they were written in the first person and random publications such as ron paul's "freedom report" and the ron paul "survival report." this flared up three years ago when "the new republic" did the story. the same reporter writing for "the weekly standard" fleshed out more details. what we've uncovered are items like this from a 1992 newsletter shortly after the l.a. riots titled special issue on racial terrorism. listen to this, one line reads "order was only restored in los angeles when it came time for the blacks to pick up their welfare checks." in fact, order was restored when the national guard moved in. two years earlier in another ron paul publication, an article criticized president reagan for signing legislation approving the creation of the federal martin luther king jr. holiday complaining "we can thank him for our annual hate whitey day." again, these newsletters were written in the '80s and '90s while he was out of congress and had several thousand subscribers. a lot of this came to light in 2008 and wolf blitzer asked him about it back then. >> congressman, there is a lot of material there but let me try to figure out how did this stuff get in these ron paul newsletters? who wrote it? >> well, well, i have no idea. have you ever heard of a publisher of a magazine not knowing every single thing. responsible for the daily activities and people came and went. they were hired. i don't know any of their names. i do not honestly do not know who wrote those things. >> did you used to read these newsletters? congressman? >> not back then. there might have been at times i would at times but, you knowers i was in a medical practice, i traveled a lot, was doing speeches around the country so frequently i did not see these. some of these things you read, as a matter of fact, i wouldn't have recognized them. >> again, that was in 2008 but keeping them honest, in 1996 when he was running for congress, democrats dug up other passages from his newsletters that he did not deny writing. one called late congresswoman barbara jordan, a half victimologist. what d.c. laughingly calls the criminal justice system, i think we can assume that 95% of black males are semi criminal or entirely crime. nor did he deny this, if you've ever been robbed by a black teenage male, you know how unbelievably fleet of foot he can be. he was asked about that. the reporter writing "dr. paul denied suggestions that he was a racist and said he was not evoking stereotypes when he wrote the columns. he said they should be read and quoted in their entirety to avoid misrepresentation." at that time he did not deny writing them. five years later he backed away from all of that and changed his tune "they were never my words but i had some moral responsibility for them." campaign aides told him your name was on that letter and, therefore, you have to live with it. so that's ten years ago. he seems to be saying he didn't write them but a staff made him take responsibility. fast forward ten years later he's now blaming the media for bringing it up again. but as you'll see he's not doing so much to clear the air, chief political analyst gloria borger spoke with the candidate today. >> let me ask you, you've been answering a lot of questions lately about the newsletters that were published under your name and some of the things contained in them were conspiracy theory, some of them are considered racist and you've, you know, you've disavowed them completely. but they were called the ron paul report and did you read them at all when they were published during those years? did you ever sort of take a look at it and say, this isn't what i tan for. >> not all the time. >> but you did read them. >> not all the time. >> well -- ? on occasion, yes. >> did you ever object when you read them? >> you know, we talked about this twice yesterday, cnn has. why don't you go back and look at what i said on cnn and what i've said for 20 some year, 22 years ago? i didn't write them. i disavow them. that's it. >> but you made money off them? >> i was still practicing medicine. that's probably why i wasn't a very good publisher. >> would you give it back? if you had money -- >> to whom? >> well, charity. charity. if you made money off them and you disavow it -- >> i didn't write them and i don't endorse those views and i've explained it many times. >> so you read them but you didn't do anything about it at the time. >> i never read that stuff. i never read -- i was probably aware of it ten years after it was written and it's been going on 20 years that people have pestered me about this and cnn does it every single time so when are you going to wear yourself out. >> no. is it legitimate? i mean is it a legitimate question to ask. >> when you get the answer it's legitimate you take the answers i give. you know what the answer is, i didn't write them, i didn't read them at the time and i disavow them. >> it's legitimate. it's legitimate. these things are pretty incendiary, you know -- >> to people like you. >> no, no, no. come on, some of this stuff was very incendiary, you know, saying that in 1993 the israelis were responsible for the bombing of the world trade center, that kind of stuff so all right. >> good-bye. >> all right. thank you, congressman. i appreciate your answering the questions and you understand it's our job to ask them. >> thank you. >> our gloria borger joins us now along with ari fleischer and redstate.com's erick erickson. gloria, looked like quite an interview there. you know, as the congressman said not the first time he faced questions about this. but when you spoke to him today, he still doesn't seem quite ready to answer them obviously. did he? >> well, there seems to be a bit of a conflict. on the one hand he said that he read them on occasion and then on the other hand he said that he did not read the most incendiary ones, so it's really unclear what kind of editorial relationship, if any, ron paul had with this report that beared his name. he says it's irrelevant. that's 22 years ago, clearly doesn't want to talk about it but honestly that's the kind of scrutiny you have to expect if you're the front runner a presidential race. >> yeah, i mean it's politics, no question. and, eric, to that point, some people are hearing about this for the first time but these questions are not new. they don't seem to have had much of an impact on his presidential hopes until now. why not previously? >> well, because no one took him seriously previously and now he's in first place in iowa. i got to tell you, i remember the good old days of 2008 when his supporters put his home address on a neothat is ski website. we don't have to go back to the letters, we can ask ron paul why four years ago he allowed neo-nazi websites to fund raise for him and ask him why years ago he went on iranian tv to say israelis set up concentration camps to kill palestinians. there's a lot we can ask him. a more relevant question, if we can't ask him these questions from the late '80s and earl early '90s why can he go back to the '90s and attack newt gingrich or rick perry for things they wrote. does he believe this is a double standard. >> so what does it all mean? what's the impact. let me ask you that. look at this poll. ron paul, as gloria pointed out, a top pick, 28% of the vote. gingrich is up there, 25%, romney an perry, the only two candidates who cracked double digits. he has some of the most dedicated supporters out there. it a caucus tate like iowa that can make a big difference. if he wins iowa what do you think it means going forward for the whole field? >> i think if he does win iowa it doesn't mean much. mitt romney is probably cheering for him to win because it'll propel romney forward. nobody thinks ron paul can go anywhere. what happens is iowa being a small caucus state, 110,000 voters, 120,000 perhaps, a small energized plurality can make all the difference in the world that propels ron paul's candidacy. as anybody who read my tweets know i'm not a supporter of ron paul, not a fan of ron paul. as much as i'm neutral in the primary, ron paul is a fringe candidate and doesn't represent the republicans' best foot forward so i'm bothered by this, on the image and the impact it can have. but four years ago and i just looked this up, you got 10 percentage points in iowa, 8% in new hampshire. 4%, south carolina, 3% in florida. iowa historically has been his strongest state. ran before, ron paul ran and iowa was his high water mark and plunged from there on. >> gloria, go ahead, erick. >> another relevant point that needs to be asked asked. if you go back to the writings, the ron paul freedom report, no byline, written in first person as if it was from ron pauline chiou. gay men were intentionally trying to infect the blood supply to infect the heterosexual population. they attacked barack obama for sitting in jeremiah wright's church and barack obama denies any hearing his sermons. how is his denial different from going after barack obama for the reverend wright matter? there is none. they can't defend ha. >> again, to be clear, the congressman has disavowed these -- all of these remarks. i read some of those same remarks, as well. gloria, you talked to him today. let me ask you this, if you can comment on what erick said. what does it mean for the iowa caucus in general? he's at the top despite all of this news that said -- that is most recent. >> well, you know, spoke with the governor of the state of iowa, governor brand said yesterday and said what if ron paul wins because lots of establishment republicans are saying if ron paul wins the iowa caucuses are completely irrelevant, of course, he doesn't want that to be the case. so he says, what's important is who comes in second and who comes in third. of course, that's important. but as ari fleischer says, this is not the message the republican party wants to be sending. but i'll tell you this, i was at a ron paul event earlier. it was a full house and the message that resonates here is a message of anti-washington, anti-big government, anti-debt, anti-deficit, anti-establishment and it works with voters who are angry about the economy, so there is a real connection here with the voters in iowa. >> i'll be interested to see where the ads go from here and certainly what happens. i wish we had pore time to talk about it. appreciate your time, erick, ari and gloria. let us know what you think at home, as well. add us to your circle. follow me on twitter. up next, ten days until your taxes go up and this guy here, and house republicans are getting thrown under the bus by other republicans. got the inside scoop on this and what the politics could mean for your paycheck. later, a deadly discovery. how to turn bird flu into a potential terrorist people killer. why that's got the scientific, the medical and national security community on edge. first though let's check in with isha sesay. >> the search is on for a 20-month-old baby girl. take a look. ayla reynolds last seen friday night in waterville, maine, in her bedroom. her father speaking out. you should make that eight things. dude, why don't you just use the stuff? 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[ male announcer ] get the venture card at capitalone.com and earn double miles on every purchase every day. what's in your wallet? cover for me. i have an audition. forty years ago, he wasn't worried about retirement. he'd yet to hear of mutual funds, iras, or annuities. back then, he had something more important to do. he wasn't focused on his future but fortunately, somebody else was. at usaa we provide retirement solutions for our military, veterans and their families. from investments... to life insurance... to health care options. learn more with our free usaa retirement guide. call 877-242-usaa. time is running out to find a plan that could save the payroll tax cut for millions of american. no action. president obama made a phone call to john boehner and harry reid in an effort to end this standoff. house republicans are feeling the heat for blocking legislation and it's coming from an unexpected source. their fellow republicans in the senate. there are the raw politics in a moment. first john king joins us with a look at what failing to stop the stalemate might mean for you. another childish you'll have to pay for it out of your wallet. maybe the one after that. if nothing is done here's what's going to happen. if you make 35,000 your taxes will go up 700 bucks a year. that's about $27 a paycheck. if you make $50,000 a year you'll pay 1,000 more in taxes. that means $38 a paycheck. come middle of january. $75,000 a year, you'll pay 1,500 more. that means $58 a paycheck. $100,000 a year you'll lose more than $2100. $82 a paycheck. a lot of money. that still matters if you're on a family budget. if you're above $110,000 or more you'll lose $2,300 or more. maybe people think it's politicians in washington fighting. if they don't figure it out soon ten days -- a few hours this will come out of the paycheck at a time when a lot of people have put a lot of upon on the credit card for the holidays and have extra bills to pay. >> people are talking about this but give them a picture of what's at stake. we do want to talk more about the politics here and bring in dane ma bash on complapitol hil. and david gergen. you reported it all day. what are you hearing right now. >> reporter: the betting is if anybody will cave, give in on this standoff it's going to be the house republicans because they have just been -- the pressure has been mounting on them in an unbelievable way, sanjay, especially today even more so from their fellow republicans in the senate. actually been stunning the conversations that i've been having with republicans about their fellow republicans in the house. really upset about the fact that they -- the senate republicans, the ones i talked to have given up ground on the basic issue, fundamental republican credo which is cutting tacks and feel that republicans who have really been hell bent on saying, no, we're not going to have a two-month extension, only stand up for one-year extension is they've given ground on their number one issue which is cutting taxes to democrats and democrats look like they're the ones who want tax relief. >> certainly seems to be the message a lot are hearing and, david, you say what's going on here is very significant in terms of the republican party's chances of taking the white house as well. is it because of the reasons dana has outlined? >> it goes beyond. senior conservatives, sanjay, believe that there is a real danger the public will now blame the house republicans for breaking down and leading to this breakdown in washington and house republicans are being held hostage by the tea party and all of that from the point of view of senior republicans is raise the danger that it enhances president obama's chances for re-election and diminishes the chances for republicans taking the senate and may lose more house seats so people are looking for a way out and frankly there are two ways out of this. one is what the wall street giulia giulia journal is calling for. they could wait until -- look, when congress -- when the senate comes back we want to sit down in january and work out a one-year extension retroactive to january 1 on everything. whether it's tax cuts or unemployment benefits, it'll all be retroactive. nobody will get hurt but we want a one-year extension. i think they could possibly make that work too. >> you know, john king, to summarize a little bit, seems to be a real sense reading the editorials that the leaders have made a mistake when it many coulds to this payroll tax. republicans in the senate as dana outlined allowed the democrats to look like they're the ones for tax relief while the republicans look like they're against it. how big a fiasco is this for the republicans in the house right now? >> well, right now it's a big deal. when you have your own party saying, hello, when you have "the wall street journal" editorial page, usually saying president obama is trying to raise your taxes. when the wall streul wall stree says that, it's a problem. they might not remember the specifics of this. but there is an narrative emerging, the reason the president keeps coming into the briefing room, he's trying to say i'm on the side of the middle class, the republicans who want -- won't raise taxes on millionaires want to on the middle class. president obama is not a natural populist. he is a professor. a lot complain he is aloof. to seize this issue and say i'm on your side and democrats are saying we're on your side. the details will likely be forgotten however, it does give the democrats control of the message at the moment, long way to go but the democrats are liking this. >> dana, david gergen brought this idea of possibly in january hammering out a deal and making it retroactive to january 1st. that obvious would buy some time as we're looking at the calendar, december 21st. are people talking about that? are your sources mentioning that as an option to you, as well. >> one idea i've heard floating around. others, basically just to get the president and democrats to say, look, we promise that we are going to appoint conferees or negotiators to talk about a one-year extension and this is important that it will somehow get done before the president's state of the union because a big dynamic is republicans are very concerned that the president is going to use that big platform, the state of the union address, in january, to hammer republicans on this issue in general but the thing to keep in mind and i've been told this by several very smart republicans here on capitol hill, you got to watch john boehner because people can have all the ideas in the world, he is the one who has to make the decision because he is the one who has to navigate the unruly conference or republican caucus he is trying to navigate and this has been a pattern and hard for him to do it. he can't misread it again. >> everyone is talking about the presidential race obviously for good reason, john king, but what about the impact potentially of this issue on senate or house races in