sometimes it makes us overlook the fact that we have to think about our young girls and transforming the culture that they live in, as well. >> thank you, sir, thanks for your time tonight. that's "the ed show," i'm michael eric dyson in for edward snowden -- ed schultz. "politics nation" starts right now. >> thanks, dr. dyson, and thanks to you for tuning in. tonight's lead, after shock, confusion in the republican party after majority leader eric cantor's defeat, and his announcement late today that he'll step down next month from his job as number two leader in the house. his defeat reignites the struggle for the heart and soul of the party. remember, it was congressman cantor who fed the tea party beast and who led the charge of obstructing president obama's

agenda. but as president john f. kennedy famously said, "those who foolishly sought power by riding the back of the tiger ended up inside." so, how did it happen? early analysis said immigration reform, but really, cantor has lost touch with his district and a wave of conservative economic popularism took him down. a poll from cantor's district shows voters cared more about economic issues. 25% said they cared most about the economy. 15% said government spending. 11% said reducing the deficit. just 3% said they cared mostly about illegal immigration. cantor's opponents hit him on all of it. >> that's how long eric cantor has been representing us in washington, d.c., 14 years.

and in that time he's given us obamacare, tarp, ten debt ceiling increases, $13 trillion of new debt and now is working behind the scenes to push through amnesty. he's become another power hungry washington insider. >> whatever the cause, we know the impact of this defeat and what it will have on republicans. the far right is emboldened today. senator ted "shutdown" cruz said cantor's loss shows, "the conservative base is alive and well," then raced off to glenn beck's radio show to say this. >> we're seeing liberty under assault, we're seeing an administration trampling our constitutional rights, disregarding the rule of law. it is waking people up. you look at the results in virginia last night. dave brat was outspent almost 50 to 1, yet the people woke up and said, we're tired of business as

usual. >> the gop family feud is about to get ugly. just remember, when you ride that tiger, you might end up inside. joining me now is mud cat saunders, democratic strategist in virginia, who knows cantor's district well. and ryan grimm, washington bureau chief for "the huffington post." thanks to both of you for being here. >> thank you, reverend. >> thank you, rev. >> mud cat, you've had nearly 24 hours to process this political earthquake. what's your analysis? >> my analysis is, that eric cantor's arrogance took him out. he had, you know, an air of invincibility about him and has had for some time. he's been awol from the district. he did not have town hall meetings except when he could invite the guests. no open town hall meetings. he didn't show up at football

games. he didn't show up at fairs. whenever he showed up anywhere, he had a whole entourage of black suburbans, you know, with the secret service people. the district didn't like him, and have been that way for awhile. when we did the campaign in 2012, our polls showed then that across the district, that his favorables were only 41% with 43% to replace him. and i think that this air of invincibility that he told himself for so long that he was invincible that it was like told so many people he had a horse, he went and bought a saddle. but this has nothing to do with tea party stuff. this has nothing to do with a shifting of politics in america. what this has to do is with a guy who forgot the people back home and was gal vanting around the country being a big ticket. >> ryan, it was a local race and

may have been local reasons, but it's serious national ramifications in terms of the national politics and policy. are they reeling down there in washington? >> oh, they sure are. and the leadership team that's likely to come in as a result of this is going to be an exceedingly weak one. you know, eric cantor, even though he set out this strategy of just say no, you know, fight everything that obama and democrats do, he also was the one that they would go to at the very end they finally needed the tea party. hey, we actually do need to fund the government at some point, guys. eric would then go and bring the tea party in. each time he did that, he'd get dinged more and more. there's not going to be anybody to do that, which means the house is that much more ungovernable. democrats are saying they are going to run on the idea they are adults, and i think what you're going to see from house republicans over the next year, then, you know, starting in

2015, is the same thing. >> you know, mudcat, in some ways cantor's campaign fed into the narrative that you're laying out about he was out of touch in his district. for example, his campaign spent more at steakhouses than brat spent on his entire campaign, $167,000 on steakhouses, compared to $123,000 that brat spent on his campaign. i mean, it is amazing and very graphic there on what was being done. and we also have gop congressman name getting tossed about to become the next majority leader. he said, "there are many ways to advance the causes of freedom and free enterprise, and i am prayerfully considering the best way i conserve in these efforts." how do you react to that,

mudcat? >> i think we're in a new edge of economic populism, what i like to call jim webb democracy, and the deal is, what took eric cantor down, other than the fact that he was awol all the time, is that dave brat did a great job, first off, it was a shoe leather campaign. he did a great job on hitting on a lot of doors, but he talked about economic fairness, or the lack thereof. and right now, i think that you're going to see the issue of economic fairness, and i don't know how they do it, but i think you're going to see the republicans start bringing this up more, because right now in america, where the middle class is going away right in front of our eyes, i mean, it is the issue. it is the absolute issue. >> and that's the issue, ryan. i mean, let's look at the bigger picture here. how will this affect president obama's agenda? obviously, these republicans are going to fight it out, but at

the end they are going to be weaker. how will this impact the president's agenda? >> i mean, the irony here is that this means that doing immigration quickly would actually be the smartest thing for republicans. i'm not saying they are going to do it, but it proved, you know, this is a toxic issue for them. they would like to get this done with. they are not going to do it before the election. there is an opportunity for them to do something in the lame duck so they don't have to keep dealing with this riled up base, and i don't think this election was particularly about immigration, but it fuels the resentment against the republican establishment, and if they could take that off the table, i think they'd be well served. >> mudcat, you know, in the battle for replacing cantor as the majority leader of the house, again, congressman hensarling has launched his share of ugly attacks on president obama, like this one. listen. >> i'm not sure how much more

damage one man can do. i mean, bless his heart, he's clueless when it comes to what it takes to create a job. ultimately, i fear he doesn't believe in the same american exceptionalism we do. ultimately, i believe he's putting us on the path to becoming a european-style social democracy. >> now, this guy could be the new majority leader, the number two guy in the house. are we going to see a mad grab for leadership with ugly attacks on president obama, mudcat? >> well, the first thing they better realize is this election had nothing to do with barack obama, absolutely nothing. i mean, here's been -- here's one of the president's number one critics, eric cantor, and he gets the hell beat out of him in a primary in his home district. this was a referendum on eric cantor. this race was the a, b, c, race, anybody but cantor. wasn't about immigration. >> we're going to run out of time.

i want to throw this one to you, ryan. looking ahead at what this means for the republicans in 2016, nbc's "first read" wrote, do jeb bush and marco rubio think twice about 2016? "cantor's loss last night is yet another sign that the republican party is fractured heading into next presidential election 2016." >> any republican connected to the establishment right now is looking at that and wondering, goodness, what is my route through a primary here, and i think the anger across the country is bipartisan here, and i think even hillary clinton probably watched this election. wow, there's an intense amount of anger out there at the establishment, at washington, and to the extent she's associated at, it could hurt her, too. >> very interesting, but i also have to wonder, will this energize a lot of the tea party people around the country and we see a lot more fighting, a lot more ugliness in these

primaries, whether or not cantor's was local or not, it may energize a real national battle that will change the landscape of the republican party 2016. mudcat saunders and ryan grimm, thank you both for your time tonight. >> thank you. >> and everybody needs to read jim webb's new book, "i heard my country calling." it's fabulous. >> i hope to have jim webb on the show to talk about his new book. >> it's a fabulous book. it's a great piece of american literature. >> great plug. tell him to come and bring it himself. we'll talk about it. >> i'll do it. coming up, he was the architect of obstruction. leading a campaign to block president obama. what is the reaction inside the white house today? we'll talk live to bill burton, who saw it firsthand. plus, defense secretary chuck hagel defends the bergdahl deal, but so many on the right just don't care. who are these republicans

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you'll never find an interest rate lower than sleep train's interest free for 3 event, on now. ♪ sleep train ♪ ♪ your ticket to a better night's sleep ♪ eric cantor's stunning defeat has thrown the gop into chaos. and it's our question of the day, does cantor's loss show the gop has lost control of the tea party? you can answer yes, no, the establishment is still in charge, or, no, the gop has become the tea party. the poll is live on our facebook page and on twitter. so vote now and be sure to leave a comment. we'll have your answers later in the show.

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cadmium, mercury, lead. all on the periodic table. all inside these, too. now the last thing we want is for all that to mix with water. so recycle. you'll keep your planet clean, t-m-y-k. from day one, this republican party has blocked and obstructed president obama. this architect of that obstruction was eric cantor. on the night of the president's first inauguration, as the president was dancing at a ball, cantor was just blocks away at a private meeting plotting ways to obstruct the president. and just weeks later, he set the tone. and that plan went into motion. as minority whip, he made sure

no house republican voted for the stimulus package. if president obama was for it, they were against it. then came health care and eric cantor brought props. >> mr. president, thank you, again, very much for having us and staying with us for the six hours. appreciate that. i don't know if you will after the six hours or not, but -- >> let me just guess, that's the 2,400-page health care bill, is that right? >> actually, mr. president, this is the senate bill, along with the 11-page proposal that you put up online. >> these are the kind of political things we do that prevent us from actually having a conversation. >> he was never interested in a conversation. in 2011 we had a debt ceiling standoff and it was eric cantor who pulled out of budget talks with vice president biden. when cantor was in the meeting

with the president on the debt limit, one democratic aide said, "cantor rudely interrupted the president three times." cantor denied that, but he didn't deny that when speaker boehner was working on a big deal with the president. cantor sabotaged it. with cantor even calling a reporter, it was "fair assessment that he talked boehner out of accepting obama's deal." if president obama was for it, eric cantor was against it. the obstructionist in chief. i don't think any tears were shed at the white house last night. joining me now, bill burton, former deputy white house press secretary for president and krystal ball. bill, you were there to witness it firsthand. what was it like for the white house to try to work with eric cantor? >> very difficult.

let me say two quick things. number one, we've got a lot of time to talk about eric cantor, but i will say, he had a lot of people working for him who came to washington, driven by a purpose they thought they were trying to achieve and i feel bad for my buddies, i wish them all the best, but working with eric cantor was never an easy thing. i was in the room, this has been reported before, but i was in the roosevelt room when the president brought in congressional leadership early on in his presidency and eric cantor was going on and on about how the stimulus wasn't going to work, all these different things and the president looked him square in the eye and said, elections have consequences and eric cantor never really wanted to believe that and last night we had an election where he's truly going to be living the consequence. >> let's talk, krystal, about president and cantor's first meeting. "the new yorker" described it, "three days, and this is what

bill was just speaking of, three days after obama's inauguration, cantor and white house went to the white house and cantor handed out copies of the republican plan and the president and his team at the meeting, the president told cantor, elections have consequences, and, eric, i won." this is what bill was just recounting. do you think that he really never got it until last night, or do you think he was just such a zealot for a lot of the tea party stuff? >> i think it was not so much being an ideological zealot as being power hungry. he saw after the election of obama and particularly after we saw the rise of the tea party, he saw an opportunity for himself to get higher in the republican leadership, to capture the energy of that tea party. first they were happy to use that to take back the house in 2010, and then he found it convenient to be the foil to john boehner, to be the tea

party's mouthpiece in the republican leadership, so, yeah, he blew up the grand bargain that boehner was very close to striking with president obama. he was constantly there, disagreeing with boehner, and it's interesting after the 2012 election there were some signs that maybe he wanted to present a more coherent front, maybe he had realized that elections, in fact, do have consequences, but he was always going back and forth between being the mouthpiece for the tea party, looking to position himself for leadership, and it was always about what was convenient for eric, rather than what was good for either his party or the country. >> bill, millions of people, forget the politics, forget the beltway chatter, millions of people were affected by these obstructionist moves. i mean, we're talking about real people that lost real services and things they needed. i mean, just this past april the president and cantor spoke on the phone about immigration reform and cantor put out a statement saying, "after five

years, president obama still has not learned how to effectively work with congress to get things done. you do not attack the very people you hope to engage in serious dialogue." but president obama remembered their conversation differently. listen to what he said. >> well, i actually had a very pleasant conversation with mr. cantor yesterday. i did. you're always kind of surprised by the mismatch between press releases and the conversation. >> i mean, it sounds like you couldn't trust cantor too much, bill. >> i think that's right. you know, the truth is, you know, i, obviously, disagree with eric cantor on basically every position he holds on issues that matter in washington, but it's going to make it, hopefully, this will help elevate, and this might sound counterconventional, so stay with me for a second,

hopefully, this will help elevate some conservatives in leadership who have some credibility among the tea party crowd inside the house, and the advantage to that, maybe boehner will go away, too, and you'll have a couple of tea party guys at the head of the house, the advantage to that, at least the president has somebody who he can work with, because john boehner can want to make a deal all day long, but he can never make a deal that the conservatives in the house will trust in any significant way, so now maybe we'll have some leadership over in the republican party that's actually willing to get down and get into the dirt and get some work done. >> krystal, the very night of the first inauguration, while the president's at an inaugural ball dancing with his wife, they are meeting that night, the night of the first inauguration, planning on how they were going to obstruct this president and eric cantor was in that meeting. a lot of us just can't forget that night, from the very beginning.

>> it's unbelievable that while he's being inaugurated, not just what can they do to sabotage this president, but what can they do to sabotage the economy, right, that's what we're talking about here, which is unreal that any elected public official would have that thought and then put action into motion to make that a reality. you know, in terms of getting different leadership, better leadership in the republican party, i certainly hope that bill's optimism there is warranted, but the problem is, that even with eric cantor as far right as he was, right, as tea party aligned as he frequently was, it's never enough for the most ideologically pure in the republican party, so it's hard to see how anyone in the republican party can have a leadership position and want to govern and not be railroaded by the tea party. there's no loyalty there. >> bill, i realize you have hope, but suppose this energized a lot of the far right now feeling they have a tea party victory and they forced the

party, the republicans, to even go further right to protect themselves in primaries. >> well, the truth is, there's not much more that republicans in congress can do to try to stop progress. they've done everything they can to stop judges in the senate, to stop any kind of legislation, to stop immigration reform, to stop issues -- to stop legislation that deals with income inequality. they've already done everything, and the truth is, only nixon can go to china, right? so on the republican side, my hope, is that if you elevate a conservative, and the truth is, even though cantor tried so hard to align himself with the tea party, they never trusted him, if they elevate someone from their own ranks, maybe we've got a chance, but i do want to say, krystal made a very good point, it wasn't just the republicans got together on inauguration night and were plotting on how to try to stop the president. this is washington, there's politics, that's going to happen. you are going to try to stop the opposing president, but the fact

they were doing it at the expense of the economy, at the expense of middle class americans, that's what matters and why it was so damaging to our country that they did that. >> that is the real reason it's important, what it does to the country. bill burton, krystal ball, thank you both for your time tonight. >> thank you, reverend. >> thank you, rev. >> be sure to watch krystal on "the cycle" week days at 3:00 p.m. eastern right here on msnbc. still ahead, a stunning new report that could demolish gop talking points about sergeant bergdahl. also this -- >> at the age of 92, i am fed up! and fired up! >> fed up and fired up. my interview with the woman that beat jim crow in her youth and is fighting voter i.d. now. stay with us.

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today, defense secretary chuck hagel went toe-to-toe with republicans, trying to smear sergeant bergdahl. and things got hot. that's next. alright. let's share the news tomorrow. today we failrly busy. tomorrow we're booked solid. we close on the house tomorrow. i want one of these opened up. because tomorow we go live... it's a day full of promise. and often, that day arrives by train. big day today? even bigger one tomorrow. when csx trains move forward, so does the rest of the economy. csx. how tomorrow moves.

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wing's talking points. "the post" reports on bergdahl's mental health before he was captured by the taliban. "before he ever joined the army, sergeant bowe bergdahl was discharged from the u.s. coast guard for psychological reasons. furthermore, a trove of bergdahl's writings paint a portrait of a deeply complicated and fragile young man, who was by his own account, struggling to maintain his mental stability from the start of basic training until the moment he walked off his post in eastern afghanistan." . by these accounts, bergdahl wasn't a traitor or a jihadi, he was a troubled young man, but that hasn't stopped republicans from attacking bergdahl with loaded questions, asking why he hasn't been sent home yet. check out what happened in the hearing today. >> wait a minute, wait a minute, why hasn't he been returned to

the united states? you're trying to tell me that he's being held at germany because of his medical condition? >> congressman, i hope you're not implying anything other than that. >> i'm just asking the question, mr. secretary. >> i don't like the implication of the question. >> answer it, answer it. >> he's being held there because our medical professionals don't believe he's ready. this isn't just about a physical situation, congressman. this guy was held for almost five years in god knows what kind of conditions. we do know some of the conditions from our intelligence community, not from, by the way, bergdahl, this is not just about can he get on his feet and walk and get to a plane. >> at the end of the day, this young man is an american soldier, why have so many on the right forgotten that fact? joining me now, former congressman patrick murphy, the first iraq war vet to serve in congress and michael tomasky

from "the daily beast." thank you both for coming on the show. >> thank you, reverend. >> thanks, al. >> congressman, today's report suggests bergdahl was a troubled young man, but republicans continue smearing him when they don't know all the facts. >> that's right. it's scandalous, reverend, and really libel, because here you have a young american who was kept locked up for over five years by the taliban. we get his release, they've been nothing but bashing him and his parents since we've gotten him back and now "the washington post" just reports this young man had a lot of issues. this young man could not last one month of basic training in the coast guard. and two years later got a waiver to enlist in the army. at that point, you know, it was the surge, president bush's surge in iraq where goals needed to be met by the pentagon, so my heart goes out to him and his

family. i'm glad that there's an investigation and i'm glad, frankly, secretary hagel stood up for himself and -- >> not only secretary hagel, congresswoman jackie speier tore into republicans for their inflammatory rhetoric against sergeant bergdahl. listen to this, congressman. >> i would just ask us to think for a moment how we would be responding if bowe bergdahl was our son. i really fear for his return to this country. with the kind of rhetoric that is being spewed in this very room. >> she really went after him, congressman. >> she did. listen, i served with jackie speier, she's a tough cookie and i'm glad she gave it to them, and that's absolutely right. here's a young man who served his country, you know, there's, obviously, mental issues here in

play, reverend, but we do not treat one of our own this way. we don't know all the facts. we shouldn't make a rush for judgment, but unfortunately, the other network and the republican party don't understand that and have now treated this young man and his family to the inth degree. >> repeatedly republicans in the hearing blasted the administration for negotiations with terrorists. listen to this. >> this transfer sets a dangerous precedent in negotiating with terrorists. >> do you agree it has been the standing policy of the united states we do not negotiate with terrorists? >> the united states did set a precedent, did break the policy of negotiating with terrorists. >> there are terrorists watching this hearing in complete jubilation. >> but you point out today, michael, that the right didn't mind when bush paid a ransom to

terrorists in 2002. you write, and i quote, "republicans are howling with no proof that obama paid a ransom for bowe bergdahl's freedom. funny, they weren't howling when bush actually did it." >> this was a situation, reverend, in 2002 in the philippines involving a network that is an islamic fundamentalist terrorist group, officially designated so by the state department back in 1997, has al qaeda ties, that's why they accepted and agreed upon and this is a group that kidnapped in 2001 a couple, american couple, missionaries working in the philippines, and asked for ransom for them. by 2002, the united states government, the bush administration, did not directly pay, okay, did not directly pay, but did indirectly facilitate a payment of $300,000 to the abu

siyoff network to win the couple's freedom. tragical tragically, the man, the husband, did not make it back. but my point here, this did happen and this whole thing about how we don't negotiate with terrorists, that's something every president says, you and i know this, congress mannos this well, better than we do, this is something every administration says, because you have to sound tough, but negotiating with terrorists is also something every administration going back to ronald reagan's does when they feel they need to. >> you know, also, michael, defense secretary hagel specifically called out those on the right who have been attacking sergeant bergdahl's parents. listen to this. >> like most americans, i've been offended and disappointed in how the bergdahl family has been treated by some in this country. no family deserves this. i hope there will be some sober

reflection on people's conduct regarding this issue and how it relates to the bergdahl family. >> his dealing with them on the family, what is the bigger picture on this in terms of how americans, whatever their views, look at the attack on the families and the secretary they are bringing this out that this man's family has been under attack, not only him, and now we're finding out about his mental history and other things are coming out in. >> i think it shows they'll politicize anything to turn it against obama, make obama look weak, try to say all that kind of stuff that they love to say all the time. i bet we don't even know the half of it about what that family has gone through, reverend, in terms of the threats they received. we know they had to cancel the parade and other things, and it is, it's really, really unseemly, you know, their son.

their son, for gosh sakes. >> former congressman patrick murphy and michael tomasky, thank you both for your time this evening. >> thank you. coming up, i'll interview a 93-year-old woman who has been denied her right to vote because of new republican voter i.d. laws. it is an outrage. and one year after the george zimmerman trial, rachel jeantel is back in the news for achieving a dream she promised her friend trayvon martin. part of my interview with her is ahead.

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>> a big victory today in the fight for voting rights. a federal judge ordered ohio's election chief to restore the final three days of in-person early voting. ohio's republican secretary of state has been trying to limit voting in his state for years. he's cut early voting on sundays and week days, including the sunday before the election. so today's ruling is a big beef for him and a huge step forward, but there's more work to be done. already this year, lawmakers in 19 states have introduced bills to scale back voting rights. in north carolina, protesters are fighting that state's vicious new voter suppression

law. the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit is a 93-year-old woman. the name on her birth certificate doesn't match the name on her driver's license and it will cost both time and money to fix that under the new law. eaton faced a literacy test when she first voted 70 years ago. she had crosses burned on her lawn and gunshots fired into her home for helping register african-americans to vote. today, she's still fighting for her right to vote. joining me now is rosa nel eaton. thank you for being here, ms. eaton. >> thank you for having me. >> now decades after jim crow, could you have ever imagined fighting for the right to vote again after all these years? >> no, i can't imagine that i've got to go through the same thing

that i went through 80 years ago, at least 75. i can't imagine going through that again. but i am going through it, and it's actually worse than it was then. >> why do you say it's worse? >> i think it's worse, because i know what to expect. then i didn't know, so it wasn't surprising. but it's a very difficult task, difficult situation now. and we have got accustomed to different ways of life, and now it is so horrible to think about going back where we came from when we were marching in alabama and older state. >> you know what struck me to my core about your story, you had

to be subjected to literacy tests, had to deal with cross burning on your front lawn and fire shots through your house, and now you're the lead plaintiff because you were denied the right to vote and you're lead plaintiff at 93 years old. you never were afraid even with the cross burnings and the shotgun blasts through your house? you went through this stuff personally. >> no, i wasn't afraid. i always had nerve and had ambition, and i had intuition, and i believe we could make it, the lord would help me through it. i was real young then, and now i'm old. i realize the people maybe didn't understand what we were doing, but now i know they understand. it's just something they want to do anyway to set us back. >> the governor of north carolina and others that have

come with these laws that you and others are fighting in the state and around the country, if they are listening tonight as someone who's given a life to this country and civil rights, what would you like to say to them? >> to him? >> yes. >> i would like to say that he should reconsider and think about things and think about the declaration of independence, that states that all men are created equal and that we have the right to be participating and not finding fault about everything in trying to make this a fraud state, because it's not. and i would just like to tell him to realize the fact that we are people and that we are human, and that we, the lord enables us to be alive and my

grandfather worked for his company and worked for this country and was sold as a slave and my father was a young guy, but he wasn't old enough to go to be a slave, but he cleared this land and we should have the right to be free. >> you said you've worked at the polls over 60 years. have you seen voter fraud, ms. eaton? >> no. it wasn't any fraud going on. i mean, at all. we were very sincere in what we did. i worked the polls 40 years as an assistant and worked over 25 years as a judge. we sincerely check the ballots, and everything was going good. this was not fraud. they didn't find any fraud, just a little mixup on two votes. all over the state, but they use

that as a manner to defraud the voting rights and make it harder so we couldn't -- can't vote and be successful as we were, because i've been in this election ever since i was very, very young, and as a child, and i started my intention to carry through and that's why i'm out here today fighting for our rights, because it's not right the way they are treating us and trying to just make a dish out of us. >> rosanell eaton, i want to thank you so much for your time tonight and really god's blessings and good luck with your fight against this law. >> thank you so very much, reverend sharpton. and may god ever bless you and let us keep the lord in front of us and he will guide us and

direct us. >> yes, ma'am. >> thank you so very much and look to see you soon. >> god bless you, thank you. >> thank you. bye-bye. ahead, trayvon martin's friend rachel jeantel is speaking out one year after the george zimmerman trial. we'll have my interview with her and a very special guest.

the world got to know rachel jeantel last year when she took the stand in the trial of the man who killed her friend, trayvon martin. last week, after many months of hard work, she achieved her goal of getting her high school diploma. trayvon's mother, sabrina fulton, was there in the front row, and i spoke to both of them and asked them what trayvon would say. >> he'd say, you did it. you finally did it. so, you did what you came for and you fought. >> he would probably be saying that, you know, people thought that she couldn't do it, you know, but she believed in herself and she had a village of people that believed in her, and they continue to push her, they continue to encourage her, and so he would be very proud of her.

he would just tell her, you did it. you did it. you made it. >> thank you. >> yes, she made it. the full interview airs tomorrow night. please, tune in. nineteen years ago, we thought, "wow, how is there no way to tell the good from the bad?" so we gave people the power of the review.

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and my rewards points won't expire. so you can make owning a business even more rewarding. ink from chase. so you can. today, many republicans are drawing exactly the wrong lessons from eric cantor's defeat. we are hearing them say they need to be tougher on immigration, that they need to crack down on the border and kick out the 11 million undocumented workers who are already here. they are wrong, their policies are wrong, and so is their rhetoric, which has become increasingly ugly and mean spirited. >> maybe they are hauling 75 pounds of marijuana across the desert. >> my father had a ranch, we used to hire 50 to 60 wetbacks to pick tomatoes. >> and i think the issue you're referring to is the issue of anger babies. >> some people would already say we're under attack by aliens,

not space aliens, but illegal aliens. >> have they forgotten we're a nation of immigrants? unless you're a native american, everyone came here from somewhere else, either willingly or unwillingly. immigrants helped build this country, despite centuries of prejudice and intimidation. there was a time when the irish were told they need not apply. there was a time when americans were urged to say no to chinese immigrants. we're hearing the same kind of rhetoric now, but against different groups of people, and it must stop, too. finally, it's time for the results from tonight's question. does eric cantor's law show the gop has lost control of the tea party? 42% said yes, 4% said no, the establishment is still in charge. and 54% said, no, because the gop has become the tea party. thanks to all who voted. you can join the conversation by

heading to our facebook page to weigh in on this topic and more. we want to hear what you think. thanks for watching. i'm al sharpton. "hardball" starts right now. don't you love politics? let's play "hardball." good evening, i'm chris matthews in washington. let me start tonight with last night's tar and feathering of eric cantor. here's a guy who was playing the game brilliantly, heading to the top, cruising to success, riding the right wing wave, a surfer in a three-piece suit. he should have remembered what jack kennedy said about those who ride the tiger, they end up in his mouth. and that's exactly where eric cantor, the lame duck leader, now resides, in the belly of the beast. the well-basted main course at the tea party. what's