liberals and conservatives to right now say, oh, he's leaning more in my direction. but eventually somebody is going to have to make a call on this. >> roger, does that news about john mccain surprise you? >> not really. i don't think president obama is going to get any republicans in the senate for this except the possible exception of olympia snow and maybe susan collins. the speech last night really wasn't about bipartisanship, it was about unifying the democratic party. and getting the democratic party behind one plan. but as she says very accurately, we still don't know where the president's line is in the sand is when it comes to the public option. this is possibly where bill clinton could be a help. bill clinton understands health care, first of all. but he understands the fiscal conservatives of his party and he understands the progressives

in his party. >> okay. >> and he can try to bring them together on this. >> roger simon, c.c. conley, thank you very much. join us again tomorrow night at 5:00 and 7:00 eastern for more "hardball." right now, what you've been waiting for, it's time for "the ed show" with ed schultz. good evening, america. this is "the ed show" live from new york. tonight, the president's speech. yes! i loved it! it was about challenges. he showed some two-fisted leadership last night. he goes out there and he challenges us as a nation to do this. he challenged members of his own party, he challenged the republicans. but most importantly, president obama, you know what he did? he drew a line in the sand. nobody is talking about it. of course he drew a line in the sand. you know what he told the insurance industry? you're going to have to get it together on a couple of major issues, like this one about

denying coverage. >> under this plan, it would be against the law for insurance companies to deny your coverage because of a preexisting condition. as soon as i sign this bill, it will be against the law for insurance companies to drop your coverage when you get sick. >> it will be against the law. that's a mandate if the president gets what he wants. do you know how many millions of americans are going to be affected by this if it goes through? this is huge. the president is making it illegal for insurance companies to game you, the consumer. the insurance companies, they're not going to get onboard with this. there's going to be a fight like you never seen before. they're making really all these outrageous profits because they're able to keep high-risk people out of the insurance pool. you know what this is going to do, folks? lit me back up a little bit. this is going to walk the

democrats right to the public option, just what we want. because it's going to create the public outrage and create more of the political will than anything we have ever seen before. the american people, as the president said, want fairness. they want the insurance industry to be, i think the word he used was, accountable. he wants accountability. president obama put it on the line. he told the democratic lawmakers, either you're with me and the american people, or you're going to be over there with the democrats, you're going to be with the republicans on the wrong side. there are some conservative democrats over there and he's concerned about that. met with them at 4:30 this afternoon. no word on how that went. you can go stand with the republicans and people like this guy, joe wilson. oh, we've got another joe wilson who's been outed, right? he calls the president a liar on

national television. undoubtedly a juvenile rabel rouser. i really believe this is a culmination, this is kind of like a quick highlight tape of these town hall psycho show-up meetings. they have basically emboldened the righties to act like this, foolish, disrespectful and childish last night. when you think about it, the school kids in virginia were more respectful to the president than some of the republicans last night. the american people are watching this. they're paying the salaries of these guys, and they were totally unprofessional. you have to ask yourself the question tonight, could you do that on your job? could you act like that in the workplace on your job in front of your superior and get away with it and know with confidence that you've got a job tomorrow morning? when you consider where the president has been, it has been a summer of being told, let's see, he wasn't born in america,

he's a socialist, they've compared him to hitler, they held up signs doing that. president obama had the courage last night to take the high road and what did he say? my door is open. let's get this done. it's the right thing morally to do for our country at this time. but let there be no mistake. here are the two key things the president said last night to everybody in the chamber. what he wants, it is against the law to deny coverage in preexisting conditions. it is against the law to drop somebody after they get sick. did you see any press conferences in the insurance industry saying we're going to go along with that? see any republicans say, we're going to jump on that? last night on this program, and i have great respect for john furry, but he may have misspoke. he said that the republicans were going to take care of the preexisting conditions in their bills. we did some checking, it's not true. so this is the key question for

the republicans -- this is what the president wants, this preexisting condition got to be gone. you can't deny coverage once they get cancer, they were healthy for ten years, but now they got cancer, you can't drop them. there is no way the republicans or insurance industry will go along with that. let's find out. i want to know what you think about this. get your cell phones out. will the president's plan to ban preexisting conditions lead to a public option? text a for yes and b to no to 622639. the question for the republicans tonight, where do you stand on those two things? because folks, it's a mandate. joining me now is republican senator john barasso of wyoming who is a doctor and who loves "the ed show" and loves to mix it up with me. good to see you tonight. appreciate your time. >> thanks for having me back, ed. >> we've had all the praises of

the president. senator, i want to ask you, will you go along with eliminating the preexisting condition, yes or no? >> yes, i think we have to cover people with preexisting conditions. we did it in wyoming where the state stepped up and helped people with preexisting condition to continue to get insurance. i think somebody who has insurance should not be dropped if they get will. the debate seems to be between democrats. he has democrats at the white house trying to convince them of his position. >> but senator, i got to point out, i want to focus on the two things the president said it would be against the law. you're telling us tonight, and there is nothing in any of the republican proposals, because i read them all today, i read all the republican proposals, there's nothing that says about eliminating preexisting conditions. so you're telling us, you're

willing as a doctor and senator, you're willing to go along with the president on this, correct? >> i agree with the president, we need to do something for people with preexisting conditions. we did it in wyoming. there are things you can do, about 25 states have proposals that work. and i think you can find the best ideas there and incorporate those because the president said he wanted to get ideas from other people. >> we're making progress, senator, because no other republicans have said what you just said on this program. here's question number two, people who have insurance and all of a sudden get sick have been canceled by insurance companies. the president wants to make that move by insurance companies against the law. are you going to support him on that? >> i agree with the president. if somebody already has insurance, and becomes ill, my wife is a breast cancer survivor, she's been through three operations, two full bouts of chemo therapy. i would absolutely be offended if somebody tried to drop her because she has breast cancer for insurance he's already had.

it's absolutely wrong and shouldn't happen in america. >> it won't happen because you're in the united states senate. that's just a fact, that's not a cheap shot. >> i wasn't in the senate at the time, but i still say people should not be dropped who have been paying their premiums and have insurance. >> senator, i commend you, and i've been tough on the republicans but you're a stand-up guy if you're willing to support the president on these two key proposals, and better watch out, senator, they're going to be calling you a socialist and nazi pretty soon. >> the president also said we still need to iron out some of the details and i want to see the details, ed. >> all right, let's get to the money. ly admit the president was not detailed last night how we're going to pay for this. he's been on the record saying he wants to repeal the bush tax cuts and even go farther than that. is that a non-starter for the

republicans in your opinion? >> i want to see the specific details. the president said "my bill, my position." i don't know if that means he started over. i've seen the house and senate bills. i want to see the president's proposal and see if we can work together. there are certain areas where we're going to work together and really it's been disappointing in terms of tort reform when he talked about doing demonstration projects. we've had demonstration projects in california and texas. we know what works to get the cost of care down, to help people have fewer unnecessary tests ordered. >> finally, senator, can you give the president some credit that he didn't mandate to his party that we got to have a public option? here we are in the 11th hour, the world is watching the president and he backs off on a mandate, he doesn't have to have a public option, he wants it but he's not dictating to his party. doesn't that say something to you as a republican? >> i'm not sure if he backed out

or not. a lot of people are disagreeing on what exactly he said. in terms of a government-run plan, i don't think the american people should have to call their congressman to get an appointment to see a doctor. >> it's not a government-run plan, it's an option and you don't have to get into it. only 5% of the people early on would do it. >> but soon enough it would be most of america. >> that would be a choice then. >> good to be with you. >> john harwood, political writer for the new york tiles with us tonight. john, what was the biggest story, other than this guy down in south carolina, and other than the republicans holding up signs, what do you think the biggest story was coming out of that speech last night? >> i think there were two things, ed. in terms of the public, i thought that outreach that the president exhibited to republicans, to john mccain,

chuck grassley, orrin hatch, was significant. not because he has any chance of getting their votes or getting senator barasso's vote, but he's trying to persuade the average american out there watching on tv, he's been reasonable, he's accommodating republican ideas. that makes it easier for moderate and conservative democrats to stick with him and vote for this plan, even if almost all the republicans are not going to vote for it. the second thing is that he essentially embraced the outlines of the senate finance committee bill. what does that mean? it says that he wants to raise money by taxing insurance companies, which has the double effect of raising revenue -- >> but john, he didn't get to that. he didn't talk about the surcharge last night. >> no, he did. >> not in detail. >> not in detail, but he's embracing the -- what max baucus wants to do. that means the surtax in the

millionaires in the house is in all probability dead. i think it is more clear than some people think of where this thing is headed on the public option. i think a triggered public option is the likely outcome. still some uncertainty that could happen. that is a solution that may not satisfy you, ed, but it gives people on the left the opportunity to say the insurance market doesn't work, we got the public option. and for people on the right to say we're not voting for that right now. >> here's house speaker nancy pelosi reacting to the president's speech. i want your response to this. here it is. >> if somebody has a better idea, put it on the table. that's what the president said. well, in the month of august, while people were complaining about the public option, they hit us with their best shot, distortion, misrepresentation and obstruction. so far we haven't seen a better idea. but it could be there.

so this is about a goal, it's not about provision. but i don't think you ever really go into a negotiation and say that some things are nonnegotiable. one of those would be that we not pass a bill. >> well, what does that mean? i mean, john i'm hearing maybe she's going to back off on a public option a little bit, or everything is negotiable. i thought she had drawn her line in the sand. >> i think she opened the door wide open to the solution i just mentioned, which is the triggered public option. let me tell you something about liberals in the house. there is no chance whatsoever that if that is what comes out of the conference committee that democrats are going to bring down this bill. they know they lost control of the congress in 1994 for failing to act on health care. that memory hangs like a huge cloud over the democratic caucus in both chambers.

i believe, ed, as we sit tonight that the outlook is very strong that obama is going to get a bill encompassing most of his principles, including that triggered public option. >> john harwood, good to have you. joining me now is congressman gregory meeks of new york. great to see you tonight. did the president recruit any blue dogs tonight and today, what do you think? >> i think he did. i know today i've been talking to a number of my colleagues who are blue dogs and they were impressed with the speech last night. they said that's what they were waiting to hear. the president to be plain and clear and concise and show that he's going to stand behind the bill and that's exactly what he did last night. so i think you see those of us, democrats in the house coming together. >> i mean, i'm saying that the key thing was preexisting condition and you can't cancel people's insurance if they get sick. does that go far enough for you? would you support the president without the traditional, as we talked about, public option?

>> you know what? i think what the president said last night was he's with public option, but if somebody can come up with something that accomplished that, because we got to give the insurance companies some competition. he said there's more than one way to give the insurance companies competition, and if you can come up with that, it would drive down the prices. >> would you go along with a trigger? i don't believe in a trigger. i think that's a short cut. would you go along with a trigger option? >> i think we're not going to have a trigger option in a bill we pass out of the house. however, i believe we've got to have a bill passed. i think the president was correct when he said many presidents have tried to deal with health care, he intends to be the last. the president has, and the bill that came out of the house and the senate, is loaded with a lot of good things that the american public needs, and we've got to make sure that those provisions are passed. i believe the public option is absolutely necessary. >> great to have you with us

tonight. appreciate your time. thank you so much. coming up, senator tom harken is stepping into the role that ted kennedy played, chairman of the senate health committee. he's going to be joining me in just a moment. where does he stand on all this? and president obama accepted joe wilson's apology for last night's outburst, but i wouldn't do it. tom tancredo is taking wilson's side on this? plus, the nfl season gets under way tonight. steven a. smith is in the house. we'll size up all of that later on "the ed show." stay with us. you're watching msnbc. a tornado hits, air life denver takes off... their night-vision goggles keeping the rescue mission safe... and powering those goggles-- the only battery air life trusts: duracell. trusted everywhere.

[ engine powers down ]

gentlemen, you booked your hotels on orbitz. well, the price went down, so you're all getting a check thanks. for the difference. except for you -- you didn't book with orbitz, so you're not getting a check. well, i think we've all learned a valuable lesson today. good day, gentlemen. thanks a lot. thank you. introducing hotel price assurance, where if another orbitz customer books the same hotel for less, we send you a check for the difference, automatically. getting an early flu shot is the best thing you can do... to protect you and your loved ones from the flu. it's also one of the easiest things you can do... because walgreens is now offering seasonal flu shots... every day of the week with convenient hours guaranteed. so you can just stop in. our 16,000 dedicated pharmacists... and take care clinic nurse practitioners... are waiting to help you beat the flu... in neighborhoods nationwide.

at walgreens we want you to kno

it's confidence that this would be the year of health care reform, that great unfinished business of our society he called it, would finally pass. h repeated the truth that health care is decisive for our future prosperity, but he also reminded me that it concerns more than material things. what we face, he wrote, is above all a moral issue. at stake are not just the details of policy, but fundamental principles of social justice, and the character of

our country. >> that was the most moving part of the president's speech last night when he read the part of senator ted kennedy's final letter to him. ted kennedy called health care the cause of his life. he was very proud of the bill his committee passed in july and the work goes on and a new chairman has taken up that fight to see that bill become law. joining me now senator tom harken. good to see you tonight and good to have you with us. >> always good to be on your show with you. >> did the president go far enough? we've had conversations about got to have the public option, got to have competition for the insurance industry to get costs down and contain everything, did he go far enough, tom? >> yes, he did. last night he was very strong on the public option. he couldn't have been clearer about why we need a public option and what it would do, and that he was strongly for it. and i thought he was very clear, we've got to have a public option. and believe me, we are going to have one. >> but the president wouldn't

guaranty it. does that raise concern for you in any way? >> no, he said something very interesting though, ed. he said that the public option was just one part of the bill. what he meant by that was that, look, there's a lot of other good stuff in this bill you might agree with, even though you don't agree on the public option. we've heard a lot of talk around here, ed, there's not the votes for the public option. we don't know that because we've never voted on it. but it's like a lot of things, you get a bill through here and maybe there's something you don't like in it but there's a lot of other things you do like. so i would like to see, i would like to see the democrats and republicans here in the senate vote on a bill that does away with preexisting conditions, that does away with life-time caps, that lets your kids be covered until they're 26, that doesn't allow the insurance companies to rip you off. have that all in there with a public option.

you mean to say people will vote against that bill because of a public option? i don't think so. >> those were the key points the president pointed out last night in his speech. do you think the insurance industry will go along with that? that all of a sudden they're going to take people in with preexisting conditions and they're not going to cut people off after they, you know, get ill and have been customers for a while but they get cancer and get cut off, do you think they're going to go along with that kind of reform? >> well, go along with it, it's in every one of our bills, the three bills in the house and the bill out of our committee, it's all in our bill. all of those things i mentioned is in every one of our bills, >> do you think that will survive the conference committee? >> absolutely. now, that i have no doubt whatsoever. that is going to survive the conference committee. they're in both the house and senate bills. >> if that's the case, tom, then

liberals got a big victory last night. >> i think it was a great victory last night. and i think that little outburst by representative wilson sort of indicated where they were coming from. >> have you ever seen anything like that before? >> not in all my years here. i've been to presidential speeches there since gerald ford, i've never seen anything like that before. >> senator, congratulations on all the heavy work that you have in front of you now to get this done. >> it's a heck of a challenge, ed, but i'm up for it and we're going to get this health reform bill through and we're going to have it to the president before thanksgiving. >> appreciate your time tonight. tom harkin with us on "the ed show." coming up, republican congressman and dr. paul brown sure needs to work on his bedside manner. he blew off a constituent big-time. stay with us. [ female announ] introducing the latest

body wash from olay. tone enriching ribbons. two separate ribbons. the white cleanses. the gold moisturizes and has a touch of mineral shimmer to enhance skin's tone. olay tone enriching body wash. for skin that shimmers. it's tough to reach that five servings a day if you don't always like the taste of vegetables. good thing v8 v-fusion juice gives you a serving of vegetables hidden by a serving of fruit.

v8. what's your number? - oh, come on. - enough! you get half and you get half. ( 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-tzu? - ( 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. a sanctuary. a command center. ( both revving ) a sophisticated sedan. a sports car. together. nissan maxima, the four-door sports car. now get a new nissan maxima for 0% apr financing

for 60 months. upbeat rock apr financing ♪ so i could hear myself myseas a ringtone ♪hone ♪ ♪ who knew the store would go and check my credit score ♪ ♪ now all they let me have is this dinosaur ♪ ♪ hello hello hello can anybody hear me? ♪ ♪ i know i know i know i shoulda gone to ♪ ♪ free credit report dot com! ♪ that's where i shoulda gone! coulda got my knowledge on! ♪ ♪ vo: free credit score and report with enrollment in triple advantage. 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. ( crowd roars ) that's a great call. one a day men's.

time now for "psycho talk." who do we have here? congressman paul brown, m.d., the doctor from georgia. displayed his lousy bedside manner after a town hall meeting in his home state yesterday. a constituent came up to him and

explained, you know, he just couldn't afford catastrophic insurance with a $20,000 deductible. so he asked the congressman, you know, what about the elusive republican plan, how would that address his issue? big surprise, brown came up empty handed. here was his response. >> walking away from the situation, walking away from it. if you have a suggestion, send it to me? i mean, these guys, they've been complaining that the president of the united states isn't listening to their ideas on health care. there's nothing to listen to. brown just admitted it. the gop doesn't have any ideas, and the congressman is blowing off the very real concerns of a

man who he is supposed to be representing. coming up, in the past year the number of people without health insurance has increased to 45.7 million people. senator bernie sanders and congressman waxman are fighting for it. plus, hard to imagine that anyone would defend congressman joe wilson in his disrespectful, immature behavior last night, but we found somebody. former congressman tom can krado. stay with us. you're watching "the ed show" on msnbc. we can do the small things, the big things, just about everything... right inside your gm dealership. find out more at goodwrench.com. are actually susceptible to irreversible damage.

your teeth are no different. everyday acids can cause irreversible loss of enamel. 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 areas dentists check most. save your enamel. once it's gone it can be gone for good. new crest pro-health enamel shield. also shield with the rinse. 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? ♪ i'm finally going to get a flat panel for my home theater. - ( cheering ) - ( laughs ) thank you. what should i get? uh, you.

you should check out our new leds. the picture's better than life. okay, but i don't want to pay too much. don't worry about it. we'll match those other stores' prices. and we'll deliver and hook it up for free. okay. last question. if you guys are here, who's in the stores? the latest home theater technology and thousands of people eager to help. best buy. buyer be happy. gm drivers.. it's goodwrench & go time. three great services: all in one place. all at one time. all for one price for most gm vehicles. but it's only for a limited time.

welcome back to "the ed show." 81 days, that's the new deadline for a health care bill. vice president joe biden told that to msnbc news this morning, he expects a bill by thanksgiving and he's been around a long time, he ought to know that stuff.

the president made the case last night that congress has to get this thing done. he's taking action. he met today separately with a group of democratic blue dogs. so the president is definitely working it the day after the speech. but the group who will probably get asked to compromise, to get onboard, come on, you're not going to get everything, it's the progressives. it's the liberals in this country who played a major role in getting the president to the white house. joining me now is senator bernie sanders of vermont. senator, i'm anxious to hear your take on this tonight, is there a level of disappointment in the performance of the president last night in terms not so much of the speech but in terms of substance, where do you stand, senator? >> i think the president made a very cogent argument. he pointed out, and it has to be stated over and over again, this is the only country in the industrialized world that does

not guaranty health care to all its people. health care costs are soaring and if the republicans succeed in doing nothing, health care cost also double by the next eight years, which is unsustainable. 18,000 people dieing a year because they can't get to a doctor on time and a million people going bankrupt this year. if this is not a reason to bring about health care reform, i don't know what is. >> those numbers that you just quoted in the president's speech last night, do you think any republicans on the hill have softened their position a bit that are maybe willing to work on this thing outside the bill if you got to go reconciliation, you might get a few republicans. >> depending on the issue you're looking at. some of the simple and obvious issues, do we continue with the insanity of insurance companies denying people coverage because of preexisting conditions. i noticed a lot of republicans standing up when the president said that. >> it's not in any of their

bills. >> i know that. and add to that, ed, the absurdity, they can throw you off of your policy. i think even republicans will come onboard with that. this is my view. my view is that you've got to get the grassroots moving and explain to the american people, and the president did a good job last night debunking some of the lies that the right wing has been throwing out. and i think if we get the grassroots moving and saying to their senators, republicans and democrats, hey, we need real health care reform, we can pull this off. >> senator lindsey graham said he thought that president obama had a combative attitude. how would you describe the president's attitude last night? >> i think this president should have had that attitude three or four months ago. what the republicans have been doing in general, their obstructionism on health care, they're ignoring the needs of the american people and many democrats continue to reach out,

reach out, get slapped on the hand. enough is enough! he is the president of the united states. go to the people, let's pass real health care reform. i think frankly he has not been combative enough. >> we're told right now, senator, this was just handed to me, that a different subject here tonight. president obama on monday is going to deliver a major speech on the financial crisis. is there news out there that you can tell us tonight that you know about? anything cooking on capitol hill that you're hearing in dealing with the financial crisis in >> the only thing i know is that an investigation, the congress passed a legislation finally establishing the committee to do a thorough investigation as to how we got into this disastrous crisis, how wall street acted in a reckless and irresponsible manner. that investigation is about to begin. i don't know if that's the issue the president will be talking about or not.

>> we're told that he's going to talk about taking up some measures that would prevent a crisis like we experienced a year ago, which would mean reforms. if you can, just off the top of your head, tell us what kind of reforms would you advocate for or what do you think has to be done? >> i think we have to revisit at the very least graham, leach, i said in the house you can't just deregulate, deregulate. if you deregulate wall street, all these guys know how to do is make money any way they can. so you got to revisit the whole issue of reregulation. you have to have a cap on credit card interest rates, credit unions have been living quite well with 15%. too big to fail, got to take a hard look at that. >> great to have you with us tonight. thanks so much. coming up, it's my favorite time of the year, the nfl football season kicks off.

stephen a. smith is in the house. brett favre, he just won't give up. and the redskins are ripping off their fans. stay with us. you're watching "the ed show" on msnbc. job security to provide for your family. it's the fabric of a sound economy. it built the middle class. and it's what the employee free choice act is all about... letting workers choose to join a union to earn better pay and benefits. the employee free choice act. it's time the economy worked for everyone again.

it's still not too late to let me know what you think. will the president's plan to ban preexisting conditions lead to a public option? ♪ we will not be quiet. ♪ when we're in a sandwich, you'll know it. we are our own mixed up blend of one of a kind spices. we are miracle whip. and we will not tone it down. i just gave you some at the restaurant. yea i know. i threw them out. they were old so... old! they are rollover minutes. they are as good as new. ya know not everyone gets to keep their unused minutes. and these days we can't afford to be wasteful. saving minutes... ...saves money. yea.

(announcer) only at&t's family talk with rollover saves your family's unused minutes. and saving minutes saves money. for back to school, get the lg neon for $29.99 after mail-in rebate. getting an early flu shot is the best thing you can do... to protect you and your loved ones from the flu. it's also one of the easiest things you can do... because walgreens is now offering seasonal flu shots... every day of the week with convenient hours guaranteed. so you can just stop in. our 16,000 dedicated pharmacists... and take care clinic nurse practitioners... are waiting to help you beat the flu... in neighborhoods nationwide. at walgreens we want you to know, there's a way to stay well. to silence headaches... at walgreens we want you to know, doctors recommend tylenol... more than any other brand... of pain reliever. tylenol rapid release gels... release medicine fast. so you can stop headaches... and feel better fast. [ engine powers down ]

gentlemen, you booked your hotels on orbitz. well, the price went down, so you're all getting a check thanks. for the difference. except for you -- you didn't book with orbitz, so you're not getting a check. well, i think we've all learned a valuable lesson today. good day, gentlemen. thanks a lot. thank you. introducing hotel price assurance, where if another orbitz customer books the same hotel for less, we send you a check for the difference, automatically. welcome back to "the ed show." action today, progressives taking action. they sent a letter with president obama, they want to meet with him on health care reform. what don't they like? let's go to congressman henry waxman, a member of the progressive caucus. thanks for your time tonight. can you tell us what was in this letter, what do you want to meet about? >> i don't know anything about it. i'm a member of the progressive caucus. if they want to meet with the

president, maybe i'll get invited. i'm working on the bill as chairman of the energy and commerce committee. it's a good bill, we have to get it passed. i support the public plan, it's in our bill. it's going to make the whole system honest and keep the private insurance companies with competition and make them live up to their promises. >> senator, this is going to be a mandate on private business in this country. the president said last night, you can't drop anybody once you've got them as a client, and by the way, preexisting conditions are gone. is this going to pass in the house? are the blue dogs going to go along with this? >> i think we'll pass the bill in the house. we're going to bring all the democrats together. that means we have to compromise and look for what will bring us together. we can't draw lines. the most important thing we've got to do is to pass this bill. it is so long overdue. >> no doubt about that.

a firestorm last night erupts over the question of whether any of this funding is going to cover illegal immigrants. can you say emphatically that your bill will not do that? >> absolutely. we have a specific provision in the bill that no funds can be used to pay for the illegal immigrants to get health care, either under medicaid or s-chip or in this whole exchange, and when i heard the minority leader make such an ill-informed comment that it could happen because it's not in there, he should know better. >> what about using federal funds to fund abortions, is that going to be in there? is there going to be a possibility that taxpayer dollars might go to that? >> no, taxpayer dollars may not be used to fund abortion. we've made that very clear in the legislation.

and so we're not using taxpayer funds for illegal immigrants or tax funds to pay for abortions. let me just state it unequivocally and there should be no doubt about it. >> one final thing tonight about the president's presentation. he really went after all the misinformation and he said he was going to call out anybody who misrepresented any of the bills. give us a definition of what "calling out" the republicans like, what does he mean, calling a press conference and saying hey, they're lying over here, what are we talking about? >> i think just saying they're wrong, they're not telling the truth, and clarifying the record. you can't let lies just sit there. when i heard these lies about death panels and things like that, it was just appalling, because people should have known better, unless they're just trying to distort and scare people. >> do you think that's going to continue or do you think the conservatives will back off,

quickly? >> i hope they'll back off, but they haven't shown any indication. and last night, the behavior of some of the right wingers was appalling. they were holding up signs. we had president bush who took us to war under false pretenses, and we were seething when we tame in to talk to a joint session of congress. we have to respect the office of the president. we have to respect the dignity of an address by the president to members of congress, and not behave like a kindergarten. >> i think it has to be pointed out, in my opinion, this was orchestrated, they showed up with pamphlets, they showed up with signs. and when you point at somebody, you're trying to make a point. that's not impulsive in my opinion. i think it was a game plan to discredit the president of the united states, and show him up. this the what they were holding up. it was their plan that they say gets no attention whatsoever. but clearly, it was disrespectful, and i know you've never seen anything like that

before, but do you think that they felt emboldened and empowered by going to all these town hall meetings and these nutjobs showing up? >> i hope that republicans and democrats were shocked enough as i was to say this has to end. we can't tolerate this in this country. we have to behave in a civil manner. we all have an interest, we're all patriotic, and we should try to get people health care coverage. we have different ideas to do it, but let's work it out. >> congressman, thanks for joining us tonight. let's switch gears. the nfl season going to be starting, the pittsburgh steelers and they are kicking things off tonight right here on nbc. taking on the tennessee titans. nbc, we're msnbc. and they got a lot to look forward to. michael vick is back in the game, interesting to watch.

brett favre is still sticking around and it's the first season the nfl is going to have without john madden in the broadcast booth. let me bring in stephen a. smith. great to have you with us tonight. i want to talk about brett favre. how is he going to do with the vikings? >> in a perfect world, he'd screw up, considering how awful he's been, all the attention grabbing that he's engaged in, when you consider the fact that over the last five games of the 2008 season, this man threw two touchdowns, nine interceptions, was absolutely abysmal. and to still garner the attention that he's garnered and to ultimately end up landing with a team, the quality of a minnesota vikings where you could potentially end up being in the super bowl, it's quite frankly nauseating to me personally. i'm just going to throw it out there to you. i'm not rooting for him, but minnesota is a team to be reckoned with, especially with adrian peterson. keep your eyes on them and the packers as well. >> how different will this season be for the viewers and

fans with john madden not in the booth? >> it's going to be tough, because he's an institution. when you talk about "monday night football" or ""sunday night football"" on nbc, you expect to hear his voice. he was pragmatic, to the point, talked to the average american joe out there each week during the nfl season. he was an institution. i'm going to sorely miss him, but i'm confident that cris collinsworth will do a great job. >> steelers going to be okay this week? >> of course. they're returning 19 of 22 starters. roethlisberger is their quarterback, you have hines ward, one of the top notch defenses in the league. san diego is a team to be reckoned with, but the steelers are the favorites to return back to the super bowl. >> and the president's speech last night, scale of 1 to 10, where do you score him? >> i give it an eight. he didn't commit to the public

option the way you wanted him to, ed. if you remember, we talked before his speech. he didn't commit to that, but i do like the way in which he put the republicans in a hole, basically what he did was he made some concessions, willing to engage in tort reform, et cetera. and now they're backed into a corner, because if they come against him, it's really not about health care to the american people, it's about taking this presidency down. and i think that could ultimately hurt them. so it was skilled the way the president of the united states handled that. >> stephen a. smith, always welcome on "the ed show." congressman joe wilson, what a story behind this guy. we're talking about it with our panel next right here on "the ed show." they with us.

it's tough to reach that five servings a day if you don't always like the taste of vegetables. good thing v8 v-fusion juice gives you a serving of vegetables hidden by a serving of fruit. v8. what's your number? 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. ( crowd roars ) that's a great call. one a day men's.

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 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.

welcome back to "the ed show." we may have seen president obama at his best last night, but the gop was at its worst. they were on their blackberries while the president was speaking. and democrats have done that in the past but they've packed off on it. they waive their do nothing bills in the air and then, of course, there was joe wilson heckling the president of the united states, calling him a liar. now, we've seen this behavior from right wing nutjobs at town hall meetings, but members of congress? don't you think they ought to have a little bit more respect for the moment and the issue? let me bring in our panel on this tonight, former congressman tom tancredo is with us tonight. also, karen happenredi, and jack

rice. i'll let you tee it up first, mr. tancredo. can you endorse that behavior when the president of the united states is speaking to the joint session of the congress? >> such selective outrage. you must not have been watching, ed, when president bush addressed the congress on social security reform. and about halfway through all of these democrats started booing, hissing, chanting "untrue." nobody said squat about that. it wasn't one democrat, it was a bunch of them. every time the president -- i don't know about every time, but many times when i was on the floor of the house and bush was speaking, somebody on the other side would respond. not necessarily with "you liar" but some guttural, oh, no! that happens all the time. it's not that amazing. the thing is, he was right.

>> he was right? he was right to do what he did, you would endorse that? >> sure. >> i have to tell you, i have been to four state of the unions address, and i know how there's cackling back and forth, and everything else. but at no time did any democrat ever use the "l." word on president bush and you know that, tom. we never called him a liar. >> what do you call chanting "untrue." >> the issue may be untrue but to go after his character and call him a liar is over the top. karen, your take? >> harry reid called george w. bush a liar, and barack obama called bill clinton a liar. so there's a lot of the "l." word going on. and democrat pete stark called blue dog democrats brain dead. and harry reid called us evil mongers. would you like them to apologize as well? >> we are talking about the

president of the united states in a joint session of the congress. you think it's okay for something to yell out the president's a liar? >> i think it's rude what joe wilson did, but at least he had the nerve to do it to obama's face, unlike harry reid who called george w. bush a liar behind his back and barack obama who told a reporter -- >> you're making excuses for him. jack, where do you come down on this issue tonight? >> come on, this is absolutely repulsive. he represents what the republicans are right now. they started out by saying we're going to kill your parents, aport your kids, now it's the brown people's fault. what else do they have? maybe they can say, what we'll do is spit on the bible and then it's going to be gay people. i'm sure that's the next attack. it's going to be something ridiculous, what we've been saying and it a es not a shock. >> tom tancredo, would you admit this was an orchestrated effort to discredit the president? there was material that was

distributed amongst the republicans. they came there with homemade signs questioning the president. they were rude. i mean, is this just going to be a free for all every time the president addresses the joint session? >> believe it or not, this is not that unusual reaction on the people in the congress. i'm not saying it's great, it's not unusual. the thing that annoys me is the focus is on the decor rum and not what he said, and what he said is true. either the president is a liar or stupid. and i don't think he's stupid. so because there is absolutely nothing in that bill that will prevent illegal aliens from participating in the health care plan. >> tom, that is absolutely wrong. >> are you calling me a liar, ed? >> i will, i'll call you a liar because you know it's not true. >> it is -- >> i told you, it's the brown