there are certainly going to be other groups taking up the mantle, but as of today they are done, and they say they are sorry. and the supreme court rules next week. that does it for us tonight. we'll see you tomorrow. now it is time for "the last word." john boehner could not get the farm bill passed through his house of representatives. to quote the great ron burgundy, "that really got out of hand fast". >> i didn't come here to be speaker because i needed a fancy title and a big office. >> speaker john boehner is not a strong speaker. >> i wanted to be speaker so i could do something on behalf of the country. >> what we saw today was a democratic leadership in the house that was insistent to undo years and years of bipartisan work. >> don't blame democrats. >> they're trying to blame house democrats. >> your party couldn't come together.

>> some conservatives are bragging that they killed the farm bill. >> how arrogant. >> when we were the majority, we got no help. >> they just produced 218 votes we didn't want. >> do you even know how many votes you have? >> my job is not try to impose my will. >> if he were a woman, they would be calling him the weakest speaker in history. >> i tell you with all due respect mr. majority leader, you turned it into a partisan bill. >> maybe we're just going to make it a partisan bill. >> you stick it to poor people, don't expect democratic votes. >> they hate these government programs. >> it has to do with an ideology cal agenda. >> don't blame democrats for the loss today. it is unfortunate that was the case. >> we didn't whine. >> i think this is absolutely crazy.

earlier this week, we asked the question, john boehner worst speaker ever? after the implosion on the house floor today i think we can remove the question mark. here is what happened. today, most people, including john boehner and his leadership team expected that the house would pass the bipartisan farm bill. and then to the sound of stunned silence in the chamber john boehner lost the vote. correction, john boehner got killed on the vote. the final vote was 195-234. 62 republicans, 62 voted against the bill. 62 republicans voted against john boehner. his leadership team said they had no idea. but john boehner allowed a poison pill to be attached to the bill. an amendment that would make deeper, more draconian cuts. it was a bill the democrats said

was a deal-breaker. the amendment passed with the support of 58 republicans who then bailed on the farm bill. let me repeat that. john boehner and the republicans traded yes votes on the farm bill so that 58 republicans could add an amendment to the bill they then voted to kill. and then, eric cantor went to the floor and blamed the democrats for the loss. and steny hoyer absolutely schooled cantor in an epic round one. >> if the gentleman witnesses what just happened on the floor, there seems to be a decision about a part of his leadership, perhaps himself, to say hey, we're not going to go along with bipartisan work and success. and maybe we're just going to make this a partisan issue. >> very frankly i was not going

to mention what happened on the floor today. but the gentleman has brought it up. the gentleman is correct, the committee passed that a bipartisan bill. the democrats voted for that bill. the problem, of course, is that 62 republicans voted against the bill. as it was amended. draconian amendment that would hurt the very poorest citizens in our country. >> hoyer responded by returning to history and reality. >> there was never an intention at all for our side to say we want to take away the safety net of the food stamp program. what we saw today was a democratic leadership in the house that was insistent to undo years and years of bipartisan work on an issue like a farm bill.

and decide to make it a partisan issue. don't blame democrats for the loss today. you didn't bring up the farm bill when it was reported in a bipartisan basis last year. you didn't even bring it to the floor because your party couldn't come together to support their chairman's bill. let's bring that back and have a vote on it. that was reported on a bipartisan basis. i think it would pass, maybe not because of your votes. that has been your problem all along. don't blame democrats for the loss of that bill. we produced 218 votes for almost everything we put on this floor. yeah, you pushed my button. >> and in round three, a bloodied eric cantor stalked back into his corner of the ring, while steny hoyer reminded the public that the party is adrift. tko. >> i think it has been a disappointing player today. saying as the minority leadership did today, you

disagree with us on that program? we're out of here. >> the majority leader continues to want to blame the democrats for his inability, and the republicans' inability to give a majority vote to their own bill. you have 234 members. 62 of your members voted against your bill. that is why it failed. we didn't whine, very frankly when we were in charge when i was the majority leader about we didn't pass the bill. we got 218 votes for our bills. we will take no blame for the failure of the farm bill, none, zero. as much as you try to stay it you can't get away from the statistic, 62, otherwise known as 25% of your party voted against a bill. >> joining me now, msnbc's chris hayes and melissa harris-perry. my friends and colleague, hash tag real talk. that is what happened on the floor today. what happened to john boehner?

>> man, i don't know, john boehner is just having a rough go of it. and here is the problem, the next thing he has to do -- you have to pass a farm bill. this is like the defense appropriations. i mean, i got an e-mail from a democratic member of congress today saying just for the record, we were able to pass our farm bill, there is good stuff, a lot of bad and good stuff, you have to pass it like the defense appropriations. so john boehner now, here is the fundamental problem, the 62 no-votes was because people thought there was not enough cuts, particularly on the food cuts. so if you're john boehner he has a calculation to make, a pre-staging, which is where do i go? where do i try to bring democrats back on board? and we've seen basically what that means, this farm bill amazingly will probably get worse in the next generation.

>> well, i still don't understand the calculations, melissa, john boehner has not voted on a farm bill since 1996. they thought they had enough votes for it? but he was not sure. and after the plan b debacle, this is somebody weaker after his own caucus after the bush tax cuts deal. and now, i just don't know how he survives as a speaker in the future. >> well, it feels to me like the civil war within the republican party is perhaps deeper and more entrenched than we can see from the outside. and particularly, because we are so trained to think of the fault lines as primarily partisan, and to think about democrats and republicans as against one another. part of what happened in 2010, we talk about this a lot. when we talk about the fact there is a greater number of votes, a pretty substantial higher number of votes for house democrats and republicans. but the house republicans win

again in 2012, in part because of the gerrymandering districts in 2010. but what that did is create problems for them in the party. creating a micro incentive for them, to keep going farther and farther to the right. more and more draconian, and the reason you had to pass the farm bill was because -- i mean, that is how the house worked, right? i give you a little something, you give me a little something. but now that whole system has fallen apart. >> but if you're right, chris, and john boehner errs on the side of the draconian, which is to say pandering to the club to growth, and those that are neediest, how do you reconcile that -- >> well, you're right, the beth you're making is make people walk the plank. we have to get something past the house.

the cuts are a little less than $5 billion over ten years, a quarter of what they were in the bill. you put together drug testing or punitive nonsense that is really morally outrageous, the hope is that you're strong enough that when you're really at the end of the process. when the farm bill really has to pass you can make the members take the vote. but of course, he has no credibility to do that. he has not been able. you play the clip of nancy pelosi saying at the beginning of the show, if you were a woman you would be the weakest speaker. it stuck with me. she was such a bad-ass. >> brass knuckles hanging from the door knob. >> they got every vote they needed. she had the number in her head. you would see the complete opposite for john boehner in terms of managing his caucus. >> we play that sound of eric cantor saying we're not here to shred the social safety network,

and we're like yes you are. and it is not like -- republicans are actually evil and trying to push back the cuts and help poor people -- >> if it is the democrats that get blamed because they won't swallow the poison pill of cutting back subsidies and food stamps for children who are living below the poverty line, that is not a bad thing for the democratic party. >> i absolutely agree. this was part of the initial genius for all of the farm bill. there are very few places in american politics where we tied the economic interests of the most vulnerable to a group that was relatively in power. so by putting food stamps and supplemental nutrition in the farm bill, you create a circumstance where you have to make that safety net available because it is linked up with farmers and all the farm subsidy s that have a huge interest.

here is where you make it up, that even in the poorest circumstances that the people will not be forgotten. delink those things in a way it is extremely dangerous. >> this farm bill was terrible. because the $20 billion in cuts to snap was completely unacceptable. the expanding the crop -- >> the 26 people in the crop insurance people make more than a million. there is no means testing -- >> right, and let me say this. two amendments got voted down, one two people who make about $250,000. seems reasonable. they also voted on an amendment that would stop farm crop insurance payments, to members of congress. steven finscher got 290 -- he is the one that wants to cut food stamps. >> he is the one that said the

poor will always be with us. he is ensuring that. my friends, fellow colleagues, chris hayes and melissa harris. and please, drum roll when it comes to immigration reform. and what happens when the tea party bit the hand that fed them. and attempts to re-brand the republican party achieving the new level of despicable, and the chef joining me to talk about hunger in america, and why cutting food assistance is disastrous. ♪

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>> and i, lindsey graham, say to you, the hispanic community, we choose to help you not because we want to, but because mathematically we feel we have to. it is how all historic seismic is changes have happened in america, with great reluctance. >> if they can't pass the farm bill in the chamber they control how are they going to pass the immigration bill? that is next, with eugene roberts and steve schmidt.

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for people who are concerned about border security, once they see what is in this bill, it is almost overkill. >> that was tennessee republican senator bob corker today, who along with senator john hoven proposed a border security amendment to the gang of 8's amendment bill. this amendment could seal the bill on the amendment by getting the key votes of swing is senators. specifically, the hover-corker amendment could determine whether any green cards are issued, they would involve high tech surveillance to border patrol. 20,000 border patrol agents would be added, doubling the current number, 7,000 more fences would be built and the everify system and the electronic exit system would be implemented. but all of this is still not enough for some opponents to reform.

indeed, the right flank is already calling the bill just "smoke and mirrors". >> well, we know that amnesty will occur, that is the one thing we can be sure of. >> what we saw in 1986 was that amnesty occurred and yet the border never got secured. and here we are 30 years later, and instead of 3 million people here illegally, there are some 11 million people here illegally. and this gang of 8 bill repeats the exact same pattern of 1986. and the amendment that has been proposed today does the same thing. >> joining me now, msnbc political analyst steve schmidt and eugene robinson, steve, i must go to you first on this, my friend. the "wall street journal," not known to be a bastion of liberal, the border could be

defended and claim more anti-personnel mines and it wouldn't be secure enough. i have to ask you, do you think it is true? do you agree with "the wall street journal"? >> look, this has always been predicated, the border reform bill, that it would be a path to people here illegally. you just saw ted cruz make an argument from the right that unrefuted i think, is absolutely political to the house of representatives. senator corker and the other proponents of this are going to have to effectively communicate very aggressively, very directly that their legislation in fact does secure the border or this will die in the house, with very serious long-term consequences to the republican party going forward. >> eugene, one must ask how much it enough? i mean, i was on the border.

and three men used ropes to jump back and forth over the border while i was there. the idea of a secure border is in a certain level, a myth. that said is, the migration from mexico is zero -- >> the distance is basically the distance like san diego and chicago. now, just imagine that. and imagine putting some sort of fence that is going to be impregnable to that distance, it is not going to happen. it is never going to happen. in fact, the border region is culturally a myth. people have been going back across that border not just for generations, before this was a country. so it is actually absurd. but steve is right, i mean, unless the house republicans can be somehow convinced that the border is secure in their minds, they're going to vote it down.

and we're not going to have immigration reform. that is it, period. >> i want to talk about john boehner who we spent some time talking about in the last segment, who is obviously the key player here. and given his weakness on the farm bill how can anyone, conservative, liberal, progressive, whatever, have any confidence that he can rally his own caucus to get this done? >> look, one of the first lessons they teach you at the speaker of the house school is you don't bring up votes if you don't have enough to pass it. so if you look at the drama that played out today on the farm bill, you look at such a more contentious issue on the immigration reform. it is very, very difficult for me to sit here and lay out a scenario how that gets passed. because this will take some serious is arm-twisting, some real serious work by the leadership to convince people that are in gerrymandering districts, that decides

presidential elections, for instance, that this is the right thing to do. both from a policy perspective to end the amnesty, but also for the long-term political health of the party that used to get 40-plus percent of the latino vote, and now it is trending down to 20%, you certainly can't go forward with less than 20%. >> where does that leave the republican party? i mean, if you have moderates that are completely powerless and the stage being run amok by people who don't want to get the legislation passed or move the ball forward in any way, we don't have a two-party system. >> because we have a party, and we have the republicans, right? and look, i don't know how to solve that. i mean, they have to fight this out. somebody has to impose some order and some discipline and some logic on the republican party.

and that is not going to happen this week or this month. it is going to take some time. now, there is a way to get an immigration bill through, of course, for the senate to pass a reasonable bill with only 60 votes. if they need it, and then send it to the house, and for john boehner to allow us centrally to bring it to the floor and allow a free vote and let democrats and a few republicans pass it. that would get an immigration bill. but john boehner says he won't do it. it would be his last act as speaker. >> we keep saying the last act. steve, i want to ask you about marco rubio. we talk about the future of the gop. is marco's future riding on this? and if it fails, what is the future for the gop? >> look, i think any type of complicated legislation involves a lot of back room deal making, a lot of things that take place out of the public view. so that is a lot of what you consider, this legislation has put the taint of washington, d.c. on him.

and if there is one thing for sure in that looking forward to the next presidential election, the republican party is either going to nominate a governor, or an iconoclastic senator that is able to stand apart from all the deal-making inside of washington, d.c. you see that is where rand paul is positioning himself and where ted cruz is positioning himself. and i don't think republican primary voters, no matter how talented marco rubio is, and he is very, very talented, they don't want somebody who is seen working in the back rooms to cut deals with chuck schumer. he has gone back room with the tea party, as you look ahead to the beginning of 2016. i just want to add one more thing, alex. as eugene pointed out, it won't properly get sorted out in the next month, but over the course of the next presidential campaign. and we are not fundamentally in a different place than the democrats were heading into the

'92 election. it could be bill clinton, it took a reformer to take the taint off the party and render it electable again in the eyes of the american people. and i suspect we'll have that fight in our party. >> well, senator marco rubio is in a weakened position because he has gone u.s. senate. it is irony, but so true. steve schmidt and -- >> you elect them to the senate, and they go u.s. senate. coming up, a congressional staffer thinks people on food assistance get too much money. top chef tom is here to set the record straight. and the largest pray the gay away organization does the unexpected. it shuts down and says sorry. joy reid and steve kornacki join me next. out of milk again. [ banker ] mike's younger brother, kevin, had his college degree, his first real job, and needed to establish his credit history

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. in the spotlight tonight, i am deeply sorry. those words were written by allen chambers on the website of exodus international, the world's largest "pray the gay away" church, he writes i am sorry some of you spent years working against the guilt that you felt when your reactions didn't change, i am sorry that some have chosen to take their lives. i hope the changes we made at international will bring resolution and show that i am serious in both my regret and my friendship.

chambers announced the unanimous decision of the exodus international board of directors. >> exodus international to shut down, regarding the same-sex attraction shuts down. >> they had more than 200 branches throughout the u.s. and canada. joining me now, msnbc steve kornacki and joy reid. steve, this is an incredible thing that happened. >> yes, i was not following exodus, but that name, international, is sort of that iconic name in that kind of field, whatever you call it. it speaks to sort of the trajectory of history, you go back to the '70s and think where the conversation, the politics

of gay rights were in the '70s. it was a totally complete, fringe thing. and in less than 40 years, we've gotten to a point where something that was sort of mainstream has had to shut down. >> joy, we talk about the attitudes of gay marriage and sexual morals, we look at this nationally. if you look at the young evangelicals, 44% of white evangelicals favor allowing gays to marry, compared to 12% of seniors and 9% of evangelicals, overall. i mean, this is where the future is in terms of evangelical gay marriage. >> yes, this is an interesting case study. sort of an object lesson for the bigger evangelical christian and christian movement in the united states. and reality is, churches are emptying, the ones that are not as modern. and you are not seeing as many young people go into these churches.

and whether you talk about strict religions, they're trying to appeal to families and younger people to stay alive. and they find as you quote the statistics that younger people are more modern on this issue of gays and lesbians, and they either have to come to them or watch them walk away. >> and steve, you were known in this building as mr. new jersey. and i have to ask you a question, jerry brown over in california became the first u.s. governor to sign legislation that bans conversion therapy. there is some hold-up in terms of implementation, but a similar bill is making its way through the new jersey legislature. and we know that chris christie has had a semi-fraught relationship, saying generally, it impairs the parents to make decisions. i am a skeptic. there can always be exceptions in this bill, what do you think he needs to do on this?

>> i expect if i had to guess, he will end up signing it. it is an interesting test. if you look at the immediate politics, great for chris christie, running for re-election in a blue state in 2013. it would hurt him not to sign this. but the broader politics everybody is talking about with chris christie, are 2016. how far can he sort of break with what is today a conservative orthodoxy, in 2016? and gay marriage has come up in new jersey, what he has said is i'm for straight marriage, but for the people to decide. that is actually polling pretty well in new jersey, he has managed to finesse the issue of gay marriage in new jersey. this one you can't finesse, if he does sign it will be interesting to see if republicans can pay the price. it will be interesting to see if they moved on it at all.

>> once again, it is the test. the people who are trying to modernize the party. and the rump of hand-fisted polls as politico calls them. >> it is the rage, with the republican party, and chris christie tests the proposition that you can review one of the three legged stools, the tea party, he doesn't go whole hog on that. he is willing to embrace president obama when he is giving money to the state of new jersey. you can't reject the wall street part, but the third part, probably the biggest part, the evangelical part of their party. could chris christie possibly rebuke two out of the three legs, and still be viable for the republican party? i find it hard to believe, but i guess we can test the proposition.

>> if you can play whackamo, surely you can embrace this. coming up, the importance of having food on every table in america, chef, host and champion of ending hunger, tom colicchio joins me later. [ female announcer ] your smile... every day you stain it... and stain it... and stain it. so every day, use crest 3d white toothpaste to remove up to 90% of surface stains in just 5 days. no wonder crest 3d white is the number one whitening brand.

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it's these high-definition televisions, i'll tell ya, they show every wrinkle. geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. msnbc is partnering with the national association of free clinics for another one day free health clinic, uninsured men and women will receive primary care for free. since we told you about it last night we raised another $25,000, but we still have a long way to go. to find out more, visit the national association of free clinic's website. and you can also find a link on our website. up next, the craziest thing said about slavery all week from a republican candidate.

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for yet another week, the american public has been forced to endure a litany of the inane and damaging remarks from republican lawmakers. >> you watch a sonogram, they stroke their face, if they're a male baby they may have their hand between their legs. they feel pleasure. why is it so hard to think they could feel pain? >> what we are seeking to do, end this practice of late-term abortion, which is killing these babies, which is harming women. what we're saying is science is on our side on this, public opinion is on our side. >> part of the problem is we need to go back into the schools at a very early age and have a class. this is what a father does. this is what a mom does. and this is what is important from the standpoint of that

union. which we call marriage. >> but while all of this is going on inside the beltway, one only needs to go a few miles south of d.c. to find the worst example of what the current republican party stands for. virginia republican candidate for lieutenant governor, e. w. jackson, the man who called homosexuality a horrible sin and destroys societies. the man who thinks gay people have perverted minds, because they're frankly sick people, that they're like slave masters, who brag about how good their slaves are, and that planned parenthood has been worse to blacks than anything else. yesterday, he had a vile speech, one that has been worse for

black families than slavery. >> now, my great grandparents were slaves. i am a direct descendant of slaves. my grandfather was born there, to a mother and father that were slaves. and by the way, their family was more intact than the black family is today. and i'm telling you that slavery did not destroy the black family, even though it was an attack on the family. it made it difficult. but i'll tell you the programs that began in the '60s, the programs that began to tell women that you don't need a man in the home, the government will take care of you. that tell men you don't need to be in the home, the government will take care of these women and children. that is when the black family began to deteriorate, in '60s,

most black children were raised in two-parent monogamous families, by this time, we have only 1% of the black children raised by two parents. it was not slavery that did that, trying to solve problems that only god can solve, and that only we as human beings can solve. >> jackson's ramblings are still part of mitt romney's 47% arguments. one of the ideas was founded on the idea that a government that helps those that are disadvantaged is a government that makes those people lazy. e. w. jackson, saying that families without a male breadwinner are somehow broken, something is wrong with them. but in the end, e. w. jackson's

reality of why people are poor grossly mischaracterizes the reason why people are poor. not having a man at home. this is not why we are struggling. the story of american hardship runs deep. chiefly it is a story of systemic failure, decline and greed and has been happening for decades. according to economist david k. johnson, the incomes for the bottom 90% of americans grew by 59 when adjusted for inflation, for the top 10%, that number was more than $116,000. as of 2010, white families on average earned about $2 for every $1 that black and hispanic families earned. a ratio that has remained roughly constant for the last 30 years. e. w. jackson em bodies a republican party whose philosophy thinks that the

problem, not the solution is an america that funds the food stamp program. and the america where those most at risk, the very young and very old have access to health care. e. w. jackson does not see an america of we the people, he sees one where it is us versus them. he ignores history, politics and really reason. we are poor, not they, not them, but we are poor, and we struggle because the very systems that once made us strong have been weakened. it is a philosophy that is starkly exposed in the opening words by the latest book, by author george packer. he writes if you were born around 1960 or afterward, you spent your adult life in the vertigo of the unwinding, you watched structures that were in place before your birth collapse, like salt across the vast, visible landscapes. the farms of the california piedmont, the factories of the mahoning valley, other things

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>> what about the very serious allegations of you using the n word? >> which n word is she talking about? there is a whole bunch of n words. >> well, the bad one. >> like nutrition? >> you can read it on our website, the last word, up next, the spokesperson for congressman steve stockman said his family ate just fine on food stamps, even with the budget cuts. chef tom colicchio joins me next. ♪ ♪

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before the farm bill failed today, there was an amendment to that bill that also failed. on a voice vote. republican congressman mike conoway from texas had proposed an amendment which threatened an across the board 15% cut to the snap assistance program, also known as food stamps if congress didn't pass a farm bill by the september 30th expiration date. he was not the only texan pushing for extreme cuts to a program that would affect nearly 50 million people. enter steve stockman, and another brags about being able to live on food stamps. ferguson claims he came under that at $27 and 58 cents for the week. he went on to say i wanted to personally experience the effects of the proposed cuts to food stamps. i put my money where my mouth is, and the proposed food stamps are still quite silly.

we can cut the benefits by an additional 4% and still be able to eat for a week. the problem is here, of course, conaway, stockman and ferguson don't have to live on food stamps year around. the people who actually do tell a different story. they're struggling. that story is one of the topics tackled by my next guest entitled food at the table. >> you have a limited amount of money you will spend it on the cheapest calories you can get, and that is processed food. >> my dream is to go to college, but i can't tell my kids i'll make sure you guys eat in two years, i'm struggling to even feed my kids. >> okay, that was a bad idea. >> as many as 50 million americans rely on charitable food programs. >> i haven't received a pay raise in four years. and what i used to spend in a month on groceries now gets me

two weeks. >> joining me now, tom colicchio, chef, activist, tom, thank you for joining us tonight. >> thank you, alex. >> tom, i want to begin by quoting something you told "time magazine." you said hunger needs to become a voting issue just like the second amendment is or the deficit is. it is time to label people who are not on board with fixing this as pro-hunger. and i wonder, given the conversation in washington today, the snap program and farm bill, do you think we are closer to that goal? >> well, you know, i hope we're getting closer. i hope this current farm bill sort of enlightens people to realize they need to start voting around food and food issues. the hunger advocates are just thrilled that this farm bill didn't pass. it was literally going to take food out of the mouth of children, people with disabilities, working families. seniors.

it was just really devastating. but ironically, it didn't pass because there were those on the right that didn't think it went far enough. and so it didn't pass for some of the wrong reasons, but it was a devastating farm bill. and really -- we need to take a look at this and create a new farm bill and one that supports hungry americans, consumers, family farms. and the environment. >> does the polarization in and around the topic of food stamps, it is quite shocking. on one hand, the democrats, progressives think what was going to be done was quite unacceptable. but there is another end of the spectrum that think the cuts were not drastic enough. i want to play a sound bite from lewis gomer, and let's see what he thinks about hunger, obesity, and food in america. >> we don't want anyone to go hungry.

and from the amount of obesity in this country, my -- by people were told that don't have enough to eat, it does seem like we can have a debate about this issue. >> tom, it is like one of these instances, where do you begin? everything you're saying is wrong. this is an idea that is held in conservative circles that people are sort of lazy and living off government largesse, when in reality getting qualified for food stamps is in and of itself a trial. >> right, you know, nutrition is expensive, calories are cheap. and if you look at stockman, and donny ferguson, the agreements he bought on his food stamp challenge, pasta, tomato sauce, soda, sweetened fruit juices, no high quality feeds, a recipe for obesity. and that is exactly what people with low incomes are faced with. they have their two dollars to

buy things that are cheap, things that are very affordable. we subsidize corn, wheat, sauce, all the commodity crops that go into making the highly processed, highly sugared foods. >> tom, you mentioned subsidies, that was a huge part of this farm bill, do you think we'll see a farm bill that doesn't have the subsidies, given the fact that there is bipartisan support for the subsidies? >> you know, i'm hopes that a new farm bill comes together and we can pass something that actually makes sense. and i really believe, if you look at lewis gomer, and stockman and conaway, all from texas, there are four million people who receive snap benefits in texas. and i hope that those four million realize that they're getting shafted by their relationships. and when it is time to vote them out of office. speak up. >> speak up, tom colicchio, you get tonight's last word, thank

you so much for your time. thank you, alex. i'm alex wagner, in for lawrence o'donnell, you can catch my show now weekdays, chris hayes is up next. tony. let's play "hardball." ♪ good evening. i'm chris matthews down in washington. let me start tonight with this, they are the american icons. we see in them something of ourselves, our times, our struggles, even our dreams. in the aftermath of world war ii, it was all about aspiration, of new doors opening, but also of old traditions being honored. our american icons were willie mays and mickey mantle. then thing began to get a little looser, a lot wilder, and along came elvis presley.