that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us, and anks for everyone out here at java joe's in des moines. lots of nice people out here. "politics nation" with al sharpton starts right now. ticked be with the one you love, love the one you're mitt. as polls show him pulling ahead nationwide. but republicans, isn't he the guy you've been trying to replace all year? the three stooges of 2011. progressives push back against these three right-wing governors, but the real fight lies ahead. and a rick-roaring good time. i'll go head to head with the

newest darling of the far right. how are you against something that you're running to be in charge of. isn't that a little skidso. >> there are a whole lot of differences. welcome to "politics nation" i'm al sharpton. we're just five days away with the iowa caucus, and i declared these republican candidates are getting more extreme by the hour, almost by the minute. the latestç flavor of the week rick santorum, may by the most radical yet. he's surging in the iowa polls and seems to be getting a free pass from the media, or at least he was unit i got ahold of him today on "morning joe." >> i mean i could argue about some of your ugly statements on the president and all of that, but that would probably help you in the primary if you and i got

into an argument this morning. >> go ahead, al. give it to me. >> you said some despicable and ugly things, but we'll do it on "politics nation" one night. >> i'm not saying we need a federal system of education, in fact just the opposite. >> how do you do it? >> we ed a president who can talk about those things. >> but when you get through talking, how do you do it if the federal government is not going to do it? i might remind you you're running to be the head of the federal government, so how are you against somebody you're running to be in charge of, isn't that a little schizo? >> that's the difference beten you and me. >> go ahead. >> there are a lot of differences. my problem with santorum is the problem i have with the entire gop field. they're completely out of touch with what americans want on everybody, from taxes to gay rights.

>> walked up and said why are you tonight? i said -- >> every decision i took as governor was taken on the side of life. >> we have to lower tax rates considerably on job çcreators. >> on reg lace, it's very straightforward -- >> they are so far right, they're totally wrong for america. let's take this one by one. gay rights, 53% of americans believe same-sex marriages should be recognized by law with the rights guaranteed by traditional marriage. abortion, 64% support a women's right to choose. taxes, 60% think we should race tazs on millionaires. 61% support touch banking rules. on issue after issue, these republican candidates are completely out of touch with what the nation needs and wants right now.

i know it's fun to go through the horse race of who's ahead now and who's the flavor of the month, who is up and who's down. the problem is that this race is about the direction and the priorities of the country, not as much who's in charge, but what's in charge? that's why, on the right they can have a flavor 6 the month, because they all are the same drink. different flavor, but same beverage. join me now, congressman barney frank, democrat from massachusetts, and a longtime throwing on the side of the gop. he's one of the author of the dodd/frank bill. mr. chairman, thank you for joining me this evening. thank you,al. thank yohese extreme views to the country? >> they can be very damaging. let me give you an example. unemployment is obviously one of the things people are most

concerned or republicans claim to be concerned about it. we have a higher unemployment rate now in mechanic rachelle terms, because the right wing has forced cities and states to lay people off. people that clean up the snow, firefighters, but then they turn around and say we cannot reduce the biggest single item, the military budget, which includes subs dieding people we shouldn't be subsidizing, that would cost jobs, they say. i'll tell you what cost jobs, and these numbers i just verified. employment in the private sector over the past several years is up 2.8%, but it's been reduced to 1.9% overall because of the loss of public sector jobs.

in other words, if the cities and states had just been allowed to stay even with police officers, firefighters, people to clean the streets, people that shovel the snow, maintain the parks, our unemployment would be a couple percentage points lower, because there's that multiplier. >> their policies directly contradict that, mr. chairman, and when you look at the fact, one of the things i said in the opening is i think people need to understand that on the ground in their houses, what is being advocated from oneç side to th other is what is important, not this personality contest that they've reduced this to. >> i agree. >> let me give you an example. when you look at mitt romney's plan to reduce the deficit, it includes big bird, selling ads, i mean, look at this.

>> i like pbs. i'm going to say they have to have advertisements. we're not going to kill big bird, but pbs will have advertisements. >> this is the way he wants to deal with the deficit, not tax millionaires, not close loopholes. >> when barack obama said we are finally leaving iraq, as he had promised, and as george bush had said, end of 2011. mitt romney attacked him. mitt romney and the other republican candidates, with the except of ron paul have talked about much greater military expenditures. if you're going to not raise taxes, significantly increase military expenditures, stay in afghanistan and iraq much longer than we should, we should be out of both by now, then what do you do? you have to cut out environmental protection, and medicare. the endowment of arts is minor.

they're also great hip on chris on the whole, because the wealthiest people who are subsidized by the united states government are farmers. you know, the bigger your farm, the more subsidy youç get. but again, these are the -- bill clinton did get a budget balance along with the republican congress in 1998. it had three parts -- higher taxes on wealthy people, which we put on, and it didn't hurt the economy one bit. it had reductions in the military, and some constraints on domestic spending. the republicans want to make it a one-legged stool. and you and i have suggested this. the problem we have now is the republicans have a great fear t. it is that the economy is improving. we had a terrible time. barack obama inherited the second-worst economy since the depression. the worst since the depression. it's gotten better. it hasn't gotten better fast enough. part of the problem was europe,

and everybody now acknowledges, if we could be sure that europe would be stable, the american economy would do well. the republicans are terrified at we will have a better economy, and so when it comes to things like not extending a tax cut, that would be a terrible idea to not extend that tax cut on working people. >> and they want to lower the taxes -- the tax rate on corpses. romney 25%, santorum 17, paul 15, gingrich 12.5, so it's sort of this protect the rich at all costs, and jump on the middle class and the poor. >> iwe should there should be a 5.6% surtax on income above a million. that means if you're making a million in taxable income after you've takenç your deductions, for every thousand dollars you make above 1 million, you would pay $56 more in taxes.

they say that will kill job creations. we've run into the same arguments -- >> let me take that slow. $56 per thousand after you've made a million after your deductions. >> right. in other words, if you maid $1,010,000, your additional tax is $560. >> but that kills you as a object job creator? >> if you listen to the people, they act as if the american economy was the weakest most fragile read in the world. if bill clinton asked congress, to rate taxes on people's income above $150,000, this is 1993, by 3%, and we did it, they predicted disaster, we had the best economy in dozens of years. here's the deal. yes, they like millionaires, but they don't like environmental protection. they have this ideological objection to it. they don't want there to be programs that help older people.

these mime would even cut veterans program. they have this ideological view that government is terrible, plus they have this fear that things are getting better, and there's non >> they don't want that to happen. mr. chairman, let me ask you this. i agree with you, by the way, you keep quoting former president clinton. i just read his last book on how to bring the economy back. he talks about what he did. i've never been one to agree with everything with bill clinton. but that's a must-read. i think he hit it on the çhead but paul cryikrugman wrote something -- the line he said that struck me the most -- there are only two ways to make the cut -- to be totally cynical or totally clueless. when you look at the facts, the way it is, when you look at the economic inequality, you look at the middle class and working

poor suffering, his position, and i raise it as a question to you, is the only way you can come with a conclusion of don't tax millionaires, don't close loopholes, lower taxes on corporations, is that either you're clueless or very cynical? which is it, mr. chairman in. >> i would say that's exactly right. i would put romney and gingrich in the cynical class, bachman and perry in the clueless class? so i think that's an exactly right thing. the other interesting thing about this contest. we usually have contests in which people have different views. here's the point. the people who vote in republican primaries, a fairly small percentage, and you can't blame people people who vote, if you don't vote yourself, but the people who vote in the primaries are the most conservative. they are further away, i believe, the dominant wing from the mainstream than any political party's prime year electorate has been in my memory.

you don't have a debate, you have a race to the right. they don't disagree. one of them may temporarily say something, but they all get pulled to the right.ç >> that is the real contest. it's a different face on the same meg and same direction. i'm not sure if you know, but last week we did a tribute to some of your great moments in recent years and gave you the revie for being barney frank. we appreciate your passion, your wit and we hope you have a very happy new year. >> that means a lot. thank you. i did hear about it, and something i appreciated very much. >> god bless. >> thank you. for months, republicans have been begging someone, anyone to jump into the presidential race, but have they finally decided to

love the one they're mitt? plus gop candidates just love a good voter i.d. law. >> doing the right thing is to make sure that people who vote have the identification that says you can vote. >> let me ask you the question, if doing the right thing is that, then why don't the gop require i.d.s at the iowa caucus? one of these candidates actually said that marriage is all you need to avoid being poor. you're watching "politics nation" live on msnbc. 9ç

9. ahead, mitt's on top with five days to go under iowa.

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phillips'. frankly right here in iowa, i've seen the kind of surge of enthusiasm i need to have confidence i'll do pretty darn well here. >> that was willard mitt romney sounding pretty confident about his chances in iowa, even though he spent the last year avoiding the state. suddenly it's his favorite place. right now he's on a four-day bus tour there. next week he'll spend caucus night and do morning-after press interviews in iowa, a sure sign he's expecting a good result.

unbelievable. the candidate who flip-flopped on everything from abortion to guns, even his own name, who republicans just don't seem to like that much. he's the guy who could win, but that's not the most baffling thing happening in iowa right now. even though a new gallup poll shows romney pulling ahead nationally, and a cnn poll shows him leading in iowa, willard's gop rivals are acting like he doesn't exist, and instead they're piling on ron paul. >> not only was ron paul dangerous when it came to foreign policy. ron paul would be willing to legalize drugs in the united states. >> you can't have your cake and eat it, too, dr. paul. >> we have a lot of heartburn on the national security issues with ron paul. >> i think it's difficult to see how you would engageç in deali with ron paul's --

>> bob shrum is a professor at nyu, and jonathan capehart an msnbc contributor and opinion writer for "the washington post." thank you both for being here tonight. >> thanks, rev. >> glad to be here. willard and iowa voters have been avoiding each other for years. how did this happen? >> romney has -- enthusiasm is the wrong work. he's not winning because people are enthusiastic. he's gaining ground because he's run a cold, efficient mechanistic campaign that i think will get a nomination without inspiration. the real problem is republicans have is who else do they got? gingrich has serious flaws, and rom any, or willard as you like to call him may be the luckiest

paul in the world. he could leave with ron paul and/or rick santorum as serious rivals. paul is ahn unthinkable nominees that would shatter the money and i don't think santorum has the money or the organization to keep this going. at best he'll be a mi mini-huckabee. >> jonathan, when you hear bob shrum say that mr. paul is an unthinkable candidate, then why are all the gop rivals to romney piling on paul? andç could it be that paul, having a good organization on the ground, having some true believers, and the fact that even independents can walk up to a caucus and register republican right that night and go in and vote, could it be that they fear that paul could overtake them with a superior organization that night? >> sure, absolutely they're

going after him for that reason, but remember they're all competing for the same pool of conservative votes. there are a lot of conservative folks in iowa, who, like ron paul, up to the "time" poll that came out yesterday, ron paul was the leading candidate in iowa. it wasn't until that poll came out yesterday that showed mitt romney being the one out front that the dynamics changed, but there's a couple things to keep in mind. one, all those candidates are within the margin of error, so we're basically looking at a muddled race. all of those people could come out as number one a tuesday. the second thing to keep in mind is the number one issue that people said they were looking for, is someone who could beat president obama. those people told more than 40%, and those folks went for mitt romney. >> bob. when you look at that poll, some some are complaining because

they're saying that the poll only was taken among registered republicans, and not factoring in new voters or independents, can go to the caucus and change and vote in iowa caucus on tuesday night. >> yeah, we're a bit in a kindì% of silly week, where we have poll after poll after poll. i think it's clear there's a lot of momentum with romney right now. if you listen to establishment republicans, they feel pretty confident, and by the way, if he finishes second to ron paul, he still wins. he'll win newspaper newspaper. if he's running against ron paul principally in south carolina, he'll do well and probably on track to the nomination under those circumstances. the poll saturday night will drop like the ball in times square on new year's eve. that's the "des moines register" poll which has a remarkable report in being accurate.

>> jonathan, when you look at the fact that one poll, and this is i think striking, the cnn poll says that 43% gop voters say they might change their mind. now, that's a significant amount of people that are still saying i'm with this person, but i could change my mind. >> that's yet another poll number out there, or stat out there that lets you know that we don't really know what's going to happen on tuesday in iowa. we really don't. you've got ron paul, mitt romney, rick perry -- i'm sorry, rick santorum and rick perry all margin of error in their standings, but then you have the fact that 43% of the people who say they might vote for any of those candidates, they could walk into the caucus and change their mind. literally we do not know what's going to happen. >> that'sç how caucuses work.

bob, one of the things that was interesting today is that the iowa cochair for michele bachmann defected and went with ron paul. she got a little upset about that, but these last-minute kind of moves can consolidate a vote behind one of those far-right candidates, like a ron paul. >> yeah, i think it might actually have a somewhat different effect, like a carom shot in pool. i think the signal that sorenson sent when he left bachmann is that she wasn't viable. it may end up helping to get more of the religious right voters to go to santorum. santorum is clearly the last un-romney being auditioned. he's having something of a surge. he can get second place and if somehow or another the other conservative candidates competing for this religious right, if voters see them as not

winners, that would be one of the surprises jonathan is talking about. >> jonathan is talking about santorum, look at this. he's already sounding like he's convinced he's going to do very well. he's already talking about on to new hampshire. look at this. >> i will provide the spark, there's plenty of tinder on the ground in these other states. >> he does have a point. especially if you're someone like rick an sorm, all nonhe's numb be three in the polls. that had be a bit of an earthquake. weç went through this 4 years ago, remember a certain candidate went into iowa not believes he could win. when he won iowa, that was the spark. >> there's no doubt about it.

of course, he got whipped in new hampshire, but he's still president. >> he evened the score my problem is they're all singing the same song. i mean, they all are saying the same basic thinks about how to govern and set up an economic structure, as a guy that grew up in church, if you sing soprano, al alto or baritone, or bass, you just decide what key you're singing in. that's all they care about. thank you all, and happy new year. andrea mitchell will interview mitt romney tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. right here on msnbc. ahead, republicans claim to be terrified of voter fraud. >> i believe in one person/one vote, but if other people are fraudulently casting votes, that

takes away my right to have my vote counted as a full vote. >> but i wonder what willard thinks about the fact that i.d.s aren't required at the first gop caucus? and pushback against the three gop scrooges in ç2011. will they finally listen to the people in 2012? [ male announcer ] you are a business pro.

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when republicans want harsh voter i.d. laws, they claim they're stopping fraud, not suppressing the vote, but apparently voter fraud is not a concern, at one of the republican party et cetera most important events. huffington post reports you don't need a voter i.d. to vote in the iowa caucuses next tuesday. iowa residents can register to vote at the caucus. all they need to do is sign an oath that the address is correct and get a registered voter to vouch for them. republicans worked against rules just like this in other states. 14 states passed restrictive voter i.d. laws in 2011, include the ones that ended same-day voter registration and

remembered voter i.d. at the polls. i wonder why they don't think fraud will be a problem at the iowa caucuses. in the last iowa republican caucus, 87% no, excuseç me 97%f the participants were white. 73% were 45 years or older. 60% earned more than $50,000, and the same amount were evangelicals. so when you are not a minority voter, poor voter, the gop just isn't worried about voter fraud. did they think we wouldn't notice they veechbtly throw their own rules out the window? nice try, but we got you. that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm [ male announcer ] for half the calories -- plus veggie nutrition.

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become unpopular. it's a lesson that radical gop governors learn the hard way. after they began the year by trying to ram their agendas down our throats. >> to everyone across the state who voted for me today, i say thank you. i say thank you. you have given us a mandate for true reform, i appreciate that. i will not let you down. >> don't give up. i'm giving you my word, better days are coming. >> we don't owe anything to anybody. we're going to do it the right way and turn the page on american politics. >> but things aren't looking quite so rosy today for these three scrooges. all saw their signature legislation get sgnwzzñirejecte. the u.n.-busting law was voted down by a 22-point margin. rick scott's big plan to drug

test welfare recipients got blocked by a federal judge. his approve rating plunged 26%, and of course there's scott walker, who ran through his own union-busting law despite protests against it. the law is still around, but he may not be around for much longer. recall grooms are already one striking distance of putting walker up for recall election. these extreme republican agendas were rolled back by progressives, organizing and mobilizing to turn back the tide. we've seen some huge victories. there's a lot more work ahead in 2012. joining me now is bob franken and victoria defran chez ko-soto, a visiting scholar at the university of texas austin, thank you both for joining me

tonight. >> thank you. >> bob, can the progressive serve we saw this year continue in the months ahead? >> that's a good question, because the passions of the progressives sometimes have a tendency to wane after the first initial euphoria going out and demonstrating, doing that kind of thing. add to that the fact that barack obama has lost some of the enthusiasm, quite frankly of the progressive movement. so it's going to be interesting to see if the progressives can continue with the passion that they've had before. >> now, when i talk about that passion victoria, and i've been around the country with a lot of this stuff and been involved on the front lines. i've seen these people go from their nights of victory that we showed, to every one of these three governors, the majority of their states now disapprove of them. walker 51% disapproval. kasich, 52%ç disapproval.

scott 58% disapproval. so it showed that these movements and this driving and this continuity of organizing has really turned the tide of public opinion in these states. >> it has. what's happened with these governors and with other politicians that came up in the 2012 election is they didn't know how to pivot from politics for governing. it's one thing to say you're going to cut, cut, cut during the campaign, but when you get into government, you need to play nice and be a leader for your whole state. they haven't done this. the most visibility casualty of this has been the governor in wisconsin, but i also want to point out that another casualty not as visible is rick scott in florida, where not only have they turned against him from the democratic side, but his own party has turned against him. >> well, bob, let me go back to what she said as the first governor, mr. walker, he was on

"morning joe" this morning after i was. he was asked about if he could go back to the beginning of the year. let me show you what he said. >> i would have spent more time explaining the rationale for what we're dough. collective bargaining is not a right, it's an expensive entitlement. >> i mean, he really thinks it would have been more palpable to explain to people why -- we just didn't understand? >> well, what he did, he pretty muchç showed the agenda for th year. his pal tron of so many republicans, particularly those of the far right, and i would put him in that category, they are virulently -- and they want to kill what remains of the union movement. a lot of that has base in

government employees, so you've seen this kind of effort to put a knife in the heart of what remains of labor. the patrons, the republicans are the old i gashes, i like to call them, they want a stratified society we have now with no regard for the middle class. they are acting as the puppets of the people who are the very, very wealthy. >> le my say this, because i think -- there are some going up, because a movement wins not only by bringing down those on the other side, but by being ability to lift others. elizabeth warren is in the last three polls, she's up 14 points pulling ahead. now she's up 14 points, and she came on with a much different message. let me again let the people hear what ms. warren said about rich

people. >> there is nobody in this country who got rich on his own. nobody. you built a factory out there, good for you, but i want to be clear, you moved your goods to market on the roads that the rest of us paid for. youç hired workers the rest ofs paid to educate. you built a factory, and it turned into something terrific or a great idea, god bless. keep a big hunk of it, but part of the underlying social contract is you take a hunk of that and pay forward for the next kid who comes along. >> so, victoria, as the three scrooges go down, eliz best warren is going up, a good sign, but let's not pop the shame pain bottle. there's a lot of work to do, because january 1st, four states have some extremely regressive immigration law that is go in effect, louisiana, tennessee, south carolina, and georgia.

we have a lot of work to do, and i'm talking about those laws going into effect next week. the backlash isn't just happening with the union matters. it's also being felt with the draconian anti-immigration legislation that happened in arizona just a couple weeks ago, the architect of s before-1070 was recalled, so arizona kicked it off in terms of the anti-immigrant legislation. i also think arizona will kick it off in terms of seeing a backlash of the rollback. there's already rumbling that? georgia and alabama there's an effort to recall those measures. and don't forget sheriff arpaio was found -- after i wasç assud

i was hallucinating. happy new year, both of you. >> happy new year. one of these candidates claimed that you could avoid being poor by being married. there are million of americans who would disagree with that statement that was made. we'll talk about it next. ♪ [ male announcer ] it's easy to see what subaru owners care about. ♪ that's why we created the share the love event. get a great deal on a new subaru and 250 dollars goes to your choice of five charities. ♪ with your help, we can reach 20 million dollars by the end of this, our fourth year. [ female announcer ] get 0 percent apr financing on select models for thirty-six months and we'll donate two-hundred and fifty dollars to your choice of five charities. now through january 3rd.

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we've heardç republican presidential candidates say a lot of nonsense about the poor, but rick santorum is now saying something especially ridiculous. >> two thing you can do that statistically will assure you -- what two things -- graduate from high school, get married. >> are you serious, rick? that's new toss 3.2 million jobless americans who have a high school diploma and 4.1 million married people who are looking for work, too. so much for that theory, rick. but republicans as a whole don't seem to have a clue about the problems facing unemployed and working-class americans. >> if you don't have a job and you're not rich, blake yourself. >> they're getting unemployment and they're getting food stamps and they say call me when unemployment runs out. we also have to realize there's

a lot of people gaming the system right now. >> our nation needs to stop doing for people what they can and should do for themselves. self-reliance means if anyone will not work, neither should he eat. >> joining me now is congresswoman donna edwards, democrat for maryland. thank you for joining me tonight, congresswoman.w[/=á >> it's good to be with you. >> i can hardly wait to ask the question. if you went to your district this weekend and said to them i've got a jobs plan for you -- get married and show me your high school diploma, what would be the reaction? >> the lunacy continues.

it's actually shocking. santorum also tried to blame the president for the decline in marriage rates. the reality is that decline started 40 years ago when the president was 10 years old. i don't think you can brame him for the decline in marriage. >> so is this cynical or no clue, as krugman wrote. it's hard for me to believe that they are this clueless, but also just as hard to believe that someone with a straight face would say this unless they really were clueless. i mean, i'm torn between which one it is. >> well, i mean, let's look at the reality over they last several months, what we have seen is a republican party that refuses to do anything to work with the president and work with democrats in congress to create jobs to try to improve the economy, so that 235e78s can provide for themselves.

the realie is we have republican leadership in the congress and on the -- among the presidential candidates who believes that somehow or other only wealthy people get to pull themselves up by their bootstraps, as though that's a reality, and they don't live the lives we do. they don't go out and buy gas and know how much it costs, go to the grocery store and understand what it takes to put a mealç on the table for a family. the president asked people to tell him, what does $40 mean to you when the republicans were considering not renews and extending the tax cuts, and i'll bet you those republicans candidates couldn't tell you, but $40 is a lot of money for the american people. some of these folks just don't understand what it means to get up in the morning to go to work to want to go to work and to take care of a family. >> well, congresswoman, you obviously didn't get the memo. see, if you get bailout money and you take the money and go

into your business debt in many ways went under because of your decision, that's called bailout and you're a job creator. if you get assistance because you've been laid out, that's caldwell fare and you're a beg begger, and you didn't get the memo. what i know is voters are experiencing a lot of buyer's remorse and 2012 will be like the day after christmas. the voters will return everything they bought and they'll ask for a refund or say i want something different. that's what will happen in 2012. these folks simply don't get the reality of people's lives and what it takes to make a living and what it takes to be a real job creator in this country in

this economy and work to do that. >> i like that, the day after christmas 2012 will be like ç that. the only difference is that the stores opened early to handle the volume. they're trying to stop early voting. congresswoman donna edwards, thank you for joining me tonight. a happy new year to you and your family. >> happy new year. we'll be right back. [ coughs ] what is this shorty? uh, tissues sir, i'm sick. you don't cough, you don't show defeat.

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20 is 11 was a are you familiar year for a lot of folks, but more and more people are hopeful about the year ahead. a new associated press poll shows 62% of americans think the nation will improve next year, and 78% are more optimistic for their families in 2012. >> 2012 i'm optimistic. >> there's real signs of turnaround, but i think being

optimistic makes a big difference. >> why do people have high hopes? because the economy is improving, and next year looks even better. leading experts predict the economy will grow by 2.4% in 2012 and say unemployment will drop to 8.4% by the election. in fact, things are already looking up. the number of people applying for unemployment benefits is at the lowest level in 3 1/2 years. the economy is heading in the right direction, bur on you national conversation is heading in the right direction, too. our president is fighting for the middle class and talking about creating jobs. don't get me wrong. we have a lot of problems to still solve, a lot of challenges ahead. i heard the president say, though, if you're in a ditch, don't give the people the keys who drove you into the ditch. i say we have our hands on the wheels and the gears. ignore those yelling for