democratic catholic democrats started protesting. and and to that there's you know this this uproar is continuing now rush limbaugh making all these comments going after this and this young woman who was basically talking about medical conditions that can be treated with birth control pills and the whole hysteria around it. is it is a. it almost seems that the sexual hysteria where this counterrevolutionary. effort goes in waves that it pops up for a while and becomes very very intense and then it just kind of goes into hiding. is that an accurate description of it through the american political process and if so is is is do the waves are they part of an arc or other part of a line of increasing or decreasing intensity i mean we're seeing for example eight states maryland governor marilyn just signed a gay marriage bill which arguably is liberalization of. you know the acceptance of diversity and sexuality. are we seen an oscillation on a descending line. yes i think you're absolutely right that we see this in waves and part of it has to do with the momentary issue part of it also has to do with partisan strategy so that the republicans for moments given rush limbaugh's comment today and the republicans kind of unwillingness to really call that out they they are it's overreaching tremendously right now and same republicans know that this is going to be disastrous in the coming election now often the other move for republicans is self baby admitted that themselves that they realize that these far right positions on sex and women and gender are not popular and they haven't in many elections they kind of organize under the radar often in a different guise. to put people in office that say say they're running on charts or running on the deficit but are really totally lock stock and barrel in in sync with these sexual fundamentalists so the tea party for example was little more than a rebranding of the christian right you know they fooled the media and they fall democrats for about a year but if we look what they did in artists and we look at who they put enough this it's pretty clear that it's the usual suspects from the religious right behind it and so how does how is that how does that play out is that is that the peak of the curve that we're on the downside of now and that's why there's such a blowback to to to santorum and to and to win war yes i do think so. the shuras in the base have got an overconfident and are kind of people like santorum on so with this and in almost every case where they show their hands the rest of america reacts as we're seeing the you know when organizing speaking out against it you know something very similar happened in one thousand nine hundred ninety two when it looked like the supreme court was on the verge of overturning roe v wade there was a kind of reignited reproductive rights abortion rights movement. clinton wholeheartedly embraced portion rights even if brace a writes in that election meanwhile the republica

so nativists are concerned about catholics infiltrating the democratic party. the democrats were viewed as the toties of the catholics. meanwhile, the know nothings saw themselves as the people's party as opposed to the corrupt political parties that had been perverted by the catholic interests as they called it. the formal name of the party was the american party, and they were very successful, especially at the state level, in the mid-1850s. 1853, '54, '55 they were quite successful in -- well, even in states like massachusetts. the know nothings won several key state elections because there was a general feeling among the voters they wanted to throw off the old party organization. in other words, in some respects the american party was a kind of no party or anti-party party, right, in that it was really saying, hey, we're different from the other two conventional traditional parties. they wanted to destroy, they said, the power of hack politicians and party wire pullers and bag men. they pushed for party nominees being named by votes in local lodges rather than, you know,

catholics. at that moment, democrats, swing democrats thought it was too much. want to bring religion into the campaign. it's a perfect example of a good ad that went just a little too far. >> brian: interesting. frank, a lot of people looking at the republican battle, and saying you're giving sound bites for great ads for the democrats and president obama down the line. are they, when they criticize each other? >> the answer is yes, they are. i'm sure that you're going to see some of these debate moments appear in ads over the next seven or eight months. in fact, on sunday night, 10:00 p.m., we've got some of the toughest ads that have been most effective and we've got representatives from the four candidates, two senators, five members of congress to talk about this presidential race. brian, you're dead on and sunday night, 10:00 o'clock, you'll see it exactly why some republicans want to end this campaign after super tuesday. >> brian: one way to do that perhaps if you're mitt romney and that's win ohio. we'll talk about that at a different time because super

be a surprise that she has been a columnist for the catholic no one we'll writing why pro choice is a bad choice for democratic and it was democratsesponsible for the present war on women's rights. she will no doubt view that what i said tonight was the ah, claim trouble. [ dennis ] you should just switch to allstate, and get their new claim satisfaction guarantee. hey, he's right man. [ dennis ] only allstate puts their money where their mouth is. yup. [ dennis ] claim service so good, it's guaranteed. [ foreman ] so i can always count on them. unlike randy over there. that's one dumb dude. ♪ ♪ the new claim satisfaction guarantee. dollar for dollar, nobody protects you like allstate. the newest voice in cable news is on the new news network. >>jennifer granholm joins current tv. this former two term governor is politically direct. [ male announcer ] this is lawn ranger -- eden prairie, minnesota. in here, the landscaping business grows with snow. to keep big winter jobs on track at&t provided a mobile solution that lets everyone from field workers to accounting, initiate, bill and track work in real time. you can't live under a

democrats think oaks republicans hate women. the republicans are saying, oh, the democrats hate catholics. they are trying to put together everything. >> republicans are better at tripping these mines. >> m cat that is something i want to be clear about. unless i am wrong this isn't about government subsidized birth control. this is not about taxpayers paying for birth control. but it is about the government forcing religious institutions to pay for things and cover things i'm for rail. >> you can say, no i don't want to pay for that. it is the foreseeable expenses. i do not have insurance for car washes. >> i don't disagree, but no one -- the crux of this argument is not the government should be providing free -- >> they already do and the republicans vote for it. >> i can't tell you how many times i left my car to be de sailed and there is a baby in the trunk. joy is that chapped. -- >> also i want to bring this up. you talked a little about the double standard here with rush and with people on the left. we agree what rush said was ill. in addition to powers' letter who had a good piece

democrats. so, that was the same thing. like, you were a daley democrat or a kennedy democrat. today, i support the daleys. i'm a fan of rahm emanuel who is the chicago mayor now. it was catholich, kennedy. we didn't say conservative or liberal. we worked in the steel mills. my mother was a hairdresser. i became a conservative when i started reading and paying taxes. >> a lot of people do when you get into the real world of making money. growing up, my grandmother had a photograph of the pope, mayor daley, jfk and the priest on the dining room table. we have very much of the same background in that respect. let's go to what's going on in politics. santorum won saturday. we have a few contests tomorrow, alabama, mississippi, hawaii, american samoa. do you have any predictions? what's going down for the republicans in this primary? >> he who predicts ends up eating glass, as we say. everybody on the ground is saying mitt is closing. romney is doing better than anticipated in the south which aggravates me now that i live in the south. southerners are people too. but, it's split the same way that all the primaries and caucuses have been split. in this case, they are saying one-thi

be a surprise that she has been a columnist for the catholic no one we'll writing why pro choice is a bad choice for democratic and it was democratsponsible for the present war on women's rights. she will no doubt view that what i said tonight was the protect medicare and rebuild the middle class. >> steve israel runs the dccc, appreciate. >> thank you. the newest voice in cable news is on the new news network. >>jennifer granholm joins current tv. this former two term governor is politically direct. [ male announcer ] this is lawn ranger -- eden prairie, minnesota. in here, the landscaping business grows with snow. to keep big winter jobs on track at&t provided a mobile solution that lets everyone from field workers to accounting, initiate, bill and track work in real time. you can't live under a dome in minnesota that's why there's guys like me. [ male announcer ] it's a network of possibilities -- helping you do what you do... even better. ♪ ♪ >> battling for delegates in mississippi today and caucuses in hawaii and american is a samoa. exit polls. i'll get back to it. our number one story, the gop battle reaching new ugliness

democratic show hearing. that was a democratic event she was testifying at. he could have made the point she went to georgetown, a catholic institution. she should have known all of this. this is america, we can debate anything, but isn't the language there when if we have a 50-50 presidential election, math tells you and history tells you moderate women in suburban america tend to decide those elections, isn't that a gift? >> she's right, this was a trap. one of the things you don't do with a trap is jump into it to test if there are spikes at the bottom and then throw a hand grenade on your own head to show how big a mess of yourself you can make while in the trap. the democratsrty hero on offense. the historical status quo was the american state and the federal government offered catholic church large scope to do its good works of drug rehabilitation, providing health care, education. in light of its teachings. if you don't like that, there are other institutions that did it a different way. that was the status quo. these conscientious things were protected with the plan of 1993. obama was on the initiative. he was changing the rules. the republicans were on the defensive saying we're going to defend the way things have always been. you can do that without insulting anybody. and it is an example of how although people talk about limbaugh as a republican spokesman, he has his own agenda. it is not good for him if the republicans win in 2012. his business has been better since 2008. >> better in the opposition. >> way better. >> he has put this front and center now in our politics. of course what happens every candidate gets asked about it. scott brown sends o

democrats talk about contraception. the catholics did not believe in giving these morning-after pills. that democrats have made this a war on women with the help of the media. i would say with the help of c- span. i would like to know the effect that rush limbaugh has on the political scene. guest: well, i think that -- you blamed a few people for turning this into a war on women. i am going to blame republicans for not turning this into an effective message. when you turn something into a war on women, there is a specific purpose to the. women voters -- a lot of them tend to be independent. that helps republicans in house races across the country. as for rush limbaugh and his comments, that hurt republicans a lot. i cannot even make an argument that it helped republicans. it hurt them a great deal. not only did he engendered enormous sympathy for the woman who testified, but it also raised the issue of civil discourse in this country and why people are fed up with politics. host: jeff is a democratic collar. caller: good morning. i am a lifelong democrat. is there anything that democrats will not give up? it drives me nuts. it seems like only the women have the guts and the backbone to stand up to these republicans. you never see the men out there doing that. the rush limbaugh deal -- you see all of these democratic women giving their point of view. where are the men at? when are these democratic men going to get a backbone? i will hang up and see what you have to say. guest: i heard quite a number of male democratic elected officials come out and condemn rush limbaugh's comments. on this issue, it is much more effective to have women out there. a number of women senate candidates and incumbents went on a fund-raising swing this past weekend on this issue. they are maximizing their ability to do that as women. host: mary on twitter has this tweet -- that is actually a story in the papers this morning, the front page of "the new york times." guest: they are out-raising democrats fo

democrats talk about contraception. the catholics did not believe in giving these morning-after pills. the democrats have made this a war on women with the help of the media. i would say with the help of c- span. i would like to know the effect that rush limbaugh has on the political scene. guest: well, i think that -- you blamed a few people for turning this into a war on women. i am going to blame republicans for not turning this into an effective message. when you turn something into a war on women, there is a specific purpose to the. women voters -- a lot of them tend to be independent. that helps republicans in house races across the country. as for rush limbaugh and his comments, that hurt republicans a lot. i cannot even make an argument that it helped republicans. it hurt them a great deal. not only did he engender enormous sympathy for the woman who testified, but it also raised the issue of civil discourse in this country and why people are fed up with politics. host: jeff is a democraticood morning. i am a lifelong democrat. is there anything that democrats will not give up? it drives me nuts. it seems like only the women have the guts and the backbone to stand up to these republicans. you never see the men out there doing that. the rush limbaugh deal -- you see all of these democratic women giving their point of view. where are the men at? when are these democratic men going to get a backbone? i will hang up and see what you have to say. guest: i heard quite a number of male democratic elected officials come out and condemn rush limbaugh's comments. on this issue, it is much more effective to have women out there. a number of women senate candidates and incumbents went on a fund-raising swing this past weekend on this issue. they are maximizing their ability to do that as women. host: mary on twitter has this tweet -- that is actually a story in the papers this morning, the front page of "the new york times." guest: they are out-raising democrats for now because they

democrats realized the republicans were not calling any women in their initial panel of witnesses at a contraception hearing, they asked sandra fluke be called as their democratic witness, to testify about getting insurance through a catholic institution, that would not cover birth control and how it had cost a friend of her's one of her ovaries. the friend needed contraception not for birth control purposes, but for therapeutic purposes, birth control has a lot of therapeutic purposes other than preventing getting pregnant. but because ms. flukfluke's fri had to navigate around the objections to her prescription it was too late, she lost an ovary. that would be sandra fluke's testimony about the importance of health insurance covering contraception. the republican chairman darrell issa said she was not qualified to testify on the issue of contraception coverage but these guys were. some democrats walked out of that hearing that day. house democrats under nancy pelosi later convened not technically a hearing because democrats are in the minority, they can't convene hearings, they convened a forum in which they heard that testimony from sandra fluke. the testimony that darrell issa would not allow. republicans wouldn't allow it at the official hearing, the reason the president ended up calling sandra fluke today while waiting to go on andrea mitchell's show, because conservative radio host rush limbaugh has been making the case on his show for the republicans position against contraception coverage. and he has been making that case by personally attacking ms. flu fluke. it's not like mr. limbaugh slipped up and accidentally said something offensive and maybe he'll apologize because he didn't mean it. he has been doing it for are three straight days now. this was day one. >> a georgetown university c oed told nancy pelosi's hearing that the women in her law school program are hav

democrats and republicans, rush limbaugh has apologized to a georgetown law student. last week, the conservative radio host made degrading comments towards sandra fluke. fluke testified to congressional democrats about the debate over birth control and catholicleased a statement on his website that said, "my choice of words was not the best. and in the attempt to be humorous, i created a national stir. i sincerely apologize to ms. fluke for the insulting word choic choices." fluke has not responded. >>> in arizona, the controversial sheriff who believes president obama isn't eligible for office is now selling his report as a book. maricopa county sheriff joe arpaio's report is part of a book by jerome corsi, a political conspiracy writer who also believes president obama's birth certificate is fake. the book, "a question of eligibility" is for sale as an ebook through amazon and barnes & noble. a spokesman for president obama responded by tweeting out a link to the popular series "the x files." >>> meanwhile, virginia police arrested more than 30 pro-choice activists at the state capitol. they were part of a group of about 500 protesting a bill that will require women to get an ultrasound before getting an abortion. police say the group had