i'm joined by maxine waters and terry o'neill. great to have you with us.now, the republicans are playing this now that the democrats are anti-family and the democrats are not family-friendly. congresswoman, your response to this. is this going to be over tonight or is this conversation going to continue? >> well, the debate about women is going to continue. it is an issue in this campaign. the republicans and mitt romney have shown that they don't care about women's issues. they didn't try to do anything to make sure that women were protected in this budget and then they scared us to death because they talked about not caring whether or not we had contraception. do you realize that contraception has changed the lives of women. it has given us choices. we can chose to have children, not have them, have as many as we want and that gives us the opportunity to stay home, to work. and when they brought this issue up, many of us thought we'd never have to revisit an issue like this again, that those of us who fought in the women's movement have gotten this count

isst: terry o'neill president of the national organization for women.he is our guest for the next 40 minutes to talk about the violence against women act and other issues. why is the violence against women act being brought up now? is politics running this? guest: actually, it's a timeline. it must be realized every five years. actually, it should been reauthorize the last year, but for one reason or another congress did not get around to it, so they have continued funding, but it needs to be reauthorize. host: it is being brought up right now because it's running out of time? guest: exactly. host: what does that the bill actually do? guest: >> it establishes a number of programs that are intended to help victims of violence at to recover from the violence and also to hold perpetrators accountable. the act guns program like training for police and prosecutors and judges to really understand the dynamics of domestic violence and the dynamics of recovery from sexual assault and that sort of thing. the act is responsible for the creation of women's shelter

. >> terri o'neill and congresswoman tammy baldwin is here. >> the right wing smear machine is touting out an old favorite. >> they try to scare white voters away from barack obama. >>> there is a major racial divide in how whites and blacks view the trayvon martin killing. and there is major news in the investigation of george zimmerman. >>> and karl rove is warming up the death star. >> the record needs to be set straight about what this administration's policies are. the american crossroads attack machine is officially fired up, and it's going to get ugly. good to have you with us tonight, folks. thanks for watching. i guess the key word here is "manufacture." it is the denial that is so amazing. the republican leader in the senate continues to toe the line for the gop. senator mitch mcconnell said there is no war on women and believes his female colleagues in the senate would agree. >> talk about a manufactured issue. there is no issue. senator kay bailey hutchison of new hampshire and susan collins would be the first to say we don't see any evidence of this. >> really. mcconnell s

please join me at the podium, terry o'neill. [applause] >> good afternoon, everybody. i am thrilled to be here. i would not take up a lot of time. i want to have time for questions and answers. moms rising are taking a lead in the her votes coalition. those blog carnivals are really fun. it in days. they are really needs. you will see more of them and more things going on through her votes. the national organization for women is engaged in a massive voter education and mobilization project. we know we have to get the word out to women about what is at stake this year. this really is a pivotal year for women. somebody gave statistics about what the women's vote was in 2008. 64% voted in 2008. in 2010, the number of women voting plummeted. that is the word that is used by the noted pollster. she said plummeted is the right word. when women did not get out and vote in 2010, what was the result? the tea party. an unprecedented war against women. tea party elected officials flooded into the united states congress and legislatures, taking over all three governing bodies, the

washington journal tomorrow morning, the president of the national organization for women with, terry o'neil will take your calls about the senate debate on reauthorizing the violence against women act. and we'll be joined by steve forbes to discuss tax policy in the economy. washington journal is live on c-span every day at 7:00 a.m. eastern. >>> up next on c-span3, a senate aging committee hearing on providing long term care for seniors. then a panel of governors talks about the tax policy at the george w. bush institute. and later, the u.s. institute of peace looks at the future of afghan security after the withdrawal of american troops. >> on thursday, defense secretary leon panetta will give an update on syria's human rights organization. he'll be joined at the house armed services committee by martin dempsey. you can watch live coverage beginning at 10:00 a.m. eastern time here on c-span3. >> from a colonial era, prohibition to today, drinking for better or worse has always been a part of the american landscape. saturday night live on american history tv. a history of alcohol in americ

we've grown up on shirley chisholm, kim gandy, patricia ireland, terry o'neil, harriet tubman before them, ida b. wells-barnett before them, ella baker before them. all of these are women who have fought too many battles for us to go back. so, we won't go back. it's time for us to take our own stand and stand the ground for women and insist that we won't go back for any reason. so, we've got to get it on when we leave this conference today. we can't wait for the summer. we can't wait for november. we've got to get it together now. i want you to know that it is time that we understand that all, each of our interests is somehow related to all of our interests. so, the far right, as i said earlier, may well have shot the first shot, but it's the one who's still standing when the last shot is fired. and women, we intend to be there because we are a team. thank you. i love you. god bless you. [ cheers and applause ] >> i forget that e. faye is also an ordained minister. >> can you tell? >> and to hear her voice ringing there in indignation. we're going to throw open -- we have a little ti

joining me now is terri o'neil, and laura basset. thank you both for joining me. >> thanks for having us. >> nice to see you. >> terri, let me start with you, how will you react it romney tries to pivot back from his stance on women's issue sns. >> too little too late. we know romney supports restricting birth control and the blunt amendment. maybe he is etch-a-sketch and come in with something different, but he is not, as a republican candidate, i don't think he will be able to come out and say to women they understand your everyday struggles. i know that you need birth control, andly do everything i can to make sure women have access to it. the other thing that will be, unfortunately for him a real failure, is his support of the ryan budget. this very disproportionately hurts women because it slashes the social programs they rely on. >> he can bring his wife out. his wife can appeal to women voters. let me show you what he said recently about that. >> i had the thought of being out with my wife the last several days on the campaign

let's turn to terry o'neil. what is more important? maybe the governor from south carolina is right. do women care more about the economy or their personal health care? >> both and they are both really intertwined. what women don't want is catholic bishops telling them when and when they can't take birth control. this whole notion that contraception access is not about women, it's about a bunch of male religious leaders is flabbergasting. >> what would you say to governor haley if you had been sitting there? >> i would have said women care about birth control because that is key to their -- to the economic health of their family as well as their own personal health. it's fundamental to women's preventative health care to prevent pregnancies. think back to the days when women were have 12, 13 and 20 pregnancies. in childbirth they died younger and lived sicker and their families were poorer. i've heard from so many men thanking me and our allied organizations for standing up for birth control because what the men say it's not just about

the press secretary told us, president terry o'neil, could, might, maybe get back to us.ss what? our folks never rang. because greg, i wanted to ask her, how she could call for a boycott, how they could call for boycott of rush limbaugh with the sandra fluke comments and ignore bill maher's comments calling palin the "c" word. and recently, hillary rosen's war on working for sorry, stay-at-home moms. >> greg: first, boycott? why can't it be a girlcott. >> eric: sorry. >> greg: make me sick to my some make. now the only people in now are people who work in n.o.w. there are more women in nascar than n.o.w. perhaps they're a victim of their own success. they're not as vel rant anymore because for example, women have all the rights that, you know, they can shop. this isn't about rush. this isn't about getting rid of rush. this is reviving n.o.w. making it more relevant. they are seeking an enemy to galvanize against so people remember who they are. nobody even remembers who is the head of n.o.w. remember pat richardson ireland? people remember her. >> andrea: n.o.w. is not no

. >> this goes to hillary rosen and terry o'neil. who are private citizens get attributed to the obama administration and the democrats? >> a democratic operative -- >> she is not an operative. >> have you been to the white house 35 times since obama has been president? >> yes, i know people! >> there is my point. >> rosanne is vile and insane, not an operative. >> like bill maher. >> the minute that -- you can't put the two of them in the same category. >> you can. this goes to the broader larger picture of the left. this is typical of the obama administration. >> the obama was the first to denounce the comments. first to come out. obama, axelrod. they thought within 30 second never seen anybody -- >> she is the democrats' ted nugget only more butch. >> he says what beckel says every night. i don't care what he says. i don't want to silence liberals february they're friends of yours. >> iif the president lectures us on sandra fluke, doesn't he need to return bill maher's money? >> they aren't speaking on behalf of the obama administ

it included terry o'neill, the president of the national organization of we will.talk about the women's work, african-american women, she told us, are valued at $100. latino american women, $125. and white women, $4,500. that's still a low worth given all that women do all across america for their countries, for their families and for their communities we won't have that. what men will find whether they're democrats or republican, we may end up doing some covert operations. all the policy that's go to the growth and well being and wherewithal of women in america. i don't think we can no longer be smiling and suffering unless it is some good shoes you don't want to give away. >> we've discussed these controversial comments. but richard, another controversial comment was made this week from allen west who accused some 81 house colleagues of being communists. but actually, there was someone else who offered, i think, a much more heinous comment. take a listen to this. >> there is a lot of things that haven't been hammered at because rick and mitt have been going at ea

on "washington journal" tomorrow morning, the president of the national organization for women, terry o'neil, will take your calls on the violence against women act, and we will be joined by steve forbes to discuss tax policy and the economy. "washington journal" is live on c-span every day at 7:00 a.m. eastern. >> when i was embedded in eastern afghanistan, the soldiers started telling me that the u.s. government was wasting tens of billions of dollars on mismanaged logistics and development contracts. >> following the money in afghanistan and finding corruption from top to bottom, right into the hands of the taliban. >> there was an incredibly affected by. this is not long after president obama took office, and the state department was out there saying, ok, we're going to get a whole bunch of development money, counterinsurgency, we are going to do this, win hearts and minds, and the colonel said, "do not give them any more money. send contract officers that can oversee this stuff. i need people. i do not need more money." >> bankrolling the enemy on c- span's "q&a." >> president obama spo

there was gloria steinem, shirley chism, there's kim gandy, patricia ireland, terry o'neill, harriet tubman before them, ella baker before them. all of these are women who who e fought too many battles for us to go back. so we won't go back. it's time for us to take our own stand and stand the ground for women and insist that we won't go back for any reason. so we've got to get it on when we leave this conference today. we can't wait for the summer. we can't wait for november. we've got to get it together now. i want you to know that it is time that we understand that all, each of our interests is somehow related to all of our interest. so the far right, as i said earlier, may well have shot the first shot, but it's the one who's still standing when the last shot is fired. and, women, we intend to be there because we are a team. thank you, i love you, god bless you. [cheers and applause] >> i forget that e. faye is also an ordained minister. [laughter] and you can hear her voice ringing there in indignation. we're going to throw open, we have a little time -- not much -- for q&a. the