end to the mark of the war, the way there has been for other wars in our country. but tonight the white house is marking the end of the war in its own way. that's it for us tonight. now it's time for "the last word" with lawrence o'donnell. have a great night. now it's time for "the last word" with lawrence o'donnell. have a great night. the really big winner in michigan yesterday was president obama. and the big winner in the senate today was harry reid, now a bob kerry has decided to run for senate again. the republican plan to take back the senate is in serious jeopardy this morning. >> senator olympia snowe threw republicans a curveball. >> senator olympia snowe shocked everybody -- >> when she announced that she is leaving the senate at the end of the year. >> she is not seeking re-election. >> that could be the biggest political story of the night. >> it sounded like the republican establishment was very much caught off guard. >> this really shocked senate republicans. >> the democrats now have a much better shot. >> democrats are seeing a light that they didn't quite have. >> democrats have a much better chance of keeping control. >> maine in a presidential year

should favor the democratic candidate. >> democrats are almost gleeful. >> kent conrad's going, ben nelson is going. >> the senate and the house, it's a very lonely place to be a moderate. >> adding her to that list there is essentially writing the obituary for moderates. she cited her reasons as the increasing polarization in washington. >> it's very, very difficult to resolve major issues. >> moderation will be tolerated, but not rewarded. >> it's dysfunctional. >> mitt romney survived the night, but it wasn't pretty. >> is he really even popular? >> we didn't win by a lot, but we won by enough, and that's all that counts. >> wow, there's a resounding western winner's speech. >> he's not going to put this away. he's not going to close the deal through charm. >> have we ever seen a presumptive winner still who is is meh. >> it seems right here. trees are the right height. >> he can't help it. >> i like seeing the lakes. i love the lakes. >> he was born with a silver

foot in his mouth. president obama had a great day in michigan yesterday, without even going to michigan. while 59% of the michigan voter who is went to the polls yesterday were voting against republican front-runner mitt romney, allowing him only a three-point margin in his native state. president obama was in washington, addressing the united auto workers, who like most voters in michigan, remain grateful to the president for saving the american auto industry. >> i placed my bet on the american worker and i'll make that bet any day of the week! and now, three years later, three years later, that bet is paying off. not just paying off for you, it's paying off for america.

three years later, the american auto industry is back. >> that's what i call a victory speech. president obama continues to hold a substantial lead in polls over the two republican front-runners, but in the state of michigan, his lead over the republicans is towering. an nbc/marist poll shows president obama beating mitt romney 51 to 33 in romney's home state of michigan, while the president beats rick santorum there 55 to 29. the president got more good news today about what the shape of the senate could be during the president's second term. former nebraska governor, bob kerry, who also served two terms in the senate for nebraska, returned to nebraska today from what has been his home in new york, to announce that he will run for senate in nebraska once again. democratic party officials have been urging, begging kerry to run, believing he is the only democrat with a chance of holding on to the nebraska senate seat now held by retiring democrat, ben nelson.

after republican moderate olympia snowe of maine announced yesterday she will not seek re-election to the senate, the chances of the democrats picking up that maine senate seat have increased substantially. senator patty murray, the share of the democratic senatorial campaign committee, told me how valuable bob kerry's candidacy is to her strategy of increasing the democratic majority in the senate. >> he's exactly the kind of person that we need here in the senate today, who really understands how to work across the aisle, who comes with deep convictions, who's willing to fight for what he loves and what he cares about in this nation. but understands the art of compromise. we are losing too many people in the senate, including senator snowe, who really know how to do that. >> i spoke to bob kerry today, before he publicly announced his decision, and he told me he will be unavailable to the national media, like this show, with while he is busy reintroducing

himself to the nebraska media. here he is today, assessing his chances of victory on a nebraska political website. >> it's a republican state, the president's unpopular. yeah, it's not like i'm going to get a nobel prize for saying that it's likely that i'm going to start this campaign as an underdog. i don't start off as saying, gee, i can win this easily. i look at this thing and i say, i think it's winnable. i don't know that it's -- i don't know how winnable, but i think i can persuade nebraska that i should be their senator. but i'm not afraid of losing. so if i lose, i lose. >> joining me now, e.j. dionne with "the washington post," also an msnbc contributor, and former labor secretary, robert reich, a professor of public policy at the university of california-berkeley. he's the author of "aftershock: the next economy and america's future," now available in paperback. thank you both for joining me tonight. the bob kerry news, i think, has

changed the dynamics for the democratic senate campaign committee, as patty murray told me. e.j., you've been watching bob kerry campaign for a long time. you saw him campaign for president back in 1992. he is polling reasonably well in nebraska. he has a 39% favorable view right now, of bob kerry, a 34% unfavorable view, which is remarkably low in nebraska, for anyone with the word "democrat" associated with their name. and 27% to have open minds and they're ready to hear what he has to say. do you think bob kerry, who's been living in new york for about the last them years or so, can go back to nebraska and take back that senate seat? >> i think he's got a shot. i mean, as he said in that interview, it's a very tough race, and you've got to like a candidate who says, if you lose, you lose. actually, i think those kind of candidates have a better chance of winning, because they're loser. and bob kerry is just, as you know as well as anyone, an incredibly interesting maverick sort of guy.

and i think someone with that profile is the kind of guy who can win in a republican state. so i think he's got a shot, and i think it's really tough. >> let's take a look at an ad he ran in his last senate campaign, in nebraska, which shows you running against bob kerry, you're running against a different kind of democrat. let's look at this ad. >> this is a message to charlton heston from senator bob kerry. >> i'm a hunter, and i believe in the constitutional right to bear arms. when it's time to hunt birds, you need a good gun, like this ruger red label. 25 years ago, during the war in vietnam, people hunted me. they needed a weapon like this ak-47, but you don't need one of these to hunt birds. >> bob kerry, the courage to lead. >> bob reich, you worked with bob kerry while you were labor secretary, he was in the senate. it seems to me if the democrats have any chance in nebraska,

that guy just showed you what kind of machine gun they used, hunting him down in vietnam as the guy who can do it. >> absolutely, lawrence. i mean, bob kerry is not just a maverick, i mean, he marches to his own drummer. he likes to take on causes that are not particularly popular. in that spot just now, took on the the national rifle association in nebraska sclim ! i mean, this is a man who has a lot of courage. and yes, i think that he is probably the best news for democrats in a very long time. >> e.j., he told me today on the phone that if he wins this election, what we are guaranteed is six years, the country will have six years to watch at least one member of the united states senate say and do and vote exactly what he thinks. he would not care at his age about being re-elected to this seat. if there was political risk in the way he voted or the way he spoke. and i've got to say, having

worked with him in the senate, i think there's a very strong possibility that if he gets that seat, america might see something it hasn't seen in a very long time. and like it or not, and i don't think there's anyone who will agree with him on everything, but i do think there's a strong chance he would do six years calling them the way he sees them. >> well, i think he did a lot of that when he was in the senate, when he was actually thinking about running for re-election. i mean, i don't know how many democrats would have the guts to run an ad like that, taking on the nra now. i think there were very few in a state like nebraska who would do that. most democrats in states like that simply cave in to the nra. and you know, that is the kind of guy he is. he also would not shrink from having a fight with senator obama. lord knows, he and bill clinton, certainly, had some disagreements in the early part of the clinton years. and i think some of that may actually help him in this race, because people will remember that he was staunch, but not particularly partisan democrat.

>> let's listen to what olympia snowe said about why she is leaving the senate and the way the senate used to be. in fact, the way it used to be when bob kerry was a member of the senate. >> the united states senate is predicated and based on the essence of consensus building. i always recall my first years in the senate, and it happened to be that bob dole was the senate majority leader. and i can always remember his words, they ring in my ears, when there were differences on key issues, he would put a group together, it would either be republicans or republicans and democrats, whatever the case may be, he would say, go in my office, at 8:30 in the morning, and work it out. he would always say, work it out. and that's the point, we're not working out issues anymore. >> bob reich, you may remember a moment in a 1994 senate debate where the official white house strategy one day as imparted to the white house democrats at lunch was, demonize dole. bob kerry listened to that message, walked out on to the senate floor, and announced that the democratic strategy was to

be demonize dole, and then he spent a good ten minutes praising his fellow war hero, in this case, world war ii for dole, and what a great guy he was. and then continued to fight dole on the legislation. but he would not demonize him personally. that's the senate that we've lost. >> yes. and not only have we lost that senate, where people would treat each other respectfully, lawrence, but we also have lost the assumption that there was compromise and compromise is a good thing. bob kerry, not only is a compromiser, when evenings compromise is appropriate, but when he's told what to do, as in that 1994 anecdote you just provided, he very often does exactly the opposite, because he wants to show that he cannot be pushed around. so i think in bob kerry, we will have somebody, assuming he wins in nebraska, if he does, who is going to be a very reliable democrat when he wants to be. he's going to cross the aisle when he wants to do that. and that's needed.

>> e.j. dionne and robert reich, i think we're all rooting for bob kerry tonight. thank you very much for joining me tonight. >> thank you. >> thanks. bye-bye. coming up, bob kerry will actually get the last word tonight. in fact, he's going to sing the last word. you have to see this. and mitt romney is fighting again with mitt romney. he said something unrehearsed today and his campaign had to tell him how wrong he was. melissa harris-perry joins me on the ball of confusion that is mitt romney. and later, two senators join me. senator patty murray on the fight against the blunt and then the united states senate and a virginia senator who fought against the invasive pre-abortion testing. and in the rewrite tonight, we'll have an exclusive interview with the woman who was refused communion by the priest at her mother's funeral, because she lives with a woman.

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mitt romney has once again contradicted mitt romney. romney sent his handlers into a panic today after this. >> mark rubio is being debated, i believe, later this week, that deals with banning, or allowing employers to ban providing female contraception. have you taken a position on it? he's said that he was for that,

and we'll talk about personhood in a second, but he said he was for that. >> i'm not for the bill, but, look, the idea of presidential candidates getting into questions about contraception within a relationship between a man and a woman, a husband and wife, i'm not going there. >> okay. that settles it. couldn't be clearer. mitt romney is against the mitt romney is against the blunt amendment, that the senate plans to vote on tomorrow. the amendment that would allow employers to refuse to provide contraception or any other health care provision in a health insurance policy if they find it morally objectionable. rick santorum, of course, supports the blunt amendment. jim heath, that ohio reporter you just saw, who conducted that interview, rightfully believed he had a scoop, and tweeted the news of romney's position at 3:53 p.m. today. within the hour, romney's press secretary began the romney reversal. releasing this statement. "regarding the blunt bill, the way the question was asked was wicked confusing. governor romney supports the blunt bill, because he believes

in a conscience exemption in health care for religious institutions and people of faith." romney then retreated to the familiar platform of howie cars' hugely popular boston radio show to recite his new talking points, beginning with the lie that he didn't understand the question. >> i didn't understand his question. of course, i support the blunt amendment. i thought he was talking about some state law that prevented people from getting contraceptions. i thought it was some ohio legislation that -- where employers were prevented from providing contraceptives, so i talked about contraceptives and so forth, so i really misunderstood the question. >> the rick santorum campaign responded with this statement by national communications direction, hogan gidley, "you can take the guy out of massachusetts, but you can't take the massachusetts out of the guy." and the obama campaign responded with this statement by deputy campaign manager, stephanie cutter. "in one hour, mitt romney showed

why women don't trust him for one minute. it took little more than an hour for him to commit his latest flip-flop. even worse, he ended up on the wrong side of an issue of critical importance to women. while mitt romney may be in a race to the bottom with rick santorum to see who can pander most to the far right wing, his embrace of extreme policies like the blunt amendment would have real-life consequences for millions of women." joining me now, melissa harris-perry, host of msnbc's "melissa harris-perry." thanks very much for joining me tonight, melissa. >> oh, absolutely. >> melissa, melissa, melissa. this guy, romney, he understood that question. >> oh, yeah. >> the blunt/rubio -- he knew exactly what that was. he just didn't know what he was supposed to say, so he said when he actually would have said if he wasn't running for office, for pete's sake. >> i think what's so astonishing here, is every time he has a moment of sort of authentic, reasonableness -- and that's

actually a reasonable position. why in 2012 are presidential candidates talking about contraception that is largely occurring in the context of heterosexual marriages. like that mitt romney is one that made me feel like, oh, look, there's a person running for office that actually makes some sense on this question. and yet, you know, sort of where the republican party and where the republican primary has gone, challenged him and pushed him back on that reasonable position within an hour. >> it sounded like we got a little glimmer of this is what it sounds like at the breakfast table with ann when they're talking about events of the day. of course i'm not for that bill. but then when he goes on howie karr, and howie karr is the biggest show on radio in boston and has a big reach into new hampshire, and he's very much at home there. and to hear him laughing about, of course i support the blunt amendment, he says. i mean, his laugh just makes it seem even more false. >> no, it's appalling. and the thing is, i think part of what romney is missing here is he'll actually doing himself more damage with the flip-flop than with actually taking a

position. you can't get to the right flank of rick santorum. you can't. no one can get to the right flank of rick santorum. and part of what people in the primaries are responding to with santorum is this sense that he stands for something, even if they don't always agree with him, they like the fact that he seems to really have stable position and what they consider to be ethical positions. and romney, if he would just take a stand on something, might actually be able to sort of chip away a little bit more of this santorum momentum. >> it's one of those things that shows you why professional republicans worry about this guy. here he is, he had what for him was a good night last night, surviving michigan, winning cleanly in arizona. and then today he gives the white house a gift like this. and professional republicans know that that was a gift to the white house. >> oh, absolutely. and they know that the white house and the obama campaign are not going to make these kinds of mistakes. i mean, it's really like someone who finally sort of gets ahead in the race, and then actively

gnaws on his own foot as he makes it across the finish line. it's such a ridiculous, unforced error. because as you point out, obviously, he knows what that amendment is. it is not some sort of new news story item. it's been around for a while. we know that the vote is coming up. it is part of what's now two weeks' old worth of very real discussion on this question. and i think, again, what i would say, though, is i think that that initial response is probably the authentic romney response. why are we even talking about this? let's go on and talk about something else. which i actually think strikes me as a more reasonable position come general election time. >> melissa harris-perry, thanks for joining us tonight. i'll be watching you saturday morning. >> thanks, lawrence. coming up, two senators, a woman who passionately argued on the virginia senate floor against mandating ultrasound testing before abortions and senator patty murray who will update us on the senate vote tomorrow to allow employers to drop any health insurance provision that they find morally objectionable.

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a misguided catholic priest, literally misguided, because his arch diocese had to reguide him after he did this. a catholic priest refused to let

a woman take communion at her mother's funeral, then the priest walked out of the surface as she gave the eulogy. she told the woman that living her life with another woman is a sin. that woman is my special guest tonight in the rewrite. and two women senators join me next. patty murray and tomorrow's fight over the blunt amendment in the senate. and a virginia senator who was on the losing side of a vote this week on a bill requiring ultrasurround testing before abortions. and we will close the show with former senator bob kerry as you have never seen. in fact, as you have never seen any senator. you don't want to miss this. stay with us. this is an rc robotic claw.

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across the potomac yesterday in virginia, the state senate passed a new version of a bill requiring women to have ultrasound testing before getting an abortion, before it can be presented to the governor for his signature, that bill has to be reconciled with the version passed by the virginia house, which requires transvaginal ultrasound testing. louise lucas fought the bill on the virginia senate floor yesterday. >> some of the women who have talked to me, especially the younger women, have said the arrogance of this body to try to tell them what to do with their bodies is an abomination. >> joining me now for an exclusive interview is virginia state senator, louise lucas. thanks for joining us tonight, senator. >> oh, thank you. it's my pleasure to be here this afternoon. >> senator, what is the status of the bill, that you passed a version, as i understand it, that's slightly deferent from the house version in virginia. do those have to be reconciled before the governor can sign it? >> that is correct.

the bill has now gone over to the house. as you know, i was on the losing side of the issue on yesterday, which is the reason why i stood on the floor to voice my opposition. but, yes, the bill will be voted on in the house of delegates. it's gone there now. >> is it your sense that some version of this is going to make it through both bodies and make it to the governor for signature? >> oh, absolutely. there's no question about it. and in fact, last evening i had a conversation with the governor, and he reinforced his views and his values that a woman, that a woman should have a consent, should have all these informed consents in place. but, you know, those of us on my side of the aisle, we know better. we know all of this is just chipping away at the rights that we have fought for and won, many years ago, and it's all headed towards trying to repeal roe v. wade. and so we're not fooled by this. but, you know, even though i was on the losing side of this issue, i've got to tell you that there was a silver lining in this defeat, because it has galvanized women all across the

commonwealth of virginia, and all across the united states. we're getting calls in from everywhere, where women are united and they are going to push back. >> it has also galvanized doctor's associations, the american medical association is against this, the american college of obstetricians and gynecologists, the american women's medical association. i want people to hear your colleague, the only physician in the senate working with you there. he called the bill unethical. i want to let the audience hear what he had to say yesterday. >> it's telling me, it's telling my colleagues how to practice medicine. we do not need as a group of physicians, non-physician legislators dictating to us how to practice medicine. >> senator lucas, what is the republican answer to that? these republicans are, in effect, with trying to practice medicine without a license in their elected position.

>> lawrence, they sat there as if nothing was being said. it was falling on deaf ears. they are just so bent on trying to just chip away at the rights of women, that they just didn't seem to care. and you know, and many of us have talked to them privately. we've tried to do everything we know to do to try to convince them that this is the wrong thing, not the right thing to do, and that they will ultimately pay for it. we're getting the calls in, and they're pretending that they're not coming into them, but i know better. >> and what would you recommend to legislators in other states, where these bills are now being proposed? is there some line of argument that you think is the most effective? i mean, you guys came close. you only lost this by two votes in the senate. >> that's correct. what i would say to other legislators, all across the united states, all they've got to do is look at virginia and see what's happening. because i can tell you, any hope for governor mcdonald to be the vp on a ticket with mitt romney is quickly vanishing.

>> virginia senator louise lucas, thank you for your passion on the senate floor yesterday and thank you for joining us this evening. >> joining me now for an exclusive prime-time interview is washington democrat, senator patty murray. she's the chair of the democratic senatorial campaign committee. thank you very much for joining me, senator. >> well, great to talk with you. >> senator, what is the vote count looking like now on the blunt amendment? we have two democrats who say they will vote for it. and senator snowe, olympia snowe said she will vote against it. looks like lisa murkowski, probably vote against it. what do we know? >> well, i am increasingly confident that we will be able to get the votes to defeat the blunt amendment. and i think that the women and men across this country, as they realize the extreme nature of this measure, that goes right after a woman's ability to make her own health care decisions, will be defeated. but it will be close. >> and some people have been taken to calling it the

blunt/brown amendment, associating massachusetts senator scott brown with this bill. he's being opposed by elizabeth warren in that state, and he has -- he is supporting the blunt amendment. it seems to me that that's exactly the kind of state where the democrat's candidate will have a tremendous advantage because of this. >> well, i certainly think that elizabeth warren and many of our democrats who are running across the country realize that this is kind of intrusion into a woman's decision making, allowing an employer, whether it's your barber or the people who own a restaurant or a multi-national corporation can make the decisions about your ability on whether or not contraceptives are covered is really the wrong direction for this country. and we're standing up and we're speaking out and we're fighting back. and i certainly know, having worked with senator kennedy for many years here in the senate, that is something that he fought hard for, to make sure that

access for health care was available for all americans, and women included. >> let's listen to what new york senator kirsten gillibrand said about this today. >> when will my colleagues understand this very non-debatable fact? that the decision of whether a woman takes one medicine or another, or what type of health care she should have access to, should not be the decision of her boss. a common sense, simple principle that bosses and employers should not make these very personal decisions. what could be more intrusive than that? >> senator, that seems like a winning political position, and so i have to ask you, i know you think about the tactics of the other side, and everyone else, you see them do something, and you think, hey, that's pretty smart. that's going to score them some points. can you see anything in the republican strategy here that actually makes sense for them in their attempt to win back control of the united states senate?

>> well, i have been mystified by this for some amount of time. you may remember that a year ago, we were sitting here in the nation's capital ol, way, way late at night, with all of the budget numbers just about decided in our budget agreement, in order to keep the government open, and the one issue that the republicans said up and said is we need to defund planned parenthood, or we'll allow government to shut down. as the only woman in the room at the negotiations at that time, i thought, what are they doing? this seems to me a concerted agenda on behalf of an extreme group of people on the republican side, that has forgotten that america is far ahead of them. i don't think it's a winning strategy to go through a woman's health care clinic in order to get a majority here in the senate or to keep a majority in the house. and i'm quite frankly very surprised that they've gone after the very issue that women hold dear, the ability to make their own decisions about their own lives. >> senator patty murray, thank you very much for joining me tonight.

coming up, the woman who was refused communion at her mother's funeral by a priest who believes she is living in sin because she lives with woman. she is my next guest. and later, former senator bob kerry, who announced today he will run for senate again, sang a song 24 years ago unlike anything you ever heard a politician sing. you don't want to miss this. it tells you more about bob kerry than any speech ever could. ossible.com... from centrum. its unique assessment tool... helps you find the multivitamin and supplements... that are right for you. so visit nutritionpossible.com. better nutrition... is within reach. centrum. nutrition possible. so i used my citi thank you card to pick up some accessories. a new belt. some nylons. and what girl wouldn't need new shoes? we talked about getting a diamond. but with all the thank you points i've been earning...

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because you live with a woman and in the eyes of the church, that is a sin. the archdiocese of washington is busy rewriting that priest's decision. in a statement to the press, the archdiocese says, "when questions arise about whether or not an individual should present themselves for communion, it is not the policy of the archdiocese of washington to publicly reprimand the person. any issues regarding the suitability of an individual to receive communion should be addressed by the priest with that person in a private, pastoral setting." bishop barry nestout of the archdiocese sent barbara johnson a letter of apology. it reads in part, "kindness to those experiencing personal loss is a necessary part of the church's call to charity. the fact that you did not experience this is a cause of great concern and personal regret to me. i am sorry that what should have been a celebration of your mother's life was overshadowed by a lack of pastoral sensitivity."

joining me now in a last word exclusive, barbara johnson. barbara, thank you very much for joining me. >> hello. >> first of all, i am very sorry for the loss of your mother. >> thank you very much. >> i'm shocked by this. i've been to so many catholic funerals in my life. i was an alter boy, i think i served at 300 of them. and we know that there's no test for going to communion in the church, there's no questions asked. you present yourself for communion. what did it feel like to have that experience? >> it was shocking. i'm a lifelong catholic and this has never happened to me before. and i was -- i just stood there for perhaps two or three minutes, it seemed. it seemed like an eternity, waiting for the priest to change his mind, wondering if i had misheard him, in fact. and then i just walked away. and i just felt so sad that we had planned such a beautiful mass for my mother, our last act as a family for her, and to have

this happen in front of all of her friends and family, was devastating. >> and that wasn't the only thing he did. you then got up to deliver the eulogy at your mother's funeral, and a and what did the priest do? >> the priest walked off the alter. >> i am so glad to have already read that letter of apology from the archdiocese. that's the church that we know, the church that would send that letter. and i know before this event that that is not the policy. the policy is you don't confront people publicly in this kind of way. and certainly not with these kinds of issues, under any circumstances. but then, as is catholic tradition, you go to the cemetery, and the priest's duty at the funeral is to go to the cemetary, do some final prayers over the casket, at the cemetery. what happened in that situation? >> after we left the church, i was approached by the funeral

director, who informed me that the priest had spoken with him and said that he'd fallen ill, that he had a migraine, and that he wouldn't be able to accompany my mother's body to the cemetery. i asked him what would we do, and he said, i'll make some calls and see if i can find a substitute. we left in the procession and rode for a half an hour, not knowing what we would find at the cemetery. fortunately, the funeral director was able to find a retired priest, at the church, and father sweeney did a beautiful job at the cemetery. >> what was his name? i want his name. >> his name with was father pete sweeney sweeney. >> oh, great. and what was the name of the funeral director, because he saved the day? >> i don't know his last name, i forget, but his first name is tracy. he did a great job. >> the audience may not realize it, but it is inconceivable to be at the cemetery without a priest in the final moments of a catholic funeral and burial service.

>> my parents raised four catholic children, and, you know, funerals are in part for the deceased, and in part for the living. and it was unthinkable for us, as our duty as her children, to let this go on without that final service. >> you know, i got a tweet, i believe, on sunday from your cousin about this. as i was reading, i was sending it to the staff here. by the time people started moving around this story here, this had already become something very big. did you expect this kind of reaction? you couldn't have possibly have dreamed of this? >> i didn't. you know, i like to write on facebook, my facebook page, about one thing or another that's happening, just like everyone else. and so i told the story on my facebook page, and my cousins picked it up and wrote about it and it just took off from there. >> barbara johnson, i don't know. i've known you for five minutes

and i can sit here feeling how proud your mother is of you tonight. >> thank you very much. that means a great deal. >> barbara johnson, thank you very much for your time tonight. up next, as president obama honors iraq war veterans at the white house tonight, former senator bob kerry remembers his experience in war and he does that with a song. bob kerry sings, next. when i grow up, i want to fix up old houses. ♪ [ woman ] when i grow up, i want to take him on his first flight. i want to run a marathon. i'm going to own my own restaurant. when i grow up, i'm going to start a band. [ female announcer ] at aarp we believe you're never done growing. thanks, mom. i just want to get my car back. [ female announcer ] discover what's next in your life. get this free travel bag when you join at aarp.org/jointoday. without the stuff that we make here, you wouldn't be able to walk in your house and flip on your lights. [ brad ] at ge we build turbines that power the world.

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for you, coming home was the start of another battle. the battle to recover, to stand, to walk, to serve again. and in your resilience, we see the essence of america, because we do not give up.

no matter the hardship, we push on. >> president obama and the first lady held a formal dinner at the white house tonight for a group of iraq war veterans to mark the end of the war. the iraq war claimed the lives of nearly 4,500 american soldiers, and left more than 30,000 wounded. put your finger at the bottom of your right knee. you get that? look at everything below your finger. the shin, the ankle, the foot, the toes. bob kerry has none of that. he has air below his right knee. nothing in the way he moves gives that way, not the way he walks, not the way he dances, not the way he runs, not even the way he skis. he had to learn to walk twice in his life. his parents taught him how to do it the first time, on two legs. his government taught him to do it the second time, on one. after being carried off his last

battle field in vietnam where he lost his leg, it took a year of physical therapy in a veterans hospital in philadelphia to get bob kerry walking again. bob kerry came away from the experience not hating government for getting his body blown apart, but grateful to government for putting him back together. for his service in vietnam, he was awarded the medal of honor, the highest military decoration awarded by the united states government. and long before we had a singing president, on election night, way back in 1988, when bob kerry won a seat in the united states senate, at the end of his victory speech, he was moved to song. an old war song. not a song of triumph, but a song of pain and perseverance.

and not a song sung at the white house tonight, a song that knows the folly of war. >> there is a song from some 70 years ago about a young australian boy, and it goes like this. okay. well, we'll do it anyway. it does go like this. when i was a young man, i carried me pack and lived the free life of the rover from the green basin to the dusty outback i lost my matilda all over then in 1915, my country said, son, it's time to start rambling, there's work to be done and they gave me a tin hat and day gave

me a gun and they sent me away to the war and the band played waltzing matilda, as our ship pulled away from the key amidst all the cheers, the flag waved, we sailed off to galipoly how well i remember that terrible day, the bloodstains, the sand and the water and how in the hell they called the bay, we were butchered like lambs to the slaughter and when i awoke in my hospital bed, i saw what it had done and i wished i were dead never knew there were worse things than dying and the band played waltzing matilda around the green bush far and near to hunt pigs, a man needs both legs to more waltzing matilda for me they collected the wounded, the

legless, the maimed, the poor wounded heroes of suvla the legless, the armless, the blind, the insane and shipped us all back to australia and as our ship pulled in, i looked at down where my legs used to be and thank christ there was nobody waiting for me to mourn and to grieve and to pity and the band played waltzing matilda, as they carried us down the gangway and nobody cheered, they just stood and stared, and turned all their faces away and now every april, i sit on my porch, and watch the parade pass before me i watch my old comrades, how proudly they march, renewing old dreams and lost glory the old man marched proudly, all stiff and sore the tired old man from a forgotten

war and the young people ask, what are they marching for and i ask myself the same question and the band played waltzing matilda and the old man answered the call year by year, their numbers get fewer, some day will no one will march here at all waltzing ma dillta, waltzing matilda, who'll go waltzing matilda with me and their ghosts can be heard as they pass by the billy bong who'll go a-waltzing matilda with me we'll waltz tonight and work tomorrow. thank you very much. >> waltz tonight and work tomorrow, that's the bob kerry i know. bob kerry gets the last word. nebraska and america will be lucky if we get him back in the senate.