flip-flopper or mitt romney the severe conservative? bill clinton thinks he knows the answer. >> higher education cannot be a luxury. >> mitt romney and president obama continue to chris cross. >> don't expect the government to forgive the debt that you take on. >> president obama's not really going to run on his record. he's going to run on mitt romney. >> president obama's campaign whisperer. >> former president bill clinton. >> the political master himself. >> working as something as a campaign whisperer. >> they take his advice. >> suggesting he abandon the line that romney has no core. >> it's bill clinton who's been urging the obama campaign -- >> depict him, as he likes to call himself, severely conservative. >> i was a severely conservative republican governor. >> everyone thought he was going to pivot to the center. >> severely conservative. >> i don't think he's going to, because he has no choice. >> romney is too extreme, he's too right wing. >> severely conservative. >> what's his team doing? it's ridiculous. >> that's all you've got? >> let's talk about the vice presidential running mate. >> no one wants to be romney's

vp. >> i would, um, demand reconsideration. >> i think rubio's got a better ring, actually. >> i'm not even going to discuss the process anymore. >> the first rule is, pick somebody who is not going to embarrass you. >> mitt romney is on the campaign trail with marco rubio. >> he's from florida. he's a tea party favorite. >> does romney continue this kind of smoke screen tour or does he start telling the truth. >> mitt romney once did a photo op at the zoo. >> we know he's a flip-flopper. >> that was a mistake, because he stood next to the chameleon and he changed colors. >> i was a severely conservative republican governor. the obama re-election campaign has a choice. should the obama re-election campaign run against mitt romney, the severe conservative or mitt romney the flip-flopper who used to sort of, kind of be sort of a liberal. according to politico, one campaign adviser thinks running against the severe conservative is the better path to victory.

bill clinton echoing survey data presented by obama's own pollster, joel benson, quietly argued that the empty core approach failed to capitalize on what they see as romney's greatest vulnerability and embrace of a brand of tea party conservatism that turns hispanics, women, and moderate independents, turns off hispanics, women, and moderate independents. today mitt romney tried his first maneuver from bun of the conservative positions he took during the republican primary campaign. first, let's listen to severe conservative mitt romney talking about student loans. >> it would be be popular for me to stand up and say, i'm going to give you government money to pay for your college, but i'm not going to promise that. >> and here's mitt romney today, flip-flopping his way back to an agreement with president obama on student loans. something he actually almost

forgot to do in a press conference with marco rubio. >> there's one thing i wanted to mention. i just -- by the way, there's one thing i wanted to mention that i forgot to mention at the very beginning. i fully support the effort to extend the low interest rate on student loans. >> now, why did he forget to mention that at the very beginning? because now he fully supports president obama's effort to extend the lower interest rates on student loans. and so with 197 days before the election, how many more agreements with president obama will a severely conservative mitt romney be remembering to announce? joining me now, salon.com political columnist and msnbc political analyst steve kornacki and democratic strategist and msnbc contributor, krystal ball. krystal, the switch back to the middle or, i don't know, on

student loans, maybe it's the left for mitt romney has begun. should the democrats be -- and president obama be jumping on that and say, look, he's a flip-flopper, he's a flip-flopper, or should they be going with that clintonian advice of just keep him painted as a severe conservative. >> we can hear the sound of the etch a sketch going. i don't think you have to pick. he's been so self-evidently a flip-flopper it's really penetrated the national consciousness. so, yes, i think with we have to, have to remind the american people, these are the positions that mitt romney has staked out. when you talk about economy, he's talking about the paul ryan budget, which he walled marvelous, which by the way would cut pell grants for college students by $170 billion and cut off a million students over the next decade from pell grants.

so those are the positions that he's taken. and by the way, the more that people learn about the paul ryan plan, the more that they learn about these extreme positions he's staked out, the less that they like them. so absolutely, i think this is an effective way to go. >> steve, what do you think? should the obama campaign zero in on flip-flopping or how extremely severely conservative romney is trying to become? >> i think, first of all, i really just reject -- there's an idea here that's permeated the coverage that these are mutually exclusive terms and krystal was kind of getting that -- >> steve, let me interject for a second there, steve. the reason why that's in this story is that normally, campaign operatives believe that you mouse deliver one important definition of the opposing candidate. and so there is that strategic school of thought, that says, you got to pick one of these and deliver that one image and make it be the image that you think you can beat them on.

>> right, absolutely. and what i would say is the particular brand of flip-flopping that mitt romney practices, this is not a mercurial guy, this is not a guy who's basically indecisive, this is a very decisive form of flip-flopping and it's led him to be forced to take the very conservative positions he's had to take in the republican primary. and if you became president, that sort of -- that same sort of imperative would still exist. he'd still have to cater to this republican party base. i think that at the end of the day is a more potent message for democrats to deliver right now, because i think the problem with just sticking with flip-flopping is, it almost gives romney an out. and basically it comes down to this. if you have swing voters, whether it's women, whether it's hispanics, whether it's the independents. if you have swing voters who basically want to throw barack obama out because of the economy, they want to punish the guy in charge, if the knock on romney just that he's a flip-flopper, then that's basically saying, yeah, all these scary conservative things that would give me pause about voting for him, well, it's okay to vote for him because he doesn't really mean them.

>> and here's the thing. romney a flip-flopper. i think people get that. he doesn't have a core. and by saying that he has moved very far to the right, it's not arguing that he has found a core, it's arguing that he is coming up with his own positions and has followed the rest of the republican party off the cliff. i think that's the thing we want to do. tie him to the paul ryan budget which he has supported so strongly. talk about these extreme anti-immigrant positions that he staked out in the primary as a short-term political decision to win, but those are his positions, with nonetheless. and of course, on issues important to women, he's said he's going to defund planned parenthood, he's said he supports the blunt amendment, he supports the personhood amendment, which was too extreme even to pass by voters in mississippi. these are things that we have to hold his feet to the fire on and remind voters exactly where he stands. i think that's absolutely critical.

>> all right. let's take a look at an ad from the most recent successful campaign against an accused flip-flopper. >> i'm george w. bush and i approved this message. >> in which direction would john kerry lead? kerry voted for the iraq war, opposed it, supported it, and now opposing it again. he bragged about voting for the $87 billion to support our troops before he voted against it. he voted for education reform and now opposes it. he claims he's against increasing medicare premiums, but voted five times to do so. john kerry, whichever way the wind blows. >> now, steve, what i'm wondering about is, here was a conservative, a president running as a conservative, who succeeded with that message, "i'm a conservative," and the flip-flopper message against the opponent also to some extent succeeded with the decisive swing voters. so it seems like there's a model out there, for how to run one of

these antiflip-flopper campaigns. >> there is, but that gets to the difference i'm talking about, the sort of different forms of flip-floppery that exists in politics. because what kerry was basically being accused of there was sort of indecisive -- he was an indecisive guy. and in the 2004 election, the backdrop was the iraq war, it was george w. bush basically saying, hey, i'm the firm, steady, decisive leader. i'm the guy you want there making the decision, because i'm not going to blink when the enemy's coming. all that kind of stuff. so what they were really trying to tag john kerry with there was being week. in 2012, you've got a totally different dynamic, where you've got this sort of rapidly conservative republican party base, who has absolutely insisted that mitt romney meet all their litmus tests and is intent on holding him to that through the general election campaign and more importantly if he becomes president. in romney, the flip-flopping that he sort of practiced is basically he knows he's vulnerable to the charge that he's not really a conservative,

so he's had to just embrace that as hard and as firmly as he could in the primary, and so the challenge there and the trick there for the obama campaign is to make sure to really stress and make him stick to that in the fall campaign as well, and that opens up different vulnerabilities than existed for john kerry. >> krystal, hold on. there's one other angle they can run against mitt romney on, and that is the notion that he might just be a little too french, which is also something that was used against john kerry. let's listen to this exchange with a reporter that mitt romney had. >> i have a lot of memories of france. i think the best memories were with my wife on vacations from time to time in france. the last vacation we had there, walking around the city of paris and walking not to the garden of luxembourg and around the city, one of the most magnificent cities in the world. and i look forward to occasional vacations again in such a beautiful place.

>> so, krystal, there's his opportunity to remember france, where he was a mormon missionary, not living in any kind of fancy way. you know, very -- you know, a very, very humble lifestyle. and instead he remembers his rich guy tourist experience in france. >> it's so classic romney. you can't even believe what comes out of this the guy's mouth sometimes. i remember watching a town hall that mike huckabee did, where a ron paul supporter came up and same, governor romney, if you're the nominee, convince me. i'm not sure i'm going to vote for you over president obama, convince me. and remember, this was a ron paul supporter. and romney said, well, i'm tougher on foreign policy than president obama. and i thought, did you -- i mean, what are you thinking with this?! and that's the thing. he doesn't know how to sell himself. he doesn't know what part of his bio is going to resonate. i mean, he tried the business man and he got beat up over bain capital. he tries governor of massachusetts, they're 47th in job creation. what's left?

the olympics? it's kind of a thin resume to try to run on. so it's a problem for him. >> krystal ball and steve kornacki, thank you both very much for joining me tonight. >> thanks, lawrence. coming up, we're going to have a little sex talk here on "the last word." i think we might have to wait -- yeah, we have to wait a little bit longer, until it's a little bit later, make sure all the kids are tuck the safely into bed. and then we will discuss the republican war on sex with ana marie cox. and in the rewrite, a prominent republican attacks the republican party, then tries to deny that he attacked the republican party, but the video never lives. and we have that video. and we have the latest developments in the case of florida versus george zimmerman, including a very strange drama in sanford, florida, today, as the police chief tried to resign, but the city council would not accept his resignation. [ male announcer ] when this hotel added aflac

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50 years of sexual freedom vanished in a sound bite. so says the leader of america's sexual revolution in the 1960s, hugh hefner. this was that sound bite. >> what does that make her? it makes her a slut, right? it makes her a prostitute. >> hugh hefner says republicans are waging a war against sex. that's coming up. and mitt romney seems to be holding public auditions now for the honor of being the next losing vice presidential candidate who will never be president. we'll look at the latest audition tape of marco rubio.

the president is experiencing severe chest pains. we need to get you to the west wing immediately. >> i'm so sorry. >> "veep," hbo's brilliant new comedy captures the essence of the vice presidency in a way that leaves you wondering why any ambitious young politician would ever want that job. mitt romney seems to be conducting on the road auditions for possible vice presidential candidates. today it was romney and florida

senator marco rubio doing a joint town hall in eastern pennsylvania. >> i want to say how honored i am here to be here today. it would have been unimaginable. half -- about half a century ago my parents came to the krits. they didn't speak english, barely, they didn't really have much of an education, they both grew up pretty poor. you know why we're different? because i don't remember growing up, my parents ever saying to me, you know why we're not better off? because those guys are doing too well. i don't ever remember my parents saying to me, you know what, only if we took something away from them and they gave it to us, things would be better. i don't even remember my parents teaching me -- i don't, i don't -- in fact, what my parents would do, they would point to people that had made it and they would say, that's is a source of inspiration. if they made it, you can make it as well.

>> at a joint press availability, romney was asked if someone like rubio, who's been a senator for a little over a year, is qualified to be vice president. >> i don't think i have any comments on qualifications for individuals to serve in various positions in government at this stage. that's something that we're going to be considering down the road as we consider various potential vice presidential nominees. >> i'm not talking about that process anymore. >> joining me now are e.j. dionne, a "washington post" opinion writer and a senior fellow at the brookings institution. he's also an msnbc political analyst, and adam smith, political editor for the tampa bay times. e.j., this sure looks like an audition out there. and you can see what rubio thinks is his audition strength. talking about those poor parents of his, that he grew -- that family poverty is a recent

experience for him and bringing a kind of passion to speech making that romney just doesn't have. >> which may be one of the big problems. it was an interesting line he took in that clip, don't get mad at mitt romney for being rich, you should try to be like mitt romney. that probably endeared him to mitt romney. rubio on paper is perfect because what does romney need? he needs florida and he really needs to shore himself up with the hispanic vote. but, unfortunately, no human being exists simply on paper. and rubio is young. he has, as far as i can tell, less elected experience than obama had and romney regularly says obama wasn't prepared to be president. and so i think he's got some liabilities. and then we're going to see how he vets. but, you know, on paper, he's absolutely perfect. >> adam smith, how will he vet,

as the nation takes a closer look at him, what does florida know about him that the nation hasn't quite learned? >> well, i can tell you florida knows he is not sarah palin. this is a very polished, very smart politician who's speaker of the house, so he's got a lot of experience. i think he probably has more experience than obama when it comes down to legislative experience. you know, he knows history, he knows policy. you know, when we were covering a senate race, there were some issues about his finances, using party credit cards, republican party credit cards for personal expenses, but the bottom line is, this is not sarah palin. he is not -- you know, it doesn't help that it looks like he's about 30 years, but he's a very polished politician. >> and adam, a biographical point, that's a little peculiar, he has some religious wanderings, i guess you could call it, where he actually spent some time as a mormon when his family lived in nevada.

is that the kind of thing that would give republicans pause about having on the mormon -- with the mormon at the head of the ticket, having someone who has some years, anyway, of involvement with the mormon church, in his childhood, i think it is. >> you know, he was born in miami and then, i think, when he was a youngster, they spent a few years in las vegas, where they had some relatives that were part of the lds church. so i have a hard time thinking that somebody who spent a few years in middle school, going to the mormon church, that that's going to really be a significant problem. i think there are other issues about personal finances, some of the compromises he made as speaker of the house in florida. but i don't see that lds issue as being significant. >> all right. let's listen to, he was just on sean hannity's show on fox news talking about medicare. let's listen to what he had to say about that. >> my mom's on medicare. i will never support any changes to medicare that would

negatively affect her or anyone like her who's currently on the program. i do believe, however, that people like me who are decades away from retirement, we are going to have to accept that in order to keep medicare as it stands for our parents and our grandparents, our medicare, my generation's medicare, is going to have to look different. especially if we want one. is that too much to ask of our generation? >> no, i don't think so. >> after all our parents have done for us. >> e.j., his mom's on medicare, so of course he's going to be a good custodian of medicare. >> right. and i think this goes to -- i agree with adam on that one thing, he's no sarah palin, because there's only one sarah palin, no one will ever be like sarah palin, i think. but, look, i think this is a core problem that republicans have, which is they are -- they know that the elderly people -- the elderly are really a pretty solidly republican constituency on the whole. so they're saying, we're going to cut this budget, we're going to rein in medicare, but we will

not touch anybody now on it or people within ten years of it. we are only going to cut it for younger people. and i think this position is going to catch up with them. a, because it's clear where the politics of that are, but, b, you don't get many budget savings early on if that's what you're going to say about medicare. and i think it's a position that they think will sell, but i think it's a position that has a lot of danger for them. by the way, you talk about the veep, running for veep not being good. fdr was a losing veep candidate in 1920 and then became president. so maybe the ideal thing is to get on the ticket, lose, and then run on your own. >> well, the problem is, e.j., since fdr, no one's done it. so every single losing vice presidential candidate since fdr became a presidential loser among those who attempted to then run for president. so at some point, don't they stare at that history and say, the only way that it can be

helpful to be on the vice presidential ticket is to actually win the presidency, and then al gore has shown you what that can be worth, when you try to take that into a presidential election. >> well, i think all politicians look at themselves as the next fdr. so they would take the fdr example and not any of those losers as their example. and you know, for a lot of people, i mean, you're right about the pattern. but for a lot of people, it is a great way to introduce yourself to the country. and i think if you can at least get the nomination, walter mondale, for example, got the nomination. he ran in a bad year against ronald reagan. so i don't think it's a hopeless task. and being veep is kind of fun. you have absolutely no responsibility, but you live in a big house, you get to give advice and travel around the world. there are worst ways to spend four or eight years. >> yeah. i think bob dole --

>> i'm auditioning as romney's running mate here. >> i think bob dole and walter mondale are the only ones who were losing vice presidential nominees, who had that position, and then managed to get the presidential nomination, but then of course they lost the general. e.j. dionne of "the washington post" and adam smith of the tampa bay times, thank you both very much for joining me tonight. >> good to be with you. >> thanks. coming up, hugh hefner says the republicans are waging a war against sex and he rhymes america how hard it was to win sexual freedom in this country. and in the rewrite, a former republican presidential candidate compared the republican party to china, the chinese communist party, and then he tried to deny that he did that, but it's on videotape, and we have the videotape. and the latest developments in the case of florida versus zimmerman. george zimmerman is now out of jail and the sanford police chief actually tried to resign

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hugh hefner says the republicans are waging a war against sex. he says they want to take away your privacy rights and hefner reminds us just how hard it was to win those privacy rights and just how recently we actually won them. that's coming up. and in sanford, florida,

today, the police chief resigned, but in a shocking twist, the city commission refused to accept his resignation. we'll have the latest in the case of florida versus zimmerman. so who ordered the cereal that can help lower cholesterol and who ordered the yummy cereal? yummy. [ woman ] lower cholesterol. [ man 2 ] yummy. i got that wrong didn't i? [ male announcer ] want great taste and whole grain oats that can help lower cholesterol? honey nut cheerios.

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is without equal. begin your legacy, get an auto insurance quote. usaa. we know what it means to serve. all those in favor to deny signify by saying aye. opposed? >> aye. >> approved to deny the memorandum at this time. >> in a shocking 3-2 vote today, the sanford city commission rejected the resignation of sanford police chief bill lee. city manager norton bonaparte jr. and chief lee had reached a separation agreement, but needed the city commission's approval. just one month ago, that same sanford city commission passed a vote of no confidence in that same police chief, bill lee, a 3-2 vote. lee temporarily stepped down the next day, citing these concerns.

>> i do this in the hopes of restoring some semblance of calm to the city, which has been in turmoil for several weeks. >> captain darren scott will remain as acting police chief. george zimmerman was released on $150,000 bond just after midnight today. that's early this morning. he is now fitted with an electronic monitoring device. zimmerman is due back in court may 8th for his arraignment. joining me now is norton bonaparte jr., city manager of sanford, florida. mr. bonaparte, could you take us through the steps of what happened today? you had reached an agreement of resignation with the police chief and then what did the city commission do? >> yes, the chief and i had come to an agreement, but that agreement needed to have the city commission approval. while the chief serves at the pleasure of the city manager,

the terms of the agreement would require the city to put out additional funds and additional resources that were not in his original contract, which therefore it was important to get the commission approval of that. what the commission decided to do was not approve the resignation. >> so i guess what with i'm hearing is that there was some sort of severance package in this agreement that you had with the police chief? >> that is correct, and that's what was required to have the city commission approval. >> how much money was that? >> it was about $54,000, all told. so how do we interpret this vote? was it a vote against $54,000? was it suddenly a vote of confidence in a police chief where this same police commission voted no confidence? >> i think it was neither. what i heard at the meeting was some members of the commission wanting to go through the process and see what with an independent investigation would show. did the chief do something wrong? did he not do things he should have done? that's something that we've been

asking for for some time. i came to the realization that with the ongoing criminal investigation, it was going to be difficult for a criminal -- for the city to get answers to those questions, because of the evidence. the evidence is still going to be tied up until the trial. and therefore win thought working with the chief, we could move forward by having this separation agreement. >> and so is the chief currently being paid his full salary? >> yes, he is. he's on paid administrative leave. >> so that's the most expensive possible outcome here, that you end up paying this chief for a couple of years during this criminal process that's going on in the zimmerman case. >> that's the challenge. i don't think it's a couple of years. we should be able to have something within three or four months, but it's a long time to keep everything on hold. and that's why the chief made the agreement to go ahead and to separate. >> and what happened to fiscal responsibility in this city commissioner? it seems to me just in a fiscal matter that you arrived at what

is probably the best can dollar and cents outcome for this city? >> the city commission spoke. they were willing to wait for the results of an investigation. we'll move forward, we're getting an investigation done. >> is it conceivable to you that chief bill lee could ever function credibly as the chief of police in sanford again? >> i think with the city commission saying that they had a vote of no confidence of 3-2, that that would be the challenge. that was part of the decision of me talking with the chief and saying, it's time to move on. if the commission wants to change that wing that's a different outcome. >> on the 3-2 vote today, was one of those votes someone who voted no confidence in the chief? >> yes. that was the mayor triplet. >> norton bonaparte, another amazingly strange day in the functioning of your city. thank you very much for joining us tonight. >> thank you. >> joining me now is charles m. blow, opinion writer for "the new york times." charles, this is as strange as it gets in that town, politically.

i just can't fathom this thing. >> you say strange, i say this is a joke. i mean, this is like real city officials of sanford, florida. it's like a sitcom or something. it would be funny if it wasn't so tragic. you can't say on the one hand that you vote no confidence and ask the police chief to step down and willing to pay him to step down, which i wish i had that job, where you could just not get work and get paid your full salary, and then turn around and say, we need to wait for the investigation to be completed in order to accept a resignation that will actually save the city of sanford money. those two things just don't go together. either you should have waited for the investigation to be completed in order to vote for -- take a vote of no confidence, or you had enough to believe that that police chief was not capable of doing that job, which is what they said when they

voted no confidence, and be willing to say, we are willing, as a city, to move forward from this episode with a new management in charge of our police force. the fact that they are saying these two competing things is absolutely ridiculous. >> you know, my sense of norton bonaparte, from the first time he appeared on this program is he really is a city manager. he really is trying to manage things in a very, very difficult situation. he seems to do things patiently, carefully, but things that make sense. this outcome he was trying to achieve makes perfect sense. and then when you take it to the city commission, you find once again one of these demonstrations about what a strange town sanford can be. >> lawrence, you're asking for something to make sense out ofsome situation. i mean, this whole thing has never made sense. i think that's probably the reason we've been talking about it for so long.

the case doesn't make sense. the behavior of the police doesn't really make sense. the way that they treated george zimmerman, taking him into that police station, from what we saw from videotape, leaning against walls, rubbing your feet on the mat when you walk through the door, none of that makes sense. the idea that he shot and killed a 17-year-old boy who was unarmed, was able to talk his way out of that police precinct that night doesn't quite make sense. i'm not sure that that police department is capable of making sense. and what happened today was that the city commission, and in particular the mayor of sanford, florida, basically became the contradiction that the police department of sanford is by voting no confidence in the beginning and then saying, i refuse to let him go, i'm not ready to do that. i'm just ready to pay him, until the trial is over or until the investigation is over. which makes no sense. >> well, that is a perfect summary of where we stand.

charles m. blow, thank you very much for joining us tonight. >> absolutely. coming up, hugh hefner says the republicans are waging a war against sex. and hugh hefner says we may have to refight the battles for sexual privacy that he helped win in the 1960s. and next, jon huntsman tries to rewrite jon huntsman. he compared the republican party to the chinese communist party and then tried to kind of maybe change those words, but videotape. we have the video. that's coming up next. i remember the day my doctor told me i have an irregular heartbeat, and that it put me at 5-times greater risk of a stroke. i was worried. i worried about my wife, and my family. bill has the most common type of atrial fibrillation, or afib. it's not caused by a heart valve problem. he was taking warfarin, but i've put him on pradaxa instead. in a clinical trial, pradaxa 150 mgs reduced stroke risk 35%

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hugh hefner is worried about sex. and no, not because he's in his 80s and has personal reasons to worry about sex. he's worried about sex because he says republicans are waging a war against sex and he knows just how difficult it was to win sexual privacy rights in this

country and he knows just how recently we won them. and next in the rewrite, a former republican presidential candidate tells a new york audience that the republican party is now behaving like the chinese communist party. and then he goes on msnbc this morning and tries to say he didn't really say that, but the problem is, there is a video, of exactly what he said. and we will show you that, next. c'mon dad! i'm here to unleash my inner cowboy. instead i got heartburn. [ horse neighs ] hold up partner. prilosec isn't for fast relief. try alka-seltzer. it kills heartburn fast. yeehaw! [ male announcer ] want your weeds to hit the road? hit 'em, with roundup extended control. one application kills weeds, and stops new ones for up to four months. roundup extended control. for up to four months. according to the signs, ford is having some sort of big tire event. i just want to confirm a few things with fiona.

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tonight, jon huntsman rewrites jon huntsman. the former two-term republican governor of utah, former ambassador to china for president obama, and former republican presidential candidate spoke last night in new york city's 92nd street "y," which is unlike any other "y" in america and consistently attracts some of america's most provocative public speakers. huntsman's appearance produced this headline. "jon huntsman trashes gop, expresses campaign regrets." the accompanying article by zeek miller at buzz feed created, as buzz feed often does, a lot of buzz. in the article, miller reported that huntsman said, " -- that huntsman, quote, expressed disappointment that the republican party disinvited him from a florida fund-raiser in march after he publicly called for a third party." then huntsman was quoted as saying, this is what they do in china on party matters, they

punish you, if you talk off script. then on morning joe, he had to change what he said. >> you get these blogs out there, you know, bottom feeder, buzz saw, buzz feed, whatever they are, and they take a sentence out of context and it becomes a headline and pretty soon mainstream newspapers -- >> well, that's why we're here. >> so let's let it breathe. >> there's something called responsibility in media, give me a break. >> and that might have been the last we heard about jon huntsman's comments about the republican party, if not for the fact that the 92nd street "y" videotapes all of their public speakers. now, let's see just how good a notetaker that zeek guy bottom feeder or buzz saw or whatever it's called really is.

>> i was banished from a republican gathering a few short weeks ago for saying something on television that a few people didn't like. they called and said it would be better if you didn't show. and i said, thanks, i, you know, was hoping to have a free weekend at some point. you know, and my first thought was, you know, this is what they do in china on party matters. they punish you if you say something that is offscript. but not here. you know, we should be having an open, wide-ranging the discussion about what works and what doesn't work for the sake of the united states. i mean, our base ought to be the people of the united states as opposed to some corner of a republican or democratic party. >> well, all right, then. jon huntsman didn't say something close to what zeek miller at buzz feed quoted him as saying, he said exactly what

buzz feed said he said. i mean, word for word. buzz feed did not take a sentence out of context as huntsman insists. and in fact, the more context you add, the tougher huntsman is on republicans. here's something that buzz feed didn't even bother to include in that report. >> it was my first presidential debate on the stage. it's a fairly intimidating prospect. first of all, here's what goes through your head when you're on the stage. you walk out there, the cameras are on, you know, there are millions of people in the audience. the first thing that hit my mind was the barriers to entry in this game are pretty damn low. >> and i've spoken at the 92nd street "y" a couple of times over the years and it is no secret that they are making a video recording of every word you say. >> and they take a sentence out of context and it becomes a

headline and pretty soon main street newspapers are -- >> that's why we're here! >> let's let it breathe -- >> there's something called responsibility in media, give me a break. >> yes, there is something called responsibility in the media these days. and today, april 23rd, 2012, that responsibility is perfectly exemplified in the meticulously careful and precise reporting of zeek miller at buzz feed. with the spark miles card from capital one, thor's couture gets the most rewards of any small business credit card. [ garth ] thor's small business earns double miles on every purchase, every day! here's my spark card. and here's your wool. why settle for less? great businesses deserve the most rewards! the spiked heels are working. wow! who are you wearing? uhhh, his cousin. [ male announcer ] the spark business card from capital one. choose unlimited rewards with double miles or 2% cash back on every purchase, every day!

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many in the christian faith have said, well, that's okay. you know, contraception's okay. it's not okay. it's a license to do things in a sexual realm that is counter to what -- how things are supposed to be.

>> one of the field generals of the american sexual revolution of the 1960s has had enough of the republican party's war on sex. in an editorial entitled "the war against sex" in the new issue of "playboy," hugh hefner says, "while wooing the conservative vote, these candidates revealed the ways a gop-led government would decide with whom we can have sex and for what reasons, single or married, straight or gay." hefner teaches his younger readers that their sexual privacy was a recently earned right. he writes, "in 1961, police arrested estelle griswold, executive director of the planned parenthood league of connecticut and dr. c. lee buxton, a yale professor, who served as its medical director. buxton and griswold were charged with violating a state law that banned sharing information about contraceptives, including with

married couples. the u.s. supreme court voted 7-2 to overturn the convictions. the justices clearly saw the affront. would we allow the police to search the sacred precincts of marital bedrooms for the telltale signs of the use of contraceptives? the very idea is repulsive to the notions of privacy surrounding the marriage relationship. we deal with a right of privacy older than the bill of rights." joining me now is ana marie cox, a correspondent for the guardian. ana marie, this notion that we have a war on sex, i think, has been finally, perfectly articulated by hugh hefner, who else, who has shown very clearly that the republicans are really saying things that we really haven't heard advanced seriously since the 1960s when it became

the losing argument as the sexual revolution overtook the crazy laws that we had in this country, banning even the discussion of contraception publicly. >> that's right. and i think he's correct in saying that this is probably the last gasp of some desperate people, really trying to hold on to that retrograde notion about sex. i also really want to add that, you know, it's titillating to talk about this, as the war against sex, and to talk about the bedroom, and to talk about what kind of sexual rights allowed, but this is really about civil rights and human rights and about gender equality. we talk about sex, but that has to do with women's economic power in the workplace as well. this is not just something that we can be titillated by, which is what i think rick santorum might want. this is something that has to do with people's everyday lives. it has to do with why i can sit here and talk to you right now. >> yes, and why would rick santorum want with some kind of titillating discussion about

this? >> well, i think it's the giggles and the titillation that sort of get us away from talking about this as an economic issue and as a human rights issue. i mean, we really don't care as americans about what people do in the bedroom. and i think that's what hugh hefner is really saying, right? except, of course, in hugh hefner's magazine, people care about what people are doing in the bedroom, but for the most part americans don't care. and we've turned our eyes away from it and we've decided we're going to let gay couples do what they want to do and let straight couples do what they want to do. and i think when you bring it back up in this way, in this nudge, nudge kind of way, it gets people talking about it and brings the focus away from the rights that have been won because of things like contraception. >> but this is the way that rick santorum talked about it. a second place finishing republican almost-nominee was publicly saying that contraception is a bad thing. you know, even ron paul was saying that there's an immorality in the use of contraception. people think he's a libertarian.

he isn't on sex. i mean, they really went into some very strange zones in this campaign. >> they did. they went into strange zones. again, they brought the focus on to the bedroom. rick santorum talked about birth control leading to unnatural acts or things that you should do. birth control is a health issue. it's an issue about what women can do with their bodies and what women and how women can control their bodies and how that's no one else's business. i mean, to talk about it in a way that rick santorum talked about it, with i think distracts us from what i think the real issue is, which is my right to be here right now talking to you. it gets people talking about it, could have been a con tenner, let's play "hardball."