paperback. jane, thank you very much. any time you want to do the show. i can get an $11 blazer. >> terrific. >> now it's time requester "the last word with lawrence o'donnell." the romney campaign hasn't figured out how to talk about mitt romney's days of bain capital, but joe biden has. >> there's no leveling an attack dog. >> vice president biden is going to be chief attack dog. >> i resent the fact they think we're talking about envy. my mother and father dreamed as much as any rich guy dreamed. >> fdr message rings well and people likes it. >> who is going to do what it takes to put out the fire. >> see a fire in the distance. a prairie fire of debt. >> harsh now political rhetoric over the economy. >> prairie fire of debt. >> focusing on deficits and debt

on the campaign trail. >> the fire in the distance. >> when he was governor he raised the debt by 15%. >> he makes the debt worse. >> which just adds to this the debt. >> every piece of this narrative is askew. >> the debt ceiling ended like a typical tarantino flick. casualties and blood were everywhere. >> everyone was hurt last summer. >> where is the president's plan. >> john boehner is bringing back the debt ceiling debate. he would once again hold the u.s. credit rating hostage. >> call it kill bill and everyone else volume two. >> kill bill volume two. >> he's not going to approve any increase. >> no tax increases. >> -- that's not offset by spending cuts. >> it's our way or the highway. >> it's a big problem. >> do republicans really want a sequel? >> is this a fight they really want to get into in? >> they fight about stupid things like this? >> john boehner, nancy pelosi, harry reid. >> you know it's going to be raised, it's just a question of when.

>> monday it was the obama campaign. tuesday it was the obama super pac and today it was the obama vice president going after mitt romney. >> i resent the fact that think we're talking about envy. my mother and father believed that if my brother or sister wanted to be a millionaire, they could be a millionaire. my mother and father dreamed as much as any rich guy dreams. they don't get us! they don't get who we are! >> then the vice president zeroed in on bain capital. >> romney made sure the guys on top got to play by a separate set of rules. he ran up massive debts and the middle class lost. and, folks, he thinks that experience is going to help our economy? let's take a look. look, with these guys passed,

want you to think about what he'll do as president. >> after mitt romney's campaign staff went so far as to try to physically block reporters from approaching the candidate on the rope line in florida today, mitt romney chose to appear in the friendly confines of a conservative blogger's radio show to defend his bain record. >> they said, oh gosh, governor romney at bain capital closed down a steel factory. but the problem, of course, is the steel factory closed down two years after i left bain capital. i was no longer there. so that's hardly something that is on my watch. of course, they also don't mention a couple of other things. one is that we were able to create over is 100,000 jobs. and secondly, on the president's watch, about 100,000 jobs were lost in the auto industry and auto dealers and auto manufacturers, you know, so he's

hardly one to point a finger. >> mitt romney claimed once again that he helped create over 100,000 jobs at bain capital, a figure that has grown tenfold since 1994 when romney ran for senator in massachusetts. >> ted kennedy is desperately trying to destroy mitt romney's great record on jobs. but listen to this what the "boston globe" said about romney's success in helping to create more than 10,000 jobs. >> as for the $100,000 jobs figure, romney uses, that number has been disputed by numerous fact checkers, including the "washington post." president obama's deputy campaign manager stephanie cutter countered romney on a conference call today. >> i think that it's embarrassing for mitt romney to liken what the president did with the auto industry, in saving the auto industry, to what he did during his time in the private sector, where he bankrupted companies. >> and in endorsement news

today, pardon me, big endorsement news today, herman cain endorsed mitt romney, but romney was not his first choice when herman cain dropped out of the race in december. >> my unconventional endorsement is the people! i hereby officially and enthusiastically endorse newt gingrich. >> it is clear that governor mitt romney is going to be the republican nominee, and so i want to formally endorse him. >> why the change of mind now, and why do you think the people should be listening to your endorsement today? >> my endorsement evolved. >> the one consistent thing is the necktie. the gold necktie. alex wagner, it is the season for evolving. first president obama. now herman cain. >> i look forward to the endorsement when herman cain endorses a pizza. it's the next logical step. you know, mitt romney, bain capital, lawrence, the thing

that always flummoxes me is why he's even trying to prove that he's a job creator. the point of bain capital has never been to create jobs, and he's always going to lose on this issue. whether through factual analysis or the very premise of what bain capital does, which is to create profits for its clients. >> right. would wealth creator be a viable political claim for yourself? >> it would in a republican party, but not in a general election. and in some ways he tried to play, i mean one of the things he tried to do at different points in the primary, he was getting so little traction in his manifestly disingenuous answers was to play this up. that he was this heroic figure who created wealth. the reason i think that he has the -- he has to make the argument that he's been making,

that he was a job creator, is they reverse engineered the story around the condition of the conditions. there's a job deficit. there's record unemployment. so they took the two and fused them together. the solution to the country's economic problem is my record as an independent private businessman but of course -- >> and not his record as governor of massachusetts. where he was maybe creating jobs, i don't know. >> let's remember that his record as the governor of massachusetts has been entirely erased. his resumé doesn't exist. >> the computers have been thrown away. >> literally. yes. it's remarkable considering the guy actually was elected to run a state at a certain point, has executive governmental experience, and that's been completely disappeared from the story about himself. >> but chris hayes, is this mission accomplished if for obama campaign, that mitt romney, after two and a half days of silence after the attacks on bain capital is now talking about bain capital. is any conversation good for obama campaign?

>> yes. >> even one where romney is defending it and saying here's what i did and 100,000 jobs? >> yeah, there's a question to the degree that all this ends up getting netted out. there will be attacks and counter attacks and people start to tune out. if you're an obama campaigner, competing claims about the number of jobs at issue. what they're trying to do is keep it on the human story. joe biden is talking in youngstown, ohio. that place has been absolutely devastated by the model of post industrial capitalism brought to america by companies like bain capital. that's literally what happened. private equity firms went out and facilitated the outsourcing and streamlining of the industrial base of the country and left a lot of the country looking like youngstown. >> alex, joe biden is trying to reduce all the talk of romney the rich guy. romney the job killer to one basic generic point. let's listen to this. >> he's a patriot. he's a generous man. he gives to his church. he has a beautiful family.

but he doesn't get it. he doesn't get what's at the core of all this. it's about people's dignity. >> he doesn't get it. that would be the bumper sticker, the anti-romney bumper sticker. >> and there's no better emissary for that message than joe biden. that was snap dragon and peonies. they've been skeptical of joe biden. that was an incredible speech that he gave today. and it wasn't just the part about mitt romney, but it was also someone who understands what it's like to see their father laid off. he talks about the long walk home. the shame of getting fired. the dignity of having a job. nobody delivers that message better than joe biden. who does mitt romney have? mitt romney could never counter that. he has no one on his side. the best he could do is chris christie. joe biden has a residence and emotional pitch that's nearly perfect.

>> i think what's effective about that, exactly what alex said, i've been engaged in million of these debates about outsourcing, and what you end up with is from a political standpoint, untenable situation. making arguments about efficiency and the macro effects and maximizing wealth for shareholders. and you have people who took the long walk home. people who showed up one day and were told, you're fired, you're laid off. not for anything you did but because some unknown group of people made financial transactions and you're on the wrong side of that. that feeling is a difficult one to rebut with my amount of facts and figures. the human story at the core of that is a brutal one. >> and joe biden was specific today. he's telling the story. let's listen to how he tells that story. >> the company was $400 million in debt. but romney and his partners,

this time they walked away with $100 million in profit. look, folks, i don't want businessmen not to be able to make profit. it's all about profits. there's a little bit about equity. laying on debt, laying off workers, doing what's good for the top while everyone else fends for themselves. you can't afford that in the valley. and we can't afford that in the nation. >> alex, there's going to be a lot more specific -- company-specific stories. this is the legal pad manufacturer from texas. and that's been talked about in a lot of romney campaigns. we're going to hear more and more of this, right? >> yeah, and the counter to that, and biden talked about it in the speech is this notion that when his dad was laid off he went to find jobs in another city because he had faith that the system worked. that's what biden is hitting on. romney has adulterated the

system. the system no longer works for ordinary, middle class working americans. and it's a very powerful message. >> yeah, biden had a quote a year or so ago about people feel the system isn't on the level. that there's not a square deal. that it's not fair. that there's two sets of rules. i think that is essentially the dominant national mood. and it's actually -- it goes across the entire ideological spectrum, the sense that there's two sets of rules. people on the top regulate for themselves. everyone else is left holding the bag. it's a very effective message. >> now before we go, you may as well address this because you're going to spend all night on twitter answering this. how did you end up in this color coordinated, and by the way, show color coordinated situation. >> we're going to prom, obviously. >> you said before the show you own exactly one necktie, and that is the necktie? >> i was exaggerating. >> by how many? by two?

>> by two or three. i have one that's in my office that hangs there. >> it works for weddings. it works for funerals. >> purple is a universal color. >> i saved you a lot of full-time on twitter with that. >> alex wagner and chris hayes, thank you both for joining us tonight. >> thanks, lawrence. >> coming up, the president's other opponent, congress. they want another debt ceiling fight. and chef mario batali is under attack from fox news host for what? for worrying about people on food stamps. for that fox news thinks mario batali should be slapped around. that's actually what they said. that's in tonight's rewrite. and chris christie teams up with new york mayor corey booker. recently, students from 31 countries took part in a science test.

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my message to congress, and i'm going to see the congressional leadership when i get back to congress, is let's go ahead and act to build and sustain momentum for our economy. there will be more than enough time for us to campaign and politic, but let's make sure that we don't lose -- we don't lose steam at a time when a lot of folks like these are feeling pretty optimistic and are ready to go. >> that was president obama this morning at a washington, d.c. sandwich shop, picking up hoagies for his lunch with congressional leadership, including house speaker john boehner and senate majority leader mitch mcconnell. the very first use of the word "hoagie." here's how white house press

secretary jay carney described the situation after the lunch was over. >> the president made clear he refuses to allow a replay of last summer's crisis that eroded confidence and hurt the american economy. we're not going to recreate the debt ceiling debacle of last august. it is simply not acceptable to hold the american and global economy hostage to one party's political ideology. >> and in response to this threat boehner made yesterday in a speech which today boehner claimed he did not make. >> when the time comes, i will again insist. my simple principle of cuts and reform greater. yes, allowing america to default on the debt would be irresponsible. but it would be more irresponsible to raise the debt ceiling without taking dramatic steps to reduce spending and reform the budget process. >> whoa, whoa, whoa. i'm not threatening default.

>> for the record, a boehner aide did confirm, quote, the speaker was very pleased with the sandwiches served at the lunch. joining us now are richard wolffe, an msnbc political analyst and alex wagner is still with us. alex, so hoagies to solve any possible threat of a debt ceiling fight. they didn't try hoagies last time so it might work. >> nothing says national union like hoagies. i want to keep repeating the word hoagie. the president had a list of to-dos. he's been making every concerted effort to show bipartisanship on a number of bills. you have seen republicans at the white house signing onto things. small incremental measures that they may be. this is part of the political optics. it's a good thing the president invited republican leadership as well as democratic leadership to

the white house. he has a frosty relationship with congress at best. but at the end of the day when you have john boehner preempting the meetings with that rhetoric, it's impossible to thing anything is going to get done. >> richard wolffe, the traditional role for the congressional parties was just to keep everything calm while the big guys are out there campaigning for president. don't distract. don't cause trouble. how does the romney campaign feel when the republican leadership is saying, hey, we might just close things down? >> well, i don't think boehner's message is designed for the national audience. so there's a total break there between the two. john boehner is talking a narrow casted message to his safe house districts. and by the way, let's be clear here and let the secret out of the bag. everybody is going to get what

they want out of the giant, the mother of all lame duck sessions after this election. the debt ceiling will be raised. there will be spending cuts. there will be tax hikes. and, you know, they have to do all this because all the deadlines come together at the end of the year. so this is posturing. but who benefits from this posturing? surely even john boehner knows this was a low point for his party in the polls when you go back to the debt ceiling. the only people who liked it are the people who will vote republican in november anyway. those aren't the people mitt romney needs. >> jay carney expressed a little frustration today. let's listen to that. >> it is widely accepted now, although regrettably not universally accepted that the primary stumbling block to bipartisan cooperation on this issue is the absolute intransigence, the review fall of republicans to accept what bipartisan commissions accept. what democrats, independents and republicans in the country accept, which is that we need a balanced approach to this. >> alex, if they can get the electorate to accept that it is

the republican's fault. this is just all points for president obama and for congressional democrats in their campaign. >> yeah, as richard said, the debt debacle was not good for the republican party. this is coming at a time when mitch mcconnell and john boehner are doing delicate dances with their caucus. they are in danger. the leadership issues are endangered. john boehner had has to tread a very careful line. the rhetoric around this event is very much an effort to show, hey guys, i'm still with you. and he's speaking to the most radical elements of the house caucus. >> barbara boxer, i think framed this in an interesting way on the daily rundown this morning with chuck todd. let's listen to that. >> they're setting up a big fight, mcconnell and boehner over the future debt ceiling, making it a crisis, when it isn't a crisis. they want to create a crisis so people say oh my goodness. maybe if we change everything, things will be better. maybe we need a different president. richard wolffe, that's the best theory i've heard so far about why they might want to create

the sensation of a crisis. >> yeah, it ties in with what karl rove is spending $25 million on right now, which is to say, you know, this president promised us a lot. he promised he could make the country work and make washington work, and we've worked really hard to make sure that doesn't happen. so it's his failure, right? you know, the idea that this is a self fulfilling failure, a self fulfilling prophesy that this president couldn't work, it's really the entire premise that the republican party is running on in november. the question is, can the obama campaign call their bluff on it. can they point out what actually happened, how the presidents reached out, how the president has compromised. how boehner wouldn't use the word compromise in an interview with "60 minutes." that's sadly how this is going to come out instead of the real

debate we should be having, which is what is the purpose of government. >> now before lunch today, john boehner tried to make it very clear, look, whatever happens here, it isn't personal. i have no problem with president obama. let's listen to that. >> it's not a personal issue. the president, as you well know, we get along fine. but he has issues with what i believe in. i have issues with what he believes in. >> so they've got some issues. just not personal. everything is fine. >> >> i do think john boehner and president obama share a certain amount of respect for one another. and this is very well poll tested. americans like president obama. even people who don't want to vote for him like him. so it's not a good talking point to attack the man personally. it's better to undercut him on every single policy ever. >> alex wagner and msnbc political analyst richard wolffe, thank you very much. thanks for joining me. >> thanks, lawrence. coming up, the competition to be mitt romney's running mate has become a battle of the boring white guys. and later, we will see if the

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the november ballot is set in the u.s. senate race in nebraska, a seat that is key to keep control of the united states senate. kerry easily won with 37% of the vote. mitt romney, by the way, won the presidential primary with only 71% of the vote.

and in the three way republican senate primary, attorney general jon bruning who was favored to win was upset by state senator deb fisher who was endorsed by sarah palin. todd palin recorded a robo call for her on the eve of the election. fisher won with 41% of the vote. bruning, who had been endorsed by the chamber of commerce, rick santorum and mike huckabee got only 36% of the vote. and state treasurer don stenberg who was backed by jim demint got a mere 19%. today sarah palin offered her congratulations on facebook. as recently as a week ago deb fischer was dismissed by the accomplishment. i applaud moms like deb fischer who are bold enough to step up and run on a conservative

platform, to restore america and protect our children's rights. and so in nebraska, it's now bob kerry versus deb fischer and sarah palin for control of the united states senate. coming up, mitt romney is said to be looking for, quote, an incredibly boring white guy for his vice presidential pick, but is chris christie boring enough? and in tonight's rewrite, why, why is fox news attacking celebrity chef mario batali for trying to help people on food stamps? have they forgotten what christ said about feeding the poor? that's coming up. ♪

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the teacher that comes to mind for me is my high school math teacher, dr. gilmore. i mean he could teach. he was there for us, even if we needed him in college. you could call him, you had his phone number. he was just focused on making sure we were gonna be successful. he would never give up on any of us. no the spotlight tonight. chris christie creates an actual audition tape with a little help from newark mayor, corey booker. >> governor romney, governor romney, yes, that was me running into the fire. yes. i do shovel snow as well. yes, you're very persuasive. but i'm not a number two guy.

i'm not background singer. mitt, sir, with all due respect, i know you need a big -- >> excuse me, mayor. i got this. >> christie. >> when it cops to the veep-stakes, christie wants romney to know he's got this. new polling suggests he doesn't have it, at least when it comes to turning new jersey from blue to red. a new poll finds with no running mates on the ticket, new jersey voters would choose president obama or mitt romney, 49% to 39%, and if you add governor christi to the ticket and the obama-biden team then wins 50% to 42% in new jersey. joining me now is correspondent for the nation and msnbc contributor. and joy reid, managing editor on the grio.com. >> so chris christie doesn't really help? in new jersey anyway. where else is he going to help?

>> exactly. new jersey is a a white whale for republicans. new jersey is essentially a blue state when it comes to presidential elections. and i think it would take a lot more than chris christie to turn the state red. >> can i just ask how weird is it to hear republican sndsers publicly commenting, yes, the strategy is boring white guy. like they think that that's a perfectly okay thing to just put out there. >> yeah, it's very strange. i love that margaret said, but for the fact that she was black, barack obama is a boring guy. but they are trying to get at they need a straight-laced person. someone acceptable to the place but won't overshadow romney. it says a lot about the guy at the top of the ticket. you want someone not too flashy because they're candidate at the top of the ticket is not too flashy. >> and ari, in their definition of both boring and white, does bobby jindal fit anywhere in that definition?

>> i think he is neither white nor boring. but i'm not a republican insider. i'm a boring white guy with liberal tendencies. i do think it's weird. it says some people close to the campaign do believe this will be a conventional pick and they want to distinguish the fires and energy around other people who are less traditional candidates. >> and they're talking about ron portman a lot. it may be, joanne, as ari is saying, they're ramping you up to what rob portman, so there won't be a big crush of disappointment. >> the job of the vice president on the ticket is first do no harm. don't say anything embarrassing. don't overshadow your guy. in 2008 that's the opposite of what happened. you wound up with sarah palin who totally overshadowed mccain. you want someone who can potentially deliver an important state. ohio is very important. 18 electoral votes. portman makes sense if you do it by the numbers. also the republican party

understands if they try to go for a demographic pick, that person has to actually be table to deliver a demographic. and there isn't really someone who comes to mind who could do that. marco rubio, who everyone in the media loves to talk about would not deliver hispanics. he's against the dream act. martinez has had the same issue. she's not overwhelmingly popular with hispanics because she's been tough on immigration reform. she has sort of changed that now. and then if you speck one who was hispanic and pro immigration refornl, then the base wouldn't like them. it's tricky to be too cute. they're saying, let's go conventional. >> and on the do no harm. there's usually with everybody you can think of there's some negative. with portman you certainly have, ari, the road right back into the discussion of the bush administration deficits because he was there helping build those deficits, and build that debt. >> yeah, he's already seeking to build some distance now between his tenure with george w. bush

administration and what he would do in the future. i was at a luncheon that they did with him and reporters here in new york on monday, and he very directly on the record criticized george w. bush. said he should have done more. vetoed, should have rang in spending. the other point is you show the video of corey booker talking about he's not a backup singer. and governors typically are not. we had a two governor ticket since 1948 when dewey picked worell and they lost anyway. so i think portman fits in as a senator, which even though we know people don't like the senate, it does serve for a better vp, you know, training ground. >> we have bobby jindal audition tape thanks to fox news. let's take a look at that now. >> president obama simply cannot run on his record. the reality is 23 million americans unemployed, underemployed simply have left the workforce. president obama cannot ask the american people, are you better

off than you were four years ago? he's going to have to savagely attack mitt romney. we seen the start of that this week. >> that is grover norquist's pick for vp speaking right there. i don't know. that guy versus joe biden for a debate. >> that says a lot that he's grover norquist's favorite candidate. bobby jindal gives them the diversity because he's not a boring white guy, as we say. he's from a state they've already got. his big issue is drilling and school vouchers. i don't think that that's necessarily great selling point nationwide. and he's not that articulate or at least he's not that charismatic, let's just say. and there's a charisma gap between the two tickets. i agree with you, him versus joe biden, i don't know, joe biden has the sort of every man thing going for him. i'm not sure bobby jindal can pull that off. >> sometimes these lists show you how weak the lists are. he should not be on a serious vice presidential list for a

party that has a really good bench to choose from. but he's on it because they don't have great people to look into. >> yeah, i think martinez would be a more interesting pick, obviously than bobby jindal. and he really flubbed the audition when people felt he looked more like kenneth the page in his response to the state of the union. i don't think there's much to recommend him, other than the idea that he sort of has become a favorite of washington insiders, like grover norquist, who want to cut the budget, cut food stamps, cut assistance and unemployment benefits. i don't see why that inside recommendation is going to get him very far. >> and romney will have to be dealing with the questions all the way o the convention. he did a florida interview with fal today where some of this came up. let's listen. >> jeb bush and marco rubio. where do they fit in the administration? >> they're wonderful people. i have nothing for you as to positions in our team, if i'm so

fortunate as to become elected president. >> they're wonderful people. we're going to hear them. there's going to be a lot of wonderful reactions coming up. >> his reaction is the same. romney, okay, if we must. there's been no excitement. and jeb bush is an interesting figure. he is somebody who everyone believes is going to run in 2016. you have to wonder, is he rooting for mitt romney? his best chance is the joan paul election four years hence. i think in a way jeb bush would be a better running mate for him. he's popular in florida. he would have a much better chance of delivering florida than marco rubio would, and in a lot of ways, but for the fact that his last name is bush, which would be a glaring reminder of the previous president. he may be a better pick. and he's fluent in spanish. >> and one more piece of this is barack obama was a strong nominee. he was very popular in the grass roots. there were a lot of candidates and incumbents who actually had to get back on board with him because of his grass roots enthusiasm. mitt romney, as we all know, is the opposite.

so one of the only chits that he has is trying to make a lot of these people think he might be on the ticket so he can use them. he needs rubio and bush to at least say some nice things, if not to campaign. his weakness in the base affects the way he talks about the folks. >> is it possible jeb bush -- i don't think he would do it. but would he outshine mitt romney? >> absolutely. jeb bush is a much more forceful speaker. he's a very bright guy. he has a lot of qualities of leadership, he, too, is not a second fiddle. this is a guy who is an executive person. i think he would easily outshine mitt romney. >> joy ann reid, managing editor of thegrio.com. thank you very much for joining me tonight. >> thank you. coming up, fox news attacks chef mario batali for trying to rewrite america's understanding of food stamps. rewriting fox news is what we're going to do a little bit later. and later, if mitt romney did not pay attention to my

guest last night to learn how to be human, he should pay attention to the video we will show you tonight. the likes and loves of mitt romney set to music. wake up!

that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm. for half the calories plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8.

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celebrity chef mario batali, whom i've never had the pleasure of meeting is trying to rewrite this country's understanding of the food stamp program from zero understanding to what it's actually like to try to feed a family on food stamps. >> at the big food bank for new york fund-raiser about a week ago, i challenged everyone to try to walk a mile in a person's shoes. and that was to see if you could live on food stamps. it really causes us to think about what hunger is, whether the states is responsible for feeding people. what kind of things are going on in politics and what really makes it a great kind of engine for our discussion at the house is we really have to think about what we're eating. >> tomorrow mario batali, his wife and two teenage sons will finish the week of eating on the equivalent of a food stamp budget. that's $31 per person for the week.

$1.48 per meal each. on day four of batali's life on a food stamp budget, he told the associated press, i'm expletive deleted starving. y and figuring out ever cheaper ways to put food on the table. he said his teenage sons are quote, having more peanut butter and jelly than they've had in the last ten years. batali has been leading a couple of hundred people who are trying to eat for a week on a food stamp budget. this is an act of discipline and sacrifice that few among us would dare undertake, except of course, those already living on food stamps. kind of wonderful that a rich and famous celebrity chef who never has to think about the plight of the hungry would help raise our awareness. well, fox news doesn't see it that way.

>> this week chef mario batali is eating on the equivalent of a food stamp budget, about $1.50 per meal as a way to protest potential cuts to the benefits program. he said, quote, we hopefully aren't pretending or being like a bunch of yuppies saying ux oh, yeah, this is how we do it. that's exactly how it sounds. terry, does this make you want to slap him around? >> slap him around. now greg thinks that's funny. in fact, he thinks most of what he says is funny. and it's meant to be funny. comedy isn't comedy if it isn't funny. his panelists went on for a couple of minutes ridiculing mario batali without ever once considering the plight of people who actually live on food stamps. >> if he wanted to help people that are actually poor is to do

what he does well, which is start successful restaurants and hire people. that would actually help some people get out of poverty. >> you have to be so disconnected from american popular culture not to know that mario batali has started many successful restaurants and hired hundreds and hundreds, maybe thousands of people to staff those restaurants. he has 11 restaurants from new york to los angeles. he also runs eatalie, a large combination of markets and restaurants under a single roof here in new york. and he's also created jobs in the television business by his own very successful tv show, "the chew" on abc. >> wouldn't it be a better idea to donate some food from one of his posh restaurants? or allow them to use food stamps at the posh restaurant? >> it's illegal in most states to use food stamps in restaurants, and as to donating some food -- mario batali has donated more food than any other chef in america and probably the

world. he has devoted years of service to the food bank of new york city. he has been on the board of the food bank for nine years. a food bank that helps feed over 1.5 million people every year. mario batali and his wife have been relentless fund-raisers for the food bank. batali is also a founding member of the feeding america's entertainment counsel. previously america's second harvest, as it was known. that organization provides nutritious fresh foods to americans struggling through hunger with local and national food assistance programs. and then, of course, there is mario batali foundation, whose mission is, quote, to feed, protect, educate and empower children, and encourage them to dream big while providing them with the necessary tools to become an active force for change in today's world.

one of the many things that mario batali foundation does is teach children and their families to cook healthy on very tight budgets. kind of makes you wonder what the greg gutfeld foundation has done lately. >> doesn't this make you want to slap him around? >> mario batali directly and indirectly has helped feed millions of people. and that's before we get to the very big federal tax bill he pays every year. some of which goes to paying for the federal food stamp program. and for all of that, these people think mario batali deserves to be slapped around. if one of them has ever fed a poor hungry person, they forgot to mention that in their round of ridicule of mario batali. you have to wonder what would

make them react to mario batali this way? >> does this make you want to slap him around? >> why does mario batali's kindness, generosity and concern for the poor, all qualities that jesus christ exhibited in abundance, why do they make these people so uncomfortable? it might be time for them to reread what christ did with the loaves and fishes and when they are reminded that he gave all the bread and all the fish away to the poor will greg gutfeld say this? >> does this make you want to slap him around? does this make you want to slap him around? does this make you want to slap him around? oooh, what's her secret? [ male announcer ] dawn hand renewal with olay beauty. improves the look and feel of hands in just five uses.

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