that's hardball. the dictator's gone hangs to american leadership. >> the united states together with the international xlun city committed to the libyan people. you have won your revolution. >> the gadhafi, the dictator who may have ordered the boling of pan am flight 103 gone for good. so much for the republicans who said the president's libyan policy wouldn't work. you know who you are. >> will is about as badly run as any foreign operation we've seen i think in our life time. >> tonight congressman keith ellis so that o on another succ policy. teachers and firefighters back to work. who is against that? oh, never mind. senator barbara boxer on the big vote on the jobs bill. perry/romney attack ads. >> kra hai can't have illegals.

>> they're amazing and i'm loving it. plus tyler perry talks about his movies, his media empire, and president obama. >> it took many years to get to the situation that this country was in, and he's only had a short time. >> politics nation starts right now. welcome to politics nation. i'm al sharpton. tonight's lead. after decades of tyranny, libya is free of moammar gadhafi. >> will is a momentous day in the history of libya. the dark shadow of tyranny has been lifted and with this enormous promise, the libyan people now have a great responsibility. you have won your revolution. and now we will be a partner as you forge a future that provides dignity, freedom, and

opportunity. >> gadhafi first seized you power when richard nix on thon president. now his reign has officially come to an end. he was reportedly found alive hiding in a storm drain and we must worn you, there's graphic video showing rebels dragging his body through his hometown of sirte. separate video apparently shows gadhafi after he was killed. while the dick ta dictator had the run for months, his demise was still shocking. secretary hillary clinton was getting ready for the interview when she heard the news. >> wow. confirmed, yeah. unconfirmed reports about gadhafi being captured. >> wow is right. whether you applaud this brutal

end or not. today's events are clearly a vindication of the president's policy in libya. the dictator's gone and no american was killed. but today in a statement after statement, republicans barely made mention of president obama. not from senator john mccain, not from speaker john boehner, and certainly not from gop front runner willard mitt romney. >> gadhafi was a terrible tyrant who killed his own people and murdered americans and others in the tragedy in lockerbie. the world is a better place with gadhafi gone. >> that's right, he literally ran away instead of giving the president any praise for his success in the policy. mitt romney, that's not leadership. that's just petty. joining me now congressman keith ellison, democrat from minnesota. congressman, thanks for being here.

no mention of the president from republicans today. now, whether you or i have our questions about going into it a country taking a head of state, the president did do what he said. and what the republicans said he couldn't do. so putting aside whatever questions progressives may have, how do you handle how the republicans are handling this? >> well, from the very beginning, i supported this policy based on what libyan americans in my district and all over this country were telling me, gadhafi's a brutal dictator, the revolution was organic, they had no legal means to get him out, they couldn't vote him out and the president stepped in at the right time. if the president didn't step in when he did, gadhafi would have slaughtered people as he promised he would do this benghazi and he was marching toward taking those folks out when nato with u.s. leadership got involved. so i'm one of those who may not

agree with everybody who had criticism. i was always in favor of this policy. but my position is based on talking to libyan americans. >> now, you represent a district that libyans live in. you are a muslim. >> yes. >> and you are saying that the libyans libyans in your district told that you they felt that mr. gadhafi was in fact going to wipe out and kill thousands upon thousands of libyans. >> absolutely. we had several community forums on this. and they were quite clear. and tonight it is shocking that republicans, you know, don't want to give the president any credit. i mean, here the president has dispatched anwar awlaki. of course this has been libyan led and they still have nothing good to say about the president regardings national security.

>> when this happened, let me show wha you what some of the republicans were saying. this was the reaction. >> he waited too long. there is no doubt in my mind about it. >> i think gadhafi ought to depart. it's not clear to me that this administration's up to the task. >> this is about as badly run as any foreign operation we've seen i think in our life time. >> thus far, the president's been unable to construct a foreign policy, any foreign policy. he's tentative, indecisive, timid and nuanced. >> this whole deterioration in the mideast is because of indecisive leadership. >> indecisive, timid and mr. cheney says he's not up for the task. >> i think he's doing pretty good. i mean, the fact is, they were waving american flags in benghazi. that never happened when dick cheney was in office. the fact is that i think the

president is actually handling the arab spring, arab awakening, pretty well. because the last thing we need to do is inject ourselves in some sort of assertive way. this needs to be an organic freedom struggle, it needs to be led by libyans and in the egyptian case, egyptians. but america is a 200-year-old democracy who has gone through a lot of changes. women's right, rights. everything. we should be available to say, look, we're here to help, but we can never usurp the prerogative of the people and i think president obama was wise to keep the thing led by locals in those countries. >> you keep stressing the point this was led by locals. let mes also show you the cost to america. look at this difference, congressman ellison, on what the president has spent, cost of

toppling kad, $1.1 billion. zero u.s. troop fatalities. now let's see what mr. bush and up to the task mr. cheney spent on topping saddam hussein. $805.5 billion and 4481 u.s. troop fatalities. seems like kind of perverse way to be up for the task. >> well, and that's only iraq. there's 1700 dead in afghanistan. i mean the fact is in a they presided over the worst foreign policy decade in american history, bush and cheney. and i don't expect anything out of them other than character assassination and slander. they've proven that they have absolutely no idea how to lead this country or anything else. but president obama i think has demonstrated some very rational and wise approaches to the matter. i mean, his speech in cairo, his

speech in tury, all signaling that the united states is on the side of democratic movements. and then of course we saw those democratic movements take flight all across the region and right now, look at it this way, we have egypt, libya, tunisia right in a row, democratic reforms going on in morocco, democratic reforms going on -- movements going on. and i can tell you, he's got people like assad nervous because he knows his day is coming up. if obama didn't get into this thing with libya and gadhafi made a big comeback, he would have -- what obama would have done then is signalled to assad and sala that if they are brutal enough, they might maintain power. i might also give the president credit for holding up the $53 million in arms sales to bahrain which has been abusing its

shiite population. so he's tried to make progress to israel/palestine, but it's not because he doesn't want to make progress. he's trying to make progress. he's just being undermined by even some people in our own country. but the president i think the middle east policy has been very successful and if he gets another term, i think we'll see peace between israel and palestine onecongressman, thank your file a your time. and my point is the president went in, did what he said. you would think that the doubters and critics would at least say he did achieve that. the justice department is investigating when gadhafi personally ordered the lockerbie bombing in 1988. 270 people were killed when pan am flight 103 blew up over

lockerbie, scotland. the libyan regime eventually admitted it was responsible. and some libyan officials said gadhafi himself ordered the attack, but he went unfinished. just two years ago g, the only n convicted in the attack was returned to libya with a hero's welcome. joining me now brian flynn. he lost his brother john patrick, in the lockerbie bombing. and is vice president of the victims of pan am 103. brian, thank yyou for joining m tonight. from the human side, you lost your brother, what do you feel tonight? >> when we first heard about it, the reaction was excitement and it's a little bit sick to think that someone is excited about someone being brutally murdered. and the reality is that it wasn't just the fact that justice was finally served even in such a brutal fashion with gadhafi. what was important, that it was

tied directly to the freeing of the libyan people. and the fact that we finally did something about it. because as you know for 23 years, i've been saying somebody's got to take a strong stance against gadhafi. he's behind an act of terrorism, he attacked the united states. largest terrorist attack prior to september 11th. we've got to do something to stop it. and i think it took us a long time to get the political will. but what's great about this is that the libyan people freed themselves. we just helped them do it glp so your feeling is that the fact that this 0e7s t opens the door the libyan people to democracy or some form of shf government is what make this is a victory more than a revenge of seeing a man dragged through the streets and killed. >> it's always easy to say and somewhat morally bankrupt to say i just want him killed. and in fact there have been moments when i felt like that, that i wanted him dead, his family dead, i want the everyone dead. i think in this case what we've seen is something far greater

than that and i think as you were just referencing, the u.s. government, there are so many patriots that have stuck by us for 23 years who wouldn't letfullied a plain strags -- everyone was trying to get into libya. everyone wanted their oil. we had the situation and you might remember this, we were here at the u.n. protesting against gadhafi speaking. and across the park while we were protesting, a group of americans led by lieu ris farrakhan were paid by gadhafi to sit there and cheer pro gadhafi slogans. >> it was against y'all? >> no, it was about how great gadhafi is. >> your view tonight is what of president obama? >> i'm thrilled with president obama. i've never been prouder to be an american and perhaps because it's very personal for me. but against very challenging circumstances, you referred to some of it earlier, there was a situation where everyone said, listen, we can't afford it, we've already invaded two muslim country this, doesn't make any

sense. and when we went in iraq, i was completely against it because since hussein had never committed one act of terrorism against the united states. he never attacked us. the person who did attack us, moammar gadhafi, was a few countries over and we hadn't done anything against him. and in fact we were trying to coddle up to him. and that was something that was a betrayal that we felt. >> now, have you talked to other family members of surviving family members of those killed? >> oh, yes. >> what do they -- do they share your same sentiment? >> yes, it's been a great organization. a lot of times after a tragedy like this, people try to come together to get something done and this ordinary group of people came together and i think accomplished something quite extraordinary. not only did we sue and find pan am guilty of misconduct, we then had the ub h. u.n. sanctions put on, we lobbied to have a specific u.s. law put in place to put more pressure on the gadhafi regime to release him to

campsites. there was a little bit of excitement and to be honest, celebration because it was with the libyan people because his death was related to the freeing of their people. >> brian flynn, thank you so much for your time and of course condolences for your loss. >> thank you, reverend. coming up, republicans are about to go on record against creating jobs for firefighters, first responders and teachers. senator barbara pboxer will be here live. and folk, pop some popcorn. the gop race is getting nasty. rick perry and mitt romney unload on each other. they got to be smiling over in the white house. plus, tyler perry, one-on-one. he defied the critics and built an empire.

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the senate may be voting tonight on a bill that creates jobs for firefighters, first responders and teachers. who wouldn't want that? you guessed it. that's next. only one calcium supplement does that in one daily dose. citracal slow release... continuously releases calcium plus d for the efficient absorption my body needs. citracal. the two trains and a bus rider.

the "i'll sleep when it's done" academic. for 80 years, we've been inspired by you. and we've been honored to walk with you to help you get where you want to be. ♪ because your moment is now. let nothing stand in your way. learn more at keller.edu. republicans, you're about to get a chance to step up and do what's right. the president promised his jobs

bill in little pieces. so here comes. the senate is expected to vote tonight on the $35 billion bill and let's be very clear what's at stake here. nearly 400 thou o00 thourk he40 thousands of cop and firefighter jobs. folks, these people save lives. all of it's paid for with a half percent tax on millionaires. republicans vote against this at your own risk. >> if they vote against these proposals, if they say no to steps that we know will put people back to work right now, they're not going to have to answer to me. they're going to have to answer to you. >> if you're a republican up for re-election, pay attention to this. all these senators like scott brown, olympia snowe, and dean heller, you really want to vote against 400,000 jobs?

joining me now is senator barbara boxer, democrat from california. senator, thanks for your time tonight. >> good to be with you. >> are you expecting a vote tonight and what do you expect will happen? >> i do expect a vote late tonight. it could go over until tomorrow. i think we'll have it tonight. and i think it's the same old same old, reverend. if they wanted to work with us, they wouldn't be filibustering this mini jobs bill which is as understand 400,000 jobs for our first responders and our firefighters and our teachers. they're forcing us to get 60 votes just to take up the measure. if they were going to work with us, they said, a few of them, that they would work with us on pieces of the obama jobs package. they're not. and i don't know whether you're aware of this, but they have offered up their plan tonight which would he have also going to vote on, and you know what that plan does? >> tell us. >> it cuts $30 billion in the

next 60 days that has to be identified, and not out of defense, domestics c s cadiscre. and that would be a lot of 200,000 jobs. >> this is unbelievable. not only are they not vote to go save or provide 400,000 jobs, they're filibustering that. they have actually made a proposal that would reduce 200,000 jobs. >> that's exactly right. i wases astounded. i was in my office just working through it. what they do is they give a break to government contractors and in addition to that, they order the omb to come up with $30 billion of more cuts to domestic discretionary. that's fbi, that's the border

patrol, that's education, that's roads. that's what they're doing. >> they're going to cut fbi, they're going to cut law enforcement, they're going to not vote and continue philly brus tering on first responders and teachers. so if they had their way tonight, senator boxer, you're telling the american people it would be a net loss of 600,000 yet they say they want to create jobs. >> that's what i'm saying. but this started even before the obama jobs bill. i stood on the floor on my feet for two days with the economic development act which would have meant a great number of -- half a million jobs over a period of time. and it's a program that's been in place almost forever. and they filibustered that. they filly bustered mary landrieu's small business innovations bill which in the past has helped 19,000 businesses. they did shut down for a period of time the faa, you know that, and they stopped making some

fixes to airport towers and runways. i have to say, reverend, 75% of the american people, you've shown us this on your show, support this jobs bill that's before the senate tonight. >> and every aspect of it, 54% support infrastructure spending, 56% taxing millionaires, 58% payroll tax cuts, 63% support money for teachers and first responders. and senator, these are republicans. the percentage that i'm giving you are republicans polled. are any republicans in the senate, are any in the hallway, in the private conversation has you're having, are any of them saying wait a minute, i'm not really with this? i mean, are any of them talking reasonable? >> at this point, they're sticking together, they're following mitch mcconnell, they're following eric cantor, they're following john boehner. and we know what mitch mcconnell

said. he said it, i have to give him credit because he hasn't taken it back, the only important thing to him is making sure barack obama doesn't get a second term. and the irony of what they're doing seems to me means that he will get a second term. because when 75% of the people support his jobs bill, this is what the polls showed tonight, that this particular bill to hire firefighters and teachers and first responders overwhelming support among all the american people, if they go against this tonight and all indications are that they will, i mean, maybe they're listening to us, maybe they'll change their mind, they're going against the american people and the president's right when he said they'll have to answer to the american people. >> not only are there 75% of the american people with this. let's look at the reality of where the american people have suffered. look at these new figures that have come out 2010.

the median paycheck in 2010, senator boxer, is down 1.2%. the number of americans without any work, down 500,000 -- is up, rather, 500,000 that don't have work. yet the number of americans who made over $50 million is up 9%. so it is clear that the middle class and the poor are getting poorer. there are more people unemployed, but the rich, the above $50 million, are going up. and they want to continue to cut, cut, cut. this is insane policy. >> yes. it's awful. and i want to just say i haven't had a chance to speak with you offline, but i love what you do when you show these facts and figures. because a lot of the people, they hear us speaking, but when

they see these things, that's why we see people out on wall street. there's a sense of unfairness throughout the country. when 400 families are worth more than 50% of the rest of us, there is something very wrong here and it's dangerous for our nation. we are a great nation because of our middle class. and when i was a kid and you were a kid, we knew, i knew if i played by the rules, you know, i'd be okay. if i studied hard, if i got my degree, i could do well. and my parents struggled, my mother never even graduated from high school. and yet she knew that her daughters would do fine. and we're losing that. and that's the america that i love and that's the reason i went into politics to make sure that dream is alive and we celebrate it, you know, martin luther king and we think about his words. we've got to get back to that time when we all understand that this government should work for all the people. >> well, senator boxer, thank

you for your time and thank you for continuing the fight. hang in there for the american people. >> i will. ahead, the hottest political fight in the nation just got hotter. it's romney versus perry. no holds barred. and they're cheering them on in the white house.

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get out the popcorn. the gop race is getting nasty. willard mitt romney and rick perry are turning the campaign into their own personal grudge match. >> we have the lowest number of kids as a percentage uninsured as any state of america. you have the highest. i'm still speaking. >> romney care was obama care. >> i'm looking forward to finding your facts on that because that doesn't -- >> i'll tell you what the facts are. >> rick are, i'm speaking. >> it's not the first time that mitt's been wrong on some issues before. >> it's different than what the governor put in his book just six months ago. >> you hired illegals in your home. >> would you please wait? are you going keep talking?

>> and the hits just keep on coming. this week romney released this web ad attacking perry. >> this wases before -- he was before the social programs from the stand points of he was before -- whether or not we're going to have this policy or that policy. we don't need any pair -- >> perry really did throw up all over himself in the debate. >> the fact is americans understand faith. >> rick perry plunging in the polls. >> if he would just calm down. he he seemed very agitateded. >> romney pulled the ad, but perry fired right back. >> i hate to lose. i don't think i've ever hired an illegal in my life. we hired a lawn company, they mow our lawn and they had illegal emgranimmigrants workin

there. there are a lot of reasons not to elect me. >> of course democrats are loving this, so keep fighting, guys. didn't you you see him put his hand on you, rick? and whatever do you, don't listen to wife man newt gingrich. >> maximizing bickering is probably not the road to the white house. now joining me, political reporter for the "washington post," and featured columnist. thank you both for being here tonight. it seems especially personal these men do not like each other. why? >> they do not. they are two men with pretty big egos that are vying for the same position from very different backgrounds. perry of course from texas, grew up pretty poor. and romney on the other hand

grew up pretty wealthy and maintains his worth. went to harvard. perry went to texas a and m. so very different culturally. but even beyond that, they've had personal beef all along the way as they've risen in republican politics, as they were governors together. romney at one point hired an aide that was an enemy of perry and at one point perry shouted out romney in his book fed up. and blamed him for banning the boy scoutss from the olympics when he was head of the utah olympics. so there's all this personal beef and i think we saw it boil over in that debate on tuesday. and some of romney's friends saided that perry clearly got under romney's skin and he very much looked like a thin skinned and agitated person up there as perry was going after him. >> this acrimony can only help the democrats. i mean, he literally was like

almost condescending, at one point placed his hand on perry's shoulder. where i come from in brooklyn, somebody put their hand on you during an argument, that's a whole other signal. not that i'm trying to excite anything. >> i thought it was kind of touching actually. but the fact is that who could also benefit is herman cain who probably would describe it as asinine-9-9. and what confuses me here is quite frankly, i think these guys have a lot in common. both have big hair. one is a little bit country, the other one is country club. and both of them are accusing the other of a lot of flip-flopping. on the one hand, you have rm any pointing out that rick perry is a reformed democrat who had supported al gore. that's the implication in one commercial. and perry is suggesting that romney is a reformeded moderate

or pretending he is, that he was, and this is a very scornful term to conservatives, a rino, which means republican in name only. >> well, i mean, bob has a point. look at the polls. the latest gop poll shows perry is floundering. they have romney at 30%, cain at 26%, perry at 13%. so you have romney who people say flip-flops and perry's just flopping. >> that's true. he very much is. he came in with so much energy and fanfare and shot to the top of the polls immediately. and then those debate performances that were so poor really affected his candidacy and of course romney was all too happy to point that out in the debate saying that no wonder perry was getting so testy in those debates, because he had so many poor debate performances. but i think in some ways this does play into the white house's hands. i got some e-mails --

>> what does it mean for the president? >> i got e-mails from democrats who were very happy with the way mitt romney especially came off in this debate. he came off as out of touch, like the harvard hall monitor who knew everything, calling on anderson cooper to rescue him as he was in this debate with rick perry. so they were very happy with the way he came off especially. and i think just in general all the republicans up there really bickering and not attacking the president. that's the thing. romney had been so disciplined in these other debates at attacking the president. and here you got in to all sorts of fights with santorum, with newt gingrich and of course there with rick perry. on the white house and democrats are happy to see that. >> bob, let me show you this. in case people think this may be a short lived fight. look at the money trail.

rick perry has raised $17 million, mitt romney $14 million. this can go on for some time because rick perry no matter how low he is in the polls has $17 million in gone one quarter to spend, this food fight can go on a long time because mr. perry can buy a lot of groceries. >> it kind of speaks to another similarity between the two and that is their very, very tight relationship with big business. you have mitt romney who calls corporations people and of course rick perry would probably call them just plain folks. but you have two people who are really diametric opposites going for the same nomination. and what newt gingrich who thought that he would ever be peace maker talking about maximum bickering. what you have is republicans acting for all the world like they're democrats. >> it also raises another thing that i was thinking about watching the last debate.

they clashed so vociferously and then someone kind of started taking apart mr. cain's 9-9-9. it this keeps going out of the three top contender, it would be hard to imagine if this beingbe country money any continues that they could make a united straight. you couldn't conceive of a romney/perry slate and almost even cain if it continues this way. >> it so remind he is me of the obama/clinton fight that went on in 2008 and how there were so many concerns that they wouldn't be able to bring that ticket together and bring the different wings of of the party together. of course that did happen, gracious gave that gracious speech about obama and conceding that she lost the nomination. so will go on for some time, but i can't even conceive necessarily of a perry/romney ticket because there is so much

bad blood between these guys. >> not if they have to appear together. thank you foyou both for your t tonight. ahead, we introduce you to this 96-year-old victim of voter suppression. how the fight for her right is heating up. if respect and one of hollywood's biggest stores drops by. tyler perry on show business and the business of politics. if you think occasional irregularity is no big deal, think twice. it may be a sign that your digestive system could be working better. listen to this with occasional irregularity, things your body doesn't use could be lingering in your system, causing discomfort. but activia has been shown in clinical studies to help with slow intestinal transit when consumed 3 times per day. 7 out of 10 doctors recommend activia. and the great taste is recommended by me!

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tell us on facebook. i had a great time on "the daily show" with jon stewart last night, but it wasn't all laughs. the issue of race and politics came up. the two trains and a bus rider. the "i'll sleep when it's done" academic. for 80 years, we've been inspired by you. and we've been honored to walk with you to help you get where you want to be. ♪ because your moment is now. let nothing stand in your way. learn more at keller.edu. can make it from australia to a u.s. lab to a patient in time for surgery may seem like a trumped-up hollywood premise. ♪ but if you take away the dramatic score... take away the dizzying 360-degree camera move...

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the problem ? a burden no other agency or company bears. a 2006 law that drains 5 billion a year from post-office revenue while the postal service is forced to overpay billions more into federal accounts. congress created this problem, and congress can fix it. this week i had a chance to talk with one of the biggest star on the planet, "forbes magazine" just named him the richest man in entertainment. this year he's making more money than anyone else in hollywood. $130 million so far. i'm talking about george clooney some no clooney? nope. brad pitt? no. actually, i'm talking about this man. >> girl, you better answer me.

>> he's tyler perry. actor, director, play wright, screen writer, producer, his films have grossed $500 million worldwide. perry's atlanta based production company produces blockbusters like 2005's diary of a mad black woman. the critically acclaimed precious. and the highly popularadea movies. and he's one of tv's busiest producers churning out hit comedies house of pain, meet the browns and starting next month, a new tv show called for better of worse. >> but, you know, i stopped off real quick to get something and then got back in the car and she was butt naked. >> and what did you do? >> i didn't do nothing. >> liar. >> but i stopped off real quick and get something and then --

>> tyler perry, thanks for being with us tonight. >> my pleasure. >> let me start with you went from literally no where in life to building yourself to the biggest artist in hollywood. how did that happen? >> i tell you, what made it so great is nothing but the grace of god is what i often say, but what it made so awesome with me is i started with this little thing and i became famous among my own people. i get to hollywood and nobody knows who i am. so it allowed me to be able to make some deals because people underestimated me and retained a lot of ownership. so it was that way going in. >> one of the things, though, that i think and i talked about is that you maintain your authenticity. you didn't try to become different. you projected and you brought the average american both african-american and american

working class family on the stage and on the screen and people saw their uncle, their aunt. you reflected light as it was and didn't bow to the the elitist notion of what they saw as life. >> right. and that is what has afforded me so much success. people want to see images of themselves as they are. not watered down. there's a great town of new york and l.a., but the whole country is in the middle and a lot of people don't look like what you see on television. so i wanted to bring real story, my own stories, not walk away from it. too many of us, especially as african americans, we get -- do well this school, go ork and we move away from where we come from. and i never did that. i've always embraced it and tried to bring it along with me. >> not only never did it, you built a studio, the only one i know that has done that, which is why you're in town, you

provided real jobs. the people in the trenches fighting every day understand what your value has been and you have in a very quiet way assumed these groups. i will never forget that when the kids coopera s couldn't swi pool in dpennsylvania, you took them to disneyland. so not only are the elitist that question you don't understand your authenticity, we don't see them. you provide job, you're there in the marches. you've never lost your connection. and people don't -- and you tell us don't talk about it. but i'm talking about it tonight because i think people need to know about it. >> i appreciate it, reverend, i really do. and for me, what it's about more than anything is just being able to tell stories, positive stories that uplift and encourage. all the other stuff that comes along with it, there's a

responsibility. when you have so many pimillion who love what you do, there's a responsibility to be a voice for injustice. so i feel that responsibility. i take it on and i do not take it lightly. so that's why receiving this award is really fantastic. >> you are also very helpful to the president and a lot of people don't know that and you don't get involved in a lot of poll tick, but you sort of promised what he's doing. how have you felt about how he's doing so far? >> i think to have this wonderful president that we have, barack obama, and have him come in on office dealing with all that he had to deal with, maintaining, managing and holding on to this, it's been fantastic. it took many years to get to the situation this country was in and he's only had a short time and he managed to stabilize it, which i think is amazing. >> when i talk to others like sicily tyson who tells me that

you took artists and made them relevant again, gave them a living, when i go to atlanta and see people working every day that wouldn't have had a job, and when i think of how you have rough solutioniz revolutionized the economy, it is something that i think is going to be kind to you in history because everybody innovates, you know, we just dedicated the martin luther king memorial this weekend and he is revered now, but people forget when he's reviled. everyone that makes a new move will always face controversy, but in the end, it's readjusting society that breakthroughs happen. and you've really broke through for cultural phenomenon unlike anybody in these times. and i don't know if that's what you had in mind, but that's what you're going on leave behind. >> wow. thank you. thank you. >> thank you. tyler perry.

thank you so much. ahead, turning back the tide of voter suppression. stay with us. [ male announcer ] succeeding in today's market

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we've been talking a lot about the gop effort to suppress the vote nationwide with new voter i.d. bills proposed in 34 states. now democrats in tennessee are taking a stand. two statehouse democrats have filed a bill to reappeal that state's photo i.d. law. it's a step forward for voters like dorothy cooper, the 96-year-old we talked to earlier this month. she was denied an i.d. to vote when she didn't have her marriage certificate. and she told us on this show it was the biggest voting obstacle she ever faced. even during jim crow days you didn't have any problems voting in tennessee? >> no, i haven't had any problems at all until this time. this is the only time that i've

had problems. >> dorothy cooper may have trouble voting, but gun lovers won't. under tennessee law, a gun permit allows to vote. but not accepted for voting are public housing i.d.s, medicaid cards and college i.d.s. so in tennessee, gun owners have an easier time voting than people like dorothy cooper. and this issue is about rights, not about race. last night i went on "the daily show" and i told jon stewart the same thing. >> a possible presidential race, two african-americans squaring off against each other has to be -- feel like an achievement for people who worked in the civil rights movement. >> it is an achievement, but i think it's also a good point where people that said that guys like me were only supporti isupm because he was black, cain is southern black and i wouldn't support cain if he w