>> why not have a dialogue with him. why am i the only person going there to talk to him. >> only in america. why is this man baned from the oscars? this is "piers morgan tonight." good evening, the big story, the battle for the gop. rick santorum and mitt romney are fighting for the lead as they head for the contest in michigan and arizona on tuesday. much more on that later. from hollywood to tehran. why he's defending ahmadinejad. >> he's been vilified. we label him as an extremist. the speeches i heard him say were clear in the sense he preached we are all made in the image of god, all people of all countries, all colors are brothers and sisters. that was his clear message. >> we begin with the big story, the race for the white house. as far as the gop is concerned, it could come down to the michigan primary on tuesday former michigan governor, jennifer granholm. governor, welcome. how are you? >> i'm great. how are you piers? >> befuddled after last night's debate. i watched it with interest. i couldn't work out who is going to win this race. >> i wish i could tell you. certainly, whatever happens in michigan is going to determine, i think, whether there's a brokered convention or whether romney takes it all the way. >> if you lose in your own backyard, which michigan would be to mitt romney, it's an area he grew up in. if you lose there, it's a big problem if you are presumed to be a front-runner, right? >> for sure. for sure. in michigan, you know, the whole thing with the auto industry, it cuts both ways in a republican primary, understandably. in a general election, it is a killer. in michigan, if romney or santorum go up against obama, if you believe the polls today, they would get trampled on in larger than double digits. 44% believe it was a good thing in michigan. in a general election, it's over. >> i don't know if you saw my interview with chris christie, i was baffled. he's an impressive man. he refused to talk about the bailout of the car industry or the car industry at all. the conclusion i drew is he didn't say what he wanted to say, actually, the bailout has been a good thing. there was reluctance to give president obama the credit he deserves. >> of course, he saved 1.4 million jobs. gm is number one. gm and chrysler making bigger profits they have made for the past decade in the past. it's success. it gets back to the issue about the republicans rooting for failure. if they hadn't -- if the president hadn't stepped in to save general motors and cloudy skies chrysler, it would not have been that. there was no private entity that was willing to put up the money to save general motors and chrysler in the middle of a financial meltdown. it would have been a liquidation. if that happened, unemployment in michigan and the u.s. would have been through the roof. in michigan, it would have been 20%. there's no question this was a success. >> to keep repeating, let detroit go bust. i don't think there's a lot of votes out there for that campaign. >> in addition to that, mitt romney supported the bailout of a financial industry but didn't support the bailout of an industry that is critical to blue collar america. so, how do you justify the treatment other than the sort of background that romney has that is coming from the financial industry. by the way, i thought i read in the new york times the other day that bain capital, his company was one of the companies that general motors or chrysler went to and they turned them down. there was no willingness to do that. bottom line is, when you support a bailout of the financial industry and not the bailout of a mainstream industry that provides jobs across america, you are hurting. >> let's take a listen to some of the rhetoric about president obama from the candidates last night. it got pretty extreme, i thought. >> i don't think we have seen in the history of this country, the kind of attack on religious conscience, tolerance we have seen under barack obama. >> he's afraid to stand-up to iran. he opposed the sanctions until his party said you are killing us, support the sanctions. >> i think it's a sober period. this is the most dangerous president on national security grounds in american history. >> so, he's the weakest, most dangerous president in history. maybe the most dangerous human being. how do you answer that charge? >> well, you know, it just makes me laugh out loud. newt gingrich, the most dangerous in history. his sense of hyperbole knows no bounds. i heard david axelrod say i'm sure osama bin laden, if he were alive would provide a good rebuttal to that. >> it strikes me unusual about the battle going on. the rhetoric about religion. it seems to me to be more religious a debate than any i can remember in recent years. why do you think that is and how will it play out? >> i think it's driven by the presence of rick santorum. romney does not want to talk about religion. it's not his strength. he wants to talk about the economy. there's not much to talk about there as the unemployment numbers continue to drop and the stock market continues to soar. all that's left is the war on religion, as they say, which ends up, of course, being a war on women's reproductive freedom. it's not a good argument in a general election, either when you have these governors across the country who are rushing legislation through their legislatures that end up depriving women of not just choice, but, you know, the stuff that was happening in virginia for example. the transvaginal ultrasounds. it's shocking, this war that's happening. it's not really a great argument in a general election. all of this bodes well for president obama. >> yeah. it did strike me very, very much last night. the whole debate about abortion and contraception is at odds on the republican side if any of the people contributing were women or women who had a sense this might not be a smart move for them. >> this is why, honestly, piers, we need more women in elected office. it's crazy. the congressmen i sit here. when there were no women present, they were talking about something near and dear to women, i think women in america are waking up. you are seeing it play out across the country that we have to have more women's voices, not just executive offices but legislative offices as well. i hope it makes women serve their country. >> many think you should be serving us in higher office. give that serious thought. it's been a pleasure talking to you again. >> nice to talk to you, too. thanks, piers. is a republican a dream come true for any democrat? lenny davis is joining me. welcome. >> thank you. >> what do you make, you worked in the white house under bill clinton and george w. bush. what do you make of the current gop race? >> i served on a panel president bush appointed but not in the white house. i think republicans are committing political suicide not just because of their hyperbole but the way they are behaving and the negativity is violating all that ronald reagan said about the 11th commandment. democrats had tough primaries. i went through one when i supported senator clinton. the level of personal character assassination and negativity, especially mitt romney's ads and money being spent tearing each other apart isn't pretty as a whole, but pleasant for democrats to watch. >> yeah, i can't help thinking when i hear them ripping each other's throats out, it's been the case it gets ugly and negativity comes out. it couldn't be as bad as this. romney is throwing hundreds and millions of dollars of these things and struggling to maintain a front-runner position. how effective is it to go at your opponent like this? >> i think romney rendered himself unelectable in the general election and rick santorum, if he stayed with the blue collar narrative would have been better off than heading into the religious rights that turns off moderates. gingrich staying positive is why he had a comeback. the negativity he had then he got angry didn't help him either. barack obama has a tough re-election. it's a 50/50 divided country. president obama's approval is 50%. we are going to have a tough contest. it couldn't go better watching the republicans destroy each other with character attacks. >> could somebody jump into the race? >> no. it happens every four years. when people aren't happy for their candidates. the dark horse, one of my favorite movies. it doesn't happen anymore with primaries and elections. anyone who thinks they can get nominated by not putting themselves through this process, it's utterly a fantasy. >> what do you think of these super pacs? it's controversy raging about them. do you think they should be -- president obama said he hated the whole idea of them and now he's endorsing them with as much gusto as his rivals. what do you think? >> it's a horrible fact of life that money decides elections and that now after what the republicans have done negative money with no limits can really corrupt the process. i happen to be off the reservation as a liberal democrat. the supreme court decision made a ruling here that had terrible results allowing the super pacs rk it's first amendment, free expression. i have great conflicts about whether it was right or wrong. it's terrible policy and terrible for the country. money is corrupting politics on both sides, the democrat as well as the republican side. >> let's take a short break. i want to come back and talk about the pbs documentary about bill clinton. i watched it and was enthralled. i know you are livid with it. i want to find out why after the break. weight loss programs can be expensive. so to save some money, i just got the popular girls from the local middle school to follow me around. ew. seriously? so gross. ew. seriously? that is so gross. ew. seriously? dude that is so totally gross. so gross...i know. there's an easier way to save. geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. will be giving away passafree copies of the alcoholism & addiction cure. to get yours, go to ssagesmalibubook.com. >> thank you. with the government closed, clinton prowled the empty halls of the white house deprived of the human contact he craved. a 22-year-old named monica lewinsky. >> that's a new pbs documentary of bill clinton. many say it focuses too much on that scandal than when he was president. lenny davis is back with us. lenny, you are not happy with this. i watched it all, four hours of it. i found it gripping television. i didn't get a sense, if i'm honest, it was disproportionate attention. some of them, like the monica lewinsky thing was a big fare. you talk about impeachment, this wasn't a small-time scandal for a president to deal with. why do you feel it was disportional. >> i'm here on my own as an old friend of the clintons. i didn't call them and ask to do this. i did it on my own. the lewinsky story was a big story and president clinton apologized to the american people. the impeachment was a vote needed to be in the story. they forgot to mention out of 55 republicans, they couldn't get 51, a majority to support that very partisan impeachment process. yes, that had to be part of this. what my point is, proportionality, four hours. none of the four hours, three of the four, higher than 75% were devoted to bogus scandals. for example, white water took up four years of the clinton presidency led by an independent council. white water, according to mr. star led to no charges being made against eater clinton despite the time spent on the pbs broadcast and all the other scandals in the first term were rabbit holes leading to nowhere. a man who inherited a $3 trillion deficit. those facts were left out of four hours of what is a pbs, not an e entertainment broadcast. >> i can understand why you, as a friend of the clintons, someone who worked closely with them. i was watching it, as i say, enthralled by what i was watching. it brought back good memoies of bill clinton. i wound up thinking i wish he was still president. i get your point. i'm not sure i would be too hard about it because, to me, some of those sort of scandalous elements of the clinton administration made him almost what he was. he was a brilliant president with a few problems which were focused on as well. he also had a lot of great achievements. his approval ratings are higher now than they have ever been. people love the guy. >> you are pbs and you have a commitment to history and you are not telling good history if three-fourths of the time is about bogus scandals, scandals that went nowhere. there was a point to be made about the experience he went through with monica lewinsky and the impeachment. not to talk about 23 million jobs and 162nd spot by robert ruben, the secretary treasury who said he got a budget bill passed in '93 without one republican vote cutting $500 billion of spending and $500 billion increased taxes where the republicans said there would be unemployment because of that budget bill and the result was, as i said, one of the most successful presidencies in the economy. how do you not tell that story where you spend so much time about white water and filegate and hillary clinton's billing records. it's a rabbit hole of a non-story. i'm talking factual accuracy. it was entertaining, but not on a pbs network about american history, it's on entertainment weekly. >> maybe. i take a slight issue. i enjoyed it on many levels. i thought it was entertaining and politically fascinating. the impression i got was the one i got when i once saw bill clinton give a speech in the north of england. it was a howling cold, wet day. he spoke without notes for hours. everyone was gripped. it was incredible. afterwards, as if he couldn't get more popular, he went marching down and got a big mac and fries. that is what the american president should be doing around the world. >> that is bill clinton. let me be more uplifting. i have known the clintons since law school. i met hillary when her name was rodham and i met bill clinton the next year. i have followed his career and we have been friends for many, many years. they are great people and great friends. bill clinton has become larger than life and proven the efforts to bring him down including the 2008 campaign where things got nasty. look how he proved all his critics wrong. he and hillary clinton are two of the most popular people on the planet, not just this country. i'm here as a friend disappointed there wasn't more balance. maybe my standards for pbs are too high. it's enthralling if you are looking for an entertaining program. for american history, for pbs, i thought it was disappointing. my opinion. >> we have to agree to disagree. it was a fantastic president and i think missed by a lot of people. many people in britain never understand the eight-year rule. if we had our way, he would still be there. >> he would probably get elected prime minister of the uk tomorrow. maybe that would be a good idea. >> he would. a big mac, large fries and pint of beer. thank you very much. >> thanks for having me, truly. next from hollywood to tehran. ♪ [ doug ] i been lobstering about all my life. i'm a lobstergirl. 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