. >>> let's bring in john avlon. i know they want to get it done but they don't compromise with all of them who do want to do the right thing, but they don't compromise with each other. >> that's right. and in this case, what you heard there was spin in a vacuum. he's talking about kicking a can down the road and he wants to stay focused on the payroll tax cuts. that's fine. he's talking about deficits and debt. i believe the congressman sincerely cares about that. he had two chances this year, first as a member of the bowles-simpson committee and he voted against the recommendations. if he and his colleagues voted on it, it would have gone down to congress. after that failure he got picked to co-chair the super committee. that's kicking the can down the load in a huge way, much more important to our fundamentals than the payroll tax cut alone. when they talk about political brinksmanship, it's got jeb hensarling's face on it. >> no one wants to take the blame. it's a human problem. but right now it's a problem hurti

. >>> let's bring in john avlon. i am upset. i know they want to get it done but they don't compromise with all of them who do want to do the right thing, but they don't compromise with each other. >> that's right. and in this case, what you heard there was spin in a vacuum. he's talking about kicking a can down the road and he wants to stay focused on the payroll tax cuts. that's fine. he's talking about deficits and debt. i believe the congressman sincerely cares about that. >> yes, he does. >> he had two chances this year to do something, deal with the deficit and the debt. first as a member of the bowles-simpson committee and he voted against the recommendations. if he and his colleagues voted on it, it would have gone down to congress for an up or down vote. after that failure he got picked to co-chair the super committee. he failed there as well. that's kicking the can down the load in a huge way, much more important to our fundamentals economies and our fundamentals than the payroll tax cut alone. when they talk about pol

thank you. >> john avlon is here along with tim and ned ryan.ryan, what do you think about his point about mr. santorum. take a look at this. >> you know, the thing that you're seeing in the iowa polls, rick is trending upwards. you will see a surprise january 3rd. looking at the polls, newt's plummeting. you'll see some surprises come the night of january 3rd. like the governor made the point, the thing with iowa is about surviving. it's about being in that top three. you can't win the nomination in iowa. what it's going to come down to is who is going to survive the state. there might be a surprise third-place finisher. right now i don't know. >> what do you think, john avlon. >> i love rick perry's new ad, pounce on his wife. the ad wars, people should go global. >> i'm assuming it's not what you just said it was. it's different. >> it's not that different. let's say it actually. it's a good time. but -- >> old-fashioned story. i married my high school sweetheart but first i had to wait while he volunteered for the white house. i'm anita perr

thank you. >> john avlon is here along with tim and ned ryan., what do you think about his point about mr. santorum. take a look at this. >> you know, the thing that you're seeing in the iowa polls, rick is trending upwards. you will see a surprise january 3rd. looking at the polls, newt's plummeting. you'll see some surprises come the night of january 3rd. like the governor made the point, the thing with iowa is about surviving. it's about being in that top three. you can't win the nomination in iowa. what it's going to come down to is who is going to survive the state. there might be a surprise third-place finisher. right now i don't know. >> what do you think, john avlon. >> i love rick perry's new ad, pounce on his wife. the ad wars, people should go global. >> i'm assuming it's not what you just said it was. it's different. >> it's not that different. let's say it actually. it's a good time. but -- >> old-fashioned story. i married my high school sweetheart but first i had to wait while he volunteered for the white house. i'm anita perry. w

john avlon is here. has said he will veto anybody who tries to roll back the automatic cuts. they're going to try. >> they're going to try to weasel out of this deal and it has deficit hawks fired up and they should be. this is the whole deal. of course the cuts were painful. that was the point. and the fact that jon kyl, who was on the super committee is now leading this charge to weasel out of the implications, that makes it all the more disgusting. because if you really care about deficits and debt, you don't just demagogue them during campaign time. you deal with them. and they had a chance to come up with an alternative plan and failed. republicans have to deal with defense cuts and democrats have to deal with domestic discretionary cuts and if the they weasel out of their side, the whole thing goes and we're deep are in the hole. >> let's assume, and, by the way, we asked them all to come on tonight and one of them, i'm not going to point fingers, said we don't yet know where else the money will co

john avlon is here. he will veto anybody who tries to roll back the automatic cuts. they're going to try. >> they're going to try to weasel out of this deal and it has deficit hawks fired up and they should be. this is the whole deal. of course the cuts were painful. that was the point. and the fact that jon kyl, who was on the super committee is now leading this charge to weasel out of the implications, that makes it all the more disgusting. because if you really care about deficits and debt, you don't just demagogue them during campaign time. you deal with them. and they had a chance to come up with an alternative plan and failed. republicans have to deal with defense cuts and democrats have to deal with domestic discretionary cuts and if the they weasel out of their side, the whole thing goes and we're deep are in the hole. >> let's assume, and, by the way, we asked them all to come on tonight and one of them, i'm not going to point fingers, said we don't yet know where else the money will come from b

. >>> let's bring in john avlon from newsweek. independent thinker, going across lines but we're not getting revenue. >> look, he's in a tough spot. he's in a state where independents outnumber republicans. there hasn't been a republican in the senate for massachusetts since ed brooks. he's got to show he's not part of the problem, he's part of the solution p.m. he's saying, look, let's close some loopholes. the tax cut has become a theology, it's an article of faith. we're no longer dealing with simple math when we try to reduce the deficits. that's the problem. >> what do you think about that? >> i think it's very sensible. republicans have made a substantive move on this issue. there was a time when they were saying, we're not going to move on revenue at all. now they're saying, we welcome broadening the revenue base, and lowering rates, doing the sensible stuff that simpson-bowles suggested. >> how do you know it's not an intellectual move? they say 48% of people don't pay tax. >> you pay people when they're young, et cetera,

john avlon is here to talk a little bit about him.irer of his and you had a chance to meet him. >> i did briefly. but this is just a man who was a hero to so many writers and a mentor to so many writers, and i did have the privilege of meeting him on a few occasions. but today was an extraordinary outpouring of respect and affection for this man. one of the great essayists of our time. someone who was always a fearless and fun and someone who always would strike a complete moral clarity-w no regard for political correctness. and his writing was great. but his enemies were hypocrisy and cruelty and stupidity and oppression. and he was prolific. and in the last several months his battle with cancer was waged with similar heroism. he's just someone who was such a literary hero to so many people. and at the same time to appreciate and honor and respect him. >> it's just amazing. you were talking a little bit about it today with our staff. there were times he was hated by the people over

cnn contributor john avlon's been digesting all of this. john, initial impressions here? gingrich had -- was going to get a lot of incoming fire. he did and he hand it pretty well, including some really tough questions about his personal life but he did not lose this debate which means it is a win. he handled that poll position with some authority and showing some evidence of that new maturity which his team is trying to talk about. mitt romney, that 10k comment has real lly sucked up a lot of oxygen and attention. he didn't really have any knock-out punches of newt. >> what do you think about bachmann, the newt-romney combo that she talked about? >> that's a good line. she is trying to distance herself from the conventional wisdom front-runner so she deserves credit for that. ron paul had a very strong debate, too. one of the stories now 22 days out of iowa we might talk about how strong ron paul's support is in that state. >> mitt romney took on newt gingrich here. take a listen. >> this is a propaganda war in which our side refuses to engage and we refuse to tell the t

let's go to john avlon, kiki mclean, and rich galen. he's a republican strategist. kiki, i feel bad for you. what have you got to contribute to this discussion? iowa is the hottest place for a democrat the last time around. you know john made a point -- i'm going to put to you first, kiki -- but john made a point where he said that the conservatives in iowa self-select in many cases in their participation in these caucuses and you've got an extra dose of conservative in the thing. >> yes. >> so santorum, with a good showing here, really bears very little relationship to the country. >> yeah. it's interesting. there are three or four things i would tell people to pay attention to over the next six days. the first is that i had the benefit of working for president richard gephardt 24 years ago and as a democrat he won the iowa caucuses. the the other thing that's interesting to pay attention to is you don't hear a conversation about new participants the way that you did for barack obama in 2008. are there a lot of new people that are going to flood those church baseme

let's go to john avlon, kiki mclean, and rich galen. he's a republican strategist. kiki, i feel bad for you. what have you got to contribute to this discussion? iowa is the hottest place for a democrat the last time around. you know john made a point -- i'm going to put to you first, kiki -- but john made a point where he said that the conservatives in iowa self-select in many cases in their participation in these caucuses and you've got an extra dose of conservative in the thing. >> yes. >> so santorum, with a good showing here, really bears very little relationship to the country. >> yeah. it's interesting. there are three or four things i would tell people to pay attention to over the next six days. the first is that i had the benefit of working for president richard gephardt 24 years ago and as a democrat he won the iowa caucuses. the the other thing that's interesting to pay attention to is you don't hear a conversation about new participants the way that you did for barack obama in 2008. are there a lot of new people that are going to flood those church baseme

john avlon's here.vering the bug, we immediately disabled the system and will only return functionality when we're sure the bug is fixed. facebook then gave the user the choice to select one's setting to private. we shall see. it's funny, when the boss has a privacy problem at facebook. it's been 123 days since the country lost our aaa ratings. standard and poor's busy. yesterday 15 euro zone countries went on credit watch negative. today the ratings agency warned that if those countries are downgraded it might cut the rating on the bailout fund. that's a big negative. >>> what does the payroll tax cut mean to you? we have been talking about the numbers, it could mean a lot more money comes out of your paycheck every week if it doesn't get extended. it has to be extent by january 1st, which means before that washington they like to take off christmas, all the way until new year's. president obama was in kansas today stressing the importance of the deal. >> if we don't do that, the 160 million americans,

john avlon's here.rson told "out front" upon discovering the bug, we immediately disabled the system and will only return functionality when we're sure the bug is fixed. facebook then gave the user the choice to select one's setting to private. we shall see. it's funny, when the boss has a privacy problem at facebook. it's been 123 days since the country lost our aaa ratings. standard and poor's busy. yesterday 15 euro zone countries went on credit watch negative. today the ratings agency warned that if those countries are downgraded it might cut the rating on the bailout fund. that's a big negative. >>> what does the payroll tax cut mean to you? we have been talking about the numbers, it could mean a lot more money comes out of your paycheck every week if it doesn't get extended. it has tock extent by january 1st, which means before that washington they like to take off christmas, all the way until new year's. president obama was in kansas today stressing the importance of the deal. >> if we don't do t

john avlon, take it away. >> this is hypocrisy watch 101. mitt romney, he's on the charm offensive.e is on letterman and everywhere and we can all agree that politics ain't beanbag, but for a guy to talk about how distasteful super pacs are, they are dropping millions of dollars in negative ads against his primary rival in iowa, come on. this is what drives people crazy about politics. >> this ad. >> yes. and newt gingrich is unilaterally disarmed here. the idea that the candidates are powerless over the pac, and yes, there is to be no contact with the pac, and they set the tone, for this guy to be above the fray but while they are dropping millions of dollars a day to drop bombs on newt gingrich, come on. >> the whole idea, on both sides of the isle, it works leak this, that the president didn't have authority over and spent years working for the president and now they run it is what frustrates people about politics in general, this rhetorical separation. >> it is frustrating, but you know what else? mitt romney, not only does he have this pac working for him, but in july and augus

john avlon, take it away. >> this is hypocrisy watch 101. mitt romney, he's on the charm offensive.e is on letterman and everywhere and we can all agree that politics ain't beanbag, but for a guy to talk about how distasteful super pacs are, they are dropping millions of dollars in negative ads against his primary rival in iowa, come on. this is what drives people crazy about politics. >> this ad. >> yes. and newt gingrich is unilaterally disarmed here. the idea that the candidates are powerless over the pac, and yes, there is to be no contact with the pac, and they set the tone, for this guy to be above the fray but while they are dropping millions of dollars a day to drop bombs on newt gingrich, come on. >> the whole idea, on both sides of the isle, it works leak this, that the president didn't have authority over and spent years working for the president and now they run it is what frustrates people about politics in general, this rhetorical separation. >> it is frustrating, but you know what else? mitt romney, not only does he have this pac working for him, but in july and augus

john avlon joining us now. >> that is a big idea.ger at congress now. you have 9% approval rating and 9% re-election rate. a lot of people say, look, let's make it a citizens legislature stop that revolving door and impose some term limits. >> newt gingrich used to be for term limits. >> he did. ross perot championed term limits in 1992, part of the republican contract for america when newt gingrich was -- >> why do people back off it? >> one word, california. it is not just the cynicism of electeds who want to hold on to power. look at california. six-year term limit. it has empowered bureaucrats and lobbyists, not help make the state any less dysfunctional. dysfunction increased. there are folks who backed off it and say maybe you need to increase the term limits to something more reasonable. it becomes a matter of proportion. this would take the constitutional amendment and i'm sure members of congress would want to be grandfathered in. but it has got a lot of new popular with the tea party. that's one thing that jon huntsman is t

john avlon joining us now. >> that is a big idea.'s harnessing is that anger at congress now. you have 9% approval rating and 9% re-election rate. a lot of people say, look, let's make it a citizens legislature stop that revolving door and impose some term limits. >> newt gingrich used to be for term limits. >> he did. ross perot championed term limits in 1992, part of the republican contract for america when newt gingrich was -- >> why do people back off it? >> one word, california. it is not just the cynicism of electeds who want to hold on to power. look at california. six-year term limit. it has empowered bureaucrats and lobbyists, not help make the state any less dysfunctional. dysfunction increased. there are folks who backed off it and say maybe you need to increase the term limits to something more reasonable. it becomes a matter of proportion. this would take the constitutional amendment and i'm sure members of congress would want to be grandfathered in. but it has got a lot of new popular with the tea party. that's one thin

. >> thanks so much to john avlon. and let's hands it off to and let's hands it off to anderson. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com >>> erin, thanks very much. good evening, everyone. we begin tonight keeping them honest. with the penn state child sex abuse scandal and the clearest account yet from the star witness against the suspect jerry sandusky. now, for weeks we've been getting conflicting reports about what this man, mike mcqueary, saw in a locker room shower on campus back in 2002, saw happening between sandusky and the boy known as victim number 2. there's the version contained in that 23-page grand jury presentment. there's what mcqueary reportedly told friends in an e-mail, claim egg made sure the abuse stopped. there's also a third account by a family friend reported in the "patriot-news" by cnn contributor sarah ganim suggesting mcqueary didn't even directly see the molestation. so today at this preliminary hearing for two of his bosses mcqueary finally gave his account in open court on the record, unde

let's talk about all of this with john avlon from "newsweek" and the daily beast. e seen so many front-runners -- good morning, by the way. so many front-runners have come and gone. is ron paul going to -- is this ron paul's turn now? >> well, if this was a rotating game of musical chairs it would be ron paul's turn next. the question is whether the music will stop before he gets his shot. each of the gop alternatives to mitt romney that have surfaced have around five weeks roughly on top. michele bachmann, rick perry, herman cain, now newt gingrich. but newt seems to be in the poll position at the right time. but as you pointed out, ron paul is strong in these polls. he is second in many polls. his supporters are intense, they are committed and they could upset a caucus. no one should count ron paul out. he's in that winner's circle in the top three considerations. >> interesting. he is -- ron paul quite honestly is a likable guy. he's kind of like everyone's dad. you may not agree with his politics but he is an affable, likable guy. let's talk about romney though.

we're joined by robert zimmerman, head of a public relations firm and john avlon, cnn contributor andas. love the ties. >> good to be with you. before we get to naughty and nice, we agree on what's hot. big stars, congratulations, the buzz on that amazing. >> thank you very much. >> tony bennett, president clinton, today jennifer lopez. will ferrell. looking forward to that. robert, start with you. your nice list. governor andrew cuomo and erskine bowles and alan simpson on the deficit commission. not household name, why? >> dustin lance black, who, oscar winning screenwriter, a new play out focusing on the fight, the legal battles for marriage equality in california. awe smt, great, great play. the social conscience of our country. bowles-simpson is important. not household names, these two, clinton's former chief of staff, simpson, republican conservative senator, put together a game plan to bring back our economy. both parties encouraged to listen to them. >> something president clinton, of course, supports wholeheartedly. john, you agree on cuomo. and three in governor chris chris

jon avlon is a contribuor for us, jamaal simmons is a democratic strategist. nancy is a republican strategist. john you wrote a piece saying it's time for the gop to take another look at jon huntsman. does he have a shot? >> he's put all his eggs on the state of new hampshire. that is his whole deal. this was a good day for him. he's onstage with the front-runner newt gingrich in a debate that was civil and substantive and that plays to his strengths. he's got a long way to go. i think serious should give him a second shot. >> what do you think about that, nancy? will they? >> oh, they might. i mean, i have to say that this debate was handing huntsman a real face card in this poker match. i mean, he got on the stage and was treated seriously and was able to discuss very important issues at great length with the front-runner. so that was a huge plus. it was also a chess move in my opinion against romney. because really, you've got -- new hampshire has been romney's firewall, if you will, against a potential loss in iowa and a potential loss in south carolina. if these two can edge his chances out in

jon avlon is a contributor for us, jamaal simmons is a democratic strategist. nancy is a republican strategist. john you wrote a piece saying it's time for the gop to take another look at jon huntsman. does he have a shot? >> he's put all his eggs on the state of new hampshire. that is his whole deal. this was a good day for him. he's onstage with the front-runner newt gingrich in a debate that was civil and substantive and that plays to his strengths. he's got a long way to go. i think serious should give him a second shot. >> what do you think about that, nancy? will they? >> oh, they might. i mean, i have to say that this debate was handing huntsman a real face card in this poker match. i mean, he got on the stage and was treated seriously and was able to discuss very important issues at great length with the front-runner. so that was a huge plus. it was also a chess move in my opinion against romney. because really, you've got -- new hampshire has been romney's firewall, if you will, against a potential loss in iowa and a potential loss in south carolina. if these two can edge his chances out in