a pleasure. thank you. that's "all in" for this evening from chicago. . "the rachel maddow show" starts right now. >> hello. appreciate it. thanks to you at home for joining us as well. on january 11th, 2002, the u.s. military started accepting prisoners in a brand new prison that we had just halfway built very quickly on a u.s. military facility in cuba. there weren't even cells at the time. when the prisoners first got there n january, 2002, there were outdoor holding pens like you would see at a hunting kennel or 0 something. that was the first day that the u.s. government took in prisoners that would become the famous prison at guantanamo. and that is the day, that first day is when this very famous picture was taken showing all the prisoners who had just been dropped off for day one. this now iconic image of the prisoners in the orange jump suits crouching with their eyes covered.

and their ears covered. that was the first we saw of them. that was day one, january 11th, 2002. that was the first image released publically. it was an official u.s. navy photo that was distributed to the press, and that was the first batch of guantanamo prisoners. now none of the prisoners who arrived there that very first day were any of the famous ones. khalid sheik mohammad wasn't captured until the following year in pakistan. none of the guys who were there in guantanamo on day one ever became famous. but almost ten years later in 2011, december 2011, there started to be a little flurry of news stories in the united states about three of those guys who had gotten to the prison on day one when guantanamo opened. in december 2011 it started with this reuters article and then the following month in january there was another article from the "washington post" and then a fox news article and then there was this cnn article. a flurry of coverage, ten years

in to guantanamo of three of those guys who got to guantanamo the first day it opened and had since been totally forgotten by the press. the reason there was that little flurry of coverage of those three specific guys is because somehow it leaked the u.s. government had been in top secret, high-level negotiations with the taliban that three of those guys that got there on day one of guantanamo should be released. the leak was specific. it named these three guys who got there on day one when guantanamo opened. also these other two taliban prisoners who got to the same prison a few months ago. these five guys were otherwise not famous for anything as far as guantanamo goes. when the u.s. started to talk to the taliban about making negotiated progress with them, these five, specifically, were apparently the five guys who the taliban picked. they were the ones the taliban wanted released if the u.s. was going to release anybody as any sort of deal.

now, these stories at the time -- again, december 2011, to february 2012. at the time these stories reported the names of these five guys, that they were hand picked by the taliban. if they were going to be released they would not go back to afghanistan but to qatar and they would take responsibility for them not rejoining the fight against america. that was all reported between december 2011 and february 2012. now, what was the united states going to trade for those five guys? that was not reported at the time. that was not reported until months later. may of 2012. the parents of american prisoner of war bowe bergdahl, the parents themselves, went public saying this has not been reported publicly before but when there were press accounts about the five taliban guys maybe released from guantanamo, that was about her son. those five are maybe going to be released in exchange for our son

bowe from the u.s. army. they were told never to say that publicly. keep their son's name out of the press. they had hopes their son might be coming home and apparently the talks stalled. talks were off and they decided to go public. bowe bergdahl's parents talked in may 2012 to their local newspaper, the idaho mountain express and the "new york times." the "new york times" confirmed in their article, in their interview with mr. bergdahl's parents that when the times got that first leak, a few months back, about those five named taliban prisoners potentially getting a ride home sometime soon. the times said in their article they were told at the time of the leak the reason the five may get out is in trade for bergdahl but the times said in their article that they held that information back, even though they knew.

sergeant bergdahl agreed to withhold the information at the request of the administration and his family over concerns about his safety. so the white house was engaged in those negotiations as early as 2011. they wanted to keep them totally secret because they thought publicizing them might be dangerous. not only dangerous to the deal, but dangerous dangerous. they specifically wanted to keep bergdahl's name out of it because they worried his name was floated it might endanger him or might increase the price being demanded by the taliban for his freedom. nevertheless, even though the white house wanted that secret, the talks were leaked. it got out to the press and once it got to the presses, those talks fell apart. and there after a few months later, the family apparently decided since the talks had fallen apart, they would let everybody know that this had been a possible swap for their son. since the talks were off any way, i suppose they decided that

talking publicly might start something. and that was where this dramatic story stood at this time two years ago in may 2012. that's when they said this is about bowe. and the u.s. had been trying to talk to the taliban about bowe bergdahl and stability in afghanistan, about a bunch of different things, about the taliban's prisoners at guantanamo. there was nothing. no word until the very end of 2013. this past december, the pentagon apparently obtained a 90-second video from the taliban which showed that bowe bergdahl was alive and reportedly that he was not in very great shape. that video is apparently part of how we know, how we knew, not just that he was alive but the

taliban would consider giving him back. apparently, now we know the price they still wanted for him was still the same price they had wanted for him all along. the deal the for bowe bergdahl was the same deal, the same guys, the same five guys. the three guys that got there day one at guantanamo and the two that got there within a few months. this was not a new deal the put together. this is the deal that cnn, reuter and "washington post" reported on in 2011 and 2012, including posting the taliban prisoners' names and photos. same guys, same photos. the exact same deal. those five taliban prisoners for bowe bergdahl. that same deal has not only been on the table between the u.s. and the taliban all this time, it has been on the table for all of us to see and consider. including the details of who would be traded an the fact they would go to qatar and qatar

would guarantee they wouldn't return to the fight. the exact deal the white house admitted to t. it has been public date since late 2011. public. republicans are pretending it was is a complete surprise. they had no idea this was i coming and if they had any idea it was coming they didn't think it was these five guys specifically, the ones whose names and photos were published by cnn, "washington post" and reuters years ago that they were all asked to comment on at the time. in the most recent round of reporting in february that is the deal that john mccain was asked to comment on cnn. >> at that time, the proposal was they would release taliban, some hard core, five really hard core taliban leaders as a confidence-building measure. now this idea is for an exchange of prisoners for our american fighting man. i would be inclined to support

such a thing depending on a lot of the details. >> if there was the possibility of some sort of exchange, that's something you would support? >> i would support -- obviously i'd have to know the details but i would support ways of bringing him home and if exchange is one of them i think that would be something that i think we should seriously consider. >> the exchange being proposed that jm wm was asked about was the exact specific exchange that happened. those five named taliban guys. that was what he was asked about, that's what he said i would support ways of bringing them home and if the that the exchange is something that would bring them home that is something we should consider. i would be inclined to support that deal. now the exact deal happened, what exchange? i didn't know this was coming. what a terrible idea. just amazing. this is paul demarco. he's one of the republicans

who's made it to the runoff to be alabama's republican u.s. senate candidate this year. hen the news came out this weekend that a bowe bergdahl was coming home, paul demarco tweeted sergeant bowe bergdahl has been released after captive five years in afghanistan. a grateful nation awaits your return. respective demarco got the memo we are not supposed to be a grateful nation and definitely not psyched about his return so he deleted the tweet so 0 as to not give the impression that an american p.o.w. was being released. >> the representative from ohio, he was so happy to hear an american p.o.w. was coming home. so representative jim renacci of ohio deleted his gladness of three days achlz we mentioned

last night thad cochran did the same thing. grateful american thanks you for your service for three days. then deletes it. joni ernst, the republican candidate in iowa sent out her thoughts and prayers to sergeant bergdahl and his family and she deleted the sentiment, rescinding her thoughts for the bergdahl family and stopping praying for them. i don't think you can take prayers back. same for steven lynch in massachusetts for the republican congressman literary in nebraska, mark amodei in nevada did the same thing. they have had to unmake their gratefulness that an american p.o.w. p.o.w. is coming home because conservatives say we shouldn't be happy about this anymore. if that is not weird enough, they are turning that crazy spin up to pured speed. not just happiness an american p.o.w. is being released or

condemnation for the u.s. government getting him out, not professions of surprise for what the deal was. even though everyone has known what the deal was going to be for months if not years now. the exact terms have been published including pictures them new claim is the bergdahl thing is a hoax. it's made up. a weather weapon or false flag or actors, whatever. republican congressman steve womack of arkansas says this bergdahl thing causes one to be suspicious of the timing of the episode. is it nothing more than the opportunity the president took to get public's attention away from the v.a.? the whole thing smells bad. smells bad to him in arkansas. wouldn't believe how it smells here. you can also access that conspiracy theory across the street at the home of our friends at the fox news channel.

>> here's the bigger concern for me. i really waud would like for somebody to look at this and answer it. was this done to take the v.a. off the front page of the newspapers? >> actually the v.a. story was doing a pretty good job getting off the front page of the newspaper on its own. we will have more on that later in the show tonight. but the conspiracy theory drive is like a gear the republican party can't get out of. they got rid of the clutch and didn't realize they have a manual transmission. are we going to be stuck on this forever. lindsey graham who is facing a clown car of tea party. he tells "politico".com, is it an accident in the same week the president announces the end of hostilities, the withdrawal of all forces in afghanistan by 2016 he also retrieves the one captive? senator lindsey graham thinks he has arrived at his own conspiracy here.

the great thing is that he is actually right. it's not a secret that he as uncovered that he has to let us in on. this is happening in plain view. the end of the war, being connected to getting bowe bergdahl home, this is how the president explained what happened all along, including today. >> have you been surprised by the backlash that's been whipped up by your decision to do a deal toll-free bowe bergdahl and what do you think is motivating that? in retrospect, do you think you could have done more or announced the deal in a way that would have spared him and his family from being caught up in cross fire. >> i'm never surprised by controversies whipped up in washington. that's par for the course. i will repeat what i said two days ago. we have a basic principle. we do not leave anybody wearing

the american uniform behind. we had a prisoner of war, whose health had deteriorated. and we were deeply concerned about and we saw an opportunity and we seized it and i make no apologies for that. we had discussed with congress the possibility that something like this might occur. but because of the nature of the folks we were dealing with and the fragile nation of these negotiations, we felt it was important to go ahead and do what we did. we're now explaining to congress the details of how we moved forward. this basic principle that we don't leave anyone behind and that often means prisoner exchanges with enemies is not unique to my administration. it dates back to the beginning

of our republic. >> the president went on the say he defended his decision to involve the bergdahl family in the announcement that their son was coming home. he said i make no apologies for making sure we get back a young man to his parents and the american people understand this is somebody's child and we don't condition. we make the effort to try to get them back. what president obama said about the idea of prisoner exchanges, that that dates back to the founding of our public. this is what happens in wartime, particularly at the end of wartime, that's not a secret that senator lindsey graham uncovered as a conspiracy. that's the way the white house has explained these negotiations to free this p.o.w. and what they were about, going back years. why they were talking to the taliban at all, including bowe bergdahl. this is how the white house has explained why we should understand the length that's

went to do to get bowe bergdahl home now. >> the united states has always had a pretty sacred rule. and that is, we don't leave our mern men or women in uniform behind. that dates back to the earliest days of our revolution. this is what happens at the end of wars. that was true for george washington, abraham lincoln, fdr, that's been true of every combat situation that at some point you make sure you try to get your folks back. that's the right thing to do. >> president speaking on his european trip about the release of bowe bergdahl. he is america's last prisoner of war. one of the things that happens at the end of wars is you make sure you get your prisoners back. not a new idea, not a lindsey graham conspiracy.

senator harry reid, in his quiet, furious way, harry reid made the same point today in the u.s. senate. watch. >> let's assume he was in vibrant health and faking all of this. he is an american soldier. he's been in captivity for five years them war's winding down. let's bring him home. >> nor reid spoke in his patented angry whisper today about how the republicans have been denying they knew anything about this deal that has been public for years and thou the same republicans criticizing the president for getting bowe bergdahl home beat the administration up for not doing enough to get bowe bergdahl back. senator reid today read republicans past statements calling on the administration to get bowe bergdahl home and called them out for their hypocrisy, now they are criticizing the administration for in fact getting bowe bergdahl home n. terms of what happens next, carl levin says there will be a full briefing on

tuesday. i think that will be a classified briefing ark closed briefing which means we, the public, will not have access to it but probably means senators will get new information. as we know they leak like zifs. the white house may release publicly the 90-second video they got from the taliban in december that apparently restarted the negotiations with the taliban about getting sergeant bergdahl home. despite fox news and the republican party trying to make this in to a scandal by treating it as one, it's interesting to see the white house and the administration broadly perrying the criticism, fighting with critics but not backing down on this at all. not stepping down an inch. the president insisting with some emotion today. i make no apologies. i think that's a signal where the administration stands on. this defense secretary hagel is in europe overlapping with the president's trip this week. he did an interview today with

the bbc while in romania and he made clear that he, as defense secretary signed off on the decisioning to do the prisoner trade for bergdahl but said it was an unanimous top tier decision. he said he as is secretary of defense and secretary of state and chairman of the joint chiefs of staff and director of of national intelligence and attorney general came to the same unanimous conclusion on this. they all okayed the deal and stand united behind it. but paul demarco in alabama he's having second thoughts. and john mccain apparently doesn't remember he had okayed this deal live and on tape before he decided it was a travesty. and that balance apparently makes for a national scandal. there are some signs, however, that the right wing con thaengs it is bad news that an american prisoner of war has come home, there are some signs the are the right wing contention is

starting to crack and fall apart. i'm surprised it took that long. it is my view if your contention on one side is opposed to the centuries old creed that we do not leave a man on the battlefield in any circumstances. if it is you against that, you are probably going to lose. i don't know how long it will take or how long the visible crack runs and i don't know if the right and fox news will ride it as a scandal for however long. but today deeply conservative republican congressman from idaho, labrador, perhaps because he is from idaho where the bergdahl family lives. he came out on a radio station today and gave remarkable comments. he said he was disturbed by his own side on this issue. >> i'm a little disturbed by some of the republicans out there who say this has never happened before. i would suggest that anyone who has been hyper critical about

this, they look at the history. this has happened before. >> i'm delighted he's coming home. i'm so happy for his family. i was able to talk to his parents on sunday. they are very excited. but there are a lot of questions. i think all of those questions will need to be answered. now's not the time for those questions. now is the time for us to enjoy the joy of the family, the city of hailey and the state. i think we need to leave the questions aside for a couple of weeks. >> fair enough. also standing in complete and lonely dissent from his own party and from the unified conservative media on the subject. standing alone there, at least so far. man: definitely more murdery than the reviews said. captain obvious: this is a creepy room. man: oh hey, captain obvious. captain obvious: you should have used hotels.com. their genuine guest reviews are written by guests who have genuinely stayed there. instead of people who lie on the internet.

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>> we had a prisoner of war whose health had deteriorated. we were deeply concerned about it. we saw an opportunity and seized it. i make no apologies for that. we had discussed with congress the possibility that something like this might occur. but because of the nature of the folks we were dealing with and the fragile nature of these negotiations, we felt it was important to go ahead and do what we did. >> president obama today talking about what he called the fragile nature of the negotiations to

bring home america's last wow, sergeant bowe bergdahl from afghanistan. joining us somebody who's had inside access to this story. national spokesperson under the obama administration. appreciate your time tonight. >> thank you. >> i'm wondering if you personality were sort solve surprised by the backlash here. i know you worked on this issue at the white house. you know the ins and outs of the negotiation process. did it ever occur to you that bringing bowe bergdahl would be considered bad news i in american politics? >> no. i can't actually believe it. we worked on this for a very long time. i any anyone who thought about it and thought of what he and his family must have endured the last five years -- i knew the back story. i knew it was complicated but under no circumstances did i think that bringing home a u.s. service member would be treated this way. >> tommy, one of the things i

have been going through and looking at contemporaneous reporting over the course of his captivity and what we knew when. i was struck by looking at the new york times from 2012, after the bergdahl family, themselves decided to come forward and say, you have been hearing about the five taliban prisoners in negotiation with the u.s. that's about getting our son home and they made that decision the as a family to do that. the "new york times" we knew that, it had been leaked to us but we were asked by the administration not to relegal bowe bergdahl's name. were you part of that? can you tell the us why that strategic effort was made by the white house? >> yeah, i was the guy asking them to do that and a number of other outlets, as well. the reason was, the taliban is not a monolithic organization. they are different. and we were talking to moderate forces within then taliban that

want to see the reconciliation process go forward. we were worried if hard liners knew about it they might decide to up the cost and try to get more prisoners out or they could kill bowe. it was an unbelievably sensitive piece of diplomacy happening. >> obviously the name -- the fact that negotiations were underway, the names of the specific taliban prisoners, who were considered a long time ago, who ultimately ended up being the ones went to qatar and through the bergdahl family, bowe's name that specifically trickled out to the press, despite your efforts. obviously he was able to make it back safely in to u.s. custody. how does it make you feel about the secrecy strategy? >> there were a series of talks underway with the taliban, karzai and the united states.

the talks blew up because the taliban walked away. i think what we did at the time was the right strategy. ultimately bowe's family decided they wanted to go public. that is their right and i don't begrudge them for that at all. >> in terms of the taliban's decision to hand pick these five guys, that must mean they are very important and they will therefore be dangerous to americans now they have been released. what's your response to that? >> these guys are undoubtedly bad people. they were in jail for a reason. republicans make them like ten feet tall and buy in to the taliban propaganda rest assured they are going to qatar not back to the fight. we asked them to be there with a travel ban for a year while we wind down the war and we have learned a lot about the u.s. intelligence committee over the last year, rest assured those

powers will be brought to bear to mitigate these individuals and if they go back to the fight even worse. i think it is absurd to treat five individuals going from gitmo to qatar like it is a seminole event in the fight. it is not. and we shouldn't play in to the taliban propaganda effort to make it bigger than it is. >> tommy vietor former spokesman for the national security council. involved in this story a long time. thank you for helping us understand it. >> thank you, rachel. lots ahead. what they do actually is rocket science. but at ge capital we also bring expertise from across ge, like lean process engineers we asked who does what, when, where, and why that step first? ideas for improvement started pouring out. with a little help from us, they actually doubled their output speed. if you just need a loan, just call a bank. at ge capital, we're builders. and what we know... can help you grow.

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last night, as a separate matter, we reported on the acute significance of the bowe bergdahl story for one group of parents because their kids are still being held, apparently in afghanistan, by the taliban. caitlin coleman is from pennsylvania. her husband joshua boyle is canadian. they were abducted in afghanistan in october of 2012, when she was six months pregnant. they have been in custody one year, seven months and 29 days. if she gave birth on schedule their child is 1 1/2 years old. for the time they have been held

their families have remained relatively quiet hoping under the radar negotiations could keep them safe and the release of bowe bergdahl renewed their hopes to get them home. they are hoping by talking publicly it will shake loose further information or new angle on how to get them home. >>. >> i am a prisoner of the taliban. my husband and i here. >> my name is joshua boyle, from canada. >> yesterday the families released porss of the videos they say they received from the taliban last year to prove their kids are alive. today the families agreed to talk publicly about what they are going through. watch. >> well, last time that we saw them was july of 2012.

early july 2012. the last time we heard from them was, josh send an e-mail on october 8th saying he was in a big city. and in afghanistan. very uncomfortable, didn't feel very safe there and he didn't want caity out with them. >> they crossed in to afghanistan. they did it lawfully, on foot. got a tourist visa, no less from the afghan government at the board er crossing. they must have believed there was a safe part of afghanistan for them. and the people they traveled with it worked out okay. it didn't work out well for them. it was a costly mistake on their part. >> they had a return ticket for december, which for them, even though they were adventuresome meant -- because caity was due, she was coming home two months

early and looking forward to having a safe birth here. unfortunately, that never happened. >> we don't know anything more than what was in the video. we were hoping we would be able to appeal to get at least information about our grandchild, to bring them back. also we need to know they are okay and to see them. >> right. we haven't heard anything about their health or condition now in months. i'd like to appeal to the fathers and grandfathers of the world everywhere. but particularly in the middle east, afghanistan, pakistan, you fathers, grandfathers, i've never seen my grandchild. i don't know his or her condition. i haven't seen my daughter for almost two years. my grandchild, my understanding is the only toddler being held

in captivity. please just find it in your hearts to let my kids go. >> the coleman and boyle families. they have not seen their kids in a year and a half and never met their grandchild. because of the release of bowe bergdahl the families decided to release these proof of life videos and talk about their kids being held by the taliban. the u.s. and canadian government will not comment on the matter. they are sticking with the strategy of trying to keep it below the radar. the families say they are hoping that someone outside of the government, somewhere might have information that you had could help or a new angle. so they are going public. what a tremendously difficult decision it must be for those families. we will let you know more as we know more. stay with us.

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last week before republicans decided that an american prisoner of war coming home was a scandal, last week the scandal was the terrible combination of bad waiting times for veterans

at the v.a. medical centers and widespread evidence the v.a. staff were messing with waiting list records in order basically to obscure the problem. and try to make the wait times look not so bad. president obama announced last friday that eric shinseki was resigning because of the scandal. a new acting director has taken over. and reports have continued to come in about the extent of the problem throughout the country. a few days ago we noted that this thursday, today, was going to be a big day for this issue and for this scandal in terms of figuring out whether people wanted to make political hay about the problem or whether we were going to try to fix it. because in february, bernie sanders introduced a bill that would have expanded veterans access to health care and as you know republicans filibustered the bill. we warned at the beginning of this week that senator sanders was going to be bringing back up his bill again, today, on thursday. so senators who have been yelling so much about v.a.

health care and bad access to health care, they would finally have a chance to put their money where their mouth is and not filibustering the thing and fix the problem. but then there was some weirdness. look. news yesterday that the veterans committee wasn't going to meet on thursday at all. that they are meeting to discuss this bill had been moved, delayed. ugh, why, right? always happens. what sort of funny business is going on? today was supposed to be the day that bernie sanders dropped his bill to fix what ails the v.a. why are they delaying? turns out there was something fascinating going on behind the scenes. >> thank you. i'd like to say to the senator of vermont, i respect a great deal the work that he has done on this legislation. i respect his commitment and

leadership with the veterans affairs committee. i respect the fact that bernie sanders is known as a fighter and it has been a pleasure to do combat with him. >> apparently the reason for the delay, we thought we were going to see senator sanders drop his big bill to fix the v.a. today, the reason for the delay was apparently good news. apparently behind the scenes senator sanders was working out some sort of compromised deal with republican senator john mccain and because they were with able to come to agreement it won't just bp senator sanders bringing up the bill and republicans going against it. it could mean the republicans could vote for the bill. pinch yourself. i'm sure you are awake. senator sanders, it's a pleasure to see you. >> good to be here, rachel. >> you could knock me over with

a feather but tell me about how satisfied you are with the deal that you and senator mccain struck today both sub stantly and if you think this means you can move ahead. >> with senator mccain on board with a number of republicans on board, i think we stand chance of getting something significant passed. to be honest with you, this bill does not go anywhere near as far as i'd like to go in addressing the serious problems within the veterans community and within the v.a. but it does a lot of very good things. i think, as you know, rachel, the issue we are mostly concerned about now are the waiting times that exist in various facilities around the country. we deal with that reasonably aggressively. what we say to veterans, if there's a long waiting period, you can go to a private doctor, you can go to a community health center, department of defense facility, you can get the care you need in a timely manner

outside of the v.a. if you are 40 miles away from a v.a. facility, you can go to a private doctor. importantly, what we also did is put $500 million in to the hiring of new doctors and nurses and other personnel. at the end of the day, it's my view that in many parts of the country the v.a. hospitals and clinics are simply understaffed. they don't have the capability to provide care in a timely manner. we address that. we in this bill provide funding for 26 new major medical facilities around the country, which have been held on the shelf for a number of years. we are going to get out and build them and that should help a lot of communities around the country in terms of providing good care to the veterans. >> when the i house republicans passed their own piece of veterans legislation, one thing they foregrounded and pushed to 0 the top of their priorities list was essentially making it

easier to fire v.a. personnel. you raised the concern that while bad people out toub able to be kicked out you had to protect whistle-blowers and you wanted to make sure you couldn't fire people for a political reason or get rid of them. did you come to agreement or compromise on that that you are comfortable with? >> yes. it doesn't go as far as i would like it to go but senator mccain accepted the language that i offered which says if you have incompetent or dishonest supervisors we can get rid of them immediately but they have a right to an expedited appeal. the reason i put the due process language in there is i worry very much if you have a new president coming in and a new secretary they could fire hundreds and hundreds of high-level supervisors for political reasons. i don't want to see the v.a. become a politically oriented agency. it's a major health care

facility. we need good people. politics should not be involved. also in term thes of whistle-blowers, also in terms if you have racism or sexism and somebody gets fired, not for right reasons but wrong reasons, i want the person to have at least an expedited ability to appeal. >> what's the time frame here? when do you expect there to be a binding vote here? >> the leadership wants to move this very quickly. my staff and senator mccain's staff are writing the language, dotting the is and crossing the ts right now and i hope very much we can get this on the floor next week. >> they said it couldn't be done. senator bernie sanders, not there yet but amazing development to report tonight. congratulations on making it this far. thank you for keeping us posted. >> thank you. >> big deal. really big deal. we'll be right back. ugh. heartburn. did someone say burn?

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this is the story of an old-fashioned. never quit, newshound. not an old dinosaur from the good old days of journalism, a young guy stamped out of an old mold. he's from kentucky. started with "barefoot and progressive" and a kentucky paper "leo weekly." later he has been covering the senate race in kentucky. he sent this back from a tea party candidate's rally. if a handful of people and couple protest chickens add up to a rally. he sent this video of mitch mcconnell not taking questions after endorsed by the nra. a couple times mcconnell flat out band him from going to the press conferences. but that kind of thing can't stop a guy like joe. you might remember that the mcconnell campaign had trouble this year with one of their ads. in march. senator mcconnell ran an ad with kentucky symbols, kentucky derby, kentucky basketball team. instead of showing the

basketball team, the ad showed duke from north carolina celebrating their national championship. oh, god. oh, no, quick, some one hit delete. kentucky sports radio reported at the time, fortunately, leo weekly's joe sonka was able to preserve it. it was news and he had it. and then this happened. look. this video is no longer available due 0 a copyright >> the mcconnell campaign blocked the clip, got youtube to turn out the lights on the hometown senator praising the other guy's hated team. as far as we can tell, joe sonka's you tube clip was the only out and public record of mitch mcconnell's big embarrassing mistake.

if joe could not show that ad you weren't going to see it. and mitch mcconnell would have basically won. but joe sonka, he did not quit. last night he got a note from youtube saying that he, joe sonka had successfully defended his right to that clip. this content has been restored. unless you have deleted the video. which joe sonka most certainly had not! because here is the ad. mitch mcconnell wanted to hide. now preserved for all to see on joe sonka's youtube account. the basketball mistake is so short it takes up less than a second. watch. watch fast. >> this is our time to get it right. this is our moment. let's go out there and do it. >> ooh. put that back up. see the blink of a mistake. just a blink. but it is a great big victory for free speech and political accountability in kentucky. might does not make copy right. should put that on the bumper sticker. senator vs. blogger, this time, blogger wins. love that story. congratulations, mr. sonka. that does it for us tonight. see you again tomorrow night. now time for "the last word." thank you for joining us.

malcolm x said "i'm for truth no matter who tells it. i'm for justice no matter who it is for or against." tonight, a republican mayor from north carolina who told his own party the hard truth about health care joins me for a last word exclusive. >> 18 republican governors still refused to expand medicaid in their states. >> solid as a rock. solid as a rock. rooted as a tree. >> in north carolina, expanding medicaid has been a major part of state's protest thousands. >> at least 1,800 gathered at the state house to demand the end to radical agenda. >> on this issue. >> calling on lawmakers to expand medicaid. >> it should not be a partisan discussion. >> estimates show if north carolina doesn't expand medicaid that its 400,000 more uninsured north carolinians.