lead. that's "hardball" for now thanks for being with us. more politics ahead with cenk uygur. good evening, everybody, i'm cenk uygur. have i missed anything while i was gone? we had a bit of a wiener scandal, did we? fascinating. here's what i think of that. >> it is a shame, a shame! >> nonetheless, my new defense of anthony wiener's career is our lead story tonight. i'm undaunted. but first, we should acknowledge something important. i was wrong. i was convinced that congressman wiener had been hacked and that he had not sent that picture. >> he is wrong. the gentleman is wrong! >> i know. i know i just said that. but are you ready for this? i think there is no reason why he should step down. undaunted. of course, republicans disagree. the head of the rnc, reince priebus, says wiener should resign and today, house majority leader eric captor agreed. >> i don't condone his activity. i think he should resign.

>> but i have a message for eric captor. >> the gentleman will sit! the gentleman is correct in sitting! >> look. was what weeper did creepy? yes, of course we all agree to that it was illegal? in my opinion, no if he wound up using you public resources for the could have jury that might change the equation and of course we will have to see about that. but does any of this have anything to do with the congressman's views on taxes or the budget or any other issue? no. remember, he was a principal congressman that led the charge to get health care for our 9/11 responders when the republicans were blocking that bill. so, does it affect what i think of that bill if i knew that congressman weiner was sending out dirty pictures it same time that he was pushing for it? absolutely not. now, it's not just republicans going after wiener unfortunately, as they like to do of course. democrats don't have his back either. even nancy pelosi threw him under the bus, calling for an ethics investigation.today,

harry reid also declined to throw wiener a lifeline. here is what was said when asked if weiner should resign. >> i know congressman wiener. i wish there was some way i can defend him, but i can't. >> why? because, oh, my god, it's a sex scandal. everyone run for the hills. look, i, on the other hand, have been consistent on this i don't give a damn about their sex lives, unless they broke a law, abused their power or somehow affect third jobs. i didn't think the other shirtless wonder, chris lee, who was a republican, by the way, should have stepped down either. neither one of them broke any laws. they just got caught in embarrassing sexual situations. there they are. the shirtless wonder. there is no reason that their sex lives is our business. look, i get it. it is a fun story. i'm also guilty. i also have fun with these stories, especially when it comes to hypocritical family value republicans. i know that but in the end, as long as no lures rules are broken, i say, let them go. let them go.

now, if some chance other people in the country disagree with me. let's have a conversation. joining me now is john thain cape hart, editorial writer for the "washington post" and msnbc. and john erroll from new york one with. and john fear ray republican strategist. we have a full vote here. first of all, john, let me start with you, since you might be one to disagree. we will find out. whether it is chris lee or weiner, doesn't affect their jobs, i don't really care. where am i wrong there? >> i'm not sure if you are wrong. what i would like to see here, cenk is a nice, long investigation by the ethics committee, find out if he used official resources, find out if this -- these pictures he sent were part of a consensual relationship or not. i think that is a big part of this. obviously what he did was creepy.

you have to work to bring credit to the house, this doesn't do that. that is a problem. i think is something the ethics committee will take up, you are right, nancy pelosi, the former speaker has thrown him under the bus and his long-term political prospects are very uncertain or worse, probably over. i think there's a lot of happy new york congressmen now who are going to take up parts of his district in redistricting and anthony wiener's car veer effectively over. a very strong statement there at the end. i'm amused by the idea the house has some sort of reputation to protect. sell us out on the actual issues rather than on some sex thing. john, let's talk about that, right? because when it gets to sex, washington goes crazy. you can torture people do illegal invasions of countries, hundreds of thousands of people who cares, oh, my god there's somebody's junk. oh, everybody panic.

what are the rules here? one of the washington rules is wiener done for? >> well, you know, i think it all depends. i think you hit the nail on the head in your introduction in that in your equation, things will change if the ethics committee find out he did, indeed, use government resources to carry on all these virtual cybertwists that he had. you know, does it sort of shame -- he fooled us last week when he said that he was punked, he was pranked, he was hacked, he was whatever, that that photo was not of him. that became shaky when he told luke russert he couldn't say with certitude that the picture was indeed not him. and then yesterday, he tells us, yeah, it was me and in fact, i did a whole lot of stuff on twitter, facebook, e-mail, you name it i did t if -- yesterday he told us that he didn't believe that he used government resources and he wasn't resigning. if we find out through the

ethics committee, which nancy pelosi was right to call the investigation and he was right to say he would cooperate, if the ethics committee comes back and says that he did indeed use government resource, he has to go. >> yeah, you know, i'm not sure i even agree with that we will get back to that in a second. there is a question of whether he used the government phone for dirty sex. i mean, come on. okay. all right. but erroll, look, he is in new york. he was thinking of running for mayor. you're from new york. what's the latest there? you got any polls or any indication of whether realistically, when he goes up for either re-election or goes to run for mayor still he has a prayer there? >> we did an overnight poll, by a he very slim majority, new yorkers this is all new yorker, not just his district, say that they think he out to stay. so that's -- >> oh. >> but -- but -- >> great. >> he is no longer considered the front-runner for mayor in 2013. he had raised more money than

anybody else. he was considered the from the runner. he had run before. there's no way that's going to happen now. that's, in large part, because the mayor controls the school system here. parents respect going to want somebody like that in charge of their kids, period. period. >> you know what i think that's crazy, to be honest with you, >> you know what -- >> the other people in schools don't have sex? he even didn't even have, tra marital sex. here's what's not crazy, the mayor of new york, not hypothetical this is real, we have had three major terrorist attacks here, right? one destroyed the world trade center, one was an attack it on the world trade center and a little over a year ago, somebody detonated a truck bomb in the middle of times square. now the person who is in charge of the police force and in charge of our security here needs to be somebody who's truthful, not reckless, not impulsi impulsive. >> come on, erroll. >> he fails the litmus test. that's why i was giving you the kiss sickal look, what does the terrorist stuff have to do with this guy sexting some girl and saying, yeah, i'm hot four.

was rudy giuliani not hot for anybody in the guy had how many mistress and wives and else, else? >> it didn't have anything to do with security. >> it didn't serve him well that ended up being a scandal in fact, how he handled it. i'm just telling you the -- >> he was the hero of 9/11. >> what i'm telling you is that new yorkers take this stuff very seriously and i don't think that when it comes to their kids, their safety and so forth, they want somebody who's got the kind of failings of character. i mean, listen -- the guy lied to everybody he could talk to for an entire week. >> of course he did. of course he did. >> when you get into an issue like bill clinton or an intern, you lie, okay? nobody comes to out and says, oh, by the way, i would like to tell you all the terrible things i have done sexually. nobody in the history of man kind has ever done that okay?

so, he lied. so what. you know how many times when i was single and i had -- you know how many times i lied to them? what does that make me not responsible on any other issue? >> i hate to tell you this, his political career is over. he doesn't know it yet. it is over. he is not going to be mayor. colleagues don't want him to be there anymore. most of his colleagues want him to leave. certainly don't want to take any campaign contributions to from him had. this is his democrat colleagues, not republican colleagues. >> hey, cenk. >> hold on. hold on. >> how i do get the same deal as eliot spitzer and a talk show on a rival network? >> i'm going to get to you in one second. hold up, dawg, i will let you finish. you say all this stuvgs i hear it. today, you are calling for david vitter, the man who slept with multiple hookers to step down, right? >> i'm not. >> he broke the law. he broke the law. >> we also don't have any pictures.

>> this isn't about my morality t is politics. we have the pictures. >> why does a republican senator get to sleep with x-number of hookers in town. >> we don't have pictures. >> a standing ovation when he comes back. republicans gave him a standing ovation. hookers. that's why chris lee quit right away. that's the way it s nothing we can do about it. >> nothing we can do about it? >> listen this is -- democratic colleagues. he is not going to win as mayor. seat -- >> jonathan, jonathan? >> cenk, cenk, the point i wanted to make about -- about congressman wiener that john touched on that i think is very important and there is a distinction here is that congressman weeper is standing all by himself, not just at the podium yesterday, but among his colleagues in congress. you played the clip from harry

reid saying he doesn't know what to tell him. the other thing is we look at the other member of congress from new york who got into some serious ethical trouble, congressman rangel, a former chairman of the powerful ways and means committee who had undeclared income, hadn't paid taxes on rental income, all sorts of other things, which is just not -- you can't do that as chairman of ways and means. he was accept sured by his colleagues but he is personally liked by his colleagues. remember that dram mattic moment when the vote in the well of the house, where people would say, i personally like charlie rangel but i'm going to have to vote to censure him. congressman wiener wouldn't have that same thing. there's no one who is willing to stand up to say they personally like him. and when your nee trouble like this you need friend he is. president clinton had friends. >> i get t see, john that is a great point, right? and i think you are entirely right about that, but suspect there something awfully goofy

about the way our politics works. >> of course. >> doesn't matter if you lie, cheat and steal, right? >> sure. >> you rob taxpayers, it doesn't matter, okay? but if you're involved in any kind of big sex scandal yes didn't even have sex and the other guys don't like you as much, the club doesn't like you as much, then you're a gopper. >> the problem is -- cenk, the problem suspect the sex, the problem if he were charged, charged with something where a money found its way to a place it up with the supposed to go everybody would say he deserve his day in court and a process, in this case there is no process, he admitted to a whole bunch of bad stuff. we are basically at the day yes got convicted after doing a whole bunch of like right before he admitted everything that he had do. and you know, there's not a lot of room for forgiveness there, frankly. and it is telling that he doesn't have people standing with him. look, i think the bottom line is he swore an oath to his constituents, he swore an oath to his wife. the people who hired him and woman who married him it is their call what to do with this guy, not up to any of us. >> that's true.

. we are got to leff it right there it is a great conversation and i'm perfectly aware that i will probably lose to debate, but i'm right there i have been consistent on schwarzenegger, chris lee and wiener here as well. if they don't break the rules, their sex lives has nothing to do with us. >> nonsex lives. >> all of you, thank you so much for your time tonight. >> thank you. all right. when we come back, ten years ago today, george w. bush signed his tax cut law for millionaires. since then, americans have been suffering. it was an unmitigated disaster. we will show you the indisputable failure of the central republican economic strategy. you don't want to miss that and what is mitt romney's surprising strategy for dealing with sarah palin? we will tell you that as well. stay with us.

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because we believe an educated world is a better world. we are back to celebrate a dubious anniversary. ten years ago today, the bush tax cults were signed into law, starting a decade of pain for the average american tax payer and huge games for the richest among us. with one stroke of the pen, president obama set america on a path toward economic injustice, inequality and bankruptcy. the bush tax cults have added $2.6 trillion to the deficit. last year, just the top 1% of richest americans got 38% of the

benefits of those tax cuts. through 2007, the last year for which we have numbers, the richest got 65% of the income gains. wages fell for everybody else. overall earnings dropped 2.3%. so what happened to trickle down economics? our wages went down. the income for the rich went way up and our deficits exploded. we tell you all this today, 'cause this fight is long from over. republicans still view this as the winning economic model we must adopt going forward. are they crazy? they want to cut corporate taxes and slash spending at a time when we need government investment in america more than ever. one of the problems is that president obama has been fighting this battle on a republican territory. the only debate we are having is over how much to cut in spending and how much of a tax break to give to corporate america. which is why i think the president's poll numbers are

sink a new "washington post" poll shows 59 % of americans disapprove of his handling of the economy. that is his worst numbers yet. i'm not concerned about a double-dip recession, i'm concerned about the fact the recovery we are on is not producing jobs as quicklyize want it to happen. we have set a path that will lead us to long-term growth but we have still got enormous work to do. >> to turn around the economy, president obama needs to stop fighting on republican ground and go on the offense. he should stop arguing about how much to cut and start arguing about how best to create jobs. all right. now, let's have a conversation about that joining me now is richard wolffe, msnbc political analyst and former bush adviser, mark mckinnon who is founder of the no labels group. mark, i will start with you, i just don't get it. i mean, just tell me, what is it? how can this last ten years of tax cuts be such a disaster

economically and republicans with a straight face can tell us the anticipate is more tax cut? >> let me say a few things. first from the no labels point of view and current budget debate, i support our view, which is that everything should be on the table and everybody should be at the table. but on the issue of the bush tax cuts, you know, there is a conventional notion that the fiscal melt down that we experienced was a result of tax policy when that wasn't the case at all. it was a result of house regulation which president bush tried to strengthen and democrats opposed. and i support the democratic position at the time. i thought that was -- i agreed we should make housing easy but we made it too easy. let me just -- >> no, no, no, no. i'm sorry, but that is just not true. >> can i finish? ky just finish? we can disagree about macrofiscal policy. here are the facts on the tax cut in 1999, taxes were the highest percentage of gdp they have been since world war ii. recession started in 2001. tax cults were enacted in 2011. the top rate for taxpayer, the top 1% was raised. it was raised.

the top bracket for lowest income earners was eliminated, meaning 5 million new people paid no taxes at all. half the people in this country today don't pay any federal income taxes. then we had, after 9/11 9/11, then hit by that 46 straight months of job growth until we had the housing speculation and the bust. that is what i believe. >> there are some things we can disagree on, some things we can't disagree on, the collapse did not happen because we had too much regulation of the housing market. we had no regulation. they would go in and make any kind of liar loan they wanted because they got a -- >> i agree with that president bush wanted more regulation. no, he didn't. oh, mark, come on, i really respect you on a lot of puns here. that airport true. bush said, hey, you know what the s.e.c. should lift all leverage limits so that allowed them to put unbelievable derivative bets on that housing market them took away terrible regulations.

>> traying to strengthen the reg lines fanny and freddie and barney frank and the democrats wants that i worked for fannie, i know, i was there i thought it was the right party at the right time. i was wrong. republicans were right on house policy. all right. richard, let's talking about obama, okay, because now, you know, mark has a fascinating theory about how all those tax cuts somehow weren't at fault the last ten years, here's what we know. for example, we lost 1.1 million jobs in that last ten years, 1.1 million jobs. how could president obama be having this conversation? i mean, shouldn't he say, look, i'm not interested in your wacky theories about how we should do more tax cuts for corporation, which you know the president is having a discussion over. i'm not interesteded in your wacky theories about spending cuts in the middle of a terrible economic situation. why is he enter taping those thoughts? >> well, for a start, the federal deficit is unsustainable. so someone's got to deal with this at some point and i've got start a conversation now, but you're right in the short term,

the idea of massive spending cuts suspect going to help job he creation, in fact it is going to mean you are cutting jobs, saw in the last month alone, cutting government jobs, the private sector growth is not enough to soak up the difference. i just want to get back to the current debate about tax cuts and job creation, because the bush anniversary is actually important here. for a start, i was on the campaign trail in 2000 with my old friend, mark, there, and the rationale for the bush tax cuts then was there $3 trillion of projected surplus. $1 trillion of it was going to go in tax cut cans because as then-governor bush said it was the people's money, not the government's money. the problem is things change very quickly. there was a recession, 9/11, all wars and the tax cuts stayed in place throughout that period. job growth was anemic at best n fact, you can make the case that it was totally insufficient. so tax cuts alone didn't create jobs, they haven't created jobs in the sense of what the tax cuts were in the recovery act or in the last round of the lame

duck tax cut wes just saw at the end of last year, tax cut does not do it on its own, given the scale of the shock the economy has faced. but clearly, you have got deal with deficits moving forward it is different though. deficit, job creation, not directly connected right now. >> so, mark, let's address that point, right? even if you think it was for other reasons that the economy suffered, right, the idea was that if you do these giant tax cut, then it is okay because the economy will pick up. but it didn't. it didn't. we lost 1.1 million jobs. you saw the graph that we put up there the huge point of our deficit are these tax cuts. we created this giant deficit, et cetera. so how could more corporate tax cut, proposal by the republicans, possibly be the answer? >> well, as richard just pointed out, there were a lot of external events but 36 straight months of job growth after tax cuts. the real issue we all agree on is where we are going to really get the budget going again is

through growth. we have a debate what policy is going to stimulate growth the most, but it is not going to be -- the way we are going to get there is not through -- revenues going to help, tax cuts are going to help, but it's growth. whatever policies stimulate the most growth is going to work. that is a legitimate debate to v i believe giving more money and maintaining tax cuts, generally speaking, although i said, everything is on the table is a greater engine for growth. >> i hear you guys. i wish we had more time to talk about it because, you know, i think when you talk about stimulating growth, i don't know how you do that by cutting spending, but we're going to have to save that conversation we are going to have on another day when we have you guys back on, richard wolffe and mark mckinnon, thanks so much for your time tonight. look forward to it thanks. when we come back, tim pawlenty has a hilarious new budget proposal. that is our con job of the day. you're going to want to see that, next. [ male announcer ] this is james.

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in our con job of the day, we have tim pawlenty's comical new budget proposal. pawlenty unveiled the economic plan for america today and it has a lot of rainbows and unicorns. >> let's grow the economy by 5% instead of the anemic 2% currently envisioned. >> wow, 5% growth sounds great. i wish we could get that even better, paul help city calling for this level of growth to over a ten-year period. fantastic! can i get a pony with that? but why in the world do you think this is remotely doable,

tim? >> we have do it before. and with the right policies with he can do it again. between 1983 and 1987, the reagan recovery grew at 4.9%. and between 1996 and 1999, under president bill clinton and a republican congress, the economy grew at more than 4.7 %. >> so, let's get this right, you're saying this because two of the fastest growth period necessary modern history, the economy grew at a rate of less than 5% for a few year, it's possible to grow the economy at a higher rate for an entire decade? well that sounds absurd, but hey, i'm willing to listen, how would you do it? . >> we should start by overhauling the tax code, cut the business tax rate by more than half. i propose reducing the current rate from 35% to 15%.

of course. we have a whole different of course segment today, i couldn't resist. giant tax cuts for corporate america, always the republican answer. we just showed you in the last segment how huge tax cuts totally hurt our economy, not helped, besides which, taxes are lower now than they were at any time under clinton or reagan, so if low taxes were the magic anticipate, why respect they creating such great economic growth now? none of this comes close to lining up. the "washington post" wrote a great analysis of this plan today called pawlenty's plan a "joke." you shouldn't be surprised. pawlenty loves to brag how he balanced the bum net minnesota when he was governor but his short-term fixes left the state with what is now the fourth largest deficit in the country. pawlenty may try to sell himself as the great fiscal truth teller, but what's really selling is tired old voodoo economic and that's our con job of the day. 7% spike

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welcome back to the show. now to talk about some of today's biggest political stories is our power panel. founder and publisher of -- okay. sorry. founder and publisher of firedoglake.com, wes clark jr., young turks co-host and sam cedar, political commentator and host of the majority report. all right. first question tonight. should democrats barbecue wiener? nancy pelosi calling for an ethics investigation, harry reid says he can't defend weiner and democratic lawmaker betty sutton is donating $1,000 she got from weeper to charity. sam, i'm going to start with you. should they throw him under the bus and run for the hills or should they defend him? >> frankly, i think they should defend him. i mean, he hasn't broken any laws. he hasn't broken the public trust. he is maybe -- maybe, we don't even know broken the trust with his wife but that's between him and his wife. you know, you said it earlier in the program.

they have got a senator in the republicans who broke the law, paid prostitute to dress him up in diapers and we are talking about this guy who did stuff that i wouldn't necessarily do, but he happens broken any public trust. >> before we go on, i want to clarify one quick thing. environment was admitted with being with niece d.c., the diaper story is not confirmed energy my opinion i know a lot of people believe that. that is a different story. i just want to be clear on that. >> fair enough. >> all right. so look, jane, when it comes to political dam though, democrat democrats think this is doing a all right of damage. >> giving statement to the press that they are, it is clear they want him out of the way. he is grabbing the headlines and keeping people from talking about paul ryan and disastrous medicare plan, which had republicans on the run. i think wiener's biggest problem is the fact he just painted a target on his back for being redistricted out of office. probably -- new york is going to lose two seats and probably be

one republican and one democrat and wiener is in the area where they are going to be looking to lose that democratic district anyway. and so he really -- even if he managings manages to withstand the press storms, he is awfully vulnerable at that point. he may be in a situation where there is nothing he can do that they have the trump card. >> they say he liedsome that good enough to run him out of office? >> well, i don't think he needs to be run out of office for it i mean, he didn't lie under oath and if you are going to eliminate politicians who lied to the press, i don't think we would have anybody sitting in congress or the white house these days. >> fair enough. all right, finally here, sam, if it's doing damage, and i don't know, maybe you think it is not doing damage to the democratic party is there a point where you say, look, technically, maybe he spoke on the house phone instead of okay, let's just get rid of the bad headline? >> i tell you what you do in damaging to the democratic market the idea they are talking

about cutting medicare. so the idea that we are spending a couple of days talking about anthony weiner that is going to pass one way or another this is going to hurt the democrats or hurt their messaging one way or another. the bottom line is they want to help themselves, they can start thinking about the middle class ant american public. >> i hear you on that brought up a good point. we have a little video of wiener going after republicans, i want to ask a question base old that let's watch it first. >> there is a saying here in washington that a gaffe is when the republicans actually say what they think. the republican party is a wholly owned subsidiary of an insurance industry. make no mistake about it every single republican i have ever met in my entire life is a wholly owned subsidiary of the insurance industry. if republicans wrapping their arms around republicans rather than doing the right thing on behalf of the heroes it is a shame! a shame! the rules are not a big thing for them to follow because this is why it's hard. its a he is a big book.

so i brought you this. "house mouse, senate mouse." >> wes if they lose a guy like this, and they throw him under the bus while they are doing it does it feed into the idea the democrats are weak and they are not going to stand up for their guys? >> no, no, no. look, i don't think they are throwing him under the bus. i think did he a really good job of putting himself under it and he completely humiliated himself. not up to congress to say you have got to resign. the question is can he get re-elected? probably not. >> all right. fair enough. >> only one democrat in the entire house that can stand up and say what's going on in this country, then the democratic party is in serious trouble. >> all right. all fair points. let's move on to the next question. is mitt the man in the gop? a new "washington post" poll shows mitt romney beating president obama in a presidential matchup by three points among registered voters. jape, what do you think here? is president obama in good shape or bad shape compared to mitt

romney? a lot of people in washington think, oh, obama is in great shape you can the republicans are a mess. you see this poll, can romney win this thing? >> you know, romney's running on being not obama. and his main asset a lack of negatives. you have poll numbers on how badly the president is doing on the economy. nobody be started to hit him yet. that is where he is going to be vulnerable. i don't think his real threat is mitt romney. his threat is the economy and republican only as strong as the economy is weak. >> sam, is being not obama when you have unemployment near 9% good enough? >> pretty close. time will tell. i don't know if mitt romney is going to make it out of the republican primary, jane is right. the bottom line is how is the economy in another 12 months? do we have jobs for americans? at the end of the day that is

going to be the real question. >> and wes, when you look at those numbers are the republican. >> reporter: s looking that the and going, maybe this is our guy, geez, look at these numbers against obama? >> look if they were smart, the republicans only have two viable candidates for the national election and that's huntsman and romney. now, my guess is those -- neither of those two will make it out of the primaries. >> you don't think so? jane, does mitt romney get it out of the primaries? . i don't know i would be interested to know why wes thinks he wouldn't make it out. such a poor field it seems like most people will buy it, if nothing else. >> it seems like a poor field. at the same time, when you have romney out there, constantly going against his own record as governor and other thing he is has said in the past it is like he is humiliating himself on a daily basis what he really believes. i think he is their best candidate because he is very middle of the road. >> he is. he is terrifically vulnerable for having flip-flop old anything. the dnc ads currently running

against him are devastating. >> all right. sam what do you think? what is your sense? a guy like romney make it out or nominate someone totally crazy? not that romney is that sane, if you ask me. >> there's two factors romney those deal with one the first republican debate, every republican out there credits him with obama's affordable care act that is going to be a big problem for romney. as much as he dances around it, it he k really escape that the second one is i think that huntsman is focused on romney. i think he is running for four years, 2016 and looking to take romney out because he knows romney wins the nomination, huntsman, no chance in 2016. so i think those are the two factors that romney has against him and, you know, his record in general. l i hear you guys. look, you guys are a little more sure, but even you're not that sure, but i'm -- i have no idea what's going to happen that republican primary. and i can't wait to find out.

but i think at 9% unemployment, i agree with howard dean, almost any republican stands a chance against the president, unfortunate lakers lot of times the binary decision for voters, rehire the guy, not rehire the guy. we will see how it turns out. jane hamsher, wes clark, sam seeder, thank you for joining us. we appreciate it it. >> thank you. the fight against scott wake around the republicans is back in wisconsin. more evidence that they are running scared. wait until you hear the secret audio of the republicans. and those koch brothers are more shameful than we thought. show you why they might be more directly responsible for the high gas prices you are paying at the pump. hey, did you ever finish last month's invoices?

sadly, no. oh. but i did pick up your dry cleaning and had your shoes shined. well, i made you a reservation at the sushi place around the corner. well, in that case, i better get back to these invoices... which i'll do right after making your favorite pancakes. you know what? i'm going to tidy up your side of the office. i can't hear you because i'm also making you a smoothie. [ male announcer ] marriott hotels & resorts knows it's better for xerox to automate their global invoice process

so they can focus on serving their customers. with xerox, you're ready for real business. now for the latest installment of our "of course" segment. former democrat democratic senator evan buy has gone on the payroll for the chamber of commerce. his job is to go around the country and convince democrats that president obama's small amount of proposed regulation of business is totally evil. chamber president tom donahue says they will talk about "the dangers and costs of overregulation." so, why is a so-called democrat locking arms with one of the top guys and pushing the chamber's pro-corporate agenda? seems weird, right? if you ever thought evan bayh was a democrat. before leaving the senate in 2010, he wrote a "new york times" op ed, why i'm leaving the senate n it he blasted the steps united supreme court

ruling, "the threat of up limited amounts of negative advertising from special interest groups will only make members more beholden to their natural constituencies and more afraid of violating you party orthodoxies." what a joke. the chamber of commerce was the biggest winner of that ruling and now, he has become their lobbyist. but anyone who is paying tension knew what a joke and corporate hack evan bayh was all along. he fought to make sure the stimulus was as small as possible. he fought against the public option. you name a progressive priority and he fought against it he's bragged about being such a wonderful centrist. and most of washington ate it up. they loved democrats who hate their own base. and then right after bayh retired, what was the job he took? fox news contributor. evan bayh is now working for -- officially for fox news as a corporate lonbyist. after working for those guys as a democrat in disguise as senator for all those years. here's what i have to say to

that of course.

every is distracted with wieners in washington, in wisconsin where they know how to fight against power, they are taking on governor scott walkers a budget. >> they are really concerned about our future careers. the future of public education. >> we need to show our legislators that we were going to show again that we are still here. >> dozens are camped outside the cap nal a tent city they are calling walkerville, demanding protection for the public employees and the middle class as republican legislature cuts tacks on business and slashes education funding. democrats are also stepping up their efforts to stop the gop's agenda in madison. six republican state senators are currently facing recalls in special elections next moment. and a district gop party chairman has about caught calling conservatives to run

spoiler democrats to force primaries and give republican incumbent morse time to campaign. of course, when in doubt, always go to your gop dirty tricks first. republicans are running scared this time. dan hanky panky knows he has a tough road ahead of him. >> did you hear that? had that's awe s he hopes the workers are sleeping on the day of the election so he can get away with taking away their rights. you going to let them do that? remember, 19 republicans and 14 democrat notice state senate, democrats only need to win three of the six seats up for grabs to

win back control of the state senate and put the brakes on the republican war on the middle class in wisconsin. joining me now via skype is one of the leaders hoping the dems can win back control, of course, democratic state senator chris larson. >> thanks for having me, cenk. >> great to have you here. so, first, let's talk about the chance of winning back at least three out of those six race. how does it look right now? >> well, it was looking pretty good i mean, the momentum is definitely on the democratic side. we have had tons of people volunteering to get the signatures, got those, got them on the ballot, announced for all six republicans and going to decide if they are even going to go forward with the three against the democrats tomorrow. but the energy is definitely there it's definitely palpable on the ground where we have got a chance to pick up those three seat he is. >> well, here is the key thing, if you flip the senate over to the democrats, what happens then? can you roll back some of this stuff or at least can you put

the brakes on any new proposals? >> the biggest thing is we can put the brakes on any new proposals that walker puts down. and our indications are that they are not showing any signs of stopping. these republicans are just rubber stamping every extreme proposal he has put forward. they are not stopping anything. so, by winning this time, we will be able to put a check to what scott walker's trying to do, where he has just gone straight to the bottom, pushing these policies taking our state in the wrong direction, but in order to reverse them, we will have to recall him, which we are looking to do next year. >> let's talk about the budget battle, not just about corrective bargaining battles. what are the republican priorities how would you do things differently? >> pretty bad. pretty stark contrast, where earlier this year, they kept on saying, republicans kept saying we are broke, we are broke, we have to cut workers' right ares, we have to cut education

funding. we have to cut health care for low income and people with disabilities, we don't have a choice. but then all of a sudden, last week, late on friday, the last possible minute, they snuck in these tax breaks, totalled over $100 million for their special interest groups that help them get elected. they pushed this stuff through at the same time they are increasing class sizes for kids so they just showed it is not a matter of we are broke it, it is that their priorities respect with the state, they are with corporate interests. and so, there's a clear contrast for what democrats would do and how we would stand with the people, not special interests. >> are you guys planning to emphasize that in campaign ads or however else you might do it? this is about tax cuts for their ben factors and that video or audio is amazing, where he says i hope the workers don't show up. if they show up, i'm in a lot of trouble f they don't it is great. be able to take away their rights. how do you take advantage of him basically admitting what we thought all along? >> well, that's not even the half of it. he goes on to talk about -- they

go on in that meeting to talk about fake candidates and republicans came out. today, the leader of the republican reason -- the senate republicans came out and endorsed the idea of running fraudulent democrats against the democrats who are challenging the republicans in order to delay the inevitable, us throwing them out of office. so they basically endorsed this nixonian tactic to put fake candidates on the ballot, which is just despicable, but they are just in the open about this. they are not even trying to be shy about it, which is you why hear cap panky saying things like that in the open saying i hope that every somebody asleep, i hope they are not paying attention to what they are doing. >> wisconsin state senator chris larson, thank you for joining us tonight. we really appreciate it. >> thank you. all right. now, with when we come back, the koch brothers are worse than we thought. we will tell you how these multibillionaires are costing even more money than you realize and then bragging about t [ male announcer ] in a typical classroom, the "a students"

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we have told you a lot about

the koch brothers before, they are the conservative oil billionaires who finance the tea party and other republican radical groups across the country. now a think progress investigation reveals these guys are also the ones who helped to investigate speculation in the oil markets which is, of course, now hurting you at the gas butch n 1986, koch traders introduced the first oil derivative to wall street. thanks a lot, guys, we appreciate it. that, of course, jump started the speculation mania that we see today. and honestly, i didn't even know that until now, so the koch brothers started that apparent lachl few years later, the koch brothers also organized a lobbying group to deregulate their profitable new toy. then in 2000, they finally won passage of the notorious enron loophole vastly deregulating the oil speculation market which led to huge oil price bubbles of 2008 and 2011. you remember what happened those years. gas prices went sky rocketing up. why? they are making all the money

off the speculation and we are paying the price. and in 2009, koch industries bragged that it was one of the five biggest oil speculators in the entire world. now, even goldman sachs has admitted that at least $27 in the price of crude oil is driven up by speculators, which translates to about 75 more cents per gallon at the gas pump. now, one of the koch brothers' front groups, americans for prosperity, has launched a campaign to somehow blame president obama for high gas price. oh, that's rich. they are claiming energy regulation is the real problem, not the speculation driven by koch traders on wall street. what a joke. at industry get togethers they brag about inventing oil speculation. these speculators cost you 75 cents per gallon, that goes straight from your pocket to their pocket, then they add insult to injury by pretending the thing that could stop them which is regulation of that speculation is what's caution