please welcome melissa harris-perry. (cheers and applause) okay, madame, you are professor of political science at tulane. you have a new show on msnbc. >> not so black history month. >> stephen: not so black history month. dow get to go beyond black history month. >> maybe into march which is women's history month. >> stephen: and you're both of those. >> both. >> stephen: i don't see race, are you an african-american. >> most days. >> stephen: most days. >> yes. >> stephen: here's my problem with talking about race. doesn't it divide us by talking about our race. >> you know, i do think that experiencing racism tends to be a worse experience than actually talking about racism. >> stephen: uh-huh. >> so as a college professor i feel like talking always brings us closer to understanding rather than dividing us. it can be tough. it can be a little nauseating. we don't always have the right volk an lear to talk across our differences but the talking is always better than the ignoring. >> stephen: that could be a great tag

msnbc contributor and soon to be host of her own msnbc weekend program debuting in february, melissa harris perrythank you all very much for joining us. >> thanks, lawrence. >> melissa, first to you in honor of your new status here as the new shining star in the building, hosting a new program, i want to go to this rasmussen poll. it's a robo poll. it's not the most reliable in the world. but santorum has shot up. he shot up in this poll from 4% to 21%. this is a national poll. it's not new hampshire. it's not what's going to happen next week and then you see romney at 29% within striking distance of santorum's 21. gingrich down there at 16 which in this poll it's still in the game. ron paul hanging in there at 12. is the santorum bubble, melissa, is your sense of it that it is going to have an expiration date like the others, some two weeks or three weeks? or is this the one that can go? we've all been asking this question for a while but i ask it every day because every day there's a new sensation about this. >> and, look, this matters. it in fact matters in primary politics when your bubble hi

. >> melissa harris-perry and dr. james peterson have reaction. >>> the fight for florida is ending with a flurry. >> conservatives will come together and decide they don't want a massachusetts liberal to be the republican nominee. >> the speaker has been attacking me all over the state in ways that are extraordinary. >> the latest with e.j. dionne. >> bill burton and joan walsh >> bill burton and joan walsh with the problem with the latino vote. >>> the fight for fairness headed to the floor of the senate. robert reich on today's big news for the buffet rule. >>> good to have you with us tonight, thanks for watching. newt gingrich is taking a pounding in florida. he's been outspent by mitt romney 5-to-1, poll numbers have taken a dive. but even gingrich knows what kind of red meat the conservative republican audience wants. >> something very, very important, something i want to take a minute to talk about. the obama administration is engaged in a war against religion. >> gingrich has no proof that president obama is

governor ed rendell who has met a few presidents in his day at airports and melissa harris-perry willnd later, democratic senate candidate for massachusetts elizabeth warren will join me to discuss her campaign against republican senator scott brown. [ female announcer ] this is not a prescription. this is mary. who has a million things to pick up each month on top of her prescriptions. thankfully, her walgreens pharmacist recommended a 3-month supply. now, mary gets 3 refills in one and for 3 months she's done. ask your pharmacist about a 90 day supply and how to save with the prescription savings club. individual memberships are just 5 dollars. enroll today. walgreens. there's a way to stay well. ♪ [ gong ] strawberry banana! [ male announcer ] for a smoothie with real fruit plus veggie nutrition new v8 v-fusion smoothie. could've had a v8. new v8 v-fusion smoothie. excuse me. him? he's helping me get back to normal. hey, i don't even live in a floodplain. but i've got flood insurance, so i'm covered. how's that? nice. flood insurance, it helps make your home a home again. or, your

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. >>> joining mess melissa harris-perry, tulane university political professor, also columnist for "thend author of "sister citizen." what do you make of his assertions? >> i think there's a couple strawmen going on here, one is the idea that democrats want to move us toward a european style of welfare state. that has already been not the position of the democratic party. at least dating to the relatively conservative clint been who obvious ly -- but beyod that, this is actually a recycling of the 1960s version of a culture of pathology argument, instead of looking at how structures actively make it more difficult for families, communities, and faith, for all those things to occur among those with fewer resources, but this is old, this is moynihan reports, this is let's all be sort of more focused on the individual pathologies rather than the pathology embedded in the deeply inequal economic system. >> when we talk about the american dream, this has always been a country of people trying to go after what they are. we're always going to be a country of haves and have-no thes have we lost

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and professor melissa harris perry, also an msnbc contributor and columnist for "the nation." thank you both for being here tonight. >> thanks. >> good to be in your quiet room, reverend. >> well, we're going to make a little noise in the quiet room tonight because i couldn't get over that comment last night dividing america like america's not divided. we're trying to end the division. let me start with you. how can republicans succeed when they don't want to talk about the defining issue of our time and that is the economic disparity in this country? >> well, i think it's a really interesting tactic that they are pursuing. it's okay to divide us between the real america and the rest of the country which presumably lives in some other place. it's okay to divide us between pro-european socialists or something like that against people who uphold traditional american ideas. but it's not okay to describe a real problem which is growing inequality over the last 30 years. i think this kind of rhetoric they are using is indication that they know that this new discussion is very probl

and my guest tulane professor melissa harris-perry has written a book about stereotypes of black women yogo girl. (laughter) body spray has a new product for women. i'm guessing it's mace. this is "the colbert report." (cheers and applause) (cheers and applause) stephen, stephen, stephen! stephen, stephen, stephen! stephen, stephen, stephen! >> stephen: very nice. thank you, ladies and gentlemen. thank you brothers and sisters. welcome to the report, everybody. thank you so much. please. (cheers and applause) >> stephen: welcome to the report, thank you. folks good to have you with us. nation t is the eve of the new hampshire primary. when the folks in villages of dixville notch and fiddler's chris and pinkler's sack exercise their constitutional right toned the primaries before the rest of us can vote. now this weekend just to grease the voting skids, the republicans held not one, not one again, but two presidential primaries. the party kicked off saturday n

melissa harris perry. professor of political university and most importantly starting february 4, close to h -- hosting her own msnbc show. "new york times" economic reporter returning as well, captain rambell. david stock man. subject of an amazing magazine article written with you my colleague and friend. really wonderful to have you. >> all right. so i have to say -- i guess -- we have been covering the rech primary race for a long time. sometimes i will be honest as a cable news host. feels like you are trying to spin straw into gold a little bit. there is such a long period in which no one was voting, nothing was happening. there was just polls and polls fluctuate and we would say donald trump is leading the polls. donald trump. then michele bachmann was leading the polls. put her on the cover of "newsweek." now people are voting is and there is genuine surprising uncertainty. unpredictability. >> keeps interest interesting. >> it is fascinating. a week ago, no one thought that this was going to happe

joining me is melissa harris perry. soon to be crowned with her own show on msnbc.capehart along with republican strategyist tray harden. good afternoon to all of you. what will mitt need out of polls today to consider new hampshire a victory? what percentage will he sneneed? >> i think he just needs to win by 10%. >> he was 41 a few days ago. >> i think the campaign writes off ron paul. they sees whatever percent as not real. i think they see that as their vote. >> jonathan, melissa says just 10% more. what do you think? >> i think he needs to do as well but definitely better than he did inç 2008, which was 32%. otherwise, it will be iowa all over again. the same percentage he got in iowa last week is pretty much identical to the percentage he got in 2008. from the romney campaign perspective. i think they will take 32%. they will take winning by 1% over the next person to just make it through this. >> what about you, trey? >> i agree. a win is a win for any of these races. 30% is the number. he's got to stay above 30%. if he gets below 30% it's going to change th

our panel for this portion of our coverage includes msnbc contributor melissa harris perry, professor of political science at tulane. rachel maddow is here, you may remember her from live coverage in the last seven hours. michele goldberg and ranesh. glad to have you here. first let's go -- i believe we have chuck todd is in iowa at the moment. he has been tracking very closely which counties are counted and which are uncounted in this nail biter of an election. what is the latest? >> we have a handful of votes left at this point and so there's various reports out there the google site helping iowa run its -- run that counting process claims everything has been counted and still santorum is ahead. that doesn't matter. it's about what's happening over the next week and the santorum momentum. what to watch for, we had newt gingrich who gave a concession speech that promised to go after mitt romney in every way that he can. let's not forget jon huntsman who basically has seven days left to prove whether his strategy is going to work in new hampshire. and so rick santorum may get to float

howard wolfson, michael steele and melissa harris perry, and arie, thank you all, alex will be back on for special coverage on the vote in south carolina, same time, 12 p.m. eastern. be sure to catch our prime time coverage tomorrow at 6:00 p.m. "andrea mitchell reports" is next. live from charleston, where you are looks beautiful. >> it's gorgeous, we have a lot of politics today. have a great day. >> thank you. >> coming up, the campaigns are c canvasing the state and we will have the winners and losers of the debate. and ron paul come from behind. his campaign manager right here with us on their strategy. but the house and senate are stalling on the first legislative issue of the new session, targeting internet piracy. chris dodd joining us here, only on msnbc, "andrea mitchell reports." ♪ you and me and the big old tree ♪ ♪ side by side, one, two, three ♪ ♪ count the birds in the big old tree ♪ ♪ la la la [ male announcer ] the inspiring story of how a shipping giant can befriend a forest may seem like the stuff of fairy tales. ♪ ♪ you and me and the big old tree side by side ♪ but

. >> melissa harris perry is host of a new show debuting next month and professor at tu lane universitys with the manship school of communications at louisiana state university and the author of daisy petals and mushroom clouds. good morning to both of you. sorry about the lsu loss. we won't go there. let's talk about the ads. voters in south carolina have seen, listen to this number. 5500 presidential campaign ads. that's nearly twice as many as in the entirety of new hampshire. all the candidates except huntsman are running ads. add in the super packs, on and on and on. are we in oversaturation? are we going to be oversaturated? >> we are at a point of oversaturation. part of what happens in this bombardment, especially when it's negative, we shrink it. the findings, when it gets this ugly and there's this much commercial activity, they feel everyone is lying. the system feels broken rather than thinking you can go pick the one person who is honest. >> let me show you what the campaigns and their supper packs have spend. pro-gingrich, $3.6 million. how does this change campaign strate

joining me now is dick harputlian, south carolina democratic party chair and msnbc contributor melissa harris perryscience at tulane. and columnist for "the nation," soon to be host of a show at msnbc going from contributor to host. thanks to both of you for joining me tonight. let me go to you, dick, first. is it a coincidence that this state's rights issue is so big now right before the south carolina gop primary? >> no, i think that the south carolina gop primary typifies all -- you are going to hear all the issues that are going to horrify the rest of the issue. you can't come down here and talk to the republicans without talking about state's rights. rick santorum was in greenville last weekend and he told a crowd up there, this is the most important election this country has faced since 1860. now 1860, abraham lincoln was elected and signed the emancipation proclamation. i don't know, rick. you know it may be an important election, but, really? abraham lincoln's election? the most important one since then? and you hear mitt romny, all these folks very subtly infusing race. by the way, the rep

melissa harris perry, now i get to see msnbc host. con grats. let's get straight to this.s less than a week into 2012 and it looks like a whole new ball game, a bold obama is coming in. >> this is something he's used infrequently, 29 recess appointments, other presidents have had more than 100 combined recess appointments. to put in someone into this consumer protection -- consumer finance protection bureau, something that they've been trying to block by pretend being they are in session in when they are not really in session. but this is clearly strategic as much as it is substantive. this is about the president saying, i know i've tried to be bipartisan and tried to reach across the aisle but now i'm going to govern. >> wouldn't this be considered loophole government because if george w. bush had done this, liberals whofb hitting the room? >> sure. there's no question that part of what happens when a president flexes authority is that the other branches of government push back against it. that's pretty standard. when you're going into an election year, the point of the p

let's get right to it with our panel this afternoon from minneapolis, ana marie cox, and melissa harris perryofessor and columnist for the nation as well as a highly he is steamed msnbc contributor. i would like to start with you. some in the michele bachmann camp are suggesting sexism may have been at play here in her poor performance in iowa. and it is true, isn't it? in many of the evangelical churches, women are not allowed to take leadership positions and that may have affected the willingness of the electorate to support her. >> possibly. i will say this. there are more women leaders of various forms in evangelical churches than say for example in catholic church. particularly in the black evangelical churches. you have women who become even preachers but obviously, catholic women cannot become priests, for example. so i think we want to be really careful on the sexism question. there has been a great deal of really smart research that suggests one of the things that really impacts women as candidates is simply that women end up not running. they don't get, no one asks they will to run.

melissa harris perry, the intrepid maggie hebertman of politico and co-authors of game change, leadingof the home box office network, national affairs editor and "new york magazine "mike heylman and joining us from south carolina. as the voters head to the polls in south carolina today, mitt romney and newt gingrich just avoided running into each other at tommy's country ham house in greenville. >> question, where's mitt? i thought he was going to -- i thought he was going to stay and we'd have a debate here this morning. >> there was no fist a cuffs over pulled pork. i want to talk to the panel first. you guys were looking at these headlines out of south carolina. the post and courier saying who will it be? gop's day of reckoning. do we have any idea how this day will shake out? >> i think the most significant thing to me is there is a poll from ppp that has been public posse that has been fairly reliable. the only full night that was conducted after thursday's debate where newt gingrich had the lashing out of john king moment. he founded 60% of the people watched the debate. you know

. >> joining me live, new show host, melissa harris-perry.we look at the break down of what romney earned versus what he a paid in taxes. he is in the 1%, no doubt. but what kind of disconnect does that put between the leadership and the real country when it comes to economics? >> it's in the sentence that you just said, the apt he earned versuses what he paid in taxes. what we learned is that he did not earn that money, he earned it at a previous time, at a smaller amount, but what he is paying taxes on is called unearned income. his income and wealth is from not making something or laboring or showing up on a day-to-day basis but in front simply from the interest that is earning from profits that he made previously. and i think the disconnect for americans there is that the republican party is telling us that work is valuable. that going out in the morning. there's a ethics and morality to doing work, and this is someone whose income comes from not actually working. >> warren buffett calls it shoving big money around and making money off sh

melissa harris-perry joins me to sound off. that and more coming your way. chris?h. we are moments away from the pentagon announcing its plan to deal with hundreds of millions of dollars in budget cuts, everything from infrastructure to the economy will be impacted. president obama and defense secretary leon panetta will be speaking there, joint appear perhaps at the pentagon. but joining me is retired colonel jack jacobs. what is going tonight big impact from your perspective? >> all services are getting smaller, cutting personnel because you can save money today if you cut personnel. you save money more quickly than cutting program. we are going to cut programs, too. and the army is getting much smaller than everybody anticipated. as a matter of fact, panetta himself said although he is going to cut the army down to a very relatively small size, woe like to see it get smaller yet, down to levels we haven't seen since 2003. >> and continuing a swift -- a shift in focus that we started to see after 9/11, which is more away from conventional forces, more toward spec

join me, melissa harris perry and other uppers for our take on the results out of iowa tuesday at midnight us on facebook. here's thomas robert in for alex witt. we'll see you next tuesday and of course next weekend here on "up." this was the gulf's best tourism season in years. all because so many people wanted to visit us... in louisiana. they came to see us in florida... nice try, they came to hang out with us in alabama... once folks heard mississippi had the welcome sign out, they couldn't wait to get here. this year was great but next year's gonna be even better. and anyone who knows the gulf knows that winter is primetime fun time. the sun's out and the water's beautiful. you can go deep sea fishing for amberjack, grouper and mackerel. our golf courses are open. our bed and breakfast have special rates. and migrating waterfowl from all over make this a bird watcher's paradise. so if you missed it earlier this year, come on down. if you've already been here come on back... to mississippi... florida... louisiana... alabama. the gulf's america's get-a-way spot no matter where you go. s

joining me, alex wagner, host of "now with alex wagner" and msnbc contributor melissa harr harris-perryu both for joining me tonight. >> absolutely. >> thanks, rev. >>> melissa, let me start with you. for the past year republicans have engaged on a war on women's rights and women's health. you and i have talked about rick santorum saying food stamps and blacks, and what he would do for blacks, clearly offending a lot of people in the black community. when he spoke last night and started talking about his grandfather's hands. it was very moving. then he said his grandfather came here trying to flee a government like this administration, muse lynni. it woke me independence, reminding me who this guy was. he's probably the most extreme right-wing candidate we have seen in the flavors of the month. >> i think that's right, the most extreme of the kind of cycling of not-mitt or not-willard in your case, of candidates to come through. one of the things we need to pause and remember, it's not really clear that the iowa caucus-goers chose santorum based on his policies or positions. it does see