he's built a number of homes around the lake. so sunday morning i am enjoying my coffee and reading my local paper "the fargo forum" and i see in the classified section there's going to be an auction at noon for dennis. he's selling all of his stuff. i called around to find out what was going on. turns out dennis had a brain tumor and had surgery in february. i didn't know that. like a lot of people who work in small business in america, he didn't have health insurance. he's closed his business. you know the story. he's filed for bankruptcy. now he's selling off his construction equipment. his fishing gear, his guitar. his motorcycle. you know how near and dear that is to these guys, right? he's trying to, you know, navigate through this illness. think about this. think about how long it took him to work that business to where it was, to build a good life for himself and his family, and now he's completely wiped out. the term he used today when i

talked to him was rock bottom. he didn't ask to get hit with this. he's got the republican plan. he's unlucky. could have happened to anybody. you know what? i think americans understand this. i wonder if it would be different if the republican congressional members had to auction off their stuff and go through what dennis has to go through. this is what middle america understands. this is what middle america is frustrated about. they have to do something about the catastrophic cause and so much more in all of these health care proposals. consumer reports normally don't dive into this stuff. trusted resource for american consumers for more than 70 years just released this poll. 73% of americans fear major financial loss due to illness or accident. 73% of americans are worried about being able to afford health care coverage in the future with the skyrocketing prices. 73% of americans are worried

about needed care, being denied, or rationed by insurance companies. these are staggering numbers that have prompted consumer reports to release their first ever advocacy ad backing health care reform. here it is. >> today, health care costs too much. many americans are one pink slip or major illness away from losing their coverages. we at consumers union say this problem must be fixed this year for everyone's sake. washington, the time for health care reform is now. >> republicans claim that americans don't want to pay for health care. you're already paying for it with health care. a small business owner can catch a tumor early, right? get it treated early. can probably keep his company and pay taxes for years to come and all those guys he had to let go would have a job. without health care the guy goes bankrupt, his company folds, the dozen of workers who worked for

him lose their job, collecting unemployment. they're on the dole, right? all paid for by the american taxpayer. that's you and me. that's the status quo. that's what republicans support. over the weekend i found the republican vision and strategy for an efficient cost, you know, cost effective 21st century health care system. this was sent to me again. i went through it, and -- that's where they're at. the republicans say it would be a government takeover if we were to try to help this guy out. now, we know that there are solutions here. it's not beg for charity. the lines are drawn. the republicans want to do nothing. president obama, three quarters of the doctors of the country, and the most trusted consumer source in america want a real solution. >> it will be against the law for insurance companies to deny you coverage because of a pre-existing condition. it will be against the law for insurance companies to drop your

coverage when you get sick or water it down when you need it most. insurance companies will no longer be able to play some arbitrary cap on how much coverage you can receive. >> so i wondered how the auction went, and as all auctions do, they didn't get as much money as they thought they should have gotten. it should be pointed out that in that seventh district in minnesota, colin peterson is a blue dog and he's not for the public option. i wonder if he'll have an auction some day. probably not. he has great health care, great benefits. joining me you, linda douglass, office of health care reform. ms. douglass good to have you with us tonight. i'm reading about this riff between harry reid and max baucus on the public option. and about how they're starting to part ways. where's the white house going to go on this, for sure? where is the white house going? are they ready to tell max baucus, max, you're on the wrong

side of this? >> well, you know, ed, there's a process that's going on now. first of all, the senate finance committee, which has put in the longest period of drafting a bill that is built on the president's principles, took them, you know, more than 15 days, you know, to work this through. they haven't voted yet. they still have to vote on what is going to be in their bill. then senator reid who is the leader of the senate, is going to pull together the committee bill from the health committee, senator harkin's committee, this senator baucus' committee, put the common elements together. there is tremendous agreement among all of the bills. they're all built on the president's principles. lowering cost, expanding coverage, deficit neutral, protecting you against unfair insurance practices. every one of these bills has got these components in it. they're going to merge the bills and vote sometime in the middle of the month. >> when it coming to a guaranteed mechanism to give the private sector competition, the democrats, not all of them are on board. i want to know, is the white

house, when is the white house going to tell some of these conservative democrats you're on the wrong side of this, it's time to move on, and let's get it together and let's go to reconciliation? where is the president going to be on all of this? >> i think i've gotten that question from you before, ed. let me explain to you again that the president has been very, very clear. there's no question where he's coming from. there's got to be more choice and competition in the market for people who don't have health insurance or are underinsured, work for small businesses, where there are markets all over this country, where one or two insurance companies dominate the entire market. that has to change. he's made it very clear there has got to be an approach in the bill he signs which will finally provide that choice and competition for people who are out of the market now. >> does the president believe that co-ops will provide that competition? >> what the president has said is there are approaches to this. he certainly has said the public option is a very good approach to this. he's made that very clear.

the key here is choice and competition for the people who are locked out of the health insurance market now because of cost. that's got to change. he's made it clear that's got to be in any legislation that he signs. >> what was the purpose of having these doctors at the white house today? i had one doctor tell me it was nothing but a photo opt? >> you know, the doctors all around the country, these are doctors from 50 states. we hear from doctors all over the country that they believe this year it is urgent to have some kind of health reform legislation. they are on the frontlines. they treat people who don't have health insurance. they battle with the insurance company. the average doctor spends something like 150 hours a year battling with the insurance companies on the phone. they see people who don't have preventative care so they come in sicker than they should be. these doctors came to say, we have to get this done this year. inaction is not an option. members of congress know that. >> i'm going to keep asking you those questions, ms. douglass. i'm waiting for the president and i think the american people are waiting for the president to tell those guys over on the

conservative side, you're on the wrong side. this is where we're going. maybe that moment will be soon. linda, i appreciate your time tonight. >> thank, ed. >> thanks so much. get your cell phones out. i want to know what you think about this. is president obama doing enough to close the deal on health care reform? text a for yes, b for no to 622639. joining me, john than alter, senior editor "newsweek" and msnbc an list. consumer report comes out. >> big deal. >> they're jumping into it. what do you make of it? >> this is huge, a tremendously representable publication for many, many years. they're getting off the sidelines and into the debate. it's that important we have some kind of a bill. i've had it with the delays. you know, there was a great line on "mad men" last night where january jones, her character, betty, says if you don't have power you delay in politics. that's what's happening now.

the people who don't really have power are trying to delay this. the power is seeping out of max baucus' hands right now. so he wants to delay a little bit. for many, many months harry reid was giving him a break. there were people all over town -- >> harry's talking tougher now. >> they were urging harry reid, take the ted kennedy's committee and chris dodd's committee, take that bill directly to the bill. go around max baucus. in order to stick with baucus for a while, he gave him a chance. he's had enough. he wants to move this legislation. it's time for the obstructionists to get out of the way so the american people can see this get done. >> we've seen this olympic talk over the weekend, the conservatives, the gop being very negative, pinning it on obama as a failure. i can just -- >> very patriotic of them. >> i can just imagine what it's going to sound like if he doesn't get the health care reform he wants, meaning the public option and meaning some kind of guaranteed competition

for the private sector. so with that and the job numbers not where they want them to be and it may go to 10%, may two to 10.5%, greenspan is talking about that into next year, how much political capital, how much arm twisting does president obama have to do at this particular time down the stretch on health care? >> as much as he can. this is for all the marbles right now. this is extraordinairely important. the olympics is not important. this is. he will do what it takes. he's very engaged. he's going to expend whatever political capital he can. you've asked linda douglass the right questions. we need to know whether now that they're getting down to, you know, brass tax, this is the time when he -- we're going to see what barack obama is made of. how hard he's willing to push and how effective he is. at this point there is momentum for the bill. earler y in the summer when we were arguing, it was because i wanted to make sure this bill was on track and we were going

to have legislation. now looks like we are going to have legislation so it's time to fight as hard as we can for effective legislation. >> my point is the president is going to have to tell max baucus, you're on the wrong side of the issue. we're going co-op, to the public option. the co-op isn't going to make it. his base is waiting for that. they've given up single payer, so -- >> at this point, what's changed recently is that kent conrad had a chance to show that a co-op option could actually work. he didn't come up with a real plan for how it would be effective in providing this choice the president indicated that we need. you know, he's lost his chance. so now we should be pack to the public option because the alternative there hasn't been fleshed out and won't work. >> great to have you on. coming up, righties are taking great pleasure in america not getting the olympics.

they think it's funny the president couldn't close the deal. congressman chris van hollen is going to be here to set them straight. plus, there is a big battle in the nfl tonight. brett favre of the vikings taking on the cheese heads from green bay. it's going to be a dandy. we'll be talking about that in our "play book." we've got the mayors from both cities. let's find out what people think of maxwell house's flavor lock lid. hear that? seals it tight. smells like fresh ground. fresh fresh fresh fre-- that's our favorite part. ...fresh! (announcer) taste why maxwell house is good to the last drop. when we spend a billion dollars a day buying foreign oil... we don't just waste our money... we put our economy in the hands of hostile nations.

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welcome back to "the ed show." today president obama went to the front lines of health care. that debate taking place. he met with doctors from every state to talk about reform. >> every one of you here today took an oath when you entered the medical profession. it was not an oath that you would spend a lot of time on the phone with insurance companies. it was not an oath that you would have to turn away patients who you know could use your help. not devote your lives to being bean counters or paper pushers. you took an oath so you could heal people. you did it so you could save lives. >> the president talking to doctors today. joining me now, dr. beans, a maryland pediatrician and member of doctors for america. she was at the white house today. dr. beams, thanks for your time

tonight. is the president being strong enough? >> i think it's time for the president to get a little stronger. i think he's willing strong enough. he's got a lot to handle, especially with -- as you guise were talking earlier, senator baucus not really going far enough, i think, with the finance committee bill and doing what's right for the american people and putting a public option into the proposal and really making a real change in the system that we already have that's going to help the 47 million uninsured americans that are suffering today. >> dr. beems, do you think that congressional members are listening to your organization and listening to doctors? can you see some of the things you're advocating in some of the bills that have been written as they get ready to go to the floor to debate all this in. >> sure. there's a lot in the bills that's really great and we've advocated for. we've advocated for patients to not suffer because of pre-existing conditions. we've advocated for changes in

the way that reimbursement is calculated so the sgr that people hear about if they're kind of familiar with the way these things are calculated, and that's a big step. we heard from the president, today, that he is asking on a state-by-state level for some way of addressing this whole idea of the practice of defensive medicine so that doctors can practice medicine and take care of their patients which is what we went into medicine to do. >> what do your patients say to you when you meet with them? >> well, i do mostly, you know, we don't talk a lot of politics in the office, but i do have patients telling me they have difficulty getting medications, difficulties meeting with specialists. they certainly worry about whether their insurance company is going to let them stay with me as their child's provider. so patients are very insecure right now in the system that we have, and i think we have to

change that. doctors are insecure, too. >> the president brought the doctors into the political arena today and talked about the gop lies. here it is. >> men and women here would not be supporting health insurance reform if they really believed it would lead to government bureaucrats making decisions that are best left to doctors. they wouldn't be here today if they believed the reform in any way would damage the very critical and sacred doctor/patient relationship. >> finally, dr. beams, are you afraid the government's going to come into your office and dictate to you how to do medicine? >> no. i think the government has better things to do than worry about getting into my office and telling me what to do. in fact, the thing that, you know, doctors like to point out when this idea is brought up is there's already someone standing between me and my patient, and that's on insurance company executive, and i have to deal with this every day in my office. manager deals with it all day

long being told how the medicine is going to be practiced and how my patients are going to be treated by people who don't study medicine and are not physicians. they're executives working for the bottom line. >> dr. beams, appreciate your time on "the ed show." thanks so much. thanks for being involve. >> thank you. coming up, i got a bone to pick with billy crystal. not the hollywood dude. the guy inside the beltway calling the president a bully for going to copenhagen. that's coming up next in "psycho talk." what's our favorite part of honey bunches of oats? the sparkly flakes. the honey-baked bunches! the magic's in the mix. my favorite part? eating it. honey bunches of oats. taste the joy we put in every spoonful. honey bunches of oats. we call the bunches in honey bunches of oats the prize in the box. well, now there's a prize inside the prize. pecans! pecans! baked into crunchy oat bunches. taste the delicious surprise in every spoonful.

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oh, welcome back to "the ed show." "psycho talk" tonight. i always wanted to get this guy in the zone. well, he's there. the editor of "the weekly substanda substandard," bill kristol. this is the guy whose news room neared when chicago lost its olympic bid. he goes on tv this weekend with some more anti-olympic sentiment. >> we don't need the olympics. we've had them a million times. our economy doesn't need the boost of the olympics. >> told it right there. crystal must have been living underneath a rock for the last year. our economy is not in good shape. we need work, right? okay. the olympic games would have brought $22 billion of economic activity, a minimum, a minimum of 315,000 jobs. full-time jobs. wait a minute. that would have made obama look

ge good. we need a boost like the olympics. >> the american president and the sort of george w. bush-like way goes to try to bully the olympic committee. can you imagine if some republican, bush had done this and hadn't gotten the typical bush cowboy, imperialist action? >> crystal, i remember you being a big bush boot licker. so he shouldn't think obama acting like bush is such a bad thing, right? more importantly, calling obama's olympic pitch and imperialistic action is absolutely ridiculous. and, of course, you can't trust anybody who authored the project for new american century. all the other candidates sent their leaders to copenhagen, too. even the winners had their leader there. the gop's joy in the loss of the olympic bid is un-american. these guys are more interested in taking on the president than

seeing their country succeed. and that is flat-out "psycho talk." up next, the right wing celebration of chicago's loss doesn't end with guys like crystal. righty politicians are putting politics ahead of patriotism. democratic congressman chris van hollen wonders if they're actively rooting against america. well, they are. plus, the cheesers versus the geezer. sorry, favre. going to be a dandy on monday night football. favre and the vikings taking an the packers. mayor of minneapolis and green bay for my "play book." ( inspiring music playing ) someday, cars will be engineered using nanotechnology to convert plants into components. the first-ever hs hybrid. only from lexus.

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the same minority who happily pumped one fist when chicago, when america lost its bid to host the olympics, is the

same minority that disputes indisputable evidence about how our health care plan will help seniors or disputes indisputable evidence at about our president's birth records. the same minority that relies on distortions, distractions and deception to change the subject away from health care. >> tell harry's been watching "the ed show." that was my "op-ped" on friday. republicans are going to stand against everything that could help president obama in this country, from health care reform to the olympics. joining me now, maryland congressman chris van hollen. chairman of the dcc. good to have you with us tonight. an you capitalize on all this negativity that was spewed out at the end of last week and through the talking heads this weekend? do you think this is who the republicans are? >> i thought this was a very revealing moment, very sickening

moment. it does show the republican right for what it is. because for months they've been saying they're not against obama. they're against obama's policies. when they come out and root against america's getting the olympics it's clear that this is not about policies. this is about being against whatever the president is for. wanting the president to fail. wanting -- relishing america's loss of the olympics. when jim demint, senator demint said some weeks ago that they wanted to use health care to break obama, we know what they're saying. they want him to fail. they want our country's health care policies to not succeed because in this sense they're puts politics over country and what happened over the olympics, i think, was a great eye opener for the american people. they got to see once and for all that these guys were rooting against the country and relishing a loss for the country over the olympics. it's scary. >> if there was an election now, would you lose seats in the house? >> well, i might have said

something different about a month ago. i do believe that now people are beginning to see that this is not about -- this is about trying to break the president. this is not about tries to improve health care in this country. that the republicans have turned this into totally political warfare. >> sure, they have. >> when you're taking on america getting the olympics this is not about what's best for the country. this is about pure raw politics and trying to bring the president down. jim demint said it, and what he said publicly is what the republican leadership has been thinking privately. >> i mean, this is a pretty bad day in america together when we can't getting together on amateur athletics. what about the american athletes? anybody take them into consideration? what about the kids who could have gone to this competitive atmosphere which is, you know, could give you memories for a lifetime? i don't know where the republicans are coming from. they constantly say we're going to get a repeat of 1994 when

there was a shift in the house. i want to go to numbers here. in 1994, it was 49-51 when it came to favorability. ask, the democrats were at 49. the gop at 51. right now, the democrats are at 56. the gop is at 27%. when it comes to favorability. it looks like, by those numbers, cap and trade is not going to hurt you. there was a pretty courageous vote taking place over in the house when you didn't have the votes in the senate. have you overcome that? what do you think in. >> i think we have overcome it. what's happened is that the american public is finally seeing the republicans for what they are. that they're just against everything that obama's for. most americans, as we know, ed, are for reforming america's health care system. they want to make sure we fix what works, keep what works but fix what's broken. the fact of the matter is there's a whole lot broken out there. so for the republicans to say they want us to fail on that issue and to use that as an

issue to break the president has been a great eye opener for the american people. that's why this olympics issue is so revealing. because every american is for bringing the olympics to the united states. that was a loss for our country. to see people relishing in that loss, expose these guys for playing cynical politics. they really did. when you see people erupting in cheers because america lost the olympics at places like "the weekly standard" and rush limbaugh, the right wing talk show hosts who are for the republican leadership, and i have to say that we haven't heard the republican leadership condemn them. we saw what happened last time they came out and condemned them. all of a sudden they had to apologize to rush limbaugh. he said, i hope the president fails and a few of those republicans got up their courage -- >> i'm glad you're wound up about this. i'm glad you're wound up about

this. because on friday i thought i was going to be -- on friday i thought i was going to be the only one. i'm glad you're cranked up about it. chris van hollen, thanks for joining us tonight. >> good to be with you, ed. joining me now, longtime democratic strategy, bob shrum, been around the block a long time on stuff like this. can the president capitalize on this negativity that's been thrown out there? what should be his next move? >> he ought to work on health care and move this forward. you know, these guys revealed last friday that they'd root against michael phelps if they thought it would hurt obama. it's not just on health care. it's not just on cap and trade. go back to the stimulus package. republicans want this economy to fail. they want it to fail for political reasons. they had no answer to what we were supposed to do about joblessness. they had no answer on how we were supposed to save companies like general motors. just let the whole thing collapse and we'll repeat 1994. they revealed themselves. they're not going to get away

with it. >> the job numbers don't look good. they weren't good for september. we could be looking at 10%, 10.5% unemployment. when does that start to haunt the administration? >> i think there's more time. people are smart about this. they know they inherited a mess. my colleagues, economists would say unemployment or employment is the lagging indicate r when you're having a recovery. i think it's going it take a while. let me tell you something, the republicans made a huge mistake here, because if things didn't go well next year, say, a year from now we were 10.5%, 11%, 12% unemployment, they'd get all the benefits anyway. without ever acting like bratty schoolboys, what wanted to be negative about everything the president was trying to do. what they've done is sent the country a message. the republican message is we want obama to fail even if it means america fails. >> what do you think the republicans' next move is going to be? is it going to be more of the same? are they going to get on to anything?

i understand there's a lot of pressure put on we're not going to do it. he said, our folks decided that the t.e.a. parties are the wave of the future. i oner if these people -- i don't know how the republicans are going to navigate out of this when there are option taking place in the heartland. you know the story out there. how will they going to navigate? >> the curve of the story turned

and it was predictable it was going to turn. it's a little like obama in september of 2007 when finance people got upset, said you're behind hillary, the conventional wisdom was she had the nomination sewed up. got him on the phone said, i have a plan, a strategy. he's been steady in this. i think this thing is coming around. within a week or two, linda douglass will be answering your question. >> i hope so. i'm going to keep asking it. >> she's great, though, how to answer it. >> knows how to answer it, not only ask the questions which she's been doing her whole career. sooner or later the president is going to have to publicly say, max baucus, you're wrong on this. we're going public option. i mean, i hear tom harkin, it's definitive. i hear harry reid, he's getting stronger. when does the white house move in that direction? >> unless you're going to go to reconciliation, you can't order folks to do things. if blue dogs break with the

president like predecessors did in '93 and 94, they're the ones to pay the price at the polls, the blue dogs in the house. the president is going to try to negotiate this. i'm for a public option. i think what we'll end up with is a trigger on a public option or in the alternative giving the states a choice of setting up a public option. which means we'll have it in most states. >> before you go, bob, i have to play this sound cut of south carolina senator lindsey graham on iran. here's what he had to say. >> if the sanctions fail and iran's going down the road to get a nuclear weapon, every sunni-arab state that could would want a nuclear weapon. israel would be more imperiled. the world would change for the worst. if we use military action against iran, we should not only go after their nuclear facilities but destroy their ability to make conventional war. no planes that can fly and no ships that can float. >> i mean, i was stunned when i heard that this weekend.

that's world war iii. that's diplomacy totally out and a bunch of strawmen built up. >> it is straw men. isn't it great at just the moment when obama's diplomacy is succeeding, his openness to negotiation is bringing the russians along, seems to have had effect on the chinese, united our allies, republicans want to blast them and say, what we need to do is attack iran. afghanistan, by the way. they're sitting there waiting. if he doesn't put in the troops, they're going to accuse him of cutting and running. if he doesn't put in the troops they're going to start talking about obama's war. >> what kind of conversation do you think the general and president obama had? >> general mcchrystal doesn't seem shy about taking his case to the newspapers, where very few people pointed out we have to have civilian control of the military in this country. when douglas mcarthur took his case outside of the chain of

command he got in trouble. >> good to have you with us. doesn't get better than this. monday night football. if brett favre and the vikings against after the packers tonight he'll be the only player ever to beat any team in the nfl. all 32 of them. the mayors of minneapolis and green bay go head to head next in my "playbook." protecting your heart includes watching your cholesterol.

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if the vikings win, favre is the only player to have beaten all 32 nfl teams in his career. with me now, mayors of both cities of those teams. mayors james j.schmitt and mayor r.t. rybak of minneapolis, minnesota. don't come to blows. it's only a football game. mayor schmitt, i'm curious, is anybody buying any steak at brett favre's steakhouse in green bay? is anybody eating over there now or have they shut the doors on that? >> there's a big group of people who love brett favre, been for the community. he's broken all these records. there's one tonight we rather he not break, that's to be the quarterback that beats all teams. there's a lot of support for brett in green bay. >> do you think there are a lot of packer fans rooting for the vikings tonight? is it about the jersey and see you later, brett? what do you think?

>> there's some people who are following brett. my sister, for example. i mean, she's been a longtime loyal packer fan and she's a jets fan last year and viking fan this year. there are people who love brett favre for all he's done for the game and football. >> the vikings have lost four super bowls. any time you can start out undefeated you don't care who's playing quarterback, right? >> mayor got a good one on me tonight. i was dissing the packers and he said, it's nice to win a super bowl. i'm slightly humble. >> three. >> who's counting? the packers are great. wisconsin's great. 363 days a year we're all buddy buddy. there's been a border breakdown here. too often in minneapolis like tonight with the purple on the street you see the people in green. night of the living dead where the zombies appear in front of your eyes. >> r.d., did you t., did you

think in your wildest dreams that brett favre would be taking a step for you team? >> never. i don't know how i would feel if joe maher was playing for the white sox. i get it. i was skeptical when brett first came in. hey, he's whipped the thing up. it's a phenomenal team. they needed a good, strong leader at the helm. he's been great. i'm more than happy. doesn't mean you can't get real sometimes. >> mayor schmidt, did the packers do the right thing letting brett favre go? he's 3-0 two years after you let him go. >> i'm well aware of that. the packers took the long view on this decision. they have a great front office. i really think when we looked at aaron rogers and signed him, you know, brett -- there was a lot of, you know, waffling in this. i think the packers stuck with their decision.

i hope it's the right decision. i think it is. you know, we'll see tonight. >> all right. >> my friend, the mayor here. let me bail out my friend, the mayor here. i think there are times when the fit doesn't work with the team anymore. randy moss may be the greatest receiver anywhere around, but i don't want that guy to ever come back into the city of minneapolis again. he was a jerk when he was here, and brett wasn't a jerk. over there there's a different deal. sometimes fits don't work in football. he fits beautifully here. happy to take him. >> long season. >> put your coaching hat on now. r.t., what do the vikings have to do? >> have the attention go to brett favre before the game and none of the attention go to adrian peterson who hopefully will dominate the game. >> major schmitt, i hope your team worked on tackling this week. >> we have to protect dan rogers, our quarterback, our offensive line. i think the defense is pretty hungry. these guys, though they played with favre, i think their defense is going to go after --

after them pretty hard. we've got to protect our quarterback and that's been a little bit of a struggle this year. i hope tonight they step it up. >> this is one time when all politician is put aside. let's have a great football game. mayor schmitt and mayor rybak, we should point out this is going to be the most watched regular season game ever, that's what the experts are saying. it should be a great one tonight. may the vikings win. no offense, mayor. >> oh, what? >> see you guys -- thanks so much. >> november 1st coming up, too. >> that's right. always play twice. all right. coming up, harry reid just stepped into mission impossible. he's got to find a way to combine two big health care bills into one. and keep 60 egos on board. that would be senators. go get them, harry. let's find out what people think

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welcome back to "the ed show." i'm glad there's trouble blewing amongst the senate dems. harry reid reporting to go to the floor for a public option against finance chairman, max baucus, not going to get there. reid may be getting help from the president. "l.a. times" reports the white house is lobbying senate democrats hard for a public option. although we really couldn't get linda douglass to really confirm that tonight. okay? for more, let's bring in our panel. bill press, national syndicated radio talk show host.

michael medved, radio talk show host. nationally syndicated as well. author of the book "the ten big lies about america." all right, gentlemens. first of all, bill press, when does max baucus get the memo or the phone call from president obama telling him he's not a happening dude on this? what's happening here? >> yeah. i wish he had gotten it yesterday, ed. look, i think they get the bill out of the finance committee and then barack obama and harry reid call out max baucus and say, you know, max, good job, you got a bill out on the committee, now get lost. i think baucus and kent conrad have lost this battle, ed. i think it's moving in our direction. i think chuck schumer is going to be the key person with harry reid. he's close to harry reid. when harry reid sits down to put the bills together, reid have already said it, there will be a public plan option in the bill that goes to the floor of the senate. good-bye, max baucus. >> michael medved, this is not

the way the republicans wanted it to play out. they wanted a big fight here. what's going to happen? >> the way the republicans wanted it to play out was not to have a big fight and not to have a public option. the problem here for democrats is it's so difficult for democrats to get together on this. precisely because the american people aren't together on it. the american people are worried. they're worried about the fact that it's a lot of backstage wheeling and dealing and internal conflicts in the democratic party that's going to end up taking over one-sixth of the american economy and saddling us with more debt than we can handle. >> gentlemen, let's switch gears and talk about military issues. 40,000 more troops to afghanistan. that's what the generals want. general mcchrystal. what do you think, michael medved? how tough is obama? how tough a call of this for the president of the united states? his base doesn't want to go to afghanistan

afghanistan. me calls it a war of necessity. what's going to happen? >> i hope they will support the president 100% on this and show we don't want america to fail, we want america to win this war. the only way to win is support our military which is the best in the world and the best generals. president obama appointed general mcchrystal. i'm hoping he will have unanimous support from republicans in the congress for sending the troops that our generals need. >> bill, is the president a little upset that mcchrystal has gone out and been saying things to the public? what do you think? >> i think he is. the white house won't say that, ed. he's got to be. the general's job is to be there leading the troops, not to be giving speeches in london disagreeing with the vice president and maybe even the president of the united states. so when they were together there on air force one, ed, i wish you and i would have been a fly on the wall. >> the picture didn't look good. the body language was not good. the question is, do you think president obama would actually fire mcchrystal if he didn't do, you know, what he wants? >> i think he would. he fired other guy and put

mcchrystal in there. here's what troubles me. i was at the white house briefing today. robert gibbs said they're weighing all the options. thank god they're taking their time on this decision. gibbs said that pulling all troops out of afghanistan, leaving afghanistan, is not one of the options. >> all right. gentlemen, got to play this sound bite for you quickly. here's lindsey graham yesterday talking about iran. i want your reaction. >> if the sanctions fail and iran's going down the road to get a nuclear weapon, every sunni-arab state would want a nuclear weapon. israel would be more imperiled. the world would change for the worst. if we use military action against iran we should not only go after their nuclear facilities, we should destroy their ability to make conditional war. no planes that can fly and no ships that can float. >> well, lindsey graham looked pretty normal there, but if it had been the audio, i thought he would have been drinking before that interview. michael medved?

>> lindsey graham is an honorable person who served our united states in the -- >> he's talking world war iii, man. >> he is not. he's talking about hoping diplomacy will work as all patriotic americans do. being prepared for doing precisely what president obama said in the campaign, which is tip ploemsy doesn't work, as senator mccain said -- >> quickly, bill, was he off his rocker? >> ed, you're right. world war iii. when i saw that clip, i thought to myself, thank god john mccain didn't win. lindsey graham would be calling the shots. their method is bomb first and then talk later. >> gentlemen, great to have you with us tonight. thanks so much. appreciate your time as always. earlier i asked you is president obama doing enough to close the deal on health care reform? 78% of you said no. 22% said yes, he is. that's "the ed show." i'm ed schultz. back tomorrow night. for more information on our program, our radio website, wegoted.com. "hardball" with chris matthews is coming up next. right here on the place for politics, msnbc.

we'll see you tomorrow night. more on health care, more on jobs and do we send 40,000 more troops to afghanistan? have a great one. anti-american? let's play "hardball." good evening, i'm chris matthews of washington. leading off tonight, the right roots against america. remember how republicans questioned democrats' patriotism during the bush years? you were either with bush or with the terrorists? so what do we make the of the 4 glee some prominent republicans felt when chicago and president obama lost its olympics bid? it's one thing to argue politics and policy, what's good and bad for america, that's what we do here on "hardball." it's another thing to root for america to fail. plus, the growing divide between the white house and military brass.