it's all done by user fees. they hire more veterans than anybody else in the country, and all the republicans want to do is privatize it. mark dimondstein, appreciate your time. that's "the ed show." "politics nation" with reverend al sharpton starts right now. >> good evening, ed. thanks for tuning in. i'm live tonight from washington, d.c. tonight's lead, election night in america. it's the biggest primary day of 2014. americans are heading to the polls. in six states. control of the senate in key state houses are in play, setting up battles in november. one of the biggest stories tonight, the struggle for the soul of the gop. in kentucky, senator mitch mcconnell has scrambled to fend

off tea party challenger matt biven. mcconnell is leading in the polls, but only after running hard to the right. even hiring rand paul's campaign manager. leading the charge and waving a rifle around onstage at this year's conference. similar story unfolding in georgia where seven republicans are clawing for the senate nomination. including three who raised their hands at a debate when asked if they'd impeach president obama. it's becoming clear. the tea party hasn't lost and it hasn't gone away. in many ways, the tea party has become the gop. speaker john boehner talked about it today. >> it's not that big a difference between what you all

call the tea party and your average conservative republican. you know? we're against obamacare. we think taxes are too high. we think the government's too big. so i wouldn't continue to sing that same song. >> there's not a big difference between the tea party and the gop. the far right agenda has become the gop agenda. and that's what democratic candidates will face in the fall. joining me now is casey hunt, who is live in louisville, kentucky. and angela wright. thank you both for being here. >> at the, rev. >> thanks, reverend. >> casey, -- >> this primary took up a lot of senator mcconnell's money.

a lesson of some of the other republicans who have lost races in previous years because they weren't paying attention to tea party candidates. he tried very hard to keep matt bevin out of this race initially. when that didn't work, he tried to hire the campaign manager of rand paul. they spent a lot of time on radio ads attacking matt bevin and they spent a lot of money on the air. and they were also very focused mostly on the primary, because other republicans made the mistake of not focusing on their primaries and ultimately losing. so at this point, he's now left to turn to allison grimes, who in the fall, polling is showing them neck and neck. mcconnell's team will argue that the polling that shows them very close is still reflecting some of what's been going on in the primary. in that republicans who are unwilling to support mcconnell are showing up in some of those numbers for grimes. so we'll see over the course of the next few months if that turns out to be the case. >> angela, in kentucky, the

so-called establishment republican, senator mcconnell, the strongest republican in the senate, he looks a lot like the tea party candidate. he opposes minimum wage hike. background checks on gun sales. same-sex marriage. and the affordable care act. he opposes all of that. his challenger matt biven has all the same views. so, is the tea party losing here or has it simply taken over? >> well, in a lot of ways, again, per speaker boehner's point, there is no real dissension anymore between the two candidates. i think that you also have to imagine that most of these folks will do whatever at all is possible for political expediency. they will say that they don't support obamacare, but they'll rename it something else and support that, especially in kentucky, we know that to be the case. so i think that it's just one of those things where he'll do whatever is necessary to get to this primary season, and when it comes time to the general and he has to veer a little bit more to

the left to win some left-leaning votes, he's going to probably do that. >> but kasie, isn't the problem when he veers to the center maybe, in november, he's got to deal with all of the videotapes and the items that he sent here to try and hold off bevin, and the fact is, for example, his opposition to the affordable care act in kentucky is what is the health care act in kentucky has had many people sign up and are benefiting. wouldn't that become a problem for him in the general election against grimes? >> well, you're right that in some ways, the health care law here in kentucky has been more of a success story than it's been anywhere else. i'm not sure that i would say mcconnell's going to head to the left any time soon, but he certainly is going to -- we've already started to see him broaden out his lens a little bit and start to talk about what he can bring back to kentucky as potentially the majority leader if he's re-elected and that's

the argument he's making. that's a contrast to how you've seen him conducting himself as the minority leader in the senate over the course of the past year or so. he's been very careful to make sure not to step out of the box on conservative issues. you saw it was a very tough vote. he ended up taking to lift the debt zeceiling that he took wit other gop leaders. i talked to allison grimes yesterday and he actually accused him of not participating in an earmark project that benefited a dam project and that was something that at the time was explained as something that he did because he was worried about this tea party challenge. >> so, again, we'll know if all these stories about the tea party's lost is in fact true. in fact, angela, this morning on "the daily rundown," matt bevin argued that mitch mcconnell isn't really conservative enough. listen. >> he is not a conservative. he just pretend to be one every

six years in order to try to trick his way back into the u.s. senate. that's pretty much what it boils down to, unfortunately. and the voters of kentucky are becoming weary of this. >> and rand paul, would you call him a conservative? >> i would say he's a conservative, no question about it. >> then why do you think -- why do you believe he supported mcconnell over you? >> have you listened to his support for mcconnell in recent days and weeks and months? it's a little less than convincing. >> so there's the issue that i think we have to deal with, angela. will republicans like mcconnell have to keep proving their tea party credentials, even after tonight's primaries? could that hurt them in the general election if they do? >> it absolutely could. we've seen this story before. what we know about mitch mcconnell is that he is in leadership in the senate, and when you're in the leadership in the senate, regardless of the demographics of your district, or for a senate primary, you have to be evaluated on your

record, but two, you have to demonstrate that you can compromise. he, every time he gets close to a primary, says things like we want to make barack obama a one-term president. that is the type of campaign that he runs. so he's going to the extreme right. i know that other contributor mentioned that he's not going to go too far to the left. but he is going to do what's politically expedient. >> what is the big thing we ought to be looking for tonight, kasie? what's the big thing that we should look for tonight? >> i think at this point, we're going to be looking for any surprises on the margin here. we know what the polls show. they show bevin trailing with about 35% of the votes, depending on what you look at. if he were to take a significantly higher chunk than that, or alternatively come in much, much lower, i think that would be interesting and tell us something about the race. >> all right. we'll be watching. kasie hunt and angela rye, thank you both for your time tonight. and be sure to keep it tuned here to msnbc for all night

coverage of today's big primaries. coming up, rush limbaugh revised the death panel smear in a despicable way, trying to score some chief political points off america's veterans. plus, new republican attempts to gut the first lady's push to get our kids eating healthy. what's this really all about and why are they targeting urban kids? also, conservatives hailed this right wing film maker as a hero and claimed he was on president obama's enemies list. well, today, a big moment in court has them eating crow. stay with us. what if a photo were more than a memory? what if it were more than something to share? what if a photo could build that shelf you've always wanted? or fix a leaky faucet?

or even give you your saturday back? the new snapfix app revolutionizes local service. just snap a photo and angie's list coordinates a top-rated provider to do the work on your schedule. the app makes it easy. the power of angie's list makes it work. download snapfix for free.

president obama is fed up with the party of no. and called them out in a speech

last night. he said, "the debate we're having right now is about what, benghazi, obamacare? and it becomes this endless loop. it's not serious. it's not speaking to the real concerns that people have." and that brings us to tonight's "politics nation" question. if the gop would work with president obama on just one issue, what would you like it to be? jobs, debt reduction, immigration, voting rights, or something else? respond to our poll on our facebook page, or on twitter. so vote now. we'll get the "politics nation" response later in the show. all stations come over to mission a for a final go. this is for real this time. step seven point two one two. verify and lock. command is locked. five seconds.

three, two, one. standing by for capture. the most innovative software on the planet... dragon is captured. is connecting today's leading companies to places beyond it. siemens. answers. who would have thought masterthree cheese lasagna would go with chocolate cake and ceviche? the same guy who thought that small caps and bond funds would go with a merging markets. it's a masterpiece. thanks. clearly you are type e. you made it phil. welcome home. now what's our strategy with the fondue? diversifying your portfolio? e*trade gives you the tools and resources to get it right. are you type e*?

it's a problem that's got president obama madder than hell. allegations of misconduct at an arizona veterans affairs hospital. a former clinic director says 40 veterans died while they were waiting for care at the phoenix center. the v.a. is investigating, and today the white house announced it was sending a top aide, deputy chief of staff rob nabors to investigate as welch it's a serious problem and the white house is working to fix it. but some on the right, it's just an excuse to attack the affordable care act, an opportunity to revive the debunked myth that the health

care law includes death panels. >> sarah palin and a couple other people on the right said there will be death panels, people deciding who gets what treatment and when and that's going to put long waiting lines on certain types of treatment. the v.a. isn't proving that right now. >> socialized medicine never falls of its own weight because you put people on lists. they die waiting to get the treatment and care. >> we've still got to find a way to convince people that this obamacare can't work and that everybody's headed for similar potential as these debts in the v.a. >> there's no connection between misconduct and the v.a. and the affordable care act. but the right wingers still can't accept that the health care law is working. they refuse to acknowledge that eight million people signed up through the state exchanges. and millions more got covered through medicaid. instead of facing this reality, they're grasping at straws.

desperately trying to link this tragic story to the president's health care law. and if that's not sick, i don't know what is. joining me now, congresswoman january chakowski and dana millbank. trying to link the v.a. controversy to the health care law, do they have anything but scare tactics left? >> no, they don't. i think they are absolutely grasping at straws. you would think the president in the administration is sitting down and selecting people who simply weren't going to get health care at the veterans administration and this was part of some grand scheme to choose people who live or die. it's absolutely ridiculous. and deserved to be completely discredited. the president is mad as hell, and he's done nothing except take it really seriously, and we're going to have an

investigation, but this is a party that is really desperate for a scandal, and they're going to try out anything they can to make sure that they blow up whatever they can into some sort of a scandal. yes, we need to get it right. and everyone agrees with that. >> you know, dana, it seems like every day, there's more signs of the law working. in a new survey of 42 arkansas hospitals found out that laws -- since the law has been in effect, emergency room visits are down 2%. down 2%. and a number of uninsured emergency room patients is down 24%. i mean, is that why they're talking death panels again? anything to distract people from the good news? >> well, i think that is what's going on here. i was writing today about mike pence, a former colleague of congresswoman schakowsky's.

he acknowledged that things are looking better now. he still thinks they won't in the long run, but in the meantime, he's taking the medicaid money that the obamacare has offered and using it under a program that he wants to have in his own state. so you see even the law's harshest critics, some of them saying okay, maybe we can work within this law after all. maybe we can get the kind of reforms done that we wanted to do in the first place. so i think the good numbers that we've seen in terms of the statistics and the fact that some of these most stubborn critics are reluctantly acknowledging that the thing has some beneficial components are coming together right now. >> congresswoman, let me pick up on that, because 24 states still haven't expanded medicaid under the affordable care act, but we're starting to see cracks like your former colleague indiana governor mike pence. they're trying to find a way to work a compromise.

dana has written that the indiana governor is taking the obamacare money and running with it. he wants -- this is dana's writing, congresswoman. he wants to help expand health care excess in his state, and "as more conservatives realize that the law they hate allows them to implement policies they like, they may have a problem recalling what all the fuss was about." congresswoman, if governor pence's plan works, will other states follow his lead in your opinion? >> i do think so. and dana, what you pointed out is absolutely correct, that the law is flexible. that waivers are not uncommon, allowing states to adapt to their own state plan. and that's what obamacare allows for. that's what the administration has allowed for. and i am hoping that millions of more people will be able to get the benefit of an expanded medicaid program when other governors look at what even mike

pence, who calls himself a solutions conservative now, meaning he's willing to work with obamacare with the administration. i'm hoping that they will take that as a lead and expand medicaid. >> dana, you know, a right wing watchdog group is out touting documents that show just one person enrolled in the health care website on his first day. and north carolina congresswoman renee ellmers tweeted a link to that story, seeming to taunt that there was just one enrollment on day one. i mean, eight million people eventually signed up. aren't the first day problems beside the point now, dana? >> i think what the assumption here seems to be that the american people and voters are just so ignorant of what's going on that they can be persuaded by that sort of thing. similar to what you led into this about the problems in the

veterans administration. these go back well before the obama administration even came into place. they predate obamacare. they predate obama. you can say that this administration hasn't responded quickly enough, if you want, but you can say that it has anything to do with obamacare. it's just factually impossible. but i think people are assuming that a low information voter out there is just going to accept this little tidbit thrown out there and not bother to check it out. >> i'm going to have to leave it there. thank you, congresswoman jan schakowsky and dana milbank. thank you both again for your time tonight. >> thank you. coming up, why is this anti-obama conspiracy theory riddled film maker faced in jail tonight? reveals what a gop scandal mongering is. and it used to be off-limits, but the right have made a habit of attacking first lady michelle obama. now they're going after a

healthy school lunch program. stay with us.

cut! [bell rings] this...is jane. her long day on set starts with shoulder pain... ...and a choice take 6 tylenol in a day which is 2 aleve for... ...all day relief. hmm. [bell ring] "roll sound!" "action!" [ 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.

♪ humans. even when we cross our "ts" and dot our "i's", we still run into problems. that's why liberty mutual insurance offers accident forgiveness with our auto policies. if you qualify, your rates won't go up due to your first accident. because making mistakes is only human, and so are we. we also offer new car replacement, so if you total your new car, we'll give you the money for a new one. call liberty mutual insurance at... and ask us all about our auto features, like guaranteed repairs, where if you get into an accident and use one of our certified repair shops, the repairs are guaranteed for life. so call... to talk with an insurance expert about everything that comes standard with our base auto policy. and if you switch, you could save up to $423. liberty mutual insurance -- responsibility.

what's your policy? just a few weeks after paul ryan promised to change the tone of the debate on poverty, house republicans are literally trying to take food away from poor hungry kids. that's next. with ink plus from e like 60,000 bonus points from e when i spent $5,000 in the first 3 months after i opened my account. and i earn 5 times the rewards on internet, phone services and at office supply stores. with ink plus i can choose how to redeem my points. travel, gift cards even cash back. and my rewards points won't expire. so you can make owning business even more rewarding. ink from chase. so you can. so when my moderate to severe chronic plaque psoriasis them. was also on display, i'd had it.

i finally had a serious talk with my dermatologist. this time, he prescribed humira-adalimumab. humira helps to clear the surface of my skin by actually working inside my body. in clinical trials, most adults with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis saw 75% skin clearance. and the majority of people were clear or almost clear in just 4 months. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal events, such as infections, lymphoma, or other types of cancer have happened. blood, liver and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure have occurred. before starting humira, your doctor should test you for tb. ask your doctor if you live in or have been to a region where certain fungal infections are common. tell your doctor if you have had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have symptoms such as fever, fatigue, cough, or sores. you should not start humira if you have any kind of infection.

make the most of every moment. ask your dermatologist about humira, today. clearer skin is possible.

for years, the right wing has ridiculed the first lady's attempt at fighting childhood obesity. they've mocked her let's move campaign and they've attacked her push for a healthier school lunch program. >> taking the united states to a new level, michelle obama is suggesting what you should feed your children. >> michelle, she knows better than anybody else about healthy foods because she has a garden. big whoop. >> why would you want to raise your own kids when michelle obama will do it for you?

she'll do it at gunpoint. >> she is a hypocrite. leaders are supposed to be leaders. if we're supposed to go out and eat nothing, if we're supposed to eat roots and berries and tree bark, show us how, dare i say this, it doesn't look like michelle obama follows her own nutriti nutritionary, dietary advice. >> those attacks were ugly. but now, the right wing has taken their war against the first lady's healthy school lunch program to a new level. a new house gop bill would roll back school lunch rules, letting some schools opt out of healthier school lunch and breakfast programs. forget the obesity epidemic in this country. republicans want healthy options gone, and it doesn't end there. the house gop is literally trying to take food from the mouths of poor children. the bill specifies that only

rural areas can benefit from a summer program helping children from low-income households. urban areas are excluded. a shameful move by house republicans. do republicans think urban kids don't get hungry? are urban kids somehow less deserving than rural kids? why would republicans single them out? this is just the latest assault from a party that's become hostile to the poor, against the minimum wage, against unemployment benefits, and now, against giving poor kids a helping hand simply because they live in the wrong zip code. joining me now are richard wolf and goldie taylor. thanks for coming on the show. >> thanks, reverend. >> thank you, reverend. >> goldie, denying urban kids access to summer lunch program, isn't this just one more example

of how the right has become increasingly callous to the poor? >> well, you know, i think that's exactly right. but unfortunately, our nation's food policy, you know, what's housed in the five-year farm bill, is broken. it doesn't serve families. it doesn't serve children. it doesn't even serve farmers appropriately. in terms of, you know, how this farm bill is crafted, it's all about where the lobbyists' money lie. that's the most unfortunate part of this. but, you know, in terms of educating children about healthy eating, about, you know, increasing their quality of life through increasing their own personal health, that ought to be, you know, geographically blind. it shouldn't matter where you live, it should matter what kind of information you have access to and government ought to be about filling in those gaps. >> but, you know, richard, this isn't the first time the house gop -- those on the right have gone after programs for poor school children. listen to some on the right.

>> should students have to work for their school meals? send those comments over to us. >> why don't you have the kids pay a dime, pay nickel to instill in them that there is, in fact, no such thing as a free lump lunch. >> when you get a new pet, what is the first thing you do to bond with it? you want to be one to feed it. same thing here. >> have one master janitor and pay local students to take care of the school. the kids would actually do work. they would have cash. they'd have pride in the schools. >> i mean, this is outrageous stuff, richard. it's really being said. >> it goes back a long way, reverend. this is not a new debate about the deserving poor against the undeserving poor. charles dickens wrote novels about this kind of stuff. the idea that people could work their way to get their charity handout runs counter to the experience of most of the 20th century. a lot of the most important

nutritional steps this country has ever made came out of wartime, came out of the needs of the military. and what's the military saying right now? that too much of the younger generation is not fit to serve. they are actually pushing alongside the first family for better nutrition to go through public education, so that there are better people who can serve this country. it actually could fit if republicans expanded their mindset a little bit. it could fit really patriotic goals for this country, and instead, i don't know what they're pandering to. it's not like, you know, apart from the congressman from idaho, who wants french fries out there being put into our kids' mouths every day? >> and goldie, the gop is still refusing to extend unemployment benefits, despite a bipartisan bill in the senate. at this point, nearly 2.8 million americans have lost their jobless aid on top of what they're talking about doing to free school lunches and breakfast programs.

>> and what they don't understand is this runs absolutely contrary to their message of job creation. when you get closed down unemployment benefits, those are fewer dollars rolling into the economy. when i get my unemployment check every week, i spend that money immediately. it's so little to begin with. i spend it on food, on gas, on a job search, on rent, on the necessities of life. i'm putting that money immediately back into the economy, thus fueling more jobs. if i'm on unemployment, i'm more likely to be shopping at wal-mart, for instance. so that's putting more money back into the market. and so i don't understand where the republicans are coming from on this. the idea that an unemployment check is a hammock is a farce, given how little that check is and it's a benefit that i have paid for over time with my hard work. and so it just really runs contrary to every so-called republican value that i've heard in terms of job creation and in terms of earned benefits. this is not a free ride. this is money that i have earned by paying into an insurance

system. >> richard, it's the free lunch, it's the breakfast program, it's unemployment benefits. they're still opposing also raising the minimum wage. while the gap between ceos and workers is astounding, i mean, an average ceo makes 774 times as much as one of their minimum wage workers. >> you know, it's going to be really interesting. they're not going to deal with anything to do with ceo pay, let's face it. and democrats have just as much trouble dealing with it, too. but on the minimum wage piece of it, if you are a rick santorum and you're trying to reach out to working folks who you think lean at least culturally republican, if you're paul ryan and you're trying to say well, i've got a different view of how to deal with poverty, come up with a better plan than the minimum wage. come up with something that polls better. come up with something that the states or even private employers are not already embrings iaceem.

tell us what the alternative is, but don't just leave it like the status quo and say anything to deem with the minimum wage is going to kill jobs. it's not even the experience in the uk where they've embraced it, too. >> goldie, let me push on that point before we have to go, that richard just made. paul ryan said maybe he's not going to change the policies, but let's change the tone of the discussion of poverty in the country. listen to this. >> policymakers from all sides of the aisle need to take a look at whether we are fighting poverty successfully or not, and i think we can learn from these exchanges with one another and i think what we're trying to accomplish here is improving the tone of debate so that more people are invited to this debit. >> now, he didn't promise policies, he said let's change the tone of the debate. has the gop delivered on tone? >> they haven't. but gun flapping doesn't cause substantial policy changes. gun flapping doesn't raise the

quality of life in communities across this country. so i think for him to believe that it's only tone, that it is only how they craft their messages, he's dead wrong. people are beginning to the polls and voting on substance. they're voting on whether or not these policies are actually working in their communities to raise the quality of life for them and for their neighbors. so i think that paul ryan and his fellow republicans ought to start going on a listening tour and getting into a two-way conversation with everyday real people living real lived lives and what they go through on a daily basis to really understand that it's not necessarily their tone, although that's bad, too. it's absolutely what's underneath their policies. >> and they can find some of those people to listen to right in their own districts. >> absolutely. >> whether they want to accept it or not. richard wolf and goldie taylor, thank you for your time this evening. >> thank you. coming up, right winge erer hailed this anti-obama film

maker as a hero, but what are they saying now that he's entered a guilty plea in federal court? vice president biden makes a big move for a young lady attending her high school prom. stay with us. [ male announcer ] momentum has a way of quietly exploding onto the scene. ♪ the new ram 1500 ecodiesel. with 28 highway miles per gallon, 420 pound-feet of torque. ♪ guts. glory. ram. add brand new belongings from nationwide insurance... ...and we'll replace destroyed or stolen items with brand-new versions. we put members first. join the nation. ♪ nationwide is on your side ♪ we are the thinkers.

the job jugglers. the up all-nighters. and the ones who turn ideas into action. we've made our passions our life's work. we strive for the moments where we can say, "i did it!" ♪ we are entrepreneurs who started it all... with a signature. legalzoom has helped start over 1 million businesses, turning dreamers into business owners. and we're here to help start yours.

i'm d-a-v-e and i have copd. into business owners. i'm k-a-t-e and i have copd, but i don't want my breathing problems to get in the way my volunteering. that's why i asked my doctor about b-r-e-o. once-daily breo ellipta helps increase airflow from the lungs for a full 24 hours. and breo helps reduce symptom flare-ups that last several days and require oral steroids, antibiotics, or hospital stay. breo is not for asthma. breo contains a type of medicine that increases risk of death in people with asthma. it is not known if this risk is increased in copd. breo won't replace rescue inhalers for sudden copd symptoms and should not be used more than once a day. breo may increase your risk of pneumonia, thrush, osteoporosis, and some eye problems.

tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking breo. ask your doctor about b-r-e-o for copd. first prescription free at mybreo.com we've heard a lot of hateful things. a movie about the president that

came out in 2012. >> obama feels weirdly sympathetic to muslim jihadis in afghanistan or iraq, giving them constitutional rights. we now know why. >> that man behind that little bit of nastiness is a longtime conservative writer, a star at cpac and on fox. the film was a hit in conservative and cuckoo conservative policies. in january, he was arrested and indicted on campaign finance charges. he allegedly made campaign contributions under the names of others. that's a serious legal issue. but to the right wing, it was payback from the spiteful obama

regime, targeting him because of his hateful film. they claim his arrest was just more evidence of the obama administration knocking off its enemies list. >> the enemies list in the administration seems to be growing day by day. the latest victim. >> conservatives under attack. d'souza indicted. >> we are criminalizing political dissent in the united states of america. >> they are, the justice system as run by democrats, is out trying to criminalize as many republicans and conservatives as they can. >> criminalize conservatives. the goal here is to criminalize potential crimes. but don't take my word for it. you know whose word you can take on this?

he pled guilty today. here he is leaving the courthouse this morning as a part of a plea deal. he pled guilty to one count and prosecutors dropped to others. but he could still face up to two years behind bars. i wonder what all those conservatives who went to bat for him back then will say about him now? this is just one more scandal conspiracy theory that's gone up in smoke. joining me now are joe madison and bill press. thank you both for being here tonight. >> thank you, reverend. >> joe, we've talked about this guy. this is so funny. you can't make this stuff up. everyone was defending the guy. ted cruz called the indictment an abuse of power, and d'souza even said himself in january the indictment could be "payback" for his film.

what's your take? >> understand how he pled guilty. he pled guilty of all the things you said. he made the contribution through his mistress and her husband. and by the way, he also remember was fired or had to resign from a university because he went to give a speech at a christian family value conference, and introduced the mistress as his fiancee while he was still married, and he said he didn't realize that that was against christian values to have a fiancee -- to be engaged and have a fiancee while still married, even though they had not, you know, been divorced. this is what they did. >> bill, let me say this. because i understand what really caught our eye was all of this conspiracy about this was the

enemy's list. and that they were setting him up. this is what joe alluded to. according to "the new york times," last fall a recording was made by the husband of a woman d'souza was involved with romantically. the woman was recorded saying d'souza told her he might plead guilty, but at first he would plead not guilty because that "gives him a window of opportunity to get his story out there" and prosecutors obtained a copy of this recording. now, the reason is important. i'm not getting into his personal rumors or whatever. is that this smacks dead in the face of a conspiracy by the obama administration on enemies lists, if, in fact, his alleged mistress's husband turned in this tape. >> well, look, in fact, they're trying to play d'souza as the victim. i think the victim in this case is the husband of the mistress

who's not only his wife was cheating on him, but d'souza was getting him to break the law by writing these checks. the point, though, is reverend al, and you showed this, the republicans, this is what they do. they try to paint anybody that has done something wrong as a victim of the obama administration, and look who was in on it and they were all using the very same words. you know, rush and mark lavin and laura ingram and sean hannity, and d'souza, who was lying, he knew he was lying. he knew they were lying and they were using this to try to bring obama down. just like they tried to make that dingo rancher out in nevada, clive bundy, a victim as well. this is what they do. they just lie. >> now, joe, i mentioned earlier in the show, last night president obama addressed the gop scandal obsession. watch this. he said, "the debate we're having right now is about, what, benghazi? obamacare? and it becomes this endless loop. it's not serious.

it's not speaking to the real concerns that people have. isn't that the real point? everything that we're hearing is conspiracy, enemies' lists, benghazi, obamacare, and not dealing with critical economics issues, jobs, things that people really want to hear debate and some solutions about. >> and you're absolutely 100% right, and they're doing it, even during an election year, a midterm election year when their own constituents are impacted by all the issues you just brought up. i mean, this is what is so absurd about what they're doing, but what i don't understand is how their supporters, how their own constituents, the people who are being asked to vote, can sit there and see grandma, who needs a medicare -- medicaid, for

example, goes to first children, secondly those who are disabled, and third, elderly people. and then you have these governors and senators and congressmen who are doing all the things you said and they go out and vote against their own interests. >> you know, bill, yesterday former vice president dick cheney, he trotted out one of the right wing's favorite talking points. listen to this. >> i really feel as though barack obama is ignoring the law in many cases. much of what's been done does, in fact, skate up to the edge of violating the constitution in terms of the way he's interpret represented his executive power. >> bill? >> first of all, i want to remind people, you hear the same talking points from every republican spokesperson. mitch mcconnell has said that word for word. so has rush limbaugh. so has sean hannity.

i keep asking them, what law exactly? you know what they say? they say obamacare. let's remember, obamacare, the affordable care act is the law of the land and the people who are and the people ignoring 9 law are the governors who won't put medicaid in their states or the house republicans who tried to repeal it 54 times. it's another big lie. but conspiracies you're right. they were going to run on obama care. what's next, the va. that's what they're going to run on next. >> the law was upheld by the supreme court! . >> yes. >> let me tell you. i'll say it one more time.

i said nit a speech. they are priming the pump for impeachment. that's what they're doing. they want to ruin this man's legacy. and that's what this is about. and they can get a two-fer. because they can go after his legacy, and then turn around, you see these same points brought up if hillary clinton decides to run. these folks are playing chess, and i think what president obama said is we've got to stop playing checkers and start understanding what's happening here with their scheme. >> well, good discussion. we can leave it there. thank you both for your time this evening. >> you got it, thanks, rev. >> coming up, i join silver and labor rights leaders today, pushing congress to act on a bill that can save 700,000 jobs and rebuild our highways.

why it's the moral thing to do. and shouldn't be partisan. but first, it's prom season, prom season, prom season. and vice president biden is somehow involved. it's a great story. and speaker boehner is also involved in this, too. you'll want to see this one. stay with us. marge: you know, there's a more enjoyable way to get your fiber. try phillips fiber good gummies. they're delicious, and an excellent source of fiber to help support regularity. wife: mmmm husband: these are good! marge: the tasty side of fiber. from phillips. "hashtag love dad" when you think aarp, then you don't know "aarp". our aarp tek program helps people find better ways to

better connect with each other. find more real possibilities at aarp.org/possibilities that corporate trial by fire when every slacker gets his due. and yet, there's someone around the office who hasn't had a performance review in a while. someone whose poor performance is slowing down the entire organization. i'm looking at you phone company dsl. check your speed. see how fast your internet can be.

switch now and add voice and tv for $34.90. comcast business built for business. a high school student in connecticut had a dream celebrity date for the prom. so who was he? harry stiles? no. jaden smith? no. justin bieber? no. it was vice president joe biden. yes, 17-year-old talia marcelli wrote a letter to vice president biden asking her to be here prom date. >> most girls invite their celebrity crushes and i don't have a celebrity crush, but joe biden cracks me up so i thought he would be a good person to ask. >> she wrote the vice president, quote, dearest mr. vice

president, man of many chuckles, i would like to formally invite you to my senior prom. i could only tolerate a high school dance if i were to be escorted by the most delightful man in all of america, joe biden. i fear if you turn me down, i may have to invite speaker john boehner, and we can't have that now, can we? speaker boehner never made it to the prom, but unfortunately neither did the vice president. he declined saying he couldn't make it. but the day of her prom, a corsage showed up at talia's doorstep with a handwritten note from the vice president. and he tweeted from his official account, i hope you will accept this corsage and enjoy your prom as much as i did mine. he also invited talia to be his guest at the white house as soon as she was available. talia didn't go to her prom, but it's an event she'll never forget. avo: with expedia

you always get the lowest price book any flight or hotel and if you find it for less we'll match it and give you fifty dollars back that's the expedia guarantee tigers, both of you. tigers? don't be modest. i see how you've been investing. setting long term goals. diversifying. dip! you got our attention. we did? of course. you're type e* well, i have been researching retirement strategies.

well that's what type e*s do. welcome home. taking control of your retirement? e*trade gives you the tools and resources to get it right. are you type e*? the was a truly amazing day. without angie's list, i don't know if we could have found all the services we needed for our riley. for over 18 years we've helped people take care of the things that matter most. join today at angieslist.com c'mon, you want heartburn? when your favorite food starts a fight, fight back fast, with tums. heartburn relief that neutralizes acid on contact. and goes to work in seconds. ♪ tum, tum tum tum... tums!

. last night i joined labor leaders and politicians and more than 1,000 public transportation workers from 40 states, urging congress to pass the bill. the legislation would save 700,000 jobs. this is not political. this is happening in red states and blue straits. yet republicans are gutting money from transportation programs. i talked about that today. i marvel at how those in washington can hang up drcdrch. king's picture and then turn around and discriminate against transit workers. what do you think dr. king stood for? he didn't stand for monument on the potomac. he stood for those that drive the mass transit through washington, d.c. through new york, through detroit, through atlanta.

you can't honor him and dishonor the folks he gave his life for. >> the civil rights movement, the labor movement, the human rights movement, it is all one thing. it's about fairness. it's about looking out for those that make this country work. and who are more fundamental to seniors, to the disabled, to children going to school, to workers every day, than those that conduct our transit system and work in it. the need for infrastructure development, for mass transit, we must do the right thing and pass that bill. and i will stay with them because they are the ones that keep us rolling. finally tonight, our account "politics nation" poll. we asked you if ethe gop would work with president obama on just one issue, what would you like it to be? the number one answer is jobs.

54% of you picked that one. 12% named debt reduction and another 13% named immigration. and another 14% said voting rights. 18% of "politics nation" said other. the minimum wage was a popular write-in here as well. thanks for voting and you keep the conversation going on our facebook page and twitter. and thanks for watching. i'm al sharpton. a special election edition of "hardball" starts right now. catching mitch mcconnell, let's play "hardball." >> good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. let me start with tonight's bik electoral contest, leading off with the two state w i