answer for the $1.6 million stuff he made there. the historian stuff is not playing. >> people are not buying the fact that you're making $1.6 million as a historian. >> the thing is that romney didn't need to do any of it. back mon did it and santorum did it. romney got to make the closing case that i'm a guy that can beat barack obama. >> if he's not tough enough to take the fighting talk into the debate stage, what does that say about mitt romney? he is riding above it. but part of this whole rue feen was to say boo. go beat up on the president. and if mitt romney can only do when it he's talking to some great "new york times" reporters, what does that mean about his fighting spirit? i don't know. did he satisfy you? >> i think he did the job he needed to do last night. but i have to come out a little strong against newt gingrich. i thought the swings against him

paled in comparison to his own admissions. i think if you were listening, especially as conservatives, for some reveal moment, you know, like scoopy do where he takes the mask off and you're like it's old man mr. gingrich. you saw him last night. one which i thought was stunning was the defense of the housing bubble burst and saying it's a good, you know, conservative point to want to put americans into their own homes. and the government should be responsible. worse, he went a step further and said the government should be teaching americans lessons in budgeting. >> let's -- nors nors. >> no one would take a lesson in budgeting from the government. >> we're talking about xooby do moments. i thought the way he treated michelle bachmann and the condescending arrogant newt gingrich was especially on display last night. i want to play a little bit of sound from the debate. >> sometimes people ought to have facts before they make wild allegations. >> the evidence is that speaker

gingrich took $1.6 million. >> i was a national figure who was doing just fine doing a whole variety of things including writing best-selling books, making speeches. >> i was a national figure. i was writing my best-selling books. >> two big problems with that. the first one is the way he speaks to michelle bachmann and the talking down to her. you don't have your facts right. >> he does it well to everybody. >> he does but it doesn't play well in debate when she is the lone female. she did have her facts correct. but that piece of it was correct. and the comment that he didn't need money. that is ridiculous. >> there was sh great side by side pictures of newt and bachmann's and neutral's faces as she was talking. the point being you can read all over this guy's face and he doesn't think much of her. newt gingrich is to the a

likeable guy. you know, people don't say he has a great personality. he doesn't. he's a smart guy but not a likeable guy. >> the thing i still don't know the answer, to and the facts today would sort of muddy the waters anymore, but with very news from "the new york times" that newt gingrich is taking the weekend off. he's not going to iowa until the 27th. if you have a debate performance like that and there is internal polling or rumors of poles that say the metrics are famg in iowa, don't you go there? >> gingrich just turned the phones on in new hampshire. he never thought he was going to be an president. i mean this is what newt does. i think by his own admission. >> do you think he's run for president? >> sure he is. he's done pretty well so far doing it his way. and all those people who start talking darkly about oh, i got these internal numbers.

come share them. i'm sorry, i've seen that movie before. karl rove said they were going to gif us internal numbers sfwlchlt even the external numbers are showing degradation to his campaign in iowa. >> too early? iowa is in 15 days. >> at some point you need to beat the streets. you need to be there on the weekend and closing the deal. i'm not sold on the fact that he ever really wanted to be president. i certainly know likes to hear himself talk. he views himself as, you know, the brilliant genius of all time. whether he expected to be in the position he's in, i don't know. whether it will beer isbly sad if he doesn't get the nomination, i don't know. >> let's talk about a man who theoretically rose or at least the stock went up is mitt romney. i think romney had a couple good moments last night. i want to play one about one that features when he talks about working with democrats in a bipartisan fashion as governor

of massachusetts. >> to get anything done, i had to learn to get the respect of the speaker of the house and senate president and democratic leaders. i found a way to do that. to find common ground, crime from time to time. >> the fact he is doing the last debate before iowa is really important. he can talk about working with democrats. and i would bring up the gay marriage comments. i thought it was interesting that he said over and over again. i believe that people have a certain amount of civil rights. he, of course, didn't say he supported gay marriage. >> i think he quitted himself on the social issues. guns, that's is a different story. as a gun owner, i'm going need more of an explanation. i've always been pro gun. i think when it comes to his roar as governor. he's not the first few months of

not talking about the fact he had executive experience. he was the businessman candidate. now i think you're right, he's pivoting and talking about what he did as governor and a leader and making a big deal of the facts that he had to work in a very liberal state with democrats knowing full well that congress may be divided when he takes office if he does. >> and how did he work with those liberals in massachusetts? by saying i'm one of you. i'm a moderate. i'm to the left of ted kennedy. i'm more convincing at this stuff. so you know what? good luck to him. the head of steam means he is 24 points. really, he -- >> is it 23 points that seem to stay with him. >> that will never leave him. >> and that means something in this case. >> the other interesting point about romney's general election presentation is what he talked about with regards o bap call. he made the pitch that, look, i eliminated jobs and i also created jobs.

he talked about what about oen do with general motors? he had to lay a lot of people off. i don't know that if this is a bust. >> his position on general motors was all the shubz should go. gm should go under. >> it wasn't that they should -- it wasn't the government's job to bail it out. nor go through a bankruptcy proceeding which is the last of existence of gm. >> i would have gone under. his business is to make sure he goes in himself. president obama knows about creating and losing jobs. then he says being president is just like being a ceo. great. you just made an equivalent of him being an ceo and entrepreneur, too. doesn't work. >> speaking of strange momented, ron paul who many folks are talking aboutment he is a favorite in a iowa. he has a strong base. the iowa believers are weird. you have to get voters out to be

near camp. a lot of folks say the comments on iran were the nail in the coffin uld havffin as far as se taking him on stage. he has a young base. >> he is consistently crazy, absolutely right. whoa, whoa. whoa. i will not take you seriously if you look the rest of the world and country in line ab r and say even israel has mix feelings about iran. are you kidding me? that's a extortion. that's a distortion and crazy talk. >> the only crazy talk last night was the idea that to get our drone back, we need to go vf another war. we need to ask politely or go in vain. wait a second. >> let's work with ahmadinejad. >> enough with the crazy talk. >> john paul, the pope.

>> the only thing can you do to get a drone back is ask politely is a way to forget everything we did in iraq. it's not that simple. in addition to his moment of lucidity on that, ron paul said the most meaningful thing when he said any of the people on this stage could bring bring. anyone would beat barack obama because he's lossing on his own. that's the delusion of the republican party. >> ron paul said they're all good and they're all bad. ron paul. coming up, better or worse? how is the global economy? but first, super packs and super donors. we'll follow the money in the 2012 campaign. # [ male announcer ] what's the beat that moves your heart? how about the beat of a healthy heart? campbell's healthy request soup is delicious, and earned this heart, for being heart healthy. ♪ feel the beat? it's amazing what soup can do.

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lack back welcome back. so we were just sort of talking about the gop debate last night. and i wanted to touch on the two folks who are -- had their sort of last, we call it the last stand for perhaps rick perry and michelle ba michelle bachmann. a lot of people thought that was bachmann's strongest performance. others said that perry was the tim tebow of the race. did that -- did their performances help them at all? do their candidacy goes anywhere after this? >> i don't think so. if you say tebow is the line of the night, i think the stupid line. he is not going to be the tim tebow. won't have the last minute come back and win the nomination. he may do better in iowa than we initially thought. there are groups putting ads up for him. but there is no rational that shows perry, you know, winning anywhere that gets him any momentum. i don't think he's going to jump in the field.

>> the race seems to be relaxing to where it started which is romney is the front-runner and no really plausible challenge. you know, it's a long way to go. we in the press hate to have a static race. >> yes, we do. >> we have to decide who we're going to build up next. my argument is for huntsman. >> yes. >> the one candidate that hasn't had a shot yet. >> we need to decide that. >> literally. last night was john huntsman again and again. it is my turn to drive this clown carment let me in the driver's seat. let's talk about another factor in this race independent of rick perry and michelle bachmann and that is money. the advent of the super pack. we know that newt gingrich got a $20 million donation to his pack from casino owner adelson. and just the money that is being poured into this race doesn't even matter if candidates, i mean does what candidates raise

they willselves even matter at this point? and how much does money start to skew the message and sway the electorate? anybody? >> not at all. it doesn't. >> we have our answer. >> thank you, supreme court. it's really open season in a way that we never had before for any kind of money, corporate money, casino billionaires giving -- i mean it's a joke how corrupt this process is. on the other hand, there is no more presumption that a candidate has any innocence that, there can be a such thing as independent expenditure campaign where someone is spending money on your behalf without coordinating with you. he they may not be technically coordinating with you, but you are responsible for what's done in your name. this time i think more than any previous election. >> that's the sort of big ridiculous kun conundrum in this situation. they're not directly talking to the rick perry campaign. obviously, rick perry knows

exactly what this outside super pack is doing. do they talk outside debates? do they e-mail or text message? >> i think we have stilz from the make us great again is rick perry's super pack. and there is charges of collusion because they're using the same imagery. you can see it is the same imagery in the ads. unless people just have really good perry supporters are very like minded, this would seem to be hard evidence that these groups are not operating independently. >> this isn't really about the supreme court. this is about having a completely toothless fcc. the corruption is corrupt. it needs cleaning up. you hate congress. you hate all of these people you don't know about. the reform plafrpg in all of this is missing. so, yeah, there's a practical need for the money and to have the ads up there. but really, they could have some teeth and police this stuff would make a difference. the rules are there, right?

enforce the laws. >> but let's look at the trajectory of money and politics. in 1996, fec says that $478 million spept on the race. there is a prediction that $6 billion will be spent on the races in 2012. think is bipartisan. you have certainly the support for the super packs, the right came out early. and obama, the white house, the administration said this is wrong. this is wrong. but then, you know, inevitably, priorities is they have their own super packs. >> the money matters. ask tim pawlenty. he ran out of money. he ran out of money early. look at hesrman cain. he ran his entire company for months and months and months spending his own money. so it does matter. it's up to voters to decide if they it mattered too much and

skill keep that aside and keet the messages tough. >> i wonder, it's like tax cuts. once the money is in there, it's nearly impossible to get it out. >> when we come back, we'll look back at the week and ask what just happened? that, and also herman cain singing is next. you want to save money on car insurance? no problem.

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it's time too dial back the clock, take a look at this week and ask what just happened? >> this bill is terrible. it is terrible. the holidays must have come early for the majority. it's a stocking stuffed to the brim with ideology. ♪ >> washington is getting into the holiday spirit. and as with all dysfunctional families, this one is going to require a lot of egg nog and patience. >> how can they get any worse? >> quit wasting our time.

>> the house passed a bill. it is dead. >>. >> in the republican primary -- >> we're in the silly season. >> candidates are making year end resolutions. >> i'm going to continue to run a positive campaign. >> i'm not going to say outrageous thing that will be used to hang them down the road. >> and quickly breaking that. >> governor romney would like to give back all the money he has earned from bankrupting companies. >> if you have a half million dollar purchase from tiffany's, you're not a middle class america. >> some major players handed out endorsements. >> that's one of the things like about him because he's been consistent since he changed his mind. >> while other major players withdrew theirs. and others kept mum but went big with their ambitions. >> what kind of cabinet position might you like if it were possible? >> we're speaking totally, totally hypothetical call,

right? department of defense. >> what? >> with so much left uncertain, there's a lot to be done before the holiday clock runs out. >> it probably is not going to be done in a few weeks. >> this congress cannot and should not leave for vacation until they have made sure that tax increase doesn't happen. >> but like it or not, everyone, democrats and republicans, is in this together. >> nobody's leaving. nobody's walking out on this old fashioned christmas. no. no. we're all in this together! >> sfoet all my faults. and so my needs ♪ merry christmas, barbara. >> merry christmas. >> merry christmas. >> we should have sung that one. >> i think that's not the last time we're going to see herman cain sing. my question to you my panel is in a week of dysfunction, who

put the d in dysfunction alt? >> i was going to go for the year in dysfunction not just the week. i was going to go with the national basketball association. first they have a strike and then not have a strike. chris paul wants to go to the lakers. now they're telling people who they can play for and can't play for. i mean we live if a democracy and capitalism, the nba has somehow become a social institution. i think the most dysfunctional organization in america is the national basketball association. >> interesting. i would say that the most dysfunctional organization in america is congress. and my cab tall d dysfunctional dysfunction alt, the person ingendering dysfunction alt is eric cantorment without eric cantor, i think john boehner could have moved the caucus forward and not dealing with the mess that we are now dealing with which we'll talk about later in the show. >> i think when people that i is congress is dysfunctional, both sides are at fault. the republicans turned into a purely obstructionist force.

they don't want anything to pass that could be a credit to the president. and they're unwilling to produce what they say they want, ie, balanced budget. they won't cut spending. they think the tax cuts, they want more of are somehow compatible with the fiscal argument they make. and it's not. it's incoherent and dishonest and prevented anything from happening. >> i would say, i mean it's not necessarily 100% fair to call them totally dysfunctional. they are functioning at the last minute. we're going to get this bill passed. we're going to get them out of town this weekend with 7% approval rating. they're not going to wreck the economy by allowing taxes to go back up on the middle class. >> we have our fingers crossed on that one. >> yes. >> a little brinksmanship. they're going to get out of town. they were totally dysfunctional. >> sort of like the nba. >> to borrow on the sports theme, my dysfunction would have to be college sports. i just watched the fab five, a documentary on espn, about the university of michigan shenanigans which look childish

in compared to what we know about college sports this year with sandusky and just really gross protectionists kind of urges in college sports. i think that really needs to be looked at. >> i'm going to miss the easy ones like pipeline, really, they manage to jam their way into the jam bill. i'm going to say the voter. >> this is like "time" magazine, the protester for the person of the year. >> end of a sentence. we are all pandering the vote at this time. this is what voters chose. they chose divided government. they wanted to put a jam on the system. they wanted to gum it up. that's what you get. people who cannot tie up their own shoelaces. and all it will get them is the prospect of their spouses saying why aren't you here on vacation? that's the system we get when we have voters making those kind of decisions. >> and voters seem to have mixed feelings about whether they want

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♪ feel the power my young friend. mmm! [ male announcer ] for unsurpassed fruit and veggie nutrition... v8 v-fusion. could've had a v8. we appear to have a deal to fund the government. the house is expected to vote if a few hours. yet the question, what about extensions for both the payroll tax cut and unemployment insurance? he is joining us left now that this is a fluid situation. can you tell us what the latest is specifically regarding payroll tax cuts and unemployment insurance? >> well, first thing's first, alex, we have a report that government will not shut down tonight. we don't are to dust off that countdown clock which we always have here on msnbc. we're going to be okay on that front. late last night the senate house

agreed to a deal. there is some talk of possibly they have to have a short term bridge for reasons for getting the bill on paper for the president to sign. the government is not going to shut down. >> i heard that the reason that they have to buy aly bit more time for this bill is because it takes so long to print it. and they may not be able to sign it in time. is that true? >> if you want to get in the weeds, the bill has to be printed out on parchment paper and signed by speaker boehner and signed by president obama. so the whole process could take about 24 to 36 hours. >> parchment paper does not print on laser printer. >> correct. correct. we're still old school in that respect. but the payroll tax cut, the important stuff for millions of americans will see about $1,000 from the paychecks disappear. right now we're kind of in a holding pattern on that. harry reid and mitch mcconnell said they're working a bipartisan way. john boehner went out this morning and said, look, we heard

the rumors about a possibility of a two-month extension. deal with this issue come february or so. if that is the case, i'm going to get the bill on the house and attach the keystone pipeline to another republican favorite that won't do too well in the senate. house republicans do not want to have this debate about the tax cut extension go into february. they view it as a winner for the president politically. it allows him to go around the country and say, look, republicans are not allowing a tax cut for middle class families to go forward and they allow tax cuts for the wealthy to go forward without any block. so it's going to be a real fight over these next few days about whether or not they'll be abe to figure out the payroll tax holiday and unemployment benefits which is something we look past. 1 in 45 kids are homeless in the united states. will there be serious reforms to those? republicans want to go from 99 weeks of benefits to 59 weeks. a lot of democrats have a problem with that. still a lot of issues punted into next week with this belief that both sides will negotiate

over the weekend amongst their staff. >> punting. we have jake wiseburg here. he has a question for you. >> i was just thinking as you were talking. think how this scenario must look from overseas. we have this very sick patient, the american economy. and we decided off the bat that we're not going to do anything to help the patient. we're having a debate about whether we're going to apply leeches or bleeding or let the patient die by the deadline. when you step back from the immediate perspective, the here is rationality and self-destructiveness of it is amazing, isn't it? >> well, if you look at the poll numbers about this congress, that's why there is a lowest rated congress we've seen in recent history. and if you talk to individual members one-on-one, it's amazing. they all realize that. they all say oh, my god, the political squabbles we get in are absolutely destroying it. that being said, when you go into their constituencies and who they represent, there's a lot of people that get upset at them if they were to support something like a massive

infrastructure bill from the house gop perspective, anything that being looed like it increased spending. so until there is a real debate here in washington about what exactly is the root of the cause of the poor economy and what exactly works going forward and there is not that debate is not occurring in the little skirmishes until you have a real robust debate about that and come to a bipartisan compromise about increase in taxes and decrease in benefits for entitlements, you're not going to see anything in regards to the economy move forward. >> luke brings up an interesting point which is that republicans don't want to keep the talk of payroll tax and unemployment insurance out there because it works for president obama and he's been messaging on it to the hilt. i wonder what you think about the keystone provision. that is something he's come out and pretty firmly said if you attach this to a payroll tax cut bill, i'm not signing it. he may have to, you know, back down from that if they succeed in getting a bill to his desk with keystone attached. zbh i'm really surprised that

boehner came out and said that today, he is bringing keystone back into this. i thought the sense yesterday was the rhetoric is dialed down. republicans realized you can't allow taxes to go up at christmas time. it will be a disaster for the economy. so let's get this passed and get the extension passed which will be much better, a full year. and go home. and now i guess he must not have the whole caucus together on that. they must have said we're not getting enough of what we want. we need candy in here. we want keystone. he is putting that back in. i'm surprised that he did that. i thought we were past the sort of larding on unrelated items. >> it's worth mentioning as we talk about larded on items that mising from the omnibus bill, restrictions on travel to cuba. energy efficiency standards for incandescent bulbs and federal and local funding for abortions in d.c. we're now in a season where you have any piece of legislation and people are just trying to throw things in. and then it becomes a battle over this mi nusha. >> right. once you take those out, these

are the things you have to stack on this legislation. why republicans think the pipeline is the thing they want to go to the floor on and, by the way, destroy their position in terms of being the ponte that always favors tax cuts. newt gingrich kept calling another payroll tax cut and the middle class tax cut. so talk about losing the message war on this one. to go for a pipeline, i hear the argument about jobs. they're not jobs right now. these are long term infrastructure projects. why put your flag down on that particular issue? i think luke is right. they need to get out of town. get this issue off the table and talk about whatever else they want to beat the president up on. >> they want to go from 7% approval rating to zero. >> how much lower can we go? >> we can't have an old fashioned christmas tree where you have goodies for everybody. so we have this christmas tree of mall ice. you stop people from going to cuba.

you know, make sure nobody is having an abortion. they're pointless, symbolic gestures that are just to screw the other side. >> i wonder, you know, in previous sort of battles, obama has come out looking bruised or wounded. i wonder where we think he's going to net out on this. assuming they pass the payroll tax cut, the government continues being funded. is obama remain above the fray enough that he doesn't suffer any sort of collateral damage? >> gosh, i don't know. you know, as much as we all hate congress and we're treating them as sort of their own special category in washington, the buck still stops with the president. and the president is still presiding over this dysfunctional government. and what people want to see from him going forward, if i'm putting my democrat hat on, is that he can lead. >> do you have one of those? >> i do. i keep it right over here. >> that he can lead a dysfunctional government for the next four years. i don't know that he's proving he's done a good job at that. and i think the next jeer, this

upcoming election year is very telling for his kind of capability to bring people together. >> did you know that se cup had a democrat hat? i did not. >> come on. >> thank you luke russert, the sage of capitol hill for your wisd wisdom. coming up, we'll be looking at the real economic picture in our country. ♪ [ male announcer ] it's easy to see what subaru owners care about. ♪ that's why we created the share the love event. get a great deal on a new subaru and 250 dollars goes to your choice of five charities. ♪ with your help, we can reach 20 million dollars by the end of this, our fourth year. [ female announcer ] get 0 percent apr financing on select models for thirty-six months and we'll donate two-hundred and fifty dollars to your choice of five charities. now through january 3rd.

we learned this beak that jobless claims dropped to the low nest three years. the fed see moderate growth yet that obscures a serious economic problem for this country which is the crisis in europe. ben, you're a guru of all things financial. the situation in europe and the potential meltdown of the euro doan is quickly changing environment. can you get us up to speed in term of the latest. >> i can try to do that. you're right. it is now the one big specter hanging over the u.s. economy. which is getting better.

there is a lot of good stuff happening in the u.s. it could all be taken down by europe. europe right now, we're back from the brink a little bit. you had the italian government today pass a austerity plan saying we're going to spend less money in our debt. therefore, it should be less risky to people. so the yields go down. >> bond yields. >> that's positive. the international monetary fund put together something like 200 billion euro rescue fund that should come on line around december 19th. it's not big enough to save everybody if they should collapse. but it's a decent size. that helps sentiment that there is some bailout mechanism there. there will be more of that going forward. they're trying to come up with a compact among the eu nations that they passed of the recent summit saying we're going to have some budget authority looking aall of these very indebted nations to make sure that they mend their ways and they're no longer spending so much money. there are pieces of it coming together that make it look a little less terrifying. it is the sort of situation where one day to the next you're on the brink or off the brink, on the brink. >> and we have seen the markets

respond to that up and down. >> we continue to see that until there are the bailout funds are in place and all of the eu -- new eu deals are made and finished which could take, you know, weeks. any time -- if you get a panic, if you get a lot of banks starting to get worried and stop buying bonds and bond yields go up. rates could still default. there is a number of things in play that could fall apart. today as of this moment, we're off the brink a little bit. we could be back there. >> a wise guru -- >> hardly. >> what are the chances of a month positive scenario? say the american economy picks up enough to save europe's -- >> can i piggyback on that though? paul is using the d word, depression. to describe the problems here if europe. so -- >> not a very happy person generally. really, could america bounce back enough to pick up demand in europe? >> yeah, there's a silver lining for europe in the euro dropping as much as it has. their exports are now cheaper. we can buy more stuff. if our economy picks up, we can't help them. that's a good point.

it's a possibility. we benefitted from that and a cheap euro and they're higher than 1999. it's not that. >> it was supposed to have parody with the dollar. hearing that lovely 5:00 accident of yours, how is it that david cameron is the european lead er and he was the wise man for supporting policy and keeping europe part way out. he has this weird position in british politics. and parliamentary systemment you're supposed to have absolute power for a few years. he has a divided government. he has liberal democrats that are supposed to be more progressive. they have a very pro european position and now they're in government with a guy who is most definitively anti-europe. that is not sustainable. >> that is an excellent segue. "the washington post" has this to say about the problem in europe which may as well be the problem in the u.s. which is

what's economically sensible is politically treacherous and what's politically sensible is economically treacherous. i mean at the end of the day, we need our politicians to bite the proverbial bullet both in europe and at home. and the likelihood of that happening seems -- >> there is also the problem of growth in europe. and that's not talking about enough. there is a huge problem of debt and dealing with debt out of control in italy and spain and elsewhere. but they also have zero negative growth and you put on a lot of austerity and those places. you can sort of get the worst case scenario which is exploding debt, zero growth, no ability to pay off that debt and then a complete collapse in crisis. you so you have to mix austerity with stimulative measures when they haven't done. >> and that some germans in particular -- >> they do not like it. >> they're biting the bullet in europe means. they don't have rules. but, you know, does it mean giving up on the euro, admitting

this stuff or going the other direction towards the kind of political -- >> something politically palatable. but both of these options are extremely unpalatable. they may be impossible. it seems they have bought a little time to figure it out. they haven't solved the problem. >> they have not solved it. they're on a mission to solve it. and the markets believe it. that's all that really matters is market confidence in their ability to deal with the debt problem and not go into serious negative growth. >> in a way, it is probably worth -- again, bringing it back home a little bit in, terms of estimates and economic picture here at home. mike conzel has a graph on the blog that shows the number of people in the labor force in u.s. remained fairly constant, the number not in the labor force has grown dramatically. if you factor that in, the real unemployment rate may be closer to 11%. and we talk about obama and re-election prospect. how much of those numbers are those chickens going to come home to roost before 2012? he can pull this one out one employment that is actually factually closer to 11%?

>> it's not going to be pretty. it's not going to be easy. every single republican and the eventual nominee, they're going to be talking about the fact that the stimulus was supposed to save us from 8% unemployment. and unless we're under that, we're not going to be, this is going to be huge -- a huge issue for obama. he has to defend that somehow. over and over and over again over the course of nine months. >> it's not a guarantee we won't be under 8%. there is a slight chance. it looks like we're going to get to 200,000 relatively soon. he created jobs and about 200,000. that gets close to 12% by election date. i bet you the $1 i have in my wallet. we can get close. >> that's a lot of money to liberals. >> we don't make illegal bets on "now." but when we come back, a milestone for the protests. what tomorrow will mark for that movement. progresso. it fits!

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welcome back. it's time for what's now. tomorrow marks a one year anniversary of the start of the arab spring. you made mention of the time

person of the year which is the protester. and it would seem that indeed -- >> the protester. it was him. he's the man. >> lame "time" cover. everyone hates the generic ones. look, it's an unfinished term. we have this heroic revolution being attempted in syria. a heroic revolution being attempted in bahrain. we have an unclear situation in libya. >> we had russia where there are protest movements. >> yeah. it's spreading upward. importantly, driven and supported by technology everywhere. the power that an individual has because of social media. you're seeing this in russia and china with, you know, the twitter feed is a revolutionary force against regime and the biggest country in the world. you have to be inspired by that. >> it should be noted was i think the number three runner up for person of the year. >> he should have been the choice. >> wasn't it you one year? >> me.

it was actually alex wagner. no, it wasn't actually me. that's next year. let's move on to domestic politics. the scott walker recall campaign is 507,000 strong. i think they need to get 540,000 signatures by january 17th. >> but how many of those are mickey mouse and adolf hitler? there are controversies over the fake names they're allowing on the petitions. >> i think there is some question as to how legitimate the significance are. still, we're talking about a lot of conservatives in the office and now there say blowback to the policies they put in place. maybe in wisconsin. moving on, jon corzine yesterday former senator jon corzine was grilled by congressman steve pierce over mf global's collapse. now in the testimony the most telling moment was, i think piers said are you still staying at the ritz? you have thought about setting up scholarships for those you hurt? and the answer to jurcorzine's

answer is yes, i'm still staying at the ritz. >> this reminds me of the bp, you know, gaps where the head of bp seemed completely out of touch at how badly he had done. crying about his missed vacations and he has no privacy. and this seems to be the same. >> isn't there question about bltabili b accountability and remorse? >> guys are completely out of touch with the average person. and jon corzine had a disastrous time on the hill. he got served with legal papers yesterday and walked past. and he said this $1.2 billion in missing mf global money, first he didn't know what happened to it. but they said it was okay to transfer it from customer funds. and now his regulator is saying that's not true at all. so what is the real story for jon corzine in he is absolutely ta tanked. >> the ceo drives down in a zip car and stays at the holiday inn. it doesn't change anything. >> speaking of ceo's, we have to play a clip from herm an and

gloria cain's cozy christmas video to end the show. let's check it out. >> and there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. >> and low the angel of the lord came upon men -- >> herman cain may be gone but he'll not be forgotten, richard. >> forego the christmas presents. yes, he is auditioning for something else. and that end of the year special with perry cuomo is wonderful. >> rockin' new year's eve maybe? >> we'll see. tbd. thanks again to richard, jacob, ben and s.e. that does it for now. have a great, great weekend. i will see you back here monday at noon eastern. until then, can you follow us on twitter. andrea mitchell reports is next. hello, andrea. >> hi, have a great weekend,

alex. next on msnbc reports, the fallout from last night's debate. and ambassador dennis ross to talk about the prospect of a nuclear iran. and a government shutdown avoided for now. the latest from national journal's major garrett. and we'll have reports up next on msnbc. try bayer advanced aspirin. it's not the bayer aspirin you know. it's different. first, it's been re-engineered with micro-particles. second, it enters the bloodstream fast, and rushes relief to the site of your tough pain. the best part? it's proven to relieve pain twice as fast as before. bayer advanced aspirin. test how fast it works for you. love it, or get your money back. ♪ with quarter-inch holes and blueprints for the coming year? those of us with doers on our lists. and because it's always better to give than to guess, we can take these last few days of shopping

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right now, newt under fire. the republican front-runner gets hammered in the last iowa debate. >> when the speaker had his hand out and taking $1.6 million to influence senior republicans to keep the scam going in washington, d.c. that's absolutely wrong. >> what he said is factually not true. >> sometimes congressman bachmann doesn't get her facts accurate. >> and how are women reacting to day to the way newt gingrich