ann romney comes out swinging for being a stay at home mom. and look at the famous first ladies who jump into the debate today. >>> egg investigation. conditions inside one of the nation's most trusted farms. brian ross on the story. >>> and, arcade of dreams. a 9-year-old boy needs a friend. and a whole town conspires to make his day. >>> good evening. today, for the first time, we see and hear the man at the center of the nation drama that has raged for 46 days. george zimmerman, the neighborhood watchman accused of second degree murder in the death of trayvon martin. today, he appeared in court for the first time. abc's matt gutman has the latest for us tonight. matt? >> reporter: good evening, diane. we learned so much more about george zimmerman, the mystery man in this case. he spent his first night in jail last night, weeping for hours. and today, he and his attorney plan on a year-long legal battle. he shuffled in, shackled, noticeably thinner than in that old mug shot. george zimmerman finally emerging from the shadows, softly utterin

, i'm going to be sitting down with mitt romney and his wife, ann. and we want to hear your questions for the romneys, as well. so, send them to us, on twitter, using the hashtag, ask romney, or send them to me at abc news or yahoo! again, that will be monday. thank you, david. >>> and coming up, what you don't know about eggs that end up on america's breakfast table. and my dad moving in. so we went to fidelity. we looked at our family's goals and some ways to help us get there. they helped me fix my economy, the one in my house. now they're managing my investments for me. and with fidelity, getting back on track was easier than i thought. call or come in today to take control of your personal economy. get one-on-one help from america's retirement leader. my son and i never missed opening day. but with copd making it hard to breathe, i thought those days might be over. so my doctor prescribed symbicort. it helps significantly improve my lung function, starting within 5 minutes. symbicort doesn't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden symptoms. with sym

just how critical is ann romney to the romney campaign? just now is our national political correspondent jim acosta. tell us a little bit more about ann romney. don't mess with -- >>> democratic strategist unleashed what widely considered the romney campaign's best asset and for months mrs. romney told cnn's piers morgan she's had a job. >> it's my job and a great job with making sure people see the other side of mitt. >> even then you knew these moments would be fleeing. >> with raising five boys it's tough billing on the campaign's website. >> i miss having all of them under my roof. >> and she's a natural on interviews responding to rosen on fox news. >> look, i know what it's like to struggle. namely her health struggles as her husband has detailed time and again. >> she was diagnosed with multiple skreres onnis and most recently with breast cancer. yes, she now lives a life of privilege. >> ann drives a couple of cadill cadillacs. >> and she reminds where her family comes from program. >> it was demonstrate individual of the tweets in

ann romney was talking about choice. did she -- she -- did she not have to work or did she not want to work or did she choose not to -- did she choose to be a stay-at-home mom or did mitt romney's mormon faith make her say home. >> i think it is all of those things. the more conservative any religion is the more they put women down. the more fundamentalist they are, the more women are sec-class citizens -- >> yeah, michele bachmann's form of christianity, women are supposed to submit aren't they? >> if you follow the bible literally, women are not allowed to speak in temple and the mormons still stick to that. >> hello, queen bee. >> i have two things. first this business about the mom thing. i am a mom. i know how hard that job is. i am also a working mom. second thing, i think that the reason they are doing this is because they have nothing to throw at the democrats. second thing, i still want to know why you don't have a golden microphone. [ laughter ] >> i have -- this is my miv microphone. radio shack microphone and

at ann romney for being a stay-at-home mom. saying in an interview, the mother of five, ann romney, grandmother of 16, quote, never worked a day in her life. >> what you have is mitt romney running around the country saying well, you know my wife tells me what women really care about are economic issues. when i listen to my wife that's what i'm hearing. guess what? his wife has actually never worked a day in her life. she's never really dealt with the kinds of economic issues that a majority of the women in this country are facing how do we feed our kids, how do we send them to school and, how do we, why we worry about their future. megyn: immediately after rosen made those remarks last night, ann romney took to her twitter account and for the first time ever, sent out a tweet that read as follows. i made a choice to stay home and raise five boys. believe me, it was hard work. but today rosen did not back down when given the opportunity and instead she appeared to double down on her comments. >> this isn't about whether ann rom

she never said i respect ann romney. she never said what a marvelous woman who has beat breast cancer and is fighting ms and raised a family of five wonderful children. she never said one word like that. the so-called apology, with all due respect to ms. rosen, was a half apology. she started the phony war on stay-at-home moms. it was not contrite. i think there are people in chicago who are happy that hilary rosen has said this thing and has ejected this into the campaign -- >> oh, they have thrown her under the bus already. >> yeah, and in a 140 word tweet. you know, nobody has called -- >> well, they threw her under the bus a lot faster -- they have thrown her under the bus a lot faster than reverend wright. >> i repeat with a tweet, they should have called up debbie becauser man schultz, the democratic national charm who they instructed to put rosen in as a senior visor and say publicly fire her as a senior advisor but they don't do that because one of the person who coined the phrase war on women and probably used i

that was directed at ann romney. that may be true about it makes a lot of people upset to suggest that a stay-at-home mom who is not working outside of the home can't understand the economic issues being dealt with by others. >> here is the things. we are -- a stay-at-home mom, a woman in general has two economies to deal with. the microeconomy of her household. then the macro economy in the outside world. the real world. and there are certain aspects of that real world. what it means to be a woman business owner and what it means to battle a man who is trying to steal your trademark rights. what it means to struggle in that contest that i think hillary rosen was speaking to. we need to get away from the semantics and understand the sentiment of what she was trying to say. my mom has five girls, ann romney may have five boys. but my parents have five girls. i understand what it means to be a woman. i understand that work at home is working. but i think it is a bit unfair to really do this witch hunt against hillary r

romney for not working part of a democratic game plan to make ann romney seem out of touch with ordinary voters? eleanor? >> if anything it was part of the republican game plan. ann romney is one of the most appealing people in politics today. she is not somebody that democrats are going to pick on as a target. and i think the president was right when he said spouses ought to be off limits anyway. but hillary rosen was saying she reignited a long simmering day bait between stay at home moms and women who work, and stay at home moms often feel disrespected. point she was trying to make is ann romney hasn't had a traditional job outside of the home where she's had to juggle work and family so can she relate to the problems of everyday working women in the marketplace today? it was ill chosen words, and the republicans jumped on them with both -- as well as they should, and but the gender got gap is still there and based on a lot of republican policies that even ann romney cannot do. >> you want to add? >> yes, the loud noises you heard in the background were alarm bells going off in the ob

bill: that is ann romney and tape. ann romney is here live in a matter ever moments with her reaction and the work involved in raising five children. a wild police chase taking a dangerous turn when a suspect points his gun at police officers. watch this in minutes. is frowned upon in this establishment! luckily though, ya know, i conceal this bad boy underneath my blanket just so i can get on e-trade. check my investment portfolio, research stocks... wait, why are you taking... oh, i see...solitary. just a man and his thoughts. and a smartphone... with an e-trade app. ♪ nobody knows... [ male announcer ] e-trade. investing unleashed. do about medicare and social security... security. that's what matters to me... me? i've been paying in all these years... years washington's been talking at us, but they never really listen... listen...it's not just some line item on a budget; it's what i'll have to live on... i live on branson street, and i have something to say... [ male announcer ] aarp is bringing the conversation

it's not that he's talking about ann romney about women, it's that he's only talking to ann romney. why is it when half the electorate is women, he goes to his wife exclusively. >> how about saying he was going to get rid of the department of education. >> he said that's dynamite. it's the politics that he's worried about. >> why would he say i want to consolidate or reduce the impact. >> i thought he was off the record. >> education, as it happen, i've looked at the poll numbers, it's another huge area where there's a gender gap. >> i'm not being judgmental, but i can be. ask any guy who the kids teachers are. the mother tends to be aware of every teacher. has an attitude about them. who are the teachers again? >> i'm staying silent. i don't want to get in trouble with my spouse. >> today, after we have gone through four or five days of hilary rosen, the republicans are in no better shape than they were. >> thank you very much. when we return let me if i thinkish when why what's good for latin america is good for the united states. i was very impressed. things are looking up south

i wonder if we would know exactly how many nannies ander is can'ts ann romney has? [ mysterious music ] >> romney accused obama of trying to create side shows. [ circus music ] >> joe biden. president obama and i believe it's simply wrong to have a system that is so riddled with loopholes and preferences -- >> yeah, the side shows. >> i'm not going to do the roger head hog thing -- >> talk. >> hum? >> roger hedgecock. >> i'm sorry. i keep getting that wrong. asked about public approval which is huge -- >> huge >> for the buffet role preibus said it's no more than a shiny object to detract from obama's record. i see we're idiots. >> yeah. >> so thank you. thank you for that respect. let's go to marlene in indiana. you are on the "stephanie miller show." hey, marlene? >> hi, steph. how are you doing? >> good. go ahead. >> i love your show. i love those guys on the show. especially the one with the white hair. >> oh, well, hello! >> but i don't know what ann romney's mother was doing in the 40s, but my mother worked constantly. >> yeah. >> and i want those democrats to

ann romney in a tough position. will she have to respond to policy questions if she's going to be out on the fore front like this? >> frankly, i think the romney campaign did not put her in the best position here. to wield her out at an nra event shows desperation. what they are doing is a bunch of tactics. they are throwing up a cloud of dust. some people just choking on the dust. if you step back here, it's a policy problem. that's how the mccane campaign ran it last time around. you try to win in a few day or hours. if you're really going to deploy ann romney and her strengths well, you put her in a setting where you can talk about what you're going to do for women. i just think there's so much that's been super official this week. they are panicking because they started out this week 19 points behind women voters behind the obama campaign. the obama campaign didn't hold its head well through the whole hilary rosen flap, but the harder road to travel is with the romney folks. >> you make an interesting point abou

rosen has since apologized to ann romney, profusely. do we have that clip? no? then what do we have? ♪ >> oh. we have to give a "way too early" shout-out to new jersey super man, newark mayor cory booker who entered a burning home rescuing his neighborer from a house fire. booker was returning from a tv interview last night to find the neighbor's home in flames. the mayor reportedly rushed through the building to reach the woman on a second floor bedroom. at one point the mayor thought he would have to escape the heavy flames by jumping from the window. after carrying the woman to safety, he was treated at the hospital for smoke inhalation and second degree burns on his hands. the woman is in stable condition. assuring everyone of his condition, booker tweeted this last night. thanks to all who are concerned. just suffering smoke inhalation, we got the woman out of the house. we are both out of the hospital. i will be okay. another tweet early this morning, thanks, everyone, my injuries were relatively minor. thanks to detective alex rodriguez who helped get a

up first, ann romney defends her choice to stay home and raise her kids. presumptive republican presidential nominee mitt romney went full force for women's support this week. romney blames president obama for the recession that has placed so many women out of work. meanwhile a firestorm erupted over one cnn analyst's remarks that romney should stop citing his wife on women's issues because she quote "never worked a day in her life," and therefore doesn't understand women's economic concerns. the remarks prompted ann romney to post her first tweet saying: "i made a choice to stay home and raise five boys. believe me, it was hard work." >> will anne romney help her husband win the women's vote? >> she is trying but you can't put a burden on a wife to lift mitt romney out of the sinkhole is he is in on women's issues. >> she may have some ability to help because i think more and more women are feeling that women on the left are judging the choices that they are making, the choices they make, if they choose to stay home, maybe they are not the right choices.

president, your mom had a lot tougher than ann romney did but mitt romney says when i want to get in touch with average americans, who keeps me in touch with average american working class, working families, my wife, ann romney. she knows it all. no, she doesn't have a clue. bob is calling from new hampshire. what do you say, bob? >> caller: good morning. i've been watching your thing and just a quick note on the ann romney thing. i would personally love to find somebody here in northern new hampshire that's trying to raise five kids the way she did. i would personally be willing to pay for a couple of nannies and a housekeeper for a month to show the stark contrast. the point that i would like to make is that the democrats are missing the boat in how they campaign. we need, in the democratic party, the equivalent of a karl rove. they were smart enough to know that republicans are only reached by appealing to them through their emotions and democrats appeal to voters through their intellect. and when emotions come into play and hatred and a new term i invented called lie-gic, take a

the champion of my life, my sweetheart, ann romney. ann romney. ann romney. >> reporter: but this week, the always upbeat mother of five let something slip. the campaign is taking a toll. she thanked supporters for their prayers. >> and i can't tell you how much i appreciate that because the days are long, the road is hard and the trials are there. >> reporter: one of those trials -- her battle with multiple sclerosis. now, in an interview with "entertainment tonight," ann talks about her struggle behind the scenes, those long days before the super tuesday primary in march. >> i was quite fatigued and i knew i couldn't quit. i didn't tell anybody i was tired. >> reporter: but she kept going. >> i start to almost lose my words. i almost can't think, i can't get words out. i start to stumble a little bit and, so, those things were happening and i thought, oh, no, big trouble. >> reporter: in just the week leading up to super tuesday, ann romney visited five states, attending more than a dozen events with her husband and two on her own. a grueling sc

this is not about ann romney. this is about the waitress in a diner in some place in nevada who has two kids whose day care funding is being cut off because of the romney/ryan budget and she doesn't know what to do. this isn't about whether ann romney or i or other women of some means can afford to make a choice to stay home and raise kids. most women in america, let's face it, don't have that choice. they have to be working moms and home moms and that's the piece that i am not hearing from the romney camp. instead everybody is attacking me. that's fine. attack me. but it does not erase his woeful record on this issue. >> i talked to a lot of conservative women who say these kind of comments prove once again that liberal women really have no clue how conservative women choose to live their lives. and by your comment i think that's just opened up that wound and widened the kasim once again. >> i don't think that women across this country who have to work to support their families and raise their children look at th

let me give you ann romney's reaction. let's watch what she had to say. >> what was your personal gut reaction when you heard her say those words. >> she should have come to my house when those five boys were causing so much trouble. it does sont easy. [ laughter ] >> this is what is so interesting about this. my career choice was to be a mother and i think all of us need to know that we need to respect choices that women make. other women make other choices to have a career and raise a family. i respect that. that's wonderful. but there are other people that have a choice. we have to respect women in all of those choices that they make. >> justice ana kasparian how do you respond? >> politically speaking it is brilliant. the romney campaign took what rosen said and completely twisted it. she said nothing disrespectful about stay at home moms all she said was ann romney had no place talking about the economy when she doesn't have to work and she is married to a very rich man. so they are twisting the words. >> the think th

>> this is not about ann romney. this is about the waitress in a diner in, you know, some place in nevada who has two kids whose daycare funding is being cut off because of the romney/ryan budget, and she doesn't know what to do. this isn't about whether ann romney or i or other women of, you know, some means can afford to make a choice to stay home and raise kids. >> then just last hour ann romney said this on fox news. >> my career choice was to be a mother, and i think all of us need to know that we need to respect choices that women make. other women make other choices, to have a career and raise family which i think hillary rosen has actually done herself. i respect that. that's wonderful. but, you know, there are other people that have a choice. we have to respect women in all those choices that they make. >> so, roland, let's start with you. hillary rosen has definitely managed to unit republicans and democrats. they all disagree with her. sproo s >> she screwed up. he's a lobbyist, this communications expert,

ann romney, i think that's ann romney. that's hillary rosen. that ann romney as a woman who stayed at home and raised her five boys, she never had worked a day in her life. well, since then, the president of the united states has denounced it. he said it was ill advised. what's going to be curious, though, is whether or not the president actually apologizes to ann romney as he did to sandra fluke. you think that's going to happen? >> no, it's not going to happen under any conditions although we see the entire democratic party apparatus in full crisis mode responding to this saying we're for motherhood and apple pie now. listen, we have nothing to do with this woman. somehow, she used to be a democratic strategist who has been to the white house 30 times but now we really don't know her and i don't know what she's talking about. >> she's under a bus somewhere. >> i don't know her at all. >> hillary rosen has apparently been to the white house many, many more times. three times as often as leon panetta, the defense secretary but here is how this

>> my sweetheart, ann romney. the champion of my heart, ann romney. >> reporter: but this week, the always upbeat mother of five let something slip. the campaign is taking a toll. she thanked supporters for their prayers. >> and i can't tell you how much i appreciate that because the days are long, the road is hard and the trials are there. >> reporter: one of those trials -- her battle with multiple sclerosis. now, in an interview with "entertainment tonight," ann talks about her struggle behind the scenes, those long days before the super tuesday primary in march. >> i was quite fatigued and i knew i couldn't quit. i didn't tell anybody i was tired. >> reporter: but she kept going. >> i start to almost lose my words. i almost can't think, i can't get words out. i start to stumble a little bit and, so, those things were hatching and i thought, oh, no, big trouble. >> reporter: in just that week before super tuesday, ann romney visited five states, attended more than a dozen events with her husband and then, two m

ann romney under attack and ann romney fired back. take a listen. >> my career choice was to be a mother and i think all of us need to know that we need to respect choices that women make. >> all right. by the way, i looked up the word economy, it means household management. that's right. do you know how much a stay-at-home mom's salary could be worth to the economy? st state- -- stay-at-home moms deserve an average salary of $113,000. the value of stay at home moms is incalculable. rachel, thank you for coming. let me ask you, when you heard this from hilary rosen, a left-wing democratic lobbyist, how offended were you? >> i was so busy eating bon-bon think about it. >> you raised six kids, ann romney raised five. did you have get angry? what did you think? >> i did. i was angry. who is this woman to say only well heeled democratic strategists have the right to comment not only on the cam bain on the state of the economy. you're slightly right. all moms, whether they're home or not, are the best gauges of what's going on in the econo

to play another clip of ann romney yesterday. here it is. >> look, i know what it's like to struggle. and if maybe i haven't struggled as much financially as some people have, i can tell you and promise you that i've had struggles in my life. and i would love to have people understand that mitt and i have compassion for people that are struggling. and that's why we're running. >> and she doesn't say it there. but some of the struggles she's obviously talking about is she had m.s. she is a breast cancer survivor. today's "wall street journal," look at that headline, "spotlight on ann romney key to campaign strategy." amanda, they were already getting her out there a lot. are we going to see her even more? we always talk about a lot of the candidates' wives as their secret weapon. >> well, she will be out there a lot. she humanizes mitt romney quite a bit. and she was on fox news very poised, i think a very sympathetic character as a spouse's wife. -- sorry, as the candidate's wife. but now how does she take those struggles that sh

i apologize to ann romney and any one else who was offended. they found support from someone else in the white house the first lady. every mother works hard and every woman deserves to be respected. julie and ainsley. >> peter doocy, thank you very much. >> hillary rose en's comments the big talker this morning. >> the heavy hitters all sounding off on this. sarah palin responded on hannity's show. all women whether stay at home and working in the office should not be divided. >> the comments that hillary rosen made today has awaken many mama grizzlies. i know that because agot a lot of text messages from girlfriends some who stayed home for financial reasons others finances weren't a factor in their choice to stay home. the message is why is it some on the left choose to divide to insight with comments like that instead of respecting women's choices in what they want to do with the gifts god has given them how they want to contribute. we all have opportunities to contribute. we don't look to our president to speak for us. we will be silent no

doesn't mention ann romney. doesn't mention the democratic strategist hillary rosen but put out there today around noontime. we wanted to share it with you. as we hear more about this story we'll bring it you. laura bush will join megyn kelly on her show, "america live" to weigh in on the issue you. jon: that mo designation, michelle obama wrote that one herself. jenna: not like you when you have your assistants tweet for you. jon: that's her. jenna: that's right. jon: new video of a bus versus a house. check this out in miami. police say an suv ran a stop sign hitting a bus and sent it plowing right into a woman's bedroom. the homeowner just stepped out of the room when the wall came crashing in. thankfully she did not have a scratch. two women and children on the bus. the driver of the suv apparently ran away from the accident scene. jenna: you can see why. a new weapon in the fight against breast cancer. the fda approving widespread use of what is called an automated breast ultrasound t may help detect cancer

fascinating article about ann romney and her relationship with the media and ann romney. up next marco rubio name has taken up a permanent resident on the vp short list. later the entire western world maybe be done with the gop primaries, but that does not mean that brett is. >> coming up just as no one is excited about the five primaries, doesn't mean i didn't be. >> we don't stop until we get answers that are truthful, serious, and not based on simplistic answers. >>we're here because we're independent. [ man ] do you think a bottle cap would float on the top of that head? uhhhh... -i don't. -no. ♪ ♪ oh!, that's cool like i said. sweet mamasita [ koch ] a good head on a beer tells you that beer was made with a lot of malted barley. and that's going to deliver a lot of flavor. [ cannon ] a good thick rocky head -- that's really releasing a lot of the hop aroma. you taste the barley you taste the hops, feels bold. good head on a beer shows that you did your job right and it's going to add to the enjoyment of boston lager. [ male announcer ] at green giant we know natu

let me give you ann romney's reaction. let's watch what she had to say. >> what was your personal gut reaction when you heard her say those words. >> she should have come to my house when those five boys were causing so much trouble. it does sont easy. [ laughter ] >> this is what is so interesting about this. my career choice was to be a mother, and i think all of us need to know that we need to respect choices that women make. other women make other choices to have a career and raise a family. i respect that. that's wonderful. but there are other people that have a choice. we have to respect women in all of those choices that they make. >> justice ana kasparian how do you respond? >> politically speaking it is brilliant. the romney campaign took what rosen said and completely twisted it. she said nothing disrespectful about stay at home moms all she said was ann romney had no place talking about the economy when she doesn't have to work and she is married to a very rich man. so they are twisting the words. >> the think t

would be ann romney. if you go after one of her kids or after her husband, she's going to be there. >> reporter: ron scott has known mitt romney since 1985 and just wrote a book about him. he says ann is no pushover. >> she got into a tiff with one of her teenage boys and he was being a smart mouth and she was trying to get away to go to the cape for the weekend. he was going back and forth with her and timely she got in the car and slammed the door and said, see ya later and took off and left him standing there in the driveway. >> reporter: scott says ann even stoot up to her mother who voiced concern years ago when ann and mitt started having so many children. >> her mom said, gee, you're over populating the earth and ann at one point said, mom, if you want to see your grand sons on a regular basis, you need to knock this stuff off. >> reporter: ann romney humanizes her husband, calling him her most disobedient child. she often shares secrets about his love of chocolate milk and his obsession with peanu

fascinating article about ann romney and her relationship with the media and ann romney. up next marco rubio name has taken up a permanent resident on the vp short list. later the entire western world maybe be done with the gop primaries, but that does not mean that brett is. >> we will not settle for easy answers. (vo) the former governor of ny eliot spitzer, joins the new news network. >>every night we will drill down on the days top stories in search of facts that inform. >> we don't stop until we get answers that are truthful, serious, and not based on simplistic answers. >>we're here because we're independent. ♪ >>> there is only one choice running for president that will help us reclaim and recapture the things that make this nation of ours different from all of the other countries on the earth, and he happens to be here today. his name is mitt romney! the next president of the united states! [ cheers and applause ] >> that was florida republican senator marco rubio, in the philadelphia suburbs, thumping for votes with mitt romney today. rubio's name keeps showing

romney defending her husband. >> this is not about ann romney. this is about the waitress at a diner in someplace in nevada who has two kids, whose daycare funding is being cut off because of the romney-ryan budget. and she doesn't know what to do. this isn't about whether ann romney or i or other women of some means can afford to make a choice to stay home and raise kids. most women in america, let's face it, don't have that choice. >> if maybe i haven't struggled as much financially as some people have, i can tell you and promise you that i've had struggles in my life. and i would love to have people understand that mitt and i have compassion for people that are struggling. >> indeed. you can see why mitt relies on at-bat as such an effective surrogate. but it was a little later in the interview when ann made the more telling remark. >> mitt romney is a person that admires women and listens to them. and up grateful that he listens to me and listens to what i am telling him as well. what women are facing right now. >> you see that's what rosen w

this is not about ann romney. this about a waitress in a diner someplace in nevada who has two kids whose day care funding is being cut off because of the romney/ryan budget. >> chris is an msnbc contributor and managing eder of postpolitics.com. chris, first to you. we saw the way the white house and the campaign in particular responded. david axelrod tweeting last night, saying also disappointed in hilary rosen's comments, about ann romney, inappropriate and offensive. today today michelle obama getting into this. her tweet, have mother works hard and every mother deserves to be respected from michelle obama who, of course, is a stay-at-home mom. >> andrea -- >> chris, this is quite a scene. this comes in context of romney-m yesterday surrounding himself by women, obviously that 19-point gender gap would be fatal to any campaign if it persisted as going forward and they see this as a way of fighting back. >> i remember 24 hours ago sitting across from you and saying, he can't have i 19-point deficit among women