all of us. are we going to reconcile this information in a way that is dangerous and destructive or in a way that releases us to a freer sense of resolve. do you seek resolve? or do you run in fear into danger? that is the ultimate question. >> and we have our animation. thank you for spending our afternoon, at least a piece of it with me, i'm dylan ratigan. chris matthews is up right now. >>

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>> what happens in vegas doesn't stay in vegas any more. let's play "hardball."

>> good evening. i'm chris matthews up in new york. don't look now, it just got worse for weiner. drip, drip, drip of revelations. what toppled anthony weiner. this afternoon a tabloid website published racy and explicit facebook exchanges between weiner and a las vegas black jack dealer. even before that, democrats were backing away from weiner and it is not at all clear he can survive this storm or that the democrats can continue to separate themselves from it. plus, weiner patiently answered countless questions at that amazing o news conference yesterday afternoon but many of his answers may have gotten him into more trouble. let's go to the video tape tonight. also, i said it yesterday. if sarah palin doesn't run she will be the king maker. it is her mission to stop romney

and i think bachmann as well. but with whom? with anybody? here is an, i told you so. with bush consist ept against all evidence would increase revenue and balance the budget is in ten years ago today they were signed into law, those tax cuts. let's see how wrong the people pushing them were. finally, get me a wre re write. it wasn't enough for sarah palin to rewrite paul ra reer, now they are trying to rewrite wikipedia to fit her view of the universe into actual history. check outside show where i think she belongs. we start with weiner's political future such as it is. i want you to read right now something on radar, on-line. releasing e-mail between a las vegas woman, black jack dealer,

and congressman weiner. weiner, his voice, i hear liberal girls are very accommodating of others. woman, of course, it is all about taking care of the little guy. weiner, little. ouch. you'd be surprised how big. now this is the conversation. you get the drift of this. let me go to alex. this kind of conversation carried on by a 45-year-old married man. to continue this point of view, the second woman, here it is. this is an e-mail, let's see, where this is in september of last fall. am i allowed to drunk dial a u.s. congressman? i think you are so totally hot and are lucky i don't have your number right now. weiner, replied, how did i miss this chance to rock your world by phone. give me another chance. stalk me, baby. very hot. i guess we got enough of this. alex, maybe this is age group stuff. i guess i don't get sexting or texting or why people

communicate this this little girl, little boy language. like ouch. apparently he said to someone the other day, ugh. like this cartoon language. in the midst of sexual conversation. >> i think that is part of protocol on social network communication and short hand. it is intimate and so forth. but you know, i think the real issue here is this is an elected representative who has positioned himself as a champion for liberal causes and has conducted himself in manner that won him a lot of accolades in certain corners. at the same time we has been very purposeful. and in the background of this is carrying on, in his office, having phone sex conversations. having facebook conversations. twitter conversations. you have a double life. and he seems to have been living one. >> let me go to mike. i have great respect for you, probably after bob woodward and

carl. let me show you something that is far more trouble for the congressman from brooklyn than what we just showed you. just last week, that las vegas woman, the black jack dealer wrote him on e-mail again here, twitter i guess. u, with a you, just the letter, owe me big time keeping this quiet. i'm defending you, again with the letter you, on the blog and to everyone. everyone you never ever -- let me get this right, telling everyone you would never send dirty messages to women. i know you haven't been on here since you were hacked but i need to talk to you. someone contacted me about you. call me or something. here is somebody who has heard about another kind of communication, gross kind of communication. i don't know what this stuff is about. but it looks like he said the other day in that pros conference that went on forever and we will talk about the things he opened up there, a half dozen.

maybe that's a minimum notion of the number. but he carries on these relationships. he is married man as we pointed out. i don't know what to say. here he is talking about -- what is this stuff? i'm a political guy. i don't know what to do in this territory. >> look, chris, there are so many levels to this. there is the betrayal. the lying. to his fellow members in caucus. the lying and deceit is really unpalettable. here is someone saying he hasn't done anything wrong. it turns out he has done everything wrong. we are getting drips and drabs of this. he may have tried to enlist his pr people to write up a white wash press release, on behalf of these women saying she didn't have anything to do with this. >> dana, why don't you jump in here. do you need to talk to professional pr type person to give you advice?

i can have someone on my team call. bracket. yeah, my team is doing great. ugh. closed bracket. what is the significance of this stuff? >> well, look, chris, we had last night anthony weiner threw down the gauntlet and said i'm going to survive this by having that press conference apologizing 50 times. he was gambling he could get through this stuff. now had he resigned yesterday you probably wouldn't be reading these things. although i love it when you talk dirty, so i'm glad you are. >> well, i'm reading it. give me a break here. you're on my list of most respected people wp let's keep it that way. >> glad to be there, chris. these things will continue to come out. if this thing on radar is true, you read very tame excerpts about that. it takes a great deal to get me to blush and that some gruesome stuff in there. >> in all fairness, we sat with

our producers this afternoon and decided what i could say. giving who i am and what i have to be on television and i don't want to read some of this stuff. i guess it's sex talk. i don't know what else. phone sex but done on e-mail or twitter. what do you call it? here is the texas woman who received his shirt. let's listen. >> how much of it was sex talk? >> i mean he would attempt all the time. . didn't understand why he wanted to talk to me so much. even if our exchanges, i said why are you so open? things of that nature. it wasn't like i was chasing him at all it was amazing, i was saying, i paraphrase what happens, what happens in vegas doesn't stay in vegas. starts out with a black jack dealer. then a texas woman. then the woman who started all this.

the personality in seattle. this is going to be one of those. there is a local angle for everyone local affiliate will have a piece of this action. this is permeating and getting around to people in congress who have to explain it and defend it in their own districts. is any democrat safe under this in 15 democrats, a list of republican campaign just put out, people who got several thousand dollars a piece from weiner and they are demanding they get it back. it is me taft sizing. so many democrats. when are they going to call me to the caucus and say, this has to end. >> right. there is the ethical consideration. of what he did with his congressi congressional resources. legal consideration. but i think that's all secondary here fot political considerations. first of all, he lied to his colleagues. i was at a breakfast with steve israel last week, and he said, hey, look, the guy was hacked.

he's done just the right thing. now he has it come out with this forceful statement saying it should be sent to the ethics committee. the fact of the matter he is really embarrassed his colleagues here. even a little business bit of this sort of sex talk, the judgment of this man is completely unacceptable. it has nothing do with ideology. who could sit next to him in the caucus room. >> i the republicans have been very good over the years of finding someone from one of the coats. whether tip o'neill or ted kennedy or pelosi or barney frank or you know, bella. usually an ethnic person from the coast is a good target, a liberal. then pound them in everywhere in the country. looks like it will be weiner. >> you see how the national senate campaign. >> the nrcc. >> nrcc they are attacking 16 democrats say willing to return

funds they received from weanener the 2010 election. >> of course they will forgive him when he gives the money back. he wars forced to give money back to weiner. right, dana? you admit doing something wrong when you give the money back. i want you to comment too. this is in the rules of the house. one of the overreaching statements that captures what you said under a codfide way. in the first sentence of the house ethics manual which you get as a new member of congress, it says members, officers and employees should conduct themselves in a manner that reflects credibly on the house. this is the kind of language i believe going back it even joan mccarthy for a different reason they got him censored. you can't believe in a way that embarrasses the institution. is this what weiner really is facing here? dana? >> well arguably, 435 members could be guilty of that at some point or another. but this is so beyond the pale here.

that certainly he would be up against that. i suspect, look, the ethics investigations go on forever. >> you're not talking about going into a committee. do you think that pelosi really expects a six or seven nonpartisan people to to go in a room and go over details for months. >> no. that's why it is secondary to the political consideration here. is this completely intolerable for democrats. i would be having to think these things out would be intolerable for weiner himself and he wants to put an end to it. >> his alternative is going off into nowhere and being a former member of congress. if he sticks it out, that's his own call. in his own personal interest, once he goes down and says i did something wrong enough to quit over, he is saying i did something wrong enough to quit over. fe hangs in there, he has at least a job. a position. a staff and a role to play in american society, even if he is hated. >> you have to wonder what are the dynamics in congress in

harry reid is asked today about weiner and says ask someone else. >> how much clout does wean ver in brooklyn? i mean, how much does harry reid have in brooklyn? none. if people of your district of people stand behind you i'll go back to you and people stand behind you despite the crud thrown at you and you throw at yourself here, why not stick it out and say in the long run, bill clinton stuck it out. he did okay. vitter, somewhat similar situation in louisiana. he is a senator for life. >> it's possible. weiner -- this is a place holder position for him. he made no secret he wants to run for mayor in 2013. you have to think that is now a pipe dream as well. so his audience is the people of new york there. are they going to be that flexible? i mean, i'm a new yorker but i don't think -- i don't think they will tole tolerate that

much. so his whole being in the house wasn't a way to get into gracy mansion. >> you say he stays or leaves kwb wolf blitz stays or leaves, dane? >> i think he leaves. >> coming up, weiner answering dozens of questions yesterday. we thought maybe too many, led to too many more questions. now he may have opened up more trouble for himself as we are seeing with this latest dispatch from vegas. you're watching "hardball" only on msnbc.

>> michael on this show now on nbc national correspondent and best in the business. joe is former independent council an former prosecutor serving as chief council to the senate rules committee. thank you for joining us. let's go over these stories that seem to be as we say, it created legs for this story. first of all the question of multiple women discussed now coming out. mike, is this going to be one of those stories where you get more and more information where days come on. you have to keep reporting it? is that the biggest problem? >> sure. first of all he said a half

dozen in the press conference. remember, there is an electronic trail of all his messages. that we have the ethics committee investigation. the committee will be -- is going to be duty-bound to like let's see the electronic trail. let's see all of your twitter messages, all of your facebook messages and they are going to hold that up against what he said in the press conference yesterday. he said in some cases initiated them. now if he is initiating these exchanges, including sending lewd photos of himself, it makes you wonder if the half dozen figure he used was just those who recipro katd or whether there were others out there who got these lewd photos or lewd messages and didn't reciprocate at all. as i said with before, presumably there will be an electronic trail and i think

that is potentially extremely dangerous for him. >> wide open question right now. as former prosecutor. do you see this as a prosecutable case or just bad behavior? unethical? is it a criminal situation potentially? >> i don't see anything criminal unless recipients were under age. we don't know the answer it that an neither does he. neither does he. i don't think it is criminal yet. but it is clearly an ethics question. that's why nancy pelosi dove for the ethics committee as quickly as she could. >> are you confident an ethics committee won't bury this? >> i don't think they can now. that's literally ip possible. after the news conference yesterday. of course you know the really awful photographs will be available on the internet shortly. no matter what andrew breitbart says he won't publish, he isn't the only possessor of those photographs. they'll be sold to tabloids and

other people on the net. those pictures will be out. once those are out, he's done. >> you say that because breitbart says they weren't pictures that he was given to them secondhand, so there for someone else has them firsthand. >> correct. they will come out because they will be bought. once the pictures are out, he cannot stay in congress. >> let's go to something i do find tangential. here is weiner when he talked about using government resources, telephone, e-mail. i dent think this is important but let's check it out with you guys. here he is talking. >> listen, i'm going to try to tell you everything that i can remember was my blackberry is not a government blackberry. my home computer is usually where i did these things. >> usually? >> i don't have the knowledge of every last communication but he i don't believe i used any government resources. >> let ask you about that. when i listen to someone on the tv this morning, very early this morning, where someone said,

congressmen, to be blunt, can call up their girl friends or mistresses. there is nothing illegal. obviously a moral issue. but is there anything in the rules that says you can't use your electronic equipment for anything as long as it isn't criminal? >> you started out with the line from the house ethics manual, which is sort of this broad generic, you can't do anything that brings dishonor upon the house. and i think using -- look, if there is any government equipment here used at all, telephone, computer, i think that's one more nail in the many nails in his coffin at this point. >> really? it doesn't matter whether he is yelling into a dixie cup. does it really matter? >> this is textbook example of how to inflict maximum political damage on yourself. he took what was a pretty bad situation and made it so much worse by the way he handled it. starting out with sort of his

arrogance last week. attacking the press. lying braze enly. and then having to come before the press yesterday and admit almost everything he said last week was a complete lie. that doesn't give you a lot of confidence that everything he said yesterday is going to hold up against that electronic trail. >> i got to have dinner with you sir. you are always rich in your perspective. for older viewers like me right now, suppose this is a british scandal where there is girls involved rather than mon, kinky scandal like the famous woman from perfume. without soviet spies, supposedly just a congressman, married but with a lot of girls friends. no virtual use of electronic equipment. no e-mail or twitter or weird phone sex. the real kind of sex.

would that be at all an ethics issue, let's be blunt. >> that's a very interesting question, chris. i think it depends on who the congressman was. one of the things at work is who weiner was. he is the lead attack dog for dem krts in the louse if not in the senate. he was a nasty arrogant, vicious attack dog. part of his problem is, is that because he was the lead dog that way, when you fall from that, you fall very hard. and look at the absence of supporters. and whether or not he had girl friends, that probably would not have made a difference. what does make a difference are the photographs. the actual realistic photos, body parts it reveals chris a very serious psychological problem. everybody knowes it. this guy has a very serious psychological problem. >> this is like avatar sex.

the strangest thing. i'm thinking like a role model like tiger woods. everybody looked up to him. he was on the chewheaties box. not now, but he was. here is a case after guy that is like an exhibitionist. is that the problem of just putting it out there on pictures so everybody is sharing? >> but remember, it is tartly that. but part of the problem is, you know, you hear from people about the way he treated his staff in public. how he would yell at them. the bullying. i think that's part of this. you have to look the at entire character after guy like this. this guy has a series of deep-seeded problems. and i don't think he has a lot of friends right now in the democratic side of the aisle. you need them in a crisis like this. >> are you dr. dru tonight? i guess that's common sense. i shouldn't be sarcastic. obviously there guy shouldn't be doing what he's doing. i can contribute it to brain soup is the phrase we use.

who knows what our brains are doing. thank you michael, you're the best. joe. we dwt to get together. >> it's deal. >> presidential candidates saying we stormed normandy on d day so we could have obama care. these people remind me on the show on bullwinkle. using history for the crazyist reasons. where are we going today, mr. sherman? you're watching "hardball." only on msnbc. look at all this stuff for coffee.

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in 1944, almost 60,000 average americans had the courage to go out and charge those beaches on normandy. those americans risked everything. so they could make that decision on their healthcare plan. >> wow, world war ii is about healthcare options? we haven't heard that one before. by the way, president roosevelt our chief in world war ii was for national healthcare. so were the british who stormed the beaches who had healthcare within a year or so. sarah palin taken on paul revere, taken for a ride on steve colbert. >> ringing a bell and firing shots from a front loading

musket, all i have to say is prepare no eat historical reenactments. first we insert a farthing to kt activate my steed. hey. hey british. you, you, the british are coming. here is a warning shot. okay. now to warn the next town. the british are on their way. i just have to reload. i just have to -- i certainly hope paul revere was wearing a cup. >> supporters are now going after the messenger, wikipedia. they are trying to change the paul revere entry in wick heed pooeda. as palin fans reenter the

wikipedia, others are reflecting the real history. how big is this war of words? before palin's words, paul revere's wikipedia had views a day. now they are 140,000. 140,000 page views, tonight's big number. up next, sarah palin is running, if not to be the president, then the republican king maker. either way she needs to stop mitt romney. she needs to stop, i believe, bachmann. she wants pawlentior someone to beat the people she doesn't like. we have the brand new campaign manager for michele bachmann up here next. you're watch "hardball" only on msnbc. a lot of times, things are right underneath our feet,

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disave theers in japan for the economic sluggishness but predict growth will pick up in the second half of the year. oil prices are higher on expectations opec will bump its production quota this week for the first time in 2 1/2 years. in stocks, cars are 17% on earnings. they warn their revenue will fall for the fifth straight quarter. now bic to "hardball." >> now gas is $4 a gallon. home prices are in the gutter. our healthcare system, thanks no obama care, is more expensive and less efficient. unemployment is back over 9%. our national debt has

skyrocketed. our budget deficit has grown worse. and the jobs and manufacturing ports are grim. now if that was recovery, then our president needs to enter economic rehab. and the american people need to stop his policies cold turkey. >> welcome back it "hardball." that was tim pawlenty reading someone wrote bb but he can't read it. of course a new washington post abc news poll out today says how bad it is. 59% of the poll disapproves. he does okay on those issues but not on the economy. he is twied mitt romney head to head. >> they are all serious contenders. i think it is too hard to predict who will become the nominee. who will become the two

finalists. usually you have two people that end up battling it down the stretch. i don't know who they will be. i believe i will one of those two and that i will finally get the nomination. >> wow. romney is on the market according to an abc poll. he needs leads with 22% and palin right behind him. will palin be the next pear he is waiting for or is there someone else in mind. here is whether she will run or be a king maker. let's listen. >> whether it is me throwing my name is the hat or supporting the right candidates the response has been great confirmation of the need for a real positive change in this country. >> and you have always been really straight with me. after this week, and obviously you got a lot of attention. there was a big response. does it make you lean more towards running? >> i tell you, the response has -- i haven't interpreted it as being about me, aboutmy maine as a candidate or a potential candidate. it's been about the message,

chris. >> she wasn't talking to me obviously. is that the end game to be the 2012 king maker? ed rons will be a strategist. tea party for two, a beautiful cartoon. let me go to my friend ed rollins. here is what i think you're facing, tell me if i'm wrong. sarah palin didn't want romney. we have a lot of reasons. she is not him and he's not her. she doesn't want bachmann. she wants a nominee that she can claim she made. >> pel, she won't make anybody. if she wants it run, they will be the credible candidate. you have to run these things. >> she can't be the tiger in somebody's tank? >> no. we haven't played that game in a

long, long time. romney said that night it comes down to two, maybe three. he may be one of the ones. i would give it a 50/50 chance. >> so you are working with for bachmann? >> i'm working for ms. bachmann. >> right. congresswoman bachmann. did you say on the record here, palin doesn't matter? >> well, if she runs she matters. >> well if she doesn't run. >> if she doesn't run, she doesn't matter. >> that's a statement. >> she just said she will matter if she doesn't rung. >> we don't have any king makers any more. >> can she play a role if she doesn't run. >> i think if you look, last week -- >> you need access, he just needs to be a candidate. >> last week, a lot of reporters were up in new hampshire. we watched sarah palin come to new hampshire while mitt romney was was on the campaign. we watched her suck up all of the media oxygen.

we watched her attack his health plan and end up on the front page with him on page a 3 wp with all due respect to ed, she may not be the king maker but by dising candidates she can hurt r hurt people in a variety of ways. . >> fair enough. back to my sense here 37 she doesn't want romney. she is afraid he might win and be president for 8 years. the other thing she doesn't want bachmann who she sees as an imitator. >> on the first i would agree with you. i don't think she is aligned with romney. she has done things to hurt him. i don't know how she feels about bachmann. she endorsed michele bachmann in the past. i don't know why she wouldn't be want to be on michele bachmann's team. as ed said, is she going to get in. right now i'm back to thinking it is 50/50. she looked that bus tour and

said, this is -- >> how can she run -- >> i think i might be able to pull this off and just say, i'm going to deny all of the old rules and do it my way. you might think that's crazy. >> can you run for major party without knowing anything? i'm not talking about intelligence. she's intelligence. it is about doing your homework and doing basics. she is challenging wikipedia. she is having a hard argument over paul revere and every kid in america knows one if by hand, two if by sea. >> has a historian, i'm sure there have been some presidents that didn't know much when they got elected. lots of candidates. i would say this, she hasn't over the last couple years, done the serious stuff that most people have done. >> why not? >> i don't know. not that long. >> she's had a lot of fun. >> it's not that hard. >> what she will be able to do, as you said when she went to new

hampshire, she will atrat the media attention. she will attract the crowds. it's why she will be a candidate media candidate when she goes in. she has the movie star quality but it doesn't go very far. >> the news poll just out found 64% of registered voters over all and 40% of registered republicans said they won vote for palin in 2012. >> the question is whether she will run as opposed to whether she can win. even in that instance depending on what splits are, you know, chris you made this argument before. sarah palin could get in. michele bachmann will make it harder. i think she will run well. it was important for sarah palin if she was going to have a path, winning aiowa was important. with tea party activists, that will make it harder for her to win the nomination. >> here is palin on sunday

talking about bachmann. the very point we are making. >> is there room in the race for the two of you or would you split the same base of voters? >> no, we have differences too. i have many years of executive experience too and she has her strengths she will add to the race. the more competition, the better. >> mish back if michele bachmann has to win, can he is win? >> she can do what huckabee did last time. >> she is what she is. >> she is what she is. >> i disagree with her ought on a lot of things. she is michele bachmann. i don't know who romney is. >> if sarah palin gets in, can she still win in iowa? >> i think at the end of the day it won't be a split vote. they will walk and make choices. >> this isn't morning joe tag team you get to ask questions.

you still aren't answering questions. do you think sarah palin is qualified to make president. >> i think she has deficiencies. >> up next, ten years since will tax cuts. concerners said they would increase revenues. remember that reagan line. cut taxes and will money will come in. it is loafs and fishes. no, it ain't. . i love that my daughter's part fish. but when she got asthma, all i could do was worry !

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and i am a phoenix. [ male announcer ] university of phoenix is proud to sponsor education nation. because we believe an educated world is a better world. enacted ten years ago. according to the center on budget and policy priorities. democrats are looking at millionaires and billionaires to shoulder the burden and pay higher taxes once the tax cuts expire next year. jan schakowsky a democrat from illinois. let me ask you about this, congresswoman. $2.6 trillion added to the national debt according to these groups, a couple of them, by the way, include the joint economic committee. would we be better off without the bush tax cuts never been enacted, period?

>> you mean for middle income as well as for upper income? >> if we had to choose between no tax cuts at all or what we got, would we be better off with not having passed that ten years ago? >> well, we may be better off, but certainly, the bulk of the tax cuts went to the wealthiest americans and created the biggest gap in income between the very rich and everyone else that we've seen since 1928. but you may be right, but certainly -- >> i'm asking. i don't know. i'm asking still, i will ask you one more time. would we be better off without having passed the bush tax cuts? >> i think the tax cuts for mild income people are appropriate and the bulk of the tax cuts should be repealed. let me ask you about the future. do you think the president, when he gets in these negotiations with joe biden, the vice president, et al is this on the neighbor is is medicare on the table? serving on the table? or not? >> well, john boehner said that no revenues are on the table at all. of course, we know that medicare

is on the table. both the republicans in the house and the senate overwhelmingly. over four republicans in the house vote for it this is the way they want to solve the debt and the deficit problem. 81% of americans say tax millionaires and billionaires. >> what is it -- the last time we had this fight, congresswoman, we had a proposal by the democrats to begin to take back the tax cuts for people that make over 250 a year, 250,000. now you're moving that up to 1 million. why are you moving it up to a million as the cut line? >> well, actually, i support the president's proposal at 250,000, but in addition -- >> oh, okay. >> i'm creating new tax cuts in my fairness and taxation act that start at $1 million per year, 45 % would be their new tax rate racheting up to people who he were in one year, and they dork $1 billion that would be a 49% tax rate and that's lower than during the reagan years. so, i'm giving them a bargain and yet asking them to pay their

fair share. >> do you believe the president agrees with you? >> well, i don't know what he thinks is possible, but i certainly think that he does agree that the very richest people, and he said it in his speech at gw last moment when he said he believes that rich people actual ly believe in thi country and paying their fair share of taxes is the right thing. aid millionaire at my press conference this morning who said he doesn't think it's moral for him to have his taxes low while seniors are being asked to pay more for medicare. >> well, you're on the popular side of this issue. let me ask you this sticky business with your colleague, wiener. anthony wiener. should he leave the caucus? should he leave the congress or is this going to go on and on and on? are you comfortable with him deciding to stay in congress as long as he can or should he leave? >> well, you know, you know, anthony wiener is my friend and i think he is a great congressman. i know that nancy pelosi, and i think correctly, asked for an investigation to see if any of the resources of --

>> that doesn't prove anything against him, should he -- if that doesn't prove he broke any ethics laws, should he stay? >> he said he wants to stay and let the people of his district decide. i think fair enough. but i'm not sure that the pressure, you know, if the pressure mounts anymore that that's going to be possible, but i understand where he's coming from. put it to the voters in that district. >> so it's not up to the house? >> well it is up to the house, i think. and -- >> well, you just said it is up to the voters of his district. which is it? is it up to the house or the voters in his district, which is it? >> if he violated rules in the house that is a different matter. if he didn't, i think it is up to the voters of the -- his district. >> i know where you stand. thanks very much for coming on "hardball." congresswoman jan schakowsky of illinois. when we return, why sarah palin wants to you hate government t is not about making better government but liking the government, treating it as the british back in the colonial period.

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let me finish tonight with sarah palin's midnight ride with american history. i have a theory about this person, i don't think she is at all interested in american history. if she, were she would know more of it. what she wants is bad news about america. what excites herement is politics, the debit of one side against the other, republicans versus democrats, liberals versus conservatives. what she want,as i said is bad news about america. what excites her is not the chance to participate or lead in

government. she quit government, dump it had really. she had other interests. no, palin is out to cause trouble. she wants people to be mad at politicians, mad at government, mad at the people who report on government. she wants unhappy witness politics and government that dominate the air waves, dominate the conversation, dominate the country's mood. she wants us to think about government the way the early colonists thought about the british back in england. she wants us to arm ourselves so we can fight the redcolts she wants us to live in a state of relentless simmering rebellion, every angry, ever distrustful of the people running the government, the people that cover the government. the way angry middle aged bikers look at government as the enemy. this is why the 2012 election is not about who will lead us but whether we are ready to vote against beet leave that we are governing ourselves. what a negative self-defeating proposition she makes what a strange reason for remaining in public life. she gets the history wrong because she gets the united states wrong. wary self-governing country and the people that matter are the ones that help us do it not the ones who attac