male stroms whether you're mayor and things that capture the public attention. ly show you can make this about something else but this is not about me. >> weiner is brushing off reports that the clintons are growing more concerned for his wife huma and want him to bow out of the race. >> i'll let the citizens of new york figure out who is their mayor. i let the people decide. >> it's not just the clintons. even fellow disgraced eliot spitzer has a message. buddy, it is time. >> you're not going to vote for anthony weiner. can you just say that now? you don't think he should be mayor of new york? >> fair point. that is correct. >> he should not be mayor of new york? >> that is correct. >> we get that from eliot spitzer. here to break this down is jill

lawrence, joan walsh, and jed legthen. it is great to have you all here. i want to start out with this. anthony weiner's first event today was mayoral candidate forum small business in the bronx. he gave an opening statement and answered five questions from the panel itself. the clinton question came up. obviously, because his wife huma has worked so closely with secretary of state hillary clinton. they have long-lasting ties there. but the question was if not the clintons, what would it take for you to get out of this race. let me make it clear. i have an enormous respect to the clintons and it should be no intent to disrespect but what i want to make clear is important to forme in this race is what animated me to run. i recognize i am not a perfect messa messenger. there are rumors this is bad press. you got to wrap it.

it's not just going to happen. gracefulness needs to be your next execution. how to get out of this. >> yeah. i mean, he is really in a bind with the clintons but he has said i'm going to listen to the voters of new york. those are the people who matter. but the voters of new york, at least through the polls, are starting to speak. he is dropping like a stone. he is in free-fall and continue to drop. the voters are getting fed up with the changing stories and the fact that the story of redemption really wasn't quite the way he told it. >> the polls do tell the tale. we talked about fourth place now. one of the beneficiaries of his drop, bill de blasio had this regarding the scandal this morning on "morning joe." >> today's papers, you're right. you look at the front page. we are not talking about issues like racial profiling or the affordable housing crisis or hospital closures in brooklyn. we are talking about one individual. >> if he were to drop out his

dropout would be a big help to you. would you like his endorsement? >> great question. >> look he has invalidated himself as a public figure so that is not an endorsement i would seek. >> certainly that 16% is going to go somewhere. maybe not dissected between all three if he were to go away but it would be a big help to bill de blasio. it has been a help to quinn and de blasoi being in the lead is gone. >> it would certainly open up some space, breathing room for the other candidates it make their case against christine quinn and the case why they should be the mayor. he is right right now. the race has been consumed with stories about anthony weiner, his wife, the clintons, the com pullions that drive him. it reminds me of the presidential race last time around when herman cain had some

problems and he was leading and then as more and more information came out, people kind of reached their limit on how much they could take of this and it began to seem preposterous that this person could be their nominee. i think a similar dynamic is playing out in new york now. >> the thing about this too is we all look at this and it's sexy and it's buzz worthy. judd, there aren't puritans among us. this is playing out in a dramatic fashion in front of everybody. not just new york city voters but all rnaround the country. he responded saying i have no idea to this question. that is not a ringing endorsement. leadership is calling people to rise up and bringing people to new aspirations. it's not about, you know, rising yourself up and taking a picture

of it and sending to a few girls. that is not what leadership is all about. how are people supposed to trust in him, also trust in the fact that he has his wife's endorsement and they are being really put through a meat grinder publicly. >> they were surprised he continued this conduct after his initial resignation and the new women. he knew about this from the beginning. and still decided to run. i actually think this race is playing out fairly well for him. because even when he was in the lead, if you talk to people who knew a lot about new york city politics, they didn't think he had a great chance of winning because the ceiling was probably too low. now he is dropping. we have six weeks to go. he has set hess expectations quite low. if he exceeds those, later satisfy he gets within single digits, win seven or eight or five points of the lead, he can say, look.

i went in there. i weathered it. it was a really tumultuous time and i almost still won. if you look down the road three or four years from now, he would have a much stronger case to run again. so i think -- >> oh, man. one hell of a story, judd. maybe a chance running ten years down the line when millennials are running against him and who knows what they have taken of themselves and put their junk out there but it's a tough one. >> his mentality what does he get for dropping out? nothing. if he drops out now, his career is -- he could probably never run a successful race ever and maybe people believe that any way and they might be right but if you put yourself inside his strategy, the most important thing is to weather this and to do as well as you can and then that can set up your public life in the future whether it's for elected office or whatever he wants to do. >> as we said earlier the public

event he had taking that question about the clintons and whether or not they are trying to send messages to see him get out of the race, that has a lot to do with the fact that hillary clinton doesn't want to see the connection for her coming up if she decide to run and we know she had that lunch with the president at the white house yesterday. she had a breakfast with joe biden this morning. who knows what -- it would be great to be a fly on the wall for those. we know what they had for breakfast. but how dangerous is that, joan, to hillary clinton to have this connection? obviously, she wants to display a lot of loyalty to huma abedin but how far does that go? >> they are a little close but i'm struck how many of us seem to after all these years and after all hillary's accomplishments the first things in our minds when they think of her she was cheated on by her husband. a weird way we are trying to make this more of a connection than it necessarily is. she had nothing to do with her

husband's indiscretions and she has nothing to do with anthony weiner's. i hope she gives huma good advice but this has nothing to do with her political ambitions. she has been secretary of state and new york senator and 18 million votes for the white house. i would hope we could move beyond that association between her and the wrong spouse again and again. in terms of sitting down today with joe biden, that is the breakfast i would have loved to have attended. >> we only know what was on the menu but not what was discussed. >> do we have a picture yet? >> not yet. >> jill, you wrote this article this week pointing out that hillary clinton not the only female getting attention and positive attention for a run. we got democratic senators elizabeth warren and amy klobuchar and all names tossed around and kristen gillibrand. the country is more willing to vote for a woman now for president versus what it was in 1937. is there room for more than one

woman in the race? hillary clinton, obviously, it would be certainly the one considered with the best resume. >> well, that's true. and i think there really is room for one woman in the race in so much there is moroom for others. we have heard a lot of names kicked around as alternatives to hillary clinton. the names we haven't heard until lately are the three women that you've mentioned and they certainly have excellent resumes and records. by the way, just on that joe biden breakfast. if i were her i would telling her how great public life was and he ought to try it. >> we will see when the first picture comes out and smiles on their faces over the scrambled eggs. my thanks to all of you. it's great to have you all three here. you can see more from our panel on our website tv.msnbc.com. follow the link to my name. this leads to our question of the day for you. anthony weiner plummeting in the

polls as we have shown you. should he just drop out of the new york city mayoral race or stay in? head to twitter and weigh in and send us your thoughts there. developing news right now to pass along. any minute we are expecting secretary of state john kerry to appear with israelian/palestinian peace negotiators. the first such talks in years. the big news being today president obama meeting directly with those negotiators at the white house just last hour. directly emphasizing just what is at stake for an administration which has now made the revival of those talks a top priority. will this yield any tangible results? we will keep an eye on kerry's news conferences. we will bring that when anything comes out of it. the meeting of the minds of self rights leader and states poised for war over voter restricttions. i'll spell with the reverend al sharpton about that. he is host of politics nation and i had a face-to-face with

eric holder and the president. also about the congress and the ban on racial profiling on a federal level at the acquittal of george zimmerman. we will weigh in on that too. ♪ [ male announcer ] you wait all year for summer. ♪ this summer was definitely worth the wait. ♪ summer's best event from cadillac. let summer try and pass you by. lease this all-new cadillac ats for around $299 per month or purchase for 0% apr for 60 months. come in now for the best offers of the model year.

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fresh off assigning after bill that limits a woman's access to abortion clinics north carolina's governor is set to sign one on top of requiring government issued federal i.d. at the polls it ends same day vorting registration and ends early voting on sundays and eliminates early registration for students before 18 thl birthday and some of the measures. adding insult to injury as of friday the governor said he wasn't familiar with the details of this bill. this comes as president obama

and attorney general eric holder assured civil rights leaders in a meeting on monday that his administration would aggressively fights efforts to block the vote. the reverend al sharpton was in that meeting. he is also the president of the national action network. great to have you here. let's talk about what happened face-to-face you had time with the president as well as a separate meeting with eric holder. what signals did they give you that the administration is interested in trying to counteract what is happening in north carolina and states like it? >> it was one meeting. i talked to the attorney general for an hour and the president for 40 minutes. both of them emphasizing that, one, the supreme court decision did not end, that we can have expectations that the government would fight discrimination and voter rights. >> on the state level? >> on the state level. that they could no longer have

preclearance. so that they welcomed people coming forward and bringing them cases. they assured us they are going to engage in any cases they see. we expect north carolina would come up when this governor signs the bill. so they wanted us to know that this may have been a wounding of what we consider in voter rights with the decision to the supreme court but it does not disable the voting rights act and they intend to go forward and not only protect voting rights for all americans, but enforce the voting rights act. >> you have always said in the past that when we have seen states go through this, that these republican luegislatures are seeking to problems that don't exist and it seems they are trying to cut off the fact that photo i.d. unless they give those out for free it's a poll

tax. if he they try to cut off early registration it doesn't make any sense. why take away someone's right to vote and make it so much of a privilege? if they close early voting and detract kids from early -- >> when you look at the fact, thomas, that you've got all of these conservatives saying people ought to be doing the responsible thing, that we have got to be more more responsible even in minority communities with family and our civic responsibilities, they are right but, how do you, at the same time, try to limit voting? is it the most civically responsible thing to do is to vote? at one level you want to tell people how to conduct their lives but we cut down the days you can vote and not make it easy for you to preregister. we even will require different i. than we already have had. it is a real blatant effort to suppress the vote. >> i want to switch gears while i have you here. the issue of racial profiling is certainly a hot tauopic right n.

sybrina fulton making another call yesterday to repeal the stand your ground law saying in a quote it helped george zimmerman get away with murder in the state of florida. in the meantime, a group calling dream defenders have been camping outside of rick scott's state capital office demanding he repeal stand your ground. ben carden of mayor and aclu and naacp and others are holding a news conference to introduce the end of racial profiling act of 2013. this would make it legally for law enforcement officers to use race and religion as a means to profile people in entire communities of color. take a listen to ben. >> it can add, lead to tragic results. trayvon martin is an example. he is just one person. trayvon martin's case, the jury has spoken as to the criminal liability but there is no

question but for racial profiling, trayvon martin would be alive today. >> do you think this is a futile effort to bring a national act in the climate in washington that the only efforts made best in states like seeing the actions that are taking place in florida? >> i think the not futile because i think any introduction even if it doesn't succeed that raises the issue gives energy on the state level. the march on washington that happened on august 24th is to bring focus to the issue. though ill not think they have a good chance of passing it, i think the fact that they introduce it, make a record of who is for it and not, it will inspire people to move forward on a state level. i think it's a good thing. >> one thing that we have seen here in the city of new york a lot of talk has been made about the stop and frisk laws. bill de blasio is one of the candidates and seen a surge in the polls since the anthony

weiner scandal and this is what he had to say if he were mayor. >> it's corrosive and i think it's undermining the safety of this city and men of color it is sending a horrible message to them that they are not part of the society in the same way. if you're an abiding law -- >> do you think their civil rights are being violated? >> unquestionably. it only ends with a new police commissioner. the mayor revoed the racial profiling ban last week. >> another mayoral candidate came out. saying it's driven by the same kind of bias that led to travon martin's death. who is coming out strongly enough? the mayoral candidate you want to throw your weight behind? >> i've not decided who i'm going to support in the race yet. i was very glad to hear bill thompson over the weekend come out strongly. de blasio has always been strong

on this. the last march on father's day tens of thousands, about 56,000 of us both bill thompson and de blasio were there. i think it's undeniable a amount of young blacks are stopped. almost 90% of them found to have done nothing wrong. it is frightening to live in a city where you can be pulled over because you fit a profile not because there is probable cause. that is wrong and it should stop. >> have any one of these candidates asked for your endorsement? >> every one of them. in fact, we spent the night. i had them all spend a night at a housing project on saturday night before right after the big hundred city march and they have all said to me, when are you going to mash? i said i'm not staying at an apartment with you guys. they are wanting to know when are you going to endorse. right now, i want to bring the issues up like stop and frisk, like public housing. i would rather deal with policy. we can always get to politics.

we have time. >> there is still time. six weeks to go. reverend al sharpton, thank you and great to see you. you can catch the rev on "politics nation" week nights on msnbc every week night at 6:00 p.m. because all these whole grains aren't healthy unless you actually eat them ♪ multigrain cheerios. also available in delicious peanut butter. healthy never tasted so sweet. "that starts with one of the world's most advancedy," also available in delicious peanut butter. distribution systems," "and one of the most efficient trucking networks," "with safe, experienced drivers." "we work directly with manufacturers," "eliminating costly markups," "and buy directly from local farmers in every region of the country." "when you see our low prices, remember the wheels turning behind the scenes, delivering for millions of americans, everyday. "dedication: that's the real walmart"

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lives pictures coming out of kansas. crews on the scene there of a plant fire in sedgwick. this is a corn oil plant and explosions were heard coming from the plant before that fire broke out. no word yet on any injuries. we will keep an eye on that story and bring you updates out of kansas as soon as we get them. new york, an appeals court has upheld the ruling and striking down new york city's ban on large sugary drinks and that large ban is one of several health measures proposed by mayor bloomberg. moments ago president obama took off for chattanooga, tennessee.

he will make republicans an offer they can't refuse he hopes. an attempt at reaching a bargain on jobs and he hopes to cut corporate tax rates and including spending on manufacturing and infrastructure and community college programs. he is going to make that speech later today at a distribution center for the world's largest online retailer amazon.com that announced yesterday it's adding five new full-time jobs in ten different states. joining me now is "usa today" washington bureau chief susan page. great to see you today. this is an interesting time as we talk about this. as soon as the president said that he was going to be making this, senate republican leader mitch mcconnell responded. take a listen. >> it's just a further left version of a widely panned plant he already proposed two years ago. >> sounds very much along the

same of what speaker boehner is saying, susan, because his office issued a statement dismissing this plan. do you think the president will win over any republicans and is this more about trying to come to a consensus or the president trying to display a point? >> just to be clear. the president doesn't speak until 2:00 but the white house has brief on the plan. both leaders on the hill have -- republican leaders have basically rejected it and wondering if the president will yun date his speech remarks to reflect the fact that you said is this a plan that the gop can't refuse. i think already have. the president is trying to lay the groundwork. maybe some thought that the republicans might responsible with some proposals of their own or at least give the white house what they see as some high ground when things don't -- nothing progresses in september as they have to reach a budget

deal of some sort to fund the government before october 1 str. >> you just got off a conference call with the white house, i understand, specifically about what this speech is going to be about. tough questions on the line, correct? >> that's right. some questions about the republicans say this is no kind of bargain at all. you're not proposing anything. jennifer palmieri responded this isn't a deal, a bargain for republicans. it's a bargain for the middle class. unfortunately, if you're going to get these things passed, of course, you got to go through the republican party because they control the house of representatives. >> as we look at the numbers, susan, because this comes -- this news comes the day after the new survey by the associated press showing poverty issues in the country, kind of america's poor stuck at a record number. 46.2 million or 15% of the overall population and 11% of working class white live in poverty and 23% of working nonclass whites and the survey showing that nearly 4 out of 5

americans face joblessness and near poverty or reliance on welfare for part of their lives. isn't this a big wake-up call for everybody in washington, d.c. to recognize that there has to be a middle ground to be met here? >> well, those numbers are very sobering and will get, of course, the last month's -- the july job numbers on friday and we will see what has happened with unemployment which has been so slow to respond to this recovery. no question that americans, whether you ask them what they care about? they care about the jobs and the economy but there has not been much movement in washington on these issues and i know that's pretty frustrating to a lot of people who think they need some help. >> "usa today" washington bureau chief susan bates, as always, great to have you on. >> thanks, thomas. we will bring president obama's remarks to you on the economy and jobs live from chattanooga, tennessee. he scheduled to speak at 2:00 p.m. eastern. on their 401(k) to hidden fees. is that what you're looking for, like a hidden fee in your giant mom bag?

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reaction leak of classified information in the country's history will learn hit fate today. less than an hour ago pfc bradley manning arrived outside in maryland and where the judge and army colonel will issue her verdict at 1:00 p.m. eastern today. joining me is chief pentagon correspondent jim miklaszewski. the most serious charge here is aiding the enemy. we know that manning had pleaded out it certain charges early on. >> as a matter of fact bradley manning in an earlier court appearance pretty much laid out what documents he stole and what documents he passed on to wikileaks. he has pretty much confessed to that part and could face up to 20 years in prison for that. in terms of aiding the enemy, the defense argues that bradley manning, of course, was a whistle-blower, according to the defense, that he was trying to reveal abuses and crimes actually committed by the u.s. military in the wars in both iraq and afghanistan. legal experts say the

prosecution may have a hard time proving aiding the enemy in this case because you have to prove intent and although some of these documents ended up in the hands of former al qaeda leader osama bin laden no evidence whatsoever, none presented during the trial, that bradley manning knew that those documents would end up in his hands. in fact, one legal expert, military legal expert told us the only case he remembers was back in the civil war where a union soldier was charged with aiding the enemy when he leaked the position of union troops to a newspaper in alexandria, virginia. all workers have been accounted for after explosions rocked a propane plant in florida overnight. eight people taken to the hospital and no word on what

ignited the explosions. a woman arrested in connection with vandalism at the national cathedral in washington. she splattered stuff through chaples yesterday. they found the green paint on her skin and clothing. the cathedral is one of four landmarks vandalized in recent days. alex rodriguez could face a permanent ban from baseball. reported a-rod is offered a deal two-year suspension without pay in connection with the biogen sis scandal but the paper saying if he doesn't take that deal the mlb will try to banish for good. a real housewife star facing real trouble. she is facing federal fraud charges along with her husband joe. they have been indicted on 39 counts including bankruptcy and tax fraud. if convicted, they could face up to 50 years in prison! the defense is now presenting its side of things in

the case of the murder and racketeering trial of famed and feared reputed boston mob boss whitey bulger. he became the second most wanted fugitive behind osama bin laden before being captured in 2011 on the west coast. the big question about will bulger take the stand? mike is joining me. what do you think about this? electrifying case to read and hear about. a lot of drama inside that courtroom and it would only, i guess, raise things to a certain and new level to see bulger at that time stand. >> it's good to be here. i tell you, it's interesting. we still don't know whether whitey bulger will testify. the defense presented its first witness, bob fitzgerald a former fbi agent who claimed he recommended dropping bulger as an informant and now the prosecution is grilling him today over embellishments and possible lies he may have been involved in as an fbi agent

trying to discredit him. the bulger try is withdrawing a little early today and resume tomorrow. the big question still hovering unclear whether whitey will testify. today the judge rejected a request by the defense to sequester the jury while they deliberate the case saying that the jury may have made plans and she thinks they could be impartial and she deserved the right to sequester them. bulger really hadn't made up his mind on whether he was going to testify and no indication this week whether he is going to do so. >> how is the prosecution doing, mike? if this is a game-time decision, what has been the estimation of how they are doing with the prosecution of their case? we know that certain testimony, we have seen and heard about the drama f-bombs and other bombshells all day in court and prosecutors having 63 different

witnesses including alleged victims and drug dealers. how are they doing on their case? >> i think a lot of experts are saying it's a withering prosecution. they have detailed murders that mr. bulger has been involved in. they have had witnesses, people in the gang with him and others talk about his participation in murders. him picking up weapons to kill people who were at phone booths. him starangling witnesses. there is detail tying him to murders and racketeering and drug dealing. all of these prosecution witnesses have pretty much detailed a legacy as a criminal crime boss, a man who wielded tremendous power in the underworld in boss. >> "the boston globe's" mike bello, thank you. >> thank you. >> today's producer's pick from carrie who is feeling the good vibrations today. on late night with jimmy fallon, brian williams challenged markie

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the same standards as outpatient clinical centers. he governor signed this with women in mind but the law does the exact option. alee is a, good to have you here. under this bill bill, 16 of the state's clinics don't meet the restrictions to make that mark they have to invest over a million dollars. there is only one that currently meets that benchmark which means that this is going to be the only clinic in the state for women in north carolina for seeking out choice. but in the statement about the bill and the signingings itself the governor says the law does not further limit access and those would contend it does are more interested in politics than the health and safety of our citizens. how do you respond to that? >> thomas, i don't think you have to go very far to see that americans actually trust our mothers, our sisters, our

daughters, and, quite frankly, our doctors more than we trust politicians in these countries this days. and governor mccrory just proved way. not only did he break a campaign promise not to restrict choice but he is playing politics with women's lives. one of the things we have seen in north carolina is despite what you feel about abortion as a medical procedure, the voters in north carolina are outraged at the way these bills passed attached to a motorcycle safety bill, passed by a governor who said that he would not restrict abortion. 80% of north carolinans said they were outraged by the way these restricttions were going through. what is the governor and the state of north carolina afraid of? they don't want to have honest conversations about health because they know if they were having these conversations we would talk about increasing access to the health care that women need and increasing access

to sex education and not sneak is these bills through in the middle of the night. >> talk about how this got through. it was snuck into a motorcycle bill as you mentioned. i do remind about the campaign promise you talk about. here is what mccrory on the campaign trail. take a listen. >> if you're elected governor, what further restrictions on abortion would you agree to sign? start with you, mr. mccrory. >> none. >> all right. you can't really do a follow-up for that one. >> pretty buttoned up answer with none. what are the internal pressures in north carolina? and also are states like texas now the role model of what we saw happen there? now we have the snowballing of what has taken place in north carolina. >> i think we are seeing governors being held hostage to an extreme agenda, an extremely base that has been amplified

through restricting and look. these governors, these politicians know that they are outside of the mainstream on these issues. that's why they are resorting to things like protecting themselves against accountability at the ballot box by suppressing voters in 2014. they know they can't win when they are on the wrong side of these issues and i think we are going to see that play out in all 36 governors races in 2014. >> great to have you here. thanks for your time. we will continue to watch these stories along with you. >> thanks. we asked and you answered today's big question being about anthony weiner. the mayoral race here in new york city after he has plummeted in the polls. the question should be drop out of the race? for mason, he should never have jumped back in. devin says if he was smart, he would drop out, if. keep your comments coming on facebook and twitter. fast-food to a dinner from walmart can save you over $760 a year. the average fast-food dinner costs over $6.50 per meal.

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in baton rouge, louisiana.

a local paper called the ensnare men who merely discussed or agreed to have consensual sex with an undercover agent. the unenforceable law is the antisodomy law which was struck down by the u.s. supreme court in lawrence v. texas a decade ago. now the sheriff's office is backtracking saying they will no longer enforce that policy. joining me now, the editor in chief for the national magazine "the advocate," which broke that story first but matthew, i know you guys have been covering this. certainly one to watch because the district attorney couldn't move forward with charges against any of those arrested because no crime had officially occurred. now we have this statement from the sheriff's office apologizing saying that the way these investigations were handled made it appear that we were targeting the gay community. that was not our intent."

is that to be believed? because this is the antisodomy laws were struck down over ten years ago so why the need to strike up this type of entrapment or this type of snare program? >> those -- that backtracking is absolutely not to be believed in my opinion. we were talking about 12 arrests since 2011. this is a fairly recent sting that's been going on for the past couple of years and we're now a full decade away from the lawrence v. texas decision that declared unconstitutional the law in texas and 14 other states regarding consensual sex between gay men -- adults. >> matthew, quickly, were they trying to crack down on lewd behavior by a certain park or something that i was reading about? was that the original intent? and then they were entrapping

men by inviting them off to a different location about consensual sex. >> right. that was the declared intent. but the baton rouge advocate indicated that there was none of that activity happening during any of these 12 arrests. we're talking about what looks to me like a systematic attempt to degrade, humiliate and punish gay men. the idea that the sheriff didn't know this was an unconstitutional law that he was attempting to enforce is just patently ridiculous. >> how is this public pressure -- i guess at least all this public attention is going to help bring attention to 29 other states where certain laws like this still exist? >> there are 29 states where you can be fired for being gay, where you can be denied public accommodation or housing. there is no federal protection for lgbt americans against these sorts of discriminations. this really underscores the need for a comprehensive employment nondiscrimination act.

that's been something that's been tossed around congress for i think 40-ish years at this stage and it is still an unresolved issue. we do not have nationwide protections for gay and lesbian, bisexual and transgender americans in this country. these type of arrests, there is a long history in this country of these type of arrests that are used to in some cases drum gay men in particular out of society. it's really just a systematic attempt to humiliate people. >> i want to get you on the record though about another story that really caught a lot of people and their attention. the pope's comments yesterday saying that when it comes to gay priests, who am i to judge? how do you think the lgbt community is going to interpret his comments and should this be seen as groundbreaking instead of a closing grip on the disenfranchised catholics around the world. this might be a more opening embrace to start a dialogue. >> i do feel that this is a more

open stance than popes have made in the past. but for myself, i will be much happier when religion does not influence public policy. >> do you think though that this will help the dialogue, not just with where we stand as certain catholics in this country might be conflicted or disenfranchised with the catholic church, but in seeing a change from pope benedict to pope francis. >> i do think you'll see a change, a more embracing attitude. i'm hoping the catholics around the world take serious note of that, who am i to judge frayed from the pope and make that a part of their own lives. >> it seems like he wants to get back to the golden rule philosophy that jesus was teaching -- at least the teachings in the bible and that would be certainly nice to see coming from the pope. matthew breen from "the

advocate." >> thomas, good to see you. >> it is good to be back. by tomorrow, like riding a bike, i'll be good. >> water off a duck's back. welcome back. president obama heads to tennessee for the latest stop on his economy tour but as he offers the gop an olive branch, republicans pull out the pruning sheers. we will discuss with ezra klein, sam stein, melissa harris-perry, mark liebowitz and ari berman. voter suppression spreads to north carolina. we'll take a look at that and other states of disgrace. and, polls, timelines and even the clintons be damned. anthony weiner is still running for mayor. all that and more when "now" starts in a mere 180 seconds. i think farmers care more about the land than probably anyone else. we've had this farm for 30 years. we raise black and red angus cattle. we also produce natural gas.

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. before the offer is even on the table, republicans are walking away. it's tuesday, june 30th and this is "now." in just a few hours, president obama is set to make stop number four on his great american economic road show. this afternoon the president will be at an amazon warehouse in chattanooga, tennessee where he's expected to drive home themes of income inequality, upward mobility and livable wages, ones that featured prominently in his last three speeches. >> i am going to keep making the case that we need to raise the minimum wage because it's lower right now than it was when ronald reagan took office. it's time for the minimum wage to go up. >> if the notion of fairness has close to zero chance of catching fire with congressional republicans, the president's focus on progressive priorities has impressed many. this bit of uncensored advice --

it's your moment, obama -- don't blow it. if obama keeps up with the aggressive progressive posture, he can reframe the way we talk about economic issues for the past 30 years. this afternoon in tennessee the president is expected to lay out a new proposal, a grand bargain for middle class jobs. it will include a plan to cut the 35% corporate tax rate while raising revenue from still unspecified corporate loopholes to pay for new infrastructure spending. grand bargain? cutting tax rates? that's maybe the something the gop could play ball on. right? wrong. >> the policy intends to announce doesn't exactly qualify as news. it's just a further left version of a widely panned plan he already proposed two years ago. this time with extra goodies for tax and spend liberals. >> extra goodies. speaker boehner's office, 19