newt gingrich speaks with the attitude of conservative republicans, the country's establishment is out to get them and because he does, he has a great chance to be the leader. that is "hardball" for now, thanks for being with us, "the ed show" with ed schultz starts right now. tonight from new york, it's a slug-fest in south carolina. the entire presidential race could blow wide open. mitt romney -- this guy can't get this tax thing squared away. newt gingrich is on a roll coming on strong. this is "the ed show," let's get to work. >> i'm appalled that you would begin a presidential debate on a topic like that. >> newt is slamming the media. now he's the south carolina favorite, and mitt romney still is dodging questions about his tax returns. >> i don't know how many years i'll release. i'll look what our documents are. >> we'll have full analysis of last night's debate with msnbc political analyst richard wolffe

and bob shrum. it's showtime at the apollo for the president. ♪ i'm so in love with you stephen colbert is on the campaign trail. >> i want to thank senator deminute wd demint, who was a maybe. >> goldie taylor, steve benen and jimmy williams here to break it down. middle chase millionaire, mitt romney actually said this. >> someone who has lived in the real streets of america. >> that is landing willard in the zone. yesterday, romney lost his cool on a 99 percenter taking him to test. >> tim devincenzo is speaking out on the "the ed show." i have a feeling mitt romney

just can't wait to get out of south carolina. i mean, did this guy like lose his tax returns in a house fire or something? where are they? it's been a bad week for romney and now he's trying to manage expectations of the south carolina primary. romney told reporters today that he's foeicusing on delegates, n wins. >> if the poll ts were right, regardless who get the final number we'll get a lot of delegates. i want as many delegates i can guess, i want the most delegates coming out of south carolina. i don't know what the numbers will be. i'm pretty confident. >> he had a 23 point lead over newt gingrich in the beginning of the week, now romney's lead is only 10 points. the poll has romney at 30%, gingrich at 20%, romney dropped seven points in four days. how's that? gingrich, he is going in the opposite direction. romney seems to be in a free fall, probably is connected to the question about his tax returns. he got no help from another

massachusetts moderate, republican senator scott brown told right wing radio today "romney certainly has to release his returns." things are getting so bad for romney they are starting to affect his old bosses. romney worked at bain and company before starting bain capital. talking points memo obtained an e-mail from bain and company, shows the company struggling to distance itself from the negative image of bain capital. the e-mail told new hires to the company "we have to explain more frequently the distinction between the firms." romney is trying to change the subject. today he said newt gingrich should release the documents related to his ethics investigation in congress. >> of course he should. one of the issues that was raised by rick santorum was the fact that he was pushed out of the house by his fellow members. i think over 80% of republican congressmen voted to reprimand

the speaker of the house. first time in history. and nancy pelosi has the full record of that ethics investigation, it will get out before the jent election, should get it out now. >> romney is take it "i'll show you mine if you show me yours" approach. >> i refuse to take seriously the romney campaign doesn't want to disclose any level that involves them. >> that is how you talk when you are living high on the hog. his performance in the debate could be pivotal in winning south carolina. gingrich turned cnn's john king in the bad guy and made himself the hero when king asked about gingrich's ex-wife. >> she says you came to her in 1999, at a time when you were having an affair, she said you asked her, sir, to enter into an open marriage. would you like to take some time to respond to that? >> no. but i will. [ applause ]

i am appalled that you would begin a presidential debate on a topic like that. [ applause ] the story did not come from our network, it a subject of conversation on the campaign. i take your point. >> john, it was repeated by your network, you chose to start the debate with it, don't try to blame somebody else. you and your staff chose to start this debate with it. [ applause ] >> now, compare gingrich's answer to romney's answer when king brought up the way mitt romney's father released his own tax returns. >> he released his tax returns. he released them for not one year, but for 12 years. when he did that, he said this, one year could be a fluke, perhaps done for show. when you release yours, will you follow your father's example? maybe. you know, i don't know how many years i'll release. i'll look at what the -- what

our documents are. and i'll release multiple years, i don't know how many years but i will be happy to do that. zplch >> well, the word "maybe" may haunt the rest of his campaign. he looked defensive, evasive and not convincing. he answered the question as poorly as four days early. >> i hadn't planned on releasing tax returns, the law requires us to release our assets, a full disclosure, but if that has been tradition and i'm not opposed to doing that, time will tell, i anticipate most likely i'll get asked to do that around april time period and i'll keep that open. >> time-out here. i can't believe the guy who is in the opinion of many the guy who is going to win the republican nomination doesn't have a better answer, that he doesn't have an advisor on his

staff that turns to him and says "okay, enough of these answers about the tax returns, let's give them a date, boss give them a date, march 15th, do it on a friday night at midnight, let's have fun with it, we're clean as a whistle, let's have fun, keep giving them a date." if you give the media and a world a date the story logoes away. why doesn't romney do that? why isn't there somebody in his camp politically savvy enough to know that you can make this story go away instead of having problem after problem after problem in each debate on how to answer this thing? he's wordsmithing his financial history. you want to know why he's going down in the polls? this is about trust. especially with conservatives in south carolina. the constant stumbling makes people want to know, what is in his returns? he turned an easy win into a possible loss. tomorrow night, we could have

1-1-1, santorum has one, romney winning on home turf in new hampshire and probably gingrich winning in south carolina. the longer this thing goes the more romney will regret saying the word "maybe." get your cell phones out want to know what you think. tonight's question, do you think there are skeletons in mitt romney's tax closet? a for damn right a, b for no. i'm joined by bob shrum democratic strategist and msnbc political analyst richard wolffe, they are both smart, good-looking guys. that is why they're on "the ed show" tonight. richard, let's start with you, is this now the drag on the romney campaign? what do you think? >> well, it's a drag in a number of ways.

first of all, obviously, he looks evasive now. what he's signaling to voters only just tuning in and there are plenty of them, is that he's got something to hide. he's extremely uncomfortable. that is the last thing damage, tactically, i don't me strategically, tactically for the obama folks watching this, they know the tax returns will be out there, maybe old news by the time they get stuck in with him but they are watching these debate performances and seeing someone very easily thrown off his game. have you seen how his eyes blink, like a semiphore signal, uncomfortable to his father, his wealth, not comfortable embracing comfortably the wealth he has created and earned himself. that is a problem for him, shows in these debates for all the practice, rehearsal all the years running for president he's not there. >> i keep thinking behind the scenes of the romney campaign, boss, give them a date, get the question out of the way.

maybe he's not the kind of guy that can take an answer like that. maybe he's a dictatorial kind of manager. the counter punch is hey, newt, release your ethics investigation forms. that has been the counter-punch. is it a good one, bob? >> i don't think it's a good one at all. anybody with a computer can get the 900 page ethics report. romney doesn't have standing to make the report. he came across as stiff and animatronic. he's raising anxiety about how he would do in a general election. if you look at that resistance, at a comparable period after iowa and new hampshire in 2004, john kerry was at 54, 55% in the polls, a week after this, 65%. as you pointed out, romney is at 30 in the gallop poll and falling rapidly. when you listen to him, look at

him he's not comfortable. richard is right, in his own skin. i saw this in 1994 with senator kennedy debating senator kennedy. if you challenged him or said anything unexpected he got brittle, handled it poorly. he biffed and farbled. you think on this tax he would have had an answer. the only answer is they are terrified, they don't want to release more than one year, they are now put in the position they have to release multiple years, and they are worried what the impact will be. >> some congressional members have told me that they think there is a chance he has paid no tax in some of those years and that won't fly with the american people. that what is they think is behind all this. richard, what about gingrich? did he seal the deal for south carolina last night? >> well he made a signature move from the get-go was to turn on the media. can we just for a minute savor the irony, sweet aroma of h

hypocri hypocrisy, no decorum in raising questions about fidelity, putting that aside for a minute, he did what he had to do, got the crowd, got them to their feet. that is what he needed for those south carolina voters, but really, any -- if romney was a serious candidate he should have taken him apart by now it's too easy. >> what did you think of gingrich's response on the offensive, bob, no question about it. he knew that question was coming, he might not have known they were going to lead with it but basically was asked for a response. he wasn't asked a direct question. it was a response "do you want to respond to that" he said "no, but i will" how did he handle it? that is about as aggressive as we've seen anybody take on a question in a debate. >> he's a masterful debater.

he was lucky it was a lead question, lucky it was a cnn debate not fox. spoke right to the heart of republicans, and their pre conceptions about the media, and as you went on in the debate and watch him, rick santorum accuses him of being grandiose. he slightly changes the meaning of the word, this is a big country we do big things, this guy is very good on his feet, romney is very bad on his feet, and romney actually i think has proved that for him being spontaneous is very dangerous. because when he's spontaneous he says things like the one you pointed out that he lives in the real street of america. what in a $12 million house in lajoya? i don't think the guy gets it, he doesn't know how to connect with people. >> i could talk to you all night. bob shrum, richard wolffe. answer the question at the screen. #edshow on twitter.

romney's terrible answers on income tax return are raising serious legal questions in the legal community. mike papantonio will explain why. president obama sings some al green for one lucky crowd. we have the tape in case you missed it. stay tuned, we're right back. juice drink too watery? ♪ feel the power my young friend. mmm! [ male announcer ] for unsurpassed fruit and veggie nutrition... v8 v-fusion. could've had a v8. and it hasn't been going exactly as planned. cut. cut! [ monica ] i thought we'd be on location for 3 days -- it's been 3 weeks. so i had to pick up some more things. good thing i've got the citi simplicity card. i don't get hit with a fee if i'm late with a payment... which is good because on this job, no! bigger! [ monica ] i may not be home for a while. [ male announcer ] the new citi simplicity card. no late fees. no penalty rate.

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only from progressive. ready, aim, save! grrr! ooh, i forgot my phone! the "name your price" tool. now available on your phone. get a free quote today. coming up "the ed show" mightt stumbles on the tax return issue. mike papantonio will join me next. stephen colbert and herman cain rally in charleston, south carolina, drew a record crowd. can they be spoilers in tomorrow's primary? our panel is here on that and more chaos in south carolina. when confronted with a question on the campaign trail from a 99 percenter, mitt romney loses his cool. the man who confronted mitt is my guest. share your thoughts on twitter #edshow, we're right

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. welcome back to "the ed show." put yourselves in the shoes of a south carolina voter. listen to this man's question and newt gingrich's answer. >> gentlemen, when will you release your tax returns specifically? >> an hour ago. >> in three words. newt gingrich, he got rid of it. here's mitt romney. >> governor romney, when will we see yours? >> when my taxes are complete for this year and i know that if i'm the nominee the president will want to insist that i --

show what my income was the last year and so forth. >> of course that's just part, the small part of romney's long-winded answer. but he is given another chance. >> should the people of south carolina before this election see last year's return? >> because i want to make sure i beat president obama efr ee time we release things drip by drip the democrats go out with another array of attacks. >> again, put yourself in the shoes and in the mindset of a south carolina voter. very conservative, social issues, pretty staunch. romney comes up with a brand new excuse every time. but of course, this is the worst. >> will you follow your father's examp example. >> maybe. >> maybe, dude get out of here, i don't want to answer that. three chances, three strikes. in just one debate. i don't think pro-life voters in south carolina are going to feel very much comfort when they hear

mitt romney give multiple answers to a very simple question. if he can't show some spine on a tax question, why should they trust him on any complex social issue that is near and dear to their heart? i think it's going to hurt him. let's turn to mike papantonio, host of "ring of fire" radio. put the tax question aside for a moment. what do they answers say about romney's character? >> well, first of all it says that he's afraid to tell us something, his answers are all flip-flop ed, why he can't do this, no different from the flip flop of every other major issue that romney has been confronted with. when they call him the flip flopper, he is a true flip-flopper. there is 150 grand jury investigations going on right now about offshore banking. it comes out of the ubs story you might remember from last

year, where ubs paid $800 million because of the scams taking place. not to talk about this ed, is like having a white elephant sitting in the living room. let me say this. offshore banking originated when organized crime tried to avoid letting us know what was going on with them. you will not find anybody in america who will come on television and tell you that there is any reason at all for having offshore banking except for several reasons. one is avoid taxes, you want to avoid taxes. the other is to camouflage who you're doing business with, ed. understand, the money is not put in a bank. it's not -- the money is not in a bank. it's sitting in investment funds. so the question then becomes who is his partner in the investment fund? who is he doing business with? understand, this is a man who has been in politics a long time. what if there is some type of political connection between the investment fund and a favor that he did for somebody when he was

in politics before. these are questions that have to be answered. i will tell you this, offshore banking makes it very difficult for prosecutors and regulators to track down the money. when they studied this in europe several years ago they did an extensive study, they said there was no reason to offshore banking except to camouflage or hide what you're doing. at the doesn't have anything to hide, why isn't the money in the united states in a mom and pop bank rather than hiding it with bain capital overseas? >> what do you make of the campaign's answer saying that it's in a blind trust or they used the term "blind" what about that? >> blind -- you give to it somebody and say you go invest it but that doesn't mean we don't have the right to understand what that blind investment is all about. we still have the right to understand it. he may think it's blind to him but to the american public, who

is voting on a man to lead the free world and we don't know what the level of his honesty is, all we see him flip-flop virtually every minute when he answers a question about this. there is no way this guy can win a general election, i want to know about this before the primaries, because if we hit the general election and then start finding the truth out, then the republicans are down the tube. >> you're in vegas and gambling legally, you're putting your money down he's hiding something? there is something very embarrassing here he doesn't want out there. all right. >> there is zero question in my mind about that. >> finally, the romney camp says the funds established in the cayman islands are taxed as if they were established in the united states. what about that? well, here it is. they are taxed in the same way, if we know what the shell game is, ed. in other words, it's not -- we have to know where is the shell? where is the money under which

shell? so what you can do is you can move those shells around to where you have a tax rate of zero percent. that what is he's doing, i promise you that is what he's doing. >> the american public is get thi thing -- getting an education. great to have you with us. mitt romney thinks he's a man of the streets. did i say that? yeah, he thinks he's a man of the streets. that is what he said. we'll show him how wrong he is when he lands in the zone. stephen colbert and herman cain held a rally, our panel will weigh in, goldie taylor, jimmy williams and steve benen are here tonight. lots more coming up.

in "psycho talk" tonight, one percent mitt is trying to appeal to regular americans once again. he tried to make himself appear more in touch than his competitors. >> my view a perfect example of why we need to send to washington someone who has not lived in washington but someone who lived in the real streets of america. >> what real streets? is mitt romney talking about? the ones by his $12 million beach house in california? by his mansion in new hampshire? maybe he's talking about the street by his old house in massachusetts. or his seven bedroom ski cabin

in utah. wonder if the streets are paved. maybe romney has more experience with the real streets of america than we thought. >> we need to send to washington someone who has not lived in washington but someone who lived in the real streets of america. >> i like being able to fire people. >> there nothing wrong with r profit. >> closer to 15%. >> 10,000 bet? ♪ >> what's up gangstas? the mi double tizzle. >> never get involved in politics if you have to win an election to pay the mortgage. there were a couple times i was wondering if i was going to get a pink slip. ♪ >> who let the dogs out, who, who? >> only two streets mitt romney has been on are wall street and easy street. for him to continue to pretend

he's in touch with middle class americans is corporate "psycho talk." ♪ i'm so in love with you . >> our panel on show time at the apollo and chaos in carolina. >> would you like to take time to respond to that? >> no, but i will. >> it's an epic day for the colbert campaign in south carolina. >> the only difference of mitt romney and a statue of of mitt romney is that the statue never changes its position. >> an "the ed show" exclusive. >> let me tell you something, america is a great nation. >> yesterday, mitt romney freaked out at a 99 percenter, tonight, that machinery sponlds only "the ed show."

welcome back to "the ed show." i may be the only person in america who feels this way but newt gingrich made a fool of himself last night. everybody, and i mean everybody

in the republican party knows that character counts. they have preached it for years. but last night, in the wake of what some call a serious accusation, gingrich decided to pull one of his favorites and attack the media. in this case, john king. it was the right subject at the perfect time in the right setting. i thought this is why we had debates in our political process. to clear the air. to leave no stone unturn. gingrich wasn't even asked a direct question. he was asked to respond. as for the standing ovation, what do you expect from a full room of right wingers in the south? here it is. >> your ex-wife gave an interview to abc news, she said you asked her, sir, to enter into an open marriage. would you like to take some time to respond to that? >> no. but i will. [ applause ] >> i think the destructive, vicious, negative nature of much of the news media makes it

harder to govern this country, harder to attract decent people to run for public office. and i am appalled that you would begin a presidential debate on a topic like that. [ applause ] >> maybes it makes it harder to govern the country because of that. how do you feel about the president dealing with a record number of fill i bus tears and obstructive agenda put for the in a president ha no president ever had to deal with it. does that make it hard to govern? what do you think? let's bring in goldie taylor, steve benen and msnbc contributor and senate staffer, jimmy williams, great to have you with us tonight. goldie,how did gingrich handle that? >> he took what was a softball, sort of tossed over the plate,

something he could have tuck aid way bunted, landed on first, he tried to rip the skin off the ball and he did. he wasn't talking to you or me, he was talking to his gop base there in south carolina and this is just the kind of red meat they want to hear. what drives them out to the polls, gets them fired up. the same script newt gingrich has been writing and singing for 35 years. and so i don't know why anybody expected him to respond any differently. >> you're from the neighborhood, you're from georgia. you know. is that red meat to them, will that help him? that is absolutely red meat. it's the kind of question that gingrich was waiting for, his answer was prepd and ready to go, the feigned outrage and all. >> jimmy does that fair well for christian based, family values, pitting it against the democrats for years, how does this wear?

>> as usual, goldie taylor is dead on the money, she is right. i'm from south carolina, and let me be clear about something that folks back home like. they like when you attack the media, and gingrich knew exactly what he was doing. he's a pro. here is the other thing to remember about those kind of voters in south carolina. they are christians, and christians believe in the redemption of the sinner. i wrote about this yesterday. and at the end of the day, gingrich admits he sinned, reformed himself, according to himself and according to other christians, and so now eahe is the perfect marriage. he made mistakes, he admitted to them. that plays well. makes him real. makes him like somebody that lives down there. here's the problem, though. romney has zero in common with anyone down there. tea partiers don't like him, evangelicals don't like him. you put newt gingrich, who is in your face, a sinner and redeemed, compare him to romney,

a clear winner, gingrich will win the primary tomorrow. >> steve benen, from a journalist position, given the history of newt gingrich going after bill clinton, how he led the charge for impeachment, doesn't that make it doubly tough or does it make it easier to ask gingrich those kind of questions? >> i think it's the former. i think it was astounding to me to hear him talk about the fact these allegations would make it difficult for someone to govern, it was hard not to stop and think, weren't you the same guy leading this impeachment charge against a sitting president in the late 90s, while carrying on an affair with his now third wife, the fact he seemed disconnected from all that and the audience ate it up was jarring and how detached republican politics are from recent history. >> e-mails were sent to south carolina voters claiming newt gingrich forced ex-wife to have an abortion. one of them was made to look like it was a cnn breaking news

alert. cnn says it did not send it. gingrich the campaign says they are fake. here is his reaction. >> it's an unfortunate fact that there are elements in american politics who are negative, dishonest and despicable. if we could find out who they are, i would urge the government to prosecute. >> we can go back to 2000 and talk about the bush and mccain back and forth, steve benen, is this just life in south carolina politically? >> i don't want to disparage my friends in south carolina i don't think anyone was terribly surprised when we saw the dirty tricks, it's something we've come to expect. allies of bush had vicious smears toward john mccain which were effective. i think it's interesting to think about where the source of the attacks were, romney campaign or someone associated with the romney campaign was in any way involved with some of the things we saw today, that is

going to get a very serious bash lash. >> goldier, the tax returns, a moderate senator from massachusetts scott brown said the former governor, mitt romney up there, he's in a category a hot of those folks are categories that we don't really understand, and certainly he has to release his returns. what do you make of it? does he have to do it, why is he not doing it? >> he has to do it. for 100 bucks, he can get a copy of turbo tax, a printer and a ream of paper. he ought to have that on the ready tonight. we don't care how much money mitt romney made. what we care about is those deductions, and where is the money, what happened in the cayman eye hand sz. >> did he pair his fair show. stay with us, lots more coming up. thousands showed up for his rally today, how well will stephen colbert do tomorrow? it's a serious question, stay tuned.

there is at least one elephant polling for stephen colbert, highlight from colbert and herman cain's rally next. don't forget to tweet us using #edshow. we will be right back. [ chuckles ] yes. yes, it does. ♪ call 1-800-steemer

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welcome back to "the ed show." the biggest campaign rally of the 2012 election cycle so far, no kidding. charleston police estimated 4,000 people in attendance. the only problem? the 4,000 people weren't there to see any of the major contenders in the gop primary. they were there to see a non-candidate and guy who used to be a candidate, but dropped out. stephen colbert and herman cain joined forces today. colbert is on a mission to become the president of the united states of south carolina, and the pizzaman is lending a hand. a marching band, gospel choir and vocal stylings of herman

cain. ♪ [ applause ] ♪ >> since colbert couldn't get his name on the south carolina ballot he's asking south carolina voters to vote for herman cain. >> i want you to vote for herman cain. because herman cain is me. we both refused to play by washington's rules. we both flout convention when it comes to things like taxes and debt and how many beckys there are in ubekistan, i say three, herman says four. i believe you should vote for herman cain because he believes

in hard work and he possesses one thing i don't think i will ever have, a place on the south carolina ballot. >> in a preview of the contest, asia, a local circus elephant, cast her vote. she was presented with pictures of mitt romney, newt gingrich and stephen colbert, she picked stephen colbert, it will be something tomorrow. i'm joined by goldie taylor, jimmy williams and steve benen. he's polling at 13%. >> that is why perry got out. he didn't want to be beaten by stephen colbert. i think that -- every time i hear i got to thank him for letting me hear from herman cain sing again every time i hear him sing i feel closer to jesus as in dead. but at the end of the day, it means that people are really

dissatisfied with their choices. stephen colbert has a message and it's about keeping big money out of politics. it's about telling the truth. he's making a mockery to show us what the truth is. i applaude what colbert and others are doing to point to the issues. >> no doubt. steve, you have a weekly feature on your blog highlighting the most offensive mitt romney falsehoods of the week. what is this week's biggest romney lie? >> a lot to choose from this week. we had a handful. >> a lot to choose from, give me the number one thing. >> my favorite one, my top choice would be the claim that the president did not yet have a jobs plan. that struck me as astounding he would make that claim after we had months of debate about the american jobs act, president gave a speech in joint session of congress. how in the world could mitt romney have missed all of this, the debate, the speech, the

analyses, scrutiny. the fact he said the president didn't have a jobs plan was the most glaring falsehood of the week. >> while all this in-fighting is going to, president obama was at the apollo singing al green. ♪ i'm so in love with you >> all right, jimmy, no doubt he's better than herman cain, is there any chance we could get bill clinton on the saxophone and president carrying a tune, what do you think? >> it would make for a hell of a performance. i had no idea that barack obama could sing as well as he could. and i'm a little blown away. i think -- i don't like that kind of stuff. i don't like when herman cain sings, i don't like when barack obama sings, i'm pleasantly surprised, i want them to lead the country and do the right

thing, et cetera, et cetera. so it's nice relief, funny to look at but let's -- the country is in a world of hurt. unemployment in south carolina almost at 10%. we need to create 30 million jobs and we're not doing that. so we have to refocus a little bit. that goes to the heart of why people in south carolina are so displeased to a large degree with the candidate or this field of candidates. they just don't like the slate that is before them and that is they are fed up at this point. >> jimmy, prediction about the primary and life after south carolina. >> listen, two days ago i thought gingrich would come in second. i think he win tomorrow by four to five points. if he does, gives him a fundraising boost to go in florida. it's an expensive state, four major media markets, a hell of a lot of money, i don't know he will have the money, will make romney suffer. >> steve benen, your call,

tomorrow and life after south carolina. >> gingrich by six points. the point about florida is expensive is important. i think gingrich will be competitive. >> goldie? >> gingrich tomorrow and gingrich by four or five, but after florida, you've got mississippi and alabama and all those other red states, you have georgia where he will bring it home and will extend the process a little bit longer and romney just has no chance of locking it up if he loses south carolina. >> goldie taylor, steve benen, jimmy williams, great to have you with us, thanks for being on "the ed show." the american who dared to ask mitt romney a question he didn't like. see what happens when mitt romney meets the 99% next. when i grow up,

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2% said no. coming up mitt romney told an occupy protester that america is right and he is wrong. the protester joins me, exclusively, next. male announce] all stuffed up? simple relief is here. introducing robitussin® nasal relief pills. the right relief for nasal congestion...in a pill. ♪ new from robitussin®. relief made simple. ♪[music plays] when you're responsible for this much of the team... you need a car you can count on. ♪[music plays]

that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm. for half the calories plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8. the big finish, mitt romney hasn't figured out how to relate to people worth less than several million dollars. that is to capsulize it all. he got in a heated discussion with an occupy protester on the

campaign trial in south carolina. romney gave a testy response to a question about how he would help the 99%. >> what would you do to repeal citizens united? >> hi, how are you? >> what will do you to support the 99% seeing you're part of the 1%? >> let me tell you something, america is a great nation, because we're united nation. and those trying to divide the nation as you're trying to do here and as the president doing are hurting the country seriously. the right course for america is not to die vied america, try to divide it between one another, to come together as a nation. if you think china is better or russia is better or cuba is better or north korea is better, glad to hear about it -- america is right, you're wrong. the man who confronted mitt romney joins me exclusively tonight, let me bring in tim devincenzo, protester with

occupy new hampshire, who has been down in charleston, south carolina working with the occupy charleston movement. tim, nice to meet you, good to have you on the program tonight. i didn't see the videotape of what kind of response you gave him when the candidate, former governor of massachusetts said that to you, what was your response? >> hi, thanks for having me on the show. my initial question was the anniversary today is the anniversary of citizens unite and my initial question was about the revocation of corporate personhood and million dollars in a super pac, and he dodged that question and then when i hit him with how he will support the 99%, he went on his

ruffled feather romney. my response was are you denying association with marriott and i also was trying to let him know that we can't be silenced. >> did you think he lost his cool there, lost his composure and had to regain it a little bit? what did you make of his reaction? he came right at you. it was not a normal hey, how's it going on the campaign trail. >> yeah, you know, i just kept hitting him with the questions and i finally got him to respond, his response that occupy wall street and occupy movement is trying to divide the country, this country is already divided by the division -- the divide of wealth, income and power in this country has been relevant, real for over 30 years. and --.

>> he told you to go to north korea or china or some other countries. what were you thinking when he was saying that? >> yeah, you know, i was pretty appalled by that. i'm an american citizen, i love this country. i'm proud to be an american. and i came down with other patriots from new hampshire to help out with the event, and stuff like that is just typical, i guess, of romney and you know it bothered me a lot. i love this country. >> he ignored you when you asked him about citizens united. what does that tell you, and what does it tell you about him? >> you know, it's just -- it's obvious he has -- he's part of the 1%, and you know, he wants to support the 1%, and you know,

i don't know, occupy is addressing these issues while romney is choosing to ignore them. >> okay. do you get a sense that mitt romney can relate to people like you? that mitt romney can relate to average americans? >> yeah, it's been pretty evident he cannot relate to average americans. and he's proven that since he started this campaign trail and in new hampshire we hit him hard and he got really agitated with us there, and we followed him to south carolina to do it again. >> tim devincenzo, thanks for your time. you're an american going out there looking for answers, nobody can blame you for that. good to have you with us on "the ed show." that is the "the ed show," listen to my radio show on sirius monday through