donald. >> it all gets so vicious there is a fight between elton john and madonna now. >> joy: thank you for being % here. that's all the time we have tonight. and remember if you don't have anything nice to say just assist say anything. [ ♪ music ♪ ] >> al gore: welcome to current tv's live coverage of the democratic national convention. we have a very interesting night tonight. former president bill clinton, my former partner is going to give the main speech a little bit later. elizabeth warren, the consumer champion who is now a candidate for the u.s. senate in massachusetts is also speaking, and a lot of other very interesting speakers that you'll be hearing about. i'm here, of course, with governor eliot spitzer in his home studio, where we're located. cenk uygur, of the founder and

host of the "the young turks." two-term michigan governor jennifer granholm, host of the war room with jennifer granholm, and john fugelsang noted commentator and comedian who will soon have a show on current. we're happy to be bringing you coverage and common tear on commentary on the proceedings tonight. we welcome you in the discussion by way of twitter and we'll go to cenk to tell folks how that works. >> cenk: we have the most unique coverage in the nation of these conventions. not only do we have an unbelievable panel and it's been an amazing two weeks covering the convention with this panel. we also have the twitter feed so you can get a bird's-eye view of everything that is happening at the convention from all the different ankle angles.

main street pundits media liberals conservatives a speech about president president obama first lady michelle obama and all the speeches we've enjoyed tonight. we have elizabeth warren who will be a huge draw for the progressives. news out today that she has raised $1 million from one group alone, the progressive change committee, and then bill clinton, the big speaker tonight. the buzz building he's coming. he's coming. what do we expect from the former president? >> al gore: first of all we've already had a barn burner as we prepared to go on the air watching the feed from charlotte. congressman emmanuel cleaver got the crowd on its feet.

it was a terrific speech. i happen to know from personal experience what a tremendous speaker and motivator he is. he'll make the case to america this evening for the re-election of barack obama and he will do it extremely well. i would bet money on it. we're not making any $10,000 bets on this show, not romney-sized bets, but i feel confident about that one. >> jennifer: because of your experience with him. what is the speech writing process for someone like bill clinton. a lot of people have said today oh, we hope he doesn't pull a convention speech like he did--what does he use as a process? >> al gore: he uses speech writers, but it grafts it personally himself. if you look at his speech text it will go through several draft, and every draft will have extensive hand-written notes.

i remember vividly when he was giving his first state of the union address he was writing it still on the way to the capitol. >> jennifer: that does not surprise me. >> al gore: i sat back up there along side the speaker of the house. the president's introduced to the joint session. the next speech was the healthcare speech. i had to find the teleprompter, we were still trying to find them during the speech of the state of the union. the next speech, the healthcare speech he looks at the panes of glass, turns around and walks to me and said, al, they have the wrong speech on the teleprompter. i walked off the podium, went over to the sidelines and got george stephanopoulos and said, you got the wrong speech up there. >> jennifer: oh my gosh,. >> al gore: he vamped

extemporaneously for seven minutes. they finally got it up, and he picked up the prepared text seamlessly. >> cenk: opposite of martin luther king jr.'s "i have a dream" speech. he had a text. prepared text and then the best part we know is him going off the text and speaking from the heart. so oftentimes that's when you get some of the best speeches. but look you got to be prepared, and people at home might not realize that all the speeches are written by speech writers. >> al gore: clint eastwood's wasn't. >> cenk: and look what happened. >> al gore: by the way there was a pew poll that came out today sampling around the country. what was the highlight of the republican convention for you? number one was clint eastwood's appearance. mitt romney was down 17. then i think ann romney at 10. and nobody else broke three.

the clint eastwood convention didn't get the kind of bounce that the republicans were hoping for. >> cenk: i remember at the end of that night i said, look, i think they might forget the speech. it sounded okay. we thought he did a decent job for a republican presenting that speech, but apparently it was so forgettable it was overshadowed by clint eastwood immediately. that was a pretty tough act to follow that train wreck. >> john: and it pushed the governor romney out of primetime. it would have eastwood come out way longer than his allotted time. i've been defending eastwood. i think he was trying to do a bob newhart routine and i found it charming. >> jennifer: you did? >> john: and the room loved it. >> eliot: that's the thing. a few people said it really

worked. >> jennifer: really? >> eliot: he was charming, exuded exactly the charm that clint eastwood projects out of the movie screen. but just on tv it didn't work. >> cenk: maybe romney will take him on the road with him. >> john: they're so scripted and so tight. eastwood is the first one i've seen being really, really loose. he obviously was not working from notes. i never expected to see someone at the rnc make the crowd clap for barack obama for compromising on gitmo and terrorist trials. >> al gore: you know the biggest problem was is illustrated what we're doing here right now. we're still talking about that speech. the news coverage after mitt romney's speech was taken off in huge proportion by all the comments about clint eastwood and people saying, what did you think? and what was that? >> cenk: last night democrats hadden embarrassment of riches, the reverse problem in a sense. there were so many good speeches

that people didn't know which one to talk about. devalue patrick, ted strickland, tammy duckworth. as you pointed out, mr. vice president, and then michelle obama knocked everyone's socks off. in the midst of all that i'm sure i'm forgetting one really good speech. >> jennifer: lily ledbetter. >> we commented a couple times last week contrast to the week before the energy in the convention hall was totally different. i've seen commentary that it's has not only to do with the design of the stadium in terms of the noise level but the proximity of the seats. the seats are closer together in charlotte so there is a sense of energy. people are piled on top of one another. in tampa they were spread apart. maybe comfort at a hockey game but terrible at a convention. we have all delivered speeches, and you want people gemmed in there so the energy and excitement builds on itself rather than people being far apart. better crowded and full than spread out and empty. >> cenk: it goes towards the

theme of staying together, nicely done, whether it was intended or not. we'll take a quick break. but when we come back the democratic platform has been changed again. this time president obama stepping in and regulating. we'll tell what you he did when we return. special event is brought to you by spiriva handihaler.

>> cenk: we're back for the coverage of the democratic

national convention with vice president al gore, governor jennifer granholm, governor eliot spitzer, john fugelsang and i'm cenk uygur. we have a change in the platform. >> jennifer: the words god given were removed and words jerusalem as the capital of israel removed. that caused much grief with concern what are the democratics doing. vice president, you said you thought it was a mistake an oversight, and it should be corrected. they must have listened to you because that's exactly what happened today. ted strickland amended to re reassert god-given and jerusalem into the platform. i think we've got the language up here. the amendment to the platform. we need a government that stands up for the hopes values, interests of working people and

gives everyone willing to work hard the chance--everyone--to make the most of their got-given potential. i wasn't sure if it was me or the screen. and jerusalem is and will remain the capital of israel. that's very good news, right john. >> john: it's very good news and smart politically. we saw yesterday our right wing friends piling on the democrats for insulting god. i want them to know that god is not mentioned in the bill of rights. they might go after that next. the president himself led this charge to put it back in. ted strickland was in charge of the drafting of the platform. it's interesting to see president obama fight to put god back into the platform and it makes it look like the dnc made the mistake but thank goodness for president obama to come in and make it right. >> jennifer: to try to correct it quickly within the space of one or two news cycles was smart. >> cenk: i continue to be

frustrated with this kind of politics. >> eliot: you understand-- >> cenk: i get it, but it's not like god is looking at the platform saying, thank god he put me in. >> john: god is everyone. he's already in the platform. >> jennifer: it's just an un unnecessary distract. >> cenk: there will be baggage. look, i fess the one part that is bothering me is a politics. patrick duvall gave that great speech saying we're not going to backtrack and they've done a great job not backtracking in this campaign, etc. here they give criticism and they seem to backtrack a little bit. i get it. you're saying that it's smart to do it, and it is limited and it's a tiny thing. >> jennifer: the thing that drives me crazy. for those of us who are people of faith we have ceded the territory to the right. we should not be doing this. john, you do this all the time. if you look at the gospels and what jesus said, he was a democrat.

[ laughing ] all right, now i i know i'm going to get grief about that, but the values he espouse are values that we do. >> cenk: i'll go one further. have you ever read the bible? jesus is a socialist maybe a communist. he said give away all your stuff. if you're rich, you're not going to heaven. i don't agree with that. i'm agnostic, but he is way to the left of me. >> john: jesus came back and it would be impossible to hear his message over the screams of his followers calling him a socialist. acts of apostles it's a draft for communism. is really is. not that jesus would support any economic schism, but you're right, jesus is the most progressive figure in history or literature, which ever you believe in, and it's way pastime for jesus and the cross back from the right.

>> eliot: i'm coming at this from a different perspective. i'm curious how often after you won you look at the party platform after the white house. does anyone have a copy of it? is it the document that is serving more and more limited purpose and utility as the years go by and you begin to wonder who drafts it. i'm curious about that process and what happens to it. >> al gore: it used to be very significant, but in recent decades it has been virtually irrelevant. ironically in the age of the superintendent the kind of texture analysis that is available to crowd source opposition research brings these words and sends it back to the floor again but not really for to support a deep discussion of policy but just to look at political vulnerabilities. to answer your question we've had more discussion in the last few minutes about the democratic platform than occurred in eight

years in the white house. jennifer, did you have a state platform. >> jennifer: yes, there was a platform. >> eliot: i'm embarrassed, i don't remember if there was in new york. >> jennifer: there was a series of principles, but same thing. it was for the convention purpose for people to rally around a common set of principles. but you didn't use it as your governing document as soon as we're going to take a break. we have more on the convention, and we have news on this. we'll listen to that when we return. cover the convention. but only current puts you at the collision of tv and social media, providing unsurpassed insight into the most buzz worthy tweets, posts and pontifications, from the entire social stratosphere including you. join in, tweet us, and you could be a part of our on-air and online coverage. >>now that is politically direct.

>> eliot: welcome back to current tv coverage of the democratic national convention. daviddavid shuster will be joining us in a minute. to fill us in on the change of the platform and david apparently it was not such smooth sailing in the effort to claim the attendees of the convention hall was in favor of the amendment. fill us in on what happened. >> a couple of things. first of all the associated press is reporting that president bill clinton played an instrumental role in getting the democratic convention to take this up. as you pointed out the platform did not have the word "god," and it did not state jerusalem as the capital of israel. i happened to be on the floor right in front of the podium when the convention chair was presiding. in order for the amendment to

pass he pointed out two-thirds voting in the affirmative voting aye was necessary and no more than one-third voting nay. all those said "i" and the nays were clearly louder than the ayes. then he tried it again. here it is again. >> all of those delegates. i guess--i'll do that one more time. all those delegates in favor say aye.

[ aye ] all those opposed say no. [ no ] in the opinion two-thirds voted in the affirmative. the motion is adopted and the platform is amended as shown on the screen. >> now on that video as you can see on the floor there are angry folks especially including those of the arab democracy. they were angry. i got to tell you eliot i was down on the floor. the nays were just as loud as the ayes. they didn't know what to do. they're going to do what they're going to do. encouraging to move forward and get this done. >> eliot: david, it seems to me as though the mayor made a command decision that that platform was going to be amended regardless of what the folks at the convention hall wanted. you said that president clinton intervened or was it president

obama that intervened. >> the associated press said that president clinton got involved in this today. he was part of the decision making that they should revisit this and do it at the beginning of the session. we haven't been able to confirm the associated press report, but clearly it underscores the power that president clinton has. if you want to talk about president clinton's speech, we have more about that if we have time. >> eliot: do you feel that president clinton was running interference for president obama? these two items in the platform that were amended or were going to become lightening rods issue attacks from the right. it seems to me that they wisely deflected this. i wonder what the actual communication was. i'm hard press that president clintonobama's camp called president

clintons and said if you would run this. >> given that president clinton is here. and given that president obama is here, top officials for the obama campaign, it was apparently a course of consultation. did they reach out to president clinton and say what should we do about this or did he make an unsolicited call saying we need to fix this. we don't know. all that associated press was reporting was that he was involved. and i'm sure it came up and they said look, we're getting pounded over this. what do you think we ought to do. and the clinton campus making it clear that he deserves some credit in solving this and getting it under way. >> john: we're pleased that the democrats have handleed this political mind field the way they have because apparently even god was tired of this controversy. can you let us know if the reference of hamas was put back in the platform. there was language condemning

hamas, and apparently that passage is still out. >> yes, that passage is still out. the only two amendments that were put back in is the reference to god and their god-given potential and that jerusalem will remain the capital of israel. that's it. nothing having to do with hamas just those two issues. people who want to continue to complain the democrats about the issues of hamas, that's still out there. >> jennifer: david, we've seen a series of speakers. nancy pelosi is talking now. governor daniel malloy, of these speakers that you've heard so far tonight who has gotten the best response? >> wow i think malloy got a pretty good response. at the very end with a fiery closing did it. governor granholm, one bit of advice to you. they've moved the convention from the football stadium to

here you're not going to be able to hear yourself. the crowd is not going to be able to hear you. you'll have to do just as gore in 2000, surf the crowd. i guarantee we can't hear very much when the crowd is cheering. you won't hear very much. get ready. the place is a rocket with acoustics. >> jennifer: i love it. folks watching from home, we'll be right back. (vo) this politically direct special event is brought to you by communications workers of america. bringing jobs home now.

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granholm, eliot spitzer john fugelsang, and i'm cenk uygur. president clinton got involved in changing the platform. we have reporting that president obama got involved as well. that's being reported widely. >> john: political report ordered the references back in. >> cenk: and apparently whether people agreed or not that's what happened. that was a bit of a john boehner moment where they had one in the rnc with the ron paul people, the ayes have it. now we're at the dnc. we'll check in with jacki schechner. she's in l.a. we'll talk about the tweets with the dnc and what is hot as well. i'm curious about that. >> we're winning. that's what i have, cenk. tons of anticipation for bill clinton's speech tonight. when you go towww.

towww.currentt.v.com, as far as the republican national convention versus the democrat national convention the democrats are winning in tweets. we're only in the second night. that's the amount of the entirety of the rnc. the big boost, who had it. >> michelle obama, who had about twice as many tweets per minute at her peek as mitt romney. 28,000 for her and 14,000 for romney during the speech. so i think that counts as a trouncing. >> that volume was extraordinary. one of the things we noticed she picked up followers as you might imagine. but she's not using twitter in other social media platforms the same way that the rest of the campaign is. >> no, and i think the obama campaign is brilliant in using media, but she did not send a personal tweet, didn't post

photos and didn't do anything personally at all. that is a huge missed opportunity on the part of the obama campaign. >> one of the things that we noticed on twitter is you can start something and get the ball rolling. one of the things that is coming up today you may remember the hashtag lyin' ryan. paul ryan has lied so much over the course of the last week or so that even when he says something that is true nobody believes him any more. not only is he lying on the policy but the marathon and the time that he ran that marathon. now he's talking about climbing in colorado. he can made 40 climbs, climbed 40 peaks. >> yes paul ryan is correct the lyin' ryan trend has continued throughout the day. once it's associated with you it's hard to get away from you. >> it will stick. >> jennifer: there are right now what's happening they're previewing the 12 women democratic u.s. senators, some tremendous women i was curious

to see about the women who were the ones speaking to the iowa caucus. that might an preview of who is going to be-- >> cenk: amy clovershire did. and it will be very interesting. >> cenk: i always thought if claire mccaskill survivors survives, and it looks like she will, she'll be very strong. >> jennifer: she's a centrist, and for the country that may be what they crave. >> john: the woman who hopped to be the 13th will be speaking. can elizabeth warren heal resists between the left and democratic establishment and how will sandra fluke do in front of an audience this size. all these will be answered soon in the coverage of the 2012 democratic national convention. gaemezilinsky, thank you for joining

>> we are so proud president obama was the lily ledbetter fair pay act. [applause] >> jennifer: you're listening to senator barbara mikulski of maryland, a great champion and fighter for women. i'm wondering, mr. vice president, you've got a good history with her. >> al gore: we went to the house of representatives the name year and sat next to each other on the commerce committee and became very, very close pals. i mean very close.

i admire barbara mikulski so much. she came to congress after wages a successful battle in baltimore baltimore, the battle they were trying to put a highway through the old neighborhood where she lived. she stopped it and she road rode it all the way to congress and then to the senate. she has seniority among women democratic senators, and she's widely respected on both sides of the aisle. >> jennifer: she's one tough cookie. i'm curious whether you think hilly will actually run in 2016. >> eliot: why are you looking at me, because i'm from new york? >> jennifer: you're from new york. >> eliot: i think she will. i think she should. mr. vice president you know any decision like this is so person, where you are in life and what you want to put yourself through, but i think she's universally respected admired whatever tensions there may have been or sensibility of the

public there was nothing but respect for her. as secretary of state she has represented this nation superbly, and i think she could clear the field in the democratic primary. >> al gore: i don't know if she's going to run or not. she has told close friends she's tired of public service. my guess is after a little time off she would find that she's rejuvenated. who knows. >> jennifer: i think she knows how special her position is in terms of how women across the world-view her. even after a period of rest and she writes her book or some of the things with the clinton global initiative, my guess is she will feel called to live up to that sense of destiny. >> cenk: as a guy who is apparently at this point to the left of the democratic party establishment, i'm not sure i look forward to that. look, i went with president

obama over hillary clinton in the primaries in 2008 because i thought she was with the establishment and the rom emmanuel's of the world too much. of course we have ram emmanuel any way. i would rather see someone else. >> john: how inspiring would it be to see age old democratic establishment and liberal up state debatter waged between two women legislator. i'm thrilled to think that hillary clinton would run and it would be inspiring to see a senior citizen woman running. >> eliot: it seems to me the issues that we use to define the spectrum may not be the issues that we're looking at four years from now to define left, right

center. elizabeth warren, i love her dearly. she has stood out in terms of financial regulation. but that may not be the issue that is looking us square in the face. it may be global warming. my point is, the left and right may mean something totally different at that point in time. >> jennifer: if you had to say today given what you know today do you have a favorite 2016 candidate? >> jennifer: come on. >> cenk: on the republican side. you have to understand that i wrote two articles that the guy sitting to the left of me should run. i've said it over and over and i'll say it again. >> eliot: we'll be right back. [ laughing ] >> cenk: it's not just a matter of establishment. it depends on what you mean by the words. obviously you're the vice president. it doesn't get more

establishment than that, but i trust you to be a progressive. it's based on your record. >> jennifer: so it starts right here. al gore 2016. >> jennifer: let's assume it's not al gore. uygur talking points. >> cenk: the reason why john said elizabeth warren that's what progressives think instinct tallly. she took on the banks she's not afraid of them. >> jennifer: are you saying elizabeth warren? >> cenk: sure. >> jennifer: that was like pulling teeth. >> john: i agree it would be exciting if mr. gore chose to throw his hat in the ring. i don't think we'll talk him into it during this broadcast but elizabeth warren is one of the most pivotal figures in this campaign. it was her original statement that barack obama clunkcally appropriated the "you didn't mr. that."

he never said elizabeth warren made this statement in a much more concise way. i'm looking forward to tonight where she'll take that statement back. >> jennifer: we're listening to what is happening right now. arne duncan is speaking, the head of the department of education, in my opinion arne duncan is putting the race to the top on the table for education did one of the boldest and i think under appreciated policy moves inside the administration. >> eliot: i agree. i think arne duncan is spectacular in terms of what he has done and challenging the status quo $4 billion dedicateed forays to the top. we gave $12 billion to goldman sachs. it's 3-to-1 to give a blank check to goldman sachs. i think as much as this is spectacular, the numbers that we threw away. i want to come back to elizabeth

warren. >> jennifer: i knew that. >> eliot: i am such a huge fan of hers. she's losing this race. before we have a run for the presidency we need to elect her to the senate. i felt some of the voters in massachusetts, i made a bet that she would win by 10 points. and i'm dead wrong. >> al gore: she's losing it, and she's still behind. but it's still an early september. >> eliot: she's going to win but i'm amazed that it's that close. >> john: let's see how her speech goes this evening. >> cenk: and i'm curious to see how she handles the rest of the campaign. as president obama is doing in this campaign you have to draw the line and say look, i'm coming for pup scott brown you. scott brown has gotten away with too much nonsense. he gave away $19 million tax pair money to the banks. he was the 60s vote, and his demand was i don't want the banks paying into a fund if they go under. i want the american taxpayer

paying into it. you make that an end and say how dare you put that on the tax pairs. >> eliot: he drives a pickup truck. >> john: and the tea party loves him. >> eliot: mike bloomberg, whom i get along with, has come out and endorsed brown. and it was that he's good on gun record. we're reading a different record, elizabeth warren is so hostile to the banks and mike always looks to the banks saying my friends etc., etc. i think he's endorsing scott brown because he does not want elizabeth brown in the senate because of her stance on wall street. >> cenk: the banks spent $170 million and we're just getting started. as dick durbin said, frankly they own the place.

they have tremendous power in the sense of what their money can buy. it's a huge factor in the scott brown race and in the presidential race. we have elizabeth warren speaking tonight. everyone is obviously looking forward to that. we'll return with all that here on current. but only current puts you at the collision of tv and social media, providing unsurpassed insight into the most buzz worthy tweets, posts and pontifications, from the entire social stratosphere including you. join in, tweet us, and you could be a part of our on-air and online coverage. >>now that is politically direct.

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>> cenk: we're back on coverage of the democratic national convention with vice president gore governor spitzer, governor granholm, john fugelsang and i'm kemp uygurcenk uygur. we have surprise guests they had to match the celebrity power of clint eastwood they're bringing in scarlet johansson natalie portman and the foo fighters. i think they're going to be next to each other. >> jennifer: really? >> cenk: but i don't think they're going to be speaking to a share as far as i know. >> john: after last night after cal pen destroyed his chances of being in "grand torino 2", it's

great that they're bringing those folks out. eva longoria speaking before or after. >> jennifer: after me, thank goodness, not for her. she has to follow you. >> jennifer: whatever. we're listening to governor judge hunt right now of north carolina. former governor of north carolina. he always has been known as the education governor. he has cultivated that. he has an education center in north carolina. in fact, i know, eliot he has rangeled both of us to come to his seminars. governor hunt has been tapped for that. >> eliot: and we heard arne duncan, we weren't listening to him as such, but he is signature achievement has creativeity for education. i think jim hunts the chancellor of the university system there.

and he processly prosclitizes, makeing it matter to families and governor. >> al gore: let me say a word about jim hunt in the context of political history. you know the upper south, north carolina tennessee across arkansas some parts of kentucky and virginia, northern alabama this was an area where there were progressive democrats going back to the new dealer are a. jim hunt is in that tradition. i was in that tradition. my father was. bill clinton was. but there has been since the nixon years a progressive takeover of the south by the republican party.

in north carolina there is a case in point where one extremely wealthy businessman has spent an enormous amount of money to take over the state legislature, to finance candidates for congress, senate, governor. there was a long story about jane mayor, a terrific reporter, one of the best ever, writing in "the new yorker" detailing this story. so at this point in time a great, great leader like jim hunt in my judgment, would have a difficult time in his own state because of what has been done by the power of big money unrestrained aimed at changing politics and policies in favor of the very wealthy. >> cenk: it's interesting. it's very similar story in kansas with names we do know, the koch brothers. they did what is basically known as the kansas coup where they

wiped out republicans and put in even more conservative republicans. those republicans went to a state legislature meeting nationwide and said, you don't understand they're coming for us. this is real, and they're testing it in kansas. then they want to bring it to other states. now they're saying in kansas they're going to take away as many taxes as possible, as much regulation as possible, basically a libertarian utopia in our mind. >> al gore: with the university system and the tremendous progress they've had under governors like jim hunt and terry sanford, that's all coming to a screeching halt where the policies are concerned. people who are hurt by it are the middle class families who

need a public commitment to education, healthcare, human social policies. instead it's the survival of the fittest philosophy that is very harmful for some of the people fooled into voting for that. >> jennifer: governor hunt and people like him have really tried to blend a lot of concerns with respect to the unions, etc. he has worked with the unions to raise the standards to get by and to really improve public education. exactly should level the playing field across the country. but the point that cenk made about the koch brothers is now they've gone outside of kansas. they're gone to wisconsin and they're pushing through state-level laws. everybody thinks all the action is happening at the federal level, and certainly so much of that is happening. but keep your eye on what is happening in state legislatures across the country. >> that's where the state voteer

repression has come from. >> eliot: north carolina pivoting from textile to tobacco to high tech intellectually based economy. they've done it superbly well. they may begin to lose that shine because folks like jim hunt are no longer running the show. >> cenk: this is why i believe in howard dean's 50-state strategy. we need to get the message everywhere. do you remember that story we did last week about how at a mining company they said, all right, you all take the day off and go to mitt romney's campaign, and we're not going to pay you for that day. they're angry. they're not stupid. they get it. they got screwed and used as stooges in a mitt romney photo op. if we made our case we would

have a shot. but money is overwhelming. especially in those state places where it's so much cheap for buy local and state representatives. >> john: here is my question for all y'all, i doesn't this run the risk much marginalizeing the g.o.p. brand? isn't there a huge danger that it will blow up in their face. that the conservatives the social conservatives will wake up and see. they've already seen how citizens united has allowed romney steamroll in the process. aren't these great examples that may prove fatal to the republican brand. >> al gore: well, i think there is a possibility of that, and i think you saw it in the case of todd akin in missouri where they got somebody so far to the right that he defended most of the right wing even, i wouldn't hold my breath to see it happen nationally. because when you say make a case metaphor assumes that

there is a collegecal process where people discuss the facts and reason together and come to a conclusion, and then use that asas a basis for decision. the truth is in modern politics, it's beginning to change but not quickly enough, in modern politics these 30-second television ads are 75% to 80% of the money in both parties is spent to purchase. these are not the federalist papers and they don't have much logic associated with them. it's all hot-button, poll-tested, neuro-analyzed emotional appeals, and some of them, as we've seen from the romney campaign, are based on total and complete falsehoods, and if you have enough money to dominate the airwaves with those instruments of propaganda, more often than not that determines the outcome of the election.

it's an embarrassment to our democracy. >> eliot: i agree with that, but i'll say one thing that agrees with cenk. i felt when the tea party began to manifest itself, a lot of passion, 50% of it could have been brought into the democratic party as a populist party reform. the anger at wall street bailout and the efforts of the part of government to maintain the status quo that people understood was broken, if we articulated-- >> al gore: again, the word articulate is derived from the metaphor of logical reasoning discussion. >> eliot: sometimes. >> cenk: howard dean--and i took a couple of shots at rom emmanuel last night. and they had that big fight in '06 and '08. do we spend all our money on ads or do we disperse the money in hopes of getting bigger wins in

other places. howard dean chose to disperse the money and he was right. we won in places we didn't think we would win. on the other hand, obviously i think we need a constitutional amendment more than anything else in the world to get money out of politics. i think that's not the number one issue. i think it's the only issue. because its swamping all the other issues. why don't we do anything about climate change? because the oil companies have bought our politicians. there's no question about it. that goes to answering your question jennifer, and your question eliot. who am i going to support in in 2016? of course we don't know. but the man or whom who does the clarion call we have got to get money out of politics, whoever comes out strongest in that. and they had 86% of the country with them. 86% of them says money has too much influence in politics. if someone picked up that flag and ran with it.

>> jennifer: it will happen. >> cenk: the tea party doesn't like it either. i went to a conference that larry lester put together at harvard. the tea part was there and they brought both sides in. they said we don't like that either. the koch brothers are trying to influence us. we don't like big government. but we also don't like big government bought by big corporations. >> john: and it was founded by the ron paul guys who was disgusted that they were spending money like lindsay lohan in amsterdam. >> cenk: now one of the guys who is trying to reform the system is barney frank. he'll speak in this hour, and of course he was part of dodd frank, which was the financial reform. i'm curious to see what you guys think whether that was a good effort good enough, i'm curious. >> eliot: barney is a friend.

i think he has been a spectacular--he has been a lion in the house of representatives on issues of same-sex marriage and financial reform. dodd frank is a b-minus bill. i hate to use the word blame but it what the white house first sent up to capitol hill was nothing in the guise of reform at all. the house began to push back because outside progressive groups said wait a minute, you need fundamental reform. the volcker rule came in, and that's the critical piece. we even now have sandy wyle saying break up the banks. he put citigroup together. when you have people in the business world and academia saying that is the appropriate

remedy. dodd frank does not do that, but it does put boundary lines in place that is important. >> cenk: paul volker used to be considered right wing. now progressives are saying please bring in volker. everything has shifted to the right. since the banks love him. that's one guy that the republicans almost never protest. barney frank either way i'm sure is going to give a fascinating speech. don't miss that. come right back.

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>> health centers all across america i'm proud tonight to support the re-election of president barack obama. [ cheering ] >> two years ago when paul ryan and john boehner and todd akin and the tea party took over the house of representatives, they

promised us they were going to create jobs and jump start the economy. but instead on day one they came after women's health, and they haven't let up sense right? so first they voted to end cancer screenings and well-women visits for 5 million women. they threatened to end funding to planned parenthood. and they even tried to redefine rape. [ audience bo booing ] >> now mitt romney is planning to defund planned parenthood and overturn roe versus wade, and we won't let him. [applause] this past year women learned that when we aren't at the table we're on the menu. so this november women are organizing we're mobilizing, and we're voting for the leaders

who fight for us. nearly 100 years ago when planned parenthood was founded birth control was illegal. as a result few women had the opportunity to finish school, and we really weren't even expected to live past the age of 50. but times have changed. today we are mothers, and we are teachers, and scientists, and accountants, and members of the armed forces. [applause] and because of president barack obama more women than ever are serving on the u.s. cabinet and the united states supreme court. we've come so far. we've come so far.

so why are we having to fight in in 2012 about birth control. it's as if we woke up in a bad episode of "madmen." when mitt romney said he'll get rid of planned parenthood and turn clock back on a century of progress it has real consequences for 3 million patients who depend on planned parenthood each year. women like libby bruce who you just heard from, or women like brandy a 27-year-old woman whose stage two breast cancer was caught in a planned parenthood health center. and thank god she is now cancer free. [applause] or the woman who went on facebook after paul ryan voted to defund planned parenthood and posted, well, i guess i don't understand that us military wives go to planned parenthood when the doctor on

base can't see us. [applause] so mr. romney and mr. ryan are campaigning for women's votes by saying that women need their health. okay, this is coming from two men who are committed to ending insurance coverage for birth control, who would turn women's healthcare decisions over to our bosses and who won't even stand up for equal pay for women. okay, as my grandmother back in texas would have said, any more help from mitt romney and i'm going to have to take in ironing. [cheers and applause] here's the good news. we already have a president who is on our side. president obama. president obama understands women. he trusts women and on every

single issue that matters to us, he stands with women. [ cheers and applause ] president obama insures that women's preventive care, including birth control too, will be covered by all healthcare plans with no copay no matter where we work. >> eliot: out of planned parenthood for the entire nation entities that have been under assault from the republican party at the national and state level defunding efforts around the nation. it became the centerpiece about the what we would call the republican war on women. it has turned into a broad issue. >> jennifer: the susan g. koman foundation decided not to continue a grant to planned parenthood. this became a battle whether planned parenthood should be funded or not not just by susan

g. koman but around the country. one of the susan g. koman directors stepped down as a result of this. she wrote a book, apparently, which is about to come out called "planned bully hood" or something like that. a terrible title. she was a republican staffer and decided to pay back, so she has written a book going after cecile richards in particular because she feels that she was bullied. >> eliot: who is bullying who. >> jennifer: rallying supporters to go after the susan g. koman foundation to reinstate the funding into you won't allow us to be intolerant you're so intolerant. it doesn't make sense. you're taking away the ability of women to get birth control reproductive rights, and what happened to they're against big government. but when it comes to women they want to be right there between you and your doctor, right there

in that hospital room with you. they want to make decisions for you. it's just absolute nonsense to say that planned parenthood is doing the bullying, and the republicans are in favor of small government. >> jennifer: it's going across states across the country efforts to defund planned parenthood. >> al gore: i think it's nothing short of astonishing that the republican party is now against funding for birth control in health plans. something like what are the percentages? something like 99.9% of catholic women support having access to birth control. people don't necessarily want to talk about birth control. maybe they don't want to hear us talk about it. but if they understand that their access to birth control is at risk because of this election, i have to believe that it's going to make a huge difference.

the very fact that they would come out against it is a measure of how far to the right the republican party has gone. >> jennifer: in is why there is such a huge gender gap. women feel it, and they see it across the country. in mississippi there is only one abortion clinic that is available. it's not even a planned parenthood clinic, and there are efforts to shut that down. fortunately a court just blocked that but nonetheless it is happening. we'll take a break at this moment because we want to make sure to get barney frank on the backside of this break. a lot more great speakers coming up at the democratic national convention. special event is brought to you by communications workers of america. bringing jobs home now.

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(vo) you're watching current tv's coverage of the democratic national convention. putting you at the intersection of tv and social media. and right now, you can check in with getglue.com or the getglue mobile app to earn an exclusive sticker. only on current tv. >> jennifer: welcome back to current tv's coverage of the democratic national convention. we've had a great state of speakers tonight, although we've got really big ones coming up, including barney frank. right now we're listening to a

speaker. we'll get back to him. first, i would like to speak on wall street reform. who do you think will be the next treasurery secretary after tim geithner steps down, which apparently will happen at the end of this term. >> cenk: people who watch "the young turks" is because i'm tough on the president on issues like this. when he decided on tim geithner, the name in consideration was jamie dimon. >> jennifer: is that what happened? >> cenk: i don't think it will happen any more, but could it have happened? absolutely. >> al gore: i love jamie dimon. a personal friend. a great guy. but as to who is going to be the successor, i have no idea. absolutely no idea. but i'm sure that there will be a struggle in the administration administration. >> jennifer: do you think could be persuaded to come back, or is

that water under a bring. >> al gore: i don't know. not name dropper but he was over at my house for dinner. he is so smart paul volker. he's older now. he has the energy for it, but you would not expect to see that kind of appointment. i really--as a first choice it has to be what kind of philosophy. what kind of approach. eliot, what to you think? >> eliot: i wish it would be paul volker, jamie dimon, whom whom i don't know has a great reputation. after the trades in london and the libor i think it would be tough. i think larry geil, sler who came from goldman. he has done a superb job at the.

another name i would throw out is a long shot, steve radner. he has been close to electives very smart. he's been out there a lot. >> al gore: he did a great job on the auto-- >> eliot: he saved the auto industry. if there is one guy who has proved he knows how to run this stuff, steve is someone to keep an eye on. >> jennifer: i know we have to go but i have another question before we get to barney frank. >> cenk: david shuster at the convention floor. i understand that you have news for us. >> last hour, eliot asked whether the president had been involved in asking that there be a change in the platform, whether it was president clinton or president obama. i misread the ap. i thought they said president clinton. it was president obama. my apologies to ap getting that

wrong. part of the confusion having a conversation with bill clinton's former chief of staff at the white house who said they did have conversations. but the conversations we know were not about this. the associated press they're reporting that it was president obama, not president clinton who asked officials here at the convention to go ahead and make this change at the platform that caused drama earlier. having said that, everyone is confirming that yes, bill clinton, barack obama, bill clinton has been having a lot of discussion about the president's speech, about how long it's going to be, about the timing. speaking about the timing, there is an intriguing development they're trying to essentially bait or goad the network for roll call which is cat nip for television when they do state roll call and declare the delegates of the united states. they decided to schedule that for 11:00 tonight. right when bill clinton is done,

right when the networks are supposed to go to the local news, the most intriguing part of this convention and most enjoyable to watch that's going to be at 11:00. everybody will stay with it. it will be a big question for us how will the networks dump out and go to the local newscast. >> cenk: thank you david. a point of clarification as well. scarlet johansson and natalie portman will be on tomorrow night, not tonight. very important news. they're in a lot of trouble. you know, back to the treasury conversation, i would like to double down on larry gesler. that would be a great choice. i know they won't go in this direction but neil barafsky. >> jennifer: that's interesting. >> cenk: that's my problem with president obama. i don't think when he comes to financial issues he's a true progressive. i think he'll pick an establishment guy. >> eliot: i don't think neil

would be the right choice. i love him. he was a spectacular voice. his book was remarkable. he did a great job but he's a lawyer not a numbers guy. >> cenk: fair enough, how will snyder mansnyderman. >> eliot: same thing. treasury is running money guys. not--when you put lawyers or ceos, it doesn't work. you don't want lawyers in position where is you need people. >> cenk: i want anyone willing to regulate the bank. >> jennifer: i want to throw another question out. do you think in this next go-around we will see more significant separation than we have under dodd frank between the banks and the investment houses? do you think that congress will need to take additional steps to essentially resurrect glass-steagall or some version that will separate it more directly? >> cenk: it would be a miracle. >> al gore: it would be a miracle for the same reason that

cenk was talking about a few minutes ago. they own the place. regardless of the outcome of this election, congress is still going to be controlled. however, there are some winds blowing in a different direction now. i think we mentioned last week eliot, you had that terrific interview with judge richard posner who was appointed by ronald reagan. he has gained the reputation as being one of the smartest on the conservative spectrum. he came out on eliot's "viewpoint" show saying, i was wrong about this. normally i'm in favor of deregulation. but when you have companies that affect everything in the economy economy, if they fail, then everything goes down. you can't leave that just to the survival of the fittest routine there. and he's not the only one who has reconsidered that basic

view. so it's not impossible that it would happen. >> cenk: let me ask one tiny note of optimism here. what i heard at this convention is very progressive. that's why i'm very encouraged by it. it's another wind blowing in the right direction. i don't know if it will stick after the election, i hope so. >> jennifer: i love to see your optimism. >> eliot: a voice in my ear is saying we must go to break. we'll be right back with barney frank. cover the convention. but only current puts you at the collision of tv and social media, providing unsurpassed insight into the most buzz worthy tweets, posts and pontifications, from the entire social stratosphere including you. join in, tweet us, and you could be a part of our on-air and online coverage. >>now that is politically direct. get irresistibly clean and fresh

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in uniform. >> cenk: he was the brave soul who told rumsfeld that we do not have enough troops to go in iraq. and later he retired. and then he was proven extremely right, which is the worst thing in the bush administration. of course he has to leave immediately. he's a hero. not a lot of generals spoke out. and there was a lot of criticism criticism. why didn't anything say anything? well general shinseki warned us. if you go to war or not you better have enough troops. we didn't, and he was right. >> al gore: they forced him into an early retirement. nay toughnative of hawai'i. a very fine man. >> jennifer: i'm interested in how they're constructing this evening. barney frank was jumped in some

way. we're not sure what happened there. maybe she'll bring him on later. but much to our disappointment, but shinseki, of course, focuses on veterans. this is the second night in a row that there has been some light shined on the veteran community. next up after this is a couple--one mayor nutter of philadelphia and then governor hickenlooper, former governor of colorado. and then sister simone campbell of network. a fascinating choice to come and speak in light of the nuns being rebels. >> al gore: nuns on a bus. >> jennifer: the nuns standing up to the vatican to the bishops, and the nuns really standing up to paul ryan, who put out a budget that they fully disagreed with because they didn't think that it embody the value of the gospel. >> cenk: so far tonight they're keeping their powder dry to be

honest. last night they overwhelmed us with all these amazing speakers. obviously bill clinton will speak tonight. the nuns on a bus are fun and then elizabeth warren is a firepower, but it has been a relatively quiet hour. >> john: having general shinseki here, one of the things that upset me is hearing governor bush talk about military morale is at an all-time low. when you look at military morale by the time he was done, i've known more and more troops in doing shows on the road at military bases as a comedian who really respect this president. even those who don't like drone bomb warfare this is the reality. i'm grateful any time light is shown on the work that this

president has done along with secretary panetta to bring this military into the 21st century. >> cenk: the six seals in the raid, and owen who published a book. he said in the book, we knew we might help president obama get re-elected, and apparently they're almost all republicans and they kidded around about that but we love this job and obviously we're honored to do this great great mission. i thought, why in the world are you guys republicans? i don't get it. rumsfeld had an opportunity to get bin laden american general nearby, 5,000 troops requested permission to go after him. rumsfeld said no. if you're in the military and you're after bin laden and one said go get him and the other side says don't. why are they republicans. is had rah-rah-we're going to go

through more countries what is it? >> al gore: i believe it went through a selection process that made it more likely that people with a conservative temperament would fill the larger percentage of jobs in the military. that's all fine. but one of the characteristics of that ideology is an emphasis on symbols representing the nation order so forth. we all support those things, of course. but i think there is a natural affinity there. but it's not healthy for the country. you know, i volunteered for the army back when i graduated from college in 1969, and went in as a private. it was one of the most broadening experiences in the sense of learning to become friends with people from every

part of the country all walks of life. >> jennifer: where were you? >> cenk: vietnam. >> al gore: i think that really used to help knit our country together a great deal. i actually have come to the point where i think we oughting to back to a system of universal service, maybe have options maybe do it the way they do it in israel. i think it would be good for the cohesion of the country. i know that's controversial. >> eliot: can i jump in? i've had that view for several years. a year of national service would help define citizenship. for those who can't serve in the military, teach on a grander scale. i think year would bring us together redefine what citizenship is all about. >> cenk: i've been saying for five or ten years. three options. ignore the military, you can go

to the peace corp but you have to do a year of service when high school is over. that's exactly the reason that you pointed out. it brings us together. kids from brooklyn can hang out with a kid from kansas. they can teach together or go to a country and help folks together. or they can serve our country in the military. it's tremendously helpful. >> jennifer: that's why as a nation we should be fully funding americ-corp. they have hundreds on a waiting list. both of my daughters have been in americ-corp. my city year watch. my daughter is in one of the toughest schools in detroit tutoring kids. she's totally committed to urban

solutions and working with kids all over the country. my first did the same thing in new orleans. it's such a phenomenal opportunity at such little cost. government involvement but it's necessary service. >> cenk: you know, the military is as big a government as it gets. it's ironically hypocritical, we hate government, and then invading a country and using the biggest part of the government that we possibly can. if you're going to bring people together for the military. >> eliot: can we go to the other end of the spectrum that nick kristof has written about suicide among our veterans. more soldiers are dying by suicide than combat. and the response from the military is not as prompt as we would wish. put that aside. it's an issue that we need to deal with. psychological issue of combat seems to be much more severe

than historically. >> john: and the president's call for increased mental health for our veterans which i hope we hear spoken about tonight. it's great to see the democratic convention stressing our veterans. the american military really are the leaders right now in terms of fighting for affirmative action, and fuel efficiency. they are unsung heroes in both of those battles. >> al gore: tammy duckworth has spoken about mental health challenges for veterans in her speech last night. what are the statistics? suicide rate is now higher one of the fields of battle, if i'm not mistaken. >> cenk: more people die--more people die in the suicide than they do in battle. >> al gore: we owe our veterans more than that. >> jennifer: you do. you'rewe do.we're going to break. the nelson company said 26.2 million people watched the

opening night of the democratic national convention. that contrasts with 22 million that watched the opening night of the republican convention. so democrats numbers are up. they have to see a night, last night was a good night to see. >> john: it only matters if they go to vote. we'll be covering more of the democratic national convention and seeing president clinton sandra fluke and elizabeth warren. do not leave. this is current tv coverage. magic underwear the same way as his tax returns, then he's been going commando for the past 10 years. >>since when do you get to say stuff like that on tv? >> listen, if you'd read your email once in a while, you'd know i have a new show. (vo) always outspoken. >> sometimes i feel like i don't even know you. >> just stay on your side of the screen, ok?

>> john: this is current tv's coverage of the 2012 democratic national convention. coming to the stage you will see sister simone campbell, director of the roman catholic social justice organization network. they have been embroiled with the vatican and let's hear. >> i'm one of the nuns on the bus. [applause] yes, we have nuns on the bus. and a nun on the podium. [ cheers and applause ] let me explain why i'm here tonight. in june i joined other catholic

sisters on a 2700-mile bus journey through nine states to tell americans about the budget that congressman paul ryan wrote, and governor romney endorsed. paul ryan claims this budget reflects the principles of our shared faith. but the united states conference of catholic bishops stated that the ryan budget failed a basic moral test. because it would harm families living in poverty. we agree with our bishops, and that's why we went on the road to stand with struggling families, and to lift up our catholic sisters who serve them. their work to alleviate suffering would be seriously harmed by the romney-ryan budget and that is wrong.

[applause] during our journey i rediscovered a few truths. first, mitt romney and paul ryan are correct when they say each individual should be responsible responsible. but their budget goes astray in not acknowledging that we are responsible not only for ourselves and our immediate family, rather our faith strong strongly affirms that we are all responsible for one another. [applause] i am my sister's keeper. i am my brother's keeper. [applause] while we were in toledo i met ten-year-old twins matt and mark, who had gotten in trouble in school for fighting. sister virginia and the staff took them in when they were suspended, and discovered on a

home visit that these ten-year-olds were trying to care for their bed-ridden mother who has ms and diabetes. they were her only caregivers. the sisters got her medical help and giving the boys stability. now the boys are free to claim much of their childhood that they were losing. clearly we all share responsibility for the matt's and mark's in our nation. in milwaukee i met billy and his wife and two boys at st. st. benedicts room. billy's work hour was cut back and billy is taking responsibility for himself and his family. but right now without food stamps he and his wife could not put food on their family table. we share responsibility for creating an economy where parents with jobs earn enough to

care for their families. in order to cut taxes for the wealthy the romney-ryan budget would make it even tougher or hard-working americans like billy to feed their families. paul ryan says this budget is in keeping with the moral values of our shared faith. i disagree. [applause] in cincinnati i met jenny who had just come from her sister's memorial service. when jenny's sister margaret lost her job she lost her health insurance. she developed cancer and had no access to treatment. she died unnecessarily and that is tragic, and it is wrong. the affordable care act will cover people like margaret. we all share a responsibility to insure that this vital

healthcare reform law is properly implemented and that all governors expand medicaid coverage so no more margarets die from lack of care. [applause] >> john: sister simone campbell from nuns on the bus who has become an inspiration to catholics and non-catholics alike. speaking what i think is the predominant religious controversy in our country today. how to put in action. the vatican has a scathing critique on the american nuns for not focusing on birth control and same-sex marriage. two things jesus never got around to talking about. the nuns stress, i am my brother's keeper, social justice and taking care of the poor. this controversial began in 2009 when the vatican began to forbid american nuns from performing reiking healing. and so what she has done is a

great example of grassroots spiritual. going on the road melding the medical with the personal. you don't hear a lot of critiques against sister simone from the evangelical right which i find is very positive. >> jennifer: what is so interesting to me about sister simone, the nuns on the bus and the whole leadership conference of the of all the nuns across the country they've been rebuked by the vatican for what you've described, not taking more seriously the church's position on social issues like abortion, etc. and the nuns, the leadership of the women's religious decided they wanted to respond with love. they're not quite sure how to respond. but in the meantime the vatican appointed a bishop to oversee them, which is not a good thing to do for nuns. >> john: as a son of a former nun it has been encouraging to

watch this, because it really is a power struggle. it's about doctrineal loyalty. for the vatican saying we need all the p.r. we can get. the americans like the nuns on the bus, and it seems that they've backed down a bit. >> cenk: it's another issue that is frustrating with me because of the republicans with their propaganda saying that jesus only cared about abortion when he never talked about abortion. or gay rights, and he has never mentioned gay rights. we got to take a quick break here. welcome back, of course, we've been looking forward to elizabeth warren and bill clinton coming up in a little bit. (vo) this politically direct special event is brought to you by communications workers of america. bringing jobs home now.

>> cenk: we're back on current coverage of democratic national convention here with vice president al gore governor jennifer granholm governor eliot spitzer and john fugelsang i'm cenk uygur. before we went to the break we were talking about the power of

marketing, propaganda, however you want to frame it for the republicans, how they're good of manipulating the issue of defense and how they're more pro defense when that's not necessarily the case and other social issues. i read something interesting today. when reagan came into office in 1980 they said unemployment was 7.5%. malaise. look what carter did to us. malaise. we're in trouble. when reagan was running for office in 1984, morning america saw everything going better. no. the exact same number. yet the republicans turn around and say look at what reagan did in four years and obama could not due it. do it. when obama came in we were

losing 750,000 jobs a month. now he has improved it. how do they do it, vice president gore, how do they win on issues they have no business winning on when they don't have the facts on their side. >> al gore: they work out a plan and then work the plan. it is astonishing. you have a choice between the philosophy of sister philosophy and the philosophy of ann rand. if you ask americans which identifyprinciples they identify with, it would be sister simone. but after seeing all the television ads the propaganda and the lobbyists do their work on capitol hill, too often we have the philosophyies of ann rand. this all began early for the republican party in the 1970s. when louis powell was a lawyer in richmond before he was

appointed--he represented the tobacco industry, and in spite of that he was respected. he was tasked by the chamber of commerce for coming up with a plan. the establishment figures corporate powers were very upset the beginning of the gay rights movement also, perhaps most significantly, the civil rights movement then ralph nader's consumer movement. and there were riots and demonstrations on campuses and there was a general fear that things were just kind of getting out of hand. and so there was an organized effort to compile as much money as they could with an organized game plan. that's really when it started. a group of foundations put up the money and they established the heritage foundation, the cato institute and all of the think tanks and law schools and

grassroots or astroturf organizations. they have worked that plan, concentrating on the judiciary concentrating on state legislatures concentrating on the congress. and of course, when president reagan took office, that was a high water mark for them and then when newt gingrich took over the congress, they gained more ground. and now with the changes in the campaign finance laws, it is katie bar the door because this plan is already fully mature. they have media outlets like fox news and the talk radio outlets and it's quite a phalanx that they have and it is all fueled by huge advantage and money. >> cenk: i think a huge percentage of americans have no idea about what you just mentioned. i love that you told that story. lewis powell wrote a memo to nixon saying listen. >> it was to the chamber of commerce. >> cenk: i'm sorry. it got to nixon eventually. he said that's a great memo. why don't i appoint this guy to the supreme court.

>> al: he was generally considered to be a responsible supreme court justice. but on -- he's admired in the history of jurisdiction but on all of the issues related to corporate personhood, rights of corporations to stoprrenttv

tic national convention. putting you at the intersection of tv and social media. and right now, you can check in with getglue.com or the getglue mobile app to earn an exclusive sticker. only on current tv. >> cenk: we're back on current's coverage of the democratic national convention and it's been a little quiet on the floor but nonetheless

there's buzz in the social media for two really interesting reasons. we're going to bring in jacki schechner from los angeles here to tell us about some of that. >> it looks like the action is happening outside cenk mostly because people can't get in. the time-warner cable forum is at capacity. people are waiting outside. they're putting photos online so we can see what's going on. maybe to let people know they need help getting in. >> i think this is a great example of how twitter can help pass this information. you can see it. you can talk to each other. you might be able to hear what's going on inside. >> we can see the photos. >> this is jordan fabian. he says there is a -- >> we don't know if it is julian or with a keen -- joaquin. i remember in december in 2008, inside the hall, it was at capacity. people were filling in around the outside perimeter. the other story to talk about a little bit is that the rnc yesterday bought the hash tag on

twitter are you better off today. americans for prosperity has bought one that is 16 trillion. both of those have been a complete failure. the more hash tags they try to buy on twitter, the more they get taken over by progressives online. >> one for the elected saying 36% more tweets mentioned bush than obama. >> the party of alleged fiscal responsibility and the party that says it knows how to spend money more wisely is throwing its money away on twitter. >> don't put sale in your sponsor hash tag. [ laughter ] >> don't think that will ever be a good bang for your buck. >> won't be at the convention today. she says she does stand behind the president. she's not actively promoting him the way she did four years ago. we're going to get christina. >> the latina oprah. >> she's great. she will be on later. >> she has a lot of followers online. cenk, back to you.

>> cenk: thank you guys. appreciate it. good facts in there. two things that are related to that are now we're getting reports apparently george stephanopoulos is saying that president obama will be in the crowd watching president clinton. that ought to be really -- >> jennifer: i love that. it is a great gesture i think. of respect. >> cenk: all right. we have our own reporter on that. let's go to david shuster at the convention right now. what do you have for us on that? >> one of the dnc officials is indicating that president obama will be in the arena tonight to either watch president clinton speak or to possibly join him on stage at the end. that wasn't clear. i can tell you and i know that michael shure is going to have more on this. security is exceptionally tight in the arena and it has been that way for the last 45 minutes. so at least if you're trying to read the tea leaves and you want to read the tea leaves further there was a romney supporter somehow got a credential and was

identified by the secret service and taken out of the convention. they're being particularly tight trying to make sure that things run smoothly from a security vantage point. it seems like that report could be credible but i don't know if this person from the dnc is hearing it from george stephanopoulos or other sources but there is the buzz here that president obama will be here either on stage or at least in a v.i.p. box to watch president clinton. >> cenk: all right, thank you david. we appreciate it. as shayna mentioned christina is now on the stage. let's see who she has to say. >> some tough questions i have tackled big issues on life tv. one thing i have never done until now was get involved in politics. but this year is very different! if 2008 was an important election nothing compared to 2012. nothing. thank you. [ applause ]

i know what it's like to come to this country at a young age. i was 12 years old when like so many cubans, my parents fled the castro regime. america meant freedom. america was the place that said it don't matter where you come from. it doesn't matter what your last name is. it doesn't matter if you drink coffee with milk. here, if you work very hard, anything is possible. and that's what i did. even though i could not afford to finish college i got an internship job in a magazine. i turned that into a job and

that job into a business and a television show that ended up with 100 million viewers in 40 different countries. [ cheers & applause ] for me. muchos gracias for me. [ speaking spanish ] it isn't just an idea. it is my life story. >> she is the oprah of tell mundo -- of telemundo.

being more of a tabloidy daytime show to issues. she's deeply respected. i've never heard her speak in english before. this is huge. this kind of endorsement from a celebrity like this is -- you can't overstate its significance >> cenk: from 2008. they had very, very successfully in 2008. obviously trying to reach out to latinos and women. doesn't get any better than this. because obviously a lot of latino women watch her and respect her. >> john: indeed. since oprah is not showing up, it is great to have her here tonight. >> jennifer: a lot of the twitter stream you can see on your screen right now is referring to her. especially her references to the dream act and how important it is that that actually become law. >> cenk: you have to remember at the same time, let me do some bahumbug here. >> jennifer: you can't help yourself, can you? >> cenk: i have to get perspective here. we're doing a bus tour from

arizona to north carolina. ten of them were arrested today. they declared themselves undocumented. they said they want to come out and they went in and stopped traffic for a little while and the cops wound up arresting them. and they're trying to bring light to the fact that president obama's broken the record on deportations. he did push for the dream act. the republicans definitely defeated it. no question about that. he's taken brave action on his own. having said that, he didn't have to break the record on deportation and he did. >> john: having said that, i had the opportunity to interview senator ron johnson and he was talking about how this president has shown no leadership on illegal immigration. i brought up to him, excuse me, this president has a record number of deportations, sent national guard troops to the border, he's fought for the dream act which governor romney won't even give an opinion on. >> al: immigration is zero from mexico. >> john: senator johnson said back to me, well that's because the economy is so bad.

which i take to mean so bush gets credit. >> eliot: he was trying to thread the needle. i have to get votes for the dream act. the plan was stymied by the republicans. >> cenk: we've got everybody buzzing about the crowd. now that some have been shut out. michael, what's going on there? >> it is interesting cenk. what's happening at the doors right now they've held people outside. thousands of people who can't get into the hall right now. they're letting them in, 500 at a time. i was able to reach the fire marshal for the city of charlotte. he was explaining to me that what they're doing is it is almost a dress rehearsal for tomorrow. the building is overcredentialed. there will be 60,000 more people trying to get into the building tomorrow with press and people, just credentials for tomorrow and fans. all of this is a dress rehearsal. it is packed tonight. they have bill clinton. it is tighter with the news that

president obama will be here as well. >> al: i wonder, michael if the -- it is correct that president obama is going to come into the convention hall and sit in the seats for former president clinton's speech, i don't know that that's correct. but if it's correct, i know from experience that right away, that puts the security perimeter for the doors to the hall up to a higher level. i don't know if it's in any way related to the way they're controlling the doors in a different way. but it would be interesting to find that out. >> well, yes, vice president gore, when i spoke to the fire marshal, he wasn't telling me about president obama being here but he said they're doing extra security and a dress rehearsal for tomorrow because he said his men and women have no idea what to expect tomorrow with the change of venue. >> cenk: michael thanks for reporting on that. you know, it goes with the theme

we were talking about yesterday. which i thought they did so effectively of having everybody in the crowd. which the republicans did not do. you want to see the politicians mingling with the delegates. in a shot we saw a little while ago on the screen there. if you were paying close attention which i know michael was, we saw a shot of the white house. no big deal. the senator is sitting next to the delegates and the convention-goers et cetera. if president obama was -- >> jennifer: in one of the shots. >> cenk: the republicans didn't do it as far as we saw. >> john: we saw dukakis earlier. >> jennifer: we have an extra problem because they've moved tomorrow night inside. you've got 65,000 people who had gotten credentials presumably people who have gotten credentials and want to get in. they're going to have huge, huge problems in trying to orchestrate how to keep people out graciously, i think. >> john: they're bringing in jan brewer to check everyone's

papers. [ laughter ] >> eliot: everybody is showing up to her jennifer. >> jennifer: if she doesn't get bumped by barney frank. >> cenk: dress rehearsal for governor granholm. castro is around the block waiting for that. >> al: we have not heard the last of the fallout from switching back into the hall from the huge stadium that was planned as the venue for tomorrow night. of course, the last campaign broke with modern precedent. it had been done in the past to go to a different venue for the acceptance speech. and they were trying to replicate that this year. and there are differing stories about why they had to switch. i don't think there was any problem filling the seats as rnc is trying to say. and of course, the editorial director of "the charlotte observer" who knows the city like the back of his hand said that's just not the case at all. but for whatever reason, they

have created a situation down there where there are a lot of people that are really kind of unhappy. they'll get over that because it is just -- >> john: 30% chance of rain. >> jennifer: 40%. >> john: saying no to the bank of america stadium. it is the first time a president has said no to bank of america. >> al: unfortunately true. >> cenk: president bill clinton is coming up in a little bit. when we come back, i want to preview the speech a little bit. he himself he spoke to an arkansas delegation and said something really great i hope he touches on in the speech again. we'll tell you about that when we return.

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>> jennifer: welcome back to current tv as we cover the democratic national convention. we just began -- the convention has just begun a segment on industry and in fact, we are -- we've heard from business owner the guy who was the head of carmax, austin lygon. then we just saw a video called built to last about the auto

industry where they showed that great headline or not so great headline from "the new york times" where mitt romney wrote let detroit go bankrupt. in this series, we're going to also hear from bob king who is the president of the uaw. and we'll also be hearing from throw employees from bain capital or at least from companies that were controlled by bain capital who ended up losing their jobs. so it should be an interesting segment. we don't know how much we'll be able to get before we take the next break but i think this particular segment is really what this campaign at least the offense that the obama people playing on mitt romney is all about. it is all about the middle class. it is all about jobs and it is all about his role at bain. >> eliot: i wish they had played clint eastwood's ad. i gotta tell you i'm so amazed that the response to bain from our side should have been we're better at it than he is. when we invest, we build. we bring back jobs and we do it

here. because i think the argument -- he wasn't such a great manager because you know, what he did was move the jobs out. we built them here. we're better than he is at his own game type of argument. >> jennifer: it is certainly an argument that i think you will find revisited throughout the next six weeks. frankly, i'm glad they've got the employees to show the real human face of the decision to do the kind of business practice. >> al: we'll be hearing from other business leaders including a man we were discussing last week jim senegal because the romneys had tried to make this p.r. point about going to costco to buy some shirts. and i mentioned at the time, jim senegal, the former ceo the cofounder of costco, the terrific guy that unionized their business. they don't pay their executives these astronomical sums. they really take care of their employees and their customers. it is one of the best-managed

businesses and i'm certain that you're probably going to hear jim talk about the importance to business of having good policies on education and healthcare and social security and i'm interested in how he puts it. >> jennifer: i think what you're going to hear, what they're listening to right now is a decision that the auto industry made to expand their work force here in the united states. in fact, ford is an example. brought work back from mexico. general motors invested in -- actually keeping open a plant in hamtramck that would end up making the volt and the electric vehicle batteries. the battery technology that this administration invested in ended up causing large number of people to get jobs and have those jobs here. we're going to hear from bob king as president of the uaw. bob king is one of the most powerful speakers about the importance of management and

labor working together to make a good business case for jobs to be located here rather than somewhere else. he would say this is not your father's uaw. we know that we're in a globally competitive industry. we know that we will not kill the golden goose. that we have to work with business in order to be competitive in america. or these corporations will take their marbles and will go elsewhere where it is cheaper. >> cenk: in the context of business and the context of bain sometimes, they talk about how important it is to do investment. what a great genius mitt romney was for all of the investments that he made in statements and all of the other things. if it worked in that context why not in the government context. why not invest in the american people? i know it sounds like a cliche but it's not. it is a reality. i was reading an article today about how the government helped to build the golden gate bridge. imagine the lack of commerce we would have had if there was no bridge! >> al: 25 years ago this year. >> john: we can talk to

governor christie about that in new jersey because he just put the ca bash on a ton -- kibosh on a tunnel that would have helped downtown manhattan and new jersey. >> cenk: i don't know if you know this amazing fact. fox news put $90 million a year for five years -- they did that for -- lost $450 million before they made money. it is called an investment. they made billions eventually. it is true for the american people as well. >> jennifer: can we dip into bob king just for a moment? >> she said the right way is not always the popular and the easy way. >> standing for right when it was not popular. margaret smith was a republican but a very different kind than those republicans trying to

overtake our country now. in some of america's darkest days, in the face of tremendous political venom president obama met the test of moral character. he stood up for what -- not for what was popular and easy but for what was right. he stood for and with american workers. not just autoworkers. but a million workers in towns all across america. who, if the industry went under would not be able to put food on the table.

we all remember what those days were like when president obama took office. workers waiting anxiously as their companies announced layoffs. banks refusing to loan. car sales were collapsing. it wasn't just auto companies that were struggling to survive. so were those companies making parts and selling cars. small businesses that relied on autoworkers as customers like barbershops had to close down. unfortunately, most republicans advocated doing nothing. and what did mitt romney say? you all know this. he said let detroit go bankrupt! >> jennifer: famous line that mitt romney will never live down and it is one of the reasons why

he's going to lose michigan and he's going to lose ohio! because of that! that in particular. bob king, i have to tell you just quickly he is a -- zealot for quality. he is somebody who's proud that his workers if see they see a problem on the line, will be the first to say we've got to stop it because we want to be known for quality products. >> al: and as a result, the quality of american cars has skyrocketed. >> jennifer: that's exactly right. we're going to go to another break right now. we will be back because on the back side of the break we think we will be able to present to you a couple of employees who had worked for bain.

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