hitchens unplugged. mr. hitchens was 62 years old. that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. "the ed show" with ed schultz starts right now. good evening, americans. welcome to "the ed show" tonight from minneapolis. breaking news. a deal has been reached on capitol hill to extend the payroll tax cuts and unemployment benefits. that's good news for the holidays. but the deal also forces the white house to make a decision on the keystone pipeline within 60 days. are they kicking the can down the road? more details ahead. also tonight, republicans are mounting a coordinated effort to keep you from voting in the 2012 election. the right wing can't win the game, so they're changing the rules. this is "the ed show." let's get to work. the right to vote is not only the cornerstone of our system of government, it is the lifeblood of our democracy. >> the lifeblood of our

democracy is under attack. tonight, my commentary on voter suppression and its impact on the 2012 election. "ri "ring of fire" radio host mike papantonio joins us with legal analysis. professor caroline heldman with all the numbers. and hillary shelton of the naacp with the on the ground response. it's another iraq coming. it's war propaganda going on. >> ron paul is being slammed by the gop field because he's got a shot at winning iowa. >> with all due respect to ron paul, i think i have never heard a more dangerous answer for american security. >> msnbc political analyst, jonathan alter, is here, with analysis on last night's debate. and the right wing's love for tim tebow and his faith is now taking center stage in politics. >> let me tell you, i hope i am the tim tebow of the iowa caucuses. >> tonight, i'll ask dr. james peterson what righties would

think if tim tebow were a muslim. good to have you with us tonight, folks. breaking news out of the senate on capitol hill this evening. senate leaders have reached a temporary two-month agreement on the extension of the payroll tax holiday and unemployment benefits. the deal, however, includes a key republican demand. a provision on the keystone xl pipeline. a project president obama had previously promised to veto. the deal requires the president to make a decision on the pipeline in 60 days. the story just broke. we're rounding up folks on capitol hill. we'll talk with congressman's steve israel on the deal later on in the program. a political tsunami is what i call it. that's what's coming. just in time for the 2012 election. folks, laws in a dozen states in the country designed to reduce

voter participation. in many states it looks like outright voter suppression which is why the justice department is taking a hard look at the laws. you know what, it might be too late. it's going to take a hell of a ground game to beat this. progressives, listen up. this is where a major battle is being waged for the 2012 election. nothing parallels what has happened over the past year when it comes to legislation. legislation has been introduced in more than 30 states. 14 of those states have enacted new laws. and the attorney general of the united states, eric holder, says the justice department is carefully reviewing these laws. now, here's why. eight of these states have enacted new photo i. d. laws including south carolina, texas and wisconsin. five states have cut back an early voting including florida and ohio. now, six states have made voter registration a hell of a lot more difficult. ohio, florida, illinois, maine, texas and wisconsin. now, the effort is vast and

these laws disproportionately affect the poor, the elderly, college students. people of color. and people in rural america are going to have it a lot tougher to vote in 2012. most of these key groups, what are they? they are key democratic constituencies. now, out of those 14 states, 5 million eligible voters could potentially be affected. that's a heck of a number. 171 electoral votes are in play, my friends. which is 63% of the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency. the numbers are staggering. 5 of these 14 states are considered to be battleground states. think about that. five states are battleground states in an era when one battleground state can swing the election, either way? wow. think about the laws in eight states requiring photo i.d. now, it's important, because 11% of citizens do not have a photo

i.d. again, we're talking about the poor, the elderly, college students. we know this is an orchestrated effort by the republicans and the right wing in this country. they saw how successful president obama brought in a new wave of young voters and minority voters were engaged. and the working class for the first time in a long time when he trounced john mccain. so this is how they're coming back. they're afraid of losing on a fair playing field. so they are literally changing the playing field through legislation in many states. the righties have spent years, you know, trumping up the big lie about voter fraud in america so that they can enact new laws which basically amount to voter suppression. i just don't think if you look at the big picture, you know, there's a one-month plan, a quarter plan, a half-year plan in business. if you look at the total effort for president obama to get re-elected in november of 2012, this is going to be a heavy lift for the democratic and

progressive and liberal community in this country. now, get your cell phones out. i want to know what you think. tonight's question. are republicans deliberately disenfranchising voters to win elections? text "a" for yes, text "b" for no to 62263. always go to our blog and make a comment, ed.msnbc.com. we'll have the results later in the show. we're going to spend a lot of time on this and gets into the devil in the detail on how it's going to break down. what is the ground game? i'm joined tonight by hillary shelton, senior vice president for advocacy sand policy and director of naacp. mike papantonio, attorney and the host of "the ring of fire" radio show. here we have tonight the numbers with the professor, the attorney to tell us what the legal options are, and hillary shelton to tell us what is going to be the ground game in all of this. it's going to take a massive

coordinated effort for the democrats and liberal community in the country to fight back against the legislation passed in the battleground states. it is huge, no doubt about it. caroline, i want to start with you tonight. give us the numbers. what kind of an impact could this have in 2012 if we were really to do nothing as a citizenry over on the left in. >> well, the brennan center provided the best data at nyu and 5 million voters might be demobilized in key electoral college states. obviously wisconsin, ohio, pennsylvania efforts, in florida. they have suspended their registration efforts because they're so restricted now in florida. the impact will be felt and it really tells us elections matter. the fact so many republicans were elected in 2010 that they were able to implement this koch brothers funded american legislative exchange council, long-term plan to suppress voters. this mean elections matter.

it's not the first tomb we'ime seen it. we saw it with bill clinton after he turned out the african-american vote in 1992. there were similar efforts, unsuccessful, in the south with republican whites who didn't like the fact blacks turned out to vote. >> hillary shelton, looking at the landscape of all of this, it's going after the black community. or is that an overstatement? what do you think? >> no, you're absolutely right. as a matter of fact, when we look at the data, we've determined 25% of all african-americans do not have the kinds of photo i.d. to meet these new very stringent and suppressing stanstandards. they're trying to cut out african-american voter participation. if we look at states just like north carolina, we saw north carolina was won by about 40,000 votes, but if the same stringent voter i.d. provision was applied in north carolina, thank god it's been suspended for the time being, 240,000 african-americans

in north carolina would not be able to vote. >> that is a huge number. mike papantonio, at this point, what are the legal options, what could be done? because at this point, you know, it's going to take a heavy lift to get this coordinated in all of these brattleground states. is there anything the attorney general can do at this point? >> the fight is going to be over president 1964 voters right act. unfortunately the deck has been stacked. while we've been worrying about elections in the senate and congress, what the republicans have been doing is stacking the courts with republican judges. and unfortunately what you have now in 11 of the 13 federal appeals courts, you have bush-appointed judges, republican-appointed judges that are going to act more like politicians than they are judges. now, the problem is we're starting way behind. these are the same judges who are going to issue orders dealing with scheduling, going to issue orders dealing with discovery orders, dealing with

interlocutory appeals. these are judges that are going to make decisions that can make the case go away. they can dismiss the case. they can interpret the law in the way to what the 1965 voters rights act doesn't have any teeth at all. 11 months is not enough time to fix the problem. it's going to be chaos. it's going to be discrimination. the new jim crow type of era is on us. and what's happened, ed, is it happened to us while we weren't paying attention. >> well, professor, tell us, what is the heaviest lift here? what is the biggest obstruction that what you can see of any of the laws passed in these states? >> well, i have no doubt they will ultimately be found unconstitutional, whether a violation of the equal protection clause in the 14th amendment or poll tax in the 14th amendment and the 24th amendment. but the problem is that eric holder and others bringing cases will have to wait until after the election when it's actually had an impact and it doesn't have to be intentional.

folks are saying, you know, they're presenting a false argument saying, it's about voter fraud. if it disproportionately affects certain americans, it will be found to be unconstitutional. that's going to happen after the election. that's the biggest barrier. at this point it's mobilization. people actually -- i hope they have awoken the sleeping democratic giant and people turn out to vote who typically don't turn out to vote in elections. because across the board we should be concerned about this. it's partisanship in front of democracy. >> well, hilary shelton, what kind of ground game are we talking about here? it sounds to me it's going to take an effort like we've never seen in american politics before. >> absolutely. we've got to run two tracks throughout this whole program. one track, exactly what's being described, to repeal these measures. the other track is, unfortunately, we have to make sure every american has whatever they need to be able to register and vote. the sad thing is we have these politicians who are driving this effort that decide it's better

to suppress and prevent americans from voting and thereby taint the entire democratic system, rather than make sure that every american has the opportunity to vote and actually fight for those votes if they want to win the elections. we have to make sure everyone has the photo i.d.s, struggle to make sure everybody has everything they need, the paperwork, certified copies of their birth certificate and get what they need in hand so we can get to the polls and cast the vote in november. >> i tell you what, when you talk about poor people in a rural area and getting them to vote with all of those circumstances, it is going to be a heavy, heavy lift. it is going to take communication and a ground game unlike anything we've seen. now, mike, i've talked to conservatives. they say they're so worried about people that are coming in that are not american citizens and they're here and undocume undocumented workers and they're voting. and that this will clear that up. what do you say to that?

>> when republicans controlled state offices they used the argument to go to the legislators and tell them, make up a myth. it's fantasy talk, ed. totally fantasy talk. for example, rick scott in florida was put to the test, said rick scott, mr. governor, come show us where this fraud has taken place. he couldn't show it because it doesn't exist. but nevertheless, it creates this visceral scare and legislators have something to hang their hat on and they have the right to take away people's rights to vote. the real problem here, though, ed, i keep coming back to you, is this isn't just a legislative problem. this has now become a problem with the judiciary. as lawyers, we like to think that politics don't get wound up in things as important as this. i have to tell you something, republican judges that have been appointed understand it's payback time. if you believe they're going to move this through the system quickly between now and the next election, we're kidding ourselves. the fight really is not can we win in court.

we probably can. i believe with we can. it's going to have to be after this is over. we waited too long. eric holder was told three years ago to do something. he ignored it like he's ignored so many other issues. >> hilary shelton, do you agree mr. holder was too slow to the punch here? >> i don't. eric holder has been on top of this thing by many ways but is restricted by the law and the judges we talked about earlier. he's on it and gets it and sees how important it is we address the issues. we have to make sure people come out and vote on election day, to make sure they can cast that vote anyway. >> hilary shelton, caroline heldman, professor, great to have you with us, mike papantonio, always. thanks for your time tonight. i appreciate it. remember to answer tonight's question at the bottom of the screen and share your thoughts on twitter @edshow. we want to know what you think. we're going to cover this story a lot in the coming months. it's going to take a heck of an

effort. it is the story going in to 2012. ron paul has momentum in iowa, but fox news is pretending he doesn't have a chance. really? jonathan alter joins me for the conversation on the republican establishment and why they're afraid of ron paul. and congress avoids a government shutdown, but the republicans are still holding the middle class hostage over an oil pipeline. congressman steve israel is here tonight along with former congressman alan grayson. they will weigh in. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 let's talk about fees.

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coming up, ron paul had a big night. last night at the debate. and the front-runners, they are afraid of the ron paul surge in iowa. jonathan alter joins me on that discussion. in "psycho talk" mitt romney tries and fails once again to connect with the middle class. righties are just bowing down to the denver broncos quarterback tim tebow for professing his

faith. would they do the same thing if he wasn't a christian or if he was a muslim? i'll talk to dr. james peterson later in this hour. share your thoughts on twitter with us tonight using #edshow. [ male announcer ] new vicks nature fusion cold & flu syrup. flavored with real honey. powerful cold medicine

that leaves out artificial flavors and dyes and instead uses something more natural, honey. new vicks nature fusion cold & flu. ♪ to declare war on 1.2 billion muslims and say all muslims is the same. this is dangerous talk. yeah, there are radicals. they don't come here and kill us because we're free and prosperous. do they go to switzerland and sweden? that's absurd. if you think that is the reason, we have no chance of winning this. they come here and explicitly

explain it, the cia has explained it to us. they come here and want to do us harm because we're bombing them. >> congressman ron paul coming on strong in the republican presidential debate last night in sioux city, iowa. and, of course, for good reason. iowa polls show this guy surging. he's behind newt gingrich by just a single percentage point in one poll. republican election watchers in iowa are very impressed. former state gop leader and founder of an iowa republican blog, craig robinson, says, "there's a very high probability that ron paul will walk away with this. nobody has more dedicated and passionate staff than ron paul." people on a certain cable news channel, they don't want republicans to think ron paul has a chance at all. this is what fox news viewers heard about ron paul all week long. >> there is not, you know, rock solid support for everybody, for

anybody except, perhaps, ron paul, who does get his 15% to 20%. >> if ron paul wins here, what then? >> to a certain degree it will discredit the iowa caucuses. >> i think right now anybody other than ron paul could beat obama if the election were tomorrow. >> and ron paul to me is a complete distraction. >> i absolutely positively guarantee you that if ron paul is the republican nominee, barack obama -- >> he's not going to be. >> barack obama is the next president. >> right. he's not going to be the nominee. >> for more, let's turn to jonathan alter, msnbc political analyst, and columnist for "bloomberg view." jonathan -- >> hi, ed. >> -- it must be something in the water or maybe it's in the air that all of a sudden they're against ron paul. it's an orchestrated attempt. did they get the memo? what's happening here? what do you make of it? >> it looks like he could win the iowa caucuses. that's terrifying to them. they see him as the crazy uncle

in the attic. they kind of like some of what he says on the economy. they like it when he bashes obama. they like it when he talks about the deficit. in truth, you know, his economics are in cloud cookcoo land. he wants the gold standard. he predicted if the fed were to print more money, as it obviously tobvious ly did over the last few years they'd have rampant inflation. he's been totally discredited by any rational person on the economic side. they like that. what terrifies fox news and many republicans is what he says about foreign policy. they see it as isolationist. but he is not so far out of tune with a pretty good number, especially of younger voters, who don't want to get into another war. when they hear somebody like newt gingrich talk about, oh, maybe we'll survive, remember that quote from the last debate, and talking about bombing iran? mitt romney's talking about bombing iran. that scares them and helps ron

paul. >> well, i think you're spot-on. i think his position on international intervention, i think the libertarian position of being socially liberal and fiscally responsible is connecting with a new generation of voters. i'm told by sources in iowa, he does have the young people on his side down there. and there's a lot of comments being made about ron paul's gathering down there in iowa that paralleled what president obama had. they're young, they're organized, and they're energized. if they show up, he is going to win iowa. and i should probably point out, that his polling numbers in new hampshire aren't all that bad right now. are they? >> no, i think iowa's a better state for him because it's an organization state. those caucuses are about, you know, getting a very committed group to come out. so new hampshire, you remember, obama lost there. it's a different kind of state. i don't think it will be responseive to what he says on

foreign policy in particular. he's getting close to serious isolationism. dick morris wasn't totally wrong when he said if ron paul was president in 194 jn 9 he wouldn't have gotten into a war with germany. >> he gives the country straight talk. how are you going to build the military if you don't have money? he's being backed up by the conversation in washington. all they're doing is fighting over money. he talks about the federal reserve. this is in the middle of the country where you have a relatively conserve ti senator in grassley and pretty liberal guy in tom harkin. here's some of ron paul last night talking about his governing philosophy. here it is. >> i would be a different kind of president. i wouldn't be looking for more power. everybody wants to be a powerful executive and run things. i as a president wouldn't want to run the world. i don't want to police individual activities and their lifesty lifestyle. i don't want to run the economy.

that's an entirely different philosophy but it's very, very much in our tradition and in the tradition of our constitution. >> i mean, this is the tea party candidate, is it not? >> well, in some ways it is. if you're looking at it in terms of shrinking government, absolutely. he has been extraordinarily consistent. you've got these other candidates who are all over the map. and ron paul, you know, you might not like him, but he has got the courage of his convictions. and he seems like a more honest candidate than most of the others. the other sort of purely tactical thing going on here, ed, is michele bachmann had a good debate and might be coming up. santorum is not going to win or place, but he's got some committed people in iowa. >> he does. >> he spent a lot of time. every one of the vote the that they get comes out of newt gingrich who is sinking now. romney's behind. romney could rally some of the

dynamics with a couple weeks to go right now, they favor ron paul. >> yeah. i just wish one of these republicans debates, that they would, before they all start, they'd be force the to say their right hand and say i swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. that would be great. great to have you with us tonight. we should point out, too, the number one attack dog on newt going riff has been ron paul. and now you see gingrich kind of stammering and stuttering a bit when it comes to the polls right now and sinking. we'll see if it continues. i can't wait to get to iowa. thanks, jonathan. coming up, mitt romney is talking about his tough life as a missionary in france, but he leaves out the part where he lived in a mansion in paris. complete with a whole staff. "psycho talk" is next. and later, another righty who is no stranger to "psycho

talk." alan west says something as despicable as anybody has said in the tea party this year. the tea partyer is digging in his heels. he's not backing off. [ male announcer ] take the fixodent

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and in "psycho talk" tonight, the unemployed multimillionaire mitt romney is still struggling to connect with the middle class. he tried again recently by describing his tough life as a missionary in france.

>> number of the apartments i lived in when i was there didn't have toilets. we had instead the little pads on the ground, okay, you know how that works. and pull the -- there was a chain behind you with kind of a bucket affair. most of the apartment s i lived in had no refrigerators. i don't recall any of them having a refrigerator. most of the apartments i lived in had no shower or bathtub. we bought a house and stuck it in the sink and held a hose and big tub underneath us we'd put in the kitchen and wash ourselves this way. >> mitt romney is leaving out "the telegraf" reports, mitt spent a significant portion of his mission living in a paris, france, mansion. it was the headquarters of the mormon mission in france. the building is now worth $12 million. and romney's fellow missionaries describe the mansion as a

palace. it had full plumbing, no buckets, i mean, necessary at all. each bedroom was connected to a bath or a shower. so no hoses. i mean, the mansion, you know what it had? it had a washer, dryer, refrigerator, all the amenities. let's not forget the professional cooks for the young missiona missionaries. the "wall street journal" reports, "the mansion came with a dozen house staff including a spanish chef and a house boy named jose." when mitt romney returned to the united states, he spent the next few decades making up for months of poverty he suffered in france. today he's worth about $200 million and his bulldozing his 12th million-dollar home. let's not forget how he loves to throw out $10,000 bets on a whim. for mitt romney to push the idea that he's in touch with regular people is zany "psycho talk." christmas vacation is about

to start for the lowest rated congress ever. i'll tell you about the lump of coal republicans stuffed in your stocking. late breaking news on the deal on capitol hill and the reaction from the president is next. conservatives, they love this guy. tim tebow. one right wing blow hard says the bronco quarterback would get the same love if he convert edc. the mile lie high is coming up. i joined the navy when i was nineteen.

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how do you know which ones to follow? the equity summary score consolidates the ratings of up to 10 independent research providers into a single score that's weighted based on how accurate they've been in the past. i'm howard spielberg of fidelity investments. the equity summary score is one more innovative reason serious investors are choosing fidelity. get 200 free trades today and explore your next investing idea. welcome back to "the ed show." thanks for watching tonight. congress may have avoided a government shutdown, but it has managed to kick the can down the road once again when it comes to the middle class tax relief. earlier today, the house passed a $1 trillion bill that will keep the government running through the fall. the senate is expected to vote on it tomorrow. just hours ago, the senate

reached a temporary two-month agreement on the extension of the payroll tax holiday and unemployment benefits. the deal includes a key republican demand. a provision of the keystone oil pipeline, something president obama previously promised to veto. a senior obama official tells reuters the republican insistence on including a decision on the pipeline in the deal means almost certainly that the pipeline will not be built. minutes ago, majority leader in the senate, harry reid, told reporters he feels pretty good about a more permanent deal being struck in february. "we have a lot of ammunition and will not have the threat of a government shutting down." so that's the reaction off capitol hill. let's go to congressman steve israel of new york. he is also the chairman of the dccc. congressman, good to have you with us tonight. is this a good deal? i'm sure with the majority in the house, they're going to control the eggs here, but to

you think this is a good deal the democrats and the white house have made? >> well, it's not going to be a good deal until we deliver that middle class tax cut. you know, i remember in 2001 when the bush administration and house republicans wanted to give a tax break to the richest of the rich. they bulldozed that thing through. but when it comes to giving a $1,000 tax break to middle class and working families, every poison pill they can come up, every delay they can think of, any stalled tactic they can employ. we can't afford it, we have to give it two more months, link it to the oil pipeline and medicare cuts. i don't know what it is about the middle class that the house republicans do not like. >> the bill is paid for by the government charging higher transaction fees, what i'm told, when people use fannie and fr fredd freddie. what's so good about that? what do you think of it? >> i don't understand why the republicans can't bring themselves to engage in common

sense. the choice is very simple. you can pay for this middle class tax cut, simply by asking 300,000 americans who are making over $1 million to pay a tiny surcharge on every dollar over $1 million. and in order to protect those 300,000 families, instead of giving a tax cut to 160 million families, they're now saying, well, let's get it from fannie and freddie, let's get it from cuts to medicare. look, i'd rather have a two-month deal than no deal at all, but at the end of the day, these republicans are going to have to make a decision. who are they for? are they willing to pass this middle class tax cut for 160 million americans or going to stand by and protect those 300,000 people making over 1 million bucks? >> well, congressman, i got to ask you straight-up, does this have cave written all over it? >> well, look, no, it doesn't

have cave because cave would have been a complete termination of the middle class tax cuts. what it has is we need more time to put pressure on these republic ans to pass this middle class tax cut. i do not believe that we should allow them to hold the middle class hostage to oil pipelines and these other things. we've got two more minutes. the good news for the middle class is they will have the tax cut for at least the next two months. >> well, what about this oil pipeline? i mean, the white house is now saying that this almost means that it will not be built. what does that signal to the republicans? i mean, they want this pipeline. the environmentalists want more studies on it. and the white house doesn't want to make a decision in 60 days. so, i mean, how does the dynamic of this play, in your opinion? >> this pipeline is just another hostage. this pipeline has nothing to do with the middle class tax cut. my point is instead of doing a clean middle class tax cut, they're going to bring in every

hostage they can. this is one of them. they're saying, we will not provide $1,000 tax cut for middle class families unless oil companies get richer through this pipeline. it's the wrong priorities and has nothing to do with the middle class tax cut. you want to be against the pipeline or for the pipeline? fine. don't hold middle class families hostage to the pipeline and oil company profits. >> and this package is going to cost about $30 billion. and the transaction fees on freddie and fannie are going to pay for it. i'll tell you what, looks like a pretty good republican extension to me. but it keeps the story alive in 60 days. congressman steve israel, good to have you with us tonight. i appreciate your time. let's turn now to alan grayson, former congressman from florida who is running again. alan, good to have you on. you know, if you look at every poll in this country, the american people in a majority want the wealthiest americans to pay a little bit more. but yet the democrats now have

taken the millionaires' tax increase off the table. what's your reaction to that? >> it's more hostage taking by the republicans as congressman israel just said. who are the hostages? who actually suffers by the threat of the government shut down? the people who get social security, who get medicare, the people who get medicaid, the people who get unemployment insurance. the republicans are holdi inini hostage the old, the sick and the poor for the sake of who? the billionaires. d they know if the government shuts down, the billionaires laugh all the way to the bank. we're going to see this over and over again. >> yeah. did the democrats cave in your o pin pinion? is this a good, temporary deal in your opinion? >> there are some good things about it, there are some bad things about it. congressman waxman has said the keystone excel is something that will addict america to dirty fuel for the next generation. so that's not a good part of it at all. >> what message does this send to the middle class? that anything that benefits them

is now connected to oil. >> well, it's not. it's simply not. and what you see over and over again, as the democrats hold out for what's good for the middle class, what's fogood for peoplen need and the republicans constantly hold out for something that will make the rich get richer. whether it's the oil company, billionaires or somebody else. it only happens when the republicans control the house. you know, in your lifetime and in my lifetime, going all the way back to eisenhower, three-quarters of the time there's been a republican president, the democrats have controlled the house. and not once have the democrats tried to pull this stunt. and now we've seen this with clinton and seen this with obama and going to see it every time there's a democratic president and the republicans control the house. this is now their favorite stunt. the threat to shut down the government. and to throw the poor and old people and sick people in the street. >> how do you think the president played this? >> i think the president needs to be tough. it's the only thing the

republicans ever understand. >> alan grayson, good to have you ons program. thanks so much. allen west refuses to apologize for comparing the democrats to a genocidal killing machine? i'll show you what the tea party hate merchant said today. that's coming up. ♪ [ slap! slap! slap! slap! slap! ] [ male announcer ] your favorite foods fighting you? fight back fast with tums. calcium rich tums goes to work in seconds. nothing works faster. ♪ tum tum tum tum tums your new progresso rich & hearty steak burger soup. [ dad ] i love this new soup. it's his two favorite things in one... burgers and soup. did you hear him honey? burgers and soup. love you. they're cute. [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. big, big. big big big big? big big big big big. big big...big. ♪ big big big -big. -big! [ cheers and applause ] ♪ big big big -♪ big big -big!

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and not apologize for it? tea partyer and congressman allen west out of florida is packing a lifetime of crazy into his first year in office. he's not slowing down a bit. this week he told reporters, "if joseph goebbels was around, he'd be very proud of the democrat party because they have an incredible propaganda machine. goebbe goebbels. the anti-defamation league immediately called for the congressman from florida, allen west, to apologize. steve israel and gary ackerman also demanded an apology. longtime congressman john conyers of michigan sent this letter to allen west. he said he was really disappointing to hear about your goebbels remark. he was a vicious, notorious anti-semite who went down in history as propaganda for

hitler. i greg of you to help raise the level of congressional discourse instead of personal attacks. allen west refuses to back down, he responded to conyers with a note back saying this. the democrat party does, indeed, have a vicious propaganda machine. it espouses lies and deceit and the master of deceptive information would truly be proud. i have been personally attacked and denigrated on countless occasions. i do not appreciate your letter. really, congressman? why don't you show us the tape of when that's happened to you. i'd like to see it. not only is allen west refusing to apologize, he's playing the victim and he's even blaming reporters for twisting his words. you know, i expect this kind of thing from a certain washed up former fox news host, but it is beyond unacceptable from a

sitting united states congressional member. i hope the folks in allen west's florida district are paying attention and make sure his first term is also his last. allen west is now portraying himself with evidence as a right wing hate merchant and has no boundaries when it comes to insults. the only thing uglier than tim tebow's throwing motion is rick perry trying to steal the spotlight. we'll take perry deep next. ♪

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and video chat with up to 9 of your friends with the galaxy nexus by samsung, or get the samsung stratosphere, and for a limited time, get twice the data for the same low price. verizon. tonight "the ed show" survey, i asked you are republicans deliberately disenfranchising voters to win elections? 98% of you said yes. 2% of you said no. i like number. we need to pay attention to that story. coming up, denver broncos quarterback tim tebow is a gop fan favorite for his touchdown celebration. i'll make bill bennett take a knee. next. [ kid ] there i was.

another holiday and stuck at the kids table again. andrew, come on over here. sit over here. [ boy ] cool. [ kid ] i was a finally a man. on my way to shaving, driving and staying up past midnight. and then it happened. my two favorite things in the world. together. i learned something that day. being an adult is overrated. [ male announcer ] holidays aren't the same without home baked marie callendar's pies and the real dairy cream of reddi wip.

are choosing advil®. here's one story. pain doesn't have much of a place in my life. i checked the schedule and it's not on it. [ laughs ] you never know when advil® is needed. well most people only know one side of my life. they see me on stage and they think that that is who i am. there's many layers to everybody everywhere. singer, songwriter, philanthropist, father, life's a juggling act. when i have to get through the pain, i know where to go. [ male announcer ] take action. take advil®. and finally tonight, tim tebow is the hottest football player in the national football league right now. he's got a record. he has six wins in a row as a new quarterback of the denver broncos and has led his team comeback victory after comeback victory. he's quite a story. he's also a devoted christian who often displays his devotion on the football field. so it's no surprise a failed

presidential candidate would try to hitch his broken wagon to the tim tebow train. >> there are a lot of folks that said tim tebow wasn't going to be a very good nfl quarterback. there are people who stood up and said, well, he doesn't have the right throwing mechanisms or doesn't -- you know, he's not playing the game right. and, you know, he won two national championships and that looked pretty food. we're the national champions in job creation in texas. am i ready for the next level? let me tell you, i hope i am the tim tebow of the iowa caucuses. >> well, rick perry isn't the only conservative trying to cash in on tim tebow's moment in the spotlight. moralist and gambling addict bill bennett says critics of tebow are attacking christianity. "critics have a problem with who tebow is as a man. they're bothered by his faith, character and conviction." fox news is also urging tebow to

pretend evangelical christians are persecuted minorities, while people of the muslim faith catch all the breaks. >> they write all these negative things. it's mostly because the press is secular. it is because they think this kind of religion is weird. >> there is such an anti-christian sentiment in the media. i don't think it's anti-religious. i don't think if he was muslim it would probably be a problem. >> there are prominent muslim players in the nfl. if they bowed to mecca at the end of the touchdown, would the media pile on them? >> joining me now, dr. james peterson, director of africana studies and professor at lehigh university. good to have you with us tonight. i'd like you to give the man an answer. would the media pile on a muslim player if he bowed to mecca? >> fox is the anti-truth here. tim tebow is a great player and has a lot of intangibles. i loved watching him in college.

first of all, mr. perry is not tim tebow. he's not as smart as tim tebow and won't have as much success as tebow. fox, they work in double speak but are articulating the antithesis of what would happen. muslim athletes in the l.a., chris jackson, or craig hodges when he did not want to do the national anthem. they were basically black balled. i think we need to consider the fact this is a pretty christian centric country. part of the reason why tim tebow can be so outward with his faith and so public about it is because that's acceptable to many folk. remember, this is not tim tebow. this is the media's coverage of it and the ways in which people are responding to him. >> well, i mean, bill bennett, where's he coming from? his comment is critics have a problem with who tim tebow is as a man? they're bothered by his faith, character and conviction. have i been missing some news

stories? have i been missing harsh commentaries on a guy playing quarterback in the nfl? so he shows his faith. many people have done this for years. what do you make of this? >> maybe i missed those stories as well. people have been applauding tim tebow. he's been more in the spotlight. by the way, we've had running quarterbacks before. i don't know if they've gotten this kind of attention. most time when we have running quarterbacks, many are black. the attention they get is they don't have the mechanics, can't be successful. tim tebow went through that a few minutes now he's seeing success. i have not seen the backlash against christianity or him p profesing his faith. if anyone were to profess the muslim faith in the same venues or platforms they'd be lambasted for it immediately. >> do you think fox personalities understand just how the hypocrisy they're dealing with here? >> fox news network has a very, very specific agenda. one of their agendas is an anti-muslim agenda. unfortunately members of their audience really buy into that.

they can flip stories like this. sometimes people watch things they really want to believe. fox news provides that for a pretty unfortunately wide audience in the united states. >> on fox and friends last summer, they tried to recruit tebow to offices. >> a man of your conviction and leadership is who we need in public office. would you ever run? great question. >> not right now. >> is devout christianity the only requirement to run for office with the republican party these days? >> it certainly is tnot, althouh i'm a christian. the christian principles are good in general. folk get mixed up about them sometimes. listen, tim tebow has great chrkri charisma and leader. obviously religion should not be the litmus test. >> we've seen athletes come together in a circle and pray