got their man, the federal government. let's start with the latest on the arrest of the suspected times square bombing, faisal shahzad and the arrest of as many as eight others in pakistan. michael isikoff is a nbc contributor and roger a analyst. how did we catch him? >> by using craigslist and then using an email address and ultimately a phone number. that began a process a that ultimately led to shahzad's arrest. what the fbi and the nypd did is pull the string on his electronic communications after interviewing the individual who sold shahzad the nissan pathfinder. that was the first big break in the case. once that happened, then they're able to quickly move to the point where through additional phone number checking and between pakistan and here, ultimately led them to shahzad and that's why he's in custody today. >> lou did we stop him from flying away? who gets responsibility for catching him? >> the last line of defense

there was the department of homeland security. it was the customs and border police this he were the ones that picked him up. i think there's going to be some discussion about how did he get from the fbi monitoring him, surveying him, to the point where he ultimately got on the plane. there may have been a disconnect there at some point. but i frankly think some of the discussion we've heard now about how if he got on the emirates plain, he would have gotten away, is overblown. that's a 13-hour nonstop, it either could have been redirected back to jfk. it could have been diverted to london, other friendly airports. or if it ended up dubai, our level of cooperation with the dubai police is strong enough, we could have taken him there. >> why wasn't he on the watch list that was looked at by the emirates airliner? why didn't they catch him when his name showed up on the schedule, when he had a reservation? the minute he got a reservation, why didn't they catch him? >> there's two things. the first, things were moving so fast. i think there was a coordination issue. particularly at the very lower levels. he was only added to the no-fly

list within a period of hours after his name was identified. and then i think there was a disconnect somewhere in the broader jfk security perimeter. what we don't know the answer as to why that happened yet. >> let me go to michael isikoff, who is very good at getting to the heart of -- was this a good job by the cops? they caught the bad guy? >> in part. there was some good police work there as roger indicated. one element that he didn't mention, is you know, it started with getting the v.i.n. numb on that nissan truck that had the bomb. and they, it had been, it had been deleted or altered on the front of the car. but the cops went under and found the p.i.n. number, the v.i.n. number underneath. that's how they were able to link it up with the craigslist -- app. >> the story to tell is that you have a vehicle identification number, a v.i.n. number hidden throughout your car apparently, right? >> yes. >> it's there a numb of places,

you can't find all the places it is. the police will always be one step ahead of you of finding a place on your car for the vehicle identification number. >> basically, this was good police work, good detective work, good intelligence work. putting all of these pieces together. but there are some questions about him getting on the plane. my understanding is that the, his inclusion on the no-fly list was an added, wasn't downloaded by the airlines quickly enough. so that he was able to pay cash and board the plane. even though he was on the no-fly list. i think there's going to be some questions about that. but more broadly, there's still a lot of things we don't know here. holder at his press conference said, attorney general holder, said that he's providing useful information after being questioned by the joint terrorism task force, first without having been read his miranda rights. he waived them. and they say he continued to talk, he continued to cooperate.

and while he has admitted that he had been in pakistan, northwest pakistan last year during his five months trip to that country, his native homeland. and received some training there. he insists that what he was doing here in this plot, he was acting alone. and i've talked to some intelligence and law enforcement officials today who are skeptical of that. who, one said, i don't think anybody believes that. now he may be telling the truth, he may not be. but until we know whether he was working with other people in the united states, you know, we're going to have to reserve judgment as to how big of a success this was. >> his name is faisal shahzad and here's some of the things we know about the fellow, he's a 30-year-old naturalized citizen. he's originally from pakistan and has family there. he travelled to pakistan last year. spent eight months over there. he's already confessed to training at a terrorist camp in waziristan. which is where the pakistan and

taliban operates. as an american nothing is more depressing than the prospect that people who choose to join us and become naturalized americans then choose to betray us. to try to kill us. you like to think that when a person goes through the process of naturalization, that made a commitment to us as a country. here's a guy who changed his mind. >> what i hope doesn't happen, chris, is that there's this broad pendulum swing, that says we need to be on the lookout for every naturalized citizen who comes from an -- >> don't change my point to a general concern about profiling. that's not what i'm profiling. i'm disheartened to hear that an individual in this case, changed his mind. do you know why he changed his mind? >> no, none of us do yet. because he's still being questioned. he's still being questioned. we're going to find out the answer to that. was he radicalized before he became a naturalized american? did he get radicalized after that? i mean that's a fundamental question in the interrogation.

>> it's also conceivable that he had been radicalized before and he went through the naturalization process because he knew that that would give him greater access to things. i mean we don't know. this is speculation at this point. we don't know. >> well let me ask you about the training. did we get all this -- is he the singing terrorist. roger, we're finding out a lot just from him. >> primarily. much like the christmas day attempt, chris, with farouk abumuttalab. he volunteered all the information. >> roger, as we reported a little while ago, there's still some skepticism as to whether he's telling the whole story and i think that's a cautionary point to make. >> i get that, all i'm saying is that sometimes these guys do tell a modicum of truth, not the whole story. and in this case, shahzad is going to say things we're going to verify. corroboration with pakistani officials and our own intelligence community. so you're going to get a lot of

it first-hand and then you're going to start to pull the string through the electronic information, telephone and emails and interviews with people in pakistan. that's going to paint the broader mosaic of who drove this guy, what drove him to put this pathfind anywhere times square on saturday. >> there seems to be an intuitive tendency on or part, a penchant to think if it's a well-organized plot, something like 9/11, or the '93 plot on the world trade center, it seems to have a international thought. a lot of people, a although of minds, preparation, organization. and when it's a screw-up like this, when everything seems to be wrong, then you would assume it was a one person? is that a fair way to lack at it, that it was such a screw-up, that it may possibly not have been coordinated. >> we use sophisticated when we talk about terrorism plots. it doesn't have to be sophisticated because there are multiple pieces of coordination.

in this case, this wasn't a sophisticated device. it was a crude device that wasn't going to work. so his capability was not that impressive. but his intent was very, very serious. we've got to split those two and look at each one. >> i guess when it gets do criminal charges, we'll learn down the road how serious of a charge this guy guess hit with. i guess because it was so badly handled by him. but was there an attempt to kill hundreds of people? what do you think this was about? >> clearly, he was try to kill as many people as he could. there's sort of the good news/bad news aspect. the good news, is it was so primitive. in this sense, the guy is a screw up. but on the other hand, it is worth sort of taking a step back. you know, a few years ago, all the terrorism, almost all the terrorism cases that the fbi had

made in this country, were sort of lone wolves inspired on the internet without any apparent connection to people overseas. and we've had quite a few over the last year in which it's precisely the opposite. it's people who have connections, who have been to pakistan, who have gotten training and come back. and i think there's is a sense among counterterrorism officials that this is part of the pattern, part of the trend, they're sending everybody they can back into this country, using what assets they can have in this country to wage attacks. and that pakistan-taliban view over the weekend in which it was claimed that they will retaliate for the drone attacks. i think there is an be a spekt of that that does make people a little nervous. >> well for that blow-back it seems to be heavily incompetent. are you surprised, roger, that if they're very angry, our use of drones effectively in that region. the northwest frontier. do you think they would send

back such an ind kent. >> that may be the reality of what they have to work with these days. if you play out michael's theory here. we've had such great success with the predator program and the pakistani military, in treading the capability over there. the tafant pool that they have to come back to the united states is simply as good as they would have hoped. >> even though this was a serious attempt like the attorney general said it may be a sign of the type of threat we have to deal with. it means the talent pool used to standpoint it, and even with. >> michael isikoff, i love it, i'm going to be reading more for what you have to say. we'll cover more throughout the show. coming up, we look at the pakistan connection. we'll talk to two former c.i.a. officials, how much of that came from blow-back from what we're trying to do, catch the bad guys

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welcome back to "hardball." we now know that the times square bomb suspect trained at a

terror camp in pakistan. what does that tell us about the current state of play in the world of terrorism? quite a lot, i'd expect. tyler drumheuer served as chief of operation for the c.i.a. in europe. tyler, your general big thoughts based on your experience what it all adds up to. eight months of training over there in pakistan. a faulty attempt to cause real mayhem in times square? >> i think in my opinion, i think this is what's happening now is what happened in europe about five, six, seven years ago. that you have people who are getting caught up in this general idea of the united states being at war with islam. and people are being recruited off the internet or they're fascinated or they have some problem here that leads them back to their homeland and then when they get there, they're indoctrinated, given some training. i suspect this guy wasn't given a tremendous amount of training because the bomb wasn't very effective. then they're released back in. without a great battle plan, but to carry something out, and with

some sort of context. obviously they knew he was going to do it, they took credit for it right before or shortly after it was to happen. >> we're at war in pakistan. we just can't forget that. we're killing dozens of people every week with these predator attacks. we've taken sides in that war. and it doesn't surprise me that these, these chance and families living in the united states are fighting against the united states. it's just almost inevitable. and that is what we're facing in this war, the longer it goes on, the more likely we're going to get attacked. and i'm afraid the next one going to be successful. >> are you surprised they send a klutz to do had job in times square? >> i'm a bit of a dissident on this opinion. if he had made acouple of adjustments to those propane tanks, and the rest of it, they might have gone off. and the kill radius in that car, if those tanks had really caught fire would have been 50 feet. he would have done killed a lot of people. >> really. so you're open to the idea that

maybe he may have been well-trained and missed a couple of steps? >> it's dicey, getting these things lighted. if he had been lucky, as the mayor said, mayor bloomberg, we would have had a lot of casualties. so he was a klutz and they could have made a lot better bomb. but when these people are trained on the fly and recruited on the fly, a lot of these operations are going to fail. >> you know, roger cressey made a point earlier, about how they recruit overseas, we've been very successful and i know we are, about assimilating people, it's our great strength. you can become an american in very few years, you learn a bit of the language, you make an effort, you get into our culture, our values, you're an american damn quick. and the dang certificate that some people don't have that motive, they may be doing all kinds of things to hurt us. how do you figure this guy's radicalization occurred? >> i think the assimilation of the islamic community in the united states has protected us to this point. but i think as things go along.

in his case it could be an economic problem. >> i think you're onto it. >> i think you're on to the economic problem. >> his house was being foreclosed on. what you saw in europe, i keep going to that. i think that's an important lesson to learn. you have a group of disgruntled people or a disgruntled guy. all they need to do is run into one person that's a serious recruiter or a trainer or something like that. and like bob said, they end up in a camp, they get a degree of training. they go back. for the people in pakistan, they see this as a war with us. we, we should not think that we can attack them and they're not going to retaliate. so this, it's, i think it would be a mistake to think that we're looking for a specific plan, like go to times square and blow it up. i think what they did was, train him and if he had an opportunity do something like this. it would be easier if it was a highly-organized thing because that would be easier to penetrate. >> everybody knows some people who emigrate some successfully, a lot of people came here from

ireland, most made it, but some had to go home, they didn't fit in. is this an opportunity for recruitment? >> absolutely. the way that immigration is going up, we're getting a lot more people. the state department effectively does not screen people immigrating to this country. we don't know who's inside our borders. we're nothing like israel who keeps track of people for obvious reasons. we're still very nonmilitarized country. a lot of the people, their primary loyalties are outside the country. >> but a lot of people coming from pakistan do speak the lang wash, don't they? >> no, they don't speak it well, they're moving out into communities in connecticut and new jersey, they're sticking together, we don't really know who they are. this is a big statement. but we, but fbi, let's put it this way, cannot keep track of every immigrant in this country. what happened in times square was not an intelligence failure.

in fact it was a brilliant wrap-up of this guy. but what i'm really afraid, chris, is the next time one of these guys are going to get through. and what's it going to do to this country? it's going to rip it apart. because people are going to be looking for quick, immediate answers. >> how so? >> you know, they're going to look, you know, crack down on who knows where it's going to end up. you're going to see the tea party being strengthened. you're going to see people blaming the white house for a situation it didn't create. it could affect the united states for a long time. look, it got us into a war in iraq we didn't need to be in. >> by the way, coming up on airplanes, i thought this was the christmas bomber. i thought there was going to be -- i'll predict it right now. we get a real bad airplane situation in the next couple of years, we're going to have all kinds of stuff going on about who gets on airplanes, we're going to be so close to israel in the way that they do it, don't you think? >> people are going to demand it. >> i think it's going to go more and more in that direction.

i think the other thing to worry about is this is the reaction of the extreme right, you have a counter reaction against these communities, it adds to bring in more recruits. >> explain how that happens? >> it's because -- as, as these attacks occur, it feeds a certain, certain part of the extreme right that looks on immigration as a threat to the american identity and then they react, in a violent fringe of that reacts violently against muslims in some part of the country. and the recruiters or the people on the internet, if they're doing it remotely play on this and see, this is america, hates muslims. you hear that more and more when you talk to young muslims. that it's not, it's not a majority, but it's bob knows more about this, about that part of the world than i do. >> bob, the problem is not really so much people who have a lot of contact with people from the middle east or south asia, like i do. it's people who don't meet anybody. so they make the generalization,

i assume. >> yeah. >> obviously they can't differentiate among the 99% that want to become americans and the small element is are misfits, open to recruitment. but when it comes to airplanes, people aren't going to be so discriminating. they're going to want to know who's going to be getting on that airplane. tyler drumheller, every time we have you on i know it's not for a good reason. and thank you, bob, same with you, we have you guys on when we have trouble. all you have to do is watch the screen on msnbc. because we see your faces. gentlemen, it's great to have your expertise. more on this story tonight as we go along with "hardball" tonight. the story, they caught the bad guy at the airport just as he was getting on a plane to the emirates. good police work. up next, how much does florida's republican parties did like republican charlie crist? check out the "sideshow," they really don't like this show.

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become back to hashl now for the "sideshow," jon stewart and reaction. >> it was an amateurish type of bomb. >> it looked amateurish is a nice way to phrase it. >> it was an incompetent bomber. >> this was so incompetent. >> it was a failure, guys. >> no, guys, it was scary, don't you remember? hi mr. terrorist, whoever they are those people are just jealous, that was a wonderful bomb and we're all sufficiently terri terrified. there's no need to try again, okay!

>> at about 6:30 this last night, an alert t-shirt vendor who is a vietnam veteran noticed an unoccupied suspicious vehicle. he alerted police officer wane rhatigan who was with the nypd mounted unit. >> i'm sorry, mr. mayor, mr. mayor. jon stewart, daily show. what type of vendor and what war did he serve in and what was the name of the horse. and do you have any information that matters! >> i'm not trying to tell the mayor how to do his job but the best look for the bomb scare press conference probably isn't the old richie rich. >> it's just mike bloomberg being mayor of gotham. next, don't taze me, bro. last night at the phillies-cardinals game, a 17-year-old phillies fanatic ran out onto the field and ran around before being brought down in front of 40,000 fans by a

taser gun. editorial point here, i know philly fans are tough, but couldn't they have just tackled the guy. the republican party of florida has posted an oil painting of governor charlie crist on ebay. the painting was originally commissioned. but his decision to drop out of the republican primary has made him persona nongrata within the party. catch the painting's description on ebay. canvas naturally sensitive to changes in temperature and humidity. just as charlie crist's are subject to fluctuations in poll numbers. what's the going rate on ebay for charlie crist's painting? $6,000. six days to make your bid. going once, going twice. tonight's big number. up next, former fema director, michael brown. the guy blamed for bungling katrina says president obama deliberately delayed action on

this oil spill in the gulf to stir up opposition to offshore drilling. michael brown, the inimitable. [ speaking native language ]

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about a growing property development bubble in china. one analyst describing the chinese economy as quote addicted to development. investors shrugged off a pair of positive economic reports. home sales and factory orders both rising more than expected in march. and drug makers were among the very few winners. merck gaining 1.5% after beating profit estimates and pfizer adding 2% on a huge jump in first quarter revenue. that's it from cnbc. now back to "hardball." it will be interesting to me, and i'm not trying to introduce a conspiracy theory. but was this deliberate? you know, you have to wonder -- >> sabotage? >> if there was sabotage involved. >> what better way to head off more oil drilling, nuclear plants, then by blowing up a

rig. i'm just noting the timing here. >> welcome back to "hardball." those are some of the comments from people on the right about the oil spill in the gulf yesterday on neil cavuto's show. former fecal director, michael brown, said this. >> only now is the president appearing to be engaged. and i think the delay was this -- it's pure politics. they don't say these things without it being coordinated. so now you're looking at this oil slick approaching the louisiana shore. according to certain noaa and other places, if the winds are right, it will go up the east coast. this is exactly what they want. because now he can pander to the environmentalists and say, i'm going to shut it down. because it's too dangerous. >> michael brown, you have a thought here. why don't you repeat that again, live. what do you believe is going on here in the gulf in terms of the president's behavior, the whole whole, the business right down there. >> hey, chris, i think there's two things. i think one, we're seeing rahm emanual rule number one taking

effect. and that is, let no crisis go unused. this is an opportunity for a president who wants to bankrupt the coal industry and get rid of the oil and gas industry, to shut down offshore drilling in the gulf of mexico. i think the other thing that we're seeing is, is this -- i don't know why it is in this country. but we have a plan from 1994, that says how we're going to deal with these fires and these platforms collapsing. janet napolitano did not implement that plan until seven days after the leaks first started. and then we find out we don't have the equipment. i mean to me it's like katrina all over. because people at the top are not paying attention to what's going on on the ground. >> what do you make of bp's role here with regard to the ploeout preventer and the fact that that was sort of the final way to deal with the situation as horrific as this? do you think they had the right management? were they following procedure? whs the blame lie in terms of letting this catastrophe occur

in the first instance? >> i don't think we know yet, chris. i heard the clip from dana preno and the others, i think we have to get the robots on the seabed, get the equipment up above sea level, get it on to some docks and let's see what happens. you either had faulty equipment. you had some problem with bp and some people speculate maybe there was some sabotage. >> what do you make of that speculation? what do you make of that speculation about sabotage? why would somebody sabotage something to cause this kind of damage to our planet, really? >> well, because i think there are terrorists in the world who would like to do that sort of thing. terrorists don't give a rat's butt about the ecology or anything else. all they care about is hurting america. >> well do you think based upon what we know, there's any indication of terrorism? >> no, not yet. there's not. >> what do you make of the political charge from the right that it would, that the president, one of his supporters did this in order to discredit

offshore drilling? do you give any credibility to that? >> no. no, and in fact, they did not do this. but i think that if you use rahm emanual's rule, they're taking advantage of it. >> what do you, how do you -- let me, we started off with your quote, michael. and i just wonder how you know things like this you say only now is the president appearing to be engaged. you, what do you know about him not appearing to be -- you're suggesting he's not really engaged in leading this effort to deal with this catastrophe. he's faking it. you say appearing to be engaged. you think he's not engaged in this effort to try to prevent this disaster? >> look, in politics and the white house, it is about appearances. >> but do you think he's faking it? he's not trying to deal with this horrific situation? >> no, no, i think -- chris, now i think he is. i think he's -- >> so you didn't mean appearing to be. you say, i think the delay was -- >> i think he's disengaged like another president we know. >> you say it was pure politics, the timing of his activities here.

you saying he is systematically or deliberately paused to allow this wreckage, this terror, this horrible environmental damage to occur, that he systemically chose for pure politics, timed his actions to to be slower than they should have been? are you serious? >> i think he was very ill-served, chris. he should have known exactly -- >> you're saying i think the delay was known, it was pure politics. are you saying he somehow delayed his response to encourage worse disaster here? worse damage to the environment? >> no, one, he didn't want people to die. he doesn't want to see oil on the shores. he doesn't want to see any of that. but i do believe, i believe this very sincerely. when he comes out and says he would like to see the coal industry bankrupted, i think they see a crisis like this and they say, how can, because this is rahm emanual's rule number one. how do we take advantage of this situation. and i think -- >> you're leaping there, michael. you're leaping so far away.

you're saying this -- the president delayed his reaction to this disaster so that he could hurt the coal industry? i'm confused. >> no, no, hang on. he said in 2008 that he wants a cap-and-trade bill that is so onerous that carbon-based industries like the coal industry, if they try to do anything new, they'll go bankrupt. the president is very anti-carbon energy. i understand that. i get it, i just disagree with it. i think in this case, he saw an opportunity to say, look how bad oil and gas drilling is. look at all this harm it's causing. >> he just came out for offshore oil drilling. >> chris, i'm glad you asked that. he came out and said, look, i'm going to approve oil and gas drilling. and all you guys are going to say, look what a great guy he is, trying to reach out to everybody else. all he did was approved two existing leases on the northeast coast and shut down all the other proposed leases on the west coast and the southeast coast. there was nothing new in what he did.

>> don't you know what you're saying to a third party, not somebody like myself or somebody like yourself, listening to you, thinks that you're sounding insane. you're saying that the president of the united states went into slow-mo here, somehow seemed to be working faster than he really was, but was really quite slow to get there, because he saw an opportunity to exploit a disaster so that he could reap discredit on to the coal industry. and by the way, a couple of weeks ago, he came down for offshore drilling so he could discredit it when this thing occurred. are you somehow suggesting he knew this would happen and that's why he came out for offshore drilling? is that what you're saying? it sounds crazy. >> the way you just put it. it sounds crazy to me, too. >> you said the president came out for offshore drilling so he could discredit it. but the only way he could discredit it, if we had this oil spill. >> no, he came out for offshore drilling in an attempt to apiece those on the right who want more

drilling. >> he came out for a compromise. >> which was not a compromise at all. he only approved existing leases that were already in effect. you guys failed to report that what he announced was nothing. now, he announced that. so he could get, you know, health care passed or something else. >> i think he did it so he could get a climate bill passed as part of an energy bill. >> yeah, absolutely. you're right. the climate bill. but then what happens is, this crisis occurs in the gulf. janet napolitano does not even implement the oil spill response plan of 1994 until i think like april 27th, seven days after the disaster. there's no explanation for that whatsoever. >> i just think, i think it's dangerous for people like dana parino to say there's sabotage by the left. dangerous for rush limbaugh to say the president or one of his supporters somehow blew up the

oil rig to create havoc. i till you, michael, i think your arguments not strong about the coal industry, because i don't think it relates to coal. i think you made a case there that he wants to discredit offshore drilling. if he didn't anticipate this catastrophe. and i don't know how you can accuse this president of such powers as knowing this catastrophe was coming down the line. >> chris, i don't think he anticipated this catastrophe at all. i think they took advantage of it. which is what rahm's rule is, take advantage of a crisis. >> thanks for coming on. michael brown. great to have you on. up next, will the right-wing praise the obama administration for catching the attempted terrorist? howard dean joins us next to assess the politics of everything that's going on right now. and in one minute, a lot of support for the new illegal immigrant law down in arizona. surprising national support you might say if you're on the liberal side of things it may disturb you to hear how strong the support is for that bill. this is "hardball," only on msnbc.

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is well take a look at this poll number from "the new york times"/cbs news poll. when asked about the new illegal immigration law in arizona, 51% said it's about right. tag on another 9% who say the law doesn't go far enough and that's six in ten american who is support the new law. this is a tough attitude in the country right now. six in ten, a good indicator why politicians on both sides, right and left are afraid to go after this baby. "hardball" will come back in a moment. why do women like you love activia light?

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in the same week that some republicans are suggesting that the obama administration purposely slowed down the response to the gulf oil spill disaster now some republicans are questioning whether the obama administration deserves credit even for capturing the guy in the times square bombing incident out at the airport tonight. here's former new york governor, george pataki on msnbc. >> this is another case where this administration, we're responding after something is attempted. we saw it with the christmas day airplane bomber. we saw it in times square. we were lucky in both cases. and then we saw it in fort hood where we were not so lucky and 13 of our great young heroes put their lives on the line to defend us, were murdered. i think this administration just has got to change its approach. >> that's what happens to an office-holder when he runs out of staff and has to think up this stuff on his own. we have joining us now, a man who needs no staff to help him, doctor, governor, a medical

doctor and a cnbc contributor. dr. dean, it seems to me that the republicans are so desperate. we saw an example of michael brown saying the president was slowing down his efforts in the gulf of mexico so he could attack the coal industry. that is a bank shot even i can't follow. >> well, you know, first of all, the question is why is michael brown giving his track record on television talking to anybody. >> we invited him and he came. you can't put everybody off the street on television. >> he was head of fema for all of those years. >> precisely the point, precisely and look what they did. so he may have been reflecting on how things were run in the previous white house, but i don't think he has much knowledge about how they are run in this bhous. look, i think the president is doing the best he can. he has got a big job. not just this oil spill and the terror attacks, but turning the economy around. we've got a health care bill, that despite it's not so popular is eventually going to reform health care. i think he's accomplished an

enormous amount. and to -- it's sad to see what lengths the republicans will go to. if you want to question his policies, be my guest. but don't question his motives. what pataki said remind me of people on the fringe left who used to claim that bush knew about 9/11 before it happened. this has no place in our society. it's rud includes nonsense, and sub like george pataki shouldn't be talking like that. >> i've always had a lot of respect for him, but that performance -- >> that's the influence of the tea party and the republican party. people feel like they have to say such outside lan dish things. and it doesn't serve the country well. >> don't you think that beck is pulling even people that are sort of -- pretty far right, but not crazy like owe riley, and sean hannity. i think beck is pulling them all further over and then pulling the republican party with them. it's like grash ham's law, bad money turns good money out of circulation. they're driving good ideas out of circulation by going so far

right, that party. >> this is why michael steel made an enormous mistake early in his term as chairman of the republican party when he backed down to rush limbaugh and began to cow to you him. you've got to stand up what you believe in. you may not always believe what the rest of the american people believe, but you've got to stand your ground. this stuff is not only going to hurt hurt the country, it's going to destroy the republican party. because who is going to vote for this kind of stuff? there will be some, because there is a lot of anger out there, but the fact of the matter is, the country is not going to be taken over by a far right conspiracy theorist, i don't think. and if it is, lord knows the country is in trouble. >> let me ask you about the stakes. up the government when republicans are charge, they can say we told you government sucks, we told you it was going to screw up, because government is not effective. they're the government party because they believe what they can achieve, progressive policies so therefore it seems to me a higher standard. is the president meeting it? with confidence? >> i think he is.

look, even senator sessions, certainly very conservative anti-government senator from alabama on his trip with the president in the south where the -- all the terrible oil damage either is occurring or about to occur said that the government really needs to step up to the plate here. people need to rely on government when times are really bad. and all this anti-government rhetoric is silly. it was the government that the go us out of the depression in 1932. and -- or not 1933, when it began. and now -- actually, excuse me, it began in 1929, but when roosevelt came in, it was the government that turned around. government is important at times like this. government was important to stop terrorism, and you can complain all you want, but the fact is, the president of the new york city police and a very alert and terrific couple of american citizens on the street, we did avert a tragedy in times square. and government responded and government did a job, and government got that guy off the plane. >> okay. how much score, 1 to 10 with performance with regard to the

times square terrorist. >> performance, what? >> how are we doing? how is the government doing? >> i think they get an 8 on that one. i really do. >> how about dealing with the gulf catastrophe with the oil spill? how are we doing on that, 1 to 10. >> we don't know yet. the truth is, this is really a huge potential national disaster. people said this could never happen. it has happened. it is going to require reassessing drilling and so forth and so on. >> okay. >> it's a huge problem. we don't know how the government high school done on this one. >> i agree with you. thank you very much, governor dean for coming on ""hardball"". when we return, the people who got their man last night. the federal government despite daily criticism from the right wing, they got the job done. you're watching "hardball." to go for it? at the hartford, we help businesses of all kinds... feel confident doing what they do best. by protecting your business, your property, your people. you've counted on us for 200 years.

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let me finish tonight with that arrest at john f. kennedy airport. it's good to know that our government can do the job. people like competence. men like men who are competent, women like men who are competent. women like women who are competent. men like women who are competent. everybody likes competence. the error of the cutie klutz this isn't. we don't want a woody allen character running the country or our household. annie hall, remember, was a comedy. what killed president bush's credibilit credibility? his claim that we went to iraq to search for nuclear weapons. because they made that claim, he ended up looking like an incompetent when we fought our way into that country and are

still fighting our way out only to find there were no nuclear weapons on hand. the incompetencies became down right staggering when the commander in chief pranced on to an aircraft carrier with that mission accomplished banner flying overhead. the bozos couldn't even get the pr right. katrina, needy recall the words of the high commander on that front. "brownie, you're doing a heck of a job." competence. we're still watching what happens in the gulf of mexico. still watching the operation that capped that gusher a mile down in the water. but at least we have nabbed that guy heading off from the new york airport. the change in the attitude since world war ii to the early 1960s was the belief that government could do the job it set out to do. we beat the nazis, we built the interstate highway system, we built a middle class. we got to the moon. we did what we set out to do, and it showed up in the polls. three quarters of the country said the government could do what it set out to do. well, it's an american thing, catching that guy at the airport. real "dragnet" stuff.

and don't you think people like it, we do what we set out to do, and that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us right now. it's time for "the ed show" with ed schultz. good evening, americans and welcome to "the ed show". tonight from new york, these stories are hitting my hot buttons at this hour. the times square terror suspect is behind bars. and he's talking to investigators. and we're not even tore touring him. that, of course, is making the republicans go crazy. they can't stand the fact that the president of the united states is succeeding when it comes to keeping us safe, much more on that in just a moment. and the party of big oil is trying to blame president obama for the disaster in the gulf. diplomat move fast enough. mr. heck of a job, michael brown, says the president deliberately delayed the federal response to make drilling look dangerous and get political gain. i've got commentary on that. plus, a majority of

americans support arizona's harsh new anti immigration law. ame arpaio is going to be here to talk about that and why he's not running for governor. it's all coming up on "the ed show." this is the story that's got me fired up tonight. the republican party. they just can't stand the fact that the president of the united states, barack obama, is keeping america safe. they will never be able to bring themselves to give him any credit whatsoever. and at this hour, the times square bomber is sitting in a jail cell, and he is making major confessions. the government complaint, well, they say that he's even fessed up to receiving explosives training in pakistan. yet all the right wing can do is complain. they were at it priority and early this morning. >> guess what? faisal shahzad is a registered democrat, and the registered suv had an obama sticker