an arena of idea, they seek instead to discredit and marginalize us and it's gotten old." we should point out in the most recent ratings service that rush's ratings has gone down. that right there is a classic. attack where you're weak. no single person in america, no single person in america with a microphone has done more when it comes to character assassination of the president than the drugster. rush is no victim. he spends three hours a day, five days a week electioneering against the president and democrats. here he is today. >> it is a regime. they're governing against the people. election be damned. public opinion be damned. the budget be damned. what the hell else is it if not a regime? >> this guy thinks the president did an interview to get him off his game. this is the man who wants

president obama to fail. there has never been an attempt by the hate merchants on the right to engage democrats on ideas. screaming about socialism and government takeovers is getting the republicans absolutely nowhere fast. elected members of the gop really have gone to this guy on bended knee over and over again to kiss and make up if they did something wrong. rush wants to play the victim. he's the ring leader. there will be no real debate until there is a regime change in the conservative media in the country. i'm talking about those people across the street. glenn beck and his network across the street act like the rnc of the north. they pump out the hate and elected officials have to just fall in line. if they don't they're going to get smacked up by 450 conservative talkers across the country. former bush speech writer put it this way, republicans originally thought fox news channel worked for them but now they're finding out it's the republicans who

work for fox. frum is going to be here to talk about that in a moment. get your cell phones out. i want to know what you think about this tonight. the text survey is, who do you believe is genuinely trying to make this country a better place? text "a" for rush limbaugh, top billing there, rush, text "b" for president obama to 622639. the results later on in the show. joining us tonight is david frum, former bush speechwriter and founder of frumforum.com. good to have you with us tonight. >> thank you. >> this relationship between the conservative talkers in this country and the gop, as you once knew it, is it different than it used to be? >> it is different. notice there's another relationship. it's triangular. there's a relationship between fox and the president. every president would like to be able to choose his opponents, and president obama knows that someone like mitt romney or

mitch daniels are people who can have broad appeal to americans. he doesn't want to run against them. he wants to run against rush limbaugh and glenn beck who are much more popular. he is choosing his opposition. the nature of this dysfunctional relationship is there is, again, a limbaugh/obama access with republican party as its victim. >> what is limbaugh in your opinion talking about when he says the debate in the arena of ideas when the republicans we know have been obstructionists since day one since the president got into office? >> thereson a rerena of ideas, especially after the package of health care reform to say, here are ways from a free market, limited government point of view to help health care work better. the plan that passed through congress has a lot of dna leading back to republican ideas from the debates of the 1990s and indeed to mitt romney in 2006 in massachusetts.

that's not what we want to talk about. what we want to talk about are narratives of mutual victimhood in which republicans and democrats compete to say, were we interrupted more, were we beaten up more? >> you have this unique relationship as i see it. the republicans have apologized to conservative talkers in the past. they have also distanced themselves not very much, though, from some of the things that have been said and silence gives consent in many respects. so is the republican party afraid to break out with an identity of having real ideas in fear that they're going to get smacked down by fox and conservative talkers? >> well, if you come up with a -- if you're going to come up with a positive agenda that you're going to have to recognize that america actually is very much a country bunched up in the middle. this is a country with a strong national consensus. there's a strong consensus a lot of people should -- held by a lot of people that health care coverage should be more universal, that there are forms

we should pursue, that there are ways to finance it that are nod burdensome on the economy. that is not makes -- sells cable advertising. the technicalities can be dusty. what sells cable advertising is inflammatory passion, anger, rhetoric and this victimhood story. >> you take a look at the tea partyers, the winston poll out asked what are the two main sources of your news? 46% of the people listed fox news. they went on for the breakdown of others, nbc news at 12%, abc at 4%, cnn at 12%, msnbc and cnbc at 2%. if you combine them all you have the majority of tea party folks out there getting their stream of information from fox news. now, what does that mean? >> well, cable has acres of time, as you know well. it has a lot of time in the middle of the day in particular when audiences are relatively

small. i don't understand why we don't use that time, let's have a three-hour discussion of what's in the bill. people should know. you know, don't to it in primetime, don't interview with people's evening exciting viewing. at least to have some basic agreement on information. what actually the bill says, what actually the bill would do. >> finally, david, ken mckay, rnc chief of staff, he is out tonight and doug high would not say whether he was asked to leave or whether he resigned on his own. what do you make of this in the light of the criticism and everything surrounding michael steele? >> well, i know ken a little bit. he is a good and honorable man. he's somebody who ought to be in politics. he is a -- he has always been a voice for the broadest possible definition of what it means to be a republican. so i am hoping he has a big future ahead of him and i salute him for all he's done. >> thanks, david, good to have you on tonight. appreciate your time.

democratic strategist steve mcmahon is with us tonight. steve, good to have you on. what to you make of this most recent news moments ago that ken mckay is out as the rnc chief of staff? is he the fall guy in all of this? what do you think? >> looks like he's the fall guy. what's going on at the rnc, they've lost control of the place and you have a resignation today i think is an effort on their part to stem the damage and change the conversation. michael steele is under attack from the base. i think michael steele is under attract from contributors. at the end of the day, the only way this story might end is for michael steele, himself, to move on. >> what should the democrats be talking about right now? i just want to do a spare comparison here. a year ago today the market -- today the market closed under 11,000, 3,000 points better at 10,973. why isn't that good news for

conservatives? that's their 401(k), retirement, that's education, that's savings, whatever you want to make it. obama, of course, and his economic policy team don't get any credit for this at all. what should the democrats be selling on the road right now with so many of their people allegedly in election trouble? >> i think the first thing the democrats should be selling is look at what we inherited and look what we did with it. the stimulus package wasn't popular with everyone. there's no question about that. it isn't working as quickly as most people would like. the fact of the matter is the dow was at 8,000 a year ago. the financial system was on the verge of collapse. the worldwide economy was teetering on the brink on the calamity. the obama administration didn't want to bail out the banks, take over the auto companies but they were forced to because of the policies the republicans left behind. the sect part of the story is the economy is improving, there are things to suggest that including people's 401(k)s. they have to acknowledge it

hasn't happened as quickly as they like and doing everything possible to speed it up. >> do you think the conservative talkers and fox have a grip on the gop they can't get away from? >> they have a grip on the gop and the gop has a grip on them. this thing going on with rush limbaugh and the president is good for both of them. rush limbaugh is trying to bring up his ratings and needs to do more and more to get that done. for the president there's an important political objective here today. he wants to draw attention to the fact rush limbaugh is the voice of the republican party. that helps him with his base and it helps him, frankly, with the moderates who decide elections who are turned off by the rhetoric from the right, turned off by the targets sarah palin puts over members of congress and turned off by the race baiting and name calling of people like rush limbaugh. it works more for the president than it does for rush limbaugh. unfortunately it probably helps rush as well. >> i mean, i just think it's

hilarious, steve, that limbaugh thinks that the president is trying to get him off his game. i mean, i just -- talk about being self-absorbed with self-importance. do you really think that president obama in that interview with harry smith was thinking, oh, man, i can really get limbaugh now? i'm sure glad you asked that one. i mean, it's just hilarious. >> he did violate -- the president did violate one rule of politics which is never swing down which is what he did when he swang at rush limbaugh. this notion rush limbaugh wants to meet the president in the arena of ideas, somebody needs to explain to rush and the republicans that no is not an idea. >> all right. democratic strategist steve mcmahon. always a pleasure. thanks. we have breaking news right now. rescuers on the scene of a deadly mine explosion in raleigh county, west virginia. at least six people are confirmed dead. roughly two dozen miners are still trapped.

we'll follow the breaking story and bring you updates throughout this hour on msnbc. coming up, michael steele threw down the race card today and the white house is calling his bluff with a great comment. the reverend al sharpton will be here to break it down at the bottom of the hour. plus, tiger is taking augusta by the tail. he was one smooth operator today in front of the reporters. he was a standup guy, i thought. staring down questions about performance-enhancing drugs and all of his personal issues. we'll get to that with steven a. smith tonight. he'll be here to see if he made the cut, that's coming up in the "playbook." and a red state hater crash burns in the "zone." you won't want to miss this one. flirting with the taliban. what's that all about? stay with us. ♪

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i'll tell you what harry reid is going to do about it in just a moment.

welcome back to "the ed show." thanks for watching tonight. more than 200,000 americans could lose their unemployment benefits starting today because of the selfishness of one republican senator. oklahoma senator tom coburn was the lone vote who blocked the senate from taking up the benefits extension before the easter recess. coburn claims he doesn't oppose extending the benefits. he just doesn't want it to end to the deficit. yeah right. the bottom line is, a lot of americans are struggling to find a job in this economy, and coburn just cut off their

lifeline to make a political point. let many bring in john nickels, washington correspondent for "the nation." good to have you with us tonight. this is, if i may, a real cruel thing to do. when you think about the billions of dollars that we ship overseas on missions that we don't even know if they're being effective when it comes to our security, we don't even bat an eye at it, to do this to folks who want to get back into the economy, it's as mean as it gets. how do the democrats handle this? >> well, i think the democrats have to be very aggressive with this. remember, we talk about tom coburn as one guy. the fact of the matter is that he operates within the context of the republican party in the senate, and he is the second republican senator to play this game. remember that jim bunning did it before. so the fact of the matter is the republicans have been playing at this for a while. it is essential that harry reid and the democrats call them out because remember, a substantial number of republican senators

are in favor of extending these benefits. they'll vote to do so once a vote is held. so we have to stop playing the games with the vote. hold it. if tom coburn wants to vote against extending the benefits that's fine. he can explain that to his constituents. he shouldn't be able to stop the vote. >> when this happened during the reagan years reagan cut taxes and unemployment went up beyond 10%, took him 28 months to reel in the unemployment numbers. this was never a discussion back then. why should it be now? >> well, the fact of the matter is the republican party has changed a great deal from the gop that ronald reagan dealt with. you know, in your previous segment you were talking about this 24/7 news cycle and the pressure of the right wing talkers on the gop. and this is one of those places where you see it in play. the fact of the matter is there are people who really do want, not just president obama to fail, but to have a real

economic mess because they know an economic mess makes it easier for republicans to say that obama and the democrats are failing. and that game has clearly moved deep into the political process. right into the senate with tom coburn. >> the point i'm make is that this country, we as americans, don't have the patience we used to have. maybe the 24/7 cycle has something to do with that. i mean, is barack obama -- i mean, he has been under siege with negative pub llicity about the economy ever since the stimulus package was passed. we're not bleeding off 850,000 jobs a month. the numbers are turning. the market as i said is up almost 3,000 points from a year ago yet he's still the bad guy. where are these republicans? are they in the market? did they miss not investing when things turned around? obama's team is not i don't think tooting their horn enough to say this is where we were, this is where we are, this is how much time your guy, reagan

got. why can't we get a grace period in here? our patience is gone it seems like. >> well, i think that america is impatient in many ways. this is a very angry time. all the polls tell us that. the president has an opportunity here he needs to take. ronald reagan was called the great communicator. there's sthimplly no question barack obama is also a great communicator. he needs to be speaking up aggressively and making it clear that in this moment what tom coburn is doing is not making a point about the deficit, what tom coburn is doing is slowing down the economic recovery. when you stop these unemployment benefits you squeeze money out of the towns that are hardest hit across this country. >> you do. >> and you really do stall out economic recovery. >> you hurt people's credit, put them out of apartments, americans live in apartments and can't make payments. it's a cruel thing to make a point.

john nichols. thanks so much. coming up, a psycho wing nut with a big audience is bragging about using his shotgun to greet census workers? that cnn contributor lands in the "zone" next. ♪ yes, you're lovely... ♪ what do you think? hey... why don't we use our points from chase sapphire and take a break? we can't. sure, we can. the points don't expire... ♪ there is nothing... there's no travel restrictions... we could leave tomorrow. we can't use them for a vacation. you can use the points r just about anything. i know... ♪ e way you look tonight... ♪ chase whatatters. get your chase sapphire card at chase.com/sapphire.

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and in "psycho talk," hey, we start out the week with a brand new dude. new cnn contributor eric erickson. you may know him best as the

racist, sexist and incendiary editor of the website redstate.com. since he signed on with cnn eric said he regretted some offensive statements he's made and realized he needs to grow up now that he's on the national stage. well, that lasted about four days. last week eric was on the radio talking about the census and to his credit encouraged people to fill it out. then he started talking about the american community survey, acs. which is a more extensive questionnaire the census bureau sends out to 250,000 americans every month. that one is apparently so unacceptable he calls for threats of violence? >> we have become, or are becoming, enslaved by the government. this is crazy. what gives the commerce department the right to ask me how often i flush my toilet? or about going to work? i'm not filling out this form. i dare them to try to come throw

me in jail. i dare them to. pull out my wife's shotgun and see how that little acs twirp likes coming to my door. >> what a brave guy. in today's political environment with partisan emotions at a fever pitch and record number of anti-government militias, my friends, that is dangerous "psycho talk." coming up, michael steele's bondage-gate encore has him ripping out the race card and comparing himself to president obama. the reverend al sharpton is here to talk about that next. plus, tiger woods is on the prowl for his fifth green jacket. today he didn't fold to the pressure when facing down a room full of hungry reporters, but what matters most is whether he can still hit the ball. steven a. smith is in the clubhouse for the "playbook." stick around. [ advisor 1 ] what do you see yourself doing one week,

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do you feel that as an african-american you have a slimmer margin for error than another chairman would? >> the honest answer is yes. >> why is that? >> it just is. barack obama has a slimmer margin. we all -- a lot of folks do. it means a different role for, you know, for me to play and others to play and that's just the reality of it. i mean, but you take that as part of the nature of it. >> and thanks for watching "the ed show" tonight here on msnbc. that was rnc chairman michael steele's first interview since the so-called bondage-gate incident. steele claims he has a slimmer margin of error because he's african-american. on the contrary, it's amazing steele still has a job with all the gaffes and missteps. reimbursing $2,000 worth of charges at a strip club is just the latest embarrassment for the

rnc. steele may have made another gaffe in today's interview by saying the president and president obama also has a slimmer margin for error. it sounds steele's implying that president obama is being unfairly criticized because he's black. joining me now is reverend al sharpton, the president of the national action network. reverend, good to have you on tonight. >> thank you. >> put his comment -- how should we receive that comment? to you agree with it? >> well first of all, i think in fairness to steele and obviously he and i don't agree on a lot of political things, he was responding to a question that i don't know how he could have answered it honestly another way. i think the fact it that african-americans are given a slimmer margin of error and in other cases i think sometime women are as well. i think that what is interesting as you pointed out, ed, is then when we say that that is true of the president, when those of us who are considered progressive or democrat, they should not say

we're -- this is a fact of life many people, particularly african-americans and others when they're talking about things they've suffered, feel that no matter whether you're republican or democrat, it's not an excuse, it's a reality. i think in this case steele was responding to a question, not necessarily making a charge. >> reverend sharpton, do you think it's harder for the gop to be critical of michael steele because he is a black man? >> i think it's not hard at all. i think he's been probably criticized from day one if we're going to say that rush limbaugh, as i believe, is one of those that has been one of the major forces galvanizing and driving the republican message. so i think he has been criticized. i think the question is whether or not they're going to deal with the fact that in response to a question he answered something honestly, i think he would have been basically dishonest that most americans would know would have been dishonest if he said it wasn't a slimmer margin of error.

>> do you think steele is now somewhat backed into a corner, damned if you do, damned if you don't? we see rnc chief of staff ken mckay is out. we don't know whether he was asked to leave or whether he resigned. it looks like steele is trying to straighten things out. >> i hope he is. i think he should not be held to different standard than any other chairman. whether or not a chairman, and i don't know the answer to that, sees everything that is filed with the federal elections commission or not, i don't know. if they don't and if in the past there's been gaffes then they need to treat him the same way. if they have then they need to treat him the same way. i think that's what we're not hearing. i don't know if a chairman sees every expenditure. >> your thoughts an limbaugh claiming that the president is now involved in character assassination in trying to get him off his game. >> in terms of getting who off what game? i think that the problem that limbaugh and them is having is

what is the game that they're trying to be on? i think the problem is a lot of what has been perpetrated and attempted to be sold to the public has just blown up in their face because basically not true. >> it isn't. i'm looking forward, reverend al, to be a part of your national network conference. >> we're looking forward to having you. >> convention next week. >> we're looking forward to having you at national action network convention and i might add the chairman of the democratic and republican party have agreed to come. we're going to have a conversation and see where we are in this kcountry. wouldn't have it without you, ed. >> good to have you on tonight. we want to update you on the breaking news. rescue teams are frantically trying to free trapped coal miners after a deadly mine explosion in raleigh county, west virginia. at least six people are confirmed dead. 21 miners are still trapped. we'll continue to update this story for you as it develops

here on msnbc. now let's turn to our panel for rapid fire response on these stories tonight. a new poll confirms tea partyers are conservatives who don't like the republican party. that could be good news for democrats in the midterms. new details about the group that sent warning letters to all 50 u.s. governors? the fbi thinks it was a harmless publicity stunt, but investigators fear it could incite others to violence. and liberal justice john paul stevens who celebrates his very young 90th birthday this month may be ready to step down from the supreme court. with us on these stories, stephanie miller, nationally syndicated talk show host and heidi harris, talk show host on kdwn in las vegas. all right. the tea partyiers. these are conservatives who aren't happy with the republicans. heidi, do you think that poll is accurate? >> i think it probably is. absolutely. the republicans spent a lot of

money during the bush years and a lot of people aren't thrilled about the republicans. however, i don't think that necessarily portends well for the democrats. i wouldn't be counting their chickens yet. that doesn't mean those people disaffected are going to go for the democrats. i don't think that's going to happen. >> stephanie, your thoughts on that. >> well, i guess i am counting my chicken, ed, because i think that peels votes away from republicans. i think we've seen that already with the infighting in the republican party and among the tea party. i mean, sarah palin got booed campaigning for john mccain by tea baggers who are for his oppone opponent. so, you know, i think there's more disarray on the right now than the left certainly. >> stephanie, what do you make of this group that sent out letters saying they would -- if governors didn't remove themselves they would be removed? how do you view that? >> i think that's dangerous rhetoric, ed, when we see a lot of cases of real violence that you cannot deny that is fueled by a lot of this right-wing

rhetoric and anti-government rhetoric and, you know, i understand that that may not be their goal, but what does that say to the crazies that they can leave or be removed? what does that say? >> heidi, is it over the top? what do you think? >> i think the rhetoric is over the top. i listened to one of the broadcasts of the so-called group who has a so-called radio show. the guys are whaackowackos. they don't speak for conservatives. no one is going to believe them or follow them because they sent out letters. they're desperate for attention. i don't agree with anything they say. it's interesting if you read their rhetoric they're also against foreclosures. how is that a conservative value? go ahead, bring the foreclosures, get the free market working again. >> let's do a limbaugh story here tonight. limb baugh claims the presidents playing out character assassination. you agree with that? >> i'm not going to bash rush limbaugh or any other host. i don't bash you either or stephanie or anybody else. rush is a master of, you know,

making it about himself as far as talking. you know, and making the argument about his show which is great. that's why he makes millions of dollars and set the stage for all of us. we're thankful for that. >> he didn't set the stage for a lot of talkers, but he likes to take credit for that. here's -- i guess the way i view is it he claims the president is engaged in character assassination. now, stephanie, i find it ironic that this is a guy who has ripped apart obama on the airwaves countless hours for the last several years. what do you think? >> well, you know, it's like a parallel universe, ed. obviously rush limbaugh is the one engaged in character assays nation. you know, with the name calling and wants the president to fail. i don't think anybody, even if you don't agree with the president, believes he's involved in character assassination. heidi, i spend my entire show bashing you. >> i wish you would, stephanie. >> let's talk about this

90-year-young supreme court justice talking about stepping down. this is going to open a big opportunity for the obama administration to put a liberal on the court. heidi, what do you think? >> well, maybe. unless he steps down after november. you never know what's going to happen during the election. i don't know what will happen. of course he'll put a liberal in there and it's not going to be a white guy. we know that. it's not going to be a conservative. who knows. we'll see what happens in november. >> i want the most liberal person ever, ed, for balance. i want shakira, i want make michael moore, maybe castro and i said it here on "the ed show." castro. >> stephanie miller, heidi harris, good to have you on tonight. thanks so much. coming up, long shot. long shot. butler tries to knock off the powerhouse duke at the championship game. donovan mcnabb is following the shoes. he's going down to the capital. the nation's capital. tiger woods was on his game

in front of the media at the masters. steven a. smith will be here to talk about a very busy day in sports next on "the ed show." national car rental? that's my choice. because with national, i roll past the counter... and choose any car in the aisle. choosing your own car? now that's a good call.

go national. go like a pro. it's not too late to let us know what you think. tonight's text survey question is, who do you believe is genuinely trying to make this country a better place? text "a" for president obama, text "b" for rush limbaugh to 622639. hello. mother nature here. i've been thinking about your "monthly gift." how do you feel about "sudden rapids"? [ female announcer ] tampax pearl's new leakguard design adapts to sudden changes in flow for more leak-free periods than the next leading brand. so you can outsmart mother nature. but with advair, i'm breathing better. so i can join the fun at my family barbeque.

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you took my eggs ! it's an "egg management fee." what does that even mean ? egg management fee. even kids know it's wrong to take other people's stuff. that's why at ally bank we don't eat away at your savings with fees. and we offer rates among the most competitive in the country. it's just the right thing to do. in my "playbook," tiger woods will tee off at the masters on thursday playing in his first tournament since the australian masters november 15th of last year. first he had to face the media in a press conference this afternoon. he didn't give specifics about his extramarital affairs and he didn't elaborate on the events surrounding his infamous thanksgiving night car crash. but he did acknowledge his personal failings and took full responsibility for his actions.

>> the way i was thinking caused so much harm with the people that i love and cared about the most on this planet. i lied to a lot of people, deceived a lot of people, kept others in the dark. rationalized and even lied to myself. when i stripped that away and started realizing what i'd done, the full magnitude of it, it's pretty brutal, and i take full responsibility for what i've done. >> tiger also said he was blown away by an encouraging reception from the fans during his practice round this morning and he says that despite all that's happened he's still ready to play some golf and win this tournament. joining me now, steven a. smith, nationally syndicated radio talk show host and columnist for "the philadelphia inquienquirer." i think his appearance today was a ten. it was genuine. it was sincere. i also think it was very

important for him if he's going to play well in this tournament. what do you think? >> i think you're absolutely correct. i think it's what it should have been when he spoke. i think it was an extension of what it should have been on march 21st when he spoke to espn and the golf channel. i thought he was exceptional. he came across as genuine and sincere and more importantly answered questions without getting in the salacious details that were really none of anybody's business to begin with. i was very, very pleased with his performance today. >> he admits to drugs as a result of injuries but doesn't have a drug problem. your thoughts on that. >> i believe him. i believe him. he's a golfer. i mean, if you're a basketball player or football player or something along those lines, not to say that you can't be inhibtsed by playing a sport of golf if you were injured, but it's an entirely different ball game considering the physical nature of those respective sports i mentioned. when he said he's never taken any illegal drug whatsoever i'm

going to take him at his word. regardless of what he's done in his personal life, he is recognized the world over as the greatest golfer on the planet. i mean, there's nothing to take away from him. until he proves otherwise, he deserves the benefit of the doubt. >> i thought he was really sincere today. i thought tiger knocked it out of the park. when he was asked questions about sponsors and retaining them he talked about himself. this guy has been through some intense counseling, and how is he going to play? >> i think he's going to play all right. i mean, i don't know if he'll win simply because of the rust. the bottom line is unless he's been playing every day he has to be incredibly rusty. you have to give him a boat load of credit because he manned up. any time you man up you get that monkey off your back per se and you're allowed to go out there and shred that burden. he said he wasn't enjoying the game of golf, yet he still won 14 major titles. imagine how great he'll be now that he's got that off his

shoulders and now he can focus on the game of golf and not keep of lies. this man could end up being better than he was before if you can imagine that. quarterback donovan mcnabb goes to mike shanahan's team, the redskins. >> that's a very good move for redskins, deplorable move on the part of the philadelphia eagles as far as i'm concerned not because they've traded donovan mcnabb but because of the reasons behind it. if you want to have a youth movement and move in a different direction, say so. if you don't want to pay a man after his contract expires and don't want to give him a contract extension years from now, say so. to give the impression you're legitimately trying to compete for a super bowl championship, you're saying his backup is on the same level as the man that accumulated yards for you. that's an answer salute bsolute. it's the redskins' gain. no question about that. >> does butler have a chance

tonight against duke? >> no. i mean, on a surface it's the ncaa basketball and it's cinderella time. anything could happen. if there was one team that was tailor made to beat up all over butler it's the duke blue devils. they have great guard play. they're exceptionally well-coached. and outside of their three scorers everybody else knows how to play within themselves and play their role. it would be an absolute miracle if butler were to win tonight. miracles happen in the ncaa tournament. >> the president threw out the first pitch tonight. he didn't hit the dirt. it was outside. it was a ball. if you could get it to the catcher, that's all you have to do. >> i'm proud of him. if you remember a few years back when he threw out the first pitch it was absolutely awful. it's almost embarrassing watching him on the mound. today he was much better. he didn't give the nats good

luck because he got beat down by the philadelphia phillies. >> great to have you with us tonight. >> all right, ed, take care. coming up, if you're going to war, you need to know who's on your side. here we are at war in afghanistan and there are some serious doubts as to who president karzai is standing with. award winning filmmaker robert greenwald will give us his thoughts as we "rethink afghanistan." run out of a dorm. when we built our first hybrid, more people had landlines than cell phones, and gas was $1.75 a gallon. and now, while other luxury carmakers are building their first hybrids, lexus hybrids have traveled 5.5 billion miles. and that's quite a head start. ♪ with my buddy mike, who is a terrible, terrible dancer. he's actually right behind... what up, mike?

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welcome back to "the ed show." breaking news we want to get you another update on the breaking news out of west virginia. rescue teams frantically trying to free trapped coal miners after a deadly mine explosion in raleigh county. that's about 30 miles away from charleston, west virginia, at least six people are confirmed dead. 21 miners are still trapped. news trucks are headed to the scene right now. stay with msnbc for complete coverage of this breaking news story. afghan president hamid karzai is upping his anti-western rhetoric, despite the fact that the united states is pouring billions of dollars into his country. just yesterday karzai threatened to join the taliban. the taliban. if the afghan parliament doesn't support his effort to resist u.s. and u.n. control. the threat comes alongside reports that the taliban is dominating some areas of

afghanistan, despite a concerted effort by united states marines to win over the local population. meanwhile, the american-led military command in kabul says it has admitted to killing two pregnant women and a teenage girl during a nato raid back in february. for more let me bring in robert greenwald, founder of brave new film, the production company behind the documentary series "rethink afghanistan." mr. greenwald, does any of this news come as a surprise to you? i mean, you know, mr. karzai, for lack of a better term, seems to be a turncoat on the united states. >> well, mr. karzai is a corrupt leader who is detested by most of the population in afghanistan. i'm surprised that he went so far as to say he would join the taliban if he didn't do what he wanted, but i'm not surprised that his attitude, ed, because this is not somebody who rules democratically.

it's really important to remember these are not good guys over there. this administration. this government. and the only reason he's in power is because of our money and our muscle behind him. that's a huge, huge mistake for the security of the united states, for the safety of the united states, and for the people of the united states. >> so mr. karzai, i think about him being at the state of the union when george w. bush was president and the accolades that the bush administration gave toward karzai as the future of afghanistan. what do you think now? >> well, i don't think he was ever the future. he was barely the past. because remember, his brother is a warlord. he's on the payroll of the cia. they stoeld the election with over a million ballots that were not accurate. the thing we need to ask ourselves, what are we doing there? if the leader of that government is saying he's going to join the taliban, why are we spending $300 billion on that war? just think about this for a

minute, ed. we could have bought 47 million scholarships for people to attend college for a year on what we've spent in the war in afghanistan. that's a travesty and it's time to get out. >> what does it do to the obama administration lo giji logistic? the president is committed to fighting terrorism. this is the big footprint in the world right now for the troops to do this. how does the administration make sense of this and pivot around this? >> fighting terrorism is an important thing, but you don't go and occupy a country, a muslim country, where you then make more and more enemies. you referred to the story before. those two pregnant women killed by the forces, ed, one of them had ten children and the other had six children. they were part of a party of 25. can you imagine what we are doing when those people are

killed by our forces in night raids? that's not a way to effectively protect us or battle terrorism. that's a recruitment tool for terrorism and we remember, even general pate yas has said al qaeda is no longer in afghanistan. why are we there? >> what do you think the democrats will do with this news now that karzai talked about joining the taliban, now that he's threatening other people in the country and positioning himself and the government against the united states? what would be the majority party's move -- what do you think? >> well, i think what they should do and we've been talking about this at "rethink afghanistan" and the work of those who have uncovered this cover-up is to say there should be an immediate investigation, they should not be voting for money. there's a supplemental coming up that will have $30 billion attached. they should be asking themselves, why, why are we spending $200,000 every minute,

every minute? >> i want to switch subjects if i can, mr. greenwald, because you put together the documentary "out-fox "out-foxed." what do you make of this most recent volley between limbaugh and the president? >> i think it's consistent with the whole approach which is smear, attack, name call and sadly, ed, there is literally no truth anymore in what limbaugh is doing, if there ever was, i should paraphrase that. we need to keep -- be very aggressive about it because what fox does, what limbaugh does is we talked about this the last week. they repeat over and over the same distortions. >> mr. greenwald, good to have you with us tonight. thanks so much. tonight in our text survey i asked, who do you believe is trying to make the country a better place? 85% of you said president obama. 15% said rush limbaugh. that's "the ed show." i'm ed schultz. for more information on "the ed show," go to ed.msnbc.com or check out my radio website at

wegoted.com. i have a book coming out on june 1st. "hardball" with chris matthews starts now on msnbc. see you tomorrow night. out of the woods? let's play "hardball." good evening, i'm chris matthews in washington. leading off tonight, tiger, tiger, burning bright. tiger woods just gave one of the most anticipated news conferences in years, a bold effort a talk publicly and plainly about the behavior that cost him millions of dollars in endorsements and prance his iconic stature in american life. we've seen politicians do this all the time. why is it some of them are forced to walk? think of eliot spitzer, while others like david vitter can linger on. did tiger get himself back into the game? plus, war with right wing

radio. let's be clear here. when rush limbaugh refers to the obama regime, or as he did today, junta, is he doing anything less than trying to i anything less than delegitimize? will that work with -- it works with the ditto heads, i should say, work with the independent-minded voter? also, are we about to see another fiery national debate in this country, this time over supreme court nomination? justice john paul stevens is talking about retiring. can president obama find the winning nominee, someone who will unify and lead the liberals on the court without getting destroyed in the hearings? if not now, when? president obama may never have as many democrats in this senate as he does now. and michael steele just can't seem to get out of trouble. he said on "gma" today as an african-american the reality is he has a slimmer margin of error than another chairman might. even if that's true, and it could well be, what good is it to say so?