forecasters are predicting. if the forecasters don't sound the alarm giving the media a story to trumpet, the citizenry will complain about all three, and if they do sound the alarm, the same result will follow. you can follow me on twitter. that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us, "the last word with lawrence o'donnell" starts right now. dick cheney's memoirs go on sale tomorrow. tonight, joe wilson and valerie plaim join me to respond. >> it's going to take time to recover from a storm of this magnitude. >> the president gets a new crisis on top of the old crisis. >> that job's plan will probably include some tax cuts. >> i want people to you said this is not over. >> allen kruger who will be

replacing goolsbee. >> the good news is the worst is over. >> of course, republican presidential candidates want you to believe they will do a better job. >> we have a category five economic disaster. >> i'm here to talk to you tonight about our lord and savior jesus christ. >> is that a sign from the lord? >> we've had an earthquake, we had a hurricane. >> we've been comparing this president for the almighty for long enough. >> politico headline is is rick perry dumb? >> he's not the brightest bulb in the box. >> you can call a napkin a car and it's not a car. >> house of representatives and intelligence in the same sentence. >> hurricane irene ends on the anniversary of a crisis of presidential incompetence.

>> tonight, katrina's wrath. >> hurricane katrina came ashore just a half hour ago. >> some believe he was in charge and not responsible. >> make sure you've got your vice president under control. >> dick cheney's memoir are already causing controversy. >> what the hell is going on here? >> you have failed me for the last time. >> this is really dick cheney unapologetic. >> no apologies. >> no apologies. >> this is his last political will and testament. >> to pump a book out by saying heads will be exploding with a condescending tone. good evening from los angeles.

today as many federal officials remain focussed on the cleanup and recovery efforts of hurricane irene, president obama turned his focus back to jobs. >> even as we deal with this crisis of the moment, our great ongoing challenge as a nation remains how to get this economy growing faster. our challenge is to create a climate where more businesses can post job listings, where folks can find good work that relieves the financial burden they are feeling, where families can regain a sense of economic security in their lives. that's our urgent mission, and that's what i'm fighting for every single day. >> the president said that while announcing the appointment of economist allen kruger as the new chairman of the council of economic advisors. kruger specializes in the labor market and unemployment and is a former treasury official and princeton university professor. kruger starts his job as the white house is rolling out its

plan of job creation by labor day, but the reports indicate the president will call for the same job proposals he's been calling for, including the ones in his weekly address from august 20th. >> cut payroll taxes, we can pass a road construction bill so road construction crews now sitting idle can get back to the work site, and let's pass trade deals to level the playing field for our businesses. the only thing from preventing us to pass these bills is by some of those in congress putting those ahead of party. >> the president has not managed to unhinge himself from reality when discussing jobs. he can't do what michele bachmann did while campaigning in florida this weekend. the headline reads "bachmann promises fast economic turn around with tax cuts." how fast is bachmann's fast

economic turn around? one fiscal quarter. yep, three months. it's the worst economy since the great depression, but bachmann knows how to fix things, how to turn everything around, in 90 days, and we don't have to tell you how she thinks she can do it, it's in the headline, tax cuts, tax cuts, and more tax cuts. she specifically voiced her support for a corporate tax amnesty on foreign profits saying "american companies have sitting in the bank over $1 trillion. if we had a zero rate of repatriation, that would be back in the united states. do you have any idea how many jobs would be created?" campaigning in iowa this weekend, rick perry repeated his mantra for job creation. >> if you look at the state of texas, we're where we are by

keeping our taxes low, by cutting spending, by making sure regulations are fair and predictable and stopping frivolous lawsuits. >> texas has actually kept taxes so low that there is no state income tax in texas, so according to perry and republican theory, texas should have the lowest unemployment rate in the country, it doesn't. the texas unemployment rate is 8.4%. less than 1% lower than the national unemployment rate. an 8.4% unemployment rate is nothing to be proud of. in normal times, it's the kind of thing that gets you kicked out of office. the governor, with the lowest unemployment rate in the country is a republican who is not running for president, jack dalrimple of north dakota where the unemployment rate is 3.3%,

which would be a remarkable accomplishment, even in a healthy economy. did dalrimple miraculously find a way to cut his tax below 1%? no. it turns out the state with the lowest unemployment rate in the country actually has a state income tax and a progressive state income tax at that, but republican primary voters have never heard of jack dalrimple, and they do know what they want to hear about taxes and rick perry and the rest of the republican candidates are going to give it to him. mitt romney who's now trailing rick perry will unveil his jobs plan next tuesday in nevada, a state with no income tax and the highest unemployment rate in the country, 13%. jon huntsman will unveil his

jobs plan this wednesday at a metal factory in new hampshire, a state with no income tax, and, of course, a higher unemployment rate than north dakota. huntsman's campaign says scaling back regulation, including epa regulation, will be a major part of his jobs creation plan, because it will create certainty. joining me now is jonathan capehart, msnbc contributor, thanks for joining me tonight, jonathan. >> hey, lawrence, nice to be with you. >> jonathan, it's hard out there for a president trying to talk about the economy when you have these republican candidates able to say whatever they want, beginning with the really wild bachmannism of i can turn this whole thing around in 90 days. how can the president change his rhetoric and how does he have to change his rhetoric to deal with the world where bachmann is considered a credible economic manager?

>> she is at this point a credible republican candidate for the nomination for president. i think the president has to keep doing what he's always been doing, that's being the adult in the room. i know that's taken on an aura because people want to see him get mad, get angry, fight a little harder, but you can't have someone going off half cocked talking about things they wish they can do, is i think that's what the president's trying it get across. but michele bachmann planning on turning around the economy in one fiscal quarter, or as she said a couple of weeks ago promising $2 a gallon gasoline. i don't know where that kind of economics works, but it doesn't work here on earth. >> she's definitely well-advised to go into that corporate tax

provision because it makes her sound like she actually knows something about the tax code that the average voter doesn't, but her notion if you let them bring all of their foreign profits back here, they'll then create jobs back here with that money when they actually find it to be much more profitable to be operating overseas, that's where they got the properties in the first place. the circumstance it makes me continue to wonder how the obama campaign can plot its course economically and the obama white house plot its rhetoric when you're going against this rick perry/bachmann world where no reality matters. >> i think what the white house is going to have to do, and again, it's going to be frustrating, but it has to tell the american people how things are right now, what can be done realistically. what must be done to turn this economy around. the president has been saying

since the day he was inaugurated, the right fiscal path is going to be a very long process. it's not something that can be done overnight or in one quarter as michele bachmann is promising. it isn't to say the president hasn't made mistakes, for instance, the fiscal commission he put together and ignored their recommendations, but we know lessons of ignoring credible reports, and i think from now on the president is going to have to worry about those folks saying what they are saying during the primary contest, which to a certain point he can sort of ignore them and deal with the republicans he has to deal with to get anything done and that's cantor and mcconnell and speaker boehner. >> jon huntsman promises to be the reality-based republican candidate, but his idea is to get rid of the environmental regulations, they are slowing down the hiring too much, so he

obviously isn't going to be anymore serious in terms of reality on jobs creation and the economy than the rest of them. is that the one place, talking about the economy and taxes where no republican dare enter into reality? >> they can't. if they want to become the republican nominee, there's no possible way they can advocate any kind of meaningful shared sacrifice as much as jon huntsman says he believes in shared sacrifice or raising taxes or anything with the "t" word in it, no possible way. >> jonathan capehart, reality-based msnbc analyst. thank you very much. >> great to see you. dick cheney undiplomatically says his new book will cause heads to washington to explode. the country's former top diplomat colin powell says that's not good.

cheney is now defending this infamous statement. >> the british government has learned saddam hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from africa. >> joe wilson and valerie plame respond. [ female announcer ] what if your natural beauty could be flawless too? discover aveeno positively radiant tinted moisturizers with scientifically proven soy complex and natural minerals. give you sheer coverage instantly, then go on to even skin tone in four weeks. aveeno tinted moisturizers. we know how to tighten our purse strings. sugar salmon flakes! sorry buddy. even with bath tissue. that's why i buy new charmin basic. it's very reasonably priced. and it holds up so much better than the leading competitive brand. new charmin basic has a duraflex texture... that's soft and durable. plus, it's two times stronger when wet versus the leading competitive brand. new charmin basic works for my bottom line. and my bottom.

we all go. why not enjoy the go with new charmin basic?

darth vader vents, that's the headline of the "new york times" column on cheney's new book. she says cheney veers unpleasantly and says anyone who opposed him was wrong. two of the people who opposed him, valerie plame and joe wilson join me in a "last word" exclusive. finally, u.s. has killed al qaeda's number two operative again. that's ahead.

the british government has learned sudan hussein has recently sought quantities of uranium from africa. >> his new book, "in my time," former vice president dick cheney says the bush administration has no reason to apologize for using those words in bush's state of the union address to help justify the war in iraq to american people. five months after president bush said those 16 words, former u.s. ambassador joe wilson called them into question.

wilson, as an envoy who investigated firsthand wrote in the "new york times" wrote "some of the intelligence related to iraq's nuclear weapons program was twisted to exaggerate the iraqi threat." wilson added "the day after the state of the union speech, i reminded a friend at the state department of my trip and suggested that if the president had been referring to niger, then his conclusion was not born out by the facts as i understood them." according to cheney's new book, after wilson's account appeared, the white house considered apologizing for the inclusion of the 16 words in the president's state of the union address. "some on the president's senior staff believed if we issued an apology, the story would go away. i strongly opposed the idea, the apology would fan the flames and

why apologize when the british had, in fact, reported they sought a significant amount of uranium in africa. the 16 words were true." six days after wilson's account appeared in "the new york times," valerie plame was outed as a cia agent. joining me tonight, valerie plame and joe wilson. thank you both for joining me tonight. >> thank you for having us. >> good to be with you, lawrence. >> condoleezza rice realized some time later that it was wrong for president bush to include those 16 words, and here's dick cheney's account of what happened then. "i was under the impression the president had decided against a public apology and was surprised when condoleezza rice told the u.s. press pool we wouldn't have put it in the speech if we'd

known what we know now." joe, should they have put it in the speech based on what they knew then and then based on what they knew later? >> well, of course, they should not have, in fact, george had communicated to conde rice and steve hadley three times before a september speech in cincinnati telling them do not use this niger information, we don't believe it, and then articulated the reasons they don't believe it. indeed, a couple of days after the president's state of the union address, mike morel, the presumptive director of the cia now told a staffer we're not going to use that because we don't believe it, so they had lots of time, and it was never an apology, i don't think, anybody needed out of an administration that wasn't prone to apologize in the first place,

it was just an admission they were wrong, which hopefully at that time would have encouraged the journalistic press to look into other things they might have misled the american public about. >> i want to read another passage from the book. this is cheney after rice's apology. >> she came in my office, sat down in the chair next to my desk and tearfully admitted that i had been right. in an interview, cheney defended his use of the word "tearfully." listen to this. >> was she crying? >> she was tearful. that's what i wrote. if i'd wanted to say she was crying, i'd said she was crying. >> you know tearfully is a loaded description for powerful women in high office, it's going to be seen by a lot of people as

provocative. could you have left that word out? >> it is an accurate description of what happened and what i saw. >> valerie, i'm sorry to tell you that nowhere in the book could we find an account of anyone in the white house being tearful about the outing of a cia agent. are you surprised that there isn't a word of regret about that? >> could he have been anymore patronizing or sexist than what he used? he did it on purpose, of course, he's wounding his former colleagues. he's shown nothing but contempt, and i think it is so ironic that for dick cheney who touts his national security prominence and his expertise, he has never once accepted any responsibility, nor regret, for the outing and betrayal of a cia officer who

was working on nuclear weapons, finding them, stopping them, the wmd in iraq and so forth. >> joe, i want you to listen to this passage of the book where cheney says "despite what joe wilson was saying in the press, he had brought back information from africa that supported the 16 words." joe, what do you make of that? >> well, it's simply not true. what he's referring to is a 1999 meeting that took place in al jeerz that was headed by the guy that later became known as "baghdad bob," who had absolutely no connection with anything to do with saddam's nuclear program then, before, or afterwards. the then-foreign minister told me when he was approached about taking the meeting, he immediately was concerned that

perhaps the iraqis might want to raise uranium, a subject about which he had no interest in discussing with them because of the u.n. sanctions and other u.n. activities related to uranium sales to a country like iraq, and therefore, he told me he determined never to raise that question or never to discuss it and, in fact, he said -- and i reported this -- that the subject was never raised, so it is a bald-faced lie. >> joe wilson and valerie plame, please, stay with us, we're going do take a break here. we're going to be back with more of your reaction to dick cheney's book.

in his new book, "in my time," former vice president dick cheney discusses the investigation into the leak of valerie plame's identity to the press. cheney writes that the department of justice special council wasted time and tax payer money conducting an over two-year investigation into the source of the leak, considering the deputy center of state already told the justice department he had leaked the information to "the washington post." "meanwhile, over at the state department, armitage sat silent,

and it pains me to note so did colin powell. less than a week later, on october 7, 2003, there was a cabinet meeting. at the end of it, the press came in for a photo opportunity, and there were questions who had leaked the information wilson's wife worked for the cia. the president said he didn't know, but wanted the truth. thinking back, i realized one of the few people in the world who could have told him the truth, colin powell, was sitting right next to him. former secretary of state, colin powell, defended himself against cheney's allegations yesterday. >> the fact of the matter is when mr. armitage realized he was the source for the column that caused all the difficulty and he called me immediately, two days after the president launched the investigation, and

what we did was we called the justice department. they sent over the fbi. the fbi had all the information about mr. armitage's participation and we called the president's council and told him we had information. the fbi asked us not to share any of this with anybody else, as did mr. gonzalez, if the white house operatives had come forward as readily as mr. armitage did, we wouldn't have gone on for two months. there wouldn't have been a special council appointed by the justice department that spent two years trying to get to the bottom of it, and we wouldn't have had the mess we subsequently had. >> joining me again, valerie plame and her husband, former ambassador joe wilson. it sounds to me colin powell and armitage followed their proper procedure on this. >> well, certainly that's secretary powell's explanation,

and i think that's probably accurate from everything i've read. but regrettably, the vice president did not, neither did scooter libby, who was convicted, i like to remind people, on four counts of lying to investigators, perjury, and obstruction of justice. as secretary powell pointed out, had vice president cheney shown a modicum of integrity and had his staff showed a modicum of integrity, there might not have been a need for a special council, and indeed, at that time, there may have been a head that would have rolled without the investigation and that head might have been dick cheney's. remember what was said about scooter libby, he threw sand in the umpire's eyes, and he had this to say about the vice president after a successful prosecution of libby, there is a cloud over the vice president. the vice president has daned not

to clear up the cloud, it would have been helpful had he been more direct about his own participation or bothered to release his sworn deposition that was submitted to the grand jury or his notes from the meeting with fitzgerald and the fbi investigator. >> i find the line perverse when he says "i realize one of the few people in the world who could have told him the truth was sitting right next to him." he says one of the few people in the world because he knows there were other people in the room who could have told him the truth, specifically the vice president and probably scooter libby who was sitting against the wall in one of those staff chairs. this is the cheney gloss where he tries to sneak past every one of these points. >> his confidence is astounding, isn't it? i was really offended, however,

when by several accounts prior to president obama's inauguration, vice president cheney was trying to persuade president bush to provide a pardon, and he said you don't want to leave a soldier on the battlefield, referring to scooter libby, you know what, my brother was a wounded marine in vietnam, we know something about service in our family, and at a time when servicemen and women are truly giving the ultimate sacrifice he'd use such a metaphor to describe his own political maneuverings, i find deeply distressing. >> joe, it sounds to me he has a certain ease with. this is what cheney's book actually says about pardoning scooter libby. he says, "george bush made courageous decisions as president and to this day i wish

pardoning scooter libby had been one of them." isn't that dick cheney's wonderful way of saying the president that i worked for was a coward and would not pardon scooter libby? >> well, i think that might be part of it. i also think what dick cheney's saying is the united states is not, in fact, a nation of laws, it is a nation of men, and we can override laws at our whim. and i give the president enormous credit for having finally after eight years stood up to dick cheney and said no, and i understand from people i've spoken to that it was a defining moment for him, and, in fact, he discussed the matter and discussed the whole pardoning system with president-elect obama as they were driving to the inauguration on january 20th. >> and i would add that i think we -- it seems as those we live

in a different america than dick cheney, we live in one in which we believe we are a strong enough country and great enough country that we can investigate wrongs that have happened and where things went off track that we have strayed from our values. i guess dick cheney doesn't believe that, because he continues to advocate for things that fly in the face of what this country was founded on, not the least of which is torture, which is by every international convention that the united states has signed is considered to be a war crime. >> and, you know, the other things he says about libby in this book is he says he believed libby was a competent, intelligent, honorable person, most competent, intelligent, and honorable person he ever met and i believe scooter was innocent. he was saying he was innocent of

perjury, that perjury was proven by the testimony of tim russert, the specifics of how libby was actually convicted is, again, something that cheney won't go near. he just asserts that this man was innocent, ignoring the obvious, certain proof of perjury that the russert testimony versus the libby information -- >> just how sharp it was. well, in a book by james stewart called "tangled webs," it's very clear the fbi saw scooter to be a transparent liar and it's very clear that what scooter was doing was defending or was basically taking the hit for scooter -- for dick cheney's own decisions to have him go out and leak to judy miller and others

that valerie was, in fact, a covert cia operative, so throwing scooter libby under the bus and calling him competent and honorable basically says yeah, he took the hit for me because i'm too cowardly to have told the truth to the special prosecutor or to anybody for that matter. >> i think that's what passes for a motion in dick cheney, i think he feels a little bit of guilt about what he did. >> valerie plame and joe wilson, thank you very much for your time tonight. >> thank you, lawrence. >> thank you. >> good to be with you. a few programming notes. you can see the interview with cheney tonight at 10:00 p.m. eastern on your local nbc station and tomorrow matt lauer will have a live interview with the vice president. coming up, the job that no terrorist keeps for very long, and that's in the rewrite.

later, on the anniversary of hurricane katrina, ed schultz joins me from a free health care clinic in new orleans that could use your help. let's see if we can get one past the defense. hut! go! here it comes! right on the numbers! boom! get it! spin! oh, nice hands! chest bump. ugh! good job, man. nice! okay, halftime. now, this is my favorite play. oh! i'm wide open. oh, fumble. fumble. don't want to fumble any of these. [ male announcer ] share what you love, with who you love. kellogg's frosted flakes. it's up... and it's good! good?! they're grrreat!

one week after the fall of tripoli, the search continues for moammar gadhafi, but we know now that his wife, his daughter, and two of his sons have fled libya, it was announced this morning gadhafi's family members are in that country. a spokesman for the rebels says, "we have promised to provide a just trial to all those criminals, and therefore, we consider this an act of aggression. we are warning everybody not to shelter gadhafi and his sons. we are going after them in any place to find them and arrest them." in the past, libyan rebels have accused algeria. they deny that, algeria is the only one of libya's north african neighborhood not recognizing the national council as libya's legitimate government. the state department is not commenting on what legal action should be taken against gadhafi's family.

>> we want to see justice and accountability for gadhafi and those members of his family with blood on their hands and those members of his regime, but it will be a decision of the libyan people how that goes forward. >> as for the situation on the ground in tripoli, rebel leaders have started the process of relocating from benghazi to tripoli. the state department says phones and internet service are back up and running in the capitol. coming up, the united states killed gadhafi's number two in pakistan. now his successor has the worst job in the world. that's in tonight's rewrite. and in the aftermath of hurricane irene, we remember those lost in hurricane katrina, which struck exactly six years ago today. ed schultz joins me live from new orleans.

on saturday, a story crossed the wires among all the hurricane bulletins about the

united states killing al qaeda's number two man. my thought was haven't we done that already like, maybe, several times? that's next. sam higgins... you have frequent heartburn, right ? yeah, it flares up a few days a week. well, we're the two active ingredients in zegerid otc. i'm omeprazole, the leading prescription heartburn medicine. and i'm sodium bicarbonate. i protect him from stomach acid so he can get to work. look, guys, i've already tried a lot of stuff. wow. with zegerid otc, you get 24-hour relief. so, this is goodbye heartburn ? gone. finito. zegerid otc. two ingredients... ...one mission. heartburn solved.

time for tonight's rewrite. this weekend american officials reported a drone operated by the central intelligence agency killed al qaeda's number two operative again.

doesn't it seem like we've killed al qaeda's number two or three every month or so for like the last ten years? well, we've killed a lot of them, especially the number threes, which this number two actually was until osama bin laden was killed and everybody moved up a notch. the number two the cia just killed was rahman, one of those not easy to say on tv names that i've never had to say before, because i, like most news consumers, didn't know he existed until he didn't exist anymore. he'd only had the job of al qaeda top operational planner for about a year. he got the job when his predecessor was, you guessed it, killed in a predator drone attack. "the new york times" notes dryly the job proves to be particularly deadly because they

have to transmit a lot of guidance to al qaeda, which helps the cia track them down. so now in ten years of this war with al qaeda, here's what it's been like been al qaeda's number three, which is really al qaeda number two now with bin laden out of the top spot. mohammed atef survived just two months in the job after september 11. a predator drone got him in afghanistan in 2001. abu zubaydah lasted longer, he was captured in march of 2002 and now resides in guantanamo bay. he has been waterboarded 83 times. investigators determined he wasn't a number three, and according to "the washington

post," not even a formal member of al qaeda. next came khalid sheikh mohammed. he too is now a resident of guantanamo bay. abu faraj al libi was captured in 2005, he then joined his predecessors in guantanamo bay. hamza rabia was killed six months in pakistan, then came the longest-running al qaeda number three, abu laith al-libi. he was killed in january 2008. that gave sheikh al-masri his lead, after being killed, followed by, as we said, rahman,

whose killing was reported this weekend. now, there's a lot of issues around these predator drone strikes, how many innocents they kill, how many times they target these people and get an innocent target. there's a lot of stuff to wonder about the legality of these killings, it's very, very dubious to say the least. are they assassinations prohibited by american law or is this acceptable method of war against a terror group that attacked the united states, plenty to wonder there, but what is not in doubt, is if you move up to al qaeda number three, which as we said, without osama bin laden is now al qaeda number two, you have absolutely no chance of collecting your al qaeda pension. [ male announcer ] for sore muscles use new bengay cold therapy. it's pro-cool technology releases armies of snowmen masseuse, who cuddle up with your soreness

and give out polar bear hugs. technology. [ male announcer ] new bengay cold therapy. the same technology used by physical therapists. go to bengay.com for a 5-dollar coupon. when you switch your car insurance to esurance. i could save 'em 522 smackers. you talkin' dough? bread. benjamins? scratch. greenbacks. moolah. cheddar... simoleons! don't try to out-save me. [ female announcer ] any way you say it, $522 is the average amount saved by people who switched to esurance. 522 bucks! [ female announcer ] to find out how much you'll save, call 1-800-esurance or visit esurance.com right now. that's 1-800-esurance or go to esurance.com. when i got my medicare card,

i realized i needed an aarp... medicare supplement insurance card, too. medicare is one of the great things about turning 65, but it doesn't cover everything. in fact, it only pays up to 80% of your part b expenses. if you're already on or eligible for medicare, call now to find out how an aarp... medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company, helps cover some of the medical expenses... not paid by medicare part b. that can save you up to thousands of dollars. these are the only medicare supplement insurance plans... exclusively endorsed by aarp. when you call now, you'll get this free information kit... and guide to understanding medicare, i can keep my own doctor and choose my own hospital. and i don't need a referral to see a specialist. as with all medicare supplement plans, and help pay for what medicare doesn't. call this toll-free number now...

as i said yesterday, we're going to make sure folks have all the support they need as they begin to assess and repair the damage left by the storm, and that's going to continue in the days ahead. it's going to take time to recover from a storm of this magnitude. >> 38 people are confirmed dead and more than half a million remain without power in the aftermath of hurricane irene. among the latest areas of flooding and destruction are places far from the coast like upstate new york and southwestern vermont where three people were killed and where roads have been washed out by seven inches of rain, the worst flooding there in more than 80 years. a covered bridge nearly 150 years old fell into the river in rockingham, vermont.

farther inland, video captured a car floating down a river. vermont's govern warns the state's biggest rivers could still crest. as the hurricane made its way from the carolinas up through the northeast, president obama was seen regularly this weekend giving updates and getting briefings from fema. today at the white house, fema administrator craig fugate was asked what lessons his agency learned after dealing with katrina-devastated new orleans in 2005. >> we can't wait to know how bad it is before we get ready. we have to go fast, we have to base upon the potential impacts. if you wait until you know how bad it is, it becomes harder to change the outcome. >> it was six years ago today when hurricane katrina first slammed into new orleans. the storm and subsequent failure of the levies would claim the lives of more than 1,700 people

and displace hundreds of thousands, 10,000 evacuees stayed at the superdome. today, a few blocks from the superdome, ed schultz gathered to help louisianeans without health insurance. joining me now, ed schultz, host of "the ed show" here on msnbc. ed, what was it like to be in new orleans today on this grim anniversary? >> well, you know, lawrence, new orleans has come a long way in the last six years, but every resident that came through the door today here at this health care clinic was quick to say we have a long way to go. this health care clinic, i think, is symbolic of what we have to do as a country to make things better for americans, to give them an opportunity, and an opportunity to respond to a disaster as they did on the east coast this weekend. you know, we're a smarter country because we went through

katrina. we're better informed and better equipped, and i think the american people are paying better attention to what's going on, that saved lives. back six years ago, there were some failures in government, failures in structures that affected a lot of people, and this recovery is going to go on for a long, long time, and you could see it in the eyes of the people here today that they have been through an awful lot, and i asked them about katrina, i asked them about the recovery, but there's also a tremendous amount of love and passion for this part of the country. many said we couldn't leave, this is our home, we're going to make it back. i checked some of the numbers, you know, new orleans had about 400,000 population, now it's down to 240,000. there were people who did leave the area, but those who stayed are very committed to the area and want to bounce back. you can see that, you hear it in their voices but also see the anguish in their eyes as well.

>> ed, in louisiana, about 20% of been at the health care clinics fore. is there any kind of different mood at the clinics now, do they have a sense help is on the way in the somewhat distant future with the implementation of the health care reform bill? >> there is a change in the mood, these folks are angry in washington and at the bickering going on, the bickering when it comes to jobs of the this was as much about jobs as it was about health care. this is the eighth association of health care clinics i have been to, number eight, this is the first time the majority of people who came through the door are unemployed. 63% of the people who came here today are looking for a job. tough to have health care if you don't have a job.

it's part of that domino effect when you lose your job of the i had a number of people say to me today, ed, i have to make a decision whether i'm going to pay the rent or buy food, thank god i have a chance to come to a free health care clinic to make sure i'm okay. these are folks that are angry, they are mad at washington, and they all say it doesn't have to be this way, i'm proud to be here to shed a light on this. we have a long way to go. the obama administration, the democrats, did get something passed, but part of that anger it seems all the conversation is washington is repealing what progress we did make and the people here don't explain that. it's the political battling going on that has a lot of people frustrated. all they are looking for is a chance to get ahead. >> quickly before you go, how do people help you with this, i know you don't have enough funding to get this clinic done today. where can people contribute?