optimism and can-do resilience. look at this number, 57% of americans recently told pollsters, as americans we can always find ways to solve our problems and get what they want. isn't that amazing? always. this is the firm ground of a american can-do attitude on which any leader can take us out of doldrums, but he the leader must first believe it themselves. we saw what kennedy in taking us to the moon, sending young americans around the globe in the peace corps, putting the american presidency on the side of civil rights. it was can-do time, because we had a can-do president, and we need one again. that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. "politics nation withal sharpton" starts right now. the dayne controversy, it's a republican party crisis. another day, another herman cain

bombshell. politico reports $45,000 paid to one woman on top of $35,000 to another woman. >> that is the d.c. culture -- guilty until proven innocent. >> the candidate finding fault in 9-9-9 directions except one -- >> blake yourself. >> the latest details with nia malika henderson and clarence page. >> if it turns out he's right, they better fire a bunch of people in the next 24 hours. >> now newt gingrich is making a move up? it's a hot mess for the republicans. ed ren del and rick lazio on the gop's 2012 meltdown. senate republicans get a third chance to do the right thing on jobs. how did that go? >> senator bernie sanders is

live on the republican strikeout on jobs. have they forgotten 14 million people are unemployed? we'll make them remember. "politics nation" starts right now. welcome to "politics nation." i'm al sharpton. we have breaking news tonight, the most detailed account yet of a specific allegations of sexual harassment again herman cain. we'll have all the details for mr. cain, the hot seat just keeps getting hotter. another bombshell today, a new report that one woman accusing cain of sexual harassment received a $45,000 settlement, according to politico. nbc has confirmed the payment, but not the amount.

so accuser a got $45,000, but there's at least one other woman, accuser b, she got $35,000. that's a total of $80,000, not exactly what cain said monday. >> we ended up settling for what would have been a termination settlement, quite frankly -- >> what would that he tha be about? >> mbe three months' salary something like that, just vaguely trying to recall it. >> any idea what she was making probably a year? >> probably $40 to $50,000 a year. >> news of the $80,000 comes as reports swirl about a possible third woman. associated press says the woman considered filing a claim. here's his response to all of this just moments ago -- >> sean, this is absolutely

fabrication, man. i don't know what else to say. how many more ways can i say this stuff is totally fabricated? >> now, joining me now, jim vannen hye, from politico. >> and nia-malika henderson from "the washington post." she's been blogging about the latest developments, and -- jim, what can you tell you? >> right, i want to be very precise, and we'll say woman a and woman b. woman a is the accuser you mentioned we reported today got a $45,000 settlement. she accused cain during his tenure of saying sectioniumly inappropriate things in her presence. the new elements is the size of the settlement, which you just

said in your segment doesn't seem to square too nicely with what cain has been saying publicly. we just posted a separate story about what we'll call accuser b. i think this is the more significant of the two accusations. this person told two people in real time of a sexually unwanted moment with herman cain during his tenure at the association, and she -- this complaint was taken directly and immediately to two board members, and ultimately to legal counsel for the nra. herman cain has denied everything about this incident, said nothing ever happened, he never did anything inappropriate, is aware of who this person is, because we alerted his campaign two weeks ago and to this day says absolutely nothing happened. >> jim, woman a, accuser a, he first didn't know anything, then acknowledged something about a.

>> that's correct. >> b, he says there's no admission at all. this is not about sex, about you xw being misleading, being false to the public, but let me ask you this. what happened that night with b? how much can you tell us that would really slam home that he would have had to know or remember this incident? >> what we're reporting is that two people were told immediately after the incident. it was at an event, a national restaurant association event, an incident between herman cain and this woman where he made a, quote/unquote, made a sexual advance, made her feel extremely uncomfortable, agitated, angry, went to board members to relay her very specific concerns and she wanted it taken care of immediately. soon after the incident, she left the organization with a one-year severance package. the question is dern there's

been no formal charge, but he also said nothing inappropriate happened with this woman in question. the woman in question was around the age of 30 years old. at the time she worked in the government affairs division. she now lives in new jersey. we have not disclosed her name for privacy reasons. we haven't done that since the beginning. >> did she feel, jim, that her job was at stake? >> she told one of the people she spoke to afterwards, yes, she felt it was done in a way, in a manner she did feel like her job could be at stake based on the atmosphere of that moment. >> clarence, let me go to you for a moment. i think the thing that bothers a lot of this. we had to deal with allegations about people that we defend, but mr. cain accused us on racist on the left, liberals. he accused this of an ex-employees, accused this of governor perry. i think the real story here is not just the sexual eye ink

discretions or suggestions, that would be between him and his wife, but how do you blame everybody around the country, and the reality is you had ten days to clear this up or to say i'm not going to deal with this, rather than do that, you pay play the blame game, but then say vote for me to president? >> that's the reality. instead herman cain seems to be playing the clarn thomas strategy, which is to stand firm and accuse your accusers of victimizing you. you remember clarence thomas used that famous phrase, a high-tech lynching. he's blamed either fellow republicans or blaming liberals in general of -- blaming liberal media conspiracies. that is not the way to handle this situation. ever since the days of gary hart back in the '80s, we can see the

best way to handle it is get in front of it. and stwles appear to be in front of the situation that you're being candid and open, and if somebody else is lying, thenitis easier to be able to pin them down, but in this situation, he's constantly being shown running away from reporters. that's not the way you want the public to see you. >> jim, let me ask you a question -- mr. cain, you gave ten days, politico gave them ten days to respond before any of this broke. then when the ten days was up, reporter confronts him, he acts like he doesn't know what you're talking about, yet from this last report posted just a little while ago, you're telling me that board members of the association were aware of this, and were confronted, the general counsel, so this was known throughout the association, so he had to know others knew about this, and for ten days they stalled and then acted as if

they were surprised after you came to them? >> not only were the board members aware of it, we talked to a half dozen sources who were aware of it. it was pretty widely known at least among a small band of people during his tenure. i don't know what he knows or what the board members says at the national association. and i think the issue is with herman cain, you have accusations coming from so many different directions, the two cases we talked about, you have a third woman who's been described by "wall street journal" and associated press, and there's even a conservative blog out today, a conservative blog i might add that has an allegation, a different one from the ones i just mentioned, so it's coming from those four, plus this iowa radio host, who

we heard from yesterday, this oklahoma republican pollster, who definitely does have ties to perfectly, but went on the record to talk about his time at the national restaurant association, and things that he saw. what cain is dealing with is this blizzard of accusations coming from all these different areas, and like you said 9 blanket statement is it's all made up. >> and then you bring race in. two weeks ago, those of us were shocked when he said, nia, there is no racism, nobody is affected by it. then when the accusation is made against him, all of a sudden, there is some racism. i guess to him only. help me with this. he went after the perry -- the

actions and perry campaign are depickable. rick perry and -- owe herman cain and his family an apology. >> now he says that rick perry and the campaign owed cain's campaign and his family an apology, because a man, kurt anderson, who used to work for cain, was the pun that put this out. curt anderson sid he was not the leak. watch this. >> i really like herman cain. i have a tremendous amount of respect for him. i didn't know anything about this. it's hard to leak something you don't know anything about. it's just not true. >> now, i'm waiting to mark block to come fire back that you lie, and what are you talking about? and how could you do that? i demand the apology but look

what mark block said? watch this. >> we were absolutely thrilled that he came on your show and said it wasn't. mr. cain always had the utmost respect for him. i want to say we accept what mr. anderson has said, and we want to move on with the campaign. >> nia, you were thrilled, you call the man out, you want the man has put the whole thing out, you call for an apology, and you come back and say i'm thrilled. we always liked the guy. then what were you talking about last night? >> right. this is just another reversal from this campaign. he still believes -- they singled out politico, saying they're considering legal options in terms of what politico has done in their reporting. they are very much playing the blame game, but it seems they

can't get their stories straight, whether it's perry, whether it's racist liberals. it's just a mess. one of the things that will damaging is as the more details come out, the more flesh that gets on this story, that will be damaging. herman cain has been in a position where we don't really know the details, so he's had some details trickle out, but the more and more these women begin to want to speak and put the story out there, i think that could be damaging to him, and as well, also very damaging. of course he's had this preemptive defense, which is whoever else come out they're lying as well, but again i think we're going to see from one of these women, perhaps a statement from her attorney. >> well, one of the attorneys went to the restaurant association today, they're trying to get it out. nia, how damaging is the new allegations that have just been printed by politico that you've

heard for the first time tonight. >> that story has revealed there's a real time cry for help in many ways from this woman, and also that many people in this restaurant association actually knew about this. so i think it's going to be harder and harder for herman cain to say that he had no idea about this. that's been his defense so far, that he only knew about one woman, you know, he didn't know about this second woman, but he also says that he told his wife this 12 years ago, so there are all sorts of contradictions here. the republican strategists i talked to said herman cain should just stop talking. the more he talks, the more he contradicts himself. >> well, clarence, i think you probably covered more political train wrecks than most. is this going to be very damaging, in your opinion? >> it certainly took him off message this week. he can't talk about the economy and economic plans like he

wanted to. it exposes him now to a lot of second thoughts on the part of republicans who had been considering him, wondering now if his campaign really has a future, even if they personally support him, they won'ter about his electability, which is a key issue for republicans. they've been trying to not support mitt romney in so many cases, we've talked about that before, and now it's been hemmen cain's term to be front-runner and he's in danger of falling off that pinnacle. >> i don't think voters expect you to be perfect. they know you make mistakes, but they do expect you to be honest and they've got to be able toon you to at least be honest even about your own flawing. >> and handle the crisis. jim, great reporting tonight, nia and clarence, thank you both for joining me. >> thank you, reverend. >> thank you. this scandal has sent the

gop into a tailspin, just as the president's numbers are picking up. republicans, is this any way to win an election? plus three strikes and they're out. it's incredible, but republicans have just voted again to kill a jobs bill. with a report like this, will they be able to keep their jobs? [ sponge ] the prognosis is bleak. you may need to soak overnight. nurse...! [ female announcer ] dawn power clean can give you the power of an overnight soak in just 5 minutes. [ sponge ] it's a scientific miracle! [ female announcer ] dawn does more. [ sponge ] so it's not a chore.

let me get clear. this concern is not about sex or indiscretion. this is about someone offering to us themselves as a fighter who will be honest and who will not lead us in a direction that they don't know is right. if you are going to tell us

something you know to be so, it's something else. it's based on race. it's based on liberals, based on an exemployee, or no, that wasn't an old employee. if you tell us all of that and it's wrong, then how can we believe you when you tell us president obama is wrong about the economic plan? or that they are wrong on the democratic side of the jobs plan? when do we believe you and when don't we believe you? that's what this is about. if you can't count your money, why would i let you count mine? ♪ ♪ ♪ walk, little walk ♪ small talk, big thoughts ♪ gonna tell them all just what i want ♪ ♪ i said don't stop, don't stop ♪ ♪ don't stop talking to me [ male announcer ] the most headroom per dollar of any car in america. the all-new nissan versa sedan.

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welcome back to "politics nation." the herman cain fiasco has turned the republican presidential race into a circus, and sucked all the oxygen out of the room. >> i really don't have any information about herman cain's setting. all the questions related to his issue there i think have to be addressed to him. >> until things go past allegations to fact, i just try to leave it alone. >> obviously we -- you know, this is an evolving saga, and let's just -- we have to wait to see how it plays out. >> he's the only one who can answer the charges against him. my concern is it takes a lot of bandwidth off our discussion. >> if cain falls, who takes his place. could newt gingrich? yes, knute, be the next flavor of the week? and what does the white house think about all this disarray we're seeing on the republican

side? >> joining me is nbc news analyst ed rendell, former governor and former chairman of the dnc, and former republican congressman rick lazio from ignite with rick lazio.com. ed, does is it seem like republicans are doing everything they can to lose this election? >> sure, no question. the only winner in this mess is barack obama. he wins by default, by the fact he's showing some movement. i think he's found his voice. people in america believe he's speaking for us when it comes to the need to create jobs. the republican congress is playing into his hand by saying no to everything, numbed of picking a few things they could have had a meeting of the minds with them, but this fiasco is brutal for republicans. the last speaker who said it takes a bit of bandwidth out of our discussion is right on, al.

instead of issues we're talking about herman cain or rick perry's performance in new hampshire or what mitt romney said in 1/2 nevada about disclosures. don't you feel that your party is way off message, and if the message was with to deal with the economy, how do you bring america back to work? how do you secure the country? we're way off in the weeds on people's personal indiscretions that they usher in with not at least being transparent or at least inconsistent. >> first of all, the media loves these process stories. they focus on it and obsess on it. every day they're talking about herman cain and his history at the national restaurant association, is another day we're not educating the public about the trade-off between our federal debt or growth or jobs

or any other things that most americans really worry about. this has been a bad week for herman cain, no doubt about it. i'm sure he probably received advice, don't open your mouth and make it a toward or three-day story, but instead -- >> he did open his mouth. that's the problem. he said that he did knn't know things that he did know, and if you say people are only employed because they want to, and you want people to think that's reasonable, then you say something unreasonable about things you know better than. why would they believe your social policy if you mislead them on things? if he hadn't said anything, he might have been better off. >> i think at this point he's got to lay out is the case, probably release the restaurant association to allow this to be disclosed, and then lay out his case against it, and let the people decide who to believe on

this? you know, let's not indict him yet. >> oh, no. >> he does have some responsibility to lay out the case and give the facts. i will say, though, very importantly here, the republican party is not in disarray. the latest rasmussen polls and other polls have mitt romney leading barack obama. romney has been consistent throughout this process, leading all the other republican candidates. he's got a huge organizational lead, leading barack obama in the critically important swing -- this is a herman cain story, not a republican story. >> but herman cain is the leading republican candidate. ed rendell. a poll has -- newt gingrich by 15, rick perry by 16. it seems if you go by several

polls, governor, the next flavor of the month. if they go in a straight line president obama is going up in the polls, up six points. so if you're going one by one from sarah palin to michele bachmann to rick perry, to cain, newt is next up. >> there's no question. look, rick, first of all herman cain would have been a whole lot better if he said on day one, i might have said some things that i didn't think were offensive, but maybe some of the women i worked with did, and if that's the case, i apologize. bhoom, over. >> i agree with you, by the way, ed. but you know -- just -- in the

context of this, it wouldn't be the first time that some political adviser or some press secretary said don't lay out all the facts, because you're going to make it a bigger story. maybe it never happened. and yes, of course, in retrospect right now herman cain should have said here's what the allegations are, there's some confuse over whether he knew it or not, but to the extent he was clear about what he knew about the facts, and sort of dispel them to the best of his ability that would have been the better path. >> no question, and it really hurts herman cain, reverend, most of all, because his long suit, if you look at the internals in the polls, his long suit was likability. but because he wasn't honest with people. herman cain got a free pass on not knowing about china being a nuclear power for the last 40 years. he's got a free pass on a lot of

dumb things he said, because people find him such an attractive and likable personality. mitt romney has the flip side. i believe mitt was a good governor of massachusetts. but mitt romney can't stop sticks his foot in his mouth. >> they don't want him. rick, it just seems that your party does not want mitt romney. no matter what happens, you keep going to someone else. >> i think that's manufactured on the left. i really do. if you look at romney's numbers, they have been incredibly consistent throughout. people didn't want bill clinton in 1992, they wanted mario cuomo. people thought he was not pure enough on the ideological. >> his numbers haven't moved. >> but he ended up -- what is there, eight or nine candidates? and by the way, the whole

narrative again on the left that somehow conservatives don't like romney doesn't play out in the polls. >> his numbers haven't moved, rick lazio. in all of the polls -- wait a minute. just a second. >> sure. >> he does not move -- >> let me tell you -- >> if i leave out of this studio, get in the car, pull up to the corner and i'm still sitting there five hours later, i can't say i'm consistent. i'm stuck. he can't move. that's not progress. >> bur you're looking -- here's what i would say. forget about the national numbers right now, which is what you're pointing out for a republican primarily that hasn't even picked a candidate. look at the early states where he has a dominant position, for example, in new hampshire. he's got a huge lead in new hampshire. he's lot a lead in sock second quarter, nevada, in michigan. >> governor, governor -- >> and he hasn't even -- >> there will be a national election, governor, isn't it?

>> it is. the problem is, rick, i think reverend sharpton is right, mitt romney has not shown the ability to expand his base even among republican voters on a national view or even looking at iowa. number two, for some strange reason, he seems to be tone-deaf on the campaign trail. going to nevada and saying let foreclosures happen? that's insane. >> but if you don't think that he's connecting with the national public, what does it say about barack obama if if the rasmussen polls, a guy that's not even a nominee yet is beating an incumbent president that everybody knows everything about. >> that is not reflected by the other polls, and all barack obama has to do is let mr. romney speak for himself on let people just lose their homes, let it play all the bay out and people just buy what's left and rent it out. ed rendell, rick lazio, thank

you so much for your time. >> thanks, reverend. up next republicans try to get away with another vote killing jobs. we won't let them. we'll talk live with vermont's independent senator, bernie sanders, next. [ sniffs ] i have a cold. [ sniffs ] i took dayquil

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welcome back to "politics nation." folks, republicans have done it again.

this afternoon every single gop senator voted against an infrastructure bill that would have put hundreds of thousands of construction workers back to work. it's the third time in the last months they have acted governs the nation's unemployed. first the american's jobs act, then the jobs for teachers and firefighters, now jobs to rebuild our roads and brings. this is appalling, but what's most appalling is they might be holding this country hostage because of one man -- >> speaker boehner, grover nor quist was on the hill this morning. was he an influence on your -- >> listen, our focus here is on jobs. we're doing everything we can to get or economy moving again. it's not often i'm asked about some random person in america. >> now to be fair, for most americans grover nor quist is some random person, but for

republicans, nor quist is an antitax hero, and signing his pledge not to raise taxes is a must-do with this congress. 236 of the 242 republicans in the house have signed it, as have 40 of the 47 senate republicans. that pledge is he heart of why republicans have blocked yet another jobs bill. apparently a 0.7% tax on millionaire is a no-go, even if it means jobs for hundreds of thousands of construction workers. joining me now is nor bernie sanders, independent from vermont, senator, thanks for coming on the show tonight. let me ask you, is this latest jobs vote just one more example of how republicans are refusing to get people back to work? >> absolutely, al.

it is a total outrage that when we have 25 million americans unemployed or under employed, when we have an infrastructure which is crumbling, 25% of our bridges are structurally deficient. roads all over america need work. our rail system is way best hind, europe, japan, even china, we need to do the work. we can't get one republican vote to help under the circumstances rebuild the infrastructure. what's really interesting, al, is the republicans keep taking positions in absolute defiance of what the american people want. >> that's right. >> poll after poll says let's rebuild our infrastructure. poll after poll, we want the richers people to start paying their fair share of taxes. we can't get one republican vote to rebuild the infrastructure and ask the wealthy people in this country to start paying for

it. >> not one republican vote, but when you mention polls, let me show you this poll that is even more alarming than the polls you are rightly 234r67 quoting about. the poll of voters in florida, not just regular voters, but the voters in florida key state, 49% of the voters say they believe that republicans are trying to tank the economy on purpose. almost half the voters in florida think they are purposely trying to tank the economy to defeat this president. >> i think that 49% is pretty much 1/3 they're trying to create jobs. that's totally absurd. they are doing nothing to create jobs. they're obstructing every single effort out there. all they have is their old mantra. more tax breaks for the -- that

will create jobs. al, we saw that move during the bush administration, and they lost 600,000 private sector jobs after eight years of bush. >> now, when you talk about they are with boehner and what they are talking about in terms of jobs, when you mention what their plan is and what mr. boehner is discussing, look at the senate plans for jobs. this is what they propose -- delay epa rules on harmful emissions. delay current and pending federal regulations, require congressional approval for new federal regulation. it's all deregulation and all neutralize or negate epa from doing anything it has nothing to do with creating active jobs for the unemployment in this

country. >> al, if we appreciate as the wall street occupiers do that we are in the midst of this horrid rend out recession today, 16% real unemployed, because we deregulated wall street, and we let these people do whatever they wanted to do, which included selling worth less securities, yo might thing our colleagues might have learned a thing or to did the necessity for regulation, but they haven't. it is really quite extraordinary. >> well, i think you are right. i like you have supported the people that have raised the right issues in this occupy wall street movement. i also hope we occupy some voting booths, so we can have those that don't believe in jobs join the unemployment. senator sanders, thank you for your time this evening. >> thank you, al. still ahead, mitt romney's

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ever wonder what this country could do with a trillion dollars? we know what washington's done with that much money. a new report finds the defense department has spent $1 trillion on new weapons since 9/11. at a time like this, i wonder what we could do with a trillion dollars? how about health care for 95 million people for two years? how about repairing every deficient bridge in america seven times over? how about completely wiping out student loan debt. right now republicans are more than willing to gut programs for the poor and middle class, but too many of them won't touch defense spending. it's time to get our priorities straight. is this a chevy volt? [ stu ] yeah. it's electric. i don't think so. it's got a gas tank right here.

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republican economics. where corporations are people, and real people don't matter, unless they're rich. a new report out today shows that 30 of the top corporations in this country paid no total income tax over the past three years, including general electr electric, part owner of this network. but instead of railing against that, all we hear from republicans is this -- >> today we live in a nation where only 53% of americans pay any federal income tax. 47% of americans pay absolutely no federal income tax. people who pay nothing can easily forget the idea there is no such thing as a free lunch. >> a free lunch. >> that means they make about

5600 a year. you want these people to pay more? i'd focus on those 30 corporations first. joining me now, msnbc contributor jared bernstein, former chief economist for vice president biden, now with the center for budget at policy priorities. jared, republicans want corporations to pay less and poor people to pay more. isn't that the class warfare they're always railing about? >>s in tax report you mention, it's actually a little worse. these corporations actually got significant rebates back from the government to the tune of billions remember, anybody who goes to work is paying payroll taxes, and the main point is that if he actually look at where incomes have gone over the last two, three decades, the

growth has done an end run around the middle class and gone right to the top. all the ideas i'm hearing from the republicans on this issue would make that worse. it's that simple. >> well, let me -- to give some evidence to your points is saves the koch brothers 8.7 billion each. they also invest in the political class. that's an investment that pays pretty big returns unless the rest of us do something about it. >> you look at the fact that the real class warfare. look at this, the u.s. corporations right now, according to "wall street journal" and federal reserve, is sitting on two-plus trillion

dollars in cash, while we are looking at all of this unemployment, 14 million people unemployed, looking at all of these people that are in the lowest of the economic ladder, and you are sitting on cash and would not invest in this country and would not provide jobs, and then you get people that are covering for them, saying whatever you do, you can't touch them, don't tax them -- >> right. >> because somehow they will have this trickle down to you one day. >> it's absolutely outrageous. >> let's think about this. you're right about those numbers, and what's the solution that we're hearing from the conservative side? it's more of a tax cut on corporate america. now, not only are they sitting on these reserves, their profits are back to before the great recession. what they don't seem to get is what's holding this economy back

absolutely clearly, when you look at the number you have just cited, especially from the corporate sector, is not lacks of after-tax income, not profits, not cash reserves, it's mime walking in their doors, it's customers, it's orders, it's projects that these guys can get their capital off the sidelines and invest in. the democrats -- the president has a plan for that. they might not love the plan, infrastructure, payroll taxes, you know the plans, but every single day they get a chance to, they vote it down. on the one hand, they're emphasizing things that can't possibly be a solution, because we nose those corporations are flush, and they're ignoring the solutions that are on the table. >> it goes back to what we said is they would rather sink the ship just to try to get the captain. jared bernstein, thanks so much. we'll be right back. we're america's natural gas

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rick perry's comedy tour is rolling on. in his latest stop he tried out new material on immigration. >> you don't need a fence, in your view? >> i think the idea of saying, listen, i'm going to build a double fence, we're going to pull alligators between it and lava in there as well, i mean, you know, one trying to outdo the other one. >> well, perry is trying to outdo the president who said this in may. >> they're going to say we need to quadruple the border patrol or they'll want a higher fence. maybe they'll need a motor, or maybe alligators in the motor. they'll never be satisfied. >> it's pretty funny, but ironically perry didn't see it that way. >> this is a president who is more interested in trying out for "saturday night live," it seems like. anyone who knows whose happening

on the border of texas and mexico, or for that matter the southern border of the united states with mexico realizes this is not comedy. >> not comedy. you're the one on the comedy tour. who can forget you killed them last week? >> this is such a cool state. i mean, c'mon, live free or die? it's like, live free or die, victory or death, bring it. if any print any more money over there in washington, the gold's going to be good. >> the day has been awesome, girl. >> awesome, girl. the problem is you said the president was trying out for saturday night live. the problem is we saw you live saturday night. thanks for watching. i'm al sharpton. "hardball" starts right now.