and jennifer rubin, those on your sides of the aisle apoplectic, one editorial says, "yikes," sayingerry's performance is close to disqualifying. what explains the send of panic in the conservative pundit-ocracy? >> it's not just this devil rays, he's had two other debates -- this debate, he's had two other debates in which he did well in the first and poorly in the second. it's a series of these. there's a realization by people in the right side of the aisle that he has lacked spans in this contest. that he repeats the platitudes of what he's done in texas and gestures to texas but hasn't set forth any specifics. i think he would -- >> you would say the panic is justified? >> i would. and talking to people in the party operatives, people in florida where he lost badly in the straw poll on saturday -- >> hold on, a straw poll of 2,500 people. remember how we said the iowa straw poll was important because michele bachmann won it? i don't think so. >> if you're the front-runner and participate and try to win and lose, that's significant. we lost also badly in michigan. i think there's

jennifer rubin, a conservative blogger for "the washington post," i'm not sure she's that conservativehen she wrote today that some of the republican party seems to think ignorance is virtue and intelligence is a vice. she wrote, "republicans have sometimes mistaken anti-elitism with anti-smarts. it's one thing to happy scorn on liberal elites, who parrot unsupportable leftist dogma or who show contempt for ordinary american's values. it's quite another to celebrate ignorance. has governor perry shown himself to be knowledgeable and mature in these debates? nope, he's just reveling in th mainstream and some conservative media criticism for confirmation that he really is doing something right?" what is going on here. michael steele is former chairman of the republican national committee and now msnbc analyst and alex wagner i think up in new york also an msnbc analyst. i am struck by this. here is michele bachmann talking about the implications of getting these shots done in texas that governor perry implemented by executive order. on the "today" show making very controversial and sharp