or even when things get edgy to, to himself, a weapon of mass destruction. america needs many things but a nuclear armed newt gingrich is not one of them. that's all for "hardball." thanks for being with us. "the ed show" with ed schultz starts right now. good evening, americans. welcome to "the ed show" tonight from new york. mitt romney actually took the silver spoon out of his mouth long enough to accuse newt gingrich of being rich. oh, they're starting to scrap now. democrats hope they can sit back and just watch the gop implode, but it won't be that easy. this is "the ed show." let's get to work. he's a wealthy man. a very wealthy man. if you have a half a million dollar purchase from tiffany's, you're not a middle class american. >> the battle of the republican 1%ers is getting brutal. now it looks like the fight could drag on for months. and that helps the democrats.

bill press and joe madison are here tonight. the justice department has decided to challenge the republican effort to block the vote. "ring of fire" radio host mike papantonio is hot on the story and he's here tonight. christine o'donnell, the failed tea party senate candidate, endorsed mitt romney. now she's writing his bumper stickers. >> he's been consistent since he changed his mind. >> sounds like "psycho talk" to any. the magazine honoring protesters and their movements all across the globe. >> you could equate both of them in this article? are you kidding me? >> in "time" magazine, named their person of the year. activist jesse lagreca has a problem with the guy who almost won, and he's here to explain. good to have you with us tonight, folks. thanks for watching. republicans have a big fight on their hands and democrats hope to be the winners. mitt romney is trash talking front-runner newt gingrich all over the media.

romney questioned gingrich's credibility during an interview with "the new york times" today. >> zany is not what we need in a president. zany is great in a campaign. it's great on talk radio. it's great in the print. it makes for fun reading. but in terms of a president, we need a leader, and a leader needs to be someone who can bring americans together. a leader needs to be someone of sobriety and stability and patience and temperance. to think through issues. to be careful in the choice of words. he or she might express. because the world listen ps. >> romney continues to paint gingrich as unreliable and even a closet liberal. a new ad by the romney camp highlights the famous global warming campaign featuring gingrich and nancy pelosi. >> if enough of us demand action from our leaders -- >> together we can do this.

>> the romney camp is dispatching the candidate's wife and romney to more events on the trail. they hope she can succeed where her husband has failed, convincing republican voters he's just like them. romney is also trying to push his working man credentials by focusing on gingrich's wealth? >> he's a wealthy man. a very wealthy man. if you have a half a million dollar purchase from tiffany's, you're not a middle class american. >> all right. now, let's just get this straight here. mitt romney is pointing out the obscene wealth of his opponent? this is the same mitt romney who was photographed in an orgy of money with his friends at bain capital? this is the same guy mitt romney who was worth between, eh, $190 million to $250 million? is that wealthy? no matter how dishonest the attacks are, romney will continue them.

his campaign told politico their internal polls tells them newt gingrich is on the slide. the latest nbc news/"wall street journal" poll doesn't support the romney camp theory. it shows newt gingrich with a 17-point lead among the nation's republican voters. at the same time, gingrich has clear electability problems. he trails president obama by 11 points if an election were held today. and the numbers are similar in another new poll. showing that president obama with a 13-point lead over newt gingrich. republicans are stuck with these two candidates at the top, whether they like it or not. unless, of course, ron paul can pull off the miracle. his team says they can get to the convention and make it a brokered convention. we'll see. all great theater for months to come. if you look at the two top front-runners right now, one of them is not liked by the majority of the party and the other one is not liked by the majority of the country. the gop is looking a at the

possibility of a long drawn out primary season. obama strategist david axelrod thinks the democrats will benefit from a long republican primary? here's the quote that gets me. "the longer this race goes, the more you're going to see these republican candidates mortgage their general election campaign to try and win the nomination." mr. axelrod, you have been fantastic for president obama, but i am here tonight to blow the whistle a little bit to tell you, don't take these folks on the right wing, don't underestimate them. here's what they're doing right now. chuck knoll, former coach of the pittsburgh steelers, used have up on his chalk board an acronym, dwit. dwit. the players would say, what the heck does that mean? dwit. d-w-i-t. do whatever it takes. that's what the republicans are going to do to defeat president obama. in the long drawn-out primary battle they're going to get in,

a cat fight, whatever you want to call it, this is all part of the process. i do remember the democrats talking about how hillary clinton and barack obama went at it for months on end. it made president obama a better campaigner out on the trail. why wouldn't it do that for mitt romney or newt gingrich? know this democrats and liberals and progressives across the country, when the thing is over for republicans in march, april, may, june, or goes to the convention and gets brokered. when the republicans come out, they're going to have one thing in common. they hate this president. they want him out. they've obstructed him the last 3 1/2 years and they're not going to stop. somehow they'll find a way with this crowd across the street with the microphone and all the right wing talkers of america to get behind whoever they choose after their long drawn-out fight. they're not going to worry about what mitt said about newt in february or what newt said about mitt back in january. they're going to focus on the prize.

that is control and power in our government. and they will do whatever they have to do to remove president obama when it comes to the next election. no matter how long this fight is going to take. it's going to be great for us. and it's going to be fun to watch, but at the end, i believe that they'll all get behind one another because they want obama out. get your cell phones out. i want to know what you think. tonight's question. who does a drawn-out primary fight benefit? text "a" for the gop nominee, text "b" for president obama. to 622639. we'll bring you the results later on in the program. go to our blog at ed.msnbc.com and leave a comment as well. let's turn to my friends in the radio world, sirius xm radio talk show host joe madison, and sindh kate syndicated raid you talk show host bill press. why am i the only one with the holiday tie on? get it together. come on, now. i'm out here with the red --

>> next time, next time. >> maybe because you're at rock center, ed, where the big tree is so you have to dress up. >> that's true. they even tried to hang lights on me the other night. all right. bill, you first. is there room for the democrats to be a little optimistic because there might be a long drawn-out fight? what do you think? >> no, no way. listen, you got it right, ed. i mean, these guys have one thing in common. doesn't matter who they are. michele bachmann, rick santorum, crazy ron paul, they all have one thing in common. they hate barack obama, they're out to get barack obama. they may be fighting among themselves, but they attack obama as much as they attack each other. the whole purpose is to come up with the strongest candidates, the strongest arguments and the relentless push against obama. that's what it's all about. i think the longer it goes, the stronger they're going to be. >> joe, you know, talk about desperation. mitt romney coulter doing radio ads for him. what do you make of that? is she a draw for mitt romney?

>> whoa, i'm shocked. i wouldn't have ann coulter doing an ad for clorox. i mean, this is absolutely ridiculous, but it can't be any crazier than christine o'donnell. i mean, the o'donnell thing was, like, hilarious. let's go back to the point you made. you're absolutely right. whatever it takes. and when you consider that they're already messing around, as you're going to talk about later on, with voter suppression, whatever it takes, they're all going to come together. i'm not going to buy this argument that the tea party, well, they won't be able to make up their minds if newt doesn't get it. >> yeah. >> they hate obama -- look, this has happened since the day president obama went into office. and, ed, you're an old athlete, i'm an athlete. and you know the number one goal in any competition, the first rule, is to win.

>> that's the name of the game. >> that is the name of the game. to win. >> i think both these candidates, newt gingrich, i think mitt romney, they're going to do whatever they have to do. their going to they're going to beat each other up. newt says he's going to take the high road. >> he's a pit bull. >> he's already proven he's not taking the high road because of the pot shots he's taking against -- by the way, funny when mitt romney is attacking newt for being a wealthy man. newt is suggesting mitt ought to give his money back. the two of them -- michele bachmann had the best line saturday night when she called them newt romney. they're not going to take the high road. again, they will do whatever they do. one thing about newt, he is nasty. nasty newt. that's how he's known in washington, d.c. he was not a nice guy when he was speaker. nor since. >> so it sounds like the obama camp is hoping that the american people will view these guys, the

closer you look, the worse they get. i don't know if that's going to work or not, but these are the words voters most associate with the top two republican candidates right now. for mitt romney, it's "mormon," "no," "flip-flop" and "good." for gingrich, the four words that associate post with voters is "no," "intelligent," "old" and "conservative" based on those two things, i think it's newt gingrich who appeals to most of the republican voters. joe, what do you think. >> i don't know. all of those could very well be a negative. i find it interesting in the use of intelligence for newt gingrich, what, they're trying to say it was a positive? but when obama acts intelligence, it's a negative. no, i think what's -- i think what's happening here is the american people generally, because president obama polls

above both of them. >> sure. >> i think what is happening, it's something i always used to do with my kids. when they came home from school. i would ask them, what did the teacher teach you to think? not to believe. and what the right wing does is that they want people to believe something instead of teaching people to think. and i think the majority of the people are thinking and as they see this ridiculous -- and i get it from drivers that drive me over here. people keep asking, ed, what are they doing? who are these people? where did they come from? >> well, that brings us to the next subject here about the national poll. i mean, i don't think that the democrats should be too overconfident here. i mean, they got to put the pedal to the metal and drive hard. right now, congressional approval, it's the worst ever at 42%.

below average at 33% now, look, this might be a throw the bums out year, bill press. you never know. i mean, it doesn't matter if you got an "r" or "d" behind your name. there's been so much obstruction out there and the people are so angry and frustrated, they might just throw them all out. >> no wonder they're frustrated with congress and hats members of congress. this week, they extended the tax cuts for the wealthiest of americans. no problems, zippo, right. easy. the idea of extending the tax cuts for the 99% for working class americans and suddenly it's so complicated and hard to do and they have all these obstacles. that's why people -- here's what i think is happening, ed. number one, the media is not doing its job. >> right. >> they play it like both sides are responsible. that is bs. we know who the obstacles are. secondly, i don't think the white house is hammering these guys enough. they ought to be out there every day letting the american people know who the obstructionists are by name.

john boehner, mitch mcconnell, eric cantor. call them out. >> joe madison, bill press. you guys are great. we could go all night long. that's why you're radio talkers. it's good to have you with us. remember to answer tonight's question there at the bottom of the screen. share your thoughts on twitter. @edshow. we want to know what you think. a quick programming note. tomorrow night democratic leader nancy pelosi will be our special guest on this program, "the ed show." we'll be talking about the gop obstruction, the democrats' plan for 2012 and a whole lot more. join us tomorrow night. we look forward to it. coming up, gingrich may be in big trouble with evangelical voters in iowa. which means he might lose the caucus despite this big surge in the national polls. we'll talk with reverend carey gordon out of iowa on that. the fallout continues after home improvement giant lowe's pulls its ads from a reality show about muslim americans. the mayor of dearborn, michigan, jack o'reilly, will be here x

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coming up on "the ed show" ," will newt gingrich be able to keep the faithful in ohio? attorney general eric holder says the justice department will look out for voters' rights. mike papantonio, he's a great attorney and he will tell us what the justice department can do. from the arab spring to occupy wall street, to the capitol in madison. protesters have left their mark on world politics. jesse lagreca on "time" magazine's people of the year selection. let us know what you think on twitter using #edshow.

there's no question that at times of my life, partially

driven by how passionately i felt about this country, that i worked far too hard and things happened in my life that were not appropriate. i think people have to render judgment. in my case, i said upfront openly, i've made mistakes at times. i've had to go to god for forgiveness and seek reconciliation. >> welcome back to "the ed show." that was newt gingrich trying to save himself with evangelical voters in iowa. he's making a sales pitch, but many evangelicals are not buying it. he didn't sign the family leaders marriage vow back in the summertime, and he still hasn't signed it. instead, he put out a position paper saying he would uphold the institution of marriage through personal fidelity to my spouse and respect for the marital bonds of others. but his position paper hasn't satisfied some evangelical voters in the state of iowa. keep in mind, gingrich may have hit 40% in the national polls. now he's at 40%.

but in iowa, he's basically tied with ron paul. so what's happening here? gingrich is vulnerable in iowa. and if neither he nor mitt romney wins the caucus, the republican race could become more erratic than ever. joining me now is reverend carey gordon, pastor of the cornerstone world outreach in sioux city, iowa, and president of peacemakers institute. pastor, good to have you with us tonight. you have got a problem with newt gingrich. what is it? >> that's exactly right. there's a couple false assumptions that are out there in the media right now. a lot of the things i've been watching on tv and reading in the newspapers. number one, there's this assumption that the american people already know what newt did and we're just past it. i don't think that's true. the reason why you're seeing his poll numbers drop is because we have a whole new generation of voters who aren't necessarily paying attention when newt was in power the last time. and the closer they look and the more scrutiny they give to newt gingrich, the less they appreciate his record. that's one issue.

the other issue that seems to be out there is that newt is trustworthy because he's repented and he said he was sorry. and the thing that evangelicals in particular have to remember is that the same bible that teaches us to forgive people when they do wrong also warns us that if we trust someone until they have earned it, or before they've earned it, we're being foolish and presumptuous. so when newt says, i'm sorry, forgive me, i can say, sure, i forgive you but i don't trust you. my message to newt gingrich and my warning to evangelical voters is newt needs to be told to run for mayor, run for congress get. get some time and prove to us that you're a changed man. i don't trust him because his record is abysmal. i feel the same way about mitt romney. mitt romney flips and flops on the issues. neither one of these people can be trusted. another thing to remember, i want a level playing field when we come up with obama. obama said what he was going to do when he ran for office. after he was elected, he's done his very best to do what he said he was going to do. i want the gop to present an

honest candidate that will do the same thing. because i don't think we're going to beat obama if obama is honest and we put some hollow personally driven person that wants power and prestige in the challenge. >> in the state of iowa, will evangelical voters, in your opinion, create a problem for newt gingrich? i mean, he's polling very well nationally, but in iowa, it's different. are the evangelicals making the difference there? >> i believe that they are because the younger voters are paying attention and they're starting to learn about newt gingrich. and, you know, newt, himself, said in the last debate that he thinks it's important -- >> is there anything he can do to change this? is there anything he can do to change this? >> there's nothing he can do to change my mind. i want evidence before we take somebody and put them in the most powerful seat in the world, before we promote them from former speaker of the house to president of the united states, there needs to be a change that we can see. and until he runs for a lower

office and proves that he's a changed man, it's absolutely inappropriate for him to be the president. >> well, i know that evangelical voters will put a lot of stock in absolutes. i mean, they are very strong in their convictions. how many -- >> that's right. >> and a lot of them will show up at caucus in iowa. some tell me upwards of 50% of the people that will be believed in the caucuses will be evangelical christians. if that's the case, who do you think has the real chance to benefit from all of this? who do you think the evangelical community and some 200 churches in the assembly of god, who do you think they'll support, and will they follow their pastors? >> i think they will follow their pastors. the real question is, will the pastors lead? i can't speak to that. i don't know it they will lead or not. i'm doing my best. i just don't want to see the gop come through every four years and dangle this little thing about forgiveness and i repented and i'm a changed man in front of all the evangelicals then they say, okay, so now forget all the bad things i've done and

make me the most powerful man in the world, thank you. i think we've got to get past this and not allow the gop to exploit our people. i hope pastors are listening to your show and listening to me on these radio shows i've been doing all day. we've got to get a noble, honest, trustworthy person to go up against barack obama. >> sometimes a mainstream media has a hard time talking about faith because they think it turns people off. i think it's a phenomenal political story. and i'm not quite sure that -- how could the polls nationally show newt gingrich doing so well, with him struggling in iowa? i mean obviously the faith vote out there has got to do something. nationally he's at 40%, romney at 23%. for lack of a better term, you're ready to throw both the top front-runners under the bus and leaves you with ron paul, michele bachmann and rick santorum. do they have a solid chance despite the national polling, in your opinion? >> i think so. i think rick santorum in particular is going to surprise a lot of people.

i heard karl rove say it last night. i think it's interesting. rick santorum has a really good ground game in iowa. he's really dug in and he's got faithful, loyal followers and like him or hate him, rick santorum is honest. he tells you what he's going to do, stays faithful to his principles. the christians will probably coalesce behind he and perhaps michele bachmann as well. >> reverend carey gordon, good to have you with us tonight. i appreciate your insight on this. >> thank you. >> thanks so much. republicans want to make it harder for democratic supporters to vote. eric holder and the justice department are finally stepping in. and in "psycho talk" christine o'donnell is trying to claw her way back to political relevance, but she barely opened well, republicans know the uyjl6ns'4m4oxl,f3+

well, republicans know the gop, they got one heck of an uphill climb in 2012. they're going to try every dirty trick in the look book. let's go to votes rights. 17 states passed legislation making it tougher, actually tougher for people to register to vote. many of these states now require registered voters to have a voter i.d. it's no surprise these laws target voters who usually support democrats. the young, the poor, the elderly and minorities. attorney general eric holder has finally stepped in. he says the justice department will make sure civil rights are protected. >> as congressman john lewis described it in a speech on the

house floor this summer, the voting rights that he worked throughout his life and nearly gave his life to ensure are, and again, i quote, under attack by a deliberate and systemic attempt to prevent millions of elderly voters, young voters, minority and low income voters from exercising their constitutional right to engage in the democratic process. unquote. >> some of the new laws are already under review by the justice department. the attorney general says the election system needs to uphold the obligations of the voting rights act. >> we need election systems that are free from fraud, discrimination and partisan influence. and that are more, not less, accessible to the citizens of this country. >> for more, let's turn to radio talk show host "ring of fire" radio show mike papantonio. in his real job, he's one of the finest attorneys in america. mike, first it's the unions then it's the trial lawyers. now they're trying to suppress the vote. what's your take on all of this?

is it too little, too late? >> it's a blueprint, it might be too little, too late. the point is this. we see the same patterns taking place after the republican governors came into office, they came up with a blueprint on how to stop voters they might vote for democrats, might vote for obama, from going to the polls. they did it by this, these ways, ed. create obstacles, create hardships, create chaos. for example, if you take a look at the hispanic vote in texas, it's been closed down by gerrymandering, to where hispanics have almost no input in the political process. the next step is to do that same thing with minorities of all kinds. the poor, with students, with the elderly. what you're seeing them do is this. it's a -- if you go state to state, this is the same pattern. allow fewer voting stations in certain places. allow very fewer voting attendants to be at the voting stations. make the convenience issue almost impossible, to where people don't want to show up to

vote. what we see is we see situations where their intent is to create chaos. to keep people away from -- >> these advocates that are out there fighting for voters' rights, what can they do at this point? >> well, the 1965 voting rights act is a strong act, ed. it's been ignored for too long. as a matter of fact, three years ago, the u.s. justice department was told that this pattern was taking place. what i like about the act, lbj pushed this act through. you know what he did, ed? he said, we don't have to show intent to discriminate. we don't have to prove that rick perry and what he's doing in texas was done to discriminate. all we have to show is by way of demographics is show an analysis where we have a disproportionate interference with minorities. and so the threshold is not particularly difficult. what's happened with this administration, for some reason, now they understand it, and i'm glad to see, i'm glad to see eric holder talking about this,

but the question is, whether or not elvis has already left the building. if you think about it, if they start right now trying to enjoin a lot of these laws, it's very difficult. when you consider the federal courts are packed, absolutely packed with republican appointees. >> so the timetable here, mike, what i'm hearing is this is going to have to be really a big-time priority by the justice department to have it effect 2012. >> ed, that's exactly right. you're going to have to staff up. it's going to have to be a priority that -- look, you're going to have federal judges that can do all types of things, that owe the republican party something. now, you don't usually hear an attorney say that, but to ignore the fact that republican judges are part of the agenda here, i promise you they are, and if a republican judge gets a case like this, they simply put it off. they delay it. they have hearings. they have discovery. there's all types of ways they can delay coming up with the decision before 2012. that's the problem.

that's where eric holder has waited too long. he was told early on that this was a problem. it was a pattern that started developing in texas. >> do you think he was slow to the punch? >> i think he was slow to the punch. i think he was slow to the punch. the problem is this. you have a concerted effort that started with 30 republican governors elected and they're on the same sheet of music. >> that's the key. they're working in unison on this. mike pan mike mike papantonio. i appreciate it. next up, the fallout continues over lowe's pulling ads from the show "all american muslim." the mayor of dearborn, michigan, jack o'reilly will join me in a moment. the protester is named "time" magazine's person of the year. jesse lagreca will take a victory lap on this one.

so here's my message for the folks at lowe's who made the decision, frankly anyone out there of sound mind considering getting behind the growing anti-muslim bias. you're better than this. you know the history of this country and of this world never, ever looks kindly on this kind of marginalization you endorsed with your actions. whether it was against irish-americans or jewish-americans or african-americans, the historybooks make sure this exclusionary politics becomes a stain on the reputation of anyone who takes part in it. >> that was congressman chris murray calling out home improvement retail chain lowe's on the house floor today? . why? the company pulled its ads from a show called "all american muslim," the reality show airing on tlc. it follows five muslim families living in dearborn, michigan. take a look. >> the city of dearborn, michigan.

dearborn is a whole other world. being in dearborn has allowed us to practice our faith without losing our sense of american patriotism. >> so why would lowe's pull ads from a show like that? because one right wing group told it to? lowe's and scores of other companies had been the target of a campaign by the florida family association. the group claims the show "is problem began do that riskly hides the islamic agenda's clear and present danger to american liberties and traditional values." so what we have here is a major american company, lowe's, caving to bigotry. the florida family association, you might think, must be a pretty large and influential group to be able to pull off a stunt like this. well, according to think progress, the group has only one paid staff member. its president. and he's a real winner.

>> well, the show portrays these five muslim families that are not representative of the entire muslim faith. muslim is defined in all the dictionaries as those who follow islam. and i beg anybody to find an imam in any mosque in this country that believes that sharia should not apply to the people in america. >> let's turn to dearborn, michigan, mayor, jack o'reilly. mr. o'reilly, good to have you with us tonight. i appreciate your time. how emotional is this subject in your community and what's the community reaction? >> well, since it's a continuum of an onslaught that's been going on for some time, we're beginning to, you know, take it in stride in the sense that we understand there are these people out there who are just putting out, and it's been said already, propaganda. things that are to create fear, and then the fear is to get their emotions aroused. it concerns us greatly, but it's

becoming something of a fixture in the fabric of our country. >> dearborn has the highest population of muslims in america. what does this group in florida not know about the members of your community? >> well, first of all, it isn't the highest number. it's the largest concentration. actually just in detroit area, alone, we have about 34,000 muslims in dearborn, or 35,000, actually, arab americans, not all muslims, quite honestly, and that's only 10% of the total number that are in just southeast michigan, in the detroit area. so it's really that we have multigenerational. we have been the home of mosques and muslims for a long time. much longer than many other communities. >> do you believe the show gives an accurate portrayal of muslim-americans in dearborn, michigan? >> not necessarily in the breadth of it. what it really does is portray

that muslim-americans are like all other americans. they practice their faith according to the way they choose to. they interpret it in their own ways. and they have the same concerns, interests that we do. they're just like us in terms of what they think about on a day-to-day basis and what they do on a day-to-day basis. >> what do you think lowe's should do about this? do you think they have done a misstep here? >> you know, lowe's, unfortunately, is an issue, but if we focus on that, we're distracted from the bigger issue which representative murphy talked about. it's this whole thing about people who are trying to promote some sort of disenfranchisement, some sort of isolation where we want to freeze out muslims from our country. freeze them out, make them unwelcome, not accept them. that's really tragic, and it certainly goes against -- these are people who claim to love america, yet they're going against its basic tenants. >> do you think people should boycott lowe's?

>> i'm not sure because then it shifts it. what we need to do is have people begin to think about this whole thing. look at the show and see these people. these are people in my community. i know all of them. some i know tans gently, some i know very well. they're people in the community. look at them. this is what the group is afraid of. this is what people don't want. they're afraid if people actually see what real american muslims look like, how they're going to they behave, they're going to say, they're just like people in my community and down the street from me. the fear that drives the hate will be dissipated. that's what they're afraid of. all these people who want us to hate people because they have an agenda don't want people to see them behaving in normal ways. >> do you think david caten is a hate merchant? >> i think so. he's one of many and makes money on it. one of the fundamental things here, beware of private

interests masquerade ing as public virtue. this man collects donations as has terry jones who visited us in the past. these people who are making an issue about disenfranchising muslims from america all have ways that you can donate online, you can use credit cards. i don't know about him, but i know the others do. in other words, this is also a way of supporting themselves. >> yeah. mayor jack o'reilly, i appreciate your time tonight. from dearborn, michigan. i appreciate it so much. you bet. mitt romney is more desperate than ever. he's bragging about getting the endorsement of three time loser and "psycho talker" superstar christine o'donnell. the candidate who babbled, who dabbled, should i say, in witchcraft, is back in the "zone."

up next, christine o'donnell throws her support behind mitt romney. her reason for doing so is pure "psycho talk." don't forget to tweet us using #edshow.

and in "psycho talk" tonight, christine o'donnell became irrelevant big-time. right after her lost her 2010 senate election bid. one year later, the tea partyer, well, from delaware, she is back in the mix, endorsing mitt romney. here's why o'donnell picked the unemployed multimillionaire. >> there are certain things like executive experience, consistency, that are deal breakers or tie breakers for me. his consistency, the fact that he was so strong. and i think people will find that appealing going into the 2012 -- >> some people say that mitt romney isn't the most consistent candidate because he's changed his mind about big, important issues over the years. >> that's one of the things i like about him, because he's been consistent since he changed his mind. >> christine o'donnell was picking right up where she left off. it wasn't an accident that she

lost her last election by 17 points, folks. she's a serial political loser because of the psycho talk that routinely comes out of her mouth. >> i didn't go to yale. evolution is a myth. why are monkeys still evolving into humans? mice with fully functioning human brains. where in the constitution is separation of church and state? >> government shall make no establishment of religion. >> that's in the first amendment. >> i dabbled into witchcraft. i never joined a covant. i'm not a witch, i'm nothing you've heard. i'm you. he's been consistent since he changed his mind. >> all right. another one for the highlight tape. mitt romney, you know what, this dude must be getting real desperate, because his campaign is playing christine o'donnell's endorsement like it's something fantastic. they released the following statement. "christine has been a leader in the conservative movement for many years. i'm pleased to have her on my team." okay, mitt. you can have her.

mitt has an interesting definition of leadership, doesn't he? christine o'donnell lost three senate elections in a row and she doesn't even have any tea party support anymore. look at the numbers. she recently held a tea party event in iowa. 12 people showed up. two of them were traveling with her. for mitt romney to brag about the endorsement of a washed up tea partyer shows just how desperate he is. every time christine o'donnell opens her mouth, she bewitches us with a load of "psycho talk." paul ryan squeaks past kate middleton as a runner-up for "time's" person of the year. jesse lagreca will weigh in on the right wing's hatchet man making the list. [ fe

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"the ed show" survey tonight, i asked who does a drawn-out primary fight benefit? 14% of you said the gop nominee.

86% of you said president obama. coming up, from zuccotti park, to tahrir square, protesters made their voices heard. jesse lagreca on "time" magazine's person of the year. who they picked. his commentary and mine, next [ male announcer ] a simple gesture can spark romance anytime. and when it does, men with erectile dysfunction can be more confident in their ability to be ready with cialis for daily use. cialis for daily use is a clinically proven low-dose tablet you take every day so you can be ready anytime the moment's right, even if it's not every day. [ man ] tell your doctor about all your medical conditions and medications and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sexual activity. don't take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, as this may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. [ man ] do not drink alcohol in excess with cialis. side effects may include headache, upset stomach, delayed backache or muscle ache. to avoid long-term injury, seek immediate medical help for an erection lasting more than 4 hours.

if you have any sudden decrease or loss in hearing or vision, stop taking cialis and call your doctor right away. [ male announcer ] ask your doctor if cialis for daily use is right for you. for a 30-tablet free trial offer, go to cialis.com. "time" unveiling its person of the year, only this person more symbolic. it's, you guessed it, the protester.

>> that sigh of disgust came from fox and friends brian kilmede, he and his colleagues were outraged over "time" magazine's recognition of worldwide prodee -democracy movements. >> that's unbelievable, this moouchl, they equate the uprising of egyptian people after 50 years of repression to a bunch of people in zuccotti park who don't like wall street bankers. >> they have been riddled with rapes, murders and mayhem. i should say crimes and mayhem. they have been riddled with crime. >> this is "time" magazine, guys. in their defense in 1939 they had adolf hitler as person of the year. >> and stollen before. >> hitler and the ayatollah comani were chosen as person of the year by "time" magazine so i put the protest movement in the same category. >> "time" magazine had a different drichings escription of why they chose the protester as person of the year. "no one could have known that

when a fruit venn tor set himself on fire in a public square, it would create protests that would topple dictators and start a global wave of dissent. ""time" named four runner-ups, from wisconsin congressman paul ryan, the man who wants to kill medicare, medicaid and social security, the guy who won't raise taxes on the wealthiest americans. in other words, one of the very reasons why folks have been out protesting in the streets. "time" called ryan the most influential american politician this year. got to give the guy some credit. there he is. just squeaking past kate middleton for the honor. joining me now is protester, activist and freelance journalist jesse lagreca. >> how you doing, ed? >> what do you make of comments from the people on the other

network describing protesters? >> i'm surprised they didn't throw death panel in there as well. i think it's a conversation they don't want to have. they don't want to talk about our democratic responsibility to govern commerce. i mean, the commerce clause is clearly stated in the constitution. i thought these were the constitution guys. if anything, it shows the rank hypocrisy that's infested the entire republican fox news complex. that if you're protesting for more tax cuts for the rich and denying people health care, that's all well and good, we can promote that, but if it's anything opposing their ideology, it's not any good. >> you're person of the year. you're a protester. you're going to be in washington tomorrow. what does this do for the movement in anything? >> it does quite a bit. it gives voice to the concerns that the average disenfranchised american understands. in wisconsin they've been pushing laws that make it harder to vote. i can't believe the hypocrisy these guys have. it's very appropriate that paul ryan was one of the runners-up. if it weren't for guys like him, we wouldn't have a need to protest.

i think you can't spell greedy 1%er without gop. >> the greedy actions of the congressman has been the root of much of the protest in this country. the radical movement against the big three, and, of course, the willingness to stick it to the middle class instead of the wealthiest americans. so as you move forward on this, if this helps the movement, how does it help the movement? i mean, this is a magazine that does this annually. what do you make of it? >> it creates awareness and speaks to the power of boots on the ground. at some point that has to translate into changing laws and using political capital in a positive way. the conversation about income inequality in this country is on everybody's tongue. we're all aware the wealthiest people in society are doing better an ever and all of us are asked to sacrifice. i think if congressman paul ryan wanted to be honest, he would draft a budget that does not create a bigger deficit. they do this on purpose. they cut taxes for the rich, so they can create deficits. people are standing up.

>> what kind of response do protesters get such as yourself when you go to washington other than having the politicians walk right past you, tell you have to get an appointment? where does that leave you? >> actually a lot of people are glad we're there. a friend and i went into the senate office building and the security guards loved us. they said, they were with us, they understand what we're fighting for. i think everybody who's honest and aware understands what we're fighting for. we're fighting for our futures. not tax cuts for the rich. not for the 1%'s agenda pushed into legislation by the paul ryans of the world. >> you think the fox commentators that constantly rip you a new one, does that help the movement and motivate folks out there protests ing? >> we're blessed with idiots for enemies. there's no such thing as bad press. the more they talk about us, the more they make it so obvious they're on the wrong side of history. >> jesse lagreca. you're in washington tomorrow, right? >> absolutely. >> good luck to you. that's "the ed show." i'm ed schultz. tune in tomorrow night, democratic leader nancy pelosi will be