interesting, jon meacham. we e-mailed back and forth last night, i sent you a column that one of the policy leaders in george w. bush's administration, an evangelical christian, a great thinker. interesting take from pete. he said the standard is religious belief should trump competence when it comes to selecting a president. this view is, of course, at odds with those of martin luther who once famously said he'd prefer to be ruled by a competent turk over an incompetent christian. and as we go on, he also wrote this. in his letter to newport, rhode island, president washington wrote these beautiful words. may the children of abraham who dwell in this land continue to merit and enjoy the good will of other inhabitants while everyone shall sit safely under his own vine and fig tree. and there shall be none to make him afraid. george washington wrote was a better general and president and a better theologian. >> earlier in that letter, washington wrote the point of the united states government is to give persecu

jon meacham. >> that's the way the cookie bounces. >> exactly. made my teeth hurt. >> how could you not say mitt romney was not perfect. even that he was like okay. this is complete stupidity, let me help this poor man along. >> but mitt romney deboned him. >> there's no doubt. >> this is is the case where the campaign bosses did well. we went through the analyses, saw how aggressive it was. and within a couple of days everyone on the stage was basically dismantling him. and romney put an end to the notion that 9-9-9 was acceptable tax policy. >> romney finished him there, and i wrote about it in politico yesterday. >> whining -- >> far right freaks -- you're not a real conservative, herman cain, bla, bla, bla. the same thing when i said about palin when i said she wasn't going to win it and bauchmann wasn't going to win it. and cain. i talked about how he took great pride in his ignorance in foreign policy saying i don't know who the leader of ubecky stan-stan is. and we saw how dangerous that is. rick perry's assistance on illegal immigration,