Skip to main content

tv   The Rachel Maddow Show  MSNBC  October 1, 2010 12:00am-1:00am EDT

12:00 am
thank you. that's september 30th. 2,298th day since bush declared victory in afghanistan and the 164th day of the deepwater horizon disaster in the gulf. now to one democrat's fight against the super pacs. here is rachel maddow. good evening, if you can still hear me out there. >> this seems just right, keith. >> num-num. >> this year's elections are 33 days away. the president of the united states taking on the mantle of campaigner in chief tonight. that is just minutes ahead. we will bring you that action live. we'll also bring you the day in john boehner, complete with the rachel maddo show unrehearsed players. this will be a big hour of
12:01 am
whatever it is we do here. we begin with an introduction. i would like you to meet laughing woman carrying her son, standing in front of trees. hello. there she is. if laughing woman, carrying her son, standing in front of trees. available for sale right now at the website, istockphoto.com. laughing woman carrying her son, standing in front of trees was purchased recently by an organization called concern taxpayers of america. see, there she is. she was purchased to depict what this group says are the, quote, folks -- the folks who are concerned about the direction this country's economy is going. those average folks also apparently include the couple you see at the top there with the kids, or as they're known as istockpeople.com, a happy family, to make you think they're just your average folks who are concerned about the
12:02 am
direction this country's economy is going. that's the way the person who heads up concerned taxpayers of america described what his organization is. after democratic congressman pete defozio got his attention by yelling through his mailbox and banging on the man's door. >> hello. hello. are you jason miller? >> no. >> do you know jason miller? >> no, i don't, sir. >> are you the renter or the owner? >> no. i rent this place. >> did you ever hear of concerned taxpayers of america? >> no. >> you've never heard of them? >> no, sir. >> that guy there actually is involved with concerned taxpayers of america, even
12:03 am
though he swore he wasn't. more on that ahead. pete defazio is a democrat who's been in congress for 12 terms. he's someone who i don't think would mind me as describing him as a bit of contrarian. he goes his own way and has strongly held opinions and takes on things. the guy running against defazio this year is republican art robinson. mr. robinson is a former science professor, most famous for being a global warming denydenier. he said the government wants to enslach the american people through energy regulation. a few you weeks ago, something amazing happened in this race. $86,000 -- $86,000 worth of we hate pete defazio ads started popping up on tv in that district. >> politicians nancy pelosi and peter defazio made a mess of our economy. their policies aren't working.
12:04 am
it's time for change. art robinson is a research scientist, not a politician. his plan to improve our economy, stop reckless spending and start private sector job growth. a smarter choice. the independent leader we need. concerned taxpayers of america, responsible for the content of this advertising. >> who? concerned taxpayers of america, responsible for the content of this advertisement. this random clip art organization, whose own employees deny having anything to do with it, suddenly spent more than 80 grand running that ad in a congressional district in oregon. they have since reportedly almost doubled that spending. this is one race in one district. in some ways, this is the story of about what's new you about this year's election. some random entity dropped $165,000 into this race.
12:05 am
this would be like if your little neighborhood where you live was all one-family ranch homes and one day you all in the neighborhood heard you were going to get a new neighbor. that new neighbor turned out to be a 50-story tall giant pyramid-shaped glass and neon luxor casino in the middle of your street with a fake sfinks out in front. hey, that's different. who put that there? in the case of these, we hate pete defazio ads, who put that there is actually a very difficult question to answer. because of the new rules this year, we don't get to know who is behind stuff like this. we don't get to know who's doing this. pete defazio went over to the office of this group to figure out who they are. you saw him get stone walled in the video. here's what we have figured out about this group and what the washington post and huffington post have been able to ferret out. the clip art website describes them this way, concerned taxpayers of america was formed to engage citizens from every
12:06 am
walk of life and affiliation to hold elected leaders accountable for the country's fiscal well-being. are you inspired by their mission statement and laughing woman carrying her son, standing in front of trees? would you like to join these folks? good luck. they don't actually offer you any way to do that. aside from clip art purchased from istockphoto.com, there's not a lot else on the website. no here you can donate or literature for you to read or way for you as a citizen to get involved. if you try to google concerned taxpayers of america, this is what you'll find. all sorts of news stories about pete defazio confronting them and trying to figure out who they are. as far as we can tell, it is not possible to find their website on the google. here's how we found them. we found them because their filings with the federal election commission 29 days ago
12:07 am
has a line where you're supposed to enter in your organization's website. that's the only way we were able to find it. it was submitted by treasurer jason miller. he was a long time congressional staffer. he now works for jamestown associates, which bills itself as a full-service republican and political affairs political consulting group. that is who is running concerned tax papers of america. you know, take the concerned taxpayers at their word. maybe they are an organization designed to engage regular citizens, designed to engage people of all walks of life. but you it doesn't really seem like that. it seems like the concerned taxpayers of america is a piece of paper filed with the fdc 29 days ago. and now $165,000 from lord knows where is being spent to get rid of pete defazio.
12:08 am
nobody is allowed to know who's behind until the damage is already done. that's the way politics works now. it's not news that corporations and rich people try to get their way in politics. we talked a lot this year about corporations and billionaires funding fake grassroots groups like americans fo prosper ities. they talk about how far global warming is a bunch of hot air. whatever you think about that, at least they are doing something. in 2010 for the first time, nobody is pretending that these organizations, these groups, are doing anything but laundering money. hey, there's a guy who says that global warming is a hoax designed to enslave america. he's running against pete defazio. let's put $100,000 into that
12:09 am
race, $1 million into that race. $100 million into that race. how much is it worth our clients to get rid of pete defazio? why not? why not spend $1 million? you can launder your money through a fake organization you have some republican lobbyist set up in five minutes at godaddy.com. you buy some quick clip art and quick trip to laundering america. there is no ceiling on what you can spend. this is the way the elections are running right now. after citizens united, after the campaign finance changes that conservatives are supporting this year, this is the way our elections run in america now. and this is the context in which every individual american
12:10 am
citizen of average, medium or modest means are donating to their candidates to make a difference in this year's elections. what do you think your odds are of making a difference? this is the landscape in which your elections get decided now. you don't stand a chance. joining us is democratic congressman pete defazio. thanks for joining us. >> thanks, rachel. i appreciate the opportunity. great lead-in there. it would be funny if i wasn't being pummeled $86,000 worth of ads. >> give us a sense of how much is typically spent on an election in your district. >> the most i've spent in a contested race would be $500,000
12:11 am
on each side. $1 million total. these people are headed well toward more than $500,000 as the independent, anonymous expenditure of the concerned taxpayers, whoever they are. plural or is it singular? a corporation or group of people? >> do you have any suspicion about who it is? i know you paid a visit to their sort of office or mailbox with that guy to find out. we called them today. they totally stone walled us as well. do you have any suspicions as to who they might be? >> it's funny this big-time republican firm would have a dead drop at a ratty town house on capitol hill. we're not sure what that's about. they're trying to it hide many layers and levels here. my opponent has a long history of being a corporate shill. exxonmobil has funded through the marshall foundation blogs say -- weep can't prove it -- his campaign against global warming.
12:12 am
he has proven -- himself singularly, he's a chemist, that global warming is a hoax to enslach the american people. the strange thing is, this is a guy that lives on social security, in the quarter of my district. somehow he came up with a million dollars to mail that petition out to hundreds of thousands of people under false pretenses to try to solicit those contributions. where did he get the money? he's reporting 12,000 bucks a year with social security. he must have saved up for a long time to send it out. >> yesterday, i understand that the house democratic caucus was reporting they played the video of you trying to sort this out. they played the video for all the democrats in the house of you yelling through the mailbox. hello. they showed it to these other democrats. does that mean that what you did is going to be part of a democratic strategy to respond to this. >> i think so. we're listening to you. you've been saying, where are the democrats? why don't they push back? you never have to encourage me. some of my colleagues have to be
12:13 am
pushed. first call i got on my sell phone, he was like, go, guy. he's in their face too. we have to fight back. so they're billionaires. come on, when i first ran for congress, i went down to a mill, which at the time was one of the 500 richest men in america to support a strike. i didn't know what they had in mind. they block aided the mill with miles of pickup trucks. all the managers look out at us. a reporter said, how can you do this? he's one of the 500 richest men in america. i said, because all these people get a vote on election day, it's still that way. if it's exxonmobil, i don't know. in the supreme court decision, maybe they get the vote now. i'm sure they're a citizen. i'll try to inspire average people to fight back against this. we need to do that and kick sand in their fears and say, you're not going to buy the fourth district of oregon.
12:14 am
you're not going to buy the united states of america and the congress for your petty little purposes. >> democratic congressman pete defazio of oregon. thank you for having the presence of mind to bring -- send camera crews when you went to yell through the mailbox. otherwise we would not be able to show that on tv and show people how it's done. thanks for your time. we really appreciate it. >> appreciate it. 33 days until this year's elections. and the president of the united states, the elected leader of the democratic party is launching another salvo tonight in his party's efforts to rev up their base. we will you that appearance when it happens coming up live in just a moment. plus, what the republican leader, john boehner said his mission will be if republicans win the house this year. it's complicated and requires acting and makeup and all sorts of physical awkwardness for us to show you what he said and what he meant. that overly ambitious effort. boss: our breakout session is gonna be great.
12:15 am
got the gecko t-shirt... "4 million drivers switched!" gecko water bottle... notebook... chamois... gecko: sir, i feel a little bit uncomfortable with all... you know... with all this. i mean, it's not about me. should be about how geico's the third-largest car insurance company in the nation. things like that. boss: oh, of course! we're not gonna get carried away. gecko: uh...yeah... all right as long as we don't overdo it. vo: geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. [ male announcer ] the vanilla caramel latte from maxwell house international café. the 60 calorie way to stop your world.
12:16 am
12:17 am
we're getting this live shot. this is president obama rallying the base to help democrats keep congress. mr. obama, that is a live shot, starting to speak to what the democratic party calls generation 44, the dnc's outreach to young voters. we'll be right back. ♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] at&t and blackberry have teamed up to keep your business moving. introducing the blackberry torch. at&t. rethink possible. [ male announcer ] it's luxury with fire in its veins. bold. daring. capable of moving your soul.
12:18 am
♪ and that's even before you drop your foot on the pedal. ♪ the new 2011 cts coupe from cadillac. the new standard of the world. president obama is speaking right now at the inaugural
12:19 am
senate for generation 44, a program within the democratic national committee, specifically targeting young members. let's go to the president now. >> but make no mistake, this this election is a choice. and the choice could not be clearer. for the last decade, the republicans in washington subscribed to a very simple philosophy. you cut taxes, mostly for millionaires and billionaires. you cut regulations for special interests, whether it's oil companies or banks or insurance companies. you cut back on investments in education and clean energy and research and technology. and basically the idea was that if you had blind faith in the market and let corporations play by their own rules and let everybody else fend for themselves, including young people, including the next generation, then somehow america would grow and prosper. that was the theory.
12:20 am
now, look, here's what we know. the philosophy failed. we tested it. we tried it. we tried it for eight years. it didn't work. when they were in charge, job growth was slower than it's been in any decade since world war ii. between 2001 and 2009, middle class incomes fell by 5%. this was when they were in charge. the cost of everything from health care to college tuition just kept on going up. a free-for-all on wall street led to the very crisis we're still digging out of today. by the way, we went from record surpluses to record deficits. these are the folks who say that they care about wasteful spending. they took us from a surplus when a democrat was in charge to big deficits when they were in charge. that's the truth. those are the facts.
12:21 am
they're counting on amnesia. they think y'all forgot. so i've had two main jobs since i was president. to rescue this economy from crisis and rebuild it stronger than it was before. so that you look before to the 21st century just like the 20th century was the american century. over the last 20 months, we've made progress on both these fronts. there's no longer a possibility of the second depression. the economy's growing again. private sector jobs we created for eight consecutive months. there are 3 million americans who would not be working today if it weren't for the economic plan we put in place.
12:22 am
we passed wall street reform to make sure a crisis like this never happens again. no more taxpayer-funded bailouts. we put -- we set up reforms that'll stop mortgage lenders from taking advantage of homeowners. we reformed credit card practices so they won't hit you up with hidden fees or jack up your rates without reason. we started investing again in american research, american technology, home-grown american clean energy. because i don't want solar plants or wind turbines or electric cars built in europe or built in asia. i want them built right here in the united states of america. because we're all about making it in america. >> president obama speaking tonight to generation 44, which
12:23 am
is the democratic national committee's program that concentrates on young democratic voters. that speech happening live right now in washington, d.c. joining us is eugene robinson, pulitzer prize-winning columnist nutrient washington post. thanks for being here. >> great to be here. >> we saw the president speak at a big, rousing outdoor rally in madison, wisconsin. and tonight giving slightly less of a barn burner, but the barn is definitely still on fire to young voters in washington. is the president as get out the vote motivator in chief? >> yes, it is. it's a job from the democratic party's point of view had better get done. you know, he may not help the party in every district. there are some democrats who would rather run away from the president. with this group in particular, the group in madison and this group that focuses on young voters, this is an important
12:24 am
constituency that hasn't shown a lot of enthusiasm for the 2010 mid-terms and better get out and vote if the democrats are going to squeak by with this thing or indeed survive with even the majority in the senate, to say nothing of their majority in the house. >> if you can hold on. we'll take a quick break and come back with more of the president's speech and get more of your reaction as it unfolds tonight in washington. can you hold on with us? >> absolute. >> eugene robinson sticking with us. home of one of the coldest, longest nights on the planet. and asked frequent heartburn sufferers, like carl, to put prilosec otc's 24 hour heartburn protection to the test for two weeks. the results? i can concentrate on everything i'm doing, not even think about it anymore. since i've been taking it, i've been heartburn free, which is a big relief for me. [ male announcer ] take your 14-day challenge.
12:25 am
♪ prilosec otc. heartburn gone. power on. kraso, get this -- kraft mac & cheese... but it's in a bag. and you bake it... in the oven. whatever happened to cheesasaurus rex? i love that guy. well, kraft corporation, i'm on to you -- going after the grown-ups and trying to muscle me out. but i'm not going anywhere. [ male announcer ] new kraft homestyle macaroni & cheese. cheesy noodles topped with golden brown breadcrumbs. you know you love it. cheesy noodles topped with golden brown breadcrumbs. on your next business trip, pack your marriott rewards visa card. get triple points every time you use your card at marriott. apply now and earn 22,500 bonus points when you use your card and enjoy a free night stay. so, before you know it, work time becomes well-deserved downtime. apply now at marriott.com/freenightstay.
12:26 am
you've got staying power. about this "dedicated claims rep" thing. okay, well... calling yourselves "dedicated"? we're all dedicated, okay? the entire website team worked late every night this week. look at sanjeev. he's a mess! what? no... guys, we're called dedicated claims reps because we each stay with an esurance customer throughout the automobile claims process. it's not because we think we work harder than you. well, you don't. [ sanjeev ] am i a mess? [ joey ] you slept in the vending machine... [ male announcer ] want a great deal on car insurance? go to esurance.
12:27 am
12:28 am
two years ago, with the help of a lot of you, some of you getting involved in politics for the first time -- you defied the washington conventional wisdom. i mean, you remember. folks did not think we were going to win. let's face it. because they didn't know about you. they said, no, you can't overcome the cynicism of our politics. no, you can't overcome the special interests. no, you can't make real progress out of big challenges of our time. they said, no, you can't. what did you say?
12:29 am
>> yes, we can! >> you said, yes, we can. you proved that the power of everyday people, going door-to-door, neighbor to neighbor, friend to friend, using networks, using the internet, that that was stronger than the force of the status quo. and every single one of you is a shareholder in that mission to rebuild our country and reclaim our future. so i'm back here today just in case you have forgotten what that feels like to change the country. because on november 2nd, we face another test. and the stakes could not be higher.
12:30 am
when i arrived in washington about 20 months ago, it was really cold. it was a cold day. it was a cold day, but the spirit was warm. and our hope was that we could pull together, democrats and republicans and independents to confront the worst economic crisis sense the great depression. what we hoped was that we could get beyond some of the old political divides, red states, blue states, that it prevented us from making progress for so long. and we came into this with that spirit because we understood that we're proud to be democrats but we're prouder to be americans.
12:31 am
and instead, what we confronted when we arrived was just politics, pure and simple. an opposition party that was still stuck in the same failed policies of the past. whose leaders in congress were determined from the start to let us deal with the mess they had done so much to create. their calculation was simple and cynical. they knew it was going to take a long time to solve the economic changes we were facing, the worst economic crisis since the great depression. they understood because it was going to take a long time, people would be frustrated and feel anxious and be fearful. and so what the other side calculated was, you know, if we just sit on the sidelines, we let obama and the democrats in congress deal with everything,
12:32 am
then we can do well in the polls. that was their theory. that's what they did for the last 20 months. they've said no to just about every idea i've proposed, every policy i've proposed, even ideas they've traditionally agreed with. i'm not exaggerating. they would sponsor bills and i'd say okay. and they said, oh, if you're okay with it, we must be against it. and because they understood that folks were going to be anxious and fearful, they've been tapping into that fear. and now the pundits are saying that the base of the republican party is mobilized and energized and excited. and all of us who worked so hard in 2008, maybe we're not as energetic maybe we're not as engaged. that's what they're saying.
12:33 am
i'm just the messenger here. they say there is an enthusiasm gap. and that the same republicans and the same policies put our economy in a shambles and the middle class struggling year after year. those folks want back into power. that's the conventional wisdom in washington. we cannot let that happen. we cannot sit this how the. we can't let this country fall backwards. the stakes are too high. we have to move this country forward for you and your future. so there better not be an enthusiasm gap, people. not now. >> president obama speaking tonight to generation 44, which is the part of the democratic national committee that specifically targets younger voters.
12:34 am
we've had some glitches in the audio and video feed because of weather on the east coast. joining us is eugene robinson. thanks for sticking with us. >> i'm glad to do it, rachel. >> is the -- there not be an enthusiasm gap somebody that is better left unspoken? is it the sort of thing you ought to be encouraging not to be true? what's the best way to deal with that? >> the enthusiasm gap is so obvious, i think you might as well confront it head-on. he says there better not be an enthusiasm gap, but in fact there is one. it's been measured in every survey. it's what goes against in some polls and some races there have been a lot of signs ta democrats
12:35 am
are coming home and focusing in on the election and saying, gee, we're upset with the democrats. but we really don't want the republicans. but will they go out to vote? will those first-time obama voters, obama's people will they take the trouble to go to the polls? that's going to be a huge factor on november 2nd. >> the president obviously trying to make that case overtly. i think i agree with you it's so obvious and the common wisdom in washington. there's no traction in not talking about it. but in terms of how he is going to motivate people, the thing i can't figure out is if the president is modeling for other democratic candidates, how he thinks they ought to be campaigning. he is running on his record. he's saying, we've done stuff over two years. they want us to flag. let's not flag.
12:36 am
that modeling for the democrats how they outto be running or saying, i'm trying to get people excited but i know you candidates are going to talk about outsourcing or whatever? >> i think it's more the latter. modeling for some democrats who are in districts, but for especially the group democrats who won two years ago in districts that traditionally had gone republican since there was such a democratic sweep. they were going to have trouble in any event holding on to those seats. and given the energy, again, on the other side, on the republican side, obviously they're not going to go out and give this speech. they're not going to run on obama's record. they're going to run in some cases away from obama's record. and the white house has signaled that basically, okay, that's cool. you do what you need to do to
12:37 am
try to win re-election. for some democrats, this would be a model. i think we'll hear this again and again from him because he does, i think, uniquely reach a class of voters that span the whole country. >> eugene robinson. thank you very much for going overtime with us tonight. really appreciate it. it's great to see you. >> goodnight, rachel. >> it is unclear whether or not congressman john boehner has measured the drapes in the office of the speaker of the house today. but he gave a speech today to that effect. we'll see if we can get involved next. stufy, make the call. ♪ [ dialing ] [ beeping ] [ beeping ] [ beeping ] [ eli ] it's go time.
12:38 am
♪ ♪
12:39 am
12:40 am
the republican party's chosen candidates got beaten over and over again in republican primaries this year by candidates the party did not want and that in some cases the party actively and vociferously campaigned against. republican fund-raisings isn't much happening through the republican party anymore. it's outside groups and campaign committees. one of the most interesting things about politics in 2010
12:41 am
has been working the rnc, republican party itself, essentially become beside the point. rnc chairman michael steele was so kind from the political process this year he's been on a bus touring dozens of congressional districts where there is no chance the republicans can lose. then wait, why send the national chairman? oh, right. when he's not doing that, he's being sent literally thousands of miles offshore to places like guam and saipan. mr. steele's exile is coming to an end. he's coming home. the chairman of the republican party is being allowed back into politics and fund-raising is once again a real prospect. the rnc is going to host fund-raisers with sarah palin. as first reported by politico.com. governor palin will be at the victory 2010 rallies in anaheim, california next month and in orlando, florida. michael steele will be there too.
12:42 am
but you can see who's doing the headlining. the 1 whose name is in big blue cursive letters, the honorable sarah palin. did i say that cursively enough? for a meter $30,000 a couple you can get a private meeting with sarah palin. any average folks with $30,000 burning a hole in their pocket can meet the woman from wasilla. that's how michael steele with return to politics, through the grace and fund-raising of sarah palin. the split seams are sewn. the lion lays down with the lamb. instead of the brave new republican world, it goes back to being 2010 again.
12:43 am
how are you getting to a happier place? running there? dancing there? how about eating soup to get there? campbell's soups fill you with good nutrition, farm-grown ingredients, and can help you keep a healthy weight. campbell's. it's amazing what soup can do. even if you think your mattress is just fine... ask me what it's like to get your best night's sleep every night. why not talk to someone who's sleeping on the most highly recommended bed in america... it's not a sealy... or a simmons... or a serta... ask me about my tempur-pedic. ask me how fast i fall asleep. ask me about staying asleep. these are actual tempur-pedic owners! ask someone you know---check out twitter... try your friends on facebook. you'll hear it all...un-edited. ask me how it feels after 10 years. ask me if it's a good value. just ask me. there are 4 million tempur-pedic owners! and they're more satisfied than owners of any traditional mattress brand.
12:44 am
ask me why i feel better every morning. ask me why someone who's never had an ache or a pain is in love with this bed. start asking real owners. ask me how we took the first step... take the first step right now! call or click today for your free information kit with dvd. call the number on your screen or visit tempurpedic.com. tempur-pedic. the most highly recommended bed in america. ♪ i like your messy hair ♪ i like the clothes you wear ♪ i like the way you sing ♪ and when you dance with me ♪ you always make me smile [ male announcer ] we believe you're at your best when you can relax and be yourself. and at thousands of newly refreshed holiday inn hotels, you always can. holiday inn. stay you. and now stay rewarded with a sweet dilemma. up to five free nights at any of our properties or double points. coming up on the last word
12:45 am
with lawrence o'donnell, lawrence continues his guest list from heaven tonight with new york mayor michael bloomberg and the one and only meghan mccain. on this show, acting, makeup, cigarette. please stay tuned. ♪ [ male announcer ] the vanilla caramel latte from maxwell house international café. the 60 calorie way to stop your world.
12:46 am
i've been here nearly 20 years. i've seen the good, the bad and the ugly. and lately, there's been a lot of ugly. >> a lot of ugly.
12:47 am
that's the house minority leader, john boehner, in a speech at the american enterprise institute in washington, d.c. this afternoon. >> take it back. >> wonderful to see you, congressman. >> his mission to persuade the american people that if the republicans take back the house, the institution will be safe in their hands. >> in the constitution of the house of represents, it's the first institution of the first branch of government. the body closest to the people. it's an awesome responsibility. and we should take pride in it and we should be humbled by it. the house, more than any other part of our government, is the most direct voice of the people. and, therefore, should be avoided or afforded the most care in protecting its ability to protect the people's will. >> the house should be afforded the most care because it is the very first branch of government? >> good to see you.
12:48 am
>> branch of government? mr. boehner believes a very bad thing has happened to that branch of government. >> from the floor of the house to the committee level, the integrity of the house has been compromised. >> the integrity of the house has been compromised. john boehner saying he's going to restore that compromised integrity. i'm sorry, it's actually really hard to concentrate on what i'm saying with all that racket in here. what is going on in here? >> don't forget to -- oh, i see. it's 1995, john boehner. the then number four leader among house republicans. 1995 john boehner handing out checks from the tobacco industry on the floor of the house while the house was in session. >> good to see you. i've seen you before, haven't i? >> seriously, he did that. he handed out tobacco lobbyist checks on the floor of the house
12:49 am
while the house was in session. it's not secret. he even admitted it to pbs. >> they asked me to give out a half dozen checks quickly before we got to the end of the month. and i complied. i did it on the house floor, which i regret. i should not have done. it's not a violation of the house rules, but it's a practice that's gone on here for a long time that we're trying to stop. and i know i'll never do it again. >> were the checks from to it backo companies? >> i think if my memory serves me correctly, it was a tobacco check, yes. >> that's the guy who took money from tobacco companies and handed out it out like candy to the floor of the house saying he will restore the integrity of that branch of government. they decided their message for this year's elections will be vote republican because of john boehner's integrity. >> let's get a smoke later. >> i think we might try to keep
12:50 am
1995 john boehner on staff for a while. >> great to see you. decadently delicious. 60 calories. it's finally me o'clock. time for jell-o. try new chocolate mint sensation. it's finally me o'clock. time for jell-o. got the gecko t-shirt... s "4 million drivers switched!" gecko water bottle... notebook... chamois... gecko: sir, i feel a little bit uncomfortable with all... you know... with all this. i mean, it's not about me. should be about how geico's the third-largest car insurance company in the nation. things like that. boss: oh, of course! we're not gonna get carried away. gecko: uh...yeah... all right as long as we don't overdo it.
12:51 am
vo: geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance.
12:52 am
12:53 am
>> god morning landlocked central asia. landlocked. a country that just has other countries on all of its borders. no coastline at all. we are waging a war, about to start our tenth year of war in a country that is landlocked. waging a war, of course, takes a lot of big stuff. some of that stuff you can load on to really big planes and get into the country by air. but not all of it. not having a port, not being able to ship anything in is a real logistical pain. you can't really rely on air lifts for everything. there's going to have to be some shipping and some trucking.
12:54 am
well, here's what some of that looks like for our decade of landlocked war. these are nato vehicles on their way to the war over land. this is how we get a lot of our stuff to war. ships can't go to afghanistan because it's landlocked. they can't go to the closest ports in iran because, you know, iran. so they go to karachi, they go to pakistan. they go to karachi and then the stuff gets taken off of ships, put on trucks and then it gets driven all the way across pakistan to the northwest corner there, you see there, the khyber pass and then on to afghanistan or kabul. that's how we supply the military in year ten of our war in landlocked afghanistan. and today, the pakistani government cut that supply line off. our supply lines for this war are that fragile, that stretched out, that thin. and today, cut off.
12:55 am
it happened because of the thing we do not call a war in pakistan. we talk about our war in afghanistan, our war in iraq. but then there's another war we're involved in. the bush administration said it was the war on terror, the war on terrorism, the global war on terrorism. that language is now used less by the obama administration, but we're still waging it, still all the same. the jd that fighting terrorism is something that has to happen in a way that's almost post national, that terrorist groups aren't countries, they span different countries, they can move around so if you're going to fight a war against terrorists who want to launch attacks on americans, it has to be a global war, a war anywhere on earth. countries don't really matter. but countries do matter, borders do matter. they matter as much to anyone else in the world as they do to us. and apparently now pakistan is over us. they are over us acting like the war on people who happen to live in pakistan, even though we don't say it's a war on pakistan, is starting to feel
12:56 am
like a war on pakistan. our flying robots, our planes without pilots, our drones are firing more missiles into pakistan than ever before. recently it's been about one air strike a day. but it is not just the pace of those remote controlled bombings picking up. this weekend, there were three different air strikes in which u.s. heblt hechts with pilots flew into pakistan and launched strikes there. the u.s. said it was okay to do that because they were in hot pursuit of people who had shot at americans in afghanistan. they said the hot pursuit rules let them do that. pakistan says there's no hot pursuit rules. you have to stay out of our country. and general petraeus warned pakistan that the u.s. could just send american troops marching into pakistan. we could? general petraeus reportedly warning pakistan of that.
12:57 am
maybe he should warn us. that at roughly 5:30 in the morning this morning local time, not only did u.s. helicopters fly again into pakistan again, they flew into pakistan and shot at what everyone now admits were pakistani soldiers, at frontier outpost. three of them killed, three injured, border post destroyed. then a few hours later, we hit another one. nato issued a statement of sincere condolences of those injured and killed. and the government of those in the country were killed. that country's government retaliated against us, by cutting off our supply route to the 100,000 american troops next door. >> if you are being attacked are you fighting a war or are you in war together? >> are you fighting a war? or are you in war together?
12:58 am
that's pakistan's foreign minister. pakistan's foreign minister also told reporters about the u.s. today this, quote, we will have to see whether we are allies or enemies. it is the idea of a global war on terrorism that transcends countries, right? our idea is about fighting terrorists, regardless of where they are. transcending countries, transcending national boundaries. but, you know, if the united states decides that where it wants to fight happens to be in your country, the idea of what we're doing may transcend national boundaries, but the fighting doesn't. the fighting happens in specific places. if what's going on with this escalation that no one is talking about is that the war in afghanistan is sort of officially expanding into pakistan, then this isn't just ho-hum, another chapter in the global war that's everywhere, this is laos, cambodia 1970. i don't care if people want to talk about afpac like it's a sinkle place, about pakistan
12:59 am
being an extension of the existing war. what this is is war in another country. it is another war. iraq, afghanistan, pakistan. no matter how much we like to see we're here to help, they do not want us there. and so it's ultimately going to be a war, not with but against a country that has got a government, that has an army, that has a population of over 160 million people, more than half the population of our country. they've also got a global diaspra who have people who think of this as a war against america. and oh, yeah, they have nuclear weapons. military leaders are testing the idea of the war in afghanistan being extended to pakistan. and they're doing it quietly. if that is what's happening, if that is what's happening, if they're te