we hope you have a safe and happy holiday season. we'll see you next year. good night, everybody! the right wing delivers a crazy '13. let's play "hardball." ♪ hello i'm chris matthews in washington. politicians on the right have done disturbing and destructive things this year. they derailed every legislative item they could. including gun control, immigration, the budget, and 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 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 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, and crazy things you can expect to here in politics. over the next hour we'll show you most of them. here's a taste. >> the president who bows down to allah. >> we look like geniuses now. >> get everyone addicted to the sugar. >> i want to know are they using weapons to train or are they being taught to use is syringes and health care items? >> for everyone who's a valedictori valedictorian, there's another hundred out there who weigh 130 pounds and have cavs the size of cantaloupes because they're

hauling marijuana across the desert. >> and we can count down the far right's most knuckle headed statements. covering their hatred of the president, hatred of the president's agenda, 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 huffing ton post, david corn of mother jones, jonathan capehart of "washington post" and joan walsh of salon. now let's look at the hatred of president obama. number three goes to blake farenthold when he openly discussed impeaching the president. farenthold is in support of a ted cruz 2016 campaign for president. this is a clip from his appearance on "hardball" in september. it's remarkable.

>> obama's president. ted cruz can be president. >> what do you mean? explain. this is serious business, congressman. you're chuckling about this. you've been touting the guy. he said he could run for president. explain. is he eligible. you brought it up. >> i think he's eligible. i'm giving a yes answer. >> if obama was born overseas to an american mother even if that crazy theory of trump is true, he'd still be president by that standard. >> listen, we're talking about ted cruz -- >> can't you give an inch mentally? >> i'm telling you that president obama is the president. >> no, no. you brought this up. is he -- >> the answer is yes. >> was he legitimately elected 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 by

saying he was duly elected as president of the united states. >> if you go 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. i remember him saying a lot of people don't think i was born here. and not sure what he meant by here. there is a sort of theological belief at the heart of this that obama -- that the president is somehow not only not legitimating with 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 rejections of him from the body of politics. >> joan, let's get to a more -- i think the cosmic thing is totally true. but joan, add to the

conversation i was having with that u.s. congressman. i said if you're from ted cruz who we know was born to an american mother up in canada. i believe he's eligible. i'm a liberal guy about this. most of us are. the worst crazy case is donald trump's that obama was born to an american mother in kenya. therefore if you accept cruz as a potential president, then you should accept obama as a legitimate. that was a simple question to put this to character. and he wouldn't accept it. >> you're asking for something they can't give you. you're 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 that they do this is because it works. you know, for a year end piece i'm doing for salon, the president takes off with approval ratings in the 70s. and it's among the 60s. it stays there through the

summer. it's 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. that's part of what skashs me now. >> let's look at number two on the countdown now. during a town hall event in august, he said he wanted to impeach the president and he couldn't tolerate the president's mere physical presence. this is u.s. congressman responding to a question about impeachment. let's listen to benivolio. >> if i could write that, i would. i stood 12 feet from the guy and listened to him. and i couldn't stand being there. >> i couldn't stand being there. you're going to get on this.

this thing about cooties. it's like there's some physical presence that it disturbs me. people go to work every day they deal with people they don't know or like in business and sales. you got to come up against all kinds. nobody says i couldn't stand being there. this is high school stuff. i don't know what it is. 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 a light presence. an easy presence, i think. >> he's smart and engaging. he does reach out to people he disagrees with because he wants to win the argument. he can be 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 the fight. obama embodies everything they can't stand. >> he is the ultimate gentleman.

he is charming. whatever you think of his politics, he ain't hard to take. my question, this is great question, jonathan, as a columnist, are these people saying this because they feel a yuck factor with him? which i don't think they do. or they're selling the yuck factor to the yucky poos on the right who need to be consoled every moment of their lives. our congressman won't let us down by hugging this guy like chris did. >> depending on which member of congress you're talking to. 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 are coming to congress who aren't -- a lot of them aren't terribly smart. the guy you interviewed in that first clip said i wasn't here to determine whether the president is legitimately president. these are folks who failed school house rock. i mean, this is what's

ridiculous about this. and the level of disrespect that's been shown to the president from september of 2009. >> i remember in the old days when that show was great. i only believe what i see. have you been to japan? no. do you believe there's a tokyo? number one on our countdown goes to larry klayman. he helped organize an anti-obama protest here in washington. the event had its share of red hot rhetoric thanks to appearances by sarah palin and ted cruz. but the klayman rant grabbed headlines. let's listen. >> a president who bows down to allah. 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 non-violent revolution, to use civil disobedience, and to demand that

this president leave town, to get out, to put the koran down, to get up off his knees, and to figuratively come up with his hands out. >> my god. that's a hell of a demand. put your hands up, put down the koran, get off your knees, and leave town today. otherwise we'll have a non-violent second revolution. >> and we've elected that president twice. i love the way he throws in figuratively so we can't say he's inciting violence, but of course he is inciting a kind of violence. let's remember. this is the rally where there was a guy with a confederate flag there. they're outside the home of a black family. they are outside their home telling them to get out. >> an eviction notice, if you will. >> when, thank you, we've elected that man to lead us twice. and they don't accept his legitimacy and they don't accept ours either. but there's 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 so disturbing to me. no one to my knowledge, i don't know if ted cruz was asked to disavow any of that. that was the same event. >> clue to the crazy right now. i agree with you. . clue to the crazy. if this president were a tyrant dictating the world, why are you able to be such clowns in front of his house. attacking the man to attacking his plan. republicans have saved some of their craziest talk for the affordable care act. and this is "hardball," the place for politics. honestly, my kids are hard to impress... so i got the windows nokia tablet. it's, well, impressive. it's got the brightest hd screen, super-fast 4g lte, so my son can play games and movies almost anywhere, and it's got office for school stuff. but the best part? i got the lumia 928 for my daughter for free, with the best low-light smartphone camera

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we're back on "hardball" with our panel. this is the year republicans in the house of representatives shut down the government and

contemplated defaulting on our debt. the plan had zero chance of zero chance of succeeding. that didn't stop the likes of ted cruz, mike lee, michele bachma bachmann, and others from holding the american public hostage. th launched by the far right to turn the country against the health care law. here are three of the oddest moments. declaring victory even as the country turned strong against the republican tactic. and warning the country if the law wasn't repealed, it would quote, literally kill women, children, and senior citizens. but bachmann topped herself with this victory dance on fox news after the shutdown was over. and after the law's troubled rollout. it's number three on the list. let's watch her. >> i hate to see we told you so, but we look like geniuses now. because we predicted this would

happen. and we don't want this to happen. we want people to have the health insurance that works for them. for their family. >> in what looking glass does she -- does the affaorementione geniuses? >> those words don't goe 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 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've -- 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 republican wills going to run again in 2014 and maybe even

2016 slamming into the same thing. >> chris cuomo on good morning america the other day i thought did a good job of challenging ted cruz. he kept says what's your plan. what's your plan. and this guy was caught flat footed with nothing. our plan is to destroy obama care. >> and he got all huffy that he was being lectured by chris cuomo when he just did his job basically. ted cruz came out with we are going to let people by state lines which is ridiculous. doesn't save money or get anybody else insured. he did expose the fact that they do not have a plan. they don't feel like they have to have a plan. tort reform and sell insurance across state lined. >> not much there. when it comes to the affordable care act, the right wing is always looking for a got ya moment. they're okay making it up. look at what happened in the epa

house oversight committee. tried to make news for this administrator. listen to how miss mccarthy responds and then watch how he distorts it. >> let me ask you one more question because my time's running out. are you signed up for obamacare? >> no, i am not. >> why not? >> because i'm lucky enough as a federal government employee 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 -- >> to be clear, mccarthy there is saying she's lucky enough to already have health insurance. she's 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 differently. that's number two in our countdown. >> i think, though, you earlier gave me my favorite tweet of the day that i'm going to send out

which is -- 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 to have access to health care. >> i'll take your quote. i wrote it down. >> my father is a court reporter. he had to write down what people said. he would have lasted three minutes. he completely changed what she said and read its 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. >> why wait a half hour and issue a press release when she wasn't around. >> now you tweet your distortions immediately. >> this guy did it in realtime on the same videotape so we can all see how he lied. i mean lie is a strong word, but

he certainly distorted it. >> there's a strong question here because if you look at what bachmann said that obama care is going to kill women, kids, and parents and grandparents. then this guy saying something that's not what she said. the fact they can get away with stupid remarks and lies again and again because they go on fox and get people to believe it. >> it's all lines like fair and balanced. they giggle at this stuff. when it comes to anything balanced compared to other networks, they don't mean -- never mind. it's the way people hear things and play these games. there are a lot of examples of misinformation. but this comment from the illustrious louie gohmert takes the cake. the affordable care act provides funding for a reserve few thousand doctors 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's this guy talking about? >> it provides in obamacare that this commission and non-commission officer corps will be trained. but i want to know are are they using weapons to train or are they using syringes and health care items? >> what is this army of people bearing syringes during the -- what are they running syringes up over their shoulder. what are we talking about? what fear zone is he working here? army of people like invasion of the body snatchers going around inoculating people with death panel juice or whatever it is? >> we've also got a theme here that we've got a few guys from texas, which makes me worry about my friends in texas. these are the people that also believed there are fema camps. that obama is going to round us

up and put them in fema camps. they play on the most base paranoia of a fringe of people and they get elected and re-elected. and there's really no penalty for it. >> last word, howard. they get re-elected. this isn't costing anybody a job. >> these are deep red districts. and the black helicopter theories of the world work there. 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 a paranoid sit-down strike going on. >> constant booster shots that keep them in business. but syringes with an army. up next, republicans who flatout denied reality. this should appeal to everybody possibly watching. these people are somewhat unscientific, don't you think? this is "hardball," the place for politics.

we're back with david corn, howard fineman, joan walsh, and jonathan capehart. these are the folks who for whatever reason still won't or don't get it. kicking off this category is paul broun who shuns science in favor of a literal interpretation from the bible. what's more perplexes is 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 that stuff i was talking about evolution, 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 who are taught that from understanding that 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'll continue to do that. >> joan, i think he's speaking at 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. there seems to be a lot of connections at least with us and the rest of this world. but this guy conditions 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 the science committee in the house. >> and these are lies straight from the pit of hell. there might be other things straight from the pit of hell that don't have to do with evolution. no. it's an incredible paranoia. he thinks he's got a bright future in georgia politics. and all we can hope is that georgia steadily turns purple and then blue and we don't have to deal with the paul brouns 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. up next, this is from the host of the "700 club." pat robinson who believe it or not went to yale law. is known to stoke fear and anxiety about the gay community. and this with aas a whopper of accusation. the network removed it from their website shortly after he spoke it. let's listen to pat robertson. >> what they do in san francisco, some of the gay community, they want to get people so if they got the stuff, they'll have a ring. you shake hands. the ring has a thing where you cut your finger. >> really? >> yeah, really. it's like that kind of vicious stuff which would be the equivalent of murder. >> okay, your thoughts on the subject? where'd he get this little wives tale? what do we call this tale? >> a lie is what it is. this is a man who blamed the gays for everything.

hurricanes, earthquakes, name the natural disaster, whatever calamity -- >> 9/11? >> i don't know if he went that far, but maybe because someone beat him to it. >> he was close. >> so 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 however often he does and says what he says is outrageous. >> i never figured out what this guy's story is. he did go to yale. it has small classes. incredibly hard to get into. yet he comes out with this over and over again. >> i think he's a vaudevillian. but he knows this plays. and the particular demonization

of gay people is really kind of terrifying. 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 so beyond reality. and it's so cruel. it's just so cruel. >> it's worse than even trent -- what's his name? >> trent lott. >> trent lott saying people made their choice. >> i covered pat robertson's presidential campaigns. he struck me as a guy willing to say and do just about anything to augment his role as a supposed spiritual leader. >> also something that incites violence as well. if you take him by his word, what's the response? >> gay people are killing people. >> you kick the crap out of somebody to show they can't get away with it. >> ted yoho.

i think he shortened his name. just kidding. on the prospect of defaulting on the u.s. debt. he made this 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. we're still suffering. we are still suffering from the near miss of '11. we had the near miss of '13 and he thought to go off the cliff. >> this is apockalyptic thinkin. everything is an apocalypse. and apocalypses are good. you want everything to fall apart. because it's only when everything falls apart that you pick up the true belief whatever the true belief is. whether it's the homely bible. whether it's the gold standard. >> coming up, there are two

republicans who stood out among the outstanding standouts. one of them of course is ted cruz. we've got the greatest and worst hits from cruz himself. you're watching "hardball," the place for politics. [ male announcer ] when you wear dentures you may not know

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i'm milissa rehberger. here's what's happening. president obama is -- there are no reports of injury, rather, in north dakota where emergency crews are on the scene of a fiery cargo derailment. the u.s. is condemning the deadly terror attacks in russia over the last few days. also offered support to the russian government as it increases security before the olympics. and there's still to relief for the ice trapped ship in antarctic. 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. 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 summit -- western conservative submit. an how to block the health care cost at all costs because 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 obamacare.

the administration's plan is very simple. get everyone addicted to the sugar so that obamacare remains a permanent feature of our society. >> david, this is the strajest acknowledgment. he's saying people might really like it. screw it up before it gets to them. >> he's saying they might like being insured. they might like going to the doctor when they're sick. there's a bigger picture here. one reason they were desperate to stop obamacare is when we fight about obamacare, what we're fighting about is whether the u.s. government has a role in u.s. policy and making things better for average americans. the tea party talking about disrupters is to say no. government's a solution. we need less and less and less of it. if obama care works, it provides insurance to people in a way that they appreciate. >> wait a minute. >> this is the alamo for them. >> this is great stuff. for one second, i want to know

this before the year's over. does the tea party want to roll back the safety net? if obamacare health care is wrong as an approach, let me go to joan. do they want to roll back medicare and get rid of that? how far do they want to go back? they want all that stuff. they love medicare. seniors love medicare. >> you're right. their older, white, senior base which is their base, they love that stuff. but they don't think about it as something the government is doing for them. it's something they've taken for granted. none of us remember what it was like to live in that kind of fear. so there's a real disconnect, you're right. between what they preach and what they're -- >> okay. howard, why do they assume the center left with some republican support. why do they feel they've always been wrong. that's a good system. it helps the poor. it helps the working poor and the middle class. >> well, it's because these

people believe 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. if they can stop obama care or dismantle obama care, they'll take the risk of another. >> you can get this one. whenever you're making a comparison to the nazis you're losing. what's for senator cruz during his faux filibuster in september. it's number two in our countdown. let's check 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 ca obamacare is just going to be peachy keen. if you go to the 1940s, naz ki germany. we saw in britain, chamberlain who said accept the nazis. yes, they'll decimate the continent of europe, but that's not our problem. let's appease them. why? because it can't be done. we can't possibly stand against them. >> this guy didn't study history. it was the 1930s about appeasement. it had to do with czechoslova a czechoslovakia. but you're up. >> when you're doing a filibuster for 20-something hours, you've got to talk about anything. green eggs and ham, faux history. now, he -- ted cruz falls into that other category of people. he's not dumb. he's saying things that he -- that plays to the base, that plays to his base which are the money people who keep rewarding

him, keep rewarding his bad behavior. >> here's some more. cruz was one of the most inglorious episodes of the year here. it happened at the confirmation hearing for chuck hagel. cruz used a deceitful style that reminded me and others of joe mccarthy. to insinuate that hagel may have taken money from the communists in north korea. let's listen. >> it may be that he spoke as radical or extreme groups or anti-israel groups and accepted financial compensation. we don't know. and he could not even say 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, it was 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 from north korea. >> base less innuendo. no reason to believe he's

working for the reds in north korea. >> or anti-israel groups or anything else. and it may have come from satan. >> it may have come from the heritage foundation. >> probably not. but it shows that there is no bottom line anymore, any 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 that will be greater than the benefits he reaps. he's leading the pac, the money is flowing in, he's on tv for this. who can tell him have you no decency? >> people live the -- >> they try. >> he is the product of our times and the product of the movement we've been discussing. it's no accident that you're doing a whole segment on ted cruz. ted cruz is like the summation of the whole thing you've been doing this whole hour. and yes, he's only talking to his own people. there's no edward r. murrow.

there's no senate committee that can chain him. i disagree with david. i don't think he's going to necessarily win in the end here. if you look even at republican polls of who republicans like as a possible standard, 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 in 2016. even in 2015. it's going to kill the republican brand to have that guy's face there. up next, ted cruz may have gotten the biggest headlines, but iowa congressman steve king, not the author, not the smart guy, may have found the most absurdist things to say. king's best coming up next. this is "hardball," the place for politics. welcome back. how is everything?

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here's number three on his list of doozies from right here on "hardball." >> what does raising a family teach you about international finance? where do you get -- where does knowledge about international finance derive from raising a family? what's the connection? >> it's not my only source of information is raising my children. there are many other sources of information. i gather that just like you do. >> okay. >> you seem to be my critic. i could challenge you to -- >> no, no. do you trust the wall street journal? do you trust "the new york times"? >> i read the wall street journal. i don't really trust it. i don't trust the words of any source. >> david corn. joan, i don't trust the words of any source. but he raised a family so he understands the nuance of international finance. which i don't think a jump from raising a family with kathleen to figuring what's going on in

zurich. yaur thoughts. >> i don't know how it works either. 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 stevenson egghead. they've demonized knowledge. they demonized smarts. they really elevate what they think as 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. >> number two from steve king on 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 hawaii and get that into our politic libraries in what they keep of all the newspapers published. that doesn't mean there aren't other explanations on how they

might have announced that from telegraph from kenya and so on. >> so this woman from kansas wants her son to be president. she meets a guy from kenya and plans the birth announced to the hospitals and the newspapers out in honolulu, where she lives, but she gets on an airplane, spends the money to go to kenya so that she could have the baby there, so that she could announce she had the baby in honolulu, all the time planning in 1961, for her kid, and for the father, barack hussein obama, the first african-american president of any sort, and she'll -- let's get to john on this. this really takes strategic planning on the part of this woman. >> insane! >> this is a hell of a shot. it's a long ball. >> it's incredibly insane, and it feeds into the birther notion, which we all knew was ridiculous, we all thought that it went away once the president released his long-form birth certificate when the short-form birth certificate didn't prove sufficient for folks like donald trump, and still -- there are

polls that came out that showed there was still a significant chunk of people who still believed the birther lie. so, the fact that congressman king is out there talking about microfiche and birth certificates and -- >> now telegram. >> but the thing about the common -- the common thread is faith, not logic. >> yes. >> it's family, not science. >> well, why don't they have faith in the fact that you can't have a black american president? why is that a matter of faith? >> well, we haven't openly or frankly discussed either race or religion here -- >> but why would that be a matter of faith, he wasn't born here? >> 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, as somebody who didn't belong in america -- [ everyone talking at once ] and in a world that they see where it's all either good or bad, where there is no gray. there was only faith or lack of

faith. that's the third mistake. >> but the easy -- >> he's also a protege of chicago left-wing politics. he's also part -- >> he has a secret plan. >> he's also part of the corrupt chicago machine. [ everyone talking at once ] >> it's a paranoid sit-down -- >> but 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'll get to sowalinski, but it gets to the root of the problem, not that he doesn't like us, isn't the right color, thinks differently, but that he really wasn't born here. >> do you know who has the ultimate secret plan? >> who? >> satan. >> yeah. >> that's what this is about. >> oh, my god. >> oh, my god. >> you give me that look, i'm getting worried. now number one from steve king on a topic the republican party trying to appeal to minorities. catch this. catch this one. >> and some of them are valedictorians. well, 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, they weren't all brought in by their parents. for everyone who's a valedictorian, there's another 100 out there that, they weigh 130 pounds and they've got calves the size of cantaloupes because they're healing 75 pounds of marijuana across the desert. >> joan, why the word cantalo e cantaloupe? remember you used to shoot cantaloupes to see whether vince foster committed suicide or not? it was cantaloupe, i remember it. i remember a great running back, joe bellino had big, wide legs, wide calves. what's this wide calves like cantaloupes? and you did it by carrying -- by the way, marijuana doesn't weigh that much! >> a big bale -- >> you'd have bushels of it, doesn't weigh enough to make your legs that wide. what is he talking about and how can we put these ideas together? >> it's so icky because it reduces this alleged latino

person to kind of being a beast of burden. he's an animal. you're looking at his body. i don't go around staring at people's calves, but there's something so elementary about this. >> well, he does. >> obviously, he does, and you know, let's talk about other -- >> but the numbers -- >> but 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 out of touch -- >> looking at the numbers here, look at these. 100 of them out there for every valedictorian, and they weigh 130 pounds and they carrying 75 pounds of marijuana and they have calves the size of cant -- there's a lot of information here. this guy is putting a lot of facts into this. >> and a lot of information, wrong information, and i think it all comes down to a matter of a complete -- you talk about faith versus logic, but also a tremendous lack of trust. and one of the clips he shows, a person says i read the "wall street journal" -- i think it

was him -- but i don't trust it. >> interesting times. >> but it boils -- 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's no trust, and that's how you get someone like steve king talking about cantaloupes and bales of marijuana and people believe him. >> let's remember, too, we can make fun of steve king because this is on one level quite ridiculous and absurd, but he comes from iowa. that's the first caucus. >> right. >> 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's playing to will be played to by ted cruz, rand paul and all the rest. >> he went hunting. >> what do think? >> maybe he'll come on. >> beyond iowa, beyond iowa and beyond the laughter, this is a serious issue and problem in american life. we just had an hour laughing at and enjoying the extreme statements of these people. >> right.

>> 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's no faith in any source of authority. >> okay, it's more fun to laugh. we'll be right back after. [ doctor ] and in a clinical trial versus lipitor, crestor got more high-risk patients' bad cholesterol to a goal of under 100. way to go, crestor! yeah! getting to goal is a big deal, especially if you have high cholesterol plus any of these risk factors. because you could be at increased risk for plaque buildup in your arteries over time. so, when diet and exercise aren't enough to lower cholesterol, adding crestor can help. go, crestor! ♪ ♪ oh, yeah [ female announcer ] crestor is not right for everyone, like people with liver disease

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well, 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, david corn, jonathan capehart and joan walsh up in new york.

you've got 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 "tip and the gipper: when politics worked." it will actually make you feel a lot happier this holiday. see you again monday night at 7:00 p.m. eastern for more "hardball." hey, now, america. it's time for the "all in all-star 3/4 of a year in review show." >> good evening from new york. i'm chris hayes and welcome to the "all in all-star 3/4 of a year in review show." tonight we have a strong lineup of "all in's" greatest moments from the last nine months since the show launched on april 1st, 2013. so, sit back, relax and enjoy the ride. >> five, four, three, two, one! >> 2013, what a year it was. a president's second term began, the king of all babies was born, and a show was launched. good eng