drilling. what will the right think of -- what will they think of next. and let me bring you tonight and three cheers for people who have been maligned daily by the right wing, but who last night 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 an msnbc contributor, and roger cressey, an analyst. i want to go to roger first. 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. >> and how did we stop him from flying away? how did we catch him on the plane? 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. they 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 plane he would have gotten away, is overblown. that's a flight i have taken a lot. it's a 13-hour nonstop, it could have either been directed 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? >> right. i think there's two things here. 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 some of this -- well, let's see what happened here. was this just 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

founded vin number underneath. and that's how they were able to link it up with the craigslist ad. >> the story to tell is that you have a vehicle identification number, a vin 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. that's the lesson here. >> look, i think, 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 he's providing

useful information after being questioned by the joint terrorism task force. first without having been read his miranda rights. then 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 islamic country, because that's foolish, too. the issue's going to be -- >> get to my point, not to your point. please don't change the point. profiling. that's not what i'm talking about. 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?jaúw 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. he was pretty accurate with what he said. >> 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. it's about corroboration with pakistani officials and throughout 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 e-mails 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 pathfinder in 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? operating as an individual. is that a fair way to look 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. it could be sophisticated for other reasons. 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. >> do we know -- mike, let me ask about, this because i guess when it gets to criminal charges, we're going learn down the road how serious a charge this guy gets hit with. i guess because it was so badly handled by him. i'm not going to join the comedians and make fun of how badly he put it together. 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 that sense the guy is a screwup.

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 video over the weekend in which it was claimed they would retaliate for the drone attacks, i think there is an aspect 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 incompetent? >> 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 attriting that capability over there, the talent pool they have at their disposal to come back to the united states is simply not as good as they may have hoped. so part of the good news story here is even though this was a serious attempt, like the attorney general said, he wasn't that good. and that may be a sign of the type of threat we have to deal with. it doesn't mean the threat is not real, it just means the talent pool we're used to to staff is isn't what we're used to. >> michael isikoff, i love it.

we're going to cover this story throughout the show tonight. coming up, we look at the pakistan connection. eight arrests over there and two former cia officials. how much came from a blowback from what we're trying to do. of trying to catch the guys in that region in pakistan. but the race gets tighter in pennsylvania between senator arlen specter who became a democrat, and democrat joe sestak, the little engine that could, apparently. he's getting close. you're watching "hardball" only on msnbc. an invitation to come over to the other side. what else is gonna take your sandwich up a notch? the lettuce? are you up for some sandwich-kicking flavor? are you miracle whip?

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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. bob bear was a cia field officer. 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? >> in my opinion, i think 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 happened. >> let me go to bob on that. same picture. what's it about? >> 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 you8m[fyh-sed 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 a couple 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 danger, of course, is some people don't have that motive, they may be doing all kinds of things to hurt us.

in this case, this guy radicalized, how do you figure the 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. it's the same thing. what you saw in europe. i keep going to that, because 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, ctg 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. which makes it much more

dangerous. 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, others not. a lot of people came here from ireland, for example, and most made it, some didn't and they 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. is barely cursory. 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. but you know, we simply don't know who is in our borders. a lot of people still don't speak english. a lot of the people, their primary loyalties are outside the country. >> but a lot of people coming from pakistan do speak the lang language, 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? >> oh, absolutely. 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 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 are misfits, basically, and open to recruitment. it's a situation that takes a little bit of thought. 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. if we have another problem like christmas. tyler drumheller, every time we have you on i know it's not for a good reason. and it's usually not a good reason. it's not exactly like christmas eve around here. 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 and know what's going on, because we see your faces. gentlemen, in all seriousness, it's great to have expertise, thank you. 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? [ speaking native language ] [ speaking native language ] [ moans ] [ speaking native language ] ♪ [ speaking native language ] [ male announcer ] doctors have been saying it forever. let's take a look. [ male announcer ] but they've never actually been able to do it like this. let's take a look. [ male announcer ] v-scan from ge healthcare. a pocket sized imaging device that will help change the way doctors see patients. that's better health for more people. ♪

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back to "hardball." now for the "sideshow," jon stewart and stephen colbert both mocked reaction. to the failed bomb plot in times square. here they go. >> it was an amateurish type of bomb. >> it looked amateurish is a nice way to phrase it. >> it was an incompetent bomber. >> this was frankly, pretty pitiful. >> this was so incompetent. >> it was a failure, guys. >> no, guys, it was scary, don't you remember?

hi, mr. terrorist, whoever you are, these people are just jealous. that was a wonderful bomb and we are all sufficiently 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 wayne rhatigan who was with the nypd mounted unit. who was on his horse, migs, patrolling times square. >> 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. authorities are now investigating whether use of the stun gun went too far. editorial point here, i know philly fans are tough, but couldn't they have just tackled the guy? finally, cleaning house. the republican party of florida has posted an oil painting of governor charlie crist on ebay. the painting was originally commissioned for party headquarters in tallahassee. but his decision to drop out of the republican primary and run as an independent has made him persona nongrata within the party. case in point. 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. which brings us to tonight's "big number." what's the going rate on ebay

for charlie crist's painting? $6,000. six days to make your bid. for a portrait of "good-time charlie." 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. joins us next. you're watching "hardball," only on msnbc. ya know, i'm really glad we finally decided to see where raisin bran crunch is made. yeah, this trip is way overdue. i just can't wait to see all those crunchy flakes in action.

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i'm lynn berry, and here's what's happens. authorities say a terror suspect was able to board a plane for dubai despite being placed on a no-fly list. faisal shahzad was charged with terror-related offenses today in new york.

repair crews are preparing to lower a containment structure over that damaged oil well in the gulf of mexico. and there are unconfirmed reports of oil beginning to come ashore along the louisiana coast. thousands of nashville residents are without power and fresh water after weekend storms flooded underground electrical relays. a defiant iranian president blasted the u.s. at the united nations tuesday, saying new sanctions would doom u.s./iranian relations. the detroit tigers announcer ernie harwell died at the age of 92 after a long battle with cancer. now back to "hardball."ñi 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 fema 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 business right down there now. >> 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 blowout

preventer and that was the final way to deal with a situation as horrific as this? do you think they had the right management? were they following procedure? where's 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. right now i don't know. 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. >> no, no, you're saying that i think the delay was this. it's pure politics. are you saying that he somehow delayed his response to encourage worse disaster here? worse damage to the environment? >> no, i don't -- 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. >> let me just rephrase your thoughts. 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 appease those on the rights 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. that's what i think he was trying to do. we can agree on that. >> yeah, 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 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. and somehow have some sort of bounce out of it. >> i tell you, michael, i think your arguments are not strong about the coal industry, because i don't think this relates to coal. i don't think you could make the case that you just made 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? give him a little credit, the fact that an attack was even attempted. he might get blamed for that. 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.

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.

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we're back. 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. let's listen. >> 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. it wasn't like we just came up with the guy. >> precisely the point, precisely the point and look what they did so he may have been reflecting on how things were running in the previous white house. but i don't think he has much knowledge about how they were running in this white house. look, i think the president is doing the best job he can.

he's beginning to turn the economy around. we have a health care bill, that despite it's not being so popular, i think he's accomplished an enormous amount. 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 reminds me of the people on the left, who used to claim bush knew about 9/11 before it happened. this stuff has no place in our society. it's ridiculous. somebody like george pataki shouldn't be talking like that. >> that performance was a very good reason. >> that's the influence of the tea party. people feel like they have to say such outlandish things. if 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 hannity, i think beck is pulling them all further over.

it's like grisham's law, bad money draws good money out of circulation, they're driving good ideas out of circulation, by going so far right that party. >> this is why michael steele made an enormous mistake early in his term when he backed down. and began to cow tow him. you have to stand up for what you believe in at all times. you may not always believe what the rest of the american people believe, but you have to stand your ground. this stuff is not only going to hurt your country, but it's going to destroy the republican party. who's going to vote for this stuff? there's going to be some, there's a lot of anger out there. the country is not going to be taken over by a far right conspiracy theorist, if it is, the country's in deep trouble. >> you're a democrat, a progressive. it seems to me, if something screws up under the government, the republicans can say, we told you government sucks, we told you was going to screw up. democrats have a stake, though, they're the government party, because they believe in what

effective government can achieve, progressive policies. it seems to me a higher standard. is is the president meeting it? >> i think he is. look, even senator sessions on his trip with the president in the south where 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. all this anti-government rhetoric was silly. it's the government that got us out of the depression in 1932, and -- or 1933 when it began, and now -- actually, it began in 1929, but when roosevelt came in, it's the government that began to turn it around. government is important at times like this. government was important to stop terrorism, can you complain all u.s. want, but the fact is, the new york city police and 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. >> how much score, one to ten, performance with regard to the times square terrorist. >> one to ten, how are we doing? >> i think they get an eight on that one. i really do. this was a -- >> how about dealing with the gulf catastrophe? how are we doing on that one? >> we don't know yet. this is really a huge potential national disaster. people said this could never happen, it has happened, it is going to acquire reassessing drilling so forth and so on. it's a huge problem. we don't know how the government's done on this one. >> i agree with you. thank you very much, governor dean. i'm going to have some thoughts about 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. but only one can do it while driving on electricity. the gmc sierra hybrid. the most fuel-efficient full-size pickup on the road.

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let me finish tonightboñ wi that arrest at jfk airport. it's good to know that our government can do the job. men like men who are competent, women like women who are competent -- everybody likes competence. the arab, 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 credibility? his utter claim that the reason we web to the war in iraq was

the search for nuclear weapons, because he and his people were dishonest enough to make that claim, he looked like an incompetent when we fought our way into that country and we're still fighting our way out, only to find there were no nuclear weapons on hand. the commander in chief pranced on to an aircraft carrier with that mission accomplished banner flying overhead. katrina, need i recall the words of the commander on that front? brownie, you're doing a heck of a job. we're still watching what happens in the gulf of mexico, still watching the operation to cap that gusher a mile down in the water. at least we nabbed that guy heading off from the new york airport. the big change in american attitudes since world war ii through 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 the middle class, we got to the moon, we did what we set

out to do, it showed up in the polls. three quarters of the country said the government could do what it set out to do. it's an american thing catching that guy at the airport, real "dragnet" stuff, don't you think people like we can do what we set out to do? "countdown with keith olbermann" starts right now. which of these stories will you be talking about tomorrow? from times square to arrested in 53 hours and 30 minutes. and a president is not crowing and not trying to terrify the citizens for whom he works.nac]t >> as americans and as a nation, we will not be terrorized. >> the suspect is faisal shahzad and he is singing like a bird. >> he has been talking to us and providing useful information. >> providing it before and after he was read his miranda rights, such as he was trained in a pakistani terror camp, arrests there, despite pete king's

moronic quote, i know his an american citizen, but still. despite john mccain calling the mirandizing a serious mistake. general paul eaton saying king and mccain are putting american lives at risk. and my special comment, what part of america does john mccain actually love? republicans push for more offshore drilling even as the cataclysm from the destroyed gulf rig gets worse and closer. nashville, fema arrives. 19 dead in tennessee alone. we go live. >> mother nature can be cruel and certainly she's dealt us a bad hand. >> "worsts" the latest lie from charles krauthammer. no successful attacks under bush after 9/11. what were the anthrax letters, junk mail? and stuff my dad says. a parent is only as good as their dumbest kid.