GOP Florida debate erupts into a war of the words

>>> in there and grab a grandmother and kick them out. you have to be realistic.

>> i want to make sure i understand. is he the most antiimmigrant candidate.

>> of the four of us? yes.

>> that's simply inexcusable. and actually senator marco rubio said that it ad was inexcusable. my father was born in mexico. they came to this country. the idea that i'm antiimmigrant is repulsive.

>> just a few shots from last night's gop smackdown in jacksonville. when the dust settled, mitt romney was left standing. we'll call it romney 's revenge after more mild performances in recent debates, mitt took aim at newt on everything from attack ads --

>> wouldn't it be nice if people didn't make accusations somewhere elsewhere they weren't willing to defend here.

>> to gingrich 's moon colony idea.

>> if they want to spend a few hundred billion to put a colony on the moon, i would say you're fired.

>> no surprise that according to a new poll, romney has opened up a nine point lead over newt gingrich . romney 's odds of winning are up to 92%. that's the highest he's been running. somehow we were able to convince the mega panel to make the trip to south beach in miami. ari mel burn, krystal ball.

>> it's easy to be tough when you're punching up. now they are brawling and he can go at them with facts and criticism. newt gingrich has a big, soft underbelly. it was punctured last night. that was a political speech, dylan.

>> your thoughts.

>> what's dramatic is there was a few debates. monday mitt was good. he showed up wanting a fight as well. but his lines were rehearsed. he laid them all out at the beginning and that was it. thursday he came out ready to rumble . i kept waiting for gingrich to get his momentum. his righteous indignation and it never happened. he blew it. this week he just blew it. there's no other way to put it. his entire campaign has been decht upon the debates. he was caught flat floated from the beginning.

>> the race has been so topsy-turvy. there's probably several chapters to go. they are still not ready to get married to romney . they are getting engaged, but they are a reluctant bride being dragged down the aisle calling their old boyfriend, are you still interested in me? as a person in the media, i really wanted to be newt against obama.

>> that's for your personal entertainment.

>> i wanted entertainment. it's a theater value. there's more narrative and sub text. it will be more interesting. it will be more wwe. way better than romney against obama.

>> here's the thing i think. because romney does have the credibility of understanding the function of the financial system and the tax code , he's a tutorial on how to exploit the financial system and the tax code , it puts him in an interesting position. he did come out explicitly in florida and say we have to restructure on the banking sector. we actually have to write down the debt. the other thing we have been hearing from romney is we need to deal with china on the trade issue. that's an encouraging sign. just for the debate itself, i talk about the debate america deserves. that is the debate america deserves. one of my favorite villains of the past four years, timothy geithner , at the world economic forum this week weighing in on the issue of china and how they are affecting investment in our country. take a listen to the secretary of the treasury in switzerland.

>> china does present a really unique and formidable challenge to the trading system . it's important we get china to move on comprehensively on that fro front. not just on the exchange rate , but dialing back the distortions distortions. they will have to do it. they would like to do it in a more compelling way.

>> so again, i've been one of the greatest critics, but between the treasury secretary coming out and addressing the issue with china , with mitt romney being honest about the fraudulent nature, are we getting closer to a debate we deserve?

>> and the language echoed the language the president used in the state of the union . so there's been a rhetorical shift. they are setting up the trade investment unit. but i want to be really optimistic here. i will say, i think you're right. the republican candidates have pushed the president to talk about this issue when he hasn't really in the past. i think the republican candidates are responding to the american people in the american peoples' concern. so this is a great example of our political system actually working to force a dialogue.

>> because the force of the electorate is forcing the politicians.

>> i want to see more action. we're getting killed in the currency issue. there's 30 million american workers getting killed by these issues. i'm tired of being bullied by china . i want a more equal situation.

>> your thoughts here on whether the rhetoric as it moves in the direction of solution, are we ready? and is the country ready to figure out how to solve the trade issue?

>> i think there's an important distinction between a romney debate and a gingrich debate. he talks about american exceptionalism . it's just him talking. it's him trying to sound strong without their being context. i think it fits into the conversation on the hill where chuck schumer has a bill about floating currency . there are real debates about the tradeoffs.

>> more importantly, how you do it. the issue isn't the housing issue. when you get to the altar is not what you need to do. the question is can you do it in a way that has a graceful enough progression that making the change is not so disruptive. because we are so dependent on the cheap credit. we are dependent on the imports that as we make the changes, you don't want to cure kacancer with a knife. you want to have a plan to do it.

>> when romney talks about finance and banking issues, i think about bain. that's going to be the bane of his existence. he paid 14% of taxes. if you left that as a tip, the waiters would be mad at you.

>> the only thing i will say and i have no idea what will happen, but were romney to say, listen. this needs to be changed, which i don't know he e will do that. but if he says this needs to be changed, that wub the only way to turn the negative into a positi positive.

>> he will do a poll and find out what the most electorally position will be and he'll do whatever that is.

>> don't blame me for being successful.

>> one thing i want to throw out there. donald trump introduced this into the issue.

>> i gave him credit for the entire time. donald trump is very explicit about the fact we're not dealing with china . it's nice to see mitt romney there and the president also. and it's nice to hear from the secretary of the treasury at the gathering of power in zit switzerland.

>> it was hard to pull us down here.

>> it's difficult. but you guys