the speakership by your own caucus. politics is a learning profession arthur schlesinger once said. what have they candidates learned that gives them the cheek to ask the americans to make them our president? there was once a time when people believed they had to prove themselves before running for president. that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. "politics nation" with al sharpton starts right now. >> newt ron bomb shell newt gingrich report dpli collected millions from health care industry while campaigning against money-saving reforms for every day people. our hypocrisy meter is tingling. total recall, 50,000 signatures so far in an effort to kick wisconsin governor scott walker out of office. hay, governor, see what happens when you push unpopular

policies? voters might just give you the boot. romney mystery. why did his massachusetts statehouse staff erase official e-mails? did governor romney have something to hide? "politics nation" starts right now. welcome to "politics nation." tonight's lead, the secrets of newt gingrich. coming out, a bombshell report from "the washington post" shows over the last eight years, gingrich's think tank has taken $37 million from the health care industry. according to the polls, health care companies paid millions for, quote, access to newt gingrich and direct newt into action. get this. at the same time he was making $37 million off the industry, he was saying things like this. >> to have a 21st century

intelligent health system or goal has to be for 100% of the country to be in the system, including you have to either have insurance or post a bond. >> a requirement to buy health insurance. >> it sounds like a mandate. but check out newt now, when the money is already in the bank and he's running for president. >> i am completely opposed to the obamacare mandate on individuals. >> i am opposed to a federal mandate. i am opposed to obamacare. >> when it comes to the money, it looks like to me he loses all his old inconvenient convictions. remember, all this comes just days after we learned gingrich, the so-called historian, got $1.6 million from freddie mac while blasting others like president obama for taking contributions from them.

joining me now is congressman barney frank, democrat from massachusetts he is the stop democrat on the house financial services committee. thanks for joining me. >> i'm glad to, al. >> we keep learning more an more about newt, but you know him well. what do you have to say about this latest revelation? >> he apparently is on a crusade to make mitt romney look principled. that's a hard thing to do. you know, mitt's people had to erase all those computer tapes, because they had records of his old positions on them. but what gingrich does is just breathtaking the fact we now know he was receiving money from fred yik mac up to the moment when it was put into conservator ship. gingrich is one of those trying to blame the democrats, myself,

senator dodd and others for the failure to regulate, he helps us -- through 2006 when the republicans controlled both houses of congress, no bill was passed to rein in fannie mae and freddie mac. it wasn't until frankly the democrats took over, and we worked with the bush hank paymentsen, and we put the legislation into place. paulson then used -- >> so you're saying when newt gingrich was the speaker, despite the fact that he has attacked you and others and said that you guys should be gone after, when he was a speaker and had the gavel, he did nothing about this? >> absolutely not. he did nothing in '95, '96, '97, '98. in the eight years after that when he was a major historian for freddie mac, getting a lot of money, and the congress and

the house was being run by people who were his allies or succeeded him, hastert and delay, they also did nothing. so apparently the theory -- and i'm very regretful. apparently i did not realize this, i have some influence over newt gingrich and tom delay that i didn't know i had. because they say it's my fault they didn't pass legislation to regulate freddie mac. so i wish i knew i had the influence, by i want to be honest, i would have used it to stop the impeachment of bill clinton, would have used it to stay out of the war in iraq, and a year ago i would have told delay not to go on the -- show. >> i don't think it matters whether tom delay showed he couldn't dance, but let me ask you this, we're not talking about money here, we're talking about the ultimate in hypocrisy. when you look at this, where

this candidate right now, newt gingrich, who you know well, who i have known in the education reform battle, is now leading in the polls. look at this last gop poll, according to fox. he's at 23%. romney behind him, cain down to 15, but yet here's a guy who makes flip-flopping look like a mild word. >> i think there's a difference between romney and gingrich. romney switches positions on fundamental issues for political convenience, but gingrich is more attached -- you have to pay him to get him to flip. romney can be persuaded to flip if it's a few percentage points in the polls, but gingrich requires serious money before he does a complete reversal. what's interesting is the lack of affection for mitt romney. you know, romney started out in first, but he can't get below

the -- then it was going to be rick perry, then herman cain, now newt gingrich. you remember this, when joe louis was so dominant in the boxing era and they couldn't find people that could stand up, just anybody started showing up. they called it the bum of the month club. the difference was joe always used to knock them out. for mitt romney's bum of the month club, they keep knocking themselves out. >> thank you, barney frank. have a great weekend. >> thank you. joining me now is ed rendell, current msnbc news analyst and michael steele, now msnbc news analyst. thank you both for being here tonight. >> good evening, al. >> good evening. dismissing policies is not so

acceptable, am i right? >> it's absolutely right. i work for a law firm, you consult for a number of companies, but i've made it clear that i won't take a position and won't advocate for something i didn't believe in while i was governor in my public career. i think that's what all politicians should do. you can't be hired guns. you can't start getting out there and start talking about things that are antithey cal to what you tried to do while in office. let me ask you, chairman steele, we've seen in the iowa poll we see them ganged up together. >> right. did this revelation yesterday about freddie mac and today about the health care industry, does this bring gingrich's week or three or four days as a resurged contender to

an end? will we see him deflated like we did mr. cain last week? >> i don't think so. i think a lot of the information about newt has been baked into the numbers. in other words, people know him, they know his history, what he's done. i don't know the specifics of what advice newt gingrich gave freddie or the health care -- which has been consistent with his message, but i think a lot of that has been baked in. that's why the numbers are where they are. i think when you look at the herman cain numbers in the slide there, that has more to do with the personal side of sexual harassment and, you know, having another individual so directly impacted that's beyond politi l

political. >> so it's probably different to have a dough bite on who flip-flops the most. >> i know you would love to have that debate. i listen to barney frank, and he seems to have forgotten that the democrats were in control until about 2002 or so, and so i understand the lapse of memory when it comes to trying to make a point, but you can't sandwich away or put to the side that both parties have had their fingers all over this health care issue and freddy/fannie issue. now everyone is trying to sort it out. i think a number of folks will find themselves getting caught, not to excuse it, but saying that's part of the political reality. >> and both parties will make their points, but i don't know if it's a good week for

republicans to talk about memory loss with rick perry around, but i'll give you a pass on that tonight. the boston globe talks about how found that no other administration, talking about mitt romney here, had sold computers to employees. stephen p. crosby who worked in the administration offices of romney, two press saysors told the globe today, it certainly wasn't standard operating procedure in any way. it seems inherently a bad idea. you were a governor. have you -- can you tell me, governor rendell, why would someone want to erase the hard drive of their staff. 2340 preceding governor did it, other than to make sure there's no record that could really attach you to a flip-flop. what would be the point? >> it's inconceivable, something that is really unheard of.

there are occasions when governments, both municipals and states will allow them to buy desks for a sentimental reason, but i've never heard of this with computers. but al, i'd like to say one thing. first of all, michael, on his last response deserves "a" for effort, but what i think is harder to explain is how newt gingrich when he was getting paid $37 million from the health care industry could say he was absolutely for 100% of people being mandated to carry insurance or pay a fine, and then when he's a candidates say he's against a mandate. it's absolutely wrong, and that's where money is pernicious in influencing people's views. if you were good enough when you were getting paid for everyone to have a man dade to be signed up with an insurance company, what's the difference now? i think he's got some explaining to do. >> michael, if you could respond.

>> on two points. i know when i was in office as lieutenant governor, that variesius departments from time to time would, if they were getting rid of old equipment, would sell that older equipment to their -- to the staff. so it's not unheard of that computers could be sold to employees at auction or in some other capacity. it particularly if the department or the agency was getting new computers. what you do with the extra exhumers? you make a little money off of them, you get a resell value, and you move on. so i don't know if there's some grand conspiracy here trying to hide something. it is not unusual for state and local governments to do that with excess, you know -- >> michael, before you go there, because i want you to get back to newt gingrich.

we gave you time to fill xwuser and get ready. on though particular point, let me show you this. a long-standing directive for the massachusetts governor's office from 1985 to 2008, terry dolan said it was clear that romney staff only wanted the hard drives. we're not talking about computers or selling computers. they wanted the hard drives, according to the director of administration. not the keyboard, monitor or anything else. >> that's fine. i don't know that there's evidence that it was clear that's what they wanted so what? what's your point? >> my point is your staff didn't say we need to get the hard drives. >> no, i just took off the hard dive a what i wanted on to a disk, and didn't need it. >> maybe you didn't have positions you were going to

take -- get back to newt. i was waiting with bated breath for you to explain how he made his 180-degree turn on mandates. >> i think on a number of fronts, if i understand where newt has come from on the mandate, it's been more on a state-to-state basis. i know a lot of republicans have a problem with the federal government mandating that i don't know the specifics of what he's talking about. >> michael, i'm interpreting this -- >> it's not different. there's a difference between a federal mandate and state man dat. >> when he was representing the health -- those were state by state. >> believe it or not, the insurance companies are much more concerned about what state

governments do than the federal government does. truth me. >> you can give him an "a" for effort on that one. >> i'll give him an a-minus. >> i'm working with the same facts you guys are working with, and you're jumping to conclusions. >> we're raising questions. don't get sensitive, michael. we're raising questions. >> no, no, you're raising allegations, you're not raising questions. >> we want to know why do you erase hard drives? >> oh, lord. >> we don't have the right to ask a question? >> no, you can ask the questions. >> i could have asked you about libya and cain. i was trying to give you a nice weekend. ed rendell and michael steele dr. >> a man dade by any other name is still a mandate. and the gymnastics makes mare are lieu look like a.

>> i love you, man. >> let's face it, your team gives you a hot hand to deal with, michael. >> thank you, al. >> thank you. ahead, president obama's approval is surging as he ramps up the fight for the middle class. and something republicans did today will add more fuel to that fight. plus fighting for his political life. our first look at the wave of action against wisconsin governor's scott walker. it's not good for him. the fight for civil rights is going on right now in america. the harshest immigration law in the world is creating chaos in alabama. we ask for justice. you're watching "politics nation" on msnbc. this new at&t 4g lte is fast. hey, two tickets just opened up on the 50. ...yup, about to go pick them up from will call. so 46 seconds ago.

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before the occupy movement, there was the movement in wisconsin. the early numbers on the effort to recall govern ovr scott walker, recall are in and he's probably wishing he could go back in time. that's next. and these come together, one thing you can depend on is that these will come together. delicious and wholesome. some combinations were just meant to be. tomato soup from campbell's. it's amazing what soup can do. helps defends against occasional constipation, diarrhea, gas and bloating. with three strains of good bacteria to help balance your colon. you had me at "probiotic." [ female announcer ] phillips' colon health.

welcome back to "politics nation." the progressive movement and fight for fairness is on fire in america. the message is working. do unpopular things and become you unpopular. in wisconsin we're getting or first look at where governor walker's recall stands. mr. walker, you are in trouble. united wisconsin, the group

leading the recall effort says just two days into the 60-day recall window, they collected more than 50,000 signatures. to put this in perspective, their goal was to collect 9,000 signatures a day. they more than quadrupled that so far. meanwhile, the latest poll, mr. walker, shows a whopping 58% of the voters want you out. 24% of republicans want him recalled. it seems like the only person wondering what all the fuss is about is scott walker himself. >> i think most lynners across america are scratching their heads, because most states have recalled and say misconduct in office some sort of thing like that that triggers it, not just that i agree or disagree with a piece of legislation. >> i say if you ask your neighbor on either say, they'd

say what we ask from public employees is pretty reasonable. >> sorry, scott, you're own neighbors disagree. they're hosting their own petition drives in their own yards. >> you and others like you don't get it. you told the people one thing, you got elected, and you went extremely the other way. that's why they have things called recall. if i call you and think i'm bet one thing, you answer and i get another, i hit the "recall" button. that's what they're doing in wisconsin, mr. walker. joining me now, congresswoman gwen moore, democrat from wisconsin. she has the distinction of having triumphed over governor walker in his first public try for public office back in 1990 when he ran for her wisconsin state assembly seat. congresswoman, what are you hearing back in your district with the recall? i understand there's yard signs, there's enthusiasm, there's

momentum. what's going on on the ground in wisconsin? >> thank you, reverend sharpton. i certainly drove through governor walker's neighborhood, and i was stunned to see recall yard signs any very neighborhood from where he hails. certainly there's going to be a rally tome in madison to recall the governor, and there's plen of calls to recall him. there is barely a family in milwaukee, union families and -- he's taking $1.8 billion away from every kinder garden student, college technical student, university student, a billion worth of medical assistance. there are disabled folks on waiting lists because of the

policies he's trying to implement, trying to get a waiver on provides medical care for some of our most frail and elderly and disabled in our communities. he's turned down a billion in economic development for a our communities, including for the rail and so -- >> and this is costing jobs and income to people. i understand you have even lost 9,300 private sector jobs just this month. >> absolutely. not only that, we are going to suffer job loss in perpetuity because of some of the decisions he's made. he has certainly been an enemy to clean water in our state, as he tries to destroy environmental laws. so people are pretty ticked off with scott walker. >> for people around the country, just to remind you, this is the scott walker, when

he came in, he went after collective bargaining, went after labor, some of the state senators had to lead the state and try to stop the vote he maneuvered and got it through anyway. he was also caught in a bog gus phone call, thinking he was talking to the koch brothers. well, that has come up now in this recall campaign. let me play for you where wisconsin dems are invoking the koch brothers in their latest ad in support of the walker recall. >> these billionaires have been buying up the governors to make sure they never have to pay taxes again. they're doing everything they can to crush the bottom. >> wisconsin's best days are yet to come. >> congresswoman, when scott walker came in and did this extreme push and went after labor, went after collective bargaining, became a willing ally of the koch brothers, it sent a national message. >> oh, absolutely.

>> if you are successful. if tit will send a chilling national message back. >> absolutely. to crush the bottom, scott walker has had a long history of trying to abide by grover nor quist's adage that we ought to shrink government and disable it from helping anybody in our state. this is the plot he wants to impose on -- for a once very progressive state, wisconsin. i think it's important for people to remember that wisconsin, along with illinois, is the state that won the eight-hour workday for american workers. there was blood shed in this state. i want people to remember that wisconsin is the state that came up with the idea of civil service. wisconsin is the home of the very first unions in our country. and we are badgers -- that's our

state animal -- the badgers are scrappy, fighting things. i just want to point one other thing before you head out, reverend, you had michael steele on earlier. he talked about the democrats having been in charge for 12 years from 1994 to 2006. that's not true nothing was done to stop fannie and freddie from defaulting during those years that they were in charge, and in fact, when we took over in 2006, i'm on the financial services committee, we put fannie and freddie in receivership. >> i thank you for correcting that and for the history of wisconsin. people will remember that history if scott walker is recalled. it will bring back to everyone, and will have a national impact.

congresswoman gwen moore, let's do it again. >> let's do it again, reverend. have a good weekend. >> thank you. the fight for the middle class got a boost today, thanks for the wrong-way republicans. that's coming up. the markets never stop moving. of course, neither do i. solution? td ameritrade mobile trader. i can enter trades on the run. even futures and 4x. complex options, done. [ cellphone rings ] thank you. live streaming audio. advanced charts.

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we all know how unpopular this congress is, but let me show you how unpopular. richard nixon's approval rating during watergate was high are than our courage congress. >> remember bp, the company responsible for the devastating oil spill? even during the oil spill, americans gave them a higher approval rating that this this congress. if you want someone on par with this congress, then look no further than hugo chavez. hugo chavez and our congress share the same 9% approval rating. folks, there is a reason this congress is so unpopular. they keep doing unpopular things. today 236 house republicans

voted for the balanced-budget amendment. this extreme piece of republican mean-spiritedness could have destroyed up to 15 million jobs and slashed social programs. given the fact that republicans keep ignoring the will of the people, is it any wonder that the president is taking his message to the streets. >> it's time for folks running around spending their time talking about what's wrong with america, to spend time rolling up their sleeves to help us make it right. >> somebody is fighting for them. somebody is looking out for them, somebody is rooting for them. we are going to make the dream that all americans share real once again, and that starts right now. it starts with you. >> joining me now is bob shrum, democratic strategist and professor at new york university. he recently wrote this -- about

this in an article for the week entitled "pop you populism is obama's path -- >> and nia malika hinder son. let mess ask you, given the numbers are republicans just making this easy? >> it's never going to be easy. this is a difficult economic situation, but the republicans wanted to create -- turn this election into a referendum. the president is turning it into a choice. they're rooting for recession. he's out there fighting for jobs and economic justice. he's got a coherent message, i'm on your side, i'm fighting for you. the republicans are the flip side of that. they want to voucherize medicare, they want to privatize social security. they want tax cuts for the wealthy. they vote for a so-called

balanced-budget amendment, which as you point out would shred social security, and would be a recipe for repeated recession, because the government couldn't act when the economy started to go down to counter it. you can override it with a three-fifths vote. that would establish a fill burtest in the house of representatives. we already have one in the senate. we don't need another one. >> nia-malika, when you look at the polls with the comparison that i gave tonight, and you see obviously such a low, low rating of approval, are these congress members, republican congress members so ideological and so inflexible in their ideology that they just don't care? or are they tone-deaf to where the american people's will and beliefs are? 6. >> well, it seems like a bit of both. if you look at what's going on in congress now, them trying to do this balanced-budget

amendment in the house clearly sort of an olive branch of the tea party there, and had no chance obviously of getting over in the senate or even nationwide. so you do have that, and then you have next week what looks like the deadline looming that they're not going to be able to meet with some of the compromises going on with the super commit tee they were so fr apart. he's been pretty clear all along that he wants some mix of cuts and tax hikes. they talk about a balanced-budget amendment for instance, they didn't need a balanced-budget amendment when bill clinton was around. he was able to do it by raising taxes. and that's something that most americans actually want. they want some combination of tax hikes on the wealthy and some combination of cuts, but

you have a republican, a party there that aren't willing to do that. >> now, bottom, when she talks about the unwillingness to do anything around taxes. paul rye yawn was one of four to vote even on the balanced budget, not because of cuts, but because he was concerned that taxes might be raised. i mean, that's how far they have gone with this. >> look, i think there are some republicans, and john boehner may be one of them, who would actually like to see the super-committee succeed, but the freshmen, and there's a lot of them, and they come from the tea party, they have held the whole party hostage. thesis why we walked away from a grand bargain last year. >> as the president haz moved up in the polls, going up six

points, and he's bringing his message to the people, nia-malika, you have mark penn, who was a strategist for former president clinton, a clinton pollster in fact, saying the president should run as a pop you list. the president has wandered into the thicket of class warfare that would not only compound the difficulties to reelection. yet it seems whatever he is dwog is working. >> yeah, in some ways you're right. he's been going across the country. he's overseas now, but in the weeks prior, he was going across the country talking about the jobs bill. he was also using the bully pulpit and using his executive office to make some changes around mortgages and around student loans. i think that's something that liberals certainly want to see him do. i think it makes a better argument. for him if he's able to get some things done, regardless of

whether or not he's able to have the congress go along with him. oddly you have mark penn making this suggestion that barack obama shouldn't run as a pop you list, shouldn't run on raising taxes, but let's face it, that's something that clinton was able to do, and that ushered in a record number of jobs, 23 millions jobs in eight years, and the unemployment rate until bill clinton dropped to about 3.8% by the time he was out of office. >> now, bob, mark penn's point about not running as a pop you list, would you advise that? you've been a strategist. >> nia-malika is exactly right. the truth is for some times since then mark penn is telling democrats they should act like republicans. there is class warfare in this country, it's been going on for ten years, again the middle class which has seen its incomes go down. i don't think president obama is

going to take any advice from someone who told hillary clinton that the way to get the nomination for the democratic party in 2008 was to go out there, say she had a lot of experience and let him be the candidate of change. he gave her bad advice then. he's giving bad advice to the president now, and the president is on it is right track, because he's standing up for what he believes in. >> all right. even with the gameso gains, though, we see a poll where the independents has romney beating president obama among independenting by 12 points. why? and what do you think the president's reelection campaign has to do to try to bring more independents over? >> we8, as much as -- there's a far right in this country, the tea party, and the far left, folks who are doing occupy wall street. those would be members of the far left. but there's a grand silent

center in this country, and barack obama does have to appeal to those folks. i think the way he does that is to appeal to that sense that americans really do want bipartisanship. they do want compromise. if he's able to continue to paint this congress as radical, as being beholding to the tea party, that that gets him a long way. but i think romney has done a pretty good job in really holding the tea party at arm's length. there's an event in iowa this week endwith the religious right, he's not going to be there, he's appearing to be this moderate independent guy, so barack obama has a challenge in getting those voters. >> bob shrum, nia-malika, thank you for coming on tonight. have a good weekend. >> thank you. >>. the fight for civil rights hits alabama. we'll tell you how un-american the immigration law is, and wee we must fight back. and we'll tell you what

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un-american. activists are fighting back, next.

welcome back to "politics nation." it's the civil rights fight going on right now. the gop crusade against immigration. in june alabama took the anti-immigrant movement to the extreme with a new law that is being labeled as the harshest in the nation. children are being kept out of school. people are living in fear of arrests, many are fleeing the state. today richard trumka and martin luther king iii called it the new jim crow, but they are fighting back. monday will bring national attention to the law. these anti-immigration laws are un-american. it's time we stop it. joining me is jose antonio vargas, a former reporter of "the washington post" a pulitzer

price winning journalist. he wrote a document called "my life as an undocumented aliens" the first time he -- what made you finally decide to come forward with your story? >> first of all, thank you for having she. it was a little surread. >> and, you know it got to a point where i couldn't do it anymore. i couldn't lie anymore. i've been in this country since i was 12. i've been here 18 years. i can't even go to mexico or canada. i've been paying taxes all of these years undocumented people pay income taxes. >> say that again. >> thank you for pointing that out.

undocumented people pay income taxes in this country. a report from the migration policy center said something along the lines of $400 million in state and federal taxes. but again, these are the kind of facts that we need to get out there. got there the day after the injunction, so it was no longer a felony just for me to be there, but to talk to people in alabama, they don't even understand their own law. it's a felony for undocumented person to get in any business transaction with the government. which means you have people worried about getting water to their houses, getting trash collection. you have people moving dr. >> anything like that is a felony. >> it's a felony. by the way, mind you, in south carolina come january 1st, it would be a felony if you were

driving me in south carolina. >> a pulitzer prizewinning tax-paying author, undocumented, and i was driving you through -- >> through charleston, south carolina. >> i could be charged with a felony? >> it's transporting an undocumented american. >> i was reading your article and said this guy will be picked up by the end of the week. why do you think you haven't been picked up? >> that's the question i've been asking. >> maybe you don't fit the stereotype you want. >> exactly. >> they want to show everybody they don't pay taxes. >> they don't speak english, they don't love america. >> and you're a writer -- >> we are not exactly who you think we are. last week i was talking to a

couple biology graduates who were waiting tables, so they could be tax-paying american citizens with jobs. instead they're waiting tables because of the laws we have. >> a lot of people says this has nothing to do with civil rights, they're taking our jobs. how do you respond? >> this is why reading the op-said today was really -- we need to start connecting the dots. mind you, the immigration rights action, the nationality act was passed in 1965, a year after the civil rights act, right? some dots need to be connected, and at the end of the day you're talking about a population that you can't ignore. every 30 seconds a latino turns 18 years old. does the republican party really -- every 30 seconds a latino turns 18 years old. >> this affects haitians, trinidadians, everybody. >> this is not just a hispanic issue. it is not. >> jose antonio vargas, thank you very much.

>> thank you for having me. >> god bless. >> i appreciate it. we'll be right back. [ male announcer ] cranberry juice? wake up! ♪ that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm [ male announcer ] for half the calories -- plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8.

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folks, you know i don't tend to agree with right-wing governors, but i think florida's rick scott is really living in an alternative reality. the palm beach post asked scott why he's turned down money to implement the federal health care law. he told them, quote, it's not the law of the land. i don't believe it will ever be the law of the land. now the law of the land? governor scott, i know you don't like the health care law, and i know florida is challenging it in court, but i think you need a refresher on what makes something a law. ♪ i'm just a bill ♪ yes i'm only a bill ♪ and if they vote for me on capitol hill ♪ ♪ well then i'm off to the white house ♪ ♪ where i'll wait in a line ♪ with a lot of other bills

♪ for the president to sign ♪ and if he signs me ♪ then i'll be a law ♪ how i hope and pray that he will ♪ ♪ but today i am still ♪ just a bill. >> he signed you, bill. now you're a law. >> oh, yes. >> oh, yes, governor. so sing president obama signed the affordable care act on march 23rd of last year, it's a law. >> let's get over this. if the congress votes to pass a bill and then the president signs it, it becomes -- say it with me -- a law. governor scott, i hope you won't get confused again just because you don't like a law, just require, it's still a law. >> it's not easy to become a law, is