wanted to hear, the right thing from a leader. >> we're going to have to leave it there. i know we'll be back with jonathan capehart. thanks for your great work on this. it's been an honor to keep dylan's chair warm wil he's been out. he will be well rested and ready to go on monday. "hardball" begins right now. >> president obama wants the facts. let's play "hardball." good evening, i'm chris matthews. tonight the president weighs in. president obama was asked about the shooting death of 17-year-old trayvon martin. mr. obama said, all of us have to do some soul searching now to figure out how something like this could happen. and then he said this. >> my main message is to the parents of trayvon martin.

you know, if i had a son, he would look like trayvon. >> wow. well, the last time the president was asked about a racially charged police incident, the moment backfired on him when he sharply criticized the cambridge, massachusetts police officer. this time i think he got it just right. plus, yet another sign that republicans see a winnable election slipping away from them. peggy new man told mitt romney today in her column that comes out tomorrow that it's time to get off the goofball express, as she calls it, enough of the cheesy jeans, the singing, being lightweig lightweight, act like a president. does he have it in him? is he an etch a sketch himself? also, it was two years ago today that president obama signed the major historic health care law. its unpopularity has proven to be resilient, unfortunately, so mitt romney continues the

charade that obamacare and romneycare are essentially the same thing. we want to introduce you to some of the real madmen who brought presidential politics back in 1974. we begin with president obama weighing in on the trayvon martin shooting. michelle bernard san msnbc political analyst. let's listen to the president. here's what we know. let's start with the facts as we know them. please correct me. we're going to argue some of these facts. as we know them, the official police statement reports of the shooting of trayvon martin. they observe zimmerman with what they describe as a wetback covered in grass, a bloody nose and blood in the back of his head when they initially respond to the scene of this shooting. the city manager, norton bonaparte, claims that he was returning to his truck to meet with police when he was attacked by trayvon martin. but a 16-year-old girl on the

phone with trayvon martin immediately before the shooting claims that trayvon told her he was being followed by a strange man, and she heard a man approach martin to ask what he was doing here. and so we have very sketchy, conflicting evidence, if you want to call it that, joe, of what actually happened. the president today, however, raised this to a president question. he said he wants to find out what happened. he also said, if he had a son, he would look like trayvon, bringing it back to the ethnic factor we're all familiar with here. >> that was why the statement was so perfect, something for him to say and elevate the conversation, not drag it down with politics but not deliver pesos, either. it was something that showed a relatable moment. he knows, estelhe is telegraphi what's going on and how the parents might feel about this. it quelled some of the critics.

>> describe the criticism. >> the criticism was obama needs to say something. we have the first black president here. we have what appears to be a clearcut case of racial bias or at least racial overtones in this case, the president needs to say something about this. commander in chief, he knows the experience. this is a moment for him to step in and advocate for the african-americans. >> his close friend, eric holder, who also happens to be african-american is out there investigating some kind of hate crime prosecution. >> absolutely, and the assistant attorney general for the civil rights division is hispanic. one of the most important things we see, not only in addition to the justice department actually taking a look at this. when the president spoke today, he also let us understand when he said this is what my son would look like, it's powerful for many reasons, most importantly, this is not some kid from the hood who might have been acting out, where people

might necessarily say, well, he was engaging in criminal activity. this is a young man, he's well educated, he comes from a middle class family, mother and father love him, he was armed with nothing but a bag of skittles and iced tea and some lunatic looks at him and says, here's a black man in the neighborhood and i'm going to shoot him. maybe, maybe not, we don't know exactly what happened, but we know racial bias was involved, and we know he was shot by that guy, and we know he's dead and the president said this could be any black man in america. >> i'm white, obviously, and i thought it was a statement about our country that was well done. it was done with political deliberation which is the way he has to always speak. he has to speak like a pope, he has to get it right the first time. >> it's a bless and go a curse for the white house. the curse is when you have situations like these come up, many eyes in the african-american community turn towards the white house because we've never been here before. one of these presidents is not like the other. therefore, looking to him to make a statement either one way or the other puts a lot of pressure that none of his

predecessors or very few of his predecessors have with the possible exception of kennedy back in the '60s when martin luther king ended up in trial. >> let's listen to the president now in the first comments today on the shooting death of trayvon martin. >> my main message is to the parents of trayvon martin. you know, if i had a son, he would look like trayvon. and, you know, i think they are right to expect that all of us as americans are going to take this with the seriousness it deserves and we're going to get to the bottom of exactly what happened. >> finding out what happened is probably the first thing. maybe i'm different than a lot of other commentators. i want to find out what happened. you have to find out in court ultimately, but what happened in this terrible case. the guy is armed. he knows he has the stand your

ground law on his side. he's acting like some kind of su pseudo policeman, he knows he has no authority, yet he's on some neighborhood watch thing and yet he has the point of view that this guy was a criminal. >> he was a suspect before anything started because there was evidence or at least tapes reportedly showing that zimmerman repeatedly called into question a black man walking bark a back and forth in his neighborhood. >> here's a tape which we have boosted the sound. something you can hear zimmerman says under his breath. it sounds to me like the f word, which we don't speak on television, and another word that is clearly unrecognizable to anyone watching right now as a racial slur. let's listen to the tape. >> okay, which entrance is that that he's heading towards? >> the back entrance. >> are you following him? >> yeah. >> okay, we don't need you to do

that. >> we cut it off there. i don't know why we cut it off there. >> yeah, i have listened to the enhanced version of the tape. for whatever reason it was cut off here -- >> it was the initial part where he's whispering under his breath. obvious it will sounds like he's saying f-ing -- >> i don't think we should hide it. if you listen to that tape he says "f-ing coon" under his breath. if you listen to the unenhanced version, that in itself makes it a hate crime. that's why the justice department is involved, it's why the fbi is going to have to investigate this case, and if state authorities don't prosecute and properly investigate this, we will see a prosecution, i believe, under the federal hate crime legislation, because what we have seen is that this killing appears to be heavily racially motivated. >> if you're in court and you're

a member of the jury or defense attorney, you will have to contend with this boosted sound that he said on 9/11. >> the prosecution will have to contend with it, but this is how they build their case. mr. zimmerman has a history of make ag lot of phone calls to the police whenever he sees black men in his neighborhood. number two, you can hear very clearly on the tape the police asking if he is following this kid, and he says yes. we don't need you doing it. he keeps doing it. then you hear what sounds like "f-ing coon." >> anyone in my office would have heard it. it's the f-ing followed by a word we all are familiar with as racially evil. >> it is evil. >> okay, which entrance is that that he's heading towards? >> the back entrance. >> are you following him? >> yeah. >> okay, we don't need you to do that. >> you hear it.

he says "f-ing coon." they said, we don't need you to do that. he continues to follow him, and you put all that together along with trayvon speaking to his girlfriend and she's saying, one fr -- run from him, you have motive and it's clearly going to be racial bias. >> it could be murder 1, 2, 3, whatever. but now, as we said, the justice department is moving on this case with what looks to be a case of a hate crime. looks to be. or sounds to be. clearly. and then you have the second issue, they have a grand jury down there, so locally -- the president, by the way, covered all his basis toded today. he said local, federal, we have to do the right thing. >> action speaks louder than words in this particular case. the justice department sat down a few days ago, in addition to a community activism team, to try to get things going and make sure they do the right thing in

florida. the problem, however, going back to your initial point is we've got a law here, the stand your ground law, that is being replicated all across the country. as far as we know, that was one of the trigger points of this particular shooting. you mention the the shooter apparently felt like he had the law on his side. that's a really powerful thing, especially when you consider the extended history we've had of p profiling, of stopping people in neighborhoods in this country. it happened to my dad in the '50s, it happened to me in the '80s and '90s, and now we have a mix of what sounds like proliferated violence. >> we talk about the stand your ground law -- >> by the way, they've been used by people who are normally criminals. they use this as a defense when they kill somebody. >> exactly. that's why a flawed piece of legislature. >> i think an important point to make is regardless of the fact this guy felt protected by lawsuit, i can't imagine any

black man in the united states of america who believes that if he were to stand his ground under this law and be the shooter and the victim was white, he would not be prosecuted. he would have been arrested, he would be in jail and he would be awaiting trial. that law does not cover blacks. >> that's the history. it's going to be a disturbing weekend for a lot of people. michelle bernard. mitt romney can't escape his etch a sketch admission. i'm calling it an admission, not a gaffe. get off the goofy express. i think he's got a problem of believing anything he says. romney up next. you're watching "hardball." your. children's tylenol, the #1 brand of pain and fever relief recommended by pediatricians and used by moms decade after decade.

so republican voters, we go to the polls of louisiana. here it is according to a new

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this week it's been the best of times and the worst of times for mitt romney. he did catch illinois and seems closer to clinching the republican nomination right now, but he can't just shake what his aide said about it being an etch a sketch. quote, for mr. romney in particular. suit up and get serious. now that everyone knows you'll be the nominee. get off the goofball express. cheesy grits, jeans, singing, being come pulse civil pleasant, calling your opponents

lightweights-enough. use the next few months to get back to basics. why do you want to be president again? is the answer, because i'm a great fellow and it's a top job? dig down deep for a better reason. what do you make of this? it seems every time he gets over strengt strengths, he has another problem. >> it says mitt romney is constantly falling down by answering reporters' questions. if you followed the press with mitt romney's campaign, that would be a shock to them. he limits himself to one or two questions when he is in front of the press. for a lot of conservatives looking at the race is essentially settled, though not numerically settled and not calendar settled, is can romney

elevate his position and elevate the party along with him? i think he took a step in that direction tuesday night. i think that's the best acceptance speech he's given. >> the reason he gives peggy is i'm good and i should be there. >> if you talk to romney advisers, they will say he wants to be president because he's uniquely qualified for these times. he ought to say that more often. i have a skill set and a belief system that fits these times. >> in other words, i'm not the greatest man that ever lived, but in this screwed-up time, i can fix it. if he narrowed down his claim, i'm mr. fix-it, i can fix it. >> all the things you pointed out, the cheesy grits -- >> peggy pointed them out. >> peggy pointed them out. he's a social conservative, he's a businessman, he's a moderate, he's totally conservative. this campaign, to his credit,

most of the time they've stayed the businessman route. i think the more further afield he gets from that, the worse he does. but yes, i think he's right about this. romney's biggest advantage over santorum across all demographic groups, experience, has the right experience to being president, he wins it overwhelmingly. in illinois, romney won a huge share of it. newt gingrich came in second, ron paul came in third and mitt romney came in fourth in order of experience. so if he closes out, i think he narrowly focuses, this is my background, this is why i'm uniquely skilled to make this case, and not just in the primary but in the general election, too. >> it could be he doesn't want to take a chance on the one reason to be president, and when they go in to vote and people say, wait a minute, we do need a mr. fix-it. is he willing to put all his bets that the voters will feel a need to try somebody who knows

business? romney tried to downplay the damage from that etch a sketch remark made the morning after his big illinois win.

>> if you made that call and had been in that position with unique skills, maybe you would have gotten that wrong. if you fixed in massachusetts, maybe you think now that's a bad idea. even if romney goes down that direction, and says my instincts are right for these skills, maybe he won't be vulnerable. >> newt gingrich says he might as well keep president obama in office if mitt romney wins. >> you see someone who has a vision for this country, not somebody who is going to be a little different. if they're not going to be a little different, we might as well keep with what we have, not somebody who is an etch a sketch

person for this country. >> who is rodney responding to the hugh hewitt radio show. >> i know there are a lot of people across this country who says we need to consolidate behind the guy who has now weathered 38 different contests we've had. i'm sure the senate is hearing from some of those people saying, hey, let's get going, move on, get our nominee moving against president obama, and perhaps he's striking out with frustration from those kinds of questions. >> here's a guy who just won big in puerto rico and he refers to it as one of those little islands. he's unbelievablunbelievable. >> he's won 80% of delegates in the islands. one thing i would say, chris, i actually do agree to a certain extent with romney, actually, in this response to santorum.

i some of what's been coming out of gingrich's mouth lately is even for gingrich kind of eyebrow raising. for santorum, what they're doing is they see the math. they see borrowing some cataclysmic event, romney is going to be the nominee. they're throwing things at the wall to see if it sticks. this is how primaries tend to end. i think hillary clinton on june 6, remember the whole thing, we were talking about the rfk assassination. this is how things do tend to hang. >> you're on a tangent here, and i didn't think wild go this way. why would a guy or woman like hillary clinton know they're going to lose, it's clear they're going to lose, start trashing the person they're going to have to endorse the end of the summer? tell me how that works. >> because you've spent lots and lots of times, years in some cases, running against this person, getting up every morning, trying to make the

argument why you're better. just that is hard to give up, and the other thing is. and that's hard to deal with. >> here's rim santorum. he tried to clean up his remarks from yesterday. >> i want to support whoever wins the republican primary. >> so he's going to support the winner, come hell ors high water, even if he thinks he's a jerk. >> the first line was very goldwater from 1964. if you believe romney is going to win and beat president obama, then you are backtracking safe and is. whether, he wasn't, and i didn't

thi think. >> so you've answered the question he's and he'll pick up the pieces in 2016. so it's going to be romney against hillary clinton. thank you, major garrett and have a good weekend. up next, word association. what's the one word people associate with all four presidential candidates? with it till you hear how they react. stick around. [ male announcer ] is zero worth nothing?

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what are you waiting for? this is big news. 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 back to "hardball" now. what, no etch a sketch? when mitt romney's adviser

compared his shift from the primaries to the general election as an etch a sketch, the 1960s toy soon became a must-have prop for santorum and gingrich. but ron paul? not so much. his campaign came out with this new ad on the topic. i it sounds like more of a romance continuing with him and romney. let's watch. >> it's almost like an etch a sketch, we shake it up and start all over again. >> where is my etch a sketch app? >> we're talking about big things here, folks. >> see, it mainly goes after gingrich and santorum. going after romney, not here. the fall campaign has released ads that go after every other candidate but never mitt romney. next up, money talks, but the heated debate on employer-covered birth control sparking a heated debate in recent months.

republican lawmakers have waged a sort of war on women. well, richard hannah was the equal rights spokesman on monday and he had quite a message for the crowd. le let's watch. >> you're giving money to people who can speak out on your behalf because oert sithe other side, , hays lot of it. you need to send your own message. this is a dogfight, a fist fight and you have all the cards. i can only tell you to get out there and use them. make it matter. get out there, get on tv, advertise. the fact is you need it. >> he seem to be saying donate your money to the other side as in the democrats. he's going to take heat from his party for that one, but as hanna is a pro-choice advocate, anyway, this may not be the

first time he took heat from his own crowd. finally, remember that when you hear a word or phrase and you have to say the first word that comes into your mind? word association. the prompts? simply the names of the four gop candidates running for president. let's look at the top two words for each of them. mitt romney? no. and rick santorum, conservative and no. newt gingrich, old and no. and ron paul, no and old. so there's a pattern there, i suppose. more people had negative words than positive for all the candidates with newt gingrich taking the lead for highest number of negative word choices. two years ago today, president obama signed the health care bill into law, and next week it will be argued before the supreme court. but the only thing more predictable is mr. mitt romney's

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the dow jones is up 34.59. the nasdaq, the same. the stock exchange operator was forced to pull its own ipo after a slew of blunders including a series of trades valued its own stock below a penny. dropping 1.6% in february. the good news, though, prices did rise. they're at an eight-month high. now back to "hardball."

welcome back to "hardball." all eyes will be on the supreme court next week starting on monday when the judges take up a politically significant cases in decades concerning whether president obama's 2010 health care law is constitutional. the white house is making an effort to win over the public but still somewhat skeptical of the law. here is a web video defending the president's signature piece of legislation. let's watch. >> after a century of striving, after a year of debate, after a historic vote, health care reform is no longer an unmet promise. it is the law of the land. it is the law of the land. we're going to have millions of people with health care coverage that wouldn't otherwise have it. it can't be dropped when you get sick and you need insurance most. >> they're defending his law both in the supreme court and of course in the court of public opinion. mitt romney has stepped up his

criticism of it, and that's despite the fact that his own massachusetts law served as the model, the inspiration, if you will, of the latest one. how will he thread that needle in the general election. she served as an adviser to the white house on the health care law and david corning was also an msnbc political analyst. his brand new book a stunner, "showdown," the inside story of how obama fought back against boehn boehner canter and the tea party. i think if you read books like this, you'll get juiced up for the campaign, won't you? let me talk to you about this thing. let's throw out there, hammers are out there shooting at this thing. what effect is this going to have on romney who is basically the pioneer of the individual

mandate? >> well, i think, you know, that general election around this will be pretty muted if mitt romney is the nominee -- >> let's make the grand assumption that he is the nominee. go ahead. >> rick -- i think the challenge for mitt romney is he's the chief supporter. >> how did he skunk it now? >> i think he thinks people will forget. >> i think that's why he doesn't really talk about health care. he did it today because it's his anniversary, but he does not talk about this and he won't be able to. >> today mitt romney penned an obje op-ed for usa today calling it a grand intrusion on our lives. he had criticism for it this morning in his speech. >> instead of having the

government come in and mandate cost and price control, i would like to have individuals have a greater incentive to shop around. and to make this act more like a market. obamacare, in my opinion, is simply the wrong direction. oba obamacare substitutes government intrusiveness for the dynamics of individual responsibility, for individuals being able to pursue different options and for the dynamics of a free market. i believe in the marketplace, i believe in consumers pursuing their own dreams, i believe in individuals being able to make their own choices. >> i don't think i like that idea. let's take it from the progressive side. how does he defend the fact that we have 450 million people without health insurance, and if he gets rid of obamacare, we'll be back to square one? how does he defend the status quo in this country? >> mitt romney's is seven years

ago? he saw that problem. he was a governor that actually led the nation on this and it wasn't just that 12 years ago he did that or 7 years ago he did that. just a few years ago he was defending mant dathe mandate an actually arguing that it should be the model for the nation. that's why i think the challenge for him is the past mitt romney cared about the situation and the romney of today would like to use rhetoric to hide the fact that he's the chief architect that we took it from him. >> you're speaking the record. >> we took it from him. >> this reminds me of that al sharpton commercial. . >> if you flip it over to the right wink sild.

>> i have to say this. it's the only play he has. if a conservative voter is going to have a choice and now he has somebody who used to embrace it and now he says he's going to support repeal -- >> here's republicans that have lined up, but romney will have a hard time debating obama on that topic. he will also include them both on a mandate. >> but you've backed away on a national basis? >> no, i like mandates. >> beg your pardon? i didn't know you were going to admit that. you might mandate. >> let me tell you what kind of

works i might have. here's my view. if someone can afford insurance and decide not to buy it and then they get sick, they have to pay their own way as opposed to examine the government to pay their way. that's a personal responsibility. >> he makes a better case for your program than you guys did, the president does. he -- >> are there any more free voters headed out there in emergency rooms who don't pay a nickel for their health and they walk in and get it free, he's saying, no, they ought to be responsible and self-reliant. it's an argument. >> the heritage foundation is the one that came up with it, a dozen republican senators have supported the mandate in one form for another. >> there was a response to the idea that they're pushing forward on the left, which was single payer. >> i want to give -- i want to

give you a real hard argument in your favor. and i heard the president in a briefing when he was in an off-the-record briefing. one reason why the obama program is not selling to the public in big numbers -- it's about 50-50 -- is this. opponents, critics of the law dumped $204 million out there, and all supporters were able to pull together was something like 60. so all the ka coucacophany, it' about the negatives. >> has lies about the cost, there's lots of challenges here when you're on one side, your extension please explain it. . zmz necessarily lee is my friend. this guy is one of the best about politics.

this is the book to buy is it's not expensive. up ne tv's madmen. there's a show we all love. two hours of it sunday night. when we return, we'll meet some of the real madmen who brought them back. this is "hardball" only on msnbc. tv screens, bluetooth, and even the cup holders. you know what's left? the only s.u.v.s with american-built f-alpha truck frames. the ruggedly capable pathfinder, xterra, armada. nissan. innovation for all. ♪

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the 16th president has been surpassed in favor of ability. drew brees, the quarterback of the new orleans saints, scored the highest favorability number ever recorded by the polling firm, 94% and lincoln was the holder by 91%. lincoln's 91% was in a national poll while brees' 94% was just in louisiana. we'll be right back. ♪

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roger back. welcome back to "hardball." madmen return with a two-hour program with don draper back in action. >> wow, and there's a political angle, too. the actual mad men of their day bridg bridged between washington for the 1964 election campaign. the new ads raised the bar for political advertising and started a new era in which it became commonplace for candidates to be marketed like

so soap. mark mckinnon is vice chair for advertising strategies and helped in george bush's campaig. never been in the business. manage p. >> so, let's start with a critic perhaps, let's start with mark, the history of this, let's take a look for this 1964 ad, the ddbt makes the case for lyndon johnson for all of the republicans that criticized g d goldwater's nomination. >> romney said it would lead to the suicidal direction of the party. so even if you have serious doubts, you're in good company.

vote for lyndon johnson on september the third. >> that was so direct. they didn't have to say too much about it because everybody sort of new there was something wrong with goldwater. >> yeah, they had about 2,000 psychiatrist polled and 1500 or 1300 said that goldwater was not fit. when you look at campaigns now, i tell people to go back and look at that ad. >> so they had a bunch of liberal psychiatrist to trash the guy. dan, your memories perhaps of this rather dramatic campaign, gothic i'm calling it, about that guy being no good for the job. >> first of all, chris, it was

president kennedy and his staff looking forward to the 1964 election that in the summer of 1963 said listen, we need to get a marriage with wall street, and it was they have came into the decision of bringing in the madmen and the original relationship with madison avenue and the white house. when johnson came in after kennedy's assassination, they said let's take it on. president kennedy was attracted to this advertising agency because of their effective campaign for volkswagon. they wanted to demonize goldwater as quick as they could. that's when the dazy add that ran -- it turned out to be a great multiplier. it was on the cover of time magazine. and we learned a lot from that

campaign it it was in many ways, chris, among the most negative campaigns, perhaps the most negative. what you had in the ad with the little girl was daisy petals and a mushroom cloud. the question was who do you want in the white house making decisions on nuclear power. do you want lyndon johnson, or trigger happy goldwater. they followed up with bumper stickers and everything else. the slogan was in your heart, you know he's right. the democrats took that and said "in your heart you know he might." >> let's look at the daisy ad that was only played once, but was played by the news networks.

>> eight, seven, sixth, five, four, three, two, one -- these are the stakes. this is where all children are to go into the gourden. we must either love each other, or we must die. >> that played on nbc monday night at the movies. it only played once. we'll be back with dan rather to talk about the real mad men, only here on msnbc. you know how. with business. and you...rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle. and go. you can even take a full-size or above. and still pay the mid-size price. i could get used to this.

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. we're back with mark mcke a mckenna, and dan rather. we're talking about the real madmma mad men. the ddb ad makers used the ringing phone for the sense of urgency. let's look at the 1964 political advertising. >> that urgent phone call imang

reappeared as we all remember in 2008, let's listen. >> it's 3:00 a.m. and your children are asleep, who do you want answering the phone? >> i'm hillary clinton and i approve this message. >> quickly mark and dan, what's so hot about 3:00 in the morning? it's about dreaming and everything and nightmares. >> it's playing to emotion. >> that's right, it played to emotion, and really 1964 was the first time that advertises had been about more than products. by '64, they understood they needed to go to emotions. many will say that the daisy ad th