>> south carolina. >> oh, yikes. >> hey, hey, hey now. calm down, that is not the worst answer. okay. mississippi would have been the worst answer. all right. mississippi, we all agree. >> oh popcorn, people are going to remember this thing. i don't know if you know this about me, but i'm not known for any other thing. >> now, well, come on. >> nothing. >> no, joe, there's got to be some legislation you championed. i mean some cause. >> well, there was one. >> what was it? >> protecting the confederate flag. >> oh, boy. that's what that is. >> you guys, mcconnell, cantor, you'll standby me, right? you'll explain that how we were all going to do it except i went to the john? >> i don't know. i mean -- >> i thought we were friends. >> okay. look. you don't worry, you do not worry. here's what you're going to do. now you apologize once to the

president. and if anyone asks you to do it again, you look them right in the face and say "live from new york, it's saturday night." >> though joe wilson is unlikely to reappear very often on snl, obviously the michelle bauchmann costume will have to be kept at the ready. our msnbc coverage continues now with the "rachel maddow" show. it's all yours. >> thanks, lawrence. have a great weekend. thank you at home for staying with us for the next hour. we're beginning tonight with the biggest of all big political events in the country today. it was the kick off of the values voter summit. a conclave of conservative christian activists organized under the mantle of the family research council. today and through the weekend, the summit will host some of the leading lights of the conservative movement and all of the politicians in the country and the 2012 presidential hopefuls. mitt romney, tim pawlenty, texas governor rick perry, bill o'reilly from the fox news

channel, bill bennett, the top republican in the house, john boehner, the top republican in the senate, mitch mcconnell, eric cantor, an event where elected republicans like congressman chris smith of new jersey, for example, can feel confident using their most conservative base-pleasing rhetoric. >> never in all of those years have i been more concerned, i know you share that and our panelists share that, about the abortion promotion coming out of the white house. the culture of death promoted by barack obama, by his secretary of state, by his cabinet, by sebelius, by the subcabinet and by appointees, bizarres. is outrageous and unconsciousable. >> those were the best hoodie out of all of the campaign swag. with the little reefer on them,

culture of death. along with the culture of death, podium pounding today, mike pence also went off on the czar issue. >> you know, i do think members of congress should be required to read bills, but i've got to tell you, i'd be just about as happy if more of them read this a little more often. the constitution. of the united states of america. and nowhere in here can i find the word czar. washington, d.c. must become a no czar zone starting here and starting now. >> i wonder if bill bennett was in the room when congressman pence said that. mr. bennett was the first president bush's drug czar, you'll remember. maybe congressman pence had to chase bill bennett out of the no czar zone he declared in d.c.

aside from the conservative celebrity sightings, it's the topics of the breakout sessions at the values voter summit that can give you a sense of the overall direction of the group and of the frankly the types of things that these base voters will be looking to hear from the politicians who were there courting them. there's one that's called true tolerance, countering the homosexual agenda in public schools. another called global warm hysteria, the new face of the pro-death agenda. the description on that one reads "if people are the problem, what's the final solution?" there's also a session called the new masculinity. "feminism has wreaked havoc on marriage, women, children and men. masculinism to combat the evils of feminism. it's important to remember this isn't just a conservative for conservative christian activists. this is where the republican party goes for votes.

nine currently serving members of congress spoke at the event just today, including the republican leadership from both the house and the senate. and this is an important stop for republican presidential hopefuls. former arkansas governor and weight loss self-help book author mike huckabee, for example, was there trying to shine up his foreign policy and national security. >> here we are gutting the integrity of the cia and calling them liars while at the same time treating suspected terrorists like rock stars and giving them refuge in bermuda. >> bermuda, by which i think he means bermuda, which makes me think he's referring to those who were not enemy combatants and not guilty for anything, but who we nevertheless held in guantanamo for seven years before we sent them to go work on golf courses in bermuda. mike huckabee's no stranger to the values voters group. he was one of the top tier

presidential candidates who attended the debate during the primary season. at which he and the other candidates stood on stage at their respective podiums while a choir opened the proceedings with an anti-patriotic song titled "why should god bless america?" the point of the song is that god shouldn't bless america because america is not worthy of being blessed because of abortion and the supreme court ruling against prayer in schools and other things that conservatives don't like. ♪ why should god bless america she's forgotten he exists ♪ ♪ and has turned her back on everything that ♪ made her what she is

>> why should god bless america? a song about god rightfully hating america. is the song that the values voters folks used to kick off their presidential debate in this past election cycle. since none of those candidates who stood there before the choir singing about america not deserving to be blessed by god ended up getting elected president since the republicans lost. this year the reason to pay attention to this summit in washington is to look for who the conservative movement is looking for new leadership. their de facto keynote speaker today, the culminating speaker the speeches by mike pence, eric cantor all led up to today is -- it was -- it was someone who needs no introduction, actually. >> i was confident, i did see it in my head, i did see me competing for miss universe, i did see that coming because i knew who i was and i knew that miss usa wanted me. i knew that they had needed me. they needed a woman like me.

>> and the values voter summit apparently needed someone like opposite marriage defender and former miss california carrie prejean, as well. >> i knew as soon as i said that, as soon as i didn't give the politically correct answer that there was no way i would be miss usa. at least that night. little did i know i would be -- i'd feel as though i'm miss universe, but -- >> the crowd goes wild. she actually really brought the house down at the values voter summit even without being miss universe. just being a nationally sought speaker for events like the values voter summit.

despite the awkwardness of the emergence of photos of her topless modelling after this whole scandal, carrie prejean has become a poster child for the conservative movement. and carrie prejean said today that she knows she deserves it. >> why me a 22-year-old young woman? who had the courage and the bravery that not many people have. >> confidence is a big part of winning beauty pageants. also, elections. >> being a 22-year-old college student, not really into politics, at least i wasn't at the time. but now i have a new outlook on this. >> my favorite part. >> and i am disgusted at the way some people can be so intolerant, it disgusts me. >> carrie prejean champion of

tolerance for her brave stance against other people's civil rights. last year at the values voter summit this speaking slot she had today was filled by former republican house speaker newt gingrich. this year it was carrie prejean. the republican party continues to be a fascinating path out of the political wilderness. joining us now is mark mckinnen, former adviser to president bush, and john mccain, a contributor to the daily beast and vice chairman of the public relations group. thank you so much for being here. >> sure, rachel, thanks for having me on. >> i know you love the republican party. you are personally responsible for a significant amount of its electoral success over the years. tell me honestly, is there something good for the republican party about events

like this? this values voter summit that i'm not seeing? >> well, it is a -- these voters and the constituency are an important part of the republican party and there's a lot of energy and enthusiasm there, and, you know, i think that the press and democrats kind of write off these sort of events and also the tea parties as populated by cranks. but the reality is that there's a lot of, you know, very middle american voters at these summits and these tea parties. and something's happened out there, and i think it's accumulative effect that there was like a tipping point that hit in august. and when i saw these town halls and tea parties and see the summit today, i'm struck by the fact that people really aren't talking off talking points. that there's a lot of people coming out from getting off work and coming out to these things because they're angry and frustrated. something real is going on there. and i think we're making a mistake to write off these rallies and these events because there's some real energy and

enthusiasm going on there. now interestingly. one of the biggest political news to me last week was a poll that was published that people who self-identify as independents is as high as it's been in 70 years. so people are getting this effective, but the realities are being diseffective by the democratic party and the republican party. so there's a lot going on politically out there. but, you know, this is an important component of the republican party. my view is that it needs -- the party needs to be more tolerant, we shouldn't be talking about murder panels and calling people racist and liars and communists. i don't think that's productive, and i don't think we'll ever get those centrist independent voters. and it's ironic that someone like carrie prejean who got famous by intolerance is out there preaching tolerance, but i do preach that, as well. >> mark, i believe that it's -- there's an interesting, i think discussion to be had about the prevalence of astroturfing and how many people are represented by these events over the summer. but today, the values voter sum mitt an event by and for pros. this is the family research

council, tony perkins. highly ranking republicans, and if you were, if you're thinking about viability of republican candidates moving forward. is there a risk for them showing up at events like this? that they're going to be associated with this talk about, you know, the final solution and the obama death agenda. is there a risk for them being associated with this? >> i think there's a risk and, you know, talking about, the items you mentioned. those get reported in the press and people associate that with the party. i think, for example, mitt romney made a big mistake in the last campaign by really attacking way too far to this constituency when that wasn't his normal, his normal zone. and had he run his campaign like he did the last month of the campaign, he probably would have been the nominee. so i'm disturbed when i see people like tim pawlenty kissing those rings and jumping out on joe wilson when he was initially attracting support from people like me. i liked him because he's got a history of being a reformer.

but when he goes and starts reflecting some of the language that you just mentioned, that's problematic for those independent voters and you're never going to get a majority back unless we get the independent voters. >> should we look for some moderate or independent-minded republican leadership candidate to attempt sort of a moment with these folks saying, look, we need to compete on policy terms and not just accuse democrats of wanting to promote a culture of death and all of this? and you're an adviser to candidates. we're not seeing candidates saying the sort of things you have. >> well, yeah. and that disturbs me. there's not a lot of voices echoing the moderate centrist language i think we need. i think that kind of moment would be great. there's a lot of candidates, huckabee and palin and others who rick santorum, for example, who are going after these, you know, social republicans. but there hasn't been a clearly

identified candidate yet who is going after the more libertarian, more economic issues that attract people like me. there's a lot of room out there, and we need a voice out there articulating that message. and by the way, we also need at these kind of summits and others, we need these candidates to get out there and not just be candidates of no, but get out there and articulate a plan. newt gingrich was successful in '94 because they had a distinct and clear plan and agenda, and republicans need to get one together. >> former adviser to george w. bush and senator john mccain, a smart man who takes a lot of heat every time you come on this show from your friends in the republican party. thanks for joining us, mark. >> hey, carry on regardless. when west virginia senator jay rockefeller was interviewed by the "new york times" today about why he is taking an aggressive stance on health reform, he said "i represent a state that really needs health care reform. and i want it to be good." what state really, really, really needs health reform and could therefore really use at

least one major politician who wants it and wants it to be good? yeah, you know what state i'm talking about. we are going south next. but first, one more thing about the values voter summit. there was an unexpected moment at today's conservative con fab, one that the conference organizers apologized for personally and profusely. it involved values voter attendees accosting an msnbc reporter live on the air while he was in the middle of reporting from the event. we have the footage of that live interruption for you in a moment. stay tuned.

earlier today when reporting live from the values voter summit, brian mooar was accosted live on the air by attendees at that conference. here's what happened. >> your invited guests and we're doing live television. >> you're being rude. would you mind? this is about the rudest thing you can do. >> we're on live with msnbc. >> would you mind?

>> tell us what your thought is. >> my thought is you are rude to do this in front of the public. >> okay, even though we're credentialed press brought here to tell your story and bring it out to the world. >> security escorted at least two of the people harassing the reporter out of the building. it doesn't appear to have been an msnbc thing, a fox reporter was harassed similarly by people in the audience. msnbc's brian mooar received a personal apology from the conference media director and from tony perkins, the event organizer and the head of the family research council. he letter made an announcement to the crowd that the reporters were invited guests that they'd been told to broadcast from that spot, and they should be treated more kindly. sadly that announcement came after the msnbc crew was done for the day. we'll be right back.

we've had that lot of reaction to our report last night about the appalling new data out of south carolina that read like a statewide cry for health care reform. last night rereported that south carolina has among the country's worst women's reproductive health care. rates of teen pregnancy, low birth weight infants, and infant mortality that are among the highest in the country. the rate at which young women in south carolina received the important and effective hpv vaccine also among the lowest in the country. but wait, there's more. and it's all bad. the state has the fifth highest rate of obesity, it has the highest stroke death rate of all states in the country. and has maintained that

distinction for five decades. it has the second highest death rate for oral cancer. the life expectancy in south carolina is the third worst in the union. if governor mark sanford, for example, decided to move to argentina permanently, he would be among people that would be expected to live a year and a half longer than south carolinians are, in argentina. south carolina needs better health care. and to get it, it may need some civil servants who are slightly more interested in getting that for the state. governor sanford considered just a year ago a possible presidential contender in 2012 led the fight to turn down stimulus funding from the federal government. shunning federal unemployment benefits when south carolina had the second highest rate of joblessness in the country. we should've seen that as a symbol. and that was all before he offered this fine moment in leadership. >> i've been unfaithful to my wife. i developed a relationship with a -- what started out as a dear, dear friend from argentina. about a year ago it sparked into something more than that. i have seen her three times

since then. during that whole sparking thing. >> after that performance, the department of homeland security temporarily took away governor sanford's homeland security clearance. because they thought what the rest of the country thought, this man is not balanced. and then there's south carolina's senator, lindsey graham who last week at president obama's speech came dangerously close to clapping for the president but who otherwise has fought health care reform tooth and nail. >> people have tried this model in other countries. the first thing that happens, you have to wait for your care. and in socialized health care models, people have to wait longer to get care and the government begins to cut back on what's available because the cost explosion. >> south carolina's other senators, of course, senator waterloo jim demint, a man perhaps more than any other senator has staked his career on

killing health reform. >> we must stop this government takeover of health care. friends, this is a critical battle for the heart and soul of america. and for freedom itself. >> and then there's this guy, south carolina's own personal metaphor for things are good just like they are. it's one thing to make the case against the country fixing something if in your state you're doing great on your own. but if your state is a disaster area on its own, it is quite another thing to throw yourself in the way of what you more than anyone need for help. joining us now is a proud south carolinian eugene robinson, columnist and associate editor for the "washington post" also an msnbc political analyst. thanks for being here. >> great to be here, rachel. >> is there a connection or a lack of a connection between south carolina's bad health care outcomes and how violently opposed south carolina's politicians are to health reform?

>> it's -- it is, i think, you'd have to call it a lack of a connection. it's amazing, you know. we don't have any health care and we don't want the government giving us any, by god. it's amazing. you know, it is a problem. south carolina has a lot of poverty, especially a lot of rural poverty, but there's urban poverty, as well. and all that comes with urban and rural poverty, both black and white. it's just the sort of reforms that are being talked about that perhaps could begin to move the needle on some of these awful indicators that south carolina has had for decades. but our representatives most of our elected representatives here in washington are dead set against it. >> well, let me ask you the awkward question about what you're just alluding to there. african-americans are disproportionately affected by poor health care. obviously poor americans are, as well.

and poor definitely straddles the race line in a lot of states, including south carolina. but here's a picture of what south carolina's political representation looks like in congress right now. and it is -- it is all white state except for james clyburn. is race and race and representation a factor in south carolina's bad health outcomes but also its politics about health? >> well, sure. just to ask the question flatly, yes, it is. now is it same kind of factor that it was when i was growing up and strom thurman was our senator and students were fighting and dying in a demonstration in my town over a segregated bowling alley in 1968? no, it's not that. and i'm struck when i go home to south carolina and at seeing black people and white people together in integrated settings in a way that i never would've seen before.

that said, jim clyburn, the one african-american representative who happens to be in the majority whip in the house which gives him an awful lot of clout is -- talks about these health issues. all the time and has for years and years. he is -- he is aware in very specific terms of what the situation is. it is that faces poor people in south carolina. and jim, frankly joe wilson was best known in the state before he became a u.s. representative when he was in the state senate as one of the last seven die hard state senators to oppose taking the confederate flag down from the state house. >> eugene robinson, columnist and msnbc political analyst, i believe when i talk to you about this, gene, if people know about

how the health care outcomes in south carolina there'll be more of a push for south carolina politicians to want health reform. you make me believe that. let us hope it is true. >> let's hope that it is. >> thanks, gene. nice to see you. okay, here is a phrase that you never heard anyone say in the past 30 years. don't water down this bill, or the liberals will come after you. since i've been alive, liberals almost by definition don't come after anyone. that may be changing conserve doms, be prepared for punchback. more on that stay with us. could someone toss me

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still to come, the l-word is back. not lagubrious, liberal. plus a refleshingly mixed metaphor-free discussion about politics in football. as which football teams give how much to which political party? our sports obsessed producer will be here to help with that. and kent jones has the weak in review. first it's time for a couple of stories. last month japanese voters voted for change. voted in a more liberal party called the democratic party of japan. now they've been in office for about ten days now and wasting no time turning things around. they appointed a new defense minister who ran on the promise

that he would withdrawal japan's naval ships from the war in afghanistan. there's a near certainty he will follow through. then the new government appointed a new justice minister. the justice minister in japan had the responsibility of personally signing off on every single execution order in the country. japan has about 100 people on death row. the new justice minister has a 20-year-long record of calling for the abolition of the death penalty. which means, that she's not going to sign anyone's death warrant any time soon, which means japan effectively no longer has a death penalty. which means there's now precisely one industrialized democracy in the whole world that is still in the business of killing its prisoners. and that one country is -- us. and that is a very, very specific kind of american exceptionalism. also tonight, any competition to woo the base

among presidential hopefuls, tim pawlenty versus bobby jindal is turning out to be the unexpectedly awesome featherweight match-up of the season. both went after conservative votes by talking smack about federal stimulus money earlier this year before ultimately taking it. bobby jindal traveled around his state and handed out big stimulus checks himself and even made the checks look like the money was coming from him personally. governor pawlenty dispatched his economic development director to travel around the state talking up the money that hopefully no one remembered pawlenty saying he didn't want. pawlenty and jindal will both be featured in the values voter presidential hold this weekend. pawlenty will be speaking, as well. but late-breaking news today. another oneupsmanship. governor pawlenty sent a state-wide directive to the minnesota management and budget office. it directs all agencies to stop giving minnesota state funds to

the organization a.c.o.r.n. immediately. not to be one-upped, jindal did the same thing today, but with an executive order and trumpeted it in a state republican party press release. "jindal issues order ending funding of a.c.o.r.n." take that t-pal. it should be noted that neither louisiana or minnesota provides any state funding to a.c.o.r.n. at all. so they have made really big shows of cutting off funding that does not exist. so, hey, it's all for make believe, but that's never stopped us from enjoying a good fake fight in this country. 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.

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did you ever wonder what it would like look like if the political left decided to stand up for itself? it might look pretty much exactly like this. >> they fought it in every way, yelling, screaming, trying to defeat any real health care reform. and through it all, the congressmen have stood by the

health insurance industry and their allies. by trying to kill the public health insurance option, which would force insurance companies to compete. 80% of arkansas democrats support the public option. why won't senator lincoln and congressman ross. stand with democrats now or we'll find someone who will. >> or we'll find someone who will. as in we will run someone against you in a democratic primary, do not take your left flank for granted. that's a new ad from the fbl action. it's a political action committee that's an outgrowth of the well-read liberal blog fire dog lake. in the cold hard mass of american politics right now,

republicans are not really a threat to the agenda of this president. they were beaten so badly in the last two elections that they now make up a teeny, teeny, teeny, tiny, tiny, little minority in each house of congress. republicans are not a threat to health care reform or to the rest of the legislative agenda. conservative democrats are the threat to the health care reform and the rest of the legislative agenda. and so now liberals are making themselves a threat to conservative-dems. mike ross of arkansas is being targeted by fire dog lake as you just saw. he's also getting hit by the group change congress, which has its own ad highlighting that congressman ross took more than $900,000 in campaign contributions from the health industry and also highlighting that his conservative stance on health reform appears to be at odds with the views of his own constituents.

senator max baucus who is taking heat from almost everyone, up to and including the college kids at the university of maryland who booed the mention of his name yesterday has been through rough meetings with his fellow senate democrats since he unveiled his own watered down proposal earlier this week. senator jay rockefeller of west virginia told the washington post today, "democrats really let loose at baucus. max baucus does need our votes to get through the senate committee and there was a coalesce sense of democrats that hadn't been preplotted. some of these members had been quiet and suddenly they were speaking and loudly about what was wrong. and if those things weren't fixed, they implied they wouldn't vote for it." liberal democratic senators telling the conservatives in their own party they will vote no on democratic legislation unless it includes what they want. liberal pacts threatening primary challengers unless they start voting like dems. pinch me. joining us now is jane hampshire, jane, thanks very much for coming back on the show. >> thanks for having me, rachel. >> what prompted you to target blanche, lincoln, and mike ross with this ad? >> well, last week, daily coast research 2000 did a poll and

found the majority of arkansas citizens and 80% of arkansas democrats want a public plan. now, that's very much at odds with what mike ross from the fourth district of arkansas has been telling people. he said that during the august recess his constituents told him that they didn't want a public plan. well mike ross has the second most democratic district in the state. that's statistically impossible. he's been telling people things that aren't true. >> the ad i know is up on the web right now. when is it going to go on the air in arkansas? and how big a buy is it? >> it's going up in arkansas next week, it's going to be out of the little rock area, it will cover roughly 50% of all of the people in the state, 55% of democrats, 60% of the people in mike ross' district and 66% of the democrats. >> wow. >> it's a big buy, it would be equivalent to a $3.5 million buy in new york. >> well, it's going to obviously have an impact in arkansas if only because it's relatively cheap to buy a lot of air time in arkansas as you point out with the comparison of the new york market. but by putting it out on the web now and the attention it

received today, sort of a short across the bowel and for liberals to know this is an option. what sort of response have you been getting since the ad hit the web? >> well, amongst our readers, your listeners, this is a popular stance. we made a compromise several years ago when the democratic party started sort of luring these conservative democrats into the party to expand their majority. and now we're paying the price for that. we're seeing that we're trading away our values, meaningful health care reform to these people that aren't even representing their districts unless their constituents are pharma and the insurance companies. so, you know, if they are truly at odds with what their districts feel, we hope that ads like this will lure primary challengers into the race because a healthy primary market is a healthy democratic party. >> jane, you are an aggressive strategist. and i know that you think about these things in broad strategic terms.

why is it that you think that primary challengers, naming and shaming democrats will work. not all liberals are taking that risk. they want to keep doors open and stay on friendly terms with these folks. >> well, i think that if it were a situation where mike ross' district whole heartedly back him up, i would say who am i to say otherwise? but that isn't the case. he and lincoln are running around saying that the public option would cost more money. it would be too expensive, yet the commonwealth found that $2,000 a year would be the savings the average person would experience with a public plan. so they're not being honest in what they're doing. and as you mentioned, they're taking huge donations from the medical industrial complex. so i think the question we need to ask is why? because 77% of the country wants this, rachel, and if we can't

have it, it's going to be because these conservative democrats decided to sell it. and people are really upset about that. and they're asking a lot of the questions about how we go forward with -- forward from here and how we make sure that a democratic party respects democratic values. >> and there are questions that are putting a little steel in the spine of i think a lot of democrats and a lot of liberals. jane hampshire, thanks very much for joining us. good luck. >> thanks, rachel. football should know no political allegiances, right? it's football, right? except pro football teams totally do have political allegiances. we'll see who is on which side of washington's line of scrimmage coming up next. just warning you now, it's probably going to make you mad. . it's called tums dual action, . and it's the longest lasting tums ever. tums dual action works two ways to relieve heartburn: like all tums, it goes to work in seconds. plus, tums dual action has an effective acid reducer that works for hours, all day or all night, to keep heartburn from coming back. rely on tums dual action for fast, long-lasting relief of heartburn. brand power. helping you buy better.

since the start of the wars in iraq and afghanistan, you've been paying contractors to guard the most important buildings, and diplomats and politicians in those war zones. if you're keeping score at home, these knuckle heads were the employees of armor group hired to guard the u.s. embassy in kabul, and frankly the vodka industry is never going to recover. armor group still has a contract with the state department, although it is under review.

so does blackwater, they still have their contract after two years after its employees opened fire in baghdad. in what will forever be known as the square shooting. 17 iraqi civilians were killed in that shooting. and that brings us to your score card. a new contractor gone bad revelation. pencils ready? it involves the security firm triple canopy, owners of $1 billion contract with the state department which they got in part because of blackwater's bad rep. they were given that government contract even though they did not have permits to import weapons from the united states for their security officers. so they ended up purchasing guns off the black market in iraq. which means they were probably funding the iraqi insurgency. one former manager with triple canopy said the country traded booze and cigars to obtain u.s. military equipment and supplies. so, you and i taxpayers, we paid

for the u.s. military equipment, then we paid for the contractor to buy booze and cigars, which they then traded to get these stolen u.s. military equipment from our troops. we pay all the way. and that's the efficiency of contracting. 

there's new data just released yesterday about football, about politics and football. it's from the campaign donation trackers at opensecrets.org. they track donations over the past 20 years from team owners, officials, and players.

millions of dollars given to federal candidates and committees since 1990. 20 of the league's 32 teams donated more than $100,000 a piece over that time period. that's a significant financial footprint in politics. and the numbers are only going up. political donations spiked hugely in the last couple of years. and now the league itself has formed a political action committee, they've opened up a lobbying office in d.c., they've even hired dedicated two full-time nfl lobbyists. that said, we all know why the nfl's political secrets really matter. we all just want to know if the team we're rooting for is secretly rooting against us. odds are if you're a lefty and your team is one of the big political donors in the league, your team is rooting against you. 5 of the top 6 highest donating teams gave more than 90% of their donations to republicans. the chargers, the texans, the

redskins, the jets and the saints. the bengals also gave 99% of their donations to republicans. they were ranked 14th in total donations. there's only one team in the top 20 list of contributors that's made more than $100,000 in donations that's given more than 90% of its money to democrats. one team. bold the st. louis rams. in the top 20, the eagles, 49ers and dolphins gave most of their donations to democrats. but they weren't 90%. to me, it's the huge gap between the biggest political contributor in football and all the other teams. here's the total donations numbers for the league. smallest to biggest. and then you get to the top of the list and, goinboing, yeah,

chargers have made 98% donations to republicans. they are the number one political spender by far. and since i don't know much about football other than every single medical detail ever publicly released about tom brady, i have a chargers question. joining us now is the sports guru, our executive producer and the vice president of msnbc's primetime programming, bill. >> that's a hell of a long intro, rachel. i do a lot of stuff. >> the chargers by far, the number one team in terms of political donations. i don't know anything about the chargers. >> it's a mixed bag. they're not a very good team traditionally. 43 super bowls. the chargers have been in one. they got stomped by the 49ers. worst game ever.

they have a cool helmet. i'd say one of the top two. the dolphins, an excellent helmet. it has a dolphin with a helmet on the helmet. why do they need helmets? but what's key about the chargers and the real big downside, their association with this -- ♪ san diego chargers ♪ san diego chargers >> you know every word to that song. >> not just a disco fight song, a bad disco fight song. >> the disco fight song. >> like when chips, estrardstrat to the roller rink, bad '80s.

thank you, man. appreciate it. >> my pleasure. coming up, insurance industry wednesday l potter explains the minimum for a health care reform bill. and burglars dating hell and history 101, all part of the w-e-a-k-week in review. national car rental knows i'm picky. so, at national, i go right past the counter... and you get to choose any car in the aisle. choose any car? you cannot be serious! okay. seriously, you choose.

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