when i look at the polls in north carolina. i think she is in a position to win this. i wouldn't write pryor off in arkansas. i think he is in a position to win. >> bob shrum, thanks for being with us. >> good evening, ed. and thanks to you for tuning in. tonight's lead, four years down and just one more week to go. we're down to the wire on affordable care act. the deadline is march 31st, and there is just one week left for americans to enroll in health care plans. president obama has been fighting to get to this point for the last four years. he has been defending the law, explaining the benefits, and pushing back against all those misleading attacks. >> today after all the votes have been tallied, health insurance reform becomes law in the united states of america.

we said young adults without insurance should be able to stay on their parents' plan. we got that done for you. we're not going to go back to the days when it was acceptable to charge women more than men for health care. no more discriminating against kids with preexisting conditions. we're going to keep work family by family, and block by block, and neighborhood by neighborhood on campuses and in churches to get more america coffered with the economic security and peace of mind that quality health insurance provides. >> he is still working to get more americans ensured, and the american people are listening. today healthcare.gov tweeted consumers are acting with more than one million visits to the health care website, and 150,000 calls this weekend. just this weekend, more than a million people looking for

better care. this demand is huge. but on the right they refuse to set up. >> donald trump four years ago. today obama care passed. how has it gone in your estimation? >> well, i would say that probably, and i'm not even talking about the website being all screwed up, probably it could not have gone worse. it's a complete catastrophe for people. and you look at it, you see the results all the time. >> thanks for the diagnosis, dr. trump. but millions of people are signing up for care, and none of them think this law is a complete catastrophe. >> my blood sugars went way up. and i couldn't even go to the doctor to find out what my average blood sugars were because i had preexisting condition at that point, and they wouldn't pay for all the tests. >> so allen enrolled in a health care plan and was pleasantly surprised. >> people that have good jobs, that have no jobs, everybody needs some insurance. >> what are you hoping to walk

away with today? >> some health insurance. >> their monthly premium dropped from about $1300 a month to $900. looking at the different plans, he selects one he can afford. >> congratulations. you are now enrolled in humana. >> i'm covered. >> you're covered. >> getting people covered, saving them money, stopping insurance companies from discriminating against people with preexisting conditions. that's not a catastrophe, it's a godsend. and we've got one more week to prove it. joining me now are congresswoman karen bass, democrat from california, and msnbc's krystal ball. thank you both for being here. >> thanks for having us, reverend. >> congresswoman, one week to go. what are you hoping to see? >> well, i am hoping to see the continued interest, involvement in people signing up. you know, over two million people have signed up in california. and this coming saturday in my district, we're doing a town

hall. we expect hundreds of people to be there. i think we're going to have a lot to celebrate next week. >> that's great. you know, krystal, we're also seeing signs that more states will expand medicaid. for example, in florida, republican state senator is pushing an expansion bill. a republican. in new hampshire, the gop-controlled state senate has passed an expansion bill. and aides for the republican governor of utah have travelled to washington to meet with officials of the obama administration about expansion. is this just the beginning? >> i think it is just the beginning. i hope it's just the beginning there is also a movement in new jersey which has a democratic governor. but also in missouri, republican legislators are pushing medicaid expansion. they're doing a whole study showing that it would save the state money. so they are paying money in effect right now to deny people care. it is absurd. and you've seen the moral monday

movement which started in north carolina and is spreading across the south and other places in the country. they've made medicaid expansion a focus which seems to be gaining momentum and putting a lot of pressure on these politicians. >> now, you know, congresswoman, the supreme court will hear arguments tomorrow in the case of a chain store, hobby lob by challenging the contraception mandate. the right claims it's about religious freedom. listen to this. >> the hobby lob by case is far more than a case about one retailer or about contraception. it ultimately is going to reveal whether religious liberty still exists in america. >> we've never seen an administration with such hostility towards religious faith. >> by passing obama care, he has denied religious liberties to millions of americans across the country. >> what is your reaction to, that congresswoman? is this about religious freedom? >> i don't think it's about reasons freedom at all.

i think it's about the same old song that gets sung all the time, which is denying women the right to choose, denying women the right to have control over their bodies. we have hearings here almost on a weekly basis about the same subject. and i really think that it's sad. you know, when you think of health care reform, you are literally talking about saving people's lives. for people to be covered and not have to worry about a preexisting condition, or not have to worry about a cap. and to see this being used as an excuse to deny women health care coverage is pathetic. >> krystal, your view on this hearing tomorrow. >> in one way, mike huckabee is right. the hobby lobby case does have much broader implications. it's really about whether a corporation, whether your employer can decide what kind of health care you're going have access to. and it's not just about birth control. it's not just about this instance. it could bleed over into things like the bills we saw passed that would allow photographer

the right to deny services to gay couples and other service providers. they could argue they are guaranteed this right to this religious redemption. the bottom line is your employer has control over what you are allowed to get in your health care, which i think is to most people absurd. employers and corporations don't have a religion. >> now, let me go back to donald trump for a minute, congresswoman. you know, when he is not weighing in on health care laws, fox brings out another person, the iraq war architect paul wolfowitz -- well, let me let you hear what he had to say. >> it seems to me i hear numbers. i think it's correct that five million people had their policies canceled, the ones they were promise they'd could keep. presumably some of that five million new enrollees are people who just got kicked out and are back in. this was supposed to reduce the number of uninsured.

it may actually have increased the number. >> now "the washington post" fact checker gave the claim that more people are uninsured four pinocchios. so why do they keep saying this, congresswoman? it's patently not true. >> i think fox is getting pretty desperate to have folks on like wolfowitz. look what he did for the world. he was the architect behind the iraq war long before 9/11, and where does that gotten us? and donald trump, what does he have the authority to talk about health care reform? they need to stay doing what they're doing. but i do think it's a little bit of a sane of desperation that you go to sources like that to say hoy health care reform is working. >> clearly, i disagree with the sources that they use. but the facts, krystal, the facts are clear that is absolutely untrue as the fact checker of "the washington post" said. >> it's absolutely false. and the fact that they have to

reach for such absurd claims i think proves the fact that they really are stretching right now to make the case against obama care when so many people are starting to see the benefits. we've seen americans for prosperity, this koch-backed superpac trying to put up ad after ad with, quote, real victims of obama care. each one of them keeps getting fact checked. actually the person is benefitting. they can't come up with a credible person. the actual person. they can't come up with one creditsable person who has really been a victim of obamacare as they claim. >> let me ask you this, congresswoman. you're there in washington and you do a great job in congress. >> thank you. >> so you talk to others in congress on the other side of the able. maybe i missed something, but do they have a health care plan? it's like they are arguing against the affordable care act, obamacare, but they're not proposing anything. i mean, how do you really say to people i'm fighting against you

having health care. it's not even saying try my plan. i've heard their plan. >> right. well, you know, rev. i'm give waiting now, i've been here for four years. i've been waiting for four years to hear about this plan. but every couple of months they say in the next few days, we're going to release our plan for health care reform. it's been over four years. we've voted over 50 times against the repeal of obamacare. so they have no plan. you know the fact of the matter is when the congress and the president came up with the affordable care act, they took many ideas from republicans and added them in. >> including romney. >> so whether you voted for it or not, it was a bipartisan bill. >> including they took ideas, krystal, as the congresswoman said for republicans, including romney and his act that he had put in, executed in massachusetts. yet they're still talking about repeal. i mean, how do you look at

people? young people with preisting conditions, older people, whatever, and tell them be against this, but i'm not going give you any overtime. how do they do it? >> it's unconscionable. it's going to become increase leg untenable. they can't continue in this direction because it's becoming more and more obvious that they have no alternative to offer. and we are now in a world where the affordable care act is law, where people are getting covered. it is no longer going to be enough to demonize it. it's no longer going to be enough to say we have to repeal it. if they want to do something else, let's see. >> don't hold your breath. >> one more week left. that's all. congresswoman karen bass and krystal ball, thank you both for your time tonight. >> thanks, rev. >> and be sure, be sure to watch krystal on "the cycle" weekdays at 3:00 p.m. eastern right here on msnbc. coming up, today we have new numbers showing how millions are struggling to eat. so wait until you hear what

they're planning to do. and it's not just the koch brothers. the billionaire boys club is growing and cozying up to republican politicians. but democrats have a plan. plus, with mitt romney thinks president obama should see into the future. and the first lady is jumping into her good will tour of china. but some on the right are jumping to attack. stay with us. peace of mind is important when you're running a successful business. so we provide it services you can rely on. with centurylink as your trusted it partner, you'll experience reliable uptime for the network and services you depend on. multi-layered security solutions keep your information safe, and secure. and responsive dedicated support meets your needs, and eases your mind.

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today we found out just how many americans are struggling to feed their families. how is paul ryan responding? it's heartless, and it's next. on day 30. [ byron ] what do you guys think of the smell? fresh.

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there is a lot of people hurting in this country. today a sobering reminder of just how many. a new report reveals that tens of millions of americans struggle to afford food last year. mississippi was the top state struggling to afford food, followed by west virginia, louisiana, alabama, arkansas, and five other states you see round out the top ten in these states. one in five couldn't afford to buy food. what else do you have in common here? they're all red states, states

that voted against president obama in 2012. and this is where the policy fights come in. again and again, we see conservative policies that attack the poor. today we learned the gop budget will propose spending cuts deeper than the previous blueprint. and here is how some on the right even talk about those in need. >> since the passage of the farm bill, states have found ways to cheat once again on signing up people for food stamps. >> and from the amount of obesity in this country, by team we're told do not have enough to eat. >> so that we can expand the new numbers of people that are on another government program and encourage them to sign up. what for? it grows the empire of dependency. >> tens of millions feed their families with help from food

stamps and subsidized school lunches. but the answer is more cuts? come on, conservatives, we can do better than this. joining me now is senator bernie sanders of vermont. senator, first of all, thank you for your time. >> my pleasure. >> in this new report, one in five people are struggling to put food on the table. but the answer i guess is to cut more? what is your reaction, senator? >> al, we're living in very, very strange and disconcerting times. we have more people living in poverty today than in any time in the history of the united states of america. we have the highest rate of childhood poverty. meanwhile, the rich are doing phenomenally well and corporations are enjoying record-breaking profits. and it is astounding to me from a moral perspective that folks in the republican party stay up night figuring out how they can

give more tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires and large corporations and then come back and try to cut food stamps for families who are hungry, for kids who are hungry, try to cut social security, medicare, and medicaid. it is really a very ugly moment in american history. >> i mean, when we look at last year's gop proposal, senator sanders, it called for $135 billion in cuts from food stamp programs over ten years. now they want more cuts on top of this? >> you know, and add to that, al, that we have right now in real terms almost 13% of our people are unemployed. we have not extended unemployment benefits, long-term unemployment benefits. so you have folks out there now who have virtually no income coming in. they have families. they have kids. how are they going to eat? we have veterans out there who are trying to get into the food

stamp program. so to me what you're looking at is an ugly kind of class warfare where the people on top want more and more and more. and they're pushing down in an incredibly terrible way the most vulnerable people in our country. >> let's look who is on food stamps. a new report from the department of agriculture shows 45% of food stamp recipients are children. 9% are elderly. 10% are disabled adults. almost half of the food stamps recipients are children. how republicans choose to make cuts, knowing this, how do you live with yourself? >> well, that's a good question. it's a basic moral issue that we as a nation have got to really discuss. tax breaks for billionaires and cuts for nutrition programs for kids. if a kid does not have enough food to eat, how is that child going to do well in school?

he or she is not going do well in school. so you're attacking the most vulnerable people in this country there is a rise in poverty among senior citizens, elderly people. they don't have enough to eat. what kind of nation are we when we give tax breaks to billionaires, but we can't take care of the elderly and the children. and by the way, you've got working families all over this country flocking to emergency food shelters. they're working, but they're making eight bucks an hour, nine bucks an hour, can't afford the food that they need. one of the basic priorities is we make sure that nobody goes hungry in the united states of america. >> when you look at the fights and no taxes on the estate tax and all the other things they come up to help the rich, yet there is a growing trend of conservatives wanting kids to work for their school lunches. watch this. >> should students have to work

for their school meechlts send those comments over to us. >> why don't you have the kids pay a dime, pay a nickel to instill in them there is no such thing as a school lunch or maybe sweep the floor of the cafeteria. >> when you get a new pet, what is the first thing you try to do to try to bond with it? you want to be the one to feed it, right? well, same thing here. >> have one master janitor and pay local students to take care of the school. the kids would actually do work. they would have cash. they would have pride in the schools. >> so put the kids to work. i mean, but let the millionaires and the billionaires get all kind of tax loopholes, no tax or a lower tax percentage. let's figure out ways to increase their wealth and everybody else, even children punish them, make them act like they're getting a handout or they've got to do something to get it. what are we talking about? >> al, these are the same people who want to eliminate the estate

tax, which applies to only the top 3/10 of 1% of americans. that is the richest of the rich. and then they're going after kids. the politics of this, al, what they're trying to do is deflect attention away from income and wealth inequality, attention away from the fact that the rich are doing extraordinarily well, and tell their supporters that the real problem in america is their children are getting too much help from the federal government. and that's the kind of mentality we have got to fight back against. senator bernie sander, thank you very much for joining us tonight. >> my pleasure. coming up, the billionaire boys club is gearing up, and it's not just the koch brothers. what politician is meeting a $28 billion donor? and mitt romney thinks president obama should be able to see the future. oh, he is making this one too easy. we got you, next.

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is it just me or have we been seeing a lot more of mitt romney recently? he has been all over the sunday shows in the last few months. a little weird, right? he has also had a big "wall street journal" op-ed last week, going after president obama's handling of the crisis in ukraine. and he was back on the attack yesterday. >> the president's naivety with regards to russia and his faulty judgment about russia's intentions and objectives has led to a number of foreign policy challenges that we face. >> naivety? what foreign policy expertise does a one-term governor and twice failed presidential candidate have that the commander in chief doesn't?

but he wasn't done there. >> i think effective leaders typically are able to see the future to a certain degree and then try and take actions to shape it in some way. and that's of course what this president has failed to do and his secretary of state, hillary clinton as well. wait a second. leaders can see the future? who knew? forget diplomacy. all president obama needs is a crystal ball. hmm. i wonder what would have happened if mitt romney had a crystal ball back in 2012. maybe his disastrous trip to london when he questioned if the city was ready for the olympics wouldn't have happened. >> it wasn't the cheery british welcome mitt romney was hoping for. >> mitt romney has turned on the charm during his visit to britain by questioning the country's ability to host the olympic games. >> the telegraph fired off this commentary. mitt romney is perhaps the only

politician who could start a trip that was supposed to be a charm offensive by being utterly devoid of charm and mildly offensive. >> there is a guy called mitt romney who wants to know whether we're ready. he wants to know whether we're ready. are we ready? are we ready? yes, we are. >> that overseas trip was tarred by the hash tagg romney shambles on twitter. did governor romney think we wouldn't notice it's romney shambles all over again when he tries to give president obama foreign policy advice? but let me give this a try. let's look into the "politicsnation" crystal ball to see what the future holds for governor romney. wait a minute, i think i see something. yes, i have it. in the near future, i see a nice

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republicans sure do love their billionaires, but they don't like to admit it. here is what senator ted cruz is saying on the campaign trail. >> let me tell you, the single biggest lie in all of politics is that republicans are the party of the rich. >> the gop is not the party of the rich? could have fooled me. so why are republican presidential contenders lining up to kiss the ring of the gop big money men? this week jeb bush is having a vip dinner, with vegas tycoon sheldon adelson. his net worth? $28 billion. but the gop is not the party of the rich. and at a gop summit this month,

2016 wanna-be rick santorum was introduced by mega rich donor foster freeze. his net worth $530 million. but the gop is not the party of the rich. and then there are the koch brothers, who are funding a huge number of group supported candidates and causes. their net worth? $36 billion. that's the republicans' base. that's who they care about. and that's who their policies are designed to help. joining me now are victoria defrancesco soto, and james peterson. thank you both for being here. >> thanks, reverend. >> thanks, reverend. >> victoria, are republicans fooling anyone when they're claiming they're not the party of the rich? >> absolutely not, reverend. ted cruz when he says that the

republicans aren't the party of the rich isn't just being disingenuous, he is also being inaccurate. for those folks who are not billionaires or millionaires who are republicans, they're republicans are the party that provides them greater opportunity. they're republicans for cultural reasons, for religious reasons, whether they're support gun control or are against abortion. he is being inaccurate there. the republicans, whether they like it or not are the party of the sheldon adelsons. >> you know, dr. peterson, republicans have been more and more open about praising the koch brothers. they used to kind of step back. but now they're being more open. watch this. >> i just thank god that there is a billionaire or two on our side. >> the koch brothers. because the two of them have stood up and expressed their views are subject to vilification and personal attack. >> god bless the koch brothers. they are fighting for our freedom.

>> so they're openly embracing them, dr. peterson. >> wow. yeah, they are. i mean, in some ways some of those candidates have to do that, reverend sharpton, because those candidates -- donations make their candidacies viable and possible. you know, when we look at modern politics, you can see that the wealthy do well under both republicans and democrats. but it's usually and really only under democratic administrations where they're working in the middle class tend to do well. so the policies really bare this out. if you were to ask any of the candidates or senator ted cruz would he be in favor of implementing more regulations across wall street. that would say no. and those are the things that are largely responsible for the kind of income inequality we see now in the 21st century. >> and i think that's true that you have rich on both sides. but i think you see the clear policy on the republican side of only for the rich, and almost in many cases of the leadership today holding the poor and the

lower middle class in contempt and distortion. >> that's exactly right. >> for example, victoria, congressman paul ryan still clings to an outdated view of who earns the minimum wage. let me play you what he said. >> the majority of these workers are younger people just getting in the workforce. i started on a mcdonald's on highway 14 and i-90 making minimum wage when i was a young person. you know, i waited tables for less than minimum wage. >> who would benefit from a minimum wage hike? average age, 35 years old. 28% have children. 44% have some college experience. so these aren't teenagers. they're adults with children and education and responsibilities, victoria. >> reverend, i'm always puzzled by the opposition of the republican party to increasing the minimum wage. because if you let people earn

more money, they're going to have more money in their pocket. they're going to be able to spend it, which means that that's going to be a boost in growth for large, medium and small businesses. it also means that families are not going have to seek out government assistance to make ends meet. and we know that government assistance is anathema to the gop. let's give people the power to earn their own living. regrettably, i don't think we're going to see any movement at the federal level. we're going have to concentrate on the states. we know that almost half of the states have already moved forward with this, and where we're going to have to keep pressing is at the state and local level for minimum wage increases. >> now, dr. peterson, the republican party's views on income inequality look at the facts. 69% say gop policies favor the rich. 66% says that government should reduce the gap between the rich and the poor.

>> that's right. >> this is over two-thirds of the public feel they favor the rich and two-thirds of the country saying the government should do something to close the gap. >> absolutely. the public is right here, rev, for multiple reasons. one, any time you see a politician arguing against minimum wage increase or arguing against the living wage, that's a vote in favor of income inequality. when you look at the stagnation of wage others the last 20 or 30 years, the increase of executive income in that same time period, it's clear that wage increases in the living wage is one way to address the issues. victoria is also on point to say when we increase the minimum wage we have the potential to create more jobs because people who are on the lower end of the economic spectrum will have more disposable income they put into the economy. voting in favor of minimum wage is strong for a lot of reasons here. when you think against that or move against that politically you're essentially endorsing income inequality. >> how will this play out politically in 2014, victoria?

>> i think this is where we're going to see the democrats really have an advantage. we know there are going to be some problems with the aca. republicans are coming out strong. but at the end of the day, when you talking about how it affects people's daily lives, the day to day of a person, i think that income inequality is really going to hit home. i think in is going to be the core message that we see in the senate and the house. >> dr. peterson, before we go, we have to go, you raised about big money on both sides. and we'll see that in these campaigns, as we did in 2012. but what is interesting to me is the big donors on the republican side are individual billionaires. the one they complain about that spend a lot of money on the democratic side are unions. now, i've got my own feelings on financing of campaigns. but the fact is how do you compare one billionaire to a union that represents hundreds of thousands of workers and members? at least they're speaking for a group. you're comparing that to one

person and one person's views. you call that equal? >> no. there is no comparison, rev, you're right. it's ams and oranges. let's be clear here. what schaaping on the republican side is you have these single individual donors who are essentially purchasing candidates. and they're doing that by giving a lot of money into their campaigns and essentially hog-tieing those candidates to particular kinds of issues. when we're talking about certain social issues and wedge issues coming from the right, these big campaign donors are able to force those issues into the campaign discourse. >> and nobody votes to decide where their money goes as in many of the unions where the members have some say so. james peterson and victoria defrancesco soto, thanks for your time tonight. >> thanks, reverend sharpton. coming up, the malaysian prime minister says the missing plane ended in the indian ocean. but many questions remain.

we'll get on those, next. and the first lady michelle obama takes a good will trip to china, and the right takes a trip to freak-out town. stay with us. i always say be the man with the plan

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and global broadband network free you to focus on what matters. with custom communications solutions and responsive, dedicated support, we constantly evolve to meet your needs. every day of the week. centurylink® your link to what's next. today after 17 days of searching, malaysia's prime

minister delivered devastating news to families of passengers aboard malaysia airlines flight 370. >> this is a remote location, far from any possible landing sites. it is therefore with deep sadness and regret that i must inform you that according to this new data, flight mh 370 ended in the southern indian ocean. >> he went on to say new analysis never before used showed the flight's last position was in the middle of the indian ocean, west of perth, australia, and far away from any possible landing sites.

a text message sent to the families prior to the news conference said they had to assume beyond any reasonable doubt that the plane was lost and that no one survived. it was heartbreaking news for the families. and today the question is still why. why did it happen? why did the flight go so far off course? and will we ever find out what happened? joining me now is jay rawlins, a retire american airlines captain and bob hagel, who covered aviation for nbc news for 25 years. thank you both for coming on the show tonight. >> glad to be with you. >> thank you, reverend. >> bob, now that investigators are sure the plane went down in the indian ocean, how do they now find the black box and the flight recorder? >> well, this was just a mathematical calculation. they've got to find pieces of the wreckage. if they're in the right area now

where they're getting some of these piecing already. i mean, they're seeing them, but they're not confirming they're piece of the plane yet. but if they find out these really came from the plane, then you have to trace back the currents and calculate where the plane might have originally hit the water. and that's where the majority of the wreckage would be, only down on the bottom of the sea. and then you got to listen for a pinging noise when you get in that area to try to lead you to the flight dater recorder, cockpit voice recorder and send down an unmanned sub if you get the pinging noise and pull it up. >> jay, if it went down in a catastrophic way, are you surprised that we're not seeing more debris? >> no, i'm not surprised about that, because these seas are very, very rough. the weather is perennially bad, and most of the heavy parts of the airplane would have fallen, sunk down to the bottom. the only debris that they're

likely to find would be the lighter things like wooden pallets or seat cushions, smaller pieces. i how would they find out how far it's drifted, bob? >> they have computer modeling, woods hole did it in a crash five years ago. but computer models is computer modeling, you know. it's not exact. that's still not certain it will take you back to the right place. and you've got to get awful close if you have any hope of hearing the pinging noise from the submerged black boxes. >> if they can't find the black box before the signal dies, how does the search continue, jay? >> well, if they can't find the black box, but they are able to find pieces of debris that they can absolutely say came from that aircraft, we at least will be able to eliminate some of the theories that called for the

aircraft going to the north. we'll know that we've found the location of the aircraft, and they'll make every effort to pull up whatever they can from the sea floor. >> bob, there were reports the plane dove to 12,000 feet after making the turn. what does that tell you? >> well, that's a standard procedure if you've got a decompression to try to get the plane down low to where people can breathe the ambient air. but these are -- this is not official yet. all these are nefarious and not proven. it comes down the mayhem in the cockpit, foul play, or a mechanical problem in which case i think my own opinion, probably a decompression of some kind. >> jay, do you think there was a decompression? >> a decompression to me is not as likely as perhaps some sort of noxious fumes getting into the cockpit. because a decompression wouldn't

explain why they did precisely what they did. when they went down to 12,000 feet, another thing we should consider is that the range would have been reduced considerably. and i'm not exactly certain that that has been taken into account when they talk about how far the aircraft would have gone. originally that. >> said that it was at altitude, and that it went for about six hours. so this location they're searching now would coordinate, comply with that idea. but now if they're saying that it's down to 12,000 feet, it wouldn't have been able to go as long and as far and as fast. >> bottom line, let me ask you both quickly do, you think we'll ever get the answer to this mystery? >> well, i think it's based on whether they can find where the main wreckage went down. if they don't locate that fairly soon, then i think there is a real possibility, that's almost unprecedented, but that we

really wouldn't know. >> jay? >> i agree. finding that debris, finding this aircraft sat the root of all of this. we can't make final determinations what happened without finding the aircraft. either it went to the south and it's in the ocean some place, which suggests that there was some sort of a mechanical problem of which there could be many, or it is not there at all. and if it's not there, if they're not able to pull up any debris that is positively from the aircraft, then the malaysian authorities will be having egg on their face because they basically have told the surviving families that your relatives are dead and they're here. >> jay rollins and bob hager, thank you both for your time. >> thank you. coming up, a republican congressman said there is no voter suppression because he didn't have trouble voting. we'll dissect that logic. and the first lady is having

a great time on her good will trip to china. which of course means the right wing just can't help but attacking her. that's next. ♪ with an innovative showerhead plus wireless speaker, kohler is the proud sponsor of singing in the shower. ♪ [ male announcer ] bob's heart attack didn't come with a warning. today his doctor has him on a bayer aspirin regimen to help reduce the risk of another one. if you've had a heart attack, be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen.

day four of the first lady michelle obama's good will tour of china. this weekend, she talked about free speech to college students

in beijing. the first lady and her daughters also took a walk along china's great wall. today they headed to xian to see the famous terra cotta warriors. and while visiting the xian city wall, she literally kicked off her heels to jump rope with a group of local teenagers. the first lady is putting her special touch of public diplomacy through this trip. but of course no first family trip is complete until you hear this. >> michelle, she is now playing ping-pong, that's right, ping-pong on taxpayer-funded vacation in china right now. >> the obama ladies having a grand old time. i hope they're enjoying themselves because you are paying a fortune for this. >> they're claiming it is a cultural exchange so that it will be build to the government. and there isn't any media, so we

don't know what is being exchanged. and we don't know what is being brought back. cultural exchange works both ways. i mean, are they going to leave michelle's mom in china as part of the exchange? >> it's ugly and mean-spirited attack, attacking a first lady for good will tour? where was outrage in 2002 when laura bush went to europe with her daughters? i might add there is absolutely nothing wrong with this trip. here is an idea for these right wingers. take your own overseas trip. go, enjoy yourself, sight see, learn about other cultures, and maybe come back with a change of heart. i'm tony siragusa and i'm training guys who leak a little,

to guard their manhood with depend shields and guards. the discreet protection that's just for guys. now, it's your turn. get my training tips at guardyourmanhood.com are you still sleeping? just wanted to check and make sure that we were on schedule.

the first technology of its kind... mom and dad, i have great news. is now providing answers families need. siemens. answers. finally tonight, some insight on how republicans think about voter id. just check out what florida congressman ron desantis said last week.

>> i've always done the photo id whenever i voted and never had a problem with it. >> he has never had a problem with photo id. so that means it's not an issue for anybody else, right? wrong. there are lots of id examples too, like vivette applewhite, the 93-year-old woman who was denied after voting for 70 years. and dorothy cooper, the 96-year-old who was denied voter id because she didn't have her marriage license. the attack on voting rights is specific and not fair. and there is no denying who it affects the most. surveys show that voter id disproportionately affects women, minorities, disabled, low income voters, and students. the congressman didn't have problems voting. neither did most people until you change the id laws that were unnecessary to change. so why don't we keep the id

where it was, rather than these bogus attempts to try to look for a problem that is not there. and solve it with something that's unfair. thanks for watching. i'm al sharpton. "hardball" starts right now. good evening. i'm chris matthews back in washington. let me start tonight with this. they died at sea. every passenger and crewman on that plane. but how? in a mighty explosion? did a nanosecond of horror convert a routine flight into a seven-hour zombie flight down into the indian ocean? or did a visitor to the cockpit pull the plug for the final hours of their