republican party of linking and teddy roosevelt. it now the tea party, has it become the when i party? has the modern republican party been taken over by those that see government as evil? whether you listen to congresswoman bachmann speaking of having taken a job in the irs with the single purpose of studying the enemy. are you listening to republicans? or to something more rad cat, something a traditional republican would hear as alien. here's what i'm hearing. ask a regular republican to choose between palin and obama. she'll say grudgingly, okay, obama. ask her to choose between obama and rick perry, and she'll start to think. that's where we are politically in this week in this country. that's "hardball" for now.

thank for being with you. glad to be back from vacation. "politics nation" with al sharpton starts right now. tonight they get down to business, protecting the american worker s. daring rpg to get in their way. mitt romney unveils his job plan. why start creating jobs now, willard? plus shocking new tapes from inside the tea party retreat. did they really compare president obama to saddam husse hussein? you know it's getting back for michele bachmann when someone on

her own payroll says it's all about perry and romney. glee welcome to "politics nation." the president has laid down the gauntlet for republicans. >> we'll see if they'll put country before party. we'll give them a plan and they'll say, do you want to create jobs? then put our construction workers back to work rebuilding america. do you want to help our company succeed? open up any markets for them to sell their products. you say you're is the party of tax cuts, well, then prove you'll fight just as hard for tax cuts for middle-class

companies as you do for oil companies. show us what you've got. >> that last part is important. president obama challenged republicans to fight as hard for the middle class as they do for oil companies and the wealthy they sent the president a list the proposals they think he should consider. a lot of those measures, you guessed it, help all companies and the wealthy? some of the bills expand gas and drilling. another cuts back on financial regulation. it's clear republicans have no interest in cooperating. some don't even want to hear him speak. that apparently now includes tea party favorite senator jim demint. >> are you going to go to the speech? >> i doubt it. >> really? >> if he sent a written proposal over first, i would hear him

explain it, but frankly right now, i'm so frustrated, i don't think i'm going to go. >> let's hope they do listen to the american people. 62% support the job training. they also back an extension of unemployment benefits and the payroll tax cuts. the american people have rejected the tea party republican agenda. which is why we heard some feisty words this weekend from james hoffa. if we keep the eye on the prize, let's take these son of bitches out. >> joining me is richard trumka.

we want him to be the leader we know we can be, we want hem to be bold and be aggressive. he that is to give the worker hope that he's going to fight for them, make them believe he's going to fight for those jobs, no matter what the republicans do. let's just review something for just 30 seconds when you have george bush came out of office through fewer jobs than when he went in. mitt romney, boehner and all of them want to take those same exact policies that didn't create jobs look, he's going to have a plan that will be a step in the right direction, and all

americans ought to get up and push it. i think those politicians will be judged harshly, not only by history, but also by the american public if they stand in the way of job creation and putting millions babb to wok. >> you said earlier this year you challenged this, and i think it was an appropriate challenge if leaders aren't blocking the wrecking ball, and advancing working families' interests, working people will not support them. this will be our focus. our role is not to build the power of a political party or a candidate. you've made it clear and said it everywhere, you come around the country, that you're about protecting working people's interests. do you now feel that those interests will lie in the reelection of president obama? >> well, i think we'll find out about that.

president obama has been a friend for us. i don't make that decision alone and chances are it will happen that he'll be reendorsed. buzz what we need from him to make that happen and to get the energy level up and get the enthusiasm of working people up, whether union or not union, is to lead this thursday, show people he's serious about creating jobs, give us a bold proposal and be aggressive about it, just like he was yesterday. >> now we're beginning to see some members align of various parts of the progressive community civil rights label, you spoke -- we've been talking about job marches together, because a lot of us see that what the right wing is doing is really trying to uproot and dismantle what all of us believe in. james hoffa, who heads the

teamsters outlined it this way. he says, we didn't start this war. the right wing did. my comments on labor day in detroit echo the anger and frustration of american workers who are under attack by corporate-funded politicians who want to destroy the mittle class. a lot of people are focusing in on his words, and i tell people that i've learned how to be careful with your words, but the whole climate of a battle here really didn't start from this side of the political debate. it's really started from those that wanted to declare a real affront at the things that are the underpinnings of the middle class american life. >> absolutely. with the koch brothers, with a group call alek, they had a seminar where they brought 2,000 of the republican state legislators in, gave them hundreds of bills on how to destroy the progressive voices.

it's not just labor. it's trying to do the voter i.d. bills that would disenfranchise large portions of the american public. take wisconsin, which is a fairly progressive state. the i.d. bill would disenfranchise 75% of the elderly, 78% of african-american males between 18 and 24. it would disenfranchise a number of latino women. it's about silencing their voice, getting them not to vote. if they suppress the vote, this el can win elections. they know if more people come out and participate in democracy, they have a tough time selling that many americans on the notions of their tired failed policies that got us into this trouble in the first place. i. >> i think that's exactly what they're doing. i think it's to bring us back to the pre-1960s, 1950 america

where we didn't have an inclusive democratic voting conditions in this country. but what do we do about it? how do we stop this move that they're making in terms of voter i.d. and voter denial, and stopping same-day voter registration? what do we do, mr. trumka? >> i think what tweefb doing i. members selfthe community, people that want to help create jobs and help main street are coming together. we're educating our members, educating the general public, and we're going to mobilize them. that's what we're trying to do, al. in my history, this is the most i can remember the afl-cio being of the people, by the people and for the people. we're going to speak to union workers and non-union workers and get them to come out in large numbers to protect the american way of life, to protect the middle class, and to help us

create jobs, so that the 25 millions americans out there that are either underemployed or not employed can get back to work. >> one of things we saw, but ohio, indiana, other places, is that labor aside -- where were it's clearly the policy dispute, politically you've been the ones that have been the backbone in terms of resources in helping to even the plays field. when is look at the ten largest contributors to what was in the given political landscape, only two of the top ten -- three of the top ten, forgive me, were supported quote liberal or

progressive side, all thee of them were union. seiu, afscme, and the nea. also were conservative groups looks the chamber of commerce, crossroads, and in many ways, aside from the policy difference, i would suspect, and i'm subject to conspiracy sometimes, that they want to try to break the unions, because it also stops the resources of the opposition. >> absolutely. they attack us in 20-some states that we have to defend ourselves, and you use the resources up to that you would use to educate. they try to get you to eat them up, but in this case it actually backfired. not only did it energized our members, it energized the general public. small business people, members of the religious community, all

coming together to say you have overreached, we've had enough of this stuff, we elected you to create jobs, not make war on workers, and try to take away the only ladder that a lot of americans have into the middle class, and that's a union. we didn't elect you for in a, so we're going to come after you. look at what happened in wisconsin. >> i think you're right, but i think you hit it on the head with these moves to try to disenfranchise voters, and going after unions with the resources. it's like they handcuffed your wrist and shackled your legs, and say let's have a fair fight, and speak nicely to me. richard trumka, thanks for your time. >> thanks for having me on. ahead, today romney unveiled his jobs plan. we'll have the details.

rick perry is cleaning up with the tea party crowd, but now he'll have to debate. and secret new tapes from inside the billionaire koch brothers retreat. the secret audio shows just how extreme they are. you're watching "politics nation" on msnbc.

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even though mitt romney is now getting trounced in the polls by rick perry, he's still pretending his only opponent is president obama. just two days before the president unveiled his jobs plan, romney rolled out his own. >> he'll be giving a speech in a couple days. i know what's coming -- i haven't read it, i know what's coming. i've seen versus 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. his strategy is a payphone strategy and we're in a smartphone world. >> romney brags he has 59

specific proposals to create jobs butt in fact they include zero new ideas. he's simply recycling the trickle-down economics. he wants to deregulate business, limits unions, cut government spending and of course lower taxes for his friends. remember what he said about them? >> we could raise taxes on people -- >> corporations. >> corporations are people, my friend. we can raise taxes -- of course they are. willard mitt romney is pretending he has an incredible plan to create jobs, the same way this multimillionaire pretended to know what it's like to be unemployed. >> well, maybe i should also tell my story, i'm also

unemployed. >> joining mess is malika from "the washington post," and syndicated columnist bob franken. are you surprised his job plan is aimed at corporate interests? >> well, unfortunately most of the corporations thinks days are laid laid off people except for a few at the top whose idea of a job plan is to hire a few people to build an extension to their mansions and maybe work for minimum wage, and that's only because they can't get rid of the minimum wage. the simple fact is quorpgss in today's society are really just financial instruments, the play things for the wealthy to get wealthier. >> when we look at former governor romney's record, look at the state of massachusetts and we look at where they are, 47 out of 50 in job growth. he has these plans for job creation, it seems like if he had them, they would have worked

when he was governor, because there's nothing he's saying now that's new, and they've already been tried in the state he was governor at. >> well, reverend, you're saying exactly what governor rick perry said a couple minutes on a statement after romney's speech, he released a statement that essentially said if these ideas are so great, why was your state 47th in job creation. one of the things you see from romney is he's clearly trying to pivot away from his record in massachusetts, and really focus on his background as a businessman. i think the question will be you have a challenge is a tea party is fueled by populism. i think the argument that he's a turnaround artist and he is coming as a ceo will really fall on deaf ears for a lot of folks in the tea party. that's why you see that giant spread between perry and romney in these polls. >> let me bring up -- you let me

bring up some sound bites so people can see this kind of sniping at one another that perry and romney have engaged in. look at what perry had to say about governor romney. >> there's, you know, one in particular that's created jobs all over the world. but while he was the governor of massachusetts, he didn't create very many jobs. >> i don't think a career politician can fix what career politicians have messed up. i think it takes someone outside of politics, and i am to a great degree. >> this is great. we're seeing them go after each other, and with rick perry, it wasn't even veiled. they're debating tomorrow night. i can't way to see this tremendous display of republican disunity right in everybody's living room. but the fact of 9 matter is that rick perry has taken a pretty

sizable lead, bob. if he holds this can he win the general election. >> it's like that old country and western song, rick perry can say i was right wing extremist before it was cool. and mitt romney is somebody who's decided i think i'll try to play that game. this will be one of those rare occasions where you'll hear sarah palin quoted favorably. well, i think you're right, but sarah palin toured this weekend, but she didn't enter the race. there is someone in the race, nia, named michele bachmann. remember her? it looks like other people are forgetting her. where does bachmann fit in, and how does bachmann in terms of what she represents, i'm not even talking about the politics

perry has not come out with one, so with all of this about the president and the job plan and where are the jobs, we only see one plan, and that's a microwave warmed-up version of what he's been saying and not delivering on for a while. the ear person is jon huntsman. he seems to be fading fast, though. bachmann, i say a credible argument can be made that she may have peaked in iowa, with this ames straw poll. she had a victory there, but since rick perry entered the race, he's pretty much blotted out the sun in terms of her supporters. she has nearly half the support

she had before, so it's difficult to see how she gets back in it. we've had some sniping with her supporters, but we'll see how that plays out in the detomorrow. you saw pawlenty go after bachmann, and i think some people saw that, and he was sort of punching below his weight. here was a governor saying michele bachmann had a very thin legislative record, well, mighty funny, he spent much of his time tangling with her, and was very tepid in going after romney. i think we'll have to see. >> that's not a smart strategy, but bob, before we have to let you go, jobs, whoever captures the imagination of the electoral, that they can deal with the question of jobs. jobs, that's who's going to win this election. who on the republican side can really get a momentum that i'm

the jobs guy better than president obama. that's what's going to be the determining factor in this election. >> well, democrats don't like to ponder this possibility, but if the unemployment rate stays where it is, the answer might be anybody but barack obama. if it looks like this is going to be a very, very negative campaign. the results of the first administration when it comes to joblessness have not been very good and don't look like they're going to be very good. the issue as far as the republicans are concerned, from the democrats in any case will be do you really want somebody like that running the country? i think we could have a tough campaign that almost object secures the issue. >> which is why some of us are going to make sure they don't obscure the issue. nia, bob, thank you so much. have a great evening. >> thank you. ahead, michele bachmann celebrating last month's seems a long time ago now.

thanks to a certain cowboy. and south carolina governor nicky hallie wants to cut, cut, cut, but she managed to find taxpayer money for one thing. you won't believe this story. you're watching "politics nation" on msnbc.

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south carolina's tea party republican governor nicky haley

is all about cutting back, except when it comes to her taxpayer-funded european vacation. since taking office in january, governor haley has made fiscal responsibility the centerpiece of her agenda. >> just like every household and business lives within their means, south carolina will live within their means. >> i want them to understand we don't have to spend these dollar. >> every day they don't restructure is costing taxpayers money, something i won't stand for. >> but her restrained must not travel well. it is reported that the governor led an entourage of 27 people on a week-along, state-funded trip to france and germany. le goal -- encourage foreign investment in south carolina. it didn't make out so well.

if the newspaper reports that they didn't make any deals to bring jobs back home, but they spent $127,000 of taxpayers' money on the trip. this definitely wasn't a budget vacation. the group hosted a $25,000 event at a townhouse in paris. they stayed in five-star hotels, and spent more than $5,000 on daily expenses. plus the state's commerce secretary says other expenses from the trip are still being submitted. did governor haley think we wouldn't notice her spending binge just because it wasn't in the u.s.? as we know, south carolina governors don't do well when they travel to foreign countries. nice try, governor. ♪ got so mans and scars ♪ ♪ maybe time can mend us together again ♪

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perry has tea party backing in the bag. he has 45% of tea party support, more than double mitt romney's take. michele bachmann a whopping 38 points away from perry. suddenly the days of celebrating her straw poll seems like decades ago. ed rollins just stepped down telling "the washington post," quote, the perry/romney race is now the story with us the third candidate. rollins will stake on as an adviser. meanwhile, most of the candidates spent their labor day plays of the tea party cred as jim demint's presidential forum. fresh off his first rally, mitt romfully linked the group to the mainstream gop.

>> look, the tea party at its central core has a belief that the government is too big. sound familiar? >> it's clear that tea party is running the field, but can they win the big one? joining me is bob shrum. senior adviser to john kerry, and mark mckinnon, "daily beast" contributor, cofounder of no labels, and former adviser to george w. bush. mark, has the tea party taken over the gop? >> well, it's certainly where the energy is in the primaries. that's weyrich perry has taken off. he has -- he's got the washington -- anti-washington rhetoric down to a fine art. you combine that with his jobs report in texas, and that's where the energy is. politics is all about intensity, tim larry

in primaries, so rick perfectly is lighting it up. >> now, bob, you want on this show that there was the real possibility that perfectly could come on strong, take the momentum and wrap this up early. i, for one, thought you were, you know, drinking too much caffeine, but it looks like every day you may be right, in terms of wrapping up the nomination, i'm saying. >> yeah, i guess i should be a little cautious about the boldness of that prediction, but i believe it. i think there's a real chance it could happen. he's mostly skipped debates, so we'll see what he does. i think he would be wise not to abandon the intensity mark just talked about, not go to a romney game plan, where he just tries to hold on, but go out there and really reinforce at the strength

he has without scaring more and more people away. oy think, mark, you wrote a telling piece, in which you really, in my opinion very adequately described where this kind of momentum is coming from. you said there's a near raging within the base of the gop, and rick perry knows how to fan the flames. the key will be to see whether he has the discipline and modicum of moderation to keep the blaze from getting out of control and burning down the gop house on the long road to a general election. i these you're right, the key is if you is fire people up, do you control the flames that you don't burn up those that you fire? the question is you've studied and been around the candidate

rick perry. what do you think? is he going to slip? >> he's been through nine campaigns, won them all, very disciplined, very aggressive campaigner. i think i agree with bob. there's a lot off line tomorrow night. we'll see whether or not rick perry can sustain and build on what he's done, or whether or not he'll wilt under the hot spotlight of the national stage which he's never been on. as bob knows, it's a big damn deal, an it's a lot of pressure for a guy who's just coming out of the box debating insurgence a bunch of guys on the stage -- and women who have been through a number of debates. the whole story is about rick perry. it's either rick perry survives, blows the roof off, or collapses. >> bhob, let me ask you this. let's say he surprises everybody and survives tomorrow night. maybe not a knockout punch, but

comes out even or ahead on points. you how does a guy that represents these thoughts that has said in his book that's only 10 months old that certain things are unconstitutional that said that social security was a ponzi scheme. i mean, this guy on stage against barack obama, who has said medicare and medicaid unconstitutional, laws protecting civil rights, national labor laws, national minimum wage laws, all bank regulations, how do you put a guy like this in a general election on the stage and expect that he would even come close to winning. >> he would have to figure out how to back off a lot of that and reassure people, which is what ronald reagan good in 1980. i don't think this guy will wilt tomorrow night. as i watch him on the campaign trail, he's got over the line a

bit, but he's pulled back in a few weeks. he's fanned the flames without dousing himself in gasoline i think he has a tremendous advantage, because in part romney just tried to get this thing by standing there saying i'm the leader. in a general election i think he has huge problems. i think he'll be held accountable for this alex castiano, a friend of mine, said the country won't vote to put elmer gantry in the oval office. i don't want they'll vote to put zelig in. he sounds like an animatronic figure. he's stiff and unconvincing. >> elmer against gantry. what do you think?

>> he's got a line he's been saying, as president he'll try to make washington as inconch quenchal in people's lives. that's ringing true. they've lost confidence in washington itself, and they've lost confidence in the ability of politicians to work through the problem, so perfectly gives voice to those millions of people out there who see washington as completely broken. so, you know, this race in some ways reminds me of reagan/bush in 1980, where bush is romney and perry is reagan, in the sense that you have the establishment figure against sort of the outsider, and -- >> i agree with you, mark, but bob, people hear different things even though it's the same thing being said, because as mark says that, washington -- people don't trust it, and it's

broken. in another part of the country, to say that we want to make washington insignificant, it's scary, because it spells states' rights to a lot of people that see states' rights as the enemy to their being protected in this country, and it will energize a lot of us that may have a lot of questions or a lot of other feelings right now. when we hear states' rights, we said it's almost like a dog whistle. we can hear that sound if nobody else can. >> if perry is the nominee, he'll by the unwitting unifier, but he'll also unify the republican party. even though karl rove is right, i think mark would agree with me that in the end, the republican party, the establishment will rally behind him. he'll have the tea party people, and in that sense you're going to have a very stark choice if he's the nominee.

i wouldn't want to go into florida, you know, trying to carry that state, which i think perry would have to, having said that social security is a ponzi scheme, unconstitutional, medicare, i mean, those are very heavy burdens to carry. some people say, you know, that his problem is he's too texas and too bush. i think the problem is he's not enough like bush 2000. he said he was a compassionate conservative, said he didn't want to radically change the country, he just wanted to share the prosperity in the form of a tax cut for folks. >> a big difference, but i think, mark, we can leave the passion, but not the compassion in the image of rick perry. thank you for being with us, mark mckinnon, bob shrum, thank you both for being with us tonight. >> thanks for having us on. ahead, secret tapes from inside the right-wing summit hosted by billionaire activist charles koch.

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from both parties together, but back in her home district, the pima county gop forgot about it. republican officials sent out this flyer, announcing the auction of a glock handgun last week. that's the same type of gun used in the tucson shootings. the critics came out from both sides, the former chair of the group said, quote, there's a whom who has a bullet in her brain and who everybody is wishing a full recovery. i don't think raffling off a firearm right now is probably the right way to go. so what did they do after all the outrage? they decided to raffle off a second firearm, a deer rifle. this is insensitive and ignorant. it's hard to believe a group connected with a national political party could have such a complete lack of judgment. ye.

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new tapes take us behind closed doors at a secret right-wing summit, hosted by the koch brothers, the billion snare conservatives who bankrolled the tea party. the conference was held this summer at a posh colorado resort to plot strategy for the 2012 election. in a tape obtained by online journalist who shared it with mother jones, one of the koch brothers discusses american politics, and then adds this odd mention of saddam hussein. >> we have saddam hussein. this is the mother of all wars. we've got in the next 18 months, for the life or death of this country. >> now, a koch spokesman denied the abc news that mr. koch was not referring to president obama. they're denying he was refer to president obama. quote, they say, charles koch

was not referring to president obama in his remarks. the mother of all wars is a common phrase frequently attributed to saddam hussein on the eve of the persian gulf war, amid record unemployment, and loss of liberty, the u.s. has been plunged into its own mother of all wars. even though, the mother of all wars is about the coming election. do the koch brothers think they're at war? charles and his brother david have thrown more than $100 million behind a slew of right-wing causes, funding everything from voter i.d. laws to anticlimate change, research in that area, supporting tea party initiatives, fighting to repeal president obama's affordable care, and they're showing no signs of stopping. listen to how charles worked up

donors on the last day of the seminar. >> i hope you will stay with us, and also continue to do your utmost. because it isn't just your money we need. we need your energy, we need to bring in new partners, we can't do it alone. this group can't do it alone. we have to multiply ourselves, thousands and thousands fold. >> with me now, lee for thng. nbc has not independently confirmed the tape, but what can you tell us about these meetings? >> al, thanks for having me. to the best of my knowledge, this is charles koch on tape but regardless, this wouldn't surprise me charles koch says he

thought stalin cook like -- and charles koch's father, fred koch, who found the john birch society made it very common he would compare the eisenhower administration and john kennedy as agents of the kremlin. it's troubling that -- >> wait a minute. his father said they would compare john kennedy and eisenhower as agents of the kremlin? >> not compare. directly accuse kennedy of being an agent of the kremlin. he wrote skreeving, gave -- >> so it's worse than compare. he's actually made the statement that they were? >> oh, sure. yes. >> if mr. koch senior and john f. kennedy felt that they were agents of the kremlin, i guess i

shouldn't be stunned that their sons may be making some comparisons of barack obama and what's going on today. i mean, this is outrageous to me. >> well, you know, one thing to keep in mind, it's easy to associate charles koch, and charles schwab and billionaire donors at this meeting to the right-wing fringe, but i would say that they're crazy like a fox. you know, they fund tea party groups that push very out-there conspiracies like health reform being like the holocaust or the epa -- >> i'm going to run out of time, mr. fong. i want to talk more about it, and of course, mr. koch, if you're saying that's not you on the tape, you can come on any night you want. i've been misquoted, but i've always shown up to clear it up. come on back. [ male announcer ] in america, we believe anyone can be a hero.

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i want to tell you about something that should never

happen in this country. this is kyle willis, a 24-year-old unemployed, uninsured, cincinnati father, who died wednesday, from a toothache. all because he couldn't afford the $27 antibiotics that would have saved his life. he left behind a 6-year-old daughter. this is a tragic story, but unfortunately it's not an uncommon one. nearly 45,000 people die in the united states from curable diseases every year, because they lack health insurance. we are ranked last out of 19 other industrialized nations for avoidable mortality. that means if a person had seen a doctor or gotten treatment would not have died. despite have been one of the highest rates of uninsured people in the united states, florida's governor rick scott has rejected