he's in hong kong but taped this question for chris matthews before he left. >> chris, cable news channels have not had ratings success putting news shows on in prime time. you're very good at opinion. you're very good at the show that you do, but why do you think cable news channels have so much trouble doing news in prime time? >> well, i think, to answer frank's question, i think by a certain time of the night, people have the basic facts. i sort of think around--i'm on at 5:00 east coast time, and by 5:00, they have picked up pieces throughout the day of the story that broke that afternoon, and i'm always--we're always worried that we'll miss that 4:00 story at 5:00. and so they know the story, they know the headline, and they may want to know some attitude about it or what the argument's about or why is this important or so what? answer the "so what" question. so they don't really need to have it taught to them again. now, there's still a big market for nightly news and world news and the evening news. there are some people that don't know what's going on all day or they want it produ

kennedy in a new book by "hardball's" chris matthe matthews.ter this. ♪ take this. it is a piece of me. ♪ [ male announcer ] it's movie time. with a wii twist. netflix now delivers unlimited tv episodes and movies instantly through wii and nintendo 3ds. all for only 8 bucks a month. seriously, what is it? this was the gulf's best tourism season in years. all because so many people came to louisiana... they came to see us in florida... make that alabama... make that mississippi. the best part of the gulf is wherever you choose... and now is a great time to discover it. this year millions of people did. we set all kinds of records. next year we're out to do even better. so come on down to louisiana... florida... alabama... mississippi. we can't wait to see you. brought to you by bp and all of us who call the gulf home. you squashed my willpower like a fly. you looked so innocent and so sweet. convinced my lips that we should meet. you were a relentless flirt. oh no we had indecent dessert. twinkle twinkle hope appears. a stevia leaf erased my fea

hi, i'm chris matthews. welcome to this year's awards show, always a highlight of the season the with us today, "time" magazine's richard stengle, katty kay, kathleen parker and chuck todd. we start with president obama. what was his best move of 2011? getting osama bin laden or toppling qaddafi? keeping the promise to end the war in iraq? or on a more 450u78 -- human level, his very moving speesm after gabby giffords was shot? >> it's easy to spay qaddafi but i'm going bin laden. it was a risk. and a policy that is going to define what future presidents do -- chris: lead from behind? >> no. in a bigger way it was as big a gamble and maybe bigger than -- >> and hillary clinton and susan rice -- >> no doubt, the woman of the foreign policy team had a lot to do with it but this is also about when the united states signs a pact to be an ally with a country like france and great britain and we always ask them to be with america when they go there, this was a case when we needed to stand with them. chris: very in

be sure to watch "hardball" with chris matthews only on msnbc, the place for politics. >>> republican presidential hopeful, mitt romney received what could be an important boost of support from the nation's 41st president, george h.w. bush. he believed romney is the best chand for the white house calling him mature and reasonable, not a bomb thrower. bush told the paper he likes texas governor, rick perry, he's not surging forward. bush's comments were not a formal endorsement, they give an important boost to the romney campaign two weeks before the iowa caucuses. >>> to overseas where a crackdown by syria's government continues without let up. human rights activists say at least six people were killed in fresh attacks by government forces yesterday. amateur video shows black smoke and flames and one syrian city after alleged shelling by the president's forces. arab league delegates arrived in syria thursday ahead of monitors who want to assess whether the government is complying to peace initiatives. there are reports coming in saying quote, terrorists, unquote, attacked security in

i'm andrea mitchell in for chris matthews today and welcome to the show. with us today, joe klein with "time magazine," gillian tett with the "financial times," the "new york times," helen cooper and john heilemann, "new york magazine." for weeks, we have witnessed the rise and fall of the un-romney, the bachmanns, the canes and the perrys and now, newt gingrich. no one predicted this. even though they've focused on beating barack obama, the g.o.p. far right seems to want beginningerish. some analysts say that the hard right sees in newt's tough talk another barry goldwater. >> in this free nation, we do not choose to be ruled, we elect to be governed. >> and the right does seem to think that gingrich is one of them. he was a conservative hero of the 1994 contract with america which swept him to the speakership. but there is another side of the newt ledger. he was once pro choice, saw evidence of climate change, was outspoken against big cuts to medicare, all of which is confounding to mitt romney, the guy who conventional wisdom has considered the eventua

>> this is "the chris matthews show." [captioning made possible by nbc enterprises] >> a time for change has come! >> the gingrich who stole the presidency. cot man the obama people the man they wanted most become the one they should fear the most? because his supporters see him in the crystal ball as the perfect person to take back the white house. the personification of public anger and demand for a radical turn from the current course. timing is everything. has newt already grabbed some of that famed obama luck? has simply being the last conservative standing given him the title shot? finally, forget everything else. was it newt gingrich's vast air time on fox and prime time debating that took him to the top, to those real-time television images that overcome the years of nasty shenanigans? hi, i'm chris matthews. welcome to the show. with us today, major garrett, cnn's gloria borger, nbc's kelly o'donnell and "the washington post," david ignatius. for at least three years the obama campaign team has been gaming the re

>> this is "the chris matthews show." >> ask not what your country can do for you. >> tear down this wall. >> the time for change has come. chris: for all of the world to see as we head on to 2012, what were the show-stopping moments of 2011? what was barack obama's best move? and what was the republican turning point that changed everything? ok. now give it to us cold. best case of chutzpa? and of all of the nasty nominees for cad this year, who was the downright worst? finally, what just happened? who pulled off the greatest comeback of this year? who gets that prize? hi, i'm chris matthews. welcome to this year's award show. always i highlight of the season. with us today, "time" magazine's richard stengel, bbc's katty kay. "the washington post's" kathleen parker and nbc's chuck todd. we start this year's awards as before with president obama. what was his best move, his singular achievement of 2011, was it getting osama bin laden or toppling muammar qaddafi? was it keeping the promise to end the american war in iraq? or was it on a more human level his very moving speech after gab

>> i'm chris matthews. let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm chris matthews in des moines, iowa, where the republican presidential candidates are heading into their final weekend of campaigning before tuesday's caucuses. four days to go now until the first results of 2012. leading off tonight, romney goes for the kishlgs our new nbc news/marist poll has mitt romney leading the field here in iowa. it's the second poll this week to show romney on top and one of many polls showing newt gingrich is in dead free fall. the pressure may be getting to newt who became teary-eyed this afternoon at java joe 's. one reason romney is doing so well is evangelical voters are split, torn among rick santorum, rick perry, romney, gingrich and michele bachmann. today the religious-oriented candidates, santorum, perry and bachmann, get 35% in a new poll, but apart they are giving rom nareal path to victory through their division, and how many tickets are there out of iowa? how many people come from here to other parts of the debate and the campaign? well, who

you have also had chris matthews in there. listen to what chris has to say. >> he has a good shot at winning the nomination, winning -- >> but he looks like a car bomber. he looks like a car bomber, clarence. he looks like a car bomb wer that crazy grin of his. he looks like he loves torturing. look at the guy -- this is not the face of a president. >> you know, i am not a newt fan, but i am not sure -- newt looks like a big cutledz -- cuddly, slightly older winnie the pooh. i don't know how many car bombers chris matthews has run into. >> how long do you think sean hannity's show would last if four times in one sentence he made a comment about saying the president of the united states and said that he looked like a skinny ghetto crack head? which by the way, you might want to say that barack obama does. everybody on the left will come forward and demand that he be fired within five minutes for being so insulting towards a leader of the united states. this is the kind of sthawf chris matthews -- who cares? he has 48 people watc

a man who was one of chris matthew's favorite guests here on "hardball." christopher hitchens lost his battle with cancer yesterday at the age of 62. >>> we'll start with the republican field. john heilemann is a national affairs editor for "new york" magazine, and of course, an msnbc analyst, and susan page is the washington bureau chief for "usa today." welcome, both of you. john, let me start with you. mitt romney got a big old plane today, his first press charter. >> yep. >> loaded up members of the press, flew that nonstop flight that doesn't exist from sioux city to greenville, south carolina, got the most important rising star governor to endorse his campaign. mitt romney acting like a front-runner again. >> he is, chuck. i saw him this morning in sioux city before he took off for south carolina. he had a very confident, very assured mien to him out there, as he did in the debate last night. and i think part of the reason for that is he had the nikki haley endorsement in his pocket. he's also, i think, starting to see some movement internally in the

sharptonn ed shultz, chris matthews, rachel maddow, and lawrence o' donnell. >> williams: correct.can't name five on fox, sean hannity >> williams: go ahead, keep going. smith:bill o'reilly >> williams: keep going. &-van susteren. will you consider greta van susteren, you don't consider her in idealogue in the same way? >> williams: no. smith:you consider her to be more centrist than the people i named on msnbc? >> williams: i'll let you be the judge, but i don't think that anybody who.i mean clearly, again, she's oo fox but i don't think she's an ideologue. i just don't think that. i don't think shepard smith is an ideologue. i don't think bret baier is an ideologue. >> smith: you don't think brit hume? >> williams: brit hume, i think, is a very strong conservative, but again i don't put him in the same category that i would put sean hannity, no i do not. >> smith: you don't. >> williams: i think brit hume is quite a good journalist. done the work.t say, he'' brit hume's been around washington >> smith: right. >> williams: .-nows thh players, knows the dynamic. thhre's a different

it is a book party for chris matthews. the two individuals are bob woodward and ben bradlee. >> tell me what you are doing? >> i am having a drink, talking to chris, celebrating his book. >> have you read it? >> i have read it. >> what are your thoughts on the accusations against herman cain? >> i did not give any thought. it is a serious one. >> be you have any advice for him? >> and journalists should not give advice. the issue of sexual harassment is a big deal. you cannot blow it off. you have to answer the questions. as my old boss used to say, the truth emerges. >> be think it was racially motivated? -- do you think it was racially motivated? i am from the daily caller. what you doing here today? >> i am hanging out. i am here for the book. chris is an old friend of mine. i have read a couple of books about kennedy. it is a subject i know a little about. >> what makes this book different? >> it is by chris matthews. i did not say it was better. the thing that interested me -- chris is enough wind to me that he brings

coming up next is the chris matthews shows and "meet the press" with david gregory.y're looking on. >> good morning, washington. coming up on the chris matthews show, the newt gingrich surge has the obama team recalculating. it was supposed to be romney, and it still might be romney. but what if it is gingrich? plus, what role has fox news played in the gingrich rise? voters know him or think they do and discount all the criticisms. join me and kelly o'donnell for a great roundtable. now for a look at what's coming up on "meet the press", here's david gregory. david? >> coming up, top candidates engaging each other in a debate last night. who emerged in a stronger position to win iowa? i'll talk with ron paul exclusively as we enter the final countdown to the caucuses. and president obama laid out his case this week for fairness in the economy. i'll talk about that in a debate with dick durbin of illinois and lindsey graham of south carolina. plus, our political roundtable. it's all coming up this morning on "meet the press". be sure to stay tuned after the program f

[captioning made possible by nbc universal] this is the "the chris matthews show." >> i can hear you!e has come! >> the latest on romney. the latest conservative hero, the last man standing against mitt romney is newt gingrich. does newt have the stuff and the cash to carry the anti-romney fight to the end. in your heart, you know he's right. that was the goldwater slogan. this year, will conservatives tur

good evening, i'm chris matthews back in washington. nailing newt. newt gingrich is finding out what it means to be the front-runner. he's under siege. romney is for changing positions and religions. now, a pastor is calling newt the kim kardashian of the gop and attacking his serial marriages and conversion to catholicism. they are going ballistic. republican voters are falling for newt. he can counter punch. the supporters are betting he can survive the onslaught. are they right? there aren't many house republicans that endorse newt gingrich. we'll talk about his chances of winning iowa. jack kingston joins us tonight. jumping trump. huntsman, paul, romney, perry and bachmann all passed. only gingrich and santorum are in. did they lose a ring master? the defense against republican charges proves if you underestimate this president, do so at your peril. let me finish with a line that may be a guide to gingrich. we start with newt gingrich under siege. can he be stopped? chuck todd and john harris. we have the heavy hitters. her's the question. natio

chris matthews, thank you so much. >> watch tonight at 5:00. >> we will.oming up, verizon customers are up in arms about a new fee they are being charged extra to pay fair bill. details ahead. ♪ [ male announcer ] it's easy to see what subaru owners care about. ♪ that's why we created the share the love event. get a great deal on a new subaru and 250 dollars goes to your choice of five charities. ♪ with your help, we can reach 20 million dollars by the end of this, our fourth year. [ female announcer ] get 0 percent apr financing on select models for thirty-six months and we'll donate two-hundred and fifty dollars to your choice of five charities. now through january 3rd. ♪ home was an airport lounge and an ipad ♪ ♪ made sure his credit score did not go bad ♪ ♪ with a free-credit-score-dot-com ♪ ♪ app that he had ♪ downloaded it in the himalayas ♪ ♪ while meditating like a true playa ♪ ♪ now when he's surfing down in chile'a ♪ ♪ he can see when his score is in danger ♪ ♪ if you're a mobile type on the go ♪ ♪ i suggest you take a tip from my bro ♪ ♪ and dow

. >>> and chris matthews is the host of msnbc's "hardball" and on the best seller list. it's great to see you back. >> i'm fighting it out with glenn beck on that best seller. i think is it golden gate questions. primary voters as one of the two commentators just said they vote with their heart. but even they have to be asked a question. do you give someone who you acknowledge as bomb thrower a nuclear weapon? do you make him commander-in-chief? we worry about the i rainians having nuclear weapons imagine newt gingrich having them. a man whose temperament who is tuned to the primary voters. but we are talking about picking a president and the republicans who want to defeat this president have to confront the question themselves do you want newt in the white house? that is a big question to answer. >> republicans have voted him in as speaker and third in line or second in line. >> is it a knew week office where uniquely place the power of the military in the hands of an elected official, the commander-in-chief, the president. does this man pass the test? conservatives say

chris matthews was here peddling his latest jfk book. he is a huge fan. was jfk under estimated? that is the debate going on. talk about controlling the message. in the obama administration, we talk about their view of the press. they are so controlling of the press. >> they have not done a good job. >> that was a campaign that was brilliant in its use of new media. that again is striking. every president uses the medium of their own time. radio, tv with kennedy. we have not seen this white house effectively harness and the -- any of the media. >> goldman sachs. >> one of the reasons i supported president obama was i did not want to see larry summers in the white house. [laughter] with hillary clinton, until the end of her campaign, there was not a sense of how she could bring her history to bear. it was very much a restoration ist campaign. he fell if you are going to get the clinton administration part 3. -- you felt as if you were going to get the clinton administration part 3. if you feel it was such a crisis and panic at that time as many say it was coming out of the calamit

and as i said earlier, bill, as far as the apology is concerned, chris matthews, fine. management of msnbc, they created the atmosphere over many years that allowed this kind of thing to happen. >> bill: all right, now, msnbc news is entering into a collaborative journalistic enterprise. i don't even know what that means. maybe you could tell me. some of the people collaborating with are far left zealots, is that true? >> yes. the collaborative effort when they made a deal to take over there was a government provision that they would beef up local coverage of things by going into these collaborative efforts. what they did was this involves their local stations that they own, will go into relationships a series of relationships with different nonprofit news gathering organizations. one of them is what i would call a semi news organization called pro-publica. the reason i call it semi is while they have done excellent investigative journalism, they have won two pulitzers, they do it within the framework bill of a social and political agenda. it is a left wing agenda which

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you might have heard this as well, she had this to say to my colleague chris matthews on hardball lasts. >> here's the other thing. neither ron paul nor rick santorum really truly want to be president. i talk to beth of these guys and they both have said -- rick santorum told me a year and a half ago, he was going to run because he wanted to move the field to the right. i asked ron paul if he actually wanted to be president, he said sure. these guys are both message candidates. >> if that's correct. that would be news. what do you think, is this possible? >> you know, it's amazing thatny would admit that. but god bless them for their honesty. it could be a function of rick santorum understanding he's not going to win the nomination, knowing he does have support out there, people agree with him, even if they agree with him on every single issue, he doesn't have the campaign in place to win. they may be supporting him early on just for that reason. the ron paul supporters are very different. it's music to the ears of many republicans if ron paul is saying he he's not really running, he c

i was reading one the other day taking on chris matthews and others for the deification of jfk. they both started out on the wrong side of the civil rights question. their exposure with you and others helped to push them toward his better self. talk to me about the role you played in exposing them to find their own moral compass. >> bobby kennedy and john kennedy was troubling to those of us caught up in the adventure of the civil rights movement. from a technical point of view, everything we wanted to do was dependent on the federal government. the laws that oppressed us the most severely were laws of the state. the only thing that were supreme to the laws of the state were that of the federal government. the constitution. you had to abide by the tenants of the constitution. or you will not be permitted to have these rights. therefore the only tools we had that came from the nation, from the state, was the federal law. people who were the caretakers of that law was the president of the united states who could write things into law or into execution of the law. and there was a p