playwright eve ensler and michigan state representative, lisa brown, thank you both very much for joining me "the ed show" is up next. good evening, and welcome to the "the ed show" live from los angeles. president obama has mitt romney mumbling, stumbling, and fumbling with his new immigration policy. tonight i'll show you how hispanic americans are responding. this is "the ed show." let's get to work. >> would you repeal this order if you became president? >> let's step back and look at the issue. >> four days after the president's immigration announcement, mitt romney is still tongue-tied and democrats are hammering him for it. >> a lot of people come here or walk across the border and have no skills, no education. and are looking for a free meal.

>> tonight, congressman luis gutierrez on the republican nightmare over the dream act. >> president obama has publicly accused them of being part of a, quote, corporate takeover of our democracy, whatever that means. >> mitch mcconnell defends the koch brothers before their anti-obama retreat. former governor howard dean explains what the corporate takeover of america is all about. and in michigan, republicans banned a lawmaker from speaking after she used the word vagina. >> i'm flattered that you're all so interested in my vagina, but no means no. >> thousands are fighting back with a special performance of the vagina monologues and we'll be there live. >> good to have you with us. thanks for watching. great to be back with you. immigration continues to be the disaster issue for the republican party. the president's new policy on young undocumented immigrants is making things even worse for the gop. they don't know which way to turn. watch how many times mitt romney avoided a direct question about

the policy on cbs yesterday. >> would you repeal this order if you became president? >> let's step back and look at the issue. first of all, we have to secure the border. i don't know why he feels stopgap measures are the right way to go. >> what would you do about it? >> as you know, the president for the last three and a half years did nothing on immigration. >> would you repeal this? >> well, it would be overtaken by events, if you will, by virtue of me putting in place a long-term solution. >> would you leave this in place while you worked out a long-term solution or repeal it? >> we'll look at that setting as we reach that. >> this is a far cry from the direct answer mitt romney gave about the dream act on the campaign trail. >> the question is if i were elected and congress were to pass the dream act, would i veto it? the answer is yes. >> this underscores the absolute absence of a core of mitt romney. who is this man who wants to be president? he refuses to take a stand on

the tough issues time and time again. romney is trying to walk, i guess you could say, a fine line between the majority of americans and the lunatic fringe of the republican party. now, it must be pointed out, some of the most outspoken voices from the right wing have come out in support of the president's new policy. >> how can you blame kids when they're dragged to the usa from wherever? if you're a fair person, you can't. >> i think it's a sensible policy. it would be much better if that were the law of the land. >> romney has a hole to dig out because if he gets under the 31% of hispanic voters mccain got, he's going to lose. >> so here we are. romney has to serve two masters, he has to please a general audience and he has to bow to the tea party leaders in congress like steve king who said, i'm prepared to bring a

suit and seek a court order to stop implementation of this policy. west said this morning that romney's reaction to the policy was this, i feel a little dejected because i think it goes back to what my mother taught me. a man must stand for something or else he'll fall for everything. now, the republicans also have to deal with these tea partiers going on television and making the situation even worse. >> you're also talking about people who came over 16 years of age. at that point, you had a say in it. that looks more like amnesty. >> do you think a 16-year-old, whose parents are coming across the border, has a say in whether or not they're going to stay behind in their country? >> they're certainly in a position to have a conversation with their parents about it. >> a 16-year-old is in a position to have a conversation with their parents about coming across the border, you think? >> believe me, my 16-year-old daughter gives me input on everything the family wants to do. >> fox news isn't helping matters for mitt romney with the falsehoods like this.

>> they could have a major wave, a major spike of illegal immigration in the short term with people thinking, hey, here's my window of opportunity to get my kids a place to stay in america. >> right, so now is the time to go running over the border. >> there will not be any new wave of immigrants because of this policy. that's what we all need to know. the policy only applies to young people who have been here for at least five years. pretty reasonable stuff, isn't it? it also is not an executive order. it's known as a deferred action. from the department of homeland security. this is a power granted under george w. bush in 2003 and bush knows a thing or two about radical right wingers fighting against immigration reform. his steps toward immigration reform were stomped out by republicans, his own party, in

2007. republicans, no doubt, are the party of obstruction when it comes to immigration. they love cheap labor. they don't mind the folks coming across the border. now they act like oh, this is the democrats. this is their problem. listen to senator marco rubio of florida in an interview with abc news. >> the white house never called us about this, no one reached out and told us this was on the way. if they were serious about a real solution to this problem and not politicizing it, why not reach out to people? >> answer this, why does the white house have to reach out and go over to marco rubio? because he's been in the senate for less than two years? rubio said he's working with democrats on his own immigration reform legislation. but he conveniently does not name any of these democrats. i haven't seen any democrats going on tv and saying i was really working with marco rubio on this. i can't believe the president did that. they also have not offered up any solutions. meanwhile, 2011, here are the numbers, saw a record-breaking amount of enforced deportations. how come bush didn't do this? nearly 400,000. now, let's talk about border security. the size of the u.s. border

patrol is more than twice the size it was in 2004. so in that clip you saw of mitt romney moments ago talking about border control, that's what president obama has done. he's resourced the border. the increased enforcement and resources are all part of immigration reform. you have to support the border first. so the president has done that. and so has the president's recent announcement. here come the polls, positive results. a thu new gallup poll shows opposition to immigration at an all-time low at 50%. 49% of latino voters surveyed after the president's announcement said it makes them more enthusiastic to vote more him. the president's latest immigration strategy is good politics. it's also damn good policy. it does something for people. isn't that what the government is supposed to do? republicans are having a hard time dealing with all of this and they should because they have sat on the sideline and

stopped this president on everything he's ever wanted to do. get this. the party of obstruction is now telling the democrats, you're the problem we don't have immigration reform in this country. president obama has dealt with it. he has resourced the border. we don't hear a whole lot about, gosh, people are pouring over the border from mexico anymore. that conversation has been diminished quite a bit. that's because when it comes to resources and technology and people, the president has answered the call. now they're coming back saying, gosh, he really hasn't done anything. get your cell phones out, i want to know what you think. will mitt romney ever take a firm stance on anything? tex a for yes, b for no, and go to our blog at ed.msnbc.com. we'll bring you the results later on in the show. joining me tonight is congressman luis gutierrez of

illinois who has been on the forefront of immigration in this country and issues. he knows more about it than anyone in congress. good to have you with us. i appreciate your time on this issue. >> thank you, ed. >> is the president doing the right thing? is this the right move? i don't care if it's a political move because it's going to help people and that's what this is all about. and it's forwarding the conversation in the country. what do you make of the president's move? >> look, i mean, when i hear romney say that we haven't done anything, what about december 2010? the house of representatives passed the dream act, 216-198, 208 democrats and 8 republicans, the very next week in the senate, what was it? it was 55 votes very cloture. 51 democrats, 4 republicans. there were republican senators who had been co sponsors of the cream act who wouldn't vote for cloture. look, what the president's action is a reflection of the will of the nation. of both house of representatives and the senate, and he has freed 800,000 people, his promise, and the promise that i made along

with senator mccain, and kennedy and congressman blake who is running for the senate in the state of arizona, we introduced bipartisan bicameral let gaitig for immigration in 2004. and what did we say? we wanted to bring people out of the shadows. i guess if i said i wanted to increase the minimum wage by a buck, and i couldn't get it through the congress, and the president did it, you would think i would say thank you, mr. president, for accomplishing that public policy. if i said i wanted to do something and i couldn't get it through the congress, you might think, all the president has done is do through executive action exactly what marco rubio's legislation would have done, give them a work visa which is renewable. would his have been permanent? absolutely, but this is a solution to a problem. >> i think this is an important point because rubio is saying nobody talked to him. first of all, i don't know any democrats who are working hand in hand with him on this anyway. it's an election year. no legislation is going to get passed right now, so it's a political move. so what, it helps people.

the point i want to make with you is, where does this leave the president if he gets re-elected? if the president gets reelected, it would seem to me that this is going to be the issue. what about that? >> let me say the following. you saw that poll, 49% more latinos looking at that, more likely to vote for him, wait for two months down the road when ten of thousands of people make lines, young people, smart people, americans, when people start talking to them and seeing the people in the lines and you see them getting their work permits and their work documents, wait until that. this is for the latino community, a real civil rights issue of bringing people fairness and making the justice department and our system respect their family values. just wait until those kids line up and you see the happiness. america is a country that loves its children. and these are children, this argument that 16-year-olds make

decisions, let me tell you, that's the extreme point. moe of the kids i met today, ed, were 9 months old and 2 years old and 3 and 4 years old when they came to the country. even if they were 15 years and 364 days, i was that age. if my dad said we were going, that's where we were going, and you followed your parents' lead. they didn't have a choice in the matter. they're here in the country, we should embrace them. >> congressman, great to have you with us tonight. luis gutierrez, thank you. what do you say to the republicans who say the democrats, they have the majority? you know, after al franken came in after the long battle, you know, and they got 60 votes, how come the democrats didn't do it then? what do you think? >> i was so glad to hear representative gutierrez lay it out like that with the number of votes passing that it did pass the house, ed, and that it should have passed the senate if

we were abiding by real democratic rules, but it couldn't get cloture and that it was abandoned by some republicans who had traditionally supported it. it's very important to remember that the president acted because he couldn't get action from the republicans in congress. >> exactly. >> so hypocritical. >> this is harry reid on the senate floor today. he made that point. here it is. >> i was stunned listening to the republican nominee for president say why doesn't congress do this? mr. president, we tried. we can't get republican votes. >> when you look at what the democrats had, they had the super majority, from july 7, 2009, until february 4th, 2010. let's see, there was the auto loan going on, the economy that

had to be rebuilt. is stimulus package was going on, a war that was winding down in iraq. who in the country was talking about immigration reform at the time, and now the republicans are coming out and saying, gosh, you democrats are the problem here? they don't have a leg to stand on, do they? >> no, senator reid was absolutely right. and the other thing that was interesting to watch, ed, is mitt romney is in a kind of straightjacket. when you have marco rubio going out and saying, you know, maybe this really isn't unfair to send these kids back when they had no choice in coming and they've been great students. i mean, we have invested so much in a lot of these kids as americans. you know, to keep them here is great for the country. but mitt romney made a calculated decision to move to the right during the primaries, baiting rick perry for having the texas version of the dream act. and now he's got to live with it. and that's why he was on bob schaefer bah, bah, bah, five times and not giving a straight answer. >> it's a running theme on this show. the question is, will the real

mitt romney please stand up? once again, we can't find the guy. great to have you. thank you for joining us. remember to answer tonight's question at the bottom of the screen. share your thoughts on twitter @edshow. we want to know what you think. racial profiling is not over in america. protesters staged a silent march in new york to fight the stop and frisk policy on the same day rodney king died. dr. james peterson joins me for the discussion. stay with us. we'll be right back. what happens when classroom teachers get the training... ...and support they need? schools flourish and students blossom.

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coming up, dr. james peterson on the death of rodney king. and what it means in the massive rally to end stop and frisk in new york. will it stop? also tonight, former governor from vermont howard dean on senator mitch mcconnell's stunning defense of the koch brothers in citizens united. and republicans in michigan are trying to silence women after a lawmaker said the word "vagina" on the house floor. tonight on the steps of the capitol, women are protesting with i guess you could say an

off-off broadway production of the vagina monologues. we'll go live to lansing, michigan, tonight. share your thoughts on twitter using the hashtag, ed show. to help you talk to your doctor about reducing your risk. that's afibstroke.com. but i tested it out, and bayer advanced aspirin relieved my pain fast. it helps me get back in the game.

but don't take his word for it. put bayer advanced aspirin to the test for yourself at fastreliefchallenge.com. i just want to say, you know, can we all get along? can we get along? >> welcome back to the ed show. obviously, rodney king, the man passed away yesterday, that was him more than 20 years ago. after police officers who beat him nearly to death were acquitted and riots erupted in this city of los angeles. rodney king passing away yesterday at the age of 47.

he was found in a swimming pool by his fiancee. toxicology tests will be performed, but his legacy will be the attention he drew to police brutality. word- -- word of his death came on the same day, thousands of people in new york city, including reverend al sharpton staged a silent mark to protest the police department's stop and frisk policy. last year, 85% of those stopped under the policy were black or hispanic, even though they account for only half of new york's population. only 42% were young, black, or hispanic men. even though they are just 4.7% of the city's population. what's going on here? a retired african-american police sergeant, noel leader, said officers are engaged in illegal stop and frisks. what's happening now under police commissioner ray kelly, he says, is that he's demanding officers to conduct stops even if they don't have a justifiable level of suspicion.

sergeant leader is now the co-founder of a black law enforcement advocacy group. where does it end? let's bring in dr. james peterson, associate professor of english at lehigh university. dr. peterson, good to have you with us tonight. you have written about the death of rodney king and what he symbolized over so many years. he asked the very profound question, can we all get along? but i want to start with new york's stop and frisk law and the protest yesterday. is this racial profiling? is this necessary for law enforcement to do this in new york? >> it is institutionalized racial profiling. i don't believe it's necessary to do this in the city of new york or the city of philadelphia or any of the cities where the stop and frisk policies are in place now. you cited the numbers. the bottom line here is that black and brown men are being subject to search, illegal search and sometimes seizure for no reason. the mayor of new york city and

other mayors of these big cities will tell you these things have certain benefits in terms of reducing the crime rates. but there's other data that shows there's reduction of the crime rates over time. >> i live in new york city, i walk home, to and from work. i see black police officers all the time. when the story came out, i thought, i wonder what they're thinking? where are the black police officers? you have this former sergeant who obviously walked the beat, saying there's illegal activity taking place. if that's the case, what does the city to have to do? what do the residents have to do? >> when you talk about something being institutionalized, it doesn't matter if the officers are black, white, or latino, they're indoctrinated to profile black and latino young men. they could be just as detrimental to the stop and frisk policy as a white officer. it's the indoctrination we're

questioning, but new york city has become a safer city, and it's not a result of stop and frisk policies. new york city it's a result of a lot of different other factors we don't have time to go into, but it's not because of stop and frisk. >> one is gun control, which i'm in favor of. >> that's right. >> here is mayor michael bloomberg. here he is. >> i understand why some people want us to stop making stops. innocent people who are stopped can be treated disrespectfully, that's just not acceptable, and my door is always open to new ideas and information, and just this past week, i did meet with reverend sharpton and others who disagree with me on this issue. >> what does "mend it" mean? he doesn't want to end it, he wants to mend it. how do you mend something that has some unbelievable numbers that we showed on the screen about how many stops and frisks are made on african-americans and latinos. what's a mend here? >> what mayor bloomberg wants to do -- he wants to maintain the policy but train the officers to, i guess, be more respectful

or try to be less biased. but we have so much information on bias and profiling that it's going to be difficult to do. you should remove the policy and empower the police officers to make good judgments in determining criminal activity from pedestrian activity. seeing the profile of a criminal based on where they are and what they're doing, as opposed to their race or being male. >> didn't rodney king say it all in a profound matter? can't we all get along? what does rodney king's life mean at this point, unfortunately he's gone, but what impact did he have on police brutality? and what he said 20 years ago and how it's being remembered now? people made fun of rodney king when he said can't we all get along because the nerve was so raw around police brutality and around justice and racial injustice at that time. but it was so profound and it spoke to his personality. he had a peaceful personality despite the ways people are

responding to my piece or responding to the fact we're trying to commemorate rodney king. it's not about his life, not about his drug abuse, not about him speeding away from the cops. it's the way his life was interpolated into history and the way police violence had gotten out of hand. when you look at that rodney king videotape, you can see there's something wrong with our society. that's the reason why people had such a visceral response to it. that's the reason it was the startup for the l.a. riots when those men were exonerated. >> and in the midst of all of it, after the verdict came down, he had the courage to ask the question, can't we all get along? >> amazing. he was beaten to within an inch of his life. incredible legacy, but it continues because you have al sharpton, ben zealous, two great african american organizations coming together on sunday to sort of extend that legacy. >> james peterson, always great to have you with us.

thank you. coming up, the koch brothers get a big-time boost from republican leader in the senate. former governor howard dean on the unholy alliance of big money and big republicans is next. and mitt romney's pandering about sandwiches in pennsylvania just goes all bad for him, trying to be a regular dude, and he's not. we'll show you the latest. stay with us. man: man: there's a cattle guard, take a right. do you have any idea where you're going ? wherever the wind takes me. this is so off course.

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take notice, the most powerful republican in the united states senate thinks you

can't handle the truth about campaign donations. you as an american. you can't handle the truth. he wants to protect the wealthiest donors and keep their names and you in the dark. senator mitch mcconnell told a conservative think tank that the disclose act is a threat to free speech. he says it's dangerous if you find out who donates money to political campaigns. >> it's not an act of good government. it's a political weapon. and that's precisely what those who are pushing the legislation have in mind. >> the truth is a political weapon. senator mcconnell is defending the koch brothers. he named them in that speech. he thinks they have been targets of the political weapon that he's talking about. charles and david koch are reportedly planning a fund-raising summit this weekend in san diego. politico reports the koch brothers want to raise more than

$395 million for the republican cause. their summit is supposed to be top secret. no press allowed. you're not invited. you'll never know how much money they rake in or who throws the money in the pot. remember, the billionaires want something in return for all of this fund-raising. they want deregulation. they want regulation and legislation that is going to favor their industries. they're keeping secrets from you and calling it free speech. i'm joined tonight by former vermont governor howard dean, former chairman of the dnc and consultant to mckenna, long, aldridge, and democracy for america. governor dean, great to have you with us tonight. appreciate your time. i know this is a subject that you get your back up quickly on. your response to mitch mcconnell protecting the koch brothers, saying that the liberals are being unfair to the kochs? what's your response? >> this has nothing to do with liberals. it has to do with the republican party that cares more about themselves and their power than our own country.

you couldn't find very many tea party people who agree with senator mcconnell. the fact of the matter is this is bad for america and mcconnell has put his party ahead of his country. i think that's wrong and i think the american people will punish that at the polls in november. >> this is the most vocal republicans have been supporting these billionaires who are throwing money in there. senator mcconnell is accusing, attacking democrats because they want republicans to disclose campaign donations. do you agree? >> well, there are a lot of republicans who said this. i heard karl rove say he's for disclosure. i don't know where senator mcconnell got his position. this is not a particularly republican position. it turns out that he represents the republican party which is why i think the republican party is going to get their just desserts in november. this is not good for america. when you decide ordinary americans must not know who is influencing politics, that's about keeping power for those 1%, and the republican party, in

fact, represents the 1%, they don't give a damn about the 99%, and that's surely going to be clear by the election. >> howard, what do you think the billionaires want? i mean, are they just having fun with this election cycle? what do they want? >> they want control over america, the way they had in the 1920s when they drove us into bankruptcy. the way they had in the 18 -- late 1800s after the civil war. they want to control this. they want to make more money. frankly, this is not object america. this is about them. and i think we had enough of that kind of politics. >> well, no doubt. but isn't there a hatred for president obama really fueling all of this as well? >> there is a hatred for president obama and some of this may be racism, but i think most of it is greed. these are very, very wealthy people. here is the thing that bothers me about this. they fundamentally don't understand if they lived in some other country, they couldn't make this kind of money. because the other countries don't have the freedom and the

democracy, but there's a price for freedom, and part of the price for freedom is not just what the veterans have had to give up giving their lives in various places in the last century or two, but part is paying taxes and understanding we live in a community. this a community of 310 million people and they think they're better than everybody else. you think the koch brothers give a damn about the average american? they don't. they want their wallets, and there are a lot of people giving to the pacs. $100 million adelson is giving. he doesn't give a damn about americans. he gives a damn about adelson. that's a stain on the court, that they allowed america to be put up for sale with citizens united which allows this spending without disclosure. >> mitch mcconnell said this is all about freedom of speech and protecting freedom of speech, which is hogwash coming from the guy who says -- >> what they're doing is taking our government away from us and selling it to the highest bidder. that's what mitch mcconnell is doing. >> no doubt.

howard dean, always, great to have you with us on "the ed show." >> thank you. >> there's a lot more coming up in the next half hour. stay tuned. >> it is the right thing to do. excuse me, sir. it's not time for questions, sir. >> a conservative activist shouts down the president. and now one veteran journalist admits some righties just can't stand having a black president. the big panel weighs in next. michigan democrats fight back after being silenced for saying the world vagina. we'll go live to lansing, michigan, for a special edition of "the vagina monologues." and mitt romney has no idea what a doughnut looks like. >> you could see one of the chocolate -- goodies find its way to us. >> and he's never been to a wawa. >> where do you get your hoagies

here, at wawa's? >> we'll bring you mitt romney's latest out of touch moment. as sx and he didn't stop for three days and nights as he escaped life as a child soldier. twenty years later, he was still running, he just had a different thing driving him. every step of the way. ♪ visa. supporting athletes and the olympic games for 25 years. join our global cheer. visa. supporting athletes and the olympic games for 25 years. if you made a list of countries from around the world... ...with the best math scores. ...the united states would be on that list. in 25th place. let's raise academic standards across the nation. let's get back to the head of the class. let's solve this.

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it is the right thing to do. excuse me, sir. it's not time for questions, sir. not while i'm speaking. >> welcome back to "the ed show." that was a conservative activist from the website daily caller interrupting president obama's immigration remarks on friday. after the incident, daily caller editor tucker carlson compared his reporter's actions to former white house correspondent sam donaldson's actions. donaldson rejected the comparison saying he never once interrupted a president during a speech. he told the huffington post race was a factor in friday's incident. he says, let's face it, many on the political right believe this president ought not be there. they oppose him not for his policies and political view, but

for who he is, an african-american. for more on this, let's turn to conservative radio talk show host michael medved, kelly goff, and author of "the gq candidate" and senior huffington post reporter tramaine lee. great to have all of you with us tonight. >> great to be here. >> this is a guy who works for a website. he stands up, it's an attention getting moment. he doesn't care if he gets thrown out. it's juvenile. michael, what should if anything the white house do about this joker? should he be able to come back and do it again? >> you know what, should he be able to come back and do it again? i think the daily caller ought to take him out of the white house press pool, and that's to me the most striking thing about this. is that tucker carlson, whose father was president of pbs, he's been around the block, he knows what's gone on. honestly, this was inappropriate behavior. it made conservatives look back. to say it's racist is way over

the top. we don't know what was in this guy's hearts. but it was disrespectful to the president of the united states, whether that president is black, hispanic or anglo white. it was the wrong thing to do. >> sam donaldson is a prominent figure in the media in his day, and well respected. what impact are his remarks going to have on president obama being treated unfairly because of race? that was his comment, not mine. what do you think? >> i think sam donaldson's comments kind of chime in on what everyone else has been saying, that the president has been getting unfairly attacked and been getting heckled because he's an african-american. i spoke with tucker carlson about a month ago about his website's handling about the president's trayvon martin comments. and he said he was keeping journalism honest, it was about integrity. but for him to say he was proud of the reporter's heckling of the president, it's outrageous. >> it was juvenile,

disrespectful, and it's par for the course for a lot of the right-wing websites. all they want to do is see president obama get defeated. kelly, will unfair treatment of the president continue? is this just going to be the way it's going to be throughout? >> in a word, yes. not just in this term, if he gets a second one as well. one quick correction, i'm not actually a democratic strategist, but i am an american citizen. and every american citizen should feel demeaned whenever we see the office of the presidency demeaned. that's what we saw happen. what we saw in the rose garden was the sequel to joe wilson screaming you lied, brewer stinging her finger in the face of the president of the united states, something you are taught at the age of 5 you don't do. and any person who doesn't believe race plays some role in that is floating down the river of denial. i have to say there are plenty of african-americans who have said it and i will say it again.

everyone knows it's not appropriate to use the term boy, not everyone, because one member of congress did refer to the president as boy and had to apologize, but that's no longer publicly acceptable. there are other ways to put him in his place, and behaving like that is an example. and we're not going to see the end of it. >> why do you say racism, it's over the top? why do you say that? >> because look, first of all, racism is nuclear war. when you say someone is a racist in this society, it's one of the worst things you can say about them because of america's terrible history of racism. the truth of the matter was i was there in the house gallery the night that joe wilson called that out and i spoke to a member of the republican house leadership who was horrified that joe wilson did that. and i do think -- >> the key is they might have been saying that behind closed doors. i didn't see any of them parading in front of the cameras disavowing what joe wilson said. >> they did -- >> in fact, they fund-raised off

of it. >> it was completely inappropriate, and by the way, joe wilson apologized, he did. now, you can say the apology wasn't sincere, that he was just forced to do it. the point about this is that any disrespect for the president of the united states, whether that president is named bush or obama, any disrespect for the secretary of state -- you may remember condoleezza rice has been booed in public when she has spoken. to jump to the conclusion it's always racist if you attack someone who is of color, it seems to me, is an area we don't have to go. >> kelly, you don't buy that? >> you know, i don't. and i have written about this. we have officially become -- i'm going to have to disagree a little bit with michael. calling someone a racist used to be the worst thing you could say and not so much anymore. it's sort of become this sort of teflon thing where conservatives feel like, someone is crying wolf again, the person is sexist, they're racist. and unless you actually use the "n" word on camera while kicking

a puppy, no one believes it. rick perry went hunting somewhere that had the "n" word on a rock, and people said, oh, that's not racist, he's just having some fun. >> the "n" word on the rock thing, just to get back to that for a moment, that was a piece of property that rick perry's father's day had bought. that thing was on the rock before rick perry's father bought it and he never erased it. of course he should have. >> okay. >> first of all, you mentioned war. we have been at war with black masculinity. certain segments of this population have been attacking black america, black masculinity. this is a spillover, to say this is an overstatement, it's ridiculous. there's no one protesting. they're applauding for this. we see it time and time again. >> can i say, ed, if i went hunting -- >> when you talk about black

masculinity, colonel allen west who served his country heroically in the united states military is attacked very regularly and very harshly. >> listen to what he says. he makes comments that are unbelievable. allen west is the most -- >> i agree. so does the president of the united states from time to time. >> great to have all of you with us tonight. appreciate your time. thank you. mitt romney uses a visit to wawa to try to seem like a normal guy, but the crowd didn't buy it. we'll have the latest on another out-of-touch moment for the mister. stay with us. whole and stays whole. see the seam? more processed flakes look nothing like natural grains. i'm eating what i know is better nutrition. mmmm. great grains. search great grains and see for yourself. because vitamin d3 helps bones absorb calcium, caltrate's double the d. it now has more than any other brand to help maximize calcium absorption. so caltrate women can move the world.

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is he really that out of touch? i think he's defining what it means to be detached and out of touch with the american people. >> really? welcome back to "the ed show." unemployed millionaire mitt

romney has, i think, made a habit of calling president obama out of touch. let's bring it down to earth. romney has had his fair share of food. on saturday, he visited a wawa in pennsylvania. he immediately used his visit to try to seem like a normal guy with the crowd, you know? >> where do you get your hoagies here? do you get them at wawas? is that where you get them? no, you get them at sheetz? where do you get them? i went to a place called wawas. have you been there? i know it's a very big state divider. >> nice try, mitt. it's wawa, not wawas. not everybody in pennsylvania gets their sandwiches at wawa as you can tell by the crowd's reaction, but his attempt to seem normal didn't go over well. romney had another out of touch moment while trying to ask for a

doughnut recently. >> would you see that one of those chocolate goodies finds its way to our side. >> hold it right there. it's a plate of doughnuts, and romney, for him, for the life of him, he can't figure out what the heck is on the plate? is that a senior moment or he doesn't know what doughnuts are. romney is the poster boy for out of touch politicians. he should stick to vacationing in his mansions around the world instead of pretending to be someone he's not, which is a normal dude. >> tonight, in our survey, i asked, will mitt romney ever take a firm stance on anything? 4% of you said yes, 96% of you said no. coming up, the protests over the v word. see what happens when republicans try to silence their opposition in michigan. we'll be right back. ♪

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monologues." this all stems from a debate over abortion legislation last wednesday. lisa brown was censored for saying this. >> finally, mr. speaker, i'm flattered that you're all so interested in my vagina, but no means no. >> republican leaders insist they were offended by her rape reference, not the word vagina. she was not allowed to speak again. they wouldn't allow her to debate a teacher retirement bill the next day, totally different subject. barb byrum was also silenced. she tried to suggest an amendment to ledge legislate vastectomies and she got shut down. >> we'll open the board. members may vote at their desk. the amendment is not adopted. are there further amendments? representative, you are out of order. >> you should recognize me. i represent the same people as you do. >> would the clerk please read in the next amendment? >> michigan republicans say both

women violated the rules of decorum and the leader of the house accused both women of throwing temper tantrums. but there could be league fall out for the republicans. this sign from today's crowd, the protest tonight says it all, the vaginas brought you into the world and vaginas will vote you out. michigan state representative barb byrum joins me tonight on "the ed show." thank you for your time. >> thank you so much for having me. >> does the public get what is going on here? it seems to be there's a radical agenda out there, an attack on women, and now they're trying to squelch the dissenting voices. >> that's how the people should read it. rather than making sure people get jobs, focusing on education, we're focusing on these issues. that are devicive and unnecessary.

and we're silencing the voices of two women in the house. and people know that. >> what do you say to your colleagues on the right that say they went too far, went out of bounds, violated decorum, what do you say about that? >> i have seen fist fights on the house floor, i have heard many worse words than vagina, vasectomy on the floor, so that them arguing i'm violating deror rum falls on deaf ears. they are making up excuses because they didn't like what i had to say. if they didn't like what i had to say, they are not going to like what we do in november and that's vote. >> i guess, when are you going to be able to go on the floor again? they wouldn't let you on the floor the next day or your colleague brown was not allowed on the floor the next day to do an amendment to a teacher bill. what about that? >> we were permitted on the floor. we were permitted to vote, but we were not permitted to speak.

representative brown had some education legislation she needed to speak in opposition to. i had voter suppression legislation that i wanted to speak in opposition to. we were both denied to speak on those pieces of legislation. we were able to vote on the legislation, however. >> how do you know this will have a big impact in november? >> i know this will have a big impact in november because i just saw over 3,000 people screaming vagina, vastectomy and vote on the capitol steps. i know it will have an impact but i don't think the republican cans know what impact it will have. >> well, if they are banning you from speaking on the floor and they get away wa it, what makes you think they are not going to do it again? >> i don't think they are getting away with it. people are mad. whether they are pro or anti-choice people are upset that two female elected state representatives were censored on