went through newt gingrich with a fine tooth comb they didn't find anything let's remember newt gingrich balanced the budget under bill clinton who wanted to spend about as badly as barack obama wanted to spend they reformed welfare. he's got a whole bunch of good credits and the myth that newt gingrich shut the government down no sorry about that it was bill clinton that shut the government down we're going back to the same battleaxe remember when it happened steve do you want to get in there because there's also the freddie mac. money that gingrich got one point six million dollars i mean again all the way up to the he did he only made it to it when he was confronted with it i mean again he's the consummate insider how can this be something new how can he spend himself in something new. well you know the judge has got a difficult job there and i don't envy you i mean there's gingrich always has an excuse for something he did you know he didn't do anything wrong you know they dismissed eighty four out of eighty five charges well you know judson's an attorney he knows better than that yo

no, not newt gingrich. we've got elizabeth warren. >> let's go to newt versus romney. >> yeah. >> romney unloaded today. >> mitt romney has no time to lose. they are turning the fire hose on newt. >> in florida, gingrich also beat romney by 23 points. >> a lot of the tea party people are for mitt romney. >> gingrich has made the calculations so far that romney is still having a difficult time with tea party supporters. >> newt gingrich over obama in ohio in a head to head match up, 43-42. that is a heart attack. >> that is mind bending. >> conservatives like mitt romney. >> gingrich on top in iowa with 33% support among likely caucus goers. >> gingrich is not the only front-runner, he's eroded romney's electability. >> this is clearly a statement from the american people and has less to do with newt gingrich than it does with the state of american politics. >> newt gingrich has an argument against obama that is entirely based on hatred. >> i have one opponent, barack obama, and that's how my campaign is goi

nailing newt. newt gingrich is finding out what it means to be the front-runner. he's under siege. romney is for changing positions and religions. now, a pastor is calling newt the kim kardashian of the gop and attacking his serial marriages and conversion to catholicism. they are going ballistic. republican voters are falling for newt. he can counter punch. the supporters are betting he can survive the onslaught. are they right? there aren't many house republicans that endorse newt gingrich. we'll talk about his chances of winning iowa. jack kingston joins us tonight. jumping trump. huntsman, paul, romney, perry and bachmann all passed. only gingrich and santorum are in. did they lose a ring master? the defense against republican charges proves if you underestimate this president, do so at your peril. let me finish with a line that may be a guide to gingrich. we start with newt gingrich under siege. can he be stopped? chuck todd and john harris. we have the heavy hitters. her's the question. nationwide, gingrich is at 36, way ahead of where romney has been nationally. romney below

newt gingrich. part of the reason for his success has frankly been the terrible performance by some of the other candidates. candidates like rick perry. >> i would do away with the education, the, um the -- >> commerce. >> commerce. and let's see. i can't. the third one, i can't. i'm sorry. oops. >> poor old mr. perry. but the main reason for why newt gingrich seems to flourish is because he is never lost for words. gingrich has a quick answer for almost anything. but if you go back over what he actually says, it's usually a lump of ill-informed garbage wrapped up in the superficial ribbon of words like "fundamental," "basic," and his all-time favorite, "literally." for example, take a look at what he said yesterday when he was invited to discuss brain science, but quickly moved from neuroscience to offering his thoughts on the subject of obesity. and as you listen, listen for the overwhelming authority with the way he delivers his lines. >> i actually don't think obesity is a problem of money, obes

newt is on as one of their advisors. >> right, and newt didn't disappear. let me recall one other person from history that was sort of interesting in his relationship with television and that's ronald reagan. ronald reagan, a salesman for general electric, who then took his story on the road politically. they already knew him from television. they liked him. he had been in their living room. forget the movie stuff. he had been in their living room and then took it on the road. chris: this voice we're getting on television of anger, i just wondered. nixon seems to come to mind when i think about gingrich. he's not actually a conservative. he's like knicks op, an opportunist -- nixon, an opportunist. he's fundamentally p app pall. >> but he's also a professor. what newt has enjoyed is the ideas part of politics, thinking up crazy ideas, bouncing them off reporters. most of us have talked about ideas with him. i think he's now moving harder right in this more congenial, maybe television-shaped package. but his ideas are moving right to me. his ideas on foreign

newt would undercut people around him. newt was not reliable. newt couldn't get things done. but, you know, the other point i would make is, though, that people are in such a foul mood about the congress and about washington and about the insiders that the republican establishment better be careful. and david made this point also. that if it looks like newt is the only alternative to business as usual, newt could still win. >> that's how he won the first time. >> exactly. exactly. >> people like lynn martin, moderate republicans from illinois said, rather than lose again, we'll go with him. i want you to comment on this. this is really pitchfork fighting. here's ron paul going after gingrich getting all those deferments from the military back in the '60s. now, when you go after people's military deferments, this is in the gut. let's listen to this. >> he's probably as aggressive with the military as anybody. he support always the wars in the middle east, a thousand times more than i would. but, you know, when -- in the 1960s, when i was drafted, you know, into the military, h

why not take on newt? i think it does have something to do with newt's vuler inabilities and there is that element of personal and we talked about he not only goes against what -- he not only promotes you but goes against you, i was think being how he framed his disagreement with the ryan budget. he called it social engineering. he gets to viscerally personal. that's what's concerning us all. not only as a candidate but as a president. >> so rick perry yesterday does the marriage hit. >> yeah. >> very directly. and then is now doing some paid advertising. look, he's all in. he's got the money, nothing to lose. >> yeah. >> and it is showing some progre progress. if you're romney you do want perry to get these numbers. >> yeah. we'll have to see if this works for him. he's still the post oops hangover. this is the era he's living in. >> actually think he's done a pretty good job since the oops. >> i think he has done a pretty good job but i think it still lingers in a lot of these voters' minds. they want so

another has newt trouncing willard in iowa by nine points. newt is the frontrunner. and like all the frontrunners before him, he paid a visit to the king-maker today. right here in new york city, today, the latest candidate to praise the birther king, donald trump, as a true american icon. >> this is a country which elected a peanut faermer to the presidency, an actor who made two movies with a chimpanzee to the presidency. donald trump is a great showman and also a great businessman. >> trump is back in the spotlight moderating a gop debate this morning. but has created a serious family feud within the party. >> what the heck are the republican candidates doing showing up at a debate with a guy who says, i may run for president next year as an din. the chairman ought to say, we strongly discourage any candidate to be involved in a debate like that. >> karl rove gave us george bush and george bush crashed and burned. the republicans, they have to get rid of the karl roves and they need fresh blood because karl rove is going to lead them into doom. >> just one more dr

that's why people who don't know newt, conservatives who don't know newt like newt. >> well, maybe that explains some of the polls we're seeing. the gingrich campaign is ramping up its efforts right now in iowa as new polling there shows the former house speaker with a sizable lead in the early caucus state with less than a month to go if you can believe it before voting there. >> holy cow. >> can you believe it? it's common. >> are you serious? >> we're going to be there. abc news and "the washington post" poll shows gingrich with 33% support of likely republican caucus goers. that's 15 points ahead of mitt romney and ron paul who were tied for second. >> my gosh. >> the obama re-election team -- >> let's just soak these numbers in. by the way, we're talking the michele bachmann later. harold ford, 33%. timing is everything. >> meteoric rise here at the end. i think you all have touched on these points. you've touched on these points over the last few days and your op-ed does as well. he has -- he's been around so long that a lot of the negatives on him are out there. the narrative is

newt's down at fifth. but also as his popularity starts to go up, i think he should be prepare for a firestorm of late-nights when the jokes are all on newt. but just over 19% right now late-night mentions go to mittster, romney. that's tonight's big number. and i bet it changes very soon. >>> up next, why do so many republicans who came to power under newt gingrich in '94 have a problem with him now? why is newt disliked by so many of his former colleagues? that's ahead. you're watching "hardball," only on msnbc. >>> welcome back to "hardball." newt gingrich is basking in his recent surge as the front-runner status, but if you ask the people who know and have worked with him in congress, the former speaker of the house is far from a favorite to win the nomination. the man who masterminded the historic republican revolution back in 1999, 1994, rather, picking up 54 seats in the house of representatives, led the republicans in an erratic and often undisciplined fashion, according to congressional republican

this was newt gingrich. he had this to say about the president in an interview with "national review" laugh year. when is obama is so outside our comprehension that only if you understand kenyan, anti-colonial behavior can you begin to piece together his actions. that is the most accurate predictive model for his behavior. this is a person who is fundamentally out of touch with how the world works works happened to have played a wonderful con, as a result of which he is now president. now, the president as we know, whatever we think of his politics, left, right or center, was not raised by his kenyan father. he never met him until he was an adult. what is this anti-colonial kenyan behavior that he ascribes to our president? >> i think what he's referring to is the fact that the president has been very much a president that has moved around the world apologizing for the united states. >> yeah. >> and he -- he believes at the bottom of that that we have acted too much like the british empire and that we ought

versus anti-newt. that he's the true conservative that he, newt, led the effort in congress to defeat communism. how could we have forgotten that one? and then the dow's nearly 500-point yesterday raises this question. if the economy does pick up, is mitt romney really the best candidate for the republicans? a better economy neutralizes the one advantage romney has over the rest of the field. you know, if the car's running, who needs some guy tinkering under the hood? we're going to ask the "hardball" strategist about that. what happens when the old playbook gets thrown out the window. and herman cain won't make a decision about his stumbling campaign, he says, until he sits down face-to-face with his wife and as someone said today, when you have to have a meeting with your wife, you're already in trouble. >>> and the man who shot president reagan wants more freedom, can you believe it? but when the secret service found him, john hinckley, browsing books about presidential assassinations, is freedom re

could be newt. so let's, you know, make sure -- >> i'm one of those who believes the president pays strict attention to everything we do maybe not verbatim from this kind of program, but he knows what's going on politically. here's "60 minutes," steve kroft asking the president what he accomplished his first term. let's watch the president's very important answer here. >> not only saving this country from a great depression, not only saving the auto industry, but putting in place a system in which we're going to start lowering health care costs and you're never going to go bankrupt because you get sick or somebody in your family gets sick. making sure that we have reformed the financial system so we never again have taxpayer funded bailouts and the system is more stable and secure. ending "don't ask, don't tell," decimating al qaeda, including bin laden being taken off the field. >> compelling argument for re-election yet, or not? >> i think -- obviously, i think it is. but, you know, i don't know h

in newt gingrich's case, for 20 years. in mitt romney's case, he's the only governor in the united states' history to put into place "socialized" medicine. they both agree with barack obama. this is the seminal piece of legislation of barack obama. it's the one issue that our candidate has to take president obama on with, and they won't be able to debate him on this issue because they're on the same side as the president. but also newt romney are on the same side of the president when it comes to cap-and-trade, the $700 billion bailout, illegal immigration, even the payroll tax this week, which there isn't one shred of evidence that that has created a single job. when you take a look, and people say this is a two-man race, i would agree. but the one man is newt romney and the other man is michele bachmann, the only proven consistent constitutional conservative. i'm the only one that can take the debate to barack obama and win and be elected. >> schieffer: i'm going to separate newt romney into two people again just to ask

we start with newt's surge nationwide. republican strategist steve schmidt worked on the bush-cheney 2004 campaign and ran the 2008 mccain campaign. steve is also an msnbc analyst. dana milbank is a politico columnist for the "washington post." gentlemen, i want you to consider this. let's start with the news breaking this afternoon. late this afternoon. on fox news, mitt romney said he would not be attending donald trump's circus debate later this month. let's listen to mitt. >> no, i'm not participating in that. we have two debates in december that i've agreed to participate in. the rest of the month is going to be spent campaigning, doing the political work you've got to do to get the support of people in iowa and new hampshire, south carolina, florida. so we'll be hitting the trail. i spoke with donald trump earlier today, indicated that we just can't make this debate. >> and what did he say? >> he understood my perspective and wished me well. >> well, there you go. let me go to steve schmidt for this active at least c

at newt romney, if you look at newt romney. >> if you look at newt romney. newt romney. if you look at newt romney. michele bachmann is the proven conservative. >> a lot out there. >> this newt gingrich thing, we have to get that out up. newt and romney thing, sorry. >> let's get right to it with our panel on this monday. joining me in the studio msnbc contributor and democratic strategist crystal ball. and with us from washington, msnbc contributor jonathon capehart, opinion writer for "the washington post." crystal, if i can start with you, with just -- you know, as you know, very few short weeks away from what will happen in iowa, michele bachmann, of course, won the iowa ames straw poll. rick perry's thrown huge sums of money into that. and yet, according to the polls, nights rer doing particularly well. is it too little too late for them now n. >> i think it is. things have been set there. this debate this past weekend, i think, was a really critical moment. and i really don't see any stopping newt gingrich. i mean, rick perry, as you pointeded out, has

newt's the wizard of oz. you think newt -- there's nothing there. i think he's ginned up this whole big thing. >> pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. anyway, now him. but to be fair to the wizard of oz, all those characters did have something redeeming in them, the movie characters. >>> up and next, newt gingrich's rising at just the time. he's leading in iowa and closing the gap in new hampshire. can newt keep up with mitt romney and take it all the way to the convention? i'm a big hunter. oh, what do you hunt? deer. fish. fantastic. ♪ this holiday, chevy's giving more. now qualified buyers can get 0% apr for 72 months on a 2011 chevy silverado. or 0% apr financing for 60 months plus no monthly payments until spring. ♪ really? 25 grams of protein. what do we have? all four of us, together? 24. he's low fat, too, and has 5 grams of sugars. i'll believe it when i--- [ both ] oooooh... what's shakin'? [ female announcer ] as you get older, protein is an important part of staying active and strong. new ensure high protein... fifty perce

that describes newt's current incarnation. especially since i remember newt from the 90s. i would describe romney as a wet noodle or a jelly fish. he wimped out. i wasn't going to vote for obama again but the republicans are leaving me no other choice except to stay home on election day. >>> gingrich speaks as if he is a relative and not responsible for your behavior. romney acts as if he's aware he is responsible for you but doesn't want to have anything to do with you. looks like uncle newt is solidifying his base. >> sounds like your average christian family. with lying, cheating grandfathers and absentee fathers and loony second cousins. >>> in many cases he was the boss who fired him. it doesn't matter what republicans think, the margin of victory will come from marginal voters. paul reminds them of his crazy grandfather. and dee writes i can see their point. you ask yourself who is this guy. he reminds yourself of someone in the family we haven't seen or heard from in years. newt appears at christmas time, tells stories, throws in history lessons and returns to his w

>> dana: the newt versus romney thing, newt understandsgoning more than romney. governor of a state and speaker of the house. it's not -- coming up next one doesn't crash the other one in that. newt has to deal with the negatives coming his way. that is a sure. romney seems cleaner, squeakier cleaner guy. and another point is barack obama, his favorable, people like him. they talk about this all the time. they may not like his policy but there is a distinction whether people like him or a good family man. how he is with kids. he is turning up at 65% of what people think about him. >> bob: job aproven numbers going up and up. >> eric: whose? >> bob: obama. >> eric: carter was at 51% -- >> bob: i worked for him. >> eric: it was 51%. >> dana: stick to this race. >> eric: mitt romney, marco rubio or newt gingrich-paul ryan type of ticket, either one of those would beat obama. >> eric: that is a 40-state loss. >> dana: we talked about iowa. >> eric: you would know about that. >> dana: ohhh! >> kimberly: below the belt. >> dana: hold on. i'll let you fight it out in th

finally there's newt gingrich. newt gingrich started off as the grumpy profiteering also ran d.c. scam artist guy with all the offices on k. street. as a late surging front-runner now, mr. gingrich plays a useful role in the race. not just for republican voters making a decision on who to vote for for president, but the whole country trying to understand republican politics by watching the republican presidential race. newt gingrich i think is the jonathan swift character in the race. he's the eat the poor candidate. it was 1729 when irish satirist jonathan swift wrote a satirical essay called "a modest proposal." about how the wealthy should deal with the way too many poor people among them. "i think it's agreed by all party this prodigious number of children in the arms, on the backs or at the heels of their mothers and frequently of their fathers, is in the kingdom of very great additional grievance. whoever could make a fair, cheap and easy method of making the children sound and useful members of the common wealth would deserve so well of the public to have his statue set up

zooming way ahead. >> newt gingrich, people have been focused on newt inc. lately, the stuff he built in this town after he left congress to make a lot of money. newt inc. before that, go pac and his other organizations, he's done this for a long time. he knows how to build coalitions around his personality and ideas. as a chairman said, people may not care about some of these positions. and remember, he has some weird liberal stuff that he said and done, he's running against a guy who passed an individual mandate. >> well, well, even though newt gingrich in 2003 -- from 1993 to 2008 was a champion of individual mandate. that is the great irony of newt gingrich. >> that's -- >> when he wanted a federal one. >> newt wanted a federal individual mandate. like i said before, he bragged about being a rockefeller republican, he trashed paul ryan, and again, i can -- i can talk for the next 30 minutes about all of the moderate to liberal positions newt took while he was speaker of the house and how he trashed conservatives like myself to try to roll over us. it rea

newt is the wizard of oz. >> let me ask you. >> newt is the one -- >> go ahead. >> newt, there's nothing there. when people focus on him as opposed to him being the not romney, this is a man who served as speaker, he was twice reprimanded by the house. by the way, i was reprimanded by the house. one of the reasons i wouldn't run to president. there's this problem with marriages. and criticizing chris dodd and me over freddie mac. we were in the minority. he was taking money from them to make sure nothing happened. i think he's an obvious weak candidate. >> but let me ask about the democratic campaign message. and the election message. you also said that the problem in politics is this, you don't get any credit for disaster averted. going to the voters, saying, things really suck if it wasn't for me, it would suck worse. that's not a platform on which anyone has gotten elected in the history of the world. so how do you think the obama campaign is going to get re-elected? >> well, that's true. that's our dilemma. we inherited this terrible economy, president obama did. clearly, the actions

i toured with newt and i'm worried. the reason i think obama's better is i would rather have a president that sent me into the inner city that one that may send me to outer space. thanks for watching. i'm al sharpton. "hardball" starts right now. >>> the empire strikes back. let's play "hardball." >>> good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. leading off tonight, mitt hits the panic button. when a candidate refers to his opponent as zany you know he's in trouble and that's just what mitt romney did today, telling the "new york times" zany is fine for a campaign but not for a president. are you listening, newt? he's talking about you. mitt is also calling in christine o'donnell, remember her, the senate candidate who famously denied being a witch? is he bringing her in because he believes that denial or because at this point his campaign needs a little dark magic? plus, do republican primary voters hate president obama so much that they are willing to lose a general election just to see newt take obama on in the de

for newt, that will hurt. otherwise a lot of this hoopla starts to die down because it looks like mitt romney will win new hampshire, should win new hampshire and if it's ron paul or rick santorum or someone else winning in iowa, suddenly newt gingrich doesn't look like the front-runner he does today. the question is, did he peek too early? no you have mitt romney taking a very passive approach to being hyper aggressive, doing interviews and going after kark flaws and it seems to be working. there's some evidence that newt gingrich's numbers are starting to go down and the numbers are soft. he definitely it appears to be working and romney had to do that because romney's numbers in his own right are pretty soft. >> well, it's 19 days from now, we have 'debate tonight and it will be interesting to see whether mitt romney is as tough in this debate as recent interviews, he's taking gingrich seriously. >> there's no doubt. i bet you tonight he does go after him to draw the sharp contrast. romney clearly made the

he's comfortable with newt gingrich as nominee. >> i like newt gingrich. i will work my heart out if newt gingrich is our nominee to elect him president of the united states. at the end of the day as a republican primary voter, i want to nominate the most conservative guy who can win and poll after poll shows that newt gingrich has a favorability rating below 30% among general americans. how do you win a general election fight if americans don't like you. the strongest candidate who can win and do the job is mitt romney. >> i think you most articulated well. we may see it tonight. congressman kingston, congressman shock, thank you both. >>> why super tuesday is about to get more super and tough times in america. new census numbers show how many of us are scraping by with less these days. tom brokaw will be here taking a hard, long look at the state of this country traveling around it the last couple years. first today's trivia question. it's a good one. congressman kingston not allowed to participate. newt gingrich's congressional opponent in 1994 was once

it's actually newt versus newt. and in this case, there will only ever be one winner, and it won't be newt gingrich. thank you very much, indeed, for watching. dylan ratigan's here to take us forward.

it may turn out to be newt and not newt. >> michael, gingrich surged in the past month. according to the new nbc news marist poll, why doesn't this perceived arrogance seem to be a liability for gingrich as it may have been for a candidate like cain? >> i think it will become a liability for gingrich. if he remains the front-runner and if he become the nominee. the clips you just played, he's going to say 200, 300, a thousand more things like that. it's just going to weigh him down. it's going to become too much for people. but i will give gingrich this. even though some of his ideas are really nutty and really out there, he at out there, he at least does have some policy depth. unlike herman cain. that is the key difference between those two. you have to have an incredible self-of sense, an unbelievable degree of self-confidence to put it mildly to run for president. you should also have some sense of the country and why your skills, your attributes match what the country needs right now. that's a successful presidential candidate. if you just have the first thing, the

newt's down at fifth. but also in popular starts, i think he should be prepare for a firestorm of late-nights when the jokes are all on newt. but just over 19% right now late-night mentions go to mittster, romney. that's tonight's big number. and i bet it changes very soon. >>> up next, why do so many republicans who came to power under newt gingrich in '94 have a problem with him now? why is newt disliked by so many of his former colleagues? that's ahead. you're watching "hardball," only on msnbc. ♪ it' s nice to be here ♪ ♪ it's nice to see you in my bed ♪ ♪ ♪ there are diamonds in her eyes ♪ ♪ and they sparkle in the night ♪ [ male announcer ] this is your moment. ♪ when the moment comes alive [ male announcer ] this is zales, the diamond store. take an extra 10 percent off storewide now through sunday. i know you're worried about making your savings last and having enough income when you retire. that's why i'm here. to help come up with a plan and get you on the right path. i have m

here is what newt said in classic newt fashion in response. listen. >> so she is suggesting she is using material developed on the ethics committee. fundamental violation of the rules of the house and i hope the leaders file charges against her the second he does it. >> he called at it christmas gift, which it is. having worke worked in the housf representatives for years i know even the janitor knows you can't take advantage that you have from an investigation and use it publicly. >> bob: i want to mention that ladainian tomlinson swore off ham camera in the break. that is a first. >> andrea: can't tell you anything. >> bob: this is the thing i find amazing. if newt gingrich were to pray for one person to take him on, it would be nancy pelosi. i mean they have spent the republicans a fortune maligning her. she is the number one devil in the republican base. gingrich is right, it's privileged. newt has detractors among the republicans in the house. there is a lot of information. maybe not coming out from the house but it will get out. >> andre

newt gingrich had a target. mitt romney benefited by that. the other benefit is that should he get the nomination, he will have a target on his back from barack obama. any time he has had that target, he has sort of choked and clutched. i think these debates are great for him. if it goes on for a while, it will be good for him because he has to get to the point where he can compete against the president of the united states, and not look at it like a rich guy. >> what about ron paul. >> he defined himself as a libertarian. his position on foreign policy is so far beyond pillar of the republican party -- the isolationist strain that he is talking about, that just does not sell beyond the libertarians. the person who lays the profile it is michele bachmann. >> first of all, by avoiding the bullying tactic used last saturday night, and that is what mitt romney did, you say the yankees won the world series, do you want to bet $10,000? the rich bully can do it. mitt romney avoided that. i thought michele bachmann did a formidable job on the influe