politico headline, the fbi is denying to nbc news today that it is involved in any sort of investigation of the skinny dipping congressman. international naked swimming in the sea of galilee is apparently not a federal crime. in any case, today could have been so much worse for congressman kevin yoder. because, of course, congressman kevin yoder is not republican todd akin, his republican colleague in the house. congressman kevin yoder in kansas, you are the beneficiary of the best timing in the world today. mazel tov. may all of your skinny dipping adventures find their way to politico in the wake of much bigger stories, which is what you benefited from today pop. now it's time for "the last word with lawrence o'donnell." have a great night. and so tonight, a crazy republican congressman has made it even more difficult for mitt romney to have a crazy republican congressman as his running mate. >> the punishment ought to be in the rapist and not attacking the child. >> todd akin throws the missouri

senate race into chaos. >> the republican party now has a todd akin problem. >> with incendiary comments about rape and abortion. >> so-called legitimate rain. >> legitimate rape. >> if it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to shut this thing down. >> this caveman view of the sexes. >> his views expressed were offensive. rape is rape. >> this created a huge problem for the romney campaign. >> paul ryan is being forced to defend his own record. >> there is no daylight between paul ryan's views and todd akin's views. >> last year paul ryan -- >> this personhood amendment. >> no taxpayer funding for abortion act. >> paul ryan was a cosponsor of that. >> he joined with mr. akin. >> their ticket suffers from pathological hypocrisy. >> i believe that abortion should be safe and legal in this country. >> do i believe the supreme court should overturn roe v. wade? >> yes. what they believe is women don't have a right to their own bodies. >> my presidency will be a pro-life presidency. >> i'm not for federal funding of abortions.

>> planned parenthood, we're going to get rid of that. >> it's not just paul ryan and it's not just todd akin. >> we had the debate about birth control and the transvaginal probe debate. rush limbaugh's comments about sandra fluke. >> women have a right to equality. >> women -- >> women -- >> women -- >> women know what's going on. with 78 days to go until the presidential election, a crazy republican congressman, no, not the one who's on the ticket with mitt romney, but another one, scared every one in america who knows where babies come from. but even the political insanity of congressman todd akin, as well as the actual insanity of congressman todd akin, even all of that was not enough to bury the story of mitt romney's secret tax returns for even one day. today, president obama made an

unscheduled appearance in the white house briefing room, where he was asked about the secret tax returns. >> the first disclosure, the one years of tax returns that they disclosed indicated that, you know, he used swiss bank accounts, for example. well, that may be perfectly legal, but i suspect if you ask the average american, do you have one? and is that part of how you manage your tax obligations, they would say no. they would find that relevant information. >> as maureen dowd pointed out yesterday in "the new york times," paul ryan believes there is something called forcible rape. which is somehow different from, and more serious than, rape. a right-wing fanatic running for claire senate seat in missouri got into trouble for the same idea. what he calls "legitimate rape." he then went on to explain his

understanding of the science of rape. >> so a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. but let's assume that maybe that didn't work or something. you know, i think there should be some punishment, but the punishment ought to be in the rapist and not attacking the child. >> president obama was asked about that today too, and he couldn't seem to comprehend what paul ryan and todd akin have in mind when they talk about forcible rape and legitimate rape. >> rape is rape. and the idea that we should be parsing and qualifying and, uh, slicing what types of rape we're talking about doesn't make sense to the american people. and certainly doesn't make sense to me. >> the president then turned to what congressman akin's madness means for mitt romney.

>> although these particular comments have led governor romney and other republicans to distance themselves, i think the underlying notion that we should be making decisions on behalf of women for their health care decisions, or qualifying forcible rape versus nonforcible rape, i think those are broader issues, and that is a significant difference in approach between me and the other party. >> in the last presidential campaign, mitt romney proclaimed himself to be in the akin camp, opposing abortion, even in cases of rape. >> i would welcome a circumstance where there was such a consensus in this country that we said, we don't want to have abortion in this country, at all. period. that would be wonderful. i would be delighted -- let me say it. i would be delighted to sign that bill. but that's not where we are. that's not where america is

today. where america is, is ready to overturn roe v. wade and turn to the states that authority. but if the congress got there, we had that kind of consensus in that country, terrific. >> mitt romney pretended to be outraged by akin's remarks today. >> his comments about rape were deeply offensive. and i can't defend what he said. i can't defend him. >> do you think for the benefit of the party, sir, he should drop out? >> well, the thing he should consider is what's in the best interests of the things he believes most deeply, what will help the country at this critical time. >> other republicans are urging akin to leave the race, including paul ryan, who called akin personally. also urging akin to drop out, fox news sean hannity, the conservative national review, republican party chairman, reince priebus, senate minority leader, mitch mcconnell, senator scott brown, senator john

cornyn, who is chairman of the senate -- republican senate campaign committee, karl rove, backed by super pac crossroads gps says it will not support akin's candidacy, financially, nor will tea party express or tea party nation. here is what todd akin has to say to all of them. >> i was told that there is a decision, has to be made by 5:00 tomorrow, but i was calling you and letting you know that i'm announcing today, that we're going to stay in. >> a national poll conducted earlier this month shows that among female registered voters, president obama leads mitt romney by nine points, 53 to 44%. joining me now, msnbc's krystal ball and joy reid and the president of the planned parenthood action fund, cecile richards. let's listen to what mitt romney told mike huckabee about

personhood. >> would you have supported the constitutional amendment that would have established the definition of life at conception? >> absolutely. >> cecile richards, that puts him very clearly in the position of saying that he is opposed to abortion in cases of rape or incest. >> look, i think that this whole thing has been so disturbing with mr. akin. what i think folks are forgetting is that he's actually a sitting member of congress. and what we've seen this entire year is a congress that is actually willing to pass any bill they can, to eliminate funding for planned parenthood, for cancer screenings, opposing birth control, and frankly, that's been the position of this republican ticket, that we have candidates for office now who are pledging to end access to family planning, to birth control, to overturning roe versus wade, and i think that's why this is causing such a storm. because mr. akin, i know a lot of folks want to get him out of the race, because he's a drag,

perhaps, on the party. but let's face it, he and a lot of folks like him are now in the united states congress voting on issues that are impacting women's access to health care. >> and paul ryan votes just like him. let's look at this statement that the romney campaign put out today, saying, governor romney and congressman ryan disagree with mr. akin's statement and a romney/ryan administration would not oppose abortion in instances of rape. joey reed, that is in direct contradiction to what we just heard mitt romney say. >> yeah, absolutely. and it's in direct contradiction to paul ryan's history, in which he has partnered with the same guy, todd akin, to pass and to push bills that would limit abortion, including hr-3, which as you well knows, it was like a third thing that congress did. so the house of representatives came in. they have done something like 67 abortion-related bills. one of these bills that was sponsored, co-sponsored by paul ryan and todd akin got 251 votes

in the house. you want to call todd akin fringe? he is not fringe. he is now mainstream of the republican party. and i want to know what it is that paul ryan and mitt romney differ with him about? what specific thing did he say that they disagree about? because paul ryan has essentially the same beliefs on abortion and mitt romney has jumped into the clown car. he's going with this fringe of the party and trying to drive that car. so what do they disagree with? i'm not clear about that. >> krystal, todd akin seems to be hanging in there. he's already sent out a fund-raising plea, saying i'm in this race to win, we need a conservative senate, help me defeat claire -- claire mccaskill, that means -- by donating. he thinks he can raise money on this. >> the machiavellian political strategist in me wants to urge a bunch on democrats to contribute to his campaign, because having him in there, with was we know, claire mccaskill actually spent money to have him be the senate nominee, because he seemed like sort of a crazy person who would say these sorts of things, and then the there he goes saying

them. so that strategist in me wants to urge democrats to contribute to his campaign. i wouldn't actually do that. but the broader point here, as joy was making, this is the default position of the republican party right now. and let's just remind people, when we're talking about personhood amendments, like what was on the ballot in mississippi and was defeated han diddly, that is giving the rights of a person to a fertilized egg, and it will not surprise you to learn that while it is mainstream public opinion within the republican house caucus, it is a fringe belief that that should happen within the american public. and there's a broader pattern here, where republicans cannot actually talk about where they stand. not just on personhood, not just on forcible rape, but when you look at something like medicare vouchers, privatizing social security, raising taxes on the poor to finance another tax cut for the rich. these are positions that republicans cannot actually talk about, because the american people finds it wildly insane

and unpopular, okay? so that's part of the problem here, is whenever anyone like todd akin sort of gives the game away, by actually saying something close to what they believe, they have to run away from it, because the american people are not in line with where they are. >> yeah, claire mccaskill thought that todd akin was the person she wanted to run against. she spent some money on ads early during the republican primary. her ads against akin saying he was, quote, too conservative, and most political observers thought that was her attempt to get conservative voters to turn out for akin. but cecile richards, she has been running behind, behind congressman akin in missouri, which i think shows people, maybe some of whom didn't realize it before tonight, just what someone like claire mccaskill is up against in a state like missouri and what you and planned parenthood are up against around the country in states like missouri and elsewhere. >> well, look, i think, lawrence, that women are very,

are beginning to focus on this election. i think as you showed earlier, it is the gender gap that is -- it's large and i think it's going to continue to grow. and because of things like this, whether it's this or the more than thousand bills that were proposed either in congress or in state legislatures to end women's access to basic health care in this country, i think what we're seeing, and i think the personhood idea that mr. romney supports is one good example. is the danger of politicians basically playing politicians playing politics with women's health care access in this country. women don't think these are laughing matters, and i think as they begin to focus on this election, it's going to make it much tougher for the politicians who have spent all of their time focusing on ways to eliminate access to basic health care. not only safe and legal abortion, but frankly, birth control as well. >> cecile richards, krystal ball and joy reid, thank you all for joining me tonight. >> thanks, lawrence.

coming up, paul ryan, who agrees with todd akin about their being such a thing as legitimate rape was first to turn on akin today, but they've worked closely together on this issue in the past. karen finney and steve kornacki will join me with the ryan/akin connection. and as we've seen, today's earthquake in republican party politics was not enough to make everyone forget about the secret romney tax returns. romney actually had the audacity to make a joke about his secret tax returns today. and in the "rewrite" tonight, what america and especially liberals owe senator claire mccaskill, the women who is trying to prevent todd akin from becoming a united states senator. comes with some risk, but proven technologies allow natural gas producers to supply affordable, cleaner energy, while protecting our environment. across america, these technologies protect air -

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paul ryan was forced today to agree that the romney/ryan

administration would not oppose abortion in cases of rape. paul ryan's legislative alliance with todd akin is next. it's something you're born with. and inspires the things you choose to do. you do what you do... because it matters. at hp we don't just believe in the power of technology. we believe in the power of people when technology works for you. to dream. to create. to work. if you're going to do something. make it matter.

just as slavery is fundamentally un-american, so, even more so, anything that violates the most fundamental right, the right to life, is contrary to everything that americans have stood for and fought for. so it is no big surprise that we fight the terrorists, because they are fundamentally un-american. and yet we have terrorists in our own culture called abortionists.

>> that was paul ryan's anti-abortion legislative best buddy, the clinically insane congressman todd akin. like congressman akin, paul ryan has opposed abortion, even in cases of rape, and paul ryan joined congressman akin in cosponsoring hr-3, which sought to redefine the word "rape." that bill said that only, quote, something called forcible rape survivors could qualify for federally funded abortion services. last year, paul ryan joined congressman akin, again, this time cosponsoring hr-212. that bill said "the life of each human being begins with fertilization, at which time every human being shall have all the legal and constitutional attributes and privileges of personhood." congressman ryan publicly turned

on his friend, todd akin today, but congressman akin still has some supporters. the president of the family research counsel action pac, connie mackey said today, qu"to akin is getting a very bad break here. we support him fully and completely." paul ryan is scheduled to speak to that group next month at the value voters summit. joining me now are msnbc's steve kornacki and karen finney. karen finney, paul ryan is desperately trying to flip-flop today on his position and his history on abortion. is it even possible, instantaneously, in one day, to suddenly flip over to what is the new romney campaign position of, oh, okay, abortion in the case of rape cases, that's okay with us. >> you know, actually, lawrence, i think it's a little bit more cynical and sinister than that. because i think they're actually not completely flipping their

position. they've gone back to the position of creating different types of rape, right? because if you say, forcible rape -- if you say rape, but say you believe in forcible rape, then that suggests that you believe that there are other kinds of rape. and again, i think that's why so many women today were so happy to hear the president of the united states say, rape is rape. i would want to be able to ask both paul ryan and mitt romney the question, is rape rape? they don't want to have that conversation. they don't want to have any of this conversation, because, again, this sort of forcible rape construction that they've created is part of the way they're parsing the language and really trying to move the ball down the field a little bit with regard to their rhetoric, and i think we can't let them get away with that. >> steve kornacki, it seems with paul ryan's history on the concept of forcible rape, which he tried to put into law, that that history will prevent him from simply being able to say the sentence "rape is rape."

>> well, i mean, here you see why he made a phone call apparently, tonight, to todd akin and trying to get him out of this race and why national republicans are trying so hard to get todd akin out of this race, because those are questions that the romney campaign and paul ryan himself do not want to be dealing with for the rest of this campaign. it hurts them, because there is not a simple answer they can give that can square, you know, the legislation that ryan supported with the position that they have to sort of articulate to win a national election. that's the first problem. the second problem is that if todd akin is still in the race, they have to rhetorically distance themselves from him, like you're seeing now. you saw mitt romney coming out today giving a very strong rebuke, after an initial weak statement, a very strong rebuke of todd akin. and the more todd akin stays in this race, the more republicans across the country will have to rebuke that statement of todd akin, and it will make him untenable in missouri, and if they can't win back missouri, they can't win this year. >> karen finney, is it

conceivable we can have a vice presidential debate in which moderator martha radditz does not ask paul ryan the question, what is forcible rape? >> ill tell you, lawrence, it's conceivable, but that really shouldn't happen. if you're going to hang your hat on this construction of forcible rape, and as you pointed out, akin and ryan are pretty much lockstep on these issues, time and time again, in the legislation that they have jointly supported together and the positions that they've espoused. and again, even mitt romney parsing it a little bit. they've got to be asked the question, what is forcible rape? what do you mean by forcible rape? or you could be asked the question, is rape rape? >> steve kornacki, there seems to be no doubt that the president went to the briefing room today because he wanted to participate in this dialogue and he knew that it would be brought out through questions by reporters instead of him having to bring these points up directly. it's once again one of those

demonstrations of what an advantage the incumbency is and that forum is. >> and what an advantage when you're running against a republican party that really has been taken over by economically by the tea party, and culturalists and socialists used by the religious right, sort of the far religious right. you see this in polling. neither party is particularly popular right now, but the republican party is a lot more unpopular than the democratic party. just those two sort of partisan brands. and a lot of it has to do with, you know, instances like this, especially in the obama era, where people like todd akin will suddenly command, you know, attention for saying something that's extreme and outlandish, and then it turns out that it's actually somewhat mainstream, you know, within the republican party, and that has really taken a toll on the republican party. so obama, obviously, is looking for any opportunity he can find to highlight that. >> we've got to go, karen. sorry. >> no problem. >> steve kornacki and karen finney, thank you both for joining me tonight. coming up, this is not the

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"legitimate." what did you mean by legitimate rape? were you attempting to say forcible rape or was that just -- where did that come from? >> well, yeah, i was talking about forcible rape, and it was absolutely the wrong word. yeah. >> rape experts, todd akin, and mike huckabee today, continuing the extreme right's strategy of deciding what rape is. in the spotlight tonight, a history of republicans attempting to redefine rape. the idea that a rape survivor can't get pregnant is not new. a report in the guardian today traced it back to the 13th century, but here are some more modern examples. in 1988, a pennsylvania state legislature said that the chances of a rape survivor getting pregnant are, quote, 1 in millions and millions and millions, because rape causes women to, quote, his words,

secrete a certain secretion that kills sperm. in 1995, a north carolina state lawmaker said that the facts show that people who are raped, who are truly raped, the juices don't flow, the body functions don't work, and they don't get pregnant. not being able to get pregnant isn't the only insane rape idea. in 1990, texas republican clayton williams, who unsuccessfully ran against ann richards for governor, apologized after comparing rape to foggy weather, saying, "if it's inevitable, just relax and enjoy it." joining menow, goldie taylor, a contributor to thegrio.com, and michelle goldberg, senior contributing writer for "newsweek" and the daily beast. goldie, you just heard former

republican presidential candidate, mike huckabee, thinking that the real confusion here was just the use of the word "legitimate" before "rape," instead of forcible. if akin had just said "forcible rape," well, hey, all of us republicans would have been cool with everything you said. >> you know, that's what got my goat yesterday afternoon when this story started to break, were the many qualifiers that we've been hearing about rape. whether it is incest or forcible or assault or, you know, legitimate. rape, as i said last night, rape, as the president said today, is rape. it does not matter, as long as the woman is not able to or does not give consent, everything happens after that is just plain horrible. and to place qualifiers on it, i think, disqualifies somebody from holding public office. >> michelle goldberg, imagine for me, if you will, the day after the vice presidential debate, if martha raddatz does

not ask paul ryan what is forcible rape. >> no, i mean, i also certainly hope that they will ask him, you know, how he justifies his belief that rape victims, whether forcible or otherwise, should be forced to carry any resulting pregnancy to term against their will. because that, to me, is the essential. when people recoil at what todd akin said, i mean, some of it is obviously because of his incredibly, this kind of medieval language, and also this kind of impugning the honor of women who have gotten pregnant through rape, kind of implying that they weren't really raped. that they must be lying about what really happened. but the other piece of it that has so many people up in arms is that he's made really clear what many, many republicans believe. which, again, is that if you are raped and you get pregnant, as tens of thousands of women every year in this country do, the most reliable study i've seen from the american journal of

obstetrics and gynecology puts it around 30,000 women a year in the united states, that the government should force you to carry that pregnancy to term against your will. >> goldie, does this open a window into republican thinking, that for those of us who think that abortion should be available, not just for rape victims, but especially for rape victims, it's hard to comprehend exactly what people are thinking when they say, it shouldn't. is -- does this help actually explain what a lot of conservatives are actually, secretly thinking, when they say abortion should not be available in cases of rape? >> well, it's not really a big secret, if you know anything about right-to-life circles. i mean, this is an integral part of the language, or the propaganda that they used to, you know, justify, you know, their position on some of these issues. and so this is not brand-new. this is not a secret. this guy just happened to say it into a microphone.

but the fact is, it's going to hurt him, you know, politically. it's going to hurt this gop ticket politically. you know, it's going to tell women, you know, that there really is a war on women, happening in this country right now. and republicans are waging it. >> michelle goldberg, now the romney/ryan ticket, both of whom have supported personhood, the personhood idea, legislatively, that upon fertilization, that full legal rights obtain, that means that you have to -- if you believe that, then you must oppose abortion in the cases of rape, incest, everything else. now today, that ticket, those two people who have said that in the past, are now saying, well, okay, actually, from now on, we won't oppose abortion in cases of. how can they possibly say that? >> ryan has always vastly opposed abortion in cases of rape, but with romney, like

everything else with romney, it's been much harder to nail down. that's not always been his position, but at times he has said he would sign a personhood amendment or sign a human life amendment. so basically, the fact that romney is kind of changing his position to suit the political moment, i don't think, but, essentially, they're realizing that they have to distance themselves from todd akin, because he highlights what so many people find most terrifying about the republican party. >> they are just lying now, about abortion and cases of rape, because a personhood amendment would mean that you've got crimes committed, if you have an abortion, even in cases of rape. we could go on about this. goldie taylor, michelle goldberg, thank you very much for joining me on this important night. >> thanks for having me, lawrence. coming up, mitt romney actually joked today about his secret tax returns, but he didn't get anyone else to laugh about it. and next, in the "rewrite,"

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and you could pay as little as ten dollars a month for androgel 1.62%. what are you waiting for? this is big news. at this hour, there is only one person standing between dangerous congressman todd akin and a seat in the united states senate, with the right to vote on the confirmation of supreme court justices. what america owes senator claire mccaskill is next in the "rewrite." [ obama ] i'm barack obama and i approve this message.

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now, that's a pill worth taking. [ male announcer ] ocuvite. help protect your eye health. in tonight's "rewrite," what we owe claire mccaskill. it is a grand tradition in the democratic party for liberals in states that are not -- liberals to criticize and attack and sometimes even attempt to defeat democrats that are liberals in states that are not liberal. i stopped doing it about 20 years ago when i was working in the united states senate for a liberal democrat from new york, and i found myself working with moderate democrats from other states, and what seems to me, certainly, to be conservative democrats. yes, there were once something called conservative democrats not that long ago.

we had democratic senators then from alabama, georgia, oklahoma, texas, places where it is now unimaginable to elect a democratic senator, no matter how moderate or even conservative. i realized then, that the liberals in the senate would have absolutely no power at all without those southern democrats and other moderate democrats who gave their party a majority in the senate. ted kennedy could never have opinion a committee chairman without them. and he knew it. he used to joke with the moderate democrats, that he would come to their state to help them get re-elected, or he would stay away from their state, if that would help them even more. and for most of them, keeping teddy out of their state was the best way to get re-elected. the most important votes that those senators cast, when those senators were elected and

re-elected, was always their very first vote, when they voted for majority leader and all of the committee chairman. those moderate and conservative democrats voted for liberals like ted kennedy and daniel patrick moynihan to be important committee chairman. the southern democrats in the senate voted for the new england liberal george mitchell to be majority leader. they then voted against some important things on the democratic agenda. they killed bill clinton and al gore's ambitious btu tax in 1993, but some of them, after killing it, then voted for an increase in the gasoline tax instead. something no republican voted for. there were many days when i hated the stress and strain of working with or trying to work around the moderate democrats in the senate. the only thing i hated more,

much more, was the utter powerlessness of being in the minority party in the senate when the democrats got wiped out in the congressional elections of 1994. claire mccaskill is, in what is now considered the moderate wing of the democratic party. she was criticized in june for her announcement that she would not be attending the democratic convention this year. she said then that she never goes to the convention in the middle of her own campaigns. she didn't go to the convention in 2004 when she was running for governor in missouri, but some democrats still criticized her for distancing herself from president obama by not attending his re-election convention, and despite her insistence that she was not trying to distance herself from the president, i think there's not much room for doubt that that is one of the reasons she won't be attending the convention. and i'm sure that is as obvious

to president obama as it is to me, but he wouldn't dream of criticizing claire mccaskill for that tactical decision. not just because he's a classy guy, although he is, but because he is a practical politician. he wants democrat claire mccaskill to get re-elected in missouri, a state he lost four years ago, and anything she has to do or say to win her re-election there is fine by him. he wants her in the senate to vote for a democratic majority leader and to vote for pat leahy to continue his chairmanship of the judiciary committee with, so she can then vote for whoever president obama might nominate to the supreme court in a second term. in fact, clair mccaskill has been as helpful to the president as any democrat in an unsafe senate seat has ever been. she voted for the stimulus bill. she voted for the affordable care act, which includes several

difficult tax increases for her. she voted for the confirmation of supreme court justices sonia sotomayor and elena kagan. if the republican had been elected in her place six years ago, he would have voted against every one of those things. how hard was it for claire mccaskill to cast all those votes? well, those votes have cost her politically, especially the vote for the affordable care act, which remains unpopular in missouri. the votes that claire mccaskill has cast for president obama's agenda have cost her so much politically, that she has been running significantly behind an abject, imbecile who said th this -- >> if it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. but let's assume maybe that didn't work or something.

i think there should be some punishment, but the punishment ought to be in the rapist and not attacking the child. >> he's been running ahead of her. claire mccaskill could not win in missouri by being more liberal. and tonight, now that we've all seen so vividly what claire mccaskill is up against in missouri, america should be thanking her for managing to prevent a member of the missouri republican party from winning that senate seat six years ago and for sanity's sake, for america's sanity, america should be hoping that claire mccaskill can do it again. ♪ why should saturday night have all the fun? get two times the points on dining in restaurants, with chase sapphire preferred. it's something you're born with.

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hampshire. gosh, i feel like i'm almost a new hampshire resident. i come here and -- it would save me some tax dollars, i think. >> that was mitt romney, joking about lowering his so burdensome tax rate at a town hall in manchester today, even on a day with a republican political earthquake about so-called legitimate rape and pregnancy and abortion, the hottest of the hot-button issues in american politics, the secret romney tax returns still manage to make news, as we've seen, president obama talked about them in a white house briefing today, while bill kristol, editor of the conservative "weekly standard" said this on c-span. >> i personally, if i were, you know, designing the tax code, would have a tax code in which mitt romney paid more than 13%, i would say, given what i know about the kind of investments that he made money from. i'm just not a believer that he -- that he needed -- you

know, that there would have been any economic detriment to paying more, and i think it just seems kind of weird that he pays a lower rate than an awful lot of middle class people. >> bill kristol also repeated his release that romney should release his secret tax returns, which makes romney releasing his secret tax returns the most bipartisan idea in washington. >> custom over the last, i don't know, 20, 30 years, i suppose, has been to release a couple of the years of tax returns. if you know you're running for president anyway, i think it's part of the price of running. obama did it, so i think romney should probably do it. >> i think the idea that this is somehow exceptional, that there should be a rationale or a justification for doing more than the very bare minimum, has it backwards. i mean, the assumption should be, you do what previous presidential candidates did,

dating back for decades. and governor romney's own dad says, well, the reason i put out 10 or 12 years is because any single year might not tell you the whole story. >> today, romney said this in a local news interview with wmur in new hampshire. >> my tax returns are extensive. >> romney has released one partial federal tax return for 2010. that tax return he released did not include his foreign bank and accounts report, which he is required to file by law with the irs. obama campaign manager jim messina sent a letter friday to the romney campaign, asking for five years of full tax returns. a five-year release would appropriately span all the years that he has been a candidate for president. it would also help answer outstanding questions raised by the one return he has released to date, such as the range in the effective rates paid, the

foreign accounts maintained, the foreign investments made, and the types of tax shelters used. the governor and his campaign can expect in return that we will refrain from questioning whether he has released enough or pressing for more. the romney campaign declined the offer. joining me now is scott helmand, staff writer for the bost"bosto globe" and co-author of "the real romney," which comes out tomorrow in paperback. scott, romney has a history of this in massachusetts, where he asks people to trust him and not release his tax returns, claiming, then, that he had been filing in massachusetts, so that he could, therefore, run for governor in massachusetts, and then it turned out he had not been filing in massachusetts. take us through why people couldn't trust him then. >> well, i think this is back, right, you know, in the period where he was in utah, running the winter olympics in 2002. clearly, he was hedging his

bets. he knew he wanted to get back into politics. he had lost his previous race for senate against ted kennedy, and he didn't know would he run in massachusetts, run in utah? he said himself he was looking for the right opportunity. so i think it was clear trying to sort of keep his option oppose, if you will. at the same time, the state ballot office look at this and dismissed it. but at the end of the day, the whole argument of where did romney live backfired on democrats. i don't think there was any lasting damage to that. >> well, there is lasting damage to his credibility about what's in his tax returns. he did publicly lie in massachusetts about what was in his tax returns for some period of time, didn't he? >> well, i don't know if i would say that. i think the real question here is obvious to me, are they going to do it or not? put this to rest? clearly they decided to dig in and not do it. and look, every day that we're talking about mitt romn