from washington, "the mclaughlin group," the american original. for over two decades the sharpest minds, best sources, hardest talk. >> "the mclaughlin group" is brought to you by toyota and the state of mississippi. a great workforce producing a great product. ms. nothing could be finer than to be in carolina in the morning ♪ >> and with regards to south carolina, last time i came in fourth, so, you know, our team recognizes this is going to be a challenge.

>> republican presidential front runner mitt romney is in south carolina fighting to win south carolina's republican primary, coming up on january 21st. that's a saturday, about one week from now. four years ago in that 2008 south carolina presidential primary, the momentum was against him, and he came in fourth. this year, he appears to have the big mo. why? one, organization. romney's ground campaign is mighty and motivated by a likely big win. two, cash. romney has in cash $19 million to use for advertisements. more than any other competitor. three, endorsements. key south carolinaly politicians, notably the governor of south carolina, nikki haley, romney is now 18 points ahead of his closest

competitor, rick santorum who, by the way, narrowly lost to romney in the iowa caucus. now in south carolina a week away romney is polling at 37%, santorum 19%. romney is 19 points ahead of the third place candidate, newt gingrich. gingrich, by the way, had been beating romney in south carolina before his political collapse. today in south carolina romney is 37%, gingrich 18%. gingrich hints that romney has enough momentum and money to win the south carolina primary and the republican nomination. >> he has so much money that if he also has the advantage of momentum, it is going to be very hard to stop him. if romney can win south carolina to be the nominee. this is his big test. >> question, last week mitt romney made republican

presidential primary history. he is the first of any republican non-incumbent to win both iowa and new hampshire. can he now afford to relax? can he rest on his laurels? pat buchanan. >> no, he can't, john, but he's got some advantages you didn't mention. one is the perception that he's inevitable. secondly, his advantage is the entire conservative side of the argument has been fragmented in iowa between five or six people, between four or five people up in new hampshire. that vote has been splintered and divided and enabled mitt to break out. now he's in south carolina. he's ahead in some polls, all the polls in south carolina. some of them are close but he can afford even to lose south carolina beck's got this momentum, organization, money, he's headed for florida where he's way ahead, and no one heals the ability to go the distance. one final point. all the people who might beat him have been wounded or cut or

bleeding or damaged in one way or another. >> the bigger polls have a wider margin for romney being ahead of the next in line. >> yeah, but you've got gingrich and perry attacking romney. they've backed off a little because the party elders and the talk show showmen in the party have basically leaned on them not to wound romney any further, but you've got them with all this negative advertising there that's likely to damage romney somewhat, but it also damages the perpetrators, gingrich and perry. so there's an opening here for santorum, rick san tore rum, and there are a lot of evangelicals in south carolina. social issues are big. they seem to be resistant to the charges about beg capital, but they are going to be responsive, i think, to the flip-flopping on abortion and other social issues. but even if santorum comes in

second, even if he wins, i agree with pat, so what, because he's not going to be able to compete in florida when you're looking at that $19 million you showcased for romney. so romney looks like he's got it sewed up, but the voters often deliver a surprise. so you hate to say absolute, but he sure looks like the likely nominee. >> south carolina voted republican in every presidential race since 1960 except what, pat? >> jimmy carter carried south carolina in '76. >> defeated republican gerald ford. >> yep, but ronde reagan got south carolina back and got 10 of the 11 southern states from georgia, right, clarence? >> solidly republican. michelle what are your insights? >> one of the things i think is going to be an interesting test for south carolina is what happens in terms of the political rhetoric and the plately cal tone that we're going to see in advertising. 60% of likely voters in south carolina coming up next weekend

are protestant evangelical. if you take a look at interviews of likely voters there's still a lot of voters in south carolina that are saying, i don't understand his mormonism, i've been raised to believe that mormonism is a cult so we're going to have two mormons running in south carolina, two catholics. a sign of progress. catholics are picking up in the polls in south carolina, something we haven't seen typically. >> mitt romney has been accused, and this might be his achilles heel, of, quote unquote, vulture capitalism, meaning to feed on the carcasses of dead companies at bane capital. that's the nhis firm. he was defended by south carolina governor nikki haley. here she is. >> but we have a real problem when we have republicans talking like democrats against the free market. we believe in the free market.

>> question, republicans newt gingrich and rick perry are attack romney's business career also. are they doing the democrats' work for them, eleanor? >> well, actually, it's clarence's turn, but i'll snatch a little bit of it. yeah, because this is one of the main arguments against romney, that he's not really the job creator that he pretends to be. look, there's a place for venture capital firms and private equity firms in the economy, but for romney to come out and suggest that the sole purpose of this was to create jobs, when it's really to create wealth and to create wealth for the investors, i think he is vulnerable. >> yeah. what do you think? >> that was his mistake, to go and jump on the job creator bandwagon. that is not the job of venture capital companies. their job is to make a profit, and he should just ride with that which is he's learning how to do now, and just talk about the jobs that they help to

create, and he's fudging on how many jobs got destroyed in the meantime. >> don't you think -- i think it helps him, though, when he can bring examples, for example, like what they did with staples. when they talk about government supporting industries like sylindra, it hurts the white house. >> this is a killer, john, not in the primaries. the chamber of commerce, all these people coming out, the very fact of the reaction, near hysteria on the part of republicans. you get the white working class, for the purposer democrats, reagan democrats. a lot of these guys know there are different kinds of companies. some of them are company towns that take care of their people. some of them head to china, and some of them are predatory capitalists. this has been traditional going back to the '30s, and i think the democrats can hurt romney in the fall as one of these

guys who -- >> romney is pretending that it's an attack on free enterprise. we all love free into prize, but we don't like, and i'm probably going to quote newt gingrich here, we don't like when it rich people manipulate numbers to make wealth for themselves, and that's not the kind of capitalism -- >> romney is saying is -- let me get thin. romney is saying that bane capital created 100,000 jobs. but those are not net jobs. he's not saying how many jobs. >> he says net. >> he's not saying how many were lost. >> he says net is 100,000. that's right. what they will get is they will take these women, they say, they came to town, they shut the company down, they made a lot of money, we all lost our jobs, we never got them back, our town. and all over america, john, we've got companies that went to china, and all these folks are out of work. and you put him on the side of leveraged buyouts and all that credit default swaps and all this nonsense that people don't understand, and it's a real problem with working america.

>> the line that he çcreated 100,000 jobs, he doesn't say how many jobs were lost. in other words, it's not a net figure. it's a gross figure. but how many were fired or left the company. >> really, it's a trap for him to get involved in the job creator question, because i don't think that's a winner for him. what's a winner is to talk about saving companies and about creative destruction, without using the word, because that's the way these guys think. hey this is the kind of chaos of the marketplace, this is how it works. nobody complained during the '90s when we had a boom going on, but during the last decade, when job cuts were necessary, that's when the painful part comes in, and that's why people like bane capital get hired to come and do the dirty work. >> you want to give us a class on creative destruction? >> it's capitalism. >> thank you. >> economists talking about how in order to build you've got to destroy. sometimes you go through boom and bust cycles, and you come

out of the bust as fast as you can to create another boom. >> in order to survive and grow. >> when we come back -- >> economic darwinism. >> there

thanks, mom. who are you calling "mom"? dunkin' sausage pancake bites, delicious like mom's, only easier to carry -- get three for $1.59. issue two, michelle, our bell? ♪ michelle my bell >> i am one of his biggest confidants, but he has dozens of really smart people who surround him, and i am not an expert on most of the issues that he's dealing with on a daily basis, so i want him, and he wants to be talking to the people with the best information. >> a book published this week called "the obamas" by jodi kantor, a "new york times" reporter, alleges friction in the relationship between the first lady, michelle obama, and the staff of her husband. the presidential staff, of course. the book says that tension was

because mrs. obama was interfering with the way the president's staff wanted to do business. the book details the friction, name well former obama press secretary robert gibbs and former obama chief of staff rahm emanuel, now the mayor of chicago. mrs. obama had this to say about rahm emanuel. >> one thing is true, that i talk very candidly to my husband about how i feel, but that's the kind of relationship i have. i wouldn't go to rahm about something i would talk to my husband about. if i didn't agree with something, i would talk to my own husband about it. >> the cantor book also details an alleged incident in which a french book says that carla bruni, the wife of nicholas sarkozy, asked mrs. obama how she liked living in the white house. mrs. obama reportedly replied,

"don't ask. it's hell. i can't stand it." both mrs. obama and mrs. bruni deny the first lady ever made the comment. mrs. obama does not like the depiction. >> i guess it's more interesting to imagine this conflicted situation here, a strong woman and -- you know, but that's been an image that people have tried to paint of me since the day barack announced, that i'm some angry black woman. who can write about how i feel? who? what third person can tell me how i feel? >> question, is it normal, or abnormal, for there to be friction between the president's west wing staff and the first lady and her east wing staff? michelle. >> i have absolutely no idea, but what i will tell you, personal opinion, this first

couple clearly this is a woman who loves her husband, she's fiercely protective of the presidency of her husband, of their children of her image. i would suspect there would be some friction between the east wing and the west wing, if people are not doing their jobs. >> look, mrs. reagan, quite frankly, had a hand in the removal of my bees, the guy that hired me, don regan. she worked on it and worked on it. >> he was chief of staff. after that secretary of the treasury. >> exactly. but let me say this about michelle obama. she's a good mother, a strong woman, and i think she's been an excellent first lady. she's done a fine job. >> here here. and i think the problem that people have with the back, or that mrs. obama has with the book is that the -- they pretend that they get inside her head and i think she recents that. but the friction between the east wing and the west wing is

normal. nancy reagan is topic a, and hillary clinton as well. i çthink that michelle obama h had difficulties with some of the staff decisions that were made, and i think she probably handled it a lot more diplomaticallily than nancy reagan or hillary clinton did, but she was an unhappy, reluctant camper when she first came to washington. >> dawn anything about the story of when -- >> she's come around. she's all in now that it's the election. >> do you remember when she went to spain, i believe she went to see the king, and the white house staff in the upper levels were saying, she really is picking too many expensive spots to go to. they also spent, what, $50,000 a month in martha's vineyard. >> it's a red herring. >> a lot of these separate trips she had to take because her husband was stuck here fighting the republicans on capitol hill. the fact is that the worst you can say about michelle obama is she's protective of her husband

and she's trying to protects her family. that is pretty thin soup, if you want to try to bring them down, the fact of the matter. but there are other first ladies, as has been mentioned. she actually has been remarkably restrained considering the professional background shed coming into it. >> the conclusion coming in, this book is not unflattering toward the obamas. it's quite an up-beat portrayal. she's building the back. >> john this is going to be a best-seller, anyway. >> a bigger best serial because of her -- >> because of the gossip, john. sometimes there's just so much -- >> fascinating interview on cbs this morning. if you took a look at the two days of interviews that michelle obama did with gayle king what you see is a woman who comes out and says is i want to make sure that my children live as normal a life as possible. i think anyone who views that is going to view a skepticism anything negative that might take place in the back. >> we have to move on. okay, may he rest in peace.

tony blankly passed away last saturday night. he was 63 years old. tony was a regular panelist on this show for nine years. he sat in the seat to my left. nearly 450 times. tony left the show when he became executive vice president of edelman company, a public relations firm. tony was great fun to have around. he was consistently up-beat. he was in form, witty and a great sense of humor. he was born in london but became an american citizen, but he defended his british heritage, and he lauded the role ofdevelopment of the planet. >> it's not a coincidence that the united states, canada, india, australia, new zealand, all of the countries that were part of the british empire -- >> have you heard of georgia? >> and offers great democracies. i don't remember all the great dmok ceases he created by the former empires of austria,

germany, or russia. >> louisiana. >> and look at louisiana. [ laughter ] >> you see how this thing brings back memories. >> oh, yeah. >> lord blankley of the british empire sat right there, just a wonderful fellow. he was good friend. he loved his family, his friends, his farms, all the animals on it. he was a conservative to the heart, and everybody liked him on all sides, and he debated as a gentleman, and that's what he was. john, i do remember, he dressed better than anybody. i looked over, he had a green suit on, a green shirt, a green tie, the and green socks. >> and he rocked it. he rocked it. >> let me tell awe story, john, i was over -- remember, he had a drink, he had three glasses a day, no solid food, and he lost about 00 pounds. total liquid diet. so i was here, i drink all my water, andy looked over, and i said, tony, i've stolen your

dinner. [ laughter ] >> we debated fiercely on this show, but we were friends, and we did public service announcements together for the washington animal rescue league. he had a farm with lots of animals. exotic animals. but a lot of plain, ordinary mutts and cats. so i really appreciated that. >> michelle, did you know tony? >> i did. i adored him. i had the privilege of appearing with him very frequentlily on msnbc during the last election. >> you mean on an opposite point of view? >> sometimes opposite point of view, sometimes the same point of view. bottom line, he was always a gentleman in debates. the most fun i had with him was sitting in the green room looking at the outfits he two wear. he was always very dapper, always very gentlemanly. but what i loved was the way he talked so adoringly about his wife and the work that she was doing with women who had been subject to trauma in the middle east during the iraq and

afghanistan war, and he always spoke about her work with so much pride. >> and he loved his kids, too, all the way around. what you're hearing here is about a guy who regardless of politics he got along with everybody, and whether you agreed with him or not, he always had an intelligent argument. and i always said the great mystery of tony, over all those years, why you still got that act september, tony? >> tony was, i think, a renaissance is man. he had read wisely. >> steeped in history. >> and in culture. he was a man of honor. tony lived by his word. our thoughts and prayers are with tony's wife linda and "the mclaughlin group" is brought to you

predictions. pat.

>> ron paul will win the second largest number of delegates at the republican convention behind mitt romney. >> romney's refusal so far to release his income-tax returns will be linked to probable investments in the cayman islands and the likelihood that he paid a very small percentage of his income intaxes. >> michelle. >> i'm staying away from the candidates. my prediction, next week the 21st marks the beginning of national school choice week and i predict we will see over 5,000 people at the lake front arena in louisiana celebrating school choice and education reform throughout the country. >> clarence. >> romney will turn the bane capital flap to his advantage during the primary and i predict he will win the nomination and it's going to hurt him in the nomination. >> michelle obama will run for the united states in 2016, and she will be thereby kind kind of mimicking, if that's not the right word, or duplicating