all the right wing talkers are jumping all over the president's plan to raise taxes on them and their rich buddies. bill o'reilly says he might not be able to do more of his show if he has to pay more in tax. can we get that in writing, bill? >> if barack obama begins taxing me more than 50%, i don't know how much longer i'm going to do this. >> rich righties are going nuts over president obama's proposed tax hikes. tonight, democratic strategist eric byrnes, david k. johnston and mike papantonio is here. rick perry is flee to move around the country and the taxpayer foots the bill. his extravagant use of state funds. president obama is set to make the trip to the boehner mcconnell bridge in cincinnati. wendell young of the cincinnati city council is my guest.

while the rest of the country is worrying about jobs and the economy, the right is flipping out over chaz bono's participation in "dancing with the stars". >> he's on a campaign to mainstream transgenderism. thanks for watching. i think most of us in cable television do this because we love being in the mix. in fact, i've often thought this business is kind of a disease. you do it and you just can't get it out of your blood, out of your system. but maybe that's not the case for everybody. you see, the king of cable television news, he's threatening to pack it in if president obama raises his taxes and raises the taxes of his rich buddies. bill o'reilly, we all know he's being looking out for you folks for a long time, the top 2%, the self-proclaimed culture warrior is threatening to walk away from his $10 million a year contract with fox news because the president is going to make an effort to get people like billo

to share in some sacrifice. got it? watch o'reilly blow a gasket on the monday episode of "the factor" over the taxes. >> if you tax achievement, some of the achievers are going to pack it in. again, let's take me. my corporations employ scores of peechlt they depend on me to do what i do so they can make a nice salary. if barack obama begins taxing me more than 50%, which is very possible, i don't know how much longer i'm going to do this. i like my job, but there comes a point when taxation becomes oppressive. >> it sounds like bill o'reilly really cares about his employees. he'd pack it in over a few more thousand dollars. oh, what an employer. president obama isn't talking about raising o'reilly's tax rate over 50%. that is i guess what you call the spin zone. in the past, president obama said that he wants the top 2% to go back to the old clinton tax rate of 39%.

how did we ever function at that rate? in fact, the last time, g guys rich as o'reilly gave up 50% in taxes was during the kipper's first term. o'reilly isn't the only million-dollar-baby whining about the president's plan. the drugster, i don't know how he's going to make it either. he's almost done with this five-year contract, in a rush slapped o'reilly today for sticking up for him last night. >> i think it's an important thing that bill o'reilly got it right because everybody knows he has more power than anybody other than the president. and he was great on this last night. and frankly, it's heart-warming to see. i don't feel like a lone wolf anymore. i don't feel like a lone voice. >> oh, it's so heart-warming, isn't it? the right wing fraternity brothers are scratching each

other's backs right now. you're not alone, drugster. sean hannity, he's already whining about paying more than 50% of his $100 million radio contract and multimillion-dollar tv contract in taxes. >> i pay new york state tax, county tax, sales tax, property tax, federal income tax. i pay 55% of my income in taxes and the president is hitting us over the head with a baseball bat saying we're not paying our taxes. >> i guess he could join his buddy o'reilly and pack it in. he'd never do it. hannity wants, i guess, for nothing. he could pay 90% in taxes and still live better than 98% of great american who is listen to his garbage that he cranks out on a daily basis. if he was intellectually honest, he would admit president obama isn't asking him to pay 50%. he lives pretty good in a

mansion on long island. and you know what? that's his choice. and he's earned it. but here's the deal. every primetime cable host is in the top 1% of income earners in this country. it's a fact. it's really easy to go buy any house you want, depending on how you want to live, eat in the finest restaurants and fly on private jets. and i guess you could say live like a king. it's easy to lose touch with the folks in the flyover country. o'reilly, limbaugh and hannity wrap themselves in the flag after 9/11, didn't they? but over the last year, they've been hammering firefighters and police officers. you guys have to take a pay cut to save these state budgets. that's their position. o'reilly doesn't have the guts to go to columbus to tell the firefighters, hey, i'm looking out for you. none of these wealthy broadcasters went to wisconsin to stand with teachers who were forced to give up almost 20% of

their income, their middle-classers. where were these rich righties with microphones? 14 million americans don't have a job and millions more have fallen into poverty. the numbers are staggering. limbaugh calls those people lazy and hannity wants the government to quit paying unemployment benefits. that's their position. it's kind of sickening to hear multimillion-dollar talking heads complaining how a small tax increase will change their life. i mean, if you make less than $250,000 a year, let's get to the facts. the factor of bill o'reilly isn't looking out for you. he's looking out for himself, defending the rich from a tax increase doesn't make you a patriot. it makes you a pinhead. over 1,000 great americans have signed the petition that we've asked you to sign on msnbc.com to raise o'reilly's taxes, okay? to see if he'll really quit. i find it selfish. i find it amazing.

and i think that they're on display for every american to see, that maybe they really don't have the character to serve it up for america. in the midst of disaster, when it's a great media story and the firefighters are there or the police officers are there and of course they vilify public educators all the time, when it comes to stepping up and doing something for them, it's always conditional. but when it's time to step up for the wealthy, you can always count on these rich broadcasters to be there. 39%, is it that tough? it's interesting how the right wing talkers of america, they want the war, but they sure as hell don't want to pay for it, do they? get your cell phones out. i want to know what you think. tonight's question is, would you be willing to pay more in taxes if it meant bill o'reilly would retire? text "a" for yes, text "b" for no. you can go to our blog at ed.msnbc.com.

we're bringing the results later on in the show. joining me tonight is eric byrnes, democratic strategist and founder of bullfight strategies. david k. johnston, author of the book "free lunch" and columnist for reuters. and mike papantonio, host of a radio show. mike, you've been successful in your profession for a long time. how in the heck did you ever make it when you were paying 39%? how in the heck did you ever survive when you were paying 39%? it's a good thing those tax cuts were there so you could make it, right, buddy? >> it's tough. i was so startled by what o'reilly said the other night, i tried to do a quick analysis of why he's so worried about money and taxes. the quick analysis is this. he must be worried about his net worth. i remember o'reilly paid one of his producers in an out-of-court settlement so she would drop sexual harassment charges against her.

he paid her millions of dollars to hush up. but in the process, we learned he was worth $50 million. i thought surely he wasn't worried about that. i thought maybe he was spending too much money having the new york police follow around his wife and his wife's boyfriend. maybe he was spending a ton of money there. but that wouldn't make a dent into his $50 million net worth. so maybe he's only left with $20 million after a bad divorce. i don't know. but i have to tell you this -- most people really don't care whether bill o'reilly shows up tomorrow night at all. they don't care whether he goes home or shows up. 46 million americans now have to rely on food stamps to eat. and bill o'reilly asks us to have some sympathy for him. it's an absurd position. >> david k. johnston, give us the numbers. if it goes up 3.5%, 4%, what's it mean to millionaires, whether they're making $1 million, $5 million or $10 million? what does it really mean? what is the sacrifice? >> the tax policy center estimates when you work it all

through, it's a 1.2 percentage point increase for people who make over $1 million a year. let's give an idea of how much money that is. the median income taxpayer in america has to work 97 years to make $1 million. the average income of people over $1 million is $3 million. so you'd have to be around for almost 300 years to make what the average person in this group makes in a year. >> that's an amazing number. eric, what would it be like if bill o'reilly really packed it in? >> i think it would be one of the gratest days for this country and certainly for a media debate that i can recall. i really hope he goes. i'd be happy to pay his fictitious 50% in taxes of my considerably lower salary to see him go. >> it really shows their selfishness, no doubt.

but eric, bill o'reilly says -- and limbaugh says he's more powerful than the president. what's your response to that? >> i laugh that. maybe five years ago that was true. but i think glenn beck last year showed us how not powerful bill o'reilly is. he's just kind of bloviating the usual stuff that he does. what's really, really insidious about that is this whole class warfare attack. limbaugh made this reference to the fact that he doesn't want to go it alone. he's not going it alone. paul ryan on the sunday shows invoked the class warfare argument five times before obama even gave his speech. this is about dividing the country. and it's a coded racial attack. we've seen so many times from the right -- it's about dividing obama and the democrats from the middle class in this country, all while these guys are advocating devouring the middle cl class and destroying it.

>> mike, how tough a sell is this going to be for the obama supporters to say that 98% of the american people aren't going to be affected by this? it was on the local news tonight here in minneapolis. it's the millionaire's tax. everybody's talking about it. the president's obviously got the country talking about it. is this going to be a heavy lift, a hard sell, what do you think? >> i think it's going to be something he has to talk about. i think if you say it enough, people start hearing it. when you say it one time, it goes over their head. he's smart enough to understand right now, this is the issue, ed. this is the issue. they want to call it class war. it's class genocide is what it is. it's class genocide and the millionaires and the billionaires around corporate america have won this war. he has to remind america, this isn't class war. it's class genocide. the only way to correct it, the only way to correct it is to help america dig its way out from underneath this war rubble that the republicans have left us with. he's at his best right now.

he's on message. if he'll do that this next 13 months, he'll have the presidency in his hands. divide, divide, divide -- i don't mean divide the country but divide these cry-baby millionaires from the rest of the krcountry and make us understand what they're really about. >> david part of the platform of the president moving forward with this new economic initiative is reform to tax code and get the corporations to pay more at a different rate. would the country be better off if we were to lower the corporate tax rate and take away the writeoffs? would thereby a gain and more money coming from the treasury? >> it would be better off if we did it for manufacturers who have to deal in the physical world, yes. this plan the president has is a very clever trap in it for the republicans. the president's plan would give everyone with a job a tax cut next year, every employer in

america would get a tax cutment there would be a huge one-year write-off for any new capital equipment by companies. the republicans vote against this. the very things they have said they want, imagine how that's going to be used against them in a campaign, especially if they won't even bring it up for a vote in the house because they're afraid of what will happen. so that's the thing to watch is this very clever trap the president has set out for the republicans in the first year of this bill 2012. >> eric byrnes, david k. johnston, mike, great to have you with us tonight. remember to answer tonight's question there at the bottom of the screen. we want to know what you think. the president's plan gives democrats in the house and senate a clear opportunity to stand behind him to take it to the american people. when we come back, congresswoman maxine waters and senator sherrod brown join me.

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welcome back to "the ed show." democrats in the house and senate should stand with president obama and the vast majority of the american people who support raising taxes on the very wealthiest americans. after all, those tax increases would represent just one part of the shared sacrifice in the president's plan. the middle class workers who support these democrats have already been asked to sacrifice way too much for too long, particularly by republicans. but some democrats, believe it or not, are balking. here we go, nebraska senator ben nelson, who is up for reelection next year said, quote, there's too much discussion about raising taxes right now, not enough focus on cutting spending. how generic is that? how about mary landreau and

senator jim webb who is not running for reelection told politico last week that the president's ideas for how to pay for his jobs plan were, terrible, we shouldn't increase taxes on ordinary people, there are other ways to get there. mr. webb, i have a great deal of respect for you as a senator from virginia. but we're not talking about ordinary people. we are talking about 450,000 americans who are millionaires that have had the breaks for the last ten years, that have had the breaks for the last 30 years if you look at the income graph as to where the money's going in our society. ordinary people? no. that would be extraordinary. coming up, we'll talk to a democrat from the house and from the senate and see where they stand on the president's plan to put americans back to work. stay with us. [ junior ] i played professional basketball for 12 years.

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welcome back to "the ed show." thanks for watching tonight our broadcast tonight from the middle of the country, minneapolis, minnesota. it's all over the local news, the millionaire's tax. if the president has done nothing else, he's got the country talking and focusing on what has to happen with the treasury. millionaires need to pay more, that's the message. although democrats have been slow to support the president's plan but others have expressed broad support for the plan. let's go to senator sherrod brown of ohio tonight and also joining us is congresswoman maxine waters of california. great to have both of you with us tonight.

congresswoman, i have to ask you, if 98% of the american people -- and it's actually a little bit more than that -- are not going to get touched by this, how in the world can't the democrats get behind it? there are some reservations coming out of some of the senate and a few in the house. isn't this something easy for the democrats to sell? what do you think? >> well, i think that many of the democrats are looking for the details of the overall proposal. but on increasing taxes on the millionaires and billionaires, we have to get behind that. i think it is fair. it makes good sense. the american public supports that. they have been getting away with not paying their fair share. and i think that aspect of the proposal is going to get widespread support among democrats and i think republicans are going to have to not do what they've been doing in the past and protecting the richest 1% in our country. they're going to have to come on board on this.

american workers and people out of jobs are not going to stand for this unfairness in the taxation situation. >> senator, is this going to be a hard sell for senators who are going home? there's 16 democrats and one independent facing reelection. it would seem to me that it would be an easy sell to say to 98% of your constituents that you're not going to get touched by this and it's about time those who have had the tax breaks over the last ten years have got to step to the plate? how can that be a hard sell? why are some democrats in the senate getting cold feet on this? >> let them speak for themselves. i was on a conference call with a bunch of seniors today in eastern ohio. it's pretty simple. do you want to protect oil companies? oil company subsidies and hedge fund operators on wall street? or do you want to protect medicare. it really can't be both ways. the republicans, if they want to protect their oil company friends and they want to protect hedge fund operators and they want to protect these tax breaks

to send jobs overseas, then they've got to cut medicare to pay for it. it's real clear to me that we ought to have some tax fairness here, people who have had a good last ten years ought to pay a little bit more. then we can preserve medicare and social security, make some significant budget cut where is we have to, protect pell grants, social security, medicare, the kinds of things -- invest in the future, community colleges and all that. these are real simple, clear choices. politics is about choices. and republicans, as maxine just suggested, republicans that stand in the way of this are going to see a steamroller running over them. the public clearly says, increase taxes on people who have had an easy ride and can afford it and don't balance the budget on the backs of middle income and senior citizens. >> yes. >> and congresswoman, the congressional black caucus has struggled with this president at times. but it seems now that he has turned the corner. is this something that's going to galvanize the congressional

black caucus and really get them totally behind this president? because if he's going to get reelected, i don't know how he could do it with anybody in your caucus that is not totally behind him. what do you make of that? >> well, the congressional black caucus really does support the president. and we want him to work with us to do things that will get him the votes that he deserves to have. we believe that paying attention to the jobs crisis, doing the job fairs we did all over the country and helping people to connect with opportunities and keeping this on the agenda and then helping to try and target the resources toward the worst places in this country will help him, not hurt him. we support him. we want to see him reelected. and we want to make sure that his base constituency understands that he's on board on all of these issues. you know, one of the things that i think we have to do is this -- many of the republicans

represent poor people and struggling people in the rural areas and areas where they don't get any representation here in congress. they don't have anybody fighting for them. they are misled oftentimes on issues that don't have anything to do with their economic well being. and i think we're going to have to reach out beyond the urban areas, beyond the suburban areas into many of these rural areas, into these mining areas and talk to people about what their representatives are not doing and how their economic interests are not being taken care of. >> and, senator brown, are you concerned that president obama might backtrack? he has a habit over the last several years of making a statement and then backing off a little bit and looking for the deal. is this it? how determined do you think he is and will this motivate some to support him even more because they know he means business now? >> i think he does mean business. i think when all the talk shows -- my wife and i were

getting ready to watch the cleveland browns football game on sunday. before that, we were watching some of these shows. you heard all these conservative republicans and conservative politicians in washington say the president's committing class warfare. and when the president didn't back down when they accused him of this -- this is a group that's committed class warfare for the last to years. they're committing the class warfare. the president is standing strong, he's driving forward. he means it. there are a lot of rural people in appalacia, ohio, that are interested in this. going to ohio on thursday to begin to put people to work on that bridge. we have that all over our state. rural areas, urban areas, people wanting to go to work.

that's what the president is fighting for. >> senator sherrod brown of ohio and congresswoman maxine waters of california, great to have you both with us tonight. coming up, house speaker john boehner compares federal spending to snorting cocaine? the tan man's in the zone tonight. and watching "dancing with the stars" will confuse your kids. at least that's what fox news' medical expert dr. keith ablo says. later, the right wing hysterics over a game show. you're watching "the ed show" on msnbc. why do we have aflac...

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and in psychotalk tonight, house speaker john boehner takes a break from the golf course to rip president obama's jobs plan. during a speech at the university of cincinnati, the tan man sounded the class warfare alarm, then came up with this comparison -- >> at a time when spending is out of control, giving the federal government more government would be like giving a cocaine addict more cocaine. >> so by boehner's logic, government spending on things like medicare, medicaid and social security and the military is like snorting cocaine? but boehner has a history of making bad comparisons. >> dealing with the white house is like dealing with a bowl of jell-o. this is killing an ant with a nuclear weapon.

i'm trying to catch my breath so i don't refer to this maneuver going on today as chicken crap. taking money away from politicians to spend is like taking cocaine away from cocaine addicts. >> he's into this drug thing, isn't he? so this isn't the first time he's compared the government to cocaine addicts. mr. boehner, it's time you stopped joking around with your cheap laugh lines and get serious about creating jobs in this country, comparing tax increases to giving cocaine to an addict is irresponsible psychotalk. another week, another scratch in rick perry's armor. this time, he's leaving taxpayers on the hook for his wife's trips to europe? and president obama has a plan to fix the nation's crumpling infrastructure and create jobs. at the same time, republicans are already against it. so the president is taking the fight to their turf.

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just over a month ago, rick perry became a national candidate for office. and every week since then, we find more wrinkles in his perfectly tailored suit, don't we? this weekend, "the houston con chronicle" reported that despite massive budget cuts in the state of texas, taxpayers were still only charged $300,000 for things like a perry family vacation in the bahamas, texans are seeing billions cut in public education, medicaid and other essential services. but they are on the hook for perry's security detail while he relaxes on the beach or while his wife takes solo trips to amsterdam, madrid and new york. the perry camp says any of perry's trips were to promote economic development for the state of texas. and perry defends the cost to

taxpayers saying that he's promoting texas no matter where he goes. but yesterday perry was promoting himself to one of the republican party's kingmakers. "the new york times" reporting that perry met with news corp. head honcho rupert murdoch last night. perry was raising money in a world he knows rupert murdoch's pockets are enormously deep and important. joining me is jim moore, the author of ""adios." these expenses, first of all, what do you make of the meeting between rupert murdoch and the governor of texas? how important was this? >> when i first heard about that, i was thinking maybe he's setting him up for a television program after he loses the election. who knows? obviously this is a guy whose favor he wants to curry.

murdoch's reach in this country obviously with fox news, his network, his publications is very wide and he wants to curry favor with him. anything that the fox network broadcasts, perry wants it to be good news. he doesn't want anything to be critical. i think it's a combination of things. he's got a lot of friends who can raise a lot of money as well as exposing rick perry to a lot of positive publicity. >> well, last week it was donald trump in new york with governor perry. and i think that was all about the governor saying, hey, dude, don't go on tv and bad-mouth me, i'm one of the good guys, i'm going to lower your taxes. now here he is meeting with rupert murdoch. what about these vacation expenses? could this come back to haunt perry and do you think the other candidates in the republican field, especially in the debate coming up on thursday night, will they make hay of it? >> if they don't, they're foolish. rick perry is guilty of exceedingly bad form.

when the state that you are managing is in such deep financial trouble and you're out running around the country doing things that are strictly political and you are asking the taxpayers of texas to pay for your security while you're raising tens of millions of dollars, it is profoundly hypocritic hypocritical. at a minimum, the guy could write a check for $300,000 to pay the taxpayers back and it would make no dent in the amount of money he's making. it's happened in texas before. the state of texas provides this security. but it's never been in a situation where people are traveling in a way that he is, as political as he is and he is benefiting from it political. but the taxpayers of the state of texas are getting nothing out of this, nothing. and so he owes us. he ought to write us a check. >> yeah. he wrote in his first book that he believes that homosexuality is the same as alcoholism. and now his campaign is not responding to questions about that.

will the social issues in the forefront of a general election come back to haunt this guy or will they embolden his campaign? >> i think that they've got to go full-tilt fast-forward and put their blinders on and stick with what he has said in this regard. in his first book about the boy scouts, he was talking about how the boy scouts were under attack from homosexual activists and atheists. he's going to continue to take these positions. they'll probably hurt him in the general election. but as you've seen in the polls, he continues to do very well in the primary with people who believe like he does. >> yeah. well, he hasn't broken away. you have to look at mitt romney still within striking distance. his inability to break away from the pack in the past month, does that show some vulnerability? >> i think he took a hit in the last debate. i think he was not very poised. he was a little bit off-balance.

i think those numbers have reflected in a slight drop. but i think what rick has shown historically is he can take it and he doesn't look back, he doesn't look in either direction. he's decisive. he gets out there and he tells people what he believes. eventually people come back to him. i think his numbers will continue to go up. and i think romney's will go back down. >> jim moore, always a pleasure. great to have you on "the ed show." coming up in my playbook, president obama wants to fix the nation's roads and bridges. republicans are still saying no. so the president is taking the fight to boehner's district, mitch mcconnell's district, their home states. stay with us.

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waterloo, iowa, where they manufacture traffic lights. bachmann says the firm omjc inc. would thrive off our policies, less regulation and, of course, less government spending. >> we want you to grow, grow, grow, grow, grow, grow. that's my goal, to see you succeed wildly. >> to make sure everyone was on the same page, bachmann asked the company's chief executive, quote, you don't get a government grant to do what you do? according to "the l.a. times" mr. yost assured her he didn't. but it turns out that's not exactly the case. yost later acknowledged his company has profited from the infrastructure spending promoted by the president of the united states. in fact, as much as 80% of omjc's revenue comes from government. think about it, folks.

it's a traffic light company. who are their clients? cities, municipalities, government. i mean, when was the last time you bought a traffic light? lightbulb on now, michelle? next time, bachmann might want to do a little research beforehand. just a thought. coming up, the gop leadership says no to insurance that would help out their very own states. and i get my financing from ge capital. but i also get stuff that goes way beyond banking. we not only lend people money, we help them save it. [ junior ] ge engineers found ways to cut my energy use. [ cheryl ] more efficient lighting helps junior stay open later... [ junior ] and serve more custo. so you're not just getting financial capital... [ cheryl ] you're also getting human capital. not just money. knowledge. [ junior ] ge capital. they're not just bankers... we're builders. [ junior ] ...and they've helped build my business.

in my playbook tonight, president obama is fighting for his jobs plan on the republican leaders' home turf. on thursday, the president will visit the brent spence bridge which carries a major trucking route across the ohio river. 4% gross domestic product in this country goes across that bridge. and it is, my friends, in need of dire repair. one end of the bridge is in

senate minority leader district mitch mcconnell, his home state of kentucky. the other end is in cincinnati, a few miles outside john boehner's ohio district, the speaker. the almost 50-year-old bridge is in such bad shape, the president has called it functionally obsolete. the plans for rebuilding it are under way. but the funding isn't there yet. it will cost an estimated $2.4 billion. so far, they have $51 million ready to go. the president's plan would help fund the project and create construction jobs at the same time. republicans claim they're in favor of improving infrastructure, but they have already come out against the president's plan to actually get it done. joining me now is wendell young, he is a member of the cincinnati ohio city council and the chairman of the brent spence safety commission. mr. young, great to have you with us tonight. i think when the president shined a light on this bridge, every american was saying, okay,

how dangerous is this bridge? tell us about it. >> well, thank you so much. i'm glad to be here. i'm just thrilled that president obama's shining a light on this particular bridge in our area. you asked how dangerous is this bridge? this bridge was built to carry 80,000 cars a year. it carries double that now. it has no breakdown lanes. last year, a top deck fell down to the lower deck. there are no breakdown lanes on that bridge. this bridge is very dangerous, very much in need of repair. and president obama is right on target by utilizing this bridge as an example of what can be done to revitalize on economy. the president's bill will bring jobs to this area. it will help the commerce. it will maintain this vital link that is a part of a chain that stretches from florida to michigan. and you're right, this bridge carries nearly 4% of our gross domestic product every year.

this is a very important bridge. it needs to be replaced. it needs to be replaced now. >> i read that number last week and i couldn't believe it. it seemed awfully high, but it is amazing. is funding really the only thing that's holding this up? what is in the way? why can't we get this done in this part of the country for this bridge? >> i really wish i had a good answer to that. there are people here who have been working for years to get this bridge replaced, particularly our mayor, senator sherrod brown and our vice mayor have all been actively engaged in trying to get this bridge replaced. the reality simply is that we are in an area where, thanks to the president bringing attention to this, sending that wake-up call to congress, and now it's just a matter of getting boehner and mcconnell to do their job and find the money to fix this bridge. we need to have the will to get it done. we can't wait another 20 years. i'm so pleased at what the

president is doing because he's right on target. >> cincinnati's kind of a conservative town. it's ridden with conservative talk and that way of thinking. what are the folks in that part of the country saying about boehner and mcconnell? they're standing in the way of this. why aren't they standing with the president if the need is as great as you say it is, and i believe it is? >> the need is every bit as great as i say it is. the reason they're standing in the president's way is beyond me. not only are we talking about commerce. we're talking about jobs. we're talking about people being able to feed their families. we're talking about good-paying jobs, not only for cincinnatians, all over this area, all over this country people are going to want to be coming to work here. we need this job. >> mr. young, good to have you with us tonight. i hope you get it. coming up, the great danger that america faces. and, no, it's not nancy grayson

in a dance costume. i'll let the folks at fox news explain. you're watching "the ed show" on msnbc. [ male announcer ] this is coach parker... whose non-stop day starts with back pain... and a choice.

take advil now and maybe up to four in a day. or choose aleve and two pills for a day free of pain. way to go, coach. ♪ this is not how witness protection works! when we set you up with that little hardware store we didn't intend for your face to be everywhere. but fedex office makes it so easy. not only do they ship stuff, they print flyers, brochures -- everything i need to get my name out there. that's the problem. now we need to give you a third identity. you're paul matheson. and you're gonna run your business into the ground. erik gustafson would never do that!

there is no erik gustafson. hey that's erik gustafson!!! there is no erik gustafson!!!!! [ male announcer ] small business solutions. fedex. solutions that matter. welcome back to "the ed show." survey tonight, i asked, would you be willing to pay more in taxes if it meant bill o'reilly would retire? 91% of you said yes. 9% of you said no. up next, the fox news "dancing with the stars" freak-out. stay with us. called atrial fibrillation, or afib, that's not caused by a heart valve problem? 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,

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[ strike! ] and finally tonight, last night i spoke about the president's call for shared sacrifice and the gop's ongoing war on the middle class. bill o'reilly on the other hand whined about his taxes and here's what else was on his mind. >> the daughter of sonny and cher, chastity bono is now chaz bono. >> good to know that o'reilly is really focused on the kitchen table issues of the country. >> mr. bono is getting all kinds of publicity, even appearing on a dance program. >> the program that o'reilly is talking about is "dancing with the stars." and the publicity that o'reilly is referring to seems to be coming from one source in particular, fox news. fox's go-to medical expert believes that chaz performing the cha-cha on national tv is harmful to your kids.

ablow has gone on several fox news programs and written online columns advising parents not to allow their children to watch the show because bono's gender identity will confuse them. but ablow is not basing his hysteria in medical fact. the american psychiatry association states, quote, there is no evidence that viewing a television game show with a transgender contestant would induce gender identity disorder in young people. well, ablow, quit the american psychiatry association and pushed his panic button on fox again. >> mr. bono is doing more than dancing. he's on a campaign that mainstream transgenderism. we wouldn't invite people with anorexia to go on fashion shows and talk about how wonderful they feel now that they're thinner and how they want more

l liposuction. >> joining me now is mike rogers. good to have you with us tonight. you want to talk about ablow saying parents should keep their kids away from the tv when chaz bono is on the air, what do you make of it? >> i'm amazed at the influence these guys always seem to give television, some of this nonsensical stuff that watching "will & grace" will make your kids gay, watching "dancing with the stars" will make your kids transgender. these guys are grasping at straws. they've seen that "dateline nbc" has been repealed. now they have to swing their cannons toward reality game shows of all things. >> why are they doing it going down this road? do they actually believe this?

>> i think unfortunately for many of these guys, they believe it. they wake up in the morning, the things they obsess about, whether it's keeping gay people from doing certain job, keeping them out of the military and keeping people like chaz bono off of dancing shows, that's their calling in the morning when they wake up, it's sad. i believe in a lot of these cases, these guys actually believe the insanity that they spew which in the end creates real hard for all gay, lesbian, transgender and bi americans. >> does it lead to gay bashing and hate speech? >> i think these guys do contribute to it. they'll make fun of it or say things are seriously wrong or people shouldn't be doing things. they want to strip their right to full participation in society. it kind of validates the feelings of some of the people who do more of the attacking, some of the violent attacks. it gives them the kind of leeway, permission to say, i'm not the only one.

there's these guys on tv who claim to be full-fledged legitimate psychiatrists when they're spewing rhetoric from 30 years ago. i do think that it contributes to that. nothing happens in a vacuum. >> so i have to ask you, who's more dangerous? chaz bono or nancy grace? >> well, that's a hell of a combination to ask me about, ed. i think it depends -- some things you're faced with a choice and it's one of those thgs that -- i don't know. it's hard to determine. >> mike rogers, always a pleasure good to have you with us tonight. that's "the ed show." us tonight. "the last word with lawrence o'donnell" starts right now. there's a new president in town.