. >> and let me say two words, terri schiavo.an overreach, and first of all, they are against contraception as is most of the people. this is the kind of thing, and first of all birth control pills don't cost insurance companies money, because they gladly will give it to people, because it saves so much over the longterm, that's not even a cost. >> especially told by the government. >> and 98% of catholic women use birth control, and 28 states had mandated this, no one said anything about it. they looked reasonable, came to a conclusion today, and i think if anything in the long run, they will be helped by this. i think the terri schiavo overreach was one thing that caused the republicans to lose the house in 2006. i think there's broad based support for contraception in the country. and rick santorum doesn't support it. >> look. i think it is nice to try to save the subject to terri schiavo. but what happened here is that this is a mushroom cloud that you had people like joe biden and bill daley leakic that they had advised agai

. >> and let me say two words, terri schiavo.erreach, and first of all, they are against contraception as is most of the people. this is the kind of thing, and first of all birth control pills don't cost insurance companies money, because they gladly will give it to people, because it saves so much over the longterm, that's not even a cost. >> especially told by the government. >> and 98% of catholic women use birth control, and 28 states had mandated this, no one said anything about it. they looked reasonable, came to a conclusion today, and i think if anything in the long run, they will be helped by this. i think the terri schiavo overreach was one thing that caused the republicans to lose the house in 2006. i think there's broad based support for contraception in the country. and rick santorum doesn't support it. >> look. i think it is nice to try to save the subject to terri schiavo. but what happened here is that this is a mushroom cloud that you had people like joe biden and bill daley leakic that they had advised against i

big government conservative when you think about what he called for the government to do in the terry schiavo case and spending on earmarks and earn the label of small government conservative? >> he will have to work on that. he has a consistent record of principle leadership. he represented pennsylvania. is it different when you take on the entire nation and provide leadership, absolutely certainlily is. mitt romney has changed his positions. i believe him. i believe that mitt romney is pro-life. i have talked to him about his conversion on that issue through the issue of embryonic stem cell research. he's said so much on that issue i don't doubt one bit if mitt romney is president, he'll take pro-life position. how much of a priority will be i? i don't know he's not talking about them this time around and for critics that question him, gives him a credibility problem. >> this time it's a model and run on biography as a businessman and that should be enough. he's not down with the cause. >> as i have gotten to know mitt romney more, watching him, i wouldn't say that i'm personal friends with

i think the terri schiavo moment, the comparison is very apt. president bush had won reelection. the republicans looked strong, and they are march sboog a woman's bedroom and coming back from vacation and passing laws and they make very palpable what democrats complain about. that they want to intrude in our personal lives. suddenly, people really saw what that meant. that's happening again with contraception, with the ridiculous hearing yesterday, and our friend foster friess and the aspirin. >> i don't even know what he's talking about. i wonder what days he was talking about? before gun smoke. michael steele for the defense here. your political party. guess who was up there playing chaplain the day with schiavo vote with three u.s. senators they voted to intervene in a family matter down in florida involving a woman who was on a res pir ray tor. but getting involved in that case as a u.s. congressman. >> stuck with a lot of conservatives. those of us who believe the government has no place in the bedroom. it has no place in the health decisions that families have to make, whic

. >> and let me say two words, terri schiavo.his is an overreach, and first of all, they are against contraception as is most of the people. this is the kind of thing, and first of all birth control pills don't cost insurance companies money, because they gladly will give it to people, because it saves them costs. >> especially told by the government. >> and 98% of catholic women use birth control, and 28 statesmandate estatesma statesman -- statesmandated this, and if anything in the long run, they will be slightly helped by this. i think that the terri schiavoover reach is one of the things that caused the house to be lost in 2006. and rick santorum doesn't support it. >> look. i think it is nice to try to save the subject to terri schiavo. but what happened here is that this is a mushroom cloud that you had people bike joe biden and bill daily leaking they had advised against it and the white house was diving under the furniture and if it were such a great thing, why did obama himself feel like he had to walk into the white ho

i think that the terry schiavo moment is very, very apt. president bush had won re-election, republicans looked very strong and suddenly they're marching into a woman's bedroom, coming back from vacation and passing laws and they make very palpable what democrats complain about, that they want to intrude in our personal lives. suddenly, people really saw what that meant. i think that's happening again with contraception, with that ridiculous hearing yesterday and with our friend, foster freese and the aspirin. most people are too young to understand what that's about. it's hilarious. >> i'm not too young or too old. i don't even know what he's talking about. he said back in my day. what day was it? was this before "gunsmoke" and "i love lucy" at least. michael steele for the defense. guess who's out there paying chaplain the day they did the schiavo vote, voted unanimous consent to go ahead and intervene in a family matter involving a woman on a respirator. the whole situation we're now aware of. a very sad case for a woman there, young wom

this is starting to look like the replay of the terri schiavo case when the government tried to intrude on the family private tragedy. now they are intruding on all women across america and they are on the wrong side and it might cost them in november big time. it's shocking that this is just on and on and on for the republicans. get your cell phones out i want to know what you think. tonight's question, will the republican war on women hurt them at the polls in november? text a for yes, b for no, to 622639. go to our blog at ed.msnbc.com, we'll bring you results later in the show. >>> joining me tonight is congress woman jan schakowski of illinois and terry o'neill, president of the national organization for women. great to have both of you tonight. >> thank you, ed. >> congress woman capsulize what has happened in washington. it has been in, a word, bizarre. >> well, actually that picture of all men testifying about contraception and women has gone viral all over the country, and the very idea that they are so out of touch, that they didn't even realize that having an all male panel t

there's no doubt that santorum's positions on things like terri schiavo got him in trouble with women voters. but i do think there's an interesting thing. mitt romney appeals to swing voters who are kind of economically conservative, but socially liberal. rick santorum would be appealing to the opposite swing voter. he would be appealing to cult churl conservatives who are economic liberal. you would see a campaign based on trade. you'd see a campaign based on a down scale economic appeal. those are some voting groups the president hasn't been super strong with. i'm not trying to say rick santorum would have the advantage, but there would be a very different dynamic in the race if rick santorum were the nominee. >> good case. let me try another case with mark. he lost by 18 points to bobby casey because he took $35,000 a year from penn hills county to pay for his kids' home schooling on television down in virginia. that would haunt him again. that may be a local issue, but it killed him last time. >> there's a million things. the romney campaign is sitting on stuff about santorum as w

it was a mistake for the congress to intervene in a family court decision in florida with the terry schiavo decision, but you now see rick santorum out there on a daily basis talking about these issues which are mainstreaming schiavoism into all manner of different areas in the party and then he spent a paragraph or two paragraphs or three paragraphs explaining and that's a recipe for disaster? >> apparently he reneged on the jfk thing so he's coming and going. >> absolutely. >> you were great to give us your time tonight. i know you're busy. thank you ever so much. >> thank you, larry. >> let's bring in two more experts to make the case for romney and santorum. we have gop chairman and current romney backer saul onassis and former colorado republican congressman tom tancredo. >> tom tancredo, you heard steve schmitt. he had harsh words for your man and saying this was is the antithesis of limited government conservatism on jfk and contraception. what is your response to what steve schmitt said. >> most of the stuff will not be relevant come the general election. what both of those candidat

quickly. 98% of catholic women use berth control and i don't think it's going to be as big as terri schiavo if it's neutral we'll forget about it in a month, but it might help them a bit. it looks like they're trying to reach a compromise with most people. >> although they want more details, cardinal timothy dolan saying today's decision to revise how individuals obtain service that are morally objectable is a first step in the right direction, so the white house has to be encouraged by that, but it does have the effect of energizing that conservative base of the republican party and sort of amplifying their argument that this is a president with a war on religion. >> rick santorum really is committed -- i call him an anti-contraception activist. you know, he's certainly going to appeal to people of that persuasion, but i think by and large people really support contracepti contraception. i think they saw the president trying to be reasonable and compromise on this. i don't think that immediate an immediate term effect of this will be very much. if anything, like i say, i would likely see t

he also inserted himself into the terri schiavo case.e government thought it was their job, not the family to decide if a brain-damaged woman should have her feeding tube removed. it was a disgrace. does she are electionability issue? here's a clue -- you bet your fern, he does. you can comment on this on my blog, or go to our post on "the situation room's" facebook page. candidate? >> bet my fern? okay. >> yeah. if you have a fern, bet it. >> thanks,ial. we'll see you later in the hoyer. >>> the investigation into whitney houston's stunning death is taking an unusual terms. kareen wynter is in los angeles with the latest. >> reporter: it's been four days since whitney houston died, and new details are coming to light. the coroner's office confirms they have issued subpoenas. investigators are also contacting familiar sills where the prescriptions were filled. several doctors and pharmacies have been contacted and officials say.doctors have been cooperative. and it's also been confirmed where. they were under the singer's name. we should

. >> the terri schiavo case is a really important one that i think we've forgotten that is sort of invasion of privacy literally us looking at this woman who was in a persistent vegetative state, for folks who don't remember the schiavo state, whose husband wanted to stop the feeding tubes and whose parents wanted to continue them. it's hard to think of anything more a private family decision making yet the state of florida intervened here. >> yeah. this was of a piece with compassionate conservative, george w. bush's sort of brand, which is santorum is probably the most adherence now. they wanted to sort of activate religious groups and ideas into the public policy sphere. there's no problem at all with having a very vigorous and active religious sphere. in fact, we have one because we have a free market in religion and a separation of church and state in this country. we have probably one of the most vigorous religious sort of sp r spheres out there. >> i like the language of a free market of religion. i wonder na's a push back. you've brought up santorum a couple of times here. i want to

ok, i think what the lady means, and it is true, that terry schiavo was an issue under the administrationgeorge bush and the issue of the 10 commandments in courthouses, and issue a coverage, by the way, came at that time. regarding the 10 commandments, that was primarily a state issue that emerged in a county court house and alabama. was not a federal issue and not something that president bush would be involvedterry schiavo's sought to play out for many years sadly and the minister is in did get involved in it. to blame those things on the administration of george w. bush is just not true. host: ate i believe this is t a thisweeter. how much are people talking at cpac about how the candidates could do against president obama dax or rick santorum made a case just today to vote with your morals and vote with your heart and vote with do you want to see an office. vote for may versus someone you find to be electable. >> i find this absolutely fascinating that one of the leading candidate, one of the last candidates standing, so to speak, is someone who, in his last trip to the polling place

inside, even with the social conservatives, there was a group of conservatives opposed to the terry schiavo of conservatives including ronald reagan who said just overturn roe v. wade and let them decide. >> i think this idea of that, you know, government is saying to catholics, you can't be catholic. one, i think that's a vast overstatement given the catholic church and the use of ntraception. two, i think it's going to get beyond that issue. i really do think that the effective case to mount as conservatives and you talked about, where does mitt romney go with this? as i just lowered my chair. i don't know why. >> only you. >> this is like -- >> i have a thing with this chair. >> it's -- why is it -- >> i don't know, it's this chair. >> i guess i find myself -- it's emasculating. but anyway, the point is, this can be -- >> this is an excess of the president's health care law. ultimately this is where that goes. that's where mitt romney can pick up the ball. and to your point about political malpractice, is this the fight they wanted to have in terms of defending the health care law? and a