what he is. he's never changed the whole time i've known him. romney doesn't change either. he just pretends to. and that's what's begun to make his otherwise dignified man look so politically goofy. and that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. "politician nation" with al sharpton starts right now. welcome to "politics nation." i'm al sharpton. tonight's lead the president and the power of the 99%. today president obama went to wisconsin where he was met by the republican union bashing governor scott walker. the president got a baseball jersey and he seemed happy. why not? he was meeting the guy who went so far right he woke up the progressives movement, driving fairness back into the national debate. one year ago this week, scott walker went after teachers and firefighters. he chose to attack union workers

instead of trying to seek fairness with corporations and fairness with corporate executives. this set off a wave of progressive action that continues to this day. in wisconsin protesters fought to get a vote recall on walker, on the ballot. a recall that is now under way. in ohio, voters mobilize to reject the state's anti-union law. and across the country the occupy wall street movement rallied public opinion to the 99%. now president obama is making fairness the central theme of his re-election, hitting that message again today. >> we going back to an economy that's weakened by outsourcing and bad debt and phony financial profits. we need an economy that is built to last, that is built on american manufacturing and american know-how and american-made energy and skills for american workers and the

renewal of american values of hard work and fair play and shared responsibility. that's what we're about. >> he's also made fairness an even playing field the basis of his new jobs policy. >> it is time to stop rewarding companies that ship jobs overseas and start rewarding companies that are creating jobs right here in the united states of america. we've got the most productive workers on earth. we've got the most creative entrepreneurs on earth. give us a level playing field. we will not lose. >> the focus on "made in america" is already helping the working class. 334,000 manufacturing jobs have been created in the last two years. the highest since the mid'90s. joining me is senator sherrod brown, democrat from ohio. thanks for being here tonight. >> music to our ears, al,

that -- what the president is saying on manufacturing. 12 years -- for 12 years we lost manufacturing jobs in this country. as you pointed out, 20, 21 months in a row we've seen job growth in manufacturing. the president's right on on concentrating this and focusing on this. 12 years we've been waiting for manufacturing jobs. let me ask you, senator. how ironic that the president is in governor walker's back yard visiting a unionized shop that's only -- not only thriving but it's bringing jobs back to the country. >> well, it's great. and, i mean, i think there's several things we need to do. one of them, surely is to pass our currency bill, pass the strong bipartisan vote. john boehner has boxed it up and we know it will pass with bipartisan support. i'm asking people to come on sherrod brown.com and sign up. put the pressure on boehner to

pass this currency bill. it's in line with the president's fighting with his new plan on trade enforcement and his whole focus on manufacturing jobs because he helps create a middle class and strengthen the middle class. the president is right and you are obviously right, reverend sharpton, to highlight it. >> now senator brown, 67% of people polled want to see millionaires taxed to cut the deficit. you are running for re-election. you are out campaigning. are you feeling this fight for fairness, this passion of lifting the 99%. are you feeling that as you campaign in your own state of ohio? >> i felt it way before i started. i mean, way before any campaign started last year. you just highlighted a minute ago when the president went to madison on the one-year anniversary today of the fighting back in madison. and ohio as you mentioned it started soon after that when the same right wing that talked about jobs decided to go after worker rights and women's rights and voting rights.

and i already see that pushback from ohioans in huge numbers. not just democrats but independents, some republicans that just say, wait a second. focus on manufacturing jobs. focus on workers getting better pay. focus on a fairer tax system where millionaires and one of the bills i'm working on now with the president is a small surcharge on millionaires. people making over a million dollars. put that money into school renovation that will put people to work. help kids learn. save money for local school districts. all of that. it's clearer that that's all about manufacturing, growing things, making things happen in this country. >> now it's interesting you mentioned women's rights, union rights. across the board, the right wing has been fighting in each one of these areas. voter rights. we're getting ready to do a big thing next month. do you sense that all of these positions that the right wing has taken has now put them in a

very, very weak position to face the voters? >> yeah, it might -- attacks on women's rights and voting rights and workers rights may help rick santor num a republican primary, but i'll put that up against barack obama going to wisconsin and coming to cleveland and akron and toledo and talking about manufacturing. the auto rescue alone has made such a huge difference in my state. it's put tens of thousands of people to work. it's not just -- it's not just gm and chrysler and not just ford and honda. it's also all the supply chain that's making auto products, auto components and we're seeing job growth there because the president stepped up and the democrats in the house and senate stepped up in the face of sort of romney, santorum, right wing republican opposition. that's why this election has become clearer and clearer. you focus on jobs. you focus on manufacturing. they are trying to -- they are focussing on women's rights and voter rights and stripping

worker rights. >> and really trying to -- in fact, this morning, mitt romney was on fox. and they were asking him about the fairness issue. the president is going to push. and lowering taxes for everybody, including the rich. and let me show you what romney had to say in contrast to what the president is saying. >> you know that that's going to be president obama's strategy, right, this whole fair share thing. how would you combat that? >> well, we're going to point out that we're going to lower taxes for everybody and that includes people from the very highest to the very lowest. >> we're going to lower taxes from the very highest to the very lowest. well, first of all, what about the expiring of the bush tax cuts to the very highest. what about closing the loopholes. i mean, they still don't get it. >> they don't get it. at least he didn't use the term class warfare there because they -- every time they just say this is class warfare. well, the class warfare has come

from wall street aimed right at the heart of main street, mansfield, ohio and main street dayton, ohio. and that's the problem. and this idea of when they say they're going to cut taxes on everybody, that's what they said with the bush tax cuts. it put us in a huge hole. it cost us ultimately a -- it resulted in a terrible economy. the kind of fiscal policy and trade policy and tax policy they thrust on the nation a decade ago. we're not going back to that. mitt romney can talk until the cow comes home when he comes to ohio and say that but it's just not going to work. >> when you look at it, it's not just you ooze a democratic senator saying that or me or someone considered progressive. look at independent voters. independent voters, senator brown, saying 46%, up 8% since january. 46% for president obama. mitt romney, 37%. willard down 9% since january.

if you go to the fight for fairness, romney/wealthy, 53% say mitt romney's policies favor the rich. so this is not just one side of the aisle feeling this way. the polling says this is where the people are. >> yeah, exactly right. and most important thing is with all the background noise of romney and santorum and catering to the far right and trying to cut taxes for the rich again, the focus -- all of the focus of this show, the focus of my work, all of us has to be on how do we grow this economy? it means manufacturing. it means again, come to my website. sherrod brown.com. sign our petition for this china currency, this bipartisan jobs bill. work on the payroll tax cut. all the things we need to do to keep this growth we're seeing the last 20 months to make it bigger and wider so that people can go back to work. >> that's sherrod brown.com. senator sherrod brown, thanks for joining us tonight. >> thank you. coming up -- desperation

time for republicans. new numbers show this primary fight is dragging them down and making them weaker against the president. plus -- meet the gop lawmaker who is comparing president obama's health care law to, quote, rape. an outrageous comment from a party getting more extreme by the day. and linsanity has taken over america. everyone is talking about this knicks phenom, including the president. our exclusive interview with spike lee, the world's biggest knicks fan. you're watching "politics nation" on msnbc. i look at her, and i just want to give her everything.

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the war on women's health is backfiring. but this man is one step closer

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innovation for the planet. innovation for all. welcome back. the republicans have been engaged in a war on birth control. today, we learned it's backfiring. 65% of voters support the compromise the president came up with. so you can forget about all those doomsday scenarios republicans have warned about. but in virginia, the attacks on women's health are getting out of control. the virginia house of delegates have passed two radical and

extreme abortion bills. one requires doctors to perform intrusive ultrasounds before a woman can have an abortion. the other, the personhood bill. defines life begins at conception. it could outlaw not just abortion but many kinds of birth control. let's be clear just how radical this is. it outlaws most birth control. so who could be behind this? meet virginia delegate bob marshall. he's comparing president obama's health reform to rape. that's right. rape. writing, quote, the individual mandate is not regulation of voluntary commercial intercourse. it is more akin to forceable economic rape. this is completely appalling. and if you need to know the affordable health care act is

helping people. new reports find the health care law helped 86 million people get free preventive care last year. 86 million people. this, quote, forceable economic rape, is that what this is? that's outrageous language. and it's why we must continue to fight this war on women's health. joining me now is terry o'neil, president of the national organization of women. thanks for joining me this evening. >> hey, reverend. how are you? >> good. is virginia an extreme case here, or is the war on contraception new gop strategy everywhere? is this new gop normal? >> it may be the new gop normal, but i'll tell you what. it is absolutely turning off the people of this country. you know, people are used to the idea that abortion is a political issue. but it's not just the women. it's the men of this country. they don't want birth control to

be politicized. we saw with the susan g. komen foundation disaster. the people of this country don't want breast cancer to be politicized. and when republicans go after birth control, they are politicizing women's health in a way that is wildly out of step with the -- with the values, really, of the people of our country. >> now terry, this -- i showed this local virginia state representative who, by the way, is running for u.s. senate there. trying to use language like forceable economic rape. i mean, this is way over the top even for conservatives in terms of language, wouldn't you think? >> you know, not only is it way over the top, but it's particularly offensive given what the virginia legislature has just done by requiring ultra sounds which are medically unnecessary, requiring women to undergo ultrasound before she can have an abortion.

the reality is that most pregnancy terminations occur at such an early stage in the pregnancy that ultra sound, you know, the jelly across the belly, that's not possible with very early pregnancy termination. so the vast majority of pregnancy terminations in virginia if this law withstands court scrutiny will be that the ultrasound will have to be done vaginally. and that is experienced by women as an intrusion, as a violation and for mr. marshall to talk about the fact that we have better health care, more health care available as some kind of economic rape when his own state is passing a law that requires this procedure for women which is completely medically inappropriate is beyond outrageous. >> i mean, and the bill that has helped 86 million people, the people that have pre-existing conditions, i mean, that's rape, but let me bring you to the

second thing that the virginia house of delegates did. the personhood bill which is now has 12 other states that are considering -- well, 11 other states that are considering this personhood law. this has got to be scarey to you and the members of n.o.w. and americans all over the country that believe in fairness. >> well, you know, the personhood initiative was tried in mississippi. it was sent to the voters of mississippi and it was resoundingly rejected. resoundingly rejected. so to me, it's really appalling that the legislature in virginia has taken it upon itself to pass a personhood bill. not putting it before the people because the people will reject it. >> well, you see, we have on the screen, colorado voted no in 2008 by 46 points. again in 2010 by 42 points. and in mississippi, as you just

said. mississippi, not by any stretch known for progressive voters. they even rejected it by 16 points last year. but terry, all four remaining republican candidates back personhood. every one of them say they back the bill. >> yeah, and that's even though the personhood -- this is what the personhood bill would do. it would criminalize all abortion. it would criminalize the termination of pregnancies that result from incest, pregnancies that result from rape, pregnancies that make women very ill or pregnancies that even threaten the life of the woman. they would criminalize those abortions. they would criminalize most forms of birth control. they'd criminalize emergency contraception for rape victims. it would even outlaw in vitro fertilization and stem cell. now senator oren hatch from utah is a staunch opponent of women's

right to abortion care, but senator hatch supports stem cell research. the reason people don't like these personhood bills is because it criminalizes a whole raft of things that -- >> that's frightening. >> -- people in this country really want. >> when you talk about under any circumstances contraception under any circumstances, abortion and you become criminal, this is scary stuff. terry, thanks for your time tonight. >> it is. >> we're going to keep following this. >> thanks, reverend. >> still ahead -- the economy is improving and so are the president's poll numbers. why today could be a critical moment in his re-election effort. and some devastating news for mitt romney. how this long, bitter primary fight is crippling his candidacy. stay with us. so, this is delicious

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since osama bin laden was killed last may. and more americans are now confident about the economy. 34% say the economy is getting better. just 22% say it's getting worse. but republicans are completely out of touch with what americans think. >> the president's policies are not helping our economy. matter of fact, a lot of people would argue his policies are actually making it worse. >> making it worse? how is he making it worse? the january unemployment rate fell to 8.3%. that's the lowest it's been in three years. and last month alone, there were 243,000 jobs added to the economy. the president's policies and leadership are helping the economy. and he drove that point home in wisconsin today. >> over the last 23 points, businesses have added nearly 3.7

million new jobs. manufacturing is coming back. companies are starting to bring jobs back. the economy is getting stronger. the recovery is speeding up. >> joining me now, alex wagner, host of "now" with alex wagner here on msnbc at noon every day monday through friday. and dana milbank, political columnist for "the washington post." thank you both for being here. let me start with you, dana. the president's approval rating has hovered in the mid-40s. how significant is it that he's now back at 50%? >> well, it's fairly significant. i'm not sure that he can necessarily claim credit for it, but when the economic numbers were bad, that's what was holding his numbers down, depressing them. you know if you follow consumer confidence, you follow the jobs numbers and the stock market you can pretty well predict where the president is.

if he continues on this trajectory, he'll have a relatively easy time of it in november. that can change in a minute. all you need is one bad monthly jobs report to send things back down the other way. it's very significant that his popularity is up. but also he's developed pretty wide leads over romney and the other would-be challengers. >> now when you say that you don't know if he can take credit for it, you're meaning what? that the improving economy is the reason he's looking better? but wouldn't you say that he has something to do with the economy improving some of his policies? >> yeah, i -- >> turning some of that around? >> i'm not going to repeat what john boehner just said. >> i was trying. i was walking you into that one. >> i know better than that with you, reverend al. but any president is going to do well when the economic numbers are good, whether it's his policies or not. and any president is going to look bad when the economic numbers are bad. >> now, alex, when you look at

his opponents, one of them is going to eventually maybe one day be the opponent if we ever stop having a new front-runner every week here. but when you look at it, "the new york times" has president obama six points ahead of willard mitt romney. and they have him ahead eight points ahead of santorum. a lot of that is the economy. but a lot of that is these candidates are just not selling themselves to the public. willard clearly has a problem connecting, even to republicans. and santorum is so far right wing, some moderate republicans are afraid of his policies themselves. >> yeah, you have mitt romney who staked his claim as the inevitable nominee based on his economic policies and that he's a businessman and knows how to run businesses. yet he's the guy that advocated against the auto bailout. tomorrow gm will release its numbers showing the biggest

profits its made in its 103-year history lending any -- i mean it really undermines the argument that the auto bailout was the right decision. santor sum doub oorum is doubli this decision about contraception. obama is doing better among catholics at any point. >> he was supposed to take a big hit. he lost like three points. >> where's the hit? >> and talking about the auto bailout, dana, the president directly addressed that today in wisconsin. let me show you this. >> i took office. the american auto industry was on the verge of collapse. and there were some folks who said we should let it die. with a million jobs at stake, i refused to let that happen. i refused to let that happen.

>> over the past two years, the entire industry has added nearly 160,000 jobs. well-paying jobs. what's happening in detroit can happen in other industries. >> now dana, you contrast that speech and the reaction from the crowd, and this is in wisconsin, not even detroit, with putting up the willard mitt romney op ed piece saying let detroit go bankrupt. how do you run against that if you're willard? >> no, i mean, he has a compelling message to offer now, the president does. general motors is alive. osama bin laden is dead. and if that's what people are talking about in november, he wins this election. you know, there's still a lot of time between now and november. and that's why i'm pushing back a little bit on this question of, you know, does he get all the credit for this right now because if something turns out

badly in the next few months, a lot of blame will be dumped on him that's not necessarily deserved either. but the way this trajectory looks right now, you can see there's a lot of trouble for the republicans. at cpac last week, the conservative political action conference there was a lot of talk about, guys, we can't just beat up on obama because of the economy. we have to have a positive message here. they were counting on just beating up on obama because of the economy. that's no longer working. >> and i think that dana is right. we can't give the president all the credit. i think some. just like i don't think it's all his fault when it goes the other way. though clearly his policies have something to do both sides. but let me tell you something i don't think will change. i agree with dana. anything can happen between now and november. but if he runs against congress, the people of this country have almost unanimously said that they don't have any faith in the congress. the last poll has only 10% of

americans approve of the job congress is doing. 10%. that means only 1 in every 10 americans thinks they're doing a great job. i'm having a hard time finding that one. >> congress is running about neck and neck with enron and rod blagojevich. >> so if the president runs against them is that a strategy? >> i think that's part of the strategy. he also has an incredibly winning message in terms of income disparity and the poor and the working class. these are things stlat been bubbling in american society. these are trend lines that emerge. have been coming to the fore over the course of the last 30 years. finally through confluence of events, occupy wall street and the white house strategy center, it's now the president's message. i think it's incredibly effective, and i think it will be a really good message for him going forward, provided the economy stays strong. there are a lot of variables there. we haven't talked about foreign policy. that could be something that

undermines things. >> europe, iran, everything else up in the air. alex wagner, dana milbank, thank you for joining me tonight. and you can see alex's show. dana and i watch it every day. now with alex wagner at high noon. >> high noon. >> high noon here on msnbc. >> thanks, rev. still ahead, new poll numbers reveal some big problems for mitt romney and his party. plus, linsanity has officially reached the oval office. president obama weighs in on basketball and the basketball story that's sweeping the nation. and the one and only spike lee is here to talk to me about it. stay with us.

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i'm mitt romney. i believe in america and i'm running for president of the united states. >> oh, willard. i bet you made that little announcement when you figured you'd have the nomination locked up by now. well, here we are. eight months later, republican voters have now heard your message for 258 days.

and yet a whopping 58% wish someone else was in the race. that's 6 in 10 gop voters. that's nuts! but what's more unbelievable is how republicans insist this process is helping, not hurting. >> in america, we believe that competition strengthens us. competition elevates our game. competition will lead us to victory in 2012. >> is a longer process better for the party? >> i think it's a great thing. >> it is a great thing. for democrats. check this out. 67% think the nomination process will hurt the gop's chances in november. but here's the big one. even 57% of republicans agree. so, guys, keep hammering away. you just are making the

president's job easier come november. joining me now is erin mcpike, reporter for real clear politics and steve kornacki, political columnist for salon.com. thank you both for coming on the show. >> sure. >> erin, let me start with you. let's go back to that big number. 58% of gop voters wish someone else would hop in this race. can romney ever get the party to unite behind him? >> he will if he becomes the nominee. but you know, as much as republicans would like other choices, there's really not a way for them to get another choice because we've already had deadlines pass for the primary states that are remaining for ballot access. in other words, to get on the ballot. so the only way for there to be another choice is if there is a brokered convention and somehow another name comes up, which is very unlikely. but we could have, you know, a third party candidate get in.

those things are all possible. the romney campaign is not necessarily going, at this point, looking to unite conservatives behind them the way you are thinking. it's rather just showing if he's the last man standing, they want to know showthat santorum can't be the nominee, that gingrich can't be the nominee and he's really the only republican right now who can beat obama. that's what they continue to press. >> steve, when i was growing up, they used to tell me the story about pinocchio. if you told a lie or fib, your nose would grow. willard mitt romney was on fox this morning. and they showed him, rick santorum's -- the ad on rick santorum that was attacking rick santorum. i want you to look at the ad and what he had to say. and this was santorum attacking romney about the ad. and i want you to hear his response and tell me whether anything happened with his nose because i can't really be sure. but just watch this. >> rick santorum is running an ad right now, governor.

it's called rombo. i don't know if you've seen it. >> this time romney is firing his mud at rick santorum. romney is trying to hide from his big government romney care and his support for job-killing cap and trade. and in the end, mitt romney's ugly attacks are going to backfire. >> you know, that's the nature of politics, which is that you always accuse the other guy of what you've done yourself. so my campaign hasn't run any negative ads against rick santorum. >> his campaign hasn't run any negative ads against santorum. >> now we get into this superpac cute peninsula -- cuteness. it's these technically independent groups that are aligned with mitt romney. >> technically his campaign didn't. >> you can remember there was that moment where back with newt gingrich when the romney superpac was going after gingrich and gingrich tried to call him on it and romney said i haven't seen the ad and then

proceeded to tick off in minute detail everything that was in the ad. that's sort of the game he's been playing here. but look at what santorum did there is interesting because -- >> very interesting. but by the way, it's just a coincidence isuppose, that a former romney aide is in charge of the superpac that is sponsoring these ads. >> we know how these work. >> i just want us all to be on the same page. >> what's interesting about what santorum is doing. think about what happened to newt gingrich in florida where romney and the superpac, the independent superpac.after him really hard. gingrich never came up with a response ad like that. a simple, effective compelling response ad. santorum does not have the money that romney has but he has a very clever ad that's gotten a ton of play on tv, online. i wonder if this is the sort of thing that conservatives look at. let's stick up for this guy against mitt romney. >> erin, talking about steve talking about he doesn't have the money. let's look at the romney has spent in michigan, the romney

campaign and the superpac restore our future spent $1.2 million. $1,240,230 and santorum has only spent $42,443. does this look like to you between the superpac and the campaign the way that they are going to try to come back in michigan, which would be crucial because romney, this is his home state. his father was governor there. he loses michigan, he's going to be devastated. and he's down in the polls. are they going to dump a lot of money in there and try to muddy rick santorum? >> oh, sure. and rick santorum knows he will be outspent brutally in michigan. but as far as romney saying he's never run a negative ad against santorum, that's disingenuous to say because the campaign is still holding conference calls every morning about rick santorum and his record. so it may not be through paid

media ads but they are still doing a lot of things to show that rick santorum's record is not one of a fiscal conservative. and that's what the romney campaign is going to be saying over the next two weeks in michigan. trying to show that mitt romney is the fiscal conservative whereas rick santorum is not so much. while he may be socially conservative, he's not what these republicans should be supporting on fiscal issues. so we'll see a lot of contrast and, yes, we're going to see some negative attacks. whether they are tv commercials or not. >> now sarah palin, steve, sarah palin said today she still didn't seem -- she didn't sound like she was too convinced that romney is a true conservative. listen to this. >> i think the majority of us are not yet convinced that not just he, but that any of the candidates yet are the one who will best be that contrast to obama. a lot of this has to do with somebody's past.

you know, were they pro-abortion before and now pro-life and what allowed that switch, that flip-flop? he's had some articulate explanations, though, as to why he has changed. he has said that as he's grown older he's become more conservative. that's a good sign. >> that's a good sign. kind of weird. i want to give you all the negatives on him and say, well, i mean why even bring him fup you are convinced that he is really authentically conservative. >> well, the whole sarah palin show has been funny to watch lately. she seems dedicated to tormenting mitt romney as much as she can. there is some truth in what she's saying. a poll today that was striking. look at ohio. big super tuesday state now. has santorum ahead of romney by seven points there. if you dig into the numbers you find the central problem romney is facing. you ask republican voters, do you like mitt romney? overwhelmingly, they tell you yes. where is the problem? it's when you say do you think

he's not conservative enough or his ideology is about right? the number in this poll was nearly 50% that he wasn't conservative enough. you ask the same question about santorum. the number is 7%. there's the problem. the party is where sarah palin is. that's the mood of the party. mitt romney is the good guy who in years past they would have gone along with. >> the party has shifted. >> erin mcpike and steve kornacki, thank you both for coming on the show tonight. up next -- linsanity is sweeping the nation. this guy has everyone talking, including the president of the united states. there's only one man in the world you want to hear from on this. spike lee is here next. [ male announcer ] juice drink too watery?

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lin picks it up! lin drives it in and lays it in! puts in the two-pointer. jeremy lin with 31. splits the defense again. gets to the rim!

pops it in and a foul. wow! >> and the chants of jeremy now thundering down from the sellout crowd. >> jeremy lin on the drive. right to the basket. gets inside. lefty lay-in. puts it inspect -- in. >> a three-pointer as the shot clock expired. lin puts it up. bam! jeremy lin from downtown! and the knicks take the lead. >> it's the story that everyone is talking about. the breakout star of the new york knicks who in just two short weeks has become an international phenomenon. so who is he? meet jeremy lin, just two weeks ago, he was an unknown 23-year-old bench player. the harvard grad was living on his brother's couch and on the verge of being cut by the team. but now he's the hottest player in the nba grabbing headlines in

new york and attention of fans across the country including the president. >> the president is an avid sports fan and particularly avid basketball fan. and we were speaking about jeremy lin on marine one as we flew here to andrews air force base this morning. yes, he is very impressed and fully up to speed. he's watched lin play already and has seen highlights from last night's game. >> i think it's official, folks. linsanity is sweeping the country. joining me now, the number one knicks fan on the planet, the one and only spike lee. spike, have you ever seen anything like lin in the game? >> never. and people -- i'm dressed like this because we've got a game tonight. >> i had to impose upon our friendship to get you to come by. >> any time. any time, rev. i've never seen anything like this before. and this has really gone global.

it's not just -- it's taken -- it's bigger than sports. we have someone who just comes out of nowhere and dominates. we played the lakers last friday night. the night before the lakers beat boston. ask kobe. do you know who this guy is? kobe didn't know. he gave kobe 38 the next night. it's amazing. and then the whole thing of race. this is the great thing about america. the first taiwanese-american player ever. first taiwanese player. ever. went to harvard. that's not a basketball powerhouse. gets cut by the warriors. golden state warriors and houston rockets. is lang wirk on the new york knicks bench. sent to the d-league. brought back. and coach d'antoni who people in new york are calling for his neck to be fired, as an act of desperation says, all right. go in and it turns the whole

world upside down. >> now, i mean, you know the preacher in me came out because he is a guy rejected on many levels. and he ends up being the rejected stone ends up becoming the cornerstone of this team. that's the story you and i were talking about on the phone today. here's a guy that says to everybody, whether you are a sports fan or not, be careful what you look over because the person that you think is a failure, failure, failure, reject, reject. >> just by looking at appearance. >> they might be the lin in our office, the lin in your building the lin in your life. >> with the name lin you can make a million nicknames. one of my favorite is jeremy stop asian profi-lin. and that's from floyd mayweather. >> and he did it in the garden which has the history of -- >> we love the giants, the yankees, all the teams.

but new york city, historically is a basketball city. >> right. >> and we haven't won a world championship since the '72-'73 season. so we've been like on a famine. rev, we've been lost in a desert. and to have him come out of nowhere and as a child should lead them? >> a child shall lead them. >> we've got stars on the team. carmelo. stoudemire. tyson chandler. and now the team has been put in the hands of this guy who really has only played seven, really, meaningful games in his basketball career. >> and -- but all the stars for whatever reasons, injuries or whatever, he's cut in play and they took the guy, they overlooked all this time, and he became the guy that's now the international hero. it's amazing. everywhere in the world, they are talking about lin. >> and he's very -- he's very

devout, straight up christian. and people want to mock him or tebow, but look. something has happened that there's no explanation for it except this is some other stuff happening. >> yeah. >> and that's what -- this is some other stuff happening that, don't try to explain it, dissect it. we're just in the middle of and enjoy it. especially if you are a knick fan. >> i'm sure you are having fits of ecstasy. but i love it because it's a great story. >> it's a great american story. a great american story. >> don't overlook people you never know who you are overlooking. >> i don't care who it is. you just cannot look at somebody. i know we've got go. you cannot just look at somebody and say, whatever they are. you can't do it. like we've said, this can apply to business. >> that's right. >> the person at the very end of the cubicle. that might be, as you said earlier, that may be the next ceo of the company. but if you just