so i hope ron paul will help us as a party defeat president obama. aspposed to you running as a third party candidate. yeah, you know, but ron paul in the party is real,e has a lot ofenthusiasm. we re better tether. we have a common political desire, to e obama s policies. not four more years of things that are clearly hurting the country. and you re not going to be better off with a second term obama. clearly you re not betterff and i don t see any hope of people being better off. and i hope r paul will help us make that case. senator durbin, let me turn to you. again, income equality is a big debate. before we get to the broader points, let s talk abo the news. that is the payroll tax cut exten. this isomething that republicans, democrats are debating now. is this going to happen? will it get extended? can tell you, did, it s the highest priority of the president and the democrats in congress. we re talking about a payroll tax cut for almost 0 million americans.
commission. he gave aspeech that had nothing to do with turning around the economy. he won t tell us what a fair share is. the debate will this is all politics. the debate will continue. thk you both very much. coming up, where does the gop race now stand? iowa s republican governor terry branstad is going to join our political rounable. plus what happeed to mitt roey, who was once seen as the inevitable nominee? alex castellanos, one of his former advisers, says romneyas yet to show chacter and what exactly he s willing to fight for. he s going toescribe our political roundtable, as well along with nbc s ted koppel, lisa myers and chuck todd. with crest 3d white professional effects whitestrips. it penetrates below the enamel surface to whiten as well as a $500 dentist treatment. the secret s in the strip. crest 3d white professional effects whitestrips. life opens up when you do.
he builds companies. transfmational change in massachusetts. that s the mitt romney i know. this campaign has dinished him by maki him smaller than his great base heal really revea. there ishis attempt at real contrast. what i thought was another major moment and it wasn t the debate last night, was the contst romney painted of himself versus gingrich on thisissue of gingrich saying that the palestinians were an invented peop. watch. i wi exercise sublime care, stability, i m not a bomb thrower. rhetorically or literally. i think sometimes it is helpful for the president with the crage to tll thetruth, such as with rold reagan who went around his entire national securi apparus to call the soviet union an evil empire. the speaker may characterize that as coura but it s also a fact that thas a ver popular thi to say, to all the evangelicalsn wa. so where he say courage, some people see pander. he talks about the paltinians.
because i have enough on my plate right now. i mean we have a lot of campaigning to do, and we re going to be very, very busy in these next couple weeks. that is what i m concentrating on. and we re going to see what happens. all right, congressman paul, we will be following the debate very closely. thank you so much. you re welcome. joining me now, assistant majority leader in the senate dick durbin, the democrat of illinois. also lindsey graham, republican of south carolina. welcome to you both. i want to debate income and equality, but senator graham, i want to start with you and talk politics. it s a big focus. you saw that debate last night in iowa, and in your state, as i just referenced a moment ago, it is newt gingrich going away in south carolina, over his rivals romney and ron paul. is he for real? yeah. i think if the election were held tomorrow, he d win south carolina. and i saw bits and pieces of the debate. it s clear to me that newt gingrich has established hi
litd let me tell you, what the president s done, particularly in the last few months where he has stepped up with a jobs program, supported across the board by the american people, and said to the republicans, either join me in moving america forward and creating jobs, or face the next election for a referendum on whether we re going to return to the failed republican economic policies, i think that is a clear contrast. what he said in kansas brought us back down to basics. this is a make-or-break moment for the middle class in america. all right. we re going to leave it there. thanks to both of you. david, if i could just add, david the president introduced a budget that got no votes. he s rejected his own fiscal commission. he gave a speech that had nothing to do with turning around the economy. that s not accurate. he won t tell us what a fair share is. the debate will this is all politics. the debate will continue. thank you both very much. coming up, where do