>> although the new york department of corrections says it has worked hard to implement programs to assist its offenders, almost half of the inmates will be re-arrested within a year. that's our report. thanks for watching. i'm john seigenthaler. the republicans versus president obama. is it personal? rets play some "hardball." good evening, mime michael in for chris matthews, leading off tonight, dising the president of the united states.

john bainor's refusal to allow a wednesday job's speech was more of an example of the republicans just saying no to anything that president obama wants. it's not clear all the republicans consider him to be legitimate. it's personal, political or in some cases, racist and what can the president do to turn this around or push back -- hard. and also, rick perry is about to feel the heat. >> rick perry doubled spending in a a dick aid. and this year, rick perry's spending more money than he takes in. covering his deficits with record borrowing. >> that's not from the dnc. that's from michele bachmann's pac and word is that sarah palin is about to go after perry as well. it's not easy being a front-runner and eric cantor is getting it if all sides, democrats and republicans alike are taking it to cantor by insisting that fema money for

hurricane irene victims has to be offset by spending cuts elsewhere. and no new jobs created, reminds everyone how tough times are. but the weekend, some say let's remember who got us here. the two guys who have been on tv much of the week, george w. bush and dick cheney. and 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 be elected might not get nominated. we start with the disrespect shown towards president obama. roger simon is chief analyst for politico and ron reagan is a poli something from the "new york times" that ran today. it says that american presidents often have highly disagreeable relationships with members of congress from the opposing party. but while most of those fights stem 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 during, as there is under any president. but not, not to the sort of level that we see today. and not with the tone of disrespect that i think we see today. i mean, i'm astonished, really by the level of pettiness on the part of the republicans and again, the tone that they take. this starts with some of the bloviators on right-wing radio who virtually 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 presidential speech, is a pretty good example of this. it was not like this during my father's administration. >> what's amazed me are those who openly pray for, request that he fail. all the while congratulating one

another for their relative level of patriotism. >> that's quite, they've made this quite obvious, mitch mcconnell said from the outset that job one for the republicans, was getting rid of barack obama. you would think that maybe they were interested in national security or improving the economic picture. but apparently it's just all about getting rid of him. yeah, 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. 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 you 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 doth 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, 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 the jobs numbers or lack of jobs numbers this morning. my suspicion is that his opponents will now feel emboldened to go even further in this regard. >> oh, i think they will. i mean, he's, you know, you have a mitt romney sort of really tearing him 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 cheer, i

thought 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 proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally. >> you lie! [ crowd booing ] >> here's another one. earlier this summer, representative doug lambborn had to apologize to the president for what he said on a local denver radio program. >> even if some people say the republicans should have done this or they should have done that, they will hold the president responsible. now i don't want to even have to be associated with him, it's like touching a tar baby and you get, you're stuck and you're part of the problem now. >> there's another criticism of the president, a congressional

debate on the debt ceiling, this july, it required a representative serving as an active speaker to serve an admonishment to the republicans. >> disparaging remarks directed at the president of the united states are inappropriate. >> why does it go on? it goes on because it works. >> i had jon huntsman on my program today. here's a guy who can't break out of the pack. why? because he says barack obama is a good guy. >> john mccain did the same thing last time, at a town hall meeting when barack obama was identified as a muslim terrorist. he said no, he's a good, decent american, he's just somebody i disagree with. but there are many republicans who think 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, i get a chill every time i hear president obama now say the word "bipartisan."

what is the bipartisan compromise between i'd like to have a nice jobs program for america, because we've got a real unemployment here. 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's the 50 yard line between those two positions? i can't find it. >> roger simon, did you get any indication from your highly-placed source at the white house today, with regard to their response to this sort of 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 because they want people to know, we're now drawing a line in the sand? >> i can't say for sure as to 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 any more. >> when you study, ron reagan, the numbers about his president, while his disapproval rating is attian all-time high. when you look into the cross-tabs, you see that many americans continue to like, believe he's a very, very decent individual. i'm not talking about the hard-core opposition that frankly will never be dissuaded from that opinion. i guess 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 demeanor? >> no. i don't think so in this case. what roger is suggesting is true. he needs to be stronger. people vote for 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 who are actively trying to stop him from helping the economy at this point. and he needs to make that clear. and he should start in his speech before the joint session. forget the bipartisanship. >> a far cry we are from that scene that you've discussed and written about, where tip o'neil comes to pay his respects at your father's hospital bed. >> i can't see john boehner doing that for barack obama. no. >> thank you, men, appreciate you roger simon and ron reagan being here. a schedule reminder, the presidential republican debate at the reagan library will be hee at msnbc at 8:00 p.m. eastern and thursday night, the president's big jobs speech at 7:00 p.m. eastern. coming up, rick perry is

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hey, welcome back to "hardball." it's becoming an old story, texas governor, rick perry, leads the pack of republicans running for president, in the new fox news poll, he's well ahead of challengers. even when you only poll for candidates who have officially announced 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. michelle bernard is president of the bernard center for women, politics and public policy and david corn is the washington bureau chief for "mother jones." a pro bachmann super pac

entitled -- keep conservatives united. has started running an attack ad against rick perry in the earl will i voting state of south carolina. >> double spending in a decade. and this year, rick perry is spending more money than the state takes in. covering his deficits 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 many congresswoman's bachmann's front-group ad is patently false. does not run deficits, and limits spending, even as texas

added jobs and population in big numbers. david corn, if i'm mitt romney, i'm loving this. this is what i was hoping for. >> we'll talk about sarah palin's attack, too, on rick perry in a moment. i think he wants mitt romney would want sarah palin just fully in the race. right now, rick per were has leap-frogged over mitt romney. front-runner status, the tea party candidate that's getting michele bachmann and sarah palin worried. if he gets a few into the race, if sarah palin joins in, and they all start shooting at each other with that sloon music behind them, i love that in the the ad. it will help mitt romney. he'll got the noncrazy republican vote. which is not a majority, but it may be enough to help him win some contests. >> and michelle bernard, i guess next week the fireworks are going to begin. >> i think the fireworks 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 2012, it will be interesting to see how the males and females relate to one another in the next debate. and quite frankly, it will be very interesting to see how rick perry does. i suspect he's going to do very well if he is your cup of tea and pun is intended there, in case you didn't get it, hombre. he's folksy, articulate, a good campaigner. people seem to really like him. as soon as he entered the race, he jumped ahead of the entire pack in the polls. but then again, 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 personally inures to the benefit of mitt romney. >> and right now the idea of rick perry is what's polling well. i mean he hasn't campaigned yet,

he hasn't been in a single debate. he's done well in politics, he's a political juggernaut down in texas. but when he gets on the national stage, he could well up. people said about fred thompson before the debates. so he still has a way to go to prove himself. >> a lot of time on the clock. >> michelle, you mentioned the male/female dynamics. let's talk about one of the females. scott con roy reports that this weech in an iowa speech, palin will lean on loaded phrases like crony capitalism and permanent political class. though she will not call perry out by name, palin's carefully-crouched rhetoric wil attention to the texan's popularity as a candidate. >> i thought what motivated her to continue to get on the bus was that she couldn't stand for michele bachmann to get all the spotlight. toor her to go after perry, that

will be a surprise to me. >> i've got to tell you, i disagree with you. i won't call awe sexist. i understand how you could make the connection. but i disagree. personally, i feel that sarah palin has always been motivated by the same things that motivate male politicians. it's power, power. power, power, power. >> see never -- >> and frankly look at -- >> what about money? >> look at all of the money she's making, sarah palin, for the people who are members of the tea party, they love her. they feel that, the moon and the earth revolve around sarah palin. >> michelle, if it were about power, she would have kept the job she had and continued to serve in that regard. >> but here's the question, isn't she more powerful, frankly, running on a, running or not running, whatever you want to call it that 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 celeb rilt. which is not the same thing as

the power of government or politics. i will say this about sarah palin. when she attacks someone for being part of the permanent political class, she's got lots of standing, she left that class before her job was even over. >> we love playing paleontologists, i acknowledge it. is it possible that what motivates her is that she regards herself as the mother of the tea party movement? and the idea -- >> as the queen-maker. >> and the idea that the support from the tea party could so quickly go to rick perry, who is a newbie in this regard, she can't take that. >> i think there's a poll out today on another network, which will go unnamed, that says that 71% of republicans, republicans, do not want her to run for president. >> but it doesn't matter to her. >> it may not matter to her. >> but she could get in the race and she could see her standing, even with the tea party folks fall, which would be less money and maybe less power for her. >> i still say it never happens.

david corn, thank you as always, michelle bernard, appreciate seeing both of you. up next, michele bachmann is joining the ranks of another historical figure. go figure, according to her, that is. it's in the side show, and you're watching "hardball" only on msnbc.

hey, welcome back to "hardball." time for the side show. first up, it's become pretty common for gop candidate, michele bachmann to invoke classic american heroes to inspire audiences on the campaign trail. albeit with a few history snafus along the way. yesterday, bachmann pulled out a heroen from across the atlantic. >> both ronald reagan and margaret thatcher contributed mightily to restoring the economic greatness to the nation. we're in a similar time period and we need to have strong,

volleyball leadership to see that return today. both with military and our economy, they're both tremendous examples. >> the iron lady, margaret thatcher. who knew that bachmann was getting at something much larger when she described her own titanium spine in an interview a couple of 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 of january. stepping on the sensitive toes of traditional early states like iowa, new hampshire and south carolina, which guard their early positions like the family jewels. well let the race begin. what did south carolina gop chairman have to say about brewer's intentions? i don't care what date they pick, we're going to jump 'em. we're going to be the first in the south. one group that dreads this game of leapfrog, the media. the 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 petitions on issues important to them. if within 30 days a petition has reached a certain number of signatures, the white house guarantees that policy officials will review and respond on the topic. so what's the magic number of backers for a petition to garner some attention? 5,000 signatures, quite a bit of legwork in 30 days. 5,000 signatures, that's tonight's big number. that's all for "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. up next, your business with jj ramberg. are you taking warfarin to reduce your risk of stroke caused by a clot? you should know about pradaxa. an important study showed that pradaxa 150mg 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 doctors 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. for more information or help paying for pradaxa, visit pradaxa.com.

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