this low ever. money will never be this less expensive. there will never be a better time to put money where it's needed, putting americans to work. and it will give the president, you, sir, something to do. and that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. "politics nation" with al sharpton starts right now. >> thanks, chris. and thanks to you for tuning in. tonight's lead, making sure justice is served. moments ago, a government watchdog issued a report blaming ineffective management at the irs for allowing agents to improperly target tea party groups. this just comes hours after attorney general eric holder announced a criminal investigation to learn if any laws were broken. >> i have ordered an investigation to be begun. the fbi is coordinating with the justice department to see if any laws were broken in connection

with those matters related to the irs. those were, i think as everyone can agree, if not criminal, they were certainly outrageous and unacceptable. but we are examining the facts to see if there were criminal violations. >> the attorney general also addressed another controversy that we're learning more about today. the justice department's decision to secretly seize telephone records of journalists working for the associated press. this apparently centered on an a.p. story from may 2012 that appeared to contain leaked details about a cia operation in yemen that stopped an al qaeda plot. law enforcement officials were trying to find out who leaked that information. they obtained the records from more than 20 phone lines of a.p. offices and journalists without notice. the a.p. calls it at

unprecedented intrusion. today attorney general holder said he had recused himself from the case before the records were ever seized. >> i testified, i guess, back in june 2012 that i'd been interviewed by the fbi in connection with this -- with this matter. and to avoid a potential -- the appearance of a potential conflict of interest and to make sure that the investigation was seen as independent, i recused myself from this matter. >> since then the leak investigation has been conducted by the fbi under the direction of the u.s. attorney for the district of columbia and the supervision of the deputy attorney general. attorney general holder. but that hasn't stopped the gop from going extreme. the rnc chairman said, quote, attorney general eric holder has trampled on the first amendment. and that the president should ask for his immediate resignation. others in the gop are going right after the president.

boehner's office says the obama administration better have, quote, a damn good explanation. canter's office says it suggested a pattern of intimidation. but the gop is trying to have it both ways. back when these national security leaks to the media first came to light, the gop demanded an investigation. 29 gop senators called for a special council to investigate. they wanted to know everything. >> we need to stop the leaks that are endangering the lives of those men and women who are serving our country. >> watergate meant nothing. watergate was campaign documents, there was no -- no real national security issue involving watergate. >> make no mistake. we can't live in a country where the press is intimidated, but once again, the gop is playing politics and trying to have it both ways. joining me now is democratic

congresswoman karen bass. she serves on the house judiciary committee which will hear from the attorney general tomorrow. also with me is michelle cotle from the daily beast. thanks for coming on the show tonight. congresswoman, let me go to you first. there are real concerns about what happens in the associated press. genuine concerns. but do you think the republicans are operating in good faith here? >> absolutely not. i don't think there's any evidence of that at all. i think this is a very consistent drum beat. a drum beat they've been beating on since i've been here and i'm going into my third year. they've had a long list of complaints about attorney general holder and frankly everybody else in the president's cabinet. so before we even take step one of an investigation into what's happened, they're calling for his resignation? at some point in time, we need to get to the business of this country. and the number one thing we need to be focused on is the economy

and jobs. michelle, wh >> michelle, when you look at the fact that the president and the attorney general is under attack as i just read, but attorney general holder had said he recused himself before the records at a.p. were taken, no one that i know would defend the intimidation of the press, and certainly those of us that have felt that irs and law enforcement, others have gone over the line for political reasons, would not in any way justify this. but if he recused himself and was not involved, one has to look at the fact that the house has had a mission against this attorney general for a while. in fact, he's the first attorney general in history to be held in contempt of congress. when you look at the fact that the house oversight committee chairman, darrell issa, who called for his resignation today, is also hypocrite kl in

the sense he said today the actions by the justice department are, quote, obviously disturbing, but back in 2007 he was one of just 21 house members to vote against a bill that would have protected the associated press in this case. so while i think we need to get to the bottom of this, we better be careful about whose shovel we're letting dig to the bottom here. >> i mean, it is true, i think, the attorney general in particular has been a good target for republicans over the years. i think reince priebus himself wanted eric holder to resign over fast and furious. years ago we had him under fire. everybody thought he was going to be let go because of where you try terrorism suspects. this is not the first time. mine, every few months we find a new reason that the attorney general should be fired according to the republicans. but it's perfect with their kind of agenda right now. because they don't want to talk about things like immigration and the economy. and they've got the midterms

coming up. and scandal season makes for really good politics for them. >> now, congresswoman, again, i think that -- and it was reince priebus, the chair of the republican party, that called for the attorney general's resignation. but it was issa who led the fight to hold him in contempt. and, again, we are not at all saying this is not egregious and must be looked at in terms of a.p. because whether it's government overreach and intimidation on the left or the right, it's wrong and must be condemned. but we must also make sure that those that look into this are doing this in a balanced and fair way and not just playing some cheap political points at the expense of the freedom of the press. >> well, absolutely. and i do have to say, and i'm sad to say, that i have a hard way believing that they would actually look at it in an objective manner. if you begin before the investigation even starts by

calling for the resignation, and you remember last year, it was so disrespectful to attorney general holder that a number of us walked off the floor and refused to participate in the vote to hold him in contempt. as you mentioned, the first time in u.s. history for this to happen. but, you know, if it's not the attorney general, it's the epa. it's homeland security. i mean, you just go down the list. and just as your other guest said, it's really every few months that there is a call for his resignation. so i really think that this is shameful. we need to get back to the business of the country. and this kind of situation really needs to stop. >> and i think that we need to say let us have a thorough and full investigation and let the matter fall, let the sword fall where it may. but michelle, let us not forget that the bush administration's dealing with reporters also came into question. npr reports three years ago, the justice department's inspector general found evidence that the

fbi was getting phone records from the "washington post" and "the new york times" in the bush administration without following guidelines regarding reporters. i don't remember republicans or the right wing screaming when that came out. that seemed to be a collective case of republican laryngitis. >> yeah. it all depends on whose team you're batting for. who's in power at the time. this is is not an unusual practice. i think what's upset the a.p. in particular is the scope of what has been done here. the number of reporters and the amount of time. but that said, the republicans were, you know, very quick to step up and start making nixon, you know, the kind of nixon comparisons that we all get to hear every time somebody does something slightly, you know, questionable here. and it's just the scandal season. they're going to add this to the long list of other things that, you know, may or may not actually make people think along

the lines of a government that the republicans want you to think is way out of control and overreaching and way too big brotherish. >> congresswoman karen bass and michelle cottle, thank you for your time this evening. let me say before we move on to the chair of the rnc, reince priebus, it would seem to me very strange tha the one person that has said they were recused from the situation before what all of us feel is wrong is the one you want to resign. even in the middle of something that could -- to your benefit, you never fail to mess it up by overreaching. let it go, reince. let it go where it's got to go. the more you push it, the more it's going to backfire. ahead, the irs scandal under president bush. we'll talk to the former head of the naacp julian bond about why republicans didn't care when the

irs was targeting civil rights. also, the republican obsession with creating a new watergate for president obama. we're throwing some sand in the gears of the gop scandal machine. and angelina jolie's courageous choice. inspiring millions of women and putting a new focus on health care inequality in america. stay with us. oh this is lame,

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intolerance would be an understatement. bob says, finally a common sense republican is seeing what the gop is and what it really stands for. william asks republicans, how's that rebranding thing going for you? good question, william. we want to hear what you think on this issue. please head over to facebook and search politics nation and like us to join the conversation that keeps going long after the show ends. ♪ [ male announcer ] we all have something neatly tucked away in the back of our mind. a secret hope. that thing we've always wanted to do. it's not about having dreams, it's about reaching them. ♪

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agency used inappropriate criteria to target conservative groups for extra juscrutiny. the report says the irs used that criteria for 18 months starting in 2010. delaying paperwork and demanding unnecessary paperwork from those groups. but we also learned today that recent reporting on benghazi was apparently wrong. the white house did not demand changes to the so-called talking points in order to protect the state the president. it's what the obama administration has been saying all along. this is why we can't have a rush to judgment. we need the facts. but the gop isn't interested in getting the facts. they're just interested in ginning up a scandal. politico reports a third of all gop led committees in the house are now investigating some aspect of the obama

administration. a third. republicans seem to think there are watergates all over the place. >> this makes watergate look like child's play. >> this is far worse thap watergate. i mean, nobody died in watergate. >> somebody said to me the other day, this is as bad as watergate. well, nobody died in watergate. >> this is an administration practicing now serial deception. this is watergate. >> forget the bottom like we did in watergate and iran contra. >> everything is watergate. in fact, we counted at least six scandals that republicans have declared to be obama's watergate. benghazi, the president's administration policy change, solyndra, fast and furious, the national security leaks and president obama's birth certificate. the truth is, republicans don't have a constructive agenda for the country so they've committed themselves to a destructive attack on the president. joining me now are david corn and joan walsh. thank you both for being here

tonight. >> thank you, rev. >> good to be with you. >> david, are republicans more interested in finding new so-called watergates than in finding the facts? >> oh, god. when you put it that way, reverend, i don't know which one to go with. "a" or "b." as a watergate baby, i'm kind of in this business because i grew up at the time of watergate. i know that's hard to believe. you know, it kind of to me is really insulting to watergate to compare any of this to watergate. then you had a break-in that was covered up by the president himself who told the cia to tell the fbi to obstruct justice so they wouldn't figure out it all led to his secret money campaign to re-elect himself. that's watergate. watergate was big. watergate -- we did have nixon trying to use the irs to get enemies. but since then we passed laws so the president's not allowed to talk to to the best of my recollection -- to the irs.

even says he should start firing people in the irs, that would be against the law. it's quite clear a lot of these things, there are either questions to resolve -- there are still questions to resolve with benghazi, what happened beforehand with cia warnings and state department preparations. there are questions to resolve with the irs. i have questions for the justice department about going after the a.p. reporters to plug leaks. but none of this gets even close to watergate. we can keep the sandbags at home. >> now a question about, joan, i mean, they seem obsessed, though, with finding a scandal. and let me show you the field day they've been having over at fox, for example. >> she asked the president about benghazi. which he essentially dismissed as a political side show. the benghazi scandal, by the way, it is a scandal. and john mccain yesterday said it was a coverup as well. >> a real culture of deception has been revealed. the deception in terms of saying what the truth was.

>> possibly new evidence that the white house was heavily involved in whitewashing the narrative in the aftermath of the benghazi terror attacks. >> this has been a coverup from the very beginning. i was in the white house during watergate. i know all about coverups. >> this definitely is a creative rewriting of history. >> i mean, they're obsessed with it. they're saying things that has no basis of fact. even the whistle blower, if you're going to listen to a whistle blower, which you should, at least listen to what he's whistling. he's not saying that the white house and the president were directly involved in changing anything. >> no, he's not, reverend al. we started out today with three alleged scandals surrounding the white house. and we're ending the day with really only one thing that's of concern. that is the subpoena of the a.p. records. i'm very concerned about that. but let's get back to the other -- >> all of us are. >> all of us are. but let's get back to the other two. the inspect general's report today comes out and says, yes, it was inadequate management.

but no one in the report, no one has put this anywhere near the white house. as david says, there's no president. there's no one in the white house ordering this. and we know sadly there's been a history of tampering, perhaps, going in the other direction with the naacp. you'll talk about that later. on benghazi -- >> many of the groups i've been involved with. >> churches. absolutely. on benghazi i've got to give credit to jake tapper of cnn. he broke a story that the specific e-mail that showed that the white house was supposedly protecting the state department in this, this e-mail jake tapper and i have it on my blog, published the whole e-mail. it never mentions the state department. it is a very straightforward e-mail talking about -- >> they edited the e-mail. >> they edited the e-mail. they didn't edit it to take stuff out. they edited it to add stuff. affirmatively add stuff that's not there.

benghazi is going away. i believe the irs will go away, too. we'll see about the a.p. >> david, whn you really get down to it, because a lot of people that are watching are saying, okay, what is this really about? well, let me deal with something political. that i think puts some focus as to why the gop may be doing this. they're focus -- i'm reading from politico. they're focusing on scandals that play well with its base ahead of the 2014 midterms is great politics for the house gop leadership. perhaps the best thing about this spate of investigations is that it has unity without having to skrun j 218 votes for any legislation. what could have happened that the gop had to come up with actual ideas for legislation? the fact is, this is about the only thing they can get their caucus to agree on is trying to scandalize and demonize the president and the attorney general. >> well, i think it's much easier to be talking about all this than it is to deal with immigration reform where they're

split. or talking about perhaps bringing about another default when we get to the debt ceiling debate and the budget talks which are coming up. protecting tax cuts for the rich. and while we have sequestered cuts affecting people who go to head start and get food stamps or who wait in line for planes. i mean, on the policy front, there's a lot of things they don't want to talk about because either they're against public opinion, or they're internally at war with themselves. so this just gives them a lot of chaff. and to throw up in the air a lot of flames. remember, this is a fundamental point here. republicans do not have to beat democrats or the president when it comes to policy matter. they just have to make people sort of so disgusted with washington that they say, apox an everybody. republicans can do that very easily by bringing everything into the gutter and creating these distractions. >> well, but i think, joan, when you look at it, i mean, i'll show you how bizarre it gets. and when i was raising the point

reading what politico said about playing to your base, when you look at the polls, of republicans, 70% think it's worse than iran contra. 74% think it's worse than watergate. 74% think it's worse than the teapot dome scandal. but here's something interesting. a new national poll finds that 39% of republican voters who think benghazi's the biggest political scandal in american history don't actually know where it is. they think it's in egypt or iran or cuba or syria or iraq or even north korea. and 4% were not even willing to guess. i mean, for a party so obsessed with benghazi, you'd think they'd at least know where it is and what they were talking about. >> they don't care where it is, reverend al. they just care who's in the white house. we talked about the election. what are they going to do? they can't run against barack obama again. well, they're running against barack obama and they're tying up the white house and they're tying up the agenda and it's

really unfortunate because we have real problems. >> real problems from immigration to jobs, jobs, jobs. >> guns. >> and they're messing with some things that happened that were serious in terms of not only the liberties of the press, but what happened in benghazi and what happened that those leaks were about, as the attorney general, it put lives at risk. this is serious stuff. this is not petty politics. david corn and joan walsh, thank you both for your time tonight. >> thank you. >> thank you. still ahead, dick cheney accuses president obama of a coverup. really? republicans seem to be suffering from scandal amnesia. they've totally forgotten about the bush years. also, today's stunning news about angelina jolie and her new focus on getting quality, affordable health care for millions of women. stay with us. ♪

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all your important legal matters in just minutes. protect your family... and launch your dreams. at legalzoom.com we put the law on your side. as we've reported, if irs investigators targeted conservative groups, there should be consequences.

unfair irs investigations are not new. just months before the 2004 election, the chairman of the naacp spoke at the group's annual convention and said this. >> if you oppose the war, they say, you don't support our troops. that's nonsense. if it was up to us, every man and woman stationed in iraq would be safely at home with their loved ones right now. they've tried to -- domestic problem with duct tape and plastic sheets. they wrote a new constitution for iraq, and they ignored the constitution here at home. >> that was naacp chair julian bond in july of 2004. and guess what happened? just three months later, the irs launched an investigation into the naacp's tax exempt status. just a month before the 2004 election, the irs began auditing the naacp.

if the group lost its tax exempt status, it would have crippled the civil rights organization. after nearly a two-year investigation, the irs decided the chairman's comments didn't violate the group's tax status. we've heard a lot of republican outrage this week about the irs. but i don't remember hearing any republican outrage when the naacp was investigated just as george bush was trying to get re-elected. hmm. i wonder why. joining me now is julian bond, former chairman of the naacp. thank you for being here tonight. >> it's my pleasure, reverend. thank you for having me. >> now, mr. bond, you were chair of the naacp when it faced this audit. how did the irs explain their investigation back in 2004? >> the letter we got from the irs said that i had criticized president bush. now, you know, i've been a citizen of the united states since my birth. and i've always believed that

with that citizenship came the right to criticize presidents, mayors, people in public office, anybody you chose. and was just shocked to see this was the rationale for what for us was two years of struggle, a lot of money we had to spend, expee expensive lawyers we had to hire to protect our tax exemption. as you just said, had we lost our tax exemption it would have crippled the naacp. of course, the people behind this knew that and thought it would cause this great deal of trouble and make us less effective than we would have been in the upcoming election. >> now, you criticized his policy in iraq. do you think audit by the irs was political? >> oh, absolutely. it was absolutely political. because we asked the irs to tell us who had complained. and we found a long list of republican office holders including the former governor of maryland who was then a house member who had complained with the irs or had had a constituent write them and tell them --

complain to to the best of my recollection -- to to the best of my recollection irs about the naacp. >> listen to this. >> we can't count on the administration to be forthcoming about the details of this scandal. because so far they've been anything but. >> it's a bit of faux outrage. and i wonder what is the president going to do. >> how dare the administration imply they're going to get to the bottom of it. this was the targeting of the president's political enemies effectively. and lies about it during the election year. >> now, did you recall any of these republican leaders being outraged in 2004 when naacp and you went through this, mr. bond? >> they don't know what outrage is. for them this is really what one of them said, this is faux outrage, this is faux anger. these are people who are trying to sell the country on a false premise that somehow or another president obama is behaving badly. you know, they've done nothing

but say no to him from the day he was elected all those years ago and will continue to do that and continue to try to block his policies until he leaves office. >> you know, one of the things that amaze me is karl rove said this week, it would be a huge story if liberal groups were audited under president bush. look at this. >> we'd have every group that had -- of liberal or progressive tendencies demanding answers and marching on the white house and leaders of congress, democrats in congress, you know, demanding to have answers. i mean, it would be a nightmare at the bush white house had this been done on our watch. >> had this been done on their watch. it was done on their watch! it was done to the naacp. it was done to a lot of us. do you remember marches on the white house and the media outrage that you're hearing now, mr. bond? >> no, of course not. not by these people. their outrage is selective. they are outraged when their friends are threatened.

but when the people like the naacp or organizations like people for the american way or when liberal churches are threatened with the loss of their tax exemption, these people have nothing to say. their mouths are shut. they don't speak. they're just not present. >> now, i think it's also important to add that our point here is we don't think anyone ought to be intimidated for political reasons. but we also have to have one standard and one set of rules and not have people play politics when they take positions only when it's their side of the -- of the political aisle. and i think senator harry reid pointed out today that other irs targets during the bush administration. let me show you what harry reid said. >> it wasn't long ago that the irs inappropriately targeted the naacp. green peace. and a california church. at that time we didn't hear a single republican grand stand the issue then.

where was their out rage when groups on the other side of the political spectrum were under attack? >> and i think that's the point. i've seen you take positions even that many mt. aftin the african-american community didn't think was right. >> absolutely. you need to have the same rules for everybody. whatever their party is, whatever their political beliefs are, whatever they stand up for, everybody's got to play by the same rules. and these people, these republicans, don't believe that the same rules should apply to everybody. they believe they should only apply to them if they're good for them. if they're not they don't have to obey them. >> karl rove, i'm waiting to hear from you about the naacp. it's a few years late, but come on, karl, you can do it. julian bond, thank you for your time tonight. >> thank you, reverend. thank you. coming up, i have a big announcement to make about this show and helping americans. and a courageous choice for one of the world's most famous

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a shocking story today about one of the world's most famous people. she's angelina jolie. the academy award winning actress, the international movie star, film director, screen writer, activist. but the biggest headline of jolie's career may have come today. in the form of an op-ed she penned for the "new york times" this morning. the title simply says, "my medical choice." after being diagnosed as a carrier of the so called breast cancer gene, she writes, quote, my doctors estimated that i had an 87% risk of breast cancer and a 50% risk of ovarian cancer. once i knew knew that this was my reality, i decided to be proactive and to minimize the risk as much as i could. i made a decision to have a preventative double mastectomy. this is normally a very private

decision for women to make. but jolie decided to go public to raise awareness and hopes. and she hopes it will educate women about their own options. it's a brave and courageous choice. angelina, you should be commended for this award winning performance. joining me now is dr. kathy ann joseph, a breast surgeon at nyu medical center here in new york. and lindsay abner, founder of brightpink.org. she was diagnosed with the breast cancer gene and had a preventative double mastectomy at age 23. thank you both for being here tonight on this important topic. >> thank you. >> thank you for having me. >> lindsay, as one who has been through this, what was your reaction to the news this morning? >> well, when i woke up this morning i was absolutely shocked. usually angelina jolie is so reserved as a celebrity. and for her to make the decision

to be so public and so vulnerable was absolutely inspiring to me. and the thousands of bright pink women around the country. >> now, tell us how did you make the decision to have a double mastectomy. >> well, like angelina jolie i have a very strong family history of both breast cancer and ovarian cancer. my grandma and great grandma died a week apart both from breast cancer. my mom is an 18-year breast, 17-year ovarian cancer survivor. at teenage he age of 22, after positive for the same mutation angelina has, the brca 1 gene, i made the decision at 23 to remove my healthy breasts and followed up with reconstruction because i wanted to be the first person after generations of women in my family to not develop this disease that had stalked us for so long. >> wow. dr. joseph, lindsay did this. angelina jolie did this. have you seen more of these types of preventative surgeries.

>> absolutely. as women, more women and more doctors are being educated about learning about their family history and then getting tested, more women are making that decision and saying, you know what? i don't want to have this ticking time bomb going off over my head. >> and it is a ticking time bomb. it's got a -- it has real impact. it's a very personal decision. >> 87% lifetime risk. doesn't mean that every woman is going to get breast cancer but it's a huge risk. and so they come into my office and they say, doc, i don't want -- i want them off. now, it doesn't mean that every woman who has the gene has to make this choice. but it's an option. >> now, i want to show you this number. if you're in the general population, you basically have a 12% chance of getting breast cancer in your lifetime if you have the breast cancer gene. your chances skyrocket to 65% if you have that gene. that's huge.

do we know if certain ethnic groups get the mutation more than others, doctor? >> yes. the ash ka na -- jewish population has the highest -- you don't have to be to be at risk. i've had women who are african-american, hispanic, asian, you name it, who come in and have been found -- have been tested and have the brca gene. >> lindsay, let me go back to you. this genetic test showed you have a higher chance of getting ovarian cancer. as that influenced your decisions any? >> well, i'll tell you, i feel as though i've overcome the breast cancer mountain, so to say. but the ovarian cancer one is still ahead. the doctors say that i need to have my ovaries out at 35, 40 at the latest. and so being 30 years old --

dramatically reduce your risk for ovarian cancer. that being said, when you're looking at the numbers that we have, that these brca mutations indicate, unfortunately we don't have a great test for ovarian cancer. so the surgery will be a decision i need to make and one that i will make in the coming years. >> now, how important, doc, is getting information out? jolie coming out, will that help get this out a lot? >> oh, it's a tremendous help. i'm so -- she should be commended for coming out publicly. it's such a personal decision. because so many women don't necessarily know that their family history is so important. and it's not just -- also, we focus, because it's breast cancer, we focus on the maternal side. the mother's side. this gene can be passed down also on the father's side, too. i just want to put that out there. this is -- this is what we call an otosomal dominant gene. this gene can be passed down on either side. >> jolie also talks about the

cost of testing for the breast cancer gene in her op-ed. she writes, it has got to be a priority to ensure that more women can access gene testing and life saving preventative treatment. whatever their means and background, wherever they live, the cost of testing for brca 1 and brca 2 at more than $3,000 in the united states remain an obstacle for many women. why is the test so costly? and does insurance cover it? >> most insurance companies do. not all don't. i'm glad she wrote that. because the problem is that there is only one company in the united states that does the test. they have the mo nopoly on it. >> one company? >> one company. >> isn't that kind of unfair? i mean, if only one company has it, suppose -- >> this company owns the patent. it is a gene, but they have the

patent. there is a lawsuit going on now. this is round two. between this company, myriad and geneticists and the acl -- excuse me. because the issue is whether or not a company can have a patent on the gene. something that's naturally occurring. >> now, who should get this genetic testing for breast cancer? two first degree relatives diagnosed with breast cancer, one before age 51. first and second degree relatives diagnosed with breast cancer or ovarian cancer. male relative diagnosed with breast cancer. if you've been diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer. what is triple negative breast cancer, doctor? what is it? why is this a reason to be genetically screened? >> triple negative breast cancer

refers to having a cancer that tests negative for both the estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor and something called her2. a protein that sits on the tumor. if you're negative for all three, that's one of the most aggressive tumors you can have. that has ramifications for african-american women where a third of all our cancers are triple negative. which contributes to our worse prognosis. >> dr. kathie ann joseph and lindsay avner, thank you both for joining us tonight. i want to talk for a moment about a new project we are undertaking on this show. it's called urgent care. and it's an ongoing investigation into the continuing desperate shape of health care for millions of people in this country. we are shining light on the urgency of the health care crisis. many americans can't afford

basic care. there are kids that have never been -- have never seen a doctor. americans who can't afford treatment for life threatening illnesses. and this just isn't right. it isn't fair. we have a special edition of "politics nation" live from the clinic in new orleans on wednesday, july 3rd. as msnbc viewers have done in the past, we need you to help make the clinic a reality. you can donate, volunteer or sign up for an appointment with a doctor if you need to see one on july 3rd. go to national association of free and charitable clinics website at nafcclinics.org. or you can go to our facebook page. it's you who can help make the difference in providing care to those in need. we hope you can join and support us in this cause and make every american's dream of health care

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here's some perspective on all these controversies in washington. former vice president dick cheney went on fox news this week to offer his unique opinion about the attack on our consulate in benghazi. >> i watched the benghazi thing with great interest, sean. i think it's one of the worst incidents, frankly, that i can recall in my career. the coverup included several officials up to and including president obama. and the coverup is still ongoing. >> that's quite a statement coming from the man who brought us the iraq war. the vice president also repeated the gop's favorite new talking point. about how they kept america safe during the bush era. >> in my past experience, when we got into these situations,

especially after 9/11, we were always on the step, locked and loaded, ready to go on 9/11. >> it's stunning. what cheney and his gang is basically saying is that we were great when it comes to stopping terror attacks on 9/11, as long as you don't count 9/11. republicans seem to be suffering from scandal amnesia. they've totally forgotten the bush years. it's a scandal when more than 3,600 americans are killed or injured in a war that was sold to us under false pretenses. it's a scandal when we learn that president bush has secret -- has a secret program to spy on american citizens without a warrant. and it's a scandal when the vice president of the united states' chief of staff, scooter libby, is convicted of lying and obstruction of justice. look, there is no question that there are some serious issues that are facing the obama administration now. the president himself is

demanding answers. particularly on the irs controversy. >> if you've got the irs operating in anything less than a neutral and nonpartisan way, then that is outrageous. it is contrary to our traditions. and people have to be held accountable and it's got to be fixed. so we'll wait and see what exactly all the details and the facts are. but i've got no patience with it. i will not tolerate it. and we'll make sure that we find out exactly what happened on this. >> but by any standard, this administration has one of the cleanest records in recent political history. and the gop's desperate search for watergates won't change that. the bush/cheney crowd can't rewrite history. they may try, but we won't let them get away with it. we will be consistent and say what was done wrong when it was against those on the left or the

center is wrong on the right. but we will not let those rewrite history. you can't make rights wrong. and you can't make wrong right. thanks for watching. i'm al sharpton. "hardball" starts right now. storm front. let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. let me start tonight with this. it's here. that inspect general's report on the internal revenue service targeting tea party and patriot groups for special scrutiny. it's in. everything we've heard, everything we've been talking about is right there in the report. the one big news item is the inspector general's investigation itself was triggered by members of congress concerned that right wing