dana milbank, you're a funny guy and i read your column every day, but i'll tell you. the republican party, we're going to get it to it in the next segment. this is a revolving development for them. he's their front-runner right now. whatever else we say about the other candidates, they're not doing as well as this guy's done. he's probably the most successful republican candidate this year. and here he is in a mess that he can't seem to get out of. does he not have access to the brains in the republican party. are they watching him go downhill? are people like karl rove and bill kristol enjoying this because they want a finer, more sophisticated candidate? is that what we're watching here? >> sure. i think a lot of people will be relieved, and i doubt very many republicans in this town think that with this scandal or without this scandal that herman cain is going to be the republican nominee. there's just too many reasons they don't want to give that gift to president obama. but this man has shown an ability to weather things, the dramatic change on abortion, the gitm

dana milbank from "the washington post." a thanksgiving deadline may come and go unless an agreement is reached by the bipartisan committee. and also, legendary singer/songwriter carole king and her daughter louise goffin here tonight, on their new disc "a holiday carole." that is coming up, now. >> martin thlu martin luther kg boulevard. it's the cornerstonwe all know. it's not just a street or boulevard, but a place where walmart stands together with your community to make every day better. >> nationwide insurance supports tavis smiley. with every question and every answer, nationwide ioud n js ti tod join tavis in working to improve financial literacy and remove obstacles to economic empowerment one conversation at a time. nationwide is on your side. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. [captioning made possible by kcet public television] tavis: for more tonight on the looming deadline on the congressional daedaluses super committee and the impact on the 2010 presidential race, we

joe madison and dana milbank on the cain crumple. >> let's play "hardball." >> chris matthews joins us on why obama's poll numbers are climbing, and his new book "jack kennedy, elusive hero." and a dinner date? hope it doesn't turn into this. >> food fight! >>> "politics nation" starts right now. >>> welcome to it was a day of fast-moving developments, new accusations, and herman cain naming names to who he thinks leaked the information to ignite this political firestorm. we begin with tonight's lead. the president is winning the argument over jobs. today he was pushing a $60 billion plan to fix our crumbling roads and bridges, and help the nation's unemployment crisis. but as expected, senate republicans are expected to block the bill. how do you win an argument with these people? if you're the president, you do it in four easy steps. step 1 -- name them to shame them. >> i can't imagine that speaker boehner wants to represent a state where nearly 1 in 4 bridges is classified as substandard. when the senate republican leader mitch mcconnell visited that closed bridge in kentucky, he a

dana milbank, it's your paper, it's your story now. >> well, i'm pleased on behalf of my paper.an cain said when he was at the press club yesterday that he would not call on the restaurant association to release those. this will obviously increase the pressure to do so. we have now a hearing that herman cain's wife is going to be out there, giving an interview of her own. so clearly, this will not be the last time this probably shows up on your show, chris. >> why do you think it's relevant that his wife has something to say, if it's a workplace issue. why is that relevant? dana? >> i mean, that's just going to be part of the defense here. he's had six or seven different lines of defense here and he's going to keep using them until one of them works. i think the most powerful one is going to be, they are out to get me, they, the elite, they, the mainstream media, and you, my iowa supporters, need to stand up to that. >> well, we'll have an interesting witness on the stable, if this woman comes forward and makes statement based on personal experience, it's going to have a lot of

dana milbank, "the washington post" columnist. thank you both for coming in tonight.other newt? >> i think dana makes a pretty persuasive case that it is, and i've said several times on the show that newt gingrich can't be the republican nominee. it's going to be mitt romney, but i think we have to have a couple caveats here now. first, he may be teflon. it may be that republican primarily voters think they all know about this guy and they're going to let it pass, partly because he's about the only un-romney left. subjectly, his polls is extraordinary. he's not only leading in some polls, the best favorable/unfavorable in the republican party, so as cain fade, that support could go to gingrich. the republican party may lose its mind and i lfb provedç to wrong. >> well, dana, i read you this morning, too. let me show you some before we go to your column. this is at the bloomberg debate about what he says about barney frank. >> two words -- >> if you want to put people in jail, i want to second what michelle said, you ought to start with barney frank and chris dodd, an

alex burns is with politico and dana milbank is a columnist for "the washington post." alex, then dana, same question to you. late-breaking news late this afternoon. it seems like herman cain is now dealing in direct contradictions with what we were hearing what he did. here he is telling sean hannity this afternoon, quote, sean, this is absolutely fabrication, man. i don't know what else to say. how many more ways can i say it? this stuff is totally fabricated. that was in direct response to a question from sean, to his credit, by the way, to sean's credit, "did you or did you not proposition one of your employees to go to the company-owned hotel room or apartment house?" alex, we're now getting direct contradictions, as i see it, as to what we're getting from these sources. >> chris, we're getting direct contradictions from just about every story we've heard about and from herman cain this week. the latest one just before that one with sean hannity, jonathan martin reporting that one of herman cain's accusers got a settlement of $45,000, which is an awful lot more than

. >> dana milbank in "the washington post" said that senator kyl was thehe spoioiler. >> you cannot pin this oone individual. we had no give on either sidof any significance. the republica were locked into their position, and why shouldn't they be? they have one on everythi they have tried to achieve by jt saying no. >> i actually give the democrats some credit for moving off the dime of it. but the l lack of trust and the lack of ability to ve a corresponding move -- thee tragedy at was this was a system that may have b been doomed to failure, but it also could have been doomedo success, because it guaranteed vote on thee floor it circumvevented the need to giva 3/5 vote to kill a filibuster. if that they could have come to an agreement, it would have gottenup or down vote. >> what a a surprise that nina would ha found that democrats deserve somome comtted on this committee. i'm really shocked to hear that. the facts that despite all the protestatitions of the democrats the republicans, starting with the very conservative the setor coburn who was on a simpson-bowles and approved and su

cain struggled to explain his thought process on libya for over five minutes, as dana milbank helped us with. let's watch some more of what he wants us to see. dana, here it is buddy. >> some people want you to say, well, as president, you're supposed to know everything. no, you don't. i believe in having all of the information, as much of it as i possibly can, rather than making a decision or making a statement about whether i totally agreed and didn't agree, when i wasn't privy to the entire situation. >> so i'm not clear, then, what was the parts that you're criticizing the president for of how he handled it? >> okay. the opposition that wanted to overthrow gadhafi. who are they? how organized are they? how strong are they? who would be the apparent leader? now that they have succeeded, did they have a plan for how they were going to govern? or are you going to end up now with a country in complete chaos? this is what i mean by -- >> but if they didn't have that, then would you back off and not got that involved? >> it would depend on which part they didn't have. what i'm saying is

and t"the washington post" columnist, dana milbank. i should say at the beginning here, ladies and gentlemen, the man who joined us earlier tonight in introducing herman cain was lin wood, who's an attorney, a very prominent one, based down in atlanta. he has represented former congressman gary condit, he's defended the woman in the kobe bryant case, the notorious case involving that, and he's also represented richard jewel, the security guard falsely accused of planting a bomb down a the 1996 olympics down in atlanta. david gregory, i guess the key line is, "i don't even know who this woman is," remains at the heart of this story. either he's telling the truth with his memory as it is or she's telling the truth. it seems to me hard to believe -- well, let's leave it open to you. this open question now. who's telling the truth? >> well, you raised this before we had the press conference. she's made an accusation, he's denied it. denied even knowing her. said he's never acted inappropriately. said that previous accusations against him w

. >> dana milbank in "the washington post" says that senator kyl was the spoiler. >> you cannot pin this on one individual. you had no give on either side. republicans were locked into their position, and why shouldn't they be. they have won on everything they have tried to achieve by saying no. >> i actually give the democrats some credit and for moving off the dime a bit. the lack of trust and the lack of ability to have a corresponding move -- the tragedy is that this was a system that may have been doomed to failure, but it also could and doomed to success. it guaranteed a vote on the floor, it would have, if they could have come to an agreement, but an up or down vote. >> what a surprise that nina would have found that the democrats deserve credit on this committee. i'm really shocked to hear that. the fact is that despite all protestations of the democrats, the republicans, starting with the very conservative senator coburn, who was on simpson- bowles and who approved and supported an increase in net tax rates -- >> that was the gang of six, though. >> no, he voted in simpson- bowl

and dana milbank is a columnist for "the washington post." gentleman, let's go straight to the tape. as howard used to say. here's herman cain yesterday answering a question from the editorial board of the milwaukee journal sentinel about libya. let's watch and listen. >> so you agreed with president obama on libya or not? >> okay, libya. president obama supported the uprising, correct? president obama called for the removal of gadhafi? just want to make sure we're talking about the same thing before i say, yes, i agreed, or no, i didn't agree. i didn't agree with the way he handled it for the following reason. nope, that's a different one. um -- let's see, i've got to go back and see. got all this stuff twirling around in my head. i would have done a better job of determining who the opposition is, and i'm sure that our intelligence people had that -- had some of that information. based upon who made up that opposition, okay, based upon who made up that opposition might have caused me to make some different decisions about how we participate

. >> them all back in "the washington -- washington -- dana milbank in "the washington post closed but said that senator jon kyl was this boiler. -- was teh spoiler. >> you cannot in this on one individual. we had no give on either side. republicans were locked into opposition, and why shouldn't it they be? they have what on everything and they have tried to achieve by saying no. >> i actually give the democrats some credit for moving off the dime and a bit. but the lack of trust at the lack of ability to have a corresponding move -- the tragedy is that this system may have been doomed to failure, but it also could of been doomed to success, because it guaranteed a vote on the floor, certified the need to get a 3/5 vote to kill a filibuster, and if they could have come to an agreement, it would have gotten an up or down vote. >> what a surprise that nina decides that democrats deserve credit on this committee. i'm shocked to hear that. despite all the protestations of the democrats, the republicans, starting with very conservative senator coburn, who was on simpson-bowles, and who appr

thank you, howard fineman, thank you, dana milbank. >>> up next, more social philosophy from michele's every man for himself" bachmann, in the side show. you're watching "hardball" on msnbc. progresso. it fits! fantastic! [ man ] pro-gresso they fit! okay-y... okay??? i've been eating progresso and now my favorite old jeans...fit. okay is there a woman i can talk to? [ male announcer ] progresso. 40 soups 100 calories or less. >>> back to "hardball." jon huntsman stuck at 1% in the polls, and more than a few people suggested that his real goal isn't to win, but to derail mitt romney. latest evidence from the huntsman camp, a new website, scared mittless. mitt romney, running from america, and a clock counting up the time from the last sunday appearance. we stand now at day 610. let's check out the site's latest video. >> he has not appeared on this program or any sunday talk show since march of 2010. we invited governor romney again this week, but his campaign says he's still not ready. >> i just don't take questions. what i don't want to do is -- listen to my words. listen to my wor

henderson a "the washington post" national reporter who also writes for their election 2012 blog, and dana milbankl political reporter for "the washington post." thank you both for joining me. >> thank you, reverend. >> thank you. >> do you expect more to be added to his blame list? >> at this point it's hard to keep track of who is on there. of course, you mentioned this latest episode of mark block pointingsh he hasn't worked there since 2010. they have since backed off and said they had misinformation, bad information. really they didn't have any information at all. this seems to be something they made up out of thin air, but they're backing away from it now. i think tonight will be a big night for herman cain on stage with his rivals at the cnbc debate. it will be interesting to see how his rivals engage with the issues. do the candidates themselves bring it up? do they try to land a blow against herman cain with this issue that has consumed his campaign. now, dana, the reuters poll says after the allegation came out with the young lady that came forward, that 40% of gop voters see cain less f

joining me now is dana milbank and bob franken. tomorrow, bob's column will be about newt's rise to the top. thanks for both of you being here. i know that both of you join me in wanting to talk about what's really happening in the country and what's going on with the people. but as this story has breaking news, it does speak to the honesty or dishonesty and transparency of someone who has chosen not to remain silent about it. how damaging, if this is proven to be true and therefore making cain's denials untrue, how damaging will this be in terms of his credibility, dana? >> well, look, reverend, the only reason it may not be terribly damaging is because he's already basically publicly dead. i think we've already got various nails in the coffin. and this is just one more thump for this guy. we've been through one after another of candidates rising and falling. they've moved on to the latest flavor of the week. so this would have been devastating if he were still really a contender. >> bob, the new frontrunner who you wrote about in

thank you, howard fineman, thank you, dana milbank. >>> up next, more social philosophy from micheleit's every man for himself" bachmann, in the side show. you're watching "hardball" on msnbc. [ male announcer ] do you know how you will react when someone changes lanes without warning? or when you're distracted? when you're falling asleep at the wheel? do you know how you'll react? lexus can now precisely test the most unpredictable variable in a car -- the driver. when you pursue perfection, you don't just engineer the world's most advanced driving simulator. you engineer amazing. ♪ >>> back to "hardball." jon huntsman stuck at 1% in the polls, and more than a few people suggested that his real goal isn't to win, but to derail mitt romney. latest evidence from the huntsman camp, a new website, scared mittless. mitt romney, running from america, and a clock counting up the time from the last sunday appearance. we stand now at day 610. let's check out the site's latest video. >> he has not appeared on this program or any sunday talk show since march of 2010. we invited governor romney

dana milbanks and jonathan allen, a great reporter.entlemen, a great team to look at this right now the morning after, if you will. let's look at this political climate. why isn't congress working now? look at these approval numbers. congressional approval as of november 13th and november 15th, that was the field days, 12%. you know, that's one in eight. they approve the job congress is doing. who is that one in eight person, jay-mar? who likes -- is it the far right person that loves gridlock, is it -- what? >> probably those folks that weren't paying attention. 530 members of congress, 300 million americans and i can't think of anyone that approves of the job congress is doing. you've got the right idea in general. those who like gridlock, those who don't want to see anything moving forward have to be somewhat satisfied. perhaps a few people that just love their own member of congress or happen to love the speaker of the house. >> or haven't been reading the newspapers for about two or three years. >> or didn't hear the question righ

dana milbank is a "washington post" columnist and satirist, and jim vandehei is editor in chief for politico. it's very hard -- let me go to the hard news reporter now for the entire organ of politico. jim, thank you for joining us. you've got the entire resources of politico working this story, i assume. yesterday cain said he would not drop out of the race as long as his wife remained behind him. but this morning in a conference call with his staff, herman cain said he would be re-assessing his campaign. according to "national review" online, cain said, "now with this latest one, we have to do an assessment, as to whether or not this is going to create too much of a cloud in some people's minds as to whether or not they would be able to support us going forth." that was well stated, but what a mess for him. jim? is he out or what? >> don't know. i think we should know probably, if not in the next 24 hours, by the end of the week. my understanding is he'll be on fox tomorrow and is going to address some of this and probably address his viability and willingness to stay into the race. his bi