well, mr. perrys own definition of what's dumb, and you can find it at 1600 pennsylvania avenue. >> what's dumb is to oversee an economy that has lost that many millions of jobs, to put unemployment numbers over his four years that will stay probably at 9%, to downgrade the credit of this good country, to put fiscal policies in place that were a disaster back in the '0s and try them again in the 2,000s, that's what i consider to be the definition of dumb. >> one person who is anything but the definition of dumb when it comes to mr. perry's candidacy is a lifelong texan. he joins us now. good afternoon, sir. >> good afternoon. >> in your article this month, "dear yankee, eight things you ought to know before you start writing stories about rick perry," you describe mr. perry as a politician who is a lot cannier and luckier than you might think, someone not to be taken lightly. are you surprised then that he so suddenly made it into front-runner status? >> no, i'm really not for a couple of reasons. on

since mr. perryid decide to stay in the race after new hampshire, he has lost one key south carolina donor and supporter. he objects to mr. perry taking on mitt romney for being a vulture capitalist and to add injury to insult. that donor is not just leaving rick perry's team. he plans to endorse plom. joining me now is felicia felicia seungmess. thank you for being with us. >> thank you for having me, rachel. >> rick perry, as i tried to explain is already not polling terribly well in south carolina. he's really borderline for making it into the cnn debate. how important is the loss of this south carolina donor for mr. perry at this point? >> it's a pretty significant loss, rachel. it could be a significant turning point for the campaign. he's pretty much having the air waves open to himself. in that span of time, $2 million has been spent on his behalf. he's seen polling numbers go down back to 5% now since november. so there's not much further down you can go. yet today we saw this supporter as we

mrs. perry talking about the rigors of campaigning and what she feels is driving the criticism of her husband. >> this has been a rough month. i don't need to tell you we've been brutalized and beaten up and chewed up in the press. we've been brutalized by our opponents and our party so much of that i think they look at him because of his faith. he's the only true conservative. i truly feel like we are here for that purpose. >> mrs. perry saying god called governor perry to this race saying the husband was happy being governor but she encouraged him to run because she felt washington was lacking leadership. one of perry's rivals former godfather ceo continues his surge in the polls his signature economic plan is drawing increased scrutiny. the 999 proposal would reform the current tax code cutting it down to a 9% personal income tax, 9% corporate tax and 9% national sales tax. the plan is getting mixed reviews with "the washington post" offering this critique -- herman cain will sit down with da

mrs. perry's tone took on a sharp edge at more secular campaign events. mocking gop candidate herman cain's 999 tax plan. >> when i hear 999, i want to call 911. >> reporter: and the president. >> someone said it may take 40 years to recover from president obama. i'm like you, if we -- if he's re-elected i don't know that 40 years is going to be enough. >> reporter: although anita perry has been first lady longer than anyone in texas history that public life has apparently not made the scrutiny and strain any easier, seeing her husband run for president. kelly o'donnell, nbc news, washington. >>> here's your first look at other news going on around america today. a violent attack inside a chicago high school was captured on criminal phone. the horrific footage shows one teen struggling to defend herself against two sisters inside a biology class. a teacher tried to intervene but was unable to stop the fight. the 14-year-old victim suffered a concussion and other injuries. her 17 and 18-year-old attackers were suspended from school and arrested. >>> a base

mr. perry's assessment as it relates to foreign affairs. we have seen major high dollar targets if you will succumb to the work of our national security community and the united states military and president barack obama. do we have the confidence that governor perry would ascend to the leadership if you do not present yourself in a serious manner and apt to make jokes and if you don't get a profound station and i'm not suggesting you stand before the world on a podium, but if you don't reject the inhead rock that we can understand that you reject it and were appalled and distance yourself from it or you give a profound statement about the lack of credibility of a confederate issued license plate regardless of the history preservation, that can be done in museums and private homes, if you don't distance yourself in the commander confederate organization that said people need to move on. then you are creating an atmosphere when you move into the general election if you are elected by the primary voters that you are not a serious candidate re

yes, mr. perryery thought of having to walk on stage amongst friends and talk about his policies. seriously. and so, his campaign team has let it be known that mr. perry is not going to appear in every debate from now on. he just can't take it anymore. but before you jump in and berate him for being a scaredy-cat, a weak heart, and a wuss, just ask yourself how you'd feel if you'd performed like this. >> against the second amendment, before he was for -- galileo got outvoted for a spell. was it before he was before? if you're saying i can be bought for $5,000, i'm offended. before he was against versus -- roe versus wade. >> the last time i saw anyone as punch-drunk as perry on stage was in may, 1987, when pinklin thomas challenged mike tyson for the heavyweight champion of the world and landed flat on his back. i think we all understand why rick perry is now running scared. thank you very much for watching. dylan is back, he's here, and he's ready to take us forward. dylan, it's yours. >> i was jus

mr. perry's campaign has money, they have not been giving up. the perry campaign appears to be sir p pursuing a strategy of doing paid media and lots of it. paying for tv ads to blanket the airwaves in iowa leading up to the iowa caucuses. do some good ads, do some bad ads. hi "brokeback mountain" jacket. do ads, ads, ads all the time. keep yourself in a controlled, scripted environment where you, rick perry, control the message. if the perry campaign could only do that then maybe they would have had a comeback. but they also have their candidate out there not just doing ads, but talking to humans. live. they have him in settings where he is not just reading off a cue cards and that sort of thing has turned out to be a disaster. when he's not reading off a cue card, gov -- >> oops. >> oops, yeah. rick perry has had an unending string of oops, unending string of weird, wrong and strange moments on camera in public where he appears totally confused. it started at the beginning of his campaign as soon as he started talking in public and continued to

perry and the president are a dead heat on independents. mr. obama runs a little better against perry than romney. i's not that big of a margin. >> what are we talking about here? are you surprised his entry brought such a large surge? >> there was a void in the gop field that he's filling. when mitch daniels decided not to run, there was clearly an appetite for someone not in the race. mr. perry is filling that. he's able to appeal to fiscal conservatives given his record in texas and ability to create jobs. he's conservative on social issues. he has the ability to meld those two wings of the party. >> the president's approval ratings have been dismal as of late. how did he fare in your poll this time? >> the favorable, unfavorable rating is 47-47. it's not that good. it's not awful but it's not good. it's down from the past. >> peter brown, thanks for your time. you can see the republican front-runners square off one week from today right here on msnbc. >>> we have an amazing story out of the flood zone in vermont. imagine being this couple. l

there has been a huge outpouring of support and prayers for mr. perry. lot of his comments on the website are coming from people wishing him well and hoping things will get back up and running soon. >> you mentioned that oprah winfrey, one of those people, incredibly close to tyler perry and tweeted out a message to tyler perry and try to pull it up while we're talking. the facility is massive, 200,000 square feet, multiple acres, post production facility, back lot, a chapel, a gym, and a pond and just how much of this area was damaged? do we know? we keep saying this shot of this i think is he will building. is that where it was mostly contained? >> right now what we understand is that it is contained to a single facade and there was a partial collapse of that back lot facade. from what we understand a lot of those back lots and those buildings are empty, but as you can imagine, a lot of that stuff is it flammable if you can imagine the proximity and the buildings being so close to each other and things could have gotten out of hand really fast, but for

i think people should judge mr. perryp, read his book, go straight to the ps, and look under "ponzi." >>> ahead, the fight to save troy davis, a man who is scheduled to be executed next week. this not beyond a reasonable doubt. >>> former republican congressman bob bahr supports the death penalty, but he says the system has let us down in this case. a vacation on a budget with expedia. make it work. booking a flight by itself is an uh-oh. see if we can "stitch" together a better deal. that's a hint, antoine. ooh! see what anandra did? booking your flight and hotel at the same time gets you prices hotels and airlines won't let expedia show separately. book it. major wow factor! where you book matters. expedia. ♪ got so many scratches and scars ♪ ♪ maybe time can mend us together again ♪ ♪ it's not what we've done but how far we've come ♪ ♪ i know that we will recover [ male announcer ] here when you need us most. [ sponge ] you've suffered some real damage. cheesy crusting. 3rd degree noodle trauma. the prognosis is bleak.

that was rick perry back in september, and then mr. perry went away. after mr. perry, mr.hen herman cain went away. then from mr. gingrich, and he went away and came back and went away. so though it is exciting in the moment, a rival candidate to surge and pose a challenge to mr. romney, it's not the most novel story in the world. if in all the breathless rick santorum coverage today you feel like you have seen this movie before, it is because you have seen this movie before. and it might end up being a big deal, but it might not. if chart really does imitate life, here's what i think is a more important thing to keep an eye on. and it's not getting nearly as much attention. we don't vote nationally. we vote state by state, right? it's too bad, but the presidential preferences of republican voters in a state like utah really don't matter all that much. their primary's at the end of june. it comes pretty much too late in the process to likely have any impact on who the republicans pick for their nominees. but utah republicans' preferences are reflected as much in these nati

. >> 60% of republican voters say they are christian and today mrs. perry wiped tears recalling her grandfather who had been a deacon and used biblical references to declare that god revealed to her that her husband should run for president. >> he felt like he needed to see the burning bush. i said look, let me tell you something, you may not have seen that burning bush but there are people who have seen it for you. >>> i think the debates have been unfair. i think he has been the recipient of arrows. >> mrs. perry's tone took on a sharp edge later today at more secular campaign events. >> when i hear 9-9-9, i want to call 911. >> someone said it may take 40 years to recover from president obama. if he is re-elected, i don't know that 40 years will be enough. >> so hearing anita perry unfiltered gave us a win do into what he was thinking. rick perry was asked about her comments and he said it is often the family members who feel a lot of this more personally than the candidates do. she said she understood this this would be tough and more intense than she e

then mr. perry went away. after mr. perry, mr.weathered the exact same storm from herman cain, and herman cain went away. then after herman cain, mr. romney weathered the exact same storm from newt gingrich and mr. gingrich went away and mr. gingrich came back and went away again. though it's exciting in the moment, a rival republican candidate coming from no where to surge it's not the most novel story in the world. yes, mr. santorum has come from nowhere to meet or exceed mr. if in all the breathless rick santorum coverage today you feel like you have seen this movie before, it is because you have seen this movie before. and it might end up being a big deal, but it might not. this is what's going on in the republican rate for president. the more happens in the race, the more voting, the more campaigning this year, the more voters have decided nationally that they cannot stand mitt romney. if there's polling in politics that might be worth blanket coverage from the beltway media, i would think that this would be it. chart imitate

days for smooth customer, political veteran, rick perry to say something odious, not just odious to me or liberals, but thuggish and odious to anyone, even mr. carl rove. we'll show you what rove said about perry in a minute, but first, here's what perry said at a meet and greet session with voters in cedar rapids, iowa, last night when he was asked about the federal reserve. >> oh, the federal reserve, i'll take a pass on the federal reserve right at the moment to be real honest with you. i know there's a lot of talk and what have you about them. if this guy prints more money, between now and -- i don't know what you'd do to them in iowa, but we would treat him pretty ugly down in texas. i mean, printing more money to play politics at this particular time in american history is almost treasonist in my opinion, because all it's going to be doing, all it's going to be doing. we already tried this. all it's going to be doing is devaluing the dollar in your pocket. >> all right. well, there are a lot of ways to unpack that. the first is that this is a built of ideological signaling in the farthest reaches of the right wing of the republican pa

. >> mr. perry just got in the presidential race and i think that everybody who runs for president, it probably takes them a little bit of time before they start realizing this isn't like running for governor, senator or congress. and you have to be more careful about what you say. i'll cut him some slack. he's only been at it for a few days now. >> president obama doesn't have to get down in the mud with perry, not yet. he can't play mr. nice guy with someone who will say anything to play to his base. perry is playing for keeps, and he's not shy about it. america has got its first taste of how dangerous perry is when he said this about ben bernanke. >> if this guy prints more money between now and the election, i don't know what you all would do to him in iowa, but we'd treat him pretty ugly down in texas. printing more money to play politics at this particular time in american history is almost treasonous in my opinion. >> words like treason, i mean, just roll off perry's lips, he knows that's exa

romney confronting mr. perry on endangering social security. but isn't there a real problem for mr.omney in this case, because he does, as you said, he is floating ideas like changing the eligibility age and reducing benefits and potentially partial privatization, and people opting out? those are all things that go right at the heart of social security, what social security is, how can he be a champion of a program that he wants to attack in that many different ways? >> because the only way you can save the program, rachel, is to fix the funding, without that, you can't have the program continue. when the program first started, he had like 15 or 20 people paying in for every person taking benefits. now, the triangle is inversed, the only way you can continue it is to fix it. of course, it's important to fix if. it's important for us, and our kids and grandkids to have that program on the books. but do it in a way that makes sense fiscally. that's what mitt believes and i think that's what most americans believe. >> congressman mulvaney, you want to jump in there? >> here's what mr.

so it sort of got lost in the shuffle, this campaign season, once mr. perry lost so badly, but there was one remarkable moment from rick perry in the campaign that has suddenly become newly relevant in where the campaign's at now. here's how it happened. it was exactly one week before the iowa caucuses. rick perry who had been a staunch antiabortion politician exactly a week before the caucuses, he told a conservative iowa minister in front of his parishioners that he had had a change of heart on the issue of abortion. here's how we reported it at the time. >> another sign, i think, of rick perry banking hard for the evangelical social conservative vote, his announcement at a campaign event in iowa last night sort of striking announcement, that he's changed his mind on abortion. he said seeing mike huckabee's dvd about abortion has caused him to change his stance on the issue. even though rick perry is very, very antiabortion, he's for criminalizing it, he used to believe that the government shouldn't force rape victims or victims of incest to bear the child

the next day, mr. perry, being a presidential candidate, of course, went to iowa. ential candidate day two. he's answering a question about social security here. >> let the whole, the whole issue of -- have you read my book, "fed up!"? get a copy of it, read it. it is, because i talk about the entitlement programs in there. >> have you read my book, "fed up!"? governor perry released the book called'"fed up!" november nine months ago. it was noent introduce him on the national political stage. it is one of the hints he might be running for president this year. and if you want to know what the this about entitlement programs there, it will give you an earful or eyeful, whatever. "certain programs massively altered the relationship between americans and their government, violently tossing aside any respect principal approximatelies. by far the best example of this is social security. social security, rick perry, is saying, "fed up!" is not just un-american, but violently un-american, and it's not just social security. that same month governor perry told "newsweek," i

will that make a difference to mr. perry?akes a difference to governor pery in that it's good to have a tea party darling like governor jindal of louisiana on your side. it helps to add to him at a time when people are questioning whether rick perry is a latter day donald trump and he can go the distance. when you have a rising star within your own party and within a faction of your party that is driving the energy momentum within your party, it can't help but be a benefit. >> the final question. what do you think of jindal's support. >> for offsets pawlenty's support. neither is surprising. he's a mainstream guy and no doubt he endorses romney. >> we will be posting highlights on our twitter account. as always we invite you to follow the show on facebook at facebook.com/martinbashir. >> the jobs plan will rest and the challenge will be to secure sufficient support from republicans and 14 million americans are waiting desperately for the jobs the president so badly hopes to create. will this see and the americans disapprove o

mr. perry is using that money to make and run a bunch of new ads that are really bluntly old school right wing. today's ad is on health care, and it ends with him calling both mitt romney and newt gingrich, "big government liberals." the ad before this from mr. perry was his big anti-gay gambit, complaining about don't ask, don't tell being repealed. this is risky on one level because the repaefl don't ask, don't tell is very popular, it polls very well. you about it's risky on another level because rick perry did his ad while wearing the heath ledger jacket from the gay cowboy movie "brokeback mountain." which is the best meme on twitter in at least a week. see, it's a thing now. well done, governor. your thing. everywhere. links to that tumblr that produced that and others at maddowblog right now. but as for the front-runner, as for mr. 53 points ahead in georgia, newt gingrich is using his front-runner status to make a little cash. not for his campaign. for himself. as noted in the "new york

where are you, mr. perry? i'm waiting. ing me now to help answer that question who did show up is matt glaser, executive director of progress texas, a group that has followed perry's past and jonathan capehart, editorial writer for the "washington post" and msnbc contributor. gentlemen, thank you for your time tonight. >> hi, rev. great being here. >> let me start with you, jonathan. three days, no perry. we hear some spinning, if you want to call it that from some of his campaign aides. he didn't come forth. he didn't explain anything. he hasn't really said anything about this. does that speak volumes? >> well, it speaks a little bit, but to be fair to the governor, he did send a statement to the "washington post" saying that the word was -- i believe he said either offensive or insensitive. i think it was offensive. he talked about how, you know, efforts were made to, you know, paint over the word which was painted over a rock. i think the bigger issue though is it's one thing to talk about this through a statement and th

well, here was mr. perryl election campaign in 2006. >> education is our future and my highest priority. >> highest priority. in fact, since rick perry was elected governor of texas, the state has slumped to the bottom of the class, falling from 46th to 50th in the number of children who graduate from high school. indeed, in 2009 almost 50% did not have a high school diploma by the age of 18. so, whatever you think of his lack of debating skills or the trouble he has articulating his own political philosophy, it's the substance of rick perry's tenure that raises the most serious concerns, particularly as it relates to children. but maybe it also explains why he thinks the american revolution took place in the 16th century. thank you very much for watching. dylan ratigan is ready to take us forward and is in washington this afternoon. dylan? >> good afternoon to you, martin. at least the wires are working so can i hear your voice and respond in a civilized fashion. >> that's a great relief. thank you, i apolog

yeah. >> nobody has denied that the rock was there that named it and no one has said affirmatively mr. perry never saw it and what he said about it. there is all sort of decoy around the edges. >> yeah. >> i just knew rick perry, you know, the swinging cowboy who shoots at everything, was coming out guns blazing today. nothing. >> yeah. i think it's really called -- there's been a flair tiff thus far about is rick perry ready for primetime and this i think really furthers that line of questioning. we are talking about the office of the president of the united states here. there are 40 million african-americans in this country. they make up 13% of the population. it seems like perry doesn't have a sense or a grasp of what that word means. and i think at this time almost more so than any time in history, we really need not only a leader but someone who can unite the country and he just seems to be completely absent from the conversation. >> now, mia, herman cain on abc yesterday, he had this response himself. >> it's very insensitive and since governor perry has been going there for years to h

mr. perry's position or miss bachman? tea party existing as a party is a myth. >> we are aware of that. don't worry. >> the debate last night was specifically for the tea party. it was not the republican party. the issue of illegal immigration, the polar opposite of immigration which is democr course, is securing the borders. and that's what the american people want and there's not really a party label with that. >> julian -- >> people are then going to be willing to look at other measures once you show that you can secure the borders. >> indeed. julian, i got the impression that mr. perry's view on immigration would be attractive, particularly to independents. >> well, to independents, martin, but also to hispanics. one of the things that's killing the republican party, one of the reasons their favorability, their brand is so low, at 33% according to a poll yesterday, they're scaring away the independents with all the extremist talk regarding to the tea party and scaring away key demographic groups like the hispanics. go

let's look at one of the weakest moments for mr. perry. he stumbled over what should have been, this is the easiest. a six-inch put. a well rehearsed flip on romney's flip-flops. listen. >> i think americans don't know which mitt romney they are dealing with. is it the mitt romney that was against the second amendment before he was for the second amendment? was it before he was before the social programs from the standpoint of he was far standing up for roe versus wade, before he was against it. he was for race to the top. he's for obama care and now he's against it. >> david, i have never counted so many brain freezes in one sentence. >> please make it stop. he's making george w. bush look articulate. as bad as that response was, he prepared for that line of attack and couldn't pull it off. >> you can't remember the capital of florida. >> index card it was on for him. i don't know if we'll get to it, but the answer he gave on pakistan was frightening. >> here is the fox news moderator asking rick perry what he would do. 3:00 a.m., the cal

in fact, it seems as if guns are a subject mr. perry holds quite close. need more proof?k no further than his own book in which he writes, quote, texans, on the other hand, elect folks like me, you know the type. the kind of guy who goes jogging in the morning packing a ruger .380 with laser sights, loaded with hollow point bullets and shoots a coyote that is threatening his daughter's dog. and while recent events are unlikely to have any effect on gun control, perhaps mr. perry will look at the past few days and think of something other than a witty one-liner for his response should the topic come up. >>> next, what does rick perry need to do to pull away from his rivals? the debate draws near. stay with us. [ agent ] so your policy looks good, is there anything else? why did you buy my husband a falcon? thanks for the falcon. i didn't buy anyone a falcon. sure, you did. you saved us a lot of money on auto insurance. i used that money to buy a falcon. ergo, you bought me a falcon. i should've got a falcon. most people who switch to state farm save on average about $480.

the "wall street journal" features an op-ed from mr. perry previewing his plan that he calls cut, balance and grow. some of the highlights include a choice between your current tax rate or a flat tax rate of 20% a reduction in the corporate rate to 20%, and opt out of social security for younger workers and a move to cap spending to 18% of the country's gdp. governor perry emphasizes the plan would create a better environment for creating american jobs. in the op-ed he writes in part by eliminating the dozens of carve-outs, we will renew incentives for entrepreneurial risk taking and investment that creates jobs, inspires americans to work hard and forms the foundation of a strong economy. jim harwood interviewed governor perry and we'll play that on "morning joe" at the top of the hour. >>> karl rove taking aim now at herman cain. rove breaking out his white board to highlight cain's recent campaign struggles. >> cain has had a number of misstatements. we had abortion. earlier this year he didn't understand what the right of return was, the

. >> mr. perrygot in the presidential race, and i think that everybody who runs for president probably takes them a little bit of time before they start realizing that this isn't like running for governor or running for senator or running for congress and you've got to be a little more careful about what you say. but i'll cut him some slack. he's only been at it for a few days now. >> i'll cut him some slack, says the president. while in illinois today, the president expected to visit a production facility in at kinson and a farm market. meanwhile, governor perry heads to bedford, new hampshire, after he spent three days in iowa. mitt romney also in new hampshire, now spent the past few days touring factories in that state. and michele bachmann will take a small break from campaigning to raise some money today in north carolina. >>> in other 2012 news, the weekly standard is reporting that wisconsin congressman paul ryan is, quote, seriously considering a run for the republican presidential nominati

. >> let's take a look at one of the weakest moments on the fox news debate for mr. perry, governor of texas. he stumbled over what should have been, this is the easiest. a six-inch putt, i'm not a golfer, but a well rehearsed gift on romney's flip flops and he couldn't say it. let's listen >> i think americans don't know which mitt romney they are dealing with. is it the mitt romney that was an on the side of against the second amendment before he was for the second amendment? was it before he was before the social programs from the standpoint of he was far standing up for roe versus wade, before he was against it. roe versus wade. he was for race to the top. he's for obama care and now he's against it. >> david, i have never counted so many brain freezes in one sentence. >> please make it stop. please. we saw it last night. he's making george w. bush look like the most articulate statesman from texas ever. as bad as that response was, he obviously had prepared for that line of attack and then couldn't pull it off. >> you can't remember the capital of florida. for a coupl

by the way, mr. perry, governor, there are nine members of the supreme court, not eight. i wonder if you could pass a citizenship test right now. you're watching "hardball" only you're watching "hardball" only on msnbc. it'll cause cavities, bad breath. patients will try and deal with it by drinking water. water will work for a few seconds but if you're not drinking it, it's going to get dry again. i recommend biotene. all the biotene products like the oral rinse...the sprays have enzymes in them. the whole formulation just works very well. it leaves the mouth feeling fresh. if i'm happy with the results and my patients are happy with the results, i don't need to look any farther. ♪ and just let me be [ male announcer ] this is your moment. ♪ your ticket home [ male announcer ] this is zales, the diamond store. take an extra 10 percent off storewide now through sunday. ake an extrwhoa. 10 percent off whoa. how do you top great vacations? whoa. getting twice the points on great vacations. whoa! use chase sapphire preferred and now get two times the points on travel, and

the actions of the perry campaign are despicable. >> mr. block walked that back some, saying she waiting to get all the facts, as are we. herman cain himself reportedly said wednesday he told strategist anderson about the harassment settlement when he was working for his bid in 2003. cain's memory seems to be getting better and better. the campaign said anderson went to work for perbe two weeabout weeks ago. some in the perry camp pointed the finger at the romney campaign. let's see. cain blames perry. perry blames romney. this whole thing is rather confusing. perhaps someone reminded mr. cain he would be better off blaming washington or the media. >> that is the d.c. culture. guilty until proven innocent. >> now, you can't see the woman interviewing mr. cain, but interestingly enough, it's ginny thomas, wife of charns thomas and a contributor to the daily caller. at this point the cain campaign blamed the media and the perry campaign and the romney campaign and they called the accusations baseless after denying the existence of the allegat

mr. perry our president a disservice, our country a dishonor, you don't understand the role of the presidency in our national list life. we should all stand behind him. if you don't get that you don't get us, much less the job of representing us, which the president did so well and courageously today.

perry supporter robert jeffress called the religion a cult. one of the big stories, he's got the chair to prove it. seated tonight between mr. romney and mr. perry. mr. cain is learning with a brighter spotlight comes greater scrutiny. having to defend with criticism west who described cain's crack pipe and harry belafonte who called him a bad apple. here is mr. cain responding very much on the offensive. >> i do find it offensive. let me respond to professor west first. that's the difference between someone who spent their in academia and someone who spent their in the real world. i have been in the real world. he is in academia. he is on the symbolic stuff. as far as harry belafonte came in, i left the democrat plantation a long time ago. all they try to do when someone like me and i'm not the only black person out there that shares these conservative views, the only tactic they have to try to intimidate me and shut me up is to call me names and this sort of thing. it simply won't work. >> mr. cain proving he is still his abc of identity revealed in his book. american first, black second and conservative third. msnbc contributor and edito

mr. no relation perry? >> the clips you played at the beginning of the broadcast tells you everything you need to know. this is a guy, when he's put under the spotlight, doesn't back up, he's always done that. when he's accused -- and he's still under the investigation of executing an innocent man, he disbanded the forensic science commission trying to find out if it was true or not. that was an audacious move. he's not above saying that the opponent he's running against is responsible for the deaths of police officers because he's operating a sanctuary city. the guy is responsible for audacious politics. these are serious times, that said, for those that are political junkies, it's time to get your popcorn out, he's going to be entertainment to watch. >> max strama, i appreciate it, keep representing them well. >> thank you. >> thanks for joining us. >>> coming up, no jobs, no pekts, no ability to pay back the student loans? >>> and why democrats shouldn't be rooting for the weakest republican candidate. t

mr. cain came in. and perry and romney have called me.isited me yet. >> and does that flatter you? does that make you feel as though you have some part to play in this republican nomination process? >> no, you know, i had four candidates come to visit me in 1996 before we knew how to spell immigration. that's 1996 they came to visit me. so maybe they like me. i don't know. they like my policy. >> one person who hasn't been to see you is mitt romney. what do you think of him employing a truckload of illegal immigrants, albeit thank you subcontractor, to mow his lawn? isn't he as an employer at the very heart of this problem? >> well, i tell you. i just locked up eight more smugglers two hours ago heading for other areas. by the way, one was heading toward my home state of massachusetts. so we lock them up as they're coming through or we raid work places and i'm doing my job regardless of what that congressman is accusing me of being under investigation. the president mentioned me personally two weeks ago. i think that's an honor that he br

you wrote in the new york sometimes a piece that i find interesting about the intro about mr. perrye, et cetera, you're arguing that perhaps in a normal year, the more moderate candidate would be more electable but these times the gop needs bold, colors, not peal pastels to win et cetera, et cetera in your argument you're really saying that you, who did not support rick perry for governor, thinks rick perry is the guy to run and win the republican nomination in regard to the white house. >> that's right, reverend. i think this election is going to be different and you and i have different ideological viewpoints but president obama has only one option. the economy is so bad that he's going to use this billion dollars next year to try to destroy the republican candidate and win in a similar way that george bush did in 2004. we need to be strong on the economy and stroong candidate with the base and i believe perry is more stronger than romney. you made a comment about unemployment in texas being higher compared to other years it's created to the texas miracle, you produced jobs while

what we know is some people now working for the perry campaign have worked for mr. cain back when he was running for the senate a few years ago. it's circumstantial. >> i understand one of the women who lodged a formal complaint said she didn't want to become another anita hill. there are two women who filed official complaints. what's the latest on the other woman? >> all we know is that there's at least a third woman who thought about filing a complaint and didn't was very upset. we'll see if she steps forward even more. right now mr. cain does not have anyone stepping in front of a camera on the other side of this, any of these women who made the accusations, to publicly take him on face to face. >> do we think at this point there were other women out there? >> you know, i don't feel comfortable speculating on that but i'm sure his campaign is hoping this will be the end of it and it won't be. if this keeps dripping, i don't know if he can hold his position of not talking about it more. >> jim, in your article, do you also -- you guys revealed some stuff about ca

james, karl rove has been somewhat publicly negative toward mr. perry. robe bring governor perry down? >> he's going it try. he's not on the team. and he thinks perry's gone too far to the right. but you know, they -- >> wait a minute, karl rove thinks rick perry has gone too far to the right? >> yeah, yeah. because if you say the things rick perry is saying he is saying in the primary process and you get too far right, it is difficult for the main stream to embrace you. that's what karl is suggesting. but it is more than that. their love affair ended in the early 90s when there was an opening in the u.s. senate seat. >> oh, so this is person. what happened? >> rick wanted the senate seat and perry gave it to kay bailey hutchison. rick was in a tough race against john sharp and rick wanted to go negative but karl wouldn't let him because he wanted to run up the numbers to make bush look presidential. then what happened, the last thing that happened, is karl ran kay bailey hutchison's race against perry to unseat him in the primary. there is no love who t