suits, skip makes my shirts, always fit perfectly. remember the spintops here because we are looking out for you! >> sean: it is another day and surprise, surprise, yet another democrat is calling it quits as a result of a major scandal. this time embattled new york governor david patterson. who told reporters a short time ago he will not seek a full four year term as governor. >> there are times in politics when you have to know not to strive for service, but to step back and that moment has come for me. today i am announcing that i'm ending my campaign for governor of the state of new york. >> sean: patterson's departure on the heels of a bombshell "new york times" article detailing his handling of a domestic abuse case involving one of his aide. last year his aide david johnson was accused of brutally tacking a woman. that woman later pursued a restraining order against johnson. prior to her court appearance the woman alleges she received a call from none other than governor patterson. he responded to these serious charges and allegations earlier today. >> i am looking forward to a full investigation of actions taken by myself and my administration. but i give you this personal oath, i have never abused my office. not now, not ever. >> sean: as that investigation continues so does the one surrounding new york congressman charlie rangel. rangel chairs the house, ways and means committee violated rules for allowing corporations to fund his trips to the caribbean that is the tip of the iceberg for charlie rangel. calls for his resignation are heating up as more ethics investigations continue. sadly, none of this is surprising. the democratic party has been plagued with scandals recently. everyone knows about patterson's predecessor elliot spitzer and his adventures with a high-prizeed >> caller: -- high-priced call girl and chris dodd's sweetheart mortgage deals and the frozen assets of william cold cash jefferson. pay to play scandal by blagojevich. the list can go on and on. joining me with reaction to this is the host of the nationally syndicated radio show, morning in america, bill bennett. good to see you, welcome back. >> good to see you sean, thank you. let's sign books together next month, what do you say on your tour? i'll join your daughter. >> sean: we've got the conservative victory tour and we will be out there on my website, hannity.com. you gave way the surprise. >> i'll hitchhike, sorry what did i do? >> sean: first of all, i want to play a tape of nancy pelosi. nancy pelosi was asked the question today, she made a promise when she first became speaker she would have one of the most ethical house leadership ever and here's what she said. >> admonished charlie rangel given you promised to run the most ethical and honest congress in history -- >> and we are. >> do you think he should step down? >> sean: what do you think of that? >> well, it's ugly stuff and discouraging stuff and demoralizing stuff. i wish i could say it is just democrats, it's not. we've had troubles on our side too. they could seem to be running for the hills. stepping down, resigning, not runs. -- not running. this is a discouraged and demoralizing bunch maybe with good reason. in the book i talk about the same they had in the early 90s started ethical challenges to clinton early on. then '90 four, i don't know if you want to talk -- '94, i don't know if you want to talk about it. what we have is shaping up to a parallel of '94 the elephant stampede remember the 52 seats newt gingrich and company captured because of the disinfection with washington. it had to do with ethics mainly a sense of fiscal irresponsibility and people being fed up with washington and its arrogance and the arrogance of power. sound familiar. >> sean: sounds very familiar. think of how the mark foley scandal that one scandal had a big impact on one race. cold cash, blagojevich, spitzer, mcgreevy. i'm not saying republicans are immune, we have mark sanford. the senator from nevada. >> sure. >> sean: certainly the corruption scandals, geithner, house, ways and means committee chair. >> there's a difference we take ours seriously. when stuff happens in our party we say cunningham's got to go. foley absolutely to go. shape on abrammoff and the people who took that money. we told to that the democrats not so sure. i still think and this book is about that , that the democrats made a deal with the devil in the 80s. sorry, in the 90s with clinton. and i remember sitting there on all the talk shows arguing with democrats about clinton stuff and they said no, no, it is fine, no big deal. the show would be over and they would say you are right, it is horrible, terrible. you can't swallow that stuff whole and expect it not to somehow corrode. do you remember michael kelly the journalist from the "washington post", independent guy, he died in iraq, you remember. he said i can never vote for the democrat party again, given what it swallowed during the clinton era i know clinton is an icon now and has done a good job of rehabilitating himself. they looked past these ethical problems. if pelosi does that again it goes deep in the soul of the party. >> sean: she is in a state of denial. the comment was i'm still running the most ethical house in history. william jefferson, charlie rangel is still the chairman of the house ways and means committee. the white house they didn't seem to have a problem putting tax cheats or trying to appoint lot of 'em one of 'em is the head of the irs now. i don't think they think it is a problem. >> one of the questions is, enough of the press become sufficiently disend manhattanned -- disenchanted with barack obama that we are going to look into it with the same vigor -- >> sean: no i o'-- no. >> the work has to be done by other people. anybody that discourages young people particularly, i still think i'm the secretary of education, about politics by in kind of trashy behavior, there's a special condemnation. you make people cynical about this, it's gotta matter. yesterday when you saw our guy paul ryan didn't that make you feel better about politics? >> sean: listen paul ryan, cantor, pence there's a real emerging young group of conservatives that i think are gonna be the future of the party. you mentioned 2010 moments ago. i've had rasmussen, john, karl rove, none of them think as of right now republicans take back the house or the . dick morris thinks the opposite. newt gingrich thinks the opposite. i think the opposite. where do you stand? >> well, you're the guy who had me on, what do you want me -- of course, i'm a historian i'm not a pollster. we had the elephant stampede in '94, what are we gonna have now? in is a president is who is further to the left than clinton was. the people are much angrier. interesting thing, the parallels. the republican party, conservative base known for social and values issues primarily the thing motivating them is deficits, spending, fiscal irresponsibility like just in '94. that means your base is broader so your revolution may be broader. >> sean: did the republicans yesterday -- i thought it was a slam-dunk in terms of this health care summit with the president, con -- confrontation over the process over the bribery that the bill could not stan on its own merits had they not offered key senators, taxpayer dollars. do you think the republicans, did they make a clear enough distinction, did they go a long way to maybe rehabilitating and bringing back the base -- rehabilitating their image and bringing back the base of people that were disinfranchised by them? >> i think they went a long way. anybody watching yesterday could not say there's no difference between the parties. the republicans are just dime store democrats or democrats on the cheap. fundamental differences. as the republicans kept saying philosophical differences. they sounded so intelligent, because they are. a lot of liberals don't think conservatives are very intelligent people. and that -- their analysis was so much better. i liked spine. i like lamar alexander talking back, jon kyl talking back, paul ryan talking back. >> sean: i like it too. no one is going to listen to me. i think they should put their promises on paper, follow the success of the contract. that will hold then to the values and promises they are making in the election. good luck with the vote. now the cat's out of the bag. we'll see you on the book tour. we'll be out there together. there's bill bennett's new look on our screen, "as century turns." let not your heart be troubled. a lot more hannity, straight ahead. >> this bill does not control cost. this bill does not reduce deficits. >> sean: after yesterday's disastrous summit is reconciliation the democrats' only option? >> put that on the shelf, start over with a blank piece of paper. >> sean: joe, your mic is on. joe biden caught on tape, the results are not flattering. the white house opens its doors to i've noticed lots of fishermen forget to latch their tackle box before they pick it up. (lures splilling out) don't do that. come to the bass pro shops spring fishing classic this weekend for great deals and free seminars. . >> sean: fox news has confirmed the woman at the center of the party crasher scandal plans to step down. according to senior administration official white house social secretary desiree rogers will leave her post next month. rogers came under fire after the salahis went through the white house gate and landed on the guest list of an official state dinner in november. hey, maybe sheriff joe biden can cover the gate at the next ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] the cadillac cts sport sedan. one of car & driver's 10 best for the third year in a row. ♪ and now, cadillac announces the new luxury collection lease. sir? finding everything okay? i work for a different insurance company. my auto policy's just getting a little too expensive. with progressive, you get the "name your price" option, so we build a policy to fit your budget. wow! the price gun. ♪ ah! wish we had this. we'd just tell people what to pay. yeah, we're the only ones that do. i love your insurance! bill? tom? hey! it's an office party! the freedom to name your price. only from progressive. call or click today. >> sean: a new day means a new health care deadline for the democrats. according to a report iowa senator harkin says that deadline is easter recess which falls on march 29th, less than five weeks away by the time esther comes we willful fill ted kennedy's dream that health care is a right not a privilege. will the democrats turn to reconciliation and try and jam this bill down your throat? joining me with answers two people who were present yesterday. marsha blackburn and louisiana congressman welcome back. >> thank you. >> congressman, were you in the room. i wasn't there, i'm watching on tv fascinated by the whole proceedings. i found the president talking down a lot. he seemed arrogant. seemed impatient. you know, every time somebody made a good point, those are the talking points. i won. that's not true. these are talking points, again and again. what did you make of that? >> i thought that what he did was spend a lot of energy and a lot of time in consentedding to people and discounting the ideas that we were bringing that is time and energy that could have been spent saying how do we address medical malpractice and tort reform? how do we address interstate purchasing of insurance? i found it to be counter productive. what it did do was make a great point to the american people that look, this is how this is happening. when we bring ideas forward, when we put them on the table, this is the kind of response we get. sean, for the first time they why -- they were in the committee room, the cameras were going and they got to see the disrespect and the manner in which republican ideas are treated when they are put on the fable for discussion. and that discussion doesn't -- on the table for discussion and that discussion doesn't happen. >> sean: congressman your thoughts? >> i agree. he belittled the fact that we had the bill on the table in front of us. we are legislators and talking about points in these bills. so, yes, i think he really was somewhat condescending about those things. we wanted to have a real substantive dialogue on these issues and highlight where we stand, where they stand, what those differences are and how can we bridge those, if possible? >> sean: very impressive, including the both of you and paul ryan and eric cantor, i thought that was a good group of republicans. you went in with a strong strategy. we the media says it is a draw, you know that is a lost for barack obama. the issues that stood out for me and i think for a lot of other people. most people i know were extraordinarily angry at the process. the fact they had to buy senators' votes to get this passed. the fact that republicans were kept out. the idea that the president refused to take the invitation by lamar alexander to take reconciliation off the table. congresswoman, was that a mistake? did he miss a moment to prove to the american people he's bipartisan? >> i think the@ij president did miss a moment. i also think that leader reid and speaker pelosi missed that moment, as did the vice president. they are the democratic leadership, they control it all. they had the opportunity to say, the american people don't want this bill. we feed to scrap it and start over with a clean sheet of paper. they passed that opportunity. the president should have looked at those leaders and said, you know what, the american people don't want it done this way let's go through regular order and produce a product that everybody republican, democrat, all-american are going to be proud of and are going to benefit from. but he gave up that opportunity. i think in doing that, that's why today people are saying, republicans won this or it was a draw or you know they're further away from achieving their goal today than they were yesterday. >> sean: congressman i agree with everything the congresswoman just said your distinguished colleague. i got to get the lingo down you guys have. the president could have been more respectful for peoples' titles that's another issue for another day. i don't want to nitpick here. here's my concern i have, i think they could still force this bill down america's throat. i don't want people to become come play . i've had a lot of -- complacent. i've had a lot of smart people warning that republicans may not take back the house and senate, this is not a slam-dunk. i don't want people to become complacent there. which is why i wrote a book i'm going to be releasing in a few weeks. i think we can >> you it up. the democrats now have have time to recover, do you agree with my concern that maybe we need to stay on offense here? there's a lot of work yet to do? >> absolutely sean. we are intent on earning the majority back. it starts now and it will continue and we will escalate that effort as we go forward until we get to the next elections. the american people have spoken loudly and i can tell you as a doctor with 20 years experience, talking to a lot of folks in my district and around the country, they want to start over on this health care bill. they want us to get it right. we have a duty to do something about health care, the way -- but we really have an obligation to get it right. i that means bringing down the cost for families and small business owners. not bankrupting this country. so, we're intent on moving for. putting our ideas out there. holding to our conservative values. we are gonna work hard to earn the majority back. >> sean: this is what -- i think this election is turning into, which i think is good, almost reminds me of reagan vs. mondale, reagan vs. carter. great distinctions between the two parties that is going to give the country a choice in terms of future direction. thank you for being with us. >> thank you so much. >> sean: as the host, i am the host, and i have to go to break. sort of like the president reminding everybody, i'm president. bad attempt at humor. we'll come back, more coming up, including mike huckabee, straight ahead on hannity. >> the president: no, no. this is an example of where we got to get our facts straight. >> sean: mr. president i think it is you no needs to get your facts straight. coalition of atheists heads to the white house after the president turns his back on religious groups last year. is this a pattern? plus mike >> sean: tonight in hannity's america. joe biden has never been the most ambitious politician. not even i knew how much he loved being lazy. during a break in yesterday's health care summit, he shared his views on the vice presidency. what he didn't know was that his mic was still on broadcasting his every word. take a look. i hope the vice president enjoys the rest of his white house vacation. i think i would rather have him doing nothing than putting liberal ideals and ideas he has into practice. biden's hot mic wasn't the only problem the democrats ran into yesterday. facts also seemed to pose difficulty for them. particularly evident in the president's exchange with tennessee senator lamar alexander. >> the president: so, lamar when you mentioned earlier you said premiums go up that's not the case according to the congressional budget office. >> if you going to contradict me i ought to have a chance to -- the congressional budget office report says that premiums will rise in the individual market, as a result of the senate bill. >> the president: no, this is an example of where we got to get our facts straight. >> sean: a look back at that cbo report commissioned by indiana democrat evan bayh shows it is the president who needs to get his facts straight. the report concludes, the average premium per person covered would be about 10 to 13% higher in 2016 than the average premium for nongroup coverage in that same year under the current law. wow, what a great bill. no wonder the democrats are obscuring the facts. we told you earlier about the serious legal troubles facing new york congressman rangel. yesterday after i was revealed he had broken several house ethics rules he took to the microphones and attempted to defend himself. he had a clear and simple strategy. throw anyone and everyone under the bus, in order to save himself. take a look at this. >> common sense dictates that members of congress should not be held responsible for what could be the wrongdoing or mistakes and records of staff. so asking these questions would embarrass me because i can give you answers. >> sean: if you are not embarrassed yet i don't know what to tell you. speaker pelosi, i know you are watching it appears that swamp in washington has not been drained yet. >> sean: another developing scandal rocking the united nations' climate change panel known as the ipcc. in january the ipcc retracted its ridiculous claim that the himalayan glaciers would disappear by 2035. now we are hearing how the report made it through the review process. there was no review process. according to the blog, a senior member of the ipcc has admitted that he never bothered reading the report. pat fin again revealed this information in a recent debate explaining he did not have time to read it because it was over 1800 pages long. sounds like this guy would make a great congressman. maybe he should run that is the news tonight from hand think's america. coming up, a coalition of atheists granted high level meetings at the white house. details and reaction from governor huckabee. plus fall-out from his interview with the first lady interview with the first lady michelle obama, straight÷ this is the card that bought the saw... that cut the lumber... that built the extra space i needed to store more produce... that she sold to me to make my menu more organic. introducing ink from