mr. shadid is survived by his wife and his two children. he was just 43 years old. now it's time for "the last word" with lawrence o'donnell. good night. we got him. the guy who's backing rick santorum's super pac and who said today that women should try aspirin for contraception. foster friess is my first guest. >> i'm just delighted to be back in michigan. >> michigan is in play, oddly enough. >> romney's home state now turning into a must-win for him. >> santorum now leads romney 34-30% among likely republican voters. >> it is a huge problem if he loses michigan. >> that's a really strong statement. >> if mitt romney loses michigan, they're going to start talking about a broken convention. >> a loss in michigan is sort of unspinable for romney. >> there's no explanation that romney would have for that. >> there's a very good chance they could lose win. >> independents and democrats can vote in this primary, and

they will. >> gm announcing its profits, the highest in its 103-year history. >> up 62% from 2010, the highest profit ever. >> governor romney supported the bailout of wall street. >> i love cars. i love american cars. >> and decided not to support the bailout of detroit. >> the weakness of mitt romney being perceived as this 1 percenter who's out of touch with the rest of america. >> any old girlfriends here? i have to be careful. [ laughs ] >> here we have millions of our fellow americans unemployed and people seem to be so preoccupied with sex. >> the house just held a hearing looking into the obama administration's new contraceptive ruling. >> this hearing was called by republican congressman, darrell issa. >> the meeting got off to a contentious start. >> what i want to know is, where are the women? >> they're having a hearing about women's health and they don't have any women up there. duh! they should do that. >> back in my days, they used

bayer aspirin for contraceptive. the gals put it between their knees and it wasn't that costly. >> the last statement you just heard about putting aspirin between the knees for contraception was from foster friess, the guy who is the single biggest contributor to the super pac that supports rick santorum's candidacy. with that statement and the first session of an absurdist hearing on contraception in the house of representatives this morning, that did not include any female witnesses, the politics of contraception is once again today vying with the santorum surge as the lead political story of the day. joining me now for an exclusive prime-time interview is the man who was at the center of both of those stories, foster friess. mr. friess, thank you very much for joining me tonight. >> lawrence, it's an honor to be on your program. i'm delighted you asked me. >> i'm going to play the tape now of what you said to andrea mitchell, that i don't know if

you realized it when you said it, but it has set the political world on fire since you spoke these words. let's listen to it again. >> and this contraceptive thing, my gosh, it's such inexpensive. you know, back in my days, they used bayer aspirin for contraceptive. the gals put it between their knees and it wasn't that costly. >> mr. friess, what were you talking about? >> well, i love the expression, it's not so much what people say, it's what people hear. and obviously a lot of people who are younger than 71 didn't get the context of that joke. back in my days, they didn't have the birth control pill, so to suggest that bayer aspirin could be -- i'm sorry, that aspirin could be a birth control was considered pretty ridiculous and quite funny. so i think that was the gist of that story. but what's been nice, it gives an opportunity to really look at what this contraceptive issue is all about. >> well, tell us what you think it's all about. >> well, i think it's about

religious liberty. i think here you have rick santorum, who everybody knows he adheres to the catholic teachings on contraception, but yet he has done nothing to take his personal views and take it into the public arena of policy, so in six years in the senate, there was never a whisper of banning contraceptives. he's publicly said, i don't want to ban contraceptives. and someone said if two states -- there's a couple of states that might propose that, he said he'd vote against it. and the irony is, he actually voted to fund contraceptives to fight aids in africa. i think this will give us an opportunity for the women to believe that he's on their side and believes in religious liberty. now, contrast to president obama, when took his personal views and superimposed on the catholic church and made them do what they didn't want to do. it's a little bit like asking a muslim soup kitchen to serve pork or a kosher delicatessen, they have to serve ham. >> do you know any women who have trouble or cannot afford contraception? >> i do.

i do. and i think that's available to them. i believe there's no way they cannot get contraceptions if they need it. there's public health clinics, i believe, that distribute it. so it isn't so much an issue of not making it available, it's just an issue of forcing people to make it available. you can get contraceptives any place. if you honor religious liberty and don't force catholic institutions to provide contraceptives, that doesn't mean anybody's not going to get contraceptives, does it, lawrence? >> it doesn't mean anybody's not going to get them, but it does mean some people won't get them. there are plenty of ways to fall through the cracks, and we have not set up a full safety net on that. >> well, who won't get contraceptives? >> there are plenty of people who don't have access to landed parenthood where you live. there are plenty of places in this country where you live where it can be very difficult to get. i don't want to get bogged down

in that. you have been married for a long time, you only have four children, so i assume you did not ascribe to rick santorum's personal beliefs on contraceptives. >> well, i have been blessed by contracepti contraceptives. it's an important thing for many women. it's allowed them to advance their careers and make their own choices. that's what's special about america. people can choose. that's what's so annoying about this idea that president obama forcing people to do something that is against their religious beliefs. and that's what the issue's about, where rick santorum, as i said earlier, you know what his position is, but yet he's never had any attempts, in fact, has even funded contraceptives to fight aids in africa. >> he has done that. he's also said in the past that he thought that contraception could be a state issue and if a state wants to ban contraception, that would be perfectly okay with him. >> well, i don't -- no, he didn't say it was okay with him. he said he'd vote against it. see, people --

>> not, just -- again, i don't want to get trapped into this, but he said, as a state issue, if a state wanted to ban contraception, he would not have any problem with that. he is a -- he has been a federal legislator in the senate, and he's running for president and as president, he would have no interference with a state trying to do that. >> lawrence, i think that gets back to people hear what they want to hear, and you check what he actually said. as i understand his position, and in fact, i just kind of verified that today, he said he would vote against any state that wanted to ban contraceptives. now, maybe there's a -- maybe the issue was asked, is the constitution legal for a state to do that, and maybe ask president obama, who's a constitutional lawyer, if it is or isn't. there's two different issues. i don't know if -- >> sorry. did you talk to rick santorum about that today? >> no, i did not. >> when's the last time you talked to rick santorum? >> oh, it's been probably maybe

four or five days, a week. >> and do you talk to him frequently? >> no. he's -- those guys are jumping around like you can't believe. they're so excited and so geared up and they're working very hard to create this idea of a free america, where people can choose where they want to choose and not be forced by the government to do something they don't want to do. i think maybe the muslims ought to get behind them, because they don't want to serve pork at their soup kitchens, do they? >> now, you hedged your bets last year when this thing was getting started. on may 23rd, you started off with $2,500 to rick santorum's campaign. the very next day, you gave $1,000 to mitt romney's campaign. a few weeks after that, $2,500 to tim pawlenty, and newt gingr. what made you zero in on rick santorum? what's the most important issue that champions most important candidacy to you? >> lawrence, i think it's what

we're just talking about here today. authenticity and honesty. he'll tell you exactly what you believe. he doesn't have a bunch of consultants, hey, guys, how can i say this and phrase this so i can get the women's vote? he just tells it like it is, and women admire that in him. >> well, that's a quality -- i mean an issue, not so much a personal character quality. is there a single issue that is your most important governing issue that has brought you to the santorum campaign? >> yes. i would say his love for america -- >> again, that's, but that's just -- that's not an issue. what i mean is taxation, or in this case, contraception, or abortion, or some foreign policy issue. i don't mean to cut you off, but i don't mean something general. everybody in the campaign really likes america a lot. i mean something specific about governing. >> well, he -- i would say, i don't know if any one of those sticks out more than any others, but i guess the whole idea of

religious liberty is important to me. and also the idea of getting the working people back to work. as you know, he's been able to win elections, where there's 1 million more democrats, because he appealed to the blue-collar worker. so i would say the jobs issue and getting people back to work, not only just because it puts food on the table, but there's a spiritual quality we have in a job. it makes uh feel like we're contributing, we're part of the solution, and it feels good to contribute to others. so from both sides of the spiritual aspect and the economic aspect, getting the people back to work and his idea of getting rid of the income tax on manufacturing and processors and i think that issue probably would be a very important one. maybe there's other ones, but contraception sure ain't one of them. i think that's not an issue. >> the biggest backer of gingrich super pac has reached out to the romney campaign and assured them that he will be with them when the time comes. have you made similar assurances to the romney campaign, that if the santorum star sinks, that

you will jump over to the romney campaign? >> well, my opinion all along, lawrence, is i think romney, mitt, would make a terrific vice president. so it's a little too early to make that conclusion. but mitt romney is a national treasure. he's a great man. i think the reason rick santorum is doing so much better is he just has a magic to him. he's the grandson of a coal miner. he loves this country. and his motivations are sort of as a calling, actually. he's not in it for the ego or the money. and i believe his policies is what's resonating with america. but more than anything else, his personality is someone who's honest, authentic, and tells it like it is. i think that's really resonating with american people. >> foster friess, thank you for joining us tonight and thank you for clarifying that you weren't actually giving medical advice this afternoon on andrea's show. >> i don't have a license, they'd put me in jail. you cannot believe that some of the people didn't get the joke. >> oh, i can believe that. thank you very much for joining

us. >> okay, thanks, lawrence. god bless you. >> and joining me now, criss hayes, the host of "up with chris hayes," and alex wagner. your reactions to mr. foster friess, alex? >> well, i was confused when i first heard the advice about the bayer between the knees. i thought that was more about keeping your legs closed and that's how you stay out of trouble. but apparently there's some sort of -- i don't know what. you know, foster friess seems like not a bad guy. i think he has a lot of -- he has a lot of love for rick santorum. but, look, if you talk about some of the positions that rick santorum has taken on these social issues, whether it's gay marriage, whether it's some of the statements as you rightfully pointed out about supporting states that would outlaw contraception, he is so far to the right on this stuff, i don't know how you win over not only american women, but the american public. >> chris, what is the friess

effect in the santorum campaign today? >> um, negative. i think the -- >> cold. >> yes. it's cold. i think the clip from andrea's show is going to be everywhere. i think the problem is that it's stacked atop an entire week's worth of things that you've been obviously talking about on the show and talking about on the network, between the bill in virginia for the mandatory exam, if you want an abortion. the all-male hearing today -- >> that was the easiest thing in the world -- >> easiest thing in the world. >> that was actually staged by a women's group to drive home the point that this is unfairly being -- >> so all those things add up. and then you have this sound bite that just completely managed to -- if you have a suspicion that actually the politics of this issue and the cover story of religious liberty is simply that, a cover story for a bunch of men who want to with not particularly enlightened visions of gender equity, who want to tell women

what to do and control female sexuality and reproductive comes this quote. which on its face confirms your absolute worst fears about what is motivating the entire news cycle from conservatives this week. >> and that that world is is populated by some really flakey guys with flakey thinking. >> really old-fashioned guys that have incredibly antiquat antiquated -- >> let's take a break. coming up, mitt's last stand in michigan. and arianna huffington will join me on the politics of contraception. and in the rewrite tonight, rush limbaugh is very, very angry about contraception, but i think he has more in common with the pro-contraception team than he is admitting. and later, chris christie got something right in new jersey. the flags will fly at half-mast on saturday while the world is watching whitney houston's funeral. the employee of the month isss...

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hayes and alex wagner. let's go to the big board and take a look at the latest michigan poll. santorum, 34, "the detroit news," romney, 30, gingrich, 12, paul, 9. and so today, mitt romney was faced with the question all the polls are showing you losing in michigan. and romney said very simply, that won't happen. these mcarthur-like words, "that won't happen." alex, that sets the stakes for michigan. he's saying it won't happen. in other words, the universe can't allow it. and it can't. or what happens if it does happen? >> oh, lawrence, he's carpet bombing the state with $2 million worth of negative ads, where santorum's spending $42,000. romney believes in that old saying, it's the money, honey. and i think he believes what he did with gingrich will work with santorum. michigan is blue-collar. you have auto workers, romney's

position in 2008 on the auto bailout. you have rick santorum who appeals to blue-collar, working class voters, and is much more authentic in the minds of the american public. >> i think the killer argument that santorum has against mitt romney is not just that he wrote the famous -- the now-famous op-ed, let detroit go bankrupt. he opposed the auto deal, but he supported t.a.r.p. and santorum, there's a clip of that basically saying, this guy wanted the $800 billion to bailout the banks -- >> wall street. >> he wants to bailout wall street, but when this entire region, the entire economy and ecosystem and interlaced network of human lives wrapped around that was on the alter, he said, just bring down the hammer, right? >> well, he said, managed bankruptcy. which sounds probably just as bad. >> but the point is, that's a brutal argument, in the context -- this isn't like hippie dippiness. in the context of a republican primary. because he can draw a distinction. it's not like your principled against bailouts. you supported the bailouts for

the banks. you wanted detroit to wither on the vine. >> let's take a look at how michigan voters think of the bailout now. we've got a big board screen on that. successful. democrats think it was very successful. let's look at the republican numbers. 27% of republicans think it was a success. they accept that award for it. more interestingly, good for michigan. good for michigan. 47% of republicans think it's good for michigan. and oh, by the way, people in those other columns can vote in michigan, in that primary. democrats can go vote. some of those 82%. some of those 63% independents. and chris, going forward, that independent number is really scary. if 63% of independents think that president obama was right on the auto industry, mitt romney just outright wrong on the auto industry, that's a big problem. >> well, it's particularly a big problem if romney, as he has up until now, constructs the entire rationale for his campaign as a one-legged stool. the one-legged stool is, i know

how to bring jobs back. if you have six months of huge amounts of job growth, if you have gm doing well, and if you have all the economic narrative of the country beginning to turn, there is nothing left of the romney rationale for why you should be president of the united states. nothing. that is not true of rick santorum, who brings with him an entire universe and world view of how america should be, which is extremely different from this president. it's not this basic technocratic message. we're not creating jobs, i can create jobs in the future, which is mitt romney. >> alex, you know the pundit world is confused when talk of brokered convention breaks out. so we've started to hear the talk of brokered convention. if mitt romney loses michigan, it's another way of the pundit world saying, if mitt romney loses michigan, then i don't understand what's going on. >> well, you can replay the tape of everyone in the pundit class saying, rick santorum is not going to be the nominee, and now for the first time, i think this week, you're seeing people sort of scratching their heads and saying, oh, actually, maybe so.

if rick santorum gives mitt romney a run for his money, and i would say, if he's within five points of mitt romney, it is a huge problem for mitt romney. because money is going to rain down on the the rick santorum campaign. and as chris said, the inevitability argument that he's been running on is gone. >> i have been an anyone but romney chanter for, because i believed that romney would be the most difficult one for president obama to beat. and so -- and that has absolutely been the feeling of the obama re-election campaign in chicago. i now have a different reason for being anyone but romney, and i actually now is not anyone, i'm specifically santorum. i want santorum to get this nomination. because i want to see the debate. i want to see conservatism debated for the very first time in the general election. compared to rick santorum, we

have never had a conservative run for president. ronald reagan was way to the left of rick santorum. george w. bush with his medicare prescription drug plan, to the left of rick santorum. the first president bush, way to the left of rick santorum. and so, republicans have been saying, conservative, conservative, conservative, and this country's more conservative than you think. let's find out. let's have these guys campaign. >> well, that was the rationale in 1964, barry goldwater. >> yes, exactly! >> and obviously that stung for a long time. i think in the case of santorum, there's also -- i mean, i'm pretty sure, i believe he voted for medicare part "d." >> he did. so the question of, what is conservative? bush was the most conservative person ever when he was successful, and as soon as he stopped being successful, conservative ran away from him and all of a sudden said his problem was that he was a big government conservative. it's unclear to me that the same won't happen to rick santorum if, in fact, he's defeated,

right? i mean, conservatism never fails, it is always failed. >> but the '64 example, what happened after barry goldwater, then the most conservative republican to ever get the nomination is conservatism went into a fast retreat in republican politics, and liberalism advanced faster than it ever had, with the legislation lbj was able to do after that and going forward to the '70s. >> you could argue that that's beginning to happen now, regardless of whether rick santorum was a nominee. you have a huge cleave within the party. they have no idea, you have the uber conservative tea party wing, the establishment wing that's moving ever towards the center. the infighting, the inability of anyone in the republican caucus to get anything done, and now on the national stage, two candidates that are neither here nor there for vast parts of the american party and their base. >> i want to take a fast look at what republicans really think. medicare vouchers, for example, 56% of republicans oppose that. social security cuts, 55% of

republicans are opposed to the way republicans talk about social security. raising taxes on millionaires, for example, 43% of republicans are actually in favor of that. require employers to cover birth control, the latest issue, 50% of republicans to support that. but more precisely, requiring insurance companies of religious affiliated employers to cover birth control, a full 41% of republicans support that. and that's something you would never know, listening to republican politicians. >> well, i think what happened was, there are two things. one is the miserable succession of economic crisis and economic news gave republicans confidence that they were going to beat president obama in the fall, because if unemployment's 9%, 10%, it's very hard to get re-elected. second of all, the victory of the tea party enforced to a degree rigidity on the people in the party themselves, because they saw what happened to the mike castles, for instance, of

delaware, who got knocked off, because they were too heterodox for the conservatives. now they see themselves trapped in a situation. they were actually getting a false bump from the bad economic views, and they convinced themselves because americans liked the things they were saying and they actually believed that. skp and as the economy improves, i think you'll see revealed more and more, it turns out that these are not majority position, getting r getting rid of medicare. and that's always been the case, because it was masked. the less that's the case, the more that ideology surfaces, the more problem it is politically. >> chris hayes of "up," alex wagner of "now," thank you both for joining me tonight. >> thanks, lawrence. coming up, the contraception crazies continue, and rush limbaugh, i think, tis the craziest one of all. that's in the rewrite. and chris christie did the right thing in new jersey, ordering the flags at half-mast for whitney houston. we'll show you her singing to nelson mandela at the white house. ♪

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republicans keep digging a deeper hole for themselves on contraception. arianna huffington joins me next. and in the rewrite, we'll hear what contraception expert rush limbaugh has to say on the hot topic of the day. and we'll close with whitney houston the way she should be remembered, singing for nelson mandela. [ other merv ] welcome back to the cleaning games.

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many will frame today not as first amendment, but about the particular issue that comes before us, related to the obama health care plan. the real questions of where does faith begin and where does it end? where does government's ability to influence decisions made by people of faith and where does it end? >> i think everyone understands what is going on here today. the chairman is promoting a conspiracy theory that the federal government is conducting a war against religion. >> darrell issa, the chairman of the house oversight and government reform committee, was today's leader of the republican political suicide mission on contraception. his hearing entitled "lines crossed: separation of church and state -- has the obama administration trampled on freedom of religious and freedom of conscience" turned out to be as ridiculous as its title. darrell issa did not just fail

to include any women on his panel of witnesses this morning, he refused to allow one of the witnesses suggested by the democrats, who is a woman. it is customary in congressional hearings to allow the minority party to have at least one witness at the table. violating that custom today was a political gift to the democrats. >> where are the women? and that's a good question for the whole debate. where are the women? where are the women on that panel. imagine they're having a panel on women's health, and they don't have any women on the panel. duh. >> it's hard out there for a republican. especially if you're running in massachusetts against a great democratic candidate, like elizabeth warren. here's massachusetts' republican senator scott brown trying to justify his decision to support senator blunt's amendment to allow employers to drop any

provision in any health care policy for any reason of so-called conscience. >> you acknowledge that senator blunt's amendment that you're supporting goes far further than religious objections, no? >> uh, no, i don't. i think it's in line with what senator kennedy and i have fought for and i have a history in the state senate of voting for, to allow religious organizations and people to have that conscience objection exemption to allow them to practice their faith. it's one of the cornerstones of our constitution. >> it doesn't just say religious beliefs, it says moral convictions. so where is she wrong? it seems to me that's a loophole you could drive a truck through, no? >> jim, you know as well as i do that that's a red herring. bottom line is that if anything like that happened in massachusetts, people would obviously be sued. >> senator, then you tell me, you signed over the amendment, what is the language or moral conviction mean? it seems to me, if i say to an

employer, i have a moral -- that's the language. i'm reading it verbatim, senator brown. >> jim, once again, i disagree with your interpretation. >> joining me now is arianna huffington, president and editor in chief of t"the huffington post" media group. arianna, that's massachusetts television right there. if he thought that the high concentration of catholics in massachusetts was somehow going to make this work for him, he's finding out very differently now. >> you know, it may be that president obama is the likest man on earth. because if they really think that this is winning them votes, thiss they are obviously not reading the polls. but they are reading the polls. because you can see how careful they are now to reposition this. this is not about contraception, this is not about women, this is about the first amendment. in fact, again and again, we see that they are reading the polls. and we have over 70% of people in the latest gallup poll worried about the economy and

jobs. and if you include all the culture war issues, including abortion, it's 5%. so they are missing the point. that even though the numbers, and the job numbers may be a little better, people don't really feel better. you know, we still have over 20% of young people unemployed. we still have over 8% unemployment. we still have 4 million people's homes foreclosed. so why are they not playing on that, which is really what their advantage is? >> the republicans have never been much about pointing out that the black unemployment rate is double the regular rate. they're not interested in those issues. and to see them go at this is so absurdly suicidal, politically. darrell issa and the boys, all boys, on the republican group today at that hearing, tried to have this hearing without saying the word "contraception." they actually tried to get through it. >> and it doesn't work, because

ultimately it is about contraception. and debating contraception, in 2012, including the idea that somehow aspirin between your legs is a trick, you and i should have mentioned that to our daughters, we forgot it with, is not working for them. and you can see it on their faces, you can see it in their equivocations, they know it's not working for them, and now they don't know how party that becoming anti-contraception in some sense, which they are, in image terms, they're definitely becoming that party, and everyone but everyone uses contraception, all catholics use contraception, the 2% who say they don't aren't telling the truth. and so it's a 100% issue. when you then ask for the microphone to talk about what you want to do with the economy, you were just the guy who was saying something crazy about contraception. we don't listen to you. >> i know. and yet, even now, even though they're saying that, they're having a hard time talking about the economy.

and one of the reasons is perhaps because they don't really have any solutions. and even sarah palin, you know at cpac, when she spoke about the economy, when she reminded us of the numbers that are still really bad, i look at her and i thought, yeah, she's right. so they would get tremendous resonance by doing that, but i'm not running their campaign. >> right. but the trouble for them is that the momentum, off stock market on the rise. you have unemployment numbers looking better in a fairly consistent pattern now. and so there's a trend that isn't going their way. and so, they don't seem to be able to find the language that says, okay, remember, everybody, 8% unemployment is not good. just because it's not 10, 8 is not good. they can't find that. >> they could actually ask the ronald reagan question, which is not good for obama. they could say, were you better off than you were four years ago? and people would have to say no. and african-americans will have to say that under the first

black president, they're actually worse off than they were before obama was in the white house. ay. and they could attack this foreclosure agreement. that's really not good for homeowners. that's better for banks. but they just haven't found the language and they don't really have the everyompathempathy. they would >> they would then also have to say, here's what we're going to do going forward that's better than president obama, and they don't have any answers for that. >> no. the jobs are still the big issue of this election, and the media are a little bit complicit when they're buying into the fact that the culture wars are now the big issue. you have the ap headline saying, culture wars the 2012 issue. this is the balloon boy issue of the 2012 election, not the real issue. >> arianna huffington of "the huffington post," thank you very much for joining me tonight. coming up, new jersey governor chris christie is under

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have sex mindlessly day in and day out. he thinks mindless sex has made you single-issue voters and your single issue is contraception. so rush is now worried that mindless sex could be the decisive issue in the presidential campaign and deliver the country four more years of mindless sex under president obama. >> you tell that bunch of mindless brain-dead twerps that they're not going to get their birth control, and that's all that will matter. they're going to vote for obama on that alone. >> and so with 264 days to go until the presidential election, rush limbaugh has now made mindless sex reason number 264 to vote for president obama. you know, when rush gets going about contraception, he comes very close to doing a full santorum on it. >> birth control is only a means of eliminating consequences. >> well, that's true. birth control is a means of

eliminating consequences. but to rush, eliminating consequences means avoiding the responsibility of your actions, while to us contraception is the responsible action to take. now, i wouldn't try to change the mind of anyone who sees it the way rick santorum does. we just have different views of how to be responsible. and we apparently have very, very different views about mindless sex. but i think rush actually has more in common with the people he's railing against than he is letting on. >> to the people in this country who do nothing but have sex mindlessly day in and day out, and who birth control is only a means of eliminating consequences. >> okay, let's see, rush limbaugh got married when he was 26 years old. he liked it so much, he got married three more times. now, if we assume that the first time rush limbaugh had

interpersonal heterosexual sex was on his first wedding night and the last time he had it, if he's as happily married as he should be in a fourth marriage, was last night, rush has had at least 35 years of heterosexual sex with four wives, and possibly the occasional dalliance between marriages. and how many consequences does rush have to show for that? none. not one child. no little rush jr. no rushina. none. talk about eliminating consequences. rush limbaugh has not just practiced birth control his whole life, he has perfected it. >> birth control is only a means of eliminating consequences. birth control is only a means of eliminating consequences. birth control is only a means of

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new jersey's republican governor, chris christie, has now said two things that i agree with. the first actually earned him a standing ovation on this show from me and the staff of "the last word" for his statement against anti-muslim bigotry when he appointed a muslim judge to the new jersey superior court. the sec thing chris christie has said that i agree with is this. >> whitney houston was an important part of the fabric, cultural fabric of this state. and as i said, on the night of her passing, i think, you know, she belongs in the same category from a musical perspective in

new jersey history and with folks like frank sinatra and count basie and bruce springsteen. she was a cultural icon in this state. and her accomplishments in her life were a source of great pride for many people in this state and as the state as a whole. so on that basis, i think she's entitled to have that recognition. >> joining me now right now is mark thompson, the host of "make it plain" on sirius xm. you posted a piece today on uptown that really got my attention. you told me a lot of things about whitney houston i didn't know. i just approached her career as a music fan, i loved her movies. talk about the charitable work that she did. you listed a lot of things in here that she accomplished in her charitable work. >> well, as always, thanks for having me, lawrence. whitney houston, we must remember her for her humanitarian work. the whitney houston foundation helped children with aids, helped children who were homeless. she gave money, also, she was very generous towards the juvenile diabetes foundation,

the united negro college fund, just to have a few. >> we have a screen up there. the children's defense fund, also raised money for the new york firefighters disaster relief fund, the new york fraternal order of police. the list goes on and on. >> and speaking of the new york firefighters and police, she's the only person to have sung the national anthem and had to go to the top of the charts. and she waived those royalty rights and donated that money. re-released the song after 9/11 and donated those funds to new york firefighters and police as a part of the disaster release. >> it may seem ancient history now to some people, but speaking out against apartheid was not an easy thing to do. she did that in the face of ronald reagan and margaret thatcher's support of the south african regime, and nelson mandela never forgot her for that. >> and she did it in '88. she did it in london, in thatcher's own backyard. even before that, she refused to working with modeling agencies that had business in south africa. she was a longtime antiapartheid

activist. >> let's listen to her before she became famous. she's singing at an ariesta party. ♪ but i need a friend ♪ to help me start all over again ♪ ♪ whoo ♪ that would be, that would be just fine ♪ >> i just want to go back to back on that, mark, with the little clip we have of her singing with her mother. her mother who's going to be at her funeral in newark on saturday. ♪ so when one of us is gone ♪ and one of us is left alone to carry on ♪ ♪ i know remembering will have

to do ♪ >> mark, we haven't talked much this week about her movies and her work as an actress. you made a very important point about "cinderella" in your piece today. talk about that. >> well, what whitney did, and remind you, whitney was making movies before tyler perry, so she was a pioneer in the film industry. >> as a producer. zb >> as a producer. and african-american children never had fairy tales that looked like them. so it was significant for her to make a movie about cinderella and for her to be an african-american. that did a lot for young people's self-image and self-esteem. and all the films were timeless and valuable, and she created a lot of opportunities for many, many african-americans in the film industry. >> nelson mandela's spokesperson released this statement on whitney houston's death. miss houston sang for mr. nelson mandela at a white house dinner in his honor in october 1994. she dedicated to him her

rendition of the song "greatest love of all." may she rest in peace. a month after that, she visited nelson mandela in johannesburg. they had a real relationship. >> yeah, obviously, they did. and he remembered that and never forgot it. he's always that eveninged those who stood up for him to be free, and whitney was one of those people. and we don't talk about it as much. i, too, agree with the governor and the half-staff for the flag. and we all really appreciate all those great accomplishments, including her voice. mark thompson, thank you very much for joining us tonight. we leave you tonight with whitney houston, singing for nelson mandela at the clinton white house. ♪ ♪