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tv   Andrea Mitchell Reports  MSNBC  February 6, 2012 1:00pm-2:00pm EST

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madonna or clint eastwood? and good day, in our daily fix today, mitt romney scored another double digit win in nevada but the ugly campaign is taking a toll. romney trails the president by 61% to 45%. leets ta let's talk about the poll. >> you highlighted it, it's a statistically significant edge for president obama, he is not ahead 60% to 40%, but it reflects that the president is starting to trend upwards. he is doing better among noncollege educated white voters. he is up there, so, again, he combined these numbers with the
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economic numbers that we got on friday and the president's team is probably as happy as they have been with his re-election prospects in a year. >> let's talk about some of the other things though that the president has to face. one of them is, what could be a tough political problem for him with independent voters, swing state vote voters, and catholic voters and religious voters on this decision over the health care bill, how it will be regulated by hhs, let's talk about it. because an interesting thing about it, it cuts through a lot of lines. priests have been speaking out strongly that this requirement, that catholic hospitals and academic institutions have to offer contraception. >> it's an odd fight for the
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administration to pick. but catholics are regularly a swing group. al gore won them and president bush beat president kerry with them. and president obama won them by about eight. this is a swing group that as you said you said, it is heavily populated particularly in the middle of the country, the rust belt as well as the northeast. so it's kind of an odd political decision. it's a fight that i certainly do not think we have heard the last of legally or politically. and i think we are going to have to hear more from the obama admied from the administration because i do not think the catholic church will back off of their interpretation of the law. >> something that struck me to news hour friday night, on the pbs news hour, where mark
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shields a shields a shields and david brooks agreed. let's watch the rejection of this. >> the fallout is terrible for the white house and for the president. >> really? >> yes. >> he has left them out to dry. i mean, he really has, and with a policy that i think is indefensible. >> it's the most under reported story of many months. you have catholics that are set and evangelicals that are upset. whatever problem they had with mitt romney, that is now healed. they are united with mitt romney because they are so upset about this story. >> so what does the, is the president going to back down or was this a case where he was not looking at the politics of that, so had wh so this was a decision of principal not of a political decision. >> if he has any place that he
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can defend himself, it's not a political move. just because it was a principal or policy decision, if the politics of it turn out to be even worse than the obama administration thought they were, i would not rule out a reversal. remember, everything that happened in 2012 has politics in it. >> chris, thank you very much. romney's win was decided but newt said he is in it to the bitter end. >> what happens is every primary day, or caucus day, the romney headquarters in boston sends out the rumor that they believe i'll withdraw, that of course is their greate
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their greatest fantasy. >> let's talk about what we saw so far that shows that mitt romney is losing traction here with these voters. >> with respect to the abc polling operation, they produced in that poll some negative information about governor romney. the broader point is consistently, week in and week out, if you look at the polling data, mitt romney does the best of any republican candidate in the field. he is most likely to defeat barack obama, some weeks he is a little behind and some weeks he is a little ahead. but he is probably most strong positioned to take on barack obama >> what is the latest on the sheldon adelson situation.
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he has been talking to the romney campaign, is he signaling that he will be willing to finance mitt romney in a general election once gingrich drops out? >> i think he has said publically, i think that mr. adelson has said while he is personal friends with newt dp g gingrich and has funded his super pac, he has no problems with mitt romney and will lean toward supporting mitt romney as a second choice or plan-b, so romney will want to get everyone's support, including someone like mr. adelson. my hope is that he will shut off the faucet to gingrich's super pac. he will not win and as long as mr. adelson funds that, it's helping it without it being productive. >> newt gingrich could not go on
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without the support of the family or mr. adelson. what will happen in minnesota, interesting that the romney campaign turned its fire against rick santorum in minnesota today, are they concerned that santorum will clobber romney in minnesota so minnesota? >> well the turnout model is modest in terms of size and the people have moved toward those that they feel are the most ske conserve i conservativ conservative. obviously, ron paul has a big group here and santorum does to and newt has campaigned over decades here. you'll see a clumping result tomorrow but certainly a place where other candidates will have a strong hold and it n's not gog to be a walk in the park for romney, and i support him, it's a tough state for mitt because
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of the closeness of the other candidates in such a small field. >> time will tell whether you are trying to lower the expectations for the front-runner, mitt romney. one of the criticisms against romney is that he is surpressing turn out and gingrich has had more exciting turnout than romney did, particularly in florida, if you compare south carolina and florida. >> over time, i do not believe that the american people will approve of a campaign that surpresses turnout. every county that i carried in florida an increased turnout and every county that romney carried, he had a decreased t n turnout? >> what about that comment? >> if you look at mitt's victories you see a compelling
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set of demographics he won against every republican and conservative group, by gender and age and philosophy, and to suggest that his victories are not compelling is not fair. for newt to suggest that somehow on he is only losing because of a modest change in turnout is not true. >> your advice to newt gingrich, is he hurting the brand by stick it out, his idea is super tuesday brings in the south into play. >> it's not the romney's place or my place to say when someone should get out of the race. but i'll say this, everyone has to make their own decisions, but it's clear to me and it's clear
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to the american people that mitt romney is the most electable republic republican conservative candidate in the field. so now we have to get the rest of the states to reach that conclusion as well. >> thanks so much, governor tim pawlenty. thanks for joining us from minnesota. >> you are welcome. >> we will have susan rice joining us next right here on "andrea mitchell reports." ] what is this shorty? uh, tissues sir, i'm sick. you don't cough, you don't show defeat. give me your war face! raaah! [ male announcer ] halls. a pep talk in every drop. ♪ [ gong ] strawberry banana! [ male announcer ] for a smoothie with real fruit plus veggie nutrition new v8 v-fusion smoothie. could've had a v8.
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and break news that we are following today degree the u.s. and great britain have closed their embassies in demascus to pressure the assad regime.
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>> this is even more shameful when you consider that at least one of those members continues to deliver weapons to assad >> human rights' groups are reporting that more than 200 people have been killed. with us now live from the u.n., ambassador sms. rice tell us wh you are on angry and why what russia did, after all of the negotiations why it was so offensive? >> well it was not so much that i was angry, i was expressing what is the shared frustration of the syrian people, the american people and the publics of the countries all over the world represented on that council. that russia and china by their
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veto made it impossible for the council to support an arab league plan for a peaceful democratic transition. that resolution that was vetoed was not meaningless and watered down, it was significant. if that it would have lined up the entire international community behind a process where both sides had to come together and on a swift timetable, negotiate a transition to a democratic regime. the fact that russia and china chose to line themselves up with a dictator that is on his last legs rather than with the people of syria and the people of middle east and the principaled views of the rest of the international community was indeed disgusting and shameful and i think it's a decision that they will come to regret when there's that democratic syria that will not forget this action. >> one of the concerns that people are expressing is, while
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russia said, the foreign minister said, that the resolution could lead to civil war, now others are saying the failure of the u.n. to act can lead to civil war and this will fuel brutal actions. >> it's a fair and worrying assess mana aassessment. it was again on saturday, over course of the 10 or 11 months, they did get more peaceful but we were not further from civil war, we were closer. now by preventing what may have been the last opportunity for a peaceful political dialog under arab league rules to lead to a democratic transition is horrible. and does increase, very
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tragically, the likelihood that the violenceescalate. >> you suggested that russia is arming the assad regime. >> i did not suggest it, i said it. and they admit it. it's not a secret. they say there's not an embargo preventing them from doing that. but it does not support what is happening, the killing of people on a massive scale every day. we are in opposition to that and what ever had russia and china decide to line up with assad and his tactics. >> what do we know, there are people on the ground trying to find out what is happening to the opposition, what information are we getting from from the
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ground? >> we continue to have the information that the syrian p protesters and good and brave reporters are providing and the contacts throughout the society, because we had to close the embassy for security reasons because the syrian authorities refused our repeated requests to take the necessary measures to ensure the security of our people in our facilities. it does not mean that we have abandon the syrian people and doesn't mean that we will be blind, but it was in our preference, we would have preferred to stay. ambassador ford and his team have done remarkable work and he will retain his position as a u.s. representative to syria, but because there was no security, they will have to do it from here. >> i want talk to you about the election monitors from the
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national democratic institute, this threat from egypt to charge them with crimes, actually, which the secretary of state says is putting at risk a billion and a half dollars to aid to egypt. what is happening in cairo? >> we have been clear that these american workers did absolutely nothing wrong. they are doing what they do all over the world every day. which is impartially support civil society and democratic development. we think it's important that the egyptian government allow them to depart and drop the charges so they can come home and rejoin their families. this is a very serious issue that is, has real potential negativie ismpacts for our relationship in all aspects as well as what secretary clinton said, our financial
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relationship. >> the u.s. has been sending signals at every level to israel that we do not think that military action is warranted right now against iran. what should the u.s. be doing to persuade others that iran can be dealt with diplomatically, or is israel correct, are we approaching a level where the iranians will go beyond the point of no return before they create a weapon because of the materials they have amassed? >> the president has been clear, the united states will stand with israel and the rest of the international community to take the steps necessary to prevent iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. this is a matter of great importance to our national security as well as to countries in the region, obviously including israel. we want to continue to increase the pressure on iran.
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the economic pressure to change it's behavior and come clean about the nuclear program. we have amped up the efforts at every stage. the broadest and hashest sanctions have been pushed on iran and that is having a bite. we have passed ever tougher sanctions and the eu has done the same and the countries in the gulf region and many others around the world, has done so, and iran is starting to feel the economic pressure, they are saying at the highest levels that it's crippling and biting. we feel that needs to have an opportunity to play the course. the president said we have taken no options off the table but we believe that this can still be
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addressed through diplomacy. >> and we should point out that the president today signed the sanctions putting tighter sanctions on iran. thank you for jo for joining us. why has this ad led to charges of racism? this is "andrea mitchell reports". ♪
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watch. >> thank you michigan senator debbie send it now. debbie spend so much american money, you borrow more and more from us, your economy get very weak, ours get very good. we take your jobs. thank you debbie spend it now. >> politico's maggie joins us now. you have within, wouldi iworkin this, the senator said, the growing dependence on china jeopardizes our national security, he does not deal with the question of critics which is that this ad is ethically in sensiti sensitive. >> it's aimed at the base and the fear about china and trade policy. you been hearing -- >> and the blue collar democrats that feel their jobs went
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overseas. we are talking reagan democrats. >> this is playing on foears, h is doing a classic dodge. you have republicans that are not happy with this ad. and it could backfire. >> how does it backfire? >> there are certain groups you are going to turn off with this, you may appeal to some segment of blue collar workers but you have other voters that may not find this appealing. you have to be careful when airing this kind of an ad. whether or not it was an unbelievably inappropriate ad, which many feel it is. >> coming up next, the intern and the president, a shocking secret that was of kept secret for half a century. we have the interview next on "andrea mitchell reports." nyquil: you know i relieve coughs, sneezing, fevers?
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horrible tragedy in washington state, police say a man long suspected in the disappearance of his wife set off an explosion killing himself and his would young sons. grandparents said that the children were beginning to remember details of the night of the disappearance of the mother. >> arguing mandating insurance is not constitutional is happening right now. the 85-year-old question celebrating the diamond jubilee celebration. did the president get a boost from an unintended person
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on super bowl sunday? >> this country cannot be knocked out with one punch, we get right back up and when we do the world will hear the roar of our engines. >> we have the author of "game change "appears as a move on march 10th and a presume a giants' fan. yes, no? >> route for overtime, and it got close. >> pretty close. it was an incredible game. but the clint eastwood ad of all of them it w of them.
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it could be a re-election campaign message. >> i think it's more pro obama and it talks about saving the auto industry as part of the economic come back, on the other hand, the republicans look at that message and clint eastwood is a republican and it shows that we need to change teams in the second half of the year to do better. but i think we may be analyzing it too much. >> where do we stand now with the election campaign. we saw the washington post, abc poll and the matchup of obama and romney. it's so hypothetical at this stage. is romney being hurt the longer it lasts, what happened saturday night, while others were watching the saturday night live
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skit, the new gingrich was making a speech. >> it depends on how he handles it. if you use it to build organizations in battle ground states a long fight can be a good thing. >> did he do that on saturday night? >> both romney and gingrich made reference of the importance of the general election. if you look at his failure to do a hard message on hispanic outreach and the few number of hispanics that showed up at his events that i went to, they did not take the opportunity to get intense in-state coverage. the record we have had so far, we have had contests this battlegrounds in new hampshire and florida and they have not done as good a job as they could have to send out that marker. if they do go be forward, we have an elections coming up in ohio and lots of battle ground states it could make a difference. >> it was so minimal that i saw
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one analyst say that you cannot reasonably do an substance poll analysis, there were so few hispanic voters. less than 5%. >> would not surprise me. i went to events for them all, and very low level of hispanic outreach and to win that caucus, you do not need that, but in the general election, in that state, a lot of southwestern states and states in the east and in the midwest. you kneneed, if you are a republican to do better. it's one of the biggest mistakes that romney has made so far. >> in the pete wilson kind of level of mistake, going back to had what happened in california decades ago. >> if you are a republican and you are not constantly looking to appeal to hispanics, you are hurting your campaign and the long-term image of the party. >> mark mckinnon has been making
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that whole point in the daily beast, that you have to get a certain level of hispanic votes and it increasing given the population change. speaking of things coming up, "game change" the movie. i want to show a clip. it's great. >> if you are going to seriously consider the governor of alaska, you have to call her now. >> this is sarah. >> you know, they say the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull is? lip stick. >> cnn has us even with obama. >> you can really win this thing. >> i'm not sure how much she knows about foreign policy. >> you can actually see russia from land here in aklaska? >> oh, my god what have we done. >> both of those actors are so true to life, is the rest of the movie the same level? >> even better. you will see that it's
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extraordinarily well done. there was a reason why we were excited to work with hbo, the acting is extraordinary and film making extraordinary people will find it entertaining. as good as that trailer is, it's better. >> as entertaining as the race was and the book. >> and wednesday on nbc's "rock center "a new night, mimi comes forward about a new tell-all book. >> most mornings, when i woke up i thought i don't want to get up and write this book, i want to hide under the covers. >> so made you then get out from turn under the covers? >> when you keep a secret and keep silent about something you do it because you think it's keeping you safe but in fact it's deadly. >> four days into your internship in the white house and you are in the swimming pool
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with the president of the united states. >> and it did not seem wrong because everyone went and i dried off and went back. >> he had maneuvered me swiftly and short of screaming i doubt i could have stopped his intentions. which makes you feel like you were somewhat over powered. >> i think that over powered in the sense that he was the president. he was handsome, 45 years old. not overpowered that he made me do something i was not willing to do, because i was willing to do it. >> meredith, first of all, what a treat to see you. >> great to see you too. >> what an explosive story, people will say why did she come
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out now after all these years? it's a shocking story. >> i asked her that and she said, look, people will talk no matter what. she was outed in 2003 and i think that people need to know that. there was a oral history that came out and he looked at it and there were pages that were missing and he asked that person if he could see those pages. she released them to him and he found out about this intern. and he mentioned in his book, 37 words describing her as a beautiful young intern that worked in the press office and used the word mimi, daily news got hold of it and tracked down her na -- tracked her down and she had to issue a statement, yes i'm that person and leave me alone.
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then she found out that other people were writing about her and she wanted to own her own story. >> first of all, we have to transport ourselves back to that day and age. >> yes. >> this young woman was 19 years old, and a debutaunt, and she had gotten her position in the white house as people did then and perhaps now, i don't know that, through connections. >> what is interesting, is she never applied for this internship. she doesn't know how she got it. she just sent her a letter and said, we would love for you to be an intern. she never met mrs. kennedy. >> the seduction took place in
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mrs. kennedy's bedroom. >> yes, yes, but she did not know at the time. >> four days into her internship she was singled out and brought on a tour and this is the first time she had sex. >> yes, she lost her virginity to the president and she thinks he realized it was her first time. but she clearly said, she was not forced. she could have said no. she did not say no. she doesn't know. i think she was in a bit of shock. it was after that, the next time that the affair began for real. >> meredith, it's a stunning story and for anyone watching rock center on wednesday night, this is the first time this story is being told. >> yeah.
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and just want ts to make it cle, she talks about his demons and that is what will shock people because it shocked me. there's more to this story than a simple affair. >> meredith, home at last. thank you very much. >> nice to see you. >> thanks for being with us today. up next, retaliation against whistle blowers. this is "andrea mitchell reports." with covergirl lashblast fusion. a mascara for lashes that want it all... all at once. our biggest brush meets our fiberstretch formula to bring you a blast of volume and length. lashes that want it all want lashblast fusion. from easy, breezy, beautiful covergirl. make a splash with water resistant lashblast fusion. diarrhea, gas or bloating?
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[ sighs ] i can't wait till morning.
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wait! it's morning in china! ♪ [ male announcer ] it's sweet, it's nutty... it's absolutely delicious. kellogg's crunchy nut. it's morning somewhere. i find investments with e-trade's top 5 lists and use pre-defined screeners to work smarter. not harder. i depend on myself to take charge of my financial future. [ bell dinging ] coming up on "news nation" new details of josh powell, the father that is said to have killed himself and took the life of his two young boys. he was a person of interest in the disappearance of his wife. >> he is sealed by the blood of the messiah, >> this video, you may a say is
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unbelievable. it has gone viral. it shows a pastor being wrapped in a torascroll, this man is apologizing and we will tell you what is going on in the church, more reaction to the president's big environment with matt lauer. words that was said were being sent directly to mitt romney. the law is supposed to protect whistle blowers. congressman rush holt is leading the investigation on whether whistle blowers were mistreated in the case. >> this came about because months ago a sit of mine, had
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been relentlessly questioning the air force about what happened to the remains of her husband who had been killed in iraq in an explosion, she suspected that there were some misbehavior going on, but she could not get an answer. as we looked into it, we found that her husband's remains, some of those remains and as well as others servicemen and women had been incinerated, mixed with medical waste and sent to a dump. when this came to light a couple of months ago, the public was outraged, dis mayed and disgu disgusted in the course of my probe, i discovered that those that had blown the whistle and said this is not right years ago had been transferred, demoted and even fired.
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and that was illegal. now just recently the office of special council, which is a government agency that serves to protect employees has confirmed that they were illegally fired t whistle blowers were retaliated against. >> you have four civilian workers who were the whistle blowers and the military, the air force officials shoved them aside and retaliated against them, what action will be taken against those that permitted this to happen? >> i told the secretary of the air force and secretary of the department of defense that anyone involved in retaliation in the case should be fired. they should have been fired already. the, as i say, the public, just the reaction to this is well maybe not surprising, but very
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strong. this is considered just inappropriate behavior that anybody would treat soldiers with this manner of disrespect and dishonor. it's a disrespect to the family. and of course, a big problem remains, what will the department do to realign itself with the public feelings here? i think there needs to be soul searching. they really have to get together with families, with officers s with the clergy to ask themselves how do we restore the honor and respect that has been lost? >> congressman -- >> and we do not know how many soldiers even have been treated in the way, their remains have been treated in this way. >> it's stunning, and it shows
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that one constituent, one grieving widow and one congressman can set off this chain to see what happened and change it in the future. and on congressman can set this off. >> it wouldn't have happened without mrs. smith. [ foreman ] so i can trust 'em. unlike randy. dollar for dollar, nobody protects you like allstate. [ female announcer ] nature valley granola bars, rich dark chocolate, toasted oats. perfect combinations of nature's delicious ingredients, from nature valley. ♪ nature valley granola bars, nature at its most delicious. the two trains and a bus rider. the "i'll sleep when it's done" academic. for 80 years, we've been inspired by you. and we've been honored to walk with you
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is there one thing you think of to make you go to that extra level? >> teammates. each other. we kind of coin the slate, slogan for ourselves, it's all in. it's about 11 guys playing as one. >> they love you. come on.
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>> i love you guys. >> we play that just because we could. which political story will make headlines in the next 24 hours? happy super bowl monday. what a great clip. >> let's talk tomorrow. we'll see congress voters in colorado. this could be rick santorum's last stand. how do you see this thing playing out? >> exactly. even more exciting than the super bowl potentially. these contests are nearly as high profile as the one's we've seen in the past. they could be indicators of things to come. romney is focused on colorado. he's not spent much time in minnesota. if rick santorum is able to pull it off in minnesota, arnnd thers a contest in missouri, there
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could be a new narrative about a new bump for rick santorum. we saw the romney campaign going after santorum. it could be a new story line after tomorrow, but maybe not a good one. >> we have a beauty contest in missouri, but it doesn't mean anything. that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." tamron hall has a look at "news nation." i know you're excited about your giants. talking about the super bowl ads and reactions. the story is absolutely heartbreaking. the father who killed himself and his two boys, it's been two years since his wife went missing. what our own michael smerconish zeroed on that the
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wheeeeeeeeeeeee! whee! whee! wheeeeeeeee! ah heads up. wheeeeeeeeeeee! everything you love about geico, now mobile. download the new geico app today. had e[ designer ]ling enough of just covering up my moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. i decided enough is enough. ♪ [ spa lady ] i started enbrel. it's clinically proven to provide clearer skin. [ rv guy ] enbrel may not work for everyone -- and may not clear you completely, but for many, it gets skin clearer fast, within 2 months, and keeps it clearer up to 9 months. [ male announcer ] because enbrel suppresses your immune system, it may lower your ability to fight infections. serious, sometimes fatal, events including infections,
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tuberculosis, lymphoma, other cancers, and nervous system and blood disorders have occurred. before starting enbrel, your doctor should test you for tuberculosis and discuss whether you've been to a region where certain fungal infections are common. don't start enbrel if you have an infection like the flu. tell your doctor if you're prone to infections, have cuts or sores, have had hepatitis b, have been treated for heart failure, or if, while on enbrel, you experience persistent fever, bruising, bleeding, or paleness. if you've had enough, ask your dermatologist about enbrel. prego?! but i've been buying ragu for years. [ thinking ] i wonder what other questionable choices i've made? [ '80s dance music plays ] [ sighs ] [ male announcer ] choose taste. choose prego.
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right now on "news nation." why he did it? sad details coming out in the investigation of washington state father who killed his two young sons and himself in a house explosion. josh powell was under i thi investigation in the disappearance of his wife. the president and the state department makes decisions involving syria and i ran. >> do you think mitt romney can identify with the middle class and the underclass of this country? >> president obama's answer to that question. plus, why the answer may be