family's income or socio-economic situation. >> if you come and see, racial and economic inequality unfair. that is "the ed show," "the rachel maddow show" starts right now, rachel in. thanks, ed, have a good weekend, my friend. thanks to you at home for staying with us the next hour. my efforts to republican news makers and national republican leaders to be guests on this program, those efforts are getting less successful not more successful over time. important republicans, republican candidates, republican news makers, will not come on this program. they sometimes will once they left politics, but while they are still in it, nobody will talk to me. and it's getting worse, not better. a year ago today, i was at least still having communication with people associated with powerful republicans, a year ago today

the spokesman for the speaker of the house, john boehner, was at least writing me letters to complain about my coverage of his boss. now i can't even get that. john boehner spokesman's issue with the shows are john boehner is bad at his job hypothesis. very early on in the speaker's tenure, it seemed like he was not doing a great job. it actually started on his first day on the job. two republican members of congress accidentally did not get sworn in to officially become congressmen. they instead were at some reception and when the official swearing in started an they weren't on the house floor, they turned to a tv set broadcasting the swearing in and they raised their hands and tried to take the oath to the television. as speaker you have to make sure all your people are there before you start the swearing in, did nobody explain this? there was also the very pious reading of the constitution on the house floor to mark the

start of john boehner's speakership some part they left out because pieces of paper in the binder they were reading from got stuck together and nobody noticed. so those parts of the constitution just got skipped and didn't get read. >> finger cuffs, maybe, maybe proof read it was being said right, you did make a big deal, you asked for the attention, didn't take time to get it right. every bill would have a direct constitutional citation just figure the existence, remember that, new rule they announced with great fanfare. house republicans immediately decided that rule was a great thing to announce, but it wasn't necessarily worth following. they also said every bill they forward would be paid for except for the very first bill they put forward. which was not paid for. it would have added more than $100 billion to the deficit without any pay-fors at all. what is a rule, did we announce

it? never mind. this is how john boehner's tenure in congress started the how his tenure as speaker started. john boehner is bad at his job hypothesis was born. started soofr after he took office a. year later and frankly it's still being borne out. he has not become better at his job. i don't mean this as a slight. i have never met him. people say he's a nice guy. well respected by his colleagues, he's just not good at the job of being speaker of the house. the newest data for the john boehner is bad at his job hypothesis was the john boehner signature accomplishment of the year, was a big bill on transportation, that is now falling apart. mr. boehner now reportedly contemplating breaking it up in pieces after it has been repeatedly delayed. from the hill "the move would be seen as a dramatic retreat for the speaker" from roll call

"republican privately acknowledged the problems with the bill lie within mr. boehner's own conference." "the turmoil is the latest in a series of embarrassing errors for mr. boehner it was intended to be his signature legislative policy" the beltway report is problems have nothing to do with the minority democrats in the house, it's john boehner is bad at his job, he can't get his own side to agree to his own stuff. he is bad at his job. and that is the latest data in our ongoing now year-long test of the hypothesis that the most powerful elected republican official in the country is bad at that job. that i thinkism important are tant to understand about the republican party, not a slight against mr. boehner, it tells you how they are doing at governing. the other republican in the nation who may not be as important as john boehner, is

mitt romney. hoping his campaign will write me a letter, i hope you would forgive me if i tell you it's time to test another hypothesis, that mitt romney is also bad at his job. mitt hromney's job is trying to get nomination trying to get elected president. i don't mean this as a slight i'm trying to assess whoo he's good at what his job is right now. i think he might be bad at that job. this for example was the mitt romney campaign's major event today. this was billed as a major policy address. no major new policies were announced, but this is what it looked like. the stadium is ford field has 65000 seat capacity, where the lions play. the campaign put mr. romney on the 30 yard line, they put roughly 1200 chairs in front of him and put the candidate in the

middle of this, right in the middle of an empty 65000 seat stadium. in a normal room, this sort of group might look like a large number of people. in this room it didn't. there is no shame in talking to 1200 people except when it looks like this. you know, bad optics happen you can't control everything. sometimes there are visual he'll mens of planned events that don't convey the message. sometimes the baby jams his fingers in the president's mouth. today, this poor guy tried everything he could possibly try to keep himself awake, while joe biden was talk ug b oh, know, losing owes oh like a puppy going in the dish, losing the battle. this guy is asleep. this stuff happens, bad optics happen. but a sleepy guy isn't something you can plan for. no advance person that guy looks like he's going to pass out let's put him behind the vice president.

booking a 65000 event for 1200 people is not an accident. there were pictures that ran in the local press before the event took place showing how bad the event was going to look. did the mitt romney campaign bail on the event? no, they did not. to add further injury to injury, they did not fill the seats that they put there on the field in the first place. even after jamming everyone in the little sliver of a stadium there were empty folding chairs. the campaign swaers this was not their fault, they say because of security concerns with the original location, secret service asked them to relocate in the surface of the field was the only option, but again, everybody knew way in advance this is what it was going to look like and they stuck their candidate in the middle of that. this is the campaign and not the candidate personally, this is a campaign decision. it is the candidate's job to run the campaign that elects him. this is a sign of a badly-run

campaign. john mccain had some of the same problems in 2008. frankly it was devastatindevast. on the night when barack obama declared victory over hillary clinton in a speech in st. paul, minnesota in a crowd of 17,000 people, on the night when america found out which is what the democrats were offering in the race for the presidency, on that same night, this is what the republicans offered. >> good evening, from the great city of new orleans, thank you and good evening. >> senator john mccain speaking in front of a backdrop that was a crime. they set their candidate up for a speech at navy memorial stadium, has a capacity of 34,000 people. john mccain a distinguished navy vet, all the flags in the world could not disguise the fact in a stadium that holds thousands of people they had him speaking to 64 people. again, talking to 64 people not

a crime. in a room with a capacity of 64 people, that would look impressive. it could -- context is everything. a grain of sand is the biggest thing in your world. a grain of sand on the beach is nothing. don't put the candidate in a room that is too big. >> i can tell you this room, we talked about this a few moments ago, was not even half full, it's starting to fill in a little bit but guys, this room is still not completely full and keep in mind, we're in the city of denver, this is a large metropolitan area outside the city limits you have a lot conservative and mitt romney is not filling the room. >> the campaign is not that great a campaign. but in some ways it's the candidate. here is how mitt romney ended his speech today at the giant empty stadium in front of the empty rows of folding chairs. >> this feels good, being back in michigan.

you know, the trees are the right height, the streets are just right. i like the fact that most of the cars i see are detroit-made automobiles. i drive a mustang and chevy truck. anne drives a couple of cadillacs, actually. >> just a couple of cadillacs? what is with the trees thing? saying it once, saying it twice, dude, what are you talking about? the response to the couple of cadillacs thing in the list of cars at the liberal website, was a liberal take on it but representative of the response, to mr. romney's remarks, "who doesn't use a 20 sided dice every morning to decide which car to pull from the stable, is it an suv or convertible or two seater roadster"? >> the campaign clarified anne romney does drive two cadillac srx's one at romney's home extra

kra a in california and massachusetts. they have not released a full inventory of the romney's vehicles. the only reason they are being asked about the full inventory is because mitt romney keeps talking about their full inventory of vehicles. weighs in a ford dealer in tucson wednesday before the debate and told the ford dealer "see, i'm a detroit guy, so you know, i only have domestics. i have a couple of cadillacs at two different houses." he's at a ford dealer. talking about his cadillacs. the mitt romney is bad as his job hypothesis is about the campaign but also about the candidate himself, too. i kept on looking at ebay, '64 '65 mustang, my wife got me

a 95. it was a birthday or christmas, a gift from anne. it was a great gift. i -- i'll tell you what, $10,000? $10,000 bet? i'm not in the betting business. >> i like being able to fire people that provide services to me. we went to the company and said look you can't have any illegals working on our property i'm running for office for pete sake i can't have illegals. i'm not concerned about the very poor. >> mitt romney's job at this point is to be a candidate and run a campaign that elects him to be the republican nominee and elects him to be president. john boehner has been bad at his job of being speaker of the house all year long, but john boehner doesn't have the luxury of a campaign that can maybe compensate for how bad he personally is at his job. mitt romney does have a campaign, but at this point, they are doing this to him. they are not making it any

better for him. joining us is karen tumulty, traveling, karen, thank you for being here, nice to see you. >> thanks for having me. >> do you have any insight why he brings up the height of the trees in michigan? he keeps doing it, does it mean something? >> well, for the record, they are very nice trees, but i think he's trying to get people a sense he's at home. the car issue is interesting, it's one that has dogged his political career. one of the revelations in the new book about mitt romney that was written by a couple of boston globe reporters is that when he was running for governor in 2002, one of the first things his political consultants advise him was keep his bmw hidden because it was not a good idea for it to be known that he was driving anything but detroit cars. so perhaps he's trying to compensate for that. >> obviously, he's a guy born in

wealth and privilege and has become wild lil more wealthy than even the wealth and privilege he was born into. most of the people that run for president are rich guys, there has been a question whether or not he talks about it in a way that is anything but alienating. with the cars things he's trying to sound like a down home guy talking about the fact he has american cars, but talks about getting multiple cars for gifts as presents, multiple cadillacs for his mansions in california and massachusetts, which are not down home republican locations, is he getting worse at this? >> i tell you, the whole problem for mitt romney i think for a lot of this campaign is he keeps being pulled in different directions. and in this case he's in michigan. he has to win michigan it's his home state. so, don't forget he started out a couple years ago by writing this editorial, this op-ed in

"the new york times" let detroit go bankrupt, he's talking about cars so much because he's trying to remind people that he's not only a son of detroit, with you that he's a son of the car business. >> well, with the problem on the auto bail out being he did say detroit ought to have gone bankrupt, it's big awkward to see him try to spin that as love for the auto industry. let alone having to do with the paternity, giving it life, do you think, you're not partisan, you're a reporter, you have seen campaigns, do you think he makes sense on the auto bail out? >> well, he is trying to go back and get a mulligan on this, i think. he now says that what he was recommending was in fact what the obamaed a min e ed ed a --

administration, they put money behind there it was no private capital available at that time including one of the first that turned the government down on this was bain capital. his old firm. essentially there was no where but the government to get this money. >> karen, one last question, as you have watched sort of the mechanics of this campaign, everything from organizing events to organizing the candidates message for the day to preparing for debate, is there anything you think important for to us know who is running the core of the campaign and who he surrounded himself with over time? >> i think he's running it this time with a much tighter, closer circle than he had the first time around. the more important issue ending up in a different primary race than the one they expected. they did not expect to be challenged by so many -- such a

succession of contenders out of right field. >> karen tumulty, thank you for joining us tonight. nice to have you here. >> thank you, rachel. remember when virginia governor bob mcdonnell, the vaginal probe guy wanted to be a guest on the show, he still has not been a guest on the program. won't even return our calls. why that might be, coming up. ok, guys-- what's next ? chocolate lemonade ? susie's lemonade... the movie.

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now we've done it america. we've got the dutch mad at us. >> translator: do not euthanize. >> we know candidate in dutch is candidot. my late grandmother would smack me up against the head. i have been watching dutch news videos and reading translations all day. because the dutch are mad at us. they are not a given to getting mad for nothing. they are mad at us because of of rick santorum. he has been saying a thing on the campaign trail about the dutch. it got fact checked by the washington post. picked up in the dutch press, this thing he is saying about dutch people has become an issue in their national politics. this was the headline on buzz

feed. santorum royals dutch politics, you can tell from looking at the dutch version, you can tell that they are mad. even if you don't speak dutch. when you get it translated by your staff member who is dutch, then it all comes in focus. rick santorum thinks he knows the netherlands murder of the elderly on a grand scale. here is another one in the dutch, dutch euthanasia according to santorum. here what is rick santorum said that has the dutch z mad. i want you to pay special attention to the gasps of shock and horror coming from the crowd as he talks. >> the netherlands, people wear different bracelets if you're elderly and the bracelet is do not euthanize me. because they have voluntary euthanasia in the netherlands. but half the people who are euthanized every year and 10% of

all deaths in the netherlands, half of the people are euthanized involuntarily at hospitals. because they are older and sick. and so elderly people in the netherlands don't go to the hospital. they go to another country because they are afraid because of budget purposes that they will not come out of that hospital if they go in there with sickness. >> mr. santorum says that is where we are heading now, too as a nation now that we had national health reform. none of the things he said are true. none of them. we will veer frify that in a mo. he has a politician demanding the dutch ambassador to the united states to tell rick santorum where to go, please, if the ambassador won't do it the government's foreign minister, their secretary of state, should do it. on his facebook page, this politician writes, "according to the new york times, the dutch ambassador has no comment on the

scandalous charge from santorum about our country how is it possible? i have a directed a request to the foreign minister and called on him to take a public stance. this can't be real." one thing for americans to look at the 2012 field and say seriously, this can't be real? now we have the rest of the world looking at our 2012 candidates and saying, dude, this can't be real. joining us is erik mouthaan, thank you very much for being here and helping us figure this out. >> sure. >> before we talk about what this means, for the benefit of our viewers, i hope you won't mind if i could just ask you some yes or no questions to clarify what he said about your country. he says 10% of all deaths in the netherlands are the rut of euthanasia. >> not true. >> half of all those people, so 5% of all deaths in the country are people being euthanized involuntarily. >> totely not true. >> elderly people don't go to

the hospital. >> that is not true, of course they go. >> he said elderly people in the netherlands don't go to the hospital, instead leave the country because they are afraid of dutch hospitals. >> not true and insulting. >> the reason he says they are afraid of the hospital is that anybody going to the hospital with sickness, as he put it, in the netherlands will not come out of that hospital if you go to the hospital with sickness, the hospital will kill you for budget purposes. >> not true and funny but insulting at the same time. >> last one, elderly people wear specialty bracelets in the netherlands that say please euthanize me. >> would be cool, right? but no, i have not seen one. >> i can't apologize on behalf of rick santorum as an american i'm sorry this is happening to the extent it is insulting, i am sorry. that said, do dutch people see this as funny or enraging? >> in between, we know there is

conservative people and people oppose our euthanasia policy and that's fine, but the problem is if they start lying and this is just such a distortion of what goes on in holland, people are quite upset about it. when bill o'reilly says something it's fine. this guy who may get the nomination says it, people are worried if this is the view that americans have of us. >> is it also worry that somebody running for an office as important as president could lie so blatantly? >> people ask me on my twitter, do shouldn't he have his facts straight, i say yeah, i guess he does. we're used to being the punching bag of conservatives because we're like this crazy liberal country. the most liberal country ever, first with gay marriage, legalized prostitution, pot, if all your viewers started a country, it would be holland. we're used -- >> then i would run for office.

>> we understand people are upset at us but this is something different because it's not true. >> in terms of -- in terms of how this is being seen in the netherlands, is it mostly being talked about, discussed, worried over by people who are already interested in american politics or are people generally talking about it. >> you showed an evening news program, there was entertainment-type shows, the dutch government is backing off of making this a big issue. >> but there is debate over whether or not the dutch government should make -- >> the dutch governor mament noy judge, one general said it was overrun by serbs because we allow gays in the military, then everyone was so upset, our secretary of defense called your secretary of defense, so these things matter a lot to the

dutch, but this, in this case they are not responding because it's an election year they don't want to get in electoral politics, but they are saying this goes too far you need to say something. >> do you think there is a possibility the dutch government will accede and weigh in? >> i hope this will go away a little bit and the dutch government doesn't want to get in the politics, they are afraid this may be an issue and the conservatives will say oh my good, the dutch are against us now they are trying to stay clear. >> there is a lot of things rick santorum says that people don't respond to, because they assume he's going away that happens among americans. >> people are saying like this is a serious candidate, right, erik? yeah, he is. >> thank you for helping us figure this out and again, i am voir we're doing this. bob mcdonnell not visiting

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listen. >> i was going back on youtube, governor, was watching some of reagan's old debates from the early 60s, late 60s, early 70s. there wasn't a place he wouldn't go to argue the conservative message and advocate for conservative principles. and he got a lot of grief for it but also he won a lot of respect and it seems to me if we have republicans out there, maybe coming up through the ranks, who are concerned about going on rachel maddow's show or concerned she will get the better of him or her in a sit down we have real problems. we have to be able to engage with these people. doesn't mean you'll convince her but you'll probably be a stronger advocate across the board to people who don't know what conservativism is. >> i couldn't agree with you more, laura, that is exactly right. you think you can rachel to set that up for me? >> i will send her a note. for sure. >> i love that he calls me lil

rachel. laura ingraham and her producers sent me a note. we did call lil governor mcdonnell's office, i thought we were going to get him as a guest. apparently he didn't mean it. governor mcdonnell you shouldn't have said you weren't afraid to do something if you were afraid. not just around the country by the world, from australia, around the world. the first phrase that pops in people's heads is trans-vaginal ultrasound. i can't possibly make that worse for you, governor. you did it on your own. let's talk about it like you said you would, until then i will keep reporting on the mess that you're in like i'm about do more of in the next segment, i won't have the benefit of you here to help me understand. don't be afraid.

it is our custom to conclude the news-type schedule for the night and week and let you know that prisons are about to start, right? we try to be creative, countdowns, orange jump suit tonight after the show, tonight no prisons.

instead, something very, very cool, msnbc is about to bring you semper f in, what one marine did to uncover the truth about a toxic probably at camp lejeune. potentially a million people exposed to toxic chemicals at an around the marine base, excellent documentary hosted and narrated by lawrence o'donnell, i hope you will stay tuned for that after the show tonight. that is at the top of the hour after us. we will be right back. ok, guys-- what's next ?

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trans-vaginal ultrasound if they were getting an abortion. >> i could be looking at the next running mate here. >> some people say the guy sitting across from me would be a good number two on the ticket. >> you would be open to it? >> look if someone called and said you could help the country or help the ticket any of us would think about it. >> before he became the vaginal probe guy, bob mcdonnell was the guy who got somehhowerered with questions is about his future. republicans in virginia were all set to make virginia women to under go a vaginal probe ultrasound before getting abortion. passed both houses of the legislature, governor mcdonnell said he would sign it. and then the national media noticed and everyone including us, freaked out. made its way on "saturday night live" a big silent protest

outside the capitol on richmond on monday, big protests all over the grounds yesterday. government mcdonnell and republicans tried to back away from the national disaster they created by claiming that they had no idea that they were requiring such an invasive procedure, they tried amending the legislation they are still having the government force your doctor to do medical procedures to you against your will. you're still forced to have a political ultrasound mandated by the state but the new requirement would stop just short of that forced state-machine dated ultrasound being forced for vaginal penetration. it's heard to unring that bell. all the trying in the world has not saved bob mcdonnell from a new political reality in which he is the vaginal ultrasound guy. he's the vaginal probe guy now. personally evidence since ""the washington post"" put his thesis from pat robertson pz college on

line, i thought of him as the homosexuals guy. now the thing everybody is dying to ask him about is the vaginal probe bill. >> you flip-flopped on this, backed the bill and you say no, why? >> i think you have it wrong. i support the concept of an ultrasound requirement as part of the formal informed consent. i still support that. what i requested is simply an amendment that requires an abdominal ultrasound. >> what we realized i said i support the bill, i still support the bill. >> so in his first interviews, governor bob mcdonnell wants to make it clear he supports the measure. he supports the government mandating a medical reason for political reasons, not the one that goes in your vagina. he's resisting his new identity as the vaginal probe guy. >> if you were educating yourself did you originally not

realize it might mandate -- >> it wasn't my procedure, this wasn't my bill normally a governor would review hundreds of bills when they get to your desk. you're so busy you don't read legislator bill. we can't help what the media -- >> it isn't my bill, i don't care about ultrasounds, i'm focused on, can we talk about something other than this? there are probably many democrats that would like to debate the vaginal probe guy. unfortunately for bob mcdonnells that was a democrat, mr. mcdonnell being speaker have you had by politico.com alongside three inches away from a maryland's governor, martin o'malley. we are used to sharp political rhetoric in the abstract, this scene is rare in our politics. governor o'malley delivering what turned out to be a screed

on everything wrong with his politics while he was three inches away visibly skirming the hole time. >> i would also dare to predict in virginia, where they have seen what happens when you put republicans totally in charge, the legislature has taken a hard right turn and that is exactly the sort of overreach they saw in wisconsin, which has a 49th worst job creation rate, the sort of overreach they saw in ohio, which has the 30th worst job creation rate, and also what they have seen in florida which has the 45th worse job creation rate. you vote for republicans and they take a hard right turn outlawing gay relationship, women's rights, unions, throwing all sort of social wedge issues when what people care is about

jobs and economy. >> i had a hunch we would mix it up. i do want to get questions over on the wings. >> well, i can say governor o'malley is the only one that has social issues at the top of his agenda, i don't. >> yes you do. actually. nice try, but you were the one who said you would sign the mandated vaginal probe bill when it was clear that is what it was. you may have backed off now that it's hurting you politically. people won't forget you were the mandated vaginal probe guy. that kind of thing sticks with you. bob mcdonnell's hole career hard right social conservative, punish the fornicators, he still is, he may not want to be thought of that way, who would. but actions speak louder than words, governor probe. the real question now is whether or not bob mcdonnell, the vaginal probe guy, is still on the vice presidential short list. in a party in which all the

remaining candidates have voiced support for personhood measures ban all abortion and who are mowal contraception as well, a party fighting against access to birth control, who knows, maybe this isn't bad for governor bob mcdonnell. maybe the vaginal probe guy is exactly who the republican party in 2012 is looking for in a presidential running mate. joining us is the democratic party communications direct door columnist for the hill and list, karen finney, thank you very much for your time, nice to see you. >> good to be with you, rachel. you know you don't look so scary to me. >> you know, the thing about bob mcdonnell the whole ultrasound thing happened after he told laura ingraham he wanted to come on the show but even before we started calling him governor vaginal probe, he still wouldn't return the calls. i think he was flat out lying. >> i think he might have been. that is not right. >> anyway, i know as the

democrats communications director you would never call anybody governor vaginal probe, but -- >> honestly i never would have thought that we would be in a position to actually call someone governor vaginal trans vaginal probe. did you ever think you would be having this conversation on your show? >> never, never in my life. not just on my show, never in my world. really, never. but i have been training myself to say these things i'm all red. do you think that governor mcdonnell's prospects for being the vice presidential nominee are scuttled by this or do you think this in some weird way in this year republican politics this might not that bad? >> it's hard to tell based on the line of action that republicans have chosen to take. think about the level of activity that we've had over the last several months and weeks. essentially the republican party aligned itself with the vatican. and you have 98% of catholic

women use contraception. the vatican can't convince its own women in america of their policies and the republican party thinks that is the place to go? and i think they are also not paying attention to the fact women have very much been awakened over the last several months, look at the republican ledgislatures and anti-women bill, having to prove you were raped in order to use medicaid to have an abortion. redefining rape, letting women die, the level of conversation we've been having, and then contraception. and the reaction that we saw when susan 2k3wg. komen foundat stemmed over the line. this is a culmination of women recognizing and some in the republican party, trans vaginal insertion is probably over the line. maybe contraception is getting

up to the line. but totally miscalculated where the american people are. >> i think it has become part of a conversation. i think you're right that all of these things have cumulatively built to the point that is not an avoidable discussion anymore. i wonder from the democratic perspective, do you think we're at a point where resistance to the republican's abortion agenda is a national issue for the t s democrats? will they stand up and stop them on this? >> i think democrats should, and we were talking about this earlier today, that to me the way i see this is, we have an opportunity to have a conversation with americans that says, let's not -- it's not about the procedure at some point. and i think that that's part of what has reinvigorated and reawakened women in a lot of ways. at some point it's about fundamental liberty and freedom, that my government tells me i

have to have some kind of probe inserted into my vagina? i mean, if that isn't government intervention, i don't know what is. even in these conversations about contraception, i wrote about this last week, in 1936 people believed contraception should be available. the culture wars, and the nature of the conversation i think has really shifted. i think you're seeing that when it comes to gay rights and marriage equality. and i think we've seen the backlash on contraception, has shown that. democrats i think have an opportunity to open a conversation with people that again is about not necessarily the procedure, but about this fundamental concept of, you know, liberty and freedom, and certainly as women, we need to step up and take ownership of the fact that, if we're going to be seen as equal human beings in this country, no man gets to tell me when i've been raped. >> former dnc communication director, and political analyst

karen finney, fired up and ready to go tonight. this story is equally bewilderring and enraging. thank you for being here tonight. >> good to be with you. >> sort of an antidote to this. this makes me very, very glad and very glad for our country. please stay tuned, that's next.

the best new thing in the world is for fb, but if you're in driving distance of

fayetteville, north carolina, it's specifically your best new thing in the world. and that is next. >> i'm covering one of the largest contaminated water incidents in history.her spent . [ charlie ] we're the heartbeat of this place, the people on the line. we take pride in what we do. when that refrigerator ships out the door, it's us that work out here. [ michael ] we're on the forefront of revitalizing manufacturing. we're proving that it can be done here, and it can be done well. [ ilona ] i came to ge after the plant i was working at closed after 33 years. ge's giving me the chance to start back over. [ cindy ] there's construction workers everywhere. so what does that mean? it means work. it means work for more people. [ brian ] there's a bright future here, and there's a chance to get on the ground floor of something big, something that will bring us back. not only this company, but this country. ♪

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you can't live under a dome in minnesota, that's why there's guys like me. [ male announcer ] it's a network of possibilities -- helping you do what you do... even better. ♪ sflsmts best new thing in the world today from nayetteville, north carolina, which is the home of the huge u.s. army bass fort bragg. when president obama gave a speech at the end of the iraq war, he gave it at fort bragg. there's been precisely one civilian community in the united states, one city to do something publicly to mark the end of that war. that was the great city of st. louis, missouri. on january 28th, in st. louis, it was just a couple of local citizens, normal guys, who ignored the politics, paid no mind to the pentagon, called veterans group and put on a parade, organized by civilians for the troops. and 100,000 people turned out in

st. louis. and to date, that's it. tomorrow there's another one. we just found out tomorrow in fayetteville, north carolina, a local nonprofit has taken the initiative without anybody else's go-ahead or approval to organize what they're calling a convoy tomorrow in fayetteville to say welcome home, to say we think it's a big deal you served in this war, we think it's a big deal that this war ended and we want to mark it to say thank you and glad your u home. essentially a parade on wheels. the idea is to mirror the last convoys that left in december. it will take place on saturday, tomorrow, and you can participate in your own car, truck, minivan or just turn up along the route and cheer. as explained by the head of the local nonprofit that is organizing this, simply, this is fayetteville's way of saying thank you. we've got a link to their website that's got the route and everything else. all the details. the next city to throw a parade might be tucson, arizona.

local news reporting that they have a parade for maerch 31st. there is still a little work to be done, but it might happen in tucson. then richmond, virginia's parade is scheduled for may 19th. it's also armed forces day. we're told that the city of rome, georgia, is apparently onboard with a parade and a festival on june 16th. that will include booths with resources for veterans and their families. so even though the pentagon inexplicably still wants there to be no welcome home parade in new york city, for what it's worth, the pentagon said they're very happy with st. louis and the other cities marking the end of the war. and those other cities are showing us all how to do it. you just do it. you worry more about asking forgiveness than asking permission. cities doing their own thing to mark the end of the iraq war and say thanks to the vets.