Mitt Romney's biggest loser

>>> tonight, america has a new biggest loser. move over , sarah palin , you are now no longer the vice presidential candidate that will never be president.

>> i know the election was a long time ago.

>> one full week since election day .

>> i wanted to refresh everyone's memories.

>> we made this campaign about big ideas and big issues.

>> big issues.

>> just wasn't enough at the end of the day .

>> that lost.

>> they lost.

>> this was a real shellacking.

>> losing never feels good.

>> we were surprised at the outcome.

>> what are the lessons for conservatives?

>> the primary problem is an economic message.

>> the problem is.

>> a demographic problem.

>> disrespecting women the last two years.

>> we were surprised in the outcome. the president won the race, i congratulated him on the race.

>> the republican party needs to get it together.

>> the hard part is where you get there.

>> congress returns for lame duck session .

>> back from recess with a daunting task.

>> to avert the fiscal cliff.

>> the issue is taxes.

>> the bush era tax cuts .

>> i refuse to accept any approach that isn't balanced. the majority of americans agree with my approach.

>> have a little swag.

>> that's what the american people asked for. something must be done.

>> so close but so far.

>> time to do this simple thing. overshadowing that.

>> commanders in crisis.

>> the petraeus affair.

>> we knew the other shoe was likely to drop.

>> the story is changing by the hour.

>> another top military general linked to the scandal.

>> really?

>> really.

>> really?

>> really.

>> again?

>> if it is not home land --

>> one of them is our country's security.

>>> of the many mistakes mitt romney made as a presidential candidate , perhaps none was more costly than choosing the presidential campaign 's biggest loser, paul ryan , as his vice presidential candidate . florida was lost the day romney chose paul ryan whose plan to ee vis rate medicare was rejected by florida voters. whiem was he at it, paul ryan helped mitt romney lose paul ryan 's home state of wisconsin. paul ryan also managed to lose his hometown in wisconsin where he still lives . it wasn't paul ryan 's youth and inexperience that sunk him, it was his ideas, his worship of ian rand and the ryan plan to end medicare as we know it and profoundly change america as we know it, but don't expect paul ryan to admit that any time soon.

>> the president wins 330 some electoral votes , does barack obama now have a mandate?

>> i don't think so because they also reelected the house republicans . see, i think these ideas we talked about, i think they're popular ideas. this is a very close election .

>> there is now nothing other than time in the gym that separates paul ryan and rush limbaugh .

>> we're just laying down! and we didn't lose this election by that much, especially when you look at the turnout. this was not a shellacking landslide.

>> this is what rush limbaugh used to think it meant when a presidential candidate won 332 electoral college votes and he thought this right up until the day before the election.

>> all of my thinking says romney big. not even close. 300 plus electoral votes for romney .

>> even though president obama very clearly ran on raising income tax rates for top earners, paul ryan claims he is not so sure that's what america actually voted for.

>> his argument is people voted for him because they believe tax rates should be raised. do you disagree?

>> i don't know if i agree with that. we have divided government, they also voted for a clear majority.

>> never mind that more votes were cast for democrats in the house of representatives than republicans . in the house, republicans maintained their majority, strictly through gerrymandering their districts, and never mind that election exit polls show that 13% of voters said they should increase all tax rates on everyone, and another 47% said increase tax rates for incomes over 250,000, so that adds up to 60% of americans in favor of at least the obama tax rate increases and some of them in favor of more. louisiana governor bobby jindal , one of the lucky ones who dodged the bullet in mitt romney 's slks selection of a running mate tells politico to stop being the stupid party . we cannot be, we must not be the party that simply protects the rich. it can't be tolerated within our party . we have also had enough of this dumbed-down conservatism, we need to stop insulting the intelligence of the voters. joining me now, msnbc's joy reed and ari melbourne. stop being the stupid party . that's a tall order now for the republicans , isn't it?

>> yeah. bobby jindal , i guess he has coherent advice. i am not sure if you look at his stance, teaching creationism in public schools, not sure he is going to help them in his own state, and it's interesting that paul ryan sort of made these assertions that we didn't really lose, we actually won because the house of representatives , he made a good point. look at florida . all of the republicans in swing districts, people who were the most associated with paul ryan 's ideas, people like allen west , for instance, lost. they lost in those swing districts because those guys, especially west, who really championed paul ryan 's ideas, went to bat for them, did town halls , contentious town halls defending the ryan budget he voted for twice. well, he lost.

>> ari, it is not as if the president had a great economy to run on. what he had to run on is if you elect me, this is what i'm in favor of, this is what i will do, and he got to say this is what the republicans will do if you elect them, and the republicans actually agreed this is what we will do if you elect us. we absolutely will protect the rich and we absolutely will turn medicare into something you don't recognize.

>> i have a lot of thoughts here. number one is, you know, viewers of the last word will remember that you have also called this the stupid party , so you were ahead of the bobby jindal curve, and i don't know if you were trying to help them or not, clearly governor jendal feels that's what they need, they need to be told they sound stupid and look stupid and also mean, i would, you know, put that in there as well. i think the conversation is important, lawrence , and here is why. it is good to come off the election and do some interpretation. i will give credit to sean hannity and others who for whatever reasons, without getting into motives, are finally coming around to a better, sane view about doing something about immigration reform in this country instead of just denigrating people, and they got there through math. when you look at interpreting results, bottom line , look, paul ryan has a talking point about the house. you could interpret the senate, too. only a third of the senate is up for election every two years because of the constitution. as you pointed out in the open, lawrence , only a small portion of the house is effectively up for election because of gerrymandering. anyone that follows politics understands paul ryan unlike some of his come pay tree atmosphere isn't dealing with the math yet.

>> listen to what sean hannity said the republicans are going through right now.

>> going to be a close race.

>> been anger, criticism, circle a firing squad has been created, and i urge people to stand back from this, it happens every four years for the team that loses, some of it healthy, a lot of it unhealthy.

>> as you point out, sean hannity is doing some of the healthy criticism. he is one of the leaders right out of the gate saying we absolutely have to move left ward on immigration reform . and of course, joy, he's not going to admit it is a move left ward, but that's exactly what he is proposing.

>> sean hannity speaks for what you might call the hack wing of the republican party , he is for whatever will help republicans get elected. that's what sean hannity does. i think the risk is that the base of the party is not going to be easily moved to the left. they still have to deal with people who for 30 years have been fed a message that this is your country, those people are trying to take it from you, those illegals as they like to call illegal immigrants are out to take what's yours, what you worked hard for. how do you, even if sean hannity , have great ratings on the radio, how do you tell that base to sit still for the hardcore, rock ribbed and 100% right valleys. i understand how the hack part of the party can make the pivot, how do you get the base to.

>> ari, there's a difference between the two top right wing radio talk show hosts. rush limbaugh is number one in ratings, sean hannity number two in radio talk ratings in this country. i think one of the differences is rush limbaugh doesn't actually care if republicans win. he wants them to win, but he's not going to adjust his thinking and his approach to things in order to help them win or guide them toward winning. sean hannity is actually much more of a practicalsense, what joy unkindl y calls a hack, but what sean hannity is doing is exactly what staffers are doing in the republican house of representatives right now, republican staffers in the senate are doing, they're looking at this and saying what can we move on. we've got to move or we cannot win elections. it seems to me one of the big differences between rush and sean hannity is one of them really cares about republicans winning elections.

>> yeah, i mean, that's the distinction. i think the problem there is one that david frum , a conservative who people have seen on msnbc and elsewhere in the post election period, david frum called it the conservative entertainment complex . to your point, lawrence , people like rush are completely in the entertainment part.

>> 100%.

>> and the conservative part is just part of the branding, but that's all it is. i don't mean branding like in politics, i mean branding to make money which rush limbaugh is good at, not good at much else. you won't hear any assessment of his role. the guy got out there, was a sexist, crude, mean guy, and it led to all sorts of things. you went to the democratic convention , saw fluke and others punching hard, bloodying rush limbaugh in terms of politics, not bloodying his bottom line , not bloodying the big checks he gets to take home, which may be all he cares about. what we have to watch for those of us that care about the politics and outcome, who are the responsible people, and can any of us, even with disagreements make space for them. i welcome folks that want to come over, work on some of the problems together.

>> and watching the limbaugh versus hannity battle this year is going to be fascinating because limbaugh is saying don't budge an inch on immigration. sean hannity saying let's move. and sean hannity is the one getting backed up by other republicans . haven't heard anyone backing up limbaugh. we will watch that war as it goes on. thank you both for joining me.

>> thanks, lawrence .

>>> coming up, the president met with liberal supporters in a closed door meeting at the white house today. one of those supporters will join me next and i will try to get him to leak on national television every single thing the president said. wish me luck on that.

>>> and another episode of generals gone wild. general petraeus and allen and the way, way, way too many women in their lives.

>>> and the republican senator that wants the party to go all out liberal on some issues. guess who that is? tweet me your guesses who that is. one hint, some people think he is actually the most conservative republican senator.

>>> and finally tonight, the earliest presidential campaign endorsement in history, a major american newspaper endorsed a candidate today for election in 2016 . tweet your guesses on who got that presidential endorsement for 2016 coming up.