problem with the latino vote, but then on friday, president obama said this. >> over the next few months, eligible individuals who do not present a risk to national security or public safety will be able to request temporary relief from deportation proceedings and apply for work authorization. >> the very next day, mitt romney taped an interview with bob schieffer, which included a very predictable question. >> would you repeal this order if you became president? >> well, let's step back and look at the issue. >> well, what would you do about it? >> well, as you know, he was president for the last 3 1/2 years and did nothing on immigration. >> but would you repeal this? >> well, it would be overtaken by events, if you will, by virtue of me putting in place a long-term solution. >> i won't keep on about this, but just to make sure that i understand, would you leave this in place while you worked out a long-term solution, or would you just repeal it -- >> we'll look at that setting as we reach that. >> that's the brave leader of the republican party talking. mitt romney obviously has no idea on how to lead his party on immigration issues after a presidential primary campaign that was all about how long and how high and how electrified and how lethal a fence you will build to keep people from crossing our southern border and how many of them will you pledge to deport. but mitt romney does know how important the latino vote is. as reported here back in april, mitt romney spoke at a private palm beach fund-raiser, just loud enough to be heard outside on a public sidewalk by nbc news' garrett hake. romney told his audience, "we have to get hispanic voters to vote for our party," warning that recent polling showing that hispanics breaking in huge percentages for president obama "spells doom for us." joining me now are msnbc steve kornacki and joy reid. joy, the idea that the romney campaign staff -- this to me is a serious campaign staff issue. you send him into that interview and you've given him absolutely no suggestion about how to handle the most predictable question. that is political malpractice by the romney campaign staff. >> yeah, i absolutely agree. because they knew -- >> let's just understand, romney doesn't believe anything. it's not like you can go, we'll send him out there, and worst-case scenario, we'll go with what he thinks, because he doesn't think anything. you've got to set him up to answer that question. >> absolutely. the white house campaign slogan could be, just make me president and we'll work out the details later. mitt romney is not the leader of the republican party, he's waiting for the actual leaders of the party to tell him what's acceptable to say. he has the problem with the base, they don't trust him. he can't sound too moderate, because the tea party base would rebel, but then again, he has to still mouth the words about immigration reform, because he's afraid -- look, he's at 27% with hispanics. that is a losing proposition no matter how you look at it. >> and he knows it. that's what we heard him say at that fund-raiser. let's listen to what he said at nbc news debate in florida. >> if you don't deport them, how do you send them home? >> the answer is self-deportation, which is that people decide that they can do better by going home, because they can't find work here, because they don't have legal documentation to allow them to work here. >> steve, presidential campaigns self-deportation, which is that people decide that they can do better by going home, because they can't find work here, because they don't have legal documentation to allow them to work here. >> steve, presidential campaigns produce memorable phrases. "self-deportation" was the easiest two-word thing to remember after that particular debate, and certainly there are people in the latino community who heard that and remember it well. >> and that remember, that terms, as ridiculous as it was, but also remember how far to the right romney was in the primaries. think of the political imperative for romney at the time. he was so distrusted by the base, the only issue that was really logical for him to get to the right of gingrich, of santorum, of perry, of all his opponents was on immigration. so he really took advantage of it one of the few times he could be the conservative candidate. but he had an opportunity, the interesting thing about what we're seeing right now, it looked like for the last few weeks that immigration was actually going to be the issue that the romney campaign used to sort of defy the stereotype of the spineless opportunist who's afraid to tell you what he really thinks. marco rubio was going to come out and propose essentially what obama did on friday. romney was going to get behind it and there were signs from immigration groups that they were actually going to be okay with it. so they had the prospect here of romney endorsing this, doing away with the problem he had with hispanic voters, and maybe getting credit for being a strong leader too if momentum built behind the idea. instead, obama completely steals his thunder on friday, talk about the timing. it's almost like the obama white house knew that romney was 24 hours away from giving his first non-fox sunday show interview and they went and dropped this bomb. >> well, bill kristol certainly understands the politics of this from a republicans' perspective. let's listen to what he said about it. >> i think it's a sensible policy. i think that would be much better if that were the law of the land. i think this is a big problem for romney and he needs to stake the lead on this, and erase marco rubio's dream act, if that's what he want, and say, let's pass this this congress over the next few months and say, this is what i'm for. >> a little too late. >> a little too late. and karl rove doesn't have a lot of positive attributes, but he does understand the math. and the math is that barack obama won the presidency with 41% of the white vote. republicans would lucky to ever get 10% of the black vote again having coddled birthers and a lot of other things that republicans find repugnant. the hispanic vote is the one sort of opportunity for republicans, but if you look at the top 20 states where the latino vote share is growing the fastest, 11 of them are already swing states. number 21 is texas. we're talking about nevada, colorado, florida. states that are critical for republicans to be able to regain the white house. ohio, even indiana. you cannot win long-term as a republican if you cannot grow your base beyond the white vote. and the hispanic vote was the one opportunity, and now even marco rubio is semi-irrelevant. i mean, is there even a point -- >> steve, let's listen to what rubio actually said about this and then we'll react to that. >> i think he could have worked with the congress to try to get something balanced done, like something i'm working on. the white house never called us about this. no one reached out to us and told us this was on its way. >> there's a leader for you. the white house never called me. i want to be vice president, but the white house never called me and said, i, as a senator, should really try to get something done. >> so marco rubio wants to be vice president. if you're the romney campaign and you're looking at this guy and saying, where were you for the last two months? we are waiting for you, the most prominent national latino leader in the republican party to come out and put this simple piece of legislation together, outlining what obama just did, and then i, mitt romney, will come there and say, this is what i'm for. and all these immigration groups will come behind it, and rubio did nothing. and now he's sitting here basically saying today, you know what, i'm not even going to do it at all. so this was the big moment. rubio was the key guy, and he basically sat on his hands. >> rubio looks in that particular video, he looks too small to me for the vice presidential job, in a number of ways. i mean, he would have to be a really dynamic guy to sell beyond conservative republicans, it seems to me. >> you're absolutely right. and rubio, i think is more of a confection of the press. the media loves marco rubio. >> and he may be that guy in ten years, but not that guy. >> not right now. rubio has the same fundamental problem that romney does. marco rubio wants to be a singular leader of the republican party, but he too is beholden to that tea party base. that's how he got elected. he had to walk a very thin line in florida, because when he was speaker of the florida house, he was considered soft on immigration. so he, too, had to take a hard line against the dream act, against sort of reasonable immigration reform. so he's in the same box romney's in. >> steve kornacki and joy reid, thank you both very much for joining me tonight. coming up, in a "last word" exclusive, the tony award-winning author of "the vagina monologues" will join us along with the latest star of "the vagina monologues," who was banned for speaking on the house floor after she dared to use the word "vagin." that state representative actually performed "the vagina monologues" on the steps of the state capital tonight in michigan. on my journey across america, i found new ways to tell people about saving money. this is bobby. say hello bobby. hello bobby. do you know you could save hundreds on car insurance over the phone, online or at your local geico office? 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[ meow ] [ male announcer ] another example of volkswagen quality. that's the power of german engineering. right now lease the 2012 jetta for $159 a month. visit vwdealer.com today. would you just repeal it -- >> we'll look at that setting as we reach that. >> the batting practice mitt romney's been getting at fox news did not prepare him for bob schieffer's major league pitching yesterday. and it wasn't as if bob schieffer was throwing curveballs. >> you haven't been bashful about telling us where you want to cut taxes. when are you going to tell us where you're going to get the revenue? which of the deductions are you going to be willing to eliminate? which of the tax credits are you going to be -- when are you going to be able to tell us tha ? >> well, we'll go through that process with congress as to which of the different deductions -- >> but do you have any ideas now, like the home interest mortgage deduction, various ones? >> well, simpson/bowles went through a process of being able to say where they would be able to reach a setting where they had actually under their proposal, even more revenue for the government with lower rates. so mathematically, it's been proved to be possible. we can have lower rates, as i propose, that creates more growth, and we can limit deductions and exemptions. >> try as he might, bob schieffer could not get romney to identify a single tax expenditure that romney would eliminate or limit in any way. not the mortgage deduction, not the charitable deduction, not the deduction for state and local taxes. and what was the simpson/bowles' process for reaching romney's stated goal of more revenue for the government with lower rates? what were they willing to do with tax expenditures? it's right here on page 2 of their report on tax reform -- eliminate all income tax expenditures. joining me now are ari melber, a correspondent for "the nation" and an msnbc contributor and karen finney, former dnc communications director and an msnbc contributor. karen, if romney is embracing simpson/bowles, he is embracing an elimination of all charitable deductions. an elimination, not a reduction, he is embracing a complete elimination of your mortgage deduction, the single biggest deduction that american consumer takes on their tax returns. and so on, right down the line. that simpson/bowles eliminated every single one of them. and romney is unwilling to say that he's in favor of elimination of even one and then pretends to say he's in favor of simpson/bowles. >> right. well, remember he said that simpson/bowles shows it's quote/unquote, possible. right? by his own admission, he's not telling us where it's all going to come from. again, he says it's -- well, we'll just go through a process with congress and simpson/bowles kind of showed us that was possible. but as we've talked about before on your show, this is one of a growing number of issues where he is not willing to talk specifics. like the immigration issue. bob schieffer asked a very fair, straightforward question and gotted a dodge, dance, but not a real answer. this is the strategy that the romney team is employing, which is, play it safe. don't answer questions with any specifics, talk platitudes, you know, use the rhetoric, say why obama's bad, but if you don't ever give any specifics, you can't be accountable to those specifics. >> karen, i'm glad you broadened it out, that he just won't answer a very specific question. let's watch sam stein trying to get him to answer a very specific question. >> does governor romney support the ledbetter act? >> sam, we'll get back to you on that. >> now, ari melber, this comes back to this romney campaign staff, which is getting away -- i mean, its press has been amazingly flattering for such breathtaking incompetence, as moments like that, and sending their robot on to bob schieffer's show without an answer to the most obvious question in the world, what would you do about what president obama did yesterday. this staff doesn't know where romney stands, romney doesn't know where he stands. how far can they get before that becomes -- and can the obama campaign make that a larger image of romney? >> that's the question, right? does this become a political vulnerability. you said it was political malpractice, how badly his staff operates. i would add -- >> but the general media lets them get away with this, without ever saying -- without ever pointing this out as a problem that they have. >> right. and to echo what karen finney said, i would say, this is a contempt for the democratic process. that you can spend a year running for president, but not actually doing what we expect candidates to do from the beginning of american history, which is actually explain where they stand on the basic issues. and i'm reminded of the famous line that mitt romney said about his '94 senate race, where he recalled that when he announced that he wanted to eliminate the i guess department, he was tagged as anti-education, and what he learned from that was, don't ever get into specifics about what you want to do. i think there are other things you can learn from that, like education is a popular government program, basically. but he's taken that and, back to the fund-raiser that you quoted earlier, at that fund-raiser, he talked about eliminating or combining education of the departments and eliminating hud, which his father used to run. so he would tell some of his donors about it in an off-the-record setting, he just won't tell us. >> karen, there's only two things i've heard him be specific, he absolutely, surely, definitely wants to eliminate obama care. there's no talk there about, oh, well, i'll can consult with congress and say what they want to do. this is what he says about any tax question. and the other thing, he really wants to raise, in effect an national sales tax by putting tariffs on all chinese goods coming into this country. there are the only two specifics i've heard him say. >> well, that's right. but on obama care, what he won't say is, okay, so you're going to repeal it, and then what happens to all of the people who are the millions of people who are currently in the system, and all of those people who were about to be phased into the system. >> karen, they move to massachusetts. >> oh, right -- >> and they live under romney care, or, you know, they get a fake address in massachusetts from their cousin's house or something. >> you know, the one thing i would say to this, lawrence, i mean, there's actually two things. one is, what's really insulting about the lack of information and this lack of transparency from this candidate is then the right wing has the absolute nerve to defend what neil monroe did on friday with president obama as quote/unquote tough journalism, right? journalists ask question. well, then, you know what? let's ask some tough questions of mitt romney and hold him accountable for the fact that he is not providing answers. >> yeah, it doesn't take some kind of punk stuff shouted at a candidate to show that mitt romney can't answer just the simplest of questions. there's bob schieffer, who plays a classic version of this game, straight down the middle, you can see it coming, very fair question. romney couldn't handle it. >> well, "fox & friends" is bad batting practice. that's the problem, we have media here that thinks it's okay to go a year talking only to fox news's political programs on the weekend. that's astounding. and if you want to be president, as you know, you have to actually speak to the white house press corps, which has members from print and tv outlets from all over the country. so if you want to look like a president and act like a president, you need to actually engage on ideas and engage the free press. >> and now the white house press corps has crazy hecklers. karen finney and ari melber, thank you both very much for joining me tonight. >> thanks. coming up, one tax deduction that we know mitt romney will never want to eliminate. he actually used it on his tax return to deduct $77,000. guess what it is. little hint -- it involves a horse. and it's in tonight's "rewrite." and the author of the va gina monologues here. eve ensler's play was performed on the steps of the michigan state capital tonight by the state representative who was banned from the house for using the word "vagina." 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"his legacy should not be the struggles and troubles of his personal life, but the immensely positive change his existence wrought on this city and its police department." rodney king said this on the 20th anniversary of the horrific riot that occurred leaving 54 dead after the officers who beat him were acquitted in their first criminal trial. "people look at me like i should have been like malcolm x. or martin luther king or rosa parks and stay out of trouble and don't do this and don't do that, but it's hard to live up to some people's expectations. i never went to school to be rodney king." i met rodney glen king in this studio just two months ago. when he was leaving our interview, we recorded this additional interview on the kind of handheld amateur camera that george holliday might be using today. >> always remember that, you know, the prayers and people who kept me alive over the years. it was your prayers and your thoughts. so just like to say thank you for alls the ones that i have forgot to thank. thank you very much. 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[ dennis ] mayhem is everywhere. so get an allstate agent. are you in good hands? have you had enough of obama care?! >> do you agree with me, we cannot afford four more years of barack obama? >> we need a leader with a bedrock of principles and an ability to put that vision into place. that leader is mitt romney. >> in the spotlight tonight, the auditions for the republican nomination for vice president continue, but one of the auditioners is in big trouble this week. new jersey governor chris christie is the subject of a hard-hitting series in "the new york times," focusing on his connection to one of his fund-raisers, who is a huge profiteer in new jersey's troubled system of privately owned halfway houses that relieve overcrowding in the new jersey prison system. and a romney/christie ticket may have a fundamental incompatibility. it's not hard to tell which of these men is more disciplined in every way. yesterday "the new york times" reported, "mr. romney has formed some early impressions, according to several republicans who spoke on the condition of anonymity, mr. christie is often late, as he was during a $5 million fund-raising dinner in new york city last month. after a few uncomfortable moments, mr. romney finally had to take the stage and speak first. when mr. christie did arrive, it was left to mr. romney to introduce him to the crowd." who better to consult on the republican veep stakes than the man who led the way in convincing senator john mccain to choose the most recent losing vice presidential candidate. joining me now, steve schmidt, a former senior adviser to senator mccain's 2008 presidential campaign and an msnbc political analyst. steve, how do these guys look to you at this stage? and first of all, do personal things like, you know, christie shows up late for an event and makes it awkward for romney, do personal factors like that, maybe personal character chemistry issues matter that much? >> sure, they sure can. i mean, look, at the end of the day, this is a very personal choice for the top of the ticket. he's going to have to be working with this person for at least four years, if they win, maybe for eight years. and if you look at the republican field, the number of people that after the 2008 election that will pass the test, that there'll be unanimity amongst the media, amongst republicans, amongst democrats, that whether you agree with the person or not, that they're qualified to be president of the united states from day one, it's a very, very small list. and i think chris christie and probably one of the people on that list. >> steve, this "new york times" series this week is showing christie with a very, very close fund-raiser of his, a very close friend of his, who's profiting greatly from a new jersey business that basically lives off the new jersey state government. that seems to me to be the kind of thing that would dog a republican candidate going forward. >> i think any candidate in either party, as they go through the vice presidential process, they're going to have a full spectrum analyst of everything that they've done. and in fact, these are the type of stories that wasn't to see come out before he's the nominee, so you can talk about them through the prism of old news, not new news, distracting in the days after the person is nominated. so i think any prominent politician in america is subjected to stories like this. we'll see what the facts are as they continue to emerge, but, you know, here's one thing about chris christie. i think it's also true of andrew cuomo across the river. two of the most effective governors in the united states from either party. and i think christie's record of turning around new jersey, which had a number of really, really intractable problems, teetering on insolvency, makes him a very attractive candidate. and i think he's also an immensely talented politician in terms of being able to communicate to people. and i think that it will be interesting to see what direction mitt romney goes. you know, chris christie, lawrence has pointed out the fact that, you know, someone would be nuts to take him. he's not much of a second-chair type of guy. and that may well factor into romney's thinking. >> steve, i have to ask you about this incident at the montana state republican convention this weekend. there was an exhibit there called obama's presidential library, and we have a picture of it. it was an outhouse. it had bullet marks painted on it. that was someone's idea of funny. the state republican chairman said he didn't know who was responsible for the outhouse. he called it a side show and he also said, "it's not something i'm going to agonize over." steve, it seems to me, in the last republican presidential campaign, this was the kind of thing that you would agonize over. you wouldn't want your party or your candidate associated with anything like that. >> no, that's right. listen, i think the chairman should have been stronger in condemning it. i think it's wrong. i think it hurts republicans. i think it hurts mitt romney's chances to be elected president of the united states. it allowed someone who has very significant policy differences with president obama, but i like him personally. i respect him. i have disagreements with him, and i think that's the view that most americans have. so this type of stuff doesn't help you in the important swing states with people in the middle of the electorate. now, i also think if you're running a presidential campaign, there's a very thin line here, because you could spend allday condemning what the biggest nut in your party says, and demand that the president condemn on a daily basis what the biggest nut in his party says. and i think it totally wipes out the ability to have a discussion on any substantiative issue in the campaign. so i think it's a thin line. i do think, though, that if that's at the montana republican party convention and you're the chairman of the republican party, you probably ought to be a little bit tougher on that. >> steve schmidt, thank you very much for joining me tonight. >> you got it, lawrence. coming up, mitt romney's wife, ann, loves horses. mitt romney loves tax deductions. a match made in heaven. that's in the "rewrite." and tonight on the steps of the michigan state capital, there was a lot of vagina talk in a performance of eve ensler's "vagina monologues," starring the state representative who was banned for speaking in the house after she dared to say the word "vagina." they're both going to join me, next. 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[ male announcer ] it's a network of possibilities -- helping you do what you do... even better. ♪ one of the many reasons mitt romney doesn't want you to see his tax return is he doesn't want you to know how much he deducts for dancing horses. we will show you a $77,000 deduction on mitt romney's tax return in tonight's "rewrite." also coming up in a "last word" exclusive, a lot of vagina talk with the author of "the vagina monologues," eve ensler, and the michigan state representative who was banned from the state chamber for using the word "vagina." eve, you saw the performance of of an olympic athlete. >> i hear you've got an olympic athlete in the family. >> isn't that something? yeah, it's not me. it's my wife, of course. she's the athlete, but in this case, it's not her personally, but she along with two other people purchased a horse and have trained it up. >> she's the athlete. that's what mitt romney just said. she's the athlete. so what will the athlete in the family be doing in the olympics? >> so she's quite thrilled and i'm sure she'll be watching. i have a campaign to attend to, so i won't be able to see it perform. but i'm very pleased for her. >> that's right. the romney family definition of an olympic athlete is a person who participates in the purchase of an olympic athlete, in this case, a horse that the romneys own. now, mitt romney has always told the story of the family's entry into the breathtakingly expensive so-called support of dressage as a therapeutic option for ann romney's multiple sclerosis. >> dressage. >> yes, the sport of dressage. not many people are familiar with, but something for which she has a passion, and frankly, her getting back on a horse after she was diagnosed with ms was able, she's convinced, to help her regenerate her strength and renew that vigor. >> now, this is not in any way to make light of ann romney's difficulty with ms, it's obviously a very difficult thing to bear. and there are a lot of things you can do to try to deal with ms, but, come on, dressage does not appear in any of the more traditional courses of treatment. and if it's true that dressage is how wildly rich people deal with this very difficult personal health problem, then why, why does the horse appear on mitt romney's tax return as a business expense, that in 2010 produced a $77,000 business deduction. not a health care deduction, a business deduction for the romney limited liability corporation that owns the horse as a business. mitt romney was afraid to identify a single tax deduction that he would eliminate or reduce, but i think we can be sure that the olympic athlete in the romney family, the horse that masquerades as ann's horse, but that is actually never ridden by ann would continue to be a fake deductible business expense if mitt and ann ever get to watch their olympic athlete on a tv in the white house. >> when are you going to tell us where you're going to get the revenue can -- which of the deductions are you going to be willing to eliminate? which of the tax credits are you going to be -- when are you going to be able to tell us that? >> well, we'll go through that process with congress as to which of the all the different going to be -- when are you going to be able to tell us that? >> well, we'll go through that process with congress as to which of the all the different the deductions and exemptions. mo than 50 times a day? so brighten your smile a healthy way with listerine® whitening plus restoring rinse. it's the only rinse that makes your teeth two shades whiter and two times stronger. ♪ listerine® whitening... power to your mouth. listerine® whitening... you want to save money on car insurance? no problem. you want to save money on rv insurance? no problem. you want to save money on motorcycle insurance? no problem. you want to find a place to park all these things? fuggedaboud it. this is new york. hey little guy, wake up! aw, come off it mate! geico. saving people money on more than just car insurance. put me at 5 timesd out my greater risk of a stroke, my first thoughts were about my wife, and my family. i have the most common type of atrial fibrillation, or afib. it's not caused by a heart valve problem. i was taking warfarin, but my doctor put me on pradaxa instead to reduce my risk of stroke. in a clinical trial, pradaxa® (dabigatran etexilate mesylate) reduced stroke risk 35% better than warfarin. and unlike warfarin, with pradaxa, there's no need for regular blood tests. that's really important to me. pradaxa can cause serious, sometimes fatal, bleeding. don't take pradaxa if you have abnormal bleeding and seek immediate medical care for unexpected signs of bleeding, like unusual bruising. pradaxa may increase your bleeding risk if you're 75 or older, have a bleeding condition like stomach ulcers, or take aspirin, nsaids, or blood thinners, or if you have kidney problems, especially if you take certain medicines. tell your doctor about all medicines you take, any planned medical or dental procedures, and don't stop taking pradaxa without your doctor's approval, as stopping may increase your stroke risk. other side effects include indigestion, stomach pain, upset, or burning. pradaxa is progress. having afib not caused by a heart valve problem increases your risk of stroke. ask your doctor if you can reduce your risk with pradaxa. . , and finally, mr. speaker, i'm flattered that you're all so interested in my vagina, but no means no. >> that statement got michigan state representative lisa brown barred from speaking the next day on the floor of the michigan house of representatives. the michigan house speaker said in a statement that representative brown, quote, failed to maintain the decorum of the house of representatives. >> if you can't say "vagina." >> that was state representative brown this evening on the steps of the state capital in michigan, where she and other women members of the michigan house performed eve ensler's award-winning play, "the vagina monologues." the word "vagina" was said more than 100 times. joining me now for an exclusive interview, tony award-winning playwright of "the vagina monologues," eve ensler, and the newest star of that play, michigan state representative, lisa brown. eve, you have seen "the vagina monologues" since, i believe 1996, is when it premiered? >> yes. >> you've seen it performed by some of the greatest actresses of our time. you've seen it performed by students, you've seen it performed around the world, in more countries than i think you can count. what was the this performance like for you tonight? >> you know, it was one of the most amazing performances i've seen. and i think, in some ways, "the vagina monologues" was in its truest form today, because it was not just about the art of it, it was truly about the message and the reason for it. and to see representatives, lawmakers, heads of planned parenthood and the aclu, amazing actors come together for the liberation of women, for women's rights, in front of 5,000 people in lansing, michigan, i feel reallied good. >> lisa brown, since 1996, we've come such a long way with this, that it is hard to remember that since eve's play premiered, talking about the vagina publicly, in any way, was kind of extraordinary, and there was a real, just kind of shock punch to the play, hearing actresses say these words, and it's easy, i think, for some of our audience tonight who are in their 30s or 20s to not be able to even comprehend what that world was like. but that world came back to us in michigan when you simply used that word and suddenly you were banned. suddenly, that world of, you can't say that word, was back. and that, for me, eve, i join you in the feeling that this is one of those really exciting performances tonight, where you're going up against the real banning of that word. >> yes, yeah. it was incredible. and to this day, i didn't say anything wrong, is the anatomically correct terminology for the female anatomy. i was speaking to a bill that was about abortion, so it was germane to the legislation that we were debating, and, yeah, it's just -- like i said, i don't think i did anything wrong. i don't know what terminology somebody would prefer, but i think vagina is the right word to use. >> now, representative brown, if using that one word on the floor of the house gets you banned from speaking on the floor, what do you think performing "the vagina monologues" on the steps of the capital is going to get you? >> well, there's a little thing called free speech, so. >> i don't know about that in michigan. that's in doubt right now, isn't it? >> yeah, a little bit, yes, it is. but we're going to put that to the test. so -- >> i think we took free speech back today. >> yeah. >> and i think to be there with 5,000 people who were completely embracing the play, the word, the reason, it was a different michigan today. and i think there's going to be a huge turnaround here. >> eve, i've seen your work performed by a variety of kinds of performers. the last time you and i saw it performed the same time was in a high school performance of one of your newer works. and it's all about, it seems everything you're doing is about empowerment, and tonight's performance seems to be one of those ultimate versions of empowerment. >> mm-hmm. >> well, i think -- i was saying to representative earlier, one of the thing that moved me so much tonight is how many young women came up to thank both of us, for giving them voice, for allowing them to be authentic, for allowing them to feel agency over their bodies and their rights, to know that they have choices, that what they decide to do with the reproductive decisions or abortion decisions or whatever they decide is their choice. it's their body. and i think just being in that place today, in that field of thousands of people who were screaming "vagina," and having their voice, it was one of the most thrilling times i've had in the almost 15 years of v-day. >> lisa brown, have you seen "the vagina monologues" performed before or had you read "the vagina monologues" before? >> i saw it years ago with my mom in new york. and i remember sitting there and some of them, i was actually a little embarrassed, to be sitting next to my mom and hearing some of those things. and i think because of "the vagina monologues," we all, as women, have come a long way. >> and eve, that embarrassment that lisa brown felt sitting beside her mother in your audience was something you were, i think, hoping to stimulate with the play, so that that embarrassment could be worked through and eventually eliminated. >> exactly. with one of the things i feel so strongly about is when you can say things, when you can own them, they exist. and one of the things i discovered with the vagina monologues is so many women had never said the word, they had never told their stories. they never said, this happened to me, i was raped, i had a good sexual experience, i had a terrible sexual experience with a boy and that changed my whole idea of myself. and when they started to talk and broke that silence, they suddenly realized they had options and possibility and they could connect with their desire and they could have lives. language is so important. it's the pathway to freedom. and wh we name things, we claim them. >> you know, eve -- go ahead, lisa. >> and i was just going to say, i think for a woman to hear someone else's story, wow, i am not the only one who's experienced that, i think that's helpful too for a lot of women. >> eve, how about an autographed copy of "the vagina monologues" that lisa can give to the speaker of the michigan house of representatives. >> with pleasure. and how about we all organize a total demand that she is reinstated with apology. i think that would be a really excellent idea. and i'd like to put that out to everybody listening, to write that in, that we would like her reinstatement with open apology. >> lisa, what do you expect to happen with the speaker on this issue? >> you know, to this day, i still have not heard one word from anyone in the republican leadership. you know, i didn't even find out i was banned from them. i found out from my own leadership, so i never heard from them that i was banned. why or for how long. and we're on break now for about a month, for the summer, and we'll see what happens when we come back. i would love to hear from somebody. i've read things in the paper, but not one person has contacted me. >> and has the speaker issued a list of any other anatomical words that you cannot use on the floor of the michigan house? >> not that i know of. and just to point out that "vagina" does -- the word is in michigan statute three deferent times. so if you can't say "vagina," we shouldn't be legislating vaginas. >> and eve, this is such an interesting point, that it already exists in michigan law. it's already something that has to be discussed in certain very grim testimony that courts have to take. the idea that this word alone used in a room of adults can somehow desecrate that room, it just stuns me that we weren't long past that in michigan and everywhere else. >> i think we feel the same way. and i think it's really important -- i think one of the reasons we did this today is to say, this is not -- we don't tolerate this. we're way past that. and we're going to remain past that. we're not going back. the genie's out of the bottle. the vaginas are here to stay. >> you know what, of all the last words we've had on "the last word," vaginas e here to stay, i just might have to have that as the crawl at the bottom of the screen throughout the rest of the show, as we do here. vaginas are here to stay, playwright eve ensler and michigan state representative, lisa brown, thank you both very much for joining me tonight. >> thank you. >> tomorrow night, david maris will be here. that's "hardball" for now. good evening. i'm chris matt use up in new york. let me start with barack obama's forward pass. i'm talking about his decision to get out front on the immigration issue. to say that people who are brought to this country under the age of 16 shouldn't get punished. they shouldn't be chased and grabbed by the i.n.s. from now on, even if they don't have legal status, they will be left alone to live and work here. it's fascinating to see the reaction from the right, isn't it sm romney and those he wants to represent went silent on this. he whined a bit about democrat congresses not doing this before. democrat when used as an adjective is what republicans use when frustrated.
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