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tv   The Rachel Maddow Show  MSNBC  February 28, 2012 12:00am-1:00am EST

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written up all the time. and that is not fair to parents and then they are having to pay for it. instead why don't we nurture children and teach them right from wrong and use common sense discipline instead of finding and punishing parents that way. >> judith brown and donna moore thank you for joining us. we'll do more on the story i don't like what is happening in chicago. that is "the ed show," the "the rachel maddow show" starts right now. i was in columbus, ohio over the weekend, yes they like me but love you, they were all asking for you, i have to till the road report from ohio is you're the one. >> ed, i was in san jose this weekend and i heard i love ed schultz. >> were they wearing buttons. >> and sitting up straight and looking at the teacher. thank you, ed. thanks at home for staying with us for the next hour. one month before the south carolina primary, a full month before south carolina, mitt romney got what appeared to be
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great news. that state's republican governor nikki haley threw her support. nikki haley, seen as a rising star, closely aligned with the tea party, this was a big coup, a stamp of approval for him from the conservative base of the party, he had been struggle heing to win over and happened in a critical state. then something weird happened. he got trounced in south carolina. mitt romney did not just lose to newt gingrich there, he lost by double digits, it was not close. mitt romney rebounded, went to win in florida and nevada, but losing south carolina after getting the endorsement of the state's republican governor turned out to be a sign of things to come. right after former minnesota governor tim pawlenty dropped out of the race last fall, he threw support behind mitt romney for the nomination. when minnesota republicans got their chance to vote, they went
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for rick santorum instead. mitt romney not only didn't win minnesota, he finished third. despite having the endorsement of the state's former governor. in colorado, he managed to score the high profile endoorsmen of the state's most recent republican governor, bill spowe, he lost colorado. despite having the republican establishment there on his side. also in missouri, mitt romney managed to snap up the coveted endorsement of that state's most recent republican governor, former governor matt blunt. republicans looked a that the appeared went with rick santorum instead. while the missouri primary deserves a giant asterisk because it doesn't count for anything, the pattern frankly stands. as dave weig echbl has been righting at slate.com, getting
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the endorsement of a republican governor has been a curse every time he has been endorsed by a governor or most recent republican governor, he loses. but tomorrow there is a chance for the curse to be broken. tomorrow republicans in michigan and arizona will get their chance to vote in the republican primary and both of those states and in both those states, mitt romney has gotten the endorsement of the state's republican governors. michigan's governor, rick snyder came out and endorsed mr. romney earlier this month. the latest polling out of michigan, he has erased rick santorum's advantage there. mr. romney holding a slim lead in michigan ahead of the vote. the republican governor of arizona, jan brewer withheld her endorsement, waiting until yesterday, two days before the primary to announce she, too, is endorsing mr. romney. governor brewer's last minute
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endorsement is not exactly a profile in courage. given so much of the state has voted when you look at the polling, it looks like mitt romney will run away with arizona. governor brewer waited long enough to figure out who was going to win and then she said i'm with that guy. jan brewer, always brave, always classy. if you believe the polls, mitt romney has a prohibitive lead in arizona right now. but if you believe the curse, maybe jan brewer endorsing him might turn it around. having the arizona republican establishment on your side has not actually been a good omen in that state's republican politics recently the biggest thing that happened in politics last year the recall of the most powerful republican in the state. now the most powerful republican politician in arizona has not been the governor, the head of the state senate, russell pierce. he is no longer in the arizona
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state senate because he was successfully recalled from office by his district's voters in november. that is after he championed the state's paper's anti-immigrant law. he was the first arizona lawmaker ever recalled from office. he was the most power full guy in the state but turfed him out. he wasn't replaced by a granola eating sympathizer, just a normal republican. his district was disgusted by them, but they are a republican leaning district, the guy they put in is a more average conservative who isn't looking to make the state a national lightning rod for anti-immigrant extremism the way russell pierce was. after that stunning rebuke from the voters, how the the gop respond? they gave rust russell pierce t number two job state-wide.
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but again, the establishment message to their own voter tomorr tomorrow, arizona republicans should vote for mitt romney so says jan brewer, the politics in michigan's primary i think are even more fascinating. when you look from outside michigan, at what is going on in the state of michigan right now, there is a huge elephant in the room, right? there is an obvious huge deal, there is the return of the american auto industry written off as dead, before the obama administration decided to save it. the turn around, the boom in the auto in distrducstry is not jus in michigan it's huge for the country. >> two years after almost going bankrupt, record profits are being announced tonight for an iconic american brand. >> general motors stock up 9% after it posted its highest profits in history.
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>> general motors has reclaimed the title of world's largest automaker from toyota. >> for dave gray who works the new third shift in flint, michigan the record earnings not only mean job security but he and every other auto worker at gm will get bonus checks up to $7000. >> it's great, right? the detroit comeback is a huge success story for the whole country. but in a republican primary, it is a very awkward thing at the height of the financial crisis which when the auto in distree on the brink of death, republicans at the national level argued that detroit should be left to die. and that anybody who wanted to save detroit was a fool because it would never work. >> we can't call it a bail out that might be a too honest, he call it a bridge loan. a bridge loan to no where. >> this will not make chrysler,
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general motors or forward competitive. >> it doesn't fix the problem exacerbates the problem. >> this plan will in my opinion doom them to failure. >> you were very plunlt about this in an op-ed on wednesday, let me read how you began. if general motors ford and chrysler get the bail out their chief executives asked for you can kiss the automotive industry goodbye, it won't go overnight but the demise will be guaranteed. >> that is exactly right, if you write a check they will go out of business. >> all of those republicans were wrong. very, very very dramatically wrong. one of the fascinating things about the michigan republican primary there have been ads running michigan explaining how long mitt romney was, hitting him for don't save detroit, let detroit die politician, back in 2008. back when it counted. he wasn't in congress like the other people, he was a free
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lance commentator urging the country to kill detroit. when the decision was being made and it counted, mitt romney was to kill detroit. >> his message was clear. >> let do it go bankrupt. >> mitt romney. >> my hometown is on the way back. mitt romney said let detroit go bankrupt. i'm grateful our country didn't listen. we need a president who will stand by us all when times are tough. >> i'm appalled. >> disgusting. >> it says that he doesn't care. >> in mitt romney's world. >> let detroit go bankrupt. they shouldn't be given money. >> romney would have turn his back on us in the departments -- depths of the recession. >> those are running right now in michigan. this is one of those cases where it's all about the fine print. if you look at the fine print on all those ads we showed, what is the important thing about all them? none of them are are run by mr. romney's rivals.
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none of them run by republicans campaign or super pacs. these are being run in michigan by groups on the democratic side. that is priorities usa, the president's super pac. move on next to it. one of the public sector employee unions at the bomb tom, next to that the democratic national committee. these ads are all very obviously anti-mitt romney ads running in michigan. so maybe to that extent they will benefit raick santorum's chances. but frankly, rick santorum can't run ads against mitt romney because he was for killing michigan, too. he had an he has the same position as mitt romney on. this kill detroit, forget detroit, let detroit die, kill off the auto industry, i guess we don't need it. the republican primary is taking place on the context of the huge michigan rebirth. this boom, this economic success story, american economic triumph made possible because the
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government wouldn't let detroit die, because the government stepped in to save the industry. and both of these guys running michigan wish that had never happened. so how have michigan republicans responded to this? how have michigan republicans responded to the candidates on the wrong side of the rebirth? they don't care about it either. most recent nbc news poll, found michigan republicans oppose the successful auto industry bail out by a 50 to 42 point margin. in the context of the most important, most politically tinged economically success story, they're going la la la it's not happening. mitt romney talks about the trees are the right height how he loves cars in the be a strab. he has friends that own nascar teams.
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rick santorum says going to college is something only snobs do. that john f. kennedy's speech on separation of church and state. why it's okay to elect a catholic president, rick santorum says that made him want to barf. that is the campaign they are waging in michigan right now. that is the message for detroit and for all of michigan. but the return of the american auto industry, the best turn around since the financial collapse, the best economic news in more than a jenner sflags the republican campaigns are la la la, pretending that is not happening. lovely weather around here, isn't it this time of year, gosh your trees are just the perfect -- not too -- joining us michael moore the academy award winning documentary whose family has live in michigan longer than michigan has been a state. >> thank you for having me
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again, rachel. since i spoke to you last week the trees are still at that same height. >> eventually they will outgrow their perfect height and michigan will have to address that crisis since that is obviously the source of michigan's strength. >> we will have to, yes. >> we are on the eve of the primary. how is the the two leading candidates in the race are are both on the record as being against saving the state's most important industry and they are unrepentant about it? >> i have come to the conclusion that they are are in a race with each other to see who can get the least number of votes from the michigan sit renry. the most bizarre last couple weeks here in the state of michigan. i think romney, this real guy image he's trying to project, he just -- you feel sorry for the guy because he just keeps putting his foot in his mouth.
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i expected him to say by the end of the day today that he is all for eating at mcdonald's, he owns 26 franchises throughout the midwest. it's -- santorum with his whole religious crusade that he's on, this is so out of touch with where michiganders are at. there is a group, that is true for republicans, majority of michigan residences do not identify as republicans, so when you take a poll support the bail out, 50% or more say they don't, they are kind of like you know like a red sox fan that lives in new york city? they are more rabid than the red sox fans in boston, because they
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have to be, because they are surrounded by all the yankee fans. that is what the republicans are like in the state of michigan. so, i think that both the romney and santorum are going to -- i think tomorrow we will see what we've seen in all the other states, less republicans voting than they did four years ago but i honestly the people have to understand this, and please understand as coming from us michiganders, if romney does not win tomorrow or if he wins by a small margin, in other words he's lost, you can't overstate the importance of this in the state of michigan. the romney name, the romney legacy in michigan would be like voting against a kennedy in massachusetts. they are well-loved in the state, his brother scott is a well-known attorney in suburban detroit. for romney to lose michigan i know they think this, they must think this is the death knell for their campaign. >> when you look at how well
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mitt romney did in 2008 in michigan, won the state, won handily and look at four years later how he's struggling against rick santorum do you think that is driven by national political winds by generally what is going on in the campaign or anything in michigan specific how mitt romney has fallen in the esteem of republicans there? >> i think it's both but definitely for romney to fall that far in the state of michigan is huge. it's -- but he's brought this on himself. it's not just him, santorum opposed the auto bail out, and so they both were against it but romney has just -- he keeps doubling down. santorum doesn't like to bring it up but romney brings it up and he says this to all these people who have lost their jobs, we've had unemployment in some of our kroips upwards to 20% in the last four years, so to say
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this to these people, i feel the same way about sansantorum, tha college is for snobs, for elitists, the whole blue collar work ethic in america and especially in michigan is that like my dad and our parents they didn't go to college but what they wanted most of was to send their kids to college. that is why they were working so hard in the factory so kids could have a better life. no blue collar person sees college as am form of snobbery it's the definition of the american dream. so when santorum calls it snobbery, an who needs college, he's attacking the american dream and just now in that fight with romney trying to see if he can get fewer voters than romney will get tomorrow. >> michael moore, award winning film maker and michigan native son, i share your suspicions what the turnout will be like in
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michigan but once we find out can i ask to you come back and talk with me do, a post mortem? >> yes, i will and i have to tell you a lot of my democrats friends vote for santorum operation hilarity. we have a good sense of humor in the state of michigan. >> thank you for being here. thank you. the one and only frank rich is here tonight for the interview, very much looking forward to that. and the backlash against the forced trans vaginal ultrasound thing in virginia is become kind of an impressive backlash, not only in virginia. that story is next. . ♪[music plays] ♪[music plays]
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great grains. search great grains and see for yourself. you can't argue with me. tonight, a lesson on the art of caving. caving in culture war politics. our tour begins in virginia where republicans caved on the personhood bill they would have used to ban all abortion in virginia and likely contraception as well. it has been delayed for a year. as for the forced ultrasound bill after republicans taken out the and it has to go in your vagina language, women in virginia are still mad about the bill. still being seen as a forced medical procedure for political and not medical reasons. that any version in virginia is still not a shoe-in. there is a chance even though won't pass. the vote on the bill has been delayed another day as of today. a new pac has formed in
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virginia, a new pac of newly energized democratic independent and the group claims some republican women, most of them former elected officials. they say the new pac is dedicated to defeating anyone who votes for the virginia ultrasound bill or for the so-called personhood bill that would ban all abortion and likely hormonal contraception. the overreach thing on the vaginal probe, this seemed to have changed virginia politics, turns out to be not just a virginia story either. in alabama, a case study in the collapse of anti-abortion overreach, alabama's version of forced vaginal probe ultrasound bill was moving right along in the alabama legislature, was passed out of a senate committee last week on 4-1 vote. but then cut to yesterday morning. sunday morning. alabama's republican governor robert bentley attending the
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republican governor's meeting in washington. a reporter tracks him down and asks about the forced you will sound bill. the governor says he knows nothing about the legislation. telling the huffing ton post "just read about it this morning" he had not studied the legislation and not prepared to take a position on the bill. that was sunday morning. alabama's governor hasn't heard about the forc vaginal probe bill, thank you very much. sunday morning. on sunday night, that same night, according to the montgomery advertiser, the sponsor of the bill in the legislature releases a statement backing off saying he plans to change the will so women can choose what kind of state-mandated probing they get so it doesn't have to be a vaginal probe. adding he had always intended to give women the right to choose the means by which she is to be
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forcibly probed by the state. he didn't mean to specifically require vaginal probe ultrasounds. acally, in true fact, he totally meant to require vaginal probe ultrasounds. he totally meant that specifically and i know this because the bill spells it out. the bill spells out the vaginal probe requirement, literally the word advantage i, is in the bill. requires that women before getting an abortion have an ultrasound "using either a vaginal transducer or abdominal, whichever would display more clearly. that what is he proposed and that passed out of committee last week. a requirement for vaginal probe ultrasounds since they in the vast majority of cases would show the fetus most clearly. then after the governor gets asked about it by a report suddenly the senator will change it, he's still pushing a state
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mandated political procedure the state is still telling your doctor and you have no choice. we asked governor bentley's office in alabama if they had been in touch with the sponsor of the bill, with the sponsor of the forced vaginal bill, if they were in touch abut the governor's feelings, after he was asked about it by a reporter. turns out yes, yes they have. the governor's office telling us "governor bent lay's office communicated the examination on sb 12 to senator scofield's office, governor bentley supports a requirement for non-invasive ultrasound. the forced vaginal ultrasound is not just a virginia story, an alabama and pennsylvania story. the legislature is considering a bill that because of house specific the require mens are around images and sound, would also mandate vaginal proposes by order of the state the the
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pennsylvania bill also mandates the doctor or technician performing the state mandated ultrasound position the screen so that it is in the woman's sight line during the procedure. it's mandated by law that it be pointed at your face. but hey, ladies, according to the law you're not required to view the screen. so, to be clear, the state of pennsylvania would in this case by law mandate a vaginal probe ultrasound, and the state of pennsylvania would mandate that the results of that ultrasound be pointed at your face. but the state of pennsylvania will stop just shy of using that clockwork orange machine to prop your eyelids open and force you to regard the ultrasound. it should be noted that pennsylvania is the state where over the ten years before 2011 there were 19 votes in total on abortion in the general assembly. when republicans took control in 2011, there were 34 in one year.
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i explained that statistic last year but mistakenly attributed to virginia it's actually pennsylvania. arizona had also been preceding a pace with anti-abortion bill, new waiting period attached to forced ultrasound. it could still be voted on by the legislature this session. states like virginia and arizona where republicans have unilateral control over state government, it is really their choice whether or not to push through legislation like this. democrats are not able to stop them because there are not democrats in the states in sufficient numbers in the legislatures, republicans can't be outvoted not year after the states were turned red in 2010. republicans alone will have to he d side if and how they want to proceed. but republicans loobing at the way this sunk the story line of bob mcdonnell, the issue raised
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cain in virginia and threatening to race cain every where else, now people look to know where the mandates, the politics are spreading, given all that, the climate this, overreach has created the question remains, not just whether or not republicans will continue foul steam ahead with this policy making, but whether or not democrats will realize there is an issue for them to campaign on here. that the republicans may be shouldn't just be stopped on these issues if you have the opposite view of republicans on this issue but maybe room for democrats to gain. the democrats closest to the fights, watching republicans not only lose but retreat and previous positions have decided not only democrats but women in general ought to be on the offense on this. do you want to know what the name is of the new virginia pac that just form to go after anybody that votes for person hood or state mandated ultrasound is, in bob mcdonne mcdonnell's virginia, the new pac they formed to go after
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republicans who support this stuff? they are calling the it the womens strike force.
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on saturdafayetteville, nor carolina marked the end of the iraq war and to welcome home eye iraq war veterans. a local non-profit put together a convoy and drove eight mile route across town, their way of
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saying welcome home to veterans who served in iraq. this is some of what it looked like in fayetteville. part of the motivation for doing it this way, as a convoy on local highways, was that it was just easier to organize something like that, easier civilians than getting red tape for a parade. next place to celebrate and welcome home veterans will likely be oklahoma city, combined st. patrick's day parade and welcome home parade on march 17th. then tucson, arizona, march 31st, richmond virginia, scheduled may 19th. armed forces day. rome, georgia has one planned for june 16th. still no grand welcome home in the making for new york city, grand american style new york city ticker tape parade that is because the pentagon for mysterious reasons does not think there should be one in new
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york specifically, even though they say they support others around the country. i don't understand it either. outside of new york, the idea is working. thank you very much, thank you st. louis, fayetteville, everybody doing this, so far it's going pretty awesome. [ male announcer ] juice drink too watery? ♪ feel the power my young friend. mmm! [ male announcer ] for excellent fruit and veggie nutrition... v8 v-fusion, also refreshing plus tea. could've had a v8. with less chronic osteoarthritis pain. imagine living your life with less chronic low back pain.
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together, for your future. ♪ before today we knew newt gingrich's billionaire had given $11 million to the super pac supporting his candidacy. a million and then five million and another five million. and now more. a source refusing to say how much more, but mr. gingrich's billionaire is giving more this time. the anonymous source says the donation is "substantial and at least on par with the two five-million dollar donations sheldon a dcdelson and his fami have given previously" giving mr. gingrich another $5 million. that will come too late to resuscitate his political hopes, in time for arizona or michigan
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tomorrow but it does mean he will be alive for super tuesday next week. washington post reporting that this pro-gingrich super pac will use the new money for mr. gingrich's billion to put up ads in georgia, oklahoma, ohio and tennessee, with more to come wednesday in mississippi, alabama and kansas. skipping tomorrow and looking ahead to naex week. makes sense for mr. gingrich to not try for tomorrow, the polls in michigan and arizona show him getting crush in both states. didn't much have the option to compete, when mr. gingrich is between cash infusions from his billionaire, his campaign prospects shrivel up like a stranded earth worm on a hot walk. but money keeps mr. gingrich alive and in the race and now has more money. since we know that newt gingrich's billionaire wants
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newt gingrich or mitt romney to be the nominee but does not want rick santorum to be the nominee it's worth newt gingrich has no chance of winning it for himself, no matter how long he is in the race. his staying in the race probably insures rick santorum will not beat mitt romney. bottom line, one billionaire's decision to throw pocket change at a spoiler candidate, newt gingrich, ee slins decides who get the republican nomination for president. it won't be santorum, it will be romney. must be nice to be a billionaire in the post citizens united world and make that decision on your own for the whole country. but newt gingrich isn't the only one with a billionaire. rick santorum has his, the lady should put an aspirin between your knees guy. ron paul has would be, the libertarian guy who founded pay pal. mitt romney has many billionaires as you would expect. but what does a billionaire supporting mitt romney get for his money?
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if you're newt gingrich's billionaire you're newt gingrich's only funder. you as one person get to decide his fate and thereby the whole fate of the race to the extent that it depends on mr. gingrich's continued participation. i can see why a guy like sheldon adelson would be doing what he's doing. if you're one of the billionaires, what motivates you, what do you get for your money? you know you can be replaced by the other billionaires in the room if you don't step up, no one billionaire is important to the romney campaign because there are so many of them. why do it? what motivates you, why write a seven figure check to the pac? what do you get? right after new york state passed marriage equality last year, including republican controlled state senate passed recognition of same sex marriage, the new york times did a post mortem, what persuaded
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the republicans who changed their minds, how the side came together, the rich guy republican donors, conservative donors who met with staffers and said they would help the governor out on gay marriage even though he's a democrat. the wealthy republicans sent back word they were on board, echl of them cut six figure checks to the hlobbying campaig. they were three hedge fund zillionaire seven, three conservative hedge fund zillionaries, supporting gay marriage last year in new york state. all three of them now supporting mitt romney for president.
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>> our conservative values came under attack. less than a year after i took office the state's supreme court inexplicably found a right to same sex marriage in the constitution written by john sp evans. i prohibited out of state couples from coming to our state to get married and went home. we fought hard to prevent massachusetts from becoming the las vegas of gay marriage. when impress dent, i will fight for an an amendment to our constitution that defines marriage as a relationship between a man and woman. >> as frank rich points out in his new piece, mitt romney racing the speaker of massachusetts become the las vegas of gay marriage, was only days after mr. romney accepted an endorsement from donald trump that paragon of traditional marriage while in actual las
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vegas. how do you explain zillionires in new york state politics, the same people bank rolling with more money the most ard -- a piece written by frank rich for new york magazine not just about the mystery of pro gay rights conservatives, but also about pro gay rights democrats not behaving very pro-gay rights at all. frank rich joins us here next for the interview, we will be right back. spark card from capital one. spark cash gives me the most rewards of any small business credit card. it's hard for my crew to keep up with 2% cash back on every purchase, every day. 2% cash back. that's setting the bar pretty high. thanks to spark, owning my own business has never been more rewarding. [ male announcer ] introducing spark the small business credit cards from capital one. get more by choosing unlimited double miles
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td ameritrade's empowering web-based trading platform. take control of your portfolio today. trade commission-free for 60 days, and we'll throw in up to $600 when you open an account. on my watch we fought hard and prevented massachusetts from becoming the las vegas of gay marriage. >> that guy has the support of all the pro-gay rights zillionaires in republican party hedge fund politics. how did that happen? joining us is frank rich the must-read must-watch writer at large for new york magazine. >> thank you, rachel. >> thank you for writing the piece about complicated politics, more complicate than they appear on the service, i thought it was great many. >> thank you, so much. >> we hear all the real power players in republican politics aren't anti-gay at all. a lot of them pro-gay right.
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why doesn't that translate to pressure on a mitt romney to stop being anti-gay? >> a really good yes. the three hedge fund billionaires, one of them has a gay son who took the stand with andrew cuomo in new york about same sex marriage, so why are they supporting a party, a national party and a national candidate still at least for another 24 hours the favorite, mitt romney, when this entire party is essentially pursuing homo phobic rhetoric and policies. no matter what they say in private. charles murray came out for saim section marriage, pundits say i'm sort of with gay equality, and yet, the party is really in the stone age. and romney is reprehensible, in
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the 1990's, he was pro-gay civil rights, he said as much in a race against teddy kennedy, he would be to the left of teddy kennedy if he made it to the senate. it's completely craven and not only making ridiculous statements about same sex marriage, wants to bring back, defend doma, reported last week as courting unsuccessfully maggie gallagher head of the national organization for marriage, which made the horrific homo phobic ads of lightning strikingamerica if gay people were in partnerships or got married, so it's incredible hipcracy, i wonder what paul singer's son, romney can do more damage than would have happened in new york state if same sex marriage hadn't passed. >> i wonder the thing that surprises me you read something
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like dick cheney lobbying for same sex marriage. >> quietly, right. >> in maryland. ken melman being incredibly integral to the effort in new york state and some other states in terms of working on same sex marriage rights. the group afer, american for equal rights, the group has been mobilizing high profile republicans, not pundit sfrngs form -- pundits. >> ted olsen. >> then when it comes to the republican nominating contest it has gone off the charts. well to the right of even what george w. bush was campaigning on in materials of being anti-gay, what is the relationship between a power player in republican politics and what republicans do? i don't understand -- >> there is a complete disconnect, i guess a desperate craven relationship to the base of the party. look, we now have a base, the
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republican party that is so radical that they can be pandered to by calls for elimination of public education, for we have a major candidate who yet could win campaigning as you were talking about against college education. there also taking the bizarre stands about women's reproductive rights, contraception, so this is really a radical, radical party. someone like ken melman, a long tradition of republicans closeted homosexuals, in power enabled homophobic policies and some periods the real dem demonization of gay people.
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when push had marriage amendments, then he does the right thing, comes out of as gay but comes out of the policies but where was he when it really mattered whn his own party and in that sense it's like roy cohen, finkelstein, jesse helms, one of the homophobic senators, he was in a gay marriage after he stopped working for jesse helms. there was a pathological disconnect. they have to be called on it. i think ken melman has done the right thing to the extent you can't go back in time. you can indict what he did in the past once you come out if you were complicit you have to
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work to change the politics, he's doing that. >> in things like the proposition 8 fight but what is going on within the republican party? >> that is the question. >> how is it every candidate. every candidate with the arguable example of jon huntsman, long gone, has taken such anti-gay views in terms of policy and rhetoric, have they remained sigh len a gay soldier serving in eye iraq, asked a perfectly pleasant question through youtube in a republican debate and no one including the then nine candidates on stage speaks up against it? it's great that ken melman is involved with raising money for afer and to fight proposition # appeared so on but what about within the party? i am i don't mean to sickle him out, paul singer, the hedge fund guys, the big bucks people who think of themselves as being enlightened about social issues,
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the koch brothers, sponsored the new york city ballet, why are they remaining silent in the party they support in terms of tea party so homophobic, i don't get it a disconnect but also does damage not only to gay americans but children who have gay parents, anyone who has a friend or relative who is gay. >> you also singled out bill clinton for having essentially special ethical responsibility to work to undo doma, the defense marriage act, passed during his administration and he signed into law. what effect do you think it would have at the worked against that. he said he's for same sex marriage but hasn't been working on these issues as far as we know. >> he hasn't and is mortified by embarrassment because doma, which did happen on his watch
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and a lot of support from so-called liberal democrats in congress, is the reason even in the states now where same sex marriage is legal, those couples can't have social security benefits and other benefits, that does real damage. i think he's too embarrassed to do it. he didn't mention doma in his 1000 page auto biography. >> frank rifch, the piece is mostly about democratics and the bill clinton stuff is fascinating. thank you. >> we will be right back. ♪
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