do you see fear? >> we never need an excuse for a good party. christmas comes early. we begin just 25 days until the iowa caucuses and the presumptive republican naum anyway grinning like the gingrich that stole christmas. the jingle bells keep ringing for newt gingrich in iowa. just today a new "des moines register" poll show iowa republicans super jazzed about the rise of newt. 44% say they're very enthusiastic about voting for gingrich. 13 points up on ron paul, 16 points up on romney. now, if caucus-goers' hearts are swelling with red-blooded love nor newt, some establishment figures are not so sure. "new york times" conservative columnist david brooks write of gingrich today.

he has every negative chargt trait that conservatives associates with '60s excess. nar simple, self-righteousness, self-indulgence and intempance. as nearly everyone that worked with him knows, he would severely damage conservativism and the republican party if nominated. boy, merry christmas to you, too. the "wall street journal" peggy noonan writes, he will continue to lose to his number one long-time foe, newt gingrich. he's a human hand grenade who walks around with his hand on the pin saying, watch this. you know what else he likes to say? buy this, indeed. newt was supposed to have a book signing just this afternoon at hudson books in washington's union station. sadly it was canceled due to security concerns for the huge crowd that was expected. too bad. who knows? maybe he would have worn a santa suit. after all, he's not selling books to make money.

no, he's giving the gift of his cultural knowledge. quote, i am a cultural teacher with a political campaign to change a government. that's how i see myself. yes, there's that self-righteousness brooks was talking about, but wait. if gingrich is at work in washington, who is out there defending his ground against establishment critics in the heartland? well, none other than conservative carol leader rush limbaugh. suddenly singing newt's praises. >> the establishment of the republican party is doing their best to take gingrich out. you gave us people that won't fight with us. you given us people that won't go after obama or the democrats. we're not doing it your way this time. >> cue frank sinatra. they're doing it newt's way.

there's one other man with good reason for cheer. president obama winning hearts and minds in the battle over the payroll tax extension and flexing his national security muscle in the face of his republican foes. plenty to be thankful for indeed. >> while it is not yet hanukkah, let's give thanks for our blessings, for being together to celebrate this wonderful holiday season, and we never need an excuse for a good party. >> indeed. let's bring in our feel good friday panel with us from washington. democratic strategist julian epstein and political analysts and former dnc communications director karen finney as well as cnbc chief washington correspondent john harwood. julian, are these criticisms of newt solely coming from elite columnists? republican voters seem to be saying they like him, they love him, and they'll vote for him. >> for now, yes. the irony here is that newt is

the first establishment candidate, and he really is an establishment candidate who is hated by the establishment. why is that? mostly because they've seen this play before. newt is very good at one thing. he's very good at being the voice of insurrection for angry white men. when it comes to governing, we know two things about him. one, is he can't govern and two is he loses support of his followers and the people closest to him. he's been on the national ballot twice. he was on the national ballot in 1996 when clinton ran for re-election. it was a very conscious effort by the clinton campaign to run against the dull gingrich congress and he they won. in 1998 during the midterms, the first time the party in the white house picked up five or six seats during the meelgdz of an impeachment. he was on the national ballot both times. he showed he could not win independents but lost a lot of closest supporters. that's why the elite see real

problems here. >> gingrich was described yesterday by untrustworthy by john sununu. a romney supporter has a new ad out genz gingrich. take a look. >> newt has a ton of baggage, like the fact gingrich was fined $300,000 for ethnics violations or he took $1.6 million from freddie mac just before it helped cause the economic meltdown. then there's the $37 million gingrich took from health care and industry groups. on the issues newt's been on all sides. >> even today romney told reporters he doesn't take responsibility for the super pac ad. which is it? does mitt attack him -- i'm sensing another little mitt flip. >> this is why campaigns have surrogates to go out there, you know, say the things you don't want your candidate to say so your candidate stays above the fray and stays positive if you will. i think what it will come down

to tomorrow night on the stage and we've seen this movie play itself out before. if you want to go ahead with hard comments and at that tacks, romney has to show on the stage he can be just that tough with gingrich because that will not only help mitt romney in the flip-flopper. he's weak, he's not tough numb. they made the argument of who is can stand up to barack obama. if he can't stand up to newt gingrich, that will do a real disservice. >> he has a real problem. newt can laugh off the criticisms from the republican power brokers, but he's set to face a man, the president, who will amass a billion dollar re-election campaign. he needs, does he not, the financial backing of the republican establishment. >> he will if he gets the nomination, and he'll get it if he's the nominee. he's not worried about barack obama. he's savoring this unlikely rise

he has. you mentioned the debate tomorrow night. it's fascinating because mitt romney is fighting from behind and significantly behind. not just nationally but in iowa, south carolina, in florida. newt gingrich is is drawing closer to mitt romney in new hampshire. newt gingrich is alarming terribly the republican establishment, but the republican grassroots has found somebody who as you alluded to earlier can articulate their case against president obama in a sharper and more cutting way than mitt romney can. he's going to ride this wave as long as he can. >> the president, though, is beginning to look formidable, isn't he? there are some signs of economic recovery. there's a small uptick in his approval ratings, and that happens after almost every debate. he's talking tough and has momentum on his side. and now the spectrum of newt gingrich as an opponent, is that

a cause for celebration. >> no matter who the nominee is, we're good at snatching victory at the end. we have to do our work. the president is looking much stronger. here's the other part of it. the republicans make it easy because they draw a very bright line in the sand contrast between do you want middle class americans to get a tax cut on or the wealthy to get a tax cut? that's the very stark contrasts i think we will see between a newt gingrich and president obama. if it is newt gingrich, i personally welcome the opportunity to take him down yet again having been part of it in the '90s. we can't take anything for granted. >> julian, we're getting word of newt gingrich in a cable interview that he says palestinians are an invented people with no apparent rights to their own state, an answer

that surprised even the questioner who called it something he'd only heard among the far right of the jewish community. this is, of course, against president bush and president obama and raises the question of mr. gingrich saying simply inflammatory to appeal to voters again. >> this is a cheap way to give catnip to the base. newt gingrich has about as much message discipline and thriftiness as charlie sheen. the point that karen made is exactly the point, which is that obama is getting a bump in the polls. it's more than a couple points. in the summer he was down in the gallup poll i by 15 percentage points. the difference right now is closer to 7 points, so there is a -- there is a 5 to 10 point bump. it's based on two things. one is the circus factor.

voters look at this republican primary field and it looks like a kir cuss. president obama looks very presidential compared to what's going on in the republican side. he's flipped the script on them on tax cuts for the middle class. so, i mean, the republican primary voters have been wonderful to us this season. you want them to have a t-shirt that says, i'm in love with stupid. they start off with michele bachmann, who is an empty suit and go to rick perry who sounds like the rain man when he's debating. they go to herman cain who is a con man, and now they go to gingrinewt gingrich who is a retread. all of them have hurt the republican brand. we really, really thank these republican activists. they are doing more work than brillia brilliant strategists like karen can do for the republican party. >> hey. >> john, you asked that question of rick perry in that debate and brilliantly pursued him until he

was incapable of giving a response. how do you think he's going to do tomorrow? you were close up to him and stsaw it real time? >> another romney campaign and some others watching the race think that the fire is out dwen actively for rick perry. he has money and is advertising a bit, and the question is going whether this latest play toward conservative christians give him more traction. it's not clear in an environment in which newt gingrich has emerged so robustly as the alternative to romney, there's any room to get back into it. >> indeed. john harwood, karen finney and julian epstein. thank you, and have a great weekend. >> you, too. next, republicans refuse to budge on a deal to keep $1,000 in the pockets of 160 million americans. merry christmas, baby. looking good! you lost some weight.

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congress is scheduled to leave town for the holiday recess last week, but the president said nobody should pack their bags just yet. if there's not an agreement on extending the payroll tax holiday mr. obama said he won't travel to hawaii with his family. >> i just want to send a message to the senate. we are not giving up on this. we're going to keep on going at it. we are not going to allow politics as usual on capitol hill to stand in the way of american consumers being protected by unscrupulous financial operators. we're going to keep on pushing on this issue. >> despite the strong words, a partisan solution remains

elusive after two more bills failed in the senate on thursday. house republicans continue to insist that controversial -- the controversial keystone pipeline project should be part of any deal. congresswoman sheila jackson-lee is a democrat from texas, and i'm delighted to say she joins us live from houston. good afternoon, ma'am. >> good afternoon. martin, thank you for having me. >> it's a great pleven for us. the president said in this matter is not resolved then 160 million americans will see their tax bills shoot upwards by about $1,000. i imagine in your con sit yent see $1,000 is not a small amount of money to an average family. >> martin, you're absolutely right. i spent the morning going to different sites to collect toys for needy children. i can assure you that the numbers in every city and hamlet around america have gone up in terms of need. unlike republican presidential candidates, these individuals

without funding, it is not their own fault. we were on the floor of the house reading letters from people who indicated i've lost a job not through the fault of my own. those who are working, this payroll tax, for example, will put 1,000 or $1500 in the pockets of 160 million americans and frankly i don't want to call a democratic proposal, martin. but a realistic proposal was proposed by the democratic senators, and it's an easy fix. it is a small percentage surtax on the top 1%, 300,000 persons not starting until 2013 and lasting only ten years. here's what the republicans want to do. they want to pretend that they are interested in helping americans by, first of all -- first of all, i don't make a negative statement or make a statement one way or another about the pipeline, but they know the president has indicated it's undergoing vigorous review

in the state department. they call that regular order and the right way to do things, approximate no one has denied the permitting at this time. it is under review. that is not something that you can throw you into an emergency initiative. second riaril secondarily, they want to cut federal employees by on 10% which will throw us into another dip of high unemployment, and they want to cut across the board. you cannot run a government in that manner. frankly, they want to ignore the 6 million people who need unemployment insurance and most economists say if they do that, they will cost the loss of 528,000 jobs. so it's a simple premise. it's a simple premise. the proposal should be categorized as democrat or republican. >> your colleague is speaking on "morning joe" today. i'm not sure if you heard this. said he might be willing however reluctantly to trade approval of the keystone pipeline in exchange for extends the payroll tax holiday.

first of all, were you surprised by a fellow congressman suggesting such a compromise? do you think that view is shared by others in the house? >> i know the heart of chairman cleaver and the congressional black caucus has been in the forefront of fighting for payroll tax cuts, unemployment benefits for the$99-ers approximaif you will. he has a bipartisan heart. none made a comment on the validity of the keystone pipeline. many would consider it in the future review as a positive step. in this instance i would make the argument that the way going forward is the simple process of the united states senate, a surtax lasting only for ten years and starting in 2013. people are willing now to almost do anything, and i understand and elm pathize with chairman

cleaver. what's happening, martin, is the republicans are in their old game of hostage taking. they have presidential candidates who say if you're broke and out of a job it's your own job and presidential front-runners say poor children should become janitors. when a thing to say during the holiday season. what i'm arguing for is for a bipartisan compromise on doing the right thing and not worrying about whether it's republican or democrat. republicans know you can't cut the federal employment base and cut across the board 10% overnight. it's an unrealistic approach. are they suggesting cutting dea agents, fbi agents, homeland security, the united states mill father? >> i don't think they've given us the details. approximate if i can ask you a final question, republicans have made it absolutely clear that they will do anything to undermine the president. do you really think that a party which claims to be obsessed with

cutting taxes may yet allow taxes to go up in their determination to injure president obama? >> martin, you have defined the mantra of the republican party, and i must say to you, it saddens me. i've lived under and worked as a member of the united states congress under republican and democratic presidents. i will tell you honestly on occasion i did work with president bush on a number of occasions, as i know republicans worked with president clinton. to have as your definition the undermining, ei am naturing taking from office you'd almost use the word destroying but i want to minimize my words, the commander in chief is a sad testimony. i would hope that we would fine in our hearts just as we welcome home our troops at the end of the month with open hearts bipartisan in every part of the nation we would recognize that 160 million people who will be impacted by the lack of a payroll tax cut and 6 million people who will be devastated by

the lack of increased or extended unemployment benefits is not the american way. martin, if i could, i'd like to make a plea on your program. to my colleagues, democrats and republicans, that we can go for the most simplest of the proposals that won't hurt anyone and begin our work in 2012 on steadfastly finding a way to boost the economy, which we've seen is growing, and to find v revenue and ways of cutting. this during this holiday season is not the appropriate way to slash and burn by offering proposals unrealistic. i'm willing for a compromise. i don't know what it might be, but i wish the republicans would stop holding us hostage on one project or another and in essence what we say in the house of representatives do the regular order on behalf of the american people. >> congresswoman, can say go the yellow ribbon initiative. thank you for allowing me to say that houston just this past week

launched which might be the first yellow ribbon initiative for a city to welcome home our troops and our effort is to ensure that every tree, every building, every place would have a yellow ribbon indicating that we are welcoming home our troops with the words welcome home troops. a job well-done. our message is we don't want to have a silent america, a silent neighborhood or block when our troops come home. let's welcome them all home, and let's say thank you. a job well-done. i hope the members of the united states congress will get back to work in the name of the american people. >> congresswoman sheila jackson-lee, here here to that and thank you very much for joining us. >> thank you for your kindness, happy holiday. >> thank you. the same to you, ma'am. the week's top lines are coming up. >> if newt gingrich were elected president, he'd find a way to cheat on the country.

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stay with us. the week's top lines are coming up. >> folks, for the record newt did not stay that because he's a lobbyist for reese's. they gave him $1.5 million because he's a well-known chocolate historian. [ male announcer ] tom's discovering that living healthy can be fun. see? he's taking his vitamins. new one a day vitacraves plus omega-3 dha is a complete multivitamin for adults. plus an excellent source of omega-3 dha in a great tasting gummy. one a day, gummies for grown-ups.

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elected a peanut farmer to be president, they elected an actor who made two movies with a cripple p chimpanzee. >> donald trump is a spokesman. when he opens his mouth and the matter flows. >> he's a small potato, fingerlings are tremendous. >> take a look. look at this beautiful bunker, okay? i got a little table here. i can pick this whole thing up. >> newt gingrich is a stupid person's idea of what a smart person looks like. >> if you want to talk about a poster child for crony capitalism, it's newt gingrich. >> he's listening to too much snop d snoop dogg. >> i'm a business guy. >> i'm sure our tone will remember you when election time comes. >> holy fireworks, look at florida. >> is he now a person mature. >> if newt gingrich were elected president, he'd find a way to cheat on the country. >> i almost called him newt

romney, which is be the ideal candidate. >> appeasement means lack of faith in america. >> osama bin laden and the 22 out of 30 top al qaeda leaders that have been taken out of the field whether i engage in appeasement for whoever is left out there. ask them about that. >> let's get right to our guests this friday. from minneapolis anna marie cox correspondent for "the guardian" and david from politico. good afternoon. we know it's been a good week for newt gingrich, but the president appears to be regaining some of his swagger as well. his landmark speech in kansas tuesday. his forceful defense of foreign policy in the briefing room yesterday, and he's winning or it would appear he's wing the message in terms of the payroll tax fight, is he not? >> he totally is winning the payroll tax fight message. i think that and the speech on tuesday showed this white house is really paying attention to the undercurrent of frustration

in the country right now. the middle class is disappearing, and it's very clear that the president wants to latch onto that and show he wants to do something about it. that's the real difference he can make in this campaign, he can show he wants to do something. the republicans are stuck in an angry and frustration mode. >> david, we know gingrich is surging in the polls, but he's been on the eastern seaboard most of the week. he was supposed to have a book signing just this afternoon. i understand it was canceled at the last minute due to safety concerns. does this front-runner have a ground game in iowa? does he need one? >> well, a quick answer is he doesn't, and he absolutely does and his campaign has basically acknowledged it needs to catch up to the polling surge that he has gone through. i mean, just last week we at politico reported he had a skeletal operation there. his campaign was on the record saying that they needed to staff up. there's one antidote that gingrich spoke at an event in

iowa and people said they were impressed with the campaign but didn't have any way to contact the campaign in that state. we're only a few weeks out from the caucuses there. that's a real problem if you're not organized in that state. >> i think it's actually 25 days. donald trump's very large-sized head took a slap today. he says he may not hold his debate in iowa now that only begin rich and rick santorum would participate. he's not very happy about it, either. take a listen to what he told don imus earlier today. >> you know who i'm very disappointed in? michele bachmann. she came up to see my four times. she'd call me and ask me for advice. she said i should be her vice presidential candidate, and after all of that she announced she won't do the debate. it's unbelievable. >> it's called loyalty? poor donald. his feelings are really hurt, aren't they, anna?

>> you know, i think the only feelings he has are for himself, so i guess it's possible for them to be hurt. obviously, flattery is the only thing that will get you anywhere. he and newt gingrich have that in common. i would love to see a debate just between newt gingrich and donald trump, although i don't know how you fit both their egos and all that hair on the same stage. i would love to see this debate go forward with rick santorum, newt gingrich and donald trump. that's great television, you have to admit. it's not a dignified march to the presidency, but none of this has been that. >> absolutely true. david, we saw rick perry's holiday mash note to school prayer and homophobia. he's in a last ditch effort to claim iowa. could ron paul actually pull that off? he's the dark horse who could ride away with it, isn't he?

>> he could. i still think he is the third place candidate in iowa right now. his campaign has clearly indicated if they're in this for the long haul, you talk about newt gingrich's operation. ron paul does have an organization in iowa for the caucuses. they're going to be in this race through super tuesday. they have signaled that. remember, ron paul has been through this before and has some of the most loyal supporters out there. you know, ron paul is most likely not going to be the nominee. everyone will agree on that. is he a factor? yes. in iowa the polling shows he shows up as the second preference of supporters of newt gingrich and mitt romney. if they tear each other up, turns off supporters, that support could go to ron paul. >> it's remarkable, david, because ron paul is the oldest candidate but he appears to have a huge following amongst young people. can you explain that, aside, of course, from his recommendation that we legalize all illegal

drugs? >> it's the libertarian streak. libertarian streak, passion, followers, and it's a double-edged sword for him because some of his views on foreign policy, a more isolationist approach. that turns off the hard core republicans and bring into the fold the younger members of the party that want government out of their lives. they don't care as much about the homosexual issues and abortion issue and want us out of iraq and afghanistan. that's what the attraction is to ron paul, especially with young people. >> finally a word today that herman cain will offer debate analysis for fox news next week. can you believe that, herman cain joining fox news so soon after he closed his campaign or suspended if? >> it is the least surprising thing about this campaign since herman cain stopped running, really. i, for one -- this is all great

televisi television, and i'm excited about it as a voter and cares about the future democracy in this country. some can be bittersweet, but i'm looking forward to it, although i wonder what kind of debate analysis herman cain can give if they deprive him of the ability to simply say 9-9-9 all over again. he needs a new script writer, but he has foeshl. >> he can revert to becky, becky, becky. anna marie cox and david, thank you so much for joining us this afternoon. >> thank you. stay with us for the week ahead in washington, d.c. the ceo of apair rel company schoolhouse. she wanted to bring jobs stateside and partnered with

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the clok is fast ticking down to the holiday recess, but on capitol hill says, of course, a recess that may not happen at all. for more on this i'm joined by mike at the white house and luke

russert from the washington bureau. luke, house speaker john boehner introduced legislation today that would extend the payroll tax cut into 2012 as you know, but is he suffering a form of hearing loss? i'm sure i heard the president say he won't accept a bill that has multiple attachments? >> that's right, martin. president obama said that he would veto any bill -- >> is speaker boehner suffering a form of hearing loss? >> i don't suspect he's suffering from hearing loss. he's trying to strengthen his negotiating hand by combining a bill that's a job creator with a bill unpopular with his conference, which is an extension of the payroll tax holiday. the keystone pipeline is an interesting issue. it's one that organized labor would like to see happen. environmentalists are against it. it puts both of the president's constituencies against each other. republicans try to exploit that. they've lost the argument last week on the payroll tax cut holiday because it's a payroll

tax cut that helps working families. they weren't on board as being with it originally. that hurt them a lot. this was really their way to strengthen their negotiating hand. they're trying to say in this bill is that the president should make a decision on the keystone pipeline within 60 days. not that it has to happen, but within 60 days. emmanuel cleaver, the head of the cbc congressional black caucus on morning joe said he might view a deal with keystone pipeline as being somewhat okay, not necessarily he would like to see a jobs bill with a payroll tax cut extension bill. it will be interesting to see how it plays out. >> to be fair to mr. cleaver, though, he was very reluctant about that, as you well know. >> correct. >> mike, we spoke yesterday about the president's robust stand at the press conference. are you hearing anything that suggests he may be prepared, he himself may be prepared to offer a compromise to get this over the line? >> martin, you know, veto is such an ugly, broodish word.

>> it's a four-letter word. >> it is indeed. the president said reject to describe the concoction the house is putting forward next week attaching that pipeline provision. today his press secretary wouldn't use the v word either. he said it means rejection, and the argument is it never gets out of the senate in the form the house plans to pass next week anyway. there's no sense issues a veto threat. there is some wiggle room here. clearly the white house refusing to be pinned down on how it's paid for, some $250 billion if this tax cut extension went through. $300 billion if there were an expansion of the tax cut. the white house not even allowing themselves to be pinned down on whether it should be paid for at all. there's a little negotiating room there. both sides want this tax cut to go through, but conventional wid dom would hold, martin, if both sides want it they're going

through histrionics now. on christmas eve they come to a deal. conventional wisdom went out the widow for the last year. >> final question to luke, if may. luke you mentioned the keystone pipeline and you know that mr. boehner knows that any nation planning such a huge project would have to give it due consideration before pushing it through. this idea of just giving the president 60 days to decide one way or the other, is that realistic? let's be frank. >> that's something a lot of democrats on capitol hill say it needs to be debated and looked at. the state of nebraska, a very red state, a lot of republicans in that state had concerns about the keystone pipeline because it went through one of the main water area used to give tons of drinking water to residents all over the state. it's an issue that needs to be examined further. a lot of people on capitol hill feel that. one last thing, we talk about how to pay for this tax cult. i went through the numbers. the republican plan as it is

today from speaker boehner would add $25 billion to the deficit because within the plan is included a small business tax credit that's not paid for. the payroll tax holiday is paid for because that could, you know, hurt social security, but there's a small business tax credit which is not paid for because republicans feel that it will allow for folks to, you know -- small businesses to keep a tax credit allowing them to hire more workers and offset it in the future. the republican bill is n the. >> thank you very much indeed. next, who is enemy number one for the gop? the answer may surprise you. first, amantd da drury has the cnbc market rap. good afternoon. >> hi there, martin. look how stocks are doing now. we're in the final 15 minutes of trade today, and we're sitting around sessions highs in what's a good rally day with the s&p 500 up by 21 points, a 185-point game for the dow.

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we we don't always see eye eye, do we, newt? >> no. but we do agree our country must take action to address climate change. >> that was republican front-runner, newt gingrich, alongside former speaker nancy pelosi in an ad sponsored by al gore in 2008. three years ago, mr. gingrich appeared to believe in man-made climate change, but that was before he ran for president and took hundreds of thousands of dollars from peabody energy. mr. gingrich now says, "i actually don't know whether global warming is occurring." this is something of a pattern throughout the gop field, and it may yet prove to president obama's benefit. for more on this, i'm joined now by tim dickinson, who covers national affairs for "rolling stone" magazine and focuses on the republican race in the latest edition of the magazine.

good afternoon, tim. >> good afternoon. >> with the economy in such dire straits, one might have assumed that this election was there for the taking. and yet you seem to be suggesting in your piece that the policies promoted by these republicans make them almost unelectable. how so? >> well, don't just take my word on this. this is a man who knows of which he speaks, pat robertson, has called the way that the republicans are tripping over themselves to the right to appeal to the base voters of the republican party a loserous game, and if they keep it up, they're going to lose the general election, because they've adopted policy positions that would give full constitutional rights to fertilized eggs that would strip the environmental protection agency of the capacity to protect children and old people from pollution, that would allow big oil and coal to sort of have their way with the american landscape, that would take away all the safeguards that were put

in place to prevent a repeat of the crisis that we saw in 2007. and even take away the safeguards that were meant to stop another enron. so we've got this, you know, chamber of commerce agenda married to some really extreme social conservative policies. and it's -- it may get some applause lines in iowa, but it's not the kind of agenda that is going to, i think, get broad support in a general election. >> you also, in the article, draw attention to their corporate tax plans. and you explain how detrimental that would be for the actual economy if any of these candidates were allowed to implement their plans. just explain that to me. >> well, the corporate stuff is -- they want to reduce the corporate rights, but they also want to move to a territorial tax system, which is sort of jargony, but the idea is that we would -- the u.s. would no longer be able to tax corporate profits abroad, and it would lead to more offshoring and, you

know, right now they have trillions stockpiled offshore and that would only be accelerated. and so, you know, american business wouldn't be for american citizens anymore. in a sense, it would be for profiting shareholders from hiring people in other countries. >> in the article, you quote mike lofgren, a former republican star for the senate budget committee, who says the crackpot outliers of two decades ago have become the vital center today. that's a pretty damning assessment from a republican insider, isn't it? >> you know, you see -- you know, we've watched this campaign, this sort of right-wing circus, where you've had people who were essentially on book tours, michele bachmanns and herman cains, and even newt gingrich -- >> well, newt gingrich has been on a book tour for the last 20 years. >> exactly. all of these people cycling throughs as the front-runners. if you look at gingrich's tax

plan for a second, a 15% flat tax, which is essentially half of what herman cain was proposing, and it doesn't get very much attention, but this would be a fiscally preposterous plan. america would be absolutely bankrupt if this was put in place. this supply-side fantasy that former treasury secretary paul o'neil said to me would be the kind of policies that would be amusing if they weren't so dangerous. >> tim dickinson of "rolling stone" magazine, thanks so much for joinin ining us. >> my pleasure. >> we'll be right back to clear the air. [ coughs ] what is this shorty? uh, tissues sir, i'm sick. you don't cough, you don't show defeat. give me your war face! raaah! [ male announcer ] halls. a pep talk in every drop.

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union in d.c., hoping that hordes of people will be signed copies of his and his wife's latest fiction. and hordes were expected. a crowd so big that the small bookstore just canceled the event. say what you like about mr. gingrich, nothing gets in the way of him making money. but there's already been some criticism of his approach. no less than jim dike, a former executive of the republican national committee says this, people who are seriously considering someone for president of the united states, i'm not sure they see the process should be beneficial to the candidate. i don't know that it presents a presidential feeling to be there pushing your own book. well, mr. dyke, you better get used to it, because if they make it all the way to the white house, then we're all going to see newtonian policies in

practice. as long as he's not in prison, tom delay, gingrich's best friend, will probably be invited back to run his personal finances, something delay was pretty good at. that was, until he was found guilty of criminal money laundering earlier this year. as for gingrich hills, it's hard to imagine that he will willingly go to schools and other public events to give speeches for free. after all, we know that mr. gingrich likes to charge $60,000 a time for every speech that he gives. now, of course, none of this may happen, but the serious point is that just as he debased the speakership and was forced to resign in the 1990s, so newt gingrich has made running for president the tackiest exercise in money making since an old guy tried to sell me the brooklyn bridge about two years ago. thanks very much for watching. dylan's here and he's in new york and he's ready for