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 days after passing a farm bill

that eliminated funding for food stamps, assessed the president's proposal to be one that leaves small businesses and american families behind. worth noting -- this is the same speaker of the house who shot down a minimum wage increase earlier this year calling it "a job killer." after thumbing their noses at the president's offer this morning, house republicans are now returning to their main legislative priority -- a 40th vote to cripple president obama's health care law. joining me today, political editor and white house correspondent at the huffington "post," sam stein, also an msnbc contributor. melissa harris-perry, host of "the melissa harris-perry show," chief national correspondent at "new york times" magazine, mark liebowitz, author of "this town," and contributing writer for "the nation, ari berman. ezra klein, let's talk first

about that thing you loathe to talk about -- policy. and specifically the president's version of a grand bargain which is not of course is a grand bargain in the sense we've talked about it but his version of something 345ib tthe two par could come together. what do you think of the offer on the table? >> this is a smallish bargain. right? it is part of tax reform and it is a modest but significant set of jobs proposals. look, i think that this in a normal world would make a lot of sense. right? progressives don't like the corporate tax reform approach obama's put forward and the reason is, it doesn't raise any taxes on corporations. so far the obama administration has said if we are going to raise taxes we are going to do it on wealthy individuals. we will not do it on the corporate side. but one of the things that happens when you do the kind of tax reform we are talking about -- it is really worth noting, this is true in the republican proposal, too, the one released by congressman dave camp. because you bring all of this money back overseas. it's been sort of sitting there waiting for some kind of special deal to bring it in. there is typically a fee on some

of that money. can you put that fee toward deficit reduction, as the republicans do towards lowering tax rates or towards infrastructure, job retraining and a couple other things. that's right there what the obama administration is attempting to do here, say look, we will do the thing republicans tell us we can all do together, revenue neutral corporate side tax reform, leave out the original tax reform and use the proceeds of this money to do a little bit of infrastructure rebuilding and things like that. it shouldn't be a huge lift in congress, in this case of course it is probably doa. but that i do think is one of the problems we discuss this. right? it is the first day. we immediately talk about what john boehner said about it and it's just gone. it sort of omits the entire conversation over whether or not these proposals even make sense anymore. >> the fact that it shouldn't be a heavy lift but it presumed doa is sort of what it's sort of come to in congress, vis-a-vis any kind of rational,

reasonable, maybe bargain. regarding the subject of corporate tax reform, it's touted as something that both sides want, but matt makes a point, "there's no coherent vision of reform that has broad business support. there's instead vague sympathy for the idea of locking in a low rate that could be achieved in a revenue neutral form by eliminating all deductions, then adding back in all the broadly supported deductions but that again is just another way of saying business leaders want lower taxes on businesses. the apparent consensus in favor of reform is a peer and tracks. theoretically their taxes are going to o go down but when it comes down to it, they could end up paying more to the federal government. >> i'm inclined to agree with that. there are a couple words here that end up alighting an enormous amount of the debate. revenue neutral means it will not change the amount of money it actually raises. right there you are saying you aren't giving on average citizens a tax cut. they won't be on board with this because they are getting a tax cut. then we have these wonderful

terms -- loopholes, exclusions. people hear them an think these are horrible bad things in the tax code, special interests, special pleading. but actually one man's loophole is another man's incredibly important tax great which is what's keeping their business alive. when you talk about the big ones on the table here, things like whether or not businesses can deduct interest. right? that is a policy question. it is a difficult policy question and if you decide it in a different way than it is decided now, it creates a lot of losers. this is always the very big problem of corporate tax reform or individual tax reform which is that the people that are going to lose out on it always scream louder than the people who maybe will get helped a little bit from it. and so there is this kind of idea in washington that republicans want to do it and democrats want to do it. what we have not seen yet is whether or not either side wants to do it enough to walk through the really, really hot coals of actually going forward on this issue. at the moment you just don't see a lot of interest from republicans in doing it in a way that would protect the other side. right? this idea of sort of both sides

holding hands and jumping. people have an ideological interest in it, they like the idea of doing it, they like the idea to be able to agree on something but they aren't even getting to the point in the process. the beginning negotiations where you would even begin to see how loud the screaming from the losers in the corporate community would be. >> melissa, as folks have said, we are not -- this is not a serious offer, blah blah blah. i actually think even if nothing happens here, the fact that the president is at least trying to shift the goal posts a little bit towards a more progressive vision for the country, to talk about infrastructure spending, and education and universal pre-k and the minimum wage? i mean that does change the sort of frame of reference by which we have been having this debate over our country's fiscal health. it also gets us off of, for however long, this belt tightening, budget deficit, distraction or obsession or whatever you want to call it that the republicans have effectively made dominant in the national conversation. >> well, the republicans, but

with some help from the president who was a deficit hawk from the beginning, sort of never questioned that. and so i think what you're laying out here is the most depressing and perhaps most hopeful term for the second term presidency for president obama in the context of the economy. if this is going to be a political question where you simply are not going to be able to move, where the republicans still see at least in their short term interests kind of utter obstructionism as their best political alternative. then the last thing the president has left is the bully pulpit. right? it's actually not the last thing. he's got a fed chairman he'll be able to put in that will make important differences leer. there are other kinds of constituencies but vis-a-vis congress, simply saying inequality is the key issue, growth from the middle out, and sort of trying to reframe the notion of -- for example, what a minimum hike does. if you ask folks what a minimum wage hike does, the first impulse is to say it kills jobs because businesses won't hire as much rather than saying $5 more

in the person's pocket is $7 spent. >> ezra -- i'm quoting ezra. ezra called it a hugely popular -- >> he made a good point, that guy. >> whoever that guy is. he writes a lot and knows a lot. a hugely popular and i would argue necessary. the average age after fast food worker in the u.s. is 29 years old. we are no longer talking about teens and high schoolers when we talk about minimum wage workers. we are talking about people with families, grandmother's. you think that it is interesting that the president is at amazon, right? because on one level, as matt ig gl iglesias points out, it is good to pump that into hiring as opposed to just sitting on the profit. but on the other hand, you have to ask yourself, are those good jobs. i read and excerpt from "the new republic," some of those jobs coming back to the country from

china or canada or where are are coming back but at wages far below what they were paying before they left. are we cool with that? the administration is undoubtedly wrestling with this behind closed doors. >> sure. in a becauwhite house call prev the speech, they said we're not in the business right now of scoffing at any job creation. a job is a job and we understand that people appreciate the chance to make a living even if it is of a lesser means variety. and i understand why they feel that way. they want to put people back to work. if i were an obama supporter, i would be depressed at this point at how many few chipsvy pleft to play. the corporate tax reform was one. and it is clear if you attach even relatively modest tool.

if i were an obama supporter and saw the reaction to his proposal this morning i'd be very upset with it. >> so mark, should supporters of the president, should believers in the democratic process, be depressed that this is sort of the state of affairs? the president puts forward something that shouldn't and heavy lift. it is immediately shot down by senior leadership in that republican party and is presumably going to go nowhere. >> yes. they should be absolutely depressed. everyone watching this should be depressed. i personally am depressed. i'm serious. sorry. i mean the fact that ezra can like begin his statement quite correctly and say in a perfect world -- >> or normal world. >> normal world. even in a low yield world. we could get something of substance done here. and then we can go on and we can talk all kinds of sense to each other, and then know that really

we aren't dealing in a normal world is depressing. you see the reflects of kabuki going back and forth. we all know how it will end legislatively or non-legislatively, frankly. i think if you talk to rational democrats and rational republicans they could come to some deal in a vacuum on corporate tax reform. this is not a vacuum. they have their leadership to contend with. they have loblobbyists, med ter. there is a large check and balance. >> congress has done nothing to pass jobs since 2009. it's been a long time. we've been in an economic crisis for a while now. to the extent we have an economic recovery it's happening in spite of the congress, not because of them. and the economy is getting better. there is a lot of good signs but it just kind of is amazing that congress is just completely awol when it comes to what should be one of their responsibilities. >> and to create jobs, say get rid of the sequester which the cbo says will bring back 900,000 jobs or passing immigration

reform, they are actively standing in the way. >> we also shouldn't let off the hook here states. right? so congress is sort of one source of the madness around jobs but the other part of it are these republican governors in states where we kept seeing sort of this growth of private sector jobs at the same time that they kept shrinking government sector jobs while saying government doesn't create jobs, when in fact actually it does. it creates government jobs. most of which pay -- >> part of it is because states have to balance their budgets. it is a fact of life but you're right, this idea that you can't stimulate the economy through government spending is sort of a fallacy. it's been proven in statistics. we've just for three years now basically abandoned the idea. >> ezra, before we let you go. we have a post from a piece you did in february which is a graph which you call the best argument for raising the minimum wage which basically shows corporate profits against the minimum wage which is effectively stagnated. is there hope the president can

beat the drum on this and maybe move us -- move congress, which has not raised the minimum wage since i believe 2007? >> yeah, i think there is hope. i think the year you just mentioned is why there is hope. who was in charge in 2007? it was president george w. bush. what happened is the democrats began pushing a minimum wage increase a couple years prior in the 2006 election. it was one of the -- as we talked about before, the real cudgels they used in the election to win back the house, to win back the senate. it was used very effectively in states where it was on a number of ballots. when they got back to washington in 2007, the republicans kind of just said -- and president george w. bush just said, fine, why don't we just get this one off of the table. typically that's how these minimum wage increases go. so i'm not hugely optimistic on the minimum wage chances before 2014 but if in 2014 it is used effectively and it becomes not as good an election for the republicans, that's the kind of thing that in the past in previous republican parties that's not always a great

predictor now, but in previous republican parties they've decided to say we don't hate this that much, we can live with it. >> our abnormal congress. "the washington post's" ezra klein, thank you, as always, for the insight. watch the president's remarks live today at 2:00 p.m. herein right here on msnbc. coming up, president obama and attorney general eric holder hold a closed door sit-down with civil rights leaders to discuss voter suppression. but can they look to the do-nothing congress for help? that may and rhetorical question. we'll discuss just ahead. [ whispering ] uh! i had a nightmare! the house caught fire and we were out on the streets. [ whispering ] shhh. it's only a dream. and we have home insurance. but if we made a claim, our rate would go up... [ whispering ] shhh. you did it right.

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voting rights advocates channel their inner al pacinos. just when the attorney general announces a challenge to texas

voter suppression, north carolina pulls them back in. that is a godfather reference, i think. we'll discuss the latest way states are block being the vote next on "now." thanks to the grd resilience and determination of the american people, we've been able to clear away the rubble from the financial crisis. we started to lay a new foundation for stronger, more durable economic growth. but we're not there yet. what we need is not a 3-month plan or even a 3-year plan. we need a long-term american strategy: job security with good wages and durable industries. a good education. reducing poverty. reducing inequality. growing opportunity. i'm going to keep pushing to make high-quality preschool available for every four-year-old in america it's time for the minimum wage to go up. (cheers) but i won't be able to do it alone, so i'm going to be calling... on all of us to take up this cause.

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good choice. more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot. right now, this abbey vanity combo is a special buy. just $299. last month when the supreme court struck down section 4 of the voting rights act, the court opened the floodgates to a tidal wave of state level restrictions. but the administration and activists are not standing idly by. yesterday president obama met with civil rights leaders to pledge his commitment to strengthening what he termed a wounded voting rights act. the meeting comes against a dramatic backdrop of state efforts aimed at complicating and endangering the fundamental right to vote. the first stop on the voter suppression express emphasis on express -- is texas where literally two hours after the court's ruling, texas officials said they would begin enforcing a new voter i.d. requirement even though a federal court had previously struck down the law

because it "imposes strict unforgiving burdens on the poor and racial minorities in texas." in response, last week attorney general eric holder announced that the justice department would challenge voting rights laws around the country and its first move would be against texas. >> today i am announcing that the justice department will ask a federal court in texas to subject the state of texas to a preclearance regime similar to the one required by section 5 of the voting rights act. >> but, like a zombie epidemic, as soon as you get one, another pops up. voter suppression continues to spread across the country. last week north carolina passed one of the most restrictive voter suppression bills in the nation. a bill that slashes in half the state's early voting period, that eliminate same day voter registration, that requires voters to show a government

issued photo i.d., that ends sunday voting, that ends straight ticket voting, that prohibits counties from extending poll hours by one hour to respond to long voting lines with, that outlaws paid voter registration drives, and that eliminates preregistration for 16 and 17 year-olds. with so many outrageous restrictions, even the state's own governor can't keep track of them. on friday a few minutes after he announced he would be signing the voter i.d. bill into law, the governor admitted that he wasn't exactly sure what he would be signing in to law. >> i don't know enough about -- i'm sorry. i haven't seen that part of the bill. >> unbelievable! first of all, one of the worst pieces of legislation, ever, to come across any governor's desk. he doesn't even know what's in it. he literallyis disenfranchises 318,000 north carolinian voters. >> i guessnot reading my

blogging on the nation. he is about to sign the country's worst voter registration law. 56% of north carolinians voted early. 100,000 people used same-day registration. we are talking about millions of voters who are potentially affected by these changes which are absolutely unnecessary. there's no evidence of voter fraud to justify them. the speaker of the house said it is about making voters more comfortable with the election process and the irony of this in all these voter suppression measures is that they create a lot less confidence in the electoral process. they create all this controversy over an issue that really should be settled by now the right to vote. what's happening in north carolina, i think, is the best argument yet that john roberts was completely wrong when he said that voter discrimination is a thing of the past. >> melissa, it is -- there's always a spin. right? there's always some way that conservatives or democrats manage to spin legislation. i don't see where the spin is on this. when you are literally making it hard for people to vote on

sunday, to vote early, to exercise their democratic right and, you know, when you look at what's happening in north carolina, the fact that it may serve as a model for other states to enact their own voter suppression -- >> not may -- will. like guarantee that's what's happening here. i keep thinking there's sort of three different kinds of wrongs. one is north carolina was particularly good on voting so they had been working quite lard to affirmatively further the capacity for people to vote, to spread and open the franchise. that's why you end up with things like long early voting and sunday voting and preregistration for 17 year-olds. part of it is they're rolling back the things they had done to move progressively forward as a state. second is they are then also suppressing from whatever we might even think of as a base level. even if you say, a state doesn't have a responsibility to affirmatively make the franchise available, they do have a responsibility to at least not impede it. we see a whole set of policies that will actually impede it. the third aspect is, there's really no clear reason why they would need to do so.

that there isn't any evidence of voter fraud or, even if there were, the kind of voter fraud that they make a claim towards is in no way addressed by these sets of policies. but the big problem is, because of taking the teeth out of section 5 through taking away the section 4 formula, we're now in a place where what the attorney general and the department of justice would have to do is demonstrate intent. and that intent is the problem. i can -- there's no problem with impact. we know it has a disparate impact on some communities. but the question is, in the hearts of the legislators, were they feeling in their hearts that they wanted to remove certain types of voters, protected classes of voters, from the polls. >> that's why it is so important that congress needs to do something. we talked about the doa congress, the awol congress. but i mean there's been a long bipartisan consensus in congress

to stop anything from going forward. the justice department has very few tools in its arsenal. people are saying they can use existing provisions of the voting rights act. those are important but those are nothing compared to what section 5 of the voting rights act did. >> on some level i mean there is obviously political calculation behind this decision, the kinds of voters who are targeted through this tend to be older, poorer, vote democratic, and in some cases younger. but either ends of the spectrum. that said, sam, if you look at the polling in north carolina, 59% of the north carolinians oppose restricting the number of early voting days. there is 56% of north carolinians voted early in 2012. this will affect both democrats and republicans. can you no longer have straight ticket voting. that is going to hurt the republican party. >> first of all, i'm surprised because also you said we need to have a more uplifting conversation. this is one of the more depressing ones. secondly, are you absolutely right. >> i'm glad you made that point,

thank you. >> i do believe sometimes -- i'm not saying we shouldn't dismiss the ramifications, but sometimes they can be overstated. it will affect republicans, not as much as democrats obviously, but it will. one of the sort of substories of the 2012 election, this was a huge motivator for people especially in urban centers where they felt like they were unnecessarily and unfairlily targeted. finally, i would say this -- my colleague ryan wright who happened to be just a little bit better reporting on this than ahri. he did a profile of jim sensenbrenner who is convinced -- >> jim sensenbrenner. >> the new black panther party totally stole the 2000 election. i wouldn't just totally dismiss the idea that congress will do nothing. i think there is a chance -- a small one but there is a chance that they could get something done here. >> before we go to congress, i

want to point out these gerrymandered districts, because it is unbelievable. i think we have a whole audio-visual slide show. look at this. the gray area represents the district. that literally -- they are rorschach blot tests more than anything. what's happened to this country in terms of voting districts is unbelievable. ly si will say these are both democrat and republican. >> you can point to a 50%-50% poll in north carolina which you can also throw out window when you look at these. this is clearly a base play. this is the conservative republicans on the part of the governor. that's what's driving this clearly and any consensus on the issue is completely irrelevant. >> to sam's point, i would ask what you guys think of this. in terms of congress, eric cantor has made overtures in and around needing to do something about the voting rights act. tomorrow there is going to be a march commemorating i believe

the 50th anniversary of the march on washington. speaker boehner will be participating. sure, some of that is just sort of optics. but to say you don't think we need to do anything about minority disenfranchisement vis-a-vis these voter suppression laws, i don't think that's a place republicans even in congress necessarily will -- >> you have to move republicans from ret troik action hetoric t. the former chair of the house judiciary committee has said it very loudly. the question is where is the political pressure going to come from. you'll need a sustained campaign possibly i think for many different election cycles. certainly probably a few different election cycles to get congress to move on this issue. if they weren't going to move on an issue as big as immigration reform, with so many players on the republican side for immigration, how are they going to move on the voting rights act. the need is them for them to move. what is the pressure strategy to get them to move. >> the think the president and attorney general holder's work on this is important in terms of

keeping that conversation going. i will say, melissa, i don't know if i'm extrapolating too much, but the president wading into the issue of race as did he a few weeks ago, now sort of laying out a progression vision, talking about inequality and mobility in this country, in terms of the conversation in and around disenfranchisement, i do think we're seeing a different chapter in his presidency. >> it's almost like he knows he'll never have to stand for election again. >> i'm sure he noticed it. >> the other thing -- i do want to say because i think your point about being depress something important. every time we tell this north carolina story we need to simultaneously tell the story of the moral mondays movement that's been there in the state capitol for 13 weeks. it is now apparently going to be following some of these legislators back to their home districts. people are not just taking it. it is not just about a poll. it is about an actual movement on the ground. so i think that -- to the extent there is any place repression will come, it will come from that. there is no ideological space for republicans to move on this

because what it does require is diminishing a state's right. right? in other words, the state cannot simply do what it wants. it is going to have to have federal preclearance and there is no ideological space for this part of the republican party to willingly stand up for a diminishing of a state right unless it can be clearly articulated as a fundamental individual liberty. that's the only space around state's rights for them. >> i think did you a good job of ending on a -- >> can i just say for the record, ryland riley, great reporter for "the huffington post," great more stories than sam these days. >> the knives are out. we have to take a break. it is latest talk of the town specifically because it talks about "the town." specifically, this town. we will talk with mark leibovich about his new book, "this town," next on "now." [ engine revving ]

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hey, can i borrow your boat this weekend? no. [ male announcer ] share more. save more. at&t mobile share for business. ♪ mark leibovich's "this town" has the d.c. chattering class abuzz, even if the portrait he paints of them is not necessarily a very pretty one. the schmoozing and a one-up manship has no bounds. even high-profile funerals provide some of the best opportunities for networking. as to the irony of a book sourced from washington power players about washington power players, the "l.a. times" notes several eagerly cooperated flaunting their connections in hopes of winning prominent mention in a book about how people in washington flaunt their connections. washington may be experiencing historically low approval

ratings, but city densons are living in a gilded age. if you're one of the lucky members of the club, it is all good. as leibovich writes -- while so much of the nation has despised washington, a gold rush has enthralled the place. it has in recent years become a crucible of easy wealth, fame, forgiveness and next acts. i feel like i should reintroduce you as best selling author, "mark leibovich, "this town," right here. mark, talk about the book. first of all, my question was as i read the book -- i did read almost all of the book. >> god bless you. thank you for your service. >> you're so welcome. at what point did you decide you were going to be writing this book? were you going to the parties and all this stuff was happening -- >> no. this was not a book i intended to write. i think at the moment of this aforementioned funeral of tim russert. a beloved news man, the memorial service at the kennedy center evolved into this cocktail party

and threw business around. i thought it was a point that i wanting to really chronicle over an extended period and to really flesh out diskent between this gilded age, but also the economy tanking in the rest of the country, the very low opinion that the rest of the country has of washington, washington's great satisfaction with itself. i just thought that this was an important story to be told at an important moment. >> your colleague, friend, anne marie cox, she says you basically pull purnlgs. that you go there but you actually does cross a line. the implicit administration is to write honestly about the watery atmosphere of the club but that would mean leaving it and life in the air kwar yum is too good to leave. the thesis seems to be, if you are going to write a scathing indictment of washington, you have to be ready to pack your bags. perhaps. >> i don't agree with that. first of all, a lot of people said it was too mean. chance encounters on the street

don't speak to that argument. but no, i've heard that a few times. the fact is, i've always been a writer that tries to be incisive, tries to be very skeptical but cross the line when i try not to be mean. i don't think that has to do with self-preservation -- >> you sort of don't want to be someone that demeans people. >> no, i do. that's not true. i've demeaned many people over the years and i say that with a measure of pride and i guess -- no regret. i mean that's what i do. not demeaning but i try to bring them to life and flesh them out honestly. but no, look. you're never going to get agreement on where the right line is. >> a lot of people have focused on sort of -- i won't say gossipy, the people, persona, parties, personalities involved, other things beginning with the letter if the p, if the book is a service in terms of the narrative of where we are in american society and our democracy, you really highlight the fact that no one ever leaves and the incredible economic

incentive there is to stay in washington and sort of what that's done to poll six and the notion of civil service which seems to have evaporated. >> i'm really glad that you asked me that because that is the important point of the book. i think what happens in washington is people fixate on the nuggets or did you hear what hillary clinton said or did you hear what barack obama said and blah blah blah. but no, you are right. this is a permanent fuel class. words of tom coburn, a conservative republican, that's grown up in washington. a town that's become, by far, the wealthiest community in the united states. 7 of the wealthiest 10 counties in the united states are in the d.c. metropolitan area and this is part of the larger disconnect but again, 50% of former senators now go on to will beby. that figure was 3% in 1974. 42% of all congressmen go on to lobby. no one leaves anymore. people run against d.c. as a swamp and setting into it like a warm bath and never leave. >> you write this, expose it for what it is, you talk about the

inherent problems of never leaving and becoming a lobbyist or the revolving door. does it change or are we on an inexorable path of inefficiency and probably a very incredibly crass evaluation of elected office. >> i think we're there already. we're certainly in a place of inefficiency and crass -- whatever your words were. i think we're there. i think another criticism of the book -- and i probably shouldn't be selling my books -- but no, i do not have a chapter at the end where i lay out the ten prescriptive bullet points on how our capital can work better. >> i would not propose that you do but personally. >> personally? i mean i don't think this is sustainable. i think you have an electorate that keeps imposing -- don't know if imposing is the right word but there are these change elections. obama comes in, then the tea party comes in and we have this clear disconnect or discontent in the electorate but the only change that happens in d.c. is

if people getting richer. look, not getting things done is extremely good for business. the tax loopholes we were talking about, the democrats and republicans could conceivably agree on, that's not going to happen. if it happened tomorrow, there is going to be tens of billions of dollars of unrealized consulting and lobbying fees that are going to be paid, not to mention cable shouting matches, the likes of which you never have here on this show -- >> oh! >> no, no. i'm saying. this is a good zone, alex. >> thank you. wow! this is a good zone. i will take that. >> no, it is a good zone. >> we'll have to run footage of little panda bears. just a little optimism here about our world. >> i don't want this to be a cudgel. i just want to be a third member of this panel to use the word cudgel. a midday -- >> you succeed at many things. congratulations on the book. "this town." right there, there is the cover. it is on sale, available now. mark leibovich. thank you for your time but are you staying on the show. coming up, anthony weiner is still running for mayor. last week the former congressman

wasn't sure. his sexting -- he waents slur. his sexting didn't involve dozens and dozen of women, but possibly 6 to 10. is it over? yesterday wiener said he doesn't want to "quibble" about beginnings, middles, and ends. we'll discuss just ahead. i don'without goingcisions to angie's list first. with angie's list, i know who to call, and i know the results will be fantastic! find out why more than two million members count on angie's list. angie's list -- reviews you can trust.

anthony weiner is still running for mayor. but his poll numbers have fallen again, and the clintons are angry. that's next. it's back to school time and we're talking with maria about the walmart low price guarantee. you got your list? let's go. if you find a lower advertised price they'll match it at the register. really... yeah, in a "jif". you ready? what?! that's the walmart low price guarantee backed by ad match. bring in receipts from your local stores and see for yourself.

had i conducted myself in the manner in which you conducted yours, my job would have been gone. >> anthony weiner is still running for mayor. in an interview yesterday, wean der not rule out the possibility that is he still sending lewd photos to women who are not his

wife. when asked if there is anyone is he currently sexting, wiener replied, can you quibble about beginnings, middles and ends but what we are talking about is over a year ago. and that would be a yes? well, the quibbling ensues, a new poll shows a dangerous drop for the mayoral candidate known for popularly and infamously as carlos danger. wiener danger has fallen from first to fourth, a 10% drop from less than a week ago. wiener's woe dozen not end there. days after the departure of his campaign manager, carlos danger lost the support of client number nine. >> if a public official used their office equipment to engage in the kind of past time that anthony weiner's been involved in over the last couple years, would you fire them? >> i think the answer is yes. >> if you had to vote for mayor right now, who would you vote for? >> i would vote but, chris, look, it is a great question -- >> come on, answer the question! show you're different than most politicians. you're not going to vote for anthony weiner. 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. >> ladies and gentlemen, chris matthews. and today, according to politico, there is a silent but palpable disgust emanating from the man who married the wieners and the woman who mentored his wife, bill and hillary clinton. as maureen dowd tells it, clinton world is none too happy with the lewd spectacle that's a low-budget movie version of their masterpiece. but so far anthony weiner continues to live in the danger zone. >> look, there are a lot of people who are saying a lot of things about this campaign and that's great. i mean i'm most concerned about the residents of the five boroughs. now i'm most concerned about democratic primary voters. >> unfortunately nor wefor wien democratic primary voters are concerned about him, too. sam, there are some folks on this panel that think we are giving anthony weiner axe lexac what he wants which is more attention and he feeds on this. but i will say it doesn't look that good for him especially given, i think, the fact that he can't really answer -- >> you don't think so?

what gives you that idea? >> he can't answer the question about is exting with these women. >> what's a sext? i'm just joking. i feel bad for him because every day brings another set of humiliations. don't think he should have to drop out. that's for the voters to decide but the amount of attention we are giving this is silly given his chances of succeeding. but it's good for creating odd puns. >> which is all we want to do. >> nothing against eliot spitzer, but the moral righteousness from a man who used prostitutes is probably not -- >> which the moral righteousness question is -- we would talk about civil service and talk about who we're electing to office. think the unfortunate part of this and the depressing talk about washington is that the buy-in now with the public and democracy is pretty atfi fropha.

right? the idea that are you going to washington to do good or you are there for reasons to push the ball forward has been grocery undermined by the behavior of congress but also by public servants. >> thank god i fliv god's country, louisiana, where my senator is david vitter. >> you know what? i will ask mark, do you think that this scandal is different from other scandals? i don't know the answer to that question. does this have the potential for longer term damage somehow to the democratic party than -- >> probably not to the democrats unless it really bleeds in the clinton world in a way that affects her future viability. but no. look -- first, he's got kind after goofy name to have a scandal like this. but no, this kind of hubris, this kind of denial and complete circus has happened many, many

times before. even if he doesn't win, there is a book deal at the end of the rainbow for him, speaking deals -- >> oh, my god. that's the anthony weiner reality show? >> but that's why he did stay in the race. >> that's probably why he's staying in the race. >> if he were to leave the race, what else is there for him to do? >> if he stays in and comes in a distant fourth or fifth and he's humiliated, that will likely end his political career. let's hope. >> but does that end his public career? >> if i go a little too far here i'm going to be disencabled. >> which you certainly don't want to do. >> i just think that -- look. the media's part of the circus, too. i think everyone who is watching i think the appetite, the people have for this story sort of suggests that also and i think it is all part of the big carnival that i wrote about but also that is the reality of politics today. >> the other shift i will say, melissa, is the gender dynamics

here and not just anthony weiner's sext ease but also his wife's come under the microscope. i think in a not particularly productive way. it is disassembled their marriage and what is behind it in a way that may be irresponsible and certainly is armchair pop psychology and is relied on a lot of gender trips that may not be good. sally quinn writing in the "washington post," though huma's friends say she's strong, resolute and defiant, she sadly makes all women look like we weakness and a setback for women. >> that sort of goes to the reality tv response. right? the part of why we consume the pathology of these other people is to make ourselves feel better. right? from the perspective of just whatever their private marriage is? as far as i can tell, at least

so far, we're not looking at laws that were broken and since we're not looking at laws that were broken or sort of egregious acts of at a child or something, then the deals that adults cut with each other in their own personal relationships with the deals that adults cut with each other. >> no one can possibly know what's going on in their does. >> she actually does. >> fair enough. >> she's been to the council sessions. >> thank you to sam, melissa, mark and ahri. i'll see you back here tomorrow at noon. until then, follow us on twitter. "andrea mitchell reports" is next. your business travel forecast -- thunderstorms can still be found in numerous spots in the southeast. they will be hit and miss down in florida. the concentrated thunderstorms the heaviest that will move

through arkansas, missouri and into portions near memphis and paducah, kentucky. wednesday the thunderstorm threat spreads a little bit to the east into areas of kentucky and tennessee. being sixteen, alex thinks he's invincible.

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secretary of state john kerry said now it is up to both sides to get to work. >> i understand the skepticism. i don't share it and i don't think we have time for it. i firmly believe the leaders, the negotiators and citizens invested in this effort can make peace for one simple reason -- because they must. a viable two-state solution is the only way this conflict can end and there is not much time to achieve it and there is no other alternative. bargaining chip. in chattanooga today, president obama will off house republicans a corporate tax rate cut if they'll invest in creating jobs. will that be enough to break the budget stalemate? breaking bread. hillary clinton makes the d.c. rounds, first lunch with the president, then breakfast with boo biden. was their potential 2016 match-up on the menu. on the campaign trail today,