you are on the air with bill kristol. caller: good morning, mr. kristol. when mr. brown asked the question about mitt romney's father, he was booed. i have a question to ask you. mitt romney's grandfather in 1835 fled this country with his five wives who moved to mexico and basically denounced the country. mitt romney's father was born in mexico. i remember when obama was running and it was all of this stuff going on about him being a birther and stuff like this. seems like me the romneys have a more questionable background about as far as is he a citizen or not. host: before we get an answer from bill kristol, i want to know where you read that information? caller: i didn't read the information. i heard it on a show. that's where i heard it. host: about mitt romney's grandfather. all right. bill kristol. guest: i think barack obama is a citizen and mitt romney is a citizen. there is nothing wrong with -- you are not responsible what your grandparents or great grandparents did. i think it's a nonissue. host: horning lake, mississippi, lisa, independent. you're next

. >> i will make a point, can't believe bill kristol didn't make. in this kind of chaos, out of the early states, creating an opening for yet another late entry into the race, member to come out of the blue, a mitch daniels, a sarah palin, a mike huckabee, people who have given a look at the race and decided they weren't interested, to take another look, if there is chaos, if it looks like we are going to be heading to a republican convention, where there could be a battle or at least a long process. could someone like that emerge, fill a niche that is not filled and actually have a place in this debate? >> this is the brokered connection argument? >> this is the bill kristol dream scenario. >> let's listen in. >> good evening, everyone. what a night. thanks for think hanging in there. i am matt strong, chairman of the republican party. i am excited that ira republican his a record turnout for the 2012 republican iowa caucuses with twenty 122,255 iowans, turt to vote as republicans to start the process to replace barack obama. i want to thank all of

. >> i will make a point, can't believe bill kristol didn't make.n this kind of chaos, out of the early states, creating an opening for yet another late entry into the race, member to come out of the blue, a mitch daniels, a sarah palin, a mike huckabee, people who have given a look at the race and decided they weren't interested, to take another look, if there is chaos, if it looks like we are going to be heading to a republican convention, where there could be a battle or at least a long process. could someone like that emerge, fill a niche that is not filled and actually have a place in this debate? >> this is the brokered connection argument? >> this is the bill kristol dream scenario. >> let's listen in. >> good evening, everyone. what a night. thanks for think hanging in there. i am matt strong, chairman of the republican party. i am excited that ira republican his a record turnout for the 2012 republican iowa caucuses with twenty 122,255 iowans, turt to vote as republicans to start the process to replace barack obama. i want to thank all of m

bill kristol is editor of the weekly standard magazine and a fox news political analyst. that's not a nice thing to say about mitt romney and his supporters. >> i take it back. [laughter] megyn: they like him about 20-25%. >> exactly. he got 25% of the vote four years ago, 30,000 votes, and it'll be interesting to see whether he can increase his vote. he ran four years ago, he was an unknown former one-term governor of massachusetts, introduced himself to the citizens of iowa and did pretty well. if he didn't get more votes this time against what's not a terrific field, i do think it shows it's a bit of a predicter for future states that there is just resistance for one reason, fair or unfair -- megyn: you know what the reason is. you are a true conservative, and true conservatives don't necessarily believe he's a true conservative, so they're hemming and hawing about him. but if he becomes the nominee, are you going to stay home on election night? >> no, but i don't know who i'm going to vote for in the virginia primary. but i am struck talking to an awful lot of iowa re

host: what is your comment or question for bill kristol?r: concerning gary johnson, he talked the talk and walk the walk in the republican voters did not follow up on him. just left him in the dirt. i do not understand it. he actually adhered and govern in so-called republican principles. guest: gary johnson was the governor of new mexico and i'm not an expert on how successful he was our was not. if iran is a very strong libertarian. -- he ran as a very strong libertarian. ron paul had more the face and was able to edge him out. i think he is a principal libertarian and i do not agree with him either, but he manages to articulate a libertarian view without the conspiracy maundering and without the imputing of bad motives to rivals, which ron paul does. he just says that we want a fight and was wars. does he really believe that? does he think mitt romney and rick santorum get up and think, hey, let's send young men off to fight a difficult wars overseas, wouldn't it be great? he will not debate them, actually. ron paul talks about wanting t

. >> paul: you can't sound like bill kristol on fax praying for somebody else to get in and-- >> hold as jason wrote this week, if you look at the four people on the stage thursday night and you didn't know where they were in the polls, you would say santorum won and did a pretty good job and maybe is more impressive candidate nan people have expected. and-- >> what about the point that he's not been able to make the sale so far, if he doesn't do well-- >> keep in mind, newt gingrich has never won a state wide election, mitt romney, and newt gingrich never won in swing states and santorum one four ow out of five of the states. >> in in building, women who haven't heard rick santorum on social issues, on abortion, on the right to life, are raging, they can hardly stand still at the microphone. >> the point is, you go into the fall with the the republicans already having lost new york and california, those are the off the map. so what he's saying, santorum electability argument is, it's the midwest swing states, i can win there, aim he going to appeal to voters more than romney, i think

finally they have to give credence to him because he is the front runner but their coverage of some bill kristol grinning saying oh well you know ron paul supporters are really confusing because you know their debt is seditious borders i just don't even know it's like when they do you have to cover him because they cannot choose to cover him in a very a propaganda is the way and try to suppress it in disenfranchise him but yeah i mean the coverage of elections are just as so absurd like watching a circus i can't even believe it and. you're a journalist what or maybe some of the story is are some of the issues that aren't being covered what's being missed. while the n.b.a. was pretty secretive years eve from obama you know you have this constitutional law professor the national just to clarify that the national defense authorization act . of course a very controversial issue we haven't heard too much about it but this basically what gav the government the rights have basically it almost brings going tunnel bay right here to the u.s. i mean you would think that this is a quite a big deal yet you t

bill kristol, editor of "weekly standard." liams, columnist with the hill and syndicated columnist charles krauthammer. bill, you heard the candidates today in new hampshire. talking about president obama. and actually, mitt romney sounded a lot like michele bachmann on the crony capita capitalism charge. perhaps he is moving that in to try to get some michele bachmann voters. >> yeah, or maybe trying to appeal to some of the populist unhappiness with the wall street washington crony capitalism conglomerate. that mitt romney talked about, sarah palin talked about and santorum remains the best speech given by a republican in a long time. his speech tuesday night, really captured the appeal to the reagan democrats. appeal to the hillary clinton voters of 2008. not simply saying markets are great. let's cut the budget. let's get the government out of there. which is fine, santorum is for that to some degree. but also saying let's help working people have a chance to rise. let's be for opportunity. i think romney has a sense his me

. >> brett: don't tell bill kristol. >> thanks for watching coverage the state of the union address. please join me weekdays, 6:00 p.m. eastern for a special report. we'll have all the news from the 2012 campaign trail which is also by the way a hot story. i'll send it over to greta van susteren for on the record.

let's bring in our national panel, bill kristol and charles krauthammer.st, what you heard today on the trail from the two main candidates who are battling it out. your thoughts on this battle. >> i thought what newt said a few minutes ago, he is talking about hanging in there. presumably she going to lose in florida but he will go all the way to tampa, the convention. i don't think it's a bluff. it's not just because as he said from here on out, most of races are proportional. so it's extremely unlikely. almost everybody would drop out that romney would have a majority. there is also a new rule by the republicans, if you have a plurality of delegates in just five of the states, meaning he has already has one in south carolina and one have in georgia. it could be guam or village inislands and d.c. then you have your name in the convention. that wouldn't be just a thumb in the eye presumably in f romney is the nominee, it would be way to veined indicate his campaign. would it keep alive the idea if there is a fractured meeting in tampa, that somehow the del

the second panelist will be bill kristol, who is the only one of the four of us who is never exactly d for bill, although he reminds me that he was on the board of directors of "national review" for a couple of years. .. >> neil freeman, yale, '62, has probably served -- he hasn't, hasn't, um, he hasn't worked for bill as steadily as some of the rest of us. he's gone in and out, he's done other things. he's now with his own advisory firm which he's run for a very long time now. but he probably has served bill in more capacities than any of the rest of us having been the initial publisher, the -- not publisher, director, the founding director of firing line. having syndicated bill's column, having written for the magazine and served as a contributing editor on the magazine, um, and being the, basically, you know, man on the front lines in bill's mayoral campaign. senator judge buckley was the official campaign manager, but neil was the guy who made the appointments and got bill to them. and he -- >> [inaudible] >> yeah, right. [laughter] and neil writes and speaks and does all those ot

the panel, bill kristol editor of "weekly standard." lane, editorial writer for "washington post." sindcated columnist krauthammer. charles, we didn't hear from you last night. your reaction to new hampshire? >> well, there were two stories, the romney story was a big story. the paul story is a bigger one. romney won a smashing success 40% of the vote in a six-man race. it's remarkable. he beat his number two by 16 points. his opponents are scattered. gingrich and santorum were diminished by the outcome. perry got barely 1% of the vote. and huntsman he lived in new hampshire, he ended up with less than half the vote that romney got. where does he go? but the big story is ron paul. he got 21% in iowa. 23% in new hampshire. he got between a quarter and a fifth of the vote. he has a stable, energetic constituency. he is not out for the presidency. he, himself, said he doesn't see himself in the oval office. he is the leader of a movement. or as he said last night the cause. he is now the champion of a cause on the up swing. i mean he is go

you are welcome, bill kristol. and even his mayoral campaign when he helped discover the reagan democrats. i keep going back to the narrow campaign. i think it illustrates the main aspect of the bill. also extremely solution oriented this was not just about going out there in stating conservative axioms. it as a campaign soaked with policy. bill intensely believe that we had better solutions to the problems of the day, and he very consciously addressed the problems of the day and adopted policies that were quite prescient and would go on later to help save new york. finally he was a joyful figure. he really loved our fallen world and communicated that in everything that he did, not just his writing and editing in debate, but in his failing and in his skiing. he never communicated a sense of being perpetually angry. that was a key part of his appeal. so those are just a few thoughts, but it does not take long grappling with bill buckley with his life and legacy to really realize the ultimate take away, which is that

here's bill kristol who sort of seemed a little spooked by the bain attack and didn't want to give afense. he says, yikes, if this is where some in the conservative government moment and republican party are inclined to go, four cheers for capitalism, good luck. it's a recipe for political disaster and intellectual sterility. this will be scrubbed from the website. a week from now. newt is saying maybe they should take the ads off. the ones he's running. dave, what do you think? do you think this can last or will this be shut down by the donor class. >> it's a good question. it's hard to see how democrats can sustain this line of attack. the occupy movement has driven this to the forefront. it's exposed a core vulnerability in the republican party. the core of their policy program has always been doing things for rich people, cutting taxes for rich pell. that's the one thing that never changes despite the rhetoric and everything else. and now, you have this anti-rich feeling. and like you see bill kristol squir squirming. >> i don't think it's a really -- >> donors have egos? >> they

bill kristol, what do you make of the administration's condemnation.riate or over the top. >> over the top and posturing by the secretary of state and secretary much defense. they will get a punishment and they have to make a deal of it that we deplore you are not saying what the video showing four marines urinating on the body of corpse. it is wrong and punished by the marines why the secretary of state and secretary of defense have to go out of l way to make a bigger deal of it than it is. 92 it is another abugrab. that shows the callousness in the arab world. >> it is not. it is not clear that abugrab made that much defense. we made a lot of the defense. we helped to cause that defense and nice in the secretary of defense could have said a few things that the soldiers who behaved exemptulary under the tough fighting inted of going on tv and critize our own troops that. is not a good thing. >> chris: juan, the taliban i think we all agree has a terrible record and including beheadings. expressed outrage. this was a comment from the spokesman. it was

host: what is your comment or question for bill kristol?ler: concerning gary johnson, he talked the talk and walk the walk in the republican voters did not follow up on him. just left him in the dirt. i do not understand it. he actually adhered and govern in so-called republican principles. guest: gary johnson was the governor of new mexico and i'm not an expert on how successful he was our was not. if iran is a very strong libertarian. -- he ran as a very strong libertarian. ron paul had more the face and was able to edge him out. i think he is a principal libertarian and i do not agree with him either, but he manages to articulate a libertarian view without the conspiracy maundering and without the imputing of bad motives to rivals, which ron paul does. he just says that we want a fight and was wars. does he really believe that? does he think mitt romney and rick santorum get up and think, hey, let's send young men off to fight a difficult wars overseas, wouldn't it be great? he will not debate them, actually. ron paul talks about wanting

bill kristol, what do you make of the administration's condemnation? appropriate or over the top?> over the top. i mean self-righteous posturing by the secretary of state and secretary of defense. four enlisted marines did something they shouldn't have done. they probably should get a nonjudicial battlefield punishment. >> chris: you are not saying in what the video supposedly shows is four marines you urinating n the bodies of corpses. >> and why the secretary of state and secretary of defense have to make a big evangelicals it than it is. of >> i suppose the argument is it is another abu ghraib and will show the callousness of u.s. soldiers in the world. >> it is not clear that abu ghraib made that much difference ultimately in the arab world. i think wiebe blowing it up we helped cause that difference. and also it would have been nice if the secretary of defense could have said a few things about the 99% of marines and soldieriers who behaved inn eck emlary way. this ba at iton suffered a lot of deaths and wounded in the tough fighting. instead to go on tv and criticize our own

among republicans, it seems like now, i take this differently than bill kristol.deciders, it should have been higher, but people are settling, i think, on mitt romney, but what is distinctive about this electorate in new hampshire. 47% described themselves as independents voters and iowa 25% and i think though broke for ron paul and that's why he exceeded expectations here tonight. the audience i have here if they're listening to that speech that mitt romney gave. it sounds like he's a very edgy, angry guy, not only at president obama, obviously, but at some of his fellow republicans. if you listen to ron paul by comparison, he was capturing the populace energy and independents and going on to south carolina, my thought, there are going to be fewer independents, more republicans, and i guess they're going to be more of an opportunity for the guy who really disappointed tonight and that would be newt gingrich. santorum didn't capture any of the momentum he had out of iowa and gingrich didn't seem to elevate him. the race for fourth and fifth. 10, 11%, it's not a gr

. >> brett: don't tell bill kristol. >> thanks for watching coverage the state of the union address. me weekdays, 6:00 p.m. eastern for a special report. we'll have all the news from the 2012 campaign trail which is also by the way a hot story. i'll send it over to greta van susteren for on the record. >> greta: tonight president obama's state of the union speech. >> settle for a country where a shrinking number of premium do really well while a growing number of americans barely get by. we can restore an economy where everyone gets a fair shot and everyone does their fair share and everyone plays by the same set of rules. [ applause ] >> greta: president obama draws a battle line with republicans and gop fires back. here is mitch daniels. >> when president obama claims that the state of our union is anything but grave he must know had his heart this is not true. he did not cause the economic and fiscal crisis that continue in america tonight but he was elected on a promise to fix them and he cannot claim that the last three years have made anything but worse zbloolgs. >> greta: both

bill kristol and mitch daniels, the conservative writer at the "weekly standard." you will hear a small drumbeat. reality is it's hard to do this. we live in the 20th century. we don't live in the 19th century where we do these smoke filled rooms, but there will be real chatter. >> we'll take a break and when we come back, the run-up to the republican response by governor mitch daniels. please stay with us. an accident doesn't have to slow you down. with better car replacement, available only with liberty mutual auto insurance, if your car is totaled we give you the money for a car one model year newer. to learn more, visit us today. responsibility. what's your policy? homicide of young people in america has an impact on all of us. how can we save these young people's lives? as a police chief i have an opportunity to affect what happens in a major city. i learned early on if you want to make a difference you have to have the right education. university of phoenix opened the door. my name is james craig i'm committed to making a difference and i am a phoenix. >>> it

later, bill kristol of the weekly standard weighs in on the republican presidential race. >> only those who have shown the resolve to defend the freedom of the west are being safeguarded in the times that lay ahead. >> the decade that open debt before us must see the lasting triumph of liberty. the world needs britain and britain needs us. >> nicknamed the iron lady, margaret thatcher is currently being portrayed on screen by meryl streep. what's the real iron lady online at the c-span video library. more than 100 appearances. >> there are some countries that would like to hand over some of their financial affairs to a european central bank. this is not our view. we do not wish to hand over for their powers to other bodies. >> clip in share. it is what you want when you want. >> rick perry continues a south carolina campaign. early he hosted a town hall at a veterans of foreign wars post. he is introduced by alan cummings at this one hour events. >> how are you doing? good. >> how are you? >> you did great. >> we had a little fun last night. there you are. >> thornberry, good to see. >>

bill bill kristol editor of "the weekly standard." juan williams for the hill. >> megyn: let's start with the information we know it so far. not a huge surprise in terms of the tiers. the decision desk looking at what we have seen so far does not believe that the lower tier is in a position to win tonight any of those three. big shock? >> no. but i think what we are see something basically a scuffle to be the anti-romney. and in the current environment what you are seeing right now is that that's going to be call or at the outside you are going to see santorum come it in with the sudden surge that we witnessed in the last few days. the scuffle at the bottom tier that we have been watching, megyn, i think is really telling. people are still hoping to be that anti-romney candidate even as romney, despite all that turmoil, cannot quite break above that number. if you are a tea party person and i think a lot of that agitation comes from the tea party -- of the republic party, they're looking for someone like a ron paul or if you are a ver