let's play "hard ball." good evening, i'm chris matthews back in washington. let me start tonight with the crazy way there week is ending. you heard the news from north korea how the young head of that country just executed his guardian uncle. back here in america, the right-wing is acting if not as brutally, certainly as crazily. it's hard to tell who is calling the shots in this crowd. mark levine announced that john baner is weak for backing that

budget deal and trying to avoid another government shutdown. glenn beck confirms the republican speaker as not just a liberal but, get this, he's calling hum a progressive. oh, my god. acting like the king of the crazies, beck says ted cruz is a good right-wing boy and opposing the deal because "he did what we told him to." we, glenn beck and company. now the cat is out of the bag. the people calling the shots are the loudest, angriest, nastiest voices in the right-wing media. people are always watching any deal with the president are the cruzes, ran paul and mike lees. not only them, the many mitch mcconnells and lindsey grams all scared at the moment that they will finger them for destruction the way kim young un just fingered his uncle in pyongyang. what is not north korea but boy

is it getting tough on the american right. david corn is the washington bureau chief for mother jones and we have a columnist from "the washington post." of course, both are proud, i hope. anyway, john boehner continues to face all out revoluntarily for the tea party vote on the right. listen carefully what beck says is the real reason they love whacko birds like ted cruz and mike lee is they're taking orders from them. >> i find him to be utterly fekless. >> i think john boehner is one of the prime examples of worthless, worthless republicans much these guys are big government progressives. they're not liberals. they're not rhinos. they're progressives. we have to take a stand. mike lee and ted cruz, they did what we told them to do. meanwhile, the john boehners and the mitch mcconnells of the world are trying to take ted

cruz and mike lee and destroy them. mitch mcconnell is the biggest two faced liar i have ever seen. i missed some of the best of it. the other guy is -- what is this about? are people in that radio world out there and driving in their cars that actually believe as glenn beck just said that boehner is a progressive and the other guy is a liar, whatever the words he used? >> i don't know what mark levine and glenn beck believe because it's too scary to look into their souls. but the real question is while there's a fight between them and heritage action and boehner and republicans who want to be grownups and divide government this is going to be arbitrated not by either side but by the republican/conservative base. one reason why the party and tea party lurched to the right because that's where the votes have been ever since obama began

this gigantic backlash. so they're still going to be fight wlg it's boehner or rush limbaugh for the heart and soul of the republican party. >> what is the backlash? >> once obama got elected, you know -- >> what do you do? you consider a left wing guy for all the reasons. just go to the left wing part. what do do you? do you fight with him? say no, no, no until he's gone eight years the guy is gone or do you say, damnit, we have to recover this country. that's what boehner said. i'm one-third of this government. i don't have the house or presidency. we can't pretend we are. glenn beck pretends and mark levine and the rest of them that they're ruling the western world. >> look, these are folks who are catering to what david talked about, the base of the republican party, the life blood energy of the republican party. part of the republican party that defeated long time utah senator bob bennett which i think was the shot across the back that sent a chill through every sitting -- >> dick luger.

mike kcassell from delaware. >> witch. >> she's not a witch. >> she's just like you. >> sorry, she's not a witch. >> what speaker boehner said the other day where, are you kidding me? these folks are trying to use our members. where was that three years ago? >> he's very new to this wait a second i'm going be an adult. you can't trash a guy for six years for being crazy when he finally stabdz up being don knots. >> but he just cost us $28 billion on the shutdown and now he says, oh, my god, i can't believe we did that. >> people can grow. >> yes, he can grow. >> you are relentless.

>> speaker boehner had already grown, he was just hiding it from people. >> he is showing his stuff now. he's the incredible hulk this week. the red hots in the senate have come out in force against the budget deal which passed the house last night. casey hunt is reporting that not a single republican in the entire united states senate, the world's greatest deliberatetive body said they would vote yes on this little bitty deal, not one of them. they're trying to match up with guys like glenn beck and mark levine. you want prove? watch this wild and crazy set of reasons for opposing this deal. they oppose it because it funds the affordable care act. of course it does. it's law. the new budget deal moves in the wrong direction. it spends more taxes and allows continued funding for obamacare. i condition k. not support. okay that, is predictable. mike lee from utah told fox today that deal was literally putting lives in danger.

>> i can't vote for a bill that i fundamentally disagree with. >> ryan murray budget was billowed around reversing billions of dollars in cuts to the military. the whole of this deal was to protect the military. anyway, then there is this bit of tortured logic from marco rubio. he says he's opposing the deal in part because it would shut down the government ultimately. he said, that's right. he actually said that and you heard it right. >> i don't want a shutdown. this contribute and we're going to have a real shutdown. it's not because we can't pass a law but because we have a debt crisis. >> he also had this logic about being american. we all are, aren't we? >> why as a conservative do you believe this isn't a deal you can back? >> it's not just as a

conservative, it's as an american. we're plagued by a government that continues to spend much more money than it's taking in. this is going on for a number of years. that's how you have a $17 trillion bipartisan debt. we have to start dealing with this. >> does he have his own camera over there he was working? instead of talk to kelly, he was talking to somebody else over there. >> he was filming a tv ad no doubt for 2016. >> filming there? i don't know what he was doing. >> the debt actually is at a better position than it was when obama came into office. revenues are up. >> okay. >> they're closing it. all this argument -- >> these are constant facts in our lives. we have a debt. we have a health care bill. everybody just wants to vote no. i want to get to the politics of this. >> of course. >> the politics is about this. you can't lose in the republican party by opposing the president. >> right. >> it is the safest rabbit hole there is, jonathan, right? so just say no. >> right. oppose the president. yammer on obama care. you said it's the law. these are all talking points we have heard for the last two years. and we're not talking about a

grand grand bargain here. we're talking about a deal that doesn't do any of the -- >> anyway, the leadership in the house led by john boehner has declared open war on the tea party. they're fighting back, these guys. i said don knots can't no more. the exact opposite story in the senate, a threat of the tea party primary is the tail wagging the dog. sarah palin had his warning for any republican who dares to support the budget deal. "2014 is just around the corner. if any member of congress thinks raising taxes and increasing wasteful spending is a winning strategy to run on, by all means they should vote for the ryan budget. we'll be watching." very forbidding there. matt hoskins of the fund took it a step further saying "the solution is for conservatives to work together to replace these republicans in the primary elections with true conservatives. if conservatives rise up, they can regain control of the party. if they stay home, the establishment will remain in power and continue to help the democrats enact their liberal agenda."

their threats appear to be working. not a single senate republican facing a primary battle next year in 2014 is supporting the deal. not yet, anyway. senate leaders mitch mcconnell, best-known senator on the republican side, john cornyn, the number two guy from texas, with tons of money are voting no. as is lindsey graham. roberts. david, this is what's stuns. we know politics has a lot to do with television these days and radio and, of course, still the newspapers and getting your name out there. people's names -- everybody knows mitch mcconnell follows american politics. everybody knows probably lindsey graham. these guys spent 20 years building up their reputation -- no, they're afraid of losing to people that nobody's ever heard of. >> mitch mcconnell, in particular, he has won several elections in kentucky, but at really low margins of what you'd expect for a national political -- >> why is he afraid of --

>> because already his disapproval rating, mitch mcconnell's is -- look what he gets to do now over the past few months. when he wants to, he can say, i'm a deal maker, got the deal that ended the government shutdown. he wants to say, i'm against the budget bill, he can say that now. >> my question is, why is a guy a well-known politician by definition, in trouble? on the right, they don't like anybody they recognize. they like these unknown guys like little mike lee comes in from nowhere. vote for him, are they going to vote for this guy, stockman, who certifiable? he's a birther and nut case. if they vote for him, they want a birther and a nut case. they know what they're getting. >> yes, they know what they're getting. remember, they want people who are conservative. >> meaning they've never heard of them. >> they've never heard of them.

mitch mcconnell is not conservative enough. speaker boehner is not conservative enough. bob bennett was not conservative enough. >> they want people who blow things up. it's to the just conservatives, not just ideology. they want people who disrupt. why? it goes back to obama. they want to blow up -- >> somebody who's never been in the room with the guy because they consider that contaminating. to be in the room, to be near him, have a cup of coffee with him. we have to go. this is the nature of -- this is all next spring, guys, we'll be talking about this. thank you, david corn, jonathan capehart. coming up, the return of the welfare queen. conservatives are back to using that old favorite. guess what? it helps nobody in the end. plus, signs that president obama may be going populist, pushes hard on things like higher minimum wage and other steps to close the income gap in this country. and progressives like what they're hearing. also, spy game. when robert levinson disappeared in iran almost seven years ago the u.s. government said he was a private businessman. we now know he was part of a rogue cia operation that cost three agency officials their job. let me finish tonight with the pride of finishing my 15-city book trip across the country. amid the 2016 talk about

neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair has the fastest retinol formula. to visibly reduce fine lines and wrinkles in just one week. neutrogena®. yeah. i heard about progressive's "name your price" tool? i guess you can tell them how much you want to pay and it gives you a range of options to choose from. huh? i'm looking at it right now. oh, yeah?

yeah. what's the... guest room situation? the "name your price" tool, making the world a little more progressive. [ fewinter is hard ] on your face. [ sneezes ] [ female announcer ] the start of sneeze season. the wind-blown watery eyes. [ sniffling ] the sniffling guy on the bus. and, of course, the snow angels with your little angels. that's why puffs plus lotion is soft. puffs plus are dermatologist tested to be gentle. they help soothe irritated skin by locking in moisture better. so you can always put your best face forward. a face in need deserves puffs indeed. you may be muddling through allergies. try zyrtec-d®. powerful relief of nasal congestion and other allergy symptoms -- all in one pill. zyrtec-d®. at the pharmacy counter.

amid the 2016 talk about rand paul, ted cruz and chris christie, here's a name from the past that doesn't want to be forgotten. mike huckabee. former arkansas governor told "the new york times" he's open for another run for president next time around. his evangelical background will play well in states with high populations of christian conservatives just as it did in 2008 when he won the iowa

caucuses. we'll be right back. welcome back to "hardball." republicans are out there reviving an old favorite these days, the welfare queen. whether the issue is extending unemployment benefits, increasing the minimum wage, expanding medicaid or funding food stamps, setting up makers versus takers conflict appears to be a political strategy the gop's banking on. here's texas congressman louie gohmert, an old birther sharing what he says is his constituents' frustration with food stamp recipients. >> they talk about standing in line -- i've heard this story so many times. standing if line at a grocery store behind people with a food stamp card and they look in their basket, as one individual said, i love crab legs. you know, the big king crab legs. i love those. but we haven't been able to have them in our house in who knows when. but i'm standing behind a guy who has those in his basket and i'm looking longingly like, when can i ever make enough again where our family can have something like that? and then sees the food stamp card pulled out and provided. >> sounds a lot like the tea party republican we told you about yesterday who's challenging senator lindsey graham in south carolina next year. here's a quick reminder. >> what do you think about, we've all seen the folks in line that are using, i guess they call them wic here, too, to buy their food. they have the nicest nails, nicest car, and we're getting the bill. how many times do they turn around and say, thank you? never. >> you have republican state senator joni ernst running for senate writing in her notes from

the capitol update that new medicaid recipients have no personal responsibility for their health. and republican louisiana congressman also running for the senate describes a hypothetical single woman, gives her the name sharon, who's, quote, not on medicaid and might have a no good name for gaming the system. cassy writes, quote, sharon expects his neighbor could earn more money, work fewer hours or perhaps live out of wedlock so he and his girlfriend qualify for the taxpayer provided free insurance. the return of the welfare queen, the latest story on "national journal" and hits the hot spots. the fancy sports car with the fins. this is back to the '60s. babies galore in the car. a tin of caviar. aforementioned kings cab legs flying out of a whole foods grocery bag. paperwork for welfare, food stamps, paper for medicare.gov blowing in the wind there and last but not least, a obama/biden bumper sticker. bobby brown, and margaret

carlson. i don't know if you laugh at the ridiculousness of it or stereotypical. i'd love to see you in court as a prosecutor asking this character, lee bright, strangely named nickname. he's called mr. bright by his friends. here he's saying he has obviously not observed somebody with the fingernails he thinks are really delightful or with expensive bag which may well be a knockoff for all he knows and of course, driving around in a very zippy car. i don't think he's ever watched anybody in a line at a safeway or a piggly wiggly or any place he goes shopping. i think it's all stereotyping and all the game -- it's called the dog whistle. we know what he's blowing. your thoughts? >> there's no question about it. it's all made up. let me tell you, chris, it's going to aid democrats like you would not believe. between now and 2014, if the republicans stick to the stupidity of all those misrepresentations and all of those fakes and they're forced to put their hand and show their hand, it's going to be

embarrassing. >> and, you know, margaret, when we talk about unemployment compensation, one thing we must remind everybody listening is unemployment compensation goes to people who have worked. >> and who want to work. >> yeah, it doesn't -- who are constantly applying for jobs. it doesn't go to people who don't want to work, but people who have worked. a proven work record or don't get a buck. >> it's made to sound like welfare, like a handout and a bunch of deadbeats who never want to work again when we know you announce a job, i saw one of these lines, when a job was announced, you have people around the block -- >> in every big city. >> -- to get the job. >> and they stand there all day. >> they do. people actually want work. most people, 99% want work at the center of their lives.

the king crab legs, chris, remember back in tip o'neill's day, king crab legs are the new cadillac. remember the -- >> i don't know. as reagan would put it so delightfully, the young buck waiting if line with the food stamps buying the gin. wasn't it that, mayor? i think he had some image along those lines that he favored. was it t-bone or was it gin? i don't know what the hell it was. something along those lines. by the way, i don't think you can buy booze with food stamps, anyway. >> no, you cannot. you cannot buy -- by the way, most of the people who have food stamps already have a job. they are the working poor and we assist them. to keep them working, we give them a handout called food stamps. otherwise they would be in real trouble and they'd cost us even more. the right-wing nuts don't seem to know that or don't want to admit it. bill clinton took them apart when he said, we are abolishing welfare as we know it. at the moment, became no longer an issue. >> i was thinking, margaret, some people around here think that it's because they're concerned not that health care, affordable care act, the president's plan will fail. they'd love that. what they're afraid of is it will be loved. >> yes. >> therefore, they have to begin the drum roll now that all government programs are bad and they're all handouts. >> also, even this one now, we're back to the kenyan socialist redistributing income because some people are going to pay more for their insurance because there's more in there. it's a better policy. so you -- >> as opposed to paying nothing

ha! >> defending the budget deal, congressman paul ryan quoted the rolling stones. he said, you can't always get what you want. that's for the budget deal. when it comes to congress, here's a better stones quote. we can't get no satisfaction. >> time for the sideshow. that was, of course, jay leno last night on paul ryan's budget deal which passed the house last night. as you might have expected,

though, steve colbert is against the deal. here's his explanation. >> americans sent republicans to washington to accomplish one thing. zero things. with this bipartisan budget, we'll have no chance of another government shutdown for two whole years. you fools! you can't leave our national parks open that long. it will give the wolves time to unionize. >> well, a group supporting the affordable care act has come out with a new ad to encourage young people to sign up for health care. it's a rap parody of snoop dogg's 2004 single "drop it like it's hot." ♪ let many be clear ♪ when i'm in the oval office call me president barack, president barack, president barack ♪ ♪ if my critics get an attitude, i tell them to stop, i tell them to stop ♪ ♪ if you need that new health care, sign up because it's hot, sign up because it's hot ♪ ♪ i'm commander in chief and i'm two terms strong plus i've got this health care which has got it going on ♪ >> the video is already under fire from the right. most notably from karl rove who says it crosses the line.

well, clearly it's not the music that rove objects to, though. he liked it when people were rapping about him at the 2007 radio and tv correspondents dinner ♪ he will rap it when you give him a chance ♪ ♪ he's a rapping resident ♪ he's a sidekick to the president ♪ ♪ tell me what is your name ♪ emcee rove ♪ this man will never stop, look at him jumping up and down ready to hop ♪ >> what i'm tempted to say i better not. finally, christmases is less than two weeks away. if you're not yet in the spirit, maybe this will help. it's the latest musical mash-up to go viral from barackdubs. ♪ dashing through the snow in a one horse open sleigh ♪ ♪ laughing all the way ♪ bells on bobtail ring making spirits bright ♪

♪ what fun it is to ride and sing a sleighing song ♪ ♪ jingle bells ♪ jingle all the way ♪ oh what fun it is to ride in a one horse open sleigh ♪ can he get his presidency back on track by becoming more progressive? you're watching "hardball." the place for politics. to visibly reduce fine lines and wrinkles in just one week. neutrogena®. to share with family. [ woman 2 ] to carry on traditions. [ woman 3 ] to come together even when we're apart. [ male announcer ] in stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy and more, swanson makes holiday dishes delicious.

you may be muddling through allergies.

try zyrtec-d®. powerful relief of nasal congestion and other allergy symptoms -- all in one pill. zyrtec-d®. at the pharmacy counter.

match.com's secret to dating and business, try new things. you'll love this small business advice coming up next on "your business." ♪ i'll always love you smal