there's another way to minimize litter box odor: purina tidy cats. tidy cats premium line of litters now works harder to help neutralize odors in multiple-cat homes. and our improved formula also helps eliminate dust. so it's easier than ever to keep your house smelling just the way you want it. purina tidy cats. keep your home smelling like home. good ank afternoon, it's monday, march 19th. here's what's happening. >> i don't think you're going to replace an economic lightweight with another economic lightweight. senator santorum has the same characterist as the president in terms of his background. he's made his life in

government. >> mitt romney and barack obama are the same. this is man who doesn't understand conservative principles. he doesn't have a core. >> ouch. >> i expect you guys to behave yourselves. >> done bet on it. t politicians gone wild. spring break 2012. here is the first day of spring break for many schools and campuses. for the men of 2012, things are getting wild on the campaign trail as the gop contest narrows like the funnel on a beer bong, it's especially hairy for the man who continues to expose himself as a hard line con sefbtive, rigid rick santorum. while mitt romney rocked puerto rico with a major victory there, santorum came away with sunday's primary with a little more than a suntan.

santorum spent sunday at lsu in baton rouge rounding out his obliques with a work out at the batting cage. santorum was looking to get at shot at southern comfort with louisiana's primary coming up on saturday. first, it's illinois where santorum campaigned ahead this morning ahead of that state's primary tuesday and gave prop to to his mrs., the coupon clipping gun slinging. >> i am a gun owner, but my wife owns more guns than i do. if we weren't on a budget, she'd own a lot more guns than i do. >> i'm telling you, it is wild throughout. just ask mitt romney if you can catch him. when he's not bragging about how his pancake is bigger than rick's. >> this pancakes are as large as my win in puerto rico last night. >> that is really something

indeed. while romney is side ling up to mr. butterworth, president obama is bringing home the bacon in the form of sizzling february fund raising, a $45 million hold combined with the dnc last month alone. surely enough reason to pause and enjoy some st. patrick's day beer. you know who else felt he deserved a bit of rest. after weeks of losing primaries and being ignored, newt found solace this weekend at a zoo in washington. what a relief. we thought he might have gone on a cruise. let's bring in our panel from washington. jonathan capehart, karen finney and michael eric dyson.

karen, given mitt romney's current poll rating, ahead of rick santorum by 37 to 31% according to a new fox chicago poll. is this the ultimate proof that being inauthentic and uninspiring really doesn't matter in these primaries. it's about being organized, and if you're organized, you can win? >> it certainly shows that if you understood the way the calendar works and the way the math works and you have the money to be organized, sure. it means you can get yourself to the nomination. although, again, we'ved talked about this before. part of the reason that mitt romney hasn't been able to do better is, again, he's just not able to connect with all of the different parts of the party. still going to have a problem in the general election. it seems he's been able to out organize his opponents. >> professor dyson, romney went after the president in his own

backyard of chicago claiming his policies would hinder innovation. take a listen. >> the reality is under president obama's administration, these pioneers would have found it much, much more difficult if not impossible to innovate and invite. a regulator would have shut down the wright brothers for their dust pollution. the government would banned thomas edison's lightbulb. >> you teach history. what will make of his historical fiction. >> we live in the united states of amnesia. we're addicted to forgetfulness. it's interesting that he chooses industrial era analogies to make his point that barack obama has deployed the social media with ingenious use.

his ability to reach his listeners and those whose are his followers has been extraordinary. it seems to me that barack obama has done a great deal of innovation and brought the kind of ethic and spirit of entrepreneurship to bear upon these issues. i think mr. romney is grasping after straws. >> i'll take that as a damnation of his historical expertise. jonathan, is this shamus a story line or is it a cheap shot or does it have merits? >> it's a little of both. it's a cheap shot because it's so easy and delicious to talk about every time to just to remind you of just something

quirk quirky in mitt romney's past. when you're trying to make the distinction between yourself and mitt romney, there are any number of things you can bring up. these two guys are just completely different in a whole lot of ways. i think for rick santorum or anyone to bring up the dog on the roof story, is just to stick a -- poke him in the eye. >> go ahead karen? >> i happen to know jonathan is not a dog owner. he p doesn't have the same love of dogs. my little sweet precious puppy, which if you have a dog, the idea of putting that creature on the top of your car is inhumane. you would understand that better jonathan. >> i have a cat, and if i said i'm putting the cat on the roof of the car, they would kill me. professor, dyson, i'm beginning

to wonder if newt gingrich could use some food stamps at this time in order to refuel. he looks tired. he's disappeared from the campaign trail for a few days. we have checked with tiffany's here in new york. he hasn't been there. we're checking with carnival cruises to see if he's on around the country. >> he is meandering a bit. let's talk about wic, women, infants and children. that the program he needs to be on. newt gingrich is twisting in the wind. he's jealous of the fact and envious of santorum and romney. the bitter politics that he deployed in the past is not working. he's lost a strategy. if he can't put his dog on the

top of his roof, at least he can drag some of other animal behind his tail pipe and figure out a way to do himself. >> stop laughing and stay with us, please. coming up next, a kmachange of gear. the senseless killing of a florida teenager becomes a moment of deep reflection. stay with us. ♪ c'mon dad!

i'm here to unleash my inner cowboy. instead i got heartburn. [ horse neighs ] hold up partner. prilosec isn't for fast relief. try alka-seltzer. it kills heartburn fast. yeehaw! nature valley trail mix bars are made with real ingredients you can see. like whole roasted nuts, chewy granola, and real fruit. nature valley trail mix bars. 100% natural. 100% delicious.

the passat is one of nine volkswagen models named a 2012 iihs top safety pick. not that we'd ever brag about it. turn right. come on, nine. turn left. hit the brakes. huh? how'd that get there? [ male announcer ] we can't hide how proud we are to have nine top safety picks like the passat and jetta. so we're celebrating with our "safety in numbers" event. that's the power of german engineering. right now lease the 2012 jetta for $159 a month.

shock and grief turn to outrage with new information about the fatal shooting of a teenage boy by a neighborhood watch volunteer in florida last month. his name was trayvon martin, just 17 years old.

here is the man who claims he shot the boy in self-defense in a newly released call to 911. >> this guy looks like he's up to no good or he's on drugs or something. he's dpot his hand in his waistbands, and he's a blackmail. >> are you following him? >> yep. >> we don't need you to do that. >> here are the chilling emergency calls from witnesses that followed. >> so you think he's yelling help? >> yes. >> all right, what is your number? >> there's gunshots. >> i just heard sgun shots. >> there's a black guy down. looks like he's been shot and he's dead. >> we want to bring back our panel. john, in a sobering article that you've written today, you say this. one of the burdens of being a black male is carrying the heavy weight of other people's suspicio

suspicions. is that the dynamic that appears to have played out in this horrendous killing? >> yes, it is. you played part of george zimmerman's 911 call. it was that call that i listened to on the web saturday afternoon that just kept me up. i woke up very early on sunday morning thinking about that calm and thinking about the other call where you hear someone yelling for help and the gunshot. i just kept thinking of all those times, those conversations that i've had, not conversations, more like lectures from my mother and stepfather about the dos and don'ts, mostly don'ts of being, at that time, a teenager. as i said to my editor after he read my piece, i said listening to that call, trayvon could have been me at that age. i could have been trayvon. also recognizing the fact that as a black male, i still could be trayvon.

as an african-american male, it's not, 16, 17, 18 and then you're in the free and clear, if you will. it's as for as long as we live that we, as i wrote, carry the heavy weight of other people's suspicions. even when you're going about your every day life. >> absolutely. professor, dyson, florida is proud of its self-defense law, which they call stand your grand where immunity is granted if an individual feels threatened. isn't that a license to kill someone without any provocation. if you induce any kind of fear in me, i can take your life. >> sure that's the case. let's be honest and clear here. it's not just the instance of killing someone that you feel threatened by. we know the social construction of threat. the social production of fear around black masculinity as mr. capehart just indicated suggest that black men are the vicious

target. we are seen as stalking, victimizers of white people and others. as a result of that, we look more suspicious. it's like when you go to the airport and they say be sure to turn in somebody you think is suspicious. as jonathan capehart, we bear the burden of suspicious and what james baldwin called the burden of representation representing every fearful and hateful stereo type of black masculinity that has been projected upon our bodies as the screen of white fear. this is a travesty, had a white boy be shot by a black man, he would be in jail now. he would be in jail awaiting his arraignment to see if he's convicted or brought up on charges of murder. i think in this case, the irony and tragedy is this young black young man speaks from the grave but cannot get justice in this date. we need the fbi, the department

of justice to intervene and say let's treat this young man as an american citizen fully worthyf protect him. what it didn't do in life, perhaps it can do in death. >> karen, the alleged shooter was warned off by the 911 operator, but still he pursued this teenager. he says he acted in self-defense. again, i have to ask you, how is it self-defense when you're the one in pursuit of the individual? >> when you're the one with the gun and the child that you are chasing has skittles and iced tea in his hands. that argument doesn't hold up. we are learning more details about this individual, about his record. he's got a little bit of a record of assault with an officer. there's still a lot of questions as to why he wasn't tested for drugs or alcohol on the scene. why he remains at large, if you will. martin, there's one thing i hope we can, i hope some people can

take from this and that is think about how you would feel if you're white, black, asian, whatever, if that was your child and you heard a 911 call where it was very clear that the race of your child, the way your child looked was the reason this person chose to pursue them and kill them. i think there's so few opportunities to really try to reach across racial lines and say to other americans, just feel for a moment what that would feel like and what that is like. that's what this experience that jonathan is talking about. that's the experience that dr. dyson is talking about. as black woman, i get it too. if i'm dressed up in any workout clothe, i've had the door slammed in any face by neighbors that will talk to me in a suit. the point being the suspicions that we have, the prejudices, there's an opportunity to have a glimpse into where some of that comes from and why some of that is a burden that people carry.

>> john, is this not a horrendous example of why vigilante justice is a bad idea and when coupled with racial profiling, racial stereo typing, it's a horrific mixture. >> this is a tragedy on so, so many levels. when you listen to the zimmerman 911 call and the officer, you can hear him get out of his truck or his car and the police officer tells him we don't need you to do that and yet he goes forward. not only he chases down trayvon martin, but he's bringing a 9 millimeter handgun to whatever confrontation there is. one chilling thing in the interview that his mother gave to matt this morning on the today show, she said you can hear trayvon screaming for help. that was my baby screaming for help. when you hear that, how can you

not feel for that family, for trayvon and for all parents? >> martin, the other thing is we're having this national conversation about some of these immigration laws and racial profiling. this is racial profiling. this is what happens when it goes too far. this is why we're pressing these issues. it's not an abstract. >> when combined with the lethal force exercised by the state or citizen that's been legally armed by the state, this is why gun laws target black men and black people in general with vicious particularlity and this is why we need to address this because it's bigger than trayvon martin. it's about all of us that have vulnerable to these powers. >> may god rest that young man's soul. at 6:00 p.m. al sharpton will interview the father as well as

the family attorney. president obama raises a pint. there's little to cheer about when it comes to gas prices. ♪ [ donovan ] i hit a wall. and i thought "i can't do this, it's just too hard." then there was a moment. when i decided to find a way to keep going. go for olympic gold and go to college too. [ male announcer ] every day we help students earn their bachelor's or master's degree for tomorrow's careers. this is your moment. let nothing stand in your way. devry university, proud to support the education of our u.s. olympic team. ♪ ♪ you do

♪ something to me ♪ that nobody else could do ♪ introducing gold choice. the freedom you can only get from hertz to keep the car you reserved or simply choose another. and it's free. ya know, for whoever you are that day. it's just another way you'll be traveling at the speed of hertz.

i'm michael bazinet, president of creative digital imaging of bangor, maine. we have customers all over the united states. we rely on the postal service for everything that we do. the eastern maine processing facility is vital to our operation and our success. if we lose this processing facility we could lose clientele because of increased mailing times. we would have to consider layoffs as a result of that. closure of this plant will affect all of us. ♪ but does bringing a floor back to life really make us heroes? [ chuckles ] yes. yes, it does. ♪ call 1-800-steemer i care about my car because... i think it's a cool car. i think it's stylish and it makes a statement at the same time.

and i've never had a car like that. people don't totally understand how the volt works. when the battery runs down the gas engine operates. i don't ever worry about running out of battery power... because it just switches over to my gas engine. i very rarely put gas in my chevy volt. i love my chevy volt and i've never loved a car. ♪ the president's re-election campaign announced this morning that it raised $45 million in february alone, bringing his total war chest to $300 million and counting. he raised a glass to celebrate st. patrick's day on saturday and went to church on sunday. now he is headed out on a four state swing to talk about energy. kristen welker is live at the white house. the president pulled in $45 million in january. that's short of the $56 million he raised in 2008. do you think the white house is

concerned about this or do your think they are expecting bigger donors to come back in as the campaign heats up? >> reporter: i think they are hoping the bigger donors will step back in. i spoke with one of officials who said it's tough to compare 2008 to this year because in 2008 president obama was running that very heated and historic primary against then senator hillary clinton. they believe that might account for some of the reasons that you've seeing this disparity. the campaign makes the case their donor base is larger right now. having said that, the facts are what they are. a lot of people aring loog at these two figures and saying that the economy might be accounting for the fact that the campaign hasn't raised as much as they did at this point in 2008. also the fact that you have some disaffected voters and the general election hasn't begun yet. the campaign really keeping its fingers crossed that once the general election does begin you'll start to see donors

mobilizing. >> the president is going on this four-state swing to talk about energy. is the price of gas an argument the white house would like to have? >> reporter: well, of course, gas prices have taken a bit of a toll on the president's approval rating. having said that, he's getting out, getting on the road, has this four state tour. he's getting to really defend his energy policy. what the white house calls the all of the above approach to his energy policy. as you know republicans have been hammering the president on this issue. this is his chance to really answer them and doing so by visiting a number of swing states. the white house asked about this today. is this a pr trip. they pushed back against that allegation. there's no doubt that this issue laws him to get out and talk to voters and defend his energy policy. martin. >> we will be discussing that later in the broadcast. kristen welker live at the white

house. thank you. >> stay with us. the day's top lines are coming up. >> as far as shamus the dog, the issues of character important in this election. ♪ apple or cherry? cherry. oil or cream? oil or cream? cream. reddi-wip uses real dairy cream. nothing's more real than reddi-wip. oh! [ baby crying ] ♪ what started as a whisper ♪ every day, millions of people choose to do the right thing. ♪ slowly turned to a scream ♪ there's an insurance company that does that, too. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy?

♪ amen, omen

twenty-five thousand mornings, give or take, is all we humans get. we spend them on treadmills. we spend them in traffic.

and if we get lucky, really lucky, it dawns on us to go spend them in a world where a simple sunrise can still be magic. twenty-five thousand mornings. make sure some of them are pure michigan. your trip begins at michigan.org. frnchts the millionaire with the taste of pancakes to the scrappy undogs war. >> these pancakes are something else. they are as large as my win in puerto rico. i'm looking forward to getting one of these pancakes. number one i need some pain cakes. >> pancake. >> i guarantee you, we will win this nomination.

>> i was smitten. >> i don't have a lot of billionaire friends. >> what are you doing to celebrate st. patrick's day? >> i went to an irish pub. >> it's only 3:00 in the afternoon. >> it's st. patrick's day. >> it's the nastiest i've seen. >> i'd love to be able the get one-on-one with governor romney. >> i don't think you'll replace an economic lightweight with another lightweight. >> if i'm a lightweight, he's a big government heavy weight. >> this is someone that doesn't have a core. romney and barack obama are the same. >> it's the nastiest i've seen. >> the gas hike trio ought to resign if not, she should fire them. >> you happen to be wrong. i don't have money invested in goldman sachs.

>> when i came to the united states senate i really did find the lord. >> rick santorum, now has secret service with him on the campaign trail. i think it's the first time he used protection. >> you honestly believe there's people in the department of justice who favor pornographers over children and family? >> the proof is in the prosecution. >> joining us with our panel of elite snobs. julian, if a presidential primary, is it the norm for candidates to focus so much on sex? first we had mr. santorum condemning contraception and now hear pardons on the evils of porn. one-half think he will suggest an amendment recommending the missionary for every citizen fp. >> god forbid. i think it's not and there's

been a lot of comparisons made by republicans to the '08 race between obama and clinton. in that race both obama and clinton for the most part went to the center. here it's become like the archie bunker hour. you couldn't do a better job offending more con switch wen ss constituencies if you tried. the evidence is very clear. the republicans and particularly romney, have a 20 point deficit with independents. they are offending important groups like hispanics. most importantly, they're not talking about the issue on every everyone's mind being the economy largely because their argument that the stimulus wouldn't work has collapsed now. >> dana, santorum is talk about banning porn but wouldn't that be in violation of the first

amendment? >> well, he is swla creative with his use of the constitution. i think you're being unfair that he would have the federal government mandate the missionary position but have states disallow a position. >> i stand corrected by you. >> in terms of sexual position, he's more of a federalist. >> when we go back to the birth control issue, he's taken issue clearly that the griswald should not apply in his book. terribly surprising he would take a different view on questions of porn as well. he's done this all along in terms of church questions going back to welfare reform and the faith based organizations. he is very much a big government conservative in terms of the power of government to tell people how they should behave. >> julian, in mr. santorum's defense, he keeps pointing out that he's authentic.

he speaks from the heart as against romney who he accuses of being inauthentic and manufactured, but doesn't the polling suggest that americans are more likely to support a disciplined and well-organized candidate as opposed to one who like santorum speaks off the cuff and hopes for the best? >> well, i think that's true. i think the polling shows overwhelmingly to your earlier question about the culture wars that never on every question whether it was contraception, whether gay marriage, or a whole host of issues that the republicans have touched on, choice that they lose almost every single one of the culture wars. santorum, as we said here before, has a very hard argument saying he would be electable in the general election. i think romney at the same time the authenticity question is a big drag on him. we've kind of made the jokes about him in the past using bill

maher's line that he looks like a mannequin. he's not only authentic as his personal story is not authentic, but he doesn't seem to have a real authentic economic plan that people understand. we were losing 800,000 jobs a month when obama came in. we are now gaining 200,000 a month. we were at negative eight of economic growth. we're now at positive two. it doesn't seem to me leaving all else aside that romney or any of the republicans have a credible argument and this is what independents, the 20 to 30% of the voters in the middle of the spectrum want to hear about. >> dana, i want to play you a clip of a pastor who introduced santorum at an event last night that's getting some attention.

listen to this. >> we don't worship budda . we worship god. >> is this the man santorum wants people to hear from? what's going on? >> you can make people a little speechless with this sort of thing. >> it's happening. >> it's happening to each of these people. they have no idea what's about to come out of some guy's mouth. the problem is you need the guys to appeal to your base of supporters here. you got to get them out there in front of the crowds. you can't control what they're going to do and occasionally that will come back and bite

you. rick santorum could probably have that happen more than if it happened to poor mitt romney. >> there's an important point here. >> sorry, i have to go. thank you so much. >> thanks. coming up, new details about the soldier accused of an unspeakable crime and the war that goes on. ♪ you are my sunshine, my only sunshine ♪ ♪ you make me happy [ female announcer ] choose the same brand your mom trusted for you. children's tylenol, the #1 brand

of pain and fever relief recommended by pediatricians and used by moms decade after decade. of pain and fever relief recommended by pediatricians for a hot dog cart. my mother said, "well, maybe we ought to buy this hot dog cart and set it up someplace." so my parents went to bank of america. they met with the branch manager and they said, "look, we've got this little hot dog cart, and it's on a really good corner. let's see if we can buy the property." and the branch manager said, "all right, i will take a chance with the two of you." and we've been loyal to bank of america for the last 71 years. i was strong before weight watchers, but i'm stronger with it. i believe because it works. ♪ if you want it you got it

[ female announcer ] join now for free. hurry, offer ends march 24th. weight watchers points plus 2012. because it works. weight watchers points plus 2012. i heard they found energy here. it's good. we need the jobs. [customer:] we need to protect the environment. [worker:] we could do both. is that possible? [announcer:] at conocophillips, we're helping power america's economy with cleaner, affordable natural gas. more jobs. less emissions. a good answer for everyone. well, if it's cleaner and affordable. as long as we keep these safe. there you go. thanks. [announcer:] conocophillips. how do we get people to chew another piece? i got this one. oh hey. [ male announcer ] spit it out. or yeti will find you. [ grunts ] i like him. thanks ryan. [ male announcer ] new stride whitemint. the ridiculously long lasting gum.

u.s. army staff sergeant robert bales who is accused of killing 16 afghan civilian s meeting with his lawyer in kansas. his attorney says this case will have long lasting implications far beyond the fate of his client who remains in solitary confinement. >> you can imagine a more difficult case. every challenge. this case has political ramification, legal ramificat n

ramification, social ramifications. >> retired u.s. army colonel jack jacobs is an analyst and recipient of the medal of honor. you know the story of this man. he suffered two injuries. does any of that, any of that give you any mitigation as far as his actions? >> not at all. everybody should be very careful about con flating causation and coincidence. the fact of the matter is there's lots of people who saw their friends legs and arms blown off and people friends killed and i know troops who are on their tenth and 11th tours have murdered nobody and the large majority of murders never ever wore the uniform. it's clear that the desense is trying the lay the ground work for some kind of defense that

revolves around the notion he was not capable of making a decision because of all the that's going to wash in this environment. >> if sergeant bales is allowed to ask for enlisted men and women on the injury, will that help his case? >> sometimes it does help but the statistics prove that most of the time it doesn't help at all. there's some data that indicate that's probably the worst thing he could do because the people who are most vie tup rative about troops doing what they are supposed to do are at the lower end of the food chain because they live with that all the time. i don't think that's going to help him out. >> what do you think of his attorney suggesting that he's going to litigate on behalf of his client, he's going to litigate the war itself. there's no dispute it's a horrendous conflict. >> nobody hates war more than troops because they are the ones that got to fight it.

if you get even high ranking people in a room and talk to them about what's going on and where we're headed, they will tell you it's time to come home. you've had people on both sides of the aisle in congress saying exactly the same thing. i believe very strongly that you're not going to get anybody to hear sympathetically in treaties this the guy ought to be cut some slack because the war stinks. you'll have people that are not 72-year-old retirees listening to, like in most panels, you'll get people that have been in combat and who know exactly what the trials, tribulations and pressures are. i don't think they will fall for any of that. >> thanks for joining us. coming up, the congressman and the movie star. here is hampton with the cnbc market wrap.

>> we've had the stocks in green today with news that apple will buy back stock and pay a dividend to shareholders. the dow up 12. the s&p up 6. that's it from cnbc. more of martin after this. we always hear about jobs leaving america.

here's a chance to create jobs in america. oil sands projects, like kearl, and the keystone pipeline will provide secure and reliable energy to the united states. over the coming years, projects like these could create more than half a million jobs in the us alone. from the canadian border, through the mid west, to the gulf coast. benefiting hundreds of thousands of families throughout the country. this is just what our economy needs right now.

what do alleges of genocide have president indicted by the international criminal court and the act of george clooney have a common? in a word, sudan. he was arrested and was among protesters drawing attention to the plight of those that divide the northern and southern sudan. alongside he was with democratic congressman jim moran. he's free and he joins us now. it's no inconsiderable thing for a congressman to be arrested.

why did you do that? >> i knew it was the right thing to do. unless we were willing to stand up and speak out, there were very few people who would ever hear about this. in fact, i want to thank you, martin, for focusing on the subject today. i figured it would have a two or three day shelf life and that was because of george clooney. we don't kid ourselves, it was he that brought attention to this. we're trying to get bad guy to do a good thing. the bad guy is president bashir. i'm sure he's no relation to you. we want to law organizations to get food to as many as half a million people who otherwise may very well starve to death in the mountains. this is a big deal. we have no economic or

particularly political interest. it's simply humanitarian. enoug it sdesdeserves some focus, and that's why i'm really indebted to mr. clooney and his dad. they're great people, obviously. >> we also salute your compassion, sir, but you were clearly effective in drawing attention to the horrendous circumstances in sudan. but what can the international community do? the nation held a referendum divided last year, but still finds themselves marked by civil conflict? >> well, the problem right now is oil. the oil is in the south of sudan. that's why they were trying to kill the south sudanese, and it had to do with what was happening in darfur as well. that oil has to go through a pipeline and through the north of sudan to get it out of the country. the people in the north under president bashir want to charge

a transit fee of $32 a barrel when the international standard is $1 a barrel. so the people in the south of sudan said this is wrong, and they stopped pumping the oil. well, that oil represents about 6% of china's oil, so that's a lot of oil. hundreds of thousands of barrels a day, and the fact is that it is critical for the economy of south sudan and of north sudan. the chinese could intervene. the chinese have the leverage to tell president bashir, look, you've got to allow aid to get to the people who are hiding in the mountains whose fields you have scorched, who you are planning to starve to death over the next couple of months. that's what we want. that's our only leverage to get the chinese who are going to be meeting with them to do that because they do have leverage. now, fortunately, there is a meeting that's going to take

place in juba in the south of sudan within the next couple of weeks. maybe they'll make some progress. but our concern is not so much the oil getting out, even though it does impact the price at the pump. our concern is these half million people who have to have food, who have to have somebody paying attention to them or they really are going to starve to death. we ought not be acting after the fact or during the fact, we ought to try to be proactive and stop this massive humanitarian crisis from happening, because it will if we don't intervene. >> congressman jim moran. we are grateful for you both for standing up to people who are defenseless, for being arrested and for continuing to keep this story alive. >> thank you. >> we'll be right back. 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, cut 100,000 jobs. they're gonna be putting people out of work everywhere. the american people depend on the postal service.

and i'm not usually this impulsive. but um... ♪ sarah... will you marry me? ♪ i think we should see other people. in fact, i'm already seeing your best friend, justin. hey tim, she's in good hands buddy. love you. we're going to hawaii together. ♪ wow... i would've appreciated a proactive update on the status of our relationship. who do you think i am, tim, quicken loans? at quicken loans, we provide you with proactive updates on the status of your home loan. and our innovative online tools ensure that you're always in the loop. one more way quicken loans is engineered to amaze. has he been here this whole time?

the sleep number bed. the magic of this bed is that you're sleeping on something that conforms to your individual shape. wow! that feels really good. it's hugging my body. it works in a minute. i can get more support. if you change your mind once you get home you can adjust it. so whatever you feel like, the sleep number bed's going to provide it for you. at our semi-annual sleep sale, save $400 to $700 on our most popular bed sets. sale ends soon. only at the sleep number stores. where queen mattresses start at just $699. the passat is one of nine volkswagen models named a 2012 iihs top safety pick. not that we'd ever brag about it. turn right. come on, nine. turn left. hit the brakes. huh? how'd that get there? [ male announcer ] we can't hide how proud we are to have nine 2012 iihs top safety picks. so we're celebrating with our "safety in numbers" event. that's the power of german engineering. right now lease the 2012 passat for $219 a month.

to torp. time now to clear the air. just like many of these republican candidates like mitt romney have had to make new personas and pretend the past didn't exist, so they have to run against the current president. it's kind of a battle of myths. nowhere is this more obvious than the issue of gas prices and the invention they keep repeating is that the president of united states is responsible for the increasing price of oil. >> this president has made every possible wrong decision, and you're seeing it at the gas pump. >> gas prices have gone through the roof, in part due to this president's failure to develop new resources. >> president obama says $2.50 a gallon, at the bottom it's going to say $2.25 a gallon, and in the middle it will say you

choose. >> this one is so far from the truth, these candidates really have excelled themselves. just in case you were wondering, here's the truth with regard to gas prices. first, the price of oil is set not by the president of the united states but by world markets because gas is a global commodity. in general terms, prices can fluctuate for a variety of reasons: a recession, an oil embargo or the threat of conflict in the middle east. all of this can affect the price and production of crude. second, supply and demand is not controlled by the president of the united states. according to the international energy agency, multiple events are currently affecting the production and consumption of oil. japan's power sector is currently using 320,000 more barrels a day because they closed virtually all of their 54 nuclear power plants following the tsunami and earthquake last

year. despite the death and removal of colonel gadhafi, libya's output is recovering but is still about 300,000 barrels short a day of capacity. in sudan, where the conflict between the north and south has created genocide, it's choked off 240,000 barrels of oil a day. and maintenance problems in the norwegian and british oil fields means the production is running at 160,000 barrels a day less than normal. so the price of oil is not set by the president and the supply and demand of oil is not controlled by the president. but here's what we do know about this president's actions. imports have gone down and domestic production has gone up. so in 2005, oil imports accounted for 60% of america's daily consumption, but by 2010, that had gone down to 49%. and the current production of domestic crude oil is at its

highest level since the 1980s, at around 10.3 million barrels a day. you see, it soon becomes pretty clear why these republican candidates would prefer to invent their opponent instead of actually fighting the president himself. because on the issue of gas prices, the facts just do not help them. but instead of fighting on the facts, they prefer to do battle over a fabrication. and that's why newt gingrich's promise of a gallon of gas at $2.50 will go up in smoke as quickly as herman cain's 9-9-9 plan for economic growth. because both are completely ridiculous. thank you so much for watching. dillon stis actually on assignmt but his replacement is no less able. welcome matt miller. >> hey, martin. great points you made, as always. we have a big hour ahead. we have fresh details on the