care. to knowing it, to feeling it, to driving it, to leading it and finally to inspiring it to actually happen. that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. catch us again tomorrow night at 5:00 and 7:00 eastern. right now it's time for "the ed show" with ed schultz. good evening, americans. and welcome to "the ed show" tonight from new york. these story are hitting my hot buttons tonight. universal health care is the law of the land. while the presidents and democrats are making history the republican party is becoming more extreme, more on that in just a moment. and new numbers show the party of yes is making big gains on the pearty of no. the man in charge of holding the house, congressman chris van hollen, will join me in a moment to talk strategy. and president obama, and house speaker nancy pelosi just pulled off a remarkable achievement. doris kearns good win will be here to rate the role of obama and nancy pelosi. is she lbj in a skirt?

and one other question i wilt pose tonight. with all the hate speech that's going on, why do democrats even go on fox news? they don't tell the truth. but first, here's the hot story tonight. of course, that's got the country fired up. listen to this very closely. it sounds great. universal health care is now the law of the land. president obama signed the senate health care bill today into law. i think vice president joe biden, he stole the show. he put it exactly the way it is. >> this is a big [ bleep ] deal. >> president saying yeah, yeah, i know. this is a bill deal. for the first time health care is your right. and i have been so moved by this story for the last year. i've been all over the country. i've done countless town hall meetings over the last two years. i've seen desperation in the eyes of a lot of people that i've met. the hunger for change has been

inspiring to see. this is why the president of the united states is where he is. he's the president on changes that go into effect this year. >> this year we'll start offering tax credits to about 4 million small businessmen and women to help them cover the cost of insurance for their employees. this year tens of thousands of uninsured americans with pre-existing conditions, the parents of children who have a pre-existing condition, will finally be able to purchase the coverage they need. that happens this year. this year insurance companies will no longer be able to drop people's coverage when they get sick. they won't be able to place lifetime limits or restrictive annual limits on the amount of care they can receive. this year -- this year all new insurance plans will be required to offer free preventative care. and this year young adults will be able to stay on their

parent's policies until they're 26 years old. that happens this year. >> all those good things happening this year. in the next three months all of that's going to be law. he has delivered on the promise of change. of course it's change. that never happened out o the republicans. that doesn't mean the lies are going to stop. take a listen to gop chair michael steele. >> you're not really going to get the impacts of this bill for four years. >> did you catch that? let me show that again. >> you're not really going to get the impacts of this bill for four years. >> so the president, today, when he said small business tax credits, i guess obama was lying. and you students who are under 26 or working kids under 26, i guess the president's lying when he says you can't be extended on your parent's coverage until you're 26. now, is michael steele -- is he

just mistaken? or is he lying? i mean, we have to cut to the chase on this, folks. it takes the republicans exactly four seconds to tell a lie to the american people. they make it easy to consume. that's about the level of their news consumption ability. especially -- they have to talk to people like that, though. how else do you talk to the tea partyers? that's all they can consume. government takeover. that takes about three seconds. people pick up on a talking point, and they spread it like wildfire. that's the level of their news consumption. their followsers believe this stuff. anything they say. they're right on it. on the heels of this health care lies, we have a new harris poll. i'm making a big point about this, because the more they say this garbage this is how it gets picked up. scary republican attitudes about president obama. 67% of republicans believe that obama is a socialist. okay, now, what if he is?

is that against the law? what if he is a socialist? does that mean he's un-american? 45% of republicans believe that president obama was not born in the united states. 57% think he's a muslim. 24% say that, well, you know, he may be the anti-christ. 38% of republicans say that obama is doing many of the things that hitler did. these are now beliefs. of course, the republicans, they love polls. oh, they can't live without a poll, whatever that poll says, that's the way it is. that's what republicans think of our president. this has to be a low point in american history, as much as it is a high point of what happened today. every single one of these things that i just mentioned and put up on the screen for you, i want

you to know that they are 100%, 100% false. the conservative media and the republican party, they have lied to the american people and they've done it long enough. conservative leaders, i believe, bear the responsibility to set their base straight on the facts. just because they've lost a health care debate, just because the democrats have more votes for them doesn't give them the license to go out and make up stuff. oh, he's not an american. he wasn't born here. he's a social -- he's doing stuff hitler was doing. i mean, and you connect that kind of conversation with the fact that they want to change the textbooks in the state of texas and rewrite history so it fits their ideology. this is an intellectual civil war taking place in this country right now. the facts are the facts. the health care fight has

ignited passions that we haven't seen in this country for a long time. with such a historic division, it really is amazing that president obama was able to achieve health care reform. the senate republicans are trying to do the best they possibly can to torpedo the reconciliation bill. harry reid wants to pass this by this weekend. once the senate finishes its work this will only be better. tell me what you think, folks. in our telephone survey tonight. the number to dial is 1-877-ed-msnbc. my question tonight is, now that health care reform has passed, do you feel hope or fear for this country. press 1 for hope, 2 for fear. i'll bring you the results later on in the program. it was a jam packed room today. i would have loved to been there. a lot of americans would have loved to been there. the people who have really earned the right to be there,

there were no gimmys today in that room. one of them was senator from iowa, tom harkin, chairman of the senate health committee who has spent his life working on health care reform, who was one of the most unselfish people i've ever met in my life. and i revere him as a friend and on behalf of this audience, and myself, senator harkin, good job, my man. >> ed, thank you so much. thanks for hanging in there and really getting the facts out to people. more and more that's what we have to do. get the facts out. now that this is the law of the land no more where there be sort of a speculation. we have the law. now people know what they have. >> and they're going to know more. obviously the republicans are out there saying this doesn't kick in for four years. here's another thing. they're throwing out this number that it's going to cost a trillion dollars. senator, i read the bill, and i also read an executive summary from a lobbying firm that went

to an insurance industry agent. and i can tell you that the biggest piece of change for this bill is going to be $4.8 billion that comes from the pharmaceutical company in year number two. am i right or am i wrong on that? >> you're absolutely right on that, ed. absolutely. >> so $4.8 billion of money that the pharmaceutical industry has never given to this effort of health care reform is going to happen under barack obama's watch. why aren't the republicans saying that? why aren't the democrats calling them on it? >> well, look, ed, there's just so much noise out there and so much misinformation. it's hard to know which one to attack. i think the best thing for us is to tell the truth to the american people. the bill is now the law of the land, and we have to fight to make sure we keep it. i think the republicans are doing a disservice by talking

about repealing it, but quite frankly, i think politically that's not going to help them in the polls this november. i'd like to have that debate with my opponent. my opponent would say, you know, they're going to repeal this bill. i could say, wait a minute, to my constituents i'd say, look, right now you have a guarantee. it's in law right now that if your child gets sick, if your child has a pre-existing condition you can still get health insurance for that child. they want to take that they way from you. right now under the law, the law right now says if you get sick, insurance companies can't cut you off. they want to take that away from you. right now, as you said earlier, ed, your child can stay on your health insurance policy until they're age 26. not 18. 26. they want to take that away from you. i think once the american people know what they have as a right they're not going to want the republicans to take it away from them. >> senator, will the senate business get done this week? will you hit the deadline?

>> yes, sir, we're going to get her done. we're going to keep rolling. we may be in all night tonight and wednesday night and all night thursday night. i predict we're going to have it done before the weekend. >> senator harkin, great to have you with us tonight. i appreciate your time. >> ed, i have to tell you, it was so exciting being there today. i remember when i was down there, when the americans with disabilities act was signed. this is equally as exciting because this now covers all the american people. it's something we've been trying to do for a hundred years and we finally got it done. >> senator, great to have you on. appreciate your time tonight. >> thank you. >> a hundred years is an awful long time. no doubt about that. i thought it was fantastic the president brought that 11-year-old boy in there today. imagine the memory he's going to have for a lifetime. and i want everybody to know that watches this program, i don't hate anybody. i don't hate the republicans. i don't hate the tea partyers. i just don't understand them right now.

i don't understand the position that they're taking, and there is really a narrative that's taking place out there in this country right now that i think is dangerous. you know, you don't have to make all the threats. you don't have to spit on representatives. you don't have to throw out the "n" word. you don't have to throw bricks through windows. all you have to do is go vote. that's all you have to do. just have to go vote. now, for the other side of the story let me bring in republican senator john barrasso of wyoming. senator, good to have you with us. >> great to be with you, ed. >> some of the antics that have been taking place, do you think it's the position of the republican party to absolutely state unequivocally that you don't align yourselves with the kind of slurs that have been thrown out there and some of the activities that have taken place? >> well, i agree with you there. i do believe this bill is one that's going it be bad for patients, i belief it's going to be bad for providers, doctors and nurses and bad for payers, the american taxpayers that are going to have to take this and the large bill they're going to

be asked to be paying through medicare cuts as well as through increases in taxes. >> will the middle class be taxed in this bill? yes or no? >> i believe that they will. through medical devices, drugs, when they go to the drugstore, i think they're going to see taxes across the board. i think that's what the american people and i am certainly concerned about which is why, ed, it seems that over half of the people of the country strongly oppose this bill. where only one in four support it. specifically the seniors. i was at hospital in wyoming. somebody on medicare, said if they're going to cut medicare, use the money to save medicare, not to start a whole new government program. that's the first amendment on the reconciliation bill on the floor of the senate right now, that we're bringing. i've co-sponsored. said, if you're going to take money from medicare, use it to save medicare, not to start a new government program. >> senator, let's get back to the taxes. you said that you believe they're going to go up.

income -- >> i believe they are. >> income taxes on the middle class will not go up. that's a fact. sales tax will not go up for the middle class at all. if medical devices are used, yes, they are going to cost 3% more. that's what's going to go up. the middle class is not getting touched. i know. i've read the bill, senator. i'm asking you for an honest answer tonight. tell our audience that the middle class is not going to have their taxes go up because that is the case, my friend. >> the middle class of america who uses health care services are going to see through a result of these taxes they're going to be passed right on to the consumers who are going to be using health care services in the country. people get it, ed. they understand that. that's why people are so vehemently opposed to this. they know that ultimately the cost of their care is going to go up. their insurance premiums are going to go up. they're concerned the quality of their care is going to go down. >> senator, good to have you

with us tonight. i've always appreciated our exchange. i think we gentlemanly agree to disagree. >> thanks, ed. >> good to have you with us. >> thank you. coming up, righties rarely go after their own. a conservative is accusing sean hannity's charity of cooking the books. sean and i talk about this face to face last friday night. i'll tell you all about it in the "playbook." and mr. bipartisan threw in the towel on that country first slogan of his. he's saying we won't see any cooperation from the republicans on anything for the rest of the year. all that plus more on biden's "f" bomb. and the beckster lands in the zone. and i want to know why democrats even go on fox news the way they lie. oh sure, we have plenty of employees that...

you can label as "different." like janice. uh-huh. yeah. fashion deficient. and tom... copy incapable. it's open kimono time. looking good, dan. oh, we want to make sure all our ducks in a row. yeah. volume control syndrome. but we focus on the talent and skill that each person... brings to the team. i mean, no one's really concerned about labels. not even mine. labels get in the way. disabilities rarely do. visit thinkbeyondthelabel.com to evolve your work force. coming up, republican fearmongerers like mr. tan man and michael steele will call this health care bill armageddon

until the cows come home. they're not going to change. my next guest has the job of fighting their message and delivering democratic wins in the midterms. dccc chairman chris van hollen joins me next. first i find the flight i want. then a great hotel my kids will love. yeah. but wait... here's the really cool part. when i book them at the same time... voila! i can save up to 450 bucks. and we all know that can come in pretty handy. book flight and hotel, and save more. where you book matters, expedia. ♪ dot com breaking up is hard to do. so allstate will do it for you. switch to allstate, and your new agent will... help tell your old insurance company goodbye. saving you that uncomfortable breakup moment. and serious cash. drivers who switched saved an average of $396 a year. $473 if they dumped geico. breaking up is easy to do.

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yes, this has been a difficult two years. there will be difficult days ahead. let us always remember the lesson of this day and the lesson of history that we, as a people, do not shrink from a challenge. we overcome it. we don't shrink from our responsibilities. we embrace it. we don't fear the future. we shape the future. that's what we do. that's who we are. that makes us the united states

of america. >> president obama on a roll, speaking to staffers after signing the health care reform bill into law today. he praised the democrats for not shrinking from their responsibility to bring change. he got health care done without, without a single republican vote. history is going to remember that. this was still a tough vote for the house democrats. the president told them that on saturday. that good policy is good politics and that voters would respect them for standing up for what they believe in. well, a new poll, since the republicans love polls, new poll out tonight suggests that the president was spot-on. "usa today" gallup poll, people after reform passed the house. 49% of the people say it was a good thing. while 40% said it was a bad thing. joining me now is maryland congressman chris van hollen. he's the chairman of the dccc and assistant to house speaker nancy pelosi. congressman, congratulations. >> ed, it's great to be with you

on this historic day. >> it certainly is. you were up in that room. it had to be quite a feeling to see that unfold and to have this actually happen. of course, the republicans are saying it's armageddon and john mccain says there will be no cooperation. what's the memo say on your desk to the people who are running for office on the democratic ticket? >> well, two things are going to happen immediately. the first of all, the american people are going to see right away that they were misled, and that they were fed a bunch of fear mongering scare tactics, because the president just signed the bill and i don't see any death panels popping up, do you? the world is still here. it's not armageddon. they have a huge credibility gap on the other side because their story is one that has been fed by the insurance industry that has spent millions and millions and dollars to try to kill this bill. they got a big problem in terms of having not told the truth. on the other side, as senator harkin was talking about earlier, the american people are

going to begin to see the benefits of this bill. so if the republican mantra is going to be repeal this bill, you know, turn back the clock, allow the insurance companies to continue to discrimina criminact kids based on pre-existing conditions, let's take away the money from seniors. make my day, because it's the same story that they're telling in other areas. they want to turn back the clock to the bush economic policies and they like the status quo. they like business as usual. >> congressman, the activities around the capitol the last few days, people getting arrested, bricks through a window. one of your colleagues being spit on. the "n" word being tossed around. just the tone of the crowd. the hateful attitude that's out there. i won't take it so far as to say this is really fueled by fox news, in my opinion. it's fueled by the right-wing talkers of america. let me ask you, why do democrats

even go on fox? i mean, they just stir these people up. i mean, why don't the democrats, and i'm asking you a serious question here, why send any of your candidates over to be interviewed by anybody on fox when they wanted to kill this health care reform bill, it's everything negative about president obama. you're not going -- i mean, you know, in college football alabama, football in alabama is the way of life. at notre dame it's a religion. they don't like each other. you're not going to convince somebody from the irish to go root for alabama. vice versa. why do the democrats go on fox news? it frustrates the hell out of progressives when you do. >> ed, look, no one's under any illusions they're going to change fox news, that they're going to change the orientation of the channel. the fact of the matter is there are many people who watch fox news who are fair-minded people, and the hope is maybe you can break through and get a kernel

of truth through the airwaves. >> that's a theory you think fair-minded people watch them. beck feeds on this stuff. limbaugh said on his program yesterday we have to get rid of these bastards. that's what he said, speaking of you and other democrats. you got the majority. you have enough media out there. you don't need them. >> look, ed, nobody is going on rush limbaugh's show. no one is going on glenn beck's show. there are certain shows where there are people who haven't totally made up their mind that watch fox news. there's an effort to try and communicate with them. let me go to your point with respect to the words of incitement. what we saw in the last couple days here was a very ugly face in terms of the expressions of violence, of the words that were thrown around. what was even worse than the fact it was happening outside the capitol was that certain members of congress who should have known better and should be

leading by example exhibited similar behaviors inside the chamber. when we had a member -- >> they apologized for that, chris. the republicans apologized for it. they didn't mean to say that. >> right. right. that's why within a couple hours, as you may have heard, that same member who said "baby killer" started a facebook page to raise money. to raise cash off his statement. and this is what we're dealing with. we're dealing with people who are pretending it apologize and turning around and using these words to include -- to continue to incite people and raise money. so what we have to do is show the american people that decent-minded american people that this has become in many ways the new face of the republican party. >> it is the new face. it is their face. >> this is the new face of the republican party. that's what you get when you incite people like this and encourage that kind of behavior. >> congressman, good to have you with us tonight. thanks for saying that.

because a lot of americans believe that. thanks so much. chris van hollen, head of the dccc from maryland. coming up, a new york politician must have borrowed the beckster's playbook. this guy went so psycho he compared passing the health care bill to 9/11. that's right. puts him in the "zone."

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and in "psycho talk" tonight, losing the health care fight has made the righties crazier than ever.

they're in full force hollering about armageddon and the destruction of america. beckster is leading the chase and of course he's the number one psycho out there. he threw out some horrific comparisons on his tv show last night. >> they say this bill is histor historic, that yesterday was a his ttoric day. you're damn right it was. let me show you other historic days in the world. how about pearl harbor? this was a valentine's massacre when the mob stepped in and cleaned things up. that was a historic day. this is nevl chamberlain. there will be great peace in our time because i looked into his eyes. >> i get all the entertainment part. the scary part, it's not just the beckster of the world saying all of this stuff. new york millionaire carl

paladino is hoping to run for governor as a tea party governor this year. here's what he said about the health care bill this morning. >> this day, the day the bill was passed will be remembered just as 9/11 was remembered in history. >> well, carl, you fit right in with the psychos and the tea party. that is for sure. comparing landmark health care reform that will save lives to one of the darkest, deadliest days in american history, is "psycho talk." coming up, speaking of psycho, how psycho is it that 24% of republicans think that obama is the antichrist? the reverend jesse jackson will take on the spinners and the vandals in just a moment. and the drugster said that if health care passes he'd pack up and move to costa rica. well, there's a lot of you out there that are taking him up and holding him to that. i have a contribution in the "playbook" coming up. all that, plus i'll tell you the story about how i confronted

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welcome back to "the ed show." thanks for watching tonight. there is honest debate and then there is hate. at the tea party protests outside the capitol this weekend, individuals hurled the "n" word at congressman john lewis and heckled congressman barney frank for being gay. across the country, democrats who voted for health care reform have had their offices vandalized. the glass doors were kicked out or shot out at the office of arizona congresswoman gab ge giffords. a brick was thrown through the office of u.s. congresswoman of new york. and republicans are trying to paint this as some kind of principled opposition in america. there's nothing principled about throwing a brick through a

window or using intimidation and slurs to make your point. joining me now, reverend jesse jackson, president of the rainbow bush co push coal coali. he confronted the tea partyers face to face. what do they say to you? what did you say to them? >> they were hurling these invectives and booing and all that. i look beyond that. they have been whipped into a fear frenzy. many of those standing there who were howling the names will be the first beneficiaries of pre-existing condition, medical support. many of them there are on social security or medicare or medicaid. the irony is that those who have been whipped into a frenzy will be the first beneficiaries of this bill. >> did you ask them what they were mad about? >> they were saying they're losing their freedom and liberty. one group i talked to was from west virginia, state that received the most federal aid.

yet they're fighting against the government. that sustains them. i do not feel angry. i felt more a pain for them because the leaders who were leading them in this way, they have health care. i mean, those, as i watched those guys hit the floor arguing on sunday afternoon, it's -- it reminded me so much of the 1960s where americans were killed trying to have access to a hotel or motel or library. we were killed trying to get the right to vote. in the end hope out-distanced fear. we're a better nation tonight because of the bill. because of the right to vote and because we have a comprehensive movement toward a comprehensive health care bill. >> what should be the response of the democratic party? stay focused? don't pay attention to it? should they return verbal fire and call them out on it? >> no, they should go to the district where the congressman voted against democrats and ask those who want pre-existing health care to come step up. those who want more medicare,

medicaid, to step up. a healing hand of hope, not a hurtful hand of hate and rejection. >> reverend jackson, great to have you with us tonight. we'll do it again. let's turn to bob shrum, democratic strategist and professor at new york university. bob, does the republican party have a responsibility to calm the waters a little bit with all the rhetoric that's floating around? >> sure. they're not going to. look, they have tolerated, embraced and incited this. they have, themselves, you've heard republican members of congress, republican senators, those guys who were standing out there on the so-called beach, that balcony, waving at the demonstrators saying "kill the bill." this is a part of their strategy. they have decided that barack obama can't win on a big issue. he did. they have decided that they are going to tie themselves to the tea partyers and try to win that way. you know, ed, this is perfectly appropriate for republican party, a modern republican party that's driven out all the

moderates and was born in the southern strategy. we all know what the southern strategy was about. ronald reagan opened his campaign for president in 1980 in philadelphia, mississippi, where those civil rights workers were killed. newt gingrich the other day said passing health care is the biggest mistake democrats are going to make since they passed civil rights and lost the south. is he seriously saying john kennedy and lyndon johnson and this country should not have stood up and fought for civil rights and passed those civil rights bills? it's disgusting. >> this is republican response after the bill was signed today. >> over time this legislation will have the same effect that similar legislation has had in the european countries that senator gregg spoke of. that is when you promise more and more people the benefits or the subsidies the cost of the government will increase to the point eventually rationing of health care will result. >> the president intends to take a victory lap on this bill. he's going to take a victory lap

on a bill that the american people don't want because they know we can't afford it. because it will raise their premiums, cut medicare and raise taxes on the middle class. >> they just flat-out lie. >> yeah. unfortunately every poll that's out today shows the american people do want this. every country in europe spends less on health care than we do in terms of its gross domestic product. every country in europe, major country in europe, has a life expectancy as good or better than ours and health care there is a fundamental right. we have finally moved in that direction. this whole thing, from beginning to end, has been a campaign of lies. mitch mcconnell, the senate republican leader said the other day, look, from the start we wanted to have a unified opposition to this bill. he didn't even know what was in the bill. >> now mccain is saying there will be no cooperation. so this is the way it's going to be all the way to the midterms. bob shrum, great to have you with us tonight. thanks so much. i want to get rapid fire response from our panel on these three stories tonight.

a quarter f republicans, 25%, think that president obama may be the antichrist. and that's one of the frightening numbers from the new poll. john mccain says that there won't be any bipartisanship because the democrats passed health care reform. and 14 states officially filed suit against the federal government claiming the insurance mandate is unconstitutional. with us tonight, salon.com editor, joan walsh. republican strategist john feehery. john, i'll start with you first. let's talk about the lawsuits. do they have merit, in your opinion? or is this just political theater and postures before the midterm? >> you know, et, i wish i were a constitutional lawyer. i decided to go a different route in my career. so i don't know if they have constitutional muster. i think they're serious efforts. i think the mandate is a camel's

nose under the tent telling people they have to do a certain thing. i guarantee you the individual mandate will prove to be the most unpopular part of the legislation, when people find out 100,000 irs agents are going to be hired to root out people who aren't getting their money and paying individual mandate and money to the insurance companies. this will prove to be the most unpopular part of this legislation. >> joan, what about the lawsuits? >> i don't think they're going to work. i have to say to john feehery, if that turns out to be the most really unpopular part of the bill then we can thank and blame republicans because it came straight from mitt romney. more than that, the individual mandate came straight from the heritage foundation. it was perceived five years ago as preventing people from freeloading. it was a republican principle because you didn't want to be extending health care and insurance to people who were going to freeload off the system. that's what it does. it's about individual responsibility. it's about the private sector. things that republicans like john used to like before barack

obama. so we win the argument either way. >> 57% of republicans think president obama's a muslim. worse than that, 25% think he's the antichrist. what is going on here? john feehery? >> you're asking me? sorry. i thought you were asking joan. >> do you believe these numbers? >> i think probably about 20% of the american people believe that the pope is the antichrist, too. you know, i think that -- i was looking -- doing some research. a lot of people thought that george bush, a lot of democrats thought george bush was hitler. they thought george bush was the antichrist. a lot of websites were dedicated to that. i think the biggest tragedy in all of this is the decline in civility in our discourse. >> do you think the republicans are feeding it? >> you know what, i think that a lot of this is organic. i don't think republicans are saying barack obama is the antichrist. i don't think republican leaders are saying barack obama is hitler. >> they're not distancing themselves from it. >> they should. they will.

i don't think that republicans think that barack obama is the antichrist. >> all right, joan, what about bipartisanship? john mccain says there won't be any. i mean, whatever happened to country first? >> we -- whatever happened to country first? we have not had bipartisanship, ed and john, since barack obama was sworn in as president. he crafted a stimulus bill that was a compromise. liberals wanted a trillion dollars. liberals didn't want the tax cuts. he settled for $780 billion. got to get my math right. and a third of that was tax cuts which liberals oppose. that was to reach out to republicans and what happened? john boehner said he opposed the bill before the bill was even out. he got no house gop votes. and he got three, really only two, senate gop votes. they made this decision a long time ago. >> thanks for the rapid fire tonight. coming up, it took president obama only 15 months to fundamentally change health care in america.

the only one calling him inexperienced now is sarah palin. i'll ask presidential historian doris kearns goodwin what this means for his legacy and what's around the corner for nancy pelosi. ♪ breaking up is hard to do breaking up is hard to do. so allstate will do it for you. switch to allstate, and your new agent will... help tell your old insurance company goodbye. saving you that uncomfortable breakup moment. and serious cash. drivers who switched saved an average of $396 a year. $473 if they dumped geico. breaking up is easy to do. ♪ remember when that's allstate's stand. are you in good hands? ♪

it's still not too late to let us know what you think. dial 1-877-ed-msnbc. tonight's telephone survey question is, now that health care reform has passed, do you feel hope or fear for this country? press 1 for hope, press for 2 for fear. again, the number to dial 1-877-ed-msnbc. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 that's why, at schwab, tdd# 1-800-345-2550 every online equity trade is now $8.95 tdd# 1-800-345-2550 no matter your account balance, how often you trade tdd# 1-800-345-2550 or how many shares... tdd# 1-800-345-2550 you pay what they pay what everyone pays: $8.95. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 and you still get all the help tdd# 1-800-345-2550 and support you expect from schwab tdd# 1-800-345-2550 millions of investors. one price. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 at charles schwab... tdd# 1-800-345-2550 investors rule.

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[ man ] for general electric, here is ronald reagan. when your eyes are smiling... you're smiling. and when they're laughing... you're laughing. be kind to your eyes... with transitions lenses. transitions adapt to changing light so you see your whole day comfortably... and conveniently while protecting your eyes from the sun. ask your eyecare professional which transitions lenses are right for you. in my "playbook" tonight, president obama made history today when he signed the health care bill. this could be the defining moment of his presidency. at the top of the show we showed you how vice president joe biden chose to express the magnitude of the moment with r-rated language. well, three years ago then-candidate obama kept it

family friendly, but he was already staking his reputation on passing health care reform. >> i will judge my first term as president based on the fact on whether we have delivered the kind of health care that every american deserves and our system can afford. >> for more on how the health care bill could affect president obama's place in history, let me bring in one of the best, presidential historian doris kearns goodwin. great to have you with us tonight. it's 100 years, 50 years. we're hearing a lot of numbers thrown out. how big is it when you put it into perspective of really an accomplishment within 15, 16 months? >> oh, no question. i mean, when you think about the fact that what this legislation does is to extend social and economic justice to millions of americans by establishing health care as a right and not a privilege, when those kind of things happen they're remembered by history. we remember social security. we remember medicare. we remember the three great civil rights laws. and the fact that obama has

gotten this through in the first year of his presidency something he wanted to do to make his presidency worthy of creating things that would stand the test of time, he's not only going to affect his legacy but his leadership from here on in. and i think that's the important psychological dimension to this as well. >> there's a lot of years left for him as president. i mean, this is early on. how does it, you know, work and weave its way through history with so many years left? >> the interesting thing is that lbj said after he got the civil rights act ending segregation through in 1964, he felt that huge fulfillment that came from knowing he had done something historic and it made him only want more rather than less. so he was told, now, you have to let the country resolve itself. don't go for anything more. he said, no, i'm going for voting rights. he goes for voting rights, medicare, head start. he had a huge majority, an easier time than obama has.

i think something happens inside a leader when they say being risky, taking a bold stance and having this partnership with leaders in congress, if he may not get it bipartisanly, but he has a democratic party more united now than it's been for quite a while. >> this is an excerpt of an interview coming up on "nightline" with nancy pelosi and diane sawyer. i want your take on this. >> pretty amazing things being said. the economist said you were arguably the most powerful woman in american history. brown university professor has said you are certainly the most powerful speaker in 100 years. >> sounds good. i don't take it personally except i take it as a compliment for all women because as the first woman speaker i certainly wanted to demonstrate that we could get a job done that has eluded others. >> what's your response to that? >> well, you know, i think the interesting thing is she was

criticized so much during this process. obama was criticized for giving too much leeway to her and to the senate early on. yet, by giving the congress a stake in this legislation, once they had to come through in the end they were engaged. they embraced it. she brought it home. and by being able to bring that compromise on the abortion and let the women supporters not kill her for doing that, that was an extraordinary negotiating skill. lbj, again, going back to my old friend who used to say, if you want them to be with you on the landing they have to be with you on the takeoff. they were with him on the takeoff and brought the landing home to him. >> doris kearns gd goodwin. last friday i told you about conservative blogger that accused sean hannity of fox of cooking the books on his charity, accused of using tens of thousands of dollars of his charity's money private planes for himself and his family.

the great american hannity told me at the cocktail party the other night at the talkers convention he hasn't taken a dime. i'll have more on this story as it develops. coming up, 67% of republicans believe president obama is a socialist. my next guest, well, might have a thing or two to say about that. america's only socialist senator, the great bernie sanders from vermont, is next on "the ed show." ool whip? ♪ she does... and she does. ♪ and these guys too. ♪ obviously they do. ♪ oh, and her.

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finally tonight, the health care battle is not over yet. the senate still has to pass a reconciliation bill containing fixes to the legislation that president obama signed today. and republicans will use every parliament tear tactic they can think of in a last-ditch attempt to derail the bill. senate started debating the bill this afternoon. a final vote could take place this weekend. for a look at what we can expect between now and then let's go to independent senator from vermont, bernie sanders. senator, good to have you with us. >> good to be with you. >> what's this week going to be like? >> well, all i can tell you is i'm scheduled to be in the chair at 2:00 this morning so it looks like it's going to be a pretty tough week with 24-hour sessions. the republicans obviously are continuing their obstructionist role. no, no, no, don't go forward. at the end of the day i think we're going to pass reconciliation and improve the bill that was passed and signed by the president today. >> do you believe the letter

senator reid has got with 52 signatures? is that solid in your opinion. >> yes, i do. >> okay. what do you make of these most recent polls that 67% of republicans think president obama is a socialist? >> well, you know, it's funny that you ask me that, ed, because literally yesterday i had the ambassador from denmark in the state of vermont. let me tell you a little bit about danish socialism. in denmark everybody has health care. everybody without any out of pocket expenses. they're spending 50% of what we spend per capita. their outcomes are better. in denmark everybody can go to college, you know what the tuition there is, ed? you know what the costs are? it is zero. in denmark, democratic socialists -- although it's now run -- the government is run by a center right party. everybody in the country gets six weeks off paid vacation. in denmark when you have a baby you get a year off with full

pay. so i think the more that people learn about what goes on in scandinavia and other european countries, i think the more sympathetic they may be. having said that, do i think barack obama is a socialist? of course not. what he is trying to do is gradually, slowly incrementally take us to where most other countries in the industrialized world are in terms of guaranteeing health care to all of their people as a right. >> senator, since you have a 2:00 a.m. schedule, i'll let you go tonight. let them save your energy for the middle of the night. let them have it. great to have you with us. thanks so much. tonight in our telephone poll survey, i asked you now that health care reform has passed do you feel hope or fear for this country? 94% of you responded saying hope. 6% fear. that's "the ed show." i'm ed schultz. for more information on "the e