self-professed clown. this was mitt romney's sister souljah moment, a chance to place his feet on the ground miles from the donald trump power and now he can say in the words of martin luther, here i stand. had he chosen otherwise and bowed for the winds in manhattan we would know who is running the party for the men seeking the white house. we now know who the boss is because the boss is the one calling when you have to come. that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. "politics nation" with al sharpton starts right now. middle class americans need help now. stop the class warfare the president barack obama today gives a major speech, making the case for fairness. block the vote. a gop operative is convicted in a real case of election fraud. and just say no.

newt agrees to donald trump's debate, but willard says, trump, you're fired. >> well, i spoke with donald trump earlier today. i indicated that we just can't make this debate. >> welcome to "politics nation." i'll al sharptd on. tonight's lead, the case for a more fair america. today the president went to kansas to give a major speech about this country and his values, a place where teddy roosevelt also gave an important speech. president obama talked about leveling the playing field, and he challenged the republican party to stand in his way. >> this is not just another political debate. this is the defining issue of our time. this is a make-or-break moment for the middle class and for all those who are fighting to get into the middle class. >> this is a make-or-break moment for the middle class. it's make or break for 99% of

the country. it's make or break because for too long we've catered to the top 1%, and president obama is fighting a whole party that wants to keep this unjust system in place. >> after all that's happened, after the worst economic crisis, the worst financial crisis since the great depression, they want to return to the same practices that got us into this mess. their philosophy iscism. we are better off when everybody is left to fend for themselves and play by their own rules. i am here to say they are wrong. >> they are wrong, and keeping the status quo in place will not make republicans right. >> if we just cut more regulations and cut more taxes, especially for the wealthy, our economy will grow stronger. sure, they say. there will be winners and

losers, but if the winners do really well, then jobs and prosperity will eventually trickle down to everybody else and that theory fits well on a bumper sticker. but here's the problem. it doesn't work. it has never worked. >> america doesn't work when prosperity trickles down. the president knows that it does work when people can't afford health care, it works when they can afford education. it works when the american dream is attainable for everyone, not just the 1%. >> i believe that this country succeeds when everyone gets a fair shot, when everyone does their fair share, when everyone plays by the same rules. these aren't democratic values or republican values. these aren't 1% values or 99%

values. they are american values, and we have to reclaim them. >> it was a great speech, but not only because of the oratorical ability of this gifted president but because of the content. make no mistake about it. we are dealing with people that want to engage in class warfare and make the middle class and poor the losers. this is going to be a race about who this country is for and whether they will continue to have the top 1%, live in america that is based on overdrive for them and the rest of us get what is left. i think the president laid it out today. whoever his opponent is we know

what we as americans must fight. joining me now is richard wolff, msnbc political analyst and alex wagner, host of "now" with alex wagner. thank you both for coming on the show tonight. >> thanks, reverend. >> thanks, rev. >> richard, let me start with you. do republicans have a credible answer to the case the president made today? >> well, what they have is a caricature. they want to say this is about socialism. it's not about fairness. it's about redistribution. it's about all the things that they think he's doing which are in fact as untrue as a caricature is, that he's anti-business or he's playing class warfare. as he pointed out, this isn't about attacking the rich, this is about fighting for the middle class, and what's missing here is what he's going to do beyond extending the payroll tax or targeting the bush tax cuts towards the rich, so there rellments of his own approach that i still think have to be filled out here, but in terms of how he explained his approach to domestic policy, this is as

close as we're going to get to an obama doctrine. >> i think that he effectively laid it out, but let me ask you this, alex. grover norquist the last several weeks, we hear about his immense power because he had this pledge signed. >> right. >> that republicans signed, many of them. >> right. >> that they would not raise taxes under any circumstances. well, it's been raised now where's grover because now the tax -- payroll tax cut extension is up, and a lot of the republicans are talking about not supporting it. well, that's a tax cut being -- that's raising taxes. that's not extending a tax cut, and then let me show you this. grover, all of a sudden, says payroll tax cuts expiration is not a tax hike, so help me out here. when rich people's tax hikes expire, that's raising taxes. when middle class people's tax hikes expire. >> right. >> that's not a tax hike.

>> you know, the republicans have -- i mean, it's very curious logic, and i think logic is being generous. there's been all sorts of justifications. they say, look, the money from the payroll tax cut is going to come from social security and we're concerned about the solvency of social security and the idea that payroll tax cuts don't benefit businesses and when democrats played ball and said we'll cut payroll taxes for businesses, too, they said no to that. ultimately i think this is a matter of constituencies. the people that are helped the most by payroll tax cuts tend to be overwhelmingly the poor, african-americans, latinos, who are traditionally democratic voters. there is a sense of injustice that a lot more democratic lawmakers are in touch with. the republicans have not seen the working class and poor as a major priority for them and they don't need to care that much about the payroll tax cut. you put that logic next to the logic for extending the bush tax cuts, and it just doesn't make sense. >> now, richard, i'm one of the rare people in the country that's been in the room with

newt gingrich and president obama. >> at the same time? >> at the same time when the president met with us on education reform, but let me share with you there is a contrast between this president and newt gingrich when it comes down to poor people. let me show you this. >> really poor children in really poor neighborhoods have no habits of working and have nobody around them who works. >> we tell people, we tell our kids, that in this country, even if you're born with nothing, work hard and you can get into the middle class. >> they don't have an i do this and you give me cash unless it's illegal. >> the idea that those children might not have a chance to climb out of that situation and back into the middle class, no matter how hard they work, that's inexcusable. >> now, richard, newt gingrich, believe it or not. >> right. >> is the front-runner right now. >> he is. the clear front-runner

>> the solid from uner. >> this is what we may see in next year's election, the contrast between an incumbent president that's talking about every american child being able to pursue the american dream no matter what income level they are born. >> right. >> and a republican opponent saying that poor kids don't come from an environment with a work ethic and the only thing they see is trade of money if it's illegal. i mean, that will be a real showdown of where america is if we have an obama/gingrich race. >> sure, and it's -- it's what you expect from someone who has got a half million dollar line of credit at tiffany's and who brags about earning $60,000 a speech and he's truly a man of the people. when you compare what happened to john mccain who couldn't recall whether he had seven or eight properties, there's so much more material to work with with gingrich, so i realize he's your friend and he may be on the right side of some parts of

education, but he does need to get out more, maybe talk to some people who are earning less than $60,000 per hour because as we all know there are lots of very hard working people who can barely cover the -- the necessities of life, never mind asking for money an hour of talk. >> for the record, he is not my friend, and he wasn't even all the way right on education, but, miss wagner. >> reverend. >> let me ask you, elizabeth warren's epic youtube, i mean, youtube rant all the way up with her responding to this whole thing of who cares for the people, let me play what elizabeth warren said because it sounds like president obama and her are singing from the same hymn book. >> there is nobody in this country who got rich on his own, nobody. you built a factory out there. good for you, but i want to be

clear. you moved your goods to market on the roads the rest of us paid for. you hired workers the rest of us paid to educate. you built a factory, and it turned in something terrific or a great idea, god bless. keep a big hunk of it, but part of the underlying social contract is you take a hunk of that and pay forward to the next kid who comes along. >> so, you have elizabeth warren, you have the president, are democrats really finding their kind of stride now and really saying, you know what? we're going to speak to the average american and take on this concept of rich -- right if you're rich and trickle down is a sound economic policy? >> i saw part of the president's speech on mute, and, you know, you just watch him and he has his swagger back. >> right. >> we talk about the national dialogue, and in no small part that have is due to the work of

the occupy folks and the way that they have turned the national conversation towards income equality. we're looking at the foreclosure crisis today, the notion of income equality is very much top of mind. you have census numbers that show one in three americans are living at or near poverty. it is about time, and that is why i think elizabeth warren's message is resonating so much with the american people. >> this is why it's so despicable what newt gingrich said because if you have a third of the country living in poverty or near poverty and for him to accuse them of not having a work ethic, not that the jobs are outsourced, not a layoff, it's their fault and the only trade of cash they see is illegal and he wants to be the president of this country, he ought to be on donald trump's show as an extra. >> thanks for being on the show. be sure to check out "now" with alex wagner every day at noon eastern time right here on msnbc. >> lunch hour. >> ahead, republicans keep

attacking president obama's health care law, but today we have a reality check. the law is helping real people, and it is saving lives. plus, mitt romney blows off donald trump's reality show presidential debate, and a key republican operative is found guilty of voter suppression. it's part of our block the vote series exposing all the gop dirty little tricks. you're watching "politics nation" on msnbc. [ coughs ] what is this shorty? uh, tissues sir, i'm sick. you don't cough, you don't show defeat. give me your war face! raaah! [ male announcer ] halls. a pep talk in every drop.

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republicans bashed president obama's new health care law, but new data show it's already helping millions of americans.

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welcome back to "politics nation." when republicans took control of the house in january, they were clear about their top priority, attacking president obama's health care law. >> we came out with our pledge to america, and our pledge was to repeal obamacare. >> well, republicans are on the wrong side of the issue again. the health care law is working. 2.6 million seniors have saved more than $1.5 billion this year

thanks to the law closing the so-called doughnut hole in medicare drug coverage. that's an average of $569 saved per person. 24 million seniors have gone in for free physicals or screenings, a new change this year, and over the last two years the law has reduced -- has helped reduce the number of uninsured kids by a million. critics call the law obamacare. the president has tackled that phrase head on. >> they call it obamacare. i do care. that's right. the question is why don't you care? >> the president cares. his law helps seniors on medicare. it helps small businesses pay for insurance. it provides coverage for kids, and some adults with

pre-existing conditions, and it lets young adults stay on their parents plan until age 26. all these parts of the law are already in effect. it makes life better for millions of americans and yet the best is yet to come. unless republican lawmakers or conservative judges kill it off first. joining me now congressman jim mcdermott, democrat from washington, who is also a doctor, so i'm happy here -- i'm happy he's here to discuss this issue. congressman, thank you for being here tonight. >> it's my pleasures, al. glad to be here. >> are republicans on the wrong side of the law since the law is clearly working? >> well, you know, many of us knew when we put it together there would be a lot of talk about how it wasn't going to work and nothing was going to work, but we could tell as things were staged and as they were brought online that by this point you would begin to have the american public actually

seeing that what the president set in motion is actually good for them. the pre-existing condition question and the question of keeping your kids on until age 26, these were issues that everybody was worried about, and now they are actually seeing the effect of the proposals to cut the costs of pharmaceuticals for seniors. when -- when you're paying and you're having to pay yourself, the law says if you've already paid to a certain point you will get a 50% reduction. we knew that was coming. >> right. >> and it's great to see it, and people are now understanding the president does actually care about us, and this was really something that was caring for the american people. >> no. well, let me show you something, congressman dr. mcdermott. first of all, let me show you how adamant the republicans have been against this law. >> obamacare is wrong. i'll repeal it. i'll get it done.

>> i assure you we'll have a vote on repeal. >> that's how fast i want to repeal obamacare. >> we're going to have a vote on the repeal of the obamacare bill today. >> i promise you as president of the united states i will not rest until we repeal obamacare. >> but in the face of that the american people have been polled. they are supporting obamacare, as they call it. 50% say expand or keep as t.39% only say repeal it. the gop also claimed, congressman dr. mcdermott, that it would be a killer of job. the health care law would be a killer of jobs. in fact this year alone in the health care industry 295,000 jobs were added. it didn't care the health care jobs at all, but one of the most touching things i want to share with you before you respond to all of this is a cancer patient

writes in the "los angeles times" a letter apologizing for bashing the health care law. she qualifies for pre-existing conditions in the insurance plan and says it's a life saver. i'm reading the letter. she says i'm sorry i didn't do enough of my own research to find out what promises the president has made good on. i'm sorry i didn't realize that he really has stood up for me and my family and for so many others like us. i'm getting a new bumper sticker. it says observe mar cares. this is an op-ed by spike dolomite ward in the "l.a. times." people that even were indifferent offer opposed are saying this works and it's working directly for me. >> you know, al, if i were you, and i were running your show, i would have had miss ward standing here instead of me because she says it all in that

op-ed in the "los angeles times." the fact that people who were going along, playing by the rules, doing everything right, they have done everything they know how to do to take care of themselves can be wiped out by an illness or an injury is the exact thing the president was taking on, and he in fact has put something in place that will do it, and the proof of it is that mitt romney, who had a proposal just like this in massachusetts. >> right. >> 74% of the people in massachusetts say they like it, so all this nonsense about the tea party saying they want to repeal it was just a bunch of political nonsense to try to make the president look bad. he looks great to me, particularly in the area of health care because he put it in there, got it started against enormous opposition. it took tremendous will to force this into position, and it's now working, and that's really what's very exciting.

>> no, it is, and you made the point, and by the way, we tried to reach miss ward all day, couldn't get on tonight, but she will be on this week. people need to hear from the people that have been affected, and at the end of the day it doesn't matter who is up or down. is the people being served? miss ward is an example of that. congressman dr. jim mcdermott, i want people to know you're a doctor, you're not just talking. you know this profession. thank you for your presence. >> thank you. i'll be back again. >> ahead. governor scott walker says the recall effort is all about sour grapes. so why was he praising recalls a year ago? and willard "mitt" romney is turning his back on the birther king. trump gets dumped. stay with us. you need

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folks, we know wisconsin's right wing governor scott walker is fighting for his political life. he completely overreached with the union-busting job that rammed through in wisconsin. more than 300,000 people have signed a recall petition in the first 12 days of the campaign. so walker's strategy is to make the recall supporters seem like sour losers. just like a take a will be at

this ad that he's airing. >> i'm not big on recalls, and at this point from my opinion, and it's speaking from my opinion, it seems like sour grapes. i didn't get my way and we want to change our mind. >> i don't like recalls and it sounds like sour grapes. since john nichols of "the nation" points out walker used to love recalls. in fact, one propelled him into office. walker became milwaukee county executive in 2002 after an earlier executive was targeted in a recall campaign! walker praised that recall in his race for governor this year. >> the folks that were angry about this started a recall and they were told they needed to collect 73,000 signatures in 60 days. well, not hundreds, not thousands but tens of thousands of ordinary people did an extraordinary thing. they stood up and took their

government back. >> so when people who share walker's politics launched a recall, they were taking their government back. when people who oppose him start a recall, it's sour grapes. governor, did you think we wouldn't notice a real sour grape when we found one? nice try, governor, but we gotcha. n: my electric bill was breaking the bank. so to save some money, i trained this team of guinea pigs to row this tiny boat. guinea pig: row...row. they generate electricity, which lets me surf the web all day. guinea pig: row...row. took me 6 months to train each one, 8 months to get the guinea pig: row...row. little chubby one to yell row! guinea pig: row...row. that's kind of strange. guinea pig: row...row. such a simple word... row. anncr: there's an easier way to save. get online. go to geico.com. get a quote. 15 minutes could save you

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welcome back to "politics nation." folks, there's something big happening in the republican party. at some point a trend becomes the truth, and news today makes me think republicans might have found their anyone but romania any. newt gingrich is on fire. he's exploding to the top. another day, another poll showing him with a massive lead. a brand new national poll has newt commanding 15-point lead over willard romney.

his 37% is the highest total we've seen in this race. take a look at this. you can see newt's yellow line surge from october and romney, the red line, is stuck in the same place, and in key states it's the same story. newt is beating willard in iowa, and he's crushing him in south carolina by 16 points, but the most striking number is this one. 82%, 82% of tea party supporters say newt's an acceptable pick. folks, this is starting to feel like something powerful. we've seen them rise. we've seen them fall, but this one feels different. joining me now msnbc contributor maria theresa kumar, executive director of vote total latino and bob slump, msnbc analyst and

a professor. bob, is newt for real? >> he sure is and for several reasons. first of all, the longer romney campaigns, he's stuck in the same place in terms of the number that's voting for him, his likability and favorables and unfavorables go down. in iowa in one of the polls, he's basically got a one for one favorable, unfavorable. newt has a 3 for 1. beyond that, they don't trust romney. they any newt, even though he may have sat on that couch with nancy pelosi or gone to that meeting with you, they think at heart he's a conservative. they think he speaks for them and one of the most interesting trends in these new polls is they also think he might be a stronger candidate against president obama. that's what came out in this latest iowa poll, so, yeah, i think newt's for real and i don't think you can assume he will crash and burn and all us beltway people who wrote him off were wrong. >> now, let me ask you, maria, conservatives seem to love newt.

i can't believe it, but it's true. if you look at this recent gallup poll, it shows a breakdown of support for gingrich and romney by ideology. gingrich is blog romney out of water with conservatives. you've got 41% to romney's 20% and people in this poll that have identified themselves as conservatives. how does that happen, maria? >> i think right now what you're seeing is a fracture within the republican party. the republican elite here in washington who basically recognize they don't want to support hip. there are 50 congressional members that are part of his team when he was speaker of the house that are saying -- he only has six endorsements of those 50, but then you do see the tea party candidates that i don't really think know what newt gingrich is about. they don't realize how he has been supportive of no child left behind. they don't know he's been supportive of medication section "d." so they don't realize he's done a lot of interventious policies so once romney is out of the

picture he's a treasure trove of flip-flopping that many folks are actually accusing mitt romney of. if anything the only people super excited right now are newt is leading in the polls is the obama campaign because they have him on record across lines saying exactly what he thinks, how he feels and increasingly it's a treasure trove for anyone to go look through and say, newt, we got you, and then we also have to dig deeper and say does he have the war chest and the infrastructure, and in both cases right now he does not. >> now, bob, mr. gingrich, the front-runner, came to new york yesterday to see the king of the birthers, donald trump, and donald trump is moderating a debate, and -- and today mr. romney stood up, willard said he's not ray-- in the attending the debate. >> i'm not participating in that. two debates in december that i've agreed to participate in.

the rest of the month i'll spend campaigning and doing the work you've got to do to get the support of the people in iowa, new hampshire, south carolina, florida. we'll be hitting the trail. i spoke with donald trump earlier today and indicated we just can't make this debate. >> what did he say? >> he -- he understood my perspective and wished me well. >> well, he understood his perspective rand wished him well, but then mr. trump, the donald, issued this statement tonight. somewhere along the line he didn't put in there i wish you well. quote, it would seem logical to me that if i was substantially behind in the polls, especially in iowa, south carolina and florida, i would be participating in the debate, but i can also understand why governor romney decided not to do it. well, i don't know what he's inferring there, but knowing trump, the great promoter, i don't think he's going to let this go. this might be a -- a daily

nightmare for well ard to be kind of nudged by donald trump >> you know, this word understand. i understand him. he understands me was thrown around all over this dialogue today. >> right. >> i think what willard understood was he wasn't going to get the endorsement of donald trump. he also understand that a lot of commentators were going to think better of him if he refused to participate in a clown show known as a donald trump debate, but difference here, and it may work for gingrich, and this is where marie and i may have a difference. i think that a lot of the conventional rules may not apply this year. organization in iowa, for example, may be very overrated. people may go to those caucuses and vote for gingrich anyway. he's obviously going to have to raise the money over time, but -- and the other thing is you throw the flip-flop argument at him, first of all, romney can't do it. if there's a treasure trove of flip-flops that you can apply to gingrich, there's a ft. knox worth of flip flopz you can apply to mitt rom any. secondly, i think he may be teflon for these conservative republicans, that these

arguments may bounce off him. rick perry was killed by saying something half decent on immigration. mitt romney has soared since he said briefly something half decent on immigration. >> you mean newt gingrich. >> newt gingrich. >> maria, do you think that the fact that gingrich does not have a national infrastructure organization in place that he could run out, or do you feel that, as bob has said, the rules don't apply, the normal rules don't apply this time? >> some basic rules don't apply so, for example, he, unfortunately, he actually forgot, newt gingrich actually failed to file -- to be on the ballot in missouri. it looks like he'll also miss the ohio deadline and other states might follow. in certain cases have you to have a basic organizational structure that needs to do that. >> he said he didn't want to be on that ballot because there's no delegates so he -- he says it wasn't an oversight, that they intentionally didn't care because there's no delegates

attached to that primary. >> that's -- that's a fair argument, except if you really think that you're going to be the nominee and you'll have to go toe to toe with obama, you want to start seating early with missouri and you want to make sure folks know your agenda and you're with them since missouri is very much going to be a battleground state. >> bob, when you go back to this same poll, what is interesting about your point about the normal rules don't apply, the tea party vote, this is, again, the same gallup poll, not a robo poll, a gallup poll, tea party people identify themselves as tea party republicans, 47% to 17% gingrich over romney. 30-point spread. these are the type of voters you would assume will go to a caucus like iowa, and it has nothing to do with the infrastructure. they are going in there with what they have in mind which could help gingrich if these numbers are real and hold up. >> more than, that reverend, some of these people may have told folks that they were for

them, that they were for a different candidate. that candidate may take them to the iowa caucuses and they may walk across the room and caucus, for example, with nutriknew. look, at the end of the day here, the most telling figure in that poll is not just the conservative figure. it's the moderate liberal figure. >> that's right. >> the only place where gingrich comes close. he basically -- where romney comes close, he basically ties gingrich is with moderates and liberals. guess how many of those there are in the republican primary and eslegsly in the republican electorate? if i were romney, that's why i'd be worried. that's why he said today it's time to get his message out. what's he been doing for the last six months? >> no, the last four years he's been running. >> thank you both for your time tonight. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> just ahead, caught in the act. a republican operative found guilty of voter suppression. it's our block the vote series of protecting your rights, and it's that time of year again,

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we have big news tonight in our block the vote report. it turns out voter fraud does exist, even today in america. but it's the republicans playing the dirty tricks. today paul schurick, an aide to former maryland governor robert ehrlich was found guilty of conspireing to suppress black voter turnout in 2010. prosecutors charged that schurick approved deceptive calls to convince black voters not to go to the polls. >> paul, can we ask you your reaction first. >> he's not speaking. >> he had no public comment after the jury's verdict, guilty on four criminal count. >> i'm calling to let everybody know that governor o'malley and president obama have been successful. >> related to the 2010 election day robo call that suggested

martin o'malley had won the governor's race before the polls had actually closed. schurick was the campaign manager for the bob ehrlich campaign, he authorized call which was mission the so-called authority line to hide the campaign's involvement. he said it was a counterintuitive event to get ehr li ch voters to the polls. >> i thought it was ridiculous, think it's ridiculous. i didn't buy it and evidently the jury didn't buy it as well. >> notes taken by the woman who recorded the robo call says it all. quote, suppress turnout in black communities. amazing. the conviction highlights what countless minority voters report in every election, that republicans use dirty tricks to suppress the vote.

>> will crossly is director of voter protection for the democratic national committee. thank you both for being here tonight. >> thank you. >> thank you, rev. >> well, a stunning example of voter suppression today. so the plan to tell black voters that their candidate was doing fine so they wouldn't feel their vote was needed, is that what the scheme was? >> absolutely, rev. we began to get calls on this subject on election day when it was happening in -- in the 2010 election, and we have followed it ever since and pleased to see that a jury found nothing short of a conspiracy to commit election fraud by republican operatives in the state of maryland. they went after 110,000 african-american voters in the cities of baltimore and in

prince george's county maryland. this is in fact the real fraud that's being perpetrated upon the american people, upon voter. and so this verdict today is evidence that that is going on. >> now, judith, i remember 2010 we have a chapter that we were hearing this but you hear it all over the country. does this verdict in your opinion help with many of the cases that groups all over the country have been trying to fight, and will it pour a little cold water on those operatives that may have plans for 2012? >> well, reverend sharpton, oops, they got caught. this is clearly all of the stories that we have known that have existed for years, the deceptive practices. it's just a continuation of a campaign of misinformation that is being put together by the

right wing. instead of, you know, talking about i.d. and trying to challenge the eligibility of hard-working americans who want to participate in democracy, they are committing the real fraud against americans by telling them to go to the polls on particular days after an election or telling them that in fact you can't vote if you have parking tickets or you have some other issue. instead of trying to block the vote, why not have real democracy and stop trying to undermine it. next week, reverend, we're going to be delivering a petition to the department of justice calling on them to step up their efforts to stop voter suppression. we have over 120,000 signatures. we hope more people will join this effort, because we have to call on them to enforce the voting rights act. >> well, there's no doubt about it. and there are 14 states, i just put the map up, that saw 25 vote redistricting laws passed this

year. we're rallying in 25 cities this friday, there's a march this saturday, there's your petition drive. b but, will, let me ask you, in maryland, the doctrine there was and i'm reading what they have written out, promote confusion, emotionalism and frustration among african-american democrats focused in precincts where high concentrations of african-american votes. that was maryland. do you know of other schemes around the country, will? >> oh, there's no question. we saw other efforts in 2010. these robo calls. we've seen the misinformation campaigns. we've also seen voter caging, a process in which they send out post cards to people. if you don't return the postcard, then they question your residency and add you to a list when you show up at the polls, question whether or not you're actually qualified to vote. that happened in 1982 in new

jersey. we've seen it in louisiana, 1987. we've seen it 1990 in north carolina. we prosecuted 2004 in ohio as well as in 2008 in the state of michigan. they created these lists from people's names who had been placed on foreclosure and challenged their residency. we went to court over that as well. and so the important thing, we want voters to know that we were watching in the past this verdict today and will continue to watch in the future for these kinds of activities. >> judith, i think that this was got to be a fight, as you say, to preserve democracy and make things work that assure democracy for everyone. i wonder why with all of these voter i.d. laws and all of this so-called fighting against voter fraud, they're not talking about

this in the right wing. strange they missed all of this voter suppression efforts will just outlined and the jury convicted on today in maryland. >> that's right. this is the real fraud. let's talk about this. let's get some laws passed that stop these deceptive practices, that stop people from going to the polls, that give them misinformation. unfortunately, this campaign of misinformation works for the right wing. what we need to do is stand up, stand for democracy and fight back and get some laws passed that convict more people like the one convicted in maryland. >> well, there was only 86 prosecutions with the voter fraud they raised out of 300 million voting. but here on the other side where we're seeing convictions, they're not interested. that's why we are. judith, will, thank you both for your time tonight. >> thank you.

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the holiday spirit is in the air, it's time for good will, a time for parties and a time for traditions. last week the rock center christmas tree lit right outside our studio. a 79-year tradition. and over at fox, they have started their very own annual holiday tradition. what's that? you haven't heard of it? it's the tradition of attacking the president's vacation plans. >> president obama has announced that he's going to take a 17-day vacation over christmas and he's going to go to hawaii. he has developed his strategy for re-election to blame congress, so really he can go on vacation and they'll need to stay there to get something done. >> i thought it was a joke. i thought maybe it was a typo, 17 days. >> your boss was hammered for his long summer vacation. >> he never had a surfboard. >> it's their same old song and

dance. i can't believe he has the nerve to go away with his family. and isn't the right wing supposed to be all about family values? and dana perino of all people to throw stones. do you remember who you worked for? during his first 31 months in office, president george w. bush took 180 vacation days. during the same time, president obama has taken only 61. and fox isn't the only one. mitt romney is also in the holiday spirits. >> his idea of a hands-on approach to the economy is getting a grip on his golf club. he's going off for 17 days in hawaii. he'll be playing a lot of golf. >> let me get this straight. you don't think the president is keyed into washington while he's away? well, in holiday spirit i've been thinking if i wanted to give my president a christmas gift, if i