muffins and mimosas so you can question the chooch about the ultrasound law while dining on a corn muffin. and the united versions versus the united states. the end run around the american way of life. i think that one is about bike lanes. but this was the item on the agenda that caught my eye as soon as the cpac schedule was released last month. too many american wars? should we fight anywhere? and can we afford it? now, that is legitimately fascinating. it was ten years ago this week that republicans and conservatives led the charge, and led a lot of democrats to go along with them to invading iraq. because they argued, you know, wmd, smoking gun mushroom cloud, whatever, let's just go to war. but now, ten years later at cpac, conservatives asking each other, asking themselves whether we as a country might be going to war too much. them asking themselves that question is really interesting for our national politics around war and peace. as they become increasingly

dislocated from standard republican and partisan axes on those subjects. are we fighting too many american wars? what are the conservatives going to say about that? a panel today was moderated by republican congressman steve king of iowa. yes, that steve king. but the real star of the discussion was republican congressman louie gohmert of texas. and this was his contribution to the question of do we fight too many wars? >> one of the things that we have heard over and over again since vietnam is, you know, well, we don't want to get in another unwinnable war like vietnam. i'm not going to debate the merits of whether we should or should not have gone to vietnam. but what i will tell you is, vietnam was winnable but people in washington decided we would not win it! folks, when you hear people talk about the lesson of vietnam, it ought to be this. you don't send american men or women to harm's way unless you are going to give them the authority and what they need to

win and then bring them home. that's the lesson of vietnam. >> let us praise the brave conservatives who are willing to ask the question. willing to ask the question of each other whether america is the man who made the video showing mitt romney insulting 47% of the nation's voters will join me to discuss that video which was still being discussed by republicans today at cpac. how does the republican party rebrand itself?

>> they think all we care about are tax breaks for the wealthy. >> and rebuild itself. >> the conservative political action conference. >> three days of power talk and positioning. >> what is latin for "let the circus begin?" ♪ we will persevere. >> the man who needs no introduction. >> real peace comes from the marine corps, not the peace corps. >> how in the world did he lose his job? >> this government is completely out of control. >> followed by rand paul. it's a bird. >> it's a plane! >> people are very, very excited about rand paul. >> monkeys, like humans, act crazy on meth. >> what kind of craziness is this? >> these are new, young faces on the scene. >> if you can't be sexy-crazy-mad, you can't get the attention. >> marco rubio. >> they're not free-loaders, they're not liberals. >> translation -- >> this has had an impact on our people.

>> it's a little more communal than some of the other speakers. >> hard working middle class. >> the republican party is still trying to reinvent and reunite itself. >> it was the left that got us into this mess. >> we don't need a new idea. >> we will persevere. >> it may not happen at this conference. at the circus that calls itself the conservative political action conference, republicans are still trying to distance themselves from the damage done to the party by the mitt romney 47% video, which they know rushed romney's candidacy and fear has the power to continue to define them as a party. here's marco rubio, attacking everything mitt romney said in that video without ever using the words "mitt" or "romney." >> the vast majority of the american people are hard-working taxpayers who take

responsibility for their families, go to work every day, they pay their mortgage on time, they volunteer in the community. this is what the vast majority of the american people still are. what's changed is the world around us. >> senator rubio acknowledged that voters see the republican party as the party fighting for rich guys like mitt romney. >> they look to washington, d.c. as if they don't have enough troubles to begin with. every week, washington is creating some sort of man-made crisis for them to worry about. and they look at the political process, whether it's fair or not, and what many of them see is, they think that one side is fighting for the people that have made it, and all of the other side does is fight for government policies to protect the people who are struggling. and they don't want to take anything away from anybody. the vast majority of americans and the hard-working middle class. >> and here is marco rubio's big idea about how republicans can change all that. >> we don't need a new idea. there is an idea.

the idea is called america. and it still works! >> marco rubio was followed by rand paul, who announced a budget that will balance twice as fast as the one proposed. this week by america's most recent losing vice presidential candidate, who may never be president, but may find himself running in a primary four years from now against rand paul. >> this month, i will propose a five-year balanced budget. cutting the corporate income tax in half. by creating a flat, personal income tax of 17%. and cutting the regulations that are strangling american business. >> paul ryan and i can't wait. that will be the funniest and cruelest and deadliest on arrival budget proposal in washington history. i hereby invite rand paul to come on this program for the full hour on the day that he

releases that budget, where he can explain it right here to the american people. the 2012 republican loser, rick perry, got huge cheers today. with a swipe at mitt romney and john mccain. >> the popular media narrative -- it's that this country has shifted away from conservative ideals as evidenced by the last two presidential elections. that's what they think. that's what they said. that might be true if republicans had actually nominated conservative [ bleep ] in 2008 and 2012. might be true. >> joining me now from the cpac convention in national harbor, maryland is ana marie cox of "the guardian" and alex wagner. ana marie, you're there. so you have the floor. please, explain cpac to us. >> reporter: oh. well, it's sometimes called

conservative spring break. i sort of think of it as conservative rumspringa. it's a time when -- i think actually, young conservatives cannot just sort of experiment in whatever way spring break connotates, but also i think it's a time when they do get exposed to new ideas. that may sound controversial given the old ideas that marco rubio put forward. some libertarians -- these are kids, right, and conservatives on their campus, probably haven't been around this many other conservatives in a while. and i think that's sort of what gives cpac its energies. these people finally feeling like they're among their own. >> it's the thrill of rubbing elbows. alex wagner, the great new idea. america. okay? did you write that down when marco rubio said that? >> i thought we were living in mau mau revolutionary kenya. it is a sign of desperation you can't put forth a single iota, a shred of policy, a shred of

thinking that is somewhat different and instead have to rely on the place. the place is -- the place is the identifier and that's all that they have. i mean, i actually -- i guess ana marie is there and says there is new blood in the conservative movement. it would be awesome to see that. right now, all i can think of when i see that rand pauls and marco rubios and the rick perrys and mitt romneys where evil guys converge and concoct their plot for the next episode or whatever it is. and they get defeated every single time. but they keep going back up into that mountain, and looking down on the earth below and sort of rubbing their hands together. they are not going to win with that conclave. pardon the use of the word this week. but that group of tired, old guys pushing the same old rhetoric. >> and i love the -- rubio offered an interesting criticism

of the imagery republicans have been putting out. and i -- listen, where is he going with this? this is really good. so where is he going to go with this? and he goes to america. one word. and not even a sentence. the idea isn't even a sentence. just america, which i guess is just -- keeps saying america. >> it was weird. it reminded -- >> i'm going to be over here just saying america and see if it works. i want to see what problems it solves in my life. >> that's how mantras work, though. a mantra works, lawrence, by repeating it. you repeat it and repeat it. and then eventually, the mantra is drained of meaning and then takes on a new meaning to the person saying it. so, you know, he is a little transcendental. it reminded me of sort of the guy faking it in the ad, brainstorming meeting and if there's enough people around the table. and you're like we should just be about the future. okay, what would the ad look like? the future, and you say it and go and hope other people will pick up the ball. the problem is when you're

aspiring to be the leader of the party, when you gave the rebuttal to the state of the union, when you're on stage alone, you have to offer more. and i was also struck, you played the clip from rand paul talking about a flat tax. rand paul has a distinction in the cpac audience, as ana marie knows. rand paul's father won the straw poll there before. steve forbes won the straw poll there before. they were all for the flat tax. the problem with the flat tax is, it's totally, completely inconsistent with ever balance the budget. or collecting the kind of renews you need to operate the kind of super power that people think also is america. >> but rand paul doesn't want this country to be a super power. and ana marie, that's one of the things i wonder about that audience. did they know, since they're all as conservative doctrine dictates, staunch supporters of israel, that rand paul would remove every single dollar of support in any way that this country gives to israel and would withdraw and downsize the military, too, something like a militia?

>> reporter: i think sometimes they're a little fuzzy on the details. but you know -- rand paul did, like, really get people on their feet. you know. sort of like he was. i mean, there was a stand with rand, you know, kind of vibe to it. and people really jumped out of their seats for him. and they jumped out of their seats when he talked about down scaling the military. when he talked about bringing the troops back from our wars. when he talked about the war on terror as not necessarily a good thing. these are ideas that the people here are receptive to. now there's a problem, it's a generational problem more or less. with these people, this is the next generation of the party. do they fit into this party at all if these are the ideas they embrace? rand paul is interestingly -- although he's ten years older than rubio, the one who seems to be cleverly straddling that divide. >> i want to go to my two favorite cpac moments ever and so far this year has not contributed at such delicious morsels as this. i want to go back two years to cpac 2011. ms. ann coulter, ladies and

gentlemen. >> well, i'll put it in a nutshell. if you don't run chris christie, romney will be the nominee. >> okay. so there's that. now, ann coulter, cpac 2012. >> romney of the four remaining is the most conservative. >> and there you have cpac. that's all i know about cpac. it is the most wildly inconsistent nut house you could ask for. >> of course, of course. there is a budget on the table that is being embraced by much of the conservative world. that is based on fantasy. it is based on repealing settled law. over 40% of the savings are based on a myth. it's never going to happen. so the idea that, you know, chris -- or mitt romney gets a pass on being not conservative enough or too conservative or whatever they think he is at this point, seems to just be part and parcel of a party that has not reconciled any semblance of what the truth is.

either -- in terms of fiscal policy or in terms of ideology. i think it's incredible that the one thing that is picking up steam here is the notion that we need to slash our defense budget, that we need to be less engaged in foreign wars. that used to be the pillar of the republican party. what do they stand for? >> still what happens is, these kids cheer for that, and then when they get the republican nominee who says, i want to increase defense spending, they all go to the convention and clap and vote for them. >> exactly. that's the parable of cpac. alex wagner always tells me, you can understand politics through hip-hop. and -- >> i never said that, but i like that. continue, my friend. >> he's just trying to cheat this reference in, and like pretend -- >> he'll find a way to get jay-z in. >> don't blow up my tactics. >> go. we're here to help. >> dmx always says, sometimes you come through the front and you leave out the back door. so you have a lot of candidates who come through the front of cpac and get pummeled by these conservatives and slink out after getting beaten up so there is this whole process whereby

conservatives get cheered there. but they did like romney, they did beat up mccain. there is a lot of political pressure that never gets resolved because exactly what you're hitting on, lawrence. there's these fundamental, hypocritical sort of contrasts that are never resolved. so it's funny to me as a convention. on the one hand, gets a lot of attention. it is a politically important event but doesn't do what party conventions have historically done, which is reconcile some of where the base is. >> ana marie, i want to give you the last word on cpac tonight, since you are actually there, and please feel free to mention any hip-hop artist you particularly favor. >> reporter: i'm not going to mention -- actually, you know what comes to mind, i was in a panel with the next generation of conservatives and someone seriously suggested what they needed to do was get more concerts like obama did with jay-z. >> all right. >> reporter: that could work. maybe. >> they do have new ideas. ana marie cox, thank you all for joining me tonight. coming up, i will be joined by the man who recorded the romney 47% video, scott prouty,

the mvp of the 2012 campaign. and later, it was ted cruz versus dianne feinstein today in the senate judiciary committee. you've got to see this. also coming up, the republican who said -- actually did say this -- this is a quote. it's good politics to oppose the black guy in the white house right now, especially for the republican party. that's coming up. a ha ha! ha ha ha! no no no! not today! ha ha ha! ha ha ha! jimmy how happy are folks who save hundreds of dollars switching to geico? happier than dikembe mutumbo blocking a shot. get happy. get geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more.

ed got him last night, we have him tonight, scott prouty, the man who recorded mitt romney and the 47% comment, will be with us next. da phne do you eat activia? it's always in my fridge.

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joining me now, the man of the hour, the man of the year, the election year 2012, scott prouty, who recorded the video of mitt romney speaking at a fund-raiser, which told us more about mitt romney than anything else that was said in the entire campaign. sir, may i shake your hand? >> you may. thanks for having me. >> this is such a pleasure. this is the day we had all been hoping for. of course, last night you came on ed's show, and for the first time literally until that show started, no one knew your name anywhere. the guy who delivered this video that changed everything. what -- what have the last 24 hours of your life been like, since you walked out of this studio last night? >> it's been a little surreal. it was certainly fun. i'm just trying to have a good time. going to spend the weekend up here, do a couple interviews when i go back home and never be seen again. >> you think so? are the paparazzi following you everywhere? >> my name yelled on the street today for the first time.

>> really, get used to that. and wait until you hear it yelled with a boston accent. when you get home, that's what you really want to hear, is the sound of that, where you will get a hero's welcome, no doubt. i was zeroing in on you, theoretically. i had james carter on recently, and i think we have a clip of that we can show. let's just look at that for a second. you've said that it was not someone who paid $50,000 to attend the event, which kind of leaves us -- anyone who has been at one of these political fund raisers, knows that everyone else there is working there. they are serving in some capacity there. >> right. >> what is the incentive for this person to remain anonymous at this point? >> i'm not sure about that, really. i think, yeah, he was definitely -- they were definitely trying to get it out there.

>> so i heard him say "he" and i learned that one thing. i knew then, okay, it's a guy. but, listen, i am so impressed with the way you handled this thing strategically and to have that understanding, as you have put it, that you not being public meant that the words on the tape were the entire story. and that is exactly the way it turned out. >> yeah, that was it. it's hard to turn down the "today" show where all these shows and these offers and it's kind of intoxicating feeling to have people asking -- >> by the way, you're the first person in the history of america who has done that. every other person who has an opportunity for fame, which you had, simply runs for it in this country. >> i told david immediately, i just said, you know -- he kind of passed along some offers and i just said, geez, that's just -- >> david jones who helped get this out. >> has been great. and, you know, of course, he just kind of felt obligated to pass the offers along, at the very least. and you know, i just said -- i

thought about it and i just said that's going to change the topic away from it. and the entire time, i just said this really has to be just about his words. i didn't even want the questions of the other people in the room to be heard. but obviously it had to be. but, yeah, i just wanted it to be about him. he was running for president. everybody needed to know what he really thought. >> well, you know, there are politicians -- mitt romney, many others, who pay millions and millions of dollars for political advisers to tell them how to handle certain situations. who were you turning to as your strategic or political adviser? who was saying to you something as smart -- and by the way, i'm not sure i would have been so smart as to say to you, scott, stay hidden, don't go out there. i think that is a brilliant decision. and so who was your big cabinet that helped you with that? >> i had no cabinet. i was man unto himself. i really couldn't talk about it with anybody. >> who knew? family members? >> no. no, no, no. nobody. >> no friends. >> no. just -- >> how many friends hate you now

because you didn't tell them? >> i had a conference with one friend. and we went to a small, deserted hole in the wall bar and i said i need to talk to you about something just so i could talk and feed off one person, one other person than my girlfriend. my girlfriend knew. but even her family -- i made her lie to her mom and dad. so we had to apologize to them on thanksgiving. we told them on thanksgiving was the first time. >> but i've got to tell you, that would be my advice about secrets, especially things like this. if something is going to be a secret, this is how many people you can tell. >> zero. >> it's really got to work. but was there a loneliness in that? >> a little bit. you know, it was -- it was kind of nice though in a way, because i really didn't -- i had no desire to be out in public at all. i really didn't. and it's nice to -- it wasn't about me at all. you know, and it would have turned into, you know -- it will probably turn into about me now. but maybe less so now that the election is over and it's been

decided. you know. but i had no desire to be on -- out in public and talking. and it was -- it was just about the -- what he said. and that was it. >> i do think your choice has worked. if you had come out during the campaign, they would have been going through your trash. you know that. they would have been at your house. >> they were at my house last night. so that's -- the unfortunate part. and, you know, i know that that's going to come. but, you know, i'll put up with it for as long as it takes. >> i want to show a clip here of -- you were an unnamed star of this program. night in, night out. and by the way, thank you for the ratings bump we got from your video. but michael moore and i talked about you one night. i just want to show a clip of that. >> the mvp of all of campaign coverage is not some man in makeup on television. it's this anonymous person, this anonymous person at that fund-raiser who secretly -- >> oh, yeah. >> just recorded -- whoever did that.

whoever recorded that -- and there's a reason to suspect -- >> minimum wage worker. >> in the working staff of the event who did that. that was a brilliant choice. >> yes. >> brilliant choice for history, for this country. an invaluable contribution. >> i hope after the election that person comes forward, because we have a medal we would like to give them. >> did you happen to see that? >> i was vacuuming my house when that show came on. and i dropped the vacuum cleaner. to have you guys say that about me, and, you know, that just kind of brought butterflies to my stomach. and i was literally going around the house vacuuming and your show was on in the background. and, you know, to hear that at that time, i think that was the first time i heard anybody say that. so thanks for that. >> well, listen, it wasn't -- didn't take any great genius to say that. it was very, very obvious. i was struck by everything on this tape, by the way, including the audience. because i thought the audience is an important part of this.

and i want to play you something that one audience member said about eric holder that i did a whole segment on. >> you've got eric holder, who is probably the most corrupt attorney general we've had ever in american history. and i think it's somebody that -- if -- the right way, can resonate with the american people. >> scott, bill maher talks about the bubble these people live in. they are in the party that had the only attorney general we have ever had convicted of a crime and go to prison as attorney general. john mitchell, republican attorney general. and they get to sit there -- and i think they believe this stuff about eric holder. i mean, i wasn't in their presence the way you were. but that thing spoke to me of a kind of contamination that was all over that room that night. >> i think when you talk about

the bubble, i think that is a bubble. when you can afford the $50,000 just to be there -- >> yeah. >> that's a whole new level above what the ordinary american can even dream of doing. most people -- most people don't even make that in a year. you know. and so that -- you know, i guess maybe that changes the way you think and maybe you do get wrapped into a bubble and you don't realize what everybody else goes through. and maybe when you just talk and keep amongst yourselves and talk amongst yourselves, i guess maybe that, you know, you start believing what the right wing blogs say, and, you know, the talking points and -- you know, you never leave that bubble, i guess you're not going to see the other side. >> all right. we're going to take a break and be back with more with scott prouty. thank you very much for being here. we've got a lot more to talk about. we'll be right back. i took the dare. will you? anti-breakage. pantene. i honestly loved smoking, and i honestly didn't think i would ever quit. [ male announcer ] along with support, chantix (varenicline) is proven to help people quit smoking. it reduces the urge to smoke. it put me at ease that you could smoke on the first week. [ male announcer ] some people had changes in behavior, thinking or mood, hostility, agitation, depressed mood and suicidal thoughts or actions

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what happened at fox if you're -- been a while now. any new thought on what brought that about? >> well, i love fox. you know, you come and you go in this business. i'll come again. >> that was dick harris at cpac today where he may have been the only republican who told the truth about anything. talking points memo reports that dick morris said, single white women run screaming from the republican party largely because of our pro life position. and he said overturning roe vs. wade is a case we're never going

to win. but is there any chance that republicans are still willing to take advice from dick morris? >> hi. i thought obama would be buried in a landslide. instead i've been in a bit of a mudslide on my face. and sorry about that. i was wrong. >> up next, more with my new best friend, scott prouty. we'll be right back. mallon brothers magic? watch this -- alakazam! ♪ [ male announcer ] staples has always made getting office supplies easy. ♪

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one traveler at a time. expedia. find yours. i have to say, the whole story is pretty remarkable when you think about it. the fact that he held the tape until after labor day, after the conventions. that he understood that that would be the time to surface this tape. the fact that he understood that he had to keep himself out of it so that the story would be the focus of the tape. it's fair to say that this guy probably doesn't have much of a

future in bartending, but may have a great future in politics. >> scott prouty, that was david axelrod, one of the greatest political brains in america right now. talking about you in highly complimentary terms. as in effect, a political strategist. >> the stakes were high for me. it meant everything for me, for, you know -- if i was going to do it, i was going to try to do it right. and i spent a lot of time and effort just trying to figure out what the right way to handle it would be. and, you know, it meant everything to me. i would hate to see what happens if romney had won. i would have been in big trouble, i thought. so, you know, i spent a lot of time and effort and just tried to figure out when the most people are going to be paying attention. and give it to the right person, a reporter that is respectable and does good work and does in-depth reporting. and i felt like on top of that

try to build some buzz, internet buzz. >> using twitter. >> using twitter, yeah, using youtube, obviously. and just pushing the issue and getting it out to as many people as you could possibly get it out to. just to get the conversation rolling. and get a little bit of, you know -- people talking. and people were talking. >> and what made you choose david corn, friend of the show here, as your ambassador to the media? >> just -- i respect his reporting. i specifically -- there was one article, the global tech article july 11th that, you know, the thing that offended me most, obviously, was the china clip where he described these horrible conditions for these girls. >> let's watch that clip right now. i think it's important to understand as part of your motivation. >> yep. >> when i was back in my private equity days, we went to china to buy a factory there, they employed about 20,000 people, and they were almost all young women, between the ages of 18 and 22 or 23. they were saving for potentially becoming married, and they work in these huge factories. they make various small

appliances. and as we were walking through this facility, seeing them work, the number of hours they worked per day. the pittance they earned, living in dormitories with little bathrooms at the end, ten rooms. and the rooms, they had 12 girls per room. three bunk beds on top of each other. >> so you hear him talking about that and going on to in effect praise this as a way of doing business. >> he kind of got like a jazzed-up feeling about it. he seemed like it was a good idea. >> the business analyst in him saw the profit in that. >> i think they see people as a percentage. i think they see them as a line item. and i think those girls -- i don't know how you can walk through a factory like that -- he starts it by saying these young girls all waiting to be

married. and that told me something too. i think -- what else are girls doing but waiting to be married? you know, and maybe in his world. later on, my friend charlie karn began sent people into the factory to document the conditions and it was horrendous. it really was. and i don't know how any person with a conscience could walk in there and get a good feeling and say, you know, this is the business model i want to take. this is going to make me a couple more million dollars and that was wonderful. and then hop on your private plane and leave. you know. i just i don't know -- also knowing those jobs were taken from american workers. and i just couldn't believe he would be actually bragging about it at a -- you know, while running for president. i guess if you can go take advantage of people overseas, i suppose you can get away with it. but just because you can get away with it doesn't mean it's right. and especially if you're running for president, i think we need somebody better than that. you know, just with a moral -- more moral compass than that. you know, just -- we've got to do better than that. >> what has this experience done to the way you listen to politicians? i mean, for myself, i know -- i tend to disregard speeches, because i know, this is your most careful possible presentation of yourself to me. it's all scripted. i'm much more interested in what

you say in the back room. and if i don't get to hear you in the back room, i don't feel like i really know what you think. you've had -- now this experience. you saw this guy out there -- he gave a good speech every once in a while. that wasn't crazy. but then you saw this. and you know the difference. how do you -- how do you watch our politics after that? >> you know, i guess -- he should be saying the same things in public as in private. >> yeah, exactly. >> and i guess maybe i expected him to say the same things in public as in private. i didn't think for a second that he was going to say all this stuff. i really didn't. i had no idea. i really had no idea. and, you know, i -- i think it's scary. i think it's when you -- in that bubble, and -- you know, if you have enough money, you can hear what he really thinks. everyone else is just in the dark. and that's -- >> but you've heard other politicians in those kinds of environments before. you've worked these kinds of parties before. >> yeah.

i never heard him -- you know, say anything like this before. i just had never -- you know, fairly early on in that speech, i just realized that, wow, this is not normal talk. this is not something he's going to go on fox news and say, even. just not going to happen. you know. and that was the stunning part for me. i realized that, you know, this is different. and everybody else needs to hear it too. >> were any other of the people working the event when some of these things were being said kind of looking at each other going, what did he -- did he just -- >> that was -- i was looking around for, you know, when he was talking about that -- the pittance that they earned and stacking these girls three high, and the barbed wire and surrounded by barbed wire and guard towers, and golly, i can't keep these girls in here like this, i was looking for reaction. i thought some of the guests would maybe gasp or kind of be taken aback and i didn't see any reaction at all. but there was a staff member who -- you could just see, they were listening and one actually backed up into the room to kind of hear the rest of what was being said. you know, i could see that he had heard it too. and, you know, he actually just backed up and he was leaving the room, but then stopped, and wanted to hear.

and, you know, i was -- we were there as voters, as much as workers. we were there as voters. and i was there as a voter, at least. i felt like -- i wanted to hear what he had to say. i was interested. and so i was listening very closely. and that was another thing. i didn't feel like he was talking to us. i think we were invisible to him. and, you know -- i don't think -- i don't think he was talking to us. he didn't acknowledge us in any way. and, you know, i think that's also telling. >> scott prouty, can't thank you enough for being here. and thank you very much for doing the work you did that night. it was the most important work, i think, done by anyone with a camera in the campaign. and let's hang when i'm back in the neighborhood. we grew up a few miles away from me, within walking distance of me. we have a couple places we know where we can go. thanks, scott prouty, very much. >> thank you. >> coming up, the battle in the senate judiciary committee today between ted cruz and dianne feinstein, next.

and the republican who said -- actually said this, word for word. "it is good politics to oppose the black guy in the white house." you hardly know i exist. that's too bad. 'cuz if my pressure relief valve gets stuck... [ booooooom! ] ...we hot water heaters can transform into rocket propelled wrecking balls. and if you got the wrong home insurance coverage, it's your bank account that might explode. so get allstate. [ dennis ] good hands. good home. make sure you have the right home protection. talk to an allstate agent. you name it...i've hooked it. but there's one... one that's always eluded me. thought i had it in the blizzard of '93. ha! never even came close. sometimes, i actually think it's mocking me.

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ted cruz made a career out of telling lies in texas that right wing fanatics wanted to hear. and at an event in austin in 2010 funded by the billionaires charles and david koch and jane mayor we know that he told the audience when he was at harvard law school a few years after barack obama, there were 12 professors there who, quote, believed in the communists overthrowing the united states' government. now, you have to be speaking to a profoundly stupid audience to tell a lie like that and not get heckled or laughed at. ted cruz got cheered. most right-wingers probably don't know when they're being lied to. their paranoias and hatreds leave them open to all sort of lies. but many right-wingers, like the koch brothers and ted cruz, know

when they're being lied to and when they were lying themselves. lying is sport for them. it's fun. ted cruz got a huge charge out of lying to his gleeful audience about the 12 mythical harvard law school professors who, quote, believed in the communists overthrowing the united states' government. ted cruz went to harvard law school. he knows there were no professors, zero, there, who believe in the communists overthrowing the united states' government. if he actually discovered those professors when he got there, why didn't he transfer to the university of texas law school or any other law school where the professors did not believe in communists overthrowing the united states' government. ted cruz didn't transfer from harvard law school because he knew he was in what most observers regard as the best law school in the country. that's why he wanted to go to

harvard law school. that's why he applied. and in effect, begged as he does, to get into the harvard law school. but ivy league bashing has become absolutely necessary in right wing circles, and especially necessary for the right wingers who have actually graduated from those ivy league schools. mitt romney, a graduate of harvard business school and the harvard law school, did the standard right wing trashing of harvard during his campaign, and now we have ted cruz, a graduate of princeton, and harvard law school, just like michelle obama, telling wild lies about harvard law school to entertain right wingers. ted cruz is finding that his lying game doesn't work quite so smoothly in washington. today, he prefaced a question on

gun control to dianne feinstein with a lecture about the constitution. >> it seems to me that all of us should begin as our foundational document with the constitution. and the second amendment in the bill of rights provides that the right of people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. >> really? he droned on in his lecture as if he was saying things that his senator students didn't know. about the constitution. finally, the junior senator got to his question. >> and the question that i would pose to the senior senator from california is, would she deem it consistent with the bill of rights for congress to engage in the same endeavor that we are contemplating doing with the

second amendment in the context of the first or fourth amendment. namely, would she consider it constitutional that the first amendment shall apply only to the following books and shall not apply to the books that congress has deemed outside the protection of the bill of rights. likewise, would she think that the fourth amendment's protection against searches and seizures could properly apply only to the following specified individuals, and not to the individuals that congress has deemed outside the protection of the bill of rights. >> have i mentioned that senators hate -- i mean, really hate being lectured to by professors of the obvious? >> i'm not a sixth grader. senator, i've been on this committee for 20 years. i was a mayor for nine years. i walked in, i saw people shot. i've looked at bodies that have been shot with these weapons.

i've seen the bullets that implode. in sandy hook, youngsters were dismembered. look, there are other weapons. i've been up -- i'm not a lawyer. but after 20 years, i've been up, close and personal to the constitution. i have great respect for it. this doesn't mean that weapons of war, and the heller decision clearly points out three exceptions. two of which are pertinent here. and so i -- you know, i mean, it's fine you want to lecture me on the constitution. i appreciate it. just know i've been here for a long time. i've passed on a number of bills. i've studied the constitution myself. i am reasonably well-educated and i thank you for the lecture. incidentally. this does not prohibit -- you use the word "prohibit." it exempts 2,271 weapons. isn't that enough for the people in the united states? do we need a bazooka? do they need other high-powered weapons that -- [ no audio ] you do. i respect your views. i ask you to respect my views. >> the right wing -- the right

wing liar didn't answer the question about whether he thinks people need bazookas. it fell to another harvard law school graduate, chuck schumer, to teach ted cruz that there actually are limb limitations on the first amendment and it does not apply to certain books. which is why there are no glossy coffee table books of child pornography in this country. and it fell to georgetown law school graduate dick durbin to teach senator cruz there are limitations on all of the amendments, including the fourth amendment. but ted cruz was already taught all of that at the harvard law school. he was just playing his lying game today. but 15 years from now, when his kids are ready to apply to law school, do you think he is still going to be telling that lie about the harvard law school? i don't think so. i think he's going to want his kids to go to the best law school in america. just like he did. ♪

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i was there to say, trust me when i tell you that you can vote your conscience and your own compass and you'll be okay. i should have done it, i regretteded that i didn't do it. >> that was lynn oesterman on this program last night explaining her decision to go before the minnesota state house this week and apologize for her politically expedient vote in favor of that state's defense of marriage act in 2004. oesterman cast that vote in favor of doma, even though she didn't agree with doma at that time and that's a decision she still regrets to this day. on tuesday, another republican state representative cast a vote that he may later regret or maybe even regrets now. south carolina's chris crawford voted against expanding medicaid

through the affordable care act. according to an article in the "charleston regional business journal" in january, representative chris crawford, a republican from florence, and also an emergency room doctor, supports the expansion, but expects the republican caucus to vote as a block against the medicaid expansion. quote, the politics are going to overwhelm the policy. it is good politics to oppose the black guy in the white house right now, especially for the republican party. crawford said. joining me now, msnbc's jonathan capehart. this is a strange one. i want to read you something that this doctor crawford has said in an interview thursday. with the state. he said, "his vote on the state budget was political, but said it had nothing to do with race. noting that if he had to do it over again, he might pick

different words, but he stood behind the larger point of his comments, criticizing haley -- governor haley and the house republican caucus for voting against the expansion purely because a democratic president is for it." so this is very odd, jonathan. he seems to be speaking as a political pundit when he says it's good politics for these people to be up against the black guy. but then he joins these people against the black guy. and then continues to criticize them for that, which he has joined them in. >> yeah. this is a very confusing story. so you talked about the story in january where he said -- talked about the politics. in that same story, it says that he would also oppose separate efforts -- well, actually, he wanted to make this part of the state budget and would oppose to do this -- oppose doing this separately in separate bills. today, not only did he vote down