including talladega, mcclellan and a meeting of the rainy day patriots that sounds big in a state like alabama. campaign strategy be dammed. cain has an important message. for starters. it's 10% of all federal agencies. aside from the postal service, the federal government is the largest employer. what about all the workers? >> it's not that easy to fire federal workers. i'm going to give them the choice. early retirement or reassignment. where are you going to reassign me? i understand there is an empty building in alaska. >> shou that for a fright. happy halloween to you, mr. cain. if that didn't get the crowds fired up at breakfast, by lunchtime, talk of o bolishing all together with help from the declaration of independence. >> when any form of government becomes destructive of those ideals, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish. we have altering and abolishing to do. >> it begs the question, what exactly does herman cain want to be the president of? the got father of pizza does things a little differently. as evidenced in his campaign ads. if you thought his cigarette-puffing manager was bizarre, take a look at this. . >> get real. >> i stand with herman cain because herman cain stands with us. >> absolutely. that ad courtesy of weird and weirder. to help us sort out the mysteries of herman cain at the end of a busy week, goldie taylor is with us and from washington karen finney. karen, if i can start with you. before we come to mr. cain himself, his chief of staff who smokes also has an interesting personal history. for three years and fined 15,000 for voter suppression, we reported that earlier and were one of the first to do so. there was a tax warrant for an unpaid bill and arrested twice for drunk driving. a chain smoking drunk driving operative who doesn't pay his bills. >> he would make a great chief of staff. the drunk driving obviously not good, but the thing that i find most disconcerting is that this is someone who has a record of disenfranchising voters. actively trying to stop people from voting. for herman cain to think that that individual is appropriate to have on his ticket, granted this gentlemen has predominantly focussed on the democratic party and the base is african-american, latino and youth voters and easterns in their tactics, but i find that appalling and a collapse of judgment on the part of mr. cain. >> is herman cain serious about winning primaries? if he makes four stops in al bottoma that votes after the virgin islands and he has been in 18 states in the last month, but only three in total includes visits to iowa, new hampshire and south carolina. is he serious? >> for takes money and organization to win elections and caucuses in iowa, new hampshire, florida, and south carolina. >> absolutely. >> there is no organization and no staff there and no way to turn out voters for caucuses. those kinds of things that are missing and he shows up in tennessee and then alabama. he said something about herman cain. either he has an incompetent staff or he ain't running. i think it's the latter. >> you don't think he is run something. >> i think he is selling books. >> i think goldy is right. he is coming out with a new show because he's the donald trump in the race and it's hard to take him seriously. he is going to places where he can raise money. clearly in texas he was able to raise money and got fund-raisers in alabama and fund-raisers in tennessee. part of it is money. the second thing that occurred to me is going to alabama, the state party chair is excited to have him and they are trying to do a lot of events. i wonder if he wants to make the case that he can appeal to white republican voters in the south as a way to prop up his viability argument for his candidacy. >> karen, i keep reading that herman is the counter intuitive anti-candidate that wants to turn upside down the orthodox approaches to campaigning. so far his policies say that the jobless should blame themselves and illegal immigrants could get eaten by alligators and the right of women to choose should not be allowed even in cases of incest. is that his vision of cain country? >> apparently so. that is the vision of america. i hope they ask what is going on in the state of alabama and is the idea we are going to import a lunch of alligators? there is one thing to be non-traditional and let this person be their person. that's part of what a good staff is supposed to do and figure out how we put this individual in the settings where he or she can shine and people can really get a sense of who they are and what they stand for. that's not what the campaign seems to be about. it seems to be more about selling books as goldie was saying and getting publicity and attention rather than the serious business. does anybody think the ideas are serious? >> i have no idea. he is getting lots of money. you saw a possibility and you wrote about him as a warm up act for herman cain, blaming democrats are being racist and saying they are the party of the ku klux klan and academics remarks. he called him and he's a guest on this show, a gap-toothed liar. who is that kind of language appealing to? >> that kind of language is meant to appeal to the republican base, but at the end of the day, candidates like that are going to find themselves in ironic positions when they are using this kind of damage to get that base to vote for them and then they don't. at the end of the day, people see through that treater and language. you can make things sound pretty for so long and people start looking at the substance. where do you stand on iraq and iran? where do you stand on pell grants and immigration? >> just last night he said he wants to slash the grants for students. >> so latinos and he alienated every middle income family, who will be left? the smoker's lobby? >> probably. very quickly, karen. >> very seriously, this is a little harsh, but one of the things about herman cain is he makes that white republican base of the party feel okay like they are not racist. they can like this guy. he is giving that base a free pass and think they like him because they think he is a black man who knows his place. that's harsh, but that's what it seems like to me. >> thank you for spelling that out. rick perry hides from debates and said hi to big cash donors. >> these debates are set up for nothing more than to tear down the candidates. what's better than gold ? 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[ male announcer ] e-trade. investing unleashed. see? he's taking his vitamins. new one a day vitacraves plus omega-3 dha is a complete multivitamin for adults. plus an excellent source of omega-3 dha in a great tasting gummy. one a day, gummies for grown-ups. this afternoon in new hampshire, rick perry addressed reports he was planning to duck out of future gop debates. >> i don't know if we will have people go to the debates or not. there will be a lot of debates. i may get to be a good debater before it's all over. >> this comes after he was roundly criticized by his opponents for thinking about exiting stage right. >> i think governor perry will find it an enormous mistake to not go to the debates and frankly he would look pretty silly. why would any republican want to nominate someone who couldn't stand on the same platform with us? i think it would define him out of the race. >> newt is hammering him and his wavering comes after poor showings. one fumble that comes to mind is when he said this when pressed on questions of his ties to a drug lobbyist. >> the company was merck. it was a $5,000 contribution that i had received from them. i raise about $30 million and if you are saying i can be bought for $5,000, i'm offended. >> yes, it is insulting for as rolling stone reports, it may cost a lot more than $5,000 to get in governor perry's ear. the current issue features comedian eddie murphy and you will find a not so funny exposy in texas. as an example, reric baits is the editor of rolling stone and joins me now. can i quote from your own article. perry appointed 921 of his donors and their spouses to government posts over the past decade. 921. all totalled, those appointees gave a staggering $17 million to his campaigns and perry collected 6.1 million from the 155 people he appointed to be regents of state universities in texas. are there no restrictions? >> there some, but perry has been really brilliant at putting the state up for sale. he raised about half of all his money from 204 don't ors. the author calls them the central committee. it's a bureau way of running a government. the 204 donors get all kind of favors in return. the appointments and they were averaging up and ponying up about 4,000 per person. >> these are significant positions on universities. the only qualification is as you have given to rick perry. >> they will see if they had any other. >> nrt case of the 155 people, absolutely astonishing. they told so many stories of kick backs and others. here's another one. rick perry sold the right to tax texas highway drivers to a spanish billionaires and let a british firm write a law authorizing the sale of virtually all state property to corporations and texas school teachers to a swiss bank. what are you talking about? let's start with selling the right to the texas highway. drivers to spanish billionaires? what's that? >> the multibillion dollar spanish corporation and they through a connection with one of the consultants got millions to build and run state highways. the state not only subsidized the highway projects, but the state allowed them to build tollroads and if you want to get there faster, you have to pay the company to build the road. >> the company is based in spain. >> the company is spanish. >> what about the british firm authorizing the state property to foreign corporations? >> it's a case where they basically wrote a bill that was going through the legislature. schools, hospitals, could have been sold to the companies and the state would have subsidized it and lept them money to do it. they would have been lending a foreign company money to buy property from the taxpayers. >> fantastic. other than michele bachmann who timidly pointed out that there was this 5,000 dollar don't nation from a drug company. why haven't any of perry's opponents made a bigger issue out of what is clearly texas for sale? you can get anything if you give him money. >> the record is just undeniable and time after time, millions of dollars being given by donors who get direct pay offs in return and a clear case of crony capitalism and some tried to make an issue. here's exhibit a. >> i wonder if he went into the white house. >> seems like the whole company would do that. >> eric bates from rolling stone, thank you for joining us. now to the play of the day, rick perry had a bit of a rough week. maybe this novel happy halg wean message. greg on you tube. 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[ male announcer ] don't be left behind. get it faster with 4g. at&t. ♪ now to constitutional saber rattling. the president's orders on issues like student loans and mortgage relief may be unconstitutional. the president signed two more today including to create business usa. a website described as a one-stop platform to help businesses bypass bureaucracy. jay carney explained. >> these announcements are part of a series of executive actions to put americans back to work and strengthen the economy because we cannot wait for congressional republicans to act. >> live on capitol hill, mike, any response from the white house on boehner's claim apart from if you won't do anything, the president has to act? >> they through a little ridicule. he noted before leaving town for the week the house of representatives led by the republicans passed a commemorative coin act commemorating the baseball players in the country and unclear on whether he has it at this point. the best we can tell is a broadry defined term outside the legislative process and orders would be somewhere underneath that. there have been other presidents republican and democrat alike who used actions to effectuate new rules. that's part of the issue here. the larger point that the white house is trying to make is that the house is not moving at least on the president's agenda. luke will have information about republicans and what they say about that. the fact of the matter is that they are trying to demonstrate and draw a distinction about the white house anxious to help the american worker and the house is stuck in their straight jacket. take it away, luke. >> take it away, luke. >> yes. i will be a hall of famer i hope. bob gibson. >> bring it down. >> there it goes. what you hear from republicans on the points about the executive orders, what boehner was saying yesterday. >> exactative actions and not orders. >> coming from the white house and the constitutionality. they have been done by republicans and democratic presidents. they understand what the white house is doing. what boehner's office is trying to make the point of is that the had the has not done enough to engage on these types of issues they feel they can find 41 ground on and would like to see him meet with republicans and trying to put forth ideas. all that being said, we know where they are. we are positioning themselves and compromise does not do very well with the voters. >> okay, luke. no, no. george w. bush i noted issued 291 executive orders digger his combined presidencies. here's the question to both of you. do either of you -- >> i found that stat for you. >> you did. well done. here's the question. do you recall speaker boehner ever questioning whether any one of those was constitutional. mike viquiera first. >> no,i don't. >> thank you. luke? >> i don't recall. >> thank you very much. mike viquiera and luke russert, thank you very much for joining us. that's enough. it's done. stay with us. the week's top lines are coming up. >> they have got to stop this. it's just so counterproductive. if they want to lose, this is the game for losers. i wouldn't do that. get married? no, i wouldn't use that single miles credit card. nice ring. knock it off. ignore him. with the capital one venture card you earn... double miles on every purchase. 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[ male announcer ] get the venture card at capitalone.com and earn double miles on every purchase every day. what's in your wallet? i was gonna say that. uh huh... whose non-stop day starts with back pain... and a choice. take advil now and maybe up to four in a day. or choose aleve and two pills for a day free of pain. way to go, coach. ♪ from the love of guns and smoke to mitt the wind sock and rum and coke. we sum up the top lines, week in review. >> a man and his son and a daughter and their guns. >> roaring into the hawk eye state, all guns blazing. >> a long love affair with a boy and his gun. >> you get the candidates you pray for. >> if any of you watched my debate performances, you know i am far from perfect. >> poor rick perry his wife said he is broulthsize autalized. >> it's the democratic party that is the racist. the party of the ku klux klan. we are their friends and the liberators. >> maybe coke and cain doesn't mix so well together. >> call it the fruit loops theory. they have wheaties or fruit loops. >> the campaign team is not allowed to speak to him unless spoken to. i was surrounded by the aura. >> it's fun to poke at him a little bit. >> 20% flat tax simple enough to file your taxes on a postcard. >> it's pathetic. >> that's so tim even tim geithner can get it. >> something in the water they are drinking. >> the man is a serial wind sock. >> mr. 23%, how he has managed to neither gain or lose support. if he were a color, he would be beige. if he were an ice cream flavor, he would be beige. >> what a week had t has been for the candidates in the race for the white house. if more i'm joined by my colleague and host, mr. chris hayes himself. in a casually dressed attire. there is a story moving right now, the latest example of mitt romney's flip flopping. this on climate change, here's the progress video. >> we don't know what's causing climate change on this planet. >> here's the problem with that. in june he said i believe the world is getting warmer and i believe humans have contributed to that. the polls are suggesting he is going the other way? >> he actually -- this is the second time. i was looking and he made noises to this effect in august. what happened is fox news and rush limbaugh and the entire ecosystem of the right wing media turn and converted empirical data about climate into a culture car issue. into an issue like abortion and gay rights. the hot button cheeks flushed issues that are signs of the tribal loyalty to the conservative crew. it is impossible in the eyes of republican primary voters, particularly the hard core conservative ones that will show up in the polls to believe in the scientific consensus on global warming. >> what are is bizarre is a number of evangelical scholars and i have written about the fact that they believe in climate change. this is no longer a religious issue? >> what's depress suggest it has gone backwards. there was a president where al gore was doing pat robertson about climate change. romney is not the first republican presidential candidate who had to stare down the skeleton in his closet of being reasonable and empirically minded. tim pawlenty had the same problem because he acknowledged the climate change and john huntsman who was forced to tweet call me crazy that did not endeer him to republican primaries. >> no infrastructure in the first four primary states. today in alabama that votes in march. >> it is a nice state, alabama. >> sorry he running for president or simply bidding for more opportunities to make motivational speeches and sell books? >> i cannot see what is in the heart of herman cain, but i think we should not discount the fact that broadcast air time on the fox news network is the single most important thing for a republican presidential candidate to do. there is no analog on the liberal side to the control that fox has over the information received by your average republican primary voter. ergo, if you are achieving maximum fox exposu