yourself her brilliant book. thank you very much. al qaeda, the killers of 9/11 claim responsibility for the paris atrocity. let's play "hardball." ♪ good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. today, a spokesman for al qaeda, the 9/11 terrorist group, claimed responsibility for directing last wednesday's deadly attack on the paris satiric magazine "charlie hebdo." the spokesman said it, quote, shows the target, laid the plan, financed the operation. isis, the terrorist group that today controls much of iraq and syria, meanwhile, praised the attack in paris and called for more of them in europe and in the united states.

well, this defiant spell al qaeda and isis, the satiric publication sold out all 3 million publications which portrays the prophet muhammad on the front cover. i'm joined by michael kay, kim ghattas and brian katulis, senior fellow for american progress. michael kay, just give me a sense of how important is it that al qaeda in the arabian peninsula, based over in yemen, would claim responsibility for having directed, financed, organized this attack on "charlie hebdo"? >> chris, i think it's a quick quinn for aqap in this particular circumstance because trying to assess to what extent aqap were involved with their claims is something which is actually quite difficult to do. what we usually see when we see these sort of claims come out, there's usually a video of one of the kouachi brothers talking into the camera, talking about what it's like to be a self-sacrificing -- and their thoughts before they go off and commit the atrocity and their

allegiance to allah. we didn't see that. we didn't see any training videos, for example, of the kouachi brothers in yemen. we know through intelligence communications and what we've heard in the subsequent aftermath, we have an idea that the kouachi brothers were in yemen, traveled to yemen and were talking with al awlaki. we don't know that for sure. this is a quick win for aqap in terms of being able to put together a quick video and claim all responsibility. i'm still not convinced to the extent of the -- the serious extent of aqap's involvement in this. >> michael, one last thing on this very point. i have seen no professionalism in this. they had a little black car sitting outside. it was sort of a weird keystone cop thing, getting in the car, trying to escape, there was nothing to suggest lickity split planning here. going over to kill the police officer. if they wanted to get away, why

didn't they leave immediately? why didn't they have the escape plan? where is the professionalism that al qaeda would want to claim responsibility for in this whole operation? it looks like a lone wolf. these guys are all dead. >> there's two ways of looking at this, chris. the first way is, if you get inside the mind of one of these brothers and they are actually prepared to die for this cause, then that would sort of give you an indication as to why there wasn't any urgency because they are not afraid to lose their life. on the other hand, as you rightly point out, it may give an indication to the actual lack of training. i was following this as it was breaking and one of the first things that instantly came to our attention was this was not a sydney siege operation. these kouachi brothers looked like they knew what they were doing. there are two pillars to escape and evasion. the first one is that you move by night and hunker down by day and the second one is that you put as much distance between

where you were last compromised and where you want to get to. and then we heard about stories of the kouachi brothers holding up a gas station in broad daylight which would have given away their location. so on the one hand, yes, they seem to have been fairly calm, methodical and fairly well-trained. on the other hand, when it comes to the escape and evasion aspects, they weren't. >> what do you make of this whole situation? does this have the look of an al qaeda operation? a lot of complicated coordination for airplane flights, getting them on, making sure there's very few men on the flight to fight them, the training down in florida all organized within the united states, all done for, what, $150,000? and this one here didn't have that level of sophistication at all. >> it's very hard to look at the extent to which they planned this.

>> they are claiming it? >> they are claiming it but it's hard to verify. i don't think we're going to get an interview with them any time soon. there's a level of preparedness to carry out an operation like this but one of the details that struck me when i was reading about how they went about it, initially they walked into the wrong building. they were looking for the building. so, you know, there is professionalism and there is preparedness but there's also sort of an aspect of winging it. and when it's a soft target like this and all you want to do is really kill people, it's unfortunately very quite easy to do in the west. >> well, let me ask you about that because i was going to call this news you can use tonight although it sounds too whimsical. people want to know what we can do about this. if this is a pattern, if this is directed by someone in yemen, are they directing more operations? will they continue to direct these operations or were they exploiting a lone wolf operation?

>> these are pop-up jihadis who claim -- >> self-starting? >> self-starting. the more that we see, for instance, iraq and syria are now importing 1,000 -- mostly men -- a month from the west, from europe and places like this. this is a phenomena. what we can do is what we are already doing. we've gotten pretty good at the defense. this is small ball. this attack, as tragic as it was, was not the 9/11 attack. their capabilities, i think, are diminished. the other thing we shouldn't do is we shouldn't overreact. >> feeding into what david ignatius said today, in the days after the deadly attack on the paris publication "charlie hebdo" france declared, quote war on terrorism and french military took to the police and chided president obama for not leading this new war against jihadists. sorry. but this is the wrong response

to the "charlie hebdo" tragedy and would repeat mistakes that the united states made on september 11th, 2001. >> what were those mistakes? >> we spent millions of dollars and these prisons sentences helped produce. >> their approach to it? >> yes, and some of the individuals who are part of isis are in those jails. the biggest thing is, we've got to take a breath. yes, there's a serious issue. law enforcement engagement with the communities, those are the tip of the spear. yes, there's a need for diplomacy on syria and a need for military action, too. >> let's talk about fanning the flames here. i'm not an appeaser but i worry about this decision by "charlie hebdo" to put out 3 million copies of a picture of prophet muhammad on the cover which ignites the dangerous ones. is this going to be a daredevil thing on both sides, we dare you to come after us, we're sticking it at you, is that something that's helpful?

>> it's very tricky. because if "charlie hebdo" had decided to back down, then they would have given a victory to the fanatics. on the other hand, you're right. depicting the prophet muhammad -- i'm not quite sure why we think this is what the prophet looks like. >> there wasn't very good photography. >> no, there wasn't. depicting the prophet on the cover does offend a lot of muslims. there are a lot of muslims that don't really care whether the prophet is depicted or not. >> they don't? >> no. what you are seeing about the headlines of people very angry about it -- and going back to the op-ed by david ignatius, i think it's important that we don't paint this has a clash of civilization. i am from the arab world. i'm from lebanon.

this is all of us against a bunch of fanatics. i'm not religious about i've come from the arab world and it's very important not to paint this as a west versus the rest. >> that's what we don't want, is a religious east/west war. let me go back to michael kay. the people from the middle east, north africa, nigeria, when they see "charlie hebdo" on the front pain, 3 million copies all over the streets, do they see that as provoking more trouble? >> i think -- i think kim's got a really good point in terms of 1.6 billion muslims in the world but actually how many of that population regard the "charlie hebdo" cover as offensive, certainly the latest one, which is "all is forgiven," it's almost like a passive reaction

to what's happened. it's treading the fine line of not being overtly offensive but at the same time, it's not giving in and not having its freedom of expression or freedom of press suppressed. so think they've thought a long time about the cover and obviously within the magazine, they are including the cartoons of the staff that were killed but the interesting point in terms of fanning the flames is, there is this -- there is this very fine line between religious tolerance and making arrests for inciting hatred, violence and extremism and i think that's what the legislative systems in europe and around the world will be struggling with in terms of, you know, what is freedom of expression, what is the line and when can you start arresting people for inciting that? i actually traveled to tripoli for an interview and used quite vocally from people who want to talk about anything that they want to talk about. there is very recent news of people going into universities, some of the ivy league universities in america and

wanting to talk about, you know, radical islam or those against it. and it's this ongoing debate between what the line is. and i think that's what we're struggling with at the moment. >> yes, michael and everyone, reading about the reaction by some of the students in paris in the last couple of days in france who did not want to observe a moment of silence but yelled god is great, this is back and forth. >> very troubling. >> it's one reason why in the united states we don't like talking religion in school because this would become -- >> and this is in france and it's one of the problems, people who are very observant and religious in france who are muslim feel that they are being discriminated against if they want to wear the veil in a public space or a government buildings. that's where some of the tension comes from.

>> yeah. >> and the problem is integration. >> michael, quickly, ten seconds. >> i was going to build on what kim was saying. france has the largest population in western europe but at the same time some of the most restrictive laws when it comes to freedom of expression of faith in public and there's a bit of a dichotomy going on there. >> most of the people of france, 70%, have no problem with the muslim population compared to other places in europe, they are happy to have them. it's part of the history of the french empire, if you will. anyway, michael kay, equipment, and brian katulis. hillary clinton is putting together an a-list of team. she's getting ready to run for president and doing it, it looks like, the right way. but will it have the spark and magic that propels people to victory like reince priebus. a big surprise from reince priebus. plus, mitt romney may want another chance for presidency but his rationale for running again doesn't make a lot of sense. for one thing, he seems to want a rematch against president obama who is not running in 2016.

obama's numbers are better than they were a few months ago. good luck with that rematch, governor. and mike huckabee breaks the biggest rule in politics. he's going after the first family. will huckabee's moralizing connect or kill him? finally, let me finish with my thoughts on this odd attack by huckle chuckle. i'm sorry. huckabee. this is "hardball," a place for politics. start the interview with a firm handshake. firm, but not too firm. make eye contact...smile. ay,no! don't do that! try new head & shoulders instant relief. it has tea tree and peppermint that cools on contact. and also keeps you 100% flake free. i use it for cooling scalp relief in a snap. mi bebé ha crecido tanto. try new head & shoulders instant relief. for cooling relief in a snap.

federal authorities have filed charges against the ohio man they say wanted to attack the u.s. capitol. authorities say 20-year-old christopher cornell wanted to use pipe bombs to attack the capitol and then shoot people as they fled but he was never in the position to carry out the plot. he was under investigation the whole time and was dealing actually with an undercover agent because of his postings on social media. we'll be back after this.

she inspires you. no question about that. but your erectile dysfunction - that could be a question of blood flow. cialis tadalafil for daily use helps you be ready anytime the moment's right. you can be more confident in your ability to be ready. and the same cialis is the only daily ed tablet approved to treat ed and symptoms of bph, like needing to go frequently or urgently. tell your doctor about all your medical conditions and medicines, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sex. do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain as it may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. do not drink alcohol in excess. side effects may include headache, upset stomach, delayed backache or muscle ache. to avoid long term injury, get medical help right away for an erection lasting more than four hours. if you have any sudden decrease or loss in hearing or vision or any allergic reactions like rash, hives, swelling of the lips tongue or throat or difficulty breathing or swallowing, stop taking cialis and get medical help right away. ask your doctor about cialis for daily use and a free 30-tablet trial.

that's a very precious thing that you have and any time you can combine labor with love, you've made a merger. and i think we're going to win tomorrow and i think that the governor is going to fulfill his promise and change america and i think many of you are going to go on to help him. that's what i do for a living. i'm proud of it. wow. that's james carville, the raging cajun and bill clinton's chief strategist from "the war room." now hillary clinton is quietly building an a-list campaign of her own and "the washington post" reported yesterday that obama pollster joel benenson has signed on to be hillary clinton's presidential campaign manager and john podesta and president obama's senior counselor, the former chief of staff to former bill clinton is

expected to take on a senior role as the campaign adviser. mr. podesta, who turned 66th month, would come to the job as a senior strategist and then set a trouble shooter, according to "the wall street journal." recruiting strategists is a sign that hillary clinton is assembling a first-rate campaign team with a spark it may have lacked back in 2008. joining me now is the two strategists, david axelrod and robert gibbs, president obama's white house press secretary and advised his presidential campaigns. both are msnbc political analysts.

i'm so glad, i want to start with rob. hillary made a bunch of mistakes in 2008. she didn't understand the importance of iowa and proportionality and never got off the problem with iraq. right? >> yes. >> do you sense that building this campaign with people like podesta, she's putting together a group of people that are not just yes people but don't begin with that word. you think she's putting together a grown-up team? what do you see? >> there's no doubt that the people that she's bringing in have great experience and they will be trusted because they were a part of that winning team in both '08 and 2012. john podesta is probably the most important hire because he has the stature, the experience and personal relationship with the clintons to make sure that if there's a war or an argument in the campaign, a there will be that, that once a decision is made, it gets implemented and you move on to the next decision. >> no more sniping? >> no more sniping. >> let me go on to david axelrod.

you had a strategy, as i just said, win in iowa, win in the caucus states and win on the numbers and become the democratic nominee for president, which is the big challenge. next time for hillary the challenge is not so much the primaries, i don't think, i think it's fair to say, as building a general after all of the debates and everything she has a reason to be president. is she doing that yet? is she starting that case? >> no, i don't think she has started that case yet. but part of what makes this team so appealing and robert and i know them well, is that they are very good message people and i think they will help her develop and deliver that message as she moves forward because, as you say, that's the critical thing. the problem with the last campaign was that the rationale got out in front of the campaign. the campaign got out in front of the rationale. no one really knew what it was

about. campaigns have to be about something. it has to be about a story where you want to take the country. they know how to construct that type of strategy and she'll benefit from having them. >> if you see a good sports team halfway through the season, you hear that they are doing well, they are clicking, they like each other, they have a spirit, they have a song, they are together. you don't have to wait to see who wins because you can tell who is going to win. when do you know in a campaign that you've got the team? >> well, i think it took us a while, quite candidly, probably well into the fall to really get clicking and to feel -- >> fall of '07 some. >> fall of '07. to really feel it moving in iowa. i'll use your sports analogy. you'll know that it's clicking if people in the campaign headquarters are playing for the name on the front of that jersey rather than the name on the back of the jersey. do they think that they are there to do something bigger

than just themselves? i think that will also define success in this campaign. there will be good moments and there will be bad moments and they all have to stick together in both. >> how do you decide, david axelrod -- >> i think it's actually the bad moments when you really get tested. it's easy to hang together when things are going well. the test of a good campaign is how it deals with adversity and whether people pick each other up, support each other, or whether they start leaking on each other and start trying to purge each other. that's what plagued their campaign the last time. this group is very coherent that they are putting together, including a young guy who is going to be the campaign each other. ran terry's campaign. >> the great thing about him and all three of you guys is when you screw it up -- and that happens all the time. they have screw-ups. it's not your fault, sometimes

it is. he seemed to rebound. particularly with rob because you're with him all the time. dammit, we screwed up. and even when you lost the new hampshire primary, which you think would be the end of the universe, you move on. >> david and i remember knocking on the door that night telling him he's not going to win new hampshire and we thought about it, as you said, cataloged the mistakes we made, it's really important that when a campaign makes mistakes, they learn from them. both davids had devised a strategy that we stuck to because we thought that was the path to winning a nomination. it's about sticking to that tragedy. it's about being cohesive -- >> how do you stop from screwing somebody else because he wants that top job and doesn't have it yet?

how do you stop that? >> some of it is going to be, as david said, what rob is going to have to police and john is going to have to police. having john there to give robby backup is crucially important. again, john has the relationships with both bill and hillary clinton. >> yes, he does. >> and he has the stature of having been the chief of staff in the white house and senior adviser in the most recent white house to end that sort of thing. >> here's the tough question. >> he may want some of that north korean phone jamming equipment. that can be used as well. >> stop the guy from being the night stalker. let me ask you this question, david. this is the toughest one. i think hillary clinton has all of the qualities to run for president. she has to come out, however, with a conversation from the american people. a new one, a fresh conversation. we haven't talked in a ill who. i want to talk to you now. why am i running for president,

assuming she wants to run. and i think she has to explain it. not, i care about children in the universe or climate change but something personal. i've been in this since i was in college. i have worked as a leader. i want to be a leader. i am a leader. i care about this country. i feel a responsibility to lead. to lead. doesn't she have to do something like that? remember when she cried up there in new hampshire and everybody said, yeah, finally we know who she is. something that's personal rather than too theoretical. that's my question. >> absolutely. this is very -- you're absolutely on target. you know, i've always said she wasn't a very good candidate in 2007. she was a very good candidate in 2008. she threw caution to the wind and became much more revealing of herself, connected better with people, identified with their struggles and they identified with hers and she talked about her middle class upbringing and so on. all of that is very important. she has to throw caution away and be that candidate she was in 2008. >> and i think admitting ambition of a generous kind.

not like romney, i want to be a president like a 3-year-old because i think politicians hate to admit ambition and it's what drives them in the most cases. >> it takes a certain amount of ambition to say i can lead a country of 310 million people. but as david said and you said, you've got to have that rationale and it's got to be something bigger than just you. >> right. >> you've got to be able to tell them where you want to lead and why and how it connects to who you are as a person and what you've been doing all your life and i think she can do that but requires her to be more revealing of herself than she's been willing to do in the past except in that one period of time after she lost new hampshire and was really scuffling. >> actually, she won new hampshire. >> yes. yeah. >> how can we forget? >> it's such a -- >> after she lost the iowa caucuses. you're right. i locked home that new hampshire thing.

>> i know. especially the knocking on the door to tell obama you blew it thank you. the more i read about that campaign, the more i like you guys running. still ahead, mitt romney's rationale for a rematch. he's running against obama's old numbers. obama's new numbers can beat him. by the way, obama's not running again, governor. anyway, this is "hardball," a place for politics.

[ male announcer ] you wouldn't leave your car unprotected. but a lot of us leave our identities unprotected. nearly half a million cars were stolen in 2012, but for every car stolen 34 people had their identities stolen. identity thieves can steal your money, damage your credit and wreak havoc on your life. why risk it when you can help protect yourself from identity theft with one call to lifelock, the leader in identity-theft protection? lifelock actively patrols your sensitive, personal information every second of every day, helping to guard your social security number, your bank accounts and credit, even the equity in your home --

your valuable personal assets. look. your bank may alert you to suspicious activity on your credit or debit card. but that still may leave you vulnerable to big losses if a thief opens new accounts in your name or decides to drain your savings, home equity, or retirement accounts. and your credit report may only tell you after your identity's been compromised. but lifelock is proactive protection and watches out for you in ways that banks and credit-card companies alone just can't giving you the most comprehensive identity theft protection available. whenever the patented lifelock identity alert system detects a threat to your identity you'll be notified by phone, text, or e-mail, helping you to stop identity thieves before they do damage. you even get a $1 million service guarantee. that's right. if your identity is ever compromised, lifelock will spend up to $1 million on experts to help restore it. you wouldn't leave your car unprotected. don't leave your money, credit and good name unprotected. call now, and try lifelock risk-free

for 60 days. act now, and get this document shredder free. that's a $29 value. ♪ or go to lifelock.com/go. try lifelock risk-free for 60 days and get this document shredder free -- a $29 value -- when you use promo code go. call now. a democratic challenger to the chicago bear rahm emanuel is getting a lot of attention. he's hoping to give mayor rahm emanuel a run for his money. his rags to riches story is getting a lot of attention, especially out there in the african-american community. wilson worked his way out of poverty and eventually founded a medical supply company and a tough legal challenge from the emanuel campaign about the validity of his signature petitions.

he's come a long way and his biography is compelling many to believe. here he is. i'd like to welcome him, willie wilson, democratic candidate for mayor. your story is so impressive, how you went from cleaning toilets to owning a mcdonald's, a franchise, and becoming somewhat of a tycoon. how does that make you a great mayor? >> let me put it this way. the mayor you have now is not a good mayor or a great mayor. i've come to not so much a schooling but experience. i'm not a politician. i'm a business person. i came from the cotton fields of louisiana up north and came to work at mcdonald's and never left the neighborhood. i've always supported the neighborhood.

i still support the neighborhood today. i put in regular commonsense to a regular human being and take my business philosophy and put it together and know that it adds up to one thing and that adds up to having other people to get ahead, those who had a disadvantage in life. >> let's go to a couple of the things we read about. chicago is not alone among them. murders, homicide, 432 homicides last year in chicago. how would you get that number down? >> i think what you have to do, there are two ways to get that down. first off, the police have not done a good job. i would put in four superintendents policemen. i would break the city up into four different segments. and those four police superintendent would each have their proportion. they can get closer to the people and the community, be more friendly. i would take my automobile and let them ride the street bus, the subway, let them walk the street with the community and get more friendly that way.

not how would they pay for it. you pay for it by not paying for the automobile, don't have to pay for the gas, don't have to pay for the upkeep, tune-up of cars. that would help pay for it. but the most important thing is to get more friendly. the thing that they are trying is economic developments and contracts. we don't have that. you create an environment into our neighborhood that causes problem. what got to be done, you've got to get businesses into those communities to do business. >> how do you do that? you've got 7.3% unemployment rate in chicago. how do you get that down? rahm emanuel is always pushing trade groups, getting people in to try to invest. he's a business guy like you. but how do you make that actually happen?

would you get down the unemployment rate in four or eight years as mayor? would it actually come down and how would you do it? that's commonsense. people want an answer to that question. >> well, here's how i would do it. i would introduce legislation that anybody who does business with the city of chicago must have an equal opportunity for jobs and contracts. that way the money is circulated back into the community and create economic development. i would take the city, whatever business that the city does, to reflect the population of chicago and i'm not talking about one particular group. i'm talking about all citizens. if you take right now and put the economic back into the community, those communities drive down the unemployment rate. let's take an example. if you look at o'hare, if you look at midway, those jobs are not reflect the makeup of the community. particularly with contracts. you would change those things

there. the other way i would do it, i would open back up in the field, create jobs and contract that goes back to the community. >> that's been tried. and i hear you. you want minorities set aside, the pie sliced differently. thank you very much for coming on, willie wilson, candidate for chicago, put $1 million of his own money. we'll be having on rahm emanuel any time between now and the primary in march. actually, it's in february. up next, romney wants to be president but the big things that romney promised last time has already been achieved. so how is that rematch going for you, governor? you're watching "hardball," the place for politics.

when you run a business, you can't settle for slow. that's why i always choose the fastest intern. the fastest printer. the fastest lunch. turkey club. the fastest pencil sharpener. the fastest elevator. the fastest speed dial. the fastest office plant.

so why wouldn't i choose the fastest wifi? i would. switch to comcast business and get the fastest wifi with the most coverage. comcast business. built for business.

welcome back to "hardball." if mitt romney is banking on buyer's remorse for voters to give him another chance at presidency, he may have some trouble. some of the things he said he would accomplish have already been accomplished by president obama. item number one, the unemployment rate. here's what romney told mark halperin. >> reporter: would you like to be more specific about what the unemployment rate would be at the end of your first year?

>> i can't possibly predict. i can tell you over a period of four years by virtue of the policies we'd put in place, we'd get the unemployment rate down to 6%, perhaps lower. >> wow. 6%. president obama accomplished that in half the time. the unemployment rate nationally was 5.6%, the lowest rates since 2008 when republicans were still in the white house. and romney said his business experience will help create jobs, not obama. >> i happen to believe that having been in the private sector for 25 years gives me a perspective on how jobs are created that someone who has never spent a day in the private sector like president obama doesn't understand. >> it turns out that president obama understands a thing or two about creating jobs. 252,000 jobs were created last december, a month ago. and 246,000 jobs a month, in areas like construction, manufacturing, professional and business services. when he was running against obama, romney gave the president a jab about, guess what, gas prices.

>> gasoline prices, are people happy with those? >> well, yes, people are happy with the national average. i couldn't believe this when i saw it today. $2.10 for regular. anyway, joining me right now, "hardball" round table. "the washington post" chris cillizza, "usa today" susan page, "national journalist" ron fournier, i don't know, i guess he's running against obama but he's running with old numbers. >> he's not running with the same republican field. that was a weak field. he was marginally the best candidate. this is a much stronger field. >> why do republicans not like him, as a person, necessarily? they don't seem to -- why are they so mad at him for losing? >> because he lost to -- at the time, a very unpopular first-term president who they despise and who they thought they had a credible argument against. he ran at a time of a populous fervor, $10,000 bets, i like to fire people.

the worst possible candidate you could have. >> i like the part, i like to fire people. >> and he talked about how i don't worry about the people who are the poorest or the richest, i worry about the middle class. >> i think ron is right. losing to obama the way that he did, pretty convincingly. >> you're a straight reporter. did you really think obama was toast? i never thought he was toast. >> not toast, no. but i do think you look on paper -- look, i would make the same argument for george w. bush. on paper, george w. bush probably should have lost. lambeau field, swiss cheese on your cheesesteak and. on paper he makes the same argument.

>> explain the field reference, would you? >> i mean, probably if you could name one place for football in this country, if you're not into football, you probably know lambeau field. >> this guy, romney, looks like he got in on this a month or two late. he jumped the gun with jeb. it would have felt a little different to me but jeb seems to have filled that slot. >> well -- >> you know, the centrist. the more established mainstream candidate. i think jeb bush jumping in spurred romney to -- there's no love lost between those two. remember when jeb bush refused to endorse mitt romney in the florida primary and then said he was glad he could vote with a secret ballot? what's the message there? i think there's some rivalry there between those two families, between those two individuals. >> prep school boys don't like

each other. >> the more i cover politics, the more i feel like the old boy politics is like high school. there's rivalries. this one didn't like me because of this. you could call up rudy giuliani and ask why you don't like charlie crist and he would destroy charlie crist. >> mandel didn't like him from maryland. there's three acceptable governors at one point and none of them liked each other. anyway, senator judd gregg who supported romney in 2012 said there's a lot of buyer's remorse now and his message is a good message. it may have been stoked by a july 2014 cnn poll that showed if the election were held then, this past july, romney would beat obama by nine points. as i said, things have changed since the summer and president

obama's approval numbers have been creeping up into the high 40s. i want to ask you something. it's been bugging me since i walked over from the other table. when's obama going to pass 50? it seems to me the old republican argument which is, if you're popular, like reagan, then you're successful. and if you're successful, then you are right. if obama can get above 50, it seems to me you can't say he's a loser, you can't say he's not successful and you can't say he's as wrong as easy. numbers really matter. when's he going to get above 50? >> i think it's possible for him to get above 50 but this is not particularly to barack obama. it's hard, i think at this point, for any president of the united states to get 51, 52 and then -- because -- >> what is it? 47 to 48. >> he won two presidential elections with more than 50% of

the vote which is quite remarkable. >> yep. >> if there's a national crisis, he's close enough now to 50 that that could tip him over. or if wages start to go up so people really feel a better economy in their pocketbook, i think that could get him over 50 as well. >> i think it's hard for him to get over 50 and even if he does, it doesn't translate to a third term of a democratic white house. look who won in 2000. >> that's because -- >> i think that had a lot to do with it. >> who is bill clinton anyway? up next, mike huckabee is going after the president and the first lady because they let their daughter listen to beyonce. too much moralism. get out of your lane. you're watching "hardball," the place for politics.

hey amanda sorry to bother you, but i gotta take a sick day. vo: moms don't take sick days, moms take dayquil. vo: the non drowsy coughing, aching, fever, sore throat, stuffy head power through your day medicine. well, here comes chris christie, i suppose, "the new york times" reports that the new jersey government is set to form a pac to raise money for a presidential run. "the times" reports that he will not likely make a formal announcement until the spring. and we'll be right back.

we're back and likely presidential republican presidential candidate mike huckabee is getting attention today for criticizing the president and his wife for their

associations with r & b artist jay-z and beyonce. not only does he say beyonce's dance moves are, quote, best left for their bedroom and slams the first couple, that's barack obama and michelle obama for their parenting skills. this is huckabee and this is from his new book. jay-z and beyonce have been to the white house numerous times but how can it be that the obamas let sasha a malia listen to that trash? with the first lady so concerned about making sure they don't ingest toxic mental poison in the form of song lyrics? if lived out, those lyrics would be far more devastating so someone's health than a cupcake. we're back with chris, susan and ron. i say leave the kids alone. >> there are two things at work, i think. number one is commercial.

>> there are two things at work, i think. number one is commercial. it's from his new book. how do you get people to buy books? you kind of play to what some people think about -- here they are, telling us how to live and then they are doing these things. that's number one. number two, which is related, it's political. you said iowa. look, mike huckabee, in my opinion, is unlikely to be the nominee because he showed in 2008, he never could expand beyond iowa. socialist conservatives agreed with what he said and liked it. >> what do they know about the lyrics of beyonce or jay-z? nothing? >> well, probably nothing but it's true that the christian conservatives, who are most concerned about values and morals have been a little sidelined by the tea party which has a different kind of message. they have a different agenda. but these people -- this group of voters is still very powerful

part of the republican party and that's who he is trying to -- i think there are enough things to criticize president obama about that you don't have to criticize him about his parenting skills which i think doesn't work with a lot of voters. >> i think he looks like a good parent, my hunch. >> the president? >> certainly. >> he spent too much time with his family and kids every night instead of yucking it up with politicians. >> mike huckabee has a career of getting himself caught up in his own hypocrisy. number one, he's a parent of three. any parent knows, the last thing you do is question somebody else's parenting skills because we all parent in glass houses. he's exposing himself to getting criticized himself. number two, the weekend he announced he wasn't going to run for president in 2011, he was on the show with ted nugent, a michigan-based rock and roll singer from the '70s and '80s. look at his lyrics and see what mike huckabee is condoning.

>> regardless of everybody's prejudice, you look at the two daughters and the way they turn out and behave in public, which is perfect, they go to good schools, do their homework, never say anything stupid, compared to most families in presidents, they've had weird sisters, half-brothers like the clintons that show up and embarrass you. no embarrassment for these kids. nor from michelle. michelle's numbers, by the way, are in the 70s. i was talking popularity. her approval numbers are in the 70s. >> and i could be wrong about this but this is why i tend to think that everything with mike huckabee -- and i know he's not doing his show anymore and seriously considering running -- just feels more to me like -- i feel it's just a commercial play. he wants to sell books. >> roger's not taking him back, though. once you're out that swinging door, you're out. >> i think he's right. i think they think history is on his side, republicans can win and there's a lot of republicans who would like to be the one who wins.

>> i was talking about romney. >> i say as long as we sit here in the side show. chris cillizza, susan page, ron fournier. you're watching "hardball," the place for politics. let me finish tonight with that odd attack on the president and first lady by former governor mike huckabee. there are a few rules in politics regarding what's in and out and one is that you leave the other guy's family alone. ct rate and our competitors' rates you can't win them all. the important part is, you helped them save. thanks, flo. okay, let's go get you an ice cream cone, champ. with sprinkles? sprinkles are for winners. i understand.

the conference call. the ultimate arena for business. hour after hour of diving deep, touching base, and putting ducks in rows. the only problem with conference calls: eventually they have to end. unless you have the comcast business voiceedge mobile app. it lets you switch seamlessly from your desk phone to your mobile with no interruptions. i've never felt so alive. get the future of phone and the phones are free. comcast business. built for business. let me finish tonight with that odd attack on the president and first lady by former governor mike huckabee. there are a few rules in politics regarding what's in and out and one is that you leave the other guy's family alone.

they are not fair game no matter how much you scrunch and try to make them so. there are some great arguments you can make against this president. there are the red lines that he laid down but failed to and going over to paris for to fight terrorism. but there's one thing to avoid, lay off the kids. i would think this unnecessary to say in the case of this first family. i've said this ever about, you can hit this president's politics all you want but i don't think you can knock his private life. he's done everything that i think the most hardened right-wing critic would do. he's been a good father. together he and the first lady have seemed the picture of perfection. what's it about obama that the right wing hates so much? is it his personal behavior? i have to ask, or is it simply his person, who he is? when i hear mike huckabee going after the obama family's choice of musical friends i sometimes wonder if it's not the sound they make that mr. huckabee

wants us to hear but the signal his dog whistle is hearing and that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. "all in with chris hayes" starts right now. tonight on "all in," -- >> it sold out fast, 3 million copies. >> publication day for the first edition of "charlie hebdo" since the attack. as al qaeda officially claims credit and french prosecutors arrest a comedian for a facebook post. then, republicans vote for mass deportations on the hill. >> enough is enough. >> rand paul goes into attack mode questioning the sanity of another romney campaign as he picks up a key endorsement of his own. >> rand paul is the best. >> and as a virginia lawmaker wins his special election while