Texas Gov. Rick Perry says Social Security is a “monstrous lie” for younger Americans. “It is a monstrous lie. It is a Ponzi scheme to tell our kids that are 25 or 30 years old today, you’ve paid into a program that’s going to be there. Anybody that's for the status quo with Social Security today is involved with a monstrous lie to our

NBC’s Brian Williams and Politico’s John Harris moderate a debate between 2012 GOP presidential candidates live from the Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California.

Herman Cain takes on Al Sharpton, Eugene Robinson, Lawrence O'Donnell and Ed Schultz after the Republican debate at the Reagan Library.

Newt Gingrich to moderator John Harris of Politico: "I for one and I hope that all of my friends up here are going to repudiate every effort of the news media to get Republicans to fight each other, to protect Barack Obama who deserves to be defeated. And all of us are committed as a team. Whoever the nominee is, we are all for defeating Barack Oba

Gov. Rick Perry (TX) on calling Social Security a "Ponzi scheme": "Americans know that, and regardless of what anyone says, 'oh, it's not, and that's provocative language.' Maybe it's time to have some provocative language in this country and say things like 'let's get America working again and do whatever it takes to make that happen.'"

"I don't think you carry cards in the tea party. I believe in a lot of what the tea party believes in. The tea party believes that government's too big, taxing too much, and we ought to get Americans to work, so I put together a plan with a whole series of points to how we can get America's economy going again. Tea party people like that. So if the

"Listen, when you make comments that fly in the face of what 98 out of 100 climate scientists have said, when you call to question evolution, all I'm saying is that in order for the Republican party to win, we can't run from science, we can't run from mainstream conservative philosophy," Jon Huntsman said.

"And the other thing this president has done, he has proven for once and for all that government spending will not create one job. Keynesian policy and Keynesian theory is now done. We'll never have to have that experiment on America again," Rick Perry said at the debate.

Rick Perry: Romney did "a great job of creating jobs in the private sector ... When he moved that experience to government, he had one of the lowest job-creation rates."

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.): "I sit on a Committee on Intelligence, we deal with the nation's classified secrets, and I firmly believe the President of the United States has weakened us militarily and put us more at risk than any time."

Ron Paul says those who understand liberty do not lack compassion because they truly know the market.

Asked by ABC News' Jake Tapper and other White House reporters how President Obama plans to pay for his jobs plan, White House press secretary Jay Carney continued to dodge the question and give an answer. Tapper inquired if the White House planned to use tax increases and Carney said "no, it will be specifically paid for. CBS' Norah O'Donne

Rush Limbaugh reacts to NBC political director Chuck Todd saying that "our pollsters" are "concerned" after sharing that the network's latest poll shows dismal numbers for President Obama and the economy. "You

A new web ad by the RNC shows President Obama's past speeches and plans on the economy and job creation. The RNC asks: "Sound familiar?" Obama is set to explain his latest plan for job creation in an address to a joint session of Congress. Text: Same words, same speeches, same failed policies. It's time to change direction and defeat Barack

"Yet, in 2008 we picked a guy whose campaign platform was 'hope and change' and is, I think is safe to say three years in, has proven not to have the experience he needed to face the challenges that we're challenging now. And is ill-equipped to be President of the United States," Joe Scarborough said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" on Wednesday morning.

"They’re toxic in a general election environment and they are also toxic in a Republican primary. And if you say Social Security is a failure and ought to be replaced by a state level program, then people are going to say ‘What do you mean by that?’ and make a judgment based on your answer to it," Karl Rove says about Rick Perry's view on th

"What everyone should do is make their best judgment of how they be civil," said White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer. "What I don't think makes sense is to distract from the major issues at hand to try to get everyone to go back and approve and disapprove of every single thing that every single person has said," he added. (source:

"Mitt Romney kind of has the odd idea, and it is a bizarre idea, that at a time when corporations are scoring record profits. At a time when you've got them sitting on $2 trillion of cash they don't even know what to do with, that somehow if you give them more tax cuts and deregulate so you reduce their costs even further, they will then create job

"Now this has taken a hit on the president politically. 44-percent approve of the job he’s doing, all time low of his presidency. A more important number that our pollsters say is in there is this idea that is this a long-term setback for him or a short-term one? 54-percent said long-term. Our pollsters are concerned. That’s kind of numbers you

Larry Kudlow, CNBC: "On the campaign trail you took some flack for saying that corporations are people, but you are sticking to your guns. Can you tell us, we're the business and financial station, why are corporations people? What are you thinking?" Gov. Mitt Romney, Republican candidate for president: "Well, I hope people understand that when

“One mistake to avoid is political correctness. You can’t fight crime and you can’t deter terrorism if you are hobbled by political correctness … Major Hassan is an example of that. “If you can’t face your enemy, you can’t defeat your enemy. If you can’t honestly describe your enemy, there are distortions in your policy decisions

"She doesn't like holding office. She held office, remember? She was governor of Alaska. She quit. It was too much of a hassle. She's not running for president, yet she continues this dangling the possibility and there is always a gullible few, I think, who are willing to believe to buy into the fantasy that 'Palin for President.' I don't see it no

Karl Rove breaks down the GOP race and says that Rick Perry is now the frontrunner. However, he cautions that at this point in the 2008 race, Rudy Giuliani was the leading GOP candidate. The 2008 nomination went to John McCain.

Larry O'Donnell and Jim Hightower preview Rick Perry's debut in the series of GOP presidential debates. Hightower, a political opponent of Perry's, criticizes Perry's response to wildfires in Texas and says he is "thin-skinned".

White House press secretary Jay Carney at the beginning of his Wednesday briefing reacts after bringing out the wrong notebook: "Sorry. I'm going to shuck and jive! Time to shuck and jive."

The panel takes on comments made by Teamsters leader James Hoffa at a Labor Day rally. KRAUTHAMMER: The real story is the cosmic hypocrisy of the Democrats. We had the shooting in Tucson all of a sudden that was obviously the act of a psychotic mad man. And yet for four days there was unrelenting vitriol from the left ... some elected re

Maddow and Rep. Tammy Baldwin discuss the role of the labor movement in supporting Democratic politicians. Baldwin is running in the 2012 Senate race in Wisconsin.