yes, we begin this afternoon with breaking news. we expect to hear a major announcement at the state department any moment. the administration poised to reject the controversial keystone xl pipeline. the decision has already provoked widespread scorn among republicans from house speaker john boehner's office this. president obama is about to destroy tens of thousands of american jobs and sell american energy security to the chinese. the president won't stand up to his political base even to create american jobs. this is not the end of this fight." from republican senator dick lugar, the president opposing pipeline construction is not in the best interests of the united states. but there are some applauding the move. the sierra club has come forward to say we are very pleased that the president has listened to people that are very concerned about clean air and clean water.

the keystone pipeline was a signature part of last month's compromise agreement between the white house and the gop-led congress to extend a payroll tax extension for two months. now, the white house says that two months is not nearly enough time for the environmental studies to be completed. and one should note that many of the states that this pipeline was set to crisscross were against it, including the reddest of red states, nebraska. for more on this, we're joined by a man who's been against this since almost day one, congressman dennis kucinich, a democrat from ohio. good afternoon, sir. >> good afternoon. >> you've been vocal in speaking against the keystone pipeline. so i imagine that today, you're gratified by the president's decision >> he made the right decision. he made a decision that's good for the environment and it's also good for american consumers. particularly 15 states which because of this pipeline deal could have seen increase in the price of gasoline 10 to 20 cents

per gallon. this is a big decision and it's the right decision. >> why would you oppose a project, sir, that supporters say will create thousands of jobs and reduce our dependence on foreign oil? why would you oppose that. >> first of all, any comprehensive analysis of the jobs claims would see that the jobs claims were greatly exaggerated. there's ways for us to create jobs in this country. we could rebuild america's infrastructure without ruining the air and the water. also the idea of submitting ourselves to the mercies of the canadian oil market needs to be looked at carefully. what canada said in the application for this permit that they had initially hidden but it was later found out was that they were going to bypass midwest refineries which would drive up the price of gasoline in the midwest. so the this wasn't good for the american people. and it wasn't good for ohio where i'm from and frankly, the president made the right decision. >> we we talk about the number of jobs that have been created, john boehner, speaker boehner may have been exaggerating when he talked about tens of

thousands of jobs. even the most conservative estimate puts the job creation at around 2.5 to 4.5 thousand. that's not an inconsiderable number of jobs. >> jobs are important but so is the quality of air and water. if you have the aquifer being contaminated that also costs enormously in terms of the development of an area, the ability for an area to attract further business. we have to be aware that clean air and clean water is an investment that the american people have in quality of life which causes people to want to live in certain areas and live in certain communities. so that cannot be discounted.do we need job creation in this country, you bet we do. we should rebuild america's infrastructure to help make american more environmentally efficient. >> you know full well the president has proposed a jobs bill that has been roundly rejected by the republican-dominated congress. but republican candidates today are responding to the news. take a listen to former speaker

newt gingrich on the subject of the keystone pipeline into this is a stunningly stupid thing to do. there's no better word for it. these people are so out of touch with reality, it's as though they were governing mars. we need the jobs. >> so we know that newt gingrich would call the president stupid if he chose a bottle of miller lite instead of budlight. but does newt not have a point here? >> first of all, he didn't offer any analysis. i think that someone running for president owes it to the american people to admit that this proposal for the keystone pipeline would have increased gas prices in a good part of the country and would result in market manipulation. >> how? how would this have. >> here's the way it works. if the canadians intended to bypass midwest refineries, go the to gulf and that way they're able to drive up the price of oil in 15 states, that's part of the game that was going on here. look, the oil companies aren't the friend of the consumers. everyone knows that. the oil company were looking to

use this as an example to sock it to american consumers 10 to 20 cents per gallon at least 15 states where i come from including ohio. i say the president made the right decision on this. do we need to create jobs? yes, but you don't create jobs at the expense of clean water and air and jacking up the price of gasoline. >> mr. kucinich, you know rick perry doesn't even believe that climate change is occurring. he would dispute any kind of environmental impact as a result of the keystone pipeline. and there are many in this country who would support his position. >> well, i join with mr. perry in praying that the air and the water be kept clean. but we also know from our faith that we need faith and good works. the good works are regulation to protect the air and water and also government policy decisions that don't contaminate the air and the water which frankly, the keystone pipeline would have done. president obama recognizes that. he made the right decision. i support him on this. >> what about the fact that we

know that the decision by republicans to insert this into the bill to allow the payroll tax holiday to continue for two months was a deliberate political maneuver, in fact, did it have anything really to do with job creation, to do with the environment? it didn't, did it? it had everything to do with politics. >> it's not a revelation to say that politics are played in washington, d.c. that's like saying that baseball is played in cleveland. i mean, that's our game here. offer, we cannot let the american people believe that we're going to see lower gas prices when this proposal would have increased the gas prices. the american people want clean air and clean water. clean water is important to every family, clean air is important to every family. look, it shouldn't be either or. it shouldn't be jobs or clean air or clean water, jobs or lower gasoline prices. we want lower gasoline prices,

clean air and clean water. frankly, i think the president took a step in that direction today. >> why, sir, have republicans been so reluctant to support projects that would create jobs in the environmental friendly area of clean air, of wind power, of other sources of energy creation? why have republicans been so opposed to focusing on those areas that could create jobs? we know statistically, that that whole area is now increasingly rich in terms of employment. >> well, we ought to look to where markets are going. i think sooner or later markets are going in a direction of recognizing that the smoke going up there, those are often profits going up the smokestack. you figure out ways to capture affluent and be able to turn it into something that's environmentally productive. we have new thinking coming up. we need to have 21st century thinking on manufacturing processes. and so my republican brothers and sisters i think many of them want to get with the advancing

tide and the curve of increasing jobs. but on this one, i don't think they're there yet. >> congressman dennis kucinich, thanks so much for joining us this afternoon. >> thank you very much. >> when we come back, reality bites in the race for 2012. this is the true story. >> i'm pretty focused on south carolina, not disney world. >> of five republicans. >> we went for ron paul and we're pimping for paul. >> who want barack obama's job scenario let's get the map, all right? four companies created 120,000 jobs. it's very simple. >> and what happens when people stop being polite. >> i don't want to bloody his nose. i want to knock him out. >> and start getting real. >> this is one of the concerns people have about newt. is he has this is disconnection with reality. >> a real world republican primary 2012. ot better. now with even more of the vitamins your body needs. like vitamin d. plus omega 3's. there's one important ingredient that hasn't changed: better taste. [ female announcer ] eggland's best.

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we have breaking news. we're hearing that the state department has announced that the keystone xl pipeline has been rejeked. we're expecting that speaker john boehner is going to come out and helm a press conference at some point in the next few minutes in response to the president and the administration's decision. we'll bring that to you shortly when it happens. with just three days till the primary that could very well confirm mitt romney as the republican nominee, there are signs of some newt meant tum in south carolina. just moments ago, mr. gingrich painted a picture of the romney camp in the trenches of a desperate battle to hold onto the palmetto state willing to do anything to win. >> i fully expect the romney campaign to be unendingly dirty and dishonest for the next four days because they are desperate. they thought they could buy this. i think they have internal polls that show them losing and i

think they will do anything at any level and need your help. people power will beat money power. >> of course, newt's brand of people power has all the karm of a gang of thugs. if case you missed it, here's how he describes taking on our current president. >> i don't want to bloody his nose. i want to knock him out. >> and if gingrich views himself as the republican party's heavyweight champ, there are signs that mr. romney is now watching his back. indeed, after three weeks of ignoring former speaker newt gingrich, romney's campaign is renewing 80s assault. an anti newt conference call this morning and a newt ad featuring former congresswoman susan molinari. >> newt gingrich had a leadership style that can only be described as leadership by chaos. last time he was head of the republican party as speaker, he became so controversial, he helped re-elect a democratic president. >> informed of that ad by a

reporter earlier today, gingrich managed to be at once giddy, and condescending. a specialty of his. >> they're saying i helped re-elect a democrat? >> that's in the ad, yes. >> that's just stupid. it's actually a campaign ad? oh, goody. >> goody gum crops indeed. let's bring in our panel now. with us from washington, analyst and former rnc chairman michael steele and michele krotal of "newsweek" magazine. good afternoon to both of you. mike, mitt romney has been keeping his focus squarely on the president. now all of a sudden, his campaign's got new ads targeting gingrich in south carolina. gingrich is rallying conservatives to fall behind him. is this romney as it were casting a worrying glance over his shoulder realizing that freddy krueger is coming for him? >> you really like gingrich, don't you? >> i'm asking. >> you know, i think there may be something to that. in fact, i was with talking with

some of the gingrich people this morning and some of the romney people, and you put it aptly. they're a little bit giddy on the gingrich side and a little bit worried on the romney side. i think they do have some internal polls that show that that gap has closed significantly. why else do you pull out the susan molinari card. remember, that ad was put on the shelf two and a half weeks ago because they didn't need it. >> indeed. >> so the fact that they pulled it out says that there's something happening on the ground there that maybe even rick santorum needs to be a little bit concerned about in terms of his surge and his move coming off the blessing he got this past weekend from conservative pastors. so south carolina's -- i said it earlier this morning, i'll say it again, it is going to be the ground that's going to determine who goes forward and who gets to go home. and right now, gingrich plans to go forward. and i think the romney people are a little bit worried. >> indeed. michele, gingrich last night got the backing of none other than

sarah palin in south carolina. but only to prolong the contest she says, not because she particularly loves newt. i guess she's got her fox news contract to consider. but does this pit her witts against, of course, the krist christina o'donnell supporting mitt romney? >> her wits against -- i don't think we want to talk about political wits when we get right down into this. look, she likes the -- she likes to be in the midst of things. she hasn't gotten a lot of attention. she and the this thing to go forward. she wants to have had her say. will it make a big difference? no, it won't. south carolina is going to do what it's going to do, and it's a rough state. and they like to see their candidates bloody each other, talking with the state leaders down there and some congressman, they consider this where they're going to get these candidates vetted and vetted well. >> mike, i do find it surprising that people talk about south carolina as being 60% god-fearing and evangelical and

yet as michele says, they love a bloodbath down there, don't they? >> you've seen throughout the ages. >> let's go back to 13th century britain where there's violence between catholics and protestants. >> on ward christian soldiers. >> exactly. >> no, i think that it's politics is as you know, all of us know, is a bloody personal upfront contact sport. you know, just because you have a cross hanging over your head doesn't mean that you're less inclined to want to see your opponent get it in the eye from time to time. so the i think that that's a natural part of this. south carolina is as i say one of those place whereas they weed you out. iowa, and new hampshire have their particular roles to play. south carolina has -- it's one of those turning points in the campaign where before you can move beyond there to florida and elsewhere, you got to prove you've got the mettle top go forward. i think you're going to see this battle royale.

tomorrow night's debate is going to be very interesting indeed going into the final contest on saturday. >> but mike, what about rick santorum? because he very nearly won iowa and south carolina. he has a very similar population in terms of socially conservative evangelicals. so why is he battling out with newt gingrich who after all, has had as many religions i guess as he's had wibs? >> martin, that's not fair. >> we, i think it's accurate. >> you can't question a man's, you know, personal journey in faith. let's set that aside. >> really? >> yeah. i hope you were as probative of obama's journey. >> absolutely. >> with reverend wright back in the last campaign. >> absolutely. >> the point still stands. i don't think that's something that you can really quell someone's personal journey. i wouldn't want you to question mine. set that aside and focus on this point. i think it's a good one. santorum is showing a little bit of elbows here to create some

distance between him and newt. and quite frankly him and others whether it's rick perry and even romney to sort of galvanize that energy he got from this past weekend and to use that as a catapult or slingshot past newt gingrich. i think the polls, regardless of what you say at the end of the day, has this thing won to romney, gingrich. he needs to create that separation so he can move a little bit more freely because as you've noticed, gingrich has been much more complimentary and sort of wrapping his arms around santorum in a sense and santorum's like, don't get too close. >> yeah, well, i think rick santorum'ses anything like that is a gesture from newt is probably inauthentic. michele, romney's caused a flap by saying he only pays about 15% tax rate. good for him. i guess he benefits from the current system. but new analysis in the "washington post" today shows that under his own tax plan, romney's taxes would actually

fall. they'd go down. now, how does that square with ar electorate where 13 million are unemployed and where poverty levels are at such a record high? >> look, the republican party has always embraced the whole concept of just lower taxes in general. anytime somebody brings up the fact that a particular tax plan would cut upper income rates, it's called class warfare. so romney is ot the only person with this problem. he is just kind of an interesting standard bearer. usually what the party is better at is finding somebody who seems folksy or or blue collar or who can project this image while they pursue a tax image that will cut upper income rates. >> i have to cut you off because speaker boehner is at the podium responding to the president's decision on the keystone xl pipeline. >> for politics. the president was given the authority to block this project

only and only if he believes it's not in the national interests of the united states. is it not in the national interests to create tens of thousands of jobs here in america with private investment? is it not in the national interests to get energy resources from an ally like canada supposed to some countries in the middle east? president has said he'll do anything that he can to create jobs. today, that promise was broken. the president expedited the approval of the solyndra loan project. but won't approve a project that's been under review for over three years. yesterday, the president's own jobs council said the energy pipeline projects like this one can create hundreds of thousands of american jobs. the unions support it. the states along the proposed route support it. and it has bipartisan support

here in the congress of the united states. and yet, the president decided to reject it anyway. president won't stand up to his political base. even in the name of creating american jobs. and now canada is going to have to look to other nations like china to sell its oil reserves to. lis, the president's policies are making the american economy worse rather than better. and this latest decision is just but the latest example. i'll just say this. this is not the end of the fight. republicans in congress will continue to push this because it's good for our country and it's good for our economy. and it's good for the american people especially those who are looking for work. >> thank you, mr. speaker. tim griffin, arkansas. today, president obama has decided to create jobs in china instead of the united states. why do i say that?

i went to the canadian embassy weeks ago. met with officials there. they said they want to do business here in the united states. but if they can't do business here, they have to take those oil sands somewhere to have them refined. they said they would do that in china. >> you're watching a press conference of house republicans at the moment responding to the president's decision to cancel moving ahead with the keystone xl pipeline. i'm joined now by mike viqueira at the white house. mike, a pretty bold move by the president to turn this down. and just as congress comes back to town. >> reporter: it was almost a foregone conclusion and a great point you make about congress coming back to town yesterday. one wonders why the president didn't get this out of the way before they had everybody together and were able to gather for a press conference and be carried live. it was the republicans who essentially forced the president's hand a point that the president went out of his way to make in a statement he just released. he called it the arbitrary

nature of the deadline. just to take you back to last month and than fight about extending the payroll tax cuts, you remember republicans threw in this provision forcing the president to make a decision on the keystone pipeline. you recall his administration said it needed more time to study the environmental effects particularly on the sensitive area known as the sandhills in nebraska. coincidentally that decision was going to be pushed back till after the election. this issue cleave the democratic party between two traditional constituencies, labor and the environmental movement. republicans tried to force the president's hand and the white house said all along, in a sense it's not a surprise, they said ever since that negotiation last month it was not going to be enough time. there's two months to conduct that environmental review. therefore the result today is the president formally has rejected the construction of that pipeline for knew. >> i was just listening to speaker boehner pep says it would create tens of thousands of jobs. well, that's questioned by the facts. he also goes on to say that all

the states along the route support it. well, they don't. >> and particularly in the past at least when this was first under discussion, there were plenty of objections from the nebraska government both the legislature and the government, the governor as well, martin. so a lot of back and forth on this. but this is the issue now. republicans are going to seize on it. >> i just want to interrupt you because house majority leader eric cantor is speaking. >> that will put people back to work right away and will boost our domestic energy security. samples have been shown now that energy supply will go elsewhere. the jobs connected with this project will go elsewhere. either we're going to get serious about the number one issue which is the creation of jobs or not. and clearly, the president has decided that he is not serious if this is the decision that he's going to make on this particular project. there's no question that our

belief is the president's policies have consistently failed to create jobs. this decision is another wrong move for america. and it's small businesses that we need so desperate lit to start creating jobs again. >> mike, i just want to bring again this to your attention. eric cantor saying just now this president has consistently failed to create jobs. he's created over 2 million jobs since 2010. what are these people talking about? >> and you asked me earlier you know, this contentious number about how many jobs the constructionist pipeline would result in in the united states. and there are -- there are studies that are all over the map. the state department initially said somewhere around 5,000, 6,000 jobs. transcanada, the actual organization that's in charge of constructing the pipeline said 20,000 jobs. but then cornell university came out with a study often cited by environmentalists that said closer to 3,000 or 4,000 jobs. that point alone under contention, martin. >> mike viqueira at the white

house. thanks so much for dipping in and out of those press conferences. stay with us, the day's top lines are coming up. >> if i had to vote in south carolina in order to keep this thing going, i'd vote for newt and i would want this to continue. is it fast? it's got 10 speeds, my friend. ♪ is it fast? it's got a lightning bolt on it, doesn't it? ♪

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anncr vo: tylenol cold multi-symptom nighttime relieves nasal congestion... nyquil cold & flu doesn't. but is she eating sugar this week? maybe she wants the all natural, zero calorie stuff. but if you're wrong, you're insinuating she's fat. save yourself. it's only natural. >> the one pimp, two prostitutes and a whole lot of ron paul love. here are today's top lines. >> if i had to vote in south carolina in order to keep this thing going, i'd vote for newt. iron sharpens iron. steel sharpens steel. >> i'm the only conservative who has a chance to be the nominee. >> let me see, who finished ahead of who in iowa? that would be me. new hampshire, let me see. oh, yeah. >> i'm pretty focused on south carolina. so not disney world. >> do me a favor. we'll take this one election at

a time. >> this will be the mitt romney flat tax. i think that's terrific. >> 120,000 versus 100,000 jobs, which number should we stick with? >> let's get the map, all right? four companies created 120,000 jobs. just get it, very simple. >> i think it was a tradition that was initiated by then presidential candidate george romney back in 196 who released 12 years of tax records. >> then i get speaker's fees from time to time but not very much. >> i think this is one of the bigger acts of bow lowny in modern times? if the far right thought romney could win they might be more enthusiastic about him. >> we don't always see eye to eye, do we, newt. >> no. >> we went for ron paul. >> i mess up. >> i'll take my bat. >> newt's comments are just -- >> talking about that. >> out of left field. >> yes, hooray for your inability to comprehend when you've insulted black people.

>> this is one of the concerns that people have about newt is he has this disconnection with reality at times. >> and so it was that on martin luther king day, newt gingrich shared his vision of an america where people will be judged not by the color of their skin but by him newt gingrich. >> let's get right to it this afternoon. with us from washington, michael eric dyson, a professor at georgetown, university. good afternoon, professor. >> good afternoon, mr. bashir. >> we have been following you and i newt gingrich's food stamp president line i think for almost eight months. he would say that this is about economic failure, but why? please explain why do so many people what gingrich is doing is packaging a barely con seed racist slogan in his use of this phrase. >> packaging this race a slogan. the problem is he's signifying

just like under reagan it was welfare queen. others have talked about super predators being black men during the crime sprees of the $1980 and urban as african-american or latino, when he says food stamp president, he's getting two or three for the price of one and able to identify obama has a black man who is concerned about poor black people and he's able to identify black obama has a black man concerned about poor black people who's for them not us. so he can clear a lot of hurdles with one rhetorical jump there, and it's pretty reprehensible. but i think people understand what he's up to. >> so he uses the one phrase and it's a catch all for all of those elements. >> absolutely because he's able to signify to those who can hear. you know, like a dog whistle. you're trying to signify morse code, whatever analogy you want to hear it, the people who want to hear it get it. of course, that's not what i

meant. i meant x, y, and z. built into the modern use of some of these words is the ability to deny that you mean anything horrible by them in the first place. >> professor, speaker gingrich is clearly suffering no repercussions from his confrontation with juan williams on monday's debate. at least among his devoted fans. listen to this is exchange, please, between gingrich and one of his supporters less than two hours ago. >> i would like to thank you, mr. speaker for putting mr. juan williams in his place the other night. [ applause ] his supposed question was totally ludicrous. and we support you. >> thank you very much. >> juan williams put in his place. another standing ovation. your response, professor? >> i mean, whether intended or not, i'm sure that woman asking the question did not intend to

signify black man in his place. but come on. that signifies in the history of american rhetoric where you were putting uppity black people in their place. juan williams an articulate intelligent liberal who appears often on fox news and therefore, is a moderate liberal according to many. he can't even raise the question about newt gingrich's incense activity to african-american people and how he might be perceived. so there's an honor taken in putting black people back, putting them on their haunches forcing them against the wall to force them back into the spaces where they can't express their outrage or disgruntlement with how things are being framed. >> i don't want to be too personal, professor, but i imagine if you were sitting in front of a group of students regardless of your own race, you would be sensitive about using the kind of languaging that this man is using. and he wants to be president of the greatest nation on earth? >> yes, absolutely right. that's a great point, martin. the point is, sir, if you're as

sensitive to your audience, you don't just take a test to determine which way the wind is blowing. to concede to capitulate to them. you figure out a to say i don't want to the engage in anything that's going to hurt, harm or otherwise make uncomfortable the people i'm addressing. if i'm trying to make this environment comfortable, i'm not going to go out of my way to insult them. newt gingrich has none of that sensitivity. his feathers have been ruffled and now he feels emboldened to go forward by a few followers who make had imbelieve he's doing the right thing. i think it's horrible. >> professor dyson, not a food stamps professor but a profes r professor. next mitt's millions and why he's the right man for america's new gilded age. >> i'm also unemployed.

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millionaire mitt romney perhaps understandably is having a bit of a problem persuading us that he understands the plight of the common working man. unem polite is at 8.5%, one in seven americans is now deemed to be poor according to the census bureau. so see if you can figure out mr. romney's problem. >> what's the effective rate you could make. >> what's the rate i've been paying? probably closer to the 15% rate than anything. and then i get speaker's fees from time to time. but not very much. >> i know what it's like to worry whether you're going to get fired. there were a couple of times i wondered whether i was going to get a pink slip. i like being able to fire people who provide services to me. rick, i'll tell you what, 10,000 bucks? >> joining us william cohen, a former banker and author of "money and power, how goldman sachs came to rule the world."

bill, as this campaign goes forward, we seem to have a continuing revelation with mitt romney. we hear him talking about being unemployed as a joke last year in a cafe. we then have him talking about earning $375,000 a year for speeches and saying, and i'm quoting him, not very much. is mitt romney's biggest problem mitt romney? >> martin, i think that's very, very well said. he's got to be the most tone deaf politician to come down the pike since george w. bush and he seems to be cut from the very same cloth. father a career, very successful politician, pra tri-- pa trishi born. it's astounding how he can be so out of touch with the common man and still be a politician. it's really -- even the republican base cannot be appreciating what he's saying right now. >> why is he reluctant to release his tax returns? >> well, there are all sorts of

theories. you know, my favorite one is going around is maybe he hasn't fully tithed to the mormon church. you know, the 10% that he's required to do. >> a revelation he hasn't been doing that. >> now we've got three months for him to fix that before his self-imposed april deadline when it seems to be the right time to release these. maybe he's going to make a big donation to the church before we know it. >> any other theories. >> clearly it's going to be a gold mine for people like me who will comb through it and enjoy the revelations in it. i'm sure there's, you know, the magnitude of the money that he's made and the way he's made it, i'm sure is going to be a revelation. >> the fact that we're talking about this, bill, mitt romney would say we're engaging in the politics of envy. but isn't this the politics of fairness? that's what this is about. this is supposed to be an issue, a central point in a civilization that we have some kind of fairness in our culture. >> if taxes are the price we pay for a free society, you know, for him to pay 15% and sort of

basque in that and he's got hundreds of millions of dollars as a result, one cannot single out him alone because those are the rules of the road for capital gains tax. but he's getting 15% treatment on capital gains far in excess of the capital he put into bain capital. if it was just restricted to personal investment, fine, 15% is no problem. but he's getting 15% on all of the capital gains from all of the funds he's been involved with. >> just to be clear, he's no longer working for those companies. this is just income. >> this is why he's only got -- this is why he's being taxed at 15% because it's all this capital gains income he's getting from when he was there and all the funds that he invested in along the way. >> given the example that someone like warren buffett has said by saying look, i pay less than my secretary, why doesn't mitt romney come out and say the same thing? >> you know, if i were him, i mean there could never be. if i were him and running for

the republican nomination, that would be the first thing i would say. i would say let's make this straight. this isn't fair not american people. this isn't fair. i benefited. i was in the right place at the right time to benefit from the private equity alchemy. i'm going to make this right. even steve schwartzman whose house mitt romney is going to tonight on park avenue paid 5% of his income in income taxes last year partly because there were less capital gains from his funds and for fee income for him this past year. so mitt doesn't have the fee income that steve schwartzman has. >> just a final question. to give someone like mitt romney the benefit of the doubt, he would say that investment incoming is taxed twice anyway because you have corporate tax followed by the 15% on anything that he gets. what would you say the as that an argument? >> that's a fine argument if you're just paying capital gains on what you yourself have invested. as we said before, he's got 15% capital gains tax on all of the

fund's profits that he gets his share of, far more than he invested personally. if he's going to play that game, he should scale it back to the amount that he invested in the first place. >> bill cohen, thanks so much. just a reminder, big bill's book, money and pour it on sale in paper back this month. bill, thanks so much. coming up, political candidates finally ready to talk about obesity? but first here's brian sullivan with the market wrap. brian. >> thanks very much. here's a look how stocks are trading. positive hold builder sentiment coming in at the high left level since 2007. so we kind of continue our stealth rally. the dow up 89. s&p and nasdaq are up, as well. so more income, more dividend income and perhaps more discussion of tax rates still to come. martin? >> [ male announcer ] lately, there's been a seismic shift in what passes for common sense.

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this is a struggle that people have. like a lot of other struggles that people have in life. so i'm going to be honest about the things that are, you know, a challenge to me. and if in any way that helps other people, i'm thrilled by it. >> new jersey governor's chris christie words as new studies show the obesity levels in this country appear to be leveling off. still 35% of adults in this country are obese and 30% are overweight. crystal paul is a democratic strategist and dr. raj is an adviser for health nation.com and a contributory the "today" show. good afternoon to both of you. doctor, first lady michelle obama has made this her signature issue as the first lady within the white house. >> that's right. >> do you think that we are beginning to see signs that the public health attack on obesity is beginning to have an affect? >> well, i certainly hope so. we just heard that the rates have plateaued.

i don't think this is anything to great our elves for. as you said, one-third of americans are obese. that's a staggering number. we're talking about obese, if you add the overweight people, that's two-thirds of our population. this is a health care crisis even though the rates have plate plateaued, it's still a huge number of people getting stick from diseases associated with obesity whether cancer, diabetes, heart disease. as they age it is going to get worse. we're already spending billions of dollars on health care and the costs are going to rise as the people age. the thing she is targeting the most is childhood obesity which is so important because we know when children are young this is when they learn their habits for the rest of their lives. nutrition at an early age is vital. >> we were listening to chris christie talking about his own struggles with weight which are obvious to all of us. but why is -- why are politicians talking about weight such a no-no? why is it taboo? >> particularly michelle obama has been criticized a lot for her, from the right, for her efforts on her let's move

campaign which has seen some great successes. and i think it's a couple things. i think one it's a touchy subject because such a large percentage of americans are obese and people don't like to feel scolded. there is lass knee jerk reaction among americans of don't tell me how to live or raise my kids. and then when it's coming from the first lady, obviously her husband being barack obama who is demonized by the right, anything they do they want to tear into this narrative of they have a nanny state trying to tell you what to do. even when she is just trying to promote a healthy lifestyle, just providing education and information, which has been i think as dr. raj said, we certainly don't want to declare mission accomplished but one huge thing that came out of the let's move initiative is the first lady put pressure on walmart to reduce prices on fresh fruits and vegetables and change the content of some of their store brands. that is a huge win. >> dr. raj, what are the implications of not dealing with

obesity? what are the health implications to our culture and the costs in terms of health care? >> well, the number one, two, and three killers in the united states have been linked to obesity. heart disease, stroke, diabetes, cancer. all of these things your risk is increased if you are obese or overweight. we're basically, you know, shortening the life span of our children. we're increasing hospital costs, health care costs, doctor visits. you know, days away from work due to all those illnesses i just mentioned. this is the first generation we were talking about earlier that's going to live shorter than their parents because of things like obesity. >> so it's that serious. >> it is extremely serious. i really applaud the first lady for her efforts in educating people. >> we hear newt gingrich, a man who knows his way around a buffet constantly demeaning those on foodstamps, not to be outdone senator grassley, republican from iowa, said this about the labor department's strict rules on child labor. quoting, kids won't be able to help on farms not owned by their parents. it's interesting that this child

labor bill goes against michelle obama's anti-obesity initiative. how can kids be active if they are limited by this law? so i guess chuck is saying that child labor, slave labor is the only way to be healthy. >> yeah. that doesn't ring true to me as someone who did not slave away on a farm although i did have a very active lifestyle as a child. my daughter 3 years old. i don't intend to be enrolling her in any work study programs any time soon. there are lots of ways to live a healthy lifestyle. you don't have to be working as a janitor in your school to do so. >> dr. raj, finally, and i wonder as a medic if you could help us, politicians seem reluctant to kind of agree and yet the health statistics are flightening and shocking. aren't they? >> absolutely. i don't see how anyone could take issue with someone educating parents and the public about obesity and how to prevent it. i'm a parent as well. it's not easy when you have young children to get them to eat nutritious foods. anything the government can do to help us whether campaigning in the media, the stores, having

healthier options, that's all going to help us do a better job of raising our kids. >> dr. raj and crystal, thanks so much for joining us. we'll be right back. [ female announcer ] experience dual-action power, with listerine® whitening plus restoring rinse. it's the only listerine® that gets teeth two shades whiter and makes tooth enamel two times stronger. get dual-action listerine® whitening rinse. building whiter, stronger teeth.

all your important legal matters in just minutes. now it's quicker and easier for you to start your business... protect your family... and launch your dreams. at legalzoom.com, we put the law on your side. it's time to clear the air. on the surface mitt romney might be described as the very essence of the american dream. kated at harvard, worked successfully in private equity. made millions of dollars. did some public service. and is the father of five clean cut sons. by any measure, that's a pretty successful life and nobody would begrudge him of any of it. and now mr. romney believes that his accumulated success should be enough to persuade us all that he's the best equipped individual to become president of the united states.

but we need to pause for a moment before we accept mr. romney's sales pitch, hook, line, and sinker. malcolm gladwell in his book "outliers" explains how many of our successes are not down to our own efforts but the direct result of where we were born, who our parents are, and how fortunate we may have been. it's those who are successful in other words who are most likely to be given the kinds of special opportunities that lead to further success. it's the rich who get the biggest tax breaks. it's the best students who get the best teaching and most attention. success is the result of what soe sociologists like to call cumulative advantage. the writer doesn't refer to mitt romney by name but could well have been describing the man. just for starters mr. romney's father was the chairman and ceo of american motors and the governor of michigan. that's a pretty powerful parent to have on your side.

so mitt romney was extremely fortunate and maybe this is why he has such a problem convincing us of his authenticity. he wants to be a man of the people. he wants to convince americans that he understands and feels their experience of unemployment and social deprivation. but he doesn't. because through no fault of his own, mitt romney's life has been the result of acumulative advantage and he is one very, very lucky guy. but that doesn't mean that he's properly qualified to lead a nation of more than 300 million people, many of whom have not been quite so fortunate. thanks so much for watching. dylan ratigan is with us and at the start would you believe of his 30 million jobs tour. dylan, where are you? we are in the middle of a crisis. >> they'reju