could. left the world of politics, went back into business. now i have the opportunity to use the experience i have. you've got a surprised look on your face. hold it. it's still my time. >> are you tells us you're not going to run for election for president if you're not going to win? >> rick, rick, rick, it's still my time. >> okay. >> what i e-mail going to tell you is this for me, politics, is not a career. for me, my career was being in business and starting a business and making it successful. my life's passion has been my family, my faith and my country. snu as you made the point. >> he did have the answer. as others pointed out, mitt romney -- newt calling it pious baloney. >> saying he's not a career politician, saying it's basically baloney for saying

that. he never stopped running. here's the point made by newt gingrich. >> i realize the red light doesn't mean anything to you because you're the front-runner. but -- but can we drop a little bit of the pious baloney? the fact is you ran in '94 and lost. that's why you weren't serving the senate with rick santorum. the fact is you had a very bad re-election rating. you dropped out of office. you've been out of state for something like 200 days preparing to run for president. you didn't have the interlude of citizenship while you thought about what to do. you were running for president while you were governor. you were going all over the country. you were out of state consistently. you promptly re-entered politics. you happened to lose to mccain. as you had lost to kennedy. now you're back running. you've been running consistently for years and years and years. so this idea that suddenly citizenship showed up in your mind, just level with the american people.

you've been running since at least the 1990s. >> devastating. obama can throw this in his face. you're not the own sent, buddy. >> he likes to portray himself as i'm a businessman, this is not my career. i'm a business guy. i did this to help out for my country. >> here we are sunday morning, howard. why do these guys wait? a couple of things hit me. late in the game. sunday, two days later. we've had all these months. why now? >> well, this is the last clear chance. if mitt romney wins big, he's got momentum going in south carolina, he can wrap up the nomination. >>. >> announcer: new hampshire. >> you have to get to it. also to go to gene's point, things happen here late. i've covered a million of these. the ground moves in new hampshire on the last weekend sfwhie do they need a moderator to open the door for them?

i'm not a media critic, but the door was never opened for this. i think today david gregory opened the door from the beginning of the debate. >> and they had opportunities before. thing they were all nervous. they didn't know how it would play. they thought, here's the guy who's the front-runner. republicans are not supposed to be like that, go after each other, but you get down to the wire, and they've got to do something. they've got to slow him down. >> okay. let's look at the tv ads. all three of us were in iowa sitting in our hotel rooms watching these devastating super pac ads. late in the debate they had this heated exchange put out by a super pac that clearly backs mitt romney. let's watch this. this is finally the issue we've been talking about. let's listen. >> sure, governor i wish you would calmly and directly state it is your former staff running the pac, it is your millionaire friends giving to the pac, and you know some of those things

are untrue. just say that, straightforward. >> well, of course, it's former staff of mine, and, of course, they're people who support me. they wouldn't be putting money into a pac that supports me if they weren't people who support me. with regards to their ads, i haven't seen them. as you know, under the law i can't direct their ads. >> speaker -- >> hold on a second. i can't direct their ads. if there's anything in them that's wrong, i hope they take it. i hope everything that's wrong is taken out. but let me tell you this, the ad i saw said that you've been forced out of the speakership. that was correct. it said that -- that you sat down with nancy pelosi and argued for a climate change bill. that was correct. it said that you called the -- the ron paul -- paul ryan's plan to provide medicare reform a -- a right wing social engineering plan. it said that -- that as part of an investigation, an ethics investigation, that you had to reimburse some $300,000. those things were all true. if there was something related to abortion that said it was wrong, i hope they pull it out.

anything wrong i'm opposed to. but, you know, this ain't the beanbag. we're going to come into a campaign, we're going to describe the differences between us -- >> all right. >> but i do think the rhetoric, mr. speaker, was a little over the top. >> you think my rhetoric was over the top? but your ads were totally over the top. >> here's the question. here he is admitting he knows the content no matter what it said because there were problems in there. >> first he said he hadn't seen them. then he said, i happened to see it. i happened to see it. and then he recited the specifics of the entire ad almost word for word and ends up by saying, like the wrestler who puts the razor blade back in the trunks, hey, this ain't beanbag, so get used to it. >> so the foreign object in this case is the super pac which he doesn't know anything about and as howard cites he cityt cites for point. >> what does that mean, of course, he knows.

he means, of course, this is a fks. of course, it's my ad. it's just that we maintain the fiction that it's independent. it's my former staff. it's -- it's legal, but it's fictional. >> that conversation, which was the high light because of its honesty ended with him saying beanbag, you've got to take this stuff. >> there was a question about the abortion language in the ad, but newt comes back. hey, buddy, wait till you get a load of the independent ad about bane capital that's going to be 27 1/2 minutes long and it's going to be -- >> a spokesman -- a surrogate for governor romney, who is, of course, the former governor of this state, new hampshire, he supports governor romney for president, he was the white house chief of staff. let me ask you a particular

point here. should candidates be responsible for ads put on the air by their former staffers in interest? should they be responsible for the ads? >> look, you guys are reveling and wall owing in the perception of what's going on. there's a law defined and all the candidates are following the law. and to suggest that governor romney shouldn't know what's in the ad with all the clippings that have been out describing it, come on. stop being ridiculous and get to the point. when you think's something bad about tithing your time to serve? if there's anything he understands about giving of time and going back to the normal sector, it's the normal part of the sector. it's new hampshire. stop being ridic lus and talk about the issues, job problems --

>> governor, you used the word riddick does -- governor, repeating the word ridgic lus doesn't make it so. i was in iowa and i saw your ads saturated with negativity and then saying he seasonal responsible. >> he's not responsible. do you know what the law is? >> the question is should a candidate be responsible -- >> you guys have an agenda that you want to drive and you have no idea what the rules and regulations are. >> you're a surrogate, here, sir, you're obviously here with an ajefferson da. >> come on. >> let me ask you one last time. do you thing la slaw is a good law -- >> no. the law should be changed. everybody. >> thank you. >> every candidate agrees the law should be changed. nobody likes that law, but unfortunately bad legislation put the supreme court in a position where they had to make that decision. >> okay. gene, i've been watching this campaign, i have yit to hear a

call by governor romney for reform in campaign advertising. >> i haven't heard that either, but i'm curious as to why governor romney says -- why did governor romney say he hadn't seen the ads if, in fact, obviously he had? >> what he has, gooern, clips describing what's in the ad. you don't believe he reads news clips? come on, don't be silly. >> don't be silly. you're -- >> i have no idea whether he sees the ads but i know he reads the news clips. >> okay. i don't know whew you're skirting the issue. why are you dodging the issue of responsibility? >> everything he's talked about has been described in the news clips and you guys aren't smart enough to understand that, you've got a real problem. >> let me ask you a question. we'll lower the temp, we'll notch it back on my end as well.

he ran against governor kennedy. he took credit for the fact that governor romney forced ted kennedy to actually mortgage his home to pay for campaign ads near the end to protect his incumben incumbency. fair enough. he lost that. he began running for president. ran for governor. his poll numbers were very low. is there any reason to indicate he didn't run for re-election because he wasn't going to get re-elected? what's wrong with admitting he's a career politician? what's wrong with saying it? why keep pretending he's not a politician? >> you've got to decide whether you want to attack him for being a career politician or attack him for all the successes he had as a career private sector guy. how can you be a career both? you guys don't know which way to go and which way to go after him. he's a career private sector guy that understand how to create jobs, took it to massachusetts for a period of time and went back to the private sector. now he's running for president.

he'd like to take that talent into the oval office and start creating jobs for america and fix the mess that your guy obama has caused. >> fair enough. your guy too. he's your president as well. let me ask you -- let me attest to why this is an important poort f this debate. there's a lot wrong with this country right now, not just in terms with the economy but the civic sort of more reality. we have too much division in the country. these are clear facts. what the game is right now, let's admit that, is to say they're not responsible. rick perry,'ve's not from washington, everybody's a citizen, a citizen out there. it's not a ridiculous argument we're to have, which we're having. mitt romney has attempted to live his life in politics and has failed on a number of occasions. that's all that's being said by his opponents. you say that's not fair. >> no. what i say is that you've got to put a context on it.

he took a chunk of his life and went to the olympics. he took a chunk of his life and sevened in the private sector. he took a chunk of hiss life and served as governor of massachusetts and now he's willing to take a chunk of his life and be president. there's a hole there, not just one sliver. it's not just a sliver of being a career politician or being a career private sector guy. it's a combination of all those things and it's the combination that he brings to the table. >> fair enough. i hear your retort. i hear your retort. >> it's not a retort. it's an accurate answer. >> i want to ask you. let me change the subject a bit. romney has criticized huntsman for serving as ambassador to china for president obama. huntsman today said attitudes like that is why the country is divided. do you subscribe to that having

served in the white house yourself that it's not wise to serve the president when he says -- when he asks you to serve? >> i was the republican that agreed with the policies of my president. if huntsman wants to agree, then he should carry the burden of having been part of the obama policies. what's more damning to governor huntsman are the fawning letters he wrote, drooling auld over the place about obama's policies and obama as a leader. that's the biggest burden that governor hunltsman carries from his service from china. >> let me ask you. hai ha harry cab bot laws hat won. were the voters of new hampshire to make that decision? >> i think the voters of new hampshire today would not make that decision. i think there's a very different climate in the world, and i think that if that situation

came up, the former senator from massachusetts, then ambassador, would not do as well. >> well, unfortunately i think you'd have to say that huntsman is right, to quote him actually here, verbatim, this nation is divided, he said to david, because of attitudes like that. and i think what you just reflected is we're living in the country ha that has a bad attitude as far back as 1960s. that's a bad comment about the nature of the election, sir. >> people are angered by the policies reflected of this administration and they're not supportive of somebody who supports those policies. that's what the issue is. it's supporting bad policies. >> okay. thank you, governor. it's always good to have you on. >> nice to be on, chris. have a nice day. >> surrogate for mitt romney. thank you for coming on. let's go to david gregory,

moderator of "meet the press" who moderated today's debate. i have to say, let me be the first. it was an electric debate. it was highly charged. and your moderating skills played a major role in activating them to be their best. i give you that for sunday morning greatness. you've done it again, david. >> thank you, thank you. >> what do you think you learned as a newsman? >> well, i do think the taupe was a big role. thing it was clear from the start where i was trying to lead the candidates but where they picked up the ball and ran with it, they were trying to slow romney down. if you were not romney, you had to do something to slow him down. as you referred to the debate for running for politics for quite a long time, being a career politician, that back and forth. i have to say there was more heat and that light. he still has some bullet points

about what he sees as a moderate record and i don't know that they sort of line up point to point on what the record was as to governor romney. it was very clear whether it was just processed, just argument, there was an attempt to come right at him and say you're not for real. you're not authentic as a guy who's an outsider, who can take us on and pick up the mantle of the republican party and ultimately you're too compromised ultimately to go against president obama. i think that kwumt was made and think everybody was ready to come and make that argument today. >> here's howard fineman, david. >> i wonder if there was anything that really surprised you. you were right there within a few feet of them. you were asking very tough questions. they were going after each other. what surprised you about either the dynamics or the context of what they said today? >> well, i think what surprised me a little bit is governor romney, my thought from last sniet on the other debate was he was trying to be very cool, be

above the fray. i think he was happy to see that paul and santorum were sparring. i think here he understand that, a, he was very much a target and there was no getting aunld it and he had to fight back. i saw a lot more fight in him today in just a style is tick piece. certainly in the end between romney and gingrich. here's another point. i think this is important substantively. politicians go around and say, let's not be superficial, let's talk in great depth, let's tell the american people what they want to know. and instead of answering questions about what painful questions they're going to make, there's an atatack. he's going to surprise republicans by calling for a balanced budget amendment. i don't think we learned a lot about how these candidates can do what bush and obama were

unable to do and that's change what washington works to get results. thing they have to bear in mind. people expect results. they expect things to be accomplished, and that's just not happening in washington. >> in closing i want to congratulate you again on the substance of this. i think you got a lot out of them on the means testing, the wealthy. that's a tough one to hear but i thought they were all very forthcoming in that regard. david, congrat lalgss on a great performance. >> thank you very much, chris. >> i think there's going to be a lot out of this as we study the transcript. thank you, my colleagues of lore and eugene robinson. up in fact, more from the candidates and analysis. what great morning for nbc and msnbc. we're talking about the republican presidential debate just held here in manchester, new hampshire, just two days before the new hampshire primary.

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back in world war ii everybody did their bid, rich and poor, old and young. it wasn't just fighting at the front, it was collecting scrap metal. it was paying your fair share of taxes. everybody doing their thing. we need that attitude again. first of all, with respect to governor romney, there are a lot of people who are tuning in this morning, and i'm sure they're terribly confused after

watching all of this political spin up here. i was criticized last night by governor romney for putting my country first. and i just want to remind the people here in new hampshire and throughout the united states that i think -- [ applause ] to criticize me while he was out raising money for serving my country in china, yes, under a democrat, like my two sons are doing in the united states navy. >> i just think it's most likely that the person who should represent our party running against president obama is not someone who called him a remarkable leader and went to be his ambassador in china. >> this nation is divided, david, because of attitudes like that. [ applause ] >> i think that's a historic retort. thanks for joining us. host of "now" which airs every we weekday around noon eastern time. exactly at noon. you're a young commentator, a

young analyst of the news. first of all, your reaction? >> i thought it was my favorite moment of the debate. i thought he was incredibly strong. he's been hammered over and over and over again for having served as ambassador to china, and i thought his response was not only eloquent but in terms of new hampshire, what new hampshire voters want, and to some degree what the country thinks. is it such a black mark on his record he served in the administration? i don't know why all of a sudden you talk about public service and serving in government is a bad thing, and being a politician is a bad thing. here is a guy who has incredible foreign policy experience. he knows -- the huntsman question has been a huge head scratcher for mae. it's great to see he's rising in some polls. he answer that had with confidence and spoke truthfully. >> here is a man with the unique experience in china, probably the most important trading partner we're going to have, speaks mandarin, able to go over there and do a job few other public officials in our country

could ever have done having a language ability in that country. a unique ability to serve his country, he's asked to give that unique training and experience to the kcountry in the interest of the country, and he accepts it. i mean, i will say, huntsman has not done himself a service in some areas in terms of appealing to the republican base which he hasn't offed his hat like this. dropping chinese phrases throughout the debates doesn't serve him well. it's a little bit dorky and embarrassing. >> it wouldn't hurt him on the democratic side. >> you're correct. huntsman's biggest problem in my view is he came out of the gates and he was so gung ho about being a moderate, outside of the traditional mold of a republican, wearing the jean jacket, riding the motocross across the desert, that he immediately turned off everything who was ready to dismiss him because he served under president obama and that, i think to some degree, is why he hasn't gotten any traction. >> where people, maybe 40% of the country, really wants to remove this president, wants to deny him a second term in the

worst way. some in the very worst way. there's a lot of hatred out there. what do you think it will do to him in terms of coming out on the eve of the new hampshire primary? will it get him serious votes? >> i think it works in new hampshire. you go to south carolina, it's dirty politics. it's going to be nasty down there. can jon huntsman even get his head above water? >> you're the best. thank you, alex. every day at noon. >> thanks, chris. >> don't miss it. stay with msnbc for our coverage of the republican presidential candidates the debate just held. we're in manchester just two days before the new hampshire primary. it has finally gotten hot and we saw it in that debate. they're going after romney, after dirty ads. it's finally come to high noon here in new hampshire. an accident doesn't have to slow you down.

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