challenge governor romney based on his faith. that doesn t mean that there won t be whisper campaigns, people talking about, see, he s just not like us for this whole host of reasons. i would also be shocked if that didn t happen. but as far as openly making governor romney s faith an issue, i just don t think it s going to happen. i thought david gregory said something wise, david gregory from meet the press and he described mitt romney s faith as being central to who he is. here s how he said it. let s be honest. this is the core of who mitt romney is. he was a missionary in france for two years. he was a bishop in the church, which in the mormon church is effectively like the police. he s made huge contributions. he s made a big impact on the church but yet he doesn t talk about it. i think there s a lot of truth to that, steve. advise the other side of the aisle. if you were whispering in mitt romney s ear, would you be
about romney, then go get excited about some of these house races that are really competitive. go get excited about trying to take over the senate. there are all kinds of avenues where the energy of the conservative movement could be flowing and could be channeled that are much more productive than this quixotic dream of getting newt out and that would somehow send santorum over the top. i m not convinced that would change the dynamic at all. santorum again made the point that the gop needs to go with a real conservative nominee this time. the best chance for us to win is to put up a candidate like we did in 1980, not like we did in 1976. and that s what the focus is going to be. let s try to make sure we have the strongest possible candidate to be able to win a very, very critical election. and steve mcmann, after a lot of well-paid-for speeches and a
trying to take over the senate. there s all kinds of avenues where the conservative movement could be flowing and channelled that are more productive than this quick dream of somehow getting newt out and that would put santorum over the top. i m not convinced that would change the dynamic at all. yesterday, santorum made the point that the gop needs to go with a real conservative nominee this time. the best chance for us to win is to put up candidate like we did in 1980, not like we did in 1976. and that s what the focus is going to be. let s try to make sure that we have the strongest possible candidate to be able to win a very, very critical election. steve mcmann, after a lot of well paid for speeches, it s now 2016, and he says i told you so. you nominated a moderate, that s
unelected almost like unelected bureaucrats was an extraordinary statement. like was it not extraordinary when the republicans say it? john, maybe you haven t been listening to this is about the supreme court. john go ahead. michael this is about the supreme court. they have gone through the ringer. they have been through everything. they have been through more than any politician. and to make this kind of for the president, who is a constitutional lawyer, to make that case, is extraordinary. and i think a very undermining democracy. i think it s over the line. well, he got hammered by wall street journal today on the editorial page, essentially saying, hey, didn t the guy teach marbury versus madison when he was at the university of chicago law school. steve mcmann, go ahead, take the final word on this. listen, i will say this. i think that it s inappropriate for somebody on the left or on the right to be criticizing decisions that come out of the united s
it s been the right that s been complaining about judges and justices, all this time. and the president just turned it on today. i wish he hadn t. but he felt like he needed to. and that s just the way politics goes today. i will say, as a lawyer as well, it s very hard to defend decisions that are continuously 2 5-4. it doesn t instill a lot of confidence among the electorate when they look at the court and say they look to us like they re the congress and not nine jurists. i m out of time, and i wish i weren t. thank you steve mcmann and thank you john feary. when we return, let me finish with how mitt romney has blown chance after chance to turn questions about his religion to his advantage. you re watching hardball. [ male announcer ] this is genco services mcallen, texas. in here, heavy rental equipment in the middle of nowhere, is always headed somewhere. to give it a sense of direction, at&t created a mobile asset solution to protect and track everything. so every piece