and we're back. texas governor rick perry has quickly gone from a non-candidate to the leader of the pack in the recent 2012 polls, but will his comments on secession and calling social security a failure and a ponzi scheme make him an easy target for fellow republicans? for more on perry and the rest of the gop field, let's britain in jonathan alter, and chris cillizza, who writes for the fix for "the washington post." both men msnbc political analysts. jonathan, you know, those elements that we're focusing on, are they the sort that will be criticized of perry by his combatants next week in the debate? >> you know, i don't think the secession comment will be, because in some ways, there's he was quoted out of context there, when when politifact and other fact checking and other sites that look closely at that, they found found he wasn't really calling for secession. he was saying he understood why people are mad. but the other business, social security and medicare, even tea