ade with vine-ripened tomatoes. and no preservatives. 80 years of real great food from a real great chef. well, mitt romney's got money problems, but not the kind you're thinking of. running for president in a year where most americans are worried about jobs and layoffs, his rivals are trying to paint him as out of touch and he's giving them plenty of fodder. >> i got a little income from my book, but i gave it away and then i get speaker's fees from time to time, but not very much. >> last year, that was $374,000. seven times what the average american household makes and the web ads have already started.

>> and then i get speaker's fees from time to time, but not very much. not very much. >> charles blow is the columnist with "the new york times," jackie kucinich covers politics for "usa today." you've got the pink slips. i like firing people. even though that was kind of out of context. corporations are people. $10,000. he is one of the richest men ever to run for president, but maybe he really doesn't get it. >> i really don't believe that this is -- this is very natural to him. this is his life. >> his life is $374,000. >> and i think that that is the big issue for him, which is that people will not be able to identify. this is the ace of extreme couponing. that is a hit show on

television. >> but do they care if they can he can repair the economy? >> i think identification with the character of a person is important on some level. the idea that you don't have a job, a real job, i mean, we've had rich people before, but in charge of a corporation or you were a senator or you were doing something with your life. you're basically saying i make all of my money from investment for the last ten years doing nothing and i speak about it from time to time, but that's just chump change. just lint in my pocket. people don't necessarily identify with that. when you're trying to -- >> i want to lint. he also pays about 15 p% in taxes, he says. again, the 35% top rate and less than many middle class americans even pay. that 15%. here's newt gingrich's response to what romney pays in taxes. >> first of all, he ought to release his taxes and find out

whether or not it was really 15% and second, i think that we ought to rename our flat tax. we have a 15% flat tax, so this will be a mitt romney flat tax that all americans would pay the rate romney paid. i think that's terrific. >> if mitt romney has a vulnerability that could cost him the nomination, is this it? >> i think it's a -- something his critics are trying to paint him as and right now, he's not helping. this is the third unforced error we've seen from romney on the campaign trial. corporations are people. i like to fire people. even though he was talking about something else. you can click that into an ad, no problem. they haven't really found a way to deal with this yet on the campaign and until they do, his critics are going to keep scoring points by you know, showing that -- by these comments. i mean, and so until they realize how to handle that, it's going to be tough.

it's really going to be tough. >> and we've seen them turning around the web ads. stick around jackie and charles for just a minute. if the president does face off against mitt romney, there's a new poll that shows it's a dead heat right now. joining me now is chris van holland. besides that match up we just showed, 30% of people say that they are worse off than actually since the president took office. 54% say they're the same. just 15% say they're better off. so if that's the question people vote on, is the president in trouble? >> i don't think the president's in trouble. i think the president's recognizes that americans are struggling. mitt romney obviously has a very different view of things given what you were just talking about and is out of touch. but the key question will be whether or not americans sense the economy is headed in the

right direction. and i think the good news is that while the economy remains fragile, we have seen signs of improvement. the key is to make sure whatever action's necessary to sustain that recovery and help nurture that recovery. >> there is a little good news in that poll for the president because he's gaining for his base. most democrats say the country is headed in the right direction. in fact, that number is up 21 points since the fall, but is that enough for him to win an election and the independents are very skeptical as you know. >> again, chris, i think the question is how will the economy behave between now and november and the good news is things do seem to be improving and the president's been clear that we need to extend the payroll tax cut to make sure that 160 million american haves a little l bit more income in their pockets so they can go out and buy goods and services and that

means that more small businesses will be able to sell those and hopefully hire more people. thr some promising signs. now, if the republicans in the house were to get their way today and pass this legislation that would prevent the united states from paying its debts and obligations for the first time in our history, that's a quick way to wreck the economy and hurt jobs. the good news is at the end of the day, more responsible heads i think will prevail, but i think it's an indication of where a lot of the tea party republicans are and i think the more people see that kind of extremism, they'll recognize that the president has presented a much better way forward. >> house republicans today and i'm hearing it's between four and five, are going to take that vote against the debt ceiling, but it's a political vote. it's not going to matter. going into 2012, is it going to be the same often fruitless battles we saw last year? because something else we see in this poll and others is just how much the american people are sick of it.

>> well, that's right. and i don't know what the next ten months in congress will bring. what i do know is that we've got to finish the job with respect to the payroll tax cut. make sure that we extend unemployment compensation for folks out of work through no fault of their own and make sure that doctors who serve patients on medicare get fully reimbursed so they keep seeing those patients. there's our goal. we should be able to do that quickly so long as our republican colleagues aren't doing what they did last december, which is add a lot of unrelated stuff to that. >> mitt romney may be making $374,000 in speaking fees, but you are number 24 on gq's list of the most powerful people in washington. they put a really nice picture up there, too. you getting a lot of ribbing

about that? >> i'll have to figure who else is on that list, but i have to take a look at it. you got to see it before i did. >> thank you so much for coming on on. charles blow, i'll bring him on. the president's campaign by the way is shopping for ad time, so we're at an early stage. if you're putting those ads together, where are you focusing? >> right now, what they're doing is kind of tinkering with the republican primaries. and they're you know, trying to figure out how they can hurt people in advance of the actual match up and in fact, when you see the one to one match up of the president against a republican candidate, those are almost meaningless numbers because you haven't actually seen the president out on the stump against another person. you have to remember that an election is an either/or proposition. without even running and this is

a behemoth. they probably won't quite make it to a million dollars, but it is a very efficient machine and once it's working, those numbers will begin to change and how they change will have something to do with that they do, but also the economy. do not ever underestimate how good president obama is on the stump. >> or how unsettled the republican party is right now because here you have mitt romney leading in these polls and at the same time, this new poll shows three quarters of republicans say it's too early to say for sure who they want the nominee to be. not exactly an overwhelming endorsement for mitt romney and it might be why newt gingrich still thinks he can win south carolina and look who's supporting him. >> if i had to vote in south carolina, in order to keep this thing going, i'd vote for newt and i would want this to

continue, more debates, more vetting of candidates because we know the mistake made in our country four years ago was having a candidate that was not vetted to the degree that he should have been so that we know, knew what his associations and his pals represented and what went into his thinking, the shaping of who our president today is. >> oh, for a minute there -- >> talking about her? i thought she was talking about her not being vetted. >> jackie, is she relevant in this discussion? are people listening to her? >> i don't know how much people are ris listening to her. i think it's interesting what she said. newt is definitely going to use it on the campaign trail. what i'm hear iing from voters hee, i was in west columbia yesterday and a voter told me i want to get this wrapped up as soon as possible because we need someone strong against romney. >> the message she has -- that's the exact opposite message from

sarah palin. >> right. it really depends on who you talk to. i think there are some conservatives, especially, who are saying no, we're not ready yet. but then there are others in the republican party and voters who just want, republicans, who really just want a no, ma'minee this point so they can stop -- so the internal tearing down kind of stops because gingrich right now is telling people to hey, santorum and perry, we should all get together and i should be the conservative candidate so romney doesn't, so romney isn't, you know, automatically the nominee. so i think because of that, it depends on who you side with. gingrich, or romney's fine. >> and how quickly rick santorum dropped out of the conversation. jackie, charles, more to come. thank you, both. one of romney's biggest supporters, there he is. chris christie. had a couple of choice things to say about his weight problem and the possible vp nomination, but

first, an update. wisconsin's big push for a gubernatorial recall. more than a million signatures collected. on tuesday, the state board of election must verify the signatures before it can move forward with an election in the spring. considering he won 2010 with 1.1 million votes, the number of signatures may not bode well for him in the future. we weren't thinking about a will at that time. we were in denial. that's right. [ laughter ] we like our freedoms, but at the same time we have responsibilities to the kids and ourselves. we're the vargos and we created our wills on legalzoom. finally. [ laughter ] [ shapiro ] we created legalzoom to help you take care of the ones you love. go to legalzoom.com today and complete your will in minutes. at legalzoom.com, we put the law on your side. like a ramen noodle- every-night budget. she thought allstate car insurance was out of her reach.

until she heard about the value plan. dollar for dollar, nobody protects you like allstate. nyquil tylenol: we are?ylenol. you know we're kinda like twins. nyquil (stuffy): yeah, we both relieve coughs, sneezing, aches, fevers. tylenol: and i relieve nasal congestion. nyquil (stuffy): overachiever. anncr vo: tylenol cold multi-symptom nighttime relieves nasal congestion... nyquil cold & flu doesn't. and also to build my career. so i'm not about to always let my frequent bladder urges, or the worry my pipes might leak get in the way of my busy lifestyle. that's why i take care, with vesicare. once-daily vesicare can help control your bladder muscle and is proven to treat overactive bladder with symptoms of frequent urges and leaks day and night. if you have certain stomach or glaucoma problems, or trouble emptying your bladder, do not take vesicare. vesicare may cause allergic reactions that may be serious. if you experience swelling of the face, lips, throat or tongue, stop taking vesicare and get emergency help. tell your doctor right away if you have severe abdominal pain,

or become constipated for three or more days. vesicare may cause blurred vision, so use caution while driving or doing unsafe tasks. common side effects are dry mouth, constipation, and indigestion. i've worked hard to get to where i am... and i've got better places to go than always going to the bathroom. so take charge of your symptoms by talking to your doctor and go to vesicare.com for a free trial offer.

new jersey chris christie isn't exactly saying no when it comes to being vice president. >> i don't expect to be asked. i don't think i'm the type of personality who is going to be asked to be vice president by anybody. they'd have to hire a food taster. >> but a new poll finds more

than half of new jersey voters think he will be tapped. the republican superstar also opened up about his struggle with weight. >> this is a struggle that people have. like a lot of other struggles that people have in life and so i'm going to be honest about the things that are a challenge to me and if in any way that helps other people, i'm thrilled by it. >> rick santorum firing back at newt gingrich, insisting he won't be bull hied out of the race. gingrich suggested that santorum and rick perry drop out. >> we've been chewing a little red meat today. >> newt's comments are kind of left field. >> you want to talk about that? >> i mean, i would never ask someone to get out of a race. where do you come off telling someone that support me after you beat me twice and support me because i'm the better guy? >> and american idol host ryan seacrest getting ready to

interview joe biden r for his radio show. hoping to avoid another confirmation battle with is that the republicans this year, president obama promoted jeffrey science to be director of budget. he'll replace jacob lew, the new white house chief of staff. this comes as white house officials are giving democrats a warning. brace yourself for the president's budget proposal because you're probably not going to like it. dennis kucinich join message now. good morning. >> it's got to be with you. good morning. >> the president hopes to appease the left about washington's crackdown on spending by promising he's going to focus on job creation this year rather than deficit cutting. but do you think that will work? are you worried? >> well, look, the main thing is to get people back to work, we should be focusing on job creation. what kind of jobs? i hope it's jobs that result in

bridges being built and water systems being built, suer systems being built. if the president starts to focus on that and is able to get the resources from congress to put america back to work, that will be good for the american people, the economy, for president obama as well. >> everybody thinks that putting people back to work is a good idea and obviously, it will be helpful, the kinds of changes that need to be made though, they're not going to happen overnight and that's why ths going to be so much push to slash things out of the budget. what are you worried most about? >> you know, there's, there's we don't want any cuts in education, for example. we don't want cuts in programs that affect women and children. we have to be sure that we're not cutting out regulatory funds that would mean we have less environmental protection or less protection for people who fly or for consumers in the marketplace. so we have to be very careful that we do not effectively undermine america's ability to protect the american people.

on the other hand, we have to have history here. the reason why we got into problems in the first place, the bush tax cut, the wars in afghanistan and iraq, the recession. bush's mediciare part d. that's the background. now the president has to take control of the economy, get people back to work and item certainly going to support his effort to try to create jobs. >> do you think the fact that it's an election year, congressman, makes it more or less likely we'll see these kinds of cuts that you're talking about? >> well, i think it will be more likely we're going to see job programs, ininvestment in major infrastructure. in cleveland, we're looking to get a new bridge built and i think we'll need help. there are issues the president can't ignore and if he addresses them, gets people back to work, the american people are going to respond appreciatively. on the other hand, if the focus is on deficit cutting, i don't think that's going to do it. that doesn't solve the problem.

there has to be some spending here. >> let me ask you about your home state and the election. we know ohio is a key presidential battleground and right now, president obama and mitt romney are in a statistical dead heat, but 51% of ohio voter rs say he doesn't deserve another term in office. can barack obama win ohio? >> yes, it's going to depend on getting people back to work. i think there's still time to do it, but of course he can win ohio and the question is, whether he can get people out to vote again who were enthusiastic in 2008 to see him elect ed president. i think they will if they know the economy's coming back and cleveland in northeast ohio, where you see in northern ohio where you see the big democratic vote, people will come out if they start to see the economy come back. >> what's the unemployment rate there? >> it's about, between 8 and 9%. >> so along the national average? >> it's close to the national average, but again, the infrastructure needs in ohio are extraordinary.

just two days ago, the ohio department of transportation reordered their priorities and shortchanged the cleveland area by saying they're going to wait ten years to put in a new bridge. we can't stand for that. that's why the federal government's going to have to get involved. this is a great opportunity for president obama looking at infrastructure to get involved in ohio in particular and start to move public support by showing that he wants to put ohi ohioans back to work. >> it's good to see you. thank you. >> thank you. the hot ticket on capitol hill tuesday is the president's state of the union address and look who nabbed one. a homeless teenager from new york who is also a semifinalist in the intel science contest. samantha garvey was profiled on nbc nightly news. she's an aspiring marine biologist who has been living in a homeless shelter. steve israel offered her the

ticket saying he was inspired by her story. d.j. foreman took over her family's century old cincinnati business. she moved it away from diamonds and gold. she kaled down, moved down to a smaller space and became more web centric. for more, watch "your business" sunday morngs. [ male announcer ] feeling like a shadow of your former self? c'mon, michael! get in the game! [ male announcer ] don't have the hops for hoops with your buddies? lost your appetite for romance? and your mood is on its way down. you might not just be getting older. you might have a treatable condition called low testosterone or low t. millions of men, forty-five or older, may have low t. so talk to your doctor about low t. hey, michael! [ male announcer ] and step out of the shadows. hi! how are you? [ male announcer ] learn more at isitlowt.com. [ laughs ] hey!

in your breakfast cereal, what is? now, in every box of general mills big g cereal, there's more whole grain than any other ingredient. that's why it's listed first. get more whole grain than any other ingredient... just look for the white check. get more whole grain than any other ingredient... excuse me. him? he's helping me get back to normal. hey, i don't even live in a floodplain. but i've got flood insurance, so i'm covered. how's that? nice. flood insurance, it helps make your home a home again. or, your me a me again. ooh, check it out fred, new foundation. got any of those in my size? [ female announcer ] only flood insurance covers floods. for a free brochure, call the number on your screen.

the shock over the deadly italian cruise ship accident is mounting as new tapes of the coast guard ordering the captain back to the ship are being played around the world. 22 passengers are still missing. the death toll stands at 11. coming up, we'll hear those incredible tapes of the cap tip and talk to a former admiral about the rights and safety of americans who go on cruises every year. what a shock this was. two women dog walkers were out with nine dogs in the hollywood hills of california when they found a plastic bag in brush with a human head inside. the victim appears to be a male in his 40s who was killed pretty recently. the pacific northwest is getting hammered this morning by

a major snowstorm. seattle could get more snow today than an entire winter. residents expect 3 to 6 inches, but some parts of the cascades could see up to two feet by tomorrow. more than 1,000 occupy protesters gathered outside the white house but were forced to clear the area after a smoke bomb was thrown over the fence. the president and first lady were not there. they were at a restaurant celebrating the first lady's birthday. he designed the dress michelle obama wore to her husband's inauguration, now, he's designing for you. we'll tell you about his collection for a discount retailer at 10:40, but first, mitt romney said he would release his personal tax returns in april, but what's in them that has everyone so interested? that's why there's brita, to make the water we drink, taste a little more, perfect. reduce lead and other impurities with the advanced filtration system of brita.

♪ home was an airport lounge and an ipad ♪ ♪ made sure his credit score did not go bad ♪ ♪ with a free-credit-score-dot-com ♪ ♪ app that he had ♪ downloaded it in the himalayas ♪ ♪ while meditating like a true playa ♪ ♪ now when he's surfing down in chile'a ♪ ♪ he can see when his score is in danger ♪ ♪ if you're a mobile type on the go ♪ ♪ i suggest you take a tip from my bro ♪ ♪ and download the app that lets you know ♪ ♪ at free-credit-score-dot-com now let's go. ♪ vo: offer applies with enrollment in freecreditscore.com™.

i want to fix up old houses. ♪ [ woman ] when i grow up, i want to take him on his first flight. i want to run a marathon. i'm going to own my own restaurant. when i grow up, i'm going to start a band. [ female announcer ] at aarp we believe you're never done growing. thanks, mom. i just want to get my car back. [ female announcer ] discover what's next in your life. get this free travel bag when you join at aarp.org/jointoday. pressure is escalating on

mitt romney to release his tax return. he admitted they were closer to 15%. at the white house, jay carney got into the act. >> it is an established tradition for presidential candidates to release their tax records. then senator obama did release multiple records. president george w. bush, president clinton. nominees for each party r for years and years and years. >> i'm joined by the policy editor of think progress.org. what is it people think they're going to find? who are folks looking for? >> mostly what folks they they're going to find and what romney confirmed yesterday is that he's paying really low tacks because his money comes from investments. he's not making much in terms of wage money and so he's paying a rate that's around 15% where as the top income tax rate, what lebron james or others who make

a lot of money pay is closer to 35. >> some people's eyes glaze over, i'm among them, when it comes to defining what taxes are. but clearly, a 15% tax rate is lower than a lot of middle income people pay. so why is there this disparity? basically, nobody's suggesting there's anything illegal here. it's the way the system is set up. >> the way the tax code is set up, it really preferences investment, so the top investment rates, if you're making hundreds of millions or billioning a year, you pay at a top rate of 15% where as athlet athletes, actors are paying the top wage rate of 35.

>> so, let's just take it mitt romney for example. we don't know how much he made last year, but by his own statement, he made about $374,000 in earnings, what he got from speeches, but his overall income, taxed at 15% maximum rate, guesstimated 20, 30 million, right? so, percentage wise, his actual, do you call it earned income? his actual salary was very low comparatively. >> that's exactly right and why his tax rate is as low as it is. there's another issue here in that the particular industry he was in, the private equity tri, they get a huge tax break that not a lot of other people get in that the money investors pay money managers like romney to manage their accounts xwets treated as investment income. so if somebody comes along and

gives romney money to handle their investments, it gets treated as an investment, so he's collecting a paycheck to manage other people's money, but that gets treated as an investment that romney made for tax purposes. >> and that's the law we allowed to go through. thank you so much. let's bring in south carolina chairman and chad connolly, the state republican chairman. when you consider the average south carolina resident earns about $33,000 a year, are they going to be able to appreciate that mitt romney says he didn't make much when he earned about 374,000 speaking last year? >> i was in a couffee shop this morning and that was the topic of conversation. >> it was? >> somebody said to me, a guy that says i had inconsequential speaking income, almost

$400,000, it shows just really how out of touch this guy is. he's a richie rich guy. born on third base, thought he hit a triple. had a rich dad that worked in the auto industry and this is going to be become more and more apparent. i will also tell you his refusal to release his tax returns and newt gingrich is urging him, indicates he's got something to hide. and this is not from our perspective, the democrat's perspective, this is wonderful. between santorum, gingrich and romney, it's beginning to resemble a three stooges movie. no eye gouging yet, but we expect it before saturday. >> even chrkrichris christie wa pressed on it this morning. said i think sooner is better, earlier rather than later to get these tax returns out. is romney going to have a connection problem with south carolina republicans because of

this? >> hey, chris, thanks for having me again. glad to be here. i think the people of south carolina are a lot smarter than that and they realize that obamacare and attacks part of justice on voter i.d. laws are more important than the fact that mr. romney's been a successful business man and we have low taxes on capital gains, which is right for investments. it's what creates investments. >> but i guess the question is is he out of touch with the average person? when you say i didn't make much, 374,000, when the average person in your state makes $33,000. >> i don't think anybody thinks it's a mystery that governor romney's been very successful in business and has helped create thousands of jobs. and saturday, we're going to pick the next nominee of the are republican side and beat barack obama next fall. >> is that what's going to happen or do you think we might get a surprise now?

>> i can tell you just talking to folks on the ground here, republicans do talk to me from time to time. there is something going on and what's going on is mitt romney did terribly at the debate monday night. he drew a tiny crowd in florence yesterday. i'm hearing rumblings of people defecting to newt and santorum and i can tell you, based on what we're seeing in this process, there's no question, the big winner on saturday in south carolina is going to be barack obama. >> because? >> because they're all looking terrible. mitt is just disintegrating. newt got endorsed by sarah palin yesterday. and santorum is frantically trying to make himself more evangelical, more right wing, so that he can get more votes here. this is not america. this is if these guys are are playing to get extreme votes in south carolina, romney's reinventing himself again.

he doesn't want people to remember he passed a law banning assault weapons, raised taxes on guns in massachusetts while he vetoed a $75 a year supervision fee for child predators. >> i want to get chad's -- >> if this comes out -- >> i want to get a quick reaction from chad before we move on. this is an editorial in the "wall street journal." team obama will spend $1 billion assailing the republican as a morally obtuse fat cat who doesn't understand the problem of average americans. if mr. romney doesn't want to spebd the campaign defending his 15% tax rate, he'll get out and propose serious tax reform. are they right? >> the failed president of president obama is going to use every deflection his team can think of. >> that's "the wall street journal" editorial page. >> worst president in american history, also the most failed. our candidates are right. this is a primary.

this is going on this way because you see a bare knuckle brawl. our guys will come together and be relating just fine to the folks in south carolina and barack obama's not going to be the big winner here saturday. >> always great to have you. thank you. mitt romney might have another numbers problem. his jobs record at bain. so we've had msnbc's richard lui looking into this and what did you find? >> yeah, it's a 17-year debate. mitt romney's job creation numbers. the obama campaign asking for a numbers guy, why all the different jobs numbers? romney's 1994 senate campaign ad said he helped create 10,000 jobs and built 20 businesses. then to 2011. romney then saying tens of thousands of jobs and 100 businesses created. later that year, he says over 100,000 jobs and then today, 120,000. which led nbc's peter alexander

to ask this question. >> 120,000 versus 100,000 jobs. which should we stick with? >> let's get the math. four companies created 120,000 jobs. very simple. >> the romney campaign says the president lost 1.7 million jobs since taking office. that's the difference as you see here. when he took office to today. a down move of 1.7 million to the current number of people employed there. here's how the obama campaign reacted to this question. >> the president took office, we still have 1.7 million fewer jobs -- >> candy, you know -- when he was campaigning for president in 2007 and 2008, governor romney had nothing but praise for the economic policies that were in place at that time as america was sliding in the worst recession since the great depression. >> this is the fact. >> the counter to this romney argument, only count jobs created after the free fall was

halted. basically in this space right here, after hitting bottom and the stimulus took effect. if you just look at this space here, that's 2.4 million jobs added from here to here, which could make romney's claimed experience creating ten or 100,000 jobs look incremental or when you look at how that experience might be used to increase the u.s. economy, instrumental. >> thank you so much. and i'm sure you've seen this or at least heard about it. the popular website is down today. wikipedia joining other sites as part of a protest against an internet antipiracy bill being considered in congress. also joining the protest, the singer song writer i've got a crush on president obama from 2008. check out her new video. ♪

♪ >> mandy drury is here with what's moving your money. what are critics of the bill like her objecting to? >> wikipedia is protesting the legislation saying that if passed, the legislation would essentially arm the free and open internet and bring about new tolls of censorship inside the yit. wikipedia has millions of visitors daily and anyone can contribute to it, and they want to protect that. other tech companies like google, facebook, twitter, ebay, lots of them have spoken out saying it threatens the industry's livelihood, but you might have noticed that google and twitter haven't shut down today, but if you do bring up google's website, you will see a

black sensor board across their name. opponents say it is chiefly designed to crack down on sales of pirated sales of u.s. products overseas. supporters include the film and music industry because they often see their products sold illegally. the most essential provision is in the house bill. that would have enabled authorities to blacklist sites alleged to distribute pirated content and cut off portion of the internet to all u.s., but leaders appear to be backing off on that. >> thank you so much. and we love a bargain. now, the designer that helped make michelle obama a fashion icon with this dress is debuting a line for you. he was on the "today" show this morning di buing a collection for target. nothing will cost more than 60 bucks. it will be available from february 5th to march 6th.

very cute. whee wheeeeeeeeeeeee! wheeeeeeeeeeee! whee whee wheeeeeeeeeeee-he-he-heeeeee! whee whee wheeeeeeeeeeee! pure adrenaline. whee whee wheeeeeeeeeeee! everything you love about geico, now mobile. download the new geico app today. whee wheeeeeeeeeeee-he-he-heeeeee!

a mouthwatering combination of ingredients...e for you! i know you're gonna love. [ barks ] yes, it's beneful healthy fiesta. made with wholesome grains, real chicken, even accents of tomato and avocado. yeah! come on! [ barking ] gotta love the protein for muscles-- whoo-hoo! and omega-rich nutrition for that shiny coat. ever think healthy could taste so good? [ woman announcing ] beneful healthy fiesta. another healthful, flavorful beneful.

diarrhea, gas or bloating? get ahead of it! one phillips' colon health probiotic cap a day helps defend against digestive issues with three strains of good bacteria. hit me!

[ female announcer ] live the regular life. phillips'. looking for ways to lose weight in the new year? u.s. news and world report has released their top three diets for 2012. for the second year in a row, the dietary approach is to stop hyper tension diet or dash diet came in first follow ed by the therapeutic lifestyle changes diet and the mayo clinic diet. you can make an argument he's the most hated man in the world right now and the "new york post" is calling him chicken of the sea. the captain of the ill fated costa concordia. this is what people are really fuming about.

the heated phone calls shortly after the accident show a coast guard official ordering the captain back on board the ship. the bodies of five more passengers have been found, raising the death toll to 11. retired coast guard admiral james loi joins me now. what goes through your mind when you hear that conversation? >> aside if the italian that i'm not too good at, i understand the challenge of a coast guard

officer's attempting to get him back on board. the extraordinary judgment flaw from the very beginning seems to be the issue here. it's a question of leadership and judgment of a guy provided enormous responsibility as the captain of a ship at sea with over 4,000 passengers and a crew to be responsible for. and his absolutely total lack of apparent total lack of recognizing that responsibility and behaving accordingly. >> and obviously, it's made a lot of people nervous. i've seen articles in the paper down in miami, worried about what it's going to do to the cruise industry. let's talk about cruise safety. in this case, we saw the captain, we heard him, that he abandoned the damaged ship. what's the responsibility of captains? is it that you go down with the

ship? >> that's the romantic, traditional notion. i liken to to a two sided coin. life at sea as captain of a ship, whether military platform or cruise ship is one of the last bas ons of authority, independence, but on the other side is mission accomplishment and responsibility and it seems so far, the evidence suggests that the captain never looked at the other side of the coin because his only mission frankly is to safe lly navigate that platform from point a to b and when you step away from that responsibility of safe navigation of the platform, you have ab regaited your responsibility at a captain of a ship at sea. >> colorado congresswoman sponsored the safety act signed into law last year, but says more oversight is needed, that this is a highly unregulated industry. is there something the government, the u.s. government can and should be doing to keep

you safe on a cruise? >> well, i think frankly, the context looking over the industry's record over a long, long period of time is a rather extraordinarily positive record of safety. the industry basically running itself as an extraordinarily safety conscious industry segment. the international maritime organization is a standard setting body as sub siz yar to the united nations and some 130 plus nations that are members of the international maritime organization sign on to the standards established by the organization. for example, in the aftermath of titanic in 1912, over the course of a year or so, finally issued was a safety of life at sea convention signed in 1914 and signed on to by the member nations of the international maritime organization. that has been improved over time, both with respect to

advancing technology and better policies. so that today, the soleless convention as it's known, sort of defines that safety convention for anybody on the high seas. the reality in this instance is that on the technical side, certification societies like the american bureau shipping here in the united states or lord's register, have an annual responsibility to board those vessels and check for the integrity of a vessels. that includes navigation systems, anchor, changes, all the things you would want to have validated in some sort of frequency, in this case, annually. >> we're out of time, but this has been a fascinating discussion and we thank you so much for coming on. >> thank you. and the fate of that ship has been a trending topic on twitter. today's tweet of the day comes from you. girl post writes 1912, the

"titanic" sunk. katie, i just saw a headline, real life "titanic." and tony parsons, the italian cruise captain's excuse, i fell into a lifeboat has to be up there with with the dog ate my homework. that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm. for half the calories plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8. riding the dog like it's a small horse is frowned upon in this establishment! luckily though, ya know, i conceal this bad boy underneath my blanket just so i can get on e-trade. check my investment portfolio, research stocks... wait, why are you taking... oh, i see...solitary. just a man and his thoughts. and a smartphone... with an e-trade app. ♪ nobody knows... [ male announcer ] e-trade.

investing unleashed. [ male announcer ] e-trade. i've tried it. but nothing helped me beat my back pain. then i tried salonpas. it's powerful relief that works at the site of pain and lasts up to 12 hours. salonpas. c'mon, michael! get in the game! [ male announcer ] don't have the hops for hoops with your buddies? lost your appetite for romance? and your mood is on its way down. you might not just be getting older. you might have a treatable condition called low testosterone or low t. millions of men, forty-five or older, may have low t. so talk to your doctor about low t. hey, michael! [ male announcer ] and step out of the shadows. hi! how are you? [ male announcer ] learn more at isitlowt.com. [ laughs ] hey!

in the next hour, mitt romney isn't releasing his tax records yet, but did admit to how much he pays in taxes. about a 15%. why a tax loophole lets the former governor keep almost off of his bain capital loot. plus, real wives of the campaign trial. who are the other halves of the gop hopefuls? today, we focus on karen santorum and the defense of her husband's stance on lgbt quality. >> thank you so much. that cute bear. down to the wire. a small town in iowa has a new

mayor who is not only prepping an agenda, but prepare iing for high school graduation. he is 18. write-in votes got him elected to lead airdale, iowa, population, 73. jessica alba has a new baby. the actress and mommy launched honest.com, named after her 3-year-old daughter, honor. she'll see eco friendly baby products and household items and take a look at this baby polar bear. she weighed in at a pound when she was born, but she's getting bigger and her health is improving. nothing says talent like a painting squirrel. wink leheimer is becoming a youtube sensation. she now enjoys the domesticated life of fine art.

she's better than i am. that wraps up this hour of. thomas roberts up next. i'll see you back here tomorrow. [ male announcer ] new starbucks blonde roast is another way to look at the bean. another way that reveals the lighter, mellower side of our roast. being blonde is nothing new but blonde roast is something new. something subtle. something soft. something with 40 years of roasting experience on its side.

introducing delicious new starbucks blonde roast. the lighter roast perfected. ♪ i opened the first sammy's back sammin 1966. box. the lighter roast perfected. my employees are like family. and, i want people that work for me to feel that they're sharing in my success. we purchase as much as we can on the american express open gold card. so we can accumulate as many points as possible. i pass on these points to my employees to go on trips with their families. when my employees are happy, my customers are happy. vo: earn points for the things you're already buying. call 1-800-now-open to find out how the gold card can serve your business.

what ? customers didn't like it. so why do banks do it ? hello ? hello ?! if your bank doesn't let you talk to a real person 24/7,