here's a hint -- i think he's a hukster. and speaking of hucksteres. i have a bone to bik with mike h huckaby. we weigh in on the hammer's fancy footwork. but first tonight's op ced. you know the whole saying let majority rule, that's normally how it works. well a washington post/abc news poll says the majority of the public still supports health care in this country. 52% of an insurance plan created by the government. that famous public option. 51% say health care reform is necessary. 66% say their quality of care will be as good or better when this is all done and that's a number that has not changed since june.

even after all the town hall protests, all the death panel talk, the comparisons to adolf hitler, more than half the country still supports reform. what people are losing is faith in the president and his leadership on this. he is still -- he is still offering an olive branch. i've got to calm down when i say that because i don't think he should be doing this. he's still offering an olive branch to the people trying to destroy his presidency. mr. president, put this on the republicans. you invited them to the table and they said no. the republicans don't want to negotiate. they're interested in doing one thing and that's destroying your presidency for political gain. now, the american people know their motives. 78% of them say they have no confidence in the congressional republicans that are going to make the right decision for the country. insurance reform should be a slam dunk. the majority of americans want it. democrats have huge majorities in the congress. americans don't trust the

republicans. but once again, once again, it's our friends the democrats that are strew skroouing up their own story here. here's senator ken conrad on the wrong channel. >> there are many more who are open to the cooperative option as being the way to bridge the gap between those who are passionately in favor of public option and those who are passionately opposed. there are not the votes in the united states senate for public option. that's why i was given this assignment to try to come up with an alternative. >> but wait a minute, you're a friend of mine, you're a reasonable guy and good guy. all these town hall meetings are taking place. how do we know we don't have conservative democrats changing their minds when we come back to washington? what is he doing going to the belly of the beast and saying the democrats don't have the votes. we don't know that yet. he's saying, well, the senate is

not listening to the people of the united states. i know president obama wants the congress to you know, handle all this thing and let them sort this thing out, and they are in a sense over on the white house. the real rock star in all of this has been the speaker. nancy pelosi has been clear and consistent about this the entire time. she said it again last night, no bill gets through the house without a public option. >> there's no way i can pass a bill in the house of representatives without a public option. unless there's a better idea, that's how we're going forth in the house. >> she has shown the real leadership on this and never waivered. when the blue dogs started making noise, we don't know about public option. she said we're not throwing it overboard. the progressives won this election. we've already compromised. the public option is nonnegotiable. i love it. now, the conflict is over in the senate. no one is driving the senate debate.

you know where it's showing? it's showing in the poll numbers. it's time for the president to step up and get after it. now, an interesting development today. former senate majority leader tom daschle went to the white house. you know tom daschle. he was the guy that barack obama wanted as the health and human services secretary on his cabinet. he has the experience, he has the legislative know-how and he knows the health care issue. what kind of signal is that? i want you to get your phones out tonight. i want to know what you think. who is showing better leadership on health care reform, text a for president obama and text b for house speaker nancy pelosi. we'll bring you the results later on in the program. joining me now is congressman jim moran. great to have you with us tonight. >> it's always good to be with you, ed. >> what do you make of tom

daschle being invited over to the white house today. is this a signal that the president may be ready to make a decision on the public option and draw the line in the sand? what's your take on that meeting? iechlt i have no idea what tom told the president, ed. i hope he didn't suggest that we compromise because listening to the beginning of your show, i completely agree with you. this thing doesn't work unless we have a public option. any more than the military care of veterans works without the federal government taking on the responsibility to make sure that every veteran gets medical care that we need. same thing with medicare. it wouldn't have worked if we had come up with some kind of nonprofit cooperative based upon seniors getting together and pooling their resources. when something is important enough, the american people need to get together, get the resources of their government in there and do it right. and that's what the public option is all about so people have a choice to get quality,

affordable health care. and without the public option, i don't think they have that choice. and they're not going to get the kind of quality they deserve. >> we're on the same page undoubtedly. backing to this meeting about daschle today. when he came out of the meeting he was asked if they talked about reconciliation in the senate and the comment that daschle made was that's not the best way, but that could be the only way. he did acknowledge that the president talked to him about reconciliation. now, if that's the case, isn't that a signal to the folks over in the house, stay strong on a public option, he may be willing to pull the legislative trigger on reconciliation over in the senate? that's the way i would take that. your thoughts? >> i would, too, but we're both speculating. i wish tom was still the majority leader because of a

real comprehensive health care reform bill was his number one priority. i hope harry reid will insist it's the number one priority. if the republicans decide to filibuster, let them filibuster. let the american people see what they're about, just opposing anything that representing progress. >> and speaking of filibuster, do you think the american people right now have fallen off the wagon with president obama if he doesn't, you know, play that hand. i think it's the liberal base getting shaky. your thoughts? >> my thought is we were elected to lead, not to follow. the american people want us to get out in front. even if they are hesitant to follow us, they put their trust in us. and the democrats were given a

majority and president obama mandated to get health care reform done in this country. this is our opportunity. and we ought to put the polls aside. if we get it done, you know, the rewards will be to follow. the american people will realize we took risks, he took a lot of risks, but he got him done and he serves their interest. i know they'll re-elect him if he gets this done. joe madison, good to have you with us tonight. what do you make of daschle going over to the white house today and having a conference with president obama? what's your read on that? >> on what my read is on that. i heard jim moran saying they've elected us to lead but i think it's now time for the feel to leave. if you did a text survey on whether or not there should be a march on washington as a

defining moment to send the message to people and congress, i bet you that you would get an arousing response. i'm calling on the same base, hollywood, labor, we in the talk business, we should demand right now, we get here in washington in october. when vacations are over, ed, the real discussions are going to take place in committee hearings. and that's when people will hear all of the facts that you've been hearing on your show and i've been hearing on my show. we are on the 20 yard line? >> we're in the red zone. >> thank you. we're in the red zone and it's now time to bring out the big dogs.

>> do you think a march on washington is going to influence b ah cus and others who are quite on a public option? do you think a march would turn them over? >> in a word, yes. if the aflcio and all of those responsible for electing and re-electing them out on the mall, the way we were in '63, and it also allows president obama to understand johnson understood. when in 1965, martin luther king went to him and said look, martin, i just gave you a civil rights act. if you want me to give you a voting rights act you've got to make me. and what happened? tens of thousands of people hit the streets and that's what we're going to have to do.

i don't look for politicians to be leaders outside the tway. go to the congressman from michigan, congressman dengle, he says this is what it's costing americans for the uninsured in this country. that's right, insured singles played $368 a year to cover those not insured. and those families are paying $1,017 a year extra to cover the 48 million that aren't insured and of course the check is written to the insurance industry and it is in the billions. that's the price we're paying. all right, switching gears. push it in, pull it in or drag it, that's right. you only have 48 hours to turn in your clunker for cash. it's your last chance to put

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>>'. >> cash for clumpgers coming to an end. i thought it was a joke when it started, i really did, but it's been great. come 8:00 monday night, it's all over. so if you've been thinking about trading in your old car, this is your last chance for the $4,500 rebate. 500,000 cars have been sold through the dealerships. good to have you with us tonight. >> great to be here. representative sutton and others were involved in it. it certainly was a very, very successful program. >> i thought it was going to be $1 billion. they wanted it to go to november. you put $2 billion in it, why

stop at $3 billion when wall street got $787 billion? >> the program was designed to kind of prime the bump and certainly it has done that, ed. we've got folks come into show rooms. cars are selling as you mentioned in the opening. cars are off the inventory a lot and we're low on inventory. a plant in my district is working overtime to build some chevy malibus which are flying off the show room floor. not only are we buying cars, that means we're making steel, we're making rubber, we're making plastics. we've got people working. this is a great economic stimulus. as i've always said on your program, the best way to get the american economy going is start selling automobiles and that's exactly what's happening. >> okay, why stop at $3 billion? why not have it open ended? >> well, it's done the priming,

and through the bankruptcy proceedi proceedings, there's a short anl of some of these cars. we want to make sure there's cars out on the lot. this gives time for the auto companies to get the inventory stock back up again. plus as the economy recovers, we'll start selling more cars. >> it's an attitude adjustment for a lot of workers in this country. for the cars going off the lot right now, 4 out of 5 are foreign cars. toyota, honda, ford focus, toyota and hyundai. what do you make of that? >> what from our statistics people are buying them in equal numbers. even if they don't have a clunker to trade in they're going into the show room. you're going to see real strong sales figures. >> and we can say a government program has worked, can we not?

>> absolutely. this worked and it's going to get the economy moving. >> and there was no government takeover at all. >> the benefits aren't just limited to the car companies. let me bring in leo gerard. what's the ripple effect. has it been so positive they should stimulate this? what do you think? >> there's now 2,200 of the auto workers and they're going to bring people back this week. a steal mill reopened in pittsburgh. one of the steel mills reopened.

our glass plants are coming back to work to make glass for the automobiles. some of our smaller auto parts plants are getting work out of this. this has been a terrific program. i think the program show been geared to the big three. these tax dollars shouldn't be subs dpiez dooizing foreign-made vehicles in my view. but having said that, we're still selling a lot of cars and it's primed the pump, and it showed that this government's plan of getting the economy back to work is really working. >> do you have issue with the clock and train stopping at $3 billion when a lot more went to wall street? >> in this case agree with congressman peters. so many cars having sold that in some places we're short and i think we can find other ways to prime the stimulus pump. i would like to fix water lines and sewer lines. >> so they should try this in other areas of the economy? >> let me just say that

renewable energy, wind turbines. we just got a plate mill opened up since the stimulus program has been in place. wind turbines are now back on the agenda. people are able to access some capital. there's wind farms being built. two of our plate mills. i don't think it was enough. i think there should have been more. there should be a focus for an infrastructure bank. it frees up some skies, frees up some highways. we need a good blend on that. >> leo gerard, steel workers president tonight on "the ed show."

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another edition of friday night psycho talk. tonight it's jim demint.

you know he's the genius who said if the gop can stop president obama on health care reform, it would be his waterloo. that would break him. he here's the senator's latest attempt to break the president. >> probably the most heart wrench i wrenching stories are when natural liezed citizens from other countries say why are we doing what so many have pled from. and i realize whose who lived under socialist type economies and totalitarianism, they know where we're headed if we don't turn things around. >> all right, let's start with germany. i don't know what german immigrants jim has been talking

to, but the berlin wall came down 20 years ago and hitler has been gone for 60 years. germany is not socialism or totalitarianism. by the way, all the citizens have health insurance. do you remember when the iranian regime banned protests following the election when the protestors hit the streets? the police unleashed their guns, batons, pepper spray, and silenced the opposition. we've had a few protests in our country this summer. but even the most extreme nut jobs can run their mouths, insult the president and elected officials right to their faces. also iran shut down the media aft election. they kicked the foreign press out of the country and blocked the internet sites. here in the united states, anything goes for the media. just watch you know who. and president obama may sometimes wish to control what he calls cable chatter, but that's not going to happen. now, i mean, the whole death

panel hoop lark it all started on the internet, courtesy of the northern defense minister sarah palin. so jim, if you're going tos have to do a lot better than that if you're going to take down this president. comparing the u.s. to iran isn't going to cut it. it's just "psycho talk." and coming up, another bushy trying to sell a book. former homeland security secretary tom ridge now says he was pressured to raise the threat level before the '04 election. hey, tom, now you tell us? when there's money on the table. plus, "daily show" co-creator going to turn tom delay into a dancing punching bag tonight. ( conversation ) 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.

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welcome back to "the ed show."

tom ridge, you are a huckster. in his new book he said he was pressured to raise the terror threat level the weekend before the '04 election. in his book, ridge writes -- a. >> come on. ridge questioned whether the bush administration was abusing its power? exploiting fears of another terror attack on the eve of presidential election and said nothing? until now?

tom, i'm not interested in doing an interview and i'm not interested in reading your book, but i am interested to know why you didn't speak up earlier, like before the midterm in 2006. the bush regime was still in power. ridge knew the american people were being played for a fool, and he said nothing. but you see, it's book time. tom ridge may be the nicest guy in the world. pennsylvanians you may love the guy, but for him to play with the minds and the emotions, to hold that back for a book and not speak up before the midterm, to be fair to the american people, look, when you're a servant of the people, you've got to tell the truth and you've got to speak up when it's timely and when it's important. for more on this, let's bring in our panel tonight. bill press is with us and michael graham, radio talk show host, wtkk.

michael, going to go to you first tonight. who do you believe here? do you believe ridge? or do you believe ashcroft, rummy and that crowd? >> one of the people involved is francis townsend, right in the middle of this and was supposedly in the chain of command. she said it never happened. she's an intelligence employ em. who knows. when you give government power, government uses power. illry had a stack of fbi files in the basement. that's why some of us don't want to give the government power over our health care. >> oh, nice pivot. let me pivot on that one right here. lie big the bush administration, health care. okay, good move. i want your thought on this. i have a problem with tom ridge not speaking up before the midterm. >> i just have to say how deliciously predictable michael.

look, ed, certainly tom ridge doesn't deserve any badge of courage reward. he should have quit but colin powell should have quit over the iraq war and he didn't either piem not going to praise tom ridge here, but i think what's really important is what he was saying. you said it at the time, i said it. now it's confirmed the bush administration, they were willing, cheney and rummy and ashcroft and bush were willing to play politics with national security. they did these arrests, they did these warnings. they raised the color alert when politically it benefited them and that is odous and i think it's worth noting. >> the charges are serious and distressing and disappointing, but i agree with you, ed, when you see someone like tom ridge who has been a public servant his whole life, a vietnam veteran, a governor, a

congressman, a cabinet secretary, when you see someone like him coming out now in a chance and a tell-all book to make money and decided not to run for the senate, after he wasn't chosen to be john mccain's vice president on the ticket, you see a man who's decided during the years when he wanted to still be in the republican party to stay quiet, and now to come out with his book. now, there was a fierce backlash today as everyone mentioned from the former chief of staff in addition to francis townsend. you did not see rumsfeld or ashcroft or these others coming out to deny it. i don't know why tom ridge would make this up, but you always attract questions and you're a target for criticism when you're doing it in a tell-all book after you've gotten the big advance. >> i would like to know. is cheney involved in this? he was involved in everything else.

>> i was waiting for you to say halliburton had their mind control machine on him and he was forced to not leave the white house. >> you have your people saying they're lying. >> how are you picking teams here? >> do you agree with what they were doing if ridge, what he's saying is true, do you agree with phonying up the threat level? >> first of all, i hate to inject facts here. he suspected and wondered -- later in the same book according to what's been posted on the internet, he said explicitly, he never set the threat level for any political reasons. so he contradicts himself. >> the point is, he said he was pressured to by ashcroft and rummy. if you want the facts, go to keith ole berman, u2. in april he documented ten times, never rebutted by the bush administration, ten times where the timing -- they timed,

either terror alerts or warnings or arrests because of some bad news for the administration. they took 9/1 a1 and maid it a political club to beat democrats over the head with. shepard hang on. conservatives couldn't stop ripping the dixie chicks when they took a crack at bush. but somehow when one of their own rips obama, they're dreadfully silent. i'll tell you who needs to shut their trap on this one.

>> tonight's text survey question who's showing better leadership on health care? a for president obama, b for speaker nancy pelosi. the results are coming up.

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parentally the idea that politics stops at the water's edge only applies if you're a democrat. mike huckaby went to israel and spent time criticizing president obama's foreign policy. >> many of us were surprised by the significant policy shift of this administration from previous administrations. it's even inconsistent from his own campaign promises when he came to israel. i think that's one of the reasons why it's a concern, even to members of his own party to the congress in the united states. >> i'm not say heavyweight's got to agree with the president, but a former government official criticizing his government's foreign policy overseas is wrong. and where's the joit rage? when al gore skrit sized abuses of arabs, conservatives went bonkers on that one. investors business daily accused the former vice president of supreme disloyalty to his

country and do you remember when the dixie chicks told a london audience that they were ashamed the president was from texas. the backlash was unbelievable. bush lovers steam rolled piles of czs. do you remember that? their music was banned from the airwaves. right-wing talkers called them dixie sluts and saddam's angels. they received death threats. so it wasn't okay for a former democratic officials or even a group of singers to criticize the president on foreign soil, but it's okay for the conservatives, not a problem at all. joining me now is national security editor for think progress, matthew dusk. am i overplaying this double standard? or is this just hitting us all in the head like a big softball. what's your take? is this a double standard? >> clearly it's a double standard. as you said when natalie manes of the dixie chicks made an

offhand comment being ashamed of george w. bush being from texas, there was a huge outcry. people making death tret threats against them. and here we have mike huckaby, not just making a fwreef offhand comment but actually going to settlements in the west bank and east jerusalem and lining up with some very extreme characters from the israeli political spectrum and making specific policy criticisms against the president of the united states. >> is this his first move to 2012? >> i think that's probably a good way to look at it. i mean, some of the statement he's even made since then talking about kind of right wing, christian evangelical support indicate, yes, he's there to shore up support amongst a very, very fundamentalist faction of the republican base. >> now, the liberal blog sphere has called him on it. conservative talkers have praised him for it, and other squout lets who are conservative just thought it was another day

at the office. he said some of the headlines from my visit to israel have screamed huckaby bashes america in israel. this is >> is this a clear contradictory statement? it seems to me like he's doing a 180. >> right. he really is just not being very honest in my view in that statement. he clearly misstated u.s. policy in that clip that you just played. going back to president jimmy carter on through president reagan, through president bush, clinton, bush, and now obama, these administrations have had a clear policy that settlements, construction of settlements is counterproductive to the cause of peace between israel and the palestinians. in fact, israel agreed to a settlement freeze in bush's 2003 road map. president obama is just enforcing and holding israel to that commitment. so clearly, mr. hukabee, he

misstated u.s. policy. >> appreciate your time tonight. thanks so much. comedian liz winstedt will tell you how the righties are scaring her poor mom this week. [ fema] the deeper you clean, the cleaner you feel. olay deep cleansers go beyond what the eye can see. they remove 2 times more dirt and make-up than basic cleansing. for a deep clean feeling,

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>> it's time for club ed, co-creator of "wake up world." . >> i'm not coming back if you dance like that. >> was it that bad? >> it was like bad wed popping. >> like your high school reunion? >> a little bit. >> we have had the misinformation campaign and it was verified by nbc news on a poll this week. 55% of americans believe in health care reform, half the american people think that. oh, 54% think it's going to be a government takeover and let's not forget the death panels for the elderly. how is your mom doing with that news? >> first of all, i'm home for my class reunion and my mom called me a marxist while i was home because i would like to see poor people who don't have health care have health care. she said you're a marxist and she says i've seen you bring

that "new york times" into my home. i said yeah, i bought it at das starbucks, mom. that underground reading facility for us in the communist party. to deal with politicians, when they get sworn in and they say they're going to uphold the constitution after that a collar is put around their neck and when they lie, the collar shocks them. secondly, there needs to be an ipod app or an iphone app when you go to the town halls and these crazy dining room tables are spewing out a bunch of junk you point your iphone at them and it mutes them like when someone swears on tv. >> let's talk about tom delay. >> i like to call it dancing with the indicted. the only way someone should watch tom delay sexy dance if

they're forced to do a prison sentence. but if tom delay, whatever money he gets paid, he should get paid in obama gift certificates. >> let's talk brett favre. >> you know i talk about football constantly. it's exciting for the vikes. they are getting $4,500 for the cash for clunkers, which is great because the eagles only got a $150 for michael vick. go vikes. it's my one chance to see tiger woods and the choke fest, it was on. >> you weren't doing that movie where they tore up the golf course, did you? >> with bill murray? >> yeah. >> you won't golf with me. and don't point at me like i have to go. i have asked ed bring me back --

>> i have to go north of the border this week. i'm going to canada. >> what are you talking about? >> i have to talk about health care in canada. you have a podcast coming up? it's going to be clean, right? >> no, we'll be swearing. politic, life, music and other junk i care about. broadca broadcast.us. >> good to have you with us as always. >> bring me fish. >> i will try. what if i get skunked? our panelist still with us. i have to go back to what i was saying at the top of the show about obama and health care. michael graham on a scale of one to ten, where would you say the president is this week as far as improving the message? >> as far as i'm concerned i would say he's a ten. i think they should buy him some air time, make him a 12 or a 13. his support is below and that's

democratic leadership. among the public it's worse. fewer than 50% think that he's going to do the right thing for america. i think the whole issue is trust. you say government is good, it works for me. people say i see the government, i'm sorry, you're not telling me the truth. >> as it been a good week for the white house when it comes to health care? have they made progress? >> well, we had the outbreak over the weekend about how the public option was going to be dropped and the denial from the white house that it was going to be dropped. and then we had the white house and democrats are going to go it alone on health care. and then the deny it from the white house how they were going to go it alone and they were still at the table with chuck grassley, the senator from iowa. it's still a bumpy road for them. mid course corrections are often necessary, i think, if he decided earlier in the year that he was going to speak to the ensured and to comfort the

middle class with this rhetorical strategy, he should have done that from day one. he pivoted, of course, from covering the uninsured to trying to sell this to the insured. but the problem is, the more you change messages, the more diluted they become and the more scattered it is. the democrats dug in on a public option. then house majority leader steny highwayer s hoyer saying it's not needed. they squaunterred so much of august. i don't know how they get it back. >> bill press, what's the signal to you that they were talking about reconciliation and tom admits that might be the only way to go. >> first i've got to say, ed, if fdr paid attention to the polls there wouldn't be any social security. and if lyndon johnson paid attention to the polls we

wouldn't have medicare. so i hope this is not going to be driven by the result of all the negativity on the polls. i want to come back to daschle. i'm nervous about tom being there. i love tom daschle. but daschle said barack obama should be ready to throw the public option away. he said that a couple of months ago. the fact that they're talking reconciliation i think is a positive sign because i think the president has lost control here. the only way to get it back is to forget about these stinking republicans trying to make a deal with chuck grassley. it's not going to happen. he's got to stick with nancy pelosi, stick with the democrats and tell the blue dogs to get onboard or change parties. >> let me follow up with you again, bill. how can so many americans be so wrong on so many key issues, own illegal immigration, abortion, government takeover and getting rid of, you know, having death panels. 45% of the american people think that. how can the white house let this get out of control like that. and michael, you respond to that. >> it happens because, ed,

fortunately negativity works. lies work. the myths work. the propaganda machine works. unless you have a more effective propaganda machine on the other side and the white house has been, i think, asleep at the switch. >> i want you to look at the cancer right now and tell the americans that barack obama is going to send away illegal immigrants from hospitals once his plan is in place. i want you to tell them that. yesterday they admitted of course we're going to cover illegal immigrants. it's what we do. everybody knows the truth. listening to the spin from you guys, you've got to be kidding me. >> you're perpetuating lies. here's the truth. >> he's going to send people away? >> the democratic health care reform plan, doesn't matter house or senate, does not cover illegal aliens. >> we'll leave it there. that's all i have time for pop it's going to happen anyway. >> earlier in the show i asked you what you thought, who was showing better leadership, 29% of you say president obama, 71%

of you say house speaker nancy pelosi. that's "the ed show." for more information go to our website. it's been a long couple of weeks. so i've got to go north of the border and catch some fish. i've got to come back here next week. "hardball" next on msnbc. is tom ridge blows the whistle. let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. leading off tonight, say it ain't so. like a battery of anti-aircraft gunners, people speaking for the last bush administration are trying to shoot down the accusation that some of them tried jacking up the country's security alert in order to ensure bush's re-election in 2004.

when the news broke yesterday that homeland security secretary tom ridge has charged bush people with doing just that, trying to politicize the terror threat level the weekend right before the '04 elections, a lot of people said ah-ha, but spokesmen for donald rumsfeld and john ashcroft are trying to dismiss the accusation, or at least people speaking for them are. but a lot of people aren't, of course, buying the denials. ridge's account of what happened only confirms what bush critics on iraq and related issues always believed, that the white house politicized the terror threat to scare people into voting republican. plus, what's going on with health care reform? opponents are saying president obama is pushing big government. that he's moving the country towards socialism while liberals argue he's not moving left enough ands