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ream media. >>the rest of the media seems like, "ho-hum, no big deal." we've have no choice, we've lost our democracy here. just refreshing to hear. no other television show does that. we're keeping it real. david slew galoth alec has gone

into rope a dope mode backs off from all noneconomic issues meaning it is giving up the fight on new voter id and stand your ground laws. this after the opposition successfully urged coca-cola and others to cut ties with alec. the executive director said his group was, and i quote: but it is too little too late. 32 states already after alec-backed voter id laws on the state. joining me now is shelton, senior vice president for policy and advocacy and the naacp. thanks for your time tonight. >> it's great to with be with you. >> first how did you do it? you took an organization that is behind so much legislation and got companies to say enough and then the organization backed down.

what made this work? >> in many ways educating the public on what they were doing behind closed doors. most people hadn't heard of alec until we began to raise the pro file and how it affects people directly. it was all about education, shining the bright light and making people see or helping people see the correction between their daily lives how that has changed and how alec has worked through the state legislators to make such a problematic difference. >> and we're at a point where these companies are very concerned about their public image. companies like that said why are we involved in this? the public doesn't want consumer companies to be involved in these sorts of battles. so what is next in this campaign

why else can you go with this? >> quite frankly the bottom line now is we have to reverse the damage that alec has caused. if we look at the states across the country where african-americans and others will be locked out of the ability to vote because of their id bills, but also we need to repeal those very nasty troubling, and dangerous stand your ground laws. we have people walking the streets now that are concerned that because of the new enhanced form of so-called self-defense, that now people can challenge them, shoot them as we saw happen in sanford, florida and actually get away with it. so we still have repairs to do across the coin try. >> let's start with the voter id laws. is there an effort afoot in any state legislatures to say let's take another look and reconsider

some of these voter id statutes that really violate the civil right statutes and simply should never have been passed in the first place? >> i agree with you. there have never been coalitions on the ground that include the naacp and other organizations trying to repeal these actions. and even with these new unless obstacles in place registered voters, and make sure they are able to get out to the polls and vote on election day. we'll continue to move these unnecessary obstacles out of the way, while at the same time, we'll continue to work and hopefully alec will find someplace in their heart to help make sure these americans they worked so hard to lock out of the franchise will be able to vote in the 2012 election. >> alec and the supporter of the

alec are so desperate because they see this image of fraud in any voting booth which honestly isn't there, yet when it comes to fraud in the financial markets all they want to do is repeal the anti-fraud laws. have you ever underthis tension? >> i don't. all we'll see is a power grab. utilizing the tools that they put in place. the point you are making is absolutely right. at the same time they are moving to disenfranchise americans. we're seeing a different kind of very narrowly tailored approach that disenfranchised as a tool for empowerment. >> the stand your ground laws a horrifying set of laws but law enforcement leadership opposed

pushed by the nra opposed by law enforcement. it seems to me there you have a great opportunity to go to coalition pushing to repeal a law that right now everybody should understand. >> right now we're working with people like mayor bloomberg and a coalition of mayors across the country. at a time when mayors and other city officials are struggling to be able to make ends meet to put police officers on the street to provide the protection. we have a law moving forward that even those police officers oppose, because they saw the potential for the kinds of problems that we saw in florida. change to make our communities safer still. >> seems to me there is also an opportunity to build a coalition

with a whole bunch of state controllers who control the shares that are owned by public pensions. to go to companies, whomever it may be, and say, look, we don't want to take positions on any political issues just stay away from them. we own you through public shares, just don't get involved in this stuff. are you interested in moving forward in that way, kind of building that coalition as well? >> well certainly wants me want to build a coalition for all of those interested and concerned about these issues. and when we talk about these kind of products we're talking about things that everybody uses on a daily basis. coca-cola, kraft it's people making decisions about what they are going to buy in this very competitive consumer atmosphere it makes a difference who they are buying this from and what they are using to spend that

money on. i think there's an opportunity to work with the companies of goodwill. some have worked with organizations like ours before to try to make a real difference that helps all americans. >> macaroni and cheese by kraft it's all over our cabinets home. all right. hilary shelton, senior vice president for policy and advocacy and the naacp, appreciate your incites tonight. >> nice being with you. >> what do barbara walters, john mccain and ann romney have in common? they all app preesh next.

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spiriva helps me breathe better. does breathing with copd weigh you down? ask your doctor if spiriva can help. [ male announcer ] cookies with smooth caramel and chocolate. ♪ ♪ hmm twix. also available in peanut butter. coming up the economic recovery continues but who is ak wlly recovering the most in if you guessed though middle class, you would be wrong. but first rush limbaugh being rush limbaugh, ted nugent being ted new gent and bill o'reilly being steve erwin? when it doesn't fit anywhere else we put it in the

viewfinder. >> the good news is america is not just made up of the people you see on the news who have done something unusual. >> last time i was down under i helped catch a tiger shark off of the great barrier reef. >> typically what they have done has not been real good, and that is also in the news. >> after i lost my grandchild i slept like a baby. >> fire pit. >> we have patriots. we have brave heart. we need into ride into that battlefield and chop their heads off in november. >> if you said the -- you don't know what the -- you are talk about. >> woe. what were you doing? >> we weren't on the air. >> yeah, we really were. >> why are we not on the air right now? >> we have on the air right now. >> okay.

good. >> the tape doesn't lie. >> women are the big drive this campaign year, and both sides are fell epian-in i to win it. >> you are a big tipper of the shampoo girls. what do you tip her? >> i give her 3 bucks. >> the real reason women pursue careers is because they fear they are too unattractive to get married. >> women like us, when you go home you want the guy to be in charge, and -- >> oh my god! my god! >> i love the fact that women are talking about deficit spending, and the economy. i love that. >> do you like it when he is rough! >> wow! [ laughter ] >> wow! [ censor bleep ] >> i'm beginning to understand

why some of these other shows get such good ratings. the middle class in danger of being replaced by machines. there are two job categories technology can't touch. the lovely and the lousy next on "viewpoint." for television.

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the new economy has got two types of jobs lousy or lovely. what is missing? middle class jobs even with better job news in the past year, most workers are getting the shorten of the bargain. here to tell us why, editor at thomson reuters digital, chrystia freeland. explain -- you wrote this fascinating article in which you capture this polarization of the job market and this stratification you are at the very top or very bottom there's

nothing in between. >> there is a body of economic research which i think shows what we all see happening around us and is that the impact of technological change is to get rid of the jobs in the middle. routine tasks that computers can do, a classic example is a travel agent. that used to be a pretty reasonable white collar job. when is the last time you used a travel agent -- you still do. >> you know what maybe -- we do, because she's wonderful and we're not going to abandon her. but i understand what you are saying. most people go on to a website and make their own reservations. >> and it is happening in manufacturing manufacturing, and in the legal profession. those jobs are being hollowed out in the middle. the jobs that are left are non-routine manual like

collecting the garbage, chopping up onions or the non-routine jobs at the very top like slicing and dicing securities. >> slicing dicing onions, or slicing and dicing securities. so you have unique skills at the very top or the very bottom. >> yes. those are the jobs that are left, but what it means is the middle class is being hollowed out. all of the jobs in the middle that really created the america we think of in the 50s and 60s, those are being eroded. as this technology has emerged we also have the impact of globalization which mean those jobs in the middle, now thatry disappearing for that reason as well. >> that's right. if a machine isn't taking it away maybe a lower-paid worker

in china is. this polar iedzation of jobs happens in sharp bursts, and those sharp bursts are recessions. so if people feel like the recover isn't doing it for them that's because this is one of those moments. >> that to me was one of the fascinating points in your article. really what happens you get to a recession and suddenly because people are forced to contract they figure out how to do it differently, and the other jobs don't come back. let me bring in washington post columnist, harold meyerson, explain why -- where this comes from and if anything can be done about it. >> it comes in large part from what you have been discussing the i haves ration of middle income jobs. health services, home care

workers, that's 70% of the jobs being created in the last six months. most of the jobs in manufacturing, are being scaled down to the wages we associate with southern manufacturing. caterpillar is opening a plant in indiana which is paying 12 to $14 an hour to assemble very technically sophisticated locomotives. we are seeing the down scaling of middle income jobs in america, and a lot of that is because -- not only because of the reasons you have discussed thus far, but also because unionization in the private sector is down 7%. so employers have no need to bar -- bargain with workers, and the 7% in unions have very little bargaining power. >> because there is technological pressure and overseas competition hence the

union is not in a position to negotiate terribly effectively. and the manufacturing jobs coming back to the united states, those jobs are now at a significant lower wage level. what had the average wage been at general motors compared to now. do you know? >> sure? . it was $28 an hour then. and it's $15 an hour now. the contract says the highest you can go is 19. you are never going to see 28. so people making between 25 and $30,000 a year. >> so this is -- to come back to chrystia freeland's point the eviseratono of the middle class.

>> do you want a society like this? if people on top doing really, really well, and people on the bottom doing much, much less well than before? personally my answer is no i don't want that. and i think you'll have to have some form of government support. >> herald do you agree with that in if we decide people should be earning wages significantly higher, do you raise the minimum wage impose tariffs, what are the policy levers you can push? >> senator tom hark inthe democrat of iowa has introduced legislation which would raise minimum wage to $9.83 an hour. and most american jobs aren't in local competition. they are service-sector jobs here. for that i think we need to make it safe again for american workers to join unions which

they have the right to do under the national labor relations act. but in real life they can be fired. so i think that's one of the key ways to bring up wages in the very battled middle of the american economy. >> there was a fascinating article in which it was distinguished between the tradeable and non-tradeable sectors. in the tradeable sector there had been not only no net job creation, but wages were being driven down. in the non-tradeable sector, 20-plus million new jobs and that is theoretically where wages would be pushed up. so is there something that could be done there? >> sure but the reality is that non-tradeable sector is the place where these lousy jobs are being created. i do agree that unions could be -- have a big structural impact but i don't think it's

going to be enough. because the fact that this tradeable sector -- those manufacturing jobs -- those high-paying unionized manufacturing jobs were the backbone of the american middle class, so i think you need to think about how about universal single pay health care that people don't have to pay for. that would take a lot of strain off of the middle class. >> you are right. herald last word to you, if you could do one thing to begin to confront what you have diagnosed what would it be? >> making it easier for workers to join unions but what chrystia says is right too. >> all right. thank you very much both for your time. 41 years ago, john kerry asked the question about vietnam how do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake.

my view coming up.

with one million signatures demanding his recall it seems scott walker isn't too popular in wisconsin. or so you would think. first let's go to "the war room" and check in with jennifer grandholm. what have you got for us tonight? >> thanks, eliot. what do grassroots activists and nuns and documentary filmmakers all have in common? they are all examples of david's slaying goliath. it's the theme of our show tonight, and we'll have the davids on set as you have been talking about. another one up for the good guys against alec. and you are aware the president called for annen to oil speculation. we'll talk about that. and what is being done with gridlock in washington. we'll have those stories and

much more at the top of the hour. >> that is chalk full. so much to talk about. but the fcic report was the single best document detailing what brought us to the press puss in '08, it was a speck lack tar document. >> absolutely. they did great work. thanks elliot. >> all right. more "viewpoint" coming up next. meltier hershey's happiness.

and we don't stick to party lines. >>people who buy politicians got to cover their bets. >>we are the investigators fiercely independent, and we don't hold back. >>we're here because we're independent and that's what we love. >>...and we don't do talking points. >>i think the hypocrisy is so blatant. >>and above all... and there's only once place >>weeknights on current tv. ♪ up next scott walker isn't the most popular guy in wisconsin, but he could be more popular than those running against him. first here is my view. news from afghanistan rarely makes the front page anymore but this weekend with the coordinated attacks throughout the nation it did.

afghanistan has almost become the forgotten war. but the question john kerry asked about vietnam is begin to sound quite relevant. and i read a powerful article about the 6,500 suicides by soldiers as a result of ptsd. are we still attempting to build a nation with a civil society, and supposed, but surely corrupt ally can continue to rule. we can achieve the former and must. but we'll take a different force structure than the one we have right now. and it's joe biden who for years has been saying focus on what

matters. if the objective is the larger one, i doubt we can build it and i doubt we should try. one thing is clear we need greater clarity on what the objective is, the public needs it, our troops need it because john kerry's question from 41 years ago keeps ringing in my ears. that's my view. [ male announcer ] this is corporate caterers miami, florida. in here, great food demands a great presentation. so at&t showed corporate caterers how to better collaborate by using a mobile solution in a whole new way. using real-time photo sharing abilities, they can create and maintain high standards from kitchen to table. this technology allows us to collaborate with our drivers to make a better experience for our customers. [ male announcer ] it's a network of possibilities --

helping you do what you do... even better. ♪ ♪ the newest voice in cable news is on the new news network. >>jennifer granholm joins current tv. this former two term governor is politically direct. uh, i'm in a timeout because apparently riding the dog like it's a small horse is frowned upon in this establishment! luckily though, ya know,

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