serve to winnow the field by exactly one. >> last night, the people of iowa spoke with a very clear voice, and so i have decided to stand aside. >> we miss you already, michele. what will new hampshire be like without you and marcus dancing. perhaps a certain reality dance show will come calling. we sure hope so. now speaking of colorful characters, what about fifth place finisher rick perry, you ask? he gave us all a bit of a scare last night. >> i've decided to return to texas, assess the results of tonight's caucus, determine whether there is a path forward for myself in this race. >> gosh, who knows what would happen when governor perry stops to think. thankfully it didn't take long. the governor tweeted this morning and the next leg of the marathon is the palmetto state. here we come, south carolina!

with it came this johnny photograph of the governor in his jogging togs. i'm that sure what that is on his hip. here's what perry had to say about it a few moments ago when our embed caught up with him. >> it is clearly there. south carolina is a place that i feel very comfortable. the values and the people and the time that we spent there. so we're going to give the people of south carolina, new hampshire, america a choice in this election. >> now someone like rick perry faces a formidable challenge for mitt romney in new hampshire. if romney is hoping for a quick coronation, that right old rogue newt gingrich says mitt, you'd better watch your back. >> by the time he gets to south carolina and florida, it will be obvious. this is not a conservative republican. he is not going to win the nomination. and he is not the most electable candidate. >> yes, setting out on mitt's de facto home turf, gingrich made clear he comes to the state

locked and loaded. sights trained squarely on romney. yet romney, all smiles, continues to say he doesn't know why newt is so angry. with you the night's wenter then dropped a clue on morning joe. take a look. >> what was the decision-making process that tipped the balance for you to say, you know what? i think i can go to iowa. i think i can win iowa. >> well, actually, you know, we knew it was a stretch. and yet we planned from the beginning to watch very carefully, to build our momentum in iowa. to put the ads on the air. to put the time in. >> wait a minute. what was that again? >> we planned from the beginning to watch very carefully, to build our momentum in iowa. to put the ads on the air. >> a stunning admission? or perhaps he's referring only to those positive ads, the ones featuring mitt man out by the

romney campaign. not the $3 million worth of blistering attack ads unleashed against newt gingrich. no, that was the super baghdpac course. and romney had nothing to do with that. let's bring in political analyst and former dnc communications director karen finney. in philadelphia, professor james peterson, director of aa studies at lehigh university. newt gingrich told us that he was only going to be positive. a positive candidate. many of us could barely conceal our laughter. but given the battering he's taken, is it fair to say that dr. frankenstein is going to unleash the most vicious gingrich that we've seen at the debates this coming weekend and as we moved forward toward new hampshire primary? >> well, with whatever money he has, i am sure he is going to try and if we don't give him, pay him a lot of attention,

he'll have less airwaves to try to pollute. but notice this, martin. he is whining with that same kind of poor pitiful me sentiment that he did when he whined about where he sat on air force one. he went to the funeral with president clinton. it is the same kind of, you know, mommy, they were mean to me. and it does him no service. and the interesting thing is, in terms of the attack ads, new hampshire is a very different electorate than eye waffle they don't suffer fools. they don't go for a lot of the social issues in the same way we've seen them play out in iowa and they don't like all of the negative campaigning and the attacks. so it may back fire on newt. it may not end up hurting mitt romney. particularly because folks in new hampshire know romney romney better than anybody. >> professor peterson, here's the problem. conservatives don't really like mitt romney. he is not only regarded as a pliable candidate. he also, a plastic candidate. yet he won in iowa and he seem

bound to win in new hampshire how many do conservative republicans respond to the idea that romney's nomination is beginning to feel more likely by the day? >> i think for some conservatives, that's an actual disaster. and you make a good point here. that it is not just that they don't feel like mitt romney is authentic or like a flip-flopper on conservative issues, buttal of the republicans even in this republican candidacy field who actually dislike mitt romney personally. so it is interesting. a little monday morning quarterbacking but i believe that making an enemy out of newt gingrich was probably not in the best interests of mitt. what we're seeing in the republican process is fragmentation. so we see this fragmentation along certain issues. that's why you see social conservatives in this kind of rotation emerges as the not romney candidate. the republican party on the whole does not support mitt romney as their presidential nominee will. >> so karen, is rick santorum

the man around whom conservatives will now rally? bachmann is gone. perry is showing poorly. is santorum the man? >> i don't think so. one of the things we don't yet know, santorum obviously had a good showing last night in iowa. we're assuming that to a large degree that has to do with the fact that he did the hard work which is admirable. at the same time, what we don't know is, is he the latest not mitt guy and we happened to catch him on an upswing at the right time. the problem that the republicans will have, i think one of the lessons coming out of iowa is the professor is right. they are fragmented. that's not going away. i will say that as many of the republicans who maybe don't trust mitt, they can't stand newt gingrich. i don't think that making an enemy of newt gingrich will hurt them. i think you see the establishment conservatives, as politico has reported today, heading to texas this week. i assume they're going to try to figure out their game plan. they're going to ask themselves the question. could we live with mitt romney if we have to? >> indeed. professor peterson, romney

romngot the endorsele. and senator mccain got quite fired up against the president. >> our message to president barack obama is, you can run but you can't hide from your record of making this country bankrupt, from destroying our national security. >> bankrupting our country and destroying our national security? really? >> wow. mr. mccain, that was your other homey george bush who did those things. i don't know if this endorsement means that much. who else is mccain going to endorse? some of the vitriol you hear in his voice is left over from 2008. i don't know what this endorsement necessarily means. who else could he endorse at this field? >> you know, one thing i would add to that as i've been going in. new hampshire, this endorsement means a lot because new hampshire, we saw it obviously last time and in 2000. so it is a smart move on the

romney campaign to get this endorsement out there right before new hampshire. i agree, beyond new hampshire, it probably doesn't do much for mitt romney. >> we're hearing moments ago that jon huntsman said that so what john mccain has endorsed mitt romney. >> jon huntsman got 1% in iowa? so what else is he going to say? >> indeed. on a conference call today, obama strategists were making it clear that they're still focused very much on romney as the man to beat. are they right? >> yes, i think they are right. and i think they're right to continue with their narrative against romney. let's say in some universe rick santorum will be the nominee. he only plays to a very small part of the american electorate. so i think the obama campaign is the decision that new hampshire voters are very different than the other voters.

again, mitt romney will probably do well and by that time, will rick santorum have the momentum to keep going. the calculation they have to make is who can go the distance? most likely to be mitt romney. >> professor peterson, isn't at this time case that rick santorum, unlike many of the others, he doesn't have much baggage apart from the fact that he thinks same sex marriage will usher in bestiality and he accuses radical feminism being responsible for women successful and fulfilled in the workplace. but he doesn't have much personal baggage, does he? >> he doesn't have much baggage if you live outside of pennsylvania. i've had the privilege of living in pennsylvania for the past 15 or so years. santorum has had a few of those missteps, or these reveals of the ultra conservative outside the box opinions. i think that's why he lost so dramatically in the last election that he ran for here in the state of pennsylvania. i would agree wholeheartedly with karen that he appeals to a

very, very small part of the electorate that is overly sort of represented in the state of iowa. and sometimes overly represented in these kinds of republican presidential caucuses and primaries overall any way. so if him getting to the middle or getting to independents seems to me to be a stretch and i don't see how he can become the nominee for the republican party. would you agree with that? >> i do. and remember, martin, that rick santorum hasn't gotten a lot of attention as he has whined at every debate because he's been on the end. but there is a lot in rick santorum's record that we haven't gone back and revisited. like the fact that he was the senate point person for what? the kmp street project with tom delay and bob and that whole culture of corruption. he actually played a pivotal role in that whole project. we haven't even had a chance to talk about that yet. once those things in addition to, i clearly don't expect him to try the make my life or the professor's life any better, right? he thinks we're on welfare any way. he probably thinks you're one of

us so who knows. >> do you know what i love about you, you know everything about each of these individuals and your memory stretches back and they ain't going to hide. karen finney and professor james peterson, thank you so much for joining us. >> thank you for having me. >> next, calling all cars, calling all cars. be on the lookout for the teem. they're nowhere to be found. >> i think what is really striking about last night is that three out of four republicans repudiated mitt romney. he spent millions in iowa campaigning for five years and he has a ceiling of 25%. [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus presents: the cold truth. i have a cold. and i took nyquil but i'm still stubbed up. [ male announcer ] sorry, buddy. truth is, nyquil doesn't un-stuff your nose. what? [ male announcer ] it doesn't have a decongestant. really? [ male announcer ] you need a more complete cold formula, like alka-seltzer plus liquid gels. it's specially formulated to fight your worst cold symptoms,

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if mitt romney is too moderate for some and rick santorum too conservative for others, could newt gingrich wind up with the lion's share of the tea party vote in critical state like south carolina, missouri and indiana? rick santorum finished just eight votes shy of victory last night and during his speech to supporters, he appealed to the very core of the tea party mantra. >> those are the same people that president obama talked about who cling to their guns and their bibles. tea afternoon. organization liberal,

where candidates. tea party movement candidates. . there. tea

rallies. banks and putting the boots on the ground. that's where the tea party movement is. >> wow! establishment. yesterday. response. very influential tea party chief saying this about you? >> well, i don't know that there are tea party chiefs. i have people who are some of the most prominent voices in the tea party that have endorsed me and i appreciate their help. jennifer horn in new hampshire,

tea purist tea . bachmann's what happened? why didn't the tea party get behind michele bachmann? look at this poor chap slumped in the chair. >> i can't see your video so i'm at a loss to know what's on the screen. >> i can describe it. a row under the tea partier in historic uniform with a three-pointed hat slumped in a michele bachmann.

own. e tea party on issues. electability. totally understand why. it didn't and that's the fact of life. some of tea party support. better. question. mitt advertising. seriously throw some punches? a very quick answer. >> in the debates, yes, he will throw some punches.

phillips, thank you for joining us. >> thank you. i'm still looking forward to my steak. >> so am i. the republican field got a little bit smaller. stay with us. >> i am grateful to have been a part of this presidential campaign. i thank you and i say god bless you and god bless the united states of america. things the owner of these candles. her products were made in china but now she has moved the a multimillion-dollar factory in maryland. she said the move reduces shipping and inventory costs and brings much needed jobs to the u.s. [ kate ] many women may not be properly absorbing

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i've got an obligation to act on behalf of the american people. i'm not going to stand by while a minority in the senate puts party ideology ahead of the people that we were elected to serve. not with so much at stake. not at this make or break moment -- >> the president is back from holiday and back to business.

less than two hours ago, in the battleground state of ohio, he spoke about the economy continuing his focus on the middle class, drawing a sharp contrast between himself and the republicans in congress as well as the candidates who want his job. for more on this, let's go to mike viqueira who is live at the white house and adjusting himself and i'll give you five seconds to do that. >> i like the way that sounds. >> the president announcing richard cordray is unlikely to draw praise from either capitol hill or wall street. is this the president, mike, simply taking action? he knows that republicans will oppose him on everything from i guess whether the sun rises in the east or whether consumers should be protected from predatory lenders? >> reporter: i think this is essentially the president daring republicans to do something about it. there are members of his own party. particularly members of the democratic base on the left that said the president needs to stand up to republicans and do something really bold. and by the definition, by the

standards of washington, this is certainly it. this has never been done before. we call the house historian. you go back to the administration of teddy roosevelt and even then, there is no direct comparison. what he's done is made a recess appointment when the congress is not in recess. and the president and his staff are perfectly willing to suffer the slings and arrows about technicalities and procedures and watch people wring their hands and portray him as standing up for the middle class. they think the polls are on their side. they think it is the right thing to do. every three days the house and the senate come in. they gavel, they drop the gavel a couple of times them call it the pro forma session. that's the way they avoid being in recess. this is the way the republicans wanted it because they didn't want the president to make any recess appointments. what the president has done is said i will appoint this man richard cordray, the former attorney general of ohio as the head of the consumer product safety commission no matter what the republicans say and we can fight it out if you like.

i like my position, the president is essentially telling republicans. >> mike viqueira at the white house. a very happy new year, mike. i investment seen you. when we come back, wednesday's top lines. new hampshire, here we come. >> you think i've been in iowa a lot. i've been to new hampshire 30 times and i've been more times and done more events than anybody but jon huntsman. he cheats, he lives there. [ male announcer ] at scottrade, you won't just find us online, you'll also find us in person, with dedicated support teams at over 500 branches nationwide. so when you call or visit, you can ask for a name you know. because personal service starts with a real person. [ rodger ] at scottrade, seven dollar trades are just the start. our support teams are nearby, ready to help. it's no wonder so many investors are saying... [ all ] i'm with scottrade.

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to service in the 1960s, he chickened out on that. >> i understand the speaker is pretty disappointed. he was well in the lead nationally and way in the lead here in iowa and finished in fourth spot. >> three out of four republicans once again repudiated mitt romney. he has a ceiling of 25%. >> those are the same people that president obama talked about who cling to their guns and their bibles. thank god they do. >> is it fair to say rick santorum is your second choice? you told my colleagues -- >> clearly like rick santorum a lot and i think he will tell you he likes me. >> on to the next stop which is new hampshire. >> out of new hampshire, let's get that job done. >> i've been to new hampshire 30 times and i've done more events than anyone but jon huntsman. he cheats. he lives there. >> forgive me if i have a little bit of a new hampshire accent. i have spent too much time here. nobody here cares about what happened in iowa. >> i've decided to return to

texas, assess the results of tonight's caucus. >> in 2012, there will be another occupant in the white house. who knows? maybe even another michele? the people of iowa spoke with a very clear voice. so i have decided to stand aside. god bless the united states of america. >> and god bless michele bachmann. let's get right to it with our panel this afternoon from minneapolis, ana marie cox, and melissa harris perry, a professor and columnist for the nation as well as a highly he is steamed msnbc contributor. i would like to start with you. some in the michele bachmann camp are suggesting sexism may have been at play here in her poor performance in iowa. and it is true, isn't it? in many of the evangelical churches, women are not allowed to take leadership positions and

that may have affected the willingness of the electorate to support her. >> possibly. i will say this. there are more women leaders of various forms in evangelical churches than say for example in catholic church. particularly in the black evangelical churches. you have women who become even preachers but obviously, catholic women cannot become priests, for example. so i think we want to be really careful on the sexism question. there has been a great deal of really smart research that suggests one of the things that really impacts women as candidates is simply that women end up not running. they don't get, no one asks they will to run. they don't think of running as an option. they will have very good resumes but not actually make the decision to throw their hats in the ring and none of that is true for michele bachmann. she is an office holder. she made the choice to run. despite whatever her resume look like, she fell that she was as qualified as the other men against whom she was running. i think that her losing in this cycle was so overdempld by so

many different factors that although gender may have been part of it, it is really hard to tease out what aspect gender played. >> so are you saying that it was basically because her policies were hopeless and no one wanted them? >> no. i think it is more -- all of their policies hope to be hopeless will she peaked really early in the hopeless policy cycle. so she came up and won the straw poll. six more months or maybe even three more months, she would have come back around as the not mitt candidate. >> rick perry, one minute made it sound like he was going to bow out and later, then he said he is going to be heading to south carolina. perhaps we should be thrilled that he is going to be taking part in these forthcoming debates. as you know, he's been quite the star performer so far. isn't this a dangerous roll of the dice for him? he may forget again and then be in real trouble. >> obviously it is all great

news for us who cover these things. the longer that any of these candidates stay in, the more fun it is. i really felt blessed last night with the results. it turns out that there is a god and he has a great sense of humor. at least when it comes to comedy writing for politics. so if that's the case, obviously rick perry will stay in. i think it makes essential for him to stay in. he could come up again as melissa was saying. there is a sort of a cycle here as we see with the nonromney candidates. this is a nonromney race in many ways. i think santorum lucked out to have his moment in iowa. and rick perry really is on paper a candidate that could do very well in trying to compete against romney. he has an evangelical background. he has a background that he can talk about as far as creating jobs. we can talk about whether or not texas is really a model we want the country to follow but he can make that argument. so it makes essential for him to today in. also all importantly, has money to spend. >> he has plenty of money. we've been on air for about 35

minutesering with vngs mentioned ron paul who finished third last night. why is that? >> poor ron paul. i think it is possible he could win the presidency and be standing at the inauguration by himself and all of us in media would be over, you know, covering something else. part of it is because if there is one truth in the american political system, it is that congressmen do not become presidents. our presidents are either senators or governors. it is almost inconceivable that someone who never won a statewide election would actually go on to win the u.s. presidency. and particularly someone with ron paul's kind of libertarian views. what will be so much fun going forward is that there was just enough win for everybody and just enough ire on the part of gingrich that gingrich and paul will stay in and beat up on romney. and then the whole kind of evangelical crew, short michele bachmann now, are going to beat up on each other and steal some votes.

this won't wrap for a while. that is good for all of us. >> i'm wondering whether wwf or wwe should sponsor this. it will be a blood bath, isn't it? going forward. >> it is. newt, i think, will be the battering ram against both romney and basically everyone else, too. i am happy to have the excuse that i'm not going to get nasty. i'm just going to tell the truth from here on out. that's a great line and i think we all this use it. it is going to be fun. this will last for a while. i'm be sure if it will be fun for the candidates except for newt. i think he likes getting down and dirty. >> on ron paul going forward, what are his prospects? he didn't do as well as he thought he would in iowa and i guess that spells negatively for his place going forward. >> let's be honest. he is unlikely to become the nominee. i think his strong showing in iowa and his steady showing in eye waffle he is the one that never really slipped. he was on a constant forward

motion in iowa until the very end. and obviously, he has some not really skeltons in his closet but some unpleasantness in his encloses pet people dope like very much. but clearly there is something about his message that people really respond to in this cycle. i think it has to do with his honesty about who he is. i think that santorum resonates with people that same way. i think ron paul will probably stick around for maybe the media would like. >> melissa, ana marie said it is his message that resonates. very briefly, is it that message that he wants to basically be isolationist as far as foreign policy is concerned? and he would like to legalize heroin? >> this is a hard one for me. on the one hand, i do think he has an interesting and smart message around how bad the drug wars have been for ordinary people. how troubling our entrance into the war in iraq was. but obviously his isolationism is deeply problem attic. and look, the fact that when he talks about the civil war, he talk about if we just bought the slaves, we wouldn't have had to

fight the civil war and other things that emerge in those news letters that still have not been sufficiently accounted for. he doesn't give me any warm fuzzy feelings of honesty, quite honestly. >> thanks so much for joining us. and a remind per this sunday, david gregory will moderate the final presidential debate before the new hampshire primary. the nbc news facebook debate will air on a special edition of nbc's "meet the press" and also on nbc at 9:00 a.m. sunday. next, are the gop candidates off base on iran? >> i would say to every foreign scientist that is going into iran to help with the program, you will be treated as an enemy combatant like an al qaeda member. and finally i would be working openly with the state of israel. i would be saying to the iranians, open up the facilities, make them available to inspectors or we will degrade those facilities through air strikes. ♪ he was a 21st century global nomad ♪

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you might think republicans would be a little gun shy about marching into war again. but gop candidates are like lotus eaters when it comes to the topic of iran and what the president should be doing. >> no sanctions of a severe nature. the president was silent when dissident voices took to the streets in iran. and of course, he hasn't prepared the military option that's would present creditably our ability to take out the threat that would be presented by iran. he has failed on that. >> absolute nonsense. there are sanctions. and of course, there's a battle plan. mitt, do you really think the pentagon never got around to one? the u.s. fifth fleet has spent the last ten days standing toe to toe with the iranian navy. iran fired off their missiles like some people fire off their mouths. its navies made a big deal about

shadowing the fifth need's john c. stennis carrier when it left the gulf. it was a show as much for its own people as the world. it won't give up its nuclear ambitions and its economy is tanking. largely because of those sanctions. joining us now, michael o'hanlon, director of research. good afternoon, mike. >> hi, nice to be with you. >> thank you for joining us. the state department is saying that these maneuvers are an attempt by the iranians to divert attention away from the effects of sanctions. but isn't it possible that this may yet increase the possibility of some kind of military engagement? >> it is. and i think the fundamental conundrum for president obama or for any of the republican challengers that you were just talking about is that we don't really have an iran policy that will prevent iran reliably from getting a nuclear weapon. we have a policy of punishing them for continuing to move in

that direction. i tend to think it is the best we can do. i do not favor the military strike any more than i guess you do based on your analysis a minute ago. but the obama administration hasn't ruled out -- >> my analysis is based on your writings. it is experts like you that i'm deferring to. rick santorum makes comments like bombing individual scientists who may be assisting a nuclear program as if that's something one does with one's breakfast. >> yeah. well, you know, i don't sympathize with that particular proposal of senator santorum. but i do think that overall, we have a national dilemma here that even barack obama hasn't gotten his arms fully around. he is saying on the one hand, he wants to try sanctions and clearly, he wants to tighten sanctions. on the other, he hasn't taken force off the table. and yet i can't believe that he will preemor even support israeli preemption against iran. that would be too much of a deja vu looking like the bush

presidency inle ways. so this is a dilemma for the country as a whole. that's why i think what obama is doing is the best policy we have. let's face it. it will not reliably prevent iran from getting the bomb as your correspondents pointed out. it is punishing iran for pursuing the bomb but it does not prevent iran from getting the bol. that's a challenge we have as a nation going forward. >> it is very complicated. iran has made threats about the straits of hormuz. wouldn't closing that cause economic damage in iran as well as the rest of the world? >> there's no doubt that iran is trying to play brinksmanship. if they do close they will, we'll have to go in and open them. the way you do that is not to sail around. it is to sink the navy so they can't do anything more. this is not a game where either side really wants to get into the actual trading of missiles and actual hostile fire. but iran is of the view, i

think, that there are countries that might be spooked out there by all this sabre rattling and countries that have gone along with this quiet diplomacy, because it sounds pretty innocuous to slap a few sanctions on the iranian bank. once they realize this is pushing the world closer to potential conflict in the persian gulf, however unlikely it may be to actually happen. it will spook some countries and they won't go along with the sanctions. i think that's iran's basic approach. >> there is an important question of how the u.s. should approach iran, iranian dissidents. particularly protests there in relation to what they've seen during the arab spring. what do you think the u.s. response should be to protest within iran? >> well, i do think that overall, president obama's weakest period of iran policy was those early months when he was not too supportive of the opposition or the dissidents. >> during the revolution as it was called. >> yeah. and the prelude to the june 2009 presidential elections that were

ultimately stolen that i the iranian regime. i think that person of time obama was hoping that reaching out to the iranian regime would soften its behavior and he was trying essentially a process of detante. after four or five months of experimentations, he pivoted to a much harder line of approach. the world noticed he tried the softer line and the countries were willing to support him when the softer line failed and he had to resort to tougher measures. in a sense obama has been better than bush at pursuing the bush agenda of putting pressure on iran. that's one of the ironies of this presidency. yes, he made some mistakes in the early months but he learned from them. and he used that period to his advantage to convince the world to toughen up on iran over the last two and a half years. >> michael o'hanlon, as ever, thank you for joining us. >> my pleasure. coming up, the real green behind the grassroots organizations on the right. o thu for the advice on phillips' caplets. magnesium, right? you bet! phillips' caplets use magnesium.

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if there's an indisputable

fact about the crash of 2008, it is that the money men on wall street and in london brought the global economy to its knees as a result of unrestrained greed and the deliberate exploitation of borrowers, but at a time when many might have expected conservatives to be cowering in the corner they have roared back claiming to be the only people who can now save the economy. that is the subject of a new book "pitting the billion air," what a brilliant title, and we're glad to have its author, thomas frank, with us. good afternoon, tom. >> how are you today? >> i'm great. >> how did the republicans manage to do that? explain. >> isn't that the story? >> because exactly what you've said. first of all, there's never ban more perfect example of an ideology, you know, failing than the crash of 2008. directly the result of the way banks were deregulated, both de facto and du jure and the only

way is to deregulate more and get government completely out of the picture. >> yeah. >> i mean, that is the great mystery of our times. how did they manage to represent themselves as a populist movement for hard times, right? >> but also this is the same group of bankers and money men who took the government's money to save them. >> that's right. >> hand now they want to destroy government. >> exactly. please explain it to me. i just don't get it. >> this is the genius of the whole thing. instead of talking about the financial crisis, these guys always talk about the bailouts. the bailouts are the great abomination and great sin. most americans would probably agree with them on that. however, their solution is not, okay, let's resupervise wall street and make sure this didn't happen again. it's like just do away with government so they can't bail people out. >> and the recess appointment today that the president announced of richard cordray, opposed by every republican, designed to protect consumers

hated by the banks. >> if we had an office like this cracking down on predatory lending ten years ago, a lot of of this stuff would have been avoided. the bush administration superceded state level laws on predatory allegeding and made sure they couldn't enforce them. >> in your research you came across a public document issued by the koch brothers in which they talked about being scared about going back to the '30s and i thought they were talking about talking about joblessness but what were they talking about? >> not worried about that. >> what are they worried about? >> they are worried about governments stepping in and getting into their business. >> of course. worried about another franklin roosevelt coming down the pike. >> no. >> like the great tycoons of the 1930s, william randolph hearst, very upset by franklin roosevelt, and as soon as market tanks, oh, no, we're going to have another new deal. labor is going to come back, all these terrible things so that's what they are worried about, and that's, by the way, the seeds of

the whole tea party movement. it's reacting to the threat of a new -- new deal even before one is on the scene >> i was going to ask you about that and final question. how have these billionaires managed to co-on the what i thought was a grass roots movement that was literally ordinary people campaigning against this kind of influence? >> the tea party movement looks like a populist movement and lord knows it sounds pop lifrkts the guys with the bullhorns and placards, claiming they have no leaders, and all that stuff, but i went to the very first tea party rally in february -- wait, even further than, that the guy that called it into being, rick santelli, from the floor of the chicago board of trade, you know. in the world of populism and in the 19th century that was the seat of evil. that's where this populist movement began. >> as stonishing. thomas frank, thanks so much for joining us, and the book is terrific. we'll be right back. l stubbed u.

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it's time now to clear the air and poor old rick perry is living proof that money hand those immortal words just can't buy you lot. take a look at amount of cash he spent in iowa, $6,035,705. that's $1.5 million more than the next biggest spender, the victorious mitt romney. by the way, that's equates $480 per vote and perry was able to spend more than anyone else because he raised more than anyone else. the third-quarter fund-raising totals were incredible, perry outstripping romp any by $3 million. but look at what happened last night in iowa. perry got just 10% of the vote, and has decided to go back to texas and nurse his wounds. it was his first loss in 27 years and 10 consecutive elections, but if money can't buy you love, then nor can it buy you brains, and that's really why rick perry's campaign has collapsed. i mean, he's got plenty of of

enthusiasm. >> live free or die, victory or death, bring it. >> but even after months of rehearsing his big ideas for how he was going to reform nation, here's how he delivered those memorable lines. >> i can't, the third one i can't, sorry. oops. >> and his book, the appropriately titled "fed up" isn't much better evening. still, it's onwards to south carolina, mr. perry, and don't forget your checkbook. thank you very much for watching. dylan ratigan is here, and he's ready to takes forward. dial answer, how are you? >> i'm fantastic. happy new year to you, my friend. >> happiy new year to you. >> the year of a dragon. >> the year of a certain book that's about to be published. >> the year of "the greedy bastard." hope it's not the year of the greedy bastard. did you have a good holiday? >> i did, actually. >> what did you do? >> thank you so much. >> did you go skiing? >> i went back to the uk briefly. >> to the