information which the romneys keep volunteering to the press, that is so private it precludes release of their tax returns. it's either the thing you want us to know or don't want us to know. you have to pick one. maybe you would prefer if we just go back to talking about abortion? now it's time for "the last word with lawrence o'donnell." have a great night. >> crazy republican todd akin refuses to take orders from rush limbaugh. but mitt romney is not a crazy republican, so he follows limbaugh's orders. >> the republican national convention is set to kick off in tampa. >> the talk of the town is not the economy but rape. >> if it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. >> he didn't say he was wrong. >> i ask for your forgiveness. this is not about me. this is not about my ego. >> all of a sudden, that hurricane isn't looking so bad

after all. >> the republican party has created a monster. >> we've been hearing a lot about ryan's position on abortion. >> there's no splitting hairs over rape. >> basically the same as todd akin. >> the vice presidential candidate has co-sponsored 38 anti-abortion bills. >> the romney-ryan economic plan. >> we have to cut spending. >> little information on the plan. >> we have a long debate about this. >> they don't offer any specifics. >> the number have to work. >> it's mathematical nonsense. >> team romney defending its decision to release only 2% of tax returns. >> i never paidless than 13%. >> the more we release, the more we get attacked. >> i never paidless than 13%. >> the republican party has created a monster. >> in just over a week, mitt romney will officially accept the republican nomination for president. >> that's the official platform of the republican party. the most conservative platform in party history. >> those aren't the voters mitt

romney needs to win this election. >> if you don't run chris christie, romney will be the nominee and we'll lose. tonight, with only 75 days until the presidential election, now republicans are attacking mitt romney and paul ryan for distancing themselves from the new hero of the anti-abortion movement, crazy republican congressman, todd akin. rush limbaugh issued this order to republicans yesterday. >> any and all of you republicans, when you are asked why you don't have a rape exception in the party platform on abortion, don't answer it. don't get into the substance. don't answer the question, republicans. don't go anywhere near it. >> and here is a local denver news broadcast earlier today.

>> political specialist sean boyd just finished an interview with romney. what did you ask him? >> i asked about five minutes with him. we got through a fair amount of material. the one stipulation is i not ask him about abortion or todd akin. >> mike hukabee came to the defense of todd akin today, writing, i'm waiting for the apology from whoever the geneiu was who thought it wise to not only shoot our wounded but run over him with tanks and trucks and then feed his body to the liberal wolves. jennifer mason of person hood usa tells the daily beast, ro. knee and ryan have turned their backs on the republican party platform in cases of rape. that's a huge problem. a new robo poll of likely voters in missouri conducted yesterday shows that claire mccaskill now

leads congressman akin by ten points, 48 to 38%. here is how todd akin's campaign manager and his son interpreted that poll. if claire mccaskill can't break 50% after a week like this, democrats should ask claire to step down. senator mccaskill does not take robo polls seriously. today she tweeted, rasmussen poll made me laugh out loud. if anybody believes that, i just turned 29. today, nbc news released its presidential election battleground map based on the latest polling. the map is exactly the same it was in june. president obama leads mitt romney, 237 to 191 electoral votes. and a slew of new polls have encouraging news. among likely voters, the president leads mitt romney in florida by three points and in michigan by three points, in

pennsylvania nine points, wisconsin by two points. and nationally by two points. joining me now, msnbc's alex wagner and chris hayes. alex, rush limbaugh magave the order yesterday, do not take any questions, answer any questions about not having any exception for rape and the abortion position of the party. mitt romney is certainly following that order. >> don't ask, don't tell. it rears its ugly head again. this is the point the republican party has sunk to. there are four days till the republican nomination. and the vice presidential nominee is talking about rape. they're in the talking about job creation and obama's record as commander-in-chief and chief executive of the country. they are talking about rape and their position on abortion in the cases of rape and incest. this could not be more uncomfortable for mitt romney.

not only that, but the whole week has exploded this position the republican party has had on issues of choice, on reproductive freedom. it's extreme and has been for years. mitt romney got into bed with dr. james wilke, this theory that women couldn't get pregnant if they're raped. and now romney is faced with the repercussions of those choices. he thought he could skate by until november with no one paying any attention to what he anything he had done what his vice presidential nominee had done. >> we suggested there was a campaign about issues when paul ryan was chosen. it turns out ryan didn't give us that, but akin did. this is a debate about issues. the abortion position is a real issue in this campaign. it's a real issue in every presidential campaign. it is the republican party

platform and there's a component of that issue that rush limbaugh and others now realize they must not talk about publicly. that's a real issue we're trying to talk about. >> yeah. it's a real issue because the amount of rape that's experienced in this country by women, also by men particularly in the prison system, but the amount of rape that women experience in the country is who riffically high. the estimates, 1 in 4 women. 30,000 pregnancies possibly a year. this is not a rare occurrence in the way that todd akin claimed it was. but to me, what's fascinating is american public opinion on abortion is very complicated. it's one of the most complicated matters of public opinion to get a fine grain analysis from a polling perspective. people's opinions and intuitions shift a lot based on how you ask the question. but the closer you get to the extremes, the more the american people recoil.

and one of the things the pro life movement did very well was fight the battle on the extremes in the other direction. the whole strategic idea behind making pro choice folks d fend partial birth abortion was to make opponents defend their most extreme positions. we are now on the exact other side of that debate in which they have to defend their most extreme positions and the polling on completely clear. the american people recoil, and i would say rightly so at the motion of forcing a woman raped to carry that pregnancy and that's the official position. >> can i also say one thing, lawrence? i think what has been, as a woman, so repugnant about this entire talking point, if you will, is the way republican parties and conservatives talk about women who have been raped. and the idea they're somehow seeking loopholes. that this is like a tax shelter. rape is an incredibly traumatic thing. even statutory rape has somehow been downgraded. that's something that's illegal in this country for a reason. there are physical, mental,

emotional repercussions here, and none of that has been taken into account in any of this discussion. this is the most tangible evidence the republican party does not emotionally care about what women go through when they're raped. nor does it create any safe harbor for victims of rape. >> i think, there's such an important issue at the center of all of this on abortion, which is no one likes abortion. so chris' point how omply kated it is to poll is very real. there's nothing positive to say about it. that doesn't mean it isn't necessary or something people will have to turn to. so polling something people generally feel negative about it's easy to get negative responses on it, depending on how you answer those questions. where it gets difficult is where you raise something like rape. and that clarifies the thinking

of most people. and most people very easy come to the conclusion that rape survivors should have the option of abortion. and once you say there should be an option, the republican position starts to fall apart. because their person is person hood, their position is, you know, citizenship at conception, and once that's your position, you can not possibly allow -- there's no such thing, chris, as a reasonable exception under that concept. >> right. i think that's exactly right. and i actually think, just from a perspective of philosophical reasoning, it's very difficult to understand how you could both adhere to the notion that the fetus of three hours duration after conception is a full person and make an exception for rape. i don't actually understand the moral reasoning. you think it's a person, you think it's a person. you think abortion is murder, you think abortion is murder. that's the view of the base of

the republican party. and also a theme throughout this campaign. there was a story written partially by conservatives around the tea party that the party was not the party of evangelicals and party of social conservatives, it was a party of fiscal discipline. it's always been the same party. you can call it whatever you want. it's the same people writing the platform, the same activists and delegates who are going to be in tampa this week. they care about this. this isn't some hand waving. they care about this, they believe in this. this is what the party represents. >> and now they're furious that mitt romney is refuting their position. >> well, alex, how much of a problem does romney have now? mike hukabee coming out clearly on the attack. that's just an attack on romney and ryan what hukabee huckabee did today. >> i think the bigger question for mitt romney lies not in the

conservative base, but as mike murphy outlines in an op-ed is with swing voters and independents. those are the ones he needs to win over. his choice of paul ryan flummoxes all of us. now he has the rape stuff, the medicare stuff, these extremist positions that he's going to have to defend because he's already courted these folks. and now he doubly as the ire of the mike huckabees and the family research council folks who said wait a second, you're undermining one of our pillar positions on abortion. >> chris hayes, that part of the republican politics was always willing to accept a wink here and there from the george h.w. bushes and others who were highly suspect into just how fervently they believed all the anti-abortion talk they got dragged into, but today anyway, that side of the party seems to be saying hey, wait a minute, you better start kowtowing to

us, too here. >> well, if you look at -- that part of the party is acendant in almost every direction. the state levels, they control all efl wills of government and done essentially everything in their power, actually implemented state policies that makes getting abortions more and more difficult. pushed the envelope, having pushing things that are sort of facial challenges to roe v. wade and the logic of roe v. wade. and so the big question has always been, at the end of the day, right, who is mitt romney going to put on the supreme court? this is a constitutional issue and it's a constitutional issue that will be decided by supreme court justices that may or may not be apointed by the next president. and we know based on what the platform is who that's going to be. it's gong to be someone who wants to overturn roe v. wade. that's the black and white fact

of the matter. >> i share senator mccaskill's disbelief she's suddenly pulled a ten-30i7b9 lee in that raten- that race. >> i would be saving my pennies and giving them to todd akin so he can stay in the race. ultimately if he stays in the race, i think it's a clear thing, but i have hard to believe there's a ten-point turnaround in a few days. >> they wanted todd akin from the beginning. they smartly dropped ad money to troll the republican base into electing him into the primary successfully. and claire mccaskill does not poll well in missouri. she's not very popular. that state is trending to the right. she has a real uphill battle in this race, even if todd akin stays in. >> she's the only person standing now between todd akin and the united states senate seat. alex wagner and chris hayes, thank you both for joining me tonight. >> thanks, lawrence. >> coming up, we have 900 pages

of new information about mitt romney's money. but not one of those pages is a tax return. the last word's taxman david k. johnston will join us, as will krystal ball. and another speaker has been added to the list of the democratic national convention speakers. she will join me tonight for an exclusive interview. and in the rewrite tonight, who's crazier? todd akin or alan west? we will leave it to some unbiased children to decide. >> alan west. >> you need a time-out. look at those toys. insurance must be expensive. nah. [ dennis' voice ] i bet he's got an allstate agent. they can save you up to 30% more by bundling your policies. well, his dog's stupid. [ dennis' voice ] poodles are one of the world's smartest breeds. are you in good hands? [ dennis' voice ] poodles are one of the world's smartest breeds. chase scene netflix coming soon extra butter tickets swoon

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mitt romney is now desperately floating yet another ridiculous reason why he will not release his secret tax returns, and this time he is hiding behind his religion. that's next with krysta ll ball

and tax reporter david k. johnson. and in "the rewrite" tonight, the man who was very clearly on his way to winning the title of craziest member of the house of representatives was suddenly overtaken this week by todd akin. but congressman alan west's campaign opponent has found a way to help people remember just how crazy alan west is. from the mouths of babes. >> get the beep out of the united states. [ engine idling ]

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and his secret tax returns, mitt romney claims a new defense. he now claims he's not releasing his secret tax returns because he doesn't want his charitable contributions in the morm s to church to be made public. in a new interview in "parade" magazine, romney lies, one of the down sides of releasing one's financial information is that this is now all public. but we had never intended our contributions to be known. it's a very personal thing between ourselves and our commitment to our god and to our church. trouble is, mitt romney. mitt romney already disclosed that to the same magazine back in december. when asked by parade magazine in december, mitt romney say, do you tithe on a regular basis? yes, i've given away 10% of what i've earned pretax. very specific there.

romney has also talked about his tithing on television. >> i made a commitment to my church a long, long time ago that i would give 10% of my income to the church. and i followed through on that commitment. >> and both romneys have talked about it in the last two weeks. >> we pay our taxes. beyond paying our taxes, we also give 10% of our income to charity. >> every year i paid at least 13%, and if you add in addition the amount that goes to charity, the number gets well above 20%. >> only mitt romney could come up with a new reason today for hiding his tax returns that contradicts both mitt and ann romney. because none of the reasons mr. and mrs. romney have given for hiding their secret tax returns have worked. they keep inventing new reasons. who can forget ann romney's

classic ammunition reason. >> why not be transparent and release more than the 2010 and the estimates for 2011? >> have you seen how we're attacked? have you seen what's happened? >> so it's because you'll just continue to face more questions? >> that -- well, it will just give them more ammunition. >> romney money hunters have a new treasure trove of documents to study, thanks to gawker. the bain files, inside mitt romney's tax dodging cayman schemes. gawker has posted more than 950 pages of internal audits, financial statements and private investor letters for 21 cryptically named entities in which romney had invested. >> david, first of all, what do you make of the 900 pages of romney money doms that came out

today? >> well, they're very revealing that romney and bain do everything they can to delay and avoid taxes. particularly 1% tax on dividends. four years ago, a bipartisan is report, norm coleman, republican from minnesota both side it's an open secret that there's tax avoidance going on through a particular kind of vehicle used in the cayman islands and elsewhere, and these audits suggest strongly that's exactly what they've been doing. if romney will avoid a 15% tax, what else will he try to avoid? that's a pretty low tax. >> one of the other things he might try to avoid is the 10% tithing that his religion likes people to comply with. and krystal, what we've just seen is both mr. and mrs. romney hide behind their religion in each way they've dealt wh

this. they say we're not going to show you the tax returns, but we pay 13% and then if you throw in the amount we give to charity, the amount we give to the church, then romney thinks that's somehow to be included in his taxes. he wants to conveniently use the church to kind of make himself look good and now the new tactic, hide behind the church to continue to hide his tax returns. >> well, it's an unbelievably flailing response after a number of unbelievably responses. it's just remarkable they had no strategy to deal with this. i think it's a sign that the romneys didn't feel like there was anything unusual about their taxes. what would people be concerned about, why would they want to know about this? what they don't understand about all of our cayman island accounts and swiss bank accounts and equity swaps. that's the problem? so from the begin, they haven't had a strategy to deal with this. they thought they could stone

wall and give no information and that could be enough to get them through. but i think what the gawker dump shows today, it shows this issue is just going to continue coming from now until election day, as long as people still have questions, which if the romneys aren't going to release tax returns and journalists are going to continue to have questions about what exactly is going on and what exactly they're hiding. >> here is more of what the romneys said about tithing to "parade" magazine. i love tithing, ann romney tells the magazine. when mitt and i give that check, i actually cry. so do i, romney adds, but for a different reason. i think this is one of the really radioactive areas for him. as you point out, here's somebody who's supposed to be paying a 35% income tax rate,

does everything he can at his level to push it all the way down on the one return we've seen to 13. could be way lower than that, as we know. it is up to him. it is up to him exclusively, isn't it, to decide how much that check to the mormon church is. he doesn't have to show the church tax returns to prove to the church that they're getting 10%, does he? >> well, to keep what's called his temple recommend, a sort of sealed approval that you're living a proper life, he would have to certify to other church officials, his bishop and stake president perhaps that he had paid 10%. but the implications the gifts could be much larnler than this. who's going to criticize them and why don't they just give away a net number of all kinds. they could easily redact that section of the return. this is silly. >> they're just worried that the

american people are going to see just how good and generous they are. that's what they're hiding in the tax returns. >> let's look at the super pac priorities usa has an ad now about romney and the defenses on tax returns. >> the fascinations with taxes i paid i find to be small minded. i never paid less than 13% . >> but under ryan's plan, he would pay 1%. that's right, while middle class families would pay $1,000 more. romney and ryan, if they win, the middle class loses. priorities is responsible for the content of this advertising. >> the new nbc news/wall street journal poll asked voters how romney's tax returns on the federal income tax rate that he pays makes themes feel. 6% say they feel more positive about him because he pays such tiny taxes.

36% say they feel more negative about him. 41% not much different. 17% didn't know enough. krystal, those are pretty problematic numbers politically. >> they're problematic numbers, especially when you have a very close election, a very close race. when you have ads made, that message is only going to get out there more and more. i love the fact that under paul ryan's plan mitt romney would pay less than 1% prk b, but we shouldn't lose sight of the fact that he pays 13%. it's somewhat offensive that paul ryan, who's also very wealthy is actually paying a higher tax rate than mitt romney. it doesn't make any sense. and it illustrates how they are two sets of rules in this country. and i think the gawker documents also illustrate that. there's one set of rules for people like mitt romney who can pay per these elaborate tax avoidance schemes and there's another stet of rules for

everybody elts. >> the ryan tax returns, he's paying a rate of about 20%, which goes pretty much without comment in the environment in which romney is paying a 13. and paul ryan has inherited millions and millions of dollars through his own family, floug his wife's family. he's a very rich person other than the standard of the romney children. but that goes kind of completely unnoticed that he's paying as low as 20 under these circumstances. >> that's low for people in his income category. most people are paying 24%, 25% of their income. it's because of the income he's required to report for tax purposes, most -- a great deal of it comes from his salary as a member of congress. and we tax wages more heavily than capital. and the fundamental goal of the ryan and romney tax plans is people who are already wealthy

will be exempted from taxes on what they earn from their wealth. no capital gains, no gift taxes, no estate taxes. that's their goal. workers would be taxed, the very wealthy would be able to live tax free. >> krystal, we don't have any of the details that mitt romney and paul ryan would favor in terms of the tax policy. ryan keeps talking about wanting to get rid of tax shelters. and i'm actually surprised that the romney campaign hasn't shut them down on ever using that phrase. it's probably a slip. he's probably not going to say that tax shelter something. but you can't get paul ryan to say oh, yeah, i'll close down can the tax settler to get ryan down to 13%. >> of course not. they're not going to be specific and they're not going to get specific on the tax loopholes they're going to close because

the numbers don't add up. you're looking at having to close a lot of loopholes that middle class families benefit from. that's why when you look at the rom know plan, such as it is, what we know about it, middle class families and lower income families will actually pay more under a romney plan if they actually do what they're proposing to do. >> thank you both for joining me tonight. >> thanks, lawrence. coming up, when congressman alan west said bat crap crazy stuff, no one in his party objected. so todd akin had every right to believe that his party had no problem with crazy. that's in "the rewrite" and now why republicans fear talking about abortion. those surprising little things she does still make you take notice. there are a million reasons why. but your erectile dysfunction

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after a very strange week of

the politics of abortion, sandra politic will join me with her reaction and i'll see if she'll tell us what she'll be saying when she speak at the democratic national convention. mom: ready to go to work? ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ every mom needs a little helper. that's why i got a subaru. announcer: love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru.

>> not a spotlight tonight, the conservative party that america needs. that's right, we do need a conservative party as long as we're going to have conservatives in this koun tr i. conservatives should have someone they could vote for. conservatives not is long ago were able to find reasonable comfort in the republican party, but that party has been taken over by radicals and now the radical republican party is making governing virtually impossible. this week's new york times columnist said true conservatives know that both ronald reagan and george h.w. bush used both tax revenue and spending cuts to fix budget short falls.

ryan led gop radicals say no new taxes, find all the savings through spending cuts. that's never going to happen and shouldn't. joining me now, three time pulitzer prize winning columnist for "the new york times," thomas friedman, co-author of the best selling book "that used to be us" that's now out in paper back. tom, you began your column saying there has been lots of talk that paul ryan's nomination means there will be a debate in this country. that's actually funny. >> the idea we're having an election, we might actually have a debate about one of the great challenges the country faces, that's number one. and number two, debt deficit entitlements are at least one of the four major challenges we face. one is immigration, second is energy and climate, third is

education in this really hyper connected world where you can not get a good job today. one that will pay a decent wage without some form of post secondary education. so, you know, the ryan plan, obviously seems to be getting us at least some aheadway, we still have the other three that are hugely important. >> let's talk about the other three that are well on their way. >> education, climate, immigration policy. what would the reasonable republican conservative positions sound like in education, and is there anyone out there who sounds like that? >> the point i'm try to make is that we don't just need debates on these issues, we actually need deals, compromises. we know that only come from a

center left or a center right. if there's no center right, there's not going to be a deal. let's say debt deficits and entitlements. there's not going to be a deal on that ground. but you have people like tom coburn, republican senator from oklahoma who was on the simpson-bowles commission, voted in favor of it, took on grover norquist for his no tax lunacy. if that were the official republican position that we do need to have some rev neuroon t on the table and spending, i think you would see a deal with obama. that's number one. on education, you have some people in the party, but during the primaries, they were calling for shutting down the department of education. yet you have jeb bush, the former governor of florida who if you listen to his education policy, teacher reform, more charters, more school choice, common core standards, there's a lot of overlap with president obama, and he said so himself.

we know romney came out with his version of drill baby drill basically. you have republicans like former congressman from south carolina who's run ang institute at george mason university who says let's have a market-based solution. it has to start with pricing honestly, that means pricing carbon emissions. and then let's let the market work when everything is priced fairly. on immigration, of course, you have rupert murdoch calling for immigration policy that deals humanely with illegal immigrants who are here and working with the most talented immigrants we need to grow our economy. you actually have republicans arguing very sane, intelligent center right positions which i

think you could have deals on all four. unfortunately, those center right positions aren't where the republican party is today. >> and tom coburn who you mentioned is willing to be talking about revenue as part of a compromise is retiring from the senate. so you have another voice going out the door. each side knew the other side was going to have to get something. each side might hate every single thing the other side wanted but they knew the other side was going to have to get some version of one of those things that they hated. and just knew that that's where it was inevitably going to end up. so they both kind of started equidistant from each other, i would say. what we're seeing now as you

describe, the ryan position on budget negotiations, is it doesn't allow the normal democrat strategic approach to that. that you used to see. it mean it freezes the democrats away from compromise because they feel if you start to take a step towards where ryan is now, there is no middle there, as you've said. >> this has been the challenge. i've been critical of president obama. i understand the din dynamic he. i get it. you have no partner there. go to the people, leverage the people. because i think, lawrence, just for the reasons you've saud,id, don't see any other way, other than leveraging the public and making them see what is at stake. because, you know, we' got this kind of scorched earth approach now to every issue. i don't have to tell you the

democratic party was made up of northern liberals, western liberals and southern conser conservatives. and the republican party was more liberal republicans in the north and con receiver tifs elsewhere. so because both parties were themselves coalitions, they had to actually negotiate within each party before they negotiated with each other. and that made the foundation for a natural compromise. >> i always found when i was working there, the negotiations within the party were the hardest one. tom friedman, author of the book "that used to be us." thanks for being with us tonight. >> pleasure, lawrence. >> >> coming up, now that the republicans are trying to win elections, suddenly they don't want to talk about abortion. alan west back tonight in the rewrite. at usaa, we believe honor is not

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. you've got to feel sorry for alan west tonight. no, you really do. i mean, think about it. the poor guy had this huge lead in his campaign to become the undisputed craziest republican in congress. and then he gets ambushed this week by crazy republican congressman todd akin, a guy most people have never heard of. but alan west's election opponent has found an absolutely brilliant way to remind vetters just how crazy alan west is. and you'll see that next in "the rewrite." ♪

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>> i believe there's about 78 to 81 members of the democratic party that are members of the communist party. get the hell out of the united states of america. [ applause ] >> he's really something, isn't he? but it's been a terrible week for alan west's previously strong campaign to become the publicly craziest member of the house of representatives. alan west easily overtook michelle bachmann when she startstart ed running nor president and tried to do an imitation of a sane person. then out of nowhere came todd

akin who created congressman headlines we have never seen. even republicans condemned their crazy republican kol lecolleagu. everyone, they all objected to what akin had to say about rape. but none of them, not one of them objected to alan west saying this about president obama. >> he does not want you to have self-esteem of getting up and earning and having that title of american. he would rather you be his slave. >> not one of those holier than todd akin republicans objected when alan west said this to debbie wasserman shultz. you are not a lady. you are the most vile, unprofessional and despicable member of the u.s. house of representatives. they did not object when alan west said, i must confess when i

see anyone with an obama 2012 bumper sticker, i recognize them as a threat to the gene pool. there's alan west, deliberately trying to say, the craziest crap he can think of just to get attention and he has to spend this week watching another crazy republican congressman get all the attention for saying something that congressman didn't even intend to be controversial at all. poor alan west. the guy works really, really hard at being publicly crazy and then this akin guy comes along and just stumbles into the craziest congressman championship. patrick murphy who's running for the same seat must have felt sorry for alan west because he

bought television time to remind voters what alan west crazy sounds like. he didn't write any of alan west's words, he just gave them to other people to recite, which is an ingenius way of helping to emphasize just how crazy alan west sounds. >> you're not a lady. >> you're the most vile -- >> vile -- >> despicable member of the congress. >> communist party. >> get that beep out of the united states. >> you're a threat to the gene pool. >> alan west said all those things and worse. but bullying and name calling has no place in the playground or congress. i'm patrick murphy and approve this message. i'll reach across the aisle. alan west -- >> you need a time-out. mid grade dark roast forest fresh full tank brain freeze cake donettes rolling hot dogs bag of ice anti-freeze

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when i was verbally attacked earlier this year, the difference between president obama and mr. romney became very clear. mr. romney could only say that those weren't the words he would have chosen. well, mr. romney, you're not going to be the candidate we choose. >> that was that was sandra fluke introducing plem in a recent campaign event. and she's now the latest addition to the speaker lineup at the democratic national convention. sandra, i would like you to listen to the man whop attacked you in the past. listen to his advice to republicans yesterday. >> for any and all of you republicans, when you are asked why you don't have a rape exception in the party platform,

don't answer it. don't get into the substance. don't answer the question, republicans. don't go anywhere near it. i've been showing that tape repeatedly on the show since yesterday, because i believe it's a very important turning point. there's rush limbaugh saying the republican position on abortion is indefensible to a majority of americans. >> that's a very telling point. don't get into the substance, a really wise woman lily ledbetter said to me, don't listen to anything a politician says during a campaign or statements that they make when they're under political fire, just look to their record. and that's exactly what mr. limbaugh is advising that we not do because the record of mr. romney and mr. ryan and the republican party platform for so many years is clear on this point. they have not supported a woman's right to abortion, even in case of rape.

anticipate now the country is becoming more and more aware of that. >> the media is reacting with great surprise over what todd akin said. but i have to say, for studying people who hold his belief beliefs, i did not find it that surprising that he had a fake rationale underneath it for his belief about abortion and rape. >> you're absolutely right. it's a commonly held belief and what i don't think has been discussed enough is dr. wilke who has been espousing this belief since the mid 1980s is someone romney courted as an endorser in the election. he has really fully adopted