rmstitanic.net. that's it for the shoe "the ed show." "the rachel maddow show" starts now. thanks for staying with us for the next hour. in the great state of alaska there's a large island off the coast of homer, action action. it's on kodiak island. yesterday a retired petty officer were found dead at a coast guard communication station where they worked monitoring radio traffic. the fbi is treating this as a double homicide of these coast guard members. nobody is in custody. both of these men were shot to death. last night in cleveland, 911 dispatchers took a call from a woman at cracker barrel restaurant saying she informed

her husband saying she was leaving and he did not respond well. by the time police arrived she was shot dead and her 10-year-old daughter, whose birthday it was that day and a man with the gun was leaving the restaurant. the man did not sur rending his we and police killed him. yesterday in california, deputies tried to serve an eviction notice. they were met with gunfire. one of the deputies was killed as was a civilian on the scene. last night in greenland, new hampshire, five police officers were shot and the chief was killed just eight days of planning his retirement. early this morning in massachusetts out in fact western part of the state, a state trooper was shot and wounded and the suspect in the case was killed. according to an account in the springfield republican newspaper, the neighbor says he saw a man flee with car keys in

his hand. he saw a gun barrel from a window and a shot wizzed out above his head. he saw a state trooper approach the house and get shot. quote, i saw him take a bullet. today, in orange county, judge order portions of a grand jury testimony released in the case of a man who strapped on three gun, extra ammunition and a bullet proof vest and went into a hair salon where he shot and killed his ex-wife and seven other people. the salon owner was carrying a pair of scissors. he was the first to be shot dead and then five more people all shot dead in the hair salon and the again man turned around and left and decided to shoot and kill a man just sitting in his car in the parking lot as well. eight people dead in what law enforcement officials say was approximately two minutes

elapsed. in court today in tulsa, hate crimes and murder charges were filed against these two men who went driving around tulsa, oklahoma last week to shoot african-american at random. they shot and killed three men and wounded two others. yesterday in st. louis, prosecutors charged a 21-year-old man for leaving behind trail of mayhem across st. louis. he shot two young men on the street at point-blank range. he shot one in the arm and the other in the chest. two days before that also in st. louis, a 24-year-old man was shot to death while sitting in his car. witnesses say they saw an armed gunman walk up to the car, fire several shots nands take off. when police arrived, they found more than 20 bullet casings scattered on the street. st. louis is a city that's been wracked by gun violence

recently. early sunday morning, a 49-year-old woman was walking along the street on the north side of st. louis. police say a man approached the woman, fired several shots at her and fled the scene leaving her in serious condition. a few days before that teenagers were shot while they were walking through the parking lot at a church's chicken. 50 police officers responded but there's still no suspect. a few days before that st. louis homicide detectives were called to the scene of a shooting. a 25-year-old man was shot in the back. he later died from his injuries at a local hospital. two days before that in the same neighborhood, local residents called the police when they heard six gunshots ring out. neighbo neighbors say they saw a man pull into a drooiway and he was shot in the chest. gun violence has gotten so bad in st. louis that a number of local groups got together to call for a gun violence summit to be held in the city between

local law enforcement officials and community groups. it was there in the city of st. louis where the national rifle association kicked offe eed off national gun convention. mr. romney has been all over the map on gun issues. the latest version of mitt romney proclaims himself to be a life-long member of the nra. he essentially give his stump speech but he did add in a few lines about guns. what he added in about guns was a really hard to understand few lines. >> we need a president that will enforce current laws, not create new ones that will only burden lawful gun owners. president obama has not. i will. >> okay. in order to understand just what mitt romney was trying to say today about guns, it's a very important issue. in order to understand what he's

saying here you have to diagram his sentences. take that line we just played. >> we need a president who will enforce current laws. >> we need a president who will enforce current laws. so far so good. the next thing he says. >> not create new ones that only serve to burden lawful gun owners. president obama has not. i will. >> president obama has not, what? has not enforced current laws or are you talking about the second part of what you said. he's not created new laws? technically mr. romney is saying that obama has not not created new laws. it's hard to understand the dangling negative. i think what he is trying to give the impression of that president obama has created new restrictive gun laws. he's created new laws, but which ones exactly. >> we need a president who will stand up for the rights of hunters and sportsman and those

who seek to protect their homes and their families. president obama has not. >> how has president not done that exactly? what has he done to not stand for the rights of those people? what are you accusing him of? >> it's time to elect a president that will defend the rights president obama ignores or minimizes. >> what has he been ignoring or minimizing and how? what is the accusation here? do you want him to be overtly doing something he's not doing? >> we've all seen enough of president obama over the last three years to know we don't want another four. >> what is it that you're unhappy about on guns in particular? we reached out to the romney campaign to ask which specific new gun laws president obama has passed that governor romney was describing today? they have so far not given us

any answer. hope springs eternal. those were his lines on guns in the speech after. after that map of vagueness, finally he got to the punch line. >> in a second tern, he'd be unrestrained by the demands of re-election. >> that's what this is about. president obama hasn't done anything now, but he has a secret plan to take away everybody's guns in the next terms. a secret plan he's not pursuing now. he will pursue it if he wins a second term. that's what gun politics is like now. it's a phantom how he has a credit plan to take away your guns. you can tell he has a plan to take away your guns because he hasn't yet taken away your guns. you have to stop him. that's what our guns politics is

about. there is something going on in the country about guns. we have a gun violence problem in this country. literal in the streets of st. louis there's a crisis if you ask st. louis. it was the same thing last year. last year the nra convention was held in the st. of pittsburgh. while the lobby that determines our gun laws in the country place fantasy politics about policies that don't exist and secret plans, the consequences of that being what determines our gun policy plays out right on the streets around them in flesh and blood. joining me now is councilman ricky burgess. we visited with him last may. it's nice to have you back on the show. thanks for being here. >> thank very much. >> while the conversation at the nra convention revolves around

president obama has a secret plan to take away people's guns, what conversation would you like to see the country have about gun policy given where you live and the folks you represent? >> i'd ask the republican governor why are you calling a certain segment of the population to arms. what he is really doing secretly, not even secretly, is he is asking people to buy more guns and more ammunitions that we know will cause death in the streets, blood in our kbhucommu. the nra should be called a death convention. it should be attended by morticians and funeral directors. they don't want any legitimate restrictions knowing the guns will be used in homicides. it will be used by gang members. it will be used in crimes. the nra and its lobby has advocated for these crazy laws

like stand your ground that's led to the trayvon martin case. it's criminal that we have this lobby that is creating chi i don't say chaos in our streets. it halts economic development in that community. >> even after the trayvon martin shooting that has had such an affect on the country's politics and the way people are talking about gun rights in this country. an vf even after gabrielle gibb fords shooting, one of things you and i have discussed is the real word consequences of our policy in terms of gun violence, gun massacre never seem to factor in the discussion we have about gun policy. i don't know if i expect them to happen at the nra since they are advocates on one side of this issue, but you feel like those debates are happening anywhere. are we having a serious talk that's not just cheer leading.

>> it's difficult to have a conversation when the nra funds the campaign of legislature and politicians. in the state that i represent, the nra literally controls the state legislature and controls the governor. these kind of conversations cannot be had. they are absolutely want no responsible gun ownership or use laws. no loss in stolen handgun reporting. they want assault rifles. there's no reason for someone in an urban community to be walking down the street with an ak-47 or have an assault rifle until their closet. the nra advocates for these crazy uncontrollable access to guns, which causes death and destruction in our neighborhoods. >> briefly, do you think the nra chooses cities with high rates of gun violence with their convention on purpose? it's meant to be a sign of hue

bris or something? >> i don't know. i don't think they care. they shouldn't be the nra convention. it should be a death convention and intended by morticians, funeral directors and people who reside over funerals. their policies, practices and conventions in real life celebrates the death of young people on our streets and in our community. >> pittsburgh city councilman ricky burgess. it's nice to see you again. thank you. >> thank you. still ahead, i could not make a trip to california without seeing bill maher. i didn't make a trip without seeing him. how they'll live tomorrow. for more than 116 years, ameriprise financial has worked for their clients' futures. helping millions of americans retire on their terms. when they want. where they want. doing what they want. ameriprise. the strength of a leader in retirement planning.

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four years ago, america had two near political misses at the top. vice president palin was one of them and the other, president john edwards.

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on the same day mitt romney was telling the nra that believes moms are working mom, barack obama, the democratic president was telling an interviewer exactly the same thing. mr. obama in an interview with telemundo said this. >> there's no job that's tougher than being a mom. i saw that with my on mom, a single mom trying to put herself through school. i see it with michelle and the incredible energy that she brings to raising her kids. as i said last night, i don't know mrs. romney well, but she seems like a wonderful woman and obviously cares deeply about her family. >> fight, fight. in the democrat corner there's no job tougher than being a mom and in the republican corner, all moms are working moms. it's a huge fake political fight in which both sides agree and use almost the exact same language to express their

similar feelings, which means it's not a fight at all, which means if there's a difference between the parties, if there's a difference between the candidates on women's issues, if there is something that explains why women tell pollsters they like president obama much more than mitt romney. if we're looking for the difference, we have not found it in this fake fight. republicans are not being accused of waging a war on women for no reason or for something about which they agree with the democrats entirely. womens are being accused of waging a war on women for something they are doing that is very different than what the democrats are doing. it's about policy affecting women. there's no distinction between the parties at all on nice feelings about mom and candidate spouses, but there's a great distinction between the parties on, take your pick. in arizona yesterday the republican governor there signed into law the most restrictive ban on abortions in the country. because the way the arizona law measures pregnancy, it bans

abortion even earlier than the other states that's enacted this type of late term ban. arizona added a new 24-hour waiting period to their state's forced ultrasound requirement and it hits doctors who provide abortions with new specially targeted regulations just for them. a bill also landed on the governor's desk this week that will make it legal for doctors to lie to women about their pregnancy if the doctor thinks it will prevent that woman from seeking an abortion. still in arizona, remember the tell your boss while you're on the pill bill, a version of that bill passed the arizona senate this week. it's not dead. in mississippi republican governor phil bryant, a guy who said we want mississippi to be abortion free. he's well on the way to that. he says he will sign a new trap law, a new targeting st states only abortion clinic with new regulations sometime in the next few days. in iowa the week, wrangling among republicans over abortion

restrictions seem poise to delay the work on the budget and the end of the legislative session. yesterday the iowa senate was fighting abdomen defunding planned plarnt poplan ed parenthood. he was asked about the lilly ledbetter fair pay act. the law that gets women equal pay for equal work. here is what he had to say about the fair pay act at a campaign event this week. >> i voted against it. that thing is a nuisance. it shouldn't be the law. >> that thing is a nuisance. he called it a nuisance. again, it's a law that says women must be access to the courts to sue if they are being paid less than a man for doing the same work. that's a nuisance. it was not a secret that pete along with most of his republican colleagues voted against the fair pay act in

congress. this is a bad time for republicans making headlines for trashing the fair pay for women law. the republicans likely presidential nominee has been falling all over himself this week on this issue. president obama signed the lilly ledbetter act nine days after he was sworn in. when the romney call talked about the economy, they had trouble answering an easy straightforward question about women and the economy. >> our next question will come from sam stein. go ahead. >> does governor romney support the lilly ledbetter act? >> sam, we'll get back to you on that. >> the point of the call is mitt romney is great for women and the economy. does mitt romney support equal pay for women and legislation to help that along? we'll get back to you on that. did anybody know they were going to ask that?

that was a really embarrassing moment. even their clean up efforts were me messy. finally saying he would not change the law. the campaign never did say mr. he supports the act. whether he would have signed it into law. i'd like to officially send out a plea to reporter, who unlike us, can get their questions answered by the romney campaign. in your reporting on the issue, here is an unanswered question on a totally substantive political issue on which there's a big issue between democrats and republicans and on which mitt romney has avoided giving an answer. if you want to advance the political conversation in a meaningful way. here is a question to ask mitt romney. were most republicans in congress wrong when they voted no on the lilly ledbetter fair act? would mr. romney have voted yes if he were in congress?

if he were president would he sign it into law? was scott walker wrong to replace the wisconsin version? why is it replaced, i meant repeal. he repealed it. does he think scott walker is right to have repealed fair pay legislation at the state level. this is not an impressionistic fake fight thing. there's a real difference between the parties. how about we focus on that. ♪ you make me happy when skies are gray ♪ [ female announcer ] you know exactly what it takes to make them feel better. ♪ you make me happy [ female announcer ] that's why you choose children's tylenol. the same brand your mom trusted for you when you were young. ♪ how much i love you [ humming ] [ female announcer ] children's tylenol, the #1 brand of pain and fever relief recommended by pediatricians and used by moms decade after decade. [ humming ]

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harsh. you chose geico and you did not choose their competitor. was this your first car insurance taste test? it is possible that by this summer there could be two high profile democratic politicians in prison for crimes related to the 2008 election. two democrats that had different but important roles in that election cycle and head office. if first is rod blagojevich who was charged with multiple felonies for corruption. governor blagojevich was found guilty last year. she was sentenced to 14 years in prison. he started serving that sentence at a colorado prison last night. the second major figure from the '08 figure who is facing trial

and possible prison time. his role in the 2008 election is he ran for president. having been the democratic party's vice presidential nominee john edwards made a serious run four years later in 2008. we look back on the '08 democratic primary as the obama-clinton slug fast but john edwards was the other main contender in the field. he had a moving stump speech about the two americas, having gown up as the son of a mill worker. for a lot of that campaign he was in the running, but we know that while that campaign was going on, under the surface there was a scandal brewing that was so lurid that it would have been rejected by a soap opera as way too farfetched. while projecting the image of a loving husband to the immensely

likely elizabeth edwards that was fighting cancer, john edwards had a second secret family in the making. he was having an affair with a woman that was hired as a videographer. when word got out in 2007, it was in tabloids. at the time, mr. edwards denied having had an fair. >> the story is false. it's completely untrue and ridiculous. i've been in love with the same woman for 30 plus years. anybody who has been around us knows. >> that was october 2007. at that time, the woman mr. edwards had been having an affair with was pregnant with his child. this was all while he was campaigning for president. who was the plan if he had been elected. public family that you do events with and put on the christmas

card and a secret family that you predoentd exist. do you hide them? where? do you hide them for two terms or just the first one? then a surprise unveil. what exactly were you going to do? he started denying the fair in october. he dropped out in january 2008. his second secret family baby was born the following month. it was not until six months later in august of that year that he admitted to having had the fair. even then he defnied that it's not his baby. >> i know it's not possible that the child is not mine because of the timing of events. happy to take a paternity test and would love to see it happen. >> no, you would not love to see that happen. one of his political staffers had been saying that he was he and not john edward it was that was the baby's father.

yes to cheating. yes to the affair but no to father a child with his mistress. that lie survived until the staffer fronting the lie wrote a book. he taped an interview with abc news that he was not the baby's father, john edwards was. a week before the interview he said not only did he have the fair and the baby was his high pressure he made the admission publicly in january 2010 when the baby was nearly two years old and it was one year to the day after he himself would have been inaugurated president had the 2008 campaign turned out differently. it's kind of the most political sex scandal of our time. because it's in the past and john edwards is never going to run for anything again, it would not make sense to keep covering this but perhaps as the

democratic side of a vise presidential tail. the reason i'm making a federal case about this is because a federal case has been made about this. specifically, about the money part. during the campaign with the national enquiring reporter he had an affair. the mistress was a politically inconvenient thing for this presidential campaign. two of his very wealthy supporters spent $900,000 trying to hide the woman with whom john edwards had the affair. plying her up around the country. they paid for her medical care while pregnant. according to the government, that $900,000 spent on his mistress, that was campaign contribution. it was meant to protect his

public aima public image. the money was spent for if john edwards president for campaign. $900,000 being spent on that is way over the limit for how much you can legally donate to a campaign. remember when we used to think there was how much money you could give to a campaign. the john edwards trial is unprecedent. nobody has been indicted on charges like this before, let alone in the wild, wild word campaign of no rules with the citizens united and the finance laws they have killed in the last few years. sheldon adelson has spent more than 16 times much money implicated in the john edwards scandal on newt gingrich in the 2012 primary. at least, this case is not about whether or not john ed wartds is bad guy.

ultimately this sex scandal boils down to whether he took campaign donations that were too big. joining us now is hampton dellinger. he's been covering by blog. thanks for your time. it's nice to have you here. >> you're welcome. great to be with you. >> i know you've been covering this closely. did i get the basics about the scandal and the case? i wouldn't be surprised if i messed something up. >> i'm surprised you didn't. you got it spot on. thp this is a one of a kind. it will likely be the only case of its kind. we have corporates and individuals giving tens of millions of dollars in direct aids of candidates and their campaign. $900,000 in indirect aid doesn't

feel good, doesn't smell right. clearly, his activity as a husband was heinous, but it's never been considered felonious until now. >> the decision to bring a prosecution here, you think it's no fore gone clonclusion this i a criminal matter. they are making an issue of what might have motivated prosecutors in bringing this case. what can you tell us about the prosecutor in this case? >> there's no question that it's an inconvenient fact for the government. there's never been a case like this before. this is not blagojevich selling a senate seat. this was not an ambassadorship for sale. a lot of folks have wondered what could have moted this type of prosecution. it is a fact that the u.s.

attorney, a staunch republican who is able to stay in office, thanks to the republican u.s. attorney scandal stayed in office during the first two years of the obama administration. that u.s. attorney indicted john edwards and stepped down and started running as a republican for congress. hi and edwards crossed paths in the years past. i think there's a discomfort with a novel prosecution and the pivotal role played by someone who decided to play the candidate. he may be the next u.s. senator from north carolina. >> has he made an issue of the fact that he brought there prosecution against john edwards in trying to build his political career. has he been campaigning on it? >> it's exhibit a. >> oh. in terms of the merits of case, when you look at the defense team that john edwards put together, that's a fascinating

part of this. he's is trial lawyer, yet he's had to build a legal team. do you think he's done a good job of building a defense team. >> he's built a team and torn them apart going through them like elizabeth taylor through husbands. it's been troubling to see how many fine attorneys have been part of his defense team and then lefted. if outcome, we can't know. we do know this is a jury that's going to be working class. i was in court the other day when the pool came in. you saw more baseball caps than neckties and t-shirts than button downs. it's the type of jury that john edward appealed to as a kantd that he talked about in his two america speech. it's the kind of jury that he thinks he's got a chance with, but boy is he taking a risk.

>> john dellinger. thanks for following this so closely. i appreciate it. >> you're welcome. a seriously exclusive night with bill maher, coming up. for 22 years. we processed on a given day about a million pieces of mail. checks, newspapers, bills. a lot of people get their medications only through the mail. small businesses depend on this processing plant. they want to shut down 3000 post offices, cut 100,000 jobs. they're gonna be putting people out of work everywhere. the american people depend on the postal service. they're gonna be putting people out of work everywhere. between taking insulin, testing my blood sugar. is this part of your life? freestyle lite test strips? why, are they any beep! wow, that hardly needs any blood! yeah. and the unique zipwik tab targets the blood and pulls it in. so easy. freestyle lite needs just a third the blood

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in all the years of asking the question, in all years of poll tong question, the washington post has never found support for the war in afghanistan to be this low. to you think the war in afghanistan has been worth fighting or not. the proportion of people say yes it's worth fighting is 30%. the portion say it's not worth fighting is 66%. it's not partisan result. a majority of republicans leaning inspects all say the war is not worth the costs now. here is something that's really interesting in that same poll as well. the question is do you think the military should limit the amount of time service members can be deployed to combat areas or do you think limits on deployments are not needed? the answer, yes limit the amount of time deployed for members of our military. so says 80% of the american

public. 80%. part of the reason they have had so much deployment is because for eight and a half of the years we have been fighting in afghanistan, we were also fighting in iraq. now that one of those wars, the iraq war is over, among we the sti civilians, there's been something like a mini movement to say welcome home and thank you to iraq war veterans. to hold parades to mark the end of the iraq war. it began with a parade in arizona. this past weekend it came to houston, texas for the first official city sponsored welcome home parade. local reports say thousands of people turned up to say welcome home to say thank you for your service in iraq. the houston parade ended at the

baseball field. the vets on the field included wesley hall who served two tours of duty in iraq. his wife shannon shot this video from the stands. st. louis did it, tucson did. melbourne, florida is about to do it. 650 people are expected to be marching in the parade, way more than the town hoped for. veterans from all branchs of the military there. the twin cities, minneapolis and st. paul are planning their parade for the following saturday. not this upcoming saturday, but the 21st. after that it will media, pennsylvania. they will be on april 28th. richmond, virginia is planning a thank you and a welcome home parade for may. they will do theirs on may 19th. the richmond times dispatch newspaper is listed as a co-sponsor of that event.

richmond is looking for $50,000 in do nation to make sure they can pull off their parade in may. iowa has made plans for a parade in june. there are other plans for other parades in conjunction with memorial day and july 4th. this is happening. it's happening all over the country. the pentagon said they are happy to see these things happening all over the country. everywhere in the country except in new york. they don't want it in new york, but they want it everywhere else. i think it would happen in a heartbeat. everything that i've gained in life

has been because of the teachers and the education that i had. they're just part of who i am. she convinced me that there was no limit to what we could learn. i don't think i'd be here today had i not had a wonderful science teacher. a teacher can make a huge difference in a child's life. he would never give up on any of us. thank you dr. newfield. you had a big impact on me.

hey, so happy friday and if you are one r wondering why things look different than unusual on the show, it's because we have been broadcasting from california this week.

california again instead of from the usual studios in in new york city. i did an event with david handler. we did an event last night at the castro theater talking about my book "drift." tonight i'll be in berkeley. the bay area is where i grew up and i have to say i love new york, i love where i live in massachusetts, but it's really, really nice to be heading up here. i'm going to be heading up to seattle and portland to do events. but here's the thing. on tuesday night of this week in los angeles, the one and only bill maher agreed to host one of these events, to talk with me about "drift," about the book at the theater. it was a huge favor to me from bill maher and as you might expect, he was great. he was really, really funny. i could talk to him all night. we sort of sneaked some cameras into the event. it was definitely not designed

to be tv. the facility was not designed for that. but we thought we would try to capture some of this on tape in case it turned out well, in case you might want to see it. it turned out to be a great event and we put together some of it. again, it was a challenge to shoot it. the footage was more raw than what you might be used to seeing on tv. here it is. here's that night with bill maher to give you an idea of what is happening after the show all week long and why i have been so hyper lately. >> the really bad thing you did was the iran contract because that took it to a whole new level and i still remember that speech he gave where he said -- i can't remember the words, but it basically was, what i was thinking in my heart wasn't what my brain was telling me or do you remember -- you know the line i'm talking about? it was his famous line about, my head told me one thing, my heart told me another, and, look, i'm ronald reagan.

that's as good as you're going to get from me. >> so the reason that we got our own contract is that everybody knew what reagan wanted to do in central america. he was very overt about it and he had great approval ratings and had gotten people very excited about a lot of things and the aftermath after assassination attempt had his approval ratings very, very high as people had sympathy for what he had gone through. he felt like he could move people to do anything. he really felt that he was this great communicator in central america. he really wanted us to be militarily involved and could not persuade congress and he could not persuade the american public and writes in his diaries how frustrated he is. congress, it's no secret, everybody says, we hear your case. no. not doing it. congress passes a lot saying, we know what you want to do. you can't do it. you can't do it through the military. you can't do it through the cia, some agency we don't know about it, you can't do it, period, that's the law. it's the law. you can't do it.

we make the laws. no. and so he went and did it any wa way. >> through oliver north. >> yeah. >> and the way that he financed it was by selling arms to the iranians, which was also illegal and something he said we would never do and never something that he would even try to defend. so that was really bad. >> should have been a bigger scandal. >> yeah. and i think because it had -- >> way worse than watergate really. >> i think it was -- yes. i think it was. and i always wondered if -- >> not worst than monica lewinsky but -- >> i did not sell -- >> monica lewinsky, lewinsky still way up there. >> i always wondered if the reason that iran contra did not

stick is because, a, it's hyphenated but the two places, they are far away? >> yes. >> they don't feel connected. they are both -- >> yes. it was hard to follow. >> it was hard to follow. >> and they liked reagan. when he made that statement they kind of went, oh, yeah, i get it. he's old. he's been shot. he means well. he's a nice guy. you know, all that -- >> i would sell weapons to the iranians, too, i guess. a, it was a really big scandal and the senior officials are getting indicted, people are going to prison. and the thing that is most important for the overall thing that i'm writing is reagan's administration is trying to save his butt. we're talking about nixon earlier, the way that nixon

explained what happened in watergate is well, if the president does it, it's not illegal. >> right. >> the reagan administration defense for reagan at the end of the iran contra is, if the president does it and it's vaguely related to national security, it's not illegal. it's this radical idea that president reagan, yes, defied congress knowingly and, yes, he defied congress and all sorts of crazy lies and the weapons to the iranians and, yes, it's very clear that he knew it was all happening. but he's the president and it's war-related vaguely. and the president has unlimited power when it comes to things that are vaguely war-related and that's nuts. that's absolutely nuts. it was a crazy idea. [ applause ] and it was seen as a crazy idea at the time. congress did their investigation of iran-contra and they are like, yeah, that's crazy. there was a dissent to iran-contra.

there was one report that said actually that crazy line about how the president doing it, it's by definition legal, the president can do anything related to national security with no legal constraint without having to consult anybody and do it in private and it just doesn't matter? the one person who said actually i believe that is a wyoming congressman named dick cheney. and which didn't mean anything when he was just the wyoming congressman named dick cheney. he went on to be secretary of defense, vice president, and that became, again, what should have been an abhoration became normal. it never should have survived anything other than that scandal. >> don't you like foreshadowing. that was me with the great bill maher talking about my book. i have to say, it's been turned out to be really fun.