>> well, if you look around here, ron paul has all of the signage, and it looks like ron paul is going to be doing pretty well today. we're really looking at tim pawlenty and michelle bachmann and ron paul. those three are supposed to be finishing one, two, three. we don't know who is going to be winning yet, but there's a lot of expectation right now that ron paul might surprise and win, but tim pawlenty has been focused on the straw poll for months now and wants a big showing here. >> yeah. tim pawlenty, in particular, stopped doing that old minnesota nice theme that he has put forth during that debate. how do you think that's played out? has he put his focus on michelle bachmann? do the iowan voters, do they seem upset by that at all, or dough think, okay, is he making his points clear? >> it doesn't seem like anyone is upset by that really. i mean, at this point in the campaign they're going to be trading barbs and have to come out and debate, and so the idea that he is losing some of the minnesota nice, i mean, tim pawlenty has always been a nice guy. i don't think that's hurting

maybe ron paul should be. here's the next question -- is ron paul the only grown-up running for president on the republican side? go to cnn.com/cafferty file and post a dement on my blog and go to our facebook page. the media has to start listening and covering this guy a little bit more, wolf. he may be a player this time around. >> he already is a player. ron paul certainly has influenced the other republican candidates. four years ago as you correctly pointed out, he was saying the sam thing. now more republicans are beginning to say the things he's been saying for a while. >> you're going to get a ton of views on this question. stand by. the escalating deadly brutality that's exploding across syria and other parts of syria and north africa. the topic was front and center today. >> reporter: the latest syrian government sieges under way in a town where gunfire and shelling rings out across the city. several civilians are dead. in washington the question keeps growing -- why hasn't president barack obama dir

oh sure absolutely i mean and that's certainly what ron paul is and saying i will say that ron paul and ralph nader and then excuse and and bernie sanders and cindy sheehan have all worked together cindy sheehan and i was friends with angela in the antiwar dot com people here it is happening and it can happen and they come together around not just the atrocities of war and the human cost of it but also the economic cost of it i do want to say i want to come back to one point we were talking about earlier which is that how do you mobilize people well you can't go into the ghetto and to and sort of convince people that they should be forced against something i find that to be sort of paternalistic actually what is really to me the problem is obama because that is most americans are not political they're their version of politics of the way they interact with politics is really through the head of states they don't actually pay much attention to anything else there is a tremendous amount i would come back to this again of psychological identification with the president of the united states

what could she be doing ten years later in the company of ron bigler in the hours that led up to her disappearance. >> we were going to meet for the day in eagle together. we were going to have a picnic and hang out together all day. >> here's the story bigler told to police and us and it sounded, frankly, a little more romantic a tale than we expected to hear. >> we went to subway, brought it back. we were sitting outside down by the river. it was very familiar. i brought some pictures. we just sat there and relaxed and enjoyed the day and the weather. i mean it was a special wonderful day. but i can't see it that way at all now. >> if that sounds like a date, well actually in a way it was, said bigler. he, after the breakup of their marriage, stayed single. and when her second marriage collapsed, his chance it seemed perhaps had come again. >> it was very exciting. hard to figure out. >> that night after their romantic picnic -- >> she called me before i got home to see if i made it back in to denver and then we had a brief conversation, you know, not too brief but -- and -- i expe

had michele bachmann and rick santorum and ron paul, a dove. huge spectrum, rather disarray among the republicans, but it was striking that both pawlenty and romney were talking about getting out of afghanistan but at a slower pace than president obama. and so this is where you see the republicans beginning to side with the generals, take the military point of view, we need two years rather than one year. >> why did he seem like he was complaining about war fatigue and at the same time you say technically he wants a slower withdrawal. that seems dishonest. >> it is a bit, they want it both ways, seem to be catering to public mood. the fact that we may be in afghanistan longer than the soviet union was and maybe with the same outcome, yet doing it in a way that sides with what the generals recommended. >> let's talk about the division you mention a moment ago, which is when it comes to afghanistan, most americans say enough is enough, but this weird kind of christian rite, if you will, very much tied in with the israeli right is pushing for some

>> ron paul gets it right most of the time. so, i'm a big fan of ron paul. and i appreciate everything he does. and will continue to do for this nation. >> well, as far as his fema remarks. >> i guess we'll have to see where it goes. in large part, all of government is extremely wasteful. i think it's a pretty accurate statement. like all governments, fema is pretty wasteful. >> you perform at these tea party tours and to the delight of the crowd. and i just wondered, you're used to support at those tea party rallies. this tour is coming at a time when tea party support isn't so strong. only 31% have a favorable opinion of the tea party, according to the latest cnn/orc poll while 51% have unfavorable opinions of the tea party movement. are you bothered at all by these numbers? >> i think i am basically bothered by being racisting. >> i don't think that's what the poll is about. >> oh, yes, it is. >> no, it isn't. it really is. that may be part of it, but certainly not all of it. >> oh, no, no, no. no, no, no. we have so many people on the opposite side, desp

ron paul, is he whining to megan. we invited him on and he won't show up. >> he won't face you because he doesn't want to face questioning. >> bill: he wants to give a speech. >> is he fine when he gives a speech. when you probe him are you saying that iran will not develop the bomb and if they do they are not going to use it against israel? and if they do it's okay with you? then you say the gold standard? are you literally saying that the united states of america's economy should only be allowed to grow as much as gold can be extracted from the earth and if there is no gold discovered our economy has to stay small? you ask him about drug lords? are you seriously saying that we should not be fighting drugs in the united states but should legalize it all? >> bill: he would say yes to the legalization. >> he would say yes to all three of those. >> bill: i don't think he would say yes on the gold standard. that's impossible. >> no, no. he is for the gold standard. >> bill: it's not as clear cut as that he wants it to ba

ron, huang on a second. >> yes? >> i don't think people are rushing up to you on the streets of america saying legalize heroin. that's common sense, are they? >> no. and in fairness to me, i've never used the word "heroin" once in a campaign ever in 30 years. though somebody in the media says we're going to interpret what he said. this might mean he would allow the states to do such and such. all i'm saying is people want to have freedom of choice, just as you have freedom of choice in your first amendment rights, picking and choosing what you do and say on tv. i just think personal choices. i mean, i usually use the example of personal choices to say why is it that the federal government comes down with a s.w.a.t. team to arrest people who drink raw milk? you know, what has happened in this country? use the drug as an example because i know how people demagogue it. but it is true there was a time in our history a time ago there was no federal laws against marijuana in 1937 and before this. this is rather new. we ha

yes, ron paul is right. why are we fighting the wars and federal reserve that bails out the rich and dumps on the poor and why is it that deficits matter and politicians said they will nibble away the budget deficit that is 10 years out. it is not my philosophy. it is a constitution and private property rights and not dependency on the government. people are supposed to assume responsibility for themselves in a free society. >> chris: congressman i want to explore your goals in the campaign and read the latest issue of time magazine profile of you. as presidential contender paul is a extreme long shot. as prophet he is defining the gop race. paul is more interested in influence than political power. he doesn't have a great personal desire to be president said paul's campaign manager. my question is: are you in it to win it or shape the debate. >> guest: yes, i am in it to win it. i do say i am more interested in influence and power. i would reduce the power of government. i would never take the power from th

nbc's ron allen in new bedford, mass, tonight. ron, what's it like? >> reporter: well, brian, it's still a bit blustery up here. we're expecting wind gusts up to about 50 miles per hour into the evening. we've been monitoring this harbor all day. one of the safest on the east coast. those commercial fishing boats back there have been rock solid all day. but if you look over here, you can see a couple of sailboats tucked against that tug boat. they shouldn't be there. earlier today they were out in the harbor loose from their moorings, floating around, bobbing around. the coast guard, a number of other dockworkers had to go out there and rescue the boats, bring them in and tie them down. the last thing you want out in this harbor where these boats have come for safety are sailboats bouncing around like it's a pinball machine. some of the most interesting pictures, however, come from even farther north up in vermont. bratle borough, vermont. these scenes of a river running through the heart of downtown bratleborough, vermont. certainly not the kind of p

election he didn't say it would be treasonous to do it at all ever again that would be of more of a ron paul kind of idea rick perry said the measure shopping in on it right now the idea is that if you're going to free the outsider you're going to put more money before the next election as a way to hide back nomic damage that you've done to the country that's what rick perry really wasn't perry was taught well rick perry is on he's going to do even more than that so like he was asked by reporter they said they do you think that that would be done by the about in this ration just to beef up the economic numbers because some people would actually argue out there i disagree that he needs to help out the economy and he did in fact say a total loss and he said if they print more money to me now in this election i would suggest that's exactly what's going on and they're just trying to prove obama's chances so he just doesn't like the idea that obama might try to do something to help the economy in the meantime he wants the economy zigzag only he was the economy to crumble and be bad so he can

ron, last thought? >> by marrying his rhetoric to policies. fine to say we have to focus on job, fine to pivot to jobs as everybody was saying in the last week, what are you going to do about jobs? clear contrast. clear choice. if he doesn't make the choice in the contrast clear the republicans will do it for him, and they'll do it in a way that muddies the water. heed he's got to lay down his principles and marry them to policies. >> i say bring up a jobs program, make the republicans vote against it. i bet you that buckle this time. thank you, susan age and ron reagan. >>> up next, after the all the turmoil on wall street which continued today, is it time for panic? steve colbert is funny if you want comic relief from a difficult week on wall street which we've all had. you're watching "hardball" only on msnbc. oh, we call it the bundler. let's say you need home and auto insurance. you give us your information once, online... [ whirring and beeping ] [ ding! ] and we give you a discount on both. sort of like two in one. how did you guys thin

ron's at 16% in iowa. in new hampshire in the most recent poll 14%. we're seeing good growth in follows. straw polls are a reflection of your organization. we have unparalleled organization in this campaign. so we're going to continue to build the numbers and we're going to outorganize and outwork the campaigns. >> do you feel like he's being taken more seriously than he was in previous presidential campaigns? >> absolutely. he's being taken a lot more seriously by the people. they're waking up to the fact that our government's broke and we're solving oir problems or trying to solve our problems by throwing printing press money at them. people are seeing inflation and they're seeing a crumbling system. they're seeing that we're in real danger of losing our great american traditions and they want real change and real reform. dr. paul is the only one that's talking sense. >> he's talked far long time about the problem with the federal reserve. he doesn't think that there should be a federal income tax. if he were elected president, would he push to elim

what ron paul got cheers for this year beyond his dead kalted ron paul cheers session. he's connecting on the public debate is the part of his message that is to bring the troops home. bring the troops home, end the wars now, isolationism that's always part of his message. john huntsman who picked up a top pawlenty staffer from new hampshire is the only other candidate who is trying to tap into that well about the wars. who is trying to work public exhaustion with the wars and the desire to finally end them into his political message this year. who knows. maybe john huntsman will be out soon, too, leaving that side of the nomination fight to mitt romney. watch for bring the troops home to be the political wildcard for him. >>> best new thing in the world today is something i found out about on one of the websites that justifies the existence of the entire internet. boingboing.net. there's about 15 of the most interesting minutes online on any given day. boingboing posted this. about 1600 white supremacist skinheads turned out to rock out to bands like radical and burnin

ron paul as a one thousand mile wide hurricane ripped through the eastern seaboard of the united states leaving at least seven billion dollars of damage in its wake and killing more than twenty people congressman rahm ron paul figured it be a good time to bash fema the federal emergency management agency the guys who helped out when. hurricanes hit but it's a system of bureaucratic central economic planning which is of a will see that is deeply flawed anybody who wants to be fair in this department in this agency they have a tough argument to argue for brits like to hear that america under ron paul presidency whenever a natural disaster strikes you're on your own maybe it is a good thing that the media ignores ron paul every once in a while and now the very very very ugly republican porter says he will put puerto rican senator or endo. a senator who also serves as the vice chairman of president george w. bush's reelection campaign in puerto rico resigned the this weekend for you know the usual reasons posting new photos of himself on line. right here posted the lewd photos in an i phone

and ron reagan is a political commentator. i want the gut reaction of both of you guy. how does your gut feel after you saw the senate vote down with a three quarters vote today after this whole thing is over with my buddy who i've come to respect so much, david corn, your gut? what does it say about this deal? >> my gut wasn't happy. not because of all the particulars, but because i feel like president obama got pushed down to republican territory and was fighting a deficit fight on a republican -- on republican terms regarding the economic narrative of our country. that the issue is deficits, cut spending and that's what's wrong with the economy. i think ultimately the deal may not be as bad as a lot of democrats progressives will be and there are some things i think the white house won tactically but it reinforcing an overarching narrative not to the benefit of progress irans more importantly to the economy overall. that's why you saw today the president come out and try to pivot very quickly from this story, and i'm waiting to see if he can be successful in that piv

michael jackson. >> can do you that, ron? >> no way. >> there you go. navigating today's real estate market is complicated. you've seen the signs. that's why having the right real estate agent is more important than ever. at remax.com, you can find experts in short sales or bank-owned properties or commercial real estate, agents who can help speed up the process, no matter how intricate. and that's good news, whether you're trying to sell or hoping to buy. because the only sign you really want to see is "sold." nobody sells more real estate than re/max. visit remax.com today.

there is have a lid toy what ron paul is saying. there was a time, maybe question get back to some of that, where local communities helped themselves. people came together and they provided for their own welfare after devastations like this. now, again, times have changed. the scale is much larger. the costs are much greater. you still need that help, if you can get, from sources that may include the federal government. may include state government, but i think -- i see it much more holistically than relying solely on one or the other and i understand where ron paul is coming from, from a libertarian standpoint, today requires some different than the early 1900s. >> governor rendell, does he have a point, fema-like programs encourage people to build in areas of the country where, frankly, they shouldn't be doing so? >> that is correct. and programs should be, and some are. if you are in a flood lane and get hit the first time and get relief, if you build again in the flood lane you're not entitled to relief. weren't of the things th

back to what you said, ron a telling critique of the president now. i'm fond of him, i want him to success, but everybody sees they're transparent right now. too much talk, little action. too much academic behavior not enough good, old-fashioned democratic politics here. your dad, president reagan i used to say working on the opposition for tip o'neill, i always said every cab driver in washington, every cab driver, regular guy or woman knows where that guy stands. he wants to beat the communist, reduce the size of government by cutting taxes. they all got it. they didn't agree with it in a lot of cases but they got it. >> people come up to me now years later say, you know, i didn't agree with your father on much, but you know what? when he said something you knew he meant it. you knew where he stood. people don't vote for the most reasonable guy in the room. they vote for the guy they respect, or woman, they respect. and you earn respect by taking a stand. by making it clear what you're all about. and -- barack obama just needs to do a better job of

and ron paul all the rage and more buzz he will be sming when the straw polls come n ron paul coming up from iowa. he he run more smoothly by helping remove deposits and cleaning up intake valves. so when you fill up at an exxon or mobil station, you can rest assured we help your engine run more smoothly while leaving behind cleaner emissions. it's how we make gasoline work harder for you. exxon and mobil. ♪ [ country ] [ man ] ♪ gone, like my last paycheck ♪ gone, gone away ♪ gone, like my landlord's smile ♪ ♪ gone, gone away ♪ my baby's gone away with dedicated claims specialists... and around-the-clock service, travelers can help make things better quicker. will your auto and home insurer... be there when you need them most? for an agent or quote, call 800-my-coverage... or visit travelers.com. >> neil: fresh off the volatile week of stock market history. reports that insiders are starting to buy their own stock. but it is not a stampede especially among the ceo's. carly therena. by that math, carly, it is hard to get overexcited about this, rght. >> guest: there was

and i would say in rich's mix, i would call ron paul in that topfully. i mean he has a campaign here and a following that is intense and dedicated. and a campaign that's real. >> lehrer: and because of the numbers, rich, you would agree that ron paul could make a difference. >> and ron paul and his supporters have shown the ability and the path to really play and win these straw polls. there's an annual conservative gathering here called c pac where ron paul flaunts it plaquically every year now. and what he's done is take that operation and will try it out in iowa in a much more consequential setting. and ifback mann finishes first and second and paul finishes first and or second and knocks pawlenty down into third this may be the political act with the most practical consequence that we've ever seen from ron paul which is ending the tim pawlenty campaign. >> lehrer: let me go back to romney for a moment. you used the term, you used the word skate. he skated through. what do you mean. how does romney, what is romney doing that keeps himself as the front

ron, we appreciate it. thank you. >>> officials just issued a new weather warning along several rivers and creeks in new jersey this morning the coast guard rescued folks flooded out in patterson. the rescue boats were floating along a residential street. take a look at those pictures. meanwhile utility crews are scrambling to restore power to about 285,000 homes and businesses still without electricity in the aftermath of the storm. nbc's michelle franzen is live for us in manville. with all that water that the storm has left behind, how difficult has it been to get to the flood victims? >> reporter: it's been very difficult. i mean the floodwaters -- we're in the northern part of new jersey that's been dealing with this in the initial aftermath of irene. now we're hearing down the floodwaters have moved down to other communities they're having some of the same issues. the helicopters, the overhead view shows that they're either having to go in by boat, obviously and firefighters sometimes even have to sor

it is a good thing that the media ignores ron paul every once in a while and now the very very very ugly republican that he was the former rican senator of a virtual rainbow. the senator who also served as the vice chairman of president george w. bush's reelection campaign in puerto rico resigned the this weekend for you know the usual reasons posting nude photos of himself online. for you know posted lewd photos in an i phone app known as that caters to gay and bisexual men. but the real kicker is that are running as if here's anti-gay advocate spearheading efforts against gay marriage rights in san juan. of course he initially tried to defend the photos by claiming short term amnesia. or whatever you're the one you mean bill come on the phone to say when you're one hundred he's a little humble it's almost a little girl and they're going to go to him with a lot of a little accusing them of the most of the negative like what are the rules well he did take out and i'm not sure which is ugly or is anti-gay hypocrisy or the photo itself we call them both very very very very very ugly i

in new york they go like, ron paul, short stop are to the yankees. no one knows him. put on an album. >> i love him. >> did you see the protesters on the way in? >> do we have time for a video? >> how big is that? >> there is the third party. >> that could definitely be in the white house. >> i am done and go and enjoy your silly cat fetish when i am gone. >> what is the best way to turn the tables on an annoying fan? jedediah bila discusses her new book "take one step closer and i will stab you in the face." first, who did jim carrey declare his love for on-line? my money is on the chocolate rain guy. he is a hoot. >>> is this love inspired spiel the real deal or was the bloat making a joke? jim carrey posted a really, really, really creepy video on his website declaring his love for 22-year-old actress emma stone. the two-minute vid tore across the initer net, whatever that is, with many wondering when did jim carrey get so weird? roll tape, tape rollers. >> emma, i just wanted to let you know that i think you are all the way beautiful. not just pretty, but smart an

joining me is ron clark, founder of ron clark academy here in atlanta. ron was named disney's american teacher of the year in 2000. his nonprofit academy is visited by educators all over the world to learn how it to do things right. >> exactly. >> let's talk about why things are going so wrong and why teachers and administrators feel the pressure to change these test scores and basically cheat. >> sure. in our country we have a culture where we're really pushing test scores and telling teachers, teach to the test, get these kids to get high test scores. we've narrowed the curriculum. no longer do we have art and music and science and social studies are minimal. they're out of the classroom so we can focus teaching to a test. teachers are telling kids, pay attention. we're not creating lifelong learn hes, just for kids to test well. we're doing a big disservice to all of our student. >> tis the problem the national push for a national standardized test and removing the education frommed local systems? >> i don't think that's the problem, whether it's nati

we'll turn to ron claiborne. good morning do you, ron. >>> good morning, everyone. that breaking news is out of libya where moammar gadhafi more than 40-year grip on power appears to be slipping. rebels are reportedly advancing on the capital of tripoli from three directions and they y pear to have brought troops out of zawhia just 30 miles out of tripoli. >>> in syria, little evidence that the government is easing its crackdown on the five-month-old uprising in that country. despite a pledge for president bashar assad to stop the violence. forces stopped at least 20 anti-protesters on friday as thousands of people poured into the streets across that country. >>> and the death toll has climbed from last week's stage collapse at the indiana state fair. a 22-year-old college student has died. she's now the sixth person killed by that stage accident also on friday. there will likely be many lawsuits filed on behalf of the victims. >>> and arizona congresswoman gabby giffords now knows the full extent of the shooting. rampage that left her severely wounded. an aide says

ron kirk, ambassador. [applause] and now as we take our seats -- all of you are very special tonight. i do hope that you have a wonderful evening. but before we close the evening, we are honored to have a very special guest. would you please welcome to the stage mr. stevie wonder? [applause] [cheers] [applause] stevie, thank you so much for coming tonight. we appreciate you. >> it is truly an honor to be here at the beginning of this celebration of the memorial of dr. martin luther king jr. i want to personally and emotionally thank you, harry johnson, for making it possible for me to see the monument. he made it possible for me to go up and check it out and touch the face of dr. king. [applause] what i would like to do before i say any more is, through the wonder foundation commit to the foundation $10,000 per year that will allow as many people that are blind to go up in a cherry picker to see it. [applause] >> amazing. >> if that does not cover it, i guess i will have to sell some or records. [laughter]

>> ron paul has a lot of grassroots organization. but the pawlenty campaign has a lot going on behind the scenes. sarah huckabee sanders helped her dad win the caucuses last time around, is running their iowa operations. they feel they have organization unlike any other candidate to get people to vote, and show what they call forward progress. >> nbc's andrew rafferty in des moines. thank you. we'll check in with the bachmann campaign. jay any novogrod's report next hour. >>> up next, new reaction to the credit downgrading of the u.s. stocks were down in the middle east today. in the asian markets, opening later today. joining me from boston is economic reporter for slate, annie lowry. let's talk about what wall street will do monday morning. give me your prediction. >> reporter: right now futures are looking down. we'll have a better sense when tokyo opens tonight. futures are broadly down. that suggests that perhaps we'll see a continuation of the now two-week sell-off. >> okay. with further losses in the markets, does that force c

ron paul, it does seem like ron paul is garnering a lion's share of the attention when you put him head to head with mitt romney. is there any concerns about the attention. >> this goes back to to long haul strategy. the votes right now don't get you elected. you don't win in the ames straw poll. you don't win an election in august the year before, but you can lose one. they're not trying to get caught up in the day-to-day. >> maybe they should have told that to tim pawlenty. just throwing it out there. thank you. >>> it's a hurricane of a scandal for the university of miami. the school is losing some of its sports fans because off the accusations that some of its players and coaches took gifts and all kinds of perks from a wealthy booster. the football team continued to practice this morning waiting on word whether or not the ncaa will make them sit out the entire season. a former booster claims he spent millions providing money, cars and even prostitutes to hurricane players over the past decade. the team coach says his players are cooperating. >> i think if anything it's going to bri

listen to the reception that ron paul got a few years ago. here he is in 2007. >> if we understand that 70% or so of the people in america want the war over with and want our troops to come home. third, senator clinton -- [audience booing." >> i say stay out of their internal business, don't get involved in the wars, bring our troops home. [cheering]. >> you don't hear that in these speeches this month from michele bachmann and mitt romney. >> we can never commit our troops to harm's way without a clear and vital american interest. we use overwhelming force and then we get out. >> our troops shouldn't go off and try to fight a war of independence for another nation. only the afghanis can win afghanistan's independence for afghanistan chris: where is dick cheney's voice in all this? >> it's all gone. tim pawlenty is the only candidate trying to voice something like that. now you have, whether it's mitt romney, rick perry, michele bachmann, ron paul, all float to isolationism. they recognize that people are tired of the endless wars and it is a

ron paul wasn't getting enough attention from the media i mean he did come in second from the straw poll in ames and yet everybody kind of glossed over him was acting like mitt romney and michele bachmann and rick perry are the only ones worth talking about well maybe people will get talking after they look at this new ad is. it's the story of a lost city lost opportunity. still the stories of the city's seal. the story you're smiling too she. says she said. to be sure. to. see. spoke. to the. principal. there's still. a pretty. good. restore america now. i'm going to go out on a limb and say that's probably the most epic campaign ad i've ever seen about you guys. announcement but it was actually pretty epic i would say yes and this is the morning i could never get out well i mean this one really kind of addresses the issues head on i mean. you also did you know actually you know i read the script of it and i thought oh that's a little bit over the top you know this is this is still over the top but it's a pretty good music to bring these i mean you know i mean like this is clearly

i suppose you're making a play by not always you can accuse me by saying that like ron paul he has the most hardcore supporters right that's something that has been acknowledged by everyone out there as they are dedicated they're hard core as they are falling to the edge you're calling you are calling not to make some good points in there in this ad about the fact that he has stood by his word which is what makes him such an interesting politician such an interesting candidate candidate is that he hasn't changed his stance five million times and flip flop by million times like every other politician out there over the last thirty years the one that can bring peace i'm sorry right we all hope for world peace to say you're the only one that can bring it about us it's a little much but what i'm. saying learned not to. accept campaign promise now we've learned now i know i know but we'll get out of what you know clinton could have got the same treatment he was he was a sensation when he was first running and then we all realize just how he was and i think that we're all realizing this abou

last night it wasn't rudy giuliani, it was ron paul you have respect among the republicans. michele bachmann and rick santorum who were pretty hawkish and ron paul who was pretty much a dove. there is rather disarray among the republicans. it was rather striking that both pawlenty and romney were talking about getting out of afghanistan, but at a slower pace than president obama. and so this is where you see the republicans beginning to side with the generals, take the military point of view. we need two years rather than one year. >> why did he seem like he was complaining about war fatigue and at the same time you say, technically, he wants a slower withdraw. that seems dishonest. >> i think it is a little bit. they want to both ways. they seem to be catering to public mood and weariness after ten years in afghanistan. the fact that we may be in afghanistan longer than the soviet union was and maybe with the same outcome and yet doing it with a way with what the generals recommended. >> let's talk about the division you mentioned a moment ago, which is, afghanistan most am

ron? >> things are going to get windy. >>> for more on the gop and whether they played politics with the storm, bring in the governor of maryland and chairman of the democratic governors' association and ed rendell, former governor of pennsylvania and now an msnbc political analyst. we reached out to over a dozen coastal republicans today, by the way, governor, senators, congressmen. governor chris christie's office told us they've asked for federal funds in the past and will do so again. the others either haven't gotten back to us or said its too early to say. welcome, governors. governor o'malley, if the worst should happen in maryland, and things get pretty bad there, and there's a disaster that strikes, would you be willing to take federal disaster relief? >> absolutely. there are only some things we can do effectively when we did them together. one of those is protecting lives and property from monster hurricanes like this one. hurricane irene that's bearing down on us, and you know,

ron? >> okay. thanks very much, martha, on that downing of the nato helicopter. 38 people onboard killed. >>> the nation's credit rating has been lowered for the first time. standard & poor's, one of the three major credit rating agencies, saying the u.s. debt is no longer one of the safest investments in the world. the downgrade likely means higher rates for mortgages and other borrowing. >>> more evidence of the mounting problem for the u.s. postal service. the post office lost $3.1 billion from april through june. and could start defaulting on some payments in september. postmaster general says the decline in first class mail is happening faster than expecteded >>> another sign of the times. the popularity of netflix. americans spent more money renting movies than buying them from april through june. first time that's happened in a decade. >>> and the nfl welcomes seven new members to its hall of fame. deion sanders, one o othe most entertaining players in the game. also played for the new york

let's go, ron paul. host: ron block -- mike glover, ron paul, chances in iowa? guest: he is much stronger than the previous times. i guess you could call him sort of a naysayer to what is going on in politics right now. that seems to be selling pretty well among tea party folks and those kinds of folks. he is running third last i checked, which is much better than he has done before. he is a serious candidate and will run pretty well. he have something that is very important in iowa which has caucuses that require a level of commitment, he has very, very loyal, committed supporters. he might not have as many as someone else, but the supporters he has are very committed, in twos, and committed to showing up next winter. host: this is from james. host: if you look to paul will -- if you look at "the " this morning --his mornin his schedule to spend two days campaigning in iowa and will hold fund-raisers. host: he has amassed an monetary advantage and kept his lead, but the potential competition from the governor of texas are likely to change the contours of the ra

what ron paul got cheers for this year beyond his dead kalted ron paul cheers session. he's connecting on the public debate is the part of his message that is to bring the troops home. bring the troops home, end the wars now, isolationism that's always part of his message. john huntsman who picked up a top pawlenty staffer from new hampshire is the only other candidate who is trying to tap into that well about the wars. who is trying to work public exhaustion with the wars and the desire to finally end them into his political message this year. who knows. maybe john huntsman will be out soon, too, leaving that side of the nomination fight to mitt romney. watch for bring the troops home to be the political wildcard for him. announcer ] anan anthis...is the netwo. a living, breathing intelligence that's helping drive the future of business. in here, inventory can be taught to learn. ♪ machines have a voice. ♪ medical history follows you. it's the at&t network -- a network of possibilities... committed to delivering the most advanced mobile broadband experience to help

the media is pretending like ron paul doesn't exist. i'll tell you who is not pretending that, the republican party. he has moved the ideological spectrum of the republican party more toward the libertarian bend, more toward a focus on constitutionalism. the justification in the media is he just can't win the presiden presidency, he doesn't have a chance. that's a little bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy, don't you think? >> robert? >> you know, keira, i often think it's a cop-out when candidates try to blame the media for their failure to gain traction. but when you think about it, for this moment, ron paul certainly is no less crazy than donald trump or michele bachmann with his positions and they certainly are getting a lot of options and airtime. so i can appreciate his frustration, but he should also understand being quotable is not the same as being credible. he is not going to be president, nor will these other characters. >> sam? >> you know, i think ron paul has a legitimate beef. tim pawlenty got a lot of media attention, and

. >> speaking of the word overshadow, what about ron paul? he's a guy whose got a well organized and productive campaign in iowa. there are some who could suggest he could win this thing. if he does, what does that say about iowa straw poll and the relevancy here? >> the straw poll really -- there's been a lot of debate about whether it matters or not. it really is a test of organizational strength and ron paul has been down this road before. he's got a lot of money. he has a lot of activity and grassroots going on there. but the fact is, you know, you have to look sort of beyond that. four years ago mike huckabee did not win the straw poll but he still sort of established himself as an alternative to romney and then went on to win the caucuses. so it will be more of a fact that people are getting their first upclose look at these candidates and a sign for what's to come in the coming months. >> i'm curious about the surviveability of tim pawlenty and michele bachmann. targeting each other as if one is trying to get the other out of the race.