this. my friend, magic johnson owns the dodgers. god is good, ed. >> i think he like the dodgers. great to have you with us tonight. >> that's "the ed show." "the rachel maddow show" starts now. ezra cline filling in. thank you for staying for the next hour. everything old is new again. they claim the candidate mitt romney flew from jacksonville to palm beach in florida yesterday. that wasn't the only 2008 flash back this week. >> is do believe the economy, jobs, national security are by far the most pressing issue facing the country today. i also feel that every candidate needs to be fully vetted. that's something the mainstream

media failed to do back in 2008 with barack obama. >> that is the conservative narrative about what went wrong the last election that barack obama was never properly vetted. the media never fully checked him out. if the american people only known the truth back in '08. they would have never made the terrible decision to elect him as president, which is perhaps why so much of this news felt very familiar. >> i don't know whether barack obama was born in the united states or not. i don't know. but i do know this, that in his heart he's not an american. he's just not an american. >> i believe that the president was born in hawaii. or at least i hope he was. my responsibility as secretary of state is to make sure that the ballots in arizona are

correct and that those people whose names are on the ballot have met the qualifications for the office they are seeking. >> it's on barack obama, the first african-american president of harvard law was born in kenya and raise ed indonesia and hawa. it's from a book promotion put out by his literary agent that barack obama approved of. >> in spite of a confession from the book agent that the error was hers alone, birtherism is alive and well. also bubbling up from last election cycle, obama's long severed relationship with

jeremiah wright. he explained when he saw it, if the nation had seen that ad, they never have elected barack obama. the reemergence of reverend wright has spawned the reemergence conspiracy, that obama is a secret muslim. >> when i asked the reverend wright about this whole question of islam and christianity, he said barack obama was steeped in islam. he knew a lot about islam from his childhood. he knew very little about christianity. i made it easy for him to feel not guilty about learning about christianity without turning his back on his islamic friends. >> what does that mean? >> then i said to him, did you convert him from -- >> you did ask him that. i remember. >> i said did you convert him? >> he said it's hard to tell.

>> so barack obama once again a secret muslim born in kenya influenced by a anti-american pastor. it's all new again. to be clear, this is not what mitt romney wants his campaign to be about. he's way too smart for this. he does not want to hit redo on the whackiest parts of 2008. the romney campaign is firmly focused on making this election be about what is happening now. making this about the economy. the last thing romney wants to be doing which he had to do yesterday is talk about things that distract from that message. things like reverend wright. that's like 2008 too. this was the exact same tension that john mccain had to deal with in '08, distancing himself from the attack lines that they wanted to resurrect. >> he's been going to the church for 20 years. his pastor, the church gave a lifetime achievement award to

one of biggest racist, would you go to a church where your pastor supported him. >> obviously, that would not be my choice. i do know senator obama. he does not share those views. >> senator mccain paused for the long sigh. they also had to reject the birther argument. john mccain had to defend his opponent in the he's a secret muslim. >> i can't trust him. i've read about him and he's an arab. he's not -- >> no ma'am. >> no? >> no, ma'am. he's a decent, family man citizen is that just have disagreements with. he's not. >> mitt romney finds himself not

only in the same plane but in the same boat as his pred seser. >> funny how that works. >> why is this coming back? what do folks feel the actual upside is going to be? in '08, the idea was they didn't have much to attack him on. he's been president for a while. >> i think that's part of what, if i wanted to tell the most reasonable story, a story that didn't include my own version of this sort of narrative of people being out to get you then my story would just say, look, the fact is that the economy is getting better in ways that point toward re-election. he's moving down toward that 8% unemployment which he set out and the romney campaign set out. he's had significant foreign policy successes. when looking at the domestic and

foreign policy successes of this president, they figure better to go on the attack of him being scary and foreign. that's really me be the most charitable that i can be the there's an assumption that the american people are swayed by the most base and crass emotional sort of racial attacks and attacks that are about making the president seem as though he's, as we heard, not an american. >> i woernder if it's really so thought out. i think one of the challenges mitt romney has or the republicans have is there's in conservative echo chamber and the vision that you have of barack obama has become so divorced from reality is a guy who needs a teleprompter to

speak. it's led them in odd direction strategy wise. whn you go to middle america and people who are not in that echo chamber and launch this kind of thing, it turns them right off. >> i do think some of this has to do -- i agree. i also think, as i watch cajohn mccain in that moment, despite the fact that's a candidate who i never supported and with whom i disagree on fundamental issues, i can look at that and smile. i can say that's a good moment for that candidate. that's a person behaving as a state's person. i do have to ask, what is it about president obama that makes it so difficult for his opponents to see any sort of humanity or any sort of american shared identity because it's part of what president obama did so beautifully in 2008 as candidate was to take his biography and make it shared.

>> i guess that is what i can't figure out. i think a lot of it is sincere. if they try to kick him off the ballot, it's going to be a huge issue that will derail romney out of week. it seems out of party loyalty, he would quiet down. >> maybe the idea is to get us con fronting this instead of something else. we're going to talk tomorrow about the jeremiah wright moment. we'll point out that maybe the leak is the story. it was never going to be a strategy, but it was going to be a leak to get these days of coverage and get us to be the ones talking about it. perhaps there's something else we're not talking about. >> melissa harris-perry, i'll see you tomorrow morning. >> glad to have you.

>> you can catch the show saturdays and sundays from 10:00 to noon eastern. thank you for being here. still ahead, nobel prize winner will be here. plus a real live republican senator. stick around. ♪ how are things on the west coast? ♪ ♪ i hear you... ♪ rocky mountain high ♪ rocky, rocky mountain high ♪ ♪ all my exes live in texas ♪ ♪ born on the bayou

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mitt romney, let me introduce you to how things in the economy really are. things in the economy, let me introduce you to mitt romney. that's coming up next. blan with the spark miles card from capital one, sven's home security gets the most rewards of any small business credit card! how does this thing work? oh, i like it! [ garth ] sven's small business earns double miles on every purchase, every day! woo-hoo!!! so that's ten security gators, right?

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iowa. it billed the event as a speech about the sorry state of the u.s. economy. >> america counted on president obama to rescue the economy, tame a deficit and help create jobs. half the kids that are graduating from college can't find a job that uses their skills. half. the length of time it takes an unemployed worker to find a job is the longest on record. we can prosper again with a powerful recovery we've all been waiting for. the good jobs that so many still need. >> president obama has failed on jobs. that was the message from mitt romney in iowa. it was a message that was just slightly undercut when news organizations began pointing out that the iowa economy is not so bad. iowa has the lowest unemployment rates in the country. the unemployment rate has dropped to 5.1%.

earlier this month mitt romney took his campaign to virginia. he railed against president obama for how horrible the economy is right now. >> he says he measures progress by whether we're creating jobs that allow people to pay mortgages. he hasn't been creating jobs. they have not been doing what they do to create jobs in virginia. >> he's failed to create jobs in virginia. that's a good sounding message. it's a good campaign but it's undercut by the fact the unemployment rate has fallen from 7.3% at the beginning of 2010 to 5.6% now. virginia governor bob mcdonald who was standing next to mitt romney has released $400,000 worth of job ads talking about how good the economy is. the basis of his message is that

it was worse by obama's policies and we should hire romney to fix it. in all of these states that he's traveling to, not only is it gets better but there's republicans in the states that want to take credit for it. mitt romney and ohio's governor met with a group of college kids there. mr. romney pushing the awful message tried to prod the college kids into talking about how awful it is. >> i've seen some numbers that were just published about the number of young people that are getting jobs and that are getting jobs that are consistent with their skill level. it says only about half of america's graduating seniors are able to find work or find work that's up to their skill. are you seeing a better record than that or are you seeing a lot of folks finding it difficult to find a good spot?

>> right. probably a lot of folks having a difficult time. then ohio governor stepped in and stepped all over mitt romney's message. >> we have a website called ohio needs jobs. there's probably about 80,000 jobs listed on there where there are jobs. you need to tell your friends and ohio needs jobs. if you look through that you'll find a lot of real exciting opportunities. >> you can almost see the pain on mitt romney's face as john kasich is talking about how many jobs are available in the state. he was asked about that contradiction after the event. >> it's almost like there were conflicting messages. romney's message was we got to

bring jobs here. we're really hurting. obama administration has failed everywhere, including ohio. then you're saying, we got all these jobs going on. we're creating jobs like crazy. >> i've told -- first of all, we are creating a lot of jobs. >> he's right. ohio is creating jobs. the unemployment rate slowly ticking down as it is all over the country. 48 states have seen a drop in unemployment rates. this can be an inconvenient truth particularly if you are mitt romney. it's republicans in the states that are complaining the economy better. republican governor kerry of iowa. rick schneider of michigan. republican governor scott walker of wisconsin. it may be even worse than he thinks. earlier today the conservative texas public policy foundation attempted to brag about how

great the economy is under rick perry. the vice president of communications tweeted texas has been adding jobs now for 21 consecutive months. 21. that is impressive. benjy says it's been 26 months nationally. they take sole credit for jobs and blame others for job loss. europe as you'll hear about will have a lot to do with our job creation this year. mitt romney can hardly say that. he could say that while the economy is getting better, it's getting better slowly than any of us will like but job growth could have been faster does not have the ring that obama hasn't been creating jobbed.

mitt romney has been very red scent about what he would have done. mitt romney has a bit of a message problem. just, uh, checking out my ad. nice. but, y'know, with every door direct mail from the postal service, you'll find the customers that matter most: the ones in your neighborhood. print it yourself or find a local partner. and postage is under 15 cents. i wish i would have known that cause i really don't think i chose the best location. it's not so bad... i mean you got a deal... right? [ bird cries ] go online to reach every home, every address, every time with every door direct mail. is the pain reliever orthopedic doctors recommend most for arthritis pain, think again. and take aleve. it's the one doctors recommend most for arthritis pain. two pills can last all day. ♪ and i thought "i can't do this, it's just too hard."

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once upon a time, stephen held the record for the pafartht

flight by a paper aircraft. he gave his plane a name. he spent the entire summer working on his throwing arm and in september '03, he set a record of 207 feet and four inches. the record held for nine years until this february. >> there it is. there it is. we are all over that one. that's going to do it. get up there, get up there. that thrower is 27-year-old joe. a former quarterback president he threw that plane 226 feet and ten inches. i'll do the math for you. he won by 19 feet, six inches. huge. straightforward.

you hold a record and a better guy comes along and takes it from you. the guy on the right in the blue shirt folded that paper airplane. he's known as the paper airplane guy. he's designed lots of differents kind of aircraft. he's put his own paper airplane app out. he says he didn't have a good enough arm to go the dance. he outsourced it. the quarterback and the paper engineer share the record. stephen is a little miffed. the now 23-year-old mechanical engineer is not saying it's invalid but bringing in a proxy doesn't sit right with him. competitive paper airplane flying had always been in any mind, what can one person do with one piece of paper. using a ringer is problematic. i don't think that's the spirit of the competition. he didn't break any rules.

some call it a clever way to win the record. what this comes down to is not what is fair, but what feels fair. not all playing fields are level. sometimes you think you're throwing a cleverly folded piece of paper under the same circumstances as everybody else and suddenly you find you're not. there's other bigger news that brings up questions of fairness and whether we're playing the same game. that's coming up later in the show. ♪

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...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. don't look now but there's something funny going on over there at the bank. i've never seen one but that's got all the earmarks of being a run. >> that's a clip from the christmastime classic, it's a wonderful life. it's also a time capsule to look back at the great depression. it was shot in the early to mid-1940s. he remembered what it looked like.

that clip is what a lot of it looked like to ordinary ameri n american. that was a bank run. it's a self-fulfilling collapse of confidence. people become worried that the bank won't have enough money to pay them back. it won't give them their money. they run to take it out of the bank. banks aren't like a giant safe where everyone's money sits. a lot of money is loaned out. here is jimmy stewart explaining why his bank couldn't give everyone their money back. >> i'll take mine now. >> now. you're thinking of this place all wrong as if i had the money back in safe. the money's not here. your money is in joe's house. that's next to yours and the kennedy house and a hundred others. >> whether the bank run was justified in the first place, the fact of a bank run makes the fears valid. even if everything had been just fine, now the bank can't pay

everyone back because they never expected everyone to deputies man demand their money at once so it collapses. people hear about the bank collapsing and they worried will happen to them. they run to get their money out of the bank taking down another and another. the united states used to have a lot of bank runs but after the depression, we ended them once and for all. the fdic ensures all bank deposit today. if bank collapses, the government gives you your money back. what's going on in europe is bank run with a twist. it's a country run. the run began with greece. they lied about their budget situation. turned out they were deep, deep, deep, deep into debt. at the beginning this didn't scare investors too much. they thought the e rururo zone

an fdic. they thought they would get their money, but they were wrong. the run is in the financial market where investors don't want to loan them money and in their banks where ordinary greeks took out 7 million euros on monday alone. greece is tiny so what cares if it defaults. if one endebted country goes down, will the next? what about portugal or ireland or spain. sud seasonally it's become easy to see,000 euro, that grand flawed experiment could come pa apart at the seams. things could fall apart within months, not years. economics and more important political could be huge. joining us now is nobel prize winning economist and the author

of end this depression now. it's a new book that i've read, which is fantastic. thank you for being here. >> okay. hi. >> first, because you're smarter than me and you know this issue better than me. are there any corrections? did i mislead the audience about what's going on in europe? >> the one thing i would say is this is not jimmy stewart's bank. the trouble is there's a real problem. it's that greece is fundamentally incapable of paying. unless there's a change, so are spain and italy. it's a panic on top of an underlying policy and bad policies. on the part of europe as a whole. this isn't just a matter of calming things down. they have to change things in a much more fundamental way. >> what happens to us if the

euro falls apart? >> the first question is where does it stop? if it's just greece then that's bad, but it can be contained. if it spreads, the worry is this will take out spain, italy and portugal, which will happen if the bank doesn't provide trillions of euros of cash and say enough of this austerity business, we're going to provide some growth so you can grow your way out of this. if that doesn't happen, the whole euro breaks up. it's going to be bad for the european economy. it's going to hit u.s. exports, which is serious because we export a lot but not that much. we only sell about 2% of what we make to europe. the question is does this spread to where it disrupts financial

markets here too? does this turn into a super version of the fall of lehman brothers. i think the european central bank can contain that bit. i think the federal reserve can probably contain it here. i wish i was 100% certain of that. the last thing to say is the political consequences. the european project, europe as place of prosperty, peace and democracy, if that falls apart it's going to be uncomfortable for the next generation. >> you've been talking about how in order to get past this crisis, germany and the european central bank need to become more comfortable with inflation. i think folks think of it as bad. how would inflation help? what would that do? >> the most important thing right now is that there was a huge bubble, not so different

from the bubbles here. there was a huge bubble in southern europe which led to their costs and their prices getting out of line. right now you have spain is probably 30% too expensive relative to germany. that needs to come down. if it comes down through deflation in spain that's devastating. it also means the burden of their debt becomes worse. if a significant part takes place not through deflation in spain in inflation in germany, that's a much more feasible solution. it's still going to be painful for spain. it's going to be painful for italy. it turns it from pain that will kill their economy to pain that's tolerable. plus a little bit of inflation reduces that burdens everywhere.

inflation helps there too. that's the reason why we could use more inflation too. the europeans crucially. if they cannot make this adjustment if overall inflation will be below 2%, that's the end of euro. >> paul krugman. thank you for much for your time. >> thank you. still ahead, i will talk to real live republican senator about stuff we might actually agree about. but not how we get there. because in this business, there are no straight lines. only the twists and turns of an unpredictable industry. so the eighty-thousand employees at delta... must anticipate the unexpected. and never let the rules overrule common sense. this is how we tame the unwieldiness of air travel, until it's not just lines you see... it's the world.

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there's a kind of war going on in the republican party over the question, what do republicans care about more? reducing the deficit or cutting taxes. things two things are in conflict because in order to reduce deficit republicans need to make deals with democrats. in order to cut deals with democrats they'll have to put revenues on the table. those republicans who are solely concerned with taxes have a leader. they have a general, a powerful

unelected enforcer who has achieved a mythological status. he is grover norquist. >> since creating tax reform, he's been responsible more than anyone else for rewriting the dogma of the republican party. >> republicans won't raise your taxes. we haven't had a republican vote for a income tax increase since 1990. >> this was your doing? >> i helped. >> reporter: it began with a simple idea of getting republicans to sign a note of taxpayer protection pledge promising their constituents they would never vote for anything that would make their taxes go up. >> speaker gingrich's tax pledge back in 1998. >> reporter: once they sign the pledge, grover never forgets. the more signatures he's collected, the more his influence has grown. >> i think to win a republican

primary it is difficult to imagine somebody winning a primary without taking the pledge. >> that was cbs steve kroft talking to grover back in november. since then dick luger face add primary challenger. his name was richard murdock. he was one of those republicans that refused to sign the pledge and he endorsed murdock. last week luger was defeated. he only endorsed him a week before the primary. his no-taxes pledge gets a public relations boost. republicans become more afraid of it. it becomes more powerful. that pledge says not only can you not raise the tax rate but even if you close a tax loophole, that money can't go to the deficit. it has to go back into a tax cut

or else he will consider that a tax mike. for years and years he was an unchallenged force.ike. for years and years he was an unchallenged force.hike. for years and years he was an unchallenged force. arguably the most conservative republican in the senate broke rank. >> if people's taxes go up, would it appear to be a violation of the pledge you sign. would well known americans this is is a group you signed the pledge with. the second piece of this is that you vow to oppose any net reduction or elimination and credits unless matched dollar for dollar reducing tax rates. if taxes go up in some capacity, would now not be in violation? >> which pledge is most important? the pledge to uphold your oath

to the constitution of the united states or a pledge from a special interest group who claims to speak for all american conservatives which they don't. >> a lot of people thought he was crazy for launching this fight but he's not alone. in politico, a small but increasingly vocal group of republican freshman are rejecting the idea. other freshman members have been struggling with the pledge. you don't want to be the only house republican to break the pledge. you can be one of many who jump to make a deal. it seems that more and more republicans might be preparing themselves to make that jump down the road. joining us now is oklahoma

republican senator. author of the debt bomb. a bold plan to stop washington from bankrupting america. thank you for being here. >> good to be with you. >> you're a conservative guy. what do they say about your attitude against the pledge? >> it's a nonfactor. just some constructive criticism. i think it's overblown by the press. we agree that the government shouldn't grow. we want the lowest tax rates we can have. we don't want to raise taxes on anybody. simpson bowles had me and senator greg on it. we voted for reforming the tax code which would raise revenues. we had 33 senators vote to eliminate the ethanol blending tax credit. it's overblown. we want to foix the problems in the country.

our problem with the grover tax pledge is he randomly picks what he decides is a tax increase. i would tell you that eliminating tax credits and tax gimmicks and loopholes is eliminating spending. it's not raising taxes. >> i think this is an important point. the tax code has these things called tax expenditures. they give people money to help buy a house. they give oil companies money. they are bigger than medicare. they are huge. it's more than a trillion dollars according to tax policy center. alan greenspan says he should be considering spending. do you consider them spending. >> i do. >> one thing that can be hard to figure out given there's been

many republicans who have signed the pledge is it is just then a negotiating position? you mention it behind closed doors. there have been to varying degrees willingness on the side of republicans to raise taxes above where they are now in part of a large deficit deal. if it's overblown, what should people take of the fact that so many republicans have signed it? >> i'm not sure. i don't think indiana, grover had any bearing in indiana. most of it was about repealing the affordable care act, not about taxes. it was about not spending money that we didn't have on things we don't absolutely need. what i would say is the reason we're stuck on senator isn't grover. the reason we're stuck on center is we haven't heard from the administration what they're willing to give in terms of entitlement reform, saving medicare, saving social security and what can we do to reform the

tax code so the revenues to the government come up. they are historically too low. most people agree with that. the point is what we have the is tremendous advantage. last week the flood snurinsuran bill that i held up. it's got a billion dollars worth of subsidies for home insurance for people second and vacation homes on the coast. hard working american factory workers and service workers pay and subsidize somebody's second vacation home. that's spending in the tax code. if you eliminate that subsidy, you're raising taxes. >> you're a member of the fiscal commission. it's productive and came out with bills. when you and your fellow republicans get together with democrats behind closed doors, is there more agreement than people just watching what

happens in public in washington? >> by far. when we all get together and talk and the cameras aren't rolling and the press isn't there, everybody knows we'll have to do a lot of changes to medicare. everybody knows we'll have to reform social security we have social security sustainable in the long run. how do you get the mix of change and the entitlement programs and the reform and the tax code? nobody said it shouldn't be progressive and how do we make sure someone on social security has enough money to survive if that's their own source of income? how do we do those things and where is the bargain? the rest of the world is not going to loan us the money. why don't we do it now rather than piddle around from the politics of today. >> oklahoma senator and author of the debt bomb which is very good. you should take a look at it. coming up next, facebook, the haves and the have notes.

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fashionable the first time. this was before beautiful day and i still haven't found what i'm looking for. a bit about your eyes make a circle. i don't know what that means in english, but it transitions into a lot of record sales and a fair amount of money. the middle age bono with the humanity and the large sized fortune became incredibly fantastically rich, quite possibly the richest musician in the world. it's not as a reward for philanthropy or his music. it's because of this. facebook went public today. the company sold stock for the first time. the initial public offering, the ipo, the acronym of art. it became a $100 billion company. along with other lucky people, that made bono richer than rich. his use of wealth, hoe had to

fuel a private equity fund called elevation partners, he invested in start ups like yelp and facebook. he bought a small stake a few years ago for a small fortune of $90 million. depending on how it fares, that stands to be an enormous fortune now, well more than a billion. bono being bono said he will use most of the money for his charity work from africa and in a real sense what they and all the other early investors are doing is good for the economy and great even. their willingness helping companies is what gets the companies off the ground that. investor might have been another kid in a dorm with a good idea that kept crashing the servers. one of the features is that the company did set aside stocks for ordinary folks to buy. you could conceivably have

bought a splinter, not even a hair or deliver of a facebook stock, but to get in early when it wasn't a $100 billion company, you have to be rich and well-connect and have millions to begin with and the kind of guy that every entrepreneur in silicon valley would do back flips with. you take that call. everybody would take that call. this really is a story of modern equality in america. the rich getting richer and more powerful and more well connected. when you hear that line, the rich getting richer, this is how they do it. this is a story of modern income and equality. the people got rich in the early investments are not smarter than everyone else and work harder than cops and teachers and truck drivers, but most of them don't even know how to code. you can lock them in a room for a year and they would never

approach anything that went to 1,000 forces. consider the twins that stole the idea for facebook. they wouldn't be in the story at all if they didn't land in the elite school like harvard and they made millions over having the idea stolen and if you haven't checked in with them lately, they are making more money selling pistachios on tv because they are the really rich facebook guys. pay them more and put them on tv. there is no moral judgment here. not a moral question why it is that they get to be a technology mogul. not a matter of right and wrong. you and i couldn't invest in facebook three years ago. that is a thing thaw don't have to worry about inequality of income. with enough inequality of income, there is nothing approaching equality of opportunity. it buys you and your children

opportunities. i don't mean to pick on facebook. i love facebook and i use it every day. you can like my page. i beg you to like my page, but today in addition being a site i'm addicted to, it is the metaphor for "the insider" outsider dynamic at work. you and i create the content that gives facebook value. every time we post a picture or like or share things or play games or change our relationship status facebook gives us a way to do that. hundreds of millions of us give facebook value. we made it a $100 billion company. it is "the insider" who is got the cash money out of the value. it is not in the main your aunt or uncle who bought a couple of shares. it's the lawsuit and it is wonderful pistachios. it is the rich getting much richer. i don't want to like that. that does it for us tonight. rachel will be