houston, we have a problem. let's play hardball. ♪ >> good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. let me begin tonight with this. glee, it's a tv show and also what we're seeing on stage in houston tonight. we're looking at the triumph of gunpowder over the will of the people. 90% of the american people we know want better background checks on who buys a gun. they want a way to stop the felon, criminally insane and wife beaters, if you will, from getting more fire power.

the nra has engaged in the same politics with the national republican committee. wayne lapierre loves reince priebus and reince priebus loves wayne lapieere. well, couldn't we look at the celebrations down in houston as the marriage between lethal hardware and the hard right and, yes, houston, we have a problem. joy reid and ed rendell, former governor of pennsylvania. the convention is taking place in houston, shows how far right the right has gone. the once bipartisan group known as the nra has gone so far right. look at this speaker's list. it's composed of hard right figures, people like sarah palin, ted cruz, rick perry, rick santorum, ted nugent and glenn beck. this afternoon, ted cruz took an end-zone dance, if you will, for helping to defeat the background check in the senate. let's watch his dance. >> a month ago you had the president holding press

conference after press conference and his package of legislation that would have undermined the second amendment in washington look like an unstoppable freight train. well, i tell you, i was proud to join with my friend senator rand paul and senator mike lee. [ applause ] >> in writing a short and simple letter to harry reid that says we will filibuster any legislation that takes away the rights to bear arms. because millions of americans spoke out, two weeks ago when the proposals came to a vote, every vote that would have undermined the second amendment to keep and bear arms was voted down. >> well, that one man kissing booth, rick santorum, also

celebrated the bill's defeat. let's watch him in action. >> you stood up when freedom was under assault and you stood in the gap and you made a difference. you can point to what you just accomplished over these last few months when the entire tide of the national media and the popular culture was trying to erode a fundamental freedom. you didn't let all of the smoke in mirrors of trying to hide behind a horrible tragedy deter you from the truth. >> governor, i think these guys are gig tribute as though they are talking about the boys that took to hawk, took to the cliffs at normandy. they backed the nra and yet it was almost like a religious experience for these clowns. i guess there's been things in the center left but what a smooching contest that was.

>> and it's particularly disturbing, chris, because there's the under tone of not only defeating a bill to 90% of america but more importantly defeating president obama and that seems to be the main thrust here. we're not going to give the president a victory. we're going to defeat the president. we're going to defeat the president's attempt to take our guns. they lied to people. the bill, in fact, made a federal registry impossible because it made a creation of it a felony. they didn't want to give commonsense victory and they didn't want to give president obama a victory. frankly, that's disgusting. >> pat toomey, you were actually repeating what your colleague i guess from pennsylvania, mr. toomey, has said. >> that's right. it's not about winning or losing. it's about what is wrong for america.

what's wrong with washington, d.c. is this. they are going to pay for it because people are getting fed up. and as i said when we talked about this earlier this week, the people who care about this issue are not going away this time. >> you know, joy, churchill, my hero, said in victory magnanimity. they believe in rubbing the guy's face in it. they have limited the end zone dance as something minimally triumphant now. these guys -- i hear it's going to go on all afternoon. sarah palin is going to do one of these things. it's going to go on and on. i think it might be a dance over the grave. i think the governor is right. it can't be about less invasive background checks. is this the holy grail for these people? >> i think so. i used to like it when the nfl did back flips. i was thinking i almost feel like the right is suffering from body dysmorphic disorder. they have an in ability to see them as the way others see them. the rest of the country is looking at them thinking, wow, these guys are nuts.

and the problem that the nra has now is that their power used to be that they were a bipartisan organization, such that he had ed rendell was sympatical with them. it is something that is a broad position in the middle. now they are associating themselves with the far, far right, the people that independents look at it, they are insane. the fact that they are entrenching themselves makes no sense. >> i think there are strong lobbies, israeli lobby, aarp, they are all big time -- they played both sides, governor. they say anybody can play this game. you help us back our positions

and we're going to play ball with you but these nra guys have said, no, we like one side of this fight. we're going to go with the conservatives. and it may work. it's working now. >> well, it's working in the short run. i think it's going to fail in the long run, chris. but think about this. this is an issue that a decade ago the nra supported universal background checks. there's been no difference in those ten years. this bill is actually a better bill, from their perspective, than the legislation they supported ten years ago. so they are on very, very shaky grounds and aligning themselves with one party and joy is right, the biggest problem that the republican party has, forget the nra, they took positions all last year that were totally out of the mainstream of america and here's an issue where the republican party is doing a victory dance, as you said, on an issue that 90% of americans disagree with. it's absolutely stunning how myopic they are and they don't see what is happening around them. they are absolutely spiralling

towards crushing defeat even more crushing than they -- >> and they bought a ticket here, guys. they bought a ticket on the next bad ticket on the next time a person is mentally deranged or is a wife beater, whatever we're going to call them, the category that would have been kept from getting a gun gets a gun and does something horrendous, heinous, and they did the permission slip. >> and even more than that, chris, i think the big risk for the nra is that if i'm a democrat, even a moderate democrat or conservative democrat or a republican running in a purple or blue state, i'm thinking to myself, if they are going to be that far to the right, maybe i can have some space to buff the nra. there's other money out there. there's michael bloomberg's money and i don't need to be associated with them, especially if i'm a pat toomey or kelly ayotte that seems to be shaken from the response she's gotten in a purple state. >> here's senator kelly ayotte who has a rough couple of days facing constituents after voting down against background checks. she was confronted by the newtown principal's daughter who was killed in the massacre

defending her students. yesterday she faced more heated backlash. let's look at this one. this is a new one. that's close to home for a lot of people. just everybody wants to help the rebels in syria. but which one? some are aligned with al qaeda. you want to help them? a reality check tonight from our own richard engel. and we learned that job creation has been better than we ever thought for the past few months. the unemployment rate is down to 7.5. that's our angle tonight. and we already heard a lot from the nra today, but now this. the new president refers to the american civil war as the war -- not between the states, okay, the war of northern aggression. t powerful sunscreen feel great? actually it can. neutrogena® ultra sheer. its superior uva uvb protection helps prevent early skin aging and skin cancer,

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also the sequestration cut $5 million out of the fema emergency shelter program. here in new york city two-thirds already have to ration food. >> welcome back to hardball. this week we brought you reports. you saw one of the arbitrary across the board spending cuts calls the sequester are hurting the poor and vulnerable. there was joe by the way you just saw there from the new york city coalition against hunger. before that, we told you about cuts in meals on wheels. tonight, we're talking about reports all week, we're calling it the unkindest cut. we asked for your input and now, we want to share your responses, how the sequester is affecting you.

from megan w. my federal work study is being cut by seven hours a week, looking for a second job. full time student workload. judith tweets $695 total and no food stamps. i live on peanut butter and oatmeal. we want to hear more on how the cuts are affecting you personally. tweet us, join the conversation on our facebook page and then go to tv.msnbc.com and click on hardball. i'll have that information again before the end of the show. today, we bring you another story of how these cuts are rippling through american society and affecting lives. these are cuts to medical research issued through national institutes of health and if you think they can't affect you, listen up. doctors at philadelphia's temple university were doing promising research on repairing the heart after a heart attack will have to cut back their work significantly because of these

cuts. the lead doctor sums up this way his dlim ma. it is more likely we will miss something important now. we have so many wonderful things we can do right now, but we end up in this political climate. think about that the next time someone you know has a heart attack. john led a rally here in washington protest those cuts to scientific research. this misbegotten sequester is causing. two of the many speakers calling to end the sequester were cokie roberts and mara tyranny. both cancer sur vooir survivors. let's watch them. >> not only was i treated for cancer at nih and was the direct beneficiary of that research and it could not be a stupider time to cut back on funding for medical research. >> i have a good sense of what's at stake and this debate about

federal funding for medical research and the short answer is a lot. >> john is managing director of science policy and david cornyn washington bureau chief for mother jones. everybody loves research. it means people can live to 90, healthy. if we don't do that, we're just going to fall back. if you don't have verge keeping up with stress, we're going to fall back. >> the most important investment that our company can make and that's what's so discouraging right now. when you're talking about the sequestration, it's a $1.6 billion cut for health. it's not just sequestration. the past decade we've had cuts at the nih. going on $6 billion when you account for inflation.

so what's it mean? you can't do certain tests or what are you hearing? >> probably most discouraging is you're talking about researchers have about a one in ten chance to get funded, so all of the grants going to the national institutes of health, only one out of ten doors are we able to open. the most ideal situation is between 25 and 30%. actually, when congress decided -- >> you're turning down good proposals. >> they're on the cutting room floor right now. it's affecting young investigators who are deciding why should i stay in this area of career when the chances of my getting funding is so small right now. so, it's affecting labs across the country laying off people and right now, all of the, we have 435,000 people who are directly, indirectly funded. >> cancer survivor is a term we use today.

isn't it great? we're used to the term. >> 14 million. >> we know the term. it used to be cancer meant the end and now, survivor for so many people because of research. >> absolutely. 14 million survivors. >> you guys just amaze me what you can do. >> this gets to some issues in terms of the values we have on society. >> you mean the tax cut issue. >> what republicans are doing. before the show, one of your producers, connie, asked me, wasn't cancer research, meals on wheels, didn't they used to be bipartisan issues? indeed, they were. years ago, bob dole led the effort against hunger, but the republicans now have this view of government which is just cut, cut, cut. they don't, i really hate to say this, care institutionally, collectively. >> you know what they're thinking. the poor minorities. they're cutting the welfare. that's what they think. >> when you cut and you know this better than i do, when you cut this research, it means you're going to have more medical costs at the end if you

don't do stuff about diseases, we as a society end up paying more. so these guys talk about fiscal sanity and doing this, they're really adding more -- >> you know what the problem is? people think when they're cutting, and i think reasonable people. they're thinking we're cutting the money going to the drones in city hall. to the war to pass out the money. and by the way, waste, fraud and abuse, you cut spending. oh, we'll get rid of the waste. you with tweet us. unkindestcut. that's all one word. also join us on facebook. facebook.com/hardball. or go to your website on tv.msnbc.com/hardball. the group's new president is

referring to the civil war as -- i lof this, the war of no northern aggression. we're in a tyranny. have you noticed? let's go back to jefferson davis. this is hardball. the place for politics. 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. i was having trouble getting out of bed in the morning because my back hurt so bad. the sleep number bed conforms to you. i wake up in the morning with no back pain. do you toss and turn? wake up with back pain? if so, call us now. you'll learn how the sleep number bed helps relieve back pain by allowing you to adjust the firmness and support to conform to your body for a more proper spinal alignment. just look at this research... 93% of participants experienced back-pain relief. plus it's a great value because it costs about the same an innerspring yet lasts twice as long.

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and now, the side show. some people live in a political isolation booth. billy long of louisiana here talking to a local reporter about the effect of the sequester. quote, the people i've talked to seem to be doing well. in fact, when i go out in restaurants here in town, people come up to me, they want to see more sequestration, not less, so i think that's different than it could be in some parts of the country, but we haven't seen any measurable effect. in reality, long state is missouri and his own district are getting hit with cuts.

a non-profit in charge of head start programs in several missouri counties plans to close five classrooms and reduce enrollment by about 200 children. the head responded this way, it's been in the news, all over the place. we are facing cuts in all our programs. food assistance and other programs are also facing slash funding in long's district itself. nancy pelosi's hoping for an answer to her prayers concerning the white house in 2016. >> i pray that hillary clinton decides to run for president of the united states. let's set aside for a moment the fact she is a woman. as a person, she will be the most qualified person to enter the white house in modern history. now, i have no knowledge of anything except my prayers. >> it's been a big week for nudging hillary toward a run.

henry kissinger and now, nancy pelosi, are urging run, hillary, run. next,when ever someone runs for office, we can expect a lot of digging into the their past. now buzz feed featured this nugget today. back in 2006, there was a debate going on in virginia's office. official state sign. he filed an amendment with his own idea. tax man. he thought the song would be perfect because quote, virginians feel like all they get is more taxes. he did not prevail. when it didn't become the state song, is state remains without an official song. finally, a preview of what's in store when jim porter becomes president of the national rifle association next week.

at an event last year, he talked about the nra's roots going back to the civil war, except he doesn't call it the civil war. >> started 1871 here in new york state. it was started by some yankee generals who didn't like the way my southern boys didn't have the ability to shoot in what we call the war of northern aggression. now, y'all might call it the civil war, but we call it the war of northern aggression. >> yesterday, i showed you a fairly dickenson poll, three in ten americans think armed revolt might be necessary to protect our civil liberties. porter has his thoughts on that very matter. >> i am one who still feels very strongly that is one of our most greatest charges that we can have today. is to train the civilian in the use of the standard military firearm, so when they have to fight for their country, they're ready to do it. also, when they're ready to

fight tyranny, they have the where with all and the weapons to do it. >> so, it's not about hunting, not about defending yourself against criminals. he's sounding off about tyrannical government and a possible takeover. coming up next "your business with j.j. ramberg" the usual, bob? not today. [ male announcer ] bob has afib: atrial fibrillation not caused by a heart valve problem, a condition that puts him at greater risk for a stroke. [ gps ] turn left. i don't think so. [ male announcer ] for years, bob took warfarin, and made a monthly trip to the clinic to get his blood tested. but not anymore. bob's doctor recommended a different option: once-a-day xarelto®. xarelto® is the first and only once-a-day prescription blood thinner for patients with afib not caused by a heart valve problem, that doesn't require routine blood monitoring. like warfarin, xarelto® is proven effective to reduce the risk of an afib-related stroke. there is limited data on how these drugs compare

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cyber attacks against small businesses are on the rise. what can you do to protect yourself? and how a cool and attractive work place can increase employee morale and bring in new customers. it's time to make money up next on "your business."