and pregnancy. >> the views expressed were offensiv offensive. rape is rape. the idea that we should be parsing and qualifying and slicing what types of rape we're talking about, doesn't make sense to the american people. >> a kin himself took to the airways of the huckabee show just this afternoon to apologize for the words that ignited a fire storm. >> i made that statement inner or. let me be clear. rape is never legitimate. it is an evil act. >> republican presidential candidate mitt romney is ramping up his response to akin's remarks but his aids say he will not call on akin to leave the race. peter alexander is with the romney campaign in new hampshire. we saw the town hall earlier today, governor romney did not mention this nor asked by a question by the people in the

audience. we know he conducted or is in the process of doing this local interview. do you get the sense the campaign feels he needs to say something stronger at this point? >> they feel pretty strongly what they said is as strong as they will get. i will tell you what the statement is we heard in a conversation that mitt romney had with a reporter a little bit earlier today. he said specifically congressman akin's comments on rape are, quote, insulting and inexcusable and wrong. he said like millions of other americans we found them to be offensive and reached tout to his advisers to get a sense whether they would go further and call for him to resign his seat in congress or to resign his senate nomination. the advisers made it clear this is as far as governor romney will go on this issue. it is important to note some others in the senate obviously have come out with strong re buicks calling for congressman akin to get out of this race. specifically we have heard from ron johnson, the senator from wisconsin, the same state as paul ryan and scott brown from mitt romney's state saying he

should get out of the race as well and recognize that there are some overlapping advisers between those two campaigns, romney's campaign and scott brown's campaign as well and it appears even though an interview just wrapped up a short time ago and we're waiting for specifics of that conversation that that's as far as the campaign will go. >> thank you kindly, peter. the last time the campaign centered around women's issues was during the republican primary when then law student sandra flug testified in favor of insurance coverage and sandra joins me with her reaction. as you well know, there are many people that doubt if there is a so-called war on women and they say it is a figure meant of the imagination comparing it to the search for unicorns or caterpilla caterpillars, i think that was the concern at the time and now you have the situation with akin. does he need to resign? does mitt romney need to state a stronger wording of opposition of what happened here? >> i actually think we need to

focus less on exactly what the statement was which is very problematic and look more at the record of representative akin and also at the records of representative ryan and former governor romney because this is not an isolated statement. we know that representative akin as well as ryan co-sponsored a bill that would have limited which cases of rape qualified for federal abortion funding and that they put forward and voted for bills that would eliminate the right to abortion in all cases. so this is not out of line with their entire record >> you're referring of course to this controversy bill, hr-3, no taxpayer funding for abortion co-sponsored by the vice presidential candidate ryan in this and the original language, sandra, in that act used the term, quote, forcible rape. it was later changed to rape. the president touched on this, this notion that there are

categories of rape, that rape is rape as he uttered the words just a short time ago. in this legislation co-sponsored by ryan at some point in time the language was forcible rape as if it needed to be qualified somehow. >> that's right. it would not have included all cases of incest. it would have exclude the statutory rape, and we know that actually the majority of cases of rape are women who are drugged or threatened or coerced. it is a myth that it is a stranger jumping out of the bushes and attacking you. the idea that we have major republican leaders who believe that is the only, quote, legitimate type of rape is a big concern. >> senator barbara boxer released a statement a short time ago in part it says congressman akin's comments about the violent crime of rape are beyond outrageous and another chapter in the war on women that is increasingly dangerous for women's health and lives. obviously i know you agree with the outrage. do you believe this will have a greater impact perhaps even in the general election? right now we know that mitt

romney is trailing president obama significantly with female voters but might this also widen the gap come november? >> i think the last two years of the house of representatives should have ab enormous kwakt when every woman and every man in the country who cares about a woman walks into the voting booth. this is a house of representatives that has an unprecedented record in the types of assaults on women's access to health care all the way from breast cancer screening in terms of cutting funding for planned parenthood to our access to safe and legal abortion and i know that i will certainly remember that when i vote this fall and i hope a lot of other people do as well. >> sandra, thank you so much for making time with this breaking news. i greatly appreciate you joining us. thank you. let me bring in our political panel. ryan grimm, washingt chief, and you bring interesting active because you were with the

santorum campaign and we know when the words war on women came out it was mainly by men you wanted to see in the white house. let me put into the equation i have this information in now. nbc news confirmed that american crossroads, the carl rove backed super pac spending millions to defeat president obama and senate democratic candidates pulled out of missouri's senate contest after todd akin's controversial comments. karl rove now pulling out or at least the super pac that he formed pulling their cash out of missouri. is that an indication they believe that there is no win there? >> probably so. peter alexander made a great comment earlier showing the relationship between the folks calling for mr. akin to get out of this race and the romney campaign that gives you a snapshot what's going on behind the scenes. the president was right. rape is rape. it was a ridiculous and

insensitive statement and this is the kind of stuff that will be chasing down all day as republicans trying to explain to people this guy shouldn't be on any ticket. you know, the people of missouri put him as the nominee albeit approximate an eight-way race. however, it is the bed they'll have to lie in until they decide to change the sheets. i am not sure right now what the procedures are to change those sheets, but i would assume that quickly they will do that, move to get him off the particularet and replace him with somebody else. >> this could get ugly. he was just on with huckabee and says he has a plan on stepping down according to information out of missouri, he is pretty much guided a lot by his wife, and according to at least one report his wife wouldn't, quote, let him step down. that is interesting for so many other reasons given that this issue that has him in the hot seat deals with women and if his wife is his major surrogate and major advisor, how could he have made those comments yesterday?

>> when i think if this is up to him, he is goi to stick it out in this race and we actually just recently surveyed all of our reporters in missouri and asked them to ask leading republicans in the state what they thought, what they thought akin should do, and republicans in missouri were split about half of them want him to crop out and about half of them think he can stay and i think he is going to stick it out. what his comments say so me, it kind of shows just how far somebody is willing to go into kind of an absurd place so they don't have to address the consequences of what their politics or policy positions are. akin is somebody who has a very firm and consistent position. he is against abortion in all cases. that that means that he wants to force a woman to carry to term a child even if it was the result of a rape and that is just a horrible thing to contemplate,

so in his mind starts doing tricks where he tells himself, well, it is just impossible, and there are medical reasons why this could never happen and that kind of allows him to not confront what the consequences of his political position. >> we're waiting again to hear the latest comments from governor romney. he is expected to certainly be asked about this in this local interview that he has done. in the meantime initially the governor said he and congressman ryan disagree with mr. akin's statement and went on to say the romney ryan administration would not oppose abortions in instances of rape. we also know that congressman ryan co-sponsored this house bill last year defining human life as beginning with fertilization and granting personhood rights to embryos and we know it would outlaw abortions in all cases and may also restrict some forms of birth control. how can governor romney say that he and congressman ryan together disagree with what akin said in this, not his words in the interview but his stance on

following through with a pregnancy even if the case of rape, not the legitimate rape comment that he made? >> right. well, look, obviously you know that when a vice presidential nominee is chosen, he folds underneath the policies of the presidential nominee, so whether paul ryan's views are no potential for any abortion under any circumstances or not, it doesn't really matter in the sense that the governor romney is the head of the ticket. does this pose a problem for governor romney with some members of the base who believe that abortion is murder and shouldn't be allowed in any instance? i think it might. i think it could. ryan has no influence over that. >> that assertion is intriguing for many reasons. i will give you the example with medicare. originally governor romney said i am my own man and have my own plan and now i am my own man and have my own ideas when it comes to this issue of rape and a woman having the choice to carry out this pregnancy or not. so why select this individual as

your vp if on such substantive and solid issues that are important to women and men in this country you don't agree with the guy? >> i am not sure if the short answer. throughout history we've had a lot of presidents who choose people we don't necessarily agree with everything that they stand for. i mean, president obama and senator biden, vice president biden now obviously had different takes on different issues as well. they thought that was a big problem, namely the war in iraq was a big issue they differed on in different ways. that's part of politics. we have a nominee. our party has to live with the fact he is carrying this majts for us whether we like it or not and whether we're enthusiastic or not and i am not saying we are or aren't. i am saying he is the one carrying it forward regardless of what paul ryan thinks. hopefully paul ryan can influence him on a few issues he pushed for in the past and push the governor to promote the things we would like him to

promote. in this instance he is the nominee. he has the right to set the agenda and he set it. >> let me quickly get you in, senator john corner and the staff have spoken to todd a kin and basically saying they are hoping he will talk with his family and discuss putting the party first here. hogan touched on this and folks at morning joe talked about the fact for republicans to win primaries they have to these days in many parts of the country be as far right as you could possibly go on some of these issues but then when it is time for a general election we have this kind of interesting dilemma and with this case of akin as stated by michael steele, there has not been a grassroots effort so far to get him out of the race, the people, meaning in missouri that largely the opposition is coming from those who are generally worried about the party like cornen in his latest statement. >> there is a ton of pressure on him to get out. the statement that he put out is pretty blunt. it stops just short of calling

him the to step down but you can read between the lines that the phone call between those two i am sure wasn't as opaque. karl rove's crossroads pulling money out, that's a signal that if you decide to stay in, you're on your own. republicans had already put missouri in the win column when they were counting whether or not they were going to get to the senate. they had chalked this up. they think that they have the debt to rights so they're panicking and the next 24 hours will be a tough time for akin if he wants to stay in and if he does, he will have to hold firm and then he will be mostly on his own with, however, the strong grassroots support of the pro-life crowd out there. >> thank you very much. the akin story is not the only story that has republicans in damage control mode on this monday. kansas congressman kevin yoeder now admits he skinny dipped at the holy site in israel with

other freshman congressman during a fact finding mission, what they were supposed to be doing. find out why the first read team says this story has the potential to, quote, out rablg voters and after decades of controversy augusta national golf club decides to admit its first women members. one of the new members announced today, former secretary of state condoleezza rice and we'll tell you her reaction and also reveal the other women selected. you can join our conversation on twitter. that's my twitter page. wow, it's the mr. clean magic eraser bath scrubber. [ bottle #2 ] i heard it came from space... nooo! ...from a very clean alien civilization. that's crazy. crazy clean. whaaaaat?! come on... [ male announcer ] mr. clean magic eraser bath scrubber. its clean is out of this world. like a squirrel stashes nuts, you may be muddling through allergies. try zyrtec® liquid gels.

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it is obviously incredible that anyone in a sitting member

of congress would make these statements. it is appalling. it is insensitive. i think whether it is a woman or a mother incredibly disturbing. >> that was planned parenthood's president on msnbc with andrea mitchell in the past hour reacting to the big story, missouri congressman todd akin's comment about, quote, le mitt jat rape and it highlights what's at stake in this election. we want to focus on the gender fwap and how it all could certainly widen before november. joining me, contributor michael smerconish and erin. i just got the first release of mitt romney's new interview in new hampshire. he was asked should he, akin, end his senate bid and romney goes onto say he should spend 24 hours considering what will best help the country at this critical time. i can't defend what he said. i can't defend him. what do you make of this remark

from romney just a short time ago, michael? >> well, i take this speed with which romney and ryan came out and said we disagree with what akin had to say as recognition by the gop at the top of the ticket that this is a real serious problem, serious not only because any day and there are precious days now left between today and elections day, and any day not addressing the economy is a net loser for the gop and also because of according to the nbc "wall street journal" recent survey there is a 15-point gap. a tribute this to the christine o'donnell factor. as the gop has become more and more conservative those that emerge from the primary process are outside the box in a lot of their thinking including this guy. >> michael, i know you have to get back to listeners. erin, 15-point difference between rick santorum romney and president obama now. the question is does ryan,

congressman ryan hurt the romney ryan picket further knowing that he co-sponsored legislation with the very member of congress in the hot seat over what has been described as stupid, insane, and just unconscionable remarks. >> one thing being said today, a lot of republicans are trying to distance themselves. let's be really clear. he said something really stupid about rape and pregnancy. his underlying beliefs have not changed and those underlying beliefs are the same as paul ryan's which is to say he wants to ban the morning after bill because he wrongly thinks it is abortion. he wants to ban abortion in all circumstances. this is a clarifying moment. it is not just paul ryan and it is not just todd akin. it is across state legislatures and across the house of representatives. i do think it will matter. it has a real significant under pinning in the philosophy. >> what about the statement released late sunday from romney's campaign saying, of course, that he disagrees with todd akin and that he and ryan

certainly are not opposed to abortions in the case of rape? he is saying they're a you need front on this despite the facts that exist regarding the direction that congressman ryan certainly would like to see things go on this issue. >> i am sure that mitt romney wants to make it seem like he has a united front in terms of abortion but he has had so many different positions including in the 2007 debate he said he would sign an absolute ban without exceptions and said that he would support a human life amendment when he was asked by mike huckabee, so honestly i don't really know what his position is but i do know that he now made a decision where he doubled down on not trying to convince women voters he is not extreme given who he has chosen. >> we have seen time and time again with governor romney, he certainly tries to pivot back to jobs and the economy and particularly on social issues and we know that the supported personhood amendments, they have failed on ballots in montana, mississippi, ohio, oklahoma,

some of the most conservative states in the union have struck down these personhood amendments. you may want to talk about jobs, but when the person sharing the ticket with you backs such controversial amendments, how can you run from this? >> he may want to say that he wants to talk about job. first of all, so-called social issues are economic issues. they have to deal with women's participation in public life and our ability to make decisions for ourselves. he has this party to talk to and they're the ones that since day one have been passing really draconian reproductive rights restrictions. they put this on the agenda. >> it is interesting. president ronald reagan's historian mentioned this, i tweet, as the democrats are once the party, the national gop is the party of intoxication, intolerance and i had sigh. >> he said it, not me. >> beyond the labels that you can print here, you have a huge

number of women who perhaps can make the difference in this election. women, though, romney has tried to court saying you have been hit hard economically. you're out of jobs. you're a family. you pay a lot of bills and you know the difficulties facing the family. is that enough to distract from instances like this, especially if romney does not demand that akin step down? >> i think when they talk about bread and butter economic issues, the policies as they affect women are so draconian as well. in addition to reproduct tif rights you also have the fact they want to cut program that is disproportionately benefit women and disproportionately likely to be poor and want to cut preventive care and women's health funding so at this point they can't point to a single policy that leads to women's joblessness where in reality it has to do with public sector job cuts. i literally cannot think of a single winning proposal they have to women except if they want to say you hate president obama. increasingly if single women

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and after a couple of weeks she was part of the family. we're so lucky that lucy picked us. [ female announcer ] purina cat chow complete. and for a delicious way to help maintain a healthy weight, try new purina cat chow healthy weight. welcome back. despite congressman's akin's comments that ignited a fire storm aides say the governor has no plans to ask todd akin to leave the missouri senate race. surrounding his comments polls showed akin ahead of claire mccaskill. what impact will the controversy have on his can daes. the "washington post" posing the question. is todd akin talking himself out of a senate seat? the writer joins me aaron, it was posed before the development that is took place even in the last hour. is the answer right now he has

talked himself out of the senate seat? >> it is looking more and more like that's the case now. the latest example is that the biggest republican super pac, american cross roads and the national republican senate committee have both announced they're pulling money out of this race so long as todd akin is the candidate here. what it means is if he does decide to stay in he'll have a difficult time competing financially with senator claire mccaskill. >> looking at his history he is on the house science committee that i think so many people will find just stunning. right now we everyone a number of medical professionals in missouri planned a news conference to speak out against his comments which are obviously not based in any science that any of us have learned in classes, certainly i hope noby learned that in classes. nevertheless the background included interesting comments regarding messy divorces tied to rape as well as recently on student loans. >> yeah. this is the thing that has the

tendency to snowball and this guy has been in congress and state office for more than two decades now which means he has a long paper trail. sometimes stuff like this can escape notice if a candidate doesn't make a whole lot of news. i am guessing there are a lot of reporters looking at the background and a lot more republicans preparing to come forward because frnkly they don't want to answer for his comments. they don't want to be tied to him. they would rather he step aside and no longer be a story that the national republican party or local republicans have to deal with. >> i understand that some strategists told you they don't expect missouri republicans to defend akin. he never helped fellow republica republicans. who at this point would support him? er mentioned he was on mike huckabee's show and he originally endorsed him and had him on the show today. who would stand with this man at this point? >> seems like there is one face in the crowd standing out and supporting todd akin right now and that's the family research

council, a socially conservative group big in the '90s and early 2000s and they supported him and said that he didn't say anything wrong but the denouncements have been pretty universal in the republican party. he doesn't have a whole lot of friends in the party to begin with. he will not gain any with what he said yesterday and i would expect there is going to be a very few people who are willing to stick their neck out on his behalf. >> quickly, you interestingly enough compared him to michele bachmann in a piece you just wrote as well. >> i think that's a valid comparison. she really had like he did, she had a good setup in that presidential campaign. she was a top of the polls for a little while. what she didn't have is message control. she wound up saying a lot of things off message and things that weren't necessarily true and it wound up making people not take her seriously as a candidate. i think that's what's happening with akin and it is a matter of how long he thinks he can hold

onto his candidacy. >> greatly appreciate it. we have more from missouri congressman todd akin's, his appearance in the past hour on huckabee's radio show. let's play it for you now. >> i really made a couple of serious mistakes here that were just wrong and i need to apologize for those. first, i might say that i have always been committed to pro-life and it was because i didn't want to harm the most vulnerable. likewise, i care deeply for the victims of people who have been raped and they're equally vulnerable and a rape is equally tragic and i made that statement inner or. let me be clear. rape is never legitimate. it is an evil act and it is committed by violent predators. i used the wrong words in the wrong way. what i said was ill conceived and it was wrong. for that a apologize. i am a dad of two daughters. i want tough justice for the sexual predators. i have always had a

compassionate heart for the victims of sexual assault, and i have even know women who have been raped and i know that it is a terrible, terrible thing, that those consequences extend many, many, many years later. i also know that the people do become pregnant from rape and i didn't mean to imply that wasn't the case. it does happen. it is also terrible, particularly the most terrible of all, and i really just want to apologize to those that i have hurt. >> that again congressman todd akin in the last couple of hours on the mike huckabee radio show. now, let me before i in democratic congressman chris van hollen of maryland, the top democrat on the house budget committee that paul ryan chairs and he also plays the role of paul ryan in the latest talk on politico for the debate preps with vice president joe biden. thank you for your time.

let me first get your reaction to congressman akin's on the mike huckabee show. he said he made an error in the choice of words. is that enough to explain away what he said yesterday? >> no, it is not, tamron. what he said yesterday was so we ynd the pale that i have to agree with those including republicans who have said that he should give up his race for senate. he clearly expressed himself in a way that was absolutely unacceptable in all ways and so i actually think the romney campaign should join senator brown and other republicans in saying that he should abandon that senate race, that todd akin should abandon the senate race. >> gov measure romney and congressman ryan today in new hampshire talked about a lack of leadership. is it a lack of leadership if governor romney does not come out today and clearly i guess make a hard approach not just against the words but say that someone like akin does not have

a place in congress, does not have a place in the senate if he were to go on and win this race? >> yes, i think he should. i think this is one of those occasions where you just have to draw a bright line and say this is absolutely unacceptable and under no circumstances should someone who expressed those views be in the united states senate or carry the banner for the republican party in the united states senate race? i hope that he will do that. >> speaking of drawing a bright line, it was all of last week the lines were being drawn between the romney-ryan medicare plan and the plan from the obama administration. we know that no one has worked closer with paul ryan, his counterpart in the house on the budget committee here. paul ryan over the weekend with his mother in florida and what's been described as friendly territory, a retirement community voted mostly for the large part republican and still makes the assertion that seniors and moving ahead people will pay more and the obama administration has stolen if you

will money that could have been used to help seniors in the future here. >> this is outrageous and flat wrong, and paul ryan knows it. in his own budget, in the ryan budget, they adopt every penny of the savings from medicare in obama care. we achieved those savings by eliminating a lot of the over payments that were going to the private insurance market. the ryan budget adopted every one of those pennies, but unlike what the president did and what we did in the democratic budget, they don't recycle any of those monies back into strengthening medicare. we strengthen the prescription drug benefit. we strengthen preventive health care and medicare and under the ryan plan not only did they take the savings but they did not put any back into strengthening benefit which is means and this is important to understand, under the romney-ryan plan seniors with high prescription drug costs will immediately start paying a lot more. seniors who seek preventive health care under medicare will see a lot more, and if we now

take the romney position where we're not going to take the savings, that means we're going to be giving these excessive payments back to the private insurance companies in medicare advantage and you know who pays for that, tamron? seniors, through premiums and co-payments and not ten years from now but right away. so what romney is proposing is to say we're going to restart, resume those over payments to private insurance companies and they will send seniors the tab and it amounts to an estimated $300 per year on average over the next ten years, and not -- starting right away and can ramping up and i should also point out when you fully phase in the other plan, it simply shifts costs onto seniors and the estimate we got from the cbo, the nonpartisan group, on one version of that plan was $6,000 more for seniors. at the same time they're providing huge tax cuts for people like mitt romney. >> congressman, i really

appreciate your time. it is an abbreviated conversation on medicare. we want you back on. i have new details on this akin scandal. thank you, congressman. senator mitch mcconnell weighing in saying although representative akin has apologized, i believe he should take time with his family to consider whether this statement will prevent him from effectively representing our party in this critical election, so now senator mcconnell weighing in on this and echoing what we heard from john corning as well, many indicating this is a nudge for akin to drop out of that race which would be an incredible development for claire mccaskill. fact finding mission gone wild. a gop congressman now apologizing for skinny dipping in the holy sea of galilee during an official trip to israel. what kevin yoeder is saying now about that evening that involved alcohol and more. we'll have the details. first there is a lot going on today. here are things we thought you should know. big news as the world of golf meets the world of politics.

after 80 years augusta national golf club made history by allowing the first female members, one of those selected former secretary of state condoleezza rice. rice will be joined by darla moore as new members when the club opens for a new season this fall. augusta chairman billy payne called it a joyous occasion. they opened in 1932, did not have a black member until 1990. women have been allowed to play golf as guests but they could not join. there has been a lack of female membership and that's been a great source of outrage for years. in her statement condoleezza rice says i visited augusta national on several occasions and look forward to playing golf, renewing friendships and forming new ones through this special opportunity. for the first time a couple of hours ago the white house hosted a kid's state dinner. the east room was filled with children who won a nationwide recipe competition. the first lady told the 54 top junior chefs selected, quote, your recipes truly stood out.

president obama also dropped by the lunch to applaud the winners. >> i heard that there was a state dinner going on here. usually i get invited to the state dinners. so this time i just had to crash. i had to crash the party because i did not want to miss out on all of the fun. [ female announcer ] did you know the average person smiles more than 50 times a day? so brighten your smile a healthy way with listerine® whitening plus restoring rinse. it's the only rinse that makes your teeth two shades whiter and two times stronger. ♪ listerine® whitening... power to your mouth.

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welcome back. republican congressman kevin yo der is in damage control mode after embarrassing revelations he swam naked in the sea of galilee. it took place during a congressional trip last year and other gop lawmakers and staff also apparently jumped into the water and kept their clothes on. yo der issued a statement apologizing to his constituents

and has stayed out of the public eye today failing to attend a scheduled event in wichita. it comes at a bad time as you can imagine for the gop. let me bring in senior political editor mark murray. may not be a bad time for yo der. obviously everyone is talking about akin and what happened there. >> that's right. saves grace for congressman yoder is the fact that everyone is paying attention to congressman akin and his controversial comments about rape. the political vultures are all circling over todd akin's head and allowed congressman yo der breathing room and romney being asked he questions about akin and not yo der. when you take them together it is a black eye for house republicans. already with congress' low approval rating and when americans are tuning in to hear news about that particular story what happened in the sea of galilee a year ago or reading about it, they have to say there

is congress again. >> it is interesting, mark. so far we have heard senator mitch mcconnell, corning well in the last hour coming out, basically saying that akin needs to take time to his family and all indicating they're nudging him out of the race here. mitt romney is not saying that. is there a need to have a stronger or the strongest wording come from the gop presidential candidate on this? we know mitt romney conducted a new interview and we read an excerpt from it and it is not going to air until later today and it does not include language that akin needs to step down. >> you're right. so far we heard from mitt romney who has did he plord the language that congressman akin used and hasn't reached the level we have seen from senate republicans on the campaign committee, certainly trying to nudge him out of the race. as we reported, american cross roads, that karl rove super pac said they won't be running any more advertisements in missouri.

there is a divide right now between a lot of the establishment political types like the nrsc, like american crossroads, even like mitch mcconnell verses the social conservatives. we have actually seen the family research council come to congressman akin's defense. you have this divide and the question is for congressman akin which is more influential to him, social conservatives or these establishment republicans? >> does it also put a divide with romney and ryan in that ryan co-sponsored a bill with akin regarding the personhood amendment and also a woman carrying out a pregnancy even in the case of rape? >> tamron, this puts everyone in a box including mitt romney, including paul ryan. this is the last thing they want to be able to talk about heading into their convention. it starts a week from now. one reason why you might not see romney going as strongly as mcconnell is because there are

social conservatives defending congressman akin. >> thank you very much, mark murray. pleasure. another murder of an american service member by afghan police tops our look at stories around the news station. the attack took place in kandahar province, the latest case in which afghan forces turn their fire on american and nato troops, ten u.s. troops have been killed in these types of attacks in just two weeks. today the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, general martin dempsey met with senior officials in afghanistan to discuss the recent surge and what the military is now calling inside era tacks. "people magazine" says a claim action film maker tony scott was diagnosed with inoperable brain cancer prior to his suicide son. an autopsy is scheduled for today. scott is the 68-year-old brother of ridley scott and directed many blockbusters including top gun, crimson tide, and true romance and mark zuckerberg's fate as facebook ceo is in question as the stock tanks once

again. they hit an all time low trading at $18.75. it led some corporate experts to say zuckerberg is in over his hoodie and they have called for him to step down. next up, our news nation gut check, far from politics, something caught our eye. an obama man fights to keep his wife buried in the front yard. it was her final wish but neighbors say it is not their wish. you can join us on facebook.com. [ female announcer ] the power of green coffee extract is now in our new starbucks refreshers™ -- a breakthrough in natural energy. made with real fruit, starbucks refreshers™ are delicious low calorie drinks you can feel good about. ♪ rethink how you re-energize.

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you can join news nation. that's our twitter page. our numbers are growing tremendously, by the way. time for the fwut check. far from politics, a story is

that caught our eye, a husband desperate to honor his wife's last wish, buried her in the front yard. james davis ignored a denial of burial permit and buried his wife in their yard in northern alabama after she passed away in 2009. now the city of stevenson, they're suing to have her body moved to a cemetery. the ruling is currently on hold while the alabama civil court of appeals considers his challenge. it is her last wish. so what does your gut tell you? should james davis be allowed to keep his wife buried in their front yard? go to facebook.com/news station to cast your vote. i cannot wait to see the results of this story tomorrow. that does it for this addition of news nation. the cycle is up next. revolves around you. introducing share everything. unlimited talk. unlimited text. tap into a single pool of shareable data

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here is what's going on today. surprise, the president shows up in the briefing room