>> the rogers heritage high school war eagles marching band showing up on martie barrett's front lawn so she can hear him play again? best thing in the world ever. nice playing, guys. good evening, americans, and welcome to the ed show tonight from new york. congressman darrell eisemann and the republicans, they want to put the post office out of business. if they get their way, it won't just affect your wallet, it could affect your voice at the ballot box. this is "the ed show." let's get to work. >> we are not talking about pay cuts, but we are talking about retired who no longer need it. >> anti-government republicans are out to destroy the postal service. steven lynch has a bill to save it and he joins me tonight. >> that's not what firefighters are telling me. that's not what chief reel told me tonight.

>> the goons tried and failed to ambush me and the firefighters of ohio. of course, now they're lying about what we said. we'll play the tape and correct the record. >> well, i probably chose a poor word to explain that. >> rick perry is retreating from his tough language. jim moore will fill us in, and bill o'reilly's crusade to keep the rich from paying their fair share continues on the feud. you won't believe what he's saying now. >> nice to have you with us, folks. i can't let this one go. chapter number 2, and there will be more. the second biggest employer in the united states of america is under attack. no bigger story in the country if we're talking about jobs. because 120,000 postal workers, their jobs are on the chopping blocks, and republicans want to end, basically, 235 years of reliable mail service in america. now, delivering the mail, you know, this really isn't that

easy of a job. postal workers have to go door to door in small towns and big cities, in blazing heat, brutal cold, snowstorms, you name it. republicans once shared sacrifice from these folks, postal workers? they want bill o'reilly to keep every dime he has. i'll have more on bill o. coming up here in just a few moments. darrell isis is the guy you need to focus on. this guy is worth $300 million. does he care about the little guy? does he care about the middle classers? no. he introduced the reform act of 2011, and he spoke about his bill a few weeks ago. >> i'm concerned about the post office. it's going to lose $10 million. a lot of washingtonian think tanks are saying, we'll just do a bailout. we'll keep fudging the figures. we can't really keep doing that. this is an organization that can be profitable, that can meet its responsibilities. they'll have to do something,

though. we're talking about retirement, because you and i are e mailing a lot more than paper mailing. >> here's the rest of the story. isa is engaged in basically a smear campaign aimed at one of the nation's greatest institutions, the postal service. the reason republicans don't want the post office delivering your mail is because it works. they want to privatize everything. that's their mission. and this is the biggest target in government. the post office, they're not looking for a bailout. please stop using that word, congressmen. they just want to quit funding 75 years of pensions in a 10-year window which the congress passed. it was a law in 2006 in the lame duck session. the post office would have basically, right now, a $1.5 billion surplus today had that law not been passed.

now, isa's bill would end saturday delivery and close or consolidate thousands of post offices and processing centers across america. isa's bill would eliminate tens of thousands of middle class union jobs, but he doesn't give a damn. >> 80% of their costs are human beings, and if you've got too many human beings, you'll build inefficiency, you'll use labor poorly, and that's what's been happening, and it's why we have to get this right. >> too many human beings. we have too many jobs with the postal service. all of a sudden, after 235 years of great service, let's just go get 'em, even though zero tax dollars go to the postal service. he just doesn't tell the whole story, does he? joe isa is pro robot and anti-human being. this is nothing more than an effort to nail workers one more time. the republican attack on the united states postal service will also have a major impact --

hear me now -- on voting. millions of americans mail in absentee ballots. keep in mind voters in oregon can vote only by mail. and the state of washington just passed a law to do the same. this will be a major rural disadvantage. now, in those states, if you could only vote by mail and the mail service is cut back, can we do some real math here? that's voter suppression. people who vote by mail might be forced to go to ups or fedex. both of those companies line their pockets. republican, two republicans, election after election. for two years, fedex has given 50% of their money to republicans, ups has given 53% of their political donations to republicans. let me ask you tonight. do you trust ups or fedex to handle your ballot? let's cut right to the chase on this, folks. this is going to butcher rural america.

what about small businesses? i thought the republicans were all about helping out small business. i thought the republicans were going to care about the elderly. oh, yeah, this will affect the elderly. any of you seniors out there get your medications through the mail? if you're in a small town, you're going to have to pay a heck of a lot more, because, you see, the postal service delivers in 25% of america where these private services won't go. that's right. the postal service helps ups and fedex make money. it's going to hurt small businesses, it's going to hurt journalism in rural america. you're going to get the usa to help the county commission when a water issue comes up? you'll have radio, you'll have plenty of that. but defenders of the truth, where are they going to be? the postal service. you mean to tell me after 235 years of a successful run to helping americans communicate with the truth, all of a sudden

this congress back in 2006 is going to decide we're going to change everything? no. it's all about the money, it's all about going after and attacking unions, and it's all about destroying a great institution in this country that they think they're going to be able to privatize later on down the road. get your cell phones out. i want to know what you think. tonight's question. will republicans be successful in killing the post office? text a for yes, text b for no to 622639. nbc.com will bring you the results later in the show. what can this congress do? we're talking about 125 jobs on the chopping block right now. you heard isa. he thinks it's a human problem. counselor lynch has introduced hr 251 to eliminate the 75-year pension obligation. congressman, good to have you with us tonight. >> good to be with you, ed. >> i want to make sure america

gets this story, because i think it's part of our infrastructure, i think it's huge to small business into the ag community especially, it's going to hurt the poor, it's going to hurt the disabled, it's going to hurt seniors. is there any way you think your bill is going to be able to pass to turn this around? >> i think it can be part of the solution. we've been meeting. there have been full members of the house, full members of the senate, and although the elements of an agreement are there, it doesn't involve laying off 125,000 hard-working postal workers. right now the federal employee retirement system actually owes the post office about $7 billion, and one of the things that my bill would do is allow some of that money to be used for a retirement incentive for workers right now who are eligible for retirement, but because of this economy and because their housing values are down, because their 401(k)s have

been cut in half, they've been hanging on. so this would allow us to downsize by attrition, by having voluntary retirements of hundreds of thousands of these employees -- >> but the financial issue here, congressman, is that the law was passed by a lame duck republican congress in 2006 before nancy pelosi got her hands on the gavel and the democrats took over the house. this was one last shot at the working folk of america in an attempt to destroy the post office. and they have put a harness on them to fund 75 years' worth of pensions and health care and do it in a ten-year window. why don't we do that to walmart? they're the number one employer in the country. what other business has to do this? >> there is no other business in america that has to do what the post office is being required to do, which is to prefund their retiree health care. you're absolutely right, ed. and this is a target using

unions here, the postal unions as a target, and i think that there is a belief, and you've hit on it already, there is a belief that we can privatize the postal service. but as you've already noted, there are many rural towns that the postal service is the only entity that delivers in those areas. >> it would be 25% of america if you go by today's standards. 25% of america doesn't get private service. they have to depend on the postal service which, of course, is obligated to be in those communities. we're talking about closing thousands of facilities across america. so this is not only going after collective bargaining rights, but what about the voter suppression issue? we're looking at oregon and washington that vote by mail. this will affect elections, will it not? >> there is certainly the trust issue. we see the postal service as being a very trustworthy -- year after year when americans are asked what branch of your

government or what part of your government do you have the greatest confidence in and the greatest customer satisfaction, and the postal service comes out on top time and time again. so i don't think that people have the same regard for the private companies that are trying to move into the market. >> whether they trust them or not, it's an issue of access. if you don't have a private company working in a rural area, how are these folks going to vote? it's a disincentive. they're going to have to get in their car and drive somewhere and hand it off? this is just horrific, i think. congressman lynch, i hope your bill gets support of every democrat and the white house. thank you. >> thank you, ed. let's turn now to john nichols, washington correspondent of the nation. john, what do you think? is this voter suppression? >> it is, ed. in fact, the senate was alerted to this in congress several years ago by senator ron widen and senator john merkley from oregon who said in a letter, this is a serious problem. when you cut back the postal service, you threaten a whole

system that is structurally in place in oregon. which, i might add, is a state that generally votes democratic for president and sends two democrats to the u.s. senate. >> so i guess you could say people in rural america could be getting second-class service, maybe treated like second-class citizens. it's going to hurt small business, no doubt. what about journalism, in your opinion? you've worked in small towns many times in your career. what does this do? >> well, remember that the postal service actually delivers a lot of small town weeklys through the mail, and there is a slightly lower rate, and so it makes it easier for the small town weeklies and dailies to stay in business. so this is a part of sustaining the network of rural journalism in this country. there's something else there, too. the postal service gets mail out to places that are really way down that long country road.

if you cut it off, you're not just talking about losing journalism, you're talking about losing a whole sense of connection to small towns that could dry up to an even greater extent than they already have when you shut their core central business, which is the post office. >> i want the audience tonight to grab this number. $1.5 billion. got that number? $1.5 billion. that's how much money the postal service would have in the bank right now, ready to operate as a surplus, if they hadn't had a right wing congress stick it to them just before nancy pelosi got the gavel in 2007. it was in the lame duck session of the congress. so if you had gotten this government takeover out of the way, but, you see, these righties are on a mission to destroy collective bargaining, they're on a mission to privatize everything they possibly can, looking to the giving of the politicians who

would be in the service industry of delivery. it's very clear to see. so here we have a case where a bad law was passed, and now we have a chance to pass another law to repeal it which would save 120,000 jobs. john, where is the white house? where are the democrats? >> the president has been too weak on this issue. he's tried to walk down the middle and do the sort of arbitrator in chief game. this is the place he needs to step up. he should say the united states has a commitment to its rural communities and also to its urban communities. those 3700 post offices that are threatened with closure are largely in our most rural areas and also in our lowest income inner city neighborhoods. these are institutions that form a web of connection for this country. if we break that web, we really shut down the human faith of government. and i'll remind you of one thing, ed.

every day postal workers save lives. it's not their job, but they knock on a door and somebody doesn't answer, they go in and get somebody health care. postal workers deliver babies all the time. >> great point. >> human beings going out into our communities. >> no question about it. john, great to have you with us. washington correspondent magazine. obviously, we want to know what you think, and tweet us at ed show. coming up, bill o'reilly is talking about sharing and sacrifice, but he doesn't want to share his millions. and later, a right wing smear merchant is attacking me and the great firefighters in columbus, ohio. chief jack reel will tell the truth. i'll play the tape with commentary. you don't want to miss it. ssed when we had triplets. if by blessed you mean freaked out about money. well, we suddenly noticed that everything was getting more expensive, so we switched to the bargain detergent, but i found myself using three times more than you're supposed to and the clothes still weren't as clean as with tide.

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i'm always going to stick up for the lowly and the middle class in this country. the firefighters, the teachers, the policemen in this country. it is a bad piece of legislation and a lot of people in the state want it gone, that's why 1.3 million people signed a petition to put it on the ballot. it will hurt their ability to bargain for safety equipment. and we're going to tell you why they are correct. but andrew breitbart says i lied about what's in this terrible piece of legislation. he's wrong. that's coming up. but next, bill o'reilly has something to say about shared sacrifice. i can't wait for this one. stay with us. [ female announcer ] introducing new pronutrients from centrum. omega-3s go beyond heart health. probiotics go beyond digestive balance. and fruit & veggie has antioxidant properties. new pronutrients from centrum.

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thanks for staying with us tonight. bill o'reilly prides himself looking out for the folks. when republicans went after middle class, o'reilly thought it was only fair for some to sacrifice. here's what he had to say about wisconsin public workers back in february. >> the solution in bankrupt states is for workers to agree to some kind of giveback perhaps over a few years. that way they can look for other jobs in the private sector if they don't believe they're being fairly compensated in the public area. i think that would be fair. >> sure. the country is in rough shape, so teachers and firefighters should just give it up. but last week when o'reilly's own salary was at stake, he wasn't as enthusiastic about giving back.

>> but if you tax achievement, some of the achievers are going to pack it in. if barack obama starts 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. >> he's talking about the so-called buffett rule. part of president obama's proposal that would increase the top tax rate to clinton era levels, not 50% as o'reilly claims. the buffett rule would raise taxes on investments to the same level as wages which, by the way, is a proposal that the overwhelming majority of americans, the folks, are for. so today on "the view," o'reilly had a different spin on the matter. >> i'm telling you the country is in trouble. we owe $14.5 trillion we can't pay back. our power is on the decline everywhere. >> what's the solution? >> the next president has to get in and demand of all of us

sacrifice. we're all going to have to make sacrifices. >> the next president? why do we have to wait 14 months? time to call in heidi harris of the heidi harris radio show in las vegas, and bill press, host of the nationally syndicated bill press show. nice to have both of you with us tonight. turning to president obama, he's out there defending workers, the middle classers. here he is earlier this week. >> you know what, it's asking a billionaire to pay the same tax rate as a plumber, makes me a warrior for the middle class. i'll wear that charge. i'll wear that badge of honor. >> where does this leave republicans, heidi? >> that's ridiculous, bill, because a lot of that they're talking about the investment money they make and things like that. a plumber is paying less money percentagewise on his income than a billionaire is on his income. it's apples and oranges. it's not exactly the same thing. and ultimately, like i said before to you, if i tax you more

money, it's not going to help the budget deficit. you can tax all these people to death if you want to, and you and i both know it's going to go into that big fat pot of the treasury and it's going to disappear. it's not going to pay off our debt and then we're going to stick it to the golden goose who is going to give me a job or give me a raise. that doesn't solve our problems. >> bill press, have at it. >> first of all, bill o'reilly says the next president has to talk about shared sacrifice. this president has been talking about shared sacrifice for the last three years and republicans are rejecting it. the other thing is, i got to tell you, ed, the best argument i've heard so far from getting rid of those bush tax cuts is bill o'reilly promising that if we do, he'll pack it in. that's a win-win for me. >> bill, hasn't he done a flip-flop? the guy that says he does the no spin zone, he's flipping around. why do we have to wait 14 months? >> totally, it's a huge flip-flop, but you know why. he thinks we're too dumb to know what he says at night and what he says on "the view."

he doesn't think we'll connect the two. number two, he went on "the view," he was trying to be nice, because last time he was on, whoopi goldberg and joy behar walked out on him. we're talking about fair share. bill o'reilly should pay the same rate on his taxes as the person he buys his falafels pays on hers. >> heidi, what do you make of o'reilly's flip like that? >> i don't know what shared sacrifice means. when i talk about it on my radio show, i ask people, give me a number, bill press. give me a percentage where ed schultz should pay more than i do. give me a number. >> here's a number, right? pay close attention. 2009, 238,000 families had income of over $1 million. 25% of them paid less than 5%. bill o'reilly's driver, his barber, the person who cuts his grass, they pay more than 15%.

so whatever it is, let's have a fair rate and everybody share in that sacrifice. that's all we're asking. >> i agree. 10% across the board for everybody. but look at the people. we have almost half this country who doesn't pay income taxes at all because they get the earned income tax credit. how is that fair to me? i don't want to hear, oh, they don't make that much money, they can't afford to pay. they aren't paying their fair share of squat. i'm picking up the balance and i can't afford that. >> it's not the people at the bottom with the money, it's the people at the top -- >> it doesn't matter. i want their fair share. >> it does matter because a lot of that is capital gains money. they don't sweat, they don't work a day in their life, and they're getting all this money from tax income and it's taxed at 15%. that is obscene. >> heidi, let me give you a number that works. it's proven to work. it took the country into surpluses before we went into war, and that was 39.5%. why wouldn't you be willing to

go back to 39.5%, the old clinton rates when we had economic success for the good of the country. it would hit only -- well, less than 2% of the american people. i mean, 98% of the american people wouldn't be touched by this. i mean, why is it that the republican party and you conservative talkers constantly think it's totally unfair to go to 39.5%? >> it's totally unfair for me for people to get the earned tax credit. everybody should pay -- you said fair share. >> i gave you a rate. you asked for a rate, i gave you a rate. why can't you live with it? >> i will go with the rate that everybody pays. 10%, 13%, whatever. 39%, then everybody pays it. no reason they should get a free pass. >> heidi, read the bible. it's a parable of the talents. the rich should be willing to give back, heidi. it's in the bible.

>> thanks so much. good discussion. coming up, herman cain says african-american voters are brainwashed into voting for democrats. he's going in the zone. bridges all over the united states are in danger of falling apart. republicans say raising taxes won't help repair them or get people back to work. nearly three dozen economists, well, they disagree. that's coming up. o0 c1 2 o0 [ telephone rings ] aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa auto repair. gary... he hung up.

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it's psycho talk tonight.

pizza man herman cain has a theory of why african-americans tend to vote for democrats. >> many african-americans have been brainwashed into not being open minded, not even considering a conservative point of view. i have received some of that same vitriol simply because i am running for the republican nomination as a conservative. it's just brainwashing and people not being open minded, pure and simple. >> come on, herman, it's not very presidential to say a huge group of voters can't think for themselves. here are a few reasons, serious reasons, why african-americans might choose democratic candidates without being brainwashed. almost 17% of african-americans are unemployed. democrats are in favor of extending unemployment benefits. republicans say unemployment benefits just make people lazy. democrats are in favor of affirmative action. republicans call it reverse discrimination.

republicans are actively working against the best interests of many african-americans, and they're not hiding their agenda a bit. for instance, florida governor rick scott cut funding to historically black colleges in his state. mississippi governor hailey barber refused to condemn a license plate honoring a kkk leader. paula page, governor of maine, told the naacp to, quote, kiss my butt. and don't get me started on the racist ramblings of the head of the party mouth piece, rush limbaugh. i think african-americans know exactly why and what they're voting for when it comes time to go into the ballot box. and for herman cain to say they have been brainwashed into picking the democratic candidates is brainless psycho talk. coming up, one of brian's lackeys.

rick perry is trying to run from his statement that some fellow republicans are heartless. well, they are. stay with us. we're america's natural gas and here's what we did today: supported nearly 3 million steady jobs across our country... ... scientists, technicians, engineers, machinists... ... adding nearly 400 billion dollars to our economy... we're at work providing power to almost a quarter of our homes and businesses... ... and giving us cleaner rides to work and school... and tomorrow, we could do even more. cleaner, domestic, abundant and creating jobs now. we're america's natural gas. the smarter power, today. learn more at anga.us.

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whoa! chase sapphire preferred. a card of a different color. apply now at chasesapphire.com/preferred back to "the ed show." thanks for watching. a couple weeks ago we went to columbus, ohio. wonderful town, mid-america. we stood for firefighters against the union busting bill which is on the ballot, the eighth, for ohio. lackeys ambushed me. he challenged me on the fact that the legislation hurts firefighters' ability to negotiate on safety issues. here it is. >> what do you say to proponents of the bill who claim the bill actually does give the right to bargain on safety unions? >> there is so much loose language in this bill that it

gives lawmakers the upper hand in negotiations. the whole point of this is that they wanted to take away what workers already have. they wanted to leave the middle class even further and they wanted to discourage the rights of people to go join a labor union. and it's wrong. it's morally wrong. it's against everything this country was ever founded on. >> but the bill under section 41-1708 says unions actually do have the right to bargain on safety, which the democrat bill of '93 -- >> bargain on safety. that's not what the firefighters are telling me. i stand by everything you just heard me say on that videotape. but breitbart and his goon squad are trying to make me out to be a liar. to prove that i'm lying to you, he staked down shannon jones and asked for her opinion.

>> the law says these folks can negotiate on wages, hours, terms and conditions. same exact language, but we added extra language to the bill in an abundance of caution that expressly says that they can negotiate on issues of safety equipment. >> if ed schultz were here, what would you say to him regarding that? >> reading is fundamental. read the bill. understand the heat and hyperbole, but i prefer to deal in the facts. >> she likes to deal in facts. so here are a few of them. republicans are right that the bill mentions safety equipment. that's the clause on the screen right there. but here's the problem. that clause is just window dressing. what breitbart and the anti-union republicans don't want you to know about is

section 41-17.14 of the bill. this section outlines what happens if there is a disagreement in the collective bargaining process. you see, it takes away the arbitration rights of firefighters asking for things like additional safety equipment or getting additional firefighters. right now if firefighters and lawmakers have a disagreement on those things, they go to a neutral third party to reach an agreement. in senate bill 5, those rights are taken away and the lawmakers -- the lawmakers -- have the final say. so firefighters and police officers can bargain all they want for safety equipment, but if legislators don't think it's directly related to personal safety, they're not going to get it. people like shannon jones and breitbart want you to think that senate bill 5 makes firefighters safer, that people going into the burning buildings for a living are telling me that it does not.

and from the facts we just laid out, i'm definitely siding with the firefighters on this one. jack reel is the president of the columbus professional firefighters union, local 67. jack was with me at the show that we did in columbus, ohio a few weeks ago. he is also a target of the breitbart smear campaign. explain to the anti-union activists why taking away your right to arbitration hurts your ability to keep firefighters safe? >> well, first off, thanks, ed, for having me. but the big part of this is if we come to a disagreement about what is safety equipment or what constitutes safety equipment, what it boils down to is the employers' opinion trumps that of the union's. if i go into negotiations and i want to negotiate about bullet-proof vests which our firefighters are issued here in columbus, and the city decides

they don't want to do that, all they have to say is that's not primary safety equipment. or that's a tool. that's not part of your safety equipment, and their opinion trumps mine and there is no third party that can look at it and say, well, this doesn't make sense. what it boils down to is i'm fighting an uphill battle here and one that i really can't win. as one of our legislators said, it's heads i win, tails you lose. that's really the problem here. there is a lot of words in senate bill 5 that add additional language. in fact, there are 144,000 words in senate bill 5 on the over 400 pages. but a lot of it deals with exemptions, it deals with exceptions to what we currently have. >> breitbart's goon squad also tried to paint you as a liar in the same video. here's what they edited together. i want you to see it.

>> he has no right to bargain for his safety equipment. >> explain why you're right and they're wrong. >> well, i'm right, because as you can see from the video -- they did a great job editing it, but they forgot to take out the first part which is the lieutenant sitting in the seat next to you. in the senate bill 5 language passed by the house and is before voters as issue 2, it removes the right of any supervisor to be in a bargaining unit or have a bargaining agreement. that means lieutenants, captains and battalion chiefs in the fire department have no right to bargain for anything. so all those things that shannon jones talks about, the reading is fundamental, what it comes down to is the devil is in the details, and the fact is lieutenants, battalion, captain chiefs, the guys who go with the firefighters, will not be able to bargain about safety,

staffing or any other safety issues. >> the legislator who wrote this bill, shannon jones, says senate bill 5 will make your job safer. we asked the senator from ohio, senator jones, to come on this program tonight, and, of course, she declined. we made the offer, she didn't want to come on. is she correct when she says this bill is going to make your job safer? >> absolutely not. i've been at this job longer than senator jones has been thinking about running for politics. i know what makes us safe, and she's not it. and her bill is not it. i'll be happy to sit down and debate this with her somewhere anywhere in the state of ohio, but the fact of the matter is, it will not make firefighters safer. we're not going to give up the integrity we built with the public over something that's going to be shady like this. we know it's not going to be safe and that's why firefighters are scared. when you make firefighters scared, that's a concern.

>> and i'm not going to take the bait. breitbart, if you're watching, no, i'm not going to ask you to come on this program because you're not the story. the story is senator jones who says that this firefighter and his colleagues are going to be safer, and jack reall of the columbus, ohio professional firefighters says she's not telling the truth. that's the story. that's why it's on the ballot on november 8. jack, great to have you with us. looking forward to coming back and joining the fight with you in columbus, ohio. appreciate your time tonight. the president's jobs plan calls for some sacrifice for the ultra rich. we already know the american people agree with him. now we know leading economists are on board as well. more on that next.

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on a stop in iowa, his wife anita kind of gave away a dirty little secret about her husband's role as a job creator. >> we have 1500 people in texas every day who need to find a job. i'm not going to tell you they're all high-paying jobs, but they're jobs. even if they're minimum wage jobs. and that's what people are hungry for. >> oops. her description of the texas work force sounds a lot different than the way her husband described the texas miracle to brian williams. >> the counter-argument to that is the number of low-wage jobs and the fact that unemployment is better in over half the states of the union than it is right now in texas. >> the first part of that comment is incorrect because 95% of all the jobs that we created have been above minimum wage. >> sounds like mrs. perry forgot to read the campaign talking points and decided to go with

the truth instead. it's not the only headache for rick perry today. his latest flip-flop would make mitt romney blush quite a bit. that's coming up next. stay with us. ar as a teacher, setting that goal to become a principal. but, i have to support my family, so how do i go back to school? university of phoenix made it doable. i wouldn't be where i am without that degree. my name is dr. carrie buck. i helped turn an at risk school into an award winning school, and i am a phoenix. [ male announcer ] university of phoenix is proud to sponsor education nation. because we believe an educated world is a better world.

in my playbook tonight, republicans continue to bash president obama's jobs plan. they're calling it a second stimulus. mitch mcconnell says it's not serious. john boehner says it will not help the economy. >> the president's proposals are a poor substitute for the pro-growth policies that are needed to remove barriers to job creation in america. >> republicans say you can't tax the wealthy and create jobs at the same time. well, there's a new report out there that says republicans, that they are very, very wrong on this issue. president barack obama's $447 billion jobs plan would help avoid a return to recession by maintaining growth and pushing down the unemployment rate next

year, according to economists surveyed by bloomberg news. the survey of 34 economists says the american jobs act will increase the country's gross domestic product by .6%. it will add or keep 275,000 workers on payrolls, and it will lower the unemployment rate by .2% in 2012. all good stuff. all of these factors will help prevent a double dip recession. so while the president criss-crosses the country making the pitch for his jobs bill, republicans are telling voters they would rather keep taxes low for millionaires than pass a bill to help the economy. there is the overwhelming support from voters for taxing those who make more than $1 million a year at a rate equal to everyone else. that includes tax on income, tax on investments. but take a look at this.

even republicans agree with higher taxes on the rich. 66% of republicans want the wealthiest americans to pay more compared to 17%?ty othe anti-ta tea party members, well, look at this. they think the same way. they want higher taxes on the rich by a margin of 52% to 29%. the american people agree with this plan. economists agree with this plan. and the republicans? they know it. stay strong, mr. president. the people are with you on this. chris christie goes after rick perry and now rick perry is changing his tune. we'll ask jim moore why perry seems to be answering to the governor of new jersey. that's next. we're america's natural gas

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tonight in our survey, i asked you, will republicans be successful in killing the post office? 18% of you said yes, 82% of you said no. well, that 82% is good if you

connect with your congressional member and make sure they save the post office. coming up, rick perry's gop spotlight is starting to fade. jim moore joins me. stay tuned. ♪ ♪ [ dog barks ] [ birds chirping ] ♪ [ mechanical breathing ] [ engine turns over ] ♪ [ male announcer ] the all-new volkswagen passat. a new force in the midsize category. ♪ the two trains and a bus rider. the "i'll sleep when it's done" academic. for 80 years, we've been inspired by you. and we've been honored to walk with you to help you get where you want to be.

♪ because your moment is now. let nothing stand in your way. learn more at keller.edu. finally tonight, governor rick perry says hard liners in

his party were heartless. now he's trying to walk it back. perry made his original comments during last week's debate. he talked about those opposed to giving state tuition to children of illegal immigrants. >> but if you say that we should not educate children who have come into our state for no other reason than they've been brought there by no fault of their own, i don't think you have a heart. >> wow. but perry has caught a lot of flak from the right wing of his party, and last night governor chris christie went after him in his speech. >> i do not believe that for those people who came here illegally that we should be subsidizing with taxpayer money through in-state tuition their education. and let me be very clear from my perspective. that is not a heartless position. >> on msnbc this morning, a perry spokesman stood firm, but perry himself backtracked during

an interview with newsmax. >> well, i probably chose a poor word to explain that. for people who don't want their state to be giving tuition to illegal aliens, illegal immigrants in this country, that's their call. and i respect that. and i was -- you know, i was probably a bit overpassionate by using that word, and it was inappropriate. >> none of this appears to be helping rick perry. in the latest poll, fox poll, he has slipped. mitt romney now leads among gop primary voters, followed by perry, then herman cain. let's bring in jim moore. he is an author of a forthcoming book, "why rick perry will make america miss george w. bush." let's focus on this heartless comment for a moment. why didn't he walk it back sooner? it wasn't until governor christie got after him in a speech last night that he turned the tide on it.

is he afraid of christie? >> no, but he is afraid of offending the people that might be attracted to christie as a candidate. i think the news that everybody missed in the media is this is the first time in a 27-year career that rick perry has apologized for anything. and people who control the primary process, you can't have a heart and offer health care as romney did in massachusetts and you can't have a heart and offer tuition to kids in the state of texas if they're children of illegal aliens. but one thing i want to make really clear, this is not a subsidy. these kids are getting in-state tuition. they've lived here for three years. if you're an out of state sued and you come here and live here for a year and pay taxes, you're getting the same tuition that these children are getting who are here because their parents are here. this is not a subsidy, it's simply fairness. >> it sounds to me like governor perry is just having a hard time explaining that. he's not a professional wordsmith, there's no question about that. what about this poll? a month ago he was ahead and now he's not.

>> i think, again, it's the softness, it's the fluctuation that occurs this early in the primary process. rick has stumbled, as everybody knows, and people are looking around. they're taking a second look. chris christie apparently believes that indecisiveness is attractive. it's sizing up, it's making second considerations. my argument continues to be the same as it has been from the beginning, ed, that i think these people who are soft on rick now will turn around and come back to him because he is their best choice on those extreme positions that the conservatives and the gop primary continue to hold. >> i wonder where chris christie is going to be if rick perry will get the nomination. will he be so critical of someone in his own party. that's "the ed show." i'm ed schultz. "hardball" starts now. crying for christie, apalled by palin.