not just rachel maddow. "the rachel maddow show." >> none of these pretenders, man. >> jimmy: did you have a good holiday break? >> i did. you know, my girlfriend susan and i and just a few of our friends had thanksgiving off the grid. and then, of course, you have to pay for that. so we hosted both of our families for christmas. >> jimmy: in one house? >> yeah. we rented a house up in maine and had my family come out from california and susan's family come from massachusetts and new hampshire and we hosted everybody out there. and that's what the holidays are for. but i didn't know. susan is so great. my family was out there for a week and susan is there for the whole week. i just dropped in for a couple of days. >> jimmy: "hey, guys, i'll be back for the main day." >> you guys make me nervous! so i don't know. i find christmas to be stressful. do you enjoy christmas? i find it stressful. >> jimmy: i enjoy it. yeah, i remember loving it as a kid. the older i got, i feel like, i don't know. i still love it b

tonight, jimmy welcomes rachel maddow, and musical guest sharon vanedden. angry birds. don't forget it. it's time for your "first look" at entertainment news. relationship news, contract signings, they all seem to dominate the headlines this morning. actress zooey deschanel and ben gibbard are getting divorced a little over a month after their separation. they're so cute, too. >> sinead o'connor satweeted he divorce is off and they are back together. >>> justin timberlake and jessica biel did get engaged during a holiday getaway in jackson, wyoming. hugh jackman has signed to play magician harry houdini on broadway. taylor swift has beat out lea michele, scarlett johansson, and evan rachel wood in the big role in "les miserables." >> she's going hollywood. >> she is. james franco signed with amazon to publish his first novel, a fictional account of his life. and barbie, the world's most famous doll, is getting three high-profile new friends. drum roll, please. yep, you guessed, it reality tv stars kim, kourtney and khloe kardashian. >> do you think ken will leave barbie

. >> jon: rachel maddow had an interesting moment during the coverage of iowa when she announced to the world that ron paul was getting the endorsement of new mexico governor gary johnson and turned out not to be correct. let's play that clip. >> the former new mexico governor gary johnson never got much traction in the republican nomination recently dropped out for a run for the nomination to seek the libertarian party's nomination for president and we're hearing tonight that gather i johnson has dropped his bid for the libertarian nomination and instead will be endorsing ron paul. the news about gary johnson, dropping his libertarian party bid and endorsing ron paul was a hoax. so, yeah, sorry. >> that will happen. >> live television, ladies and gentlemen. >> live television, i think that john chancellor is rolling over in his grave. what happened to the standards? >> if you go to -- if you google society of professional journalist ethics code, the first two items are check your source and then check it twice. this is pretty astonishing, and is a value in procedure and checking things

even if it's not in "the rachel maddow show" colors. as "the rachel maddow show's" executive producer bill wolf points out astutely standing in the median at sunset, you can't argue with the buddy message. buddy roemer now 0 for 18 when it comes to being asked to participate in nationally televised debates. a lot of americans have so far preferred buddies up to the likes of ron paul, rick santorum or michele bachmann over the four term u.s. congressman and former governor. on our way to the campaign stop in new hampshire today, i asked "the concord's" editor why it's been so tough for mr. roemer to get traction as a protest candidate. >> i will say, there's this woman who's one of my most regular letters to the editor writers. i hear from her all the time, all week long. she can't not write a letter to the editor. she's a democratic activist and she's involved in democratic politics in her town. and the most shocking thing i've heard from her this year is she has switched from her democratic registration to undeclared, solely so she can

rachel maddow show starts now. >> thanks for staying with us for the next hour. in 2008 here's how the republican party picked their nominee for president. republicans knew coming in that race that they would have a candidate who ran for president, does that work? who ran for president, once before, and came in second place the last time he ran. a candidate with hosni mubarek the republican partly let was comfortable even though the base did not like him very much. the republicans look at that guy's chances they think, maybe the elite is behind him but the party is not behind him. we can do better than that. so you get the roster of all different kind of challengers, an under-funded but absolutely authentic social conservative guy, guy with unimpeachable social conservative religious credentials, not taken seriously other than social conservative issues. get the libertarian cause candidate, he has the old pat buchanan buchanan, he wants to get rid of the federal reserve it appeals to young people in particular, which is important for republicans. then another guy

the "the rachel maddow show" show start right now. good evening, rachel. >> good evening, ed i'm sorry i was in a space suit and could not say hi to you at the top of the show. >> you know what, that's okay. i thought it was more than innovative. i thought it was terrific and when i got home, wendy said you won't believe what rachel did. i said i have an idea. it was great. >> innovative is a kind way to put that, ed. appreciate that. have a graeat weekend good to se you. >>> thanks to you at home for staying with us. no space suit tonight. do you remember when bob dole did the viagra ad, i thought that everybody thought he did a viagra ad, maybe he didn't because you can't find that ad anywhere. you can find people writing about the ad but the ad itself is like not obvious on youtube, not that easy to find. i started to think bob dole was like saying sarah palin saying i could see russia from my house. it was something used as a joke against her on saturday night live, but we all talked ourselves into the idea that she really did say

rachel maddow show starts now. >>> into thousand eight, here is how the republican party picked their nominee. the new coming into that race that they would have a candidate who ran for president -- did that work? ran for president once before and came in second place the last time he ran. a candidate with whom the league was very, very comfortable even though the republican party's base did not like him very much. they look at that guy's chances and think, well, maybe the elite is behind him, but the party is not behind him. we get this roster of all different kinds of challengers. you get an underfunded but absolutely authentic social conservative guy, social conservative religious credentials. he is not taken on anything seriously. you have the libertarian cause candidate. he has the pat buchanan isolationist thing that has wide appeal. most of once he wants to talk about -- that doesn't have a broad appeal, it appeals to some people and to young people in particular. >> you have another guy who is absolutely offended. you can tell that he is not the choice. . he has named recognit

. >> hi, rachel maddow. >> hi, rachel. >> how are you? >> we said we're here, we'd love to speak with ms. o'donnell or any representative of the campaign. >> like getting bounced from a bar. we have asked sarah palin to come on the show i don't know how many times and she has never agreed to come on. our brooking producers have been calling liz cheney asking her to come on the show and debate the issues for months. every time we asked scott brown to come on the show he has said no. >> former candidate tim pawlenty will be here tonight, not talking to me. say yes, christine o'donnell. it will be fun, i promise. say yes, sharon angle, you will get a fair shake. say yes, sarah palin, you have our number, i know you do. ken buck, come by any time. liz cheney, the door is always open, to anybody in your family, any cheney, any time. >> thank you. >> we're on our way to the jon huntsman event right now. we heard from the jon huntsman campaign, no. no way, no chance, never. they told you no. >> they told you no? >> they have told us no, don't tr

rachel maddow, her show start tonight. >>> have i only told you that once? >> yes, you have. i was telling secrets. >>> thanks, i'm looking forward tomorrow night. >> yes, it will be fun and who knows, you never know what will happen. >> unpredictability at this stage of the race was itself unpredictable and that makes this all the more fun. >>> thanks at home for staying with us for the next hour. there have been two republican presidential candidate debates this week. the moment that newt gingrich and his supporters are most excited about is the very start of last night's debate. >> mr. speaker, i want to start with that this evening. as you know, your ex-wife gave an interview to abc news, another interview with the washington post and the story has gone viral on the internet. in it she says you came to her in 1999, at a time when you were having an affair, she says you asked her, sir, to enter into an open marriage. would you like to take some time to respond to that? >> no, but i will. [ applause ] >> i think the destructive, vicious, negative nature of much of the news

even if it's not in "the rachel maddow show" colors. as "the rachel maddow show's" executive producer bill wolf points out astutely standing in the median at sunset, you can't argue with the buddy message. buddy roemer now 0 for 18 when it comes to being asked to participate in nationally televised debates. a lot of americans have so far preferred buddying up to the likes of ron paul, rick santorum or michele bachmann over the four-term u.s. congressman and former governor. on our way to the campaign stop in new hampshire today, i asked "the concord's" editor why it's been so tough for mr. roemer to get traction as a protest candidate. >> i will say, there's this woman who's one of my most regular letters to the editor writers. i hear from her all the time, all week long. she can't not write a letter to the editor. she's a democratic activist and she's involved in democratic politics in her town. and the most shocking thing i've heard from her this year is she has switched from her democratic registration to undeclared, solely so she ca

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

"the rachel maddow show" starts right now. good evening, rachel. they love you in wisconsin by the way. >> i love wisconsin back. >> it was always hi ed, we love rachel. >> well, i get from my whole family, hi, honey, how's ed. there are both sides. see you later. >> you bet. >>> thanks at home for joining us for the next hour. it's true, mama meadow loves her some ed, i never hear the end of it. it's fine, it's my mom. but it's fine. >>> this is senator blunt's twit twiter page. for background he has a picture of a lovely scene, looks like a missouri country road. vice magazine tracked down the photographer of the picture that the senator had on his twitter page. they tracked down the photographer by way of finding his wife who happens to be the person who appears on the horse in the picture. the lady on the horse told vice she and her husband were surprised to learn that senator blunt was using their picture on his twitter page. since her photographer husband had not given senator blunt permission to use that picture. senator blunt until today wa

the rachel maddow show starts now. >> good evening, my friend. thank you at home for staying with us for the next hour. the last time mitt romney ran for president 2007 heading into the 2008 campaign, the boston globe ran a get to know mitt romney human interest profile. on the man who had been massachusetts governor and who now wanted to be the united states president. that profile in the summer of 2007 opened up with what is now a very famous story. a very famous story about this member of the romney family. the story involves this very, very handsome enormous irish setter, whose name is shameus, and it also involves that car. that wood paneled station wagon you see on your screen. it also involves a 12-hour drive from the boston area to ontario canada. and i quote. the white chevy station wagon with the wood paneling was overstuffed with suitcases, supplies and sons when mitt romney climbed behind the wheel to begin the annual 12-hour family trek from boston to ontario. the destination for this journey in the summer of 1983 was his parent's co

"the rachel maddow show" starts right now. rachel, good to see you tonight. >>> what? >>> what? is this weird? greetings from the year 2019. obviously, i'm on the moon, where newt gingrich is the president of the moon. how can anybody be president of the moon, you ask, from the past, where you live? well, back what he was just candidate gingrich, president newt, that's what we call him, president newt, he not only promised a permanent colony on the moon by the end of his second term, but he declared that that colony would be an american colony. he said once he figured out a way to get a few thousand americans up here on the moon in our permanent colony here, the moon could then become the 51st state. and so, now, in 2019, puerto rico, i guess, is still just a territory, washington, d.c. is essentially still like an occupied territory, but the moon, well, now we call it north north dakota, and newt gingrich is the first president of the moon. he's sort of our george washington up here. just because i'm wearing this fake costume space suit doesn't mean i'm kidding about this. >> b

>> first of all, i could care less about rachel maddow's opinion of me and my campaign. that simply means she does not know me and all the people that wanted to criticize and make fun of my campaign. they don't know me. and in my grandfather's word, i does not care. the reason i'm teaming up with colbert, is because we have solutions at cain connection.com, i'm going to promote solutions and not candidates. and i believe that people can get excited about solutions, like the 9-9-9 revolution. that is what i'm about. if she and others want to criticize me and call my campaign not serious, that is their problem. >> i want to talk to you about that 9-9-9 initiative. but let's talk about colbert, his idea is that it's a farse that it's being run by big business, and do you agree with him on that? >> he is partly right, i happen to believe that the campaign finance laws are flawed and they need to be changed. one of the flaws is the ability for super pacs to have the kind of impact that they have had. we saw the impact in iowa and all over. so he is right, that they are flawed

"the rachel maddow show" starts right now. great job again last night. thank you. >> it was great to have you at the rotunda, ed. see you when you're back. thanks to you at home for staying with us for the next hour. >>> here is something you don't see ever. this was -- look, this was posted by cbs news by their polling unit. cbs was polling approval or disapproval of the proposals made by president obama in his state of the union speech last night. poll results like this aren't usually found in nature. but this was apparently the response if you can't see it disapproval rate was 9%, and the approval rate was 91%. today the white house did what white houses do now after a state of the union speeches, what presidents do after they give the state of the union, they go out on a barn storming tour to reinforce the messages from the speech. so this morning at 10:00 a.m. he boarded air force one and headed to cedar rapids, iowa, he gave a speech at a manufacturing plant. then got back on the plane, president flew from iowa to phoenix, arizona. he touched down