every trade deal has cost us jobs, and i'm sure this trade deal would be no different. we need to stop it. >> that pretty much sums it up. a big trip for the president, no doubt about it. leo ge regarard, appreciate you time. "politicsnation" with reverend al sharpton starts right now. good evening, rev. >> good evening, ed. thanks to you for tuning in. i'm live tonight from miami. tonight's lead, the gop's extreme candidates. are they dragging the gop down with them? in state after state, republican candidates are so conservative, so far out there, that democrats are actually in a strong position. certainly better than the gop's been predicting. and a candidate in north carolina may just become the poster child for gop extremism. remember this clip from the movie "dr. strangelove"?

>> ahhhh! ahhhhh! >> just a regular guy riding a nuclear weapon and cackling with delight. well, north carolina senate candidate greg brannon seems to believe that every american should be able to own nukes. that's how far out he is on the second amendment rights. here he is in a 2010 radio show. >> should you have a right to own a nuclear weapon, doctor? >> and -- i think the quotes are going to help us in that. if jefferson said that the only role to be armed is to protect you from a tyrannical government, what do you think he would say? >> yes, of course. >> let me read this next one. who are the militia? are they not ourselves? congress has no power to disarm the militia.

their swords and every other terrible implement of the soldier are the birthright of an american. >> the birthright of an american, and nukes are part of that? greg brannon also thinks that the u.s. is now a marxist country, that president obama is a socialist, that taxes are equivalent to apartheid. oh, and that food stamps are slavery. in a nut shell, he's extreme. and because of that, he's losing. "the new york times" poll shows him losing to his democratic opponent in north carolina's senate race. and gop extremism is getting rejected elsewhere, too. in arkansas, gop candidate tom cotton is losing by ten points. that's what happens when you want to gut medicare, cut social security, and essentially ban abortion. and some types of birth control.

even senator mitch mcconnell, the top-ranking republican in the senate, is holding on for his political life. he leads his democratics opponent by just one point, just one point lead from the man who opposed the president at every turn. >> our top political priority over the next two years should be to deny president obama a second term. >> mitch mcconnell led the way on the political extremism against president obama. because of that, he and others are fighting for their political lives. joining me now are jonathan capehart and abby huntsman. thank you both for coming on the show tonight. >> thanks. >> thanks, rev. >> jonathan, let me start with you. how can the gop win when they are putting up candidates that think people should be allowed to own nukes? >> you know, rev, i really don't

know. maybe abby has a better idea. >> i'm going to leave it to you, capehart. >> oh, great. so here's the thing, this extremist rhetoric, this crazy talk, if you will, that's happening in the republican primaries might work with the revved up base of the republican party and very well might get some of these folks the nomination. the problem comes in when they have to then face the voters of the entire state who probably won't like what they have to say, won't be comfortable with it, find it extreme, and will either stay home or vote for the democrat, or rev up, gin up, the democratic party base so they come out and ensure the defeat of that republican candidate. >> you know, abby, this poll also shows that democrats have an edge in retaining the senate, but already republicans are refuting the poll.

weekly standards bill krystal calls the poll, quote, bogus, but clearly there are signs that the democrats may be in a better position in parts of the country that we thought were given republican. >> you know, that is certainly the case. and democrats should actually be hoping that these more extreme candidates end up doing better in the primaries, because it only helps these democratic candidates, because they can then pick up some of these republicans, mainly business minded republicans who feel they have nowhere else to go, because their only option is so extreme. this is evidence, though, that the tea party is still alive and well. they are very passionate about the things they believe in, and as jonathan was pointing to, we see the folks that vote in the primaries tend to be more on the extreme, which is why we're seeing mainstream candidates like mitch mcconnell being polled to the far right, but i promise you the minute he ends up -- i'm guessing he'll end up

winning the primary, he'll shift back to the center very, very quickly. a state like georgia is a perfect example, where michelle nun is not expected to actually win there, but she's not only doing well, she's already been supported by a number of business-minded republicans, many of which supported mitt romney, because the alternative is so extreme, they have nowhere else to go. >> but where are the moderate voices, abby, that are confronting these guys in the primary? what i don't hear is moderates that take them on and really back them down. this is what gives the image of extremism for all republicans. >> yeah, and that's the real challenge, is when does the establishment part of the party actually stand up and say no more of this, we just can't continue down this path, and my fear is that you end up keeping this rhetoric, don't move enough to the center, this drags on into the 2016 elections and if republicans lose another national election, you heard it here, they are out of business. they are going to have to totally start over and say, how do we get back on track and win

elections again. >> you know, jonathan, look at last night's north carolina republican senate debate. the candidates were asked about climate change. listen to this. >> is climate change a fact? mr. harris? >> no. >> ms. grant? >> no. >> mr. brannon? >> no, god controls the climate. >> mr. tillis? >> no. >> now they are not only all said no, they actually laughed at it. they were mocking it, jonathan. >> well, the fact that this question even comes up in a serious debate even though it is settled science that we have plenty of evidence that climate change is real just goes to show how far -- how extreme the republican party has become in one of the key issues facing this country and facing the

planet. the country, i believe, is already there. they understand that climate change is happening, and if the republican party wants to keep nominating people that are questioning the science and in some instances electing people who keep questioning the science, then that's going to be one more thing that is going to hasten the demise, the end, of the republican party. >> and again, i don't hear no loud establishment voices, not any, abby, from established republicans. i mean, what are we going to debate, whether the earth is round next? the gop candidates in this election are also very far on the right in women's issues. candidates in colorado, arkansas, montana, north carolina, georgia, iowa, michigan, and louisiana have all backed personhood amendments, which would essentially ban abortion, not that long ago this

was considered a pretty extreme view in the party, abby. >> it reminds me of when my dad was running in 2012 and he tweeted, call me crazy, but i believe in science. and i remember at that moment many folks said that is the end of his campaign, and that very well could have been the end of his campaign, but historically, the president's approval rating tends to impact the way that candidates do in specific states, and we're seeing even though the president has a high disapproval rating in some of the southern states, democrats are still doing fairly well there, so you can't really look at history in terms of how this election is going to end up, but i do think there's a real challenge here with republicans not figuring out a way to appeal to the mainstream group of voters that they are going to end up having to try to win over in the general election. that's going to be a real challenge. >> you know, jonathan, when she talks about the president, take, for example, in georgia,

republican senator candidates were asked if they'd impeach president obama, not oppose it, impeach him. take a listen. >> clinton was impeached for perjury. obama has perjured himself on multiple occasions. would you support impeachment if centered for a vote? >> three candidates raised their hand to impeach the president. three candidates, jonathan. >> yeah, this gets to the issue that abby brought up and that you repeated, which is where are the grownups in the republican party to stand up to insane questions like that? where's the grownup in the republican party that will stand up and say talk of impeaching the president is off base. we can disagree on a host of issues, from health care, to the economy, all sorts of things, but to say he has broken the law

and that he deserves to be impeached is a bridge too far. the republican who stands up and says that is the republican i will defend until the end of my days because it is needed. >> they just might not win. >> well, you may need impeachable things that you want to impeach him for, but if climate change is debatable, why look for a bill of particulars? this is the reason, though, that the democrats may do far better than people think. jonathan capehart, abby huntsman, thank you both for your time tonight. >> thanks. and make sure, make sure, make sure you catch abby on "the cycle" week days at 3:00 p.m. eastern right here on msnbc. ahead, as paul ryan pushes a budget attacking the poor, elizabeth warren is out pushing for the fight for fairness today. plus, it turns out when you deny hundreds of thousands of

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it could be a dramatic moment in the fight for fairness. one week from today, congressman paul ryan, the architect of the gop's brutal budget that cuts from the poor to give tax cuts to the rich, will meet with the congressional black caucus. the meeting was called after ryan said this about poverty. >> we have got this tailspin of culture in our inner cities in particular of men not working and just generations of men not even thinking about working or learning the value and the culture of work, and so there's a real culture problem here that has to be dealt with. >> ryan back pedalled from those comments, but his budget that includes massive tax give aways to the 1%, under ryan's plan,

millionaires would get an average tax break of $200,000. all paid for by the poor and the middle class. middle class families with kids would pay $2,000 more in taxes. how's that fair? it's not. and it comes as we learn the american middle class is losing ground and is no longer the world's richest. president obama called the fight to stop a growing income gap the defining challenge of our time. and senator elizabeth warren is calling for people to fight back. >> washington works for those who can hire armies of lobbyists and lawyers. if you're a huge corporation, if you're a billionaire, boy, your voice gets heard in that place. the republicans say, you know, what we really have to do is we've got to open up a bunch of tax loopholes, and the way we're going to pay for them is we're going to cut back on what we spend on educating our kids.

we're going to cut back on the basic infrastructure, those roads and bridges and power grids. >> you've made some enemies, because people think you're against big business, and all we hear about these days, and rightly so, is inequality, inequality. how do you answer that? >> i'll tell you, i'm not against big business. i'm against cheating. i'm against cheating. >> congressman ryan and the gop, this fairness fight is coming. joining me now is congresswoman karen bass, democrat of california. congresswoman, you're a member of the congressional black caucus. you'll be at the meeting with congressman ryan next week. what do you expect to hear from him and to say to him? >> well, i certainly will be at the meeting, and i'm not sure. i mean, i think paul will come forward and i think he will try to give a very intellectual description as to what he actually meant, but at the end of the day, you know, paul ryan

has put his ideology in writing. he calls for repealing obamacare, he calls for putting pell grants, he calls for cutting food stamps, so regardless of what he says, he has written what he believes. and i think he might say that he stumbled over his words, but it's very easy to go to the collective works of paul ryan and see where he was really coming from. >> but how do you intellectually say that people have no work values and no ethics for generations? i mean -- but let's get beyond his rhetoric. i mentioned earlier that the ryan budget will give millionaires a $200,000 tax break. it's in line with those in the right wing media who say the 1% are paying too much in taxes right now. that's what their position is. listen to this, congresswoman. >> sure. >> there's a loophole. let the rich get out of them. well, i'll close that loophole, tax them to death. >> eliminate the corporate tax,

money would pour out of this money. >> i still want to raise taxes. what's the message that you get if you live in new york? >> it's punitive. >> imagine a tax-free $500 billion stimulus plan that no one watching this show would have to participate in. >> the president has not been a friend to corporate america. he advocates high taxes to pay for an entitlement culture. >> he can intellectually try to talk away from his words, but the policies reflect that and those that advocate the same thing, as i just showed you, reflect that. their policies say that. >> well, exactly, and we know that the person he was quoting when he was, quote, unquote, inarticulate is a person who has a long track record of discrimination. you know, we know that. i believe that there is not a way that you can justify what he said. it really wasn't even coded language. i mean sometimes people think in code, people talk in code, but when you are saying inner city and there is a culture, it's

very consistent, and that's the one thing about paul, he is consistent. so he does not believe that there really needs to be a safety net, that what poor people need is a kick in the butt and a pep talk. and that in terms of a safety net, you really don't need the government investing in a safety net like food stamps and pell grants and social security and medicare. what you need is that you can have all of the volunteers in the community take care of all of the needs, so i think he's going to have a very tough time explaining his way away from what he said on the radio show, because i think there is too much evidence to back it up that those are his fundamental beliefs. >> congresswoman, republicans have refused, i mean, outright refused to extend jobless benefits. >> right. >> and at this point, over 2.5 million, 2.5 million long-term unemployed americans have now lost jobless benefits. now some house republicans are

using jobless benefits as a bargaining chip for their right-wing agenda. they are demanding the building of the keystone pipeline, repealing of provision of the health care law that would cause a million americans to lose insurance and repealing the medical device tax without a plan to pay for the lost revenue. this is what they are bargaining with as they hold up unemployment insurance. >> well, exactly. and, rev, you know that every time there is a piece of legislation that is critical like this, they have the same shopping lists. the keystone pipeline comes up all the time. it came up a couple of weeks ago when we were discussing ukraine, so there's about ten items that essentially would hurt working people that every time it comes to something, they put this forward. and so the idea that we have 2 million people who have lost their unemployment for no reasons except for an ideological reason, the bill that passed, that was in the

works in the senate, would be retroactive, and not only do we need to restore these benefits, but people need their back pay. you know that they lost their benefits right after christmas. it's just unconscionable. if you think about the economy, rev, the economy should be roaring right now. the only reason it isn't is because of self-inflicted wounds. >> that's right. congresswoman karen bass, as always, thank you for your time tonight. >> thanks for having me on. coming up, republicans opposed to the health care law are on notice. new numbers show their repeal obsession is backfiring in a big way. and rand paul has a ronald reagan problem. got ya is next.

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very important primary on his hand. no, not the new hampshire or south carolina primaries, the reagan primary, the fight to see who in the republican party can prove they love the gipper the most. senator paul invoked president reagan's name three times in a recent op-ed he wrote for "the washington post," and sang reagan's praises on job creation. >> when is the last time in our country we created millions of jobs? it was under ronald reagan. >> actually, millions of jobs are being created under president obama, but i get it, senator paul needs to prove his devotion to the 40th president. you can't win the gop nomination if you don't win the reagan primary. but today, a big bump in the road. mother jones unrecovered footage

of senator paul from before he was a senator saying president jimmy carter was better on the budget than ronald reagan. >> domestic spending went up greater under reagan than carter. domestic spending went up more rapidly in the '80s under carter. domestic spending grows faster under reagan than under jimmy carter. spending rose more dramatically under reagan than it did under carter. >> uh-oh, louisville! we may have a problem. but now that he's thinking about running for president, senator paul is running away from those old talking points. he's running as fast as he can. his office sent out a statement saying, "i have always been and continue to be a great supporter of ronald reagan's tax cuts and the millions of jobs they

created. clearly spending during his tenure did not lessen, but he also had to contend with democratic majorities in congress." did senator paul think we wouldn't notice he's trying to change his tune now? nice try, but there you go again. we got you. [ 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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♪ [ male announcer ] great rates for great rides. geico motorcycle, see how much you could save. do you remember the show "happy days"? you know, the fonz and the gang? ♪ sunday monday happy days ♪ tuesday wednesday happy days ♪ thursday friday happy days ♪ the weekend comes, the cycle comes ♪ ♪ ready to race with you >> i was thinking about "happy days" today, because it's the origin of the phrase "jumping the shark." it means you're coming to the end of something and it comes from this episode. ♪

♪ >> yep. "happy days" went on a while longer, but after the fonz went water skiing, the show was past its prime, and today it's official, the gop's jumped the shark on health care. a "new york times" poll finds even in southern states, where voters are skeptical of the law, they still don't want to repeal it. 60% of north carolina voters want to improve the law.

it's 52% in kentucky and 52% in louisiana. and republicans who can't stop talking about repeal, they are not doing too well. take louisiana governor bobby jindal. here's what he said about the law. >> every governor's got two critical decisions to make. in louisiana we're not doing either one of those things. i don't think it makes sense to do those. we don't need the government running our health care. >> full repeal and full replace are the better way to go. >> "the new york times" finds governor jindal has got a negative 14% job approval. i wonder if blocking health care to people was a factor. he's refused the medicaid expansion in louisiana, denying 242,000 people insurance. senator mary landrieu's even calling it the jindal gap. and a local paper says taking

the money would be a "financial and moral no-brainer." the governor needs to face facts, the american people are sick and tired of republicans constantly talking about repeal. it's time for them to knock off this pointless fight or, as fonzy would say, sit on it. joining me now, former governor ed rendell and susan milligan. thank you both for being here. >> thanks for having me. >> governor bobby jindal's approval is sinking, and so is the support for repeal, so has the gop jumped the shark on repealing health care? >> yeah, there's no question about it. and they get mixed up all the time. by the way, you can remind rand paul that the biggest period of economic growth in this country in the last 60 years was under bill clinton, who raised taxes, didn't cut taxes, he raised taxes and we created 25 million jobs in the next seven years.

but on the question you asked, rev, there's no question about that. look at two other southern states where the governors, both democrats, governor bebee in arkansas and governor bashir in kentucky, where they took the medicaid expansion and set up their own exchanges. they are popular. they are both 20 points up in positive versus negative as opposed to governor jindal being 14 points down. so i think the republicans are in deep trouble. in kentucky -- in kentucky, think about kentucky. for 113,000 people signed up by the aca, of which 75% were previously uninsured and more than 50% were under 35. the law has worked beautifully in kentucky. mitch mcconnell is calling for its repeal. he's in trouble. >> you know, susan, check out these numbers, and this is what the governor's referring to. check out these numbers from "the new york times." most voters approve of arkansas

governor mike bebee and kentucky governor steve bashir. southern democrats who work to implement the affordable care act, but republican north carolina governor pat mccory and bobby jindal of louisiana who fought it are in much worst shapes. now these are all southern states, so what does this show us, susan? >> well, i think that people, you know, people have had problems with the law, either they have problems with it ideologically or the technological rollout wasn't very good, but i think a lot of people don't understand why their governors would just turn down free money from the feds to provide health care to poor people, which not only helps those people, but ends up helping everybody else, because they are not going to the emergency room and, you know, not paying bills and then the rest of us end up paying for it, so i think that is starting to come home to roost for a lot of these governors. i also think it makes a weaker argument in november in the senate races. i don't think it's a function of the health care law, i think

it's a function of the seats up, the retirements and so forth, but i think this mantra of repeal and replace isn't really playing as strongly as it used to. particularly since they haven't come up with a replacement at this point. >> you know, governor, let's go back to governor jindal for a minute. the new york times spoke to a louisiana voter for the poll, and the voter said, "i'm a republican, but i'm tired of them saying repeal, repeal, repeal. they need to make it better." the people in governor's jindal's own party don't buy his own argument. how bad is that, governor? >> it's real bad. number one, they are sick and tired of them playing games and the 51 repeal votes are viewed by the american public as just nothing more than a political game, and number two, they are tired of the republican party obsessing about this health care law and not doing anything about the central problem facing america, and that's creating more jobs.

they haven't done anything on infrastructure, nothing on research, nothing on education, and people are finally getting the message. i'm a little more optimistic than susan. i think with the republican party overplaying their hand, i think democrats have a chance to hold the senate and maybe wind up with more seats than anybody expected. >> more than 50 votes, susan, 50 votes around repealing and replacing this law. and a new study from the center of budget and policy priorities find over the next ten years, the federal government will pay 95% of the cost of medicaid expansion. it will raise state spending by just 1.6%, susan. i mean, doesn't this show us it's not about money, it's about ideology? >> i think it is. i also think it's about fear. we saw this, governor and i both saw this in 1992 during the campaign, there was such a public demand for health care reform and we thought, well,

it's going to happen, it has to. then people got scared and they ran ads kind of, you know, flipping people out about what it was going to mean. this happens a lot, and the same thing is happening now, and i think you see people kind of calming down, you know, the sidewalk didn't open up and swallow everybody up. it does seem to be moving along better. a lot of states are having tremendous success with it. kentucky being one of them. of course, the states that ran their own exchanges and really embraced the medicaid expansion, those states are the ones that are doing better, but, you know, i think at this point people have accepted the law, more people have been covered. people like the fact they can keep their kids on until they are 26 years old. they don't want to give that up. >> governor, is the politics of this beginning to change going forward as we see new governors coming in? and in your opinion is the politics changing? >> sure. and i think incumbent republican governors who are running this year for re-election like scott walker in wisconsin, like tom

corbett in pennsylvania who haven't had the medicaid expansion, they've got some explaining to do to the voters. in pennsylvania, the medicaid expansion would cover 600,000 people, would bring $1.2 billion into the pennsylvania economy, and $110 million to pennsylvania hospitals. now voters want to know why, in view of what you just said, that report, rev, why in god's name would the governor not have taken the medicaid expansion? incumbent republican governors who didn't take the medicaid expansion, who didn't run their own exchanges, have serious questions to deal with. all the democrats have to do to say to all those people, those 600,000 people in pennsylvania, the democratic candidate promises to take the medicaid expansion the first day he's in office. under the law, the new governor can choose to expand medicaid even if the previous governor didn't. >> well, these governors up for re-election we're certainly going to be asking that question. governor ed rendell and susan

milligan, thank you both for your time tonight. >> thank you. >> thanks, rev. coming up, justice sotomayor's blistering descent on affirmative action and affirmative action ruling is met with conservative backlash. and attorney general eric holder is calling her comments courageous. plus, gabby giffords call did the most extreme gun bill in america, and moments ago, georgia's governor signed it. why we must fight back. stay with us. we need it right away! we cannot let the fans down. don't worry! the united states postal service will get it there on time with priority mail flat rate shipping. our priority has always been saving the day. because our priority... amazing! ...is you! the amazing spider-man 2

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now to the conservative attacks on the supreme court justice sonya sotomayor. the court upheld michigan's ban on affirmative action at public colleges and justice sotomayor wrote a very candid descent saying, "we ought not sit back and wish away rather than confront the racial inequality that exists in our society." she went on to say leaving race out of the picture and letting the voters sort it out is a sentiment "out of touch with reality." some on the right went on the attack. >> this was a decision written by somebody who was writing about emotion. in terms of what she argued, it was intellectual hog wash. >> and the national review ran

an editorial saying, "justice sotomayor has revealed herself as a naked and bare-knuckled political activist with barely even a pretense of attending to the law. in the years she has left to subvert the law will be a generation-long reminder of the violation the obama administration has done to our constitution order." yes, i think the justice had it right when she said they are out of touch with reality. joining me now is james pooets -- peterson and viviana ortato. let me go to you first. these are very tough attacks on justice sotomayor. what's your reaction? >> i have to say, reverend al, i was not surprised, because i remember covering justice

sotomayor's nomination and confirmation hearing and a lot of this came up with the whole comment of the wise latina. what is actually really baffling to me, though, she is being demeaned, her intellectual capacity is being undercut. it was called intellectual hog wash, but she wrote a 58-page dissent out of a 108-page decision and really took us down the trip of constitutional, historical memory lane, focusing on the importance of checks and balances in our constitution and for our government, as well as our principle of process and of equal access and protection so we can have a fuller society that is participating and protecting against the majority, oppressing the minority. i really don't know how that's intellectual hog wash, and if anything i think what she's doing is taking a very hard look at our based based in constitutional law in order to not only understand what this decision means, but really how we can move forward.

reverend al? >> james, in his concurring opinion, justice scalia slammed justice sotomayor saying -- he referenced sotomayor's opinion and added, "and doubly shameful to equate the majority behind the michigan ballot initiative with the majority responsible for jim crow." he's calling her opinion shameful. isn't that a little personal for a supreme court justice, james? >> it's way too personal, also inaccura inaccurate. if you want to go through the intellectual history here, we can draw parallels between the kind of racism, institutional racism we see in america today and trace it through the prison industrial complex, jim crow laws, institution of slavery. it's not as flawed as it suggests here. rev, the pundits and the conservative journalists who are screaming about activist judges, referring to justice sotomayor

have not one leg to stand on because they don't say anything when justice scalia or justice thomas in their sort of personal lives engage in very, very specific political actions and political rhetoric, so the reality is since this ban has been in place, african-american attendants and matriculation in michigan institutions is down 33%, rev. the data is very, very suggestive, we need the federal government to have a role in terms of equal opportunity and access, not just for education, but remember it's also government employment in the state of michigan, as well. very, very important issues here and we took a tough loss with this high court decision this week. >> it's not only in michigan. if you look, viviana, in california, 9% of the state's college-age students are black, but at berkley, only 2% of the freshmen are black. in florida where i am tonight, 24% of college-aged students are black, but at florida state,

only 7% of the freshmen are black. and in michigan, as said, 19% of college-aged students are black, but at the university of michigan, only 5% of freshmen are black. there are similar numbers for hispanic students. if affirmative action isn't necessary, why then are we seeing such a large gap in the enrollment numbers? >> well, certainly these policies were put in place with the thought that by increasing the participation of these students on our campuses, it's going to feed right into our local economies and into leadership roles. so when all of a sudden you see, as james was just talking about, that you have a 30-plus percent drop in the six years since the university of michigan law went into effect, it is not just that these students are not able to participate at the university of michigan or university of texas or cal berkley, which is my alma mater, it's the effects it's going to have in the future on our local economies, as well as

the laws that are written. there is data, rev al, that shows when students go not just to the top state schools, but particularly the flagship institutions, the cals of the world here at the university of maryland, certainly at the university of michigan, they are going to occupy leadership roles in government, as well as in the private sector, so, you know, it's interesting that the business community, as well as military leaders, have signed amicus briefs in favor of some of these laws, for example, the university of texas, because they see that these students are increasingly not just part of the student population, but also of the workforce and the tax base. they realize that a top educated workforce and tax base is going to strengthen our neighborhoods, our local economies, our nation, and our global competitiveness. >> james, you know, attorney general eric holder himself came to justice sotomayor's defense today. listen. >> as justice sonya sotomayor said just yesterday in her

courageous and very personal dissent in the michigan college admissions case, we ought not, and i quote, "wish away rather than confront the racial inequality that exists in our society. this great country still has a great way to go before our founding promise of equal justice and equal opportunity is fully realized." >> what is your quick response to the attorney general's statement? >> the attorney general was so on point here. this is a mistake a lot of us make, we see the success of president obama or attorney general holder himself and think we accomplished the task of racial inequality. we have not. >> i'm going to have to leave it there. thank you both for your time this evening. >> thanks to you. >> thanks, rev. ahead, it's being called the

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it allows in georgia guns now to be at churches, schools, even parts of airports. this is a real step in the wrong direction. it even expands the stand your ground laws. this morning i was in chicago where over the weekend over 40 people were shot. in this climate, we do not need more guns everywhere, we need stricter gun laws and governors that are committed to turning the tide against gun usage. thanks for watching. i'm al sharpton. "hardball" starts right now. southern comfort for democrats. let's play "hardball." good evening, i'm steve kornacki in for chris matthews. leading off tonight, not soas