so he's tually going to b makingis economic pitch ere. so going to be talng about education andommunity lleges. but afte making that economic pitch he's going to making a diffent kind of pitch of s, the opening pitch athe all-starame tomorrow night in st. louis. he's not only going to be with the sports casters but als throng out the first pitch and then finly tomorrow it's going to be day twof the sotomayor hearings. toy we heard the opening statements. morrow come the questis and the answers. >> mark, youknow,amron has been pointing out i think a key political aspect tomorrowis will the republicans cause themselves morharm than good base on how they handle . what is the mood of the reblicans on the commiee? >> it was mixe withe heard somevery tough opening statement first frothe ranking member, jeffessions, the senator from alabama. also, arona senator jon k who, yknow, didn't tip their hand they're going to talk about that now infamous wise lata coent. going to talk her about h judicial philosophy, and i think

we'll get some very tough questions from th. on the other hand, youad someoneike lisey graham who almost adtting she's going to win coirmation unss there is se type of meltdown, and even suggeed he could possibly vote for hebecause ections have onsequences. demos have a 12-7 majoty onhe senate judiciary committee, and if they could get someon like lindy graham even wi some tough questioning, she really is going to sail roh. >> mark, did i tellou that we won the softball champiship this past weekend? >> david -- >> did tell that you? >> one congratulations. it's always great when you and teameacock do ll. my buddy is aso on the team, a very valu member, and just any moreimes when nbc is number one, we're always happy out that. >> good ief, mark, wh a speech. they won,okay. we are the champions, tamron. >> they are e champions, who ars in a row. congratulatis, david. you are myernal derek jeter, and i appreciateevery day i get to spend th you. mark, join the teamnd win

alady. thank you, guys. and up next, mke sure to check oufirst readfirst thing every morning. i'm tamron hall for david shuster. >> d i'm david shuster with the champion nbcoftball team ha with chris matthews sarts right w. culture war. the battle for thsupreme court. let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm chris matthews back from two weekin afric back on msnbc's brand new studio here in washingt. as you can see rht away, it's quite a stateof the art setup th cutti edge echnology. one of the things i'v learned about television over the years is the bigger the room, the better, and we have a lot more space in this new studio. ok athis place. leading of tonight on the subsntive matter, the politics of today's first round fit er president oba's nominee to the u.s. supreme court. judge sonia sotomayor delivered

her openingstatement before t senate judiciary committ today, a immediately said despite whathe onceaid and was tad saying about the role of the appellate court in this country, it's not the job of supreme court juice toake policy. >> in the past month many senators have asked me about my dicial philosophy. simple. fidelity to the law. the task of a judges not to make law. it ito apply the law. >> well, sotomayor seems headed ward confirmatio republicans made sure to raise the red on some of her previous speeches and whether she's allowed her personal backgrou and simply sathies to sway her rulings on t bench. but is this really a battl over hesponsor, president barack obama? is thireally a suate fight we'rwatching over the presidt's philosop? that's what richard wolffe said

earlier. i thinhe's got a b point. let's from twoetors from t judiciary committee, dick durbin from illinois, and orrin hatch of ah. pus "the new york times the cia tokeep congress in the d dark for years about a secret counterterrorism pgram deveped inhe days after 9/11. did he or did he not break the law by whholding information from lawmakers? we'll have more on tat classified progm wch "the walleet journal" reported today involvedssassinating al qaa operatives the way gold meier just ordered the killing of the murderers a t munich olympics. what put the soon tbe former alaska governorarah palin onhe road to resignation? "new york times" reporta top official from the publican governor's association staged an intervention they calledit and an attempt toaveher governorship and plitical future earlier this year, but his advice was largely ignored. for what it's worth, here is levi johnston's taken his once -- well, his one-time future mother-in-law.

>> she's very smart but i just n't think she can handle stress lel as governor. don't think she canhandle it as presidt or vice president. >> wel that's for what it's worth. we'll have much more on palin motives, if we can get them, we'll get th. it's hard to fige out anybody's motives for itting office. and president obama names his surgeon general today. is this his way of saying it's maker break me for his health plan? that's in "thpolics fix" tonight. finallould therbe another cheney in ofce? more on that in the "hardball sishow." his his daughter z chey. we begin ts day withhe rst day of the cfirmation heings for sonia otomayor. we have o members of the senatejudiciary committee joining usight now. startingith senator dick rb of illinois. i was on the programhis morning covering this thing live, your hearings today, senator. richd wolffe, who is a smart guy, he's got a big bk t about thcampaign, you know him wellhe says this is really a surrogate fight between the

presidt'snemies and our president. let's take a look right no at the judg making her case in her opening statement. >> throughout my 17 year onthe bench, i have witnessed the human consequences of my decions. thosedecisions have not been made to serve the interests of any one litigt, but aays to serve the larger interts of impartial jusce. >> well, that raises the question of whetherher empath for peleisin fact, a prejudice towards certain people. has she addressed that issue so far,enator? >> i tnk she has. i ink shs addressed it, and i think it justtands to reason that each of us, no matter what we do in life, whether we have a "hardball" show orhether we're senators or whether're trying to be on the sreme court, brg our life experience to it. the ople we've met, the experiences we'vhad. 's bound to have some imct. sandra day o'connor grew up in a ranch in arizona.

itade a difference in the way she looked at the rld, the way she analyzedhuman conduct. that'sot ual. >> well, i guess that gets down to the question of affirmative action and whether she on the court wi put her thumb onhe scale in favor ofinorities ainst peopleho might lose in a case where the courts re in favoof minorities. let me get tohe keyuestion here, e ricci case. the supreme court overruled h when she ruled that at the pellate level it was okay for the city of new haven to throw out a test becau the results showed no african-americans passed theest for promoon for refighter. what did you me of her positionn that? did you support her ruling that case? >> ihink her ruli washe only ring that she could have handed down. it reflected 38 years of court decisions. reflected the trial court's cision, the appellate panel's cision, andthe fullappellate court, andhe joined into what was clearly the precedent.

along camehe supreme court a by a 5-4 vote, very cle vote, turned iov and said wee going to do it dferently. how can you hold that against her? i mean, she was reallyaking the w as given to her or the years and applying the law to the set of facts she s given. >> but a lot of people look that as results-based afrmative action, not trying to cate an equalhance at the starting line whh is the goal of affirmative action, a treach which all reasonable people believe in, reaching tout a larger cmunity in justhe usual to gets thefirst ds on jobs through networking. when you get to the questionf ether the results of a test comeut in favor the white guys, you will, and then say we d't like the test because the white guys won it, doesn't th seem prima facie like prejudice against whe guys? >> let's be honest about it. doesn't it? >> it sounds like a coroversial issue that you and i could date and people are going to see differently. her role washe role o judge. they aed her, well here are e set of facts. she says well, as a judge i can tell you wve seen these before. fact, we have seen them for years and here what we've

fod and i'll continue to find that way. if she'd have gone the opposite direction, people would ha sa, oh, she's ajudicial tivist. she's trying to create law. there are other people who could do, it the sreme crt could as well the congress, but she's trying to find the propriate role of the jue and i think she did. >> so you don'think the ricci case was reverse discrimination >> i can tell u, we can argue at ricci case and we wl argueit. we will consider it before congress, but considerer role. she's the judge looking to the settled law, the precedentf years, and she appli it the right way. >> okay. let's take a look at her statement here. this is her back in 2001 at a spch at erkeley. qu i would hope that a wise latina woman with the richness of h expeences would more often than not reh a better concluon than a wte male who ha'tived that life. your view of that? did she take that back today by saying i rul on the law, notn other issues? >> yes, she did. let me tell you, there isn'one of white house hasn't given a spre spch, including chris

matthews anddick durbithat didn't have a line in therend said what did heeally mn. to judge this woman and her lifeti of experience and h experience on the bench by the phrase wise latina is, i think, grasping at straws. thttom line is this woman has a splendid lif story, an aming story. to be sitting up there on that nel today and you could se her spking and then watch her mother's reaio to that, told you is is a great american story that she brings to it. of course she's proud about her puerto rico, being borin the of united states, andhaving served as she has in so many different aspects. and of course shs proud of the fact that she did well in hool. but touggest that that means she's going to be biased goes too far. >> let me ask you about t hyde amendment. do you support it, t refusal to spend federal mney on ortions, period? >>yes. it is basically theettled law and i'm ready to stand by it. think -- >> so despiteheac that the

puerto rican legal defense fund took a different position doesn't bother you about her nomination,he ft that she supp that group. n at all. her job the puerto rican legal defense fund as a volunteeto the board was not to pk and choose cases. you know, that rlly gets into the attorney/client relatiship. it really wato try to guide th organization. whetr you're talking about the naacp or the puerto rican lgal fense fund, as mayor bloombe said, it's only in washington th you can volunteer for a great nonprofit group sving a group, trying tod itsay into the mastream of america and be critized for it. >> so you don't believe jst to finish the point, you don't ink the national alth ram we're going to get i october in tis year, manyf us hope we're going to get, should include federal funding for abortion you think shoulnot. >> it definily should have a nscience clause involved in it so those who cnot in gd conscience provide abortion services willi not be compelled to. i think that's been our settled

situatn in america. >> suld any public program if there is a pc health ce program as part of this plan, should any public proam pay for abortns? >> whait boils down to is whether ill allowealth insurance policies to cover it. think as long as the conscience clause is involved in it, th can i can stand by it and say tt's accepta >> thank you vy much, dick durbin,anking -- actually majority whip of the uted states senate. let's go to senator orrihatch whwas o the committee, has been chairman of the comittee. senator hatch, are youoncerned about her position on abortion rights? i know as senator durn just sa, the hyde andment is settled law. in other words the federal government can't snd taxpayer dollars on abtions. wher do you stand? do y think it might be a dangerous aspec of the new health care plan if that's included? i was just reading the "weekly standard" this weekend and the author in that piece said ere's a posbility that some committee h would be made up of the president and the secretary ofealth and human rvices, kathleen selius, ght rule that it's in, tha a

federally organized health care plan, insuranc plan, would actually pay for abortions. >> i just came fom the health, education, lab, and pensions markup on the so-called health care reform that is the one-sid all-democrat liberal biand they just voted down an amdment that would have sustained the hyde amendment, and they did it mang it very clear that they're going to allowtaxpayer financin of abortis. now, we've never allowed th, but that's how lft wing theye going up heron capitol hi. it's really awful. >> you think that's a deal breaker? >> yeah, there's no question about that. look, we've had the hyde amendmen which has prevented the taxpayersrom being socked for abortions and have their nies used for abortions since 1976. it's been acepted by alst ybody, and here wa in the alth committee -- by the way, i was thene that raised the amendment and it st 12-11. in other wort was a bipartisan fight against it, but even so the 12 liberal democrats on the committee, andhey're

all liberal except for casey from pennsylvania who votedith us, it was 12-11, and that's what they intend to do. ey want theaxpaye -- >> think it's ing to be issue. i think yo side may w this ultimately. t me ask you about sotomayor. she's been a supporter of the erto ricoian legal defense fund which says th it's unconstitutional to deny a woman a taxpayer-supported abortion as part of a heal care plan lik medicaid. do you tnk that might be a problefo her? well, she's on the board of directors. it not just a volunteer job. she was on there for years. as a matter of fact, shesigned a documehat i have in m files agait the use othe death penalty and a whole bunch other ve liberal le wing approaches that the puerto ricoian legal defense nd was for. now, you knw, these are things that really cause a lot o us a lot ofangst. i come at this wanting to supporthe president, wanting to support h, but ese things ke it a little bit tough. th ricci casema it isvery

tough. look, heard senator durbin talk aboutow she was holding the law ast s. that ain't true. in fact, her mentor who wrote the dient on what they did said only was that a case in first impression, but it should have been allowed to -- should ha fced the lower courtto, yoknow, to look at it and get e real fts involved, and it was a very, very bad decisi. what they did is theyrote it in a w thinking that it looke like they were tryg to make sure tt nobody would ever look at it. they put very li into it. didn't talk about the fact it was a pretty poor, shabby way of doing this. even her mentor got very incensed aboutt because of the nature of first impression of that particur case. >> let's tal aboutguns. there a queson in youmind about her view about whether the -- we hav an indivial right to bear arms under the state law asell as under the

federal law? >> well, sheelped wte the opinion in a case that really didn't have to get into that, but she thenin a fotnote just volunteers lgue that shouldn't have been volunteered that the rig to kep a bear ms is not a fundamental right under the constitution. there'no reason why shhad to do that, and, of course, s bad it upon two cases that were -- one waswo centurie ago and the other s i think in the 1930s,nd those cases did not really dwell in that particular t. so, yeah, it's a matter of great concern. ok, she's a veryright woman. she has a great story. he baground is a terrifi background. i li her rsonally, but i am concerned when judges get versed because they do thi thateay are questionable. she's had 8 of 10 cases take up by the supreme cou reversed. then the ricci case i remember

senator durbin saying it was a 5-4 decision. yeah, it was in one sense, but all nine justices basally said that the case had to go back to t the real fac nvolved, and alnine justices disagreed with what she did, and even though e case was 5-4, that s -- thfour we theiberal justices on the court who basically, you know, basally neve see discrimination aainst white fireters orhite workers under y circumstances. >> well,thank you very much, senator orrin hatch of utah. one of the top repuicans on the senate committ looking into nomination judge sonia sotomayor. coming up, the secret cia program di cheney didn't want ngress to know about. this is ris business. democrats want a investigation into why the former vi president repordly kept it from conessional leaders. the cia is up to. know what he, accordinto this report, did not want them t know abt this assassination plan.

why did di cheney do it did he bre the law? we'lcome to that when we come back. the chancesf a full-blo investigation red hot. u're watching "hdball" only on msnbc. yohave questions. who o can give you the financial l advice y y need? where will youind the stability and reurs totoeep yoahead of this rapiy evving world? these are tough questitions. ththat's why we brought totogeth t of the most porf names in the industr introducing morgan sta smith barney. here to rethinkkwealth . here to o answer.. your questions. morg stanley smith barney. a new wealth manament firm with o over 130 0 ars of experience.

>> coming up,nene revelations th may tell us more a aut why alaska govoverrr sarah palin has decided to quit.

welcome back too "hardrdba." "t new york times" reporor that former vivicereredent dick chey ordered t theia too withhoholdnfnfmation abbouaa counterterrorism program from congressss, dd now that some mocrats want to see somee ininveigigatn of that intoo th narere of t tisis prograram,hahi was exexacy,y,nd w why cheheyy t congressional leleads s inhe da. so whatxaxaly was thisissecret counterterrorism progrgramndnd w it illllalal to keeeep it fromo congress? david corn is the washingtoton

bureau chief for m mheher nes gagane and aololnist foror cg politics and nnis an ininststigive reporter and th author o oththe book "e one percent doctrine." ron, you are the expert.. what was cheneyy up t here exactly? wh did he authorizizend whatt did he keeppececret fromom t coreress >> this isishehe ely daysafafr 9/.. the cia was feeling it ndedeto bud d alst a pamilitary papality to match up with this vast network,,this weweb, this mamaix that was buildinginin tetermof commumunititionand fifincncia rveillance. k know a lot aboutt that. thth view was t ttt essentially cia would sort of t al qaeae ap opoperives, and they would lead us to cellss andhehen ey'd use thth capability to t tahe lls out. at the start o othe so-o-caeded war on teor, the cia viewed itself essentitial a a a fightig agent, as a fightiting eitit and part of what w wrere seeing her are what hapapped d these rly

days, cheney said asas f a a i derstand from s se calls i have been makingng,, ooook, u e get to a a frfruion, therere'noo need to bef this to a aybody. who the hell ischchey -- first of all, let's get this straight, ron.n. somebody hasas g t toake a rerefrhehecourse on the u.s. constitution. evevenththou thth g gornrnnt -- weavave know what the e llll happened rere. cheney had no constitutition authority, noo executive auorory under the constitution. 's simply there to rerepridide over the u uteted ates senanate how did heetet the authority to tell the ciaia too do ananytng, much likee conduct annundercove activity and notot t tl the coress about ii the congressss h auththory.y. hehe h none. why did t the take orders from m?m? >> everything g >> i just want toonn why dd the damn cia listen to h him foa second? he had no exexetitive aththity. how could he getetaway withh t? this keeeepsetetti worse and worse and worse. y does anybody let that man haveve ecucuve authority.y. had none.

goead. yoyourththohts. >>ee w acting o o matters of intelligence e eenentily as the president. who said so? wh t tl thecicia to takeeorders fromom tss guy? >> well, youunonow -- > justst a a minute. >> cheney -- the f fa is it's just thehe way this president, presesidt t bu, structured his white house. cia would brrie the presidentnt and the vice e prididt and then e vice presidentnt ululd essentiaiay y ta over.r. he would be trereor taily operationana briefs -- >> what does t ts all say aboutt bush being the dedeci fer t th guy decides wat congress knows ababou counterterrororis >> there was a a variety of eae that i h havritten abouou and others have as weell that the president essentiaiall says jus mamakeure it getsdone and i don't wantntoo ow anynymo a a dickck wl l hale it fromhere. th i is one of t thearas. so the president casas of ememgency can bee deniable abou some of these t thigsgs that we doing that he neverr or the united states never s shodd essentialllly ta responsisilily fofor. that was thehe w this syem worked.. >> is this runaway government -- wh is this? there's no c conititional cecks

onhis guy because he won't let congress know ababt t t he has o constitutitialal aountability bebecae e has no nstitutional auorory. in otherer wdsds, the president tells cheney h hcan do memethg, he tells thehe cia to keke oers from hi dodoeshe president everall the cia directoror ansay te e ders omom eney? >> i iwawas structure s set up oioid accountability by th esesidt specifically. at was the whole id. >> g g ahd,d, david crnrn are e uu surprised by this? thatat cheney can givive orderso the cia? >> i have to say i'm nott rprised. as r ronasas written,n, a i wk o the book whike ikoko -- >> youou guys are writingooooks after ththfat. it didn't't d us ch good at t te time. >>'m sorry. lolot reporters were asep t thewitch at that te.e. the ciaa s sers the president. the president says,, he this is mymyuyuy - >> do you knowow ihehever told th that? > d don know if he side ththt but there's a a w way in burereauacac-- you knowow h washingtononororks better t tn anyone lse. if the preresintntends aignal, you deal with dick - >> nn you imagagee lindeden zwronson callili t cicia teining em what to do?

it's uninimananabl >> depenen how you structurere the -- >> spiroro agnew -- name aicic president t inisisto that would ve given an order t the a. >hehe ieresting thing about the story soso f is that even democrats onon the h hi have sa atat tre's notececsarily ytythi that was wrrgg with what the cia wasrying t o.o. we can'te sure b beuse we dodot have the dails buteere we have chhen oncegain owowg his utterer disregard f f publican governments s -- >> so whyhy do we have election? wewe'r here i i " "thwawalltree joururl"l" rorting today. amid the highgh alert following the september 11th teorist atckck a small ci u uitit examined the penenti for targeteded assassinationsff al qaa operatives. acaccoiningo threeororme officials. so officials who advocated the approaches were seeking t b bui teams s c cia and military spspiaial rce commandos to emulate whatathehe israelis did afrr the munich olympics saidd anotherr former intntliligee officicial quote, it wassststraht out of e movies.s. one o othe former intelligencnc

officials id it wassike lt't's kill them allll. let's get ayay from the e exa substancncofof t question of auorory to do th.. ii rember oliverr rth andllll the e llll w w wnt thugh when e ha renegadade people doing stuff without constitutition authority, b butouou say t tss president saididoo hihi vice e presidenent,ououdo this didirt wowork w watat he usedtoto c ca dark side ororhatever enen called i it,ndnd d't tell m m about it do we k kw that hahapnened? >> have no doubt therere was that conveveatatio >> but we don't t owow tre was. could d itee cheney's manner, hs ability y toimply take a ahohori went alonggwiwi the president'ss delusion he was thee dededer? >> n no- >> that ththernener was a coconvsation. > tpresident uererstd the structure here. you kw,w, he was no fol. he was in ththe itithouse. but t wh h hapns here is essentiaiallhehe got a violation of thehe b bic i iueues of accountabilityty iaa democracy. enen could operate this. we're not talking ollie nororth now. we're talking the viicereresint of the u uteted ates acting as esident who is directing in

this casenot only vaast surveillance activivitss b ostetenslyly papamimiliry unitso rrrry rough to some sort of outcome what we'e're finding. what's interesting andnd iororta is that w didn'tctually use these units because t th surveillllan w wasnot strongndnd targeted enonoug f fnkly, to employ thehe you know, andnd ththat o onef the reasons why pen nett petettaan so eaily clcle the program. >he presisintnt sll ensure the congressional ininlllligce committeeses a k kt fullyly a rrently informedofofhe intelllligcece activities of the united s stas s inuding a significant atitipated intelligence activivy.y. so if tt's the lawcccoing to these reports the v vcece president v vlated them. >> listst,, there didn't't hee bebe t conversasaonon y're asking us s abt t tweenbush and chchey. think after 9/11 it w was pretty clear to both ofhhem what their roles were going to be. now, cheney i i a guyuy who wodn't even give up the nameses of the people who cacame to tal

his staff aboutnergy issues. so, of course, wenent comes-- > he would never tll us whoh wawas the --- >> on ise after issue he said i'm nonot ining sharare tisis h congressss. i don't trust ththes guys. which meanss h doesn'trurustur ve stsm. the only way yore alolod to do s secreret uff under our cotitution is if there's somome sort o oversighttby people who e elected b the general president,otot jt t th presididtt a vice president. >t's amazing welelectvivi presidenent eneneynd scooter liy to rurunur country.. >> this cacabebe investigated b the house and s sene -- >> will l he they have theererv to do it? david,d, u're an expert. sosorr r ron dodo y think the house and senate have thee guts, the strengthth, dand a fufu o o the record explanation from the vice presiside r regding thth,, includudinscscter libby, anan david edaddington, the w wlele of them. >> i think wtt p pnenett is doig here is throwingg tisis up to

obama sayingthth seems to b b aa violation of law, ololion of lathat's clear, anddhat in way eowows obbam to s say i'm sisily upholding theawaws. that's wheheree might tt some action herere. >> ron, i wantnt y o on again ts week. please come back.k. ron n d d david, you're alwlway weome here. >> speaking of dickchchen, could weweeeee a cnney family political dynasty?? llll, 'll see. ththat a little more ivivia ick and for the "sideshow" nextanand that's where that topc belongs. yoyou' watching "hardball" o oy on msnbc. but we can't pdict our shipping costs. dallas. . detro. different rates. well with us, it's the same flat rate. sa flat rate. boston. boise? sa flat rate. alabama. alaska? witpriority mail flat rate boxes from the postal service. if it fits, it ships anywhere in the country for a a low flat rate dude's good. dude's real good. dus. priority mail flat rate boboxs only from the e ststalervice. a simpler way to ship.p.

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whatn openi. back tohardball." time for the "sideshow." first up, dick cheney's daughter, liz, has bee making the media rounds a we know for months. parently to defend her father's tenure as vice president anthe ma who many believe was t real deciderf the last inistration.

ceaiy that was thecase when it cam to matts of war and the cases ma for war. also, as we just learned from "the new york times" of eping congrenh dar about cia operations, which "the wall street journal" reported day included assassination teams, if assassinatn is the right word to use for killing al qaeda operates. inntering the politil fray is liz chene consider a run forffice herlf? here is what she toldthe washington times radio show today. >> are you yoursel planning to run for a political office some pointn time? >>t's not something that i am going to d right away, but i am solutely in aweof and inspired by peop who do run for office, and i have ent lot of time working on promoting mocracy around the world and 'sust made m really gratul for our system and i think it's given me a real understandg of how important it is for people to partipe. sot's something i may well do down the road here.

i hope to, you know, have the opportunity at so point ve that makeense for family on. everything elsehat's goi >> actllit sound like she's caught the politica bug. time foronight big number. "the wall street journal" economists and asked them to rate president obama handlin of this financial csis we're in right no well, as a marker, former president bush earned a dian grade o50 out of 100, a failing mark imost schools. how does the new president rate? the economists gave ident obama a mian grade of70 out of 100, a passg grade, but naowly. it's not alws going to be this y, but we can lla, i tnk thatthe hell we're fing economally, the unemployment numbers r exame arose out of the polici of the lastight years, the mistimed and misapplied bush tax cut jmed through, and, of course, the haiburton war economics of the last eight yea, not the ge

steps the last half year to blame. anyway, bottom line so far, president obama gets a passing gre fromhexperts of 7-0. he didn't pass by flyi colors. up nexthenarah palin annound she wasuitting as alaska gvernor she left many questionout there. why, why, why? we have some answers to the whys, why she quit, in light of what's going on. we'll try to figure that out and what might be in her immediate future besides making money on a speaeang tou you'u' w wating "hardball" only msnbc.

>>i'i'm juliaboorstin with your cnbc market wrap. stocks rgrged more than 2% todod on light tradiningndnd a bullish report on bank. ththe w gained 185.

the s&p is 21 and the nasdaq ded 37 pointnts. > big bananks benefitted fro rerert by analyst meredidith whitney. shprpricted strong short-term gains on new regulations within the mortgage instry. goldman sacks,back o erica, and jpmor chase all adding at least 5%. but whitey also warned unemployment ilikely to h at least %. the obama administration's auto taskforce's steve ratman is stepping down. heill be placed by ron oom. convicted swindler bern madoff is on s way to a federal prisoner wheree's sentceto spend thnext 150 years. > that's it from cnbc, first in business worldwide. now ck to "hardball."

the21st ceur hits "hardball" tonight. did you see the graphics? welcome back. sarah palin's erywra as shs the front page of day's "new york times" in a piece abo her road t resigning, and she's the cover of "time" magazine dubbed the renegade, andtoday in a newly relsefederal election commission report we learned she definitely knows how to raise ney. she may have resign of alaska governorecause of it, butis she stoppable. ? pat bauuchanaand gu yeeugene roon. she's appant raised three arters of a million dollars alrey on behalf of her p. she's obviously ady to sign up with some speak bureau. shs going to be out there, gene. i guess there's nourprise if you think of self-interest why she quit the governorship. shedoesn't have to put up with some intramural fht for nding. home is the rst place to be

r most liticians, but is there another sty here? is she on the road to being the nonee for next time ainst barack obama >> you knw, i really ubt it. >> do you really doubt it? really? or are you afraid of it? >> no, i really doub it. there was a time right afte the electi when patlmost had me convinceth sarah palin was the future of the republican party. i evenrote a column saying watch t for palin, democrats should pay atttion t her. i just think this leaving the governor's officthe way she did, the chaoshat there's been up the in the pt few months, justhe general -- >> but she's going to blamyou and me and everybody else for doing this. she quit because the national media woul't get f her ckside. >> ion't think she's got what it takes to actually run for president or to actually -- >> i wond what pat and a par that's dn to 26%f the electora right now that only includes the rit, isn't she perfectly equippedo be the nominee this point? roger simon said on "meet the prs" yesterday that she'd beat mitt romney tomorr or today if they had a fight. >> it would have t take one

year going out to iowa. she wld beat him today, i'm not sure if se'beat him after a year. >>ho is the better speaker do >> sarah palin is one -- >> who i the beat cane >> pal is the better campaigner and speaker. she's a sensation. the question is can she get the middle america - >> why shou sheed the middle if the rig swing controls your party? >> there's no doubt she could win the nomination, b i have a hard time believing she uld win the presidency of thenited states unless the country is in a realeneral disaster becau of the issue of credibility -- >> okay >> and confidence at -- >> okay. you gys are all historians of politics. we all love the history looking back. when a party lks they can't beat the ncumbent, whether 's '64 with goldwater or '72 with mcgovern and you were on the other de of that fight, that's when they go to the far corner politically. when you can't win, you have so fun. you follow your ideology. isn't that the perfect settin right now, if you can't beat th, have some fun running --

>> if he's running, back obama stays runng at 60% over romney and her, i think t do would be to nominate he but the question sooim not sure she's going to run. th was a devastating piece in "the new york times" in this sense. show whats a tremendous essure this womanhas been unr, family isnder attack. she's got these bis. she's got fiveids, granaughtethere. she's got ethics arges, runs alaska- >> "t new york times" report -- >> wrote boo >> reported today in the front page story, righ on the front, paraphrase it, main point,the repuic governor' association sent the top git out to advertise her keep a neat schele, find a way to -- >> find a way to answer your phone cas. >> she said i n't want to do that. that's n my plan. i want to be renegade. >> it's in the context, as pat said, really this atmosere of crisis in the family and, you know in the ke othe grt disruption of hing -- >> why would the governor's

coerence send some guy up the to tell you ho ton yo office? i don't get it but -- >> it is cdescending to say the least. >> she's a vicprident candide -- >> sharpen your pencils and take good notes. here is yo copy bok. heres the father of palin's grandson. levi johnstonn the "today" show. i have a problem quoting this guy, but he is afamily member, younow you never know how muchntrigue there ith these guys. here he is on the "today" show this morning goingafter his almost former -- well, his almost currentmother-in-law, which is not surprising in american le either, a fig like this. but here he is. >> almo, was going to be. she means a lot to me. you know, i'd do just ou anything forher, but i rlly don't think would vote for her if she ran for president >> do you believe she's equped to be president? >> yes and no. >> uh-huh. >> i mean, she's very smart, but

i juston't think she can handle the se levels governor i don't think she can handle it as president or vice president. thers your wiess, pat. weouldn find kaylokale lynn. >> i saidodd palin ought to take that kid des moines to the creek and hold his head under ter tll the thrashing stopped. >> i tnk she may have been winn in that one, the mother-in-law. >> this is one of her problems. she's up there withhese eics charges, she got this stuff on the "today" show. >>'m tagiking her side. >>t's not all the world against h palin. sah lin created some of this herself. my question is was th resignatn aned muskie moment, a howard dean sam? was this a momenthat -- >> in 1966 when you signed up with dck nixon and you said we have to talk about'68, he said firs'66.

could it be he '66 is 2010. sh campaigns arou the country, couple guys ke chlie crist win anay, tom corbin wins in pennsylvania. goround the countr five or six guys winand she campaigned for them, and the she claims picked u 23 seat inhe united states cgress. >> youdo this -- nixon, we went to 80 congressional dirgets, 35 states. what she does is campaign al over the country f these s, read and study as s's doing this -- >> pick nners. >> bi speeches ere she makes a febucks to pay off these debts and take a look and see if she wants to go for thatear in iowa and new hashire and whether e's up to doing tt wi the famdifficulties -- >>ut in the meantime she scores some victories. you got to gi her cdit,this is her pn. will it work? >> she can ra up a bun -- she hangs out with whitma she might win. hangs o wh tombin he probably wince four or five winners and she's part of eam.

>> if yore meg whitman and you want to be governoof california, do you say sarah palin come on, campaign with me. >> the inlnd counties. thank you pat buchanan. we'll be right ck. >> inland empire. >> we agree it' '66. route 66 for sah palin. up next, h hard will the reblicans grill sonia sotomayor when the questioning gets tough? are they gng to becareful? up or heheolitics fix" is up next. this is "hardball" only on msnbc.

cocomi u u president t amam ds another playertoto his health cararteteam but will it geget s s om to a victory. arardbl" returns after this.

unless you have complete melt-down, you're going get confirmed. and i don't think you wi. but, you know, the drama's being cread here is interesting. >> that's media-art lindsey graham of south carolina. we're back. it's time for "the politics f from howard fineman sitting across from me from h brand newstudio, "newsweek" expert. let me srt with the personal story. i wantmaria teresa to pick up on this. i want t tell you what grabbed me. i admit to having one of those matthews thrills today. when they talk -- when she talked andt big, hpy face of hers, and i mean it

positively, she came across as so real. when shealked about the way she and he mom, her mom going for anrn, registered rse certificate, and sat with her brher juan, and theyall did their hework together. i justimagine in cramped quarters in some kchen, the ell of the food still there. i can see theroom. it grab med. >> for me it was pnal. >> how ty lled themselves up by their bostraps, that family >> for me that was personal ory. that's basical what my mother ani did, believe i or not. i was studying to graduate fro college, my mother w getting heaa at the sametime. it was something that f me wa personal and i identified with more than anytngher story is qutessential america. i think there's parts of her story that every single american and household can idtify with, whether losi a father, whether a sine moth, whether struggling becau you're the only woman in the room or yore the only ethnic nority in the ro, or because you allf a sudden decidedhat you're going inteen and save basebal forhe rest america. it'srettyspecial. >> let's listen to theominee

hersf making that case. her story. >> on her n, my mother raised my brother an me. she taught us at the key to success in ari is a good education. and she set the example. studng alongside my brother and me atur kitchen table so that she could become a registed nur. ourcevements are due tohe lues that w lrned as children. and they hav continued to guide my le's endeavors. >> powerful. well, i was -- i was sitting right there, a few rows behind her. right after se id that,he turned around to her mother,who was sitting right behd her, and said, aost whispered, "thank you, mom." it was a privatmoment. but a wonderful momen and encapsuleshe difficulties that repubcans ll have in deraing her. becausey're trying to portray somebo who is out

themainstream, who relies on emotion, notn logic, on hnicity, not on hard work. everythingbout her story, everytng about the way she esents herself -- the cm and the digni and the workmanlike fashion she's li her fe -- undercuts what the republican message is goingo be. so that personal moment is also very important polical one. >> it's the first time, maria trs sa, i've heard somebody admit thweated to get a scholarship. they didn't ge it out of seer iq or s.a.t. oraking ability like so ny people we know. she did it becae she sat at that table and did her homework, hours and hours and hours of it, to get it right so she could move to a schol like princeton. >> incredible. i think that sh does, shs communicating to alarge partof population sing, you can do ias well. that is i think what the republicans e going to have a hard time. i think lindsey graham, you said it. he's media-savvy. he reales there are othrs of millions o aricans listening to this confirmatn hearing. the way they started offe

sessions spefilly was tough. they were trying to label her as a latinoman that basically wasn't sure if she merit being there because she might b viewing the wor too much in thoslines. >> i think if i were a minori like that, of any minority status like that, and immigrant like my parents' grandparents wer iould y, what more do tey want from sinus we'll be right back with howardineman and maria teres r "the politics fix."" ♪

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