geng ho. thank you very much for being here today. we look forward to hearing from you about your husband's life and career defending marginalized groups defending the human rights of china and we know that your devotion to human rights is a source of inspiration to many in the united states and china and across the world. thank you. thank you also to li jing, the wife of imprisoned chinese dissident gao tron. she will talk about standing up to human rights in the face of imprisonment. this is an important time in the relationship between the united states of america and the people's republic of china. as the chinese vice president attends meetings minutes away from here with our top officials, we're reminded that the real china is represented by the brave individual imprisoned in china under a cloud of secrecy who's the focus of today's hearing. in understanding gao's story, we understand not only what gao stands for, but the challenges that we face in china today. mr. gao has devoted his life to trying to make the law work for those

he, geng he, if i could. you point out in the testimony that gao zhisheng once said that you cannot be a human rights lawyer in china without becoming a rights case yourself. and i would say this as well as to ms. li as well. when we express dissatisfaction with a policy or with our government, we may get an editorial that's damning, we may get, as politicians, we may come under some kind of press scrutiny that we might not welcome, but nothing, nothing that even comes close to the consequences, the deleterious consequences that men and women who promote human rights face in china. i think americans need to become much more aware of the systemic use of torture, the systemic use of all means -- i mean, there's no trials. they're all show trials. there's no due process of law in the people's republic of china. it is a dictatorship. and yet, both of your husbands spoke out boldly, knowing that there might be severe and longlasting consequences to themselves and their families. what motivates that kind of coura c

the interesting result was what happens if geng steps out -- if gingrich steps out?ority of support and it would make santorum-romney one-on-one, really close. neck and neck. >> bret: number five in control inside control room. if gingrich drops out of race what it looks like compare to numbers we have currently. steve, that a big question. as i talk to newt gingrich last night about what the future holds for him. listen to this from santorum and gingrich. >> i'm not asking newt gingrich to do anything. i'll asking conservatives the best chance to nominate a conservative. we nominate moderates in this party, we lose. >> see where we are in a few more weeks. there is no urgency. the person with a challenge is romney. if he doesn't gain this by sheer numbers he won't be the nominee. he is not going to gather extra votes beyond the ones he gets. >> bret: here is the poll that charles was referencing. there is uptick for santorum. pointing out that this poll was taken before the results last night. >> it's interesting to hear gingrich talk. that is the only hint he says

i personally am disappointed that we did not get this meeting we wanted for geng he. but it is an opportunity at this moment to turn the ship around or to, at least, change it's course and to recognize that at the end of the day, any administration, i believe, should be measured by results and not by effort. i don't care how hard any administration tries, i care about what they achieve and i think it's quite clear regardless of efforts being made and we might disagree on how strong the efforts are, the results aren't there yet. and at the end of the day you need to change your tactics if you want the results because clearly, this approach is not working. lastly, i want to thank both of you, mr. chairman and mr. chairman for your tremendous leadership on this and around the world and not just here, but in china. it offes. you do tremendous leadership on behalf of the u.s. congress on all these issues and it's greatly appreciated by me, most the victims of human rights' abuses around the world who see the united states as a shining example of what they want their their

please, president obama, listen to these courageous women, geng ho and li jing, and act decisively. the commission hopes that the human rights issues in china will be raised in a serious way during the vice president's visit and, particularly, that the detention of gao zhisheng, len xibao, pastor lang rong li and others are raised often and discussed in detail. this important and timely hearing recognizes one of china's most important human rights leaders and lawyers, gao zhisheng. in early 2000, mr. gao, a self-trained lawyer, emerged as a champion of human rights causes and a defender of marginalized groups in china. today, we know little about mr. gao's current condition or his whereabouts. then, the issue of an academic and professor who published an open letter to president hu, calling for multiparty elections, posted a charter for a new democracy party online and called for the end of china's notorious re-education through labor system. for that, he was sentenced to ten years in prison. gao zhisheng's brilliant legal advocacy on behalf of marginalized groups in china, includin

feng geng doing a southern strategy, although not in the home state of virginia ballot.r is santorum. which is interesting. >> as you discussed last night the difference between neighbor state and home state. >> bret: trust me. i got it. >> gingrich will fight and do well in georgia. but no one is contesting him there. you can see a scenario that someone is opened to the idea of brokered convention or whatever. you can see how romney can get to convention shy of 1144. if you are in that situation, why wouldn't you just pick rick santorum as the vice president? seal the deal up, unite the party -- >> or ron paul. >> it would be awesome if superman could fight the hulk. it's all possible in open convention. romney to get to the convention shy. a lot of options for him. >> bret: up next, can u.s. strike a deal with north korea over nuclear weapons? stay here. >>> north korea agreed to implement a moratorium on long range missile launchs, nuclear test and nuclear activities including uranium enrichment activities. today's announcement represents a modest first step in the ri

. >> eve yet says she's committed to fighting charges gengs her. >> this is a little witch hunt and it'sclear by the fact we're being charged. we're standing up for the right to public education. >> she and three others charged in connection to a prot wrest on november 9th. police say that they support every stud yaents right to free speech and this video may look dramatic it doesn't tell the full story. >> i think people don't understand, you know, what police use of force is, what it looks like. it's never pretty. and this is not something we want to do. >> uc berkeley administrators sent a letter to the direct attorney to draw attention to a petition that add the criminal charges against protesters are probed. but -- dropped but today they were arraigned on misdemeanor charges. at request of the district attorney's office, the judge issued orders requiring protestors to stay away from all uc property except when going class. >> i believe charges are political. >> berkeley police say they support free speech but stress everyone must play by the rule autos people have right to assemble

criticism mounting gengs berkeley's police chief for sending an officer to a reporter's home in the middle of the night to demand a story be changed. the police union released a statement saying we're greatly concerned about impact actions will have on our ability to maintain vital trust of the community we serve. the chief came under fire after sending an officer to the home of oakland tribune reporter at 12:45 in the morning request oakley change an article written about a community meeting in which angry residents expression presed concern about a response that ended in murder. the chief now says he was wrong. >> this is an error in judge. i know this, i know better this is nothing doug had done, he's been responsive and reasonable. >> some critics calling the actions censorship by intimidation and questioning his ability to lead the police department. >> a body pull frtd ocean off island of kauai has been identified as a bay area woman, she was hiking on saturday. witness says she was swept away as she tried to cross a stream, passengers aboard a tour boat spotted body. shaed been sche

he said inflammatory statements gengs sarah palin and other conservatives without being condemned. to the advertisers, this message. >> those advertisers who no longer want your business, fine. we'll replace them. it's simple, really. advertising is a business decision. not a social decision. only the leftists try to use extortion, pressure, threats, to silence aposing voices. we don't do that. >> reporter: appeared on the show "the view" not swayed by limbaugh's apologies. >> i don't think that a statement like this issued saying his choice of words was not the best, changes anything. >> right now, rush limbaugh still has the backing of clear channel and there is reportedly, a backlog of advertisers wanting to advertise on his show, wolf. >> we'll see how it washes out. lisa, thank you very much. let's get more now on the political ramifications of this rush limbaugh controversy. we have our chief political analyst, gloria borger. this is the last thing the republicans needed because they're having trouble getting women's' support? >> wolf, there's a new nbc news "wall street jour