i don't think the republican can nominate anyone to the left of pawlty. that leaves it to him. that's it for "hardball." "last word with lawrence o'donnell" starts rite now. where can you have a sex scandal without any actual sex? only in american politics. >> i am deeply regretting what i have done. i am not resigning. >> that was quite an amazing press conference. >> extraordinarily titillating and stimulating sexual content. >> to be clear the picture was of me. >> a tearful and emotional weiner. >> right wing blogger reveals more photos than anthony wiener admits he lied. >> my primary apologies is to my wife, huma.

>> when all else fails the truth. >> this was a very dumb thing to do. >> new photos, shirtless photos, the area below his waist. >> somebody ask you if that's a picture of your penis, you say no or you say yes. >> i think it was really great. i think he didn't make his wife stand up there with him. >> while congressman weiner was preparing his apology, brightbart claimed he was a victim. >> essentially hijacking the press conference. >> i'm here for clarification. >> things that are much more cons kweshl than a man's penis. >> sarah palin is still victimizing american history. >> speaking of great americans -- >> dchds her paul revere comments. >> you realize you messed up about paul revere. >> i didn't mess up about paul revere. >> ringing those bells and making sure as he's riding his horse through town -- >> paul revere was warning the british. >> he did warn the british. >> i totally, you have an answer.

>> washington was crossing the de to bomb an abortion clinic. >> how does palin feel about victimizing mitt romney? >> she obviously stepped all over mitt romney's announcement. >> i apologize if i stepped on any of that pr that mitt romney needed or wanted. >> chris wallace even seemed a little mused by that. >> why didn't she just say i apologize to the little man. >> i'm sorry, i just can't help it. >> i think anybody can be president in this dumb [ bleep ] country. >> i'm running for president of the united states. good evening from new york. only four hours in a sheraton hotel in midtown manhattan, congressman anthony weiner collided with a blogger who had joined forces with abc news to force the congressman to tell the truth about his life in cyberspace.

on may 28th, a website biggovernment.com claim that had this photograph of an underwear covered penis was sent to a woman not his wife by congressman wiener. the congressman denied sending the picture claiming his twitter account had been hacked. but found himself awkwardly unable to deny that it might actually be a picture of him. abc news revealed today that the blogger then handed over all of his investigative files to the network for a report that abc news broadcast tonight, which includes an interview with the woman who received that photograph and who now says she received many other email messages and texts of a sexual mach from the congressman. this morning the blogger revealed more photographs

including a shirtless photographs that appears to be congressman weiner and two photographs that clearly are pictures of the congressman. the photograph where the congressman is holing a sign saying, me was in response to a request by the woman to prove that she really was communicating with a congressman. congressman wiener then scheduled a press conference at 4:00 p.m. today knowing that abc news was closing in on him with the blogger's help. but before he could get to the microphone of his own press conference, the blogger himself showed up and seized the microphone as the congressman's staff looked on in helpless shock. the blogger clarified some aspects of how this story has emergencied and explained just how difficult it can be to try to have family fun on a vacation in palm springs while you're

trying to destroy a congressman. >> i want to hear the truth from congressman weiner. quite frankly i'd like an apology for him being complicit in a blame the messenger strategy. that was here what happened. 72 hours in palm springs with your family is excruciating when you are being challenged. why aren't you on vacation? because i'm being accused of being the hacker against the congressman. he said nothing. his minnons perpetuated that falts, malicious mean and then he went on cnn to attack me. i feel he was complicit. >> he also announced that he has a much more graphic photographer of congressman weiner than any we have seen and he explained why he has not released that photograph. >> you know what i would be accused of if i released this photo? i'm doing this to save his family, okay. and if this guy wants to start

fighting with me again, i have this photo. but i absolutely -- i'm not doing this for the theirous purposes. i'd like and apology for him for allowing for his political protectors, that was his strategy was to blame me. to blame me for hacking. don't worry, he's a regular whipping boy. we can accuse him of anything and the press will not hold those journalists to account no matter what they say. i'm here for some vindication. i'm trying to do the decent thing here. i'm trying odo the decent thing here and not release the photo. if this guy decides to start attacking me and saying i'm making all this stuff up like he did last week and he wants to fight with fire, i mean, come on, it is news, my friend. it is -- it is news. i know of countless other web sites and news organizations that would put this out there. >> abc news revealed that the

photograph that he's holding back that that picture quote shows a man's erect penis end quote. >> and take full responsibility for my actions. at the outset i'd like to make it clear that i have made terrible mistakes that have hurt is the people i care about the most and i'm deeply sorry. i have not been honest with myself, my family, my constituents, my friends, and supporters and the media. >> and take full responsibility for my actions. at the outset i'd like to make it clear that i have made terrible mistakes that have hurt is the people i care about the most and i'm deeply sorry. i have not been honest with myself, my family, my constituents, my friends, and supporters and the media.

last friday night i tweeted a paragraph of myself that i intended to send as a direct message as part of a joke to a woman in seattle. once i realized i had posted it to twitter i panicked i took it down and said that i had been hacked. i then continued to stick to that story was a hugely regrettable mistake. this woman was unwittingly dragged into this and bears absolutely no responsibility. i am so sorry to have disrupted this life in her way. to be clear, the picture was of me and i sent it. i'm deeply sorry for the pain this has caused by my marriage, though some have sadly took place after. to be clear i have never met any of these women or had physical relationships at any time. i haven't told the truth -- and i've done things that i deeply regret. i brought pain to people i care about the most and the people who believed in me. and for that i'm deeply sorry. i apologize to my wife and our

families. as well as to our friends and supporters. i'm deeply ashamed of my terrible judgment and actions. i haven't told the truth -- and i've done things that i deeply regret. i brought pain to people i care about the most and the people who believed in me. and for that i'm deeply sorry. i apologize to my wife and our families. as well as to our friends and supporters. i'm deeply ashamed of my terrible judgment and actions. >> congressman weiner has insisted he has never had sex outside of his marriage and that he will not resign.

he also maintained that nothing in what you just heard ever interfered with his ability to do his job. >> i am deeply sorry that i lied about this, but at the end of the day, i lied because i was embarrassed. i lied because i was ashamed of what i had done and didn't want to get caught. but did i violate the constitution of the united states by lying about posting a twitter post? i certainly don't think so. i haven't spoken to anyone who did. if people want to say that this is a violation of my oath because i sent a twitter that i regretted and i lied about it, obviously, people are entitled to that viewpoint. >> the congressman repeatedly apologized to his wife. the only really offended party in this story. >> my primary sense of regret and my primary apology goes to my wife. my wife is a remarkable woman. she's not responsible for any of

this. this was visited upon her. she's getting back to work. and i apologize to her. >> with repeated prompting from reporters anthony wiener found himself saying the magic words, exactly what andrew breitbart demanded he say. >> i apologize to andrew breitbart. i apologize to the many other members of the media that i misled. >> the most sensible reaction to everything we now know about congressman wiener was offered to abc news by the woman at the center of the sex scandal in which there was no sex. >> no, i don't think he's a bad guy. i just think he's got issues just like everybody else. >> joining me now is senior political writer for politico maggy hairman who was at the historic press conference.

thank you for joining us. i don't know where to begin. so andrew breitbart, my guess is that -- i know andrew, i have a feel for how he would take this. it's an open press conference at the sheraton. i could walk in there, any tourist could walk in there. my guess is he was intending to challenge anthony weiner. >> that is a safe guess. >> that is what others are reporting. when he started to get questions from the media around him that it was the media there that suggested why don't you go to the microphone so he could all hear him? >> ironically it was actually a wcbs news reporter that was threatened by arrest by wiener's office last week who suggested that breitbart go to the podium to be easy to see him. >> and it was going to be a lot more fun. >> it was certainly a little less scarey.

but it was definitely spectacular to watch. i mean that in every sense of the word. he literally high jacked the ballroom. we kept watching the door to see if anthony wiener was at the door. it was among the most spectacular bits of plirtical theater we've ever seen. we've seen a lot in new york. >> this is the place, by the way, just re-elected to his congressional seat. charlie rangel with 80% of the vote who had been through an ethics committee investigation that didn't go well for him on financial matters. there's a lot you can survive in new york. it was in a hotel ballroom in new york during the 1992 presidential campaign that jennifer flowers played a tape recording of bill clinton, candidate for president talking to her during their extramarital affair that bill clinton was conducting. that we thought was the craziest thing ever to happen. it may be. it may be crazier than what he saw today.

what was your sense in the room with the local media especially about the survivability of this for anthony wiener in new york? >> there's a general feeling that he can probably hold on to his seat. it's very, very hard to oust someone who really has nothing to lose. i think he say he's not resigning. i think there will be some calls for him to resign from republicans. it's not helpful that the house leadership on the democratic side has called for an investigation. i think he will sit this out, assuming nothing else comes out. if there's another shoe that drops. if he was less than honest about the facts. if there was anything that he didn't claim off the bat, then he might have to reassess that. however, his seat is among those that i believe is very much at risk and now more so of being carved up and redistricting. new york is going to lose two seats. one of them is downstate. the democrats have no incentive to hold on to his now. >> it won't be carved to the point where a republican can pick it up in that area of new york city? >> no. >> it will be fewer democrats many the delegation as a result of it. this was what they call a full on -- not just in the new york media, but in the political media every since geraldine

ferraro after she was chosen to run on the vice presidential ticket had to give a very long press conference involving the business dealings of her husband. what she did was go out there at the height of that controversy and stay until every single question was answered. not just do the ten minutes we're done get out of here. but wear out the press corp. weiner was doing that. he stayed out there for as long as the questions made sense. >> that was the end. he was he had a strategy. he told the lie. he was going to stick to the lie, the hacking story and then he was going to stand up until every last bit of mud was thrown at him and he assumed the press would go away. the more interviews he gave, the more questions came up. he wasn't providing answers or he was providing new answers like the one that is memorable that he couldn't say with certitude that this was not a picture of him, but that didn't send it. that answer made no sense.

i think the other problem for wiener is he's been very media friendly over the years. he has a very good relationship with a lot of reporters. he thought that would carry the day. on the other hand, you couldn't expect reporters to not do their jobs and not ask questions. >> what did it feel like in the room, he got very emotional, he got choked up talking about his wife, his failure, his lying, what was it like to be in a room with that raw emotion? >> it was shock. i've known anthony wiener since he was a councilman. to see him like this was really, really strange. it was raw and very tense and you can't hear anything else except for the click of the cameras for a very long time while he was talking. after a while as the questions wore on, as the questions became repeated, as the answers became repeated. it became carnival like and then the howard stern guy yelling at the point. after he apologized to andrew breitbart it felt like it had worn out its stay and was time to move on.

>> it takes a lot to bring the new york political media, the local media especially to absolute silence. it was a stunning thing to watch. >> maggy, thank you very much for join us. >> thank you. coming up, why scandals and new york city's political past show that congressman wiener has a very good chance of surviving this controversy. and the rewrite, why the justice department made the right decision in choosing to prosecute john edward for violations of federal campaign finance law and why the judge should not give him prison time if he's convicted. [ alan ] admit it, brenda. oh, c'mon, alan, i said it was great. you said i couldn't make it as easy to manage a claim online as it is on the phone, and i did.

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coming up, more breaking news coverage of congressman anthony wiener's news conference this afternoon and what impact it will have on his political future. also, the media circus here in new york city today which included congressman wiener's apology to andrew breitbart of all people. and, questions fired from the howard stern gang.

and later, sarah palin revels bachmann style in her ignorance of american history. this time she's unable to get any of the facts right about the midnight ride of paul revere.

do you think he's a bad guy? >> no, i don't think he's a bad guy. i just think he's got issues just like everybody else. just like everybody else. just like everybody else. >> after about wiener admitted his involvement in the first washington sex scandal that involves no actual sex, reporters were quick to act if

he would resign. >> i came here to accept the full responsibility for what i've done. i am deeply regretting what i have done and i am not resigning. i don't want to get into anyone else's situation, but i can tell you about mine. and it's one that i regret that didn't have to do with my government service per se and had to do with a personal weakness. but, you know, people can draw their own conclusion about that. but i'm not resigning. i'm going to try very hard to go back to work a better person and a better man and try to be a better husband, too. >> less than one hour after congressman wiener left the podium, republicans launched their first attack. the national republican

congressional committee announced this statement, it's time for democratic leadership to skplan why congressman weiner's actions never aroused any suspicious and why they rushed to his defense while so many americans were shocked and confused by his bizarre and disturbing behavior. joining me now politics editor for salon.com. no democrats rose to anthony wiener's defense as this thing was rolling out. the republicans are making that one up and seeing if they can get anything out of it. nancy pelosi today said let's have an ethics committee investigation. weiner says, sure. what's the future for anthony weiner now. >> he has to ask himself a basic question, why am i still in politics after this? he's been in the house for 13 years right now. he's had two goals in the house. the one that's existed the whole time is to be mayor of new york city. he ran in 2005 was all set to run in 2009 and he's been running for 2013. i don't think many people in new york believe it after this he's a serious, viable candidate.

>> i do. i do, yes, for mayor. i'm just one and i'm not a new york voter. >> the case against a viable candidate for mayor is simple. the new york democratic establishment doesn't like him. he's only at 20% in the polls right now. you've got six other options in new york. the new york media's not going to let this go. the second issue, the second reason he's been in congress is to be a tv star. which he's emergencied as. part of that is part of his strategy to run for mayor in 2013. his base in new york the blue collar voters. he's expanded that base appealing to man hat tan liberals, liberals in brownstone brooklyn. it's a successful coalition. but can he really be on tv as the congressman? >> yes, he can come on this show tomorrow night. i won't ask him a single question about it. he answered every question today that i could possibly have. >> yost noble of you, i would

say you're probably in the minority. >> definitely. >> i don't think he can be anthony weiner for the next year otwo. i don't think he can be mayor in 2013. i don't think his rational for being in congress applies anymore. >> two words. barney frank got in much, much worse trouble than this involving a full ethics committee investigation. he went on to become a very pourful chairman. his future in the house was not hindered by that at all. >> barney frank has applied a much different standard than what he wants in politics. barney frank went to congress to work in congress. he was a workhorse before the scandal and after the scandal. if anthony weiner wants to protect his seat next year, i think he can if the district is survives redistricting. but anthony wiener has never been a guy who wants to work, he

wants to put in the long hours behind the scenes in congress. his reputation among his colleagues in new york, he's the guy that takes the credit for the work. he can't take the credit anymore. >> we see these eps change a person. when teddy kennedy got into scandalous trouble, it changed the way he approached his work and that could change the die namings for wiener. >> i think that's true. if anthony wiener is still a congressman hooex year, he's a different congressman than right now. >> thank you very much for joining me tonight, steve. coming up, the preshow comedy before the anthony weiner news conference, andrew breitbart, the man who brought the pictures to the nation's attention started his own press conference using anthony wiener's microphone and then managed to get an apology from the congressman. and later, sarah palin apologizes to mitt romney for upstaging his presidential announcement, but not really. and she has no intention of apologizing to history teachers for not knowing who paul revere was. with arthritis pain.

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that's a coffee and two pills. the afternoon tour begins with still ahead in this hour, more on the media circus surrounding anthony wiener's apology today. and later, why john edwards should be prosecuted for trying to use a million dollars of unreported money to keep his presidential campaign alive. and why he should not go to prison. that's in tonight's rewrite. too i have astigmatism.

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i'm not doing this for nefarious purposes. i'd like an apology from him for allowing his political protectors, this was his strategy was to blame me, to blame me for hacking. don't rory, breitbart's our regular whipping boy. we can accuse him of anything

and the press will not hold those journalists to account no matter what they say. so i'm here for some vindication. >> that was one of the opening moments from today's circus at the sheraton hotel in midtown new york. another occurred toward the end when howard stern writer bengy bron kr who had infiltrated the press core shouted questions at congressman wiener. >> will you help to support around's love child. >> thank you. >> were you fully erect? >> were you fully erect? are you capable of more? >> joining me now huffington post reporter and msnbc political analyst alex wagner. we had your sound turned off so you can't hear those ugly questions that bengy bronk was asking. the press event almost unprecedented were it not for a jennifer flowers press conference in a new york hotel ballroom.

the media, the political media is the most conservative place in the world to have these kinds of thins evaluated. people pretending that they are hearing the word sexting for the first time. >> there are some people i would think to prefer don't know what it is in the political media. for sure this is now the buzzword that we're going to hear for the rest of the week. i'm sure john stewart will have fun with that in particular. the circus, the only thing could have trumped it is if she rod had showed up many the audience and sought her moment of vindication. it's not surprising that andrew breitbart showed up and sort of tried to take the spotlight upon himself when given it be opportunity. i do think though, he had a five-minute window where he could have worn the gloss of legitimacy. he managed to shrug it off by standing up there and making it about him.

when in reality this is about the career of an elected representative. >> to be fair to andrew, he was asked by the reporters stand at the microphone -- now, of course the reporter it was self-serving for them and for us. we got great video. andrew breitbart and a microphone, the media got great stuff out of this thing today. but going forward here, there's a very interesting journalistic moment here in our history. abc news went into business with andrew breitbart. one has a fair reason to assume that some money changed hands. that andrew was paid for his services, consulting to this story. >> right. there is a huge -- look, there is a huge question about stories like this which initially are sort of seen as illegitimate, but are great media story. we are in an environment where major channels, look at donald trump's candidacy, major

channels spend a lot by giving credence and platform to people who are otherwise seen as wakos. in the case of breitbart a lot of his allegations were accurate. in that respect, abc can shelter itself under the guise of truth seeking journalism no matter what side of the aisle it's on. >> i think the trick with these stories they become stories they can't ignore. when the day began i had no intention of talking about anthony weiner. when i heard there's some new pictures, still had no intention of talking about anthony weiner. i was going to make a point of not talking about it and then it's announced he's doing a press conference at 4:00 and by 6:00 it's the whole show. it becomes something you can't possibly ignore as it gains momentum. but i think that the obligation is in keeping it in perspective. the perspective's include charlie rangel a congressman from the same congressional

delegation was found guilty in the house ethics committee of violating rules, he still got re-elected with 780% of the vote. the media gets carried away pretending we have never seen anything like it. we have seen things like this. >> this one in particular, any weiner, he didn't do himself any favors. i think if you look back othe press gaggle last week he was so contentious with the press. he almost verbally abused a cnn producer asking him legitimate questions and given his high profile in the media and the fact that he had been so active, it made for a great story and then his last name took this up to the next level. zblr for a politician who did tell one big public lie, he did the fastest correction a one week. teach bill clinton how to thurn this around in one week or john edwards. they dragged out their lies for years. huffington post reporter alex wagner. thank you very much for joining us on this tawdry story tonight. >> thanks, lawrence. coming up, why the prosecutors in the john edwards case are doing the right thing and why the judge should not send edwards to prison if he's

found guilty. that's in tonight's rewrite. later the republican party's palin problem how long can she keep stealing publicity from the real presidential candidates? we >> ( rooster crows ) >> by 2020, 50 billion network devices will roam the earth. that's seven devices per person. this will change how we work in ways we've never before imagined. what do you need to secure your people,

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caught spending a million dollars to hide his biggest secret in that's in tonight's rewrite. and later sarah palin defends sarah palin on her rewrite of elementary school american history. [ pop, pop, pop ] pulls a wine cork in three seconds flat. [ pop ] the rabbit aerating pourer aerates your wine right in the glass, to improve its flavor and bouquet. the rabbit wine preserver vacuum-preserves your wine with a gauge that shows you the vacuum. open, serve, and preserve your wine

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time for tonight's rewrite. john edwards turned down a last minute plea deal that would have saved him the risk of becoming a convicted felon. but would have meant serving time in a federal prison. instead he pleaded not guilty and will go to trial saying he has broken no law and his attorneys will make this case. >> in the history of the federal election campaign law, no one has ever been charged either civilly or criminally with the claims that have been brought against senator edwards. >> greg craig an able attorney is absolutely right about that. his words are being echoed by many commentators on this case, but they are all wrong to use the novelty of the case as a reason not to bring the case. no, we have never seen a

prosecution like this because we have never discovered a candidate who was trying to get and use a million dollars from rich friends to cover up an affair and the birth of a child within the affair so he could preserve his candidacy for president of the united states. nothing like this has ever occurred before. so, yes, if nothing like this has ever happened before, then it's the first time we've had a prosecution like this. in other areas of the law, the novelty of a case can be much, much important, but not, not in federal campaign finance law. which has an extremely short and thin -- we don't have 100 years of legal precedent to draw on here. because we do tens of thousands of federal drug prosecutions a year there is massive federal precedent to draw on in that field.

just as there is in tax evasion cases. there is obviously an even much richer body of legal precedent in our homicide laws since murder has been illegal for a lot longer than drug possession has been illegal and a lot longer than we have been paying income taxes. federal prosecutors bring a tiny, tiny handful of cases per year involving violations of campaign finance law. sometimes only three or four of those cases. many of those cases have involved first time applications of campaign finance law. if in this case you have sympathies for john edwards as i do, you should consider where you want to apply those sympathies. i chose not to let my sympathies get in the way of prosecutoring john edwards or convicting him.

but at the sentencing stage, if that comes, i for one believe john edwards has already paid the full price for any violations of campaign finance law and that he should receive no sentence of jail time. nothing beyond a fine that should not be more than the cost of the government's prosecution. consider the alternative if john edwards did not face prosecution. it would mean that any candidate would know that he or she could get a million dollars or as much money as they wanted, $10 million, $20 million from rich families to cover up facts about themselves that they know would destroy their campaigns. just do the thought exercise and imagine if say a republican senator from, i don't know, louisiana was found using a million dollars secretly given by friend of his to cover up his relationship with a prostitute in order to sprerve his ability to be re-elected.

think about that. what would you want federal prosecutors to do about that? campaign finance law is inadequately enforced now as sarah palin's recent family vacation demonstrates. he used money raised under federal campaign finance laws to pay for her bus tour, a tour her child not unreasonably called a family vacation. palin can indeed continue to use that money in countless ways that benefit her and her family and have no political purpose whatsoever. and she can get away with that for as long as she wants because she knows and every federal candidate knows that the federal election commission does not have enough enforcement personnel to exam the millions and millions and millions of expenditures that every federal campaign fundraising committee lists on their endless fec forms every year.

candidates are already getting away with figurative murder in what they do with the money that they actually report having collected and report having spent. the edwardss' prosecution is not about that money. and i am sure the edwards campaign used that money, the reportedable money to the benefit of the edwardss' family perhaps not as much as the palin family has, but in similar violation of the spirit of the law of campaign finance. the edwards' prosecution is about a separate million dollars that secretly existed outside the reportable amounts allowed. as money increasingly poisons our politics as it gains more and more power over the political process this is no time to sit idly boy when a candidate who has secretly used a million dollars outside of the campaign finance system to preserve and protect his kand

daddy is discovered. the prosecutors in the edwards case are not out to teach john edwards a lesson. he has already been humbled. if humbling is not enough for you, senator edwards has also been human late. he has also been shamed. and he will remain shamed for the rest of his life. the prosecutors know that. the prosecutors are out to teach a lesson to all candidates for federal office that no from now on forever they cannot reach out to their rich friends and secretly obtain as much money as they want, a million dollars, whatever they need to cover up, whatever they have to cover up in order to preserve their electablity. to preserve the chance. to preserve the dream of becoming president of the united states.

you don't want them to be able to do that. those prosecutors are on our side.

today rick santorum announced that he is running for president in western pennsylvania, the state where santorum lost his senate seat in 2006 by a mere 18 points. but santorum like republican front runner willard m. room knee had to share his big day. in his prepresidential announcement appearance on "good morning america" santorum was asked about who else, noncandidate sarah palin. >> real quickly did sarah palin get it right on paul revere or not? >> to be honest with you, i've been hunkered down. i have no idea.

i haven't been paying attention to this one, george. i'll pass on that one. >> a republican presidential candidate's announcement can't compete with palin's latest bout of misspeaking. >> paul revere hung out as a teenager, which was something new to learn. and you know, he who warned the british that they weren't going to be taking away by arms by ringing those bells and making sure as he's riding his horse through town to send those warning shots and bells that we were going to be secure and we were going to be free. and we're going to be armed. >> that was palin on thursday at a bakery in boston giving her version of paul revere's famous ride after being asked a question from a local reporter that had nothing to be with paul rever.

when chris wallace told palin she was wrong about paul revere. palin did what she always does, she gets defensive and blamed us the media. >> you realized that you messed up about paul revere, don't you? >> you know what, i didn't mess up about paul revere. here's what paul revere did. he warned the americans that the british were coming and they were going to try to take our arms. we got to make sure that we were protects ours and shoring up all of our ammunitions and firearms that they couldn't take it. remember that the british had had already been there many soldiers for seven years in that area and part of paul revere's ride and it wasn't just one ride, he was a courier. he was a messenger. art pa of his ride was to warn the british that were there you're not going to succeed. you're not going to take american arms. you are not going to beat our own well armed persons, individual, private militia that we have. he did warn the british.

in a shout out, got you type of question that was asked of me, i answered candidly. i know my american history. >> warn the british. all right. here is the shout out, got you question that palin was asked. >> what have you seen so far today and what are you going to take way from your visit? >> joining me now is david from former speech writer to president george w. bush. thanks for joining me tonight, david. it doesn't get stranger than that. bawel revere warned the british. i grew up in boston. please tell me it's not just in boston that paul revere is some kind of local hero where we learned the details about him. >> let's hope not. there's a terrific book about his ride that we can recommend to everybody. in fact, it was quite a good history seller. and i think what you saw there

was a case of panic and imp visization. a distraction from the real news of the day which was the launch of the romney campaign. the man is is likely going to be the republican nominee and saying a lot of interesting things. >> she pretended to apologize for stepping on mitt romney's announcement day, but she clearly had every intention of doing that. >> she must have loved high school. that little -- i am so sorry that your boyfriend called me instead of you. i never meant -- but you know what, i don't think she did succeed in overshadowing him. yes, she dominated the front page of a particular newspaper in that state. the fact is he is leading in the state. he is the republican front runner. and it has been a good week for republicans. we heard last tim pawlenty say some brave words about ethanol. in new hampshire we heard mitt romney acknowledge the reality

of global climate change and the need to at least begin to think creatively and do something about it. serious trut telling that points the way to the republican nomination. >> chris wallace shocked me yesterday saying after the palin interview that he thought she was really sharp and really good and legitimate presidential campaign material after seeing -- after doing that interview with her. an interview in which she once again got it wrong that paul revere's job was to warn the british. you tweeted today 2012 is a winnable election for the gop. don't let fox blow it for us. >> yes. >> how would fox blow it for republicans? >> here is the opportunity for republicans. the economy remains very sluggish. we are getting close to that decision moment. and the unemployment numbers

continue heartbreaking. the personal numbers continue heartbreaking. and the american people they have a decision mechanism. did the incumbent deliver. and the incumbent may have a lot of excuse. then they turn to the alternative if the alternative does not discredit themselves, the one issue that can save president obama from a bad economy is the ability to run against the republicans on the medicare issue. if republicans are driven by media voices into a stampede where everybody has to say yes we are signing up for this ryan plan. that is going to be our ballot issue for 2012 there is no need to cooperate with that narrative. that does coordinate with the core obama message. it should be a vote for republicans is a vote for less regulation and jobs. >> those who want to see the election outcomes that i want to see should cheer for fox news to continue to issue orthodox