kid. he's crying and burping. he's going to take the world by storm. >> i delight in your company. i still scribe to more of the philosophy of my prior guest. maybe you'll convince me one day. that's it for us today. i'm dylan ratigan and "hardball" is up right now. >> the name for his pain. bain. let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm chris matthews down in washington. leading off tonight, the bain event. newt gingrich released his first attack ad on mitt romney. democrats are thrilled to see and hear republicans like newt and rick perry hit mitt where they believe republicans are vulnerable. economic unfairness. think ahead to the election

matchup between obama and romney. when the president called out financial speculators during a jobs speech yesterday, he laid it out. with romney as his likely opponent, he will run against wall street greed with romney trying to run against washington? and bain is not romney's only problem. when things got confront talgs, mitt goes off kilter. remember this? >> do youç still support the ia of a mandate? do you believe that was the right thing for massachusetts? do you think mandating people to buy insurance is the right tool? >> i don't know how many hundred times i have said this. this is an unusual interview. let's do it again. >> cross your legs. a nervous chuckle there. the con tranations he can't handle. opponents are noticing this. who is behind the assassination of a nuclear scientist in iran?

hillary clinton says it wasn't us. let's examine the covert war against iran. and let me finish with this attack on mitt romney from behind. we begin with the newt gingrich attacks on his business background. steve mcman and john theory. let's take a look now. newt gingrich isn't backing down from his criticism of mitt romney on the business front. let's listen to him this morning on fox and friends. >> you can't run saying i have two great credentials. my governorship, which you're not allowed to talk about, and the work at bain capital, which you can't talk about because that's an attack on free enterprise. that's bologna. >> that guy looks 20 years younger. he's been rejuvenated. he's main lining on this. newt gingrich at his best on attack. that's always been his strength. we don't talk about his record

as governor because he's a moderate up there. we can't talk about bain. what are you allowed to talk about? t- aren't you allowed to run >> that's the new thing. everybody in the republican party is beginning to close ranks around mitt romney because he's the likely, almost certain, republican nominee. but newt gingrich understands something that the obama people understand. bain is a cancer on mitt romney's candidacy. and you can put it in remission maybe for a little while, but it's going to keep popping up, because it's that harmful to his political health. and bain gets to the point that people really will make their decision around, which is this a guy who can understand the problems i have? does he care about me? the bain thing, the inability to connect and putting the dog on the top of his car and driving off on vacation. people look at those things. who is this guy? >> he's the guy that wants to

decide tax policy in a quiet room. let's go find a room. john, aren't you embarrassed by the language? let's go find a quiet room. we shouldn't be talking tax policy with the people listening. >> that's how dan got tax policy. he got them into. the candidates are going after mitt romney saying bain cost people jobs. he hangs on a tree weight for a business so he can eat it. this is tough stuff. i would expect it from dennis kucinich. but this is coming from behind the lines. >> as you know, for mitt romney, this is an important time. he's got to get the messaging right. he has to figure out how to talk like a politician and not a ceoç >> is he a natural? >> of course, he's not. but people don't love natural

politicians, but if you're -- hang on. >> if bill clinton were running this time, he would beat everybody on both sides. >> here's pro-gingrich super pac. these are all ads written by the candidates, but they say they are not. this is basically an an ad put together by newt gingrich. it's up on south carolina going after romney's record at bain. taken from the movie that went after th him. let's watch this negative ad out today in south carolina. >> a group of corporate raiders led by mitt romney. the company was bain capital. more ruthless than wall street. >> pulled the rug out from under our plant. >> everybody was fired. >> they fire people. they cut benefits. they sell assets. >> mitt romney? they don't care who i am. >> i feel that is a man that destroyed us. >> winning our future is responsibility for the content of this message. >> now you're in the ad

business. you know how to make an ad. you can take an ad like that that's on now in january and you can basically take the best parts and run it again in october can't you? >> yes. >> there's no reason why you can't do that? >> absolutely not. in fact, those ads ran the fest time in the ted kennedy race. basically, bob showman unearthed this argument. it's a cancer on his candidacy. this is going to keep coming back. and çultimately, the obama campaign will get to this question. what kind of an economy do we want to have for america in the next century? an economy that works for mitt romney and his buddies at bain and everybody on wall street? or one that works for the people that lost their jobs? that's a tough thing for romney to explain. >> this election is going to be a referendum on president obama.

>> how many jobs he destroyed is not going to be an issue? >> having this ad out there is helpful for the romney campaign because they contest what the best message is. for the republican primary, yes. mitt romney has a better track record of creating jobs than president obama does. >> let me tell you something. one of the jokes my dad said there was a kid hitting himself in the head with a hammer. he said because it feels so good when i stop. here's the pro-romney super pac. he's putting this out today in south carolina and florida attacking gingrich. let's watch. >> newt gingrich's attacks are called foolish, out of bounds,

and disgusting. newt attacks because he has more baggage than the airlines. newt was fined $300,000 for ethics violations. took $1.6 million from freddie mac and cosponsored a bill with nancy pelosi that would have given money to a u.n.ç program supporting choina's brutal one-child policy. don't be fooled by newt's desperate attacks. restore our future is responsibility for the content of this message. >> it seems to me what happens in these situations, i call upon your expertise, when you trash each other, somebody else gets the vote. >> if i were rick santorum, i would say, please, don't do this anymore. can't we have a positive c campaign? this is how newt gingrich rose to the top. and people applaud ed him. then they listened to him. >> newt won't be around in september when all the nastiness will still be there.

>> romney is going to get through the primary. he's going to win the primary. he's going to be the guy going against barack obama. >> if that's all true, why? >> i think he's mad at romney. he's mad at what romney did to him in iowa. he has to get over it. it's not going to help him long-term. >> but wait a minute. is there going to come a time, following that anger theory, where romney is going to say i forgive you? >> no. >> why doesn't he just keep doing it? >> because he's going to run out of money eventually. >> here's "morning joe." jim demint was on there. he warns romney needs to have a good answer. he's saying vulnerable is romney if he doesn't get an answer. let's watch. >> but this is something that would have been an attack on romney if he was the nominee any

way. he needs to figure out how to explain to america that these decisions have to be made inç business. now that newt and others do not appear to be in the game, to damage a front runner makes no sense to me. >> there he is. the south carolina guy bwho wans to win the general. all these guys are circling to protect their assets. all these jobs that they want. all these guys, they are meal tickets. that i want paychecks. they want consideration. that's why they are being nice to romney. are you one of them? >> i think people who are defending mitt romney now are shocked by the attacks by newt gingrich from the left. >> rush limbaugh is shocked? >> not the idea of attacking

him. i don't think rush limbaugh cares. they are not going to get appointments. >> that's going to make newt gingrich even angrier and push even harder and say even more outrageous things. msnbc did something recently. they took footage from the debate, and i presume from the other news shows, and said anybody can use it for any news purpose. you now have consultants, we used to not be able to use footage. you have all this footage of people like newt making attacks. we're happy because it makes it more credible. then pretty soon -- you have this argument extending. >> hillary clinton had words against barack obama. limited effect. this(b@in capital thing is something that mitt romney has to figure out. it's a very tough attack. >> let me remind you if you're a candidate.

the damage he did to who was my candidate at the time, jimmy carter, by the time reagan came along it was easy. the damage does stick through. >> but he was the incumbent. that's it different. >> there is a difference. >> let me tell you something. >> thank you. coming up, a preview of coming attractions. if president obama run against wall street greed and mitt romney runs against washington, who wins? you're watching "hardball" on msnbc. [ male announcer ] feeling like a shadow of your former self? c'mon, michael! get in the game! [ male announcer ] don't have the hops for hoops with your buddies? lost your appetite for romance? and your mood is on its way down. you might not just be getting older. you might have a treatable condition called low testosterone or low t.

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welcome back to "hardball." mitt romney head himself the likely republican normminee by winning iowa and new hampshire. he's consistently attacked president obama's policieiepoli. the new york times writer writes, in the sour, fearful mood that economic setbacks have produced, american voters loathe both major symbols of the forces squeezing their pocketbooks. and life savings. president obama will seek reelection vowing to reign in

one of them. mitt romney will focus on the other. washington." washington versus him. john hammond, let me ask you about this different blame game. populous from the beginning of our country's history, politicians have blamed new york bankers, big east money. almost like apple pie going back to huk l berry finn. blame the big city. new york and the wealth. will it work this time for president obama running for reelection? >> i don't think president obama is has ever been a comfortable economic populous. there's no doubt that the white house and his reelection team is pushing him more in that direction. it seems like only a few weeks. there's no doubt they are going in that direction. but the president is, as i say, no huey long.

he's never taken up that mantle comfortably. he continues to receive a lot of money and support from the financial services industry. he had a chance to really crack down on the big banks and didn't do that. i think he's going to walk a line that's more of a soft populism when it comes to policy, but he's certainly going to try to tie mitt romney to the worst and paint him in the same way newt gingrich is now as a gordon gek koe and put him in that box. >> here's president obama laying out his election strategy in his kansas speech last month, which people believe is a smart speech. it's not just that it's soft. it's not hateful. but it does particularly target a certain kind of money making, which he knows people don't look up to. people who ma[eç money off mone rather than making things. that's the discourse now. here he is last month in kansas. >> this isn't about class

warfare. this is about the nation's welfare. it's about making choices that benefit, not just the people who have done fan tatastically well over the last few decades, but that benefits the middle class. and those fighting to get into the middle class. a strong middle class can only exist in an economy where everyone plays by the same rules. from wall street to main street. [ applause ] >> that's sort of a sunday morning attempt to be a populous. one guy doing it. what do you make of this president who is so successful in american life he hardly has a personal grief with anything about the system? look how well he's done. he doesn't ever make it as an angry guy. now he's offering himself up as the people's champion against the successes of wall street. >> it's going to be an easy argument for them to make.

one image that comes to mind is mitt romney with the dollar bills coming out of his suit and talking about how bain capital was a raging success and how they have done so well. i talk about the politics of wealth envy. any time he does something like that, it would play into his hand. >> i like to be able to fire people? >> you like to be able to fire people he has enough money to buy several things that we even only dream about. cars, whatever it might be. he has moneyç at his fingertip. certainly, the opposite is true when compared to mitt romney, who definitely has the 99% -- the 1% on his side. >> here he is during his victory speech on tuesday night taking on president obama in washington. but here he is directing his guns at washington. >> this president puts his faith in government. we put our faith in the american

people. this president is making the federal government bigger. i will make the federal government simple erges smaller, and smarter. he raised the national debt. i will cut cap and balance the federal budget. this president has enacted job-killing regulations. i will eliminate them. >> here's the numbers. the federal workforce totalled 4,430 people in 2009 when obama took office. the number increased to $4,443. those are the employee totals. the number dropped in 2010. i know it's great rhetoric to say the government is exploding with people and government is getting bigger and bigger. it's not. if anything, there's been the reality of the economic reports to come out every first friday of every month.

government jobs have been depleted. they are shrinking. scranton knows the pressure. you're always letting people go. how can they keep selling the idea we have this giantic growth of government when we hear dailç reports of lost jobs in government? >> when mitt romney and others who believe that the deficit's growth is a huge problem for the american economy and long-term prosperity, they will focus on the growth of government in the sense of the monetary. the fiscal growth of government. the size of the deficit. the size of debt. that's what he's going to hit on rather than the specific numbers. >> but that's a result of the ageing population and unemployment. you know that. it's not because they create new ideas to spend money. it's more people turn 65 every day than the day before. more people are using health care. those and more people are unemployed than ever before.

that's why unemployment benefits and all kinds of benefits are going up. your thoughts on that. >> the additional one is that government employment has gone down because we don't have the money to pay for it. and a lot of the free market was allowed to do their will. few people would argue against that. it hasn't done the wealth creation they might argue. this is because of aspirational politics. >> big government or big business? >> it's easy to run against big government because it's something everybody sees. >> what do you think, john? sharper or better tool to blame the government or business? >> i think the overwhelming trend in the public opinion research is there's a more towards big government. fairly or not. i hate when you introduce facts because republicans have been very good at obscuring some of the facts you pointed to. but that's been a politicalç

winner for republicans. beat up on big government. it's been a winner for them in the past. because the debt numbers are getting bigger, it might be well again. >> i have to explain your sarca sarcasm. it is important to get the facts straight. there's less people working for the government than when the president came into the office. >> the wage has remained flat. it behooves him to pay attention to massachusetts. >> i'm rooting for her. she's going to run a great campaign. thank you. up next, jon huntsman's rather pathetic goal for the south carolina primary. he's not aiming too high. that's next in the side show. you're watching "hardball" on msnbc.

when bp made a commitment to the gulf, we knew it would take time, but we were determined to see it through. today, while our work continues, i want to update you on the progress: bp has set aside 20 billion dollars to fund economic and environmental recovery. we're paying for all spill- related clean-up costs. and we've established a 500 million dollar fund so independent scientists can study the gulf's wildlife and environment for ten years. thousands of environmental samples from across the gulf have been analyzed by independent labs under the direction of the us coast guard. i'm glad to report all beaches and waters are open for everyone to enjoy. and the economy is showing progress with many areas on the gulf coast having their best tourism seasons in years.

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side show. first is the 2012 candidates swoop into south carolina, what tops their list of priorities before next week's primary? one would think it's beating mitt romney, but jon huntsman said his sights are pretty low. >> as we get closer to election day, you are going to say huntsman has to clear a certain hurdle to stay relevant. we're going to have to find after the votes are cast, we actually cleared that hurdle. >> you don't have to beat the spread. romney just doesn't have to beat his. a recent poll has host steven colbert beating jon huntsman in south carolina. that's because he's from there. but it was jon stewart that came forward with advice for huntsman last night. >> new hampshire was huntsman's big gamble. he move d there for a year.

and finished a distant third. no confetti for third place. how does a guy spend a year in new hampshire andç not connect? he speaks mandrin. right. i can't believe that's not impressive to a republican primary audience who won't even eat mandarin oranges because they don't want to take away jobs of american fruit. i know this is hard for you, but it's over. it's time to put the confetti into storage. e let me put this in terms you can understand. [ speaking in mandrin ] >> huntsman may not have connected, but he didn't do

badly with those covering the race. according to michelle obama, her young daughters don't revel in all the attention drawn by their parents. let's hear a few examples from a portion of the first lady's interview that aired on cbs this it morning. >> what do you and the president do that embarrass your daughters? >> they don't really want us to come up to school. especially the president. when he comes for parent teefer conferences, it's a motorcade. she was like, no, is dad coming? is he bringing all those cars? really? i think they almost hit my teacher. >> the wish by your kids that you were invisible. and now for tonight's big number. the 2012 presidential election promises to be a devisive one, but get this. in the new hampshire republican primary, some voters did cast a vote for president obama. the total çnumber, 282 votes. none in new hampshire's ten

counties were devoided for obama. 282 votes for president obama in the new hampshire republican primary. that's tonight's oddly big number. up next, an iranian nuclear scientist is assassinated. is there a covert war going on in iran? you're watching "hardball" on msnbc. al nomad ♪ ♪ home was an airport lounge and an ipad ♪ ♪ made sure his credit score did not go bad ♪ ♪ with a free-credit-score-dot-com ♪ ♪ app that he had ♪ downloaded it in the himalayas ♪ ♪ while meditating like a true playa ♪ ♪ now when he's surfing down in chile'a ♪ ♪ he can see when his score is in danger ♪ ♪ if you're a mobile type on the go ♪ ♪ i suggest you take a tip from my bro ♪ ♪ and download the app that lets you know ♪ ♪ at free-credit-score-dot-com now let's go. ♪ vo: offer applies with enrollment in freecreditscore.com™.

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i'm jane wells with your cnbc market wrap. the dow finished up 21 points today. the nasdaq adds 14. the latest jobless claims show more americans filing for first time benefits. applications were up 24,000 to 399,000. that's a six-week high. economists say a jump like last

week are typical as holiday workers were let go. retail sales hit record $400.6 billion in december. for all of last year, sales were up 8% over 2010. that's the largest percentage gain since 1999. and starbucks hit an all-time high after they raised their price target on the stock. they ended at $47.60 a share. the company rolled out their new products. that's it from cnbc. now back to "hardball." welcome back to "hardball." there's an amazing story taking

place in iran. yesterday an iranian nuclear scientist was ait isssassinated. it's likelyç part of a war against the nuclear program. look what's happened in the past few years. five scientists have been targeted in similar attacks. one survived. the others were killed. a number of mysterious explosions have been reported at sites thought to be military complexes. one of the attacks killed a top missile expert. back in 2009, a computer virus infested the country's nuclear facilities causing significant damage and delay. no country has taken responsibility for any of these attacks, but iran has accused the united states and israel. secretary of state hillary clinton forcefully denied american involvement. >> i want to categorically deny any united states involvement in any kind of act of violence

inside iran. >> so what's going on here? robert barings is now an intelligence columnist. thank you, sir. what's going on? generally what's going on? the attacks have a pattern? does it have the fingerprints of an israeli industry? >> it has to be the israelis. you look at the target and you look at the capabilities. it's not american e. there's no lethal finding against iran. the israels, as far as i can see, are trying to provoke the iranians into doing something. >> that's always my question. consequences explained and dealt with when they çcome. what could -- we have an american over there condemned to

death. is that one of the assets brutally stated against us that they can execute him? would they go that far as payback for something like this assuming we had some role in knowing about this? >> they have done a couple things. they have hit the british embassy. they kidnapped this american fbi agent. they can do a number of things. but what we're seeing is an escalation, chris. it's almost as if the intention is to get the iranians to fire a missile at an oil tanker in the straight after her muse. it would help them because the israelis would force them to hitting back, and that's exactly what they want. >> you think it's israel trying to get us into this thing. let's go to richard angle. you had a report ob the nightly news last night. give us the gist of it.

>> i think you need to understand this in the larger context. last month, the united states passed incredibly harsh sanctions on iran. the expected outcome of this is that iran feeled backed into a corner. iran has responded with bellicose language. and now there's tension in the straight of hormuz. so going back to the last guest was talking about, if you want to hit iran and you need a context to do that, the way to do that is by forcing iran into aç corner. forcing your adversary to make an aggressive move and then everyone will think you are correct when you respond with force. >> why is it important for israel, if it's israel doing the attack on the iranian nuclear facilities, why would israel -- how would that help israel? the world is tough on israel.

would anybody take the edge off attacking iran no matter what preceded it? >> let's say iran goes out and launches an attack on iran. the next day, oil prices go through the roof. $200 a barrel for oil. everyone blames israel. there was ways around this. if suddenly iran feels strangled, their economy is under collapse, it it does something like put sea minds in the strait of hormuz, oil prices go up any way, then an israeli attack happens or some sort of military action happens against iran, then you look like the savior. >> let me get back to bob. do you believe this is what's going on? do you think a rational observer would say this is moving towards creating a pretext? >> absolutely.

this is speculation, of course. i don't know what the israelis are planning. i know the white house doesn't want a war x but we see this pressure, this logic of war that keeps on marching forward, and the iranians are looking at a year or two to hit the nuclear facilities. they cannotç be seen to initia this. if you keep assassinating the people, it's a humiliation. you make it a reaction out of them. . and the world says there's nothing we could have done except hit the israelis. these assassinations alone don't stop their nuclear program. they are simply a provocation. >> what about you, richard? >> i think it is. the israelis can't be seen as drawing first blood. killing a 32-year-old scientist who worked in procurement is not going to stop the program.

they have so far killed five people, four of them civilians. one of them a general who were involved in the missile program or the nuclear program directly. it has a psychological impact, but it's not going to slow down or stop the program. so i think you have to look at the other objective. is the objective to try and make yourself feel better? is it to try to put the iranians on edge? is it to try to provoke a response from them? or is it a bit of all of that? >> how can the united states not see this ased aerer sar y'all by israel to try to hook us into a war? if that's the case. if bob is right saying this is an attempt to try to get us in by trying to get the iranians mad at us, if that's seen to manipulate us into a war we don't want to get into, how can we see that as not hostile?

>> i'm not sure if it's to draw the u.s. into a war,ç but it gives israel the ability to do this action unilaterally. i don't think israel would tell the united states they are going to do it. we would wake up and it's happened. they would need to tell saudi arabia to give them fly-over rights, but i don't think the israelis expect the u.s. to do this for them. >> i thought you were saying that israel is trying to provoke the iranians into attacking us? >> if we're attacked, it gives the israels and americans on the same side, no choice but to hit the iranians. they need our air force to complete the job. they they can't do it alone. >> this is something we'll be talking about from now to election day. i have been reading all the politics on the table. this is of interest to our

country, israel, and of course, iran. it's involved in politics. not just the survival of israel. thank you, richard en gel and bob baer. >> the need to be spontaneous, when things get rough, mitt romney gets weird. this is "hardball" on msnbc. all because so many people wanted to visit us... in louisiana. they came to see us in florida... nice try, they came to hang out with us in alabama... once folks heard mississippi had the welcome sign out, they couldn't wait to get here. this year was great but next year's gonna be even better. and anyone who knows the gulf knows that winter is primetime fun time. the sun's out and the water's beautiful. you can go deep sea fishing for amberjack, grouper and mackerel. our golf courses are open. our bed and breakfast have special rates. and migrating waterfowl from all over make this a bird watcher's paradise. so if you missed it earlier this year, come on down.

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back to "hardball." david axelrod saying, campaigns are like an mri for the soul. whoever you are, eventually people find out. the more we see mitt romney in debates and interacting with voters, it's increasingly clear he likes order.ç he can get knocked off stride by unscripted moments. how is this going to affect his candidacy? ron reagan is here and dana milbank. we're talking about in an october debate, rick perry, who at the time was high in the polls, unnerved mitt romney on o the issue of illegal immigration. listen closely at the end of this when romney calls out for a lifeline. >> and mitt, you lose all of your standing from my p perspective, because you hired illegals in your home and you knew about it for a year. the idea that you stand here before us and talk about that

you're strong on immigration is on the height of hi pock ra si. >> i don't think i have ever hired an illegal in my life. i'm looking forward to finding your facts on that. >> i'll tell you what the facts are. you -- >> i'm speaking. >> it's time for you to tell the truth. >> you get 30 seconds. this is the way the rules work. >> the american people want the truth. >> i get to respond. >> anderson. >> anderson. what do you make of that? dana first. >> i've started transcribing in my columns the ha, ha, ha that romney says. it means, i am attempting humor now. we have seen this before. it's like the al gore problem that romney gives many outward

impressions he'c çhuman. but when you get behind it, something seems off there. that's the nature of the campaign that obama needs to run against him. it's not on policy, but inauthenticity. remember gore's wooden problem?. i think we'll have a similar problem here. >> the lack of spontaneity has been a problem with other candidates. jimmy carter, jerry ford. remember when the lights went out and electricity went out of their debate. they were like the statues down in orlando at disney world. they couldn't move. >> it's hard to be spontaneous when you are always being calculating at the same time. i mean if you really know what you believe and somebody throws you into a situation you are unfamiliar with or a little rock eas long as you have these core principles, whatever is coming out of your mouth is going to be authentic. if you are always calculating your response, tail loring it to this audience or that, very difficult to be spontaneous. and you saw there, too, here's a guy who is like every -- the kid

everybody hates in the playground in grade school. you know, mr. anderson, ricky broke the 30-second rule. you know, you got to get him in trouble. contrast that with a moment in new hampshire where ronald reagan in his campaign hanging by a thread and the moderator is trying to shut off his microphone. he stands up with it and says, i'm paying for this microphone, mr. green. that message is, i'm the biggest guy in the room. if you want the crown, you got to come through me. romney's message seems to be if you want the crown, check with anderson cooper. he's the little silver head figured fellow over there. >> the reason your dad said that is because it's what spencer tracy said exactly in the exact same situation when he was playing a guy named grant matthews running for president of the united states against harry truman inç "state of the union." it's the exact same line. >> doesn't matter. you still have to deliver the line. >> this sunday's "meet the press" debate he had a dust-up with rick santorum about why he

didn't run. it's a good moment here. >> run again? that would be about me. i was trying to help get this state in as best shape as i possibly could. left the world of politics. went back into business. now i have the opportunity, i believe, to use the experience i have. you have a surprised look on your face. wait, it's still my time. >> are you going to tell people you're not going to run for re-election for president if you win? >> he called him out. he said you have a surprised look on your face. yes it sort of calls for reaction. he said but it's my time. >> sure. and run again for governor would be about me, but running for president is a gesture of selflessness and altruism. don't you get the sense he's running through index cards in his head. what do i need to project? >> here's bret baer. a great interview on fox. he got him uncomfortable because he was being challenged on fox. let's watch. >> do you still support the idea of a mandate?

do you believe that that was the right thing for massachusetts? do you think mandating people to buy insurance is the right tool? >> bret, i don't know how many hundred times i've said this, too. this is an unusual interview. all right. let's do it again. >> hey, ron. >> ha, ha, ha. there's the unsincere laugh again. >> he's a jolly fellow. talk about a legitimate question. did he not think he was going to have to face that sort of question? he seems like the kind of guy that's just not used to meeting people on an even playing field. they'll ask you questions and you better have an answer. he'sç used to being the boss a the millionaire where nobody asks you uncomfortable questions. nobody puts you on the spot because you'll fire them and you'll like it. >> well, there is a difference between in a business press and the political press. let's put it that way. that's for sure. >> true. it's ha, ha, ha and then it's aah at the end when he realizes nobody else is laughing and then he awkwardly moves on. >> what does it tell us is important to a voter right now

about this guy? >> well, it tells us that he's got the al gore problem,s a was saying. the one bit of good news is, romney was in hiding for months away from the press. he came out because gingrich forced him out. he's going to go right back behind that. fewer interviews. fewer town hall meetings. fewer availability. >> ron, last thought. when he has to debate the president, what happens? is this going to hurt him? >> obama, i think, kicks his behind because he'll get in his face a little and mitt won't be able to handle it. >> i thing president will be prepared to do weird things even. unusual, off-beat to catch the other guy wrong-footed. that's the new british phrase now, wrong-footed. >> as long as he doesn't sigh. >> you catch the man wrong-footed. you'll learn. look it up. thank you ron reagan and dana millbank. when we return, let me finish with the attack on mitt romney from behind him. that's good morning, veggie style.

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let me finish tonight with this. this attack on mitt romney rom behind is the most exciting thing to happen in this election. imagine if a couple of democrats started attacking president obama as an anti-colonial kenyan from the -- remember? that was something newt gingrich leveled at him awhile back. imagine if it were a high-level democrat throwing that stuff at him. what if a couple of democrats started blasting obama for being some socialist from europe. imagine if it were a democrat or

a couple of them going after their own man for being a disciple of saulinsky portraying them as radicals of capitalism. you wonder why the protecters of mitt romney are getting out there raising bloody murder over newt gingrich and rick perry. they are feeling just as scared at the democrat would feel if one of their own right in the midst of them were throwing out these attacks at obama. nothing spooks the herd like when one of its own starts goring the others, starts raging in the night, starts making noise that the way things are booeg done is not the right way at all. you are talking stampede when that starts happening. here we are at the start of this big fight between the democrats and republicans. a couple of big-time republican candidates are saying the lead steer is loco. what he's done with his life making money is not about creating jobs but what his investors went in to do. make money. not by killing jobs, not necessarily, but if killing jobs made them money, oh, that's the name of the game. this is the