alternative. the guy we end up with nothing else is around. you know, sort of like going to denny's. that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. "the ed show" with ed schultz is up next. good evening americans, welcome to "the ed show" tonight live from washington, d.c. republicans say there's no such thing as income inequality. mitt romney says president obama is killing jobs and vice president joe biden is letting him half it. >> they don't get us! they don't get who we are! >> we can hear you loud and clear, mr. vice president. this is "the ed show." let's get to work. >> 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. >> joe biden lets loose today in ohio. he's fighting harder for ever than the middle class. >> that choice is about whether or not we're going to rebuild the middle class or continue to

help those at the very top. >> meanwhile, mitt romney is spreading lies like wildfire. >> rather than putting out that fire, he has spent more. >> we debate the theory with tim ryan. >> new numbers show the independents want the president to crack down on big banks. >> the biggest financial institutions in this country cannot be involved in casino gambling and that's exactly what they're doing. >> vermont senator bernie sanders on the regulation we need to present another disaster. john boehner tees up another debt ceiling show down. >> i will insist on my simple performance. >> plus, another establishment candidate falls victim to the tea party. howard fineman on the rough road ahead for the republican leaders and republicans across the country are waging a war on public education.

connecticut governor dan malloy will tell us how his state put an end to it. good to have you with us tonight, folks. thanks for watching. vice president joe biden went to the bread basket of this election today. youngstown, ohio. he delivered a wake-up call to democrats and middle class voters. the vice president took mitt romney to task for romney's latest attacks on president obama's record. >> i have great respect for governor romney. 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. >> this goes right to the heart of this campaign, don't you think? workers play a role in business, the middle class plays a big role in this economy, if we're going to turn it around, and everybody gets a fair shot and everybody plays by the same rules. vice president joe biden says mitt romney just doesn't see it that way. >> then there's the romney

philosophy. the romney economics, which says, as long as the government helps the guys at the top to do well, workers and small businesses and communities, they can fend for themselves, but the country will be okay, if the big guy is doing well. nobody knows better than the people of the valley the consequences of that kind of philosophy. >> and the consequences are documented. pretty well, too. romney's former company, bain capital, bought up manufacturers like gst steel in kansas city. the company was $13 million in debt when with bain took over in 1993. what happened? well, eight years later, the debt multiplied by 40 times. the company was $533 million in the hole when it went bankrupt. let's talk about dade behring medical supply in florida. they only lost 850 jobs when bain took over.

the company went bankrupt there, but bain sold $242 million worth of shares before it went under. vice president joe biden laid these facts on the table today. he spoke directly to the part of the country mitt romney would hit the hardest, the working class. >> i resent when they talk about families like mine, that i grew up in, i resent the fact that they think we're talking about, it's envy. it's job envy, it's wealth envy. that we don't dream. my mother believed and my father believed that if i wanted to be president of the united states, i could be. i could be vice president. 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.

>> you know, people in this country are mad. and vice president joe biden is giving their voice the anger that is being displayed in many corners of this country. vice president biden is trying to focus on their rage. he's one of them. the official twitter account of the vice president put out this message today. "in ohio, 1 in 8 jobs relate to the automobile industry. that's 848,000 ohioans whose jobs are more secure thanks to president obama." that can cuts to the chase, don't you think? those numbers are on the money, according to the center for automotive research. in fact, automotive jobs account for 12% of ohio's total workforce. success and manufacturing has put ohio ahead of the national average when it comes to employment. total unemployment in ohio is 7.5%. president obama was at a sandwich shop in virginia today, talking about small business tax credits.

but mitt romney, again, hammered the president over the national debt. romney still has not delivered a comprehensive plan for the middle class. he continues to exploit frustration and confuse americans. >> we have got to take, you know, this bull by the horns and wrestle to the ground this extraordinary deficit. it's getting larger and larger. it's hurting job creation now. it's going to crush our kids in the future. we've got to wrestle it down. so more federal spending is not the right way to go. >> last night we showed you how most of the national debt is a product of unpaid wars in the bush tax cuts and handouts to big pharma. but mitt romney is also wrong to blame president obama for excessive spending. here are the numbers. government spending, taxes, and deficit are all lower today than when president obama took office in 2009. righties, i know you don't like that, but that is a fact. mitt romney hasn't offered any

solution to decrease the deficit except for what? more tax cuts? we already know how romney feels about increasing tax rates, even if it means spending cuts in return. >> say you had a deal, a real spending cuts deal. 10 to 1, as byron said, spending can cuts to tax increases. speaker, you're already shaking your head. but who on this stage would walk away from that deal? raise your hand if you feel so strongly that you would walk away on a 10 to 1 deal. >> romney is portraying himself as the guy who will turn the economy around, but he has no answers. here's what this guy is trying to do. he's trying to wordsmith his way to the presidency. he's coming up with a gimmick conversation, but he doesn't have the devil in the details for the american people, except, of course, tax cuts for the rich. the american people, angry. no question about it. and i think a lot of people in this country are tired of being stereotyped.

and joe biden today, i think, unleashed what a lot of emotion is being played out on a lot of americans across this country. it's the right wing that's playing the class warfare busy. it's us against them. that's how they're playing the game, and all you have to do is look at their policies, the ryan plan, and what they really want to do to the middle class in this country and who they want to sacrifice more. the middle class. they have no plan for the middle class, they have no plan for workers in this country. they are attacking labor worse than any other republican outfit ever has. get your cell phones out. i want to know what you think. tonight's question, who understands the needs of the middle class? text "a" for president obama, text "b" for mitt romney to 622639. and you can always go to our blog at ed.msnbc.com and leave a comment. we'd love to hear what you have to say and we'll bring you the results later on in the show. joining me tonight is the congressman from the bread

basket of this election. congressman tim ryan of ohio. glad to have you with us. >> good to be with you, ed. >> tell you what, i'm watching vice president biden. i'm cranked up. why do you think he did that? >> all reports i've gotten from phone calls back home, from labor leaders and business people back home, they said he have on fire. some say it was the best speech they've ever heard a politician give. so he was on fire. i think it's the fact that the administration has been treated so unfairly in so many ways. here is you are, miles away from an auto plant, and you have mitt romney saying that he would have let the auto industry collapse. now you're in the backyard of a lot of these auto workers, and they know what has happened, and they know what the difference is between a romney administration and an obama administration. they've already benefited from it. >> that crowd wanted that today. is that fair to say? >> yeah, they want someone to fight for them. and i think they're starting to see that this administration has

been fighting for them, and it's becoming more apparent that the other side is doing everything that they can to try to stop them. >> so how does mitt romney and the republicans, how do they compete against that? i mean, everything vice president biden said was factual. you see the success in your state, the number of jobs that are affected by the automobile industry. they really believe, the obama team really believes this is the heart and soul of the election, ohio. can you win ohio? >> no doubt about it. i think when you look at the auto industry, as you just pointed out, one of every eight jobs. if you look at what the president has done on china, which is a big issue on ohio too, put tariffs on chinese steel tubing, put tariffs on tires coming in from china. and our industry of the country has led for a couple of quarters manufacturing growth in the entire country. youngstown, ohio, and it's been said that we're one of the top ten best places to start a business. i think what you saw with biden wasn't just a speech, it was where he was at. he was at an advanced manufacturing facility called m-7 in youngstown, ohio.

it used to be an older manufacturing facility. mike garvie and his wife took over, converted it. they're doing metrology now, three-dimensional imaging now, it's a great company and people realize that's the future. >> so where are the democrats weak in ohio? with what do you have to do? your friend sherrod brown, trying to get another term as a senator. they've already thrown $6 million at him. i mean, heck, it's not even june 1st. they're throwing money at him like crazy. so is that the weakness, maybe not being able to match the money? what do you think? >> well, you have these roaming billionaires who want to get involved in these races whether it's against sherrod brown or somebody else. the bottom line is we've got to be organized. what's good about ohio, we've just come off the collective bargaining campaign last year. so the coalition of police, fire, teachers and others, nurses, are all together and ready to do the deal again this

year. >> your thoughts on, guy from ohio, house speaker john boehner, setting up this fight for the debt ceiling again? >> i think it's a big mistake. obviously, the generic polls are showing that the republicans are obstructionists, and i think it would be better for him to sit down with obama and cut a deal. >> but isn't there strategy to do this and let mitt romney heckle from the stands, saying, see, the democrats aren't serious -- >> well, they think people are stupid. obama clearly -- and you just showed a clip -- not $1 in revenue from warren buffett, even if there's $10 in cuts, obama has been sincere, even to the point of frustration for some people, that he wants to make a deal. >> tim ryan, good to have you with us. thanks for coming in. appreciate it. answer to tonight's question down at the bottom of the screen, share your thoughts on twitter @edshow. and of course, romney defends jpmorgan and says no new laws or regulations are needed. really, dude?

senator bernie sanders has got something to say about that and we'll give him plenty of time to do it. president obama comes out in support of marriage equality. and now some african-american leaders in the community are at odds with his position. michael eric dyson and sophia nelson will join me for that debate on that issue later in the show. you won't want to miss it. stay tuned. facial hair can be irritating. challenge that. olay smooth finish facial hair removal duo. first a gentle balm then the removal cream. effective together with less irritation and as gentle as a feather. olay hair removal duo. and as gentle as a feather. like, keep one of these over your head. well, i wasn't "supposed" to need flood insurance, but i have it. fred over here chose not to have it. ♪ me, i've got a plan. fred he uh... fred what is your plan? do i look like i have a plan? not really. [ female announcer ] only flood insurance covers floods.

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coming up, the jpmorgan mess puts spotlight on tougher bank regulations. do you think the senate can do it? senator bernie sanders has been calling for more regulations, he'll join me for that discussion next. john boehner threatens another debt ceiling debate and another tea party republican wins a senate primary race. howard fineman will break it all down for us later on and what it means. and while republicans are slashing education budgets just about wherever in this country, trying to make the budget work, in the state of connecticut, there is a bipartisan effort to invest in public schools. that's right, i said invest in public schools. i'll talk to the connecticut

governor, dan malloy, later. we're coming right back.

welcome back to "the ed show." jpmorgan's $2 billion blunder has one potential upside. it could be good timing, because regulators right now are writing a version of the volcker rule which could prevent this kind of risky bet from happening in the future. we can only hope. jpmorgan chase's ceo, jamie dimon, was one of the voices against a strong version of the volcker rule, but, of course, congressman barney frank now

sees this as a big opportunity. >> mr. dimon wanted a version of the volcker rule that frankly wouldn't do very much. i think we now have a stronger argument for a volcker rule that says no to a bank. your main job is lending and managing the money of your clients. you should not put your own money at risk. >> the jpmorgan mess is also reminding voters how wall street nearly sent us into a depression four years ago and it gives president obama no doubt an opportunity to do something about it in this election year. but a recent poll should make the president take notice. in five potential swing states, large majorities agree with the statement "president obama has not done enough to hold the banks accountable for their role in the housing collapse." the collapse of the housing market and wall street's meltdown four years ago is still very much in the forefront of people's minds in this country. president obama should be out there, front on this issue, no doubt. especially since mitt romney still doesn't get it.

here's what romney said today about jpmorgan. >> i would not rush to pass new legislation or new regulation. this is, in the normal course of business, a large loss, but certainly not one which is crippling or threatening to the institution. >> that is total denial. joining me tonight, vermont senator, bernie sanders. good to have you with us. the circumstances surrounding jpmorgan, how big an opportunity is this right now? >> i think it calls attention to the recklessness and the greed of wall street. it reminds people that four years ago, these people on wall street forced this country into worst recession since the 1930s. forced us to have to bail them out. and while dodd/frank was a step further, it did not go far enough. the american people are angry with wall street. you know what?

they want our financial institutions to invest in the real economy. they want wall street to be lending money to businesses, so we can create jobs. they do not want wall street involved in a gambling casino, waging risky bets, and losing substantial sums of money and threatening the entire economy. >> how hard is it going to be for the senate to do what the american people want them to do when wall street is so terribly influential and some say the banks own the senate. >> ed, let me tell you what many others might not tell you. some people think, well, gee, the congress regulates wall street. i think the truth is that wall street regulates the congress. they have untold, unlimited amounts of money, money which is used to get the deregulation, you recall during the '90s, in a bipartisan way, to get the deregulation which drove us into the brink of financial collapse. they have all kinds of lobbyists on wall street. they make all kinds of campaign contributions, so it will be hard.

but on the other hand, as your polls show, the american people understand how dangerous wall street can be. they want congress to stand up and if we do what the american people want, it will be the right thing. >> what do you want to do? you want to break up the banks? >> here's what i want to do. for a start, you need to re-regulate. bring back glass-steagall, say that we're providing federal insurance for large banks. you know why? you can't go gambling. invest in the economy. >> commercial and investment banks have to be designated. >> in investment banks want to invest, get involved in las vegas-type activity, let them do it, but not with insurance. >> and how big a chance is that becoming a reality? >> i think our friend jamie dimon may have made it easier. so invest, whatever you want to do, but don't come crawling from the federal government for insurance. that's the key issue here. >> well, you have the big getting bigger after what happened on wall street. >> i want the american people to hear this.

today you have three out of the four largest banks bigger than we were before we bailed them out. >> three of the four? >> yes. >> bigger than we were? >> yes. significantly, also, you have the six largest financial institutions have assets of over $9 trillion, which is the equivalent of two-thirds of the assets, equivalent to two-thirds of the assets of gdp of the united states of america. so stop for a minute. when you have institutions that large, jpmorgan chase, over $2 trillion, while some will say, we're never going to bail them out again, we're going to let them fail, i don't think that's the case. if they go under, with they will be bailed out again. number two, if teddy roosevelt was alive right now and saw that the top six banks provided half the mortgages in america and two-thirds of the credit cards, what do you think a good republican like teddy roosevelt would have said? >> we would have gone after it. >> he would have said, break them up. >> 69% of the american people own homes.

doesn't common sense come to play with lawmakers, why would you want to gamble with that part of the economy? why would you give people the license to do that? now, they could go back tonight and do it again. byron dorgan was here last night, and he says they're all doing it. >> mm-hmm. >> when's the senate going to wake up? you're there. where's the other 99? >> let me just say again what many people will not be happy to hear. wall street is extraordinarily powerful. congress doesn't regulate them. the big banks regulate what congress does. >> is it a political winner for the president to just hammer this on the campaign trail? >> ed, in my humble opinion, if when the president first took office -- and i've got to tell you, byron dorgan and i and others went to the white house, a half a dozen of us, we went and said, mr. president, you've got to stand up to wall street. you tell me, ed, how many of

these guys have gone to jail? >> well, none of them have gone to jail. >> what kind of punishment has been rendered for the horrendous damage they have done to millions and millions people? nothing at all virtually nothing at all. they're coming back stronger than ever. there's another issue i want to touch on. that is you have a situation where the fed, of course is supposed to be regulating the large financial institutions, and then you have the absurdity of having somebody like jamie dimon, a member of the new york fed. >> you're going to introduce legislation -- >> we'll have legislation next week ending this absurd conflict of interest. >> senator, good to have you with us. thanks so much. house speaker john boehner says he hasn't threatened default again, but it sure sounds like it. howard fineman joins me. and wisconsin democrats are getting swamped by scott walker lies on the tube. tonight i have a message to the democrats in this town.

you won't want to miss it.

democrats would have to break a filibuster, i guess, to declare the sky blue or the earth is round and pass even the most common sense, and senseless legislation could take weeks or months. >> that was harry reid.

he now says he made a mistake in is not supporting filibuster reform. if there were anything that ever needed changing in this body, it's the filibuster rules, because it's been abused, abused, abused. it's only going to get worse as the republican party sends more extremists to the congress. nebraska state senator deb fischer won the primary in an upset. it's another reminder of more republican extremists possibly headed to washington. richard mourdock clobbered the incumbent senator, longtime senator, richard lugar in indiana, and murdoch says that republicans shouldn't be compromising with democrats at all. that got the attention of former president bill clinton. here's what clinton said about mourdock. >> he said, i'm totally against any compromise, our world views are irreconcilable, and we have to keep fighting until someone wins it all. if that were the view, there would never have been a constitution, never ban bill of

rights, the federal government would not have assumed the debts of the colony from the revolutionary war. >> let's put it in perspective, republican in congress are already the most obstructionist in modern industry, thanks to the tea party freshman. house speaker john boehner is already setting up another fight over raising the debt ceiling early next year. assist strategy to give the republicans the red meat they need out on the campaign trail to go against president obama. it's a way for mitt romney to complain about the way president obama is doing things and heckle from the stands. speaker boehner was asked against, if he is once again threatening default, and here's what he said. >> whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. i am not threatening default. >> let's bring in howard fineman. the fact is, he has been talking about spending cuts if he doesn't get his way on the debt ceiling.

howard fineman, great to have you with us. what do you make of us this circus now? i mean, how much of boehner's conversation about the debt ceiling may play into romney's campaign strategy? >> i think it's all a piece of the strategy. i think the leadership, i'm talking about mitch mcconnell, john boehner, eric cantor, karl rove. they've all decided that mitt romney needs a whole phalanx of people, kind of like "the avengers," although romney's the one avenger who has no special powers. they all think they do and they're going to use the congress and the independent spending and they're going to push a very hard line, a no-new-taxes, cut-spending, tea party line. even if mitt romney wanted to carve out an independent third way, if he wanted to triangulate between those two, there's no chance that he can. they're the only energy that mitt romney's got. >> doesn't this debt ceiling conversation and this looming fight over what to do about spending cuts feed right into

what these tea partyers are doing out in the heartland and this is why they're getting the victories. >> ed, this is what they want. this is the strategy that they -- and i'm talking about the whole republican party. there's hardly anything left of the old republican party. as you pointed out, the victor in indiana, that was a three-way tea party race in nebraska. the state senator who won was endorsed by sarah palin and herman cain, and she was considered the least radical of the three. this is what the republican party is. i was in boston last week at romney headquarters. to me it doesn't feel like the senator of the republican effort. it's more broad than that. but the romney people i talked to said, no new taxes under any circumstances. the republicans in congress, and we will hold the line. >> contrast that to the obama campaign. you go to their headquarters, it's all about the president. it's flipped around.

it's all about the personal side with obama, all about barack obama, what he's done, what he wants to do, or what shortcomings there have been, that they're going to talk about how to get over. it's all about him. for the republicans, it's all about the republican orthodoxy. there is a republican orthodoxy now, from the house, all the way through the to the senate to the presidential candidate. and mitt romney is very much a part of it, but he's being pushed along by it. >> filibuster reform, harry reid coming out, saying what he's saying. did he miss a big opportunity at the start of the congressional session and will he get another shot at it? >> will harry reid get another shot at it? i don't really think there's going to be much of one. i was talking to hill people today. in terms of a big, serious discussion about what to do about our fiscal situation in the country, how to re-order tax policy, how to reform taxes and spending in a decent, humane way, it's going to be all grandstanding, all year. i don't see any possibility of a real adult deal of any kind until after the election.

it's going to be all lines drawn in the sand from here through november. >> howard fineman, thanks so much. lots more coming up in the next half hour of "the ed show." stay tuned. >> especially in the blab community, it is a very difficult conversation to have. >> absolutely. >> the black community is split on the issue of gay marriage. michael eric dyson says it should be legal. the grio's sophia nelson says, no way. tonight, they debate the issue. angry badgers want the dnc to join the recall fight in wisconsin. we'll have the latest. and republicans are attacking public education across the country. governor dan malloy of connecticut will tell us how to stop them in their tracks. those surprising little things she does still make you take notice. there are a million reasons why. but your erectile dysfunction that could be a question of blood flow. cialis for daily use helps you be ready anytime the moment's right. you can be more confident in your ability to be ready. and the same cialis is the only daily ed tablet approved

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welcome back to "the ed show." president obama's announcement last week on same-sex marriage, marriage equality, really was a defining moment in this election. >> over the course of several years, as i talked to friends

and family and neighbors, with when i think about members of my own staff who are in incredibly committed, monogamous relationships, same-sex marriages, who are raising kids together, when i think about those soldiers or airmen or marines or sailors who are out there fighting on my behalf, and yet feel constrained, even now that don't ask, don't tell is gone, because they're not able to commit themselves in marriage, at a certain point, i've just concluded that for me personally, it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that i think same-sex couples should be able to get married. >> and a week after that sound bite, we are still calculating just what kind of an impact that's going to have on this election.

the first sitting u.s. president endorsing marriage equality. but the issue has divided some in the african-american community in america. and now those who oppose same-sex marriage find themselves at odds with the president's position. let's turn to michael eric dyson, msnbc political analyst and georgetown university professor and sophia nelson, a contributor for the grio.com and the author of the book, "black women redefined: dispelling myths and discovering fulfillment in the age of michelle obama." great to have you both with us tonight. michael, i know you covered this issue last week when you hosted this show. anything you want to add to that? >> i had a lot on the table, but i want to first saying by i want to apologize to sophia and jamal and roland. in a fit of passion, i called my friends in the spirit of love to say, hey, we can do better than this. so i apologize to sophia, to roland, and to jamal.

i conflated two issues, the marriage equality, which is a very serious and a significant issue on the with one hand, and the black homophobia as iophobia is not endemic to black people, but in this case, homophobia fuels the beliefs about black gay and lesbian people and whether or not they can get married. i think the twos issues are related, but separate, and i wanted to address both of. >> sophia, your response to that. you're both friends. in the heat of the moment of the debate, this says that there is a division of the african-american community in this. >> thank you for having me here, and thank you to msnbc, you're fair and balanced, and i like that. if i may say that. i had to throw that in, ed. to michael, he's a friend, he's my brother in christ -- >> but you're in different with this. you don't believe in marriage equality, is that correct? >> if you'll let me finish.

you're my brother in christ so i forgive you and i thank you for that and we'll learn and show people how to act as christians. to your question. i would like to address this to my fellow americans who are gay, lesbian and transgender. i want to say to them specifically that those of us who oppose same-sex marriage do so as a matter of faith, those of it who oppose it on faith reasons, that is. and it's not because we think you're different or your less than or you're not right or you're other or something that's insidious like that. i know that offends me personally. and someone like myself, michael, and why i was so upset about your rant. if you look at my record on this, i support hate crimes legislation for people that would abuse or hurt gays and lesbians. i support the civil unions. i support adoption. i support them being able to visit their loved one in the hospital. there are people like me of faith that don't agree with same-sex marriage for the faith reason, the biblical reason, the definition of a man and a woman

being married, but i also support a lot about the agenda. >> but you're a man of faith. >> i've been an ordained baptist minister for over 33 years. and i think my point is that we can interpret the bible literally. the real culprit is the biblical interpretation that is literal. so when sophia refers to as marriage between a man and a woman, we know marriage was a complicated affair. it's evolved over the last several centuries in a very complicated fashion. it's not just one man and one woman. it's being polygamy, it's been homosexual marriage that had to be banned at a certain point. my point is, we don't take the bible literally. the bible says in leviticus that if somebody is gay, they ought to be killed. i don't think sophia nelson is promoting the biblical interpretation that gay and lesbian people should be killed. if she doesn't, she doesn't take the bible literally. >> i do take the bible literally, but i'm not a theologian and i'm not a pastor so i'm not going to argue that with you. the reason i'm here tonight is

because you called people of faith sexual rednecks and bigots. >> that's no what i said. >> we can play the tape. michael, my turn to talk. all i'm saying, brother, is that those of us who are coming from a faith perspective -- >> so am i. you keep dividing -- >> no, you're dividing. you called names, michael. >> am i coming from a faith perspective? >> in your opinion, you are. >> now, obama is not -- >> obama had my position for eight years, until he changed it two weeks ago. >> when white christians are ask, is obama -- when franklin graham was asked, is obama a christian, he says, he says he is. >> are you telling me i'm not a man of faith? >> i believe you're a christian. >> so that people of faith can disagree? >> so why would you call us names because we disagreed? >> when i said sexual rednecks and sexual bigots, i quoted howard. you're throwing them a bone by

saying, look i, i believe in civil unions and the like, but what you're not addressing is the fact that your faith fuels the belief that to be gay is to be automatically a sinner. to be gay is to be outside the covenant of god. and i'm arguing that that already disqualified gay and lesbian and bisexual and transgender people as your equals in the faith, and i think that's a bigoted position. >> may i speak to that? >> i don't think it's bigoted for me, a catholic, for a muslim, or for a jew. all of those texts, the koran, the torah, the bible, all define marriage as between male and female. jesus says in matthew, if you want to go bible, we can go there. we can go to romans 1, michael, it's consistent. i don't want to argue faith with you, but you cannot say that our faith is causing us to be homophobic or bigoted, because the bible itself defines this -- your issue's with god, brother, not with me. >> we will continue this discussion in round two, because

she makes a very interesting point that president obama saw the world she sees it right now on this issue until a week ago. i think the political -- that's where the political -- >> but it's the undercurrent. jesus says if your eye offends, you cut it off. if your hand offends, you cut it off. >> they're still friends, folks. thank you for joining us tonight. and you will not believe who is supporting scott walker. i'm going to give a wake-up call to some labor guys an ex on "the ed show." stay with us.

coming up, new poll numbers out of wisconsin need to be a wake-up call for democrats. my commentary is next.

welcome back to "the ed show." 20 days before the wisconsin recall election, democrats are facing an uphill battle. in a brand-new marquette

university poll, governor scott walker leads milwaukee mayor tom barrett by six points, 50 to 44. that's a hard number. the milwaukee -- or the marquette poll comes on the heels of a ppp poll giving walker a five-point lead. now, those numbers are disappointing to millions of americans across the country who want to see this union-busting governor get knocked out of office. 39% of union households, what, 39% of union households are backing scott walker? hold the phone. 39% of union households back a plant who want to kill unions and turn wisconsin into a right to work state. i just find that absolutely amazing. democrats, this is the real deal. it's wake-up time. citizens united is winning in the state of wisconsin right now. it's time for every democrat, including president obama, to get in the game. the numbers say you have to do

that, mr. president. according to the marquette poll, president obama is now tied with mitt romney in the badger state. yes, citizens united is working. scott walker are outspending the democrats 25 to 1, using his money to lie and confuse the public. dnc chair debbie wasserman schultz says she hopes to get to wisconsin, but it might be too late. she wants to go there for a fund-raiser. well, they have asked for $500,000 for ground operations. sources tell me the dnc could cut the check tonight. what's the holdup? over 100,000 people have signed a online petition asking wasserman schultz and the dnc to help. it is a serious political s.o.s. democrats, wake up. this will be a template on how to defeat labor in this country. it will be a template on how to defeat the middle class in america. this is a big election and i won't let go of it. tonight in our survey, i

asked you, who understands the needs of the middle class. 98% of you say president obama, 2% of you say mitt romney. coming up, public education under attack all across america, by the republicans. just look at their budget. but in connecticut, republicans and democrats actually worked together on education reform. dan malloy and randi weingarten will join me next. we're coming right back. great! tyler here will show you everything.

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but the long debate is over. and the new beginning has just begun. we will win this battle. >> this might be a model for america. welcome back to "the ed show." that was connecticut governor dan malloy yesterday, before signing a massive education reform bill into law. with public education under fire in this country, with funding getting cut all over the place, with teachers under attack, connecticut has proven that reform can happen. and it can happen with bipartisan support and it can happen with giving teachers a seat at the table. $100 million will be spent on improving connecticut schools with the focus on low-performing city schools. there will be also more opportunities for early childhood education and low-income communities. that is vital. and there will be performance evaluations for school principles, teachers, and administrators.

how do they get this done in this political climate? republicans and democrats actually working together? and they got there with the input from teachers. "the hartford courant" reports that during the bill's early stages, lawmakers were criticized for listening to union leaders, and it turns out keeping teachers in the loop was beneficial. i'm joined tonight by randi weingarten, the president of the american federation of teachers and connecticut governor, dan malloy. great to have both of you here. governor, you first. how confident were you that you were going to be able to get an agreement with all the players at the table and how hard was it to do? >> well, making change is hard. that's a reality. but i was confident we could get to a package that i could support and that everyone could support. the biggest danger to democracy and the hallmark of that danger would be a permanent underclass without hope. that's what we started to create for a period of time. and i think we're going to correct that behavior and understand that all of our children can learn and we've got to adapt and change and work together and we've got to hold parents, teachers, and students accountable, along with school

administrators. >> weingarten, it's about the money. what happens here? >> i have to give a lot of credit to the governor and legislative leadership in connecticut, because this was a very ambitious agenda, to do a lot of things at the same time, and what the governor realized is, you can't do this without an investment. is that's why there's an investment in early childhood, in the wraparound services, and in the wherewithal to do the turning around of low-performing schools and the kind of continuous evaluation and development that teachers need to be, to improve their craft. >> governor malloy, why didn't you just cut 6,000 teachers the way your guy over in new jersey did, chris christie. why didn't you go down that road? >> a year ago, i plugged a hole in funding that would have done that. if you take money out of schools, they're not going to perform as well as they need to perform.

we all need to get real serious about helping poor kids learn. and we've got to change the way we do it. we know what works. we've got to be willing to invest in it. early childhood is a big part of that. randi has some great ideas. we brought randi to the state to talk to us about what it would take to turn schools around. she's a national leader and has done so much on this issue and this has been a process. there were some elbows thrown in connecticut, there were some ruffled feathers. i probably ruffled some of those feathers. but the reality is, we got the deal done and are in a position to do something other stats aren't doing right now. >> what's the biggest change, randi? >> the biggest change is that the government and the legislative leadership trusted that we get to the end and do what we needed to do for the benefit of the children. so the eyes were on, how are we going to help kids in a state that doesn't have unlimited money, but how are we going to target the resources and do the four or five things we have to do to turn around school. so the real story here is that

connecticut became the model of collaboration in terms of the policy. now the hard work starts in terms of really doing the work in this bill. >> governor, did you have to cut jobs to get this done? >> no, we're not looking to cut jobs. i had the biggest per capita deficit of all 50 states, just over a year ago. we went a different way. it was too big to tax our way out and too big to cut our way out, and yes, we had to change some of our relationships, but we got that job done. that's why we're committed to turning around the 30 low-performing districts and the 25 lowest performing schools and that's why we're going to do this together as opposed to trying to divide and conquer. >> quickly, randi, is this a national model? >> this is a great model of cooperation and working together both in terms of developing policy and moving forward. i give the governor and connecticut a lot of props. compare that to what's going on