ratigan. "hardball" starts right now. forget about it. let's play "hardball." good evening, i'm chris matthews out in washington. leading off tonight, toy story. here's why the etch-a-sketch label is likely to stick to mitt romney. it confirms what most people on the left and on the right think about him. here's the conservative redstate.com on the comments. "they sum up romney's history in one image. whenever he needs to win a particular political office, he resets the slate and pollinates it with whatever position he ascertains to be politically expedient" from a website that is going to support romney in the fall. here is another question. "why does it seem every time romney wins a big primary he steps on his own win with an embarrassing revelation of who

he is." he might be able to survive the sis in mark but not in october. plus the case of trayvon martin raised awareness of the so-called stand your ground laws, signed by florida governor jeb bush himself, since it went into effect the rate of justifiable homicides has tripled and it may be the defense employed by george zimmerman and how do you get on the wrong side of both environmentalists and the drill, drill, drill crowd? you say no to the keystone pipeline, and then you go to oklahoma to support quicker construction of just part of the pipeline. well that's what president obama did today and it's got a lot of people scratching their heads. finally, let me finish tonight with the romney ad, the romney aide rather who tells us romney's word is not his bond. we begin with mitt romney's etch-a-sketch problem. howard feinman, and mike a

newcomer from "the boston globe" which of course is the hub of the universe up there. here it is again by the way, top romney aide eric fernstrom's line yesterday. >> good morning, sir it's fair to say john mccain was a more modern candidate than the ones that governor romney faces now. is there a concern that the pressure from santorum and gingrich might force the governor to tack so far to the right it would hurt him with moderate voters in the general election? >> i think he hit a reset campaign for the fall. almost like an etch-a-sketch you can shake it up and we start all over again. >> in other words like one of these things. an etch-a-sketch gaffe made just as much news in the papers as the jeb endorsement yesterday. here in the "washington post," "romney endorsed by jeb bush mocked over an aide's remark."

"the new york times," "romney's day to relish is marred by aide's gaffe" and "the boston globe" "words boost, bedevil romney." what do you make of this? you're an objective, straight reporter, no a columnist, right? >> right. >> so what's this guy's chicken problem? we get into the first thing, it seems like he's got an aide who is a truth teller, maybe on sodium penethol but the one thing everyone says about romney, he is an etch-a-sketch, what gets him elected governor for massachusetts, pro-gay rights, pro-choice, pro-health insurance, pro-whatever. two or three years into the job he decides he's going for president, he etch-a-sketches everything he's been saying to get that job and says now i'm a right winger. >> it highlighted the criticism of romney and brought to light an evocative image of all the problems romney has. even yesterday santorum's aides

were handing out etch-a-sketches. you imagine this being a big deal going forward. >> after touting the rope line he wouldn't answer questions. romney came out for a rare media viblt wi availability with just one question he would answer, trying unsuccessfully i would say. >> organizationally, a general election campaign takes on a different profoilthe i file. the issues i'm running on are the same, i'm running as a conservative republican. i was a conservative republican governor and running as a conservative republican nomination. >> there's a guy with a rare flop switch situation, trying to change the topic to organizational issues and pie charts and organizational charts and that's not it. the great thing about tv, tape, we now know what the question was, the substance of the positions he's been aching to appeal to the right and how he expects to squirm out of them.

we have it on record from his top guy. >> well there's been a lot of conversation on the blogs today about maybe eric fernstrom being taken out of context. baloney. he wasn't taken out of context. if you watch that as you just showed he was asked about ideological positioning. >> right. >> and fernstrom's answer was obviously about ideological positioning which is why mitt romney was as uncomfortable as he was today. >> to give us as you put it, matt, a wonderful image. this toy, which now everybody's going to toys "r" us, wherever you buy these things, etch-a-sketch you can make a design on and erase. and 2004, john kerry's people showed up with flip-flops, you imagine people showing up with etch-a-sketches at romney events, now in the primaries we're seeing that or the general election. 18 e-mails from democrats yesterday enjoying this, too. >> what made this powerful is a couple of things. as matt said, the vividness of the image, the utter appropriateness of the image,

and the other part of it is it's not just democrats who are taking this up. it's republicans. it's the fact that even though mitt romney declared the race to be over on the republican side, it isn't quite over, and the people who are still out there fighting him are grasping at this. >> maybe we should look at those right now. the video now, here is santorum, and newt, on the issue of the etch-a-sketch matchup. it's rick santorum in san antonio, he did this. watch these guys in action on this. >> you win by giving people the opportunity to see a different vision for our country, not someone who is just going to be a little different than the person in there. if they're going to be a little different we might as well stay with what we have instead of taking a risk that what may be the etch-a-sketch candidate for the future. >> you have the ricive comment

there. ann romney, they're bringing her in. here is how she responds on cnn last night, also tried to defend the remark of her husband, let's watch her attempt. >> this is exactly what happens in a campaign where you get these distractions and he was talking about how we're going to change focus and change, you know, what we're going to do, the organizational sense of changing, not mitt changing positions. >> howard, that's not what he said. that wasn't the answer he said. she's just flipping it. >> at first -- >> by the way those are her talking points. >> talking points. the one mitigating thing here is that it wasn't mitt romney who said this originally. unlike john kerry who said famously in 2004 "well i actually was against that before i was for it" or maybe the other way around, i don't even recall. so it wasn't mitt romney himself, but it's so apt, it's so utterly apt that it's going to stick to him from now on.

there's just no way around it, and ann romney can cite any talking point she wants. >> massachusetts is really good at politics. i worked for tip o'neill and went to holy cross. i know the place, i know barnacle and all of the guys live it, it's their blood. what do people in massachusetts say about mitt romney? is he a moderate republican of the kind he was as governor and pretending to be a right winger to catch up with santorum and newt and those guys or a deep down right winger who pretended to be a moderate to get elected massachusetts governor? >> people felt like he was more moderate. that's how he won in 2002. >> so they believed the guy who was governor. >> yes, and then shortly after that, he started his presidential sort of aspirations, in 2004, started making trips out of state a lot more. >> so they believe the etch-a-sketch that's important he's going to erase all this right wing stuff he's done the last year or so to win the nomination and go back and

reset, to use his aide's guy, fernstrom, reset back to moderation. >> what's the name of place in jamaica plain, doyle's? >> yes, doyle's we hang out at, yes. >> i went to doyle's back in the day when mitt romney was on the rise, and the sense there that you got was he's to the right of bill weld, okay, but not that much. >> right. >> bill weld was a really moderate. >> somewhere around scott brown. >> yeah, okay, and that was thes sense, and that was how republicans -- >> a little to the left of scott brown. >> that was how republicans were going to rise in massachusetts by being moderate republicans in a democratic -- >> like ed brooks. >> -- in a democratic state. they weren't talking about mitt romney as a red state, white republican. they weren't going to build the republican party in massachusetts that way and they didn't. >> this guy has a lot of houses, he's got one in santa barbara now, one ancestral home in

michigan, some were back in mexico you could face the family. >> like winnipesaukee. his problem is which house is he going to come from if he gets elected to the presidency if he wins? >> who knows? it's simi valley in california. >> reagan country. let's look at one of our colleagues. "it makes it much harder, perhaps impossible for romney to tack back to the center to appeal to centrist voters, necessary for the fall complain after the extremism of the republican primary. every time romney makes a move other a head fake it becomes an etch-a-sketch moment." >> he is screwed either way according to joe because joe says properly that romney does have to tack back to the middle, but then joe will clobber him with an etch-a-sketch. >> we're all watching. this guy is giving us the template, giving us the toy to

use. this guy is going to have people waving these in his face, the debate moderator, whoever it is and the reporters who do the debates have to bring this up. >> the only good thing for romney it's still only march. >> there's a consolation. >> i asked david axelrod via e-mail today, what toy are you? what toy is barack obama? and strangely enough i didn't get an answer. i haven't heard back. >> well let's go to the ridiculist. we have an alligator chomp on an etch-a-sketch. no one is a more greater opportunist than the newtster. >> they can bite it. oh, my god. >> there's louisiana treatment of the etch-a-stech, all right? >> finally a clown-like moment for newt to play. >> an intentional clown-like

moment. >> where is donald trump? he has to come back and herman has to come back, herman cain ought to come back. an etch-a-sketch opportunity, we told you so. >> today i went to the tidal basin to look at the cherry blossoms. >> good for you. >> i couldn't resist being a reporter down there and assumed nobody would care about the etch-a-sketch story but the americans i talked to as opposed to the japanese tourists, i said you know about the etch-a-sketch thing? they said of course, it's all about mitt romney, penetrated the public consciousness because of the symbolism of it, which people know about. >> thanks, matt, for coming. great reporting. howard as always it gives me enough now that you mentioned the beautiful cherry blossoms my wife and i drove past there last night, spectacular this year, they didn't get rained on. visit washington. the monuments are here. the libraries are here. the smithsonian is here, everything is here and all free. i only say come to washington,

you already paid for it. coming up, what is it about mitt romney that he and his campaign keep committing unforced errors? they won in illinois, now they're losing it, the "hardball" stratiests will be here. we'll see what steve and todd have to stay about this. you're watching "hardball" only on msnbc. a [ tom ] we invented the turbine business right here in schenectady. 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. they go into power plants which take some form of energy, harness it, and turn it into more efficient electricity. [ ron ] when i was a kid i wanted to work with my hands, that was my thing. i really enjoy building turbines. it's nice to know that what you're building is gonna do something for the world. when people think of ge,

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slinkies, too. welcome back. the etch-a-sketch label, will it stick to romney? this is the first time romney's team mass made not the first time an embarrassing mistake trying to build momentum after a big win. "the new york times" for a campaign run by highly disciplined operatives steeped in the art of opposition research, mr. romney's team has made a remarkable number of constitutional of stumbles during the primary season. over and over and over again mr. romney has found a way to rob himself of a good cycle usually by saying something that feeds the least flattering narratives about him. also the jeb bush enforcement yesterday seemed a little unenthusiastic and why are some other big-named republicans still reluctant to get behind romney? two good questions we'll talk about both those things with the "hardball" strategists, these two smart guys, steve mcma on, a

democrat, todd harris, a republican. however he is not a hawk, i should clarify. he is a reasonable person when it comes to foreign policy. as i said mitt romney has a history of putting his foot in his mouth at the worst moments. on the reeve of his big win in new hampshire romney gave his opponents a huge opportunity when he said something that played directly into his image as i turnaround artist who built a career firing people. let's watch. >> i want individuals to have their own insurance. that means the insurance company will have an incentive to keep you healthy. it also means if you don't like what they do, you can fire them. i like being able to provide people that provide services to me. >> i like the way it comes -- directly looks at the camera, i like firing people. the morning after his win in florida he refocused the attention of pundits. let's watch. >> i'm in this race because i care about americans. i'm not concerned about the very poor. we have a safety net there, if it needs repair, i'll fix it.

>> screw the very poor and the run up to the south carolina primary mitt romney made this memorable remark about the portion of his wealth, speakers's fees which amounted to $374,000 a year, and here's what he said about that rather large figure. let's watch. >> i got a little bit of income from my book but i gave that all away, and then i get speaker's fees from time to time but not very much. >> not very much. about $400,000 a year. anywhere, just days before the michigan primary, mitt romney hoped to make headlines with a big economic speech. instead all anyone could talk about was this remark which again drew attention to his mass of wealth. let's watch. >> 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 a chevy pickup truck. ann drives a couple of cadillacs

actually. >> couple cadillacs and here we have anyway, what do you think of this? i would argue these aren't gifts, todd. in fact i'm going to really stick it to you now. i know these are not gifts. i think these are confessions. i think everything he said there is what he really thinks and only after somebody said why'd you say that, governor, did he realize there was something wrong with it. all this stuff is him. couple of cadillacs, the trees are the right head, thinking $340,000 is pocket change. that's who he is. you can deny that? >> i think there are two issues. the first is, have they stepped on their own story repeatedly, and i think it's indisputable that that's happened. the larger issue, and it's not fun to talk about, doesn't make for great television but the larger issue is whether it matters, and i would argue that despite all of this, it hasn't really mattered. it hasn't slowed his very methodical process towards getting the nomination. >> so the methodical speeches he has prepared for him by his staff is what we should listen

to, not what he says -- >> no, what i'm saying, has any of this disqualified him, is president obama running away in a head-to-head? >> todd, the ads haven't started. you're an ad maker, you know what's going to happen to every one of these things. >> the ads against the president haven't started either. if he's as terrible as everyone is saying he is -- >> do you think he might use this toy? >> you might see this a few times. todd i think you said earlier you never thought about using this in an ad before but now you have a great one. >> i'd write obama care on here. shake it. see, it's gone. >> that's how you get past it? >> i think you lean forward into it, sure, why not. >> lean forward? can't, that's been taken. >> you can't lean forward into this many gaffes and what you're going to see is a systematic dismantling of this guy using his own words. chris, what he said in an unguarded moment is what mitt romney really thinks and believes and it's so out of touch with people's lives and their values and -- >> when he says i don't make

much in speech making and that year he made $374,000, do you think he meant it didn't mean that much to him? >> i think it's entirely possible he has no idea how much he makes in speaking fees. obviously it's a ton of money. >> probably the only money he paid a full income tax rate on. >> he didn't know. >> what's that mean "i don't care about the really poor" what's that mean in your translation? i have to go to the u.n. for translation. >> i actually had a problem with that comment for a totally different reason, but from a conservative standpoint, i think the best argument for conservatism is not, well, the very poor, that they have a safety net, that will take care of them. i think the best argument for conservatism is conservative fiscal policies, this will lift all boats, whether you are the very poor, middle class. >> he says i don't care about the poor. >> i get it, that's, that was -- >> you guys are experts at this,

not telling the truth but how to get out of trouble. remember when reagan got in trouble way back when, you were pretty young, when his top guy, omb, budget director says these numbers don't make any sense. what we're out here to do is get the tax rates lower for the rich. huge revelation. what did jim baker and the smart guys like deaver and gergen did, put him to betrayial. it was a good one-day story. would you fire fernstrom and make that the issue? fire the aide that said it, change the story from revelation and trouble to truth to this sort of the guy misbehaved? >> no. first of all eric is a friend of mine, very smart. >> certainly, assume he's not your friend. >> fire him and make the problem worse, draw more attention to it. >> what would you do? >> i'd lean into it. >> lean forward. >> what would you do?

how do you lean forward about these admissions the guy's a rich guy out of touch with reality who is willing to say anything to get past the yahoos on the rights so he can get to the general election? >> two separate questions, how do you get beyond the etch-a-sketch? >> etch-a-sketch? >> obama care, it's gone if i'm elected president. >> can you imagine a top guy admits his worst failing which is the guy is not to be believed. his word is not his bond. >> yeah. >> what an amazing statement. >> it is and you got to do one of two things, fire him immediately which he didn't do or put distance between yourself and him clearly which he also didn't do. the question about whether or not he should be fired at this point you extend the story if you fire him now because it's going to go on and on and on. this metaphor will live on and on, not just today but thousands of days past. >> cold side, give you a break. jeb bush everybody sort of likes, everybody sort of likes him, sort of likes him. >> a lotta like him.

>> you had your chance. rubio, he loves marco rubio. is marco rubio getting the push from jeb bush important for vp? he says he wants him for vp. your thought? >> i think it's important to the press. >> do you think it's important that jeb bush, the most popular guy in florida has endorsed the other most popular guy in florida for vp? >> not when the other most popular guy said he's not going to be the vp. >> here answer the push jeb bush is doing, not to push him up but out of the way, to get him on the albatross ticket so he's gone. >> so next time in '26 jeb can take on hillary clinton in the battle of the century. >> right. >> jeb bush, hillary clinton, can we live long enough for that? i want that roller coaster right. that would be a great one. it's tougher for hillary if she runs, she has to continue after eight years so she wouldn't be the favorite in that race but it's tough to continue after eight years of a president.

>> don't count joe biden out. >> i think president romney will be running for re-election in 2016. >> don't count joe biden out. >> he'll etch-a-sketch himself again. thank you, todd harris, the man who doesn't believe in unnecessary wars. up next, the candidates' side show, you're watching "hardball" only on msnbc. if you are one of the millions of men who have used androgel 1%, there's big news. presenting androgel 1.62%. both are used to treat men with low testosterone.

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thought how am i going to get this dried fast enough so i got the iron on it, took me about 20 minutes to iron it dry and the collar is finally dry. >> fascinating. and while romney tries to avoid the late nights and iron his shirt dry, newt gingrich has done the opposite. according to the same piece, late nights mean one thing for newt, "that's when he's prone to loosen up and get a little punchy. producing what reporters call late-night newt performances. on one recent evening, gingrich tested out possible bumper sticker and t-shirt slogans such as with newt, drill here, pay less, and barack obama, pay more, pay weird." i got one for him, say good night, newt. next up, a throwback to the reagan days, vice president joe biden spoke at an event last night to honor former senators bob dole and howard baker. during his speech, biden recalled a day back in 1987 when president ray ga askeagan asked

opinion who he should nominate to the supreme court. >> the president, god love him, called me down. i sat there in the chair i now sit in as vice president. president reagan, one of the most charming guys, pulled out these cards and he said, "joe, you tell me what you think the prospects of these people are." he said "tony kennedy." i said mr. president, i know he's a straight conservative but i think he passed. he said "you're for him then aren't you?" you remember that? i said no i didn't say that. we stood up, grabbed me under the arm, walked around the couches to the side door that's in the dining room there, opened the door, who was standing there but tony kennedy. he said "tony, joe's for you!" >> what a story. kennedy did make it past the senate vote, by the way and the vote of 97-0. biden had to be out sick that day but senate democrats generally supported the nomination including apparently biden.

up next the trayvon martin case and the debate over those so-called stand your ground laws, very tricky stuff here. you're watching "hardball" -- and tragic. you're watching "hardball," only on msnbc.

>> i'm julia boorstin with your cnbc market wrap. stocks slid on the china's manufacturing sector and broader eurozone economy. the nasdaq fell by 12 points. weekly jobless claims dropped 5,000 to 348,000, more than a four-year low. fedex shares saying 3% its latest profit report was better than expected but its guidance disappointed. mortgage rates topped 4% for the first time since last fall. that's it from cnbc first in

business worldwide. now back to "hardball." welcome back to "hardball." the police chief in sanford, florida, has been forced now to step down temporarily because of his handling of the shooting death of trayvon martin. the tragic case focused atension on stand your ground laws, these laws in effect in over 20 states according to various sources, allow people to use deadly force if they believe their lives are threatened. florida was the first state to pass such a law in 2005 and it was fully supported by then governor jeb bush. >> it's common sense to allow people to defend themselves, and to have to when you're in a position where you're being threatened, there's a life-threatening situation, to have to retreat and put yourself in a very precarious position,

you know, defies common sense. >> well we called governor bush's office, he's of course out of office now for comment but we've not been able to receive a response for tonight's program. at issue is whether these stand your ground laws prevent violence or cause it. joining me are chris smith a florida state senator who opposes the law and alan gottlieb who supports them with the second amendment foundation. senator, would you tell us why we need your stand your grounds laws? >> chris, we went through a period in the country where lots of people are being prosecuted because they stood their ground and tried to defend themselves, family and property from criminal attack and were prosecuted for it or in many cases had to wait a year or two years to find out if they were going to be prosecuted. this allowed a legitimate means of self-defense and the areas we've seen it around the country, where we've seen violent crime drop and justifiable homicides increase, meaning the bad guy was not the victim and not the good guy. >> help us here. how does it, most people think

of self-defense as somebody's trying to kill me, do bodily harm to me and i have the chance to prevent them from doing it with a gun. i'm allowed to use it if it's really a chance of no way out. but apparently under the law you've got written in the law up there, you don't have to try to get out of the situation. you don't have to talk your way out of it or run your way out it. you're aloud to pulowed to pulld shoot. is that the difference between normal self-defense and stand your ground? >> there's the stand your ground concept and states had laws that you had to retreat, try to find a window to climb out of, back door to run out and couldn't stand your ground and protect yourself or your property and we felt that was definitely wrong. in this case i don't think we should be indicting the law. i think maybe we should be indicting the shooter. >> why do you think this case doesn't apply for -- we're not going to try the case here but most people think stand your ground is being used here, will be used to defend mr. zimmerman in shooting trayvon martin.

>> well he may very well use that to defend himself but the truth is in this case he was the pursuer. he didn't stand his ground. he called 911. 911 told him to break off and not pursue. he pursued. when you're pursuing you're not standing your ground. i'm not sure that defense is going to work for him at all. >> let me go to mr. smith. give's your sense of the debate from the other side. i understand you don't like these kinds of laws. why do you think they're dangerous to have on the books. >> because they have a big hole in them. i was in the house in 2005 and argued this point when i voted against this bill, he can use it because it doesn't say that you can't be the pursuer. this law has been used by criminals who take themselves to the fight, and once they get there, use this non-rebuttable presumption to get away from the courts. under what we talked about before, if you have a self-defense claim, at least that went to a jury and a jury can look at a totality of a

situation. under this it's a nonrebuttable presumption that you had the ability to stand your ground. you don't even get to a jury. you don't look at the facts and that's why mr. zimmerman is still walking free, eager to kill again. >> senator? >> yes. >> standard of reason, i'm pretty much a gun control guy. people walk around with rights to carry concealed weapons and they have this stand your ground law. it seems to me that's a pretty potent concoction. if you're carrying a gun that's concealed and you have the right to take on anybody you believe threatens your life, it seems to me you're going for that gun. the guy can walk up to you, give you some lip, yell at you, be threatening to you, your thought you can just gun him down. is that true in the law? >> that's exactly the problem. this happened out of orlando, the tourist capital of america. if a tourist is at a gas station, i as a floridian say you cut me off at the light. when that tourist stepped to me

to explain themselves, i can avail myself of this law, pull out my gun and shoot that tourist dead in the state of florida. >> alan gottlieb you're shaking your head. >> that's totally untrue. >> what is true? >> first of all you have to be threatened. you can't just go up to somebody pumping gas and say i don't like you, i'm going to shoot you. you can't use this to defend yourself. that's a criminal act with criminal intent. >> define when you're allowed to use a gun. >> it's been used in florida in that way. >> mr. gottlieb tell me when you think you have a right to use your gun under this law. >> if it's been used that way, the person should be prosecuted. under this law it's a self-defense situation where somebody is going to do bodily harm to you. it isn't a situation where you pursue somebody and awe tack somebody. these are people who just don't want anybody to have a firearm for self-defense, period. chris in all honesty this past weekend, ten murders and 40 people shot and wounded in chicago. chicago doesn't have a stand your ground law. gun laws in chicago are so difficult it's next to impossible to protect yourself.

why not do a segment on that? >> i'm trying to get to this explicit case. senator smith, let's separate ourselves in terms of the names involved and try to imagine this kind of a situation. a vigilante guy thinks he's the cisco kid, helping the law apparently he's called in 60 cases like this, goes chasing after some guy, thinks he's going to stop the guy from getting away, keep an eye on him. i don't know what the guy was doing but when they confront each other it becomes a physical confrontation. he had a bloody nose and bloody back of his head. there was prima facie, some physical brawl. at one point does it become a confrontation even though when he's basically defending himself? >> that's the problem with this law. they are so vague and we argued that vagueness when they were passing this bill, and this bill has been passed in a lot of other states. it's too vague. it doesn't say that you can't be the pursuer or that you can't initiate the contact. the law is vague and mr.

gottlieb need to read the florida statute as well as the statute the nra passed in other states. it's too vague. it doesn't say you can't be the pursuer and that is the case. yesterday in miami a judge dismissed a case under this law a gentleman saw someone breaking into his car, pursued the gentleman down the street, stabbed him to death and availed himself of the law after he pursued the burglar down the street and stabbed him to death. it's being used in florida. >> and stabbed him to death, didn't even use a gun. >> we don't know the case and not trying it here. i'll support what the senator said the world is full of people who picked a fikt with other people and found themselves on the defensive. not every guy who picks a fight could end up the aggressor. this case is causing a lot of noise and i'm telling you sir, mr. gottlieb that stand your ground is on trial. >> chris, if i could say this is different from defending your home. this is a perverted version of

the cassell doctrine where you defend your home. >> i'm trying to avoid words like perverted. thank you. i like officials who represent the people. thank you mr. gottlieb and we'll look at the implications of the second amendment again and again. up next president obama was in oklahoma pushing for construction of -- this is tricky stuff again, not as tragic of course -- part of the keystone pipeline. can you be half right with gas prices on the rise, the president's stuck between the environmentalists on the left and the drill, baby, drill, crowd on the right. can he come down in the middle of a pipeline? this is treacherous stuff for him. this is "hardball," only on msnbc. let's go. from the crack, off the backboard. [ laughs ] dad! [ laughs ] whoo! oh! you're up! oh! oh! so close! now where were we?

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president obama's pipeline politics, can he come down between the environmentalists on the left, if you will, and a big oil crowd on the right? that's ahead, any minute now. [ male announcer ] considering all your mouth goes through, do you really think brushing is enough to keep it clean? while brushing misses germs in 75% of your mouth, listerine cleans virtually your entire mouth. so take your oral health to a whole new level. listerine... power to your mouth. [ crowd chatters and groans ]

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and people like that who work on engines every day. [ tom ] i would love to see this thing fly. [ kareem ] it's a dream, honestly. there it is. oh, wow. that's so cool! yeah, that was awesome! [ cheering ] [ tom ] i wanna see that again. ♪ welcome back to "hardball." the white house has been feeling a bit defensive on this subject of rising gas prices so today, president obama wrapped up a two-day four-state tour defending his energy policies.

his first stop today, cushing, oklahoma, where he announced he's fast tracking construction of the southern part of the much debated keystone pipeline from cushing to the gulf southward. as he made the aunnoment he gave republicans in congress a jab for making the pipeline a political issue. let's listen. >> our exports said that we needed a certain amount of time to review the project. unfortunately, congress decided they wanted their own time line. today we're making this new pipeline from cushing to the gulf a priority, so the southern leg of it we're making a priority and going to go ahead and get that done. the northern portion of it, we're going to have to review properly to make sure that the health and safety of the american people are protected. >> at nearly the same time the president was speaking in oklahoma house speaker john boehner was in washington, d.c., minimizing the project's move. >> the president's down here in oklahoma taking credit is down n oklahoma taking credit for part

of a pipeline that's going to go through the normal process. it already got it's approvals. and this idea that the president will expedite this will have to impact. >> there you go, the politics continues. joining me now is james longford. what is the problem with this pipeline, why is it a political issue, congressman? why is it being built, and why is it an opportunity to slam the president. >> it's not being built. the previous pipeline that went from canada into the united states across the border, same company and process was 24 months to permit. so the frustration is let's get on with it. it's just another pipeline.

we signed off on it last year and it's supposed be more safe. >> what do you make of the argument of t slowness of the danger to people's water wells. that people that get their water from the ground, and if you run a pipeline through it, and pipelines do leak, and you endanger their water sources. >> if you look at the map of that and then laid the pipeline map on top of it, there are thousands of miles that already run through that aquaifer. >> isn't this a ten lane highway of pipeline, a greater highway for oil? and more trouble and concern? >> no, this will be the safest pipeline every. we just had new safety

regulations last year that the president signed off on. so it's a very big deal to protect water but we're not in a situation where we're worried about every pipeline. if you look at the map we have thousands of mile of pipeline. >> back in the '70s a did a study, and there was 125,000 miles of oil pipeline in the united states, and you know how many inspectors there were? one. so i'm not as confident as you are. joan, you and i are generalist on this sort of thing, but i see the president in a problem area here. to be halfway on something endangers you and makes you enemies on both sides. i know what it's like. >> yeah, you get kicked from both sides. some days we say, well we must be doing something right, but sometimes when everybody is mad at you you are a little wrong.

i think the president has a very tricky, tricky position here. chris, it's very classic barack obama. he wants to be the man in the middle. he wants to be the man of moderation, he wants to split the baby, not literally. and he wants to come up with a compromise that works. i just don't think it's possible here, you know, and you have really covered what safety risks are. also, in terms of what this does to consumers, this could raise prices rather than bring them down. this oil goes straight to the gulf, most of it goes to the international market, and doesn't do anything for domestic gas prices. >> joan, i agree with you and i understand it gets to the gulf and once it's refined it's open to international sale, there's no restriction keeping it here. >> but most of it comes right back into the united states. we're at a new high here, 58% of

the oil that we produce in america is being used in america. that 58% of all of the oil we're not exporting, the president is dead on producing more. if you take canada, mexico, and the united states, it's right at 80% of all of the oil we would use. we could work towards getting off middle east oil. >> i know the facts we we can't control where the oil goes once it's refined. it may come back here it may not. >> thank you. that's the way our system works, joan. when we return, let me finish with a staggering admission that mitt romney's word according to his top aide, is not his bond. you're watching "hardball" only on msnbc all by cob. and you...rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle... and go. you can even take a full-size or above,

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let me finish tonight with this. the romney campaign is squirming trying to slip free of the admission that it's word is not it's bond. that's right. saying that mitt romney's promises cannot be trusted, his top aide is making a breath taking confession. he is saying all of the things the candidate promised to champion you cannot count on him to deliver. he is a human etch-a-sketch, it cannot be unsaid. no wonder the passionate right in this country has been shopping for someone else to carry their flag into november to do battle with president obama. on monday, the supreme court takes up the president's health

care bill. the one based on the massachusetts health care plan pushed through by mitt romney. wouldn't this be a problem for romney to be a leader of the pack attacking obama's health care man. now we know the solution thanks to his aide. sure romney set the standard nationally, and it was the model for what president obama accomplished nationally, but he is just an etch-a-sketch this guy tells us. he goes from pioneer to leader and mute any. what you saw on the screen is now gone. listen to what romney's aide said. "i think you hit a reset button. it's almost like an etch-a-sketch, you shake it up and start all over again. "all of these speeches and promises and add messages, forget about them. they were just words. when tomorrow