michelle goldberg is with newsweek and the daily beast. last year, todd akin and brian co-sponsor the no taxpayer funding for abortion act that attempted to redefine rape. >> rape is rape. the idea that we should be qualifying and slicing what types of rape we're talking about, does not make sense to the american people. it certainly does not make sense to me. >> then, "the invisible wounds of war: coming home from iraq and afghanistan." marguerite guzmÁn bouvard and the record number of soldiers committing suicide. >> this issue, suicide, is perhaps the most frustrating challenge that i have come across since becoming secretary of defense last year. >> we will go to south africa where police shot dead 34 striking mineworkers at a mine owned by lonmin, the world's third largest platinum producer. >> the history i read about the massacre was a history and never thought in 2012 we would experience the same massacre under a democratically elected government. >> all of that and more coming up. this is "democracy now!," democracynow.org, the w

joining me now, goldie taylor, a contributor to thegrio.com, and michelle goldberg, senior contributing writer for "newsweek" and the daily beast. goldie, you just heard former republican presidential candidate, mike huckabee, thinking that the real confusion here was just the use of the word "legitimate" before "rape," instead of forcible. if akin had just said "forcible rape," well, hey, all of us republicans would have been cool with everything you said. >> you know, that's what got my goat yesterday afternoon when this story started to break, were the many qualifiers that we've been hearing about rape. whether it is incest or forcible or assault or, you know, legitimate. rape, as i said last night, rape, as the president said today, is rape. it does not matter, as long as the woman is not able to or does not give consent, everything happens after that is just plain horrible. and to place qualifiers on it, i think, disqualifies somebody from holding public office. >> michelle goldberg, imagine for me, if you will, the day after the vice presidential debate, if martha raddatz does not

joining menow, goldie taylor, a contributor to thegrio.com, and michelle goldberg, senior contributing writer for "newsweek" and the daily beast. goldie, you just heard former republican presidential candidate, mike huckabee, thinking that the real confusion here was just the use of the word "legitimate" before "rape," instead of forcible. if akin had just said "forcible rape," well, hey, all of us republicans would have been cool with everything you said. >> you know, that's what got my goat yesterday afternoon when this story started to break, were the many qualifiers that we've been hearing about rape. whether it is incest or forcible or assault or, you know, legitimate. rape, as i said last night, rape, as the president said today, is rape. it does not matter, as long as the woman is not able to or does not give consent, everything happens after that is just plain horrible. and to place qualifiers on it, i think, disqualifies somebody from holding public office. >> michelle goldberg, imagine for me, if you will, the day after the vice presidential debate, if martha raddatz does not

joining me now, msnbc's joy reid and richard wolffe and michelle goldberg of "newsweek" and "the daily beast." let's listen to what rush limbaugh had to say today, advising republicans how to handle this issue. >> for any and all of you republicans, when you are asked why you don't have a rape exception in the party platform on abortion, don't answer it. don't get into the substance. don't answer the question, republicans. don't go anywhere near it. it's a setup, it's a trap. you turn it right back around on them, and you ask the reporter if they've asked the democrats about the extreme aspects of their position. >> joy reid, yet another example of why rush limbaugh could never spend a day as a political candidate himself. of course, there is nothing extreme in the democrats' position on abortion. but rush limbaugh clearly thinks, now, that politically, at least, the no exception for rape provision, that is their official party position, he believes that is a serious political liability, and what he's at least saying there, it is so dangerous, we can't even talk about it. >> lawrence,

joining me now is michelle goldberg author of the "means of reproduction, sex, power, and the future of the world." always good to see you. >> you, too. >> you have done as much work on this, reproductive politics as anyone. so if you take akin's somewhat bizarre comment out of the fold, get rid of his odd biology lesson, how in or out of the republican or pro life mainstream are his actual policy idea? >> that's what's so fascinating. his ideas about reproductive biology have some precedent in the pro life movement, including this guy, john wilke, who was a major romney surrogate in 2008. but that aside, this belief there should be no exceptions in cases of rape and incest, no exceptions really except to save the life of the mother, has gone in a really short amount of time from being a fringe position in the republican party to being the normative position in the republican party. mitt romney was the only one of the presidential contenders or of the republican contenders for the nomination who believed there should be exceptions. his vice presidential candidate like mccain's vice p

>> michelle goldberg, jon bramnick, john hinkel -- >> hlinko, close. >> first time on the show, i'll get it right next time. >>> coming up, nuns on the bus are back and this time they are inviting mitt romney along for the ride. sister simone campbell joins us to explain. >>> still to come on "the ed show," a group of catholic nuns is questioning mitt romney's morals when it comes to his policies for the poor. sister simone campbell, leader of the nuns on the bus, has a challenge for the republican nominee. she joins me next. >>> don't forget, you can listen to my radio show on sirius xm radio, channel 127 monday through friday noon to 3:00 p.m. eastern time. follow me on twitter @edshow and like "the ed show" on facebook. we're coming right back. [ male announcer ] if it wasn't for a little thing called the computer, we might still be making mix tapes. find this. pause this. play this. eject this. write this. it's like the days before esurance express lane™. you had to find a bunch of documents just to get a car insurance quote. now express lane finds your driving info with just o

heather mcghee, kneel bar of ski, and michelle goldberg. i did a monologue about the trajectory of paul ryan as a kind of ideological figure. to me the most interesting story that happened in the weeks that happened when we were last on the air when we were hear is when we were sitting aet this table a week ago we were saying, well, ryan's really doubling down. he's going for it ideologically, right? i'm going to be the person that gives america the tough medicine, right? we're going go after medicare. >> that's tough medicine, that's true. >> right, exactly. we're going to do this. and paul ryan is the tribune of this kind of ideological impurity. but that's not how the week has played out at all. at the end of the week it appears that paul ryan has been selected to be the person to attack barack obama for cutting medicare and then yesterday for not baling out more of the auto industry. >> if i may just quickly quote "the new york times." >> please. it's a trusted source on this show. >> yeah. occasionally they get it ride. ryan is a power

i'm joined by michelle goldberg, author of "the means of reproduction, sex, power, the future of the world." and w.kamaau bell. thursday night on f x. and katha pollitt. and ester armah. great to have all of you here. the presidential campaign turned to the subject of abortion this week, not because of the candidates, but because of this exchange during a local tv interview with missouri senate candidate republican todd akin. >> if an abortion could be considered in the case of a tubal pregnancy, something like that, what about in the case of rape? what do you think? >> people want to make that as one of those things, how do you slice this particularly tough sort of ethical question. it seems to me, first of all, from what i understand from doctors, that's really rare. if it's legitimate rape, the female body has ways to shut that whole thing down. let's assume that didn't work or something, i think there should be some punishment, but the punishment should be in the rapist and not attacking the child. >> akin would haste ill apologize, but it's worth establishing for the record that

>> michelle goldberg, jon bramnick, john hlinko. >> hlinko, close. >> first time on the show, i'll get it right next time. >>> coming up, nuns on the bus are back and this time they are inviting mitt romney along for the ride. sister simone campbell joins us to explain. stay with us. and i just want to give her everything. yeah, you -- you know, everything can cost upwards of...[ whistles ] i did not want to think about that. relax, relax, relax. look at me, look at me. three words, dad -- e-trade financial consultants. so i can just go talk to 'em? just walk right in and talk to 'em. dude, those guys are pros. they'll hook you up with a solid plan. they'll -- wa-- wa-- wait a minute. bobby? bobby! what are you doing, man? i'm speed dating! [ male announcer ] get investing advice for your family at e-trade. [ male announcer ] get investing advice this is new york state. we built the first railway, the first trade route to the west, the greatest empires. then, some said, we lost our edge. well today, there's a new new york state. one that's working to attract businesses and create jobs.

ari melber and michelle goldberg join me next. >>> and speaking of unfounded allegations, we have another wacky theory about mitt romney's vice presidential pick. that's coming up. [ male announcer ] if you stash tissues like a squirrel stashes nuts, you may be muddling through allergies. try zyrtec® liquid gels. nothing starts working faster than zyrtec® at relieving your allergy symptoms for 24 hours. zyrtec®. love the air. mascara mlashblast hrnous allergbut will it last. hours. with anti smudge power will last through all your drama. who knew lashes this big could last this long. lashblast 24hr from covergirl. >>> in the world of politics, there are now two different sets of rules when it comes to matters of outrage. one for the right and one for the left. when harry reid accuses mitt romney of paying zero dollars in federal taxes for a decade, the white house is made to give comment. >> for the campaign, tit for tat at the purely political level, i refer you to the campaign. >> mitt romney gets to go on fox news and for at least the third time, tell the senate majority leader to s

ari melber and michelle goldberg join me next. >>> and speaking of unfounded allegations, we have another wacky theory about mitt romney's vice presidential pick. that's coming up. you'll inevitably find yourself on a desolate highway in your jeep grand cherokee. and when you do, you'll be grateful for the adaptive cruise control that automatically adjusts your speed when approaching slower traffic. and for the blind spot monitoring that helps remind you that the highway might not be as desolate... ...as you thought. ♪ >>> in the world of politics, there are now two different sets of rules when it comes to matters of outrage. one for the right and one for the left. when harry reid accuses mitt romney of paying zero dollars in federal taxes for a decade, the white house is made to give comment. >> for the campaign, tit for tat at the purely political level, i refer you to the campaign. >> mitt romney gets to go on fox news and for at least the third time, tell the senate majority leader to shut up. >> the message i gave harry reid was put up or shut up. >> he also gets to go on fox news,

>> michelle goldberg, john hlinko. >> hlinko, close. >> first time on the show, i'll get it right. >>> coming up, nuns on the bus are back and this time they are inviting mitt romney along for the ride. sister simone campbell joins us to explain. stay with us. ♪ ♪ ♪ every mom needs a little helper. that's why i got a subaru. announcer: love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. this is new york state. we built the first railway, the first trade route to the west, the greatest empires. then, some said, we lost our edge. well today, there's a new new york state. one that's working to attract businesses and create jobs. a place where innovation meets determination... and businesses lead the world. the new new york works for business. find out how it can work for yours at thenewny.com. >>> still to come on "the ed show," a group of catholic nuns is questioning mitt romney's morals when it comes to his policies for the poor. sister simone campbell, leader of the nuns on the bus has a challenge for the republican nominee. she joins us next. >>> don't forget, you can listen to my radio

let me go to michelle goldberg with this. we saw what happened when the country had a downgraded credit rating. because the republicans were intransijent. he couldn't get it done because he couldn't move his troops. they were not republicans. they were tea partiers. is this going to happen in the senate? >> you you're going to see mitch mcconnell crying. >> i'd be interested in that. >> the race in texas, there was no subtantive -- >> but the word moderate is now like a four-letter word. >> too likely to work with mcdonnell. or somebody like todd akin who is taking on claire mccaskill. recently it's not as big as the debt ceiling. during that debate todd akin who might now end in the senate says that involvement in student loans has thrust america into the stage three cancer of socialism. this is not somebody who will work on federal education policy except to obstruct it at every step. >> richard mourdock who could be the next senator replacing lugar. here's what he was saying about getting things done. >> bipartisanship oug

let me go to michelle goldberg. it seems like the language is radical here, it's more than pro-life -- no, it isn't. >> i'm reading it, do you want me to read to it you? >> sure -- no, i -- i'm capable of reading it -- what we did was to remain silent on any exceptions. >> but you say also in the language, in addition to a life amendment to the constitution, you say, we endorse legislation to make clear that the 14th amendment's protections of life, liberty and property apply to unborn children. you go beyond a life amendment. congresswoman? why did you go beyond -- >> i'm sorry, i can't -- i'm sorry, chris, i'm not able to hear you. >> let's go back to michelle. what do you make of this? this situation has created where a woman, if she has an abortion, could be guilty of murder if a person has a right to life under the 14th amendment. how do they reconcile that with these exceptions they talk about for rape and incest? >> they don't talk about the exceptions. romney talks about the exceptions. the party has been ve

let me go to michelle goldberg with this. we saw what happened when the country had a downgraded credit rateing when they couldn't reach a deal. because the conservatives, like them or not, were intransigent. boehner was out there like some character out of a jack lemmon movie, just crying he couldn't get it done, he couldn't move his troops because they were not republicans, they were tea partiers. is this going to happen to the senate? >> now you're going to see mitch mcconnell crying in a similar way. >> that would be something i'd look forward, to actually. >> one of the things about the race in texas was there was no substantive issue differences between ted cruz and his opponent. it was specifically that he charged his opponent, you know, rick perry's deputy is too much of a compromiser, too likely to work with -- >> but the word moderate is now like a four-letter word. >> specifically said too likely to work with mcdonnell. or look at somebody like todd akin, who is taking on claire mccaskill. that was very recently, i