the administration and republicans over whether this contraception issue was a women s health issue or religious liberty. mitt romney had an opportunity to run with that and make a more sweeping statement about religious liberty, and he really avoided that topic entirely. now richard, erin referred to rick santorum who was also, i understand, received very well. let me show you how he went after willard today in front of that same audience, that same conference. sure. whoç has supported in fact e stepchild of obama care, the person in massachusetts who built the largest government-run health care system in the united states. he s someone that bought into man-made global warming and imposed the first carbon cap in a state of massachusetts. the first state to do so in the country. we re not going to win with money. we re going to win with
contrasts. that s pretty strong stuff, richard. yep. well, look. romney s argument on health care is that it was right for massachusetts but not right for the whole country. if you go at him on the conservative principle that there are that there was no justification for his approach to health care, you re going to please this crowd a lot more and that s why santorum is coming across much stronger. also reveals the weakness of the romney strategy which is, assume you ve won the nomination and just go straight after the president. that may unite republicans. it papers over all the differences they have. but you ve got to win the nomination before you get to that stage. and rick santorum will be a tough contestant moving forward for him. richard wolffe and erin mcpike, thanks for your time tonight. thanks, reverend. up next how willard s new buddy, virginia s bob mcdonald, is using one party rule to advance a radical republican
today were jumping all over that comment and they plan to use that in ads in the general election if romney is the nominee. along with some of those comments that you just played that showed that mitt romney is all over the map. that he doesn t have a core.ç that he doesn t have conviction. we re going to hear that a lot. well, he s severely desperate. let me show you, richard, some polls. fox news. no liberal station. and their last poll has president obama up and romney down. 41%/28% on who they d rather see elected. then you have the rasmussen poll has the president up ten points. he s gone from up to down to where he s up ten points. so even the polls that are considered right leaning has president obama decisively ahead of willard mitt romney. yeah, and remember it was
and jealous. that s not the issue that we ought to be dealing with. i think this can resonate if the president makes this case. polling shows that most americans agree with the idea of the buffett rule. they agree with the idea of some of the wealthy should pay more. i think the bigger thing for obama this week was the numbers nbc poll showing this week that people think the economy is doing better. his approval rating on the economy is going up. his overall approval rating is going up. it s not just about fairness but things are getting better in america. the policies might actually work and there s some signs people are beginning to sink in and believe that finally. now richard, on this buffett rule, let me play you something that eric cantor said that s a little strange to me. the answer is not to make sure that washington taxes people more, and this notion that somehow the income that warren buffett makes is the same
what rich is pointing out, this is painful, bad for my base. my base doesn t want to see any sacrosanct security programs cut but this is the deal we made, this is how our politics is going to work and if they can t behave like adults i ll treat them the way a parent treats children. when kids are fighting you say if you can t agree i m going to take the ball or the toy away from you and that s basically what the president is doing here. now richard, what next? we see the president, i spoke with him about and people can get a hold of you on the radio show but we talked about he s going to new hampshire and he s going to deal with payroll tax extension. what is next? well i tell you what s next, the federal government runs out of money in about a month so we ll have the whole debate which is one reason you re seeing him pulling back from this. you ve got real tension building up on the conservative side. the tea party folks are happy to see these cuts go through. think about ron pau