now to the polls. the new nbc/"the wall street journal" poll shows. they want party leaders here to make compromises rather than to stick to their positions. 29% want them to stick to their position. interesting, isn't it? like the case of king solomon the true mother said it was better to have the baby go to the other woman than to had been killed. maybe the best thing that you can say about democrats right now even in these downbeat times is that their values really are intact. they don't want the country to suffer even if it means -- even if it means letting the other side get its way this time. think about it. that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. right now it's time for "the ed show" with mr. ed schultz. good evening, americans, and welcome to "the ed show." tonight from new york, these stories are hitting my hot buttons at this hour and on the table. well here we go, president obama is one step closer to owning his big tax compromise with the

republicans. the only person who can get in the way now is nancy pelosi. congressman jerry nadler called the deal a gangster giveaway. i'll talk to him and katrina vanden huevel of the nation coming up. harry reid threw a knockout punch today at some republicans who were whining about having to work around the holidays. this is why reid won in the state of nevada. i mean when it gets tough he knows how to fight. wait till you see the tape you're going to love it. and the tea party indoctrination, well that is now in session. michele bachmann's the teacher and she's got a class full of extremist clowns to help educate the new members of congress. and this just in, moments ago, don't ask, don't tell passed the house. you won't believe what some republicans on the floor were saying about gay americans. that's coming up. but this is the story that has me fired up tonight. president obama is one step closer to having his $858 billion tax compromise with the republicans become the law of the land, and right now nancy

pelosi is the only person in the world that can stop it. now earlier today the senate voted overwhelmingly to pass this package by a vote of 81-19. remember that number, 81. only 13 democrats, five republicans and bernie sanders voted no. now the senate support for these tax cuts i think is pretty staggering. let me show you this. compare it to this. in 2001 the bush tax cuts passed the senate by a vote of 5-33. and in 2003 the second round of these tax cuts passed 51-50. that of course is when dick cheney broke the tie. it's kind of funny, isn't it? i mean this means that president obama did a better job of selling the bush tax cuts than president bush ever did? well, now the president has to sell the compromise in the house. but he's convinced today's vote is a win for the middle class. >> i know that are there different aspects of this plan to which members of congress on both sides of the aisle object,

that's the nature of compromise. but we worked hard to negotiate an agreement that's a win for middle-class families and a win for our economy and we can't afford to let it fall victim to either delay or defeat so i urge members of congress to pass these tax cuts as swiftly as possible. >> all right, the house will vote on the senate version of the package as early as tomorrow. senate minority leader mitch mcconnell is warning, the house, you better not tinker with this bill. >> if this agreement is not subject to being real, then in other words we have an understanding and i hope that our friends in the house will understand that that's the best way to go forward. simply pass the senate bill, get it down to a president who supports the understanding. >> an understanding? well, it's a take-it-or-leave-it mentality that the senate has with this bill has a lot of folks over on the house angrier than ever. house democrats want to change

the inheritance take giveaway, the republicans got in this bill. but according to mcconnell, you just heard him, no way. now by law, the estate tax would go back to a million dollars, tax free, and the balance taxed at 55%. now the republican compromise well it takes it up to $5 million and the rest of the rate would go to 35%. well today's lob sided senate vote and new polling is really putting enormous pressure on nancy pelosi and house members to get this bill through the house. now the new msnbc/"the wall street journal" poll shows that 59% of americans support the deal and only 36% disapprove. so what's it mean? well, i guess you have to hand it to the president. president obama, he's done an outstanding job of selling this compromise to the senate and to the american people. i just hope that this $900 billion cam gel works. i'm a 36 percenter tonight, folks. i will never trust the republicans when it comes to tax

cuts. i know where we'll be from a year from now, from two years from now, but president obama seems to have bought this talking point hook line in sinker. >> i'm absolutely convinced that this tax cut plan while not perfect will help grow our economy and create jobs in the private sector. >> oh, i hope so. last week house democrats rejected this bill in its current form and last night the democrats caucused again in the house and they started to question the 2% drop in the social security tax rate. so the bottom line here is the senate package is designed to stick it to the house democrats. congressman alan grayson put it this way. >> frankly, we are getting the bum rush, that's what this is. this is a bill that spends a trillion dollars, that's $3,000 for every man, woman and child in this country. a couple of weeks ago i bought a big screen tv for $1,500, it's my first one in about five years and i spent more than two hours trying to figure out what was the best big screen tv to buy,

because $1,500 is a significant expenditure. here we're talking about a trillion dollars. $3,000 for every single one of us. and it's being forced through without a hearing, without a markup, without even a study of its economic effects. this is the bum rush and i'm not happy about it. >> so, folks, that documents everything that has happened up to this point. i mean the basics, okay? so if you don't grasp anything else about what is going on with this whole thing just grab the next couple minutes here. between the tax cuts and the spending bill, congress is about to dump $2 trillion on your kid's credit card without so much as a hearing, no markup, no cbo score, no economic forecast. it is take it or leave it. well, actually it's a government takeover. now let's go back to the health care debate. how long did that last, 15

months? how many committees did it have to go through? five. a reconciliation vote as well. i mean, they had hearings, they had votes. oh don't you remember, when the righties were so uptight about the next provision of the health care bill. well, we have to wait for the cbo score. but you see we don't have any of that this time and this is a hell of a lot bigger and it's going to cost a hell of a lot more money than the health care bill but you see there's a difference. the righties are getting exactly what they want. they're getting the top 2% tax cuts and they are getting the time frame that they want and they're getting the estate tax giveaway. i mean this is red meat to the righties. this, my friends, is not democratic process. we have had on this program numerous elected officials in both the house and the senate come to you and speak on "the ed show" and say this is not how it's supposed to work in washington. but because we've got a christmas holiday coming up and because we've got this deadline

and because we can't really hold to our convictions from the campaign trail, we now have a gun to our head and i'm speaking from a liberal perspective. we have to give the righties exactly what they want. because they tell us that we're going to create jobs if we do what bush did. i mean i don't know how in the hell this got 81 votes. what is it about -- is it the pollution in washington? is it the special potion? or the kool-aid they drink? what in the heck is it? folks, this is your government takeover right here. a very few number of people not going through the legislative process, not going through the due diligence, not doing the scoring to tell you exactly where this is all going to turn out. trust, you know it's that old trust, but verify. you could trust but you can't verify. that is the intangible that

we're playing with when we talk about kids and grandkids and their future and we're so concerned about them. i'll say it as i did it last night i'll say it again, i don't want to hear any democrats go out on the campaign trail and tell the american people that you're really concerned about the deficit, that you're really concerned about the next generation. oh, i know we've got this deficit reduction commission. you know what that is? that's the kill the social security crowd, that's to kill the medicare crowd, the medi-cal crowd. that americans have already paid for. this is example "a" of what a real government takeover is all about. i swear to god, i never thought i'd ever see it in my lifetime washington act like this. but you know it's only $2 trillion. this is not the way our democracy is supposed to work. this is not fair and we are being held hostage and i don't

even know if hostage is a strong enough word. get your cell phones out. i want to know what you think. do you believe president obama's tax compromise with republicans will create jobs? text "a" for yes, text "b" for no. we'll bring you the results later on in the show. joining me now is new york congressman jerry nadler. congressman, good to have you with us tonight. >> good to be here. >> is this it, is this going to pass the house? >> i think a bill will pass the house tomorrow that'll be substantially the same as the senate bill with one change. we're going -- apparently we're going to change the estate tax so it won't be the senate version. it'll be last year's estate tax. it'll be $3.5 million examination for a single person and $7 million for a couple instead of one and two. >> the keyword here is change, congressman. you just heard mitch mcconnell, they have an understanding. what's your understanding of the understanding? >> well, they may have an understanding with the president but they don't have an

understanding with the house. and for them to say we must take it or leave it is outrageous. we're an independent elected body. now i'm not going to vote for in bill in any event but there's so much here in it for the republicans that they should take this and they may yet, we'll see. >> well, you've said it's like dealing with gangsters. do you stick to that comment? >> i sure do. they're acting like gangsters because they're saying it in effect to us and to the country. yeah a very nice middle-class tax cut here. pity if anything should happen to it and if you don't extend the tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires we'll kill the middle-class tax cut. that's blackmail, that's extortion. >> is nancy pelosi going to go along with the change in the estate tax and create what could be a huge problem at this point? >> well, from what i'm hearing the bill that will be on the floor tomorrow will change the estate tax from what's in the senate bill. >> well, this is going to be interesting. congressman, good to have you with us tonight. thanks so much. katrina vanden huevel editor of

"the nation" magazine with us tonight. katrina, what do you make of this in the 11th hour? is. >> i think that we need to step back and look tat our system. and then you have to also reflect on how president obama telegraphed his end game before ever having fights. fights can be constructive. they can define what you are who you are what your party is. celebrate those in the senate. search bernie sanders who speak for the middle working class. we've got to do i think some changes in this house bill. i met with some estate trust tax lawyers this morning in new york city, big law firms, they can't believe that the estate tax is so beneficial to the wealthiest in this country. they're wondering what went on in these backroom dealings so i think that we've got to -- in the end of the day you've got reflect it is that you had majority opinion against tax cuts for the riches. and the republican party is holding this country hostage and we've got break that moving

forward because we'll have these debates again in 2011-2012 -- >> katrina, what do you think the liberal message is to nancy pelosi at this point? >> stand strong and lay down some lines on this estate tax. but i think -- it's a terrible thing but we've got a system, ed, of transactional politics when we need transformational politics and it may be that you know jerry nadler good congressman, you don't want to hold working and middle class held hostage. and conservative democrats are really you know giving millionaires and billionaires a bailout. >> and do you trust president obama? i mean after we've gone through all of this, is he really played a bad card for liberals to the point where you can't trust him anymore? >> you know what, i don't think anyone should trust politicians or fall in love with politicians. it's about accountability politics and it's up to progressives moving forward to create the conditions, organize, mobilize, drive ideas into the debate. i think we need a whole new tax

debate in this country about a new tax system that is fairer, simpler, and rewards work and the president could come forward state the union and we progressives should push him do that, lay it out and fight for that. we need different debates in this country. we're not being served as citizens as a democracy with debates, hostage taking, extortion that we're living with. >> katrina vanden huevel, great to have you with us tonight. thanks for speak,ing up again. coming up slant head hannity is about to become a constitutional professor? only someone in the trance like this could be really in a psycho deal, right? i'll explain ahead. i'll have to. beckster is completely delusional. he's gift wrapping some fear just in time for the holidays and i'll light him up in the zone. and plus i've got a leaked e-mail from fox news and it proves once again how sleazy they are. and eric holder just served up bp a massive lawsuit. it was so complicated.

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welcome back to "the ed show" and thanks for watching tonight. the republicans, i guess you could say, they've been naughty all year long doing everything they can to stall and slow log bills in the senate. they're having a meltdown. because harry reid says their delayed tactics might mean that they might have to skip christmas vacations and come back to work. senator jim demint kicked off the whining in politico, saying,

quote, what's going on here is just wrong. this is the most sacred holiday for christians. well, i think you could debate that, it could be easter. republican leaders followed suit. taking their war on christmas vacation onto the senate floor. >> it's completely and totally inappropriate to wrap all of this up into a 2,000-page bill and try to pass it the week before christmas. >> it is impossible to do all of the things that the majority leader laid out without doing, frankly without disrespecting the institution. and without disrespecting one of the two holiest holidays for christians and the families of all of the senate, not just the senators themselves, but all of the staff. >> you know it's just always about them, isn't it? it's always about their process, their washington minutia. you know, give me a break.

what do you mean disrespect? disrespect is not caring about the 99ers, not giving a damn about the unemployed. well, her ay reid, the former boxer from nevada, he got after it and delivered the knockout punch. check it out. >> as a christian, no one had to remind me of the importance of christmas for all the christian faith all of their families all across america. i don't think any of us i don't need to hear the sanctimony lectures from senator kyl demint to remind me of what christmas means. my question, madam president, is where were there concerns about christmases after filibuster after philly bust or major pieces of legislation during this entire congress? perhaps kyl and demint have been in washington too long because in my state nevadan's employed in casinos and hotels and throughout the state of nevada, basically every place have to

work harder on the days including christmas to support their fam plooeps their minds don't shut down in nevada on christmas. people work. they get paid double-time a lot of times below they have good contracts but they work on christmas holidays. most people don't get two weeks off on any time let alone christmas week and these people who are lucky enough to have a job in these trying times need to work extra hours just to make ends meet. so it's offensive to me and millions of working americans across this country for any senator suggest that working through the christmas holidays is somehow sacrilegious or disrespectful? >> harry reid nailed it. folks, this is why harry reid won re-election i mean he will not back down and having to work after christmas may be a shock to the washington establishment but i don't think that any americans are going to be crying for them this year. joining me now is former congressman tom tancredo. tom, good to have you with us

tonight. >> thanks. >> who's right and who's wrong in this? should it be the senate schedule or should it be the work of the people? >> i think i tell harry, me thinks thou thus protect too much. they were hyperbollic. it's 'tis the season to be jolly and in washington it's always the season to be hyperbolic. both sides do it. both sides employ it to pull this little you know dust-up over the christmas holiday thing. >> who started it, tom? tom, who started it? you've got the s.t.a.r.t. treaty out there. you've got don't ask, don't tell. you've got finances. and here are the republicans when you've got 15 million people out of work. here are the republicans crying about, they might have to work over christmas. now just how does that play? >> and here's a top with,000-page bill that nobody has read that no one has the slightest idea what's really in

it, except the total figure, and a lot of earmarks and it's coming up at a time when of course there should be a heck of a lot more discussion and harry reid brings it up at a time when, like this, when he knows that all of this gets compressed at the end hoping that he can get it through because of that time crunch. it's all a game. it's all a game, ed. >> it is a game. >> both sides play it. >> it is a game. >> it's not unique. >> and that's the whole point. where's the march by the tea partiers? where's the outcry by these people who wanted something different in washington? they seem to be silent. why isn't fox news going -- here's a look at the ball right there. where's the march. this is the same old crap that we see in washington and you know it. >> well, it's because it's the same old congress. remember the new congress hasn't started yet. >> oh. >> most of the people that the tea party supported aren't there ed. the a lot of them are of course saying hey i got booted out and

i will stick my constituents a lesson. >> it's about the money. it's about no earmark, or it's about no hearings, no markups, no cbo score. >> crazy, crazy. >> it's the same old garbage and where the republicans, they stand, they're worried about having to worry about working over the holidays. tom, good to have you with us tonight. appreciate your time. >> likewise, buddy. >> coming up the beckster is gift-wrapping some paranoia for the holidays and of course we're going to light him up in the zone. caltrate soft chews because they have 20% more calcium per chew than viactiv or for the delicious flavors like chocolate truffle and vanilla creme? mmm. -mmm. -mmm. [ female announcer ] hard to say really. new caltrate soft chews, we put the yum in calcium. i won't. ♪

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and in "psycho talk" tonight, the beckster is putting his own spin on the holiday season. he started off his show last night preaching about the true meaning of christmas which apparently is a knockoff the oprah show. >> i want to talk to you about the meaning of christmas but i mean i also want to talk about some of my favorite things. oprah, we can outdo you. you're supposed to cry and stuff. you're on my favorite things episode. wow, this audience sucks. >> well his audience wasn't the only thing that sucked. on oprah's favorite things show her audience got a car but beckster is giving away paranoia for the holidays. listen to his top gift pick. >> we decided to get our family food storage this year. it is probably the best gift that you can give anybody this year. you know if you're a grandparent give your kids and grandkids food storage, give them things

that with inflation coming things that they're going to need and they don't -- the family wouldn't have to worry about. >> what you are doing, beckster, preparing us for more unemployment? food storessuage what every kid wants from their grandparents for christmas, right? but he didn't stop there he had a whole rambling show full of things, full of favorite things. >> survival bags. urban survival playing cards. bartering and negotiating in postdisaster survival situations. >> the narnia series. real george washington. the befst to toffee ever, ever made. it was a scrapbook that i made for my children. chalk. yes, i can. and the best rice pudding i think that is available. christmas survival bag. ho, ho, ho, everybody, we're all going to die. >> yeah, merry christmas, everybody. but wait a minute, beckster, you

forgot the flashlight. have you seen those flashlights that are out there that you can wind up, they don't even need any batteries. wind them up and turn them on so that you can be the deer in the headlights. this guy is the walmart of giveaways and his tea party and fear-mongering rip-off of oprah's favorite things is nothing but paranoid "psycho talk." coming up, president obama went behind closed doors with the most powerful business leaders today and i hope they got after it. sitting on piles of cash. leo gerard one of the top labor leaders in america. and reverend jesse jackson will be here to sound-off for the american worker. and i've got an internal e-mail from fox news proving just how they are out to defeat the president of the united states and the democratic agenda. wait until you see the evidence. plus, the obama administration drops the hammer on bp. it's a big lawsuit. and an extremist republican

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welcome back to "the ed show." "the battleground" story tonight you know i think that wall street is mugging this president, beating up on him and still walking off with all the taxpayer's money. now, we just finished an election where the chamber of commerce spent more than $30 million to spread the falsehood that the democrats and this president have just been terrible for business. nothing could be further from the truth. in fact the numbers show it. wall street got record bonuses in the first year of obama's presidency. how's that going to play out for the historians? reuters reported today that wall street bonuses this year may top that from last year. and "the new york times" reported the s&p 500 which basically measures the health of the biggest companies is up 7%.

are you getting a 7% raise this year? folks, this is absolutely, there is no reason why this president has to defend his record on business. he is pro-business. on top of that, he's about to give the super rich another round of tax cuts. but the president is still trying to make nice with wall street, he invited 20 ceos over today for lunch for a working conversation on how to jump-start hiring in this country. here's what he had to say going into the meeting. >> are you looking for a commitment from the executives today to spend some of the capital that they're sitting on toward job creation? >> i am looking forward to getting good ideas from them but i am definitely going to talk to them about how we can get more hiring out there. >> now i don't know what there is to talk about, nine financial companies are sitting on nearly $2 trillion. the most in some 40 years when it comes to resources.

now, i would tell the ceos to quit hoarding their cash and do something for the country. you know that economic patriotism? the president has been great for business. he's been great for small business and it's time for business to do something in return for america, like start hiring, start doing different things like expanding payroll, get are more people on the job, loosening up the credit. leo gerard, president of the united steelworkers' with us tonight. >> good to be with you. >> it's been somewhat of a capital strike, has it not? >> i think so that we see that these companies have made record profits throughout the last 12 months and they're not spending it. and the reality is that we've got to get some demand in there, and the best way to get demand in it is for them to bring people back to work and put those people back to work so those people can be consuming the kinds of things that they need to get the economy going again and simply sitting on cash or even worse making investments

in china or korea or somewhere else rather than making them here is not going to help people get back to work and if we don't put people back to work we can't get out of mess that we're in. >> so some the reports coming out of the meeting, it sounds like president obama was really asking them to step up. he's done a lot for them. he's set the table for them. he's given them basically everything they've wanted. and of course they're going to hit him on the corporate tax rate, they want to see that lowered. what should the president do about them sitting on these resources? >> look i think what we've got to do is start to put some pressure on to put together an industrial plan for getting people back to work. we've got to start talking to them about if they're not going to spend it we ought to tax it. the fact of the matter is that sitting on that money is not helping to put people back to work, it's not putting demand back in the economy, and they'll come crying. they always come crying that oh, my god, our tax rate's too high. let me give you a real point, one of the largest companies in the world, exxon, who made tens

of billions of dollars in the last few years paid zero, i mean zero in income tax, plus they got a tax rebate from the government. something's wrong with that system. and we need to close those tax loopholes. we've got to fight about this. i'm prepared to go out and walk in the streets if that's what it takes. we've got to get the unemployed back to work, when they get back to work, they'll pay taxes back into the system, they'll consume, and we'll get our way out of this mess. we're not going to get out of the mess by continuing to give tax cuts to the ultrarich and hoping and praying that they do something nice for us. >> mr. gerard, is it too far to speculate that maybe there are a lot of ceos in that room that don't want president obama to be the president of the united states? and they're just going to sit out and they're not going to invest. their companies are doing fine in the environment that they're in right now, what about that? >> look i think that that could be a possibility but i'd hate to believe that. i don't want to believe that. the fact of the matter is that we've got call upon their economic patriotism and we've got to have a stick in a carrot.

this president has put up for business, more tax cuts to the medium-size business ever. he's gone out and he's done the kinds of things to try to stimulate the economy with the economic renewal legislation he's brought in. he's been stymied by republicans every step of the way and it's time that we say enough is enough. and i think we need to take to the streets if that's what it takes to show these people that we're fed up of this stuff and you can't get the economy back off its butt, ed, unless you get some of those 30 million, and i say 30 million, because there's 15 million unemployed officially, there's another 15 million that are either underemployed or have just given up, can't find jobs. >> mr. gerard, always a pleasure. good to have you with us tonight. thanks so much. now let's turn to the reverend of jesse jackson, president of the rainbow/push coalition. hopefully the workers of america and those who have fallen on hard times will have a seat at the table. reverend, what should they do? >> well, i think it's important that the president did meet with business today but not to be a

white house conference on poverty, despairity and on economic justice. he's been very good to business, they've not been so good back to him. for example, he bailed out the banks with zero interest but they did not lend and reinvest, therefore you have a rise in joblessness and the rise in the home foreclosures. just this past week bank of america now said it will revive its home foreclosures for for example. he bailed out gm, and then one market of a buick is china, and so there must be some real incentives to reinvest in america. i see a tax bill today which what you really have is you have a tax cuts for the very rich in december. there will be spending cuts come april and who will be cut? they'll be looking at social security and medicare and medicaid. >> that's the target. you know, reverend, that is the target, you agree? i mean they're going after the entitlements what the american people have already paid for and it looks like president obama

and the democrats are walking us right down that path. how much do you believe in your heart that in a year from now that we're going to get that 2% back on social security and what about the tax cuts not being an issue two years from now. >> it just stranges me that 2 million people working people, about 8 million people will have been spending money when they're get their checks but very rich are not going to spend more because they can't spend the surplus that they have now. they've globalized capital without globalizing workers rights and they will not globalize workers rights and womens rights voluntarily unless some industrial strength put behind the demands they'll not reinvest and put back to work. they've enjoyed the party but they're not paying for the party. >> reverend jackson, good to have you on tonight. now let's get some rapid-fire response from our panel on these stories. more foxy leaks. new e-mails. to push conservative talking

points on climate change. and the house's historic vote to repeal don't ask, don't tell is marred by some ugly republican talk about gay americans. i think they're on the wrong side of history on this issue and so do the american people, the major istamericans. with us tonight karen hunter journalist and publisher and also heidi harris radio talk show host out of las vegas. karen, it's up to the senate to do something on don't ask, don't tell, how is this going to play out. >> i'm praying that it place out sensibly. i'm praying that the people in the senate realize that our army is thin. we need everyone that you know anyone who is coming to the table who wants to fight for this country should have the right to fight for this country. ed, you remember a time when blacks couldn't fight in the army. you remember a time in this country when people were judged based on the color of their skin and now what are they afraid of? i'm so baffled by this that it's even coming to this and all of the ugliness that's coming out of it. it's so strange, it's so weird,

it's so un-american. >> listen to what a texas congressman said on the floor today during the debate. >> to my friend who said, history will judge us poorly, i would submit, if you will look thoroughly at history and i'm not saying it's cause and effect but when militaries throughout history throughout the greatest nations of the world that have adopted policy to define homosexuality to be overt, keep it private -- if you can't that's fine too, they're toward the end of their existence as a great nation. >> heidi, are we towards were the end of our existence as a great nation if wea, allow gayo serve. >> they already served but serve openly is going to strengthen our military. there are a lot of people who have already said they're going to leave the military. i hope there are tons of openly gay people who want to fill the ranks if a lot other people don't want to be part of the

military anymore. there's no argument that says it's going to make our military better. it's a social experiment because that's what the left wants and there's no benefit to the military whatsoever. >> heidi, so you condone people not who they are so they should be you know pretend something like they're not? >> i don't quite get your argument that -- >> that's exactly right, karen, because when you join the military they shave your head. you all dress the same, sleep in the same place, march the same. >> that's fine. -- you don't stop being black, hispanic, asian, or gay. that's part of who are. if that's part of your makeup you can't stop doing that either. >> all they care is can you march the same way, fire the gun the same way. >> what are they afraid they're going to have sex on the front lines. >> they do that now but you're talking about them being openly gay, what does that mean walk differently, what does that mean. >> i don't think that it means anything to be honest with you. >> then they shouldn't worry about it. >> exactly, so they should pass the law and let people be who they are. >> be all that you can be, is

that what it is. >> and serve this country. are you going to go on the front lines i don't think so. >> go work in the coffee shop. unit cohesion, individuality's out the door when you join the military. >> but you don't stop being who you are. >> it moves to the senate. ladies, thanks for joining us tonight. karen hunter and heidi harris on this issue. coming up the righties in the senate have used the filibuster to stall and delay. democratic senator jeff merkley is on a crusade to fix filibuster rules but i say folks, we've got to be a bit careful here. we might not want to wish for something that we may have to deal with later.

and it's not too late to let us know what you think. tonight's text survey question is. do you believe that president obama's tax compromise with republicans will create jobs? ♪

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and in my "playbook" tonight

after two years of republicans abusing the filibuster rule some senate democrats have had enough and are mounting a major effort to weaken the filibuster. today senator tom harkin of iowa says that he will fight for reform as soon as the new congress convenes in january and he predicted fireworks. now i understand the impulse to guilt the filibuster since republicans have abused it to stop president obama's agenda, and it may surprise some folks, but i think it's a mistake to weaken the filibuster. here's why, it might be good for democrats for the next two years but what happens in 2012 with all of those corporate money flying around? democrats will be defending 21 senate seats. republicans only have ten to defend and the citizens of the u.s. supreme court ruling will mean republicans will be able to be pouring money into the election cycle and purchase a bunch of senate seats. that's how it works. i mean money works, doesn't it? if the republicans get control of the congress and then the

only choice to stop their radical agenda is the filibuster so in my opinion weakening it is dangerous. senator jeff merkley of oregon is in favor of the filibuster reform and he joins us tonight. senator, this filibuster has been around since 1857, why change it now? >> well, actually, ed, we're not planning to gut it, we're planning to make it do what we all think it does, that is if 41 folks say debate should condition, then the debate should condition but you shouldn't be able to object, go home to dinner, take a vacation and never appear on the floor and explain to the american bhiem understand for so if you say to be continued you need to be ready to have continuous debate on the floor, make your stand, give the american people the ability to say, hey, you're a hero or you're a bum, but not to just simply leave the senate paralyzed, unable do anything. >> so with today's politics it was really not intended to be a standard operating procedure of

political tool to stop an agenda? >> no, that's right. this was all about making sure that every voice is heard before a decision is made but that courtesy has now been turned into a regular abusive practice. for example, on food safety, a bill we just completed. there was a filibuster on motion to proceed to the bill, on an amendment on the bill, and on final passage of the bill and each time and we think filibusters stand on the floor. no it's simply an objection that is filed and when that objection is filed, then in fact -- and i'm lose migsound here, sorry -- when that objection is filed and then they can walk away and we don't have debate on the floor so we're saying there must be debate on the floor that serves the people, that serves america. >> and how do you think that republicans are going to respond to this you? know the shoe's always on the other foot at one time or another in history. i mean, do you think that they recognize that this has to be amended in some sense? >> yes, i think that they realize that the senate is broken whether republican or

democrat being unable to act because the senate to sit around and doing the continuous chorus call. we have to be able to live with this when we're in the minority. >> that's true. the minority voice isn't going to be as strong if this is changed the way you want it, i mean that's how much i see it. >> i think that it'll be stronger because we'll be on the floor making our case to the american people. not filing an objection and taking off on vacation. >> yeah, but when it's a simple majority, that changes things, doesn't it. >> well it doesn't take it to a simple majority. we leave thunder place in the reform the 60/40 structure. we say as long as you have 41 that want to continue debate, debate has to continue, but it has to be debate. not some motion that leaves us doing nothing for days at a time the way that it is right now. >> senator -- >> this is a pretty -- >> yeah. it's a pretty what? >> it's a pretty minor change, in the sense that it does what

american people think, that you're going to stand up and make your case. >> senator, good to have you with us tonight. thanks so much. i appreciate it. >> good to be with you. coming up, that crazy michele bachmann just hired 9/11 truther judge a lion tv host and an all-around wacko to teach constitution classes. we're ripping into the clowns next. ever wish vegetables didn't taste so vegetably? well, v8 v-fusion juice gives you a full serving of vegetables, plus a full serving of fruit. but it just tastes like fruit.

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and finally tonight congresswoman michele bachmann is starting a constitutional

class for her new tea party and colleagues in the house. it's a dandy. the class kicks off in january. and it sounds like it's going to be just shaping up to be a crazy conservative version, i guess you could say, of spring training. here's how bachmann describes the course. >> we're going to do what the nfl does and what the baseball teams do. we're going to practice every week, if you will, our craft, which is studying and learning the declaration, the constitution, the bill of rights. i'm hoping that all of the members of the congress will bitake its bipartisan. >> bipartisan. take a look at bachmann speakers, constitutional expert sean hannity, i bet that he knows a lot about the constitution, 9/11 truther andrew napolitano. and david barton. and the first class of the year will feature supreme court justice antonin scalia. who handed the presidency back to george w. bush in 2000. i'm not talking about the bipartisan that she's talking about in the lineup.

maybe the next guest can kind of square things away for us. bring in john nichols a washington correspondent for "the nation." i thought for sure you would had been on there. you wrote a piece on bachmann's new constitution class. this is comedy hour, is it not! >> well, it's comedy hour, ed, except forrion thing, you have a justice of the united states supreme court. in fact, a guy who most people believe is the central justice on that court, the guy who defines its direction going in, having private meetings with michele bachmann and then ranging, deciding, to come down and have this private session with right-wing members of congress and he'll be followed in one of the ensuing sessions by a guy who says that the separation of church and state is a myth. i don't mind michele bachmann making a fool of herself but what really troubles me is that we have a u.s. supreme court justice hanging out with people who deny the basic truths of our constitution. >> has this ever been done before?

has a judge ever been this actively involved with a member of congress going down the road of ideology? >> well, it's possible you could say william o. douglas was pretty close to franklin roosevelt and several claims over the years but this goes beyond it. this isn't just a justice of the court working with leaders of congress or the president on very complexed issues. this is the justice of the u.s. supreme court sitting down with a member of the republican caucus who was rejected by her own colleagues for a leadership position because she's too crazy. >> and a supreme court justice showing up on the list with a 9/11 truther. what does that say? >> well it says a lot but i'm actually more concerned about this professor who claims that separation of church and state is a myth. it's not a myth. thomas jefferson said that that was an essential part of the first amendment. >> john nichols of "the nation." always a pleasure. tonight i asked do you believe that president obama's tax compromise with republicans will