>> cenk: researchers believe some of the original jamestown settlers might have been cannibals in the cruel winter of 1609-1610, they chopped up a 14-year-old girl and possibly ate her. i told you don't let undocumented immigrants into this country. joke. all right. "viewpoint" is next. we'll see you on theyoungturks.com later tonight. >> john: good evening folks. my, what a day! president obama would like to close guantanamo bay prison, if only he knew someone high up in the government who could do something about it. and stop and frisk. it is not a gay bar from the '70s it is the controversial anti-crime policy here in new york city. i hope the nypd realizes when people say they should have outreach stopping and frisking black guys wasn't what we're talking about. ed at the cruz is the find of guy who watches it is a wonderful life and roots for mr. port. everyone thinks ted cruz is a jerk but don't let that fool you. he really is a jerk.

today's birthdays include david beckham, dwayne the rock johnson and inglebert humperdinck. this is "viewpoint." >> john: i'm john fuglesang. this is "viewpoint." good evening. last resort of the powerless prisoner, a hunger strike. since february, a major hunger strike has been building momentum at the military detention center at guantanamo bay. the hunger strike began as a response to what the detainees described as raids by guards where copies of the koran were mishandled. it has grown into a protest against the obama administration's policy of holding the vast majority of detainees indefinitely while doing nothing to arrange transfer to their own countries. of the 166 detainees held at

guantanamo 86 have been cleared for release. yet continue to rot in can jail while only six are facing military commissions. right now, there are around 100 detainees on hunger strike, including 23 who are now being force-fed twice a day. on monday, the pentagon sent around 40 additional medical personnel to guantanamo to help with this force-feeding. i'm going to explain what this is because your taxes are paying for it. it requires strapping prisoners to a chair so a tube might be passed through their noses noon their stomachs for an hour or two while liquid foodstuff is dripped down. dr. jeremy lazarus is president of the american medical association and he wrote chuck hagel last week saying in part... >> john: at his news conference on tuesday president obama recommitted to an

unfulfilled promise from the 2008 campaign. >> obama: i said we need to close guantanamo. i continue to believe that we've got to close guantanamo. now, congress determined that they would not let us close it. and despite the fact that there are a number of the folks who are currently in guantanamo who the courts have said, could be returned to their country of origin or potentially a third country. >> john: congress still objects to closing guantanamo. senate minority leader mitch mcconnell told reporters... actually, they would be held in maximum security federal prisons. as for the hunger strike, mr. obama addressed that, too. >> obama: i don't want these individuals to die. obviously the pentagon is trying to manage the situation as best as they can.

but i think all of us should reflect on why exactly are we doing this? why are we doing this? >> john: at this point it might be fair to say we aren't doing this, mr. president. you and congress are in all of our names. for more, i'm joined by carlos warner, an assistant defender who represents 11 detainees at the guantanamo bay prison. counselor warner, welcome back to viewpoint. >> thank you for having me again, john. >> john: when did you last speak to your clients and are any of your clients on hunger strike? >> i represent 11. we believe ten of them are hunger striking although we can't say for sure because it is hard to communicate in guantanamo nowadays. the one that's is a high value detainee. i'm more than happy to tell you about the pain of being force-fed. >> john: please do both. what could you like to say about the president's remarks? >> he's blaming congress. he said congress has prevented it.

what needs to be clear is under the current version of the ndaa, he has the absolute power to transfer individuals right now. so he does not have to go to transfer and that's a red herring. that has been his party line because it appeases the left. but the left has to understand that he can transfer these innocent men especially 86 cleared prisoners tomorrow, if he wanted to. the ability to do so. senator mcconnell talked about moving people to the united states. that's not what we're talking about. that restriction remains. we can talk about what needs to happen with the remainder. we have to start with the 86. we have to get them to third party countries or to their own countries as soon as possible so we can start unwinding this down. because he's right. what are we doing here? i don't know what we're doing here but whatever we're doing is un-american. >> john: deeply un-american and unconstitutional. what we're doing is nothing. how do your clients sir describe the process of force-feeding? >> we've gotten it in very graphic detail. the bottom line is that, as you

said they're strapped down from head to toe. they can't move the process takes anywhere from one to two hours. and my clients claim that they're using a tube that's too large. size ten tube and it takes several times for this tube be to be inserted correctly by the staff and each time, it is painful. my client said once it passes the nasal passage it seals on the sinuses like a razor blade. his ryes start to water -- his eyes start to water. the gag reflex starts and it is difficult to breathe because it presses against the esophagus. the eso far gous against the -- the eso far gous against the windpipe. this is the most excruciating part because the fluid is pumped in. if it is pumped in too fast, he'll vomit. even when it stays down, after 84 days, the hunger pains are gone but because he's being

force-fed, they come back. during this, the military is telling him, you can have a hot meal if you want. you don't want one? this is barbaric, it is torturous, a clear violation of all medical ethics. human rights groups have called for a stop to it. the u.n. has called for a stop to it. it is happening right now. the military is doing it right now to people in guantanamo. >> john: it has been called torture by multiple sources. it is worth pointing out that things have calmed down in guantanamo until john bog den took over and resumed this practice of searching korans. what are the hunger striker's demands? what is it going to take for them to stop? >> i thought by this time it would switch to detention but it hasn't. as we've heard on friday and as late as today the demand remains the same which is the men want to voluntarily surrender the korans to the military and they also want to have men of the things that were taken away from them by the new

command on february 6th communal living, the things that they have. their main problem is that the military refuses to negotiate with the men. will not talk to them at all. this has been reported in the press many times. they are meeting them only with force and i told my client, i'm going to try to get down there and negotiate. he says you don't have to come down here. we have tongues. we can negotiate. we're human beings. the military refuses to do so. we're calling on the president to intervene here because this could be resolved in a week. the hunger strike could. and this is the most important thing because none of us, as the president said, want to see anybody die here. but if the military continues on its current path the men will stay resolved and people will die. this is, again the president's failure, unfortunately because he doesn't have anyone in the white house charged with this responsibility. if he could get somebody charged with that responsibility, i'd have someone to call and we could resolve the hunger strike

then we could get down to the business of closing guantanamo. >> john: you're right. there is no one in charge of that responsibility because the office in charge of closing guantanamo bay prison closed last year. assistant federal public defender, carlos warner, many thanks for sharing your views on viewcht. >> thank you john. >> john: for more on what might be possible to end the suffering at guantanamo bay with or without congress' approval, i'm joined by adam serwer from mother jones. pleasure to have you. >> thank you for having me. >> john: the bush administration transferred over 500 prisoner from guantanamo to their home countries without a peep. when did the obama administration stop transfers and why haven't the 86 prisoners who have been cleared for release been sent home? >> the last detainee to be transferred out of guantanamo was omar qotr was transferred to

serve out his sentence. the reason the obama administration is having so much trouble with the 86 is it is not just a matter of transferring them to their own countries. they need to find third countries to take them and that's very difficult from a diplomatic perspective, not in all cases but in many cases because you know, the united states has refused to take any themselves and other countries simply don't want to shoulder that responsibility when the united states isn't playing its part. >> john: of course, the concern -- >> certainly obama could be transferring more detainees than he is because the number he's transferring right now is zero. >> john: the concern we hear from the congressman is they might be able to escape from maximum security prisons like charles manson did so many times. the president is blaming congress again for the stalemate over guantanamo. you heard counselor warner talk about how under ndaa, the president could do the transfers unilaterally. what did congress do to stop the transfers and keep prisoners who

aren't being brought to prisons here? >> the republican objections are ridiculous. these detainees don't have superpowers. they're not going to escape from a super max prison. it's never happened. as far as what the republicans have done, the same thing that congress did was -- they did this when the democrats were in charge they barred the transfer of gitmo detainees to the united states for any reason including trial, including to serve out their terms. what the republicans did a couple of years ago, they said any time you transfer a detainee out of gitmo even if you're not bringing them to the united states, even if you're not sending him abroad, the president has to certify if person will never again pose a threat which is not a promise the secretary of defense can make. it really puts the administration politically on the spot because they'll be, you know, very clearly liable politically if any of these detainees ever go on, who are

released, ever go on, you know, to commit an act of terror. >> john: apparently it is all about politics. a february abc news "washington post" poll, 70% of american adults want to keep guantanamo open and operating as it is today. >> they're doing an incredible job of frightening people with detainees, the most hardened terrorists in the world supposedly running through pleasantville, u.s.a. armed to the teeth and murdering people. but obviously that's not really what would happen if gitmo detainees were transferred to the united states. i think that image is what has -- because when bush was president, bush who said he also wanted to close gitmo and when

obama first took office, a majority of americans wanted gitmo closed. >> john: it is fair obama ran on this in 2008 and won. a lot of these guys were just nobodies who were ratted out by their enemies. >> right. obviously there was an incentive for bounty reasons to turn people in. and get the money for turning in someone who is supposedly a terrorist. >> let me ask you then. given all of his struggles with congress over immigration and the budget, do you think president obama would use any of his political capital at this point on guantanamo? >> well, honestly, i don't know. i can't make a prediction like that but i can say that i think that if the administration decided to take on the political risk of resuming transfers there might be a chance that the hunger strike that's now going on and that's been going on for months might actually be -- there is a chance they could actually resolve it. >> john: how shocking would it be if ndaa wound up being the

good guy. adam serwer of mother jones thank you for your time. >> thank you for having me. >> john: as for legal issues closer to home, not only does new york city's stop and frisk policy have an enormous racial bias. our police commissioner says it should have more racial bias. we'll look at that next. had

i think the number one thing that viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. they can question whether i'm right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us.

>> john: welcome back. today's thing of the day is today's thing we don't know we actually have of the day. you see, according to a new poll 42% of americans are unaware that the affordable care act is the law of the land, including 12% who believe the law has been repealed by congress, 7% who believe it has been overturned by the supreme court, the off sit happened. got a little bit of press last year. 23% who say they don't know enough to say what the status of obamacare as a law is. 42%. your country. they didn't say what percentage of respondents who knew who honey boo-boo is but i don't want to know. new york city's stop and frisk policy. you may have heard of it. it sounds ugly no matter how you describe it. police can stop and search people on the street without real cause. and it is usually you know who.

blacks and latinos. not too much, of course. only about roughly 90% of the time. so, does the police commissioner apologize for that gruesomely lopsided figure? oh, quite the opposite. ray kelly says for almost 75% of violent crimes, suspects are described as african-americans. >> the percentage of people who stop, it is 53% african-americans. so really, african-americans are being understopped in relation to the percentage of people being described as being the perpetrators of violent crime. >> john: that's right. he implied black folks should be stopped more and he said it proudly and on natural tv. mayor bloomberg makes no policy saying the media should focus more on shooting victims such as 17-year-old alfonso bryant of the bronx. his mother responded with a nuanced view. she said the stops should be targeted better at criminals and a lot of other critics agree. the stops are tearing a rift

between police and the community and in many cases making life harder for the cops. so what have we gotten for all of the tension? these stops are supposed to get dangerous firearms off the street. fair enough. police do find guns about 1% of the time. let's bring in yetta kurland candidate for city council and host of yetta kurland live on wwrl radio in new york and the great errol louis, host of new york 1's road to city hall. this is one of those issues that wherever i travel in the country, folks are fascinated this is going on here in progressive new york. yetta, does commissioner ray kelly's argument justify this blatant overwhelming focus on minorities? >> i think it really shows an insensitivity to respond to a community already crying out for help to say that there's understoppage. it is like a paternalistic father who says, you know, shut up or i'm really going to give you something to cry about. i think is the wrong move.

we have to listen to communities of color when there is a problem. they want police to help them to protect them, to make them feel safe. i think we need to listen to what's going and be more realistic about what the solutions are. >> john: errol, is there any way this is worth continuing? >> the policy itself, yes. there are people who argue it should continue. the editorial boards of at least two of the three major daleys are saying if anything, you should go more aggressively at this issue. this is fundamental problem. not just particular to new york which is that how much do you want the police to do? the police do have the right to stop. they have the right to intrude and make your life miserable. it is one of the trade-offs we make in a free society. but there is a feedback mechanism called community complaints and the communities have been complaining very loudly and the response from this administration has been we don't believe you. we don't care. the courts say what we're doing passes legal scrutiny and so either put up with it or expect

to have lots of murders which i think most people understand it is false. >> john: it does make life harder for a lot of the nypd officers because it fosters greater mistrust, especially when 1% of the stops and frisks yield any type of firearms confiscation. yetta, is there a better alternative to this policy? >> let me say one thing. we want to support and set our police officers up for success. many of them getting into the profession to be able to protect and serve their communities. we need to think of alternative ways such as putting more cops on the beat. and helping train them with some of the community policing ideas that have come out in prior administrations. >> john: how so? how could that reduce the number of firearm deaths? >> that's a good point also. i haven't seen the statistics that directly show that this stop and frisk policy actually results in the reduction of guns off the street, et cetera. at 1.2% of the actual stops and frisks 2,000 a day.

five million under the administration's purview in the last ten years. we're not seeing the kind of results. i haven't seen a statistic that show the crime reductions that we're seeing are actually compared directly matched up with a stop and frisk. >> john: errol we love mayor bloomberg. we don't think he will buy a fourth term for himself. does this policy significantly shrink under the next mayor and is anybody talking about getting rid of it completely? >> on the democratic side, there are about four major candidates. there are other ones, as well. one of the four, the city controller john lies said he will abolish the policy. not replace it with anything else. that's what he says. he's the only one who says that. the rest have given some version of let's amend it or dial it back or reconceive it or reconfigure it. only one candidate again john lewis said no more. >> i think it is important to recognize the idea of stop and frisk because i think we're losing something in this discussion.

stop and frisk as an effective appropriate policy when there is probable cause is a responsible and appropriate thing for a police officer to do. stop and frisk policies that target people who may or may not be perpetrators of crime who have no probable cause are adversely impacting higher communities. >> john: let me get to the million dollar question because one complaint about stop and frisk is that one complaint is it doesn't happen in greenwich village or times square. it happens uptown. one of the biggest complaints is that young men of color get charged disproportionately more often for marijuana possession. some caucasians do it in manhattan. but when you're stopped, you have to empty out your pockets. if anyone has a joint on them, they're going to jail. this helps the prison industrial complex and the people who own the prisons make their money. does it cause any other legal issues? is this the most egregious example of it? >> i think you mention the fact that greenwich village.

in fact, recent police statistics show there is an uptick in crime and even violent crime in my district. but we are not going to see the stop and frisk policies happen in that district. and listen -- >> john: on the west end of christopher street you might. >> possibly because other marginalized communities are impacted by that. the lgbt community is impacted. any marginalized community is impacted by this. there are some people in our community who see police as a positive force that makes them feel safe and they know they're there to protect them and unfortunately, there are communities that feel that the police are quite an opposite thing. we have to bridge -- build bridges to bring the guys together and have the police protecting and serving all communities. >> john: errol, mayor bloomberg says the media should look at the victims of gun violence and focus on that more than the thousands and thousands of innocent young black and latino men ston and humiliated in the frisks. how legitimate point is it? >> that's legitimate. that one point is right. i've been a journalist now for

decades. i was so frustrated, i started a blog called save brooklyn now. i started logging the murders in my immediate area because there are so many that never hit the news. they really just don't. the police put these out every day about where the bodies are dropping. it doesn't get much coverage at all. the mayor was absolutely right. it was a horrendous, horrific murder. guy standing on the street. first kid in his family to go to college. he had done nothing. he had some graffiti thing in his background. college. he had done nothing. he was killed. >> john: anyone adopting the policy because it is so popular here? >> i have not heard that. >> john: yetta kurland errol louis, hope to have you back on "viewpoint." >> we'll address the wolverine

state's biggest problem ted nugent. that's next. stephanie miller rounds out current's morning news block. >> you're welcome current tv audience for the visual candy. just be grateful current tv does not come in smellivision. the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. (vo) only on current tv.

(vo) later tonight current tv is the place for compelling true stories. >> jack, how old are you? >> nine. >> this is what 27 tons of marijuana looks like. (vo) with award winning documentaries that take you inside the headlines, way inside. (vo) from the underworld, to the world of privilege. >> everyone in michael jackson's life was out to use him. (vo) no one brings you more documentaries that are real, gripping, current.

>> john: welcome back. now we don't end our week of wtf michigan without paying tribute to the motor city motor mouth ted nugent. the one rock n' roller who's managed to destroy all of his brain cells without taking a single drug. just this week, ted said offensively enough that military veterans are committing suicide at such a high, alarming rate because president obama is violating the constitution. yeah, ted, if only they had defecated all over themselves to avoid service like you did during vietnam, they might have a smidgen of the dignity and self-respect you enjoy strutting around with but i don't have time to tell you about all of the stupid things ted has said. al jazeera is going to take over in a few months. i'll focus on this. ted is criticizing the michigan tourist industry and the hash bash hippie in charge who is promoting hang-gliding and tulip

festivals at the expense of the manly outdoorsy things he's into like hunting fishing and being musically irrelevant. the pure michigan tourism campaign has come under some legitimate criticism for touting the state's anti-union right-to-work laws. now you would think this would even please a guy like ted nugent. even michigan's hippie hash bashers are employing nonunion brownie baking scabs. wtf, michigan. i love you. i love jen granholm. rock n' roll can change lives. rock n' roll can save your soul so for the sake of rock n' roll, can you please see to it that ted nugent is kept away from all cameras and microphones? >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. you would rather deal with ahmadinejad than me. >>absolutely. >> and so would mitt romney. (vo) she's joy behar. >>and the best part is that

current will let me say anything. what the hell were they thinking?

>> john: i asked what you thought about ted cruz running for president? elizabeth said... >> john: i agree elizabeth they're not good presidential qualities but they're outstanding comedic qualities so i heartily encourage cruz, gohmert and bachmann and lindsey graham, while you're at it, please run for president in 2016. i got a baby to feed now. if you have a comment for the show, please tweet us at "viewpoint" or use the hashtag viewpoint or post it on our facebook page. the only people who may find a rumored ted cruz presidential run more terrifying than democrats are republicans because the scalding hot tea party flavor of the week, rootin', tootin' never feuden governor from texas isn't opposed to any legislative proposals, he seems averse to any legislative proposals at

all. he's more interested in ideological purity than republican victory except, of course for his own. as evidenced by his speech to a texas tea party group this week boasting about how he almost single-handedly defeated bipartisan gun control legislation that had the support of over 90% of those stinking americans. >> they said listen. before you did this, the politics of it were great. the dems were the bad guys, the republicans were the good guys. now we all look like a bunch of squishes. [ laughter ] well, there is an alternative. you could just not be a bunch of squishes. >> john: or you could grow a soul. we're pleased to be joined by the director of the texas progress pack, mr. jim moore. thank you for coming back on the show. >> sure, john. >> john: thank you for wading into the ted cruz muffin mire. the man seems to be making few friends in washington on both sides of the aisle. we've heard a lot about how

republicans kind of can't stand the guy. is this exactly how ted cruz wants it? >> i don't think he really cares. i think everything's about his ambition and what he wants to do is get the people on the far right excited and want him to be their guy and stand on principle. the problem with that for the state of texas and the people he actually represents which is all of us down here is the idea that he is supposed to do some things that benefit the state as well as benefit the country. you can't do that without political compromise. nobody is going to compromise with a guy who calls the future secretary of defense somebody who may have been taking money from a foreign government, an enemy of the state. ted is one of those guys in texas that we believe god gave all of the crazy hat and then he stopped taking his meds. he's not good for us. >> john: you're not alone in that estimation. can you tell us, jim a little bit about the history of ted

cruz? where did this guy come from? what is his reputation in texas and how did he rise so fast? >> he's actually an accidental senator, john. what happened was -- i mean, he was solicitor general in the attorney general's office for some time. he went out. he went back into private practice and then he decided to run for the u.s. senate against the lieutenant-governor of texas. but what happened to enable him to win this election was there was a fight over restricting and the republicans in this state were drawing lines that were designed to reduce minority representation in the state legislature and in congress and that got appealed in the federal courts which moved the election back into later part of may and then all he had to do was to get the more moderate lieutenant-governor into a runoff and it was in july in texas. you don't go outdoors to go buy beer in july in texas much less to vote. and it worked for him. the animated tea party folks

came out and voted for him. >> john: are you buying the rumors we're hearing of a possible senator cruz 2016 presidential run and if so, does he even have a chance? >> well, i want to put everybody's mind at ease quickly. this guy was born in carrying, alberta. >> john: but his mother is an american citizen. >> he's an american citizen. the constitution -- doesn't the constitution say you have to be born in the united states of america? he's going to try to do it in the way everybody talked about schwarzenegger doing it and wanted to change the constitution. i think that he's going to do everything in his power to put himself in a position to run for president of the united states and that's what these present politics that you're seeing, are about is gettings that -- the problem for the republicans is always in the primary and even karl rove was talking about this. how, in the primary process they don't get the right person because the people who are

interested and excited in the primary are always the radicals in a party. those are the people he's appealing to so he can win the nomination. >> john: there you go making me agree with karl rove again. i would love to see him run for president just to have a kenyan running mate. >> it would be a blast. >> john: maybe he can't run. it does seem like he thinks he can though. but does ted cruz actually care a bit about legislating or does he care about building the ted cruz ideological brand? >> no, i don't think he cares about legislating. i think he cares about killing legislation. that's what you learn in texas that the great art of being a politician in texas has always been -- it is not the bills you pass. it is bills you destroy. the bills that you kill. i think that's what he's doing. that's why he's beating his chest about knocking down gun control and he'll beat his chest about anything else. but he's not going to set around and try to come up with policies that will help people. it is like the whole latino vote

thing. they spend so much time worrying about working for the latino vote instead of actually working for latinos and they're not going to come up with policies that are going to help him. he will do things that help his career and he's going to do things that he thinks reduce government in a way that government is almost nonexistent. ted would love it, i think if we had and an archy and everyone was running around with guns on their hip and surviving the survival of the fittist e. >> john: jim moore, thank you so much for your time and insights this evening. >> sure, john. glad to be with you. >> john: we'll explore the issues with our semi regular feature, ask a tea partier. and very proud of that. >>beltway politics from inside the loop. >>we tackle the big issues here in our nation's capital, around the country and around the globe. >>dc columnist and four time emmy winner bill press opens current's morning news block.

>>we'll do our best to carry the flag from 6 to 9 every morning.

(vo) later tonight current tv is the place for compelling true stories. >> jack, how old are you? >> nine. >> this is what 27 tons of marijuana looks like. (vo) with award winning documentaries that take you inside the headlines, way inside. (vo) from the underworld, to the world of privilege. >> everyone in michael jackson's life was out to use him. (vo) no one brings you more documentaries that are real, gripping, current. joan what if you could get 12,000 members of tea party to fill out a survey to find out more about their ideology and policy positions? well some researchers from the

college of william and mary did just that and the results find that not only are tea party supporters more right wing than other republicans, something most people already assume but that it also finds on some issuens, nontea party republicans are actually closer to democrats than tea party republicans but we could speculate about the findings until the cow comes home or play another round of america's slowest growing sensation ask a tea partier! that's some al jazeera money for those graphics. i'm pleased to welcome back our returning champion, the news director, my dear beloved friend scottie nell hughes and let's meet bachelor number one, our democratic contestant, a contributor to forbes.com. please welcome rick ungar. bachelor number two republican contestant is a writer, comic carl starring in living in exile

on stay tuned tv.net. played for many of the troops overseas and author of the complete idiot's guide to comedy writing. this is jim mendrinos. topic number one tea partiers and republicans. rick ungar, what would you like to ask a tea partier? >> first question, the survey we just mentioned that john was talking about, reveals republicans are only slightly more acceptable to tea partiers than democrats. this being the case, why will the tea party not have the courage to run its own candidates rather than simply using their clout to primary challenge republican candidates? where are your party candidates? >> let's point this out. that's what you as a democrat would love for us to do. you would love for us to split this republican party up. wouldn't you? wouldn't that be a genus thing to do? >> my people run for their party. they stand up and run. >> because they're all democrats. so republicans if we put this tea party person and this republican person, we would

never win. we might as well give you over the keys to all three branches. we're conservatives. >> john: you're not in the libertarian party. you didn't vote for johnston. >> we're not stupid. >> john: let me give it over to an actual republican, jim mendrinos. what would you like to ask a tea party? >> with so many running on g.o.p. lines and distancing themselves from the candidates, aren't they going to start feeling pressure from stronger and stronger traditional republican candidates in the primary? >> here's what you keep trying to separate. that's what the democrats want to do. fellow republican, help me help you help us. win a freakin' election again for the love of god. we continue this conversation of splitting. in the end tea party people believe limited government, fiscal responsibility, taxation with representation.

real simple. >> john: you know, scottie it wasn't those principles for mourdock. >> self-declared tea party candidate. we don't have -- >> john: he wasn't one of yours? >> hold on. we don't vote -- why should we? >> john: okay. topic number two. principals versus pragmatism for the tea party. jim, what would you like ask a tea partier? >> tea party consistent with 23% of the american public. isn't the tea party worried it will be shoved to the fringes of american politics? >> first of all i like to kind of challenge some of the numbers. we can all sit here and challenge numbers regardless of -- maybe only 23% want to be identified as tea party members. but we just did a survey where overwhelmingly 60 something percent believe in the principles but they don't want to be labeled tea partiers. why? people have demonized us. who would want to be deemed a bigot and racist and homophobe.

>> you'll sit there and find the craziest person at the tea party rally. that's who you're going to say is it was filled with these people. it is small business owners. that's who the tea party person is. >> john: it is moms in the carpool line who think millionaires deserve a tax cut. same question. you can take it. what would you like to ask a tea partier? >> the same survey reveals those who identify as a member of the tea party placed the importance of ideological purity well above the importance of compromise or even winning elections. we saw the picture of those guys in the tea party dressed like our founders yet our founders put this nation together on the idea of legislative compromise. that's how they created our governing body. how do you identify with those founders when everything that you do is against their notion of government? >> i love it that i have -- hold on this is history because i have a liberal telling me that we compromise. they compromise and we don't.

when was the last time a democrat compromised? >> obamacare. >> how was that a compromise? >> john: republican healthcare plan. >> it is not. >> john: you know that the lib berals wanted single payer and the democrats wanted public option and the republicans created the mandate. >> we're twisting things. last thing i remember was -- nancy pelosi going across, holding the gavel and arm in arm with my new friend that i've got in the senate, harry reid. they're all with tears as they march up with their gavel. >> john: i'm sorry? why is hauerry reid your new friend? >> because he talks to me. >> john: because he compromises. >> there is one little-bitty thing. how we keep losing. republicans have to stop compromising. >> so you're acknowledging you don't want to ever compromise. >> john: oh! sorry. that's the woody woodpecker

sound byte meaning meaning it is teatime. in this round scottie the most attractive tea partier in history, next to rand paul, will get to ask a question of a democratic and a republican. let's start with jim. scottie nell hughes, what would you like to ask to a republican? >> i love how i get to ask you. by the way i'm coming after you. i owe it. okay. jim, why is it when democrats lose elections like they did in 2010, they go back to their core left wing principles, however you rockefeller republicans keep telling us that we, when we lose an election, half the party splits off and thinks republicans need to think more like democrats. what is that genius thinking? >> we're trying to act more like republicans. look, we're returning to the values that got us elected in the '70s, '80s and '90s. this extreme right that's been created in the last 15 years isn't working. look at the last two presidential elections. there were a lot of extreme

right candidates in the primaries yet both times mccain and then again with romney we grabbed the interest. first thing he does is run far to the right. the country and the party want this to be center right not far right and the smart republicans are trying to get us back there. >> wait a minute, bob dole didn't lose? >> he did lose. >> and where can mccain? >> john: good answer though. give the man some credit. it was very well placed. sit there and say that mccain and mccain and romney are sentists. they're closer to you guys than they were. >> john: finally scottie nell hughes, what would you like to ask a democrat? >> he's been chewing on his nails out there. which is worse? capturing and having suspected muslim terrorists at gitmo almost pretty much convicted or

killing muslim terrorists with drone strikes? >> trick question. >> i know. >> first one. the problem at gitmo is not that we're holding suspected terrorists. the problem at gitmo is over 50% of the people we're holding have already been cleared scheduled to go home and yet are still there after 11 years. as antithetical to american system of law and the constitution as you can conceive. >> john: 15 seconds. >> if you're talking about abroad clearly gitmo is worse. domestically to target somebody with a drone, you have to know where they are. if you know where they are our constitution says you go and you try to apprehend them so they can have their due process rights. both instances completely violative of the constitution. they're both terrible. >> john: time to declare a winner of tonight's ask a tea partier and the winner is going to be announced right after the break. they thinking? a

>> john: as always, when we play ask a tea partier today's winner scottie nell hughes for being such a good sport. >> we knew it. [ applause ] >> john: okay, thank you. if i may my friends today was america's national day of prayer and it was fitting that house speaker john boehner tweeted about it as he's caused so much prayer among the rest of us. here is his tweet... now, this raised a few questions that none of my democrat or

republican friends could answer so i need to go to a higher authority. are you there god? it's me, johnny. look, i hate to bother you but you know what, this john boehner is confusing me again lord. i know the guy can't be happy. it is not easy to gut social security and medicare while cutting taxes for the rich. he's one of the biggest reasons congress has a 9% approval rating and chlamydia a 12%. i feel sorry for any guy willing to go down in history as obstructing economic growth to make a president look bad to keep his job because his party totally hates him. i'm not saying he weeps in public too much but morrissey called him a sissy crybaby. those aren't tears. this tweet confused me. i'm glad he believes in freedom unless you're gay and want to get married or a chemo patient and wants a joint. he believes in the freedom to put michele bachmann on the house intelligence committee. freedom of irony. he prayed to you for the health of all americans. maybe, lord, you could tell him to stop trying to repeal

obamacare. i love it when they warn rest of us of the evils of socialized healthcare but this guy's condition is he wants to bring back pre-existing conditions. i know you see everything which is terrifying because that means you probably had to watch avatar in 2d but john boehner wants americans to blame obama if their insurance company rates go up as long as they never blame their insurance companies. how can a guy fight that hard to protect for-profit healthcare while worshipping your son, a guy who gave it away for free. then he prayed for security. now, speaker boehner voted to raise the debt limit every single time bush asked him to do it and then wouldn't do it for obama and then he strong armed the sequester through the house and now blames the sequester on the president and working people are suffering. it is like theatre except real theatre creates jobs. then he prays for opportunity lord. obama offered a jobs bill that was 60% tax cuts. i call it the agoraphobia bill because it never got out of the house. john boehner did nothing. in fact, the biggest difference

between john boehner and the unemployed, the unemployed want to work but the tea party hates him and tea baggers don't like it when you choke and boehner has eric cantor who is like iago better yet i tell you what, lord. make all of the things john boehner prays for for all americans come true by seeing to it he's no longer speaker after 2014. god, please give him the grace and humility that can only come from being a right wing millionaire lobbyist. by the way, i know a national day of prayer doesn't make us a christian nation because that would require caring for the sick and ending all poverty. amen. shalom. that's "viewpoint" for tonight. i want to thank scottny nell hughes. rick ungar from forbes.com and jim mendrinos from living in exile. thanks for watching, everybody.

i'm john fuglesang. we'll be back next week. take care of yourself. good night mom. >> joy: tonight, joan crawford's daughter, christina wrote the classic tell-all mommy dearest. i'll find out the real story behind no more wire hangers ever. a new study says we should be having sex twice a week. i think it depends on what type of shower head you have. part two of my conversation with sopranos actor joe panteliano, he has a story about president clinton that i guarantee will make you laugh out loud. all of that and more on "say anything."