al sharpton starts now. good evening, rev. >> good evening k, ed. and thanks to you for tuning in. i'm live tonight from atlanta. tonight's lead, back in business. after 16 days the gop shutdown nightmare is over. today hundreds of thousands of furloughed government workers went back to work. vice president biden was up early to welcome environmental protection agency workers with some hugs and hand shakes. he even brought along some muffins for the crew. and look at this. the national zoo's famous panda cam is back online. and the national monuments are also open. here's some of the tourists at the lincoln memorial. and no sign of sarah palin or ted cruz today over at the world war ii memorial. this morning president obama gave a heart felt and emotional speech from the white house. thanking government employees

for their hard work and patience. we'll have more on that ahead. but he also spoke bluntly to the party that got us into this mess. >> that's not a surprise that the american people are completely fed up with washington. at a moment when our economic recovery demands more jobs, more momentum, we've got yet another self-inflicted crisis that set our economy back. and for what? >> for what? for nothing. speaker boehner, ted cruz, and the tea party extremists held this country hostage for 16 days and got absolutely nothing in return. today the president said enough is enough. >> to all my friends in

congress, understand that how business is done in this town has to change. because we've all got a lot of work to do on behalf of the american people and that includes the hard work of regaining their trust. we come from different parties, but we are americans first. and that's why disagreement cannot mean dysfunction. it can't degenerate into hatred. >> hatred. that's exactly what this was. this was beyond politics or policy. comparing obama to slavery, calls for impeachment. >> you don't like a particular policy or a particular president, then argue for our position. go out there and win an election. push to change it. but don't break it. don't break what our

predecessors spent over two centuries building. >> go out and go out there and win an election. but guess what. despite record low polling, some on the right already talking about doing this all over again. this drama is to be continued. joining me now is congressman chaka fattah from pennsylvania and krystal ball. thank you for coming on the show. >> thanks for having us, rev. >> congressman -- >> good to be back, al. >> good to have you. congressman, let me go to you first. pretty blunt talk from the president today. let me ask you straight out. are your colleagues across the aisle finally getting the message? >> look, i think they are even though it takes a minute for it to settle in. they had some problem processing the fact that he actually got elected and re-elected. so it takes a little while, but i intend to finish my service in

the congress in about ten years if my district keeps me there. and i hope we never spend another day in this kind of nonsense. we spent three weeks on nothing. getting the government open and paying our bills. the president has not spent $1 that the congress hasn't appropriated. to act as if he's the spender, all spending is authorized by the congress. we need to pay our bills. i said on your show last week that the president wasn't going to compromise. he didn't equivocate one inch. i think he's made it clear that going forward the congress has to do its work. and their job is to produce a budget. so we had the breakfast meeting this morning for the budget committee. they need to work through their differences in the senate budget and house budget. >> krystal, the president said exactly that. in fact, he said that he challenged the congress to stop

lurching from crisis to crisis. watch this. >> nothing has done more to undermine our economy these past three years than the kind of tactics that create these manufactured crises. there's no good reason we can't govern responsibly despite our differences. without lurching from manufactured crisis to manufactured crisis. >> isn't this really where we have to try and go, krystal, to go from this governing from manufactured crisis to manufactured crisis as the president said to where we get down to governing based on the needs of the american people. >> that's exactly right. and is the problem with this congress, i mean, we could call them a do-nothing congress, but they're worse than that. because of the republicans in the house and folks like ted cruz, they are actually destructive. we didn't just have a debate for the past three weeks about nothing. we actually were destroying

economic growth in this country. i mean, that's the thing is i'm glad the government's reopened. i'm glad the debt ceiling's lifted, but we're looking at another fight just a couple of months down the road. and so this all comes down to it. it doesn't come down to the president. it doesn't come down to ted cruz. it doesn't even come down to the tea party republicans. it comes down to john boehner. whap does he want to do? what kind of a speaker does he want to be? because there are a lot of good folks in the democratic party who would love to partner with moderate republicans to actually get things like immigration reform and a budget deal passed. john boehner himself could make the decision to go in that direction. >> but what's troubling, congressman, when you look at the potential republican presidential candidates, look how they voted. they all voted no. that includes congressman paul ryan, senator ted cruz, senator marco rubio, senator rand paul.

they voted no. they voted for default. i mean, what does that say about where the party is, the republican party? >> well, we can't allow them to drive us into becoming a dead beat nation. i want to agree with what krystal said. the best speaker of any house that served was willie brown in california. he created a bipartisan leadership team. boehner can lead the congress. he can't lead the tea party wing of his party. he's going to have to leave them aside if he wants to help move our country forward. we need to deal with our education challenges, our other challenges that you've been so involved with, reverend sharpton. what we can't spend our time doing is having these human-created catastrophes. i was in israel on monday meeting with the president of israel. he was befuddled in a situation where our country shut down.

we have such an important role to play in the world. we can't afford to go to sleep at the switch. speaker boehner has to do what he's done yesterday. a majority of republicans voted no. but a majority of the house voted yes. let's open for business the united states of america. >> but, krystal, as you referred to about where we are in terms of some republicans, i mentioned earlier some refuse to admit they lost. i mean, gop congresswoman cynthia loomis says she's quote, not prepared to suggest this has been a complete loss. gop congressman john fleming warned, see, we're going to do this all over again. and this morning, gop congressman matt sileman said republicans could have won if they were more unified. listen. >> the party itself was very divided during this. i think if we were unified in carrying one message, we would

have been a lot more successful. >> krystal, this is not sounding like all of them have learned a lesson from this. >> no. and that's what's really frightening here. i mean, they didn't learn a lesson from the 2011 debt ceiling situation. they didn't learn a lesson from losing the election in 2012. and i don't think that the radical elements of the party, the ones who have been essentially driving what the entire republican caucus does, i don't think that they've learned a lesson from this either. in fact, what we really need to look at is the forces that are driving this situation. because these folks in the house, this is in their political interest to vote for default, to vote for the country to default is in their best interest. and that has not changed. in fact, you're seeing folks coming out and saying on the right like eric erickson that they want to see more primary challenges, enforce more purity on the republican party in the house. i mean, that is a scary situation. it could get worse before it gets better.

>> well, i'm going to have to leave it there. congressman chaka fattah and krystal ball, thank you for your time tonight. let me say i'm glad the government is back open. i'm glad the debt limit has been dealt with, but i don't think we can rest until we have gotten past the next deadlines and we must remain focused on moving the agenda of this country ahead. don't forget to watch krystal on "the cycle" week days at 3:00 right here on msnbc. ahead, remember the guy who said president obama bows down to allah and should drop the koran? well, now he's apologizing. well, sort of. but not really. and president obama drops the mic on rush limbaugh. we'll show you how he called out all the right wing blow hards on the radio. plus pop some popcorn. now sarah palin is attacking

other republicans. and it's great news for democrats. also, what's on your mind? e-mail me? friend or foe, i want to know. reply al is ahead. [ woman ] too weak. wears off. [ female announcer ] stop searching and start repairing. eucerin professional repair moisturizes while actually repairing very dry skin. the end of trial and error has arrived. try a free sample at eucerinus.com. i have a big meeting when we land, but i am so stuffed up, i can't rest. [ male announcer ] nyquil cold and flu liquid gels don't unstuff your nose. they don't? alka seltzer plus night fights your worst cold symptoms, plus has a decongestant. [ inhales deeply ] oh. what a relief it is.

have you joined the "politicsnation" conversation on facebook yet? we hope you will. president obama has inspired a big conversation today among many of our fans who are proud of him for refusing to back down. sylvia says mr. president, you stood your ground for us. thank you. david says, i'm proud of president obama and democrats for not folding just because republicans were throwing a temper tantrum over obama care. rosanne says, with everything

they have tried to do to discredit him, he still rises above. what do you think? we want to hear from you and your take on things. please head over to facebook and search "politicsnation" and like us to join the conversation that keeps going long after the show ends. no matter what city you're playing tomorrow. [ coughs ] ♪ [ male announcer ] you can't let a cold keep you up tonight. vicks nyquil -- powerful nighttime 6-symptom cold & flu relief. ♪ with three entrées under $20. like our new snow crab and crab butter shrimp, just $14.99. only at red lobster where we sea food differently. [ male announcer ] now try 7 lunch choices at $7.99. sandwiches, salads, and more. with my united mileageplus explorer card. i've saved $75 in checked bag fees. [ delavane ] priority boarding is really important to us. you can just get on the plane and relax. [ julian ] having a card that doesn't charge you foreign transaction fees saves me a ton of money.

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candidates. house republicans are turning on ted cruz. and business groups are standing by john boehner, but plotting against the tea party. and why are they in such disarray? because president obama knocked them out with one political punch after another. >> let me repeat, i will not negotiate over congress' responsibility to pay bills its already racked up. you don't negotiate by putting a gun to the other person's head. or worse yet by putting a gun to the american people's head. we can't make extrorgs routine. do what's right. open the government and make sure we're paying our bills. >> the tea party wanted this fight and they got one. but the president refused to let them dictate the conversation. refused to negotiate over the full faith and credit of the united states. refused to give an inch. and it's not me saying that,

just ask john boehner. >> we fought the good fight. we did everything we could to get them to the table and to negotiate. they just kept saying no, no, no, no, no. >> when the right wing was being unreasonable, the president gave them a simple no. and guess what he'll say if they try it again. >> is this going to happen all over again in a few months? >> no. >> so is it going to be easy for the tea party to bounce back from this defeat? i'm going to channel the president here. no. joining me now is congressman allen grayson, democrat of florida. thank you for being here. >> thank you. >> congressman, does the president have the tea party on the ropes? >> i think so. i think that ordinary americans are with the president. they're appalled by the tea party's tactics where they come

to the president saying if you don't let us steal your car, we'll burn down your house. they're appalled by the way the tea party cheered on the fact we put our credit at risk for a generation to come. and they're appalled by the enormous expense, the fact that this temporary shutdown ended up costing america $24 billion. that's almost $100 for every man, woman, and child in this country. frankly, they want their money back and the tea party out of their lives. at this point the tea party is no more popular than the klan. >> some on the right are already threatening those who didn't push the defund movement all to the end. sarah palin wrote on facebook, and i'm quoting it, rest well tonight for soon we will focus on important house and senate races. let's start with kentucky. from sea to shining sea we will not give up. we've only just begun to fight. from sea to shining sea,

congressman. what will happen if the right launches a tea party primary fights all over the country? >> i think it's already clear to people that the republican party is on its way out. the republican party is going to go the way of the wigg party. and the reason is simple. they simply won't do anything useful for ordinary people. whether the issue is jobs or housing or health care or transportation, whatever the issue might be, they got nothing. and it's not our fault, but they've got nothing. they simply want to bring about the end of days as quickly as possible. that is the ultimate tea party republican desire to bring about the end of days. the republican party's become the largest suicide pact in history. and i hope they don't take us with them. >> now, you say they got nothing. the president says the fever is broken. has the fever been broken? >> no. not yet. the fever will be broken when we vote them out of office and take back the house next november. but in the meantime, we have to protect ourselves.

and we have to protect ourselves specifically from their destruction. their desire for destruction that keeps welling up over and over again. now, i've introduced the simple two-page bill. hr-213. it funds the government for the rest of the year raises the debt ceiling until after the elections when we can safely deal with these problems. and i'm hoping people will flock to it. we've had over 20,000 people come to our website end the lunacy.com. we want to end the lunacy. they feel the same way the president does. they're tired of this. they want their needs met. they want congress to listen to them and not get sucked into these artificial crises that drag us lower and lower to the bottom. >> rush limbaugh says the problem is there weren't enough ted cruzs. listen to this. >> can you imagine in this last fight if we would have had five or ten ted cruzs. can you imagine the different dynamic? can you imagine -- if we had

five or ten ted cruzs, we'd win a lot of debates. if we had 45 ted cruzs in the senate, we'd come close to winning every vote. >> clearly the right wing talkers aren't giving up. but the poll numbers for the gop is in the tank. will the leadership of the gop keep listening to these talkers? >> listen, boehner has to go. boehner dragged this country with its tea party allies through the mud for two and a half weeks. completely unnecessarily. there was no purpose to this whatsoever. the bill we voted on late last night was the same bill we could have voted on two weeks ago, two months ago, two years ago. and the fact is that john boehner has become a short order cook for the far right wing. would you like some french fries or cheese with that? that's what he does. he takes whatever they want and he lays it out there as if that's the right thing to do. another thing about him is for nine times before this week, before this month, he stepped back from the abyss and let

democrats do the responsible thing which is to keep the government running and to pass bills that needed to be billed. and this time he did not. and in doing so, he became useless. at this point, dr. jekyell has become mr. hyde. he has to go -- everyone who is willing to cater to the tea party has to go so americans finally get the government they deserve. >> congressman alan grayson, thank you for your time. >> thank you too. coming up, what inspired some strong passion today from the president. it's a moment that goes to the heart of the difference between him and the republicans. plus the citying congressman who compared hurricane katrina to obama care. we'll tell you who said it and why it's part of a disturbing pattern on the right. [ woman #1 ] why do i cook? ♪ because an empty pan is a blank canvas. ♪

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the right wingers like to try to mock president obama's experience as a community organizer. well, you know what? he's still a community organizer. but the community is america. the entire country. and today he showed extraordinary passion talking about public service as a force for good. we'll talk about that next. of , color, and design. showing up where we least expect it. and taking inspiration from our wildest dreams. because kohler doesn't see the world in fixtures and faucets. it reimagines. coloring our lives in ways only bold could do, it's no wonder the world can't wait to see what kohler does next.

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past few weeks is that it turns out smart effective government is important. it matters. i think the american people during this shutdown had a chance to get some idea of all the things large and small that government does that make a difference in people's lives. and we hear all the time about how government is the problem. it turns out we rely on it in a whole lot of ways. so let's work together to make government work better. instead of treating it like an enemy, or purposely making it work worse. >> government is not the enemy. we the people are the government. we have made this together. to help each other. helping victims of a natural

disaster. government is the teacher helping your children to read and write. today the president had a message for those government workers who have been so maligned by the right. >> i've got a simple message for all the dedicated and patriotic federal workers who have either worked without pay or have been forced off the job without pay these last couple weeks including most of my own staff. thank you. thanks for your service. welcome back. what you do is important. don't let anybody else tell you differently. especially the young people who come to this city to serve. believe that it matters. we come from different parties, but we are americans first. that's why disagreement cannot mean dysfunction. it can't degenerate into hatred.

the american people's hopes and dreams are what matters, not ours. our obligations are to them. >> president obama says government is part of the solution. conservatives say government is part of the problem. this question has been at the heart of our political debate for decades. progressives won that argument during the 2012 election. and the polls show we won it again during the shutdown. joining me now is denver mayor michael hancock. he's part of the mayors for educational chance tour. a cross country initiative to improve education policies and programs. also joining me is journalist susan milligan. thank you both for being here this evening. >> thank you. >> absolutely. glad to be with you. >> mayor, how has the shutdown made it clear to american people how important the government really is?

>> al, i think you said it perfectly well. you know, when your house is on fire, government's responding. when your sidewalks are in disrepair, government's responding. when you have potholes on your street or snow on your roads, government is responding. in reality, government was created by the people for the people. and in reality, government responding to protect and take care of the people. and so what we have seen in washington has been extremely disappointing. i think has shaken up the confidence of the american people. you have seen time and time again that government has a role to play and we expect them to play it. >> susan, we have seen this argument about government going back for decades. in 1981 president ronald reagan crystallized the right's view about government. watch this. >> government is not the solution to our problem. government is the problem.

>> is that the right wing's assessment of government, susan? is that where this stems from? a basic belief that government is the problem. >> i actually think it's much worse than that, reverend. now it's very, very personal. i mean, there's always been an anti-regulatory, anti-government tone to a lot of the republican party, but now you have members of congress who don't respect the very institution in which they're serving, don't respect their colleagues. don't listen to their leaders. don't respect the office of the presidency. want to deny their own staff health coverage, treat federal workers like they're a bunch of parasites. thought nothing of having them be without work for 16 days. i was on the hill watching these capitol police officers go into work every day, rush to protect these people who couldn't pay their salaries, rush to protect them when that woman was driving into is the capitol complex, and they're not getting paid. and i don't even know how they looked at those capitol police and did that. the problem is they've started

to demonize and demean the whole idea of public service. and what's going to happen is we're not going to get anybody good running for office anymore. we're not going to get anybody good who wants to serve in the government anymore. why would you when you're being disrespected this much? >> when she mentions that susan talks about that, the whole country sort of venom they have, a congressman blamed a park ranger for keeping people from the world war ii memorial that their shutdown closed. >> how do you look at them and say, how do you deny them access? i don't get that. >> it's difficult. >> it should be difficult. >> it is difficult. i'm sorry, sir. >> park services should be ashamed of themselves. >> i'm not ashamed. >> well, you should be. >> i mean, fine. we can disagree about the role of government, but the venom that has been demonstrated and the disregard for american workers, i believe susan said

treating them like parasites. this is a new level of contempt, really, for government and those that are doing government work. >> i think so. and i think the reality is we saw or what we hear as far as the venom as you described toward government workers or the government, i really believe is the loud minority in this country speaking. i think most people believe just as president obama just spoke about, that we're proud of our federal workers. we're proud of our state workers and local workers. people have a great respect for those men and women who serve them every day in this country regardless of what level it is. we are seeing that have held up this country. in reality, the american people control this. and we got to be real about this. if we're not proud of our congress, if we're not proud of the way things are operating on any level, then we are the one who is hold the power by the ability to vote and decide who represents us in washington.

and if the members of congress don't want to go to washington and represent the people of america, then americans must stand up and make a change. we're getting things done on a local level. as a mayor, i cannot not balance the budget. as a mayor, i cannot not respond when they're called upon. that same sense of accountability must be translated to the federal government and this congress which basically drove and drug the american people through the mud. >> susan, has this shutdown changed in your judgment this discussion on the role of government? has the country moved or shifted in any way as a result of these last 16 days on the question of government and the role of government? >> i think so, because i think before the shutdown, it was sort of a morphous thought. and the government was this institution that sent them paperwork and tax forms and so forth. and once people realized what

you do without, and it's not just going to the world war ii memorial. it's getting your w.i.c. payments, going to the library. i think once people realize the reach the government has in providing basic services to people, i hope they developed a little bit more appreciation for it. >> mr. mayor, let me ask you about something else that's very important to me. you and three other mayors are on a tour, an education tour to share successful education policies that are closing the achievement gap in your cities. tell us about that. >> well, there are four mayors all of which mayors of color who are leading the city in which we were raised in and went to public school in. each of our cities kind of reflect the growing achievement gap that occurs in our cities. so we've decided to come together, kind of raise the level of the conversation, and talk about the good things the mayors are doing on a local level. some of the practices we have going on.

mayor johnson from sacramento, mayor tevaris from providence island, and mayor castro. they are joining me here. raise the bar as far as the conversation is concerned about the importance of working together to close the achievement gap. a lot of the kids we're talking about look like us and it's important for us to reflect the importance of the mayors coming together saying we get things done on a local level. you don't see what happened in congress on the local level. and we need to deal with the issues as important as education on the local level in order to move the lever. >> very important work. thank you, mr. mayor. mayor michael hancock and susan milligan, thank you both for your time tonight. >> thank you. >> thank you. coming up, they've compared obama care to slavery, to communism, and now one republican is comparing it to hurricane katrina? that's next. ♪ [ male announcer ] welcome back all the sweet things your family loves

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the gop shutdown brought back some ugly talk about the president's health care law. republicans compared it to slavery, to nazi germany, to death panels. and now there's a new line of attack. tea party congressman tim huelskamp says, quote, to say this rollout is much different than hurricane katrina, they're

very similar. similar to hurricane katrina? more than 1800 people died during hurricane katrina. the country watched as their fellow americans stood on rooftops begging to be rescued. tens of thousands sought refuge from the storm only to find that life after it would have even been more horrific. >> we need help! >> we need help, sir. we really do. we need help. they're not doing nothing. tellsing us nothing. not doing nothing. >> it's going to be all right. it's going to be all right. it's going to be all right. breathe. >> katrina was a failure of the bush administration to take care of our citizens. it was immoral. and yet to congressman huelskamp, that blight on this

nation is the same thing as providing health care to millions of americans? it's the same as a law that has literally saved lives? that's a shameful comparison. even by republican standards. joining me now are goldie taylor and bill press. thank you both for coming on the show tonight. >> hi, reverend. >> thank you, reverend sharpton. >> goldie, let me start with you. hurricane katrina is the same as the health care law? what am i missing here? >> you're not missing anything, really. the fact is there were thousands of people who were stranded in the rising waters during katrina and no one came to help for many, many days. so i just think to make this kind of comparison is really beyond the pale. you can't say obama care is going to kill people an not having obama care is also going to kill people. you have to make a choice. the choice is we're going to

extend affordable health care over the next several years through obama care and make sure people can see a doctor for preventive care and when they need it the most. that certainly didn't happen in katrina where women died at the convention center. there were old people who were caught in their attics and flooded out where they died there alone and in the dark. there are people who still cannot find their loved ones today after that flood. so to make that kind of comparison is frankly immoral. >> no doubt about it. i was there and saw it. bill press, i think the extreme language is what is real troubling. health care isn't the first thing right wingers have dubbed as president's katrina. they said it about hurricane sandy efforts, the irs scandal, the gm bailout. even the shortage of bird flu

vaccine was called his katrina. they use these examples that weigh on how horrific the examples they are using really were like katrina. >> yeah. reverend, this really ties into what you talked about in the last segment about the tea party. huelskamp, remember, he's the same guy who said we got to get something out of this shutdown. i'm not sure what it is, but we've got to get something. we don't know what we want, but we got to get something. these guys are idiots. there are no limits now to the tactics they will use or the language they will use. and it does tie back -- this is a strain of extremism in american politics that we may have seen on the fringes before. the problem is right now they have stepped up to power and they're members of congress some of them. and they're running the house of representatives and there are no limits to what they will say and what they will do to bring down this government. >> you know, goldie, rush limbaugh says that republicans are too scared to criticize the

president because they don't want to be called racist. listen to this. >> they are literally paralyzed because obama is african-american. literally paralyzed. the republicans agreed to tie one hand behind their back because of obama's race. and it really doubled down on that any criticism of obama. because now you're criticizing the first black president, it means you're racist. not going to go there. not going to be critical. doesn't matter if he's president. doesn't matter if he's transforming this country in ways it wasn't founded to be. doesn't matter. we can't criticize him because they're going to call us racist. >> they're afraid to criticize him because they'll be called racist. last weekend someone called health care slavery. someone waved a confederate flag in front of the white house, and they're afraid to say something about the president or they'll be called racist, goldie? >> anyone who says the

republicans are afraid to criticize this president on the basis of racism isn't watch the television news every day. they're not reading the newspapers. they're not listening to their local congressmen and women. we had ted cruz and sarah palin basically on the lawn of the white house criticizing the president right there. we turn on fox news any given day of the week and we're hearing that president obama wants to kill women, kill old people, kill children through obama care. and so i just think to say they are hesitant in any way is not right. the fact of the matter is ted cruz pulled up his wagon, republicans hopped in and he pulled it over a ditch. they're looking for a fall guy. they want it to be president obama. that's not going to fly. >> one tea party activist said this about the president. take a listen. >> we are now ruled, quote,

unquote, by a president who bows down to allah. this president is not a president of we the people. he's the president of his people. demand that this president leave town, to get out, to put the koran down, to get up off his knees and to figuratively come up with his hands out. >> now, that man issued a so-called apology today. this is the apology. quote, while these references were intended to be metamorph metamorphic -- metaphoric, rather, and not literal, they do ring true nevertheless. that's an apology, bill? >> wait a minute. if they ring true nonetheless -- in other words he's saying i stand by everything i said. >> he's saying it may be

metaphoric, but it's true so i'm standing by it. >> yeah. it's neither metaphoric nor true. larry klayman is a nut job. way back to days of crossfire, we've had him on. he's been saying crazy stuff since back then. the idea that people are afraid to criticize this president, goldie is right. no president has been subject to the level of personal attacks that president obama has. and part of it is -- i wrote a book about it. part of it is because they've never accepted him as president of the united states. these people who were out at the world war ii memorial, they go back to the tea party town halls. what were they talking about? they had obama in white face, they said he wasn't born in this country. and they said he was a muslim because he's black. it's all the same ugly rhetoric. >> and the guy may be a nut job, but he was standing there with senators, elected officials, and

vice presidential candidates of that party. i'll have to leave it there. thank you for your time this evening. >> thank you. >> thank you, reverend sharpton. if you can't beat 'em, cheat 'em. wait until you see what ken cuccinelli is doing in virginia. next. bold has a huge imagination. a playground of innovation, color, and design. showing up where we least expect it. and taking inspiration from our wildest dreams. because kohler doesn't see the world in fixtures and faucets. it reimagines. coloring our lives in ways only bold could do, it's no wonder the world can't wait to see what kohler does next.

we're back with some very bad news for ken cuccinelli. remember him? he's the far right attorney general in virginia who's running for governor. one of the most extreme political candidates in the country. but today new signs that voters are rejecting his radical views. in the latest nbc news/maris poll, mccauliffe leads cuccinelli by eight points. now he's trying to do what republicans always try to do when they're losing. change the rules. the state board of elections recently announced plans to purge nearly 60,000 voters from the rolls in virginia. and it was just revealed that 40,000 from that list have already been kicked off. even though the virginia democratic party filed the lawsuit two weeks ago to stop the purge, naming ken cuccinelli

as one of the defendants and citing, quote, political motivations behind the purge. political motivations. you don't say? and here's another thing. any guesses about who's the legal counsel in this state for the state board of elections? the folks behind this voter purge. that's right. it's attorney general ken cuccinelli. this is another classic case of if you can't beat 'em, cheat 'em. a federal court is scheduled to hear the lawsuit tomorrow. and we'll be paying close attention. but mr. cuccinelli, did you think we wouldn't notice how you're trying to game the system? nice try, but we got you. is a daily game of "what if's". what if my abdominal pain and cramps end our night before it even starts? what if i eat the wrong thing? what if? what if i suddenly have to go? what if?

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with three entrées under $20. like our new snow crab and crab butter shrimp, just $14.99. only at red lobster where we sea food differently. [ male announcer ] now try 7 lunch choices at $7.99. sandwiches, salads, and more. finally tonight, advancing the dream. cory booker is heading to the

senate. he won a new jersey special election to fill frank lautenberg's vacant seat. it's hard to believe, but booker is new jersey's first african-american senator. he'll be just the fourth african-american to ever be elected to the senate. today we have our first black president, our first black attorney general, and now senator-elect cory booker. in my new book "the rejected stone," i talk about how hard work and sacrifice for the ultimate gain. >> how to be the greatest is a chapter that talks about i was around muhammad ali, i've been around michael jackson, i've been around james brown. some of the people that became this greatest in their field. but what we don't ever do is weigh the cost.

james brown made a record once "pay the cost to be the boss." what is the price you're willing to pay for greatness? greatness is not the result that you see on tv or that you see in mass media. greatness is the end product of a lot of discipline, a lot of sacrifice, a lot of hard work. and the higher the price, the bigger the return. and that chapter talks about it. >> i'm excited about my new book. if you'd like to read an excerpt, please go to our facebook page. facebook.com/politicsnation. and find details about my next book signing tonight right here in atlanta. i'll be at barnes & noble at 2900 peachtree road in about a half an hour. at 7:30 p.m. i hope to see you there. remember in life whether you're part of a group in society that's rejected or in your personal life if you've been

rejected, my book deals with both. you must be willing to fight and work hard and pay the price. frederick douglass said in life you may not get all you pay for, but you will pay for all you get. thanks for watching. i'm al sharpton. "hardball" starts right now. the endless bummer. let's play "hardball." are ready to do it all again. and again and again. cruz is blaming his fellow senate republicans. far bigger is the relentless onslaught of anger against the