much for joining me tonight. we'll be back here after the fourth of july and i will begin my day on thursday. >> repeal or get real. let's play "hardball." good evening, i'm michael smerconish. in important chris matthews. leading off to tonight, what to expect when you're rejecting. mitt romney says it all the time. repeal and replace health care reform, but with what? he doesn't say and repealing may not be as easy as it sounds. can they do it? do they really want to take bay away way what people like about the law? shades of the republican

trashing of mag cleland, joe walsh suggests his opponent, tammy duckworth is not a true hero. then she talks stooch -- too much about her military service. duckworth lost both legs and use of one arm in iraq. plus, fires in colorado, drought in the west. more than 3,000 temperature records in june. is global warming to blame? this is exactly what scientists had been predicting. how long can the right wing continue to insist that what we're seeing is a hoax? and remember jonathan krone, the 13-year-old darling of the right? >> so i decided there were too many people who through this, the term conservative around, who didn't understand what they were talking about. >> apparently, he admits he was one of them. now he says he was naive and is joining us tonight. in the side show, how the right managed to conclude president obama is abandoning america for evil europe on independence day. never let the facts get in the way after good story.

we begin with health care and whether republicans can repeal it. michael steele was chairman of the republican party, maggie habberman writes for politico. welcome. republicans had vowed to repeal obama's health care law. to do that, mitt romney would have to win and republicans would need to retake the senate and even then, it could be complicated. the senate minority lead er mitch mcconnell conceded that yesterday when speak tog a group back home in kentucky. >> thought it was a good idea for the federal government to go in in direction, i'd say the odds are still on your side because it's a lot harder to undo something than it is to stop it in the first place. >> maggie, is there a clare path for the gop to repeal obamacare? >> there is a clear path in the sense they don't need a cloture vote. as you said sh they have the to retake the senate. that's the biggest step. it's not easy to undo an entitlement program. that's essentially what we are

talking about here. so when it gets to the issue of whether this would be hard, you would be going against something the supreme court ruled upon. i think this is something republicans are mindful of. it is a good rallying cry for the base. the optics of undoing what the supreme court did are very serious. i think that's what people are talking about. >> michael steele, a piecemeal approach or get rid of obamacare? >> i think you'll see in the house, one fail swoop next week. certainly, the novel of this is defunding it out right. that's the quickest way to try today it. do it. maggie is right. once you get to the senate, everything stops and there will be no action on this issue after having passed a budget yet, so i don't think they'll address this economic issue. so the reality for the republicans politically is to use it as a tool to get the base in the game, to keep them in the game, fired up supporting mitt romney, which of course has its own slippery slope on the issue of health care, but the reality is that this is not going to be

easy to do because it is part of the government process already begun before you got to, before you get to next year, pieces that are already in place and undo that will be really sticky. >> let's go deeper on the politics. take a look at one of the findings from a new poll on health care. 56% say opponents of the law should stop trying to block it. not every republican agrees. steven law is a ceo of american cross roads and wrote this after the ruling, quote, while we would have preferred to see obamacare struck down, this will drive republican voter intensity sky high. the last time obamacare was litigated, republicans picked up an historic number of seats in the u.s. house and made big gains in the u.s. senate. david frum disagrees and wrote that the idea of repealing obamacare is a fantasy. even if republicans win the white house and the senate this year, he questioned whether they will really have the appetite for a fight, quote, suddenly, it will be their town halls filled

with outraged senior citizens benefits are threatened and incumbantsies are threatened. their incumbencies already we're hearing some republicans wish to retain the more popular elements of the affordable care act. michael, if you were still running the rnc, how would you respond and advise members of the gop to approach this suggest? >> the operative word is to replace. whether they are seniors or young people or whoever they happen to be, looking for or have an expectation you are going to replace it with something. we have identified those parts of the bill in good favor with the american people. republicans were in support of those and proposed some of those like portability, et cetera. so those pieces can be carved out and repackaged as part of a new model of health care, but i think an outward kind of repeal without fulfilling the expectation and replacing, what

you repealed is going to be a problem. problematic. >> i'm equally interested to see the response of the democratic side of the aisle meaning will those members of the party who voted for health care go out and campaign and trumpet that support? something that clearly was than done in the last election. >> that's a very good question. you ready saw last week when this decision came down some senate candidates in red or purple red states tread very carefully on it. north dakota, she walk ad very careful line on it. you will see a lot of people, you know, in the -- on the non-coastal states, in the senate, that will have a problem selling this. even in places where obama's numbers are better, this law is still not necessarily a slam dunk. i think you've seen polls that show it's getting more popular than it was before. the question remains how this is going to play out with independent voters. i think the bases of both parties are set on this. that's where you're going to have the big question mark.

there's early indication that some independent voters are tilting more toward the obama end of the spectrum. i'm not sure how much of a driver this is going to be once we get to november. >> i wonder where mitt romney will be in all of this. according to the national journal quote mitt romney after giving a brief statement decrying the decision has been silent on criticizing the health care law. he's been on vacation. his campaign has been giving off clear signals it doesn't want to make health care a major part of the election for an issue that's potent against democrats, romney's campaign is declaring a cease fire. is that reflective of him being at lake winnapisaki or being a mistake? is that the approach he will take? >> i think more of the latter. it is not part of the narrative for the fall campaign. the fall narrative is all about the economy and jobs and looking at how the the numbers perform between now and september,

october is going to be critical. health care has a part to play in that. particularly with respect to the tax revenue side of the equation and the spending, but it's a limited, small portion of it and i don't think you want to see or they want to see a great deal of emphasis on that which probably now, the obama team absolutely wants to talk about after virtually running away from thi signature legislation for the last two years. >> still a lot about the comments to chuck todd yesterday in terms is it a tax or penalty. that seems to have legs. i don't think that was gaffe on his part. i think he was responding in the only way the romney campaign could have responded given the massachusetts record. >> i'm not sure about that. there are people around romney land that say it was an error, he started litigaing the massachusetts record as opposed to trying to pivot towards the future and framing, you know, this equation the way they want to. it accepted the charge. there is a feeling among some republicans there is quaye for

mitt romney to talk about obama care without answering the questions on massachusetts that may not be the answers some people want but there is a way to do it. i think this is where they are getting tangled up. one thing i would say, i don't think that either principal wants to be talking about obamacare very much. i don't think the president does and i don't think that mitt romney does. i don't think that this is something that they want to trumpet and remains an unpopular law. >> maybe i'm hung up on the comment because i work in cable. >> no, no, no. a lot of people are hung up on it. it is a -- conservatives are upset about it. >> chris christie was asked about the comment i referred to having been made on msnbc yesterday. he said that romney essentially agreed with obama and the mandate is not a tax, it is a penalty. that position is in sharp contrast to what many republicans are arguing and here is how chris christie responded.

>> listen, let's not focus on what spokes people are saying. they get in and fill in space on the cable stations, i care about what the candidate says. governor romney's been clear about what this election is about. about reinvigoraing our economy, releasing entrepreneurial spirit. those are the things this election's going to be decided on, not what a spokesperson says. >> to you how this confuses the message, see how the rnc message was bungled this morning. >> president romney per fernstrom, what is the rnc's position on this? >> our position is the same as mitt romney's position. it is a tax. that's the only way that 2 supreme court came up with a decision it did in order to make it constitutional. >> michael, one of the ramifications i think of the supreme court decision that many americans are walking around saying the supreme court confirmed its attacks and people

who won't be subject to any increase are thinking i'm getting taxed to pay for obamacare. >> there is the element of confusion that exists out there you're talking about a small percentage of the people, those who do not comply with the law, who would be subject to this penalty/tax. but the broader population believes it applies to them. that's part of the narrative that the rnc and republicans around the country will be driving home which is why what was said yesterday on the program was kind of a gaffe because it then flips the script and all of a sudden you have romney or at least his suppose people say it is a penalty and agree with with the president. it gives the president a wider swath to to make the argument about house health care plan. >> thank you for being here. coming up, congressman joe walsh is is at it again. the man who told president obama to quote stop lying. now says his opponent who lost

her legs in iraq isn't a true war hero because she talks too much about her military service. this is "hardball," the place for politics.

politico is out with the list of competitive races. here are the top five. number five, missouri, where democrat claire mccaskill is in a tough fight against a yet to be determined republican. number four, nevada, where den heller faces shelley berkeley and number three, montana and senator jon tester's battle against rehberg. virginia at number two. tim kaine and george allen are in a dead heat. the most competitive senate race in the country. massachusetts in the battle between scott brown and democrat elizabeth warren. republicans only need to win a net of four seats to take control of the senate. you know what i love about this country? trick question. i love everything about this country!

including prilosec otc. you know one pill each morning treats your frequent heartburn so you can enjoy all this great land of ours has to offer like demolition derbies. and drive thru weddings. so if you're one of those people who gets heartburn and then treats day after day, block the acid with prilosec otc and don't get heartburn in the first place. [ male announcer ] one pill each morning. 24 hours. zero heartburn.

welcome back. illinois tea party congressman joe walsh best known for calling the president a liar finds himself under fire for his comments he made sunday about his opponent, iraq war veteran tammy duck worth. he says she discusses her military service too much. she was a black hawk pilot who lost both legs after her helicopter was hit in 2004. and later served with the department of veterans affairs. hear walsh's comments caught on camera by think progress. he begins by talking about john mccain's campaign in 2008 and moves to his opponent. let's watch. >> but understand something about john mccain. his political advisers, day after day, had to take him and almost throw him against the wall and hit him against the head and say, senator, you have to let people know you served.

you have to talk about what you did. he wouldn't, didn't want to do it. wouldn't do it. day after day, they had to convince him. and finally, he talked a little bit about it, but it was very uncomfortable for him. that's what's so noble about our heroes. now, i'm running against a woman, i mean, my god, that's all she talks about. our true heroes, the men and women who served us, it's the last thing they talk about. that's why we are so in awe of what they have done. >> for more, let me bring in two veterans o f the iraq war, patrick murphy and chairman of vote vets. how stoked are you about this? i'm kind of hurt. if you look at the video, the worst part about it, the end, there was people in the audience that laughed. >> they chuckled. >> really? i mean, look, i served two tours in iraq.

been home six to eight months. hardest part in the six to eight month period. it's hurtful. we're not even asking this congressman to apologize. we've been in a battle with him for a long time. he first told a politico reporter several months ago that all tammy did was get shot out after helicopter. we later found out he challenged tammy duckworth to debate at the same time she was at military duty and now this. i think he's had a long track record of sort of insulting her service. she actually doesn't oversell her service. john mccain may have written two books about vietnam, but she has yet to talk about her service. to be frankly, he talks about it. we did. we have an e-mailer out right now about this. it's raised 20 something thousand dollars. it is appalling and hurtful. >> in an interview with politico in march of this year, walsh said this of duckworth. i have so much respect for what she did in the fact she sacrificed her body for this

country. ehhh. now let's move on. let's move on. what else has she done? female, wounded veteran. ehhh. she's nothing more than a hand picked washington bureaucrat. david axelrod, rahm emanuel, just picked her up and dropped her into this district. patrick murphy, your thoughts? >> let me tell you something. every day there are 18 veterans, in iraq, afghanistan, they come home and try to commit suicide. for joe walsh to attack tammy duckworth, a woman that devoted her life to our country and fellow veterans, working for the veterans of affairs office in illinois and in washington for veterans all over our country, for him to attack her service, let me tell you something. joe walsh never served. he doesn't know what it's like to leave your friends, your family to go serve for months at a time in 130 degree heat that don't know if you're ever going to see the people who you love again. he doesn't have the right to attack tammy duckworth's service.

let me tell you something else. he doesn't even have right to vote as a congressman on veterans issues because he has into idea what it is about. he is a disgrace, absolute disgrace. >> late this afternoon, duckworth appeared on martin bashir's program on msnbc and here is her response to walsh. >> i think that he's just irresponsible in his words and actions. he's trying to distract the constituents from the fact that he has time and again done nothing for the district. anyone who's worn the uniform of this great nation for a day has done more than he's done. it's the fact i've lived an entire lifetime living up to my responsibilities. just like our military men and women and their families every single day. they live up to their responsibilities. mr. walsh has never lived up to his responsibilities. certainly he hasn't done it in congress and for him to bring senator mccain into this, he is a great american. one i respect greatly.

it's too bad he's trying to muddy the waters and keep people away from the fact he's done nothing for the people in the district. >> one other element, congressman walsh said in part, of course tammy duck worth is a hero. i've called her a hero dozens of times in the past four months. her service demands our utmost respect. that's why i recognize our veterans at the beginning of every one of my public town halls, however unlike most i have had the the honor to meet since my election to congress who rarely talk about their service or the combat they've seen. that is darn near all of what tammy duckworth talks about. her service demands our thanks and respect but not our vote. patrick murphy, a question for you. the first iraq veteran to be elected to congress. how do you balance, how do you know when you've spoken enough but not excessive about your war service when you are running for office because you've confronted that.

>> sure. i know tammy duckworth. i know colonel duckworth as a friend and leader. >> that's her husband? i'm sorry -- >> her husband served as well. >> he's a major, so she outranks her husband. seven and a half years ago, she went through a very traumatic experience. it changed her life. she's trying to use that horrible chapter in her life to make it better for veterans. the other 1% of our nation who have worn the cloth of our country. now, as a candidate, of course she's going to have to talk about it a little bit. but i have seen her on the stump. i have seen her in front of crowds and she, she actually downplays her service to our country. her heroic service to our country. so for joe walsh to try and bring in people like john mccain and let me tell you something, the difference here is is that when people attack john mccain like myself, i have a facebook

page, someone wrote a comment that attacked john mccain. john mccain's an american hero. no one ever questions his service. for people like joe walsh to question tammy duckworth or anyone who put their lives in harm's way, and he has attacked her service multiple times. it isn't something that just happened. it's a disgrace. that's why john and i and so many others across our country are calling for joe walsh to resign from congress. that's how egregious he is doing is. >> mr. soltz, it seems to me that military service used to be one of those issues you wouldn't dare be critical. how could you, of someone for having served? you look at john kerry and the whole swift-boat issue, max cleland and now mrs. duckworth and you wonder if there's a pattern. what do you see when you put it all together? >> when we spend money all over the country, veterans running for office, it moves voters.

what these republican candidates like to do is try to tear down. it hurts mostly with tammy. it devastates me. patrick's right in a sense of who e she really is when you know her. she's one of my closest friends. her husband called me today, are you going to help her? of course. you don't have to call me to ask. tammy's going to down play it. she's very calm, cool and collected on tv about it. i'm a jerk. i'll go after people. i'll defend tammy with anything and i think joe walsh is an absolute travesty to our country. this is a woman, i went back to iraq last year. decisive moments in my life. there's a few people i talked to what whether or not i should go back to iraq. i didn't agree with the war. you talk to general clark. tammy duckworth. tammy's a hero for what she's done when she's come home. who am i not to go back to iraq when you have a woman with no legs willing to go back to iraq.

she goes to drill one weekend a -- every weekend. one weekend a more for her country. my father died last year when i was in iraq and i went home and talked to tammy. i was feeling bad about myself. tammy came home from iraq, lost her legs and her husband had a heart attack visiting her and passed away. she's always a woman i look at, when i want to figure out how to become a better military officer, how do i find strength in my life. for him to attack this, it's so below anything that's within reason. it is ridiculous. what she has done because of her tragedy. she doesn't talk about it. does hay want her to reattach her legs? she can't do that . >> we will be right back. [ male announcer ] if you had a dollar for every dollar

car insurance companies say they'll save you by switching, you'd have like, a ton of dollars. but how are they saving you those dollars? a lot of companies might answer "um" or, "no comment." then there's esurance. born online, raised by technology, and majors in efficiency. so whatever they save, you save. hassle, time, paperwork, hair-tearing-out, and yes, especially dollars. esurance. insurance for the modern world. click or call.

>> now for the side show. seamus lives on. that's right. no one importantgot the true tale of romney's dog that lived a family trip on top of the family car. publicing for new epa gas mileage standards with a nod to the seamuses who are out will. >> it is a beautiful day. if you are headed out of town it is time to get move. >> boys, last call for the bathroom. we are not stopping til we need gas. >> america's proposed new fuel efficiency standards will double gas mileage and that means half the stops for gas. half the stops for gas.

half the stops for gas. call the epa to support the proposed new standards. >> here boy. >> subtle, not so much. the dad even looks a bit like romney. next, wendy long, republican candidate in new york, has been blasting candidates by the obama administration requiring employers to provide contraception coverage for their employees. no doubt it is a heated issue on both sides. long has given it a new twist. the folks at the huffington post got their hands on this video. >> even those that die in afghanistan and iraq, i love listen doing their voices. they are something to us. they are asking us to fight for the things that they died for. and you know, they didn't die for what gillibrand is saying for the right to force religious employers to paying for the employees' contraception.

>> earth to wendy, no one is saying that the troops are overseas fighting for contraception coverage at home. really. nobody. long set to face off against gillibrand in the upcoming election. finally, how to declare president obama unpatriotic in three easy steps. courtesy of the right, it all started with a hollywood reporter piece last week saying, quote, that the continental branch of the obama fund-raising effort will kick off next week in paris with an independence day celebration. okay. some wealthy donors plan to get together and raise money for obama, fine. to the right, step one, courtesy of breitbart.com, tiring of u.s. soil as a source of campaign dollars, the obama campaign is headed overseas with its celebrity friends in tow. the campaign starts next week in paris on july fourth. that's a flag waving campaign. you got it? suddenly this was the latest campaign strategy from team obama. step two, national review blasts

out this headline with a link to the breitbart piece, quote, final jeopardy, category is obama. the answer is -- fund-raising in paris. and then step three are karl rove tweets final jeopardy, how will obama be spending american independence day this week? you get it. now the president himself is going to paris for this bash. reality check, the president is spending tomorrow at a white house picnic with military families as planned all along. andrew mccarthy, national review reporter corrected his error via twitter. lol, okay, okay, i see stories says obama campaign, not necessarily obama will be fund-raising in paris on july 4. i didn't realize there was a difference. so it wasn't all a reduce to make the president seem unpatriotic leading into the fourth of july. i'm not buying it. up next, storm storms, wildfires, record high temperatures. how long will republicans keep calling global warming a hoax?

you are watching "hardball, place for politics. that's a good thing, but it doesn't cover everything. only about 80% of your part b medical expenses. the rest is up to you. so consider an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. like all standardized medicare supplement plans, they pick up some of what medicare doesn't pay. and save you up to thousands of dollars in out-of-pocket costs. call today to request a free decision guide to help you better understand what medicare is all about. and which aarp medicare supplement plan works best for you. with these types of plans, you'll be able to visit any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients... plus, there are no networks, and you'll never need a referral to see a specialist. there's a range of plans to choose from, too. and they all travel with you. anywhere in the country. join the millions who have already enrolled

in the only medicare supplement insurance plans endorsed by aarp, an organization serving the needs of people 50 and over for generations... and provided by unitedhealthcare insurance company, which has over 30 years of experience behind it. call today. remember, medicare supplement insurance helps cover some of what medicare doesn't pay -- expenses that could really add up. these kinds of plans could save you up to thousands in out-of-pocket costs... you'll be able choose any doctor who accepts medicare patients. and you never need referrals. so don't wait. with all the good years ahead, look for the experience and commitment to go the distance with you. call now to request your free decision guide. this easy-to-understand guide will answer some of your questions, and help you find the aarp medicare supplement plan that's right for you.

here's what's happening. prosecutors will not file charges against former commerce secretary john bryson for his role in would car crashes. bryson was found uncon shups behind the wheel of his car last month after suffering a seizure. welcome back.

most of you across the country don't need a thermometer to know temperatures are sweltering. this past week more 2000 records were met or exceeded. last month more than 3200 records broken. it is not just heat. wildfires have ungulfed parts of colorado and tropical storm debby dumping incredible amounts of rain on the southeast and broke a record for being the earliest ever fourth storm of the season. with weather patterns like this, it is hard to deny the science of global warming. can republicans continue to argue that it is a hoax? ron reagan is the author of "my father at 100." as well as an msnbc analyst. >> it may be surprising to some that say global warming or climate clang is the top environmental problem worldwide

decreasing compared to five years ago. the amount of people who say air and water pollution is on the rise. however, americans believe the government needs to curb the greenhouse gases american businesses put out. 77% say there should be government limits to just 20% who disagree. what's going on with this data? anybody with a window can see we are living in crazy times. yet, the data suggests that it is -- not the concern level where it had been a couple of years ago. >> that data is very surprising and surprising in light of what we saw in 2009 when the house passed cap and trade legislation and then the senate didn't even take it up. harry reid said at the time i think it will be easier to pass health care than climate change legislation even though given so many americans believe that global warming a problem and you have seen the mums on health care recently. they are more divided about that.

i would point out to you this. eight house republicans voted in favor of that climate change legislation but they faced a lot of trouble in their districts and within the republican party. you remember mike cassle who was in the house and then he running in a senate primary against christine o'donnell who was fueled by the tea party and his friends the night of his loss to her in that primary, thought that his vote on that piece of legislation is what did him a lot of damage. i will add this to it. i took a road trip throughout the country in the fall of 2010 for the mid terms and i heard a lot from voters throughout the midwest and rustbelt they were very unhappy about cap and trade legislation and even more so than the push on health care. >> ron reagan, when i say anyone with a window can see what's going on, am i conflating weather with climate change? they are not one in the same. >> no, they are not one in the same. yes, you are conflating it a little bit. it is true that we are going to see likely see more of these

heat waves emerging over the next years as global warming and increasing. any single weather event, though, you can't pin on global warming. climate and weather are two different things. whether it is, of course, local. i'm not as surprised as you the public does not seem to be as concerned as they used to be about global warming. politicians we don't to do anything about this because doing something about it would be very difficult. the people that sponsor them are often from the extraction industries and don't want them to do anything about it. the media itself is reluctant to cover this because -- given the coverage it deserves because it is science and politicians aren't doing anything about it. and so the public looks at this and they say we are not seeing it on tv and politicians don't seem to be doing anything about it. i guess it is not as serious as we thought. this is a recipe important disaster. recipe door doing nothing about a serious problem. >> in 2010, mitt romney wrote in

his book i believe that climate change is occurring. reduction in the size of global ice caps is hard to ignore. i also believe human activity is a contributing factor. i'm uncertain how much of the warming, however, is attributable to factors out of our control. now, last, fall of last year, his position had apparently evolved. he no longer knew, it seemed what caused global warming. let's watch. >> my view is that we don't know what's causing climate change on this planet. the idea of spending trillions of dollars to reduce co2 emissions is not the right course for us i don't see this as being a major issue in light of what's going on with the economy. how do you see the politics of it playing out in the next couple of months? >> well, a couple of things. look at what happened in this republican primary. there were three very prominent republicans, not just mitt romney but also tim pawlenty and mike huckabee who was looking at a presidential race who -- all

changed their positions on some of this. tim pawlenty and mitt romney both as governor supported a regional system of cap and trade and then they backed off of it. tim pawlenty apologized for it in one of the debates and also mike huckabee said in 2007 that he supported cap and trade legislation in 2009 and he changed that view. obviously there is a big shift within the republican party. and if you look at the websites for both barack obama and mitt romney, look at the energy tax for president obama and it says energy and the environment. for mitt romney it just says energy. there is a very different pathway had both take on this. >> is it a cause in search of a champion with vice president al gore not the dom in an player he had been on a national stage? it seems that there is no one with heft to marshall this effort. >> that's certainly true in washington, yes. looking for a champion in washington. there are champions, jim hanson, outside of washington who are

pressing to do something about this. but -- no, the politicians don't see anything in it for them. and -- when you see public interest begin to wane, they will be even less interested in doing anything about this. and -- again, the problem will increase. you know, the atmosphere, planet doesn't care whether we are interested or not. the at months pier is going to warm one way or the other if we keep pumping heat trapping gases into it. it doesn't care about the politics of this. laws of nature and physics don't care. >> thank you to ron reagan and erin. remember that 13-year-old kid who wowed conservatives at the convention a couple of years you a go? >> conservatism is not an ideology of feelings, romanticism, as some people like to say. it is an ideology of protecting people and the people's rights. >> krohn thon krohn is 17 now

and is here to tell us why he is not a conservative anymore. this is "hardball," the place for politics.

president obama hits the road this week for a bus tour his campaign is calling betting on america. the president will start thursday in maumee, ohio. and make two more stops in sandusky and parma. friday he will wrap up the tour in pittsburgh. ohio is a real battleground and

pennsylvania is a state the president must carry if he hopes to win re-election.

>> define conservatism. as i believe it is fit on four categories of principle. respect important the constitution. respect for life and less government and personal responsibility. >> we're back. that was then 13-year-old right wing wonder kid, jonathan krohn at the 2009 conservative political action conference where he was granted a speaking spot and standing occasion. ovation. he published a book the following year and party leaders like newt gingrich and bill

bennett offered blurbs of praise important the book jacket. he was named a finalist to the "time" 100 list of influential leaders. it is another-year-older and wiser, as the saying goes. krohn, now 17, says he's outgrown the conservative label. he joins me now. what always impressed me about your speech was not so much the content as it was the delivery. and it seems to me you had such command and delivered those remarks without notes. am i right? >> that's correct. i have never written a speech before. all the speeches i've done have been impromptu. it's funny because a lot of people seem to think they have these ideas that my parents wrote it for me, but i've never, ever had any notes. for any speech i have ever given. >> has there been some kind of event, life changing event, in the last couple of years, that changed your political thinking? >> i wouldn't say really any events.

i think that it's a number of factors. not such events, i'd say. after i finished the second book, i wanted to talk a lot of time to focus on other things. i started read ago lot of philosophy, which i've talked about before and i really think that it was getting into something else. take a breather, you know. try to stimulate. try to stimulate my mind in other ways, to let myself thing about what it is i really believe and what i think about what i wrote that led me to that. that's a large part of it. >> we live in interesting times. a lot of hot button issues, obamacare, gay marriage. give me the cliffs note version of where you stand today? >> i am in favor of obamacare and gay marriage and i am pro choice now. it was social conserve kmp that was really the first thing to go because i did a lot of conferences like c-pac and social conservative things and

stuff like that, and i went to a lot of those and there were a lot of people who were in this restrictive bubble, and social conservatism was probably the most restrictive part of that. it's very much a very fundamentalist core you have there. and if you stray from that, a lot of the people in that area of conservatism have a problem with that. if you just reach out a little bit and don't agree with them on one issue. they're very estrictive. it's one of the most angry, i guess you could say, idealogical aspects of conservatism. >> what kind of blow back have you received from conservatives coming forward? >> a lot. a lot. i was just in the green room, and i saw a tweet that said, they were talking about me on fox. i switched to fox, and they had a whole panel of people on their fox five show talking about how i duped everybody, and i didn't really believe it. it was a joke, and i was trying

to scheme everyone. i changed my mind. they started making fun of me. one of the guys said if it was up to him, he would have left me in the woods as a baby. on the daily caller, they wrote three articles about me, all of which names i wouldn't repeat. >> the reality is most of us adopt the party initially, maybe the ideology as well of our parents, and then you have time to sort things out. were you politics a couple years go a reflection of what you were hearing alt home? >> i don't think it was much what i was hearing at home because my parents haven't been politically active. it's what i hear on the radio. i live in georgia. the radio, the biggest radio station in atlanta -- >> all conservative talk. >> yeah, all conservative talk radio. that's what i was inundated with. that's where i got a lot of that. >> next for you, nyu, am i right? >> that's correct.

going to study philosophy and keep doing some film writing. i'm doing my first screen play right now. finishing that and hoping that you know, that will go well. obviously, it's very hard to get funding for that. that's something i'm working on. i have a lot of things. >> if my math is correct, you will not be 18 in time for the election so you won't get to cast a ballot. >> i'll still be 17. >> i think i know which way you would be voting if you could exercise the franchise at this election. >> absolutely. yeah, i wood be voting for president obama. especially over mitt romney. i don't think he's right for the country right now. >> it sounds to me you still have politics coursing through your veins as you go off to write screen plays at nyu. >> i try to stay out of politics as much as possible because i had some bad experiences. i want to stay myself. >> thank you for being here, jonathan krohn.

>> let me finish with what makes america great and what doesn't. you're watching "hardball" the place for politics.

let me finish tonight with this. tomorrow, of course, is the fourth of july. and many of us will celebrate living in the greatest country on earth. we take that as a given, but is it? last night, after guest hosting for chris, i watched the latest

episode of the aaron sorkin news program. it was interesting for me last night to leave a cable news room and then go watch this adaptation of one. the central character is will mcevoy. played by jeff daniels. he's an anchor with an attitude. in the first episode, he unloads in front of a college audience and is very critical of the united states. he says we're not the greatest in the world. he says we lead in just a couple areas like our incarceration rate, religious beliefs and defense spending. he said we act like the only country with freedom but there are 207 kuntzrys and 180 of them have freedom. he rattles off statistics where we lag behind. and in a speech, he said we used to be great. listen. >> we stood up for what was right. we fought for moral reasons. we passed laws and struck down laws for moral reasons. we waged wars on poverty, not

poor people. we sacrificed, we cared about our neighbors, we put our money where our mouths were and never beat our chests. we built great big things, made ungodly technological advanishes, explored the universe, cured diseases and culled the greatest artists and the greatest economy. the first step in solving a problem is recognizing there is one. america is not the greatest country in the world anymore. >> the show is fiction, but it makes you think, and i disagree with him. we have lots of room for improvement to be sure, but i would argue the country is still great and has only exhibited weakness recently which has yielded partisan gridlock and malaise. that which ails us is solvable, but america loses her advantage when compromise becomes a dirty