know, it s true that mitt romney s in a weak position, can t get above, but herman cain, once mitt romney, or anybody else, starts spending millions of dollars to tell the american public that his 9-9-9 plan means tax increases for anyone making $50,000 or below, his campaign is going to flame out, if it hasn t already. he is so vulnerable on this and other fronts. he still can t talk about anything else other than 9-9-9. i don t see the republican party that crazy. let me go to a couple things. we ve all agreed, i think you agree, that someone has to challenge romney from the right. somebody in the end will be in the race with him throughout the spring, challenging him as the alternative to a guy who s not a tea partier. so somebody will be the hero of the tea party. now you ve got to argue that somebody has to beat this guy. do you think perry has the iq, politically, to get out there and fight against the guy who has won he s done well, let me put it this way, in every debate he
know, it s true that mitt romney s in a weak position, can t get above, but herman cain, once mitt romney, or anybody else, starts spending millions of dollars to tell the american public that his 9-9-9 plan means tax increases for anyone making $50,000 or below, his campaign is going to flameout, if it hasn t already. he is so vulnerable on this and other fronts. he still can t talk about anything else other than 9-9-9. i don t see the republican party that crazy. let me go to a couple things. we ve all agreed, i think you agree, that someone has to challenge romney from the right. somebody in the end will be in the race with him throughout the spring, challenging him as the alternative to a guy who s not a tea partier. so somebody will be the hero of the tea party. now you ve got to argue that somebody has to beat this guy. do you think perry has the iq, politically, to get out there and fight against the guy who has won he s done well, let me put it this way, in every debate he
who beats him? it ends up with herman cain on fox news and a lot of book sales. this guy will not be the nominee, chris. maybe rick perry comes back, you know, it s true that mitt romney s in a weak position, can t get above, but herman cain, once mitt romney, or anybody else, starts spending millions of dollars to tell the american public that his 9-9-9 plan means tax increases for anyone making $50,000 or below, his campaign is going to flame out, if it hasn t already. he is so vulnerable on this and other fronts. he still can t talk about anything else other than 9-9-9. i don t see the republican party that crazy. let me go to a couple things. we ve all agreed, i think you agree, that someone has to challenge romney from the right. somebody in the end will be in the race with him throughout the spring, challenging him as the alternative to a guy who s not a tea partier. so somebody will be the hero of the tea party. now you ve got to argue that somebody has to beat this guy. do
david corn s an msnbc political analyst and mother jones magazine s washington bureau chief, and jonathan martin is senior political reporter for politico. gentleman, i want to know how this ends for this fellow, herman cain, who s come out of nowhere. you re chuckling but let me raise a couple of questions here. i m going to give you a number of questions, the scenario. this guy keeps going up. he s ahead now in south carolina. he s ahead now in florida. he s ahead of the field against a guy who can t do anything but flatline. mitt romney won t get above 23. he stays right there, like a dead guy, politically. whereas cain keeps going up. my question to you, if cain can even hold second place to romney, who gets ahead of him? who beats him? i ll tell you where this ends up. it ends up with herman cain on fox news and a lot of book sales. this guy will not be the nominee, chris. maybe rick perry comes back, you know, it s true that mitt romney s in a weak position, can t get above,