tv Hardball Weekend MSNBC September 17, 2011 2:00am-2:30am PDT
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matthews in washington. leading off tonight, a texas miracle. rick perry presented himself as a job creator. 1 million jobs. texas unemployment hit 8.5% last month, the highest in texas in 24 years. zero jobs created. where is the texas miracle now? how long will it be before mitt rock knee or the obama white house sink their teeth into these numbers? coast to coast, republican state legislatures are searching for ways to restrict going to the voting booth. restricting registration. what do they have in common? they are aimed at preventing democrats and some believe african-americans in particular from getting to the polls. it's a dangerous game and the lead story tonight. plus, why does wall street hate
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president obama? hate him? it's because the president hates them, even business itself. really? let's get into that one. and the new book on sarah palin, the rogue. will this book hurt her chances? let me finish with the hard test. the republicans are willing to stall the economy in order to defeat him. we start with what texas miracle. we are asking that question, what texas miracle? we have jerry jones and the delightful dana millbanks after a hiatus, we must say. i miss you. let's look at the numbers here. if you look at the numbers this way, unemployment is rising up to 8.5% in texas. texas. it's coming down nationally. itis come down from something like well over 10% nationwide in 2009. so, in a way the directions are
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off. a guy saying i'm the big job creator is having unemployment rise. the president is going in the other direction. >> rick perry always had a claim with the texas miracle before now. there's been a population increase which led to jobs going up there. high energy prices have been good for texas down there. bad for us, but good down there. that to the side, unemployment is going up. there's a lot of low-wage jobs in texas. his claim to be a model for the rest of the country is falling apart. what made texas somewhat better than the other states up to now is something that couldn't be replicated. not because of policies but the weather and conditions there. condition is the keyword. he's lived by conditions, attacks obama with conditions and now is suffering the
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consequences. presidents and government don't necessarily control the unemployment. >> you have the texas chainsaw massacre. the massacre is the economy. it's not rick perry's fault he has 8.5% unemployment. >> was it his claim to fame that it was lower? >> no. and it's not the president's fault we are where we are. the president will suffer from that regardless. i think it's a lesson they don't control anything. the trend in texas has been this way for 20 years as mitt romney loves to point out, the job growth rate was tripled under ann richards and george w. bush. it's the luck of the draw. it's the trend. >> here is perry's spokesperson saying texas is not immune to the effects of the national recession during this national economic downturn where the
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president's policies have worsened. texas remains the top economy protecting jobs and growing by more than 1,000 people a day. it's a problem when your unemployment rate is going up and the nation is going down. >> rick perry had a glow in the race when people didn't know that much about rick perry. now, he's in the debates and saying outlandish or stupid things and people are looking at him. independents are falling off in droves. on top of it, we are looking in detail at the numbers and what's happening kurptly. there's no way to sustain the i did great in texas story line if unemployment comes up there. >> guess who saw it? romney. >> this is the beginning of the opposition wars. >> romney is putting out statements like this one attacking perry. they were quick to circulate the
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jobs numbers in the blast this . romney is trashing mr. jobs creation. here is perry last night in this fight. it's an interesting fight that we watched between perry now and romney. here is perry last night. what he has taken off the gloves, singling out mitt romney, going after the governor of massachusetts, the exone by name. let's listen. >> republican primary while he was the governor of massachusetts. their job creation in that state was 47th in the nation. government mandate, government run health care. it is part of what he put in place as the governor of massachusetts. it is time -- i think it's very important we put someone as our nominee that does not work between president obama and the republican party.
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the job creation in massachusetts and that legacy of health care in massachusetts even makes it worse today. >> i get the feeling rick perry has always been the superstar of politics. now he's got to get into notes. he's not quite as fluent. >> not good to have notes for rick perry. he should be waving his hat and riding in on his horse. i think romney rattled him a bit. i think in a strange sense perry has been good for romney who finally found himself at the economic maiden in this case. it em boldined romney. you can see perry say who are these people and why are they questioning me. >> it's like he's running "meet the press." he's the guy that says let's take a look at what you said. let's take a look at what you
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said a year ago on social security. let's take a look at what you said. this guy has to defend it against a fellow republican. >> rick perry was a good prospect, now it's like welcome to the majors. mitt romney wants to call him, hey meat. you haven't been around but you have to answer this and deal with bad news. he is a functioning governor. mitt romney is only responsible for his own campaign. on death penalty, the environment, the economy, whatever he does in texas is open to scrutiny the way barack obama is open to scrutiny. it's a lot to handle. >> is it your sense, before i move on with my own notes here, do you think it's possible that here we are in september, the year before, the iowa caucuses could come quickly. do you think there could be a dynamic here that romney could
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play the role of the press? they don't talk to the press anymore. he will start taking him apart point-by-point until there's not much left of this guy, perry, then romney comes along like the prosecutor, but never that popular with the tea party people and become the nominee by default. >> i think you have the potential to have the primary we have not seen in many, many years. not even with bush/mccain. you have two solid guys, not the party's best, but equally matched contenders. well financed, able to go autoeach other for a few months. the president is in a vulnerable position. >> think of it as a rocky film,
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seven, eight or night. >> this is not just the new jobs thing, but the fundamental charge against social security. i was listening to the rundown and listening to them say hey, look, they are not just looking at it the way it needs to be defined. there shouldn't be social security. if it landed, doesn't he have a had time coming back saying i do believe in social security. there's been a hard time so far. the way the democrats handled it is to link romney to perry and say they are identical. in terms of private accounts, they are identical in terms of social security. >> they have been doing your job for you? >> yeah. we are going out for a drink. >> send us more e-mails. >> keep the e-mail account from romney and perry and perry on romney. have a great weekend. welcome back dana.
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you are a blistering critic. coming up, republican lawmakers are rewriting laws restricting access to voting. guess what, they are aimed at hurting obamas re-election. they are changing the rules, guess why? so no one will vote. you're watching "hardball." i want healthy skin for life. [ female announcer ] improve the health of your skin with aveeno daily moisturizing lotion. the natural oatmeal formula improves skin's health in one day, with significant improvement in 2 weeks. i found a moisturizer for life.
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wow, this is a hot one. welcome back to "hardball." it's about getting voters out to the polls. republican controlled legislatures across the country from coast-to-coast are trying to rewrite election laws to restrict access to the voting booth. get it? more than 30 states alone made changes to the voting law. in 12 states they passed laws to create photo id laws. in some states the governor vetoed it.
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at least five states passed laws limiting early voting. two states, texas and florida placed restrictions on voter groups. they are rewriting the games to prevent democrats from getting to the polls. cindy tucker is an award winning prize writer and julie is the co-director of the project. let me ask you, this is such obvious gamesmanship. when you start saying, if you have voter irregularities somewhere, you fix them, catch them and prosecute. there are no real examples floating around about cheating. >> none. >> why do you change the laws. an older person doesn't have a photo id. where would they go to get a government picture on it? >> in some cases, they have to
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go to the county seat. if they don't drive, they have to find a ride to get to the county seat. >> somebody has to tell them how to do this. they don't know it until they get to the voting booth. >> let me be clear about this part, chris. i come from a rural part of alabama. i know many old church ladies that fully participate in society, who have never driven a car and never been on a plane. it is not true that you are marginal just because you don't have a drivers license. further more, they have lived in the same place for 80 years. >> let me tell you about city people, they don't all drive cars, either. >> when they go to the polls, the poll watchers know who they are. they don't need voter id. this is the republicans way of trying to elect -- construct barriers so they can't vote.
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>> it's voter suppression. it happened in 2000 in florida, hint, hint. remember that election. >> i remember that. in 2012, it could be a close election. tell us what is going on. >> we have not only the voter identification laws but rollbacks on early voting. in florida, african-americans are twice as likely to vote early than whites. >> why is that? >> early voting is important because it's convenient. you don't have to wait until tuesday. you can vote on a saturday. sundays, there are drives by the churches to get out the vote. the florida legislature -- >> where do you go to vote? >> at the county seat. what happened was this year, they cut that back. they specifically cut out that last sunday before the election day because they know who it's going to impact. >> the church people. >> the people that turned out
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more in 2008. >> what is going on here? what do the democrats do when it's being passed. doesn't it raise red flags? >> it does, but it's where the republicans took over the state legislature. they can't do anything to slow these things down. it's like poker. it's stacking the deck. we are going to see a different game. >> let me go to pennsylvania. they are talking to the republicans about getting rid of the black voting. everybody fights for pennsylvania. democrats usually get it, not all. here we go. why are they trying to break it up? >> because obama might win pennsylvania. if he gets the most votes in pennsylvania, he gets all the electoral votes. it's the way it's worked in most of the states. >> 23, i think. >> in most of the states
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forever. you have to give the republicans credit, they are all about getting elected. if they can turn an election in their favor, they are willing to go for it. destroying the electoral system -- >> it's like having a new redistricting through the decade. >> exactly. >> what about breaking up the vote? it breaks up the small states. it could be counter productive. >> we'll see, except in states where they took over the legislature, we have to see what the outcome is. if you move to the new system and redistricted yourself into power, you are always going to get the vote. >> bill clinton told a group of youth activists they were trying to limit people from trying to be able to vote. let's watch the pro. here he is. >> there has never been, in my lifetime, since we got rid of the poll tax and the other jim
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crow burdens on voting a determined effort to limit the franchise that we see today. >> he was comparing it to the worst of stuff. >> well, let me say that many activists have made that same comparis comparison. it doesn't apply broadly. i will have no problem voting because i have a drivers license. but, they will try to shave off enough votes of elderly folks, poor folks, young voters to affect close races. a lot of the races are going to be close, chris. >> 25% of african-american voters do not have government issued photo ids compared to whites. 50% of voters making less than $35,000 a year don't have one. >> why don't republicans just campaign for the votes of
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african-americans and latinos and poor people? why don't they just go out there with some policies that would appeal to african-americans and latinos and poor people instead of trying to restrict their access to the ballot box? >> are you being sincere here? >> of course i'm being sincere. >> you know why they won't, it's too much work to make the case. it's great having you on. this is the kind of thing voters have to look seriously at. you start playing this game. thank you. >> thank you. coming up, mitt romney is on both sides of an issue. you are watching "hardball" on msnbc. r ] sitting. waiting. hoping. that's a recipe for failed investing. open an e-trade account and open doors, seize opportunities, take action with some of the most powerful yet easy-to-use trading tools on the planet all built to help you maximize the potential
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for the side show. what is it? in an interview mitt romney was asked for a reaction to rick perry calling president obama a socialist. let's hear what he said. >> words add a lot of unintended meanings and calling people socialists probably goes beyond the fact that it is true that president obama's team and the president himself seem to believe that government have a better approach to our economy than the private sector. i don't use the word socialist or haven't so far. >> oh, yeah? he's omitting a well-documented statement from his own book. he wrote it is often remarked upon irony that at a time europe is moving away from socialism, president obama is moving toward that direction. perry accused obama of being a socialist and romney accused him
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of moving toward it. big difference. yesterday, john boehner gave a glimpse at his job. it was getting strayhouse republican freshmen to change their minds on the deficit reduction bill. let's listen. >> there were a couple of freshmen, a couple young whipper snappers who seemed to have all the answers. i brought them in my office and closed the door. i know them pretty well. i looked at them and said boys, that door's not going to open until you say yes. it could be 30 seconds, 30 minutes, doesn't matter. it could be three hours. i have a week and a half's worth of cigarettes in that chest over there. it still took about 45 minutes. >> his version was open up the office, let the heat rise and air grow thicker.
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i can remember how clear and cold the air was afterwards when they got out of that room. a new poll puts congress' disapproval at an all-time high. now people are including their own members of congress as a group of lawmakers who should be shown the door. what percentage of voters don't think their own congressman should be reelected? 57%. it's typical to see. 57%, that's tonight's big number. want the guy or woman out. that's "hardball" now. up next, "your business" with j.j. ramberg. lktouch to the str. which shirt feels more expensive? i get to touch these guys? oooh, ooh la la. i'm feeling their muscles. yup, yup. this feels great. that one. that one's softer. [ female announcer ] actually, it's the same t-shirt. really? but this one was washed in downy. really? that's why it was softer. it has a real soft velvety feeling. let me try again.
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