be in the situation we're in. so if anything, our recent success is a testament to some of the preparatory acts that you suggest. i'm not an organized guy. it means we learned this behavior and did it. thank you for your time. >> thank you. >> that will do it for us today. we are back here in washington, d.c., tomorrow for another day of 30 million jobs. "hardball" starts right now. honeymoon in vegas. let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. leading off tonight, the rich and the richer. the day after mitt romney says he's not concerned about the very poor, he won the endorsement of the flauntingly rich, donald trump. whose catch phrase "you're fired" is something mitt romney says he likes doing. this isn't a good day for

romney. what happened in vegas won't stay in vegas. wrast wrong with this guy? that's the headline today. the national review crushed him today. all after his comment he's not concerned about the very poor. it was a universal offender, it has conservatives worried and progressives hopeful mitt romney isn't a very good, dare we say, politician. a huge dispute between two organization for women's health. what's behind the decision for komen to not fund anymore planned parenthood. and the u.s. could cut out operations in afghanistan by next year. but exactly how long would mitt like us to stay in afghanistan? until the taliban just goes away? and let me finish with a great day in politics. you can see the differences

between mitt romney and president obama more clearly than ever. we start with donald trump's endorsement late today by mitt romney. dana milbank and steve carnaky join us. here's trump throwing his support behind romney late today. >> it's my honor, real honor and privilege to endorse mitt romney. mitt is tough. he's smart. he's sha sharp. he's not going to allow bad things to continue to happen to this country that we all love. so governor romney, go out and get um. you can do it. >> you know, it's like announcing the miss world winner. it was pure trump in the golden tower of vegas. he looked great as usual. he made his appearance. as if he had just been endorsed by boss daily in the old days of chicago. he treated it like it was an

actual event and not a faux event. >> this is what romney needed is getting another rich guy behind him. that's what he needs to solidify in this race. >> this guy flaunts his wealth. what made this guy, romney, think he benefitted from this show today? >> you know, there was this time during the primary -- >> they should have put a tiara on him. >> i bet he would have done it. if romney wants to liven up, he might have his campaign spokesman. there was a time everybody wanted the trump endorsement when there was a real republican race going on. at this point heading into a general election, not so much. >> steve, i want to introduce a claim we can go back to reality. 62% of those polled said an endorsement from donald trump would make no difference in how they ended up voting. 31% said a trump endorsement

would make them less likely for the person trump endorsed. who are the one in 16 people that say they would more likely switch to romney after trump said he's my guy? >> i think there's sort of the heart of the tea party base. if there was a general election move, they would have pulled the moment where he would refuse the trump endorsement. it would reassure swing voters. but this is a campaign that struggled. the entire story of the republican race is mitt romney struggled to relate to and win over the tea party base of the republican party. his campaign learned if they hadn't already learned in south carolina with newt gingrich that, you know, that danger is going to exist of a tea party

insurrection until he clears that magic delegate total. they think they have him now. they probably have him now. but donald trump has credibility with the sarah palin, herman cain, rush limbaugh wing of the republican party. >> i respect your analysis. let's go further. let's put together some facts. mitt romney, if you believe in him, has one strength. he's a data miner. he digs deep for facts and puts the facts together. let's put all this data together and figure it out without too much prethought or prejudice. one of the things he might have dug for is he is a birther. he's taking the crown from a guy who is a full-fledged birther. isn't anybody keeping track of this stuff, steve? that's the guy who gave him the magic wand.

he said he's my guy. a guy who believes the president of the united states is not a citizen of the united states. wasn't born here. the guy says nobody knew him in school or college or growing up. he has a crazy mystery thing he does around the president. that full moon talking is what endorsed the guy who is the front runner. >> absolutely. that's why i take this move as the ultimate commentary as how weak mitt romney has been as a front runner. a front runner who is more secure in winning the nomination would probably take this opportunity to make the exact point you made. i want to have the support of as many people as possible, but there are some things i'm not willing to do. the sister soldier thing. when bill clinton pitched his message by turning off jesse jackson. that's what a secure nominee would do, but mitt romney is not that. >> romney takes credit for the fact, rightly or wrongly, always

having the said marital mate for many years. for always being in the same religion, although people should be free to change religions. conversion is fine with most americ americans. taking an endorsement from donald trump. here's trump. put it all together here. a birther with his history endorsing this guy. here's trump, by the way, whacking romney. these guys are not soul brothers. let's take a look at last year. >> mitt romney is a basically small business guy. if you really think about it, he was a hedge fund. he was a fund guy. he walked away with some money from a good company that he didn't create. he worked there. he didn't create. >> didn't create? >> he would buy companies and close companies and get rid of jobs. i built a great company. >> you know, trump i give him credit. but he's stomping on the notion

that mitt romney is worth anything. >> right. because it's only a few hundred million dollars. >> but trying to minimize him. he's putting the crown on his head today. why? >> why did trump do it? trump wants to look like he's the king maker. romney is clearly out there. he gets out to do it. the question is why romney would accept it? it does suggest he's more worried about gingrich than a lot of us think he is. he still feels he needs to do this. >> but why does trump want this? they used to say things started to come down on new year's eve. jack was like that. at that split moment, he knew it was the new year and would say i'm with you. does he now signal the fact that people like trump are putting their money on the fact that he's the nominee? >> trump wants to look like the

king maker. people talk about romney as a flip-flopper. you think about trump ran for president as a pro-choice candidate. >> good news for the republicans here. steve, is it good news for republicans that trump now probably can't run third party having endorsed somebody else for president? i'm only talking in the crazy world where anything can happen. >> here's the good news for republicans if mitt romney is the nominee. by not angering donald trump too much, mitt romney probably guarantees trump will not use his media flat form to trash mitt romney. he will focus on president obama, probably. >> this is the most beautiful day in american politics. one is having his honeymoon in vegas with donald trump. and here's president obama talking about the poor at the prayer breakfast today. this is how he chose to spend his day. he gave reasoning for standing for foreign aid one of the

reasons helping the poor. let's listen. >> it's also about the biblical call to care for the least of these, for the poor, for those at the margins of our society. to answer the responsibility we're given in proverbs to speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. >> so the moral majority is going with the guy in vegas? here's president obama speak about the great billy graham. let's listen. >> one of the great honors of my life which was visiting reverend graham in north carolina when i was on vacation with my family. this man who had prayed great prayers that inspired a nation. this man who seemed larger than life greeted me and was as kind

and as gentle as could be. when he finished praying, i felt the urge to pray for him. i didn't really know what to say, what do you pray for when it comes to the man who has prayed for so many? >> that was my reaction to billy graham. it is profound. here he is talking about it. >> almost as if he anticipated what circus was going to happen in vegas in the afternoon. >> one is playing political blackjack in vegas at the craps room and he's at the prayer breakfast talking about billy graham. >> there is politics at the breakfast. but it was a free bee to talk about the least of these the day after mitt romney says i don't care about the poor. >> the last national bet that, steve, that donald trump made was when he bet on black or red

that president obama couldn't come up with his birth certificate. he did come up with it and donald trump still stands. it's a statement about his hue brus. thank you, both. a clear day like this. coming up, the optics of the trump endorsement aren't good for romney. it comes a day after romney said he's not concerned about the little people. that has some republicans even wondering if this guy has good enough chops to be the nominee. do people want to be in the company of a guy who talks like this? you're watching "hardball" on msnbc. [ male announcer ] to the 5:00 a.m. scholar. the two trains and a bus rider. the "i'll sleep when it's done" academic.

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welcome back to "hardball." the criticism of mitt romney for his incredible gaffe about poor people continued today. conservative media figures have piled on the front runner for the statement he made in a cnn interview yesterday morning. let's watch them go at him. >> i'm in this race because i care about americans. i'm not concerned about the very poor. we have a safety net there. if it needs repaired, i'll fix it. i'm not concerned about the very rich. they are fine. i'm concerned about the heart of america. the 95% who are struggling. we'll hear from the democrat party the polite of the poor. there's no question, it's not good being poor.

we have a safety net for those. but my campaign is focused on middle-income americans. >> wow. there's so many fragments of craziness. but many conservatives blasted romney for the comment. it seems to fit a pattern with romney who ran into troubles with his off the cuff comments. he's now the clear front runner in the race. the question is will his weakness continue to haunt him if the spotlight is on those words? howard fineman is a political analyst and susan paige is the b bureau chief. the whole question is why would the right care about a guy talking the way he talks. >> two things. they don't like the idea he says there's a safety net. they have some questions about different programs they would like to do that might help the poor. but the other thing is are they about to nominate a guy who is so prone to gaffes. gaffes that reenforce the

biggest vulnerability he has. he's a rich guy who doesn't relate and understand the lives that most americans lead. >> in blade runner when they try to find out if you're a real person or not. they start asking questions. how did you feel? that kind of stuff. it's like we're all blade runners now. >> it's going to spontaneously come bust at some point. >> he says things like it's not like he doesn't care about the little people. we have medicaid and those programs. they do exist. nobody is happy. they are certainly not hardly hammocks for people. they don't make their lives happy. when you say things like they are going to be there forever, that's not a good statement for a conservative to make. >> talking to people in the romney campaign. they try to make the point that lots of people, millions of people have fallen into poverty

in the last few years. even though the president spoke about the least of these, he also has focused his rhetoric on the middle class. but he doesn't do the things that mitt romney did yesterday. to say don't worry about the poor. they are over here in the corner. he doesn't say i'm for americans. what mitt romney said, if you parse that further, he said i'm for americans. as though the poor really weren't americans. >> the heart of america. >> the heart of america. >> that doesn't include the poor people who are the ones who deserve a little heart. >> a lot of conservatives over the last generation have said, we have conservative answers for the problems of the poor. starting with jack kemp and others who said it's not that we don't care about the poor. we don't think that the big federal bureaucracy does. >> they fear he's a anyone come pop. he's going to keep doing this.

he'll keep talking like this. >> he does some things politically very well. he has run a disciplined campaign. he's had a smart campaign. but he clearly has a lot of problems in kind of the guts of politicking. which is meeting people, talking to them, making them feel like he hears them. he has to tune it up a bit. >> i don't know why you're so kind today. newt gingrich tried to score political points. let's watch newt when he said when he said. >> i really believe that we should care about the very poor, unlike governor romney. but i believe we should care differently than barack obama. both governor romney and barack obama seem to believe that a safety net is all the poor need. >> you know, that's smart. once again, i jump to newt's defense. but you do it. he made a great point.

jack kemp would say, don't skip the poor. get them out of poverty. don't throw life vests to them. pull a rope. >> that's what the generation of conservatives was claiming they were trying to do. whether they succeeded at all with reagan and bush is a question, but they did try. but these things are related. the tin ear and lack of id ideology is related. he has no pref reel vision. he says let's let the housing market bottom out. >> so we can rent to people and corporations. >> corporations are people, my friend. >> i like to fire people. by the way, today he was with the chief firer. you seem to be sympathetic to his situation, which is what you have to be is trying to figure out what their situation is. do people who are smart and

write novels, are they going to to get the look from them like the mother who goes to the kid, you just did it again. i got the call from the teacher. do they have to tell him when he blows it? >> i think he knows he was wrongfully put. there are some people who dish think chris christie has become a blunt advisor behind the scenes. he speaks in the way chris christie does to all of us, which is pretty unmistakable. the other thing you were showing the clip with newt gingrich. newt gingrich had a great image right after the clip you showed. i don't want a safety net. i want a trampoline for the poor. one that would put democrats on the spot. >> it would say a lot of the old neighborhoods have been poor for a long time. you have been representatives of those districts. you haven't improved a lot of those neighborhoods. >> chris christie notwithstanding most of the people are telling him it's the media, watch out. in other words, one of them told

me yesterday, he said this before. why are you guys making a big deal of it now? >> let's take a look at the strong reaction on the right in the conservative media. in an article, jonah goldberg wrote "the underemphasized dynamic in this race isn't that romney isn't conservative enough. it's that he's not a good enough politician. every time he seems to get into his groove and pull away, he says things that make people think he doesn't know how to play the game.". "the wall street journal" wrote "like twain said of wagner's music, mr. romney is better than it sounds." >> this doesn't surprise me for

a minute. he's pretty far o out. >> here's the thinking among those people. they are thinking, we don't love mitt romney. okay. he's a massachusetts moderate. he's trying to make himself a conservative. but if we're going to take him, let's at least have a good politician. let's have a guy who is good at being a politician. if he's not with him idea logically, what grounds are they going to accept him? laura ingram, i said is he hopeless? she said, no, he's not hopeless, but he's not there yet. >> look at the rap sheet. i'm also unemployed. we could raise taxes on people, corporations are people, my friend. let's look at it on tape. here it is some of his chain of infamy here. >> i should tell my story. i'm also unemployed.

>> we could raise taxes on people. corporations are people, my friend. rick, i'll tell you what. $10,000? $10,000 bet. >> i'm not in the betting business. >> i know what it's like to worry whether i was going to get fired. >> if you don't like what they do, you could fire them. i like being able to fire people who provide services to me. >> i'm not concerned about the very poor. we have a safety net there. the rich are doing just fine. >> a good ad for obama. >> that's terrible string of things. but rick perry is a really good politician. where's he? he's out of the race. other great politicians is out of the field and mitt romney as emerged as the likely nominee. but this is a weakness he needs to deal with. >> the best there is.

this is as good as it gets. thank you susan and howard. the sideshow is up next. [ male announcer ] in blind taste tests, even ragu users chose prego.

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and they have 6 grams of sugars. with 15 grams of protein to help manage hunger... look who's getting smart about her weight. [ male announcer ] new glucerna hunger smart. a smart way to help manage hunger and diabetes. back to "hardball." now to the sideshow. old pals and college bud dis. bill clinton appeared on "morning joe" to discuss his new bo book. he didn't know his friend would be dialing in. want to know what the former president was like? here's bill clinton and his old friend thomas cap lynn talk about about the georgetown days. >> we became friends as an accident of the alphabet. the university said they placed you with students from a diverse

background and from all over the country. we discovered everybody on the corridor went from bastrop to duff fi. >> when i met him, he was sitting in a rocking chair listening to music from "gone with the wind." >> did he like to talk to people back then for long periods of time? >> i think half the people i knew at georgetown i knew because i knew bill clinton. >> that's well said. there's a friendship there that's stood the test of time. but clinton hung up on the phone before the subject turned to presidential politics. hardly. here's what he said about today's candidates and how they seem to like one of his own greatest strengths. he's one that cut them some slack. let's listen. >> you go back to the history of the country to be fair. we have had a number of presidents, some of whom did remarkable things, who cared

about people in general but had a hard time relating to them. programs like this bring it all home to people. it's hard er to pull off. but we have had a lot of presidents that were awkward and with people individually, but cared a great deal about what happened to the country. because of the media today, we need to make sure we're raising people who do that. >> i think he's talking about people like woodrow wilson. next up, party crasher mitt romney had an unwelcomed guest in an event in minnesota. a protester unexpectedly showered him with glitter. it wasn't one of the first times a candidate was glitter bombed. here's how he responded to that protester. >> there's a guy, wave your hand. there he goes. how are you? hi there. how are you? good to see you.

i'm happy for a little celebration. this is confetti. we just won florida. we're just going to win the white house next. i have glitter in my hair. that's not all that's in my hair. i glue it on every morning whether i need to or not. >> i have no idea what that means. the collection of audiocassetwk gets getting better. a big controversy between two groups dedicated to women's health. why has the susan g. komen foundation decided to stop funding planned parenthood?

i'm sue herer a a are your market wrap. the dow slipped today. the s&p up 1. the nasdaq up 11.

applications for first-time jobless benefits fell by 12,000 to 367,000. holding below the 400,000 level for eight of the last ten weeks. and january retail sales were kind of mixed. a rough day though for abercrombie and fitch which says high cotton costs would debt earnings. shares lost 13%. that's it from cnbc. first in business worldwide. now back to chris and "hardball." we are back. the end to an unpopular war seems on to near. the u.s. was looking to transition from a combat role in afghanistan to a training and advisory role by next year. that's a year of when nato agreed to end the mission and

pull out all troops from the country. there's 90,000 troops still fighting that war. the american public is overwhelmingly uneasy with how things are going. what does this mean and how successful have we been? a former marine and steve clemmons is washington editor at large. it's great to have expertise on. i want to have an understanding. the understanding is the significance of this leak, the statement of the secretary of defense. >> it's a big change in policy. we were going to do combat until the end of 2014. we moved it up. it's a big change. it's a good thing. it's the right thing to do. >> what caused him to make the announcement? >> because escalating the war has failed. the surge has not worked. the taliban is larger. karzai is weaker. we have worse relationships with

the pakistans. >> here's my fundamental question about life and death. before we went to afghanistan in 2001 after 9/11, rightly or wrongly, we went in there and overthrew the taliban. before then, the taliban was in charge. how will it be any different than when we leave? without our presence, they ran the show. >> they are going to try to leave some residual force to shape what the choices are for the taliban and other political players. as vice president biden said, we're no longer out to beat the taliban. we're out to shape choices. that means they will try to prevent anyone from being able to overthrow the regime in kabul. you'll have a mix of taliban-run operations. the invisible hand that's behind this, it will be like lebanon.

you have the foreign minister coming out and endorse the peace talks going on. my bet is that this is not just a shift in strategy. this is a posturing statement. >> now they know they won't have big brother there. our guys have served in life and blood for this thing. but here's the question. once we leave and it's clear the clock is ticking, will karzai say i have to deal with these people? >> he has to. this is why the u.s. saying we are leaving is a good thing for negotiations because it makes the conflict go to the next phase. the conflict has been going on for 35 years. >> mitt romney said that's the wrong thing to do. by signaling that we're leaving by a date certain gives the enemy the information. but as you're pointing out, it gives allies the information.

>> when i was there working with the government, they had no interest in reconciling. we were propping up and making them rich too. so this pushes karzai to have to deal with the insurgency. it also takes away that big unify i unifying factor for the insurgency. the taliban is a discredited religious movement that's now an army of national liberation because there's 140,000 foreign troops in afghanistan. you take away those foreign troops and some of that support for the taliban. >> do you buy the taliban is weaker? >> it's not weaker. we're in a silo talking about afghanistan. what i think what is right about what the president is doing is this is the first time of a strategic play as opposed to being stuck in a silo. if you ask the question if we were there longer, america's strategic strength would be sapped even more. iran and china would be convinced we were overextended. >> you're a more conservative president, no, keep the troops

there more. my question would be five more years would do what for us? >> it would fuel the ambitions of iran. make china feel america was militarily overextended and stuck in a trap. what you need to do, and what america is doing, and you have seen it in the repositioning towards asia, is a rebalancing of u.s. forces. getting out of things that are convincing the world we're weak and it may look like we're stepping back a bit. it's not the question of afghanistan making america weak or strong. if you're stuck spending $120 billion a year, that's not a sign of strength. >> we're shifting our resources to the far east? >> yeah. >> so we're confronting what we see as a strategic threat from china? is that going to get us into a deeper problem with chinese who think we are out to limit them? >> we see them already getting back to afghanistan and pakistan.

we made an announcement to have a relationship with india. you see how it influences us. >> you think it's a smart move by the president? >> absolutely. >> i think because iran and other tough neighborhoods need to see u.s. has resources to shape the region. and being stuck in afghanistan, dependent on pakistan, we are dependent on very difficult allies. >> i like when presidents make decision. the military commanders make decision for different reasons. thank you both. up next, let's get to the root of that fight between susan g. komen foundation and planned parenthood. this is "hardball" on msnbc. [ female announcer ] this is not a prescription. this is mary... who has a million things to pick up each month on top of her prescriptions. so she was thrilled that her walgreens pharmacist

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when i grow up, i'm going to go there. i want to fix up old houses. [ female announcer ] at aarp we believe you're never done growing. i want to fall in love again. [ female announcer ] discover what's next in your life. get this free travel bag when you join at aarp.org/jointoday. washington state is set to be the next state to allow same sex marriage. the senate voted 28-21 to legalize marriage between same sex partners. the measure movers to the house where it has majority support. the governor says she will sign it into law when the time comes. it's already legal in six states. connecticut, iowa, massachusetts, new hampshire, new york, and vermont, and washington, d.c. we'll be right back. for fastidin emily skinner,

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that are right for you. so visit nutritionpossible.com. better nutrition... is within reach. centrum. nutrition possible. welcome back to "hardball" 37. a battle brewing against two women's health organizations after the susan g. komen foundation announced they will no longer fund grants for breast exams at planned parenthood. the changes is the result of a new grant criteria that includes no longer funded organizations being investigated. planted parenthood is under investigation by a pro-life congressman. some believe politics is in play here and they were bound under pressure from the right. with me are loretta sanchez and allison schwartz. give us a layout of what just

happened. a lot of people were caught off guard by what seemed to be a good relationship between the susan g. komen foundation and planned parenthood. >> i can tell you many of us are disappointed and outraged that the action that was just taken. but the komen foundation made a decision to no longer give funding that they do and having doing for years to planned parenthood. they fund breast exams to help detect cancer and do wonderful work in terms of breast cancer screenings. they have said because planned parenthood is under investigation in congress, so they are not going to fund planned parenthood to do this important work. nothing has been found. we don't even know what happens with the investigation, but the komen foundation made the decision. a lot of women in this country are outraged about it.

>> it seems like a bogus case. an investigation by congress. congress investigates all the time. they are not investigating for criminal behavior. it's over questions of going over the border of giving abortions. it seems to me using money that this under investigation thing has a dirty sound to it, when in fact it's hardly a reason to cut the funding here. >> planned parenthood has always been strict about how it spends the money that it receives from the federal government. and it is, you know, one of the most sought-after resources by young women because so many women do not have health care. it's sort of their primary doctor in the sense that they will go into a planned parenthood clinic and get their yearly exam. so to cut this off for the komen

foundation to cut these moneys off i think is really sad. what you're talking about is not just finding the cure, which is a great reason to be. there's been a lot of money raised that and a lot matched from the government to help find a cure for breast cancer. but when you do to make sure that you never even get to that spot, make sure that you have annual exams. so these went hand in hand and it seems a shame that out of nowhere, well, most of us think it was because of this new vice president that started over at the foundation, the komen foundation, who is very, of course, anti-planned parenthood and vowed when she ran for the governorship of georgia, of course, she lost, saying that she would shut -- that she would stop all funding, all of these types of grants to planned parenthood if she were in office. >> one thing the men out there aren't aware of this ought to know. maybe you can tell them what i've learned today is that it's an inexpensive way to get a

breast examination. so you want to get a breast exam very early in this game and hopefully you are safe. but 23 yif you have to deal wit. here's an interview with andrea mitchell today, the head of the women foundation. ambassador nancy brinker. here she is talking on the hill about the investigation as being the only factor in their decision to stop funding planned parenthood. >> investigation isn't the only issue. in 2010 we set about creating excellence in our grants, not just in our community grants but in our science grants putting metrics outcomes and measures to them so we can translate all of the science we funded over 30 years. many of the grants we were doing with planned parenthood do not meet new standards of criteria for how we can measure our results and effective innocence communities. >> that seemed like gobbly de gook.

it didn't communicate a thought. >> what we all know and i hope we agree is that making sure that women, young women, women of all ages, have access to the kind of health screenings, the health care that we need and as congressman santos pointed out, many women, thousands of women in our community goes to planned parenthood for regular health screenings. and cancer is a worry for everyone. but certainly breast cancer is a worry for just about every woman in this country. and making sure that they have access to the proper screenings and information and knowing how best to take care of themselves is so important and has been a part of what planned parenthood has done in our communities across this country. so the komen foundation has been funding these breast cancer screenings at planned parenthood. i continued wunderstand it was relationship. and this afternoon they said the reason was because of this investigation which is a scary thought that any member of congress can call for an investigation, start an investigation and that somehow

snowballs because of a false accusation. there are members of congress who were willing to shut down the government over the discussion about planned parenthood and we didn't let that happen, and americans, really millions of americans spoke bup how outrageous it was because they want to see access to women's health care across this country and planned parenthood is a part of that. >> you know, chris -- >> go ahead. only 15 seconds here. go ahead. >> in some cases, the planned parenthood clinic is the only medical clinic available for people who don't have the means, who don't have a doctor. who don't have health insurance in so many areas where places have closed down. it's very important to keep them open and to have those screenings happen because the sooner we detect, the easier it is -- the more life there is left to a person. >> i've been hearing that people are comfortable with women going into the planned parenthood organization, institutions and facilities. it's a very popular organization.

this is a sad story for everybody. thank you congresswoman loretta sanchez and congresswoman allyson schwartz who does a good job representing my old neighborhood of summerton. let me finish with the stark contrast between mitt romney and president obama. what a day -- you could see the whole situation develop today from vegas to across the country. you're watching "hardball" only on msnbc. ♪ it's nice to be here ♪ it's nice to see you in my bed ♪ ♪ ♪ there are diamonds... [ male announcer ] this is your moment. ♪ ♪ and they sparkle in the night ♪ [ male announcer ] this is zales, the diamond store. take an extra 10 percent off storewide now through sunday.

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let me finish tonight with this. was a great day in american politics. in other words, one of those clear days when you can see forever. when the differences between the two parties stands right up there for all to see. did you see donald trump out there with his new prize candidate? did you see mitt romney standing up there like he'd just won the miss world contest. the latest prize figure in the world of donald trump. a world of golden buildings and high-rise casinos where it's hard to find the elevators where all you can see are the endless rows of slot machines, black jack and roulette wheels. we just want to make it to the elevators. why your trying to hook us into the latest games that all favor the house. no, life isn't a casino and most can't afford to do business with trump. and like those very poor that never come through that door, even though some people leave those casinos in that category of very poor. those very poor are not on romney's radar. he says he's not even thinking about them.

they have their safety net, he argues and don't need our attention. they aren't going to be part of the we the people under his presidency. we, those people, are going to be the folks a bit better off, of course. mitt's looking for the upscale crowd to put him into office. that hidden crowd way back behind the scenes who pay for all those millions of dollars of dirtball tv ads he used to stop gingrich in places like des moines and daytona. they are the folks he's going to pay attention to and their need to get a better tax deal. an even better one that has him paying less than 15% in taxes on $20 million a year. they are the folks he likes. president obama, where was he today? well, on mitt and donald's big day in vegas he was having a prayer breakfast talking about our duty to the poor and the wonders of that good man billy graham. that's where the president of all the people was. where we want him to be. not in vegas with trump. not in the caymans making his latest deposit. not hiding from the