moment, there is an extremely dangerous and toxic atmosphere in this country. on the 15th anniversary of the oklahoma city bombing, thousands of sick advocates are touting firearms, took part in gun rights rally in northern virginia. i guess it makes them feel better. a couple hundred more protested without their guns on the national mall. hold it right there. here's the thing. why didn't they do this in the last eight years? why now? what has barack obama done? what have the democrats done? what have the liberals done? they don't even know why they're upset. government takeover of health care. is that it? wall street. okay, well figure this out. the democrats want to reel in wall street and the republicans are against it. where do these tea bag nut jobs

stand on that one? former alabama minuteman leader mike vanderbow told the crowd armed confrontation should only be used when the government threatens people's lives but he left the door open for violence if people refuse arrest for refusing to buy health insurance. i can't believe i'm quoting this guy tonight. "if i know i'm not going to get a fair trial in federal court, i at least have the right to have an unfair gunfight." he's a smart one, isn't he? this is the same guy who advocated throwing bricks through windows to protest the health care bill. fox news and the hard right wing fueled all of the stupidity. >> it's not a time to retreat. it's a time to reload. >> i want people in minnesota armed and dangerous. >> if you don't get into their government health care, there will be jail time.

>> can you imagine your prisonyard, what are you in for? murder. i'm in for rape. i didn't have health insurance. >> i don't mean to laugh but this is the reality. >> oh, yes. six idiots you can always count on. the conservative right is doing everything within their power to push the new information voter right to the edge. they're convinced nut jobs like this president obama, he's just a gun grabber. former president bill clinton sees parallels between this kind of rhetoric and the events heading up to the oklahoma city bombing. >> when i went back and started preparing for the 15th anniversary of oklahoma city i realized that there were a lot of parallels between the early '90s and now, both in the feeling of economic dislocation and the level of uncertainty people felt, the rise of kind of identity politics. the rise of the militia movements and right-wing talk radio. >> clinton's statement got the

drugster's attention today. >> you have president clinton here simply lying about a terrible tragedy. to try to kill free speech and libelling me and the tea party at the same time does not get more despicable than this, what president clinton is trying to do and how he's being aided and abetted by government-run media. >> rush, there is no such thing as government-run media, and you know that. the drugster, bachmann, palin, see, they want you to believe that government is the problem. all of the hate merchants on the right they just love these guys protesting with their guns. that's really what they want america to see. see, they're the base. they're old. they're angry. they're white. they're scared. they're misinformed. they watch fox. they live in the bullet-point culture. let me give you something real ease city to understand here tonight. if you're watching, you righties. barack obama has an "f" rating.

meaning fail. suck. bad. an "f" rating from the brady campaign against gun violence. now, i want the informationally-challenged voters to listen very close to me when i say this tonight. that president obama does not want your gun, and i think you should understand that. he hasn't proposed a single thing that would infringe on your second-amendment rights. not one. not one thing. the more people that buy into this anti-government nonsense coming from the right, the cloclos cloclos closer we're going to get to another oklahoma city. if we face another anti-government attack like the one we saw 15 years ago i think we could spiral out of the control. there could be a lot of civil unrest in this country for no reason. only because we in the media seem to focus on this. and i'm doing it. i'm doing it because i think that they are irresponsible

across the street. i think that they just have a dart-board mentality. they just throw it up there and if it sticks let's run with it. and they are playing with the emotions of a lot of americans out there who are easily misguided, who are challenged by so much information that's out there. there's a lot of people in this country that don't do very well in this information age. they become overwhelmed and want to take the easy route out and want to accept a little bit of information and live by it. i guess today we call it the two-word culture. it's kind of scary stuff, isn't it? we have a society today that's reading less. we have a society today that doesn't think it's important to have all the facts. last week i repeatedly on this show talked about the number-one cable guy over there and in all of cable, bill o'reilly, that he just couldn't let his ego get

out of the way. he was flat-out wrong. his own people called him on it but he didn't back down. he made another story about it. what does that tell you about responsibility in broadcasting? what does it tell you about responsibility of making sure we have the facts? for some reason we just can't divide the facts from commentary anymore. we mix the two up so much that we've got people with their guns on the potomac river trying to make a statement. when the president of the united states and his administration hasn't done one thing to take away your firearm. and for some reason the left, and i'm a lefty, i'm a strong lefty, i get the hate mail, i get the targeted phone calls, i get all the stuff because i'm willing to say that i think michele bachmann is irresponsible. and i think sarah palin is flat-out stupid. just because you know how to make a lot of money in this country doesn't mean you got the

brains. and i just feel good about the fact that i was angry to start this broadcast and i feel better now. because i'm calling them out on it. and just so you know, since we're measuring everybody's gun, i hunt and fish more than any of them. i have property out in the great plains. my sons would go crazy if i said we're selling the land and we're not hunting anymore. it's part of our culture. and i -- it's kind of a family thing. not once has christian or joseph or david ever said to me, dad, obama wants to take our guns. they know better. they know better. why is it that there are some people that know better and some people that don't know better? why is it that some people have a hard time with what really is

happening out there? what's happening out there in america is that we are fed lies every day. there's a difference between debate and lies. o'reilly fed lies to his audience last week. he probably got ratings for it. i will say this, that i believe the tea partyers are misguided. i think they're racist for the most part. i think they are afraid. i think they are clinging to their guns and their religion. and i think in many respects they are what's wrong with america. and sometimes i think we, the media, we are what's wrong with america. because we cover them. we covered 3,500 people that showed up in washington, d.c., last week for the tea party. that's supposed to be a huge

story? it's out of whack. it's absolutely out of whack. get your cell phones out tonight, folks. i want to know what you think about some of the things that are happening in the world. do you worry that anti-government rhetoric will lead to domestic terrorism? text "a" for yes, text "b" for no to 622639. i'll bring you the results later on in the show. joining me now is minnesota congresswoman betty mcculloch, she had the courage to call out her colleague, fellow minnesota lawmaker michele bachmann for her inflammatory rhetoric. congresswoman, good to have you with us tonight. >> it's great to be with you, and thank you for covering this very important topic. >> what do you have a problem with michele bachmann for? what has she said that you think is out of line and needs to be straightened out? >> well, i have a problem with any legislator, any member of

congress who doesn't stick to the facts when we're having a debate on the house floor and turns to inflamed rhetoric and name calling rather than keeping civility in a debate. people expect us after we're electing to go up there, respect one another and work toward a common good. when you're name calling, when you're not using the facts it's a little hard to work together for the common good. that's what the people want us to do. >> i'm a minnesota taxpayer and i'm not in her district. collin peterson, a turncoat on health care, he's my congressman in the seventh district. she wants all minnesotans armed and dangerous. how am i supposed to take that? i'm a minnesotan and she wants me to be armed and dangerous. >> i thought that was inflamed rhetoric. it scared a lot of people. there are people who are very much on the edge. when they hear elected officials

speak that way it causes them great concern. and so that kind of rhetoric coming out of an elected official is not helpful in engaging people in a thoughtful debate about what was taking place with health care. people in our party, tea party people who came in and said, i don't want the government providing any kind of health care at all, i want the government out of health care then people -- we'd engage them in questions and say, how do you feel about medicare? oh, i like medicare but i don't want the government to be involved in it. where people who had been given misinformation and that sometimes it's coming from elected leaders in this country. that's wrong. >> congresswoman, good to have you with us tonight. i appreciate your time tonight. thanks so much. joining me now, democratic strategist, steve mcmahon. steve, at this point how do we tone it down? >> you know what, that's a really good question, ed. obviously you can't pass a law to tone it down. although you certainly can pass a law that prohibits someone from yelling "fire" in a crowded theater. because of the damage that it

causes. you can pass a law that prevents people from inciting riots. if you can determine that's what they're doing. the problem here is that people are using political speech in a way that's incendiary and that encourages the kind of behavior, frankly, that's no different than the kind of behavior that was encouraged in oklahoma city by timothy mcveigh and people around him and that is so dangerous every single day all across america. the reason people walk into schools and open fire is because of rhetoric like this and because of attitudes like this. the reason people walk into military bases and open fire is because of rhetoric like this and attitudes like this. really what they're doing is not that much different than what osama bin laden is doing in recruiting people and encouraging them to hate america. >> what should the president do? how should he handle it at this point? no other president's had to put up with this. >> no other president's had to put up with it. the president signed a law that

permitted these people to go to a federal park and protest. provided the security to ealet them do it safety. these people are not about gun rights either. they're angry, they feel like they're losing their country. they say they want their constitution back. they were there today able to protest with their guns because they have their constitution already. >> steve, great to have you with us tonight. i appreciate your time. than thank so much. coming up, it's hard to outdo today's antics. tom tancredo found a way to up the ante. he told a bunch of tea partyers, we should, quote, send president obama back to kenya. i'll go head to head with him at the bottom of the hour. we need this discussion. and when they're not getting paid to lie on the right-wing network, caribou barbie, slick rick, they're raising millions of dollars for their own political action committees. all that, plus i'll show you back to back hole in one in the

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welcome back to "the ed show." thanks for watching tonight. the republican party again is showing they're firmly on the side of the wall street fat cats, all 41 republican senators have signed a letter opposing the financial regulatory reform bill. democrats are set to bring the bill to the floor this week.

so we'll see if the republicans will stick together and mount a filibuster. senate banking committee chairman chris dodd doesn't think they'll do it. >> as i read the letter from the republican leaders, the words about filibusters were not in that letter. they expressed opposition to the legislation. and, look, in light of events over the last week or so, again, for the s.e.c. is now moving, lehman brothers problems, i don't believe republican members want to be in a position where we're talking about filibustering a bill that would allow us to address those issues. >> let me bring in nbc's kelly o'donnell on capitol hill tonight. kelly, is there any climate for cooperation on this? what do you think? >> reporter: well, some of the calmer voices here, ed seem to indicate there might be a chance. that there are some conversations between democrats and republicans, behind the scenes, looking for ways to maybe make changes to the bill before it would come to the floor that might satisfy some of these concerns.

now, democrats will tell you there are a lot of republican ideas in the dodd bill. most republicans that we're talking to, in fact, all of them say they're united in their opposition to the bill in its current form. they say you'll hear it from both sides, everyone wants to say that they believe wall street needs some reform and the financial institutions need to be changed and that the public has to be protected. it's all about how. now, the politics involves a lot of strategy and the republicans are united at the moment to try to stop this bill from coming to the floor. and part of the reason for that is if it were to get to the floor, debate begins, amendments could change it, the difficulty is once substantial disagreements exist about a bill, it's very hard to make the changes once it gets to the floor. so republicans really want to try to work out anything they can before that point. >> yeah. >> reporter: as you heard chris dodd say, the goldman sachs' issue has come up and people are

on both sides saying this shouldn't be a part of it. not to politicize this -- >> what's the democratic reaction to the bullet points being thrown out that this is a permanent bailout. does that get them boiling under the collar? >> reporter: democrats really get upset about that. what they say this would do, it's a $50 billion fund that would be fueled by the financial institutions. they would put in the money and if some future bank or financial company gets into big, big trouble it could be liquidated with some of that money. now, here's where it gets interesting. the white house doesn't really have a strong feeling about this fund. they could kick that aside. we've been told secretary geithner has told republicans he's not in favor of the $50 billion fund. and republicans have called it a bailout fund that would create a culture of permanent bailouts. democrats say that's just not the case. even today one republican, bob corker of tennessee, said he also does not believe it would

create a permanent bailout. so there is disagreement within the party, within both parties over how this kind of a fund should be used and what precedent it might set. it's a big issue because so much of the bailout fatigue is behind all of this need to make changes on wall street. >> thanks for joining us tonight. appreciate it. >> reporter: you bet. coming up, holy smokes i think the drugster has been breathing in volcanic ash that's floating across the pond.

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and in "psycho talk" tonight, you educated geologists, you got to listen up to this one. the drugster has a new theory about the reason behind the volcanic eruption in iceland. it's a very highly scientific reason as well. he's blaming it on the health care bill. >> couple days after the health care bill had been signed into law obama ran around all over the country saying, hey, i'm looking around, the earth had to open up. no armageddon out there. the birds are still chirping. i think the earth has opened up. god may have replied. this volcano in iceland, the airspace has been more affected than after 9/11 because of this plume, because of this ash cloud over northern and western europe. earth has opened up. i don't know whether it's a rebirth or armageddon. >> so by the drugster's logic, god is mad about the health care

bill. the president of the united states signed into law. when he thought he'd show his rath by sending a massive cloud of ash over europe? nice try, drugster. a good conspiracy theory should at least have a whiff of reality. the guy hiding in the basement wearing a tinfoil hat isn't buying this one, saying the icelandic volcanic eruption is god's reaction to health care reform is "psycho talk." coming up, given that it's the 15th anniversary of the oklahoma city bombing, i don't understand why anybody would think it's appropriate to hold an anti-government or pro-gun rally on this day. i'm talking to the woman who put it all together coming up later in the show. plus tom tancredo thinks that we should send president obama back to kenya? we're going to talk about that in just a moment for sure. and two regular dudes outperform tiger by crushing 1

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welcome back to "the ed show." thanks for watching tonight. there seems to be a pattern of conservatives spewing hate than playing dumb. like when sarah palin claims the media just doesn't understand what she means when she says it's time to reload. well, i'll tell you exactly what we mean when we talk about irresponsible rhetoric. it's telling an angry and uninformed crowd absolute lies. like fueling the lie that the president of the united states wasn't born in the united states. former colorado congressman tom tancredo who will join me in just a moment spoke at a tea party rally in south carolina over the weekend, this is what he said to the crowd. "if president obama's wife says kenya is his homeland, why don't we just send him back?"

maybe it was just a joke, but here's the reality. 59% of tea partyers won't say president obama was born in the united states. if you don't believe the president was born in the united states then you can't believe he's the legitimate leader of the country, can you? rhetoric like this and rhetoric that's being tossed out there is really, i think, asking for trouble. tom tancredo joins me now, former congressional member from colorado. congressman, what did you mean by that? i want to give you a chance to clarify it. were you just making a joke? do you really think president obama ought to go back to kenya? >> first of all, i am a little bit disappointed, ed, i have to tell you because i think rush beats me out all the time on your "psycho talk." i mean, what more can i say? >> i have to tell you -- you know, we are exhausted in the office day after day trying to

determine whether it's going to be you or limbaugh or beck in "psycho talk." and i'm sorry you're getting your ass kicked by those two guys but they're off the charts. >> i'm trying. i'm fighting back. i'm fighting back. >> i still consider you at least somewhat reachable. okay? >> okay. all right. so let's go to this. now, look, many, many times with many, many presidents or actually people holding office at various levels someone will say, let's send these guys home, you know? meaning at the end of their term, let's vote them out. send bush back to texas, send carter back to georgia, clinton back to arkansas. i was talking about sending them home and i said, if home is where michelle obama says it is, which she said it was kenya, who am i to argue with her? you know, she's the one determining. you should be yelling at her for bringing this up because i'm just referencing what she said. >> tom, i have to tell you i

think that's a racist remark. president obama is an american. he was born in hawaii. and you know he was born in hawaii. >> i didn't say he wasn't born in hawaii. >> his roots may have come from kenya but sending him home, he is home, tom. you're leave lg the impression -- >> she says home. >> -- that barack obama, this is not his home. fueling the rhetoric, is it responsible -- >> ed? >> yeah. >> it could be, you can take this in a variety of ways. you can say she was just referencing -- when she said this, kenya, is his homeland or home country, you can say, well, she probably meant it in terms of where he was, i guess people who are the, quote, birthers -- >> you know what you're inferring, tom. you know exactly what you're doing. >> or you can say she was talking about where he is, you know, spiritually, emotionally. >> oh, come on. >> whatever it is, it's not america. >> tom, you know what the climate of the country is right now. >> she should have said his home is america.

>> what you said is irresponsible. it wasn't fair. >> she shouldn't have brought it up. >> look, it's what you made out of it. >> you should be yelling at her, not me. >> let me ask you this about the tea party movement. it's race-based, isn't it? >> no. it is not. >> okay. so the hatred for president obama has nothing to do with the tea party? >> i think you guys on the left are totally engulfed in this concept of racism. everything to you is racist. nobody can say anything without you throwing that back at people and really i have to tell you if you guys are only thinking about everything that is said in terms of racial terms you are racist, not me, not us. >> tom, you know, i'm thinking about -- >> these issues are not race related. >> i'm thinking about congressional members who are civil rights icons, mr. lewis who was called the "n" word, congressional members spit on, congressional members having stuff thrown through their window, bricks after being

advocated by tea party nut jobs out there. >> how much of it was proven? >> it was all proven. you know it was. that's a hoodwink in the world. it was proven. >> it was not. >> why to you associate yourself with these people? >> because firsts of all i'm telling you, these people -- even the way you say that i think is -- that's what i'd call bias or racist. what do you mean these people? these people are americans. they were there, by the way, in every color, shape and size. >> they weren't in every color. that's not true. >> well, they were -- >> come on, now. even bill o'reilly said last week at the national conference he said it is a white movement. it's a white movement. >> i didn't see you there. >> yeah. okay. >> i didn't see you there. i'm sorry. i must have missed you. i guarantee you there were plenty of people there of various colors. >> do you have a problem with people of color? people of color. do you have a problem with people -- >> no, i do not, absolutely not, ed. none whatsoever. i know what's in my heart, buddy. i know what motivates me. i know why i say the things i

say and do the things i do and i guarantee you there is nothing that motivates me based on some sort of racial idea. it's not race-based. issues matter to me. issues matter to me. and because i argue them and because i bring them forward and the president is black. that's got absolutely -- i'll tell you what. if this guy, if he was a conservative my car would be covered with pro-obama stickers. i want a conservative. i argue with liberals and i don't care what color either one might be. >> tom tancredo, good to have you on the program tonight. i'll try to work you back into "psycho talk" a little bit more. >> i'll do my best, buddy. i'll do my best. let's get rapid fire response on these stories. more proof fox news is a 24 hour political commercial for the gop. fox contributors have raised millions of dollars to help rub cans in the midterms and getting

tv time. former president bill clinton says midterms won't be as bad as 1994. he thinks democrats will hold on to both houses of the congress. arizona senator john mccain with a razor thin lead over tea party nut job j.d. hayworth. i'm just kidding. that's a little hard on him. he's just a little misguided politically. with us tonight, bill press, nationally syndicated talk show host. and susan molinari, former congresswoman and republican strategist. all right, bill, how come i can't raise a bunch of money for the democrats here on msnbc, but they can raise a bunch of money for the republicans across the street? what's happening here? >> i think the real answer is the federal commission is asleep at the switch. fox is a political organization. i used to be chair of the democratic party. they're doing everything i used to do as state chair. recruiting candidates, sponsoring events, speaking at events, registering votes and we

know they're raising money for candidates. it is against the law. you can't do that if you're on television. >> rupert murdoch is operating against the law? >> fox news is i believe. those people who are paid, fox contributors raising money for candidates you can't do that. >> let's look at the numbers. newt gingrich out there on just about every night on fox. he's raised $14 million. you've got sarah palin's sarah pac, $2.5 million. huckabee has his own show, raised $1 million. santor santorum's america foundation pac, $1.2 million. isn't the mission of fox news and these people to give a strong townatifoundation to the republican party? do you see it digitally? >> if we had to look and say does fox news lean toward the right? of course it does. does msnbc lean toward the left? of course it does. look at how many shows msnbc has on every night that does nothing but hammer the republican party,

the tea party and everybody else you mentioned there. they also employ a significant amount of people who work for democrats who now are -- >> i don't disagree with you on that. i can't speak for the other hosts. i'm a progressive. i'm a lefty. there are some republicans i like. you're one of them. >> thank you. >> you know, the fact is that -- i'm not out there raising money and i'm not out charging tickets for tea parties for candidates and everything else. what's the mission of fox news? >> here's why i don't have a problem with this. people know this. this is transparency. people who watch that -- the tv show, who watch huckabee they know sarah palin, they know newt gingrich when he gets on. they know the spin they're going to get from him. that's why they're tuning in. >> susan, the distinction is it's not just expressing an opinion. it's doing political activity, organizing events, speaking at events, sponsoring candidates and raising money for candidates. that's political events. cnn is not doing that and msnbc

is not doing that. >> except with the exception of mike huckabee the rest are paid contributors. >> they're on a payroll. >> they're on the payroll. >> they're on the payroll. let's go to the next subject. bill clinton says this about the upcoming midterms about who's going to hang on to the house and senate. here it is. >> i think the outcome of the election is likely to be far less dramatic than it was in '94. >> so no republican revolution, no takeover? >> i don't think they will win either house. if history is a guide, they should make a few gains. >> susan, what do you think about that comment? >> well, shocker. president clinton said the republicans aren't going to win the majority. i was trying to go back. i'm sure the night before the election in 1994 he said the same thing. look, it is a long time, you know, between -- to those of us who have lived this cycle after cycle. it's a long time between now and november. the truth is if the election were going to be held today because of the way we're polling

in generics right now where typically the democrats including in 1994 in the generic balloting before the election the republicans were down. the republicans are up. >> what about that, bill? >> president obama is at 40%. where we are in november i'm not going to forecast. today we would win. >> susan, i might have agreed with susan in december. i think you missed the boat on this. with health care the law of the land, with wall street reforms, they're going to come, ed. jobs are now, we're youi igrowi jobs. we're not losing jobs. km i economy is coming back. democrats are going to lose seats. they're going to hold on to the house, hold on to the sfat senate. >> the democratic incumbents are still below 50%. that has to give the democrat party pause after everything you said has given them momentum. >> let's go to arizona and all of a sudden john mccain, the

turtle in political -- he doesn't move very fast. he is ahead of hayworth by 47%, 42%. what do you make of that, susan? >> i think, you know, there's some disruption in terms of the anti-incumbent feeling out there hitting both republicans and democrats. harry reid, we can see that. i think john mccain's going hang on. i think he's been through tougher battles. obviously personally and professionally. >> going to hang on, bill? >> let me say one more thing. he's got sarah palin. if you're worried about tea party people turning on an incumbent, the fact he's the person who introduced sarah palin will help save him. >> in yarn mccain was ahead 53-31. it makes me want to go to arizona and walk precincts for john mccain. >> bill press, susan molinari. coming up, a stagger 16.5% of african-americans do not have a job. the old white angry tea party

thinks president obama does too much for the black community. i'll explain my vision for the black agenda next in the "playbook." so i was the guy who was never going to have the heart attack. i watched what i ate. i worked out. personally, i thought i was invincible. once it happened, i realized it's a different story. i'm on an aspirin regimen now because i never want to feel that helplessness again. [ male announcer ] aspirin is not appropriate for everyone. so be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. i was the guy who was doing everything right. i was wrong. talk to your doctor, and take care of what you have to take care of. [ male announcer ] learn more about protecting your heart at iamproheart.com. so, at national, i go right past the counter... and you get to choose any car in the aisle. choose any car? you cannot be serious! okay. seriously, you choose.

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it says that when you buy a grand caravan, dodge will give you 60 days to decide if you want to keep it. that's ridiculous. look at it. it's got seating for up to seven, a smooth v6 engine and a five star government crash test rating. why would you need 60 days, really, who is that indecisive? the dodge "you won't need 60 days to decide but we'll give it to you anyway" event.

we're in a new century with new circumstances and we need a new conversation that leads to tangible results. we must hold everyone accountable from government to our own institutions. we must be accountable from the white house to your house and my house. >> reverend al sharpton introducing a panel discussion on black leadership in his national action network

conference over the weekend. here at msnbc we devoted time to debate the black agenda yesterday with a special on the network talking about what the agenda should be and whether we should be one of the first to step forward and talk more about it. in tonight's "playbook" i want to continue the discussion, first let me give you a few statistics. 50% of african-american students fail to graduate high school on time. 16.5% of african-americans are unemployed and 24.7% live in poverty. 24.7% live in poverty. furthermore, blacks are six times more likely to be incarcerated than whites. meanwhile a recent now "the new york times"/cbs poll found 25% of tea partyers say the administration favors blacks over whites, just 11% of the general public thinks so. the fact is we're quick to throw money at wall street and tax dollars at tax breaks at

corporations but for some reason we are reluctant to make specific targeted gains for the black youth of america. i think president obama can have a profound impact on the youth of this country if he develops a targeted set agenda with targeted goals for black americans. joining me now, journalist and publicist karen hunter. thanks for joining us yesterday on our special on msnbc. i appreciated your work and also tamron hall anchoring with me, was just absolutely outstanding. >> as were you. >> do you see it the way some americans see it? what i just said? >> i mean, i hate statistics and i hate when you round statistics out because they become self-fulfilling prophecies in many ways. if you can't pull up yourselves by your boot straps, if you don't have any boots that you can create them because that's been our history in this country. we've always found a way to do it. most black people i know don't

want a handout from the government. they know that if we pool our resources we can get it done together. every time we do these black agenda things, we've been doing them now -- >> wall street got a handout. wall street got deregulated. >> absolutely. they should not have. >> it seems that we're quick to do something like that but when we have a serious number and lives are being affected why not have a black agenda. >> we should have a black agenda. i think it should start as reverend al said in the homes first. if we're being honest, there are a lot of moneys already poured into the school system. that's not why kids are not passing and are dropping out. in new york city we spend almost $14 billion on the school system and most of that money goes to the inner cities. we can't see it's a money issue. if we throw money at the problem it's going to fix it. it starts, why aren't people reading to their kids? libraries around this kun frcou

are empty. there are books everywhere, turn the television off for an hour tor two and devote time to make sure your children are reading. >> what is the political downside if the president were to say we have to do something for african-americans and focus on this? >> he was elected president of the united states. most african-americans who voted for him understood he was not going to be the black president, you know, which unfortunately that memo didn't get to the tea party members. we recognize he's here for all of us. if we're really being honest, ed, this kind of thing divides us more than it brings us together. we're all americans. we should all be working to make sure all americans have health care. that -- >> i agree with you there, karen. i think our ignorance divides us because i think -- i think white folks in this country are afraid to admit that we did what we did. we are where we are. and for some reason we have this complacent attitude that, ah, it's just numbers, don't worry about it. this is our inner cities. we're quick to throw resources overseas to iraq and afghanistan and third-world countries that

need financial help, but for some reason we're afraid to step up and say we need a serious agenda that is going to help americans who are struggling right now. that's how i see it. >> i can't disagree with you, but there's a series -- needed for all americans who are struggling. not just black americans. if we start in the homes with ourselves and fixing things we can fix we wouldn't have this big problem with these numbers. >> karen, come back later in the week. we want to talk more about this. >> i'd love to. >> i appreciate your time. karen hunter, accomplished pulitzer prize winning journalist here on "the ed show" tonight. the leader of the protest on the national mall will be here to tell us why she's afraid of president obama. . today, the dream of owning a home seems more attainable than ever. nobody sells more real estate than re/max. visit remax.com today. we're with you when you're saving for your dreams. when you want a bank that travels with you.

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welcome back to "the ed show." finally tonight in virginia today a group of arm protesters carried handguns and rifles to a rally to honor the second amendment. okay. across the river in washington, d.c., a few hundred unarmed americans gathered at the national mall to advocate in favor of gun rights. organizers say it was not a hate fest but love fest, a chance to show their appreciation for the founding fathers who gave them the right to bear arms. joining me now, terri stock, president of the second amendment march. terri, nice to have you with us tonight. i understand you're a member of the pta and hockey mom involved in youth hockey. thank you for being involved with your kids. what's the big deal?

why would you protest or why did you -- afraid somebody is going to take your gun? what's happening here? >> we hear that a lot, ed, that no one's coming to take your guns. that's what we're afraid of. really, it's just about the fou founding fathers said freedom isn't free and the price of freedom is eternal vigilance. that's what it's about. we're being vigilant here and seeing things that are concerning. we don't believe that people are going to come door to door and necessarily take our guns. there are things that come through legislation that many americans aren't necessarily aware of. that we're keeping an eye on. and, you know -- >> okay, so you're aware that president obama has an "f" rating from the brady foundation? >> well, yeah. there -- a lot of people say obama has done more for gun ownership than many of the presidents in the past. certainly gun ownership has soared in the last year. >> why is that? >> well, i'm not exactly sure. i think that there was some fear

that firearms would be taken away. i think that some people were afraid of the change taking place, and knowing the fact from his chicago record coming from chicago that he didn't support -- what he's saying isn't reflecting what he's actually done. at every turn in chicago he was anti-firearm, anti-freedom. >> you think that president obama is anti-gun, anti-freedom? >> well, i'm looking at his voting record. >> you think he's anti-freedom? >> well, if -- well, that's not exactly what i said, but -- >> that's what i'm asking. i want you to clarify it. you don't think he's anti-freedom, do you? >> well, you know, i don't want to be cornered into saying something like that. >> i don't want to corner you into saying something. i just -- >> right. >> i'm out of time. i have to run. we'll have you back another time. thanks for being involved. i'm a little amazed some of the rhetoric floating around these

protests today. tonight in our text survey question, i asked do you worry about rhett rim will lead to domestic terrorism? 92% of you said yes. "hardball" with chris matthews is next. guns along the potomac. let's play "hardball." >> good evening. i'm chris matthews in new york. leading off tonight, packing heat. first it was the tea partyers, now the pro-gun crowd. they rallied on both sides of the potomac river today, for what, exactly? freedom? freedom to do what? while we're at it, why today? are they commemorating the first shots of the revolutionary war or maybe winking at the anti-government hatred that resulted in oklahoma city which as every militiaman knows was exactly 5 years ago today.

their friends in the tea party seem to be, as the old song goes, torn between two lovers, sarah palin and ron paul. they are about evenly divided in the party between the social conservative palin and the libertarian ron paul. today the new politico poll that actually answers the question. who are the tea partyers? plus, do the fraud charges against goldman sachs increase the democrats' chances of passing wall street reform? president obama put a name and a face to the republican opposition to that effort, mitch mcconnell. this may be a battle the democrats can actually win. in florida, signs that charlie crist may have decided he can't win the republican nomination for u.s. senate. if he runs as an independent it may give the democrats the best chance they have of taking that seat. let me finish tonight with what i think about americans who think they need guns to protect themselves from their own government. we start with today's pro-gun rallies in washington and virginia. larry pratt is executive director of gun owners of america and skip is the founder of the second amendment march. gentlemen, thank you for joining us