ohio, i love you. we're coming back. this is "the ed show" on msnbc. we'll see you monday night. well, john boehner doesn't seem conciliatory anymore. >> feels like deja vu all over again. >> let's be honest with ourselves. >> mr. boehner basically saying thanks but no thanks. >> speaker boehner stops pretending that he might not lead the republican attack on the president's jobs bill. >> i don't think there are viable options. >> a complete rebuke of the president's jobs plan. >> venture socialism. >> this is the ultimate moving the goalpost. >> the president has a problem. >> it's hard for me to listen to him. >> i think the devils in the details. >> his economic policies simply

haven't worked. >> and we're against them. >> a political program to try to defer the blame. >> i think it's going to be really hard. >> we know it will not be fun. >> i still believe they are socialists. >> democratic leaders insist they are still behind the president. >> our caucus is very unified. >> you probably thought you could escape them. >> democrats publicly skeptical. >> this fight could not be more important. >> you guys ready? >> sure we are. >> if you're a bob kasich, obviously, if you're a mansion, if you're a kay hagan. >> senators starting to hand wring. >> and the republican's seal of approval now comes from dick cheney and donald trump. >> with rick perry in new york last night -- >> i've got to think donald's got some advice for me. >> -- where did the donald take him? >> i think he's a very impressive guy. >> the fancy, expensive, costing the average guest $127. >> i saw vice president dick cheney. this is a man of wisdom and justice. >> ron paul 2012. ron paul, 2012!

. a week ago tonight, president obama went before a joint session of congress and called on americans to pass the jobs session. tonight, house speaker john boehner finally gave his fullest response to date. >> some of the president's approvals offer an opportunity for common ground. let's be honest with ourselves. the president's proposals are a poor substitute for the pro-growth policies that are needed to remove barriers to job creation in america. >> boehner laid out the country's economic problems as he sees them.

>> the situation was created by washington's inability to let the government work. job creators in america are basically on strike. they have been slammed by uncertainty from the constant threat of new taxes, out-of-control spending, and unnecessary regulation. >> not surprisingly, boehner listed one of the government threats to job creation as, of course, taxes. but this time, he's talking about tax cuts. >> it strikes me as odd that a time when it's clear the tax code needs to be fundamentally reformed, the first instinct to come out of washington is to come up with a new host of tax credits that make the tax code more complex. >> president obama has proposed a $4,000 tax credit to businesses who hire people who have been out of work for six months or more. and speaking of the president's american jobs act, one house

republican has responded with his own legislation, with the same title, as the president's american jobs act of 2011, here it is, it was introduced by texas republican louie gohmert. it's exactly two pages long . ezra klein, "washington post" columnist and msnbc contributor and bruce bartlett, senior former policy analyst and deputy assistant secretary, he's now contributor for "the new york times." thank you both for joining me tonight. >> good evening. >> bruce, i'm struck by this bill, this republican bill to cut the corporate tax rate to zero, because as i've been listening to republicans oh, these many months, it seems that the argument behind everything they're saying would with lead to virtually all tax rates to go to zero. i can't figure out what they

think the optimum tax rate is. is there a tax rate that's too low? >> well, i think we're already at rates that are really too low to raise the revenue the government needs, but you're absolutely right. i've never once in my life heard a republican say that a tax cut was too large or tax rates -- cutting rates to some level, such as zero, is too much. and you're right, implicitly, they believe tax rates should be zero. >> ezra, the -- was the speaker still making that phrase about common ground, but what common ground, after the speaker's speech today, what common ground was left between the president and the republicans in the house? >> not a ton. and what struck me, though, was there wasn't all that much common ground left between john boehner and the economy today. i went through the speech shortly after it was given and looked for some of the words that weren't there. and this speech was about why the economy wasn't working out, why we were still at 9% unemployment. it never mentioned wall street

or foreclosures or negative equity or household debt. emerging marketses with european debt crisis, demand. it mentioned only one thing as a cause of our problems, which is government. and that's how you got a solution, which was only one thing, which was less government, less regulation, lower taxes. that's sort of fine as a political document, but doesn't give you a road map for understanding the crisis that we're in. liberals get tagged a lot for believing that the government can solve all of our problems, but boehner believes that government is the soul cause of all our problems, and that ain't right either. >> bruce, how do republicans explain or do they bother to explain how the golden age of reagan had a corporate tax rate that was higher than the corporate tax rate is now or was under bric? >> well, really, the substance of the reagan years has been whitewashed from the republican memory. remember, the top tax rate was

50% on individuals up until 1986. among the things that reagan did in the '86 tax reform was to raise the capital gains tax to 28%. the top 1% of taxpayers paid a third of their income in federal taxes during reagan's administration, and now it's down to about 10 percentage points less. it's dropped by about a third. and economists are increasingly focusing on the fact that a lot of the negative trends that we -- or things that we're dealing with in the economy today really seem to have started about ten years ago. i don't know what happened ten years ago that would have caused anything to change, though. >> ezra, the speaker of the house formally ruled out any possibility of the pay for side of the obama jobs bill, which is the taxation part of it, the increases in tax revenue due to adjustments to deductibility issues for the top taxpayers.

where does the obama bill go from here if the speaker is basically saying, we won't give you any of that tax revenue that pays for it? >> maybe it doesn't get paid for. maybe it goes nowhere at all. it was fascinating to me. when they released those pay-fors, every single one of them was on the tax side. every single one of them where things for republicans and to some degree some senate moderate democrats have rejected in the past couple of years. and it was striking, because for the first time, the administration didn't end up offering the compromise at the beginning. they said, we're going to give you a popular seeming jobs bill, we're going to only tire ourselves to popular tax increases on the rich, and if you want to oppose us on that, we're happy to beat you over the head for a while with the fact that you refuse to spend money on the jobless by raising taxes on the rich. so where it leaves the bill is in a political place that the bill in some ways was always going to end up in, which is whether or not obama can leverage what they believe to be a popular package and create enough public pressure on the republicans that they break and at least let some or most of it

through. >> bruce, what is your sense of what the political dynamics are for the republicans on the hill on this? are they at some point going to feel the pressure to come up with something more than louie gohmert's one-pager on eliminate the corporate tax as their only proposal for job creation legislativy?y? >> well, i think over the last week, you did see some cautious movement in the direction of supporting the president's jobs bill. but i think that came to a screeching halt the moment he put out his pay-fors. and as ezra pointed out, they were all tax increases. it was almost as if obama was raising -- or waving a red flag in their faces, just daring them to come out against it. and they obliged him by doing so. frankly, i have to question the president's political judgment in being so in the face of the

republicans by putting forward these pay-fors that he had to know, and everybody who's worked on legislation knows, the pay for side is the hard -- that's the killer. that's the part that is very, very hard to get either right politically or in policy terms. what alternatives? what pay for alternatives did the president have that he could possibly have chosen that would have both made sense to his party and had a chance with republicans? >> there's probably not a lot that would have a chance in the broad sense. so right now we're in a situation where the super committee needs to come up with about 1.5 trillion or so in pay fors on its own before you get to the extra 450 billion for this package. so what you need to do in order to get republicans on board is you would need to add $450 billion in spending cuts, somehow very concrete spending cuts over ten years. you can do that. you can dig into medicare. you can dig into medicaid. you can dig into social security. you can dig into defense.

there isn't a whole lot more at this point we can do in non-discretionary, non-defense discretionary spending. that would have been harder with his party. but the question the white house began to ask is, well, are republicans really going to come on board for that either? because obviously there's always been this deal on the table. $4 trillion deficit deal. which is what boehner and obama were discussing before the negotiations broke down. that's a larger one than what the super committee needs to do, but republicans have really not been willing to say yes. so the new theory was instead of offering up a compromise that they'll say no to now you'll be yoked to unpopular compromise policies which made the republicans something they'll try to pass on their own later come out with something you can sell politically and hope that will either increase pressure on republicans or if it doesn't do that let's be honest about the strategy here, help get you re-elected. >> now, the republican chant about why the economy is so bad is too much taxation, and they ignore that we've had much higher levels of taxation in the past with much stronger economies. and then also, of course, regulation. regulation is just drowning this economy and tying it up in knots

and making everything immovable in this economy. let's listen to what speaker boehner said today specifically about regulation and how that's going to be the second prong in the republican attack on how to fix this economy, cut taxation and regulation. let's listen to what he said we all know there are some regulation that's are needed. there are reasonable regulations that protect our children and keep our environment clean. well, then there are excessive regulations that unnecessarily increase the cost for consumers and small businesses. >> well, at least he's one of the republicans who admits that we need some regulation. there are those out there who don't even grant that. but bruce, what is the empirical evidence? what do we know about what regulation does to the economy? what is the negative drag on the economy from regulation? >> well, look, government regulation is a very -- imposes a large cost on the economy. but to make the argument that

regulations are what's holding us back today as opposed to some other thing, you'd have to show that there's been a significant increase in regulation just since 2008. and there's absolutely no evidence of that. in fact, if you look at the surveys by the national federation of independent business, they show that the burden of regulation is less than it was back in the 1990s, when the economy was booming. so i think what republicans are doing here is simply using the poor state of the economy as an excuse to pursue the agenda that they pursue year in, year out, which is they always want to deregulate the economy and set the businessman loose. but there's absolutely no evidence that this will do any good. >> thank you both ezra klein of nbc and the "washington post." and bruce bartlett of the reagan and h.w. bush administrations. thank you for joining us tonight. >> thank you. house minority leader nancy pelosi says that you can forget

what you read in the "new york times" this morning, democrats really are solidly behind president obama's jobs plan. enthusiastically behind it. the importance of keeping that image of unity up is next. and later, the republican party's obsession with donald trump. now it's texas governor rick perry who is paying homage to trump for some reason that jonathan capehart's going to have to explain to us. [ thunder rumbles ] what is the sign of a good decision? in the world of personal finance, it's massmutual. find strength and stability

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he sends members of his policy and re-election team to capitol hill today to get all democrats on board to fight for his bill. this as the white house works to increase the pressure on speaker boehner. and later, savannah

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fight back fast with tums. calcium rich tums goes to work in seconds. nothing works faster. ♪ tum tum tum tum tums while the president was out in ohio insisting over and over again that congress pass the bill, it seemed like the only democrats who were even willing to talk about it here on capitol hill were tearing it apart. >> that was senate minority leader mitch mcconnell today, noting the growing democratic resistance to the president's jobs bill. the white house dispatched advisers david plouffe and gene sperling to the hill today to convince dissenting senate democrats to support the president's legislation. complaints in recent days ranged from the bill includes too much spending to the bill includes too many tax cuts to it unfairly eliminates subsidies for oil companies while ignoring other big industries. after the private 90-minute meeting, senate majority whip

dick durbin told reporters, "we're not going to get 100% of our caucus, but believe me, if it's up to the democrats to pass the president's plan, it'll pass." senate minority leader mcconnell saw the meeting as a sign of weakness. >> one would think they'd want to be briefed on details before the president demanded they pass it right away, not after. but then again, the white house probably expected stronger support from democrats than it's gotten so far. >> joining me now, editorial director for aol, huffington post, msnbc political analyst howard fineman. thanks for joining me tonight, howard. >> hi, lawrence. >> howard, i'm confused by dick durbin's statement. he's saying we're not going to get 100% of the democrats in the united states senate but if we democrats have to pass it we will. they need 60 votes to pass it in the senate.

they're nowhere close if they don't have all the democrats. >> yep. that was less than a ringing endorsement from one of the president's closest allies. and you know you're in a bad situation on the democratic side where you have mitch mcconnell giving you lobbying advice on how best you ought to operate things. i think having spoken to some people on the hill who know about that meeting that while david plouffe and gene sperling, the two people who came up and briefed, you know, made the best case they could, you know, it was not -- it was not a happy -- it was not a happy meeting for the reasons that you said. there are conservative democrats in the senate who don't want to support it because of -- they don't like the idea of a big bill, you know, doesn't sound good. they've had too many big bills from the president, they're worried about it. then you have the progressive caucus on the other side saying no tax cuts at all, please. >> mary landrieu's got a problem with it because it goes after oil companies. louisiana senators always,

always protect the oil industry. that was predictable. we could see that coming. what other problems do they have with what other democrats in the is that the? >> well, last night i had an interesting conversation with kay hagen, the democratic senator from north carolina. she was elected in 2008 on the ticket with barack obama. barack obama won north carolina by less than half of 1 percentage point. kay hagen reminded me that she had won her race in north carolina by nine points. so i don't know how many of those nine points she's willing to give up for the sake of her president. she's concerned because she wants to look and see, again, if big pieces of legislation with big names on them are going to be able to be sold to her constituents back in north carolina. a lot of people were urging barack obama do something, do something, do something. he came up with a big bill with a big number. but the problem is for a sort of

moderate democrat like kay hagan from the swing state of north carolina, and obama's determined to try to win north carolina again, you know, you had the stimulus bill of a while back, you had the health care, the big sweeping health care legislation, a lot of swing voters in her state are worried about big bills with barack obama's name on it. it's as simple as that. >> howard, the white house seems to be taking some cues from programming here on msnbc. adam green and other guests on this show have frequently said the president should be out there in these legislative battles selling them through speeches, through campaign-like speeches out on the road. chris matthews repeatedly saying, isolate those bridges in the republicans' districts and show them, this is the one, this is what needs the help. so white house press secretary jay carney announced today that next thursday the president will speak at a bridge in need of repair that happens to connect ohio and kentucky. let's listen to what jay carney said about that.

>> i don't think it's a mystery, mike, that we are out there, you know, loudly and with great intensity arguing that we in washington need to do the bidding of the american people and take action on the economy. so yes, he's traveling, as he promised, the president did, in his speech to congress across the country to highlight this urgent need and to engage the american people in calling on their members of congress, their senators to pass the bill, to take action, to grow the economy, to take action, to incentivize the private sector, to hire more workers. this is the number one priority of the american people. and it also happens to be the number one priority of this president. so if you're asking me if by going to this bridge are we hoping to draw some attention to this urgent need? the answer is unequivocally yes. >> howard, is there any particular political

significance to a kentucky-ohio bridge? >> well, the significance obviously is that it's -- it involves connecting john boehner's district with mitch mcconnell's state, and so it's a two-fer. it's across the ohio river. and you know, i think it makes the point. the problem is that the president's got to not only convince people that it's necessary to fix these bridges and falling pieces of infrastructure in america but that this will not only create jobs but that it makes economic sense and it's the most shrewd and efficient and careful use of money we could make at a time when we're broke as a country. it's a difficult argument to make. he has to make it. i think he deserves great credit for following chris matthews's advice. but it has to be part of a larger sales job. and as far as not having consulted with congress in advance, i mean, congress knows

-- they knew pretty much what he was going to be proposing here. but you've got to remember, lawrence, that the president and this white house has a terrible relationship with the democrats on capitol hill, has always had a bad relationship with them. the chief of staff at the white house, bill daly, who's from, you know, one of the great political families, you know, does not have close relations with democrats on the hill, does not have systematic relations with democrats on the hill and there's a lot of grumbling on the hill about the lack of coordination between the white house and the democrats. and don't forget, barack obama came in on a wave of his own, that? he was the answer, that his movement was the answer. and right now he's paying the price for that splendid isolation that got him elected. it's what was his appeal initially, but it's one of the things in addition to the state of the economy that's causing him so much trouble now. >> well, democratic presidents having trouble with democrats on the hill. you can check with bill clinton and jimmy carter.

that is an old tradition. >> right. >> howard fineman, thank you very much for joining us tonight. >> thanks, lawrence. take care. coming up, rick perry apparently hadn't done enough damage to his campaign this week. so he came to new york city to praise donald trump. and the republican tea party congressman who remains a deadbeat dad is back in the "rewrite" tonight. ♪ ♪ ♪ when the things that you need ♪ ♪ come at just the right speed, that's logistics. ♪ ♪ medicine that can't wait legal briefs there by eight, ♪ ♪ that's logistics. ♪ ♪ freight for you, box for me box that keeps you healthy, ♪ ♪ that's logistics. ♪ ♪ saving time, cutting stress, when you use ups ♪ ♪ that's logistics. ♪ we got our best guy on it. ♪

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republican presidential candidates are always trying to get a good word, if not a full endorsement out of the power brokers in their party. so why are they sucking up to dick cheney and donald trump? are there any voters left who believe anything cheney or trump says? rick perry and mitt romney seem to believe that republican primary voters can still be fooled by cheney and trump.

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in tonight's spotlight rick perry is in iowa this evening, but last night he was here in new york city. after asking for an audience with donald trump. yes, the same donald trump who knowingly misled republicans and easily fooled pundits this past spring by pretending to be flirting with his own presidential bid. viewers of this program of course always knew better. the two met at trump tower, then dined not at a pizza chain in times square, as trump and fellow television performer sarah palin did back in may, but at a pricey french restaurant that no mere governor could ever afford, which happens to sit

inside the trump international hotel. >> we're just going to be talking about, you know, how to create jobs in america. donald trump's pretty good about creating jobs. and i've got to think donald's got some advice for me. >> joining me now, msnbc contributor jonathan capehart, opinion writer for the "washington post." jonathan, thanks for joining me tonight. >> hey, lawrence, good to see you. >> what the -- what -- what? please. explain. >> why -- >> what's he thinking? doesn't he know that the reality star on tv whose opinion matters with america is simon cowell? why isn't going to see simon cowell? >> well, simon cowell has never run for president or even flirted with running for president or even pretended to flirt with running for president. look, the reason why republicans are going to, you know, kiss the ring of donald trump is because when he was flirting with running for president he blew out there and climbed to the top

of the polls. knowing full well he was going to go and re-up, what is this, his "celebrity apprentice" show, or his "apprentice" chain. what perry does by going to new york and meeting with donald trump is, one, you know donald trump is going to get press coverage, media coverage. two, donald trump lives in the -- as you know, lawrence, the number one media market in the country. and three, it's a way of you just sort of -- you don't even have to say anything. you can just show up with donald trump, and as we saw all those pictures of governor perry and donald trump, they're not talking about anything of substance. in fact, they're not talking. they're walking in and out of buildings. it's good for perry, and it's good for trump. >> now, jonathan, you had your own chat with donald trump yesterday. how did that go? >> it went fine. you know, we started talking

after he saw a piece that i wrote basically saying, you know, will governor perry end up being the next donald trump, that is, someone who bursts onto the scene, rises to the top of the polls, and then implodes and gets out of the race? he didn't quite like the fact that i said he fell or he imploded. so we got to talking. so i called him yesterday. i wanted to find out what he thought about the debate in florida. and we had a nice little conversation. clearly, donald trump likes governor perry. he likes mitt romney. he told me that he thought they both did very well and pooh-poohed all the criticism of governor perry's debate performance. but clearly he thinks that there are some people who were on that stage who shouldn't be there. he is relishing the role that he's playing within the republican nominating field. his chief political guy, michael cowan, i believe his name is, went on abc and talked to the folks there and called donald

trump the godfather of politics. donald trump is very proud of something that he saw on newsmax which said that basically donald trump has become his own iowa because perry and bachmann and romney and all of these folks who are seeking the republican nomination are either getting him on the phone or going up to new york to see him in trump tower. >> now, there's also the matter of dick cheney. and let's listen to what romney had to say about the possibility of having a vice president, if he could be lucky enough to be able to choose a vice president as capable as dick cheney. let's listen to this. >> last weekend i was watching c-span, and i saw vice president dick cheney, and he was being asked questions about a whole host of issues. following 9/11, the affairs in various countries in the world. and i listened to him speak, and i said whether you agree with him or disagree with him this is a man of wisdom and judgment and he could have been president of

the united states. that's the kind of person i'd like to have, a person of wisdom and judgment. >> jonathan, where's this going? are we going to start hearing praise about richard nixon and spiro agnew, who actually got caught with bags of cash in the white house when he was vice president, the republican vice president? what do you have to do to get ruled out of the game in republican politics now? >> well, clearly -- well, to get ruled out, have moderate views. that's what you need to do to get ruled out of the republican party. but you have to keep something in mind. this is something i always have to remind myself. romney and perry and bachmann and all these folks are striving to get the republican nomination. they're not even thinking about the general election and the things that they will need to do and say in order to appeal to a broader electorate. if what it takes is to praise dick cheney to get the nomination, because you saw in that clip as he praised former vice president cheney, there

were people behind mitt romney who were nodding in agreement. this is a crowd and this is a party that likes dick cheney by and large and likes the fact that after he left the white house he didn't stay silent, he kept taking the battle to president obama in terms of foreign policy and the war on terror. and that's what they're responding to. and so mitt romney is looking for every vote he possibly can and every corner he possibly can to get that nomination. >> msnbc contributor and opinion writer for the "washington post" and now the "last word's" senior trump correspondent, jonathan capehart. thank you very much for joining us tonight. >> thanks, lawrence. >> yesterday tea party congressman joe walsh missed his child support hearing in illinois because he was too busy in washington being an ignored freshman congressman. that gets him tonight's "rewrite." and later, author joe mcginniss moved to wasilla last year to write a book about its most famous resident. we'll show you his exclusive

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after what he did yesterday, that ban should be extended to all programs on all news networks. that's next in the "rewrite." and later, the author of the explosive new book on sarah palin spoke exclusively to nbc's savannah guthrie. you do not want to miss this palin world is crazier than you think. it's coming up.

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and the great taste is recommended by me! time for tonight's "rewrite." remember this guy? >> i won't place one more dollar of debt upon the backs of my kids and grandkids unless we structurally reform the way this town spends money. >> "i won't place one more dollar of debt on the backs of my kids." that's tea party congressman joe walsh. he's been on this show a few times. but i banned him when i realized he is $117,000 -- $117,437 behind in his child support payments to his first wife, laura walsh, for the support of their three children. there is now a withholding order on the congressman's salary to cover his current child support obligations, $2,134 a month is

taken out of his $174,000 congressional salary to cover his current obligations. now, one of my rules about guests -- in fact, it may be my only rule -- is that i don't allow anyone to come on this show unless and until they pay their child support obligations in full. the judge in the walsh child support case in cook county, illinois was not amused yesterday when walsh didn't show up for a hearing in the case. when his lawyer explained his absence by saying, "mr. walsh is a u.s. congressman," the judge replied, "well, he's no different than anyone else." congressman walsh's spokesman tried to pretend to us today that the congressman just had to be in washington yesterday for all the important work of a freshman congressman who is not

taken seriously by anyone on capitol hill. the congressman's only official act yesterday was to vote. and he was called upon to do that only once. the republican bill passed the house 232-186. everyone knew ahead of time that congressman walsh's vote wasn't going to matter. the margin was just going to be too great for any individual vote to matter. that's exactly the kind of vote a member of congress can and does miss if he or she has something more important to do like, you know, maybe pay child support, which every member of congress should agree is more important than voting on a bill and in fact is more important than being a congressman. in fact, 11 members of the house, including michele bachmann, missed that vote yesterday because they, not unreasonably, decided they had something more important to do.

congressmen cast hundreds of votes, thousands of votes, most of which are not important and have big margins in them. it doesn't matter whether they voted or not. and they use their judgment about which votes they can miss. congressman walsh could have easily missed that vote. the deadbeat dad congressman continues to get invited on other shows where he freely discusses anything but child support. no show on any network, including this network, should ever allow congressman walsh to do any more of his phony posing. >> i won't place one more dollar of debt upon the backs of my kids -- >> no more of his lying about his concern for the financial burdens that his kids face. joe walsh actually tries to use his tv appearances as additional

excuses for why he can't show up for his child support hearings. his spokesman told us today that one of the reasons he couldn't be in an illinois courtroom yesterday is that he had media appearances to do in washington. any network that lets joe walsh come on any show that lets joe walsh come on, any host of any television show who interviews joe walsh runs the risk of being used as a reason why joe walsh can't go to court and answer a judge's questions about his child support debt. joe walsh is a disgrace to the united states house of representatives. he is a disgrace to the republican party that claims pride in its shared family values. and no news network, no television interviewer should enable his lie that his

fulminating in congress or on tv is more important than paying his child support. oh, and you know that vote that he cast yesterday? the one where his vote didn't matter because the winning margin was so big. the vote that he pretended was so important that he couldn't be at his child support hearing? joe walsh made sure his vote didn't matter because he didn't even vote yes or no. joe walsh voted present. so much for his excuse for not being present at his child support hearing yesterday and not being present as a good and decent and honorable provider for his children. [ man ] behind every business is a "what if."

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when best-selling political author joe mcginniss moved to wasilla, alaska in may of last year to write a book about sarah palin, palin immediately went on the defensive. the book is now out, and it is filled with allegations about the palins' marriage, their parental skills, even claims of past cocaine use. the palins deny all of that. author joe mcginniss talked exclusively with "today" show's savannah guthrie. >> reporter: from the moment she stepped onto the political stage, sarah palin has been a force. >> they say the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull? lipstick. >> reporter: self-styled mama grizzly.

>> you no doubt don't want to mess with moms who are rising up. >> reporter: reality tv star. >> dang it! >> reporter: her large family fascinating the country with its dramas. babies and feuds. >> i hear he goes by the name ricky hollywood now. >> reporter: but now a controversial new book takes aim at the image palin projects to the world. "the rogue," a 318-page takedown of palin by best-selling author joe mcginniss, paints a scathing portrait of the woman who could have been vice president. >> an utter fraud. an absolute and utter fraud. >> you call her a tenth-grade mean girl. >> oh, that's -- those are kind words compared to a lot of what you'd hear in wasilla today. the thing that i found, savannah, that really surprised me was that the people who know her best like her least. >> reporter: mcginniss spent four months in alaska. he claims he spoke to approximately 200 people, a mix of palin's old associates, acquaintances, and former friends.

but his book was causing controversy before he wrote even one word. >> she had a problem with you living next door. >> well, she did. and i don't know why she did because -- >> really? you don't know why? >> i really don't. >> reporter: mcginniss says it was just happenstance that the woman who owns the property next door to the palins in wasilla offered to rent her house to him for the summer while he did his research. palin revealed who her new neighbor was on facebook, writing, "wonder what kind of material he'll gather while overlooking piper's bedroom, my little garden, and the family's swimming hole?" and on her reality show. >> and piper whispered to me as we were coming up the lawn, mom, that neighbor's out there, he's watching us, he's watching us. >> reporter: an editorial in the local paper warned mcginniss, "alaska has a law that allows the use of deadly force in protection of life and property." >> has that been a problem or do you just go with the flow? >> you know, like todd says, some people just need to get a life. but bless his heart, he needs to get a life. >> i was surprised at sarah's reaction, but it taught me something very interesting. she overreacts. she has no modulation in her

responses to stress. in other words, she freaks out. >> reporter: mcginniss insists he was not there to spy and that anything he learned about the palins from living next door did not go into the book. but the experience becomes a huge part of the story. >> you really became a character in the book. >> well, sarah made me a character. she's a phenomenon. i said that to todd when he came tromping across my lawn to confront me about living next door. he said, why are you writing about her anyway? i said, well, todd, i've been writing about politics since 1968. your wife is a phenomenon. there's been no one like her in american politics before, no one has come from nowhere to get so far. >> reporter: in a statement to nbc news, todd palin writes that mcginniss is a man who "traffics in innuendo and falsehoods and spent the last year interviewing marginal figures with an ax to grind in order to churn out a

hit piece to satisfy his own creepy obsession with my wife." but mcginniss says talking to those who knew palin convinces him there is much less than meets the eye. he accuses the famed hockey mom of using her children as props and reports she was not much of a mother at all. >> people who've known that family for the entire period of time that those children were growing up told me in ways that i found very believable that sarah palin was virtually non-existent as a mother. >> reporter: mcginniss describes a rocky palin marriage, with todd and sarah fighting incessantly and threatening divorce, something they've denied in the past. another bombshell. mcginniss writes that both todd and sarah have used cocaine in the past, a claim that has not been verified. >> how do you substantiate something like that? >> well, you talk to somebody who snorted it with her. and you talk to many of todd's friends, who describe him as having been on the end of the straw frequently in his youth. i'm not saying that todd and sarah palin today abuse cocaine or even use it. but there's no question that they both did at one point in their lives.

>> reporter: mcginniss also quotes friends who speak of a sexual encounter palin had with basketball star glen rice in 1987, while she was a sports reporter for a local anchorage station, prior to her marriage. it's not clear from the book whether rice admits or denies the encounter, but he told mcginniss, "in a short time we got to know a lot about one another. it was all done in a respectful way, nothing hurried." he continues, "she was a gorgeous woman. super nice. i was blown away by her. afterward, she was a big crush that i had." mcginniss portrays palin as hands off when it came to governing alaska, but a ruthless political opportunist who crushed her enemies and rarely lived up to the fiscal conservative image she championed. >> hypocrite, you know, at the best. at best she's a hypocrite. >> and at worst? >> at worst she's a vindictive hypocrite. >> reporter: mcginniss says the palin enemy list in alaska is long but acknowledges he talked to few friends. >> do you think you were fair to her in the book?

>> i think i was as fair as i could possibly have been given the fact that she told all the people who were closest to her not to talk to me. >> reporter: now as palin tantalizes supporters with travel to early primary states, many wonder just what are her political intentions. >> polls, they're for strippers and cross-country skiers. >> reporter: mcginniss says everything he learned about palin convinces him she won't run. >> i think she's going for the easy money. she's going to take the path of least resistance. i don't think that she's going to run for president. >> i didn't have to move into the house next door to figure that out. if you'd like to hear more from todd palin about the book, his entire statement to nbc news is available on today.com. "the rachel maddow show" is up next. good evening, rachel. >> good evening, lawrence. thanks to you at home for sticking with us this hour. i'm coming to you live from atlanta, georgia tonight because i had the honor today of speaking with our nation's 39th president, jimmy carter.