but in terms of a president, we need a leader. >> will this media blitz change the coverage as romney tries to catch gingrich? plus, we'll meet the 22-year-old college student who unearthed a devastating old romney video. it was a risky move when abc hired christiane amanpour from cnn last year for the sunday morning program this week. but now she is out. continuinging as an abc correspondent while launching an evening newscast for cnn international. what went wrong, and is bringing back george stephanopoulos the answer? tim tebow is winning all kinds of praise as the denver broncos quarterback. >> the entire team believes in him. the city is captivated by him -- >> how about the country. >> the country is coptivated by him. >> okay, so why are the media harping on his public displays of christianity? i'm howard kurtz, and this is "reliable sources." it's been a very long time, more than a year and a half in fact, since mitt romney appeared on a sunday show. he was the republican front-runner for much of that time, and apparently felt no need to expose himself to sustained questioning. that changed this morning when romney appeared with chris wallace on "fox news sunday." toward the end, the questioning got a bit personal. >> the rap against -- you've heard this, i'm not saying anything you haven't heard, governor -- you're robotic. you're buttoned up. that you don't let -- that you don't let voters inside to know who you really are and what you really feel. first of all, do you think that's fair? >> you know, anything's fair in this world. the good news is that the people who see me in town meetings, that actually meet me and spend some time with me, have a different impression. >> the fourth major romney interview in week came as the conservative media establishment plunged itself into a virtual civil war over newt gingrich, who has surged past romney in the polls at least for the moment. joining us to examine the campaign coverage here in washington, julie mason, now the host of "the press pool" on sirris xm satellite radio. dana millbank, columnist for the "washington post." and ramesh panur, editor at "review." a zany person -- now you can be zany. will romney's coverage get a boost now that he's actually talking to journal scientists. >> well, that's the -- journalistflation? >> well, that's the first phase. doing the interviews is step one. enough to he has to say something. until now, the fact that he's doing interviews and sat down with, for example, "the new york times." that made news. the interview didn't make news. he's got to start saying something and sharing. >> romney got the endorsement of "the des moines register," saying on "face the nation" that's just a conservative newspaper. he thought he could circumvent the press, all of us, through the debates, online video, and the like. how did that work out for him? >> not so well, howie. and it hasn't worked for any of these guys all the time of the the most popular thing circumstantial in republican primary circles is to bash the media. but guess what -- they've all been sort of seeking the validation of the media. i've been in two campaign ads now, you know, spouting some nonsense on -- on cable tv which they use to -- in their attack ads. they're constantly validating -- >> are you fodder in the republican presidential campaign? >> yes. i'm assist rog not paing ron pa. >> oh, do. >> the idea is in the quotations the things the rnc sends out, it's saying, according to the "washington post," according to "the new york times," according to msnbc. the idea is it's popular to pasch the mainstream media, but in the end that's what's validating. >> the fear is that journalists are going to make the candidate look bad, ask gotcha questions and all that. i think the flip side is, viewers, voters, they need to see you sweat a little bit. >> that's right. and i think, you know, this is one respect in which the increased competition that romney's getting in the primaries is sharpening as a candidate. on the other hand, you do have the potential to make mistakes. and i think he is going to be haunted by not being able to give an answer on whether he thought the iraq war was worth it. >> dodging the questions which sometimes candidates do or on r forced to do can hurt you. there was another of those debates that seemed to be dominating this presidential campaign, fox news hosted it. let's take a quick look at a couple of the questions. >> governor romney, you have changed your position in the last ten years on abortion, on gay rights, on guns. you say keeping an open mind is a strength, but some of your critics say that every one of these moves has been to your political advantage. >> two conservative former attorneys general have criticized your plan saying it alters the checks and balances of the three branches of government. they've used words like dangerous, outrageous, and totally irresponsible. are they wrong? >> that was a reference by megan kelly to gingrich's plan which you talk good in a conference call with reporters yesterday to limit the power of the courts and impeach judges he regards as anti-american. my question is about the question ears -- all of the fox news debates in this cycle, has it established the network which is often criticized as conservative, as willing to ask tough questions of republicans? >> sure, certainly. i thought bret baier and chris wallace especially did a wonderful job with the interviews. was a little inside washington, but people following the campaign closely like getting that aspect in addition to questions about -- there wasn't -- obviously there wasn't enough about what about jobs. but they liked that aspect, that insider aspect. >> you alluded to this earlier, but while romney was in the mitt-ness protection program as it's called and stay away from the press, newt gingrich was all all over fox, on tv. he didn't have money so needed the free media. how much does that help a candidate even when, as you say, you may go on tv and say i'm tired of the mickey mouse questions, but you're still in front of the cameras? >> in newt's case it helped a great deal. among supporters there's a disproportionate amount of fox news viewers. that when was fox news was paying him to be on the airwaves or now had he's just grateful for any time free time he can have. particularly in a republican primary, particularly in iowa, the fox news has this outside influence. >> and -- and the media bashing, as you say, is popular even if you are doing it to the media -- >> all for show, howard. >> all for shou show? you think he loves sflrpts. >> i've seen firsthand that newt -- reporters? >> i've seen firsthand that newt loves hanging out with reporters. >> he was going to take this weekend off, a little over two weeks before the iowa caucuses and decided to go "face the nation." maybe because romney was on television and he felt he needed to be in the newsa a little bit more. we learned this week that gingrich spoke on background. he was a "senior aide to the campaign to the "manchester union leader," responding to criticism from the romney camp. do you have a problem with that? >> i think it's lying. you can't report that someone's a senior aide to himself. >> who's lying? newt or the reporter? >> i think "the union leader." >> and the "washington post" blogger says -- jennifer rubin said they tried to trick readers into believing that newt was staying above the fray when, in fact, he was very much in the fray. >> in newt's case it's fair because he only takes advice from himself, so -- >> but don't candidates do that all the time? i mean, what happened here is that gingrich's own spokesman outed him to "the new york times." >> right. the only difference is someone got caught. happens all the time. >> you think it's unusual? >> no. the code is, you know, so and so close to the candidates thinking is always code for the candidate. >> duplicity levened by incompetence. >> you clearly disapprove of this. >> i just think -- >> say it on the record. >> i disapprove of this. >> you should have said it on the record to the "union leader" which refuses -- your publication, national review, had a blisterring anti-gingrich editorial. which i will read part. "we fear that to nominate former speaker gingrich would be to blow this opportunity. gingrich's colleagues were right to bring his tenure as speaker to an end. his character flawings, his impulsiveness and grand yost, his weakness for half baked and not especially for irresolute action. did you vote to use some adjectives in that editorial? >> i mean, to be a real gingrich-ian editorial, it would have to have a lot of ad verbs, frankly and profoundly and so forth. i think that's merited. i think those kinds of critiques and the fact that people think that they're true are some of the reasons why he's dropping in the polls. >> but in a separate piece written by you, you say that he is temperamentally unsuited for the presidency. say he ones the nomination and is going up against barack obama, you may have to eat those words. >> it will be a question between two people who are temperamentally unsuited for the presidency. always have to pick which is less so. >> why does gingrich attract so much vitriol from the pundits including many, as we have just seen, on the right, on sort of his side of the ideological aisle? it's one thing to say, you know, he would be a poor candidate. i mean -- >> there's so many reasons, there's not one reason. you know, for the -- okay, a few. they feel he's going to bring the party down. he's going to be a terrible nominee, and they're going to blow it and president obama is going to walk away with it again. that's one. also, he compared himself to, what, lincoln, jefferson, jackson, and fdr. he compared his wife to jackie o. reagan. he refers to himself over and over as a historian. comes off as pompous. he was horrible to michele bachmann. >> she was attacking him. he was defending himself. >> he was so dismissive and rude, undecided women voters who heard that heard every boss who's ever put them down and called them stupid. and, you know, men don't hear that, but women do. that really hurt him. >> i just wonder how much of this is personal, dana millbank. some this rhetoric from conservative commentators who do d not want gingrich to get the nominations is more vicious than your pals on the left. >> i think they're being vicious but not out of a personal animus but out of a genuine fear that this guy will cost them an otherwise unwinnable election. they have it in for newt particularly, they just think he's too zany to win. i think they're making it practical. it's a useful thing for the republican establishment and the media -- conservative media establish. to be doing that is what their role should be, to say, wait, voters, what you're getting into here. >> this their is a split where some conservatives, whether at the weekly standard or rush limbo are pro-newt. and they're saying you're eli eliti elitist, part of the establishment and for the conservative milquetoast -- >> i love this idea idea that by pointing out that freddie mac gave $1.6 million to newt gingrich that makes not gingrich but the people pointing it out part of the elitist establishment. >> if i could defend the "national review," they're not elitist but are smart and in this case right. >> wow, wow. >> you're not concerned -- >> we'll pretend we never saw that -- >> you're not concerned about the in-fighting with people who would otherinarily be your rivals -- >> it tends to be a time of heated emotions. i suspect when there's a republican nominee which, you know, who knows when that's going to happen, that there their will be a little closing of ranks. >> the rest of us are enjoying the bloodletting, thanks very much for joining us. when we come back, the college student who dug up an old video that embarrassed romney's campaign. meet a new opposition researcher in a moment. just unroll, wrap the brie and bake. it's so easy. now this might even impress aunt martha. pillsbury crescent wrapped brie. holiday ideas made easy. but proven technologies allow natural gas producers to supply affordable, cleaner energy, while protecting our environment. across america, these technologies protect air - by monitoring air quality and reducing emissions... ...protect water - through conservation and self-contained recycling systems... ... and protect land - by reducing our footprint and respecting wildlife. america's natural gas... domestic, abundant, clean energy to power our lives... that's smarter power today. 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[ male announcer ] the inspiron one 2320 with the second gen intel® core™ i5 or i7 processors. performance for your unique lifestyle. for a limited time purchase select dell pc's and receive our holiday photo solution. our gift to you. and receive our holiday photo solution. confidence. available in color. depend for women is now peach. looks and fits like underwear. same great protection. depend. good morning. great day. it's a video clip that's been all over cable news this week. mitt romney when he was running for massachusetts governor in 2002 sounding very unlike the committed conservative he campaigns as today. >> i think the old, you know, standby definitions of who votes for which party have been blown away in this campaign. i think people recognize that i'm not a partisan republican, that i'm someone who is moderate and that my views are progressive. >> what you may not know is that the video was dug up from the cspan archives pie a college student at st. john's university. his name is andrew kaczynski. i spoke to him earlier from new york. andrew cass in skaczynski. welcome. how is it that the big media organizations not to mention rival campaigns failed to find this romney video and you did? >> that's a good question. i look all over the place, look on youtube. i look on google videos, al videos. and i just kind of think i find stuff that seems to have seeped through the cracks. >> this is your life, this is what you do in your spare time. is this an addiction? >> yeah. it's kind of a hobby of mine. i really do it because i think it's cool. i have influence on the political process. >> this particular week you had more than a little influence over the political process. i mean, everybody picked up that video. are you not a mitt romney fan? because this definitely hurt him. >> no, you know, i have my political views, some are the record, some of them aren't. and i'm someone -- >> basically a sflun. >> yeah. i mean i'm someone who have my own political views. i feel like that when you're doing something like this, when you're researching people, you have to be objective. and if you find something, i'm not someone who is going to not put something out just because i feel like it might be a little damaging to someone because if you're a politician and you set said something and your views cv changed over the years, people have a right to know that. >> there wasn't an attempt by you to push any jeaent. whatever you found if it was newsworthy, you were going to put it out there. do you view yourself as a journalist or opposition researcher? >> i guess i think of myself as a journalist. i'm someone who feels like, as i said, this has an important purpose to play in the campaign. shows how people have evolved. >> and when you saw this particular romney video, did you instantly say to yourself, boy, this is going to make quite a splash? >> i really had no idea. it's funny with the stuff i put up. some of it -- i really don't know what's going to have a big impact or not. i guess when i find something like when i found that video of romney talking it john kerry aing he was a flip-flopper, i kind of knew that was going blow up. it was almost surreal. but most of the stuff that i find, i really don't know what's going to go viral and what isn't. >> so this -- the fairly intense reaction to this, surprised you to some sdmoig. >> yeah. you know, i put the clip out. i just woke up right before i was going to take a showering to to see school. i'm like, i figured, i'm going to put up one video before i go out today. i uploaded it, and i remembered after i was ready about to leave, i checked, and it had 400 views. i knew i find something pretty big. >> it's not like you were sending emails to lots of tv networks trying to attract attention to your work. >> sometimes they'll send emails to people saying, hey, you know, check out this clip that i just put on line. but most of the time, after one person posts it, it really goes out to a larger audience and people kind of take from there. >> give it all the attention you've gotten for from this and the earlier videos that you have unearthed, has this led to any employment prospects for you? >> yeah. mine, -- i mean, i actually got a job opportunity at buzzfeed. it's really great. kind of the viral beating heart of the web. it's going to be exciting to see all this new stuff that's coming out there. >> ben smith who just left "politico" has hired you on the strength of your video-gathering skills to join this web site, becau buzzfeed? >> that's right. i really feel like this is going to be a great place to see how all of these political videos start going viral. it's going to be a unique place to view all of them on the web. >> you have your own cable tv show. andrew -- thank you very much for joining us. >> thanks for having me. >> he already has his own youtube channel. coming up in the second part of "reliable sources," abc's sundays experiment with christiane amanpour is over. it was a bad pick from the start and can george stephanopoulos hold e host "this week" and "good morning america" at the same time? and why are some in the media uncomfortable with tim tebow and his open displays of christianity? and later, "time" defends its encourage pick for person of the year. how do you know which ones to follow? the equity summary score consolidates the ratings of up to 10 independent research providers into a single score that's weighted based on how accurate they've been in the past. i'm howard spielberg of fidelity investments. the equity summary score is one more innovative reason serious investors are choosing fidelity. get 200 free trades today and explore your next investing idea. krimpt christiane amanpour admitted to taking over this week was an adjustment from cnn. he welcomed viewers as usual and joining her at the round table was the man who hosted the show before her george stephanopoulos. >> george, how do you think mitt romney measured up in the sort of aggressive tactics that people talk about? how did they measure up against each other? >> well, i got to say i was a little surprised right there at the top. i thought governor romney was going to hesitate at all. >> days later, abc announced that stephanopoulos will be continuing to host while co-hosting "good morning americ america". amanpour will become abc's global affairs anchor and split time between that and cnn international. joining us to talk about the short-lived sunday experiment, here in washington, david zurich, television and media critic for "the baltimore sun." in new york, marisa guthrie, reporter for "the hollywood reporter." she lasted maybe year and a half at most d. she ever really, truly establish herself as a sundays most? >> yeah, that's part of the problem. i don't think she ever did. it was 16 months, i think, was her tenure, and worst part -- abc essentially went from second in the mornings, a tight second, with nbc, to third, bob schieffer is the birthday victor here, moving into a tight second place. she'll never did. p