villages now. it came as half began officials said they were outraged that the u.s. soldier accused of killing 16 civilians was flown out of that country and earlier today the taliban announced it was cutting off talks with the u.s. joining me live is richard. what is the latest on all this? >> reporter: well, the u.s. exit strategy from this country, from america's longest war is becoming much more complicated. the u.s., i've just spoken with u.s. official who says that the u.s. planned to exit this country to have all u.s. troops operating from a variety of bases in villages until they pull out in 2014 is on track. what happened today was what they are describing as karzai moment. that the idea that u.s. troops would be confined to plmajor bas and not allowed to leave is not

the plan. not the plan of the defense minister, interior minister and maybe not the plan of all people in karzai's office. this is not the first time we've seen something from karzai that's not on the scripted song sheet that other people were expecting. this complicates the u.s. exit strategy from this country. >> what are you hearing about the reports of outrage of the soldier being taken out of afghanistan? what's the reaction that you're seeing there? >> reporter: the reaction has been to the incident itself. there was more reaction to the korans burning, but there was anger when these 16 civilians were gunned down and stab and chased room to room. a horrific incident carried out by an american staff sergeant. there was a little bit more frustration after the suspect was flown out of the country to

kuwait to face court-martial. how is the united states going to leave this country? currently, the exit strategy is for the u.s. troops to gradually withdraw but continuing their operation, handing over more and more responsibility over time to the afghans, but continuing operations until the last soldiers leave at the end of 2014 unless maybe some stay after that. what happened today, yes we want to speed that up and we want the troops to stay on the bases as soon as possible. that, i'm told is just not going to happen. >> thank you. well, now capitol hill and the growing pressure on senate republicans to support the renewal of a violence against women act. several female senate democrats took the floor today demanding an immediate extension. they also ridiculed republicans for opposing that measure which emerged from the judicious committee last month along party

lines. >> i was stunned by this vote because never before had there been any controversy in all of more than a decade and a half. >> kelly o' donnell is joining us live. what exactly changed? what is it that the republicans are arguing for not supporting this bill, which that have in the past? >> it's not exactly the same bill. it's the amendment process which can always cause some trouble because it sort of the fine print aspect of these things. both parties do support the violence against women act which does put money into federal things like battered women shelter. it has been bipartisan for a long time. democrats have added a few things that deal with same sex couples getting these privileges and that would allow a woman that's an illegal immigrant that may have been the victim of a crime to be able to apply for a visa to stay in the country

longer. some of those things are the source gop frustration. they claim democrats are moving this forward for the political advantage because of this issue of a war on women. it's has such potency over the last few weeks. both sides agree on some things. both sides are talking about it in some tactical aspects. democrats will try to say that republicans are not supporting something they have in the past, trying to make it look like they are turning on it. there's real debate and some of the prominent women in the senate spoke out in favor today. >> thank you so much. let's bring in our political panel. thank you all for being here today. molly, let's again with you. the latest senate battle is

playing into this whole narrative that we have going on in this country. there seems to be a republican-lead war on women. is this another thing that republicans might be doing wrong to lose the female vote? >> i think the democrats are certainly going to frame it as part of that larger narrative. we've seen the whole contraception battle, the rush limbaugh comments and thing after thing that republicans don't get it when it comes to the women's vote. the things in the state, the ultrasound measure. the democrats will continue to drive home this point through things like this legislation, which there ought to be a routine extension of a relatively uncontroversial old piece of legislation to say this republican party just doesn't get women. >> danny, what is your take on this? are republicans concerned at all that they might be turning off the female vote? >> well, i think we in a

political season right now. i think both sides are trying to craft a narrative and any situation they can use as a political football. i think it's a bit disingenious for the democrats to take women issues and say we're anti-women. we're very pro-women and empowering women and building up their ability to raise and maintain a family. i think it's just at this point it's just pure partisan politics on the part of the democrats. i think the american people just aren't buying it. it's something this particular bill we've supported for the last dozen or so years. there's no reason for folks to think that republicans are anti-women. we're anti-adding writers to turn it into a political football. >> how do you respond that they are pushing to peg the republicans as anti-women? are democrats playing politics

with women's issues? >> i'm not one of these democrats that think republicans are anti-women. i think they are pushing a lot of policies that really do have a negative impact on a lot of women. whether it is this hesitance over the violence against women act or the ultrasound measure or person hood or mitt romney saying he wants to get rid of planned parenthood. these are policies that will have a negative impact on women and they are pushing it because they are trying to further an idealological agenda. political seasons are when a lot of these issues are hotly debated and when they tend to be get pushed to the forefront. i think there's a strain of series of policies after policies being pushed by republicans and conservatives that will get in the way of helping women. >> we have a clip to listen to

of mitt romney making a comment and the very thing about planned parenthood that you were just mentioning. let's listen to that. >> of course you get rid of obama care. that's the easy one. there are others. planned parenthood, we're going to get rid of that. >> molly, let's end with you. on the same subject, do you think the gop has some work to do as far as controlling the message here? >> this is another one of those situations where the extended republican primary is dragging the party off message. the fact that rick santorum, who is this living symbol of the culture war is continuing to be a factor and continuing to bring up all of these topics the making romney talk about them, is making republicans talk about them. a lot of republicans are justifiably uncomfortable with that. >> thanks to my panel. we'll see you in a few minutes from now. >> thanks. developing news on wall

street just a short time ago, the s&p 500 cracked the 1,400 barrier for the first time since june of 2008. the s&p index is up 11% this year. that is good news. moments ago, the former governor of illinois walk into a federal prison in colorado. rod blagojevich arrived in colorado this afternoon. got to the prison a lot earlier than he needed to. blagojevich and his caravan went to a local burger joint to grab a bite first. he was surrounded by supporters despite facing a 14-year prison sentence. he sounded optimistic somehow. >> saying good-bye is the hardest thing i've had to do. i'm leaving with a heavy heart, a clear conscience. i was high, high hopes for the future. >> he is illinois's second

former governor in federal prison. george ryan was convicted of corruption back in 2003. coming up. >> speaking english would billion a requirement. it's a requirement we put on other states. it's a condition for sgrg the union. >> rick santorum doubles down afterraising some eyebrows when he tells puerto rico, if you want to become a state, you have to speak english. hbo is cancelling luck after a third horse has died during filming. what is going on? join our conversation on twitter. i'm walt gale, i worked at the colorado springs mail processing plant for 22 years. we processed on a given day about a million pieces of mail. checks, newspapers, bills. a lot of people get their medications only through the mail. small businesses depend on this processing plant. they want to shut down 3000 post offices,

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now to decision 2012 and the

divided fight for the republican nomination, questions remain over whether mitt romney can con sol date conservative support, something he will need if he plans to beat president obama. exit polls show his positions aren't conservative enough. rick santorum is in puerto rico running into trouble about comments he made about what the island needs to do in order to become a state. >> have to speak english. that's a requirement. it's a requirement we put on other states. it's a condition for entering the union. participate in the language of people in the states. >> let's bring back our "news

nation" political panel. leets talk about those comments. this is a poll that we have. i want to read you some of these numbers that likely latino voters shows president obama way, way ahead in support from the latino voting community. not single one of the gop candidates has above 14%. danny, what does that mean to you? do you think that might not have been the smartest move? >> i, myself, am of puerto rican descent. i'm prostate hood and i'm li

lingu lingual. i think they ought to learn english. do i think the federal government ought to impose a mandate for them to become a state that has has to go through this process, i don't think so. it's in their best interest to learn english, but it's also in our best interest as a country to be able to deal with an era of globalization. we have to have folks that are able to communicate and do business in other languages. from a political standpoint, do republicans need the hispanic vote? absolutely. we're 15% of the population today. we'll be 30% in a generation and a half. that doesn't mean with have to pander or compromise on our principles, but we have to engage in a more sincere and ongoing dialogue. >> do you agree with that, moe?

that it's crucial to any republican nominee. >> yeah. i agree with everything that danny just said. i believe that it's very hypocrite cal for rick santorum, a guy that is running around the country talking about the heavy handed of federal government going there and saying you have to speak the language that we want you to speak. >> i want to jump in because rick santorum just double down and is really deputies fendsing those comments. i'd like to listen to what he has to sap and we'll talk about it some more. >> in order to fully integrate into american society, it has to be spoken universally. >> was that a smart move on his part? >> it's not a smart move in the sense that he doesn't sound like he doesn't know what he's talking about since there's no official language of any state in fact united states. that's not a requirement that exists for them to become a state. i think both of the other

panelists are correct that these are the kinds of things that we're just talking about, the women s vote. now you have the hispanic vote. they see slipping through their fingers through the course of this long campaign. >> danny, what do republicans have to do to sway the vote? >> let me add a couple of quick points. polls have shown that 90% of puerto rican families want their children to learn english. to garner a greater percentage of the hispanic vote, they need to engage in a sincere dialogue. they are more conservative than liberal. they have been voting more democrat in recent years because the democratic e party made a sincere push to have a dialogue with them. if we're able to engage hispanic voters in sustain and reasonable

way, they will find we have shared values and philosophies and we care about family and faith and opportunity. as we talk to hispanic voters on policy matter, we'll be able to get more hispanic voters into the republican party. >> we need to move on the a different subject so that we can squeeze everything in. i want to talk about mitt romney who is passed over universal health care is really still haunting him. let's take a look at this. >> time and again i've pointed out i'm not in favor of a health care plan that includes a national mandate. i put a presentation describing my health care plan when i ran last time. >> the 2009 op-ed which he seemed to support mandate, but he acts like he never wrote it. how can he get past this issue? can he? >> i don't know that he can. his republicans opponents aren't letting him forget. democrats aren't letting him forget it.

the bigger issue, it goes far, far beyond what his position is on any given day on health care mandate does a that position does seem to change. the bigger issue is his position on so many issues have been changing whether he was pro-choice as a u.s. senate candidate or now anti-choice as a presidential candidate. he was against or for health care mandate before he was against it. the problem with mitt romney and the reason he hasn't bng able to put this thing to bed yet is he is having trouble communicating not only a vision but what his political soul is. what is his political core? too many voters believe he doesn't have one. he's got to deal with is that if not in this primary season or in the general election or he's done. >> molly, do you think romney's opponents have been easy on him on this subject? do you think they should be giving him harder time? >> considering the passion with which the conservative base

regards this issue, it hasn't been as much as a central topic as i would have expected. we have seen rick santorum in the last month or so prosecuting a tough case against mitt romney on this issue. santorum just doesn't have that big a microphone with no more debates and able to air a lot of ads. he's done a good job of pushing romney on this issue and putting him on the ropes. i think what mo talked about is people have this impression that romney is a flip-flopper or insincere or his explanation is kind of technical. there's not really way for him to get out of it. people just believe this about him. >> let's talk about newt gingrich for a minute. sheer what are the washington examiner is writing. gingrich no longer says he can capture all the 1144 delegates required to wrap up the republican nomination. instead, he now speaks frankly about a new plan, keep romney

from getting to that point by the end of the gop primary season in june, and then start what gingrich is calling a conversation about who should be the republican nominee. danny, do you think this change in strategy would work for him? >> i'll be honest with you. i don't know what that means. a conversation. >> i don't think anybody really does. >> i think what's going to end up happening is we have a process under way by which mitt romney is focused on getting as many dell galts as which he. even fp his wins or loses, his focus is about less of winning a particular state but gathering enough delegates to win the nomination. the focus and attention has to be squarely on president obama and the issue will come down to less about who the republican nominee is and more about president obama. this election will come down to being a referendum on president obama and his policies.

we're $16 trillion. come october, i think the key numbers to watch are going to be 8.3, 3.8 and 47. if gas is over $3.80 that's bad news for the president and if his approval rating is below 37%, that's bad news for the president. i think it will be more a referendum on president obama and his policies than about the republican nominee is. >> mo, i think the message from the gingrich kamcamp is he is staying in this race. rick santorum is saying that newt gingrich is not hindering his own path to the nomination. let's take a listen to that. >> can i just refer you the 50 other answers i've given on this question. the idea that congressman gingrich is stopping me from being able to win, well, i won kansas with 50% of the vote. i think we will do well in missouri, louisiana and in

wisconsin. >> mo, what do you think? do you think that rick santorum can win if newt gingrich does stay in this race? he's saying he's not dropping out. >> it's hard to say. when you look at the math, and i don't pretend to know internal republican primary process that well. when you look at the math, romney does have a credible case to make that the math is on his side and he will likely be the nominee. i think the gingrich was out, santorum would be picking up more delegates and making it a bit tougher for romney to get this. maybe making this likelihood of a mythical brokered convention more likely. the one thing that is clear is that gingrich isn't going anywhere because his ego won't allow him to go anywhere. >> all right. my political panel. my thanks to all of you.

still ahead, vice president biden is hit l the campaign trail. he's delivering the first major speech for the president's re-election campaign. he's calling out the republican candidates. >> i want to tell you what's real bankruptcy, the economic theories of gingrich, santorum and romney. they are bankrupt. you could call it a $2 billion op-ed. it takes major hit. ♪ when your chain of supply goes from here to shanghai, that's logistics. ♪ ♪ chips from here, boards from there track it all through the air, that's logistics. ♪ ♪ clearing customs like that hurry up no time flat that's logistics. ♪

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than $12 million many hum humanitarian aid. the british nooewspaper, the guardian says it got thousands of e-mails. on how to deal with the uprising and joked about his promises of reform. coming up, would you pay $100 to bypass airport patdowns? details on a new faster system the tsa is implementing. [ male announcer ] at scottrade,

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the republican candidates for not supporting the auto bailout. speeding up security, the tsa checks out a program that will help some passengers fly through security. the government unveils its first major campaign to urge smokers to kick the habit. some say the ads are disturbing and go too far. we begin this half hour with the scathing resignation letter hitting gold man sachs where it hurt, the wallet. the firm lost more than $2 billion yesterday after a former employee published one letter as a bomb as an op-ed piece in the new york times. he claims high level execs referring to clients as muppets. if you make enough money for the firm and not an ax murder, you

would be promoted. what are they saying? >> they issued a statement. let me read you from it. we were dispinted to traed assertions made by this individual that do not reflect or values. they also said while they did feel that an individual is entitled to their opinion, there was some concern about it being amplified in a newspaper, a single person's opinion about goldman sachs. >> what does this mean for him as far as being employable in the same industry. >> i'm sure there are people that want to talk to him and others that wouldn't tauk to him with a ten-foot pole.

people have said he was stand up guy. he was not on the way to becoming a managing director, which is the next level he would be promoted. again, stand up person and someone who worked very hard. >> all right. thanks so much. president obama's re-election campaign is getting fired up. the president along with vice president joe biden went after the republican candidates today in major speeches. president obama defended his handling of gas prices today at prince george's community college. the white house fired back. >> we're trying to move toward the future. they want to be stuck in the past. if some of these folks were rrn when columbus set sail, they must have been founding members of the flat earth society. they would not have believed that the world was round.

>> mitt romney, rick santorum and newt gingrich, these guys have a fundamentally different economic philosophy than we do. >> joining me now from the white house is kristen welker. is the campaign taking a new step today? >> reporter: absolutely. make no mistake about it, today marks a new phase in president obama's bid for re-election. you him talking some swipes at his republican rivals. he didn't have to name names because vice president joe biden did. it's customary for vice presidents to assume the role of the attack dog. vice president biden did that today. you played that clip of him c m calling out the republicans by name that they have an opposite economic policy and hammering them for being opposed to the auto bailout. that's what the administration sees as one of its signature achievements. a bit of a glimpse of what we

will see in the coming months. the re-election campaign will be focusing on the auto bailout. it's a new phase in this campaign and joe biden in the state of ohio to do it. the speeches came at the exact same time, we asked the white house about that. they batted the notion away saying people have busy schedules and they happen to fall at the same time. there's no doubt that president obama's re-election bid is taking a new step today. >> the two major speech s, but there's a documentary coming out that's going online; is that right? >> reporter: that's right. this is a 17-minute documentary that was put together. this is the person who directed an inconvenient truth, waiting for superman. definitely high profile. tom hanks narrates this video. i watched a clip. it runs through the president's

past three years in office starting with when he took office, paints him as a leader who came in and prevented an economic crisis. of course, it touts the bin laden raid as well. i expect it to talk about the auto bailout. the president has been really hammered by republicans as of late for the high price of gas. the president has been on the defense. we've seen some of his approval ratings on a roller coaster. in recent days some of them have been on the decline and inched up a bit. the president has been in defensive mode. this video coming out at a time when the president is trying to defend himself against these high gas prices. altogether, the large picture is the president's re-election bid entering a new phase today. >> one more question because i just have to ask. i understand there's some star power at the white house today. tell us about that. >> reporter: george clooney

meeting with president obama. we're hoping he will come out and talk to reporters. yesterday spoke before the senate armed services committee about the crisis in sudan. he talked about the fact that he's concerned there hasn't been enough attention on that war torn country. the fact that people are suffering there. really here to talk about quite a serious matter. a lot of journalists waiting for him to hopefully come out and give us a little idea of what he talked about with the president. >> that's a major cause of his. i do know that. thanks so much. >> reporter: absolutely. the tsa is allowing certain passengers to bypass some of the hassle of airport security screenings if they're willing to pay for it. for $100, some passengers can buy into an expedited skree ed process that's called precheck. you're allowed to keep your shoes and jackets on while they

walk through a metal detector. no more full body scans. one of the ways to qualify is for frequent flyers to be invited by the airline. i'm joined by aviation analyst michael boyd. is this a $100 one time fee or is it $100 every time you fly? >> i understand it $100 to get yourself front of the line and not take off your shoes. it's pay to play. >> it's not widely available. it's in nine airports with plans for expansion. a lot of people will be asking is this sufficient to assess a potential security threat. is this enough to keep it safe? >> no. it's absolutely nonsense. most of the 9/11 hijackers would

pass this test. it doesn't make us any safer. on the other hand, it does make it any less safe because we can't get less safe. the screening process is so bad that anything they do isn't going to make it much worse. >> there are also trying a different thing as far as screening certain paz jers, namely passengers that are p 5 years old and oerld. will changes help focus on passengers that's a greater threat. is this helpful in any way, in your opinion? >> it's sheer nonsense. if you tell somebody over 75 we're not going to pat you down, that makes everybody else a bigger threat. we're not thereto to look for threats. they are there to look for poinpoi pointy objects. the whole thing really shows the great respect for the people in the blue shirt, the officers. the reality is the system they

work for is more tow and go. >> my thanks to you. this year's weather was mild but now it's pay back time for people that have allergies. first, there's a lot going on today. here are some things we thought you should know. the federal reserve is on twitter. one day after creating the account, they have more than 14,000 followers. one of the feds first tweets was a link to a video of how the central bank works. kristin chenoweth is responding to newt gingrich's comments that her abc show is anti-christian. he said i would never do anything that makes fun of my own religion. he said ratings rose because of this controversy. wake up!

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coming up at the top of the hour, march madness begins but the republicans are already down to their final four. what is rmitt romney's path to date. president obama does not hold back in his response to $2.50 gas. back to melissa. you may be reaching for that box of kleenex a the warm and dry winter have created pollen levels sooner than expected. i'm joined by dr. derrick johnson, medical director. thanks for being with us. >> thanks for having me. >> this is just bad news for all of us who suffer allergies. >> yeah, it's really bad news for those allergy sufferers who have problems with tree pollen. the warm weather that we have

experienced in many areas of the country have led to an unusually early release of all that tree pollen and people that are sensitive to that are having a great deal of difficulty right now. >> is it all allergies. there's tree pollen, grass pollen, weed pollen. is there one thing that we need to be concerned about or is it truly every allergy? >> this time of year social security moit's tree pollen. it dumped it into the air and hopes it e gets to where it needs to be. when the weather warms up and everyone wants to be outside and enjoy the great outdoor, then we're exposed to those high levels of tree pollen. what we do to try to prevent those symptoms is start medications well in advance of the allergy season. what happened this year is that unusually early release caught a

lot of us off guard. many allergy sufferers not had a chance to start their medications. then it takes a while to get caught up. >> thank you. >> thank you. hbo's short lived horse racing drama has been cancelled after three horses have died during filming. the decision to cancel the show was made after a horse was injured on tuesday and had to be put down. two other horses died last year. the shows producers were accused of ignoring advice from animal safety experts. this has been a horrible story. i know if it's rotten luck. they are investigating two other horse deaths. hbo released there statement. while we maintained the highest safety standards possible,

accidents happen. and it's impossible to guarantee they won't in the future. how is that -- is that explanation enough? >> i think it reflects what hbo truly -- how they feel. they took a lot of steps to do this safely. i think you're working with very demanding directs, creditatorcr. the ambition of the show was to get inside horse racing. this is not the blimp shot. the cameras were right inside the racing. i think they discovered it's dangerous to do. they can't make the show they want to make and protect the horses in the way they like to. >> this has to be a pr nightmare. you cannot have come back from something like this and have success on a show and people know that horses are dying in the process. >> the theme was the nobility of

these animals and how you can take the grossest people that are horrible and when they come around the horses they get elevated. there's a scene where the horse dies in the first season, it's gut wrenching and they can't be having horses die onset and make a show that sends the message they want to make. i think this was the only decision they could have made. >> there's been so many successful horse movies. the movies make you cry. they are incredibly inspirational. you can see where the thought came from. >> they tried to take a grittier approach. when he says i've got an idea, hbo says, let's do it. the thing is that in this case what they tried to do is

something that appears it's not possible to do it safely. >> thank you for joining us. it's just awful to read about. up next, the federal government unveils the first national antismoking campaign trying to shock smokers into quitting. some critics are calling it revolting. it's our "news nation gut check." you can join the "news nation" on twitter. [ male announcer ] if you think tylenol is the pain reliever orthopedic doctors recommend most for arthritis pain, think again. and take aleve. it's the one doctors recommend most for arthritis pain. two pills can last all day. ♪ but last year my daughter was checking up on me. i wasn't eating well. she's a dietitian, and she suggested i try boost complete nutritional drink to help get the nutrition i was missing. now i drink it every day and i love the great taste. [ female announcer ] boost has 26

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it's time for"news nation gut check." the center for disease control is launching a new anti-smoking campaign and this one is meant to shock you. >> it's a vascular disease brought on my spoking. >> my finger started to go piece

by piece. >> the $12 million ad campaign is called tips from former smokers. it's 14 smokers that have since quit but not without consequences. they are living with smoking related diseases and disabilities. >> then wig. >> then the device. now you're ready. >> adds like this are meant to shock. some researchers say they have the opposite effect because turn away and don't hear the message. what does your gut tell you? do you think the new graphic ad campaign will work? go to facebook.com/newsnation to vote on that. take a look at what the "news nation" is saying about yesterday. do you think the unofficial name

of the nike's new sneaker is offensive. 27% said yes. 73% said no. pat writes i'm offended. it's like naming a shoe honoring the bombing of pearl harbor. that does it for this thursday edition of "news nation." richard is in for martin bashir. he is up next. [ artis brown ] america is facing some tough challenges right now. two of the most important are energy security and economic growth. north america actually has one of the largest oil reserves in the world. a large part of that is oil sands. this resource has the ability to create hundreds of thousands of jobs. at our kearl project in canada, we'll be able to produce these oil sands with the same emissions as many other oils and that's a huge breakthrough. that's good for our country's energy security and our economy. i want to fix up old houses.

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good afternoon. it's thursday, march 15th. here is what's happening. he shoots. >> speak english. that would be a requirement. it's a requirement we put on other states. >> rick puts up a brick. >>