>> shortly after our cameras left, hurricane katrina destroyed much of the gulf coast region. the elaine hunt correctional center became home to many inmates from nearby prisons that were evacuated due to damage. that's our report. thanks for watching. i'm john seigenthaler.  good evening. i'm chris matthews. in washington, leading off tonight, road kill. rush limbaugh has committed another hit and run. if you caught him on the radio yesterday you heard him once more use race as a crowd pleaser. deriding nancy pelosi and james clyburn saying the democrats are racist. clyburn is getting bumped down from the leadership to the job

of pelosi's driver. driving miss nancy, he calls it. question for the country. with all the stuff rush has to throw at the democrats, the bad economy and all of it, why does he keep going back to race? plus, the threat from the left. if president obama accepts tax cuts for the rich and the deficit commission's recommendations, will he face a challenger for renomination? will the progressives mount a candidate against him? and a new poll shows the president's dropped an average of 18 points. in a half dozen states he carried in 2008. we'll take a look at how tough 2012 could be for him. also, november 22nd will mark the 47th anniversary of the assassination of president kennedy. everyone at that time remembers the secret service agent who jumped on the back of the president's car after he was shot. and now he and another agent who was by jfk's side on that tragic day are breaking their silence on what happened. they'll be here tonight. and let me finish tonight with why it's time to end don't ask, don't tell and time to let all americans serve their

country with pride and honesty. let's start with rush limbaugh's comments about congressman jim clyburn. joining me are two of clyburn's democratic colleagues. ohio congresswoman marcie kaptur and california congresswoman barbara lee. thank you both for joining us. let's listen to rush limbaugh if you dare, of what he said yesterday. >> the white racist leadership of the democratic party trying to ace out clyburn. clyburn started the man respected all hell seems to break loose in the democrat party. hey, i have a suggestion. you know, i like to mediate these things. i like to bring people together. i like to unify people. i don't like seeing this kind of strife. clyburn's worried about not having the car. clyburn's worried about not having the perk of big office, driver, so forth. the way this could all be worked out, clyburn's new position,

driving miss nancy. he gets to keep the car. he gets to go everywhere she goes. parties and everything else. he's not in the back of the bus. he's in the driver's seat. and she's in the back of the car being chauffeured. solved problem. >> let me start with congresswoman lee on this. i wonder if people -- well, i don't have to wonder anymore, they still think like this. one of them is on the radio. his name is rush limbaugh. the imagery there, back of the bus, driving miss daisy. pretending jim clyburn is morgan freeman here. the whole number. what do you make of it? >> first, as my mother would say, consider the source. i don't believe this is the attitude of the majority of americans. but, clearly, we've come a long way in terms of racial healing. but we have a long way to go. and they're still people who believe as mr. limbaugh believes. but, you know, i don't think that's what's important.

i think what's important is that we have to move forward. have a dialogue about race and just really consider the source. nothing's going to change rush limbaugh and what he says. he has to act responsibly. he hasn't and should. but i don't think that he is. and so we have to move forward. i think what's important, chris, is to look at this race and look at the background and qualifications of mr. clyburn, his experience. he comes to the leadership with a wealth of understanding, of all of the issues that affect all americans, north, south, east, west, urban, rural and so that's one of the reasons that myself and the congressional black caucus are supporting mr. clyburn. >> i'm not going to let this opportunity pass, despite the high-mindedness of your comments right there. let's go right now and take a look at rush limbaugh's greatest hits and nastiest hits. this is not a new subject for him. then we'll get back to this leadership race. here's rush limbaugh over the years and what he's had to say. and let's listen so we can judge him and see the pattern. >> we're witnessing racism all this week that led up to the inauguration.

we're being told that we have to hope he succeeds. that we have to bend over, grab the ankles, bend over forward, backward, whichever, because his father was black. because this is the first black president. obama is the greatest living example of a reverse racist, and now he's appointed one. getting this, ap? sonia sotomayor, to the u.s. supreme court. what they don't know is that in obama's entire economic program is reparations. that's exactly the same thing you can say about obama. he wouldn't have been voted president if he weren't black. >> congresswoman kaptur, thank you for joining us. i want your view on this and then we'll move on to the more high-minded subjects. but i will let this pass. this guy has an audience out there and he's tasted a victory in being able to once again -- look it. well, there he is. you're not missing this, this crazy performance here. this issue of this fight. since there is an african-american involved and since there's a caucasian american to use that term involved, steny hoyer, jim, he's

seen an opportunity to once again, we see it all in terms of race. is that the issue or is that the issue of how the democrats deal with the fact they lost an election. they have to reassemble a leadership team and somehow find the best possible way to represent themselves to the world. >> well, first of all, chris, let me just say that if mr. clyburn has his hands on the steering wheel, i can guarantee you it's a firm grip and that car is headed in the right direction. and i just wish that mr. limbaugh would use more of his power to make sure that american cars get into the korean market and the japanese market and the chinese market and the european market so we can start creating more jobs in this country. i know mr. clyburn would drive the car in that direction. >> okay. let me go back to this question of the leadership fight. i want to find out about this -- congresswoman kaptur, you have asked for a delay. you've circulated a petition. now what happened is the democrats lost the speakership. that means miss pelosi's lost the speakership. she goes down to the level she'd like to as democratic minority

leader. leader of the minority. that would mean steny hoyer goes back to the number two and james clyburn from the south moves down to the number three position. now the question is not that need and you want to have a further examination of this before you vote. is that right? you want more time on this to think about it? >> yes, congressman peter defazio of oregon and i are circulate a letter asking members to sign on. wane we're doing very well. we just started two days ago. saying that we really need to assess what's happened. listen to our members, as they return from all regions of the country. we don't need to have leadership elections immediately. they're all already running through these different offices. the real question is what can our party do now to help to move this country in a positive direction to change the economic practices that have just been hemorrhaging jobs from coast to coast. the president's original advisers. i think were ill-advised. he's gotten rid of a couple of them, thank goodness. and i think it's incumbent upon

the democrats that remain to help correct the ship of state. this election was about the economy. byron dorgan's book, "take this job and ship it," i have constituents giving me this book talking about what's happened to their jobs. i think it's a responsibility of the democratic caucus to put forward an economic program and to do it as members of the house, not because somebody in the economic office at the white house wants something, but because we as the congress stand up for the american people. that's what this election was about. >> congresswoman lee -- it seems to me a differential between -- >> and by the way -- if i might just mention -- >> yeah. >> if i might just mention, and i look forward to alliances with some of the tea party republicans that have just been elected because when nafta passed in 1993, we only had a 12-vote margin that would have made the difference. and look at the terrible hemorrhage of jobs that occurred because of that. i'll tell you, i think that there's a real democratic tea party republican alliance to be born in this new congress. if it doesn't happen, the people

who don't support jobs in this country won't be re-elected two years from now. >> let me go to congresswoman lee on that question. it seems there's a divide in the democratic party in the country between the coasts, the california coast out west, washington state, back east, new york, sort of the -- we might call them the port cities. the coasts. they're better off economically. they are doing well in the democratic party. the democratic party did great in new york state. they won all the senate races for both senate seats. they did great in massachusetts with deval patrick and all the members of the house being re-elected. you get into the middle of the country, starting in pennsylvania and all way across the midwest the industrial part of the country the democrats got wiped out. marcie kaptur just spoke for them. she is concerned that the democratic party is currently put together is not in a position to win the hearts and minds and keep the jobs and win the jobs of the people of the middle of the country. you are out there in berkeley on the west coast. do you think you can speak for the people in the middle of the country?

isn't this a problem that nancy pelosi is from san francisco. she doesn't understand the problems of the middle of the country. is that a decent argument or not? >> that's not a decent argument. when you look at the unemployment rates in california in new york, throughout the country, when you look at unemployment rates in communities of colors, for example in the african-american and the latino community, double digit, twice the unemployment rates of the national average. when you look at what has taken place throughout the country, the issue is jobs. the issue is economic recovery. we have unemployment rates out here again that are off the scale. >> i want to thank you both for being here. coming up, president obama's path to re-election is getting tough. the 2012 map is narrowing, if you will. certain states he can carry, certain states he can't carry. if he supports the deficit commission's recommendations will he face a primary challenge in the states he needs to carry? that means a challenge from the left. that's ahead.all batt you are watching "hardball" only

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welcome back to "hardball." how serious is the threat from the left to president obama? progressives are pushing the white house to extend tax cuts for the rich for this lame-duck session. for this rich lame-duck session. "the new york times" reports today that some riled up -- or so riled up are some liberals about the early recommendations of the deficit commission's chairman that privately, several suggested if mr. obama were to embrace its major parts, he would invite a primary challenge in 2012. mark halperin is an msnbc senior political analyst. and john heilman's with the new york magazine. both are authors of the book "game change." mark, you start with this thing. is this a possibility? let's talk about the tax cuts. it seems to me that everybody in america knows their taxes are

going up this next coming january unless action is taken by congress to extend the bush tax cuts, at least for them. and the president's problem is he's unlikely to get a vote in this senate to extend tax cuts just for the group he wants them extended for, people under $250,000 a year. so he may be facing a choice come mid-december of whether to let this thing go, back to january, with the tax cuts not in effect. in other words, people facing a tax increase or it will all be blamed on him. so what's he do? >> look this is a test case for a lot of what the next two years are going to be like. the president's going to have a choice. all presidents face cross currents. on this issue and almost everything else the president wants to get done he can either get stuff done or alienate part of the so-called professional left. the key for him is to show that he can get enough stuff done and get enough democrats on board that he doesn't destroy his coalition on the left. >> that's the definition of it the problem. how does he do it? it seems he has to choose. he has to choose between facing

the hellish situation of not approving the tax cut continuation and having the republican congress come in next january and jam it passed him like the u.s. cabaret attacking in saving the settlers and getting all the credit for it and having something to run in on 2012 or doing it himself. john, you want to take a crack at that? john, what's the better choice for him. be the cavalry or let the republicans be the cavalry? >> i don't think there's a choice here. david axelrod when he gave that interview to "the huffington post" a couple of days ago was speaking the truth. that the world has changed around him. and he's going to have to accept a short-term extension of all the tax cuts and not allow himself to be put in a position where in addition to all of that his other political liabilities that he's taken on over the last two years, and particularly since -- in the context of the midterms. he can't allow himself to be cast as a tax raiser on top of everything else. it's just not a plausible scenario for him. >> back to mark. can he get the republicans to agree to anything short of a complete extenuation of the tax

cuts, even for the wealthy? can he get them to agree to anything short of that or they'll say, no, mr. president, we're not going to give you the vote in the senate. you're not getting the 60 votes. you're not going to get to just to people who make 250. you have to get it all or they won't approve the vote. suppose they do that. >> i think he's lost the possibility and the leverage to get them decoupled. to have an unequal extension. i think the best he can hope for is a short-term mirrored exemption -- extension for everything. and if he gets that, that's just a place holder. he needs to fight another day. but he can't be all about battle. he has to use this as an opportunity to figure out how he's going to deal with this new political normal with republicans, not in the majority in the lame-duck session but effectively with the upper hand now and in the majority in the house in january. >> let me go to this other question. the other day the debt commission run by a republican, of course, allan simpson. former senator from wyoming. and erskine bowles the former chief of staff to president clinton came out and said a very, very tough recommendations that had to do with extending --

or raising tax base for social security. when you make up almost $200,000 a year, you'll be paying a ton of money into the payroll tax that you'll never get back. also getting rid of capital gains preference. but what i think has grabbed all of the attention is that the fact that the retirement age will go up to 69 this in the year 2075. and, john heilman, i know we're all spring chickens here but i just wonder, why in the world do people worry about 2075 and why are those fighting words for people? why is the democratic -- i guess it's the progressives, some of them are very young and they are thinking about 2075. >> i think it's more, chris, that democrats have just -- that the preservation of social security in its current form has been a touchstone for democratic politics. not just for the progressive side but the main stream of the democratic party for a long time. i think they feel to give anything on that front is letting the nose -- the camel's nose get into the tent. so they feel as though they have to keep up an absolutely staunch opposition to tinkering with social security. no matter how fiscally insane that position is.

>> but this is basically a two or three for one. perhaps a three for one. it is tilted toward the republicans. there's very little tax increase. is that the problem? the balance is wrong for progressives? mark? >> that's part of it. i think there's more in there the progressives don't like. some progressives are kind of stunned and offended, like paul krugman of "the new york times." that a commission formed by a democratic president would tilt that way. i think the thing is in some ways extraordinarily timid. the plan that bowles and simpson plan. it does a job of spreading the pain around. deterring things that need to be deterred, taking things on. the gas tax. there's a lot in there. i think this is a great opportunity for people who want to get things done. that includes the president. we'll see if it includes republicans in congress. it's a great opportunity to build on this thing. and the progressives who are squeaking and squawking, i think john is right. they don't want to let a camel's nose under that tent, but they are going to be left behind if there is this coalition of

obama, centrist democrats and republicans. >> let me ask you, john, about the whole question. do you thing public really cares about debt? they're willing to take it on and say i'm willing to accept a shared sacrifice meaning some tax increases on the right, some benefit cuts for the left and it's the only way we're going to deal with this because, obviously there wouldn't be a debt problem if it was easy to get rid of it. it exists because it's always been the preferred solution. rather than raise taxes, have a higher deficit. rather than spend less, have a higher deficit. it is always the solution. big debt has always been the solution to paying -- current pain. >> these are third rails because people have touched them in the past and been electrocuted. there's a strong republican constituencies on almost all of these people. they say they are in favor of deficit reduction yet when you try to take something away from them, they squeal. but look it's absolutely clear that this will never fly unless the president and republicans are all willing to lead on the issue. >> i agree. >> there is no -- this will not

happen just because the -- if the deficit commission can even get to the point where they have agreement on the commission because they don't have anything like that right now. even if they get to that point that will not be anything close to enough. the only way for the public to accept it is if they are led to accept it and they're led by the president primarily but also by republican leaders where everyone is going to have to hold hands and appeal to people's better natures. their patriotism and the future of their children and grandchildren. >> i wonder, guys, you are the experts as well as anybody, and it may be one of those arguments for a one-term, six-year presidency. some things you have to do as president that are not aimed at getting you re-elected. they're just things you have to do. thank you, mark halperin. up next, joe miller is facing an uphill battle. i'd call it that. in his quest to become united states senator. he's organizing a spelling bee up in alaska. if you can't spell murkowski, you don't count as a voter. wait until we see what happens to those write-ins up there. he doesn't believe anybody knows how to spell properly. i think tea parties are regular people, not elitists.

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back to "hardball." time for the "sideshow." first the duke's back. in november 2005, u.s. congressman randy duke cunningham resigned from office after admitting to receiving over $2.5 million in bribes. his farewell press conference was one to remember. >> the truth is, i broke the law, concealed my conduct and disgraced my office. i know that i will forfeit my freedom, my reputation, my worldly possessions, most importantly the trust of my friends and family. >> five years later, the duke is still in prison but singing a

different tune. "the san diego union-tribune" is reporting that cunningham now says that the hundreds of thousands of dollars that he got from a defense contractor brent wilkes weren't bribes but gifts from old friends. wilkes was convicted in 2007 and is seeking a new trial in federal court. next, a big show up in alaska. tea partier joe miller has been busy all week filing lawsuits and challenging ballots during the counting of some 92,000 senate write-in votes. one anchorage reporter snapped photos of some of the ballots. they say these ballots are not clear votes for senator murkowski. look at them. catch this, by the way, guess who is now advising the miller campaign on the write-in camp? floyd brown. he made up those willie horton ads back in the 1980s that tarred michael dukakis' reputation and destroyed his presidential campaign. whatever you think of the decision to hire this guy and bring him in, miller is a little late for his campaign effort. how many new and coming

members of congress have never served in elective office before of any kind. according to "the new york times," 39. 35 house members and four u.s. senators making this the most. if you think about these things, the most inexperienced crowd in over 50 years to take office. 39 members in the next congress have zero experience in governing. tonight who knows the big number. >> that's requested heart "hardball" for tonight. "your business" is up next. tifu.

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