. >> 1972, george mcgovern. >> they did do something after that. there was reform inside the democratic party, but in this case, i think they were right to look at the mechanics, but also they have to look at the other problem they have, the perception of the republican party. those focus groups put their finger on the problem. this is perceived to be a party that does not care about people. you do not change that by putting out fieldworkers to talk to people. that is not going to change it. it is not just a message, but the policy. why are people not responding to the republican message? >> you can have outreach, but you have to have something to outreach with. you cannot get women to vote for you if you are campaigning against the availability of contraception. you cannot get hispanics to really look at you and asians to really look at you when you are campaigning against immigration reform. you already see changes. an interesting column friday talked about how most of the conservative think tanks have priorities set by rather ideological donors.

>> as history shows the two most extreme candidates in recent times were barry goldwater and george mcgovern and both got hammered. so i think you are right. just real quickly on the ted cruze barack obama front. isn't it interesting that both of their stories revolve around, you know, a rags to riches in america the greatest nation on earth but they both see this country so differently? think really do. don't they. look at the line of work that president obama went into. you know, it was a law professor and a community organizer. and i think he was probably a liberal from the jump. and ted cruise comes out of a different political atmosphere. texas is very different from chicago he has the experience and the background of a guy who made it from scratch in the state of texas, which is -- you know low tax opportunity state. and you see the effect it's had on these two men, not that they wouldn't have those convictions anyway you can see it. >> bill: the nation is going to have to decide i think in the next four years what kind of country they want. because this is not going to be able to comp

hard-line elements in the party base is doing to the gop what supporters of gene mccarthy and george mcgovern to the democratic party in the late 1960s and early 1970s, radicalizing its image and standing in the way of its revitalization." let us bring in health magee, vice president of policy and outreach at demos and michael tomsskey for "newsweek" and "the daily beast." heather, please help me to understand what is happening here. what does it say to you that folks like mitch mcconnell and john cornyn, both of whom are likely to face primary challenges in 2014, feel the need to sign on to the rand paul budget? >> we've lost our way. we've officially lost our way. you know, i actually curled up with this 106-page document today with a warm cup of tea. >> what could be cozier. >> and maybe it's the tenth anniversary of the iraq war, but i closed it and said, this is like a shock and awe attack against the american government, right? you're bringing four departments, decimating them to rubble. you know, a flat tax that would basically bring the level of spending in this country to sort of pre

lyndon johnson, they ran barry goldwater, when the democrats couldn't beat richard nixon they ran george mcgovernat they didn't believe those men, they just didn't

hard-line elements in the party base is doing to the gop what supporters of gene mccarthy and george mcgoverntic party in the late 1960s and early 1970s, radicalizing its image and standing in the way of its revitalization. case in point. michigan republican and rnc president, members are calling for his resignation, after he posted a comment on facebook, denouncing filthy degenerates. he said it's a part of our platform, a principle worth fighting for. is this a party that we talked last couple of blocks about immigration and all the needs that the republican elites understand they have. the party is controlled by a base that isn't 20% or 30%, it's maybe a majority of republicans that have far right views that their elected leaders have it adhere to. >> i live in d.c. i have a chance to talk to young republicans and they're the ones who grown the loudest. the don young quote you made earlier. there are a lot of people who are young and republican and want to see the party change. the question is how can they do it you're right talking about the base. when i went to i went to cpac like a lot

when democrats couldn't beat richard nixon they ran george mcgovern.ey didn't believe in those men.

george mcgovern took forever. who knows if he ever really got over the loss to nixon? al gore clearly struggled get over that loss. john mccain. is he in good company, if you will, getting over this. not everybody is bob dole and walter mondale, who both seemed to be comfortable losing, if you will. >> it has to be enormously hard to put yourself out there and lose the presidency. in some ways i wouldn't expect him to be -- he did say some critical things about the campaign. the thing in that clip that struck me is the fact that he really honestly believes that obama care was a big plus for the president, and it's really striking because when the bill passed and then a year or two afterwards it remained unpopular, the white house just kept saying, no, eventually it will be popular, eventually it will be popular, and it's sort of fascinating that romney now agree with them, that it might be the obama care that it might be the early stages of following things like medicare that are ultimately seen as a benefit, part of the safety net that is actually quite popular. >> i

former senator george mcgovern and i were debating-- one of the most civil men i've ever met, and a good friend. and afterwards, one of my supporters came up out of the audience. i could tell he was one of mine because he had a flattop haircut, a blue suit, white socks, and was chewing gum. and he said, "my wife and i would like to take you out for a bite to eat." and i id, "well, that's very nice of you, but senator mcgovern and i had already made dinner plans." and he looked at me as if i had insulted his mother and said, "how can you eat with a man like that?" i said "very easily. he's a friend of mine." but i really do believe that liberalism has failed miserably. we've got the 25th anniversary of woodstock coming up later this year, and you're going to see all these gray beards with their beads, or maybe they'll be in three-piece suits now like rene davis and what remains of the chicago seven. but our side has really won, the conservatives, because this time, they're charging admission for the reunion. >> speaking of woodstock, we'll show this in just a moment, but you've got differ

. >> let's be nice to bob dole he is george mcgovern next to these guys. >> stephanie: opposition toose younger than 6 [ inaudible ] opposed same-sex marriage by 3-1 -- [overlapping speakers] >> stephanie: other voters expressed support -- >> so pretty much nobody. >> -- by double-digit margins. meanwhile african-americans -- another pocket of opposition white voters who do not have a college education. yeah, it is becoming a really -- you know -- narrow and concentrated. >> that's right. >> yeah, you can't stop progress. if prop 8 was coming up today it would never pass. in 2000 the bangay marriage thing passed by what 20 points. and then prop 8 passed by much less than that. the arc of decency moves forward. and the more people know these are their brothers and sisters and sons and daughters -- >> stephanie: you know what is going to put us over the top this picture. >> that's going to make me join the republican party. >> i got that issue yesterday, and i was like wow, that's gay! >> stephanie: it's beyond the candle candle obre. they reveal there were some sort of explicit gay se

george mcgovern, a decent guy, e wrote a lot of stories about them, and you never knew where stories will go. that got me to the associated press which got me to washington, covering the vietnam war. in 1965, on-the-job training for learning how to hate a war, because going there, working in washington, and as a correspondent, and the a.p. has juice because every story you write is on every editor's esk. the other thing was you get to now military guys. i was saying earlier although i m critical of my government, one thing that you find in the cia, all these agencies in the military, what makes the world work is you find a one-star general or people that are not loyal to the two-star generals or the chief of staff or the army, but are loyal to the constitution, and that is drifting away more particularly as you see the erosion of congress in its oversight capacity, the growth of the executive. there are still people deep inside, so as a young reporter covering and having lunch with officers who have been to vietnam, i would learn about what was going on that everybody killed was coun

senators bob dole and george mcgovern reached across the aisle and built our modern foot safety net programdicated hunger, and we've gotten all the way back because the language and philosophy of the times shifted away, and how it's in our collective best interests to do that, and how there's lazy people asking for a free ride, and so here we are. >> you are worried about the sequester, because the cuts that do happen are not good for the issue of hunger. >> 600,000 pregnant women, infants and children under 5 will lose their benefits. it's just -- when you think about it, it's the most vulnerable people in our country. if you look at, in doing the film, we really wanted to put a face to hunger. there's 50 million americans who are food insecure in this country, one sixth of the population. people are sort of accustomed to thinking about hunger in terms of third world hunger, famine victims, yet we have americans walking around that look pretty much normal, but they're actually hungry, and malnourished. it's just something that we can for example. >> it does seem ridiculous, the school lunc

mondale said to mcgovern and they both lost and he said to mcgovern, george, when do you get over it?e said, get over it? you don't get over it. you know? you give up four years of your life. you have enormous pride invested, friends that spend money on your behalf and you lose. >> yeah. >> and in his case, he lost by a much larger margin than he anticipated he would. i talked to people in the room with him on election night and some of them were politically not naive i suppose but they had raised a lot of money for him and invited in and come to me and say, he thought he was going to win. when did you know he was going to lose? i said about a week earlier it looked strong if the game plan that the obama people paid off for them. i was skeptical and then seeing the evidence of it, you know? in our own polling and other places, you could see how they could pull this off. they're not bad people. i mean, they're very chair it i believe. he had success in his life. i saw him in salt lake city after the election when i was doing the christmas concert for next year and had friends around hi