and now, they have uncovered another liberal agenda, math homework. >> even the way they're pushing the textbook homework. check out the algebra, the big old rich girl, starts in third grade, distributes the wealth. look what happens, they get indoctrinated. >> but it is not just the numbers, the history books. >> and the history books were actually addressing the war on iraq, and they were very, very liberally biased, saying george bush went in, he heard there were weapons of mass destruction. it was have very liberal buy ia >> huh, huh? maybe our friends need to go back to school. because that is exactly what

happened in iraq, it is not a liberal conspiracy, it is history, these thanks for watching. i'm al sharpton. "the ed show" is next. good evening, americans and welcome to "the ed show" from new york. the nra wants an assault weapons ban off the table. the white house disagrees. this is "the ed show." let's get to work. >> i do not think there is going to be a ban on so-called assault weapons passed by the congress. >> the nra continues their denial campaign. and vice president joe biden resumed his task force today. mark glaze has the details on the nra's agenda. gun extremists won't give up and are as wacky as ever in the face of reform. the latest, civil rights. >> i believe that gun appreciation day honors the legacy of dr. king. >> michael eric dyson sets them straight tonight. congressman phil gingrey

backs up todd akin's disgusting claim. >> a woman's body has a way of shutting down so the pregnancy would not occur. he is partly right on that. i'm an ob/gyn doctor. >> karen finney on the gop's newest charge on women. howard dean gives us the outlook on filibuster reform. and the trillion dollar coin. >> you guys have a position on this trillion dollar coin business? >> it's just crazy enough to work. chris nowinski of the sports legacy institute lays out the next steps in taking on brain injuries in the nfl. good to have you with us, folks. thanks for watching. president obama says the country needs the take immediate action on gun violence. it looks like he'll get a comprehensive plan on his table next week. vice president joe biden held another round of meetings today on gun reform. today the meetings were with representatives of the video game industry. biden says the conversation was

part of the administration's far-reaching approach. he says the country is looking for help from everyone. >> we know this is a complex problem. we know there is no single answer. and quite frankly, we don't even know whether some of the things people think impact on this actually impact on it or not. and so i want you to know you have not been, quote, singled out for help. >> over the past two weeks, the vice president's team has met with dozens of organizations and groups from around the country from a wide range of interests. the law enforcement community, the medical community, the child advocacy at risk youth groups have been involved, domestic violence and prevention community was in there, also legal justice and service organizations, religious groups and organizations, education leaders, the mental health community, gun owners and sportsmen were included, gun safety advocates, technology experts. the vice president is taking recommendations from all groups. there is common ground on this issue from all sides.

for instance, even nra members overwhelmingly support changes to background check laws. 74% want everyone purchasing a gun permit to undergo a background check with no loopholes. this is from republican pollster frank luntz, and was taken long before the shootings in newtown, connecticut. plenty of gun owners are on board with changing the status quo. right now there are basically three major firewalls to sensible and safety laws in this country being changed. if you want to ban assault weapons in this country, i think first you have to deal with the gun nuts. and we're going to have a special segment on them coming up later on in the program. now, this crowd is convinced that the government wants to ban everything, in fact even get rid of hunting. now the next firewall of course is the republican party. to date, not one republican lawmaker is open to considering a ban on assault weapons like we had before. these republicans, quite frankly, are too afraid to go up against the third firewall, and

that would be the national rifle association. the nra met with vice president biden and his team. instead of having a meaningful conversation, nra president david keene said this on the "today" show -- >> if you're look at the problem, which is to prevent this sort of thing, what you want to do is do those things that will actually make a difference. we have a profound disagreement with this administration, first of all, on what would make a difference. we don't think that a ban on so-called assault weapons, which hasn't worked in the past, is going to work this time. >> the nra is committed to injecting poison into the conversation, as i see it on gun reform. david keene knows he is not telling the truth. we know for a fact mass shootings in this country were dramatically lower during the ten years of the assault weapons ban. mass shootings have gone up since 2004, reaching a horrible peak last year. but as long as the nra keeps lying, they believe they will block any meaningful legislation whatsoever.

>> do you have the support in congress to block any federal ban on assault weapons in the coming year? >> i do not think that there is going to be a ban on so-called assault weapons passed by the congress. >> david keene is dripping with confidence for a guy who claims the nra doesn't have a lot of power in washington. >> i don't know that the nra is that powerful. i do think that those americans who believe strongly in the second amendment and their right to own privately and use firearms for legitimate purposes is a huge number of people who really care about these issues. we try to provide leadership to those folks. we try to represent them before the congress and elsewhere. >> this is another big lie. the nra does not work on behalf of average gun owners in america. the "huffington post" reported today on the masters who are served by the nra. since 2005, the nra has raised anywhere from $14 million to $39 million from the biggest names in the gun industry. here is what all that cash pays for. the nra successfully lobbied for

the end of the assault weapons ban. since 2004, rifle production in the united states has increased by almost 38%. more guns equals more money. all of those assault rifles, well, they need a lot of extra bullets, don't they? midway usa is one of the biggest distributors of high capacity magazine clips. those clips are used in guns like the bushmaster and the glock. the weapons used in places like newtown and tucson, arizona. midway usa is the most generous gun industry supporter of the national rifle association. the company has donated $7.7 million to the nra since 1992. keep this in mind the next time you hear david keene or wayne lapierre say that we just can't ban high capacity magazines. so here is where we are. the obama administration knows that it's got a difficult fight on its hands. this is why the latest gun reform task force has been so wide reaching. the white house is hoping to overwhelm the nra by building a massive coalition of groups committed to change.

it's the same type of strategy the obama team used in two presidential campaigns that, well, worked pretty well. the nra has a lot of power, no doubt. but the combined strength of all of the groups meeting with vice president joe biden can overwhelm the nra this time. biden says that he will deliver recommendations to the president on tuesday. the time for change is right now. it is a moment in history we cannot let spin to outer space and be gone forever. if they can't do it now, when can they do it? get your cell phones out. i want to know what you're thinking. tonight's question, will the obama administration get gun legislation passed? text a for yes and b for no. to 622629. you can always go to our blog at ed.msnbc.com. we encourage you to do that. we'll bring the results later on in the show. joining me tonight is mark glaze, director of mayors against illegal guns. mark, good to have you with us tonight. >> thanks for having me. >> with all the discussion and media intensity this week,

what's doable? >> i think a lot is doable. there has been a real tipping point in this country that sees mass shootings happen more and more frequently and on a greater scale. people who have been doing this for much of their professional life say there has never been a moment like this. >> so what is doable? what is number one? is it the background checks? >> i think that this is one of those times when good policy and good politics actually come in the same package. it's a good time for that. background checks are something that most people already take. but 50% of the gun sales in this country may not be subject to them because they're sold over the internet or at a gun show by an unlicensed private seller. only dealers have to give background checks. and dealers don't like that very much. >> so feasibly, that would be the easiest thing to implement, comprehensive background checks, because some people already get checks. so the infrastructure is in place there? >> the infrastructure is in place. 74% of nra members think giving everybody a check is a good idea because most nra members are law abiding citizens. they take background checks and pass them. they know it takes 90 seconds. it saves a lot of lives. why wouldn't everyone else have

to take one as well? >> you heard mr. keene talk about they belong strongly in the second amendment, that there are enough americans out there that believe strongly in the second amendment. >> no, i think they're right. >> to the point where they downtown want to make any changes is what i mean. >> no, not at all. and this sort of exacerbates a problem that the nra has. the place where the leadership is is far away from where the nra rank and file actually is. the overwhelming majority of nra members, 87% believe in the following statement. you can protect the second amendment, and also do much more to keep people who should not have guns from having them -- criminals, domestic abusers, the seriously mentally ill. there is no contradiction in those two things. everybody basically believes that except for the nra's washington lobbyists. >> all right. a lot of people choosing upsides and weighing in on this. your group has seen a surge in membership since the shootings took place in newtown last month. it's a growing coalition, no doubt.

is it enough to push back against the nra? are you winning this war? and it is a war in a sense, a war of opinions, to win over the hearts and minds of people that this is a time in american history that we need to move on the second amendment, and it has to be i guess you could say upgraded. >> well, i loved watching the nra brag that they brought in 100,000 new members since the newtown shooting, because we brought in more than 400,000 new members since the newtown shooting. and these are people who are representative of the country and of the average nra member. this is not their problem. there has been a broad and durable consensus for more than a generation that people should have the right to have a gun in their home, protect themselves and go hunting. nobody is disputing that. the question is whether people who are already prohibited from having guns should have a system in place that stops them from getting them. >> okay. so the background checks you say are doable. what about the magazines? >> i think that's doable as well. it's harder because people don't like bans in this country. but the truth is the thing that

makes mass shootings mass shootings is somebody can fire as fast as they can pull the trigger, and they don't have to reload. >> phil gingrey in the news today says he is willing to listen to a high capacity magazine ban. is this an opening? >> oh, sure. and we meet with senators and members of congress every day. >> what do they say to you? >> what they say to you privately is very different from what they're saying publicly. and what they say to you privately is look, i get it. this is a real problem. we got to deal with it. i got a lot of nra money and a lot of nra members sloshing around in my district, and i have to explain this to them, but i'm going to find a way. >> vice president biden seems to be very determined. i mean, he has been so intense on this, there would be egg on his face if something didn't happen, i think. and i think he is more than well intended. are you hearing from anyone, any of the people who have been to these meetings as to whether they believe something is going to get done? >> well, sure. we've been in there a couple of times now, and we absolutely believe, first of all, that he is the right person to be doing this. he was instrumental in passing some of the really good gun laws

we passed in this country the last time we did it. >> well, he wrote the clinton crime bill. >> during the clinton administration. he is very close to law enforcement. he is from kind of the heart of the country, and he understands -- he understands how people think about this issue. and basically, people want their kids to be safe. they don't want felons getting guns. and in fact, we know how to stop that from happening if the nra's washington leadership would just get out of the way. >> you say that lawmakers are saying to you different things than what they're saying in the public? >> oh, sure. >> but they got to vote. would there be enough votes to pass the assault weapons ban as it was written in '94? >> anybody who tells you that they know that is kidding themselves. i don't know that that is the fact. but, you know, i think we're going to be working very hard every day to make the case that we don't have to live in an america where 20 kids my son's age are lined up against a wall and shot. >> how much does president obama have to spend on this subject state of the union february 12th? >> i don't have a number of

minutes in mind, but i think he is going to spend a good long time. a good thing to do is look at president clinton's last state of the union speech, his valedictory before he left. he spent minute after minute after minute talking about everything he accomplished and all of the things that were yet to be done on gun issues. that man is remembered very well in this country, and i think president obama will be remembered very well, along with vice president biden, for taking this on and making it a part of their legacy. >> mark glaze, thank you so much. remember to answer tonight's question at the bottom of the screen. share your thoughts with us on twitter @edshow and an twitter. we want to know what you think. next up, extremists who think they speak for all gun owners in america. they don't. we'll visit the fringe and speak about guns, slavery and g. gordon liddy when we come back. the capital one cash rewards card gives you 1% cash back on all purchases, plus a 50% annual bonus. and everyone likes 50% more... [ midwestern/chicago accent ] cheddar! yeah! 50 percent more [yodeling] yodel-ay-ee-oo. 50% more flash. [ southern accent ] 50 percent more taters. that's where tots come from.

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rape i'll talk to karen finney about the gop's troubling views. and later, new information about the death of legendary football player junior seau draws now questions about the safety of athletes. what can the nfl do to protect its players? you can listen to my radio show on sirius xm radio monday through friday noon to 3:00 p.m. share your thoughts with us on facebook and on twitter using #edshow. eathing better. so now i can be in the scene. advair is clinically proven to help significantly improve lung function. unlike most copd medications, advair contains both an anti-inflammatory and a long-acting bronchodilator working together to help improve your lung function all day. advair won't replace fast-acting inhalers for sudden symptoms and should not be used more than twice a day. people with copd taking advair may have a higher chance of pneumonia. advair may increase your risk of osteoporosis and some eye problems.

tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking advair. if you're still having difficulty breathing, ask your doctor if including advair could help improve your lung function. get your first full prescription free and save on refills at advaircopd.com. thanks for staying with us tonight. if we want sensible gun legislation in this country and we need to understand what we're really up against, what is the mentality out there? that means talking about people like james yaeger. he is a gun enthusiast.

and former military contractor in iraq. he threatened to, quote, start killing people if the president issued an executive order on gun control. we asked him to come on our program tonight. at first he agreed, but then he said his lawyer was against it. tonight, "talking points memo" reports that the tennessee -- the state of tennessee suspended yaeger's carry permit. now he is trying to tone his message down a bit. >> i do not condone anybody committing any kind of felonies unless it's necessary. right now it is not necessary. start working out. start stretching. start practicing. >> yeager is not alone. he is just one in a crowd of extremists who think that they speak for all gun owners across america and second amendment lovers. right wingers at "the drudge report" compared the president to hitler and stalin. really?

yeah. another gun advocate used slavery to make his case against gun control. >> if african-americans had been given the right to keep and bear arms from day one of the country's founding, perhaps slavery might not have been a chapter in our history. >> we'll talk more about slavery and guns in a moment. >> first, you should know larry ward is pushing a national gun appreciation day. it's on the weekend before martin luther king day. ward claims this is the first gun appreciation day. but we found gun appreciation days dating back to 1995. this was the year the oklahoma city bombing, right after congress passed the assault weapons ban. by the way, that's convicted felon g. gordon liddy at the podium. remember, he told people to, quote, go for a head shot if the atf agents came to take their guns. his brand of crazy is alive and well. >> they want to pick on the

bastard child of the bill of rights which is the second amendment, and it's not going to happen, not on my watch. >> obama operatives in the congress have introduced more than ten bills that would end the second amendment as we know it. >> they don't need much to take advantage of a tragedy to further their political goals. >> i can't do this. and it's just endless. >> this is just total absolute freaking tyranny. >> if you don't belong in the nra, you need to get on the phone and use your credit card and become a member within the next 24 hours. you're going have to go in the nra, whether you like it or not. ♪ i'll give you my semiautomatics when you pry them from my cold dead hands ♪ >> let's turn to michael eric dyson, msnbc political analyst

and professor of sociology at georgetown university. professor, the rhetoric is getting hot. >> yep. >> is it good for the discussion? is it good for america? can we make any sense out of this? >> the ratcheting up of this conversation is dangerous. it really presages i think an all-out war against vulnerable people who are rendered even more vulnerable because gun nuts think they have to be armed, aiming at targets that are already marginal in this culture in terms of their standing. and they pick the groups that are least likely to offer rebuttal to them. for instance, speaking about african-american people or talk about women and latinos, these minority groups are not more likely to be viewed as legitimate possessors of guns to begin with. so when you ratchet the conversation up to this degree and you falsely claim that these people are the people you have to be concerned about, and obama is trying to reject the second

amendment and the people who look like him are the problems, this is a deeply classed, gendered, racialized assault upon people and upon people of good will in america who simply want to have sensible and sane gun policy in the place of this maniacal focus of the defense of the gun. >> is it a special level -- is it at a new level when "the drudge report" which is accessed by millions of conservatives in this country to see murderous individuals such as stalin and hitler and the president of the united states, the inference there being aligned with these men? >> of course. >> these psychopaths of another generation. >> yes. >> what has the president of the united states done to deserve that, number one? and secondly, how are people supposed to respond to that? are they looking for a reaction? are they stirring the pot by doing something so outrageous as that? >> well, first of all, the president has done nothing more than exist.

that is the problem. the right wing in this country has taken out -- has in one sense become so outraged with obama's presence that they will go to any length possible to try to eradicate, erase, or somehow undermine him, to try to convince americans that he is not one of us, that he is trying to take our rights away, our guns away, and therefore take this country away. and what we, the right wing have to do is to take it back. and even extra legal measures here, even though this man in this report was calmed down a bit by his lawyers and he retracted a bit, the reality is they are willing to go to extraordinary lengths to prove that obama is the enemy of all that is good. and the parallel, drawing the parallel between obama and hitler and stalin and the like is playing fast and loose with the truth. but you know most people in america don't have the kind of refined political sensibilities that allowed them to interpret facts for themselves. they are just led on by the images. and the very thing that hitler was brilliant at, that is

manipulating imagery to drum up and gin up the emotions of people is what they're doing. they're talking against hitler, and yet they're using some of his same tactics. >> a former president of the nra says tougher laws discriminate against certain guns. here it is. >> banning people and things because of the way they look went out a long time ago. but here they are again. the color of a gun, the way it looks. >> your reaction to that. >> first of all, that's ludicrous. to try to draw a parallel between color discrimination and applying that to guns is a reaching very far. the metaphor fails. the analogy doesn't walk on all fours. the problem here is that most of the people who are against sensible, sane policy, who are in the embrace of the nra and who believe that the possession of a gun is the be-all and end-all of all society are the

problem here. no one is trying to take guns. no one is trying to reject the possibility that americans can own guns be. the worship of guns at the altar of the gun is the problem here. >> sure. >> and drawing a parallel between martin luther king jr. and, you know, his birthday and the appreciation for guns, let's be honest. martin luther king owned a gun early on in his career before ruston came to montgomery, taught him the ways of nonviolence. he put the gun down. he subjected himself to the force of every evil in the country. martin luther king would never substantiate the claim that we must own guns. he said put them down. >> michael eric dyson, you answered my final question. it is great to have you with us tonight on this very intense subject. next, we'll hear more from phil gingrey. this time he is out defending todd akin's views on rape. karen finney will weigh in. and why senate majority leader harry reid is the most important man in washington right now. stay tuned. these mr. clean guys, they're like a clean team.

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and we are back. in addition to causing headaches for the gop on gun control, congressman phil gingrey of georgia is also defending his friend todd akin. just months after todd akin's views on legitimate rape cost him the senate race and cost the gop control of the senate, gingrey told a crowd at a local chamber of commerce event that akin is partially right when it comes to a woman's ability to prevent a pregnancy caused by a so-called legitimate rape.

>> what he meant by a legitimate rape was that, look, someone can say i was raped, a scared to death 15-year-old that becomes impregnated by her boyfriend and then has to tell her parents, you know, that's pretty tough and might on some occasions say hey, i was raped. that's what he meant when he said legitimate rape versus nonlegitimate rape. i don't find anything so horrible than. but then he went on and said that in a situation of rape, of a legitimate rape, a woman's body has a way of shutting down so that pregnancy would not occur. he is partly right on that. >> so why would anyone listen to phil gingrey spout off scientifically inaccurate assertions about a woman's body? for starters, he is the co-chair

of the house gop's doctors caucus. and oh, yeah, he is also a practicing ob/gyn. >> and i've delivered lots of babies, and i know about these things. we tell infertile couples all the time that are having trouble conceiving because of the woman not ovulating just relax. drink a glass of wine, and don't be so tense and uptight, because all that adrenaline can cause you not to ovulate. so he was partially right, wasn't he? and yet the media took that and tore it apart. >> gingrey now says his words have been misconstrued, and he was not defending akin or failed indiana senate candidate richard murdoch. "at senate breakfast yesterday morning i was asked why democrats made abortion a central theme of the presidential campaign. i do not defend nor do i stand by the remarks made by representative akin or dr. mourdock.

in my attempt to provide context as to what i presumed they meant. my position was misconstrued." i am joined tonight by karen finney, msnbc political analyst and former communications director of the dnc. how insulting is it? >> i mean, ed, they just don't stop, do they? wow. you know, first of all, i don't think this man should go anywhere near any female's body ever again, because that level of ignorance is dangerous, as we've seen before. it's insulting, but you know what? also, ed, it shows us that the republican party, they still have this problem that, you know, they're trying to tamp down some of these guys and say hey, just don't talk about it. but certainly somebody who is a doctor who is part of a caucus who is then thinking about policy that affects women's lives is someone who is in a position to make very dangerous decisions. and so regardless of even if they get him to change, you

know, the talking points from a policy standpoint, this guy is just as misguided and, you know, sort of ignorant about women's bodies as the rest of them. >> is there anything he said there that would have been misconstrued? i mean, forget the question. >> yeah. >> i mean, the context of what he said spoke very clear to you as a woman. >> it was very clear to me. you know, trying to suggest that, you know, a teenager who has sex with her boyfriend and gets pregnant and then -- that that somehow is what akin meant by legitimate versus illegitimate rape, that's just disgusting, on so many levels. this idea that if i'm stressed i should just have a glass of wine and calm down and that's the way to get pregnant? i mean, if that worked, ed, the ivf industry would go out of business. >> once again, the real views of the gop on full display, no question about it. he also went on to say that the democrats kept the senate because of akin's and mourdock's

comments. he also told the crowd that mitt romney was pretty much not the guy, said he didn't help very much. so he had quite a day in front of this crowd down in georgia. >> but they're also trying to suggest that democrats are trying to force republicans into talking about rape. and i think as this comment makes pretty clear and akin and mourdock, they brought it up. i mean, they brought up it as part of a conversation. nobody is forcing them to talk about this. and, you know, again, it shows this idea about the war on women continues. what else happened this week? we had paul ryan introduce a fetal personhood bill. we know that marsha blackburn introduced legislation to again defund planned parenthood. so it's just more of the same, right back where we started. >> karen finney, great to have you with us. thank you so much for joining us tonight. there is a lot more coming up in the next half hour of "the ed show." stay with us. the key to filibuster reform could all be in harry reid's hands. howard dean gives us the outlook next. trillion dollar coin.

>> do you guys have a position on this trillion dollar coin business? >> and we'll tell you the real facts on the trillion dollar coin. here is a hint. it doesn't equal the weight of 89 blue whales. junior seau's brain exam was a powerful wake-up call, and chris nowinski of the sports legacy institute is taking the nfl to task.

they're filibustering until we have to change the rules. we can't go on like this anymore. i don't want to get rid of the filibuster, but i have to tell you, i want to change the rules and make the filibuster meaningful. it can be done with obama's re-elected and i still have the majority. we can do it with a simple majority at the beginning of the congress. >> welcome back to "the ed show." senate majority leader harry reid promising to pass the filibuster reform at the beginning of the 113th congress. that was on my radio show back in july. well, president obama has been

reelected. the democrats held on to a simple majority in the senate. so it's time. so by reid's account, the time for real reform is on january 22nd when the senate votes on the congressional sessions rule book, which is why harry reid is the most important man in american politics right now. senate republicans of the 112th congress used and abused the filibuster as a tool for the minority to prevent the will of the majority. and it's looking like the 113th congress couldn't be any different. just take a look at republican opposition to president obama's recent cabinet nominations. republican senator jeff sessions of alabama issued a statement saying that jack lew must never be secretary of the treasury. sessions has made the rounds publicly opposing lew's nomination and expects it to fail in the senate. qualified nominees like jack lew and chuck hagel continue to be targeted by republicans willing

to block anything president obama puts forward. the gop's threat make an excellent case for why democrats must take action on filibuster reform. i'm joined tonight by howard dean, former governor of vermont and former chair of the dnc. governor dean, good to have you with us tonight. >> thanks for having me on, ed. >> you bet. is this just something harry reid has to do? i mean, if you look at taxation. >> yeah. >> if you look at gun legislation, how could any of this not get filibustered based on what we saw in the 112th? >> actually, the filibuster is designed to thwart the will of the majority. but the problem is not that, because our constitution protects the minority, which is a good thing. the problem is the republicans have made it into a farce and, basically, brought the business of the entire government to a halt. so that's why it must be changed. i'm not for getting rid of it, but i am for changing it dramatically so it can't be abused anymore there are some

really important things that face this country. very little was done in the last two years, and that's because the republicans believed that if they could win the election if they did nothing, they put their party ahead of their country. that must not be allowed to happen again, and the filibuster has to be changed. >> democratic proposal would force senators who filibuster to actually speak on the floor. why do you think that's so important? i know why. your opinion on that. >> well, it's important for two reasons. first of all, of course, they'll eventually get worn out if there is not enough of them. and secondly, it will show the american people who is obstructing the business of the public. and that's really important. we need more transparency in the senate. the senate rules are arcane, and they're now unfair to the american people. >> doesn't president obama deserve his agenda to be debated on the senate floor? he has won two elections. >> yes. >> a landslide in the electoral college. wins by four million votes in the popular vote. i mean, wouldn't harry reid be of sorts abdicating his responsibilities if he didn't change the rules?

>> i don't think this is harry reid. i think he'll do the right thing and try to change. the problem is there will be some democrats who don't agree with him and we have to hold those democrats accountable. there's no point having democrats in the senate if they don't act like democrats. >> what do you know about mccain and levin getting together to introduce a rival filibuster reform? it's not the same thing. some say it's a gift to republicans. do you agree? >> i don't know. let's see what it looks like. all i know is the talking part is really important. we've got to have transparency. we've got to find out exactly who it is that is obstructing what the american people want to do, first of all. and second of all, it has to be fair. i understand that we shouldn't get rid of the filibuster entirely, because the constitution does protect the rights of the minority. but when a tool that is designed to protect minority opinion is used to advance a particular party, then that tool has to be changed. i'm willing to look at mccain/levin. i want to see the right thing done. and i do trust harry reid on this.

he knows the rules. he's been a decent leader. and he's got to get the votes for this. >> we've been talking about gun laws. vice president biden has worked very hard on this this week. how can any gun laws get passed if we don't move on the filibuster, if harry reid doesn't move on the filibuster in the senate? >> i think there will be a lot of stuff that doesn't get passed that isn't right. the american people, again, deserve to see what happens here and to see who is blocking the will of the people. and then they can take that to the ballot box in 2014. and that's why i think the republicans are obstructing once again, because they believe by obstruction they can win elections. they're wrong. they were wrong in this past election. all they've done is hurt the country for the past two years. >> governor dean, you're a doctor. what did you think of congressman phil gingrey's comments in the previous segment? >> i think he is probably not qualified to practice medicine. for the first time i've been glad that phil gingrey is in

congress because that means he's not treating patients. if that's what he believes medicine -- that's an old paternalistic way, that old male gynecologists used to treat women, and that's why most women don't go to male gynecologists anymore. it's an appalling lack of knowledge of medicine, the basics of medicine. >> howard dean, great to have you with us on "the ed show" tonight. thank you. next, a top economist says president obama should go for the platinum coin option if republicans try to hold the country hostage over the debt ceiling. we'll bring you the details. stay with us. if there was a pill to help protect your eye health as you age... would you take it? well, there is. [ male announcer ] it's called ocuvite. a vitamin totally dedicated to your eyes, from the eye care experts at bausch + lomb. as you age, eyes can lose vital nutrients. ocuvite helps replenish key eye nutrients. ocuvite has a unique formula not found in your multivitamin to help protect your eye health. now that's a pill worth taking.

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to arm teachers, send them to west point instead of normal colleges. then we will have qualified vigilantes. and elaine violet, a staunch supporter of the second amendment says guns in school is asking for a disaster. everyone needs to calm down and be rational. good god, has everyone lost it? keep sharing your thoughts with us and like us on facebook and on twitter using #edshow. still to come, protecting athletes from brain injuries. i'll talk to chris nowinski about cte and what needs to be done to make sports across the board safer. ♪ [ male announcer ] how do you turn an entrepreneur's dream... ♪ into a scooter that talks to the cloud? ♪ or turn 30-million artifacts... ♪ into a high-tech masterpiece?

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welcome back to "the ed show." president obama can simply go platinum if republicans hold america hostage with the debt ceiling. the president can legally call on the treasury department to mint a trillion dollar platinum coin to pay off the country's debts.

the coin must be platinum. it can be any size and it can be assigned a trillion dollar denomination. this is kind of a crazy option, but then again republicans holding america hostage over the debt ceiling is even crazier. some economists think the platinum coin could send the economy into a tailspin, but others think it's a great idea. pulitzer prize winning economist paul krugman said president obama should absolutely mint the coin if republicans try to force america into default. krugman also said that john boehner's face should bonn the coin because without him, the coin wouldn't be needed. meanwhile, republicans have been lying to americans on the debt ceiling for weeks, and now the fox news misinformation machine in high gear, hitting the platinum coin issue. neil cavuto put up this misleading graphic during his show on thursday. it claimed the coin would weigh 17,000 tons, about the weight of 89 blue whales and be the size of a nuclear submarine?

well, the graphic is all wrong. the coin can be any size and be given any denomination. this is just the latest example the debt ceiling. mitch mcconnell was wrong when he claimed president obama wanted to raise the debt ceiling so he could spend more money. john cornyn was wrong when he said shutting down the government over the debt ceiling would be good for the country. and now neil cavuto's graphic is joining the club in the fraternal order. it's important to remember any information from republicans on the debt ceiling must be taken with a serious grain of salt. tonight in our survey, i asked you, will the obama administration get gun legislation passed? 84% of you say yes. 16% of you say no. coming up, big hits in the national football league are bringing the issue of brain disease, cte, front and center when it comes to the big discussion on health in the league. i'll talk to the co-director of the leading cte research facility in the country. stay with us. that's next.

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[ record scratch ] what?! it's not bad for you. it just tastes that way. [ female announcer ] honey nut cheerios cereal -- heart-healthy, whole grain oats. you can't go wrong loving it. and in the big finish tonight, new details in the death of 12-time pro linebacker junior seau are bringing attention to the dangerous disease affecting some athletes. when junior seau ended his life last year, he was suffering from a brain condition known as cte. cte is a brain disease associated with athletes who take frequent hits to the head. over time, these hits cause the

brain to build up abnormal protein. on the left side of your screen you can see a cross-section of a normal screen. on the right side is a brain from a 73-year-old boxer showing signs of cte. symptoms of cte include memory loss, impaired judgment, aggression, depression, and eventually dementia. researchers at boston university pioneered the study of cte. they found the disease in 18 of 19 brains of former nfl players they examined. our next guest is the co-director of boston university's program, chris nowinski. he played football at harvard university and has his own history of concussions from his pro wrestling days. >> and making his way to the ring, 260 chris nowinski! >> it all starts with my wrestling career. i actually have some of my concussions captured, which is nice. >> what is he doing?

>> i had depression problems. i had short-term memory that was terrible for a year and a half. i kept sleepwalking for three and a half years and needed medication. i had headaches for five. that's when i decided maybe there was something wrong with my brain. >> joining me tonight, chris nowinski, co-director of the center for study of cte at boston university and author of "head games: football's concussion crisis." chris, great to have you with us tonight on the program. how many athletes in all contact sports do you think are suffering from cte? >> oh, we can't actually diagnosis the disease in living people right now. so we don't know. but we do know is that 34 of the 35 nfl players that we have studied have had the disease, as well as nine of nine college players. we found it as young as people of 17 when they passed away. it's out there if you have been

hit in the head a lot and played a lot of contact sports for many years. >> nfl, are they cooperating with this? is this on their radar screen? are they really paying attention to what has happened? >> retired players, absolutely. we have hundreds signed up. they're looking for treatment for this disease. the active players, not so much. very few are involved in our research, and very few are outspoken on this issue. >> a lot of focus is on professional athletes taking really big hits. but i want to play a clip of a video that you put online. here it is. >> go, go! >> oh, gosh. >> those kids were 8 years old. what has to be done for a younger players to prevent cte? >> well we have to start by reconsidering, you know, what the child's brain is really like. we know that the young brain is more vulnerable to brain trauma. so i watch this from my perspective today if we know the nfl is dangerous, and we know we actually have to pay these athletes millions of dollars to expose them to the damage they take, how are we playing the exact same game with 8-year-olds when we give them none of the

protections we give the nfl players? they don't have doctors. they don't have restrictions on hitting. in the nfl you can only hit 14 days during the season. in high school, they just added in some states like illinois 20 days of extra hitting in the summer. so we have to really pay attention to what sort of brain trauma children really should be taking in all sports in this country. >> and of course one of the symptoms is depression and aggression. six nfl players have ended their lives in the past two years alone. depression is a symptom of cte. do you think there is a correlation between cte and suicide? >> you know, it's really difficult to say at this stage of the game. you can never really correlate a disease with a specific act like that. certainly there is some logic to you're depressed you have impulse control problems. but in a lot of the cases what you really saw was their life fall apart. the disease affected their behavior, alienated them from their families. some of them lost businesses, ended up $20 million in debt as he was.