partisan brinkmanship that put who wins the fight over the fact that the fight is for the preservation of the american people. and that our children can grow up and live productive lives. this is what's at stake when we start burying adolescents. thanks for watching. i'm al sharpton. "hardball" starts right now. rambler. let's play "hardball." good evening, i'm chris matthews in new york. let me start with the latest from this ridiculous romney road show. this odd duck odyssey that marks each day with the mistake

whether it's mocking the brits or saying arab culture isn't up to snuff. who is this lawn sprinkler of national insult? well, he's mitt romney. remember him? the guy who promised to restore and upgrade the special relationship with great britain and has instead barfed on the buckingham palace lawn? and he has managed to raise the level of strife still higher. also the level of fear when his spokesmen said just yesterday that romney would back netanyahu no matter what he did to iran before he had to walk back yet another global gaffe. let's hear from tonight's experts. we're going to hear from howard fineman, political director of "the huffington post" meeting group. and david corn with mother jones. i have to tell you, it is funny because it's so ridiculous. mitt romney caused a stir today speaking at a fund raiser in tel aviv that the reason the per

capita gdp is higher than the palestinians, it had to do with the superior culture. romney said quote, as i come here and look out over this country and consider the accomplishments of the people of this nation i recognize the power of at least culture and a few other things. romney said the gdp was 1/3 of that of israel. it's actually 1/10. what do you make of that howard? you can't call it statesmanship. >> my first thought upon reading that and talking to people around here, he seemed in over his head. first of all, he terribly insulted the palestinians in the fact that the true difference in gdp is more than ten to one shows that he insulted them. most of them are poor. they live in a country in a territory that isn't recognized as a nation by most of the world. that is landlocked in most of its territory. that has gaza attached to it as

a still u.n. protectorate. that doesn't have the support that israel has around the world. it was insulting and condescending to the jews and the israelis that he was speaking to. it was kind of like, you know, you people are good at this kind of thing. >> yeah. sort of ludicrous factor there. >> it was just ludicrous. it was ludicrous. there are thousands of years of history. he was doing painting by the number politics with the wrong paint and the wrong numbers. i think it showed he was over his head. >> it was as if he said some of my best friends come from your culture. >> arabs are good business people themselves. this is an odd thing to draw distinction. his statement was rebuked by palestinian who said it's a racist statement and this man doesn't realize that the palestinian economy cannot reach its potential because there is an israeli occupation.

it seems to me this man lacks information, knowledge, and vision and understanding of this region and its people. also lacks knowledge about the israelis themselves. i have not heard any israeli official speak about cultural superiority. the romney camp walked back the statement saying it was quote, not in any way an attempt to slight the palestinians. >> i tell you, they should call this is the moonwalking tour. every time he speaks he has to walk backwards while seeming to go forward. how many marks can you walk back? a couple days ago before he left, i was talking to a republican strategist. he said this is a good time for romney to go away, have some nice pictures taken. what could go wrong? everything could go wrong. i think that what was sort of really terrible is he was just pandering again.

he was to show he understands foreign policy. he is not a dummy. but he goes into pander mode in front of the jewish and israeli donors that day. >> and as he does it he stirs up trouble. as he does it he stirs up trouble and he panders in a way that i think most of the panderees don't appreciate. maybe sheldon adelson does, but most of the supporters in the united states both jewish and not jewish as the palestinian leader said, you don't hear palestinians speak this way. they're attuned to the reality. what mitt romney was doing was as though he went as some foreign leader came to the united states and said if i just talk to dick cheney, i'm really going to understand america. >> yeah. >> it doesn't work that way. he's getting in the middle of israeli politics in a way he has no idea what he's doing. >> well, before the day was out, the white house had waited.

here's deputy secretary. let's watch him. >> one of the challenges of being an actor on the international stage particularly when you're traveling to such a sensitive part of the world is that your comments are closely scrutinized. for meaning, for nuance, for motivation. there are people who have looked at those comments and are scratching their heads a bit. >> howard, let's talk about what this means. first impressions are important. he won't have another chance to do foreign trip before the lerks. and we haven't got to poland yet. >> one can only -- you have to hold your breath. do i think this is the central pivotal moment of the 2012 campaign? no. but mitt romney was light on

foreign policy which after the midst of a dismal economy is still important. you're still running to be commander in chief and leader of the free world. mitt romney -- this is going to be a close election, chris. mitt romney can't afford to give away points on this kind of thing. he looks like a guy who is really in other his head. that he's in -- i think that's true here. nuance is required. you have to study stuff. and you have to learn all sides of the street. you don't just go talk at the king david hotel and think you understand the middle east. you can't do that. and the interesting thing is that the romney campaign for the last year have been trying to make the argument, i think it's false, that barack obama is an amateur when it comes to foreign policy. he doesn't know what he's doing. you know, there's no force there, no vigor. i think that's all complete b.s.

but when romney gets out there, it looks like he doesn't have any sure footing. he's just reading talking points to pander to this particular crowd. it just doesn't look like he's a leader who even has the basic instincts of leadership knowing how to talk to people in a delicate circumstance. he was under great scrutiny. so far every time he's been in the spotlight on this trip, he's botched it. >> he looks upon the holy land the way rastas look -- you've seen the complexity of the relationship there. how to move in that city. there's nothing more dramatic. going to their prayers on the western wall. and at the same time hearing the call to prayer. it works together, but it's so

intricate. and these p.r. stunts. i saw sarah palin go over there one time. all she did was one side to the wall, did the appropriate thing there. with no interest in the greater -- old city. >> don't forget about the warmongering comments about iran. that gets people nervous here. you have a war weary public and you think he's going to step back. >> that's what he said. he did walk that back. one last thing. here he is today walking that back. this is very important. he walked back what his tops spokesman said. he said i think i'll use my own terms in that regard. he didn't say i'm just going to respect whatever they want to do. even he was being measured there. he pulled back, made sure he didn't go too far. even on the movement of the embassy. well, my guess here is however many votes of jews and other supporters of hard line and

israel he may have picked up with this kind of performance, he will more than lose of people evaluating him as potential leader of the free world and frf. as i keep saying, he just kind of looks in over his head. that he just sees the pure outlines of things and not any nuance. you can't be that way if you're running for president. >> i think he should have done more shaloms and less war making. people want peace when they go over there. shalom is a wonderful word. we should hear it from him. today ahuit bharrat told cnn. >> they should tell you this administration and president obama is doing in regard to our security more than anything that i can remember in the past. >> pretty powerful stuff at this point, isn't it? >> it is. and again, we've seen the

republicans and mitt romney find some daylight there. and when you have statements like that and if you just read the israeli press, you read the editorials. they're more critical of israeli policy. at least open minded to what's going on there than any part of the conversation we have here. so i think again -- >> it's called democracy. >> it's called democracy. >> i've been over there debating a guy at the university of tel aviv there. people love a debate over there. >> also i think ehud barack wants to distress the fact just because romney was oifr there speaking to the right wing of israeli politics doesn't mean that israel themselves feel the same way. romney has complicated things there by takes this aggressive fund raising and, you know, approach over there at the king

david hotel. mostly with american jews sending him money. >> let's get aggressive here. here's a new issue of "newsweek" has a provocative cover. plays off about george bush sr. is mitt romney too wimpy to be president? i don't know if that's the right word. is that the right word? i would say he's a panderbear. in every front. not just the middle east but on norquist and every religious right. he says yes, yes, yes, yes. is it fair to call him a wimp? >> well, chris, having been involved in the original "newsweek" cover which was 1987, george w. bush who we eluded to as a war hero. be that as it may, i don't think mitt romney is a wimp in the sense that he will say -- it's

more i find cynical in he will say just about anything it seems in the very cold-blooded and i would say cold-hearted pursuit of the white house. what he did to some of the other candidates in the republican primaries was pretty cold. and so i don't see him -- politically he almost doesn't seem to care. i don't find that to be wimpish. i find it to be cynical. >> also i would throw in the word arrogant or distant as well. i think wimpiness is the problem. i think he's detached in certain ways. when he says i'm not going to turn over my taxes, i'm not going to tell you about my ira. that's not being wimpy. that's having a "you people" attitude. like i don't have to answer to you people. i've given you people enough. that's not really wimpy. so i think "newsweek" was

calling in on the historical legacy that howard helped to create to help sell magazines. >> remember the teacher trying to get a job in the conservative south and they wanted to know if he believed in evolution. he said i can teach it round or i can teach it flat. however you want it. >> barbara bush has still never forgiven me or anybody else associated with that cover. >> we won't either. thank you very much howard fineman and david corn. coming back, president clinton is going all out for president obama. so it looks like he's doing kwoo it a job. with a big convention speech coming up. what's the big dog up to campaigning for obama this year or for hillary in 2016? or how about both of them? also look who's back. dick cheney. picking sarah palin was a mistake, he says. picking him was brilliant. what's he want to be here? is he back to playing bigtime politics again?

the president is a muslim, a foreigner, a socialist. it never stops. where does this hate come from? finally let me finish tonight with the news that bubba's going primetime. this is "hardball," the place for politics. built the first ry and the first trade route to the west. we built the tallest skyscrapers, the greatest empires. we pushed the country forward. then, some said, we lost our edge. we couldn't match the pace of the new business world. well today, there's a new new york state. one that's working to attract businesses and create jobs. build energy highways and high-tech centers. nurture start-ups and small businesses. reduce tax burdens and provide the lowest middle class tax rate in 58 years. once again, new york state is a place where innovation meets determination and where businesses lead the world.

the new new york works for business. find out how it can work for yours at thenewny.com. the former chairman of the republican party in florida says his party engaged in a systemic effort to suppress the african-american vote in that state. jim greer who's on trial for felony corruption charges cited a meeting where they were talking about quote, keeping blacks from voting. under rick scott, florida has been purging its voter rolls. an effort critics say is aimed at keeping other minorities and likely democratic voters from casting ballots. we'll be right back.

welcome back to "hardball." who could forget barack obama having to surrender the white

house podium to bill clinton so he could offer a defense of the position. now the big dog as he's called is heading to charlotte. clinton who stands now as the permanent yet unofficial leader of the democratic party has inaccepted an invitation to speak. the president wants and needs president clinton's support but what does clinton want out of this? with me tonight with the reporters covering this campaign. jeff zellni who broke this story last night and dan bolts. gentlemen, i want to ask about the clinton thing. let's look at a fund raising appearance in june. here's clinton stumping for barack obama and showing how good he can be when he's on your side. listen to him take on mitt romney like nobody can do it. >> his opponent who says that he's got a better idea was the governor of the state that was 47th in the country in job

growth. he promised that if elected he would grow the economy and reduce the debt. when he left office, the debt of the state was going up. and his plan, his plan is to go back to the bush program. except on steroids. >> that's charlotte the democrats are going to. congratulations on breaking this story. tell me what this means. what is an auger for this country in terms of down the road and near term politics? >> i think it means that president obama realizes that he's in trouble and needs help from whoever he can get it. if he was in a stronger position, he would not invite the former president to be at his campaign. i don't think there's much bad blood between them. they've come to an understanding and i think president obama generally likes the advice and council he gets. but that's different than having him appear at your convention.

never mind the fact the vice president was going to have a night to himself. now he is added on to the president's night. more people will probably see him, but i think it just shows that they need someone to make this argument to draw this arc from 2000 all the way to 2012. he's the best person to do it. >> dan, is this a projection now into 2016? is this bill clinton doing the positive side of what he did the negative side to when he beat up on to make it clear that you're going to have to pay for opposing my wife. now i'm the leader of the party and i'm going to do the positive as well as the negative. look out. i'm clearing the way for her next time. >> i see this much more in the contest of 2012 than 2016. bill clinton has speaken at every democratic conference since 1988. and i look back at what he had to say in 2004 when he spoke for

john kerry. he made an argument i suspect will be similar to the argument he will make in charlotte which is there are two different visions and the democratic vision on economics is to share the pain and share the sacrifice and share the effort. and he'll argue that the republicans favor a concentration of wealth and help for the wealthy. he did an important thing for barack obama four years ago which was when he went to denver, i think the single most important line he uttered was barack obama is ready to be president. hillary clinton had obviously said he wasn't ready to be president. and i think this time he will make the economic argument because bill clinton is quite good, better probably than anybody in the democratic party, at synthesizing economic arguments and making them compelling to a big audience. >> yes, he sends one to two hours a day every day trying to master the pragmatics. here he is offering a damning

critique this summer. let's take a listen. >> why aren't thing roaring along now? because europe is in trouble. and because the republican congress has adopted the european economic policy. who would have thought after years and years and years and even decades in which the republican right attacked old europe, that they would embrace the economic policies of the eurozone. austerity and unemployment now at all costs. i mean, after all, their unemployment rate is 11% and ours is 8%. we could get right up there if we adopt their policies. >> when i saw him at mrs. king's funeral when he said there's a woman in that box. i knew he was the best there was when he did better than the black ministers there. it seems to me i call it scranton to oshkosh. the formerly giant industrial

center of the country from scranton, pennsylvania, all the way through to wisconsin. that's where the democratic party has to haul the white vote. can bill clinton, will he be the troubador out there for this president? >> i think they can't get enough of bill clinton. the question here is, though, we saw him in the midterm elections as well. and democrats still did poorly. i think there's a limit to what he can do here. but sure, he will be out there. and ohio could be the most important place. if you plant him in ohio and the president at least holds his own where he was four years ago among these white working class voters, he'll probably win re-election. >> dan, you're as good as this guy. you may be the best guy in this business in terms of understanding politics in this country. can clinton find the message that works with one of the guys in the taverns on friday nights

talking about the campaign. trying to figure out where they stand. can he get to them in a way that the labor guys can't? get to them and say you've got to vote democrat this time. >> i think that's a good question, chris. i think he can do it better in that part of the electorate. but i think that portion of the electorate is in many ways lost to president obama. i think bill clinton's value not only will be to try to go after those voters, but also to try to do something for suburban voters and suburban women. to make a compelling argument to make the case that what barack obama is able to do will be superior to what mitt romney is talking about. if he can do that, he will fulfill the mission that i think the obama campaign and the president really want him to do. >> it's going to be bill clinton against the giants and the cowboys that wednesday night in the middle of the convention. the latest gallup poll on bill

clinton is the highest its been. this compares back to 1993 when he was coming into office. he's 66% favorable right now. 28% negative. he may at a zenith again. thank you both. and by the way, you don't want to miss tomorrow's "hardball." we got a couple other great guests. will ferrell and zach galifinakis. star of the new movie "the campaign." this is "hardball," the place for politics. i'm barack oba

ma and i approve this message. [romney singing]: oh beautiful, for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain, for purple mountains majesty, above the fruited plain, america, america, god shed his grace on thee, and crowned thy good, with brotherhood...

back to "hardball." now to the sideshow.

mitt romney still trying to forget his falling towers performance in london. the government blast ud him for saying part of the preparation for the olympic games is disconcerting. check out what he said by meeting the prime minister in jerusalem over the weekend. >> entertaining and delightful ceremony. it was spectacular. it was. and the march of nations. and they said the -- >> there were many participants in the opening ceremony. and yes the trees in michigan are the perfect height. talk about small talk. more from politics meets olympics. first lady michelle obama is taking in the games in london. she's having basically the opposite experience of mitt romney. meaning it's been controversy free. mrs. obama was asked by abc's bill wier about her own olympic fantasy. >> all right. complete fantasy, i would be a

gymnast. by come on, 5'11" with legs, no. i tried when i was younger. but i love gymnastics. i was in awe of what those women could do. that's really a fantasy. if we get to something more realistic, maybe it would be track. i'd like to think i was fast. >> a realistic fantasy, there's a practical first lady. what's this happening? why's a member of the u.s. wrestling team posing with mrs. obama in a body lift. well, according to to her, shefted to be original. i hugged her then i asked if i could pick her up. i think she was nervous. there was security all around and she gave permission. i will only meet her once. i wanted to do something different. at least she knew to ask if it was okay. back to politics. joe walsh is in hot water again. in may walsh proposed a fund that would help renovations of meeting halls and other things.

how do we know this has got support on both sides of the aisle? easy. tim bishop actually crafted the exact same bill two years ago. we're talking almost word for word and he never told bishop. according to politico, to take legislation from a member who is still in office without giving them a heads up is a big no no. a former aide to bishop said you don't just take someone else's stuff without asking. walsh does. up next, dick cheney says getting sarah palin was a big mistake. and he wants credit for getting bin laden. he's unbelievable. cheney's back. you're watching "hardball," the place for politics. i stepped on the machine, and it showed me the pressure points on

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here's what's happening. colorado shooter james holmes was indicted earlier. that gives prosecutors different options to potentially pursue the death penalty. kent state university student is told to stay away from the school after a post he said he would shoot up the campus. the dow fell two and change. the nasdaq lost 12. now back to "hardball." i like governor palin. i've met her. i know her. she's an attractive candidate, but based on her background, she'd only been governor for two years. i don't think she passed that test. >> being ready? >> being ready to take over. and i think that was a mistake.

>> welcome back to "hardball." he's back. of course dick cheney's wading back into the thick of republican publics today. senator mccain could have done without the input here. but let's listen to it. >> well, i'm always glad to get comments four years later. >> what is cheney up to right now in his own right? it's no accident he turned up on tv for his first interview since his transplant. but what does he want? sam stein covers politics for the "huffington post." i want to start with you, susie. this guy is back like freddy krueger. he's only been elected congressman in wyoming. he's making fun of palin for only being a governor. he's never been elected to much before he was vice president. what's he talking about? >> well, of course he got to be vice president because he selected himself -- >> he was head of the selection committee. >> there you go.

i don't know. maybe someone needs to play him that song how can we miss you if you don't go away. he doesn't really seem to understand his time is done. and i have to say president bush, i've got to hand it to the guy. i'm sure he's had disagreements with president obama, but he's kept quiet and let the man do his job. i think cheney can't stay out of the spotlight. clinton likes to stay in the spotlight. but he's useful. cheney left office with a 13% approval rating. >> the last thing we knew was scooter libbey who's since been charged with a felony and he was doing the alley-oop play on "meet the press" after miller had swallowed this stuff put it on the times front page. he comes in and talks about what's in the paper that day that his chief of staff leaked. that's what he's known for and will always be known for with me. clever press manipulation through the times. why is he back in the public?

>> let me ska, it's not going out on a limb to say sarah palin was the wrong pick for the time. mccain lost and lost big. as for why he's back, i think dick cheney is very concerned about the status of his reputation and legacy in history. he did this early on in the obama administration when the focus was primarily on what to do about enhanced terrorist techniques. he likes to protect his legacy, his reputation. he'll occasionally resurface. susie's right though. his brand is much worse. they're not going to let him even close to the republican convention. there's a reason. basically is unpopular. >> what's the memory loss here? are we all suffering from a.d.d.? he had his people leak the name of barry wilson. you've got karl rove out there. they were all in cahoots.

i don't know how this guy beat the judge, but he did it. why is he back and somewhat legitimate again? he got us in a war that was the worse war we fought. no reason why we fought it. just a lot of casualties. >> what's remarkable is he's going after the president for the leaks and administration -- >> he's against leaks? >> president obama not foreseeing that, you know, after moouk b mubarak is gone you might have something bad. first i think he has this visceral reaction. and talked about how one of his african-american staffers brought his boys in and the first thing they said was where is barack obama. he seemed to understand the historic nature of his presidency even if he disagreed with him on a lot of issues. cheney can't stand him. he can't stand the fact he's president and can't keep quiet about it. >> he wants to be holding these

little parties for the people. it's apparent president obama's success in the war on terror rankles cheney. listen to him on the success of getting bin laden. >> i wouldn't say he's been soft on terror, but i think he's made a number of mistakes. bin laden, fine. a lot of that intelligence that laid the ground work for what ultimately led to the ground work came as a result of programs we had in place in the bush administration. >> and the fiscal catastrophe this president inherited immediately had nothing to do with cheney and bush, of course. but they get the responsibility for two years later catching bin laden who they could never catch. this is ludicrous. cheney's dislike of the president has manifested. your thoughts? >> i think at the heart of it is the cheney crowd thinks that the president gets a lot of credit for foreign policy. in many respects he's continuing some of the policy set up by bush/cheney. indefinite detention, the fact that guantanamo remains open. those that were off criticized

when it was cheney and bush running the show are not with obama. that rankles cheney a lot. it's ludicrous to say we deserve credit for catching bin laden when there's plenty of proof showing they screwed up. i think when it comes to specific policies that the president continued from the bush/cheney years, cheney wants credit. >> let me talk about the situation with iran. people are mixed feelings about when to do something when the trip wire is caught. you have to do something. but cheney cried wolf by saying iraq had nuclear weapons. he pushes that and pushed that. you can't think clearly about something when you've been screwed over once in a debate. and used. >> well, yeah. >> you know what i'm talking about. >> but i just think that he's very, very bitter. i was stunned when i saw him say oh, he got bin laden, fine. like it was this minor thing.

it was their singular goal since 2001. so he's in the bitter barn. that's what this is all about. >> and george bush to say that's not something i ever think about. he would say i don't think about getting bin laden. how did this guy think about it? he was pulling the strings. last thought, sam. how's he back? do we just forgive and forget? >> he would want us to, i bet. but it's soon for us to forgive and forget. i think this is part of the reason he surfaces now and then to bush back against the critics of his legacy. he wants history to judge him in a better light than it currently is. he'll continue until he gets proper credit. >> let's take look at an interview that karl -- what's that last guy's -- carl from abc. jonathan carl about something personal. let's listen to this.

>> how was mary's wedding? >> i'm sure it was fine. we wished them well. she wanted to avoid having it be a media circus. or having it become part of the political debate. and so we were very proud and happy and congratulated them. they've been an important part of the family for a long time. >> susan, how do we talk about this? >> it is a family business. it is a family business, but i think that it's pretty hard for people to hear a father say about his daughter asked about her wedding, i'm sure it was fine. there's something a little un -- well disconcerting to quote governor romney, about that. i don't know what to say about that. that really jarred me when i heard it. of course it's their family business. >> i think he loves his daughter. >> of course he does. >> i'm rooting for them in that. evolution takes awhile with some people. i root for him in that front. i will give him that courtesy.

thank you. up next the haters who keep an hating. david wrote a book about the upbringing. he's hearing from the birthers who still think the president is not a born american. they keep coming at him when he has all the information in the book. they're blaming him for covering up the reality. this is "hardball," the place for politics. ♪ spread a little love today ♪ ♪ spread a little love my way ♪ ♪ spread a little something to remember ♪ [ female announcer ] fresh milk and real cream makes philadelphia and the moment a little richer. m[romney singing]: oh beautiful, for spacious skies, i'm barack obama and i approve this message. for amber waves of grain, for purple mountains majesty, above the fruited plain, america,

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the u.s. supreme court rul d 5-4 to uphold the affordable care act last month. just 40% in the new "vanity fair" poll correctly answered the justices. 60% couldn't answer the question correctly. now you know why jay leno has to much fun in those jaywalking segments. we'll be right back. ♪ ♪ i want to go ♪ i want to win [ breathes deeply ] ♪ this is where the dream begins ♪ ♪ i want to grow ♪ i want to try ♪ i can almost touch the sky

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became the target for the birther crowd who misquoted and misused information from his book to further their absurd conspiracy theories about the president. rather than ignore them, maraniss responded in aoped this weekend. he said, i hold them in contempt for the way they disregard facts and common sense and undermine the role of serious history as they concoct conspiracy theories that portray the president as danger, alien, and less than american. i ask, what does continue to drive the sizable number of americans who still believe the president isn't what he says. david is the author of "barack obama the story." you have written the book on someone. you did it for a great job. now you have done at least the first volume on the president of ours who is for some reason the target of the strangest conspiracy theories. i think you did a good job of saying how it -- what would it

take to have been the person who concocted the idea of him being born overseas, somehow got the people at the time in the newspaper in honolulu to write stories about him being born, to come up with ins cooperation in building the case. how far back do they think people build these conspiracies? >> well, you're asking me a rational question dealing with an irrational thought. i can't answer that question for you. i mean, obviously, they think the conspiracy started at his birth and has continued since then in every possible way. in terms of where he was born, what religion he is, how smart he is, whether he can write his own book and on and on. >> people like donald trump who is obviously a smart guy, will come up with claims like for a while he was arguing that barack obama didn't even exist. he said he didn't have friends at school. he was a phantom. then he said he didn't have the right grades to get into

columbia. and then they show his birth certificate and they fall back to some other darker theory. it seems like the crazies don't want facts at all. they want someone to hold their hand and say, you're wright. he isn't this great president. he isn't even the president, he isn't even an american. they want someone to hold their hands, it seems. >> they clearly dislike him to the point of hatred. they're thinking irrationally. they can't find any major scandals to go after obama with, so they keep coming up with one small conspiracy theory after another. and when it gets shot down, they move on to the next. i mean, you're right. donald trump at first said he couldn't find anyone who knew barack obama. i found plenty of people who knew him in kinder garden and every great after. >> you wrote this weekend in your op ed piece, what drives them? some can be given to the

idealogical divide and some of how it spreads virally to the millions of like-minded people, and some arises out of the fears of democratic changes in the country and out of racism. i think there is a pattern here. we looked at the polling on this. it shows an idealogical precdns against him the further right you go. first of all, a new look alt the pew poll. it shows less than half americans. 49% say he correctly is who he says he is, a christian. 17% say he's a muslim, nearly a third say they don't know what religion he is. if you break that down by party and ideology, that's where it's fascinating. of the conservative republicans, 34% say he's a muslim, then further to the left, republicans, 30%, independents, 16%, democrats, only 8%. the further left you know, the less people put faith in the crazy conspiracy theories. the further right rbsz t, the my

love them. >> and the longer president obecama has been president, the more conservatives thing he's a muslim. people believe what they want to believe. it's pretty disconcerting to me. my whole goal is not to defend president obama but to try to defend rational thought and common sense and facts and serious history. >> how is the book doing? got the truth in it. >> you know, the book should rise and fall on its own aside from this. i'm very happy with how it's done and how it's been received. and the book is not the issue, either. it's the manipulation of fact and truth that disturbs me. >> you have, and great tribute to you, you have gotten the story. you did the reporting, you devoted your life 24/7 to this for years to get this right, four or five years to this. you have gotten the story. people need to look at this,

especially the crazies. read one or two -- take a couple hours and read the history. spend a weekend and maybe you won't be as crazy. the regular people should read it for good reasons. you're a great guy. when we return, let me finish with bill clinton. the big dog himself. he's back. he's back, he's got the bone. you're watchb "hardball." n cont. our abundant natural gas is already saving us money, producing cleaner electricity, putting us to work here in america and supporting wind and solar. though all energy development comes with some risk, we're committed to safely and responsibly producing natural gas. it's not a dream. america's natural gas... putting us in control of our energy future, now. before i started taking abilify, i was taking an antidepressant alone. most days i could get out from under and carry on. but other days i still struggled with my depression. i was handling it... but sometimes it still dragged me down.

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let me finish tonight with this. bill clinton, bubba, the big dog, elvis, how many names of endearment will he carry before

the love affair comes to an end? it's gone on for 20 years now. an entire generation of the democratic party and many outside have clapped in admiration for this guy i have dared to dub president of the world. today came word that the lord or at least the democratic parto on earth is not finished with the big dog. he's going to get a big chunk of primetime at the democratic convention. a hot night in charlotte all to himself. he will be the one to put the name barack obama into nomination for his second presidential term. so as another big fellow used to say, and away we go, and how sweet it is. from here on out, this is be bill clinton's show. he helped the president get re-elected. he clamps down as head of the democratic party. he continues to clear the field for his candidate in 2016, the secretary of state, the smasher of glass ceilings, mrs. clinton herself. we will do what we have done for a quarter century,