carter again, and again, and again. that's "hardball," "politicsnation" with al sharpton starts now. >> welcome to "politicsnation." tonight's lead, hay republicans, you can try, but you can't take it bach. today michele bachmann through her support behind mitt romney. they were a united front. let's listen to what she sad to say. >> they want to know what's the truth. they're interested in who is the consistent core conservative. >> he is the only governor to put into place socialized medicine. >> can he beat obama. he had the blueprint for obama care. it's too identical. it won't happen. >> sorry, we cued the wrong

tape, this is what i meant to play. >> i am honored to be able to be here to lend my voice and my endorsement to mitt romney has our president, to take the country back. that something to get excited about, it's why we must elect mitt romney has the next president of the united states. >> thanks congresswoman, it only took 119 days to come out and support, but who is counting. tomorrow romney will head to pennsylvania to try to get the endorsement of rick santorum, and the crucial sweatervest block. more manufacturing gop unity, togetherness, peace. i wonder if his endorsement speech will sound anything like this. imagine if mitt romney was around the the time we were

drafting the constitution, he would have taken it up. >> if his record was so great as governor why didn't he run for reelection. >> he has been on both sides of every single issue in the past ten years. >> i hope that rick finds a way to burn this campaign add after he ran this during the primaries. you remember this one? it featured a gun wielding romney look alike. this is a pattern. yesterday newt gingrich was the republican falling in line behind romney. the same that inspired this obama campaign ad. >> a man that wants to run for president of the united states that can't be honest with the american people. why should we expect him to level about anything. >> i don't any president that had a swiss bank account. >> are you calling mitt romney a

liar? >> yes. >> they're trying to pretend everything is great, party unity, one voice, but make no mistake, folks, this is a deeply fractured party. no matter how many photo ops they do, this is what they think. >> joining me is erin mcpike, and a political writer for salon.com. thank you both for being here. steve, let me start with you. every primary battle is bruising, but this one seems especially brutal. does anyone believe these endorse wants are heart felt? >> no, i think you have two things going on. one is what romney represents to the conservative base is a guy

that they suspect is secretly not one of them. they have not really believed he is a conservative. that is reflected in a lot of an mosty. there is something else too. we saw this in 2008 and this time too. he rubs the people that run against him the wrong way personally. whether it was mccain, juliaou . getting away with more than he should. it rubs them wrong. >> when you look at the surrogates, those speaking on his behalf, they don't seem completely on board, listen to this. >> i think a lot of people, senator rob portman would be phenomenal for vice president. >> this reminds me of going to a surgeon, right, if i have a

terrible cancer operated on, i didn't go to the nicest doctor, i went to the best doctor. >> we need an alternative voice out there to put forward new ideas. >> i mean, not exactly ringing endorsemen endorsements. >> no, many of the endorse wants romney has gotten have been tempid for sure. i think with the field of candidates, with the exception of ron paul that have withdrawn their candidacies at this point, i think michele bachmann and tim polenti, maybe it has something to do with the minnesota nice aspect, but the other thing is i'm not sure mitt romney wants to appear with some of the members of this field because they're seen as extremist and not popular with independents.

it's a very fine line that mitt romney has to walk, and he needs the support of many in his party in part because of states like ohio. the ohio republican party will tell you the reason obama beat mccain in 2008 is because a lot of republicans stayed hope. they were not energized. >> that's what i was getting ready to say, he has to have the base, even some of the far right, and he is going to see san tomorrow tomorrow, so how does he win? you covered him, does he have the political skill to bring his party together from both sides and the middle of the party, and still appeal to the independents? does he have that kind of political skill? >> part of that is that it's something that we'll see as he campaigns against the president throughout this campaign. i mean, a lot of republicans will tell you he is much better as a governor than he is as a

campaigner. can that get you through a general election? well, i don't know about that, but if you think about what newt gingrich said yesterday, he said, is he better than obama? more conservative than obama? yes, but mitt romney doesn't want to talk so much about himself, his record, or policies. he wants to keep this as a referendum on the president. so far as all of these republicans are saying, at least he is better than obama, that is in many ways what mitt romney wants. he didn't want to talk as much about himself. >> steve, i know some conservatives would say yeah, but the democrats have their bat battles too. i remember in 2008, there was a fierce battle between senator obama and senator clinton. let me show you how hillary clinton endorsed now president obama. >> today, as i suspend my

campaign, i congratulate him on the victory he has won and the extraordinary race he has run. i endorsement, and throw my full support behind him. and ski all of you, to join me in working as hard for barack obama as you have for me. >> now, you compare that with newt gingrich yesterday talking about mitt romney. >> you know this is not a choice between mitt romney and ronald reagan. this is a choice between mitt romney and the most radical leftist president in american history. >> you understand what i'm saying? there were shots, and a lot of personal attacks, and race was involved in all of that in the obama clinton race, but she was unequivocal. newt and them had a bruising

primary, and it was like if he wasn't running against president i wouldn't be standing here. it was not an embrace. >> and not all primary battles are created equal. you ran in 2004 in one of the most harmonious we have ever seen. in 2008 there was one that was long, epic in legitimangth, and that vicious. i would go back to 1980 when it was ted kennedy against jimmy carter. and the democratic convention, carter wants to latch hands c can -- kennedy and kennedy would not shake his hand. >> and he lost. >> let me bring this to you, he is really trying bringing back

the conservatives, he met with some of the conservative bloggers. it was reported the meeting -- the huffington post, romney told them to work closely with their outlets and will help conservative outlet's writing about obama with opposition research. so he is having meetings and promising to help provide them with research. so, in one hand you may say he's not trying to appeal to people, on the other hand, he is trying to get them to come on and do a number for them. >> i point out to you this, the romney campaign and mitt romney himself, have not granted much access to the media. they don't trust the media. he has been saying that more and more recently. in order to win a presidential race, especially against an

incumbent that's popular, you need to get your message out into the media. they need some kin of outlet. so it's more about figuring out where they can do that, and if they don't think the mainstream press will treat them with fairness, and i would say they have been fair, but i don't think the romney campaign sees it that way, they need to go somewhere and that's where their headed. >> i think at the end of the day they want to vote out barack obama and romney will be fine, but there are limits to this. we saw it with the gay advisor. the one that i'm looking to is what will he do on immigration? he will -- >> and who will be the vice presidential candidate. >> thanks for joining me this evening. >> ahead, documents taken from inside bin laden's compound the night he was killing emerge, the same day the king of hype, carl

rove, rips the president over hype. plus this openly gay romney spokesperson forced out and anti-gay conservatives are celebrating. and george zimmerman's case shined a light on the stand your ground law in america. now there is a new case in florida that's just as curious. 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! my high school science teacher made me what i am today. our science teacher helped us build it. ♪ now i'm a geologist at chevron, and i get to help science teachers. it has four servo motors and a wireless microcontroller.

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. welcome back to "politicsnation," today, the "new york times." publics new details about the resignation of romney's openly gay advisor. the times says that the romney campaign was acutely aware of the backlash against renell from social conservatives. one told the times that "it's not that the campaign cared whether rick was gay, but they didn't want to confront the religious right" now anti-day leaders on the right o celebrating. >> this is a huge win for the pro-family community. he will not make this mistake

again. there is no way in the world that mitt romney is going to put a homosexual activist on his campaign. >> this year, the conservative cpac conference panned a republican gay rights group because of their support of marriage equality. but top republicans like boehner and mcconnell were all too happy to speak at the conference anyway no matter who was excluded. we're seeing the agenda at the state level too. in north carolina rps are trying to rewrite the state constitution to enshrine a ban on gay marriage already in the books. they call it bigotry on the ballot. we saw the gop's views on gay rights in full display on the presidential primary. >> my opinion is that marriage is between a man and a woman.

that's been my view. >> so a gay couple with kids is not considered a family to you? >> all of these questions aren't about what people are concerned about right now. >> what would you do with same sex couples that got married. >> their marriage would be invalid. >> do you intend to circumvent the progress made for gay and lesbian soldiers in the military. >> joining me now is a columnist from the huffington post and author of "crazy for god" does this episode highlight the power of the far right, social conservatives, and the gop? >> yes, and it's part of a pattern. and that is that the republican party used to have fringe activist like me when i was in the religious right, which i write about in my book, why i

got out of the religious right about 30 years ago now. we were on the fringe, now the fringe has taken over the party, and when you have someone like mitt romney who, either is or pretends to be more moderate, when a conflict comes up with the folks who a anti-gay, anti-immigrant, anti-african-american, he will throw his hat into the ring because he wants to hold on to the base vote. so take the gop war on women that has been launched by the roman catholic bishops with the support of the pope. here you have a candidate cow toeing. and when it comes to this instance, you have richard gernell just tossed out like so

much baggage. told to keep his mouth shut so he will not embarrass them. it's anyone they can bully and go after them. >> frank, what is fascinating to me, you were part of the right, the far right, in the republican party. and you said that you were part of that, you were friends on the outside. now you're saying they are the leadership of the party. and you wrote this -- let me read what you wrote in the blog. it was was interesting to me. can you really picture jesus defining religious liberty as the right to deprive women and gay men and women of their basic rights to employment, marriage equality, and family planning? >> that's your statement. >> yeah. well you know, when i heard this story breaking, i took the opportunity of writing my blog on the subject, and i'm a

christian. ly be in church next sunday, but i'm not a right wing fanatic. and i got out of the party because it has been taken over by people who sadly believe what i believed wrong and and sincerely 30 years ago. today, the difference is as i said before, and will say again, people like me used to be on the inside knocking on the door of people like ronald reagan, gerald ford who invited us to the white house. but we didn't run anything. now people with our views are either running the party or people like mitt romney are running so scared. the people at the top like karl rove done believe these issues at all. they get them to vote against their own economic interests.

>> so they can achieve power. >> to give you an example dr liberty university is where he will speak at the graduation next week which banned the democratic club on campus for supporting same-sex marriage and lgbt rights. withdraw from cpac the question to have a gay rights group. >> he is going to have to be in very deep water here. the fact of the matter is the majority of the american people believe in gay rights. the majority of the gay people are not trying to take contraceptives away from women like roman catholics in their institutions, and going even further and lying about the first -- the president of the united states and saying he is anti-religious because he won't let them deprive women who work

for these million billion dollar corporations the catholics run on health care. so sooner or later romney will have to say i'm with the people or i will let this fringe run everything i say. the bishops, thehe will have to choose. i he he is such a moral coward when it comes to saying anything meaningful, for instance, about a young woman called terrible names. he would not go against rush limbaugh, i'm definitely going to have you back, thank you for being here tonight, next time let me know how you really feel. >> thank you, i appreciate what you do. >> stay with us, ahead, still ahead, rove's new claim that president obama is trying to "cheapen bin laden's death with hype" really, mr. rove?

the kind of hyperthat would put a mission accomplished banner on an aircraft carrier. tough new questions about one of the gop's rising stars, marco rubio. many want to see him on the ticket, but he brings baggage too. i am going to become facebook friends with our babysitter. no. these work, right? no. all right. mom! look what i found in the shed! no! no! no! ♪

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willard is giving up before

the general election so the race is on to bis his number two. one name that keeps popping up is marco rubio. he is from a swing state, he is latino, and a tea party favorite. we learned that last month the federal election commission fined rubio $8,000 for accepting campaign contributions above the legal limit and taking corporate donations. and "the fec has also raised questions about irregular contributions to his leadership pac." this is not the first time he ran into trouble with the books. the speaker was charged $100,000 to a republican credit card. some were personal charges. one was mini van repairs, plane

tickets for his wife, he says those are legitimate. >> it's important people understand that i did not bill personal expenses to the republican party of florida. but i should not have done it that way, lesson learned. >> there are also questions about the company he keeps, congressman david rivera under investigation by the fbi and irs for campaign finance violation. was not charged, but prosecutors said he was living off campaign contributions, but rubio is sticking by his buddy. >> and you're raising money for him. >> he is a friend. he asked me to attend a fundraiser. he is accountable to the people of his district. >> yep, willard will be keeping a close eye on senator rubio, and we will too. g business grows with snow.

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we're back on "politicsnation" with some amazing revelations from the bin laden files. a knewly released stash of secret letters seized in the raid that ended his life one year ago this week. it revealed that he told his deputies to assassinate president obama and general david petraeus buzz unprepared vice president joe biden would automayically assume the presidency, the united states would enter crisis mode. another letter shows that bin laden's aids wanted to launch a media campaign in the united states for the 10th anniversary of the september 11th attacks. one suggested a special interview with a u.s. television network. they would accept this so to get

an exclusive press scoop. the first interview since ten years ago. that's a quote of one of the aides of osama bin laden. we're also learned that obama was deeply frustrated. they write that bin laden was not as many thought the puppet master pulling thestrings with actions of regional groups claiming affiliation with kaye. he was burdened with what he saw. while osama bin laden was struggling with how to dane control, president obama was giving the command to have him killed. he spoke to brian williams about making the decision to order the raid. >> i stayed up late and i woke up early. i felt i had examined every

aspect of the operation. we had been preparing for months. at that point you have some serenity, knowing you made the best decision you can, and in that situation you do some praying. >> joining me now is wesley clark, a former nato commander and now chairman and ceo of wesley clark and associates and also david corn, his new book is called "show down" he is also the author of "hubris" the scandal and selling of the iraqi war. general, we ran against each other in 2004, got to know each other. >> you were the guy that welcomed me into the race, i will never forget that. >> that's right.

let me ask you first, you heard what was in these documents, what can you tell us, and what do you think they tell us about bin laden's life and hiding and how degraded al qaeda was. >> i think shows we were effective in disrupting their demand and control. but until you take out the top man, you have not permanently disrupted it. if there was any problem along the line, osama bin laden would have regains control and have been a threat. i think it was a wise decision for the administration to tell the cia to get off your you know what, get a plan and take him out, and a tough call and a right call for the president to do so when we have the intelligence two years later. >> many republicans have told us that any president would have made the same decision, let me

show you this. ♪ >> to now take credit for something that any president would do is indicative of the kind of campaign we're under, we're seeing. >> i don't think it was a tough decision to not make that decision it seemed to me would be dumbfounding. i can't imagine any president not making that decision. >> but donald rumsfeld, who we just heard, called off a similar raid in 2005 in pakistan. "new york times" reported "the target was a meeting of al qaeda leaders and mr. rumsfeld felt it

was dumber sm and would put too many lives at risk." >> we have been talking about this all week long, the example you gave here is the proof that these are hard decisions. anyone -- i joked about this, but mitt romney and the others should read my book because i go into the decision making for all of these meetings. the last meeting when he was talking to brian, the meeting ended and he went home and thought about it overnight. bob gates and joe biden both told him don't go yet, get more intelligence, other people wanted a missile strike, but if he had, which the president was opposed to, we never would have gotten this treasure-trove of documents that we're pouring over today. we're looking at 17 out of

thousands of documents. it was a difficult call, a test case in presidential decision making. it staggers me that mitt romney, who wants to be president, doesn't understand that. >> it's not only donald rumsfeld, you have karl rove saying in the wall street adjourn today "someone forgot that too much hype cheapens the moment." you know the decision as a military general and you have been in politics. how do you deal with the toughness of the decision and is this too much hype? >> for three or four decades, the republicans thought they had a monopoly. president obama is the first with an opportunity to change that dynamic, and the republicans would love to have the conventional dynamic. they're the daddy party, and the democrats are the mama party, they can't do it now.

this was a tough real call. so sure they're going to rule out every weak argument they can to undercut president obama's claim. it was a tough decision, and deserves the credit for it. if karl rove thought he could get the credit, he would. >> david, i hear you laughing, in your book "hubris" rove had sought to divide the elector rate on the national security issue and exploit the public's fears for the president's benefit. >> yeah, let me just say i co-wrote that book with michael.

and you know, there are two words that are missing from the wall street journal piece today, and they are mission accomplished. talk about hype. walk across the flight deck of an aircraft carrier in a flight suit, and he is saying the president is hyping something. literally he should be laughed off of the newspaper pages for even suggesting that he has the standing to accuse anybody else of hyping what is an accomplishment when they hype something that wasn't even an accomplishment. >> general let me ask you before we run out of time, john boehner said the president did a good job. he said he did better than president bush. >> i have been very supportive of the president's decision. when you look at the pos cushion of the war effort against the enemy in the triable areas, there has clearly been more done

under president obama than under president bush. >> there you go. pick it up, frame it, bottle it, and nail it on a wall, use it because it is true. >> thank you both for joining me tonight. >> thank you. >> ahead, the trayvon martin shooting put the controversial stand your ground law in the spotlight. now we have a new case worth looking at. and republicans my father fig, the god father of soul. on what would have been his 79th birthday.an i thought "i can't d, it's just too hard." then there was a moment. when i decided to find a way to keep going. go for olympic gold and go to college too. [ male announcer ] every day we help students earn their bachelor's or master's degree for tomorrow's careers. this is your moment. let nothing stand in your way.

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there's a case in florida that's getting a lot of attention and a lot of questions, a woman facing 20 years in prison for an incident where no one was hurt. it's curious and next. if you're one of those folks who gets heartburn and th treats day afr day... well, shoot, that's like checking on your burgers after theye burnt! [ male announcer ] eat your frequent artbn by blocking the acid with prilosec otc. d don't get heartburn in the first place! [ male announcer ] oneill day. 24 hours. zerheartburn.

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>> the trayvon martin shooting brought a lot of attention to florida's controversial stand your ground law. there's another curious case right around the area that has many asking whether the law is applied fairly. this is marisa alexander. sh 31-year-old mother of three is facing 20 years in prison after being convicted of aggravated assault for firing a warning shot into the ceiling of

the home she shared with an abusive husband in august of 2010. minutes before she fired that shot, her husband flew into a jealous rage and said if i can't have you, no one can have you. she was put on probation for attacking her and sending her to the hospital the prior year. and the husband admitted to beating other women in the past. but the judge rejected the stand your ground defense saying there was insufficient evidence she reasonably believed that deadly force was needed. today a motion for retrial was denied. it's a curious case to say the least and we want to get to the bottom of it. joining me from jacksonville is charles broward who has been covering the case. he is writing about the judge's decision to retry the trial.

and ken padowitz, thank you both for being here. charles, take me through what we know about happened in this story, why wasn't this a stand your ground case? >> it's not, and you have to understand the media did not get involved in this case until really after the trayvon martin case. so we're all playing catch up on this. we weren't in the trial. but i have taken a look at the stand your ground ruling, and the judge basically sited four reasons why she denied it. first it began with marisa in her own testimony apparently admitted that she really wasn't injured in the incident. that mr. grey hit a door and the door hit her in a leg, she didn't sustain an injury. the judge also said that alexander had the opportunity to stay out of the house, but came

back into the house armed with a gun. she questioned whether or not the garage door -- she went to the garage -- >> where it operated or not. >> let me stop you right there. she came back into the house. you know my position on stand your ground is i'm opposed to it, but i also feel you can't have different applications different times. mr. padowitz, how is if she had been hospitalized a year before, he has a record, and he told her if he couldn't have her, no one could, and she had a child nine days before, how does this not qualify for stand your ground. >> you're correct in questions on this case. it's a prime example of the abomination of the stand your ground law. it relies on the decision aggression of a judge at a

hearing to determine whether or not the law applies in this particular case. from the facts i have seen, not being in the courtroom, she never left the house, part of the rar gag, part of the house. she could not get out, she had to come back into the house in order to exist through the front door. >> ken, she's facing 20 years, and no one was hurt. she said she shot the ceiling, whatever happened, no one was hurt. >> that's the injustice here, the stand your ground law is not being applied with many believe it should, but now we have minimum mandatory seasonsing laws here where the judge's hands are tied. once a jury convicted her of aggravated assault and discharging the weapon, there's a minimum mand doir of 20 yea--y of 20 years. >> so the discharge of the gun,

a minimum 20 years -- she was offered a plea to be fair. >> that seems to be more of the issue. not if it was stand your ground or if she was guilty or not. i think the real issue is the sentencing. there sf two ways to have aggravated assault with a deadly wept, it's three years or 20 years. that's what the controversy is here. she had an opportunity to take a plea deal offered to her up to three days before the trial, the friday before the trial started on tuesday, so a few days before the trial. i think that's become the issue here. the stand your ground is something that, you know, stst a very suggestive process. even today in court, the judge was unable to really -- >> but ken, do you think a lawyer will be criticized for not advising her to take the plea? i mean, how do you get around this disparity from three years to 20? >> i'm certainly not in the

shoes of that lawyer, don't know all of the facts, but from what i know there are serious questions for the lawyer. did he not explain to her in detail the chance she was taking in florida with the minimum mandatory sentencing laws. the prosecution should step up here after the conviction and get rid of the 20 year minimum mandatory. it afears to be very unfair. >> it's the law you say -- >> it's the prosecutors discretion, they can look at the faks of the case and ask the judge to come down, get rid of the 20 year minimum land tire, and apply a sentence that is fair in this case. >> charles, this young lady will be sentenced on may 11th, she faces 20 years of a record of

abuse, the husband threatened here, i'm sure there are thousands of stand your grown conservatives there mar ring for her, right? >> yeah, and that's what drew the attention here in jacksonville will small protests. >> i'm talking about the big stand your ground guys, that's what i thought -- charles, thank you so much for your time tonight, ken padowitz, thank you both for being here tonight -- >> thank you, sir -- we'll be back to celebrate the birth and legacy of james brown. [ male announcer ] the inspiring story

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we were gonna be successful. he would never give up on any of us. that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm. for half the calories plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8.

♪ . >> the performance of the night on "the voice." a cover of "a man's world. "five years after his death, james brown and his work resonate with millions of america. he had 89 songs on the billboard top 100 helping popular soul and funk. today is his birthday. he would have been 79 years old. james brown game like a father to me over the years mentoring me from an early age. in 1974 i had a chance and an honor to be with my mentor on soul train. >> we know in the recording industry they give a gold record to those that sell a million.

we view it has a black record because it's relevant and says many of the things that young blacks have been trying to say and express. >> i would not be where i ammed today without the help and guidance of him. he taught me more than anyone in the civil rights movement about how to stand up, not compromise, and be a man and push things as far as they can go. he also taught generations of americans how to get down. ♪ baby ♪ he taught me a few of those moves too, i showed them off when i appeared on saturday night live in november of 2003.

>> you're an old man. not too old to do this -- hit it -- ♪ i feel good ♪ i knew that i would i feel good, i knew they would ♪ >> and that's before i lost the weight. i would show you now, but i don't want to interview with chris matthews getting on the good foot in a few minutes, happy birthday to james browne, i lost him, but it's my father's birthday today, something they both wanted me to reconcile with my father. i learned the best way to deal with losing those you love, is live the life they helped pay a price for you to do what you want to do. thanks for watching. "hardball" starts right