angeles. all we get are dropped calls. if it's not a merger, what the answer? >> there are a lot of answers. satellite spectrums, for example, that can be used for broadbands and other companies that want to bring more online. the answer is not to take a bad company and make things worse having it gobble up a competitor. that's not the answer. >> david goodfriend, passionate as always. we'll solve my cell problems another time. that does it for us. i'm matt miller. a pleasure keeping dylan's chair warm these past two week. hope to see you more down the line. up next, "hardball" starts right now. the republicans versus president obama. is it personal? let's play some "hardball." good evening. i'm michael smerconish in for chris matthews. leading off tonight -- dissing the president of the

united states. john boehner's refusal to allow a wednesday jobs speech was more than an example of just saying no to anything president obama wants. obvious, republicans neither fear nor respect this president. it's not clear all of them even consider him to be legitimate. is it personal, political, is it in some cases racial? and what can the president do to turn this around or push back hard? that's our top story. also, rick perry is about to feel the heat. >> rick perry doubled spending in a decade. and this year rick perry's spending more money than the state takes in. covering his deficit with record borrowing. >> that's not from the dnc. that's from michele bachmann's pack, and word is sarah palin is about to go after perry as well. it's not easy being a front-runner. speaking of feeling the heat, eric cantor is now getting it from all sides. democrats and republicans alike are taking it to cantor for insisting that fema money for

hur care iene has to be yuf set by domestic spending elsewhere. and no new jobs created reminded everyone how tough jobs are. some say heading into labor day weekend, let's remember who got us here. the two guys on tv much of the week. george w. bush and dick cheney. let me finish tonight with the catch 22 of the republican party. anyone conservative enough to be nominated might be unelectable, and anyone moderate enough to get elected can't get nominated. start with disrespect towards president obama. chief economist with politico and ron reagan a political commentate perp something from the "new york times" that ran today. it says this -- american presidents often have highly disagreeable relationships with members of congress from thepay, but while fights stemmed from deep policy divides, the relentless acrimony between president obama and congressional republicans also seems strikingly personal,

almost petty. ron reagan, a lot of it comes with the territory, but did your dad ever have to face anything like what president obama has been through since day one? >> no. there was certainly acrimony, as there is under any president, but not to the sort of level that we see today and not with the tone of disrespect that i think we see today. i'm astonished, really, by the level of pettiness on the part of the republicans and, again, the tone that they take. that starts, of course, with some of the right-ring radio who eventually call the president boy. sometimes literally call him boy. which is pretty offensive right there, but it trickles down to the elected officials. you know, shouting, "you lie" during a president's speech is a pretty good example of this. no, it was not like this during my father's presidency. >> what amazing me throughout this time period, those who pray

for, dwhaeft he failed all the while congratulating one another for their relative level of patriotism? >> they've made this quite obvious. mitch mcconnell send job one, getting rid of president b bp. you think national security, but apparently it's all about getting rid of him. again, this is virtually unprecedented. >> roger, yet another terrific piece for politico today. you quoted a white house source saying the administration didn't think congressman boehner's snub was a trivial matter. here's what your source told you. it is a big deal that the house said no to the president from our end this confirms what we all know. they will do anything in the house to muck us up. perhaps i was reading too much between the lines, but i said to myself, if roger simon had that, highly placed source and got that scoop, the white house wanted people to know that they were p.o.-ed? >> sure they did. and they're starting to identify

villains. you go back and look at president obama's speeches about congress. he never uses the word republican. he says congress hasn't done this. congress has been ineffective. congress refuses to pass my plans. well, he doesn't really mean the democrats of congress. he means the republicans, but he is very consciously trying to be bipartisan. and i think some in the white house, perhaps with his permission, have finally decided to say, look, bipartisanship is not working. will not work. it won't help the country. it won't get you re-elected. and it's time to say, look, it's the tea party who is frustrating us. it is boehner and cantor who are refusing to deal with us fairly. it is ultraconservatives who are frustrating the will of the people, and i think they're

beginning to get in place their talking points for the 2012 campaign. >> we're having this conversation about the climate that exists right now with regard to the president. given those jobs numbers that came out or lack of jobs numbers this morning, my suspicion is that his opponents will now feel emboldened to go even further in this rashegard? >> oh, i think they will. when you have mitt romney sort of really tearing them up today and romney is by far not the worst person, or the most vicious republican in the field. quite the opposite. but they all feel that they have a wounded president, a vulnerable president, and all they have to do is twist the knife a little more to bring him down. i think they're underestimating just how good a campaigner president obama was last time. he beat hillary clinton, and she was pretty tough to beat. but i really think that they believe they almost cannot lose.

>> and i want to make clear. i thought that the atmosphere that surrounded president bush's administration at the end got way too nasty, but some specifics of the sort of thing we're talking about on president obama's watch, here they are. remember the infamous outburst from representative joe wilson when president obama was speaking before a joint session of congress about his health care plan? it was this -- >> the reforms i'm prosing would not apply to those who are here illegally. >> you lie! >> here's another one. error this summer, representative doug lamborn had to apologize for the president for what he said on a local denver radio program. >> even if some people say republicans should have done this or that, they will hold the president responsible. i don't want to even have to be associated with him. it's like touching a tar baby and you're stuck and you're a part of the problem now. >> there's another criticism of the president during a

congressional debate on the debt ceiling this july. it required representative steve lauderette serving as acting speaker to admonish his fellow republicans. >> disparaging marks directed at the president of the united states are inappropriate. >> only one more, because of a time constraint, not that we don't have a lot more examples. tea party congressman joe walsh in the past accused the president of lying and being ed oddic stirring controversy in a tweet this week saying he wouldn't be a prop for the president. he said he would refuse to attend the president's jobs speech next week and today defended his decision in an interview on msnbc with martin bashir. >> i believe that he's sort of abusing his position here. there's no -- reason for him -- yes. there's no reason for him to call a joint session of congress, martin? my lord. we reserve that for heads of states from dignitaries around the world. presidents in moments of crisis. >> mr. -- this is a moment of

crisis. >> this is a political exercise. this is political theater. this president respectfully has made a career out of simply giving speeches. >> hey, ron reagan, why does it go on? it goes on because it works. i had jon huntsman on my radio program today. here's a guy who can't break ouch the pack and i think, why? because he's saying barack obama is a good guy. he disagrees with him but thinks he's a good by. we were warned of this behavior. >> john monccain da it at town meeting. no. he's a good, decent american. he's just somebody i disagree with. many republicans think that any democrat who gets into the white house is by definition illegitimate. there are republicans who simply feel entitled to the white house. and i get a chill every time i hear president obama now say the word "bipartisan."

what is a bipartisan compromise between, i'd like to have a nice jobs program for america because we have a real unemployment problem and we don't want to do anything to help the economy until after 2012, because we're really only interested in destroying you? where the 50 yard line between those two positions? i can't find it. >> roger simon, any indication from your highly placed source at the white house today with with regard to their response to this behavior, that there will be a change in the president's demeanor? will he continue to pursue what i describe as the reasonable ground or did they give you that story today because they want people to know we're now drawing a line in the sand? >> i can't say for sure as for the president. i think his staff is tired of what has been going on, and would like to see not just his staff, his democratic base would like to see a tougher barack obama. now, that may not be in him. he didn't run a very mean

campaign in 2008. he ran a good campaign, but it wasn't mean. maybe he's going to have to get meaner if he wants to win in 2012, because he certainly doesn't have the economy on his side anymore. >> when you study, ron reagan, those numbers about the president while his disapproval rating is at an all-time high, when you look into some of the cross-tabs you see that many americans continue to like, believe he's a very, a very decent individual. i'm not talking about the hard core opposition that, frankly, will never be dissituated from that opinion. my question is does he run the risk of alienating those people who like him at his core, even if they disagree with his politics, if he changes his demaner? >> no, i don't think so in this case. what roger is suggesting is stru. he needs to be stronger. people vote for the guy, the guy or the woman, who they respect. and what's not happening here is president obama is not getting the respect of the republicans. if he needs to make them fear him in order to get them to respect him, so be it.

then he needs to do that, but he needs to be much more direct about what he wants to do and be very clear about what their agenda is, which is not good for america, at least until after 2012. these are people activity trying to stop him from helping the economy at this point, and he needs to make that clear and he should start in a speech before the joint session. forget the bipartisanship. >> a far cry we are from that scene you've discussed and written about where tip o'neill comes to pay respects at your father's hospital bed, which is really -- >> can't see john boehner doing that for barack obama. >> thank you, men. appreciate it. roger simon and ron reagan. a special reminder now. the republican presidential debate at the reagan library will be right here on msnbc next wednesday at 8:00 p.m. eastern. and then join us thursday night for the president's big jobs speech at 7:00 p.m. eastern. coming up, rick perry's discovering the flip side of being a front-runner. the attacks have begun, and not from democrats. you're watching "hardball," only on msnbc. [ artis brown ] america is facing some tough challenges right now.

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from $10,990. innovation upsized. innovation for all. talk about expectations and confidence in the economy. technically we're not in a recession. try telling that to people who are suffering. a new poll out today says eight in ten americans believe we are in recession and one third of the enc poll think the recession is serious. democrats want the president to focus more on creating jobs while republicans want limb to take care of deficit reduction. no surprises there. we'll be right back. it's powerful relief that works at the site of pain and lasts up to 12 hours. salonpas.

welcome back to "hardball." it's becoming an old story. texas governor rick perry leads the pack of republicans for president. 's in a new fox poll, he's well ahead of challengers. even when you only poll for

candidates who officially announced they're, when they're running, he still remains number one. but here's the new story -- with that front-runner status comes something else. criticism. tea party favorites michele bachmann and sarah palin are both launching attacks on perry. perhaps they feel their appeal slipping as they try to appeal to the same crowd. the president of the bernard center for women politics and public policy and both are msnbc political analysts. i've got to show you this. a pro-bachmann super pac called keep conservatives united. keep that title in mind. keep conservatives unite. >> yeah, right. >> started running an attack ad against rick perry in the early voting state of south carolina. here it is. >> rick perry says he's one tough ombre on spending. >> number one is don't spend all the money. >> but what's his record? rick perry doubled spending in a decade. and this year rick perry's

spending more money than the state takes in. covering his deficit with record borrowing. and he's supposed to be the tea party guy? there is an honest conservative, and she's not rick perry. >> not surprisingly a perry spokesman pushed back saying "governor perry is a proven fiscal conservative having cut taxes, signed six balanced budgets and led texas to become america's top creating state. and bachmann's front-group ad is patently and provably false." if i'm mitt romney i'm loving this. what i was hoping for. >> yes. we'll talk about mitt romney's attack on rick perry, too. mitt romney would want sarah palin fumy in the race. right now rick perry has leapfrogged over mitt romney. front-runner status. he is the tea party candidate that's getting michele bachmann and sarah palin worried, and

it's worrying mitt romney, because he thought he would have already won tea party votes. if he gets in the race, sarah palin shooting at each other with that saloon music behind him. i tlauv in the ad, it's going to help mitt romney. he'll get the non-crazy republican vote, which is not a majority but maybe a plurality and enough to win the contest. >> it suggests the debate next week, maybe the fireworks will really begin? >> i think the fireworks are going to fly. it will be very interesting to watch the dynamic between the candidates, particularly the male/female dynamic. this is still new to us. hillary clinton and sarah palin on the ticket in 2008, and then this year going forward for 2013 12. it will be very interesting to see how the males and females relate to one another in the debate and quite frankly interesting to see how rick perry does bp i suspect he's going to do very well if he is

your cup of tea and pun is intended there, if you can get it, hombre. put it if he is your cup of tea, he's folksy, articulate, he's a good campaigner. people seem to really, really like him. as soon as he entered the race, he just jumped ahead of the entire pack, but then the question is, even if he's a tea party candidate, the big question is, winning the primary is very different than winning a general election and all of this, i think, prnl personally goes to the benefit of mitt romney. >> if i can add, michael. right now the idea of rick perry is what's polling well. >> yes. >> he hasn't campaigned much. he hasn't had a single debate. he's done well in politics. he's, you know, political juggernaut down in taxes. on the national stage, he could wellf up. he still that a way to go -- remember fred thompson. >> a lot of time on the clock. >> you mentioned male/female concept. a report this weekend in an iowa

speech, "palin will lean on loaded phrases like crony capitalism and permanent political class in laying out her view of the u.s. political system's deep-rooted ills though she will not call out perry by name, her rhetoric will leave the attention she may soon draw more overt attention to one of the texan's pore tebl vulnerabilities. call me a sexist. i thought what motivated her on the bus, she couldn't stand michele bachmann getting all the spotlight and notoriety. for her now to go after perry if in fact she does it that will be a surprise to me i. disagree with you. i won't call you a sexist. i can understand how you'd make the connection, but i disagree. personally, i feel that sarah palin has always been motivated by the same things that motivate male politicians. >> what? >> it's power. power. power, power, power. and look at all -- >> money. it's money, money, money power.

>> look at all the money she's making. sarah palin -- for the people who members of the tea party, they love her. they feel that the earth oui revolves around sarah palin. she didn't possibly win a general election f. it were about power she would have kept the job she had and continued to serve in that regard. >> is they more powerful, frankly, running or not running, whatever you want to call it she's doing, on a national ticket, rather than being governor of alaska? she's got a national voice now. >> right now she has the power of celebrity which is the no the same thing as the power of government or politics. i will say this about sarah palin. when she attacks being part of the permanent political class, she has lots of standing because she left that before her job was even over. >> let me ask, we love playing palinologists. trying to figure out what motivates her. is it bhoopossible what motivat

her is because she regards herself as the mother of the tea party movement? >> and the queenmaker. >> the idea the support from the tea party could so quickly go to rick perry a newby in this regard, she can't take that? >> there's a poll out today on another network, which will go unnamed that says that 71% of republicans, of republicans, do not want her to run for president. >> but it doesn't matter. >> it doesn't matter to her. >> it doesn't matter. >> she can get in the race and see her standing even with the tea party folks fall, which would be less money and maybe less power for her. >> i say it never happens but i wonder what it does for the brand, if in the end she doesn't do it. >> this divide and conquer. she will plit the tea party vote and all of this will be wonderful for mitt romney. >> listen, dick cheney weighed in on sarah palin on the laura ingram program and here's what he had to say about the former alaska governor. >> well, i've never gotten around to question of her having

left the governorship of alaska mid-term. i've never heard that adequately explained, so that i could understand. >> confusing. >> that first term, she decided to step down, and still be -- i'd like to know more about that. >> i never understood it either. >> no one understood it. actually, i can give you weren't very, very simple explanation. she left so she could earn a lot of money, and that's what she's done. she's been highly successful, when it comes to pocket change in the purse, but, you know, for a politician, for someone who maybe aspires to be the leader of the free world, she does have a lot of explaining to do that goes beyond the power of the purse. >> after she left, one reason she gave, in an interview was, that the media attacking her all the time, it was lard to do her job. so itbetter for the people of alaska for her to leave. what would that say of her being a presidential candidate or the

president? you don't think the media will take a few shots at you? it showed a real lack of spine, a misjudgment. i don't think she's ever recovered from it, except when it comes to her bank account. >> absolutely. >> it will be interesting to watch all of them, but in particular, i'm watching mitt romney next week, because if there are fireworks between, say, bachmann and perry, then he can sit back and allow them to do his dirty work. but if they don't if they dough pawlenty in the debate, then he's going have to step up and bring the lumber, or it's going to continue to be rick perry. >> michael, he may not have to do it just yet. he can wait to see how perry does in the first debate or two, but pretty soon, if there's no change here, and he's in second place, he's going to have to take him on directly, which means taking on the tea party. >> david corn, thank. michelle bernard as well. appreciate seeing both ever you. up next, michele bachmann is joining the ranks of another famous historical figure. according to her that is.

it's in the "sideshow," and you're watching "hardball," only on msnbc. [ male announcer ] this...is the network. a living, breathing intelligence that is helping business rethink how to do business. in here, inventory can be taught to learn. ♪ in here, machines have a voice... ♪ [ male announcer ] in here, medical history follows you... even when you're away from home. it's the at&t network -- a network of possibilities, creating and integrating solutions, helping business, and the world...work. rethink possible.

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welcome back to "hardball." time now for the "sideshow." first up, it's common for gop candidate michele bachmann to invoke classic american heros to inspire audiences on the campaign trail, albeit with a few history snafus along the way. yesterday bachmann dug into her history grag bb bag and pulled a heroine. >> margaret thatcher, the military greatness of the nation during a consecutive time period. we're in a similar time period and we need strong, viable leadership to see that return again today. both with military and with our economy. they're both tremendous examples. >> the iron lady, margaret thatcher. who knew bachmann was getting at something much larger when she

described her own titanium spine as part of an ent view a couple weeks ago? next up, the struggle to be first in line does not end in elementary school. arizona governor jan brewer is considering moving up her state's primary to the end ever january stepping on the sensitive toes of traditional early voting states, like iowa, new hampshire and south carolina, which guard their early positions like the family jewels. well, let the race begin. what can south carolina gop chairman have to say about brewer's intentions? i don't care what date they pick. we're going to jump them. we're going to be the first in the south. one group that dreads this game of leapfrog, the media. reporters would prefer not to spend christmas and new year's in iowa and new hampshire away from their families. now, for the big number. we the people. that's what the white house is calling a new feature on its website that allows individuals to create and sign on issues important to them. it if with 30 days a petition reached a certain number of

signatures, the white house guarantees that policy officials will then review and respond on the topic. so what's the magic number of names to a petition to garner attention? 5,000 signatures. quite a bit of legwork in 30 days. 5,000 signatures. that's tonight's big number. up next, house majority leader eric cantor is catching it from both sides now for insitting that hurricane disaster aid be offset by spending cuts elsewhere. are republicans really going to keep playing games while thousands are suffering? you're watching "hardball." only on msnbc. the outside looks good... let's see the engine.

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i'm oriel morrison with your cnbc market wrap. zero growth jobs report. a federal agency suing big banks and mixing wacker than expected

corporate earnings august of these heading into a long holiday weekend and here's what you get. the dow jones industrial plunging 253 points. s&p 500 tumbling 30 and the nasdaq giving up 65. that jobless reports left unemployment at 9.1%. ton top of that, jobs for june and july revised sharply lower. also the federal housing finance agency announcing lawsuits against some of the big banks accusing them of misrepresenting the quality of their mortgage-backed securities. meanwhile, netflix plunged after its key content provider said it will full its movies in february. and tax preparer h&r block led the s&p lower after reporting a wider lower than expected loss. that's cnbc business, first in business worldwide. now back to "hardball."

welcome back to "hardball." house majority leader eric cantor had the democrats an irresistible issue saying money to pay for hurricane irene would have to be offset by spending cuts. listen to this. >> this is a time in an appropriate instance where there's an appropriate federal government role. those monies are unlimited and we've always said we've offset that which has always been funded. just like any family would operate when it struck with disaster. it finds the money it needs to take care of a sick loved one or what have you and finds a way to go without buying a new car or put an addition ones house. >> suggesting cantor is heartless since he asked for aid wound offsets, but now seeing it as bad policy and bad politics. joining me to talk about this,

democratic congressman frank of new jersey and roll call associate eder christina belentony. i'm envious of brian williams. this would be a great debate question to ask next week at the reagan library of the gop candidates. do you agree with what you just heard in that sound bite from congressman cantor? >> that's exactly what the democrats are hoping will end up happening. they want to sort of push a divide between house leadership and cantor and obviously speaker boehner and the republican governors who asked for aid. the kbigest difference, chris christie from new jersey really talking about, we need aid no matter what happens. but i think it's important to point out that cantor's office has spent multiple times saying, of course he would support this. he was talking hypothetically. there hasn't been a request from the president yet, and walking that back a little bit. of course, the democrats are wanting to use the earlier statement and wants everyone to

cover it. >> it makes sense. we shouldn't spend that which we don't have. i don't think americans want to hear that relative to fema while americans are flooded and without power and suffering? >> right. that's the key. allowing the additional process when we have disaster aid, an emergency appropriations bill which appropriates the money without going through the regular budget process so it immediately goes out to the states and people in need. he has not indicated he's willing to do that and i think he's indicating just the opposite. that's thought what we do. when we have a disaster, we don't hold the budget process hostage, if you will. we say we're going to do an emergency appropriation. we're going to get that money out right away and that's what we're going to demand, and the fact he does, may not be willing to go along with that is pretty tragic, given the need. >> here comes now the politics associated with the issue. the democratic congressional campaign committee that challenged 25 east coast republicans whose districts were

hit by irene to stand with cantor or to publicly oppose him. an example. congressman scott rigell stand against the republican leader eric cantor's outrageous position that hurricane irene disaster relief cannot be funded until after house republicans make draconian spending cuts to things like -- now demanding more spending cuts before ensuring fema can act. christina, seep seems that's go be a successful political strategy? >> maybe. i wouldn't necessarily say that immediately. part of it is the press release has to be happy. this has gotten a lot of coverage today. you already have congresswoman a republican from new york, that's already said, she would not support this if it weren't for certain offsets. most of the other republican members of congress are waiting back and seeing. this is an area where cantor specifically can sort of have his cake and eat it, too, more

than likely, congress is going to approve disaster aid for this major hurricane, which has caused so much damage across the east coast, and rivaling costs of some other very major, major tragedies and so i think congress is going to ultimately approve this and cantor's district could benefit from the it, but he may not have to vote for it. >> i don't think cantor can stand to be seen as being on the opposite side of the fence from the governor of your state. the republican governors had already expressed displeasure with the plan to offset disaster aid with the budget cuts, and here's governor chris christie earlier this week delivering what seemed to me to be a message aimed directly at what we're describing? >> want to figure out budget cuts, that's fine. you're going to turn into a fiasco like the debt limit thing, fighting each other for weeks and you expect the citizens move state to wait? they're not going to wait and i'm going to fight to make sure they don't. >> your thoughts on the

governor's comments? >> he's pointing out this should bypass the regular budget process. i mean, keep in mind that under bush the republicans never asked that in an emergency that we not go ahead and bypass the regular budget process and have these offsets. also, the war. during the republican -- during the bush administration, afghanistan and iraq, they were all financed through emergency appropriations along with disaster aid. so the idea that we should wait around until the regular budget process and have offsets, we've never done this before. we always you know, even in the case of the war, certainly in any disaster, we always said we're going to do an emergency appropriation, and that's been the precedent. so i think now what's happening is that cantor has gone along with the tea party agenda. which basically says there's no role for government. why do we have to do anything special in this case? and that's not what we do. we have to get this aid out to the people in need. >> christina, i think this issue

transcends typical rs versus zs. let me show you. a "usa today" editorial saying it would indeed be unconscionable to hold up aid for victims of hurricane irene for compassionate reasons and it adds up to just a tine fraction of federal spending. the bigger question about cantor's pay as you go approach is why he picks fema to make the point which much more costly items, wars, the congressman mentioned, health care and tax kutsz to name a few, routinely get a pass and not just from democrats. >> yeah. this is why i would venture to say this aid will ultimately pass and i think it's an interesting example how gridl k gridlocked congress is. even arg guying about this when it's probably something the majority of congress would support and could probably pass quickly as the congressman pointed out. it shows the tea party has an element of this. they are clamoring against spending. they say it's too much. they're already trying to petition this new deficit

committee that's going to start meeting later this week. next week. and that is an issue where it's very difficult for anything to get done when you have so many competing pressures. >> thank you. thank you both for your time. appreciate you being here. coming up, why the re-emergence of former president bush and his vice president dick cheney might be a good thing? this is "hardball," only on msnbc. a budget. like a ramen noodle- every-night budget. she thought allstate car insurance was out of her reach. until she heard about the value plan. dollar for dollar, nobody protects you like allstate. and see katie before she goes home. [ male announcer ] with integrated healthcare solutions from dell, every file is where dr. ling needs it. now she can spend more time with patients and less time on paperwork. dell. the power to do more.

less than a year after they began distributing private government documents to select media outlets wikileaks today published its entire collection of secret u.s. diplomatic cables without redactions. more than 250,000 cables, the entire cache of files downloaded illegally from the government files are now publicly available and searchable online. the cables consist of prichbt communiques between state department officials and political officers in embassies around the world. we'll be right back.

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[ female announcer ] something unexpected to the world of multigrain... taste. ♪ delicious pringles multigrain. with a variety of flavors, multigrain pops with pringles. of course, a lotofyou guy, in the limelight. colin powell, condoleezza rice ta talk. this is like your family. does it bother you? >> no, i put my version out there. i did the same thing. eventually historical analysts -- >> that was former president bush on fox and friends yesterday, and here's one of the examples of the family feuding he was talking ak. this is former vice president cheney talking about condoleezza rice admitting allegedly that he'd been right about how to

handle fallout from the infamous 16 words the president spoke about iraq and uranium in that state of the union address. >> she came into my office, sat down in the chair next to my desk and tearfully admitted, i had been right. was she crying? >> she was tearful. that's what i wrote. if i'd wanted to say she was crying, i would have said she was crying. >> you know that 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. >> rice fired back yesterday in a reuter's interview saying i don't ever remember coming to the vice president tearfully about anything, in the entire eight years i knew him. "washington post" columnist eugene robinson writes there might be a bright side to the re-emergence of our president

and vice president for democrats's in today's column he says, thank you, george w. bush and dick cheney to remind us how we got into this mess. it doesn't happen by accident. welcome, executive editor at politico and u yeeugene. to the gop base, they're thrilled to have them back. >> great. i'm not sure that independents are thrilled to have them back. i think democrats probably are thrilled to have them back. look, one figure that's been pretty consistent in polls is if you ask people about the bush administration, who's responsible for sinking the economy, for example, they say it was george bush. they don't say it was barack obama. so from the democrats' point of view, the bush administration coming back, i think, is all for the good. >> jim does that get tired between now and 14 months now on

election day? does what gene just said, will that remain true through november of 2012? >> it could remain true. i don't know if it's that relevant to elections right now. i think president bush's issues are his own standing. that's what he has to deal with. when you think about cheney and bush you have to put them in two different categories. cheney certainly re-emerged. he has a book and the same fighting spirit of a year very it stay out of any political fights. he is reemerging for interviews around 9/11. that's probably all you will hear from him. i have talked it many republicans who would love to do fund-raisers, speeches, getting them to write letters. he doesn't want to. >> you don't think that he will in 2012? as i'm thinking about this, i'm reminded of being in minneapolis st. paul on the first day of the republican convention in '08.

and was it hurricane gustav, all of a sudden hit part of the country, and president bush didn't speak at the convention. the reason i bring it up, is one wonders which role president bush, vice president cheney will play in the cup jumping election. what thoughts do you have? >> i don't expect president bush it play a huge role. certainly he may at some point say he supports the republican nominee, if indeed he does support the republican nominee. or want to give that sort of support. but as jim said, he has been quite careful to act ex presidential and to kind of keep his distance from partisan politics in that way. >> jim, you remember the debate issue? or pardon me, the convention issue that i raised? because it was an easy out, frankly. there was a storm, a bad storm, but also relieving of a burden that gop had at the time because his numbers were terrible at the time. >> right. i think what's different, what's different now is that

republicans actually would like him around. where as in 2008, they probably did not. it is not rehabilitated his image. i do think there is a slight uptake in people's personal feelings in bush since he left office. his plan from the beginning is, i will disappear from the national stage. i don't want to be engaged from politics. i think he authentically does not want to be engaged. it is not a hard thing for him to do. and that over time history will make his judgment. heck, he said that while he was in office. cheney said that differently. he went silent for a little wipe pl but there's been different points where he's come out and made very strong charges, very strong defenses of bush policy, particularly on terrorism and done it because he wants it pick a fight and believes very strongly in the righteousness of what he feels they did when he was in office. that's what his entire book is about. >> i think you're right to say they need to be perceived separately. because my perspective, it seems

like vice president cheney relishes this fight. you know, eugene, i watch these interviews. it seems to me he is having the time of his life. >> he does relish this fight. though, i'm not sure why he is picking on condoleezza rice in that way. i know condoleezza rice. it is hard for me to imagine her going tearfully to dick cheney about anything. that is hard for me to fathom. but i find it interesting that he is not just settling scores with his political opponents and the other party but with his fellow cabinet members in the administration. >> your column concludes having bush and cheney reappear as a reminder to step back and look at what obama is up against. you might want to cut him a little bit of slack. >> we have a big kerfuffle for a couple of days over whether the jobs speech is going to be on a wednesday or thursday. you know, it is a legitimate story. but we should just keep in mind, there's a larger context here.

there is a situation that the president didn't just inherit, but a potential economic collapse, and we should keep that context in mind as we cover the day-to-day back and forth of politics. >> my hunch is that your column is a preview of coming attractions as to what we are hearing in the next cupping months. thank you eugene robinson. have a good labor day weekend. when we return, allow me to fin wisht kplefrmity of the jon huntsman presidential campaign. you're watching "hardball" only on msnbc. [ male announcer ] this is the network. a network of possibilities.

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let me finish tonight with a word on the candidacy of jon huntsman. so far the utah governor, former utah governor, has run a textbook campaign. unfortunately that textbook is a guide to competing in the general election. and not the primary. everything that distinguishes him with an electorate looking for balance and moderation is to the conservative base that dominates the gop landscape, that a candidate as qualified as huntsman has yet to earn more than 4% in a national poll is the latest proof of the sure purity demanded by the republican base. rupts huntsman is smart, graduating from the ooust of pennsylvania, executive experience after serving as immensely popular chief executive in utah. his stint in the commerce department gave him some business bona fides. he has extensive foreign policy

experience. he served as bam bass dor to singapore when he was just 32. and yes, the emerging super power in the far east, huntsman's time as barack obama's ambassador to china is an asity, not a liability. he calls himself a main stream con sefbtive but that went out long before slin and christine o'donnell. he believes climate change is for real. defended compromised plans to raise the debt ceiling and would like our troops out of afghanistan quickly. he believes in evolution. calling it part of god's plan. and thinks that michele bachmann's promise to lower gas prices to $2 per gallon is isn't grounded in reality. and that rick perry's quote, almost traes onnist refer el a ben bernanke was inserious. he would like to simplify the tax system an by the way the wall street journal deeming his economic plan quote certainly better than that of any of the presidential pierce. he regards his opponents as