very much for joining us tonight. >> you bet. >> you can have the last word online at our blog. you can follow my tweets @lawrence. ed show" is u. good evening, americans. welcome to "the ed show" tonight. mitt romney, i mean, this dude can't take the heat. 37 hours after he said he isn't concerned about the very poor, mitt romney is doing a flip-flop again. i'm not going to let him off the hook. this is "the ed show." let's get to work. >> the highest form of charity is to do our part to help others stand on their own. >> the president continues to run circles around republicans. while the guy who likes to fire people gets an endorsement from a guy who fires people on tv. >> it's my honor, real honor, and privilege to endorse mitt romney. >> we'll have all the fallout from today's circus with ezra kline, sam stein, michael eric dyson, and caroline heldman. the radical republican attack on

workers in arizona continues. now there's a scott walker connection, and there might be a recall movement brewing in the desert. and the backlash against the susan g. komen foundation is exploding. >> your facebook page has people cutting pink ribbons in half. >> the responses we're getting are very, very favorable. >> the president of the national organization for women is outraged, and she is here tonight. good to have you with us tonight, folks. thanks for watching. the contrast between president obama and mitt romney couldn't be more stark. their differences were on display while they were thousands of miles apart from each other. this morning president obama joined members of congress for the national prayer breakfast in washington. he spoke about the message of shared sacrifice and how it's rooted in his christian faith. >> when i talk about shared responsibility, it's because i genuinely believe in a time when many folks are struggling, in a

time when we have enormous deficits, if i'm willing to give something up as somebody who's been extraordinarily blessed, give up some of the tax breaks that i enjoy, i actually think that's going to make economic sense. but, for me, as a christian, it also coincides with jesus' teaching that from to whom much is given, much shall be required. >> the president also spoke about something we've heard a lot about in the last 24 hours, the poor. >> it's also about the biblical call to care for the least of these, for the poor, for those at the margins of our society. and for others that may reflect the jewish belief that the highest form of charity is to do our part to help others stand on their own. living by the principle that we are our brother's keeper, caring for the poor and those in need. >> this sets up a clear comparison with the man who is

hoping to be the republican nominee for president. >> i'm in this race because i care about americans. i'm not concerned about the very poor. we have a safety net there. if it needs repair, i'll fix it. i'm not concerned about the very rich. they're doing just fine. i'm concerned about the very heart of america, the 90%, 95% of americans who are struggling and i'll continue to take that message across the nation. >> it's not the first time this week president obama drew a big distinction between himself and mitt romney. yesterday the president spoke about home foreclosures, saying it's wrong for anyone to suggest that we should let the housing market bottom out. although it was mitt romney who told a nevada newspaper to let the foreclosure process run its course. on tuesday, president obama toured the washington auto show. mitt romney, famously said, let detroit go bankrupt. now gm is back on top, and president obama has a different message. >> it's good to remember that

the fact that there were some folks who were willing to let this industry die, because of folks coming together, we are now back in a place where we can compete with any car company in the world. >> the president is getting an early jump on the general election. he's letting voters know the clear lines between him and mitt romney. romney is also showing america where he stands. he stood side by side with the all-american nobody donald trump today, the guy who fires people on tv, supporting the guy who likes to be able to fire people. >> it's my honor, real honor, and privilege to endorse mitt romney. mitt is tough. he's smart. he's sharp. he's not going to allow bad things to continue to happen to this country that we all love. so, governor romney, go out and get them. you can do it. >> thank you. thank you. [ applause ]

there are some things that you just can't imagine happening in your life. this is one of them. >> yeah? we just have to cherish the moment, don't we? president obama's campaign team was thrilled with the endorsement. the campaign's twitter feed posted video of trump and romney with a helpful note saying, in case you missed it. the timing couldn't be worse for the romney campaign. yesterday romney said he's not concerned about the very poor. now he's endorsed by a guy who is concerned about one thing, and that's being very rich. and get this -- the washington post reported 25%, a quarter of the money amassed by romney's campaign in an allied super pac has come from just 41 people, each of whom has given more than $100,000. nearly a dozen of the donors have contributed $1 million or more. the pro-romney super pac even got a $250,000 donation from a

company with only a post office box for a headquarters and no known employees. go figure. it's the republican way. a very small number of very rich people are really making mitt romney the next nominee, don't you think? romney is the candidate of the 1%. the obama team knows what the guidelines are. make sure the american people know what this is all about. get your cell phones out. i want to know what you think. tonight's question -- which candidate is more concerned about the poor? text a for president obama, text b for mitt romney to 622639. you can always go to our blog at ed.msnbc.com. we'll bring you the results later on in the show. i'm joined tonight by michael eric dyson, msnbc political analyst and georgetown university professor and caroline heldman, professor of politics at occidental college. welcome tonight, both of you. appreciate you being here. get this, romney is walking back his comments about the poor this evening.

he told a nevada news program we don't have the tape, but we got the quote, it was a misstatement. i misspoke, he said. i've said something that is similar to that, but quite acceptable for a long time. now, here are some examples of what romney has been saying for a long time. >> we've got to provide help to the people who have been hurt most by the obama economy. and that's the middle class. it's not those at the very low end, certainly not those at the very high end. i'm not worried about rich people, they're doing just fine. the very poor have a safety net, they're taken care of. in our country, the people that need the help most are not the poor, who have a safety net, not the rich who are doing just fine, but the middle class. >> michael eric dyson, i'll ask you first, was yesterday a misstatement? >> not at all. it is consistent with what he's been articulating throughout this entire process and over the years. he ignores the fact that the top 20% of american income earners

own -- earn nearly 50% of the income. those who are poor, 15% of the population, earn less than 3.4%. those in the bottom are in dire need of help. yes, the middle class needs to be helped seriously. but those who are poor and working poor -- and what we mean by working poor is those who work 40 to 50 hours a week, often two and three jobs and they still can't make ends meet and can't rise above the poverty level. these people are not easy, not disinclined to work, they can't find gainful employment. if this man wants to be president and yet he's not concerned about a significant population of people who are doing poorly, then god bless those who would vote for him, but he is not the right man to fill in and deal with the situation that is of utter necessity for those who are poor. >> well, this comment came about 37 hours ago, and he's in damage control right now. but after a plethora of media critique out there in the media, he decides to come out and say, well, i misspoke. caroline, the romney damage

control, is this going to work? >> i don't think it's going to work because he very clearly said, the people who have been hurt the most are the middle class, the poor aren't hurting as much. i don't think he understands what that means. if the poor were doing better, they would be middle class. this notion that he is demonizing the poor or saying that they're not doing very poorly doesn't take into account that one out of five of the poor are children, and the vast majority of the poor as dr. dyson pointed out are working poor, people who are working full time, disabled people, elderly people, and they're children. when he's talking about the poor and demonizing them, even if he doesn't directly intend to, which i would argue he probably did, it's not going to help him come the general election. i don't think this is something he can talk his way out of. >> there's a real big disconnect there for sure. what about trump's endorsement today? will this hurt the guy? if you look at the polling out there, a lot of people aren't going to be influenced by this and some negatively.

>> well, not immediately, but i think in the long run the calculation here is that donald trump will go out there and be a force for mitt romney to put him in good standing with those who are suspicious of the bona fides of mitt romney, is he really conservative. and since donald trump drummed up all of this madness about he's the true conservative out here, it might help with those on the fence. but i doubt it's going to help with the mainstream of the republican party who understands that donald trump is a joke and a sideshow. >> professor heldman, why would mitt romney go along with this trump circus? donald trump really started this whole election year questioning whether president obama was an american, questioning his birth certificate, then claiming victory that he got the president to put out the full long form. i mean, it's really been a dog and pony show. why would romney and his camp view this as such a big endorsement that they would play it up the way they are playing it up? >> well, i think it appeals to

racist americans, those who -- birthers, those who question the president, and it allows romney to align himself with someone who will play up with racist folks who he doesn't necessarily have to directly use that language like gingrich has been doing, saying that blacks don't have role models or he'll -- calling president obama a food stamp president. i think it allows him to align himself with people who believe that without actually having those words come out of his mouth. >> well, i wonder how many sound bites from his prayer breakfast today are going to be played by the conservative media. they've accused him of not being a christian. the president was very clear about his faith today. does this serve the president well, michael? what do you think? >> well, yeah, i mean every time he gets a chance to stand up and take a swing at some of these ill-informed, ignorant people who contend he's not a christian, he's been saying this forever he's a christian. and it's not that other people, you know, muslims, jews, whoever else is part of the religious american landscape are not to be

treated seriously, it's just the fact that he happens to be a christian and they're trying to call him everything but literally a child of god. they celebrate tim tebow who bows down on a field to pray to god and here is a man trying to put into practice based on biblical principles concern for the poor and he's dismissed out of hand. i think probably our own moral values have to be examined but i think this helps obama in the long run to make the steady stream of consciousness that, hey, i'm a christian, i'm rooted in the bible, i'm doing what i think god wants me to do and that's best i can offer. >> caroline, you can't deny, i mean, i was -- i watched the whole thing this morning when it was happening. there were clear political parallels here about what the president was saying and the stories of the week. what did you make of that? >> well, i think he's very clearly responding to romney and gingrich who have been demonizing the poor. gingrich more than romney, i would say. and talking about, you know, how people -- poor children and specifically children of color need to get a job and don't have role models and his ncaa comment and food stamps.

i think the president is directly responding to that, and i think it's a message that will resonate with americans, 75% of whom want to see fair taxes for the wealthy and are not into this poor demonization. the fact, when a couple million people can't get employment, it might be on them, but when 20 million americans are underemployed or unemployed, it's a systemic issue, i don't think this demonization will work. >> professor michael eric dyson and professor heldman, thank you for being on "the ed show." remember to answer the question tonight on the bottom of the screen, share your thoughts on twitter. we want to know what you think. republicans attack president obama on the deficit. ezra kline gets to the truth. later, i'll show you how wisconsin governor scott walker taught arizonans how to bust unions. we're right back. [ male announcer ] to the 5:00 a.m. scholar.

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coming up, ezra kline and sam stein set the facts straight on the deficit and how

republicans will spin the latest cbo report. after we broke the story about teachers working without pay in a pennsylvania school district, it's gotten attention from the white house and the media. find out what ellen degeneres did, and it's great. what she did for this school. and the susan g. komen foundation is facing more backlash after pulling grant money from planned parenthood. the president of the national organization of women joins me tonight. share your thoughts on twitter using #edshow. we'll be right back. when i grow up, i want to fix up old houses. ♪ [ woman ] when i grow up, i want to take him on his first flight. i want to run a marathon. i'm going to own my own restaurant. when i grow up, i'm going to start a band. [ female announcer ] at aarp we believe you're never done growing. thanks, mom. i just want to get my car back.

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and i'm going to work very, very hard to make sure that the people in this country have a brighter future than that being projected by the cbo. driven by the policies they're seeing from a president who's failing. he's frequently telling us he did not cause the recession and that's true. but he made it worse. >> this segment is going to make your head spin a little bit, so be prepared. welcome back to "the ed show." thanks for watching tonight. republicans, well, they have what they think is a new club in their hands that they can bash president obama over the head with. there's a new cbo report that says that the deficit will top $1 trillion this year. it means president obama will be the first president to have a deficit over a trillion dollars every year in office. now, of course, much of the deficit comes from a recession that the president of the united states right now did not create. ezra kline has broken it down. the actual cost of president obama's policies would total about $983 billion in terms of what it adds to the deficit. compare that to the cost of bush

policies during his time in office, more than $5 trillion added to the deficit. we got to talk about it. let's turn to msnbc policy analyst and "washington post" columnist ezra kline. great to have you with us tonight, ezra. >> good evening. >> i have to start also with this, that the house gop declares unanimously that the bush tax cuts did not blow up the budget. every house republican voted thursday to reject the proposition that the bush tax cuts added to the deficit. i mean, this is revisionist history. and i -- i view this as -- we now have a lie that is into the record. your thoughts on this? >> the bush tax cuts, number one, $2 trillion from 2001 to when obama came into office and if we extend them again, about $4 trillion with the growth of the economy. but you want to know how you know the bush tax cuts added to the deficit. you mentioned this piece, the way i did this piece, i worked with people around budget and policy to create a baseline where we took everything, every policy that obama didn't do and

sort of put it to the side and then looked at every policy obama has done or has signed into law on its own and projected its cost out. and so i got a blockbuster response from a guy named keith hennessey, very smart guy. he was george w. bush's national economics council director at the end of his presidency. what keith said was, your baseline doesn't work because obama's going to add trillions of dollars to the deficit when he extends the bush tax cuts in a year. now, that's not in there because we don't know if he'll extend them. we don't know if the deficit reduction, i can't put in things obama hasn't done yet. but he's right, if you extend them, you will extend the deficit. the fact that he and others are criticizing the baseline from that direction shows that republicans know perfectly well the bush tax cuts are a budget buster. >> so when obama's opponents come out, when the president's opponents come out and say he's responsible for $4.7 trillion in deficits, what's the short answer here in the bullet point culture? >> he's not. barack obama is responsible for

the deficits that his policies have put into place. but the fact of the matter is when you cut -- when he came in two weeks before he came in, so january 9, 2009, the cbo put out a report and said deficits now for the next year, for first year of obama's presidency but before he was inaugurated will be $1.2 trillion, that was with all bush policies, with the recession, obama had no control over that. the other point i want to make here, it's important to say this, it is not always a good idea to reduce the deficit. barack obama, president obama and the republicans and the democrats in congress need to figure out a way to decrease deficits in the coming year. but when the economy is collapsing, you do not cut government spending then. you cannot do that. you'll send us into a contractionary spiral. there was a report out that showed we're further along in our recovery, further along in households and businesses getting rid of our debt and a big part of why that was is the government stepped in aggressively to keep the growth going so they could begin to deleverage. >> and we have seen the stimulus package work. ezra kline, thank you for your time tonight. appreciate it.

now to sam stein, political reporter for "huffington post." sam the politics of this, pretty ugly. it's easy for the republicans to go out and distort the deficit numbers, don't you think? >> yeah, and i think ezra hits all the right points. the difficulty of course is spelling out the math here and how obama inherited a lot of the problems. also, you know, one of the simpler ways to solve the deficit problem is to get more people back to work and inject more government spending. going through that cycle though is a tough sell for the american public because republicans have made it very difficult to argue for more stimulus. we're in a cycle where he gets blamed from the debt and is prohibited from doing anything to solve it. >> you pointed out in your work today, in the -- not the "wall street journal" but the wall street donors, the people that

work on wall street, they seem to be really flocking to mitt romney with their money and their support. haven't they done really well under president obama? i mean, back in march of 2009, the market was just over 6,000. now look where it is today. and plus the bonuses they're bringing in. how could wall street not like this president? >> correct. bonuses are up. the justice department under obama has been notoriously slow. if they've moved at all in doing prosecutions. the culture on wall street is back to relatively normal. and yet the street doesn't really like this president. and when you ask around, the explanations you get are that his rhetoric is very tough, the policies he's outlining right now, specifically on millionaire taxes are against their interests. but let's be honest here, they also have a vessel that is much more beneficial for them and that's mitt romney. and so what we did is we looked at the 68 most politically active firms, talking about hedge funds, harvard equity firms and banks and what kind of donations they made over the fourth quarter, october into december.

and my colleague and i found out that mitt romney received $1.49 million in donations during that three months' time period. barack obama received 127,000. it's 11.7 to 1 disparity, amazing. >> let's turn now to newt gingrich. he said something rather i think alarming today. here it is. >> both governor romney and barack obama seem to believe that a, quote, safety net is all the poor need. i don't believe that. what the poor need is a trampoline so they can spring up and quit being poor. nothing is better for somebody who's poor than getting a job and getting a paycheck and having a chance to rise and having their children see that it's okay to go to work. and that it's part of being an american. >> having their children see that it's okay to go to work? more dog whistle politics? what do you think? >> yeah. there's always -- there's always that. >> come on, newt. >> at this point, he's assigned every child to go be a janitor, though, so i don't know if they'll be there to see their parents work.

you know, it's silly. but he -- i will say this, he gets at a point, which is that what mitt romney said yesterday was tone deaf and the idea that, you know, we shouldn't concern ourselves with the plight of the poor and they can be handled by the safety net, fundamentally is a misunderstanding of how poor the safety net is -- safety net is right now. >> tell you what, these republicans, they don't know how to relate to people that are going through economic strife. they don't know how to relate to people that are actually working, but they're just not getting paid very much. they can't relate to them. and they try to box them in and stereotype them and it is just -- it's just -- it's deep sixing them like crazy. i think with the american people. >> yeah, you're right. the thing that separates gingrich from romney, though, is gingrich is talking in a language that is about self-improvement, that is about getting a job and in terms of people want to hear. romney was basically dismissing a section of the populous saying, forget that, they'll have the social safety net to deal with. >> thanks, sam. good to have you with us tonight.

pennsylvania teacher sarah ferguson worked for free to keep her school open. now she's taking her fight to save public schools to "the ellen degeneres show." we'll have the highlights next. china's trading policies have put over a million americans, their jobs at risk. what can the president do about it? we'll visit with leo girouard when we come back. ♪ it's nice to be here ♪ ♪ it's nice to see you... [ male announcer ] this is your moment. this is zales,

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a few weeks ago on this program we introduced you to a

teacher from pennsylvania named sarah ferguson. she was one of a number of teachers who volunteered to work for free when her school district ran out of funding and the state refused to help. since then, sarah attended the state of the union address as a guest of the first lady. and today sarah appeared on "the ellen degeneres show" to tell her story and she walked away with a big surprise. >> i love that we have for our students and our city is priceless and we will not stop fighting for our children. we won't. we won't. if we don't step up for our children here in the united states, it is going to hurt all of us. >> yes, it will. i don't know how we don't see that. it is going to hurt all of us. they're our future. >> every child deserves the right to attend a great public school, and they need to have a good teacher in front of them. >> i want to make sure that you're treating yourself because you're helping everybody else. so just for you, i want to give you a $5,000 gift card to go to

jcpenney and whatever you want to get. they're going to give you a little bit of help to help your school out. you're going to get a check for $100,000 for your school. >> oh, thank you so much! >> that's pretty cool, ellen. no doubt about it. sarah ferguson is fighting the good fight, bringing attention to one of the most important issues facing this country. i hope these governors who insist on slashing education budgets are paying attention. ♪ [ telephone rings ] [ laughs ] [ mayhem ] please continue to hold. the next available claims representative will be with you in 97 minutes. [ laughs ] ♪ and if you've got cut rate insurance, there's nothing you can do about this. so get allstate. the only insurance company that guarantees your claim experience won't be mayhem... like me. [ dennis ] introducing the claim satisfaction guarantee. only from allstate. dollar for dollar, nobody protects you from mayhem like allstate.

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this is mary... who has a million things to pick up each month on top of her prescriptions. so she was thrilled that her walgreens pharmacist recommended a 3-month supply and would always be there to answer questions about her health. now mary gets 3 refills in one and for 3 months, she's done. more or less. ask your pharmacist about a 90 day supply today. walgreens. there's a way to stay well. welcome back to "the ed show." thanks for watching tonight. arizona governor jan brewer's crackdown on public employee unions is really wisconsin on steroids if you look at the detail. brewer's republicans want to do away with unions across the board. done, over, out. and governor scott walker,

believe it or not, has been teaching them how to do it. in november he made a trip to scottsdale, arizona, to encourage members of the right wing goldwater institute to follow his union busting lead. >> they want their hands on the automatic dues. that's what this battle is about. it's not about workers' rights. we need to make sure there are freedom loving americans all across this country who are willing to stand shoulder to shoulder and arm to arm and say, we're not going to back down. tonight you may say i'm preaching to the choir to a bunch of republicans, but the last request on that point is that the friend that my dad had said i'm preaching to the choir because i want the choir to sing. tonight i'm asking you to sing if you believe in what we're talking about, tell the message in arizona and all across america that we can do things better. >> the goldwater institute took walker's advice to heart. their website features this headline, bigger than wisconsin, reforming government unions will save taxpayers billions. but arizona republicans are not reforming republican employee

unions. they are out to eliminate them. they want to outlaw collective bargaining, automatic payroll deductions for union dues and compensation of public employees for doing union work. arizona is not only following scott walker's antiunion example, what they are really kicking it up a notch. let's turn to john nichols tonight, washington correspondent to the nation magazine. i see two things here, john. number one, you've got scott walker going around the country making a bigger political name for himself and, of course, on this teaching tour, if you may, but he's also ginning up support for his recall on a national level. how was walker involved in arizona's antiunion fight? what do you make of all of this? >> well, walker's very, very involved. your viewers and you will recall that back at the start of

november we were in ohio watching as ohioans voted 61-39 against an assault on collective bargaining in their state. well, two days after ohio cast its votes, scott walker flew down to arizona to deliver the speech you've just shown segments of. he spent a whole day and a half down there, met behind closed doors with goldwater institute folks and all sorts of other conservative political players down there. now, what's very important to understand is that the goldwater institute is funded at least in part by the coke brothers, the same people who spent a great deal of money to help elect scott walker and was very supportive of him when he was governor. also, the koch brothers are big funders of the american legislative exchange council, another group supportive of and engaged with scott walker and the american legislative exchange council had their national conference down in arizona, and it was there that jan brewer just days after scott walker had come down started to lay out the bare essentials of the agenda for taking on unions.

so there's a lot of connection here. >> a lot of connection. a director at the goldwater institute writes -- the environment, the climate that we face in arizona is much more receptive to these kinds of reforms than wisconsin is. arizona, of course, is already a right-to-work state. does that make it easier for these laws to get through? >> i'm afraid it does, ed. and one of the things that made the fight back in wisconsin so effective was that, even though governor walker only targeted some public sector unions, those unions that weren't targeted, police and firefighters, stepped up to support their fellow trade unionists, and very quickly the steel workers and other private sector unions came in. in arizona, many of those unions don't have the capacity or the strength that they have in wisconsin because it's a

right-to-work state. >> and because of some legislative rules that are put in place, their window of debate is much smaller in their session than it is in most other states. so this has been on the fast track. it was introduced on monday and the conference on tuesday. and they're just moving quickly on this. where the unions and the workers aren't going to be able to fight back as quickly as they could. they're looking for some kind of a wisconsin-like pushback. let's talk recall. i'm not real clear on what the recall guidelines are if arizonans wanted to recall jan brewer. >> arizonans can do exactly what wisconsinites are doing. arizona has an exactly parallel recall law. people have to gather 25% of the vote in the last gubernatorial election, and arizonans have exercised their recall power recently. back in november, russell pierce, the former president of the state senate in arizona, the guy who pushed their anti-immigration law, was voted out of office via a recall. >> well, they have been down this road before. >> yeah.

>> are wisconsinites paying attention to what walker is doing, gallivanting all over the country, raising money and doing these, what you could say are seminars, clinics, on how to go after union. this will elevate him no doubt. to jim demint of south carolina, he said he wishes he was president. they're grooming no doubt. john nichols, good to have you with us. thanks so much. >> thank you. the susan g. komen foundation pulls funding for planned parenthood. was it political? terri o'neil of the national organization of women will join me for that discussion in detail.

up next, the president's auto loans saved the american car industry. but more needs to be done to save the auto industry jobs. leo gerard of the united steelworkers international will join me to talk about that. in the big finish tonight, backlash after the susan g. komen foundation pulls grant money from planned parenthood. terri o'neil of the national association of organization of women weighs in on that. don't forget to tweet us using #edshow. we're right back.

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he understands that our economy is facing threats from abroad. he's one of the few people who stood up and said, you know what, china has been cheating. they've taken jobs from americans. they haven't played fair. we have to have a president who will stand up to cheaters. >> mitt romney earlier today praising international luminary donald trump on his so-called tough position on china. i'll tell you who a real tough guy is when it comes to china, and that is president obama. he saved the automobile industry at a time when it would have been easier to let gm and chrysler just fail. and now he faces yet another challenge. a key decision coming up that could potentially save 1.6 million american jobs in the automobile industry. china is going after auto parts. three reports released this week say american jobs are at risk unless china's illegal trading practices are stopped. lawmakers and union groups are urging president obama to

restrict imports of auto parts from china. their claim? china's exports of auto parts which have jumped during the past decade are driven by illegal chinese government subsidies. the manufacturing belt of the midwest is at risk unless something is done and it's on the desk of the president. i'm joined tonight by leo gerard, international president of the steelworkers. good to have you with us tonight. the steelworkers, i understand, have filed a petition against these chinese trade policies. tell us about it. where are we right now? >> well, let me say first, ed, that i want to reiterate your point that no one has stood tougher against china than president obama and his administration. for every case we've brought, they've stood right by us and brought it forward. what we've done this week is we started the process of going to the house of representatives and to the senate to get letters of support to ask the administration to file the trade case against china.

this is going to be one of the largest cases in auto parts against china for all their various forms of cheating. but when we say auto parts, that's everything from axles to seat belts, from motors to crankshafts, and so this is going to be a big project, and we think that the administration can take this on. and i'm really pleased that president obama has established an enforcement committee and he's given vice president biden what he calls the china portfolio. so this is important, and this is the first president that has stood up on all of the enforcement issues that we've brought to him. >> and this is standard operating procedure under the wto, that if some country is not operating correctly, you have a grievance policy to call him out on it. and that's basically what is happening here, isn't it? >> exactly. >> and it has to go to the executive level of the president and has to get involved, like he got involved with the tire situation where you had a tire grievance and he called them on that, did he not?

>> exactly. a 421 case and we also brought a case we did on renewable energy products which the administration took up and they have been winning those cases, those segments in that case and they have been taking them on one at a time. i think the president and the administration can step forward. you'll end up with some people calling us protectionists, usual right wing claptrap. but the fact of the matter is china has agreed to these rules, but even though they've agreed to them, they violate them. it's like saying we all agree that the speed limit should be 60, but if china drives 85, just ignore them. that's not what we're going to do. we're going to fight for our members. we have 350,000 members, ed, whose product could make it into an auto part and into an automobile. we've got to stand up for them before china steals our lunch. they're the bullies on the block, and we're not taking it from the bully anymore. >> and what do you make of the tough talk coming from mitt romney about how he's going to kick ass on china and how donald trump has got tremendous expertise on how to deal with

the trade issues? >> well, mitt romney is no one that can talk about kicking ass on anything. this guy is responsible for more job loss than anybody else. donald trump just simply ran his mouth. he's a birther, and i won't stay in his hotels. this is a guy that just runs his mouth, doesn't know what he's talking about half the time. if you really want to see someone that knows what they're doing and stood up to the chinese, look at what president obama has done. we've brought 24 cases and we've won every one. >> you brought 24 cases in and the president has supported you on all of them and you've won all of them? >> these are all cases -- >> what do you need the president to do now on this? >> i think the important thing on this is to make sure that we give the president through the house of representatives and the senate the kind of support. we're going to take this issue to the states. we're going to take it to governors. we're going to take it to auto cities, auto towns where auto parts are. we're going to give the president the kind of support he needs so he can initiate this case.

it's going to be a huge case because it's on a broad section of auto parts. and we have got to identify part by part and we're not going to let china, we already lost 400,000 auto parts jobs since the recession came. we're not going to let them take anymore of our jobs. >> okay. leo gerard, president of the steelworkers, great to have you with us tonight. >> thank you. the susan g. komen foundation, creator of the pink ribbon campaign, is sparking outrage all over america after it decided to pull funding for planned parenthood. terri o'neil, president of the national organization for women will join me. stay tuned. whee wheeeeeeeeeeeee! wheeeeeeeeeeee!

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something sweet ? mmm... let's just say it's a surprise. the helzberg diamonds gift box. diamond heart pendant and godiva chocolate gems. i love you. you do ? i'm just steaming over this. >> how dare they? >> that is just such disturbing and discouraging news. >> really awful. should be ashamed of themselves. >> it is the nation's biggest breast cancer charity. creator of the pink ribbon campaign. and it has ignited a firestorm over its decision to cut off

funding to planned parenthood. the susan g. komen foundation announced earlier this week it would stop new grants for breast cancer screenings at planned parenthood. the reason, planned parenthood is under investigation in congress. the investigation was brought on by republican congressman cliff stearns who led the charge to the congress to defund the organization last year. and now komen is pointing to its review as the reason to stop its funding. planned parenthood says komen grants helped 170,000 women get breast exams since 2005. none of them went to abortions. 97% of what planned parenthood does has nothing to do with abortion. but sources tell nbc news, that groups pressured komen to stop funding. the atlantic reports that the policy about groups under investigation was adopted in order to create an excuse to cut off planned parenthood. penn state university is also

under investigation, yet komen continues to fund cancer research there. tonight, at least one top official has reportedly quit in protest. and there are new concerns regarding what role komen's new vp of public policy karen handle played in the decision-making process. handle is a conservative activist. she ran for governor in the state of georgia in 2010 advocating to defund planned parenthood. komen ceo nancy brinker says handle had nothing to do with it. >> karen did not have anything to do with this decision. this was decided at the board level and also by our mission, andrea. everything we get up and do every day is about the mission to provide women, vulnerable populations with care, treatment and screening. >> since komen's decision, plan the parenthood raised $650,000, almost enough to cover the lost komen grants. new york mayor michael bloomberg pledged a $250,000 matching grant stating politics has no place in health care.

i'm joined tonight by terry o'neil, president of the national organization for women. terry, thank you for joining us tonight on this crucial issue which i think has stunned a lot of people in its -- stunned a lot of people to the point where their response is amazing. in your opinion was the decision political? >> i think it was completely political. in fact, what is really surprising to me is that someone who has formerly been so respective as nancy brinker, has taken this organization and fundamentally transformed it from an organization that was -- that promoted women's health, it is now an organization that promotes a political agenda that is directly opposed to women having access to health care. it is astonishing. but now the mask has been ripped off of this organization and we need to recognize that it is no longer a women's health organization, it is a political anti-women organization. i think it is important for

people to wrap their brains around that. >> who is going to ask them to reverse that? how would that take place? >> i don't think it is going to be reversed. if you look at what miss brinker has said, it is clear she has dug her heels in and she's going to keep this going. 26 senators led by frank lautenberg and patty murray have signed a letter protesting this decision by the common foundation with 22 members of the house had signed a letter as of this afternoon. so there is a building backlash. i mean, one of the things you have to wonder is why would corporations like yoplait and dell computers and new balance shoes, all these corporations that are listed on komen's annual report as in the million dollar club, they're going to have to move away from komen. they're not interested in funding a -- an organization

that strictly has a political anti-women's health agenda like komen does now. so, you know, you have to think that what -- what miss brinker has actually done has been really to lead this organization right off a cliff. >> all right. now last summer, republicans held the government pretty much hostage over planned parenthood funding. the outrage over this, you know, it seems to be bigger. what is the difference? >> you know, honestly, i think that the difference that it is one thing for politicians to take aim at planned parenthood. planned parenthood saves the lives of young women every single day. but it does so in part by providing abortion care. you know, one in three women will have an abortion in her lifetime. it is a necessary part of women's health care and planned parenthood is one of the most respected providers of that care. it is one thing for politicians to attack planned parenthood.

i think it is a deeper betrayal for komen foundation to attack planned parenthood, simply because that's a foundation that until now has held itself out as being a foundation that supports women's health. now we know that it doesn't and i think the backlash is really very strong because of that. >> can they redeem themselves? this is a major pr issue for them and it is really -- they're in the image business. no question about that. this is really going to hurt them. >> i think it will. >> i don't know how they'll redeem themselves on this one, a lot of people. >> you know, ed, look five years from now, my prediction is the susan g. komen foundation will not exist or it will be reduced to say between 10% and 25% of its current size. >> terry o'neill, national organization of women, thank you. appreciate it. >> thank you. >> you bet. that's "the ed show." i'm ed schultz, listen to me on the radio, sirius xm radio channel 127 monday through friday, noon to 3:00 p.m., follow me on twitter and like