no, but if your daddy ran once like bush or romney did or you take years of abuse like nixon or dole, then get in line, wait your turn and some day, some cold day in new hampshire it's going to be your turn. that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us, "the ed show" with ed schultz starts right now. good evening, americans. welcome to "the ed show" tonight from new york. the latest job numbers are out and the unemployment rate, well, it continues to drop. republicans are still trying to paint president obama as a job killer. from new york city to frisco, texas, let's hear it, a special shout-out tonight. this is "the ed show." let's get to work. >> this morning we learned that american businesses added another 212,000 jobbing last month. >> good news for america on jobs, but republicans are having none of it. >> this president doesn't understand how this economy works. it's time to get a president who does. >> former labor secretary, robert reich is here, with the

reality on republicans and today's jobs report. racism roars through the republican party. newt gingrich wants an invite to the naacp convention so he can give some advice? >> the african-american community should demand paychecks and not be satisfied with food stamps. >> naacp president ben jealous is here to tell us if newt will get his chance. rick santorum is bringing jesus into his campaign pitch. >> we always need a jesus candidate. plus, john mccain has some kind words for president obama. sort of. >> with the leadership and the backing of the american people, president obama will turn this country around. >> all the campaign developments including major news from south carolina. with ari melber of "the nation" magazine and "grio" editor joy-ann reid. tonight, a special look into big eddie's video volt. >> touchdown north dakota state.

when the locusts come, they eat everything. >> the bison are back in the big game. i'm taking a trip down memory lane. good to have you with us tonight, folks. thanks for watching. well, we got some good news about jobs and the economy today. but republicans are still banking on america's failure. you know, when you look at it, it's really their only chance to get all the power they want in washington. look at these numbers. the economy gained 200,000 jobs in the month of december. gosh, that's good. the unemployment rate dropped to 8.5%. i remember talking to economists who were telling me it would never go below 9% before the election. well, what do you think? that is the lowest level of unemployment in almost three years. 2011 was the best year for private sector job growth since 2005 when w. was on 1600 pennsylvania avenue. now, in 2010, the economy added

940,000 jobs. the unemployment rate was 9.6%. last year, 2011, 1.6 million jobs were added and the unemployment average was 8.9%. you know, three years ago this month, this country lost 741,000 jobs. that was a record loss, and i really think that as a country, we don't really realize how bad it was. and i don't think that we're really appreciating how we're slowly pulling ourselves out of this. of course, the republicans aren't helping out. in those three years, president obama got zero help from the republicans. only three republicans voted for the stimulus bill. that's not big help, but it did make a difference. republicans, they wouldn't. they didn't pass the jobs bill, it's what the president wanted to do. republicans, they don't want anything to with an infrastructure bill. they didn't want to do that. they wanted to protect the

top .0% of income earners. this is what has happened over the last three years. without their help, president obama has put together 22 months of consecutive private sector job growth. that's a heck of a number of. the president says we are not where we want to be, obviously, but we're moving in the right direction. this is bad news for republicans because they can only win in november if they bet against american workers. this is against the tidal wave of outsourcing which the corporatists love to do, which the republicans put all the skids on the table for them to go do what they want to do when it comes to that. helping them out any way they can. republican presidential candidates, they can't admit the economy is improving. and they definitely can't give any credit to president obama. >> this president has been on the attack, has been on the attack and has been a job killer. >> today's unemployment numbers

are a pretty good indicator we're a very, very long way from being a healthy economy. and i think given this president, it's very unlikely he's going to solve it. >> i'm gratified to see in spite of president obama's policies, the job market is beginning to pick up a little bit. >> this president doesn't understand how this economy works. it's time to get a president who does. >> really? so what is this? is this a job killing chart? we better take this down. heck, mitt says this is a job killing chart. no, this is great numbers right here for america. remember, the depression, the crash of 1929 and what the country went through? this is as bad as it's been since then, but now look at this chart that the obama administration and his team have been able to put together for the american people. and mitt stands up there and says that? how can mitt romney say president obama doesn't understand the economy when the job growth keeps improving under his administration? another flip-flop by old mittster. now, romney says president obama has record unemployment. let's look at the unemployment

situation in america when president obama took office. jobs were in a freefall in 2008. remember these days? i do. once president obama's policies got under way, things started to turn around. the stimulus programs kicked in. let's not forget how the righties vilified the auto industry bailout. no, it was a loan, and it worked. and the republicans had nothing to do with it. the payroll tax cut, well, that was suspended. and there, of course, is no way around it. president obama is the job creator. is mitt romney a job creator? ask the thousands of people who lost their jobs when romney's bain capital took over their companies. like these two steelworkers from kansas city. >> i worked in this plant 32 years as a steelworker. >> i spent 34 years in this steel mill. >> bain capital came in with mitt romney and his cronies and shut the place duown.

>> they walked out of here with millions. they left us with nothing. >> this community has never been the same. never gong be the same. thousands of jobs lost. i don't see where he's creating anybody's jobs. >> tell you he wants to only in and help this country? he'll raid this country just like he did this company. that's what he does. >> didn't mitt romney say that president obama was the job killer just a moment ago on the tape we played? well, i have a challenge for mr. romney. i'll pay for the transportation. every time i throw out something like this, it never works out, but i'll try it again. i'll get those two gentlemen and i'll get them to mitt romney's campaign and i would like those two gentlemen to come face to face with mr. romney and have mr. romney tell those two gentlemen what really happened. why did they lose their jobs? have a conversation with these people. because after all, mitt, you say you're the job creator. what about the people that fell on your watch? mitt romney and other republican

candidates better come up with some real job solutions, right? don't you think? the current president's kind of on a role. he as a record of job creation and the economy is slowly improving. without any real plans of their own, republicans hope this country fails. you can only look at the way they vote in the house and the senate. they have done nothing. nothing. when it comes to job creation since mr. boehner has gotten the gavel. they've had a record number of filibusters. they've stopped everything. it's been obstruction after obstruction. president obama could make the case, his ego won't allow him to do it. he could make the case on the campaign trail, republicans have given me no help. i have done this on my own. i have had to do this on my own in 22 months of private sector job creation is the record that we have. and, of course, by the time we get to november, it's going to be a heck of a lot better than that. the country is headed in the

right direction and you have got the republican candidates out there bushing for failure. they want american workers to fail. they hate these numbers. they hate these charts. they don't talk about these charts. of course, we have a long way to go. but let's reverse this a little bit. let's just say that george bush really took us in the tank at the turn of the century. okay? let's say that he inherited that. okay? that clinton took us in the tank at the turn of the century and bush came in and inherited the numbers that obama inherited. what do you think karl rove would have done with 22 months of private sector jobs? what do you think the right wing sound machine would sound like? yeah. put it in those terms and think about it for a moment. we are on the right course. get your cell phones out. i want to know what you think tonight. tonight's question, can the country afford four years of mitt romney's job creation? text "a" for yes and text "b" for no to 622639. you can go to our blog at

ed.msnbc.com. we'll bring you the results later on in the show. let's turn to robert reich, former labor secretary under the clinton administration. now a professor of public policy, uc berkeley. and author of the "aftershock." i have to ask you, what if you guys in the clinton administration had left the country the way bush did? what do you think the bush administration would be saying with 22 months of private sector job? that's not the first question i wanted to ask, but i just can't help it. >> i tell you, ed, if you look at the historic record and you have to be a little bit frightened by what might have happened, i mean, had the bush administration, george w. bush administration, given those big tax cuts away to the rich and the big corporations on top of, let's assume, your hypothesis, the clinton administration not created the 22 million net new jobs, we'd really be in trouble right now. much, much bigger trouble than we are. look, the critical point from today's job numbers is that the

trend is in the right drerirect. in political terms, you are absolutely right. this is giving republicans a big headache. what can they say? he can't say he's a job killer because you have all of these new jobs being created. we're not out of the woods. as long as the trend continues in this direction, the president's chances of being re-elected are much, much better. americans worry about the trend. i mean, they don't worry so much about the absolute level of unemployment or jobs but the trend. if the trend is in the right direction, they breathe a sigh of relief. they say, yes, bhaobama can do . again, republicans have said no to every single job initiative the president has wanted. his stimulus package, most recently the job creation ideas behind extending the payroll tax cut. extending unemployment insurance. republicans said, no, we don't want to do it. it's a failure. you look at these job numbers, look at the trajectory, look at

the direction and you see it's not a failure at all. had we not had any of this, we'd really be in far worse shape than we are right new. >> you know, mr. reich, i remember three years ago this month some things happened to me in business. and the mood of the country was holy smokes. over 700,000 jobs. how are we going to stop this? how are we going to turn this around? i don't think the country really realized how bad off we were and how quickly we could have gone into the tank and things had to be done with leadership to turn this thing around to get ahold of it. shouldn't republicans be thrilled with private sector jobs increasing and public sector jobs decreasing? what about that. >> you would think so. all we are hearing from the republicans is the same old republican mantra and that is corporations need tax breaks, rich people need tax breaks, corporations need regulatory cuts, so-called regulatory relief. i mean, the absurdity behind

that is corporations are still making huge amounts of money and they're sitting on $1.5 trillion of cash right now and the unemployment numbers are looking better. why should they have tax relief and so-called regulatory relief? i mean, if you want to do anything to speed the process of jobs, do more of what the president has been trying to do and that is do more tax relief for average working people, more job creation in terms of infrastructure. wpa. civilian conservation corps. do all of that and have faster job growth. >> robert reich, always a pleasure. we can only wonder how good it would be if they did do the infrastructure bill, if they did do the jobs bill and be on the side of the american workers. great to have you with us tonight. thanks so much. remember to answer tonight's question at the bottom of the screen. share your thoughts on twitter @edshow. we want to know what you think. coming up, newt gingrich blames the media for reporting

his comment on african-americans and food stamps. ben jealous of the naacp will join me on the conversation for that. four days from new hampshire and republicans are scrambling with make or break debates this weekend. i'll be in manchester, new hampshire, tomorrow and sunday for the debate party. let's see, tomorrow night, saturday at 8:00 p.m., "the ed show" team will be at milly's to verne in downtown manchester. if you're in the area, stop on by. we'd love to know what you think. don't get the wrong idea here, we love it, but this isn't an open bar. it's not catered. it's just good old milly's tavern in manchester. i am told, though, the beer they serve is very cold. stay with us. al hair can be irr. challenge that. new olay smooth finish facial hair removal duo. first a gentle balm. then the removal cream. effective together with less irritation and as gentle as a feather. new olay hair removal duo.

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coming up, newt gingrich's racially insensitive comments on food stamps just don't stand up to the facts. naacp president ben jealous on

the gop's race problem. it just continues on. rush limbaugh's hypocrisy on presidential recess appointments puts him in the "zone" tonight. you'll love the tape we've got. we're opening the big eddie vault to bring you classic college football highlights. you don't want to miss it. share your thoughts on twitter using #edshow. . the two trains and a bus rider. the "i'll sleep when it's done" academic. for 80 years, we've been inspired by you. and we've been honored to walk with you to help you get where you want to be. ♪ because your moment is now. let nothing stand in your way. learn more at keller.edu.

with his poll numbers going down, newt gingrich has become an increasingly desperate man. he's pandering to the base using racial stereotypes to grab votes. here's what gingrich told a group of senior citizens in new

hampshire yesterday. >> obama is the best food stamp president in american history. more people are on food stamps today because of obama's policies than ever in history. i would like to be the best paycheck president in american history. i'm prepared if the naacp invites me, i'll go to their convention and talk about why the african-american community should demand paychecks and not be satisfied with food stamps. >> not only are gingrich's comments racially insensitive, they are simply not true. about 40 million americans receive food stamps. now known as the supplemental nutrition assistance program or called s.n.a.p. the majority of them are white. 28% of s.n.a.p. households are african-american. contrary to what gingrich would like you to believe, 30% of s.n.a.p. participants earn some type of paycheck. nearly half of the program's participants can't earn a

paycheck because they are kids. although if gingrich gets his way, that could change. in fact, 76% of s.n.a.p. households include either a child, an elderly person or disabled person. gingrich will not let the facts get in the way of a good story, will he? he predictively attacked the media for reporting his comments correctly. >> what i said was every american of every background has been endowed by their creator with the right to pursue happiness. every american of every background should have an opportunity to get a job, not be dedependent on food stamps. it takes a lot on the par t of the elite media to distort that into an attack. >> mr. gingrich, you said you wanted to meet with the naacp. i'm joined tonight by that organization's president, ben jealous. ben, good to have you with us tonight. this is stereotyping to the nth degree. i have to ask you, how insulting is it to the naacp? >> this is extremely

frustrating. we would hope that the former speaker would make comments to unite the country, not divide it. make comments that are based on facts, not on stereotypes. >> gingrich considers his comments republican outreach to the african-american community. what do you call it? >> it's just -- it's just wrong. it's just -- it's just wrong. his facts are wong. the implications are wrong. and the effect is wrong. you know, what you want to do when you're a leader, when you're somebody that people look up to, is bring the country together, not tear it apart by getting into old stereotypes that simply are not rooted in fact. >> now, in that sound bite we just played, he said he would like to meet with the naacp. it's my knowledge that your organization, your organization has invited newt gingrich in the past to attend the naacp national convention.

is that correct? >> that's absolutely correct. each time he's turned us down. we invited him every year he was speaker because we always invite the speaker. we did invite him every year he was speaker and every year he turned us down. >> what about this time? are you going to take him up on it? he's clearly wrong on his facts. >> we're not there yet. we know each year we're in one of these cycles we invite the nominee of both major parties. usually they come. george bush famously didn't come a couple of times then he came around. john mccain came last time. if gingrich is the nominee, then, of course, we will ask him. >> well, i know bush didn't show up. i think gingrich criticized him for it in his book. >> turning to another republican on tender, rick santorum also made racially charged remarks recently. here they are. >> yeah. >> i don't want to make white people's lives better by giving them somebody else's money. >> santorum claims he never said

black people. what do you make of it? >> well, what did you just hear? you know, i mean, it's sort of -- it's sort of just -- it kind of defies logic that you can play a tape of a guy saying black over and over and over again yet he'll deny it. is there a thing called unconscious bias. perhaps that's what's going on here. the reality is the comments he made were heard by people across the country. they are divisive. they are wrong. they are based on the, you know, again on stereotypes. the state he was in in iowa, 9% of the people on public assistance there, are black. in the country, 25% are black. in each case, the overwhelming majority are white. and yet, you know, when he thinks public assistance, he thinks black. and it's just -- that's just unfortunate. again, we would hope he would seek to unite the country, not divide it. we would hope he would talk based on the facts and not on

old, vicious lies. >> do you think the republican party has a problem with race? >> you know, the reality is that both parties depending on where you are have people that have issues with race and certainly have long histories. strom thurman when he ran for president was a democrat. and so many other folks, you know, bill connor was a democrat. the reality is that our country has a problem with race. we really need to move beyond it. i mean, the reality is that we all hope for one day we are colorblind. in so many ways right now we are color bound. >> well, comments by newt gingrich stereotyping like that doesn't help anything and certainly doesn't help the dialogue. what makes it worse is when he tries to wordsmith his way out of it which we all know exactly what the hell he said. ben jealous, good to have you with us tonight. i appreciate your time. how the race card plays politically. we'll talk to our panel later in the program about that. next, it's "psycho talk." there he is.

rush limbaugh. he says president obama is peeing on the constitution by making recess appointments. we have unearthed tape of the drugster falling all over himself to praise george w. bush for doing the same thing. ♪ ooh baby, looks like you need a little help there ♪ ♪ ooh baby, (what) can i do for you today? ♪ [ female announcer ] need help keeping your digestive balance? align can help. only align has bifantis, a patented probiotic

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and in "psycho talk" tonight, rush limbaugh, he's all worked up about president obama's recess appointments to the national labor relations board and the consumer financial protection bureau.

>> obama is acting outside the constitution and it is not the republicans making him do it. as though he's justified anyway. but that's the tone of the reporting from reuters. the republicans are so bad that poor obama has no choice but than to take a pee on the constitution. if you regard the constitution as law, this is lawless behavior by an out of control rogue executive. >> lawless behavior, he says. stay classy, now, rush. of course, president obama has made far fewer recess appointments than reagan ever did. and even fewer appointments than both bush 41 and bush 43. limbaugh was in fave of recess appointments when w. made sam fox ambassador to belgium in 2007. the democrats on the senate foreign relations committee grilled this guy, fox, about $50,000 he donated to the anti-john kerry swift voters

campaign during 2004. so bush withdrew the nominee's name and waited until congress went home before he sent fox to brussels. slick move, right? limbaugh made his views about that appointment very clear in a 2007 interview with dick cheney. we have the audio of that interview, thanks to our friends at media matters. >> the recess appointment of sam fox. the democrats say they're going to investigate this, going to look into this. this is the kind of move that garners a lot of support from the people in the country. this shows the administration willing to engage these people and not allow them to get away with this kind of, well, my term, you don't have to accept it, stanilinist behavior from t people in the committee. >> you're dead on, rush. the president has the authority under the constitution. >> oh, so when rush did it along with bush and cheney, recess appointments were clearly constitutional.

and democrats who opposed it, well, they were stalinists. rush says president obama is peeing on the constitution for making legal recess appointme appointments? you're guilty of hypocritical dice gusting "psycho talk." rick santorum is scrambling to capitalize on iowa. with new hampshire days away, there's both good and bad news for the candidate. that's coming up next. later, a taste of the fat redhead from back in the '80s. you won't want to miss it. oh nelly.

welcome back to "the ed show." we're just four days away from the new hampshire primary with two make-or-break debates coming up this weekend. they're going to be fabulous television i think. these republican candidates have seen better days. here's mitt romney with his new best buddy senator john mccain when mccain kind of made a little mistake here.

>> i am confident with the leadership and the backing of the american people, president obama will turn this country around. we believe in america. we believe that our best days are ahead of us. excuse me, president romney. president romney. >> they came in from both sides, didn't they? of course, what mccain mistakenly said is actually true. president obama is doing a pretty good swrjob of turning t unt country around. then there was rick santorum at new england college. >> thank you all very, very much for being here and for your time and attention. thanks. [ booing ] >> well, here's the deal. senator santorum needs to make some headway in new hampshire. even if he can't possibly win it. and he had better win south carolina if he wants a chance at taking this thing from mitt romney. the latest polling in south carolina is interesting. in a numb er of different ways.

santorum jumped from 19% from 4%. a good jump in over a month. romney surged it 37% from 20% a month ago. in the latest new hampshire poll, romney is ahead at 40%. santorum way back at 8%. so far not a real big bump from iowa. chris moody is a political reporter at yahoo! news. he's on the ground in new hampshire. good evening, chris. what -- we showed a couple of tapes there of these candidates on the road not being very well received. of course, mitt romney is also running into some prize questions. how are these crowds receiving these candidates? >> a lot of voters in new hampshire are hearing about rick santorum for the very first time and have a lot of questions. they look up his record and realize they have quite a bit to ask about him. the questions here are far different than they were when he was in iowa where he faced a much more friendly crowd.

he's been speaking at several colleges here in new england and they're asking him tough things. he's being put on the spot for what is basically the first time this campaign. >> what's the difference between iowa and new hampshire when it comes to the crowd and what they're interested in? >> well, it seems here that the new hampshire questioners really come locked and loaded. they looked at this guy. they -- this is their first time they're able to ask him a question. so they'll ask him something very pointed like why did you say, you know, why don't you believe in gay marriage or why don't you believe gays should be able to adopt? iowa, the questions were a lot softer for the most part. questions, like what is your energy plan, how are you going to change america? that's a broad generalization, but he has been put on the spot here in a way he hasn't before. he's holding up depending on how you look at it. he doesn't shy away. his campaign's choice to go to colleges is really interesting. obviously the questioners there are going to be a little more liberal. the younger people, the

students. >> chris moody, thanks for your time tonight on the program. let's turn to arli melber o "the nation" magazine and joy-ann reed of "the grio." let's look ahead to the debatestdebate s this weekend if we can. this is a preview of how gingrich will go after romney. here it is. >> the guy asked a question. he said -- >> but i've always -- >> don't need a jesus candidate, we need an economic candidate. my answer to that was, we always need a jesus candidate. someone who believes in this. now, i don't mean that in saying we need a jesus candidate, someone who's a christian, but we need someone who believes in something more than themselves. >> joy-ann, is this going to sell in new hampshire? >> well, you know what, i think, you know, we don't know the full context of the question he was asked about a jesus candidate. he said we need a candidate that talks about faith. i think in new hampshire that's less potent than in iowa.

this is a different electorate. there's a lot more that's independent. somebody coming in with a heavy handed idea of imposing religious values on people is completely antithetical to the live free or die mentality of new hampshire voters. i think it's problematic for him in that state. >> ari, doesn't it show his conviction, i mean, to his faith and social values that he's willing to go out there and say just this? what about all the other candidates, or all the other folks in new hampshire that aren't of the christian faith? >> i think that is the rob. he alludes to it by saying you could be a jesus candidate even if you don't believe in jesus. i don't know if that plays well there. that's a phone call to south carolina. he may say he's willing to lose over it. there's a political benefit here and he is not setting out to win new hampshire. he is trying to gin up a lot more excitement as you pointed out in the polls a second go. he was at 4% in every single poll in the last eight months in

hn new hampshire and jumped up significantly, quadrupling it. >> let's look ahead to the debates this weekend. this is a preview of how gingrich is going to go after romney. here it is. >> but i've always been very confident in this race because i don't believe, you know, the state that produced michael dukakis, john kerry and mitt romney, is not going to produce the republican nominee. that's just a fact. >> joy-ann, how's this going to work for him? >> it's interesting because the problem for romney is he already is unpopular with his own base. i mean, a guy who can't get the endorsement of one of the premiere papers in his own home state, "boston globe" goes for something else. that's the next door media market. while he is ahead in new hampshire because of his electability factor, he doesn't have the likability thing down. newt goiingrich is going in for the kill. he's angry and petulant. he wants to see romney stopped. >> we're four, five days out

since newt gingrich really went negative on mitt romney. mitt romney's polling numbers are still very solid. he hasn't dropped double digits. he was at 43%, up to -- he's in that, well, 44% right there. wmur poll there, 44%. ron paul at 20%. rick santorum at 8%. romney could close it out here, could he not, ari? >> i think what gingrich is trying to do is deal with something that upset a lot of democrats at the early point in the race last cycle which was say, oh my god, are we going to have a civil war? is this going to be bad for the party? gingrich is speaking in this conditional tone. he says this is what's going to happen. he said the other night, we have time. he's basically trying to preanswer the idea this is going to divide up republicans and say, look, it might be me, might be somebody else, obviously a nod to santorum who has the hot hand. basically we're not going to go with a massachusetts republican.

>> does somebody have to really close the gap on romney in new hampshire to make south carolina significant? somebody's got to finish strong second, don't you think? >> somebody has to finish with respectable numbers. to ari's point, what the candidates who aren't romney now, they understand new hampshire is his race, he's probably going to win that with decent numbers. they're going straight for south carolina. they're saying hold on, conservatives, we have a firewall, we can go to south carolina, where they're more our kind of voter, not the independents encroaching own hold on to south carolina. >> kwhat you say on the campaig trail follows you. santorum called for cuts in social security benefits. we can't wait ten years, he said. he has made similar statements before, but now does this help him in this climate? i mean, the majority of americans want to protect the big three, ari. >> number one, it's unpopular. number two, it has nothing to do with jobs. if he's going to pivot from the jesus candidate message, whether

that works or not, i don't see why whether it's in response to a question or anything else, he should talk about scaling back the benefits that people are relying on in a tough economy. >> ari melber, joy-ann reid. stay with us. we'll be right back. the issues of race. i'll tell you what, the republicans just won't give up on this, will they? this week the republican candidates, couple of them have gotten themselves in hot water. we'll talk about that next. [ ma

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welcome back to "the ed show." race is once again dogging the republican party. two of the candidates chasing

mitt romney in the polls have really stepped in it again. >> i'm prepared if the naacp invites me, i'll go to their convention and talk about why the african-american community should demand paychecks and not be satisfied with food stamps. >> i don't want to make black people's lives better by gives them somebody else's money. >> let's bring back ari melber of "the nation" magazine and msnbc contributor joy-ann reid. i'm stunned by both those comments. even if they think that way in their heart, they're stupid to say something like that. and first of all, let's start with newt. newt is toldly wong. he doesn't have his facts straight in stereotyping to the nth degree. it's almost like black people in america don't even think about voting for us. your thoughts. >> speaking of the bla people at the table -- >> the bla. >> my message to republicans would be this. we're not in your primary. there are very few black

republicans. black people make up maybe 4% of the republican party. why are you bringing black people up. why are you proactively without being asked about it unprompted bringing up black people? the only reason that could be being done is because you know there's an audience that is in the republican party that is open to the sort of welfare queens message. to this stereotyping that the problem in america is that those people are taking your stuff. >> does that help them on the campaign trail with the republican base, ari? >> i don't think it helps with a large portion of the republican base, but i do think if you look at the birther movement, which i've always maintained is about race and delegitimateizing the first black president. no other has been pushed for birth certificate credentials. there was a hunger for it. donald trump traded on it as people have pointed out. there's something there. what strikes me as so ridiculous and sad about santorum's comments, he's injecting t, it's not necessary. it's not part of the conversation.

he may be doing it as a tick and it slips out and he as a ridiculous defense of it or he thinks it shows a willingness to be -- >> the irony is the naacp invited him to their convention in the past to speak. >> he didn't go. >> huh? >> he didn't go. >> no, they didn't go. he said, if they would invite me, as if they never have. his comments on food stamps, i tell you what, very peculiar and condescending and taking a similar line with school kids, poor kids, maybe they can be janitors. you put the comments together and nobody from the republican party steps up and say, this is not who we are. >> the thing that's disappointing is you don't have african-american republicans stepping up saying this is out of line. if you go back and look at the polling when they did demographic looks at the tea party movement, they tend to be older, whiter and more likely to believe society is unequally weighted toward minorities, that minorities have undue benefits

in society they're not getting. it appeals to in a down economy, people want to find a villain. there's a part of the base that says it's immigrants, it's blacks. >> what about mitt romney when he says president obama wants an entitlement society? is he pushing basically the same buttons but doing it in a more subtle way? >> i don't see it quite that way. i think the entitlement issue for romney has been this opportunity vision where he is trying to wrap his corporate background, which doesn't necessarily mean entitlement or opportunity for everyone, but try to take the time at bain and turn it into this model for the entire united states. by the way, i think it's a debate the white house is eager to have. >> we got great job numbers today. 200,000 jobs in december. and you listen to these republican candidates and you have 22 months of private sector job growth and they're still bad mouthing the economy. >> you're right. the funny thing about it is, as much as republicans reference ronald reagan, what ronald reagan had going for him, right, was optimism. the idea things are going to get better. it's going to be morning in

america. these are the most negative dour pack of republican candidates i've never seen. there's no optimism. even when numbers are good. they can't celebrate it. >> does this hurt either one of them, catching romney in new hampshire? people know what race is and know what it is all about. faith-based people don't take kindly to these kinds of comments. it would seem to me, what santorum said this week, might hurt him in new hampshire. what do you think? >> the other problem here is it's sort of a meta problem, but it's real. santorum is out there getting a look for the first time, right? when he has to explain away controversial comments, whether they were designed to appeal to you or not -- i think some of this could come up at the debate -- he doesn't look ready for primetime. that's been the biggest problem. >> how tough is the debate going to be? i think it's going to be the biggest knockdown, drag-out fight. there's nothing more dangerous in politics than someone willing to do a murder/suicide. that's what you have on your hands with newt. >> angry newt. i cannot wait. >> the guy who really set the

table for vilifying opponents is whining about all these super pacs. this is his chance to get even. how can he not show up guns blazing or come up with the verbal attack throughout the entire time? i don't know how he can do it and hold his credibility. ari melber. joy-ann reid. thanks so much. saturday night i'm headed to manchester, new hampshire, for a debate watch party. milly's tavern in downtown manchester. 8:00 it all sorts. we're going to watch the debate. if you're in the area, come down and let us know what you think. we'll have a camera there. milly's tavern in manchester, 8:00. up next, i'll show you what i was up to 26 years ago and how that team is involved in a big game tomorrow and i just got to wish them well. that's all coming up on "the ed show." stay with us.

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four years of mitt romney's job creation? 1% of you said yes. 99% of you said no. coming up, the north dakota state bison have a big game tomorrow. we've got a look back at some of their great moments with some classic big eddie commentary. in a different life. stay with us. my job is to find the next big sound. they sound awesome tonight. and when i do find it, i share it with the world. you landed the u.s. tour ? done. this is fantastic ! music is my life and i want to make the most of it without missing a beat. fly without putting your life on pause. be yourself nonstop. american airlines.

and finally tonight, who's that guy over my shoulder? bison football, that's right.

the college football season is winding down with the bowl games. the bison take on sam houston state for national championship of subdivision 1 down in frisco, texas. ndsu has a storied history of college football success. you could say in another lifetime i covered six national championship football games as the voice of the thundering herd. some 25 to 30 years ago. the bison haven't won the national championship in 22 years. let me take you down memory lane. i you to pay close attention to the skinny guy with the red hair. >> university of north alabama lions versus the bison. >> you look at this year of transition from morton to earl. what do you think has been the biggest change? in the land of palm trees, the thundering herd arrived again. once again, it was jeff bentram

and chad stark. and another national championship. gettle is wide open again. gettle. he could go. he's got one man to beat. touchdown north dakota state. another touchdown pass for 56 times out. chris has thrown his third touchdown on the day. was there ever any question you were going to play in the football game? it was a total blizzard. it was hard to see the field from the press box. this is owen. owen unloads a deep one. going to be underthrown and caught. out of nowhere. >> rocky is a nickname for iup fans. >> had to call his rocky. his grandfather was called ralph. every time they called ralph, two guys used to show up. look at tony satter. he is unbelievable.

tony satter. breaking tackles. an incredible run for the bison senior. touchdown north dakota state. when the locusts come, they eat everything. >> that of course was back in 1990. i had to show this tonight because i don't want the bison to forget how to win national championships. i wish them all the luck in the world against sam houston state tomorrow in the football game. and i will speak for the coaches that i worked for, worked with, don morton, earl solomonson and rocky hager. i'll speak for them tonight, take the liberty to do that, to tell you guys to get after it, fly around, make it happen, do what you got to do and just win, babe by. that's "the ed show." i'm ed schultz. listen to my radio show on xm sirius channel 127 monday through friday noon to 3:00. follow me on twitter ft.@edshow and of course on facebook as well. i guess i can say let's go to the pregame show in new hampsh