refusing to do the disappearing act the republican party is so desperate for. we learned he will give into the pressure by not attending the convention next week, but even if akin is not there, for paul ryan there's no hiding his policy connections with akin. it only got worse when he talked to reporters. >> his statements were outrageous, over the pale. i don't know anybody that would agree with that. rape is rape. >> you sponsored language forcible rape. >> rape is rape period. >> that forcible rape language meant nothing to you at the time? >> rape is rape, and there's no splitting hairs over rape. >> rape is rape, and there's no splitting heiairs over rape. that is no way mr. ryan's record shows. last year he co-sponsored the no taxpayer funding for abortion act. the original wording of that bill said that an abortion could be paid for by federal dollars if the pregnancy occurred because the pregnant female was the forced subject of an act of forcible rape. not just rape but forcible rape. so there is a difference in this bill. tape is not rape. in this bizarre bill ryan supported and who was ryan's co-sponsor on that bill? none other than todd akin. they have stood shoulder to shoulder in their fight against abortion for years. in fact, they've co-sponsored at least eight anti-abortion bills together. they have worked together. they have the sa but the past is now engulfing paul ryan. he no longer is mr. budget. he's mr. no abortion. so he's throwing akin under the bus. >> you co-sponsored abortion-related congressman akin. >> that bill passed by 251 votes. it was bipartisan. i think the hr 3 is the one you talked about. i think we had 251 votes, 16 democrats. i'm proud of my pro-life record. >> a bipartisan effort? 235 republicans voted in favor of no taxpayer funding for abortion act. 16 democrats supported it. calling it bipartisan? at best that's playing fast and loose with the facts. and those democrats who voted in favor after the words "forcible praip rape" were taken out of the bill. he's conflicted with the pride of his past decisions on abortion and his future as mitt romney's second in command. >> well, look, i'm proud of my pro-life record and i stand by it in congress. it's something i'm proud of, but mitt romney is the top of the ticket. mitt romney will be president, and he will set the policy of the romney administration. >> look i'm proud of my record. i don't -- i'm proud of my record. mitt romney is going to be the president. the president sets policy. his policy is exceptions for rape, incest, and life of the mother. i'm comfortable with it because it's a good step in the right direction. >> it's a good step in the right direction? mr. ryan said to one is more pro-life than him. there's a deep division on this ticket, but how much longer will mr. ryan be able to run from his record? joining me now is congresswoman jan shkowski democrat from illinois, and a member of the pro-choice congress. and crystal ball co-host of "the cycle" right here on msnbc. thanks for being here tonight. congre congresswoman, does paul ryan have a todd aakin problem? >> actually paul ryan has a more anti-choice voting record than according to the national right to life committee than todd akin even has. >> really? >> so every opportunity that he's had -- yeah, slightly better from their point of view. he's slightly more against women being able to have an abortion. of course, of the 38 anti-choice bills he's co-sponsored, several have no exception for rape or incest. you've talked about the forcible rape. he's trying to run away from that saying rape is rape, but he did want to make a distinction between forcible rape and unforcible -- what would that be? >> right. >> rape. >> do you know what his score is from that group? >> 100%. >> he's rated 100% by that group? >> yes. and he's been -- this is his seventh term, so every year, every session he's had 100% voting record. >> now, crystal, akin doesn't rate 100%, yet, he's become the new face of the extreme right on this. so if mr. ryan is outscoring him, that says a whole lot about what he was trying to project today on the airplane to reporters. >> that's exactly right. i think what paul ryan is missing here while todd akin's comments were offensive, it's not his crazy talk but the crazy policies that are the logical outgrowth of crazy talk. on those policies as the congre congre congresswoman was jut pointing out, ryan is just as extreme as todd akin. you played that clip several times where paul ryan says he's very proud of that record. what's the message of american people are getting? on the one hand, they're seeing just how extreme and out of the mainstream paul ryan's record and his voting patterns are. on the other hand they see hi parse words like any politician and willing to toss aside his allegedly firmly held beliefs now that it's politically inconvenient for him. >> when we look at this paul ryan, congresswoman, we're looking at a man who has these great convictions, very passionate, but now he seems toy playing political. he said in an interview last night he was not trying to threaten access to birth control. listen to this. >> nobody is proposing to deny birth control to anybody. >> but when you look at his record, the record that he's proud of, he co-sponsored a personhood amendment last year. the sanctity of human life that defines human life at the beginning of fertilizer. it would ban abortion and some hormonal forms of contraception and would go as far as to criminalize in vitro fertilization. he can't have it both ways, congresswoman. >> exactly. he has a record of saying that contraception absolutely can be denied to some. when obama care offered pooev t preventative services including contraception, paul ryan was not in favor of requiring all employers to provide contraception to their employees. and that paul ryan is saying that he doesn't think women are going to fall for these side issues. or that women are going to take the bait to all the distractions that barack obama is trying to throw their way. i think referring to these very issues that somehow rape is really a side issue, that access to contraception and even abortion is now a side issue. >> now, crystal, do you think that they thought this wouldn't come up during the election? i mean, they act surprised this has come up. >> i think they've been crossing their fingers hoping to not have to talk about it, and that's the thing here. for a while now the right has been pretty successful about couching their position on abortion on a woman's right it to make her own decisions about her own body in in fluffy language about life. now there's a real face. now in this week we met rape victims and seen their faces and heard their stories, and that takes their very aggressive, extreme, and callous policy to a whole different level in term it is of the american people. i think the congresswoman is right here, too. when you have the situation with paul ryan, and you're looking at at the totalility of hez record, he's now the central part of the republican party ticket. >> let me just add that paul ryan is against title x. that is the family planning program. and that would allow women access to contraception. let's remember that he and mitt romney are for getting rid of planned parenthood, which also provides contraception services. in fact, very little of their work is abortion. >> now, talking about planned parenthood, let me go show you this. ryan and the republican party are trying to distance themselves, but akin all on the same page. akin, the romney/ryan campaign, and the republican platform are all anti-abortion, though romney has clarified that he would allow for abortion in cases of rape and incest. they all stand behind personhood and want to defund planned parenthood and they all oppose contraception coverage. it's interesting, but then you have some -- at the end of the day, congresswoman, ryan said several times today that he was proud of his pro-life record, but when you look at the record, mitt romney's record on abortion has been all over the place. let me show you this. >> i will preserve and protect a woman's right to choose and am devoted and dedicated to honoring my word in that regard. i believe abortion should be safe and legal in this country. i believe from a political perspective that lif states rather than having a federal mandate through row v. wade. i'm pro-life. that's my view. i believe there is a sanctity of human life. i'm pro-life, but i believe there should be exceptions in the case of rape and incest and when the life of the mother is at stake. >> congresswoman, it seems that he either evolved or flip-flopped. >> well, i think the message, though, to women ought to be very, very clear. you certainly can't rely on mitt romney or paul ryan when it comes to women's health care. i think that that party and now in their platform and how about it when they say that mitt romney doesn't really support the platform position, which is no abortion without -- no abortions with any exceptions, none. rape, incest, life of the mother. so i think they are a danger, both of them, and the party itself are a danger to women's health. >> let's be honest, too. the party, even not looking at these issues, has an image problem because it's so male dominat dominated. when you add these positions, these anti-woman positions to the male dominated problem, it's no wonder why there is such a gender gap in favor of democrats and one that i think will only widen from here on out. >> we're going to talk about that later in the show. congresswoman and crystal ball, thanks for your time tonight. catch crystal on "the cycle" weekdays at 3:00 p.m. eastern right here on msnbc. coming up, we're learning more about the extreme republican platform. just what is the gop planning to do to this country? and paul ryan keeps blaming president obama for being partisan. well, tonight, the reporter with the inside story on the blocking is with us. sorry, guys. no hiding now. and the king speaks. the secret long-lass tapes of dr. martin luther king jr. found in a dusty attic. we'll play you his words here tonight. you're watching "politics nation" on msnbc. have you checked us out on facebook? the politics nation conversation is going all day long. today our facebook family was buzzing about romney's latest distortions on medicare. rita says, it's so sad how they're twisting things. sorry, romney, we are paying attention. dale says the romney plan is a very unfunny joke. larry reminds all seniors on medicare to, quote, read before you vote. we've got more details on romney's medicare plan coming up later in the show. we want to hear what you think. head over to facebook and search "politics nation" and like us to join the conversation that keeps going long after the show ends. we hope to see you there. irchgts ladies and gentlemen the republican report card is coming and it's not pretty. there was jan brewer pointing at the president back in january on the tarmac in arizona. they were aat odds over arizona's controversial papers please immigration law, and this snapshot really captured the rage coming from the right. now the entire party is officially in lock step with governor brewer's state. they've adopted a radical immigration platform. it was pushed by crishri cris k. here coming the grades i mentioned. a new nbc poll shows mr. romney's negative rating is at an all-tie high among latinos. 48%, and he's down with other voters. he's only got 41% of the woman's vote, and african-american voters? that's not a typo, people. he gets 0% of the black vote. 0%. this is the costs of going hard to the right. this is the cost of rolling back progress. this is the cost of extreme policies. joining me now is patricia murphy, editor of "citizen jane politics" and erin mcpike reporter for "real clear politics." thank you both for being here. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> patricia, the gop platform is the most extreme ever. how does governor romney expect to handle this? >> well, i think we're absolutely going to see a republican convention in primetime that looks almost nothing like the republican convention that got started already in this platform committee. the platform committee is the most conservative of the conservative activists within the republican party. somebody like tony perkins from the family research council sits on that committee, casts those votes, convinces those other members to come along with with him and the family research council. when we get to the republican convention next week, we're going to see a very diverse group of people in primetime. we're going to hear the governor taking a much softer tone on a lot of these issues, where behind closed doors they really have been much, much more restrictive. >> isn't his platform, his convention, i mean? he can take whatever theatrics he wants. this is his convention. this is the platform of his party that he's now the head of. >> it's the platform of his party, but this is not a party that is 100% behind mitt romney, and that's why we saw paul ryan get the nod to be the vp pick. even somebody like mitt romney so conservative is insufficiently conservative in a lot of areas. the problem for mitt romney is when he runs in november, he's not running alone but on the republican ticket. he's going to take all of this with him. voters will take it into the voting booth. the question is what do voters remember? he wants them to remember what is in primetime. he doesn't want them to really know what's happening behind closed doors. >> erin, when you look at the brand, a new nbc news/"wall street journal" poll shows that 29% of registered voters have a very negative impression of the gop. how do you deal with this? it is very negative. >> you're right, but i would also say that patricia is right. i talked to a republican party official today who is irritated at how much coverage this meeting of the republican platform committee has gotten this week because they say, well, that's just a piece of paper, and we're really not going to be adhering very closely to what the platform committee goes with this week. so, yes, they have a problem and they do have to repair the republican party brand. mitt romney and how he introduces himself, which he'll be doing in a very personal way in primetime next week, is what they want voters to remember coming out of the next week in convention. >> erin, part of the reason there was a lot of coverage on the platform is how extreme this platform is, probably the most extreme we've ever seen. look at atthe platform. they want to replicate arizona-style immigration law, not allow for abortions in cases of rape or incest, push for mandatory ultrasounds, they refuse to recognize same-sex marriage or civil unions, and they want to push for more voter i.d. laws. an extreme platform like that is going to get covered. >> no question about that. they don't want that. the republicans who are running the romney campaign know that that is something that won't do them any favors with women voters in swing states, with hispanic voters in swing states. the kinds of voters they need to win in big numbers if mitt romney has a chance of beating president obama in the presidential election by winning some of those swing states. no question it's a problem for him. that's why they want to talk about the economy and not those issues. >> patricia, when you look at, for example, the gop immigration platform, they would build a border fence, ban in-state tuition for undocumented students. they want a mandatory e-verify system which makes it harder for people to find jobs. go after sanctuary cities that help undocumented immigrants. how do you advocate this policy on your platform and then go in swing states or any state and appeal to latino voters? >> you know, this is actually one area where mitt romney is as conservative as the republican platform committee. this is why he is the republican nominee. he wouldn't have gotten out of the republican primary if he hadn't embraced all of those positions. this is the one area i think he's going to have the hardest time distancing himself from the man that he became in the primaries to the man that he wants to be on election day. you start talking about state-by-state where this will get him in so much trouble. florida, nevada, colorado, new mexico, 40% of the voters are latinos in new mexico. you can have a great economic policy, but if you tell me you want to have my grandmother self-deport, that's just not going to get you anywhere with latino voters. that's why there's a 40% deficit right now between the prez asid and mitt romney. >> erin you covered mitt romney during the primaries. he was very extreme on immigration, notwithstanding the platform now. he himself was very extreme. listen to this. >> so if you don't deport them, how do you send them home? >> the answer is self-deportation, which is 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. i think you see a model here in arizona. with regards to illegal immigration, of course, we build a fence. of course we do not give in-state tuition credits to people that came here illegally. that only attracts people that continue to come here and take advantage of america's great benefits. if i were elected and congress pass the dream actment, would i veetd toe it? the answer is yes. >> veto the dream act, build a fence, arizona law. he can't run away from that, erin. it's in the platform, and it came out of his mouth before the platform. >> and no question that we will be seeing some of the those statements run in tv ads by the obama campaign and the president's allies in some of the swing states later this fall after the conventions. i would point out to you this. john mccain got 31% of the latino vote in 2008, and we know that the romney campaign is shooting for 38%. with statements like that, i don't see how he can improve upon john mccain's numbers because, of course, in 2006 and 2007, john mccain was on the front lines of arguing for comprehensive immigration reform and the extremists in his party said no, you can't do that. >> he argued for immigration reform and got 31%, and we just saw what mr. romney proposes and he wants 38%? okay. patricia murphy and erin mcpike, thank you for your time tonight. inside the secret gop plan it to block the obama agenda. we had the reporter with the details. 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