the possibility of being deviant is much more prevalent. >> in our use of words that end in ent in that conversation was nice. that will do it for us. i'm dylan ratigan and "hardball" is up right now. angry money. let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm chris matthews. in washington, leading off tonight, enemies of democracy. each of you watching has a single vote. what about the billionaires, what about the billions of dollars to electricity or destroy wherever they wish. the cook brothers çgroup, americans for prosperity, is dumping 6-plus million dollars this summer to take down president obama. and what about the power of

interest to control house and senate races? plus, back in the ussr, are mitt romney and his ideas on the right trying to ignite the cold war? one said we haven't done enough to help the soviets. another said we abandoned czechoslovakia which hasn't existed since 1963. they can't wait to get back into power and can't wait to get back into the cold war. it seems these people always seem to have their eye on yet another war to fight. also, we know republicans have made it their goal to destroy barack obama, but did you know they planned to sabotage him the very day of the inauguration? it's an old hollywood adage, funny as money, so try to buck it at the white house correspondents dinner saturday night. it's a tough crowd, but they came up with gags like this one from president obama.

>> some people say i'm arrogant but i found a very great self-help tool for this. my poll numbers. >> we're going to look back at some of the best moments from past dinners as we get ready for tomorrow night, the big night that you can actually watch here on msnbc. right wing angry money that we still treasure as our democracyç editor for new york magazine and bureau chief for mother jones. both men are msnbc political analysts. i was struck this morning by a small item in the washington examiner, which i try to read every day. americans for prosperity, that's been funded in part by gerald a and coke. let's watch what they're up to with these ads.

>> $1.2 billion to a solar company that's building a plan in mexico, half a billion to an electric car company that created hundreds of jobs in finland, and tens of millions of dollars to build traffic lights in china. president obama wasted $34 billion on risky investments. the result? failure. american taxpayers are paying to send their own jobs to foreign countries. tell president obama, american tax dollars should help american taxpayers. >> well, think progress, a progressive organization, disputes facts of this out of other complaints. it says two of the ad's claims about jobs in mexico and finland are based on simply false stories by conservative bloggers. by the way, gentlemen, these coke brothers, the two guys that make all their money in oil and gas, don't like any green industry, period. they don't like alternative fuels, so they're out spending millions and millions of dollars trying to get us an escape route

down the road in the future for oil and gas. >> this is a twofer for the coke brothers. theyç don't like the president they don't like democrats, they september americans. and they really dislike democrats who talk about fossil fuels. . it sound like it's kind of crazy and nutty to talk about green jobs. all this talk by obama about green jobs, it's really helping china and mexico. so you get some xenophobia mixed in. >> guess where it comes from, probably i'm going to continue to keep on it. . i don't care if you're on the left or the right, you treasure your vote. but you can only see crime. they dumped tons of money and

just switch a race around. >> they can and they will. and, you know, look, we've had a series of decisions made starting with the supreme court back in 1972. we have progressively seen the camp and finance influenced. the united of regulations, lack of regular lagz. it's gotten worse and worse and worse and worse, and now, it's a. but i'll tell you as a strategic, because as!óf right now -- although there are a lot of rich people who support barack obama and supported him in 2008 -- he's in danger of getting not just outspent in this election, but getting

dramatically miss spent in this. david pointed out that a lot of them not. regulations were repealed, not reinstated. they have specific business insurance. >> he was brilliant. he said, all these groups have to do it, even when they're cooking. and they say that. if you don't we'll dump a half billion bucks against you and we'll blow you away. and the congressman says, well, people won't pay attention to it, i guess i have it's when the candidate himself or herself doesn't have the ability to pull.

people are running scared and are preemptively. >> we report a staggering difference in fundraising. obama had a 10 to 1 campaign cash advantage over romney at the start of this month, that dropped to almostç 2 to 1 when the republican super pacs are add to do romney's arsenal, according to campaign finance reports. and romney's superpac raised $80 million. when all is said and done, both sides are said to be raising $300 million. how do people keep a round-up when they go to vote when

they're surrounded by this would be especially bad. we've seen it again, cycle by cycle, getting worse. voters look at it as a profit issue. so far voters -- politics is dirty and corrupt, there's a lot of money, i don't care a torch, though santorum, i think he had a -- they went up against romney and his money machine. all of us watched this in places like iowa, florida, and michigan and ohio. they weren't even in this race because of money. money ran those elections. this all happened in november. >> i think. going into hyper speed, if you remember, star wars. you have these angry billionaires who can come in anç

tilt. they're a whole bunch of others. at the saved his butt, kept n t newt. . >> the general aekz. they put $20 billion into those key states and that's a lot of influence at those tipping points. the fact that the democrats have raised only $9 million in the last year is not because they're not trying to do this. right now it's dominated by. they would be overjoyed. >> why would they get this?

>> they think they're not getting big checks. they're just holm it to be clea cleans. >> it's a nomination fight and they don't think romney can beat barack obama. >> let me get back to people. people will watch programs like this, pay attention and care. of those $25 in change. pay attention, which you begin to watch television the last couple months, like. itç saturated with this negativity paid for the american crossroads who released this picture of the president being cool. a 9 to 10 turnover, look how easy it is to watch.

i can see some regular voter in scranton, anywhere i grew up, northeast philly, saying, that guy is screwing around as president, he's not taking it seriously, screw him. i'm paying for the other guy. if you don't pay any attention, that is obama and that's the way he is portrayed. >> before they put $6 million

into this, they did the focus groups. they polled them before and after and they got the sense this sort of cheap shot might work with a certain type of voter in a certain place. >> you know what kind of voter. perhaps a white voter, not necessarily, but turned off to what looks like too cool.ç >> they have the barry white, oh, yeah, over and over again. it's hard to know what is in someone's heart when it's turned around on. >> a candidate is good at targeting an owe popponenopponeh and riding on it. they want to say he's above you and he's weak. weak leader, romney is strong, obama is weak. they're going to try to turn hip into he's philly. he's frot i, he's not working

for you. they're going to do this over and over again. the economy is one that works on the personal attributes. you can look at the physical attributes for the next six months. >> the things that he was able to do with our economy and where we are today, you vote for him. look at this kind of idiot ad and you go, i'll try the other guy. >> libya, egypt, all that. it's not a mud ad. >> thank you. real jobs. how is that one? thank you, john hallman çand.

we talk about the free world. they've. do you really want to go back to the days of duck and cover. this is "hardball."

just ten days after ally on capitol hill, the house speaker has escalated his attacks on president obamaç no saying the president is awol and on a constant campaign and that he's failed to lead on the economy and a host of other docratic national committee responded in kind, i would say. the dnc's brad woodhouse hit back on twitter calling boehner, quote, the most useless,

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americans know, but we can't go back to the future and see the world through a cold war prism that is totally out of touch with the 21st century. >> does mitt romney want to refight the cold war? biden thinks mitt romney is out of touch with war and foreign policy. the romney campaign set up a service in their quarters. the problem is, he winds up making biden's point without even biden making them. let's listen to them. >> you're another example. us giving and getting nothing in return.

the united states abandoned its missile pole sites in czechoslovakia. >> czechoslovakia, as we know, hasn't existed since the mid-1990s. >> the reality is, it's opening up huge new vulnerabilities. we are seeing the soviets pushing into the arctic with no response from us. >> well, that's john lennon of the 600 ship davy. but the soviets are gone. mia ma alika henderson. and also the msb contributetore. the free world, the soviets,

czechoslovak czechoslovakia. my grandfather used to call the old baseball stadium in philadelphia chivet park because that used to be what it was called. you start to sound like a geezer. >> i think a lot of patrolman for george bush's policy team. sometimes youç think like theye in this. the democrats. romney trying to make the argument that in some ways, em. they were soft when it comes to defense policy and national security. >> chris, it almost seems more dangerous than comical to me, they always have a war they want to fight. they were randy to get into iraq

and afghanistan. now it's attack in the army and the we believe. it's not like a comedy team here. these people are always pushing, they're. they never say, let's hold back and see what happens. it's always, zet holes and misstatements. this stuff, how you anticipate america's role, and i was, a foreign policy adviser to romney, i talked to him yesterday. and he said essentially that barack obama represents a break with how america has prend itself to the world since --

basically world warç ii. this piece he weaken the men. obama is ovie mughelliless. i think the biden it's no longer just us and russia, it's use and afghan ston that vus there, so that fascinating thing, sort of a line of argument on foreign policy. if not, all of his advise irz are trying to. if you want to see. they were not talk. they have a new web bat, played

whether romney would have done the same. let's listen to president clint ont here, at least part of it. >> it's. s sno. what if we had gone in there and had hadn't been the one. suppose they had been captured and killed? the downside would have been horrible for him but, he can't. he took the harder and the mother honorable path and the oneç that proceed. ♪ >> you can't do better. bill clinton giving a testimony like that is just for real. >> as always, this was the rejoinder to the ad that he came out with that showed obama

singing and all that sort of stuff. but i think one of the things that is apparent here is that romney hasn't articulated yet what his foreign policy vision is. he gave one speech major speech in october. i'm told he's going to start to ramp up his campaign. biden says he's getting tough with iran. how can he get tough with iran? >> his criticism of obama was that he would really have tougher sanctions. >> do these guys have to bring a war with every new president? bush had a gulf a couple more wars. these guys do like to have something on the debt circle. >> any way, you had a thought there. >> chris, i would say take one step back. i would think even with what romney said, i think he's right, there's been a general lack of specificity, but a broad lack of specificity on what his foreign

policy is. why? why, chris? because mitt romney showed us the governor of massachusetts for four years. he's at least as inexperienced in foreign policy when barack obama was when barack obama was elected president of the united states and that was the main republican. john mccain's main attack was, is thisç guy ready to lead in complicated world? mitt romney is not someone with deep knowledge when it comes to foreign policy. i'm interested to see how they flesh this out if mia is right. you can't stand up in the world and represent interest. if you can't pass that test, ifl that economic stuff may not matter. >> he came out of it a state senator. this guy romney is interested in making money. he would like to be president now. he's made a lot of money, it's

time to do something different. he's never expressed anything in the world, any foreign policy, never written anything about it and now he says i think i'm going to develop a foreign policy. all he's going to do is sit down with right wingers and he's going to do what they want to do. he doesn't have a gut interest in foreign policy, that's the scary part, or we would know what it is by now. he's a grown-up. we should know where he stands. mia? have a nice weekend, guys. enjoy the big festivities this weekend which everybody here can watch on television. mitt romney lost his secret service protection but he's still going to zoos. what did this guy have to do with running for president and going to zoos. all the time, that's what he does. he's created the side show and he's in it tonight. we'll be right back.ç

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back to "hardball" with the side show. a slip-up that says it all. we see it time and time again, republicans dancing around on questions of president obama's religion and whether he was born in the united states or çnot. >> the president says he's a christian. i accept him at his word. >> i think the faith that most americans are questioning is the president's faith in the government. the president says he's a christian, i take him at his word. >> i take him at his word. >> the american people have the right to think what they want to think. >> i think it is very bizarre that he is desperately concerned to apologize to muslim religious fanati fanatics. >> he is a devout muslim. why isn't something being done to get him out of government? he has no legal right to be calling himself president. >> i'm doing my best to try to get him out, okay? full circle this o problem with

week. dave spencer, governor incumbent in missouri, got caught in the backlash when he said he didn't know the president was a eyut t their go-to responses in case his blunder came up. they actually e-mailed his response to reporters, so what he was he supposed to say if asked? plan a, this is not an issue that i felt was pertinent to my candidacy for governor and expressed those sentiments. if that one doesn't die the trick, plan b is, i will be clear, the president says he's a christian and i take him at his word. why not just say, i believe president obamaç is a chris th. that's pretty simple and it gets it behind you. while the real faceoff between mitt romney and president obama

is taking place at center stage, we'll be counting on their saturday night live imitations to give us some laughs along the way. nbc's david gregory caught up with jason sedakis and fred armison and asked them for their in-character pitch for the presidency. >> i go across this country and i see so many happy and unhappy, you know, men and women and grandmothers. >> let me take an applause break. thank you! thank you! >> how do you compete with this guy? i could buy the white house. i could flip it. >> take it. move it. >> well, i still miss darrell h h hammons doing bill clinton. that was the best. we take a look at the mr. -- and mrs. -- campaign trail. there's more. look where he decided to kick off his final weekend in his run for presidency. >> when i was here, the feds

were here. unbelievable. i never fully understood it. >> i don't mind petting a rhino, i just don't want to be one. >> i wonder if he got his animal crackers. that was newt going to the zoo. romney's campaign is trying to make president obama look like a failure, and now we know they started that failure going to dinner that night, the plan of his demise. you're watching "hardball." is o. the lexus es. it's complete luxury in a class full of compromises. see your lexus dealer.

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the stocks on a positive note, the dow jones gaining 24, the s&p up 23 and the nasdaq ending at 18 to be the best one in the week. the economy grew at 2.2%. that's up 3% from the end of last year. meanwhile, earnings from ford came in ahead of expectations and merck also turning in a better than expected traffic report. we're first and worldwide. now back to "hardball." welcome back to "hardball." if you thought republicans were plotting to kill the president eight agenda, you're right. but do you know a group of influential house members and senators planned it just hours after president obama was inaugerated here in this city?

a terrific book about the gutsy gop agenda from the cold night in 2009 all wait throuthe way t death talks as they tried to compromise with president obama. the book is called "do not ask what good we do." robert, congratulations on the book. explain, if you will, a couple things, but start with the title. "do not ask what good we do." >> the title actually comes from the author of the final language of the first amendment and the first great orator of congress. after serving the first four terms in the house, he quit in disgust out of party factions and asked a friend, do not ask what good we do? that is not a fair question in the world of faction. >> in 2009 including cancer, paul ryan, a handful of

republican senators, newt gingrich and the pollster, frank lunde. go after geithner. show united and unyielding policies.n to the president' begin attacking vulnerable democrats on the airwaves. win the spear point of the house in 2010. jab obama relentlessly in 2011. win the white house and senate in 2012. you will remember this day, newt gingrich pro claimed to the others as they said goodbye. you'll remember this as the day the seeds of 2012 were sown. >> we, the republican leadership, we the republican right wing, will destroy this president before it gets started. >> that meeting, by the way, was called@-i% their sore rose. it was illustrated by the ork

strart frank lunde. but it came about by the guys sitting around feeling sorry for themselves, to then talking about what went wrong in the political party, and then str strategizing to take power. one person who was not there was the republican of the house, john boehner, who later had become the speaker of the house. he was not invited because he and frank lunts didn't get along. they decided obama at that point had a stratosphereic popularity, in fact, they had gone to the inauguration and seen the 1.8 million people on the mall. but they decided to show unity, to vote unanimously against the stimulus, to attack his cabinet members, and as well to attack every freshman, democrat and others with the intent, then, of regaining the house, using that as the spear point.

>> there's something about this as seeing the attack on president obama as being european, like the british labor party where they all vote in lock step. they don't wear uniforms, exactly, but they act like they do. everything is exactly we vote like the party leaders and we destroy the other party. >> that's why the party in power in britain gets to do whatever it wants to do, essentially. >> because there's no room for compromise. >> and i'd love to hear robert graber speak on this point. how do theyç enforce this? the idea that you can get unanimity on a caucus, on anything, really, that no member has a special reason in his or her district why they have to buck the leadership and vote a different way. that didn't happen this time. >> let me ask you about boehner. boehner seems like a regular republican, the kind i grew up with who makes deals, who

compromised, who has an idealogy, but he's willing to accept the fact that the goal was to govern the country, not just to protest. i get the sense that these tea partiers came to congress not just to attack the government but to protest it. >> yeah, i take it at his word that he wants to govern, but he became speaker of the house because of these freshmen who rode into town in a tea party way. but the tea partier from idaho said to me, i didn't come to idaho to join a team. he came to represent his constituents. his constituents and a lot of others believed there was too much spending going on, that obamacare needed to be rolled back, and that's where they planted their flag. it was not let's figure out a way to legislate with the democrats and the senate. >> let me tell you, robert, i'm just going to make a statement

here. it's all nonsense because you can't just vote against spending. most of the government spending is in the entitlement programs. most of it is naturally because people are getting older, getting sicker, and they do these naturally. the trickç is to pass changes modications and restraints, right? >> of course. >> if you just sit there, the tree grows bigger. so to say, we tea partiers won't vote for spending, no, if you don't do anything, the government will keep growing. you're not doing your job. >> to give republicans their due, they passed the ryan budget plan and the senate refused to act on it. they basically tabled it. >> that didn't reduce the size of government. >> what it addressed was entitlement reform and the democrats didn't show an appetite for doing that. >> so it didn't get done.

therefore, the tea partiers got nothing done. that's what i'm asking. if you want to cut the government spending, you have to get both sides to agree with it, you have to get the president to sign it and that means you have to compromise or you're just protesting. >> when you're working on a bill, do you want policy or do you want an issue? they wanted an issue. they wanted to make a stand. so in that sense, the way the tea party freshmen have been voting is a protest. it's a statement rather than an actual, honest attempt to enact policy, because they know that's -- they know what they want is not going to happen. >> i don't think people should be paid 170,000 a year to hold a placard in the air. this is not a protest. they get fed. everything for them to a11 the tea partiers do is hol placards in the air and it doesn't get anything done. great book. the book is called "do not ask

what we do." coming up on monday, by the way, former pennsylvania governor fred rendell is on the show. president clinton is already paving the way for a possible run. in fact, a plausible run for hillary clinton four years from now. up next, comedy and washington don't always mix, but the white house correspondent in this network is the exception. we look back over president obama's funnier moments. this is "hardball." . usaa auto insurance is often handed down from generation to generation. because it offers a superior level of protection, and because usaa's commitment to serve the military, veterans and their families is without equal. begin your legacy, get an auto insurance quote. usaa. we know what it means to serve.

check out the numbers. 61% say they're satisfied with their local government, 52% say they're satisfied with their state government, but only 33% say the same thing about the federal government, and that's the lowest level of favorability for the federal government in 15 years going back to clinton. we'll be right back. [ male announcer ] it starts small. it's trident gum. you open it up. pop it in. and all of a sudden, things are happening. it's like this smile for your brain that starts in your mouth. it tickles up your spine and punches you in the face. a good kind of punch.

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[ laughter ] >> wow, that was president obama poking fun at fun at himself at last year's white house correspondent event. this year it will be held tomorrow night, you can watch it right here on msnbc. up until six months ago, john lovett was a speech writer for president obama. we have to look at a couple of them, let's look at some of the president's jokes. just days before last year, president obama e leased his long form birth certificate putting a lid on the birther movement. here is some birther humor, let's watch. >> my fellow, americans.

tonight, for the first time, i am releasing my official birth video. ♪ >> call disneyç if you don't believe me, they have the original long form version. >> and now, this is the richest thing i have ever seen, here he is sticking it to the guy who was the leader birther at the time. no one tried to ride it longer or harder than donald trump. president obama got even, and watch the reaction from the donald. >> no one is happier or prouder to put this birth certificate matter to rest than the donald. and that's because he can

finally get back to focussing on the issues that matter. seriously, just recently, in an episode of "celebrity apprentice" at the steak house, the men's cooking team did not impress the judges, there was a lot of blame to go around, but you, mr. trump, recognized the problem was a lack of leadership, and you didn't blame little john or meat loaf, you fire gary busey, and these are the kinds of decisions that would keep me up at night. >> i'm watching trump. he can't stand it. he is being shown up here with a slow build up to, you're a horse's ass. >> that's your characterization of what we said, but -- >> what was yourç

characterization. >> i think we got him pretty well. >> tell me about the jokes and how you work these things up? >> we meet, and there's a few of us, one of the president's advisors, and others, and we get together and talk about topics. the president will have ideas about the things he wants to talk about. we get a list of all of the things we want to make fun of and the things we want to make fun of about ourselves. the president is not afraid to poke fun of himself, and i think you have to do that if you're going to make fun of other people too. >> how important is it that he has a good night. does he get the stakes if he has a flat night. >> i don't know, i don't know how much things like this matter on a night. the president's have good nights and bad nights at these things, i don't know how much they matter, but if you do a great job it will matter.

and if you make great points. there is always room for a good joke that makes a substantive argument that will breakthrough in a way, a dry policy speech, not that the president gives those, would ever breakthrough. >> great presidents like roosevelt, kennedy, were really good at this, and they used it to win the fight with their rivals. >> i think this president does that too. he has often used humor on the trail in theç white house. >> i respect what you have done and trying to make it in hollywood as a writer. i want to send my wishes to my friend who was a top speech writer, go rick. you're watching "hardball."

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let me finish tonight with this. i fear, i really do, the evil influence of big bad money in politics. democracy is not a joke, and when people can flow enormous amounts of money into a political race they can destroy democracy. just think about what a million dollars in tv ads can do in

negative ads. they're all over the place on entertainment tonight and sports, you can't escape the assaults on some candidates. we saw wa swift voting did to another. imagine someone out there saying what a bad person you are. imagine someone spendingç tensf millions of dollars to say what an evil sob you are. not everybody pays attention to politics like the people that watch this show, some people just check in around election time. and what do they see? endless streams of bad news a guy they once thought was okay. i don't know how we're going to live with this stuff. we're still calling ourselves a democracy out there. i don't know when the supreme court will look at the monster