and let's see. i can't -- the third one, i can't. sorry. oops. >> today, rick perry is in full damage control, going on morning television. >> i will tell you, i don't mind saying clearly that i stepped in it last night, but i think i'm kind of like most americans and there are so many agencies of government out there we'd like to forget. >> can his campaign survive? also on damage control today, sort of, herman cain, for mocking nancy pelosi. >> that's the biggest story all day, okay? i apologize. i apologize for calling her princess pelosi. i didn't see anybody. you know, i remember when speaker pelosi called me and the tea party people astro turf. i don't remember anybody asking about that story. >> why do you apologize?

are you insensitive to -- >> stop asking me about it, okay? >> what he said was that he's apologizing so they don't ask abt, okay? plus, say it ain't so, joe. >> joe paterno is no longer the head football coach effective immediately. >> a legendary coach, 84-year-old joe paterno, fired. along with the university's president, as the campus sex abuse scandal rocks penn state. plus, the super committee stalled with jim clyburn and desecration of our war heroes remains. we'll talk to former defense secretary, william cohen. good day, i'm andrea mitchell live in washington. it is the brain freeze that is stunning the political world today. it couldn't have come at a better time for herman cain. chris cillizza has the daily fix

and also with us, cnbc's chief washington correspondent, john harwood, who co moderated the debate in michigan. first to you, john. you were there in the chair and you had a hostile audience. it was hard to follow up on the herman cain business, but let's talk about rick perry first. what was going through your mind? you sowned kind of shocked and some were sympathetic as perry grasped for the right words. >> i'm a human level, i'm sympathetic for him as someone who makes his living in front of a television camera as you do. i know it's happened to me, but of course, he's running for president. in the moment. it was confusing at first because he tried and then mitt romney offered the epa and he said, oh, yeah, the epa. so i had to clarify, is that the third agency and he said no, and when i asked him again, can you name it and he went through his

notes and couldn't do it, it was painful and obviously something that was going to be very damaging to a candidate who needs new momentum and had been laboring under the idea that he might not be up to a national campaign. we'll see whether he can survive it now. >> what strikes you about this, chris cillizza, he seems to be so programmed that if he didn't repeat a phrase or a word in the sequence that he had practiced it, that he couldn't come up with something else. i want to just show you guys or you can listen to what he had to say on laura ingram's radio show today. >> as i tell people, you might as well have a little fun with it when you make a mistake like that. i think we're going to be on letterman tonight and are we doing "the daily show"? >> now, chris, letterman,

apparently, his executive producers tweeted that perry would be doing the top ten list. that is thankfully scripted and presumably on telepromter. >> you hit on it. this is all damage control and you know, what's hard about it is that if mitt romney, for example, had had a moment like this, it would be a story no question, but wouldn't play into an existing story line. john touched this. no problem for rick perry, from the start of this campaign, is there questions about whether he's ready for the national spotlight. he's ready to stand on stage with barack obama. if you are a major donor in the republican party who is on the fence trying to decide who to be with, maybe perry, maybe romney and you watched that last night, there is no chance that you're going to be with rick perry because he doesn't look ready. perry's biggest problem was that was bad in a vacuum. 50 seconds of fumbling around is bad in a vacuum, but that it played into a story line that already existed makes it so much

worse. >> now, what came through also, john harwood, and you were in chair. what came through is that under pretty intensive questions on the economic issues they were primed to expect, you realized how much these candidate, all of them, often revert to sound bites and to phrases. but cannot do the follow-ups on economic issues. let's talk about herman cain for a second because maria bartiromo did raise the question that people wanted to know and he persisted to simply deny and the audience was of course in his corner, it was republican party audience. michigan republicans. so it was hard to get to do follow-ups on that. is that what was going through your head? >> well, we asked the questions that we intended to ask, a question to cain. we knew him having had the press conference the day before, which he flatly denied all these incidents. we weren't persuaded we were

going to get much more out of him there. so we asked in a framework of business, he comes out of that world and that's the world cnbc speaks to and hears from every day. the audience booed. we expected that. maria and i had done a breakfast earlier in the day with michigan republicans and when we acknowledged the possibility that that issue might come up, they booed us in that room, too. so we knew it was coming. >> mitt romney then jumped in and you asked him for his take on it. whether it was you or maria, and he demured. letting cain just deal with it himself. nobody else wants to pile on herman cain while he is being the target of this. >> that was a risk that any other candidate was not willing to assume last night. i've got to say one other thing about cain and it related to the clip you showed about him addressing those reporters. one of the things we failed to

do was follow up on the statement as nancy pelosi as princess nancy. that has gotten a lot of attention since then and in light of the things he's dealing with now, the issue of his attitude toward a prominent woman in politics may have been relevant to that discussion and when he talked to the reporters that way, you've got to wonder whether an imperious tone that he's reacting to these allegations with is what's going to serve him well. >> exactly. he seemed to be grudging apology at best. thanks for being with us and congratulations on last thigt ft it was a fascinating session. and to you, chris. mark mckinnon is vice chairman and founder of the group, no labels. as a veteran observer of debates, have you ever seen anything like that moment, the brain freeze? >> i've been through a lot of similar moments, but nothing

quite like that. i think go down as number one hall of fame, most painful moment in a presidential debate. it literally hurt to watch. i had to look away at times. but the real problem is not so much the gaffe. there's a deeper issue in that it reveals that the problem was not so much that rick perry couldn't remember something, but suggests that he didn't believe in anything. he's supposed to be running against washington and has built his whole campaign on this idea of reducing the size of washington and if he can't even remember the fundamental rationale for his candidacy, that's a much deeper issue than just some gaffe. it goes to the heart of the rationale for his candidacy and what he really beliefs in. i think he's handled it the best way possible. with humor and candor. but the real issue for the campaign is it's hard to imagine how they attract a single additional voter or raise a

single additional dollar at least in the coming weeks and there's only a few weeks left before iowa. so it's just hard to see how the issue, how they can make any addition to the campaign at this point. >> how did romney do today? last night rather. did he glide above the fray? here's a little bit of romney trying to rebut. there's the word. i knew there were three words i was thinking of. we all go through these moments, but this man is running for president and is trying to remember the core of his candidacy, but in terms of romney, did he adequately in this bite, rebut the whole idea of whether or not he's a flip-flopper? let's watch. >> i think people understand i'm a man of steadness and constancy. i don't think you're going to find somebody who has more of those at beauts than i do. i've been married to the same woman for 25 -- i'll get in

trouble. i've been in the same church my sbeer life. i've been an one company for 25 years and i left that to go help save the olympic games. >> that's an understandable, you know, human moment as well, but he was trying to explain that he is a man of constancy. has he made the deal? made the sale with republican voters yet? not yet, right? >> he's made a lot of progress. mitt romney is a terrific example of what happens when you've been through this before. and that you really prepare for these debates because romney has become so smooth and effortless that it appear there's no question he hasn't anticipated and that he does it in a way that doesn't look like it was just a stock answer, so i think that he has shown that he's really worked hard. he's really been ready for

answers. when you watch him in the debates, he likes like he can be president cht that's what people are looking for. they're trying to determine whether the people they are watching can sit in the big chair in the oval office and last night, romney looked like that guy. >> thank you very much. thanks for being with us. and now to the other big story of the day, the firing of legendary penn state football coach, joe paterno. he was dismissed late last night after trustees decided they could not tolerate his finishing the season amid the continuing explosion of the sex abuse scandal on campus. the school's long time president was also fired. meanwhile, mike mcqueary, who first reported in 2002, the incident to paterno and not to the police, will be coaching this saturday when penn state takes on nebraska. a critical game. ron is in state college an ron, this is a tragedy for everyone. of course for the victims,

alleged victims of continued abuse that went on for years apparently. and i'm sure there are a lot of questions being raised about sandusky, his charity, about his relationships with other young boys. >> absolutely. good day to you. this investigation is going to widen and people are going to be shocked. at what is uncovered here. excuse me, it's very cold. for the first time in henearly half century, someone else is going to be calling the shots on saturday in this big game. it is their defensive coordinator, tom bradley, who was named interim head coach. he was asked a lot of questions about the scandal itself. he would not answer saying it would be inappropriate, but the scope of this investigation is going to get deeper. a ninth young person has come forward saying he, too, was allegedly abused by jerry sandusky. there is some indications that

investigators are looking into the claims of as many as 17 other males that may have had inappropriate contact with sandusky over the years. a very disturbing time for this campus, which for the lockest time had built a reputation of high integrity and athletic excellence. >> it's reputation was deserved by being the only school with never having had an ncaa violation. what about the students who were protesting, some would say rioting last night, to find the term. were so emotionally engaged and upset with joe paterno being fired. >> right. they were upset because they thought he deserved better. they thought the board of trustees should have accepted his retirement plan, which he announced before the board of

trustees fired him. some of his former players including franco harris, thought the board backed away from a fight, saying his former coach would not back down from a fight. that he offered to retire and step down at the end of the season and that the board stepped in and said you need to go before the end of the season, andrea. >> it's a tragedy for everyone. thank you so much, ron mott. a lot of questions still have to be answered. and the super committee, those talks hitting a wall. the latest next with jim clyburn. plus, the debt crisis in europe and its potential impact here at home. this is "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. [ mom ] alright guys, play with your toys after dinner.

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the super committee is

reportedly at an em pas before the deadline. questions about the committees chances were -- that included increased tax revenue. democrats rejected it as a token and window dressing. james clyburn is the assistant democratic leader and joins me now. thanks so much for joining us. >> thank you so much for having me. >> is there going to be no solution in time to get it squared by the congressional budget office, meet the deadline of the 23rd and avoid the cuts. >> thank you so much for having me. i really belief we are going to do a deal. i don't know what all this talk is is about. democrats walking away from the table. i'm here in washington. i've been here all week. all of the democrats on the super committee are here in washington. we've met twice on yesterday and we are staffs are meeting today. we're working on trying to find a way forward.

we were given $300 billion in tax cuts, but that was in exchange for $800 billion in revenue in exchange for $800 billion in cuts. what kind of deal is that? >> it was $800 billion in cutting the tax base for many including wealthy people and only $350 billion in tax increases. >> that's exactly right and i think that all of the american people would think we need to have our heads examined if we were to accept something like that. most of the american people know, or feel very strongly, that the upper income in our society, people that have seen their incomes go up as much as 275% over the last 30 years, and for us to keep giving them additional tax breaks at the expense of all the programs that we need to create jobs in our

society at the -- of those who find themselves in the twilight years of their lives. that is not anything that any compassionate government ought to be doing. yes? >> now, i didn't mean to interrupt you, but i wanted to ask you about someone you're working hard alongside, nancy pelosi, and what happened last nigh. let me play this portion of the debate from herman cain. >> in the previous congress, it was hr3400 and what that does, it's already been written. we didn't hear about it in the previous congress because princess nancy sent it to committee and it stayed there. it never came out. >> now, today, mr. cain said he apologized, but because he wanted to get the reporters to stop asking him abt. i don't know if he's been in touch with nancy pelosi.

i don't know whether you know that, but what's your reaction to what he said? >> well, that kind of boarishness that we see on the part of mr. cain plays into a narrative that's been out here now for the last two weeks. he ought to be very, very careful how he treats women going forward and that was a disrespectful comment about one of the outstanding women in this country of ours. someone who earned her way into the speakership and i believe for him to dem grate her position that way is just unbecoming of a southern gentleman. i am from south carolina. he's from georgia. us southern gentlemen just don't act that way. >> do you think he should apologize to her? >> absolutely, he should. and not reluctantly and not because he wants the media to stop talking about it, but

because he is a southern gentleman. at least i would like to hope so. >> thank you very much, congressman. >> thank you for having me. up next, the politico briefing. why battleground ohio is looking better for team obama. nina is using high-tech marketing to engage customers at her new york based garnet wines and liquors. scanning the bar codes with her phone, customers can get discounts. the codes are now everywhere. what's better than gold ? free gold ! we call that hertz gold plus rewards. you earn free days, free weeks and more fast. that's a plus. upgrade your ride. that's a plus. rewards with no blackout dates so you can redeem anytime.

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d ayhaere ter gfrkinddiar ken ord n d t eepe in today's politico briefing, a big labor victory in ohio for the democrats has boosted their hopes, but it still won't be easy. a new quinnipc poll shows that half of ohio voters disapprove of the president's performance and 48% say he does not deserve re-election. president obama still has a slight edge over the most viable republican likely nominee leading candidate, mitt romney, 45-42% head to head in ohio. glenn fresh is a white house reporter for politico. we had this big labor victory

for the democrats rolling back the collective bargaining agreement. yet at the same time, this quinnipiac poll is as tight as it can be. >> this is a little better than the news was a couple of months ago. for a guy dealing with 9% unemployment in a state he only won by 2.4% and you were with me when he ran against hillary. i think he'll take it at this point in time. and i'll tell you the other thing is his folks were most afraid of rick perry in a place like ohio because they feel that he far more than mitt romney, could be connecting with voters there. >> and it's clear now that rick perry is having so much troubles in his campaign that it's questionable whether his campaign can even survive this next round. thank you very much. thanks for being here today. >> take care. economic and political meltdowns in the euro zone. could it cause a collapse here? [ male announcer ] tom's discovering that living healthy can be fun.

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topping the headlines now, dennis ross, special assistant to the president, focused on middle east affairs and in charge of iran policy, is leaving the administration after serving the last three years. jay carney called ross a quote critical member of the president's team. ross says he's leaving to spend more time with his family, but it is at a difficult time. facing a new challenge, james murdoch told parliament today he was misled about hacking at the news of the world. murdoch says former subordinates kept him in the dark. he has been widely challenged by lawmakers and documentary evidence. in venezuela, authorities have found the suv used by armed men to abduct wilson ramos last night. they say they are collecting evidence in the town where the vehicle was abandoned. the kidnappers have not contacted the family.

bankruptcy hearings have again for alabama's most populace county. jefferson county commissioners voted to make a move after failing to renegotiate its $4.1 million debt. and more red flags in the housing market as foreclosure activity has hit a seven-month high. more than 230,000 home own rs have received warnings in october. notices of default and bank repossessions are on the rise as well. diana oleic joins me now. we're facing this historic kriss and reading your blog, you are not at all impressed by the republican candidates in their responses to the housing crisis. >> absolutely not. simply because they did not have a response to the housing crisis. the best they could say is that we needed to get jobs goimpk again, but several came out saying we have to take fannie mae and freddie mac down

immediately. they are the only ones supporting the housing and mortgage markets right now. they also say they want to talk about compensation for fannie mae and freddie mac executives, but none really got to the core of the housing problem, which is foreclosures. they are ramping up now that all of the effects of the robo signing are worked out. we're seeing huge jumps in the numbers in states we don't talk about much. in new jersey, indiana and oregon. >> to your point, mitt romney last night when asked about the crisis, this was his response. >> you have to let the market work and get people in homes again and the best way for that to happen is to allow this economy to reboot. what we know won't work is what this president's done, which is to try and hold off the foreclosure process to put money into a stimulus that failed and to put in place a whole series of policies from obama care to dodd frank that have made it

hard for this economy to get going. >> as an expert in this, it's very clear, diana, that the policies he's talking about came after the housing crisis hit the wall. >> yeah, it did. and no one's going to say that the obama administration housing policies have really helped all that much. they've done some modification, they've lowered rates to historic lows, but talking about a new program for underwater borrowers. 6 million borrows were either behind on their payments or in the foreclosure process. it's just going to put additional pressure on home prices. or as romney said, you have to let it all work through the system and there some out there who say that's the only thing we can do is let it all happen. let it go through. get homeowners back in this who can afford the mortgages and we will see housing recover slowly. >> that's tough sell politically in an election year. >> absolutely. >> thank you very much.

and be sure to check diana's blog, reality check at cnbc.com. and a day after world markets plunged on fears that italy would be unable to make its debt payments, europe's third largest economy managed to temporarily delay a crisis by selling bonds and bringing down borrowing costs. but italy still has to decide how to form a government and impose badly needed reforms. julian is managing editor with the financial times. is this just a break in the action as the markets recover today? >> this is as best a pause for breath basically because it's still unclear what's going to happen to the italian government. silvio berlusconi has said he will resign. we don't know exactly when let alone who's going to actually replace him. the situation in greece politically is still very uncertain, but perhaps the most worrying thing of all is that

today, the european commission and ecb both came out with their own forecast for growth next year and these are grim. i mean, they really are slashing their projeks for growth. they're talking about a double dip and that's just going to make the debt problems even worse. >> and also foreboding for the american economy. that's our big market. second only to canada, i think. >> absolutely. as with allen greenspan and others this morning in new york, we were talking about this. and the point everyone's making is that in many ways, america's biggest problem is europe and the fact that there could well be a slowdown in growth globally as a result of the european crisis if not an outright double dip. the financial market turmoil is going to sap competence once again and make it that much harder to get the banks say lending money into the economy. and actually dealing with say the housing markets and mortgage problems. and so, all in all, it's a very heavy drag on not just europe, but america, too.

>> and the director was up there, were you interviewing him? did he have any easy answers to this for us? >> well, of course, the point he made was that unfortunately, the problems if europe, they can't be factored into the kind of budget projections his team are working with because how do you prepare for something like, or project something like a full blown italian political dramas and stuff, but it's making it that much harder. the reality is that if growth slows down, debt burdens get bigger and over the last two years, a lot of politicians on both sides of the atlantic have been thinking or perhaps praying that if they kick the can down the road a bit, then a bit of growth would come along and reduce the scale of their problems. what we're learning now, the reverse is happening. >> thanks so much for your expertise. iran's see preem leader has warned that any attack will be

met with an iron fist. extensive evidence that iran is making progress toward building a nuclear weapon. william cohen is a tu author of blink of an eye. so could not be more timely. here we are, iran and the u.s. again at lagger heads. the report, went through it. it's pretty damaging. no smoking gun, but all evidence pointing in one direction and now, we hear that dennis ross, who has really been in charge of iran policy, is quitting. there are reports joe klein has blogged today in "time," his column rather, there is an internal debate on whether to consider military action against iran. >> i expect there is. there are only three options available in dealing with iran. try to intensify the sanctions.

>> and russia just slapped us down on that. >> and then living with a nuclear bomb. that means others will get it. or military action. and when you see someone like perez, who has a reputation of being on the labor side, quite liberal, over the years of his great public service, saying the military option's becoming a closer reality, i think is going to cause some division and debate within the mrks, so whether israel is going to attack with or without us and whether we should be part of it is a mix right now. so doesn't surprise me. >> perez, the 90-year-old president of israel and a completely different political camp than netanyahu. with the timing of this, you've got election year. people will say, wag the dog. the republicans are pressing the president to take some action and if there are reported divisions within the administration, they could as joe klein has suggested, go after the missiles, which are

thot buried under ground. they could miniaturize a bomb, but if they can't mount it on the shahab 3, they can't hit israel or europe. >> no, but if they develop a nuclear capability, they can have nuclear in their possession. that might be able to weaponize it as such. they are not going to give up trying to improve their shahab 3 to make it 4, 5 and 6, et cetera. this is a real issue whether the international community is so concerned about another country getting nuclear weapons and what that means. one of the reasons i wrote the novel is to try to galvanize attention, what happens if we have a bomb goes off and destroys an american city. all in a political season. these are the kind of pressures that are going to be on this president, the next president, those who have served in the past. it's an issue we have to raise

high. why the international community isn't taking further action, more intense action, to stop the program from going forward. we've had countries give up nuclear weapons. south africa, brazil, canada, others. libya. others give it up over the years. it should be clear that iran, which claims its for civil purposes only, they had a program of 17 years of deceit and lying about it and hiding it and now, they're claiming it's only for pharmaceuticals or electrical power generation. hard to accept and i don't think we should. >> another thing that is hard to believe or accept, is what happened in dover, delaware and the fact the military really tried to cover it up by all reports. it took an inspector general report to really slab them down and ask what happened? how could the mor chair officials there have treated military remains in this fashion? >> it's outrageous, frankly. it's an insult to every parent

and family member who have seen their sons and daughters and husbands and wives go off to defend our home land by fighting another counties to have their remains come back and then be used as landfill? we're using them as we would garbage? >> it's disgusting. >> there are some who don't want the remains, but i recall when my wife and i were at the pentagon dealing with this issue, we flew out after the remains were identified, belonging to michael -- we went with his family to the burial. there were only a few fragments of bone that were his. it was a sacred process. this is what we do for people who put their lives on the line. to treat them as landfill is is pretty outrageous. >> william cohen, author and this isn't your first literary effort. thank you very much. the book is "blink of an eye"eneye"

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hi, everyone, coming up, we are following new developments in the penn state child sexual assault investigation. after this scene last night, some of the victims now fear they will be blamed for joe paterno being fired. the latest on what an attorney is saying about that. then, at least he's not trying to avoid the situation. rick perry makes the morning tv rounds and even hits radio trying to recover from his epic fail in last night's debate. does it all boil down to him just waiting it out? it's one of the topics we're looking at on news nation. senate democrats are pushing forward on their plan to repeal the defense of marriage act. it has been 15 years since

president clinton signed the act. while the repeal cleared the committee today, its prospects in the house and full senate are slim. you've got 31 senate sponsors. you're not even in close to filibuster proof. range. and on the house side, it's much, much steeper climb. and why is this important? tell our -- tell all of us, our viewers, why it really matters because all of the states moving towards recognizing gay marriage, that's for state law. >> we have six states in d.c. that have marriage for same-sex couples now. the census just told us that 130,000 people are reporting as married, same-sex couples. all those couples are still being denied really important laws. survivor's benefits, family and medical leave, immigration rights. particularly social safety net

programs that will really help families in tough times like these. >> this is a core issue with many democrats in the senate. this is what senators feinstein and leahy had to say. >> i've heard some say well, why now? why consider this legislation now? well, if not now, when? if not us, who? >> time marches on. time does bring change and in this case, it really stops a pernicious discrimination. >> is this just symbolic and how frustrating is it to you and the human rights campaign and others throughout the country who believe this is just a major civil rights issue? >> i think it's a huge step we've had a bill in the is that the for the first time, this congress. it's passed on committee on its first go. so, i think it's a huge step forward for us in keeping this issue in the public conversation. and hopefully, getting the congress to recognize this is

hurting americans and needs to be changed. >> and what do you do next? >> we continue to push. we continue to build the cosponsors, educate members about their states. >> have you had enough leadership from the white house? >> the white house has been tremendous. they stopped defending the act in court. they called for repeal on the law and i think they'll be continuing as a partner pushing forward. >> do you see this as becoming one of the social issues in the general election campaign? >> yoi don't know that it will be. today's mark-ups, republicans didn't seem particularly incensed on this issue. american people have really shifted on the issue, so i know this is really an issue that you can get votes on these days. >> as some would say, marriage is a core conservative value. >> absolutely. >> and marriage and family. >> absolutely. >> thank you very much. and in california today, the

richard nixon presidential library has released transcripts of the former president's grand swrur testimony about the watergate scandal. historians hope the documents and audiotapes will shed some light on the 18 and a half minute gap recorded on the tapes. the newly released documents are available op the library's website. d of our communities. d of our communities. on november 26th you can make a huge impact by shopping small on small business saturday. one purchase. one purchase is all it takes. so, pick your favorite local business... and join the movement. i pledge to shop small at big top candy shop. allen's boots... at juno baby store. make the pledge to shop small. please. shop small on small business saturday. ♪ sen♪ co-signed her credit card - "buy books, not beer!" ♪ ♪ut the second at she shut the door ♪ ♪ girl started blowing up their credit score ♪

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>>. >> in south carolina, developing right now, michele bachmann is back on the stage at the yorktown museum at naval and maritime museum in yorktown. during her foreign policy speech she had been interrupted by protesters. we want to show you that tape. >> mike check! this will only take a minute. this will only take a minute! we have a message for miss michele bachmann.

>> sit down! [inaudible] >> there will be people that disagree with you and unpatriotic -- [inaudible]. . >> sit down! this is not -- sit down! sit down! sit down! >> americans for prosperity! [inaudible] sit down! sit down! sit down!

usa! usa! usa! usa! >> this does note help the american people! >> that was moments earlier. now we understand the congresswoman has returned to the stage and said don't you just love the first amendment? there you see live pictures of michele bachmann on the stage in mt. pleasant, south carolina delivering her address. seems as though they were from the occupy movement. that's the top story in the next 24? let's bring in chris. what will we be talking about in the next 24? we will partly be talking about the campaign and the fallout and everything that happened and rick perry going on letterman doing the top 10 and other venues as well. not sure he can turn into self-parody, but perhaps he can. >> powerful powerful video. i bet we will be talking more

about that, but rick perry is trying desperately to turn this moment. the 50 or so seconds where he fumbled over three federal agencies. he is trying to turn it and going to appear on david letterman and in where michele bachmann is today. never say never in politics, especially after the 2008 campaign. it looks like it's going to be a very hard sell for rick perry. it plays into that story line that's out there. he's not ready for prime time. he can't stay on the stage with barack obama. >> not ready for prime time, go on late night. that does it for us. for our edition of "andrea mitchell reports," john podesta and chad connelly join us. you have a lot of news today. >> yes. in the next hour, now some are wondering why the assistant

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