tv MSNBC Live MSNBC January 23, 2012 8:00am-9:00am PST
8:00 am
saying that newt gingrich is a lobbyist is just a matter of fact. if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it is a duck. we just need to understand what his activity's been over the last 15 years. >> florida, game on. will mitt romney go nuclear after getting thumped in south carolina? will the newtron bomb explode, critical questions as the candidates prepare to go toe-to-toe tonight in tampa. while south carolina was a stunner, florida could be the decider when it comes to who moves on to win the gop nomination, economy, foreclosures, all looming large, along with the one man all the candidates are courting. one year after the shooting that nearly took her life, congresswoman gabrielle giffords makes another courageous decision. and questions whether senator rand paul was detained by the tsa in nashville. his office and the tsa telling us different stories. we're going to sort it out for
8:01 am
you this hour. hi, everybody, hope you had a great weekend, i'm thomas roberts. another huge day in politics. after two primaries, one caucus, voters provided three different winners. the march to inevitability for mitt romney is now a no-hold's bar brawl with newt gingrich. after a reality check in south carolina, romney sees ready to bring the fight to the former speaker. his 2010 tax returns will be public information tomorrow, and this morning he hit back hard against his chief rival for the nomination, take a listen. >> i'm calling on speaker gingrich again to do two things, one, release all the work product associated with his work at freddie mac and return the funds he made. speaker made $1.7 million in his enterprises from providing services to freddie mac, he ought to give it back. >> gingrich is telling david gregory there's a clear distinction for florida voters.
8:02 am
>> very simple, you have a clear establishment candidate in mitt romney. look where his money comes from, look at his background, look what he did no massachusettss. floridians want someone who speaks for them to washington, not someone who speaks to the establishment for them. >> peter, this race is wide open as we continue here, so how is romney preparing to bounce back after this defeat on saturday? >> you know, it's a good question. i just finished a conversation with one of governor romney's campaign advisers a short time ago and it's become clear in the last 24 hours we're going to see him ramp up the rhetoric, specifically attacking newt gingrich, he'll be more confrontational in a conversation with reporters. just a short time ago, romney referred to newt gingrich as highly erratic and compared him to being like a pinball and warned of a potential of a october surprise, saying while he claiming to be an outsider is the ultimate washington insider.
8:03 am
newt gingrich has gone after romney about the tax returns that we'll get the first chance to see tomorrow. romney's camp has gone after gingrich for the time he served as a consultant or they say a lobbyist for the federal housing giant, mortgage giant, freddie mac asking him to give back that $1.7 million he was paid and release the documents that show exactly what he was consulting freddie mac on over the course of the time. the romney campaign has been putting up ads throughout the course of the last month and a half, their supporters spending more than $5 million in this state, the romney campaign itself spending millions more. today one of their surrogates, tim pawlenty saying about mitt romney being the nominee, really? >> peter alexander for us in tampa this morning, thank you. the candidates have eight days, that's it, to navigate a state
8:04 am
they are going to have to spend more money than south carolina. six times larger than new hampshire, five times more hispanics than iowa. msnbc political analyst richard wolffe and joy-ann reid, great to see you both this morning, we have a lot to talk about, especially on the heels of south carolina. republicans there made it clear who's the most conservative, that is, in their estimation, newt gingrich. who's the most electable, again, newt. if mitt romney's back against the wall in the short-term at least, does he come out firing tonight, does he have any other options? >> no, he doesn't, there are two reasons for that. first of all, two questions, you might expect him to lose on the who's more conservative, but the lktibility question is the most damaging one. these character questions that have popped up have been translated through these hesitating responses that suggest he doesn't have the stomach for the fight in the
8:05 am
debate against a likely general election, if he gets that far, with president obama. so it's not just about romney proving he's conservative or not, it's showing he's tough enough to withstand the debate pressure and that's where electability comes into play. >> as we talk about florida, voters are hurting economically, unemployment sitting about 10%. this is another state, like south carolina, where the economy's just a much bigger factor in how people want to vote. can romney speak to those voters and show he can understand their struggle, relate to them, or his surrogates going to be able to help him? >> the issue for romney is the same as in previous contests, he doesn't relate that well to people, necessarily, and florida has a really toxic economic climate, a real estate market that's among the worst in the country, among the highest rates of foreclosure and therein lies the opportunity for romney. newt gingrich's association with freddie mac would be his best
8:06 am
tact, but sitting out there is bain capital and that 27-minute movie the pro-gingrich super pac put out where the first seven minutes are about florida. >> we talk about florida specifically and the weight that governor jeb bush yields in giving an endorsement and not giving an endorsement, what do you think is going to happen, is he going to back somebody or is this a strategy for jeb bush himself? >> bush is smart enough to know the endorsement is not going to carry a whole lot, he's not a sitting governor, but his career is a complexed and varied thing and there may well be an opportunity for him to run for president, be a king maker this time. he wants to position himself for influence, but an endorsement isn't going to swing this one way or another. who knows how this race is going to develop. joy-ann is lot of people think is he holding out because he wants to get in this race himself? >> that's what i think, 2016,
8:07 am
jeb bush is running. >> thank you, i appreciate it. ed schultz joins me now, host of "the ed show" here ma msnbc. you were here this weekend, had your taxes at hand. >> so many people can grab their taxes, but mitt romney can't. >> i have the bin from the container store in the closet that has the taxes in it, you know where they are, obviously, he has people on his staff that has to deal with the thousands of pages he may have, but you know where they are. >> that's true, and he should make the point -- and he's late making this -- he's not an average american. good for him, he's had success in his career. shouldn't be embarrassed about that, shouldn't distance himself from the people on that. his tax return is going to be one americans aren't going to be able to understand, probably going to be very complicated, and we found out something about mitt romney this weekend, he admitted a mistake. give him a pass on that, now let's see them, that's the next phase. i don't think, thomas, that mitt romney has to turn into a
8:08 am
political attack dog to regain the momentum here. i think that if he just comes out, restates the case and is a little bit more aggressive and a little bit more forth right with his financial situation, he'll be in good shape. >> as he watches what has become a major contender in newt gingrich, everybody wants to say maybe the newt-ron bomb, he's going to implode on himself, but he's doing well, is that a double-edged sword for him? >> the more i look at this, i'm not so sure a southern guy didn't get southern voters, and i think that might be the case in florida too. i think they felt a little bit more comfortable with newt gingrich than they did mitt romney. i don't think there's any major policy differences between either one of them, a southern guy got more voters, they know more about newt than they did mitt romney. romney is still the guy to beat in all of this. the momentum, right now for the moment, obviously, is with newt gingrich and i don't think
8:09 am
florida is a major turn around for either one of these candida candidates. i think we're down to a two-man race, no question about that, with two others in it, but i don't think he has to reinvent himself to regain the momentum. >> as we watch this going on, i want to talk about republican leadership going on between john boehner and eric cantor. take a listen to this and we'll talk on the other side. >> we have three different winners, i think it shows the vibrancy of the republican party, and yeah, everybody would rather have it over sooner rather than later, the fact is that those up in republican primaries run the country are going to choose our candidate. not going to be chosen by a handful of people in washington. >> he was responding to a statement made by eric cantor saying he would prefer this process wrapped up quickly. do you think this is a good, i guess, definer of what's taking place, not just in washington, d.c., but the conversation nationally? >> one thing about mr. boehner,
8:10 am
the longer this fight goes between republican candidates, the longer the spotlight is off him, so he becomes less of a story. this congress, under his holding of the gavel is about as low as it's been for decades. i mean, they don't have anything to brag about, they've been obstructers and tomorrow night the president has to mention that to the american people, everything he's put out there to move the economy has been a heavy lift for him and the democrats, they haven't gotten any help at all. look, i think at this point the longer it draws out, it does not hurt the republican brand. i don't believe that. look -- i don't. i don't believe it hurts the republican brand at all, because they are going to want a tough-tested person to go up against president obama. and there was a lot of conversation back in 2008, this fight between hillary and barack is going to hurt the democratic
8:11 am
brand, no it's not. just like the democrats got behind barack obama, at the end of the day they are going to get behind whoever they choose on the republican side because they want barack obama out. >> thank you, sir. you can see more politics right here before tonight's debate, "the ed show" at 8:00 p.m. here on msnbc. then the fireworks tonight in florida. a special edition of "rock center" live from tampa where you're going to see the candidates fat s face off in th 18th debate. breaking news this morning from the supreme court involving how far police officers can go when it comes to electronic tracking. nbc news justice correspondent pete williams joins us to fill us in. pete, what's the update about today's ruling. >> reporter: an important ruling about privacy and the digital age. the supreme court said unanimously the police must have a search warrant if they want to secretly place a gps tracking device on a suspect's car and the reason that five justices
8:12 am
said you have to have a search warrant is because it's a trespass, your car is one of your things listed in the constitution, persons, homes, effects, and papers, your car is a possession, police cannot go trespassing it to stick a gps device on a car. the court said we don't have to go any further than that or look at the questions that may arise when the police track someone electronically without actually trespassing on their personal possessions, like using a cell phone, for example. the court said that's a question for a later case, so taking a baby step here, thomas, in the question of digital privacy. >> nbc pete williams in washington, d.c. appreciate it. how gabby giffords is spending her final days as a member of congress and a race to replace her. also, get ready for a super rematch. the new york giants, or is it new jersey -- they kick their way into the big game. highlights for you after this. [ male announcer ] drinking a smoothie with no vegetable nutrition?
8:13 am
8:14 am
diarrhea, gas or bloating? get ahead of it! one phillips' colon health probiotic cap a day helps defend against digestive issues with three strains of good bacteria. hit me! [ female announcer ] live the regular life. phillips'. [ female announcer ] live the regular life. today my journey continues across the golden state, where everyone has been unbelievably nice. mornin'. i guess i'm helping them save hundreds on car insurance. it probably also doesn't hurt that i'm a world-famous advertising icon. cheers! i mean, who wouldn't want a piece of that? geico. ah... fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent oh dear... or more on car insurance.
8:16 am
welcome back, everybody, breaking news, an update for you, over the last half an hour, questions about whether senator rand paul was detained by the tsa today. his aids say he was, the tsa saying he wasn't. kelly o'donnell joins me live from washington to sort this out, kelly, what's the latest? >> when you use the word detained, law enforcement has a specific definition for that, and apparently that's why u.s. officials are disputing it, they say he was not detained, taken into custody by the tsa, but there is no dispute he was not permitted to get on his flight. the kentucky senator was going through airport security today, there was the full-body scanner machine, it was set off, apparently an area on his right
8:17 am
leg showed an anomaly, he lifted his pant leg, said he had no metal, nothing should have set it off. he called it a glitch and asked to go back through the machine and they did not allow him to do that. they instead said he needed to have a targeted full-body patdown. rand has been a vocal critic and has challenged the tsa administrator about those steps going too far, in his view. and so he refused to do that and was apparently not permitted on his flight, was taken away by local police, so that may be part of the distinction, and not able to board his flight. i'm told he's still at the airport now and not in anyone's custody. thomas? >> we'll see if he gets a redo, kelly o'donnell, kelly, thank you. we can go in two directions, one is towards less opportunity and less fairness, or we can fight for where i think we need to go. building an economy that works
8:18 am
for everyone, not just a wealthy few. on tuesday night, i'm going to talk about how we'll get there. >> traditionally, presidents outline an agenda for the year ahead in their state of the union address, in a campaign year, it becomes the ultimate argument for keeping their job and president obama is expected to make the economy a central theme of his pitch. republicans in congress putting out this week what they are calling a state of the union trailer, criticizing the president's economic record. ♪ you can get complete coverage of tomorrow's state of the union here on msnbc, the place for politics. you know, she may be resigning tomorrow, but today congresswoman gabby giffords is taking care of unfinished business. the arizona lawmaker is gathering with fellow shooting survivors to complete her "congress at the corner" event in tucson. but it was this online video that shocked supporters yesterday.
8:19 am
take a look. >> i will step down this week. i'm getting better. every day, my spirit is high. i will return. >> congressman, arizona's seventh district congressman joins me now. sir, good to have you on with us today, no matter what goes on politically in this country, gabrielle giffords had the hearts and prayers of an entire nation behind her. when we watch that video, you can't help but be moved by what gabby is doing in tucson today. what's your reaction to that and how do you feel about her decision to leave? >> what she's doing today in tucson is unbelievable, courageous, and to many of us that know her and to her constituents and the people of arizona and i think this nation, inspirational, and that's the
8:20 am
courage she's shown through this whole, whole tragedy, and to see her today closing that chapter is very moving. >> i think for a lot of people there was a big highlight in august, this capacity of the congresswoman to unite people when she appeared on capitol hill, it got an emotional reaction on both sides, obviously, on the aisle, but what do her absences mean going forward and what does it mean for that empty seat in arizona? >> you know, the decision that gabby made is to fully recover and it is a good decision for her family and the people that love her, it is the right decision. and her presence in congress has been continual. she has affected many things, and will continue to affect opinion and will continue to serve as a beacon about how politics should be and how they shouldn't be. and for that, that is a lasting
8:21 am
legacy. i don't consider this an end of a career for gabby. she's going to recover. i consider it a pause, and after this pause, when she reenters public life, as i think and i believe she will, she won't miss a beat and that's the kind of courage she's shown through this whole miraculous recovery and every expectation is she'll be back with us. >> it's miraculous to see where we've been and watching her recovery, a lot of people, obviously, disappointed so see her leave, but it's realistic to hear her want to concentrate more widely, more focussed on a recovery, isn't it, sir? >> absolutely, the mission has to be a full recovery. the progress she's made is miraculous and to finish this recovery, reach that point of full recovery, have all that strength and capacities back. when she reenters this public life of ours, she'll be even
8:22 am
stronger. >> do we know, her husband, mark kelly isn't interested in running for her seat. are there any other names out there? >> there are plenty of names that are being talked about in southern arizona that would be -- would seek to replace gabby for the remainder of her term, one year, and stand for reelection in november, but at some point i think gabby supporters, the people around her, her team, even herself, are going to support someone. and once that person is identified and it hasn't been done at this point, that person will automatically become the frontrunner in that race. i think it's a race that democrats are going to retain that seat. i think the good with gabby has established will carry that candidate as well. >> sir, thanks for joining me this morning, i appreciate it. president obama may have wowed the crowd at the apollo
8:23 am
8:24 am
8:26 am
we're here to honor joe, and we brought our granddaughter up. >> he's just been a fan for a very, very long time. >> this has been a roller coaster, you know, from november until now, and i just think penn state has lost a really huge piece of what it is today. >> the legacy of joe paterno, fans remembering the legendary coach who died at the age of 85 over the weekend after a short bout with lung cancer. but he leaves at the end of his life with a lot of questions about the sexual abuse scandal
8:27 am
with assistant coach jerry sandusky. nbc contributor allen adelson joins me now, so many questions about what's going to happen now, but in the wake of his death, what impact is this going to have on the criminal case moving forward? >> well, as far as the criminal case goes, probably very little, i mean joe's testimony has been given and the death itself will play out, you know, almost with no affect, whatsoever. this is really just an issue for the fans and the friends and everybody who knew joe paterno and, obviously, there's a great deal of emotion as far as the legalities go, you know, almost -- the impact is negligible really. >> when we talk about the fact his football career, his devotion to this team, state college, pennsylvania, the winningest coach in history. it's all wonderful when you think about when we didn't know what we know now.
8:28 am
how does this impact the legacy joe paterno leaves behind and with so much unsolved about what happened under his watch? >> that's where the impact is considerable. you know, when you say that joe paterno had what he called a grand experiment. he wanted to have -- to run a program where kids would win games and at the same time go to school and he called it success with honor, and to say that the impact that joe paterno had on penn state university can hardly be overstated. he took a program that was almost nothing and built it into a grand something, and he ran a program that turned the football program into a huge national power, and dozens and hundreds and thousands of people, thousands of people, were touched by joe paterno. and if all of this had stopped in october of 2011, we'd be
8:29 am
praising him to the skies. frt >> right. >> but it didn't happen that way, and now, in fact, his legacy is, pick your words, scarred, tainted, whatever the word is because of the child sex abuse scandal, and, in fact, that's how we're going to remember him. the first paragraph, sentence of his obituary mention the child sex abuse scandal. >> we plan to know the plans for the funeral later today. thank you, sir, appreciate your time. the race for the republican nomination is wide open, wide open right now, with three different winners after three different contests. ahead, how the romney camp plans to battle back to first place. and two people are dead, more than 100 injured as storms rip through the south and midwest. we bring you a live report of that damage coming up. ght. that's why there's new glucerna hunger smart shakes. they have carb steady, with carbs that digest slowly to help minimize blood sugar spikes. [ male announcer ] new glucerna hunger smart.
8:30 am
a smart way to help manage hunger and diabetes. [ male announcer ] new glucerna hunger smart. what's he looking for? i think he's looking for savings. ♪ i can't watch this anymore. stop! there's an easier way! we compare your progressive direct rate to other top companies so you get a great price. no more running around. ha ha ha! wouldn't you love to see the world through his eyes? i bet i look like the strongest man in the world. the best place to find a great deal. now, that's progressive. call or click today.
8:32 am
and it's surprising what it goes through in the course of a day. but what's even more surprising is that brushing alone isn't enough to keep it clean. fortunately, you've got listerine. unlike brushing which misses 75% of your mouth, listerine cleans virtually your entire mouth. so what are you waiting for? it's time to take your mouth to a whole new level of health. listerine... power to your mouth. welcome back, everybody, four remaining candidates participate in the nbc news debate in tampa.
8:33 am
the stakes couldn't be higher. romney's campaign already spent millions in negative adds, more than 200,000 have already decided through early voting and absentee ballots. tomorrow he plans to pre-buttal the speech of the president, the state of the union address. this morning he released a hard-hitting new ad taking aim at newt gingrich's history with freddie mac, take a look. >> florida families lost everything in the housing crisis. newt gingrich cashed in. gingrich was paid over $1.6 million by the scandal-ridden agency that helped create the crisis. a historian, really, sanctioned for ethics violations, gingrich resigned from congress in disgrace and cashed in as a d.c. insider. if newt wins, this guy would be very happy. >> i'm mitt romney and i approve this message. >> joining me live from tampa, nbc's romney campaign, garrett,
8:34 am
strong ad people in florida are seeing, can we expect more of that mitt romney tonight on the debate stage? >> yeah, thomas, they are going to back that ad with $2.3 million to see it all across the state. in terms of the debate tonight, a senior adviser told nbc news last night you can see this rock-em, sock-em romney. they are going to really take it to newt gingrich. they are going to go with the housing market with fannie and freddie, they think they have more room to maneuver on calling for more transparency from newt gingrich. they are going to be more aggressive. we saw a little bit of it today at the press conference. romney called the former speaker erratic, said he bounced around like a pinball in a pinball machine during his time as speaker. >> garrett, thanks, sir, i appreciate it. the republican primary is
8:35 am
all about the sunshine state right now, there are battles ahead. primaries in michigan, arizona are on the february calendar along with a host of caucuses where ron paul and rick santorum look to add delegates. could a delegate spread lead to a brokered convention? david goodfriend, doug hie is a republican strategist and former communications director for the rnc. gentlemen, good to have you with me, i want to start with you, we haven't seen anything like this since 1976, how real is this starting to feel and how important is florida when we talk about this possibility, the brokered convention? >> well, florida's obviously very important state for whoever may win it, but for a brokered convention, i think we've only had about 1% of potential primary voters actually vote so far, so it's a bit like suggesting if the washington redskins win game one they might go on to be undefeated.
8:36 am
we know the washington redskins are never going to go undefeated. >> even now at this point where we've seen three different contests and three different winners and we've never seen anything like this before, you're willing to go that far? >> very unlikely. one key advantage mitt romney has that very few people have talked about is ballot access, ballot advantage. if he's on a ballot and newt gingrich and rick santorum are not, they are not going to win that state and mitt romney is going to win that state, a state like virginia, he'll win by default and his own work and organization. >> a lot of people are talking about the fact this is good for the republican party, saying this prolonged fight is good, makes the nominee battle tested across what's going to come their way when they have to run against president obama but is that true in all cases? >> i think it's true as far as it goes, but it misses a larger point, which is the republican party is not very satisfied with any of its choices.
8:37 am
these candidates keep winning pluralties, not majorities and polling shows weakness in every single one of these candidates. currently in head to head matches in polls they are all losing to president obama, so what we have is a nervous republican party. another discussion, do we need another candidate. if you look at the leading republicans in this country, whether it's jeb bush or mitch daniels or governor chrisie in new jersey, they don't really see this time around being their time and i think the republican party in general, as much as they'd like to get rid of president obama, is seeing something wrong here. >> what happens if newt gingrich can do what he did in south carolina and takes florida? >> his momentum would continue to grow and he'd be able to do better in the upcoming states, nevada having a caucus on february 4th, i believe, is a
8:38 am
good example of where he could do that. again, ballot access is important and one thing that is good about this for republicans, which we saw four years ago with the clinton/obama contest, every one of these states as kcaucuse go on, that's a critical importance. >> we continue to watch. david, doug, thank you, i appreciate it. here's a look at other stories that are topping the news right now. we want to start down south where rescuers are alabama are going door-to-door looking for victims of a storm. emergency officials say two people are dead near birmingham and near 100 people have been injured. several people reported seeing funnel clouds and weather channel meteorologist todd santos joins me with more on this, todd? >> hey, there, thomas, the set-up this morning, a scary one, especially storms that start in the overnight hours while people are asleep. it's a quick hustle to get to
8:39 am
shelter. one tornado, at least not confirmed at this point, but that preliminary damage appears that way, a number of sightings of a funnel cloud itself. we have a tornado watch in effect, that watch itself goes until 4:00 eastern time. that means conditions will still be there for potential tornadic cells, we are still seeing a few potential cells reaching severe levels. one at the edge of lee county is in through eastern portions of alabama. that has a potential of producing winds up to about 60 miles per hour. that's one area to keep a close eye on, the rest of the afternoon, keep in mind the panhandle of florida, southwest georgia could still see severe storms, if not the tornadic cell potential, still the hail and damaging wind potential. >> thanks so much. i appreciate it. new confusion to talk about in the costa concordia effort, italian authorities are not sure
8:40 am
how many victims remain missing because unregistered passengers have been or may have been on board. meanwhile, searchers found two more bodies today. crews may begin to remove the ship's fuel starting tomorrow. actor tracy morgan was rushed to a hospital after collapsing at a ceremony. he collapsed after giving a speech. morgan's representative said the cause was a combination of exhaustion and altitude. so it is official, this year's super bowl is geared up to be a super rematch. the new york giants will face the new england patriots in indianapolis on february the 5th. yesterday big blue pulled out a narrow win over the san francisco 49ers and the patriots beat the baltimore ravens. back in the 2007 year, the giants beat the undefeated patriots 38-35 in a really nail-biting super bowl battle. we'll see how it goes this time around. president obama is seeking some big stars as he ramps up
8:41 am
for reelection. according to "rolling stone," team obama wants rapper jay-z to make appearances on the trail. the president is openly courting the hollywood vote, but these days, some celebs, especially african-americans aren't so sure he deserves their support. allison samuels wrote about this and joins me to talk more about it. great to have you with me, we've seen the clip of president obama singing al greene at the apollo theater. it was charming, to some people really surprising. makes for a great viral moment, but is that enough to warrant the full support of black voters this time around? >> i think there's -- they are facing -- he's facing a conundrum in the sense of african-americans deciding whether their expectations of him were fair versus, you know, has he actually delivered on many of the things he promised. i think that's where a lot of african-americans in general are, not just celebrities, but i
8:42 am
do think once they think about it, they see the alternative is not necessarily a great one, so right now they are trying to figure out what do i do in terms of funding, in terms of donations. i think that's where a lot of african-americans are right now. >> when we talk, though, about the hollywood contingent, in your article it suggests there is disappointment, spike lee held a fundraiser for president obama on thursday, but has criticized the president during his time in office. samuel l. jackson had a memorable quote that we can only print a portion of saying "some days i agree with dr. cornell west and what he says about the president not dealing enough with the plight of the poor." is this the widespread ambivalence you're referring to when it comes to what has he done and pointing out what is the alternative, what are the options if we don't vote for president obama? >> that's exactly the puzzle many people have. they are not necessarily happy
8:43 am
about some of the things or accomplishments he's achieved, but also trying to figure out again look at what he was facing and look at what he had to come into and what he had to deal with, so i think even with sam, he made the comment about he certain times agrees with cornell west, but he also agrees he doesn't get credit for most of the things he does, so i think it is that delegate balance of are we looking at him as a whole and deciding what we're going to do based on everything that he's done and do we actually understand everything he's done and the accomplishments he's achieved. >> allison samuels, great to have you with us this morning, it's been a pleasure, thanks. read more of allison's work in the latest edition of "newsweek." check it out. governor chris christie predicts the winner and is getting ready to plan the celebration, have you heard it? plus, a close look at mitt romney's other half, ann. s, my friend.
8:44 am
♪ is it fast? it's got a lightning bolt on it, doesn't it? ♪ is it fast? i don't even know if it's street-legal. ♪ is it safe? one of nine volkswagen models named a 2012 iihs top safety pick. ♪ got you in a stranglehold, baby ♪ ♪ 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™.
8:47 am
when she was almost 16, i went to a party at a friend's house, and she was there. i noticed her in a big way, and she'd come with someone else, and i said to him, i said look, i live closer to ann than you do, can i give her a ride home for you? >> mitt romney talking about the moment that he first noticed his wife, ann. we continue our real wives of the campaign trail today with a closer look at the former first lady of massachusetts of the joining me this morning, political reporter for "the washington post." nia, good to have you back with us as we discuss ann romney, who a lot of people are watching as she continues to crisscross the country and the south with mitt romney. as we know from mitt romney, their camp planning to release the 2010 tax return this week, but here's something ann romney said during a rally in florida last night. take a listen. >> i understand mitt's going to release his tax forms this week, and i want to remind you where
8:48 am
we know our riches are. our riches are with our families. >> all right, so bringing up the family, they are parents of five, they have 16 grandkids, something like that. will ann romney's words be enough to take the attention off the wealth, the money, and put it back on the man himself, the family man, the stable guy? >> i think that's certainly what they are attempting to do, but let's face it, as much as she says the riches are with the family, that's certainly true, the riches for the romney family are also in the bank and that's what's going to be revealed in these tax forms. people know he's extraordinarily wealthy. ann romney gets out there, she tells jokes about the family, about raising those five boys, about mitt romney as a dad, and certainly helps. she's got that experience of being out there as a first lady, as a high-profile candidate's wife because of her experience in massachusetts. she's been effective.
8:49 am
>> for most women out there, thinking about five boys in a ten-year span makes people's toes curl. but a central criticism mitt romney doesn't relate to the average american, although during saturday's primary in south carolina, the romney camp tweeted this picture, the couple doing laundry at their hotel. is this a real moment or a planned campaign event? >> well, it's both. let's face it, it's a real moment, it's a real planned campaign photo op. he's done this before where he's taken a coach on southwest and he'd take a picture of himself sitting in the coach seats there as a regular guy. i think one of the problems this does, though, in some ways it looks contrived and highlights the fact this is an incredibly wealthy man worth a quarter of a billion dollars doing his own laundry. it looks like he's playing politics in this moment in trying to come across as a
8:50 am
regular guy and in some ways trying too hard. >> in some ways we prefer the valet picking up the laundry? >> right, that obviously wouldn't work either, but in some ways it highlights the fact he's healthy. i think rich people probably get someone else to do their own laundry. >> i do my own, good do their o >> you'll not see heidi klum and her husband growing old, they say it a friendly separation. they renewed their vows that they were married, back after this. . he wasn't focused on his future. but fortunately, somebody else was. at usaa we provide retirement planning for our military, veterans and their families.
8:51 am
now more than ever, it's important to get financial advice from people who share your military values. for our free usaa retirement guide, call 877-242-usaa. ♪ [ gong ] strawberry banana! [ male announcer ] for a smoothie with real fruit plus veggie nutrition new v8 v-fusion smoothie. could've had a v8. what is this shorty? uh, tissues sir, i'm sick. you don't cough, you don't show defeat. give me your war face! raaah! [ male announcer ] halls. a pep talk in every drop. -three. -one. two. three. one. -two. -three. -one. -two. -three. [ male announcer ] with the bankamericard cash rewards credit card, earn 1% cash back everywhere, every time. 2% back on groceries. and 3% back on gas. automatically. no hoops to jump through.
8:52 am
8:56 am
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. millions of men, forty-five or older, may have low t. so talk to your doctor about low t. hey, michael!
8:57 am
8:59 am
215 Views
IN COLLECTIONS
MSNBC West Television Archive Television Archive News Search Service The Chin Grimes TV News ArchiveUploaded by TV Archive on