tv Piers Morgan Tonight CNN February 24, 2012 12:00am-1:00am PST
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>> i would like to look at it but can't comment. >> can't comment. >> we tried. for more of my interview with reid hoffman go online to our blog. tonight, the battle for the gop. romney blasts santorum. >> i don't think if i have seen a politician tell in so many ways why he voted against his principles. why one white house insider is fired up about bill clinton. >> talk about alexander hamilton's affair? did we talk about john kennedy. is that the legacy we talk about? no. >> politics and scandal. defending what appears to be the indefensible. >> why not have a dialogue with him.
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why am i the only person going there to talk to him. >> only in america. why is this man baned from the oscars? this is "piers morgan tonight." good evening, the big story, the battle for the gop. rick santorum and mitt romney are fighting for the lead as they head for the contest in michigan and arizona on tuesday. much more on that later. from hollywood to tehran. why he's defending ahmadinejad. >> he's been vilified. we label him as an extremist. the speeches i heard him say were clear in the sense he preached we are all made in the image of god, all people of all countries, all colors are brothers and sisters. that was his clear message. >> we begin with the big story, the race for the white house. as far as the gop is concerned, it could come down to the michigan primary on tuesday
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former michigan governor, jennifer granholm. governor, welcome. how are you? >> i'm great. how are you piers? >> befuddled after last night's debate. i watched it with interest. i couldn't work out who is going to win this race. >> i wish i could tell you. certainly, whatever happens in michigan is going to determine, i think, whether there's a brokered convention or whether romney takes it all the way. >> if you lose in your own backyard, which michigan would be to mitt romney, it's an area he grew up in. if you lose there, it's a big problem if you are presumed to be a front-runner, right? >> for sure. for sure. in michigan, you know, the whole thing with the auto industry, it cuts both ways in a republican primary, understandably. in a general election, it is a killer.
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in michigan, if romney or santorum go up against obama, if you believe the polls today, they would get trampled on in larger than double digits. 44% believe it was a good thing in michigan. in a general election, it's over. >> i don't know if you saw my interview with chris christie, i was baffled. he's an impressive man. he refused to talk about the bailout of the car industry or the car industry at all. the conclusion i drew is he didn't say what he wanted to say, actually, the bailout has been a good thing. there was reluctance to give president obama the credit he deserves. >> of course, he saved 1.4 million jobs. gm is number one. gm and chrysler making bigger profits they have made for the
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past decade in the past. it's success. it gets back to the issue about the republicans rooting for failure. if they hadn't -- if the president hadn't stepped in to save general motors and chrysler, it would not have been that. there was no private entity that was willing to put up the money to save general motors and chrysler in the middle of a financial meltdown. it would have been a liquidation. if that happened, unemployment in michigan and the u.s. would have been through the roof. in michigan, it would have been 20%. there's no question this was a success. >> to keep repeating, let detroit go bust. i don't think there's a lot of votes out there for that campaign. >> in addition to that, mitt romney supported the bailout of
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a financial industry but didn't support the bailout of an industry that is critical to blue collar america. so, how do you justify the treatment other than the sort of background that romney has that is coming from the financial industry. by the way, i thought i read in the new york times the other day that bain capital, his company was one of the companies that general motors or chrysler went to and they turned them down. there was no willingness to do that. bottom line is, when you support a bailout of the financial industry and not the bailout of a mainstream industry that provides jobs across america, you are hurting. >> let's take a listen to some of the rhetoric about president obama from the candidates last night. it got pretty extreme, i thought. >> i don't think we have seen in the history of this country, the kind of attack on religious conscience, tolerance we have
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seen under barack obama. >> he's afraid to stand-up to iran. he opposed the sanctions until his party said you are killing us, support the sanctions. >> i think it's a sober period. this is the most dangerous president on national security grounds in american history. >> so, he's the weakest, most dangerous president in history. maybe the most dangerous human being. how do you answer that charge? >> well, you know, it just makes me laugh out loud. newt gingrich, the most dangerous in history. his sense of hyperbole knows no bounds. i heard david axelrod say i'm sure osama bin laden, if he were alive would provide a good rebuttal to that. >> it strikes me unusual about the battle going on. the rhetoric about religion.
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it seems to me to be more religious a debate than any i can remember in recent years. why do you think that is and how will it play out? >> i think it's driven by the presence of rick santorum. romney does not want to talk about religion. it's not his strength. he wants to talk about the economy. there's not much to talk about there as the unemployment numbers continue to drop and the stock market continues to soar. all that's left is the war on religion, as they say, which ends up, of course, being a war on women's reproductive freedom. it's not a good argument in a general election, either when you have these governors across the country who are rushing legislation through their legislatures that end up depriving women of not just choice, but, you know, the stuff that was happening in virginia for example. the transvaginal ultrasounds.
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it's shocking, this war that's happening. it's not really a great argument in a general election. all of this bodes well for president obama. >> yeah. it did strike me very, very much last night. the whole debate about abortion and contraception is at odds on the republican side if any of the people contributing were women or women who had a sense this might not be a smart move for them. >> this is why, honestly, piers, we need more women in elected office. it's crazy. the congressmen i sit here. when there were no women present, they were talking about something near and dear to women, i think women in america are waking up. you are seeing it play out across the country that we have to have more women's voices, not just executive offices but legislative offices as well.
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i hope it makes women serve their country. >> many think you should be serving us in higher office. give that serious thought. it's been a pleasure talking to you again. >> nice to talk to you, too. thanks, piers. is a republican a dream come true for any democrat? lenny davis is joining me. welcome. >> thank you. >> what do you make, you worked in the white house under bill clinton and george w. bush. what do you make of the current gop race? >> i served on a panel president bush appointed but not in the white house. i think republicans are committing political suicide not just because of their hyperbole but the way they are behaving and the negativity is violating all that ronald reagan said
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about the 11th commandment. democrats had tough primaries. i went through one when i supported senator clinton. the level of personal character assassination and negativity, especially mitt romney's ads and money being spent tearing each other apart isn't pretty as a whole, but pleasant for democrats to watch. >> yeah, i can't help thinking when i hear them ripping each other's throats out, it's been the case it gets ugly and negativity comes out. it couldn't be as bad as this. romney is throwing hundreds and millions of dollars of these things and struggling to maintain a front-runner position. how effective is it to go at your opponent like this? >> i think romney rendered himself unelectable in the general election and rick
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santorum, if he stayed with the blue collar narrative would have been better off than heading into the religious rights that turns off moderates. gingrich staying positive is why he had a comeback. the negativity he had then he got angry didn't help him either. barack obama has a tough re-election. it's a 50/50 divided country. president obama's approval is 50%. we are going to have a tough contest. it couldn't go better watching the republicans destroy each other with character attacks. >> could somebody jump into the race? >> no. it happens every four years. when people aren't happy for their candidates.
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the dark horse, one of my favorite movies. it doesn't happen anymore with primaries and elections. anyone who thinks they can get nominated by not putting themselves through this process, it's utterly a fantasy. >> what do you think of these super pacs? it's controversy raging about them. do you think they should be -- president obama said he hated the whole idea of them and now he's endorsing them with as much gusto as his rivals. what do you think? >> it's a horrible fact of life that money decides elections and that now after what the republicans have done negative money with no limits can really corrupt the process. i happen to be off the reservation as a liberal democrat. the supreme court decision made
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a ruling here that had terrible results allowing the super pacs it's first amendment, free expression. i have great conflicts about whether it was right or wrong. it's terrible policy and terrible for the country. money is corrupting politics on both sides, the democrat as well as the republican side. >> let's take a short break. i want to come back and talk about the pbs documentary about bill clinton. i watched it and was enthralled. i know you are livid with it. i want to find out why after the break. >> thank you... oh dear! ohh dear... i'm not sure exactly what happened here last night. i was out helping people save money on their car insurance. 2 more! you're doing it! aren't they doing great?! hiiiiiii!!
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>> that's a new pbs documentary of bill clinton. many say it focuses too much on that scandal than when he was president. lenny davis is back with us. lenny, you are not happy with this. i watched it all, four hours of it. i found it gripping television. i didn't get a sense, if i'm honest, it was disproportionate attention. some of them, like the monica lewinsky thing was a big fare. you talk about impeachment, this wasn't a small-time scandal for a president to deal with. why do you feel it was disportional. >> i'm here on my own as an old friend of the clintons. i didn't call them and ask to do this. i did it on my own. the lewinsky story was a big story and president clinton
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apologized to the american people. the impeachment was a vote needed to be in the story. they forgot to mention out of 55 republicans, they couldn't get 51, a majority to support that very partisan impeachment process. yes, that had to be part of this. what my point is, proportionality, four hours. none of the four hours, three of the four, higher than 75% were devoted to bogus scandals. for example, white water took up four years of the clinton presidency led by an independent council. white water, according to mr. star led to no charges being made against either clinton despite the time spent on the pbs broadcast and all the other scandals in the first term were rabbit holes leading to nowhere.
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a man who inherited a $3 a man who inherited a $3 billion deficit. those facts were left out of four hours of what is a pbs, not an e entertainment broadcast. >> i can understand why you, as a friend of the clintons, someone who worked closely with them. i was watching it, as i say, enthralled by what i was watching. it brought back good memories of bill clinton. i wound up thinking i wish he was still president. i get your point. i'm not sure i would be too hard about it because, to me, some of those sort of scandalous elements of the clinton administration made him almost what he was. he was a brilliant president with a few problems which were focused on as well. he also had a lot of great
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achievements. his approval ratings are higher now than they have ever been. people love the guy. >> you are pbs and you have a commitment to history and you are not telling good history if three-fourths of the time is about bogus scandals, scandals that went nowhere. there was a point to be made about the experience he went through with monica lewinsky and the impeachment. not to talk about 23 million jobs and a 60 second spot by robert ruben, the secretary treasury who said he got a budget bill passed in '93 without one republican vote cutting $500 billion of spending and $500 billion increased taxes where the republicans said there would be unemployment because of that budget bill and the result was, as i said, one of the most successful presidencies in the economy.
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how do you not tell that story where you spend so much time about white water and filegate and hillary clinton's billing records. it's a rabbit hole of a non-story. i'm talking factual accuracy. it was entertaining, but not on a pbs network about american history, it's on entertainment weekly. >> maybe. i take a slight issue. i enjoyed it on many levels. i thought it was entertaining and politically fascinating. the impression i got was the one i got when i once saw bill clinton give a speech in the north of england. it was a howling cold, wet day. he spoke without notes for hours. everyone was gripped. it was incredible. afterwards, as if he couldn't get more popular, he went marching down and got a big mac and fries.
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that is what the american president should be doing around the world. >> that is bill clinton. let me be more uplifting. i have known the clintons since law school. i met hillary when her name was rodham and i met bill clinton the next year. i have followed his career and we have been friends for many, many years. they are great people and great friends. bill clinton has become larger than life and proven the efforts to bring him down including the 2008 campaign where things got nasty. look how he proved all his critics wrong. he and hillary clinton are two of the most popular people on the planet, not just this country. i'm here as a friend disappointed there wasn't more balance. maybe my standards for pbs are too high. it's enthralling if you are looking for an entertaining program.
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for american history, for pbs, i thought it was disappointing. my opinion. >> we have to agree to disagree. it was a fantastic president and i think missed by a lot of people. many people in britain never understand the eight-year rule. if we had our way, he would still be there. >> he would probably get elected prime minister of the uk tomorrow. maybe that would be a good idea. >> he would. a big mac, large fries and pint of beer. thank you very much. >> thanks for having me, truly. next from hollywood to tehran. i am loving this greek yogurt. i like yoplait. it is yoplait. but you said it was greek. mmhmm. so is it greek or is it yoplait? exactly. okay...
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controversy is director oliver stone's middle name. sean stone made headlines for turning to islam. he joins me now to explain. welcome. you have been taking a lot of flak for all of this. my first thought is what was your father's reaction as a jewish legendary hollywood producer when you told him you were converting to islam and doing it in iraq?
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be honest? >> honestly, i explained i feel like i am trying to create a dialogue in the clash of civilization. it's nonsense. we have heard this since the '90s. this conception jews, muslims and christians cannot live in harmony. i'm a jewish-christian-muslim. i want the dialogue with people all across the board. we don't need to fight each other based on the book. >> what did your father say to that? >> i'll be with you. >> really? >> yeah. >> your father said that? >> he was a great unifier of people. alexander went to greece from persia. he married greek and persians trying to incorporate the
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cultures and elevate mankind as a whole. i think he gets that. >> again, i come back to the fact your father is a very famous jewish hollywood producer. he has a son meeting with president ahmadinejad. as you know, i have checked the exact quotes, is on record of saying september 18, 2009, the holocaust is a lie. they, the western powers launched the myth of the holocaust. they lied, they put on a show and support the jews. i mean, it seems very perverse that you would wish to spend much time with this guy given your upbringing. >> i saw many orthodox jews. i want to clarify his position
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regarding the holocaust regardless if he believes it or not, it does not justify our thinking, the occupation of the west bank. why are people not having this dialogue anymore? if we want to clarify it, why not take it to him and talk to all middle eastern countries. why is this not happening? this is the essence of what i'm trying to say. i don't care if he believes in the holocaust. >> when you met him, did you bring up this denial of the holocaust he keeps reporting? >> no. i asked him about the nuclear bomb issue. he said no bomb. my issue, really, is i don't want to see our country go to war. if it's going to be over the potential threat that iran is to israel, it's a lie. we are in a very dangerous situation, a precarious
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situation if israel gets the green light and attacks iran like we attacked iraq. that's what i'm concerned about. >> you said you believe iran should have the right to develop a nuclear weapon. do you stand by that? >> yes. it has to do with nuclear power. if iran has the right to develop nuclear energy, then there's the question of will they take it and develop nuclear bombs? based on the war doctrine established by bush, if we allege that, we can allege it and attack them. it doesn't matter at that point if they are intending to build it. i'm trying to negate it saying they have a right to it as a defensive mechanism. if they were to use it on anybody, of course there's nuclear holocaust. there's no reason. if you see tehran, it's a city
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of 16 million people. the capital of the country is there. one radical bomb going off, you don't think there's hundreds of bombs aimed at tehran? >> you are considering ahmadinejad is a man of sane mind. when you look at the other things he has said about 9/11, some say they orchestrated the attack to reverse the american economy and the grips on the middle east. it's a trap. i guess when people, you know, americans who are patriotic, maybe love your father's movies and so on, i don't have a problem with you converting to islam, it's your right. where i slightly have an agitation about what you are up to is the kind of positioning you are putting yourself in looks like you are defending the indefensible.
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>> okay. currently, i would say we are in a dangerous situation. if israel, for example, decides to attack iran, russia is not going to stand by and let it happen. they have voiced their opinion, they do not want to see a war. this is their border. it destabilizes this region. iraq was blown up the way syria is right now. you are going to radicalize the sunni and shiites more. you are going to recreate it now. it's going to create more terrorism across the world. this is world war iii we are looking at. >> but the argument, of course, if you are in israeli they could be facing potentially world war iii from somebody they see as unstable for the reasons i stated with these statements he made on the record, particularly in relation to israel.
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they worry if he's in possession of a nuclear weapon, he would carry out the threats he made. >> you are defending the preventive war doctrine that goes back to bush. >> i don't, actually. to clarify, i would agree about the futility of the iraq war, for example. in this case, it seems to me unlike with saddam hussein, you have ahmadinejad threatening to exterminate israel. he's developing ever faster nuclear capacity. it's a matter for concern, isn't it? >> where is he threatening to destroy israel? >> he's made statements to allude to it. >> it's like saying we want the dissolution of -- if you want to solve the situation, we should have dialogue with the countries
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again. we need a dialogue of the two-state union. the president does not rule this country as a dictator. it's a republic. supreme leader he answers to. there's a parliament he's going before at this point to answer corruption charges. it's much like this country. if you think one man because he talks to genies. these are the allegations we get. because he's a lunatic, he's going to commit national suicide for a country that has a proud evolution that i saw rallies in the millions for? there's no credibility to this report. it's rumors. warmongering. you are spreading rumors at this point. >> well, that is certainly an opinion. i respect your opinion. i disagree with most of it. i respect you for having it. thank you for joining me. >> thank you, piers. who will win the battle of
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the gop? what will it mean for the party's chances in november? we'll talk about all that. welcome, gentlemen. lounge and an ipad ♪ ♪ made sure his credit score did not go bad ♪ ♪ with a free-credit-score-dot-com ♪ ♪ app that he had ♪ downloaded it in the himalayas ♪ ♪ while meditating like a true playa ♪ ♪ now when he's surfing down in chile'a ♪ ♪ he can see when his score is in danger ♪ ♪ if you're a mobile type on the go ♪ ♪ i suggest you take a tip from my bro ♪ ♪ and download the app that lets you know ♪ ♪ at free-credit-score-dot-com now let's go. ♪ vo: offer applies with enrollment in freecreditscore.com™. sure. what flavor? mm, one of each. lemon burst, hm, cherry orchard, blackberry harvest... my daughter's grabbing some yoplait. pina colada, orange creme. i can't imagine where she is... strawberry cheesecake.
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>> congratulations. >> i find it fascinating when people are running for office, they are conservative. when they are in office, they do something different then running for office, they want to repeal that. >> things are heated at the republican debate. i hope they will get heated again now. we're going to talk about the gop with michael reagan, the son of ronald reagan, a conservative blogger, amy holmes and carol roth. my star panel, this is the first time we have done this before midnight, i think. >> i shaved for you. >> exactly. and you collectively have the longest introduction in television history. it's a record you keep breaking. congratulations. let's start, michael, with you. i watched the debate. i thought i haven't got a clue
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who is going to be the nominee. i really haven't. do you? >> i don't think the party has a clue who is going to be the nominee. it's gotten to a point where i think those of us watching the debates could superimpose ourselves into the positions. they are the same questions we have had in 20 debates now and every debate you see who is going to break out. i don't think anybody is breaking out. last night, newt was in his element sitting down. >> yeah. >> i think it was great. he had the best night. >> actually, i think -- never rule out -- he's made five comebacks in this race. >> i know. because of the way it's set up, could make another comeback. >> santorum was the front-runner into the debate. he's played a religious driven conservative card heavily. last night was about social issues. is this a wise way for the party to be going?
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is this a debate they should be having given the rest of america is screaming about jobs in the economy? >> i couldn't agree with you more that he's taken the exact wrong attack on this. the reason people are looking for santorum to emerge is because romney wasn't connecting with the tea party. he's taken this herman cain position of the conservative we're going to give a second look at in lieu of mitt romney to take a position to go conservative. he's misreading the electorate right now. >> i thought it was strange and glaring when you have four white guys in their 50s, 60s and 70s talking about abortion and contraception to a large audience of, a lot of them will be single mothers up and down america's cities and so on thinking what are they talking
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about. is there a danger that this particular obsessive debate with social conservative issues is going to make them look out of touch with modern america? >> i don't think it was the candidates so much that wanted to focus on these issues. the audience booed these type of questions. the question came from one of the viewers of cnn asking if the candidates believe in contraception. my boss, glenn beck looked and found 25% of the questions were about this topic. the candidates wanted to get back to the issues of debt and deficit and the earmark back and forth. those type of debates. for republicans there's a danger if they get too far down the road about contraception in particular and not what spawned the debate which is obama care and the mandate having to do with religious institutions. how many more mandates might be
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buried in obama care. >> carol, romney is still the front-runner. he really is struggling to cement that position. what is the problem for mitt romney, do you think? >> the problem with mitt romney is the problem all the candidates had last night. they lacked passion and they are lacking a connection with the american public. john king asked a great question. he said define yourself in one word. this was the softball. they are coming up with words like resolute and courageous. not one of them said american. that was the softball answer. they are just making the stupidest mistakes. they should be stopping, talking about i, i, i, talk about we, talk about us, talk about americans. if mitt romney had half the passion in the debate you have for the football club he would have got it.
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>> it doesn't matter what it is, you have to have a passion for something in life. i totally agree. i watched it last night. you are struggling to see any of the candidates displaying a vivid passion for an issue that connects with the audience. we keep saying this but the real issue is jobs, job creation and the economy. that is going to be the battleground, i think, for the election, not contraception, abortion or the ever more wild religious views which some of the candidates are beginning to talk about. >> the reason the republican party did so well in the last election is because when you went out to speak at the tea party events, i spoke at a lot of them, they say do not speak about social issues, it will divide us. speak about the economy and what brings us together, not what splits us apart. if we get split up on the social issues, barack obama will be the president for four more years.
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right now, they are fighting for the nomination of the party. >> we will come back to you after the break we'll come back with barack obama's new attack ad after the break. looking good! you lost some weight. you noticed! these clothes are too big, so i'm donating them. how'd you do it? eating right, whole grain. [ female announcer ] people who choose more whole grain tend to weigh less than those who don't. multigrain cheerios... five whole grains, 110 calories.
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turned their back. not him. >> that's president obama's latest campaign ad in michigan. we are back with michael reagan, amy holmes. people were saying i'm looking unkept. i didn't take care of the top part. >> let's talk about michigan. michigan and arizona coming out. it's big for all particularly romney. we will win michigan, no doubt, no we might, we will win this. it is big, isn't it? this is his backyard, where he spent a lot of his life.
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if he lost in michigan, it's a bad thing, isn't it? >> it would be a disaster. last night was a good night for him. momentum is leading in romney's direction. what conservatives are looking for is he's saying the right thing these days. do people believe what he's saying? he's a convicted conservative. he's saying the right things. what they are looking for is him not to pivot like gingrich but start going not just at the media, but after barack obama. somebody is looking for romney to show he has the fight. what you saw in that ad is going to be replicated millions of times over, hundreds of millions of dollars that are framed. the narrative has been framed by the framing of the occupy movement, the haves versus the have nots. >> his ratings are beginning to slip.
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amy, let's go to you with this. the michigan run is going to be huge. they are set on winning this. what do you see happening super tuesday? a lot of delegates at stake there. they say stop looking at individual primaries, it's about the delegates count the numbers. super tuesday is going to be th indicator as to whether romney can become a front-runner. >> i think so. all the states in contention that night. it's a reflection of the momentum they have going into super tuesday. i want to point out with the obama ad you played. it's interesting. it looks like the obama campaign decided romney is the guy to beat. they put up the ad in michigan featuring romney. knocking him out in michigan and raising up santorum suits their campaign strategy. all these things are certainly planned.
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>> carol, i think it's a fascinating thing to see republicans trying to insist the bail out for the auto industry was a failure when it's been a success. i tried to get out of chris christie last night and he wouldn't talk about the auto industry. i knew why. he's clearly got strong views and differ from romneys. the wall of silence. >> i'm going to disagree with you. i think it wasn't a clear success. this is an opportunity for romney to be a myth buster. he can say yes, we bailed out chrysler. what happened? the american taxpayers lost $1.3 billion and now the company is owned almost 60% by an italian company. it's a raging failure. i think he can come in and be a myth buster, dispel the myths
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obama is taking credit for. it doesn't seem like a success. put somebody up there and say does it seem like a success to you? they will say no. >> michael, last one. >> the volt. the people who buy the volt, the average income is $170,000. the people who subsidize it, their income is $36,000. part of the problem is in the questions being asked. nothing about china or the jobs. they are lost in process. i don't want to hear about process or earmarks. the people want to hear how are you going to get me a job? how am i going to feed my family? it's not coming across in the debates? >> i agree. they are drifting to ways where we are disconnected with the average american voter. they want jobs and bread on their table. panel, you have been fantastic. zippier at 9:00 than midnight.
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especially you andrew. thanks a lot. coming up, only in america. i think i'm goin-... shhh! we find that we don't need to sleep that much. there's an easier way to save. geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. and it's surprising what it goes through in the course of a day. but what's even more surprising is that brushing alone isn't enough to keep it clean. fortunately, you've got listerine. unlike brushing which misses 75% of your mouth, listerine cleans virtually your entire mouth.
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>> i made that up. >> listen to what the man himself says about playing a dictator. >> you know, gadhafi was terrifying and a monster, but also laughably hysteric. there was a lot of people offended by it. >> yes, i would imagine that would include many members of the academy. he's a cast member of the oscar nominated hugo, and a spokesperson for the academy said he's welcome if he shows up as himself but not as the dictator and goes on to say we don't like the red carpet to be used as a promotional stunt. of course, they don't the last thing any of the stars is thinking as they're spending millions of dollars on clothe and jewelry is any kind of self promotion. the academy is now waiting for bated breath to hear from barren cohen. he's so far keeping all of his options open. >> when you're playing a
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