the ditto head party. let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm chris matthews. leading off, party boss. the battle over contraception is one of those issues where both parties are convinced they hold the winning hand. rush limbaugh has made the issue birth control itself, not a moral issue but about some strange attitude of his toward women, toward sex or whatever. and the republicans' refusal to

fight him. president obama has waded into this controversy. he called sandra fluke, the targ target. plus, you know things are going badly for the republican party when george f. will says it's time to think more about winning congress than trying to win with the white house. what's behind the forbidding sense that the republicans are blowing this election. we have new numbers out from ohio, wisconsin and washington state which happens to hold its caucuses tomorrow. finally, let me finish tonight with this ditto head behavior by the grand old party. we begin with the woman who's been the target of rush limbaugh's ugly attacks, georgetown law school sandra fluke, also an msnbc political

analyst joan walsh. let me ask just about human interest because i think there's a lot of human interest, sandra. can i call you sandra? >> sure. >> it happened right across the hall in my office, it was an honor for me, you took the call from president obama. >> i aappreciate you allowing me to commandeer your office. >> anything for you or the president. >> president obama called to express concern, make sure i was okay given some of the colorful attacks that have been leveled at me and to also thank me for an express support and thank me for helping to amplify the voices of so many american women who are talking about how important this regulation is. >> joan, you and i have similar views though you're a woman and i'm a man and there are different perspectives perhaps. >> not on this one. >> rush limbaugh learned live on the air today that the president

had called you. let's listen what he had to say on the air right after that. >> so the president has called her and asked her if she's all right. she said she was, i hope. do we know what she said? she told that to andrea mitchell? i offered to pay for aspirins. i thought i'd been quite compassionate here. you know, also, one thing that's patently obvious is that when the left wants to pretend it they have no sense of humor, they are excellent at it. >> sense of humor, slut. later he learned what the president said to you, he mocked it. let's listen to the mocking of the president for showing compassion toward you. >> apparently sandra fluke told obama when he asked her if she was okay, she said that obama

told her that she should tell her parents they should be proud. okay. i'm going to button my lip on that one. the president tells sandra fl e fluke, 30-year-old sandra fluke, parents should be proud. okay! >> so, joan, you and i are pretty articulate on matters like politics. i think we're beyond the range here of just regular democrat versus republican politics. something strange in the water with rush limbaugh. joining in this fight from his high level, i must say, basically attacking an individual for being part of this debate and then going after them at hom nim and then make comments i've never heard made in the context of public debate.

>> right. you said we're articulate. you're articulate. i'm kind of speechless listening to that. i had only read the words but hearing his voice it ace ridiculo ridiculous. of course the president called sandra. he's a father. sandra, i know you're 30 years old and you're a grown-up and i respect and admire you, but there's a certain reaction you have if you're a parent of a daughter. mine is in her 20s, chris, like excuse me, how could anyone say that, how do you get away with it and repeat it over and over. he's crossed a line. i do my best not to listen to him anymore. he really is doing a lot of it to rile us up. but i think sandra got under his skin. he sounds absolutely slightly frightened to me. he sounds bewildered in a special way. i think something different is going on. i think we've reached a tipping point in this country where people are talking back to this kind of garth and misogyny.

>> i have a taurt in her 20s, obviously we have these conversations. we live in the real world. i'm very happy about birth control as an institution, as an american. it's a life reality and a right. for him to attack you because you think it should be part of health insurance. are you stunned? we're talking an insurance issue. >> it was pretty surprising. i really appreciate your use of the word "reality." we're talking about federal government policy and that has to be focused on reality and not ideology. the reality is this is a basic health care need in order to prevent terrible medical consequences and unintended pregnancy. that it's reality. >> you don't have to make the case i make, it reduces the number of abortions in this country dramatically. one reason we don't have as many or more. let me ask you about the republican party. joan, you may want to comment on this. joan, the republican party is not an evil party. it's not made up of evil people.

it has people who have views we agree it and sometimes it's dead wrong. but it has not spoken against this man rush limbaugh. the only words we've got is this peep from santorum about his words being absurd. falling back on the joke he's just an entertainer. normally day to day he's their spiritual ideological leader. we hear from boehner, the so-had called leader of the republicans in the congress saying something like, what, i don't even get it, inappropriate language. he used the word "slut" instead of prostitute or hooker. it's not inappropriate language but inappropriate thought and certainly inappropriate attack on a private citizen. what do you think about the republican party here? absolute ditto heads. >> you're right. inappropriate is the word you leave for a prank, a whoopee

cushion, not a word you use in a context like this. chris, i want to give you credit. you and i disagree periodically, but i have to say you were on this a week after the inauguration. rush limbaugh said he hoped the president failed. i think it was phil gingree said that wasn't the nicest thing to say. he had to go on rush's show and kiss his butt. these guys have been afraid to stand up to him for the longest time. now their remarks, they're standing up but that's eye good thing. but they're not saying anything what they say, this is massage any -- misogyny. >> sandra, have you heard anything from the right apologizing? >> nobody has said anything to me directly. i understand mr. boehner made some comments distancing himself. but one thing i want to jump in

with is, it wasn't just one person who made these comments on the airwaves. there were multiple commentators who used this type of language and characterizations. >> who are they? >> glenn beck for one. they weren't the only two. so i really just hope that we can take a stand and decide that this is the point when this is going to be unacceptable discourse in alltors of our society. >> thank you, joan, thank you, sandra. you don't need luck. your clients will be lucky to have you. good luck with your career, move on to greatness. >> thank you. >> joan, thank you. have a nice weekend. coming up, why do republicans think limiting birth control is a political winner? we'll get some answers if there are any, you're watching "hardba "hardball" on a friday night on msnbc.

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welcome back to "hardball." rush limbaugh's outrageous comments overshadowed the headline yesterday, the republican effort was rejected to allow any employer or health insurance provider to deny coverage for contraceptives. republicans tried to frame their objections on the grounds of religious freedom but thanks to limbaugh, it's been focused on contraception, birth control if you will and women's rightsor, in general. those are the big winners for the democrats. is the gop hurting itself with this fight? and whoo besides firing up the base is the republican party getting out of this of all things birth control.

susan first, you know, it's -- i want to start with women on this always because although birth control is generally because of heterosexual sex that involves both partners and the idea that only women care about birth control is insane. but they do care about it because they're the ones that can get pregnant when they don't want to. why do the republicans, let's start with the obvious one, who supports the requirement that private health insurance plans cover birth control, just two-thirds of americans, 63%. very few things are this dramatic, 63/33. who supports contraception coverage by insurance coverage generally? democrats 83%, independents 62%, republicans even 42%. susan, this is not a winner statistically for republicans. >> the thing about contraception it's not a winner for republicans. talking about respect for religion, religious freedom, that's an argument they can make or talking about mandates by the

obama health care plan that seem intrusive or extensive or too much, that's an argument they could make. that was the argument they were trying to make yesterday. rush limbaugh has hijacked that argument and made it about contraception. >> he isn't speaking for the church. >> it's hard to imagine -- even rick santorum comfortable talking about the social issues wanted not to talk about this, wanted to dismiss it and move on to other things. >> he's getting into the jobs issue again where he belongs. >> where he ought to be, where he's trying to be. >> i think he's -- you know, jo john, he's about the only one who said anything, using the lingo, oh, he's an entertainer, don't take it seriously. he said it was absurd. they retreat to this. these cultural issues, will they drive up the republican base next november? will they help them when they need -- if romney is it the nominee, he may be, probably will be, they need to grab the

center and this brings in the base, is there any logic to why they keep talking this stuff up? >> well, i think there's logic to it although i think it's flawed logic. look, i have been convinced for the past two or three years that the republican base was going to turn out in november of 2012. they have been motivated by hatred of, animus toward president obama and i think that even though we've seen some poor turnout numbers in some of the primary republicans and caucus states, i think in the end the republicans will turn out. the white house believes the republican base will turn out strictly on the grounds they want barack obama out of office. susan makes the correct point, which is that republicans did think at the beginning they could win this argument on religious freedom grounds and they also thought they could extend the argument to try to make it look like president obama was trying to be too intrusive, government telling you what to do, a big government issue. >> here's the republican conundrum, hear an interview of jim heath of ohio news the other

day, mitt romney was talked about the blunt amendment, the amendment that says if you have a moral objection you don't have to provide health insurance for birth control. here is what i think most say is his instinct. he said, let's stay out of this one. here he is. >> rubio is being debated i believe later this week that deals with banning or allowing employers to ban providing female contraception. have you taken a position on this? he said he was for this. we'll talk about personhood in a second. have you taken a position? >> i'm not for the bill, but look the idea of presidential candidates getting into questions about contraception within a relationship between a man and a woman, husband and wife, i'm not going there. >> that's so romney. that's who he really is, i think. the guy who says, you're crazy to get involved in bedroom issues between a man and a woman on contraception. a short time later after that interview, romney said the following -- he misunderstood what he was asked. let's listen to his correction a few hours later. >> i didn't understand his

question. of course i support the blunt amendment. i thought he was talking about some state law that prevented people from getting contraceptions. i thought it was some ohio legislation where employers were prevented from providing contraceptives. so i talked about contraceptives and so forth. i really misunderstood the question. >> blount is his liaison on capitol hill. he thought it was a state issue. that was like a top spinning around so fast. you're the expert on this. is that the real romney, the first one and the second is the political one? >> you hit the nail on the head. the fist is the real mitt romney, the second trying to get tout of trouble. the romney campaign understands. they can read the polls as clearly as we can. president obama won the women vote in 2008 by 13 points, a big gender gap. now he's up 10 points with women

on issues of the economy over the course of the last two months alone. they are looking down the barrel of a huge problem if female problems get more alienated from the republican party. mitt romney does not want to be in that place, it will doom his campaign. he is trying to get ahold of a barge pull and get away from this issue, both because of what he believes and the politics of it, but the party tries to keep pull him back in, like the "godfather" thing. it's bad. >> the entertainment in this industry of politics and comm t commentary is to catch a guy like romney, in this pir owe wet to what he is to what he should be. >> it shows you why a lot of conservatives have trouble warming to him and don't trust him but it also tells you he would be the most formidable against the president. when you want to be the first romney, not getting into the contraception debate -- romney

has done pretty well women. he split in michigan. >> compared to santorum. if you're sparring partner is rick santorum among women, that's not the big leagues. >> good point. >> let's look at the numbers, women and obama, a new ap poll basically, obama's job approval among women is 53, look he beats romney 54/41. >> you can't win a national election with that gap among women. there are more women voters than men. you need to fix that. >> here's how the democrats explain this. here is the latest, democrats senate campaign committee ad. just look at this. they're calling the republicans -- it they're saying they're launching a war on women. >> it's an assault on women's health and freedom and republican candidates for the u.s. senate all across the country are pushing extreme legislation that threatens health care for women.

it's time to end the culture wars and get to work for the middle class. >> so we know where that's headed, right, susan? the democrats are going to dance on this for a while. >> that's right. with all the senators having voted on it, it's an issue that can work in a lot of the issues. >> have a nice weekend, john. i'm one of your biggest -- good luck next week had when your movie comes oupt. what a week to be able to be the man behind a great american movie, wood di harrelson, who's the other guy in it? >> ed harris. >> julianne moore. what a cast. you're big-time, a movie maker now. up next, actress julianne moore doesn't just play sarah palin, there she is, she becomes her. and she explains how she did it, next on the sideshow." you're watching "hardball" only on msnbc.

back to "hardball." now for a hot sideshow. first up, crowd control. president obama traveled to new york city yesterday for a quartet of fundraising events. while the president's dress room was packed with supporters, it wasn't all smooth sailing. let's watch how the president reacted when interrupted while talking about his foreign policy achievements. >> we ended torture. we promoted human rights. we made it clear that america is a pacific power. we are leading again by the power of our moral example. that's what changes. none of this change -- nobody's announced a war, young lady, but we appreciate your sentiment.

you're jumping the gun a little bit there. >> well, let's hope so. he was responding to a woman yelling out "no war with iran." the question is how does that square with the president's own statement in this new article that he's not going to bluff when it comes to keeping nuclear weapons out of iran's hands. next up, becoming palin. we're a week away from the premiere of "game change." an inside look at the presidential race of 2008. how did actress julianne moore tackle playing sarah palin. here she is on "the tonight show." >> i lipped -- listened to her tape "going rogue," we found all of her media appearances, put it all on my ipod. wiped everything off except for "ice, ice baby." the song my daughter ice-skated to. my 14-year-old son was really embarrassed by that.

nothing worse than their mom with sarah palin and "ice ice baby" on their ipod. i put it on in the car. i would listen to it when i was running. i had it on constantly. >> talk about bringing a job home with you. that's that darryl daryl hannah did for years. up next, republicans should think more about winning congress than winning the white house.