>> look, i was an independent during the time of reagan/bush. >> romney, romney chose the democrats. but now he tells us trust me, i'm a conservative. . massachusetts moderate mitt romney, he'll say anything to win, anything. and just like john kerry. he speaks french too. >> bon jour -- >> he's still a massachusetts moderate, and a moderate cannot beat barack obama. >> bon jour. good morning, everyone, it's friday the 13th. with us onset, we have the former governor of pennsylvania and nbc news political analyst ed rendell. good to see you, ed. and we have msnbc and "time" magazine political analyst mark haleprin. hi, mark. >> hi. >> how are you? >> it's your turn now. >> i know one phrase -- cheese burger. >> you and me right here. >> and they call us ugly americans. >> welcome to "morning joe." >> there's two. >> i thought you were a hot dog man. >> you and me, we'll go to the left bank with an interpreter. and with hamburgers. >> we'll go with mitt. >> maybe we can help him out. >> it's friday. >> yes, it is. >> we have another full day. >> what do you think about newt gingrich attacking mitt romney for being able to speak french? >> i think it's silly. i think they're desperate. it's really good sometimes to be bilingual or trilingual? isn't it good that your candidate's smart? knows the world? is that somehow bad? somehow not american enough? >> i don't know. i don't know. i mean -- >> is this like the mandarin thing? you're going to criticize that? >> oh, gosh, no. i wish i could speak french. >> i love the french. >> mark haleprin, this is just a small part of newt's problems. he has put himself inside of a cave. and he's got the entire bolivian army, republicans left or right ready to fire. and he's going to -- his political career's going to end up like butch cassidy and the sun dance kid. there's no way out. he's -- the only people supporting newt's attack on private enterprise on free markets are newt, rick perry, and sarah palin. >> richard trumpka also. >> the only three are rick perry, newt gingrich, and again sarah palin, which just shows you how ideologically unmoored she's always been. >> he's got other attacks he can engage in, a lot in that ad. and i suspect he may try to play down the bain stuff. but the bain stuff will continue by his super pac and others for sure. >> i mean, for anybody who really understands what private equity does, this is just, governor, a real surprise. you were a progressive, a former democratic mayor and governor. but you know people in private equity. and they don't get paid by destroying companies and firing people. they get paid by turning companies around. and making profits. this is free market 101. and how shocking that newt gingrich doesn't seem to understand this. >> well, i agree, joe. although i'd like to see polling. i wonder if newt actually polled whether this whole attack on corporate raiders, corporate vultures resinates at all with republican voters. >> no. >> your guess is no? then why is he doing it? >> well, but the thing is you just said corporate vultures. you know private equity firms are not corporate vultures. >> agreed. but we have an expression in politics, you say it often enough, someone's going to believe you. >> isn't it fascinating, though? these guys, rick perry, newt gingrich, and i'll add sarah palin to it. the people that have been blasting barack obama as a socialist that doesn't understand the free market system are so willfully ignorant of the free market system of free enterprise, of capitalism. private equity, again, it's not guys on wall street who create fake financial instruments that they can move around the world in the speed of light. private equity people are on the front line of capitalism. they are the people that take a company that is dying and turn it around. there are gao government reports that talk about how private equity firms create jobs. and yet newt gingrich, rick perry, and sarah palin don't seem to understand that. >> and the interesting thing is, if you don't have private equity, capital's going to have to come from somewhere. the government. so there's a little bit of a choice. most private equity firms are as you said interested in turning companies around. they're interested in taking a company that's a "c," "c" plus. they have to make it grow. >> if you don't make money -- >> right. >> -- mika, from this company, then you don't first pay off the workers and then pay off the creditors and then make -- there's a line. before the private equity group can make money, you've got to pay off the investors. and then you've got to make enough of a profit that you can take your cut off of it. again, it's a fundamental -- i don't think that newt gingrich and rick perry and sarah palin don't understand it, i think they're just demagoguing. >> the amazing thing too, the super pac ad, it's not directly from gingrich's campaign, but his super pac ad yesterday goes further and makes what he would've called a week or a month ago the class warfare argument. people laid off by bain capital talking about mitt romney having 15 houses and shiny cars and wearing a top hat -- >> and a monicle. >> well, gingrich and rick perry have spent their careers getting contributions from people who have made money in private equity, who have made money in wall street. who have made money in the rough and tumble of a capitalist system. and guess what? that's why the system works because there are ups and downs. there are rough -- like we've been talking around this table about the 1%, the rich getting richer, the poor getting poorer, the disconnect between wall street and main street where you can make money on wall street and still hurt main street. that's not what private equity is. private equity goes to main street. they make money for turning a business around that is headed towards bankruptcy. they're not creating some esoteric financial instruments. if they go to pizza hut and pizza hut is failing, which bain capital did and they turn it around and make a profit, then everybody gets rich and more people get hired. if they go to staples and create that out of thin air, turn it around, everybody gets rich. mark, again, i'm shocked. this has become the center of the campaign. we have democrats and sarah palin -- well, republicans i guess they're republicans, but they're talking like -- not even democrats. steve rattner, ed rendell and other democrats who understand how the world works says nothing wrong with bain capital. that's private equity. that's how you get main street working. >> did you see anything in that romney attack ad that wasn't about bain that you thought might be effective instead of this? >> oh, my god. well, we went over it yet. all i would do is show mitt romney saying that he wasn't a ronald reagan -- he wasn't a reagan conservative, he wasn't a republican, show him saying that he would fight like hell to defend abortion in massachusetts, saying he would fight like hell to defend gay marriage talking about gun control. that's the stupidity of this attack. if you just run those arguments. you take 15 points off of mitt romney in south carolina. >> joe, one last thing on bain capital. the best defense is roll out on the people they invested in. they were the sports authority, they were like you said, pizza hut. these are companies that americans can relate to. it's nothing that's not voodoo, not black magic. >> mitt romney spent part of his time yesterday trying to fend off these attacks that his work at bain led to thousands of americans losing their jobs. >> i think any time a job is lost, it's a tragedy. for the family, for the individual that loses a job, it's just devastating. and every time that we invested in the business it was to try and encourage that business to have ongoing life. the idea of making a short-term profit actually doesn't really exist in business because no one wants to buy something or buy stock in a company that's just going to be a short-term success. you want it to be long-term. >> with the renewed focus on jobs, romney's trying to pivot the attention away from his own record. >> he's been president for three years. what's his jobs plan? what's his program to get america back to work? i have my plan. oh, they're very critical of my plan, of course, but he doesn't have one. so come up with your own, mr. president, isn't it about time? with all of these people out of work that you come up with a plan. >> smart strategy for the front-runner? >> i think it is a smart strategy. >> just ignore him and move on. >> and focus on barack obama. >> yeah, the front runner may be holding his fire against fellow republicans. but his deep-pocketed supporters are not. the super pac restore our future has a new ad up in south carolina and florida taking aim at newt gingrich who is leading the charge against romney's record as a businessman. >> reporter: newt gingrich's attacks are called foolish, out of bounds, and disgusting. newt attacks because he has more baggage than the airlines. newt was fined $300,000 for ethics violations, took $1.6 million from freddie mac, and co-sponsored a bill with nancy pelosi that would've given $60 million a year to a u.n. program supporting china's brutal one child policy. don't be fooled by newt's attacks. restore our future is responsible for the content of this message. >> the bain capital attacks led by gingrich and perry have helped romney gain support from key business leaders. the president of the chamber of commerce says he's disappointed with the intramural carrying on of the republican party. and compared to fingernails on the chalk board. >> he was a perry supporter, he's now a romney supporter. >> wynn is completely throwing his weight behind mitt romney. it's a big hit for perry who is trying to reframe the issue as a critique against washington. >> i love capitalism. i mean free market capitalism in the state of texas has created over 1 million jobs. we understand how capitalism needs to work, but this corrupt and fraudulent activity that's been going on in washington, d.c. between them and wall street has to stop. and we have to have a president that will stand up and say we're going to put deregulators in place that do the job. >> what do you think? >> i think willie geist and i are right that if you want to understand life, you've got to understand the godfather. and what does michael say at a pivotal point, willie? you never let your enemies make you angry. and mitt romney got inside of newt gingrich's head and he completely lost it. he could be using this $5 million to make himself the conservative alternative in south carolina. instead he's trying to dry mitt romney with a bizarre attack that's just not going to work. >> and it happened -- >> and it's going to destroy his political career. >> it happened in iowa when the super pac started going in the week or two before. it wasn't that long ago that newt gingrich was riding high. the super pacs came out, started attacking him. he completely melted down in iowa. and by the way, rick perry in that clip, that's a completely different argument than the bain capital one. he's talking about separating wall street from washington, d.c. totally valid, sort of looks like he's drifting a way from bain capital. >> he's over. unlike these other people, he's got to go back to texas and govern. can you imagine how uncomfortable he'll be going back in wearing the michael moore cap the next time he's got a bunch of texas oil men standing around staring at him. you did what in south carolina, rick? you did what? private equity? what? we didn't vote for you to talk like this and embarrass us. and turn on capitalism, to attack free enterprise. >> wow. >> and for what? for 5% in south carolina? 8%? whatever he gets. >> he's not going to even get that. >> who do you think actually goes on to florida? >> santorum at this point. >> so you think in florida it's almo almost one-on-one? >> not yet. rick perry's got to quit, newt's going to keep going. he's selling books now. where's he going? >> i know it's going to make me sound crazy again, but i think newt has a chance to do this. >> not be the nominee. but be the story out of south carolina. >> i would have agreed with you before these attacks went up. guess what? he just walked across the bridge and burned it. i will tell you as a republican, newt gingrich has done more to unite the republican party right now by these bain capital attacks than anybody since ronald reagan went to the wall and said mr. gorbachev, tear down this wall. i'm serious, when you have rush limbaugh and rudy giuliani and jim demint and moderate republicans and liberal republicans and conservative republicans, basically everybody but sarah palin, rick perry, and newt gingrich -- >> sarah palin on the other side of it. >> right. saying this -- newt, it's over. it is over. >> it's too bad, i was kind of enjoying it. >> no, it really is. if i can say, it is too bad. because newt gingrich -- >> for different reasons. >> for me it's too bad because newt gingrich, i think as much as anybody could put together a great argument as to why republicans need to be in power. he's done it before, he can do it again. this is undisciplined. it proves again that he is unmoored ideologically and i do think it's a shame. because boy, when he's focused and on message, there are few people better than newt gingrich. >> it was very helpful to the obama reelection campaign is the way i look at it. but you're right too about that. up next, mike allen joins us on the set with the politico playbook. we'll also ask about him his appearance last night on steve colbert but first, let's go to bill karins with the weekend forecast. bill, we're ready for the weekend. >> yes, we are, and we're ready for the cold air to return to many areas of the northeast. yesterday, we got 5 inches of snow in chicago, biggest snow of the year for you. we're watching that cold air and that snow heading into western new york. pittsburgh with snow showers, careful driving anywhere the ohio valley. get ready in areas like new york city, that cold air is on the way. right now the windchill in pittsburgh is 3, right now 43 in new york. your temperatures are going to pl plummet. as far as today goes, temperatures drop, and there will be snow squalls out there. middle of the country is very cold. but you are dry. as we go to the weekend, snow showers in the midwest and the great lakes. and if anywhere's going to see some snow, maybe the pacific northwest, maybe seattle could see some snow by sunday. looks like the worst of the weather will be this morning heading to the great lakes and new england. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. is it fast? 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[ male announr ] the security of a jetta. one of nine volkswagen models named a 2012 iihs top safety pick. ♪ got you in a stranglehold, baby ♪ ♪ [ multiple sounds making melodic tune ] ♪ [ male announcer ] at northrop grumman, every innovation, every solution, comes together for a single purpose -- to make the world a safer place. that's the value of performance. northrop grumman. let me take the hammer to you for a second. okay. you're one of those washington insiders, aren't you? >> i'm from california. >> you were from california. now you're somebody who is so invested in the machinations of washington, d.c., i believe that this year people don't want to hear that. >> here's the thing. >> people want to hear the real story. >> hammer, hammer -- >> the people want to hear the stories from little towns -- >> that's right, and you do need to know what's going on in the real america which contrasts with this studio or -- >> this is the real america, isn't it, ladies and gentlemen? >> how about that? mike allen last night on colbert. >> very cool, mike. >> he joins us in new york city, mr. mike allen. a look at the "playbook." how was it? >> it was super fun. they say just don't be funny. they say we have comedy writers, we want you to talk about the campaign. it was good advice. >> there was a big show not just because mike allen was on the show, but stephen colbert made a huge announcement. he's jumping in in south carolina. >> oh, my goodness. >> it's big. >> he's exploring whether to explore, and it's a new way for him to pull back the curtain on this process. he's ridiculing the election laws by these different -- we did politico's jonathan martin who like stephen colbert is a graduate of hampton city college did a snap analysis of stephen colbert's chances. and they're dim. john says he's already at a ceiling of about 5%, could go to 6% with all of these free media. it will do well in college towns along the coast. clemson -- >> charleston. how about the citadel? not so much. >> not so much. >> we're going to play some more of that clip. let's get to your lead story on politico saying the fractured right will help mitt romney in south carolina. >> yeah, joe, i hate to tell you, like florida, we're not going to get to have fun in florida. it's looking now like mitt romney will go 3-0. political reporters in south carolina now believe strongly mitt romney's going to win and it's because it's the same john mccain playbook because the right is fractured. he'll win that moderate coastline we're talking about. the right will carve up the upstate, and mitt romney's headed to a big win there. something we would've not predicted a couple of weeks ago. >> you know, it's so interesting you -- you look on "politico," look at the front of the "new york times" and the "times" is talking about how the super pacs who really have helped mitt all along continue to help him because a lot of these conservative candidates wouldn't have left iowa as john weaver said if they didn't have the super pacs. but the super pacs keep perry, keep gingrich, keep santorum in the race. and they keep dividing up, the 75% of the conservative vote. >> something that i didn't realize at the time was a super pac was -- helped make santorum viable in the first place. you're absolutely right. he would've not have had that iowa surge. so the super pacs really are redrawing the race as we predicted they would, but at a slightly different way. they're giving these candidates a longer life. one of the reasons that speaker gingrich got so much attention for his threats about bain was that we knew there was a super pac going along with it. now they seem to be -- they all seem to be pulling back. the gingrich super pac went up with a positive ad. romney now is -- the romney super pac now wants to finish off rick santorum, "politico's" reporting this morning they're going up -- >> now hitting santorum. >> hitting santorum for his votes on the debt ceiling and on earmarks. >> there you go. >> within the primary, though, has romney won the bain capital argument? is that over. we know we'll hear about it later in the general, but is that right? >> expressing republicans do not like it. but the obama campaign is already picking up on it. today, stephanie cutter is out with a memo spelling out all of these arguments, picking up on arguments and saying free enterprise won't be on the ballot, mitt romney will. and so they're using this opportunity to start going after his business reputation. >> i'll tell you what, ed rendell, if i'm running against you and i know you wouldn't do it. but if you had barack obama's record of having to expand the government in your mind because of bad economic times and you've been faulted for 3 1/2 years for not understanding private enterprise, if i'm mitt romney, i want you to attack me. because what i can do in the debate is turn to you and go, barack obama, you're just proving my point. you don't und