Gingrich calls for Obama to withdraw Kagan nomination

SCHULTZ: fire response from our panel on these stories. Newt Gingrich slams Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan as anti- military , and says President Obama should withdraw her nomination? Sarah Palin stumps with Arizona Governor Jan Brewer . She says we`re all Arizonans, and claims we`re all safer because Arizona is racially profiling people? Did she say that? And former New York City Mayor and 2008 Republican loser Rudy Giuliani may be sniffing around for another presidential bid, 2012 . "Politico" reporting he`s headed to New Hampshire next month. Who knows, maybe he`ll move there. With us tonight, Sam Stein , political reporter, " Huffington Post ," and Tony Blankley , nationally syndicated columnist. Gentlemen, good to have you with us tonight. What do you make of Newt Gingrich , Mr. Blankley , going after the Supreme Court nominee ? This seems to be one of the big talking points out there, that she`s anti- military . What do you make of it?

TONY BLANKLEY, SYNDICATED COLUMNIST: Look, at this point, both sides are going to be roughing up and defending the nominee. She`s got a number of vulnerabilities. One of them is her position on the military . She also, just as a lawyer, was hard to accuse the military of Don`t Ask/Don`t Tell, when it was, in fact, a Democratic Congress and a Democratic president that enacted that procedure -- rule, and the military simply obeyed orders. I think the tougher issue against her is going to be her First Amendment position. She has shown a very crabbed view of First Amendment rights . And I think that as this discussion extends over the next month or two, she`s going to show more vulnerability on that issue.

SCHULTZ: Here`s Newt Gingrich saying the Kagan nomination should be withdrawn by the president. Here it is.

CHRIS WALLACE, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: What do you think of the nomination of Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court ? NEWT GINGRICH , FMR. HOUSE SPEAKER: I think the president should withdraw it. I think -- you don`t need a whole lot of hearings. The very fact that she led the effort, which was repudiated unanimously by the Supreme Court , to block the American military from Harvard Law School -- we`re in two wars. I see no reason why you would appoint an anti- military Supreme Court justice , or why the Senate would confirm an anti- military Supreme Court justice .

SCHULTZ: Sam Stein , is this their best talking point? What do you think?

SAM STEIN, "THE HUFFINGTON POST": I mean, this is all theater, right? This is silly. Obviously, Elena Kagan isn`t anti- military . There`s plenty of supporters who say she`s The fact of the matter is that a lot of her Republican supporters like her take on executive power rights. I think Newt Gingrich is trying to make headlines. Remember, he was the person who called Sonya Sotomayor a racist very early on in her hearings. The fact that we don`t need hearings, we should just dismiss the nomination is silly. Of course we need hearings. We need to find out more about her. That`s why liberals are a little bit hesitant to support her. There`s not enough known out there. Certainly not enough to say she should be withdrawn from consideration. That`s crazy.

SCHULTZ: Let`s go to the Sarah Palin story. She, of course, is out stumping everywhere she possibly can to sell books and do the face work as much as possible. Here she is talking about President Obama in Arizona and securing the borders.

SARAH PALIN , FMR. GOVERNOR OF ALASKA: It`s time for Americans across this great country and stand up and say we`re all Arizonans now. And in clear unity we say, Mr. President, do your job, secure our border.

SCHULTZ: Tony , she goes on to say that we`re all Americans and claims that we`re safer because Arizona is racially profiling. What do you make of that?

BLANKLEY: First of all, I think her statement about we`re all Arizonans now obviously is catching what Jack Kennedy said about the Berliners during the Cold War , when we`re all Berliners now. So a nice little bit of historic allusion there. Look, the Arizona law is popular around the country between 65 percent and 75 percent of the public overall. Even 27 percent of Hispanics are in favor of it. It`s not a profile law. I think that she`s making good points there, and I`ve noticed that the opposition to it have sort of quieted down once they saw the big polling numbers come in.

SCHULTZ: What about that, Sam ?

STEIN: Well, I mean, I think, you know, the reason Sarah Palin was called in shows that there is some concern over how this law is being perceived, poll numbers notwithstanding. You had Karl Rove , for instance, come out early on and say that he was a little bit troubled by the politics of the law, obviously cognizant that maybe there are some Hispanics who don`t like the idea that they might be profiled. I think there is a divide within the Republican party . And the notion that the Obama administration has failed to act on the immigration reform front is also silly, because it was under the Bush administration that comprehensive reform failed. If you ask Lindsey Graham right now if he`ll approach an immigration compromise, he`ll say no.

SCHULTZ: Tony , finally, is Rudy Giuliani a serious candidate? Could he mount the charge? What`s he going to New Hampshire for?

BLANKLEY: I do not believe he`s a serious candidate. He ran last time. He spent more money and got less delegates than anybody. His strategy was another failure. He went in with high numbers and went out with low numbers. I can`t imagine -- look, I mean, Republicans don`t have any huge, formidable likely winner. So I`m sure it`s attractive for a lot of people. My guess is just keeping in the public eye . I don`t think he`s going to be the nominee.

SCHULTZ: Sam ?

STEIN: I think that hits it on the head, keeping in the public eye . We`re talking about someone who`s going to be 66 later this month. You know, not a spring chicken, but certainly not too old. He`s moved away from the issue that defined him -- sorry, the political landscape moved away from the issue that defined him, which is terrorism. Right now it`s all about jobs. I think Rudy just wants to be in the public eye , talked about.

SCHULTZ: Sam Stein , good to have you with us. Tony Blankley , I got to say, that`s the most honest conservative answer I`ve ever heard about Rudy Giuliani . Good to have you with us tonight. Coming up,