last word. front runner rick perry and mitt romney sparred about social security, health care, and what is and is not in their books. >> speaking of books, and talking about being able to have thing in your books, back and forth, and your economic adviser talked about romney care and how that was an absolute bust and it was exactly what obama care was all about. as a matter of fact, between books, your hard copy book, you said that it was exactly what the american people needed to have that romney care given to them as you had in massachusetts. then in your paper book, you took line out. so speaking of not getting it straight in your book, sir -- [ cheers and applause ] >> governor perry?

>> weapon talking about social security. but if you want to talk about health care, i'm happy to do that. i actually wrote in my book. in my book i said no such thing. when i put my health care plan together, and i met with the person from the "washington post." if this is a plan if you were a president, would you put on the nation. have the whole nation adopt it. i said absolutely not. this is a state plan for a staflt it is not a national plan. it is fine for you to retreat from your own words in your own book but please don't try to make me retreat from the words i wrote in my book. i stand by what i wrote. i believe in what i. did i believe that the peel in this country can read my book and see exactly what it is. >> when asked about illegal immigration, several republicans took the opportunity to attack rick perry for signing the texas dream act which allows the children of illegal immigrants who have lived in texas for three years, to have the ged or diploma from a state accredited

high school to pay the instate tuition rates at the state's public colleges and universities. >> i would build a fence on america's southern bored order every mile, on every yard, on every foot original every inch of the southern board. i think that's what we have to do. not only build it but have sufficient border security and enforce the laws that are on the books. i would not allow taxpayer funded benefits for illegal aliens or for their children. that's a magnet. and the magnets for illegal aliens to come into the united states of america. >> i want to reinforce what congresswoman bachmann said. i strongly favor 100% control of the border and i strongly favor english as the official language of government. >> we have to have a fence. we have to have enough border patrol agents. we have to have a system to verify who is here legally and illegally. we have to crack down on employers hire illegally.

and we have to turn off the magnet of extraordinary government benefits like 100,000 tax credit -- discount for going to the university of texas? that shouldn't be allowed. it makes no sense at all. >> joining me now, howard fineman, editorial director, the huffington post and msnbc analyst. chris hayes, editor at large for the nation and host of msnbc's up with chris hayes. and samstein, political reporter who joins you from orlando. was there a sense of a winner tonight? >> very difficult to predict winners. it seemed clear just from the atmosphere of the debate itself. mitt romney came out very strongly, rick santorum came out strong along with him. it continues to amaze people how poor he does. he consistently struggles in the second half. you saw it again tonight. specially on immigration reform

where he tried to defend the texas dream act and ended up being bombarded from accusations from the other candidates. and ended up in a sparring match with rick santorum. when you're the front runner, you shouldn't be punching down. i got the expense governor perry didn't want to do that either. >> let's listen to his defense of the texas dream act. >> there is nobody on this stage who has spent more time working board security than i have. for a decade, i've been the governor of a state with a 1,200 mile border with mexico. we put $400 million of our taxpayer money into securing that border. we got our texas ranger recon teams there now. i supported arizona's immigration law by joining in that lawsuit to defend it. every day, i have texans on that bored per are doing their job. but if you say that we should not educate children who have come into our state for no other reason than they've been brought

there fwhoi fault of their own. i don't think you have a heart. we need to be educating these children. because they will become a drag on our society. i think that's what texans wanted to do. out of the mefbts legislature, when this issue came out, only four dissenting votes. this was a state issue. texans vote on it and i still support it greatly. >> senator santorum -- >> howard fineman, those were boos on i don't think you have a heart. that's not exactly what you want to say to a republican audience who doesn't like anything about his texas dream act. >> no. and there are two ironies here. one is he is invoking the same states rights argument. that he is criticizing mitt romney for using in terms of romney care in massachusetts.

that's one problem that he has. the other problem he has, he is blaming the feds. basically saying he wants the feds to do more to protect the border. regardless of what the texas rangers are doing. in another part of his answer, he blame lack of support for the federal government. then he is making an argument in terms of federal power and responsibility which also undercuts the main message of his campaign which is the states can do it alone. so he got caught in both directions on that answer. and i agree with sam on a lot of other answers he was back pedalling and back filling when he didn't really know the details. for example on, pakistan, you name it. >> chris hayes, a two-man debate. this whole things perry versus romney. was there a winner? >> well, i think it was romney. i think perry, the iconic moment was perry's inability to deliver what was written on his note cards, which was the litany of

romney flip-flops which has been written out. he presumably has practiced, attempted to memorize. the fact that he completely bungled that. i said it was like he was doing his best will ferrell impersonation. he looks like a bad george w. bush impersonation. it was a romney victory. can i say one thing about the dream act? i don't think there is any response that would work. from the perspective of the republican base, it is indefensible policy position. >> it is like romney care. >> whatever he says, he is screwed on that issue. because the simple policy is so odious to the republican base. >> get in here. >> reporter: in talking to the people attended the debate beforehand, i was shock howl wants wanted to hear a debite an immigration policy. has the top issue for the peel voting. . more so than health care or romney care. i think what you saw with the

boos, they were very disappointed at one point in this debate, governor perry is being targeted as a flip floerp. the irony is that if romney has a serious weakness, he has taken up two positions on every issue. if you're being tarred by the premier flip-flopper in the lakers you know you're pretty much losing the battle. >> howard from ponzi scheme in the first debate to you don't have a heart, isn't there anyone in the perry team who could at least tell them, where not to go when he is talking about the dream act. chris has a very important point. there is no defense of it that will work. so isn't that strategy, say as little as you can and get out of that subject? move on? get back to board security? >> well, he tried. he tried that. he tried that, talking about board security. talking about the texas rangers' recon team, and he tried give the most heartfelt answer that

he could, pun intended. people who through no fall of their own. the primary voters don't buy it. and by the way, florida immigration really matters. it is an issue with which floridians are deeply familiar, going all the way back to the issue with cuba. and how the with immigrants from all over the rest of the country. all over the rest of the hemisphere if not the world. and they won't accept it from him. and i would also say that once we get down to the ad-making phase of the campaign, we're almost at the phase where we're talking about television advertising in the primary states and web-based advertising and so on. there's a lot of material here to go after rick perry on. whether it is immigration or returning social security to the states or the papillomavirus. and romney romney is very shrewd in terms of advertising, knowing who his people are. they are just going to carpet

bomb rick perry with this stuff from state to state and top to bottom. >> the question started with the msnbc debate when perry got in. was how is perry going to do? he has not had to do. debating in his career in texas. he has managed to get elected without doing a lot of debating. is he getting better? he's done three of these things. i'm not seeing very much of a step up from one to the next. >> no. and i think there is a genuine plateauing effect that we're seeing. and i think that's counter posed against mitt romney who clearly has improved. in every respect as a candidate. >> this is one of though classic examples of give a front runner, in this case, romney, some real competition. and it makes them better. >> absolutely. and i you're seeing that from romney. you're also seeing that running for president is really hard. and i remember people talking about how listless and out of it and awful barack obama's debate performances were and his stump speeches were in iowa in the

fall of 2007 of so there is a learning curve, definitely. >> lawrence, can i say that having talked to a couple of the top romney people over the last couple days, they think that their guy is invigorated by this kind of thing. when he stands alone, where making stump speech, all the wooden qualities and plastic qualities of mitt romney come out. but when he's face to face and standing next to a guy who wants to get in his way, romney vom a tough guy and it is better that he be tough and combative than plastic. so they're actually liking these confrontations because it humanizes romney or at least makes him seem more romney. >> sam, i thought perry's timing of his entrance into the campaign was brilliant simply because he waited long enough and created this momentum. this anticipation. this hope. this expectation. certain disappointment already

out there with the shape of the republican field. he come in, surges to the top of the polls. i'm now wondering, was his team delaying his entry into this race because he wasn't ready to stand on stage with these candidates? >> well, it is clear now that he's not exactly comfortable in the national spotlight. it is a lot different in texas. ironically here, rick perry saved himself a lot of trouble and a lot of money by entering this proceeds late. he got in. he vaulted met immediately to the top. he didn't to have spend a dime. that's what benefiting mitt romney. i talked to a top strategy heist said, the longer that romney romney doesn't get hit on his glass jar, the longer he can spend his political war chest. so he is staying back.!ti rq ha will drop on a huge barrage of advertisements as soon as it gets critical. that will be a huge challenge. >> weirdest moments of the

debate. last round of of question. who on this stage would you choose as your vice president? romney, of course, was smart enough to avoid it. as was perry. he gave a strange answer. but night gingrich won, chris. the vice presidential sweepstakes. at least two of them chose night gingrich. huntsman, it, threw his political career away choosing herman cain right out there on the stage. >> on the basis of yellow ties. >> there's a presidential moment for you. >> a smart move to choose a tie color. >> i thought that question was so interesting. it was a good question, actually, i thought. it is the kind of question an expert, someone who is practiced. so there is this real division between the people that knew enough to swat it away. you don't have to answer the question. it is the first thing you've learned and the thing you have to get drilled into your head. being a politician is totally

unnatural. human conversation is interaction and answering questions. and you have to unlearn that impulse. the people pun learn that impulse goes furthest as presidential candidates. you really saw in that question, who is ready and who is not? >> can i also second something that chris said. i thought watching rick perry try to get out of his mouth the attack line, the attack lines on mitt romney who was there just waiting to get hit was really very revealing. because it shows not only had he not practiced enough. i remember talking to david carney who is the top adviser a couple months ago when carney was trying to slow down the train of getting rick perry in the race because they knew he had to practice a lot. they had to get him up to speed. the fact that he couldn't execute the most basic maneuver of what his attack line of the next month or two would be. romney, the flip-flopper thing was very revealing. rick perry doesn't understand it

from the inside out and can't repeat it from the inside out. that will have to be our last word. from this segment, political analyst howard fineman and the "huffington post," sam stein. thank you for joining me. coming up next, the republican strategist will join us. we'll look at more of the debate performances. ♪ when your chain of supply ♪ goes from here to shanghai, that's logistics. ♪ ♪ chips from here, boards from there ♪ ♪ track it all through the air, that's logistics. ♪ ♪ clearing customs like that ♪ hurry up no time flat that's logistics. ♪ ♪ all new technology ups brings to me, ♪ ♪ that's logistics. ♪

we're back with a special edition of the last word. the republican debate in florida has just ended. let's listen to the front-runners, rick perry and mitt romney exchange thoughts on social security. >> those people that are on social security today, those people that are approaching social security, they don't have anything in the world to worry about. we have made a solemn oath to the people of this country that that social security program in place today will be there for them. now, it's not the first time that mitt has been wrong some issues before. >> there is a rick perry out there saying, almost to quote. it says that the federal government shouldn't be in the pension business. that it is unconstitutional. unconstitutional and it should be returned to the states. so you'd better find that rick perry and get him to stop saying that. may own view is we have to make

it very clear that social security is the responsibility of the federal government. not the state governments. we'll have one plan and we'll make sure that it is fiscally sound and stable. >> joining me now, the former aide to newt gingrich. also, chris hayes, editor at large for the nation. and host of msnbc's up with chris hayes. thank you both for joining me. rich, get in here. on the two-man race. >> we won't rule out the gingrich possibilities just yet. >> newt is living from debate to debate. he'll raise enough money on this debate tonight to stay alive for another week or two. >> in that front-runner race, do you see a winner in tonight's debate? >> i disagreed with howard. and i think e from the last segment. i thought perry did what he needed to do. you guys are expecting some silver tongued devil to emerge out of texas. that's not who he is. that's not what he will do. he is what he is. and i think he is pretty comfortable in his skin. and that little exchange that

you just showed, one of the things that you tried to tell your candidate in these things, if you're good at it. if you have as we were talking about it earlier. an attack line. keep it simple. they gave romney a 17-point attack line and he got tangled all over himself. i think in and the exchanges, i think he held up perfectly well. i thought he played to a tie. >> so rich, to correct our thinking on what the republican audience is seeing there, would you expect any movement in the polls either way based on what you saw them do tonight? >> no. i don't. well, yeah, i. do i think bachmann will move up. i thought she got herself back into the conversation. either you buy her act our don't. if you don't, it doesn't matter what she says. if you do, it doesn't matter what she says. i thought she got herself back into the rhythm of it. she may see a bump out of this.

i think that perry, his arc has sort of stalled after that remarkable launch. and what i think his, what he wanted to do today with carney and his team wanted perry to do tonight was to restart that second stage. and i think it came pretty close. >> chris, we could talk all night about the specifics of social security and the thing rick perry says about it. but the fact that the republican presidential primary debate is turning on social security with one of the front-runners trying to portray himself as the defender of social security with no specifics behind that defense. and another one clearly as a threat to social security, is that a good or a bad thing for the democratic campaign? >> a good thing, i think. the moment in which romney saw daylight to perry's lowest social security was the first moment as far as could i tell in the entire republican campaign

where anyone saw anything to be gained by getting through anyone' left on anything. and so that shows something. i also think it is interesting. it highlights the fundamental demographic core of the republican party. this is the government hands off my medicare problem. right? the same party that is a party that is most hostile to social insurance and the grand program that's are the foundation of that is also the party that draws most heavily on americans who used the biggest program. medicare and social security. senior citizens. and that's a hard thing for them to square. and romney, i think, understands just how visceral and important that is. >> do you agree with steve schmidt and other republicans who suggest and some of the polling that we're seeing now, that suggests that the obama campaign, if they have to face romney or perry, should be cheering for perry to get the nomination? they have an easier campaign against him? >> i don't think there is any question about that. to go to chris's point, what the romney campaign is doing, they are playing, they are using

social security specifically to make that point. to talk to moderate republicans, conservative democrats, and the broad reach of independents to say between these two guys, who do you think, of an, can beat -- who are you more comfortable with? when they say romney, then he beats obama. these things will become more important as we go to actual voting. i think chris is right. that's what the romney campaign is doing. they're playing a very strategic game. they think they found kind of a hinge against which they can pivot for the next four months in social security. >> is there anyway for the obama campaign to deal with having a preference in terms of these possible nominees? is it, you know, just criticize mitt romney and sort of lay off perry? is there anyway to play that game? >> i think they went to a different point them tried the the sort of death hug to it.

now that perry is in the field, i wonder whether we'll see more of that. essentially, particularly if it looks like perry is declining relative to romney. i don't know ultimately how much weight that carries but i dong do know that there is a degree to which, the president has the power to give what kind of endorse many that will resonate in the republican field in a negative way. we may see some of that as the field unfolds. >> you're right. if he takes a lesson from when harry reid did in the republican primary in nevada, he will see very clearly how to accomplish that. >> what is that lesson from nevada? >> well, harry reid was brilliant. he maneuvered the republicans into nominating the very person he knew he could be and he did. he was a brilliant piece of political strategy. >> we'll have to leave it there for tonight. republican strategists rich galen and chris hayes, thank you

both very much for joining me tonight. coming up, for every execution in america, there is someone who is the executioner. someone whose job it is to kill. that is a government job. we should not be trying to kree sxaxt troy davis wasn't the only person executed in america last night. there was an execution tonight, you've probably heard nothing about. you'll hear more about it in tonight's rewrite. ♪

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tonight. tonight alabama executed a man, the third execution in this country this week. what happens to the person whose job it is to execute someone on death row? former warden of san who oversaw four executions joins me to discuss the people who do our killing for us. and this man was executed last night. why you didn't hear much approximate that. [ beep

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at 11:08 p.m. last night, this country's most recent death penalty debate climaxed in the execution by lethal injection of troy davis in jackson, georgia. most arguments raised against the execution of troy davis focused on the particulars of his case, the possibility of his innocence. the room for reasonable doubt. but there is another problem present in every execution that is usually ignored and that is how can we, as a society, ask anyone to do this kind of killing for us? what are we asking of the firing squad that is still an execution option in utah? what are we asking of the people who deliver the lethal injections, the people who have done that 36 times this year? no one wants to grow up to be an

executioner. but someone does. someone somewhere in a kindergarten class in this country today is going to grow up to be an executioner. no one hopes that for any student in any american classroom today. no one wants that. we don't know who the actual executioner of troy davis was last night. that information is not released. that person lives with this knowledge, goes home with this knowledge, goes home to his or her children with this knowledge. what, what are we doing to those people? joining me now, jeannie woodford, the executive director of death penalty focus opposing capital punishment. she's a former warden at san quentin prison, where she oversaw four executions. thanks for joining me tonight. >> thanks for having me. >> tell us about this job.

we have a job in america, we have a government job in this country, executioner. we keep it secret. we don't want people to know who it is. it's a combination of shame and the safety of the person and just -- but we do, after the execution, we send that person home from their government job to just deal with this. who are we doing that to? what are we doing to those people? >> well, i think that it's a very difficult job, and you know, i describe this job as starting far before that night. i ask people to imagine waking up in the morning and going to work 30 or 60 days prior to an execution and that's about when you know there's going to be an execution and you go to work planning to kill a human being. you go to work to practice that and to plan for that. it has an impact far before that night. and certainly, it has an impact after the execution. >> and do we have any programs that deal with what the

executioners go through? this is not easy for them, even if they think it's easy for them. they are suppressing all sorts of feelings and have to manage all sorts of feelings before and after the fact. what treatment do we, counseling of any kind, do we provide for them? >> well, i can speak for this state, california. in this state we do provide pre and post counseling for everyone involved in the execution process. we really do try our best to help people through the process. i want to tell you, for all intents and purposes, it is the warden who is the face of the execution. it is the warden that people believe carries out the execution. and that is done to protect the staff who are involved in the process. >> exactly. and we protect it because we're at some level not proud of what we've done.

>> well, i think that's certainly true. you know, many people don't want their families to know that they're involved in this process. they're concerned about what their children might think of them. i agree that it often doesn't hit people right after the execution. sometimes it's years later. and i do know that it has an impact on people. that is why i'm with death penalty focus seeking to abolish the death penalty in this state. >> when we think about the inhumanity of the death penalty, we ignore the people we're asking to do this for us. >> i agree. we are ignoring the people that we ask to do this. is it right to ask a public servant to kill out -- the killing of a human being? in my mind it is not. certainly, i have been involved with capital punishment for over 30 years. so i know it from all point of view. not only are we causing harm to the staff, but i do not believe that it brings any kind of remedy to the victim's families.

it is a costly, ineffective process. that's why we're going forward to try to end capital punishment in the state of california. >> jeanne woodford, thank you very much for joining me tonight. thank you for the work you're doing. >> thank you so much for having me. coming up, the execution of troy davis drew an unprecedented amount of media attention. but where was the outrage over derrick mason who was put to death in alabama just over an hour ago? that's next in the rewrite. but, i have to support my family, so how do i go back to school? university of phoenix made it doable. i wouldn't be where i am without that degree. my name is dr. carrie buck. i helped turn an at risk school into an award winning school, and i am a phoenix. [ male announcer ] university of phoenix is proud to sponsor education nation. because we believe an educated world is a better world.

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ben harper: ♪ what started as a whisper every day, millions of people choose to do the right thing. ♪ slowly turned into a scream ♪ there's an insurance company that does that, too. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy? time for tonight's rewrite. america had its annual media spasm over the death penalty yesterday and now it's back to business as usual. at 6:49 p.m. central time this evening in at more, alabama, derrick o'neal mason was executed and no network shifted to live coverage of the event or even bothered to report it. no coast to coast expressions of outrage. there was no argument over derrick o'neal's guilt or innocence. he confessed and was found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the execution-style shooting

of a convenience store clerk in the store that mason was in the process of robbing. before shooting 25-year-old angela cagle in the face twice, derrick o'neal mason forced her to take off all of her clothes. how am i doing on eliciting your sympathy for derrick o'neal mason? how about outrage over the death penalty? i know what you're thinking, you're thinking he's not the case to use to build outrage over the death penalty. nor is the case of lawrence russell brewer who was executed at 6:21 p.m. central time yesterday in hundretsville, tex. he was found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the 1998 hate hate crime murder of 49-year-old james bird jr. lawrence, russell brewer and two is had friends chained bird to the back of a pickup truck and

drove along a bumpy asphalt road at 2:00 in the morning. they drove for at least three miles with james bird dragging 24 and a half feet behind them at the end of that chain. six hours later, when what was left of james bird's mangled body was found, the sheriff who found him at first thought he was looking at animal road kill. lawrence russell brewer's execution yesterday passed virtually unnoticed by the national media at the very moment when they were covering minute by minute developments in a possible stay of execution for troy davis, which was then followed by troy davis' actual execution at 11:08 p.m. in jackson, georgia. many protesters were heard on focusing on the injustice being done to troy davis. but the legendary civil rights

hero dick gregory who has been protesting the death penalty longer than anyone you heard from yesterday was not one of the voices of protest heard in that coverage of troy davis. yesterday dick gregory was in huntsville, texas, protesting the execution of hate crime murderer lawrence russell brewer. dick gregory those that there will always be unjust executions. there will always be some executions of the innocent as long as there is a death penalty. dick gregory knows that as long as you protest the death penalty, only, only when you think it's being applied against an innocent man or if you protest the use of the death penalty only because you believe there is reasonable doubt and you don't protest the cases where there is no doubt, you don't protest tonight's execution of derrick o'neal

mason or yesterday's execution of lawrence russell brewer, you are, in effect, saying there are right and wrong ways to administer the death penalty and we should just do it right. that's all we have to do, just do it right. but as long as we have derrick o'neal masons and lawrence russell brewers, we are going to have troy davis'. the death penalty is created by human beings, run by human beings. that means there's human error built into it. a human system is not capable of perfection. government does nothing flawlessly. government cannot flawlessly kill people. if you give government the power to kill people, you are giving government the power to make mistakes, killing people and government will make those mistakes. the protest against troy davis' execution was the largest protest against the death penalty in 11 years in this country.

in those 11 years, we've executed 672 people, including derrick o'neal mason earlier tonight. no more than one or two of those executions a year got national media attention. this year 34 people were executed in this country before troy davis. including lawrence russell brewer who was executed three hours and 47 minutes before troy davis over the protest of dick gregory. you couldn't stop troy davis' execution by just protesting troy davis' execution. the only way to stop troy davis' execution is to stop all executions. if you're outraged at troy davis' execution but weren't bothered by derrick o'neal mason's execution tonight in alabama, weren't moved to protest the execution of lawrence russell brewer last

night, then you're sure, you are absolutely sure to find yourself outraged and protesting another execution. maybe not for another year or two, but surely another one will come along where you're convinced that the condemned man or woman is actually innocent or at least had a grossly unfair trial that leaves any reasonable person with reasonable doubt about the guilt of the person to be executed. if you save your outrage for that execution, if that's the next one you're going to protest, then you will probably have troy davis deja vu. the time to fight part.

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the last word on the future of sarah palin. in the just released book written by her almost son-in-law, deer in the headlights, my life in sarah palin's crosshairs. levi johnston writes about sarah palin as governor of alaska. i hate this job, she used to say. i could be making money instead. joining me now is friend of the show, levi johnston, making money is what she's up to, right, levi? >> that's what it's all about. >> i've been calling it all along. no chance of running for president. she's making money. this is working for her. and to make more money, she wants to tease people into thinking she's a candidate. >> she wants to make people think she's going to run. she's making a lot of money off of it. >> that's it, america, case closed. levi johnston says she's not running for president. it's ridiculous. >> there's times i think she will. the more i think about it, i don't think she's quite dumb

enough to try it. >> last time you were here, you were speaking of dumb enough, thinking about running for mayor of wasilla. did you smarten up and rethink that? >> actually smartened up real quick after they started throwing all the books at me. i quickly realized that i was not qualified for it and in years to commie might try it. as of right now, i'm not ready. >> let someone who desperately needs that do that. it would cut into your nightclub time, this mayor thing. you don't want that. normally, had we have book authors on the show, we frequently will read passages of the books. but i realized, you're here, you can -- why not just let you do the reading. can you do this passage here that dpigives us a little bit o the flavor of what your life was like in and around -- >> i can just tell you. >> why don't you just read that passage so the viewers and book buyers will know what they're in

for on this book. just the highlighted piece. >> "that night sarah went out to a meeting. we were upstairs in bristol's room where the diesel truck came up down the driveway. we decided to chance it and take a shower together." >> it's in the book. >> you would pick this one. >> it's in the book. >> we're were in the middle of shampooing each other's hair, we hear the truck come back. i freaked. i was drying off my hair with one hand and hers in the other. as we pulled our clothes out of a pile on the floor, i tried to make it downstairs before he got inside but it was slow. we listened to todd come in open the fridge. i heard the creek in his recliner. when i snuck on my cap, we rolled downstairs. i would look into -- i had to look like most obviously prep in wasilla. none of it mattered. bristol's dad was asleep.

we were more careful had we took a bubble bath in sarah's jacuzzi. >> thank god for that recliner. he would fall asleep. once you heard the creek in the recliner. >> we were good. >> minutes away he would be snoring, right? >> watching a basketball game. >> lee levi, this was risky business for you. >> it is. i could have been dead right there. >> okay. what would todd have done if he caught you? angry guy? does he have a tim per? >> if i had a daughter and come home and boyfriend -- >> wait a minute. if levi john stand has a daughter. if he comes home to that scene, isn't he going to be a little more understanding since he lived through that himself in come on. >> no. >> okay. no. >> we'd be out back, i think. >> this is a little part that surprised me here. if you could just read that highlighted section there. >> "i'm the one, bristol said. we should be having the baby,

not sarah. the palin kids call their parents todd and sarah when they're tense. bristol looked at me, let's get pregnant." that's it. >> yeah, that's it. that's how it happened? >> that's pretty close. we talked about a baby. after sarah got pregnant, had trig, that's when it really -- started going for it. >> didn't you think, i don't have the income for this? no thinking at all? >> i'll tell you, i started thinking it didn't work. it hadn't happened yet anyway. i was -- i didn't -- if it happens, it happens. >> you've run the risk before? >> we had, yeah. i mean, it never happened. so i was like, you know, i was young, i was like whatever. let me tell you, it happened real quick. >> and but now that you are a father, there's nothing to regret. when there's a baby there and a kid in your life, there's nothing to regret about that it's something to embrace.

>> trig being born was the happiest day of my life. i wouldn't change it for anything. >> if we sell enough of these, deer in the headlights on sale this week, we have college education right here. >> college education. i can go back home and get my pilot's guidance and become a guide in alaska. >> tank is here tonight. he takes you everywhere you go in new york city. he's there with my guy anthony who takes me everywhere i go. i told anthony to find out from tank where you guys are going tonight so we can hang together. where are you going after the show? >> i don't know. >> levi johnston thanks for joining me this evening. you can have the last word on-line at our blog. you can follow my tweets at lawrence, a special live edition of the last word is coming up at 11 p.m. tonight. the rachel maddow show is next.