between these two. we need a clean fight with a clean winner. and thanks to the thoughtful citizens of alabama and mississippi, we've got one. and that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being us. "politics nation" with al sharpton starts right now. welcome to "politics nation." i'm al sharpton. tonight's lead, republicans are focused on who's up, who's down, who should drop out. but if they really want to lead, they have to start talking about what's really important to the american people. jobs. mitt romney's talking about birth control. rick santorum is talking about socialism. and newt gingrich is talking about himself. but the fact is, most americans are desperate for another conversation. 51% say the economy and jobs matter most to them. no other issue gets more than

5%. getting jobs for the people is what voters want to talk about. those are the policies people want to hear debated. not side issues. republicans may be sidetracked, but president obama is not. >> this is not just another political debate. this is the defining issue of our times. this is a make-or-break moment for middle class families that everybody who's trying to get into the middle class. we can fight for an economy that's built to last, and that's what we've been talking about for the last three years. the values that always made this country great. hard work and fair play, and shared responsibility. everybody. >> getting people back to work through hard work and fair play. that's what matters. look at this. in the past 30 years, the income gap between the rich and the poor has become shocking and troubling. fixing this gap is what matters.

the rich have got richer, but the poor have seen few gains. this president is working to change that. but republicans, they don't have an answer. mostly, they just deny the president credit. >> he, of course, wants to put as positive a shine on it as he can, but the reality is this is going to be a tough battle. he's got a terrible record. he's got a lot of explaining to do. >> no, governor romney, you and the other republican candidates who want to replace president obama have a lot of explaining to do. this country is desperate for a real debate about how we create jobs, not petty stuff, not side issues. the republicans who want to lead this country won't have a chance at that unless they lead, and that means having a real conversation about people. this is not about inside baseball. this is about how we lead the american people. so that they can return to where

their families and they can comfortably earn and take care of their futures. joining me now is congressman jim mcdermott, democrat from washington, and jared bernstein, an msnbc contributor, and former chief economist for vice president joe biden. thank you both for joining me tonight. >> thank you. >> good to be here. >> congressman, do you think one reason why republicans are not connecting with voters is because they don't seem to have any real answers about the jobs situation? >> well, it's very clear, reverend, that they simply don't even want to talk about it. because they know if there are jobs available, the president will look good. and they don't want him to look good. you always have to remember, number one, they don't want him to be re-elected. and if things get better or seem to be getting better, it's bad for them, from their point of view. so they're doing everything they can to prevent him. the fact that we can't pass a

transportation bill that would bill highways and roads and transit systems and all those sorts of things and provide real jobs is because they don't want to get that done and make the president look good. and every indicator that's going up, they say, oh, my god, well, it's only going up a little, you can't believe it yet. they the don't want anybody to think things are getting better. but they are. >> now, jared, when you look at the fact that americans are on the side of fairness, how can the gop keep running against this issue? let me show you the support for the buffett rule, which deals with a fairer income tax and fairer taxes in terms of rich and middle class and working poor. 76% of democrats support the buffett rule. 64% of all voters. even 49% of republicans. how do they continue to run against the will of the american people on such an issue as this?

>> well, largely by invoking the kind of supply-side trickle-down theories that really got us into this mess, including that inequality problem you talked about earlier. first of all, let me give a quick shout-out to congressman jim mcdermott, who's been fighting for working people ever since i met him more than a decade ago. look, i was on a debate the other day about these issues. i was actually debating senator ron johnson. and the economy, i think it was on the jobs day or right around there, and he attributed the improving economy to the policies of ronald reagan, okay? they just hadn't quite kicked in yet. now, yesterday i read some republican commentator saying that the reason the market went up yesterday was because the forward-looking market predicts that a republican will win in 2012. so, you know, if you're looking backwards or if you're looking forwards, it has nothing to do with the president. it's all somebody else, and that somebody else tends to be a

conservative. i mean, this is a spin cycle that is as divorced from the facts as you can get. >> now, let me ask you, congressman, the candidate mitt romney said today that he won't apologize for his wealth. let me let you hear it first before i ask you my question. >> i made a lot of money. i've been very successful. i'm not going to apologize for that. i know the dnc tries to push this out and they get it on the mainstream media networks and that's where you guys see it and everybody laughs about it, because in this country, we want someone who can help other people become successful. this is a nation which is not going to choose our president based on these little innuendos and personal attacks. >> i mean, doesn't he understand, no one begrudges him or anyone else being successful, congressman. this is about an inequality, where it seems like the rich are

getting advantages and the working class and the middle class are getting disadvantages. i mean, statements like that make me feel like he doesn't even understand what the debate is about. >> he really doesn't. he doesn't understand that when he says in michigan that he would have let the auto companies go in the tank, he's saying to thousands and thousands of auto workers, i don't care about you, and the fact that you lose your job. the president went out on a limb, against a lot of people, and said, i'm going to save those auto companies, and he did it, and romney still, in the face of that, still talks about the fact that he'd let them go in the tank. he doesn't understand working people at all. i don't begrudge him money. you know, some people got more and some people got less. it doesn't make any difference. but everybody wants enough to take care of their family, keep their house, and educate their

children, and have health care when they need it. and the president did that for the people in michigan, and this guy who was born and bred there, he says, walks away from all the people who says, i don't care what happened to you. >> jared, it seems to me that mitt romney's not the only one that doesn't get it. look at the fact the gop governors recently many of them talked about they're optimistic about the economy, but there's a bit of a messaging problem here. let me show you. governor kasich says, "we're alive again. we're out of the ditch." then governor brian sandoval, "nevada is on the move again!" governor rick scott, "florida got to work." i mean, what are they talking about? either the president is helping or he's not. it seems like they've got one talking point here and then reality here and denial here.

what's going on here, jared? >> here's another experience i have that relates to that. i sometimes go on these market shows and i'm sitting there waiting for my segment to start, and all the market analysts on a day like yesterday when the markets are up are saying, this is a great stock market, the financials are coming back, the banks are doing better, the corporate profits -- you know, this economy is really picking up. then they get to my segment, jared, obama's killing the economy! so, they can't both be right. i agree with you, reverend. it's a very tough call when you're trying to say, the economy's doing better because i'm governor, not because he's president. all of this really comes down to, i think what i was trying to say earlier, and what the congressman's been emphasizing. there's momentum, we're moving in the right direction, we're not there yet. on the policy side, the last thing you'd want to do, and i think this is key to the president's message, is to go back to the policy agenda to sing from that same songbook that got us into that mess, the

trickle-down, the favorable tax rates for income from capital gains and from hedge funds and all that. to go back to the very policies that got us the deregulation, all of that. it really does ripple through, whatever candidate you want, through the republican side. and to do that when we're actually finally climbing out of this hole would be a very tragic economic mistake. >> congress manniman dick marse says, you can't give a president credit. he says, "obama's entire claim that the economy is reviving is based on phony numbers and rigged statistics." but a lot of americans are saying, enough already! lead. tell me how we're going to get jobs. we're in over, what, 20 primaries and caucuses in the republican move to get a nominee. and we still don't know what their jobs plans are. there's no one that has risen above the minutia and said, let's deal with jobs. people are hurting out there.

i mean, can we challenge them to lead and compete with the president on leadership rather than political trivia? >> we have tried, al. we have tried very hard. and i think the american people are going to take care of that in this election. you cannot be, as the republican party has been, the party of no. that we're going to stop everything. their whole program when they get to election is going to be, i vote nd no. i voted against everything the president wanted. and the people don't want that. we have tried again and again to push legislation that would get jobs out there, and the republicans kill it. i think that they simply don't understand that the middle class in this country is getting crushed. i talked to people today, foreclosures are up now in the state of washington. they should be going down, but they are continuing to crush people's ability to hold on to their homes and hold on to their families and what's going on in

these society. we need jobs. >> that's right. and they're talking about the party of no. i'm talking about the people of no jobs. congressman jim mcdermott and jared bernstein, thanks for your time tonight. >> thank you. >> see you again. ahead, the backlash over the war on women is raging all over the country. but willett romney is getting right in the middle of it. we'll show you his plan to get rid of planned parenthood. plus, video posted by congressman peter king on an arrest raid in new york is raising serious questions he may have broken the law. why was he editing footage? and should the homeland security chairman even be doing this? . and it's that time again. president obama makes his march madness picks. and one of them will surprise you. you're watching "politics nation" on msnbc. wake up!

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the republican attack on planned parenthood continues. and a formerly pro-choice politician is leading the way. for willett romney, what a long, strange trip it's been. that's next. ns to retire. [ female announcer ] aging may slow a dog down, but iams helps keep dogs playing year after year with our age-specific nutrition. and now, even for dogs 11 and older with new iams senior plus. it helps boost the immune response to that of an adult dog and helps fight signs of aging. [ dog ] i'll never be a bench-warmer. [ female announcer ] new iams senior plus. see the iams difference or your money back. [ dog ] i am an iams dog for life. eggland's best eggs. -the best in nutrition... -just got better. even better nutrition --

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alabama are doing anything they can to instance themselves from it. but here, willard is stepping right into the fire. >> we also should cut out spending for title 10. that's planned parenthood. planned parenthood, we're going to get rid of that. >> get rid of planned parenthood? why would he bring that up? he didn't always feel that way. >> i will preserve and protect a woman's right to choose and am dedicated to honoring my word in that regard. >> i think people recognize that i'm not a partisan republican, that i'm someone who is moderate and my views are progressive. >> i believe that abortion should be safe and legal in this country. i believe that since roe v. wade has been the law for 20 susin a support it. >> he even attended a planned parenthood fund-raiser back in 1994. see! there he is. but what's surprising is he's talking about defunding planned parenthood now.

right smack in the middle of this backlash raging across the country. 69% of americans don't want to defund planned parenthood. and i guess he hasn't seen the huge protests in texas, where women are protesting governor rick perry's plan to defund planned parenthood, going into effect today. governor romney, it's a flip-flop. and it's caught on tape. joining me now is laura bassett, reporter for the "huffington post." she's writing today about romney's latest attack o parent. and jess mcintosh, spokesperson for emily's list, which helps elect democratic pro-choice women to office. great to have you with us. >> thanks for having me. >> laura, let me start with you. how devastating for romney could these comments be for him? >> it's a really bad idea for romney to bring up planned

parenthooded ed at all. it just reminds people back in 2002, not only did he seek planned parenthood's endorsement, he attended planned parenthood fund-raisers, he said on a survey that he supports state-sponsored abortions wit s and this is a pretty wild flip-flop. words that he chose, let's just get rid of planned parenthood. it was so flippant and a lot of people rely on planned parenthood for basic health care. so i think this is going to be an issue for him politically. >> laura, that's critical, a lot of women depend on planned parenthood for health issues that have nothing to do with abortion or anything connected to that. but the other thing that i think that's very interesting, to emphasize what he said, he didn't just say he was pro-choice back then in his massachusetts moderate days, he also supported planned parenthood, jess. so, i mean, this is a major flip-flop.

this is something that is totally the opposite of his views in the past. >> i can only assume that he's trying to distract from his terrible record of coddling billionaires at the expense of the middle class. but it's a lousy strategy since he's now wrong on the social issues too. i mean, at emily's list, we polled key battleground state voters and found that 63%, that's a really overwhelming number, oppose any efforts to defund planned parenthood. so you can see the whole results at emilyslist.org. but this is a terrible policy. >> now, she is absolutely right. if you look at the polls, 77% say birth control shouldn't even be part of the debate. not only do you have people who want to see the continuation of planned parenthood, they don't haven't want to see this debate that they've raised now about contraception, laura. so it seems like they are raising arguments and coming out with convictions that clearly run antithetical to the will of

the american people. >> exactly. the women's vote is going to be a huge factor in the 2012 elections. and unfortunately, 99% of sexually active women have used birth control at some point in their lives. and so to take up this contraception argument and to be on the wrong side of it, is a really bad idea going into the election. >> now, jess, can you explain to me, have you seen a change since you work on electing pro-choice democratic women. has this energized the base? has this riled people up? has there been any tangible backlash to these kind of views? >> absolutely. absolutely. since the gop won in 2010, emily's list membership has doubled, which is just incredible growth for a non-election year. i think a lot of people, rightfully thought, that the culture wars and this debate over birth control was long over. and now that they know that even in 2012, it is not, they are

absolutely getting involved and getting engaged in this election. we need to replace these guys with pro-choice democratic women, who are going to have their priorities straight. because you're right, women want to be talking about jobs. nobody wants to be having a debate over birth control. one in five women have been to a planned parenthood. you can't demonize an institution women know that well. it's -- we're smarter than that. >> now, laura, it is interesting to me that a new poll shows that americans see the debate over the president for various mandates as a health issue, not a religious issue. and i think that this is another thing that a lot of the right-wing and republicans are missing. is that most americans don't see this as a religious issue, which is how they're trying to debate it. they see it as a health issue, and therefore are taking positions against what people may need for their health. >> exactly. even if you frame it as a

religious liberty issue, the consequence is that it affects women's health. so there's really no way to argue that this is not about contraception, this is not about women's health. if the effect is that a woman can deny a woman contraception coverage, and therefore she can't afford it, maybe she needs it for endometriosis or maybe she just wants to prevent a pregnancy, she can't afford a child, it doesn't matter, it affects her health, and it's financially beneficial to the insurer to cover contraception. so to say that this has nothing to do with contraception, which is what republicans are saying, it's a little bit absurd. >> laura bassett and jess mcintosh, thank you both for your time tonight. >> thank you. ahead, u.s. marshals are investigating a video showing congressman peter king, the head of homeland security committee, raiding a fugitive in new york. why was he deleting the video from youtube? and tanking it?

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welcome back to "politics nation." so the republican race goes on. and what we've learned last night and over the past many months is the party may be heading right off a cliff. why would i say that? just listen. >> i don't want to make people's lives better by giving them somebody else's money. i want to give them the opportunity to go out and earn the money and provide for themselves and their families. >> obama is the best food stamp president in american history. >> president obama once said he wants everybody in america to go to college. what a snob. >> it is tragic what we do in the poorest neighborhoods, in trapping children, first of all, in child laws, which are truly stupid. >> i don't believe in an america where a separation of church and state is absolute. so say that people of faith has no role in the public square, you betcha that makes you throw

up. >> if they thought one nation under god was wrong, they shouldn't be on the court. >> and it's this kind of talk that's dragging the one so-called moderate off the cliff as well. >> in doing several projects, you don't have to give the work to unions. we've got to stop illegal immigration. it is bringing in people who in some cases can be terrorists. in other cases they become a burden on our society. >> the proposition that welfare recipients should be drug tested. how do you feel about that? >> my own view is it's a great idea. people who are receiving welfare benefits, government benefits, we should make sure they're not using those benefits to pay for drugs. >> planned parenthood. we're going to get rid of that. >> folks, the entire group is extreme. where did this party go? they all support personhood laws that would ban abortion under any circumstances. they want to end medicare/social security, give tax cuts to the richest americans, and they want to defund planned parenthood.

make no mistake, this year's election is going to be about two americas. the america of the republican candidates or the america built on fairness, equality, and americans working together. joining me now is steve kornacki, political columnist for salon.com. and now an msnbc political analyst. and democratic strategist, tad devine, a senior adviser for the perry and gore campaign. thanks for both of you for being here. steve, it used to be mitt romney and the others. now they're all to the right. no division, it seems. how bad is this for romney in the long run? >> well, yeah, with i think the worst thing for romney in the long run, it's not just that he's been pulled to the right so far in this process. it's what happened in alabama and mississippi last night. because what that did is it basically insured that this republican process now is going to go through june, at least, and maybe even into the summer months. and as long as this republican process is going along, he has

absolutely no wiggle room, absolutely no latitude to sort of move to the center, sort of distance himself in the base, do the things that a general election republican candidate really has to do to have a chance against obama. and so he's delayed in doing that. also, in that time, he's going to rack up a paper quote. all sorts of quotes and clips that will be fresh on people's minds and can be recycled in the fall hoopest got a couple more months of that now to look forward to, because of what happened last night. >> tad, i'm not as interested in who's up, who's down in the horse race for politics, as i am about what is happening in the general debate and the body of politics. but i have to imagine if you were running the obama campaign, you'd be licking your lips at how extreme these guys are in terms of where the american public is. i mean, how would you run against this extreme? >> well, i think you have to showcase it, reverend. and i think the people in chicago running f ning the pres

campaign have to be very happy about what they're seeing. the tea party tail is wagging the republican party dog right now. and that dog, it seems, is in a cage above a station wagon being drove by mitt romney. and they're prepared to drive that station wagon right off a cliff. they have taken radical policies and braced the arizona immigration law, for example, and braced people who have been confrontational on this issue for many years, rejected the dream act. on the economic policies, they promised to return to the bush economic policies, which practically bankrupted this country, led it into enormous deficits and cratered our economy. the right wing is forces them into a position which is indefensible in terms of the legislation. >> and it seems that romney is not even connecting. look at the exit polling in alabama last night. it showed romney only won with one group of voters last night, high-income voters.

every other area, he lost. in mississippi, romney lost to the more conservative candidates too. other than high-income voters. so with all of this moving over, he's not even winning the support of the conservative base. >> right. and what's really interesting to me about those findings, the case can be made, romney's people can say this, and i think there's validity to it, hey, if he wins the anonymonomination, those conservative sectors of the republican party, they may be suspicious of romney, but really don't like obama, but they'll be there for romney in the fall. but that high-income bracket speaks to me. that speak to something that's broader than just in the republican party. that might transcend i logical and partisan lines. and if that speaks to an inability to connect with blue-collar, middle class voters on romney's part, that has a huge consequence for republicans in the fall if romney's the candidate. tad talked about the problems republicans have increasing with

hispanic voters, now because of the contraception thing, with women, specifically single women voters. if they're going to be hurt with those groups, they really need a big turnout and big support from the sort of white working class voters who swung hard to the republicans in the 2010 midterms. they're really going to need that this fall. and those exit polls last night, what we've seen this whole primary process, say to me that there's a potential that romney will not be able to capitalize on those voters the way republicans need to in the fall. >> that's what i wanted to really talk, tad, because does what we're seeing now change is really the political landscape to where the republican party and the democratic party really are becoming defined a lot differently than we've seen in the past and republicans more extreme. the poll's even saying, if you look at it, president obama beats romney 54-42. beats santorum, 57-39. but asides from the politics, it

seems that the president has been able to be more mainstream party, which once was perceived as to be headed to the extreme left. and the republicans, with romney submitting to the right, seems to have gone all the way to the extreme right with the most extreme positions. this would really change the political landscape for some time. >> i think you're right, reverend. i think what's happening right now is the republican party is defining itself out of the great center of american politics. they are pushing themselves so hard to the right, and if you even look at the exit polls from last night, 50% of the people in alabama and 50% of the voters in -- 52% of the voters in mississippi said that mitt romney is not conservative enough. i mean, you know, half of the voters in his own primary don't feel he's conservative enough. and i think it's forcing them to the far right. the president, i think, has very adroitly begun to occupy the center of american politics on a broad range of issues, standing up for women's health, running

foreign policy and defense policy, which i think people see as not one which is warmongering, which is what with romney is advocating, but instead, a very reasonable and responsible course. so i think the president is occupying that space, and the more he occupies it, the you ever it will be for romney or anybody else to move towards it. >> but, steve, when you hear people say, in exit polls that romney's not conservative enough. but then when you see, let me show you some of the reactions at the debate. when you see how to the right, how extreme this party is, you can almost understand exit polls, because it's unbelievable, like, off the scale. watch this. >> your state has executed 234 death row inmates, more than any other governor in modern times. [ applause ] >> you will face the ultimate justice in the state of texas. and that is, you will be executed. [ cheers and applause ]

>> in 2010, when i was can deployed to iraq, i had to lie about who i was, because i'm a gay soldier, and i didn't want to lose my job. do you intend to circumvent the progress they've made for gay and lesbian soldiers in the military? [ audience boos ] >> when you see cheering death sentences, cheering executions, booing gay soldiers, i mean, the landscape, i keep saying, has changed in american politics from tolerant and growing to where we're going off the deep end. >> yeah, well, i think what's happened here is two forces have sort of merged in the 2012 election. one's very long-term. that's demographic and cultural evolution of the republican party. it's become a party dominated, it's centered in the south, dominated by religious conservatives. and then you have when barack obama became president, that base sort of become radicalized. and you're seeing the effects of that in romney in this race. >> that's what this race is going to be about, it seems. steve kornacki and tad devine,

thank you for where are time tonight. >> good to be with you. ahead, this video showing congressman peter king with u.s. marshals as they raided a home in search of a fugitive. it's raising serious questions, why was he deleting footage? and did he break the law? and later, it's that time again. president obama makes his march madness picks. and one in particular will surprise you. i think about the future every morning when i wake up.

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at i am proheart on facebook. this week, congressman peter king, the chairman of homeland security committee, best known for his anti-muslim rhetoric, decided to try his hand as reality tv. he went along on a raid with u.s. marshals for the a&e show "m "manhunters." >> it's monday morning, about 7:30, we're in the bronx. working today with the u.s. marshals fugitive task force and they've already taken down two people in the bronx. i've been able to go with them. now we're leaving for brooklyn. there's a fugitive they're after. >> king was so proud of getting to wear a marshals jacket and badge that he promptly posted the video on his youtube channel. talking points memo reports some of the video was recorded inside the suspect's home, a potential

violation of privacy. king's office has since edited that part out. but here's the original video. >> kick the door! >> yeah? >> right over here! >> or somebody came and locked the door behind us. you were in that room? >> how are you? good show? >> i got 'em. >> yeah. >> as with we was coming up, i just kicked him down and he went right through the back. >> the congressman defended himself today on wcbs radio. >> i'm not aware there's any concern with the u.s. marshals. nobody in the marshals at all has raised any objections with me, then or since. >> but the marshals apparently do have objections. in fact, they've launched an investigation. and we'll keep watching this story.

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our top political priority over the next two years should be to deny president obama a second term. >> welcome back, folks. i think mitch mcconnell is a man of his word. even though the economy's getting better, republicans have stuck to their plan. they're doing everything they can to stall the recovery and hurt the president. top democrats have been saying this for months now. >> republicans aren't just opposing the president anymore. they are opposing the economic recovery itself. >> they believe that a weak economy is their best chance of winning the next election. >> so you have to ask a question. are they willing to tear down the economy in order to build -- in order to tear down the president? >> republicans are trying, but it's not working. the president has built 24 straight months of private sector job growth, with nearly 4 million jobs created across the country. and since the market hit rock bottom during the worst of the

recession, the dow jones has gone up more than 6,700 points. that's 105%. joining me now is michael temasci, special correspondent to "newsweek" and the daily beast. his article outlines the gop's plan to quote, sink the economy. and e.j. dionne, washington columnist and msnbc contributor, who's also written extensively about the gop and the economy. thanks for joining me tonight. >> good to be with you, reverend. >> nice to be here. >> michael, let me start with you. >> sure. >> what's the evidence that republicans are deliberately trying to tank the economy? >> well, look at what they do in congress, al. look at what they've been doing, basically, since obama took office. but especially since they took control of the house of representatives. look, there's no question that as they seek, for example, these drastic budget cuts, cuts to the domestic budget, there's no

question that they believe that ideologically, and so that they're simply for that. i don't doubt that. but they're not stupid. they know, and they understand that when you make these drastic cuts to the domestic discretionary budget, which is actually a very small chunk of the federal budget, and you reduce dramatically the amount of money that washington is sending out to states and municipalities and local governments, they know that those states and local governments are laying people off. and they've laid off half a million people, half a million public sector workers in the last who years, have been laid off. that, in turn, as the republicans well known, affects the unemployment rate. >> now, let me -- e.j., let me read you a quote from michael tomasky's article. "the gop is starting to run out of time to think of up new ways to run the economy so that

barack obama doesn't get re-elected. the party has more invested in economic failure than any out-party than any party i can remember in my lifetime." what's your response to that, e.j.? >> first of all, i'm a big fan of michael wee's, i think and iu wanted to move this economy quickly, they could have picked some stuff out of the president's job plans, which is a pretty mainstream, middle of the road set of proposals, and you look at how hard the president had to fight just to get the payroll tax holiday extended. i mean, tax cuts are supposed to be what republicans are for. and they resisted that for a long time. i think the key number in mike's piece is that public sector job loss number. you know, if president obama is a socialist, it's a pretty weird kind of socialism. because public sector employment has gone down, private sector employment has gone up. if we hadn't lost all of those private sector jobs, we wouldn't be in so much trouble. the stimulus, the much-derided

stimulus prevented a lot of layoffs in the local and state governments. with that receding, they have been under a lot of pressure to lay off a lot of cops and teachers and firefighters and others. and that keeps the recovery from being really robust. >> now, michael, let me read to you something e.j. wrote last summer and get your response to his writings. he says, "republicans have no interest in moving the nation's debate toward investments in job creation. it's a brute fact that republicans benefit if the economy stays sluggish." is he basically saying the same thing you're saying here? >> i'm going to shock you and say, a, i'm also a big fan of e.j.'s, and b, i agree with that statement. and, look, you know, this has been going on for a long, long time. and you can take it back to 2009 and 2010 and threats to filibuster, you know, small jobs programs, unemployment

compensation relief, things like that, that have happened in the senate back then. e.j. knows this history. and it's happening today. and it's happening, maybe, next week. and it's something that people should keep an eye on. there's a transportation bill coming up. >> right. >> that actually did manage to pass the senate on pretty bipartisan the terms. chuck schumer, who we saw in the clip there, at the start of this segment, has said that this bill might be worth 3 million jobs. now the house is going to come back into session next monday and we're going to have a chance to see what the house is going to do about this. it's interesting that boehner has made some vaguely friendly noises towards this bill, but i just wonder, can he really keep in-line his caucus in support of a bill that chuck schumer says is going to bring 3 million jobs? >> that is going to be a true test. you know, when i summarize and look at your points, michael, it seems that -- well, i'd break it down to three points. one, they attack the job market.

this is how i feel the gop's plans are to sink the economy, coming out of your article. one, attack the job market, two, slash budgets, and then three, blame president obama for higher gas prices. >> yeah. and on the third point, we should mention that quickly, because that's part of this too. you know, gas prices haven't soared because supply is short, for the reason that things usually soar. gas prices soared because there's a lot of speculation on the markets. and there's a lot of speculation on the oil markets, because there's a lot of fear about war with iran. so every time a republican -- and they know this too. they know everything. every time a republican politician opens his mouth and says, we have to go attack iran, again, i'm sure they're saying it because they believe it, but they understand that they have this little side benefit that it keeps the speculation in the oil markets high and it helps keep gas prices high. >> e.j., how does the president make it clear to the american people it's the speculators and

not him that's responsible for rising gas prices? quickly. >> i think he runs a lot of footage from fox news when president bush was president, when all the fox news commentators said, hey, rising gas prices cannot be blamed on the president. and i dot think that we have to look into the role of speculation in driving up prices higher than they have to be. but i think this focus, i think the other thing is, we really should look back on what's happening at the state and local level. there is a great republican program called revenue sharing. it was pioneered by richard nixon. in ever we needed revenue sharing to help our state and local governments, it was in this period. and i just wish you had republicans who remembered that they used to be for some constructive things in this country. >> it's a different party, for sure. michael tomasky, e.j. dionne, thanks for your time tonight. >> thank you. >> we'll be right back. [ laura ] maine is known for its lighthouses, rocky shore,

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finally tonight, as a pastime as american as apple pie, march madness. tomorrow's the start of the tournament to decide the college basketball champion. president obama is already in the spirit, taking prime minister david cameron to a game in ohio last night. here's what he said today. >> when it cams to sports on this visit, i thought it would be better if we just watched. that said, i'm still trying to get david to fill out his bracket. >> filling out a bracket has become a regular event for the president. today, he unveiled this year's picks. >> i'm big on momentum, especially in a tournament like this one. i like teams with good point guards. other than that, it's all throwing darts. >> he made his first-round picks with no trouble. >> let's start with the potential kentucky/iowa state matchup. >> you've got to go with kentucky.

indiana's too tough. i like baylor. duke over baylor. mizzou looks very good to me. >> but one pick might surprise you. >> you had vanderbilt knocking off harvard. this is the the first time harvard's in since 1946. >> i know. listen -- >> you've got a degree from harvard. >> i've got a degree from harvard. arne duncan, my secretary of education is from harvard. i'll be rooting for harvard, but it's too much of a stretch. >> so who do you think will take it all, mr. president? >> national title game is going to be kentucky versus tar heels. i am going with north carolina. they're an older team, more experienced team, and since they won it for me the last time i picked them, hopefully i'll be able to get a little redemption for the last two years. i was doing great through the first round. and it was all downhill from there. >> we'll see how yo do, mr. president. you won't have to compete against willard