bye-bye, baghdad. let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. leading off tonight, out of iraq. barack obama's campaign for president began with his opposition to the war in iraq. well, today, without the embellishment of a self-serving "mission accomplished" banner, president obama announced all american troops will be out of iraq by the end of the year. >> after nearly nine years, america's war in iraq will be over. >> wow. well, the president made the announcement one day after the killing of moammar gadhafi. that strengthened his bona fides

on foreign policy and allowed him to say to the republicans, essentially, go ahead, try to oppose me on this one. plus, castro convertible. maybe we now know why senator marco rubio keeps insisting he's not a candidate for vice president. rubio has dined off the story that his parents fled fidel castro's cuba. now we learn they fled batista's cuba, years before castro took power. rubio's explanation, such as it is, simply doesn't pass the sniff test. how does he survive this bit of revisionist history? also, herman cain is against abortion rights. no, wait, he's for them. well, actually, he's for them and he's against them. or maybe it's the other way around. cain's self-contradicting positions and confounding explanations even have conservative republicans asking how many do-overs does this guy get? and the republican presidential candidate democrat seems to like the most, jon huntsman, joins us here tonight, right here, to play "hardball." let me finish tonight with the iraq war that we never

should have fought. we start with today's dramatic announcement, however, that all american troops will be out of iraq by the end of this year. patrick murphy is the first iraq war veteran to serve in the u.s. congress. and today he's a candidate for attorney general of pennsylvania. and michael hirsch is with "national journal." thank you, gentleman, for joining us. let's take a look at the president's comments today, and they begin to dovetail from, we're getting out of iraq, and i wish you'd put these young men and women to work. here's the president making clear that jobs for veterans is priority number one. >> as we welcome home our newest veterans, we'll never stop working to give them and their families the care, the benefits, and the opportunities that they have earned. this includes enlisting our veterans in the greatest challenge that we now face as a nation, creating opportunities and jobs in this country. because after a decade of war,

the nation that we need to build and the nation that we will build is our own, and an america that sees its economic strength restored, just as we've restored our leadership around the globe. >> well, patrick, i merely thought of you today, because you were one of the people heroic enough to make the right statement on iraq from the beginning. and you're, of course, an iraq veteran who then got elected to congress. and now, of course, i assume you're concerned about the unemployment rate in pennsylvania. tell us how these two issues come together. cheering the troops as they come home, but also offering them an opportunity here in this country. >> you know, it's interesting, chris, i got a comment today from a young woman, lakeisha watson moore on my facebook page, and she said, why don't we take that money we invest in iraq and invest it here in job training programs for these heroes coming home. for these heroes who i served with in iraq, and who are now coming home, finally, we need to make sure -- they served our country. they fought for us over there, they shouldn't have to come home and fight for a job here at home. we need to do all we can.

i will tell you that mrs. obama, the first lady, has done a tremendous job, and dr. jill biden, the second lady, they have teamed on this effort to make sure that these heroes -- because the unemployment rate for veterans coming home is even higher than the general population. we have to take care of these heroes. we have to give them opportunities, whether it's the gi bill i voted for and helped pass or whether it's tax breaks for small businesses to hire these veterans. >> let me go to michael hirsch, reporting on this nationally. this question of concern for veterans. the republicans are very good, and i do respect them on this. they do care about their soldiers, and visiting them when they get hurt and they get wounded. and of course, grieving their deaths. this question about creating a opportunity at home, was it interesting? it was to me. i'll ask you the open-ended question. the president tying these two issues together. respect for the soldiers and opportunity for them. >> i mean, this has been a consistent theme, chris, for months now. when he announced the afghanistan drawdown back in june, i think it was the first time he used the phrase, we need

to do nation building at home. and that obviously is something that ties together with the biggest critical issue in his political future, which is the economy. and the jobless rate. as well as winding down these two wars. i think you're going to see him repeat that again and again, as these withdrawal timetables continue. >> and here's president obama pointing out that he'd kept a campaign promise in ending the war. let's listen. >> as a candidate for president, i pledged to bring the war in iraq to a responsible end. today, i can report that as promised, the rest of our troops in iraq will come home by the end of the year. after nearly nine years, america's war in iraq will be over. >> on october 2nd, 2002, then-illinois state senator, barack obama, made an anti-war speech in chicago. he said, "i don't oppose all wars. what i'm opposed to is a dumb war. what i'm opposed to is a rash war.

what i'm opposed to is t cynical attempt by richard peril and paul wolfowitz and other armchair weekend warriors in this administration to shove their own ideological agendas down our throats, irrespective of the costs hardships borne." patrick murphy, that could be me speaking but it's a lot more impressive when the about to be president was speaking. a lot of us thought that from day one, this was an ideological war. we were talked into this. some of the american people were, first of all the president was talked into, and we went to war basically on an ideological jag. your thoughts? >> it's over. my thoughts, chris, i was on active duty when 9/11 happened and my best friend growing up in northeast philadelphia lost his girlfriend and her father who were murdered along with 3,000 other innocent americans. and i deployed, i volunteered, my first deployment was with general petraeus. came back from that deployment. that was 2002. then there was the ramp-up in 2003, as you know, to the iraq war. and i remember being back home on our soil, on active duty

thinking to myself, as a young captain, why are we going to iraq? we're not -- we haven't brought bin laden to justice. and next thing you know, i shipped out with the 82nd airborne division, and unfortunately, 19 of my fellow paratroopers never made it home. and i saw firsthand in baghdad in 2003 and 2004 how shorthanded we were and how it was not the right war. and i came home and i stood up for that. for my beliefs and what i saw. and i tell you, it was not easy, and you know that, chris. it was serving in a republican district, and sometimes you get your patriotism questioned. but what is important is that you do the right thing for the right reasons. and that's what barack obama has done since day one. he was very clear to the american public that we will focus on bin laden, we will bring our troops home from iraq. he did that, he kept that promise. but he also, and very important to note, he said, we will bring bin laden to justice. he did that. even though people like john mccain criticized him. because, remember that question,

michael smerconish said, well, what happens if bin laden's in pakistan, and john mccain said, no, no, we can't tangle with that, and barack obama said, we will bring him to justice, period. and we did that. we brought number two of al qaeda to justice. he has continually made america safer. and the news, just yesterday, with gadhafi. and let's be very clear. bringing gadhafi to justice is an important step to keep our world safer. and i will tell you, chris, and you know why this is important, because we have people that, unfortunately, american service members who were murdered by gadhafi, we have people that, unfortunately, were killed, americans -- there's a young girl who was 21 years old, miss johnson. she's from greensburg, pennsylvania. semester abroad in scotland. she was on that flight coming home when she came to her death because of gadhafi. finally, he was brought to justice. this guy was a madman. do the republicans give the commander in chief, barack obama, credit for any of these things? absolutely not. they continually politicize this

thing. today is a day to say, thank god these troops are coming home from iraq, thank god, frankly, we were able to bring bin laden and gadhafi to justice, and let's make sure that we invest our money, our time, our talent, and our lives of our americans here at home. >> okay, thanks so much patrick murray. the first iraq war veto do so who is now running for attorney general. thank you michael hirsch. coming up, senator marco rubio, once rising star, perhaps now a shooting star in the republican party. has long told the story, and it's a good one, the story that his parents fled castro's cuba. their exile. the trouble is, they didn't. actually came to this country 2 1/2 years before castro take over, so they left for other reasons. how damaging will this be to rubio, having ridden so long on this inflated resume of national heroism? you're watching "hardball" only on msnbc.

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welcome back to "hardball." florida senator marco rubio is scrambling right now to undo the damage of a "washington post" report that he embellished his family history to benefit politically. rubio has peddled the story for years that he's the child of parents who fled cuba sometime after fidel castro took power in 1959. but "the washington post" uncovered documents showing that rubio's parents actually arrived to the united states in may of 1956, 2 1/2 years before castro. that makes them ex-pats, not refugees from communism. what does it make rubio? that's a great question. manuel franzia broke this story for "the washington post," and

joe conason is the editor in chief of the nationalmemo.com. i want to show you something that really puts it in perspective. this is clear-cut. for a long time, marco rubio, once considered a possible vp nominee this coming year for the republicans, has made it clear that he's one of those people who comes from an anti-communist past, a cold war past. his parents left cuba because a communist stole that country, fidel castro, which, of course, occurred. but his family left well before that. here he is, bragging on who he is, and he ain't. american bridge 21st century has put together a montage about rubio's statements about his family history. let's watch. >> i think that the direction we're going now in washington, d.c. would make us more like the rest of the world, and not like the exceptional nation my parents found when they came here from cuba in 1959. >> your father came here from cuba? >> my parents both did, yes. in 1959.

>> my parents and grandparents came here from cuba in '58, '59. as the son of exiles i know firsthand that it's possible to lose your country. i was raised by exiles. by people who know what it is like to lose their country. and no matter what titles i may achieve in my life, i will always be the son of exiles. >> well, that's pretty clear-cut, manuel. >> it is. you know, i got into looking at this because i'm working on a biography of senator rubio for simon and shuster and came across some documents that had that '56 date, and i was skeptical at first. i thought it could have been a typo, 6, 9, 56, 59, could have been a mix-up. but there was one document after another after another that are the exact same date, and it is clear that that was when they came. >> i've caught politicians doing this. lying in their resume to make themselves look like something they're not. what happened when you -- did you confront them? how did you confront his people? how did you get him to deal with

this, or did you get him to deal with it? this dishonesty? >> i talked to senator rubio's staff. they invited me over to their office to look at some passports, copies of passports. they didn't want me to take them with me, but they said that i could look at them. and what was interesting about the passports is that they showed that during this period, between 1956 and 1959, the rubio parents were in miami all the time. >> okay. then they put out -- joe conason, what do you make of this? we've got a lot more documentation to show you here about this ruse that went on here, to make him look like a real anti-commie. your thoughts? >> well, i've seen senator rubio give different dates for when he knew his parents came over or when he said his parents came over. at different times, he's given different years for when his parents and grandfather came. and i think most of the children of immigrants have a pretty clear idea of when their families came to the united

states and under what circumstances. i mean, it's easy to imagine little marco growing up and saying to mommy, what was it like under castro in cuba? and why did we leave? and mommy probably saying to him, well, we weren't really there then, son. >> how could you not have had that conversation? what was it like when castro took over? everybody who saw "godfather ii" knew what that was like. why wouldn't you ask your parents what was it like when castro -- what did he do? i noticed that he shot 600 people, what was that like? do you know any of them? you always ask that stuff. >> it's like the immigrant jews or the irish not knowing about the potato famine. you know, this is part of the immigrant mythos, and if you didn't hear that that way as a child, then you're missing something. it's hard for me to believe that he didn't know the real circumstances. >> i don't think it's that fuzzy, joe. you're being a little kind here around the edges. unusual for you. look at this, a biography of rubio, on his own website, leaves no wiggle room as to when the rubio family came to the

u.s.1971marco was born in miami to cuban-born parent who is came to america following fidel castro's takeover. following fidel castro's takeover. it's his own official document. we should also note that the same wording can be found in the biography, which appeared on the senate campaign website back in 2010. he keeps putting out this folder all, this cover story that over and over again. i want to give the guy a chance to respond to this, but i think this makes him look even more foolish. when you're caught, you ought to admit you're caught. he doesn't admit he's caught, manuel, when you caught him. he lashes out at you. here he is lashing out at the and in statemenyesterhington saying, "here's what the senator said in his cover, "if "the washington post" wants to criticize me for getting a few dates wrong, i accept that. but to call into question the central and defining event of my parents' young lives, the fact that a brutal communist dictator took control of their homeland and they were never able to

return is something i will not tolerate. ultimately, what "the washington post" writes is not that important to me. i am the son of exiles. i inherited two generations of unfulfilled dreams. this is a story that needs no embellishing. then why did you do it? how can people put out this pompous, indignant, nonsense when they're caught dead to rights? >> well, i don't know if i would use those exact words, but i will say this. there's an interesting story, whether they came before or after castro. in fact, in some respects, if they came before castro, it's an immigrant story that would be understood by a lot of people in the united states right now. millions of people in the united states right now, who came here looking for economic improvement, a better life, all of these things that we hear when we hear interviews on the mexican border, for instance,

and it appears that based on the timing of this, that the motivation would have very likely been for the rubio family to come here and find work and have a better life, all those same reasons. but it's not the narrative that the senator's comfortable with. >> this is, obviously, joe, very ideological, not so much ethnic. because he's already cuban-american. he doesn't have to argue about that. that's a fact on the record. but he had to be part of this right-wing struggle against communists, he has to appeal to the tea party types. it seems like what's going on is an attempt to foist an unfactual history to win over the approval of right-wingers across the country. >> yes, of course. he wants to cloak himself in that history, chris, and in that ideology. and i guess that's okay. the problem is that it's not true, and the second problem is, you know, that senator rubio has had other integrity questions raised about him in the not-so-distant past about his

use of credit cards, republican party credit cards, you know, the former party chairman went to prison in that same scandal. and, you know, he's -- this is not rubio's only problem. and i think it's, you know,it's a good day today for anybody else who wants to be in the vice presidential slot, or on the republican ticket next year. >> it's a decent day for chris christie and a better day for john thune, my long shot. anyway, thank you, manuel. big story for "the washington post." you ought to get some kind of pulitzer for that. and joe conason, don't worry about them attacking back, that's what they do when you catch them. up next, what's the death of moammar gadhafi have to do with the new york yankees? really it's a little sick. it's been pointed out that the kid who killed him was wearing a yankees cap. that's one victory for the yankees this fall. you're watching "hardball" only on msnbc. ♪ [ mrs. davis ] i want to find a way to break through. to make science as exciting as a video game. i need to reach peter, who's falling behind.

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back to "hardball." now for the sideshow. first up, looks like gop candidate herman cain has a way of bringing in some extra personal cash during the 2012 season. apparently the candidate is still very much available for motivational speaking gigs. think he's trying to stay under the radar on this one? far from it. according to the candidate, "i'm still doing paid speeches, but i have not raised my prices. this economy's on life-support, so i'm very mindful of those companies that would like to have me come and speak, but i'm not going to take advantage of my newfound popularity just to put more dollars in my pocket." well, the hermanator experience, a phrase cain trade marked himself, does not come cheap. cain estimates he's raked in a quarter million dollars in speaking fees this year. next up, front-page frenzy. with the news of libya dictator moammar gadhafi's death yesterday, it was time for the press to get creative. "the washington post" with "for

gadhafi, a bloody end in libya." and the "chicago tribune" went, "with gadhafi gone, libya exhales." tasteful "new york post" had "gadhafi killed by yankee fan," gunman had more hits than a-rod. and it showed gadhafi's killer wearing a yankees cap. it's all true. there were still questions about the sequence of events that lead to gadhafi's death. many are handing credit to this 20-year-old member of the rebel forces. there he is. and now for the big number. did you notice that each of those headlines went with a different spelling for the former libya leader's name. does it start with an "a," a "k," a "g" or a "q"? and does it end with a "y" or is it an "i"? and there's quite an arrange of options for his first name as well. in his 40 years as dictator how many english translations of moammar gadhafi's name have popped up? 112. that's just in the english translations. the library of congress alone lists 72 of them.

112 right ways or wrong ways to spell moammar gadhafi. that's tonight's big number. that's "hardball" for now. coming up next, "your business" with j.j. ramberg. sketball for . today i own 165 wendy's restaurants. 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 customers. 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.

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