and i am grateful for the work that they've already done. i'm confident that we're going to be putting in a lot more hours. there are going to be a lot more sleepless nights. but eventually, this is going to happen. >> mr. simon, place your bet. >> i think health care reform is not in trouble yet. but it's on the verge of being in trouble. i think douglas' statement at the cbo is an extremely damaging one. because it strikes at the heart of what president obama is saying. president obama's fundamental argument is, we can't do nothing. because if we do nothing, health care gets more expensive and the system collapses. elm. nichlt dorf is saying, well, he's half-right. if we do nothing health care does get more expensive. but if we do what president obama wants, it gets even more expensive. therefore doing nothing becomes an acceptable option. whenever you give congress the option of doing nothing, they're going to take it. so this could be a real death

knell, unless the administration can take on the facts and figures how we're going to pay for this thing. >> do you want to bet on the history of doing nothing or bet on the president on this one? >> so far he's been very much a wunkerkind. when you have supporters scratching their head and please let us come back after august to revisit this and have a sustainable system where we're not bankrupting the economy more than it already is, i think he has a tough road ahead of him. >> roger simon, what do you think they'll get before the august recess? do you think they'll get out of the senate finance committee? >> i don't know. i suspect -- i don't think he is really going to get a health care bill from the house and senate by the august recess. and i'm not sure he's going to get a bill on his desk -- >> we're going to have to leave it there. thank you, roger simon and maria teresa kumar.

right now, it's time for "the ed show," with ed schultz. i'm ed schultz. this is "the ed show." good evening, americans. live from 30 rock in new york, it's "the ed show" on msnbc. you heard it here first. howe now it's official. the house intelligence committee chairman sylvester rayers confirms there will be an investigation into dick cheney and the cia and why they didn't brief the congress. yes! the right's talking about taxing and spending and some democrats are starting to get some weak knees on this again. we'll straighten them out tonight. one of them's joe lieberman. he's acting up again. i've got a message for them tonight, that's right. less than one year after the bailout, wall street's making

some money again. how's this working out? i thought government wasn't supposed to get involved in any of this kind of stuff. another republican talking point bites the dust. this country, serious business. not doing right by our female veterans. we're going to talk about that tonight. we could do a lot better. we'll visit with paul rykoff. liz winstead is with us tonight. i want you to get out your cell phones and be read to communicate with us tonight. do you think the democrats are going to get held up on this health care because of information we're going to give to you? that's coming up, stay with us. first tonight's "op ed." the president came out late on friday afternoon to make a statement about health care. what's going on here? who's winning this thing? now, the democrats, there are some of them in the congress who are acting as if barack obama actually did not win the election. and i think a lot of americans are starting to forget just how george w. bush and his

administration butchered this country for eight years. now, i'm telling you tonight, folks. don't get fooled again. we don't need republicans at all. every democrat gets on board, we can get exactly what we want when it comes to health care reform. we can get exactly what we want with the public option. that's what everybody's talking about. but you see, we've got some shaky democrats out there. i guess you could call them republican-enablers. and they get my blood boiling. now, the republicans think that they have found just the ammunition they need. you see, here's what the director of the nonpartisan congressional budget office had to say recently about the democratic plan. >> we do not see the sort of fundamental changes that would be necessary to reduce the trajectory of federal health spend is by a significant amount. on the contrary, the legislation significantly expands the

federal responsibility for health care costs. >> oh, please. tell the whole story. now, the right has jumped all over this, saying that it's just going to cost way too much money. what they aren't telling you is that the cbo report is really not complete. it's based on if there's no new revenue streams coming into the treasury. the cbo report only looks at the money that is going out. it doesn't account for the money that's coming in. there's going to have to be a lot more money coming in, and obviously the taxes are going to be going up already let's go inside the numbers on this. the cbo says health care will cost $1.2 trillion over the next 10 years. if we tax the top 1.2% of income earners in this country making over $1 million a year, that will bring in $544 billion. that puts us just under $1 trillion. let's keep going here. the bush tax cuts cost this country $715 billion.

now, when those tax cuts expire, the government's going to get that $715 billion coming into the treasury. reform will basically cost zero. and we will get the obama plan exactly the way the president wants it. now, by my math, the only cost of health care reform, you know, is dick cheney's taxes are going to go up a little bit. i'm sure you're okay with that. senator jay rockefeller told me last night on this program, if we tax the top 2% we can basically pay for any kind of health care reform we want to do in this country and get everybody covered. i think this is an easy sell. we've got some democrats who just don't seem to be able to get on board with this public option. they are the usual suspects. one of them, a close friend of mine. max baucus from montana. kent conrad from north dakota. still pushing this co-op thing. and these other four democrats who sent a letter to president obama asking for more time.

ben nelson, larry landrieu, joe lieberman, larry wyden. rahm emanuel brought in all the freshman democrats, gave them a lesson how the world is going to turn. if it hadn't gone for president obama, they probably wouldn't be in their position. he went to the microphone in a middle of the friday afternoon, to grab ahold of the sound culture and address the naysayers. >> now is not the time to slow down. now certainly is not the time to lose heart. those who are betting against this happening this year are badly mistaken. we are going to get this done. we will reform health care. it will happen this year. i'm absolutely convinced of that. >> all right. i want to address one of the senators. just a little history check here. who's cause something trouble for the obama administration when it comes to the public option. and we have to slow down so

much. it's ben nelson of nebraska. fine gentleman. good senator. but he's on the wrong side of the issue on this one. he's waffling on a public option. now, it seems like ben nelson is always the fly in the ointment every time the progressives want to get something done in this country. if you'll remember correctly, it was ben nelson's vote who helped along the bush tax cuts to the tune of $715 billion for the rich in this country. how did that work out? going from surpluses to budget deficits. ben, you're no authority on money this time. stay away from the president. give this man what he wants. now, on that sell-out, on that sell-out for the bush tax cuts, what did ben nelson get for the state of nebraska? he got a bunch of millions of dollars for, of all things in the middle of the country, homeland security. hope everything is safe in nebraska. i mean, this is the kind of stuff that's going on right now. the president won nine bush

states. there has been a mandate. what don't these conservative democrats get about what's going on? now, over on the house side, it looks like it's getting to be about a little bit heavier of a lift. joining me is democratic congressman joe courtney of connecticut. good to have you with us tonight. you're getting a lot of blog traffic, my man. you're getting -- the people be talking about your stuff, all right? is it true that you have decided not to take your health care until the country gets theirs when it comes to equality, about what they get in the congress and what the public should get? >> that's right, ed. thanks for the invitation this evening. when i ran for congress in 2006 i made a pledge to the people of my district, which is that i would not expect them to subsidize and pay for my health insurance until we have a system which gave them the same opportunity. you know, one of the things that is so galling to my constitt wents and i think millions of americans is that we've got people down here in washington,

d.c. who the day they're sworn into office, they get a pin, they get a voting card, they get a health plan paid for by the american taxpayer. yet some of these same folks are the ones who are saying, well, it's too soon, we got to wait, we can't afford to give the people the taxpayers who are providing their insurance. >> sure. all right, this cbo report that has come out on the senate side, everybody's all upset about this saying, we can't get it done. it does not take into account the money that the treasury would get if we taxed the top 2%. but do you think the democrats are starting to use this as cover so they can back away from any kind of public option? >> well, certainly there's some noise out there. but the ironic thing is what cbo has told us, that actually a public option saves health care reform more money than it costs. i mean, you know this, ed. that the reason why a public option is so important, aside from a stable choice for people, is that it's actually -- it's run more efficiently and will actually bring down costs for the overall health care reform

effort. so that's a bad argument for people out there making it. >> what do you make of some conservative democrats who are saying that, well, they're not for the public option because it's connected to medicare reimbursement rates, and that's just not going to be fair to the private sector, and in fact it might even run them out of business. >> well, they should certainly surrender their label as fiscal conservatives. because the fact of the matter is that medicare, as you know, runs a very efficient program. very low overhead. and the plan that we are looking at is medicare plus 5%. so we're actually not really strictly tied to medicare on the public option. >> and i understand that insurance rates in your state is going up 32%? did i hear that correctly? >> that's right. people really want to see what the status quo is, blue cross is requesting a 32% rate increase for the individual market, which is as you know the worst end of the system. >> okay. congressman, good to have you with us tonight, i appreciate your time. >> keep it up. >> i commend you for what you're doing.

you're an unselfish american. thank you so much. i want to go now to another lawmaker who's on the phone, who has been up for 36 hours working on this. ohio congressman dennis kucinich. i believe is really doing the country a service. he has been able to get an amendment coming out of one of the committees that deals with single payer. congressman, good to have you with us tonight. >> great to be with you. >> you bet, sir. what were you able to get that deals with single payer in dealing with the states? >> question won a major legislative victory today for single payer option. it was 14 democrats and 13 republicans voted yes. and what it does is it moves single payer option at the state level forward by making sure that states will have the right to waive the application of the employment retirement security act, erisa, which in the past has been used to nullify efforts to expand state or local government health care.

>> okay. so this means that there is going to be an opportunity for the 50 states of the united states of america to go back to their states and say, hey, look, if we could put together single payer, people are going to go along with it, we've got the framework to do it. >> what it means that is the erisa law, which in the past has been used to nullify efforts to expand state or government health care, won't do that anymore. under my amendment, a state will have an application for a waiver that will be granted automatically. once the state signs into law single payer plan. so for the first time, you're going to have the state single payer health option shielded from an erisa-based legal attack. keep in mind, ed, california, colorado, illinois, minnesota, montana, new mexico, new york, ohio, pennsylvania, and washington all have active single payer efforts in their legislatures. this is where inevitably this health care movement is going. and today's amendment enables it to happen. >> okay. thanks, congressman, i appreciate your time tonight. dennis cue sintive with us on

the phone here on "the ed show." i want to know what you think. will the new cbo report derail democrats on health care? "a" for yes, "b" for no, to 622639. will this cbo report derail the democratic efforts? we'll bring you the results later in the show. for more on this, i would like to go to our nbc correspondent mike who's been working at the white house today. what's this, the president coming out, jumping in the fray on a friday afternoon? what are we supposed to take from that? >> i got to tell you, that cbo statement by douglas elmendorf threw a scare into democrats. the interpretation here in washington is that this goes right to the heart of the rationale for this whole exercise to begin with. the president, democrats have said time and time again not only do we want to ensure the 50 million americans who do not have health insurance at this point, but we also want to bring

down the so-called cost curve. keep from it going up in the long-term. we want it to go down in the long-term. and elmendorf said the opposite would happen, it was going to go up. republicans on the attack. nancy pelosi, charlie rangel, george miller who is up until 6:00 a.m. marking up his portion of the bill, in his education and labor committee, appeared trying to accentuate the positives, saying they're moving forward, this is further than they've ever gone in congress on a scale of this nature in trying to reform health care. there is still the energy and commerce committee led by henry waxman. that's going to be going on up until wednesday. at 3:15, when we walked through this driveway this morning coming to the press room, we didn't think the president had anything on his public schedule. but always gives us pause. sure enough, 3:15 a very stern and forceful president obama came out, trying to get back on offense, trying to get back out

ahead of the story before we head into the weekend. >> there's another story developing this afternoon, mike, the house intelligence committee chairman, sylvester reyes, has said that there will be a house investigation into dick cheney and the cia, and they want to know why the congress was not briefed. is there any white house reaction to this today? >> not as of yet. we all know where the president has come down on this. and that coupled with the issue of whether there's going to be any investigation into waterboarding, of course, ag holder considering that as we speak at this time. jan shacowski. the democrat from chicago. she's been there 2 1/2 years, been very vocal over the last weekend as you know saying the cia has lied to her four times in the 2 1/2 years she's been on that committee. she says she's going to lead a full investigation to explore certain cia programs and how the committee was informed. she doesn't have a time line. they're just starting to collect documents. pete huckster is the republican

counterpart, republican on that committee, says he was mice-led. he's been in negotiations with the chairman of that committee, sylvester reyes of el paso, another democrat. they were talking about a review, not an investigation. he says that this smells like a cover job. according to republican pete hoekstra, to cover for nancy pelosi. of course this is something republicans have been talking about in the past week. they interpret this as the cover for her because of the accusations she's made about the cia misleading her. >> mike with us tonight on "the ed show," thanks so much. we should point out that this house investigation, folks, has got -- they've got subpoena power. let's get dick cheney, let's get george tenet. we could have all kinds of fun with new information, couldn't we? i can't wait. we'll talk about it a lot next week on this program. coming up, banks that took bailout money are turning a dollar. so, if the government throws money at a problem, wait a minute, i thought that wasn't supposed to work.

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show." well, less than a year after the financial crisis started, bailed-out banks are posting huge profits. how about this. goldman sachs, $3.4 billion. jpmorgan, $2.7 billion. bank of america's in there, $3.2 billion. citigroup coming in at $4.3 billion. so, the big boys on wall street are making money. but i have to ask, and now that they're making profits, is this a success? can we call this a bush/obama successful program? is the government program working to keep our financial system afloat? president obama supported this in a big way. throwing money at problems and having it work is not exactly what the right wing is all about, is it? joining me for more on this is one of the great entrepreneurs and friend of mine, leo hendry,

mana good to have you tonight. how do the average joes out there take this when they see that our tax dollars went to wall street, they're posting big profits, but we really don't feel this recovery yet. >> i think your intro really posed the question for us. this is an important week, ed. three questions. have we resuscitated wall street? or have we reformed it? are we, in fact, seeing monies come into the lending, which was the whole principle, and especially are we seeing it come into the small and medium-sized businesses? the answer to all three questions this week was no, no, and no. the profits you've just described, they were enormous. in some cases obscene. if you dig down into those numbers, they were 100% from trading. selling of assets and trading. exact kind of behavior that we are trying to dismotivate, not motivate. and now we have to ask, in the same number set, are we lending to american businesses? and the answer is, we're not. and we're especially not -- i

was down in congress today, ed -- we're especially not lending to the small and medium-sized businesses. >> i know that you have been telling congress, you've got to get cheap money to small businesses to make this a complete recovery, to get risk-takers into the market. but these profits that have been posted now by these big four financial institutions, they're going to come back and say, see? we don't need regulation, you've got to stay away. is this a challenge for the obama administration at this point? >> this is a huge challenge. because these are the very same type of profits that brought us to our knees just last year. the canary in the coal mine in this whole week has been cit. a lend cog that has 1 million customers. 950,000 of them are small and medium-sized businesses. it's being allowed to fail, it looks like this week. while goldman sachs, bank of america, morgan stanley, and jpmorgan are back trading with none of the changes, none of the reform, that we were promised.

all that's happened, ed, is we've reblown the balloon. >> this is the next big thing the obama administration's got to tackle. >> after health care. i know they're working it. the focus really hasn't been -- >> this is one where we claim victory, yet when you dig down into the numbers on the victory, again, these are trading profits. >> glass eagle needs to be put back into place? >> 100%. should never have been cansed. the snar from north dakota was right in 1999. put it back, andput it back tomorrow -- cheap money to businesses. do you think the obama administration gets that? >> i don't even think it has to be cheap money, it just has to be money. >> available? >> yeah, i mean, there is -- i think the principle that's being violated is, we are not back to lending. >> leo hendry, great to have you with us. >> always a pleasure, ed. coming up next on "the ed show," it's "psycho talk." a republican lawmaker uses an abortion debate to wonder, what if president obama was never

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it's friday night, so we love it so much, why don't we do just a double "psycho talk," get you ready for the weekend. double the fun. senator jim demint from south carolina is back with his

demeanted thoughts about health care reform. first up he told a christian magazine he would not be able to persuade his colleagues to do the right thing, so "i'm just going to have to create pain." nice. second, when announced this morning on his conference call, "this health care issue is d-day for freedom in america. if we're able to stop obama on this, it will be his wateralthough. it will break him." gosh, that kind of falls into the philosophy of the drugster and all that talk about obama failing, doesn't it? gosh, they all stick together. okay, and then there's this nut job from kansas. republican congressman todd teehart. in a house floor speak against public funding of abortions the congressman posed this question. if abortions were free just imagine who would never have been born. listen to who he comes up with this time. >> there's a financial incentive that will be put in place, paid

for by tax dollars, that will encourage women who are in -- single parents, living below the poverty level, to have the opportunity for a free abortion. if you take that scenario and apply it to many of the great minds we have today, who would we have been deprived of? our president grew up in similar circumstances. if that financial incentive was in place, is it possible that his mother may have taken advantage of it? clarence thomas, supreme court justice. if those circumstances were in place, is it possible we would have been denied his great mind? >> wow. with all the trouble republicans seem to have having with minorities, why would you think only african-americans are the ones who might never have been born? yes, you did hear some boos in the background of the congress, because all his colleagues agree he's nuts. so between senator demint calling for, you know, the

breaking obama over the health care, and then tihart's charming speech, it's double disrespectful "psycho talk."

welcome back to "the ed show." the republican sound machine is in full force against health care. we gave you the playbook. back on may 6th on this program, we went through the right wing's messaging machine playbook. a 28-page strategy memo from republican pollster frank luntz. he told the republicans to hammer four things when it comes to reform, that reform would be a government takeover by washington bureaucrats. it would ration your health care. and get between you and your doctor. >> the advocates of a government takeover of health care are talking about spending trillions more, trillions more. >> this bill will allow washington bureaucrats to ration care. the bill lays the groundwork for a government takeover of

healthcare, giving washington bureaucrats the power to prevent patients from seeing the doctor they choose. >> the federal programs, agencies, commissions and mandates that will be in between the patient and their health care provider, their doctor. why would any patient be forced to give control of their health care decisions over to this faustian web of washington bureaucracy? >> you've got to admit they do their homework. whenever you give them anything to learn. big insurance is lining is pockets of lawmakers. big insurance only cares about their profits. they want lawmakers to protect their backyard, their proeft are profits. they're voting against reforms that would really be good for consumers. but i don't want you to take my word for it. i want you to pay attention to this next interview. we have a former insurance insider joining me now, wendell potter. he is a senior fellow on health care for the center for media and democracy.

he's also a former vice president for the insurance giant cigna. mr. potter, good to have you with us tonight. i appreciate your time. is the industry telling the truth to the american people and telling the truth to those in the congress? >> no, they're not. and that's one of the reasons why i left my job at cigna. and why i decided to speak out. i didn't want to be a part of that -- those lies and misleading statements once again. i've been a part of them in the past and i didn't want to do that again. >> where are the insurance companies making their big profits when it comes to health care? what are they doing to consumers? >> what they're doing to consumers is number one, they're shifting a lot more of the financial burden from them and the employers onto the shoulders of working men and women. and they also are very actively looking at claims when they're submitted and they're acting -- taking action to duck people when they're sick, either in the individual market or in the small groups.

a lot of small employers no longer can afford health care because of the actions taken by the insurance companies to get rid of them when their employees' claims are a little bit higher than the underwriters expected. >> do you think there's a lot of people in the industry that feel the same way you did but don't follow the action you took? >> absolutely, i know there are. i've gotten dozens, hundreds of e-mails from people that i have worked with in the past, and most of them now former significant that employees and employees of other companies, who know me and have sent me communications to sell me, i wish i had done that. there are many who feel the same way. >> recently the inspector general's office came out with a report earlier this week stating that this out of network expense to americans hits about 100 million americans who are dealing in the health care industry, that want insurance and whatnot. and senator rockefeller has told us clearly that the american people are getting ripped off.

do you think congress believes that the american people are getting ripped off, and now of course we've got this inspector general's office report to back it up? what don't they get about what's going on? >> i don't think they've been paying attention. i think if they had been paying attention and weren't as you put it -- their pockets being lined with contributions from the industry, i think that they would be outraged and it would be very willing to take action to make sure that we have a reformed, functional health care system in this country. >> how much do you think they want to defeat the public option? >> they're pulling out all the stops. that's why you're seeing the same talking points they've used over the years being trotted out again. they're evergreen talking points. they will say one thing on -- the industry is engaged in what i call the charm defense. saying that they're all for reform. but behind the scenes, working with their allies to but it. the public option is one of the things that they pretty much have drawn a line in the sand saying, we can't accept that. >> finally, mr. potter, give the american people, our viewers

tonight, a sense who's winning this battle. we've never seen a president go this far against washington lobbyists. we've never seen a president go this far against the establishment when it comes to health care. there's a lot of pressure on the democrats to get this done. they've got 60 democrats in the senate. they've got a bunch in the house. some of the conservative democrats are still wavering a bit. who do you think is winning this battle right now? >> i think the president is winning. i think the advocates for health care reform are winning. it may not seem that way, like the headline in the "wall street journal," about the cbo estimating we can't afford it. we can't afford not to do this. i think the president can communicate that more as time goes by and as congress really gets down to business, i think we'll see reform this time and meaningful reform. >> how did the folks at cigna treat you now? >> i haven't heard anything about them. i'm not surprised. a lot of former colleagues have been -- who are no longer -- like me, former colleagues, have

been contacting me. i didn't expect they would be visibly attacking me or even communicating with me, and they haven't been. >> finally, why are you doing this? you did a very compelling interview with bill moyers. we tried to get you on the program before, i appreciate you being here tonight. this is a brave position, i think. this is one that's unusual for someone who worked and lived and profited in the corporate world. why are you doing this? >> two reasons. one, i left my job because i didn't like where the industry was taking this country. in terms of the insurance products. they're pushing these so-called consumer-driven plans that are pushing more, as you put it, as you noted, of the financial burden onto consumers. we can't afford that. the median household income is $50,000 in this country, we can't afford more cost shifting. secondly, i didn't want to be part of the lying machine again. i didn't want to be misrepresenting reality like the industry has done and its allies have done for many years. >> mr. potter, i appreciate your time tonight. come back and join us again. thanks for speaking the truth to the american people and telling us what's going on.

>> thank you for this opportunity. >> you bet. for more, let's bring in our panel tonight. stephanie miller is with us, syndicated radio talk show host from los angeles. sam stein, political reporter for "the huffington post." michael medved is here, nationally syndicated radio talk show host. sam, what do you make of the president stepping out at 3:15 p.m., trying to set the tone for the weekend? winning, losing, what do you think? >> that was remarkable, ed. never have i seen the testimony of an obscure cbo official about incomplete health care legislation cause so much commotion. we're talking about judging a product in the fifth inis. clearly there's political ramifications. the president thought he was losing the debate, he wanted to calm nerves. sort of reminiscent of the campaign, people getting nervous about him not getting aggressive enough, tloelg them a bone saying, calm down, we've got a ways to go. i think the white house feels they have this thing in hand. they're going to get health care legislation, it depends what the final product will look like. >> michael medved, i want to ask

you about this most recent news that the house intelligence committee has decided to investigate the former vice president and the cia for not briefing congress. they say they're going to go back to this 1947 law that they're looking at. what do you make of this? is this a political play or a needed investigation? >> well, it's a political play. it's a very foolish political play for democrats. i mean, president obama has his hands full right now, pushing for health care reform, pushing for cap and trade. this is a huge distraction. it is not the kind of thing that is a top priority for most americans. and i happen to believe that the deeper context here is the reason president obama had to make his statement today. the deeper context is the american people are worried about spending. they are worried about the fact that the stimulus package has been a huge disappointment. and that we are running now a deficit that is 13.2% of our gross domestic product, compared to 1.2% deficit just two years

ago. now that is a ten-time increase, that's 1,000% increase. that's what concerns the american people. >> okay, now what about this investigation, stephanie miller? do you really think we can get dick cheney to sloe show up on capitol hill and tell the truth? >> hah! well, he's showed up everywhere else on television. he's had a lot to say in the last few months. you know, i think we can walk and chew gum, ed. you know, we're americans and this should not be partisan. this is not democratic or republican. this is american values. and we cannot say that it's all right to lie to congress and it's all right to order illegal torture to get into an illegal war. it's just not. you know, i think we have no choice but to investigate this. >> sam, what are your thoughts on the investigation? tip of the iceberg? >> obviously it's the tip of the iceberg. we're getting new revelations every other week. i have a feeling it's going to go on. it's going to be done secret. you'll see a final product and we'll know where the bodies are

buried. i was looking at past -- >> wait a minute, you said bodies are buried. let's hope it doesn't go that far, okay? >> bad figure of speech. let me make one quick point about the cbo. we're talking about cost containment. looking up old cbo scores, in 2007 a cbo report for the cost of the iraq war. the estimated cost, $2.4 trillion over 10 years. that's health care reform twice over. i didn't hear a single republican complain about cost containment then, we could have done health care twice for that cost. all right, they're protecting our country just like men. but women in the military aren't getting equal protection when they come home. paul rykoff joins me to talk about those details. our panel's going to be coming back. who can give you the financial advice you need? where will you find the stability and resources to keep you ahead of this rapidly evolving world? these are tough questions. that's why we brought together two of the most powerful names in the industry. introducing morgan stanley smith barney.

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i'm nick jonas and never slowing down is my simple win. in my "playbook" tonight, they're in afghanistan, they're in iraq, both theaters, they're serving alongside men. but when women veterans come home, it turns out they're losing out when it comes to care. joining me now is paul rykoff, executive director and founder of iraq and afghanistan veterans of america. what's happening here? how could this -- there's discrimination in care for our veterans? >> a pretty ground-breaking cao report came out this week, the vest gave arm of congress. it got lost amidst the sotomayor hearings and the michael jackson stuff. what it basically told us is the va is not stepping up to address the needs of returning women. they're not providing privacy. they don't have enough specialized health care workers to focus on women's issues. the entire bureaucracy hasn't evolved to meet the fact that

about 15% of our current serving force is made up of women. >> post-traumatic stress disorder. more women than men. how's that working out? >> a huge issue for women. everybody coming home is at risk. one of three face some kind of mental health injury but women are especially at risk because they have military sexual trauma. sexual harass thement, sexual assault. >> how many women are we talking about here? >> hundreds of thousands. >> what are they not getting? are they not being seen by doctors? >> not being seen by doctors, sometimes they have to walk through waiting rooms to get to bathrooms. the bureaucracy itself. the structures. the buildings weren't adapted to meet the fact that a different gender was going to be coming through the system. hundreds of hospitals that were built to deal with world war ii men. that's how the structure was built. they've got to evolve this bureaucracy to catch up. >> i understand 20% of the women who come back are experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder. how do we address this? what's the military going to do? have they backed this report?

>> they have. i think they're all just kind of absorbing it right now. we're stepping up. we've launched communityofveterans.org. he or she is dealing with a policemen, go there, get resources, suicide prevention information, be around other veterans. we need congress to hold the va accountable. how the in front talking about this. get the country involved and keep focused on it. >> we'll have an announcement of what we're going to do for these vets in the coming weeks. i appreciate your cooperation on this. pail wykoff, a great american, no doubt about it. republicans just aren't hypocrites at work, they're hypocrites at home too. comedienne lynn winstead takes it on "the ed show" coming up. b kelly saunder's nature valley,

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i like the music because it's friday. welcome back to "the ed show." it's a club ed thing with liz winstead, co-creator of "the daily show," the brains behind "wake up, world." you like that you kind of got down a little bit, i was afraid. >> what's happening with all these cheap shots on the judge? >> it is out there. these hearings, ed, there were so many turns in the confirmation punch bowl that i don't even know where you begin. really. >> affirmative action. what the -- >> it's amazing to me whenever

you hear these be aed by anti-affirmative action people talking. they act like the disparity between what white students have to go through to get into college and the free pass that people of color get to go to college is stunning. it's kind of like white kids actually have to rescue kitten in a burning building while they take their s.a.t.s. latino is have to finish the crossword puzzle and they can go to harvard. it's crazy. >> lindsay grm wouldn't let it go. >> he wouldn't let goit. he was on and on saying, i can't understand what the hell she's saying, talking about firemen working their asses. who knew lindsey graham had such a mouth on him. no idea. >> what do you make of senator coburn's splaining comment? where the heck did that come from? >> i'm not sure where that came from but he needs to do some splaining about being john ensign ar gyno. he's part of that whole crazy c street cabal that's really -- it's a building they live in

masquerading as some christian prayer center. it's really nothing more than -- >> hitting on everybody. >> it's crazy. it's like an evangelical he-man women haters club. i would not be surprise tuesday they were not dealing viagra out the back door. >> sanford, we noticed he's got priorities when it comes to spending money. >> he does have priorities when it comes to spending money and his priority is, spent the taxpayer dollar. i have breaking news. i want to say may. he may be having sex with his actual wife this weekend. i don't want to promise anything. but it could be breaking news and you heard it here first on "the ed show." >> thank you, lizz winstead. always a pleasure. let's bring back our panel. this sanford, when he was chasing ht his girlfriend he was really spending the money, wasn't he? >> yeah, he didn't -- he wasn't quite so recess reticent. he didn't want to take the stimulus funds but his personal

stimulus package was apparently a big priority and he wanted to fly in comfort, apparently. >> sam stein, did the republicans go overboard at any time with sonia sotomayor? playing the affirmative action card, really digging into her comments two days in a row, i might add. >> yeah, sure, there were uncomfortable moments. i thought jeff sessions suggesting all hispanic judges should vote the same way. that was at the beginning of the hearing so that set the tone. pat buchanan i have to say said fairly outrageous things. we won't call it out because we're speaking on msnbc right now. overall i think they tried to contain themselves knowing there were political implications to attacking the first hispanic judge. >> michael, your take on the hearings. what do you think? did the republicans do what they had to do? >> i think to the most -- some people definitely went overboard. i think we've heard enough about the wise latina remark.

i'm assuming there will be some kind of band called the wise latinas that debuts some point soon. she handled herself very well. the worst thing for me is a couple of my colleagues, and it embarrasses me, were attacking judge sotomayor because she said eminent when she meant imminent. and because they said vagrancies when she meant vagaries. she's a brilliant woman. i think she's actually a moderate judge. and i believe that on the supreme court, she'll adjudicate that pay. >> paying for health care. it looks like if obama gets his way rich folks are going to be paying more money into the treasury. we're talking about taxing the top 1.2% income earners. senator rockefeller on this program said if that goes through, we're going to have enough money to do what we can do for health care. is that a tough sell for the obama white house to the conservative democrats? >> well, you know, it shouldn't be. there's all this screaming over, you know, once again, the top