>>> welcome back now. the week started with jon huntsman dropping out. can you believe that's how we started the week? and it ended with gingrich back on top. what happened in the middle is sheer political insanity. joining me now is michael smerconish . and also iowa conservative radio talk show host and newt gingrich supporter. thank you gentlemen for joining us.
>> hey, tamron. thank you.
>> michael , i got to tell you t other day we were thinking, i guess it was friday. i was saying was it monday that huntsman dropped out? this week has been incredible. how would you describe it? the same way. i always say if politics were a ball, meaning a sporting ball, that it would be a football. because it's so unpredictable in what direction it's about to bounce. i will always look back at the last couple of days as the best evidence of what i've been trying to say.
>> let me play for us the announcement from huntsman and what we saw at the latter part of the week, governor rick perry getting out of the race. let's play it.
>> today i am suspending my campaign for the presidency. i believe it's now time to unite around the candidate best equipped to defeat barack obama . despite our differences and the space between us on some of the issues. i believe that candidate is governor mitt romney .
>> today i am suspending my campaign and endorsing newt gingrich for president of the united states .
>> so steve , less about huntsman but more about perry. is that the reason we're seeing a new surge from newt gingrich in south carolina . we know that per was at the bottom.
>> if you look at mitt romney 's polling numbers before he got jon huntsman 's endorsement and after, there seems to be a trentrend and i thought rick perry made a very smart political play. he came in as the governor of texas with $20 million, $30 million. he flamed out as a candidate. he was looking to go home from texas with a tail tuck pd between his legs, and he threw whatever political weight he had had left behind gingrich rather than finish in first place. so he can say you brought me into the race to stop mitt romney 's coronation. and i was able to help do that at the end.
>> speaking of romney on tuesday, he made the statement he believes he pays around 15%. let's play along with that.
>> it's probably closer to the 15% rate. because my last ten years i've -- my income comes overwhelmingly from investments.
>> what do you make of that statement? his answer has gotten no better. michael ?
>> i don't begrudge him for paying a 15% tax rate if that's appropriate for his earning capacity. and he certainly seems like a straight arrow. i would be shocked to find there's anything nefarious that goes on. but it fosters this narrative of mitt romney being the other. meaning not one of us. kind of ironic. so often the critics of the president try to portray him as not one of us. this exotic exotic background in roots and so forth. it reminds me of the wager, the attempt at a 10,000 bet. who in the world -- i always make wagers. it just furthers this caricature of mitt romney as just being a guy who as hard as he tries, he may wear the bass pro fishing shirt, but he's really not one of us, and i think that's a great explanation as why there's been such a reluctance in the gop to embrace him. he wins with 25% or 30 pblgt of the vote. 70% of the folks, they're not for him.
>> before i transition to newt gingrich 's moment of the debate. i do want to follow up on this 15%. no one begrudges. but as of late i'm reading a lot of articles, what people are saying on the blogs. now there's a narrative of, is he hiding something? and it's. the suspicion that started to seep in. once the cayman island aspect came out. and people are saying, yes, i know it's legal that he pays 15%, but, is he hiding something? but steve i want to transition to you because you are a newt gingrich supporter. and that moment on thursday when he was asked about his ex-wife. you and i talking about it. let's play that clip quickly.
>> to take an ex-wife and make it two days before the primary, a significant question in the presidential campaign is as close to despicable as anything i can imagine. every personal friend i have who knew us in that period says the story was false. we offered several of them to abc to prove it was false. they weren't interested.
>> jimmy williams says that newt is genuine and that is why south carolina is supporting him, despite the ex-wife, and the other things that are side bar at this point.
>> this really ties into what michael just said. he is electable. when he was asked about abortion in the debate. he gave one of the most egregiously false boldface lying answers about his record i've ever heard. but to mitt's credit. he did it almost sociopathically. notice how he stutters, how he stammers, how he looks weak. that totally undercuts myth's argument for his candidacy. it doesn't matter what you believe if you can't win. he has a simple question about who he is and does he resonate with the average american . it undercuts his narrative he's middle east the most electable. he takes on the media.
>> i love when you editorialize. just give your honest opinion.
>> can i say something about that?
>> yes. that was total show. total schtick. he should have sent chocolates and flowers for asking the question first. and if folks want to humor themselves on this saturday afternoon. they should pull up from youtube the way that newt answered the same question on the " today show " that morning. and that afternoon. it was a very measured, very reasoned, very appropriate newt gingrich . he was lying in wait for that answer. it's exactly what the crowd wants. they want a huge list. that's what they're getting in newt. they say it's so offensive. that was the question of the day. and the reporter had every right to ask it.
>> he knew it was coming. you guys just to find a champion. i completely agree.
>> oh, steve .
>> i know michael will come back at the end of the hour. here's the deal. we want to hear from you. which candidate had the worst week. he wanted her to accept that open marriage , and it turns out he didn't win iowa after all. vote in our poll. for gingrich , text the number one to 622639. for romney, text the number 2. message and data rates will apply. we're going to bring you the results later in the show.
Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/newsnation/46083186/
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