on saturday and embark on a bus tour that will keep him in iowa constantly throughout caucuses. whinl generally outside of areas where there strong christian voting blocks, anti-gay politics is becoming less popular.

they obtained an e-mail from one of perry's consultants who objected to this add that those divisions are even within the perry campaign there. there is debate about whether anti-gay politics are generally going to work. iowa is still a safe bet. >> i want to point out how outside of the mainstream this anti-gay ad is. at the time of repeal, 80% of americans were supporting repeal. since repeal was instituted, even the public face of the opposition who was marine general amos, he said it's been a nonevent. that's how far the gop has moved outside of the mainstream. that's why really no matter who comes out of this primary as their nominee will be damaged by the positions. >> the perry a drd includes a sr

and obama's war on religion. which war is he talking about? this president has done islamic terrorists and he is conducting a war on religion in america? >> that's that is the most ludicrous you can imagine. he takes his faith seriously and charged with being too much of a christian by going to church too much and paying too much attention to his pastor. he can't have been indoctrinated by a pastor you found offensive and had a war on religion. is he in the church or not? my god. we know that religion at its best with mr. obama's understanding means that religion is a verb, not a noun. it's activity and love. just sis what love sounds like. the more mr. obama prosecutes issues of justice in the largest sphere in terms of anti-terrorism and dealing with

joblessness and unemployment, that's where the commitment to justice for all prevails. sheering him being against god is to paint him as the ultimate other anding is to people this old ugly anti-muslim and anti-islamist and anti-black sentiment rolled up in one. >> perry also was taking an attack on mitt romney's mormonism. >> that's right. in iowa you have to remember in 2008 about 60% of the primary caucus goers for the republicans were evangelical christians. there is polling that shows 22% would not vote for a mormon, president. i think that's overcomable, but mitt romney has another issue of coming off as odd. he is hard to relate to and the fact that he doesn't share the religion with the majority of

caucus goers is an additional problem for them. >> a new poll puts the mormon into question into focus. broken down by self-described born again christians, romney gets 13% of their support to gingrich's 31%. no other group supports romney less. what does it say to you? >> it is going to be a problem. his mormon faith in the states where there strong voting boxes. that includes not just iowa, but south carolina and there a number of states that will be important in the primary process where this is going to be a hurdle. it was one of the reasons why we initially thought that maybe mitt romney was not going to focus on iowa and was going to skip it and focus on a strong showing in new hampshire and some of these other states where there evangelicals that are a less important part of the

primary electorate such as nevada and florida. in these states, there is leeriness that some have about mormonism and will hurt mitt romney. >> professor, your point just now is well made that when these candidates choose to use religion in that central way it becomes detrimental for some of them. >> absolutely. if you play with that explosion, you might get blown up yourself. you will be in defense of people being able to express their religion as they believe or we believe that all of us should be equal in the expression of our respect. in that case it just backfires on them. >> crystal ball, professor thank you all for joining us. >> thanks, martin. >> next, putin blames america for russia's woes. really? we will take you live to moscow. stay with us. great prices. i just wish you could guarantee me

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update on the shooting at virginia tech. a gunman shot and killed two people on the campus of the university. one of the victims was the campus police officer who pulled over the suspect in a routine stop. the other victim is reportedly someone the shooter encountered while escaping on foot. it's not clear if the shooter has been caught or still on the run. the university has indefinitely postponed final exams which was set to begin tomorrow. we expect to learn more when they hold a press conference in less than an hour. we will keep you posted as the story develops. >> now, is it possible that the so-called reset in relations between the united states and russia is about to be undermined? russian prime minister vladimir putin came forward and criticized secretary of state

hillary clinton blaming her for encouraging protests against receipt russian elections. mr. putin said by describing the elections as rigged, secretary clinton "gave the signal to his opponents." for more on this i am joined by stephanie goss who is freezing in moscow. is mr. putin reallying issing that the ordinary russian citizen is taking guidance from the american secretary of state? >> look, martin, this is a familiar tactic with putin. facing divisions within his country, we may have our disagreements, but the problem is the united states. effectively that's what hillary clinton came out with strong language after the vote and it was after the vote. the strongest language was after the first large protest that surprised a lot of people here on monday. there were a lot of indications that putin and his government

and his party were really caught by surprise by the number of seats they lost and the reaction to these allegations of fraud. martin? >> steph, isn't this more about the fact that ordinary russians have perhaps caught on to the idea that they don't like being manipulated by putin, medvedev and other leaders anymore? >> that is part of it. i think what you are looking at here is putin has been in power even though he is no longer president. he has been in power for a decade and his power has been in power. what people are upset with to a large extent is the pervasive corruption that they see through all levels of society. a young man that we spoke to, 26 years old who took part in two protests in his entire life. those happened this week. he said he is just fed up and can't even get an insurance cart without paying someone off. people stopped on the street and

often have to slip the police officer 500 no to get a ticket. they are fed up and that's an expression of how upset they are. >> secretary clinton said i think it's important to recognize that we value our relations with russia. she did defend the criticism, but is this a coded acknowledgement that she shouldn't have strayed into russian territory? >> it's tough to say. speculation on my part and perhaps that is coming back and tracking from the statements earlier that were critical very early on. especially as the government was trying to wrap its head around what happened. perhaps there is a little concession in those comments, but certainly so you have the united states government on the record saying there need to be free and fair elections and if there people in the world that are going to demonstrate for

them, we are going to try to support them in that effort. martin? >> stephanie goss, stay warm in moscow. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> coming up, from cold war jitters to the economic crisis in the euro zone. hampton pearson has the market wrap. good afternoon. >> major averages in the red with less than 20 minutes less in the trading day. let's look at the stock averages. we are seeing right now that the dow is down about 155 points. the s&p down 22 and the nasdaq down over 41 points. the number of new apigations or unemployment fell to the lowest level in nine months. weekly applications drop offed by 23,000. that's it from cnbc first in business worldwide. luck? i don't trade on luck. i trade on fundamentals. analysis. information. i trade on tradearchitect. this is web-based trading, re-visualized.

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european leaders are preparing for a crucial summit

in brussels in which they will try to strike a deal on how to tackle the euro zone debt crisis. there have already been ominous words from the french president, nichololas sarkozy, who said, nr has the risk of disintegration been greater. and indeed, at stake is not just the euro zone, but the global economy. joined on this is dr. neil ferguson, the author of a new book entitled "civilization: the west and the rest." good afternoon. thank you for joining us. there's been some talk of a new treaty to try to solve this problem. but is a treaty really going to resolve a problem where individual nations have had problems managing their own budgets? >> yeah, if you want to revise the existing treaty, which is i suspect that's all you're going to do, even that could take months. there are many hurdles that have to be crossed in the individual member states, and of course, all the focus, recently, has been on the problem of sovereign debt. these enormous debts that have

been run out by those european countries. the plan now seems to be to impose a german hair shirt, an austerity budget on everybody, and ultimately move to a kind of no-deficits rule. and i'm rather skeptical about how well that's going to work. >> you've defined this in a slightly different way to how i thought it would play out. you say that you think the euro will survive, but the european union may not. >> you know, martin, it's hard to destroy thing like the euro once you've created. i was opposed to the creation of a single currency 12 years ago. but it's now very hard to dismantle, even if there's just one country left, there would be a tremendous contagion effect. people would be with asking, who's next? and ting costs from everybody's point of view would be very high, even from the german's point of view. but there's a different category of country that is in the european union, but not in the euro, like the united kingdom. a country where we hail from. and that country is looking increasingly skeptical at what the germans and the french are talking about doing.

i can envision a situation in which the euro survives, but the eu, the european union begins to break up, because the non-euro countries, britain in particular say, what's in it for us. >> professional historians like you, when you describe something like europe breaking up reminds idiots like me of the pre-second world war period. do you think that there will be social economic implications from what is described in economic terms? >> that's a non-idiotic question. i'm reminded more and more of the situation in the early 1930s, when the failure to agree on problems of enormous debt and the failure to monitor monetary policy led to a complete disaster. what was, in effect, the second half of the great depression, which was much more a european than an american story. there are two big worries here. one is that european banks are going to go down, if they do not get their act together in the next 24 hours. big banks, and more than one. this could make the lehman crisis look like a relatively

small affair. and that has a direct impact on everybody, including the u.s. economy. and another big fear is the political fear that you've raised. if europe begins to disintegrate, will populists step into the political vacuum as they did, of course, in the 1930s. now, i'm not sure that the risks are anything like as serious as they were back then, because europe was an older demographic now. and older people tend not to radicalize politically in the way that younger people do. but i do think there are real problems mounting here. and we'll see in ten years' time, i suspect, a very, very different europe from the one we see today. >> indeed. professor niall ferguson, thank you very much for joining us here today. and we'll be right back. [ male announcer ] if you think tylenol 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... two pills can last all day.

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it's time now to clear the air. and rick perry, having failed disastrously in the debates, and

having collapsed in virtually every poll, has in utter desperation re-heated one of the most tired and redundant narratives that anyone could use in the battle for the nomination. he's now suggesting that there is a concerted political effort to destroy christianity in america. >> i'm not ashamed to admit that i'm a christian. but you don't need to be in the pew every sunday to know that there's something wrong in this country when gays can serve openly in the military, but our kids can't openly celebrate christmas or pray in school. >> aside from his barely concealed homophobia, mr. perry is going back decades in an attempt to drag up the culture wars that set the stage for a miserable period in this country's political history. he wants to reignite a sense of panic that the church in this country is relentlessly under threat and that he, rick perry, is going to save it. strange, that, because

theologians will tell you that christ is the head of the church and not rick perry. he's probably forgotten that. but perry then went on to make a disgraceful religious smear against the current president, contrasting what he'd do if he was in office. >> as president, i'll end obama's war on religion. >> what?! say that again. >> as president, i'll end obama's war on religion. >> for the sake of rick perry, here are the facts. the president has openly written and spoken about his personal christian faith. there is a christmas tree at the white house. and the first family will be celebrating the birth of christ on december the 25th. president obama is not leading any kind of war on religion. this is a ludicrous fabrication invented by a man who has more money than sense and who, thanks be to god, has very little chance of becoming president.