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In this morning's NBC-Facebook Republican debate on Meet the Press, David Gregory tried to give Mitt Romney a pass while going after Newt Gingrich's SuperPAC for airing a 27-minute video about Mitt Romney's involvement with Bain Capital and their nasty habit of stripping companies of assets before bankrupting them and putting thousands out of work.

What is interesting about this particular exchange is how Romney first claims he hasn't seen the ads aired by his SuperPAC, has no knowledge of the details and of course feels that anything untrue should be corrected. As soon as those words leave his mouth, he spends the next 30 seconds enumerating every contention in the ads and defending them, and he's quite specific.

So which is it? Was he aware of the content of the ads or not? Clearly he was. All of them were, and this is why the whole Citizens United decision is such a farce. Romney quite defiantly embraces the fact that the ads are paid for by his supporters and the SuperPAC is run by former staffers. He knows every detail of the ads. Yet he stood before that audience with a straight face and claimed to have no knowledge of specifics or inaccuracies.

I realize Mitt Romney isn't particularly concerned with facts. I also know it's difficult to keep track of which lies one has told, which is why the truth usually works better. But one of his staffers might want to remind him of his self-righteous statement to Laura Ingraham where he says quite clearly that he helped raise money to put those ads on the air. Take what he said and mix it with the level of detailed knowledge he has about these ads and then decide for yourself whether there's any coordination between Romney, his campaign, and his SuperPAC.

By the way, Newt wasn't much better. He claimed to be innocent of the specific details in the 27-minute long video his SuperPAC has about Bain Capital, and then also went on to enumerate what Bain has done.

It's all a joke, thanks to our US Supreme Court. After watching this clip and the overall discussion, the idea that campaigns don't coordinate with SuperPACs is nothing more than a pack of lies.

Transcript after the jump.

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If the candidates were wearing the logos of their sponsors, I imagine Rick Perry would have Exxon-Mobil's emblazoned in the place where he currently wears his flag pin. Or Amoco, or whoever it is that funds his campaign when it's clearly gone past its prime.

Perry wasn't given a lot of debate time, so it would appear he memorized a few key paragraphs to make sure he got a sound bite or two. Unfortunately for Governor Perry, ending the Iraq war is something 75% of Americans support, regardless of party affiliation. That's overwhelming, which is why it's shocking to have actually heard him say he would re-deploy troops to Iraq, and to claim the war in Iraq ended because of the President's "lefty liberal base", a perjorative term that he spat out in the middle of his speech. Here's what he said:

PERRY: Well, I think that you have to -- I would send troops back into Iraq, because I will tell you...

STEPHANOPOULOS: Now?

PERRY: I -- I think we start talking with the Iraqi individuals there. The idea that we allow the Iranians to come back into Iraq and take over that country, with all of the treasure, both in blood and money, that we have spent in Iraq, because this president wants to kowtow to his liberal, leftist base and move out those men and women. He could have renegotiated that timeframe.

I think it is a huge error for us. We’re going to see Iran, in my opinion, move back in at literally the speed of light. They’re going to move back in, and all of the work that we’ve done, every young man that has lost his life in that country will have been for nothing because we’ve got a president that does not understand what’s going on in that region.

Perry clearly speaks for the 25% of Americans who are either clueless, greedy, or bloodthirsty. I'm not sure which. It's classic neocon framing, though, particularly the part about "treasure, both in blood and money," as if lives were equal to money. Perhaps it's too simplistic to say so, given the neocon belief that US-style democracy should dominate political systems worldwide, but can we just be honest and say it's about the oil? I somehow doubt Rick Perry cares as much about lives as he does about treasure, and clearly he's upset that we aren't putting our greedy little hands on the treasure.

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Can there really be a line that even right-wingers can't cross when it comes to cable news? Or is it simply that Buchanan isn't a good fit with the network's plans?

PASADENA, Calif. — MSNBC’s top executive said Saturday that he hasn’t decided whether conservative commentator and author Pat Buchanan will be allowed back on the network.

Buchanan, a former GOP presidential candidate and a paid MSNBC contributor, hasn’t been on the network since the publication of his book “Suicide of a Superpower” last October. The book has chapters titled “The End of White America” and “The Death of Christian America” and its author argues that the United States is in the “Indian summer of our civilization.”

“When Pat was on his book tour, because of the content of the book, I didn’t think it should be part of the national dialogue much less part of the dialogue on MSNBC,” said MSNBC President Phil Griffin. The minority advocacy group Color of Change has circulated a petition urging MSNBC to fire Buchanan.

Buchanan did appear for an interview about his book in October on Fox News Channel’s “Hannity,” where host Sean Hannity said, “welcome out of exile.”

Griffin would not discuss the length of Buchanan’s contract with MSNBC or whether it would be renewed.

Whammer's Blog: Rick Santorum's grandfather may have escaped Italy, but he can’t escape himself.

All Things Democrat: And the reason Santorum will never be President has everything to do with marriage.

News Corpse: The Top 5 Tax Myths of the GOP Spin Machine

Froth Slosh B'Gosh: Don't you dare call them racists!

Round Up by Blue Gal of The Professional Left Podcast. Send tips to MBRU [at] crooksandliars [dot] com.

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Stretch is moderating. Facebook is co-sponsoring. But I promise you no sense will be made.

Leading into this debate, Facebook has been carefully gauging the mood of voters in both Iowa and New Hampshire, but also across the country. By using Facebook, users have been commenting on the Meet The Press page and asking exactly what they want to see in the debate. Also they've been talking with each other too as they post comments. Facebook and NBC have also been asking voting-age users in specific key areas what they think are the key issues going into the debate:

Economy 58%
Federal Deficit 19%
Healthcare 11%
Illegal Immigration 6%
Foreign Policy 5%

While the core of the data is coming from people they surveyed in New Hampshire and Iowa, they are allowing anyone to pose a question to the candidates on the Meet The Press Facebook page.

The debate will be streaming on NBC, MSNBC and the Meet The Press Facebook page.

Let us know if you see any clipworthy moments.

Heartbreak Warfare - John Mayer

Another Sunday, another appearance by John McCain. On the good news side, we'll soon have another intelligent talk show coming to follow Up with Chris Hayes, as MSNBC contributer and frequent guest host Melissa Harris-Perry is going to be adding her voice to the lineup.

If you haven't had enough debates, NBC is looking to hook you up. David Gregory is pre-empting his own show to moderate an annoyingly timed debate in New Hampshire. It should be a mixed bag of discussions elsewhere, from Nancy Pelosi assuring Candy Crowley that Obama asserted no improper power by recess-appointing Richard Cordray to Leon Panetta assuring Bob Schieffer that the Defense Department will manage just fine even with cuts to Ron Paul still trying to insist that his Randian ideology will work in the real world.

NBC's Meet the Press - Republican presidential debate: Former Rep. Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.); former Gov. Jon Huntsman (R-Utah); Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas); Gov. Rick Perry (R-Texas); former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-Mass.); former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.). Moderator: David Gregory.

CNN's State of the Union With Candy Crowley - New Hampshire primary; campaign strategy: presidential candidate former Gov. Jon Huntsman (R-Utah). 2012 legislative agenda; the race for the White House: Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco). Romney versus Gingrich in New Hampshire: Romney surrogate former Gov. John H. Sununu (R-N.H.); Gingrich surrogate former Rep. Bob Walker (R-Pa.). New Hampshire primary: Phil Rucker; Neil King.

CNN's Fareed Zakaria GPS - Politics: Former Sen. Alan K. Simpson (R-Wyo.). Military budget: Michael O'Hanlon; Lawrence Korb. U.S. and Iran: Hillary Mann Leverett; Hooman Majd; Vali Nasr; Bret Stephens, the Wall Street Journal.

CNN's Reliable Sources - Iowa caucus: Jonathan Karl, ABC; Lynn Sweet; Roger Simon, Politico. Fair game reporting: Robert Costa; Dana Milbank. New Hampshire primary: James Pindell, WMUR.

ABC's This Week With George Stephanopoulos - Obama campaign adviser David Axelrod. Former Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-Ark.). Panel: George Will; Donna Brazile; Mary Matalin; Matthew Dowd; Jake Tapper.

Fox News Sunday With Chris Wallace - Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D-Fla.); Republican National Committee chair Reince Priebus; Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas).

CBS's Face the Nation - Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta; Martin E. Dempsey, Joint Chiefs of Staff; Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).

So what's catching your eye this morning?

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Time once again to highlight some liberal podcasts of the past week:

The Matthew Filipowicz Show: ACLU-MA’s Kade Crockford, Katie Halper and Joshua Eaton

Virtually Speaking with Jay Ackroyd: Jay talks with Mac McClelland about For Us Surrender Is Out of the Question, an “intimate account of McClelland’s time among Burmese rebels.”

Poli-Sci-Fi Radio with Steve Benen and Bill Simmon: New Years Special

Majority Report with Sam Seder: Rights that are ok for Rick Santorum’s family but not for yours? And at the root of Ron Paul’s ”good” positions is a dark, dangerous belief system.

Round up by Blue Gal of The Professional Left Podcast.

Open Thread below....

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Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich blasted moderators at a debate in New Hampshire Saturday for "anti-Christian bigotry" after they asked several of the GOP hopefuls about gay rights.

"I just want to raise a point about the news media bias," the former House Speaker complained to ABC's Diane Sawyer. "You don't hear the opposite question asked."

"Should the Catholic Church be forced to close its adoption services in Massachusetts because it won't accept gay couples, which is exactly what the state has done? Should the Catholic Church be driven out of providing charitable services in the District of Columbia because it won't give in to secular bigotry? Should the Catholic Church find itself discriminated against by the Obama administration on key delivery of services because the bias and bigotry of the administration?"

He added: "The bigotry question goes both ways and there's a lot more anti-Christian bigotry today than there is concern on the other side, and none of it gets covered by the news media."

That remark was met with some of the loudest applause of the evening from the Republican audience, and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney quickly spoke up in agreement.

"As you can tell, the people in this room feel that Speaker Gingrich is absolutely right, and I do too," Romney declared. "We have to recognize that this decision about what we call marriage has consequences which goes far beyond a loving couple wanting to form a long-term relationship, that they can do within the law now. Calling it marriage creates a whole host of problems for families, for the law, for the practice of religion, for education."

"Let me say this: 3,000 years of human history shouldn't be discarded so quickly," he insisted.

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Romney came right out of the gate at this Saturday night's ABC Republican primary debate lying about his job creation record at Bain Capital.

Here's part of the exchange via the LA Times -- Romney takes heat over Bain record:

Asked to respond to an anti-Romney ad campaign that will be waged by a super PAC backing his candidacy, former House speaker Newt Gingrich shied away from directly endorsing the ads – which scrutinize Romney's record at Bain Capital – but delivered a pointed jab at the Bain business model.

“I'm not nearly enamored of a Wall Steet model where you can flip companies, you can go in and have leveraged buyouts, you can basically take out all the money, leaving behind workers,” Gingrich said.

Pressed to explain a comment he made last month that Romney earned his fortune by “bankrupting companies and laying off workers,” Gingrich punted, referring instead to a New York Times story that detailed the history of one company that was taken over by Bain.

“Well, I”m not surprised to have the New York Times try to put free enterprise under trial,” Romney said. “I'm not surprised to have the Obama adminsitration do that either. It's a little surprising from my colleagues on this stage.”

Romney again repeated his claim that Bain created 100,000 jobs under his leadership. His math has been questioned in recent news reports – like this one from the Washington Post, which says the 100,000 figure “obviously does not include job losses from other companies with which Bain Capital was involved — and are based on current employment figures, not the period when Romney worked at Bain.”Romney defended the figure: “I'm a good enough numbers guy to make sure I've got both sides of that.”

The Washington Post's Ezra Klein was following the debate on Twitter and noted that Romney's claim about the net-net on job losses is just not true and pointed to this article as well as the one linked from the LA Times above:

Why is Romney doing such a lousy job defending his record at Bain Capital?

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Credit: C&Ler; flag_bible_gun

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Republican candidates for President of the United States (yeah) will debate on WMUR, New Hampshire:

The debate will take place at 9 p.m. on Jan. 7 on the campus of Saint Anselm College. It will be moderated by ABC's Diane Sawyer and George Stephanopoulos and WMUR's Josh McElveen. The debate will be broadcast on WMUR and across the nation on ABC. WMUR.com will livestream the debate and provide live updates throughout the night.

Image above from C&L commenter flag_bible_gun. Debate open thread below...