al sharpton starts right now. >> thanks to you for tuning in, i'm live tonight in las vegas. breaking news tonight, the white house slamming a new attempt to gut obamacare in the courts. today the supreme court announced it will rule on a lawsuit, challenging a key part of the affordable care act. if conservatives get their way, millions of people could lose their ability to pay for insurance. the white house ripped the lawsuit today, saying, quote, the aca is working. these lawsuits won't stand in the way of affordable care act and the millions of americans who can now afford health insurance because of it. this lawsuit reflects just another partisan attempt to undermine the affordable care act, and to strip millions of

american families of tax credits the congress intended for them to have. the courts' announcement came while president obama met with congressional leaders from both sides of the aisle, and made it clear he's willing to work with members of congress on key issues. >> what we've seen now for a number of cycles is the american people just want to see work done here in washington. i think they're frustrated by the gridlock. they'd like to see more cooperation, and i think all of us have a responsibility, me in particular, to try to make that happen. so this gives us a good opportunity to explore where we can make progress on behalf of the people who sent us here. >> he knows the american people are sick of gridlock, but republicans still keep talking about how they'll still try to

get rid of the health care law. >> every one of my members thinks that obamacare was a huge legislative mistake. >> and so the house, i'm sure, at some point next year will move to repeal obamacare. >> the individual mandate, people hate it. so i think we will be addressing that issue. >> the american people have made it clear, they're not for obamacare. ask all the democrats who lost their elections tuesday night. >> except the american people weren't making that point. nearly 60% of the people who voted on tuesday said their vote was not about the law. in fact, less than 1/3 of them even saw ads about it leading up to the election. the american people know this fight should be over. it's about time conservative law-makers and judges accept that. joining me now are joan walsh

and e.j. dionne, thank you both for being here. >> good to be with you, reverend. >> thank you. joan, let me go to you first. they're still talking about repeal. and we're seeing another fight at the supreme court. do you get a sense of deja vu? >> well, they're not going to give up on this, reverend al, we know that. but on the other hand, i want to tell our viewers not to despair about the supreme court, i could be wrong about this, but i do want to say they took it, lower courts had ruled against the plaintiff, did not want this to go through. it was not a split-decision situation where you see the court get involved. so it's bad news they got involved, but it only takes four justices to take a case like this, so it doesn't mean there are going to be five votes to strip the subsidies. it's horrible because this is essentially, there's a typo, the equivalent of a typo in the law, and that's what these lawsuits

have been about. >> but it's horrendous they would even use a typo to even put millions of people at risk. >> horrendous. >> you know, e.j., this challenge to the health care law goes after the subsidy for people who bought insurance in the federal marketplace. next year, 37 states will use the federal marketplace, and by 2016, 7.3 million people in those states will be getting subsidies. and you, e.j., have written that the law falls apart without the subsidies. i'm quoting you to you -- which go to its central purpose, providing insurance for those who cannot afford it. so is this lawsuit go undermining the whole law, e.j.? >> yes, this lawsuit is designed to gut the whole law. and the reading of the law that this lawsuit is based on is absolutely non-sense cal.

because congress could not possibly have intended to write a law that says what these folks, who are trying to kill obamacare, claim it says. and very recently, principal authors of the law, harkin and levin and miller and waxman, wrote a long piece in "the washington post" saying, no way we intended the law to work the way these guys climb it does. we intended those subsidies to be in there whether states opted into obamacare or not. and so i am a little more worried about the supreme court than joan is, i surely hope she's right. but the fact that they took it suggests there were already four votes on that court who want to throw it out, because they didn't have to take this case. and most of the judges who ruled on it said, there's no way you can read the law the way this lawsuit from the conservatives claims you want to. so i'd hate to see conservative

judges usurp the democratic system and the congress wouldn't even have to repeal it, because this would make a mess of the law. >> joan, you know, there was the meeting today that we showed of the president meeting with congressional leaders, saying that people want to see the gridlock broke, and see people come together in some bipartisan way on things that will help americans. we've heard from senator mcconnell in a sort of conciliatory tone and then right behind him, boehner yesterday, who was much more harsh in his tone. what's the state now in washington as you read it around potential bipartisan cooperation when you see the declaration of war again on the affordable care act? >> i'm very pessimistic. excuse me, rev. i'm real pessimistic. i really feel if they wanted to do something in a bipartisan

way, they would actually take up and fix this reading error in the law. that would be a great olive branch to give the president, excuse me, i've got a cold. but they're not going to do that. he's saying all the right things, but he's not going to get cooperation. >> but, you know, e.j., and i'm going to talk about this more in my next segment, but we're talking about millions of people here that need health care and republicans seem to not understand that the definition of compromise is not that you get everything you want. compromise is not do what i say. compromise is, you give, i give, and let's come to a consensus. >> right. that's exactly right. and i'm afraid i share joan's view. i think that we're going to have the likelihood of comedy in washington is about as great as my beating either michael jordan or president obama in golf. you know, the signals that are

coming out here, especially from speaker boehner, but also, i think, when you really listen to him carefully, mitch mcconnell, is that they want to fight the president, and on health care, there are actually a lot of things that democrats and the president would be willing to do to make the affordable care act better. some of which the republicans might even be able to support. the good news here, i think, is that there are so many people now getting coverage, there are so many new advantages to people, like no preexisting conditions in this law, that if we really join the fight over the aca again, i think americans will say, no, we don't want to repeal this. we want to make it better, but we don't want it to go away. so if the republicans take on this fight, i think there's a real chance they'll lose it, as long as the courts allow the democratic system to operate. >> you know, joan, enough is enough. i mean, fine, they won an election. it was a big win for them, but

now you have to govern, and the american people need health care. yet a recent poll found 89% -- 89% -- of people without health insurance didn't know open enrollment begins this month, november 15th, to be exact. i mean, what do democrats need to do to raise the awareness about the law? >> i don't know that they can do it alone, rev. this is the problem. we talked about this when the law went into effect last year. there was great enrollment. they surpassed their target. but imagine if more people had known and imagine if they hadn't had the republican messages, this law is going fail, it doesn't work, we're going to repeal it. you need both parties participating and you don't have it. that's my chief worry. there's no way to counter -- i shouldn't say no way. but it's very hard to counter this constant drum beat that it's not working. >> what i was going to say, when the prescription drug benefit went into effect under president

bush, a lot of democrats didn't like the form it was in and voted against it, but they were actually encouraging people to get this benefit. they knew it would be good even though they didn't think it was in the ideal form, it would help people out, and you wish that for civic reasons, the republicans would say, we didn't vote for this law, but it's really good that people get health insurance. >> right. >> but e.j., what is different about these republicans? i mean, explain what is different about this. >> well, i think the republican party has been on a journey right -- toward the right where they threaten to fall off the cliff. think about mitch mcconnell. he started his political career working for a republican named john sherman cooper, who was an incredibly progressive republican, a real champion of civil rights. that was mitch mcconnell's past. and mitch mcconnell himself has made this journey over to the right. boy, what i wish, that mitch mcconnell would give us a great big surprise and go back to the

john sherman cooper mitch mcconnell, but i don't think that's what we're going to see. all those kinds of progressive and moderate republicans have gone away, and we've got a just fiercefully anti-government republican party that really would like the government to shrink down and stop giving the kinds of help it gives to people. >> voting for failure. i mean, it is no way to govern and no way to move this country to where it needs to be. joan walsh, e.j. dionne, thank you both for your time tonight and have a great weekend. >> and you have a great weekend too, reverend, thanks. >> thank you. coming up, a developing story tonight. president obama sending 1,500 more troops to iraq to help fight isis. plus, who killed bin laden? a controversy over who fired the deadly shot is erupting within the heroic seal team 6.

the pentagon and other seals are furious. why is this happening? and when it comes to the economy, republicans have me wondering if they're on another planet. i'm taking them back to reality tonight. and is feminist a bad word? it's a growing trend with women celebrities. we'll debate that in "conversation nation." please stay with us. big show tonight. mooction ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ for most people, earning cash back ends here, at the purchase. ♪ ♪ introducing the citi® double cash card. it lets you earn cash back when you buy and again as you pay. that's cash back twice. it's cash back with a side of cash back. the citi double cash card.

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breaking news. the white house announcing moments ago that tomorrow president obama will nominate loretta lynch as the next

attorney general of the united states. lynch is currently the u.s. attorney in brooklyn, new york. she'll succeed eric holder and has been confirmed by the senate twice already as a federal prosecutor. lynch would be the first african american woman to be attorney general, another historic nomination from this president. i know miss lynch and have seen her work. she's fair and balanced. she has, in many cases, operated in ways that we agree. some she did not go in ways we wanted. but she seemed to always be fair. an excellent choice to continue the work of eric holder. master of diversification. who would have thought three 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?

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i've been listening to these republicans talk about jobs and health care and immigration. and they seem totally divorced from reality. almost like they're living on a different planet. almost like they're from another dimension. ♪ >> you're traveling to another dimension, a dimension where facts have no meaning and rhetoric has no connection to the truth. a journey into a strange land where politicians' claims are not bound by the laws of reality. your next stop, the republican zone. ♪ >> that's right, they're in the republican zone. and trust me, it's a weird place to be. it's a place where a top gop congressman can say the

president is holding back progress on immigration. >> if more executive actions are taken, that would make it difficult for us to always work together. why do executive orders when you can legislate a process, which america expects to see? >> a legislative process? is he joking? the house gop has blocked the vote the whole time. but in the republican zone, it doesn't matter. you can say anything you want. you can even pretend the president is holding up the economy. >> he needs to put politics aside and rebuild trust. this is the best way to deliver solutions to get the economy going again. >> get the economy going? what planet is he on? it is going. today we learned the private sector has added jobs for 56

straight months. the longest streak on record. and the stock market has gone up like gangbusters. raising 121% since the president took office. only in the gop's bizarreo world do these claims even make sense. folks, we got to get out of the republican zone. because back here, on planet earth, the gop is in desperate need of a reality check. joining me now in the republican zone is jason johnson. thank you for being here. >> glad to be here, rev. >> jason, just how far from planet reality, let me put it that way. just how far are some of these republicans when it comes to things like jobs and immigration?

>> oh, they're very far off in the republican zone now after tuesday. they think that even though they elected two african americans to congress who voted against things that matter to african american voters that they're somehow making progress in diversity. they seem to think they're going to stop barack obama from the terrible things he's done to the job market. but unemployment is at its lowest rate in seven years. the republicans are stuck in non-sense. they clearly haven't figured it out yet. >> the head of the rnc talked about immigration reform in 2012. he said the gop, quote, must embrace and finish comprehensive immigration reform. but this morning, he said, quote, i don't believe most people are interested in comprehensive immigration reform, unless they are convinced that the border is secure. is there anywhere these two statements make sense, besides the republican zone?

>> oh, yes. in the republican zone, it makes perfect sense, because they somehow think that stopping immigration reform is going to help them win latino voters. how many times the republicans have contradicted themselves because they always want to be on the opposite side of whatever president obama says. they stop it every time, but somehow it's president obama's fault. >> i'll give you another one. today speaker boehner responded to the new jobs report, saying, quote, wages remain stubbornly flat, but the speaker refuses to take action on something that would actually address that, raising the minimum wage. listen. >> when it comes to the federal minimum wage, listen, i used to be an employee. when you raise the cost of something, you get less of it. >> i mean, is there any chance republicans will change their

tune on the minimum wage? >> not likely. and it's amazing because you just had four red states vote to raise the minimum wage and then s send senators and congressmen who are going to stop you from raising the minimum wage. i don't understand how they can be not just at odds with basic economics, but at odds with their own constituents when it comes to something as simple as minimum wage. >> every time minimum wage has been on the ballot, including red states this week, it's passed, even in red states. check this out. we've seen 56 straight months of private sector job growth under president obama. 56 straight months. and 55 votes targeting the affordable care act under speaker boehner, that's the republican zone. >> oh, yes. you know, supposedly the affordable care act was going to

ruin everything. and yet people still seem to be getting jobs. somehow the president has had nothing to do with improving the economy one way or another, but unemployment goes down. i'll give you another one. the republicans say we can't do anything about gas prices until we make the keystone pipeline. i saw gas for $2.75 yesterday. i was amazed. so their version is not making sense with the actual policies that have been passed. >> well, i'm on planet reality and fantasy will not ever overrun reality. you can have your fantasy for a minute, but reality will set in in the long-term. jason johnson, thank you for your time tonight. have a great weekend. >> thanks, reverend, you too. coming up, who killed bin laden? the navy seal claiming to be the shooter is under fire from his former seal team 6 teammates. why is this happening now? also, we'll tell you what

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seal team 6 member, who is revealing his identity, claiming he shot and killed osama bin laden in that 2011 raid in pakistan. but "the new york times" reported today that, quote, the other military officials and seals question o'neil's account and credited the unidentified point man with severely wounding or even killing bin laden before other seals fired. and that o'neil actually fired insurance rounds into bin laden's body after he was down. the man who commands the seals is lashing out in a letter he wrote to all seals last week, warning, a critical tenet of our eeth yos is i do not advertise the nature of my work, nor seek recognition for my actions. we do not abide willful or selfish disregard for our core

values in return for public notoriety and financial gain. so why are these seals coming forward, and will we ever know who shot the bullet that killed osama bin laden? joining me now, retired u.s. army colonel and metal of honor recipient jack jacobs. colonel jacobs, thank you for being here. >> thanks for having me. >> how surprised are you that these seals are coming forward to give accounts of what happened that night at bin laden's compound? >> on one level, very surprised. i've known lots of seals in my life, and i can't think of one that would come forward and claim to have done anything except for having been a seal. so it's extreme surprising to see anybody do that. but on another level, because there is a great deal of money involved in describing this very

significant act, there are books to be made and movies to be made. and in those circumstances, i'm not surprised to hear people claim they were even involved let alone be the guy who killed bin laden. >> you know, colonel, another seal who wrote a book in 2012, detailing the bin laden raid, spoke to "60 minutes" and talked in disguise about when the team met president obama. listen to this. >> did the president ask you guys which ones of you had shot osama bin laden? >> yeah. he asked who was the one, and we told him we wouldn't tell him. >> why not? >> it's not about who that one person was. you know, it's about the team, the helicopter pilots, or the intel folks that keyed this whole thing up. who cares who the one person is? doesn't matter. >> so they wouldn't even tell the president which one shot bin laden. why are they coming forward now? >> well, i think there is money

in it. it's really interesting, that comment, i think, goes to the heart of what admiral losy just wrote in his public letter about this. it is a team. it's called a seal team for a reason. nobody does anything by himself, particularly in combat. you're in it to defend the republic, but you're in it together and if you don't act together and if you don't take responsibility together, if you don't support each other together, then nothing gets accomplished. and to take personal responsibility publicly for having done something that the team did, that's -- that indicates there's something more at work and it's probably money. >> before we go, i had to ask about the breaking news today. president obama has authorized 1,500 more troops to be sent to iraq to train iraqi and kurdish forces to fight isis. and the president is asking congress for $5.6 million to fight isis.

what do you make of this new development, colonel? >> well, it's a slight increase in the troops we have there now. i think now we have a little over 3,000. it's not nearly enough. we have to make a distinction all the time between advisers on the one hand, and troops on the ground on the other. and i can tell you this, i was an adviser in vietnam twice, and i was in combat nearly every single minute that i was in country. every single day, to be sure. and you're not out of harm's way just being an adviser. i was wounded myself because i was an adviser. so trying to make a distinction, saying that, well, we don't have people who are going to be in harm's way, because they're advisers. i mean, that's a pipe dream. we have people who are going to be embedded with afghan -- with iraqi troops, with kurds. they're going to be training them and under realistic conditions, and that includes being on patrol and being exposed to harm. so if we think that these guys

are not in harm's way, we got another thing coming. they are going to be there. the second thing that comes immediately to mind is the notion of how many people we have there. we have 1500 or so, we'll have about 3,000. it's not nearly enough. if all we want to do is just to train troops, there are going to have to be troops on the ground at some junction. they don't have to be our troops. they have to be maybe people from the region, but at the end of the day, just advisers is not going to do the trick. >> well, there's going to be a lot of americans that are going to have deep concerns about this. colonel jacobs, thank you for your time tonight. have a nice weekend. >> and you too. coming up, we'll be right back. 24/7 it's just i'm a little reluctant to try new things. what's wrong with trying new things? feel that in your muscles? yeah... i do... try a new way to bank, where no branches equals great rates.

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we're back with "conversation nation." joining us tonight, msnbc contributor zerlina maxwell, the grill's chris wither shoon and huffpost live host caroline modarressy tehrany. thank you all for being here. >> thanks, rev. >> we start with the big story of the week. can republican leaders compromise with the president? we know the leaders had a meeting with the president today. but can they compromise? chris, you're an expert at reading the real stories in hollywood. how do you read this one in washington? >> i think it's so important

that they have to compromise. basically, the republicans, you know, because they're in a majority right now, they have to come to a middle ground. it's just what has to be done. >> what do you think zerlina? >> i think we saw in 2010, the republican party ran on creating jobs. yet when they got into office, the first thing they did was pass bills to restrict abortion access and health care for women. so i want them to be able to compromise and i think they must compromise, because now they have responsibility of governing the country, i don't know i have faith they will do it. they can no longer block everything the president is doing, and then blame him for the dysfunction. they'll have to own the dysfunction themselves. >> saying, we don't know if we have faith they will do it. what would give the american people faith? what do you say? do you have faith, or are you

pessimistic? >> i'm really pessimistic. i really am. we've just had the mid terms and mitch mcconnell likely to be the senate majority leader coming out and saying, we're all going to work together for the good of the american people. and what happened today? the supreme court is going to be hearing ob care yet again. come on! the american people are going to get sick and tired of this if they keep going back to repeal laws that were passed in 2012, i'm not that hope that bipartisanship is in the air. it just doesn't seem on the cards to me. >> all right, next up, a hot one on our facebook page, is feminist a bad word now? stars like lady gaga, taylor swift, and carrie underwood, have all publicly said they don't consider themselves feminists, claiming it has negative connotations. now, you can add actress selma

hayek to the list. at the event this week, she said, i am not a feminist. caroline, how did feminism become a dirty tword? >> i don't know. i wish i did. in these situations i want gloria steinem on speed dial. i don't know where they're getting their information. feminism, women's rights, equals human rights. i don't understand how it becomes this complicated political minefield to navigate. feminism, women's rights, equals human rights. it's about equality. they need an education about that. >> i think celebrities don't know what feminism actually means and they're afraid of it because it comes across as us versus them. i think when somebody says they are feminist, they're judged more harshly. like beyonce, talking about feminism in one of her songs, they were saying she didn't

uphold the feminist morals and she was twerk. so i guess you can't twerk when you're a feminist. >> that is not a rule. you can twerk when you're a feminist. >> a lot of people are offended. >> the bottom line here, feminism means that you think that women are people deserving of equal rights and if you agree with what i just said, then you are a feminist. so the attacks on the word and sort of the miss interpretation of what it actually means is deliberate. and it's anti-feminist forces that want everyone to believe that feminists hate men, we're angry and we explain about things all the time. that is strategic, so that it undermines our voices when we're trying to speak our truth to power and say women are deserving of equal rights. we should be able to walk without being harassed in the streets, and in public, we should be able to go to college without being assaulted. all of these things are speaking our truth to power and taking

the word feminism and putting a negative connotation on that is deliberate to undermine our voice. >> it's just really unfortunate, just to go off on that point. that we continue to have people in high profile positions, where they could be doing so much good to educate young women in this country that it's okay to be a woman who wants to stand up for your rights. you can stand up for your rights, you can do that. >> i think if you give the history of what women have suffered in the country, i mean, it's like others that have challenged the status quo. i mean, it just bothers me that there's a negative connotation. i mean, chris, is there pressure from hollywood? because these are a-list actresses and performers saying this. is there pressure from the powers that be in hollywood. that they kind of divorce themselves from identifying with feminism, even they are benefitting from it? >> i think ultimately feminism

still comes across as an extreme term. and hollywood folks are so afraid of not relating, they're afraid of alienating their audience. and bottom line, salma hayek, she's a great woman, she believes in equality, she's said that. >> right, but in the beginning, she wasn't a feminist. so it's a contradiction. >> hollywood doesn't seem to mind offending some of their audience with misogynist portrayals. but let's go to comedian jerry seinfeld. he spoke with brian williams and revealed something very personal about himself. >> in recent years, as he's learned more about autism spectrum disorders, he sees it in himself. >> i think, on a very drawn-out scale, i think i'm on the spectrum. >> why? what are the markers, if i were sitting here analyzing you?

>> um, you're never paying attention to the right things. basic social engagement is really a struggle. i'm very literal. when people talk to me and they use expression, sometimes i don't know what they're saying. but i don't see it as dysfunctional. i just think of it as an alternate mind-set. >> zerlina, he wasn't joking. and this surprised a lot of people. what's your reaction? >> well, i think it's a wonderful thing. i think this goes very far to destigmatize the mentally ill, or anyone with any type of mental disability. i think it's really important, specifically with autism, because so often with mass shootings, autism is thrown out as this umbrella term, to say, that if a shooter was autistic, they must be violent. so it does a lot to help us understand what autism is and

destigmatize autism and also autism as a disorder and helps us to understand it more fully and humanizes is. >> often we put celebrities on a pedestal. jerry seinfeld is an a-list celebrity, he's an icon. it proves to any young kid who is watching the celebrity news, that ultimately if they are battling autism, a learning disability, they can overcome it and be as great as jerry seinfeld. >> and he does so much work for autism. it's not like he's speaking from a position where he has no idea what he's talking about. people are pushing back, saying he's clouding the waters little bit. but i don't think so. he's put the work in. he knows a little bit about what he's talking about. it's a great thing, i agree, it destigmatizing the idea of autism for a lot of people. that even giving somebody a broad stroke understanding of what it is, and also it's a

spectrum. he was clear to paint this. it isn't a black and white thing, it's a spectrum, and i applaud him for doing that. >> i join all of you in applauding him. i think it's a great thing and i think it gives a lot of strength to a lot of people and the families that deal with this. i think it was a good thing. zerlina, chris, and caroline, thanks to all three of you, have a great weekend. >> thanks rev. still ahead, george clinton stops by to talk about his new book and his fights for the rights to his own music. and did you hear what the little league slugger said to the president? no, that's not an old joke. that's part of rev al's report card for the week. hey matt, what's up?

i'm just looking over the company bills. is that what we pay for internet? yup. dsl is about 90 bucks a month. that's funny, for that price with comcast business, i think you get like 50 megabits. wow that's fast.

personally, i prefer a slow internet. there is something about the sweet meditative glow of a loading website. don't listen to the naysayer. switch to comcast business today and get 50 megabits per second for $89.95. comcast business. built for business. in the 1970s, the legendary george clinton burst onto the funk music scene like something from outer space. literally landing a spaceship on stage, and making an entrance like no one else. ♪ >> but that was all in a day's work for the matt scientist of

funk, with his group's parliament and funkadelic, clinton redefined funk for a new generation, creating a sound all his own. ♪ i want to go back ♪ got to get more >> clinton's music set the blueprint for generations of hip-hop and soul artists. his tracks have been sampled more than just about anybody else. i recently talked to him about how he's fighting for all of his musical rights as well. >> joining me now is the one and only george clinton, who's out with a new memoir which may be the best title i've ever seen. like, george, ain't that funkin kind of hard on you?

welcome to "politicsnation." >> thank you, sir. glad to be here. >> when you talk about that music, it started with a doo wop group in the '50s, how did you go from that to creating a sound no one ever heard before with p funk? >> we did psychedelic motown, turned it up and called it funkadelic. then bootsy and his brother, right out of james brown's band. we were able to add horns to our other music we had. and we couldn't call it nothing else but p funk, now we got pure fink, james brown, motown, jimi hendrix, sly stone, we got all of that in one group. ♪ ♪ >> one of the other things that

you created, all the drama with costumes and characters, and of course the spaceship, but people don't know much about the music and culture back then. what were you trying to create and why were you trying to create it? >> i was trying to create what the beatles it had did with sergeant pepper, the who with tommy, what hair was on broadway. i was trying to create a funk opera. they had the concept going, but i wanted to do the same thing with funk music. ♪ ♪ >> you said you used to have a drug habit. now you have a lawyer habit, that your focus is getting back the rights to your songs from the record company so your grandchildren could one day

benefit. i think it would surprise a lot of people that george clinton, the legend himself, doesn't own the rights to many of his own songs. how is that possible, and what are you doing about it? >> it's possible because there's some predators out there, that's preying on all of the artists in the last 30 years. these guys had stole the stuff from me while i was getting high, while i was cracked out. they stole and they manipulated, forged bankruptcies and did everything they could. we've asked the congress to look into it. you know, we've asked the attorney general to look into it. we're going to fight this long as we can. >> well, i want you to stay in touch with us. i want to keep some spotlight on it. >> appreciate it. >> i know what happened with james brown and michael jackson personally and i certainly want to follow you opening this door for generations to come. it's not just about you, but it's about stopping this. >> right, that's what i'm

talking about. >> the legendary george clinton, thank you so much for your time, for coming up and thanks for the memoir and being on "politicsnation" tonight. >> thank you. >> again, his new memoir, make sure you pick it up. up next, reverend al's report card for the week, starting with all the democrats who ran away from president obama.

it's time for reverend al's report card and i'm just thrilled to hand out grades for the week. my first grade tonight goes out to all those democrats, who ran away from president obama this midterm cycle. guess what? they lost. these donkeys get a c for

lacking courage. maybe i'll even throw in a "need improvement" too. my next grade tonight goes to the supreme court. the supremes are taking up the health care law again. even though it's on its way to helping 25 million americans. they get a b for boo! and i may just flunk them next time. finally, special visitors at the white house, the little league national championship team, jackie robinson west, from the president os hometown of chicago, one ballplayer stole the show when he challenged president obama. >> i told the president, i wanted to play him in basketball because i know he's a real good basketball player and he plays a lot of people who come to the white house. and he said he wouldn't play me today because it was raining. but the next time he comes to chicago he'll find us and we'll meet up and play basketball.

>> he pretty much told them -- the president told marquis that he would post him up and he needs to grow a little bit more before they play. >> i say, give an a to marquis jackson, actually a-plus for courage. more than those democrats showed this week. thanks to all of our students today, pass, fail, or somewhere in between. revereverend al's report card i ready to make the grade. thanks for watching. i'm al sharpton. have a great weekend. "hardball" starts right now. >> just lunch? let's play "hardball." ♪ ♪ good evening, i'm chris math news in washington. so they had their big lunch