i wish his faly and all his friends my warmest on their lost of this leader and pretty good singer who meant so much to us all. i loved it when ed koch called him, huey carey, the greatest modern governor of all times. here, here. more topolitics ahead with sharp torn. >> the markets tank again. thanks again, tea party. another big sell off. it is what happens when we do what the republicans want on the economy in the president says there's a way out of this mess. we'll hear from former top white house adviser. plus, can democrats role back the anti-union tide on the eve of the big vote in wisconsin? we'll hear from ed schultz live in madison. and breaking political news, reports are in, saying rick perry will run for president.

another texas governor going for the white house. uh-oh, here we go again. welcome to the show, i'm al sharpton. tonight's lead. tea party fallout. three days after the u.s. losses aaa rating because of banksman ship, the dow closes down more than 630 points. it is now more than a thousand points since the debt deal was signed into law. but don't worry, the republican motto seems to be political brinkmanships got us into this mess, so let's keep on using it. why change now? just one week ago, speaker boehner said, this is about the debt deal. >> when you look at the final agreement we came to with the white house, i got 98% of what i wanted. i'm pretty happy. >> 98% of what he wanted. that's what he said about the

debt deal. but now that country's been downgraded, mr. 98%, isn't taking ownership any more. boehner now says, it is my hope this wake-up call will convince washington democrats that they can no longer afford to tinker around the edges of our long-term debt problem. tinker around the edges, speaker boehner? tell your tea party pals that we can't afford to deal with their tinkering. because even after the downgrade, they have shown they're unwilling to compromise. >> they have to look at themselves and they have to understand that they're the ones that are totally to blame. it has nothing to do with increasing revenues by tax hikes and has everything to do with cutting spending. >> congressman wes curly didn't read the s&p memo downgrade in the country. otherwise he would realize that revenues were a part of the downgrade decision. s&p writes the majority of

republicans in congress continue to resist any measure that would raise revenue. join me now is democratic strategist bob shrum, now professor at new york university. also with me is national political reporter for the washington post, dana milbank. bob, are people fining finally coming together to deal with the economy? >> i think that is very difficult. i think there is tremendous resistance with the republicans, as you just said, even tax reform from raising rates that would raise a lot of additional revenue. the president doesn't have a lot he can do on list own at this point. the federal reserve may be able to do something. but i think the president has to lead. if i were him, i would consider calling offer my vacation in august. calling congress back in. saying it's time to put country first. and going out there with a program, a, to sustain the

recovery and b to cut the debt over the medium and long-term. >> if we could, bob, we are assuming that some of these people in their discussion want to put country first pf some of them have said in no uncertain term is that priority is the defeat of president obama. it seems that they don't care if they break the economy. in fact some of them feel downgrading the aaa status may work for them politically. are we dealing with the same interest here when we say that? >> no. and reverend, i think you're absolutely right. this is conscious political strategy on the part of some republicans. it is also the madness of the departy. they actually believe this. that's why they have 18% of approval in the country. what truman did was call these people into a special session of the congress, say, here's what we have to do. then the whole country could see who was responsible for this do-nothing congress of that time. what we have now is not a

do-nothing congress, it is a do the wrong thing congress. i would like to see the president call their bluff. >> dana, i was in washington for the weekend so i read your column yesterday. but let me ask you this. david axlerod was on television and this is what he said about the downgrade. >> the fact of the matter is, that this is essentially a tea party downgrade. >> i believe this is without question, the tea party downgrade. >> this is the tea party downgrade because a minority of people in the house of representatives, countered even the will of many republicans in the united states senate. >> tea party downgrade. you're an objective reporter. i'm not. what do you say? is that an overstatement or can you find the rational there? >> look, reverend, al. if anyone had any doubt on friday night when standard an poor's came out with this report saying washington is fundamentally broken, we proved

them right in the last 48 hours or so. both sides, instead of saying what with we do here, are looking thousand pin it on the other side. if you go through some reasoning of the s&p statement, the fact of the matter is, the principal was washington is not getting together to do big things about the debt. you had john boehner walk away from the grand bargain that would do something about the debt. now turns around and said well president obama needs to do something about the debt. >> well, while we're talking about this, dana, about their blaming each other, they are also blaming s&p. look at what happened with the conversation with goulsby. >> they made a $2 trillion math error and forgot to check their work. so the agencies that didn't reaffirm the 2 trillion error -- >> they have shown a stunning lack of knowledge about basic

u.s. fiscal budget mess. >> s&p would have forfeited its good reputation if it add good reputation to forfeit these days. >> a glimmer after coalition coming together. you have geithner and will agreeing that s&p is questionable at best. what do you think? some people are even suggesting that there is some politics in how the s&p came with this downgrade. >> one thing i think for sure is their name is only half right. they don't have very high standards and their performance is poor. look, they made $2 trillion error which is the exact amount they say the deficit deal or debt reduction deal fell short. when the government pointed that out to them, they said, oh, no, we have a rational. they had a conclusion before an argument and they had an argument to is you sustain the conclusion they wanted to make. these are the exact same people who gave aaa rating to junk

bonds and helped contribute to the whole crash under 2008. they have a gig impact. government is writing new regulations for the these rating agencies and i hope they're ear tough and demand transparency because we ought to know what goes into these decisiones. >> dana, does this put more pressure on super committee, this commission that came out of debt ceiling deal to get something done? i mean, is somebody going to break this stalemate and this plunge in the american economy? >> this super committee is absolutely set up to fail in deadlock. it puts more pressure on it but i don't think makes it more likely. the administration may have a good case in taking on s&p. the market said otherwise today. but i think the more important battle for them, forget about s&p, what bob said at the beginning, coming up the at white house press briefing, why doesn't president call congress back into town and do something about this now. i think that president has been

waiting an awful long time to take the initiative here. this is great time to do it. >> so you say bob, the president should call the congress back in and make them come back to washington and do what? what would you like to see him make them do? >> well he can't make them do anything. but i would put an infrastructure bank on the table. extended unemployment compensation. payroll holiday tax on one side and the barring on on the other side in terms of medium and long-term tax reduction. the country would see leadership from the country. p t is tough for the president and congress to go on vacation when millions of americans are on in forced a verications. they are unemployment. they don't have any work to go to. they are losing the val you of a retirement accounts, savings. i think the president needs to act here. >> dana, why shouldn't congress and senate and everyone go on vacation? it seems that sanity and patriotism and caring about

people that don't have work and people that are 99ers, they've been on vacation a while. i don't know what we're looking at here. we're looking at the country, whether we have questions or not, and i'll get to that about s&p or not, it is fruitless to question it. we had a 630% drop today on the impact. it is impacting us. do these people get it? 634.76 points to be exact. we are dealing with, since the debt ceiling was signed, 1057 points and these people are rung around trying to play the blame game rather than understanding they are sinking the economy of this country? >> well, the approval of congress right now is looking to be about 14%. that raises the question of what are these other 14% doing other than finding out what's going on

in the news here. the object of this are terrible. first they left town leaving the faa situation unresolved. now five weeks, they can say they are working in the districts. it is vacation while the rest of the country is suffering greatly. i think the president has an opportunity to turn this around here. >> maybe we should get our cameras and follow them where they are on vacation as they go through the sail boats and yachts and laying on the beach. >> sun tan lotion. >> maybe reverend al should show up with cameras and though the country their patriotic concern. thank you for your time this evening. coming up, texas governor rick perry's major announcement is coming. what is mitt romney thinking now? and six months ago, the people of wisconsin vowed to fight back against the union busting governor. now we're just one day away from the wisconsin recall election.

ed schultz will be joining us live in madison. stay with us. going to have the heart attack. i thought i was invincible. i'm on an aspirin regimen now because i never want to feel that helplessness again. [ male announcer ] be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. talk to your doctor, and take care of what you have to take care of. it's schwab at your fingertips wherever, whenever you want. one log in lets you monitor all of your balances and transfer between accounts, so your money can move as fast as you do. check out your portfolio, track the market with live updates. and execute trades anywhere and anytime the inspiration hits you. even deposit checks right from your phone. just take a picture, hit deposit and you're done. open an account today and put schwab mobile to work for you. yes! ha ha! [ clicking ] ♪ what happened? power went out, want a hot dog? [ female announcer ] oscar mayer selects are made with 100% beef

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we know the problem but can we turn it around? what can the president do with the tea party to turn it around? . honey bunny. [ babbles ] [ laughs ] we would do anything for her. my name is kim bryant and my husband and i made a will on legalzoom. it was really easy to do. [ spits ] [ both laugh ] [ shapiro ] we created legal zoom to help you take care of the ones you love. go to legalzoom.com today and complete your will in minutes. at legalzoom.com we put the law on your side.

the market closing at the lows of the afternoon. fears about the economy in europe and the united states. as well as s&p's downgrade of the country's credit rating sparking another massive sell-off on wall street. >> as we've been discussing,

it's been another massive sell-off on wall street. while the tea party played a major roll in getting us here, it is up to president obama it fix it. he came up today still sounding confident about america's future. >> this is the united states of america. no matter what some agency may say, we've always been and always will be a aaa country. >> the big question, what can the president do to prevent a double-dip recession and get america back on track? with me now, man who served in the obama white house, jared bernstein, former chief economist to vice president biden. also joining me is christina friedman. before we go anywhere else, let's talk about standard and poor's.

i've had questions, you know, this whole thing, they were going to downgrade early friday. then when they sent the release, we understand the treasury and the treasury said, wait a minute, you didn't factor in 2 trillion. they said okay and in a couple hours they went ahead with the same report. that just doesn't smell right to me. then they made flubbes about things in the past where they've been dead wrong about some things. let's talk about how they've been dead wrong, about mortgage backed securities. it overrated lehman brothers which had an a rating just before going out of business in 2006. it came iceland the same rating that u.s. now has and iceland almost went bankrupt. what credit worthiness do we have from an agency like this? i mean, are they worthy, as george will says of us giving them credit? i've never quoted george will in

my life as i promise. >> it was very generous of you to call the ratings of lehman brothers flubs. in one interpretation, can you blame the rating agencies. not just s&p been rudy's and fitch as well, forebeari forebearing a lot of the blame for the crisis. the rating agencies right now, s&p in particular, are feeling that they missed it in 2008. they were too generous. they were too easily swayed by these companies, which said, no, no, no, don't downgrade us. i think that enclined them psychologically to say, you know what, this time we will take a hard line. >> jared, she's saying that maybe they were influenced because they made mistakes and they are now taking a harder line. others are saying that they were

being political then and they are being political now. i don't know. just because i'm paranoid doesn't mean no one's not following me. so i mean, what are we looking at here? i mean, look at this, jared. you have some countries that have healthcare for all their citizens. yet they are giving aaa rating when they are talking about the -- when we look at entitlements here, they're saying that well, with the healthcare entitlements, there's a problem here. you have countries with entire healthcare for the citizens, aaa. what are we looking at? is this political or is this kind of, let's get harder because we made mistakes in the past? >> you don't have just some countries. you have every other advanced economy that provides universal healthcare essentially for all of their citizens and does so spending about half as much relative to the size of their economy as we do with as good, if not better, outcomes. look, reverend, this is a mess.

it's been a mess for weeks. you know it, i know it, and the president knowes it too. and all of these economic indicators and the debacle with the debt ceiling and now the huge sell off on the markets are a massive wake-up call to start talking about, and doing something about, what people actually care about in this country which is their jobs, incomes, paychecks, living standards. and you know, i heard the earlier discussion. you know, there is a question as to who's going to listen to that wake-up call. but i can't control the minds of the tea partiers. i can't control the minds of the politicians they control. but i'll tell you who can control the national debate, and that's president obama. and he needs to, and i believe he will, and reverend you and i talked about this before. this president will find his footing on this issue. and he will get out into this country and he needs to start talking about a jobs program. and it needs to be simple and it needs to be clear. i've got some ideas i'm happy to share. but that's where this needs to

head right now. >> i actually have two questions to are jared, if i may, reverend. here are my two questions. the first is, is it too late. i mean, isn't there a danger right now, that is -- >> too late. >> too late for a president to come up with a jobs agenda having tied his hands in the deal last week. does the government have any bullets left? >> the problem is, as you answer that jared, is do we have a concrete job? at the end of the day, people are unemployed. people are looking for work spp some are chronically unemployed. what does all of this mean to the guy on main street to the guy that says, i don't understand and don't want to understand all this other stuff, can i get a job, and what's going to happen to my unemployment insurance? what's going to happen to me and my family? >> so i have a two-part answer for both of these excellent questions. first of all, christia, there

are bullets still there if you're willing to take them up. now it's go to be a real political lift to get anything out of this congress and you may not get anything. reverend, what you have to do is tell that person, i have a plan it help you get back to work. to extend your unemployment insurance, to extend your holiday if you are unem plid and an infrastructure program that can make a difference to you. and the folks there are blocking you. they are blocking you. that's what president needs to do. it's not partisan bickering, it is telling people clearly who is blocking their economic agenda. on infrastructure, i like an idea called fast. fix american schools today. much more intuitive than a bank which that is hard for folks to understand. we have tens of thousands of public schools across the nation with big repair backlogs. this is a highly visible program in your community.

it is labor-intensive. it is not just about machines on the highway. it is a lot of folks getting back it work. folks with very high unemployment rates. i if i think if the president could get out there with this concept called fast would help. >> that is is doing school repairs. >> repairs, insulation, green up, retro fit. this combines things and it is visible in your community. you sthie when you drop your kids off at school. >> see, that's what we've got to have is some real concrete. i get in arguments on this show all the time because we don't come in and tell me, what is the plan. even if i don't agree with the plan, have ra plan. just dumping on the president is not a plan. i think that the problem is that only plan is to dump on the president. fast, i don't know if agree with it.

but at least it is a program. thank you jared bernstein. >> thank you. >> christia, thank you. rick perry reportedly will run for president. he may be the automatic new front-runner. plus, michele bachmann retreats from a pro union bill she once sponsored. even her excuse is hilarious. speaking of union, we are just one day away from wisconsin recall election. can governor walkin union busting be stopped? we will hear live from madison. stay with us. [ male announcer ] this...is the network --

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michele bachmann was for collective bargaining, before she was against it. that's our con job of today. michele bachmann has thrown her support behind wisconsin governor scott walker's effort to gut public employee rights. here she is back in february. >> i'm urging the governor walker and the legislators to hang tough because i believe that the people are with the governor and the legislature. >> but the political reports buck bachmann's own record on union says inconsistent. as a freshman representative in 2007, bachmann co-sponsored and voted for a bill to give firefighters and police officers

collective bargaining rights. bachmann since said she would vote against the bill. her spokesman -- for firefighters and first responders. is it okay that bachmann reversed cause because she didn't know what what was in her own legislation. the bill wasn't a secret. the bill summary states, quote, it provides collective bargaining rights for public safety officers employed by states and local governments. so bachmann either made a complete 180 or she didn't pay attention to what she signed on to. she wanted a president. michele bachmann's flip-flop on collective bargaining is our con job of the day. bachmann's stance on collective bargaining might be a mystery but we know exactly

where these people in wisconsin stand. a day away from the recall election. could governor walker be next? ed schultz is live in madison. next. [ male announcer ] heard this one? listen to this. three out of four americans don't get enough vegetables. so here's five bucks to help you buy v8 juice. five bucks. that's a lot of green. go to v8juice.com for coupons. you can count on us.

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six months ago scott walker's union bashing bill became law. their collective bargaining rights, the people of wisconsin vowed to fight back. we remember these pictures showing wisconsinites of all ages, races and genders coming together. they protested at the state capitol and showed the world how to fight for what's right. but tomorrow, marks the first step to recalling governor walker, though his name does not appear on the ballot, the recall elections are referring his attack on unions.

six republican state senators will face off with democrats in an unprecedented recall election. all six republicans supported the walker bill. democrats need to net three senate seats it take over the majority in the state senate. if they regain control, governor walker could be next. so what is the feeling in wisconsin? how might this all play out? joining me now from madison, wisconsin is ed schultz, most of the ed show here on msnbc. ed has been following this story closely and been there since day one. ed, thanks for being here with me. how does it look for the democrats? >> reverend sharpton, if you put this in perspective and go back to november of 2010 on the state races, of the legislative level, just under $4 million spent, on these six races tomorrow, over $31 million has poured into the state of wisconsin.

and it's outside money big time on both sides and it really is interesting to see how it's all unfolding. from the standpoint that democrats now feel that they have a more than legitimate shot at winning the three seats, and maybe a fourth seat. and roberto darling at one time who was considered to be no chance of losing, the pollingcl. but then again, what do you poll it against? this is the first time wisconsin has ever been in this situation before. they have never had an election in august but as you mentioned, it all started back in january. the community voters here, they have done all of the due diligence, done all of the social networking, done all of the protests and jumped through the hoops of having to go through fake elections and fake candidates and what not, and now tomorrow is the day. and talking to some of the people here they think it is going to be a big voter turnout, which of course, could bring it to be a toss-up. with all of the money poured in by the right wing groups, will

republican voters respond to that? i think it's going to be a heavy democratic turnout. it is the counter punch vote that i think will be the big key here. >> i think what you're saying is -- >> it is hot and muggy -- >> i think you are saying where it will be, this has never happened before, so this will really come down to turn out, which is why we see it goe from 4 million to over 30 million because everybody's got to use every resource they have to bring out their votes. >> that is the big part of it. i mean the efforts on both sides have been very strong. the tea party groups have been in here since friday on the last ditch 11th hour effort to get the vote out and ads running here are just as if it's a life or death kind of thing politically. i'm pretty confident, i think there is a big turnout for democrats. i think the progressive movement will do well. i think they will do the three seats and get the majority back but as wisconsin goes can you take nothing for granted. it is really america at its best

right now. we have seen a sea change in this country. i think the country awakened to the fight for the middle class and wisconsin is all about that. collective bargaining. tax breaks for the rich. corporate taxes being lowered and no job creation in this state to speak of, although walker claims he's got the best job creation. one person told me today that flat out lies to the public. and then of course you've got the groups that are in here doing the door to door, doing the social networking. so wisconsin knows that rest of the country is watching him and it is a template on how to fight back against these extreme agendas that are out there against the middle class. it will be a barn-burner, al. >> well, when someone told you that the governor lies, when you look at the performance rating of the governor in polls that have come out, 59% disapprove of governor scott walker, and then when you look at how the gop has looked at in wisconsin, 56 disapprove of the gop state

legislators. so if the polling is right, there's an edge there. what will this mean to the anti-union movement that is being pushed by several governors around the country if the democrats succeed tomorrow and the republicans are defeated or at least enough to turn the majority in the state senate in wisconsin. what will that mean? >> well, i will be up front with you al. there is no question that if the democrats don't get these seats, that will be a big setback for the progressive movement all over the country because there's been a furve runt effort to turn this around. it is not so much the polling or rating of governor walker as it is the agenda to go after people's wages. to go after their right to speak at a workplace. to go after the health care and pensions and for the 2% gets the

breaks. everything in the narrative is here in wisconsin tomorrow. they have put together a template on how to fight back against this. so if walker survives this, if his agenda survives this, tm be a real defining moment i think for the democrats and the progress ifs in this country to take a step back and rethink strategy. if they win, this is how you want to do it. >> well if i had to have one person tell meningococcal he the real deal, it would be my big brother ed, thank you ed schultz. and we'll be watching you and dealing with this issue. programming note, ed will be doing his show live from wisconsin tonight, and tomorrow night. that's at 10 p.m. eastern time right here on msnbc. ahead, a texas governor running for president. yes, america, been there, done that. but this time, his name is rick perry. we'll have that story next.

plus, a new look today at michele bachmann and her supporters are not happy with the new look. stay with us.

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welcome back to the show. for today's hot political topics, plet me bring on our panel. dr. eric michael dyson is georgetown university professor and msnbc political analyst. bob franken, is a former political correspondent and king feature syndicated columnist and matt lauerens a senior contributor for the daily caller. let's talk first about rick perry for president, breaking news tonight, political news is that he is going to run. rick perry's prayer rally took place saturday night. he now appears to be moving closer and closer to a run, politico reports perry will give a speech in south carolina saturday and make it clear he is running for president. immediately following that, he heads to new hampshire for a party. then he's expected to go to iowa

where his competitors will be this weekend for the straw poll. bob, is this bad news for the field? >> well, i think so. i mean, he can credibly claim that he has executive experience as the governor of texas. but at the same time the other ones who can make that claim are considered too moderate by the true believers in the republican party. i think that the problem really night be, when he was at reliant stadium in houston at that big rally on saturday, he said to all the conservative christians, he said, i am one of you. problem is, this is a pluralistic country and there are an awful lot of people who did not want to be in that stadium. >> now, when he said, i am one of you, matt, what is he talking about? because clearly you're talking about a very fundamentalist christian crowd that is not known for its diversity and tolerance.

>> well, i don't know about that. and i don't -- you know, i don't even remember him saying that. i wasn't there. but look, i do think that if you are -- >> hard it remember if you weren't there. but go ahead. >> if you are running for a republican nomination, having the evan gel cal vote is not a bad thing. mike huckabee won iowa the last time around. this worry about secular voters not voting for him, let's worry about that in about a year. i think that rick perry can appeal to evangelicals is a big bonus to him. by the way, he will go up against michele bachmann who also has a claim to that constituency and i think rick perry because of his executive experience and his appeal to the establishment of the gop can kind of appeal to growth groups. where i think bachmann might be more limited to the grass roots. >> matt, you and i usually

debate. but you are right that it seems that he is coming into this formidable because look at the polls. he has come in and just the early indications says that he is pulling up. pulling ahead. mitt romney is at 23. he is at 18. michele bachmann down to 13. so he can't be somebody that you sneeze at. but isn't he kind of like, stepping on everybody else's story? the first big poll is the aims poll this weekend and he just happens to decide on the day that everyone's in iowa waiting 07b the straw poll, he is going to new hampshire and rained on their iowa parade. >> well, look, first of all, it's not inconsistent. rick perry made major outreaches. i heard about this at the daily call today. nobody has done a better job to reach out to conservative

bloggers than rick perry. on saturday we will be speaking to the red state gathering. conservative bloggers from across america. they could be a big help to him oning a primary. so yeah, if rick perry announces or has a semi announcement on saturday, it could overshadow some of what comes out of aims iowa straw poll at the same time. >> now, dr. dyson, i heard bob say that he can claim governing or executive experience, unlike others in the race, other than those who are moderate. look at some of his exec tifr executive experience, what he did as governor. he cut $4 billion in school funds. he also mandated sonograms for women planning abortion. so his executive experience also signed a voter id bill requiring photo identification for voters,

something those of us in the voter rights movement are very concerned about. his executive experience seems extremely troubling to some of us, wouldn't you say, dr. dyson? >> absolutely, reverend sharpton. it is very, very troubling. his executor or executive experience executing his plans, certainly has executed the hopes and aspirations of people who have been vulnerable. and the things you just cited there suggest a deeply conservative governor whose willing to do what he thinks is necessary in order to not only appeal to the tea party but reinforce its fundamental plat forms. i think when he enters the race and all indications that are he will, he will automatically be thrust to the top. he has the advantage over i think a mitt romney, in terms of appealing to the evangelical right. that evangelical right may still be uncomfortable to a degree

with the mormon faith of governor romney but it certainly embraces a man like rick perry who stands while he is governor of the state of texas to basically preach jesus christ to a crowd of 30-something thousand people. that's extraordinary. concerns about the separation of church and state, which i saw on your program on friday, you and reverend lindh end dr. frederick haines deconstructed this. it'll reinforce his standing among the standings and certainly evan gel kass cals, tho it is made up of many people standing outside of parameter of the evangelical faith. >> matt, does it trouble you that we are talking about man running for president that may have a real problem, at least in the optics with the separation of church and state, after saturday's prayer rally? >> no. and reverend al, i'm not troubled about being on a show

that's hosted by a reverend, either. i think it is fine that he did what he did. let me speak to the whole thing about mitt romney. i don't think the problem that romney will have to much, it says form mormon faith versus rick perry's evangelism. i think it has more to do with authenticity. there is a reason rick perry is a formidable candidate. that is just one reason he appears to evan gellics. rick perry is authentic. he at least comes across as authentic where mitt romney strikes a lot of people as phony. part of that is his demeaner and part of it is his report. >> matt, let me just ask you, is that just some of your conservative ill lodge toik compare someone running for president and as a sitting governor have a prayer ral rally with me having a tv show and i'm a minister and this tv station

has nothing to do with government -- >> that was really a cheap shot. >> i don't think it is a cheap shot at all. >> come on -- >> i'm not worried about the separation of church and state at msnbc either. >> ha >> i know that fdr went on the radio and prayed, issued a public prayer for d-day. for our soldiers. i no he that abraham lincoln called on "american idome calle pray. >> that's different. >> how is it different. >> because this is not in bitterly partisan terms. >> let me finish. >> you like to talk, but when the punch comes back, you start running out of the room. >> bring it on. bring it on. >> people that appeal it a sayre narrow segment of the american

population. fdr and abraham lincoln were appealing to a civil religion in a civic democracy that rest upon religious consciousness and thewareness that they needed the help of the divine to lead them forward. that's much different than bitter part does not appeals to a segment. let me finish. >> hold it, hold it. go ahead, bob. >> i was going to say, in addition to which is president of the united states swears to uphold the constitution, which you might not have remembered, this has a first amendment. a television program host does not have to take that kind of oath. >> well that's why i said it ill logical and i did run for president and so did mike huckabee and one station hired him after he ran. another station has me sitting in after i ran. so i guess people have the right to do the same thing but there is a big difference and sitting as governors doing that.

so i guess we have the same rights in the media world on the one side as others do on the other. oops. there it is, matt. thank you far great panel. more when we come back on this, because i have my take on the prayer rally. i can't wait to give it to you when we come back. of these abandoned racetracks in america today. automotive performance is gone. and all we have left are fallen leaves and broken dreams and -- oh. wait a second.

that is a dodge durango. looks like american performance is doing just fine. ♪ carry on. ♪

texas governor's rick perry brought him national attention this weekend. he addressed an estimated 30,000 people. >> you call us to repent, lord, and this day is our response. for thine is the kingdom and power and glory forever, amen. >> perry might gain some political ground but he's lost sight of a bigger picture. he's forgotten one of the basic tennants of being a christian. we all should practice what we believe.

and as some stated earlier, presidents have prayed, go to church. many of us that have ran have done the same. i preached in churches when i was running. but to call a prayer meeting, to call a meeting for the distinct purposes as a sitting governor perry. i would caution you to read this scripture, coming to fr me to you. >> and when thou pray, th ow shall not be as the hypocrites are for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of street that they may be seen. when thy shut thy door pray and in secret and the father see in secrets shall reward the openly but when ye pray, use not vein