elaborate, coffman refused.five times, repeating this weak response. >> i stand by my statement that i misspoke and i apologize. >> i am joined tonight on our panel, chris kofinis, krystal ball, and steve dais. great to have all of you with us. chris, let me ask you first. how big a deal is this that the democrats need to keep coming out and responding to this, or they just ignore it? what's the best way to go? >> well, ironically, you know, i don't think, obviously, the president or the white house should respond to it, because it's too crazy to deserve a response. but in terms of democrats or, you know, the grassroots, absolutely, they should respond to it. i mean, here's the fundamental problem, aside from it being absolutely crazy, it's just this anger and hatred towards the president. and the part that apparently these folks just, you know, don't want to comprehend or accept is the president is likable. the president is a person that the american people like and believe in. and so the notion that somehow yo

coffman and asked him to clarify his statement.congressman had only one thing to say. >> after your comments, do you feel that voters are owed a better explanation instead of i misspoke? >> i standby my statement that i misspoke and i apologize. >> okay. and who are you apologizing to? >> i standby my statement that i misspoke and i apologize. >> we talk to you all the time who is telling you not to talk. >> i standby my statement that you have and i misspoke and i apologize. >> was it that you thought it would go over well in elbert county where folks are conservative. >> i standby my statement. i misspoke and i apologize. >> is there anything i can ask you that you can answer differently? >> i standby my statement that i misspoke and i apologize. >> joining us now, the kusa reporter who conducted that interview and colorado state representative. good evening to both of you. kyle, if i might start with you, mr. coffman has given about 16 interviews to your news station and it is difficult to shut him up. what was it like when he s

senator, is your fear in colorado that people like coffman are going to get an audience?ll me, do you share my fear that we're going to have an ugly season here? >> well, let me start out by noting that i'm also a navy veteran, and i don't think this is the example of leadership that i would like to portray for our armed forces. and certainly, not what we need out of a sitting member of congress. secondly, what we have seen here is a trend in the republican party where the representatives are catering to the extreme fringe groups of their own party. they're totally and completely out of touch with moderate values. here in colorado, the moderate values that we all hold dearly are not being represented by representative coffman or gou gardener in washington dc. >> thank you for your time tonight. still ahead, democrats launch a strong new effort to protect a basic right under assault in america today. the right to vote. plus in this day, in 1954, the supreme court took a huge step forward for equal rights. we'll talk about brown verses the board of education and the work th

your interview with congressman coffman got a big reaction in colorado.p-ed, congressman coffman is calling his comment bone headed. >> his comments were tape recorded by a supporter. someone who came to the fundraise tore koe n-- donated, and those comments were posted on youtube and facebook, and they were brought to our attention. >> i understand you had, for days, tried to get a comment from him. you wanted to interview him, and we just saw a tape, you finally tracked him down, how did that happen? >> we don't ambush people, we schedule interviews. so for five days we talked to the campaign and said he needs to clear the air, we can do a scheduled interview, or we can have an unscheduled interview. they didn't return our call sos we had a closed door interview. >> that's how he kept going with this robotic response, how surprised were you at his response? >> i was very surprised. you have to keep in mind that while congressman coffman may not be known well nationwide, he is the face of the republican party in colorado. when president obama comes to do

coffman votes aye. mr. critz votes no. fwlchlt rooney votes no. mr. ryan votes no. mr. platts votes no. mr. ruppersberger votes no. mr. riggell votes aye. mr. johnson votes no. mr. gibson votes no. ms. sutton votes no. mrs. hartzler votes aye. ms. hanabusa votes no. dr. heck votes aye. ms. hocl votes no. mr. schilling votes no. ms. speier votes no. mr. runyan votes no. mr. scott votes no. mr. griffin votes aye. mr. palazzo votes aye. mr. west votes aye. mrs. roby votes aye. mr. brooks votes aye. mr. young votes aye. mr. jones. mr. jones? >> how is mr. shuster recorded? >> mr. shuster is recorded as aye. mr. shuster votes no. >> clerk will record the tally. >> mr. chairman, the nos are 36, the ayes are 25. >>> and the amendment is not agreed to. >> if there are no further amendments, the chair recognizes the gentleman from texas, mr. thornberry for the purpose of adopting a motion. >> i look to adopt the full committee provisions as amended. >> the question is on the motion from the gentleman from texas. if you're in favor, say aye. those opposed no. >> no. the quorum be

i told you about congressman mike coffman who at a recent fundraidser said this president obama. >> i don't know whether barack obama was born in the united states or not. but in his heart, he is not an american. >> coffman later said he misspoke, but a local newspaper reporter tried getting coffman to elaborate. >> do you feel that voters are owed a better explanation than i misspoke? >> i stand by my statement. that i misspoke and i apologize. >> who are you apologiing to? >> i stand by my statement. >> i apologize, we talk to you all of the time, who is telling you not to talk. >> i stand by my statement, and i misspoke and i apologize. >> was it that you thought it would go over well in a country that is very conservative. >> i stand by my statement, i misspoke and i apologize. >> is anything i can ask you that you will answer differently? >> i misspoke and i apologize. >> it's like i refuse to testify to grounds if they -- and ken bennet floated the idea of not putting president obama on the ballot if hawaii would not verify his birth. yesterday, hawaii put it out again, and benn

congressman mike coffman is now changing his excuse for attacking the president. >> i misspoke and apologize. >> scott walker is going national to survive his recall. mr. barrett joins me tonight. >> good to have you with us. thanks for watching. president bush famously asked the question, are our children learning? mitt romney, are we making enough money off them? mitt romney visits a charter school about success of for profit education. >> i'm told about the success of these institutions you helped found and this institution in particular and would love to get your privilege on what makes it work. >> there are real questions about whether charter schools are working including the one romney visited today. the universal blu ford charter school in philadelphia was put on warning status last year. only 27% proficient in math and 22% proficient in reading. the objectives or 72% in reading and they are behind. romney told the audience classroom size, it has nothing to do with school performance. the teachers he spoke with today took issue with romney's logic. >> i can't think of any teacher in

. >> coffman offered another halfhearted apology posted in the denver post.he rounds on right wing radio and admits he is walking back his assertion for political reasons. >> were you just at that moment speaking what was in your heart and are you now feeling you need to walk it back for political reasons? >> to some extent that's true because i think that when republicans are not talking about jobs and the economy, when we're not on message, i think the other side is winning. look, i think that's a horrible issue for republicans. i think that's a victory for, every day that we're talking about that is a victory for the president. >> these people will not get it right when it comes to picking on the president and going so far as to say he's not an american and walking it back and walking it back the other way again. what do we make of this? >> ed, i think this is the new southern strategy. it's using racial fear. if you listen to representative coffman's words. he didn't say obama wasn't born in the u.s. he said he's not american. he's playing upon fears of c

. >>> meet colorado congressman mike coffman. he is a republican.ing at a recent fund-raiser. >> i don't know whether barack obama was born in the united states or not. i don't know that. but i do know this. that in his heart, he's not an american. he's just not an american. >> congressman coffman later issued a statement apologizing for his comments, sort of. he said he does think the president is an american citizen, but he doesn't think the president has a sufficiently american philosophy, whatever that means. what does that the mean, actually? i mean, it's one thing if this is just another random birther or pseudo birther fringe republican congressman. it's not that rare anymore in the republican party. but if this were your congressman or a congressman from where you lived, you might reasonably want more of an explanation for what he meant by that. and so reporter kyle clark from the nbc affiliate in denver, channel 9, put some shoe leather into this thing and tracked the congressman down to try to get more of an explanation. when he did finall

. >> according to police was amy coffman. the police showed up, did a couple traffic stops, and tracked these people down, and they admitted to what they did after the police caught up with them. >> what does that lady have in her purse, you know? mints and gum? >> what an awful human being. they were caught quickly, so kudos to the police for getting that taken care of pretty fast. >> this little donut dance got this person in a lot of trouble. too sacred for skid marks, next. and our favorite goo in . >>> welcome back to the show, don't forget to check in at rightthisminute.com. great videos, all day long. >> we're all familiar with ferrari, right? >> familiar from afar. >> you'll love this stunt, but they end up apologizing for this. >> you're thinking they're just doing some donuts. the problem is they did this on a 1600-year-old dynasty wall, that is what they left on the local memorial. they paid $10,000 to rent the venue, but they didn't reveal they would be doing donuts. >> i bet it was a spur of the moment thing. the

he's just not an american. >> coffman found himself backpedalling that last night in a quote when heaid, i have confidence in president obama's citizenship and legitimacy in the united states, however, i don't believe the president shares my belief in american exceptionalism. his policies reflect a philosophy that america is but one nation among many equals. who votes for these political quacks? >>> and romney believes he has more in common with bill clinton than anyone else does. is he fooling anyone? we'll be back with "hardball." >>> i'm jackie deangelis with your cnbc market wrap. the dow plummeting 156 points, the s&p 20, and the nasdaq going down 60 points today. looking ahead to the facebook debut. apple fell nearly 3% today. and jp morgan slipping another 4%. the banking committee wants ceo jamie dimon to testify as early as next month. that's all on cnbc worldwide. now back over to "hardball." >>> welcome back to "hardball." mitt romney has been testing out a new strategy aimed at driving a wedge between president obama and senseless republicans and democrats who supported b

coffman votes no. mr. critz votes aye. mr. rooney votes no. mr. ryan? mr. ryan votes aye. mr. mlatts votes no. mr. ruppersberger votes aye. mr. regell votes aye. mr. johnson votes aye. mr. gibson votes ayee. ms. sutton votes aye. mrs. hartzler votes no. ms. ahanabusa votes aye. dr. heck votes no. ms. hochul votes aye. mr. schilling votes no. ms. speier votes

congressman mike coffman at a fundraiser last week.fman found himself back pedaling that one this week in a quote that says "i have confidence in president obama's citizensiip and elect ma si as president of the united states of america but i don't think he shares my beliefs. his policies reflect that -- >> so this congressman says the president is an undocumented alien, and he is out right un-american. who votes for these odd ducks and political quakes? up next, mitt romney wants you to believe that he has more in common with bill clinton than obama does. >> welcome back to "hardball," mitt romney is testing out a strategy for driving a wedge between obama and centralist that embrace bill clinton. there are many problems with the strategy beginning with this, romney opposes everything bill clinton supports. we have alex wagner from the host of now, the highly successful program that cops on earlier than this. here is mitt romney stirring the pot in des moines this tuesday, two days ago, let's watch. >> president clinton was signaling

coffman. was cleared please pass at the amendment.he chair now recognizes the gentleman from colorado, mr. coffman for the purpose of offering and expand his amendment. >> i thank you, mr. chairman. over the last 10 years the department of defense has seen historic rates of growth in number of federal civilian employees on payroll since 2002 the number of civilian bureaucrats inside the dod has grown 20% while the number of uniformed military members has increased less than 1%. pull the curtain at mistry shouldn't slash in the numbers of uniformed military personnel over the next five years additional little indication that it plans to take commiserate cuts to the federal workforce would've been higher to support support the uniformed men and women. now that the department is making tough decisions about defense platforms by retiring ships and combat aircraft subpoena per se says new weapons systems, it is time we took action to secure the balance. in the summer of 2010 defense secretary robert gates announces series of cost saving in

he's just not an american. >> coffman found himself backpedalling that last night in a quote when heaid, i have confidence in president obama's citizenship and legitimacy in the united states, however, i don't believe the president shares my belief in american exceptionalism. his policies reflect a philosophy that america is but one nation among many equals. who votes for these political quacks? >>> and romney believes he has more in common with bill clinton than anyone else does. is he fooling anyone? we'll be back with "hardball." [ truck beeping ] morning, boys. so, i'm working on a cistern intake valve, and the guy hands me a locknut wrench. no way! i'm like, what is this, a drainpipe slipknot? wherever your business takes you, nobody keeps you on the road like progressive commercial auto. [ flo speaking japanese ] [ shouting in japanese ] we work wherever you work. now, that's progressive. call or click today. >>> i'm jackie deangelis with your cnbc market wrap. the dow plummeting 156 points, the s&p 20, and the nasdaq going down 60 points today. looking ahead to the facebook de

phil, is the original defense still part of the coffman case?> reporter: well, that remains to be seen. defense attorneys, though, indicating as the months and years have gone by in this case, their medical examiners have suggested perhaps a less bizarre and more reasonable medical explanation as to how lily coffman died. eleanor is the real name, full name, she was 33 at the time, and according to her husband, a prominent real estate developer, andy coffman, he woke up, went to the restroom and found her lying on the floor and not breathing. here's the nine # one tape: >> reporter: now, the medical examiner for miami-dade county took a year and a half before suggesting this was perhaps a murder because of evidence that he found, of mechanical strangulation. the defense claim was that there was one orange brown smudge on the bathroom wall, she had a fake tan the day before and that indicated there was no struggle at all. martha: quite unusual in a case like this, the victim's parents plan to testify for the man accused of killing their daughter,

. >> according to police was amy coffman. the police showed up, did a couple traffic stops, and tracked these people down, and they admitted to what they did after the police caught up with them. >> what does that lady have in her purse, you know? mints and gum? >> what an awful human being. they were caught quickly, so kudos to the police for getting that taken care of pretty fast. >> this little donut dance got this person in a lot of trouble. too sacred for skid marks, next. this person in a lot of trouble. t[ male announcer ] are younext. paying more and more for cable and enjoying it less and less? stop paying for second best. upgrade to verizon fios tv, internet and phone for just $89.99 a month guaranteed for two years with a two-year agreement. act now and we'll add a special bonus: $250 back. but hurry, this offer ends june 2nd. unlike cable, fios is a 100% fiber-optic network that delivers america's fastest, most consistent, most reliable internet plus the best tv picture quality. why keep paying so much for cable?

congressman mike coffman at a fundraiser last week. >> i don't know if barack obama was born in the unitedtates or not. i don't know. but i do know this, that in his heart, he's not an american. he's just not an american. coffman found himself back petaling that one this week in a quote that says "i have confidence in president obama's zip and elect ma si as president of the united states of america but i don't think he shares my beliefs. his policies reflect that -- >> so this congressman says the president is an undocumented alien, and he isout right un-american. who votes for these od ducks and political quakes? up next, mitt romney wants you to believe that he has more in common with bill clinton than obama does. [ male announcer ] the inspiring story of how a shipping giant can befriend a forest may seem like the stuff of fairy tales. but if you take away the faces on the trees... take away the pixie dust. take away the singing animals, and the storybook narrator... [ man ] you're left with more electric trucks. more recycled shipping materials... and a growing number of lower emissio

coffman. mr.offman: i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. the speaker: the chair will entertain up to five requests for one-minute speeches on each side. for what purpose does the gentleman from colorado rise? mr. coffman: mr. speaker, i rise to address the house for one minute. the speaker: does the gentleman ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute? mr. coffman: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker: without objection, so ordered. mr. coffman: mr. speaker, today i'm announcing my intention to offer an amendment on the defense authorization bill to reduce our military footprint and spending in europe. in january, the pentagon announced that two u.s. army combat brigade teams would be withdrawn from europe. i don't think that goes far enough. the current proposal is only a step in the right direction

the bad representative mike coffman colorado representative was caught on tape earlier this week ranting about how he thought president obama was not an american. citizen. kaufman is the latest republican to join a whole brand new wave of birth or ism and like the rest of his colleagues the more time kaufman spends on this ridiculous debate the less time he's spending on the issues that americans actually care about like fixing the economy or helping our environment. and the very very ugly virginia delegate bob marshall this week marshall and other virginia republican delegates rejected former navy pilot tracey thorn baghlan for a seat on virginia's lowest trial court because he's gay marshall said the thorn begala is gay lifestyle. lifestyle is exactly contrary to his obligation to uphold the state constitution and on c.n.n. this morning he stood by these outrageous remarks we now know they don't have to the taliban repealed obviously you know blacks used to have to sit in the back of the bus they don't have to anymore there was discriminate women couldn't vote and they can vote now tim

coffman who realizes he stepped into it big time.en to him try to weasel his way out of this question. >> i think that as i said -- >> who are you apologizing to? >> i stand by my statement. i apologize. >> we talk to you all the time. you're a very forthcoming guy. who's telling you not to talk? >> i stand by my statement that i wrote. that you have. and i misspoke and i apologize. >> was it that you thought it would go over well in albert county where folks are very conservative and you would never say something like that in the suburbs? >> is there anything i can ask you that you would answer? >> i stand by my statement that i misspoke and i apologize. >> bill: i'm not sure i understood that correctly, peter. i think what he was saying was that he stands by his statement? >> you know, i stand by my statement that i misspoke and i apologize. >> can you tell me what time of day it is? >> bill: i got it. >> okay, got it. >> bill: what did you have for break breakfast this morning? s i tell you. how do these guys get elected in the fi

why do you have like trump you'll be with tomorrow, and coffman in colorado, still pushing this. there's a dozen of these guys, why not just drop them off the back of the caboose and say lose it. >>> we'll be back with more with newt gingrich. >>> back to "hardball" and newt gingrich. why do some people in your party, including donald trump who i have mixed feelings about, i like him in some ways, but he is not stupid enough to believe this birther stuff. barack obama has a birth certificate. he is clearly locally born in hawaii, why do some people in your party push that he is not an american? >> beats me. >> thank you. let me ask you about the tampa convention. we're going to be gavel to gavel here, we'll be covering this thing on fox and msnbc and cnn, but on the broadcast net, we get about an hour a night, will you get prime time? >> no, but i'll get whatever romney thinks helps him win? yes, i will take whatever romney thinks will help him win. >> i'm to team player. when you smile i see what you are. let me ask about vice president, i think it's portman, but i would love it

disappointed last year the year before when the brown kaufman amendment to the bill fell apart the brown coffman amendment was designed to break up the too big to fail banks the idea being that if there are so large that they could cast the entire world economy to utter chaos because of their misgivings then they shouldn't allow be allowed to exist at that size now robert reich the clinton secretary made a brilliant point saying that you know at this point they're too big to regulate we can't even institute regulations they've already committed millions upon millions a lobbyist dollars to overturning the dodd frank legislation which was watered down to begin with the idea that if we leave the banks to police themselves that if we just let them govern themselves that things will work out great for all of us it doesn't work we can't even get the n.y.p.d. to police themselves why should we think that the banks would do any different and certainly jamie dimon kind of for a really long time a poster child of what's been happening a you know a good example of you know self policing actually working we

mike coffman of colorado was at the fundraiser recently, giving a speech, and he unloaded -- watch thisaded on the president. >> i don't know whether barack obama was born in the united states or not. but i do know this. in his heart, he is not an american, he is just not. >> i mean, these sessions are going on, when a tape is put out, they say i didn't mean it that way or modify what they're saying, but if they're not called out and they are not debunked, we don't know who is givend information that is wrong. >> they need to be called out, but it's not giving them too much, not more air time than they justify. if you think about the argument of the secretary of state. this thing was solved, we have an official birth certificate out there. he says he received 1200 letters from those that say they think it's forged. no matter what is produced now, they will think that's forged as well. listen, enough is enough, it's been produced, this is authentic, not sure what your definition of a real american is, but the president is justified and is qualified to be in that seat. if you disagree wit

colorado rep mike coffman made a speech questioning whether he is a real american. >> i think that --by my statement that i misspoke and i apologize. >> and who are you apologizing to? >> i stan by my statement that i misspoke and i apologize. >> he repeated that statement three times. it's all very sad, and at this point i got to say the birthers are like those star wars fans. and it is racist. these birthers have never once demanded a caucasian politician produce a birth certificate or asked for it. i'm not saying they hate african american. they are not necessarily bigots. you know that cousin you have who sends you that chain emails about how obama is a foreign-born muslim that cousin who begins his emails with i'm not a racist but -- racism is institutionalized bigotry. a lot of folks don't even question it. that way your cousin can have all of the black friends in the woefrld and still be guilty of racist birtherism. the catholic church has this policy no female priests, no nob no god. catholics aren't necessarily sexist, but the faith practices institutionalized sexism even if

and mike can coffman spouted an apology for birther talk.ennett, the man responsible for the state's election, saying he is waiting for proof that the birth certificate is authentic. here is is in a radio interview yesterday. >>up not a birther. i believe the president was born in hawaii, or at least i hope he was. but my responsibility as a secretary of the state is to make sure that the ballots in arizona are correct and those people whose names are on the bat loll have met the qualification for the office they're seeking. >> if you don't get an answer from hawaii in time, if they refuse to comply with this, will you remove the president from the ballot? >> that's possible if -- or the other option would be i would ask all of the candidates including the president, maybe two submit a certified copy of their birth certificate, but i don't want to do that. >> you know when you're a birther? you talk like one. jan brewer vetoed a so called birther bill that would potential candidates to prove their citizenship. she called the whole thing a "b

we have mike coffman from colorado asked by our nbc denver affiliate whether the president was born in the u.s. his response was i don't know where he was born. he said, i don't know that. but i do know this, that in his hart he's not an merch. >> most people in the republican party have moved on and this congressman is one of 535 people on the hill, but i thenk elise ya hits on the right issue. this is a moral issue. you have people out there perpetuating nonsens and lies and falsehoods and no one, up in of the grown-ups within the republican party are willing to come up and say, enough of this, stop this. this isn't right, it isn't good for our democracy. and until someone in the republican leadership and i'm talk about spaerk baner, riens prevince and anyone else steps forward and says we will not tolerate this, this is not the way we should win the white house or talk about the president of the united states, this sort of nonsense will continue. >> rich, does this show that both sides, as much as everyone wants to talk on the upfront and be nicnicy-nice is people are willing to get