now in 2009, united health care had a second quarter profit of $859 million. those are, i guess you could say an average american family would call that something like oil-like profits. staggering anyone who would be against health care reform we're talking about 155% increase in profits for the second quarter in 2009? and the folks in the front office want you to know are doing pretty well. the president and ceo hauled in $9.4 million in salary. the cfo took in $3.8 million, and the executive vice president of that company pulled in $12.3 million in salary. all of those numbers in 2008. again, united healthcare crossed a profit of $18.5 billion in 2008. the projected revenue for the company in 2009 this year is $87 billion. when does the word obscene come

into play? i want the blue dog democrats to stand up who are against reform and given president obama all this smoke, stand up tonight and defend against this kind of financial assault on the consumer this country. all of this underscores a recent report, recently leased by the inspector general's office, documenting the abuses in the insurance industry. there shouldn't be a democrat in the congress who opposes complete reform when you see these numbers. this is the most ammunition that the obama administration has had for a public option throughout the entire debate. how do you go from $85 billion in gross profit to $8 billi7 bi in revenue. about a quarter of the people who have insurance. last week we told you about a

report that went to the commerce committee chairman's office. i think these numbers validate that report and the senator from west virginia, he is, of course a member of the senate finance committee and also the chairman of the subcommittee on health care. senator, good to have you with us tonight. what's your response when you see one of the major insurance providers of health insurance in this country post a 155% increase in profits in what is supposed to be a big recession that's taking place in this country? >> it's twofold. one is absolute disgust, horror. it's a complete aberration of the capitalist system. and then secondly, greed and lying. and what we found in this report, which is what you're referring to, ed, was they have been doing that. and we proved it. and, in fact, they sat down before a grand jury in new york

state and they were threatened with fraud because that's what we committed. it's the scamming of the american people. they paid $350 million. nobody knows much about them. we're going to follow them. the public option will nail them and you and i are for that. they'll simply say compete with us. we don't have to make any money. >> is this the most ammunition the white house has had to advocate in their own party for the public option. if these numbers don't turn the conservatives around, i don't know what will. >> i think some of the conservative democrats are turns around, certain whether i respect to medpac which i feel equally strongly about. and to a lesser extent about public options. but remember, we're just beginning here.

i want the american people who are listening to my voice to relax just a little bit. i mean, this is not the normandy invasion. we're going to figure it out. it's very complicated. we're going to get there, ed. we're going to get there. >> are you going to get there before the august recess? and with that, would you support the president if he were to come out and say i don't think we should have a recess or vacation? let's get this done? >> absolutely. my august is available to the people of west virginia, because they pay me. it used to be we worked up until november. >> you would stay in washington? >> of course i would. >> senator, does a report like this, these kind of numbers bring us any closer to reform? how much more ammunition does

the congress need? you've got your inspector general's report, you've got gross profits out of whack. you've got 4.5 million people just last year that found out they didn't have insurance. i mean, what -- if this doesn't push us over the cliff, i don't know what will. >> i think this will. i think you're going to see the president really linking as he shou should. they're one and the same. if we solve health care we're going to make a big improvement in the american economy. we're spending all our time fighting. don't worry about that. we're going to work it out. >> good luck. i hope the president goes after this. i hope he brings this to the light of the american people. he's going to have the spotlight on him big time tonight.

i don't think there's any doubt that he could really gin up a great deal of support across the country when the american people think realize what this is doing. senator barrasso, good to have you with us tonight. how do you defend a company gouging the american people like this? does this call for reform? >> there ought to be insurance reform in the house and senate right now. there's very little health insurance reform in those bills. that's the problem. i like what the president says. what i don't like are the words printed in the bills. the president when he was in the senate voted against allowing people to buy insurance across state lines. he voted against allowing people to write off the cost of their health care if they didn't get insurance through work. he voted against small businesses when he was a senator

against small businesses being able to get together and combine and negotiate and get their rate down. we need insurance reform, we need health care reform. we need live partisan, bipartisan program to get that reform in. >> a development today, this coalition of the willing, senator orrin hatch has walked out of that committee saying he can't support anything they're talking about. how big of a step back is this. >> i'm not aware of that, but i am aware that every tuesday morning about 16 senators sit down in a bipartisan way. eight runs, eight democrats. al franken has started to participate in those meetings the last couple of weeks. we are looking far bipartisan solution to cover for people.

but when they say the president's proposal, the house proposal cost too much, would cover too few people, would be bad for the health of the american people and makes matters worse, that says the president's words aren't matching up with the bill that the country is looking at. you asked senator rockefeller if he was willing to stay here through august. i'm willing to stay through august. but the people of wyoming want to see this bill. you talk about the show, the senate doctors. we're getting e-mails, twitters, we're hearing on facebook. and they're saying we want to see what's in the bill. >> i understand you didn't read the patriot act. i don't think it takes that long to read 1,000 pages in a bill and then debate it. i'm glad you'll stay in washington until we get this thing done. i haven't had one electriced official tell me on this program no, i want to go home. so i hope the president tonight

asks the leadership to hold everyone in the congress. >> what i said is people have a right to visit with their legislators at home before they vote. people have a right and expectation to talk to their elected representatives before they cast a vote that's going to affect everybody's life and the economy of this great country, ed. >> senator, senator, senator, please. if the people in washington haven't figured out what the people in the heartland want when it comes to health care, then there's a serious disconnect. >> they don't want this bill. >> it has a public option and they want it and i hope you do, too. >> they're not expressing significant doubts. they're saying the cost is too high. we like what the president is proposing in words when he speaks but not's what in this bill. >> welsh it's got a public option in there and it deals with pre-existing conditions and that's what the american people want.

they also want real reform. now, on this network a few days ago, you were on with senator coburn. and senator coburn said that we have the best health care system in the world. do you agree with that? >> i think in many parts of the health care system, it is the best in the world but we need absolute improvement. there's a lot more we need to do to help people, to make sure that we have a health system instead of a sickness system and right now we have a sickness snm this country, not a health system. >> again, do you think that the congress should address the gross profits that this company has put forward in the second quarter of 155% increase. can you defend that? >> i'm telling you that insurance reform needs to be a part of health care reform. >> and what is that? what reform are we talking about that would reel in profit like that so the american people don't have double-digit increase

s in their health care. >> opportunities for small businesses to group together, to get better deals. president obama when he was in the senate voted against that. the ability for people to get a tax deduction if they're buying their insurance individually. president obama was not favor of that. there are a number of things we can do but i don't see them in the 1,000-page proposal that we're looking at now in congress. >> okay. well, that's what you want and i respect you for that. so a public option is out of the question for the republicans, correct? >> well, it is for me. i think that leads to a government takeover of health care here. >> come on, that's a right wing bullet point that's worn out. you know no one is going to take over anything. it's going to give the american people an option. i appreciate your time. >> government medicine has never worked it's not going to work

now ed. >> well, the v.a. system works well. >> i've worked in those v.a. hospital farce number of years in my residency training and that's not where i would want to go for my health care. >> but you have health care insurance, senator. there are 50 million people in this country that would love to have that kind of access and they don't have it. >> they need a lot of choices. i get 15 programs to choose from and none are government option and they're all private choices. >> i believe you work for the government, don't you? >> no, i had blue cross/blue shield. >> and that's what senator grassley told someone to go get a job with the federal government. >> the people working for me, the nurses and second tars, they had better insurance than what my staff and what i have right now. >> all right, senator, good to have you with us. for more, i want to go to another senator. that's senator barbara boxer from california. i just don't see how these kinds

of profits can be posted and then the american people not respond to them. and i also think for these senators and congressmen and women to go home and say we've got to hear what the constituents think. didn't we just have an election? the american people have decided what they want and now it's time for the congress to act on it. thank you respond -- what do you want the president to say tonight? what do you think he has to do, senator? >> i think he just has to reiterate what he's told us for so many months. and now more than a year. which is what he campaigned on. that the status quo is unacceptable when it comes to health care. we see what's happening. the insurance companies are making so much money and the price of insurance premiums is going up so high that a new study shows if we do nothing, if we follow the lead of senator barrasso and the republicans who were just going after this

president. f we do do nothing, it means the average family will spend between 40% and. >>% of their income on insurance for health. that's unsustainable. it cannot continue. and the status quo has got to go. >> do constituents want a public option? could you vote on that tonight if that was in the bill? >> of course. we need to have a way to keep these insurance companies honest. there are several ways to do it. i think the best way to do it is to have a public option, a public interest option where there is no federal funds put into it. it just competes with the others. what will happen is the premiums will go down for american families. you hear senator barrasso and

senator coburn talk about the best health care in the world. i have a piece of paper here. i'm going to consult it. the u.s. ranks 24th among 30 industrialized nations for longevity. that's life expectancy. we're near the bottom. and we know that we rank 29th in the world in infant mortality. so we don't have the best system in the world. we can do so much better with prevention. and making sure that health care is accessible, affordable. insure millions of americans who walk into the emergency room very sick because they have no insurance. we know what we have to do. i'm not afraid of this. i'm not afraid of these people but ed, but ed, but ed, listen. jim demint, my colleague from south carolina said it. it was on tape. we know it. they said health care will be this president's waterloo, it

will break him. that is what they are about. it saddens me to say it. they're not all that way. we have a few who are working, but that's where we are. >> i think the president has to respond to that. a lot of people are going to be watching tonight in masses. now is the time. i want to know what you think so get your cell phones out. will the democrats cave to big insurance lobby? text a to yes, b for no. 622639. we'll bring you results later on in the show. coming up, a new democrat, arlen specter being challenged. stay with us. product do women think is best?

according to a study presented by better homes and gardens, definity color recapture. it corrects the look of wrinkles and discoloration. 50,000 voters. one brilliant winner. >> i'm planning a trip to canada to see what universal health care coverage is really like. but tonight, i guess you could

say canada is coming to us. the top leader there wants to respond on the righty attacks on their health care system. right now, 1.5 million people are on a conference call. 750,000 wish they weren't. - ( phones chirping ) - construction workers are making 244,000 nextel direct connect calls. 1 million people are responding to an email. - 151 accidentally hit "reply all." - ( foghorn blows ) that's happening now. america's most dependable 3g network bringing you the first wireless 4g network. - sprint. the now network. - ( whoosh sound ) deaf, hard of hearing and people with speech disabilities access www.sprintrelay.com.

>> welcome back to "the ed show." today we've got the latest numbers on the senate race in the senate race. specker still leads sestak, but suspecter is at a 17-year low when it comes to his approval rating. joining us now, joe sestak of. pn. welcome to the program. the 23% number, does it bother

you? >> not at all. ed lamont was 40 points down before he took -- >> can you gain arlen suspecter? >> without a question. here's why. do you remember what that poll said. i finished 6 counties and they saw the same thing. 70% of people say we can't make our decision yet on joe. we don't know him. and people say we do have a choice that's credible. >> ed rendell said you'll get killed if you do this. politically you don't have a chance to succeed. the president came out at one point and said they favored arlen specter, what do you think? >> we wouldn't have a one-term president in the white house or we would haven't mayor ed rendell. no. >> arlen specter takes as much or more money as anybody else.

>> there should be no impact on anybody in congress at this moment. my gosh. 1/6 of all americans don't have health care and 1/4 of them lose their health care one or two months every year. if there's ever a time to take care of working families, like my daughter when she had her brain tumor. it is now. we shouldn't leave washington, d.c. until this is done. >> so you would stay? >> in a heart beat. so far i haven't had anybody say they ought to go home. i hope the president takes that lead tonight. >> public option and employee free choice act, are you for both of those? >> absolutely. here's why. >> how are you going to have competition when two insurance companies have 70% of all the private health care plans. that's what we used to call a monopoly. just look at the facts. 32% of all workers who try to unionize are fired or

intimidated. once they get to that right to have a contract, 42% of them never get to a contract. there's mischief being done. we need to fix this. . >> congressman, good to have you on. thanks for coming over. coming up next, it's "psycho talk." a news anchor gets swayed by the birthers saying our president may have a document problem? it's next in "psycho talk" right here on the "ed show." you have questions. 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. here to rethink wealth management. here to answer... your questions. morgan stanley smith barney. a new wealth management firm with over 130 years of experience.

(tucci) count on the nation's fastest 3g network. at&t i switched to a complete multivitamin with more. only one a day men's 50+ advantage... has gingko for memory and concentration. plus support for heart health. that's a great call. one a day men's.

welcome back to "the ed s w show" and "psycho talk" tonight. lou dobbs? he actually promotes the fringe birthers movement. he questions whether president obama is a citizen and says the president needs to, quote, produce a birth certificate. dobbs goes as far as to suggest that president obama may be undocumented. listen. >> should he produce his birth certificate, the long form, the real deal? what is the deal sneer i'm starting to think we have a document issue. do you suppose he's -- no, i won't even use the word undocumented. it wouldn't be right. >> oh, these people must be

thick. can you view -- yes, you can. you can view the president's birth certificate yourself. it's poesed online by factcheck.org. he calls the form peculiar. he wants him to produce a long form to produce obama's citiz citizenship. this has got to stop. the republican congresswoman sponsoring a bill requiring future candidates to present original birth certificates. all they are sdoing basically fuelling the right wing nut job. for lou dobbs to wonder if president obama is, quote, undocumented, that's only one thing. fringe "psycho talk." (laughing through computer) good night, buddy. good morning, dad. (announcer) oreo. milk's favorite cookie. garth, you're up.

hold on, i'm at capitalone.com picking a photo... for my credit card. here's one from my prom. oh, what memories. how 'bout one from our golf outing? ( shouting ) i know, maybe one of my first-born son. dad, mom says the boys gotta go. personalize your card by uploading... your own photo at capitalone.com. what's in your wallet? ♪

but i did. you need to talk to your doctor about aspirin. you need to be your own advocate. be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. you take care of your kids,

welcome back to "the ed show." president obama is going to take his case for health care reform to the american people tonight answering questions at a prime time news conference.

i really hope the president comes out swinging against the insurance industry. yesterday, united healthcare posted an obscene profit. they're up 155% in a recession. they're not looking for any kind of change or competition. the monster has more than one head in this situation. the insurance companies, hospital interests and big pharma. the chairman of ohio has been fighting the big drug companies on the senate health committee. what do you make of the most recent news today that united health care comes up with a profit up 155% for the second quarter. what are the american people supposed to think about that? >> every time we hear news like that, every time we see what the costs of these biologics, $25,000, $30,000, $50,000 a year for cancer treatment or rheumatoid arthritises, anytime we see these huge costs, it's one more reason the public demands real health care reform.

no pre-existing condition in the insurance industry. that's why people want a public plan. they know we need to write better rules for the insurance industry but you've got to keep them honest with a public option. that's why we wrote it the way we did. today just proves it again. >> what do the people of ohio want to hear president obama say tonight? what does he have to do to get a public option and get this thing going in the right direction. what do the people of ohio want to hear? >> i think people want to hear him directly first. no many comments from people in washington, filtered through the drug industry and the insurance industry. and other medical interests. they want to really hear what the president has to say about this plan. people want reassurance that if they have insurance they're happy with, they can keep it. they want to know that insurance companies and drug companies are going to start play big the rules. they want to know there's a public option to keep them honest. they want to know we're going to restrain costs so particularly for small business and people out of pocket. so these costs just don't

basically ruin companies and ruin lives. and that's happened way too often. i was on the floor today, ed, talking about some people from summit county, ohio, and from bryant, ohio, and other places and how it really does ruin lives when they've got to make a choice between taking their medicine. one gentleman wrote me they don't have enough money and good enough insurance for both of them. they both have serious medical problems husband and wife and they might have to lose. what health care system allows that in a country this rich? >> max bachas told president obama, given him a timetable but won't tell the media what that timetable is. what have you heard and what does that signal that kind of language is being used. what do you think? >> well, we may not have -- we may not vote on the bill. the health committee is done. we were done two weeks ago. the finance committee has to move, too. they haven't yet. we may not vote on it through

the first week of august -- >> are you for stay heerg? >> of course i am. i've been in politics for a long time. 14 years in the house, three years in the senate. except for my vote against the iraq war, nothing is as important as passing the health care bill. we need to stay on the timetable so the president gets this bill on his desk either october or the first week of november. we shouldn't let it slide beyond that. that's how they always do it. the drug companies, the insurance companies, the medical interest. their goal is delay, slow down, delay. that's how they killed it during roosevelt time, the truman time, the clinton attempts at health care reform. that's how they always do it. >> sherrod brown from ohio. laura flanders is the author of "blue grit."

jamal simmons, democratic strategist and john fehry, republican strategist. jamal, what does the president have to do tonight? he's been visible a lot lately. nine out of the last ten appearance he's been talking about health care and now press conference. what does it mean? >> the white house has clearly stepped up their game. i think he's done three network appearances including "nightline." he'll connect this to the 14,000 people losing their health care every day he'll talk about cost and quality. he'll talk about choice and the fact that we've got to get this done. the costs are killing us. people are going to maintain the care they have, but also keep the quality. >> doesn't it give the president a lot of ammunition when one of the health care providers reports a quarterly profit up 155% from a year ago. i'm a profit guy.

i'm in a couple of businesses. i like profit. but doesn't that take us down the road of yes, it is a monopoly. doesn't this help the president's sdmies. >> i don't think republicans should be in a process of any way defending the insurance companies because that's -- that's not good politics. on the other hand, i do believe that profits are part of the game and you don't want these companies to go bankrupt because you're trying to get them to have more people. i do think you need tor hard on the insurance companies. people have to be covered. they can't take lawyers and throw people off insurance. i think it's outrageous. insurance companies have to be more careful in how they increase their premiums. this kind of stuff hurts them. >> laura flanders, it would seem to me the liberals would be screaming from the top of every building in the wake of this big debate as to whether we should have a public option to give the insurance industry some competition. what do you think?

>> call me one of those screamers. you're hearing psychobabble. as long as we have a for-profit health care system, we are going to have profit making at the center of our system of health insurance provision. we're talking about the profits by the the health care company this week. they don't make those profits except by doing one thing, which is denying health care. that's the business that they're in. so what i wish the president was doing tonight was fighting as hard for a nonprofit public single-payer program. driving as hard for that as he drove for trooping to afghanistan. unfortunately that's not what's haing. we're going for a proposal that keeps the profits in there and not too much will change. i think a lot should be changing and unfortunately not a lot is likely to change under this proposal.

>> jim demint said he's not going to be taking back his comment about president obama, that being his waterloo, this issue. also coming up, the righties love to bring up canada when they talk about health care. the people of canada are getting sick and tired of it. a political leader who we found alive and well will respond.

>> do you think? will the democrats kai to the big insurance lobby? coming up, a canadian leader is tired of the righties in america trashing his country's health care. he's going to give us the real deal on canada's public health care system. that's next. ♪

(announcer) introducing new tums dual action. this tums goes to work in seconds and lasts for hours. all day or night. new tums dual action. bring it on.

i just want fewer pills and relief that lasts all day. take 2 extra strength tylenol every 4 to 6 hours?!? taking 8 pills a day... and if i take it for 10 days -- that's 80 pills. just 2 aleve can last all day. perfect. choose aleve and you can be taking four times... fewer pills than extra strength tylenol. just 2 aleve have the strength to relieve arthritis pain all day.

>> another republicans want you to really be afraid about health care reform. they have no solution so fear is their only strategy to defeat president obama's plan. they keep saying we're going to end up like the system they have north of the border in canada which according to the gop is socialized medicine and something we should be afraid of. here's a sample of the fear mongering. >> i have a friend from florida who called up recently and said he just lost a friend in canada because the government said he was too old for a certain procedure. >> that's what's going on in canada and great britain today. they don't have the appreciation of life we have in our society. >> they're going to save money by rationing care, getting you in a long line. places like canada, united and kingdom and europe. people die when they're in line. >> and of course, this just in. no with one in the united states dies at all. this has been a familiar

republican refrain lately. not only is it crazy and wrong, it's offensive to our neighbors north of the border who actually have a pretty darn good health care system, and they're really sick and tired of these gop attacks. joining me now live from toronto is the leader of canada's new democrats, jack lleyton. mr. lleyton, good to have you with us tonight here on "the ed show" on msnbc. what is your response to the basic tone that has been presented by the anti-s of the a public option in the united states and the way they're using your system to really be the boogie man in all of this. what are your thoughts on this. >> thanks for the opportunity to set the record straight. the republican insurance industry-driven campaign to try to freent the public option from coming forward in the united states reminds us of a battle we

had 50 years ago. the democratic party, tommy douglas fought and led a movement to make sure that everybody could get access to health care. >> but mr. lleytaylayton, the a people want to know if these are lay loois. are these lies your ear hearing south of the boarder? >> it's absolutely not true. if you've got a life-threaten condition here of any sort here in canada you're going to be given top priority. and the first thing the nurse is going to check is your pulse, not whether you've got a line of credit, or whether you have health care coverage from one of these big insurance companies that are doing awfully well, as you mentioned earlier in the show with their profits. i can see why they don't want to see reform, but here in canada, we felt everybody should be able to get access to health care. and the world health organization has said that our health care system is one of the better ones in the world. >> and canadians are happy for

the most part? can you give me a number? is there a number available? that are -- >> 85%, 85%. and i'll tell you. not even the most right wing conservative party in our country anywhere would come forward and suggest that we dismantle the system of health care we've got in canada. there would be an uprising in this country. people like to know if they have to go to the hospital they get care first. they're not asked for their credit card. they're not attacked by lawyers and lawsuits. >> and what about these stories that a lot of canadians leave canada to come down to the united states for health care because it's so bad in canada. ed address that for us. if that were true there would be a lot of canadians waiting in the waiting room in detroit coming down from windsor. certainly they have a certain clinic or doctor they like. there's a tradition of going back and forth and sometimes

that fits under the plan. and it's natural. i mean, we're big countries that are side by side. but the vast majority of canadians are very happy with our health care system right now. >> are you going to go on some type of truth-telling mission in the dwriets straighten the record out in the. >> i think it's important. i was down in washington a couple of months ago to underline the truth about the canadian system and we're going to keep that message coming and i'll be doing some more of that traveling myself. >> thanks so much. >> good luck to all of you. >> absolutely. thank you. coming up, the republicans are stepping up their attacks on president obama ahead of tonight's press conference. i think the president needs to come out swinging. but i'm a little worried about what i heard from the white house budget director today. i hope they're not getting cold feet. i'll talk with senior adviser valley jarret about that. (announcer) that ball is going, going, gone!

home run! (announcer) he's sweet. even with one third less sugar than soda. kool-aid. delivering more smiles per gallon. but did you know you also get hotel price assurance? it's a one-two punch of savings -- pow! pow! lower hotel booking fees mean you get a lower total price. plus, if another orbitz customer then books the same hotel for less, we send you a check for the difference, automatically. has the fastest hands boxing has ever seen. so i've come to this ring to see who's faster... on the internet. i'll be using the 3g at&t laptopconnect card. he won't. so i can browse the web faster, email business plans faster. all on the go. i'm bill kurtis and i'm faster than floyd mayweather. (announcer) switch to the nation's fastest 3g network and get the at&t laptopconnect card for free. (announcer) switch to the nation's fastest 3g network

president obama holding a prime time news conference here in washington tonight. for more on that, joining me now is senior adviser valerie jaret, a long-time confidant of the president. this is a big press conference and the president is going to make a big pitch for his case. tell us about that. >> the president always looks forward to these prime time

press conferences. it gives him a chance to speak directly to the american people. the issue of health care is one that he feels very passionately about. he's been working hard on it. we've made a lot more progress than we've made over the last ten years. we're close. i think it's important with all of the swirl for him to take a step back and really explain to everybody why this is so important and why it's important that we pass it now. >> has the president considered asking the congress to stay through august to get this deal done? >> you know, it hasn't come to that yet. as you know, this is a work in progress. we've been meeting around the clock. serve working hard and i think he's optimistic that we can get there. i think it's premature to ask congress to stay later. we're taking it one day at a time. >> core democrats want democrats to come out strong. >> this is an issue near and dear to his heart. if you remember the president's mother died and on her death bed

she was struggling with a pre-existing condition and trying to figure out her insurance. there are so many people worried about the security and stability of the health care system and he's fighting on behalf of those people. he's going to be passionate this evening. >> is he going to guarantee the american people there will be a public option or he won't sign it? >> i don't think it's a matter of giving ultimatums. that's not the purpose of this evening. he wants to frame the issue very clearly. you know, ed, that he cares passionately about the public plan. he thinks it will provide competition. it's a way of making the insurance companies having to compete against this public plan and that's something he's been very clear from the beginning that he wants. and so he will make that point if asked this evening. >> and the news, united healthcare, makes a 155% profit in the second quarter. is that news in the white house?

>> there are a lot of inefficiencies in the process. there's a lot of waste a lot of red tape and a lot of action that doesn't really help people have better health care. and the president keeps his eye on the ball. what he's interested in is making sure that people have good affordable health care. and everyone is going to have to give, including the insurance company. >> valley jarrett, appreciate your time on "the ed show" tonight. >> my pleasure, ed. good to see you. >> for more on this, let geese back to our panel tonight. is the president, john, going to address some of the negative comments that have been coming from the republicans? would it be smart for him to do that? his audience here tonight is going to be much greater than it would be at any other time. the comment about demint and the comments from mitch mcconnell. >> my prediction is he will. he's going to be sdd asked those questions. the fact of the matter is this is a kind of a game. we're not sure how it's going to play out.

but i'll bet they'll ask him about that. >> does he have to make news tonight? >> i think the fact that he's doing this entire week is making news. the republicans have shown what they want to do is play politics with this .. demint's comments about breaking the president, this is going to be his waterloo. americans want someone who's going to break down the insurance companies and health care bills so they can afford it going forward. >> laura, you know, i sense from my national radio show that a lot of americans who supported this president are ready for him to put a line in the sand and tell the republicans if you don't want to come onboard we're going to try to get this thing done without you. >> i was going to use the exact same term, line in the sand. the president has to got to draw it here and he doesn't have anything to lose. he's been listening from the same people you and i hear from. high approval ratings for a public plan. people want a plan that will put health care at the center instead of profits. the go spr the danger of coming out looking like the party that

own bombs and bullets and bale bailing out bank bus won't put changes in place to roll back profits for private insurers. >> as someone involved in a legislative process for many years, i would say drawing a line in the sand while these members are trying to negotiate a deal is a bad thing and will hurt the deal ultimately. >> matt bachas says the president is not helping us. out seems the president ought to spend political capital on this and say this is what we're going to do. >> we spent three hours with the blue dog democrats trying to get them to a point where they're going to stick with nancy pelosi and get this plan done. 3 out of 5 of the committees that it had to go through in the congress, i think they'll get there before this recess starts and he's going to push them across that line. >> laura flanders, does he have to address the job numbers

tonight to keep the confidence of the american people snup. >> i think the job numbers are one thing, but let's talk about numt bers that you've talked about, about profit numbers for the private insurance while they're cutting pem off health care. 10% down in the actual plans they're drawing up even as they're drawing up incredible profits and ceo salaries. >> it's killing them. the job numbers are killing them. that's why people are losing confidence in the president and the poll numbers are showing that. >> is this a pep talk tonight? >> i think it's little bit of a pep talk but we've got to get this done because the longer it delays the less likely it will to pass. >> an even split. 50% say yes, 50% say no. it must have been a heck of a question. i'm ed shultz. i'm heading over to the white house right now. you can watch us at 8:00 eastern time here on msnbc. we'll be back with a post game

show edition of "the ed show" 11:00 eastern. up next is "hardball" right here on msnbc. see you tonight at 11:00 eastern. >> is there a doctor in the house? let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. leading off tonight, does this make or break? i'm talking health care. president obama's health care. in one hour the president holds a prime time news conference with one thing in mind -- win public support for an historic plan to bring health care insurance to those who don't have it, that guarantees protections to those who do. it won't be easy. support for his plan is slipping. and today, the president lost orrin hatch of utah as a possible ally. in a moment, david axelrod joins us for a talk about what the president needs in the bill and what it will do for the average

person including those who already have health insurance. we also have early word on what the plt say in his opening statement tonight. here's one quote. if we do not control these costs we will not be able to control our deficit. if we do not reform health care your premiums and out of pocket costs will continue to skyroc t skyrocket. if we do not act, 14,000 americans will continue to lose their health insurance every day. the question is, can the president make the sale? can he answer the, what's in it for me question? also we'll take another look at that strange whack o crowd out there known as the birthers, those who refuse to believe that barack obama was born in the u.s. >> i want to know why are you people ignoring his birth certificate? he is not an american citizen. he is a citizen of kenya.