reporters, while glen greenwald spearheaded coverage for the british daily. edward snowden said of the papers, "they have my gratitude and respect for their extraordinary service to our society. their work has given us a better future and a more accountable democracy." that's all for now. i'll see you back here tomorrow at 4:00 p.m. eastern. "the ed show" is up next. good evening, americans. welcome to "the ed show" live from detroit lakes, minnesota. i'm ready to go! let's get to work. we're having a national debate right now about the direction of this country. >> we have a unique opportunity to create a new conversation. >> you're thinking like a new republican. >> you may have recently gotten a tattoo. is there anything to that? >> i think every republican should have two words tattooed on their hands.

>> there was some street art that was a little unusual. and i got to tell you, it inspired me. >> and i have one number that i have written on my hand today. >> remember the talking points that i had written on my hand? >> you're thinking like a new republican. like a new republican. >> we also have our good friend deejay rand paul here on the turntables. >> we cannot be the party of fat cats, rich people, and wall street. >> here's something for the nsa to listen in on. >> the president keeps offering you free stuff. >> you're thinking like a new republican. >> if you're looking for free stuff. >> free stuff. >> if you're looking for free stuff, if you're looking for free stuff you don't have to pay for, vote for the other guy. >> hogwash! it's exactly the wrong thing to do. >> good to have you with us tonight, folk. thanks for watching. well, the party's on. the republican party's best and

brightest, at least that's what they think they are, gathered in new hampshire this weekend for the big party. it was the first ever freedom summit. how'd they ever come up with that name? it's so innovative. many are calling this summit the official start for the 2016 presidential election. i know it's before the midterms, but this is how they want to do it. the event, of course, sponsored by none other than citizens united and americans for prosperity. the republican all-star team included, batter up, here we go. ted cruz, rand paul, mike leigh, louie gohmert, mike huckabee, donald trump. let's not forget marsha blackburn. just think for a moment, folks, could you imagine any of these people being the president of the united states? nah. they wasted no time attacking the real president of the united states and the affordable care act. first up, canadian senator ted cruz from texas. cruz wants every single word -- don't leave anything out.

every single word of obamacare wiped off the books. >> today, obamacare is at its lowest approval rating it's ever been since the day it was signed into law. the result of millions of american and women standing up and saying obamacare is a disaster, it is not working, it is hurting millions of americans. i am convinced we are going to repeal every single word of obamacare. [ applause ] >> false, false, and even more false. cruz is flat-out wrong on all levels there. first, support for obamacare is up nine points since november. seven and a half million people now have health insurance. so what is cruz going to do with 7.5 million people, just get rid of them? throw them off? turn it back to the insurance industry? obamacare is working now better than ever. here's what cruz wants when he talks about repealing every single word of obamacare. he means preexisting conditions

no longer around, because he opportunity talk about them. lifetime limits on coverage, back off the table. and no free preventative care. in fact, no preventative care whatsoever, which is the lynch pin to all of this bringing costs down. they don't understand that. they never will. republicans lost the 2012 election on obamacare, and they need to pick a new fight, but they won't. up next, we have kentucky senator rand paul. paul said republicans can't be the party of fat cats? >> rich companies don't need your money. and it's an insult to those among us that we say we don't have enough money for these other programs, but we've got enough money for our rich friends. if you want to be consistent, if you want to grow the movement, we cannot be the party of fat cats, rich people and wall street. >> whoa! we got breaking news here tonight! rand paul, does that mean that you do not want to see any more

tax dollars, as in subsidies go to oil companies? what does that mean? i don't think he knows what it means. tough talk by rand paul. always plays well in kentucky. but republican policies speak for themselves. this is -- on the bottom line here, folks, there's not one single proposal from republicans to address income inequality in this country. the vulture chart is a direct result of so-called trickle down economics, which have been around for a long time. this chart is a direct result of republican policies. president obama is trying to fix the income inequality and be fair to workers in this country. it's hard to deal with republicans when all they want to do is instruct the president every step of the way. here comes congresswoman marsha blackburn. she's got all the answers. she also spoke at saturday's event. so she decided to attack the president for using executive orders. >> barack obama promised you that he was going to rein in

executive power, but what we got is an imperial president who plays like he's the king and goes out and does what he wants to do by executive fiat. >> she's compelling, isn't she? president obama uses executive orders because republicans like marsha blackburn obstruct everything that's put in front of her. in 2013, congress passed the fewest amount of bills since the accomplishings sta clerks started keeping track. president obama signs an order to raise minimum wage for federal contractors to $10 an hour, republicans against it. then he gets called the imperial president. it's unbelievable, isn't it? finally we have the former arkansas governor mike huckabee. the fox news host thinks freedom of speech in america is under attack. >> freedom of speech in this country, that for which those men grabbed those muskets off the mantle, did never mean that

we're to have fewer voices, but more voices. it wasn't that we couldn't asse assent, it was that we could, whether you agree with the opinions or not. i'm beginning to think that there's more freedom in north korea sometimes than there is in the united states. when i go to the airport, i have to get in the surrender position. people put hands all over me. and i have to provide photo i.d. and a couple of different forms and prove that i really am not going to terrorize the airplane. >> gosh, who was in power back when they developed the tsa? i think it was the republicans. i think it was the republicans who also quarterbacked the largest rearrangement of the federal government, which was the department of homeland security, because we had to be safe and now huckabee's complaining about it? he talks about voices? what voices are you talking about, mike? you're in talk radio. there's 500 right wingers to about 30 progressives all across this country. who you talking about? you mean they haven't obstructed

enough for you? the guy who has a show on fox news is complaining about freedom of speech, and certainly make no mistake, the group at saturday summit has nothing new to offer america. if that's all republicans have for 2016, is that minor league lineup, democrats i would say looking pretty good right now. not one person at the summit criticized big money in politics. no surprise considering the fact that the event was sponsored by americans for prosperity. meanwhile, let's go across town. it was a very different day on that very same day. a totally different story. some guy named bernie sanders from vermont, this independent liberal from vermont, he held a town hall, packed the house. standing ovation. senator sanders called out citizens united. he slammed billionaires for being able to buy elections. >> what the challenge is about is whether we move in that

direction, bringing tens of millions of people together, getting them involved in the political process, having meetings like this all over america. having debates, having discussions. and expanding and strengthening our democracy. that's the way i think we've got to go. then there's another way. which the guys at the other end of town are talking about. and that is a handful of billionaires pumping hundreds of millions if not billions of dollars into campaigns. having candidates come before them and getting the litmus test that they will support the billionaire agenda. that's where we are in america. either strengthen democracy, or -- and i vote for democracy. thank you very much. >> message from "the ed show" to all democrats. that's exactly what america wants to hear. senator clinton, secretary clinton, take notice of that. senator sanders is doing this country a favor by sounding the

alarm. he's saying what the people are thinking. i know, i've been around the country, too. people are angry about their vote being disenfranchised. did you see that story that we had on this program last week? in hamilton county, ohio, they have rigged it so people who have to depend on public transportation have to travel an hour so they can vote. oh, it's the new republican plan. maybe that's the voice that mike huckabee wants to have heard across america. 44,000 homes in hamilton county depend on public transportation. and now there's this narrative out there, well, you know the democrats, they might not be ready for this midterm. oh yeah. i think it's going to be a historic turnout. because if you compare what bernie sanders was saying in new hampshire and what the republicans are saying, it's two totally different worlds. they are showing us their playbook now. they have passed a radical

budget last week, the ryan plan for 2015. we know who they are. people make a difference. don't lose confidence in your tackle box. there's a whole bunch of fish in that lake that we can get, democrats. liberals, this can be our year, but you've got to believe. and here's the thing that i feel so interested in about, is that since the republicans want to talk about 2016 and go to new hampshire, and of course, senator sanders was invited to speak up there, why don't they debate now? i mean, i would love to see senator sanders go face to face with rand paul. hell, let's have the debates right now. i'd love to debate mike huckabee. you name the place, mike. i'd love to talk to you about all these voices you think should be heard. here's what we need to do. we need to push the envelope. democrats need to say bring it on. democrats need to say let's have the conversation now, since we can't get votes in congress, since there's nothing but

obstructing, go obstruct the voices in the heartland. the democrats need to challenge the republicans out in front of the public now before the midterm. get your cell phones out, i want to know what you think. tonight's question, would you like to see the candidates debate the issues right now? face to face? what are we waiting for? text a for yes, b for now. you can always go to our blog at ed.msnbc.com. i mean, we could sell tickets. for more, i want to bring in senator bernie sanders of vermont. senator, great to have you with us tonight. i mean, i know you debate these guys any time, any place, anywhere. but they don't want to debate. they don't want the debate. i've got to say congratulations on your speech, senator. it's getting rave reviews. and you talked about the difference between the republicans and the democrats when it comes to freedom and the view of freedom. i'd like you to tell our

listeners tonight exactly what you said. thanks for joining us. >> well, ed, at the end of the day, these guys have absolutely nothing to say. this is what the republican platform is. despite the fact that the wealthiest people in this country are doing phenomenally well, what the republican idea of freedom is is to give more tax breaks, huge tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires under the ryan budget, average millionaire gets $200,000 a year in tax breaks. one out of four corporations today pay zero in taxes. they want to give even more tax breaks to large corporations. meanwhile, the people who are hurting, the middle class, the working class, low-income people, what the republican proposal on the ryan budget is all about, and what all of these guys believe is massive cuts to medicare transforming it from

the program it is today, medicaid, pell grants and education, horrendous cuts to food stamps. their definition of freedom is if you are 70 years of age and you have no health insurance, you're going to have the freedom literally to die, because they don't believe in keeping medicare strong. if you are a low-income person, they're going to cut you off of medicaid and you're going to have the freedom not to go to a doctor. that's what they're talking about. >> do you think in your heart that the majority of americans are with what you had to say on saturday, or the majority of americans are with what the republicans were talking about across town? >> ed, it's not only what i believe, it's what the facts are, what every single poll shows us. you go to mississippi, you go to oklahoma, you go to conservative states, and you ask people there, hey, i want to give huge tax breaks to billionaires and i

want to cut social security, medicare, and medicaid. in my view, there is no state in the country where people support that right wing agenda. you go to people, and this is what many republicans believe. not only do they not want to raise the minimum wage, and that's what we're trying to do, they want to abolish the concept of the minimum wage, so that if you're in a low-income area, you can work for three bucks an hour. who in america believes that? so, ed, their agenda is the agenda of the koch brothers and billionaires. i think we have infinitely more support for our ideas than they have for theirs. >> are you laying the groundwork for 2016? >> well, look, getting involved in the presidential election is -- you've got to do a lot of thinking about it. but what i have said is that in this country where the middle class is disappearing and where

the billionaires are exerting enormous power over the political process, we need a candidate or many candidates to start standing up for the working families and to take on big money. am i prepared to be one of those candidates or the candidate? yeah, i am. >> senator bernie sanders, good to have you with us tonight, sir. thanks so much. obviously, we'll do it again. let me bring in democratic strategist professor bob shrum. bob, good to have you on. what did we learn about the 2016 field at saturday's freedom summit? how insightful. >> first of all, it should be called the fat-free summit. you quoted rand paul as saying the republicans shouldn't be the party of wall street and the wealthy, then he endorses massive tax cuts for wall street and the wealthy, and as senator sanders just said, along with that come these huge cuts in medicare and social security. ted cruz goes up there to a summit that's supposed to focus on economic issues and says he wants the republican party to double down on social issues.

rand paul comes back and says oh, we don't want to have a pure litmus test. but he has one for supreme court nominees. he's anti-choice. he's anti-lgbt rights. you listen to the montage of stuff you put together at the beginning of the show, and i am happy to endorse any of these guys, any of these fringe figures, or marsha blackburn for the republican nomination. they get beaten like a drum in 2016. >> huckabee comparing the united states to north korea. is he making a joke or does he believe it? i mean, was that reckless? >> it's wacky. it's way out there. but that's what we're seeing from the republican party. look, jeb bush, who i believe is at this point -- given the fact that the governor of new jersey has jumped off the george washington bridge, jeb bush is the strongest republican nominee. his name got booed when it was mentioned because he's for sensible immigration reform, or

sounds like he is, and he's for sensible immigration reform. that part of the republican party, the tea party part of the republican party does not want someone like that who even has any relationship to the mainstream. but i'll tell you one thing, ed, i don't think that summit is very predictive of what will happen in new hampshire. here's why. independents can vote in either the republican or the democratic primary. that's how john mccain won the primary in 2000. if hillary clinton is there, maybe bernie sanders will be there, but if hillary clinton is there and people think she's going to be the nominee, independents are going to flood into the republican primary, and all of that stuff that we heard at this so-called freedom summit is actually going to hurt those guys in the primary. >> all right. bob shrum, always great to have you with us tonight. thanks so much. >> thank you. coming up, conservatives accuse the obama administration of playing the race card. the rapid response panel weighs in on that. but first, congressman eliza

cummings joins me. stick around. we're back on "the ed show." to the next level. so we talked about her options. her valuable assets were staying. and selling her car wouldn't fly. we helped sydney manage her debt and prioritize her goals, so she could really turn up the volume on her dreams today...and tomorrow. so let's see what we can do about that... remodel. motorcycle. [ female announcer ] some questions take more than a bank. they take a banker. make a my financial priorities appointment today. because when people talk, great things happen. [ girl ] my mom, she makes underwater fans that are powered by the moon. ♪ she can print amazing things, right from her computer. [ whirring ] [ train whistle blows ] she makes trains that are friends with trees. ♪ my mom works at ge. ♪

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for ohio's electile dysfunction. >> if off boehner lasting longer than 23 years, seek immediate medical attention. it will help you every time the moment is right. >> i'm j.d. winteregg and i approve this message. >> holy hash tag. >> pope francis led pam sunday services to a crowd of 100,000 worsh worshippers. >> there was certainly no sign that a little fatigue is dampening his passion. >> let's get some smiles. >> pope francis snapped some paul sunday selfies. >> let me take a selfie. >> after mass, the pope gave groups of young people something they'll always remember. >> he hopped off his pope mobile to pose for selfies. >> #true players for life. >> in today's top trender, moral argument. >> do you think that obamacare is going to be an anchor, a rock around the necks of democrats running this fall? >> i think that we have to go out there and argue the moral

issues. >> elijah cummings tells dems to take the high ground on health care. >> the idea that we have now gotten rid of preexisting conditions, i think it's very significant. >> making affordable coverage available to all americans, including those with preexisting conditions is now an important goal of this law. >> we have got to look at the good things, and we've got to go out there and make it clear that it's something good for america. >> under this law, the share of americans with insurance is up and the growth of health care costs is down. >> joining me tonight, congressman elijah cummings of maryland. congressman, great to have you back with us. >> it's good to be with you, ed. >> pretty clear that it is all about repeal at this point. they want to vilify it to the max. sell hard that it's bad. and hope that it works. i mean, there's so much good in the law. and so the democrats need to do what at this point, as you see it? >> we've got to go out there and

first of all emphasize what we believe. and that is that health care is not a privilege for some, but it should be a right for all americans. and that we're not going to leave any american behind with regard to being able to have the assurance that if they get sick, they won't have the type of coverage that they need, but at the same time, we've got to argue the moral issue of trying to keep people well. life is very precious. and i think that's what we've got to do. and then we've got to give examples of people who have done well. we hear the republicans, you know, complaining about stories that they hear, but the question becomes are democrats going to go out there and talk about -- the lady in my community that was able to get treated for colon cancer and couldn't get it before.

or another lady that had problems with breast cancer and could not get insurance for years because of a preexisting condition. now she's able to do that. we've got to argue those things. and then the other thing we've got to talk about is the fact that we've gotten 7.5 million people who are now insured. so what are you going to do, just throw them to the side and say we're going to take away this opportunity? no. >> but congressman, that point right there, the 7.5 million. you've got bob sheifert on a sunday morning show asking you if obamacare, the affordable care act is going to be a drag on the democrats, as if 7.5 million people don't count. it's if all of the things that you just mentioned don't mean anything. is the mainstream media buying into the negative narrative that the republicans are selling hard? >> i wouldn't say that. i think that we, though, as democrats have got to go out

there and make it clear that there are people who need insurance. there are a lot of people that need insurance. a lot of times what i do in my democratic when i have people who are against the affordable care act, what i tell them is look, if your mother was sick or your father or sister or brother, if you expect that i'm going to leave them behind and not do everything in my power to help them get the kind of coverage they need, then you've just got the wrong person. because i just cannot do it. and usually when they hear that, they have a little bit of a change of mind. >> congressman, a new report from the congressional budget office, non-partisan, says the affordable care act will cost the federal government $104 billion less -- >> that's right. >> over the next ten years than originally expected. is this a number that you can bank on? is this a truthful number? and is this good news for the democrats going into the

midterms? >> this is very good news for the democrats. as a matter of fact, the reason why that number came out as it did is because that same report says that the premiums are not as high as they projected, therefore the government is not spending as much money on subsidies. that says a lot. and you mentioned it a little bit earlier, that we have the slowest growth in the overall course of medical care in the last 50 years. all of those things are leading us to the conclusion that the law is going to work better than anticipated, but you know what, ed, a lot of the problem is that we've had republicans who have been naysaying every single element of this law, and in spite of that it's doing well. >> yeah. well, look, it's very clear, it's sell hard, go as negative as you possibly can, scorched earth policy on obamacare, doesn't matter what the numbers are. the numbers could be 15, 20

million and they'd still be going after it because they've got nothing on the table to replace any of it other than the negative narrative. i just think that the mainstream media is starting to buy some of their garbage, regardless of how good the numbers are. great to have you with us. elijah cummings from maryland here on "the ed show tonight." >> still ahead, conservatives accuse the president of using race as a shield and a sword. rapid response panel weighs in on that. and later, the right wing lashes out at jeb bush over his recently softened position on immigration. boy, has that got the republicans all confused. but next, i'm taking your questions. ask ed live just ahead. stay with us.

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middle class? that's the $64 question, drake. in fact, they don't even have an answer for it. our next question is from debbie. do you like broadcasting more from the north woods, or new york city? what do you think, debbie? in the summertime, as soon as the show's over with, it's going to be cocktail hour on the pontoon. stick around. rapid response panel coming up next. i'm bertha coombs. the dow surging 106 points. the nasdaq added 22. a sign the economy may be improving. retail sales jumped unexpectedly in march, up 1.1%. a bit of spring fever for folks after a bitter winter. citigroup beat earnings expectations. profits in the facility, rose 3.5% from a year ago to 3.94 billion. google bought titan

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forget about me, forget about me. you look at the way the attorney general of the united states was treated yesterday by a house committee. had nothing to do with me. forget that. what attorney general has ever had to deal with that kind of treatment? what president has ever had to deal with that kind of treatment? >> welcome back to "the ed show." for anyone living in reality, those comments by attorney general eric holder pretty straight forward. this administration has faced unprecedented obstruction, unprecedented levels of disrespect. the folks across the street don't live in reality.

in their world, if you discuss any of this, you're race-baiting. >> strikes me as stuff from holder, my sense about this is that both eric holder and barack obama have benefited politically enormously from the fact that they are african-american and the first to hold the jobs that they hold. to those two men, race has been both a shield and a sword that they have used effectively to defend themselves and to attack others. and i think is depressing at this stage in our national life after all we've been through on this issuing and given the overwhelming consensus on the issue of civil rights that this kind of stuff is still going on. >> liberalism has a kind of tourette's syndrome these days. constantly saying the word racism and racist. it's a kind of intellectual poverty. liberalism hasn't had a new idea since the 1960s except obamacare. so you say anyone who criticizes us is racist.

it's become a joke among young people. you go to a campus where this political correctness rains, and some person will say looks like it's going to rain, and the person will say you're a racist. it's so inappropriate. the constant invocation of this that it is becoming a national mirth. >> so is he saying that there was no disrespect last week to the attorney general. joining me now, professor at georgetown university and msnbc political analyst goldie taylor, msnbc political analyst and columnist for the grio. gosh, where do i start? this is outrageous. so the color of your skin will determine whether you get disrespect or not. i mean, that's what i'm taking on fox news on that one. >> when i looked around that table and saw the enormous diversity of both skin and gender and color and race, of

course we can come up with a consensus that that was a fair panel. how ludicrous this is. we know that sunday mornings have usually been given over to conservative white men who harp and complain to no end about the inability to get access when they have it. who harp about the inability to exercise and influence when they possess it. who harp about the inability to leverage power when they do it. so anybody who speaks against the authority, legitimacy or the world view of that particular set of people, the pundits, what happens is you come in being charged with playing the race card. as i've indicated before, if they were playing the race card, they were dealing the deck that had been handed to them by centuries of traditions of response by the other side. so i think eric holder is not a cry baby, but has finally told the truth about what he's endured silently all along, and the very moment he speaks up, he is assailed.

>> brett hume asserting the position that both barack obama and the attorney general eric holer have used race as both a shield and a sword. what's your response to that?de shield and a sword. what's your response to that? >> and while it may be true that this president and this attorney general both receive criticism because they happen to be african-american and don't receive some criticism because they happen to be african-american, the president himself has said that. but for them to group this kind of position says that they are so drunk with their own privilege, that they don't even know that they have it. that's how high the high happens to be. but to say that, you know, race and color and gender don't inform our public policy for relation process, it's execution to say that race and gender and those things don't inform the way that we address one another in this public square. and to say that it has not impacted this presidency and his

overall platform, you know, is the kind of intellectual poverty i think they really were talking about. >> well, it is an absolute that we have a black president and a black attorney general. it's also an absolute that we have the most obstructed president in the history of the country. now, that's a legislative fact. so i want to go back to eric holder. goldie, in response to the accusations of race baiting, holder pointed out this to "huffington post." he says, i didn't say there was a racial component. i was very careful not to say that. do you buy it? who has the issue with race here? >> you know, and that is the fact, that eric holder did not say that he was being discriminated against based upon his color, but i am saying it for him. i am saying what this attorney general cannot say, what this president can't always necessarily say, that they are being treated differently, that they are being regarded differently, because someone has

spun the color well and decided that as an african-american man, that they are delegitimizing them as president, as attorney general, that somehow they aren't able to step up to the job and do it in the way that maybe their predecessors have done, and that maybe, just maybe this man doesn't belong in this white house. they did it when they said that he was probably born in kenya. nay did it when they challenged his birth certificate. they did it when they went after obamacare and said that uncle sugar wants to give them free health care and free condoms. that's when they're doing it, when they launch claims of socialism. that's not to say that they have not derided other presidents, but there is something, something, something about this president that is different and that lets them go further without any repercussion. >> and dr. dyson, i watched some of that hearing last week, that house hearing, and steve king, louie gohmert, they were making the case that eric holder has not gone after people that are democrats. that eric holder has allowed

people that he's had targeted investigations in a targeted focus from the justice departme department, and were very disrespectful. that's what he was talking about. it's fox news and it's also these representatives who we're talking about that have turned it into the racial discussion here. so how should the president and the attorney general handle this kind of arena going into the last several years of his presidency and also tenure as a.g.? >> maybe it sheds unintended light upon the modus operandi that the white house has adopted and to a certain degree the attorney general in regards to race. the frustration of the african-american, latino, and other people of color about the inability of the president to speak plainly and boldly about issues of race may be revealed here. his strategy may be that the moment i talk about race in america, it become s exacerbate. there's more heat than light. as a result of that, he is refrained from discoursing about race. so some people want him to have

the commercial. some people say have the substance. on the other hand, as goldie taylor has brilliantly indicated here, this is edgar allen's letter. it's hidden in plain sight. so those of us who understand that race is at the heart of the relations between americans here, that race is the nexus of political and social realities, those of us who articulate that truth plainly and straight forward ly and without obsession, but also without apology are seen to be race baiters ourselves and he must continue to heap coals of fire upon the heads of those who refuse to acknowledge the legitimacy and the inavoidability of race in this particular era. >> michael eric dyson and goldie taylor, great to have you with us on this very volatile subject. the doctors of diversity, i guess you would say when it comes to george will and brett hume. coming up, gop candidates

testing the water at the new hampshire freedom summit this weekend. one of them is today's pretender. stick around, we're right back.

. >> of and in the pretenders tonight, watered down. marsha blackburn, the tennessee congresswoman ran off to new hampshire, the big circus this weekend. blackburn spoke at the freedom summit in manchester, and according to her aide, oh, tested the waters on a presidential run. something really must be in the water in new hampshire. bla blackburn believes she has a shot in 2016. marsha blackburn wants change in the white house, but she can't even get behind change in congress. here's what she had to say about paycheck fairness. >> we're all for equal pay. i would love for women to be

focused on maximum wage, and i have fought to be recognized with equality for a long time. a lot of us get tired of guys condescending to us. >> why did the senate republicans block this? >> well, because the legislation was something that was going to be helpful for trial lawyers. i find this war on women rhetoric just almost silly. it is republicans that have led the fight for women's equality. >> lots of substance there, huh, folks? republicans have led the fight for equality. where have they taken it? right into a brick wall. blackburn is focused on just one woman, that would be herself. if marsha blackburn thinks demeaning equality is the same thing as demanding, she can keep on pretending. what if a photo could build that shelf you've always wanted? or fix a leaky faucet? or even give you your saturday back?

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>> welcome back. this is a story for the folks who take a shower after work. immigrant is shining a light on a big party divide ahead of the 2016 presidential race. rand paul is leading the charge after jeb bush made some not so conservative enough comments on the topic. they cross the border because they have no other means to work to provide for their family. yes, they broke the law, but it's not a felony. it's an act of love. it's an act of commitment to

your family. >> well, this leaves rand paul kind ofs a the odd-man out. so the senator tried to flip the script. >> if it were me, what i would have said is people who speak the american dream are not bad people. >> however, they came in this country illegally. >> i finish it up with, they're not bad people, however, we can't invite the whole world. when you say they're doing an act of love and you don't follow it up with, and we have to protect the border, people think because it's a kind reason, they're coming to our country. >> outliars like donald trump are also chiming in. >> you know, i heard jeb bush the other day and he was caulking about people who come into this country illegally, they do it for love. and i say, say it again, i didn't get -- that's one i never heard of before. i've heard money, i've heard this, i've heard sex, i've heard

everything. the one thing i never heard of was love. i understand what he's saying. he's out there. >> conservatives need to get their talking points straight. maybe they should try to get a uniform policy on immigration. they can't do immigration because they've got an identity crisis when it comes to diversity temperature mitch caesar, director to of the national committee and broward county democratic party is with us tonight. everything about immigration in the way i politically view this is all about florida. can the republicans win florida if they don't have a positive stand about what they want to do on immigration? your thoughts? >> absolutely not. there's a split in the republican party. some are making it about border

security, some national security, some cheap labor for west coast farming and almost nobody is talking about doing the right thing. i think because of the changing demographic in florida and nationally in states luke texas, arizona, nevada, arizona, i think they're going toby pass any presidential hope. i believe if they can't win the presidency in 2016, it may be gone for a generation. >> jeb bush really gave them a wake-up call on this. his comments really triggered some blowback, so where do they stand now? >> they stand where they stool before. nowhere. the house passed a bill and of course, like so many things these days, it died in a republican house. jeb bush is trying to come out as the only grown up in the room. what he forgets is times have changed. this isn't how it used to be. the last time he ran was 10 years ago.

and demographics are very different in florida and across the nation. dot republicans want to wait until 2014 to do something? i don't know how they can go into the general without showing the american public that they're concerned about diversity. what do you think? >> i would be surprised if they did anything before the 2014 election. i think they're going to play it safe, keep their fingered crossed and just talk about obama care, although as you said earlier in the show, they have nothing else to talk about. so they'll keep beating that to death. it won't take them anywhere. i don't think there's any serious chance for immigration in this election year with the republicans acting as phobic as they are. >> well, you've got them all over the place. it will be interesting to see who reals them in.

any form of acceptance of anyone who's already here is amnesty. i think this is going to walk the democratics right back to the white house. whether it will do anything on the senate or not remains to be seen. thanks so much. that's "the ed show." "politics nation" starts right now. good evening, rev. >> good evening, ed. and thanks to you for tuning in. tonight's lead, truth or scare? nor news today the affordable care act is working. but forget real data, all you need to do is hear what republicans are coming up with now. take it away, congresswoman. >> they know they have a math problem with obama care, and the numbers are not going to work out, so that the program is actuarily sound and they're going to have somebody to come to spin the numbers. this is something with burwelcoming from omd, i think they're expecting her to be able to do