. >> here's a familiar face that was a democrat at the time, strom thurman. >> right. >> on the part of this president to dominate the country by force and to put into effect these uncalled for and these damnable proposal he has recommended under the guise of so-called civil rights, and i tell you the american people from one side and the other had better wake up and oppose such a program and if they don't, the next thing will be a toll te talltarian state i these united states. >> those people were bad people. and we had spent our lives being powerless, you know? we'd spent our lives being powerless in the face of their power, their craftiness, and their determination to keep us submerged in american life. so, this was for us a morality play of the greatest dimension and, oh, hubert was our knight in shining armor. >> you don't hear people say roger wilkins who just said it these were bad people. >> i know. >> did you ask him about why he said that? >> well, we had been talking about it. it was a long interview. it was a two-hour interview. he just thought at their heart they were s

. >> i think strom thurman, of course, move together republican party, the southern strategy, i think, you know, the southern strategy was smart but what it really got down to is 1980 lee atwater. god, guns and gays is where it went. but this time, you know, i see mitt romney, especially, if you go up into the rust belt, they're not going to be able to use the same wedges of gods, begins and gays. >> in the south we still love god, we still love our guns and you know, being gay isn't at the top of our list. >> that's definitely not. >> all right. >> there are a lot of big, prominent gay republicans in the south, right. >> well, yeah but -- >> unless newt has an announcement to make, which would shock all three of his wives. now when people are trying to pander to southerners are there things that people shouldn't do, politicians, excuse me, are there things that politicians shouldn't do, are there things politicians shouldn't do? i mean you can go too far in pandering to southern people? >> without question. >> really? >> without question. it is easy to spot. >> really? >> i did the m

>> i look back at myself and i think back and have a flashback of being an intern for senator strom thurman. i am from edgeville, south carolina, so small town, but we have a lot to offer. and i would like to ask the audience. are you proud of sasha and maleah obama? can i get a yeah? i am also proud of our nation's children and i will keep this short. i worked on a proposal that says the objective is to invite students to assist with organizing and wishing well which would showcase our nation's children and honor america's first children, sasha and maleah obama. i know the president and mrs. obama are very protective of their children as well. they should be, but mr. duncan, i would like for you to review this. can i give this to you? >> that's fine. three more questions. that's fine. 1-2-3 and finish up. >> thank you. >> good morning, everyone. my name is andre stiff, affiliated with the zone 126 out of long island city, new york, and i don't really have a question because everybody pretty much already asked the questions i want. i want to commend you, young brother, because where i come

. >> what party was strom thurman in that debate and who saw the debate in those days? >> he was a democratic senator at that point, i believe. and he was -- it was seen on -- i believe it was cbs. i think eric severeid was on cbs, he was the narrater, eric severeid, of that debate. this is the problem i have of all this whole thing i was trying to do a 15-minute segment on how the civil rights law was passed and there were no cameras, and i had to do the whole thing without ever being in the room and the whole thing took place in the room. and one of the finds was the debate. people couldn't see what was going on, there was a clock on tv showing how long the filibuster was going on. it really had public attention. and this debate was a way to bring the whole thing to the people on tv, so it was on national tv. >> i went in and looked at the vote totals and i think people might be surprised how it came out. in the house the democratic party voted 61% for it and 39% against it. the republican party voted 80% for it and 20% against it. and in the senate, the democratic pa

you recall, when trent lott got in trouble for saying kind words about strom thurman and making nicehe erav segregation that essentially bush got him fired for majority leader of the senate at the time. he bent over backwards to apologize. i think tom hank in an era when both sides are talking about the need for civility, that this is a gross -- [overlapping dialogue] >> sean: we are out of time -- >> he should have walked off the stage. >> sean: let me go to juan n. this sense, i don't want to get to a point where people can't make a mistake and say -- and say, i don't like tom hanks, i don't like his movies -- >> no. i love -- >> sean: i am not the biggest fan of tom hanks or his politics and i think this propaganda film is terrific. but, we are now at the point, where the democrats and the president want to silence rush. he apologized. we have to be able to accept that people are going to have -- make a mistake or be in a situation that they can't control. but the left wants to go for the jugular and silence people. i don't want to do that to tom hanks or bill maher or anybody on

. >> and so the party of lincoln became the party of strom thurman, hasn't it? is that too rough? won't become the party of rick santorum, however, it's gone so far to the right, but i don't think it's gone so far as to make rick santorum the nominee. >> here is 5 dispute, a little kerfuffle. >> here rick santorum was asked about his endorsement of you in the presidential race in '96. i remember when you ran. here's what he says. now let's watch. >> why did you support arlen specter for president? >> well, you know, when your colleague is running for office, and i was his colleague in the united states senate, he asked had he to stand with him. that certainly wasn't one of my prouder moments i look back on, but look, you know, you work together as a team for the state of pennsylvania, and, you know, i felt that senator specter had stood up and supported me, and when i was running in 1994 and i did likewise, i certainly knew arlen specter was going nowhere, i certainly disagreed with a lot of the things he said, and it was something i look back on and wish i hadn't done. >> now we

bush were there, in trent lott saying what he said about strom thurman, if there hadn't been a republicansed the republicans damage. you had a republican president that said you know what, we have to protect the party brand. they are leaderless now, but it has been a terrible month. >> you are going from leadership and criticizing the president to the president at georgetown yrchlt quoting classic literature saying this is about civil discourse. they really changed the public debate here and showing how the issue has gone from one party to the other. >> absolutely. >> hard to imagine how horrible the republican party botched this over the past month. >> it really is. you brought the individual mandate and let's quickly get that in before we go to a break. facing attacks with this health caroline is the same as the president's. mitt romney was arguing he backed the individual mandate in massachusetts, but not for the country as a whole. here's what romney said at a debate in june. >> ours was a state plan and solution and if people don't like it, they can change it. states are the right pl