from washington the mclaughlin group the american original. for over three decades the sharpest minds, best sources, hardest talk. the mclaughlin group is brought to you by met life. i can do this. >> one romney, rubio 2012. >> tonight is the beginning of the end of the disappointment of the obama years. it's still about the economy and we are not stupid. >> republican caatwon five prim

tuesday. connecticut, delaware, new york, pennsylvania, rhode island. mr. romney has no competition now. both rick santorum and newt gingrich have dropped out of the primary race to be the republican parties official nominee for president to be finalized at the gop presidential campaign in tampa four months for now. by the time he reaches tampa he will have chosen his vice presidential running mate. who will it be? many hope it will be marco rubio that campaigned with romney this week. republican leaders want to increase the parties appeal to hispanic americans sometime called latin americans that constitute 16% of the american population. american leaders want to narrow the huge gap between romney and

obama with hispanic people. in spaces like colorado, new mexico, nevada, north carolina, and virginia. they hope to win at least 40% of the hispanic vote in november. quote we are going to engage hispanics and latinos like we have never been before. they are clambering for change and the republican party is here to offer them the change they are looking for. so says republican national committee chairman. here is marco rubio in action at the think tank on wednesday. >> there are more countries working to meet the global challenges of our time. experience has proven that american leadership is almost always indispensable to its success. >> what are the pluses that senator rubio would bring to the ticket pat buchanan? >> he is young, he is hispanic, he can from florida, he is

conservative. i don't know he will get it. i think he has created a problem for himself. he has moved with the neo conservatives. he not only said pughen was a week leader he said we should get involved in syria and militarily we'll have to attack iran. he's with joe lieberman and mccane and lindsey graham and that crowd. when you saw them together, it looked like he was too young and i think too callow to be the vice president of the united states. i think romney will go with someone that is perceived as heavier and older and the primary consideration. can he be president of the united states on a notice moments. >> does the bomb make him look even younger? you understand the question? >> the bomb? >> the big bomb. >> you mine the hydrogen bomb?

>> yeah. does it make him look younger? >> when i saw him there alongside romney and you see him speak, you say is this fellow ready to be commander and chief and control the nuclear arsenal and i would say not yet. >> he's junior varsity. he's a talented guy. he is running for something. he's got his biography out. he's hired a private detector to invest his own background to make sure he knows all the skeletons are out there. i don't think he's running for vice president i think he's running for 2016. >> he is 40 years old. how old was jefferson when he ran? >> i don't know. >> he was older than that. >> older than 47? who was the youngest president? >> the youngest president was teddy roosevelt. nixon was 39 when he became

vice president. >> he looks a little top young. and the rubio people you talk to them you got a sense they are not interested in it. he is taking advantage of this moment to get all the attention and publicity he can. but they are content for him to develop himself as a national leader from the senate. i also think romney will go safe and so conventional on this one because a huge part of the republican party that doesn't want a surprise pick

again. and romney is priding himself on being the very deliberate decision maker and doesn't want to mess this up. >> in 1980 president reagan picked george h.w. bush to be his running mate. >> this decision is more about more than age, john. >> constitution sets age as a minimum. can you say it's not about age? the founding fathers saw age. >> it's not the only requirement is all i'm saying. he doesn't -- rubio doesn't inspire confidence as an instant president. he's a talented young guy and he needs time to develop himself. romney is going to go safe. >> would he deliver id owe balance to the ticket? >> no. the gop has a major problem with hispanics and there is no question that the position he has taken on immigration including romney's comments about deportation are really problematic. romney said if they can't call hispanics back they are doomed. that is the main thing they bring to the ticket. that is because of this dream light act which deals with the immigration problem. i agree with pat though, i

think his speech was unbelievablely troubling. nothing can go wrong in the world without america being involved. he didn't mention iraq. made him seem really out of touch with the american people. >> this race? the big engine is the tea party. correct? the tea party likes rubio. does that make a difference in >> you can't be elected president just with the tea party. they have the tea party. >> that is one of the miss. romney had a huge problem with the very conservative voters that will be with him no matter what. mitt romney does not need a choice that shores up the state. >> they have to be motivated by their hay dread of obama. he is go to guy now for republicans on trying to tweak the dream act so they vote for it. what he wants to do is offer

kids who were brought here illegally by their parents. student vie a is a -- visa to go to school. it's a more palettable way to give legitimate city to people. >> the ax this businessman people assume because of that somehow he will bring some magic elixir to the economy. when they get under the hood and see what he is proposing more massive tax cuts for the wealthy. fewer rules for wall street. deep cuts in the things we need to grow, education, research and development and energy. people this movie before and it didn't work. >> what is wrong with having a businessman or a ceo a chief executive officer in the oval office which has never happened in the 233 year history of this

country? >> he didn't say there was anything wrong with having a ceo. he said the fact you are a ceo have been is a ceo doesn't mean you will be good at running the economy. the question is what are the policies he's proposing? i think obama is vulnerable when it comes to the economy. despite the ideas that somehow we are doing better. people are not really feeling we are doing better. employment is still acceptably high. romney has not come up with clear unam biggous alternatives. >> ceo is good at governing. is obama good at governing? >> there is a lot more evidence why obama hasn't been good. it's not really something to do with obama. >> nothing to do with obama? >> the secret service is 6500 people and 12 of them are in

trouble. it's not a major problem. >> george w. bush had an mba from harvard. talk about business experience. he brought it to the white house. i think romney was a talented businessman in the private sector. if he can convince people that's what we need that will be positive. he relies on broad rhetoric. do you think you are better than 40 years ago? >> multiple choice exit question. what is the top political impairtive in picking a vice president? is it a to unify the party? b to add a major state to the rectal college column. c to have a ready success or or d do no harm? >> i think romney wants someone who has perceived as presidential number one that can step in the oval office. second that helps him in a major state like in ohio or

florida he's got to win. and the other considerations have got to be there. you can't put up somebody that people say that guy can't do the job. >> i think he's going to double down on gray haired confidence that he wants people to know the economy is now in safe hands. you can sleep at night. i suppose you do no harm comes close to that. >> it's entirely c and d. it's going to be d no harm. it's going to be c someone people think is ready. >> does the vice president really bring anything in terms of votes? >> that is an exceptional case. usually do no harm is a really good rule. >> a rarity. >> i agree. it has to be c and d. romney will react to the sarah palin pick which is neither c nor d. and that is what he will go for. >> the wors

really bring that much to the ticket. so i think it's d. you want somebody in there that will do no harm. when we come back secret service brew ha ha. today is gonna be an important day for us. you ready? we wanna be our brother's keeper. what's number two we wanna do? bring it up to 90 decatherms. how bout ya, joe? let's go ahead and bring it online. attention on site, attention on site.

now starting unit nine. some of the world's cleanest gas turbines are now powering some of america's biggest cities. siemens. answers.

issue two secret service uproar. >> these guys are incredible. they protect me, they protect michelle, they protect our girls, they protect our officials all around the world. so a couple knuckle heads shouldn't detract from what they do, but what these guys were thinking, i don't know. >> quote unquote knuckle heads. that is president obama's word to describe secret service agents that consorted with prostitutes at the time of the summit of america's conference in columbia two weeks ago. 12 agents were investigated by

the service lead by 29 year veteran director mark sullivan. three agents were reprimanded. nine terminated. the u.s. senate judiciary committee had questions for mr. obama's cabinet secretary for homeland security janet napolitano. >> the misconduct we heard about, did that pose any risk to the president's security in columbia? >> that was my first question to director sullivan when he called me and the answer was no. there was no risk to the president. >> as to whether the conduct was an isolated incident for the service, secretary napolitano said 2.5 years of records reviewed as of midweek showed no similar behavior. so was it isolated or was it standard behavior? that's the key question in the unfolding secret service scandal.

there are new reports that what happened with prostitutes in columbia did happen elsewhere. allegations of misbehavior by agents surfaced this week about president obama's trip last year to el salvador. an investigative reporter for a cbs affiliate kiro tv chris halsne investigated on site. he reports that a government tour that worked with the receive -- government contractor that worked with the secret service described a rowdy scene in a strip club. van loads of secret service agents and u.s. military escorts descended on the club drinking heavily and getting quote unquote intoxicated, quote unquote wasted in the wee hours of the morning paying trippers for sexual favors in the club with some agents escorting the women back to the

hotels. agents told the concerned sub contractor no worries, do it all the time. question will president obama be forced to replace senior white house advance staff in the white house that is get that over the next six months before november's election? >> i kind of doubt it. we'll see where it goes. the agents disgraced the country. one of the reasons they are such idiots is the prost cutes come in the hoe -- prostitutes come into the hotel. they leave their id at the front desk. they have all been checked out. there is no indications there is anything beyond you know -- [ laughter ] ancient conduct with the oldest profession. and the el salvador thing are looking into it. the reporter is not revealing his sources. it shouldn't surprise us that men do these sort of things.

they should be fired when it does. but i do not think it's a scandal that will reach into the highest echelons of the white house. >> there is a number of agencies here. you have secret service and white house communication agency, then you got the white house advance office and our office ron walker ran that under nixon and we had guys running that under reagan. no one has been implicated in any way. one individual i believe for waca but these are young guys in a strange town when the boss gets out and leave and get out and drink and party. i think you will get a lot more. >> remember the only reason this came out is because one of the guys had agreed to pay $800 and he only wanted to pay $30 which i understand about the whole idea of saving money but for this thing never would have

come out. >> this is almost an audit question. [ laughter ] >> definition of knuckle head they didn't just pay the woman plus the fact prostitution is legal there. and these are as you said mostly young guys, it's a macho feel and what they do on their time i don't care. when they are on the taxpayers dime i do care. >> columbia summit we talked about that. 12 secret service agents disciplined or removed before obama's arrival. then you have the visit to el salvador we just talked about that. now we have president clinton's moscow trip in 2000. white house staff advance and secret service both went to the

hungry duck strip club. [ laughter ] >> it's a regular place to stop. >> then you've got defense secretary panetta apologizing in brazil this week for an incident in which a prostitute was shoved from a car by three marines assigned to the u.s. embassy after a dispute over money breaking her collarbone. now she is suing. >> i understand why you think that is a good story. sex, it has the president of the united states although not connected directly, and it has possibilities of national security threats. but you know what, it's a nonstory. it's a nonstory. 2500 people -- >> what about the idea that these prostitutes could be russian spies and collecting information? >> they check each of these prostitutes out. they read the list you should never go to a latin american country again.

>> they are waiting around for something to happen. it doesn't happen. >> if you read the report when the u.s. fleet comes in, they -- if you go to the port when the u.s. fleet comes in they know every spot. >> senator chuck grassley said this on friday. >> inspector general of the homeland security would be the one to make sure that the secret service investigation is thorough. inspectors generals have great deal of independence and they are the ones that should be doing this unbothered by anybody else in the department or the administration. >> why did senator grassley call for this? >> secret service was under treasury. they moved it under homeland security. >> what is that? >> the department of homeland security. [ laughter ]

>> janet napolitano -- it has all the agencies under it. let me tell you about secret service. nobody on the president's detail has been involved in this. these are a lot of guy this are sending in and out to do advanced work. >> exit question is senator grassley that has been on this case on a political witch hunt he is a very powerful man. he's a dedicated man. he served for 30-40 years in congress. do his concerns about white house conduct have merit? >> i think he is talking generally secret service yes. they should look at it because there is a real possibility individuals could be comp fiesed. it may be wide-spread. homeland security is the place to do it. >> you think it's a ha ha story. >> it has that aspect also. >> i said there will be a

special council it does involve white house staff. white house staff. the president's staff. the president says -- [ inaudible ] >> i postally agree it's a nonstory. i think senator grassley had a fine suggestion. have inspector generals look at it. they do good job everywhere. >> he by an enemy. we'll be right back with tradition.

bye bye out of time.