herman cain. an the 999 reasons he's doomed. and we begin the tea party express hitting a major roadblock in the form of mitt romney. after a command performance at last night's republican debate, the former massachusetts governor left the stage as he came on to it. the fairly formidable front-runner. with one who is yet to win the hearts of his party's base. indeed, the tea party's hopes of driving their express into the white house, well, that appears to be veering wildly off course. perhaps best summed up by this headline in the "l.a. times." romney number one, kaip, 9-9-9. perry, 911. poor old perry went pop. somehow losing all of his summer plans about the question of a jobs plan.

>> i won't lay it all for you tonight. mitt has had six years to be working on a plan. i've been in this for about eight weeks. >> then tlches michele bachmann, the former tea party pet, now struggling to hit herman cain with an eraser from the back of the class. >> when you take 9-9-9 plan and you turn it upside down, i think the devil is in the details. >> the devil is in the details indeed. while mr. cain came in surging in new poll, nbc has the godfather of pizza up 16 points. he still failed to land any punches on the unflappable mr. romney. >> can you name all 59 points in your 160-page plan? and does it satisfy that criteria of being simple? transparent, efficient, fair and neutral?

>> herman, i've had the experience of my life of taking on some tough problems. and i must admit that simple answers are always very helpful. but often time inadequate. >> so with romney solidifying his front-runner status, why can't his dapper sales pitch win over those fickle tea partiers? joining us from washington, chris matthews, host of "hardball," historian and the man with which another cameo appearance. this time in the movie, the ides of march. and welcome, chris. >> i've saved that movie for my wife who is coming back tonight from overseas. i'll see it tomorrow night with her. >> i saw it on friday. you were majestic. >> thank you. >> what has happened to the candidates fared by the tea party? someone like rick perry, for instance, on occasions. it felt like he needed some kind of electroconvulsive therapy. >> the campaign is about jobs and he said i don't have a jobs plan. the dog ate my homework?

how can you come to the party without the reason to be there? i mean, he's only running for president, it would seem to me is because he has a way to deal the w the 9.1 percent unemployment and he doesn't have one. why are you here? >> as you know, he said that mr. romney has been doing this for eight years. he's only had six weeks at the job. he needs a few more days to get it together by friday. >> well, yeah. but he's not ready. and i think the whole evening had an element of a clown show. i think that for herman cain, whatever you think the merits of his 9-9-9 program are, you don't respond to it as bachmann did by talking about the sign of the beast. if you transpose it. or turn it upside down. this is a ridiculous conversation to have on bloomberg and the "washington post" during the midst of a presidential debate. santorum saying we're going to get rid of the entire corporate tax. you had bachmann saying, young people in the dart mouth

audience will be paying 75% income tax. the statement that's were being thrown around were clownish. >> of course, and they want to ill prison both mr. frank and mr. dodds. >> who are these people thinking you can say, i like my political opponents so throw them in prison. this is third world tyranny stuff. when you look at the face of night gingrich, you get idea he means it. that wasn't done in jest or some sort of met forric put them in fail. he went over to barney frank. we're having barney frank on the respondent tonight. what is he doing saying political opponents should be put in prison? what kind of conversation is this? >> where do you place herman cain in this process? because it appears that he is completely stolen rick perry's thunder. >> well, there's been a long progression of these candidates who have attempted to lead with

is really a political movement. basically a mob against authority. so they don't want a leader. they will put up a donald trump for a week or a bachmann or in this case, to perry. but it seems like an endless effort of saying we don't want a leader. really, we don't want romney. >> everyone is describing him as this inevitable or maybe the better word is reluctant nominee. but given the lukewarm commitment to him, i'm assuming this doesn't bode well for the election itself. he's going to need all these republicans. he's going to need independents if he is going to face president obama in a year's time. >> let's take those two apart. i think the republican there's vote in anger and they'll vote 100%. they'll all show up to vote against obama. they will celebrate, i think, obama's concession speech if he has to give one with a lot more fervor than they will the victory speech of a mitt romney.

they're more interested in getting rid of obama from the white house than they are in electing some particular person. as for the independents, this is a danger for the president. president obama. a lot of people will say romney is an independent like themselves, a moderate. and although he pander to the right, he is not really a member of the right. he would not be caught dead at a tea party and we all know it. they're pretty confident looking for an alternative to obama. >> what about romney's endorsement by chris christie? and i'm thinking particularly about those mega wealthy donors who tried, begged chris christie to run. does that now mean, chris, that they're going to pour their vast amount of wealth into romney's coffers? >> you heard romney last night. the former governor of massachusetts saying how strongly he would support any effort to protect the united states' financial system. although he made a point of not saying he would reward any person or shareholder, he would do what he could to save the

system. in a way, he is very much like george w. bush and barack obama. i think they're very happy to hear that and i think that's why he said it. >> before we finish on newt gingrich, and we must have a conversation about him, do you think it marks as it were a pivotal moment in term of the tea party itself in we had that huge success in 2010 november with that election. something like 87 freshmen voted in. we've had gridlock. but now they don't seem to be having much influence in material of the nominee for the white house. the big job. >> you're asking a very good question. and that is, how did the party of tea party if you will, that was so, well, really zealous just a few months ago, and had a candidate every couple of weeks. they were excited about it. why does it lost its excitement? and i think it may well be, the economy is just worn on all of us. these bad times have been difficult for everyone. i think they've decided that they want to get rid of obama.

that's clear. and they have a vehicle for doing that, and they may be happy to see a running mate, for example, more to their liking, more to their taste like a chris christie or a john thune or rick perry, someone who would be one of them. i think romney will pick a protestant. he will probably pick someone close to the evangelical base of the tea party people. i think he'll try to do the kind of thing jack denied in '60. pick someone from the other territory. but i don't think they're as zell us in finding a hero as they were. maybe it is like the french revolution in the sense that they don't want a leader them want to dethrone the aristocracy. and they don't really want a person up front that they look up to. they want to run their tea party from the back benches. the angry people who come to meetings them want to be the ones making the call. and i think i'm reading they will pretty well them don't want a hero figure them want the power to constantly meet in a kind of a group over and over again, vetting the authority

figure and deciding they have them under control. over and over again. so this is going to be, you know, a process that will go on and on and on. if they get romney in the white house, and that is a big if now, they'll continue to hound him, hector him and make sure he continue to be their person. and in response to what they want. at some point there would be a rift there between any president and any leader as we've seen in the tea party people. >> what about the serial adulterer night gingrich? he seem to take the position of professor of history last night. how has he transformed? >> i think he is always the guy who will throw a bomb to get a headline. he did it last night. put barney frank and chris dodd in prison. that's something we've been talking about, so irresponsible. certainly unamerican. you don't talk about throwing people in prison you disagree with politically. you don't make felony indictments against people as a citizen. it is clearly just to get to us talk about him.

he is irrelevant. he will never be president of the united states because of who he is. not because of what he says. newt gingrich is unacceptable as president of the united states. he know it. he's in it for the show. i think that's fairly obvious. i don't think that's an argument. in fact, he knows it. put him under sodium pentathal. he'll tell you why he's there. for the show. >> it's obvious to a mine like yours, chris. thank you for joining us. we will see you again on "hardball" at 5:00 and 7:00 tonight with congressman barney frank. you can catch him on the big screen, as i said, in the ides of march. for rick perry, just getting worse. he's facing a new southern controversy. we'll have the details next. i'm not a number. i'm not a line item on a budget. and i'm definitely not a pushover. but i am a voter. so washington... before you even think about cutting my medicare and social security benefits...

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while the focus of last night's debate in new hampshire was the economy, there is also a subject that has been roiling the candidates. >> any campaign that associates itself with that type of conduct is beneath the office of president of the united states in my view. >> i don't believe that kind of divisiveness of religion has a base in this country. i would call upon governor perry to repudiate the sent i am and the remarks made by that pastor. >> indeed. for some, religion has become the issue. especially after baptist minister and perry supporter robert jeffress described the mormon faith as a cult. something that was addressed prior to the debate alongside his newest supporter new jersey governor chris christie. >> since this discussion is all about economics, governor romney, i promise this won't be about religion. sorry about that, rick.

>> yet, mr. perry refuses to walk away. more, he refuses to step back and denounce the creation of a license plate displaying the confederate flag which naturally many will find offensive. for more on this, i'm joined by congresswoman sheila jackson lee. a democrat from the state of texas. good afternoon. >> good afternoon. very, very good to be with you this afternoon. >> thank you for taking time out of your schedule to join us. mitt romney has asked governor perry to step back from the comments made by mr. jeffress. he's refused to do so. is this because he realizes many christians in this country who will vote actually regard mormonism as a cult? >> individual americans have a right to paint a rebel flag, a confederate flag on any of the personal property. individual christians, christian americans, americans have a right to believe what they want to believe. they are in fact protected by the first amendment. but when you seek the highest

office of the land, the highest office that we can entrust to you, you represent all of the people. you represent whether america goes forward or whether america goes backward. you represent the values of the constitution, the particular amendment that's are there in the bill of rights. you represent the entirety of the constitution. so governor perry who happens to be a candidate or any other candidate cannot step away from not only the economic issues of our time, creating a jobs which is so very important, but they can't step away from the social issues of the day. and i consider the issue of the freedom of religion and respect for religion is an important comment to make. and as well, i think the issue of a license plate, state authorized license plate -- >> i was going to come to that. you've put a lot of pressure on governor perry to denounce this vanity license plate that displays the confederate flag which is under consideration by the texas dmv. you put out a statement that

read in part, ill intended or not, why would african-americans want to be reminded of a legalized system of involuntary servitude, dehumanization, rape and mass murder. as undesirable as another ethnic community wishing to revive the holocaust. >> i would say that we are an america that wants to move forward. just the fact, if i could, about 20 million slaves were part of the slave trade coming into the americas and into the united states. 10% to 30% were lost because of disease or death at sea and they were thrown overboard. 1.5 million africans may be buried in the sea. that's the tragedy of slavery. texas had slavery. texas seceded from the union. the confederacy was a part of that. to now promote a state sanctioned symbol license plate would suggest to america work suggest to business persons,

those wanting to relocate into telephone, that this is a state that looks backward and does not look forward. and so i ask in the most kindly of ways to the governor, one of the problems the governor has is that he has statewide elected officials, for example, that consider the issue funny. making the comment that my actions are funny. it's not funny. it is very serious. and today as we speak, the president of the naacp state of texas is now at the motor vehicle board as we speak, speaking against this license. along with state senators. speaking against this license and a republican state senator spoke against it. so my comment to governor perry is you can never side step social issues that impact the very dna of your citizens of this country. >> i don't think there's anybody who would disagree that dumping a million people's bodies into the sea is not a laughing matter. that's horrendous.

but what has governor perry said in response? has he agreed with you? has he shown some willingness to denounce this? what is his position? >> i wrote a letter to governor perry as did i to the chairman of the texas motor vehicle board. i come flimtd chairman. he voted against it. it was a 4-4 tie. for many who would say why now, many of us thought the issue was dead. we then determined that because of a new appointee by the governor, that this decision would be made in the next three weeks. we're not politicizing this. it happens to be very important to us because a decision is pending. my point to the governor is, we will accept the posture he takes. i ask for it to be denounced. we want it to be stopped. and i think it is an appropriate moment in history for the governor to recognize going forward is where america needs to go and going forward is where texas needs to go. he has done neither. he has not said i would encourage you to not move

forward on this at this time. any private actions is certainly welcome in pres.e.c. the history of those who desire to do so. but this is not the statement we want to make for the state or the nation. he has chosen at this time not to do so. i think that is unfortunate. he has that authority. his campaign has said it is the board's decision. these are his pointes and his leadership would be welcome if he was able to determine that he could issue immunizations without the authority of anyone else, he can certainly issue a statement about his respect for history, but that america needs to move forward. as it relates to the religious question, i would only say we have a constitutional protection to freedom of religion and it is important to respect all religions. that would be a simple statement that could be made by anyone running for presidency of the united states. >> sadly, rick perry has done neither. congresswoman sheila jackson lee. thank you for joining us.

>> thank you for having me. moving now to the senate. democrats tuesday failed to get the 60 votes to advance the president's 44 $billion tax about it. it killed the bill in the form it is in currently. today the president fought back. forceful in rhetoric, despite these setbacks. >> a lot of folks in washington and the media will look at last night's vote and say that's it. let's move on to the next one. but i've got news for them. not this time. we will not take no for an answer. >> for more on this, i'm join now by nbc's like russert on capitol hill. the president came out swinging saying he will not take no for an answer vowing to keep pressure on. how does he do that, like?

>> reporter: he's in a fairly difficult situation. mainly because this bill in its entirety is deed arrival in the house of representatives. after the vote last night and the senate, it looks to be dead there, too. what he can basically do is have a piecemeal strategy. that has been in the planning for some weeks. essentially, break up the bits and pieces of this bill that are favorable to some degree in the eyes of the republicans and try to move them forward. what are those? you've heard a lot about that program to retrain veterans who came back from afghanistan and iraq giving them a leg up in a difficult economy. there is some bipartisan support there. in extension, the pay roll tax cut. there is some bipartisan support. also talk of infrastructure. the president's infrastructure bank as we know it, it would be dead on arrival in the house of representatives. >> does that mean then that he is going to have to construct a brand new bill with say, just those three component parts? >> no. what they'll do is they'll take

each of though specific thing that i've mentioned and harry reid will bring them up and they'll have a vote on that. this idea of the grand encompassing bill that will be a sort of second stimulus, if you will, just doesn't fly with house republicans no matter which way you slice and dice it. this bill cost $447 billion. they don't want to vote for anything on its face looks like it is adding to the deficit them see that as the whole reason they came to washington. so those big grand scheme are not going to be able to be put forward. so it will be coming in bits and pieces. what goes first, we don't really know. that being that, polling shows the public likes this approach of trying boost the economy. more so than deficit reduction. so you're going to hear boost the economy from both sides, trying to find common ground. but a big stimulus bill. that is not going forward. >> it is remarkable. both houses reject it and yet the people want it. like russert, thank you for joining us. >> take care, martin.

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animal house on display at dart mouth college? somebody call 999. >> i have put my 9-9-9 plan on the table. >> we need to be focused on today is not whether or not we're going to have this policy or that policy. we have the lowest number of kids as a percentage, uninsured of any state in the country. you have the highest. i'm still speaking. i'm still speaking. >> the reason that we fought the revolution in the 16th century was to get away from that type of onerous crown.

>> when they bombed pearl harbor? >> germans? >> my top priority is 9-9-9. jobs, jobs, jobs. >> i thought it was the price of a pizza. [ laughter ] >> when you take the 9-9-9 plan and you turn it upside down, i think the devil is in the details. >> we must grow this economy with a bold solution which is why a proposed 9-9-9. >> how many people are here for a sale tax in new hampshire. there you go. that's how many votes you'll get in new hampshire. >> remember, the plan throws out the current tax code. >> i must admit that simple answers are always very helpful but often time inadequate will. >> but bloomberg government has run the numbers and your plan would have raised no more than $2 trillion. >> the problem with that analysis is that it is

incorrect. >> with herman cain under attack most of the evening, it was mitt romney who not only survived but thrived in establishing his status as a front-runner. but don't tell that to our next guest. the founder of the tea party nation. during the debate he was firing off the following tweets. chris christie to endorse romney. no great shock. one ryno endorses another. and mitt, don't worry about being the nominee. we the people will select the nominee and it won't be you. juddson phillips, founder of the tea party nation, joins us from nashville. good afternoon. >> good afternoon, martin. >> to see you again will. >> shouldn't you be buying a new top hat and tail coat and preparing for the enthronement of mitt romney as the republican nomination for president? >> no. in a word, no. this word we keep hearing, mitt

romney is the inevitable nominee. where is that coming from? that's coming from the romney campaign. if you look at the polls, ppp just came out with a poll. cain at 30%. romney at 22%. gingrich at 15% and the rest following on. 78% of the republican electorate doesn't like mitt romney and those are not very good number if you think he will be the nominee. >> but juddson, look at your tea party favorite. in your own words, rick perry is falling in the polls faster than an out of control nasa satellite. michele bachmann know her campaign is on life support. why have these candidates let you down so badly? what's their problem? >> i don't know. i'm not going to say they've let us down. >> you said that falling -- you say they're falling like a nasa satellite. >> well, that is rick perry. he is falling like a nasa satellite. >> but eyour man. >> no, rick perry has never been

my man. the tea party and the republicans are taking a good hard look at all these candidates. a lot of support solidified around michele bachmann early. when rick perry came in, it jumped to perry. now after perry's appalling debate performances, it has gone to cain and night gingrich is picking up some of it, too. the republicans are shopping around and looking. what's interesting, romney is allegedly the front-runner. but he can't ever get past 22 to 25%. three quarters of the republicans want somebody else so that doesn't really make him inevitable or a front-runner. >> why do you loathe mitt romney snoech and i'm going to quote something that you wrote. one thing that is very obvious from the debates is romney believes in being the manager of big government. he does not see big government as a problem. only as something to be well managed. >> that pretty much says it. big government, to quote ronald

reagan, government is not the solution. government is the problem. and big government is a really big problem. it is a -- big government does not work. we have hundreds of billions of dollars in way of. this is just what the government accounting office has identified. what we're looking for is a candidate who will shrink the sigh of government. that's not mitt romney. >> is it herman cain? >> a lot of folks like herman cain. >> do you? do you like him? >> on a personal level, i think he is a very interesting guy. i've come out and publicly endorsed newt gingrich. like gingrich. >> newt gingrich? he's never going to win the nomination. come on! >> really? >> look at the polls. i would be happy to give you dinner on that. >> hey, listen, you're on on that. look at the poll. gingrich had a complain implosion in may. since then, and he went way

down. since then, he is slowly coming back up. this latest poll has him at third place at about 15%. and we're still three months out from the first primary election. so that's not a bad place to be. >> we're showing our viewers the iowa republican caucus tea party supporters poll. the latest poll. herman cain, 31%. mitt romney, 15, rick perry, 12, michele bachmann, 11%. we can't even see night gingrich. your man. he is nowhere. >> well, where i am, i can't see your poll so it is hard to comment on something i can't see. but what i will say is i saw the ppp poll earlier today. and granted, that's a nationwide poll. not an iowa poll but it has gipg in third place. if you look at real clear politics, gingrich has been steadily rising since july. so he is in a pretty good position. and anybody but romney is in a

pretty good position. romney just can't seem to go anywhere. >> but final question, after the success of the november 2010 elections, where you had something like 87 freshmen tea party republicans into congress, now we're in a situation where none of these tea party affiliated or liked candidates are anywhere. do you think this mean that the tea party movement as far as the presidential election is concerned, is probably declining in any kind of influence? >> no, i don't think so. we have a lot of candidates to choose from. there is at least eight major gop candidates plus a couple of minor candidates. it is still really early in the political season. the tea party will get behind one of the candidates. it won't be mitt romney. but we'll ultimately get behind one of them. we'll be looking for a lot of senate campaign, a lot of house campaigns and we'll see some good results in 2012. >> judson phillips of the tea

party. i will hold you to that wage order dinner. >> just tell me how you like your steak, martin. >> thank you. coming up, the white house and the iranian terror plot. every time a local business opens its doors or creates another laptop bag or hires another employee, it's not just good for business. it's good for the entire community. at bank of america, we know the impact that local businesses have on communities.

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just as the opponents made final debate preparations and the senate failed to muster enough votes to pass the job plarng president obama walk into an irish pub in florida. took a seat among some out of work plumbers and raised a pint. >> guinness for strength, the saying goes, and indeed the president will need that strength in washington as he tries to chart a course that will enable him to pass his legislation in separate parts. he should know this. according to an nbc news "wall street journal" poll released

this afternoon, 63% favor the president's proposal. one that includes cutting the pay roll tax rate and infrastructure spending as well as tax increases on the wealthy to help pay for it. support outpacing opposition by almost 2-1. and programs it was the guinness that gave the president the strength to tell an audience today that when it come to passing his jobs plan, he quote, will not take no for an answer. so our recommendation is that if he is to see any progress from this do nothing congress, that maybe he should drink a pint a day to resolve to strengthen his resolve. there is much more in that nbc news "wall street journal" poll including some surprising movement in the 2012 race that we will post later today. at twitter abashir live.

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among those affected by blackberry outages, amanda has more on what the company is saying with the cnbc market wrap. >> why don't we look at how stocks are doing today. we've got a really good rally going on for the do you know industrials. the s&p and the nasdaq. a gain of 166 points for the dow which means it is now actually break even. and then even some more for the year. they have voted to support the fed proposed rule. this rule prevents banks from trading from their own profits and is aimed at preventing another 2008 style meltdown. some call it weak while banks argue it would hurt the economy. as we're mentioning about the problems with your blackberry, i'm sure you had problems today. i certainly did. messaging and web browsing overseas, three days ago, and now has spread to here in north america. the company says the problem is a failed leak in its infrastructure.

black berry has got to fix this issue soon because some frustrated users say they are already eyeing alternatives like am's new iphone 4s which debuts on friday. we are first in business worldwide. back over to you. >> thanks very much. every nation will be outraged by the plan to assassinate a diplomat. those are the words of vice president joe biden describing an alleged plot disrupted by the fbi to murder the saudi ambassador to the u.s. the plot itself involved an iranian american man, a member of the custody force with a plan to murder the saudi ambassador inside a crowded restaurant in washington. secretary of state hillary clinton a short time ago. >> this kind of reckless act undermines international norms and the international system. iran must be held accountable

for its actions. >> nbc's michael , what does sh mean. >> reporter: that's an open question. the spokesman was similarly ambiguous about what the white house would be doing. the vice president today was on the "today" show and he told everybody that no option is off the table. in the previous segment you mentioned some of the new polling that's coming out. some of the polling we've seen, perhaps not very good news for the president on the political front. but on the security front, the president has consistently gotten high marks. the high profile killing of osama bin laden and other triumphs in the security front. and certainly the president's spokesman was quick to say this was a disruption. this disruption was a significant achievement. but jay carney went on to say that no options are off the table but he did not give any specifics. the administration saying they're focusing on bilateral and multilateral efforts.

they're noting the effectiveness of the sanctions already in place, noting that their gdp growth has slowed significantly. they partly attribute that to efforts on the part of the united states and the international community. they've been out some sanctions on an airline. it has been known to transport members of this quds force. and carney also made mention of that force saying clearly, this happened at a senior level of the quds. >> thanks so much. for more on the emerging details of this alleged assassination plot, i'm joined now by the nbc correspondent and tehran bureau chief who joins us in new york. also with me, the former u.s. ambassador to morocco and the former white house adviser to the middle east. mark ginsburg. in a piece for the "huffington post" today, you write that iran's paramilitary wing, the al quds, has a long history of being deployed in latin america.

many people were literally taken aback by their willingness to engage with a drug cartel for the purpose of an assassination. were you surprised? >> i was surprised at the incongruity of the not surprised at all of the connections that existed and have been documented by the fbi as well as cia involving linkages between hezbollah, al quds force, mexican cartels and the venezuelan government which has provided safe havens for al quds operatives and hezbollah on an island in venezuela known as margarita island and in an article today in "the huffington post" i outlined over two decades of involvement by the al quds force, the iranian paramilitary organization as well as hezbollah starting in south america in what is called the triangular area between

brazil and venezuela and argentina and the involvement in mexico, involving which has been documented by the mexican pol e police. >> the iranian government has described this complete plot as in their words a fabrication, yet the fbi has phone conversations that they have taped with individuals who are members of al quds, so that's pretty damning, isn't it? >> it is, but it seems uncharacteristic of the al quds to do something like this, to plot american attacks on american soil at a time of heightened tensions in iran over its nuclear program, sanctions, no-fly list for high officials. also al quds works where it works best, the middle east, uses proxies like hamas and hezbollah so it leaves no fingerprints that are traceable to them. this was a very amateur operation if you want to look at it that way. >> so you're skeptical. >> i am slightly skeptical. >> we have to see, the state department and doj have been very vocal and i'm sure some

evidence will come out. >> what action should the u.s. take in light of the arrest? mike viqueira was saying what do we do now? >> again, i look to the south of the border, martin and realize having done so much analysis over what's taken place over the last decade involving al quds and hezbollah, they have to operate out of certain safe havens irrespective of had a turns out to be the merits of this particular case, but venezuela has been providing the very type of safe haven that has been most dangerous for the united states in its southern border area, and whether it's been the arizona police department or the mexican national police or the cia or even the israeli mossad, there's no doubt that while our relations with iran are at a point where there's very little more that we can do, we have to ask ourself what cooperation is iran getting from the government of venezuela, and what more can

we do there. >> ali, the al quds, a paramilitary vicious group. they execute and they assassinate. what kind of role do they play within the broader spectrum of the iranian organization, if you like? >> they are very powerful. i mean, they are the elite foreign branch of the revolutionary guard. owl of the foreign operations are conducted by al quds, and the members of al quds force are selected from the best of the best throughout the revolutionary gar. they also have their fingers in a lot of financial places, not only a military force but a great forecasts force and a lot of backing and the head of the al quds reports directly to the supreme leader so it's right at the top. there's only one line of discretion between the top man and the man of al quds. >> absolutely. ali and ambassador marc ginsberg, thanks so much for joining us, and we'll be right back. we're america's natural gas

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governor is ill equipped for the intense demands of the presidency. he can barely give coherent responses in a debate amongst friends, so imagine how he'd cope in a g-8 summit or at the united nations security council. it wouldn't be pretty. multiple commentators have remarked upon the style of his delivery during each of the debates, but i wanted for a moment to focus on the substance of his leadership, particularly as it relates to children. last night mitt romney attacked perry for the vast number of children who live in texas without any kind of medical insurance. >> less than 1% of our kids, they are uninsured. you have 1 million kids uninsured in texas. >> if that sounds bad enough, earlier this year a child advocacy group filed a lawsuit against the state of texas over its treatment of children in foster care and named rick perry as one of the defendants. statistics show that as of 2009

children who had been in the state's custody for more than three years have lived in an average of 11 different homes or shelters. that's right, 11. the lawsuit goes on to claim that children in the state's foster care system suffer both physical and mental abuse, are denied mental health services and are routinely separated from their siblings. so on health and welfare rick perry can hardly be described as the children's champion. but what about education? well, here was mr. perry in his second gubernatorial election campaign in 2006. >> education is our future and my highest priority. >> highest priority. in fact, since rick perry was elected governor of texas, the state has slumped to the bottom of the class, falling from 46th to 50th in the number of children who graduate from high school. indeed, in 2009 almost 50% did

not have a high school diploma by the age of 18. so, whatever you think of his lack of debating skills or the trouble he has articulating his own political philosophy, it's the substance of rick perry's tenure that raises the most serious concerns, particularly as it relates to children. but maybe it also explains why he thinks the american revolution took place in the 16th century. thank you very much for watching. dylan ratigan is ready to take us forward and is in washington this afternoon. dylan? >> good afternoon to you, martin. at least the wires are working so can i hear your voice and respond in a civilized fashion. >> that's a great relief. thank you, i apologize for yesterday. >> a loose wire will get you every time when you're on tv or at home. couldn't get a signal the other night. the show starts right now.