at the
presidential contenders who are lining up to run, a lot of people around
the country are saying, you know, the comments about Social Security and
Medicare and Medicaid, the whole Texas thing...

MATTHEWS: Yes.

STEELE: ... may not sell that well in the middle of the country and
in those key areas where we could be competitive, like Pennsylvania...

MATTHEWS: Do you and I have the same brain? Because I just thought
of the word "gadfly" about an hour ago, and I haven`t used it in 10 years.
(INAUDIBLE) last time you used the word "gadfly."

STEELE: The last time I used the word gadfly was probably a year ago.

MATTHEWS: God! (INAUDIBLE) weird night!

(LAUGHTER)

MATTHEWS: Anyway -- weird psycho yin/yang going on here. In a new
"USA Today" Gallup poll -- we love polls here -- Rick Perryright back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MATTHEWS: Wow, what a story this is -- we`re back -- just what the
White House need.

With polls already showing that the public has lost confidence in the
president`s handling of the economy, a new book out this week paints a
portrait of a White House economic team that is dysfunctional, and a young
president who was constantly, quote, "undermined" by his more seasoned
advisers. The book is by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Ron Suskind. It`s
a controversial book. Of course, already, several of the people quoted in
it have already come out and attacked the book they`re quoted in.

But the stinging portrait might have a damning effect anyway.
According to news accounts, the book Suskind wrote, the president often
felt, quote, "performance pressure -- having to play the part of a
president, in charge and confident,