country to see. we either have a serious situation in this country or we don't. if it's serious, we need a serious program to correct it. that's what i think, the president needs an economic proposal after labor day that impresses everyone, especially his enemies. that's "hardball" for now, thanks for being with us, the last word with melissa harris-perry in for lawrence o'donnell starts right now. out of all the shocking things you've heard about rick perry this week, the most outrageous may be the statement you were not supposed to hear. >> i want you to join with me as i share his word. >> is bank of america answering the prayers of rick perry? >> bank of america, we'll help you out. >> so god bless you. >> bank of america plans to cut 3,500 jobs. >> bank of america, we'll help you out. >> that's on top of the 2,500

cut earlier this year. >> perry has problems. >> feels like he's always been with us. >> shoot from the mouth style. >> treason, evolution, and global warming. >> i needed to watch what i say. >> rick perry is an idiot, and i don't think anybody would disagree with that. >> the other republicans are still praying for help. >> mitt romney, rick perry, michele bachmann. >> men from mars? >> scoffing at science. >> ask him why he doesn't believe in science. >> in texas we create evolution. >> jon huntsman saying he does believe in evolution and climate change. >> i am not the only potential candidate. first rule of war is know your enemy. >> want to go all the way. >> oh, my goodness, yes! >> christine o'donnell tells nbc that she's a victim. >> borderline sexual harassment. >> he asked you about gay marriage. >> creepy line of questioning.

>> he was asking her on same-sex marriage. >> personal questions. >> he was asking about same-sex marriage. >> lust in your heart is committing adultery, you can't masturbate without lust. >> i'm having problems with my audio. >> whatever her name is. >> her new book. >> one wonders why anyone would want to read a book from christine o'donnell. good evening from new york, rick perry appears to be all hat and no cattle, at least when it comes to his tea party credentials, remember how he was bragging about his job's record in texas, he he managed to create all the jobs even during the economic down turn? >> there have been some over on the left that said the fact is that those 40% of the jobs created in america since the 9th

of june -- or, excuse me, since june of 2009, was just luck. mr. president, the crisis is not bad luck, it's bad policies from washington, d.c. jobs come by keeping taxes low, by controlling spending, by reforming tort laws and ensuring legislation is fair and predictable. >> yeah, most of those jobs were government jobs. funded at least partially by the federal stimulus money which perry once predicted would lead -- perry has no trouble railing against texas and the recovery act while happily extending the taxpayer help. on wednesday, perry spoke at the politics and eggs breakfast in new hampshire, but an interaction perry had afterwards that has a lot of people talking

today. >> bank of america, we'll help you out. >> wait, what? did an official from bank of america just side by a republican presidential candidate and say he would help him out? >> bank of america, we will help you out. >> yep. that's what happened. it turns out that bank of america, that official is james mahoney who sits on the board of directors which sponsored the event. bank of america issued this statement today. "bank of america does not endorse presidential candidates, the refshs was about following up on the substance of the speech about job creation and economic growth." what bank of america did not mention is -- while he doesn't appear to be a registered lobbyist, he is a chairman of bank of america's new hampshire pac, an influence post focussed

on dispensing political cash, not a policy post. surprise, surprise. if the line bank of america, we'll help you out was in a movie script, it would take place in a darkened parking lot in the middle of the night. kind of like this. >> he got all of the money. >> what do you mean? >> we're just following the money. >> don't worry, we'll be following the money. and campaign donations as this race goes on, but here's what we do know, bank of america has already helped out rick perry. aside from donating more than $125,000 to perry's gubernatorial campaigns, the bank bailout handed perry, not related to me, the political ammunition for his 2010 primary campaign against senator k., as he calling ee eed her, hutchiso.

>> just one day later, senator hutchison bailed on texas and voted for the $700 billion bailout. senator hutchison, voting with washington since 1993. i can't wait for the ad that says governor perry, benefitting from washington in 2011. just this week, bank of america's announced it will lay off an additional 3,500 employees, another gut punch to an already struggling economy. one of the reasons bank of america is struggling is because of its never-ending stream of mortgage lawsuits and all perry is offering is a platform of fewer taxes, more consumer protection, and more risk. wall street would love another helping of that. joining me now, washington post

columnist, e.j. dionne. nice to see you, e.j. >> good to be with you, happy to help you out. >> exactly. now, look, i'm assuming there's nothing illegal happening in the video, but the moment i saw it i thought wow, this feels unsavory and icky. >> you saw on the videotape something that happens a lot in politics, mike kinsly once said the things we should look out for are not the things that are illegal in politics, but the things that are legal in politics. a couple things here, first, once again we see the dangers opened up but that citizen's united decision, which would make it easier than ever for corporations to have more and more influence on our politics, it just takes the lid off and regulations off, and secondly, i think you're seeing a kind of hypocrisy on the right where a lot of them ran against the

bailout, but they are also opposed to the kinds of regulations that would make it less likely that we'll need a bailout the next time. i think you got this odd situation for the obama administration where progressives think we are too soft on the banks, yet some think obama's too tough, so they are turning to folks like rick perry. >> let me ask you about the citizen's united decision more, many of us shuttered about this, and when we heard mitt romney say corporations are people or persons, it felt they are citizens united walking around on the campaign trail, but is there reason to believe that decision would benefit one party over the other or is it just sort of a problem of big money in politics in general? >> it is a problem of big money in politics in general, but most of the time, obviously, the big

money has been on the republican side more than the democratic side, but the best reply to mitt romney corporations are people actually came from justice stevens in that citizens united case. he said although they make enormous contributions to our society, corporations aren't actually members of it. i love this line, corporations have no consciousness, believes, thoughts, or desires. they are not members of we the people by whom and for whom our constitution was established, and i would love to em blazen that on a billboard in new hampshire. >> might be a slightly complicated billboard, but i hear you. let me suggest this, when we look at rick perry's economic policy, prior to exchange with the bank of america representative, it seems like what perry wants to do is fewer taxes, less regulation, is that

the sort of thing that bank of america and other sort of enormous banks want, is that why we might have heard that whispering moment between them? >> you know, two things, one is i think it's pretty common for people who head pacs or this general wasn't a lobbyist, but people who are lobbyist, to say that sort of thing to politici n politicians, that sort of thing happens all the time, but the answer is yes, the corporate world does not like regulation, it doesn't think that regulation is to protect mortgage holders or consumers is in their interest. so we've had this fight in the country since the time of teddy roosevelt, and we'll continue to have it, and our elections are designed to settle a question each time about whether we think there ought to be some rules here, which paradoxically, by the way, take the honest corporations who would actually like to sort of care about the

public interest in the common good. >> e.j. dionne of the washington post, i appreciate you making good sense of that very interesting clip for us. >> thank you, good to be with you. christine o'donnell is talking a new book after walking out on two interviewers she said were being sexist. is there a double standard about sex in politics? that's next. and later, the onion always gets a great laugh, but do the jokes also tell the truth about our nation's ludicrous politics? i

we reject pedestals, queenhood and walking ten paces behind, to be recognized as human is enough that from a feminist organization, but in politics, are women treated equally? that discussion is next. and while we are quoting people, gandhi once said those

who think religion has nothing who think religion has nothing [ male announcer ] this is the network. a network of possibilities. excuse me? my grandfather was born in this village. [ automated voice speaks foreign language ] [ male announcer ] in here, everyone speaks the same language. ♪ in here, forklifts drive themselves. no, he doesn't have it. yeah, we'll look on that. [ male announcer ] in here, friends leave you messages written in the air. that's it right there. [ male announcer ] it's the at&t network. and what's possible in here is almost impossible to say.

former republican delaware senate candidate christine o'donnell is back in the news, promoting her new book, troublemaker. the tea party candidate became a favorite media punch line last year when her comments about witchcraft and masturbation surfaced from the 1990s. >> we need to address sexuality

with young people, and masturbation is part of sexuality, but it is important to discuss this from a moral point of view. the bible says that lust in your heart is committing adultery. so you can't masturbate without lust. >> to o'donnell's surprise, the media still wants to talk about sex. >> about to ask you a question i don't ask most of my guests, i have to be honest with you. do you still think masturbation is wrong? >> let's not even go there. >> why, you went there? >> like i said, i address it in the book, and again, i go into detail about where i was in that time of my life and why i chose to go on that show and do that interview. >> i get all that, but your views on sex and stuff are relevant, if you're going to be a politician. >> well, there are not, because there aren't laws outlawing sex, and if there are, they should be on the local level as opposed to

federal control. >> o'donnell, who's not related to lawrence, ended up walking off the set of that interview because she said piers morgan was "creepy" and had these creepy questions that felt like borderline sexual harassment. she talked to "the today show" this morning. >> throws it in there at the middle of the sex questions that he would not ask with a man, then he goes into a personal nature and starts prying. imagine if bill clinton was there, if he'd ask do you still hang out with monica lewinsky, do you still have the fascination with cigar, bill, what's wrong with this? no. and if he did ask a male candidate that, the outcry would be it belonged on pay per view. >> i am no fan of christine o'donnell's policy, but does o'donnell have a point, is there a double standard applied to female politicians?

last month, tim pawlenty's top advisor said michele bachmann would be tough to beat in iowa because she's "got a little sex appeal." sarah palin called a photo of herself on the cover of "newsweek," a sexist and out of touch photograph, and, of course, hillary clinton had to contend with these when she ran for president. joining me now is jennifer lawless, the director of women and politics institute and associate professor of government at american university. how are you? >> i'm excited to speak with you, i teach your book about women running as candidates in my class, and so when this reemerged in the context of christine o'donnell, i thought it would be really fantastic to have this conversation with you. >> well, thank you for having me. >> so let's start with christine o'donnell. is she right, is this fair, was she, in fact, getting a set of questions or having those questions asked of her in a way

that was different of a male politician? >> i don't think so, the reason i don't is two-fold. first of all, part of the reason she became a national political figure is because of those kinds of statements and because of her widespread appeal. as a result, anything in the book is fair game. second, she went on the show to promote the book, so i think it's disingenuous she was saying she was treated unfairly. >> let's leave christine o'donnell alone for a second, after all, she didn't actually hold office, but there is another person who has a similar narrative, that is sarah palin, and sarah palin made this kind of striking comment that democrats would, if they had an opportunity to do it again, vote for hillary clinton rather than barack obama. is this is sisterly feminist appeal on sarah palin's part, is

she saying something about the quality of women's leadership or is this really just an attack on the incumbent president? >> i think it's probably the latter. i could imagine her making a similar statement even if hillary clinton had not been the second choice in the 2008 election. we know that barack obama's approval ratings are low, we know that congressional approval ratings are low, we know that people are frustrated with the status quo, so republicans are even trying to get democrats to think about alternatives. >> sure, that said, in the same class where i teach your book, i also took a week where the students, mostly young feminists, by the way, self-identified by feminists, read hillary clinton's aud biography and even though most disagreed with palin's policy positions, they found her life story to be pretty compelling. is sarah palin actually a good feminist role model, is there

something we ought to learn from her in the context of women in politics? >> well, there's no question that she opened up the political process for women. she was a mother with young children, she started out at the local level, she was a mayor of a very, very small town and was able to climb her way up very, very quickly, so i think she demonstrated you don't necessarily have to be part of the establishment to be part of politics. that's attractive, especially to younger generations. >> the thing i like best about sarah palin and even christine o'donnell is that like the men who proceeded them, they didn't wait to be perfect to run for office. again, i am not as a progressive democrat for the most part not in agreement with their policy positions, but i do find it interesting they have this audaciousness about their willingness to run for office, sometimes office much higher than what they appear to be qualified for on paper, but i know in your research you find

women are reluctant to run for office. how do you square on the one hand, the reluctance of women who have great capacity and skill and the audaciousness of these women? >> that's a great question. richard fox and i surveyed and interviewed about 4,000 women and men, who on paper look the same, lawyers, business leaders, political activists, and we found women were significantly less likely than men to self assess as qualified to run, what was more interesting, women who didn't think were qualified to run didn't think about running. men self assessed about qualifying for run, still had a good chance of throwing their hat into the ring, so in a way, the sarah palins of the world are helpful in identifying that unqualified women too should have political ambition, but i think we should find examples of women putting themselves out there, it's just important to realize sarah palin, hillary clinton, nancy pelosi, these

famous faces obscure the reality that 83% of the members of congress and 44 of the state governors are men. jennifer lawless with the women in politics institute. it's really important for us in a week seeing gloria steinem's new documentary to pause and ask what do we mean when we say we want to see more women in politics, so i appreciate this conversation with you. >> thank you. >> thanks. now in polite conversation there's certain topics you're not supposed to discuss, religion and politics. up next, we're talking about both. and later, the comedians of late night get tonight's last word. >> the ceo of starbucks said president obama shouldn't be vacationing in a moment of crisis. mobile app. it's schwab at your fingertips wherever, whenever you want. one log in lets you monitor all of your balances

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still ahead, are republicans better than democrats at courting religious voters, and if so, why? the connection between the pulpit and ballot box is up next. and later, the comedic minds of the onion love to poke fun at our political system, but the thing is, there's a whole lot of truth in the punchlines. one of the brilliant minds behind america's comedy joins me.

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new bayer advanced aspirin's for pain. it has microparticles and enters the bloodstream faster. works twice as fast as before. did you invent this or something? dr. eric first, from bayer. wow. [ male announcer ] new bayer advanced aspirin. wow. finally, there's a choice for my patients with an irregular heartbeat called atrial fibrillation, or afib, that's not caused by a heart valve problem. today we have pradaxa to reduce the risk of a stroke caused by a clot. in a clinical trial, pradaxa 150 mg reduced stroke risk 35% more than warfarin. and with pradaxa, there's no need for those regular blood tests. pradaxa is progress. pradaxa can cause serious, sometimes fatal, bleeding. don't take pradaxa if you have abnormal bleeding, and seek immediate medical care for unexpected signs of bleeding, like unusual bruising. pradaxa may increase your bleeding risk if you're 75 or older, have kidney problems or a bleeding condition, like stomach ulcers. or if you take aspirin products, nsaids, or blood thinners.

tell your doctor about all medicines you take, any planned medical or dental procedures, and don't stop taking pradaxa without your doctor's approval, as stopping may increase your stroke risk. other side effects include indigestion, stomach pain, upset, or burning. if you have afib not caused by a heart valve problem, ask your doctor if pradaxa can reduce your risk of a stroke. in the 2010 midterm elections, the catholic vote swung to the republican party with 54% voting for gop congressional candidates. it was a 12 point increase in

2008. now, republicans also saw a 6 point increase in the number of white protestant voters in the midte midterms. there was little media analysis why this took place, but we know in the last decade the republican party has more openly and aggressively mixed religion and politics. george w. bush used dog whistles, like when he referred to the wonder working power of the american people during his 2003 state of the union speech. that was familiar, but would have passed unnoticed by others. recently, the religious fervor has grown more overt. where were you on august 6? i remember where rick, not related to me, perry was. >> his agenda is not a political agenda. his agenda is a salvation agenda. he is a wise, wise god and wise enough not to be affiliated with any political party.

>> that's right, perry was speaking before 33,000 people in houston's reliant stadium. governor, seriously no relation, perry boldly proclaimed his faith at this event called "the response." now we know the not so hidden agenda for the event. organizers wrote "today i want to introduce you to the champion the vote ctv whose mission is to mobilize five million christians to register and vote according to the biblical world view in 2012. the assumption there is only one biblical world view and benefits the republican candidates. then there's congresswoman michele bachmann, who is using peter e.waldren as one of her organizers. "the atlantic" points out waldren spent 37 days in prison in 2006 on charges of terrorism

in uganda. at the time of his arrest, one right ring blog hailed him as being "an arms dealer of the lord." the charges were dropped after what waldren said was an intervention by the bush administration. when asked about waldren's role and background, michelle's faith is an important part of her life and peter did a tremendous job with our outreach faith effort in iowa of the we look forward to having him expanding his efforts in several states, so with this coming from the republican presidential candidates, i've been thinking about the lack of such fur vor on the left, with the dismissive religion, it's easy to understand the progressive desire to eliminate god talk from political life, but i submit this, in a time of such turmoil and strife, in a time when deepening unemployment strips our faith in the future,

when the mean-spirited policies of economic austerity undermine our sense of collective responsibility, why not look to the rich multiple faith traditions of the people and movement as a tool of progressive social change. when the american left allows people to be the only interpreters of religious text, it seeds to them a tool that was once used to make moral and ethical claims. emancipation, civil rights, labor protections, our social safety net, all benefitted from political arguments rooted in strong moral and religious language. for those who have the fewest resources to resist inequality, a powerful and justice-loving god is an important political tool, and there's this, some 61% of americans say they are less likely to vote for someone who

does not believe in god, so in 2012, democrats may do well not to allow republicans to offer the only interpretations of the define. joining me now, president and ceo of common cause, bob edgar, a former congressman and a former general secretary of the national council of church e es christ in the u.s., thanks for joining me tonight. >> it's great to be with you tonight. >> so what do you think of the thes thesis, are democrats taking the right approach by not mixing religion and politics? and by the way, i get why there's an impulse for it, but it seems the republicans are the only ones who get to claim the define on their side. >> well, i think since the 1970s when i served in congress and the religious right led by jim and tammie baker and the tell advantage lists and other had a similar marriage with ronald

reagan and jimmy carter. the other person not to be supported as a christian, i think there has been this unusual marriage between the political right and religious right. i'm a progressive who believes that we ought to have separation of church and state but not separation of people of faith and institutions of government. that's why just two weeks ago i helped organize 11 faith leaders, jewish, christian, roman catholic, protestant, religious, and conservativconse republicans and democrats were both talking about numbers but not seeing the faces of children that will be hurt by the deficit debate. i think the democrats, progre progressi progressives, those in the middle that are not hard core radical christian right ought to use their faith statement and

read the bible in such a way as they understand god cares about poor people, got cares about the stewardship of planet earth, i'm unusual, a little like forrest gump, i'm a religious leader and political leader, i run common cause, and the statistics you used earlier about how the roman catholic vote and conservative vote in the 2010 election was so much higher, i worry less about that for 2012 and -- the system, particularly the money from conservative political sources fuelled by conservative religious forces, that money, given the supreme court's decision on citizens united is going to have a corosive impact, but corporations are going to have such a big voice that that will overshadow any voice by conservative christians or

liberal christians on either side. >> let me ask about precisely that. i had just enough sunday school in my childhood to know there actually is a set of arguments not only in christianity but in many world religions about the particular ethical, moral, religious, even sort of god-based justice relationship that we are meant to have to money, right? so when i hear you say i'm more concerned about the money, part of what i'm asking is is there a way that, in fact, progressives who may not have as much money, might in fact be able to employ the tool or effectiveness of a religious argument about, for example, fairness, stewardship of the earth, caring for one another. these are the kinds of believes that it feels like animate so many world religions. >> i think that's absolutely right. you can find the golden rule to do unto others as you would have

done unto yourself and to love god in 26 different religious traditions, and ending the poverty that kills, healing the earth, working on peace and nonviolence, these are fundamentally core issues for the muslim community, the christian community, the jewish community, and many other traditions, and it's those folks who need to come together, hubert humphrey said the moral test of government is those in the twilight of life, the elder will ly, we got to get away from cherry picking our biblical text and really understanding that god is calling us to have elected officials who have strong faith and respect those that have no faith at all but who have core values, core principles, that help all people. we need a government that's of and by and for the people, not of and by and for the moneyed

interest, the corporate interest, and i think austin, the ultra right wing conservative christians you hear so much about have confused their religion with their economic policies as opposed to looking deeply into that religion and caring for one another as the biblical text calls us to do. >> i appreciate your statements and, in fact, we heard from pope benedict yesterday that there was a sort of move towards talking about economic policy. we tend to think about, you know, the catholic church as being just about a pro-life movement, but also hear about economic policies, is that indicative the catholic church is moving in precisely this same sort of direction? >> absolutely. his predecessor, pope john paul, had a favorite saying, he said i dream of a world where none would be so poor they have nothing to give and none will be so rich they have nothing to receive. i think a commitment to ending

the poverty that kills, healing the earth, is a commitment that cuts across all religious traditions, and i'm happy that the pope had said what he did. >> bob edgar, thank you so much for joining us tonight, i know this is going to be a tough conversation to have and appreciate your thoughtfulness in it. >> great to be with you. >> thanks. still to come, where else can you read headlines like pawlenty supporters can only dream what it would have been like if their candidate had dropped out two months later. and "obama makes it through another day from resisting to launch all u.s. nuclear weapons at once. and later, michele bachmann, rick perry, and tim pawlenty, one of them is out of the race as president, but they all have a spot on the late night comedy shows. build a new app for the sales team in beijing. and convince the c.e.o. his email will find him... wherever he is. i need to see my family while they're still awake. [ male announcer ] with global services from dell,

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they call themselves america's finest news source, for the onion, that reputation is built on biting satire. like the time they claimed

lawrence predicted the presidential election would be won by a single person. gee, no kidding. we'll unpeel the many layers of the onion next. l the many layer the onion next. al the many laye the onion next. i remember the days before copd. my son and i never missed opening day. but with copd making it hard to breathe, i thought those days might be over. so my doctor prescribed symbicort. it helps significantly improve my lung function, starting within 5 minutes. symbicort doesn't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden symptoms. with symbicort, today i'm breathing better,

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criticism the president is enjoying a leisurely vacation. inherited a recession and rapidly rising unemployment rate while most press trumpeted of evidence of yes, we can. the day after obama was elected president, "the onion" published a headline "black man given nation's worst job." the article read in part "in his new high-stress, low-reward position, obama will be charged with completely overhauling the nation's broken down economy, repairing the crumbling infrastructure, and generally having to please more than 300 million americans and cater to their every whim on a daily basis. the black man will spend four to eight years cleaning up other people's messes they left behind." now, the worst job in america

got worse last november when a stubborn majority claimed the house of representatives, three months later, "the onion" published this headline. after the debt ceiling bill passed, "the onion" ran this, "obama, debt ceiling deal required tough concessions by both democrats and democrats alike." and the next day, "obama turns 50 despite republican opposition." "the onion" also has a television show. here's a segment that ran on "the onion" news network. >> president obama cannot shake the rumors he does not love his dog, beau. it started weeks ago as to why president obama was rarely photographed with the dog given to the family in 2009. >> of course, the president loves bo, very much.

he scratches behind his ears, rubs his belly, calls him a good boy multiple times per day. >> dog hater. >> joining me now, u."the onion digital director, baratunde thurston. thanks so much for joining me. >> thanks for having me, first of all, you're doing a great job in the seat. i feel you're msnbc's substitute teacher except the students love it when you show. i think you're doing wonderfully, we're matching. i asked for a chalkboard but they said it was too glenn beck. >> you can do whiteboards, holograms, projectors, powerpoint. >> overhead projector, that could be different, very different. >> look, i'm worried about the fact i get a tremendous amount of my news from "the onion." >> that makes two of us.

>> why is it? everybody else was really taking this so -- it was serious, obviously, the election of barack obama was a serious moment, but you caught wow, he was becoming president at a time this was a tough time to be president. what does "the onion" have to say about this year, it's been a tough one for president obama. >> "the onion" has existed in a long time of satire, so the ability to take a comedic take and angle, but also reveal an underlying truth is not unique to us, but using the news angle, so the pawlenty story was perfect, this guy is clearly dropping out, he's too reasonable, just too reasonable for the current flavor of the republican party and what their demands are driven by the tea party thing, but it would have

been nice to keep him along longer. >> perry's got to be fun for y'all. >> did you say y'all because of perry? >> just checking. you said you weren't related, but then you said y'all. >> that's right, i'm sorry. is perry interesting for those of you who are working at "the onion" these days? are you rooting for a perry, a baa bachmann, wabecause it makes fo good headlines? >> no. writers are people too, they go in on the democrats and the left pretty much as much as we do on the right as well, so it's not a matter of hoping for absurdity, but when you find it -- we were often asked are you going to miss george w. bush, he was so good for comedy. he actually wasn't, he made comedy too easy, everybody

thought they had a good bush joke. >> you guys make absurdity, my favorite "the onion" series was the biden series. >> he's like uncle joe. >> you made that. he didn't actually ever shirtlessly clean the car. >> not according to our photo journalists, but sure if you want to stick with that. it was great when the vice president acknowledged what we were doing and said he appreciated it. that was a high moment for the organization, so yes, i don't think the onion is rooting for rick perry, sort of will take advantage of whatever opportunities that there are in the world or create another one, one of the top stories this week is 96% of americans -- excuse me, people of the world prefer to be a bear, it's easy, you don't have to think or worry about your arms, you don't have to remember anything, you don't worry about your job or family

or whether god exists or not, so there's a deep level of absurdity, but also our political coverage is closer to this world. >> i love it, and can i say truly the greatest injustice in america today is you have not won a pulitzer prize. >> it's disappointing, we've been doing fine journalism for hundreds of years, we did a story on the san francisco earthquake, least gay day of american history, that kind of biting and insightful coverage, you don't see that coming out of the new york times, no disrespect to them. >> you do not see that. my friend, digital director for "the onion," baratunde thurston. >> we're back on air starting october 4. >> fantastic, very good. now, tim pawlenty's campaign ran out of gas this week and the late night comedy writers are offering their own fairwell. [ man ] they said i couldn't win a fight.

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michele bachmann's meaningless win in iowa, rick perry's debut on the presidential campaign trail, and the one candidate lawrence considered a rational choice for the republican nomination, calling it quits. those headlines gave the comedy writers plenty of material to work with this week. >> presidential politics shake up a republican village, old in, new out, it all happened here. >> michele bachmann took first place in the iowa straw poll. yeah. yeah. michelle says she hasn't been this excited since she won last year's who's crazier than sarah palin contest. >> bachmann paid $180,000 to hand out 6,000 tickets, but it was worth it, because she got

4,823 votes. bachmann got a commanding 80% of the votes she paid for. that's pretty impressive. >> today michele bachmann wished elvis presley a happy birthday even though today's the anniversary of his death. oops. that's true. when told about the mistake, bachmann said my apologies to not only elvis, but the entire costello family. michele bachmann, the big story. what was that? that laugh, so familiar, so regional. i can't place it. it can't be! he's not eligible to run again. >> sometimes it kind of takes me awhile to get into something like this presidential race, but let me tell you, when i'm in, i'm in all the way!

>> why would the josh broland character from "w" be running for -- what? that's a real guy? i interviewed him? >> texas governor rick perry has been in the race only three days, and he's already blowing away the competition like it is a press passing coyote, and the very first poll, perry has an 11-point lead. 11. jim, let's turn the governor's collar up to 11. >> texas governor rick perry distanced himself from george w. bush by saying i went to texas a&m, he went to yale. in other words, rick perry's idea of instilling confidence, don't worry, i'm not as smart as george w. bush. >> it was a disappointing weekend for tim pawlenty or t-paw, as no one calls him.

after a poor showing on saturday, yesterday tim pawlenty dropped out of the race for president, saying he wants to spend more time lacking charisma with his family. >> i was especially sad to see t-paw go out this way, considering the epic epicness of his first commercial. >> it takes extraordinary effort, it takes extraordinary strength. >> so much grander, this is how you withdraw from a campaign. >> i'm announcing this morning i'm going to be ending my campaign for president. we didn't do well in ames, don't have the fuel to keep the car going down the road. we needed to get lift to continue on and have a pathway forward. that didn't happen. i wish iwo