ground shift on marriage equality, ending don't ask, don't tell, he ended the war in iraq and on the verge of ending afghanistan. if he can get republicans to raise revenues, if he can get through an enforcement immigration law, then he really is in contention to be the truly transformational president he talked about when he was running for office. we'll soon know how this all adds up. the stakes are high. so are the hopes. and that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. "politicsnation" with al sharpton starts right now. thanks, chris, and thanks to you for tuning in. tonight's lead, power of the people. today, president obama won a big victory for his second term agenda with the crucial first vote on gun control. democrats and some republicans crushed a right-wing attempt to stop the guns bill dead in its tracks, to stop it from even getting a vote.

the senate will now get to work fulfilling president obama's promise to give gun safety and gun victims a real chance. there's a lot more work to be done. but today's success shows what the president can do when he summons all the power of his office, when he goes beyond the beltway, when he speaks directly to the american people. >> when the american people speak loudly enough, lo and behold, congress listens. >> that's what members of congress need to hear from you. >> write them an e-mail, post it on their facebook walls. >> we need your voices in this debate. >> stand up. stand up. >> the republican leaders now seem to be more worried about keeping their jobs than passing good laws. today "politico" says john boehner is on the hot seat.

and "politico" says mitch mcconnell has seemed to turn his attention single mindedly to protecting his right flank at home where he faces re-election. this has been the problem from the very beginning. they are ring leaders of the block party that's tried to stop everything president obama's tried to do. and now they are feeling the heat. the tide has turned. president obama has an am besh sho ambitious job ahead of him. he can win like he did today just like he won re-election, by rallying the american people to get it done. joining me now is democratic senator sheldon whitehouse from rhode island. thank you for joining me. >> glad to be with you, reverend. >> now, how important is today in getting something done on

guns? >> i think it's very important. if the republicans had been able to kill this bill in the crib before we even had a chance to vote on it and to offer amendments and to bring it to life, it would have been i think a real blow for the senate and it would have been dismaying to the american public to think that after all the bloodshed we've seen, we can't even get to a vote on this bill. it's very important that we got through this political obstacle. more obstacles lie ahead. at least we're through this one. >> now, i think that it would have been the epitome of an insult to the american people if we couldn't get this far. >> can you imagine that? >> but we've got a lot of hurdles to go and as happy as i am to see the president and commonsense triumph through this first step, let's remember, a third of the senate voted today to filibuster 31 senators is

unbelievable, wanted us to not even have the discussion. i mean, this is unbelievable. and it shows what you are up against and what the president is up against. in fact, senator lindsey graham who voted to allow the gun bill to go through today tweeted, "the gun control legislation can still be filibustered after today in the united states senate." by no means should we rally the american people because we had to go with a full-court press to even go this far. >> that's very true. we see over and over on these eaches t issues that the republicans are responding to a very narrow corner of their base. they are seeking things that the american public are not interested in, does not agree with. but they are going to persist in doing that and just like you said they hear loud and clear from the american people that the direction that they are

going in is the wrong direction for america. >> the american people have to be clear on this. it's their rally and it's their moving forward and the president appealing to them that got us on what -- if i would have had this conversation with you senator, after newtown, we would have thought someone was crazy to say we were going to have to fight like this just to get background checks. but here we are getting background checks and trying to make that the beginning of a long walk toward gun safety. >> yeah. and we still need to vote on background checks. it's not clear that the republicans who let us get to this bill won't filibuster those amendments and refuse to provide the votes necessary to get them into the bill. so we'll have to see. >> but we're seeing movement on immigration, we're seeing movement and other issues but we're going to have to fight for every one of them. it is -- it seems to be leading

in the right direction. are you confident or are you still very much in the zone of caution, senator? >> i'm in the zone of optimistic caution. if americans are satisfied with democracy by proxy, elect people, let them go and return to their other business, then we're going to have trouble. if americans see this as a time when they want to directly engage in their democracy, make sure that their voices are heard, let their representatives know what they wish, then i think we can win on all of these issues because the values we're fighting for, the principles and policies that we want to enforce here are exactly the principles and policies that the american people overwhelmingly support. >> thank you very much, senator whitehouse. i couldn't agree with you more. we've got to keep our guard up. thank you for your time tonight. >> thank you, reverend. >> now let's bring informer governor ed rendell and angela

rye. thank you both for being here. >> thank you, rev. >> governor, what for the rest of the president obama's agenda. >> if 30 republican senators would have 90% of the american people that has nothing to do with the rights of legitimate gun owners is embarrassing. they should be ashamed of themselves and they should pay for it. because it's absolutely incredible that they would deny the victims of newtown and aurora and blacksburg a vote on these eaches. that's number o issues. number two, it shows with presidential leadership we can accomplish a lot and you were very clear that immigration is something that the president has played that exactly right and he's going to have to hammer the entire details that the 8 come

up with. we have to get that through. i believe this gun legislation will eventually be voted on unless speaker boehner decides to hold it up and not bring it to the floor and then individual republicans like my four suburban republican house members are going to have to decide whether they will sign a discharge petition to make sure it will be voted on regardless of what speaker boehner does. so i think there's real possibilities on the hour ririz. the president took a step that got him in trouble with him with the budget. if we're going to do the grand bargain that's going to set america straight and get our economy moving again, there has to be concessions on both sides. the president is exercising strong leadership. it's a good sign for the country. >> angela, when you look at the fact -- and i must revisit this. you have -- we're watching as victims of newtown family members walked the halls of the

senate yet 31 of them voted to filibuster, 31 of them voted not to even have the discussion after meeting with mothers and fathers and sisters and those that have lost their lives for no reason, it shows you what they are up against and what the president is up against. so i think that there is a victory here but i don't think people need to relax and i don't think people need to feel in any way, shape, or form we're not on the upside of that mountain trying to climb up. we're not near the mountaintop of coming down in victory. >> no question about it, rev. the most important thing we can do right now is look at what the president has done with using his bold leadership when he had the opportunity and that was to implement 23 executive actions. in addition to that, now we're fighting or the congress is

fighting the nra lobby, the power of the nra lobby versus what the people are saying. the people out there that have been personally impacted by gun violence, perhaps their neighbors, perhaps someone even closer. so you have the money lobby and you have the people lobby saying the in. nra doesn't speak for me and i need the house of representatives to speak for me. i need you to hear my voice because this is one of the most important and pressing issues of our time. so while the president has stepped up a long time ago and said what he was going to do, we've already seen the doj grant to different communities to make sure that the universal background checks would align with the state background checks. it's time to keep the pressure on. 68 votes is tremendous but the 31 against is simply unconscienceable. >> governor, you referred to the president having to have a strategy and what he was able to do. in many ways, the president called their bluff, the gop's

bluff by reaching out, going to dinners and other concessions with his outreach. i think that it exposed them as the obstructionist and inflexible party that they are in terms of the party leadership. >> no question about that. and they are really on the spot. they are on the spot on guns, on the spot in immigration and certainly on the spot on the budget. if they reject this as speaker boehner seems to have done and says it's too little, it's not too little. the best sign of the fact that it took the president exercise courageous leadership is the grief he's getting from the left members of the party, including yourself, rev, the president's hanging in there because, look, if he were king, he would have a different way of getting rid of this debt problem. but he's not king and he's got to make concessions to the other side if he wants to get the adequate revenue that we need to make this whole thing work.

so he's taking a very difficult step and he deserves tremendous credit for it and the republicans, if they stonewall him on this, i think they are signing their death warrant for 2014. >> well, governor rendell and angela rye, thank you for your time tonight. i agree it will devastate them in 2014 but i'm concerned about those that have to survive, those that are concerned about the safety of their families, the rest of 2013 and in to 2014. this is real, folks. we're talking about guns. we're talking about bullets. we're talking about over 500 deaths in chicago last year. we're talking about newtown, we're talking about things that matter and these people on the other side are talking about brinksmanship. this is serious and we need to continue to fight. ahead, did the most powerful republican in washington break the law? our next guest is calling for an investigation. and why is kid rock saying he's embarrassed to be a

republican? i can think of a few reasons. plus, he broke the color barrier in baseball and became an american hero. jackie robinson's children are here to remember their legendary father. it's a big show tonight. stay with us. [ male announcer ] when these come together, and these come together, one thing you can depend on is that these will come together. delicious and wholesome. some combinations were just meant to be. tomato soup from campbell's. it's amazing what soup can do. are proven to be effective pain relievers. tylenol works by blocking pain signals to your brain. bayer advanced aspirin blocks pain at the site. try the power of bayer advanced aspirin.

have you joined the "politicsnation" conversation on facebook yet? today the gun voters are a hot topic. larry says, "this country deserves a strong gun law and to have all of the laws enforced." ebb bonnie says, "there is no justification for doing nothing." and alexander called out mitch mcconnell specifically for

voting no calling him an obstruction to the forward movement of this country. it's not the only reason senator mcconnell is catching heat. today we'll tell you the other reason, next. but first, we want to hear what you think. please head over to facebook and search "politicsnation" and "like" us to join the conversation that keeps going long after the show ends. are you still sleeping? just wanted to check and make sure that we were on schedule. the first technology of its kind... mom and dad, i have great news. is now providing answers families need. siemens. answers. to prove febreze can keep this car fresh, we loaded it with fast food, sweaty hockey gear, and a smelly dog cage. and parked it at a mall. in texas.

for two days. then put a febreze car vent clip on the dash and let in real people. it smells good. like laundry fresh out of like the dryer. yeah. a man fresh out of the shower. nailed it. oh yeah. proof. febreze car vent clips keep your car fresh. another way febreze helps you breathe happy. it's just going from bad to worse for mitch mcconnell. there are new questions today about whether he broke federal law by plotting that smear campaign against actress and

activist ashley judd. in the secret tapes released by "mother jones" we hear mcconnell's campaign staff planning how to bring down judd in case she decided to run against him. now an ethics watch dog is filing a complaint calling on officials to investigate whether mcconnell broke the law by using senate staff and resources to conduct research against judd. it's a serious allegation, an issue that surfaced on these mcconnell campaign tapes. >> so i'll just preface my comments that this reflects the work of a lot of folks. josh, jesse, fill, lots of la's. >> it's probably referred to legislative aides, staff member

and not on taxpayers' dimes and this is the question tonight. did one of the most powerful republicans in washington break federal law? let's try and get an answer. joining me now is melanie shown, executive director of the watchdog group crew. they filed the ethics complaint. let me thank you for being here tonight. >> well, it's a pleasure to be with you. >> let me ask straight out, why did your group call for the investigation into the mcconnell campaign? >> well, look, if senator mcconnell was misusing his office staff who are paid for by our tax dollars to engage in campaign work, that's a violation of both federal criminal law and senate ethics rule and he should be held accountable for that. he's got one, the fbi has started looking at it and it seems like an appropriate thing

for the fbi to investigate all the way around. it would also look at whether senator mcconnell broke the law. >> now, when you say that the breaking of the law is a possible in terms of what the senator did, are you referring to what i played in the tape, l.a., legislative assistants, would mean that they were on his senate staff, not his campaign staff? >> that and the tape refers to two people by name, phil maxsin and a person named josh. josh holmes is the chief of staff and an aide to senator mcconnell since 2007. neither one of those people have been paid by the campaign committee. they are both on the senate staff. so it's clear that those two along with other unnamed legislative aides have been doing this research, which is unusual.

usually campaign staff would be engaged in that kind of work and it's true that they could do this if that was on their free time but snerthey were spending lot of time on this and it seems like it may have been on their official time that they were doing this. >> and these are people paid by taxpayer funds and clearly we looked up to senate ethics rules. it reads, "senate employees are free to engage in campaign activity as volunteers or for pay provided they do so on their own time, outside of senate space, and without using senate resources. so i -- >> that's exactly. >> that's the ethics laws so to do otherwise is in effect to have taxpayers paying for your campaign or paying to help your campaign. >> yes. and in the past people have been prosecuted for this as a theft of government services. it also violates a law saying that appropriated money can only

be used for appropriated services. it certainly seems like a matter that merits serious inquirely and would be easy enough for the fbi to see when the e-mails are going back and forth about this kind of campaign work and see if these folks were engaged in this work as the senate mcconnell staff is now saying on their free time or doing it during official office hours and that's why we'd like to see the fbi and senate ethics committee investigate. >> do you have any evidence that they were doing this on staff time or senate time? do you have any evidence that they were not doing this on their own time? >> we really just don't know either way right now. and so it certainly seems like a matter that merits serious inquiry because it's unusual for l.a.s and chief of staff to be operated in this kind of research. so right off the bat you have questions and those were raised on this tape and so it seems to

me since there is an investigation, this is an important matter to investigate. you can't have the senate minority leader engaged in misconduct and certainly we all deserve to know. if he's misusing taxpayer resources. >> all right. we'll have to leave it there, melanie shown, thank you for your time tonight. >> thank you. ahead, they are looking to dick cheney for help? this must be some radical new way to rebrand the party. and kid rock says he's embarrassed to be a republican. he finally got to look at their policies. stay with us. [ male announcer ] julia child became a famous chef at age 51.

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poor congressman joe biden seems to make head leans for all the wrong reasons. in 2010 while the gulf coast was reeling from the bp oil spill, biden was giving his sympathies to the company's ceo. >> i think it is a tragedy of the first proportion that a private corporation can be subjected to what i would characterize as a shakedown. in this case, a $20 billion shakedown. i apologize. >> he apologized to bp. the he thought that holding bp accountable was a real tragedy.

and now he's weighing in again on climate change. >> i think you can have an honest difference of opinion of what is causing that change without automatically either being all in or it's all because of manmind or it's all just natural. >> we hear this from the right all the time but the causes of climate change aren't a matter of opinion. more than 97% of climate researchers say humans are causing climate change, the scientist who is actually study these things. but congressman barton thought he would prove them wrong by quoting chapter and verse. >> i would point out that if you're a believer in the bible, the great flood is an example of climate change. and that's certainly was not because mankind overdeveloped

hydrocarbon energy. >> what? >> the flood doesn't show that humans are behind climate change. i know noah didn't drive a gas-gu sdplchlt zling suv and didn't build the ark on a smoky factory. but that has nothing to do with this in 2013. did congressman bart ton think we would not in ts that he's using the good book to push bad policies? nice try but we've got you. shoot! this is bad, isn't it? oh no! we're good! this is your first time missing a payment. and you've got our new card, so we don't charge you a late fee for for that. plus, we won't hike up your apr for paying late either. man, that's great! it is great, man! thank you. well, thanks for your help. yeah, no problem. call back anytime. at discover, we treat you like you'd treat you. late payment forgiveness. get the new it card at discover.com.

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>> god bless you all. god bless america. go romney, go ryan! >> that was then, this is now. in the latest issue of rolling stones, he slams the gop for raising ticket prices for his fans, saying, "that's one of the items i'm bleeping embarrassed to be a republican" and the defining issue of our time, he certainly doesn't agree with the gop. "athletes and musicians make astronomical amounts of money. people get paid $100 million to throw a baseball. shouldn't we all take less and pay some of the money on to others? think about firefighters, teachers, and policemen. we should celebrate people that are intellectually smart and trying to make this world a better place. helping out the middle class? i think kid rock just revoked

his republican membership. joining me now is margie omero. thank you for coming on the show tonight. >> thank you. >> toure, kid rock is just one musician but do you think he's speaking for a lot of the people embarrassed by the gop's policies? >> i do. he's a heartland figure, he's a republican guy, he's sort of republican to the core. but he's talking about progressive women right to choose and pro gay marriage. he's certainly breaking from a lot of the gopers right there. very conservative, very happy wanting to go further and further to the right. wanting principle and not caring about winning the election. and then you see another group that's floating more towards what used to be the middle and we're not happy with where this

is going. for 30 years, the gop identity and clearly there are a larger group of people who call themselves independents don't want to be down with the gop. >> margie, my first question was, where were his ears during the campaign? why didn't he understand that that is what they were saying? but maybe it's since the campaign in this obstruction and this no matter what the president does and their reaction to newtown and others have made their supporters even say, wait a minute, this is not what i'm really for? >> well, that's certainly right. kid rock has a lot of company. a majority of americans feel the republican party is too extreme. you even see that among republican voters who feel that way and that also happens after a party loses an election and

their party says let's figure out why we are losing voters. i guess the republican celebrity outreach that they've been talking about that was in the rnc report hasn't gotten to kid rock yet and to bring him back in the fold is part of their next phase of attracting younger voters. but the position that kid rock shows and also the fact that he doesn't want to be pinned down by a certain label is something that a lot of voters share. a lot of voters have us autoed are not sure which party to identify with. that's not uncommon. >> and you touched on that, toure. the fact that he talked about the economy, he talked about the astronomical amounts of money some athletes, some stars are making, why can't they pay more in taxes and how regular, ordinary working people trying to make it a better world, that is the exact each. president obama said the

election was about. listen to this. >> this is the defining issue of our time. what are we going to do to make sure middle class families are secure and that we continue to build ladders for people trying to get into the middle class? >> this is a make or break moment for america's middle class. >> that choice is going to be up to you. >> so that's the defining issue not only of the election but of our time and they lost the election representing the policies that they did. they are still holding fast. they are not losing support what don't they get? >> they don't get a lot of things. we as america are losing this issue. at this point in american history, you are very likely to end up in the class that your father was born into so we don't

have that intergenerational mobility that defined what it meant to be america. that you would do better than your parents and especially even if you could work at that lower middle class job, right, at gm or ford, make it to some sort of picket fence, some little lawn, middle class, i'm good, i can take care of my kids for 30, 40 years, that's gone, right? we have a country where you will be in a class that your parents were in, that's europe. that's not the way it's supposed to be. you have a chance to get rich and you have the probability of doing better than your parents if you work hard and do the right things. that's not where we are anymore and that's not what we want to see. >> sunday night, the progression from generation to generation and the picket fence, some republicans are going to join me picketing the fence of the republican headquarters. but i've got to ask you this.

they are reaching out to dick cheney. i mean, they have asked dick cheney to come and it's just rnc members this weekend about the party's future. now, and it comes after he's already addressed gop about north korea. you have got to explain the strategy and there is certainly something i cannot figure out. >> dick cheney has never been known for his popularity but there is a republican narrative to tell that addresses the economic prosperity. they didn't have it in 2012 and that's the process of what's going on, what's been going on in the last few months and in the next few months where republicans are going to try to regain that message where they are reaching out to voters but if you have issues for guns

being for example, where you have folks threatening to filibuster on an issue that 90% of americans support, that doesn't we'll see. right 60% of americans don't trust the republican party on the economy. >> so you think that's going to help increase the trust? i mean, at the same session now they are bringing in media specialists who are going to conduct workshops that include mess averaging to women and minorities, workshops entitled republicans messaging and how they are not mean and show they care, same session now that you're going to have dick cheney who is not sorry about anything he did around the iraq war. >> you know, i don't understand why they are bringing in dick cheney. i'm sure he's an intelligent

person but this blast from the past is not what they need. >> i'm not talking about intelligence. i'm talking about if you are talking about rebranding, why are you going to bring in the person that you're trying to rebrand his kind of politics. >> absolutely. i'd be curious to see what these look like. we're talking about republicans how to deal with people of color, they did something similar. plantation room in virginia, they had an all white panel, maybe one latino person, no black men, no black people. this is not how you move forward with a group of white people talking about how to deal with people of color. so they've got a lot of work to do. >> toure and margie, thank you for coming on the show tonight. >> thank you. >> don't forget to watch tchl u toure at 3:00 p.m. ahead, death threats, racial

slurs, jackie robinson faced it all and he changed america forever. what was it like growing up with an american icon? we will ask his children sharon and david robinson. stay with us. both tylenol and bayer advanced aspirin are proven to be effective pain relievers. tylenol works by blocking pain signals to your brain. bayer advanced aspirin blocks pain at the site. try the power of bayer advanced aspirin. ...amelia... neil and buzz: for teaching us that you can't create the future... by clinging to the past. and with that: you're history. instead of looking behind...

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in the republican party until he went on fox news and said this about gay people. >> marriage is between a man and a woman. no group, be the guys, be the nambla, be the people who believe in bestiality, it doesn't matter what they are, they don't get to change the definition. it's not something against gays. >> those comments didn't exactly fit with the gop's attempt to rebrand its image and sparked a huge backlash and a public rebuke from carson's job at hopkins university. carson eventually apologized but the damage was done. we've now learned that carson has stepped down as the university's commencement speaker. it's yet another sign that intolerance is not acceptable. i should be arrested for crimes against potted plant kind.

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everything else in america life, was completely shut off to african-american players. and then came jack roosevelt robinson. on april 15th, 1947, he stepped on the everett field for the first time in a brooklyn dodgers uniform and changed a nation. in 1951, jackie played a game in cincinnati after receiving a death threat. two letters received said he would be killed on the field. he was spit on by catchers and he endure racial slurs. he described what it was like to play in one city, philadelphia. >> and when you went to philadelphia in the early years, you couldn't stay in the same hotel, you had to find your own accommodations and then there was ben chapman and some of the other phillies that were really

the worst kinds of guys that we ran into. the kind of taunts that they yelled out were vicious and uncalled for. >> yet, he refused to respond with violence. he chose, instead, to fight back by excelling in the field. and he did it all with the love and support of the love of his life, his wife rachel. this friday, their story comes to the big screen in a movie "42," the true story of an american legend, and it depicts the struggle he faced. >> your enemy will be out in force but you cannot beat him on his own low ground. >> what are you going to do with this pitch to your head? >> i'll duck. >> you don't belong here and you never will. >> get off the field. >> brooklyn dodgers ain't changing our way of living. >> joining me now, two of jackie

and rachel robinson's children, sharon and david robinson. thank you both for being here tonight. >> oh, it's our pleasure, al. >> thank you. >> let me ask you, as the movie is about to come out everywhere, do you think that people today have any idea what your father went through and what he had to get himself disciplined and prepared to face? >> there may be some idea because we certainly have had lots of kids studying him as part of national history day. when you see the visual and see it acted out, it brings it all to life. >> 1947, segregation, lack of civil rights is not a long time ago in the history of the court or the history of african-americans but we are finding that seeing the people who see the film have that reaction about i didn't know. >> because it was a real

breakthrough. i remember when i was still a teenager, i went to your home. >> yes. >> and my mother was so swept to meet your father but i didn't understand what it meant to her. let me show you a clip of the film and i want you to explain to me what happened here. >> well, he hits a ball and fire it is over to jackie. >> over the line. >> robinson is down. hit high above the leg and he is down. >> next guy up. >> no, no, no. >> get me up. >> no, get me up! >> just get me the ball. understand? >> he was hurt. he made them lift him up. he said the game is important. what's the message of that

scene, sharon? >> the message is, it's not just about the individual. it's about, you know, he was in there struggling for the larger mission and in this case it was the team coming together and yes he was hurt but he was not going to let him stop him from what he had to do. >> part of what it deals with is his relationship with your mother. it was a bonding, it was two people being one and i want to show this scene where you have an interplay in action between jackie and rachel robinson. >> i want you to know that i'm there for you even if it's words on paper. >> ray, you're in my heart. >> you're getting close now and the closer you get, the worst they will be. don't let them get to you.

>> i won't. god built me to last. >> don't let them get to you. i mean, is it true that it was the power and strength of rachel robinson that helped give him that courage and that rock to go forward and do what he did? >> well, i think it was the power and strength of the love between them that gave them the rock. >> he was a deeply religious man. so he had deep faith in god. >> he was the dad to you guys. he was an icon to the rest of the world. what is it that you want to know about jackie robinson? >> it was important to him as to all of us that he be just dad and that he worked really hard to be available to us and to have privacy at our home. he wasn't a social man so when he wasn't traveling, he was home. he brought us into the civil rights movement by us going on marches together as a family. >> my three children wanted to

come down here with me because they had seen your children going to jail for what you believe in. >> your dad used to go south to march and he would go down with joe lewis and he would try to get other athletes to go and stand with dr. king and others. >> the other part of his life was completely dedicated to challenging social injustice and brutality tea with the bombings of churches. >> last week the president hosted your mom and the rest of you to the white house for the screening of 42. what do you think he would have thought of president obama, an african-american president of the united states? >> i think he would have been extremely proud but i think he would have been very much aware that there must be a first and second movement behind the first. >> sharon, what do you hope people walk out of the theaters thinking and saying?

>> well, i'm 40e7ing that they will think through some of the character that jackie robinson had to have to be successful. >> well, he took a lot. more than he probably would have ever shared. but he changed history because he took it and his human story on screen i think is significant. thank you both. >> thank you. >> famous man and good men. great men changed the game. i'm grateful that in my youth i met a great man. his name was jackie robinson. we'll be right back. hey, it's sara. i'm going pro.

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we say that we are truly doing enough to give all the children of this country the chance that they deserve to live out their life and happiness and with purpose. if we're honest with ourselves, the answer is no.

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