flipping out. let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm chris matthews down in washington. leading off tonight, mitt flips again. mitt romney is becoming a parody of himself. just three days ago, he said he had no position on an anti-union measure out in ohio and then lurched into reverse the next day, saying, why, of course he was 110% behind the issue. well, if romney's serial flip-flopping has embarrassed him, he isn't showing it. romney's now disavowing his long-held position that the earth is getting warmer and that humans are partly to blame. he now says, quote, we don't know what's causing climate change. and he says, we should not try to reduce carbon emissions.

seriously, can you believe anything this guy says? does he even he believe what he says? >> plus, could newt gingrich become the first openly mean president? that's the clever question posed by our own david corn from mother jones. very quietly, again, the figure a mother who drown her children has been slithering his way up the polls. if herman cain collapses as so many expect him to do, could newt become the next anti-romney? the republicans certainly need one. also, marco rubio's problems may extend well beyond the self-inflicted damage of his embellished biography. he may just be on the wrong side of the immigration issue for too many latino voters. and a tea party group says michele bachmann is all about one thing -- michele bachmann, and it's time for her to g-o. let me finish tonight with jack kennedy and how he could never figure out texas, even at the end. we start with the latest

flip-flop from mitt romney. susan page is the washington bureau chief for "usa today," and steve kornacki, welcome back, steve kornacki! i haven't seen you in a while. he's with salon.com, seriously, i mean it. here's the latest flip-flop from romney. he was asked this summer what his position was on manmade global warming. let's listen to his response. >> i don't speak for the scientific community, of course, but i believe the world's getting warmer. i can't prove that, but i believe, based on what i read, that the world is getting warmer. and number two, i believe that humans contribute to that. i don't know how much our contribution is to that, because i know there's been periods of greater heat and warmth in the past, but i believe that we contribute to that. and so i think it's important for us to reduce our emissions of pollutants and greenhouse gases that may well be significant contributors to the climate change and the global warming that you're seeing. >> and now let's listen to what governor romney had to say yesterday. here's the flip.

>> my view is that we don't know what's causing climate change on this planet and the idea of spending trillions and trillions of dollars to try to reduce co2 emissions is not the right course for us. >> i'm beginning to think that the question for mitt romney should be, what are you coming as? like on halloween. what are you coming as tonight? let me go to susan page. what are you coming as tonight? there he is with his shirt on, saying there's climate change, manmade contributing to it, which is a reasonable scientific fact. and then he's just flipping completely, as if he had never given it any thought. >> and his campaign has sent me an e-mail saying he hasn't changed positions, that he continues to believe that there is climate change and he believes humans contribute to it, but he's not sure by how much. but that's not exactly what he said in this most recent appearance. and one thing with romney -- >> why's he doing this? there's a logic to this. why does he go 180 back and forth? >> i don't think it's a 180. i think it's a more modest tweak than that.

but i think what he said in your first clip is unacceptable to some republicans. he's trying to emphasize his conservative side of his message. but we're so ready. he's so vulnerable on the issue of flip-flopping, because he has flip-flopped on issues like abortion rights and other fundamental -- >> health care. everything. >> health care. that it makes him very vulnerable. people are ready to see a flip-flop wherever they can. >> let me go to steve. you haven't been on in a while. i want your fresh thinking on this. why does he fear the right? here's a guy who is going up in new hampshire, he's up at 40% now. he should win there. he doesn't have a consistently threatening opponent. i mean, right now, it's herman cain, but it doesn't look like he's got staying power. no one person seems to be able to beat him. why doesn't he just stick to where he's been, say, look, i'm a moderate conservative, that's where the country is. >> well, you know, i think, first of all, it's an open question if really in his heart of hearts, he's a moderate conservative. if you go all the way back at the start of his political career 17 years ago, for all the flip-flopping, the one constant

is, whatever he's doing and whatever he's saying at any particular moment always seems to line up with what he perceives to be his political imperative of the moment. that's why i think you can sort of draw a direct line between today and between what happened earlier this week in ohio. >> what does he think politics is? i mean, this is a -- you've hit on a fundamental point. if he thinks politics is simply going before an audience and basically being a hooker in a sense, a political hooker, and giving them what they want, the party they want. literally. you want to hear this? i'll say this. that's certainly not leadership. but what kind of politics would that be? just saying what the audience wants to hear, literally? because that's what you just said. >> sure. and i think if he becomes president, it's a question of whatever he perceives at any given moment in his presidency to be sort of his imperative of the moment. >> what would his role be, then? what would his role be? it's not leader. >> of course not. that's the open question. that's why you can read the question of, is he a secret moderate, is he really a conservative? you can read it two ways, because maybe he becomes

president and feels he has to serve the tea party. maybe the republicans are running the house or the senate, and he's the conservative president. because he feels all the pressure from the right. all the pressure from his own party. but the threat and risk if you're a conservative or you're a tea partier and you're looking at this guy is, well, maybe that could happen. but maybe he's president and he sees more of an imperative, more of an incentive to cut deals with democrats and be more of a moderate, compromising president. and whether you're a swing voter in the middle or part of the republican base, the fundamental thing is, you don't know. >> okay. you report this in a straight fashion, obviously, susan. does anybody ever come up to him and say, i know this is a trick question, is there anything you won't change on? anything you're rock hard on? this is like man for all seasons. almost a morality play. are there any issues where you just say, look, i'm willing to lose on this one. capital punishment, abortion rights, usual issues people are very strong on one way or the other. does he got anything like that? >> the issues he's talks about as his core issues, the ones he's focusing on this time are the economic issues like tax policy and regulation and so on.

>> you mean, he's generally anti-government. >> but it isn't it both to hits strength and weakness? he's trying to fit to get elected and that's not what voters appreciate 1234 why do voters appreciate herman cain when he, who has, himself, had come down on several sides on issues -- >> they feel he's basically a regular guy that's never been to washington. this boneless wonder here, this double-jointedness this guy's pulling off, on every issue. here's romney, by the way, he had a spectacular reversal on this ohio thing, which means so much to people out there, they're really going to vote hot on this. wac back? june, romney visited the ohio gop phone bank where callers were urging voters to back the law and sounded not entirely supportive anymore. let's listen to how his bones that don't seem to be there in his body. let's listen. >> i'm not speaking about the

particular ballot issues. those are up to the people of ohio, but i certainly support the effort of the governor to rein in the scale of government. so i'm not terribly familiar with the two ballot initiatives, but i'm certainly supportive of the republican party's efforts. >> guy's like a whirling dervish. his body parts are even moving around fast. and then he goes to his staff guy, help me out on this. on wednesday, romney said this. let's listen. >> i fully support governor kasich's, i think it's called question two, in ohio. fully support that. when i was referring to was i know there are other ballot questions there in ohio, and i wasn't taking a position on those. one of them, for instance, relates to health care and mandates. with regards to question two, which is the collective bargaining question, i am 110% behind governor kasich and in support of that question. >> you know, it's like he offsets his gyrations by saying, i'm now 110%, like 110 proof or something. i don't know how you can be 110% for something, but why does he

shift from ambivalence and confusion to absolutely certainty plus? >> that's -- i think that's a perfect illustration of what happened in ohio this week of the shifting imperatives that i'm talking about and how they define whatever romney's saying and doing. because on tuesday, when he said, you know, he wasn't really taking a position, he was thinking like a general election candidate. he was thinking like the guy who's way ahead in new hampshire, who really doesn't have a serious rival on the republican side right now, and who thinks he's going to be the nominee. and he's in ohio, a big swing state. he's talking about an issue that's very divisive and very unpopular in ohio and doesn't want to take a position and gets all cute. but then what happens? there's a torrent of abuse from all these vocal conservatives saying, he's selling us out, this is why we can't nominate him, and he starts thinking about those 70% of republicans that still won't come to his side in polls, so his imperative shifts and he's got to go back to the primary, so he goes back to, oh, i'm 110% for this. how could you ever think otherwise? that's what conservatives are wondering. he can say all the right things in the world right now and say them very persuasively, but the

minute he gets the nomination, will he start acting like that guy who was in ohio on tuesday? >> thank you, susan page. so smart. coming up, could newt gingrich become the first openly mean president? it's a question posed by our own david corn. he's going to be right here. you're watching "hardball" only on msnbc. [ male announcer ] in blind taste tests, even ragu users chose prego. prego?! but i've been buying ragu for years.

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welcome back to "hardball." a recent up tick in the polls for newt gingrich has him in third ahead of rick perry. is newt the flavor of the week to be? the latest anti-romney candidate? or is it possible he could become president of the united states. david korn, can newt be the

first openly mean president? we have an msnbc political analyst. you chucking as i do, alex. it's always been my obsz vacation of newt. >> if you go over his history, he has decades of angry rhetoric, not just political. he said of tip o'neill, your old boss, he doesn't know the different between freedom and slavery. they called democrats traders. again and again, we know what he's done with barack obama. if you go back and think about our presidents, some of them mean behind the scenes but their public personas, whether it's reagan, bill clinton or barack obama, they are not mean personally. they don't go after the angry attack rhetoric. maybe andrew jackson was mean

when he was president, but we don't elect them to the highest office in the land. newt would be breaking the barrier. >> do you want a guy as president who likes wrestling in a cesspool? both guys get dirty. he doesn't want to run on a clean field this guy. >> no, let's also keep in mind he recently fear mongered over islam and sharia law and the community center at ground zero were inflammatory. he's incredibly inflammatory and you have his, you know, his political record and what happened when he was speaker of the house, his ethics charges, philandering and his tiffany's debt. there's a lot of holes in a nut gingrich presidential campaign.

>> here he is when asked about his past. he gave a strange reason. this will go down in history as my favorite, favorite cover story. let's listen. >> there's no question that times in my life, partially driven by how passionately i felt about this country, that i worked far too hard and things happened in my life that were not appropriate. what i can tell you is when i did things that were wrong, i wasn't trapped in ethics, i was doing things wrong. i felt compelled to seek god's forgiveness. >> he's explaining his infidelity. the old phrase, patriotism, i never heard him quite use this one. >> yeah. >> i mean, i don't want to get into that. it's not our line of country. to use it in a political

context, alex take that on. >> the star spang led banner made him do that? it's poppycock. he has nothing else. it's a road to speakerdom. it made no sense. it was hilarious, i think, when he said it. the reason newt gingrich is seeing a resurgence in the polls is this entire field is wildly unsettled. all i can this is a waltz where everybody changes partners. it's what's happening. rick santorum is going to be the flavor of the month in a couple weeks, too. >> i was thinking of the waltz, too. >> i was thinking musical chairs. >> let me show you two polls where in both newt gingrich has

risen to third place. gingrich up at 12 behind cain and romney. another poll where he's 10% to cain's 25 and romney's 21. clearly, he's pushed behind, pushed ron paul behind him and rick santorum. he's up there with the top three. one of the most memorable moments, this is how good he is, he grilled newt over his spending at tiffany's. let's listen, again, to newt. >> you owned between $250,000 and $500,000 to a jewelry country. what is that about? >> obeying the law. >> did you owe that to a jewelry company? >> we had a resolving fund. >> what does that mean? >> we had a revolving fund.

go talk to tiffanys. >> it's odd to me someone would run up a $500,000 bill. >> go talk to tiffany's. >> you are running for president. it sticks out like a sore thumb. >> bob shafer with that wonderful flat texas accent. he just asks the most obvious human question. the other guy finally cannot bs his way out of all. all he can say is talk to tiffany's. >> he probably should have said ask my wife. >> oh, no. she might be expensive, but not available for this kind of stuff, i tell you. >> the answer he gave there, it shows he has a sense of being above it all. he thinks he can cut corners. it did not work. this is a guy who for 30 years

has had this sort of arrogant egotistical complex to accuse people of being nazis and he can't answer a question about tiffany's. >> thank you. have a nice weekend. up next, you know it's bad for michele bachmann when even tea partiers aren't taking your presidential campaign to heart or seriously. she's in the side show now. you're watching "hardball" on msnbc.

back to "hardball." now for the sideshow. first up, spark and fizzle. why has that been the pattern on polling numbers for many candidates in the 2012 republican field. well, mitt romney has been hovering around 23% since back in 2008. well, let's see how "the daily

show" cracked the code behind that one on last night's show. >> when it comes to his polling numbers, mitt romney has been nothing if not consistent, which is interesting, given that in every other regard, he has been shockingly inconsistent. how has he managed to neither gain nor lose support? he has clearly surveyed the republican field and decided, i think 23% is enough to beat any of these yahoos. >> we're going to have a fence. it's going to be electrocuted -- electrified. and there's going to be a sign on the other side that says, it will kill you! >> african-americans have been brainwashed. >> so you're saying any community, if they want to ban a mosque? >> yes, they have the right to do that. >> that's why romney doesn't have to really say anything. his strategy in the debates should just be, hey, man, i'm here, but i cede my time. >> so the secret is, leave the crazy talk to everyone else. next up, losing the last straw, as gop candidate michele

bachmann went from 2012 front-runner to lagging far behind, the likes of herman cain and mitt romney. her fail-safe support group has always been the tea party. well, even though tides might be turning against her. a recent letter from the president of american majority, a tea party group, to its members reads, "in bachmann's case, it is clear that the campaign has become less about reform and more about her personal effort to stay relevant and sell books. a harsh commentary, but true. it's not about tea party values or championing real plans to solve real problems while other campaigns are diving into the substance, the supposed tea party candidate, bachmann, sticking to thin talking points and hanging on for dear life." how do you like that? that's closed quote there. and she's the founder of the congressional tea party caucus. and to round out the week, there's no denying it. as if the numbers couldn't sink any lower, this week's cbs news/"new york times" poll had approval for congress, the united states congress, at 9%. and the representatives themselves can't hide from the

news. how are they reacting? well, a tweet from senator john mccain read, "congressional approval at all-time low of 9%. we're down to paid staffers and blood relatives." well, paid staffers and blood relatives, does that one sound a bit familiar? apparently it's been somewhat of a go-to tagline for mccain since as early as 2006, five years ago. how about some flashbacks? >> there was a major poll just a couple of days ago that showed the approval rating of congress at 13%. you get down that low, you get down to blood relatives and paid staffers. >> i think they're down now on approval rating to paid staffers and blood relatives. the only people that approve of us are blood relatives and paid stafrs. >> blood relatives and paid stafrs. >> okay. to me, the only thing more possibly depressing to being

down to paid staffers and blood relatives is to be down to just saying you're down to paid staffers and blood relatives. that's "hardball" for now. coming up next, "your business." , improve the health of your skin with aveeno daily moisturizing lotion. the natural oatmeal formula goes beyond 24-hour moisture. it's clinically proven to improve your skin's health in one day, with significant improvement in 2 weeks. for healthy, beautiful skin that lasts. i found a moisturizer for life. [ female announcer ] aveeno daily moisturizing lotion. and for healthy, beautiful hair, try nourish plus haircare. only from aveeno. how about the beat of a healthy heart? campbell's healthy request soup is delicious, and earned this heart, for being heart healthy. ♪ feel the beat? it's amazing what soup can do. [ male announcer ] sitting. waiting. hoping. that's a recipe for failed investing. open an e-trade account

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