people are turned off by it especially people under 30 years old in this country who do not want a moralistic, judgmental, religious language. >> rose: we conclude this evening with a conversation about politics with jon huntsman, former presidential candidate and former ambassador to china and former governor of utah. >> you can break it down into 100 different reasons why somebody doesn't catch fire. but i felt throughout that probably the greatest drag was the fact that i had crossed a partisan line. in a highly partisan charged year, if you crossed a partisan line, that's held against you. if you're not willing to throw red meat out when they want red meat, they're going to look for somebody who will. and in some of the early primary contests that's what it's all about. if you can get beyond that and get into the general, you're perfectly positions. we have the greatest universities and colleges on earth and people still flock here from all over to aten them. they have our secret weapon si with is most innovative and creative class of people on earth. that's our engine of growth. today th

even to traditional moralists and particularly women. >> i think he should focus on economics, a lotf the speeches are economics. he tends to respond to social issues when asked. >> that's the way that he feels right here. >> he does feel it. but my point, i think he has a great story to tell about economics that i think a lot of women voters would like. but even when he does address the social issues, it's the idea that it's a big turnoff to american voters is largely, it's an idea that has more currency in the media circles that we travel in than among actual voters. it's the argument for romney is that he's going to reduce the margin of defeat in new york and california, that's not really relevant. the issue is, for voters in midwest swing states, virginia, is it going to turn them off? i think history says no, social conservativism doesn't turn them off. >> let's get our conservative mother in here, kim. what about, where do you come down on this? >> well, this is about delivery. look, republicans do best when they are talking about their own values, but when they are saying, we'

>> i think he's positioning himself as the blue color moralist. he's got this manufacturing plan, this approach to giving manufacturing, 0% in terms of federal taxes. that's the thing he talks about, his grandfather who's a coal miner. he obviously also can get up there and say he lives the conservative life. he not only talks about it, he lives it. exhibit a being his seven kids, which i think six of which were out at cpac today. that's his argument. you saw him today also make the argument he is a conservative. "i am one of you." he said. i am one of you. we toiled in the vineyard. flt book of matthew. that's his argument, he's the full spectrum conservative and mitt, a victory with mitt romney, would be hollow. those were his words today. >> in the clip that we saw of santorum, he was talking about conservatives not being that excited about mitt romney. he was obviously referring to. but the folks i talked to, voters are not -- excitement for santorum is also limited partly by concerns about, can he go the distance. >> right, right. and the fac

i would favor so moralists large energy distribution companies i would favor gas prong which still looks really cheap and which is pretty far in terms of technical picture and also would serve several style my below subtractive. russia's largest lender has finally got the cage to access the european market spare bank is signing a long awaited deal to purchase the vaults bank international says a growing acquisition back in september us bank has managed to drive down the final price by eighty million years to five hundred five billion the bank's head sees no way it's going to enter in the european market despite the current debt crisis the finance used to for an answer is the greek default has already happened the current restructuring of greek debt is a trial to find a way out of this default we're now more interested in what's happening in the south of us or to go to spain italy but were not present in these countries the countries where we are present we have clear macroeconomic picture and policy. the battle between the owners of the world's largest mobile right of import calm is over

highly moralistic, apocalyptic creed. that is entirely the point he was making.'t questioning the president's character or his faith at all. so i think it is a scandal we spent two or three days arguing over what is a phoney controversy and shame on robert gibbs and going back and getting full context of the remark before sneering rick santorum on national tv. julie: this is presidential campaign, anything goes. kirsten you know. you worked on campaigns in the past. religion is going to come up. whether or not he was was making a dig at president obama's religion or christianity. >> he wasn't. julie: whether or not he was at this point anything goes. is there anything wrong, kirsten with a presidential candidate expressing his opinions on his competitor's religious belief? >> yeah. there is is. leave it to columnist and pundits. i wouldn't do it if i was presidential candidate. i wouldn't advise any candidate if i worked in the past to do it. let's back up. i disagree with what rich is saying of he is attacking president's faith. i rick santorum understands what

not who is right and moralistic.the way, christians and my religion doesn't think of the devil as a metaphor. it's a real thing. i don't want anybody watching confused about what we believe. here is rush limbaugh weighing in. let's go back to the politics where we are strong. a warning santorum will need to have answers when he -- here is rushbo, defender of the right and the realm, saying he has to answer questions about what he's been saying, even four years ago. let's listen to limbaugh. >> it's part of a predictable attempt to impugn santorum as an absolute religious nut and wacko. but he did say these things. and he is going to have to have an answer for these things when queried. >> what do you think? >> i agree. >> so corn is right? >> no. the problem i have with corn is that corn is sitting in judgment of his faith values and saying that therefore i get to scrutinize and say whether it's right or wrong. >> are you doing that? >> i'm not saying right or wrong. >> you are. you are sitting in judgment of it. >>

but about a moralistic country. and that, right now, is what is on him. it's not about the economy. it's about a moral view of america and you just can't win that. no president in the history has ever been elected on that kind of a platform. >> i completely agree with you. santorum has this platform that deals with the economy and he has got some ideas that are kind of controversial, but they are interesting. they are about restoring the manufacturing base with tax preferences for manufacturing companies. there is a lively debate to be had about that we have heard him on the subject. but, in the meantime, of course, mitt romney is running, talking about the economy, constantly. now, a lot of that has been about his resume. you noticed recently what mitt romney has been doing, he has been beefing up his positions on othe economy. he has outlined a more aggressive tax cutting plan which has appeal to republic voters. mitt romney is a man who, as far as we know, he was very much to his own faith. he tithes a huge amount of money to his church. there is no indication that he is not a ma

flip-flop, but worse than that, it's a president who has to act as if he's smarter, better, more moralistic than all his opponents, everybody else, while his pattern of behavior is to have words that win, but his actions are just like everyone else's in washington. nothing reformist or change oriented about barack obama when you get to the heart of it. >> bill? >> it's hard to take seriously criticism of reform from an administration that really didn't do anything to reform washington at all. the president actually did take steps to really reform the way things are done, to reform the information that people had ability the administration, about the people who were coming to visit it, about keeping lobbyist influence out, and he's pushed campaign reform on this. since it was blocked by senate, by an obstinate senate republican, it wasn't able to make its way through. >> to ari's point, he did change his position on that when he realized he could make more money without it. >> the president has not changed his position. people who support reform haven't changed their position. they realize t

it's a president who has to act as if he's smarter, better, more moralistic than his opponents and everybody else while his pattern of behavior is to have words that are wind but his actions are just like everybody else's in washington. there's nothing reformist. nothing change orientated about barack obama when you get to the heart of it. >> bill? >> i mean, you know, it's hard to take seriously criticism of reform from an administration that really didn't do anything to reform washington at all. now the president actually did take steps to really reform the way things are done and reform the information that people had about the administration, about the people who were coming to visit it and about keeping lobbyists influence out and pushed campaign finance reform during the presidency, not just on the campaign trail but in the white house working with senate democrats and democrats in the house but since it was blocked by senate republicans, it wasn't able to make its way through. the president will continue to push for reform. >> he did change his position on that when he realized he cou

what is worse is he has to act as if he is smarter, better, more moralistic than his opponents and everybody else while his patten of behavior are to have words that wind but actions just like everybody else's in washington. nothing reformist or change oriented about barack obama when you get to the heart of it. >> you know, it is hard to take seriously criticism of reform from an administration that really didn't do anything to reform washington at all. the president did take steps to reform the way things are done. to reform the information that people had about the administration, about the people who were coming to visit it, about keeping lobbyist influence out and he pushed campaign finance reform during this presidency not just the campaign trail but from the white house working with senate democrats and democrats in the house but since it was blocked by an on stin innocent senate republicans wasn't able to make its way through. >> to his point he changed his position on that when he realized he could raise more money without it. >> the president has not changed his position. people wh

and moralistic. and the american people have shown time and time again that they're not too keen on angry, dark messages about the country and its future. they want someone conservative or liberal or progressive, however you want to describe yourself as a candidate, they want you to tell them how you're going to lead them to a brighter tomorrow. rick santorum, in the party of ronald reagan, is hardly the sunny, optimistic conservative that ronald reagan portrayed himself to be. and so i agree with you, if rick santorum were the nominee, it would be a clear distinction between himself and president obama in terms of message, in terms of philosophy, in terms of vision for the future of this country. >> let's listen to a santorum campaign robo call that's going out in michigan as we speak. >> -- can vote in the republican primary on tuesday. why is it so important? romney's supporting the bailouts for his wall street billionaire buddies but oppose the auto bailouts. that was a slap in the face to every

people are worried that, in fact, he'll be a moralistic guy, too much so and we had steve schmitt at the top of the hour saying it was damaging to the republican party. what do you think? is it damaging to the republican party? you have to look back to santorum's re-election race especially with women and that's a good question, and that's the reason a lot of republicans have senator santorum's lech ral appeal across the spectrum and certainly with independent women voters. i respect his position as a conservative leader and he's been consistent and strong on them, but if you look at the last week he's been all over the map on a lot of different statements. he's been one after the next after the next and he said some crazy stuff. >> he said some wacky things, but he's in the lead and it's bewildering. it is what it is. >> pick that up. pick that up, ed rogers. is that's very important. >> certainly santorum is each. >> we can't deny santorum is where he is and the republican party right now is a movement and not a well-organized party and the movement is angry. rick santorum has a fo

and i mean, these people call themselves moralists and call themselves christian? i mean this is amazing here. >> it's funny to use the word pro-life regarding something like this because cancer screenings save lives what happened they are venting planned parenthood from being able to do, so i think is there a little bit of hypocrisy apparent in that. >> joan, can these house republicans drag romney down? i mean, with romney going all the way over there now saying planned parenthood should be defunded, obviously lying in the far right, will they drag him down? >> well, they are dragging him all the way to the right and if he does get into the general election with president obama he is now saddled with really, really unpopular position, hes into claim on independents, they are turning against him. as you said, the more they see the less they like. they are certainly hurting him, every time he goes far right to get their support, he alienates more independents and even moderate republicans. >> bob, you have handled presidential campaigns and other campaigns. give us

he understands that distinction, but she has seen too much of politician's own moralistic thinking seepoverning when they get into office. >> in that particular instance, he was talking about how we're getting away from the family unit and we are seeing families that are single parent family. and while he respects and admiring single mothers, we're seeing a growing number of children having children and children having their children, more and more unwed people having children. but he also made the point when they were talking about contraception, he has his own personal belief on that. he personally does not believe, his faith does not have him support contraception. but he has also not stood in the way of women who make that option. and he also feels with the way that president obama is acting, we have the federal government stepping in on personal decisions and this has become an infringement on religious freedoms. and we can't have that. that's not the government's role to do that. but one thing that rick made abundantly clear is while he has personal opinions on many issues, it's n

what you get is a highly moralistic explanation. it's all about how the kids these days, they're not behaving properly. they have rejected our way of life. they don't seem to know how to grow up. >> reporter: no wonder there is is such falling birth rates. >> below replacement fertility. the same is true in spain and italy. so all the countries where you have accordian families are countries where the birth rates have fallen through the floor boards. >> reporter: i actually stayed with a accordian family on a reporting trip to spain in 2010. high youth unemployment meant that more than half of all 20- and 30-somethings we're back home, including the son of my friend journalist hoe hey martinez solare. daughter andrea visiting her folks with some friends explained. >> most of our friends live in their parents' houses because they can't pay rent. >> reporter: like your brother, living here. >> like my brother. >> like his brothers he has four brothers. three of them are still living with his parents which his oldest brother is 32. he'

the problem is that government, whoever has the reins of government uses it for moralistic purposes. they use it to further their sacred ends. and they use it to channel money and programs and largesse to their favorite groups. so people on the right don't trust government to do what's right with their tax dollars. and the left, again, needs to come up with a clear story about what is the proper role of government and what is not. and they need to regain the trust. >> but it means that we can never get together to try to resolve it when one party says 'we won't compromise' and the other party says 'you are evil.' >> that's right. that's right. so, we're in a lot of trouble. i don't see an easy way out here. there are some electoral reforms that would make things better. but the problem is that all electoral reforms will tend to favor one side over the other, which means it's very difficult to get them enacted. >> well, you're also asking the very people benefiting from the present status quo system to change what is to their benefit. >> that's right. >> to keep it going. >> that's ri