both are from minnesota. >> ifill: i want to start by asking you-- i want to ask you, vin weber, there been so little conversation in this campaign about forbe policy. how can that be? >> because the economy is so bad. this is the worst recovery fromma i recession that we've may be i've head in american history. we have almost 40% of the unemployed that have been unemployed for over two years, the long-term unemployment problem is enormous. it's taking a human toll beyond the economic toll. and it's hard for people to fox on things beyond our shores when the economy is so bad here and they're worried about jobs and income and home values and how to pay for their kids' college tuition, but it doesn't mean the world has stopped and we do have to pay some attention to it. >> ifill: let me ask you, senator, a specific question about mitt romney's foreignless and that's on syria. what would he do with bashar al-assad that this administration is not doing? >> had he been in office a year and a half ago, his secretary of state would not have called assad a reformer. figure out who is the mode

both are from minnesota. >> ifill: i want to start by asking you-- i want to ask you, vin weber, there been so little conversation in this campaign about forbe policy. how can that be? >> because the economy is so bad. this is the worst recovery fromma i recession that we've may be i've head in american history. we have almost 40% of the unemployed that have been unemployed for over two years, the long-term unemployment problem is enormous. it's taking a human toll beyond the economic toll. and it's hard for people to fox on things beyond our shores when the economy is so bad here and they're worried about jobs and income and home values and how to pay for their kids' college tuition, but it doesn't mean the world has stopped and we do have to pay some attention to it. >> ifill: let me ask you, senator, a specific question about mitt romney's foreignless and that's on syria. what would he do with bashar al-assad that this administration is not doing? >> had he been in office a year and a half ago, his secretary of state would not have called assad a reformer. figure out who is the mode

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we had vin weber and norm coleman here earlier, foreign policy advisors to the romney campaign and we asked why there wasn't more conversation about foreign policy and they said, oh, well, we have to talk about the economy. this is what the foreign policy adviser said. you would think they would say well, we have something to say. >> national security has always been historically a great republican advantage. it is not now. i mean, barack obama gets the highest marks of any-- 54% approve of his handling of our foreign policy. so that's basically off the table. and, plus, you have in mitt romney and paul ryan, two men with basically no foreign policy national defense credentials. so talking about it is not their strong suit. >> i think that's good news. we have a foreign policy bipartisan consensus almost in this country. there are differences here and there. but you take the last five years of the bush administration and the three and a half years of the obama administration, you can hardly tell the difference. we have a pretty good consensus on how we want to do things, mostly becaus

at the time, people like vin weber and peggy nunen said this will all die down and people will forget. and particularly, if rick santorum, the hardest line guy on these issues in the premaries is gone, everyone will forget, but it keeps popping up because this is actually the policy of the party. now they're hopeb akin will go away just as they hoped limbaugh would lower his slut language and the rest of this, but this is the party. if mcdonnell tries to fool with the hard line language, it will put it more in the spotlight because the real base of the party that supports people like akin will complain and scream and yell about it. >> and fight it. how we got here is interesting and where we're going is interesting. ha we got here i think is the party falling apart and the conservative movement, which has always bolstered the republican party, has stepped in. they don't have any gsker whatsoever when it comes to radical antiabortion politics. there's nobody in the conservative movement saying don't push on the rape and incest exemptions. that's going to weird out republican voters and