night in the michigan primary where he and rick santorum are running nearly neck and neck. also tomorrow the arizona primary where mr. romney will try and overcome the "sports being endorsed by that tate's republican governor. full results starting at 8:00 eastern time tomorrow night. right now it's time for "the last word." good night. the polls can't tell us which republican will win michigan tomorrow night. it's just too close to call. but the polls have no problem predicting who will win michigan in november. big surprise. the man who saved the american automobile industry has a huge lead in michigan over all the republican candidates. >> president obama once said he wants everybody in america to go to college. what a snob. >> rick santorum launched sharp criticism -- >> santorum's taking his fight to higher education. >> the snop comment. >> let's talk about this snobbery. >> what a snob.

>> this is just nuts. it's just bad politics. >> i certainly don't think the president's a snop for saying that. i think that's probably over the line. >> attacking jfk. >> santorum triggered a debate by questioning the separation of church and state. >> the separation of church and state. >> how extreme can you get? >> what kind of country can we live in that says only people of nonfaith can come in the public square. >> the constitution is very clear in the separation of church and state. >> you bet that makes you throw up. >> made him want to throw up. >> the separation of church and state makes him want to throw up? >> he has been talking more than anyone about social issues. >> it's time for him to really focus on the economy. >> we saw mitt romney try to capitalize on that earlier today. >> this has got to be a campaign about the economy. >> it is do or die time for the republican presidential candidates in michigan. >> there is a possibility if governor romney were to lose michigan for a contested election? sure. >> yesterday he was asked whether he follows nascar. >> i have great fans that are nascar team owners.

>> nascar team owners. >> come, on who talks like that? >> there's a certain discipline of the mouth required to get elected president. >> i can't be perfect. i just am who i am. >> maybe i should just do all the talking and let him just stand here and watch me. >> mitt, better off mute. >> if you don't run chris christie, romney will be the nominee and we'll lose. >> six months before this thing got going, every republican i know was saying we're going to win, we're going to beat obama. now, even those who have endorsed romney say, my god, what an f'ing mess. every word i just said is a quote from ronald reagan's re-election campaign manager ed rollins as reported in his new york magazine cover story on the disaster that has struck the republican party during the presidential campaign season. on the eve of the michigan primary, a state that no one method would be competitive because mitt romney was born and

raised there. the latest american research group poll shows rick santorum with a 36% statistical tie with romney's 35%. ron paul polls a very distant third with 15%. newt gingrich fourth with 8%. such polling has romney's most prized supporter talking about what happens if mitt romney actually loses michigan tomorrow. >> is there a possibility if governor romney were to lose michigan for contested election -- contested convention? sure that's a possibility. i'm not going to deny that possibility exists. >> romney and santorum trail president obama in michigan according to the most recent nbc polling. president obama leads romney 51% to 33%. the president leads rick santorum 55% to 29%. a new politico poll shows president obama also leading the republican candidates nationally. president obama leads 53% to

43%, a 10-point lead. the president leads rick santorum 53% to 42%. mitt romney ended his michigan campaign today with the exposure of another fake memory about his father and him. >> i think my dad had a job like the grand, the master, whatever, of the 50th celebration of the automobile in detroit. they painted the woodward avenue with gold paint. my memory's a little foggy here. i was probably 4, something like that. >> mitch potter "the toronto star" notes tonight, the golden jubilee described so vividly by romney was indeed an emintensive care moment and it took place june 1st, 1946, fully nine months before romney was born. joining me now, national affairs editor for "new york magazine" john howland.

his latest column "the lost party" appears in the march 5th issue of "new york" magazine. "washington post" writer and nbc political an lert jonathan kaparte. john, your article "the lost party." in it, people of common sse and good will might consider in the days ahead adopting a slogan that may strike them as odd, perverse, or even demented. john, having been accused of being odd, perverse, and demented, it makes perfect sense to me. i know exactly what you must be thinking. but please, explain to america the go, rick, go idea. >> well, strangely, lawrence, i think many democrats take that as me encouraging people to be in favor of santorum because it would be easier for the president to beat in the fall, and indeed it is true that he'd be a weaker opponent for a variety of reasons, which many

of which have been discussed on this program in great depth. my argument at the end piece is simply to say that if the republicans lose this race to barack obama, and one of my main reporting points in the piece is to say that most elite republicans now believe that they are consigned to defeat this fall with either of these candidates, that there will be a reaction to that loss and the reaction will be counter to -- trying to learn the lessons of what happened in 2012. if mitt romney is the nominee and his brand of republican conservative is seen as having blown this election you'll see the republican party veer even further to the populist right the. if santorum were to blow the election or lose to barack obama you might be able to see the republican party realizing that it's gone way too far into culture warrior, grassroots populism and try to make itself way back towards a more constructive brand of conservatism and one that would serve the country well if they were to find their way there. >> yeah, i started pushing this

idea a couple of weeks ago. let's see if we can enlist kaparte in this one. i want to see rick santorum get the nomination because i want to see a very clear debate about rick santorum's america versus president obama's america. rick santorum's america is a very conservative america. it is what the republican party says america wants. i want to see that put to a referendum. i believe these polls indicating that the president would win by 20 points are a little exaggerated at the moment. but i do believe it would be a decisive defeat for rick santorum kind of conservatism, and then we would see the republicans in washington make an adjustment, as john just described, and we would then have the possibility of the return of bob dole-style republicans who were willing at certain points to negotiate with the other partying to get things done in the congress.

and so that is my version of go, rick, go. is this making any sense to you? >> yes, it does. and one can only hope that that would be the reaction in the republican party. if indiedrich santorum were to become the nominee and go down to defeat against president obama. the one thing about rick santorum's brand of conservatism is it's rather angry and judgmental. and moralistic. and the american people have shown time and time again that they're not too keen on angry, dark messages about the country and its future. they want someone conservative or liberal or progressive, however you want to describe yourself as a candidate, they want you to tell them how you're going to lead them to a brighter tomorrow. rick santorum, in the party of ronald reagan, is hardly the sunny, optimistic conservative that ronald reagan portrayed himself to be. and so i agree with you, if rick

santorum were the nominee, it would be a clear distinction between himself and president obama in terms of message, in terms of philosophy, in terms of vision for the future of this country. >> let's listen to a santorum campaign robo call that's going out in michigan as we speak. >> -- can vote in the republican primary on tuesday. why is it so important? romney's supporting the bailouts for his wall street billionaire buddies but oppose the auto bailouts. that was a slap in the face to every michigan worker. on tuesday, join democrats who are going to send a loud message to massachusetts mitt romney by voting for rick santorum for president. >> rick santorum's getting some criticism in republican circles for that. but john, that is a smart robo call for him? >> any little bit's going to help. it can't hurt for santorum. it's a very close race and democrats are allowed to vote.

in 2000, when we saw very similar sort of situation lay play out, if you remember george w. bush, essentially people thought he had put the nomination away. he was in a better position than mitt romney is today. but he was the establishment favorite. he had all of the endorsements lined up in michigan. it was supposed to be the end. john mccain beat him in 2000 in michigan, largely with the help of independents and democrats who voted for mccain. santorum is nothing like the candidate john mccain was for sure. but trying to enlist the other side. we've seen this talk about this a couple of cycles ago when rush limbaugh talked about "operation chaos" in 2008. so it's not unheard of before that people have thought along these lines. rick santorum is trying to run a campaign that is a working-class campaign. put this culture war stuff aside. on economics he's been trying to campaign appealing to blue collar voters. argue about the effectiveness of this campaign. but he is trying to run a populist, anti-globalist kind of

mccomb county, michigan, sort of campaign. for him to aim directly at democrats is not just mischievous but makes a certain kind of sense for the kind of republican he's trying to be, on economics at least. >> rush limbaugh was advocating, vote for hillary clinton as long as possible, last time around, to try to make things difficult for the republicans. on reserve and he believed that obama was on his way to get the nomination, correctly, but he wanted as much mischief as possible. is that anything that's going to matter in this republican party? it doesn't seem like republican voters need encouragement to change their minds from state to state and vote for another guy and create more confusion in their process. >> right. but in michigan this is a place, as john highlighted in terms of the 2000 race, that -- where democrats feel emboldened to go to the polls and make mischief in the republican primary. and the key thing about that

2000 race between george w. bush and john mccain, john mccain -- sorry, george bush won two-thirds of the republican vote in 2000. but john mccain won a majority of the independents and democrats who voted, and those two groups comprised 51% of the total number of folks who voted. so that robo call by rick santorum is i think very, very smart on his part. in that poll you showed at the top of the program showing santorum and romney basically in a statistical tie with a plus or minus 4 percentage margin of error, those kinds of calls and that push by santorum to get democrats to go out and vote for him tomorrow, very well could be the thing that pushes him over the top. >> quickly, you reporters are out there in the field covering these candidates. is there now a presumption when romney reminisces he's actually

just making something up? last time around he recommended about his father marching with martin luther king, there's no evidence for that. now reminiscing about this great historic moment when he was 4 years old in the history of the auto industry. turns out he wasn't born yet. do you guys even take notes when he starts doing those interesting medical reels on the campaign trail? >> well, just for the sake of moments like this, of course we're always taking notes and try to keep track. i think that there's no question that mitt romney has had a hard time throughout his campaign talking in a way that sounds and in some cases is authentic about what his personal experience in life is and his personal history. and there is i think a broader problem for him which is that there are a lot of reporters who on a variety of fronts have started to question his ver ross. not just in terms of talking about his autobiography but talking about other things. there is a meme in the press corps that romney is a guy who will say and do anything and stretch the truth when it is convenient to him.

i think that's a real policemen for him going forward. the press doesn't like mitt romney in general. to the extent the press thinks he's a liar that's going to be a big problem. there's nothing the press likes more than taking down someone, catch him out in a half-truth or full untruth. >> thank you very much for joining me tonight. coming up, rick santorum is courting a voting bloc that does not exist, the anti-college voter. even chris christie is siding with president obama on this one. los angeles mayor antonio villaraigosa joins me next. because one mistake is never enough in the santorum campaign, rick santorum has decided to pick a fight with president kennedy who in the years since he was assassinated has had more streets and schools named in his honor than rick santorum will ever have the honor of visiting. and later, we'll have an update from debbie wasserman schultz on the latest republican invasive attack on women's rights. >> in "the rewrite" tonight, stephen colbert rewrites me.

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i don't think any parent in america who has a child would think it snobbery to hope for that child the best possible education in the future. >> well, there is one parent in america who thinks that is snobbery. >> president obama once said he wants everybody in america to go to college. what a snob. there are good, decent men and women who go out and work hard every day and put their skills to test that aren't taught by some liberal college professor

trying to indoctrinate them. i understand why he wants you to go to college. he wants to remake you in his image. >> of course the president never said that he wants everybody in america to go to college. here is what the president actually said on february 24th, 2009. >> tonight i ask every american to commit to at least one year or more of higher education or career training. this can be a community college or a four-year school. vocational training or an apprenticeship. but whatever the training may be, every american will need to get more than a high school diploma. >> vocational training or an apprenticeship is not college. republican governor chris christie, who is, of course, a romney supporter and looking for ways to humiliate rick santorum, sided with president obama. >> we need to have an education system in new jersey and over the country that makes all of our kids, either college or career ready. it should be their choice.

every kid doesn't want to go to college but i think we should aspire to let every child reach his maximum or her maximum potential. if senator santorum's against that, i don't think that makes my sense and i certainly don't think the president's a snob for saying that. i think that's probably over the line. >> and just minutes ago on fox news, here is rick santorum repeating his lie about what president obama said. >> and then he comes out and says, everybody should go to college. i mean, this is the kind of stuff that i think people have had enough of. we can manage our lives very well, mr. president. just give us opportunity. >> joining me now is los angeles mayor antonio villaraigosa, national co-chair of the obama 2012 campaign and the 2012 democratic national convention chairman. mr. mayor, it seems whenever we hear a republican candidate begin a line with "the president said," the audience should assume what they're about to hear is a lie.

and the president has never actually said that. or even a cousin of that or anything close to that. the president couldn't be more clear that of course we're not going to have everyone go to college, there are apprenticeships, there's vocational training, there's all sorts of things other than college, he just wants people to maximize their workforce potential. >> absolutely. the idea that somehow a parent wanting the best for their child is wrong, the president wanting the best for his nation, particularly in these tough economic types, is nonsensical. there was a recent gallup poll that said 75% of american parents want their kids -- think that it's important for their kids to go to college. the idea that we wouldn't want them to go to college or get career-ready or get a skill to succeed in the world of work just doesn't make sense to most of us. >> this is the same republican party that's constantly telling us how bad our public schools are and they're not preparing our high school graduates for

the workforce. and for santorum to then come out and make fun of the idea of getting something beyond just a high school diploma, i mean, santorum and these kinds of candidates don't even notice their own inconsistency in these things. >> not only that. i think what you see there is he's clearly out of the mainstream what was most people think. >> he's making this easy for you democrats, isn't it? that is such an alien thing that he's saying, it's alien to the american dream, american expectation. >> alien to the reality today that when you look at who's disproportionately out of work the longest? it's folks that don't have a high school degree. then after them, it's folks who only have a high school degree. the people who are getting back to work the quickest are people with a college degree or some college, some skill. so it doesn't reflect where we are in terms of unemployment it'ser and where we are in terms of the new economy. >> mitt romney was just on fox news kind of echoing santorum.

let's listen to the way he put it. >> not everybody's going to go to college and people have different courses in their life they ought to pursue. college is not right for everybody. some folks have other ambitions and want to go in different directions. we want people to have freedom in this country and opportunity to pursue their happiness in the way they think is appropriate for them. >> the problem is his little laugh about not everyone is going to go to college. that is true, not everyone's going to go. but there's nothing as operational in what he's saying there. >> yeah, no question about it. and interestingly enough, both of them went to college. both of them got a great education. why shouldn't that be good for the rest of us? the fact is, you know, we work hard so our kids will have a better life. in a global economy, predicated on intellectual capital, we know that more and more, college is becoming critical to success in that economy. >> and -- but we should recognize that there are plenty of jobs that don't require college.

really, truly, everybody working at l.a.x., los angeles international airport, virtually no jobs there that require college, and they are crucially important, high-paying -- airline mechanics and so forth. and what should we be doing in government to help the flow of people into those kinds of jobs? >> well, very important. as you said, as you clarified, the president didn't say everybody has to go to college, they have to get a skill set. they have to get a year of community college. they need to get the skills that they need to succeed in the world of work. we've been saying for a long time, here in l.a. unified and school districts across the country, that we have to get folks career-ready or ready for college. and there's nothing -- that is what we absolutely have to do in this economy and i think that's all the president said. >> there's not a job down there that doesn't require a high-tech orientation that isn't available in public high school

classrooms. >> well, that's true. look. i'm someone that believes my kids should go to college, and they have. and i believe that strongly. but it's clear from the economy and where the economy's going that to the extent that kids at least have a skill set, they're going to be more employable, they're going to be out of work for a shorter period of time. that's just a fact. >> did you have a late night last night, as mayor of los angeles, on oscar night? you have semi-official duties. making sure everything is proceeding out there. >> we had a late night. >> plenty of parties and the governor's ball and all of that. and the winner "the artist" turns out to be the only movie that was shot entirely in los angeles. the only one. >> well, remember, what's great about this industry is that it's 210,000 jobs. what i like to say, the people behind the camera, even more important than the people in front of it. that's why we should celebrate the academy awards and film and music in this town because it's

really the lifeblood of the l.a. economy. >> and keep the quality production in los angeles. >> that's right. >> los angeles mayor antonio villaraigosa, thank you very much for joining me tonight. >> great to be with you. coming up, campaigning against mitt romney, newt gingrich, ron paul and president obama is not enough for rick santorum, now he's campaigning against the president who was assassinated 48 years ago. later, alabama's the next state to propose mandatory ultrasounds for women who want abortions. debbie wasserman schultz rejoins me. stephen colbert's talking about "the book of mormon." not the play, the real "book of mormon." [consumer:] the economists make some good points. [announcer:] conocophillips says, you're right. find out how natural gas answers both at powerincooperation.com.

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rick santorum has a new strategy. he's widening his campaign attacks to include not just mitt romney and president bowl, now he's reaching back 48 years to attack president john f. kennedy. santorum versus jfk is next. later, debbie wasserman schultz joins me on the latest state to attack women's reproductive freedom. in "the rewrite" tonight, stephen colbert and "the book of mormon." i had enough of feeling embarrassed about my skin.

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in my political career i had the opportunity to read the speech and i almost threw up. you should read the speech. >> you don't have to read the speech. the kennedy library in rochester, massachusetts, has preserved it on film. >> i believe in an america where the separation of church and state is absolute. where no catholic fellow would

tell the president, should he be catholic, how to act. no protestant minister would tell his parishioners for whom to vote. where no church or church school is granted any public funds or political preference. where no man is denied public office merely because his religion differs from the president who might appoint him. or the people who might elect him. >> 51 years after then senator kennedy gave that speech in houston after winning the democratic presidential nomination we no longer live in kennedy's america and rick santorum is working hard to become the first catholic republican party nominee for president and now rick santorum is campaigning against a president who's been dead for 48 years. >> the first line, first substantive line in the speech says, i believe in america where the separation of church and

state is absolute. i don't believe in an america where the separation of church and state is absolute. the idea that the church can have no influence or no involvement in the operation of the state is absolutely an that thet call to the objectives and vision of our country. this is the first amendment. the first amendment says the free exercise of religion. that means bringing everybody, people of faith and no fate, into the public square. kennedy for the first time articulated a vision saying, no, faith is not allowed in the public square. i will keep it separate. go on and read the speech. i will have nothing to do with faith, i won't consult with people of fade. it was an absolutist doctrine that was foreign of the time of 1960 -- >> make you want to throw up? >> well, yeah, absolutely. to say that people of faith have no role in the public square? you bet that makes you throw up. >> joining me now are steve kerr

knackky and karen phinney former dnc communications director, columnist for "the hill." thank you for joining me tonight. as usual rick santorum is, of course, misquoting president kennedy when he says president kennedy said religion had no place in the public square, which of course president kennedy never said. wasn't to listen to another little bit of what the president said when he talked about what he thought presidents -- how a president's religious views should be private. >> i believe in a president whose views on religion are his own private affair. neither imposed upon him by the nation, nor imposed by the nation upon him. as a condition to holding that office. >> steve, we are long past the point where it seems a presidential candidate can hold his religion as a private affair. the media expects them to talk about it. each party expects them to talk

about their particular brand of christianity and it must be christianity. so we don't have -- we've lost the notion of religion as private affair in politics a long time ago. >> sure. and i mean, what's so sort of i guess comical is the word i think of about what santorum is saying right now, just ignores completely the context of when, you know -- of president kennedy's speech in 1960. and the sort of, you know -- he was running in a country where, you know, catholics were viewed at sort of fundamentally alien by a large swath of the public and he needed to assure them at a very basic level he wasn't taking marching orders of rome and that was basically the extent of it. it speaks to the evolution of sort of the christian right in this country which didn't exist as we now know it in 1960, and sort of the evangelical wing of the catholic church that i would say santorum represents. and those two forces converged i'd say about 20 or 30 years after kennedy was killed, sometime in the '80s, sometime

in the '90s. who basically said they're going to ignore or they're going to down play or they're going to be hostile to the church's traditional teachings about, for instance, social justice, and they're going to form a common cause with southern conservative evangelicals over cultural issues and that's what santorum i think really represents. and that's what his sort of attack on president kennedy here really represents. it's that bond that he's formed with people who now look back at president kennedy and say, the problem wasn't that he wasn't listening to rome, you know, too much. it's that he was listening to present saying, my religion's a private affair, i'm not going to discuss it in any way. i want to do one more clip of jfk and get your reaction to this. here he is talking about specific issues, including birth control, and how that -- how he might confront those issues as president. let's listen to that. >> contrary to common newspaper usage, i am not the catholic

candidate for president. i am the democratic party's party for president who happens also to be a catholic. i do not speak for my church on public matters. and the church does not speak for me. whatever issue may come before me as president, if i should be elected, on birth control, divorce, censorship, gambling, or any other subject, i will make my decision in accordance with these views. in accordance with what my conscience tells me to be in the national interest and without regard to outside religious pressure or dictates. >> karen phinney, your reaction? first of all i want to say i think you can see why he won that election. >> maybe just a little bit, right? you know, and he also goes on in this speech to talk about the oath of office that you take to the constitution of the united states of america. you know, one of the things that's so interesting about

santorum as steve was pointing out, whereas kennedy says, i'm not a catholic candidate for president, i'm the democratic party for president who happens to be catholic, rick santorum is basically running as the catholic conservative candidate for president, right? there's more in terms of his criticism. back in 2010, he also criticized kennedy's speech. and basically, his argument is that that was the beginning, essentially, of the secular left and those evil institutions like the aclu and the people for the american way who just pushed religion out of the public square and said there's no place for that in the public square. i mean, he basically blames kennedy. and in doing that, he's essentially creating another red herring, kind of a false argument. does anybody really think that people of faith don't have a place in the public square these days? i mean, it's everywhere. it is a part of our discourse. i think president obama, frankly, when i was reading -- reread the kennedy speech, so eloquently in a modern context

when he spoke at the national prayer breakfast, spoke about the way that his faith sort of informs his character, certainly. but it is not that -- in that his role as president, but he's not beholden to his faith. and that sort of balance of church and state in that line in a way that who knows what santorum's really talking about. >> you know, i do agree with rick santorum that everyone should read that speech. i read it today and i wish i could just keep playing long pieces of it. it's really an amazing speech. bill o'reilly is now saying that santorum has gone a little bit too far. he just said this tonight on his show. >> if santorum would simply pull back a bit and say to the federal government, hey, leave religious institutions alone, don't interfere with them, he would be on the side of the angels, pardon the pun. so while rick santorum is rallying some evangelical voters to his cause he's making a major mistake in trying to link religious belief with public

policy. >> karen, quickly, o'reilly's tip of why don't you pull back a little bit, it's a little late for that, isn't it? it's trying to get the toothpaste back in the tube. >> it is. here's what really bothers me about this absolute hypocrisy. where were these guys standing up for religion when people were criticizing those who wanted to open an islamic cultural center near ground zero for the purposes of fostering cultural understanding? were they anywhere defending their right to be part of the conversation? of course they weren't. where were these people when congressman pete king had that ridiculously, cravenly, politically shameful hearing on, you know, muslim fundamentalism and terrorism and he didn't really have many voices representing the other side? where? if we're going to go there and we're going to say religion should be in the public square and we're going to say, let's everybody have their place, then why aren't they standing up for all voices? >> steve, quickly before we go,

what is the political wisdom of trying to take shots at jfk at this point in our history? >> again, i think he gets to that bond between the evangelical wing of the cath lick church and evangelical voters particularly in the south. next week after we get out of michigan you're looking at georgia, tennessee, oklahoma, states with 65%, 75% of the electorate next week, pentecostals, southern baptists. it probably plays well with them. probably not rest of america but it could help santorum there. >> karen and steve, thank you very much for joining me tonight. coming up, republicans in virginia are retreating from their attempt to force ultrasound on any woman seeking an abortion but republicans in alabama are now the latest to try to push that same idea. and next, stephen colbert rewrites me and "the book of mormon." right off the street to help us with an experiment for the febreze set & refresh.

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who shared his concerns with author and msnbc survivor lawrence o'donnell. >> elie wiesel calls on mitt romney to make the mormon church stop proxy baptisms of jews. that's right. the mormon church baptizes jews against their will and without their knowledge after they are dead. >> we learned about a procedure in the mormon church, i think 600,000, 650,000 dead jews were converted posthumously. so we began protesting. >> what business is it of yours, elie? i did some research and it turns out those 600,000 jews are now mormons. besides. the mormons have stopped baptizing holocaust victims. other than last week when they baptized ann frank, which they've done nine times. but that's it.

nobody else. >> and then this week, a researcher found elie wiesel's name on a list of people to be ban tised after their death. >> now, i don't get why elie wiesel's upset about his name being on a list. but unfortunately for mitt this controversy just seems like it will not die. and if it did, the mormons would posthumously baptize it. so let me explain the ritual, okay? what happens is, a mormon elder reads a list of dead people's names while a living mormon proxy is submerged in water. often in a large baptismal font on the back of 12 oxen representing the 12 tribes of israel. the mormons use it to travel back to baptize people in the past. it's -- it's like it's some kind of -- >> hop tub time machine. >> that's it.

i didn't -- [ cheers and applause ] i didn't even know this guy was a mormon. now, i want to be clear. as television's most famous and important catholic, i do not condone posthumous mormon baptism. if you're going to baptize someone against their will, you do it the catholic will, with an inquisiti inquisition. but i think the mormons are being misunderstood here. mormons are just trying to get these dead jews into heaven. now, of course, they're not allowed into the best mormon heaven. that's in the celestial kingdom. and as for true-born mormons only, it is the first class cabin of paradise. hot towel, warm nuts, the whole shebang. but don't worry, dead jewish viewers. you do -- [ laughter ] you do get admitted to the

terrestrial kingdom, which is sort of like mormon heaven business class. and finally, the riffraff end up in the at least you'll kingdom. it's the sphere populated by the liars, sorcerers, adulterers and whoremongers, so it is literally like flying coach. >> we'll be right back with congresswoman debbie wasserman schultz who has not yet been baptized into the mormon church. i habe a cohd.

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to more information before they make a very difficult decision in their lives. the portion that i want to clarify that i think that people say that this is infringing on the rights of women is the vaginal transducer. because of the language either/or.

however, i do want to make sure that we leave that up to the woman's choice. just clarify that language. i think that's very important. >> that was alabama state senator clay scofield responding to public outcry over a bill he's sponsoring that would require women seeking abortions to undergo either an abdominal or transvaginal ultrasound. he said he'd clarify the language and leave the method of the ultrasound up to the woman. virginia republicans retreated another step today on a similar bill after governor mcdonald's retreat last week on that same bill. today the virginia senate decided to delay its vote on that vote indefinitely. the bill no longer requires an invasive procedure but does require a woman to undergo ultrasound imaging before any abortion in virginia. joining me now is democratic national committee chair, florida congresswoman debbie wasserman schultz. thank you very much for joining me tonight.

i want to show you a clip of darrell issa, who famously held that hearing on contraception last week with no women witnesses. let's hear what he says about that now. >> right now there are attacks on the constitution. and some of them are subtle and some are less subtle. i'm going to relate something to you. last week there was a hearing that was spun and it was essentially spun. we all saw it. i won't call it my greatest success to get a point across on behalf of the american people. >> congresswoman, you know the house better than i do. i want to try to translate what i think i just heard and correct me if i'm wrong. i believe i heard a house chairman saying all sorts of self-justifying stuff about what he did, but in the end admitting he really, really made a big mistake. >> well, i had trouble hearing what mr. issa was saying. but the visual last week of an

entire table full of men with no women commenting on women's rights and women's ability to be able to plan our families and control whether or not we become pregnant and -- or carry a commenting on that, was just absolutely outrageous. now, you know, to add insult to injury, with both alabama and virginia talking about a government-mandated transvaginal or physical inspection of a woman's body before she could make a decision on what she would do when it came to carrying a pregnancy to term is so personally violative that it's just, you know -- every single day there's another example of how the republicans forfeit any claim to being the

party of smaller government. i don't think they ever have been and they have demonstrated every day for the last couple of weeks how personally violative they believe government should be. particularly as it relates to women. >> the heritage foundation conservative group in washington still pushing the idea that the president's compromise language on employer-provided contraception is still an outrage. but we have polling showing that 61% approve of where the president ended up on it, 61% of catholics identical to the population at large approve of where the president is on this. why can't they read the polls and understand where they are politically on the other side of this? approximate well, because on the republican side, they are so extreme. and -- that they've demonstrated repeatedly that these are decisions that are being made on the republican side by