four. beat that. on that note, here's "piers morgan tonight." >> do not adjust your set. i'm donny deutsch and i'm filling in for piers morgan. >> remember, donny, i'm the heart around here. >> great office. i love this office. >> stay out of my office. >> all right. got it. tonight we have a great show. michael j. fox is here and he will talk about what it is like to be on the receiving end of a are rush limbaugh attack and his crusades to find cure for parkinsons. and meredith vieira is here and this is what she had to say the last time she talked to piers. >> i want to talk you out on what may have been the best job in tv news. >> meredith and i will talk about that lauer guy. and donny deutsch tonight. we are starting right now.

good evening. i'm donny deutsch. the big story tonight, i'm guest hosting for piers while he's on assignment. first up, my one on one with michael j. fox on life, limbaugh and keeping america great. plus, meredith vieira, i want to know what she thinks about what some people say is a gop war on women and what she thinks about this dnc video. >> planned parenthood going to get rid of that. >> planned parenthood, going to get rid of that. going to get rid of that. >> first up, michael j. fox. how are you, sir? >> good to see you, donny.

>> first, how are you feeling. >> good. as i say it is beautiful day outside and that helps and i do better when the weather is good and i feel great. >> you know, when you see michael j. fox and hear parkinsons, take me through a day. take me through what is bad about the day. we see you on camera and as a crusader you go home and have four great kid and a wife. take me through a day in the life and what it is to live with this. >> the larger part of the day 99% of the day is the same as everybody's else's day. you get up in the morning and have breakfast and see my kids off to school. when tracey doesn't let me sleep in like she does every now and then. >> she runs the show. >> the operation. >> fundamentally the day is the same as everyone else's. when i wake up my body will tell me what i'm going to have to deal with that day because it changes day to day.

some days i'm going to get up and say this will be a bear or this will be relatively easy. i will take a medication, certain mornings i wake up and feel okay and then i look at my day and sort of beat it out. almost like a performance like a script saying this is my script for the day. what am i going to bring to this scene and that scene. how am i going to organize my energies and how can i be most effective and luckily i have a lot of stuff that i want to do on a day-to-day basis whether it is foundation, working, writing or doing something with my kids. so, i'm fulfilled and 20 years on i'm doing better than i ever thought i would be doing. i was given dire outlooks on how, what i could expect to feel and experience and be limited to to ten years out and that was ten years ago. so ten years on i'm still doing well.

>> are you on drugs as we speak. >> i'm on all kinds of drugs. >> acid, lsd. >> methamphetamine. >> the whole thing, right. >> i take a synthetic dopamine. it is one of the things we are doing the foundation is trying to move past or augment it in a way because that's the gold standard for years in treatment of parkinsons but it loses effectiveness an results in side effects that are pretty outrageous. random movement. we want to find out, we are looking to find better medication than that. i balance it out with other medication, a drug that makes my brain produce as much dopamine of its own as it can and another drug that tempers the side effects. so i'm on a constant regimen.

as i said, that can vary given when i'm faced with on a certain day. i may take more on one day than another. >> speaking of drugs v, you were probably the last high profile target of attacks. >> drugs. >> just bear with me here. 2006, you did an ad for claire mccaskill. she was running for senate. we look at that ad and mr. limbaugh's reaction to that ad as it may be. >> they say all politics is local, but it's not always the case. what you do in missouri matters to millions of americans. americans like me. >> in this commercial, he is exaggerating the effects of the disease. he is moving all around and shaking and it's purely an act. this is the only time i've ever seen michael j. fox portray any

of the symptoms of the disease he has. he can control himself enough to stay in the frame of the picture and enough to keep his eyes right on the lens, the teleprompter but his head and shoulders are moving all over the place. this is really shameless, folks. this is really shameless of michael j. fox. either he didn't take his medication. >> that's what is great. i thought he did a good thing there. >> i don't want to -- my tendency is to want to make jokes about things so i have to laugh when he says remain in the frame of the picture. maintain within the frame of the picture. when i said i support politicians that supported stem cell research it was the only way that i could find to effectively push because of scientific freedom in the country and we had a lot of

people, disease communities had a lot of nand the stake of scientific freedom and stem cell. the majority of people in the country supported it and president bush limited funding of it. to make this point, to have people have an ethical problem with one thing is great and we will have a discussion about that and that's why i entered the fray was to have a discussion about it but to have it knocked down and marginalized on basis of personality and like the way i delivered the message and so his bullying instincts is to shut down and marginalize that voice. that's another thing all together? that is more than a bully. that is a vicious bully. >> let's show his apology. >> interestingly enough we put it up. his currently poll ji for sandra fluke, less than 30 people believe it. you have taken the high road.

you got in a lot of fights as a kid don't you want to smack the guy. >> there's such a level of vulgarity this almost equalled by calling the law student a slut. there had to be something like, you want to go knock the guy. >> i didn't feel that way. i honestly didn't feel that way. i felt like he had done the damage to himself. in the context of our argument or conversation his attack on me and my symptoms, about me i didn't care. i had a bit of a problem with the image of it because i thought it was offensive to my parkinsons and people with disabilities but as far as me i don't care. but because he said i faked it. i didn't fake it. my honesty and integrity and coming from him that doesn't threaten me. but this thing with sandra

fluke, i'm a husband to a wife and a father to daughters and a son to a mother and brothers and sisters. and that was really offensive. >> he called our daughters sluts. he got on the air. i have three daughters. you have daughters and the advertisers now are speaking. another article in times say 50 advertisers, there's a lot of dead air on a lot of his stations. this is going the hurt him. advertisers that are staying are voting it is okay to say what he said. >> i can yell, scream and wave my arms about what he said but let the free market decide. i love there to be voices out there that i don't agre with. i love people to say vile offensive things because then i know who they are as a voter and consumer i know who they are and they have identified themselves and all things being equal the market will balance it out. there is talk about bill maher.

the difference with bill maher he's on hbo and didn't have advertisement. he was once in the public sector and made statements and advertisers bailed on him and he was relegated to cable. now i find it much less egregious knowing the content of what he says maybe offensive but it is a different thing than this giant corporate-supported bully pulpit that this man has and the way, again -- he did the same thing to sandra fluke as he did to me but it is more egregious with sandra fluke because here's a private citizen expressing an opinion, that he has a right to express and was sought out by people we have elect ed to represent a point of view of the public and he was knocked down brutally. >> yeah, it's interesting. you are a public figure so as you said you can take it. when you bully down the average citizen that's where he got in trouble. he is going to pay for that. i really believe.

that let's shift to politics for a second. we have an election coming up. we all vote, and when i vote it may affect my taxes for whoever wins. you have more at stake. say that rick santorum wins which is a real chance coming off two primary wins. if he gets in of course he is very vor sif rouse against stem cell search. how will your life be affected if he gets in? >> he spoken out against science. he spoken out against education. oned would say the education in pursuit of science. so it would not be good. but on the other hand he will be vocal on the issue and set up a stark contrast and people will see, i don't want to suppress ideas i don't agree w. all things being equal and with the vote, hopefully things are equal

those ideas can be met and dealt with. if he tries, certainly if he was elected it would be stem cell research would be shut down and all kinds of scientific research. there was a time when they were going after stem cell research and wielding and attacking all science and some one said fruit flies, why are we spending money on fruit flies. fruit flies are a major model for scientific research. they can be replicated in the model of the fruit fly. you get people that don't know science reeling about science and it's dangerous for those who might benefit from it. >> we have to take a break and i want you to score card obama. i want to know where you think he has done great and what he needs to work on. more with michael j. fox. don't anywhere. [ woman ] dear cat, gentle cat,

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new york, new york. >> alex, that's wonderful. >> yes! >> why are you congratulating him, dad? he didn't sing it that well. >> he got the job. you did get the job, didn't you? because you really didn't sing it that well. >> i got the job. >> oh, alex, great. >> thank you. i'm going to be the youngest executive in the history. of o'brien matthews and clark. mom, i'm going to be rich. >> we're back with michael j. fox. that was of course a younger michael j. fox on "family ties." we went to break and tracy, your wife was up there, and you looked at that and said what a beautiful woman. she's incredible. >> amazing woman. >> she's as good as it gets. alex keaton, would he still be a republican? >> i always say, he would be converted to being a democrat now or be in jail. one or the other. >> and in trade. >> back in the days of drexel burnham. >> do you remember that?

i remember seeing pictures of a young guy. i'm like who is that? >> i look like mitt romney. you notice that? >> you look good there. okay, barack obama. let's give him a scorecard. >> i'm not a politician. and i'm not a surrogate. >> but you played one on tv. >> but i think he's done reasonably well. i think it's different to be in there than to be aspiring to be in there. and i think that he inherited a big batch of problems. i don't think he's really dealt with all of them. there are things i would like to see him have dealt with. >> such as? >> i think there are some issues around -- around gitmo and privacy and other things like that, that i thought would be handled by now. things that kind of mess around the edges that i thought would be cleaned up. and just from an idealogical

point of view, but the economy, he's done reasonably well, and we're moving forward. i can't know what that mess was. in a way, not being a politician, i make my best bet on who i think has similar ideas as i do and similar sentiments and similar emotions and similar meanings. and so i have done that with obama and then i look at it and say, okay, let's assume he's done the best he can do and i hope he can do better. the alternative doesn't appeal to me, so i would have to say he's done a pretty good job. >> done enough for stem cells. >> he's opened up the funding. but with our foundation, you know, to me, it was -- it was about the scientific freedom. with our foundation, we funded over $285 million in research. >> other than the government, largest. >> it's not like we're saying, fund this stuff, take case of us.

we're saying, free us up. we'll fund it. just don't tell us we can't pursue the best, best research that is out there. let's play this out, a republican wins and they repeal stem cell research. what happens to parkinson's? you're the main fund-raiser for this disease in the world. what happens then? >> we can't fund that. we have other avenues we're funding, other areas that we're supporting, and we work a lot with pharma, and we'll fund research they're doing and we'll give like $5 million grants to local companies to so they will work on compounds of interest to us. give like loans or grants to

because the pipeline is so time consuming that we want to keep it moving. we'll continue to do that, but again, if you have people that based on idealogical reasoning can just make summary decisions about what you can pursue, i mean, it would really be dangerous for us. >> i asked you about your day-to-day work. as you're sitting here, are you struggling? are you aware of trying to keep your movements in check? i want to get inside you because we know you and i know you personally and you're a dear friend and such a special guy. is this a fight for you every second or you're talking like i'm talking. >> i'm talking like you're talking and i'm aware i'm moving. and i strive for comfort and ease as much as i can more than vanity and appearance. i -- it's given that i'm going to look like what i look like, and again, that goes to the rush limbaugh thing. i mean, that's why again, i personally could care less. but knowing there's a population out there that doesn't have -- is hiding from employers, that is worried about insurance based on their condition, is worried

about the person down at the store, i heard a story about a guy who went to get a bottle of wine and the person wouldn't sell it to to him because he was drunk. >> you hid it at the beginning. >> yeah. >> not criticizing it, but it's something that it's not easy to come forward with. >> i hid it for seven years. so it's difficult for people to be kind of caricatures like that, was hurtful to the community. but for me, people know who i am, what i'm going through. they know the work that i do. so i don't have -- i don't feel i need to hide anything. i need to cover up anything anymore. and so it's different for me. so when you ask how i am, it's easy for me to say, i'm fine. i feel great. i'm secure, and i have a great family, and i have friends, and i have things to do and work to do that keeps me busy, but others don't, and so that's who you work on behalf of, and

that's who we have to protect in a sense, in helping them know that the best research is being done and being pursued and is open and academics that pursue certain avenues are free to do it. and not worry about it. when you say government funding and stem cell research, it wasn't that they were fighting for the government to support those projects. if they use pencils that the government paid for and couldn't do stem cell research, if there was any funding at all of the university or hospital doing stem cell research, they would lose their funding. it was a broad paintbrush. >> you have four kids. what would you say if there's a young person out there, and just yesterday, they found out they had parkinson's. what would you say to them? >> just don't let others project onto you what you're experiencing. experience it, learn what you can, educate yourself.

don't project as to what your future will be. experience one day at a time, and leave yourself open to the possibilities and know that others can take care of you that care about you might want to say, oh, you feel this, and i want to take care of that, and they don't know how you're feeling. and you respect them and love them for your care, don't let them characterize what you're experiencing. >> we're going to shift gears. you have walked right into your parkinson's with larry david, and you played an afflicted character with denis leary. you have used it creatively. we'll see that and talk about it when we come back. you know when i grow up, i'm going to own my own restaurant. i want to be a volunteer firefighter. when i grow up, i want to write a novel. i want to go on a road trip.

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doc, i'm from the future. i came here in a time machine that you invented. now, i need your help to get back to the year 1985. >> mcfly. you have certainly turned the corner creatively. i have to start with the larry david "curb your enthusiasm" where larry talked about the parkinson's. i want to talk about turning it around. >> i did noting before you left,

you were looking at me and you kind of, you know, shook your head. >> yeah, my head shakes, larry. i have parkinson's. i'm a head shaking fool. >> you're saying it was a parkinson's shake. >> it wasn't a larry shake. can i get you a soda or something? >> that would be great. the thing is, hitler really ruined the mustache for everybody. because it's really an interesting mustache, and now nobody could wear it, you know. oh, thanks. oh, jesus christ. what the hell? did you shake that up on purpose? >> parkinson's. >> when larry called you, what did he say? let's do parkinson's? >> it was great, he called me up and said the show is improv, so they lay out the ideas, and you take it from there. he said he wanted to do something about we being neighbors, new neighbors, and he's thinking passive aggressive

that i'm directing my condition towards him. and i thought it was so funny and so great, and he explained that other people would and to my defense and they would be off, too, and i loved that. i loved that everybody was kind of -- nobody gets it except me, which is really the thing, nobody gets it but me. and you can't expect them to, but you can have fun. >> that scene, it is basically you're going to shake up the coke, spill it on me. then you go. >> yeah. >> you know what you're doing? >> he's brilliant. and it was so great, i loved doing it. i loved turning it on its head. once you get past vanity, once you get past how you look or whatever and you see what your life is and what you can do, you're freed up and it's great. >> you're always the nicest guy. actually, you were named the second most influential celebrity people would trust, but with rescue me, you said, i'm going to play a bad guy, a real, real sob.

let's take a look. >> we're cool. >> we will be cool in about seven minutes. >> what do you mean? >> ten minutes of pleasure, seven minutes of pain. >> you're probably exaggerating. oh, my gosh, probably only a couple of minutes actually. >> don't fight it. >> i'm not fighting it. >> hey, guys. >> hey. >> can you come back in a minute, give us a minute? >> like 6:31. >> got to be more fun playing a bad guy. >> that character, dwight, was really fun. and what was cool about him, and that thing, denis leary called me up and said, i want you to play this guy. drug addicted sex maniac. you know, jerk, alcoholic. and i said, what made you think of me?

and he said, it was paralyzed. i said, you know i can't stop moving. how am i going to play a paralyzed guy? he said, you're going to be great. what i like about this character, i would say that ai kind of chose to deal with my medication in the choice that i have. but the choice i didn't make is that choice. this is a guy that lost the use of his limbs in a car accident, drunk driver. and he kind of went through the dark side and went to the lost. and it was interesting as funny as the scene and some of the other scenes in the show was, to deal with the loss and to deal with being physically different than you thought you would be and having resentment about that, was kind of fun, interesting to explore that. >> it's interesting to watch tom cruise and "born on the fourth of july." start out based on the character, and by the end, the character you were and a crusader. julianne margolis. "good wife."

huge show. let's take a look. >> tardives diskinesia. a funny word for a neurological disorder and it makes me do this and this and ahh. if you look at me long enough you get used to it. so feel free to look, and i won't mind. now, the good news is these pills, i take these every few hours and they don't make the symptoms disappear completely -- but they do diminish. >> objection. >> i'm going to give a new title to actor-vist. is there a role that's not going to turn you on now, forget the physical challenges, is it not going to turn you on that somehow doesn't move the needle for disability or for parkinson's? >> yeah, i mean, sure. acting for me lately has been really fun. i've kind of amped it up in the last few years. i didn't for a long time.

believe it or not with the medication it is much manufacture predictable for me now and i know that i can maintain a prescribed course of action. now, and i can know that i can maintain a proscribed course of action for a character. i know i can fill out certain beats. but it's interesting, i have to in some way acknowledge the physicality of the condition. so there's a broad umbrella of things i can use to explain it, and hopefully i can get it out of the way the same way this character did in the "good wife." he's saying you're going to see this and he was using it to influence how they felt about him, but in a way, i have to do that, too. there's no doubt when i'm trying to get people to act on part of our foundation. i'm saying, i have this and it affected my point of view on this. >> i know rush limbaugh is a big fan of the show. can you give him a shoutout, anything you want to say to him.

on a personal level. >> keep talking, rush. keep talking. we'll figure it out. >> people can tell the camera doesn't lie. it was interesting. before i started doing television, i asked you for advice, and you said, be who you are. the camera doesn't lie. the camera doesn't lie with you. you are one of the true gentlemen. people can tell but they can't tell and even you coming out tonight. this is a special gig for me and you coming out at night and doing this gig for me is the last thing you feel like doing. >> you've been a good friend and a big supporter of the foundation, and i love spending time with you and you're interesting and funny. but i still like your wife better. >> you're smart. coming up next, my sit-down with one of the smartest journalists in america, meredith vieira. on. hey, this is challenger. i'll be waiting for you in stall 5. it confirms your reservation and the location your car is in,

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we're back. i'm donny deutsch and i'm filling in for piers morgan. doing a much better job than piers morgan, not that that's hard to do. and i'm joined by two of his favorite guests, the beautiful and wonderful meredith vieira and her husband. richard cohen. before we do, meredith help me out. >> yes. >> this lauer guy, okay. >> oh, my gosh. >> they're talking about giving him like $80 trillion a year.

i don't see -- he's a nice enough fellow. he reads off the prompter. i don't get it. >> i carried him for five years. >> exactly. >> idiot savant. he's the idiot. >> what do people see -- nice guy. if you need a fourth bridge. >> al's a nice guy. i think he has a great act. he looks good in the suits. >> the legs. something about the suits. and roker, not a nice person? people think he is, natalie morales. >> no. >> anne. >> ann? >> ann? >> i always think the camera can tell. today's show, give he the worst interview you had. >> the worst interview i ever had. i don't want to -- >> you were like, oh, man. >> i'm not going to say who it was. i can't. >> just between us. a famous movie star who is a jerk. >> no way, that's not possible. that's not even possible. >> yes. self-centered, full of him or herself.

and i just sat there thinking, why where you here? i always wonder when people come on, most people are gracious. but particularly if an actor or actress sits there and doesn't deliver, i think, maybe you don't want to be here. act like you want to be here. that's your profession. act. >> i hear matt tells me when you come to the "today" show, you actually go into his dressing room, to his office, with lipstick, deface the whole thing. what is that about? and what do you write with the lipstick. >> i can't divulge what i write. maybe on this station you could. he provokes it. he's a trouble maker, a practical joker. i would respond in like and write nasty things on his -- >> tell us one nasty thing. >> i can't. it involves words that you're not allowed to say. >> that i wouldn't know either. >> let's shift gears. richard, you have m.s., diagnosed at 25. >> you do? >> yeah. >> oh, my gosh.

>> you thought that was a prop, like michael j. fox, acting for limbaugh. >> exactly. first time they tell you, 25. what goes through your head? >> well, i didn't freak out because i knew nothing about the illness, and i sat there and i thought, i don't know enough to react. and in a funny way, i still haven't reacted. that's probably part denial. and part determination to keep going. that's the thing about chronic illnesses or neuro degenerative illnesses, you have to keep going. >> as a man, i want to just -- bear with me for a second, i over the past summer, i hurt my back. on a scale, what you're dealing with is a million, that's infinitesimal, but it threw me. i got depressed because i couldn't do what i normally do

for the first time and i'm not embarrassed to say i got depressed over it. i think of what you deal with. you have this great attitude. i can see it. what's the key? >> there's no hierarchy of suffering. >> i think there is. you just, obviously, it's -- i don't want to say, taken over you like it hasn't, but it's become a part. what's the magic. it's not her, certainly. but that's like an anchor. >> she's as tough as m.s. tougher in some ways. there are no heroes. there are no medals. you know, a good life, a happy life, a successful life, a great family, a career, are their own rewards. i feel bad -- i feel bad for people who decide to be victims. that's a horrible way to live. >> and when you met him, he already was diagnosed with m.s. >> he was 25 when he was diagnosed. i met him after that.

>> a lot of people would have been, oh. and you ran right init. -- ran in it to. >> i didn't know a lot about it, but my attitude was, i cared about the person. you can get hit by a bus tomorrow. nobody knows what is going to happen. and i -- i let my emotions guide me. and my heart guide me, and i'll never regret it. occasionally, but not usually. >> it was interesting, michael was talking about how tracey is his rock, and you're clearly richard's rock, but in some ways, it's not tougher on you, but you can't even-- sometimes richard can say, i'm the guy. i can feel this way. you have to be strong for him, for you. >> richard is the first to say i don't have to be. i'm allowed to get angry when this whole situation makes me angry. i'm allowed to feel sorry for myself at times when i do. i think that's important. when -- it's a family illness. >> your kids -- >> you have to be able to talk openly about it and your own feeling in relation to illness. i think it's wrong to suppress it. >> kids take their cues from the

parents. i think our kids see the way we deal with it, they see how independent i am. they see that i don't miss a day at work. they see that i don't feel sorry for myself, so why would they? >> we're going to take a break. i still don't know what you are doing with her. we're going to find out the secret to 35 years of happy marriage and women, one of my favorite subjects, and politics. don't go anywhere.

we're back with my guest tonight meredith vieira and richard cohen. you have been married for how long? >> 2 a 2 /* -- 25 years. as someone punching, giving it his best shot once, twice, give me the secret. what can you say? >> i think a sense of humor. flexibility. and the ability to walk away. >> the ability to walk away? what does that mean? >> i don't mean -- i mean walk away from bad moments. >> oh. >> that's it. i'm out of here. >> deep. >> i have an ability to really forget stuff. sometimes i don't remember it

has been as long as it has. sense of humor, a lot of it is sense of humor, communication. yeah. >> let's move on to serious stuff. >> does that help you in your own -- >> no, we don't have enough time to help me. there aren't enough couches on the planet. dnc, a new ad. i want to watch it and talk about it. >> planned parenthood, going to get rid of that. planned parenthood, going to get rid of that. >> okay, richard, you're a political writer. the republicans cannot win with a 20% gender gap. you see the ad, forget politics aside, what is your reaction, getting someone elected? >> planned parenthood, for the christian right, is a symbol. and all you have to do is say those two words.

you know, they remind me of sort of the american equivalent of the taliban. you know, they want to drag women back to a different point in time. and yes, there's this huge gender gap. and they're not just going to lose independents. they're going to lose republican women. >> meredith, as a journalist, as a woman, you see, and we can play hours of various candidates, various media people on the left and right and candidates, but mostly on the right, saying women, we don't -- you know, on a mass level, that's okay. what am i missing here. they can't win this way? >> i agree with you. but they obviously appeal to a certain segment of the population, including some women who would agree with that statement. there are women who don't believe in planned parenthood, and they're speaking to them as well. but i walk a fine line because i am a journalist. i can't really give my opinion. >> it's neither a opinion of

whether you're pro-choice or anti-abortion. but it's a question of strategically, i can't understand how the guys think they're going to get elected playing the staunch line. they have to play the base obviously now but it is going to come back to bite them. >> i have never seen the republican party drag this far to the right in the primary process. and i think it's the influence of santorum. and i think people are afraid of him. and i think he has an appeal to the activists who tend to be -- the activists tend to be the pro-life people, the christian right. >> i have to say one thing that is interesting that goes back to a theory that i have that people vote for people and not issues. i disagree with just about everything santorum stands for. >> we just had this conversation. he's authentic. >> he's a real guy. >> i like him, where as romney is up there, and that's what he's connecting with. i stand up there and i go, but i respect the guy.

i disagree with everything he says, and that's what people want. >> but his story remains true. he's always true to who he is, and i thing you feel that whether you agree with him or not. >> have you ever watched a campaign, any primary campaign on either side where they just can't bite. obviously, the republicans, it's next in line and they ain't buying it. have you seen anything to this extent. >> no. have you? >> no, i don't think so, but i think the effect of santorum's success is pulling everybody in that direction. and it's suicidal. and it's not shocking that romney is pandering one more time in that direction. the question is, how are they going to find themselves back to the general election. >> toipts shift back. you obviously watched the michael j. fox interview. and strangely enough, the m.s. and parkinson's. i'm not saying they're competing

with each other for fund-raising, but the are, and there are some schools of thought that say let's link it together and there's marketing of these things now so as somebody who wants everything to be cured but m.s. is going to be first on your list, how do you come to terms with that? >> it's frozen at about $30 billion, which pays for about 2 1/2 months in afghanistan. it's a very limited pot of money. all these disease groups, these affinity groups go to washington asking for money. they're not going to give one group money and not give another group money. the only thing they can do is raise the -- you know, to jack up the bill. >> you look at world war i, was scientific researchers -- the way it's reduced heart disease and strokes, yet we're not upping the budget. as you said, $30 billion. at one point, $2 trillion, is not a lot of money. we're at a scary place.

>> you realize that the number of people with chronic illnesses, because of the aging baby boomers, has jumped in five years from 90 million to about 130 million people. that's half the population. >> guys, they are making me go. we could talk all night. thank you for bringing meredith here. it's sweet of you coming along. and great to see you guys. and good luck. >> you're pretty good at what you do. i'll give you that. >> thank you for saying that. coming up, "only in america." the bald truth about this country's presidents. its lobster. it's the tastiest, the sweetest, the freshest. nobody can ever get enough. [ male announcer ] it's lobsterfest at red lobster, the one time of year you can savor 12 exciting lobster entrees like lobster lover's dream or new maine lobster and shrimp trio. [ laura ] hot, right out of the shell. i love lobster. i'm laura mclennan from spruce head, maine,

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tonight, only in america can a presidential candidate be judged on what is on top of their head and not in it. if the past 50 years are any indication, the best heroines. -- best hair wins. let's bring out the highlights, 1960, kennedy, a no-brainer over nixon's widow's peak. ronald reagan, a pompadore for the ages, landslide. clinton/dole, enough said. 2008, barack obama breaks tradition and makes history as the country's first african-american president, but has best hair over mccain. who is best to beat obama? let's look at romney and santorum. santorum, although sporting

impressive locks is showing early receding, while romney shows no recesssive traits whatsoever, romney, the winner. now romney/obama. two follicle heavyweights. at this point, almost too close to call, but come november, i believe it will be obama by a hair. but that's only in america. beyond the borders, the bald truth is that other countries don't follow our lead. russia opted for mikheil gorbachev, and you could have put the kremlin on top of that dome. winston churchill's dome get didn't get much action but the won with. i got it, and the founding fathers wore wigs, but in this america, bald may be beautiful, but it probably will not get you elected. by the way, piers, while that wispy bouffant may work on your side of the pond, over here this is what is considered the hard currency. tomorrow, rosie o'donnell takes overh