>> and only in america, best hair-do wins. donny deutch tonight. we're starting right now. good evening. i'm donny deutch. the big story tonight, i am guest hosting for piers while he's on assignment. first up, my one-on-one with michael j. fox on life, live because and keeping live great. and my interview with meredith vieria and what she calls a war on women. and what she thinks this video. >> planned parenthood, i'm going to get rid of that. planned parenthood, we're going to get rid of that. we're going to get rid of that. >> first up, michael j. fox. how are you, sir? >> good to see you, donny. >> first off, how you feeling? >> i feel good. it's a beautiful day outside and that actually helps me. and do i better when the weather's good. and i feel great. >> good. when you see michael j. fox and we hear parkinson's. take me through a day. take me through what's bad about the day. we see you on the camera, we see you as a crusader. you go home, you have your four kid, you have your wife. take me through your day. >> 99% of the day is the same as everyone else's day. you get up in the morning, have breakfast, see your kids to school, when tracy doesn't let me sleep in. fundamentally my day is the same as everyone else's. when i wake up, my body will tell me what i'm going to have to deal with that day because it changes day to day. so some days i may get up and go this is going to be a bear or this is going to be relatively easy. i may be able to forestall taking medications certain days. and then i look at my day and try to beat it out, almost like a performance, like this is a script, what am i going to bring this this scene, what am i going to bring to that scene, how am i going to organize my energy and be most effective? luckily have i a lot of stuff i want to do on a day-to-day basis, whether it's the foundation, working or writing or doing something with my kids. so i'm really fulfilled. 20 years on i'm doing lot better than i ever thought i would be doing. i was given dire outlooks on how -- what i could expect to feel and experience and be limited to ten years out and that was ten years ago. so ten years on i'm still doing well. >> are you on drugs right now as we speak? >> i'm on all kinds of drugs, acid, lsd, methamphetamine. >> so what -- >> i take a synthetic dopamine, which is one of the things we're doing at the foundation is trying to augment it in a way because that's been the gold standard for 40 years in treatment of parkinson's but it loses effectiveness over time and results in side effects that are pretty outrageous, a thing called diskinny,ia, which is this random movement. so we're looking to find a better medication than that. and i balance it out with an agonist, a drug that makes my brain produce as much of its own dopamine that it can and a drug which tempers the dyskinesia's side effects. that varies. i may take more one day than another. >> you were probably the last most high profile target of attack -- >> is this drugs rush limbaugh? >> we're not going to get into rush limbaugh's drug stuff. just bear with me here. 2006 did you an ad for claire mccaskell, she was running for senate. we're going to take a look at that ad and look at mr. limbaugh's reaction to that ad, as it may be. >> they say all politics is local but it's not always the case. what you do in missouri matters to millions of americans. americans like me. >> in this commercial he is exaggerating the effects of the disease. he is moving all around and shaking and it's purely an act. this is the only time i have ever seen michael j. fox portray any of the symptoms of the disease he had. he can control himself enough to stay in the frame of the picture and he can control himself enough to keep his eyes right on the lens, the teleprompter but his head and shoulders are moving all over the place. so this is really shameless, folks. this is really shameless of michael j. fox. either he didn't take his medication or he's acting. >> my tendency is to want to make jokes about things. i have to laugh when he says remain within the frame of the picture. given rush, it's a challenge for him to remain within the frame of the picture. but, you know, when i set out to support politicians that supported stem cell research, it was the only way that i could find to effectively push the cause of scientific freedom in the country. and really we had a lot of people, a lot of disease communities, if you will, had an interest and have a stake in scientific research and scientific stem cell. to have others did i agree -- the majority of the people in the country supported it and president bush limited funding of it. and so just to make this point, to have people have an ethical problem with it is one thing and it's great and we'll have a discussion about that and that's why i entered the fray was to have a discussion about it but to have it summarily knocked down and marginalized, on the basis of personality, on the basis of he didn't like the way i delivered the message so his bully instinct is to shut down and marginalize that voice, that's another thing all together. >> that's more than a bully. that's vicious. let's show his apology. his current apology against san drew fluke, less than 30 people actually believe it. you've always taken the high road with this. you're a guy that got in noo a lot of fights as a kid. don't you want to just go smack the guy? there's such a level of vulgarity by calling a law student a shut, you just want to go knock the guy. >> i didn't feel that way. i honestly didn't feel that way. i felt like he had done the damage to himself. in the context of our argument, our conversation and attack of my symptoms, i had a bit of a problem with the image of it because i felt it was offensive to my community and to the larger community of people with disabilities. it just was thoughtless and rude. but as far as me, i don't care. but because he said i faked it. i didn't fake it. coming from him that, doesn't threaten me. but with the thing with sandra fluke, i'm a husband to a wife and a father to daughters and a son to a mother and brother to sisters and that was really offensive. >> he called our daughters sluts basically. and advertisers now are speaking. another article in "times "say there's a lot of dead air on a the lot of his stations. and basically advertisers that are staying are voting it's okay to say what he said. >> well, the thing about it is i can yell and scream and raise my arms ironically about what he said but let the free market decide. and all the things -- i love there to be voices throughout that i don't agree with. i love for people to say vile, offensive things because then i know who they are and as a voter and consumer i know who they are and they've identified themselves and that's great. all things being equal, the market will balance that out. there's this talk about bill maher. the difference with bill is he's on hbo. he doesn't have advertisers. he was once in the public sector and made statements and advertisers bailed on him and he was relegated to cable. i find it much less egregious, not the content of what he says that may be offensive but it's a different thing than this giant corporate supported bully pulpit that this man has and the way, again, he did the same thing with sandra fluke as he did with me but more egregious with sandra fluke because here's a private citizen expressing an opinion that she has a right to express and was sought out by people that we've elected to represent a point of view of the public and she was knocked down brutally. >> it's interesting. you're a public figure so as you said, could you take it. when you bully down just the average citizens, that's where don imus got in trouble, he's going to pay for this. i really feel that. let's shift to politics for a second. we've got an election coming. we all vote, when i vote it's going to maybe affect my taxes who wins. you've got a lot more at stake. let's talk if rick santorum wins. with is a possibility. that party is connecting with him. if he gets in office he is very vociferous against stem cell research. he gets in, how does your life get affected? >> well, he's spoken out against science, he's spoken out against education, one would say education in the pursuit of science. so obviously it will not be good. but on one hand i'm kind of hoping he gets the nomination because he will be very vocal on these issues and will set up a stark contrast and people will really see -- again, i don't want to suppress ideas i don't agree with. all things being equal and with the vote hopefully things are equal, those ideas can be met and dealt with. so if he tries -- certainly if he was elected, it would be -- stem cell research would be shut down and all kinds of things would be shut down, all kinds of scientific research. i mean, there was a time when they were going after science, they were going after stem cell research and other things that were wielding about and talking all science. fruit flies, why are we spending money on fruit flies, it's a major model for scientific research. many human systems can be replicated in the model of the fruit fly. soap you get people who don't know science railing about science and it's dangerous to those of us who might benefit from it. >> we're going to take a break. when we come back, i want your scorecard on obama, where you think he's done great and where he needs to work on. more with michael j. fox. don't go anywhere. is this where we're at now? 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[ laughter ] ♪ on december 21st, polar shifts will reverse the earth's gravitational pull and hurtle us all into space, which would render retirement planning unnecessary. but say the sun rises on december 22nd and you still need to retire, td ameritrade's investment consultants can help you build a plan that fits your life. we'll even throw in up to $600 when you open a new account or roll over an old 401(k). so who's in control now, mayans? ♪ new york, new york >> alex, that's wonderful! >> why are you congratulating him, dad? he didn't sing it that well. >> no, mallory, he got the job. you did get the job, didn't you? because you really didn't sing it that well. >> i got the job! >> oh alex, great. >> i'm going to be the youngest executive in the history of o'brien, mathis and clark. i'm going to be rich. >> that was of course a younger michael j. fox on "family ties." we went to break and tracy, your wife is up there and you said "what a beautiful woman." >> she's an amazing woman. >> she's as good as it gets as they say. alex keaton, would he still be republican? >> i said he'd be converted to being a democrat or be in jail back. >> when i see pictures of a young guy, i say who is that? >> i sing like mitt romney. did you notice in a? >> you look good there, man. >> barack obama, give us the scorecard. >> i'm not a politician -- >> you played one on tv. >> i think he's done reasonably well. i think that it's -- it's different to be in there than to be aspiring to be in there. i mean, i think he inherited a big basket full of problems. i don't think he's dealt with all of them. there are things i would like to have seen dealt with. >> such as? >> i think there are some issues around gitmo and privacy and other things like that that i thought would be handled by now. just things that kind of messes around the edges that i thought might have been cleaned up and just from an idealistic point of view. but i think with the economy he's done reasonably well and we're moving forward. i can't know what that mess was. in a way not being a politician, i kind of make my best bet on who i think has similar ideas as i do and similar sentiments and similar emotions and similar leanings. so i've done that with obama and i look at it and say, okay, i have to assume he's done the best he can do and i hope that he can do better. but the alternative doesn't appeal to me so i would have to say that he's done a pretty good job. >> has he done enough on stem cell? >> he kept his promise. he opened up the stream of funding. but with our foundation, you know, for me it was -- it was about the scientific freedom. with our foundation, we funded over $285 million of research. >> other than the government, largest -- >> it's not like we sitting around saying to the government, fund this stuff, take care of us. we're saying just free us up, we'll fund it. we'll take it from there. just don't tell us we can't pursue the best research that's out there. >> so let's play the side the republican wins and they repeal stem cell research. what happens to parkinson's? you are the main fund-raiser for this disease in the world. what happens to that? >> we can't fund that. there are other avenues that we're eveneding and other areas that we're supporting. we work a lot with farma. we'll fund research that they're doing and we'll give like $5 million loans or grants to multi-billion dollar companies so they'll continue to work on compounds that are of interest to us because the pipeline is so expensive and so time consuming, we wanted to keep things moving. so we'll continue to do that but, again, if you have people that based on ideological reasoning can just make summary decisions about what you can pursue, it would really be dangerous for us. >> i asked you about your day today what it's like. as you're sitting here, are you struggling? are you aware of trying to keep your movements in check? i want to get inside of you because we know you and i know you personally and you're a dear friend and such a special guy. is this a fight for you every second? or is this just you're talking like i'm talking -- >> no, i'm talking like you're talking and i'm aware that i'm moving. i strive for comfort and ease more than vanity and appearance. it a given that i'm going to look like what i look like. again, that goes to the rush limbaugh thing. i mean, that's why again i personally could care less but knowing that there's a patient population out there that does struggle with this, that doesn't have -- that is hiding from employers, that is worried about insurance on the basis of existing conditions, that is worried about the person down at the store. somebody went to get a bottle of wine and the person wouldn't sell it to him because he thought he was drunk. >> you hated it at the beginning. >> not criticizing that but it's clearly something not easy to come forward with. >> i hid it for seven years. it's difficult for people to are caricatured like that was hurtful to the community. but for me people know who i am, they know what i'm going through, they know the work that i do. so i don't feel i need to hide anything, i need to cover up anything anymore. and so it's different for me. so when you ask how i am it's easy for me to say i'm fine,om great. i'm secure, i have a great family and friends and things to do that keep me busy but others don't. that's who you work on behalf of. that's who we have to protect in a sense in helping them know that the best research is being done and being pursued and is open and academics that pursue certain avenues are free to do it and not worry about -- when you save government funding of stem cell research. it wasn't that we were fighting for the government to support those projects. if they used pencils that the government paid for, then they couldn't do stem cell research. ffs there was any funding of the university or hospital that was doing stem cell research, they would lose their funding. it was a broad paint brush. >> you've got four kids. what would you say if there's a young person out there and just yesterday they found out they have parkinson's, what would you say to them? >> just doesn't let others project on to you what you're experiencing. experience it, learn as much as you can, educate yourself. don't project as to what your future will be. just experience one day at a time and leave yourself open to possibilities and know that others don't -- others that take care of you, that care about you say you feel this, i'm going to take care of that. they don't know how you're feeling. as much as you respect and love them for their attention and care, don't let them characterize what you're experiencing. >> you have creatively walked right into your parkinson's. you've done it with larry david. you've played an afflicted character and with dennis leary, you've done some brilliant stuff. we'll talk about that when we come back. i'm robert shapiro. over a million people have discovered how easy it is to use legalzoom for important legal documents. at legalzoom we'll help you incorporate your business, file a patent, make a will and more. you can complete our online questions in minutes. then we'll prepare your legal documents and deliver them directly to you. so start your business, protect your family, launch your dreams. at legalzoom.com, we put the law on your side. and who ordered the yummy cereal? 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[ male announcer ] want great taste and whole grain oats that can help lower cholesterol? honey nut cheerios. ♪ home was an airport lounge and an ipad ♪ ♪ made sure his credit score did not go bad ♪ ♪ with a free-credit-score-dot-com ♪ ♪ app that he had ♪ downloaded it in the himalayas ♪ ♪ while meditating like a true playa ♪ ♪ now when he's surfing down in chile'a ♪ ♪ he can see when his score is in danger ♪ ♪ if you're a mobile type on the go ♪ ♪ i suggest you take a tip from my bro ♪ ♪ and download the app that lets you know ♪ ♪ at free-credit-score-dot-com now let's go. ♪ vo: offer applies with enrollment in freecreditscore.com™. >> doc, i'm from the future. i came here in a time machine that you invented. now i need your help to get back to the year 1985. >> mcfly! you've certainly turned the corner creatively. i got to start with the larry david said "the parkinson's. let's show a clip of that and i want to talk about turning it around. >> because i did notice before you left you were looking at me and you kind of, you know, shook your head. >> yeah, my head shakes, larry. i have parkinson's. i'm a head shaking fool. >> so you're saying it was a parkinson's shake. >> yeah, it wasn't a larry shake. can i get you a soda or something? >> sure. the thing is hitler ruined that mustache for everybody. it's an interesting mustache and now nobody could wear it, you know. oh, thanks. oh, jesus christ! what the hell. did you shake that you on purpose? >> parkinson's. >> when he called you, what did he say, let's do parkinson's? >> the show improv and he lays down the beats and you take it from there. he wanted do something about we'll be neighbors and thought it was passive aggressive of directing my direction toward him. i thought it was just so funny. then he explained that other people would come to my defense and they would kind of be off, too. and i love that. i love that everybody's -- nobody gets it except me. which is really the thing. nobody gets it except me. and you can't expect others to get it but can you have fun with -- >> you're going to shake up the coke, spill it on him, other than that it's just rock 'n' roll? >> yeah. >> that's good stuff. >> he's brilliant. >> he is brilliant. >> i really loved that, i loved turning it on its head. again, once you get vanity, once you get past how you look or whatever and you see what your life is and what you can do, then you're freed up. it's actually really great. >> you're always the nicest guy. actually you were named the second most influential celebrity people who trust yet with "rescue me" you took a turn and said i'm going to play a bad guy, i'm going to play a real, real sob. let's take a look. >> so we're cool? >> we will be cool -- in about seven minutes. >> what do you mean seven minutes? >> seven minutes of pleasure, seven minutes of pain. >> it's probably a couple of minutes actually. >> don't fight it, tommy, don't fight it. >> i'm not fighting it. >> hi, guys. hey. can you come back in like a minute. >> like 6:31. >> got to be more fun playing a bad guy. >> that character, dwight, was really fun. and what was cool about him and that was the same kind of thing, dennis leary called me up and said i want to you play this guy, a drug addicted sex maniac, jerk, alcoholic. i said what made you think of me? and then he said -- who is paralyzed. i said you know i can't stop moving, how am i going to play a paralyzed guy? he said you'll be great. what i like about that character, i chose to deal with my condition i didn't have but i didn't handle it like that guy. that's a guy that lost his limb in a car accident, a drunk driver and he went to the dark side, went to the loss. as interesting and funny as that scene was and other stuff in the show was, to deal with the loss and to deal with being physically different than you thought you'd be and having resentment about that was kind of fun, interesting to explore. >> you know what's interesting to watch tom cruise in "born on the 4th of july" starting as that character and ultimately became the character you are and became a crusader. >> julianna margo lease "the good wife." let's take a look. >> tardiff diskinny,ia. if you look at me long enough, you just get used to it. feel free to look. i don't mind. the good news is pills. i take these every few hours and they don't make the symptoms disappear completely but they diminish. >> objection. >> i'm going to give you a new title, actorvist. is there a role that's going to turn you on that doesn't somehow move the needle for parkinson's? >> yeah. acting for me is really fun. i'm kind of ramped it up in the last few years. i didn't for a long time. believe it or not with the medication, like the care terk was saying there, it's much more predictable for me now. i know i can maintain a proscribe course of action for a character. i know can i fill out certain beats. but it's interesting, i have to in some way acknowledge that the physicality of my condition. >> of course. >> so there's a broad umbrella of things i can use to explain it and hopefully i can get that out of way, the same way this character did in "good wife," he was telling the jury you're going to see this stuff and he was in a way using it to influence how they felt about him but in a way have i to do that, too. there's no doubt when i'm trying to get people to act on behalf of our foundation, i'm saying i have this and it affects my point of view and i hope to affect your point of view. >> before we go, i know rush limbaugh is a big fan of the show and he's watching. can you give him any message on a personal level? >> keep talking rush. >> before i started television i asked you for advice you said just be who you are, the camera doesn't lie. the camera doesn't lie with you. you're a true gentleman. even you come ougt for me, this is a special gig for me. you coming out at night, this is the last thing you feel like doing. >> you've been a good friend and a big supporter of the foundation. i like spending time with you. you're interesting and funny. >> i still like my wife better, though. >> you're smart. >> coming up next, my sitdown with one of the smartest journalists in america, meredith vieria. i am loving this greek yogurt. i like yoplait. it is yoplait. but you said it was greek. mmhmm. so is it greek or is it yoplait? exactly. okay... [ female announcer ] yoplait. it is so greek. we're back on donny deutsch. i'm filling in for piers morgan. actually the crew doing a much better job than piers morgan, not that that's hard to do. i'm joined by the beautiful and wonderful meredith vieria and the more beautiful and wonderful her husband richard kohn. we have a lot to talk about. before we do, meredith, help me out. this lauer guy, they're talking about giving him like $80 trillion dollars. he's an author -- >> i carried him for five years. >> what do people see? as i said, nice guy -- >> you know, i think he's just got a great act. he looks good in those suits, the italian suits. >> the legs. >> the legs. >> and roker, not a nice person. and natalie more allis, not a nice person. "today" show. give me the worst interview you ever had. >> the worst interview i ever had -- >> where you were just like, oh, man. >> i'm not going to say who it is. >> oh -- >> no, i can't. >> a famous movie star who is a jerk. >> no way. that's not possible. that's not even possible. >> yes. a self-centered, full of him or herself and i just sat there thinking why are you here? i always wonder when people come on, particularly -- most people are gracious but particularly if an actor or actress just sits there and doesn't delivery think maybe you don't want to be here. act like you want to be here. that's your profession. act. >> one other thing, i hear matt tells you me -- >> you're bringing him up again? >> this is you. when you come to the "today" show you go to his office or dressing room and with lipstick deface the whole thing. what was that about? what do you write with the lipstick? >> i can't quite divulge what i write with the lipstick, though maybe on this station you could. you know he provokes it. he's a joker. >> tell us one thing it said. >> i can't. >> richard, you have ms. you were diagnosed at 25. >> you do? >> the whole thing like michael j. fox acting for limbaugh. first time they tell you at 25, what goes through your head? >> well, i didn't freak out because i knew nothing about the illness and i sat there and i thought i don't know enough to react. and in a funny way, i still haven't reacted. that's probably part denial and part determination to keep going. you see, that's the thing about chronic illnesses or neurodegenerative illnesses such as you term it tonight. you just got to keep going. >> as a man i want to just -- just bear with me for a second, over this past summer i hurt my back. what you're dealing with is a million on the scale, this is infinitesimal. i couldn't do what i normally do for the first time and i'm not embarrassed to say i got depressed about it. i think of what you deal with and you've just got this great attitude, i can see it. what's the key? what's the key? >> there's no hierarchy of suffering. >> unfortunately i think there is. this obviously is -- i don't want to say taken over your life because it hasn't but it's become a part of. it's not her certainly. >> no. she is as tough as am i, tougher in some ways. there are no heros, there are no metals. a good life, a happy life, a successful life, a great family, a career are their own rewards. i feel bad -- i feel bad for people who decide to be victims. it's a horrible way to live. >> and when you met him, he was diagnosed with ms. >> he was 25 when he was diagnosed. >> a lot of people would have been, oh, and you just ran right into it. >> i didn't know a lot about the illness. my attitude was i care about this person. you can get hit by a bus tomorrow, nobody knows what's going to happen. i let my emotion guide me and my heart guide me and i'll never regret it. well, occasionally i regret it but usually not. >> michael was telling me tracy was his rock and you're his rock. isn't that tougher on you? sometimes richard can say i'm the guy, you've got to be strong for him, you've got to be strong for you. >> richard is the first one to say i don't have to be. i'm allowed to get angry when this whole situation makes me angry. i'm allowed to feel sorry for myself at times when i do. and i think that's important. it's a family illness. you have to be able to talk openly about it and about your own feelings in relation to illness. i think it's wrong to suppress it. >> kids take their cues from the parents. i think our kids see the way we deal with it, they see how independent i am, they see that i don't miss a day at work, they see that i don't feel sorry for myself. so why would they? >> we're going to take a break, guys. i still don't know what you're doing with her but we'll be back here in a second. we're going to find out the secret to 35 years of a happy marriage and we're going to talk women, within of my favorite subjects, and politics. don't go anywhere. i've discovered gold. [ female announcer ] the gold standard in anti-aging. roc® retinol. found in roc® retinol correxion deep wrinkle night cream. it's clinically proven to give 10 years back to the look of skin. now for maximum results... the power of roc® retinol is intensified with a serum to create retinol correxion® max. it's proven to be 4x better at smoothing lines and deep wrinkles than professional treatments. new roc® retinol correxion® max. nothing's better than gold. is this where we're at now? we just eat whatever tastes good? like these sweet honey clusters... actually there's a half a day's worth of fiber in every ... why stop at cereal? bring on the pork chops and the hot fudge. fantastic. are you done sweetie? yea [ male announcer ] fiber one. at meineke i have options... like oil changes starting at $19.95. my money. my choice. my meineke. we're back with my guest tonight meredith vieria and richard cohen. before we get to politics, you guys have been married how long? >> 25 years. >> as someone who is in there punching, going to give it his best shot maybe once, give me the secret. all kidding aside. >> i think a sense of humor, flexibility and the ability to walk away. >> the ability to walk away? what the heck does that mean? >> i mean walk away from bad moments. >> oh! >> that's it, i'm outta here. >> deep. >> and you? >> i have an ability to really forget stuff. so sometimes i don't remember it's been as long as it has. i think it's sense of humor, a lot of it is sense of humor and communication. yeah. >> let's move on to some seriou stuff. >> did that help you in your own? >> no. there are not enough coaches on this planet. dnc, new ad. i want you to watch it and we'll talk about it. >> planned parenthood, going to get rid of that. planned parenthood, going to get rid of that. >> richard, you're a political writer. the republicans cannot win with a 20% gender gap, they've gone from 5 to 20% down. you see that ad, forget politics aside, what's your reaction, just from getting somebody elected? >> planned parenthood for the christian right is a symbol and all he has to do is say those two words. you know, they remind me of sort of the american equivalent of the taliban. you know, they want to drag women back to a different point in time. and yes, there's this huge gender gap. and they're not just going to lose independents. they're going to lose republican women. >> meredith, as a journalist, as a woman, you see, and we can play hours of various candidates, various media people on the left and right and candidates, but mostly on the right, saying women, we don't -- you know, on a mass level, that's okay. what am i missing here. they can't win this way? >> i agree with you. but they obviously appeal to a certain segment of the population, including some women who would agree with that statement. there are women who don't believe in planned parenthood, and i think they are speaking to them as well. but i walk a fine line because i am a journalist. i can't really give my opinion. >> it's neither a opinion of whether you're pro-choice or anti-abortion. but it's a question of strategically, i can't understand how the guys think taking such a staunch line. they have to play the base obviously now but it is going to come back to bite them. >> i have never seen the republican party drag this far to the right in the primary process. and i think it's the influence of santorum. and i think people are afraid of him. and i think he has an appeal to the activists who tend to be -- the activists tend to be the pro-life people, the christian right. >> i have to say one thing that is interesting that goes back to a theory that i have that people vote for people and not issues. i disagree with just about everything santorum stands for. >> we just had this conversation. he's authentic. >> he's a real guy. >> i don't dislike him. whereas romney. i stand up there and go i respect the guy. i disagree with everything he says but that's what people want. >> but his story remains true. he's always true to who he is, and i thing you feel that whether you agree with him or not. >> have you ever watched a campaign, any primary campaign on either side where they just can't bite. obviously, the republicans, it's next in line and they ain't buying it. have you seen anything to this extent. >> no. have you? >> no, i don't think so, but i think the effect of santorum's success is pulling everybody in that direction. and it's suicidal. and it's not shocking that romney is pandering one more time in that direction. the question is, how are they going to find themselves back to the general election. >> shift back. you obviously watched the michael j. fox interview. and strangely enough, the m.s. and parkinson's. i'm not saying they're competing with each other for fund-raising, but the are, and there are some schools of thought that say let's link it together and there's marketing of these things now so as somebody who wants everything to be cured but m.s. is going to be first on your list, how do you come to terms with that? >> the nih budget is frozen at about 30 billion which pays for about two and a half months in afghanistan. it's a very limited pot of money. all these disease groups, these affinity groups go to washington asking for money. they're not going to give one group money and not give another group money. the only thing they can do is raise the, to jack up the nih bill. >> you look at world war i, was scientific researchers -- the way it's reduced heart disease and strokes, yet we're not upping the budget. as you said, $30 billion. at one point, $2 trillion, is not a lot of money. we're at a scary place. >> you realize that the number of people with chronic illnesses, because of the aging baby boomers, has jumped in five years from 90 million to about 130 million people. that's half the population. >> guys, they are making me go. we could talk all night. thank you for bringing meredith here. it's sweet of you coming along. and great to see you guys. and good luck. >> you're pretty good at what you do. i'll give you that. >> thank you for saying that. coming up, "only in america." the bald truth about this country's presidents. whwheeee! ! whwheeee!! whwheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! ahah h heaeadsds u up. whwheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! evevererytythihingng y youou l , nonow w momobibilele.. dodownwnloloadad t thehe n nep totodaday.y. on december 21st, polar shifts will reverse the earth's gravitational pull and hurtle us all into space, which would render retirement planning unnecessary. but say the sun rises on december 22nd and you still need to retire, td ameritrade's investment consultants can help you build a plan that fits your life. we'll even throw in up to $600 when you open a new account or roll over an old 401(k). so who's in control now, mayans? i care about my car because... i think it's a cool car. i think it's stylish and it makes a statement at the same time. and i've never had a car like that. people don't totally understand how the volt works. when the battery runs down the gas engine operates. i don't ever worry about running out of battery power... because it just switches over to my gas engine. i very rarely put gas in my chevy volt. i love my chevy volt and i've never loved a car. ♪ tonight, only in america can a presidential candidate be judged on what is on top of their head and not in it. if the past 50 years are any indication, the best heroines. ever -- best hair wins. let's bring out the highlights, 1960, kennedy, a no-brainer over nixon's widow's peak. ronald reagan, a pompadore for the ages, landslide. clinton/dole, enough said. 2008, barack obama breaks tradition and makes history as the country's first african-american president, but has best hair over mccain. who is best to beat obama? let's look at romney and santorum. santorum, although sporting impressive locks is showing early receding, while romney shows no recesssive traits whatsoever, romney, the winner. now romney/obama. two follicle heavyweights. at this point, almost too close to call, but come november, i believe it will be obama by a hair. but that's only in america. beyond the borders, the bald truth is that other countries don't follow our lead. russia opted for mikheil gorbachev, and you could have put the kremlin on top of that dome. winston churchill's dome get didn't get much action but the