silly in the end zone, and dick cheney would have done cart wheels. thanks for being with us, "politicsnation" starts now. >> welcome to "politicsnation," i'm al sharpton, tonight's lead, the gop's winner take all mentality. from the winning, wi argue mitt romney has had trouble seconding with average americans, but speaker boehner says that's really not a problem. >> american people don't want to vote for a loser. they don't want to vote for someone that has not been successful. i think mitt romney has an opportunity to show the american people they too can succeed. >> the american people don't want to vote for a loser. think about that for a second. if he is saying someone -- if they don't have money, they're a loser. you're a winner if you're able to spit out lines like this? >> i like being able to fire people that provide services to

me. >> corporations are people my friend. >> i drive a mustang, and a chevy pickup truck. ann drives a couple cadillacs. >> according to the gop, that's winning. i want to be very clear, i don't have a problem with people that are successful. that's part of the american dream, part of what the country is all about. i have a problem with those that believe those at the top should keep winning while all of the rest are a loser. today's republican party has bought into the ryan budget plan. a plan that literally pays for tax breaks for the wealthy by cutting medicaid, pell grants, and food stamps. this is a party that voted repeatedly to put the middle

class back to work because they don't want to raise taxes on 1%. he did it again today before a union group. >> i sent them a jobs bill that would have put hundreds and thousands of construction workers back to work. along with saving the jobs of jobs, teachers, and firefighters, creating a new tax cut for businesses, they said no. i want to the speaker's hometown, stood under a bridge that was crumbling, everyone acknowledges that it needs to be rebuilt. >> maybe he doesn't drive anymore, maybe he doesn't notice how messed up it was. we can't afford to wait for congress, you can't afford to wait. so where congress won't act,ly. >> helping americans, all

american, in a fair way. that's what president obama will base his campaign. >> i believe this country succeeds when every gets a shot, and every plays by the same rules. >> when everyone plays by the same rules, this country succeeds, and every becomes a winner. joining me now is ted strikland, now a co-chair of the obama campaign. and a reporter for the washington post, thank you for coming on the show tonight. let me start with you, governor, what do you make of speaker boehner's loser comments. >> mitt romney is out of touch, speaker boehner is out of touch, these people do not understand what the life is like for the average american. they live in a different world, in a bubble. all of their neds are met, they

don't worry about their families getting health care, their mortgag mortgages, having a decent car to drive. they have simply so lost touch with the average person out there today, they don't represent the american people. i really don't think speaker boehner respects very many oh ohioians very well. they're middle of the road folks, president obama is on our side, and i think the people are coming to understand that increasingly as they hear more from people like spaeker boehner and mitch mcconnell and mitt romney. >> when you hear the rhetoric of americans won't vote for a loser framed around the wealth question of mr. romney, and now

romney is how he addresses the question of poor people -- let me play you some sound on what governor romney said about poor people. >> i'm in this race because i care about americans, i'm not concerns about the very poor, we have a safety net there. >> we're seeing a greater gap with those with the most and those with the least. the president wants to take away from the least. i want to help those left behind, i want to help the poor. >> he wants to help the poor, but he wasn't concerned about the poor early ner the cap pain. he is concerned about those left behind, but he embraced the ryan plan that cuts all of these programs, and he has the speaker talking about how he is not a loser because of his wealth. how do you support cutting bell grants and food stamps, but

you're concerned about the poor. do they just not have their script together because boehner is off the same page. >> clearly it's politics. this is a season that we're in, and romney is trying to pivot to the general election. you saw this last week when he had those wins where he tried to sound a little more like a kinder, gentler mitt romney. he knows when it comes to closing this gap with women, that women want to hear about the social safety net. they have grave concerns about the poor, paying their bills, so i think that is certainly what's going on here. i think you will see more of an on message john boehner. he said he had not been talking to romney and his campaign, but at some point they will need a more consistent and consolidated

message to appear to be a united front. >> governor, when you look at the ryan plan that has been endorsed by mr. romney, it not only slashes programs for the poor, but it actually raises taxes on poor people. and it gives a huge tax break to the rich. looking at that plan, those making less than $10,000, $112 a year. those making more than a million you see a $265,000 tax break. we're talking about policy, if it became what we do, that it would dramatically impact the people he is now trying to say he is concerned about. >> reverend al, there is an inconsistency with what he is saying and what he is proposing. the ryan budget would cut pell grants.

president obama has doubled investments in pell grants. the brian budget would cut medicare severely. president obama is committed to this social safety net. it helps our senior citizens in need of nursing home care. there is a world of difference between president obama and mitt romney. mitt romney represents, truly, the 1%. and i believe the president represents the rest of us who are regular people, not great wealth, but we're hard working, play by the rules -- >> but governor we're losers, the problem is we're losers, and they want people to forget how far we have come. you're part of the obama campaign ad that just came out, really trying to remind people how far we came back in the economy to where -- let me show you the ad and let's talk about it. >> on the day barack obama took

office, america had already lost 4.4 million jobs. an economic disaster, the fwhors a generation. some said america's best days were behind us. like america, he dug deep, fought back, and every lost faith in our possibility to meet the challenge. instead of working together to lift america up, republicans were waging a campaign to tear the president down. >> vote no. >> republicans are getting a rap as the party of no. >> governor, how important is it for the president's campaign to remind people how bad it was, how it was the worst we had seen in generations, and how people get the best days of america were behind us, and he was able to slowly turn that around. how important is it to remind people of that for this election? >> it is hugely important. 750,000 jobs were lost the very

month that president obama was sworn into office. he came into office in the most difficult circumstances facing any president since franklin roosevelt. and he kept the country from sliding into a deep depression. he passed a stimulus bill, reformed wall street, gave us a health insurance bill. he cut the payroll tax for 160 million americans. he killed osama bin laden. he ended the war in iraq. the president has done so much, but there's so much more that needs to be done, that's why he deserves a second term. these naysayers that came along. he also saved the auto try. >> that would be the same industry that willard said let it go bankrupt, you wouldn't be

referring to the same industry -- but let me go back . the president kicks off his campaign. with the first lady, where are they going? >> ohio and virginia, which are two key states that they want to keep in the democratic column. virginia a state where governor mcdonald is there and had issues around women's issues again. we had this campaign ad that came out today called forward. they realize that national campaigns are often about the future, referendum on the future, and they're hoping to tie mitt romney to the past. so this will be the official kick off coming up this weekend, and certainly michelle obama will be talking, she's got

ratings higher than the president. it will be interesting this weekend. >> thank you both for your time tonight. >> thank you. >> ahead, we will talk about the grk op secret plan to take down the obama presidency, it started on day one. the author who cracked the story joins us layoff. and the president touts a crowning achievement, and republicans are calling foul. and look out, bill clinton steps to the plait for president obama. we'll tell you why it should have republicans worried. you're watching "politicsnation." emily's just starting out... and on a budget. like a ramen noodle- every-night budget. she thought allstate car insurance was out of her reach. until she heard about the value plan.

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it's been one year since

president obama made perhaps his gutsieiest call. sending a navy seal to kill osama bin laden.

tomorrow is the one year anniversary of the raid that killed osama bin laden. it was a night never to be forgotten. all across america, people reacted to the death of the world's biggest terrorist. even republicans, everyone from mitt romney to donald trump

acknowledged president obama's roll in the mission's success. >> this clearly shows that the president and his team did a superb job. >> it took real courage to assume the many risks associated with putting boots on the ground. >> it didn't take long for the honeymoon to end. they went to saying it was president bush that deserved the credit. for attacking the president for "spaking the football." romney said "it's not worth moving heaven and earth spending billions of dollars just trying to catch one person" today, he apparently feels differently.

>> really, is it that easy? i wound whaer the president would have to say about that. >> i recommend people at previous statements, about whether it was appropriate to go in pakistan and take out bin laden. i assume that people meant what they said when they said it. that's been at least my practice. i said they would go after bin laden if we had a clear shot at him, and i did. >> the gop loves to diminish his record, but are they fighting a losing battle. i have a political reporter for talking points memo who has been following this story very

closely, and a washington editor at large at the new america foundation. thank you for being here tonight. steve, mitt romney says anyone would do it. isn't he daughter and son tigra simplifying this. >> i think to be fair of all of the commentators involved, there were many people around president obama in the white house that opposed proceeding. so mitt romney's view would have been one of those that were sitting around the president, and the president as commander and chief made a very gutsy call to go in. and something that has not been talked about in media much, is the bush cheney administration kept talking about al qaeda and

bin laden, but they were at war with other foes. they used them as a threat to hang out there when they needed to pump up the budget. truth be told, they diminish the resources down and closed down the hunt for bin laden except for a very small priority. president obama came in and made it a requirety. it's not just killing bin laden, but obama reversed the flow to catching and killing hem and realized there was no way to get out of afganistan without killing bin laden. >> the fact that you say, and rightfully so, there was some even in the president oes own administration that was not sir or was opposed to the attack really is what i'm addressing when mitt romney says today, any president, even jimmy carter would do it.

but everyone was not with it. so it's really to oversimplify what happened to act like this was an easy call. it was not even a unanimous decision in the obama administration. >> that's right, it's sloppy to call this an easy call. presidents are faced with challenges every day, and there are not silver bullets. so when the president went in, and he put boots on the ground and went into pakistan air space, did something controversial, had this failed, i agree with vice president biden that his presidency would probably be over. if it had failed, he would have had a tremendous problem if he could have recovered at all. the politics of this is that it didn't fail. is that why the republicans are trying to diminish the

importance of this? >> the politics of this is that is scrambles the politics we used to have. with republicans bullies democrats saying democrating won't protect you against osama bin laden. that was an important part of the bush 2004 strategy, mccain tried to use it, and now everything is haywire. they're moving very quickly, and the strongest message seems to be that we shouldn't be allowed to talk about this. you know it it diminishes the whole conversation to bring up bin laden for more than a minute. congressman peter king said it's something that should get a passing mention and that's it, like a one minute rule that now exists now that there's a democratic in charge. so the big thing seems to be saying this is a out of bounds topic. >> the republicans clearly talked about the war.

this is not something that we have not seen republicans do, including some of the republicans talking and criticizing president obama. >> yes, i think they're groundering around it looking for a way to restore what they used to have. people used to trust the country more with republicans in times of crisis than they did democrats. what barack obama has done is stole than mantle from them. i was joking around with someone, i wonder what terrorist will go down the next morning. when the president dives these big stations, and then the navy seal team six went in after the pirates and succeeded there. this is a national security team around the president that has worked very hard to create a decision making and a power deployment machine that has been highly effective, and i think he robbed from the republicans

their ability to challenge him on any national security front. >> that becomes the real problem when you look at the fact they have always been able -- the republicans, do news fashional security, and they were tough, and now you have the "new york times" -- they have a stronger record of being effective -- >> the one thing you can do is pretend it doesn't exist. this has been romney's big thing from the start. he put out a book called "no apology" it says that he is a weak president, leads from behind, and he never adjusted it after leadership ya, bin laden,

and all of these examples of the president having a pretty robust national security plan. now they're saying he's teo weak on oourn. there isn't a lot of difference in what romney's outlined to do, but he still thinks there's an opportunity to -- >> before we go, let me ask you, steve, a year later is tomorrow's anniversary, where are we without al-qaeda now for strength and stand something. >> that's another message that makes no sense. people saying al qaeda is still out there, of course. there are groups inspired in yemen, and deeper africa. the bottom line is that raid took a treasure-trove of intelligence. and for those paying attention,

the president of defense and the cia rolled up the key lieu ten tants, the her ror masters, and the folk that's have been the master minds of the core unit, and they used this intelligence to basically get rid of al-qaeda. the night after on msnbc, i said if we didn't see in six month that's network rolled up, even though we killed bin laden, it would be completely in effective and shown a weakness in the administration. the strength has been taking up that intelligence. >> ahead, while the new president was celebrating his nomination, republicans were plotting his defeat. we go in the secret plan with the man who broke the story.

and joining forces, why bill clinton's campaign for president obama should have republicans feeling the heat. stay with us. [ donovan ] i hit a wall. and i thought "i can't do this, it's just too hard." then there was a moment. when i decided to find a way to keep going. go for olympic gold and go to college too. [ male announcer ] every day we help students earn their bachelor's or master's degree for tomorrow's careers.

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we're back with tonight's edition of why willard romney is funny for all the wrong reasons. on october 19th, 2008, he wrote

this infamous article in the "new york times." nearly four years later, we know the story. president obama bails gm out, the loan is paid back, and 1.5 million jobs are saved. here is the hilarious willard part. in february right before the michigan primary, back when the trees were the right height, he wrote in an op-ed that would president obama's intervention, things there would be better. if you thought that was funny, now he wants to take credit for the auto bailout success. i'm serious, here is his top campaign advisor this weekend. >> his position is what obama

followed. the only success president obama had was because he followed mitt romney's advice. how is letting detroit go bankrupt the same as not letting detroit go bankrupt. in november, here is what willard said. >> my view with regards to the bailout by president bush or president obama, it was the wrong way to go. do you think we wouldn't catch the lemon you're trying to sell us? nice try willard, but we got you. does any mother ever feel like their kids are adults?

i have twins, 21 years old. each kid has their own path. they grow up, and they're out having their life. i really started to talk to them about the things that are important that they have to take ownership over. my name's colleen stiles, and my kids and i did our wills on legalzoom. [ shapiro ] we created legalzoom to help you take care of the ones you love. go to legalzoom.com today and complete your will in minutes. at legalzoom.com, we put the law on your side. and complete your will in minutes. for a hot dog cart. my mother said, "well, maybe we ought to buy this hot dog cart and set it up someplace." so my parents went to bank of america. they met with the branch manager and they said, "look, we've got this little hot dog cart, and it's on a really good corner. let's see if we can buy the property." and the branch manager said, "all right, i will take a chance with the two of you."

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we're back on "politicsnation" with the alliance that has republicans running for cover. here cops president clinton. he is teaming up with president obama stomping together for the

first time. now he is out there in a powerful ad praising the bin laden raid. >> he took the harder, and the more honorable path. and the one that produced, in my opinion, the best result. you hire the president to make the calls when no one else can do it. >> at the fundraiser last night he said "when you become president, your job is to explain where we are, say where you think we should go, have a strategy to get there, and execute it. by that standard, barack obama deserves to be reelected president of the united states." that scream is coming from the rnc headquarters, why? president clinton can be

effective and remain popular with the broad range of voters in the key swing groups in november. i have erin mcpike here, national reporter for real clear politics. dana, let me start with you, how does president obama change the game? >> nobody is surprised that president clinton is behind president obama's reelection effort. first of all, he is a terrific campaigner and can be a surrogate for him around the country raising great gobs of money. and also, rallying the democratic base and appealing to those sort of middle america voters that barack obama has traditionally had trouble with. last time around he came out and campaigned for obama, but it was

always a way if he was for us or not, now that hillary clinton is secretary of state, this can boost her 2016 prospects. >> isn't it also that this is the president, talking about clinton now, the democrat that moved the party to the center. many of us didn't agree with, but he did that so he helps president obama with a lot of independents and centralist voters? >> yes, he helps with the base and the center. and the reason he helps with the center in part is on the economy. he is a good foil to mitt romney who is very strong on the economy. and president obama will have a tough time on that issue against mitt romney. in many cases they trust mitt romney on the economy more. so as a foil, he is helpful. in the '90s when he was

president he balanced the budget and created a surplus. so they bookended the bush administration, and that is what the obama campaign wants to remind voters about. the administration and the problems with the economy then. they want to say look, we had a very productive time, and we're trying to bring the country back to that. >> when you look at the fact that president clinton, a decade after leaving office, still has high67%, you look at nine swing states, iowa, ohio, wisconsin, in six of them, president clinton could be very effective helping president obama. >> yes you see this with almost all former presidents, their popularity swells, clinton has more than usual.

he has had such an successful expresidency. and also because of hillary clinton. so he has more clout than you would expect p. and barack obama does not have as good of a story as last time because of how the economy is working now. clinton was calling obama a fairy tale last time, and now it has a happy ending. that at least is a good story for obama to be telling at a time when the economy is not presenting such a good story. >> maybe the fairytale is why some people lots of people talking about hillary for 16. in a recent interview with luke russert, president clinton said

the door is closed on his wife running. >> she told you and everyone else she thinks she'll probably never run for office again. i have been here, i know what it's like to go through decompression after years of high pressure activity, and i just think she needs to rest up, do things she cares about, and whatever she decides to do i'll support her. >> not exactly she's not going to run, it's over -- >> no, and we've been talking about this for the past couple of weeks. her popularity is soaring. she of course cannot campaign for president obama this election cycle because she is secretary of state. so in other words, president clinton by campaigning for obama is keeping her seat warm and reminding people about her as a political animal. so i do think this has to do a lot to do with hillary.

he is keeping good will in the party for her right now. >> when you hear what president clinton said last night, whether it's a plan or not, he really went after mitt romney. he said last night "he's got an opponent who basically wants to do what they did before on steroids -- which will get you the same consequences you had before, on steroids" so if they're on the bookends of the bush years, if you have both ends talking about this, what we have in the middle of our presidencies, and steroids, that's effective to a lot of voters. >> i think that's right, and you have to remember president clinton's assets in terms of being a political strategist. it's no accident that he has been advicing the obama campaign opinion don't worry about the romney filip flop thing. go after him as this extreme

sort of conservative. >> exactly. that's how they bookend it. they say here are two sensible centralist presidents. in the middle of that with a radical conservative that we don't want to go back to. >> erin, i don't know if you can see dana with that bow tie, but he has the nerve to call me flamboyant -- >> i'm trying to keep up with you reverend. >> as president obama was celebrating his first night in office, republicans were a u mile away. we go inside the plan to take down the obama presidency, and how the rodney king beating changed the country, and why peace is always, always the best form of protest.

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we thought existed, now we know. inside the secret gop plan to take down obama that starting on night one. the man who wrote the book who got the story joins us live. e. so did the country that came in 17th place. let's raise the bar and elevate our academic standards.

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♪ i like sweet things. [ man ] shut up, henry. ♪ welcome back to "politicsnation." tonight, we have the author who broke the inside story of the republican plan to take down the

obama presidency. "do not ask what good we do" includes a shocking behind the scenes look at republican secret meeting on inauguration night. mr. draper discovered the guest lift for the invitation meeting was so exclusive, that john boehner and mitch mcconnell weren't even invited. and the book gives a stunning detail on the plan of attack including united and unyielding opposition to the economic policies. attacking vulnerable democrats on the air waves, and "win the spear point of the house in 2010" then jab obama relent

lessly in 2011. >> thank you for having me. >> one writing described it as something out of the godfather, how did this come about. >> it sounds like something out of the x files where men meet in a secret place to figure out the affairs of the the word, but it was organized by frank luntz, but it was meant to be a drown your sorrows event. most were at the inauguration, and were shocked by the spectacle of the 1.8 million people at the mall. so they were there just to cry on each other's shoulders. but after talking about what went wrong and what to do, just the sort of dealing with the

visceral shock of what was now taking place, but again, they talked about how to dig themselves out of a hole. as you were eluding to, they formulated a plan of newt gingrich, former speaker, the guy who did a lot of the talking up front -- >> wait a minute. so after crying in their soup, they started literally laying out a plan, that night, the night of the inauguration, and newt gingrich was a key player in the meeting? >> yes, frank asked gingrich to speak first. he led the republicans out of a deeper hole in 1994 than they faced now. so they thought it would be inspirational to have gingrich do some of the talking, and he harked back to, you know, where the republicans had been in the '80s and early '90s before they

orchestrated their come back. >> we're going to put up list of leaders at the meeting, but john boehner and mitch mcconnell were absent. >> they were not invited and that's because frank didn't get along with boehner. the premium on the invitations were those not necessarily old hams on capitol hill, but guys who were strategic thinkers and got messaging. that's why like kevin mccarthy, who only served one term in congress there was, and john kyle, the senator from arizona was there, because luntz valued him as a strategical thinking.

>> things started to fall apart for speaker boehner, what was your take on that? >> you know, the first part of the plan worked perfectly, and that plan was to have a unified line of attack against this new president. and indeed on the stimulus, for example, republicans unanimously voted no on that. the difference, reverend, is it's a lot easier to unify when you're in the minority than when you're in charge. and what boehner found out when he became speaker due to the tea party movement that issuered these 87 freshman is is a lot of the guys were very willful and they were not interested in governing as rolling back the obama administration initiatives. and the reality is that it's a divided government. you have a democratic controlled senate, boehner was cognizant of that, but the republican

freshman were not impressed with that reality. >> you talk about gingrich, but what about this intense resentment of president obama. it seems to me there is unparalleled resentment of president. have you witnessed this, and where is it coming from? why is this? >> you have been around long enough to recall the slick willy and draft dodger and stuff that greeted president clinton. there is a dimension and extra depth of contempt for this president that is really off the charts. and it's -- i interviewed a will the of tea party freshman, spent a lot of time with them, and i didn't detect anything racial in them, but they're on a tea party movement that does have a certain racial component to the depth of come tempt they feel for this president.

i don't think that manifested in any of the issues coming out of the republican party, but i do think the movement that keeps a watchful eye does have that element. >> congratulations on the book, and thanks for joining us tonight. do not ask what good we do inside the u.s. house of representatives. ahead, 20 years after the l.a. riot, how it changed the country and reminded me peaceful protest is always the answer. ♪

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yesterday marked the 20th anniversary of the start of the los angeles riots. it began after four los angeles police officers were ought on tape beating rodney king were

found not guilty on numb raus charges. within hours parts of los angeles were on fire. the riots were the worst in u.s. history, at least 53 people died, and businesses were lieued and burned to the ground. the violence got so out of hand that king himself made an emotional plea for peace. >> i just want to say, you know, can we get along? can we get along? can we stop making it horrible for older people and the kids -- >> looking back on these events, it's a reminder that peaceful protest is always the answer. yes i was angry in '92, i'm angry now, but i'm angry enough to seek justice, not make injustice work. something i have promoted over

the years, and something i spoke about yesterday while marking the anniversary in los angeles. >> violence is not an option in fighting violence. and to protest a beating, with killing 55 people, is to continue the violence rather than answer the violence. >> as i stood at the pulpit, and we talked about 20 years ago, it is important for us to understand gandhi said it best, we must become the change we want. we cannot be what we're claiming to fight. even your words cannot be misconstrued and send the wrong impression. in the end, we want to improve