>> okay. we ready? >> morning, everyone. >> man! >> rough couple weeks for president barack obama. >> obama care is wrong, it's a failu failure. >> we hate to say we told you so. we all look like geniuses now. >> today the president makes his case to a room of ceos. >> he's not backing down. i don't think he can back down. >> the republicans have a one-note agenda. >> trying to protect the american people from this awful law. >> that's all they want to focus on right now. >> the american people are very, very worried. moms and dads are worried, and they're worried -- >> give congress a gigantic paper bag, breathe n breathe out. >> these next two months are perhaps the president's last shot at getting things right. >> this weekend, he was booed out of basketball games. >> give some perspective. this is how a crowd greeted the crack-smoking train wreck of a mayor in toronto on saturday. ♪

>> good tuesday afternoon to you. and we begin with the president on the hot seat, bringing pennsylvania avenue to wall street and taking questions in a forum hosted by the "wall street journal." call it a meeting of the 1% 100 club. 100 of the top chief executives at washington's four seasons hotel. discussing issues as varied as cyber security, and energy policy. oh, and a little health care thrown in too. >> look. i am confident that the model that we have built, which works off of the existing private insurance system is one that will succeed. we're going to have to obviously remarket and rebrand. and that will be challenging in this political environment. but keep in mind, in the first month, we also had 12 million people visit the site.

the demand is there. there are 41 million people who don't have health insurance. the folks in the individual market, many of them are going to get a much better deal in the marketplaces. and so we just got to keep on improving the customer experience, and make sure that we're fending off efforts not to fix the problem, because if somebody wants to help us fix it, i'm all game. but fending off efforts to completely undermine it. >> that notion of a corporate rebranding for the health care law comes as wall street is flying high. the dow cracking a record 16,000 yesterday and flirting with it ever since. corporate profits are now 12.5% of the economy, near a 60-year high. remarkable, especially considering the far left socialist currently occupying the white house. unfortunately, the president's poll numbers are showing a distinctly different trend, thanks to the turbulent health care rollout.

a new "washington post" abc survey find the president's overall rating has fallen to 42%, a record low. for the first time in his presidency, a bear majority of 52% say they have an unfavorable impression of the president. and perhaps most disspiriting of all for the president, registered voters now say they would go for mitt romney in a hypothetical 2012 rematch. and while i'm sure mr. romney spent a little extra time in his car elevator today polishing up one of the cadillac's rear-view mirror mirrors, i wonder if he caught a report from one of the local california outlets. a headline in the "los angeles times" today, health care plan enrollment surges in some states, after rocky rollout. quote, a number of states that use their own systems, including california, are on track to hit enrollment targets for 2014, because of a sharp increase in november. several other states, including

connecticut and kentucky, are outpacing their enrollment estimates, even as states that depend on the federal website lag far behind. so, now that republicans have expressed a passionate desire for americans to have access to health coverage that they so desire, how are they going to help? speaker boehner. >> our members are going to continue to collect stories, no decisions on what it is that we may or may not do. but we're going to do everything we can to try to protect the american people from this awful law. thanks. >> not at all, speaker boehner, thank you. joining us now from capitol hill is democratic congresswoman, loretta sanchez of california. good afternoon to you. >> hello, martin. how are you? >> good, thanks. congresswoman, you just heard the speaker. republicans are going to keep on collecting stories, though they have no idea what they may or may not do with them.

as long as they hurt the affordable care act. that sounds like a productive agenda, doesn't it? >> well, we have continued to see over this year the 45th, 46th time for them to try to eliminate the aca, the affordable care act. what i have told my colleagues on the republican side is, come and help us. come and help us get this right. i know -- i'm a californian, lucky for me. we have a state legislature, a governor, we have covered california, which is our exchange. we all decided from the very beginning we wanted to make this work. and as you have seen, the numbers have been surging in california. we have hundreds of thousands of people who have already gotten their plan, and i'm starting to get the phone calls, starting to turn around from, oh, my gosh, i'm so scared about this, lauriett laurietta, to hey, did you know i just saved $300 a month on my plan and i'm so grateful you voted for this. >> well, you say that, congresswoman. but even as officials today say they fixed two-thirds of the

high priority bugs on the website, you see states like california, showing growing enrollment, states with medicaid expansion, slashing their uninsured rates. why don't republicans turn their new-found enthusiasm for health care -- health care access, to those particular role models? >> you know, they say they want affordable health care for people, but honestly, they didn't really help us to get there. they didn't -- you know, we have over 300 amendments from republicans that were voted into this law. they really did have a say, as we went through this process of making this law. but for some reason, they have wanted to disengage from this, eliminate it. that's really sad. because at the bottom of all of this, what we want to see is, to bend, as we say, the cost curve on health care and bring it down, in line with inflation, not these 17, 18, 35% increases that we have seen year after

year in these plans. >> right. >> and i think this is what aca will do. it will bend the plan down, it will put more people insured. it will have less people having to go to the emergency health room when they have a need for a doctor. >> well, as you're defending the health care rollout, the president, as i said earlier, is actually at this moment at an event for the "wall street journal," taking questions on everything from cyber security to climate change. and he's also addressed the issue of the health care rollout. the "new york times" editorial board puts it this way. what is the republican alternative to this government program? flawed as it is right now? there is none. party members simply want to repeal the health law, and let insurers go back to cancelling policies at the first sign of a shadow on an x-ray.

they have no immigration policy of their own. they have no plan that will stimulate job growth. they are in favor, only, of shutdowns and sequesters and repea repeals. it's true, isn't it? that is the republican agenda. sequester, shutdown, repeal. >> well, it's always never black and white. you know that, martin. there are some republicans who di diligently have been working with us on some things to try to get them passed. there are a few for immigration reform. there are some who came out publicly on the shutdown. but overall, the majority -- especially here on the house -- >> what about the leadership? >> and the leadership has gone around -- has gone along with these tea party guys who are not about how big or how small government should be. but about no government. and so it's really sad to have seen the leadership follow that. i'm hoping, you know -- i can only hope, i can only talk to them and say, you know, stop

following these 40 guys and get yourself together and help us to move this country forward. >> how good does it feel, final question to you. how good does it feel for you as a representative in a state where those millions of people who previously had no insurance coverage whatsoever are finally able to get some? that must be gratifying. >> my staff has incredible stories. i had a woman crying on the phone the other day saying she had a preexisting condition, diabetes, it's for her more genetic than anything else, it runs in her family. it's something that is so close to me. and she was crying, saying that for the first time in nine years, she finally got a policy she can go and see a doctor and not be afraid. i think this is great. i know for my district, for the people i represent, so many of them will finally have an insurance plan. and we worked very hard to put clinics, to put doctors locally, so that, you know, they wouldn't have to take 15 buses to get to the hospital or to get to their

doctor. we're pretty excited about seeing this rollout in california. >> it's a wonderful anecdote. congresswoman, loretta sanchez, thank you. >> thank you. coming up, can democrats hold their ground and rebound in time for the 2014 mid terms, while republicans, well, they shoot for the moon. >> getting healthcare.gov up and running is not rocket scientists. and that's good. because if it were, we would still be waiting to land on the moon. ♪ ♪ don't disguise bad odors in your trash. neutralize them and freshen.

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just moments ago, the president held an interview, that even though new polling shows his approval rating at an all-time low, the effect he has on the nation's health care law is unwavering. >> there is ideological there is a price to that, and it was it was already going to be hard. operating within a very difficult political environment. and we should have -- involving payment and accounting

and not the portion currently used by enrollee. joining us now is joy reid, his managing editor of thegrio.com, and jared bernstein, senior fellow on the budget of priorities. and just looking at his shoes. thank you. thank you for joining us. joy, the president talked about one side of capitol hill today being invested in failure. and in listening to what republicans have been saying repeatedly since this rollout, there is a nonstop celebration of problem that seems almost anti-american. >> you know, and martin, beg your indulgence. as i was thinking about coming and talking to you about this, i grabbed my insurance card. >> thank you. >> i have this. because i have a job. and if you have a job, you're lucky enough to not have to worry about having a catastrophic illness and not being able to be treated, because your job is covering so much of the percentage of your

health -- >> will this cover your two children? >> this covers my kids, when my husband was freelancing, it covered all of us. and when my husband was working full time and i was freelancing, his insurance covered me and the kids. having this means never having to worry about going bankrupt because you get sick. it's peace of mind. wi what the president i think failed to do is simply say to the american people, if you have this, congratulations, you're in the 80% or so of americans whose job gives them one of these. but if you don't have this, or if you're one of the 5% of americans who have to pay for it yourself on the individual market, every year you have to renew, and god forbid there be a shadow on an x-ray, the insurance company can say sorry about those premiums you paid, you can't keep this, you can't get in and get treated. you have to take your chances in the er. that's what this is about. republicans who are celebrating and agreeful that people cannot get access to insurance are celebrating the idea that not every american, old, young, black, white, woman, man, should have one of these. how do you not believe that?

and the president has never presented this as a moral argument. but it is a moral argument. if it you've ever been sick or had a family member who had a catastrophic illness, you understand that's what this is about. this isn't about a website. this is about people having access to basic health care. and that's what he should have talked about. >> and jared, to joy's point, you're an economist. we were talking about covering 47 million people who don't have a card like joy. as opposed to speaker boehner, who opines about something like 2 to 3 million people whose individual market status is now in some jeopardy. again, to joy's point, where is the moral argument here? >> well, as an economist, i can't really speak to the morality -- no, kidding. the morality is -- and it's not just morality, by the way. joy is exactly right, suspect she should have been on the front line selling this from the beginning. i thought that was a very inspired way to frame it.

but along with morality is the fact that we spend an inordinate share of our economy on health care, because we do it so inefficiently. and one of the reasons it's so inefficient is because of this individual market. and by the way, i'm glad joy and i both have those cards. but it is a fact that employers are continually shedding their coverage, until people need a backdrop like the affordable care act in place, as there is in every other advanced economy. and it's because of the structure of those plans, which share everything with the aca. mandates, subsidies, the kinds of benchmark, consumer protections. with those in place, you're going to have a level of insurance that i think very much gets to the morality that you guys were talking about. but also, constrains the waste and inefficiencies so damaging to the economy.

>> house gop committees were waving this back and forth today as evidence of something. here's just one moment from that hearing about what the president knew. let's take a listen to this. >> if somebody right underneath him knew that it wasn't going to be like that, and this report says absolutely something they knew, and they didn't tell the president, he ought to go and fire every single one of those people right now, and hold them accountable. or maybe that just says that he did know about it. >> in other words, it's watergate. >> exactly. and so let's just say the president said, okay, congressmen, everyone who knew anything about the website not working is fired. does that mean that the republican party would now support every american having access to health care? no. because they don't support the fundamental underlying idea, which is that if you cannot afford to buy health care, the federal government might want to step in and give you a subsidy to help you afford it. and as jerryd said, this is not the most efficient way to do it. if we want to be efficient, we expand medicare for everyone. because that works pretty darn well. we're not going to do that. if the president were to fire every person involved in that website, it wouldn't change a

thing, because they don't believe in health care for everyone. >> one of the things you're getting out of this recent dust-up of the last few weeks is just a reminder that republicans do politics. they don't do policy. and they're quite skilled at the politics. >> very skilled. >> and you know, they were quite -- they were down, because of their absence of policy when we had the shutdown in the debt ceiling. because they don't do policy. then you have this problem with the rollout of the aca, and bingo, they're back in their zone. they don't have to do policy, because they just -- they just haven't had an idea since the economics tanked a couple years ago. but politics, they're all over that. >> joy reid and jared bernstein, thank you so much. coming up, george zimmerman returns to a florida courtroom today. we'll have the latest, including his call to 911 after police already arrived. stay with us.

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just a short time ago, george zimmerman, acquitted in the death of trayvon martin, found himself back in court where he's facing charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, as well as mischief and domestic violence battery. it began yesterday, when florida police received a call from zimmerman's girlfriend. >> he's in my house breaking my [ bleep ] because i asked him to leave. he has his gun breaking my stuff right now. he just broke my glass table, broke my sunglasses and put your gun in my freakin' face and told me to get the [ bleep ] out because this is not your house. get out of here. >> so he had a shotgun and ar-15. >> yeah and two handguns. >> zimmerman, according to his

girlfriend, pushed her out of her own house, closing the door behind her. he then proceeded to make a 911 call of his own. >> okay, what's going on there? >> um, my girlfriend has, uh, for lack of a better word, gone crazy on me. >> your girlfriend? >> yes. >> okay. where is she now? >> outside, with the police. >> okay. the police are already there, and so why are you calling? what happened? >> i just want -- i want everyone to know the truth. >> the judge has set bail at $9,000. and has prohibited zimmerman from traveling outside of florida oh, possessing any guns or ammunition or visiting his girlfriend or her home. at this hour, zimmerman remains in seminole county jail, where nbc news learned this afternoon he was officially served divorce papers from his wife, shellie.

for more, i'm joined by jonathan capehart of "the washington post." john, in the 911 call, his girlfriend said, and i'm quoting her, he knows how to do this. he knows how to play this game. what game is that, john? >> the public perception game, the legal game. by his -- now, when she made that call, he hadn't made his own 911 call. but with that line, she sort of pressed what would happen. so george zimmerman calling 911 with the police standing right outside, knowing full well that his 911 call would be released, and made public, he suddenly now playing to the court of public opinion, and countering pretty much everything that she -- everything that she told police in her 911 call. that glass tabletop that was broken, that she said george zimmerman broke, he says in his call that she broke it.

that he never put -- pointed a gun in her face, as she alleged in her 911 call. so by making that phone -- by making that phone call his own 911 call, he's proving her right. he knows how it works. >> john, you wrote earlier that this is actually similar to an incident between zimmerman and another girlfriend, i believe in 2005. how so? >> well, in 2005, he was engaged to be married, and in august, 2005, that now obviously ex fiancee filed for an order -- a restraining order against him, because of allegations of domestic violence. and was did george zimmerman do in retaliation? he filed for his own restraining order. so by the time we learn about all of this, as a result of the killing of george zimmerman's killing of trayvon martin, it sets up, again, a he said/she said for people who come across

these court records. you know, obviously, a restraining order is a very serious thing, especially when it comes from someone allegation domestic violence. but when the -- when the second party involved files also for a restraining order, it makes people step back and wonder, hmmm, what's going on here? we saw that in august 2005. we're seeing it now. and let's not forget about shelly zimmerman, george zimmerman's soon to be ex-wife. she has her own 911 call she made two months ago, where again a gun was involved. police were involved. allegations of physical abuse. an allegation that george zimmerman had punched shelly zimmerman's father in the face. but nothing came of that, because no charges were filed. so here we are, find ourselves once again looking at george zimmerman involved -- having interaction with the police with guns involved. but this time, he's back in

jail. >> jonathan capehart of "the washington post," i would encourage our viewers to read your column. it was excellent, thank you so much. >> thank you, martin. >> the day's hop lines coming up. the health care rollout versus hurricane katrina? >> katrina. >> hurricane katrina. yes, i believe we have all seen the damning photos of the presidential flyover surveying the human suffering of the healthcare.gov website. from the same system. i'm tony siragusa and i'm training guys who leak a little,

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healthcare.gov to katrina. >> yes, it's exactly like katrina. but, of course, there's one thing you can't say to president obama. >> and brownie, you're doing a heck of a job. >> the president broke a major promise. >> if you like your burst appendix, you can keep it. >> the american people are very, very worried. >> republicans are having a field day. >> get healthcare.gov up and running is not rocket scientists. >> we all look like geniuses now. >> brilliant! >> there is a big but here, and i think it was the katrina comparison. >> hurricane katrina. >> all comparisons are imperfect. >> we have all seen the flyover, the human suffering of the healthcare.gov website. >> if george w. bush had rushed into new orleans -- >> that stupid dance. with his stupid face that was so stupid. >> and failed initially. that would be more like it. >> we've had enough bushes. >> you can't talk about presidential [ bleep ] up without somehow bringing up george w. bursbush.

>> comparing to hurricane katrina -- >> is this obama's political katrina? >> the death of hundreds of people -- >> a political katrina? >> the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people to [ bleep ] website. is offensive. >> the republicans have a one-note agenda. >> we all look like geniuses now. >> it's to repeal the affordable care act. >> needs to be scrapped. now. >> attempted to do it over 47 times now. >> the republicans are having a field day. >> and that's all they want to focus on right now. >> they have gotten basically a free pass. >> we have not seen any plan. >> on budget negotiations. haven't had to do anything. >> appears they want to play politics with the affordable care act, run out the clock on the budget negotiations. >> let's get right to our panel. joining us now is eye eagle harbora moody mills, senior fellow at the center for american progress. eagle voluntarily ski, think progress.org and msnbc contributor, the great, the one

and only jimmy williams. is there anything wrong with the comparison between katrina and the affordable care act? >> there is everything wrong with this comparison being made by republicans. >> surely not. >> it is completely offensive. over 1,800 people died in hurricane katrina, many due to the negligence of the federal government, due to a president kind of flying over, looking down, watching what was happening and shrugging his shoulders and to compare obama care to that, where this president is in the trenches, on the ground, trying to provide health care to people who don't have it is just completely offensive and inappropriate. >> there you go. y igor, well before the affordable care rollout. have they now finally succeeded? >> well, yeah, you're right. there are seven, eight, nine katrinas, the bp oil spill was obama's katrina, the auto bailout --

>> keep going. >> yeah, well, there is not enough time to name them all here. look, the other point here, i think, in katrina, you had a disproportionate number of people of color who were affected by that storm. and are still affected by it. and with the affordable care act, you have african-americans also disproportionately benefitting from health care, benefitting from the medicaid expansion, the part of the law that is now working very well. and so the comparison doesn't even hold up on the policy front. yes, it's offensive. but you look at the policy, and it's just shocking that this is not only in the -- like the conservative conversation, but made its way and bled its way into mainstream discussion. >> it has. jimmy, we just heard from paul ryan, a moment ago in washington. and because we listened to everything he said, i would like to you listen to mr. ryan. >> why do you think that it will be different this time within

your own conference? because the speaker didn't want the crises that happened last time. and correct me if i am wrong, i don't think you did. >> that's correct. >> so but yet you couldn't control your own members. how can you prevent that from happening again? >> obama care is here now. so you know the reason this happened from our perspective was, now people understand why we fight obama care so much. >> jimmy, i didn't quite understand that. but chris van hollen, on the budget committee, said republicans have a one-note agenda. i mean, at least antonio carlos' song one note have -- they have a single melody, don't they? >> no, now paul ryan said obama care is here. i'm so glad he has finally, finally figured that out. because it passed three years ago. that's okay. no big deal. now that paul ryan is excited to come from the 20th century to

the 21st century, maybe he will bring along his elephant party, with him. here's my problem with what paul ryan is saying. this is just like the gay stuff, okay? they're saying we believe in equal rights. but not for gays. well, obama care is here. but you know what, i'll be daggone if we're not going to try to do everything we can to undermine t hold hearings, aggressive oversight. speaker's words. i mean, again, i just said it, and so did van hollen. where is their health care plan? i don't know of any bill that's been introduced that addresses what's wrong with our health care system. i do not have insurance. on january 1st, i will be able to get insurance. now is the website screwed up? trust me, it is. i've had to be on the phone with those people three times. it is an abomination. but i will get health care on january 1st. but if the republicans have succeeded in any of the 47 times they have tried to screw me and millions of americans over, i would not be able to get health care.

where in the hell is their plan? i'd like to see it. >> okay. well, eye iesha, can you see it? if he needed to find republicans with their answer to the affordable care act, their alternative, can you find it? >> the republicans to me don't have an answer to much, other than no. it's just simply no. and, you know, the other thing i want to add, it's interesting that here if you think about paul ryan, trying to coin himself as anti poverty advocate, you see that they never really are interested in putting forth any policies to benefit poor people in the country. to benefit people of color. to benefit people who are most in need. >> but they like cutting food stamps. >> they do. >> they like cutting -- they like having a sequester that destroys meals on wheels to elderly people. they like doing that. >> oh, yeah, they like doing that. and so i think really the undercurrent of this goes back to the idea that this is a party that doesn't really believe in

helping the american people. they don't think government should be in the business of giving people a fair shake. >> igor, isn't this the give-away that if republicans really did care about the 47 million uninsured people in this nation, they most definitely would have produced an alternative to cover them. >> yeah, precisely. and they'll point you to the five or six bills they have floating around, and all these bills say that if you're sick, and you're denied coverage because of your preexisting condition, well, tough luck. maybe you'll go into some state program for really sick people that will be very, very expensive. but ultimately, you know, maybe just get some catastrophic coverage. there is no plan. and there is also no belief that everybody should have coverage everybody have access to preventive coverage to make sure you don't get really, really sick. the message is, if you have some kind of problem good luck. maybe you can afford it, maybe

you can't. but really it's not the government's business. and this extends not only to providing people with health care, but also, of course, trying to dismantle the health care problems we already have. programs like medicare, medicaid. they just want to get rid of it all. >> airborna moody mills, jimmy williams and igor, thank you all. coming up, we'll turn our attention overseas. chaos on the streets of beirut as the iranian embassy comes under attack, just ahead. [ woman 1 ] why do i cook?

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two hours with top republicans and democrats from four key senate committees, considering tougher sanctions on iran. reports outside the u.s. have suggested washington was being too lenient over the iranians' nuclear programs. moments ago, however, the president pushed back on those claims. >> part of the reason i have confidence that the sanctions don't fall apart is because the oil sanctions, banking sanctions, those are the ones that have really taken a big chunk out of the iranian economy. >> at issue is how much to offer iran in temporary sanction relief, and how much to expect in return, in terms of freezing its nuclear enrichment operations. the white house talks come the same day as two suicide bombers struck iran's embassy in lebanon, killing at least 23,

including a cultural cache. an affiliate of an al qaeda in the region has claimed responsibility for the attack, but also injured more than 100 people. coming up, 150 years later, how president lincoln's address at gettysburg may apply to today's political divide. but first, amanda drury has the cnbc market wrap. good afternoon. >> good afternoon, martin. the market taking a little bit of a breather today after the dow closed at a record -- rather hit a record high yesterday. the dow down by nearly 9 points today. the s&p shared about 3 points. the nasdaq closed down by 17. that's a look at what happened in the markets today. back over to you at msnbc. [ male announcer ] this is joe woods' first day of work. and his new boss told him two things -- cook what you love, and save your money. joe doesn't know it yet, but he'll work his way up from busser to waiter to chef before opening a restaurant specializing in fish and game from the great northwest. he'll start investing early,

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seven score and ten years ago today, amidst the war that divided the nation, president abraham lincoln took to the battlefield in pennsylvania as

he dedicated the soldiers' national cemetery in gettysburg with these immortal words. >> four score and seven years ago -- >> our fathers brought forth on this continent -- >> a new nation, conceived in liberty -- >> and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. >> and today, on the 150th anniversary of that speech, americans from all walks of life have made a pilgrimage to the very same spot where president lincoln delivered words that defined a nation. where all men and women are created equal. and while today we may not be a nation at war with ourselves, in many ways we are still very much divided. for more, i'm joined by the presidential historian, michael be beshloff. good afternoon. >> hi. >> president lincoln said the world will little note nor long remember what he said that day. but on that, he was wrong. so why have we remembered this speech so dearly?

>> well, because, you know, we always talk about when there is a commander in chief at a time of war, what is this war all about. we said that during iraq, we said it during vietnam. if you knew nothing about why the war between the states, civil war was being fought, these ten sentences in that short gettysburg address would tell you almost everything. and the other thing is this. in 1861, when lincoln regretfully said we are going to have to the north go to war to reunite this country under the constitution, didn't talk much about slavery. but in this speech, there's no question that a war aim is not just bringing the country back together, but making sure we fulfill the promise all men are created equal. >> indeed. now, we are not at all a nation at war today with itself. but when you look at the electoral map of which state supported president obama, and which state supported mitt romney in 2012, it's nearly identical to those states which

seceded from the union in 1861. can this vision ever be meblded or is this just the permanent condition of the nation? >> well, i think, of course, it can be mended. and this really goes back to 1964. before then, as you know, the democratic south was largely a south devoted to making sure that civil rights did not happen. john kennedy changed that. in 1964, lyndon johnson said to a number of people, i know that by signing this civil rights act i'm giving the south republicans for a generation. turned out it was longer than that. johnson also felt the voting rights act of 1965, which would allow african-americans to vote in large numbers, ultimately would change things. and it took longer than he expected. but you look at many of these southern states, and especially it's not the only thing, but with the influence of more african-americans voting, that is beginning to change in a big way. >> okay only hope so. this year marks another

anniversary and you followed this in detail, too. the 50th anniversary of the assassination of president kennedy. wasn't the reason for kennedy's trip to dallas also an attempt to win favor in the south in advance of his re-election the fog year? following year? >> sure was. >> isn't there a constant theme throughout our history, that appeal to these drastically different sections of the nation? >> total irony. in 1960, kennedy was elected may i don't recally. the state that went for the biggest margin was georgia, 66%. not asking for civil rights. quite the opposite. with the civil rights bill of of '63, he knew he lost a lot of those, especially deep south states, and needed the electoral votes for somewhere, so he felt the electoral votes of texas, which he won narrowly in 1960, would be absolutely crucial for 1964. that's the reason he was there. >> presidential historian, michael beshloff. thank you. >> my pleasure. >> we'll be right back in a

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our current situation seems rather extreme. why can't we maximize our... ready. ♪ brilliant. let's get out of here. warp speed. ♪ time now to clear the air. and although he should be basking in the sunshine of his own liberty following his acquittal in the shooting death of trayvon martin, mr. george zimmerman appears to be shadow ohhed by trouble. just a short time ago, he was released on bail after appearing in court, charged with aggravated assault, domestic battery and criminal mischief. this court appearance follows some kind of dispute that took place at the home of a girlfriend. an incident that was described in this way by local law enforcement. >> when we arrived, the victim in this particular case indicated that she and george zimmerman were having a verbal

dispute, and at that time, she alleged that he had broken a table, and at one point, pointed a long barely barrelled shotgun at her. >> interestingly, mr. zimmerman appears not to agree with that version of event. and although the police had already arrived at the property, mr. zimmerman chose to call 911 to give his own description of what happened. i have a girlfriend, said mr. zimmerman, who for lack of a better word, has gone crazy on me. mr. zimmerman also told the dispatcher that he had never pulled a gun on his girl friend, that it was she who smashed the table, and that though she was carrying his child, she decided she would raise their baby on her own. but in a news conference, the seminole county sheriff's deputy said this. >> at this time, the victim has disclosed to us that she is not pregnant. >> hmmm. who knows why mr. zimmerman

would suggest that his girlfriend was pregnant when, in fact, she wasn't. and who knows why mr. zimmerman would choose to make a 911 call after his girlfriend had already done so, and after the police had actually arrived on the scene. of course, mr. zimmerman will have the opportunity to answer these questions in court. but his girlfriend had an interesting take on his actions as she communicated them to the 911 dispatcher. and here it is. >> he pushed me out of my house and locked me out. >> okay. you're outside now? >> yeah, he locked me out of my house. okay. what's your -- i've got units on the way. is there some place safe you can step away from? >> he has everything of mine inside. >> okay. i need -- i want you to step away from the door, okay? i don't want you anywhere near him. i know you're frustrated. >> he knows how to do this. he knows how to play this game. >> he knows how to do this. he knows how to play this game.

thanks so much for watching. my colleague and friend ed schultz with "the ed show" is next. good evening, americans, and welcome to "the ed show." live from new york, let's get to work oh. who gets to vote and how. >> an environment of suppression. nobody should put a road block or barrier. >> a great indication of this administration's views of race. >> racism 1.0 to 2.0. >> there are these voter i.d. laws. >> trying to defend the sanctity of our voting process. >> never let the truth get in the way of a good story. >> okay. >> we don't need to worry one bit about minority voters being purged from the roles. we haven't seen that in a long time, right? americans have a sacred right to vote. >> never let the truth get in the way of a good