those other olympic games let's play hall. good evening. i'm chris matthews from washington. let me start with this war and peace the president announced today. listening to the president earlier today i got the clear impression that we, the united states, are doing every everything we can to avoid a shooting war with the islamic world. if we are in such an active war we could well unleash consequences that are impossible to see but imaginable as hell on

earth. each a treaty with israel. monarchy and jordan with the libya tilting war to the militant side and who knows what coming our way here in america thanks to the sleeper cells. war and peace. that's how the president laid it out today and we need to talk with it with andrea mitchell and david corn. you know, olympics games, i use that term because that was the code word. for the george w. bush plan, to cripple the iranian nuclear program through high-tech hacking into it. >> because the iranian nuclear program is not on the internet this actually required having an agent insert a thumb drive as david describes in his book, confront and conceal, it was actually inserting mechanisms into the center fusions in iran, in teheran and giving us a

mirror image and israelis whom we brought in noo this, what was happening in the nuclear plant. it was previously suspected or inferred -- >> i thought with a was all covered -- >> so did we until we read the book not denied by anyone. >> you are a president watcher. don't you think, i don't know if you could go this far, i don't know if he gave it all away, the way he treated it with such gravity, leaks, the anger about the way he did it was become a statement, hey, this is what we're doing and i don't want it out there. >> in fact, what mike rogers, chairman of the house intelligence committee who is completely nonpartisan in all of this and given high marks bit white house democrats, he is saying that did not think the president was tough enough in sending a tough enough signal to his aides, cut it out, stop it, this cannot take place, the

leaks np is an ongoing -- >> good point. let's watch. this is president obama who he accused of leaking information national security. this very thing, cyber attacks targeting iran's nuclear program. this came to light last week in the new york times. here is the president on it today. >> as commander-in-chief, the issu issues that you have mentioned touch on our national security. touch on critical issues of war and peace. and they are classified for a reason. because they are sensitive. and because the people involved may in some cases be in danger, if they are carrying out some of these missions. >> that was some response to david, to a question about david

jackson of usa today, it is a rare that you hear a president as smart as this guy thinking outloud. he is trying to deal with something so close to the bone, that he didn't have a pr sheet to hand out on this or talking points. he is trying to figure out in realtime how do t.o deal with this sensitive. >> when there are leaks in washington, there are different reasons. usually it is to do someone in or maybe bush guys wanted to have credit for it. there were sources in israel and europe that worked on this project. he does site presidential officials. >> sure. he had someone in the room with vice president biden. >> there is a reason to leak this stuff. maybe the program has run its course, we don't know. but if the administration want israel and the rest of the world to know we are doing something very real to slow down our -- >> who knows if they are involved. >> well, the israeli public as well. it takes off pressure for

military strike. this makes it harder for the neocons to say, nothing is happening with, we can't stop them unless we bomb them. >> this was through implication, i believe, but he said the idea that his white house would leak information purposefully about a serious matter was offensive. let's watch. >> the notion that my white house would purposefully release classified national security information is offensive. it's wrong. we're dealing with issues that can touch on the safety and security of the american people. our families. or our military personnel or our allies. and so we don't play with that. >> we don't play with that. you know, it's hard not to be cynical in politics. well, i think he meant it.

i think he was hurt that anybody would say he is out there hot dogging on an issue like this. >> he was responding to what john mccain said. john mccain is the one person who said they did this, white house officials leaked this and other covert operations -- >> he is from the same bag. >> he is putting them all in the same bag. and saying that the white house leaked this to make the president look more macho for the campaign. they are demanding a special prosecutor. they are demanding the justice department, called in bi director, head of intelligence. they are upset. they say it is unconscionable that details information and prior bush years as well, were all they believe, leaked .

david sang arer, it was his reporting, and when it was reported that a worm infected the computers, we all started suggesting it was israel with u.s. help but what sanger had was the work after really fine reporter. >> let me go about something that worries me. i'm an american citizen, beside sitting here, i worry about war. they say in court, david, never ask a question unless you know the answer. don't start a war unless you know the consequences. it seems we don't know the consequences. i ran through a number of areas that might happen. there is obvious complicit and achieve some level of success in crippling the program at the cost of several hundred lives. they have to do it. we have to support them. p happens. if that happens, it would seem that whatever government they are in automatically thinks about reneginreneging.

then you look the the new government of libya. everyone tilts to the far anger against us. >> the president was asked again and again and again, to oversee and give his, you know, his okay, as the probing got more intense and probed deeper into iran. same way we heard about the kill list and drones and everything. so one reason he is doing that is because he want to do everything possible to avoid what -- >> shooting war. that's how i got it today. >> he might take more risks in this angle to prevent the possibility -- >> this tells me that it's gotten to the point, unless he came up with another way it stop the nuclear pr dwram. even he, a man of the center left on foreign policy, on many ways, will have to act. andrea mitchell, thank you, have a nice weekend. we finally got last fall. coming up, other big issue

in today's news conference. jobs. what is the president saying today? i'm saying it's time for the president to promote something big. like that commercial where the director want it blow up that ship. i want something big. if you have a do-nothing congress, make them do nothing about something important at least. . and steel. our cloud is the smartest brains combating the latest security threats. it spans oceans, stretches continents. and is scalable as far as the mind can see. our cloud is the cloud other clouds look up to. welcome to the uppernet.

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welcome back to "hardball." today president obama argued for congress to pass again finally the american jobs act on the table over there since september of last year. let's listen to the president today. >> last september i sent congress a detailed jobs plan full of the bipartisan ideas that would have put more americans back to work. it had broad support from the american people, it was fully paid for, and if congress had passed it in full, we'd be on track to have a million more americans working this year.

the unemployment rate would be lower. our economy would be stronger. of course, congress refused to pass this jobs plan in full. and in light of the headwinds that we are facing right now, i urge them to reconsider. >> my take on this is that it is time for the president to go big and force the republicans to say no to a big jobs bill, but actually put millions of people back to work. and we are joined by our guest, monique from the washington post, and joan walsh who is a msnbc political analyst. joan, i have to start with you with what is left in the so-called american jobs bill and it has a nice cover on it, and we like the term american and jobs and bill is okay if it is passed, but sense it is not passed you can call it anything that you want, the american jobs thought or american jobs notion. >> and prayer. >> perfect. and it has not been passed.

and what if the president as i have said no to spam, because that is what we used to eat when we were poor, the little thing that came in the can and why not ask for steak, and they say no, and mitch mcconnell says no, you won't get anything past, because the only thing that is past is the bill i wrote to you. so why not offer a jobs bill that he believes in. public sector and seeded jobs of modern jobs and the fast rail and go big and if he believes that the american sector, as he said today is getting starved. >> well, i think that he will, i hope. >> when! >> soon, tomorrow. seriously though. in september, the jobs ak was a big step forward because the president had been talking way too much about the deficit and bogged down in the debt ceiling debacle and came out in september and announced the plan and the poll numbers consistently started to rise. a couple of things about the jobs act and i defended it to you a couple of weeks ago and i went to look at it, and i could

not find a number. there are lots of little numbers, but it should say on the front page, 6 million or 10 million one page and that is one stupid design thing, but in terms of the sale -- >> well, the economy is $13 trillion in the country and suffered from a slow growth rate of less than 2%. and he thinks that he can goose it up with a jobs bill that is $140 billion and this is less than a half a percent of the economy f. he got every nickel, he would move the economy by less than a half a percent and why does he go for something so small bore that the republicans would say, take it. and the republicans will never say, take it, ever. let me go over to you for this? any other way to analyze this small thinking? >> well, if he goes big, he is going to be easily framed as a big spending liberal. >> what is wrong with that? he is a liberal and needs to spend big. >> and they will talk about the stimulus bill -- >> can't hide who they are. >> yes, they will go after it anyway. >> and i think that is what -- >> but nia --

>> he has never been the full loaf guy, but the half loaf. you are saying that -- >> half a loaf, less than one half of 1%. there is a stimulus bill on the record and health care bill on the record and auto rescue plan on the record and the question is now whether you sell it and believe in it and hide from it. do you believe he can hide from the stimulus plan because of to stupid title stimulus and hide from the auto bailout, because it is a bailout when they should have called it a rescue, and they call it a stimulus bill instead of a jobs bill. nobody goes against a jobs bill. and the shopping of this, and the p.r. of this, and the marketing has been a zero. these programs are good. they did the right thing on health care, and they did the right thing on spending money when they got in there to rescue the economy and the right thing on the auto industry and they ought to say we did the right thing and we should do more of it this term.

to squeamishly say e didn't do that or if you don't bring it up, we won't talk about it and the minute they do that, the romney crowd will that is my speech. you are right. they will call you a big spender and nia is right, they will try to split the difference and he did run as a bipartisan and post partisan guy, and he does not want to be out there as a big spending liberal and trying the best not to be that, but they call him that anyway and this is the big thing about the democrats and even including our old friend bill clinton, they want to act like the not the party of l.b.j. or j.f.k. and bringing down unemployment, and they should not be just accused of it, but do something big and do something for the youth of the country. >> well, you have darth vader on the senate side mitch mcconnell whose only goal is to destroy the guy and on the other side is don knotts who is nervous nelly who is crying or shaking in his boots. who is always taking in the boots because he has a wild party of wild men and women, the

tea party types and he does not want to have supper with pease theme, but they hang around his neck. >> and youhave squeamish democrats, and like claire mccaskill who does not want to say, i just voted against a stimulus. and people have -- he tried to brand this as investment, and the republicans say this is spending. he does not want to be framed as carter or -- >> well, let me tell you that the republicans talk about the huge spending on the defense and the aerospace which is bigger spending than anything else, and what is the difference of the building the highways and national defense highway plan as eisenhower called it and what is wrong with building up a structure in the country that we could get by fast and eisenhower would say it is a defensive move. >> and it is. >> and there is some support for this and the numbers show that people want this stuff to happen, but he does not have the horses in the senate or the congress to make it happen. >> if the you believe in what

you do, the public will buy it and if you don't, they will never buy it. the president tried to champion some of the during his political -- wait, i'm sorry. no, we just put up the wrong prompter, and somebody told me to reintroduce you joan walsh and nia-malik henderson. champion some of the good news in the press conference this morning. the private sector is, quote, doing fine. and here is where the president was stumped. let's watch him. >> we have created 4.3 million jobs over the last 27 months. over 800,000 just this year alone. the private sector is doing fine. where we are seeing the weaknesses in the economy had to do with state and local government. >> the private sector is doing fine, miscue, and a tad eschew as "seinfeld" would says. even mitt can catch this, baby.

let's watch. >> he said that the private sector is doing fine. he said that the private sector is doing fine. is he really that out of touch for the president of the united states to is stand up and say that the private sector is doing fine? that is going to go down in history as extraordinary miscalculation and misunderstanding by a president who is out of touch. >> well, by midafternoon the president had realized he had handed the republicans a gift and tried to clarify the remark. let's watch the president. >> folks who are hurting where we have problems and where we can do even better is small businesses that are having a tough time getting financing. we have seen teachers and police officers and firefighters who have been laid off, all of which by the way when they are laid off spend less money buying the goods and going to the

restaurants. >> well, fighting fire with fire, the democrats seized on this line from mitt romney today where he attacks the president's jobs plan. let's watch. >> his answer for economic vitality by the way was of course pushing aside the private sector which he said is doing fine, an instead, he wants to add more to government, and wants another stimulus and wants to hire more government workers and says we need more firemen and policemen and teachers and did he not get the message in wisconsin, the american people did. it is time to cut back on the government and help the american people. >> you know, it is amazing, ladies to watch the politicians play the constituents, and the president was playing to the teachers union over and over again, teachers, teachers, and in this case they could not resist and he steps on his own headline. thank you both for coming on. have a nice weekend both of you. up next, rick perry. remember him?

well, he was booed by the texas republicans, and he did not recognize the booing sound, because he thought it was something else. that's next in the sideshow. let's motor to the only place that carries our favorite tools... for our favorite people... armed with a budget and a mission... and see what happens when we put those tools to work for us. more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot. right now, get the ryobi four-piece 18-volt super combo kit, just $99 - our lowest price ever. welcome to hotels.com. summer road trip, huh? as the hotel experts, finding you the perfect place is all we do. this summer, save up to 30%, plus get up to $100 on us. welcome to hotels.com.

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we are back with "hardball" and the side show. rick perry may have walked into the texas gop convention yesterday saying he felt he had the home state advantage with the crowd of delegates, but watch what happens when he talks up the lieutenant governor duhurst, the candidate opposed for senate. >> we need more conservative leadership in texas, and we need more conservative texans in washington, d.c., including my friend david duehurst. texas works. texas works. our jobs grew --

>> well, you heard that booing at duhurst and then perry thought that the crowd was with him, until a local reporter asked him about the booing. >> governor, what about the booing? >> i thought they were saying doo. >> well, plenty of republican candidates say they will swoop into washington and rip laws like obama care apart to shreds, and now listen to this republican candidate down there in arizona. >> washington does not get us. we want our borders protected. if they won't do it, we will. we want government out of our lives and out of our pocketbook. government-run health care, we don't want it. we don't need it. we can't afford it. this is what i'd do to that law. pull! i'm ron gould and i approve this message, because washington needs a straight shooter. pull.

>> well, nevada's sharron angle of course would call that a second amendment remedy. that is "hardball" for now and coming up next is "your business with j.j. ramberg." to being a different kind of communications company. ♪ we link people and fortune 500 companies nationwide and around the world. and we will continue to free you to do more and focus on what matters. the calcium they take because they don't take it with food. switch to citracal maximum plus d. it's the only calcium supplement that can be taken with or without food. that's why my doctor recommends citracal maximum. it's all about absorption. [ children laughing ]

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