>> his wife has never actually worked a day in her life. >> this week on "inside washington," the mommy wars. working moms, stay at home moms the fight for the women's vote. >> my career choice was to be a stay at ho mother, and need to respect forces women make. >> i don't have a lot of patience for commentary about spouses of political candidates. >> with the santorum outcome of the decks are cleared for the fit ahead. when will newt gingrich get the message? >> i was in phphiladelphia last

night. not a single pererson asked me to drop out. >> ozzie guillénot scraz about castro after all. >>iggest mistake of f my le i madede. captioned by the naalonalaptioning ininstitute --www.w.ncicap.org---- >> it started with a throwaway line on a cable talk show. democrcratic strategist hilary rosen talking about mitt romney's not so secret w weapon. >> mitt romney is saying, "my wifefe tells me that what women really care abt our economic issues." guess what, his wife has never worked day in her life. she has never really dealt with the kinds of economic issues that a majority of the women in this country are facing, in terms of how we feed our kids, how do we send them to school,

why we worry about their future. >> ann romney it responded with her first-ever tweet. "i made a choice to stay home and raise five boys. believe me, it t was hard work." the network news shows lead with it jim messina said the comments were wrong and she should apologize, which she did. david axelrod said the comments were wrong and offensive. even the president weighed in, saying that the toughest job is being a mom. hilary rosen has no official job with the obama campaign. why did d this cause a commotion mark? >> it a terrified democrats for one reason -- the christian democrats have is with women voters --voters cu u -- cushion democrats have is with women voters.

romney has not been able to generate enthusiasm with family values voters. this gives a wedge to romney to make any romney the embodiment of the state-at home mother and it smamacks, fairly or unfairly of businessesness -- dismis ssiveness. >> nina? >> mark has it exactly right. we all said stupid things on television, but this is in the category of "whatas she thinking?" being a mother is way harder than what we're doing here. people pay nannies it alsohey don't have to do that all day every day. ann romnmney is the best thing mitt romney has going for him. >> hilary rosen it does have children offer on and has a polished it isalk to bring

them up. colby? >> i heard the criticism before i heard what rosen sd. the airwaves are static with criticism of her. i think barbara bush said it best. "i love working women, i love stay at home moms. whatever." you love all l women. >> whatevever. this is an issue double fully be behind us because it has no bearing on hohow mitt romney would be in the white house. roger? >> roger? >> the degree to which the obama campaign was terrified of hilary rose's comments -- they tied her to the top of the family

car. [laughter] hilary rosen is a big deal in democratic politics. she a big deal in washington. she was so far offessagege that the next day the president of the unitedtates had to denounce her, and only after that did she apologized. that is not a good communications team working there. >> it was a gift mark. >> it was, and ifou are mitt romney and the knock on you is that youou are stiff, you don't relate to ordinary people, the secret weapon that you know you have got is ann romney, who was not only appealing and a likable. she is a compepelling advocate. you have elevated her to the part of star status. all the white around -- way around you've made her an undeserving of victim and a

champion for him. i can undersnd why the white house responded as quickly as they did. >> say what you want about mit romney, he knows numbers, he reads the polls. he kno there is a huge gap between him and barack obama with american women voters. why is that at there colby? >> because of the issues, the positions he's taken during the campaign, and that is what he will have to struggle with. >> nina? >> in some ways, he has been forced to even defending contraception sort of. "if i am elected i will kill aiaid to planned parenthood." there is an aura -- i think the right way to express it is that it is inconsiderate of the concerns of many women. >> he has been runng this week against barack obama on the issue of women. he says that the economic

policies have been hurting women -- >> he was not getting a lot of tracon. >> nobody bought what he said -- oall the jobs lost in recent years under barack obama 92% were lost by women. really? nine out of every 10 jobs lost in america were held by women? nobody could find a basis for those statistics. there is a basis for this statistic, however -- an abc news-"washington post" poll found a 19% gender gap of women favoring obama over romney. that is a lot of ground make up eecially in an atmosphere where he has been forced for t -- farther to the right and having to litigate abortion and contraception. >> does the gift handed to

republicans this week help close the gap mark? >> ihink so. i think that moving beyond a primary where he was contested by a cultural conservative like rick santorum romney felt obliged to respond an discuss these matter make no mistake about this -- in 2004 among married vters with chdren george w w. bush beat john kerry -- and there is only 28% of that in the electric -- by 19% bitohn kerry among voters were not married or were married with no children got a majority. that is an importantnt constituency to energize and at gagalvanize if you are a republican.

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>> miracle after a miracle. this race was as improbable as any you will see for president. >> what did it santorum say about mitt romney asas he announced the sususpension of his campaign? noththing. what it romney considered santorum as his runnining mate? >> i a am not taking anybody off the list. i don't have a list yet, so i cannot say someone is on or of. >> ok, there is no list. rick santorum decided to get out of the race before he got clobbered again. lost his 2006 re-election bid by 18 points in pennsylvania. who would have thought that a guy dismissed in early debates wit one -- would have won all

those boxes? did he make romney a better candidate or did he put im in a box, as "washington post" columnist e.j. dionne has suggested? >> santorum appealeded to voters who like his ideology -- did not care if he was going to win or not, but like him talki about social issues one at the party structure wanted a candididate who would talk about economic issues, who was mitt romney. he forced mitt romney in little farther to the right than mitt romney wanted to go, and now in the general which is sort of begun already, mitt romney is having a harder time going back towards the middle, trying to pick up independent and moderate voters. that was santorum's lasting contribution to the race. >> we know that college-educatedd white males like him. who else, mark?

>> pbably conservaves like him, evangelicals, high-income voters. his profile is that of most republan nominees. about rick santorum, l let it be said that he indicated at validated what i think is the nominating process. he was david taking on the goliath. he wt into iowa and went into all 99 counties. but for the screw up by the iowa republican party, , he would have gotten a bigger lift winning iowa that night, w where he gave the best speech of the campaign. he is s one of the few candidates who has run for president and it has come out of the race stronger and better off than he went into it having lost. that is an achievement. >> he is good argument for retail politics.

he was in his diner's all day every day. >> he was. newt gingrich also pushed mitt romney to the right. rick perry's stance on immigration all-out romney to take a position far to t the right. there has been a succession of republican candidates who have moved romney it to where he is now. >> i want to a us something else but go ahead and. >> mitt romney w was able to ignore rick santorum in iowa. he did not unleashed the avalanche of negative ads. in some way, santorum was able to emerge as the alternative because he got ignored at the beginning. >> the contest is now romney and barack obama. who likes barack obamama? >> women, people of color latinonos -- >> younger voters. >> and part of his challenge is to get them out.

he had hugenthusiasm in 2008. clearly, tt is not there in the same way now. the registration of latino voters is actually down, and that is a prlem for dedemocrats. >> what about independents? that is where the action is.s. >> yes, as it always isis. right now obama has the edge, and that will be a battleground. let it be said about rick santorum and he won 11 contests. in 1976, ronald reagan won 12 and emerged as the leader of the conservative wing of the party. he has a chance to emerge as the conservative leader of an important element in the republican party. >> let it also be said that this is the guy who said that barack obama was best not to want children to go to college -- was a snob for want children to go to college and that listening to

john f. kennedy's speech about not having religion in politics made himant to throw up. and in the first debe in a year where debates were more important than ever, rick santorum was a non-combatant. >> in defairness to him, pete s marginaled because he was at zero in the polls. >> he had a chance and he blew it. he will be a good candidate in 2016 if he gets the chance. >> evewhere work evangelicals were the majority, rick santorum took their vote. romney still has a problem witith his base, although he is the nominee, or is going. hehe has a serious problem with of the republican base. >> he did not get the catholic vote even though he is a conservative catholic.

>> i if you want to spend trillions of dollars more in tax brks forhe very wealthiest of americans, even if it means adding to the deficit, even if it means gutting things like education d clean energy and medicare. >> you know what, you have an off. we will make you live with it what you have got. >> roger wrote a column this week about the joy of putting money into money-market accounts. he might as well put your money in a shoebox in the attic. "the question for millions of americans find out is what, if anything, is the next t president going to do for ?" >> mitt romney says -- in a speech recently -- if you work

hard and take some risks were president, never use there will be the opportunity -- a word president obama never uses, there will be the opportunity for a better life in america. work hard, take risks no government safety net, which is what obama promises. we will free the free enterprise system to work for you. forget about the government working for you. free enterprise will take care of you. those are the basic differences betweethe republican position and the democratic positn. >> colby what is he going to do for the person with the shoe box? >> he will try to help perce survived to the next paycheck. no promise in the obama message of any robust recory. there is sort o of a steady as you go, we will keep the safety net there.

that is not bold. it is perhaps reassuring, but the question is, who is asking the question what are you going to do for me? for those on the edge, the mitt romney prescription will mark -- will not work for them. >> mark, you wrote it, about the ryan budget and out mitt romney is tied to it. >> would be fascinating is that mitt romney did choose paul ryan as a runningng mate. whenever you say about paul ryan, and i have my disagreements with himhe is the intellectual star of the republican party. mitt romney's basic record is that for those who are comfortable, you will be more comfortable. lowest taxurden in 60 yeaears. barack obama insisted the other 98%, up your taxes will not be raised.

he only taxes the top less than 2% of americans both of them are basically saying free lunch. >> former president george bush said this week that if you do that, you are taxing small businesses and slowi to -- down job creators. >> the second thing that happened in the obama admininisation is that the bush tax cuts would go out of a factory there would be more revenue from that, and that would happen instantly. there is a growing economic ga in this country, which obama, i think, would try to address some want and which romney is really quite comfortable with saying if you can make money, we will try to help you mamake moree money. i don' think he is opposed to some sort of safety net, but he is really not interested in a that. he is a free enterprise died, i

don't t know how that plays in an economy where so many people are so scared. >> neither side is seriously addresses the other problem we have, the huge budget deficits in the out years. both ryan and oba would only touched the trajectory a little bit, but it would still continue under both presidents. >> the ryan budget is savage -- >> the romneycare budget is pretty savage -- romney bget is pretty savage. >> everything g gets cut except defense. the defense department wants to cut the budget. we have these weapons systems thaton't work, but the congressmen with these weapons in their districts are pushing for it. [ male announcer ] are you paying more and more for cable and enjoying it less and less? stop paying for

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>> we will not come to see any games here. >> i would like at he would be fired from the job. >> verery, very, very sorry about the problem, about what happened. i will do everything to make it better. >> that was ozzie guillén, manager of the miami marlins suspended for five games for telling "time" magazine that he loves the raul castro. -- he loves fidel castro. >> that is a guy who knows how to apologize. [laughter] >> it may not work for h him. >> it may not work. what you saw were by and large cuban immigrants from an older generation. the younger generation is not so insisted on. -- on purity.

>> the stadium is its right in the heart of little havana. >> itoes, at it is taxpayer- funded. it is a public relations problem. the thing about ozzie guillén is that it was not "if iffended anybody." he just came out with mea culpa. here we are 50 yearss later and because of our been added policy towards cuba, we have elevated fidel castro to the importance he has, where he has a mythic figure in much of latin america. 60 years, and "the expletive deleted is still there." > that is why he admires him, because he stood up to us. how many dictators as ththe united

states supported the last 60 years? a whole bunch. yet we still have this wild anti-castro feeling in south florida. >> athletes should stay away from politics, politicians should stay away from athletes. he said the wrong thing at the wrong place at the wrong time, and will be following him as he goes from city to city. >> he admitted he should not be talking about thastuff. [ male announcer ] if you believe the mayan calendar on december 21st polar shifts will reverse the earth's gravitational pull and hurtle us all into space. which would render rirement planning unnecessary. but say the sun rises

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