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tv   NOW With Alex Wagner  MSNBC  June 15, 2012 12:00pm-1:00pm EDT

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>> joining us now is telemundo's jose bellart. always a pleasure to see you. >> pleasure is mine, thanks. what a day as far as many in the latino community. this is a big deal. >> jose, it is a big deal. you and i have talked a lot on this program and i know you talked on other programs about the administration's deportation record. we know that last year, there were a record 396,960 deportations in 2011. this seems to be a change for the administration. it also can affect up to we're hearing 800,000 children who are in this country illegally. tell us how you think this plays out among -- >> the administration -- >> -- the hispanic community. >> yeah. the administration would tell you this is an evolutionary process. this isn't really just a one big shot thing that they're announcing for the first time. as we know, this week will be the first anniversary of the administration's announcement that they would try to defer
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some deportations as they dealt with a 300,000 cases that were in deportation process and try to move those that weren't criminals away from the focus. now they say that the next evolutionary step is to deal with specifically the hundreds of thousands of kids who essentially would have been benefited by the dream act, had congress been able to deal with it favorably, according to the administration. so it's interesting because this really has a direct impact on those kids that know no other country but the united states of america. they had to have been brought to the united states before they were 15 years of age, been here at least five years, have some kind of high school graduation diploma, be in college or, you know, in process of education, and it's similar to what the administration announced last year as far as it is a directive to all of the federal agencies
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on how to deal with this process. let's just hope that this directive gets all the way down to the judges and the people that are making the decision which has a direct impact on many hundreds of thousands of people's lives. >> i want to open it up to the panel a little bit. governor rendell, a lot of the show, the show we had planned was talking about yesterday's dueling speeches. the president versus mitt romney's. what this decision has done and what the president's remarks at 1:15 in the rose garden will do presumably is change the narrative in a big way, which is to say put the focus back on the subject of immigration, a place mitt romney does not want to go. in that sense, a masterful stroke from the president. >> i think it puts governor romney in a difficult position. what does he do here. he's damned if he attacks it and he's damned with his base if he supports it. i think it's a very difficult position. i would like to see the president go one step further, though. we ought to make by right anyone who graduates from a college or graduate school in the u.s.
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automatic green card and the road to citizenship. we take the brightest and the best foreign students who come here, who want to stay here, who want to open businesses here, and we send them out of the u.s. it's crazy from an economic development standpoint. >> luke, sage of capitol hill, the president has vaulted over congress' head hoarere. a lot of us are surprised you can even do this, going above congress. you are obviously here, not on the hill, but what do you presume the reaction will be among republicans? >> i spoke to a few republicans before i came over here, house operatives and folks in the senate. the first thing is this is another massive executive power grab, this president is overstepping his bounds, not adhering to the will of the power. ironically, we talk about the dream act. in 2010 at the lame duck session the dream act had a real chance of passing, got through the house. in the senate it got 55-41. five democrats voted against it. baucus, hagan, nelson, prior, tester. three republicans voted for it,
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bennett, luger, murkowski. had the five democratic senators voted for it it would have become law. the president could have passed it through. it never happened. so there is reluctance also, i think we have to see, from some of the conservative democrats over in the senate this is going to make them uncomfortable. i'm curious to see how it will play in a place like nebraska. down in florida, bill nelson will grab ahold of this as a good thing. but overall, this is a political move and in the most important thing, we haven't touched on it yet, he is now going to drown out mitt romney, who is launching his five-day bus tour. the bus tour will not get nearly the same traction as it had. that's the first thing republicans are griping about more than anything else. >> jose, i want to ask you, the president is scheduled to address the national association of latino elected and appointed officials next friday. we know polling numbers show nbc news/"wall street journal" poll shows the president leading by 30%, sometimes 40% among the hispanic community. sort of what chance does mitt romney have or do the republicans have to try and win
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back some support from the hispanic community given the fact it looks like the white house is going to be making a concerted effort to put immigration on the front burner and put republicans in a tough spot in terms of legislation? >> you know, everything has to be seen through the prism of election politics. seconds after the federal government and the obama administration released the information what the president's going to be saying in the rose garden, seconds after that some democrats sent me the list of what romney had said about the dream act and about immigration reform. you know, there's always some politics involved. i would like to agree with both luke and the governor on a couple of issues. the republicans are going to have a very difficult response now because what essentially the president is announcing today is a suggestion marco rubio has been working on and i would say that what i have heard marco
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rubio's working on is far more inclusive than even what the president is announcing now. are you going to criticize as a republican the president's decision when many that applaud marco rubio may see him come out with something even larger for the hispanic community in the future? it's a very tough call. on the other hand, we have to remember as the governor said, this is only deferment for two years. this is not a solution. this is not citizenship. this is not residency. the green card down the line. this is a two-year hiatus from being deported. >> but back to the panel for a second, ben, in terms of mitt romney and marco rubio's plan, he's sort of, i keep using the phrase delicate ballet. that seems to be a phrase i made up this week but it is a delicate ballet when it comes to mitt romney and any specific piece of legislation or policy. he's had sort of a weird dance with marco rubio specifically over the dream act where everybody loves marco rubio and
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what he represents and what he could represent in terms of the elec electorate for mitt romney but he's been loathe to say i stand by this. to jose's point, even if rubio does come out with far-reaching policy prescription, it's unclear if romney would give that a bear hug. >> he likes to say he's examining it, that he would rather have a comprehensive solution. obama has put him in a difficult position. he can if he wants, republicans on capitol hill are going to yell about balance of powers and executive privilege. nobody cares about that. obama sort of stuck his finger in the eyes of these congressional leaders and is sort of daring them to make this a fight about process. when in fact you've got basically american kids with very appealing stories, who have been going up to mitt romney saying why can't they be citizens. hard thing to answer. >> an aide to marco rubio says the white house did not consult with rubio's office before announcing this which i guess, does that surprise us that much? >> it doesn't surprise us. actually, there's kind of a very
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well thought out scheme that they're putting out here, i mean scheme as in the process, because they do have a path for letting the students stay in the united states permanently through a way you could apply for work authorization, you could get your two-year permission extended, but what this does is basically kill this as any significant congressional debate before the election because you have the solution right now. it also shows as we look and examine this election that whoever has the white house can always get that extra arrow out of their quiver. the obama white house has a list of executive orders. this isn't the last one. they have been putting them out. the most you could say i suppose is why haven't they done this sooner, because if they thought they had the power to do it, there are a lot of people that -- >> long time between now and november. >> the administration had deported more than any other. that nullifies that in the latino community. >> they still have that so as an
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issue, this is effective immediately and the press conferences are going to start this afternoon, affirming what obama has said. >> jose, before we let you go, we haven't even talked about the fact that the supreme court of course is going -- is debating the arizona immigration law, the decision on that is supposedly coming down the next few weeks which will again keep this issue in the ether, much to perhaps mitt romney's chagrin. >> yeah, but you know what, what this does is politically speaking it sends a very clear message to the people that support barack obama in the latino community and that may have felt they weren't going to come out to support him as vociferously as they did in 2008. he's reminding them as he said last year, know who your friends are. some of the people in the audience said well, friends act and now he's saying essentially i'm acting, who do you want in
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the white house. >> jose diaz bellart, great to see you. thanks for your time. coming up, we will talk about mitt romney's magical mystery bus tour, next. [ male announcer ] what's in your energy drink? ♪ power surge, let it blow your mind. [ male announcer ] for fruits, veggies and natural green tea energy... new v8 v-fusion plus energy. could've had a v8. mine hurt more! mine stopped hurting faster... [ female announcer ] neosporin® plus pain relief starts relieving pain faster and kills more types of infectious bacteria. neosporin® plus pain relief. for a two dollar coupon, visit neosporin.com.
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somewhere in that long speech of his yesterday, the president spoke of giving people a fair shot. i could not agree more. and he isn't giving the middle class a fair shot when wages keep going down and prices keep going up. under president obama, more americans are living in poverty than under any president in
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history. >> that was mitt romney in new hampshire this morning, referencing president obama's speech in ohio yesterday. romney is kicking off his six state bus tour today. governor rendell, i keep trying to determine where mitt romney's strongest suit is as a campaigner, and maybe it's the debate stage because every time i see him on the stump, he leaves me feeling a little bit cold. >> there's a danger in this tour. i don't mean to be facetious although it will sound facetious. i would hardly ever be facetious. a guy who can't identify a doughnut for being a doughnut is going to run into trouble mixing with people in small towns. americans eat an awful lot of doughnuts, particularly in small towns. so the gaffe potential on this tour is enormous. >> absolutely. this is very rare for him to be out and about. he does virtually no town halls, as we know, no press conferences, not a lot of availability. so underscore what you're saying.
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this is a rare ability of people to actually see him in an unscripted environment. >> the buzz feed reporters are going to be there with their microphones and twitter feeds. every time he goes out, romney is released into the real world, inevitably something happens where it takes him off message. >> he's on the verge of this kind of al gore space where that gets into his head and he's thinking, you can see him before he talks -- >> tasty treats. >> he wants to make sure he doesn't mess it up which can at times make that worse. >> which is sort of painful. we didn't talk much about his comments about someone being involved in sport, but these weird turns of phrases make him -- >> the one i noticed from his speech yesterday, he was telling this heartwarming story about pearl harbor and he said a gentleman scrambled his aircraft with bombardment instead of bombs. i have never heard someone use the term bombardment instead of bombs except in maybe one of those uber-wonky world war ii
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films. >> you probably don't use sauce on your gander or goose. >> in terms of gaffe potential, sunday's first sit-down interview that is not fox, there's a lot there that a lot of folks on chicago will have on dvr. >> the biggest gaffe in the last two months was the president, who is as smart as can be, how could he have said the private sector is doing fine? i know he meant comparatively -- compared -- he meant compared to the public sector which is losing jobs, private sector is still gaining, but when you're in a campaign, you're thinking about every phrase you utter. >> actually, governor, the bigger mistake is why he went there in the first place. >> that's right. that's right. he's so smart. >> we talked about this during the break. i think it's an interesting tidbit when you say the president is thinking about every word. he referred to governor romney as mr. romney eight times in his
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speech yesterday, which to me seems like a calculated move to not place the -- not highlight the governor's executive experience. would you agree? >> it's a lot but i think only us focus on it. >> if somebody called you mr. rendell -- >> i would not be offended. the rule is you're supposed to go by your highest office held so tom ridge being a secretary, cabinet secretary, is higher than a governor, he should be called secretary but tom likes to be called governor anyway. you're right, i don't get it. i don't get the slightest -- >> didn't we fight the revolution to get rid of the titles? >> actually, if i -- >> shouldn't they end as soon as the term ends? >> if i were president obama i would keep calling him governor -- >> highlight his record in massachusetts. >> as governor he did a great job on that health care bill. it was awesome. >> mr. rendell has a point. >> you are the current governor of now, so the governor title is 360 degrees. in your book, "a nation of wusses" you talk about
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politicians are wusses because they refuse to admit mistakes, don't have the courage to say no to their base, they refuse to answer questions from the media. yet we're talking about poor mitt romney. he's someone who seems constitutionally incapable of the retail politicking that is incredibly necessary in this day and age. >> i think you made a terrific point. i think -- i know mitt romney is a smart, capable guy. you talk to him off camera, he knows the issues, he's loose, he can be funny. i think it's gotten into his head that he can't make a mistake and as a result, that's what informs these decisions, not to talk to the media. i think relax, mitt. be who you are. >> it's more than that, though. remember, they don't put their fund-raisers on their schedule so there's more to it than just not wanting to expose him to mistakes. i think it's a very deliberate, calculated move. you cannot find out where mitt romney is on days that they don't want to tell you. >> perfect example is when the news came that he was going to join speaker boehner.
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i'm a capitol hill reporter. i knew that before the romney campaign reporters did. >> from your hill source. >> from the hill source. >> right. >> there's a story in the a.p., the number one news service in the country, talking about casey hunt, extraordinary article, talking about how this is one of the most secretive campaigns. >> here's why it's ridiculous. he had a $3.3 million fund-raiser in chicago yesterday. do you really think we didn't know about it? okay? they're being absurd and they make themselves, i think they diminish themselves. >> they also make themselves a target of the media. the media values transparency. >> over the course, there's no campaign like a presidential campaign because the attention's riveted for at least six months, over six months the american people will start saying where is this guy, why isn't he there. >> i would say the president had a fund-raiser with sarah jessica parker last night. we knew about it well in advance. they advertised the fact. >> it looks terrible in a lot of states to do that. >> they went ahead and did it
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anyway. i think there is an emerging confidence from this president and his speech several times yesterday, he said -- he outlined what he has termed as the republican sort of vision for the future and said hey, listen, if you want that, really, go vote for these guys but if you don't want that, vote for me. in combination, i think you're beginning to see some version of swagger. >> i guess the good thing about the mitt romney bus tour is at least we know where he's going to be between now and tuesday. >> although he could be like sarah palin and keep us guessing. >> i think romney sort of wants to be seen as confronting obama, not hiding from obama. i think obama's going to try to project that swagger, that confidence, try to shrink romney down. in terms of romney's lack of availability. >> yeah. absolutely. >> i have to say, i was shocked that i didn't get an invitation to sarah jessica parker. >> do you hear that, sarah jessica parker? the real original mr. big wasn't
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invited. we have to go to break. when we come back, we will talk about the koch brothers. koch is it. is it? perhaps it is. do you see it ? there it is ! there it is ! where ? where ? it's getting away ! where is it ? it's gone. we'll find it. any day can be an adventure. that's why we got a subaru. love wherever the road takes you. wow, there it is.
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let's invest in our teachers and inspire our students. let's solve this. yoo-hoo. hello. it's water from the drinking fountain at the mall. [ male announcer ] great tasting tap water can come from any faucet anywhere. the brita bottle with the filter inside. we were talking about swishy fund-raisers. there is a huge article in politico, ben, about the koch brothers and the sort of power they are now wielding in american politics, and the thesis of the article is that perhaps the koch brothers could
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be building their own political party and almost make the two party system irrelevant due to the power of super pacs. >> there is definitely not the celebrity feel in san diego. it's more of a stolid middle american industrialists. they're talking about spending more than $400 million at this moment, not only their own money, but they've built this network of people who trust them. what's so interesting, they are building this parallel republican party. they're not all that friendly with the republican party. they're much more idealogical. ultimately it's kind of a just win, baby operation. the kochs don't want to just win the aelection. they have a broader agenda. >> this is not a merger. this is an acquisition. >> of american politics? >> of the republican party that they're into. it is a phenomenon that you have because of the way you have these campaign laws that make people, we've talked about it here, with these super pacs. what i think where they're going
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is not just to be a player in this race or that but to take over the republican apparatus. you don't want to start a third party because it's hard, ballot access rules, it's too much. why do that when you can just acquire a going concern. >> amazing -- >> $400 million is a lot of money. the other thing is at the state level, the kochs are highly, highly involved. we may have answered your question. koch is it. coming up from vegas to connecticut, meghan mccain and michael ian black will tell us about their epic road trip when they join the panel next on "now." with the capital one cash rewards card you get a 50% annual bonus. and everyone likes 50% more cash -- well, except her. no! but, i'm about to change that. ♪ every little baby wants 50% more cash... ♪ phhht! fine, you try. [ strings breaking, wood splintering ]
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what happens when you take the daughter of a prominent republican senator and a liberal comedian and put them in an rv to travel the country for a month? you meet gun lovers, anarchists
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and a whole bunch of vegas strippers. joining us now are daily beast columnist meghan mccain and actor, comedian, michael ian blac black. guys, welcome. >> thank you. >> you're selling the book. that's what i like. >> i'm allowed to say it a certain number of times before they shut us off the air. meghan, tell us how this concept came about. >> michael and i met, i was a guest on a pilot he shot and we became twitter friends. he twittered me one night really late and asked if i wanted to write a book. i said sure, i was going through a bad breakup and bad professional experience and offering to go on the road, i'm saying yes. >> you guys said let's take this dog and pony show on the road and find out what real america is like. >> it was as much about sort of discovering what other people in this country are thinking about where their country is at as much as it was about finding how
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we feel about our own country. for me, it was a lot about finding out what i think about my own country. it really helped me a lot to be with a republican, to fraternize with the enemy, so to speak, and to hang out and hear my own opinions reflected back to me. it was really interesting. >> meghan, you have done a lot of cross country travel. 2008, you logged a lot of miles. how is this -- this is -- it's a fairly obvious question but i really want to know the answer. how was this tour, what did you learn on this tour that was very different or different from what you learned in 2008? >> when i was in 2008 it was like being babysat. i literally had handlers. with michael and our companions, say yes and to everything that wasn't illegal and to some things that were -- >> read the book. >> i loved the social experiment aspect of it. this book is obviously campy and over the top, but i write books and do things for the people
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that hate politics, young people that feel disenchanted by the process and disillusioned and feel it's this elitist thing they can't relate to so working with a comedian had obvious appeal. >> governor, you are on a book tour of your own. i wonder, especially folks in the political sphere, when you go out and leave the bubble, leave the media bubble and are out there, you were going to scranton and all over the country, i wouldn't say proselytizing but talking to folks and interacting, what do you come away from those experiences having learned? >> well, you do learn things talking to people that aren't reflected in polls. i don't care how in depth the poll is, it's not the same as actually talking to people, because a poll can't transmit to you how they really feel about it, is there anger, is there this, is there that. it's a wonderful experience because this is a diverse country. pennsylvania is an incredibly diverse state. i wanted to ask the guys, did
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you eat anything on your tour that you hadn't ever eaten before? elk? >> alligator. >> in new orleans. >> alligator sausage. i wouldn't recommend it. >> how about doughnuts? those tasty treats. >> we ate so much bad food on the road, i gained 15 pounds. we ate fast food, fried food, barbecue. >> one of the great things about being on the road, nothing counts. whatever you eat, whatever you drink, whatever you smoke, nothing counts. >> what happens in vegas, stays in vegas. michael, in the book you write, one of the things, there are some lessons in the book here. one of the things you write is the two party system seems antithetical to our notion of a free market. the game is rigged so that it's nearly impossible for a third or fourth or fifth party to get off the ground. we wouldn't stand for it in business but don't have much of a problem with it in governance. did you get a sense people are hungering for a third party or -- >> not so much that they're
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hungering for a third party so much as they're hungering for a voice that's theirs. that the two parties have become so corporateized and monolithic, everyday americans have a hard time looking at these parties saying that's where i fit, that's me. it's as if there were just two different pizza companies in the world, papa john's and domino's, you would say they kind of deliver pizzas but they're not my favorites. >> it's good enough for pizza, it's good enough for the country. meghan, i'm always interested in this topic. you wrote i do not completely understand the allure and taboo associated with marijuana. the few times i have partaken in smoking pot it has been a mild experience. it is a substance that will alter your mind frame and judgment but as someone who is highstrung and has a natural tendency to get nauseated i can see its appeal. this is what you learned on the road. >> i was living in los angeles at the time and i was shocked by marijuana culture and how it was absolutely everywhere that i
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went in los angeles, so the wheels were already turning. then we went on the road and smoked marijuana and a lot of things happened in new orleans and we started having real conversations about why it isn't legalized in america. once i started doing the research on what decriminalizing, regulating and taxing marijuana would do for the economy, i thought the social taboos are why people don't come out in support of it. >> so much better than hydro fracing. >> we were talking during the break that there has been some rumor mongering and reporting -- >> was it our friends at huffington post? >> what were they saying? >> it was time-stamped 3:30 a.m., i'm not sure. the speculation was that the october -- obama's october surprise will be marijuana legalization. >> i was actually excited about that. >> you're already voting for him is the thing. >> romney all the way, honey. team romney, trust me. >> did you -- >> would that sway you? >> no. no. >> so much for the october surprise. granted, you said you wrapped up
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the book tour last -- was it last july? >> last year. >> insofar as americans are looking towards, you got a sense of people being excited about the upcoming elections or feeling like -- we talked about the third party system and people feeling represented, how broad was the sense of disenfranchisement generally speaking in terms of politics? >> vast and deep. >> yeah. >> i think people believe in america far more than they believe in our political system right now. i think people really -- >> it was shocking for me, actually. i think i live in this sort of media bubble. it was shocking to hear just how angry americans are not at politicians but the media as well. i don't know, a lot of people seem very hesitant to claim that i'm a democrat or republican on the road, which i was personally shocked by. however, ron paul supporters will tell you in the first two seconds that you meet them they're a ron paul supporter and he should be emperor of everything. >> they are as annoying as vegans when it comes to that. >> i have to close this out by asking what everybody wants to
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know. what's it like being on the road with meghan for a month? were there candid photos? you guys look like you were having a great time sleeping in rvs and so forth. >> it was a platonic relationship. let me clarify. >> let's be fair. is there a llama in that photo? >> we had an amazing time. meghan mccain, you would think, is just like a great time on the road. she's even more fun than you might think she is. >> she's even more fun. >> everyone, governor, come on with me. alex, let's all go. >> take it on the road 24/7 american public wants it. the book is "america you sexy bitch." meghan mccain, michael ian black, thank you. >> sounds like a great beach read. >> it's a fun read. >> after the break, as father's day approaches, we are asking what does it mean to be a man in america today? joel stein will have a few answers when he joins us next.
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president obama will be home in chicago for father's day this sunday. here to discuss father's day on our panel, i'm joined by a man who is terrified at the prospect of being a father. in "man-made, a stupid quest for masculinity" joel stein writes about the first moment he found out his wife was having a boy. quote, when i look at the tiny splotch of doppler weather pattern on the screen and the doctor says we're probably having a boy, i have my first panic attack. i am picturing having to go camping and fix a car and use a hammer and throw a football and watch professionals throw footballs and figure out whether to be sad or happy about the results of said football throwing. i hope the doctor is wrong. "time" magazine's joel stein joins us now from burbank. i don't know what it means to be a television host because i can't get the words out.
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did you find out what it means to be a man in america? >> yeah, i think i did. i went and because i was a kid who grew up with like a glass animal collection and ez bake oven. i only listened to musicals until i was in junior high. i figured i needed to be able to cope with a boy. i went out and tried to do all the things i should have done earlier in my life. i went -- >> sorry to cut you off. in the book you talk about embarking on a quest of manliness which included camping with boy scouts, basic training in the army and this is my favorite, getting beaten up, a lesson all boys should learn on the road to becoming men. >> yeah. i didn't know exactly how to go about getting beaten up. i don't know if you walk into a bar and insult someone's woman so i did what all wimpy people do, i called a publicist. i called the publicist of the ufc, ultimate fighting championship, and i asked if i could fight one of their fighters, knowing they would say no because they have lawyers and
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this is a horrible idea and instead they called me back and said this was a great idea and they would get me in the ring with randy couture, who i then looked up and is a very, very scary man. then i couldn't back out at that point. i went and got trained and i went in the ring for five minutes with randy couture. i'm proud to say he works up a sweat beating me up. >> i like in the book you said when you declined going forward for a second round with randy, you wrote i did not expect to feel so depressed about not fighting randy couture for a second round. i want to open this up to our panel as we talk about the role of sort of manliness and fatherhood and the american imagination. governor, you and i were talking during the break, the introduction to your book talks about your dad and the role he played. >> yeah. i think a modern father has to be flexible and has to be able to react to what his son ultimately wants to do. you can't try to force your son to do something just because it's your idea of what you did or what you like, because that
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will backfire. you've got to give him the space to do it. that's important. on the other hand, a son will often look to his dad. my dad was never in politics, he was a converter in the textile industry. he loved fdr, loved adlai stevenson. the only time i saw him cry, he died when i was 14, was the night stevenson lost in '52 to eisenhower. the strong, proud man, we heard it on the radio at a grocery store, walking back home, there were tears coming down his eyes. so i say in the book my love for politics and government and the democratic party, i come by it honestly. i think the key is just be flexible. see what your kid likes, don't try to force your kid into little pockets. >> the point i find fascinating, when i see little kids now, they are always hooked up to some sort of screen. i was next to a kid on a flight, he had an ipad going, iphone, had a kindle all going at the same time. he was only probably about 15 years younger than i was, probably 10 years old.
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i'm 26, so 11. but the point being, we're so close in generation, yet he had a completely different upbringing because i learned how to play sports and go out in the field. i thought to myself some day when i'm a dad, how am i going to react to the kids with the screen. i read this book called "a good man," and it said just love them. that's the way my dad was with me. that's all you can really ask for. >> when we talk about -- >> also, parental controls. >> yes. >> and ben, you are a dad, too. i want to talk about sort of the father figuredom in american politics. we have two men running for office who are both fathers but incredibly different kinds of dads. president obama is a very 21st century kind of dad insofar as he talks about the feminine energy in his household. you get the sense michelle obama sort of wears the pants. >> he talks a lot about how the only man in the house with him is bo the dog. his mother-in-law, the two daughters and his wife, and he
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uses that i think also in a political context to appeal to women. but just think of the contrast. a man, obama, who talks about all the women he's surrounded with, and then you have mitt romney with these five grown boys. you also have the difference that the parenting is a work in progress for the obamas and it is fascinating to watch. we know from poll reports they go to school functions, soccer games almost every saturday, there's a motorcade up wisconsin avenue to where the girls play soccer. so they're involved in this real-time in raising the kids and obama talks about it. >> joel, were you looking at this sort of more mitt romney "father knows best" model when you were thinking about fatherdom and getting ready to write this book? >> governor rendell, who i have met and is all man, and lots of men said to me, you can't try and force your son to be the person he wants to be.
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he's his own person and you have to try to encourage him to be the best version of that he can be. i do want him to be exposed to lots of stuff which i think i avoided as a kid. i want him to be exposed to fixing stuff around the house and camping and sports and he may not like all those things but i want him the at least see them. as far as romney and obama, i think obama is not the scotch irish southern version of masculinity we love in this country. he's more of that british stiff upper lip, sipping tea while the bombs are falling kind of cool calm manliness that i really like, but isn't imprinted in america. >> i will leave our audience with this. you write that my dad gave me the very manliest gift, feeling safe, because once you feel safe, you can take risks. i want to make my son feel that way. the book is "man made." joel stein, thank you, sir. >> thank you. coming up, we'll take a look back at a week of heartache and disappointment on the campaign
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relationships soured this week in washington around and across the country and around the world. how many broken hearts were mended? it's time to look back and ask what just happened? >> after over a century together, two giant turtles in austria are finally throwing in the towel. >> bit a chunk of the shell off and walked away. ouch. >> the week began with heartbreak and hundred year old turtles weren't the only ones feeling disenchanted. >> we like this president but we're not in love with him like we used to be. >> idiots. first of all, the president, get
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into the white house and do your [ bleep ] duty. mitt romney, i find it disgusting. >> even obama-girl -- ♪ i got a crush on obama >> -- was questioning her devotion. >> maybe our hopes were a little unrealistic. >> mitt romney tried a hard sell. >> the president is so out of touch. >> out of touch. >> just out of touch. >> is he really that out of touch? >> while speaking from the hot tub of his luxury yacht next to a private island. >> while his fellow republicans tried to dump attorney general eric holder. >> more with sorrow than regret to join those that call upon you to resign your office. >> but as with most relationships, there are two sides to every story. >> there is so much that's factually wrong with the premises that you started your statement so i don't have any intention of resigning. >> nearby, jpmorgan's ceo, jamie dimon, faced certain heartbreak.
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>> stop foreclosures now! >> if your definition of heartbreak includes the use of kid gloves. >> we can hardly sit in judgment of your losing $2 billion. we lose twice that every day. >> which might explain his less than gloomy disposition. we were reminded that the secret to any good relationship is good communication. >> i like a colorful sock. i'm a sock man. >> they have been comparing your socks to that of justin bieber. >> bieb? i don't know much about the bieber. ♪ baby baby baby >> here's my number so call me maybe. ♪ >> and that by putting your own heart on the line, sometimes you can win back even the most jilted of lovers. >> i ask you to stand with me for a second term as president. >> you complete me.
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>> it's not just because i love job creators. it's because i love jobs. >> what a week it was. unfortunately, we have to leave it there. you can look for everybody's insightful responses to that video on twitter except governor rendell, who we are still trying -- [ speaking simultaneously ] >> thanks to luke, the governor, lynn and ben. see you monday at noon eastern, 9:00 a.m. pacific. live from washington, d.c. >> our hometown. >> until then, find us on facebook. the unstoppable chris cilizza is in for andrea mitchell. i have officially changed my name to unstoppable. i can't believe you didn't go with a breaking news headline. ed rendell still not on twitter. >> we buried the lead. >> what is this, the 20th
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century? thanks, alex. coming up, president obama's shift on young illegal immigrants. we'll carry his announcement live. romney's senior advisor will also join me to talk about the romney campaign's immigration policy. we take you inside the world of the koch brothers and their influence on the election in today's political briefing. "andrea mitchell reports" is next. yoo-hoo. hello. it's water from the drinking fountain at the mall. [ male announcer ] great tasting tap water can come from any faucet anywhere. the brita bottle with the filter inside. more than 50 times a day? so brighten your smile a healthy way with listerine® whitening plus restoring rinse. it's the only rinse that makes your teeth two shades whiter and two times stronger. ♪ listerine® whitening... power to your mouth.
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right now on "andrea mitchell reports" halting deportations. president obama tries to regain election year momentum with a major policy shift on young illegal immigrants. >> if we truly want to make this country a destination for talent and ingenuity from all over the world we won't deport hard working, responsible young immigrants whoere brought up here or received advanced degrees here. mitt romney hits the road, taking his campaign bus tour to battleground states. >> every town counts because the families who have lost a job,
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faced a foreclosure or been forced to spend the money they were saving for college just to make ends meet are not statistics. they are our fellow americans. >> is this six state swing also an audition for vice presidential contenders? also, from helicopters to combat forces, u.s. officials confirm a russian ship carrying armed troops is on its way to syria. and lessons in tweeting with matt lauer and who else, the biebs. >> i want to find out the power of bieber. we will do a little test here. let me sign on to twitter. there it is. you're faster at typing. what should be my first tweet? >> your first tweet ever should be -- >> do i get a say in this? >> i will speak very proper because i know that's how you talk. >> okay. all right. >> hello, period. >> yeah. >> next capital, hello -- >> first tweet

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