the questions about jeremiah wright? >> no, it should not be. i don't think it should be at all. i don't think his faith or his pastor or anything like that is part of in. what is part of this is who can governor america and who can get the country back on track who are can have -- who can have this country standing up as a sign of freedom and get the people back to work. i think that romney is the only one that can do it. i think the people in michigan are seeing that increasingly. and i think he wins tuesday. >> what if he does not win tuesday? >> march on to super tuesday, don't give up. >> what about us being told if he does not win on tuesday, parties lead eer will have to lk around for a jeb bush or mitch daniels or someone else to get in the race? >> i have heard some of that speculation, but that is not going happen. let me tell you why, it's an extraordinarily high risk proposition for a political figure to jump into something like that. and it would be risky. i cannot see anybody that wants to take that risk. if you look at the math, getting enough delegates between sup

>> to be honest i don't know if valerie jarret and jeremiah wright know each other.ds are the -- >> the other -- >> they're really different. yeah, but you know i interviewed jarret and the president's closest friends extensively. i don't think there is anything necessarily -- >> sean: valerie jarret, jeremiah wright, and jarret's association with media matters seems natural to you? >> ayers is tangential guy in the president's life. i looked into it and there is no evidence he had a close -- >> sean: he started his political career in his house, gave speeches together and sat on boards together. asked about it one time he said it's a guy in the neighborhood. you don't think it's buy? >> in the biographical reporting i have done, jarret has conventional background as a business person. i don't think there is anything radical about her background. she is the person with a much closer and formative relationship with the president than somebody like bill ayers, i think. >> sean: i thought you did a good job on a positive side, which may shock some people, of showing the

. >> santorum brings up jeremiah wright. why would he do that, ari? >> i think he brings up jeremiah wright to say, hey, the media shouldn't hold him responsible for everything that happens. also, whether it's fair or not, it allows him to try to say it's him versus obama, right? this is what he's trying to do. it's not just that mitt romney is struggling. he needs to be seen as a credible challenger. >> is it going to work? >> look, chris. this is about economic jobs. particularly looking ahead to the michigan primary here, it seems that rick santorum understands this. he just can't help himself. it's been all about world war ii and am knee olsen tee sis. in the long term it's more of a suici suici suicide pact because he's disqualifying himself. >> it just so happens that my "jansing & co." has that sound bite you're referring to, dana, so let me play that for you. >> they want to talk about the issues that, you know, fit their narrative, and their narrative is, oh, rick santorum, all he cares about is these issues. rick santorum cares about all the

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. >> you mentioned jeremiah wright 14 times so far. refight the 2008 elections. megyn: i'll leave you with this other sound bite from orrin hatch. he ought to stick to public policy. the gospels are concerned with weightier matters than effective tax rates. when the susan g. komen foundation decided to end its grants to planned parenthood, it saw a huge surge in donations in support of that decision. not reversed course. can the donors get their money back? that's next in "kelly's court." [ kate ] most women may not be properly absorbing the calcium they take because they don't take it with food. switch to citracal maximum plus d. it's the only calcium supplement that can be taken with or without food. that's why my doctor recommends citracal maximum. it's all about absorption. that's why my doctor recommends citracal maximum. the best approach to food is tkeep it whole for better nutrition. that's what they do with great grains cereal. they steam and bake the actual whole grain while the otr guy's flake is more processed. mmm. great g

republicans once accused candidate obama of being the acolyte of a christian minister, jeremiah wright. later he was accused of being a secret muslim. now republicans charge obama with attempting to destroy all religion. rick santorum said last night we're headed for the french revolution and the guillotine. you might say republicans are losing their heads on this issue. >>> how fringy have the republicans become? how wild has their party become? mr. guillotine himself may be the biggest threat to mitt romney. "the wall street journal" said today they don't trust him because he gives them so little reason to. >>> now president obama's first three years in office. >>> and finally, let me finish tonight with dual explosions. one against romney and the other against the birth control ruling, even among democrats themselves. we start with religion and politics. john heilemann, national affairs editor for "new york magazine." also an msnbc political analyst. and susan page, a great bureau chief of "usa today." let's talk about this thing that's developed. even in a photo op with the italian

basically brought jeremiah wright, the former pastor take a listen. >> he went to reverend wright's church you can question what kind of theology reverend wright has but it's a christian church. he says is he a christian. he goes to a christian church now. jay carney said look the president addressed this at a prayer breakfast a few weeks ago. he is a christian. he spoke openly about his faith. any they are going to focus on the economy. the president talking about energy and gas prices. a big vulnerability for him right now. they believe inside the white house if they show the president grappling with these issues he is going to be better off in october. >> rude wakeup for folks in missouri and beyond as the ground shook them from their sleep last night. scientist report a 4.2 earthquake hit the northern part of the state. it caused some minor cracks and a whole lot of panic. here listen. >> i was asleep. i had -- a loud boom woke me up, then the house was shaking. the bed was shaking. i heard stuff falling everywhere. >> the quake centered in east prairie. people reported feeling the sha

my word, the press broke the jeremiah wright story.n and on. >> and stayed with the story. >> i'm sorry? >> and stayed on the story for a long time. >> correct. correct. then senator obama had to give a big speech which was very successful to put that story to bed. now santorum might help himself with a republican base which loves press bashing. he's learning that from newt but that just wasn't true. but on this issue as i say, i think it's about attacking the affordable care act. and i think president obama, by making an accommodation to the religious institutions, i don't think we'd be here if he hadn't made that accommodation. now that he has, i think he has sort of grabbed the high ground. the last quick point, republicans should be sued for political malpractice at that hearing. there are plenty of conservative women who agreed with them. why didn't they put a woman on that opening panel? they played right into the hands of their critics. >> political malpractice. well, melissa, let me just show you what santorum said on cbs morni

it was really sort of the jeremiah wright moment that undermined his ability to do that effectively in008. but he didn't need to because he was running against john mccain who wasn't going to sort of make faith talk a central part of what he was up to. in this campaign, because the republican party is consistently claiming that the economic problems that we are facing, the fiscal problems we are facing are somehow related to the so-called moral issues of marriage equality, women's reproductive rights, the president needs to switch who we say when he says a moral issue. the issue is the tax code. >> gene robinson, i want to make this poll fact part of our discussion here when we talk about this politically. a gallup poll conducted in june asked americans, if your party nominated a generally well-qualified person for president who happened to be a mormon, would you vote for that person? 22% on the basis of that question simply said no. so there is a serious problem in that poll for any mormon candidate. and if the obama campaign is aware of that number, as we know they are, it would seem

he again brought the president's former pastor, the reverend jeremiah wright, in to the mix. >> he went to reverend wright's church for 20 years. you can question what kind of theology reverend wright has, but it's a christian church, he says he's a christian, look, i'm not going to question what the president believes in when it comes to his faith, but i am going to question what he's doing in this country to drive up the cost of energy, destroy this economy, and do so at the behest of a bunch of radical environmentalists who do in fact want to drive up the cost of energy and slow down the economy. >> santorum reiterating says he was not talking about president obama's faith when he mentioned his theology. campaigning in oklahoma, newt gingrich going after president obama on foreign policy. >> all of you should be very deeply concerned about national security. barack obama is the most dangerous president in modern american history. so the president wants to unilaterally weaken the united states, he wants to cut the aid to israel for its missile defense, he refuses on take iran seriousl

however there was a controversy and conflict between president obama and his long-time pastor jeremiah wright and he's had difficulty with a number of people wrongly thinking his religion is muslim, a number which has actually gone up during his presidency. so he's had -- >> that's gone up? >> yes. it was 12% when he came to office believed that his number was muslim and it's gone to 18 last summer. >> why? >> mostly republicans have populated that increase and misperceptions about obama's religion. the key thing is here, among those who say his religion is different or very different, his favorability has dropped overall and that's the key point here. if we talked about romney having a religion problem that maybe discomfort with the mormon faith, president obama has a religion problem with voters. >> we are talking with robert jones, ceo and founder of the public research institute. by the way, the president is currently at the national prayer breakfast. >>> and we'll leave this now to go to donald trump's announcement of endorsement for mitt romney after news organizations reported this mor

but then santorum brought up the president's controversial former chicago pastor, the reverend jeremiah wright, on fox news last night. >> he went to reverend wright's church for 20 years. you can question what kind of theology reverend wright has. but he says he's a christian, he goes to a christian church now. >> reporter: the comments are red meat for some conservatives. >> it's about some phony ideal, some phony theology. oh, not a theology based on the bible, a different theology. >> reporter: and others are now picking up the theme. on "morning joe" today, evangelist franklin graham, reverend billy graham's son, fast doubts on whether president obama is a christian. >> by your definition, he's not a christian? >> you have to ask him. i cannot answer that question for anybody. >> but you do not believe he's a muslim? >> no. >> categorically not a muslim? >> i can't say categorically because islam has gotten a free pass under obama. >> reporter: two years ago, the president visited an ailing billy graham. at the national prayer breakfast three weeks ago, he spoke about it. >> reverend grah

. >> and jeremiah wright showed up. wright, welcome back. >> welcome back, reverend wright, just when we needed you in the middle of an economic recovery. and while we are talking about aspirin between your knees, this is about jeremiah wright. >> here's the puzzling thing and contradiction. so he brings jeremiah wright back up, but is he christian or muslim? i'm confused. what's the president again? is he really -- >> secret muslim. >> secret muslim in a christian church. okay. >> i always want to pause on he's a secret muslim thing. this is totally off topic, but part of why that happens is because we don't have a very good understanding of islam. one can be a secret christian because it is just a religion why you profess faith. you can profess it but don't have to say it. you can be a secret krisz cheen. you can't be a secret muslim because islam is a faith of practice. we'd see him doing a variety of islam practices, prayer and -- there's a variety of things that have to happen. it's not the same kind of thing. >> t

. >> caller: professor i'd like to bring up the jeremiah wright issue again i heard the pundits bring that up again. i think he is a wonderful man of god what he says is scriptural the correct, will not bless america but what he said was very easy to mou explained instead of letting them hammer the man in making the president run out of the church. why doesn't somebody bring this up? he is a wonderful minister now all these years let him act like that he can live anywhere in the world. why do we accept this? is pure racism and no other reason and you can stop it. >> guest: thank you for your call. picked up my book there is a chapter in my book about reverend wright. and it is called reverend wright and my father because my father's views were very similar to reverend rights. probably a more extreme frankly in the criticism of the united states. one of the things i tried to do is to show that the views the reverend wright had do have a place in black america and he does represent an important strand of thought about black america is big. there's a lot of strands of thought. black cons

election of '08 i was quite analytical in the, in our criticism, our calling...you know, i had on jeremiah wright, his pastor who felt he had been really wronged. no our job, as i said, is not to elect or defeat candidates. as a citizen i will vote. you can ask jim lehrer about that. he used to think, he used to say, i don't vote because i shouldn't be biased in that regard, but i can't denigrate the political right we have as individuals to try to make our single, our single political act as a voter work. but i am disappointed... i think the job of journalists is to truly raise the questions that you would ask, they would ask, if they had access that we have. and it is true for the party in power, if that happens to have been traditionally your party or the party out of power, the new party that comes to power. >> smith: well, let's stay there. let's talk about journalists and journalism in the media, because maybe the only thing that could make us feel better about the state of politics is to talk about the state of the media, which by comparison maybe makes politics look good. do you have any

on "andrea mitchell reports" a matter of faith, first it was phone if i theology and now the jeremiah wrightight's church for 20 years, it's a christian church, he said he is a christian. look, i'm not going question the president, what the president believes in what it comes to his faith. >> while franklin graham, on morning joe today questioned the president's religious beliefs as well. >> so therefore by your definition, he is not a christian. >> you have to ask him. >> you do not

right questions like who is stepping behind the box rick santorum once again invoking jeremiah wright's name those are the big hard hitting topics that deserved plenty of time to be discussed that it not to mention in faintly boring i was wondering who actually watches this stuff so anyway today i want to keep it short and i want to. india to another example the pentagon providing misleading information way thing taxpayer money take a look at the new information we've learned thanks to a federal audits report and we constantly on this show talk about the weapon systems that just sucking money out of all of our pockets including not just through in fade in media. costs of cost overruns delays mechanical errors but all need to be fixed so while the f. thirty five the twenty two might be some of the worst and most blatant examples and actually happens all the way around to see the federal report concludes that the real costs of weapons projects usually don't make it into budget documents or weapons program supports all they might outline how much has been or will be spent to acquire the ne

trinity baptist church of jeremiah wright which a christian church based on the teachings of james cohen question, why should people give up a deeply held religious conviction? why religions have to change their faith and be mandated by the government when people have such easy access to birth control if they want it? >> every single woman in this country deserves access to birth control. 89% of women want to have control over their birth control. >> sean: i don't know where i got that statistic? >> the university of scranton and san francisco, all these catholic institutions that is providing birth control. >> sean: you didn't answer my question. >> in 28 states that have this mandate in place. this is politicians and pundits trying to politicize. >> sean: go ahead. >> women will not stand for it. >> this is an issue for women because we strongly believe what we are taught by church. what we are taught in the bible. this is a government mandate against women of faith, juice j us like it is disagrees to go against their church and their conscience. >> hang on for a minute. >> to use birt

people that have been questioning the president's religion and bringing up the whole question of jeremiah wright s that an appropriate challenge to the president? are knothose issues we should b addre addressing? >> every campaign has to talk about the issues they feel are at the forefront, romney gave a good speech at cpac and talked about social issues and what he did in massachusetts, it's a strong record. the issue that is more in the minds of the voters is the economy. we have been languishing with unemployment above 8% for the longest time since the depression. you have to decrease the size of government and put more money in the people's pockets. that is what the plan is b. >> thank you for being with us. what is the president's plan today. coming up next and panic at the pump, what is fuelling the hike in gas prices. and you have a question you want me to answer, join me today for a live web chat between 2:15 and 2:45. an accident doesn't have to slow you down. with better car replacement, if your car is totaled, we give you the money for a car one model year newer. liberty mutual auto i

the jeremiah wright fire storm, barack obama in 2008 had to give a speech on race to calm this nation down. santorum can try to dodge the issue but there are two things he has trouble hiding from. foster friess is the top donor supporting the guy, santorum is getting grilled because his big money guy said this. >> in the contraception thing my gosh it's such inexpensive back in my days, they used bayer aspirin, put it between their knees, it wasn't that costly. >> here is another thing santorum can't hide from. his own comments. >> one of the things i will talk about that no president has talked about before is i think the dangers of contra accept hundred in this country. the whole sexual libertine idea, many in the christian faith have said it's okay, it's not okay. it's a license to do things in the sexual, in the sexual realm that is counter to what -- how things are supposed to be. >> the candidate leading national polls for the republican nomination is openly opposed contraception. this is not a good sign for the republican party. it's just as bad as the all male panel called to

something they think they can -- >> dana: it's coming from the media that avoided talking about the jeremiah wrightrch that president obama attended for however many years. i think -- not talking about it, i guess, i dent know what else they would have talked about. he wasn't talking about christianity. anybody that covered environmentalism throughout the 1960s, and since the silent spring from the early '60s and '70s -- >> greg: rachel carson. >> dana: rachel carson. anybody that knows anything about the green movement know that some people worship trees. maybe he was talking about -- >> greg: i know people that hug trees. i'm not kidding. i worked in an environmentally friendly -- >> bob: i -- >> kimberly: you don't buy he was going after environmentalist radicallists? >> bob: he clarified himself and said he wasn't questioning obama christianity. when you say that something is not -- this is an exact quote from santorum -- "based on the bible," we are not in the business of basing -- i happen to be a christian and i feel very strongly about this. we don't base our political philosophy on the bib