the kind of winner we like. i fear these wars because the only result is that the united states would once again be killing thousands of islamic people on television. that's not a kwa to quell the jihad. they know it, we know it. and this time, let's be smart. that's "hardball" for now. "politicsnation" with al sharpton starts right now. thanks, chris, and thanks to you for tuning in. tonight's lead, the gop's chris christy problem. he may be the most popular republican in the country because he worked with president obama after hurricane sandy. because he reached across the aisle to get things done, because six months after the storm he still is saying things like this. >> listen, the president has kept every promise that he's made. and the fact is, that's what i was saying at the time. what i was saying at the time, i was asked how the president is doing. i said he's doing a good job.

he kept his word. we saw suffering together. when you see that, you're either going to step up and be responsible or you're not and since that time i have to say, everything they promised that they would do, they've done. and so i don't have any complaints or arguments with him this morning on the issue of sandy relief. >> they put aside their political differences to find a common ground for a greater good. that should make christie a model for a new improved gop. but instead, it's made him a lot of enemies within his party. c conan o'brien even joked about it. >> earlier this evening there was a confusion with the seating chart. for a moment, someone accidently sat governor chris christie with the republicans. that was awkward and i apologize. very awkward. >> but what's really awkward is that governor christie has a 67%

approval rating. compare that to the terrible 31% approval rating for his party. it's not complicated. when you do the right thing, you're rewarded. when you do unpopular things, the voters let you know. that's why senators who voted against background checks are getting slammed in the polls. that's what happens when you vote against something that has overwhelming support against the american people. that's what happens when your oppose everything. president obama even joked about the gop's failed reboot at the dinner this weekend. >> i know republicans are still sorting out what happened in 2012 but one thing they all agree on is they need to do a better job reaching out to minorities. and look, call me self-centered, but i can think of one minority

they could start with. hello? the former head of the democratic national committee and michelle cottle from "the daily beast." if you for joining me tonight. >> thanks, al. >> chris christie is still praising president obama. when will the rest of the party find the political courage to do things like this? >> i don't think political courage is in the lexicon. the truth is, christie is it a good governor. the reason he is a good governor is because he cares about his state, not about his party. the fundamental failing of the republican party in this country is that they put their party first and the voters know it and

chris christie did not put his party first. he does what good governors do. he gets it done and whoever is going to help new jersey is who is he going to be with. that's exactly what good governors do. this is going to make him a better presidential candidate for the republicans, not that they would consider nominating him, than it would if he took the mitch mcconnell line and just trashed everything. >> no. i agree that he would be much more dangerous to the democrats than someone playing this far right line. but michelle, when you look at the fact, let's take, for example, those who voted no on back ground checks that are now hurting at the poll. lisa murkowski in alaska, ohio senator rob portman, jeff flake. i mean, these are just a few that are down. flake, down 32% after the "no" vote on background check. murkowski down 16 points.

i mean, when you stand against people, people stand against you, i think sometimes they forget they are elected by the people not selected by the big money guys and the lobbyists. >> you do have a kind of split that you're seeing what the bulk of people, voters say that they support and kind of what small activists in the party will come back and bash you at election time. the beauty of his vote here is that he's got a six-year term to serve and he's betting that people will cool off about this before they go to the polls and vote for him again whereas the nra does not forget and they come back and bite you come election time. that's the kind of calculus these politicians are having to go through. >> isn't it true, governor, if there are groups on the other side forming some of which formed when you were chairman of

the party and others are forming, and i know your brother was involved in one, they are starting to have long-term biting. i think there are more people out there organizing than there once was that balances off the threat of the nra. >> yeah. and al, i was on "morning joe" a couple of weeks ago and predicted that max baucus would retire. i didn't know he was going to retire within that week and he did. here's a guy who has raised $5 million, he's been in the senate for roughly 30 years and all of a sudden his poll numbers dropped right through the cellar and he retires, which is a smart thing to do. that was exacerbated by the vote he took on guns. no question about it. >> no doubt about it. michelle, when governor christy was on "morning joe," he was asked about his support of

president obama during the hurricane. certainly supported romney during the re-election. let me show you what he said. >> you are a pariah in your party, a lot of fund-raisers, big fund-raisers are angry with you. a lot of conservatives say they are done with you, you're finished in national politics because of what you did. six months later, do you have any regrets? >> no. no. >> all right. next question. >> i mean, and i'm -- let me get this right, michelle. i'm no fan of governor christie. there's a lot of things that he's done in terms of labor that i think are absolutely wrong in new jersey. i think what he's done here is what you're supposed to do as governor. >> and if you talk to a lot of republican donors, they will tell you that they make a distinction between people like christie and republican governors and who you see in congress. people will talk to you about the republican congress being

broken. and that's because republican governors have to get things done in their state, they have to work with the president, whereas congress gets to sit around and do a lot of partisan sniping and play to an activist base that finds this entire presidency illegitimate and the fastest way to get shunned is to say anything remotely decent or to show any kind of willingness to work with this president. >> when you see the background check vote, governor, and when you see other things that have the overwhelming support of the american public, if that sustained kind of anger and sustained anger in varying degrees, do you think that this could really impact the 2014 election if people stay where they are and the turnout is galvanized. >> i think it could. and here's why. if you look at where guns are in

terms of an issue that people are going to go to the polls on, it's about 4% that the public votes on guns. in theory, this shouldn't be a big deal in 2014. i tell you what really makes the public mad, though, and you can ask mike bloomberg if i'm not right about this. when 80 or 90% of the american people want something done and the congress deliberately votes the other way, bloomberg got a bite on this on his term limits when he overwrote his own term limits and we have many, many people -- it's the idea that not so much they voted the wrong way on guns but not so much ordinary people deeply. and when everybody in america knows that 90% of the people supported the gun legislation and the congress was in your face, that is not a good thing and there will be ads on that going after the people who voted against the background checks in 2014. >> well, there's no doubt about it, a lot of us are going to try to keep reminding the people about that.

governor dean, michelle cottle, thank you for your time tonight. >> thanks, rev. >> thank you. ahead, exploiting tragedy. how the right wing is sha shamelessly using an abortion doctor charged with murder. and admitting a big mistake with bush versus gore. how that mistake changed the course of history. and the stars came out from the white house correspondents' dinner. a good time was had by all. but don't tell sarah palin. why is she so angry? stay with us. >> some folks still don't think i spent enough time with congress. why don't you get a drink with mitch mcconnell, they ask. really? why don't you get a drink with mitch mcconnell? it's monday.

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have you joined the "politicsnation" conversation on facebook yet? today, everyone was reacting to nba player jason collins decision to come out of the closet. tina said, this takes enormous courage and strength in this day and age where hate is still so rampant. brandy says, i hope the positive feedback he receives from his fans outnumbers the ignorant comments that he's bound to hear. why all the controversy? as the bible says, judge not lest be judged. first, we want to hear what you think. please head over to facebook and

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the war on women's rights is an unlikely place. it's a trial against dr. customer met gosnel. closing arguments were heard today. in a word, the case is horrific. he's charged with killing four babies, allegedly born alive and in the overdose death of a 41-year-old patient. the grand jury report says he

illegally delivered live, viable babies in the third trimester of pregnancy and then murdered these newborns. let me be very clear. what this man allegedly did was beyond reprehensible if guilty. if guilty, this monster deserves the justice coming to him. but the right is now exploiting this horrible case to attack women's rights. >> i think what you're going to see is people will focus on, yes, the regulations but also ending federal funding of abortion and that will come back in to may. >> ending federal funding for abortion? this is not the answer. with no legal right to an abortion, poor women are left to the gosnels of the world. these are the kind of butchs that you get when the right to choose is taken away. this is the dirty politics of

the right playing and we can't let it happen. we can't let them play this to its logical conclusion and use distortions to do that. joining me now is elise, the president of the pro choice america. and irin cameron. elise? >> i think it's agreej jous. what this guy was doing, if allegations are true, was illegal in all 50 states and by federal law. it's out outrageous. but that woman talking about ending funding, the anti-extremists have made sure for decades that women can actually use federal funding

leak they would. pennsylvania got an "f" because they don't make funding for this kind of medical procedure that keeps women safe and keeps this medical procedure legal. the anti-choice extremists are the ones that keep the gosnels in business. >> irin, what bothers me about this, we're talking here enforcement, not regulation. they are trying to make it regulation, not enforcement. i have no idea whether he's guilty or not. but i do know that in poor communities before you had federal funding and the right to choose, that you had nothing but butchers available to poor people and to try and use this case to return to that would increase the level of danger, not decrease it. >> look, the tragedy is across the board, whether we're talking about abortion care and if he's

guilty of what he's charged with, this is an example of it. he's no more representative of the abortion care as the doctor who gave his patients hiv because he didn't sterilize his equipment. unfortunately, there will always be doctors that don't live up to the standard of car. what does marsha blackburn want to do? defund planned parenthood? we don't have federal funding for abortions in most cases. she wants to stop it for counseling, std testing, birth control. it's preventing unwanted pregnancies and allowing women to make choices about their lives. this is a real bait and switch. last year we were talking about todd akin and planned parenthood. what the right is trying to do is change it away from the right

of women being in control of their destinies. >> rather than getting a conclusion from the right premise. this is about enforcement. let me ask you this, elise. when you look at the fact that they are also complaining on the right about the coverage, let me go to right wing radio talk show host lars larson who has a theory on why he claims the media isn't covering the trial. listen to this. >> we're going to pretend that doesn't exist because we can't possibly tell the story without violating all of our beliefs that abortion is a right and any way it gets done to any baby at any number of weeks is completely appropriate for any reason whatsoever. >> i mean, first of all, do you believe there's been a blackout in the media and the surrounding coverage of this media s. it so, is it some way to protect a

woman's right to choose? >> reverend, irin wrote the best piece on the fact that there had been no media blackout. i want more media scrutiny on this case because that's the only way we're going to turn these anti-choice extremists crocodile tears into policies that actually protect women by not throwing up obstacles. you have to remember, the same voices talking about making this a mandate on abortion care are the same voices that would keep these same, poor women from accessing contraception. they simply don't believe that women should have choices over their own future. >> irin, the vast majority, 92% of abortions, are done before 14 weeks. just over 1% are beyond 20 weeks. just over 1%. arkansas just banned abortion at 12 weeks. north dakota at six weeks. this case is horrifying but it's

not for the real fight on the right to choose. >> right. and the tragedy is that later abortions take place often because women cannot access the care that they need early. who is passing these restrictions that make it harder for women to access abortion in a safe way? republicans in many states. they are shutting down clinics, creating these onerous and unsafe reinstructions on women's rights to choose which actually means that they seek abors later and they are driven foo the hands of people leak gosnel. >> elise, irin carmon, thank you for you're time. >> thank you. extreme mistake? what if that decision of bush versus gore was never made. and mark sanford is debating a cardboard cutout of nancy

pelosi. i'm getting in to the debate next. my mantra?

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big news in south carolina tonight. disgraced former governor mark sanford turns south carolina congressional candidate will debate elizabeth colbert bushe. i wonder how he'll do against a

real person. to warm up, he took on an inanimate object. >> nancy pelosi has made a consistent stand against balancing, as i think some people here in the first congressional district would like to see. >> yes, america, sanford debating a cardboard cutout of nancy pelosi complete with an e easel and he did this as an actual event. but let's see what she'll face tonight. >> i would ask, where do you stand on nlrb? let me say that again, nancy. where do you stand on nlrb? she's not going to answer that one. >> she's not going to answer that one?

she's not going to answer any of them, mark. she's a poster. but sanford has a history of questionable decisions, like lying about hiking the appalachian trail when he was really visiting his mistress in argentina. he took out a full page last week when he explained how he trespassed on his ex-wife's property and used his cell phone as a flashlight. first he was there because he didn't want his son to watch the super bowl alone. but then he admitted that another son was home. but let's let him respond to these questions. i'd like to welcome him to "politicsnation" for an exclusive interview. mark, thanks for joining me. let me give you an opportunity to clear up some questions before the night's debate. first, i want to ask you, why did you trespass? okay. let me ask again.

why did you trespass? he's not going to answer that one. why did you use your cell phone as a flashlight? are you surprised to see your numbers falling in the polls? did governor sanford think we'd give him a pass on his very debatable stunt? nice try, but we've got you. ♪ now you can give yourself a kick in the rear! v8 v-fusion plus energy. natural energy from green tea plus fruits and veggies. need a little kick? ooh! could've had a v8. in the juice aisle.

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>> the votes will go to governor bush. >> that was it. george w. bush named president-elect more than a month after election day. the decision ended the recount in florida. it ended talk of hanging chairs. it capped off a recount process in which republican operatives stage protest. after all that, a 5-4 supreme court vote gave us this. >> i do george bush solemnly swear -- >> literally changed the course of history but now sandra day o'connor, one of the five justices who sided with bush, has some big regrets. she says, "maybe the court should have said we're not going to take it.

good-bye." she also said, probably the supreme court added to the problem at the end of the day. folks, that is the understatement of the year. joining me now is jeffrey rose, a law professor and legal affairs editor. jeffrey, thank you for coming on the show. >> it's good to be back. >> let me ask you, were you surprised by these comments by justice o'connor? >> i have to say that i was surprised and economy also impressed. i interviewed justice o'connor during the summer of 2011 and she said it wasn't the end of the world. she said, forget about it. it's over. the tone of these comments is very different. it suggests a justice who has been thinking hard about whether it was wise for the court to intervene, has thought seriously about the effects of the decision and i think she gets huge credit for grappling with

an important part of her legacy and thought in retrospect the supreme court made a mistake by getting involved in the first place. >> what was the change from 2011 until now? you think it was just reflection or do you think -- let me ask you this. americans seem to feel that justices are partisan. when asked in 2012, 17% said the decision would be based on legal merits but 75% said that it would be based on politics. so do you think she started in her reflection thinking that maybe gore -- bush versus gore began the public's not trusting the court, not being partisan? >> it's an interesting question. justice o'connor is certainly concerned about the court's legitimacy. she has been surprisingly willing to criticize the court and disagree with the decisions that have been reached since she stepped down. she sort of thought the first

amendment was made for individuals. it's clear that she would have voted differently on cases involving affirmative action, gender skr gender discrimination. i think for all these reasons i think she may have been thinking that she's not so happy with the way the supreme court has been thinking since she left and in good conscience she rethought and said the court shouldn't have started down this path to begin with. >> if the court had not started down this path, look at what we got out of the bush presidency. you've got two wars, certainly the war in iraq, the opening of guantanamo bay. the approval of torture techniques, appointments of chief justice roberts and alito. a lot of history changed based on that vote and one would think that she would have to think about that. >> it's true. it's remarkable how many of our modern constitutional debates

and discussions emerged since that decision and, you know, connor -- justice o'connor suggested even if the court didn't get involved, bush still would have won. according to the standards that a judge in the florida case wanted to apply, which was counting the overvotes as well as the undervotes, she may have been thinking about the effects of that and realized so much stemmed from that decision that the appearance of the court being partisan was an unfortunate casualty of the whole thing. >> no question about it. jeffrey rose, thank you your time this evening. >> thank you very much. ahead, we know it only fired us up. and sarah palin unclouds on the unloads on the d.c. partygoers but she forgot to remember who partied in the past. and a major barrier broken in pro sports and president obama's praise for his courage. stay with us.

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warning that voter fraud is a felony. but guess what? it didn't work. the effects of what they did didn't work. the efforts to block the vote only fired minorities up. we don't have the numbers yet but we're hearing today that black turnout did not only drop, it did what it did in 2008. it matched the records that was set that year, 2008. that's thanks to people like 102-year-old desaline victor who stood in line for three hours to exercise her right to vote. we fought back and it worked but we can't let our guard down now. republicans in north carolina's house of representatives just passed a bill requiring people to show voter i.d.s at the polls. they are not quitting and neither are we. we covered this issue aggressively on this show and we

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the red carpet was out this weekend for the correspondents' dinner. it's not often you get the reality show of "duck dynasty" and barbara streisand and

michael bloomberg. some might say that me and chris matthews are an odd couple. not everyone was in on the fun. sarah palin tweeted, "the white house correspondents' dinner was pathetic." that's an interesting take on the dinner especially since todd palin went in 2009. and look at this. the governor's daughter bristol was there two years ago and palin herself attended the msnbc after-party in 2011. if only we had a video to prove it. oh, wait. >> my daughter went to the dinner so i'll hear the scoop from her. >> and, you know, is this your first time at a white house correspondents' event?

>> yes. todd's been here a couple years ago. bristol has been here. >> the palins had a nice time when they went to the dinner and everybody did this year, too. come on, sarah, lighten up. we missed you. i know you would have found the president funny. >> i get it. these days i look in the mirror and i have to admit, i'm not the strapping young muslim socialist that i used to be. i understand second term, need a burst of new energy, try some new things and my team and i talked about it, we were willing to try anything. so we used one of michelle's tricks. some folks still don't think i spent enough time with congress. why don't you get a drink with mitch mcconnell, they asked. really? why don't you get a drink with mitch mcconnell?

i know cnn has taken some knocks lately but the fact is i admire their commitment to cover all sides of a story just in case one of them happens to be accurate. the problem is, the media landscape is changing so quickly. you can't keep up with it. i remember when buzzfeed was something i did in college around 2:00 a.m. i'm also hard at work on plans for the obama library and some have suggested that we put it in my birth place but i'd rather keep it in the united states. >> that one must have been for sarah. joining me now is comedian and laura ashburn who was also as the correspondents' dinner. thank you both for being here. laura, what is going on with sarah palin? >> i think she was being a little bit of a clown herself. you can't go to a dinner and

dist it the next year or at least go to the parties. she's looking for anything right now to attach on to because she's out of the limelight. she's out of her fox contract and she needs to be noticed. that's really what's happening here. >> okay, chuck. grade the president. how did he do? >> you know what, as a comedian, i'm a little upset with him because he made doing my job look way too easy. straight up, hands down, "a" all the way. his timing was impeccable and comedy is all about timing, man. so whenever you can deliver the joke -- and people are like, well, he's got writers. well, so does jon stewart. shut up. whenever you can joke like he did and bring down the house he did in front of the people who will be your detract fors the next day, you hit it out of the park. it's called a home run. >> no doubt about it. lauren, you were there as was i. what was his best line?

>> i think the socialist line was the best line. making fun of the fact that he's buying into the birther conspiracies. that was a pretty good one and i think that was the one that got the most laughs. conan o'brien, on the other hand, did not get as many laughs. i think he got one out of three and he had these very rapid fire jokes and there were a lot of times when the room just went flat. there was nothing. >> well, i think he did not do as well as the president but chuck, you're the professional comedian here. >> don't ask me. ask chuck. >> let me play a little conan and get your assessment. >> when you think about it, the president and i are a lot alike. we both have gone to harvard and have two children and both told biden we don't have tickets for tonight's event. if the president laughs, everyone laughs. and if the fox news table laughs, a little girl just fell

off her bike. i'd like to acknowledge this evening that there was confusion with the seating chart. for a moment, someone accidently sat governor chris christie with the republicans. that was awkward and i apologize. >> you know, i have to say that i don't want to say anything bad about conan but i think he followed the president and the president is a better comedian. i hate to say it, but he looked nervous and also if you noticed the difference between the delivery, obama is relaxed, he's comfortable in his on skin, he's kind of like, this is where it is. joke. conan is looking down, he's reading, delivers a punch line, looks back down, reads, delivers a punch line. that's not the kind of cadence that you need in order to bring out laughs have people. >> well, i was there. i agree with you, lauren, he

didn't get as many laughs as the president but he got some. let me get back to sarah palin a minute because i don't want to lose perspective on her since she wants some attention. >> you're the comedian, al. >> i mean, she certainly had some friends at the correspondents' dinner. bill o'reilly was there, newt gingrich who palin voted for in the 2012 primary. even -- christie, o'donnell, even i'm not a witch christine o'donnell. it wasn't like you had democrats there or people that she always criticizes. people she supports was there. >> they can take shots at their own party, the other party, but it's in gest. president obama is joking but not really. sarah palin was not joking.

she was very angry. it does not fit the tone of this dinner and one of the great things about washington in this very humor-impaired town, we do get together once a year and poke a little fun at each other. and that tweet, her attitude was more of the outside bipartisan no thank you atmosphere that we are in. >> and lauren is right. i went -- when bush was president, i went a couple years when president bush was president, had me as a guest. people go. >> it's one of those things where it's considered all in good fun. it's like playing tag, you're at the base and everybody is on neutral ground and you're just having fun. maybe sarah palin is mad because they invited people from "duck dynasty" and she thought she had

a better reality show than that. >> could be. could be that she doesn't have a reality show or a real show at all anymore at fox. maybe she's a little angry at the media as well as political leadership. >> but she's always been very angry at the lame stream media, as she calls them. and so this kind of anger that we see on her -- from her twitter is in keeping with who sarah palin is right now and it's also very in keeping with the way twitter operates as a whole. and as you said, this dinner brings washingtonians together. we have a terribly divisive action here in washington and at that event it's the only time when people can be very self-deprecating. and so it's not a time when you're taking a gun and really trying to shoot someone down. but here you're sort of taking a

bow and air ror arrow and missi little bit. >> you have to consider the source, the person who ridiculed the president for reading from a teleprompter instead of having the decency from reading from his own hand. this is the kind of criticism that she levies at situations like this. >> well, people wanted to know and i think she at least watched it but i'm sure she was in the backyard looking over at rush. chuck nice and lauren ashburn, thank you for you're time. >> it's a pleasure. ahead, the courage of jason collins, the pro basketball player that breaks down a barrier forever. and gets a call from the president. that's next. ♪ the only thing we'd ever grown together

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to make change. sometime change chooses the leader. today, change chose jason collins. he's a 12-year nba veteran. today they learned who he really is. in a story sports illustrated released today he wrote, "i'm a 34-year-old nba center. i'm plaque and i'm guy." he revealed his heart-breaking struggle, the strain of hiding my sexuality became almost unbearable in march when the u.s. supreme court heard arguments for and against same-sex marriage, less than three miles from my apartment. nine jurors argued about my happiness and my future. here was my chance to be heard and i couldn't say a thing. i didn't want to answer

questions and draw attention to myself. not while i was still playing. that's how deep this struggle was. he goes on to explain that the events that helped move his decision to come out. i realize i needed to go public when massachusetts congressman joe kennedy, my old roommate at stanford told me he had just marched in boston's 2012 gay pride parade. i'm seldom jealous of others but it filled me with envy. i want to do the right thing and not hide anymore. i want to take a stand and say, me too. well, today support came from all over the court. president obama called collins to say he was impressed with his courage. michelle obama tweeted, this is a huge step forward for our country. we've got your back. the boston red sox invited collins to throw out the first pitch in an upcoming game at

fenway park. kobe bryant said don't suffocate you are because of the ignorance of others. andy roddick simply said, "props" and martina navratilova said, you are now freedom is a sweet feeling indeed. shouldn't be an issue but it is. that's why so many don't do it until after -- until after. you're a brave man. 1981 was the year for me. 2013 is the year for you. 1981 is when she was the first athlete who came out while still playing her sport. that took real courage, the same kind of courage that jason collins showed today. i keep telling people, you can't stand for some rights, some

self-expression, some civil rights and not stand for all. we cannot be the custodians of intolerance and beg for freedom and tolerance and understanding and one nation at the same time. collins deserves all of our embrace because collins brought us closer to how we must all stand for all of us to have, one nation with one right under god, with liberty and justice for all. thanks for watching. i'm al sharpton. "hardball" starts right now. war song. let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm chris matthews back in washington. let me start with this. the hawks sing from the same song sheet.