By The Last Word Staff on The Last Word
If Mitt Romney really wants to win his first debate against President Obama, he better go check out one particular episode of The West Wing. MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell offered advice to Mitt Romney on the key to winning the first debate and explained why the Republican presidential candidate still won't win it.
Earlier in the week, Paul Ryan told a crowd in Ohio, "traditional marriage and family and entrepreneurship" are not "values that are indicative to any one person or creed or color. These are American values, these are universal human values."
O'Donnell immediately took issue with that premise. He explained, "first of all, entrepreneurship is not a value, it's an activity. Family is not a value. Family is a societal unit. Some families have values. Some don't."
Roger Simon at Politico included a few lines of satire in his latest column titled "Paul Ryan vs. The Stench" and some of his satirical anecdotes were so subtle that many, including The Last Word staff, missed the joke.
We tried to book Roger Simon yesterday to discuss his piece but he was unavailable. Had he been a guest on the show, it obviously would have been clear that his piece was not meant to be taken literally. We regret and apologize for presenting some of the quotes in Roger Simon’s piece the way we did.
Here is the original quote from Simon's column in Politico, satire in bold:
“I hate to say this, but if Ryan wants to run for national office again, he’ll probably have to wash the stench of Romney off of him,” Craig Robinson, a former political director of the Republican Party of Iowa, told The New York Times on Sunday. Coming from a resident of Iowa, a state where people are polite even to soybeans, this was a powerful condemnation of the Republican nominee.
Though Ryan had already decided to distance himself from the floundering Romney campaign, he now feels totally uninhibited. Reportedly, he has been marching around his campaign bus, saying things like, “If Stench calls, take a message” and “Tell Stench I’m having finger sandwiches with Peggy Noonan and will text him later.”
In the latest Rewrite, Paul Ryan continues to rewrite Paul Ryan on the many things that Paul Ryan cannot say now that he's Mitt Romney's running mate.
Two years ago, Paul Ryan said the Cayman Islands are "the place you hide your money." Bingo! But probably not the best to mention that fact again politically-speaking, now that he's linked up with the guy who has secret offshore accounts on the Cayman Islands. That would be awkward.
MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell ran through the list of off-topic items Ryan can't mention anymore, ranging from his affection for Ayn Rand books to criticism from conservative pundits.
Joe Burbank/AP Photo/Orlando Sentinel
George Zimmerman (file)
New evidence could shake up George Zimmerman’s second-degree murder trial this week. Florida Department of Law Enforcement released the results Wednesday of a DNA test performed on the gun and holster owned by George Zimmerman. It revealed the DNA of Trayvon Martin was not present on the grip, slide, or trigger of the pistol used in the fatal shooting that claimed young Martin's life on February 26 in Sanford, Florida.
These details mark an interesting turn in the landmark case that has sparked outrage among civil rights activists and driven heated national debates on racial stereotyping and the leniency of Florida gun laws. The controversy surrounding the case erupted after an unarmed African-American teenager was shot and killed by Zimmerman, a 28-year-old Neighborhood Watch volunteer.
Zimmerman has been charged with second-degree murder in the shooting but is presently out on bail. He pleaded not guilty.
The prevailing question of the case surrounds whether or not Zimmerman discharged his firearm in self-defense. Zimmerman told police the 17-year-old jumped on top of him, pounded his head into the ground and starting reaching for his gun before he fired.
— By Declan Murphy
On the now-not-so-secret tape of Mitt Romney at a fundraiser, the Republican candidate pulled back the curtain on his media strategy and revealed he wants to rewrite one of the most important media rules for winning the presidency.... by not appearing on SNL.
He told his audience of wealthy donors he was asked to go on Saturday Night Live, but refused."You wanna show that you're fun and you're a good person," Romney explained. "Saturday Night Live has the potential of— of looking slapstick and not— and not presidential."
MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell called this strategy a "losing" one and pointed out "every candidate who has won the presidency in this century has done Saturday Night Live."
In an interview with NBC's TODAY, Rushdie called the anti-Islamic film that sparked widespread unrest "disgraceful."
"I think clearly the video was a flashpoint," Rushdie told Matt Lauer. "From what I can see it was an outrageous, disgraceful little malevolent thing, but by now I think that the reaction we’re seeing is really the release of a much larger outrage. We sort of live in an age of outrage, and people seem to be defining themselves by their outrage and seem to feel that it justifies itself."
While he sees some connection between the current protests in the Middle East over and his own experience running from a fatwa, or religious edict, he doesn't feel sorry for the creator of the film.
"He did it on purpose," Rushdie said. The filmmaker "set out to create a response, and he got in spades."
Rushdie joins us a guest tonight on The Last Word at 10pm ET in an exclusive interview.
Mitt Romney used the old "father born in Mexico" line to try to appeal to Latino voters while speaking at the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
Lawrence O'Donnell pointed out in the latest Rewrite, Romney didn't talk about it quite the same way when he is speaking to his fundraising audiences which are not exactly heavily Latino.
Romney said, "[His dad George Romney] was born in Mexico and uh, had he been born of uh, Mexican parents, I'd have a better shot at winning this. But he was unfortunately born to Americans living in Mexico. He lived there for a number of years. And uh uh, I say that jokingly but it would be helpful to be Latino."
The Republican audience actually found Romney's joke pretty funny.
O'Donnell mused, "Would that same Republican audience laugh if Barack Obama was reminiscing about how his family fled the United States of America to Mexico because his great grandfather found American law limiting him to one wife at a time to be just unbearable?"
With just 50 days left until the election,Team Romney is shaking up tactics by offering up a few more specifics on policies. Here's a list of stories shaping tonight's rundown.
Even the latest poll from Fox News has President Obama leading. How did Bill O'Reilly try to explain that result away? He couldn't. Someone else had to do his dirty work. MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell explained in the latest Rewrite.
Countless numbers of U.S. State Department employees around the world put themselves in harm's way every day. Today brought a deadly reminder of just how important and dangerous that work can be. But for some Republicans, the contribution and service to our country from these heroes is something to mock or denigrate.
That's not the case when it comes to Sen. John McCain. As Lawrence O'Donnell explored in his latest Rewrite, the Arizona senator demonstrated the proper way to react to the deadly attack on American officials.
The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell airs at 10pm ET, Monday through Thursday on MSNBC. The show channels O'Donnell's extensive background in politics and entertainment.
