criticizing his comments over the weekend that the president's agenda is based on a, quote, phony theology, and he didn't back down when asked to clarify. >> i was talking about the radical environmentists, that's why i was talking about energy, this idea that man is here to serve the earth as opposed to host of resources and be good stewards of the earth. i think that's a phony ideal. i wasn't suggesting the president is not a christian. i accept the fact that the president is a christian. >> ron mott is at his event. how is he dealing with the frontrunner status? >> i think the senator is realizing the more popular he is with voters, more popular he is with the media, and the questions get a bit tougher. he is obviously very popular with voters and voters to be in stub enville. this room is set for 300, standing room only. we are close to 500 people here.

one of the things republicans and conservatives are saying, imploring with the candidates is to get them talking jobs. rick santorum said on the stump jobs are certainly important, but he believes to restore the economy, to rebuild vie tality in the economy, you have to rebuild families. it is unlikely he is going to abandon his message of social conservatism and restoring the family in particular. you look at the sign here, made in america, empower american families, it is clear that's his message. it helped propel him to frontrunner status. a lot of folks are taking a harder look at rick santorum, mitt romney in particular. kris? >> any advantage of the money, mitt romney had cash early on after he won the three on the same day. there was more money rolling in. is it continuing to come in? >> he is doing very well in terms of fund raising as we understand it, but clearly

outmatched by mitt romney. one of the things he had to deal with in the past three or four days, obviously, this theology comment coming in saturday, but just before that, another controversial comment made by his financial backer, foster freeze, the billionaire that went on andrea mitchell's show to talk about aspirin used as contraception in his days, and rick santorum was forced to answer questions about that, wasn't happy to have to do that. over the weekend, the theology comment came out. he didn't back down on what he thought of president obama's agenda overall. >> ron mott, thank you very much. let me bring in karen hunter, contributor, journalist, publisher. ben white, politico economy and money reporter. good morning to you both. >> good morning. >> i want to talk about the phony theology comment. here is what robert gibbs said in reaction to that. >> i can't help but think that those remarks are well over the line. it's wrong, it's destructive, it makes it virtually impossible to solve the problems that we all face together as americans.

>> now, you heard what rick santorum had to say. he says he wasn't talking about the president's religion. who is right here? >> robert gibbs obviously. what's disturbing about rick santorum, even you say he didn't back down, he recast what he had to say, similar to what he said about black people when he said they were just blah people and not black people. he can't get away from this. at the end of the day, what gibbs didn't say, there's code. santorum is speaking to a particular audience, speaking to several different audiences. one audience believes the president is really a muslim, right? he is speaking to a group who believes he might be a black liberation person, following jeremiah wright. then a third group that believe the president might be the anti-christ. while it sounds ridiculous and crazy, there are a large faction within the republican party, within that fringe base who hear this, their itching ears want to believe the stuff he is saying. i think it is dangerous, very destructive, in my opinion, very anti-american, and as a

christian, i am insulted he is using this platform. >> he is, however, not only leading in polls, in individual states, but now you have him, ben, leading in national polls, gaining in daily tracking polls, although a little down now in the latest one, but what's going on here? social issues are working for him. >> they're working for him and they work in a conservative primary electorate. the danger is taking the dial, turning it a notch too far to the crazy. and he has done a little of that. people on the right do not appreciate the president's identity as a christian, they question his identity as christian and he is playing into that. there's also a big strand of the electorate, particularly in a general election, don't want the president bashed that way, who view faith as a personal thing, don't want it talked about in a campaign the way rick santorum is talking about it. i think he is going a little far in bringing social issues to the center when the economy is still the main issue for people. >> and not just social issues in the big picture, these are

social issues in the specific that we have never really talked much about. one example is prenatal testing. here is what he had to say about that. >> one of the things you don't know about obama care, one of the mandates is they require free prenatal testing in every insurance policy in america. why? because it saves money in healthcare. why? because free prenatal testing ends up in more abortions, and therefore less care that has to be done, because we cull the ranks of the disabled in our society. >> you look at the latest polls, rick santorum is beating now mitt romney in almost every category but women. they're running neck and neck with women. >> i'm sorry, my necklace just fell. >> i heard it cling. >> i guess some level of surprise he is only running neck and neck with romney and women?

>> i think when it comes down, the rubber hits the road, we get to this general race, if he is the candidate, woe to the republican party. the kind of stuff he is saying, he is alluding to hitlerian rise, comparing obama in a subtle way, i think he has come out and said it, this kind of talk is dangerous. where are we going as americans right now. we need to focus on getting the country forward, not dealing with abortion and all the things that have been argued 20, 30 years ago, bringing up this draconian mentality, what is this guy doing, it is amazing. >> we know they can run different races in the primary than the general election. but at some point pretty soon if he is going to be taken seriously as a frontrunner, does he have to find a way to segue from social issues to economic issues and not just the message that well, economic decisions have social consequences. >> he does. he needs to make that pivot if he is going to take on the man tell of true front runner. as conservative as some are

about the issues, they want to win. santorum hasn't made that case. i think his only real advantage is if the economy is improving the way it seems to be and significantly, social issues play better than economic issues. right now, he will have to make that transition to a more moderate sounding. it is going to be difficult given what he's said so far. i think he has gone beyond the comfort zone for a conservative, putting himself out there on some social issues that are going to be difficult for him to be the nominee. >> stick around. we talk about rick santorum. we forget there's another guy in the race by the name of mitt romney, that's right, he has been under fire over what had been one of his crown jewels, saving the olympics from bankruptcy. the dnc had an attack ad. the republican rivals are taking aim, too. >> he heroically bailed out the salt lake city olympic games by heroically going to congress and asking for tens of millions to

bail out the salt lake olympic games. >> nbc news national investigate correspondent michael isikoff is looking at his record as head of the 2002 olympics. i saw him over the weekend with the leather jacket and the 2002 logo on it. tell us more about what you're finding out. >> good morning, kris. mitt romney has long been credited with helping save the salt lake city olympics from financial crisis. the last thing he expected was that he would find himself defensive over how he did it. >> is this a great show or what? >> for 2002, salt lake city olympics were a spectacular event, a key test of mitt romney's leadership. >> when it got into trouble, i said this is an opportunity to make a difference. >> he was tapped to rescue the salt lake organizing committee, engulfed in a bribery scandal, losing sponsors, facing a huge

deficit. >> mitt described it like stepping into an empty elevator shaft. >> fraser bull objecting was his executive. he says romney saved the games, recruiting new sponsors, slashing costs, ending lavish board room lunches. >> bought a pizza for $5. cut it into eight slices, charged a dollar a slice. we each had a piece of pizza and made $5. >> he embraced subsidies that cost $1.5 billion. more than twice the amount spent on any previous u.s. olympics. >> the olympic games supposedly hosted and funded by salt lake city which began in corruption and bribery is now turned into an incredible pork barrel project. >> senator mccain cited a gao report showing hundreds of millions of dollars for new highways and roads to ski resorts, light rail and parking lots, unprecedented security, housing, even weather forecasting. >> there was not a federal

bailout for the olympics. it was planned for years before mitt got there. >> in a letter, romney defended federal spending, writing it was entirely appropriate, and these senate records show he pushed for more, spending over $3.5 million for lobbyists to get new earmarks, later counted how much federal money he had gotten. >> i was successful doing that, organizing the olympics, got record funds from the federal government. >> now running for president, romney has a different message. >> look, i am in favor of a ban on earmarks. i think spending in washington is out of control. >> romney campaign officials says the majority of funds for the olympics was for security, noting the games took place months after 9/11. under romney's leadership, the salt lake games turned a projected deficit into a $100 million profit. what's clear, romney's role in the salt lake olympics put him on the world stage, served as a springboard for his political career. now, romney is clearly not

backing away from his olympics role, as you mention, kris, he was in salt lake city this weekend for a grand civics celebration of 10th anniversary of the olympics, and also there was a film crew from his super pac, restore our future, cutting tv ads about his olympics role. fair to say the debate over his handling of the olympics is far from over. >> fascinating. thank you so much, michael. let's talk a little about this. rick santorum has an interesting talking point about this. he says look, we were both against the auto bailout, but then mitt romney was for the bank bailout, and now he is clearly saying he was for what was essentially a bailout of the olympics from a purely strategic stand point, is that a good message from rick santorum? a winning message against romney? >> actually, what it does, it hurts the entire republican race in my opinion. but i say keep it coming. at the end of the day, it is great for president obama because more talking points for him when it goes to the general, no matter who he faces.

>> it is a consistency problem for romney. he makes a principal case for auto bailouts they should have been allowed that to come out on their own. there was no money to get them into bankruptcy and reorganize, just like the olympics, they needed influx of federal cash to then get a turnaround put in place by mitt romney, which he arguably did successfully, but he needed help. just like the auto industry needed federal help. he says he is consistent on this issue but clearly isn't. >> he is also wrong on this, now it is doing well and has no leg to stand on because he wasn't for it. >> arguably better than well. we mention the daily tracking poll. let me show it again. it has santorum with an eight point lead over mitt romney. michigan is a week away now, and obviously we have one debate coming up on wednesday, but here is what newt gingrich had to say about michigan, and the race in general yesterday. >> if any of the three of us

lose our home state, if santorum loses pennsylvania, romney loses michigan or i lose georgia, you have a very badly weakened candidacy for any of the three of us. >> here we are getting closer. mitt romney if he loses michigan, what happens? >> that would be a huge loss for him, family history in michigan. he said himself i'm not going to lose michigan. that's setting expectations to a win. anything short of a win doesn't knock him out, too much money and contest for him to drop out after michigan, but this is a near death moment for him. he has to win michigan. >> i agree. i hate predictions, but -- >> except when you're right. >> which is most of the time. i really feel like this is setting the table for broker convention. i said this a couple of weeks. mitt romney has a lot of problems, santorum can't be the candidate with his views. >> but let's say romney loses michigan. then do you say to voters you're irrelevant because you like santorum, we don't think santorum can beat barack obama, what we're going to do, jeb bush, where are you?

>> exactly. why not. >> he is not going to run in this race. >> he won't run in the race because of the craziness, if it goes to the convention and he is drafted in, doesn't have to deal with the mess. >> anything is possible in this bizarre campaign. i doubt jeb bush will wind up running. there's a mythical gop establishment that says you can't have rick santorum so we're going to find somebody else, it doesn't exist. there's no gop establishment, there's one or two, but if santorum gets in there with delegates, there's no reason he won't be the nominee. >> if it comes to a brokered convention, we heard from sarah palin that she -- >> she's available? possibly? >> don't bet on it. >> if called to serve your country. >> she might serve. >> happy president's day. thank you for coming in. >> you, too. >> in michigan, expect to hear more from donald trump. the real estate will hit the radio air waves for mitt romney,

knocking gop rival rick santorum. the donald made that splash before the nevada primary when he announced support for romney. trump has yet to campaign with romney since the endorsement. by the way, trump's nbc show, celebrity apprentice debuted again last night. the employee of the month isss... the new spark card from capital one. spark miles gives me the most rewards of any small business credit card. the spark card earns double miles... so we really had to up our game. with spark, the boss earns double miles on every purchase, every day. that's setting the bar pretty high. owning my own business has never been more rewarding. coming through! [ male announcer ] introducing spark the small business credit cards from capital one. get more by choosing unlimited double miles or 2% cash back on every purchase, every day. what's in your wallet?

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if this was the election that was supposed to be about the economy, but the focus has been largely on social issues. joining me, grover norquist. good to see you, happy president's day. >> good to be with you. >> do you feel the focus on contraception and other social issues have been taking the focus from taxes and the deficit that were, in fact, such hot issues in 2010? >> well, i think clearly with obama's new budget, with his tax

increase proposals, with unemployment still 1.2 million more people unemployed than the day obama came into office, all of the recent good news on unemployment is largely driven by people that aren't looking for jobs. 1.2 million more unemployed than when obama came in. so the unemployment problem, the stagnant growth, the new business startups, new steve jobs at the lowest rate since '94, i mean, we're not creating new businesses and new opportunities. and the gasoline prices which obama bragged when he ran for office, said he was going to make our energy prices higher so we'd have to change the way we lived, he's certainly done that. all of those things come into focus. right now, it is true. >> let me start with something you said. there's a lot you brought up in that one answer. let's start with you were talking about his tax increase proposal. it was the president and the

democrats that pushed through the payroll tax cut. >> well, actually in december, the republicans in the house voted to extend it for a year, with 100 billion in reduced spending. it was obama who didn't want to reduce spending who balked, and the democrats only extended it two months. this idea the republicans weren't for extending it, they actually passed the bill. in december, it was a democratic senate and democratic president that balked. why? they didn't want to reduce spending, wanted to raise taxes instead. that's the difference between the two parties. >> are you upset the republicans agreed to this because it is not paid for? >> i am certainly in favor of extending for another year the fica tax holiday, and better to do that than not, and the republican position was we'd rather have it paid for with less spending, but obama doesn't want to do that. we have to fight obama and his spending in this next election. that's what the next election is

going to be about. >> let's look at the democratic side and a ranking member of the budget committee was on meet the press yesterday. let me play it for you. >> if you have a strict austerity policy right now, it will send our economy into a downward spiral. we will lose the gains we've made. >> there is a concern that we're just seeing the economy start to show signs of improvement and severe cuts could damage that. what about that? >> that would make more sense if the recovery had not come about after we stopped the additional stimulus. remember, obama threw $800 billion of stimulus spending on the table, all the solyndra corruption money that went out, that ended after two years. in 2011, the president tried to get another $400 billion of solyndra stimulus spending and the republicans said no. as a result, we have seen some modest improvement from a lot of damage in the previous two years, but certainly the

stimulus spending took place and made things worse, not better. when we stopped it, we started to see some improvement. the president's austerity budget has another $300 plus billion in stimulus give aways for political purposes. that's exactly the direction we ought not be going in. >> all right. exact opposite of obviously where the democrats want to be. >> yeah. >> and i think that to be fair, when you look at the overall economic indicators, republicans and democrats are seeing signs of improvement, so i mean, i think you could go through the whole laundry list of ways the economy is getting better. but you were quoted at cpap. let me not quote you, let me play a clip of your speech that's getting a lot of attention. i'll ask you about it on the other side. >> sure. >> we are not auditioning for fearless leader. we don't need a president to tell us what direction to go. we know what direction we want to go. we want paul ryan budget that cuts spending $6 trillion. we need a president to sign this

stuff. [ applause ] we don't need someone to think it up or design it. we have a house and senate, the leadership now for the modern conservative movement the next 20 years will be coming out of the house and senate. >> does that mean whether mitt romney or rick santorum in the white house, they will be passive leaders, let congress set the agenda? isn't it the president's job to lead? >> well, the rest of the speech before that, i was talking about how obama has only been allowed to make two significant decisions during his presidency. he tripled the number of troops in afghanistan, democrats in congress did not insist on that, and he involved the united states in the war in libya, which the democrats in congress didn't. but the stimulus spending, written by the democrats in congress. the trillion dollar increase in domestic discretionary spending, written by the democrats in congress. he just signs this stuff. the dodd-frank bill wasn't the geithner bill, wasn't the obama treasury bill, it was

dodd-frank. the democrat and senate who contributed most to creating the problem wrote a bill that's supposed to fix it. the president signs it. the democrats for 30 years have had leadership come from the house and senate, and then the democratic president gets to sign the legislation that they put forward. so the idea that people should be president centric has been a republican idea the last 30 years, but the model is the modern democratic party where ideas and projects come out of the house and senate and the presidents get to sign the bills. that's been obama's leadership over the last three years. not something else. >> and whether mitt romney or rick santorum that becomes president, basically it is going to be a congress driven agenda? >> yeah. i mean, you look at the republicans have the house, because of redistricting, who is running, likely to keep it, likely to take the senate as well in 2012. they only need four seats, there are 23 democrats up for re-election, more than half of whom are very vulnerable.

you're looking at a republican house and senate. the question now is whether you have a democratic president vetoing legislation or republican president signing it. the republicans in the house actually passed a budget. the ryan budget. unlike obama's tax increase, spending increase budget doesn't raise taxes and reduces 6 trillion of obama's overspending. the democrats in the senate for three years now have not written or passed a budget. not one. you wonder what the guys on the budget committee think they're doing, they're not doing their job, i don't know why they're getting paid. but the democrats haven't put a budget forward. >> thank you so much for coming on. >> sure. this weekend, "saturday night live" turned back the clock in a spoof on the first family. the setup, the white house as the huxtable household from the hit "the cosby show."

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next month. her 2008 running mate john mccain said he is worried about president obama winning re-election because of all of the negativity in the race this time around. >> i am concerned about that, jake, and i think there's reason to be concerned about it. i've been in very tough campaigns. i don't think i've seen one that was as personal and as characterized by so many attacks as these are. >> and february is black history month. on this day, 2008, senator barack obama won hawaii and wisconsin by large margins in presidential primaries, giving him a ten state winning streak against hillary clinton. he celebrated his victories at a campaign rally in texas. nine months later, he became the nation's first black president. >> on the south side of chicago. [ male announcer ] is zero worth nothing? ♪ imagine zero pollutants in our environment. or zero dependency on foreign oil.

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stories people are talking about right now. two separate avalanches took the lives of four people in washington state sunday near stevens pass resort. took out about a dozen skiers, three died. one survivor credits the air bag safety device she was wearing on her back with saving her life. >> don't get me wrong, it is not like you're taking an inner tube ride down some snowy fill. you are definitely in the avalanche, it feels like you're in like a washing machine and being flipped and tumbled and it is white the entire way, it is very scary. >> in another incident, a snowboarder was killed after being swept over a cliff in a ski area east of seattle. two pilots are recovering this morning after a small plane and helicopter clipped each other over northern california. both were taken to the hospital with minor injuries. no word how exactly that happened. new york city police monitored muslim student groups at 16 different colleges across

the northeast. according to the associated press, they even sent in undercover agents on a white water rafting trip with one of the groups. an nypd spokesperson says arrests or convictions of former members of muslim groups made the surveillance necessary. it is a busy week on the campaign trail, plus wednesday, another debate finally in arizona. nbc's deputy political editor mark murray is checking the ground game for us. good morning. >> good morning. >> let's start with ohio. rick santorum in steubenville now. what's his message there? >> his message, lower taxes, less regulation, along with a conservative social message. it is that social message that's grabbing headlines as of late. recent quinn pee he can poll has him leading mitt romney in ohio. super tuesday to watch there. >> mitt romney also in ohio later today. let's go to his home state of michigan. we were talking about this earlier. make or break?

>> it is a make or break. a must win for mitt romney. it is a state where he grew up, where his father was governor, where he launched his presidential bid in 2008, a state he won in 2008. if he ends up losing, kris, it would be indictment about his candidacy. while he might be able to get the delegates he needs to get the nomination, a loss in michigan would wound his candidacy heading into general election if he is able to be the republican nominee. >> we made this sound earlier, newt gingrich taking advantage saying if we can't win our home states, we should definitely reassess. let's talk about oklahoma. that's one of the places newt gingrich thinks he has a chance for a come back. >> right. and it is predicated in the south. states like georgia, tennessee, and oklahoma, which pretty much borders the south, those are the states that newt gingrich is eyeing and hoping he can actually get some type of come back in the super tuesday states. >> and ron paul, we don't talk a lot about him all the time, but he still does draw pretty big

crowds. he is going to focus on another caucus state, north dakota. his strategy at this point, rack up as many delegates as i can and try to be relevant? >> while rick santorum, mitt romney, newt gingrich focus on ohio, georgia, tennessee, oklahoma, ron paul, super tuesday strategy is going to the caucus contests like north dakota, wyoming, idaho, hoping to get delegates to build a substantial pocket of delegates that he can take into the convention. >> mark murray, always good to see you. thanks. >> thanks, kris. espn fired an editor for using a racial slur in a headline involving overnight nba sensation jeremy lin. take a look at the papers. nation's first player of chinese descent. they say king lin. he is even on the back pages too, doesn't happen often. there we are. on the front and back pages of the post and daily news.

richard lui has been checking into his meteoric rise. lots of reasons they're watching him. >> not only all the puns. over 300 division one colleges. not one wanted jeremy lin, except the ivy league and harvard. the gamble here, only a few harvard grads made the nba. the last in the 1950s, according to database basketball.com. unfortunately, that trend seemed to be playing out for lin. no team wanted him after graduation. then the break. the golden state warriors sign him, but cut him december 9th. the rockets then pick him up. but christmas eve, let him go. a week later, the knicks came knocking. but unsure of his contract, lin was couch surfing on that very couch. teammate landry fields taking him in. he crashed on that couch the night before he got the call to hit the paint. scored 25 points the next day, 28 two nights later on his first start.

but he still was unsigned and could be released up to the february 10th deadline you see there. with three days left, he got the $788,000 deal. lin had only played 55 minutes in those first 23 games. >> there were nights last year where i was just actually just reduced to tears, even the beginning of this year getting waived twice, you know, i was thinking if i don't have a team, what's going to happen. >> 200 points in the first 8 starts is what happened. only four players have scored more, bernard king, shaquille o'neal, brandon jennings, and michael jordan. compared to scoring of other point guards in the first eight games, lin has done well as well. when you look at assists in addition to the points, putting that into context, there are only four players, only one player actually that had a greater average of 20 points, 7

assists. calvin murphy. you have to go back to 1970 and '71, the san diego rockets. speaking of history, this is the 1947 knicks, the first asian american ever in the nba. only been a handful since. he is 88 now, says he watches lin not because he is asian american, kris, but because he works hard. >> i'll tell you, richard, you know i was at the game yesterday. >> quite a game. >> yeah. absolutely thrilling to watch him. thank you so much, richard. it is fascinating stuff. that's the great side of lin. he is a guy with an economics degree from harvard, yet comes out of nowhere. i guess what impresses me among other things, you got a guy under tremendous pressure, tremendous skru tremendous scrutiny. unfortunately there's an ugly side which is why they fired the guy from espn. i am joined by judy chew,

congresswoman, good morning. >> good morning. >> the espn editor fired over the racial slur headline says he is devastated by what happened and tells "the "new york daily news" this had nothing to do with me being cute or pun ee." i am so sorry that i offended people, i'm so sorry if i offended jeremy. do you think it is an innocent mistake? >> no, i don't. i think use of the term is appalling and offensive. the c word is for asian americans like the "n" word is for african-americans, and if he was using it all those times, that is extremely sad. the word was used since the 1880s to demean chinese americans and to deprive them of rights, and it is used on playgrounds specifically to humiliate and to offend asian americans. so i don't know where he's been all this time.

>> and this headline wasn't the first controversy. they ran a promo showing him popping out of a fortune cookie. a fox sports columnist posted an offensive tweet. there was also a new york post headline. is it a teachable moment? and if so, what do people need to know? >> i think people need to look at jeremy lin's true record, what he has been doing is truly amazing, and he stands on his own. he has the highest point scores of anybody in the first five games of their career. he has higher points for the first five games than kobe bryant, than shaquille o'neal, lebron james, even michael jordan. >> the numbers speak for themselves. let me read you a tweet from boxer floyd mayweather.

jeremy lin is a good player but all the hype is because he is asian. black players do what he does every night and don't get the same praise. what's your reaction to that? >> i think floyd mayweather is the heavy weight champion of insensitive remarks. remember, he is the one said boxing champion monty pecal should make sushi, cook rice. i think that not only is he insensitive, but he is also ignorant. i would like to inform him that filipinos are not japanese americans who make sushi. also, he is totally ignoring the true record of jeremy lin and the fact that has already developed a record that has outstripped many people, like kobe, shaq, and michael jordan. >> let me ask you finally, you know there are people that will say after the firing and all what's the big deal. so tell me about your nephew, if

you will, harry lu. >> yes. harry lu was in the marines, and he was hazed for three and a half hours by fellow marines. took things into their own hands. then my nephew committed suicide 20 minutes after the hazing stopped. >> so there are consequences that people need to be very much aware of. congresswoman chu, it is good to have you here. >> thank you so much. >> we'll be right back. [ female announcer ] want to spend less and retire with more?

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there's another waycompany, litter box dust:ecountry. purina tidy cats. our premium litters now work harder to help neutralize odors in multiple cat homes. purina tidy cats. keep your home smelling like home. good morning. the politics of theology. gop hopeful rick santorum will be the poster boy for republican rhetoric, steps up rock throwing saying president obama institutes a phony theology. the reverend al sharpton will join me. are covert navy s.e.a.l.s saving taxpayers money, sparing the lives of more americans in battle? president obama's secret army.

and pitfalls of the toxic closet, how the outing of an arizona sheriff running as a republican for congress is creating ripple effects tied to mitt romney's presidential campaign. nuclear inspectors from united nations are in tehran, they are trying to determine if iran is making nuclear weapons or attempting. >> a strike at this time would be destabilizing and wouldn't achieve their long term objectives, but i mean, i also understand that israel has national interests that are unique to them, and of course, they consider iran to be an existential threat in a way we have not concluded that iran is an existential threat. >> i am joined by robin wright, fellow at the woodrow wilson center, author of rock the casbah. good morning. >> good morning. >> let me have you react to the

chairman of the joint chiefs, general dempsey, and backed up by britain's foreign secretary. are they right? >> there's a lot that can happen between now and military strike, that involves another round of diplomacy which both sides expect. the iranians just responded to european union and said they would like talks as soon as possible. we have a basic problem in how to deal with iran because the chinese and russians that both have a veto at the u.n. security council have opposed tougher sanctions, and that's made putting the squeeze on iran harder. so that involves another round of diplomacy to prove whether or not the iranians are serious about compromise with the world. >> i had a talk with an israeli official friday who basically laughed at the idea of diplomacy moving the bar for iran at all, and you know, there are practical questions as "the new york times" puts it, if israel was going to mount an attack, they have to fly across more than a thousand miles across unfriendly air space, refuel in the air, fight off iran's air

defenses, attack multiple underground sites simultaneously. looking at at least four. do you think if it came to that, the u.s. would get involved? >> well, the u.s. would be seen by many in iran as having given the yellow light or green light for some kind of strike. complicating factors are not just difficulties of striking iran's facilities, it is the aftermath and what happens next, how does iran respond. are there dangers to u.s. troops in neighboring countries, u.s. interests in the arab world, the direction of the mideast at this pivotal juncture when going through tumultuous change. repercussions of military strike are still not fully calculated in the discussions of whether it's the cost benefit ratio in our favor. >> that's the question. what would be the ripple effects. what's likely? >> i think this is something that has the potential to make

both iraq and afghanistan look comparatively simple. iran is a much more powerful nation in terms of its military, its connections. it has tentacles in many different communities in the region, and this also could help legitimize the regime in the whys of its people. nationalism is a strong factor when saddam invaded in 1980, this rallied people around an unpopular revolution. the danger is that happens at a time when the majority of iranians are apathetic, uninterested or opposed to the regime. >> robin wright, good to see you. thank you for coming in. >> thank you. the tweet of the day, we say it overseas, our own chief correspondent richard engel on syria. jordan setting up refugee camp near border with syria, fear may be exodus of syrians fleeing violence.

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lohans back, and throwing punches. elizabeth smart is enjoying her honeymoon at an undisclosed location. the former kidnap victim married matthew gilmore in hawaii after a month long engagement. they moved the date up because of privacy concerns. a different engagement for lindsay lohan. in a come back of sorts, she will host "saturday night live" march 3rd. tmz reports lohan wanted to do the show so badly, she reached out to lorne michaels herself. taco bell launching a crazy dish, doritos loco tacos, paired with door eat oh corn shell. they have a count down for the event, 16 days away. it was supposed to be a pre-match press conference. in germany, two boxers started the fight a little early. check out all of the cameras going down during the press conference. one of the men mocked the other

over a poor performance. that wraps up this hour of "jansing & company." i'm kris jansing. happy president's day to all of you, if you have the day off, enjoy it. thomas roberts up next. see you back here tomorrow. if there was a pill to help protect your eye health as you age... would you take it? well, there is. [ male announcer ] it's called ocuvite. a vitamin totally dedicated to your eyes, from the eye-care experts at bausch + lomb. as you age, eyes can lose vital nutrients. ocuvite helps replenish key eye nutrients.

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discussing your feelings. ♪ joe may have your back, but johan has your feet. gevalia. meet me in the coffee aisle. a knock on president obama's faith. gop candidate rick santorum says president obama's energy agenda is based on a, quote, phony theology. the obama campaign calling it the latest low in the volatile republican race. reverend al sharpton joins me to give his take. gas prices a record high with no indication of slowing down. could the next debate be about how to ease the pain at the pump? president obama's secret army, smart, fast, ready to travel. why special forces operatives are becoming the weapon of choice for the u.s. and there's going to be a big tax hit on everyone at the end of the year, that's if congress and the white house can't get it all together.