the trajectory of hillary clinton's career stuns. i'm pleased to have known her and worked with her throughout much of it. while this is no retirement dinner, hear that, hillary? no retirement dinner. we honor you for the entire arc of your remarkable chair, during the carter administration, a white house where jim freeh and i served, to u.s. senator of new york and of course, u.s. secretary of state. i was in beijing in 1995 as part of the small congressional delegation for the u.n. congress on women when first lady hillary clinton uttered the iconic rallying cry for female quality. you just heard it in her fill many. that same year saw the formation of the council of women world leaders, the only organization for women who had countries. now it has 47 members and just last year relocated, where else? to the wilson center. with strong support from secretary clinton and her magical ambassador-at-large for women's issues milan who is here. we are building it into a major platform to showcase women's leadership and mentor emerging wome

romney may have gotten a little help from hillary rosen. who is she, a washington political consultant who advises the democratic national committee. rosen has created a firestorm after these comments on ann romney last night. >> what you have is mitt romney running around the country saying, well, my wife tells me what women really care about are economic issues. and when i listen to my wife, that's what i'm hearing. his wife has never worked a 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. >> nbc news senior political editor mark murray joins me now. and mark, this is an amazing phenomenon with hillary rosen because it shows the power of the twitter sphere and social media. it spread like wildfire. hillary rosen, who no one knew who she was, was trending nationally for a moment last night. talk about this and its impact. this is a real boost for mitt romney here. he can sort of portray the elite democratic limousine liberals out of touch with real work

my point is hillary clinton was ambitious. she had a sense of her trajectory and other people who looked at her similarly had a sense of her tragedy ect roye and destiny decades ago. somebody like that i don't think gets to a certain age and says, you know what? i'm done. time to coast. if she sees an opportunity she will dick -- take it. ing chris: paut -- put it all together would you say take a year off? relax, get in shape, enjoy life, get all this office out of your head and then zipe -- decide? >> yes. i suspect that's what she has in mind. chris: dan? >> one, i don't think it's better for hillary clinton's chances if she wants to run in 2016 if obama loses. i will think an obama victory would be better for her. belter for her taking on an incumbent republican president, wouldn't like her chances. too, i do think she probably doesn't know herself whether they wants to one. -- run. but we haven't played out this election year yet. if things are close in august, does barack obama work out some arrangement where he says i w

when jay carney says he knows three hillary rosens, the white house visitor log shows that a hillaryse 35 times. guess how many times david petraeus has been to the white house? >> greg: three times? >> dana: nine. >> bob: no question that hillary rose than showed up is the same one. but remember, petraeus has only been the c.i.a. director for -- >> kimberly: but why did carney make comments like that? he's a shapeless amoeba. he says things -- >> dana: in the first segment you mentioned it's not a big story. if the president of the united states feels he has to comment on it or is asked about in a local interview he is doing, it's riz on the the level of a pretty big deal. >> bob: for the day, it is. >> kimberly: the president is making comments. do you agree that he said that? good move. he's watching "the five." >> bob: what you are not going to get is more women to vote for the republicans than democrats. it's simple as that. >> eric: michelle obama goes home and says hey, barack, get out there and straight then out now. >> bob: i don't know. what dis your wife tell you when you

here is what he said. >> hillary rosen, i know three personally women named hillary rosen.present the person we're talking about necessarily. so i really can't comment on a number of visits. >> i don't know any other hillary rosen but jay must. you know, it's politics. [ laughter ] >> bret: hillary rosen on the logs apparently met with obama. some hillary rosen five of those times. >> let's say there was a third of those times. clearly she has met with him. in business with the former white house communications director anita dunn. she has been advicing the democratic national committee. the game today has been the romney team has tried to make her seem like president obama's top advisor and democrats and some of the media made it seem like she has never had anything to do with the president of the democratic national committee. the reason that there is this fighting, romney is down depending on the poll, eight to 12 points. eight to 12-point gender gap. big deal. if you look historically, republicans, women, majority of women voters in 1980-1984 and 1988, democrats won '92

name them, jay. >> hillary rosen, hillary rosen and hillary rosen. >> who are they and what are their relationships? hillary rosen did one thing, awoke sleeping giant and bob will dis disagree but a conservative base, mitt romney, i'm not in love. once she took a shot at ann romney, she raised five boys, m.s., breast cancer, every conservative female not sure about the romneys are sure they'll vote for them. >> i'm surprised the president did go that far and not ask her to turn it down from a 9 to a 7. >> first of all, sleeping giant's been awoken by hillary rosen? i doubt it. leaving that aside, what's important is the reason they responded quickly is part of the campaign strategy is to keep romney over as sort of the antiwoman candidate. and romney knows he's way behind on the gender gap. he came out after it was clear he was the nominee and that was his position. this came at an inopportune time. one thing, the advantage they've had is the gender gap. a lot of conservative women will come out and they're not going to vote for obama but i think what obama did was yeah, got rid of he

hillary has acknowledged that.e that the romney campaign jumped on it like a raft in the deep blue sea. they were drowning under the weight of their own problems. they couldn't come up with an answer of whether governor romney supported the pay equity law, the first line president obama signed and he endorsed and warmly spoke of governor walker who just repealed the pay equity law there. i think that has more durable meaning to the women of this country than this. >> i think there is no question, the substance of the debate about the economy and the role of women in the economy is more important. you say the romney campaign jumped on it. that's true. they saw an opening and they seized it. that's what a smart guy like david axlerod would tell his client to do. you guys seized on it too. wait a minute, the vice president has said some things he had to take back. debbie was german schultz criticized her friend, hillary rosen, has said things that have made the white house cringe. why so fast to trash, forgive me, my

i will say this in defense of hillary rosen. look, i know her, and her criticism or her remark was about -- was about -- she was not critical of ann romney. she would not. >> oh, sure, she was, greta. absolutely she was. >> no, wait. >> sure, she was. she's never worked a day in her life. she doesn't know these things. it was very dismiss i have. >> i think, karl, the way i read it, and i read the remarks, i don't think she's been critical of the fact ann romney has been a spectacular mother and she has. she raised five children. >> she never said that. >> i don't think she would have been critical of ann romney if the issue were ann romney and the challenges she faced because she's struggle with a physical problem. i think she would have been fine with that. the way i treed (sic), the way i read it is because she was not critical of ann romney staying at home, she welcomed that choice, she's a mother herself, but the idea that she didn't know the business world because she doesn't have the experience. she certainly is an experi

he is preparing the way for hillary as 2016. plus, paul ryan has trouble with his hardlined republican budget. today in georgetown university, and democrats took the nat six years ago when john tester eked out a victory in montana. it requires that outposts like tester's hold on this november. finally tonight, our musical tribute to newt gingrich, who made this republican campaign a lot more interesting you might say than it had any right to be. >> we will have the first permanent base on the moon, and it will be american. ♪ >> i founded four businesses, i've written 24 books. >> this was the finger the penguin bit. >> the fuel newttholoy is in the side show. we have mark halperin, and michael steele, today vice president biden launched the campaign assault against mitt romney, and i think he crystallized the contrast between romney and obama. let's listen to this. >> i said before, thanks to president obama bin laden is dead, and general motors is alive. you have to ask yourself, if governor romney had been president, could we

as hillary seen the movie the iron lady.or a female president of the united states of america. my answer is yes. isn't it time for a female like you, for example, in 2016 to run for president of the united states. >> take it away from me, of course i believe it is time for a woman to be president. i was just in brazil with extraordinary president of brazil. we just saw a woman succeed. it is happening. >> not in the united states. >> i just hope i am around. >> let me ask the secretary of defense. if she runs in 2016 -- you're out of politics. will you support her in 2016 if she runs? easy question. >> are you kidding me? >> of course you will, right? >> of course. she's a great leader. she's ban great leader and she will be a great leader in the future. >> you know, a lot of democrats, and others, they would like you to run in 2016. >> i am honored. that is not in the future for me, but obviously i'm hoping that i'll get to cast my vote for a woman running for president of our country. >> did you see those pictures of her d

and there's hillary.linton. >> when you read maureen dowd's column, she talked to the photographer who took the picture with the sunglasses and the blackberry, and she said that the photographer got a letter from a woman saying, "i showed this to my daughter because i want her to see this." >> she said she had chills down her spine, i think what she said, when she saw that. that showed so much power. i mean, this woman, international figures behind her, a stateswoman, and also i think hillary clinton and karen knows this, too, got a lot of criticism after that photo, the night of the bin laden -- that people saying oh, she looks emotional, right? she's holding her -- and i think we cringe at that as women. she's real. she is powerful. do think that what we are seeing now is that so many women really are so excited to see someone so powerful in this position. and although karen knows her so much better than i do, of course, i just had a chance to cover her a little bit, i can't believe she might not, karen

i don't know that hillary rosen, i know three personally, named hillary rosen. i'm not sure that those represent the person we're talking about. necessarily. so i really can't comment on the number of visits and i'm not sure that is accurate. >> how about the degree of this particular hillary rosen's -- >> i don't know how many times she's been here the she is not, she is a democratic strategist. she's a cnn contributor. as far as i know, and, i, i don't know how to assess her overall relationship with people here in the white house but i do not, i have not seen her here very frequently. >> do you expect that relationship to continue at whatever level it is? >> again, i don't know what the relationship is. let's focus on what the issue here is. this is a, when it comes to, what this administration has done for women, it begins with the president signing of the lilly lead better free pay act. it continues with the emphasis on the need to put teachers back in the classroom. it continues with a variety of programs including our opposition to the ryan republican bud

that's hillary rosen. that ann romney as a woman who stayed at home and raised her five boys, she never had worked a day in her life. well, since then, the president of the united states has denounced it. he said it was ill advised. what's going to be curious, though, is whether or not the president actually apologizes to ann romney as he did to sandra fluke. you think that's going to happen? >> no, it's not going to happen under any conditions although we see the entire democratic party apparatus in full crisis mode responding to this saying we're for motherhood and apple pie now. listen, we have nothing to do with this woman. somehow, she used to be a democratic strategist who has been to the white house 30 times but now we really don't know her and i don't know what she's talking about. >> she's under a bus somewhere. >> i don't know her at all. >> hillary rosen has apparently been to the white house many, many more times. three times as often as leon panetta, the defense secretary but here is how this

and that was hillary rosen accidentally speaking her mind. conservatives immediately went after rosen as did several prominent democrats from loggins and mecina. i guess i am the only one who knows who loggins and mecina is. her comments were wrong and the family should be off limits. she should apologize. interesting looking gentleman. rosen tried to clarify what she meant because he should stop saying that she, his wife, is his guide to women's economic problems. she doesn't have any. isn't it obvious, hash tag 1234* i love the hash tags. and then anne romney herself tweeted for the first time saying, "i made a choice to stay home and raise five boys. believe me. it was hard work" and then there was a lame attempt at bonding by the sheepish rosen. and anne romney, welcome to twitter. you will find it exhilarating and an often unforgiving place. puke. finally thursday they say, i know my words were poorly chosen. i apologize to anne romney and anybody else offended. let's declare peace in this phony war and go baying to focusing on the subst

is hillary clinton running in 2016? she's got a pretty good advance man working for her, bill clinton. i would say the former president has taken on the role of endorsing allies, rewarding her supporters, punishing her opponents. big deal, and it's a big question. is bill fighting old battles or getting ready for a big new one in 2016. mark critz just won the democratic nomination in his state of pennsylvania last week, and my colleague alex wagner joins us now. she's the host on msnbc. quote, we have three leading political parties in america today, howard wrote. republican, democratic and clinton. the last is a mom and pop operation with a chelsea. it's been 12 years since they had a president in office, but they still keep score, tend to their base and ponder what to do next with their political, financial and charitable clout. congressman mark critz, i was rooting for you, sir. you're the jack mertha of today. you represent everything i really like about politics. it's local, you look out for your base, you deliver.

hillary, running the world. of these and their hilarious and portray hillary clinton if this kind of cool way that you don't really think of hillary clinton or at least you didn't. >> hillary clinton has been through a lot of changes but i think her base, i think women have always gravitated towards her because they appreciate her strength and appreciate the fact she never ever allowed herself to stay in the shadow of any man that was in her life. the fact she has even stronger since becoming secretary of state, i think, has a lot to do with the fact that, overall, president obama's foreign policy has gotten some pretty good views in terms of how he has handled conflicts and, obviously, the death of osama bin laden coupled with it. last year, hillary clinton gave one of the most powerful most touching speeches at the u.n. which she said that gay rights are human rights. i think that just captain putapr to a human rights ab take visits and people love and people saw a strong leader in and why they want to see her

you personally know three hillary rosens. where did all these hillary rosens come? you pick them in the hillary rosen garden? i bet you $10,000 you don't know hillary rosens. but i'm not running for president. three hillaries. that sound like president clinton's worst nightmare. hey, is that rush limbaugh here? people are still upset with rush for comments he made, but you know what, there is a reason mr. limbaugh said what he said and that reason is percocet. by the way, just to clear things up for the extreme right-wingers, here's the difference between bill mahr and rush limbaugh. the people who watch bill mahr know he is an -- this is -- this is my first time here. every news organization, i guess has its own table. scripps is here. thank god just in case the spelling bee breaks out. we have that covered. we have numerous members of the print media in attendance. which remind me of a riddle. what is black and white and red all over? nothing anymore. really. the christie jokes are okay, but no? where are the cnn tables? are the cnn tables real tables or virtual t

so you want to go to hillary rosen, it's autumn of us against hillary rosen. hard to find any democratic women who agree with her on this issue. >> women -- women who work at home and those who work outside, most women in both places don't like the choices necessarily. the women who have to stay home worry about my career, i may not have a career. those who work outside the home, say i probably would be a better mother. this is like our anxiety, ongoing anxiety. nobody wins when you make comments like that. it's totally inappropriate and -- >> but it has been skewed towards rose en slamming women who do choose to become full-time home makers. 95% of women have a choice or not a choice. they are either lucky now have enough money in their family so they can stay home or they have children and they can afford to stay home so they have to leave them. but, that was really what her remarks were about? she was -- anne romney, whatever she is n-a financial category that she is not in the 1%, she is in the .0001%. romney has been using her politically, which all spous

obama adviser david axelrod tweeted, also disappointed in hillary rosen's comments about ann romney. they were inappropriate and offensive. the first lady who worked part time while raising her girls until the 2008 campaign tweeted every mother works hard and every woman deserves to be respected. and ann romney wrote her first tweet, i made a choice to stay home and raise five boys. believe me, it was hard work. mrs. romney also went on fox. >> my career choice was to be a mother. and i think all of us need to know that we need to respect choices that women make. other women make other choices, to have a career and raise a family, which i think hillary rosen has done herself. the president said there was no tougher job than to be a mom. >> i watched michelle, who for most of her career had juggled work and family, but there were times where she was on maternity leave, and i promise you, that's work. so i think this was an ill-advised statement by somebody on television. it's not something that i subscribe to. and moreover, my general rule is you don't talk about the spouses of electe

he said, i personally know 3 hillary rosens. [laughter] you personally know 3 hillary rosens?id they all come from? the pick them in the hillary rosen guarding? [laughter] i would bet you $10,000 he did not know three, but i am not running for president. [laughter] 3 hillarys. that sounds like president clinton's worst nightmare. [laughter] is that slut rush limbaugh here? people are still upset with rush limbaugh because of comments he made about sandra. but the you know what? there is a reason he said what he said, and that reason is percocet. [laughter] just to clear things up for the extreme right wingers. here is the difference between bill maher and rush limbaugh. the people who watch bill know he is an asshole. [laughter] [applause] this is my first time here. every news organization has its own table. we have numerous members of the print media in attendance. sacripps is here. thank god, just in case and spelling breaks out. it reminds me of a riddle. what is black and white and read all over? nothing anymore. [laughter] really. the christie jokes are ok but no? where