>> thank you. >> chris hayes is up next. show me the evidence. let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm michael smerconish in for chris matthews. leading off tonight, blocking the vote. ever since the republicans won over state governments in the 2010 elections, we have watched the gop in state after state move to limit voting rights in ways that disproportionately affect african-american voters. so it was of particular interest to us yesterday when senator rand paul of kentucky told a louisville-based npr station, "i don't think there's objective evidence that we're precluding african-americans from voting any longer." paul's comments came in the wake of new voting restrictions such as the latest and most sweeping law coming out of north

carolina, which now requires a government-issued id to vote, cuts early voting by a week, eliminates same-day registration, and kills the state-wide voter registration drive. texas, virginia, florida, and pennsylvania have all passed similar strict voter i.d. laws, some of which are tangled up in the court system, but if they prevail could indirectly disenfranchise minority voters. this is what paul had to say about voter id when he spoke at howard university, a historically black college back in april of this year. >> i think if you liken using a driver's license to literacy test, you demean the horror of what happened in the '40s and '50s, maybe probably from 1910 all the way through 1960s in the south. it was horrific. nobody's in favor of that. no republican is in favor of that. but showing your driver's license to have an honest election i think is not unreasonable. >> but if senator paul is looking for evidence, he need not look any further than last

november's 2012 election. according to a massachusetts institute of technology analysis, black and hispanic voters waited nearly twice as long to vote as whites. the long election day lines around florida may have turned away more than 200,000 frustrated would-be voters who gave up and went home before they cast ballots or saw the lines that were hours long and decided not to join them according to data collected by the "orlando sentinel". florida governor rick scott slashed early voting from 14 days to eight, which many believe was the leading factor contributing to the long lines and the voter frustration. joining me now, "the washington post's" pulitzer prize-winning columnist eugene robinson and republican strategist rick tyler> gene, what would be your response to senator paul when he says show me the objective evidence of disenfranchisement? >> well, i'd say the evidence is pretty evident. there is that m.i.t. study about how long minorities had to wait to vote as opposed to whites. you already have a system that puts added burdens on minorities

who would like to vote. then you add on top of that voter i.d. requirements, which we know are going to disproportionately affect minorities, and you end up with i think plenty of evidence that these laws have the effect if not the intent of turning african-americans away from the polls. >> gene, when i say to folks this is a solution in search of a problem, they often respond to me by saying how do you know there's not more fraud taking place but people are getting away with it? you can't prove it if they're getting away with it. >> well, no, but you'd think this they get caught every once in a while. you'd think that there would certainly be more instances of impersonation voter fraud than we know of. we know of practically none. it just doesn't happen. it's not a problem, and i guarantee it's not that republicans have not been looking for examples of impersonation of voter fraud to justify these laws. they haven't found them because they're not there.

>> rick, is your argument that this is all coincidence that we have all these measures coming at the same time that would disproportionately impact african-american voters? >> first of all, the m.i.t. study was correct in that they identified district where is african-americans waited longer precisely because those districts are controlled by democrats and they should be talking to -- almost without exception every single local polling place, including palm beach, florida, is controlled by the local authorities. and so you go to those local authorities and you'll find in los angeles and those counties where african-americans are having trouble voting, it was the democrats that are keeping them from voting in those long lines. it's not republicans. >> right. but it was governor rick scott, a republican, who cut back the early voting to which people had grown accustomed and consequently, lots of folks who had come into the habit of voting early couldn't do so. >> look, we want an open and fair system, but i'm just telling you, you have ballots that are sitting around for

weeks and months and the democrats would certainly love to see a perpetual voting campaign, but you're just asking for problems. the other thing is, is things happen, people drop out of the race, scandals occur, the closer to the election, the better information the voters have. are we going to allow voters whose candidates suffered scandals, i'd like my ballot back now because i already voted a month ago and i'd like to change it? there is a responsibility as a citizen to vote and i think a week -- you only have 51 weeks to get people registered to vote and get them out to turn out the vote. i think it's pretty reasonable to have the election be consolidated into one week as a civic duty. >> gene, secretary clinton jumped back into the political fray on monday, striking the heart of these voting reform bills and condemning the laws that she says are reviving old demons of discrimination. let's watch. >> we do. let's admit it. have a long history of shutting people out -- african-americans, women, gays and lesbians, people with disabilities.

and throughout our history we have found too many ways to divide and exclude people from their ownership of the law and protection under the law. now, not every obstacle is related to race, but anyone who says that racial discrimination is no longer a problem in american elections must not be paying attention. and despite the best efforts of many well-intentioned election officials, discrepancies and resources across precinct and polling stations still disproportionately impact african-americans, latino, and young voters. >> and then rich lowry of the national review took to the op-ed of politico to fire back at mrs. clinton for her political tone, suggesting she was just trying to gin up the base ahead of a presidential run. quote, madam secretary hasn't missed a beat. she knows that the calling card of the democrats in the barack obama era is a polarizing politics that seeks to fire up minority voters by stirring fears of fire hoses and police

dogs. its basic vocabulary is imputations of racism. its evidentiary standard is low and dishonest. and its ethic is whatever works so long as it stirs fear, anger, and resentment. get ready for hope and change 2.0. gene robinson, respond to both of those. >> well, number one, the only people i hear talking about fire hoses and police dogs are republicans. what i hear democrats saying is these are measures that are going to reduce african-american participation in elections. they're not talking about fire hoses. they're not talking about police dogs. that's sort of a red herring that keeps getting brought up on the other side to discredit what i consider legitimate arguments against these laws. second, i think in terms of hillary clinton we should acknowledge two possibilities. number one, she is laying the groundwork for a run for president in 2016. number two that this is something that she believes deeply and cares about and wanted to express using her bully pulpit. >> gene, in light of polling data on this issue, would the

democratic party be wise to adopt the posture of we're fine with an i.d. card, let's just be reasonable and make sure that it's the type of id card that suits all communities. if folks in a particular community don't drive automobiles and therefore don't have a driver's license, there's got to be something else. the concept is fine. >> well, that's kind of where the justice department has come down, actually, in its examination of these laws and deciding which ones to challenge and which ones not to challenge and how to approach these cases. you know, i think perhaps that's a reasonable approach. i still am looking for the problem. i still don't see a reason to interfere with anybody's right to vote in the slightest if there's not a problem that we're fixing. and i don't see the problem. >> okay. rick, question for you, because i hear criticism coming from the right on this. okay, if we're going to have a national i.d., then why not make it the social security card and let's put everybody's photograph on it?

>> look, we can all come to some agreement, and i think states can work it out and the local election authorities. first of all, nobody is denied a vote. if you go to vote today and you refuse to show an i.d. here in virginia or where i live in virginia, they will still allow you to cast a ballot. that's just -- you can cast a ballot whether you provide an i.d. whether it's the law or not. it will be a provisional ballot but you'll be able to cast a ballot. so that's number one. number two, i can see why hillary clinton and all these democrats are sensitive, and eugene is right. republicans shouldn't bring up fire hoses and certainly democrats shouldn't because all those people with the fire hoses were democrats. all the jim crow laws were written by democrats. all the laws after reconstruction to keep african-americans from voting were democrats. orel who stood in the hallway of central high school, he was a democrat. the guy to let the black children in school, that was eisenhower. >> i'm going to save gene his breath. the party was comprised of totally different forces at that time and had different leadership.

hey, a florida gop operative spoke to "the palm beach post" after the 2012 election on the condition of anonymity, but remarkably candid. he acknowledged that voting reforms in florida, like cutting back on sunday voting, were designed to curtail the african-american vote. here's what he said. quote, i know that the cutting out of the sunday before election day was one of their targets only because that's a big day when the black churches organize themselves. that's what he said. gene, unquestionably accurate insofar as that is a critical day for mobilizing the vote in black churches. >> yeah. that has become kind of the traditional day for getting black voters out to the polls. and look, if black voters are going to go, you know, 95% for democrats in a year when barack obama is on the ballot, and perhaps 85% in a year when he's not, one understands why republicans would want to limit that vote, because it's going to go to the democrat. it's just that you can't do that. we have equal protection under

the constitution and you can't do that. >> rick, that comment is reminiscent of what i'm sure we all remember from my home state of pennsylvania, similar acknowledgments that this was all being utilized as a political weapon. >> well, as i remember in pennsylvania, the only objective evidence was two new black panther people trying to keep people from voting, presumably white. i assume they were working for the democratic party. that's objective evidence. >> i have to tell you something. i know a little something about that. i investigated it and wrote about it at the time. that was an overwhelmingly african-american polling place where the president ended up with something like 98% of the vote. if you wanted to intimidate voters to vote for barack obama, you'd come out to the lily-white suburbs where i live. you wouldn't go to a polling place where he was already going to get that lion's share of the vote. then i'll ask you, why were they there? >> because they're knuckleheads, and everybody who lives in philadelphia -- i that's for sure. we agree on that. >> -- knows they stand outside of city hall with bull horns and manipulated the national media and it worked. any way, thank you. if i had more time, believe me,

i love the issue. thank you. >> thanks. coming up, president obama cancels joint military exercises with egypt after yesterday's bloody crackdown. my question, should the u.s. still be sending money to a military government that slaughters its critics? also, reality deniers deny the existence of global warming despite all the evidence to the contrary. what can we do to solve a worldwide problem when much of the country refuses to admit there is a problem? the hits keep coming for san diego mayor bob filner with yet another knocking video. ♪ maybe it's time you left, maybe it is time you resign ♪ finally, let me finish tonight with why it's time we all put people ahead of party. this is "hardball," the place for politics.

the economy is improving slowly buzz steadily. president obama's approval rating on his handling of the economy is falling and fast.

take a look at this new gallup poll. only 35%, one in three say they approve the job the president is doing on the economy. that's down seven points since june. 62% disapprove. those numbers don't bode well for a white house girding for budget battles with republicans in congress come fall. we'll be right back.

welcome back to "hardball." a foreign policy disaster for the u.s. that's how nbc first read characterized the ongoing violence in egypt. with more than 600 people now dead after clashes between security forces and protesters supporting ousted president mohamed morsi, the egyptian

military declared a state of emergency and imposed a nightly curfew. today, protesters burned government buildings and reuters reports several churches around the country have been attacked. in response to the violence this morning president obama announced we are canceling joint military exercises with the egyptians that were scheduled for next month. >> the united states strongly condemns the steps that have been taken by egypt's interim government and security forces. we deplore violence against civilians. we support universal rights essential to human dignity, including the right to peaceful protest. let me say that the egyptian people deserve better than what we've seen over the last several days. to the egyptian people, let me say the cycle of violence and escalation needs to stop. >> he stopped short of saying that he would cancel the $1.3 billion in aid that we provide egypt.

already some are blaming the president, accusing his administration of dropping the ball and failing to rein in the egyptian military. nbc foreign correspondent ayman mohyeldin is in cairo. ayman, thankfully, a quieter day today in cairo than yesterday. what, if any, was the reaction to what the american president had to say? >> reporter: well, reaction from the egyptian government has been somewhat muted. in fact, no official comments coming out from either the interim government or the egyptian military. you can rest assured that egyptian government is in probably some serious discussions amongst itself as to how it wants to respond whether or not it is going to change its course of action as a result of this new announcement. but many people here outside of the framework of government don't see the u.s. rebuke as being that severe. they are not necessarily that concerned with how the u.s. has canceled this largely symbolic and for the most part a photo-op of a military exercise between the two countries.

so it is not the kind of strong condemnation who those in this country that are concerned with the way the military has been behaving. now, keep in mind the military still does enjoy a tremendous amount of support here, especially in the wake of what they've done recently, but also in terms of what they did nearly a month ago with the removal of president mohamed morsi. many see that the military did step in on the side of the people, and their role has been somewhat welcomed over the course of the last several weeks in trying to get this country back on the right track and taking it away from the hands of what many people here are calling, you know, the terrorists of the muslim brotherhood. >> isn't this what the start of a civil war looks like? >> reporter: well, it's very difficult to say that at this point. there are some indications that civil strife may be on the horizon. but to get into a civil war, a full-out civil war, is somewhat premature. there are not all the indicators there that that is where the direction of the country is going for one very simple reason. that is the muslim brotherhood

itself, which is perhaps one of the major players this-in this scenario, has renounced violence. they insist that their demonstrations are going to be peaceful. but we know for a fact that's not necessarily the situation on the ground with many of their supporters. so it is an indication that the leadership of the organization still subscribes to peaceful demonstrations, although there are now some cracks within the organization, and we've seen a rise of some of the militancy in the sinai peninsula. but as a civil war in a pure sense, that is very difficult to project right now, given the fact that you still have a very strong functioning central government, security forces, and state institutions all across the country. >> ayman mohyeldin, thank you, in cairo. for more, i'm joined in washington by robin wright, a senior fellow at the woodrow wilson center. robin, here's what occurs to me. we're funding a military leadership that toppled a democratically elected president and is now responsible for the deaths of 600 protesters.

how do we square that with principle? >> well, that's the challenge for the obama administration, and i think there's going to be a growing debate in washington about how far to go. the words today from president obama were tough. the action was rather modest. i think there's going to be pressure on the hill, particularly from republicans to take stronger action. there are a lot of different permutations that are possible when it comes to u.s. aid. but i also suspect that the egyptian military really doesn't care, that it's determined to continue on a charted course, to confront and confine the muslim brotherhood to basically eliminate it from the political equation, and to move forward on its own agenda. and so i suspect that relations between the two countries are likely to get worse and potentially far worse before they get better. >> in "the daly beast today," peter beinart called what is happening in egypt obama's greatest failure.

quote, by historical standards, the obama administration has preside over few genuine foreign policy disasters. that's no accident. its self-consciously hippocratic approach modeled on world-weary pragmatists like dwight eisenhower and george herbert walker bush is designed to avoid them. but sometimes the refusal to take a bold, principled stand turns out to be the riskiest course of all. respond to that. >> this is an historic moment for the middle east in the same way 2 1/2 years ago the obama administration took one of the most imaginative and boldest positions in saying to president hosni mubarak, an ally for 30 years, it's time to go. and it was an important precedent and standing on the side of the people after tolerating autocratic rule for so long. this is a moment that the administration looks like it is willing to accept a coup, and that is not going to look good in the history books. so it is a moment of principle because this is a precedent. egypt is the most important country, the cornerstone of the peace process as well as u.s. relations with the entire arab world. so lots at stake here. >> robin, thank you very much

for your time. >> thank you. up next, what bill clinton could teach barack obama about dealing with the other side. and a programming note -- you can listen to my radio program weekday mornings at 9:00 eastern on sirius xm potus channel 124. this is "hardball," the place for politics.

back to "hardball." time for "the sideshow." netflix's "house of cards" is up for nine emmys in september, which is unprecedented for an online series. leading man kevin spacey was on "the colbert report" last night where he revealed the inspiration behind his character, the machiavellian d.c. insider frank underwood. take a look at what happened afterwards. >> this character was actually, when it was originally written, was based on richard iii. >> the hunchback king. >> yes. which is why in the series i turn and i talk directly to the audience, much the same way you

do here night after night. >> yeah. >> although in my case, they listen. >> you haven't won that emmy yet, kev. okay. all right. no, no, no. no, no, no. >> president obama spoke out on egypt this morning before hitting the golf course with an entourage of white house staff. of course he can look forward to teeing off against republicans over the looming threats of a government shutdown when he returns to washington. overcoming d.c. partisanship has become increasingly difficult over the years. but take a look at this. former president bill clinton had a creative way to deal with that issue when he was on vacation 20 years ago. >> in vail, colorado, this summer saturday, president clinton on what's being called a working vacation, was part of an interesting golf threesome at a local country club.

>> jack nicklaus missed the cut by a stroke at this weekend's pga tournament. his consolation, golf in vail with a couple of presidents, present and past. it was gerald ford besieged again by the white house press. >> i need help. >> i want somebody else to talk to the press. >> but it's president clinton who needs help, and the symbolism of this bipartisan outing was inescapable. >> the way i'm going to try to run the rest of my administration. i don't ever want the kind of polarization we had the last six months. >> clinton desperately needs republicans to help pass his two top priorities, a free-trade agreement and health care reform. gerald ford promised today to help clinton out with republicans. >> we've got a few thing where is we have similar views. >> now with bill clinton in hot pursuit of a few birdies and a few votes in congress, it looks bipartisan. >> no word on whether obama has invited any former presidents to the vineyard for a round of golf. next, just when the bob filner scandal couldn't get any creepier, a new woman comes forward. his latest accuser is a

67-year-old grandmother from the senior citizens service desk at san diego's city hall. and then there's this from ut tv, a mash-up of the mayor and robin thicke's blurred lines. ♪ if you can't tell we're a different age, maybe it's time you left, maybe you should resign ♪ and in other news, there is this sight. this hot dog truck has been spotted around new york city. it's the latest homage to merrill candidate anthony weiner, and it's dispensing free hot dogs. if weiner doesn't become mayor, maybe he has a future in marketing. up next, how do we tackle climate change when the right wing in this country even denies it's happening? that's ahead.

so the question is not whether we need to act. the overwhelming judgment of science, of chemistry and physics and millions of measurements, has put all that to rest.

97% of scientists, including, by the way, some who originally disputed the data, have now put that to rest. they've acknowledged the planet is warming and human activity is contributing to it. so the question now is whether we will have the courage to act before it's too late. >> welcome back to "hardball." that was president obama earlier this summer laying out a series of sweeping measures aimed at reducing green house gas emissions. republicans denounced the president's plan, and while that's hardly surprising, some of their reasoning on the issue of climate change is flat-out shocking. as you heard the president say, the science behind global warming and man's contribution to the problem is not in doubt, but that's not the way that some republicans tell it. >> i would point out that if you're a believer in the bible, one would have to say the great flood is an example of climate change. and that certainly wasn't

because mankind had overdeveloped hydrocarbon energy. >> today's environmental alarmists use faulty and in some cases deceitful computer models to prove that the world is being destroyed one way or the other while quite often the ones they're using in the last ten years, of course, was the world is be destroyed by man made carbon emissions. >> the fact this is due to man made gases i believe is the worst hoax perpetrated on the american people. >> the last clip was james inhofe, a member of the senate committee on environment. like so many substantive issues in politics today, president obama has been tasked to reason with members of the republican party with inflexible and entrenched ideological views. it all comes at a potentially toxic moment for the gop as they look to rebrand their image as a more reasonable party. but like so many other issues their dysfunction and obstruction isn't just their own problem because on an issue as important as the plant, it's

everybody's problem. chris hayes is the host of "all in" on nbc and just finished a new documentary on climate change called "the politics of power" airing tomorrow at 8:00 p.m. eastern. how did this issue become one of those that defines the partisan divide? like gun control or abortion. everybody lines up in their usual place. >> it's fascinating, actually, the trajectory of it, because you have basically opposition based on interest and opposition based on ideology. and the story of how one converted to the other is really interesting. the opposition based on interest, the fossil fuel companies who understand it will be their bottom line fundamentally that's going to take a hit as we move forwards renewables. and they've done a lot to fund the denial industry, et cetera, but they have also successfully done is gone to the conservative base and transformed it into a culture war issue. so it's not an abstract issue. it's about you're going to be told what kind of light bulbs to put in. it's about the liberal conspiracy that's lying to you. and they have managed to make it

a kind of culturally resonant issue with the base so now that base doesn't even need the fossil fuel industry to tell it to hate this. it has successfully learned to do so. >> is it in part what you're saying, then, it's driven by what those solutions might be and that those who are progressives, they like what those represent, conservatives do not? >> that is a big part of -- dana rohrabacher was just speaking a few days ago where he basically tipped his hand in this. it's basically if the planet is warming then we'll need government intervention. because we don't like government intervention, ergo the planet cannot be warming. and it's a reverse engineered logic that gets them to opposing it. >> polls show it's a pressing issue for americans, an issue you examine in the documentary. let's take a look at your work. >> according to a recent gallup poll, only one-third of americans are greatly worried about climate change. what can possibly explain this apathy when 99.8% of scientific

study support the existence of human-caused global warming? well, some of the credit goes to the so called experts who peddle dubious science to counter any government attempt to tackle the issue, the deniers. >> if you do nothing about this at all, for the whole of the next 23 years, the worst that will happen, using the u.n.'s own estimates, is a one fahrenheit degree warming, which will be largely harmless and beneficial. >> i think it's really important for people to realize that climate change denial has nothing to do with science. these people are for hire. they do not have any real scientific credentials. >> not surprisingly, some of the funding for climate change denial comes from the very industry with the most to lose, fossil fuel companies. >> it's obvious why they want climate change not to be true. as long as climate change is not true, then we can keep selling coal, natural gas, and oil, so remove the cause and your business is preserved.

>> and yet i hear that same argument being made from the other side, and they say, well, this is all about getting funding research. that's why all these scientists are buying into the notion of climate change. >> you're saying the denialists. >> right. >> yes. >> they say it's a gravy train. >> you would have to posit an unbelievably, unprecedented distributed conspiracy of essentially untold proportions to think that were the case. and in fact, given the fact the amount of money there is on the other side, given the money that fossil fuel companies would love to lavish on any research scientist who is credibly finding dissension from the consensus, there would be a huge market for that. >> you want to be the individual who could disprove -- >> exactly. you would be celebrated, get a lifetime grant, probably, from numerous fossil fuel companies. the fact of the matter is i actually think in some ways we talk about denial, because it's

very important to understand the contours in the politics, but it is losing steam. in fact, you've already seen conservatives switching from denial to an argument about futility. i see it all the time now. even the conservatives in my twitter feed who are yelling me about this special, they say, well, china and india are going to keep pumping -- you can't do anything about it. >> what is the answer to that? what is the answer to we can't do it single-handedly and russia and china unless there's a movement afoot in those countries that's successful? >> two answers. one, there are indigenous movements around the world. there are movements in china. there are movements in india to deal with the problem. number two is it's certainly not the case we can do it if we don't do something at home first. the necessary precondition to have that conversation with the chinese and the indians and the russians and the brazilians is for us to get our house in order and then we have the credibility to actually come to the table internationally and really start working towards something international. >> thank you, chris hayes. "the politics of power" premieres tomorrow night at 8:00 eastern right here on msnbc. up next, when history happened, he was there. the new movie about the man who served far longer in the white house than any president.

this is "hardball," the place for politics.

three arizona lawmakers with the federal government to send relief to the victims of the arizona wildfire, even though they voted against relief for victims of hurricane sandy. senators john mccain and jeff flake and congressman paul gosar say fema isn't doing enough to help the wildfire victims in their state. fema helped firefighters battling the june blaze, but did not declare the town of yarnell,

arizona, a federal disaster area, saying the damage to private homes there was within the capabilities of state and local agencies. back in january, mccain, flake, and gosar all voted against the $50 billion sandy relief package. mccain questioned whether some of the aid was going to affect those affected, and gosar even voted against a bare bones 9 million funding bill, one of only 67 members to do so. we'll be right back.

you're very popular around here. everyone says you're the man that got them to raise the promotions.

i had no idea. >> i wish i could take credit for that. >> i'd like to invite you to the state dinner next week. >> i'm going to be there, miss reagan. >> no, not as a butler, cecil. i'm inviting you as a guest. >> but the president prefers for me to serve him in person. >> don't you worry about ronnie. i'll take care of that. so we'll see you next week. you and your wife. >> my wife? >> it's gloria. yes? >> we're back. that was a scene from the new movie "the butler," which opens this weekend. the movie's inspired by the real-life story of eugene allen, a white house butler who spent decades serving u.s. presidents. in 2008, as barack obama was campaigning to become the nation's first african-american president, "washington post" reporter wil haygood set out to find an african-american who worked in the white house before the idea of a black president ever seemed possible.

his article, "a butler well served by this election," was published in the aftermath of the election, and here's how it describes mr. allen. quote, president truman called him gene. president ford liked to talk golf with him. he saw eight presidential administrations come and go, often working six days a week. he was there while america's racial history was being remade, brown versus the board of education, the little rock school crises, the 1963 march on washington, the city's burning, the civil rights bills, the assassinations. when he started at the white house in 1952 he couldn't even use the public restrooms when he ventured back to his native virginia. the writer of that article, wil haygood joins us now. he's also the author of the new book "the butler: a witness to history." ronald reagan knew eugene allen from his father's white house years. wil, i remember that tremendous column you wrote. i think we all do. how did you first get on to the

story? >> i had wanted to find somebody who worked in the white house during the era of segregation because i thought that then senator obama was going to win. i just felt it in my gut. and so i launched a nationwide search, looking for someone, and someone down in florida told me about this man who they thought had served in three administrations. when i finally tracked down mr. allen after 57 phone calls, he let me know very clearly and very pridefully that he had actually worked for eight administrations. >> wow. i know so many of us are anxious to go out this weekend and see the movie. how loyal is it to the real story? >> i think that the arc of the movie certainly gets mr. allen beautifully. but of course hollywood, the great director lee daniels, has taken some artistic license, but i think it all serves the story quite well, and i think

everybody will realize that the movie is unequivocally based on the life of this astonishing man who served eight presidents. >> ron reagan, what do you remember about meeting the real eugene allen? >> well, eugene allen would have been one of the first people my parents encountered when they entered the white house in 1981. in fact, i remember meeting him there after the inauguration. and they developed an immediate and really profound respect for him, not as a butler per se but as a compendium of knowledge about the white house. he was an immensely dignified, enormously competent man. and you realized really that you were in his house in a sense when you were in the white house. you were just passing through. all these presidents that come and go, you know, that's one thing, but eugene allen stayed. and he made you feel like you're in his house but as a very gracious host. >> hey, let's make clear that your mother inviting him to a state dinner is not hollywood fiction.

that happened. >> no. yes, indeed. he was retiring shortly thereafter. and they really did want to do something nice for him, because they just loved the guy. they were really crazy about him. and they thought he has never been to state dinner except to serve at the dinner. let's have him and his wife as our guests. they thought that was the most natural thing to do. >> how does your mother feel about jane fonda playing her in the movie? >> she gets a tickle. she gets the irony of that. she's tickled looking forward to seeing it. i don't think she's seen it yet. >> wil haygood, discretion is such a part of this job that individuals who serve the first family play. >> yes. it is. and i think that's why they trusted mr. allen. he really -- he really took care of their secrets and i think also the leaders of the free world who live at 1600

pennsylvania avenue, they're very learned men. they all knew about the emmett till murder, medgar evers. these events happened on their watch. they had to know this was having a deep personal effect upon mr. allen especially in the years that he was serving at the white house before the big civil rights bills. >> let's take a look at another clip from the movie depicting a huge generational divide between forrest whittaker who plays eugene allen, his inspired character, and his son. >> what was the name of that movie, honey? >> "in the heat of the night." >> "in the heat of the night" with sidney poitier. >> sidney poitier is a white man's fantasy of what he wants us to be. >> what are you talking about? he won the academy award, breaking down barriers for all of us. >> about being white, but acting white. >> sidney poitier is nothing but

a rich uncle tom. look at you. you're all puffed up. hat on your head. covering your hair. saying whatever you want. you need to go. >> what? >> get the hell out of my house. >> everybody just sit down. >> i'm sorry, mr. butler, i didn't mean to make fun of your hero. >> everything you are and everything you have is because of that butler. >> you can see it's an all-star cast. ron reagan, on that last subject of discretion, the folks who serve a first family, they really do know where all the bodies are buried and what a wonderful thing that in a 24/7 news bubble world like that in which we live, there's still keeper of secrets. >> it's true. i can remember being in the white house in 1986 and having an argument over dinner with my father about iran contra actually. we adjourned to the living quarters and things got a little more heated. i was really giving it to the old man. i was in my 20s and all. suddenly i looked up and

realized there is one of the ushers there with a tray of decaf coffee for after dinner. i thought, oh my god, i've been venting in front of this person but then realized absolute discretion on their part. they've heard much worse i'm sure, and nothing ever leaks from that white house from the stewards office there. >> wil haygood, congratulations. i remember as i say in 2008, a couple of days after the election, we should point out the butler's wife didn't live to see the election of president obama, and they had made plans, as you pointed out in that piece, to go and vote together. it was the sort of thing i can remember sharing with friends and i guess i just wanted to say thanks for finding the story and now being in a position to be able to bring it to the big screen. we're all looking forward to seeing it. thank you, both. >> thank you very much. >> wil haygood and ron reagan. let me finish with this.

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let me finish with this. congressman charlie dent and jim matheson belong to different parties and represent different parties on each side of the country. neither is an ideologue. they're no labels problem solvers. each has evidenced an independent streak in the house. they want to make it easier for voters to respond in kind. they're trying to end straight-party voting in federal elections. den is a republican from pennsylvania's 15th congressional district in the lehigh valley. matheson, a democrat from utah's fourth congressional district which stretches from parts of salt lake city in the north to spring city in st. pete county

in the south. pennsylvania and utah are 2 of just 15 states that still allow the practice of voters pulling a straight-party lever instead of making individual selections in elections. if the people before party act sponsored by dent and matheson becomes law, voters would need to make individual selections for congress, the senate and the presidency. nothing would preclude a voter from selecting all republicans or all democrats, but they'd have to get there in three steps instead of one. the two congressmen are hoping that forcing voters to vote for individual names instead of party labels will limit severe partisanship. matheson told me when voters can, quote, walk in, open the first page of a ballot, punch a party label and walk out, it diminishes their vote. he says it means we're not looking at individuals, we're just looking at party. supporters of straight-party balloting says it guarantees less publicized races are not ignored on the ballot. those who seek to end the practice counter that it will

spur consideration of independence and minor party candidates. not surprisingly, matheson told me the parties are not pleased with his effort to upset the status quo. according to dr. randall miller, professor of history at st. joseph's university, the history of straight-party voting stems from patronage. the straight-party balloting has declined sharply with baby boomers who inclined to split tickets but he questions the appeal of banning the method. the real problem with partisanship, says dr. miller, is not straight-party voting, but hyperpartisan districts created by gerrymandering. while miller is white, nate silver documented the declines. 1992, there were 102 competitive districts. now there are only 35. if we want to support problem solvers like dent and matheson, force voters to make multiple choices instead of pulling one lever. that's "hardball" for now. thank you for being with us. "all in with chris hayes" starts right now.

good evening from new york. i'm chris hayes. tonight on "all in" as the smoke clears from yesterday's deadly crackdown in egypt, the horrible human toll is revealed and the world decides how to react. we'll go back live to cairo in just a moment. also tonight, shocking video posted to the web gives a disturbing glimpse into the current situation for gays living in russia. as the outrage grows and olympics draw near, is there any way this doesn't become a full-blown firestorm? that plus my special documentary on climate change will be airing in this hour tomorrow night. tonight we'll give you a sneak preview of the politics of power. that's coming up. we begin with the gruesome aftermath of the worst military crackdown in egypt since its president mohamed morsi was