nancy pelosi at a republican town meeting in oklahoma. we're going to have that in the "sideshow." but let me finish tonight by playing you that voice mail. that racist voice mail was left for u.s. congressman john lewis. and michele bachmann has been denying exists. we start with a death threat against senator patry murray of the state of washington. pete williams is nbc news justice correspondent. this is a crime. how serious is it, pete? >> it's very serious. a felony. threatening a member of congress in retaliation for what they do or threaten them to prevent them from doing something is punishable by ten years in prison. what federal authorities say is this man is charles allen wilson did is repeatedly call and leave messages on the seattle voicemail system of senator patty murray. his staff notified the fbi saying these guys call all the time but around the time of the health care bill his threats became serious into death threats. the fbi quotes him extensively

from the voicemail messages in a federal indictment. he said if i had the chance, i would do it, talking about killing senator murray. not only do i say kill the bill, i say kill the senator. he says, i would actually help to pay that person. he says he's not republican or democrat, he's just furious at her for voting for the health care bill. now, he blocked his phone number so if you you looked on caller i.d., you wouldn't see a phone number. of course, that didn't stop the fbi from getting his phone number then agents to be sure it was him actually called him pretending to be from a phony group that opposed the health care law, talked to him 14 minutes. he said in that conversation he called her several times, chris. >> let's take a look at -- this is from a debbie wasserman-schultz town meeting down in ft. lauderdale. let's see what happened there just last night. this is getting very heated. we're going to show you examples in this segment.

listen. >> historic health care summit led by president obama to review the details of the health care reform -- excuse me. excuse me. excuse me. excuse me. i'm going to ask everybody to continue to be respectful. to continue to be respectful. so -- >> congresswoman, who gave you the right or the authority to determine whether or not i have to purchase health care? >> wow. there, the direct question, do i have to buy health care? last sunday at a senior session in manchester, new hampshire, the man running for the senate was rebuffed by a constituent when he tried to shake her hand. the constituent said, i don't want to shake your hand. you voted for health care, so go. house democratic congressman john lewis received this voicemail. >> that [ bleep ], don't tell me

i have to get [ bleep ] health insurance. i ain't paying no [ bleep ]. come put my [ bleep ] in jail if he don't like it. >> it gets much worse and much more racist. we're going to have the rest of the tape in the rest of the program. i'm joined by david cornyn of "mother jones" and politicsdaily.com and steve kornacki. the most serious is the death threat in the state of washington to patty murray. wait until you hear this later in the program, the racist kind of language directed at john lewis from georgia. we have this incident up in new hampshire, this incident in ft. lauderdale, what looks to be a middle-class crowd. is this anger endemic or isolated areas or right wing finding another opportunity to complain about a liberal president? >> there is a fringe that is very angry. we don't know how big until election day in november. that's what democrats are worried about. in the meantime, what i think is very noticeable about this is if you read the criminal complaint

about charles allen wilson, the man who threatened patty murray, we repeats republican talking points. this bill is socialism, it's a baby killer and going to have end of life classes. his version of death panels. we repeats that. on the phone calls when he's threatening to kill her or have someone else kill her. what we see from the republican leadership, what they're saying, they can make their arguments on policy grounds, it's really fueling the fires out there. when you have republicans having -- we talked about this the other day -- having protest rallies on the hill that they sponsor when tea party and other people come and they call the democrats nazis, nazis, nazis and republican leaders like john boehner are waving to the crowd, they're encouraging people to think of democrats as either nazis, socialists and what do

you do with people like that? sometimes, you take up arms against them. so this is being encouraged at least implicitly. >> it gets worse in terms of state officials. let me go to steve kornacki. the same point. the degrees of this, there are people like the attorney general of florida. he talks about this as an invasion of the sovereignty of florida, this bill. use words like invasion. of course, the governor of texas using words like secession. we're going to meet them at the border, the state line. that's a phrase used. we're going to meet the federal government at the state line and almost like a posse kind of thing. we're going to meet them with arms. there's a lot of reference -- obviously i've had this dispute with rush limbaugh about the use of the word regime again and again and again or junta, that they're foreign elements. it does play to the black helicopter notion somebody is coming to take over your country and take over you. >> there isn't a whole lot that's new about this. we live in an era where we have to technology to document all the episodes and instances like this and publicize it and get it

out there, but imagine if we had the technology we now do, videocame videocameras, audio equipment during reconstruction. imagine if we had it during the debate over social security? every major sort of progressive action, every piece of progressive legislation, really in american history has been met with this kind of fierce, emotional irrational backlash from the right. during reconstruction, that's where you had the birth of the ku klux klan. in opposition to, you know, progressivism making its way into the south. what's different now is, you know, david alluded to it, you have guys like glenn beck out there who have this platform every day on television through the internet, over the radio where they can reach millions of people and rile them up. when you look at what this law is going to be, this is a very modest, incremental sort of pro private sector piece of legislation.

i've always said people on the left have a lot more reason to be mad with this legislation than people on the right, but if you look at the emotional sort of reactions to this, you'd never get that sense. >> wait a minute. why would the people -- just to get your point completed there. why would the people on the left be angry about this bill? it is progressive. >> it is in a sense, but it's also, you know -- one of the biggest winner is the private insurance companies. the dream on the left for decades has been sick single payer national health insurance in this country. where we get the -- >> do you get angry when your dreams don't come true? seems like the right is angry with what they see as a near and present danger. not the failure to reach a dream. they fear, they fear first of all the individual mandate. what i do hear coming through this is not so much an anger about the fiscal impact of this bill which we don't fully understand, none of us do, and the numbers may be off. maybe there isn't enough clarity to the whole thing and what it's

going to do to people. what you do hear, this cowboy sense it's going to threaten my freedom and hear about the individual mandate. that's what comes through. that's the anger. i find that interesting. that may be the long term anger quotient here. >> i think your point earlier was dead-on. i think people believe they've lost their country and can come up with a lot of different reasons why people feel that way with the election of barack obama. the health care bill has become the proof. they're taking away our freedom and turning us into a socialist united states. today, the heritage foundation the conservative think tank here said america is no longer a free nation. it's a mostly free nation. they rank countries every year and they dropped america. so now we're living in a not so free united states according to the heritage foundation. people are picking up on this and their paranoia is really kicking in. there was a lot of anticipation about what the health care bill would do. no one is waiting to see that.

they're already acting as if it was the worst-case scenario. first, we had obama, the foreigner, the guy wasn't born here, coming in and taking over the government. creating a regime as rush limbaugh calls it. now he's imposing socialism. anybody who lives in a socialist country, whether europe or any place else would be laughing at this as a notion of socialism. there is a -- this -- this has become the battle front for people who are worried about the very nature of this country. i think a lot of the worry isseisser is irrational. >> steve? >> one thing i think we've got to keep in mind, this didn't start with health care. remember the 2008 campaign, the fall of 2008, where you had people showing up at obama rallies, republicans showing up there or republican crowds at mccain/palin rallies calling him a socialist, calling him a marxist, saying this is the beginning of communism in the united states. that was before he proposed health care, let alone pushed it through congress. one thing we try to understand the motivation on the right, i think what ties together health

care now, medicare in the 1960s, social security in the 1930s, all these great progressive advances and the reaction from the right, i think what ties them all together is there's always this fundamental sort of inherent fear of redistribution. the sense that went the government gets involved in terms of the right, when the government gets involved they're going to take from me and give to someone else. one of the amazing ironies of this debate over health care is you have people out there, older people out there who are leading the protests on health care who are also at the same time on medicare. you can imagine the same people maybe 30, 40 people years ago opposing medicare and now they benefit from it. >> that's part of the prop began ka problem here. the problem is we don't think in terms of what the country would be like if we didn't have medicare for our parents as they get very old, in their 80s, for example, and still alive and need health care, a lot of it and don't have source of income. they're not working every morning, not making a paycheck. what would it be like in this country?

calcutta, poor people all over the place. old people lying in the streets. we didn't think what it would be like if he didn't have health care for people. if we didn't have unemployment compensation, if we didn't have a progressive income tax. there's a lot of things we don't think about. the right wing pounds and pounds away at this notion of a cowboy country where everybody's self-reliant. >> except when it comes to the big banks and lots of other things where they don't get -- the republicans don't -- >> i think the progressives for all their power on the blogosphere have not done a positive case for the advantages of some kind of social state. >> obama hasn't either. >> i know. they make it sound like -- >> a big, you know, better business issue. >> thank you so much. thank you, david corn, steve karnacki. what's going on with president karzai? he's threatening to join the call ban if we don't stop meddling in his country. whose side is this guy on? what big of a problem is he for

president obama? these two don't seem to be clicking after that midnight meeting. national car rental knows i'm picky. so, at national, i go right past the counter... and you get to choose any car in the aisle. choose any car? you cannot be serious! okay. seriously, you choose. go national. go like a pro. empowered. me powered. that's what i am on weight watchers. i'm learning stuff that i thought i knew, and i didn't. turns out i just needed the right direction. weight watchers. i even lost weight on vacation. yep, vacation. i'm me-powered. know what else? i want my family and my friends to learn good habits. and they are, and you can, too. and you can join for free. weight watchers. because it works. i like it. a lot.

some political news from across the pond. british prime minister gordon brown called for a general election may 6th, his labor party's 13-year run at the head of the british government. the labor party is currently trailing the conservatives in the latest opinion polls 37% to 33%. either party could wind up forming a majority government with the help of the liberal democrats and third party getting 21% in the poll. planning to campaign on the promise of hope and a fresh start. they'll ask voters for a mandate to lead the country down the road for recovery. absolutely! i have a lot of stuffiness at night. it wakes me up. i have allergies. ♪ you're right. i'm getting more air. -oh, yeah. -oh, wow! [ female announcer ] for two free samples, go to breatheright.com. [ female announcer ] for two free samples, why do women like you love activia light? sometimes i have no choice but to eat on the run... and to eat whatever happens to be around.

heavy greasy food that's hard on my diet... and my digestive system. so i eat activia light every day. activia light, with bifidus regularis is clinically proven to help regulate your digestive system. mmmm. the new taste is better than ever. and with only 70 calories activia light helps make it easier to watch my weight. it helps me feel good and look good too! ♪ activia!

welcome back. 3 the president of afghanistan, hamid karzai, escalated a war of words with the u.s. ahead of a major military offensive against the taliban coming this summer. he accused us of perpetrating

voter fraud in the last elections and on saturday karzai told members of the afghan parliament, "if you and the international community pressure me more i swear i'm going to join the taliban." how can we work with a leader who threatens to join the forces we're trying to defeat? peter galbray, envoy to afghanistan. karzai took direct aim at him and accused him of trying to orchestrate fraud over there. he was dismissed last year over clashing with his superiors. also joining me, mr. ignatius. let me go to peter, first of all. what's going on with karzai? is he a drug user, as far as you understand? >> well, he's clearly not -- not entirely normal, and that was an observation that was also made by dr. abdullah abdullah who's a physician and his principle opponent. this is fairly well known among

diplomats in kabul. these kinds of tirades he's produced are not rational. it can't be rational for him to say he's going to join the enemy of the united states. or to accuse the u.n. of fraud that he himself committed. now, there are reports in the palace -- from the palace that he uses drugs, hashish. i don't know the accuracy of that, but i have some confidence in the sources. >> let me ask you about our situation over there. we americans, we have fighting forces in the field over there who are in harm's way as we speak on post defending our interests over there. as you understand them, is it in our interest to continue to support the karzai government? >> that's not really the issue.

what he said is offensive, but we're not in afghanistan to defend hamid karzai. but the larger problem is that in order for our strategy to work, which is a counterinsurgency strategy, we need to have a credible afghan partner and hamid karzai, who has been in office for eight years, eight years of corrupt and inefficient government, now in office by fraud, not illegitimate in the eyes of many afghans and many around the world is also behaving very strangely. clearly, it's not a credible partner, and without that partner, the strategy is simply not going to work. the reason is very simple. u.s. troops can come into an area, they can clear out the taliban, but by in large we don't kill them. they disappear. they go back to their home villages or to another place. unless we're going to stay there

forever, which we obviously won't, we need to have an afghan security forces who can fill in and most importantly we need an afghan government that can provide honest administration when the support of the population, and that clearly is not the government led by hamid karzai. >> i get your point. in other words, we don't want the taliban to take over. we need someone else to run the country and right now that's karzai. karzai actually accused you of perpetrating afghan fraud in the afghan elections. "there was fraud in the presidential election and provincial election, no doubt there was massive fraud not done by the afghans. the foreigners did that. that fraud was done by galbraith and by the embassies here." what do you make of that kind of charge? >> it is bizarre beyond measure. in another context you might say this was simply the big lie, something pioneered by totalitarian regimes, the nazis

and the soviets tell such a big lie that people might believe it because it's -- they can't imagine that it wouldn't be true. but i don't think that's it. the person who's hurt by that kind of lie is karzai. and so again, i have to say that it's irrational. now as to the substance i think it's fairly well known at ban ki-moon fired me because i felt that the u.n. should take an active role first in preventing the fraud then in doing something about it after it took place. it was the u.n.'s view we basically should simply support the afghans and support the karzai election commission whatever it did. so it's really a very bizarre accusation that really raises questions about karzai's mental stability. >> ambassador galbraith. david ignatius is here with me, from "washington post." i have a huge faith in you, david, to explain this mess over there. we have a government we're

defending because we have to have somebody besides the taliban. let's be honest about it. we only care about one thing, we don't want enemies in that part of the world coming to us here. that's our interest. >> we don't want another 9/11. let me try to untangle a few of the threats here. we've been pushing karzai hard on corruption, other issues. he's been pushing back. he's been doing so at a very erratic way. over a week ago president obama went to see him and had what he thought was quite a good meeting. all flew home thinking, gosh, that went well. >> they did like it from the white house -- >> they thought this problem was back in the box. a few days later he's making these bizarre statements saying he's going to join the -- he's not going to join the taliban. that's absurd. what i see happening here in part is a reaction to the fact that we have announced we're leaving afghanistan in july of next year. and so karzai's looking at this and he says the one thing i can't appear to be is an american stoojs. i have to have independence. i have to have a political base.

he doesn't have much of one because he's not a strong politician. a lot of it is that. we need to admit any -- whether it's iraq, afghanistan, pakistan -- >> could can e he tell us to leave? tomorrow morning get up and say, i've had it with you guys? >> he could. there are many other people in this government we work with on a daily basis, minister of interior, defense. i would note, chris, if you're in kabul you see this overwhelming american -- this is such a poor country. we have landed there with our billions of dollars of hardware and tens of thousands of troops and there's a feeling on the par of afghans, karzai is expressing this. where's my sovereignty? where am i in this? i think for that reason these are bizarre remarks. the underlying thing he's expressing, i want independence. it's my country. back off a little bit. i think that general line independent of what he's -- the general line we should take seriously. >> do you think we're going to get out of afghanistan and iraq within a year, year and a half?

>> i think that we're going to begin the process of withdrawal from afghanistan in july of next year as the president has said. i think the president is not committed to trying to do his best with this. you can see what fragile raw material we're working with in the comments from karzai. >> reminds me of the regime back in vietnam, south vietnam back in '63 where we had a guy who was a bit mystical, who seemed a little bit out of it and we ended up knocking them off. >> we have bizarre clients trying to fight a real movement of the people, that's part of the problem. >> thank you, david ignatius of "washington post." up next, what caused republican senator tom coburn to do the unthinkable? he's one of the most conservative guys in the senate. he's out there key fending nancy pelosi. very chivalrous. very classy. also took a nice little shot at fox news in the doing. interesting to watch this. you never know what to expect in politics. coming in the "sideshow."

if you have heartburn more than one day a week, try prilosec otc. it shuts down many acid-producing stomach pumps for twenty-four hours of heartburn protection with just one pill a day. for frequent heartburn, try prilosec otc.

♪ [ male announcer ] every business day, bank of america lends nearly $3 billion dollars to individuals, institutions, schools, organizations and businesses in every corner of the economy. america. ♪ growing stronger. every day. can sometimes get out of hand in a hurry. [ screaming ] hey. pbht! [ luke ] unless, of course, you've got at&t, the nation's fastest 3g network, which means you can surf the web and download videos in a snap. there you go, dad. hey. ♪ thanks. ha, this is good. [ male announcer ] at&t. a better 3g experience. get 50% off all messaging phones after mail-in rebate like the pantech reveal. only from at&t. trugreen's taught me a lot. like how every lawn is different.

some people want a place to play... others, a place to chill. yo, b. but i've learned from trugreen if you treat every lawn special, the sky's the limit. i'm gonna go public next summer. what's crackin, baby?! bobby! [ male announcer ] call 877-trugreen and get a customized plan for a healthy, green lawn, guaranteed. best lesson i've learned? mow on sunny days. lawn's looking good, bobby. my pleasure...really. [ male announcer ] trugreen. go greener.

back to "hardball." time for the "sideshow." first a nice bit of class for those who think this political debate in this country has gotten a bit sorted. here's some audio from a town meeting conducted by republican senator tom coburn of oklahoma last night. you'll here this conservative senator defending the very liberal speaker of the house nancy pelosi and also doing a little nudge at fox news. let's watch. >> i'm 180 degrees in opposition of speaker. she's a nice lady. i don't think we can wait -- come on, now. she is a nice -- how many of you all have met here? she's a nice person. what we have to have is make sure we have a debate in this country so that you can see what's going on and make a determination yourself. so don't catch yourself being

biased by fox news that somebody's no good. >> that was a fresh bit of air. i'm sure he'll get some cat calls for what we used to call chivalry in this country. he'll feel better about what he said about the speaker, that knows people who are making the cat calls feel about being who they are. jon stewart did the job last night on afghan president hamid karzai while also delivering a late hit on a former u.s. president. >> is a rare politician willing to accept responsibility for misdeeds and fraud committed on his watch. >> the fraud is not by the afghans. this fraud has been done by the foreigners. >> what the -- you're blaming us for conspireing to get you, hamid karzai, re-elected as president? i believe the term you were looking for was, thank you? hamid, say it ain't so. >> well, it seems that president karzai is backtracking on his words. what he told hillary clinton by phone was he, in fact, didn't mean it like that. >> you know, i don't think

there's any woman in the world who has had more late night, baby, you know i didn't mean it like that, phone calls, than hillary clinton. come on, baby. you know i love u.s. >> he's unbelievable. save this for secretary clinton and her husband, they've won their elections fair and square. up next, in light of yesterday's mining disaster in west virginia is enough being done to protect miners in this country? big question today in the tragic time. i'm going to ask a top official with the united mine workers of america. coming up next. [ female announcer ] does your hair color feel as healthy as it looks?

it will with natural instincts. it's clinically proven. 80% of women agreed that natural instincts made their hair feel softer. the ammonia-free antioxidant formula actually protects hair from dryness, leaving it softer and healthier looking. for natural looking color in 10 minutes, get your hands on natural instincts. it's all good. for a rich color experience, try natural instincts 10 new rich color creme shades.

i'm milissa rehberger. 3 breaking news. a major magnitude 7.8 earthquake

rock theed indonesian island of sumatra. the island's power is out. so far, though, no reports of major injury, damage or tsunami. crews in west virginia have begun drilling operations to create ventilation holes down to intact sections of that damaged coal mine. four miners are kill missing after yesterday's explosion that killed 25 people. some congressional republicans are criticizing the obama administration's decision to limit american nuclear response. the top republican on the house armed services committee says it sends the wrong signal to rogue states. the white house says a recent spike in violence in iraq should not affect plans to withdrawal combat forces this year. at least 49 people were killed today. the latest in a string of deadly attacks. the shuttle "discovery" has a tricky docking procedure ahead. an antenna has not worked properly since yesterday's launch. back to "hardball."

i spoke with governor mansion of west virginia last night and told him the federal government stands ready to offer whatever assistance is needed in this rescue effort, so i would ask for the faithful who have gathered here this morning to pray for the safe return of the missing, the men and women who put their lives on the line to save them and the souls of those who have been lost in this tragic accident. may they rest in peace and may their families find comfort in the hard days ahead. >> welcome back to "hardball." that was president obama this morning at an easter prayer breakfast at the white house. at least 25 miners are dead in the worst mining industry accident in america since 1984. rescue efforts continue tonight to search for four workers.

daniel cane is secretary treasurer of united mine workers of america. i have the greatest respect for the guts of men and women, men who go down into our mine, the guts it takes to go down in there every day. what do you hear, what's your hopes, what do you think is going on with the four guys that are down there right now? >> we try to maintain hope in light though of the horrific nature of the explosion, it looks very bad. we will hold out hope to the end, but in the meantime, we have to make sure that we, number one, don't endanger the lives of the rescuers and we do everything possible to find out what happened to everyone who was in the mine on that day. >> what do you make of the rescue effort so far? the putting of that drill down there, 1,100, 1,200 feet to try to get the methane gas out of there? is that the smart first step? >> i imagine it is. you do have to degas the mine.

what a lot of people don't realize, when there's a mine explosion it disrupts the ventilation in the mine in a terrible way and gas begins to build up. you have to take that into account when beginning a rescue operation. >> let's take a look at the governor. the governor of west virginia. here he is. then i want to give it back to you, sir. you know what you're talking about. >> i can't sit here and make any excuse nor do i intend to. i can only tell you when the investigation's completed and these people do their job and they give us the findings and there's anything at all that could have been preventible that would give us the indication that something's out of kilter or out of whack, if you will, we'll pass -- if legislation is needed we'll pass it immediately. >> accidents happen in every part of life. airplanes crash, trains crash, cars crash. people do all kinds of things that just don't work. is mine safety perfectible, sir?

>> i don't know if anything in life is perfectible. certainly, we can do a lot better than this. the thing we have to realize, though, is having strong legislation is important. having good enforcement is important, but the main thing we have to do is empower those miners. the men and women who work in the mines every day have to feel assured that they can do those things that make their job safe. that they can perform their job in a safe manner without any kind of intimidation. there is so much money that can be saved, so much more that can be made by cutting costs. we have it do everything possible to prevent mining companies from doing that. mining companies are very powerful in this country, and there's a lot of incentives to try and get the coal out no matter what. >> you think that massey, this company, i've heard their name before in this regard. is this a bad company? they have a bad record, would you say? >> look at their record. >> i see 1,300 violations, of

course, that's 2005. they're contesting about a third of them. that's about 2/3 of them they're not contesting which tells me just prime ma fashe they don't have a good record. >> well, it's not a company that we represent, so we don't deal with them directly a lot, however, in the mining industry, when you have one company that tries to increase productivity by pushing a little harder and trying to intimidate people to cut corners, it affects all of us. we all have to compete in that industry. the thing that needs to be pointed out is that in the coal fields, these coal-mining jobs are the good jobs in the area. if they don't exist, it's a severe economic hardship to the people in that area and they absolutely have to be able to perform their job in a safe way. free of any kind of intimidation. they have to be empowered so they can do what they know best. >> what's a high-skilled mine worker make?

a high-skilled veteran. what does he get coming out of the mine every week? what's he get in gross income? i'm curious. >> it's very easy to make $70,000 a year at some of these operations. >> that's a 40-hour week? that's a veteran who knows his stuff? >> nobody works a 40-hour week anymore. there's a lot of overtime involved. >> i see. to get the 70. >> yes. there's overtime involved, but that's very common for people to make a very good living and in those areas, that's the best job around. >> nobody likes regulation in this country except when it involves them. they like airlines to be safe, they like their food to be safe. if you worked in a mine, you'd want to mine to be safe and let's pray for those guys still down there. thanks for coming on, sir. good luck. i like the laboring movement all together. anyway, up next from nuclear weapons to health care reform. president obama has tried to do big things and we're going to see how he's doing. how's he doing? the editor of "time" magazine

coming on to talk about the greatness after nelson mandela. more importantly he's going to grade our president and how he's doing on the greatness field right now. [ advisor 1 ] i have clients say it's really hard to save for the future and they've come to a point where it's overwhelming. [ advisor 2 ] oh gee, i'm scared to tell you i've got this amount of credit card debt or i've got a 15-year-old and we never got around to saving for their college. that's when i go to work. we talk, we start planning. we can fix this. i know we can do it. when clients walk out of my office

they feel confident about their retirement. [ male announcer ] visit ameriprise.com and put a confident retirement more within reach. there could be trouble for john ensign in nevada. 3 according to the "las vegas sun," federal officials are looking into the possibility of indicting the senator. enszen admitted to having an affair with wife of one of his top aides. since that admission there's been a series of damaging revelations about the senator's conduct including a $96,000 payment made to the woman and her husband. a criminal indictment against a sitting senator would be a major headache at least for the national republican party and may very well help fellow nevadan harry reid, the democratic leader as he tries to win re-election. ily servings. it's a tasty, nutritious way to make this number go up... ily servings. and help this one go down. v8. what's your number?

somewhere in america... there's a home by the sea powered by the wind on the plains. there's a hospital where technology has a healing touch. there's a factory giving old industries new life. and there's a train that got a whole city moving again. somewhere in america, the toughest questions are answered every day. because somewhere in america, more than sixty thousand people spend every day answering them. siemens. answers. so, at national, i go right past the counter... and you get to choose any car in the aisle. choose any car? you cannot be serious! okay. seriously, you choose. go national. go like a pro. okay. seriously, you choose. an everyday moment can turn romantic at a moment's notice. and when it does, men with erectile dysfunction can be more confident in their ability to be ready with cialis. with two clinically proven dosing options, you can choose the moment that's right for you and your partner.

36-hour cialis and cialis for daily use. cialis for daily use is a low-dose tablet you take every day, so you can be ready anytime the moment's right. day or night. >> tell your doctor about your medical condition and all medications and ask if you're healthy enough for sexual activity. >> don't take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, as this may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. >> don't drink alcohol in excess with cialis. side effects may include headache, upset stomach, delayed backache, or muscle ache. to avoid long-term injury, seek immediate medical help for an erection lasting more than 4 hours. >> if you have any sudden decrease or loss in hearing or vision, stop taking cialis and call your doctor right away. >> 36-hour cialis or cialis for daily use. ask your doctor if cialis is right for you. you can be ready for your moment with cialis.

so, today, i state clearly and with conviction, america's commitment to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons. >> welcome back to "hardball." a year after president obama called for a world without nuclear weapons, he put forth the framework for that goal today. 3 the president has clearly been unafraid to tackle biggest problems in both his temperament and the way he uses power. "time" magazine editor, richard, collaborated, richard did, with nelson mandela on his big

autobiography. richard has a new book called "mandela's way,: 15 lessons on life, love and courage." i've been reading the book. it's fabulous. it reads with such texture. i feel better already as a human being. i'm dead serious. i love mandela. i got to interview him, myself, when he was released. this book is great stuff. >> thank you. >> i want to ask you about a kerfuffle. here's language from your book that will arouse anxiety on the right. interest on the left. and perhaps some -- well, we'll see in the middle. here you are comparing nelson mandela to president obama. you write -- "while it took 27 years in prison to mold the nelson mandela we know the american president has achieved a mandela-like temperament. while mandela's world was forged in the cauldron of racial politics.

whatever mandela may or may not think about the new president, mn deal la is his true successor on the world stage. the right wing hates that because they hate it. your thoughts. explain. >> well, chris, the right wing has problems with nelson mandela. nelson mandela was a terrorist in america until he was released from prison. he was a revolutionary who fought against an ally of the united states. even though that ally had an apartheid government that discriminated against people that weren't right. let me clarify the comment. it has aroused a little bit of controversy. i'm not comparing obama's achievement with mandela's. i'm comparing their two temperaments. one thing i write about in "mandela's way," the man who went into prison was 48 years old and his temperament then, he was passionate, he was a revolutionary. prison tempered him. prison was his great teacher. prison changed his temperament

to the man who is self-controlled, who never loses his calm. the thing about obama is that he seems to have that temperament without having had to spend 27 years in prison. >> how do you explain it? >> i think it's dna, it's genetics. i don't really know. he went through his own search for identity as a young man. he had to forge his own identity in a kind of racial cauldron in america, not as harsh as what it was in south africa. part of it was he realized he had to be somebody with a calm temperament to achieve what he wanted. he's an ambitious man like nelson mandela was. >> as you know, the alliance that won him the election between college educated white people, if you will, liberals, progressives, center left people, good-hearted people it beat hillary clinton ultimately in the numbers and won the general election.

he has not been successful in winning the hearts and minds of working-class whites. we saw it in a terrible part of the early show. we saw racism afoot there and anger more generally. he has not been able to build that coalition. mandela has at least tried with rugby, we saw with that great film "invictus." we saw it in some of the stuff in your book about racial, not forgiveness entirely, but let's get along and move on attitude. which i think has been pretty powerful in south africa. barack obama hasn't been able to do that with the white working class, has he? >> well, no, but i mean look at the different situations. in south africa you had a country on the brink of a racial civil war. nelson mandela as he said to me many times, felt the country narrowly averted a civil war. he stood for reconciliation between the whites and the blacks. he got out of prison after 27 years and said let's forget the past. i forgive you, we have to move on. what unites us is much for

important than what divides us. barack obama didn't get working class whites in the election and not getting them now. and one of the things i find curious about the political miasma we see ourselves in now, so many of the characteristics we prized in barack obama the candidate people don't seem to necessarily like in barack obama the president. mediation, listening, being thoughtful. we seem to want him to act more and act more precipitously. those were not the values we elected him for. >> actually that's one criticism i don't go along with, but i hear it out there. certainly people want him to be more passionate. i hear it from people close to him. why doesn't he show more passion? but is there any way a leader who's african-american in a country that's largely white can be a passionario? could he be, you know, a man of great passion and great rhetoric that rouses people, brings them to their feet, gets them to march? is that doable in this country? >> well, i mean -- >> this is a pretty tricky question. i admit. >> it's a tricky question. nelson mandela always said when you speak to people you speak to

their heads and hearts at the same time. he actually -- he's not nearly as good a speaker as barack obama and tends to be a little more intellectual than obama is. again, i mean, chris, you could argue that the president obama is leading people not through calls to passion but through calls to rationality, through calls to what's in their own benefit. i mean, i think voters and americans always vote and care about what's most in their own benefit rather than someone being there and yelling charge and move ahead. >> i have to give you a tribute in this book. the beginning of the book is useful to everybody in any line of work at any age. i don't care if you're 70 years old or 17. it's about courage. the strongest message i've gotten out of your book is the fact that courage is not fearlessness. >> yes. >> courage is facing down your fears and to some extent faking it. not letting the other side see you sweat. i love that stuff. i think it's what life is like. make phone calls certain days you don't want to make. decisions you have to make.

people you have to deal with. every day you have to face them down. you can't -- you can't let the fear get over you. >> absolutely. >> it will take you down. >> absolutely. the thing as you saw in the book, chris, when we were talking during the writing of "long walk to freedom" and i did many, many hours of interviews he would often say to me, i was terrified or i was afraid of this and i kept thinking to myself, i have nelson mandela, one of the greatest heroes of the 20th century telling me he was frightened. i would ask him about that. he would say, richard, it would be irrational not to have been frightened. he said, you have to put up a front. you have to pretend to be brave even when you're not brave. >> i love it. >> and so here's nelson mandela who stood for bravery and courage for millions of people, not the mention the thousands of men he served in prison with and every day she was doing exactly what you said. >> a lot of passion, richard. more passion than barack obama. thank you very much. richard, the editor of "time" mag zeen. his book is "mandela's way."

this is a great book for graduation and a lot of other people should read this. when we return, i'm going to have thoughts about that disgusting levels of vitriol we've heard addressed to members of congress. wait until you hear this tape, this voicemail for congressman lewis. you won't believe it. maybe you will. it's a bit of america we don't like. and shaker machine. thank you to all the 5,000 tests that helped make the nissan altima better for everyone who drives it. the nissan altima. made to make your life better. and highest ranked in initial quality by j.d. power and associates. now lease a new altima for $199 a month for 39 months. ♪ absolutely! i have a lot of stuffiness at night. it wakes me up. i have allergies. ♪ you're right. i'm getting more air. -oh, yeah. -oh, wow! [ female announcer ] for two free samples, go to breatheright.com.

♪ this one is. ♪ new purefitness from crystal light. ♪ the first crystal light with no artificial sweeteners, flavors, or preservatives. ♪ new purefitness from crystal light. a pure way to water your body.

let me finish tonight with a refutation to those like congresswoman michele bachmann who continue to deny racial epithets have been leveled at

members of congress in the recent health care debate. here is a recorded message left for u.s. congressman john lewis of georgia. our network bleeped some of the words. but you can easily follow the drift and the sense of venom. hear with your own words the hostility directed at one man, the president of the united states. the hatred is personal, it is hostile, it is racial. yes [ bleep ] calling from [ bleep ]. i ain't going to get no health insurance. tell that son of a [ bleep ] that i ain't getting the [ bleep ] health insurance. that god [ bleep ], [ bleep ] don't tell me i got to get [ bleep ] health insurance. i ain't paying no [ bleep ] fine. put my [ bleep ] in jail if you don't like it. [ bleep ] who voted for obama and all them white trash that voted for that communist socialist [ bleep ]. [ bleep ]. i ain't getting the [ bleep ]

mandatory health insurance. [ bleep ]. a bunch of [ bleep ] white trash. communist [ bleep ]. i ain't going to fight no [ bleep ] war to be forced to do stuff i don't want to do. john lewis, [ bleep ], worthless communist. >> congressman lewis is not the only lawmaker to receive this kind of abuse. we saw the man who spat at emanuel cleaver. eyewitness reports of similar behavior as congress voted on the health bill itself. congressman jim clyburn, leader of the house got a fax with a picture of a hangman's noose and calls his wife has gotten at home, scary calls. it would be good if people in the media, not just the left or center left, but also on the right put out word this kind of stuff hurts the cause, whatever cause you believe in, it's not helping the american cause. i think deep down the great majority of people, right, left and center don't think this stuff is american.

"countdown" starts right now. which of these stories will you be talking about tomorrow? nuclear sanity? >> we are reducing the role and number of weapons in our arsenal while maintaining a safe, secure and effective deterrent to protect our nation, allies and partners. >> the secretary of state announces the new obama doctrine, no nuclear retaliation by this country to a non-nuclear attack. no such rules will apply to iran or north korea. how will the world respond? with steve clemens. how domestic politics responds with howard fineman. 25 dead, recovery operations suspended, rescue operations effectively over. >> train rails look like they are twisted like a pretzel.

>> the mine owners assessed $900,000 in penaltiys, why? because that is cheaper than keeping the miners alive. threats on health care reform. kill the senator the man under arrest said. hang the senator. i hope somebody puts a bullet between your eyes. why is the democratic attorney general of louisiana joining in the frivolous lawsuit against reform constitutionality? because he had to cut a deal with the republican governor. worsts, of course they didn't know he was dead when they tried to wheel him on to the flight. the day after he died. and the natives are restless. >> republicans originally thought that fox worked for us and now we're discovering we work for fox. >> so don't catch yourself being biassed by fox news that somebody's no good. >> the last guy is a