abortion. >> the rnc is saying let's call in the offensive. >> this is the time the religious right are reasserting themselves. >> republicans delayed the meeting so people could go to the march for life. >> tax funding payer for abortion. >> the democratic platform is to support killing babies. >> the democrats want to insult the women of america by making them believe that they are help lels because they cannot control their libido or reproductive system without the help of the government. >> this is a winning issue. >> democrats think that women are nothing more than helpless and hopeless creatures whose only goal in life is to have the government provide for the birth-control medication. >> just when you thought the republican party's open antagonism towards women and their reproductive organs could not get any more hostile, hours ago talk show host, former governor, and failed presidential candidate mike huckabee took it upon himself to mansplain to the women of

america how one party wants to tame their wild libidos. >> if the democrats want to insult the women of america by making them believe that they are helpless without uncle sugar coming in and providing for them a prescription each month for birth-control because they cannot control their libido or their reproductive system without the help of the government, then so be it, let us take that discussion all across america. >> let us take that discussion all across america, governor. no, really. let us. uncle sugar, perhaps a yuf fism for health insurance that provides contraception coverage, assists millions of women of women in this country by helping them control their libidos. 99% of reproductive women of age use contraception. every dollar that the government invests in contraception save dlrs 3.74 in medicare

expenditure, a dreaded uncle sugarish government program, making birth-control widely available has long-term economic benefits. family planning, which is to say deciding when to have a baby, can reduce the gap in pay that typically twists between working mothers and their childless peers. it can also, memo to the fiscal war reports, reduce a woman's chances of needing public assistance. so not only does uncle sugar, aka, contraception coverage, keep mobs of lusty, crazed women off our streets it also has clear economic upsides. sanctioning birth-control and helping women access it also has pretty obvious political upsides too. women make um 51% of the country and last we checked they also have the right to vote. that is something governor huckabee and his fellow republicans are sure to find out as long as they keep trying to denigrate and humiliate the apparently sex-crazed ladies of the usa. joining me now is lady parts justice founder liz winsted and from los angeles actor and

comedian sara silverman. sara, i must ask you first, you are both very funny women. part of what mike huckabee said today was hilarious and part of it was down right terrifying. your reaction to uncle sugar. >> well, first of all, i love that band, uncle sugar. i guess i'm stunned but at the same time, you know, it's so bizarre. you know, he says he wants women to control their libido and their reproductive -- you know -- >> the reproductive cycle, the reproductive system without the help of government. >> i, too, would like to control pi libido and my reproductive system. i plan on controlling it and being in control of it for the rest of my life. so maybe we're on the sage page. you know, i don't know what to say. i think that when people are -- when it comes to abortion, when people truly believe that a fetus is a person, then i

respect their right to express themselves. they should -- they should -- you know, it's murder to them. but when a politician is speaking on behalf of those people who are pulling their strings for their purse and for their -- the betterment of their career, it's gross. you know. i'm just an actress and when i speak out politically it does not help my career at all. >> but, you know, i will say -- i don't know what it does to your career and i think you are a hilarious person and a great actor, sara, but it's also really important in terms of awareness building. >> liz, you know, the governor wasn't talking about abortion today. he was talking about birth control. this is something that we thought had been settled a long time ago. it is amazing to me. i mean, i think in some ways not surprising, given the success that the far right has had across this country in terms of

enacting reimpressive and humiliating laws that focus on women who choose to terminate their pregnancies, it's not that surprising that they are now trying to litigate the issue of the pill. >> of joy. and i think that, you know, when we talk about sex, there's this narrative that we all jump on their bandwagon and their narrative, which is these women and their libidos. yeah? so? but we have to stop feeding into this narrative that it's somehow awful to be a sexual being, to enjoy your sexuality, to want to be responsible with your sexuality. you know what, i actually enjoy sex. and you know what, i like to protect myself so that i don't get pregnant because i have looked inside myself for my many years on earth and said, you know what, i'd be an awful mother. and so to prevent that from happening to the world around us, i think i'll use birth control. and, oh, guess what, it's something that is good for the economy -- you know, you listed a myriad of things. if you don't look at birth control as a public health

issue, as a public policy issue, people have sex every day. there was never a golden age of abstinence. that never happened in our world. to act like sex isn't like sexuality and sexual humans are not part of a narrative and conversation in a health care plan. they're just scary. i guess what they're trying to prove over and over again is their sex lives are so miserable that they're going to do everything in their power to just beat the drum of repression. i don't know what else to say. >> sara, you know, we were talking with a writer from rolling stone yesterday and the tactic has shifted in terms of the issue of abortion from focusing on the pictures of babies, aborted fetuses and, you know, partial birth abortions to women and women's health and making this an issue of women's safety. and there's a statistic that i think is incredibly relevant in that discussion. if you compare the safety of abortions to the safety of colon

osco oscopies, colonoscopies are more dangerous. for every 100,000 aborgs there's 0.67% mortality rate. there are 20 deaths for every 100,000 colonoscopies. given those statistics, where's the great antico lonoscopy lobby? this isn't, is it, really about women's health? >> no. it's total hypocrisy. i mean, these are a people who are anti-big government. yet they want to make laws about my vagina and what i do with my body. i don't think that would be toll rated if we started legislating men's bodies. i mean, the truth is sperm has a sense of smell. this is something scientists have known for a decade. that means that sperm has life. and so in my opinion, we've got to save those babies. if they're going to masturbate

into a shower drain or a gym sock we've got to stop them. >> and that is part of this campaign, lizz and sara, that you guys have launched, v to shining v, which is part of lady parts justice and is a one-stop shop for suit shaming. tell our audience at home and broad what exactly the campaign is going to focus on. >> it's sort of two parts. the website lady parts justice is getting the best comedians and writers and actors in the business, we had joanne mckirk from girls, we have sara, we have leah from "orange is if new black," all these people are getting together and we'll make videos that look at local politicians and expose who they are, because a lot of this legislation is happening on the local level. and in the awareness raising we want to then in turn get this out there to the world and then on september 28th of next year we want to do basically sort of

like a rally for sanity that focuses on voting and issues of women's health in state capitals across america. we're asking celebrities to go home, be part of it, so it's comedy, activism, music, politics, bringing awareness to the legislation that's coming out of your state capitol, your mayor's office, your city council so we can say, hey, we're paying attention, and if you don't vote with women we won't vote with you. you're on notice. >> yeah. sara, that seems to be a huge part of this. right? is putting people on notice. because it appears -- i mean on one level a lot of this legislation at the state level has happened sort of without the national spotlight on it. then there's also the sort of flip side to that, which is people like mike huckabee get to say what they do as a keynote speaker in front of a republican conference and it sort of goes -- well, we're making mention of it, but there's no price to pay. there's no collateral damage talking about women or shaming or humiliating them the way he

and many other conservatives do when it comes to the topic of reproductive freedom. when you talked about this issue, what's the reaction you get from women? do they know this stuff is going on? >> me? you know, it's funny because i've been talking about it a lot, and depending on the crowd of course -- sunday i did a fund-raiser for women in texas and -- and, you know, the audience was very, you know, aware of what's going on. but for the most part, you know, to talk about what's going on, i have to kind of let people know first, you know, before i can go into any comedy, i have to say, you know, much like voter suppression, a lot of this is underground, a lot of this is, you know, make eight abortion illegal is a bear for them and they know it. so instead they're kind of, you know, knocking out our headlights and saying, oh, look, you've got a broken headlight. you can't drive. and it's really scary in that way. and i think with lizz doing v to

shining v and lady parts justice is just -- the awareness is so important, you know, because people aren't -- women aren't aware of what's going on that's going to affect them in major ways that is already starting to. >> i am really excited to hear your comedic response in the coming days and weeks to the character of uncle sugar and presumably his ska band, because that's what i think uncle sugar probably sounds like. >> i think jam band. >> maybe a jam band. >> horrible jam band. >> whatever it is it's a terrible band. for more information on v to shining v, visit lady parts justice dotcom. lizz winsted and sara silverman, great ladies. thank you both for your work and for your time. >> i think it's ted nugent's new band. >> yes. that's whey you're sara sieveman and i'm not. >> coming up, 15 days and the country may find itself in yet another fiscal fiascfiasco. that is according to federal secretary jack lew. we break down the note passing between the white house and

capitol hill. but first after the break, mitch mcconnell, a strong voice for sick workers? a new ad for the kentucky republican says he's a champion for those who desperately need health care. really. that's actually happening. passenger: road trip buddy. let's put some music on. woman: welcome to learning spanish in the car. passenger: you've got to be kidding me. driver: this is good. woman: vamanos. driver & passenger: vamanos. woman: gracias. driver & passenger: gracias. passenger: trece horas en el carro sin parar y no traes musica. driver: mira entra y comprame unas papitas. vo: get up to 795 miles per tank in the tdi clean diesel. the volkswagen passat. recipient of the j.d. power appeal award, two years in a row. i nethat's my geico digital insurance id card - gots all my pertinents on it and such. works for me. turn to the camera.

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a new addition to the annals of shameless republican political messaging. kentucky senator mitch mcconnell who faces a tough re-election fight this year has released a curious new ad championing his fight on behalf of six workers. the ad features a throat cancer survivor. >> these days i don't have much of a voice.

but i, with so many kentuckians, have been helped by someone with a strong voice -- mitch mcconnell. i worked at the fusion plant. i was exposed to radiation. and like many others i got a cancer. but mitch mcconnell stepped in and helped create cancer-screening programs and provide compensation for sick workers. he knocked down walls for us. he helped save people's lives. we're represented by a man who's fought hard for us and always will. >> i'm mitch mcconnell, and i approve this message. >> what qualifies this as compassion may be open to interpretation, but senator mcconnell is a man who has been at the forefront of the effort to repeal obamacare, a man who has criticized his state's move to expand medicaid, something that will give nearly 300,000 poor and working-class kentuckians access to basic health care for the first time in their lives.

and while mitch mcconnell may have helped some of these workers with cancer screening, according to t"the huffington post" in the years prior to doing so, he kept the plants open at the expense of the wo workers' well-being. for decades the toxins spread into the air and into the ground, slowly killing its own workers and tainting the surrounding area, a fact senator mitch mcconnell has ignored. coming up, drama part two. does john boehner have it in him? ezra kline and dee dee myers join me next. as a police officer, i've helped many people in the last 23 years, but i needed help in quitting smoking. [ male announcer ] along with support, chantix varenicline is proven to help people quit smoking. chantix reduced the urge for me to smoke. it actually caught me by surprise. [ male announcer ] some people had changes in behavior, thinking, or mood, hostility, agitation, depressed mood, and suicidal thoughts or actions while taking or after stopping chantix.

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anybody have occasional constipation, diarrhea, gas, bloating? one phillips' colon health probiotic cap each day helps defend against these digestive issues with three types of good bacteria. i should probably take this. live the regular life. phillips'. 15 days. that's how soon treasury secretary jack lew says congress must act in order to raise the nation's debt limit. in a letter to house speaker john boehner wednesday afternoon, he warned the went doe for extending the nation's borrowing authority is closing

more quickly than expected. "protecting the full faith and credit of the united states is the responsibility of congress. i respectfully urge congress to provide certainty and stability to the economy and financial markets by acting to raise the debt limit before february 7th." boehner had previously thought that he might have until march or at least well past valentine's day to assemble a goodie bag full of republican demands. remember, this is a late christmas, after all. conservatives have been waiting for this all winter long. >> the debt ceiling legislation is a time that brings us all together and gets the president's attention. >> we don't want nothing out of this debt limit. we're going to decide what it is we can accomplish out of this debt limit fight. >> we don't want nothing. which is to say we want something. and if we don't get something we're going to breach the debt limit. but shh. don't tell the american public that. as for speaker boehner, the response from his office was swift. "the speaker has said we should not default on our debt or even

get close to it, but a clean debt limit increase simply won't pass in the house." we hope and expect the white house will work with us on a timely, fiscally responsible solution. we should not default on our debt or even get close to it, but we just might because we just might. got that? your move, mr. president. >> i would point back to the disruption caused by the shutdown in october, the harm done to our economy by the threats house republicans made, and suggest that pursuing that path is always a bad idea. >> joining me now is "the washington post's" ezra kline and former clinton white house press secretary and managing director of the glover park group dee dee myers. dee dee, part of me wants to ask you what you think about jay carney's beard but i'll skip that part entirely. >> moving right along. >> exactly. the white house seems to think

the republicans are not going to go down this road again. do you think that's overly optimist sncc. >> look, i don't think there's a lot of insensitives from the republicans to go down that road again. right? the last time they did it, they shut down the government, it cost them dearly. and not only that but it strengthened speaker boehner's hand against the extremist and his caucus. so they come to this with a slightly different political calculus. you heard the speaker's representative michael steele today say the speaker doesn't think we should breach the debt ceiling or even come close to it. i think he actually means that. the question is he has to get something for the caucus because they won't take nothing, as congressman ryan said. and the white house has said it won't negotiate. so how far are they willing to go? in the legislation that reopened the government back in october there was a kind of symbolic tweak to health care, basically affirmed something that was already in the law in order to say to the republican caucus, hey, we've got something. and i think it's not unlikely

that something like that will happen this time. >> ezra, i mean, i feel like i'm watching a man paint himself into a corner every few months. and every time the paint dries he finds another corner of the room to paint himself. that man is named john boehner. as dee dee says, he's got to get something because as paul ryan said they won't take nothing, but what can they get? do you think approving the keystone pipeline is enough to satisfy the raucous caucus? >> they're not getting that. you can just imagine the white house negotiation where they push over piece of paper that just says "lull" on it. after what happened with the government shutdown which also was connected to a debt ceiling increase, there is no belief among anyone anywhere, and this might turn out the on a dangerous fact, but there is no belief among anyone anywhere that the gop can sustain any kind of intransigence on the debt ceiling. it is possible, as dee dee says

he'll end up with with something symbolic, something both sides wanted to do anyway, a post office in milwaukee will get named as a price for the diehl, but the idea the republicans are going to do the thing think they they're going to do, get something for nothing, right, get something without giving out something else, the core issue has always been republicans raising the debt ceiling as a concession to democrats and the democrats do not see it that way. if they want to get anything they'll have to give something up. if they've got some kind of deal, i'm sure the white house will be happy to portray that deal as for the deal itself, but in terms of actually using this as a ransom item again, it's just going to go nowhere. >> dee dee, also from a messaging and strategy perspective, it gets republicans off their favorite talking point, which i think a lot of people in the republican party think will work well for them in the midterms, which is obamacare. i mean, that was the whole problem with the government shutdown is they had the disastrous rollout and couldn't even focus on it for a month

because they were too busy dithering at a government shutdown. do you think the louder obamacare hating voices in the party will trump those that want to see us go right up to the edge of fiscal calamity? >> right. i think that's right. the republican -- republicans are in a slightly better position than they've been in a while. right? they're doing well in the generic poll. we asked voters if they vote for a republican or democrat in the congressional midterms. they've kind of come through certainly the disastrous rollout of obamacare helped them tremendously. so they would be foolish from a messaging and political perspective to go back into that place where they're going to threaten not just shut down the government which is bad enough to hurt the economy and hurt the middle class where it would cripple the economy on a level that's never happened before or potentially cripple the economy. so, yes, what do they have -- what's in it for them. what they need is they need to get past this, whistle past this

one, get some kind of symbolic little something they can say they didn't get nothing, and then move on to continuing to, you know, try to attack health care and the very idea that every american is entitled to quality affordable insurance. >> ezra, the president -- i will say they have been able to her point, able to whistle past the graveya graveyard. they just passed a trillion-dollar appropriations bill, passed a continuing resolution on a bipartisan basis to buy them time to pass that thing. there is such a thing as bipartisan cooperation. do you think any of that sort of residual good will overhangs the debt ceiling negotiation process? >> i'm not sure about that but you're seeing not just bipartisan cooperation on some issues but a lot of senate republicans and some many-in the house don't want to do this again. they don't buy into this strategy so they're not going to be there backing up republicans who are intransigent if they try it again. >> well -- >> i guess we'll just add i think some of the more, you know, senior members in the caucus, speaker boehner and congressman ryan, believe that

governing is actually good for people who are running for government office. >> curious logic. "the washington post's" ezra kline and dee dee myers, thank you both. >> thank you. >> thank you. after the break, snow den speaks. he just wrapped up an online chat responding to president obama's national security speech last week. [ sneezes ] [ coughs ] i've got a big date, but my sinuses are acting up. it's time for advil cold and sinus. [ male announcer ] truth is that won't relieve all your symptoms. hmm? [ male announcer ] new alka seltzer plus-d relieves more symptoms than any other behind the counter liquid gel. thanks for the tip. [ male announcer ] no problem. oh...and hair products. aisle 9. [ inhales deeply ] oh what a relief it is. ♪

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on the government's decision to continue collecting meta data, he e wrote while not all spying is bad, a person should be able to dial a number, make a purchase, visit a website without having to think about what it's going to look like on their permanent record. he blasted the government's claims that the program had prevented terror attacks and warned of potential dangers saying "if our government decides our constitution's fourth amendment prohibition against unreasonable seizures no longer applies because that's a more efficient means of. >>ing of setting a precedent that immunizes the government of every two-bit dictator to perform the same kind of dragnet surveillance of entire populations that the nsa is doing." support for snowden's views came this morning when the privacy and civil liberties oversight board, an agency set up by congress, delivered it 238-page report concluding that the nsa program collecting bulk phone call records has provided only minimal benefits in counterterrorism efforts, is

illegal, and should be shut down. today eric snoelden said the dialogue caused by his leaks may be productive it did not excuse what snowden did. >> he broke the law. that he caused harm to our national security. and i think he has to be held accountable for his actions. people have gotten hung up on whether he's whistle-blower or something else. in my sper techive, he's a defendant, a person we have charges against. >> snowden is sticking to his guns saying of mass surveillance it's not good for our country, it's not good for the world and i wasn't going to stand by and watch it happened no matter how much it cost me. >> coming up, cruel and unusual punishment. two states are looking to revive execution by firing squad. that's next. [ male announcer ] the new new york is open. open to innovation.

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last night at around 9:30 the state of texas executed a man named edgar arias tomeo marking that execution. but this execution was somewhat different because he was a mexican citizen. and many people and organizations including the state department and the mexican government argue that his execution was in violation of international law. that argument did not convince the highest court in the land. and yesterday the supreme court refused to stay the execution. less than an hour later, edgar was put to death by lethal injection. these days, texas is far from the only state courting controversy with the death penalty. manufacturers don't want to make lethal injection drugs anymore, something that has presented a bit of a problem for states that insist on executing their inmates. according to the daily beast, as supplies of good lethal

injection drugs have dwindled, officials still perform executions and have had to scramble for alternative drugs and other mixes for the cocktail. the result has been chaotic and not a little alarming. as a matter of law and medical ethics. case in point, the great state of ohio. last week state officials executed inmate dennis mcguire using a new untested form of lethal injection. it took him 15 minutes to die, and according to the "columbus dispatch," mcguire struggled, made guttural noises, gasped for air, and choked for about ten minutes. the eighth amendment of the u.s. constitution is supposed to protect citizens from cruel an understood usual punishment, but that appears to have been overlooked in ohio last week. and if for that matter in virginia where state lawmakers passed a bill yesterday to bring back the electric chair. and in missouri and in wyoming, both of those states want to add firing squads as an option for carrying out the death penalty.

in the last five years, 30 states in the u.s. have had no executions. but it seems that as the death penalty has become more unusual it has also gotten decidedly more cruel. joining me now is senior campaigner for amnesty international, tenguay mccarest. this is i think one of the darkest corners of our american justice system. if you look at not only the lethal injections, the question of cruel and unusual punishment, but the record of exonerations, the racial bias in death penalty cases, how can anyone really argue that the death penalty is constitutional? >> first let me thank you for having me back on the show. i want to start the way i started last time, which is saying amnesty international usa campaigns to apolish the death penalty throughout the country and throughout the world. we believe to take someone's life, for a state to sanction an individual's killing, is the ultimate denial of our human right to life. it subjects people to cruel and

unusual punishment. for dennis mcgwire gasping, convulsing from 15 to some say 20 minutes to man, an inmate in oklahoma, his final words were, "i feel like my whole body is on fire," the reason the call to abolish the death penalty in 32 states throughout this nation is louder than ever. there is no justification for taking someone's life and there is no right way to kill someone. >> that's something that jeffrey toobin points out in the new yorker in terms of the cruel and unusual aspect. he says the oxymoronic quest for humane executions only accentuates the absurd di of a death penalty in society. it's understandable the supreme court justices have tried to make the process more palatable but the essential fact about both is they come with leather straps to restrain a human being so that the state can kill him. no technology can render that process any less grotesque.

it is a fundamentally grotesque we do no matter you who howe it's done, but at the same time with the case of dennis mcguire, who committed a violent and brutal act of murder, there are people who support the death penalty who say the point of death penalty is isn't it for it to be painless. the more someone like that suffers the better. how do you convince them that this kind of lethal injection is not constitutional? >> well, first it's acknowledging some of these crimes that we're talking about, they're horrific and we acknowledge the crimes that have happened. but, you know, i'm taken back to a quote by martin luther king. dr. king said returning violence with violence multiplies violence. and there's nothing more violent than a premeditated killing whether by an individual or the state. it's not just unconstitutional based on the fact that we are executing people that are mentally disabled or we are

executing people with racial bias. it's unconstitutional and it is cruel and unusual to give someone a death warrant, to tell them the day and the time that their life is going to be taken. how is that not cruel and unusu unusual? >> i want to talk about the specifics of this drug supply, because that seems to be a huge part of this whole debate. there's a shortage of death penalty drugs in this country because nobody wants to make them. and european makers have caught on to the fact that we're using european drugs to execute and they don't want their drugs to be used for that. so what's the long-term prognosis here? what happens? >> well, first, you know, i think that we need to share with the public the impact of lethal injection. you know, what you're saying is absolutely right. you have european manufacturers that no longer want to send to u.s. prisons drugs that are going to be used to take someone's life. and so what states are turning to are compound pharmacies. what we have are drugs that are

not regulated by the fda. these are drugs that might be contaminated and we don't know the impact that it has on the human body. in the case of dennis mcguire, this was a two-drug protocol that has never been used before in executions. they are experimenting with people, and the fact that there's a strong possibility that people are suffering minutes, some ten minutes before their life is taken, is more than enough for us to say now is the time to rid our nation of the death penalty perm negligently. >> you know, we have focused on the negative side of this, but before we let you go, i just want to note that 18 states and the district of columbia have abolished the death penalty. you guys have been at the forefront of this fight and it is important work. thanks for your time and thoughts snop if i could just add to that, you know, i just want to say that we are winning. not only do we see a drop in public opinion on the death penalty, but we are seeing less executions. we are seeing less sentences.

and the movement to abolish the death penalty is growing and becoming stronger more than ever. >> thanks so much for your time. after the break, another win for gay marriage. virginia now has an attorney general that is ready to stand up for equality. i'll explain what this means for same-sex couples in the commonwealth. but first courtney reagan has the cnbc market wrap. >> hi, alex. here's a look at how stocks stand going into tomorrow. manufacturing data igniting concerns about a global economic slowdown. the dow closing lower for the third straight day, down 176 points, the worst performance since august. s&p 500 shedding more than 16. and the nasdaq dropping 24 points. that's it from cnbc. we're first business worldwide. today we're going to play a little game. which 4g lte map has the most coverage? this isn't real difficult...

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what a difference an election makes. that was former virginia attorney general, not governor, attorney general ken cuccinelli last summer describing the issue of sarnl as, quote, settled in virginia. translation -- he believed the law banning marriage equality would be there to stay. after his spectacular election flameout, there is a new sheriff in town. >> for those of you who do not know me, my name is mark herring. i am the newly minted attorney general of virginia. >> mark herring isn't wasting any time. this morning he declared his view that the same-sex marriage ban is unconstitutional and joined a lawsuit to have it struck down. >> i believe the freedom to

marry is a fundamental right. and i intend to ensure that virginia is on the right side of history and on the right side of the law. >> it is a rapid and welcome change in the heart of the newly blue old dominion. it comes as judges in utah and oklahoma recently ruled same-sex marriage bans are also unconstitutional. and earlier this week six same-sex couples in florida filed a lawsuit challenging that state's ban on marriage equality. but the progressive wave is not without opposition. yesterday indiana launches moved to strengthen their state ban on same-sex marriage. that is right. not content to simply have a law making same-sex marriage illegal, the republican-controlled house voted to have that ban added to their state constitution. if the state senate approves it, it will become a ballot initiative. it is a remind they're the fight for equality is still red hot even if things seem to be turning blue. coming up, twice defeated mitt romney.

mitt romney is a subject of a new documentary that looks at the romneys, plural, runs for the white house. i'll talk to the filmmaker. [announcer] word is getting out. purina dog chow light & healthy is a deliciously tender and crunchy kibble blend. with 20% fewer calories than purina dog chow. isn't it time you discovered the lighter side of dog chow.

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director greg whitely was given intimate access to the romney family and the result is a view on the highs and lows of the campaign life including the lowest of them all, election night 2012, when mitt romney realizes his life's dream is slipping away. >> right now cnn has you up by 500 votes. >> where? >> that's not good. >> he also witnessed romney in his element surrounded by family and engaged in group prayer sessions. seen outside the context of the policies he asked the country to embrace, romney comes across as a gentleman, someone gracious in defeat, respectful of president obama's political skills, and self-aware enough to recognize his own weaknesses. joining us is the director of that film greg whitely. >> whitely. >> glad i got it right. >> it's not important. >> it is. first of all, it's a riveting film and i'm a political junkie so i'm predisposed to wanting to ne more about candidates. i think for anybody that is an

american citizen this is something you want to know more about, what is the real side of presidential candidates. my first question to you, which isn't so much of a question as a statement is what came across to me throughout this was mitt romney's incredibly genuine sense of humility about what he was doing, the lack of kind of feverish ambition. he was doing something because he felt like he had a duty to do. also he's not someone who puts on airs. my favorite -- i think my favorite parts of it were these moments he picks up trash. he does it multiple times in the documentary. at one point he sees a bunch of trash floating around on the balcony of the hotel i guess that they're at and goes outside and picks up the trash himself, puts it on a tray and takes it out into the hallway. you do not see presidential candidates doing that a lot. tell us a little bit more. >> i could make a 90-minute film of mitt romney just picking up trash. i really could. and turning off lights in a

hotel room. >> he's very responsible. >> yep. he wants to save energy and he wants the room to be clean. i think he is a habitually clean person not ma nighal amaniacal.s my friends react sod strongly. there's a version of this movie that is eight hours long. six years, 500 hours of footage, a lot of picking up trash, you figure out which moments you would keep or leave out. my friends responded so strongly to him picking up the trash. that was indicative of what somebody once noted, i think we stop looking at these people who run for president as human. when they do something that's a normal human every defr like picking up trash, there's something startling about it because we're not used to seeing them do stuff like that. >> also incredibly self-effacing to the degree you wondered does

he really want this. there seemed to be a sadness on election night but also a sense of ree leaf, both -- in the first campaign and in the second of course they wanted this, of course they worked for it, but, i don't know, you were in the room. it seemed like they thought, okay, now we can go back to our regular lives and this chapter is over and a little bit of, like, phew. >> i was surprised by that too. yeah, like there's -- a sense of ambition, a strong sense of confidence if you're going to run for president. one of the things that struck me while shooting this film was just how self-effacing it was. there's a degree of humility and trepidation and moving forward and running for president. i don't think it belies a lack of confidence. he's a very confident individual. i don't think you accomplish what he has in his life without having a sense of i can do this. but i think he's also smart enough to know the job is an intimidating one.

i think he is constantly assessing that and assessing his ability to do that. >> he telegraphed. i think a lot of that you get a sense of that in the way he talks about president obama, ip creedab incredibly deferential especially in the debate context. different from the republican face of a republican challenger which is incredibly aggressive and to some degree dismissive of what's been done in office. he seemed to get a sense of the weight on president obama's shoulders. >> yeah. barack obama beat the clintons and the clintons were seen to be unbeatable. hillary clinton was all but coordinated as the democratic nominee. when president obama during the primary season of '08 beat hillary clinton that gave a wake-up call to mitt romney. and in our film we note he's one of the first people to note that barack obama is likely going to be the democratic nominee, not hillary clinton, and he foresees a real problem for the republican party if they nominate john mccain and he goes up against barack obama that

will not be a fair fight. >> that was i think one of the most prescient parts of the whole film, when he was talking in the primary process in 2007. >> yeah. >> last question. ann romney, who projected incredible strength and is obviously an incredibly resilient person, this documentary is fascinating because she was so vulnerable i thought in the footage. and so invested and actually really truly her emotions were on the surface in a way that they weren't i felt on the campaign trail. maybe that's by necessity. but you could say that about the whole romney family. have you gotten regret from republicans who have said if only they -- america saw this, this part of the romneys, the softer side, if you will? >> yeah. i've read that. no republican has e-mailed me. that was not my intent in making the movie. if that's somehow a sentiment now, i guess i take it as great complime compliment. i was able to show a human side to people who may have suspected

he didn't have one. i also feel like with regards to ann romney you could just as easily call this film "mitt and ann." there is a level of compassion and love and strength that the two of them this have that i think any married people would envy. >> definitely a love story at its root, family and wife. the documentary is "mitt" and it premieres on netflix tomorrow. director george whitely. thanks for your time. >> greg whitely. >> i got your last name wrong the first time and your first name wrong now. >> i love the name george. >> greg whitely. thanks so much. show sho "the ed show" is up next. good evening, americans. let's get to work.