welcome to "the ed show" tonight from new york. donald trump is splitting the republican party in two, pinning himself get the establishment and taking shots at anybody who disagrees with him. newt gingrich jumps into the lead in the national polls. is he hurting his chances by cozying up to the donald? this is "the ed show," and as the president would say -- >> let's get to work. ron paul's not going to win. >> huntsman is doing extremely poorly in the polls. >> i'm not going to kiss his ring and not going to kiss any other part of his anatomy. >> doesn't help the country. >> the republican party is imploding and donald trump is at the center of it all. >> the republicans have to get rid of the karl roves and need fresh blood. >> tonight e.j. dionne on the republican circular firing squad. plus newt gingrich thinks poor kids have no work ethic. he's teaming up with the donald to put them to work. >> we're going to pick ten, young wonderful children and

going to make them aprenti. >> ari melber and dr. peterson are here. the pizza man is officially cooked. >> i'm suspending my presidential campaign. >> we'll show you the cain campaign in 99 seconds. and the republican vision of america is on full display in moorhead, minnesota. >> it's just to bust the union and the working class. there's no excuse with the record profits. >> tonight the workers of the american crystal sugar plant are on "the ed show" fighting corporate greed. good to have you with us tonight, folks. donald trump wants to be the king maker if he can't be the king. there's infighting in the republican party like we've never seen before, and it's all being provoked by a reality television host. newt gingrich is silently on top of the national polls for the republican presidential nomination. he leads mitt romney by more than six points on average. in a new nbc marist poll from iowa, shows gingrich surging in

the caucus state. with less than a month to go before voting. gingrich celebrated his good numbers today by meeting with donald trump and accepting the invitation to the trump debate which is coming up at the end of the month. >> the donald has had the number one show in the country. okay? he is a genuine american icon in his own right. why wouldn't you want to come and hang out? >> great criteria there, huh? rick santorum also announced he'll appear at the donald debate on december 27th as he makes one last push in iowa. other candidates are ashamed of the event. ron paul's campaign said the debate is, "beneath the office of the presidency." jon huntsman also rejected the debate. thin skinned donald trump, what did he do? he decided to blast them both. >> ron paul as an example says, you know, iran should have nuclear weapons or can have nuclear weapons and doesn't even think in terms of israel. so i think that they are joke

candidates. i think they're doing very poorly. certainly mr. huntsman is doing extremely poorly in the polls at 1% and frankly gives more airtime to people that have a chance of getting elected. >> just a real inclusive guy, isn't he? the republican party is getting distracted by a television host who is attacking the character of presidential candidates because they don't want to go on his debate? huntsman went on fox news today and was not going to change his position. >> i'm not going to kiss his ring and not going to kiss any other part of his anatomy. this is exactly what is wrong with politics. it's show business over substance. if he had courage at all, he'd be running for president of the united states of america as opposed to manipulating the process from the outside. >> well actually mr. huntsman, what's wrong is that it's your party, not the democrats. karl rove is another republican who is fed up with trump's distractions. he called the debate weird and was quickly blasted by donald, himself.

>> karl rove gave us george bush and george bush crashed and burned and because of that, we have obama. and, you know, karl rove, the problem that this, frankly, that the republicans, they have to get rid of the karl roves and they need fresh blood because karl rove is going to lead them into doom. >> and newt gingrich is fresh blood? karl rove sees his empire crumbling, no doubt. the millions of dollars he's raised through his cross roads gps pac and countless hours he's spent trying to influence the nominating process is going up in flames thanks to the republican infighting. rove thinks it's time for someone to step in and set the party straight. >> what the heck are the republican candidates doing showing up at a debate with a guy who says, i may run for president next year as an independent? i mean, i think the republican national chairman ought to step in and say we strongly discourage every candidate from appearing in the debate moderated by somebody who was going to run for president. >> rove wants the republican national chairman to stop the madness, but the chairman

skirted the issue when he was asked about the donald debate on "meet the press." >> we've had a lot of debates, and as you know, some of them have been sanctioned by the republican national committee and some of them haven't. we've had debates with msnbc as well. but, you know, listen, i think these are programs that each of these candidates have to decide for themselves whether they're going to compete in. strategy involved, whether competing and not competing. those are things that those candidates need to decide. >> not quite sure about msnbc. you had it on nbc news where it aired on msnbc. are you equating that -- >> having rachel maddow and ed schultz discussing the debate afterwards for two hours isn't exactly ideal. >> the republican party has a lot more to worry about than me and rachel doing debate analysis in postgame. they're getting walked all over by a modern day snake oil salesman. trump used the party to promote his reality show last spring. now he's using them again, but

this time for another reason. >> donald trump, ceo of the trump organization, author of the new book "time to get tough." >> i wrote about it in my book and disclosed my financial numbers. in my book which comes out today, i actually disclose the financial disclosure. >> a-ha. donald trump figured out the secret to the gop, like sarah palin did before him. he learned the party has no serious ideas about government or helping anyone get a job in america. or health care. or public education. it's just a platform for hucksters to sell their goods. get your cell phones out. i want to know what you think. tonight's question. is donald trump making a mockery of what used to be a national party? text "a" for yes, text "b" for no to 622639. our blog is there for you at ed.msnbc.com. we have the results coming up later on in the program. joining men to, e.j. dionne, senior fellow at the brookings institution and columnist for

the "washington post." have you ever seen anything like this? republican part, now reality tv. who's to blame for this entertainment? >> you know, i think they're actually turning themselves into a book club, because herman cain used a campaign to get his book up on the bestseller list and now he is gracefully withdrawing. we have trump doing it. i was struck by a line that george will barred from churchill, to describe newt gingrich. he's a bull who carries around his own china shop. i think that's exactly what donald trump did. you have a collision of china shops this week. i find a lot of republicans very blue about all this. they know that this does not convey seriousness to people. will anybody to bucking about any of this, say, in november? no. this is creating an image of the republican party in the minds of independents as an unserious party. "the national review," a conservative magazine, started

by bill buckley, they refer to trump as a consummately unserious man. >> what about newt gingrich? former speaker of the house, a man who's been around washington a long time, is now kissing the ring of donald trump, accepting the promotional value of doing a debate with him. doesn't this lower the standards of the republican party? this man has no journalistic credentials. he's a show boat. and how can this not help them -- how can it not hurt them in the general election as really when you peel it back, this is who the republican party really is. >> you realize, ed, this may be the first time you ever agreed with karl rove because that's what karl rove -- >> i mentioned that today on the radio and i got tweeted galore on this one. you know what, i know there may be a power struggle going in, but common sense has got to get in the building at some day. this has now turned into a reality tv show and here you have a guy who was surging in

the polls like newt gingrich is up 18% since last october. since late october. in iowa. i mean, he really has a serious run and now is this going to hurt him, this association with trump? is there no seriousness at all in this party? what do you think? >> well, i don't think this hurts him in the party as it exists. i was talking to a smart conservative today who made this point that gingrich has persuaded republicans that what you need is a candidate who's good in debates. and as this conservative said, wait a minute, what you really need is someone who's a plausible president, and i think a lot of republicans who are fascinated by gingrich and who want a movement guy and can't come to romney are at some point going to think about, yes, but will americans vote for this guy to be president of the united states? and that's where the whole temperament issue is going to come into play. >> here's conservative columnist george wills' reaction to the trump debate. >> now we have a december 27th

debate proposed that would be moderated by donald trump. surely it time for these candidates to do something presidential, stand up and say, we're not going to be hijacked and participate in this. >> and here is donald trump taking the bat out on george will. >> i've read george will over the years. he's third grade. he makes so many wrong predictions. if you just follow his predictions you'll find out he shouldn't be doing what he does. >> donald just rips everybody who doesn't want to go to the show. have you ever seen someone tear down the republican establishment like this? >> i wish you had a clip from shakespeare saying they shouldn't go to the trump debate. i'd love to see what he'd say about shakespeare. again, you had it at the beginning. he's selling a book. he's a smart salesman. he's always been a salesman. and what's amazing is that the republicans are willing to play with him. at one point, he was up, what, in the 20s in the polls? there are still a lot of republicans who seem to like him. they're willing to take this risk in december hoping we'll

all forget about it later on. >> in the meantime, he's turning out to be mr. vanilla. mitt romney, where is he? i mean, this guy has gone down to 16%. he has dropped six points in the iowa poll. i mean, it all starts in iowa. it's, you got to have the mojo to get going early on. is mitt romney now in a position where he has to go to this trump debate? what do you think? >> i don't know. my guess is he doesn't, but i'm, you know, they could just prove me wrong tomorrow morning. i think romney has been playing with competing in iowa, but he hasn't really gone all the way in. and with these new numbers on gingrich, i think he's going to try to play under the radar and still hope he can win that or do well there with organization. i think it comes down to him for new hampshire. he now has to win new hampshire and his numbers been coming down some. he's still ahead in new hampshire, but i think that's going to be make or break. if he loses new hampshire, then this is wide open.

i also think there's another possibility which i don't usually see as plausible. you actually could get to the convention without a majority if ron paul stays alive and keeps getting some share of the vote from his libertarians. if conservatives can't get to romney but enough republicans say he's the serious guy. and we keep waiting for huntsman to have an opening. maybe all this craziness gives him his one chance to get in the race. >> well, one thing about ron paul's supporters, they are loyal, they are dedicated, and i'm not so sure they would be supporting any other candidate. i mean, they want this guy, and it's interesting how newt gingrich has spent very little time in iowa. in fact, today he was in new york. so why isn't he campaigning in iowa? does he even have to at this point with the polls the way they are? i mean, he still has a month to go before the caucus, but it just doesn't look like newt has taken iowa too seriously. >> this is going to be a real test. over the years people said, iowa

is really about organization. and i think this election may prove them wrong because newt doesn't have any real organization on the ground in iowa. turns out in the age of fox news, media may be everything in a republican primary and especially in a caucus. >> well, you have to admit the chairman of the rnc is worried about me and rachel. that's probably right right there. >> i think you should invite them to debate on this show. that would be great, if they'll debate with trump. i'd love it see that. >> i'd love to have them here. e.j. dionne, always a pleasure. remember to answer tonight's question at the bottom of the screen. share your thoughts on twitter using #edshow. we want to know what you think always. coming up, newt gingrich thinks poor kids have no work ethic. where's that come from? so we should make them mop the floors and clean bathrooms? or a very lucky few could be apprentice for donald trump. that's their plan. no joke. the republican presidential race lost their pizza man over the weekend. herman cain tries to rewrite

history on his way out. stay with us.

coming up on "the ed show," the donald manages to sneak in a show plug as newt gingrich pushes for low income child labor. herman cain suspends his presidential campaign. we'll have his greatest hits in 99.9 seconds. and we'll talk to goldie taylor about what's next for the pizza man. mitt romney made a living putting wealth for the 1% ahead of the workers. this weekend i visited employees of crystal sugar in moorhead, minnesota, who were losing out in a culture that puts profits first. and we want to hear from you. tweet us with the hash tag edshow. stay tuned. s ] [ snoring ] [ thunder crashes ] [ snoring ] [ male announcer ] vicks nyquil cold and flu. the nighttime, sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, fever, best sleep you ever got with a cold... medicine. ♪

♪ [ male announcer ] vicks dayquil. defeats 5 cold & flu symptoms. ♪ and it showed me the pressure points on my feet and exactly where i needed more support. then, i got my number. my tired, achy feet affected my whole life. until i found my number. i tried the free dr. scholl's foot mapping center. in two minutes, i got my foot map and custom number. i'm a 440. that matched up to the dr. scholl's custom fit orthotic inserts with the right support and cushioning i need. i am a believer. i'm a believer! i'm a believer. find your closest foot mapping center at drscholls.com.

welcome back to "the ed show." newt gingrich has taken a truly, i think, offensive idea about poor children and made it even more offensive by adding donald trump's stamp of approval. it's what you might call putting lipstick on a pig. here's the lipstick part. which gingrich and trump talked about today. >> we need to work very hard to help poor children in poor neighborhoods acquire opportunities to work and i've asked them to take one of the poorer schools in new york and basically offer at least ten apprenticeships to kids from that school to get them into the world of work and get them into an opportunity to earn money. >> i thought it was a great idea. we call it apprenticeship. we all know about "the apprentice." so we're going to be picking ten

young, wonderful children and we're going to make them apparent tie. we're going to have a little fun with it. >> ten kids. we're going to turn it around with ten kids. we got one in three people living in poverty in this country, we have unemployment through the roof in the african-american community, and, of course, he wants them to go to the poorest school in new york city and get ten kids. that's a great republican party promo right there. and let's throw in "the apprentice" because we know that's just so important to society. first of all, there's obviously nothing new about internships. i even had one in college. or work study programs, for that matter. that's not what gingrich is really talking about. he's got a few other targets. one of them is poor people. the other is poor kids. >> starting with following two facts. really poor children in really poor neighborhoods have no habits of working and have

nobody around them who works. they have no habit of i do this and you give me cash. unless it's illegal. what if you paid them to work as the assistant librarian? what if they became assistant janitors and their job was to mop the floor and clean the bathroom? >> yeah. what a great idea. newt, is that your jobs program? just get them going early doing the cheap labor stuff and keep them there throughout their entire career? poor. really poor. did you know that there's a difference between poor and really poor? you show me somebody who's poor and i'll show you somebody who's poor. you show me a loser, i'll show you a loser, like the guy you just saw on tv. gingrich presents it as if it's fact. poor kids, absolutely they have no work ethic whatsoever, no habit of working. we'll talk about that in just a moment. but gingrich has some other targets like child labor laws and unions.

>> it is tragic what we do in the poorest neighborhoods, in trapping children first of all in child laws which are truly stupid. most of these schools ought to get rid of the unionized janitors, have one master janitor and pay local students to take care of the school. >> newt, why didn't you say that today when talking about the aparenti? let's turn to dr. peterson. associate director of language at lehigh university. and with us, ari melber for "the nation" magazine. i had a discussion with my listeners on the radio about this. most, especially in the progressive community, are appalled by this. let's start with poor kids have no work ethic. dr. peterson, i need your response to that. >> oh, boy. there's so much here to be discussed to that. i mean, the irony is this is an inversion of reality. he's passing it off as fact. he's like, these are the facts. this is actually an inversion of the facts. actually poorer kids oftentimes

have a lot more work experience, a lot more domestic kind of work experience than middle class and wealthier and rich kids. so to sort of paint with this broad stroke here is i think really, really sinister. it certainly plays to his base and helps with the sort of smoke and mirror kind of effect of his entire campaign at this point. but the bottom line is he's inverted reality. there are plenty of poor folk who work multiple jobs who actually work before they're eligible to work. and to sort of say that poor people do not have a work ethic is anti-american. >> well, i think there's a level of racism in this. your thoughts on that, dr. peterson. >> well, look, i mean, there's a lot of dog whistle racial politics we see coming from the right. newt gingrich has certainly participated in those kinds of things before. i think whether we think about race or not, this is still really disgusting because one, it's inaccurate, and two, it's anti-american. poor folk have always worked hard and the fact that we try to

demonize them is just another sort of culture wars and class wars that are actually coming from the 17%. >> and this just rips off the scab that the republicans have been accusing the democrats of playing class warfare, accusing the president of playing class warfare. maybe, you know, conversely maybe the democrats, ari, should be going into wealthy neighborhoods and see if these fat kids are sitting on the couch playing with their electronic games instead of going out working for a living. what do you think? >> i think you put your finger right on it, which is this was not just an isolated statement. this is a statement that now has been presented when trump was appearing with the birther in chief, donald trump, who demanded the birth certificate of the first african-american president but never made those kind of complaints about white presidents. i think donald trump's very sorry record on race is well known. the narrow appeal he has in the republican party is based on being willing to go that far. this is a guy who said famously the president should, quote, get off the basketball court and focus on the economy. so these aren't even very coded

attacks. trump doing it in that way at this appearance says a lot. the other thing i'll say briefly is, i'm really glad you're spotlighting the way newt gingrich thinks about policy. even take race out of it and we're seeing a window into his idea of making education policy which is off the top of the head. >> he's talking about a new government program that if it's done properly would probably cost a hell of a lot more money, but of course, we know how they feel about public education. instead of devoing educational resources to the poorest schools in this country, you just have to put under aged kids to work. >> one thing on that, ed, you spotlighted on this show over and over the fight over public workers and the role in our economy. we have newt saying this, but if you think about his plan, what he's really saying is, these would be more government jobs, right? public schools, 91% of students are in public schools. if they'd be paid, that would be additional public budgets. of course, i don't think it's real. i don't think a president gingrich would actually find the funding for that. >> of course not. >> this is a way, of course, to demagogue.

>> it's a gimmick. "the apprentice" piece is a part of it. public schools are the largest employer in most of the municipalities they're in. young students don't need mops and buckets. what they need is books and well paid teachers. >> that's what got me today when i saw the two hucksters together is that newt gingrich didn't have the character to turn to donald trump and say, hold on, folks, this isn't about a tv show, we have a serious problem when it comes to education in this country and i have something i think we should do about it. that's not it. instead, it's genuflecting to another huckster. trump worked himself back into this mess but being accepted by the leading candidate of the republican party. the other angle here is the gop favorite breaking unions. i mean, this is really what it's all about. i want to play another line gingrich is saying on a regular basis. here it is. >> i think that if the issue is food stamps versus paychecks, that every state in the country will be in play and i intend to

run as the paycheck candidate. >> paycheck candidate. we're going to get them on the payroll maybe at 9 years old and get rid of the child labor laws in this country. dr. peterson, what do you think? >> it's unconscionable. it doesn't make sense as policy. the thing is, what he's talking about, the things he's saying right now is essentially he has to do two things. continue to play to the base so he can continue to maintain his temporary poll position and also start to think about what he's going to do if he does win this thing out. the bottom line is gingrich is unprepared and ill re prepared. he comes from a district in georgia, a conservative district, a small district. the kind of smoke and mirrors where he plays to the right and tries to sound intelligent and pass himself off as an intellectual political figure, all these things to me now seem really insane and retrograde. we're moving backwards. this is circa 1994 to me. i don't understand why people are stomaching this kind of stuff in our political discourse.

>> ari, want to ask you, does mitt romney go to the debate? >> i hope he doesn't, but the problem for him, of course, politically is the timing, december 27th, it's the last joint appearance a week out. so there's going to be a lot of pressure on him to either go for all the terrible reasons you've discussed tonight, or find some other, politically, find some other big event so he can big foot it and have everyone talking about him. no candidate though the republicans are guilty here with trump playing such a central role. no candidate can afford to sort of drop out of joint appearances at the end in the traditional playbook, as you know. >> gentlemen, great to have you with us. ari melber, dr. james peterson. coming up, a special "psycho talk." we'll sum up herman cain in 99.9 seconds. the employees have been locked out more than 4 1/2 months. we'll hear what they're fighting for later on in the program. you'd be amazed.

and in "psycho talk" tonight, the herman cain train, well, it has come to a complete stop. we'd like to say good-bye to the pizza man and his bogus 9-9-9 plan by giving you, the viewer tonight of the "the ed show," 99.9 seconds of herman cain. >> 9-9-9, doing fine. we need a leader, not a reader. you are not rich, blame yourself. i am the koch brothers' brother from another mother. i call it my 9-9-9 economic growth plan. 9-9-9. 9-9-9.

we'll have a real fence. 20 feet high with barbed wire. electrified. it was a joke and some people don't think that it was a good joke. i apologize if it offended anyone. i don't apologize for using a combination of a fence, and it might be electrified. i'm not walking away from that. when they ask me who's the president of ubeki, ubeki, ubeki, stan, stan, i'm going to say, you know what, i don't know. okay. libya. president obama supported the uprising, correct? haagen-dazs black walnut ice cream that tastes good every day. ♪ amazing grace will always be my song of praise ♪

i have never sexually harassed anyone. i have never acted inappropriately with anyone. there are thousands who would say none of that sort of activity ever came from herman cain. ♪ i am america >> 9-9-9. >> there you have it. 99.9 seconds of pure herman cain "psycho talk." next, herman cain isn't leaving the race without firing some parting shots. he's not taking the blame for his campaign train wreck. and mitt romney is cutting and running straight from the media. stop your whining, mitt.

i am suspending my presidential campaign because of

the continued distraction, the continued hurt caused on me and my family. the pundits would like for me to shut up, drop out and go away. i am not going to be silenced and i'm not going away. >> you like the shades? herman cain is finally calling it quits, we think. the pizza man seems to be looking back at his doomed campaign through rose-colored glasses. >> i've been the very first to hone up to any mistakes that i have made. >> herman cain must have been owning up to those mistakes in private. all i remember him is complaining about gotcha questions and vilifying the women who accused him of sexual harassment. sure enough, seconds later,

herman cain blamed the media for his campaign's demise. >> these false and unproved allegations continue to be spinned in the media and then the court of public opinion, so as to create a cloud of doubt over me and this campaign and my family. that spin hurts. >> what spin is he talking about? i don't think the spin hurt herman cain's campaign. i think his psycho talking, his ridiculous 9-9-9 plan and all the women who came out had the courage to go in front of the media. that's what hurt his campaign. herman is still trying to stay relevant. get this, he didn't end his campaign. he just suspended it. which means he can still raise money. in fact, he is reportedly appearing in a private fund-raiser tonight in oklahoma city. and he swears he's still going to pound the pavement promoting

9-9-9, and look out, folks, he might even be endorsing somebody soon. let's bring in goldie taylor, columnist for the grios.com and managing editor of the goldie taylor project. i know how you feel about herman cain. now that we've seen the circus ruckus going on with the republican party, would an endorsement from cain actually hurt a candidate? what do you think? >> let me make this clear. an endorsement from cain helps nobody. he doesn't tell his volunteers where to go. hu doesn't tell his donors where to go. other candidates can get those volunteers, get those donors, get whatever organization he had without saying nearly a word. you have to be sick and tired of someone like herman cain or newt gingrich. h reminds me of a pastor who came to my town who rub oil on their head and shay they were healed. be sick and tired of people who want to cut pell grants,

childhood basic education, head start, and programs that break the cycle of poverty and turn around and say they want to put kids to work on the factory floor. >> what have we witnessed here? has this been the most incredible campaign we've seen in american history? a gi going out there with not a whole lot of organizational skill in the political arena and just, quote, winging it? what do you think? >> you know, you got to hand it to him. they did give him some gotcha questions, but only if the gotcha questions weren't found in a sixth grade geography book. herman cain ran a campaign to sell more books, get for speaking fees and maybe get a show on another network. at the end of the day he wasn't running for president. you have to be angry at a guy who's running for president and bastardizes our political process for his gain. >> if someone was to embrace his endorsement, whatever it might

be, would that put them in a bad light with female voters in this country? >> honestly, with the republican base, i don't think it means neither here nor there. the guy who's taken the front-runner in the race, newt gingrich, you know, he's got his own checkered past when it comes to women and marriages. so i'm not sure if this republican base really cares about how people handle themselves morally in their personal lives. and so that runs contrary to a party that talks a lot about personal accountability and personal responsibility. i think they've got a little lesson to learn at home if they're going to trumpet that on the campaign. >> so what happens in iowa? here are the numbers. you've got gingrich picking up plus 3 in the latest polls. you have perry, romney, paul, bachmann getting 1%. the remaining 1% is undecided. so a guy who has dropped dramatically, the guy that picks it up, is going to be newt gingrich. i don't know what we can make of that at that point.

what does it tell us about the republican field at this point that they really don't have many standards when it comes to their candidates or holding any of their standards? i mean, have we seen the free market of politics really win out here? >> you know, ed, i think it's all really very fluid. i've been saying for weeks that the poll numbers in iowa and in the other early states are pretty soft. when you ask people, are they willing to change their vote? you know, they say, yes, and they'll name the other candidate. people really still aren't sure. 60% of iowans believe that they may vote for someone else come caucus time. i've said for weeks even ron paul had a really good shot, you know, at iowa. i said that probably three or four weeks ago because he has both the money and the organization. newt gingrich has the name recognition, he's got the momentum right now. he has zero organization. and herman cain has zero organization to give him. and so this is all really up in the air. it takes four to six hours of trudging yourself in the snow to

do the iowa caucuses. the really committed voter will show up. i'm not sure newt is going to have that contrary to popular opinion. >> goldie taylor, always a pleasure to have you on the program. the ceo of american crystal sugar compared his employees to a disease. i met with those people over the weekend, and you'll hear from them next. and other stories. stay with us. @ápápáp:@:02 "

up next, the business model of profits over people. worked were mitt romney's bane capital. but it's hurting the middle class. later, the current gop field is taking a page from the sarah palin media handbook. don't forget to share your thoughts on twitter using #edshow. stay tuned. when i got my medicare card, i realized i needed an aarp... medicare supplement insurance card, too. medicare is one of the great things about turning 65, but it doesn't cover everything. in fact, it only pays up to 80% of your part b expenses.

if you're already on or eligible for medicare, call now to find out how an aarp... medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company, helps cover some of the medical expenses... not paid by medicare part b. that can save you up to thousands of dollars. these are the only medicare supplement insurance plans... exclusively endorsed by aarp. when you call now, you'll get this free information kit... and guide to understanding medicare, i can keep my own doctor and choose my own hospital. and i don't need a referral to see a specialist. as with all medicare supplement plans, and help pay for what medicare doesn't. call this toll-free number now...

i think to create jobs it helps to have had a job, and i

have. i spent my career in the private sector. i think that's what the country needs right now. >> oh, yeah. mitt romney often cites his experience as the head of the private equity firm bain capital as the reason to put him in the white house. but under his leadership, bain capital broke up companies and fired workers all in the name of profit. one of romney's former colleagues agrees. he told the "l.a. times," "i never thought of what i do for a living as a job creation. the primary goal of private equity is to create wealth for your investors." yet, mitt is still out there campaigning on his supposed job creation record. as a candidate for president in the republican party, it appears in everything he says and has written, that he will continue the economic philosophy of tax cuts for the rich and deregulation. now, over the weekend, i spoke with workers at crystal sugar plant in moorhead, minnesota. here's what you get when corporations take the mitt

romney approach of putting profits over people. workers gathered saturday at minnesota state university after being locked out for over four months by american crystal sugar. the workers claim the company has had record profits for five years and made $1.5 million net revenue last year. hurting workers spoke out asking congressional offices to act. >> i have worked for american crystal for 32 years. >> i have never known any life outside crystal sugar. >> i'm actually the third generation of my family to work there. >> people around here work hard and we're proud. >> it may not be the cleanest or the most glamorous job, but i love my job. >> when i was told we were going to be locked out, i felt so betrayed. it's painful for all of us to watch people go in and out knowing that they are doing their jobs. >> when i hear someone say those unskilled workers don't deserve health insurance, it hurts. when i hear someone say, don't take this personal, it hurts. >> reporter: 2,300 shareholders,

who some benefit from federal farm payments and sugar protections, have decided 40 grand a year for these workers with health care is too much. so where does that leave you? >> i guess i don't have an answer for that, ed. >> i've worked there for 24 years. it's a slap in the face. >> you're lost for words on what you're going through? >> i do okay. >> governor, you heard the anguish of these people. how long to you think these workers can hold out? >> it's been four long months already. i can't answer that. you heard the pain of the people are going through. it's a holiday season. children that won't have christmas presents. and people that are afraid of losing their homes or their farms. i don't know how much longer people can hold on. that's why we need to bring it to a resolution. >> well, they always say follow the money. i don't want anybody to ever say that we don't take the democrats to the woods yet when they're

wrong on this program. according to opensecrets.org, the company that has looked out the workers of american crystal sugar is the top contributor/donor to congressman collin peterson. peterson is the ranking member on the house ag committee. for the democrats, this lockout is in his district. i was there saturday, he wasn't. he sent somebody there to read a letter to them and tell them to get together. is that what you workers get for your money? i want to say something to the 2,300 growers there in the upper midwest. you may be slitting your own throat. it's hard to get urban lawmakers to understand the farm bill. it's hard to get a lot of lawmakers with dollars being tight that we need to subsidize the sugar program in this country. and when the democrats find out, and i'm just telling you, when the democrats find out this is the way you're treating workers when you get those farm subsidies, they're going to say, why are you doing that?

maybe we shouldn't go down the road of helping out the sugar industry. i think you 2,300 fat cats out there driving your nice combines and your brand new pickup trucks, you better figure out what the hell you're doing to these people or there won't be a farm bill to your liking the next time around. that's just a hunch on my part. mitt romney's aides draw a protective barrier around the candidate. the reporter from "the new york times" is prohibited from physically approaching the candidate? yep. it's the mittster's media strategy. that's next. when i inspect homes, i can't be in an allergy fog.

so i get claritin clear for strong, non-drowsy relief of all my allergies like dust mold pets and pollen. looks good. thanks. i live claritin clear.

tonight in our survey on "the ed show," i asked you is donald trump making a mockery of what used to be a national party? 98% of you said yes. 2% of you said no. coming up, eric of media matters joins me to discuss the strategy. hide and whine and attack.

welcome back to "the ed show." the gop media strategy continues. it is hide, whine or attack. let's get to the hiding part of it first. it's the mittster who was part of huckabee's candidate forum on fox this weekend. pretty friendly territory there, wouldn't you say? but behind the scenes romney's aides were suring away a reporter for "the new york times," insisted the reporter not physically approach romney before or after his tv appearance, according to the "washington monthly."

you can hardly blame romney for being scared of a real reporter. we couldn't even keep his cool around brett bere last week. >> how can voters trust what they hear from you today is what you'll to if you win the white house? >> brett, your house is not accurate. one, we have to be better reformed about my views on issues. >> do you think a mandate mandating people to buy insurance is the right tool? >> brett, i don't know how many hundred times i've said this, too. this is an unusual interview. all right. let's do it again. >> at times you thought it would be a model for the nation? >> you're wrong, brett. >> no, no. >> brett, no, the tape out there -- continue to read the tape and the tape goes on to say, for each state to be able to look at it. >> at least newt gingrich has some fire in his belly, but he uses it to fire cheap shots directly at the media, particularly during debates. >> and it's sad that the news media doesn't report accurately how the economy works. i wish you'd put aside the gotcha questions. i'm frankly not interested in your effort to get the republicans fighting each other. >> that means we won't get you

gotcha questions out of donald trump. let's hook up now with eric boehlert, senior fellow at media matters. let's start with romney, first. to keep a reporter away from him in a television facility. what's he uptight about? >> this was a "new york times" reporter i guessthy didn't think was going to be there. the fact you're in a campaign and see a reporter and, therefore, people scurry to the greenrooms and shut the door. this is the republican party that's demonized the press for decades. they realize you can't run for the white house without talking to the press. and so that's their problem. the conservatives also don't see the press as being sort of the people's representative in a democratic society. so they don't mind just locking them out. >> i think it goes a little bit further than that in that the republican party doesn't let you get too close. >> right. right. >> to their candidates. >> yes. >> aren't they confident in themselves that they can go over

and strike up a 90 second or two-minute conversation with someone and be confident they could have some kind of personal connection to them? and be solid? they're so protected at this point. does it help them or hurt them? >> it hurts them. romney was accessible in 2008. now he's not. can you imagine four years ago in the winter of 2007 in hillary clinton and barack obama refused to talk to the pres, lived in a bubble and went around city to city, the press could have gone crazy. they always give republicans a little more slack in terms of ignoring them but it's gotten to be a problem for romney at this point. >> nobody attacks the media better than newt. >> that's his job. again, this is part of the whole fox news approach to campaigning. demonize, demonize the press. if you want to win the south carolina primary, that's great. no one's ever won the white house doing that, you know, 12-month campaign. >> so would newt gingrich be probably their best candidate in dealing with the media? because, i mean, he fits right into that fox wheelhouse of everybody else is wrong except

us. >> he loves to talk. he was, you know, he was an analyst on fox news for a long time. he's much more comfortable with the press. during the '90s when getting run out of town, he loved talking to the press and does it better than romney. the problem is if you take a couple steps back, what we're really seeing is a fox news primary and fox news campaign and fox news is slowly destroying the republican party as we see with newt gingrich and donald trump today. one of the problems is they want to create the bubble. that's the right wing approach, stay inside the bubble. it doesn't work. you have to deal with the press. >> quickly, does mitt romney have a confidence problem right now? >> oh, absolutely does. that's reflected in the press. >> to question about it. eric. good to have you with us. that's "the ed show." i'm ed schultz. listen to me on sirius xm channel 127 monday through friday noon to 3:00 p.m. follow me on twitter @edshow and @wegoted. "the rachel maddow show" starts right now. rachel, did you know the republican party, i was stunned