what do you make of that? >> i think jimmy carter has -- i was thinking back to my father who absolutely hated jimmy carter for all his heart because of what jimmy carter did in his policies. i think to myself, he hated jimmy carter because of his policies. >> why did he hate jimmy carter? what did jimmy carter ever did to him? >> a lot of things to do. >> what did he do? >> the worst economy in 50 years except for the last 4 years. >> did he hate george bush too? >> he didn't hate george bush. he completely disagreed with jimmy carter's policies. jimmy carter was a horrible president. we need to forget. jeff, do you think jimmy carter was a good president? one of the worst presidents in history. >> jimmy carter was a good president in comparison to george w. bush, to ronald reagan to destroyed the economic basis of the country. >> jimmy carter was terrible. >> a. b., i want to ask you, did the former president put the

white house in an untenable position? everybody is talking about this right now on the heels of yesterday's house action. you know, where's the good news here? >> there's not a lot of good news on health care today, as you know, ed. it's really -- today was a momentum killer as we'd like to say. >> wait a minute, a.b. four out of the five bills out of the house -- or out of the congress are for the public option. so i will say that we've got great momentum. finish your answer. >> not over yet. >> okay. in terms of getting votes for a bill that actually becomes law, that will be a different question, ed. now, back to jimmy carter, obviously jimmy carter is an important person and they're not going to come out -- robert gibbs, the president's spokesman did try to come out and disagree politely with that statement. it is exactly what they do not need. it fuels the fire. after this week of -- one solid week of joe wilson, they really

want to move on and this is exactly what they don't need. >> panel, great discussion tonight. a.b., we're going reconciliation. we're going to get this done. public option is going to be there. >> mistake, big mistake. >> no, no, no, no, no. we're playing for keeps. we're playing for keeps on this deal. >> not going to happen. >> it's a win or take all. we're going to change this country. great to have all of you on. coming up, two african-american teenagers beat up a white kid on a school bus while others watch and laughed. i think the president should make this a teachable moment. i'll explain next. [ female announcer ] olay regenerist is on a roll. new anti-aging eye roller. reduces puffiness immediately -- and also helps with lines and wrinkles. not surgery. this is our way to do your eyes. new regenerist anti-aging eye roller.

(announcer) transform your water. women who drink crystal light drink 20% more water. crystal light. make a delicious change. it's still not too late to let me know what you think. tonight's text survey is, what you know right now about the baucus plan, could you support it? text a for yes, b for no to 622639. if i had to sit on the bench due to diabetes...

it would frustrate me. my bayer meter is very important. (announcer) only bayer's contour meter has programmable personal high low settings. it allows me to make sure that my diabetes is controlled as tightly as possible. (announcer) the contour meter, only from bayer. now your card comes with a way to plan for what matters to you. introducing blueprint. blueprint is free and only for chase customers. it lets you choose what purchases you want to pay in full to avoid interest...with full pay. and those you split... you decide how to pay over time. if having a plan matters. chase what matters. create your own blueprint at chase.com/blueprint.

i want to address this school bus beating everybody is talking about where a white kid was beaten up by black students on a bus. i have a plan for how president obama can have a positive impact on this situation. first, here's what the most hateful man in america, the drugster rush limbaugh said about it. >> obama's america is it not? obama's america, white kids getting beat up on school buses now. i mean, you put your kids on a school bus you expect safety, but in obama's america, the white kids now get beat up when the black kids cheering, yeah right on, right on. filming. the white kid deserved it, he's born a racist, he's white. >> that's beyond psycho talk. kids have been gets beat up on school buses for a long, long tile. in this case the police concluded it was a bullying issue, not race related. but it could have been. i think rush limbaugh wants a

race war. even though president obama clearly has nothing to do with this incident, i do think that he can do something really positive about it. here's the play, mr. president. bring these kids to the white house. counterpunch your critics by using it as a teacher moment when you've got everybody paying attention to it. get in the mix. you did it during the campaign. you had to make a tough decision on reverend wright when we did things that didn't match up anymore, right? the last press conference you put yourself in the gates controversy. last week you spoke to school kids and talked about something like this, about taking responsibility. what a teaching moment. if you can save one kid on the heels of an incident like this, it would be worth the time of the president of the united states and it would make a big statement. bring them to the white house. sit them down and talk to them like a man and ask them if that's the kind of american they want to be. do it, mr. president. up next, in the main event,

max baucus put out his bogus health care plan today. anthony weiner says bipartisanship is the equivalent of a child looking for a unicorn. he's right. the nation's katrina vanden heuvel will be here in just a moment. as washington continues the debate over health care reform, aarp has chosen a side-- yours. we're fighting to guarantee that you'll never be denied coverage because of your health or age. to prevent anyone from coming between you and your doctor. and to make sure patients don't take a backseat to insurance companies. because at aarp, we believe your health is worth fighting for. learn more at aarp.org.

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. don't think at walgreens we want you to know, you can live the american lifestyle without energy. we have all this energy here in the u.s. we have wind. we have solar, obviously. we have lots of oil. i think natural gas is part of the energy mix of the future.

i think we have the can-do. we have the capability. we have the technology. the solutions are here. we just need to find them here.

i know this bill will pass. this certainly is a bill that

can pass and the choice now is up to those who want to vote for it or not. no republican has offered his or her support at the moment, but i think by the time we get to file passage in this committee you'll find republican support. >> the republicans and the gang of six won't even vote on their own plan after how many hours of meeting? over 100. i don't know how much clearer they can be. the righties have no interest in bipartisanship. joining me now from "the nation," katrina vanden heuvel, editor, owner of "the nation." thank you so much. four out of five bills call for the public option. three in the house, two in the senate. is this new life into a government-run insurance plan? >> on the baucus bill, what's so infuriating, ed, is we have seen baucus sacrifice critical democratic priorities and time. think of the time lost if he hadn't been playing footsie with these republicans who made

pretty clear early on they didn't want to do bipartisanship. we would have gone into august. if the president is truly a consensus seeker, he has the possibility to do that with these four bills. >> the guy, jim demint, from south carolina, waterloo, failure, all that stuff. now he's threatening other people in the republican caucus. don't go over there and do anything with this guy. >> ronald reagan once said it takes two to tango. this republican party, it don't want to dance. it wants to sit on its hands. the fundamental struggle, the health care debate is critical for our country. as you said about demint, they want to take down president obama and de-lidge mize him. that's what we're going to get to. that's what president carter was also talking about. they see the opportunity here to have the president fail and that's what this health care fight is largely about on the republican side.

>> does president obama have it in his innards, he says he's a fighter, to move forward and say, okay, it's time to move on? we gave you a chance. when does that time come? >> now. now. it's a defining moment. it's a defining moment for president obama. for his presidency. for the future of reform. for the future of the democratic party and the for sake of the nation the stakes are high e ed. >> they are high. if they go reconciliation in the senate, only go 51 votes, the democrats are going to have to raise taxes. >> that budget reconciliation process you talk about, the republicans are being hypocrital. they talked about using that in the past on tax process. a major reform enacted by a democratic majority is still a meaningful and real reform. yeah, they will have to increase taxes on the top tier, the ones who have made out as middle class americans have suffered. >> can they go home and sell that? can the democrats go home in the

midterm and sell that? >> i think if they make clear they're doing it to those who made out like bandits in the bush years, not on the middle class, those who made $1 million and above, taxes are tough. i think if you can say this is a reform for the future of this country and that you are going to help the economy recover, i think they can do it. >> katrina, it would be momentum for the democratic party and liberal base and i think a lot of independents would go with this too. they want health care reform. you see the most recent kaiser family reports. health care prices are still going up. they will continue to go up until there's reform. go reconciliation. do it with democrats alone and suffer the political consequences if there are any. >> that's right. i think -- listen, the lesson from clinton in '94 was that they didn't pass a health care plan that could improve the conditions of millions of people's lives. go into 2010 with a health care

plan that is real, discipline for insurance companies. you're still going to have terrible unemployment. president obama needs a targeted job program. they're in better shape with a real health care plan. >> if he does that the lefties will be there in the midterm and if he doesn't -- >> if he doesn't he's in trouble. i think the base and liberals and progressives who supported him, saw a reform leader, will be disillusioned. the independents will sit back. he needs to mobilize the base who elected him and bring in the independents. >> did president carter put this white house in an untenable situations? >> he showed us he may not have been our greatest president but with his statement about race a and racism in america, he showed he's the greatest living president. there's a backlash in history when people try to reform. it's infused with a racism that americans will now see.

i don't think the white house wants to own it. i think they need to move forward vigorously on legislation. >> this is the kind of stuff the obama white house is puts up with. this is coming from organized right wing websites. the new face, the new face of government health care reform in this country. this is what they're doing to the president of the united states. the new face of government health care. >> that doesn't have a racist element to it, i don't know what to say. >> does the white house ignore this? >> i think the white house needs to move vigorously now and expose again and again as president obama started to do in his speech that there is misinformation, there's a funded campaign to take down his presidency, and it is infused with racism. he has messengers. he doesn't need to be at the forefront of it. i think there are those in this country who should start speaking clearly about this issue. >> a.c.o.r.n.'s got some issues, but are they being unfairly targeted? >> a.c.o.r.n. has issues. the leadership, they fired people, they're doan