Panic inside the GOP establishment
>> the republican contest has become a binary choice between two similarly miscast candidates. you know what? i think i need my glasses for this one. the tone sort of lends itself to a more scholarly look. mr. romney is not attracting people who want rationality lenned by romance. he is wanting politics with reasonableness. mr. romney looks like a formidable candidate for november. you know that's not me. that's not my voice. that's not me talking. that was george will 's latest column. and george will is the brains of the republican party . and that's why i had to use the glasses, because you always look a little smarter, a little more thoughtful, in fact, a little more like george will if you put your glasses on. george will may have the only functioning brain left in the republican party . he doesn't just want the republican candidate to be formidable in november, he wants the republican candidate to beat president obama and beat him decisively. so what you just heard was an elegant writer's version of panic. george will and every other professional republican who knows how to read polls, they're all near panic now because of the whole purple strategies conducted of likely voters of the 12 battleground states most likely to decide the presidential election . forget the national polls, forget the california poll, it's the 12 battleground straits that matter. overall, president obama leads mitt romney by 47%. there is a robo poll that shows the president now leading mitt romney by 6 points and leading rick santorum by 8 points. earlier this month, virginia voters favored romney over obama by 3 points, and santorum was scoring 4 points ahead of president obama . the virginia poll released today was taken after virginia 's republican governor bob mcdonnell indicated he would sign legislation that would require women to receive a transvaginal ultrasound before undergoing an abortion. as protests mounted over that highly invasive government action, the governor who has an eye on the presidential slot yesterday began his retreat. mandating an invasive procedure is not a mandatory thing. no woman will have to undergo a transvaginal ultrasound involuntarily. but for virginia republicans alienating women and last night's presidential debate spending more time on contraception and senate procedure than it did on the economy, president obama today couldn't resist a bemused reference to the republican candidates while addressing rising gas prices .
>> since it's an election year, they're already dusting off their three-point plan for $2 gas. and i'll save you the suspense. step one is to drill and step two is to drill, and then step three is to keep drilling. well, the american people aren't stupid. they know that's not a plan. especially since we're already drilling. that's a bumper sticker. while there are no silver bullets short term when it comes to gas prices , and anybody who says otherwise isn't telling the truth, i have directed my administration to look for every single area where we can make an impact and help consumers in the months ahead.
>> joining me now, alex wagner , the host of msnbc's "now" with alex wagner and chris hayes with "up with chris hayes ." we've seen now that george will is disappointed in the republican prospects and candidates at this point. i want to listen now to rush limbaugh 's take on last night's republican debate.
>> i cringed when i heard him say this. santorum is getting cringed for the team player comment. romney is immune to any criticism. he hasn't done anything at the federal level . he is outside it. santorum , newt, paul all look like insiders, and of course in every primary season, they claim to want an outsider. this is an observation that rebounds to romney 's favor if anyone is watching it in that context.
>> alex wagner , when george will , the most thoughtful republican public commentator, and rush limbaugh , the least thoughtful republican public commentator are both frustrated, the republican party is in trouble.
>> it is, and i don't have a pair of glasses to make me look erudite in saying that, but absolutely, what good has come out of this race so far? nothing but numbers for barack obama . last night's debate across the airwaves as you said from george will to rush limbaugh from george petacky to mark mckinnon , everybody agrees this was not a good debate for the republican party . the word jobs was mention the six times, the word birth control was mentioned eight times. i don't understand what the priorities are, but they seem to be like rabid dogs with a bone. they just can't let go of this. this is in a week when you have the leading presidential candidate talking about the crushing of the judean christian faith by the president and the satanic versus invoked frequently and repeatedly throughout the week. i don't know what the republican party is doing.
>> chris hayes , in that battleground state purple poll, they ask the question, is the nominating process strengthsening the nominee or weakening the nominee? 23% think it's strengthening the nominee, and 53% got it absolutely right, saying that it is weakening the nominee. i don't know how the nominee can get much weaker, whoever he is, than where they were last night.
>> well, i think what's interesting is that there's two things that are happening. one is that as the economy improves, the republicans need to completely recast the strategy by which they're going to go after the president, and now they're banking on gas prices rising in the summer, they're trying to get out ahead of that. there's been a turn to our social issues, although i think there was a huge strategic miscalculation where a lot of the republican parties thought that would go down to the republicans, and it has not, so when it was brought up, the republicans booed. they were booing the thought that it was even brought up because they realize it is no longer good for the republicans. and what alison was saying about the dog with the bone, they all said, this is silly, let's not talk about it, and then they talked about it. they talked about it at great length. another thing you saw last night that really hurt the republican party is wrestling with the bush legacy. that's why i think rick santorum 's turn as front runner is so interesting. so far george w. bush has been entirely absent from these debate. rick santorum has to essentially answer for the bush record because he was a senator during the bush years and he owned the reason the debt ceiling and the no child left behind and the increased deficits, and the party doesn't look very good when it sits and meditates for two hours on the record of the previous presidential administration.
>> i want to talk about one of the peculiar performances last night, and i'm going to have a lot more to say about him later in the show, ron paul . there is the developing theory that ron paul has become an ally of mitt romney , which is fascinating that the kind of, in a certain sense, most rightward of all the candidates, the so-called libertarian ron paul would be trying to help the most moderate and historically, in the past, liberal candidate mitt romney . we had the santorum campaign today saying, you have to ask congressman paul and governor romney what they've got going together. they're really complaining about it now at the santorum campaign, and then rand paul was asked today what he would do if he was offered the vice presidency by mitt romney , and he said rkts i don't know if i can answer that question, but i can say it would be an honor to be considered. alex , are we getting closer to a clue of what this ron paul performance was all about?
>> ask not what ron paul does, just go with it, lawrence. i think they are interesting bedfellows. i use the term romance lightly, but i think that's what's happening here. we know that their wives get our friends, we know mitt romney has offered the use of his private jet and summer home to ron paul , who graciously declined. i think there is some strategic calculation here in terms of a path for rand paul . i don't think he wants a position in mitt romney 's administration. i think mitt romney gains support here, because we know supporters are incredibly young and enthusiastic. they're part of a base that mitt romney has not resonated with at all, but i'd be highly surprised if they go and be mitt romney supporters.
>> what i find a musing, though, is rand paul is the one who could attack mitt romney , which romney wants to pursue. romney is not the good one to deliver the message about kbi am purity. ron paul was doing that very well last night.
>> i have a conspiracy to offer to ron paul supporters. they love conspiracy theories , so they might want to think about this one. ron paul serves to support the event wal nominee by taking a position on the right on many issues that drains off some attention of the santorum support. last time around, he did it, and eventually helping to get nominated of all the candidates, john mccain . he's doing it again in an effort to help get nominated, the most moderate of all the candidates, mitt romney . historically moderate, anyway, they all seem to be trying to outconserve each other today. it seems to me that's the deal with ron paul 's republican party . you guys let me get on stage, you guys let me get my 10% of the vote, and i will not interfere in any way with your nominating process of whoever you guys have decided is next in line to get this nomination. chris, do you think i can get any takers on the ron paul conspiracy theory ?
>> that strikes me as a fairly simple interpretation. it seems to me there is some bond of personal affection in the case of romney , and also ron paul -- santorum is the first person he's gone after that he genuinely seems to dislike. it was evident last night how much he was relishing going after santorum , which of course ron paul took the wrong side on.
>> if you listen to any accounts of ron paul 's, quote, unquote, character, this is like a sermon he's given for decades. his voting record on all these issues is fairly consistent, and i don't know that he cares about any electoral votes , he just believes in this message. it is conservative for the mitt romney campaign, however.
>> he is the libertarian who will not allow women to make their own choices about their own reproductive rights and choices and medical options. so the consistency, when he said that word consistent and then said, in effect, oh, by the way, i'm a libertarian who opposes abortion in any form, he loses some consistency points there. alex wagner and chris hayes , thank you both very much for joining me tonight.
