necessary fact a moderate republican politician, who hoped to get to the presidency by whatever course of ideology and fashion that will get him there. that's hardball for now. thanks for being with us, the ed show with ed schultz starts right now. good evening americans welcome to the ed show tonight from new york, less than 24 hours, new hampshire voters will get a crack at picking a 2012 republican nominee. i'll show you why voters in the granite state are walking away from mitt romney and i don't think santorum will pull a tebow, this is the ed show. >> i like being able to fire people who provide services to me. >> middle class mitt is sticking by bad advice from his father. >> he said mitt, never get involved in politics, if you have to win election to pay a mortgage. >> tonight, my commentary how out of touch mitt romney really is. plus, we're going to the granite state for the latest on

tomorrow's primary. with bill burton of priorities usa and the washington post's e.j. dionne. on saturday i watched the debate with locals in new hampshire, to get their take on the gop field. >> i think the republicans are a bunch of phonies. >> john nichols of the nation magazine and huffington post jennifer donahue are here with full analysis. a hard-working american is calling out newt gingrich on his race problem. >> will you stop using blacks in general as a stepping stone or a punching bag? >> you don't want to miss newt's response. good to have you with us tonight folks, thanks for watching. mitt romney is doing anything he can to run away from his history as a job killer. it could be the last chance for his opponents to stop him from winning the nomination. tomorrow night is a big one. during romney's final swing through new hampshire, he played the role of middle class mitt once again. >> these are experiences many of

you that many of you know. i know what it's like to worry whether you'll get fired. there were a couple of times i wondered whether i would get a pink slip. >> really? tell us about that, mitt? when was that, what year, what day, what happened? we want more detail. we want more detail on these 100,000 jobs that you say you created. the idea of mitt romney worrying about a pink slip was so outrageous, even rick perry mocked it. >> the idea that mitt stood up and said he's worried about pink slips, come on, this is probably one of the richest people to ever run for the presidency of the united states, son of a multi-millionaire, an individual that mitt romney has never worried about a pink slip. he might have worried not having enough of them to hand out in places like gaffney, south carolina, but he's not worried about losing his job. >> he's way down in the polls, but is perry kind of getting on a roll a little bit? is he figuring it out? republican opponents are taking any opportunity to portray romney as a ruthless corporate

raider. check out what happened when romney made this gaffe about choosing health insurance plans. >> i want individuals to have their own insurance, that means the insurance company will have an incentive to keep you healthy. it also means if you don't like what they do, you can fire them. i like being able to fire people that provide services to me. if someone doesn't give me the good service i need, i want to say, you know, i'm going to get somebody else to provide that service to me. >> the question is, does that apply to employees. jon huntsman was taking his comment about firing people at face value. >> governor romney enjoys firing people. i enjoy creating jobs. >> newt gingrich has taken the biggest shots at romney's past as ceo of bain capital. >> at some point governor romney will have to hold a press conference and walk through with considerable detail some of the companies that bain took over

where they apparently looted the companies, left people totally unemployed and walked off with millions of dollars. >> the super pac supporting gingrich made a movie details romney's time at bain capital. it's damming. the movie is being rolled out in advance of the south carolina primary. >> mitt romney became ceo of bain capital the day the company was formed. his mission? to wreak massive rewards for himself and investors. >> mitt romney and them guys don't care who i am. >> he's for small business? no he isn't. he's not. >> you will be on the hit list, you know that. >> romney took foreign seed money from latin america, began a pattern exploiting dozens of american businesses. >> in the interests of full disclosure, bain capital is part owner of the weather channel and our parent company nbc universal, that doesn't change the facts about this guy who wants to be president of the united states. romney's time at bain is perfect

ammunition for his opponents and they're using it. his record has to be fair game. the real story about mitt romney is, lets it's starting to get told. according to the wall street journal, out of 77 businesses, 77 businesses that bain invested in, between the years 1984-1999, 22% of them, they either filed for bankruptcy or they just flat out went out of business. bain investors received 2.5 billion dollars from those 77 companies, they had annual gains between 50 and 80%. not bad but where did the money go? to the top it looks like. republican candidates aren't the only ones who were talking about this. the workers who were fired, they are speaking out. >> i worked in the steel mill of kansas city for 32 years. mitt romney and bain capital came in and took the place over and eventually shut it down.

we lost our jobs, they made millions. businesses, they are all gone. jobs we'll never see again. >> that is guy lying. those are the facts. mitt romney is the front-runner for the republican nomination, on outsourcer, job cutter, he allegedly took millions from workers, he was confronted today but a representative from the united auto workers union who wanted to know why in the world mitt wanted to let the auto workers go and not support them when president obama did? >> you say those people, people from your own state of michigan would have been better off either bankruptcy where they would have really very likely lost their jobs, instead of where they are today, once again, the number one auto company in the united states? i don't understand that. >> ma'am, we have been very patient. you need to get to the answer now, thank you. >> let's get to the answer.

>> the answer is this: bankruptcy is not going under and losing jobs. the president ultimately did what i suggested. going through a managed bankruptcy process. i wrote an op-ed about. this excuse me it's my turn to talk. if you want to talk afterwards, we can chat afterwards. general motors and chrysler went through a managed bankruptcy as i said in november. it took the president five or six months to come around to that. that is what they had to do. >> mr. romney, you were not for the loan, you know you weren't. mitt romney can't hide from his past. he killed jobs as a corporate ceo, he wanted president obama to kill jobs in the automobile industry and his policies will kill jobs if he's the president of the united states. his opponents are figuring it out, that is why they are going after him. not because they think he might get the nomination. this guy has a chance to destroy the republican party based on his business model. we're in a country that is trying to create jobs. he has a record of butchering labor.

i must say all of the republican candidates don't have a good word to say about labor at all. santorum said president obama didn't save the automobile industry, he saved the unions. really? tell the other side of the story, mr. santorum. talk to the unions about how they took a haircut and came back with a reduced package to keep that industry alive and saved millions of jobs. get cell phones out. the question will more americans receive pink slips if mitt romney becomes president. a for yes or b for no. 622639. go to our blog at ed.msnbc.com. we'll have results later in the show. one of the things that gets me about romney, and no one has ever challenged him in these debates, he acts as if he's the only one that has ever done anything in life. i come from the private sector. you're a lesser human being because you've never been in the private sector. held none of them cut as many jobs as mitt romney to my knowledge.

joining me tonight is julie kushner, united ought oh workers representative who confronted mitt romney today. and we're also joined tonight by donnie box, who was laid off, donnie good to have you we'll start with you first, what do you want people to know about what you went through and what it was like going through this experience and what do you want them to know about mitt romney? >> to start with mitt romney, i kind of moved on, beyond all this stuff, after eleven years, you start moving on, you can't dwell on what's happened but i started hearing all this stuff about the job creator and i got nothing against staples or some shoe company, all these other places he supposedly brought to life and wonderful things he did with it. i kept thinking what happened? what happened down where i worked? what the heck, where was all this go get them attitude then, this is not what we saw at the

plant. >> what effects did the layoffs have on kansas city once the steel mill was gone? >> well, you know, you start out and you think that was just 800 jobs in the middle, we were the biggest consumer of electrical natural gas and water in about a six-state area. and once they shut the mill down it didn't affect just the steelworkers, it hammered the guys at power and light all of a sudden they have a big bunch of staff they don't need to maintain that facility anymore, those guys got the ax, same thing with the gas company. when you're not using it, millions of cubic feet of gas you don't need the crews to maintain it. >> in the documentary or the tape that has been produced we played, it says romney took millions from employees, explain that, what do you know? >> all i know is when they decided to spin off the organization and management came to us as union members and said look, we're putting the package together, getting the financing

to come in here and kick this business up and we're going do make it go because this place can do it, we sell a great product, have great people. everybody bought into it. but you know --. >> does a mitt romney presidency worry you, scare you? >> i quote a good friend of mine that said he'll probably try to park this country out like he did this plant. that is what he's concerned about. >> let's turn to julie kushner, she confronted mitt romney in his campaign event. julie, good to have you with us. what happened? what did you ask and what did he say to you? >> well, i was at a breakfast meeting where he was talking about the uaw and about gm and chrysler, and criticizing president obama for helping out the auto industry, and i heard it before, but hearing it up close like that, i couldn't believe it. i got up and challenged him on it. i said how can you really criticize president obama for saving the auto industry in this

country? and he was saving a million jobs. people that work in gm or chrysler and auto-related jobs, how can you criticize the president for that? >> romney says the president did what he told him to do. >> i thought that was interesting. because i've heard him speak before and i never heard him say that the president did something right, so i was kind of surprised he said that, but the fact is we all know what the president did, what obama did was very helpful to our country and we've seen the auto industry and these companies in particular rebound and now gm was announced last week now they are the largest automaker again selling more cars than any other company in the world. >> did he say at that meeting that he was in favor of tax dollars helping out the automobile industry? that is the question. because it was all the republicans were against it, and now mitt romney is out there trying to say he was in favor of

a government loan saving the automobile industry? did he say that? >> he did not say that he was in favor of that, he did not say they did the right thing. i think what he tried to say, that president obama did what he told him to do, but what was clear was that he's been opposed this and he has been blaming, he said that gm is now owned by the uaw. and that's just such -- that's such a bad message for people. he's not telling the truth when he says that. because what happened was the union and the companies got together through the negotiation negotiations and figured out how to save this company and make it stronger. >> they reorganized, people took less benefit, less pension and less pay. that is the way it came down. the workers served it up again, was part of the solution. i got to ask you before we go, julie, mitt romney on the stump, numerous times referred to union stooges when it comes to the

national labor relations board. what is your reaction to that? >> he talked about union stooges. i actually said i'm not and i onstiej, i'm a person 59 years old with a family that works hard, expects everybody to treat each other respectfully, i don't think that kind of name calling has any place in politics. and i think that we have different values, that's clear. i believe people should, who work hard, play by the rules should get -- be able to have democracy where they work. >> my interpretation he thinks anybody that works for a wage must be a stooge. julie good to have you with us. donnie box, thank you for being here. answer the question at the bottom of the screen. share thoughts on twitter twitter #edshow. i watched the debate with ed show viewers on saturday night in manchester. i'll show you how the gop field is energizing the democrats not only for tomorrow night but for november, stay with us. [ male announcer ] what makes you trust a company?

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mitt romney does look strong heading in tomorrow's new

hampshire primary. but is he a lock for the nomination? what does second place really mean tomorrow night? bill burton and e.j. dionne join me next. psycho talk, rick perry latest gem, a dandy. he wants to send troops back to iraq? newt gingrich gets questioned on his link between african americans and food stamps, i'll ask dr. james peterson if this rhetoric works for the gop. share your thoughts on twitter using the #edshow. we will be right back, stay with us.

welcome back to the ed show with the new hampshire primary tomorrow the clear cut political story of the day is whether the republicans will stop themselves from making mitt romney their guy before it's too late.

romney is still leading in the polls in new hampshire, south carolina and florida. his nomination is not inevitable. for three simple reasons, in my opinion. first of all, number one, romney is busy shooting himself in the foot day after day. been a rough 48 hours for him. number two, his republican rivals are piling on him like never before, i don't know why they took so long to do this. the third reason is there are two full weeks between new hampshire and south carolina primaries which could be an eternity the way things are going. that is a lot of time for politics but no doubt an uphill battle for romney's gop competitors. romney has a strong lead in the latest new hampshire poll at 41%. his closest rivals are far behind. in another poll, romney's lead is not as wide, he has dropped five days in a row. in south carolina, he holds the lead, santorum and gingrich are not so far behind. bottom line is it's his to lose. i'm joined by bill burton, cofounder of priorities usa, former deputy press secretary for president obama. e.j. dionne, senior fellow at

brookings institution and columnist for the washington post. fellas, here's the bottom line. romney is anywhere from 41-35% in the polls. his lead is 15-24% in the polls, my question to both of you tonight is what does second place mean? because if romney wins, everybody else is 0-2 and it's tough to raise money when you're 0-2, isn't it bill, hey i'm 0-2, i'm going to win this, can you give me a few million. this is pivotal isn't it? >> it's an expectations game. somebody will come in this being 0-2, there is room for someone to surge at the end make a strong showing. mitt romney for all the things he's doing to stay in the lead he's not increasing his strength or support or look better like he's ready for prime time. there is a big opening for jon hunts huntsman or rick santorum and storm in south carolina with strength.

>> e.j. dionne they are coming at mitt romney in the last 48 hours unlike we haven't seen anything like it, the last couple months. why did it take so long? >> you know, i have been asking myself the same question and ed, if you don't like what i say you can fire me, i mean mitt romney went after himself today with that sound bite, even when you put it in context it's not a great sound bite about liking to fire people who give you service. >> exactly. >> and i think that the problem with this race is i do think mitt romney can be beaten but i'm not sure any of these alternatives can actually beat him. i think that the situation for romney is that if he gets 40% or more it is a huge win and he's really hard to stop. if he gets 35% it's okay. if he starts falling below that and especially if he gets below 30%, even if he wins, that almost becomes a defeat in the way these expectations games go because he will have dropped so many points in the week since the iowa caucuses.

i think rick santorum missed an opportunity coming in to this state. he kind of got waylaid in the dialogues for a couple days, i have been saying he was running to be a teacher in a jesuit high school. i like teachers in a jesuit high school, but that is not running for president. i think huntsman does seem to be on the move. if there is deterioration from romney, he may be the lucky guy to pick up the votes. >> here is some of the deterioration. let's play the romney line about pink slips. >> i know what it's like to worry whether you'll get fired. there were a couple times i wondered whether i was going to get a pink slip, and i care very deeply about the american people. >> bill burton, you believe the first part of that, that he was worried about getting a pick slip, rick perry even hammered him on that. >> it is lunacy. when reporters asked when he could cite instances they

couldn't name any because he wasn't. the deal he constructed at bain actually allowed for him no matter what happened, no matter if he was separated from the company, he would still be getting paid millions of dollars over the course of the years that would follow. so he doesn't know anything about anxiety small business people or even the average american worker feels about losing their job or getting their business shut down. >> he does look like the guy who fired you. that is a label on this guy. let's look at south carolina numbers again, in an average of recent polls in the state, romney is leading, but he would be swamped if just the support of gingrich and santorum were combined against him. e.j. dionne, social conservatives, the way it stands right now, they will have to get it together if they want to be involved in who will be the nominee. what do you think? >> well, i think that's where romney may be lucky again coming out of new hampshire because newt has real energy, after he

went after romney in that debate this sunday for pious baloney, that is one of the keepers from the primary, he really has his legs underneath him. i saw him today and he said have you ever seen anything like this? he was flying high. in the meantime, santorum already knows that he's got a potentially good base of social conservatives down there and rick perry won't go away. as long as these guys keep cutting up that vote, mitt romney will be able to slide in with a very small percentage and still win the thing. there has to be some consolidation over the next two weeks. >> well, huntsman appears to be a really nice guy. but when you have him piling on saying what's wrong with the country, david gregory, is this guy's attitude over here, that's really something. he's getting it from all sides. he's going to have to earn the nomination, no question about that.

bill burton, e.j. dionne, thanks for your time, appreciate it. next up, rick perry wants to reinvade iraq because apparently he thinks iran has super powers, psycho talk is coming up. hillary clinton for vice president? a new york times op-ed makes the case. could it really happen? i'll ask jonathan alter and joan walsh. when you think about it -- we're right back.

in psycho talk tonight, we

have more evidence rick perry is just another younger, crazier version version george bush. 75% of americans agreed to withdraw the troops last month. of course almost all of the republican presidential candidates were among the 25% who opposed the withdrawal. during saturday night's debate, rick perry he took it a step further. >> i would send troops back in to iraq. the idea that we allow the iranians to come back in iraq and take over that country with all the treasure both in blood and money we have spent in iraq because this president wants to cow tow to his liberal leftist base and move out those men and women. we're going to see iran, in my opinion, move back in at literally the speed of light. >> if iranian troops can literally move at the speed of light, i would think the world

has a held of a lot more problems than worrying about the future of iraq. but that aside the bottom line is rick perry wants to start a new war in a country we just spent the last eight years building back up after shock and awe reduced it to rubble. of course it would be great for the military contractors who raked in billions of taxpayer dollars, that is kind of a texas thing. rick perry saying he would go back in iraq is gearing psycho talk. i caught the debate with a bunch of friend good lefties, they had a chance to speak in front of the camera. newt gingrich confronted by a town hall attendee about his comments linking african americans and food stamps. he responds by denying then repeating the same comments. dr. james peterson will weigh in. stay with us. [ male announcer ] you love the taste of 2% milk.

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how crazy is it in new hampshire? i mean come on it's january i go up there this weekend, there is absolutely no snow whatsoever. but if you have any doubts about the democrats being energized and motivated to vote in the next presidential election, oh, they're paying attention. they can vote because president barack obama is on the ballot. we went to manchester, new hampshire, place called millie's tavern, had a lot of fun. we were there to ask progress progressives what they thought about the republicans candidates as they faced off in saturday night's debate. >> what happens in america that creates job is not government. it has its role, but by and large it gets in the way of creating jobs. >> these guys are talk how government doesn't create jobs when they are running for the number one government job in the country. >> i believe in an america that is based upon opportunity and freedom, not president obama's social welfare states. >> the general message is one of contempt and contention. >> what did you think tonight? >> i think that they are all mostly out of their minds.

>> i think that the republicans are a bunch of phonies with a possible exemption of huntsman. >> how would you feel if any one of them were president? >> scared to death. >> middle class, there are no classes in america. >> i'm thinking what country do you live in there is definitely classes in this country. >> did that bother you? >> he's so out of touch. >> just kills me to see the republican party supporting these people that will bring the country back 50 years to strip away roe versus wade, drives me insane. >> mitt romney said he would want to see the supreme court strike down roe v wade. >> do i believe it should be overturned? yes. >> i'm of the generation that worked for roe v wade, we can't go back again. >> a huge jump from being understanding and consider at and concerned, which we should be, to saying we're therefore going to institute the sacrament of marriage as though it has no

basis. sacrament of marriage was based on a man and woman, has been for 3,000 years. >> newt gingrich talking about mar range equality is like getting lessons drug addiction from a heroin addict. >> what do you think? >> it was a session. >> i would send troops back in iraq. >> the decision to elect a president has to be much more thoughtful than what we saw tonight. really, i think president obama is the winner tonight. >> do you think any of them could be president? >> any of them? i don't think so. >> tomorrow night, president obama will be on the ballot, he will obviously be the democratic nominee, but new hampshire is a very important swing state. so how the president performs in the state in november, obviously, is very crucial but democrats are paying attention and they are, i would say, very nervous about the republican field. let's turn to john nichols, washington correspondent the nation magazine, on the ground in new hampshire and also

jennifer donahue, that is her territory, fellow at eisenhower institute, great to have both of you with us tonight. john, the people i met are a serious bunch of folks who are being energized by this republican primary. what do you make of it, what are you hearing on the ground? >> i'm hearing a lot of same stuff, ed. i followed jon huntsman today, i asked people from new hampshire who showed up at his events what they thought about the rest of the field, and i got to tell you these were largely independents and moderate to liberal republicans, and they were frankly saying there were plenty of republicans at that debate on saturday and again on sunday morning that they couldn't vote for. so it isn't just democrats, it's actually the swing voters, that barack obama will need. these republicans are scaring even some of their fellow republicans. >> jennifer, what do you make of the folks in new hampshire? would you say the people that

are not in the republican camp are afraid of this field, many people say this is the most radical bunch they've ever seen. >> yeah, i talked to a bunch of undeclared voters today who are undecided who really don't like this field. people who are deciding last minute and this is about half of the electorate up here, doesn't know who they want to vote for. i think it's interesting that john mentioned huntsman. i think jon huntsman has a movement going. the question is whether he has time for a surge. he's the only serious major candidate who hasn't had a surge yet. i was at a town hall meeting and i think that jon huntsman basically has the ingredients of a john mccain, bill bradley, he's getting independent voters who are undeclared but democrats in their hearts, who are coming out to send a protest vote about this republican field, much like the people you talked about, and they don't like what their choices are but they like jon huntsman. >> one thing i noticed is a lot of talk about gay rights over the weekend with these republican candidates, also

abortion. this is just a total turnoff to independent voters. what do you think, john? >> well, i think it's a real turnoff, and in a state like new hampshire saying you want to reinvade iraq? that does not go over well. also, this state just went through a really bitter battle and is in fact still going through a bitter battle over right to work law. anti-labor law, and these candidates were stumbling over themselves trying to be the most anti-labor candidate, seeming to forget that in the new hampshire legislature, many of the pro-labor votes came from moderate republicans. >> yeah. >> this field is just way out of touch with the state. >> jennifer, what happened to rick santorum, good showing in iowa, nothing in new hampshire it seems like. >> nothing. he's got nothing. and i think he might come in third, he might come in fourth, really right now a race for second between huntsman and ron paul. i think that santorum probably made a bad strategic decision competing in new hampshire, he had a pretty good come close to

winning in iowa, he probably should have gotten on a plane to south carolina like perry did, and tried to capitalize on those gains, so he could knock off romney down there. i don't think the time in this state has paid off for him. we had a fatal flaw on romney with the discussion of the pink slips. >> well, a story like that goes through countryside like wildfire. something that is water cooler talk. people talk about that. john, has that hurt him? >> it has hurt a lot. in fact that is the funny thing, i thought initially it was something people would see the context, wrong. i had it brought up to me at gas stations, in stores. people were watching it again and again, it's on a repeat loop much like howard dean's scream speech in iowa in 2004. it will hurt romney. >> i got to tell both of you and the audience tonight how i feel. there is nothing wrong with being 2-0, i don't care if you win by 5 or 10 points if romney comes out 2-0 it will be a real

tough road for everybody else, unless the social conservatives gather behind one candidate. we'll see fit happens. john nichols, jennifer donahue, thanks for joining us. obama-clinton ticket in 2012? the speculation continues. look it's great for talk radio and cable news, that is why i'll talk to jonathan alter and joan walsh. you got to be thinking about it. i stepped on the machine, and it showed me the pressure points on my feet and exactly where i needed more support. then, i got my number.

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is there any chance you would be vice president in the second term? >> no. there is not. >> is it in the realm of possibility? >> i do not think it's in the rae many of possibility. >> that was hillary clinton back in october. addressing rumors of a possible

swap, job swap with vice president joe biden. it has been media speculation for over a year the scenario runs something like this. joe biden goes to the state department, hillary clinton joins barack obama on the campaign trail, fires up the base and serves as vice president as president obama is reelected to a second term. sounds good in disneyland, doesn't it? bill keller took it a step further, he joined the fray arguing an obama-clinton ticket in 2012 is just what the democrats need. keller believes clinton as vp does more to guarantee obama's reelection than anything else they could do. writes it makes her the party heir apparent in 2016. now this is all great fodder for cable news, i don't think the switch will take place i like talking about it. i do think it's a discussion the democrats need to have because there is nothing wrong with it. just hear me out on this one. the democratic party needs to be thinking about the next

generation. with clinton on the ticket, it would be really looking good for 16 years for a democrat in the white house, don't you think it's a way to insure roe v wade is protected and the supreme court isn't taken over by right wing activists. whether you think it's nuts or not i think it's worth thinking about and talking about. if the president did it i don't think there would be criticism whatsoever. joe biden is a good man, done a great job, but it's all about winning. i'm joined by joan walsh, editor at large, jonathan alter, columnist for bloomberg view. who wrote about this in october? jonathan. >> i did. >> there is a freak of possibility of this happening? >> there is just a little tiny mathematical possibility. it's really -- it would be a hail mary pass, essentially, if

president obama was behind in the polls, at the time of the democratic convention, and they only had a little more than eight weeks to go before the election, and he had a lot of ground to pick up, the reason they don't even consider it really in the white house is they believe it would look weak, that to throw joe biden under the bus would seem desperate, and that it would hurt on what they call the leadership score, it would make president obama craven and political. aside from the fact he has an outstanding relationship with joe biden and doesn't want to do it. >> joan, what do you think of the conversation, good, bad, whatever. >> gee, bill keller, come on, not like there is no political news, not like it's a slow news day. there is so much for us to talk about, ed. so much more that is interesting. i understand your enthusiasm. i agree with jonathan, it would

look weak, it would almost certainly look weak, would almost certainly look like desperation and would be criticized. bill keller would be the first one saying wow, what is going on in the white house to reward joe biden this way. and it's also kind of crazy because actually the white house is on an upswing in virtually every way. messages, poll numbers are up, speculating about a theorhetical that doesn't feel like it will happen. >> let's just say it happens, okay? let's just say i'm having fun with this. >> okay. >> let's just say it happens, and let's say president obama gets reelected. in 2016, hillary clinton would be one of the most qualified people to run for president in the history of the country. having been the first lady, having been a united states senator, having been the secretary of state, having been the vice president of the united states. it would be credentials and executive experience unparalleled anywhere. the democrats need to think in

terms of generational victories because of the supreme court. jonathan, your thoughts? >> ed, if credentials and qualifications were the standards, then dick cheney would have been president instead of george w. bush, he would have been everything before he was vice president, certainly barack obama didn't have much in the way of those kind of qualifications and experience. >> you'd have to admit hillary clinton would be one. most experienced people ever to run for t the office. >> she would, but the way politics work, she would get knocked off by andrew cuomo. >> it would be a long time to sit in one of those seats. it wouldn't necessarily help her, ed, i don't think. i think if she wants to do it in 2016, she can do it in 2016. i'm not worried about that. >> joan, there is probably the down side of it all for the democrats would be that hillary clinton does have a way of invigorating the right wing, they used to raise money any time she was in the news. >> she became such a big hero.

she has got a high approval rating because she is not running for anything. she is not entirely in the public spotlight. people like her better when she goes a way alittle bit. that is not a diss. let's be real how politics work. >> never say never, ed. never say never, because politicians do what it takes. there is a miniscule chance of it happening you can't rule it out entirely, a lot can change in the next nine months. >> joan walsh, jonathan alter, always a pleasure. good to have you with us. newt gingrich thinks because he worked with colin powell and condoleezza rice he could teach the naacp about food stamps. dr. james peterson sounds off off that. i'll have commentary as well, stay with us.

tonight our survey, i asked you will more americans receive pink slips if mitt romney becomes the president? 97% said yes. 3% said no. next up, newt gingrich doubles down on his comments about food

stamps and the african american community. dr. james peterson is next, stay with us.

♪ more and more folks are trying out snapshot from progressive. a totally different way to save on car insurance. the better you drive, the more you can save. no wonder snapshot's catching on. plug into the savings you deserve with snapshot from progressive. finally newt gingrich is downing down on his offer to help the naacp cut back on food stams. over the weekend a town hall attendee confronted him about his recent suggestion most food stamp recipients are african american. newt's lengthy response gain with his favorite strategy, denial.

>> the democratic national committee took totally out of context half of a sentence. okay? i think clearly as somebody who served with colin powell, somebody who served with condy rice, i have a good sense in fact african americans have made many contributions to america. >> after playing i'm the not racist i worked with condy card, he doubled down on the comment that got him in trouble in the first place. >> i said i would like to debate the issue of food stamps versus paychecks. now those currently 43% african american teenage unemployment in the united states. that number should be unacceptable to any american. i said i was willing to go to the naacp annual conventions and i would be willing to talk about importance of food stamps versus paychecks. i would have thought there would have been a positive response, gosh, here is a republican who cares enough that he's willing to go and talk to one of the most left wing organizations in

america about how to help the people they represent. >> joining me now is dr. james peterson the director of africana studies at lehigh university. i want your response what you just heard on the videotape. >> flabbergastet. the naacp is not one of the most liberal organizations. here is a memo to everyone who makes these faux pas, my best friend is black response is the worst response you can make. panned because basically it reduces the discussion to your individual relationships when in reality you're making commentaries about millions of people. that is the problem when we look at the numbers, we know more white folk on welfare than black folk, why would this conversation only need to be had at the naacp? why wouldn't we have it everywhere. >> there is a few days from when he originally said this and when he was confronted on the campaign trial, yet he made no

mention of just how many white people in the country are on food stamps but he still is willing to go to the left wing organization the naacp and tell them a few things. what does this kind of rhetoric do, what would be his motivation for talking like this? >> i think when we put it in the context of like bachmann's comments about slavely, rick santorum black-to-black comments, there is a problem with race and the republican side of politics. i feel this is about the ways in which some of these candidates try to pander to a right that is a little more racially focused than the rest of the country and so they try to score point there's and have to backtrack when they get caught. i'm writing about this, my co-author are publishing a piece, what we do is try to catalog all these pieces to get people to think about this in a much more comprehensive way so we can address it more directly. >> is this the dirty little secret of the republican party,

they just really do fundamentally struggle with race? santorum also recently came under fire for similar rhetoric, is this how they win over conservatives? you have to ask the question. >> i think we see more of it in the republican primary piece, more of it in like tea party organization because those public events or public sort of speaking opportunities are geared toward and pander toward a very small minority within the republican party which is a my for tee -- minority. there is pan derg to folks who think about race in the 1950's. >> one other thing i want to bring up very profound that none of these republican candidates talk about the poor. income disparty, i'm talking about the poor people in this country, the number of people living under the poverty level. they never talk about that. why is that? >> because the poor folk don't represent a voting block they are willing to cater to. they don't have a lot of money,

they can't afford a super pac, so they're not going to be talking about poor folk, we haven't seen anyone mention or talk about poor folk. if you want to have the conversation about food stamps and pay checks, that is poor folk in america. >> dr. james peterson, great to have you with us tonight. appreciate your time. look forward to your work. that is the ed show i'm ed schultz. listen to me on the radio, follow me on twitter and like me on facebook. rachel maddow. north dakota state defeated sam houston state. sam houston went in the game averaging 39 points a game, bison held them to two field goals. rachel, good evening. looking forward to tomorrow night. >> you didn't have a feeling about that game or anything, did you, ed? >> i had a good feeling about it that is why i ran the tape.