i think things are going to happen up here. santorum, gingrich and romney will go at it. what comes out will be something far bigger than what arrived here today. u.s. watch. that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. "politicsith al sharpton starts right now. republicans get rolled. happy new year, mitch mcconnell. tonight president obama tells republicans he won't take no for an answer, and he doesn't care if they don't like it. and ripping romney. republicans agree on one thing -- they want to take down their front-runner. plus in a party that's got more extreme, his words and his views are leading the way. tonight meet the real rick santorum, in his own words. >> i would advocate that any doctor that performs an abortion should be criminally charged for

doing so. i don't want to make people's lives better by giving them somebody else's money. barack obama has deliberately turned or back on our allies. welcome to "politics nation." i'm al sharpton. we'll talk a lot tonight about the republican race and what it all means, because it is getting ugly. we start with president obama, who is starting 2012 the way he ended 2011, fighting for the mittle class and standing up to bullying republicans. today the president announced that he'll use a recess appointments to make richard co cordray the chief watchdog. and he dared republicans to challenge him and the american people. >> every day that we waited was another day when millions of americans were left unprotected.

that's inexcusable. it's wrong. and i refuse to take no for an answer. does anybody think that the reason that we got in such a finance mess, the worst financial crisis since the great depression, the worst economic crisis in a generation, that the reason was because of too much oversight of the financial industry? of course not. no, that doesn't make sense. cordray is needed. who wants americans at the will of unregulated mortgage companies, at the will of unregulated debt collectors? we's a people need more than that. apparently mitch mcconnell doesn't think so. he thinks the president has arrogantly circumvented the american people, circumvented the american people? 63% want more financial

oversight, not less. you're circumventing the truth, but it's not going to work any longer. the president is done with your obstruction. today he also announced that he's appointing three people to the national labor relations board who have also been consistently blocked by senate republicans. make no mistake, this next election will come down to ideas, and we know now more than ever who's on the side of the middle class. >> i've been an obligation to act on behalf of the american people, and 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 for middle-class americans. we're not going to let that happen. joining me now is senator sherrod brown, democrat from ohio. now, when you look at this, the

president is saying i'm not -- i'm done, i'm not going to keep taking no for an answer was his exact words. this is the president that many of us wanted to see fighting, and this is the president that is not saying let's compromise and not saying let's find a way to meet in the middle. he's saying enough is enough. what took him so long to get to this position? do you think he just got frustrated, and saw they didn't wand to try to do the right thing? or is this a new barack obama as president? >> i think the president game the minority party in the senate, which has enough votes to block darn near everything we've seen, and mitch mcconned is said his first goal in 2012 is to make sure barack obama is not reelected, he's said i've tried to compromise, there is no compromise with mitch mcconnell and some of his troops.

he and four republicans voted right on some of this stuff, about you when they're acting like children and no, no, no, unless i get my way, barack obama's is the adult in the room. he did the right thing. he showed leadership, strength, resolve. he did what the american public wants. the american public wants strong rules in place. if we had had rich -- cordray in place 3 years ago when president bush was president, we might not have had a lot of these financial problems that caused so many workers in my state to lose their jobs, and so many people to lose their homes. that's why i'm just thrilled when i heard the president today in cleveland. i was downstate talking to some veterans and farmers, but i heard him on the radio, i listened to it live, and heard him do this. ivities thrilled. >> let me ask you this, senator. it seems to be very hypocrite cal that they are raising the

point about recess appointments, bond to the nlrb and the appointments of cordray when in fact, if you look at the record president reagan and both president bushes appointed nlrb members as resist appointments. and when you raise the questions to republicans about richard cordray, let me show you what they say. >> this has nothing to do with mr. cordray. he's clearly a qualified individual with a good reputation. >> we do not believe anyone should be confirmed as director of the cfpb. >> this is not about the nominee, who appears to be a decent person and may very well be qualified. >> so they're not questioning his qualifications, but we hear mcconnell say no one should be elected. i mean, what are they talking

about? they had republican presidents that used recess appointments. now when this president does this, not only with cordray, but with the nlrb, which is something new and objectionable? >> that is exactly right that other presidents have used these appointments, but even more to the point, al, this has never happened in american history, where one party says no even to someone who, as susan collins and orrin hatch and mitch mcconned said is qualify. we're saying no, because we don't like the agency, we don't like the law. two years ago with 60-plus votes, the u.s. senate and the house of representatives with a majority passed consumer protection law, and wall street reform law that's the law of the land. you can't run a government if one party is going to say, we're not going to fill these jobs, because we don't like the agency, we don't like the food & drug administration or we don't like the department of interior,

or we don't like how you're doing this, even though it's the law. the president stepped up not just for rich cordray and for the middle class and for consumers, but stepped up and filled out the nlrp today, including with a republican, because he wants his job -- he took an oath 3 years ago to run this government, to be the president of the united states. he needs people in place to run this government, and when one party's going to act like children and say, we're not going to do it until we get our way, the president's got a responsibility. he's the adult in the room. he did the right thing. he's showing the resolved leadership that we elected him to do. >> let me show you what the leading rep, willard mitt romney said today, and i'm quoting him -- president obama's consumer financial protection bureau is perhaps the most powerful and unaccountableably bureaucracy in the history of our nation. this action republicans chicago-style politics at its

worst. but what's interesting is if you look at a quote from a former attorney for plus bush, steven brad bur are, the president should consider calling the senate's bluff by exercising his recess appointment power to challenge the use of pro forma sessions. so you have even a former bush attorney saying, look, enough is enough, while willard and the republicans out there now are trying to play politics at every turn, particularly when it will protect the average american and the middle class. >> i saw, al, last night you, ed, rachel, chris and others talking about the iowa primary or iowa caucuses. mitt romney is trying to out 1/2 newt gingrich, and trying it out-rick santorum rick santorum.

he knows better than that. mitt romney knows better than that to say this is like the worst something in american history. i mean, the president needs to lead when anybody running for president like him calls what he's saying. he's not ready for primetime, period. i repeat, the president did the right thing. he was the adult in the room. he did what needed to be done so we could enforce consumer protection, protect main street against wall street abuses, so we can strengthen the middle class. all the kinds of financial shenanigans we have seen in this country in the last five years. just undercut the middle class. this is a step back. this is a step to turn this around and do it right. the president did it today and i'm proud of him. >> it's called presiding as president. >> exactly right. >> senator, thank you for your time. >> of course. thank you very much, reverend sharpton. ahead, republicans challengers are racing to new hampshire, and all have a plan

to take down mitt romney with newt leading the charge. >> it becomes more and more obvious that people go to anybody but romney. also, willard claims he created 100,000 jobs as head of bain capital, but the truth came out today. we'll hear from a man fired by romney. and rick santorum connects with people, but under that smile, there's a man filled with extremism and radical positions. my commentary is coming up. you're watching "politics nation" on msnbc. this is an rc robotic claw. my high school science teacher made me what i am today. our science teacher helped us build it. ♪ now i'm a geologist at chevron, and i get to help science teachers. it has four servo motors and a wireless microcontroller.

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remember reagan's 11th commandment, thou shalt not

attack other republicans. yeah, that's over. they're unleashing attacks on willard, and newt is on fire. that's next. jenna shared her recipe with sharon, who emailed it to emily, who sent it to cindy, who wondered why her soup wasn't quite the same. the recipe's not the recipe... ohhh. [ female announcer ] ...without swanson. the broth cooks trust most when making soup. mmmm! [ female announcer ] the secret is swanson.

glue republicans just love to talk about ronald reagan. he hated taxes, even though he raise taxes 11 times as president. he hated government spending, except for defense, and he gave us huge deficits. but one reagan thing republicans don't want to remember these days is his 11th commandment -- thou shalt not speak ill of another republican candidate. it's bloodsport now.

newton leroy gingrich, who promised to run a positive campaign is now doing the political charles bronson all over mitt romney. >> it becomes more and more obvious that people go to anybody but romney. the fact is 3 out of 4 republicans rejected him. governor romney is a moderate massachusetts republicans to the left of the vast majority of republicans, but the fact is that governor romney in the end has a very limited appeal in a conservative party. >> this morning new hampshire voter woke up to this newt newspaper ad, that says romney is a timid moderate. newt is not the only one attacking willard today. the campaign of rick santorum, who finished just eight votes behind romney in iowa sent an e-mail out calling romney a bland, boring career politician

who will lose to barack obama. jon huntsman is betting his campaign on newspaper newspaper. today he came out swinging after willard got endorsed by john mccain. this is what he said. >> i love john mccain. another dole, another mccain, another establishment endorsement. martha, nobody cares. it will mean zero in terms of any poll improvement for mitt romney, because this nation is tired of the past. it wants something new. it wants a new approach to problem-solving, not the same old thing. >> who will win new hampshire and beyond? that's a hard question. but who's ignoring reagan's 11th commandment? that's easy -- everybody. joining me live from manchester, new hampshire, is dana milbank, political economist for "the washington post," and glen jansen, politics editor of "the

boston globe." thank you to both of you for being here tonight. >> good to be with you. >> hello, reverend. >> dana, let me start with you. the republican field is tearing into willard, but can they actually bring him down? >> you know, i don't think so, reverend. it doesn't look like this is a comfortable play for mitt romney. glen and i were at an event earlier today, i think romney thought he would come in and perform some victory sonata, and everybody would applaud, but he got really rough treatment here. as you can see, all of the knives are clearly out for him. the fact that he won in iowa, where he wasn't expected to, even if by a narrow margin, and is now in a very strong position here in new hampshire would indicate that nobody can knock him down from this point forward, but they're going to give it their best, and it's going to be a lot of fun to

watch. >> glen, i am a frequent dana milbank reader, so he's rarely, you know, underestimates something. to say a narrow margin, eight votes. let me show you something.2008,1 votes. last night he received 30,015 votes. he goat six fewer votes last night than he got in '08, and he got it against candidates who are nowhere near the stature of john mccain. doesn't that mean willard can be vulnerable? >> if you're asking me, yeah, sure. he has a way of inspiring --

naeg his opponents despise him. after the carpet bombing that his pro-romney super pac laid, he really has nothing to lose. newt is not ready to go out yet, and he really wants to let mitt romney know he doesn't appreciate the treatment he gave him. for rick santorum, that dovetails perfectly with his campaign. he's casting himself as a true conservative, raising doubts as mitt romney. thoughts two are working well together. >> dana, i'm going to talk later about the real rick santorum. one thing i observed last night is santorum does have something that willard doesn't. he has an or or atorrie -- let

me show you this. >> he left to the coal fields of southwestern pennsylvania. he worked in the mine in a company town, god paid with coupons, he used to call them. lived in a shack. he ended up continuing to work in those mines until he was 72 years old, digging coal. i knelt next to his coffin, and all i could do is eye level, was look at his hands. they were enormous hands. and all i could think was those hands dug freedom for me. >> when and you have candidate that talks about his grandfather's hands and connects. you look at the people on the stage around him watching him, that's the last thing you see at a willard romney press conference, speech or rally. then you add to it the fact that newt gingrich -- let me show you

now what glen was saying, newt gingrich is now saying i'm going to be your assistant in this mission. . >> can you see a scenario under which the two of you would align together to try to defeat the establishment candidate mitt romney? >> absolutely. of course. we both dislike deeply the degree to which the establishment sells out the american people. we don't think washington has to be changed in very fundamental ways, and we have lots -- we have lots of things that fit together. >> rick and i between us will draw a clear enough and sharp enough line with romney we'll go through face 1 of making clear to the country that romney is a massachusetts moderate. >> rick and i? sounds like a new duet getting ready to sing in new hampshire, dana. >> right. it's the most interesting one since you and mitt romney went on tour together. >> but we were singing on different pages of the hymn

book, but go ahead. >> but, no, i think that they're actually going to -- when newt gingrich talks about performing together with rick santorum, in enact they're doing the exact opposite. what the right needs to do is have a solid candidate to be the anti-romney. that's what they have needed all along. an tomorrow is not the best possible choice, but he could be that. now if you have newt gingrich going after him, rick perry flirting with going out of the race, but coming back in it, they've managed to scatter the vote enough that, so newt is making it more likely rather than less that romney gets through this. well, it looks as thought we thought rick perry said he was going to reassess, pray about it, and then he came back today and said he's headed to south carolina, glen. how do you think that that

impacts the whole question of bringing down mr. romney? you see that santorum is out there. he needs to try and coalesce the field, but perry sends out this tweet -- in the next leg of the marathon is the palmetto state. >> no, i think that rick perry had to go to bed feeling defeated, but wake up saying what am i doing? rick santorum in this national stage is pretty untested right now. rick perry has had some of the worst moments any politician could have so far, yet he was basically about to cede the field to rick son tomorrow heading into the south, where he should be strong. so i think, you know, this morning perry woke up and said i should not do i'm thinking of what i'm going to do. so he did the 180.

>> does perry have a chance to really revive himself? >> i think for a guy that's full of pride, to walk away without trying the strength of his candidacy in the bible belt could have been seen as a defeat. i think if 4th can get his act together in some of these debates, especially the back-to-back ones this weekend, maybe he goes out on a high note. >> but does he have a chance? i mean, does he have a chance to go to south carolina and we're talking about eight or nine days from now? >> reverent, there's nothing here that would say that rick perry has a chance to recover, but he's basically telling us that god is telling him to run. you have a pipeline to god as well, so maybe you may to answer that question. >> i'm not telling. >> none of us here on the ground can see how he can pull that

off. >> glen, what's going to happen in new hampshire these day? we have the saturday night abc debate, sunday morning debate with david gregory on "meet the press" what will happen leading up to those debates? and how much impact will those have? >> actually it's going to go strangely quiet tomorrow for the mitt romney -- and that's going to create a huge vacuum where you have rick santorum, newt gingrich. here you have jon huntsman running all over the place. it's a real chance for some guys to get some attention right now before romney returns. he came back today with a pretty flat event with john mccain. he was a hero in 2000, and again in 2008. today at a couple points you could hear crickets, just very flat event. mccain didn't come off well. there was not a low of thew y5678 for romney at that event,

either. there is a love of tum multithat will maybe it a lively week. >> glen, that's where you and i disagree. you say he's leaving and that would leave a wide gap. i say when he's there it leaves a wide gap. ahead, willard's been all over the place say he created 100,000 jobs at bain capital, but the trust came out today. you won't believe what his spokesman is saying now. michele bachmann danced her way out of the race today. we say no thanks for the memories. ahead, stay with us. confused by all the nutritional information out there?

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how offensive are some of rick santorum's comments? check this out. >> barack obama has deliberately turned or back on our allies in central and south america and actively embraced those who seek to do us harm. we need a leader who understands how to make that security for each and every one of you as opposed to appeasing the other side. >> appeasing the other side? wow, the extremism of rick santorum, that's next. [ male announcer ] cranberry juice? wake up!

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the republicans search for the anti-romney has brought us many flavors of the month, but

each one has really been the extremist of the month. rick santorum may just have been the most bitter taste of all. here's his take on a woman's right to choose. >> i believe that life begins at conception, and that life should be guaranteed under the constitution. that is a person in my case. >> even in the case of a rape orb encrest. >> that will be taking a life. i believe any doctors -- i would advocate that any doctor that performs an abortion should be criminally charged for doing so. >> that opinion doesn't fit with nearly two thirds of americans who support a woman's right to choose, but he doesn't stop there. he says states should have the right to ban birth control. >> the dangers of contraception in this country. the whole sexual libber teen idea. many in the christian faith had said, well, that's okay,

contraception is okay. it's not okay. it's a listen to do things in the sexual realm. >> americans really birth control. three quarters believe it should be fully covered by insurance companies. then there's his take on same-sex marriage. he said he would anull all gay marriages already performed. >> i think marriage has to be one thing for everybody, that you can't have 50 different marriage laws in this country. you have to have one marriage law. >> what would you do with same-sex couples that got married? would you make them get divorced? >> well, their marriage would be invalid. >> recent polls show that more than half of the country supports same-sex marriage. folks, the republican party has been in a mad rush to extreme right wing, and rick santorum has been there waiting the whole

time. joining me, alex wagner, host of "now with alex wagner" and msnbc contributor melissa harr harris-perry. thank you both for joining me tonight. >> absolutely. >> thanks, rev. melissa, let me start with you. for the past year republicans have engaged on a war on women's rights and women's health. you and i have talked about rick santorum saying food stamps and blacks, and what he would do for blacks, clearly offending a lot of people in the black community. when he spoke last night and started talking about his grandfather's hands. it was very moving. then he said his grandfather came here trying to flee a government like this administration, muse lynni. it woke me independence, reminding me who this guy was. he's probably the most extreme right-wing candidate we have seen in the flavors of the

month. >> i think that's right, the most extreme of the kind of cycling of not-mitt or not-willard in your case, of candidates to come through. one of the things we need to pause and remember, it's not really clear that the iowa caucus-goers chose santorum based on his policies or positions. it does seem like, at least at this moment, it seems like it's more about timing than it is about specifically what he stands for. i think it's going to take us more time to figure out whether or not gop voters are actually choosing this kind of social and political extremism, particularly social and political extremism that's attached with an economic lack of conservativism, a deficit growing republican who's also an extremist on social issues. i don't think they even have quite enough information to know whether or not they're choosing this or this is the flavor not of the month, but really of the week. >> >> let me show you two things

that continues this whole santorum as an extreme right winger. santorum said this -- no marriage, dads or role models in certain neighborhoods. look at this. >> the problem is that in many of the communities that these children live in, marriage is an impossibility. it's a cultural impossibility. joe, you've been in those neighborhoods. there are no dads. not only there are -- there are no male role models of any kind, except, you know, bad ones. >> now, he was talking about poor communities, communities of color. i came out of a single-parent home, but we had ministers all kinds of positive role models, and all kinds of married people living in the neighborhood. then you look at the fact when we had this infamous booing of a gay soldier, who was serving this country, most people don't remember that question was being

posed to rick santorum. watch this. >> in 2010, when i was deployed to iraq, i had to lie about who i was, because i'm a gay soldier. i didn't want to lose my job. my question is, under one of your president sis, do you intend to circumvent the progress that's been made for gay and lesbian soldiers in the military? >> what would you do with soldiers like steven hill? now he's out. >> what we're doing is playing social experimentation with our military right now, and that's tragic. i would just say that going forward, we would reinstitute that policy of rick santorum as president. period. >> so poor people, people of color, don't have any good role models in the community, and they're not married, and he sees a soldier in uniform booed because he's gay, and he goes on talking about social experimenting. he doesn't even say to the crowd hose disrespectful that is.

>> it was the moment for him to say -- to thank our men and women in the armed services for their sacrifice and the fact they're willing to make the ultimate sacrifice. but rick santorum has a specifically catholic vision for the country, which has at its center the family unit, the nuclear xaem comprised of a man, woman and children, and his economic vision for the country is predicated on that. last night his answer to the occurrence problems were we need to focus on the family. which there are a number of studies that show two-parent homes tend to be more stable. that's ignoring the reality, ignoring the fact that folks are starting from different places, and things like education have a lot to do with how you succeed. the fact that he's going back, advocating for the repeal of don't ask/don't tell, against the council of the military staff, a overwhelming majority of those serving in the military at present, but part of the

specifically christian/cast lick idea that rick santorum has about america. >> but no -- you and i remember when senator obama was run -- for chastising some fathers at a church on father's day for not standing up and being responsible, so all of us do that. we preach that all the time. but when you start acting like these kids can't make it because of that, you remove anything ambition from young people, they feel like there's something wrong with them because of the decisions of their parents or because of the neighborhood. how will you be a president when you convince some people don't even try because of your environment and your social stand, you just can't make it anything. >> well, look, i think part of the other piece -- i hear alex saying it's part of a catholic,

but it's a pretty contemporary version. because there is a strain of american catholicism that's about social uplift, but people coming together in parishes and communities, and even when there was a moral conservatism around, there was also a sense of giving to the poor, not of cutting food stamps, which is something else that santorum has talked about, but my biggest concern is what you're articulating there, reverend, the sense that he literally can't see some american communities, and with when you cannot see a community, it can have real impact in terms of policy. the example that comes to mind immediately for me is the language that came out in the earliest hours after hurricane katrina hit here in new orleans. there were many african-men men doing the work of rescue, assisting elderly people, and yet they were getting framed as looters, as thieves, because

there was such a version of who black men are in this country, that we couldn't even see what they were doing was actually being exactly the kinds of first responders that we would want them to be. what worries me about a president is i want a president who can see across difference, who can see black and white, people of color, who can see men and women, and see them all at equal citizens who have a right to be part of the broader american project. >> i think you said it all. i would love no mr. santorum to come on this show as a child of a single parent, who had plenty of role models, i would tell him how wrong he is. if he doesn't want to come here, he can meet me at hoon noon on alex's show. >> we hope to have you tomorrow, if you have time, and the daughter of a catholic, melissa, you make a good point and we would love to have rick santorum on the program as well. >> thing you both for your time

tonight. mitt claims he created 100,000 jobs back when he was ceo of bain capital. we'll poke some holes in that story, and talk to a man who was victimized by mitt's brand of so-called job creation. also, michele bachmann was always good for a few gaffes. we'll have a special tribute to her campaign, next. [ female announcer ] this is not a prescription. this is mary... who has a million things to pick up each month on top of her prescriptions. so she was thrilled that her walgreens pharmacist recommended a 3-month supply and would always be there to answer questions about her health. now mary gets 3 refills in one and for 3 months, she's done. more or less. ask your pharmacist about a 90 day supply today. walgreens. there's a way to stay well.

welcome back. he likes to hi of himself as the job creator, mr. business. last night 42% of iowa voters said their biggest concern is the economy. among that group, 34% supported romney. romney helped start bain capital in 1984, and left as its ceo in 1999. full disclosure, nbc universal and bain capital are co-owners of the weather channel. the firm bain buys out and restructuring struggling companies, in some cases bain did create jobs, but in others

bain boosted stock, turned a proof and fired lots of workers, but romney doesn't talk about those. >> when i was at bain capital, we invested in about 100 different companies. >> if you take those places where we were able to add those jobs and subtract those that lost jobs, we added over 100,000. >> are you proud of use you are work at bain capital? >> absolutely. i'm proud of the private sector. >> adding over 100,000 jobs? creates tens of thousands of jobs? a "the washington post" reporter pressed a spokesman to back up that claim and found out, quote, romney is only counting jobs gained at companies restructured at bain during and after his years there, and not factors jobs lost. that's incredible. under this romney rule, 2.3 million jobs were created until

president obama. folks, bain was responsible for thousands of layoffs. bain acquired dade international in 1994. the company went bankrupt. 1700 jobs killed. bain cashed in on a profit of 242 million. bain acquired gs industries in the early '90s. the company went bankrupt. and bain got a $50 million payoff. then there was american pad and paper. bain took it over, two plants were closed, and 385 jobs were lost. willard left bain in 1999, but bain never left him he's still getting paid millions a year for nothing. what's the record up to run on,

willard? maybe you should run on flip flopping on health care. randy johnson lost his job at the aforementioned american pad and paper plant in indiana after bain capital bought the company in the '90s, the committee recently flew him to iowa to tell his story. tell me what happened when bain took over your company. how did it change? >> when bain took over my plant, it was through ampad, and they call it an asset sale. they bought only the assets, and didn't take the workers on are or union contract they had. they basically brought in security guards, walked ussous and if you want a job for us, you have to fill out the application. once they did, they brought us back at reduced wages and no benefits. the retirement was gone. we had to pay more for health care. we got put on 12-hour shifts. it was just terrible conditions. >> so bain in '84 took over your company, everyone was

terminated, you could reapply to bain. when did you, it was lower wages and all of your benefits and other things had changed. at the time the ceo was the great job creator, willard mitt romney? >> that's correct. >> now, do you feel that this policy could have been intervened by the ceo at the time? do you feel that the workers could have, if you got a person who has the concern of being a job creator, the concern of being compassionate for the american middle class, you guys were not lazy useless beg garrs, you were doing work, yet it doesn't matter? >> no, we reached out to him. some of the workers actually tracked him down when he was running for senate in somes mis. he talked to them, said he would look into it and get back to them. he never did. >> some of the workers that were laid off or fired tracked down mitt willard -- i'm sorry,

willard mitt romney when he was running for the senate and actually talked to him about this? >> yes, he met with six of them in massachusetts, and we thought he's going to get involved, but nothing happened. >> and this is the man that says, as i've just shown in several clips, he created 100,000 jobs, and tens of thousands of jobs. rein, let me ask you quickly. when you see him campaigning saying that, how do you feel? >> oh, i think -- to me it's simple. it's profits before people. i don't think he's in touch with the reality of what it means to be on a shop floor, he's never been a manager on a shop floor. he's not even managed a plant by itself. he's never produced anything but profits for the rich. >> randy johnson, thanks for your time tonight. >> thank you. still ahead, while we'll miss michele bachmann. our special "politics nation" tribute is next. [ male announcer ] to the 5:00 a.m. scholar.

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after nearly seven months, michele bachmann is off the reality show that is the gop race. she quit the race. but while she's gone, she's certainly not forgotten. >> i am michele bachmann. i am running for the president of the united states. >> i don't know how to be a politici politician. i never want to know how to be a politician. >> how many of you love the i.r.s.? i went to the inside to learn how they work. >> i don't consider the greatest most deliberative body, the outs a circus. ♪ >> if anyone will not work, neither should he eat. >> oh, my goodness! yes! >> i am a woman who says what

she means and i mean what i say. >> i would be willing to use waterboarding. >> he has a lot of chutzpa. >> i haven't had a gaffe or something that's caused me to fall in the polls. >> both backman and herman cain dropped out of the race. >> when i finally realized that it was god saying that this is what i needed to do, i was like moses. you got the wrong man, lord. >> i have a sense of assurance about the direction i think that god is speaking in my heart that i should go. >> they were told to run, but what happened? i don't doubt they got the message. hmm. maybe their lines got hacked. i can tell you, as a person who's been a minister since i was a child, beware of right-wingerth