joining me donna brazile, ari fleischer, dana lohse, erin burnett.avid gergen, the patriot act, conservative libertarian split that hasekisted since this was passed right after 9/11 came out in full force tonight however. >> absolutely. ron paul, i should tell you, john, he continues to speak well for the libertarians and you can see him on twitter, they're cheering him on because they thought he was strong tonight. but at the same time, i think when newt gingrich came back, as did mitt romney, they really speak for the majority of the republican party. a much stronger patriot act would be tough on terrorism, the war continues from their point of view. >> that's a question that essentially puts the legacy of the president wyou worked for i question, you want to continue in strength under the policies put in by bush or as congressman paul says walk way from it? >> it is 8% to 10% group that follows ron paul on this earn. i remember this, arlen specter, former prosecutor, senator from pennsylvania, sat in a meeting with bush that bin laden has been ind

joining us from new york, ed rollands will, billie tucky, with me cnn contributor, donna brazile. out there in touch with the grassroots as we've seen mr. cain rise in the polls, one of those is the tea party group. what do they make of this? >> they love herman cain. he's great. he's one of us. he's just a normal guy who actually lived the american dream and that's why they love him so much. >> and the conversations in the last 24 hours or so about the allegations, people concerned, do they want to hear a better explanation, satisfied with his explanation? >> well, they're not really happy about it at all. and it's a little bit of a different take, john. they feel like this is another political hit. people just want to talk about the issues and don't want all of the stuff drug up from someone's past. people aren't really siding with other side on this. they're probably going to side with herman cain. >> and it is an interesting perspective. ed, if you were listening at top, brent and roland were going at it, you heard what conservatives are saying this is a smear campaign by the

donna brazile, gloria borger.ion, i want to play a snippet, 51 seconds governor perry's gaffe and it was a pretty good gaffe. play the beginning so people get a sense of, forgive me governor, this deer in the headlights moment. >> three agencies of government when i get there that are gone, commerce, education and the -- what's the third one there? let's see. >> john, especially to forget energy for a guy who is most of his economic speeches have been about the importance of energy, you know, all candidates make mistakes. but could this candidate when the knock on him was he can't debate, could he afford that one? how do you recover? >> he's made several big mistakes. the first mistake, the first debate talked about the ponzi scheme, then the immigration issue. credibility is important. he could possibly win, he's electable. the problem is that each one of the debates credibility's diminished, he's got a heck of a hard raising money from big donors. he's right, donors will go somewhere else. peter's right. it's a

david frum and donna brazile are still here.llion, 600 billion over the next ten years in depens rated type? 600 bill yob in domestic spending, cuts. but none of that goes into effect until 2013 after the nex presidential election. there is plenty to revise that trick. >> what we have seen here is legal exercise where lawyers are refining their lead pleadings and are now getting toward take their case to the jury. both democrats and republicans, it is not failure for them. what the two parties have is consolidated cases. where democrats kay, we want to close that on way it relies more on taxes and less on spending cuts. now it goes to the jury. >> the jury being the -- >> the american people. if they agree now, to abide to the american people. the american people will show their priorities by the way they cast their balance. in the next administration, let's have the winner have the mandate. >> except the $6 million in protected defense cuts but you know john mccain and alsos a lot of people say that is even leon panetta, said i

we've got our reporters an analysts standing by, including gloria borger, donna brazile -- i said thatme start with you. it's taking right now even as we speak, a whole new dimension because another woman who made these allegations against him in 1999, she now work it is department of treasury. she's about to go public if she hasn't yet. >> she is, wolf. she is somebody who tried not to go public. and who went through her attorney, joel bennett, who you just had on the show. but now, her name is known. karen crassour. she is a friend of one of our contributors, maria, c. maria has just said to you and to me, that this woman told her when she hired her, the ins, she saved her from this monster. >> she called herman cain is monster. >> so at a certain point, wolf, you've got four women. you have now just knocked out one accuser or two and git gets saern point where herman cain cannot now blanketly deny this. he has to answer specific charges from specific women. we had the woman yesterday. we have another one today. who may go public with her storiment and i'm wondering, i was told that

let's discuss in our strategy session, the democratic strategist donna brazile and rich gayland to newtes specifically, donna, is it my impression or do you think the debate this is time around in this republican contest have really been so significant? >> i think it's been very helpful. with the exception of mitt romney who ran back in 2008. of course, rob paul who is also a candidate in the past and newt gingrich, the former speaker of the house. most americans are not familiar with the republican field. so this season of debates is really helped to clarify the election and to give others a sense of who the other candidates are. >> the debates seem to be more important than ever. correct me if you disagree. >> i think you're right. i think it's part of a change, a sea change in politics. four years ago they knew about social media and twitter. but only the younger voters did which is one of the reasons why president obama did so well. now grand mothers are checking their facebook taj to see what the granddaughter looks like. this is a completely different era. and people are perfectly

donna brazile and david frum are both standing by.verage in advance of tonight's republican debate here at constitution hall. we'll be right back. you name it. i've tried it. but nothing's helped me beat my back pain. then i tried this. it's salonpas. this is the relief i've been looking for. salonpas has 2 powerful pain fighting ingredients that work for up to 12 hours. and my pharmacist told me it's the only otc pain patch approved for sale using the same rigorous clinical testing that's required for prescription pain medications. proven. powerful. safe. salonpas. aisle 2. good. aisle 8. nice. trick question. walmart doesn't sell your mother. you're ready. [ male announcer ] black friday's here. deals start thursday 10 pm. but we're open all day and night so you don't have to wait outside. the only place to go on black friday. walmart. so you don't have to wait outside. ♪ sen♪ co-signed her credit card - "buy books, not beer!" ♪ ♪ut the second at she shut the door ♪ ♪ girl started blowing up their credit score ♪ ♪ she bought a pizza

joining us is donna brazil and a cnn contributor david frum of the frum forum.com.stew. hot mess and it doesn't appear he knows how to get in front of the story. now he's making uh stuff up again. making stuff up again? what's he doing? >> as you can tell over the past 24 hours he changed the story. first denied the accusation. went on another network to explain what might have happened. now he's saying he understands there was one case that was settled. so he's continuing to change the story. he's backtracking. you know, the first rule, wolf is to get in front and try to reframe the debate. clearly there is no one inside mr. cain's world that understands the first rules of public relations. >> that's true, but when you say "making stuff up" what's that? >> he doesn't know all of the allegations that are out there. he didn't know what was in the settlement. he's making it up to cover it up i think until he can get the full explanation. he needs to call upon the national restaurant association to go ahead, release the confidential information. waive his confidentiali

. >> let's bring in donna brazile and mary matalin. mary, first to you.do you make of this bomb sell shellment involving herman cain's campaign for the republican presidential nomination? >> well, it's not good. even if it is untrue. and we don't know if it is true or not, but it's 5 distraction. he was having issues in the campaign prior to this. partly because of his appearances in the debate on foreign policy but the way in which he handled the previous allegations. sew seems to be trying to handle this in a more efficient way, getting a lawyer out right in front. but the one thing you can't do, voters won't forgive to s to go to under the out denial and it proves not to be true. it is a distraction in any event. >> this woman says, donna, she has records that can confirm her allegation of 13-year apair with with herman cain. i don't know what those records will show or not. but what is your immediate reaction to this development. >> well, when i first sought interviewing with wolf, i didn't know if it was another woman with allegations of sexual what

and proud of it. >> let's bring back donna brazile and will cane. of our viewers never heard of the koch brothers but they're very, very well known in republican circles and certainly democratic circles aswell. and think about the answer because first let me play this little clip of what he said back on october 17th when john king asked him about his relationship with the koch brothers. listen to how he phrased it then. >> i know the koch brothers. i have also attended some of their seminars and have found them very informative. so i don't have a close relationship but i know them and i respect them and they know me and they respect me. >> i don't have a close relationship but today he's saying something a little bit more dramatic, that we're brothers from a different mother. go ahead, give us a little context, will. who are the koch brothers and why are they so controversial in this current political environment? >> the koch brothers are a couple of billionaires from kansas who have funded a the love organizations behind the tea party. they're cont

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. >> let's dig deeper with cnn contribute somewhere veteran strategic, donna brazile, billie tucker, and the republican party chairman, matt strong. i want to ask you first, after a week of this, is mr. cain, who is leading in our latest poll, lead agent top of the des moines register poll, is this hurting him? any worries about the allegations or how he's handled them? the first thing he knees to do, debt here be and in iowa. that's within thing that it gives iowans or americans an opportunity to look a candidate in the eye and ask tough questions and time has shown that that is how you actually win the iowa caucus, whether it's on a personal issue or a political issue, there's an expectation that you're going to give here and give an everyday american voter a chance to ask a question. >> the first national poll out, all of the polling down after the this first surfaced, do the allegations make you less likely to vote for him in among women 25% yes, men, 12% yes. 7 in 10 say it doesn't matter. 25%, women voters do you see potential for a problem in a close republican race or do you

donna brazile and dana loesch are with us. dana, you first.in in last hour has put out a new statement sent to his supporters around the country. he says this about the woman, ginger white, a georgia businesswom businesswoman, i thought miss white was a friend in need of a supportive hand to better her life. i'm asking for your friendship. i'm asking for your prayers and support. this is a trying time for my family, campaign and me, also a trying time for our country as we're distracted from the truly important issues facing our nation. part of an appeal like this is to say to your supporters, it's not true, part of it is to say i need fund-raising, i need it fast to stay in the race, can he? >> i don't know. i'm surprised if he lasts the week because he's dipping in the polls, he's losing support amongst women especially, and i mean how many more of these can his campaign weather? this last individual, when politico first broke the story i thought it may have been a hit job that came from the right and continuing to see the stories come out a

george will, donna brazile. dana loesch, editor of bigjournalism.com. news political correspondent, jon karl. george, what have we learned from this? >> what we still need to learn is how graphic was the description that the assistant coach gave to joe paterno what he had seen in the shower? that would tell us a degree of joe paterno's culpability. christine had it right. when you grasp an entertainment industry, on to higher education, you create a bubble of exceptions and eventually, a moral derangement. >> george, i don't know if explaining the details would have made any parent, any adult, just suspect and immediately call the police. my initial reaction had i witnessed that, would be to pick up something. to stop it. to stop the act itself. to call upon the adult to, you know, stop. to protect that child. call the police. and then inform everybody else later. look, this was a moral failure, a human tragedy. and as a former college athlete and high school athlete, i mean, this is just upsetting to many of us. >> it happens in other sports, too. abc

george will, donna brazile. dana loesch, editor of bigjournalism.com. news political correspondent, jon karl. george, what have we learned from this? >> what we still need to learn is how graphic was the description that the assistant coach gave to joe paterno what he had seen in the shower? that would tell us a degree of joe paterno's culpability. christine had it right. when you grasp an entertainment industry, on to higher education, you create a bubble of exceptions and eventually, a moral derangement. >> george, i don't know if explaining the details would have made any parent, any adult, just suspect and immediately call the police. my initial reaction had i witnessed that, would be to pick up something. to stop it. to stop the act itself. to call upon the adult to, you know, stop. to protect that child. call the police. and then inform everybody else later. look, this was a moral failure, a human tragedy. and as a former college athlete and high school athlete, i mean, this is just upsetting to many of us. >> it happens in other sports, too. abc

. >> donna brazile remembers speak out against the ad. >> that was clearly misleading.e and backfired on not just herman cain, it was a waste of money. >> and we made repeated attempts to the cain campaign for response to that ad and got no response. you can look at that ad and the way herman cain handled it back then, again, going back to what this former godfather's pizza exec said, when cain has confident leaders around him, his style can shine through, but when he doesn't have those people around him, he can make critical mistakes. >> that's critical advice for us all. >> you need a good team. >> thanks very, very much. let's talk more about the cain controversy with the managing editor of "time" magazine. i know you've got some articles in the new issue that has just come up. what a baffling turn of events this week. >> i think we have to look at whether the herman cain candidacy was a real candidacy to begin with. i find the fact that experienced political reporters like yourself are hovering around the polls analyzing how he's doing based upon how he's doing in t

joining us, the democratic strategist, donna brazile and david frum.lly, he got to an answer that was pretty reasonable, pretty good, but it just took him a painfully long amount of time. >> it's painful to watch. it seems to be a different problem from the one rick perry had in that famous debate where as rick perry didn't seem to have the kind of brain interruption that we're told does happen to people. this seemed to be he wasn't sure of the answer. herman cain has been a candidate who's gotten where he is by repeating to the tea party their core philosophical commitments about domestic policy. foreign policy, he doesn't seem well informed of. >> and in that same interview with the editorial writers, he seemed to be confused about federal employees and collective bargaining, whether they can, they can't. unions. did you get that sense as well? >> well, he seemed very uninformed. he's not using his talking points. when he's not talking about his economic plan, the 9-9-9 plan, which doesn't add up to much at all. he's an unconventional candidate and t

joining us, our cnn political contributor, donna brazil along with republican strategist rich gal ekho used to work for one of the front-runners, newt gingrich. among republicans only, right now herman cain is at 18%. romney 15%. gingrich 15%, perry 8%, plus or minus, 5%, a three way race right now, donna. gingrich is doing amazing. >> he's had one of the best debate performances of all of the candidates, he's a steady debater. clearly he knows the issues and hasn't had the deer in a headlight moment. he's able to capitalize on the rick perry implosion. >> was he serious at the beginning running, a lot of people thought he was just doing it. did he think he would be one of top tier candidates? >> newt is a college professor, ph.d. in history. one of things he has taught me, the reason most people fail in what they try to do is because they give up too soon. he's always done that. go back to all of the days when he was trying to figure how to win the house of representatives. this is in keeping with newt. but let me say something about the cbs poll. there's something wrong with it bec

the democratic strategist donna brazile and david frum of frum foreign.com.h you. is it over? >> it's not over but getting to be over. remember that line of sherlock holmes's, however improp probable, whatever remains, must be the right answer. republicans are one by one eliminating the impossible and romney is what is left. with newt gingrich, republicans that don't want romney, they have been trying every door in the room to use a slightly different analogy. now back in the first door they started. no more promising than it was 18 months ago which is why according to the latest polls 48% of republicans now say that mitt romney is the most likely person to win. >> if you see what a lost democratic activists are saying, donna, and you no he this very well from their perspective, they're focusing almost exclusively on mitt romney right now. not paying much attention to the other republican candidates, i'm sure you've noticed that. >> that's because set front-runner. the problem with this front runner is that he cannot clear the field. every week the spotlight

>>> joining us, our democratic strategist, donna brazile and the republican strategist, mary matalin.very much. mary, your partner, michele bachmann really going after mitt romney, but also newt gingrich. it's unclear who's a bigger flip-flopper in her mind. were you surprised by the tough talk pr her? >> no, this field is consolidating. it will consolidate even quicker with the recent unpleasantness in the cain campaign, but this has been her m.o. through all of it and she's got to do it. whoever distinguishes him or herself in the few weeks to go here, that's the mission for the non mitt people. >> she didn't really want to comment on herman cain's issues right now on the aftermath of this allegation. this is what newt gingrich said earlier in the day. listen to this. >> very briefly on herman cain, since all of you have asked me, i think it's a very difficult situation for he and hids family. my heart goes out to them. i hope he reaches whatever's the right decision for him and beyond that, i'm not going to have any comment. i think it's his decision to make. he has to do what he t

former adviser to four presidents, david gergen, democratic strategist, donna brazile, ari fleischer,zer of the st. louis tea party coalition and cnn analyst gloria borger. a spirited debate about national security issues. some disagreements ben

former adviser to four presidents, david gergen, democratic strategist, donna brazile, ari fleischer,zer of the st. louis