>> all right. mr. gerrard, good to have you with us tonight. i appreciate it. i know it's a long season, but i'm feeling for you. those steelers at 0-3. i think they're a little bit better than that. >> take it easy. >> muput a smile on your face. >> take it easy. >> that's "the ed show." i'm ed shultz. "politicsnation" starts right now. rev? >> thank you, ed. and thanks to you for tuning in. tonight's lead, the shutdown party. seven days to go until a possible government shutdown. and far right republicans are showing every indication they're serious about making this extreme move. today tea party senator ted cruz escalated his obsession with defunding the president's health care law. on the senate floor, the texas senator called on republicans to join him. >> i would submit to every republican in this body it is

our obligation to our constituents to do everything we can to prevent the majority leader from funding obama care. >> and then in almost the same breath, cruz had had the gall to accuse democrats of pushing the country to the brink. >> there is a tendency in this town towards brinksmanship. i wished the majority leader had not said he continues to use the threat of a default to engage in brinksmanship. >> it's a blatant attempt to stop democrats from funding the government and funding obama care at the same time. it won't work, and even some other republicans admit it. >> i can't imagine filibustering the bill i like from the house. >> the answer now in the senate

by those who propose this strategy is to filibuster the very bill they said they wanted. >> it's not just other republicans attacking the tea party's radical agenda. 59% of americans say they oppose a plan to shut down the government and stop paying the nation's bills in order to defund the new health care law. just 19% support the idea. president obama knows it, and he's ready to fight for it. >> this is an interesting thing to ponder. that your top agenda is making sure 20 million people don't have health insurance. and you'd be willing to shut down the government and potentially default for the first time in united states history because it bothers you so much that we're actually going to make sure that everybody has affordable health care.

well, let me say as clearly as i can, it is not going to happen. we have come too far. we've overcome far darker threats than those. we will not negotiate over whether or not america should keep its word and meet its obligations. we're not going to allow anyone to inflict economic pain on millions of our own people just to make an ideological point. and those folks are going to get some health care in this country. we've been waiting 50 years for it. >> the clock is ticking. the government shuts down in seven days. the senate will take a crucial vote to avoid that on wednesday. but tea party lawmakers are playing games in washington. in order to attack this president and take away -- joining me now is congressman

mcdermott from washington and joan walsh. thank you both for coming on the show. >> thanks. >> good to be here. >> congressman, let me go to you first. the house has passed a bill defunding obama care. what will the senate do now? >> throw it in the waste basket. they're not going to respond to that kind of thing. they are going to pass a budget resolution to continue the funding of the government, send it back to us without that on it. and it is going to be voted on in the house. the house will have to make their decision some time later this week as to whether they want to shut down the government or not. i'm afraid they're going to do it. >> joan, that is my fear. and i was struck by the president's statement that we played. that you really -- to make an ideological point and a partisan point, you're willing to for the first time in the history of this country, default the country to stop people -- 20 million americans from getting

health care. i mean, are we really at that point where we are so political and so ideological in this country and hate this president so that they will default the government? >> i think we are at that point. i don't know if they'll get away with it, but we're at that point. there was a gq profile of senator cruz today. something talked about was that some of us sit around, we're reasonable people and say what is their agenda? what do they want to accomplish? what do they want to get done? and ted cruz is quite clear. this is what he wants to get done. obstruction is not an accident or a by-product. obstruction is the point. repealing is the point. they want to repeal obama care. they want to repeal the 21st century. they want to go back and repeal the 20th century. they're gunning for social security and medicare and new deal protections of workers.

they really want to send us back to a day when women were in the kitchen, where workers didn't have protection, where there were no wage protections. and of course there was no guaranteed health insurance. >> now, they want to eradicate the great society, the new deal, all of that. and they're digging in and they don't care if they ruin the country to do it. you know, congressman mcdermott, former republican senator judd greg is slamming his own party for his extremism in this shutdown fight. let me show you this. he says most americans these days are simply ignoring republicans and they should. the self-promotional babble of a few has become the mainstream of the republican political thought. it has marginalized the influence of the party to an appalling degree. this ask a former republican senator stating that about his own party. but the real threat is that that

group may be able to be enough to shut the government down if we can pressure them or convince them whatever way becomes available in the congress to really stop this that would inflict so much pain on so many americans. >> reverend, i think what we've got here is a situation where they are going to run the string out. they already started it by trying to reduce food stamps. $20 billion in cuts on food stamps wasn't enough. they went to $40 billion. >> right. >> now they're going to try and take away the health care for people who are already beginning to get it from the president's plan, and they are going to push it to the point where they're going to have to have the public come back three or four days later and say are you people crazy? you go back there and get this country back on its feet. they simply believe that they

can convince the people if they keep pushing hard enough -- and the people are not dumb. the people see through this as judd gregg has already said. the people have already rejected this bunch. >> i think, joan, as much as one wants to see them politically hurt themselves, the pain that it will cause veterans and others that would suffer with a government shutdown as well as the denial of life insurance, none of us even those of us that want to see their political demise since they're so narrow minded, want to see that at the expense of american people. >> we don't. although it may be where we're headed. i feel like it's bizarre-o day where ted cruz is depicting this as it's harry reid's fault or barack obama's fault if we default or shut the government down. because they won't give up obama care. he also does this neat

rhetorical thing where he calls it a bill as though it is not the law of the land passed by congress, upheld by the supreme court. >> right. >> and then ratified again in a way in the 2012 election where the guy who wanted to end it was defeated soundly. and so to think the american people are stupid enough that they're going to think, oh, yeah, it is barack obama's fault he won't give up funding obama care, that's why the government is shutting down. the public sees through that. it's clear who they're going to blame. >> congressman, i think that's the most insulting to me to the intellect of the american public for them to really hold this country hostage, in effect, to say -- in political hostage to say you either do what i want despite the fact i lost in the house, lost in the senate on the bill, lost in the supreme court, and lost in general election. and by the way, it's not me, it's him doing it. like we're stupid on top of everything else.

>> you know, they voted on this 42 times in the last three years. and you would think somewhere in there they would have got a glimmer of understanding, but i really do believe , rev, they can't read polls. the polls say the president has been supported. both in the election and one done yesterday by one of the big newspapers. there is no question that the people are behind the president of the united states. and yet they keep running their head into the wall. it really is a crazy situation. >> congressman jim mcdermott and joan walsh, thank you for your time tonight. >> thanks for having me. coming up, the epic republican misstatements about obama care. we'll investigate the toxic group of right wing extremism and big money coming together to distort the truth.

plus here comes sarah palin. she's hammering john mccain and talking about cannibal elephants. huh? we'll have to explain that one. and an american crisis president obama is fighting to fix. the justice system targeting minorities. our special series, criminal injustice, begins tonight. also friend or foe, i want to know. e-mail me. reply al is ahead. [ man ] this isn't my first career. but it might just be my favorite. [ female announcer ] welcome to the new aarp. we're ready to help you rediscover purpose and passion with programs like life reimagined to inspire you and connect you, resources to help turn your goals and dreams

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have you joined the "politicsnation" conversation on facebook yet? today we gave our facebook fans a sneak preview of our criminal

injustice series that kicks off tonight. and everyone was talking about the fact that there are more african-americans living under correctional control today than were slaves in 1850. dominique says that's outrageous. now, why is that? we'll talk about it later in this show in our new series, criminal injustice. you can find more information about the issue on our facebook page. just head over to facebook and search "politicsnation" and like us to join the conversation that keeps going long after the show ends. [ male announcer ] this is claira. to prove to you that aleve is the better choice for her, she's agreed to give it up. that's today? [ male announcer ] we'll be with her all day to see how it goes. [ claira ] after the deliveries, i was okay. now the ciabatta is done and the pain is starting again. more pills? seriously? seriously. [ groans ] all these stops to take more pills can be a pain. can i get my aleve back?

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over the last four years, billions of dollars have been spent misinforming people about what this law's about. all the horror stories have not come true. >> no, the horror stories have not come true. after four years of fear mongering, four years of republican scare tactics like this. >> we were obama care will be a big job killer. >> it is killing jobs. it is causing more and more people not to be hired. >> this could destroy the 40-hour work week. >> the obama care death panels are in fact alive and well. >> of course there are death panels. >> your health care decision should be decided in your doctor's office. not a washington office. >> no one has the right to step between you and your doctor.

>> puts bureaucrats in charge of medical decisions. >> we don't want to put the government and bureaucrats between a doctor and a patient. >> that's a job killer, they're getting between you and your doctor. none of it is true. none of it. but only eight days before open enrollment begins, the gop big money is flooding in to try and scare americans. joining me now is wendell potter, a former health insurance executive who knows the industry from the inside. he's the author of deadly spin. wendell, thank you for joining me. >> thank you, reverend al. >> now, you recently wrote, wendell, about scare tactics in an effort to stop obama care. and i'm quoting you. you said quote, having played a role in similar campaigns designed to mislead the government in hopes of defeating

legislation, i know how frantic the anti-obama care folks must be right about now. now, a lot of people are confused about the law. how are the opponents trying to mislead the public, wendell? >> well, they're trying to mislead the public because they still have a very short window of time to mislead us until the law becomes more of a reality than it already is. already about 100 million americans have benefitted from the affordable care act. >> about how many? >> about 100 million. >> have already benefitted? how have they benefitted? >> absolutely. for one thing, people who are on medicare are getting help with their prescription drugs and preventive care for many cases. young people are able to stay on their parents' policies until they're 26 years old. that happens to be a benefit to my household. my daughter was able to go back on our policies. when you look at the population, people who are young and elderly, many of us have been

able to benefit. and many more of us will in just a few days. >> now, wendell, let's look at some of these myths. because we're eight days away from open enrollment starting. and people really need to know. and they're not all policy wonks. so when they say it's a job killer, that's wrong. many experts have pointed out there will be little or no impact on jobs. they claim government will come between you and your doctor. they're wrong again. the affordable care act doesn't set up a government-run system. in fact, the law comes between you and your insurance company charging you more money. and their favorite claim, the death panels that will decide when you die. that couldn't be farther from the truth. the so-called death panel is a committee to congressional oversight and approval to reign

in soaring cost of medicare. nothing to do with your life. but these are the kinds of things they are using all kinds of money -- as the president said billions -- to try to pr propagandize. >> these are the same tactics used to develop and implement during my years in the insurance industry. they're intended to try to change people's opinion and make people afraid of the affordable care act. so that they will agree with the insurance companies and their benefactors who those who are wanting to have fewer regulations. they want us to think this is overreach by the government. it's all about politics. >> and it's protecting their profits. you said that. but let me show you something that really bothered me. and i've been very passionate about this issue. and i did an interview on the show last week with the tea party congressman. and i think this says it all.

watch this. >> what people don't understand, congressman, is how we pass laws the supreme court upholds and you guys come in and say we're not going to fund it and even worse, if money goes there we'll shut the whole government down. we thought we lived in a democracy. come on, congressman, that's not what this country's supposed to be about. >> al, just a reminder. this isn't a democracy. it's a republic. >> now, anyone knows this is a democratically elected republic. a democracy. that's how we choose who represents us. for him to say that and just totally put aside the principles of democracy is about as blatant as you can get on live television. >> you're exactly right. and it also kind of gives you a hint at what some of these people are really wanting. they're wanting to really establish an ol gar ki in the

country where big money interests get to call the shots. and they have in many cases. that's why it taken us a hundred years to get this reform we're about to get. >> wendell potter, thanks for joining us. >> thank you, reverend al. appreciate it. coming up, she's back! sarah palin calls the gop gutless and attacks fox news. and she thinks this is good for her party. meantime, president obama continues hammering the gop and refusing to give into their bully tactics. go anywhere in the world, but you had to leave right now, would you go? man: 'oh i can't go tonight' woman: 'i can't.' hero : that's what expedia asked me. host: book the flight but you have to go right now. hero: (laughs) and i just go? this is for real right? this is for real? i always said one day i'd go to china, just never thought it'd be today. anncr: we're giving away a trip every day. download the expedia app and your next trip could be on us.

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we're back with some developing news. the senate has just scheduled a vote for this wednesday on the republican plan to defund obama care. democrats are expected to smack it down. a major defeat against ted cruz's crusade against the law. cruz's obsession has led the republican party to the brink of its own civil war. can the problem get any bigger for this party? >> you bet ya. >> oh, yes. sarah palin's back. she's defending senator cruz and demolishing republican leaders with a blistering editorial calling the permanent political class in d.c. quote, nothing but -- nothing if not gutless and rudderless. welcome to our world, ted. the same people have been

denouncing conservatives like me for years. but team palin/cruz is facing a backlash from republicans. >> this has been one of the strangest weeks i've ever had in washington. i say that because as soon as we listed ted cruz as our featured guest this week, i got unsolicited research and questions, not from democrats, but from top republicans who -- to hammer cruz. >> republicans trying to hammer cruz. that has governor palin seeing red. she fired off a tweet to her fox colleagues. keep it truly fair and balanced. release the gop names encouraging you to trash senator cruz. no more anonymous sources. calling out her fox news colleagues? and later in the day she took to the air. >> my dad who was a science

teacher and natural history teacher -- dad, if you're watching this morning and you're out of moose camp and home, you are a teacher and you never told me that elephants were cannibalistic. i wish i would have known and then we would have a different tactic in the way we do campaigning. >> moose camp? cannibalistic elephants? just what the gop needed. sarah palin back in the headlines. time to grab the popcorn. this is a reality show like no other. joining me now are krystal ball and cynthia tucker. thank you both for being here. >> good to be here. >> thanks. >> palin says democrats are acting like cannibal elephants. but she's one of the elephants attacking. now with palin involved, how messy could this get in the republican party? >> oh, it is getting worse and worse by the hour, reverend. you know, this civil war which

has been getting worse and worse by the hour anyway, is now much worse with sarah palin involved in it. out there leading the charge from one's side. this is a war between those republicans who are merely conservative and the crazy republicans. and i don't think i have to say which camp sarah palin is in. you know, for those republicans who were hoping that they could pull back the party from the brink, that they wouldn't go over the edge like lemmings and take the whole republican brand with them, this has to be a nightmare. because sarah palin loves publicity now that she's been acknowledged again, she is not going to go away. >> and to show you that she's right, krystal, palin was asked how she'd respond to republicans like her former running mate john mccain who are against cruz's plan. listen to how she responded.

>> senator mccain, your former running mate says to think we can defund obama care in this way is quote, not rational. how do you respond to those who say this is a fool's errand. >> we ask they don't wave a white flag and give into those who want this socialized program of health care coverage in our nation. >> i mean, john mccain shouldn't wave a white flag and give into liberals? i mean, is this going to antagonize mainstream republicans even more? >> what i love about what she said, too, is she's got the american people behind her. we just had an election on this issue, and i don't think that her side won. but what's incredible here, too, is she and ted cruz are a match made in heaven. because they both are motivated by their own selfish interests in publicity and in fame. neither one of them is any more conservative than the people that are denouncing them, but

they both are more selfish and less interested in governance. all they want is for all the media attention to go to them. and sadly for ted cruz, this has worked. it has made him this quote, unquote rising star and contender for 2016. that really is what he's after here. >> are we looking at megalo mania and narcissism or true ideology here? >> i don't see any ideology in this, reverend. there was certainly no ideology i could detect in sarah palin. if you look throughout they are political career, she has only been interested in advancing the interest of sarah palin. and i think absolutely the same is true of ted cruz. do their instincts tend to run more to the right? that is true. they're on the right side of the ideological spectrum. but i think it is absolutely

true that they're most interested in advancing themselves. if they were more interested in advancing the conservative cause, they wouldn't be destroying the republican party. >> now, you're right. because when we saw sarah palin wouldn't even rule out running for the senate. watch this. >> ted cruz and more of those good guys need some reenforcements in these re-elections. they need help to undo so much of what the democrats are doing. i don't know if it'll necessarily be me. >> i don't know if it'll necessarily be me. but let me bring this to you, krystal. in her breitbart op-ed, she warns republicans who are against the shutdown and it got a little weird. let me read it. quote, oh and a little reminder to republican senators up for re-election in 2014, moose season ends soon.

allowing more time on one's hands. so we'll be watching your votes very carefully this week. moose season aside, she does have a good record with endorsements. ted cruz, kelly ayotte, nikki haley. will republicans be afraid to get on her bad side, krystal? >> well, she has those. i believe she has a few like christine o'donnell and sharon angle also she's backed. sarah palin's star has waned very far. now it's not just people like us who call her out, but her own side who are willing to denounce her when she makes crazy statements like she is now. she doesn't have the fund raising pool she once had. she is not going to be a force to be reckoned with in 2014 despite her illusions here. >> cynthia, on the other side when all this is going on, president obama while they're squabbling, he's been staying very tough. look at this.

>> the idea of reversing that progress because of an unwillingness to compromise or because of some ideological agenda is the height of irresponsibility. you have never seen in the history of the united states the debt ceiling or the threat of not raising the debt ceiling being used to extort a president or a governing party. this is the united states of america. we're not some banana republic. this is a not a dead beat nation. we don't run out on our tab. let me say as clearly as i can, it is not going to happen. we have come too far. >> i mean, he's really hitting them hard. i mean, how does this make the republicans look, cynthia? >> well, it makes them look like what they are. a bunch of terrorists who will have taken the country hostage or who have at least threatened

to take the country hostage if they don't get their way. and there is a reason that the u.s. government says we don't negotiate with hostages. you'll remember, the president negotiated with them the last time. he was trying to do the reasonable thing because he thought he had reasonable people on the other side. >> right. >> all he ended up with was them coming back, being even morery li -- ridiculous. >> that's right. >> we are not going to pay the nation's bills unless you give up obama care. so the president has finally figured out he has to stand up to these extremists. and by the way, the president rallies democrats behind him when he does this. you know, democrats have been feeling a little forsaken as if the president has been giving up too much in negotiating with republicans. >> he's rallying them now. because, krystal, at the

congressional black caucus, i was there. the president is dealing with real issues. listen to this. >> we can't rest until every american knows the security of quality affordable health care. we can't rust until all of our children can go to school or walk down the street free from the fear that they will be struck down by a stray bullet. we've got to raise the minimum wage. nobody who works full-time in the wealthiest nation on earth should have to raise their children in poverty. we have to make this a country where anybody who works hard can earn their way into the middle class. >> i mean, with him fighting like this with this fervor, will republican division help him with his agenda? >> i think it will at least in the short-term with these fights. i think we'll get through the shutdown hopefully with democrats united and the debt ceiling debate as well. because democrats are united and

the american people are united behind the priorities the president laid out there. on the other hand you have republican who is are trying to deny americans health insurance. i don't know why they don't just give the law a shot and see if it actually could help people in this country. what a novel idea. >> but, i mean, 20 million americans. they're willing to sacrifice young people up to age 26, people with pre-existing conditions just to make an egotist kal point. it is frightening. but i think they may be that crazy. krystal ball and cynthia tucker, thank you both for your time tonight. >> thanks, reverend. >> thank you. >> don't forget to catch krystal on "the cycle" here on msnbc. coming up, republicans cut food stamps by $39 billion. tonight i'm serving up some of their own hypocrisy. but first, the stunning

investigation of our criminal justice system. more african-americans under the prison system now than were slaves in 1850. our special series criminal injustice starts next. meeting took forever.

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ensuring that the scales of justice work equally for all in the criminal justice system is not simply a pipeline from underfunded schools to overcrowded jails. it requires vigilance. >> the vigilance the president is talking about is desperately needed. because there is a crisis in our justice system, a crisis we all must address. in 1971 president nixon launched a war against drugs. at the time there were 300,000 americans in prison. 300,000. that number then exploded to more than 2 million. that's a 700% increase. and that increase comes primarily from the minority population. it's been 150 years since the

emancipation proclamation, yet today there are more african-americans living under correctional control in prison, in jail, on probation or parole than were slaves in 1850. just think about that for a moment. in some states blacks comprise 80% to 90% of all drug offenders sent to prison. 1 in every 106 white men go to prison. but for black men, that number is 1 in every 15. this disparity flies in any face of all the facts of drug use. a study by the institution of drug abuse found white students use cocaine at seven times the rate of black students. crack at eight times the rate of black students. and heroin at seven times the rate of black students.

joining me now, michelle alexander. she's author of the book "the new jim crow: last incarceration in the age of color blindness." and film maker eugene jeraki. thank you both for coming on the show. >> thanks. >> thank you. >> michelle, let me start with you. you were a civil rights attorney, and when you found out this data, i read it changed you. and that's what led to you crystallizing it in the book "the new jim crow." >> after years of representing victims of racial profiling and police brutality and trying to help people who are released from face one barrier, one legal road block after another to getting a job, getting access to housing, getting even food stamps. i had an awakening that our criminal justice system now functions much more like a

system of racial and social control than a system of crime prevention or control. >> eugene, in your film you really had a part where you talked about once people finish serving time, they still face huge barriers. listen to this clip and explain it to us. >> sure. >> when he gets out of the prison, he can't get a job in most places because of his record. >> if you have a felony charge, you need to be working. you need to be trying to move yourself forward. >> if he wants to go back to school to go to college, he is uneligible by law for grants. he can't live in certain neighborhoods. his family that was the center piece of his life, if they're living in public housing, they can't take him in. >> one of the things we learned when we went to prisons all over this country was that corrections people, people who were wardens, jailers, prison guards, they all told us often the same thing. and it was a complaint about the system. i thought they were all going to

be tough on crime, lock them up and throw away the keys. they said, look, we try to do the best we can by these people. but the laws are so tough out there and congress people are profiting politically by sounding tough on crime so much that all they do is flood us with human beings by having tougher laws. we lived for a very long time with the idea crack is a black drug and powder is a white drug. the facts i discovered when i made the film is crack was never a black drug. the majority of crack users in the united states of america are and always have been white. once you know that fact, it reminds you how much propaganda has hood winked us for 40 years about these drugs. my message is we need a proper, educated, scientific, smart public health approach to addiction to replace the now-failed drug war. >> one of the reasons our drug policy has been so insane in practice is because the motivation for the drug war was never at bottom about ending drug abuse and drug addiction.

if that had been the motivation, then we would have poured billions of dollars into drug treatment. but we didn't do that. instead, we slashed drug funding for treatment and billions of dollars into prisons and jails and filling them with black and brown youth. this is because of the racial politics that animated the war on drugs. we were experiencing the economic collapse of inner city communities at the same time. there was a backlash brewing against the civil rights movement. so in the '70s and early '80s, former segregationists were saying law and order. >> yeah. >> and get tough. >> yeah. >> instead of segregation forever. >> you say, eugene, in the film that this nation has a history of we've criminalized drugs to target certain ethnic groups. >> yes. >> look at this. >> of course, you can't throw people in jail simply because they're chinese. but you can throw them in jail because they smoke opium.

the same way we saw things going on with cocaine. again, it was middle aged successful people in this country, business executives, physicians, housewives. all perfectly legal. then around the turn of the century, cocaine began being associated with blacks. they can work hard all day, all night long and all day long again threatening the jobs of white workers and so laws began to be passed against cocaine. >> cocaine, evil among negroes i saw in the last headline. >> that wasn't recent, but it might as well be because we haven't left those stereotypes. i think it's important to make the progress we need to make socially on this issue. the president and the attorney general have actually done something in washington where nothing gets done. they have made a very serious move against the drug war for the first time in its history. >> but the problem, michelle, is that unless we have this message

out and translate that into legislators, it will expire with the term of the president. and i think that's what's frightening. >> much more can be done, and it's going to take an awakening within our community and a movement must be built. >> and we must make sure there's not a regression after this administration. michelle alexander and eugene jerecki, such an important issue. thank you so much for both of your times. >> thank you. ahead, republicans voted to slash food stamps by nearly $40 billion. but i'm about to spoon feed them some of their own hypocrisy. next. [ male announcer ] legalzoom has helped start over 1 million businesses. if you have a business idea, we have a personalized legal solution that's right for you. with easy step-by-step guidance, we're here to help you turn your dream into a reality. start your business today with legalzoom.

it's a corner stone in the republican playbook. attack people who receive government assistance. last week house republicans voted to slash nearly $40 billion from the food stamp program. in kansas, tea party congressman tim yoouls camp was practically gushing about how it will punish free loaders. >> go pick up trash in a road ditch. i'm not saying it's part of that bill, but we got to do something. there's three and a half to four million american adult who is are able-bodied, have no

dependent, and what do we require them to do to get a free check for food? nothing. >> nothing. what an outrage. just giving people checks to feed their families. let's remember, 76% of the households that get food stamps include children, seniors, or disabled people. in households where an adult is able to work, 58% do. and 82% worked the year before or the year after they received food stamps. but it's interesting that governor huelskamp is so against people getting government money. because his family is raking it in. t"the huffington post" found congressman huelskamp's parents have received over $1 million in farm subsidies since 1995. his brother's farm got $1.6 million. but he's not alone.

this is becoming a new tradition on the right. steven fincher also voted for the food stamps cut. here's what he says about the program. >> the role of citizens, of christians, of humanity is to take care of each other. but not for washington to steal money from those in the country and give it to others in the country. >> yeah. washington shouldn't steal money from some to pay for food stamps. it should only do that for farm subsidies. congressman fincher's farm has received $3.5 million in federal funding since 1999. and buzz feed found three other house republicans who voted for food stamps cuts but got hundreds of thousands in farm subsidies. if these guys are so worried about government handouts, maybe they shouldn't be feasting on them.

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it's time for reply al. remember friend or foe, i want to know. kelvin wants to know if the government is to shut down, congress gets a paycheck and the military gets an iou. let's swap that around. the military is more deserving because they're doing their job. kelvin, i couldn't agree with you more. if the congressmen that are voting for this shutdown really believe in what they're doing, they ought to put their check up for an iou and pay the military. if you believe in something, you stand behind it. you don't try to have it both ways. i never called the demonstration i didn't lead. don't call for a shutdown but keep your stuff going. if you believe in the shutdown,

then you ought to shut down your check and show you mean what you believe what you say and say what you mean. thanks for watching. i'm al sharpton. "hardball" starts right now. dangerous cruz. let's play "hardball." ♪ good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. let me start tonight with this. a big story on hillary clinton tonight on that terrorist attack in kenya. but i want to say a word about this ted cruz guy. not since joe mccarthy have we seen a senator with such sinister self-assuredness. he knows who and what he hates. he hates everything about president obama. his goal is to exterminate the entire obama record.