not worked outside the home but she has a clear sense of all the struggles that contemporary women good evening, americans. welcome to "the ed show" live from las vegas. just two days into president obama's re-election bid, mitt romney failed another test of leadership. i'll show you why america is talking about treason tonight. this is "the ed show." let's get to work. >> we have a president that's operating outside the structure of our constitution. i do agree he should be tried for treason. >> mitt romney didn't have the guts to answer that question until he was forced to take a side. >> i don't correct all the questions that get asked of me. i obviously don't agree with he should be tried. >> congresswoman maxine waters on the failed leadership of mitt

romney. >> we are still fired up. we are still ready to go. >> romney has citizens united. the president has a big endorsement from labor. tonight, my exclusive interview with teamsters president, james hoffa. the democrats are ready to pick a winner in wisconsin. new details on the big money and the big stakes in the walker recall. "the nation's" john nickels is here with a primary night preview. good to have you with us tonight. thanks for watching. mitt romney continues to prove himself incapable of leading the republican party and this country. today he held another famous town hall event near cleveland, ohio, where the extreme right-wingers were out in full force. ohio state auditor, dave yost, got the ball rolling before romney came out on stage. >> all this stuff in the last couple of weeks about the president claiming credit for

killing bin laden. it strikes me a little weird. that's like giving ronald mcdonald credit for the big mac you had for lunch. everybody knows it's really the guy at the grill that deserves credit, right. not the pitch man on tv. >> comparing the bin laden raid to fast food was the beginning. next, he attacked president obama for going on vacation and the president's family, apparently, was not off limits. >> march 2010, the first lady and her daughters spent spring break in new york city. this doesn't include the date night. anybody fly to new york just to have date night with your spouse? i didn't think so. mr. president that's not middle-class. and you stop lecturing us about our lives. >> this is the guy who was the opening act for mitt romney and he's yelling at president obama for being out of touch.

the ohio auditor was not the most extreme person at the event. during the question and answer portion, a romney supporter made an outrageous accusation aimed at president obama. pay close attention to mitt romney's response. >> we have a president that's operating outside the structure of our constitution. i do agree we should be tried for treason. i want to know what you are going to be able to do to help restore balance between the three branchs of government and what you're going to be able to do to restore our constitution in this country? >> i happen to believe the constitution was not just brilliant but probably inspired. i would expect the different branchs of government if i'm fortunate enough to become president. >> mitt romney supporter accused president obama of treason and romney just lets it go. he just ignores it and moves right on and says i'll work within the constitution.

his response lends credibility to her claim. here is how republican nominee responded when he ran into a crazy supporter weeks before the election. >> i can't trust obama. i have read about him and he's not, he's an arab. >> no, ma'am. no ma'am. he's a decent family man citizen that i just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues. that's what this campaign is all about. he's not. thank you. >> for all his faults at least john mccain had the guts to talk down the crazy. four years later the nominee of the republican party doesn't have the character or leadership skills to correct conspiracy theories on the road at an event. romney didn't address the

treason accusation at an event until a reporter grilled him about it. >> do you think president obama should be tried of treason like the person who asked you? why didn't you say anything? is there a reason you didn't say anything like senator mccain did four years ago? >> is there a reason you didn't correct her or say that you wouldn't? >> i answered the question. >> you don't agree with her answer? >> i don't correct all the questions that get asked of me. i don't agree he should be tried. >> romney can't recognize the crazy and set the record straight. i think it speaks volumes. he has to go back and make a political calculation about how to handle this situation. i think you have to judge romney on his first instinct which was to allow the seed to be planted that president obama has committed treason. the obama campaign responded with this statement. time after time in this campaign, mitt romney has had the opportunity to show that he has the fortitude to stand up to

hateful and over-the-line rhetoric. and time after time he has failed to do so. if this is the leadership he has shown on the campaign trial, what can the american people expect of him as commander in chief? this is the key point. today's event displayed mitt romney's weak leadership skills. it's become a pattern. last week he buckled to the christian right getting rid of a top foreign advisor because he was gay. a few months ago he was all about ted nugent until he said crazy stuff. and now he's allowed an accusation of treason to slide by. this is about character. back in the bill clinton days they were talking about character counts. that's all right-wing radio could say. character really counts. this is about i'm a lot better than him at all costs. his political instinct is not to smack down the crazy because mitt romney doesn't know right from wrong.

he has a serious error in judgment. his instincts aren't good. president obama should not be brought up on treason charges. you would think that the republicans who actually are behind closed doors going, they are enjoying this stuff. you would think for the good of the country they would put that kind of garbage aside. instead it's really their campaign. mitt romney can't get enough of those kind of questions on the campaign trail. his answer is well he can't correct every question. it wasn't a question. it was a statement about the president of the united states. i'll give you an example. when nancy pelosi got the gavel in 2006, there was a lot of liberals that wanted dick cheney and george bush brought up on criminal war crimes, right. don't you remember that conversation? nancy pelosi said impeachment is off the table. she knew it wasn't achievable.

the democrats in the past have had to take their folks and put them off to the side and slow things down. today, mitt romney couldn't do that. i say it's all part of their plan. tonight's question, does mitt romney have the character to stand up to the conspiracy theorists and the gop? text "a" for yes. text "b" for no. we'll bring you the results later on in the show. i'm joined by congresswoman maxine waters of california. congresswoman, great to have you with us tonight. >> delighted to be here. >> you bet. thank you. what did we learn about mitt romney today? and what did we learn about the republicans' campaign? your thoughts. >> you nailed him again. he's been consistent in lack of being grounded in anything. what does this man believe? what will he stand up for? what is his leadership all about? i think he demonstrated again today that he's willing to do anything, say anything, put his

finger in the air and see which way the wind is blowing. no, he did not stand up today to say that this president should not be brought up for treason because he wanted to see which way it would play politically. so, after the fact, when he was off the cameras, he basically was asked and he said, no. well, why didn't he say that when the woman said this right in front of everybody? it's because he's not grounded. we don't know who he is. we don't know what he cares about. this man cannot be trusted. he flip-flops on everybody. what every he thinks is politically advantageous for him. he did it again today. you're right on. we caught him again. >> is he afraid of the right wing extremists? and are we going to continue to see this to bleed into the campaign? >> well, actually, he will play to whomever he thinks has the

power and the advantage. right now, it appears that the right wing have been pressuring him more, have been at him. and so, he is playing to them. i want to tell you, if the tables turn tomorrow he would go that way. which way, romney? which ever way he thinks he can be advantaged by it. whichever way he thinks he can get another vote. whichever way he thinks he can get the kind of support that will get him this presidency. i want you to know every time he opens his mouth, he's revealing himself. he's reveal himself for who he and what he's about. he cannot be trusted. >> and finally, congresswoman, on this subject, the obama campaign would not put any surrogates out today to talk about this. they put out a new ad, and they put out that statement about where romney has failed to really lead. are you concerned in any way that this kind of narrative is

going to take a grip and maybe the obama people should have been out today smacking him down on this. what are your thoughts on how to handle this crazy talk? >> this is what i know. i know that obama's campaign does not wish to have 100% negative campaign. they're going to have to respond to some things. they're going to have to look at it differently and talk about how they are not going to allow themselves to be defined by this kind of rhetoric. this is not what they would like to do. they don't want to tie up all their surrogates going out there just simply responding to romney and the way that he characterizes this administration. i think they're going to have to do it differently. >> congresswoman maxine waters great to have you. thanks so much. let's bring in political analyst richard wolffe. what do you make of this

unfolding on the campaign trail today? what did we learn about mitt romney or get reenforced? >> we had this conversation a few weeks ago. i said the kind of comments that we saw the end of 2008 on the john mccain campaign, that ugliness, that meanness was going to come back earlier and come back more loudly than we saw it before. our unhinged friends said that was an outrageous suggestion and this general election campaign has been going for a couple of weeks and we see this kind of comment. it's not just about leadership. it's about what kind of argument mitt romney wants to present to the country. one of the damaging things for democrats in '68 was the images of the extreme nature of the party that was broadcasted. his campaign will get tarnished about it. that's why he has to speak about it. if you're going to make the

critique about the president, you've got to do it yourself. >> i want to ask you about the story that's unfolding here about a foiled terror plot. the forces working together, the cia, fbi and the terrorism units and the obama administration have stepped forward and thwarted another plot. break it down for us. >> there are strong echoes and patent attempts to bring down a commercial airline, of the 2009 underwear bomber, as they call him. what's interesting is the president was furious because there was intelligence out there that the united states was in position of that wasn't shared and the plot could have been foiled. this time around things have gone much smoother. there's a lot of credit for the intelligence aspects that come into play that stop the plots. that recognition is well deserved. this was a plot and we should be grateful for that.

it's also a white house that said we've got to do things better. they deserve some credit too for managing a system that worked. >> richard wolffe thanks for joining us. appreciate it. remember to answer tonight's question at the bottom of the screen and share your thoughts with us on twitter. we also want to know what you think. coming up, president obama is making a direct pitch to the american work force. james hoffa tells us whether the president will have labor support. it's primary eve in wisconsin. in just about 24 hours we will know who is facing scott walker in the recall election on june 5th. john nickels previews the fight to win back the governor's mansion in wisconsin. stay with us. alories or less, there's definitely a temptations for you. unless you're one of those people who doesn't like delicious stuff. temptations. it's the first jell-o that's just for adults. are you guys okay? yeah.

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coming up, president obama picks up a major endorsement. teamsters president james hoffa calls mitt romney dangerous for america. my exclusive interview next. the radicals in arizona win another fight in the war on women.

terry o'neill, the national organization for women is ahead with story. austerity in europe is failing. why should we try it here in the united states? e.j. dionne will weigh in later. share your thoughts on twitter. we're coming right back. [ 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. this is your moment. let nothing stand in your way. devry university, proud to support the education of our u.s. olympic team. devry university, proud to support the education high schools in six states enrolled in the national math and science initiative... ...which helped students and teachers get better results in ap courses. together, they raised ap test scores 138%. just imagine our potential... ...if the other states joined them. let's raise our scores. let's invest in our teachers and inspire our students.

let's solve this. obama re-election campaign kicked off in the vital swing states of ohio and virginia over the weekend. president obama told supporters here's the bottom line. 2012 will be just like 2008. the path to victory will be achieved by putting boots on the ground and getting out the vote. >> we are going to win this

thing the old fashioned way, door by door, block by block, neighborhood by neighborhood. >> obama knows his re-election is dependent on his ability to mobilize working-class voters. the massive economic collapse president obama inherited in 2008 with the bush administration. the 60-second campaign spot will play in nine major swing states this month. >> don't bet against the american worker. >> he believed in us, fought for us and today our auto industry is back, firing on all cylinders. our greatest enemy brought to justice by our greatest heroes. our troops are home from iraq. instead of losing jobs, we're creating them. over 4.2 million so far. we're not there yet. it's still too hard for too

many. but we're coming back, because america's greatness comes from a strong middle-class. because you don't quit, and neither does he. >> one of the ways to mobilize the working class is to secure the support of labor. president obama has already been enforced by the afl-cio, the communications union, and others. today the teamsters union here in las vegas threw its support behind the president. i spoke with teamster president james hoffa earlier today. >> he's made the turn to the middle class. he believes and his campaign staff believe they will determine the election. you agree with that? >> that's a war on the workers and they are the ones that are under attack by this whole idea of mitt romney and the republicans take away social security and things that we have in this country.

president obama is the only guy standing up for us. >> is mitt romney dangerous? >> he's very dangerous. i don't think he has any values. he vacillates on everything. he doesn't stand up and say this is who i am. he's what the right wing says he is. he's got to stand up and really be who he is. he's not going to do that. >> what would labor look like if romney were president? >> first of all, he would come up with national right to work. he said it. he's saying we're going to take away minimum wage. we're going to take away the things we take for granted in america. that is dangerous. he would go out with national right to work. that would be a threat to all unions in this country. >> the republicans blame labor. you're the reason there's problems in labor. what's your response to that? >> it's ridiculous. >> it's all over fox. they can't say a positive thing about labor. >> we are raising the standards and they want to lower them. they want to have people working for almost nothing so they can make more money.

we're fighting the big corporations that's had the more successful and made more money than ever before to make sure to give their fair share back to the american worker. we're raising standards, and they don't like it. >> the democrats did not deliver on the labor requests that you wanted employee free choice act, the health care bill didn't go far enough. president obama can't win without labor support. when we talk about citizens united and the kind of money they are throwing in, what kind of boots on the ground do you think wage workers are ready to give? >> labor has to stand up now. the right wing is so extreme. the way they are coming after the president. we've got to stand up with him. we have his back. we endorsed him today. we're going to fight for the same values to make sure we keep america strong. that's what we got to do. we got to go to work for him and

maybe in the next term we're going to get the things we need. he's done some good things. he's done some executive orders which have been helpful. we're willing to work with him for the next four years. >> do all the negatives of romney drive wage earners into president obama's camp? there's some guys here that vote republican that have in the past. how much of a labor effort and a vote is there going to be? >> we're going to go all out. we realize we have no choice. he is the only game in the room for us. he's the guy that's going to have to fight our fight. we're going to fight it together. we don't get everything we want from him but we also realize he shares most of our values and he's there on collective bargaining. he's there on unions and he's going to fight for us. we're going go all out. i think all of labor will go out. >> can labor deliver ohio? >> i think question deliver

ohio. the extremism there with kasich has changed the dynamics of ohio. i think oh was really in play. people have really come together to say, this is wrong taking away collective bargaining from public employees. i think that's good for the president. i think we can win ohio. >> james hoffa here with me in las vegas. later in the show, he weighs in on what happens to labor in the country of scott walker is victorious. coming up, arizona defunds planned parenthood. what will it mean for thousands of women in the state? terry o'neil will join me on this critical story. later, i was a guest on "realtime with bill maher." we're right back. so who ordered the cereal that can help lower cholesterol

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welcome back. from the state that brought us the papers please law targeting hispanics, arizona now has its sights set on low income women. the governor jan brewer signed law defunding planned parenthood. the law will deny thousands of poor women access to planned parenthood services including breast examines and cancer screenings. the state already banned the use of taxpayer money for abortions. why was this law necessary? good question. the president of planned >> the sponsors don't want poor women getting birth control at planned parenthood. number two, it is intended to be to score political points. >> in fact, governor jan brewer

signed the law at the political vent for the susan 10%. it's a big story. let's bring in terry o'neal. always great to have you with us on the program. this maybe be the avalanche. your thoughts on how the house republicans held up death ceiling negotiations over planned parenthood last summer. has this battle now officially moved to the states? >> absolutely it's in the states. one of the most interest things to me is jan brewer signs this bill today on the same day that a similar bill in texas is suspended by a federal court because of its unconstitutionally. a poll shows that the gender gap between republicans and democrats is basically exploding. >> medicaid officials in arizona

are still trying to figure out what kind of economic impact that this is going to have on women. what does this law really mean for the women of arizona especially the poor women and the future of their health care? >> it's as many as 4,000 women will be deprived of health care because of what governor brewer has done. this is exactly at a time when more and more women are being thrown out of work because of state and local government cut backs. you have women who are more and more eligibility for medicare, medicaid services are now being

told they can't get basic health care services. make no mistake, defunding planned parenthood takes birth control, mammograms, cervical cancer screenings, hiv aid screenings p standard treatment away from low income women. why would she take basic health care away from women and think will be help her with voters. any politician who attacks birth control the way jan brewer has just attacked birth control, she will pay a price at the polls and her party will pay a huge price this november. >> all right. let's talk more about that. a spokesperson for governor brewer says that she believes the law will be upheld. you have states like north carolina and kansas that have got similar laws that they are facing legal challenges. in the midst of that legal

stuff, is this going to have a trickle-down effect. is this going to drive more women into president obama's camp and right into the hands of the democrats? >> it absolutely is. the polls are showing that the gender gap between democrats and republicans is widening in the swing states. this is being driven by independent women who don't want birth control to be politicized. i believe it's a terrible shame that abortion has been politicized. that is a fact and abortion is a fundamental right of a woman to have an abortion. one in three women will have an abortion by the age of 45. i think it's necessary health care. the fact is that the vast majority of women in this country don't want that same politicizing to hit birth control. the extremists have taken over to republican party. it's a tragedy for that party that used to be a wonderful party that had women right supporters. you can hardly find any that are brave enough to support women's

rights anymore. women are paying attention. >> they have to be paying attention. i view this as discrimination. there are women whether you're rich or poor or economically depressed or in the 1%, the fact is a breast examination, a cancer screening, how ruthless can these people be? they really have no boundaries, do they? >> you're absolutely right. sex discrimination is exactly what it is. all of these attacks are being made on women's health care. there's not a single aspect of men's health care that these extremists are attacking. it's only women. it's not just attacking women's fundamental rights, but it's also sex specific. it's absolutely discriminatory. >> it's going to be interesting to see if jan brewer can hand arizona to president obama because i know the obama team

feels pretty confident about the fact that arizona could turn. i think this is one the republicans will have a hard time defending in that state. great to have you with us tonight. thanks for joining us. there's a lot more coming up. stay with us. >> when mitt romney gets a deduction for giving to charity, the rest of us taxpayers have to cover the loss. >> bill maher takes mitt romney to task over his donations. that's ahead. austerity in france did not work and it sends shock waves across the ocean. tomorrow, wisconsin will pick a democrat to run against scott walker in his recall election. the stakes have never been higher. john nickels has the latest. this man is about to be the millionth customer. would you mind if i go ahead of you? instead we had someone go ahead of him and win fifty thousand dollars.

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good to have you back with us. wisconsin will pick a challenger governor scott walker in the june 5th recall election. tom barrett has a slight lead over the other components. kathleen falk and state kathleen. 1 of if the famous 14 that left the state. scott walker and the republicans haven't wasted any time. they haven't waited until the primaries are over to start pumping money into tv ads. and here are the numbers. since the beginning of the year, $18 million has been spent on political television ads in wisconsin. in 78% of that money was spent by republicans and hold it right there, yes the numbers are astonishing. every time scott walker gets interviewed over on fox news and everywhere else, he's always complaining about union bosses coming in from out of state that

are trying to get rid of him when he and his party and his people are the ones spending all the freaking money. 78% of the $18 million has been spent by walker. republicans are spending an unbelievable amount of money on a gubernatorial election. they know what is at stake. they know this will have national ramifications. the latest polls out of wisconsin show that money can only take scott walker so far. since the spending blitz began, scott walker has gone from 51% down to 47% approval rating. who in politics has that happen every spending that kind of money. wisconsinites aren't stupid. we're about ready to turn the hourglass to the 11th hour. i'm joined by john nichols. great to have you with us tonight. first of all, i want to say that the numbers that have been thrown out and i don't say this

lightly, scott walker is lying when he goes on national television and said there's union money that's coming in from all the over the country that's trying to unseat him. earlier today i had a conversation, i want to play this. this is with james hoffa who i asked about the wisconsin recall. this is what he had to say. >> i think, number one, i think that scott walker can get beat. i think we've got to do everything we can. the teamsters can do everything to beat him because he's an extremist. he's danger. he wants to take away everything from everybody so that corporations can make more money. that's dangerous. we've got to beat him there. this battle goes on. the extremism that we see in ohio, wisconsin and michigan and in pennsylvania it's forcing independents over and they are moving to obama. i think it looks good. these are fight where she is to

fight. you don't win every battle. if we don't beat scott walker that's not the end of the movement. >> your response to that. >> well, president hoffa is right. people aren't going to fold the tents across the country if scott walker succeeds. this wisconsin fight has become symbolic and practically important for the labor movement and for the democratic party. governor walker is really the face of austerity in america. he's the guy who has tried to balance budgets by attacking union, cutting wage, cutting public education, cutting public services. if he is defeated as now seems possible when you look at the polls, if he is defeated by a people power movement that overcomes the money power that he's put into this thing, i think that message will energize

movements across the country on the street and at the polls. i think wisconsin is a very big deal. >> there's no question that scott walker has used organize labor as the crutch to try to raise money around the country and is painted seriously false picture as what is unfolding in the state. how much more money is going to be spent to save him? >> you can bet that anything that has been spent so far will be doubles and probably significantly more than that. remember in the last quarter scott walker raised more money than any candidate for governor of wisconsin in the entire history of the state in the whole campaign. he has an almost unlimited base of donors. the interesting thing about it is when i dug into those numbers, some of the figures you showed today, scott walker and his supporters have out spent

labor in the first four months of the year by a 20 to 1 ratio. $20 spent by walker and his backers for every $1 spent by labor and its allies. i think walker will have trouble. >> what's going to happen tomorrow night in the democratic primary and are you concerned that there might be some consternation depending on who wins and maybe the democrats won't come together? >> i was at the walter ruther memorial hall last night with hundreds of folks backing all four candidates. i talked to every one of them. i said what if your candidate doesn't win. to a person they said, i just don't care. i like my candidate. i favor this person. i favor falk. they all said that on may 9th, they are ready to take on scott walker. i just don't think there's going to be a lot of unity trouble. i think it's important that the nominee and it does look like tom barrett is ahead that the

nominee work hard to unite the whole of the many movements that have come together, not just labor but women. >> tomorrow night as we're talking about will be the democratic primary, we'll have full coverage on "the ed show" and updates with interviews from wisconsin. we'll turn the hourglass as we all head to the recall coming up on june 5th. great to have you with us tonight. thanks for joining us. i was a guest on "realtime with bill maher" over the weekend. we'll show you highlights. we're right back. ry alert. and she's looking directly at your new lumia, thank you at&t. first, why don't you show her the curved edge... now move on to the slick navigation tiles -- bam, right into the people hub. see megan, colin has lots of friends. hey, colin, what kind of phone is that? whaaa -- oh megan -- when did you get here? [ clears throat ] ohh yea no, let's...

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where does mitt romney stand on marriage equality in america? the mormon church has spent millions of dollars lobbying against marriage equality in the state of california. should it be a charity? that was the question bill maher asked. should mitt romney or anyone get a tax break for giving money to a house of worship. take a look. >> the real issue is when mitt romney gets a deduction for giving to charity, the rest of us taxpayers have to cover the loss. charitable deductions reduce coffers by $60 billion. it is fair to ask what should constitute a charity.

i'm not saying the mormon church doesn't do some good things. they provide food during famines and wheelchairs for the lame. that's not their main concern, which is like any business growing the business. real charities only care about the charity. this is the hollywood sunset free clinic which provides health care to poor children. not much to look at. this is the mormon temple in san diego. either that or super man's fortress of sal solitude. >> i was there on friday night. we discussed topics. what really got me going was the republican argument that president obama is some kind of a left-wing radical extremist. >> this republican party is totally off the map compared to what ronald reagan did. this outfit would never raise taxes. reagan raised taxes 11 times, 9 times on the middle class.

reagan wanted amnesty. he also sent aid to states that's something this party will never do right now. sent aid to. that's something this party will never do right now. so president obama's doing the right thing. he's out on the campaign trail saying, what ever happened to this ronald reagan guy? oh, he's a socialist now. he said that to a union group the other day. he's brilliantly out there saying, really, reagan, is he your guy? i don't think so. this party is so far off the right right now. i think it's a graet way to -- in the big finish, a major rejection of austerity measures. the same thing mitt romney wants to bring in the united states. e.j. dionne of the "washington post" joins me. with the spark cash card from capital one,

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[ male announcer ] the spark business card from capital one. choose unlimited rewards with 2% cash back or double miles on every purchase, every day! what's in your wallet? or double miles on every purchase, every day! free-credit-score-dot-com'sur boargonna direct you ♪ts ♪ ♪ to check your credit score before it gets too late ♪ ♪ and you end up strapped for cash ♪ ♪ patching your board with duct tape ♪ ♪ so hit free-credit-score-dot-com ♪ ♪ find out what credit's about ♪ ♪ or else you could be headed for a credit wipeout ♪ offer applies with enrollment in freecreditscore.com™. "the ed show" survey tonight i asked does mitt romney have the character to stand up to the conspiracy theories in the gop? 2% of you said yes. 98% of you said no. coming up, as europe rejects austerity measures, republicans are trying to push the same

plans here. e.j. dionne joins me on why it simply will not work. don't forget you can listen to my radio show on sirius xm channel 127 monday through friday, noon to 3:00 p.m. follow me on twitter @edshow. please like "the ed show" on facebook. we are coming right back. recently, students from 31 countries took part in a science test. the top academic performers surprised some people. so did the country that came in 17th place.

let's raise the bar and elevate our academic standards. let's do what's best for our students-by investing in our teachers. let's solve this. and in the big finish tonight. voters soundly rejected austerity measures but mitt

romney, he just doesn't get it. >> we're going to take america in a very different place. he's taking america on a path toward europe and europe's not working there. it's not going to work here. europe's in real trouble as their debts mount and people demand more and more from government and government has to borrow more and more to satisfy their demands. >> well, mittster, here's the reality. in two elections voters have experienced the most severe austerity measures said no more. in france the incumbent nicolas sarkozy lost and voters there elected the first socialist in two decades. in greece neither of the two major candidates could get 40% of the vote. both supported austerity measures. mitt romney has got it all wrong. it's not president obama taking us on path toward europe. hell, it's mitt romney. if he's elected president europe has instituted extreme austerity measures, the same kind of severe cuts republicans want to

make here in america. i'm joined by e.j. dionne. msnbc contributor, columnist for the "washington post" and senior fellow at the brookings institution. e.j., great to have you with us tonight. you know, really you couldn't write a better script against what the republicans want to do. is this not just a perfect example with two elections in europe and a double dip recession tells us what we could be in for if republicans get ahold of the budget? what do you think? >> i think that's true, ed. i mean, if you take britain, for example, the conservatives took power and they had a more moderate brand of austerity than what our conservatives would probably to here. at the end of this austerity program, they've just thrown britain back into recession. that does not seem to be where we want to go. the voters in france had a choice in this election. and hollande ran very hard against the austerity program that mr. sarkozy and chancellor

merkel have put in place. and on election night when he won, he said austerity need not be europe's fate. and it need not be our fate, either. i think the results should scare people a little bit about what happens when you drive the living standards of average working people down. it's not only that the greeks rejected the two moderate parties of the left and right. they actually gave a lot of votes for the first time to a kind of neofascist, neonatzi party called neo dawn. we don't want those movements arising. if you grinds down people's standard of living you get all kinds of reactions and that's one of them. >> e.j., i really think this is a pushback and a big statement against greed. and i think that we have an undercurrent of that taking place in america right now. you have got a budget that is

being presented and a blueprint that is being presented by the republicans that goes after the poor, that goes after low income women, that goes after wage earners. and very similar, very parallel to what has happened in europe and here we go. i mean, i think that the obama team could not have a better script written for them or a better example out there. isn't this about greed? your thoughts. >> i think that's some of it. if you lock at france hollande late in the campaign called not for the 30% rate on the rich. he called for a 75% tax rate on the really, really rich in france. i think he did that because he was responding to a sense that a lot of french voters had there was something unjust about the economy. the other thing that struck me today paradoxically is a lot of people said the socialists are going to win in france and the markets are going to go cablooey. the markets didn't go cablooey.

rich people in those markets realized if you continue with austerity you're going to hurt the economy. they're actually glad some people are talking about putting money in average people's pockets because that's what gets the economy moving again. >> political question. do you think the obama campaign should point to what has unfolded in europe and use the word austerity? >> i think they should use the word austerity. lord knows what would happen if they praised the victory of a socialist in france. the truth is, hollande is a very moderate kind offigure. i don't think they're going to be pointing to france, but i would. because i think what happened there is very much the kind of center left coalition that came together that president obama needs to put together here without the socialists label, of course. >> e.j. dionne, great to have you with us on "the ed show." thanks for your insight again tonight. appreciate