that's it for "now." alex wagner returns monday at 4:00 p.m. she's doing "chris hayes" tonight at 8:00, the ed show is up next. let's get to work! good evening americans and welcome to "the ed show" live from detroit lakes, minnesota. let's get to work! >> the fact of the matter is that i had nothing to do with this. >> cleared of any wrongdoing. >> they can't make up facts. >> give me a break. >> colorful, brian. colorful. >> this is an enemy hit piece. >> cut the commentary. >> the criticism is that this is an inside investigation. >> no matter who i chose to do this questions would be raised by some quarters. >> it's the equivalent of having dick cheney investigate george bush. >> there's probably not a major law firm that i don't have some relationship with. >> it looks like a whitewash if you want to be critical. >> yeah, it's a whitewash so i

can demonstrate. >> that's your assumption. >> he says definitely not a whitewash. >> i told them to find the truth no matter where it led. >> do you believe him? >> stop. you have to get the facts right if you're going to ask me a question. good to have you with us tonight, folks, thanks for watching. new jersey governor chris christie is, i guess you could say, in full whitewash mode over the bridgegate scandal. after his office's internal investigation cleared him of any wrongdoing, the governor now has embarked on a true media blitz. late this afternoon, christie gave a press conference. not surprisingly, he just touted how rock-solid this internal investigation was. >> it's an exhaustive report that follows the mandate that i set out when we commissioned the review. one thing was clear from the beginning -- i told them to find the truth no matter where it led and to turn over every rock that they were able to get to in order to get to the bottom of

what happened and to let me know what the truth was. >> let's put it in perspective. keep in mind this internal investigation was done by a law firm that he reportedly has personal ties with. the "new york times" reports that his friends -- he's friends with a partner at the top of the firm. many people are calling this investigation incomplete and flawed. christie tried to down play this narrative by saying the firm gibson dunn had unfettered access to his staff and documents. >> no matter who i chose to do this questions would be raised by some quarters as to those people's objectivity. my answer to that is look at the report. we gave them unfettered complete access to everyone in this governme government. >> what does "unfettered access" really mean? does that mean you've interviewed everybody involved? not so fast, give me a break.

gibson dunn never interviewed bridget kelly and david wildstein. how canfully of us come to the conclusion there is any way you can call this investigation complete complete and valid until everyone is interviewed. the state investigation could be very different. the case is far from shut and christie knows it. meanwhile, christie was also asked if the bridgegate scandal would impact a possible 2006 run. he said the scandal would have very little impact on his decision to run for president. >> the fact of the matter is that i had nothing to do with this and, as i said from the beginning in this report has supported exactly what i said. and in the long sweep of things any voters, if they consider this issue at all in considering my candidacy, if there ever is one, i got a feeling it will be a very small element of it, if any element at all. >> what's the bottom line here?

christie thinks that this report is the gospel. very wishful thinking. the governor -- i tell you what, i don't think any voter is going to consider bridgegate a very small issue. that's what christie wants them to believe. christie's flat out denial of this scandal is about one thing and one thing only and that's him running for president in 2006. this guy is putting every bit of credibility on the line and it's almost a circus. there's no gray area. it's out there. governor christie is setting, i think, a new standard for anybody who ever tries to exonerate themselves from anything. this is how you do it, folks. his focus is not on the people of new jersey, it's on himself, chris christie. and this is where the skeptics come in. most people my age are pretty skeptical when it comes of -- when people come out so vehemently saying that they are innocent. i think my generation has a

jaded opinion. we're always suspect because in my lifetime what have we seen? too many powerful politicians come out and lie to the american people and you can go all the way back to richard nixon in 1973. >> i welcome this kind of examination because people have got to know whether or not their president is a crook. well, i'm not a crook. i've earned everything i've got. >> a charge has been made that the united states has shipped weapons to iran as ransom payment for the release of american hostages in lebanon. those charges are utterly false. >> i want to say one thing to the american people. i want you to listen to me. i'm going say this again. i do not have sexual relations with that woman, miss lewinsky. >> but chris christie is totally different. we know he hired his buddies at a law firm to put this report together and now it's gospel. and we know all of those statements you just saw were flat out lies.

there is a major trust gap when politicians involved with just any kind of a scandal, especially with, like, bridgegate, and they come out and they're so adamant about the fact that they had nothing to do with it whatsoever. christie is setting the bar on how to do this. he is clearing the beach. he's leaving no doubt. and that's part of the intrigue to this story. but i want to share a story with you tonight about our "ed show" team. you know this attorney that had the press conference yesterday, randy mastro, the guy that headed up the investigation that is a friend of christie? but wait a minute, he's from the law firm that could really get it done? well, our team reached out to mr. mastro today to get him here on "the ed show." i have a number of questions for mr. mastro. we didn't hear back from mastro's office. we heard back from the governor's office who declined the invitation for mastro to be on this show! now, i understand republicans

don't like that go face to face with me, but the guy said he's a democrat so i thought well, gosh, let's get him on "the ed show." so we put out the ask. we didn't hear back from mastro, we hear back from the governor's office. no, they're not connected at the hip at all, are they? get your cell phones out, i want to know what you think. tonight's question, very penetrating, i might add "is chris christie totally impressed with himself or just partially." text "a" for totally, text "b" for partially to 67 622. for more, let me bring in new jersey state assemblyman gordon johnson. also with us tonight former democratic candidate for governor of new jersey barbara buono, great to have you with us tonight. i want your reaction, both of you, first you, mr. johnson. we put out an ask for mr. mastro, we don't hear back from his office, we hear from the governor's office.

what's your first reaction when you hear that? >> just as you said, this is just a situation -- they are connected at the hip. they are -- there's a relationship there and i don't know how you could say that this was a thorough investigation when you don't have the major suspects so to speak who are involved in this so sparse i'm concerned this was a public relations stunt or report and it's the target audiences are the people in iowa and the northeast and in the south for this upcoming primary campaign. the people in new jersey -- no one in new jersey, very few people in new jersey think that this governor didn't know what was going on. >> barbara, your thoughts on a request going out to the guy that was doing the investigation if we don't hear back from his office.

apparently mastro's office can't speak for themselves, they'll just let the governor's office handle it. how does that strike you? >> it's so clear this guy is the governor's defense attorney. he hired him to exonerate him, to absolve him of any wrongdoing and he did it. he absolve it had governor and all of his top aides incredulously without interviewing most people that were central to the issue. so this is by no stretch an honest investigation. in fact, it gives internal investigations a bad name. what it is is it gives us a little inkling into what chris christie's defense strategy is going to be on down the line. and it also is a warning to people who might think that they want to get involved and speak on some of these issues that, you know what? there's going to be consequences if you do and the consequences will be harsh. >> you think there's a message being sent there, barbara, from the governor?

stay out of this? >> i sure do. look at how bridget kelly was treated. i mean, what this report was successful in doing is that it honed in, it zeroed in on two people, two co-conspirators, according to this report. sampson wasn't even interviewed, and maybe we'll get to that later as to why he says he resigned as the head of the port authority, but he was crucial, they was head of the authority and yet the governor at his press conference today said he wasn't -- that sampson was not central to the investigation. how could that possibly be? he heads up the organization, we know that he was in two e-mails talking about someone else and then he was talking about retaliating against mare soyor >> what did you make of the governor's comment that he thought there was some kind of traffic study going on.

what do you make of that? >> he's still pushing the traffic study. i think he's just trying to run for cover and as i said before this is a public relations stunt or it's just to somehow get more support -- garner support for himself in those areas outside of the state of new jersey when it comes to the primary season coming up. that's all i can get out of this. there is no way after all this information that's been put out that one can believe that there was a traffic study going on. >> and the timing is so key. the timing of the release. in a couple days he's going out to the sheldon adelson primary and he wants to position himself so he's still seen as a credible candidate for president and then, you know, he goes on diane sawyer the other day for a nice puff piece, starts talking about how everybody loves him in iowa and i don't know, governor, but i think you might have misread the people from iowa because if you heard the governor of iowa a few months ago when he was talking about chris christie perhaps coming to visit his state he said "well, everybody's

welcome. all governors are welcome." but he had a piece of advice for chris christie, that he ought to lose some of that jersey swagger because iowans like their public servants humble and hardworking. >> one thing that struck me yesterday about randy mastro's press conference. he did not come off as an impartial investigator, an impartial observer. he came off as an advocate. he came off as a guy who was on the payroll to do a sales pitch. i mean, his demeanor was very clear, mr. johnson. >> isn't that what he's hired to do? he's his defense attorney. >> well, i thought he was hired, according to the governor today, that he was told to get to the truth. >> oh, yeah, that's right. >> to have unfettered access. >> i'm sorry. >> but yesterday he came out and he acted like an advocate. i thought it was hilarious. >> i forgot. >> what's the new definition of "unfettered access"? what is that? >> are you asking me? i'm not sure. we have to ask the governor that definition.

when the five most important people involved in this are not even questioned, not even interviewed, how can you say it's unfettered access? the five key people are not questioned. so i don't understand his meaning of it. >> access denied is what happened here with david sampson which is all of a sudden he refuses to cooperate. he refuses to be interviewed and governor christie was asked at the press conference today by a reporter "did off conversation with dave sampson and ask him why he wouldn't cooperate?" and he said "yeah, he said he might abrogate attorney/client privilege." i said wait a minute, i'm an attorney. attorney/client privilege. who is he the attorney for whose privilege he would abrogate? i know a lot of his clients benefitted from his work at the port authority but he's not chris christie administration's attorney. he's not the port authority's attorney, so there were a lot of questions that he could have and should have answered.

>> so barbara, why do you think sampson resigned today? and the timing of in the the middle of this, on the heels of this report, on the heels of an interview with diane sawyer just two hours before the governor's press conference sampson steps out. what do you make of that? the timing is more than unusual isn't it? he was 74 six months ago. come on. >> i can only speculate but i'm basing it on the other separations, shall we say, of other employees wildstein supposedly did it of his own volition. barony left of his own volition. bridget kelly was actually fired. i think this is a mentor of the governor, he relied on him very powerfully. he's an individual. has an enormous amount of influence and i think he was becoming more of a liability because he would not cooperate with the investigation. maybe he just didn't want to be bothered with it anymore.

maybe he's in his bunker himself hiring his own attorneys. >> well, he said he did interview -- didn't interview kelly, didn't interview wildstein, didn't interview barony and these people left. if a person leaves your employee you find out why are you leaving. is it something we did wrong? something you did wrong? why are you departing? but he never did that for some reason. >> okay. gordon johnson, barbara buono, great to have you on "the ed show." remember to answer tonight's question at the bottom of the screen, share your thoughts with us on twitter and ed show and facebook we want to know what you think. coming up, conservatives across the country are pushing to turn schools into for-profit businesses. it is happening, you can't deny it. rapid response panel weighs in on wisconsin's fight for public education. but first, john boehner balks at the senate's bill to extend unemployment benefits. why? if the senate is for it, why would at no time house be for it? live in the same communities that we serve. people here know that our operations

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welcome back to "the ed show." time for the trenders, social media, you can check us out on twitter@edshow. and ed show's social media nation, we have decided because you have chosen. we are reporting. here are today's top trenders voted on by you. >> ha ha ha! >> reporter: the number three trender. mike check. >> mike rogers headed the powerful house intelligence committee won't seek reelection come november. >> well, work is hard. >> it really has been an honor and privilege to do what i do. >> intel committee chair mike rogers is leaving congress for cumulous. >> the michigan republican says he's leaving to start a national radio show. >> this was an opportunity hard to pass up. having a bigger platform to talk

about things i care about. >> let 's have a tune, i'm sick of this silence. >> i do believe that we have to have a dialogue that believes in productive conservatism. >> shut that filth off. >> great, good stuff. i think people are getting cranked. >> the number two trender, high rollers. >> republican presidential candidate for 2016 are making a pilgrimage to las vegas. >> whoo! road trip! >> they want to go kiss the ring of sheldon adelson, trying to get to some of his money. >> do you think we'll get there by midnight. >> we'll be up five hundred by midnight. >> republican 2016 hopefuls bet it all on sheldon adelson's support. >> what's really going on out here is a sheldon adelson beauty contest. >> not a looker among them. >> he is going to crown a miss republican. >> and the iraq, everywhere like such as. >> he is looking this week end to find the most electable mainstream republican candidate. >> remember what happens in vegas stays in vegas. >> in today's top trender, unsure. >> unemployment insurance has stopped for two people.

>> john boehner and eric cantor are refusing to extend those benefits. >> this isn't a game, they're hurting people! >> unemployment insurance moves forward in the senate but faces a dead end in the house. >> it's an effort to provide an essential lifeline. >> i don't see how it's working. >> no, i'm not doing that. i'm sorry. >> do you have a concern about the people with no cash in their pockets while you fight with harry reid, snow. >> you are driving me nuts. >> by the end of this year, we could be looking at over five million people if the congress doesn't act. >> well, let's just wait to see what happens. >> joining me tonight, congress's steve cohen of tennessee. congressman, great to have you with us tonight. we're bringing you on here because we want to know what the folks back home are saying. tennessee, middle of the country, southern portion of the united states. let's talk about the folks who have a job. congressman, do you think the folks who have a job feel this is fair play for those who are faced with long-term unemployment? sort it out for us. >> well, it's good for people

have a job because if we put the unemployment insurance money out there and give people basic necessities, they're going to spend that money because they don't have any money. they're going to spend that money and it's going to help the economy in general. so for those people that don't have jobs they'll get the unemployment insurance to help put food on the table and maybe help put their housing expenses and with their children but at the same time it's going to put money into the economy, help improve the economy, create jobs and help those who already have jobs. you know, when they buy groceries or retail or whatever they buy, it's somebody who's got a job who's going to make a little bit more maybe or being b a little more secure in their job. this is good for the economy and the congressional budget office has always said that. yet this house leadership doesn't understand that, it doesn't care. just this week they came out and said that immigration reform would bring $900 billion reduction of the deficit. they just can't take yes for an answer. >> well, what about people in your district in tennessee?

is this upsetting them the sense of fair play has to come in here. do you hear people coming up you anywhere saying "i think boehner's doing the right thing here"? what about that? >> i don't hear that and a hear a lot of people are out of work who want jobs. lots of people want jobs and they're not available in my home we've had layoffs at banks and fedex even. there are people desirous of work and they have to have those jobs available and the jobs the president has tried to get through infrastructure which is so important to memphis haven't been here. so it's through no fault of their own that these people need the unemployment insurance to get through them tough times. people understand it's the fair and right thing to do and that it's good for the economy. i can't see this and nobody thinks boehner is doing right. >> boehner says it's unworkable. it is up to the democrats to prove that it is workable? what's the holdup? what is the big logistical nightmare here that we can't do

unemployment benefits for the long term that are retro active to when this all started, the end of december, december 28. what is the big intellectual lift here that can't be accomplished? >> i don't know if there's an intellectual lift. i think it's political and i think because it will help the economy, that will help the democrats in 2014 and it will help the democrats in 2016 the republicans came in office, mitch mcconnell said it back the 2009. their first job was to see president obama didn't get reelected. well, they failed in that. now the big job is to see they take the senate, keep mitch mcconnell in office and hopefully make time majority leader in hair perspective and they want to maintain the house and get a big lead because they know they'll get cut in 2016 if we have a big year with presidential turnout. they put party in power ahead of country. they also say they want their agenda. boehner's got to deal with tea party people who are more concerned about the deficit and

don't want to see this through without a pay-for and they're concerned about passing their bills which reduce regulations that could harm the american public in terms of workplace safety and the environment and other places is this an election mover? everybody wants to know what's going to motivate the democrats in 2014? is this an election mover? >> well, the party obviously thinks so because it's what we hear in caucus, that's what we hear the president talk about. we hear hillary clinton, who's kind of our heir apparent speak about it so to poller thes and democrats think this will be a mover. i think we need more than that. we need jobs and infrastructure spending and we need by lech which you will property laws and things that will move where we have the opportunity to track people in a different way. the republicans obviously think not and they're not interested in the people who are not at the top. congressman steve cohen,

good to have you with us tonight. hope life in tennessee is good for you. thanks so much. . coming up, scott walker's push to expand charter schools in wisconsin. more on the fight for public education the rapid response panel and, later, revelations about president obama's meeting with pope francis. but next, i'm taking your questions. ask ed live just ahead on "the ed show" on msnbc. we are right back. okay, listen up! i'm re-workin' the menu. mayo? corn dogs? you are so outta here! aah! [ female announcer ] the complete balanced nutrition

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good and it would make the democrats look good and they're not going to walk hand-in hand with them, especially on health care. our next question is mr. john-john. why do people want to privatize the post office when they complain about the price of a letter today. that is a great question. because i think a lot of people don't understand that if we do go down the road of privatization of a delivery service in this country the prices are going to go through the roof. you'll be begging for a stamp price the way we've got it today. fact is, no federal dollars go into moving letters and packages with the post office. that's all money that you pay to use to send those packages. no tax dollars are used. the only reason why the republicans want to get rid of the post office is because they want to kill the voting block, they are anti-union and they want to privatize this for the corporations. but what it's going to do to small businesses in rural america, it's going to destroy them because they're shipping and -- their shipping and delivery services are going to go through the roof. and so the price of a stamp

today, you know what it is? it's a deal! and if they get rid of the postal service and they go to privatize it, you're going to be paying through your teeth. big time. stick around, rapid response panel is next. we're right back on t ed show. >> i'm hampton pearson with your cnbc market rap. the s&p gained 8, nasdaq up 4. consumer spending rose in february as americans spent more on health care and utilities. meantime, consumer sentiment fell in march to its lowest level in four months. a sign that consumers are concerned about the economy. starting monday, mcdonald's will give away free cups of coffee to its breakfast crowd. the deal will last for two weeks. that it's it from cnbc, first in business worldwide. are you still sleeping? just wanted to check and make sure that we were on schedule.

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welcome back to "the ed show." new york city mayor bill de blasio has caved on his mission to protect public education of sorts. state leaders reached a tentative deal in budget negotiations for charter school protections which advances the conservative mission to privatize education. the deal is a big win for success academy ceo eva moskowitz. the city of new york will provide space for three success academy schools, moskowitz wa wanted to open in already established public facilities. moskowitz lobbied hard. in albany, after mayor de blasio axed three of her planned charters last month governor andrew cuomo made fighting for charters one of his key priorities, putting him at odds with the mayor of new york. here's the bottom line: when you start picking and choosing kids to go to this school, that

school, whatever school, public education won't get the resources and will suffer. new york is not the only region and state fighting for public education. it's happening all over the country. in florida they've been fighting to keep resources in public schools since 1995. now, in wisconsin, republican governor scott walker, he wants to be hero of charter schools as well. in fact, he's one of the biggest proponents of charter schools in the country. he, of course, is for school vouchers and he has cut over a billion dollars from public education. joining me tonight from wisconsin we've got state senator john erpenbach and state senator lena taylor. the fight continues. now andrew cuomo in new york is an exception. there's not very many democratic governors up and down the line who are saying yes, let's go charter schools. it really seems to be coming from these radical governors who

can't get enough of private sizing everything they can get their hands on. now, my position on this is that i think that this is the big mission that they want to privatize all of education and they're going to take what they can get early on. senator, scott walker has been pushing for a bill which would force low performing public schools to be closed or to turn them into independent charter schools. correct this for me, what is unfolding here? because i think that this is a major push to slam the doors on public education and only offer it up to the elite. what's the situation here? >> right, well i agree with you, ed. you have to go back to act x. when you take away collective bargaining rights the next step is to then cut public education funding and you do it through voucher schools or charter schools. as you say, you take away from public schools and where i grew up, the middleton cross plain school district may not have a choice except to become the middleton cross plains school

district incorporated. so any time you siphon away money from public schools, when you take away what we've already taken away and give it to private schools, we have a real issue with our public school system. >> you know, senator taylor, what i've noticed is that every time they get one charter school that does better than a public school they try to make that the conversation. oh, charter schools, they outperform the public schools, we've got to keep going in this direction. why do you think these corporate reformers think that they've got the formula to fix education? >> i can't really speak why they do, ed, but i can tell you living in a community where 85% of the kids cannot read, parents, even teachers in the public schools are sending their kids to charters as well as to other schools. we've had these schools in our system for a long time soaren back is rise, senatoreren balk is right. the biggest cut we ever had in the history of our state,

senator scott walker cut it. then he wanted to expand the voucher program without necessarily giving the kind of accountability that needed to happen in some of those place but the piece that i disagree with senator erpenbach on, we have eight different alternatives for parents in milwaukee. the schools that are not traditional schools get less dollars, but those dollars go in a pot where senator erpenbach, republican legislators all over the state get those dollars instead of milwaukee. our kids are suffering the most. so this is about quality education and it's about fair funding, but i don't know if we can use the cookie cutter approach that we're talking about right now. i agree that there is a concern when you have so many people feeding off of the trough of the education dollar. but the issue is we still have to get to quality. >> well, so, lena, you're making the case clearly that there is a resource shortage in certain

districts in wisconsin and are charter schools pushing that? >> well, across the board it really is the funding formula that we use in wisconsin. so, for example, ed, a kid that's in a public school, we might get about 10,000 to 15,000 depending on who you ask for that kid. in a charter school, about $8,000. in a voucher school about $7,000. well that $7,000 and $8,000 difference from the charter and the voucher, it goes back in a pot that all the other districts benefit from -- except my district. so in the end, you know, i hate to say it but it's everybody feeding off of the kids from milwaukee and we have 85% of our kids across the board, public, charter, voucher, you name it, that can't read on grade level. that is a standard of failure and this is not acceptable. that's a status quo i will not stand for. >> senator erpenbach, your response to that? >> lena's right. it's not acceptable but we're

comparing apples to oranges. public schools have to take every single kid who walk through that door. voucher and charter schools don't. and any time someone from a for-profit company shows up at your doorstep and says "we have a better idea as to how to teach kids" they're in it to make money first and foremost. that's their job, that's what corporations do. at the same time, in order for wisconsin and wisconsin communities to maintain their own identities, public schools are key, strong public schools are extremely important. overall, our public schools produce wonderful kids, they're ready for college, technical schools or wherever else they may be going out in life. we have some real issues in milwaukee and other pockets of the state and we need to address those issues, lena's absolutely right. but at the same time, across the board when you're going for a statewide voucher program, even though the number of students that can go to that program are capped, the point is the statewide system is already in place for privatization to happen all over wisconsin and we can't have that. >> lena, what about gosh ahead.

respond to that. >> i was just going to say, i don't disagree with john that the statewide system that the republicans put in place is not a system of fairness. i mean, once you are eligible, you then never have to have your income examined again. you don't get to do that for 2 w-2, you don't do that for food stamps or child care, so that's a system that's not fair. however the piece that i think john missed is anywhere else the voucher program in the state doesn't feed off the trough in the same way it does in milwaukee. so i what i need is my democrat and my republican colleagues to stand up and they milwaukee needs fair funding because our kids are being treated the worst and have the worst outcomes. so in the end, i refuse to continue to be in this box that says it's just one issue. this is larger than just funding, this is about quality, what that standard will be. >> separating charter and public school, that conversation and debate, give me a solution for

milwaukee, senator taylor. how would you turn around those -- how would you turn around those test scores and performance that you just talked about. >> i think we need to create a reading program across the board that is not only until our after school programs but in every component of the curriculum. we have to put -- >> that's money. >> you could argue that it's money, ed, but some of those things are not. some of those things is just getting a math teacher to engage reading differently. for everyone to engage things differently. and i think that that's key, number one. number two, i think we need one ecosystem. we have eight different options and nobody has to answer in one place. it's very difficult if you were married and you got married eight times and divorced seven times and you're taking care of seven different families and you don't have communication, you're not going to have a very effective parenting plan and your wallet is going to be pretty messed up. so i think we need one ecosystem again and being able to do that

is going to be very difficult if we continue this everybody's in their separate corners. we've got to talk about what's going to work for our kids to get us the quality education where outcomes are working and we need to start doing those things across the board and that's not happening. >> well, i think you've just described that there's a very different learning environment in an inner city versus the rural areas of wisconsin and i think it's the same way in every state in america. >> you know something else, ed? you know something else, we've got to make sure that we can require a lesson plan. how can you not require a consistent lesson plan for teachers? so those are some things in mill walk dhee will make a difference. but i agree, we can't have eight different systems and expect that we're going to be able to make our dollars go the way they need to. >> what about that, john? i want a quick response from you on that, the eight different systems. what about that? >> lena is right, the biggest problem we have in the state of wisconsin is funding our schools. it's not a fair funding formula that we have at all. but at the same time what's going on in milwaukee is

extremely difficult to deal with. there's a lot of successes in milwaukee. there's a lot of successes around wisconsin and we need to build on that. there are good things happening in our public schools and we need to build on that. >> i'm a product of the public schools. >> wisconsin state senators lena taylor and john erpenbach. thank you for joining us tonight. coming up, the conservative radio host who says god designed us for gender discrimination. pretenders is next. stick around, we'll be right back. ♪

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women for the primary outlet for their creativity, their energy, their love, their personality, to be in making a home for their husbands and children. are they obligated? are they commanded? ordered by god to do are they ordered by god to do that? no. i believe that's god's basic design because that's how we design male and female to work together. when i went to hire a receptionist, when i went to hire a secretary, when i went to hire somebody who was going to answer the phones for a church, and i said guys, don't bother applying. i absolutely discriminate nated on the basis of gender. you want to come and sue me? equal opportunity employment commission, knock yourself out. >> i wonder if mike roger's talk show is going to be like this. fisher couldn't be prouder of his backward behavior. brian fisher doesn't know how to run for office. he is just running his mouth. if he thinks being godly means being gross, he can keep on pretending. but the energy bp produces up here creates something else as well:

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welcome back to "the ed sho show". this is a story for the folks who take a shower after work. president obama made his second visit to the vatican on thursday, where he met pope francis. the vatican described the meeting as cordial, and it makes sense. these two men have a lot in common. president obama blazed a trail as the first black president. pope francis is the first latin american head of the catholic church. both men have put a focus on income inequality, highlighting the need for economic justice. and both men have highlighted the need for immigration reform.

both have been called progressives. that common ground didn't sit too well with the folks across the street. so they found something else to focus on. >> did these two men actually have more in conflict than they do in common? many are saying they're more different than they are alike. i mean, look at the issues that the catholic church believes in. not exactly the same platform as the president. >> they're completely against each other on all three of them. pope francis is very favorable. he is at 76%, approaching 80%. meanwhile, when you look at our president's approval rating, he is close to 60 when it comes to disapproval. so you can see right now you've got somebody who is ascending and somebody else is descending in the polls. >> the catholic church and president obama are very different with their beliefs and what they agree on. >> the pope and the president do not always see eye to eye, especially when it comes to obamacare. >> joining me tonight, jim

wallace, president of sojourners. reverend, great to have you with us tonight. i thought there were a lot of parallels between president obama and pope francis. especially when you focus in on the social teachings of the catholic church. sort this oust out for us, reverend. >> good to see you, ed. first of all, it's important not to try to put the pope into our political paradigms and categories left and right, liberal, conservative. job title is vicar christ. i think he is doing his job pretty well. he is asking what would jesus say to all of us. that would probably make all of us uncomfortable. jesus said how you treat the poor, the hungry, the homeless, the naked, is how you treat me. they talked about that apparently for a long time in the meeting, about the poor. about how politics and economies are judged by how we treat the poor and about economic opportunity all over the world. they talked about war and conflict in syria, refugees being killed. jesus calls us to be peacemakers. they talked about war and

conflict, and the poor for most of the meeting as far as we can tell. >> well, according to a statement from the vatican, the two did discuss, quote, the exercise of rights to religious freedom, life and conscientious objection. >> sure. >> that's obviously alluding to the contraception mandate. do you think it was as much of a focus as conservatives would like you to believe? >> as was clear in the visual you showed, here was the first african american president of the united states and the first pope from the developing world. and the pope is not as interested in religious wars and cultural wars. he is committed to a culture of life. and many of us in the taitt community are. but he wants to talk about a consistent ethic of life. he is talking about how the poor and the vulnerable are being treated. that religious liberty and health care shouldn't bed a odds. both are very important. and we can find ways to resolve.

but to try to put the pope in our political wars as i just saw happening here, this is really a distortion of what the pope is saying. the catholic teaching that the pope is talking most about is called a preferential option for the poor. now, a preferential option for poor people is something that neither of our political parties really demonstrate day to day. so we're all going to be challenged by the prophetic word of the pope. and the vicar christ should do that and shouldn't try to squeeze him into categories. >> finally, speaker boehner has asked the pope to address a joint session of the congress during his expected visit to the united states next year. what do you think the pope would have to say to the congressional republicans? i mean, i know you don't want to get political on it. but the fact is they would be sitting right there. he would be speaking to a political body. would this be good? >> it would be wonderful.

the president invited him to the white house as well. i hoped the pope would come. a bishop yesterday brought a 10-year-old little girl to see the pope, who said to the pope, please save my father. tell them to save my father who is up for deportation. i want to see the pope talk to us about welcoming the stranger. yes, he would speak about fixing a broken immigration system, about protecting the poor, about protecting vulnerable life wherever it's vulnerable. i think he would challenge democrats and republicans. i would love to see him come. and then we should all hang on the our seats because we're going hear what christ might think about how we're living and even doing our politics. >> all right, reverend, jim wallace, great to have you with us. thank you so much for joining us. i'm off to madison, wisconsin tonight, a rally to remember. i'll be speaking at the alliance center tonight. and then tomorrowly visit the rosebud sioux native american reservation in south dakota to

follow up on their story about the keystone xl pipeline. the sioux natives say that their story has not been told. we will tell it next week on the "ed show." that's the ed show. i'm ed schultz. "politicsnation" with reverend al sharpton starts right now. good evening, rev. good evening, ed. and thanks to you for tuning in. tonight breaking news in the chris christie bridge scandal one day after his office internal review cleared the governor of any wrongdoing, christie faced reporters in his first news conference in 76 days. in a combative hour-long q&a, christie insisted this report was the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. >> it's an exhaustive report that follows the mandate that i set out when we commissioned the review. one thing was clear from the beginning. i told them to find the truth no matter where it