>> yeah, absolutely. you've got to feel for the guy. i mean, it's 15 years later. you know, two administrations later. and he's still talking about the first major disaster of his administration. you give him points for the crack about the town hall meetings, he's still got that. but, you know -- he did have a point. but it was interesting to see he's still got it. he's still got his spirit out there at these town hall meetings. >> jeanne cummings, he really doesn't like dissent in those normally hand-picked audiences he talks to. you can see it wasn't just that he was going to take the position it wasn't my fault. he actually blames the questioner. points at the questioner and blames the questioner, it's your fault for not delivering me the congress that i needed. >> and that's really not the bill clinton that we've seen over the years. he looked very tired. he usually is pretty good at finessing around opposition and then pivoting and working it to his advantage. but in this case he came across

simply as angry. the finger-pointing is very ineffective. and, you know, let's face it, that little guy in the audience, he couldn't build support for congress, of course he was talking about the community. but the truth is we all know bill clinton also mishandled that at the time. and so it was very unusual to see that sort of response. but you know, we've in the last few years, we've seen that he still can have like a trigger of anger. when people are critical of his administration. >> anne, if bill clinton was auditioning for a surrogate role in the obama health care campaign, to go out there on the road and help him sell it, i would say he failed in that particular audition. >> yeah, i don't think that's going to happen. i don't think it was going on happen in any event. i think they're going to leave him doing diplomacy and rescuing people in foreign countries. >> thank you, ann corner but and jeanne cummings. chris matthews will be back monday at 5:00 and 7:00 eastern for more "hardball." 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. tonight the president's in big sky country selling his health care plan. he was all hat and plenty of cattle. the governor of montana will join me in just a moment. plus, the dumber than joe the plumber crazies are ratcheting up the madness. congressman adam schiff, he drew a crowd of 3,000 people to his town hall. he'll join me to talk about it at the bottom of the hour, what he ran into. the newster's got a six-point battle plan for caribou barbie. newt, i got one for you too, number seven. sarah, stop lying to people about how the death panel's going to be wiping out the

senior citizen population in america. stephen a. smith is in the houston night. the national football league and the philadelphia eagles a have decided to give michael vick a second chance. are you ready to give michael vick a second chance? get your cell phones out right now and text "a" for yes and "b" for no to 622639. we'll have a big discussion on this tonight. all that, and of course the drugster is back in "psycho talk." "daily show" co-creator lizz winstead weighs in on the edwards baby daddy drama. it will be a dandy. first tonight's "op ed." all right, the president. he undoubtedly was the commander in chief on health care today. he went to big sky country, belgra belgrade, montana, and told the truth again. >> this is not some government takeover. if you like your doctor you can keep seeing your doctor. this is important. i don't want government bureaucrats meddling in your health care but i also don't

want insurance company bureaucrats meddling in your health care either. >> everybody got that? conservative talkers, you got that? come on. the guy is so clear. the president was in complete and total command of the facts. knows exactly what he wants to do with health care reform in this country. it was just one explanation after another today. and when it comes to the money, when it comes to the money, you know, the money the conservatives and republicans absolutely worship, the president served up the facts again and gave them some straight talk in the big country. >> i can't cover another 46 million people for free. when i was campaigning, i made a promise that i would not raise your taxes if you made $250,000 a year or less. that's what i said. but i said that for people like myself, who make more than that that, there's nothing wrong with me paying a little bit more in order to help people who got a

little bit less. that was my commitment. >> okay, two great town halls this week. one in new hampshire and one in montana. we got all this straight now? the public option is not a government takeover. medicare qualifications will not change. and competition in the marketplace will be good for consumers. there is no controversy coming out of the white house. there is no move to socialism. there is only the effort, only the effort being made by the administration to ease the burden on americans that just can't keep up with the skyrocketing trend of health care insurance premiums and costs. honest montana. i think they're going to get it. no, honest montana, it's not a town, it's a way of life. the part of the country where a handshake still matters. it's a real refreshing place to be. everybody loves montana. this is our first guest tonight joining me now, from montana, is

nbc news political director and chief white house correspondent chuck todd. chuck, on a very light note tonight, it's been a long week. have a big steak on big eddie tonight, will you? you're in steak country out there. can we work that out? >> can i tell you, you bring up a good point. everybody here is in a good mood. i know -- we noticed that with -- whether they were for the president, opponents of the president. everybody does seem to be happy to live here. and if you look at the backdrop outside of the plane, behind the plane, you can see why. those mountains are very refreshing. the air is refreshing. it is kind of nice. you see why everybody's in a good mood. i have to say the governor is watching me as i do this, go ahead. >> he's known for twisting arms. we've got him on the program in a minute. are we watching a popular president in montana today? i ask because the television cameras, it looked like an amiable crowd. they were enthusiastic. but the way the tickets were hoobd handed out, it was different this time.

>> it was. one of the things they did is they handed them out in bozeman, two at a time, two individuals that just came up, first come, first served. people even -- kind of like a rock concert, people waited in line for hours to get their tickets. so it wasn't done through the computer system that they used in new hampshire. actually, the computer system that they're going to use again tomorrow in grand junction, colorado. but one of the other things i want to bring up here is there were a couple of things that stuck out to me just on the political front. number one is you saw the president ramp up some campaign rhetoric. he almost was trying to sell the audience. i need your help. i got to get you knocking on doors. i got to get you fighting -- he called it fighting the fear. obviously these references to the myths. he also decided to play media critic. he sort of criticized all the cable television for how they've been covering the town halls. and he thanked the one questioner who was clearly an opponent of what he was doing. thanked him for the tone that he took. and then the third thing that i think people ought to take away

from this is, i lost count at five the number of personal references to max baucus, the senate finance committee chair. it clears. there may have been about 1,500 people in that audience. in some ways it might have been an audience of one as far as the president was concerned. >> tell you what, this white house and administration is full of olive branches, there's no question about that. but some interesting news coming out today. just the state over, chuck, you've got senator kent conrad, chairman of the senate budget committee, also on that finance committee with max baucus. he told a crowd in carington, north dakota, today he would not vote for a government-run plan. these are two allies that the president is going to need down the stretch, both baucus and conrad. how do you think this plays out? >> well, look. track the rhetoric very carefully from the president and the president's staff. particularly robert gibbs. on how they describe the public option. and it's how they describe it. they're leaving themselves open,

ed, to make this co-op idea, which is the kent conrad idea, which is making it sort of -- kind of like a pharmaco op. i don't want to try to explain it now. but that idea is probably what the white house will say will qualify under the umbrella of a public option. >> all right, chuck todd, thanks for joining us tonight. appreciate your time. safe travels. >> all right. joining me is robert rice, former secretary of labor under the clinton administration, professor of public policy at uc berkeley. he's also an author of the book "super capitalism." he has just just completed a road trip. we've seen a lot of videotape of some disrupted town hall meetings, some raucous kind of activity going on, ominous signs that have been out there. mr. rice, what have you seen? what's your pulse now that you've been around the country a little bit and seen these crowds and talked to the folks? >> well, ed, first of all, it was not and has not been grassroots. the disruption, at least, has been what we might call

astroturf. it's been artificial. it's been created by a lot of organized opponents, including those very definitely related to the republican party like dick armey, former majority leader. and this is something that's been manufactured. we've seen this before. in 1994, the republicans knew, newt gingrich and others knew that attacking bill clinton's plan for health care would be a way of discrediting the clinton administration and making some gains in the elections of 2000 and 1994. they're doing the same thing with regard to 2010. they're looking at the midterms of 2010. >> so this reaction, are you telling our viewers tonight, mr. rice, that this reaction is ginned up, it's not genuine? >> oh, some of it is genuine. i think that you've got to, you know -- right-wing talk radio and a lot of purchase varies of fear out there preying upon the fears that a lot of people have right now. america is very scared. job losses, potential loss of

home, potential loss of savings. in fact, losses of savings. a lot of people are scared. and if somebody tells them they're going to lose even the health care they have, they are going to pay attention. they're going to be very, very upset. it's the purveyors of that kind of fearmongering who are preying upon the fears that people already have that are really distorting what the president's proposal is all about. i think the president by the way is doing a terrific job trying to get things straight again. >> well, i thought the president was in total control today. and has great command of the subject. but i think you're right. for instance, on another network you've got a former administrator, dick morris, who is telling supporters to go out and use the word "terrorized." where do you draw the line on this? the fact is there is no line. they're just trying to motivate these disgruntleds to go out there and monthly-contents to disrupt as much. i see the president's gig is a heck of a lot different. what do you make of that? >> i think the president is elevating the debate as he always has.

there are going to be rabble rousers. there are going to be people who are kooks. both right wing and there are left wing kooks as well. anybody who preys on people's fears and uses lies and distortions to make people even more fearful, i think that's just plain immoral, ed. one other thing i hope we can get to. that is the public option. i don't think that kent conrad's cooperative idea is going to have any effect on the private insurance companies at all. it's not going to keep them honest. >> it's not going to keep them honest but the key there is that he said he wouldn't support the public option. so the president's got some pretty tough waters to 1/2 great through. mr. reich, appreciate your time tonight here on the subject. joining me is montana governor brian sha might schweitzer who is known for telling it how it is. how did the president do today? i ask that because 34% of residents in your state do not have health insurance. bite seem to me he's playing in

front of the home team. >> well, the president came here and answered the tough questions. there were detractors. there were supporters. but in montana tradition, we were able to disagree without being disagreeable. so i was proud of the people of montana. >> what was the president's mission? he's in the backyard of max bach quus. he praised max baucus. but there clearly are differences between the president and the senator, who's chairman of the senate finance committee, on the public option. how's that going to play out? how do you see that? >> i don't know what the difference is there. i do know this, that the president talked about the public option. he's supporting the public option. he believes that it's a good thing to have competition. these insurance companies that don't want competition, i thought they believed in capi l capitalism. if they don't want competition, then what are they in the business for? now, a public option would be something that's voluntary. if a person would like to buy themselves into a public option system, they can. nobody's going to hold a gun to your head and tell you you've

got to. >> how are montanians responding to all of the rhetoric that's out there about death panels that's being purported by the right wing media and also some republican senators that have been on this stump actually scaring senior citizens? how's that playing in montana? >> well, with all due respect to mark twain, i've been watching this stuff and i found out there's lies, there's damn lies and then there's health care lies. these insurance companies and some of these health care providers, they're going to say anything, they're going to scare people. then they're going to get people running around saying rotten things that aren't true. that happened when we passed medicare. it happened when we passed medicaid. it happens when we offered the health care benefits to veterans. this is an old playbook. what we've got to do is grind it out, pass the ball, get it to the inside and put it in the basket. >> montana governor schweitzer with us on "the ed show," thanks so much. michael vick's getting a second chance and getting back

on the gridiron. the eagles signed him to a two-year deal. i think he deserves this opportunity, what tune? are you ready to give michael vick a second chance? "a" for yes, "b" for no to 622639. i'll bring you the results later on in the show and our panel will be talking about this tonight as well. .

there are new developments today. two air traffic controllers have been suspended as the investigation continues into the tragic plane crash that killed nine people over the hudson river last saturday. nbc's tom costello will bring us the latest. but funds are going fast. so hurry. let us recycle your older vehicle and you could qualify for an additional $3500 or $4500 cash back on a new, fuel-efficient chevy. your chevy dealer has more eligible models to choose from. more than ford, toyota or honda.

now get an '09 cobalt for under fifteen-four after all offers. and get it for even less if you qualify for the cash for clunkers program. go to chevy.com for details. [ male announcer ] best night cream, shape magazine. [ female announcer ] beauty editors are seeing results... [ male announcer ] best cleanser, essence magazine. [ female announcer ] good housekeeping research institute is seeing results... [ male announcer ] hydrates better than the $350 cream. [ female announcer ] but most importantly, women are seeing results. [ male announcer ] best anti-aging moisturizer -- self. [ female announcer ] and still no drastic measures. olay regenerist. love the skin you're in. now new regenerist antiging eye roller.

welcome back to "the ed show." last night we brought you the first exclusive video of last weekend's tragic plane crash over the hudson river. two air traffic controllers have been suspended, even though the faa said "they did not contribute to the crash." nbc news has learned the controller was on a personal call. investigators are trying to determine if that contributed to the accident. for the latest, let me bring in nbc news tom costello. a lot has been i guess speculated because of this. what do we know 24 hours after the release of this videotape? how telling is it? >> the videotape is going to be very helpful to the ntsb. they have told me they're going to go over frame by frame. but i think it's important to distinguish exactly what these controllers are in trouble for. one controller was a supervisor.

he left the building on personal business. he should not have. the second controller was allegedly on a personal phone call, or in the words of the ntsb, "nonpertinent phone call." nonbusiness related phone call. the question is did that in any way contribute to this particular accident? he was handing off the control of this airplane to newark tower. there was air traffic in the middle -- between these two towers. did the pilot get proper notice that there was air traffic in the area? we know that the newark controller tried to warn the teterboro controller. the question is whether the teterboro controller was in fact too distracted by his personal phone call. the union just called me moments ago. the union says it disagrees with the ntsb's version of events as it relates to exactly what that controller was doing and whether that phone call was personal or whether, in fact, he was distracted by it. but it all adds more as investigators try to unravel

this entire problem. >> i'm sorry, i've got to go, "nightly news" in ten minutes. tom costello, nbc with us who's been covering that. it should be pointed out that the control tower at teterboro passed the plane off to newark, gave them a frequency. as a private pilot i can tell you when you are given a frequency to go to, to go to another tower, it is the pilot's responsibility to follow up on that. i think one of the big keys here, how much radio traffic was taking place. because you have to pick your spots as soon as you can when you're given a command by the control tower to go to another frequency. you've got to jump in on the chatter as quickly as possible. so that, of course, will be a big part of the investigation. and i can say this about the controllers. this has been an issue for a long time. the union has said that they are overworked, they've got antiquated equipment, in fact, the bush administration fought the controllers for a long, long

time and did not give them a work agreement. forced them to go to work. they've run a lot of experienced controllers out of this industry. i can tell you that they're hard-working people, hard-working professionals. and there's no question that the union definitely will stand behind their people on this, and there will be a full investigation. and if they are wrong, they will be dealt with. coming up, the drugster takes a page out of sarah palin's playbook saying that ohm-care means death panels for senior citizens. says doctors will give them some palin pills that will loop them out until they die. although come to think of it, he is an expert when it comes to popping pills. ever worn your clothes in the shower? if you're using other moisturizing body washes, you might as well be. you see, their moisturizer sits on top of skin, almost as if you're wearing it.

only new dove deep moisture has nutriummoisture, a breakthrough formula with natural moisturizers... that can nourish deep down. it's the most effective natural nourishment ever. new dove deep moisture with nutriummoisture. superior natural nourishment for your skin.

this is my verizon small business specialist, tom. now, i know the catering business but when i walked in here i wasn't sure what i needed. i'm not sure what i need. tom showed me how to use mifi to get my whole team working online, on location.

i was like, "woah". woah ! only verizon wireless has small business specialists in every store to help you do business better. you're like my secret ingredient. come in today and connect up to five devices on one 3g connection. now only $99.99 the sparkly flakes. the honey-baked bunches! the magic's in the mix. my favorite part? eating it. honey bunches of oats. taste the joy we put in every spoonful. new crest pro-health enamel shield protects against enamel loss by forming a micro-thin shield against acid attack. only crest pro-health toothpastes protect all these area new crest pro-health enamel shield.

friday nights are always good for "psycho talk." we've got a dandy tonight. the hits keep on coming from the drugster. calling him the drugster is pretty appropriate tonight. like so many conservatives in the health care reform debate he knows the best way to stop and it kill it altogether is just to go out there and scare the hell out of old people and convince them that the president of the united states is going to kill them. >> people at a certain age, with certain disease, will be deemed not worth the investment and they will just, as obama said, give them some pain pills and let them loop out until they die

and they don't even know it's happened. it will be rationed. it's -- well, you're not going to be able to choose your doctor. probably after a while will not be able to hold on to your private insurance or current insurance. which is all by design. but they're going to be able to regulate, you know, call you a risk based on do you smoke, do you not smoke. how far do you drive to work. do you wear polyester, it's more flammable. it can get ridiculous. that's the kind of control they want. >> okay, let's stop "psycho talk" right here for a fact check. the drugster just said that you're not going to be able to pick your doctor. that is a blatant lie. i didn't say it, he said it. that is a lie. the president has repeatedly said on the campaign trail that you'll be able to choose your doctor. in medicare today, you want to go see a specialist, you don't need a referral. once again, the undergraduate

has it wrong. first of all, you're the last person to be talking about pain pills and looping out. but that's just another "psycho talk" for another time. come on. your insurance company already decides what doctor you can see. and afford your insurance company and decide what kind of risk you are. they can dump you any time they want for any reason. the drugster, people for the health care reform and a public option are not the ridiculous ones here. they don't control what you and the rest of the people against reform want the insurance companies to people controlling. access to care, ruining peeps lives, pocketing billions. to make it your mission to scare old people and because you want the president to fail, yes, that is "psycho talk." coming up, the president headed to the northern tier today to talk health care. protesters broad the debate in the country to a fever pitch.

grist man adam schiff faced down a crowd of 3,000 people this week. he'll join me with an update from the front lines. plus sarah palin's death panel flip-flop? turns out she was before it before she was against it. "daily show" co-creator lizz winstead is here to explain it coming up in "club ed." octor kns tylenol doesn't interfere with certain high blood pressure medicines the way aleve sometimes can. that's one reason why doctors recommend tylenol more than any other brand of pain reliever.

but i've still got room for the internet. with my new netbook from at&t. with its built-in 3g network, it's fast and small, so it goes places other laptops can't. i'm bill kurtis, and wherever i go, i've got plenty of room for the internet. and the nation's fastest 3g network. gun it, mick. (announcer) sign up today and get a netbook for $199.99 after

mail-in rebate. with built-in access to the nation's fastest 3g network. only from at&t. nation's fastest 3g network. myth. head & shoulders is just for dandruff. myth. the fact is, it gives you... seven scalp and hair benefits including beautiful, 100% flake-free hair. introducing anytime gourmet culinary kits for two. it has everything you need. just prep, cook and share your way into a gourmet meal. wild salmon dijon in puff pastry with whole-wheat orzo and vegetables. new stouffer's anytime gourmet. make it amazing.

welcome back to the "the ed show." rally town hall protesters are posing a big challenge to members of congress who have to figure out just how to deal with all of this. it's a smorgasbord of what's happening out there. congressman adam schiff took on demonstrators from both sides of the health care issue when 3,000 people showed up at his town hall meeting on tuesday. congressman schiff joins me to talk about that. congressman, were you surprised at the demeanor of the crowd? what'd you see tonight? earlier this week? >> well, i wasn't surprised, ed,

because we had a pretty good idea what to expect, judging from the calls that were coming into the office. we were getting hundreds of calls every day. i opened the town hall by asking how many were firmly for the president's proposal, and how many were firmly against. we had in excess of 1,000 yell out they were for it, in excess of 1,000 yell out they were against it. i asked, how many of you have come undecided, want to learn more about the proposal? about five people yelled out. >> well, obviously the networks are running videotape of those who are animated, those who are carrying signs, that are threatening in many cases. but would you characterize your town hall of 3,000 people -- the president had 1,300 today -- that the majority of the people that are going to these town halls are genuinely seeking information and want to learn something? >> well, not this particular town hall. i've had others where people do come and they want to learn and they want to hear. and we've had a good dialogue and i think a good exchange of

information. but here, people were more coming to be heard. we had some conservative talk radio shows sending people our way. we had some of the folks that are organizing support sending other folks our way. it was more like a rally than a real exchange of information. i kind of felt like was at an anti-war protest at berkeley in the '60s with all the signs and shouting. it was really quite a spectacle. but a i'm not sure that there was really a good exchange of information. >> okay. would you consider this somewhat of a volatile crowd? was it a boisterous crowd? was it mean-spirited? how would you characterize isn't it. >> well, it was definitely boisterous. there were certainly some mean-spirited people there calling me a nazi or with posters of the president with a hitler moustache. i had one woman yell out something i haven't heard since the third grade, "liar, liar, pants on fire." so this was, you know, some of the content. but at the same time, ed, one of the things i think was really positive about it is a lot of the questions were based on

these myths. the euthanizing of seniors myth. the myth you're going to be forced away from the health care plan you have now. i did appreciate the opportunity to dispel those admits, to bust those myths. in this that sense i think we had something positive and constructive come out of it. >> an unrelated matter i do want to bring to our audience tonight, you are the one who is front and center of investigating karl rove on the judiciary committee. in fact, these e-mails that have been released show that rove has got his fingerprints all over the firing of the u.s. attorneys. what is startling to you in all of this? what is most revealing from what you've been able to find? >> well, the two things that really stood out from the depositions that i did of meyers and rove over the last few weeks were that rove was very heavily involved in pushing iglesias out of office in new mexico. he forwarded on complaints from republican activists in the state. he was agitating, called harriet

miers, wanting something done, wanted him gone and kded in pushing out someone the justice department rated as a star prosecutor. contrary to rove's assertions all these decisions were only the doj, they only learned about it after the fact, he was very involved from an early point. the other thing i thought was shocking in terps of harriet miers is rove asked myers to intervene with the justice department to try to clear rick rensy's name, republican congressman under investigation, and she knows it violates doj policy to confirm or deny investigation but she does call doj, and anonymous doj sources or administration sources then call multiple press outlets and try to exonerate the republican congressman. totally inappropriate. and i found it just shocking. >> congressman, good to have you with us tonight. adam schiff, california, with us here on "the ed show." we'll follow up on that story. lots more to talk about. it's been quite a week.

we've had quite of week of these town hall meetings. there's some really seriously scary stuff going on in this country i think. the secret service is investigating a town hall protester in maryland who was holding up a sign reading "death to obama." "death to michelle and her two stupid kids." there was a guy outside obama's new hampshire town hall carrying a loaded gun. what are we supposed to make of that? now, look. i'm calling them out. i'm calling out the conservative talkers of this country. you have motivated a lot of these people to do these kinds of things and then they go there with some pretty threatening rhetoric. which brings us to the conclusion, what is your intent? question mark. what is your intent? what do the conservative talkers of america want to accomplish here? we know they're ignorant in many respects to the facts because they continue to lie about what the president is trying to do. and they've called the president of the united states a racist. now, how much more inciteful can

they be? let's bring in our panel to talk about. stephanie miller from los angeles tonight. also former cia officer jack rice. and radio talk show host and author of the book "the ten big lies about america." michael medved, good to have you with us tonight as well. >> thank you. >> let's start with you, michael. as the rhetoric just gone too far? and has talk radio played a real influence on the demeanor of the people that are showing up at these town halls? >> well, i don't know that you can blame it all on talk radio. i think there have been some very unfortunate remarks. i don't believe that it's in line to call president obama a racist, to say that he hates all white people. i regret that one of my colleagues made that remark. i also obviously, for somebody to come -- the problem with that guy in new hampshire, willi williamcostrick, he ended up being a fairly articulate guy. but he was carrying a loaded gun together with a sign that said

"time to water the tree of liberty," a reference to jefferson's line, "the tree of liberty needs to be watered from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." we shouldn't be talking about blood, we shouldn't be talking about fighting. what we should be talking about is coming together on the kind of health care reform the american people want. the key thing on that, and you and i agree on this, is making it impossible for people to have their insurance canceled because they get sick. that's the kind of reform we can do, and we can do it together. >> stephanie, is it time for those folks in the cable industry and also on talk radio and the electronic media, dick morris has told people to go to these meetings and terrorize these folks. he used that word. i don't hear him saying back off. maybe this is going a little too far and something could happen. what do you think? >> well, if i'm in the not mistaken, ed, a congressman just told you that someone yelled "liar, liar, pants on fire" at

him at a town hall. so that is a new level of the national debate. did anyone say, i know you are but what am i? or, i am rubber, you are glue? i mean, you know, this is not time for your primal scream therapy, ed. this is time to get your questions answered. a lot of times -- these guys are being instructed to just disrupt and drown everybody else out. nancy pelosi is right, that's not american. to drown out dissent. >> jack rice, how do you think the president's done on these two town halls this week, the one in portsmouth, new hampshire, and today in montana? >> actually, i think he's doing a great job. the real problem is if you look at the conservative right, if you look at these talk show hosts, what they're saying is that president obama is hitler. what they're saying is the democratic party are the nazis. and then you add this, the question of blood of the tyrants. now you're seeing guys at some of these town hall meetings with sidearms. you have those things side by side. all of a sudden, what, we're taking down tyrants? isn't that what's driving this? i guess in the end if we realize

that maybe the brain trust of the gop is the likes of sarah palin, we know or they know, and they should know, they are in serious trouble. >> let me just say, i honestly believe that the people on the fringe who are saying outrageous things, those posters of obama as hitler were done by linda larouche, who is a registered democrat. this is not something the republican party or the talk radio in general is promoting. i think that part of what is happening here is the attempt to jam this thing through congress without sort of the kind of patient interchange that i think the president gak ngaged in tod in montana. his meeting today was much better -- >> wait a minute, michael. >> yeah, go ahead, stephanie rush limbaugh compared the democratic party to nazis and he absolutely compared the obama health care -- >> no one should be comparing anybody to -- >> radio hosts are using that rhetoric. don't be surprised when signs show up with the nazi sign on the president. >> no question the signs were

made by larouche. no one should be talking nazis or communists. you're saying in in a logical fashion. glen beck, michael savage, rush limbaugh are making direct comparisons and writing in the false allegations of death panels. roll this together and add people who are scared and wonder why they're not responsible? >> okay, the key thing is sarah palin -- the same day that she came up with that death panels thing, i criticized her on the air to 220 stations. the point is she has waltzed back from that. i do believe some of the rhetoric has been hysterical on both sides -- >> it's wrong to call people who disagree with you earn american. >> i would like to see dick morris back off on telling people to terrorize democrats at these town hall meetings. that's the word he used. now -- >> if he did, he should back off. >> i don't think that does anybody any good. it leaves many of us with the

impression, gosh, what's the intent here? we're trying to have an honest discussion about health care in this country and we've got the crazies showing up, and of course they're going to play in front of the cameras like that. they're being motivated. they're being motivated by people who have got an ideological bent that openly say they hate this president. that say these a nazi. openly say they want him to fail. i mean, people hear that kind of stuff, the low information crowd. who knows what the heck's going to happen. stay with us, we've got a lot more coming up. also coming up, john edwards. i guess we can call him the doctor of disappointment for democrats. is in some hot water. reports say any minute now he's going to step forward and admit he is the father of his mistr s mistress' baby. plus a grand jury's investigating whether he used campaign funds as hush money. johnny could use a few good friends right now. this is a new definition of two americas, two families for sure. we'll bring you the details

right here on "the ed show." ( siren blaring ) special interest groups are trying to block progress on health care reform, derailing the debate with myths and scare tactics. desperately trying to stop you from discovering that reform won't hurt medicare. it will actually strengthen it by eliminating billions of dollars in waste and lowering drug prices. tell congress not to le myths get in the way of fixing what's broken with health care. learn the facts at healthactionnow.org. i'm pretty much the same as i am in a plastic bottle? except that you'll save, like, $600 bucks a year. but other than that, we're pretty much the same. pur. good, clean water.

get your cell phones out. what do you think of the nfl and the eagles have decided to give michael vick a second chance. are you ready to give michael vick a second chance? "a" for yes, "b" for no to 622639. stephen a. smith is in the house coming up in my "playbook." ( chirp ) team three, boathouse? ( chirp ) oh yeah-- his and hers. - ( crowd gasping ) - ( chirp ) van gogh? ( chirp ) even steven. - ( chirp ) mansion. - ( chirp ) good to go. ( grunts ) timber! ( chirp ) boss? what do we do with the shih-t? - ( crowd gasps ) - ( chirp ) joint custody. - phew! - announcer: get work done now. communicate in less than a second with nextel direct connect. only on the now network. deaf, hard of hearing and people with speech disabilities access www.sprintrelay.com. every head. every bite.

every gallon. every shoe. every book. every cereal. well, maybe not every cereal. but every stem. every stitch. every tune. every toy. pretty much everything you buy can help your savings account grow because keep the change from bank of america rounds up every debit card purchase to the next dollar and transfers the difference from your checking to savings account. it's one of the many ways we make saving money in tough times a whole lot easier. ...and big hearts happy too. because as part of a heart healthy diet... ...those delicious oats in cheerios can help naturally lor cholesterol. (cheerios spilling) cheerios. how can something so little... ...help you do something so big.

everybody deserves a second chance. i think as long as you're willing to come back and do it the right way and do the right things and that you're committed. then i think you deserve it. but you only get one shot at a second chance. and i'm conscious of that. >> in my "playbook" tonight, michael vick's back in the nfl. the philadelphia eagles took a chance on him yesterday. he signed a two-year deal with the team last month. nfl commissioner roger goodell

paved the way by granting a conditional reinstatement of the league. under that agreement vick is a howed to work out with the eagles. the commissioner has said he could be fully reinstated by week six of the nfl season. i believe in second chances. michael vick has paid his debt. more importantly, his new coach andy reid thinks so too. >> we give people an opportunity. as long as they've taken the right steps, they're given an opportunity. and that's what -- again, that's what makes this country such a great thing. and the national football league such a great thing. >> i want to know what you think. are you ready to give michael vick a second chance? "a" for yes, "b" for know to 622639. joining me, stephen a. smith, journalist and commentator. how big of a chance, how big of a risk, are the eagles taking on him, stephen? >> first of all, i personally don't think it's a big risk because he's already paid his debt to society. 18 months in a federal

penitentiary. 23 months in prison. you're going to have animal rights activists outside of the stadium, especially when they go on the road. it's going to be some negative publici publicity. bottom line is any publicity is good publicity. people are still going to be patronizing your product. combine that with the fact that michael vick is only going to cost $1.6 million this upcoming season, here's the second year part of it that involves $5.2 million, but that is at the eagles' option. there's no guarantee that they'll pick that up. in fact, i'm here to say it's a long shot they'll pick him up at that particular salary. $1.6 million is not a big risk for this organization to take. >> did he say all the right things today? on the scale of 1 to 10, how sincere do you think he was? i thought he was very sincere today. he's not a professional wordsmith. he normally isn't known for talking very much. he came out today and i thought articulated his position really well in a remorseful way and wants to be part of the solution. >> well, he said all the right

things, there's no denying that. clearly he was coached to some degree because he knew exactly what to say. he knew to come across as sincere and contrite and very regretful of the actions that he committed. but at the end of the day i definitely think he recognized that he made a colossal error. this is a man that cost himself approximately $130 million to win a few thousand dollars in dogfighting. spent 18 months in a federal penitentiary. leavenworth. if that doesn't give you reason to pause and reflect upon a disastrous decision that you've made, i don't know what else would. >> philadelphia is a tough sports town. is this a good town for him to go to? >> i was a columnist for four years from '03 to eight '07 and worked for the philadelphia inquirer. it's going to be tough, have a lot of people coming down on him. right now the tenor as i would term it is against michael vick. they're not happy with the philadelphia eagles organization. but that's nothing a touchdown, a sprint, assisting donovan mcnabb and the eagles towards

capturing the super bowl will not cure. >> that is the city of brotherly love, is it not? >> oh, that's what you'd like to call it. i call it a few other things. but they are one of the best sports cities in america. >> all right, stephen a. smith, always a pleasure, thanks for joining us to be night. we asked what you thought. are you ready to give michael vick a second chance? 75% of you said yes. 25% of you said no. coming up, sarah palin, michelle bachmann, and john edwards. only one woman has a stomach strong enough to handle all of these topics. lizz winstead is next on "the ed show." [ female announcer ] give your eyes the attention they deserve with covergirl exact eyelights. mascara with light reflecting metallics and a hint of tint that brightens eye color while defining lashes. turn up the light in your eyes. [ female announcer ] with exact eyelights from easy breezy beautiful covergirl. the sparkly flakes. the honey-baked bunches! the magic's in the mix. my favorite part? eating it.

honey bunches of oats. taste the joy we put in every spoonful. - how? - well, funny you should ask. say i stay 5 nights on business, then 5 nights on a family vacay,

boom. free night. welcomerewards. smart. so smart. are enjoying the new palm pre from sprint. its revolutionary web os allows multiple applications to run at the same time. - ( thunder and rain ) - millions are using the simply everything plan. - each is saving $1200 over an at&t iphone plan. - ( cash register dings ) together that's billions of dollars. enough to open a dunkin' donuts in space. from america's most dependable 3g network. bringing you the first and only wireless 4g network. get the palm pre. only from sprint. only on the now network.

it's time for "club ed." lizz winstead with us, co-creator of "the daily show." we've got to talk about death panels. i'm concerned about your mother, she's not frightened by all of this, is she? >> no, not at all. my mother, you know, she is the epitome of rational thought. she listens to fox news. i left her a dish of water when i left to come to the show, thinking that is the way you deal with old people. so she's fine. >> all right. that's good to know. i've seen sarah palin is kind of backing off these death panels a little bit, what do you make of that? >> i think she's backing off because i think sarah palin's health care policy is just to shoot old people from a helicopter. i think that's how she wants to deal with the elderly problem in

health care. >> what about newt gingrich now? he's coaching her through this all thing. >> i think the biggest lesson that he gave sarah was when she decides to leave todd she needs to make sure that is when todd is in the hospital, diagnosed with cancer. >> all right, speaking of couples and speaking of lifestyles, what do you make of john edwards? what's happening with that deal? >> well, you know, i don't think anyone's surprised that baby is john edwards'. if you saw the pictures when it was born, it had a full head of hair and a full set of teeth. it looked just like john edwards. but for me, i'm excited. because now john edwards can write his new book. and i think he should call it "from son of a mill worker to son of a bitch." >> what do you make of these folks showing up at these town hall meetings and just, la la la, all the stuff that's going on? >> you know, ed, they are just

machine guns of crazy. i mean, these -- doesn't anyone realize i'm the youngest of five kids in my family, if everyone's talking at once, no one is listening to you. it's the worst way to get your point across. i mean, and then they're reading -- one guy is so stupid he shows up wearing a blue cross t-shirt. i mean, i don't even know what to say anymore. other than, you get these crazies, these are the ones that write in, there's 100 people, 1,000 people. they don't represent the mahmoud ahmadinejad right of people in this country. >> lizz winstead, always a pleasure. great to have you with outside this friday edition of "the ed show." stephanie miller, jack rice, michael medved. stephanie, have two words for you and i need your response. john edwards. stephanie? >> bastard person. sorry, are we playing some sort of game? here's a bipartisan thing. that's the thing. we're more than happy to throw

our own under the bus when they do something wrong. and i just, you know -- i'm a huge elizabeth edwards fan. this whole story has just been so sad from the beginning. i don't know what to say. >> there's no doubt about that. jack rice, is there -- this is an unfair question. but if you were in john edwards' position, what would you do? >> i'm thinking honestly, i keep thinking to myself, now, she let him come home? i know your wife, ed. i'm thinking about where my wife is right now. i don't get to sleep in the garage. i don't get to sleep in the front room. i don't get to sleep in the house. everything i have is on a pile on the front lawn. and it's on fire. and she's literally letting me nowhere near anything. how he gets this -- i don't get it. if your wife -- you don't have a chance. >> michael medved, i have to concede to you, if you ever use this as an example when we get into the family values discussion i think you've got one up on us on this situation. >> glad to see bipartisanship

here in the united states. john ensign, mark sanford, john edwards. we can all come together on this one. >> we can come together on this one for sure. >> there's a movie out today called "the time traveler's wife" about a guy who keeps disappearing because he's traveling in time. mark sanford should have used that excuse instead of the appalachian trail. >> all right. what did you say about it? we better not say that to stephanie. i know where you were on that whole deal. let's talk about -- let's talk about the president -- >> it does sound line argentinean tales. >> i knew you'd get away with that, that's good. moving forward to the weekend news here. the president's going to be holding a town hall meeting again tomorrow in colorado. at this point, it's been a good week for the white house, i think, michael medved. what does he have to do to close out this deal down the stretch? >> i think what he has to do is compromise. i've been saying this for a while. i don't think