msnbc that's going to do it for us this fine afternoon. i am dylan ratigan and "hardball" from ireland, no less, with bill clinton starting right now. back to college with barack obama. let's play "hardball."\ back to college with barack obama. let's play "hardball." back obama. let's play "hardball." good evening, i'm chris matthews in dublin, traveling this week with former president bill clinton. leading off tonight, mr. october, can president obama recapture some of that old 2008 magic? it certainly looked that way last night when 26,000 supporters turned to out for his rally in madison, wisconsin. more, by some estimates, than he drew during his campaign. he is become on the trail today again in iowa and in virginia and if, if he can close the enthusiasm gap, the democrats may be looking at a sweeter

november. plus, sharron angle's habit of denying what she said on tape. we will listen to the denials and then go to the videotape. love this job. also, i just went spent the entire day here on the irish isle with bill clinton and got a chance to talk to him about america's positive role in the world these days and what a former president can get done. our new nbc news/wall street poll ranks him, bill clinton, as the most popular political figure in america. clinton faced the democrats' collapse back in '94678 can he help president obama avoid the same kind of collapse this year? also, why are republicans covering up for bp? duh. and who is denying subpoena power to the president's commission investigating the gulf oil disaster? same response. what's wrong with putting the oil folks under oath? and let me finish tonight with the important lessons the current president can prance learn from a former one. all that is ahead. but first, let's check on the latest polls, the "hardball"

scoreboard. let's start with the senate race in colorado, where a new poll by the democratic senatorial campaign county has senator michael bennet up by two points over republican ken buck. that is a return there next to ohio, where republican rob portman has an 11-point lead over democrat, lee fish. now to a couple of governor's races, starting with ohio, where things are tightening and democrat incumbent ted strickland is now back in a dead heat to republican con kasich. finally to maryland, marty o'malley opening a big lead over ehrlich, who he beat four years ago. we will continue to check the "hardball" score board and all the big races every night leading up to election day j now to president obama in full campaign mode. u.s. congressman jim clyburn of south carolina is the democratic whip with. congressman, thank you for watching. here is president obama last night in madison, wisconsin. >> i know times are tough right now. i know times are tough. i know a lot of folks are

anxious about the future and i know that during the campaign, especially after we had already started winning, the feeling was, well this is just exciting, you got those nice hope posters and then there was the inauguration and beyonce singing and bono and i know sometimes it feels a long way from the hope and excitement that we felt on election day or the day of the inauguration. but i've got to say, we always knew this was gonna take time. we always knew this was gonna be hard. >> congressman clyburn that is barack obama, the president of the united states, back in campaign mode. can he lift the spirits of party? >> oh, absolutely. look, i have been out there every weekend for the last three or four weeks and i can tell you, i was in pennsylvania, new

jersey, delaware. this past sun kay, monday, tuesday, and people are upbeat. they are now seeing us all on the same page. so the president being out there the vice president raising his voice, all that is good stuff for democrats. >> you know, what i can't understand, congressman, i have a lot of respect for you as a politician as well as a civil rights leader and i don't understand how this president goes in when we are facing a great depression, he turns things around, he gets a 70% back to where we were with gdp, delivers on health care, the first democrat to do this since they started promising it with harry truman, guess after wall street and the put them under some kind of oversight for once and people who are progressives or liberals aren't clapping. >> that has been a concern of mine as well and i have been making very clear to all the people i talked to out there we have got to understand that i

have equated it to those days we were passing civil rights legislation n 1964, that bill was in jeopardy because voter was in it. president lyndon johnson took voting out we passed it in '64 came back a year later around got voting in '65. three years later, fair housing in '68, four years, after that, 1ed 672, applied the 64th law to the public sector. i tell people there was four distinctly different bills done over eight years. that is what is going on here. we are doing what needs to be done. we just can't do it all in the first two years or 18 months of the administration. so i think we are on the road to a great recovery. -- >> let's take -- >> i would hope everybody would say engaged. >> let's take a look at the president last night again in his big rally of 26,000 people in madison. here is the president. let's listen.

>> we are being tested here. the question is are we going to have the courage to keep moving forward, even in the face of difficulty? even in the face of uncertainty? this election is not about what we've done. it's about the work we have left to do. it is about you want this country to look like over the next two years. it is about your future. so madison, get out there and shape t get out there and fight for it. >> congressman -- congressman clyburn it is a fact of life that positive reasons don't always get people to vote. you need some negative reasons. do you really believe, as you said the other day that if the republicanness get control, that congress and the speech power, they are going to use it to go after the president's birth records, going to try to prove he is a foreigner, other nonsense like that? >> i absolutely believe that take them at word.

it is not their words it is their deeds, let's look at the members of that committee that's been talking about the government oversight committee. you got dan burton sit there's co-sponsor of the birther bill. the ranking member, he says i didn't mean the birther stuff, i meant to look at fraud case its. that is what they are saying. they are trying to delegit mize this president. they are calling him a fraud. so he will be going after the subpoenas with that in mind. he may not call it a birther but exactly what they are going to be doing much the fact of the matter is these people feel that they put the republicans where they are and coming, asking for their pound of flesh and we will be sitting there responding to subpoena it is they were to get the power to do so i don't expect that they will. i feel good about where we are,

i have been thought and i really feel we are going to maintain the majority in both the house and the senate and the president won't have to worry about that at all. >> thank you very much, u.s. congressman james clyburn, a ranking member -- number three man in the u.s. house of representatives from south carolina. let's turn now to daily beast contributor mark mckinnon, a former campaign manager for president george w. bush and for presidential candidate john mccain. you know, mark it is great to have you on the i have to tell you, let's take a look at some of the whackier stuff that's been said by the tea party candidates who have gotten nominations for the senate and other major offices. let's take a listen to those. >> you know what evolution -- evolution is a myth and even darwin himself -- >> evolution is a myth? have you ever looked at a monkey? >> why aren't monkeys still evolve nothing humans? >> it takes a long time. >> this congress keeps going the

way it is people are really looking toward those second amendment remedies, saying, my goodness what can we do to turn this country around? and i will tell you can the first thing we need to do is take harry reid out. >> i like the civil rights act in the sense that it ended discrimination in all public dough mains and i'm all in favor of that. . >> but? >> you had to ask me the but? i don't like the idea of telling private business owners. i abhor racism. i think it is a bad business decision to ever exclude anybody from your restaurant, but at the same time, i do believe in private ownership. >> you know, mark mckinnon, it sounds like we are listening to the cro-magnon party. they believe it should be used against men and women if you don't like the way they voted, so, what do you make of your political party and candidates

tea spraerpartiers have shoved forward? >> i think problematic in the sense we are sending a very narrow message to folks in middle america who see a much different kind of future, not only for the republican party but for america in general. i'm concerned about what is going to happen with enwe ned to govern. i believe we are going to take the house and going to be interesting to see where we go on policy, because those are some fairly extreme examples but clear folks from the tea party, for example are opposed to free trade which i always believed is a strong republican tenet, attracted me to the republican party, so these are big issues, there will be be a struggle for the heart and soul of the republican party going forward after the heart of the aelection. if anybody in the country votes for anybody in the republican victory this fall, no matter who they are, how sane they are, they will be voting to put these people, should they get elected, in serious committee positions,

they will get authority and power because they are with the republican majority, people like crust teen o'donnell should she win or sharron angle, who wants to give guns to people to kill congress people, incredible statements like that. a congressman, a senate candidate who wants to repeal the civil rights act, these positions these people will be, as you say in office, the power to use their legislative office to do these kinds of things. would you vote for any of these people, mark? >> no i wouldn't and i won't. and think if their voices dominate the caucus then it is a real long-term problem for the republican party. i think it is short-term strategy for short-term gain with long-term implications for the direction of the party and i think it is drowning out voices of millions of other progressive centrist republicans, like me and millions of others and i think that they have got to -- they have got purist tests and make the tents narrower and they call people like me rhinos. i don't see people in the

democratic party calling people dine knows. they welcome people like heath schuller. i think there are millions of americans thought looking for a voice in middle america that represents centrists and i think that is an unrepresented silent majority in america today. >> you know, mark, when you are with a lot of those mainstream republicans, i won't give away their name it is usually in a back room, green room setting or a way to speak somewhere, they hear them giggle at these people, think they are not just dangerous but funny, absurd characters and they get out on the stage and they endorse them. suspect there a point at which any political party gets in trouble when it is afraid to say what it really thinks of its more zany members? >> i absolutely agree with that we have got to be candid, got to be honest and say the obvious. that is why i was glad to is he karl rove stand up and say what was -- what was on everybody's mind about our nominee in delaware, he spoke the truth and got hammered by a lot of folks for saying the obvious truth,

but i think we need more candor, more honesty and need to be straightforward about these issues and not just embrace people because this they get the republican nomination. >> back in 1965 and '66, i remember the republican party had different groups like the republican alliance, brought together mainstream americans like hugh scott and governors across the country like romney senior and sort of took back the republican party from the goldwater wing. will we see something like that? will you lead something like that in your party today, the republican party, including its rhino wing? >> lots of things going on out there there is the main street group, that tom davis start. and there's lots more of those things happening. i have been traveling around the country, like i said, millions of americans out here who want a voice to represent people in the middle, nobody is being awarded for centrist behavior, just the hyper partisans running the show. i'm looking at an organization called no labels, no labels.org,

facebook and launch in december that will have a lot to say about this and i think that kind of voice representing centrists out there. not just no labels but lots of other groups, i think big untold story now that the media will see after these elections, the tea party is a very -- a small minority but a vocal one, but millions and millions of americans, more than a majority easily that consider themselves centrists, out there in the middle of america, don't feel like they are represented in congress, by the media and i think we will see a real independent movement for centrist republicans, centrist democrats across the board. >> we will be watching for you. mark mckinnon, thanks for joining us. coming up, sharon angle is caught fighting with her own recorded voice. is this crazy? she is caught on tape but deknow what is is on tape on a number of issues which she has taken wild stands. now, john ralston, the most influential political reporter in nevada is calling her out for

what he says are her seemingly pathological habit, he calls it, of saying she never said something when it is already on videotape. what are you going to believe, me or your lying tape? groucho marx again? ralston joins us. you are watching "hardball" from dublin where i'm traveling with former president bill clinton. back in a moment. ps. ps. plus five dollars in coupons to get you started. campbell's condensed soup. pass it on. campbell's.® it's amazing what soup can do.™ [ male announcer ] the vanilla caramel latte from maxwell house international café. the 60 calorie way to stop your world. yoknew a from maxwell house retirement expert?afé. let's meet some. retirement's a journey and, we know the territory. we're chartered retirement planning counselors at td ameritrade.

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big-named concerns are criticizing o'keefe's latest stunt. it is called ugly, dishonest, filthy. "hardball" back after this. ♪ i had just turned 17 ♪ a harmonica and a box guitar ♪ ♪ in a canvas-covered wagon stuffed... ♪ [ male announcer ] while the world's been waiting on the electric car, maybe the whole time, the electric car has been waiting for this... the wattstation from ge. it's going to change the way we get to where we all want to go. ♪ i didn't think much of it till i took it apart ♪

welcome back to "hardball." harry reid keeps calling sharron angle extreme in their fight for his seat. here is his latest ad. >> from world war ii to iraq and afghanistan, the va has led mar guaranteed care for those who serve but now in another extreme proposal, sharron angle says privatize it, end the va bosnia we know it. when asked whether veterans benefits like prescriptions and doctor benefit once covered if she had her way? >> no not if you're working toward a privatized system. >> end our promise to systems? sharron angle, dangerous ideas that put veterans at risk. >>ing an willing was asked about that charge this past saturday at an event in reno, nevada. here is her response to reid's charge followed by what she said about her father and handling

the va back in may. >> there we have the probable problem. the las vegas sun's john ralston

wrote about sharron angle, privatizing t and said i'm beginning to wound ber this seemingly pathological habit angle has of saying she never had said something when it is right there on the tape and so easily retrieved. we are joined from las vegas, host of "face-to-face." here is a canned caught confront with the fact of a videotape and what happens? >> it is amazing, chris. she seems to be suffering from selective amnesia. she is like that guy pierce character in the movie "moment toe" with no short-term memory. we have a candidate who says things and reid says inexplicable and goofy things, at least he will try to explain it paper it over. sharron angle denies she said things that are clearly contradicted by videotape, by audiotape. it is as if she thinks we are living in a world 300 years ago where you can't find this stuff.

>> we have google, angle with nbc news jonathan carl three weeks ago followed by her comments on true news christian radio back on radio. listen to the contradiction together. let's listen. >> the comment that you made about entitlement programs violating the first commandment, can you ewill be a bar rate what you meant about that? >> i don't think that's what i said. >> you said that they turn government into our god. >> i didn't say that the comments that president obama has going with reid and pelosi are all entitlement program built to make government our god and that's really what's happening in this country is a violation of first commandment. there she is. there she goes again, as ronald

reagan once said there she goes again clearly denying that is on tape. she said that having a government and putting too much hope in a government is violating a first commandment about not having strange gods before you. i mean it is quite a biblical thing to go to the mountain top and fiend a reason to not like your opponent's political philosophy and then deny t. >> chris, this is just astoning. what jonathan carl asked her, he directly quoted what she said, she does this a lot, chuckles, laughs, as if she was recalling supervisor of elections some campaign meetings, the consultants said don't ever say this again, sharon. she just pretends she never said it. it is a very bizarre reaction. of course, all of this stuff, as i said in that post you referred to is so easily retrieved and easy to confront her with it and there's so many instances of this and the one i remember the best, essential lit day after the primary when she appeared under the withering interviewers

of fox and friends after she had spent the entire primary saying that so social security should be phased out, they said to her, you never said that right? and she same back immediately and said, oh, no, i want to save social security when she essentially had just said that she wanted to get rid of it a few weeks beforehand. >> wow. well, here she is. angle again with carl, the reporter, followed by her back in january with radio host lawrence larson, a fellow conservative. let's listen to the difference here which is quite 180. >> you said things don't turn out the right way in this election, people may seek second amendment remedies. what did you mean that? >> i don't think that was exactly the way i said it. >> you tell me. forget -- you tell me. >> okay. we were discussing once again in a context of the second amendment, we were having a discussion about the founding fathers and why they had put the second amendment into the bill of rights.

you know, our founding fathers, they put that second amendment in there for a good reason and that was for the people, to protect themselves against a tyrannical government. in fact, you know, thomas jefferson said it was good for a country to have a revolution every 20 year, i hope that is not where we are going but if this congress keeps going the way it is, people are really looking toward those second amendment remedies saying, my goodness what can we do to turn this country around and i tell you can the first thing we need to do is take harry reid out. >> you know, jon, what do her supporter says when they hear these denials of something that's right there in front of them? >> i don't think they even want to think about that chris, but let's not get away from the fact here that these things that we are talking about, each of those sound bites that you played, in and of themselves, forget that she is denying that she said them, each of those statements are so controversial. who talks about second amendment

rem and evokes thomas jefferson to talk about because they passed a health care reform, people are thinking about taking up arms? it is just crazy. and so even her supporters, such as danny tarkanian who ran against her and now acting as a sur got gatt, they are distancing themselves from those kinds of comments, as anybody would, and as mark mckinnon said, moderate republicans are running, like scalded dogs, from that kind of statement. so they want to get off of that completely. they only want to talk about harry reid, the economy, harry reid, the economy. because they know if the election becomes about some of these statements that sharron angle says and then suddenly forgets, she is going to lose. >> you know, i have to tell you, after all the violence we grew up in this country with, the presidents we have lost over the last century or so and you know, starting with lincoln all the way through to kennedy and almost reagan and all the other major political figures who have been assassinated, to talk about

basically assassination what she is talking about here she is in her words shall as we showed you in the tape, if this congress keeps going 2008 is, people are really looking forward those second amendment remedies, using fire power against elected officials, people who were elected, we should be ready to go gun them down. it is an incredible statement. i don't see how anybody can can vote for somebody unless they have -- well, denied that they ever said it. maybe take it become and i go back to my groucho marx comment and i say this to voter who are you going to believe, her or your lying ears? any way, thank you, jon ralston, for joining us with this amazing news about a very strange candidacy. up next, senator david vitter known primarily for hiring prostitutes in washington and also back home in louisiana, finally gets some attention he deserves. that is ahead in the side show. you are watching "hardball" on msnbc.

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er ary brown was ask fed might run for president if voters elected him governor this time, something he did in 1976 and 1980. here is brown's response. >> hell, i was younger, you know i would be running again. but i would say at 74, whatever it is going to be in a couple of years, i'm ready. one more thing, i now have a wife and, you know, i come home at night, i don't try to close down the bars of sacramento like i used to do when i was governor of california. >> meg whitman has been accused by a long-time housekeeper of knowingly hiring her illegally for the past nine years. >> i told her that she knew that and i don't have papers to work

here and i need her help. i want her to help me get immigration. ms. whitman just lost -- laughed and turn herd head to one side. >> meg whitman responded in a statement todathat said the employee had lied about her legal status in the form she filled out. she said it wasn't until june of 2009 that she learned the employee was working for her illegally and then fired her. whitman says the employee was being manipulated energy this case, by attorney gloria allred. i think we will hear more about this in days ahead. next, louisiana senator david vitter finally facing the political music for hiring of prostitutes in washington, d.c. and back home in louisiana.

his opponent raised the issue in the following ad. >> today, we explore the case of the senator and the madam in lawmaker, law breaker. david vitter won election to the united states senate as a proud, family values politician, but under the surface, vitter was battling his own demons. things turned public for vitter when his number appeared on the d.c. madam's phone list. >> but it didn't end there the scene shifts to new orleans, where a former french quarter prostitute gave an interview exposing interviews about her sexual details with vitter. >> he went in, took a shower. spoke very little to me at first. did the same. he wasn't there 15, 120 minutes at that i was $300. >> that began airing state wide louisiana today. up next, i spent date with former president bill clinton. can the most popular political figure in america help president obama and the democrats avoid losses this november? you are watching "hardball," only on msnbc.

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fidelity investments. turn here. i'm jackie deangeles with your cnbc market wrap. the dow slipping 23 points and the s & p and nasdaq sinking 3 points each. speculation is heating up on wall street that the fed is about to begin quantitative easing to speed up the recovery. big banks paying the price today. their profit margins are on the line if the difference between short-term and long-term yields flattens. the dollar feeling the effects as well, working more against the major currencies. as you might expect, gold prices hitting a record high for 19 th time this month and analysts say there is still room for gold to even go higher. and stocks, fedex shares surging 2% on a bullish full-year outlock and plans to hike

shipping rates to 4% in january. and snares silver energy companies lighting up today after an analyst told cnbc that now is a great time to dive into the sector. that is it from cnbc first in business worldwide. now back to "hardball." i spent the day with bill clinton, the former president here on the irish isle and spoke with him how he is able to promote america's positive influence around the world. now the most popular political figure in our country according to the latest nbc news/"wall street journal" poll. and democrats can't get enough of them on the stump, account former president help current president and his party this november? robert reich served as bill clinton's labor secretary of state tary. his new book is "after shock." bill clinton is making a storm

of irish unity in the north, i should say. what do you make of his political popularity here at home with these great numbers? >> well, every politician, every democratic politician does want bill clinton to help stump for him or her. bill clinton is the most popular democrat, running or not running, that helps a lot. by think people remember the great economy under bill clinton, people remember 22 million net new jobs. they rear a lot of prosperity. they also remember that the george w. bush expansion of 2001, 2007 was a phantom recovery, that was built on debt and median wages dropped those years. bill clinton represents really pros sport and i think a lot of democrats want to be associated with that. >> do you think his ability to position himself in anyway a

centrist democrat was important. you have probably seen it, in our nbc news/wall street poll out yesterday, he is leading 4-1, approval over disapproval. only one in six independent voters have a problem with bill clinton at this point. >> bill clinton, remember, famously trying an lated in 2006. say it wasn't better before, airport seen nothing yet, the economy is humming well. dick morris said don't talk about specific issue, don't mandate anything special sivic in the second term, just tell everybody things are getting better and bill clinton did that. he kept some distance from the democrats and obviously some distance from republicans. he said the era of big government is over, remember that and so before monica lewinsky and most people are prepared to forgive and forget on that score, before monica lewinsky bill clinton was doing very well, the economy, as i

said, did wonderfully well, and sound pen dents like bill clinton. >> doing pretty well in the polls afterwards too, i think a couple things you failed to mention, one is balancing the budget, which goes over very well with the centrists who tend to be fiscally conservative and free trade. he was a free trader. let's look at part of the exchange i had with president clinton. i asked him about the northern ireland peace process and what it said about america's role in the world. let's listen. what's this say about america's influen influence. in areas like northern ireland, you have shown the power, you are like a one-man piece corps. what does that say to people in the world toward our country? >> i still think most people think we wish them well and most people know that even when they disagree with particular things that a president does, that we have no imperialist design, take

their country, their future away from them. i think that is the most important thing. the united states is too too big and we are too involved with too many people for any president to be able to take actions that will be universally agreed to all day, every day and everywhere in the world. most important thing is that people think we're pulling for them and that we want to empower them. for example, in the heat of the iraq war, which was extremely unpopular in all majority muslim countries, the united states retained high levels of popularity in all the countries of southern africa, including kenya and tanzania, which have huge muslim populations, because of president bush's pepfar program, to you berk cue close cis, malaria program. why? because they thought we still cared whether their cads lived or died them didn't like iraq's foreign policy anymore than other muslims did but they had a

countervailing piece of evidence that was overwhelming that we still -- they thought we were making a mistake but it was a mistake of the head, not the heart. and that's what you want. you want people to think america's pulling for them. >> bob reich, let me ask you, mr. secretary, do you believe that bill clinton were still present with balanced budgets, that centrist approach on trade issues and other issues, do you think he would have a tea party opposing him? would there be a tea party? >> well, i think, chris, the problem is that begs the question, there's no way we are going to have balanced budgets now or any time soon because of the severity of the great recession and interestingly, foreign trade, in fact, the whole principle of free tailed has become very unpopular in america, much less popular than it was during bill clinton.'spresidency because so many people are afraid of their jobs and worried about their wages and their mortgages and their savings and so very

prepared ed td to believe what of people on the left and right say and that is free trade is bad for us. >> are you still a free trader? >> i am basically a free trader, yes, absolutely, chris, i think we have got to have more trade agreements that have labor and environmental protections in them, but i think free trade is basically good. i don't think that our problem, our jobs problem is fundamentally a problem of trade. i think it has much more to do with the fact that we have not sufficiently educated our population. we have not got out of this great recession with adequate stimulus and as cat with fiscal and monetary policies over all. i think the republicans have basically stymied president obama who, generally speaking, i think is trying to do exactly the right thing. >> thank you very much, robert reich. up next, why was the president's commission on investigating the bp oil disaster blocked from getting subpoena power? can't they put these people under oath? can't they call them into court

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the "chicago tribune" is reporting that alexy jgian int yes enabled him to take a tax deduction last year. he said there is no contradiction. words alone aren't enough. my job is to listen to the needs and frustrations

of the shrimpers and fishermen, hotel or restaurant workers who lost their jobs to the spill. i'm iris cross. bp has taken full responsibility for the clean up in the gulf and that includes keeping you informed. our job is to listen and find ways to help. that means working with communities. restoring the jobs, tourist beaches, and businesses impacted by the spill. we've paid over $400 million in claims and set up a $20 billion independently-run claims fund to cover lost income until people impacted can get back to work. and our efforts aren't coming at tax-payer expense. i know people are wondering-- now that the well is capped, is bp gonna meet its commitments? i was born in new orleans. my family still lives here. i'm gonna be here until we make this right. we've been best friends since we were two. we've always been alike. [ lindy ] we even both have osteoporosis.

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>> bp would say it was the coast guard and the coast guard would say it was bp. it came became a joke in our command, the houma command, we never got a name, it was the "wizard of oz." >> that was plaque. >> mike m.:s paris billy nungesser testifying before the commission. senate republicans have denied the president's commission subpoena power. here is how it went down. >> your objection? >> on behe half of other members of the republican conference, i object. >> objection is heard.

>> this is legislation that passed the house, 42 to 0-1. -- so who's behind all of this besides jim demint? you saw jim shaheen of new hampshire push for the president's position to get senate power. senator, thank you so much for joining us. i got the tip on this weekend. how in the world world deny the american people's right to find out what happened, what caused that oil spill in the gulf? >> you know, i don't understand it. this was an unprecedented disaster. 11 people lost their lives. uncounted environmental and economic damages to the people of the gulf region. and we can't do anything about that. but we can make sure it never happens again. and that's why this bipartisan

commission that the president has appointed is so important. but what we heard from their co-chair, former senator bob graham, and former nixon epa administrator, bill o'reilly -- or bill riley is that the witnesses are stonewalling, and because they don't have subpoena power, they can't get the answers they need. and, unfortunately, we've requested the republicans in the senate to support this request for subpoena power, three times now, and each now they've objected. i'm going to go back to the floor this evening and request that we go forward with this subpoena power, a fourth time. but unfortunately, what we've insured that they're going to object again. >> well, let me ask you about this, bob graham of flad is one of the most determined, hard-working senators there's ever been. he's got all the faculties

intellectually to handle something like this. he's certainly the guy to do this, the person to do this. it's bipartisan, as you point out. do the republicans ever in the cloak room or anywhere to tell you, do they have any legitimate reason to hold up this investigation? >> well, not that the i've heard. in fact, the individual republican senators that i've talked to about it have said that they support it. this is legislation that passed the house, overwhelmingly, 169 republicans voted for it in the house. and yet, the minority keeps objecting in the senate. i don't understand it. this is something that we all out to be supporting because it's important for this commission to be able to tell the american people what happen happened. >> you know, i think i know why they don't want to do it, because they'd like the american people to believe that what happened to the gulf of mexico was a technical failure, a failure by a machine.

what they don't want to admit it was a management decision. and i happen to know from my brother who's in the business for 30 years, all mistakes are management mistakes. technology is tested. when mistakes occur, protocols are put in place. to avoid making that mistake again. if they're not followed, that's a management decision. usually based on saving money. why can't we find out who made that management decision to save money at the huge social environmental cost we've seen? what do you think about that? that's what i'd like to find out. whom made the management decision to go with sea water not drilling mud? all kinds of decisions to say, go ahead, even though the cement wasn't hard. each decision was made by a human being. can't we meet that human being under oath? that's my question. >> and that is the question. and that's why we need subpoena power. you know, sadly, the corporations that are involved here, transocean and bp and

halliburton are not giving the full answers. and we need to give the american people the real answers. we need to give those families who lost their loved ones and when that station blew up, the right answers, and we need to let the businesses of the gulf region know why they've taken it on the chin for such high economic costs. that's what the subpoena power's all about, it's about making sure that we really know what happened there so that it never happens again. >> well, it's great having someone on the show, a u.s. senator who is doing their job. thank you very much, jeanne shaheen from new hampshire. >> thank you. what president obama could learn from, bill clinton. darin. capable of moving your soul. ♪

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let me finish tonight with some numbers. bill clinton now has a 53% approval rating from politico independents in the united states. a 16% disapproval. 16% disapproval from independents. this for a democrat at a time the party is under hard as salt. there are reasons for this. clinton's out of line of fire right now, that's for one. he's a reminder of better economic time for an important other. but the real vane that bill clinton, like tony blair in england, was a champion of what

both called a third way. they were social democrats, who knew the key to politico as well as policy success lies in keeping faith with the middle. scare off the middle and you lose the country. you hold the middle by hugging to their main concerns. you focus on the economy, yes it's the economy, stupid. you convince people that you want government involvement when and only when the private sector can't act. you do it out of necessity, not out of desire. if you love big government, you will not succeed with the american middle. barack obama won because most believe that the bush administration lead by ideologue his hijacked america to the course an ideological war. an ideological foreign policy. president obama will face the same rejection by the same politiccal middle if he's seen in the hands of i'd logs on the left. big things still need to be job in job creation, energy and immigration. the more he does them and sells them close to the political middle the better his chances. those who argue otherwise