unfairness in life and always saw people playing by the rules. you broke the law and you were a criminal, whether you were a big shot or not. he was a law and order liberal, a liberal who never ended up being an irish cop. that's the kind of person i want to see in politics, someone i want very much to be myself. 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, the obama recovery. the gop spinning scandal. but today he toured a middle school in north carolina as part of his middle class jobs and opportunity tour and the president talked about what matters most. >> thanks to the grit and the determination of the american people, folks are starting to come back. our businesses have created nearly seven million new jobs over the past 38 months. the housing market and stock

markets are rebounding, deficits are shrinking, the american auto industry has come back. so we're getting traction. the gears to the economy are turning. we're starting to make progress but we've got to build on that progress. >> we've got to build on it. but there is progress. today we learned layoffs are down 41% from this time last year. 41%. job creation is at the best it's been in five years, unemployment went from a high of 10% to a falling -- to 7.5%. and it's on track to drop to 6.5% by the end of next year. the housing market is up. car sales, up. the socialist president has the stock market way up. and while the gop is selling scandal after scandal after

scandal, these are the headlines americans are tuning in to on their local news. >> this construction elevator confident of the economy, climbing to new levels. >> there are new signs today of economic recovery. >> the first four months of 2013 saw record breaking tourism numbers with visitors up 4% over last year. >> new numbers out today show that the unemployment rate fell for the third consecutive month, charlotte, gastonia, rock hill, all adding jobs. >> 300 manufacturing and administrative jobs will be added. >> thousands of jobs will soon be soaring on the wings of wind energy. >> this is what americans care about. the latest nbc news poll shows the president's approval rating up one point since the gop scandal mania. a washington post poll shows the

same thing. another has him up two points. that's what happens when you focus on what matters at the end of the day. americans care about the economy. they care about good jobs, they care about putting food on their tables. there is still a way to go. but despite all of the distractions, we're seeing real progress and that is a fact. joining me now are richard wolffe and jamal simmons. thank you both for coming on the show tonight. >> great to be here, rev. >> tomorrow the president is out touting the progress. funny how the right wing is quiet about the economy these days. >> they are going to be quiet about it because they don't have a leg to stand on. what's important is that the president is claiming credit for what we've seen. people feel very good about the economy recovery, they just don't give him a lot of credit

for it. he's showing new energy projects. this is happening because of the president's policy put in place. >> you know, richard, where americans are asked about it, where all of the scandals and bringing up new angles and new things but really never connecting the dots to the president or one of his people, when you ask the american people in the middle of all of this, they want to talk about the economy and though we have a long way to go and it's disproportionate in some areas, we are making progress but 73% say dealing with the economy and unemployment is more important than all of the mania that is being raised. how do democrats break through all of this noise to get congress and others to deal with the economy?

>> number one, you would think that republicans know about jobs first because that was their slogan back in 2010. going after scandals and in that case all the way to impeachment really did nothing to harm president clinton's numbers, in fact, they just kept getting higher and higher and a witchhunt was another part of it. you would think that they would remember their hero, president reagan, and his numbers did not change at all and that's why they talk about him being a teflon president. it is already breaking through. the president's numbers, i loved all of those stories about the opinion polls. how come his approval numbers have stayed up? because people didn't care about the so-called news because there wasn't anything there to it. and they really cared about the economy. this stuff is already breaking through. you've got to ask the republicans, how can the so-called scandals that are not breaking through? >> you know, jamal, democrats

are focusing on substance. their 2014 strategy is to, quote, own obama care. it says in 2014 democrats can talk about the positives, position themselves as consumer advocates to make it work and go on the offense against republican for wanting to take the benefits away. will running on substance be the difference in making it for the democrats next year? >> running on substance could be the difference because what's going to happen is the democrats can get 18 to 25-year-olds, particularly young men, you'll see a fall in health care costs. this demonizing of health care that took place is not going to have the same impact when we've got so many more americans being covered. how are you going to attack people for having health care coverage? it's going to be a very tough road for them. so they've got to try to stay on

these scandals because they don't have anything else to talk about. they hope that something will fallout that will make them not like barack obama. we're going into the seventh year, if you count from the beginning of the campaign, that america is saying, we like this guy, we trust him, we think he's up to the right thing. >> jamal, things you don't like? you have a farm bill. i want you to hear me real careful. you have a new farm bill that's making its way through the house that would cut food stamps by $20 billion but it would increase crop subsidies by 9 billion. cut food stamps but increase farm subsidies. i don't like that. and i don't like people that like that. >> right. and we know that food stamps actually work. people spend them on food because they need it. so the republican party, they all know it has a branding problem. they are not reaching people and this is at a time -- you know,

you can talk about fiscal displan or being a budget hawk but what kind of budget hawk does this and what kind of budget hawk are you when deficits are coming down because the economy is coming up. president obama will leave office. they can go after him and personalize is all they like but they cannot touch him. the next democratic nominee will say, i'm bringing about some change and you are with the democratic agenda voters at large. republicans have to get on to a position that voters like and stop personalizing it because they are going to face a disaster and lose their third in a row. >> but jamal, food stamps, 45% of the recipients are children. and many people stopping me around the country, writing us, e-mailing us saying that democrats ought to be fighting more. when you're talking about taking away food stamps from children, i mean, why aren't we seeing more aggressive fighting from

the democrats in exposing this and fighting on behalf of the people that they want to vote for? i'm on here every night. i'm all over the country fighting. where are the voices of the democratic established party in the congress? and around the country? >> rev, you're talking about. e.j. dionne was writing about what kind of overarching program is it that the democrats are fighting for right now? and that's what americans want to hear. they want to hear about a big problem, how we are going to make things better and improve in the country. i think for the republicans, they also have to realize, the electorate has changed. i have one bit of caution, also. the democrats have to get out there, the individual candidates, they cannot depend on barack obama to get everything out. they have to establish their own records, their own relationship with this new electorate to make sure that people vote for them in november. >> and i think that's going to be critical. some of what we're seeing is a lot of aggression on the

republican side over nonsense but not enough fighting back for people on the democratic side. i mean, any time e.j. dionne looks like the activist leader of america, in all due respect to e.j., what are we talking about? where is the leadership of those that are standing behind this president? >> well, i think, you know, a lot of the democrats and i'll say for republicans, though, look, the last president they had was elected and then re-elected, ran as a compassionate conservative and he cared about people at the lower end, a different policy solution. how are they going to be the party of compassion when they are cutting for people who are hungry in the richest nation on the planet? >> jamal, when you look at how unfairly they have gone after this president on the other

side, very aggressively, and i think unfairly, i mean, look at how they label him a socialist. let me show you some of the outrageous claims of the president's of socialist? >> barack obama is a socialist. he believes in socialism, in redistributing wealth, in confiscating hard-earned dollars. >> we have a president who wants to turn america into another european style social welfare state. >> this might be the last election to turn the nation around. before we go down the roetd to socialism. president obama and his socialist policies must be stopped. >> obama's socialist policies are bankrupting america. >> look at the stock market. look at what is going on in terms of big business recovery. he'd have to be the worst socialist in history. yet they tag him all through -- a sort of litany of attacks from different people in the right, yet on the left i'm not calling

for name calling but you're cutting food stamps from children and there's no fight back. >> that's right. democrats have to be on offense. it feels too much like democrats in depth defending against the republican attack. they have to push the agenda, they have got to help working people. you've got to go out there and have programs and plans that will appeal to latinos, young people, and not just sit back and wait for republicans to attack, to defend. the funniest part about that litany, all of the people that you've shown on that show have lost their jobs in the last year, except for rick perry, who is governor of texas. >> for now. richard wolffe and jamal simmons, thank you for your time this evening. >> thank you. ahead, the ring leader of the scandal machine has his own party fearful and nervous today. and four days away from george zimmerman's murder trial, i'll talk to trayvon martin's mother. i'll talk to trayvon's mother on

how she's dealing with her tragedy. and our hearts go out to par ri is jackson. lots of ground to cover tonight. i want to know what's on your mind. e-mail me. i'm responding tonight. stay with us. [ kitt ] you know what's impressive? a talking car. but i'll tell you what impresses me. a talking train. this ge locomotive can tell you exactly where it is,

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have you joined your "politicsnation" conversation on facebook yet? we hope you will. today, many of our fans were praising attorney general eric holder for refusing to step down despite calls from the gop. kathy says, "i'm so glad he and the president are not going to give in." debbie says, "just like susan rice, he's done nothing wrong." lee says, "congress is in to bullying now.

keep doing what you're doing attorney general holder. i'm behind you." coming up next, why that bullying is making some in the republican party very nervous. first, we want you to weigh in. please head over to facebook and search "politicsnation" and "like" us to join the conversation that keeps going long after the show ends. [ male announcer ] everyone has the ability to do something amazing. ♪ some just do it, on a more regular basis. ♪ ♪ in dealerships everywhere. in theaters, june 14th.

yeah... try new alka seltzer fruit chews. they work fast on heartburn and taste awesome. these are good. told ya! i'm feeling better already. [ male announcer ] new alka seltzer fruits chews. enjoy the relief! the fear lurking just beneath the scandal mongering of the republican party is getting exposed. today we learned the gop is telling their lead attack dog, darrell issa, to cool it. issa, the head of the house

oversight committee but he's better known for throwing political bombs, for calling the white house spokesman a paid liar, for saying president obama's administration is one of the most corrupt in history and for relentlessly attacking attorney general eric holder up through this week. >> perjury is a criminal charge that has to be proven but certainly it's hard to have confidence in twha this attorney general says or what his people says when so often it turns out not to be true. >> but now his own party is worried. they want him to stop the personal attacks. they worry that issa's loose lips threaten what they believe should be a tight narrative. they are terrified that americans will see through the nonsense and they should be as the scandal mania goes up, so does president obama's approval. joining me now is democratic

congressman elijah cummings, ranking member on the oversight committee, and a member of the congressional black caucus. congressman, you've been a big critic of darrell issa. now his own party is worried about him. how can the ranking member of oversight get away with this constant crusade against the administration? >> well, i think he's not getting away with it, reverend. any time you have karl rove, joe scarborough, and john mccain expressing concern about these wild allegations, allegations, by the way, that are put out there but then with chairman issa then going -- trying to search for facts that he never seems to find, that's a concern to the republicans because they realize that it goes against the credibility of our committee and it goes against the credibility of our work product. reverend, i've said it over and over again.

we've got to have truth and trust. unfortunately, when those statements are made, where you cannot back them up, as you've been talking about them today, it goes against the trust that people have in darrell issa and our committee. and that's a concern for all of us. >> you know, when issa took control of the oversight committee in 2010, he promised a massive expansion of investigation. i mean, he planned hundreds of new hearings and this obsession with distractions instead of substance continues. a leading right wing group now, heritage action, is wanting john boehner to keep and sent a letter, to that end, we urge you to avoid bringing any legislation to the house floor that could expose or highlight major schisms within the

conference. >> it's most unfortunate, reverend. what i have said to the democrats on our committee is we must not be distracted. you've said that a few minutes ago and i agree with you. we have got to stay focused on the people who we represent. i'm not so much worried about the people that i'm going against. i'm worrying about the things that i'm fighting for. and so what we've been trying to do is concentrate on those things that you talk about. jobs, infrastructure, making sure that we increase consumer confidence, dealing with matters of the economy. those are the things that people truly care about. and i believe, reverend, if we stay focused, if democrats stay focused and lay it out, i believe that we will prevail in the end. because what will happen is the public is going to get tired of hearing these headlines and reading these headlines and seeing that there's nothing behind them. they want folks to go out there

and do a job for them so that their lives will be better. i don't come to washington just to sit around and listen to critics talk about things. i come because the people on my block want us to make their lives better and it become as phenomenal waste of energy, time, emotion to go through this process. >> people on your block want things to happen. is it on a personal note? it must be frustrating for you to have to deal with people like issa that just seem determined not to really try to get things done for the country. >> well, i've got to tell you, reverend, as a son of two former share croppers and now members of the united states, i refuse to be distracted and that's the beauty of our committee and the democrats. i think we're very focussed, we will remain focused, we can hear all of the chatter on the side with no facts to back it up but

we will remain focus. again, we have to lift up the american people. there's a lot of people hurting and you know it. they want to know that they are getting jobs, infrastructure is being improved, children are going to have good school. they are able to send them to college and get health care. those are the things that they are most concerned about. >> now, there's been no one attacked more than attorney eric holder. and listen to what he said to nbc's pete williams about the attacks from the right. >> large parts of the criticism that you get in washington, d.c., is partisan in nature. it's gotcha in nature and i'm 4 1/2 years into this job with pretty thick skin so that stuff i don't focus on. >> is your skin getting thicker? >> i'm probably in the guinness book of world records for thickest skin at this point. >> but to be clear, you're not stepping down now? >> no, i have no intention of doing so now. >> his skin is getting thicker and he's not stepping down,

congressman. >> i agree with him. eric holder is constantly being criticized. republicans have disrespected him but he stands strong. he's a very good attorney general. i support him. the president supports him. and i think he has played a very key role. and i think, reverend, some folks are -- republicans are upset eric holder because he stood up for the things that you stood up for, making sure that people can get their right to vote and have their vote counted. i think a lot of the pain that has come and the criticism that has come towards him have come because of things like that. we look at fast and furious and i still believe that that was an unfair process. >> yeah. >> so i'm glad that he is staying on. i'm glad to hear that. >> congressman elijah cummings, thank you for your time tonight. >> it's my pleasure and it's my

hono honor. >> ahead, they love, love, love to bash obama care. so why are 20 of them making money from it and asking for money from it? we got them in a big way tonight. and four days away from george zimmerman's murder trial, i'll sit down with trayvon martin's mother. stay with us. what are you doing?

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there's nothing republicans

love more than bashing the president's health care law, but how about this hypocrisy? our friends at "the nation" revealed at least 20 republicans who shamelessly bashed the law and then wanted money from it. here's what texas senator john cornyn said. >> the only way to stop the overreaching by the federal government, including the president's flawed health care bill is to elect a new president and a congress that will repeal and replace this fundamentally flawed law. >> repeal and replace this fundamentally flawed law. but he asked the centers for disease control to his district. look, there's his signature. and then there's ohio senator bob -- rob portman.

in his race for the senate, he slammed his opponent's support of the health care law. >> he's a strong supporter of washington's health care law. it's not working for ohio. >> not working for ohio. then why did you write a letter saying a grant from the law would provide, quote, essential services to an additional 8,966 uninsured individuals? senator, there's your name right there. i guess you thought it was working well after all. and hypocrisy is not just in the senate. ears south dakota congresswoman christy knome. >> we owe it to every that don't put washington in charge of our health care. >> repeal this law. really, congresswoman? then why did you ask for a grant from a health center for a

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today george zimmerman was back in court for the last hearing before his second-degree murder trial starts on monday. he's accused of killing trayvon martin. mr. zimmerman has pleaded not guilty and claims he shot trayvon martin in self-defense. today's hearings will continue tomorrow when the judge will rule on whether to allow a prosecution expert to testify that he thinks is trayvon martin heard screaming on a 911 call. the year and a half since trayvon martin's death has obviously been difficult and emotiona emotional period for his mother. sybrina fulton has had rallies

and started a foundation in honor of her son. at a prayer rally last weekend, she talked about her faith has kept her going. >> i no longer have any regrets and say why me because god decided it was me and i don't know why but i'm not going to question it. i'm just going to be obedient to his will. this wasn't a position, and i've said before, that i would have taken. i wouldn't. i'd rather go back to my county job with my same two kids, my same house but god says he has something else planned for us. >> joining me now are trayvon martin's mother, sybrina fulton

and benjamin crump, the family attorney. how do you feel now that we are there now? >> i can't give up now. i feel like i came too far now. i will be at the trial. we're just taking it one day at a time. we remain in prayful and hopeful that we'll have a good trial, a good verdict. >> now, you have always said from the beginning, day one when i met you, that you want the justice system to work. all you wanted was the system to work. now that we have a trial, are you confident that we will get a fair trial as the process goes through? >> reverend al, i believe in my heart that we will. i believe that the jury will be fair. i believe and i'm hopeful that they will listen to the evidence that's presented and that they won't get their personal feelings involved. i believe that. >> now, you know i had mr. o'mara on the show, who represents mr. zimmerman as well as i had mr. crump, and he

talked about the family and the handlers. i don't know who the handlers are. had presented george zimmerman wrongly and trayvon wrong. it's clear that they are trying to say some things and have put out, as you know, photos and other things of trayvon. do you think they are going to try to disparage trayvon and smear him and are you prepared for whatever you've got to sit there and go through as the mother of your son, the pain i'm sure, of losing him is unbearable enough but are you prepared for what may happen in this trial? >> you can never really prepare for it. but i am -- i am ready. i am ready. lee be there to the trial and i will be able to listen to anything that they have to say because what could be worse than me losing my son? so anything they have to say, i'm ready for it. but nothing could be more devastating than losing my child. >> the whole fact, attorney crump, that we've had to deal

with charges and countercharges, the judge has said that she left a lot of that out. are you confident that will hold up in trial? >> the judge has ruled that it's inadmissible, it does nothing to prove or disapprove the defendant's guilt and i just have to make a point, what you said about him calling the attorneys for the martin family handlers, it's so inappropriate and so unprofessional. the suggestion that they are less than human to have handlers. we've always tried to be professional and refer to them as attorneys or defense lawyers. but never anything derogatory like they did to us. >> monday, the jury selection starts. do you think we can get a fair jury pool and people will come in to this objective, sybrina? >> i believe in people and i believe people have a heart and you know the good and bad and

evil and they are going to understand, when they see the evidence presented, they will understand and i believe we can get a fair jury. >> do you, at this point -- what do you say to all of those who marched and protested and wanted to see a trial and you've not encouraged anybody to come down to the trial, you've not encouraged any protest, what are you saying to people, the way you give the system a chance? what is your words to people? >> i'm trying to encourage people and tell them to believe in the process. we've really come too far to not just yield the judicial system a chance. we have to see where this is going to lead and we have to be mindful that they are watching us. other people are watching us. they are watching our behavior, they are watching our speech. it's very important that we remain peaceful and that we get a peaceful decision. >> >> let me ask you this.

personally you've started a foundation, you've been working against violence. tell us why that's important to you and is this in a tribute to the memory of your son? what does this mean to you personally? >> the trayvon martin foundation is a tribute to trayvon martin. in addition, we would like to help other victims of gun violence. we want to help other families because we feel like there are voiceless families out there. they have some of the same situations that we have and we kind of had direction so we want to make sure we provide that direction to other families. one of the things that we're doing is providing a telephone number, we have a website, and what we do is we're going to provide support system to those families. because everybody won't have a parks and crump. everybody won't have 20,000 people at a rally. we want to make sure we put things in place to help others. >> i've spent a lot of time

talking to you and tracy and i've never heard you say anything about trayvon other than he was a good kid, like any other kid, had his good and bad. what do you want people to know, as his mother, as we head into this trial, about trayvon? >> i want people to know and understand that trayvon was an average kid. we never said he was an angel, but he wasn't a demon that people make him out to be. he was very loving, he was very caring. he was an average teenager, liked to go to the mall, go skating, listen to music. he was an average teenager to us and we loved him. he was ours. >> all we've said is we wanted a trial, not to be tried in the police station, and now we will monitor to make sure that it's a fair trial and at the end justice be served and we'll see what that is. sybrina fulton and benjamin crump, thank you for joining us tonight. >> george zimmerman has sued nbc universal for defamation, and

the company has strongly denied his allegation. ahead, michael jackson's daughter paris is still in a california hospital tonight. a teenager living life in the public eye and still coping with the devastating loss of her father. that's next. plus, honoring the legacy of a civil rights icon. 50 years after the murder of metger and the life left to be done. you hurt my feelings, todd. i did? when visa signature asked everybody what upgraded experiences really mattered... you suggested luxury car service instead of "strength training with patrick willis." come on todd! flap them chicken wings. [ grunts ] well, i travel a lot and umm... [ male announcer ] at visa signature, every upgraded experience

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50 years ago this month we lost a trailblazer of the civil rights movement, medgar evers. he spent his life fighting for justice, as an activist and naacp field secretary. he brought the struggle for civil rights to mississippi at the height of the jim crow era. on june 9th, 1963, evers was assassinated in his own driveway by a white supremacist. 50 years later his legacy lives on. his widow gave a speech at the

inauguration in january. including a public memorial service, held yesterday at evers gravesite at arlington national cemetery. >> the nation was built and it continues to be improved by patriots like medgar evers. >> next time you hear people complaining in washington about what a rough business democracy is, we might want to remember what it was like 50 years ago and the sacrifices that were made. >> we also heard from mrs. evers williams, a civil rights pioneer herself, working to carry medgar's legacy forward. >> and i can hear medgar's voice saying, i thank you all for believing in me but it's really not necessary. just get out there and prove that you believe in me. and you believe in my country

which is our country. >> the murder of medgar evers came at a critical moment for the country, just two months before dr. king's march on washington. over the next few months we'll be honoring those sacrifices and struggles 50 years ago and reporting on the works still to be done. [ male announcer ] running out of steam? ♪ 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. are proven to be effective pain relievers tylenol works by blocking pain signals to your brain bayer back & body's dual action formula

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ever since i was born, daddy has been the best father you can ever imagine. and i just wanted to say i love him so much. >> paris sajackson was just 11 years old in 2009.

tonight, our hearts go out to her again as she recovers at a california hospital after what sources close to the family are calling an apparent suicide. attempt -- emergency teams attempt to try to do what is right to help her when they were called to her house early wednesday morning. >> overdose, she's responding. >> o.d. on 20 motrin and cut her arm with a kitchen knife. >> the lawyer for katherine jackson says, "being a sensitive 15-year-old is difficult no matter who you are. it is especially difficult when you lose the person closest to you. paris is physically fine and is getting appropriate medical attention." just a few days ago she posted a beauty blog online showing how to apply makeup and basically acting like a normal teenager.

>> if you want to make them seem fake without putting fake lashes on, you have to put a lot of -- i'll show you, just one eye and then we can do it together with the other eye. >> joining me now is dr. albert, a professor of psychiatry at harvard medical school and an author of numerous books on child psychology. doctor, thanks for coming back on the show. >> thank you. >> what did you think when you first heard about paris jackson? >> well, i wasn't surprised. it's very common when a child has lost a parent, especially when it's lost dramatically like all of a sudden, they have a risk of being dep pressressed a

suicidal. when you're 15 years old, you don't know what is going on. we don't know what has been going on in her life since he died, but it's very clear that she suffered a serious loss by her father dying and a loss of a whole sense of stability, security, who she is she's lost her sense of a future and enormous psychological pressure for her to be able to handle. so i hope she gets the kind of support and treatment that she needs and that it not only involves her but also the people around her. >> yeah. >> who interact with her, her family. that that kind of whole list stick approach would be good for her. children all over the country,

teenagers are reacting to parents dying from disease, from cancer, from violence, all around the country and many of them suffer not only from depression but also suffer later in life from posttraumatic stress disorder because of that violent kind of death, even death perhaps by suicide. >> now, we must stress that she is recovering. she is doing fine and because so many people have e-mailed me today asking. but she's had to grow with this grief. i showed her as she spoke at the memorial service, i was on that platform that day because i spoke at that service, i watched her later as we laid her father in the mausoleum, and she has had to grow up, the public attention did not go away. the spotlight did not shine elsewhere. she's had to grow in the spotlight while handling this

grief, doctor. >> that's right. and that in itself can become another pressure. another stressor that really make it is more difficult for her, perhaps to get through the grief and recover from the death, if she ever can, of her father. >> now, what is the process from getting better from this kind of grief and this kind of pain and what she's reportedly going through? what is the process to recover from this, doctor poussaint? >> we have to look at how she's functioned in the last few years, how she's doing in school, how she's relating to her friends and her peer group, how she's handling her future and how she's dealing with that lesson. what's happening to her, what kinds of things is she struggling with as she tries to grow up. and i think people have to be around to give her the kind of support that she needs to get through life and to get over

this as much as she can, although perhaps there's no complete resolution of emotional issues for her. she can certainly function in a way where she herself can be a productive citizen and have a life that is as normal as possible. >> well, our thoughts and prayers are -- >> there's no getting out of the spotlight for her, unfortunately. >> yeah, that's true. our thoughts and prayers are certainly with paris jackson tonight. dr. albert poussaint, thanks for your time tonight. >> you're very welcome. >> we'll be right back.

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we continue to receive a ton of your e-mails. keep all of those great questions coming. jenny says, "hi, rev, do you think if we mobilized that we could put fear into the gop and maybe they would stop creating

all of these distractions and get to work for fear that they will boot them out or be booted out?" well, i'll tell you, there will be a big march on the 50th anniversary that martin king iii and i are organizing. it will be a nonpartisan march to talk about what is important to bring about the dream of his father and let's so we must gather and get the right things in front of the country and stop with the distractions. joe asked, "do you think that the senate will change from the filibuster from 60 votes to 50? thanks and god bless." well, i think the senate will do it if we pressure them. we need to call and e-mail. the public must stand up and really demand that we move from

this kind of filibuster and these senate and games that can be played to where we have a senate that can move forward without any kind of impediments that we receive. "dear rev, i love your show. the honesty and optimism you ex ude is heartening. what keeps you optimistic? >> what keeps me positive is despite all of the bad that i see, and i see about it every day, i think about how much progress and good i've seen throughout all of the years that i've been out here. and i am a firm believe, as i study even in the darkest hour you will see a breakthrough,

i've seen too much happen. i've seen too many victories. i've seen too many things that seem impossible become a reality that i refuse to let defeat even be an option. look at how far we have come and use that to strengthen you to keep going. and you will never be negative because right is always stronger than mite. we want too answer your questions. e-mail me, remember, friend or foe, i want to know. thanks for watching. i'm al sharpton. "hardball" starts right now. knowledge is power. let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm chris matthews in