Now a close romney ally in indiana put out word he would criminalize abortion even if the woman was raped. Its headed for the white house, people were scoffed when Rick Santorum pushed the contraception and now republicans are pushing a measure to let bosses deny coverage for Birth Control simply by saying they dont believe in it. Bosses get to decide, all this from a party that wants to dismember medicare, erase health care and kill the effort for better education. Romney is right its not about big bird. Its the nose brained campaigns theyre running on. Joining me is gwen moore and howard feinman. Richard mur douk answered a question submitted about i a voter about his position on abortion. Lets listen. You know this is that issue that every candidate for federal or state office faces and i, too, certainly stand for life. I know there are some who disagree and i respect their point of view but i believe life begins at conception. The only exception i have to have an abortion is in that case of the life of the mother. I just, i struggled with it myself for a long time but i came to realize life is that gift from god and i think even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape that it is something that god intended to happen. And there is he saying under the law woman should be denied the right to choose an abortion, she would be criminalized under his law. Shortly after the debate ended mourdocks comments had gone rival. Romneys spokesperson who often does the cleanup distanced her candidate. Governor romney disagrees with Richard Mourdocks comments and they do not reflect his views. It may have been a little late to back away given romneys ads supporting him, one of only two Senate Candidates hes gone out there, went out the day before. This fall im supporting Richard Mourdock for state senate. As state treasury richard worked with governor daniels to balance the budget and make government more accountable. As senator richard would be the 51st vote to repeal and replace governmentrun health care. Richard will help stop the reid pelosi agenda. Theres so much at stake. I hope youll join me in supporting Richard Mourdock for u. S. Senate. There you go. Weve got the candidate pushing himself away from mourdocks statement. Mourdock of course is the republican nominee in the state of indiana for the United States senate. Lets take a look weve got a couple guests, u. S. Congressman gwen moore from wisconsin, recounted her ideal in this horrible situation and we also have msnbc star, howard feinman. Congressman moore, i want to talk to you about your own feelings, attitudes and experiences that might put a light on this thing. Candidate for the United States senate in indiana saying if a woman is raped and has a pregnancy she should be forced by law to have that child. If you read the republican platform it basically says criminalizes abortion in any case. Go ahead. Your thoughts. Well, i could tell you as a survivor of rape, legitimate rape, whatever kind of rape you want to call it, i caution the women of america to not allow mitt romney and these senators to take over our government. They will totally eviscerate the rights of women to control their own destiny. I could tell you, rape is not rare, and you know, i differ with Michael Steele and others who say that they have just been inarticulate. They are really articulating the views of people who, of members of congress and the president who believe that there should be no exceptions to abortion. Their belief is rain is another form of conception. They believe that rape is sort of an excuse or loophole that women use in order to get an abortion and i can tell you that 95 of all rape victims are women. 25 of all women in their lifetime will experience rape. That means your niece, your daughter, your granddaughter, and if we start forcing women to have babies when they have raped, it will cause such social chaos and these men who would seek to be in charge of our white house, our supreme court, and our United States senate are a danger to the health of women. Rape causes post Traumatic Stress disorder, suicidal attempts, visceral reactions. I can tell you as a rape survivor, every time one of these bafoons opens their mouth, chris, i really recoil, physically recoil with how disgusting this is, and it brings up terrible memories. Thank you. Stay with us. Howard, lets talk ideology here. This is an ideology. Youre hearing it from mourdock, heard it from todd aiken, a woman cant get pregnant if shes raped against her will, crazy talk because they cannot accept the impurity of any policy, it has to be down the line which the definition of a fanatic, we must punish anybody that has an abortion, helps somebody has an abortion, anything to do with it but they dont recognize in life not everything is your choice. Thats why they wanted the personhood, they wanted the language about personhood and the personhood amendment in the platform, that was crucial to them. Mitt romney says now in one of his many torturers, different positions on abortion that he is impure in the sense that he will accept abortions in the case of rape, incest and life of the mother. Hes running on the plat forfor form. Number two the democrats rightly jumped all of this, i talked to people in the Romney Campaign and the Obama Campaign. The Romney Campaign says hey our candidate distanced himself from Richard Mourdock. The democrats are saying first of all the ads are still up. Hes still endorsing that guy. Secondly the key in several states, chris, are independent women voters and they say in surveys abortion is their number one issue so this is going to play right at those people in colorado, new hampshire, virginia and so forth. Theyre in bed with the far right. Hes saying he wants bipartisanship and if hes saying hes a moderate, being in bed with Richard Mourdock doesnt strengthen his argument. People on the far right are saying what they want and this guy is in bed with him. The president s spokeswoman said the president felt those comments were outrageous and demeaning to women. She said he found it perplexing the ads havent come down. Already the Democratic National committee has a web video linking romney and hour douk. Lets listen to part of that ad. This fall im supporting Richard Mourdock for senate. Even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that god intended to happen. This is a man who i want to see in washington to make sure that we can not just talk about changing things but actually have the vote to get things changed. Even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that god sbepded to happen. We got to get this guy elected in the u. S. Senate. Hes a wingnut obviously based upon what hes been saying and also beat a great man, dick lugar in indiana, sorry, is this the same guy . I cant believe they chose mourdock over lugar. Chris christie, todd whitman a republican said mourdocks comments damage all republicans and especially romney as the fight for the womans vote intensifies. This could be a defining moment for romney and he should immediately denounce both mourdock and the comments. Thats Christie Todd whitman. Massachusetts senator scott brown, emphasized he is pro choice and disagrees with mourdock. New hampshire senator kelly ayott canceled a trip to campaign with mourdock and the governor urged mourdock to apologize. Congresswoman moore, these guys are dancing away from this guy because hes embarrassed them. Seems as you point out their platform, they are running away from the platform, from what paul ryan has said about personhood. How many times can they make deals with the hard right to get the support of the base of the republican side and then dance away from it when the lights go on . I just hope women of america are seeing that this is the dirty little secret inside of the republican party. They have no respect for women, no regard for women. They want to give rights to an embryo at the expense of Womens Health and womens lives, and they just want to get elected. You know, believe us for these 13 days, but i believe mitt romney and these senators i believe them for what they have said the first time. They have said that they would repeal congresswoman, youre an africanamerican, the 14th amendment came out of the civil war, an attempt to make sure the freed slaves had the rights of citizenship and all the rights of life, liberty and property. Now to take the 14th amendment and exploit it for this ideological battle of craziness, as you said, the fertilized eggs has the rights over the woman, who is supposed to have control of her body under the law, and doesnt under this thing. And it does. For mitt romney, and these senators to say that i mean this is a womans entire life. I mean, its her physical health, her mental health, her economic status. I could tell you something, chris, as a mother of three, its hard enough to raise children when you plan a pregnancy, much less to have these men thrust pregnancy upon you. I can tell you that the jerry sandusky, thats the reason why we cant pass the violence against women act for example because these men do not take the violence against women seriously. They perhaps think that rape is just a sort of a rite of passage but rape is pandemic, its a pandemic disease in this country, and despite what todd aiken says, you can become pregnant and what is so cynical is that once you become pregnant these republicans dont want you to have food stamps, they dont want you to of wic. They begrudge you a safety net, and so i am hoping that the women of america will believe these people for what they are telling you. These are not misstatements. They are stating what they actually believe. Well we benefit a lot from your experience and knowledge. Thanks so much, u. S. Congressman moore. Howard, is this going to get tied around the neck of romney . Democrat also do everything they can in key places from independent libertarian women. Colorado. Colorado, new hampshire, northern virginia, women who are in business and might like mitt romney on the economy, theyre going to hold back and the democrats will have the chance to get them for the same reason about libertarianism, they want to control their own bodies and lives. Romney has made his bed with the crazy crowd. Thank you, howard. Coming up, rational exuberance, republicans strutting like the election is in the bag. Are they knowing something we dont know or bluffing hoping to influence reporters and undecided voters that want to go with the winner. The right wing wont quit with its fever swamp fantasies with president obama who is foreign and other. And sarah palin today threw out the dog whistle and pulled out a trumpet with obamas shuck and drive on libya, thats the way theyre talking now. And Rudy Giuliani joins to us play hardball. Let me finish with this dirty relentless attack on the president for people who dont know what it means to be a true american. This is hardball, the place for politics. Well Elizabeth Warren appears to be opening up a lead in the Massachusetts Senate race. New wbur mass inc. Poll finds a sixpoint lead. 50 the magic number, brown 44. Earlier this month brown was up by three. I think tom menino the mayor is the key. In connecticut murphy has a lead over mcmahon. Well be right back opinion there to tal. K. Dont you love me . Im a robot. I know. I know youre a robot but theres more in you than just circuits and wires uhhh. cries a machine cant give you what a person can. Thats why ally has knowledgeable people there for you, night and day. Ally bank. Your money needs an ally. Mike rowe here at a ford tell me fiona, whos having a big tire event . Your ford dealer. Who has 11 major brands to choose from . Your ford dealer. Whos offering a rebate . Your ford dealer. Who has the low price tire guarantee. Affording peace of mind to anyone who might be in the market for a new set of tires . Your ford dealer. Im beginning to sense a pattern. Buy four select tires, get a 60 rebate. Use the Ford Service Credit credit card, get 60 more. Thats up to 120. Where did you get that sweater vest . Your ford dealer. Welcome back to hardball. The Romney Campaign sounding calm, cool and confident with 13 days to go. Since the first debate romney has caught president obama in most National Polls but is romney the frontrunner as hes projecting himself to be right now and some in the media are now painting him . This morning politicos mike allen threw cold water on the growing conventional wisdom. To be president you have to win states not debates and mitt romney has a problem. Romney has not put away a single one of the must have states, president obama remains the favorite because he only needs to win a couple of the tossups, mitt needs to win most of them. Jonathan chate put it this say bluff. Romney is carefully attempting to project an atmosphere of momentum, for a selfsul filling prophecy. Well written. Jon chait sitting with david corn, the author of 47 percent as if it actually exists. It does, it. How much is it . 99 cents. Read it in one night. Jonathan you wrote that very well. When i was learning about the theory of b. S. , if you will, that theyre going to win it reminds me of that prince w. He announced we have the bush family the right to be president and im going to dictate through five weeks of recount that i am the president. Is this what the other princely born guy is up to, roll snee. Bush did that before the election, he went out to california, karl rove said he would win 320 electoral votes. My daddy said ill be president , its coming true. I went back and read something i wrote in 2000 when i was at the new republic at the time saying bush doesnt have it in the bag and i had to convince everyone he wasnt going to crush al gore, it was a surprising, shocking but this strategy of saying youve won before youve won creates an inevitability, i think its ridiculously premature. We have two weeks and anything can happen and by the way the numbers are closing and may be crossing. I dont know why were surprised the Romney Campaign which doesnt tell the truth about his policy positions, his past statements. His taxes. His taxes, even what he said five seconds ago is throwing a line of bull out whats going to happen on the elections. I think what theyre trying to do two, everyones getting worried about a most election fight that its not definitive or something comes up and so the more you talk about it beforehand is looks like romney is going to win, you try to set up again for the post election fight that may or may not. Like in florida. Like in florida so its the type of thing that reporters get suckered into and you know, we keep looking at the national, does it matter. Lets get down to the psychobabble here. Why do republicans lust for the presidency . Its almost like we are the ruling class. They dont mind who is running congress. Those jobs are middle level, below the line in the house. They must be president. Its like if theyre not president , they dont call the military at their demand. No. They dont have this power of living in the white house where the best people live, theyve really failed themselves. I think democrats want to be president pretty badly, too. I dont think its the same sense of right. Youre talking about entitlement. Youre talking about a sense of entitlement. Right, democrats earn it. Weve seen for the last four years, talked about this numerous times on the show that they dont accept obama as a legitimate president s and so thus they feel that its theirs. In 2000 do you think the republicans would have given in so easily the way it worked for the democrats . No. W. Would have written that beautiful speech al gore gave . No, they dont concede. If obama carries ohio which looks good as of today perhaps the main reason is he helped save the Auto Industry. The president addressed that yesterday at a rally in ohio. Lets watch and this many people believe is the key state in this election, ohio. If mitt romney had been president when the Auto Industry was on the verge of collapse, we might not have an american Auto Industry today. I wasnt about to let detroit go bankrupt or toledo go bankrupt. I bet on american workers, i bet on american manufacturing. I would do it again because that bet has paid off for ohio and for america in a big way. He believes hes going to win and you can see it there. Brand new Time Magazine poll today shows the president with a comfortable fivepoint lead nationally among likely voters, 4944, which thats ohio. Oh, god, 4944. What do you make of that . I think hes up in ohio. All the polls have him up in ohio. Its close. He doesnt have a big margin but he is ahead. Its consistent for two months hes had this lead in ohio thats ahead of all the leads in the other swing states he has. If the polls are right, which they might not be. If the polls are right obama is winning. This ad by bill clinton a strong endorsement of the president , its basically entitled hes got it right. The stuff some folks are saying about president obama sounds kinds of familiar. The same people said my ideas would destroy destroy jobs and called me every name in the book. We created 22 million jobs and created debts into surpluses. We should invest in the middle class and education and pay down our debt with spending restraint and asking the wealthy to pay a little more. Sound familiar . Lets take a look at this ad from obama, another one, this is about getting people out to vote, its the underdog ad which is the flipside of the bragging ad on their side, bragging point of view, trying to push out to the Mainstream Press and here is obama playing it differently perhaps the we try harder approach, the harry truman approach might win for him. Lets watch this ad. 537, the number of votes that changed the course of american history. Florida is too close to call. The difference between what was and what could have been. So this year, if youre thinking that your vote doesnt count, that it wont matter, wel