church. you don't want to call it theology, you can have them let me know what they want to call it. >> joining me now, al sharpton. host of politics nation. nice to see you. a lot of talk about what happened on the trail, then reporters, journalists picked up on the santorum statements. here is what he had to say, his reaction to responses over the weekend. >> i wasn't suggesting the president is not a christian. i accept the fact that the president is a christian. i have repeatedly said i don't question the president's faith. i repeatedly said i believe the president is a christian, he says he is a christian, but i am talking about his world view or his -- the way he approaches problems in this country, and i think they're different than how most people do in america. >> reverend, we talk about what's taking place on the campaign trail, rick santorum giving plates of red meat out to potential supporters, going onto sunday talkers, walking things back, how is the electorate supposed to interpret that, how is the obama white house supposed to interpret that? >> i think you can't interpret it but one way, that is he is trying to have it both ways. he said months ago the president says he is a christian, then he walks it back. he comes this weekend talking about phony theology and that he's against the values of the church, then he goes on a sunday show, walks it back. he says black people and food stamps, then he says no, i said blah people. walks it back. there's a pattern here that he is trying to play on the fears and divisions of americans and then try to act like a statesman on sunday morning. and i think he's continuing to get caught in this. if he's going to take a position, take it, stand by it, but don't keep trying to play with the public. and you can't in my opinion, you can't play with the terms theology. theology is what it is. we can have different opinions, different facts. the fact is theology is about someone's religion and faith, it is not about somebody's policies and politics. >> i want to show everybody. we have rick santorum peeking live in steubenville ohio as he is on the campaign trail. reverend, in the last hour, rick santorum shifted from the theology discussion to ideology. take a listen. >> ridiculous. what they have done, i referred to it the other day, got criticized by some of our less than arrow diet members of the national press corps. we elevate, look at this ideology of the earth, if you will. and why is it above the interest of man? whereas we all know that man has a responsible of stewards of the earth. >> all right. there's rick santorum, talking about this earlier. here we are. we are members of the national media. we get to talk about this. let's talk about is he being a candidate that's basing his presidential hopes on the book of genesis or the declaration of independence or is it a combination of both? >> well, i think he is trying to say that he's basing it on the book of genesis when he says bible based. well, what about those, i'm a baptist minister, practiced and believed in my religion. what about those that don't agree. this is not a thee objecting ris ee, this is a democracy. can we have someone that's running as a candidate in what he feels should be a thee objecting ris ee, be the steward of a democracy, i think that's something he has to deal with. >> it is working against mitt romney. let's look how he is doing in gallup tracking poll. this on the campaign trail where rick santorum has 36%, mitt romney 28%, newt gingrich at 13%. how do you think this translates from the primary to the general? >> i think that it helps him in the primaries because you have a very conservative right wing base. i think it devastates him in the general if he's the nominee. i think that's why the republican establishment that were afraid of gingrich last month are absolutely terrified of santorum because the more he runs to that, he alienates independents, moderate republicans, less known democrats. no one is ready to make this a thee objecting ris ee. >> mitt romney having a hard time getting to the right of a candidate like rick santorum, he has a big speech coming up at ford field, a major speech. to see if they go big, go home? >> if he has the capacity to go big, he should. i'm beginning to wonder if he has that capacity. go home might be the only option if he blows it this time. >> i want to switch gears while we have you to talk about what we witnessed over the weekend, watching the services for whitney houston who was laid to rest. you were at those services. a lot has been discussed about the fact that bobby brown left. you've got the inside scoop on that. >> i mean, when i got there, i was preaching a funeral earlier, so i was a little late. when i got there, bobby brown, we were in the pastor's study, and that he was leaving, felt disrespected. i called him on his cell phone and talked to him. he said i only came to show love and respect. this was my wife. this is my daughter, bobbi kristina. i think that he did what was respectful. i think the family didn't even know about it. when i talked to cissy houston, whitney's mother, they didn't know he had been there. i think a lot was blown up. i think people ought to leave bobby alone. bobby has an obligation to his daughter, he should be there with his daughter, and i think he was right to give respects to whitney, and i think that everyone is trying to make -- this is not about tabloids, this is about family pain and grief, and i think people should be allowed to grieve. >> it is reported he had an entourage. you say it was his kids. >> it was kids. she was his kids' stepmother. of course they would want to be there. these are his kids. what entourage? i think all of this was driven by tabloid and security. this was not the houston family and bobby. cissy houston i think was one of the most dignified funeral services i have seen. >> it was real. reverend al sharpton. remind you, more on the state of 2012, the race tonight on "politics nation." thanks again. >> thank you. turn back to the 2012 race with minneapolis mayor, rt rye back. nice to see you this morning. i want to play for everybody robert gibbs' response to santorum comments we hadn't heard over the weekend. take a listen. >> i can't help but think that those remarks are well over the line. it is wrong, destructive. it makes it virtually impossible to solve the problems we all face together as americans. >> so when newt gingrich had his surge, the dnc, re-election team, they barely noticed. now the former press secretary is taking direct shot at rick santorum. is he filling some of the room reserved for attacks on governor romney now? >> what he's doing actually is continuing the personal attacks own the president, his lidge and culture that happened since the beginning. he hasn't been distracted by that. we are in michigan, folks. we should be talking about the fact the president saved the auto industry. that's leadership. rick santorum says he is basing his stuff on the book of genesis. i think it is the book of mark, which is the clueless use of faith to separate people, and it is why he got drummed out of pennsylvania because he was simply unable to stay away from social issues. right now, we need a president that's laser focused on job and job creation, that's barack obama, who also happens to be a person of faith, but does not use it to separate people as rick santorum does. rick santorum has been saying nutty stuff out there. i think we ought to talk about jobs. >> let's switch gears, talk about the economy. there's this frustration that with such good economic news in the past few months that social issues are playing a big role. then if there is a possibility we see arise in this country and in the unemployment rate, could the two topics intertwine, snowball to hurt the president politically? >> i think the most important thing is that the american people get the fact they have a president who has not been distracted by craziness on the outside and stayed focused on jobs. when you look at the results, that's what people look at in november. they're going to look at the fact that this president has stood up for middle class americans to get a tax cut while the republicans were trying not to do it. he stood up for investing in communities when the republicans were trying not to, and i think the importance is with all of the craziness going on in the republican party now, thank god we have a president, and let's hope we also get a new congress that's not going to get distracted by all this stuff that has nothing to do with putting americans to work, which is what the president is doing. >> if mitt romney loses in michigan, he is behind rick santorum in the latest poll, does the dnc and obama re-election team make a shift towards pointing out the santorum political problems? >> you know, it's always a tough question because the thing we want to be talking about is the thing that's most important, which is jobs. when people say crazy things, you have to call them into account. i think one of the things is that they've had a free ride for a long time. when the president walked in and was dealing with an economy in crisis, the republicans said their number one job was to stop the president. now they can't stop him on his good economic records, they're going to try to throw this other stuff. you bet we'll hit back, but we're also going to continue to layout the positive message of the president. i think that's the key. >> great to see you this morning. thank you. >> thank you. despite stepping down as co-chair, mitt romney's state campaign, the arizona sheriff and gop congressional candidate paul bab u says he is on the ticket. this follows that he threatened to deport a former boyfriend if that man went public with their relationship. fab u, known anti-immigration figure denied the allegations while acknowledging in fact he is gay. >> i am here to say that all the allegations in one of the newspapers are absolutely, completely false, except for the issues that refer to me as being gay. because that's the truth. >> daniel wick ee, reporter for the arizona republican joins me. romney is leading arizona 48% in the latest poll. will this hurt romney in terms of him losing family value vote, some say he will lose at his own congressional run? >> i don't think it is going to hurt romney. kind of the national coverage of the sheriff issue has focused on romney, but in arizona, it is a bigger story, and mostly focusing on the sheriff himself who had been a rising star in republican politics in arizona. >> when you say a rising star, because he had a hardcore anti-immigration stance, in addition to backing mitt romney, has been a vocal critic of the obama administration. we have seen him in ads with john mccain, they have a political relationship. how have the allegations effected the fact he supports at all. >> a lot of viewers remember him from build the damn fence ad by sarah palin. it is hard to get a feel for how supporters are reacting. story broke late friday, and it broke over the weekend, and today is a holiday, so it's hard to get a real feel. his campaign is insisting supporters have overwhelmed him with their, you know, support and backing and encouragement. >> and the big story here is not that this man is gay, it is the fact he was in a relationship with an immigrant who he allegedly threatened to deport if that relationship made its way to the press, now that it has. >> it is an abuse of power story. >> prior to all of this happening, dan, have you avoided discussing his private life, taking any sort of public stance on gay rights or for the lgbt community? however, this is what he is saying saturday. i can be a supporter and get out there and help articulate as we progress as culture and society that there should be individual liberties and freedoms, for any other person to define somebody else's relationship and say it is not okay, that is not who we are as americans. so given those comments, given the fact that we're looking at what is a potential political hypocrite, big time, how does someone like that turn things around for his own campaign, because he is staying in the race for the congressional run. >> right. he previously, you know, his position was sort of like his personal life and his professional life as sheriff, there was no real nexus between them. now that he's running for congress, he's going to have to deal with a lot of the gay rights issues, and he's running in a very tough republican primary, rural arizona district that's dominated by the gop. so i think he's got a lot of political challenges on that front ahead of him. how he wants to articulate his positions on these issues. now he can't avoid them. >> arizona political reporter, dan no wick ee. thanks for joining me. appreciate it. >> thanks. gas prices are at an all-time high for this time of year, and expected to go even higher. how the pain at the pump could cause pain for the president. and three expert skiers killed in an avalanche in washington, a fourth one survives. her amazing story coming up. how about we make a big change for just a little money? 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if your bank takes more money than a stranger, you need an ally. ally bank. no nonsense. just people sense. welcome back, everybody. united nations inspectors are getting a closer look at iran's nuclear program today, hoping to meet with scientists and tour military facilities during the two day trip. iran dropped a number of pre-conditions regarding the nuclear program, paving the way for possible talks with u.s. and european officials. but the iranian regime is responding to tough sanctions from european union by cutting off oil exports to france and great britain. a decision that could lead to a spike in gas prices globally. president obama's popularity has risen with good economic news, but there may be political concern around the corner with those rising gas prices. right now, the price for regular gas is driving up towards 3.60 a gallon. up nearly 20 cents from last month, 40 cents in the past year, with no real signs of slowing down. alisa menendez, host of powerplay on sirius xm radio. and susan, ladies, nice to have you on. republicans need something to politically arm themselves with in the face of good american economic data, and the constant source for concern for everyday americans is perfect for him now. how big a problem could this end up being for the white house, talking political pocketbook politics. >> it does feel like déjà vu. if you remember back to 2008 gas issues dominated the summer gas prices. they didn't end up mattering as much when november rolled around. prices had dropped. as you said, not surprising republicans are focusing on gas prices. it is a good issue for them. unfortunately rather than opening this up for a conversation about america's long term energy independence, they're having a conversation that's predicated on nonrealities. right now, domestic oil production is at an eight year high. the obama administration is actually opened up domestic oil production at the same time they have been talking about our long term energy independence future. republicans want to act as though rising gas prices only have to do with domestic oil production and it is simply not true. >> but numbers don't lie. that's what people see when they go to the pumps. they don't know the back story, just know what they're paying out of pockets or when they swipe a credit card. want to read this tweet from nate silver. gas prices fell by $1.53 in the final months of the 2008 campaign. did not really help the incumbent party. is this less a political factor than we make it out to be? >> i think it is a significant political factor, when you look at today and the middle east, for voters, they feel the economy may be coming back, it is a fragile situation. now they're going to pumps in coming months and pay more than they have for gas. i don't see prices going down like they do in october, given those situations it will go up and that will be a big political issue. >> it is a constant reminder for people filling up around the country. international issues factor into prices. recent actions from iran, horrible winter in europe, increased global demand, could the president's re-election chances be not undone, i mean, that's a hard term, but by these factors out of his purview, especially if the perception is completely different? >> i think that's where this comes down to his ability, his campaign's ability to communicate effectively on this issue, on these issues. i think there are a variety of factors. right now, as you said, you're seeing the president doing incredibly well, favorability rising in polls, in part because of passing the payroll tax cut, in part because unemployment numbers dropped. gas prices will be something they need to talk about, but it exists in a much larger basket of issues. i think he maintains some semblance of control over these things. as long as he can communicate effectively about what he is able to control and what he is not able to control, i think he'll do just fine in november. >> susan, for the right, it is a conversation that can be monopolized to their benefit when you talk about rick santorum and mitt romney talking about gas prices, which way they're going and the direction for the country. don't they also besides talking about the american people, what they will do, their plan to make it better if they were in office? >> they absolutely do need to do that. in 2010, the democrats had a problem proving what would have happened or what could have happened. when americans are faced with high gas prices from october, that's what they're going to feel. they're not going to listen to any explanation, whether or not it is in the president's control or not. republicans never miss an opportunity to blow a good situation, unfortunately, it seems like this campaign cycle, so could it end up going too far? perhaps. >> susan del percio, alicia, thank you for being here. two different avalanches in washington state this weekend. another skier is living to tell her story. frank, instead of scratching your way to retirement, get on e-trade. set up a real plan. frank! oh wow, you didn't win? i wanna show you something... it's my shocked face. [ gasps ] [ male announcer ] get a retirement plan that works... at e-trade. slopes became death traps. trapped more than a dozen skiers, thousands of feet down a mountainside. one described her experience on the "today" show. >> don't get me wrong, it's not like you're taking an inner tube ride down some snowy field. you are definitely in the avalanche, and