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tv   Piers Morgan Tonight  CNN  March 21, 2012 6:00pm-7:00pm PDT

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people separated by two groups, the juries full of kids and cats and the ridiculous. that does it for us. we'll see you one hour from now at 10:00 p.m. piers morgan starts right now. tonight, mitt romney's real running mate, his wife ann. >> women are coming to me and saying will you please talk about deficit spending and budgets? i'm loving that. >> live and exclusive interview with the woman the candidate trusts more than anybody else ali alive, ann romney. and starbucks ceo. >> and we must stand up and do everything we can for the people who don't have a voice. >> and in the film icon kevin smith, funny, raunchy, a man of strong opinions and tonight he's on top form. >> santorum lost the moment he was like i'm going after pornography. because for a lot of us we're like, buddy, that's all i got.
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>> plus, only in america. revolutions, disasters, scandals, and celebrities all in 140 characters or less. happy sixth birthday, twitter. this is "piers morgan" tonight. good evening. we start with the big story tonight, a very big day for the romney campaign. the candidate gets a key endorsement from florida former governor jeb bush and celebrates 43 years of marriage to his wife ann. >> we will have been married 43 years. so happy anniversary, sweetheart. >> my exclusive interview ann romney in a moment. also starbucks' ceo howard shultz and the very funny and outspoken kevin smith on presidential politics and raunchy new book and on why he seems to feel the need to rearrange my studio. >> the chair. >> unlike every guest raises the chair up, you lowered it. >> every guest you have on,
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they're probably in shape so they want to show it off. i want to get my gut below the table. >> we begin with our big story. it's an exclusive interview with ann romney and the candidate's wife joins me now. happy anniversary. 43 glorious years with mitt romney. how you are feeling about that? >> well, you know, piers, it's pretty exciting and to think that i'm sharing with you, that's even more exciting. >> it is the icing on the cake, isn't it? a little cherry you've been waiting for all day. >> i'm going to always remember this anniversary. >> have you exchanged gifts to day? has he been generous? >> he's been very kind. he hasn't had much time to shop. and so i did get a nice bracelet which was very welcomed. so it was -- we really haven't had any time at all to really enjoy the day together. we had breakfast together and then i'm in wisconsin and he's in maryland.
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>> is he watching tonight? will he be watching this interview? >> he's watching. >> is there anything you'd like to say to your husband on this special occasion? >> hi, sweetheart. i love you. maybe we'll celebrate another day. >> you are talking to me, right? >> i am -- yes. >> i love this. you made this wonderful video to celebrate your 43rd wedding anniversa anniversary. it was a lovely thing to watch. >> we didn't want any parties. we didn't want anything fancy. we just wanted to get married. we compromised and waited until march 21st. and march 21st happened to have been four years after our first date, one year later, our oldest son tag was born on march 21st as well. that's an important day in our life. >> it goes on and what i really
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like is when you toll the story of when you were both 16 or something. were you both the same age? both 16 at the time? >> he's a much more senior person. he was 18. >> so 16 and 18. he goes off on this missionary work for about 2 1/2 years. a very long time after you met. he sort of fallen for each other? >> actually -- right. i was actually about -- he went to stanford for a year. so it was when i was 17 that he actually left, yeah. >> so 2 1/2 year gap. you say in the video when you saw each other again after all that time, it was literally like time had stood still. >> right. that's exactly what happened. he came off that airplane, hadn't seen him for 2 1/2 years. and as though time dissolved. and it was extraordinary because the emotional connection we had before he left, the depth of love that we had for each other, it was as though he had never even been gone for a moment.
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and it was right back to where we were. which was why it was shocking to my parents and to his parents when we announced on our -- on the car ride home when we got out of the car and said oh, by the way, everybody, we're getting married. like now. >> well, it certainly was the right decision, 43 years later, here we are. tell me this. it's been a rough campaign. everyone accepts that. but being especially rough. and i suppose one of the things that leveled against your husband a lot is he's not very lovable. people don't seem to fall for him in the way that they did with barack obama, for instance. you obviously have been in love with him for 43 years. what do you think the public aren't seeing about your husband that they should be seeing? >> well, to begin with, i don't accept the premise. so that's, you know, that's one thing. and once people do see him, it's a totally different thing. it's so many of the rallies we go to, the most common refrain
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is he's so great. you know? and that's -- unfortunately everyone wants to portray new a certain way, put new that box. and so it's my job as a great job that i have right now of making sure that people see the other side of mitt, the fun side of mitt and the loving father, husband, grandfather and what is just super guy he is. >> what has been the most offended you felt as his wife on the campaign so far? >> you know, i think sometimes -- you know, what happened -- i will tell you, piers, what happened to me last time, four years ago, is the misrepresentations about records and different things like that where they make you feel as though you're not being honest or you're not true to yourself which could not be further from the truth. and that was why after, you know, four years ago after we got out and dropped out of the race, i did turn to mitt and
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said, look, i'm never doing this again. just so you know, i've had it. and that's the sentiment you had. you were very fed up with it. going into it this time, i, of course, went in with completely committed to doing this again pause i really believe our kun stri in trouble and believe mitt is the right guy. but i went in with a different attitude this time. and recognize that this is what happens in the campaign. and these things happen. and it's hard to do when i have to remind myself all the time, but to not take things personally. and it is a hard thing to do and to remind yourself, i have to remind myself all the time, not to take things personally. and recognize that is just part of what is involved in running. but if you believe in your message, i believe in my husband. i believe he can turn things around. i believe he has the right skill set, the right experience to be able to really be an effective president, then you just keep putting your head down and go forward. i totally believe in him and the one pushing him this time to say
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i know i said that, but i hate to tell you, honey, but you've got to do this again because the country needs you. >> you certainly emerging as a secret weapon for him. we saw that last night when you made a very feisty speech. i want to play a little clip of that back you to now and talk to you afterwards. >> let me tell you something else that's happening. women are coming to me and saying will you please talk about deficit spending and budgets? i'm loving that. loving. that women are angry. they're angry about the legacy we're going to leave their children and grandchildren. i'm going to tell them something. i've got somebody here that can fix it. >> feisty stuff there from ann romney. what's been interesting about the debate? it's been very skewed towards social issues and this rising sense that the republican candidates en masse have been slightly anti-women's rights. what do you think that debate has been framed? >> well, you know, again, i
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really meant what i said last night because i have been in every -- practically every state of this nation and i've been speaking to hundreds of people every single day and seeing people. and this is what women are coming up to me and speaking about, their frustration with government right now, the frustration with the size of government, the frustration that, you know, that women are just generally generous. i think they're just generous and they want to leave something much better for their children. and they're very frustrated that they're thinking this is not going to be the case for them. their children are not going to be better off. and it's because of the overspending that we're doing now and we're not taking responsibility for our actions. they're extremely frustrated. and so for me when i hear about the other talk of social issues, i'm going that's not what i hear when i'm on the trail. it's an economic message that i'm hearing. it's a frustration about government spending too much and
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not balancing budgets. they say very common sense things to me. they say, look, i know how to balance my budget. i know, you know, my husband's business or my business or whatever i'm doing, we have to balance our budgets. why is this going on, this irresponsible behavior? and so i think what they're sensing is that it is, again, the legacy we're going to leave our children and grandchildren. we don't want to have to feel like they're underwater before they even start out. and we know how that's going to impact their lives. >> how important is the endorsement of jeb bush today? he's been keeping his powder dry and he's come out today. big win in illinois. then the jeb bush endorsement. this is a very significant 12 hours for the romney campaign. maybe even the game changing moment. >> i thought it was a very significant thing to do. i was with mitt this morning and jeb just called mitt on his cell phone. we didn't know he was going to endorse. we didn't have any heads up at
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all. it was -- the phone rang and it was jeb. you know, i didn't hear the jeb side of the conversation. but i could tell what was going on. and i was delighted. you know, he's a very important voice in our party. i respect him enormously. but i will tell you barbara bush has also, you know, out there fighting for us, too. so that's been great to have jeb's endorsement i think is a huge, huge day for us. >> and on a slightly more slippery note, how is your etching and sketching going? are you having words with mitt's senior aides about their little gaffe today? >> these are the distractions -- this is exactly what happens in a campaign. when you get the distractions and obviously he was talking about how we're going to change focus and we're going to change, you know what we're going to do, the organizational sense of changing, not mitt changing positions. and so these are the just the frustrations you have to deal with in a campaign.
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and, of course, it makes for great media. it's a distraction. it's a distraction because what we're talking about is an economic message, it's a jobs message. it's talking about, you know, capping spending, balancing budgets. >> you are going to make eric write out 100 times on etch and sketch i'm very sorry? >> i think that's a great idea, piers. we'll have him do that tomorrow. >> finally, robert de niro apologized today because he made this joke about all the wives of the republican candidates. and he said america isn't ready for a white first lady. that seems to upset everybody. what was your view of that? >> i laughed. you know what? i took it for what it was, a joke. and, you know, again, we take everything so seriously, we have to be so correct and everyone has to apologize. i can say, you know what? i can laugh at it. let's take it for what it is. we're all overreacting to so many things and making things so
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difficult which means we have to watch every single word that comes out of our mouth. we can't be spontaneous, we can't be funny. i'll tell you in politics the fastest way to get in trouble is make a joke. so i think robert de niro just learned that. >> robert de niro in the clear. ann romney, a real pleasure. i wish you a very happy anniversary to you and mitt. >> oh, thanks so much. >> nice to talk to you. coming up next, starbucks' ceo howard shultz on keeping america great. you were there the day
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the priceline negotiator went down in that fiery bus crash. yes i was. we lost a beautiful man that day.
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but we gained the knowledge that priceline has thousands and thousands of hotels on sale every day. so i can choose the perfect one for me without bidding. is it hard for you to think back to that day? oh my, this one has an infinity pool. i love those they just... and then drop off, kinda like the negotiator. companies must recognize that long term profit is not an
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enduring component of the strategy of a company. if you are not giving back to the communities you serve. >> that was howard shultz, chairman and ceo of starbucks. the self-made businessman and employees it's been a banner year for much more than coffee. howard shultz joins me for a prime time exclusive. welcome back to the show. it's been a fascinating day for me to watch what you've been doing at starbucks. for the last few weeks i've been banging this drum for the need tore successful american companies to start bringing jobs back to america that they could outsource outside of the country and make more money by doing it bui but there is a moral obligation to spread their success back on their own ground. you're now doing this. you're voting with your feet and your wallet with starbucks. and you're creating a new fact fli georgia. several hundred jobs will be created. tell me exactly why you're doing this when you could do it in somewhere like china and save
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yourself a lot of money. >> sure, first off, thank you for taking the initiative and speaking out on this. america is facing, i think, a significant crisis now. with 13 million americans unemployed, so much of that in the african-american, hiss tannic community, 42 out of 50 states facing budget deficits, the gap between the haves and have nots getting wider, i felt in all good conscience, we're a seattle-based american company and even though we could have built this facility for significant less money outside of north america, we made the decision to invest back in the country and create jobs. and what i said at our annual meeting today is that i don't believe you can build a sustainable enterprise with a singular goal just on profit. it's a shallow goal. i don't think you can endure. i don't think you can attract great people. i think the best part of business right now is trying to
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create the balance between profitability and a social conscience. and i think, you know, we're living if a time right now where citizens, business leaders and, yes, even corporations, must do more to serve the communities that they live in and they work in. >> i completely agree with you. and that's exactly what i've been saying. i have to say, i haven't been getting a lot of positive response. the whole wall street brigade say no, no, no. this flies in the face of the american dream which is that you just make as much money as can you, be as successful as you can and actually you owe it to the shareholders to maximize your returns. you're flying in the face of that. what kind of reaction do you expect from your shareholders? >> well, i think the backdrop of our meeting today is that starbucks had record revenues and the stock price hit the liest level in its history today. so it was a good day to have the meeting. we received a standing ovation.
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we talked about social responsibility. let me explain what i mean by that. social responsibility is not writing a check or issuing a press release because you've done something good. what we've tried to do is integrate the company's mission and execution in a way that the values of the company would be the way in which we do business. and what we've learned over the years is that the financial success that we've enjoyed is in large part because of the way we do business. operating the company through the lens of humanity. i also said publicly today that y we are not a perfect company. we make mistakes. but the country right now is finding itself in a situation where it should not be business as usual. we should not embrace the status quo. and we can't wait for washington. we've seen the ideology and the partisanship and also the fact that $6 billion is going to be spent on the presidential election cycle in the next 12 months. i mean that is just so
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dysfunctional. it's so wrong. let's just alleviate the problem by saying we're not going to wait for washington and american businesses must do more. and the consumer, i believe, will respond in kind. they want to embrace companies and brands whose values are compatible with their own. >> i completely agree with that. this is why i've been -- i've been targeting maybe unfairly, but i've been targeting apple because they're the biggest company. and, you know, they're making more and more money. they're selling millions and millions of ipads in the last few day as lone. it seems to me utterly absurd in the current final clincial clim for apple to be making billions and employing way more people in china than they do in america. if they took the lead that you've taken, i think the american public would respond so favorably they'd end up making more money than they would have done in the first place. >> piers, i tend to agree with you.
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i don't know tim cook and i don't want to sit here and criticize apple. i think the point you make is correct. they must have their own business reasons for making their decisions. i would go the other way sean that there are great companies who are doing the right thing. a company like whole foods, a company like timberland, target, estee lauder, these are companies doing the right thing and i think more and more companies are going to find themselves because the consumer is at some point going to vote. and they're going to vote in favor of those companies that are giving back to the community. i think you have a microphone and a platform and what you're saying and speaking up has resonance and i encourage you to keep doing it. you can make a difference. >> you know, i think it's really important. i think everyone's wrestling with how to get america back to work. and just looking at it as -- i'm a brit, not an american. i just see the absurdity of having these huge companies just going out of the country with
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most of their workforce. to me, they've got to bring it back. they've got to create more jobs in this country. if they do that, then i think that the consumer will reward them. it's a quid pro quo. i mean americans will look favorably on what starbucks is doing. i think you'll sell more coffee. i think -- i agree with you. i think the brand value of starbucks is immeasurebly enhanced by you bringing a factory into georgia that you could have done in shanghai. >> well, in addition to that, we've been searching in america for the past year for factories that could produce porcelain or stoneware mugs that we sell in our stores. the factories have been moved off shore in the last decade. we found a dormant shell in ohio. because of the order we're giving them, we're opening that plant. that plant will start making
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products for starbucks. we're going to ring the drum and say made in america. i think, you know, what we did -- what we've done on the jobs initiative is all trying, i think, not for the purpose of marketing but to get people to understand and we don't want to preach that companies can make a difference and this is the right thing to do and america, i think, people don't realize how dire the situation is and how many people are being left behind. and we must stand up and do everything we can for the people who don't have a voice. >> good for you. when we come back after the break, i want to continue the theme i've been running for the laugh couple months, keeping america great. i want to know your ideas about how america can do other things to keep itself great and your view on the gop race. i'm walt gale,
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we need someone who understands that the solution to the problem of almost 1/17th of the economy is not government control over that sector economy but your control over that sector of the economy. >> this administration's assault on freedom has kept this so-called recovery from meeting their projections let alone our expectatio expectations. >> what would it take to keep america great? that is the burning question for every boss of every company in america. i'm rejoined by chairman and ceo of starbucks, howard shultz. howard, when you hear mitt romney and rick santorum, the two people -- i guess one of them will become the nominee looking at the polls today, do you like what you hear? do you think they get it? do they understand the problem and the solution?
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>> i think there is a lot of rhetoric right now because of how fierce this competition has been. i guess until yesterday when governor romney won illinois, i wouldn't take some of their remarks too seriously. i think this is a fierce race and they're trying to win the nomination. you know, i'm a registered democrat. i don't want to get into a situation where i'm either commenting on the republican party or in any way criticizing the president. i'm not here to do that. i am here to say that i want to embrace citizenship over partisanship. and i really would like to see the ideology and the self-interests just come out of the politicking and have all of our elected officials put their feet in the shoes of every day working americans. that's -- that is where i think the gap is. >> tell me -- how influential can any government be in creating prosperity? how much is their responsibility
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as politicians? and how much actually comes down to individual bosses of companies like yourself for take initiatives that spur the economy forward? >> i think that's an interesting question. i think the answer is somewhat bifurcated. let me explain. i think the government needs to produce a foundation of confidence. i think what we saw after the debt ceiling debacle which really continued months and months later is that a fracturing of confidence and in a sense a fracturing of leadership. and that happened here in the u.s. and abroad. we also have to recognize that we are in such a connected world where anything that happens either or in greece or in spain or china or india, anywhere in the world, has a significant rippling effect. so confidence is such a big issue. as it relates to business, you know, we're -- we have so much money that is being stored overseas by u.s. companies.
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that is a significant opportunity. it's not being brought back here because of a tax policy. that's something that the government could do and could change. money isn't being invested by many corporations into the u.s. economy because of uncertainty. and so i think the answer to your question is it's not so much policy although certain policies can affect change. it is a feeling of confidence and predictability. and when you don't have that, you have people putting themselves in a position where they don't want to do anything and the economic situation becomes polarized. >> what did you make of the goldman sachs banker who quit very publicly in the op-ed pages of "the new york times" and was scathing about the goldman sachs runs his business and they obviously have, you know, tried to repudiate his comments. but certainly conveying a sense that they learned nothing since the big crash and that really companies like goldman sachs are only focused on making as much money as possible and have none
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of that moral capitalist responsibility that you're trying to bring to starbucks. >> well, i think, you know, goldman sachs over the last number of years has been the gold standard for what an investment bank has stood for. now their core purpose and reason for being as i understand it has been an enterprise that is in business to make a significant profit. the question i think is can you make a profit at that level with so much -- where so much money is at stake and still have a culture that is benevolent and sensitive and doing the right thing? and i would suggest you can. i think, you know, what happened in terms of the op-ed piece was a personal indictment on the company and he obviously had information and insight that he wanted to share with the public.
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i don't know whether that's accurate or not or whether it's fair. what i can tell you is that i don't believe if you're in the investment banking business or in the coffee business that you can sustain an enterprise in which the culture is based on one singular thing and that is making money. over time it becomes a very shallow goal and i think people are not going to be attracted to that over the long term even an investment banker. i think you saw that. i think more and more companies must recognize that success is best when it's shared and you have to achieve the balance between profitability and doing the right thing. again, i don't want to sit here and say we're perfect because we're not. we have issues. and we're going to make mistakes. i think we're trying and we've tried over 40 years to build a kind of company that has a large reservoir of trust and our financial results which we share with our shareholders today and the success that we've had is in
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large part not only because of the value we created for our shareholders but because of the values that we've had inside the company for 41 years. >> howard, kplit lcompletely sau for what you're doing at starbucks. i think it's exactly what other american companies are doing. i urge apple and others to listen to what you're saying and explore this novel concept to moral capitalism. i suspect that is the way america needs to go and go fast. i'm going to reward you by going to starbucks and buying myself a skinny latte. howard shultz, you got yourself a new consumer with me for tonight. i think many more will also reward you for your investment in american jobs made in america. thank you very much for joining me. >> thank you, piers. take care. thank you. >> howard shultz from starbucks. next, actor and write kevin smith on life and politics. thro. but it's fine, because i use tide with bleach, which helps keep his socks brilliantly white. bye mom. hold on. [ horn honks ]
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what about you, kev? what is your ultimate superpower that you choose? >> if i wick one, it's not one that is very sexy, patience. ultimate patience. >> who is the closest hero that has that power? >> i go for the original choice. rather than like who can i look at? i go, no, what hasn't been done. for me, having ultimate patience, they haven't done that character yet. the ghi can just outweight
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everybody. >> kevin smith, you know him as a comedian, producer, director and he has a look oout. he joins me now. welcome back. >> how you are, sir? >> you are not fat or lazy. >> yes, i am. >> i'll be honest with you. first title of the book to do on tv, i've been saying tough smit. most critics do that anyway. smith is equated with that s word in the world of cinema. i think that is a healthy substitution on tv. i just got back from two weeks ago me and muse went way east, we went out to the uk. >> that is east. >> to do our podcast show. we did london, manchester and sold out shows. when i'm over there for nine days, what i discover the traditional english breakfast, i
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start living on them. i came back with 10, 15 more pounds. and it is sitting right here. and they were like you have to go on tv. i said i haven't lost the bake on buddy yet. that's why i'm self conscious. i saw somebody else -- >> what i like is the way that you -- >> immediately dropped the chair. every guest comes in and raises the chair up. you lowered it. >> every guest you have on, they're probably in shape they wouldn't no show it off. me, i'm like let me get my gut below the table so we can conduct this interview. >> let's talk news. you are always provocative on this kind of thing. the thing that is happening tonight which is interesting is this march for trayvon martin, this young black boy who got shot dead in the streets of florida. i'm going to say, you talked about the uk a little bit. i find this absolutely shocking that this can happen in a civilized country, someone can just take a gun out, shoot this young kid -- >> wait, and record it. >> and there is this weird 2005
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protect shooters who claim self-defense in a wide range of places including a street or a bar. i mean this is giving this guy absolute carte blanche to say, hey, the guy was threatening my life. there is not a shred of evidence trayvon martin was threatening anybody's life. >> absolutely senseless, man. >> the fascinating aspect of the trayvon martin story to me is not just the horrific death. that is, you know, there are lots of homicides in america. it is the way the justice system is now behaving in relation to the guy who pulled the trigger. >> yeah. >> all the emphasis seems to be that there is no evidence this man didn't act in self-defense. so, therefore, the assumption must be that we believe him and that he d what about the rights of the guy he's killed? >> i don't know. >> what about trayvon martin's rights? >> i'm a parent, you're a parent. when you read that story as i did in the paper that morning about the parents, his parents sat down to listen to the recording. they talk about how his mother can't even make it through the recording because it turns out the screaming of the person in
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the background is their child dying. they talk about the father making it to the end of the recording and a mess in tears. you don't even have to be a parent to sit there and be like this is a great miscarriage of justice going on that nobody is brought up on charges, man. you have a shooter. you have a death. something has to happen here. you can't just say it's okay. >> it's outrageous. >> maybe it's the south from this country. i don't know. you know how we feel about our guns herement we go out of our way to protect people and rights to have guns. >> i hear all this constitution, the right to bear arms. it doesn't give you the right to kill young kids in the street. >> i agree. you can't just shoot people in this country because they look like they're up to no good. >> it may well be there is evidence that comes out and we don't know the whole story. let's just say i'm skeptical. >> yes. >> what does it say about america this story, do you think? >> the people that get guns probably shouldn't have them, you know? every time -- look, i'll be
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fair. hey, man, you're going to hear about this case. this is extreme. what about the millions of gun owners that don't go out and shoot people, of course. but if it happens to one person in this instance and the kid gets killed. then maybe we should look at it more closely and maybe that law particularly, maybe we shouldn't protect the shooter as much as is there fault? was this dude physically threatened truly? didn't sound like it. >> and i can't understand why he hasn't been arrested yet. i just don't get it. >> be the parents where every morning you wake up and your son is gone forever and still nobody's gone like the one thing is not going to bring him back but to save the wound a little bit is justice. and they're not getting it. >> would it be different if this was a black shooter and a young white boy who had been killed? >> probably. of course. of course. people would be demanding more blood. i mean, look, they're taking to walking. people are doing the marches and what not to try to raise awareness and bring attention to this case that should have been after, you know, working on in
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progress or prosecuted or the process of being prosecuted. arrests should have been made, whatever. people are having to march to call attention to it, that's kind of sad. but at least somebody's calling attention to it and hopefully justice will be done in the next, oh, i don't know, week. which is sad to say. this happened how many days snag. >> how long can it to be arrest a guy given what we know? anyway, let's have a break and come back and talk gop. >> okay. >> i want to get your -- i think you described them as comic gold, the gop race. let's discuss a bit of that and also your fascinating book and what it says about fatherhood. >> okay. right. but... home security systems can be really expensive. so to save money, we actually just adopted a rescue panther. i think i'm goin-... shhh! we find that we don't need to sleep that much.
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i remember thinking, oh, my god. in this world where even a good man like my old man is going to die screaming, there is no point in not trying to achieve every. [ beep ] dream that i have. this is my eventual end. one day that's it. >> kevin smith talking about the loss of his father and recent standup show burn in hell. kevin is back with me. talking about burning of hell, what do you make of the gop race given the extraordinary obsession with social issues, religious issues? you're an irish catholic like me. >> absolutely. and both candidates go to morals and stuff like that. they have to be smart enough to know that there are some things can you nt go after, some you can't. santorum lost the moment he was
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like i'm going after pornography. because for a lot of us we're like, buddy, that's all i got. all i want to do is get home from work, look at naked pictures. when the government tells you we might take away naked pictures, people get upsitight. i mean i'm, look, i'm not a gop guy. i'll be voting for barack obama again. but i enjoy the play "the book of mormons" so much because i may give mitt a second look. it's the thing where you go, i give up. nothing will ever be better than this. then the next morning you go wait, it inspired me to try harder. it is so funny, so brilliant, so perfect. one of the most perfect things ever created by human beings. >> what do you think of the whole debate raging about issues like gay marriage? because, obviously, eight states now in america have sanctioned it legally. and, yet, you still have as i had with kirk cameron who came on my show and it blew up and still banging about it this week saying that --
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he made a documentary full of religious beliefs but didn't want me asking about his religious beliefs. >> i'm not selling that now. i'm selling this now. >> my argument to him was, look -- >> if you believe it on tuesday, you have to believe it on thursday. >> not only that, i don't object to him having religious principles. that's fine. i'm a catholic myself as you are. i object to the language that some of these religious people use against homosexuals. you know, when they start talking about it's the destructive to civilization, it's inflamatory, bordering on bigotry. >> it's like a target. if you go back in history and read how almost every religion, kint thi can't think of one but how they treat women, they always find somebody to demonize and be like there's the other, the one we should all be afraid of. this is the moral barometer by which you should live your life. don't be that. and sometimes you get demonized because of your gender and sometimes because you want to sleep with the same gender.
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but they always politicize. i mean it's a sham. my brother is gay. he's been married -- coming up on 20 years to the same guy which is like 60 years in the straight community. it's so long. he stayed out of it. all this time, every time i ask him about his opinion, he goes to church still every to churchy sunday. my brother donald. i go, why do you keep going to the organization that doesn't want you? because "f" them it makes me feel good to go. i don't care about the politics. he got married to his husband, like he did in jersey and he's like, i don't care about legal. it's shame. my brother is a great guy, goes to church. doesn't screw everybody over and yet he has religious yahoos going change your ways or you're going to hell. stay out of my brother's bedroom, buddy. he's a good dude. as are most people in this world. when political figures get involved in the bedroom and start wondering what you're
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doing behind the closed door, you know it will swing back on them. how many times has it happened, the guys go extremely right, suddenly find out are hiding something? it makes you suspicious when somebody is like, we have to get rid of porn in this country. because the next country should be should be i've got a real problem with it, man, i can't put it down. i need the government to get it away from me so i can be president. >> let's talk about your book. it's funny and moving in parts. we saw you talking about your father who died. but there's an essay written by your young daughter about you. >> yes. >> it is very moving -- >> and i exploited it by putting it right in the book. >> you did. tell me how you felt when you read that essay. >> i cried. it was christmas morning, man. kids are wonderful because they're not -- it wasn't an o henry story, this all i can afford. she got me a gift with my wife and also with my in laws. she's like i have something for
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you too and it was an essay she had written. which we include in the book. which amounts to a review of me as a parent. and then, you know, i'm used to reading reviews of my work and i'm used to reading a lot of negative reviews of my work and whatnot. it was so beautiful to read a review of me as a human being through her perspective. she's a tween right now, she's 12. i wanted to immortalize it because in two years you're not going to feel this way. you're probably going to be i hate you so much, fat man! i wish you threw you out that have plane. but right now it's a really beautiful love letter where you feel like i did something good as parent. like i have never been the primary caregiver. that's my wife. she built a perfect little baby woman who grew up into a sense of having herself and whatnot. wasn't pushed around by society. none of the terms dictated to her and whatnot. i come in handy now, i have been telling my wife this for years. you got her. she thought my wife owned the moon, worshipped jennifer forever. when she gets to be about mid teenage years i think she's going to lean toward my way
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because i've got the cool job. no two ways about it. right now she kind of likes my world very much. because she's like i would like to meet the kids from "teen wolf." we can have them over to the house and now she's getting interested in the world of acting and all this time, you're like, oh, man, don't be in the weird business. she has a good head on her shoulders and her heart. i thought, she'll be fine forever. my wife did an amazing job, i'm so glad she's into writing. ekeep encouraging her. she likes to watch shows like every other teen. you can watch icarly which is way more fun and you can definitely write icarly. >> she is should definitely right. well, kevin, i want to keep going, but the clock has run us down. good to see you. coming up next, 140 characters that have quite literally changed the world and definitely changed my world. six years of twitter. ♪ you make me happy when skies are gray ♪ [ female announcer ] you know exactly what it takes to make them feel better.
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well, tonight only in america, happy birthday, twitter. it was six years ago today when the social network sites brilliant young creator from jersey tweeted the first message. it read, setting up my twitter. which of course was just the kind of shocking bad spelling that i abhor. it was 4:50 p.m. on march 21, 2006 and to give you some idea how popular it's become in the
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past 24 hours, there have been 340 million tweets sent among the 200 million registered users. in a maximum of 140 characters. people anywhere can communicate instantly and in realtime about anything they want. it's used by astronauts in orbit, explores deep under water and even presidents. barack obama turned to twitter when he made history as the first african-american occupant of the white house. but twitter has changed the world too. it's played a key world in the arab spring uprisings. used by protesters to spread awareness of their plight around the globe. happened in libya, egypt, yemen. happening right now in syria. twitter is instrumental in the catastrophic earthquake and tsunami in japan and it saved thousands of lives. and of course, twitter had become a great haven for celebrities. the good and bad. and sometimes just down right weird. lindsay lohan tweeting on her way to jail.
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charlie sheen attracted one million followers in a single day just by winning, duh. lady gaga recently became the most popular human being on twitter with 20 million of us apparently hanging on her every tweet. but twitter can derail careers as anthony weiner and his intimate photographic skills can attest. as for me, i confess to finding it a horrifically addictive medium. somewhere to find news, break news, feud with rivals. to explain to clarify reveal and to apologize. and even to gloat. last week, i passed two million followers on twitter an achievement well, let's go honest, it brought me a pitiful amount of excitement and pride. i thank you you all collectively for keeping me entertained with your advice. your abuse, critique, your human. as for jack dorsey and his family colleagues i say this. the american dream was built on young people like you having a simple, yet ingenious idea of making it so popular