i got education benefits. i work at walmart. i'm a pharmacist. sales associate. i manage produce. i work in logistics. there's more to walmart than you think. vo: opportunity. that's the real walmart. the right wing delivers a crazy third team. let's play "hardball." hello, i'm chris matthews in washington. politicians on the right have done some disturbing and destructive things this year. they derailed every major legislative item they could, including legislation on gun control, immigration, the budget, ask even workplace discrimination. when they did take up legislation, it looked like this. more than 45 separate votes to kill the affordable care act. abortion laws cooked up by the extreme right, and countless

measures in attacking the poor, like slashing food stamps. they also advanced bills in three dozen states to suppress the voting rights of minorities. they nearly toppled the economy by bringing us to the brink of our first-ever default. and they shut down the government. but if you think that what they did was outrageous, just wait to hear what they said this year. the far right has uttered some of the most shocking, offensive, disgraceful and even crazy things you can expect to hear in politics. and over the next hour, we'll show you most of them. here's a taste. >> a president who bows down to alla. >> quite honestly, we all look like geniuses now. >> the administration's plan is very simple. get everyone addicted to the sugar. >> i want to know, are they using weapons to train, or are they being taught to use syringes and health care items? >> for everyone who is a valedictorian, there is another 100 out there that they weigh 130 pounds and they've got calves the size of cantaloupes,

because they're hauling 75 pounds of marijuana across the desert. >> and in this special edition of "hardball," we can count down the most knuckle headed statements covering a number of categories. their hatred of the president, the president's agenda. their denial of reality. the antics of ted cruz, and a special section devoted entirely to u.s. congressman, steve king of iowa. joining me is our panel of "hardball" all-stars. howard fineman of the huffington post. david corn. jonathan capehart of the washington post, and joan walsh of salon. let's look at the far right's hatred of president obama. number three on our list in our countdown, u.s. congressman blake fairentold of texas, he sided with a group of birthers in a town hall early this summer, and openly discussed impeaching the president. he is also an ardent supporter of ted cruz, 2016 campaign for president. and this is a clip now from his appearance here on "hardball" in

september. it's remarkable. >> obama's president. ted cruz can be president. >> what do you mean? this is serious business, congressman. >> absolutely. >>. >> you've been doubting the guy, said he could run for president. explain. is he eligible. you brought it up. i didn't. >> i think he's eligible. i'm giving you a yes answer. >> so if obama was born overseas to an american mother, even if that crazy theory of donald trump is true, he would still be eligible to be president, by that standard. >> we're talking about ted cruz. >> can't you -- an inch mentally? >> i'm telling you that president obama is the president. if he's eligible to be president -- >> you brought this up. >> what better -- yes. >> is he a legitimate like the president of the united states? >> i wasn't in congress to determine that. that was determined before i got here. >> howard fineman. he won't do it. i guess he's afraid of what losing one or two votes out there by saying this is a duly

elected president of the united states. >> if you dig down to the core, to the ninth level of -- to the ninth level of the anti obama movement, you find people who not only view him as from another party or another country, but practically from another planet. and the president is fully aware of this. you know, i remember him saying, you know, a lot of these people don't even think i was born here, and he wasn't sure what he meant by here. and that -- that's the theology of it, chris. there is a sort of theological belief at the heart of this that obama -- that the president is somehow not only not legitimate, not an american, but not even from here. that's an element of theology with these people at the heart -- that's where everything starts. goes back to birtherism, and it goes back to their rejection, sort of like their tissue rejection of him from the body of poll lick. they have never, never accepted his legitimacy. >> john, i think that cosmic thing is totally true. but john, just down to the

narrow conversation i was having with that u.s. congressman. i said, if you're for ted cruz who we all know was born to an american mother in canada and i believe he's an american and eligible to run for president. i'm pretty liberal about this. most of us are. the worst crazy case is donald trump that president obama was born to an american mother in kenya. therefore if you should accept cruz, you should accept obama as president. that was a simple question put to this character and he wouldn't answer it, even in the narrow bounds i set it up. >> chris, you're asking for something they can't give. asking for a moral and political integrity. and consistency. and they don't have it when it comes to this president. and just to continue with what howard was saying, the reason they do this is because it works. you know, for a year-end piece for salon, i've been looking at 2007. and the president takes office with his approval rating in the 70s and among white voters in the 60s. it stays there into the summer,

and the summer of the town halls, and the summer of joe wilson saying you lie in september. and his approval rating plummets from the 60s into the 40s, into the 30s. and it's never budged. this strikes a chord beyond the narrow boundaries of the fringe. and that's part of what scares me now. >> okay. let's take a look at number two on our countdown. tea party congressman, kerry bentavolio, told the crowd he wanted to impeach the president and couldn't tolerate the president's mere physical presence. this is a u.s. congressman responding to a question about impeachment. let's listen. >> if i could write that bill and submit it -- >> do it. >> yeah. >> excuse me. it would be a dream come true. i feel your pain. i stood 12 feet away from the guy and listened. and i couldn't stand being there. >> i couldn't stand being there, david. and you're going to get in on

this, john. this thing about cootees and -- it's like there is some physical presence that it -- disturbs me. people go to work every day, they deal with people they don't know or like in some cases. but they've got to be in business and sales. nobody ever says i couldn't stand -- this is high school stuff. i don't even know what it is. >> and everybody -- >> what is it? >> everybody at this table has been in a room with barack obama. it's really not hard to be near barack obama. >> he's kind of light presence. >> he's smart, engaging. he does reach out to people he disagrees with, because he wants to win the argument. he can be, you know, fierce as a debater. but by and large, he's not a difficult person to be around. so it's really not about barack obama in reality. it's about what barack obama stands for, and picking up on what howard and joan said a moment ago. it's rejection, but it's because they really believe we're in a political and cultural fight. and obama embodies everything they can't stand. >> first of all, the way the

president presents himself in public, he's the ultimate gentleman, charming. whatever you think of his politics, he ain't hard to take. and my question, this is a great question, jonathan. as a columnist. are these people saying this because they really do feel a yuk factor with him, which i don't think they do, or maybe they're really crazy. or they're selling the yuk factor. the yucky poos on the far right who need to be consoled every moment of their lives. our guys won't be hugging this guy -- >> chris, i think it's a combination of the two. depending on which member of congress you're talking to. you know, that bentivolio, i think he actually believes it. i think he doesn't like the president. most of these folks don't like the president. we're talking about folks who have come to congress, who aren't -- a lot of them aren't terribly smart. the guy you interviewed in that first clip, i wasn't here to determine whether the president is legitimately president. these are folks who failed

schoolhouse rock! this is what's ridiculous about this. and the level of disrespect that's been shown the president from september of 2009. >> i remember dick cavet in the old days, i only believe what i see. and he says, have you been to japan. no. do you believe there is a tokyo? okay. number one on our count downdose to tea party activist larry klayman. during the shutdown in october, he organized a anti obama protest in washington. the event had its share of red hot rhetoric thanks to sarah palin and ted cruz, but klayman's wild rabbnt grabbed t headlines. comment on this one, joan. >> a president who bows down to alla. this president is not a president of we the people. he's the president of his people. i call upon all of you to wage a second american nonviolent revolution, to use civil

disobedience, and to demand that this president leave town, to get out. to put the quran down, to get up off his knees, and to figurative ecome up with his hands out. >> my god. that's a hell of a demand. put your hands up, put down the quran, get off your knees and leave town today or else we'll have a nonviolent second american revolution. >> right. we have elected that president twice. i love the way he throws in figuratively, so we can't say that he's inciting violence, but of course he is inciting a kind of violence. also, let's remember, this is the rally where there was a guy with a confederate flag right there. they are outside the home of a black family. they are outside their home, telling them to get out. i mean, this is where people -- >> an eviction notice, if you will. >> an eviction notice when, thank you, we have elected that man to lead us twice. and they don't accept his legitimacy. and they actually don't accept ours, either. but there is something so deep

and so disturbing about taking that to -- i know it's the people's house, and it's our house. but they live there. that was just so deeply disturbing to me. and no one, to my knowledge -- i don't know that ted cruz was ever asked to disavow any of that. he was there at that rally. that was the same event. why aren't they asked to disavow that. >> cue the crazy right now. i agree completely. and last -- clear to the crazy. if this president were a tie rant, an imperial power dictating the world, why are you able to be such clowns in front of his house? coming up, attacking the man to attacking his plan. the republicans have saved some of their craziest talk for the affordable care act. and this is "hardball," the place for politics. they're not really looking. not at the rings. i can feel them looking at my thick, flaky red skin. do i tell them it's psoriasis? do i speak up and say it's not contagious? or do i just say... have a nice day!" when your psoriasis has gone from uncomfortable

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shut down the government and contemplating defaulting on our debt in order to get the president to abandon his signature legislative achievement, the affordable care act. the plan had absolutely zero chance of succeeding, but that didn't stop the likes of ted cruz, mike lee, michele bachmann and others from holding the country's economy hostage for the sake of political theater. and there were many examples this year of the misinformation campaign launched by the far right to turn the country against the health care law. here are three of the oddest moments. michele bachmann, cheered on the shutdown, clearing victory, even as the country turned strongly against the american tactic and warned if the law wasn't repealed it would, quote, literally kill, women, children and senior citizens. but bachmann topped herself with this incredible victory dance on fox news after the shutdown was over. and after the law's troubled rollout. it's number three on our list. let's watch her. >> we hate to say we told you so, but quite honestly, we all look like geniuses now, because we predicted this would happen,

and we don't want this to happen because we want people to have the health insurance that works for them. for their family. >> in what looking glass -- >> look like a genius -- >> genius and michelle bachmann don't usually go in the same sentence. i think -- these people remind me a little bit of the road runner cartoons where they keep slamming into the same mountain. yes, there are problems with this rollout. yes, it's complex. yes, the president has admitted problems, but most of the american people still want to see it work. they still want to see health care extended. they still want to see reform of the health care system. and that's what the president is doing. now, they lost in the congress. they lost in the supreme court. they lost in the presidential election. it seems to me that if michele bachmann, the genius, had her way, and i think she may, the republicans are going to run again in 2014 and maybe even in

2016, slamming into the same -- >> got their baby. you know, chris cuomo on "good morning america" the other day i thought did a good job of challenging ted cruz, joan. what's your plan? and this guy -- he was caught flat-footed with nothing. he just said, our plan is to destroy obama care. that's our health care plan. >> and he got -- he got all huffy that, you know, he was being luck lectured by chris cuomo when he just asked a couple follow-up questions and did his job, basically. and ted cruz came out with that we're going to let people buy insurance across state lines, which is just an absolutely ridiculous plan that doesn't save anybody money, doesn't get anybody else insured. so he did expose the fact that they do not have a plan they don't feel they have to have a plan. >> tort reform. >> tort reform and sell insurance across state lines. >> that's their baby. >> a warmed-over plan. >> not much there. anyway, when it comes to the affordable care act, the right wing is always looking for a gotcha moment. they can't find it, they're okay making it up. take a look at what happened at the epa oversight hearing in the house this november.

epa. congressman paul browne tried to make some news with this question for epa administrate, jean gina mccarthy. listen to how she responds and how he distorts. >> let me ask one more time because my time is running out. are you signed up for obama care? >> no, i am not. >> why not? >> because i'm lucky enough as a federal government that i have health care available to me, which i've signed up for. in a few years, when that's not the case, i'll be happy to have other available -- >> well, our president says that obama care is -- >> well, to be clear, mccarthy there is referring to the fact that she is lucky enough to already have health insurance. show not knocking the affordable care act. well, a few minutes later in the hearing, right to her face, congressman steve stockman chose to interpret her words somewhat differently. and that's number two in our countdown. >> i think, though, you earlier gave me my favorite tweet of the day, which i'm going send out.

>> shoot. that wasn't my intent. >> oh, really? the quote is from you. i love it. it says i'm lucky enough not to have to sign up for obama care. that's wonderful. i wish my constituents could say the same. >> i actually think i was referring to i'm lucky enough to have access to good health care, which the -- which the -- >> i still will take your quote from the record. i wrote it down. it's really good. >> jonathan, my father is a courtstongrapher, court reporter. he would have lasted about three minutes, this guy. three minutes. he would completely change what she said and said it to her face and read it back to her. >> remember what i said during the last block, that a lot of these people aren't very smart? exhibit b. it's not what she said. she is the environmental protection -- >> why do they wait a half hour and issue a press release when she wasn't around. >> now you tweet your distortions immediately. >> but this guy did it in real-time when the same videotape -- so we can all see how he lied.

lie is a strong word, but certainly distorted it. >> there is a serious question here. when you look at what michele bachmann said, that obama care is going to kill women and kids and grandparents, and this guy says this is what you said when it's not what you said. the fact that they can get away with stupid remarks, just outright lies again and again, because they go on fox and tweet it out, because people believe it is what makes it hard -- >> it's like fair and balanced. they giggle at this stuff. when it comes to -- they mean balanced compared to other networks. they -- never mind. it's just -- the way people hear things and play these games. when it it comes to any affordable health care hysteria, there are a lot of examples, but this comment from the illustrious congressman, louie gohmert, takes the cake. astoni astonishing. the affordable care act provides funding for a few doctors and health care workers to help out in times of national emergencies. gohmert sees something sinister here. please try to explain this.

listen to this. it's number one forever on our countdown. what is this guy talking about? >> it provides in obama care that this commission and noncommission officer corps will be trained, but i want to know, are they using weapons to train, or are they being taught to use syringes and health care items? >> joan, what did this army of people bearing syringes doing -- what are they calling -- the -- putting syringes up over their shoulder? what are we talking about? what fear zone is he working here? an army of people like invasion of the body snatchers going around inoculating people with detect panel juice or whatever the hell it is? >> we have also got a theme here in that we have got three guys, stockman and farntold and gohmert from texas which makes me worry about my friends in texas. these people also believe there are fema camps, that there are

people rounding to put them in fema camps. they play on the most base paranoia of a fringe of people and get elected and re-elected. >> the past word, howard. they get re-elected. this isn't costing anybody a job. >> these are deep red, deep red districts. and the black helicopter theories of the world work there. and by the way, when they're tweeting them out, most of the country isn't reading what that congressman said. he's reinforcing the base. those people are following him. he's just giving more paranoid theories. it's like a paranoid -- >> i'm still here. >> a paranoid sitdown strike. >> constant booster shots keep them in business. but syringes with an army? what are we worried about? up next, republicans who fl flat-out deny reality. these people are somewhat unscientific. don't you think? this is "hardball," the place for politics. we all have our tricks.

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howard fineman, david corn, jonathan capehart and joan walsh. next we look at the reality deniers of the right wing. these are the folks who for whatever reason still don't or won't get it. kicking off this category at number three is georgia congressman paul browne who shuns the literal interpretation of the bible. this guy sits on the house committee on science, space and technology. have a listen to what he told a group of his supporters last year. >> all this stuff i was talking about, evolution, embryology, big bang theory, all that is lies, straight from the pit of hell. and it's lies to try to keep me and all the folks had are taught that from understanding they need a savior. i hold the holy bible as being the major directions to me of how i vote in washington, d.c.

and i will continue to do that. >> joan, i think he's speaking in a natural history museum, of all places. denying the connection of us all there. i don't know why we test our medicines on animals. this seems to be a lot of connection, at least physically with us and the rest of this world. but this guy denies all of that. he believes that somehow it all happened exactly as it was in the bible. as he interprets the bible. and that's how he decides what to vote on science committee in the house. >> and these are lies straight from the pit of hell. even if you disagree with him, there might be some other things straight from the pit of hell that don't have to do with evolution. no, it's this incredible parano paranoia. he wants to be the senator from georgia. you know, he thinks he's got a bright future in georgia politics. and all we can hope is that georgia slowly, steadily turns purple and then blue. and we don't have to deal with the paul browns of the world anymore. >> i'm glad he wasn't running nasa back in the '60s.

i don't know what we would have done. next up, number two. this one comes from one-time presidential candidate and host of the christian broadcast network's syndicated program, 700 club. went to yale law, known to stoke fear and anxiety about the gay community. and this was a whopper of an accusation he made last summer, and it was so controversial that the christian broadcast network removed it from their website shortly after he spoke it. let's listen to pat robertson. >> you know what they do in san francisco, some of the gay community. they want to get people so if they've got the stuff, they'll have a ring, you shake hands, and the ring has got a little thing where you cut your finger? >> really? >> yeah, really. it's that kind of vicious stuff, which would be the equivalent of murder. >> okay, jonathan, your thoughts on this subject. where did he get this wives' tale? what do you call this tale? >> a lie, is what it is. an indamnable lie.

this is a man who blames the gays for everything. hurricanes, earthquakes, name the natural disaster. >> 9/11? >> i don't know if he went that far, but maybe because someone beat him to it. so that he would accuse people with hiv and gay people with hiv intentionally going out with some sort of wicked decoder ring, cutting people and giving them hiv? is outrageous. and you know what? kudos to cbn for taking that nonsense off its website. but the fact he goes on the air every week or how often he does and says what he says is outrageous. >> joan, i never quite figured out what his story is. he go to yale law, toughest in the country, very small classes, incredibly hard to get into. and yet he comes out with this dreck over and over again. >> i think he's a baud villian. i think he knows better. i actually do. but he knows this plays and the

particular demonization of gay people is really kind of terrifying. but, again, these people are being left behind by history. and i think that fact scares them even more. but to go out and say something like this, you know -- someone from san francisco, it's just -- it's so beyond reality. and it's so cruel. it's just so cruel. >> and it's worse than even our friend trent -- what's his name? the former -- >> trent lott? >> talking about how people made their choice about what orientation? >> i covered pat robertson's presidential campaigns. and he truck me as a guy willing to say and do just about anything, to augment his role as a supposed spiritual leader of that -- >> but this incites violence, as well. if you take him at his word, what's the proper response? you go out -- >> gay people are killing people. >> you kick the you know what out of somebody. >> finally, our number-one reality denier, republican

congressman, ted yoho. i think he shortened his name. it used to be yo ho, ho, ho, just kidding. he made this outrageous claim that contradicted economists all over the earth. we need to have that moment where we realize we're going broke. i think personally, it would bring stability to the world markets. your thought, howard. you know, we're still suffering. i talked to a top ceo today. we are still suffering from the near miss of 11. we had the near miss of 13. and he thought it would be better to go off the cliff. >> chris, this isn't economic thinking. this is apocalyptic thinking. and it's of a piece of with the way this part of the american political landscape thinks. everything is an apocalypse. and apocalypses are good. you want creative destruction. you want everything to fall apart. because it's only when everything falls apart that you pick up the true belief. whatever the tru believe is. whether it's the holy bible, whether it's the gold standard. whatever -- simplistic notion there is.

>> well, coming up, two republicans stood out among the outstanding people this year, the standouts. one ted cruz. the greatest or worst hits from cruz himself. you're watching "hardball," a place for politics. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 searching for trade ideas that spark your curiosity

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i'm melissa ray burger. the black friday frenzy is on. nearly 100 million people expected to pack stores or shop online today. so far only scattered reports of fights or other president. the president visited with activists who have been on a hunger strike in support of immigration reform. they want the house to take action on a bill that passed the senate in june. the protesters have been camped

out on the national mal. back to "hardball." welcome back to "hardball." this year, freshman senator from texas, ted cruz, was determined to make a name for himself and that he did. no matter the issue, he found a way to turn it into a platform to showcase himself. we're back now with our panel, howard fineman, david corn, jonathan capehart and joan walsh. the thomas crown affair. there it is. the best and the worst of ted cruz. here's number three from ted cruz. in july, he made an impassioned case at the western reserve -- western conservative summit in denver. the conservatives had to block the president's health care law at all costs, because of all things people might like it. let's listen. >> on january 1, the exchanges kick in. and the subsidies kick in. once those kick in, it's going

to prove almost impossible to undo obama care. the administration's plan is very simple. get everyone addicted to the sugar, so that obama care remains a permanent feature of our society. >> david, this is the strangest acknowledgment. he is saying it might work. people might really like it, so make sure we screw it up before it gets to them. >> what he is saying is, they might like being ensuinsured. we have to stop this. but there is a big at your picture, too. one reason they were so desperate to stop obama care, when we fight about obama care, what we're fighting about is whether the u.s. government has a role in social policy and making things better for the average americans. the right -- they're only raising with the tea party, to say no, government's solution, we need less and less and less of it. if obama care works and provides insurance to people in a way they appreciate, it blows the republican party raising debt -- >> wait a minute. >> this is like --

>> this is great stuff. for one second. i want to know this before the year is over. does the tea party want to roll back the safety net? if obama care, health care is wrong as an approach, let me go to you, joan, do they want to roll back medicare? how far back to they want to roll it back? get rid of social security? this is the big lie. they want that stuff. they love medicare. seniors love it. i never met anybody who didn't love it. >> you're right. their older white, senior base, love that stuff. but don't think about it as something that government is doing for them. they have come to take it for granted. it's always been part of their landscape. none of us remember what it was like to grow old and live in that kind of fear. and so there is -- there is a real disconnect, you're right, between what they preach and what -- >> why do they -- okay, howard, why do they assume the center left -- roosevelt to the left -- built with some republican support. why do they feel there has

always been wrong? wait a minute, these guys were right about social security, helps the poor, working poor, middle class. >> it's because these people believe that the role of faith and the role of markets can take the place of the role of government. they do. and i agree with you on one level, they don't want to get rid of medicare and social security, but they want to reverse history. they view this as a long-running program to reverse history. if they can stop obama care or dismantle obama care, they'll take the risk of another conversation about medicare and social security. they will. >> okay, jonathan, you can get this one. whenever you're talking or making a comparison to the nazis, you're losing. and so it was for senator cruz during his 21-hour faux filibuster in september. number two in our countdown. the big mistake people keep making comparing anything to the third reich. >> if more politicians just listen to the people, we would respond and avert this train wreck.

and yet, mr. president, the politicians of washington tell us don't worry about it. obama care is just going to be peachy keen. you go to the 1940s. nazi germany. look, we saw in britain. nevil chamberlain, who told the british people, accept the nazis. yes, they'll dominant the continent of europe. but that's not our problem. let's apiece them. why? because it can't be done. we can't possibly stand against them. >> this got in-study history. the 1930s about appeasement had nothing to do with the continent of europe, had had to do with chezechoslovaki czechoslovakia. why make comparisons to the nazis? >> when doing a faux filibuster, you've got to talk about something, anything, green eggs and ham. faux history. now, he -- ted cruz falls into that other category of people. he is not dumb. he is saying things that -- that

plays to the base, that plays to his base, which are the money people, who keep rewarding him, rewarding his bad behavior. >> okay. here's some more. cruz number one. cruz was one of the most inglorious episodes of the year. happened at the confirmation here for defense secretary nominee, chuck hagel. cruz used a deceitful rhetorical style that reminded me of joe mccarthy to insinuate he may have taken money from the communists in north korea. let's listen. >> it may be he spoke at radical or extreme groups or anti israel groups and accepted financial compensation. we don't know. he could not even siay that the $200,000 he received did not come directly from a foreign government. it may be perfectly appropriate. we might conclude that it was benign, reasonable. but it is at a minimum relevant to know if that $200,000 that he deposited in his bank account came directly from saudi arabia,

came directly from north korea. >> baseless, baseless innuendo. no reason to believe this guy is working for the reds in north could i can't. >> or anti israel groups or anything else. it may have come from satan. >> it may have come from the heritage foundation. >> probably not. but it shows there is no bottom line anymore. and the sort of responsible safety net for public discourse. that you can just say anything. there is no harm that can come to ted cruz for speaking this way. for saying nazis. that will be greater than the benefit -- that will be greater than the benefit he reaps, he is leading the pack, the money is flowing in, gets on tv for this. no shaming anymore. so you can get out there -- who can tell him, have you no decency? no one can get away -- >> people live -- >> he is the product of our times and the product of the movement we have been discussing. it's no accident you're doing a whole segment on ted cruz. ted cruz is like the summation of the whole thing you have been

doing this whole hour. yes, he's only talking to his own people. there is no edward r. murrow. no senate committee that can shame him. and but he's -- i disagree with david. i don't think he's necessarily going to win in the end here. when you look at republican polls of who republicans like as a possible standard bear, the average republican responding to that poll is smart enough to know that ted cruz is not translatable to the country as a whole. >> among the republican candidates for president in those round robin debates we're going to see in 2016, even in 2015, it's going kill the republican brand to have that guy's face there. >> and people know that. >> up next, ted cruz may have been -- gotten the biggest headlines, but iowa congressman, steve king, not the author, not the smart guy, may have found the most absurd things to say. king's best. that's next. this is "hardball," the place for politics.

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to alienate mainstream voters. here is number three on the congressman's list of doozies from right here on "hardball." >> what does raising a family teach you about international finance? where do you get a -- where does knowledge about international finance derive from raising a family? what's the connection? >> that's not my only source of information, is raising my children. there are many other sources of information. and i gather that just like you do. i mean, you seem to have an independent judgment to be my critic, so i can can challenge you the same way. but i'll say this -- >> do you trust "the wall street journal?" do you trust the "new york times"? >> i sometimes read the "new york times." i don't trust the words of any source. >> david corn. i'm going to go to joan. joan, i don't trust the word of any source. but he raised a family, so he understands the nuance of international finance, which i don't think i've been able to jump from my ability to raise a family with my wife, kathleen, to figuring out what's going on

in zurich. i don't know how it works, actually, myself. your thoughts. >> i don't know how entirely how it works either. and i'm proud to defer to other people when there are things i don't know. but that's just not done on the right. and it goes back -- this is an old, old tendency. they called add lay stevenson egg head. they demonize knowledge and smarts. and they really elevate what they think is a kind of common sense wisdom that comes from the family, that comes from the father, the head of the household, presumably. and it's crazy. but this is what they think is going to let them take back the country. and it's not. >> okay. here's where the horse ends leads us. number two from steve king and the topic of president obama's birth. >> but in any case, it would have been awfully hard to fraudulently file the birth notice of barack obama being born in ha ahuh and get that ino our public libraries and microfiche. that doesn't mean there aren't some other explanations how they

might have announced that by telegram from kenya. the list goes on. >> so this white woman from kansas decides she wants her son to be president some day. the son doesn't exist yet so she meets this guy from kenya, and she plans to have the birth announced in the hospitals and newspapers out in honolulu. she spends the money to go to kenya so she can have the baby there so she can announce the baby in honolulu. all the time planning the kid, who she will name after the father, barack obama, and she will do this by -- let's get to jonathan on this. this takes strategic planning on the part of this woman. this is a hell of a shot. this is a long ball. >> please. it's completely insane. and it feeds in this -- the birther notion, which we all knew was ridiculous. we all thought it went away once the president released his long-form birth certificate when the short term didn't prove

sufficient for folks like donald trump. and still there were polls that came out that show there are still a significant chunk of people who still believe the birther lie. so the fact that congressman king is, you know, out there talking about microfiche and birth certificates. >> telegram -- >> the thing about the common thread is, the common thread is, faith, not logic. >> yes. >> it's -- it's family, not science. >> why did they have faith and the fact you can't have a black american president? why is that a matter of faith? >> we haven't -- openly or frankly discussed either race or religion. >> why would that be a matter of faith, he wasn't born here? >> because -- >> because he struck people from the very beginning, both because of his name, because of his background, because of his color in part. as somebody foreign. as somebody who wasn't quite american, somebody who didn't belong in america -- and in a world that they see, where it's all either good or bad, where there is no gray. only faith or lack of faith.

>> but he's also a protege of chicago left wing politics. >> because he has a secret plan. this is -- >> it's a paranoid sitdown strike. >> the way to make this work really easy is with something like birtherism. because it gets to the original sin. it's a plan, there's a telegram. he's not real. then later on, he hooks up with sallin ski. but it gets to the root of the problem. not that he just haven't like us, different color, thinks differently, but wasn't born here. wraps everything up. >> you know who has the ultimate secret plan? >> who? >> satan. that's what this is about. >> oh, my god. >> you give me that look. i'm getting worried. now number one from steve king on a -- >> that wasn't number one? >> the republican party decided to appeal to minorities. catch this. that's this one. >> and some of them are

valedictorians. my answer to that is -- and by the way, their parents brought them in. it wasn't their fault. it's true in some cases. but they aren't all valedictorians, weren't all brought in by their parents. for everyone who is a valedictorian, there is another hundred out there that they way 130 pounds and calves the size of cantaloupes because they're hauling 75 pounds of marijuana across the desert much. >> i want you to develop some thinking here. why the word cantaloupe. remember you used to shoot can't lopes? what is this about -- i remember a guy, navy -- still alive now, great running back, big wide calves. what is this about wide calves like cantaloupes? how do you put this together? and did it by carrying -- by the way, marijuana doesn't weigh that much. i mean -- bushels of it doesn't make your legs that wide. what is he talking about? how can he put these ideas together? >> it's so icky, because it

reduces the alleged latino person to kind of being a beast of burden. he's an animal. you're looking at his body. you're looking -- i don't know. i don't go around staring at people's calves. but there is something so elementary. >> he does. >> obviously, he does. and, you know, this talk about other -- let's stay on otherism. because this is part of otherism. and otherizing these people, making them bodies, making them mules. and this is why the republican party is really -- >> this is like sometimes minister fer i can with numbers. 100 for every valedictorian. they weigh 130 pounds and carry 75 pounds of marijuana and calves -- there is a lot of information here. this guy has put a lot of facts in there. >> a lot of information, wrong information. and i think it all comes down to a matter of a -- you talk about faith versus logic. also, a tremendous lack of trust. and one of the clips you showed a person says i don't -- i read "the wall street journal."

it was him. but i don't trust it. they don't trust sources of information. >> interesting times. >> but this is how you get a debt ceiling crisis, when the folks on the hill do not trust the experts who are telling them, if you don't do this all hell will break loose. there is no trust. and that's how you get someone like steve king talking about cantaloupes and bales of marijuana, and people believe it. >> and let's remember, too, we can make fun of steve king, because this is in one level ridiculous and absurd. but he comes from iowa. that's the first caucus, beginning of the 2016 election. there are going to be a lot of people looking for his endorsement, trying to play to his crowd. the crowd that he is playing to will be played to by ted cruz, rand paul. >> he went hunting. ted cruz took him hunting. >> what do they think? watch this clown show -- >> beyond iowa and beyond the laughter, this is a serious issue and problem in american life. you just -- we just had an hour laughing at and enjoying the

extreme statements of these people. but these people are important in american politics. and not just because of iowa. but because they represent a strain in american life that is very large right now. in which there is no faith in any source of authority. >> more fun to laugh. we'll be right back after this. ] at humana, understanding what makes you different is what makes us different. we take the time to get to know you and your unique health needs. then we help create a personalized healthcare experience that works for you. and you. and you. with 50 years of know-how, and a dedicated network of doctors, health coaches, and wellness experts, we're a partner you can rely on -- today, and tomorrow. we're going beyond insurance to become your partner in health. humana.

it obviously doesn't hurt too much to laugh, because we've had a lot of fun talking about this craziness on the right. thank you, howard fineman, thank you david corn, jonathan capehart and joan walsh in new

york. a smile on your face, which is appropriate. and thank you all for being with us. if you're out holiday shopping, get a copy of my new book, tip and the gipper, when politics works. it will make you feel happier this holiday. see you monday night at 7:00 eastern for more "hardball." due to mature subject matter, viewer discretion is advised. the sewer rats will get drunk. >> inmate-made alcohol leads to a disruption. a crackdown on illegal cell phones could interfere with one inmate's plans to be married. >> don't cry. >> correctional officers go in hot pursuit of other forms of contraband. and with personal cameras provided by our producers, inmates show private moments. >> this is my girlfriend, jodie.