all willy-nilly all over the house. ohh! ohh! kids today have it so good. ok. [ male announcer ] the new wireless receiver only from at&t. get u-verse tv for $25 a month with free hd for six months. at&t. ge captions paid for bya month wnbc-universal televisionhs. this sunday, we go one-on-one with rick santorum about the race. can he do the delegate math to beat mitt romney. >> the governor thinks he is now ordained by god to win, then let's just have it out. >> previewing the debate to the fall campaign, the social issues versus the economy. more than 200,000 jobs created in february, and who has the winning prescription for more growth? with us, romney supporter and chair of the governor's

association, virginia's governor, bob mcdonnell, and maryland's governor, martin o'malley. finally, our political roundtable is here to talk politics and about something else, civility. where has it gone and can it return? why the president called sandra after rush limbaugh attacks? he was thinking about his own daughters. >> i want them to speak their mind in a thoughtful way, and i don't want them attacked or called horrible names because they are being good citizens. >> we have a discussion with reverend al sharpton, host of msnbc's politics nation. and marsha blackburn, and ej dionne, and peggy noonan.

good morning. another split decision in republican presidential contest held over the weekend, and the results showing a big win in kansas for rick santorum, but mitt romney also won the delegate in wyoming's on going process, and he picked up delegates in the virginia islands and guam. romney is ahead at 377, and then santorum and gingrich and then paul behind. 48 hours of campaigning to go until the republicans put their mark on the race in the nomination, and here from the campaign trail is rick santorum. welcome back. >> great to be back. thank you. >> you want your shot to go one-on-one with governor romney.

what tips the scales to get newt gingrich out of the race? >> you would have to ask him. we are going to keep winning and competing, and every since nevada we finished first or second in almost every state, but we have been there and other than georgia, congressman gingrich has finished third or fourth, and that continued yesterday. eventually this thing will sort out, and we will have strong performances in mississippi here and in alabama. i even sent my daughter out to hawaii, and she is out there campaigning for us for this tuesday. >> would you like to see him get out after mississippi -- >> i would like everybody to get out if they could just clear the field. and the congressman can stay in as long as he wants, but the idea to make sure we nominate a

conservative is to give us an opportunity to go head to head with governor romney at some point, and that will occur sooner rather than later hopefully. >> and let's talk about governor romney, and he is making the argument that the math is the essential unit, and you need 61% of the remaining delegates to win this thing, and aside from the fact that nobody has the requisite number of delegates yet, and why should not the race be over and done with in advantage of romney? >> well, romney needs 50% of the delegates. on the current track that we are on now, the fact is what if romney doesn't get to that number? this is not a mathematical formula. the race has a tremendous amount of dynamics. there's a lot of states coming up that will be great states for us, like pennsylvania, and we have 72 delegates, and we should win if not all of them, the vast majority, and texas, last count

i was up 30 points. remember, governor romney has been doing this for four years and he worked hard to make sure states moved up that were advantagious to him. and the news agency apportioned delegates that have nothing to do with the reality of where the delegates are going to be. iowa, we barely won iowa by 40 votes, and we had their conventions yesterday, and nobody has that in their count, and they have us winning by one vote and that's not going to be the case when the delegates from the caucuses are elected. and also you also know, a lot of the delegates are uncommitted. while they may be, you know, for romney, a lot of the delegates can win and they are unbound. that's another dynamic. you have a whole bunch of super delegates. governor romney secured several of them, but they are not bound with their commitment. these are the kinds of things

that can happen, and it can change as the dynamic of the race changes as we go on. >> if you look at the maps where the victories have been, you have to notice something striking. you are yellow on the map, and you are winning the heartland of the country right now, and it's almost like a presidential red and blue map. governor romney is winning the coast, new england and the west with the help of mormon voters. how do you change that dynamic, including the fact that governor romney can say rightly i have won some of the biggest battle grounds in the fall, and how do you overcome that? >> well, i mean, obviously we have had to overcome a lot, david, just to be where we are now, and we have been out spent 10-1, and somebody who has all the wind to his back and can't close the deal, winning ohio, and michigan by the skin of his teeth, and both being out spent

overwhelmingly, but that's okay, we have the grassroots support, and we have been slowing clawing our way back into the race, and we're in a great position right now as we go forward with states that are very favorable to us, and in favorable areas of the country, and i have got my home state yet to go. governor romney has had three of his home states already, and so it's important for us to look to the future and see the opportunities that we have. that's how we get back in the race. if we can get a one-on-one, we have seen in the states where we have had one-on-ones, we have done well. >> why not come out and say what your super pac said, and that's that you want gingrich out? >> i am not going to tell people to get in or out of the race. i did not ask gingrich to get in and i will not ask him to get out. >> certainly an advantage for the president who is making the case of the economic recovery, and this is how the ap put it. the united states added 227,000

jobs in february again surprising economists with the breath and braun of the economic recovery, the country put together the strongest three months of pure job growth since the great recession, and those numbers, if you take a look since december of job creation, the pure number of jobs, it's at 734,000 jobs. is your point in this campaign to say, i can do a better job of accelerating that recovery, and if so how? >> absolutely. just look at the energy sector alone, and the jobs that can allow for exploration of oil in this country and the 600 billion barrels of oil offshore, and the president said no to. alaska, no. federal lands, no. and the only place he is providing help is to brazil, and the brazilians rejected it. and of course it's going to have head winds as we head into the

summer driving season. we are already looking at $4 a gallon in some places, and that's having an impact in the economy. energy alone, throw on top of that the implementation of obamacare and other high-cost regulations, and this president set a record on the number of high-cost regulations. i would peel every one of those that cost over $1 million. and week after week, they would try to repeal the regulations. there's a variety of things the president is doing right now to hurt the economy that we can turn around and put the wind at the back of the economy and see dynamic and sustainable growth. most of the economists will tell you the growth under this president while it has been good certainly the last three months from the standpoint of employment, that the underlying growth numbers are not going to support dramatic job growth until we get that underlying growth number turned around. >> you can't tell americans who

are feeling more optimistic, i should say, about the prospect that their eyes are deceiving them, and when it comes to gas prices, sure that hurts everybody but americans know it's republicans just like democrats that have failed to get any kind of leadership plan passed, and that's been going on for decades. >> well, somebody who is trying to open up exploration, and it's hard to point the finger at republicans. republicans voted yes, yes, yes all the time. and certainly i have. and the president has voted no. so the idea of well you can't fix the partisan gridlock. there's no partisan gridlock. there's an ideology that says let's drill for oil in saudi arabia and brazil, but not in my backyard. it's pure politics. it has nothing to do with the best of the overall environment.

it allows the price of oil to go up. all of this is the president's fault. it lays clearly on his table. >> let me ask you as well about some other issues, and when you take on governor romney. you know, your record, which has been debated as senator, you cast votes, of course, for a new entitlement under medicare, the prescription drug been it and a supporter of earmarks and a lot of people think is reckless spending, and you supported no child left behind, and yet you say this about governor romney, and you said it during a conference call during the week. what you have with governor romney is somebody not somebody you can trust on the issue of big government. yet you casts votes that conservatives would clearly see as big government. >> well, i would just say this about the programs that you put forward. all of those programs were certainly the earmarks in the context of spending on appropriation bills where i never ever voted for an increase

in spending on any of the appropriation bills. i was out on the floor voting always to cut spending, repeatedly, and consistently throughout my 16 years. on medicare prescription drugs, there were a lot of things, health savings accounts, which is a private sector reform of the health care system which i think is the most dynamic thing we can do, and i still believe it's the most dynamic thing we can do to lower health care costs and put patients back in control, and of course the prescription drug bill itself has come in 42% under budget because it's a private sector model. while certainly there was a medicare prescription drug benefit it was done in a way that advanced the private sector of medicine and that's one of the reasons that i supported it, unlike governor romney who had public sector control of the health care system. the bills i voted for were private sector oriented programs. governor romney and barack obama

are on the same place with health care, romneycare and obamacare, the same with a top down government control of the resources, mandates and of course now we know, thanks to an interview that you did and others, that governor romney actually advocated for the massachusetts model that president obama adopted with mandates, and then went on the campaign trail and repeatedly -- well, he repeatedly didn't tell the truth. he went out and misled voters that somehow or another he was not at mandates at the federal level when he was. he said i did not require catholic hospitals to provide things against their conscience, when he did, and he said i did not provide free abortions under romneycare, had he did. he had big government solutions and then gone out and told the public that he didn't do the things he did. >> you are calling him a liar, about his possession that he didn't support a mandate at the

federal level. >> which he did. >> he did? >> absolutely. he did. >> electability becomes a big issue. on health care, what is the line of attack you think president obama will use against romney that you think will ultimately kill romney's chances of being president? >> you know, why do you want to say you want to repeal a program identical to the one you put in place in massachusetts. and we will play the op ads he wrote to advocate for this. that takes the issue that that's the most potent issue in the 2010 election. the reason the republicans were able to make gains is because we had an issue that talked about freedom, and talked about whether government should be

controlling your health care choices, should be allocating resources in the health care field, or whether we are going to be believing in free markets and choices and consumers, and governor romney and the state of massachusetts mandated every person in massachusetts has to buy health care, and he said it was only the 8% that didn't have insurance and that is not true. he goes out there and tries to misrepresent what he did in massachusetts because it's not popular. it's what he is doing for climate change. he put caps on c 02, and now that the climate changed, guess who changed along with it? governor romney. you are looking at somebody that doesn't change with the climate. i stand for the principles that made this country great, and not governor romney's top-down control that will not make the kind of contrast with barack obama that we absolutely need if we are going to win the election. >> i want to ask you about the influence of your wife. i know i am heavily influenced

by mine, and you talk about the influence she had on you. recently as it applies to the kind of language you used, and you backed away from kaulg the president a snob or the criticism of president kennedy, and what kind of political partner is she for you and how has that manifested itself here in the last couple of weeks? >> she is very direct. we have a wonderful and very special relationship. she watches everything that i do like a hawk, and, look, she's a nurse and a lawyer, and she knows how to communicate, and she also is a very, very compassionate person. i think that she understands that i can get fired up and she can do, and sometimes i step over the line and she rightly comes after me and says rick, you have to go back and walk this back. you get a little fired up and you shouldn't say things that maybe, again, you said well you

are calling the governor a liar, romney a liar, and no i am not, i am saying in this case he was not saying what was the truth, but to go a step further to say the person is a liar, and that's too far, and that was the case with respect to president obama and that comment. she's a very good governor for me and tries to make sure that i keep things in perspective. >> what about the broader influences on you, and people size you up and get to know you better, and what is who would you say is the biggest influence on you in the full range of your public life and your sense of purpose getting into the race and running for congress and ultimately the senate? >> yeah, well, i mean, obviously, you know, family is always a big consideration, and it certainly was in getting in the race here tonight. this was not something where i am 53 years old and have been in public life for 16 years, and most of my working career i was in the senate and to get back into that after being out for

five years and having a lot more freedom and opportunity and a lot more time to be with my wife and family, and i coached little league for three years and was doing more stuff where in a public life you don't have time for, and it was a hard decision for us. we prayed about it a lot, and we sought if it was the right path for us, and particularly because of the issue of obamacare and government control of peoples' lives, and i felt like it was a game changer for america, and we have a special needs little girl, and that weighed both ways, and i want to be home with her because her life is fragile, but at the same time you have to go out and fight for the children who are in the margins of society and the government system around the world, they are not given the care and resources allocated, because the government does not see them as useful lives. there's a lot of cross currents here, and we made the decision that it was appropriate for us

to step forward and try to, you know, layout a different vision for the country that we didn't believe anybody else in the race could do. >> senator, before you go, are you looking at a clean sweep on tuesday in the south? >> well, it's pretty tough battleground down there. i'm in newt's backyard and we have the mitt establishment, and we are within striking distance, and karen and i are here in mississippi today and we will be in alabama tomorrow and we will just hustle. >> we will be watching, and thank you for coming on the program. >> thank you, david. coming up, a preview of the debate, and the big issues of the fall campaign. the top governors weigh in, and martin o'malley, and virginia governor and romney supporter, bob mcdonnell. later, our political roundtable. is the country paying a price

for the lack of civility in the political dialogue? that's coming up later. we know why we're here. to chart a greener path in the air and in our factories. ♪ to find cleaner, more efficient ways to power flight. ♪ and harness our technology for new energy solutions. [ female announcer ] around the globe, the people of boeing are working together, to build a better tomorrow. that's why we're here. ♪

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governor of virginia mcdonnell. in afghanistan, a u.s. service member has apparently opened fire on afghan civilians in a village near a military base in southern afghanistan. an a.p. photographer is reportedly seeing 15 bodies including women and children. obviously as details develop on this, there will be more. governor mcdonnell, you have a daughter who served in iraq. as a policy matter and political matter, these kinds of things can start to shape public opinion about after all the the country being at war, what impact is this going to have in terms of the national debate. >> it's tragic. we have so many brave men and women, david, ten-plus years in the war on terror.

they've done marvelous work in iraq, afghanistan and other places. yet one incident like this in the minds of the civilian population, who we're trying to win their hearts and minds as well as the battle against terrorists in afghanistan can change the equation. we'll have to see the details. but i'm proud of what our kids are doing there. >> the debate over iran is heating up on the campaign trail. these are some of the unknowns that could really affect this presidential campaign here in the months ahead. >> absolutely. there are many things that happen in this very tightly and interconnected world of ours that no one president can control. but what we all look for in the president of the united states is someone with steady, capable leadership, a calm hand at the helm. and president obama has provided that leadership. i think this latest incident underscores how important it is for us to conclude our involvement in afghanistan, as we have in iraq. and i agree with governor mcdonnell, i mean, so many young men and women are serving so

honorably and so well, that incidents like this do happen in war zones. it's very important we bring our troops home as soon as possible. >> let's talk about the economy as well. about five months ago, president obama said he was an underdog. now you look at the jobs numbers and the trajectory over the course of the president's term here. the dark days of 2009 and '10 with unemployment up in double digits. 10% now in 2012. we've seen it holding steady at 8.3%. over 700,000 jobs created since the end of last year. is he now the favorite, given the optimism about the economy? >> well, i think that there is no more important issue than the good news that we're seeing in our economy. president obama under his leadership, we've had 24 months in a row of positive job creation every month. an auto industry that many thought had gone the way of the dinosaur is now adding 200,000 jobs. we see foreclosures have been driven down thanks to the president's leadership, to the lowest levels we've seen in four

years. i do think the overriding issue in this race is jobs and the economy. and clearly, things are getting better. and they still need to improve, and we could make it -- we need to accelerate our jobs recovery. >> as the man you're supporting, governor mcdonnell, is mitt romney, who is making a case that he could do a better job with the economic growth. is the argument going to be more difficult to make if we continue on the path we're on? >> job creation and economic development is the issue in this campaign. all of us as americans should celebrate the progress that's been made. i give the private sector the credit for doing that. we've lost 864,000 jobs since the beginning of this administration. 8%, 9%, 10%, that may be the best barack obama can do, but that's not as good as americans really need. this election is about jobs, economic development, taxes, spending, debt, and deficit. i think on each of those issues

this president has really failed. we've added to the national debt by $5 trillion. and the unemployment rate being over 8% for the entire obama presidency, that's not a good record to run on. >> it's become a choice. the question is whether romney has really broken through with an economic message that says this is a distinctly different path and more acceptable path for americans. you would argue it's not. >> what we see, it will be a choice between two alternatives. and both of these gentlemen now have records. and when mitt romney was governor of massachusetts, david, a state that by any measure is pretty strong to be creating jobs in a new economy. instead under governor romney's leadership, they ranked 47th out of 50 states in job creation. so i think you're going to have a pretty clear contrast here. if you look at the presidential campaign, let's be honest, there's been a lot more time spent pandering to the right-wing idea dologs than talking about jobs in the economy. rick santorum mentioned the word jobs not once in the last debate. i believe the president's

looking strong. is strong. is focused on the economy. and that's going to carry him through this election. >> governor? >> i think that's a manufactured issue. i think for democrats and this president, they're trying to do everything they can to take the issue off of jobs and the economy, debt, deficit and energy because they don't have a plan. i would say republican governors have had something to do with that. the fact is, when you go back to the beginning of this add m, gas prices have doubled. the nufb of new proposals for taxes and spending are through the roof in this obama administration, and with democrat governors. the number of people that have actually lost a job, over 800,000. while we're making some progress, i can't think of a thing this administration has done that would be responsible for that. i would say we could do better. 8%, not good enough. we can do a lot better, with 25 million americans underemployed or unemployed. that's not good enough. mitt romney in the private sector created over 100,000 new

jobs, showed he could turn the olympics around. that's the kind of change that we need. >> let's talk about social issues. in some indications in the republican race, this is overshadow talk about the economy. you, in fact, in virginia, have been at the center of some of this. you backed an abortion bill initially that included a very invasive procedure, as part of an ultrasound that the state would have required. and then you backed off of that. were you wrong to support that initially, or did you simply back off because the political heat got turned up? >> that was one bill out of a thousand that was passed. it focused on other things. my agenda is restoring jobs for people in virginia. that's what i'm doing. this bill allows virginia to join about 23 other states that have an -- >> there's -- >> there's 23 that require a woman to have an opportunity

to -- >> were you wrong initially when you said it's an invasive procedure and it's part of the bill? >> i think you're wrong in the facts. what we simply said is we support the concept of the ultrasound. through the committee process i realized there were other things in the bill that needed to be admitted. the focus on this election is not about that. when people going into the voting booth in november, they're going to look at who's got the best idea to get us out of debt and create jobs. in this constant focus on social issues is largely coming from the democrats. >> hold on. i'm going to stop you there. i'm still asking about this issue. you ran in part talking about health care. >> ran against -- >> you ran against it, precisely. this is the state of virginia, mandating women, have an additional procedure. a mandated health procedure. i thought that's exactly what conservatives opposed. >> david, this was about stating what informed consent is and saying women have a right to

know certain things before a procedure. every invasive procedure has an informed consent requirement. so what i think this is is more of people trying to get the focus off the abysmal record of this administration. jobs and the economy, taxes and spending. i'm worried about the war of the administration, and democrat governors on the american taxpayer. more taxes, more spending, more debt. even in maryland, you've got proposals to increase the sales tax, the gas tax, the tax on cigars, everything else that moves. this is the issue in the race is who's going to keep taxes low on the american middle class. >> do you think the sense that certainly democrats are talking about it, and that some women feel there is a growing assault on reproductive rights, can it become a more central issue in the race? or is that going to become a side issue, as the governor said? >> i think the central issue in this race is creating jobs and

expanding opportunity. i think these cultural -- don't like to use the term wars -- these cultural divisive wedge issues, the rollback of women's rights and other health, rollback averting rights, rollback of workers' rights, all of these things that take us back are not strengthening our chief. and creating jobs. and i think that people start to see a pattern, david, emerging in states like wisconsin, states like ohio, states like florida, and sadly, recently even in virginia where these cultural issues are crowding out the things that really should concern us most. 7 out of 10 -- 7 out of the best 10 states are creating 21st century jobs in science and technology, are governed by democratic governors. virginia, credit where credit is due, is one of those top states. the question is, whether we're making the right investments in jobs, education, more affordable college that will keep virginia in that top ranking in the future. maryland's there. we're making jobs more affordable u creating jobs at

twice the rate of virginia. the cultural battles that drive people apart are not driving us forward. >> do you think your counterpart in virginia if you look -- >> maryland's had a better rate than massachusetts did under mitt romney, for that reason, i think governor mcdonald would be a better job creator. than mitt romney was. >> you think he should be on the ticket? you think he should be formidable? he's a very skilled leader. and he does enable jobs ahead of the governor republicans association. >> governor, would you like to be president? >> no. i've got the job held by jefferson and henry. i love being governor of virginia. what i do want is a republican president who can get us out of

this malaise. we've gone from hope and change to division and malaise. that's what we got out of the last three years. i want a president romney -- >> could you be a a help to him on the ticket? >> i will be. that's for your pun dids to decide. ifk be a help to him in making sure people see the difference between a president romney and obama. >> we're going to leave it there. governors thank you. coming up in the wake of the heated rhetoric during the birth control debate, president obama made a plea for civility with his daughters in mind. where has civility gone in politics and what are the costs? plus my key decision question for 2012 and for this week our political round table is here. msnbc's own reverend al sharpton, teessee republican congresswoman marsha blackburn. and more coming up next. itefen a b

e f p,> uthngn ke iwa e heated rhetoric in the birth control debate, president obama this week made a plea for civility with his daughters in mind. where has civility gone in politics, and what are the costs to the kun there i we're back with our political round table. joining me peggy noonnan. host of president of the national action network our own

reverend al sharpton. republican congresswoman from tennessee marsha black burp. welcome to all of you. let me start as we heard from senator santorum and my own key questions for the political week. can each of these candidates romney and santorum expand their appeal? you saw the map. can romney extend it in the south and can santorum extend it beyond tea

party, and romney is the party of the establishment, and they say what we want is somebody to

focus on the jobs and the economy and listen to us. listen to me, and don't yell at me, but listen to me. >> where do you see it? >> i think romney is still the probable winner, but i think the challenge i think the challenge he has is he has to deal with the base.e,d he has to deal with those l witt extreme. but at the same time come with d broad enough vision for the r th american public after the primaries are over.over i think that's the kind of delicate balance he's not been able to strike yet. a people are more concerned about jobs and the economy than they are things like thehe blunt amendment and all. so where we bet past the rhetoric, the heated rhetoric that all oft us have engaged wil and the broader picture is goint to tell us the outcome of this election.ec >> if he wants to run as a candidate against president obama, where he can be quite formidable, it's getting through these primaries. >> i think the biggest problem

of these primaries for romney compared to what the primaries did for president obama is hillary clinton forced boom to appeal to white working class voters. that's where he was weak and he needed them in the general election. this primary is forcing mitt romney to keep going back to tht base. romney emerging with two problems. he is the favorite obviously though this is such a strange race. the pundits are always wrong week to week. romney has problems, overlapping groups are one of his weak pss. that's not the biggest deal. this could cause him problems turn out could be a little depressed. he's going to have to wait some time rallying him when he would prefer to appeal to middle of thee road voters. romney wins these primaries because he wins big among voters earning over $100,000 a year ans $200,000 a year. the republicans to win really ar need toni beat obama by a big

margin in white working class voters. frank bruney, "the new york times" says romney is starting to look like a walking dollar sign andwalt's that's what he'so stop. right now obama is doing well enough in the white working class mode too win, but it is only march. >> let me talk about something bigger. we hadthro a moment this week t president at the press conference talking about what he called sandra foot after limbaugh had attacked her. he was doing it for his daughters he said.d. it brought up a question of where civility has gone in the y politics discourse, olympia snow talked about how polarizing congress is why she wants to leave. reverend you talked about it down south, this is one of the points you made that had such t resonance. >> we are not each other's's enemies. we're not each other's competition. we're not each other's adversary. if wellock arms like we did

coming down highway 80 and cooperate rather than compete, we can make america work for everybody.meri >> a democrat saying that it , could be a republican as well. it's a very important message. how does it ultimately resonate? >> i think the problem is we've got to be mature enough to say u we can bere passionate and have some firm feelings. but that we don't have to poison the atmosphere. i learned that in my own development. i used to say things that i really believed any kind of way i felt them.us ironically the president mentioned his two daughters. as my two daughters got older i started worrying about what i w would saying they would questioo me.esti it's not cute to just exacerbate things. you could be wrong or do it rb wrong or say it wrong. i think that would be the appeal that i would make that yes, be passionate. i still march, i still protest. don't get many the way of the message and the ultimate goal

should be to bring people together in the country. we don't have to be disagreeable. >> do we as voters celebrate the friction too much? >> i think what we have to remember is what was just said learn to agreeably disagree. to make your point because when the rhetoric gets too loud, it'w like i was saying voters are saying don't yell at me. listen to me and give me the facts. informed to be well and they're seeking to be well i informed. that's why you've seen the riser of so many grassroots organizations and quite frankly i think it speaks to the point of why the pundits are wrong so much now. the american people are going to sources getting their information and they want us tos respect them and respect that they give us the opportunity top represent them.ec i seek to honor that in everything i do every day. >> i talked to john lewis the civil rights leader recently who said he does think there's

something specific about obama brings out a level of hatred. there are plenty ofa pundits on the left that use inflammatory and corrosive language. is there something different now, peggy? >> i'll tell you how i see it.th one of the big problems with discourse in america is the way, forget left and right for the second, it's the way women are being spoken of.n women in public life, women in n politics. women in policy questions. women who have beenene rising ti positions of authority the past 20 years rose at the same time as the internet. and the internet was a sort of wild west where anything could be thsaid. and i think it came on to actually infect our entertainment life, our political life, our journalist n life,al what is said on radio b commentators and comedians. somebody has to stop and notice this sounds like a horrible war on women.

we've got to stop it.s i feel like the grown ups need to stepi in. i wish the president had a real sister soldier moment and not just call someone who he was politically sympathetic who h deserved the sensitivity. but said wait a second guys, t, left, right and center it's ti getting horribleng for women no. let's stop it. >> i wish mitt romney had a sister soldier moment in this case because what rush limbaugh said it wasn't just that he called herli awful names.hat he said she put sex tapes out to reward us. it was vile. the best line on civility was john kennedy when he said civility is not a sign of weakness. i grewew up in a very political diverse family.call we always had arguments all the time. i had a dear uncle whom i argued with for 35 years. when he died his kids asked me to do the eulogy at his funeral. i was grateful for that. in the middle of the eulogy i made a point of quoting richard

nixon whom myy uncle loved. i wanted him to rise out of the casket and say i knew you'd be quoting nixon one day. there are people we love who have different views.ve >> we debate those. we're debating within our families and you do it in that t spirithe of love and friendshipg and knowing that at tend of theo day we're neveru going really agree, but you're goingce to celebrate the freedom that you have to have thatde debate.wh >> that's where the key is goin to be in seeing real leadership. because i agree with john lewish a lot of this is race. i certainly agree with peggy that this aganti-woman spread i out there. i doesn't mean that everyone that disagrees with you are either racist or massage nis or those on the other side are race baiter. but we must admit that are some

raiss and race baiters.i that's where we have to come together. right oncome this show i came w newt gingrich on education. there must be some areas that we can shown. opposing views can ce together for the good. >> it's an effort to delegitimize the other side. that happened to bush and it's happened to obama when we talked about freedom being under assault. on both sides this ta becomes ag component of it. t >> yes, but respect for women is the biggest thing we have to es address in thet moment. words sliek slut and whore don't belong in any public debate in america. >> the way we advertise productn is so different than the way we advertise politics.ould it would be like somebody said don't buy their product. it would poison you. we don't do it in commercials only in the political sphere. >> let's get a quick break in here. we'll be back with a look at our top political stories trending this morning after this break..

he we're back. final minutes with the roundtable. i am looking at the trend tracker here, and it's on point to discussion of santorum winning kansas, and obama making a big play for women voters as we have been talking in the last segmen segments. and al, the march you did on friday to commemorate the '65 march. and truman called the march a

silly idea that would not have much impact, and this is what dr. king said here on the program. >> first i would say the march was not silly at all. i would think that the march did more to dramatize the indignities that negro people face in the south more than anything else. i think it was the most powerful and dramatic civilized protest that has taken place in the south, and i think it could well justify the cause put in it. >> what is the message today? >> the message is, the new law being put in place, and there has been no established reason to change the law, and there is no widespread fraud that has been in any way documented, and

we do not believe that we should have millions of people disinfranchised. it has a disproportionate impact on seniors and we think it violates civil rights of people, and we sought to not just commemorate 47 years ago, but continue today to fight those issues. >> congresswoman, alabama and mississippi, who gets the advantage there as you see it? >> i think the polling is showing the race between santorum and romney is tightening up. i think, again, economy, jobs, number two issue is national security, protecting this great nation, and female voters are going to be about 52% of the vote. >> interesting. we will be watching. thank you. before we go, a quick programming note. you can watch the press pass conversation on the blog this week, and we talked to mark

halperin, and john heilemann,e t those that wrote "press pass." thank you and we'll see you back next week. if it's sunday, it's "meet the press". and i get the chance to spend more time with my wife and my kids. it's my world. that's my world. ♪

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