tv The Last Word MSNBC September 19, 2012 1:00am-2:00am EDT
1:00 am
but sweet relief for the romney campaign in the darkest hour when everything is about what is wrong and other issues keep dropping every day. with his appearances on tv look like he is quitting the race. in the middle of all that, there is his remarks about the jersey shore, that abc saved from last week to mitt romney is drowning in stupid people. they work for his campaign. they send clint eastwood out on the convention stage. they contribute money to his campaign. they ask him incredibly stupid questions at his fundraisers, which we now have on tape. but, as that same tape proves, the very stupidest person in mitt romney's life tonight is mitt romney.
1:01 am
>> when did it all begin to go so very wrong for mitt romney. >> i'm not concerned about the very poor. >> i like being able to fire people. >> corporations are people, my friend. >> i'm not familiar with precisely what i said but i stand by what i said whatever it was. >> which brings us to the present day. >> it's been a rough day for mitt romney. >> his message is being drowned out. >> captured on tape. >> governor romney's caught on tape moment. >> in his word mitt romney believes that nearly half the country will never take personal responsibility for their lives. >> i was speaking off the cut. >> you said your wording might have been inelegant. others have said you that you've just kissed half of the electorate good guy. >> you are president of all the people. >> frankly we have two very different views about america. >> the timing is bad for the romney campaign.
1:02 am
>> another week lost for the campaign. >> a brutal last three weeks. >> a brutal three weeks. >> an inescapable downward spiral. >> it is too much for many republicans to handle. >> it's not elegantly stated. >> if i were a rich man ♪ dumb. >> after watching mitt romney's secretly reported marks at a florida fundraiser, leading conservative columnist wrote it's time for republicans to hold interventions for mitt romney. romney he's theory of the case is all wrong, his understanding of the political topography is wrong. i think there is a broad and growing feeling now among republicans that this thing is slipping out of romney's hands. it's time to admit the romney campaign is an incompetent one. it's not big.
1:03 am
it's not brave. it's not thoughtfully tackling great issues. an intervention is in order. mitt, this isn't working. peggy noonan was of course writing in response to the release of a video last night showing mitt romney insulting and lying about 47% of the american people. both the romney campaign and the obama campaign spent the day reacting to the clip of the video that was released last night. >> 47% of the people are going to vote for him no matter what. they are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that are victims, who believe that government has a
1:04 am
>> today president obama sat down with david letterman who, as it happens, was also mentioned by mitt romney on that same secret tape in an unconsulting and untrue way. we'll have more on romney versus letterman later. here is president obama's reaction to romney's seething resentment of the 47%. >> i don't know if you have seen the videotape, but i'm sure you know what we're referencing here. mitt romney at a fundraiser i believe in florida, there's a cell phone videotaping his remarks and he talks about dismissive terms why 47% of the people voting don't matter to him. is that what rich guys at country clubs are talking about? >> well, i don't know what he was referring to. but i can tell you this.
1:05 am
when i won in 2008, 47% of the american people didn't vote for me. and what i said on election night was even though you didn't vote for me, i hear your voices and i'm going to work as hard as i can to be your president. and one of the things i've learned as president is you represent the entire country. and when i meet republicans, as i'm traveling around the country, they are hard-working family people who care deeply about this country, and my expectation is is that if you want to be president, you've got to work for everybody, not just for some. >> and here is mitt romney clinging the wreck age of his campaign today on fox news. >> others have said that you just kissed half of the
1:06 am
electorate good-bye on this election year. that you all but called them moochers. did you? >> no. i'm talking about a perspective of individuals that i'm not likely to get support me. i recognize that those people who are not paying income tax, are going to say gosh, this provision that mitt keeps talking about, lowering income taxes, that's not going to be attractive to them and those that are dependent upon government and those that think government's job is to redistribute, i'm not going to get them. i don't expect to get 60 or 70% of the vote. i understand some portion will be the president's some portion will be mine. >> i've got to get as many as i can from every single cohort in this country. >> republican criticism of romney today was sharp and swipt. conservative columnist in the new york times writes romney's comment is a country club fantdcy. it's reinforces every negative view people have about romney: conservative leader writes
1:07 am
romney seems to have contempt not just for the democrats who oppose him, but for tens of millions who intend to vote for him. romney's comments are stupid and arrogant. and return joe scar borrow said this. >> i don't look at those 47% as victims. i look at them as people i want to help. i would give a conservative message, but it wasn't aimed at the 1%. the 1% can take care themselves. that's not the romney we're seeing there. that does sound like thurston howell iii. >> i'm sorry if i offended people, but i have to get your attention and i did. that's how i would handle it. if he's going to back off and if he's going to try to parse it, he's going to lose. he's got to be right in your
1:08 am
face. mitt romney has to be right in your face. >> the next book, how to lose a presidential campaign. a new nbs news wall straight jeenl shows president obama leading by 5. tonight nate silver of the "new york times" frafts that on november 6 president obama will win 303 and mitt romney will win 235. mitt romney has a 27% chance. howard fineman, i need you tonight. i am craving historical context for campaign collapses, campaign melt downs, campaign disaster days.
1:09 am
i have never seen anything like it in a campaign. >> well, lawrence i wrote in "the huffing ton post" today, two names. mike dukakis and bob dole. >> they never had a die like this. bob dole falling off the stage once in his presidential campaign was nothing like this. come on. >> i would like to say, and my instincts as a political reporter and somebody who's got 48 days left of the campaign to cover, are all telling me to say it ain't over. but what mitt romney has done, the mistakes he's made, the impact of this video, cannot be overstated. because not only does he dismiss the 47%, tens of millions of whom are republicans by the way, they're republicans. many of them are republicans. and it was the republicans'
1:10 am
policy who created a lot of people who don't pay federal income taxes. not only that if you watch the whole video, which krystal and i did, and everybody has done. you see that mitt romney has an other worldly, almost nonhuman view of campaigning. it's something other people do it's about issues that will be specified later. it has a mechanical and distant feel to it. there's a reason why lawrence you and i were on the floor of the republican convention. did those people love mitt romney? did they ever -- >> love? >> did they ever really like mitt romney? he was almost incidental at his own convention. that's what's happening now they're all saying forget it. >> can i throw one name out there. >> i want to get inasmuch tape of romney as we can.
1:11 am
i've watched the whole thing. you learn things like i think i've now learned something about this republican obsession with tax cuts. romney actually thinks that we are on our way to a 100% tax rate in this country. listen to this. >> the income on top which the president wants to take to 40%. then there's state tax in most states and sales tax. so you end up having to take 100% of people's income. >> end up having to take 100% of people's income. that crazy person thinks that's where we're going, and that's why he's obsessed with nothing but tax cuts. >> he can't possibly believe that when he looks at his own taxes. >> i think he believes it. i any he's crazy and stupid and lives in this unbelievely ignorant bubble and he believes that. >> some people have taken the most chartable view that you can possibly take says that he was pandering to those in the room. but the problem is we have no idea what this man believes.
1:12 am
that's the essential problem. the american public has no idea what this man believes. so as some of his advisers and some people around the campaign have called for him to give a major speech, i think he needs to very basically outline what is your philosophy. is it really just scorn for half the population? is that what you're all about? because that certainly is what it's coming off as. >> what it betrays to me, again, it's been said before, but nothing proves it like this video. he doesn't understand what the lives of average people are like. he just has no clue. he has no concept. he has no idea of the tax burdens, he has no idea of the fact, lawrence, that very hard-working, conservative people, rely on government from time to time. they may not always want to acknowledge it, but they understand it. he's not living in the world of
1:13 am
america today. he's just not. >> his talk begins with a discussion of inheritance. he says i didn't inherit anything from my father. and while at the same time saying oh, well i did inherit a million from my father. he doesn't then explain to his audience that loves inheritance that he was so rich by the time his father died, he was richer than his father. and then he talks about giving money to his sons and giving money and he gets big laughs about inheritance. everybody in that room is sitting there thinking in terms of inheritance when in fact most people in this country never inherit anything. >> that small room right there is his comfort zone. those are essentially the only people, i think you're right, howard, in the country that he really truly gets and relates to. and that's why he's so comfortable sharing his in other most thoughts here. but when you ask the american people, they don't think that the number one problem with our economy is that poor people are lazy.
1:14 am
they think that they need jobs. and in fact the message that the romney campaign is trying to push, that it's the obama economy is causing all these problems is directly at odds with the idea that the real problem that poor people are a bunch of lazy moochers who don't pay enough in taxes. >> you can't make it up. that video was punctuated by the sounds of wine bottles, corks popping. >> by the way, the stupidest people i have ever heard speak at a fundraiser. he was responding to questions from abject rich dummies. >> it almost but not quite made me feel sympathetic towards mitt romney. not quite. >> you are just overflowing with sympathy, howard. >> not quite. you've got to listen to all these rich people telling you how to run your campaign. i mean, i just think -- has barack obama -- if we did a
1:15 am
videotape of some of barack obama's events might we found some things similar? yes. but the difference is -- >> no, we wouldn't find anything vaguely similar in any comparable way. >> the difference is president obama has conveyed a sense that he understands what the lives of real people in america are like. that's indispensable to him as a candidate and indense pensible to him as president. the reason why mitt romney is behind, the reason why that poll showed what it showed, the reason why most insiders think he's blown it, he's never conveyed a sense that he understands what the lives of real people in america are like. he just can't get over that hump. and unless in some miraculous way he can between now and november, he's toast. >> krystal krystal are you going to spend the full hour tomorrow showing this tape? >> that's what i'm going to do. thanks for joining me. >> thanks lawrence. >> coming up, we have much, much more from these secret romney tape.
1:16 am
his absolutely crazy and dangerous thinking about iran. dangerous if you had any chance of winning the presidency, which of course he doesn't. and what mitt romney would do if he was iran. he actually advises iran on how to terrorize the united states. thanks moot mitt. uls also see him talk about his media strategy. you'll find out what he really thinks of whoopi goldberg, david letterman, jay leno. all of that is coming up. i'm so g lad you called. thank you. we're not in london, are we? no. why? apparently my debit card is. what? i know. don't worry, we have cancelled your old card. great. thank you. in addition to us monitoring your accounts for unusual activity, you could also set up free account alerts. okay. [ female announcer ] at wells fargo we're working around the clock to help protect your money
1:17 am
1:19 am
anti-american demonstrations going on around the world tonight. he's had a bounty on his life by islamic extremists for more than two decades. he will join me on the current crisis and it will be a cable tv exclusive. and next, guess which presidential candidate is giving terrorists advice on how to attack the united states of america. hint, it's not barack obama. ana marie cobs and john kay part next on more of the romney tape. ? anyone have occasional constipation, diarrhea, gas, bloating? yeah. one phillips' colon health probiotic cap each day
1:20 am
helps defend against these digestive issues with three strains of good bacteria. approved! [ phillips' lady ] live the regular life. phillips'. [ phillips' lady ] live the regular life. when you take a closer look... ...at the best schools in the world... ...you see they all have something very interesting in common. they have teachers... ...with a deeper knowledge of their subjects. as a result, their students achieve at a higher level. let's develop more stars in education. let's invest in our teachers... ...so they can inspire our students. let's solve this.
1:21 am
we're back with more of the secret tape made of mitt romney at that fundraiser. we're going to be running as much tape as we can in this hour. joining me to review this portion of the tape, ana marie cox and jonathan kaypart. i've been asking people to vote on what is the craziest thing mitt romney says on this tape. i'm not sure anymore, but this is way up at the top of the list. this is a presidential candidate giving advice to terrorists about how to terrorize the united states of america. let's listen to this. >> if i were iran, i mean, and crazed fan attic, if anything goes wrong or if america starks acting up unless you stand down we're going to let off a dirty bomb. >> rachel explained in the previous hour that the man obviously doesn't know what a dirty bomb is. can he stand there on a presidential debate stage and not be asked why he was publicly
1:22 am
giving advice to terrorists around the world about how to terrorize this country? >> well, let's give him credit. he didn't mean it to be public. he was giving private advice to terrorists. >> none of those people were sworn to secrecy, obviously. >> that's true. >> and this is not the first time that a secret so-called fundraiser has been captured on personal video campaigns. >> i was trying to help him out just a little bit. because, you know, i was thinking isn't it weird that john mccain mangling the beach boys now seems a much more sober
1:23 am
approach to iran. i never thought we would see the day when we saw someone so ineptly engaging with another country that this is the part that seems to really disqualify him. i know people have talked about the 47% line and that is kind of horrifying. but there is nothing on this tape that makes you think that is he ready to be president of the united states. >> just to record your vote, are you voting for this craziest idea if you were iran? >> i think i'm going to have to go with that is the craziest. it's not the most entertaining. >> the stuff he said about "the view" is the most entertaining. >> jonathan, i want you to listen to what mitt romney says about his position on iran and how a nuclear iran is unacceptable to him. let's listen to this. >> it's unacceptable.
1:24 am
instead what this administration has done is communicate to the iranians that we're more worried about israel attacki them than we are about them becoming nuclear. it's extraordinary. >> he is lying to the rich people in the room who don't have any idea that president obama actually said this about a nuclear iran. >> what i have said is that we will not count nans iran getting a nuclear weapon. my policy is not containment. my policy to prevent them from getting a nuclear weapon. >> apparently to be allowed in the fundraiser you had to sign a pledge saying no i have not read a newspaper in the last several years. >> or watch television. look, reading the transcript of that sound bite before i even got to the bottom i thought, well, wait a minute he's got the same position as the president of the united states. the current administration's position. and in the interviews that his campaign did, i believe it was
1:25 am
late last week when they were talking about his guys, his foreign policy people were beating their chest how this would never happen, how that never would have happened if mitt romney were president. and they started talking about all the things that they would have done as president in foreign policy. before i got to the end of the "new york times" story with each item, whether it was iran, israel or the arab spring, i kept thinking wait, the president is will be doing that. the president is doing some variation of that. there's no daylight between the two of them. he knocks the president about red lines with iran, and then in the next breath says well, yeah, i have the same red line as the president. he's incoherent when it comes to foreign policy. >> well, there is a huge
1:26 am
difference in foreign policy between the president and mitt romney on the troubles between israel and the palestinians. let's listen to mitt romney's pessimistic hopeless approach to that issue. >> the pal stannians -- anyway. committed to this destruction and elimination of israel and these thorny issues and i say there's no way. you move things along the best way you can, you hope for some degree of stability but you recognize this is going to remain an unsolved problem. >> and so there's the goof ball from maine saying that, well, israel, that's the unsolvable problem of my presidency. i won't even try. ana marie, we've never had a candidate who could ever be that stupid in front of five people, never mind 150 people. >> it's true. and you know, for someone who constantly accuses the president of throwing israel under the bus. he's thrown them under the bus
1:27 am
and driven away at high speed. he's been presented with a problem and decided he doesn't want to deal with it. i have to think if that's the way that bain approached fixing companies, the president wouldn't have mitt romney to run against because he wouldn't be the successful businessman that he claims to be today. you keep saying this lawrence and i can't get enough of this tape either because it's so extraordinary. it is the car crash that happens in slow motion and keeps happening. you know, one doesn't want to declare a candidate dead in the water. things can happen that we don't expect. he could recover. but this is truly -- i haven't seen anything like it unless you look back to the layman brothers collapse. >> any one of these clips would be enough to deaf state any presidential campaign.
1:28 am
it's just astanishing that they're all together, all collected on the same tape. ana marie cox, jonathan capeheart. thank you for joining me. >> thank you. coming up, mitt romney tells us in his secret videotape that he believes that the economy will get better when he's elected president. and he doesn't have to do anything at all for the economy to get better. it will just be magic. and then of course, there's mitt romney's view of "the view." mitt romney talking about show business is coming up in the rewrite. the lost man of the republican party, mitt romney, is just as lost when he starts talking about david letterman and why he will never do saturday night live. that's coming up. ♪
1:29 am
1:30 am
bring out chicken broccoli alfredo. or best-ever meatloaf. go to campbellskitchen.com for recipes, plus a valuable coupon. campbell's. it's amazing what soup can do. try this... bayer? this isn't just a headache. trust me, this is new bayer migraine. [ male announcer ] it's the power of aspirin plus more in a triple action formula to relieve your tough migraines. new bayer migraine formula.
1:32 am
we've all seen jimmy fallon's slow jam on the news, but for those of you who have trouble keeping up with this program, jimmy fallon is just as good at fasting the news. >> the next one is lawrence o'donnell, he's got a good show, but like all of you i've got things to do. let's take a look at the clip. >> today plan on unsuccessfully
1:33 am
hitting on some wicked huge babes. >> that's what it's about. >> it's a political year. >> coming up mitt romney thinks he knows something about late night tv and that's in the rewrite. mitt romney is also afraid. very, very afraid of latino voters and he proved that on that secret tape made at that fundraiser. we'll have more of the secret tape coming up. t the. - one serving of cheese is the size of four dice. one serving of cereal, a baseball. and one serving of fruit, a tennis ball. - you know, both parties agree. our kids can be healthier... the more you know. a short word that's a tall order. up your game. up the ante. and if you stumble, you get back up.
1:34 am
up isn't easy, and we ought to know. we're in the business of up. everyday delta flies a quarter of million people while investing billions improving everything from booking to baggage claim. we're raising the bar on flying and tomorrow we will up it yet again. i wish i could keep it this way. [ dr. rahmany ] you see, even after a dental cleaning... plaque quickly starts to grow back. but new crest pro-health clinical plaque control toothpaste can help. it not only reduces plaque... it's also clinically proven... to help keep plaque from coming back. plus, it works in these other areas dentists check most. ♪ new crest pro-health clinical plaque control toothpaste. life opens up when you do. for extra plaque protection try new crest pro-health clinical rinse. insuring that stuff must be a pain. nah, he's probably got... [ dennis' voice ] allstate. they can bundle all your policies together. lot of paperwork. actually...
1:35 am
[ dennis' voice ] an allstate agent can help do the switching and paperwork for you. well, it probably costs a lot. [ dennis' voice ] allstate can save you up to 30% more when you bundle. well, his dog's stupid. [ dennis' voice ] poodles are one of the world's smartest breeds. ♪ bundle and save with an allstate agent. are you in good hands?
1:36 am
my reinforcements have arrived for more, more analysis of the romney tape. we really needed a couple of hours for this, because you've listened to the whole thing. >> it's on an endless loop. i don't want to admit it. >> let's get to romney's desperate fear of hispanic voters. let's listen to this. the. >> the hispanic voting block becomes as committed to the
1:37 am
>> so that sick and stupid man just said that the hispanic vote is a threat to the nation. he thinks we're in trouble, not just as a republican party, the nation is in trouble if the hispanic vote decides to vote democratic. >> because they vote wrong. if he had stopped it at a party, that would have been coherent analysis. >> other people have said what has happened to the party. >> that if the republican party doesn't figure out a way to encroach upon the hispanic vote they are probably going to whiter away and die as a party. >> the sque people are grappling with, does he really believe this. i think this romney that we're hearing is the very first romney we've ever heard who really believes what he's saying.
1:38 am
he thinks the hispanic vote is a threat to this nation. he does believe that. >> well, and how about the fact that if you go back to the 2006 debate on immigration, and it's still rumbling out there with steve king and others, who truly believe, when they talk about those people and immigrants, they believe they're a danger to this country. i did love the part where it is like we've essay already lost the african-americans, let's see if we can get the latinos and save this country. it's stunning that also it shows within the republican party i do believe there's this divide of people who just don't get it. that there just aren't enough white voters in this country anymore that think that like to win a national election. we are diverse, rationally, ethnically, religiously, deal with it. >> here's how the threat to the nation looks tonight in the
1:39 am
polls. 68% of latinos say they will vote for president obama, 26% say he will vote for romney. he can now bank on that 26% going down. now let's listen to what else he had to say. >> there's more. >> about how much he wishes -- of course as a joke -- that he was latino. >> my dad, as you probably know, i was the governor of michigan, was the head of a car company. but he was born in mexico. and had he been born of mexican parents, i would have a better shot of winning this. but he was unfortunately born of americans living in mexico. i say that jokingly, but it would be helpful to be latino. >> i had to point out here last night to our audience, his family was in mexico because they fled the laws of the united
1:40 am
states which so oppress i havely limited to his great grand father to one wife at a time. he wanted five at a time. that's why they were there. they all laughed. he says it would be helpful to be latino. and that whole audience laugh because they all know that no, it wouldn't, mitt. you wouldn't get to be this big bain hero if you had groeb up that way. >> again, it shows a complete lack of understanding of this country, of people in this country of latinos, in the latino community they are the most optimistic people they come to this country to try and do better because they are taking personal responsibility, because they want to do better. even though a large percentage live close to or at the pefrty line, which are the 47% he was talking about, which are an optimistic community and a community that believes in the idea of personal responsibility and working your way up and
1:41 am
doing better. and that's not what he's talking about at all. >> but they are a population to be laughed about in a republica fund-raiser. >> because being a latino is a sweet deal. only being is an african-american is better. >> because we have it easy. >> there are a lot of conservatives that do believe that minorities in this country do have it better than them. that they get all the special stuff. >> these people believe everything he was saying. >> they absolutely do. they think that being latino gives you some kind of special affirmative action into the presidency. they really think that. >> this is a real window into their country club, which by the way includes utterly demented magical thinking. each one of the pieces of tape needs more analysis from us. i want to go to this one, romney's magical plan to make the economy better by doing exactly nothing.
1:42 am
let's listen to this. >> my view is if we win on november 6th, it will be a great deal of optimistic about the future of this country. we 'see capital come back and we'll see without actually doing anything. we'll actually get a boost in the economy. >> without doing anything. >> just by being mitt. >> that goes to what i believe is the real reason he wants to be president just because. why not? i've been a ceo, i've run the olympics, just because. just because i'm president it will all be better. >> isn't that sort of the ceo mentality? part of the problem, you look at enron, the attitude of wall street guys, hedge fund guys they think their own innate genius is all this country needs. coming up we'll have more of the mitt romney secret tape
1:43 am
where he tells us why he is going to make the mistake the campaign mistake of not doing "saturday night live" and of course why david letterman hates him. and later, salman rushdie will join me with his perspective of the attacks on our embassies. in tonight's rewrite what y. i had pa in my abdomen... it just wouldn't go away. i was spotting, but i had already gone through menopause. these symptoms may be nothing... but they could be early warning signs of a gynecologic cancer, such as cervical, ovarian, or uterine cancer. feeling bloated for no reason. that's what i remember. seeing my doctor probably saved my life. warning signs are not the same for everyone. if you think something's wrong... see your doctor. ask about gynecologic cancer. and get the inside knowledge. mid grade dark roast forest fresh full tank brain freeze cake donettes rolling hot dogs bag of ice anti-freeze wash and dry diesel self-serve fix a flat jumper cables 5% cashback
1:44 am
signup for 5% cashback at gas stations through september. it pays to discover. your soups are so awesomely delicious my husband and i can't stop eating 'em! what's...that... on your head? can curlers! tomato basil, potato with bacon... we've got a lot of empty cans. [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. oh, hey alex. just picking up some, brochures, posters copies of my acceptance speech. great! it's always good to have a backup plan, in case i get hit by a meteor. wow, your hair looks great. didn't realize they did photoshop here. hey, good call on those mugs. can't let 'em see what you're drinking. you know, i'm glad we're both running a nice, clean race. no need to get nasty. here's your "honk if you had an affair with taylor" yard sign. looks good. [ male announcer ] fedex office. now save 50% on banners. throughout our entire lives. ♪ one a day men's 50+ is a complete multi-vitamin
1:45 am
designed for men's health concerns as we age. ♪ it has more of seven antioxidants to support cell health. that's one a day men's 50+ healthy advantage. in tonight's rewrite what we've learned about mitt romney's media strategy through that secret tape made at that campaign fund fundraiser, what we've learned about his at tut towards "saturday night live" next. [ ow
1:46 am
ner ] i need to expand to meet the needs of my growing business. but how am i going to fund it? and i have to find a way to manage my cash flow better. [ female announcer ] our wells fargo bankers are here to listen, offer guidance and provide you with options tailored to your business. we've loaned more money to small businesses than any other bank for ten years running. so come talk to us to see how we can help. wells fargo. together we'll go far. droid does. and does it launch apps by voice while learning your voice ? launch cab4me. droid does. keep left at the fork. does it do turn-by-turn navigation ? droid does. with verizon, america's largest 4g lte network, and motorola,
1:47 am
droid does. get $100 off select motorola 4g lte smartphones like the droid razr. in tonight's rewrite, mitt romney's losing media strategy. on the secret tape of mitt romney at his fundraiser, he pulled back the curtain at his strategy and revealed he thinks he can rewrite one of the most important readia rules for winning the presidency. and he also revealed what he doesn't like about "the view", why david letterman hates him and why he will never do "saturday night live." >> regis is gone. i've been on leno a couple of times, and now letterman hates me because i've been on leno more than him. they're very jealous of one
1:48 am
another as you know. and i was asked to go on "saturday night live." i did not do that in packet because you want to show because you're fun and a good person but you also want to be presidential. and "saturday night live" has the potential of looking slapstick and not presidential. "the view is fine" the view is high risk, because four are sharp tongued are not conservative. although last time i was on the show, she said to me, you know what? i think i can vote for you and i said i must have done something really wrong. >> so "saturday night live" is not presidential. not the way to the white house. okay. tell that to this guy. >> i'm george w. bush, republican candidate for
1:49 am
president of the united states. i'm governor of our nation's second largest state which is bigger than every other state except one. welcome to presidential bash 2000 a celebration of the first political satire of the first 25 years of saturday night live. >> great obama mask. >> yeah. well, who is that under there? >> i just wanted to let the american people know that -- live from new york, it's saturday night! >> in fact, every candidate who has won the presidency in this country has done "saturday night live" so not doing it will take its place on mitt romney's now very long list of mistakes on his way to losing this presidential election. oh, and mitt, letterman doesn't hate you because you do lien o.
1:50 am
you've given him much better reasons than that. [ male announcer ] the 2013 smart comes with 8 airbags, a crash management system and the world's only tridion safety cell which can withstand over three and a half tons. small in size. big on safety. i'm an expert on softball. and tea parties. i'll have more awkward conversations than i'm equipped for because i'm raising two girls on my own. i'll worry about the economy more than a few times before they're grown. but it's for them, so i've found a way. who matters most to you says the most about you. massmutual is owned by our policyholders so they matter most to us. massmutual. we'll help you get there. to compete on the global stage. what we need are people prepared for the careers of our new economy. by 2025 we could have 20 million jobs
1:51 am
without enough college graduates to fill them. that's why at devry university, we're teaming up with companies like cisco to help make sure everyone's ready with the know how we need for a new tomorrow. [ male announcer ] make sure america's ready. make sure you're ready. at devry.edu/knowhow. ♪ just begin with america's favorite soups. bring out chicken broccoli alfredo. or best-ever meatloaf. go to campbellskitchen.com for recipes, plus a valuable coupon. campbell's. it's amazing what soup can do. constipated? yeah. mm. some laxatives like dulcolax can cause cramps. but phillips' caplets don't. they have magnesium. for effective relief of occasional constipation. thanks. [ phillips' lady ] live the regular life. phillips'. [ male announcer ] the exceedingly nimble, ridiculously agile, tight turning, fun to drive 2013 smart.
1:53 am
the reports we have cut off which is the report that i saw aid to egypt are completely incorrect. >> authorities in cairo have issued arrest warrants for seven u.s.-based egyptian coptic christians and a hus pastor foretheir alleged involvement in the anti-islam video. according to the bbc the seven men and one woman face charges of insulting the islamic religion, insulting the prophet and inciting secondtarian
1:54 am
strive. a request will be filed with the following. they said all of the accused could face the death penalty if convict the. a religious foundation in iran has renewed the call for a fatwah against salman rushdie and increased the bounty to his life in $3.2 million. in 1989 he was sentenced to death over his novel "the satanic verses." salman rushdie spent the next nine years living in hiding. his account is in his new memoir. i can't wait to get your perspective on what's been happening in the last week since this video has entered the news stream. i am reluctant to say and have not said, this video has caused
1:55 am
anything. what is really happening here? >> can we just say one thing about this bounty thing. >> the 3.3 million? >> yeah. i think it's becoming clear that this is just really one priest looking for a headline and that the news coming out of iran today has suggested that nobody is really taking it seriously there. >> can you comfortably sit here tonight and leave here tonight and feel, it's nothing. >> yes, i do. >> it's like when i see an ugly tweet about myself. >> exactly. this is pretty much rhetoric rather than actual. i remember when it was actual and this is different. >> what happened to it? at what point did you feel i think i'm out of the woods on this? >> well, essentially the real threat to me always came from the iranian state. it came from agents of the iranian state.
1:56 am
this bounty offer, nobody ever took it seriously. in all that time we never had a single piece of events of anybody being interested in that. the threat was from the professional hitman of the iranian state. when they were persuaded to back down back in '98, the problem very rapidly went away and the situation normalized. so this, you know, i don't know what to say about this. i think there's two separate things. i think what do we think of this video, and what do we think of the response to it. i think they're almost separate from each other. i think the video is clearly a piece of trash. and one of the problems with having to support the first amendment is that you often have to support pieces of trash. stuff you can't stand. and i think this is an example of that. the but i think it becomes increasingly clear about the response that this is a manufactured response. that's to say that i feel one of
1:57 am
the things that started in the case "the is an tannic verses" and has grown since then, what i call the outrage industry. there are people whose job is to find flash points and then use them to launch a larger, if you like, attack against american values and american personnel and property. and so when the sheik tells his audience that this video was manufactured at the behest of u.s. intelligence, the agenda is not the video anymore, the agenda is an attack on the united states, which is a much more general thing. >> so, there are people there in power, in positions of manipulative power who are looking for it. what's the thing we can use this week, next month, whatever. oh, hey there's a video somebody posted on youtube, that will do. >> exactly. as we know the internet contains all kinds of stuff. if you want to find anything, you'll find it on the internet. so the question is who can be bothered to pick that.
1:58 am
>> why haven't they gone after bill maher? why don't they use that and say, you know, we're going to now riot over this? >> don't ask me. i think the thing with this video is it got translated into arabic. it just played into their hands and they used it. >> and you said in this book, looking back on "satanic verses" you didn't think it was especially critical of islam. >> i don't think it is. >> but at that point in time, it seems that book discovered where the new sensitivity levels were. where did those sensitivity levels come from. >> again, it's difficult because most of the people who started the campaign against the book
1:59 am
didn't take any trouble to read it. it's clear that khomeini never saw a copy of it. people in india actually said proudly said that they didn't need to read it. >> was there some decision made then at high levels that we need something to unify people in some kind of protest that we can control? >> what was happening in iran was the revolution had a great blow because of the negative results of their iraq war. and many young people had died, a generation had been decimated and the revolution was rocky and khomeini was looking for something to rally the troops. >> and you lived nine years this way. was is there a day where you said okay, it's over or was it a gradual period of time? >> it was gradual. i gradually cried to claw back bits of life.
215 Views
IN COLLECTIONS
MSNBCUploaded by TV Archive on
![](http://athena.archive.org/0.gif?kind=track_js&track_js_case=control&cache_bust=2056000870)