About changing things but actually have the votes to get things changed. Will you help me elect this guy . Im not familiar precisely with exactly what i said but i stand by what i said, whatever it is. Ive got a time bomb in my mind, mom its going to go off and i dont know when i need a doctor to extract her we are 13 days out from the president ial election and if the schedules, events and remarks are any indication, this race may be nearing point break. Mitt romney has just wrapped in reno, nevada, a state where hes desperate to gain an edge, despite state insiders describing his operation as a match box car compared to the president s ferrari. From there romney is off to see b dar rapids, iowa, and the president beat him to the state this morning with a rally in davenport, where he laid out just how frenetic his fight for the white house has become. This is the first stop on our 48hour fly around Campaign Marathon extravaganza. Were starting here in iowa, were going to colorado, then were going to go to nevada, then were going to florida, virginia, ohio. I am going to stop in chicago to vote. Indeed the president will hit four states just today, concluding with the taping of the tonight show with jay leno in los angeles, followed by a midnight rally in las vegas. The president is traveling with Nbcs Brian Williams for a preelection special and sit down for a half hour interview with young voters for mtv this friday. The Romney Campaign, well, theyve not committed to any further interviews until after november the 6th. Smart, i guess, considering the questions they might have to take about this man. I struggled with it myself for a long time but i came to realize life is a 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. Yes, that would be Indiana RepublicanSenate CandidateRichard Mourdock, the latest to join the list of republican men who have difficulty understanding that theres no such thing as legitimate rape, that womens lives can be at risk during pregnancy, and that, no, forced impregnation through rape is not what most women envision as a gift from the almighty. Today mr. Mourdock tried to explain. Do you believe if the pregnancy results from rape god intended for that pregnancy to take place . You know thats a call above my pay grade. Okay but its well within his pay grade to force a woman to bear her rapists baby. Heres mitt romneys ad for mr. Mourdock currently running in indiana. This fall, im supporting Richard Mourdock for senate. As state treasurer, richard worked with governor daniels to balance the budget and make government more accountable. As senator, richard will be the 51st vote to repeal and replace governmentrun health care. You heard right, if republicans have their way, mr. Mourdock will be the guy to tip the balance of the senate to the gop. And with romney and ryan in the white house, all government will be in their control. And you have to wonder where things might go from there. Lets get right to our panel now in washington, msnbc political analyst karen finney and bethleh bethlehem, pennsylvania, professor peterson and joy reid in new york, managing editor. This is the second time in a matter of weeks that a republican candidate for the house, in this case the senate, sorry, has had to clarify that rape is a bad thing. Can i just say for the sake of our viewers, rape is a horrifying crime. These people talk about rape as if theyre selecting a cupcake from magnolia bakery. Whats going on . Yes, no its interesting. Richard mourdock said he thought about it a long time. How long did he think about it is . Ive known victims of sexual abuse. You never overcome it. Its murder of the soul. Youre talking about women who are traumatized. Men are raped as well but women are traumatized so deeply that for these men to, i dont care how long you thought about it. Youre saying to that woman or girl, children, 13, 14yearold girls saying well now the state is going to use its awesome power to make you have the baby. Every single week im hearing people use that term for political purposes. Is it not a horrifying crime . And we have to remember that the guy running for Vice President right now is a part of this. He was allies with todatodd ai. You had Sharron Angle who said when you are raped and pregnant you need to make lemonade out of the lemons and have the child. This is not pro life. Its the forced birth movement. They want the government to have the power to exert its awesome power, the federal government on a child, a girl or a woman and make her have a baby. Karen . Well, i just you know to what joy was saying, think about what the Republican Party is saying here. I think we can all agree, life of course life is precious, but that doesnt mean that any one of us has the right to tell a woman she must carry her rapists baby, nor does it mean, by the way, i mean think about what the republicans have tried to tell us. Theyve tried to say to us, if youre legitimately raped or forcibly raped youve got a way to shut that down. Paul ryeon cosponsored two pieces of legislation with todd aiken. Thats right. And then they tell us, try to say to us if youre pregnant and want to have an abortion we have to stick a probe in your vagina before we let do you that because youre too stupid to make that decision on your own, then you know, joe walsh tells us oh, you know what . Women never die from pregnancy. That just doesnt happen with technology. I mean, it is shameful what these men are saying, and it is shameful that mitt romney gave that mealy mouthed response through a spokesperson, didnt have the guts to come out and say for himself that this statement was wrong and to pull those ads in support of mourdock. Are you surprised mr. Romney has not completely withdrawn his endorsement and forced the ads to be removed, given what this man is saying . Im not surprised. Ive said many times i question the competency of mr. Romney as a politician and to karen and joy anns points, when we talk about the war on women its very clear that the men who are making these headlines have neither been raped or carry a child to term and really talking about things they dont know anything about but these are really important issues because the next administration is going to pick one to three Supreme Court justices and will, on the wrong side of this part of history have an opportunity to overturn roe v. Wade. The issues and stakes are extremely high. I would direct your viewers to a piece that came out on salon. Com that talks about what the health of the mother means and all these equations and you have a person i read that piece, professor peterson. Its incredible, thats one of my colleagues at lehigh. Thats the nuance we need to have in these discussions. Its important when we say overterm roe v. Wade, lets define what that means. It means the power to decide whether or not a woman is forced to have a child would devolve to the state. If you live in say mississippi or kansas, people like Richard Mourdock alabama. People who think like mourdock would be the ones in charge, youd give it to those people. Karen . More directly it is saying the federal government has the right, because you know, remember men dont want government in their business. Absolutely not. But its okay for the federal government, some idiot, i mean literally these guys are idiots to be able to tell you what you can do with your body. Its not just about having a child. Now they want to pass measures so we cant decide what medicines we take. Thats the kind of control they want to have over womens bodies and here is the most important thing about this today. If anyone out there thinks that the severely conservative mitt romney has gone anywhere, this is proof that he is right there. He is right there on the campaign trail. He hasnt gone anywhere. And ever the marker, ever the salesman, mitt romney because he thinks theres a chance that part of his target market might be for mourdock doesnt even have the courage to step completely away from this man. I think its cowardice. And incompetence. Professor peterson, what did you say . Its a stunning oversight of the complexities of this conversation. Again, were talking about this war on women and these are not just about reproductive rights, not just about violence and rape, its not just about health care but also about Economic Issues so weve got to get the government out of this. To even think about or talk about overturning roe v. Wade seems patently absurd. Karen, paul ryan has given his keynote address apparently which sounded just like a stump speech, i listened to it. Yes. The singular train of thought is get government out of the way, everything is about freedom of opportunity, freedom of pursuit, everything is about your own individual responsibility and yet when it comes to this issue, paul ryan partners with todd aiken. So here is the freedom theyre trying to sell us. Its a con. Its a con, karen. Its a total con job. Its a shell game. Hes saying, i listened to the very first part of that speech hes saying you have the freedom to be poor and we have the freedom to withhold any kind of funding to help you, but women, we love you women, but we dont trust you. You dont have the freedom to make decisions about your own body and we think thats good law. I mean that is the freedom theyre offering. Karen is right, this is a fraud. They are selling a fraud. It is. And understand what mitt romney is doing and i have to say that hes gotten away with it up to now. They are now marketing specifically particularly to suburban white women. Yes. And trying to zero in on them and saying this is the softer mitt romney. I care about you, but i want to make sure youre home in time for dinner and thats my think being equal pay. I dont care about that. I want to make sure that the state again, he is willing to clear the way for the most radical elements of his party, to literally control the bodies of women, but at the same time hes trying to sell them this soft message, im for peace. Hes giving platitudes to women but the actual policies that this man, who doesnt have the courage to stand up to the far right now, what makes people think he would suddenly grow courageous as president . Women should not be fooled by this. I pray and hope not. Exactly, when i talked to women about this, women are essentially not understanding how other women could support policies like this. What i would say to the folk on the right if its a religious issue thats fine. In this country you have freedom from religion thats fine. Professor peterson, karen and joy, thank you for discussing this with such eloquence. Next paul ryan rewrites in own personal history as he opens to rip apart americas social safety net. Stay with us. Mitt romney and barack obama yearn for their vote, the elusive, mysterious undecided voter. Yes, they yearn. Yes, the elusive, mysterious undecided voters. I wonder what hes thinking. Or if. This is the car that loves to have fun its got something for everyone the car of the future many have said cause at the pump its miles ahead lets hum, hum, hum, hum lets hum a prius for everyone the perfect match, electric and gas mile after mile its tank could last we made three more for all to use big, small, and plug in, its yours to choose and lets hum, hum, hum, hum, lets hum a prius for everyone [ male announcer ] its time for medicare open enrollment. Are you ready . Time to compare plans and see whats new. You dont have to make changes, but its good to look. Maybe you can find better coverage, save money, or both. And check out the preventive benefits you get after the health care law. Medicare open enrollment. Nows the time. Visit medicare. Gov or call 1800medicare. Just a short time ago paul ryan delivered what the campaign described as his first major policy speech entitled in part restoring the promise of upward mobility. Unfortunately mr. Ryan did exactly what his supporter donald trump did just a few hours earlier, create huge expectations only to deliver a litany of the same attacks, the same empty promises and the same sense that he deliberately wasted everyones time all for the sake of publicity. Joining us now in new york is jared bernstein, a former economic adviser to the Vice President , and msnbc contributor and professor Michael Eric Dyson of Georgetown University and msnbc political analyst. If i can start with you professor dyson, this was just another photo opp, he shows up at a university, he doesnt say anything meaningful that might make a difference to peoples upward mobility. He enjoys the cameras much like when he went to the empty soup kitchen and was photographed. Youre at a college, you have no sense of irony that the pell grants you want to slash in your budget will undermine the educational aspiration and the upward mobility of the very audience to which you speak. This is orwellian in its ability to imagine an opposite universe of what it proposes and yet it wants to hoodwink us by making us believe that somehow these are warm and fuzzy, compassionate conservatives and theyre not. They are slash and burn. They are scorched earth policy when it comes to upward mobility. I dont see anything in that proposal either about poverty and its all about responsibility outside of the government, not using the government in strategic fashion to relieve the burdens on those who are most vulnerable but this pull yourself up by your boot straps mythology that has been wrong from the beginning and doesnt do anything to help those most vulnerable. Jared, were going to play a brief segment of mr. Ryans speech. Here it is. So what is governments duty when it comes to the institutions of Civil Society . Basically, it is to secure their rights, respect their purposes and preserve their freedom. Why doesnt he mention his brilliant budget, the path to prosperity, why doesnt he talk about that . Because that would actually give numbers to all the points you just heard Michael Dyson just give, that was a passage out of ayn rand. Thats not the kind of thinking that we need from our leaders, our potential leaders. If you actually get into the numbers, you quickly see that paul ryans budget cuts over 5 trillion from spending, 62 of which comes from low income programs so were talking about medicaid, food assistance. Meals on wheels, respite care for disabled people, pell grants, 30 million americans. Right, thats the millions who would lose access to medicaid, to food assistance, are just incredibly striking. What theyre trying to do here he doesnt mention his path to prosperity budget, he just offers a number of set of words. Yes and the thematic behind it all, what theyre really trying to do here is argue that if you simply get rid of the safety net, people will pull themselves up by their boot straps. Well, every time weve tried this trickledown supply side stuff poverty hasnt gone down. Poverty has gone up. We absolutely need a safety net in this country. Weve known that since the great depression. These guy also take it and shred it. Professor dyson, sorry to waste your time, im going to play some more of paul ryan. Here he is. I come from a town that has been hit as hard as any but what happened next is the same thing that happens in communities around the country every day, our town pulled together. Our churches and charities and friends and neighbors were there for one another. In textbooks, they call this Civil Society. In my own experience, i know it as janesville, wisconsin. Whats your reaction when he goes to a place like cleveland, tells the people to pull themselves up by their boot straps and say this is the way you have to be if you want to be a society. As if theres no difference between those in the urban and those in the periphery and the marginal. One of the things he neglects if hes talking about poverty, poverty for black and latino is concentrated poverty. Not only are you poor but the household in which you live is poor, the community from which you come is poor, the schools are devastated and poor, and the surrounding resources are scarcely able to take care of you. So when he says that, hes saying nothing. Hes not addressing the structural impediments to the flourishing of the very people he says ostensibly he wants to help. He has no analysis of structural impediments to them doing well and the ladder of upward mobility hes knocking down every wrung with his social policy but damning people for not getting on the ladder to climb up thats the professional sociological view. What is your view as an economyist . Sure. Its a deep failure among ryan and romney to acknowledge that sometimes markets dont work well at all. Now, if youve been through the Great Recession you cant ignore that but somehow they do, and if you walk through neighborhoods where market failure is not a recessionary activity, its a permanent activity, and if you look at the unemployment rates of many of our disadvantaged folks here, where unemployment rates are in double digits even in good times, then you understand that the idea of turning this all over to the market is absolute nonsense. And so we have measures that are intended to provide a safety net, to provide people with health care, with food, with some education, maybe even with job opportunities, because they want to work. To pull all of that out and ignore the role of the economy and markets in those peoples lives is deep ignorance. And weve got 13 more days of this bargain. Jared bernstein and professor Michael Eric Dyson thank you. Coming up, more lunacy from a man who continues to overcompensate for what must be some serious shortcomings. Stay with us. I have a very large number of twitter, you know my tweterrors are very large. I bring a lot of people with me. Look at my twitter, look at my anything. If you look at my ratings. We got a real mom and the family car to do an experiment. We put a week of her familys smelly stuff all in at once to prove that febreze car vent clips could eliminate the odor. Then we brought her family to see if it worked. Tell me what you smell. Something fresh. A beach. 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