that has been his primal purpose and is what has gotten him into trouble. not just now but over the years. >> and as those boys took back the streets of los angeles block by block, my friends, we must take back our cities and take back our culture and take back our country! >> that's pat buchanan at the 1992 republican national convention and he's never changed. it's pat buchanan yesterday, today and tomorrow. but for all kinds of reasons, personal and professional, i will miss him. and that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. "politics nation" with al sharpton starts right now. welcome to "politics nation." i'm al sharpton. tonight's lead -- outrage. there's growing anger from women and men at the right wing's attack on women's rights. all ignited by one sided hearing

that featured no one speaking on behalf of women, and a careless joke by rick santorum's billionaire supporter. throughout the day today, women senators took to the floor of the senate to demand their voices be heard. >> 99% of all of america's women have used contraception at some time in their lifetime. when will they get this simple nondebatable fact? >> a republican house of representative that is so hostile to women's health that they didn't even think about having a person on there who was a female. >> one of the chief financial backers for rick santorum suggested that contraception was once as simple as a woman putting aspirin between her knees. really? shocking. appalling. an insult.

>> senator murray is right. foster friess is the rick santorum supporter whose comment has now been seen by millions. and it's appalling each time you hear it. >> and this contraceptive thing, my gosh. back in my days, they used bayer aspirin for contraception. the gals put it between their knees and it wasn't that costly. >> now freiss has since apologized for his, quote, joke, as he should have. but it forced rick santorum, the man leading the charge against birth control to respond. >> when you quote a supporter of mine who tells a bad off-color joke and somehow i'm responsible for that, that's gotcha. >> mr. santorum can accuse the media of asking gotcha questions. why did he defend himself by saying this. >> this is what you guys do. i mean, you don't do this with president obama. in fact, with president obam awhat you did was you went out

and defended him against someone who he sat in a church for for 20 years and defended him that, oh, he can't possibly believe what he listened to for 20 years. that was a double standard. this is what you are pulling off, and i am going to call you on it. >> no, mr. santorum, i'm going to call you on it. this isn't a double standard. freiss was saying what you all think. this contraception battle isn't about religion. it's about women's rights. it's about one party arguing that by allowing access to contraception, our president is somehow a dictator. >> this sounds like some third world country governed by colonels and issuing dictates that i the supreme leader dictate that somebody will be provided free when we know the cost of that is going to have to be born by everybody nels society who is not getting the free good. >> our president is dictating? well, karl rove, dwhoot you make of a gop party that thinks it's okay to undermine women's rights

without fairly representing women? i call that unfair. and it's got to stop. joining me now is senator kirsten gillibrand, democrat from new york. senator, thank you for coming on the show tonight. >> hi, reverend. how are you? >> good. good. let me ask you, what do you think -- what do you make of mr. freiss' comments and are they indicative of a larger problem that the right has with women's rights? >> well, my concern all along has been that there's been a complete disregard of women's rights and women's health care. and this debate in washington and particularly coming out of the house republicans is outrageous. to now having a debate about whether or not bosses should decide what medicines an employee is eligible for is outrageous. >> and i think that what also kind of heightened a lot of outrage this week is when congressman issa has a hearing,

women are mostly not heard from. one student sandra fluke, he decided a georgetown student, and not appropriate. so we're going to have mostly men, two women later who, obviously, have already taken the other side. not even having a real open dialogue in a congressional hearing with the people that are directly involved, women. >> again, it's a blatant disregard for women's voices. and what we want to see, reverend is we want women's voices to be heard all across america. and i think that when they fully see what's coming out of this republican leadership, they will see that their voices are not being listened to. their priorities are not being considered and that, in fact, that there's been a complete disregard of their health and well-being. >> now one of the things that is striking to me, senator, is that when they get to the argument of contraception, or birth control, 99% of all women, 98% of

catholic women have used contraception. they are talking about almost all of the women. how do you just disregard women, period? >> you are making my point perfectly, actually. yeah, i think the president really struck the right respectful balance. he excluded over 300,000 institutions from the ruling. he made sure that institutions that were larger serving the public, like universities and hospitals, that they can't pick and choose which laws they are actually going to apply and abide by. and again, back to this basic point. no boss should decide what medicines his or her employees should be available to take. it's ludicrous. and so given the fact that 98% of catholic women, 99% of women across america have used birth control at some point in their lives, it's basic health care. it's basic medicine. >> now it's not only the president's decision. here the hhs ruling.

but the personhood vote in various states. and the congress voting against funding planned parenthood. it seems just like if you look at it big picture, that they dug in their heels to take on women's rights to make basic decisions on their own lives across the board. >> you know, that's why, reverend, i think we need a call to action. we need a call to action to america's women to be heard. to make sure their voices are being heard at the voting box. making sure their voices are heard through advocacy and getting more women to run for office. at the end of the day, women's voices aren't being heard. still only 17% women in congress. we only have six governors. even in corporate america, we have 3% women on fortune 500 ceos. we only have about 16% of women on these fortune 500 boards. and so when you are talking about the decision-making fabric of america, whether it's politics or corporate america,

women's voices are largely not heard on the level that, frankly, they should be. and at the end of the day, reverend if we had 50% of women in congress, do you think we'd be having a debate about basic rights to birth control? do you think we'd be having a debate about hr-3 which is to defund all of title 10 which is prenatal care and cancer screenings? you wouldn't be having it. and so i am hoping that we can have a rosie the riveter moment for our generation asking women that their voices are so important. and if you remember in world war ii, she was a call to action to ask women to enter the workforce because we needed women in the war industries because men were fighting. 6 million women entered the workforce because of that campaign. so we need a campaign that 6 million women are going to come out and vote their priorities, vote their values. vote the things important to them to hold these representatives accountable. a lot of these representatives, reverend, got elected in 2010 because they were talking about the economy. do you think they spend much time talking about the economy? no. they've talked -- they've been

spending their time taking away basic fundamental rights for women. >> well, senator, let me ask you this quickly. the politics of it. they don't get it? they don't understand what they are doing to themselves politically when they have this front on women in this country? >> i don't know, reverend. i don't know if they don't get it or they don't care. but it is a blatant disregard for the health and well-being of america's women. and i believe that if women are hurt on this issue and are really focused on holding their congressional members accountable for that blatant disregard, we will have a landslide change in congress. and i think the president reached the exact right result. i think he was very respectful in his approach and balance. and i think as women are watching this debate, reverend, i think when they are heard on this issue it will be very clear that our president and certainly the democratic women in the senate and our democratic allies in the senate are standing with

america's women. >> senator kirsten gillibrand, thanks for coming on the show tonight. >> thanks, reverend. ahead -- more on the gop war on birth control and some new signs that this issue is a huge loser for them. plus -- darrell issa's bogus hearing just got worse. now he's comparing the attack on birth control to dr. martin luther king's fight for civil rights. and president obama is celebrating a major anniversary today by touting jobs. he's fired up and ready to go. you're watching "politics nation." on msnbc. this is an rc robotic claw. my high school science teacher made me what i am today. our science teacher helped us build it. ♪ now i'm a geologist at chevron, and i get to help science teachers. it has four servo motors and a wireless microcontroller.

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we're back with a question. how on earth did birth control become a controversial issue in 2012. and it appears others are thinking the same thing. take a look at this poll on unmarried women. last month president obama had a 26-point advantage over romney. now he's up by 35 points. that's a nine-point swing in just the last month. so what's happened in the last month? the gop's nonstop war against women's rights. that's one. for weeks, they are accusing the president of waging a war on religion and threatening to reverse the law requiring employers to provide it for free, even though 77% of americans agree that birth control should be covered by insurance. well, 99% of american women use birth control, you'd think they'd reverse cause.

instead, they're going even more extreme, pushing radical personhood laws in 13 states just this year. these laws define that life begins at conception banning all abortions, including those resulting from rape or incest. and bans all hormonal birth control. just in the last week, it's come up in virginia, oklahoma and in mississippi and is not just extreme in these states. all four candidates support it. think about that for a second. all four agree with this. can you oppose something this popular and still get elected? well, joining me now is melissa harris-perry, soon to be host of msnbc's "melissa harris-perry." debuting tomorrow morning at 10:00 a.m. she's also professor of political science at tulane. and also joining me is e.j. dione, columnist for "the washington post" and msnbc contributor.

melissa and e.j., thanks for joining me tonight. >> absolutely. happy presidents' day. >> right. >> now do republicans really think that this war on birth control is politically smart, e.j.? >> well, i don't know if they think it's politically smart. i think it's basically about a war on the affordable care act. and an effort to make an argument that big, bad government can do anything it wants. i just have to go back to that clip you showed from rick santorum at the beginning of this show which really bothered me because he said the press didn't make anything of jeremiah wright. my word, the press broke the jeremiah wright story. that went on and on. >> and stayed with the story. >> i'm sorry? >> and stayed on the story for a long time. >> correct. correct. then senator obama had to give a big speech which was very successful to put that story to bed. now santorum might help himself

with a republican base which loves press bashing. he's learning that from newt but that just wasn't true. but on this issue as i say, i think it's about attacking the affordable care act. and i think president obama, by making an accommodation to the religious institutions, i don't think we'd be here if he hadn't made that accommodation. now that he has, i think he has sort of grabbed the high ground. the last quick point, republicans should be sued for political malpractice at that hearing. there are plenty of conservative women who agreed with them. why didn't they put a woman on that opening panel? they played right into the hands of their critics. >> political malpractice. well, melissa, let me just show you what santorum said on cbs morning that e.j. is referring to. >> when you quote a supporter of mine who tells a bad off-color joke and somehow i'm responsible for that, that's gotcha. this is what you guys do.

you don't do this with president obama. in fact, with president obama, what you did was you went out and defended him against someone who he sat in a church for for 20 years and defended him that, oh, he can't possibly believe what he listened to for 20 years. >> that was -- >> it's a double standard. this is what you are pulling off and i'm going to call you on it. >> but before you respond, let's look at the montage of stuff that santorum has said about the birth control over the years because i think what he's ducking here is that this supporter, who is a huge financial supporter of him, was in line with his own statements. let's watch this. >> many in the christian faith have said, well, that's okay. contraception is okay. it's not okay. it's a license to do things of a sexual -- in the sexual realm. >> i'm not a believer in birth control. i think it's harmful to women, it's harmful to our society. >> whether or not a state has a

right to make a law against a married couple use ago. >> the state has a right to do that. i've never questioned a state has a right to do that. it's not a constitutional right. the state has the law, has the try to pass whatever statutes they have. >> so when his billionaire supporter joked about women and his day would put an aspirin between their knees, he is belilling the whole concept of contraception which the candidate has consistently opposed. unlike the controversy with reverend wright where what reverend wright was saying, whether one agrees or not was incongruous with what president obama was representing. >> that's precisely the point. first of all, i missed the big media rally to support reverend wright. like i must have been on vacation when that happened. so that did not -- >> for about two whole months. >> so i think the other thing we can say here is at this moment, candidate santorum is simply telling things that are not

true. so for example in the sound we just listened to he said contraceptive is not effective. it doesn't work. that is an opinion. that's an imperical fact. contraception is extremely capable of doing precisely what it needs to do. and that's part yf they want to remove it because it does work. and then the second thing is when he says that a state has a right to do whatever it wants around a married couples and contraception there is no constitutional right. there is case law that determines a right to privacy. it's case law that is more than 100 years old in this country. we do have a right to privacy. it has been determined by our supreme court. so it would be unconstitutional. >> but you forgot we're back in the states rights. you must have been on vacation then, too. >> e.j., let me ask you the politics of this. can a candidate really think they can be elected opposing contraception and birth control in 2012 america? >> well, maybe if unemployment

hit 20% or something like that. i mean, i think it's just -- first of all, i suppose i give santorum credit for having the guts to take an unbelievably unpopular position and sticking with it. but it's just -- this has not been an issue on ballots in elections for years and years and years. at least since the gris wald v. connecticut decision in the late '40s, i think. and so the answer is no. and all i can think of about what the republicans are doing generally is what i said about the affordable care act is that they are trying to sort of go from this to say that there were all kinds of powers we're giving the federal government through the affordable care act and you don't want to do that. and a lot of their language is designed to undercut other regulatory parts of that. but i finishing you're against contraception, it's not a political winner anymore. >> one thing, melissa, i have to

bring to you before we run out of time. darrell issa said today. he referenced martin luther king in a tweet and he -- quote. this is issa quoting. we heard from religious leaders whose positions might not be popular like mlk's position was not so long ago. and including a photo of king with a quote that comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe nor politic or popular, but because our conscience is telling us one it is right. now i had to go back into my king upbringing because martin luther king it turns out said this about birth control in government. quote, i have often publicly and privately advocated the wider use of birth control methods in order to reduce the illegitimacy rates and the consequences. it is my hope that state governments will begin to appropriate large sums to educate people in the need of such devices. >> i'm going to say this as

clearly as i can so republicans listening can hear it. they can have the catholic bishops, if they want to make a moral ethical religious argument, they may take the catholic bishops with them. they are not allowed to have martin luther king jr. full stop. full stop. >> can i just say something. >> they're not allowed to have him. the reason this is all happening is all president obama's fault. let me explain why it's his fault. he's a strong incumbent. they are concerned that they cannot win so they have people running who are not strong folks and secondly, the policies are actually making a dent in the economy and so because they now cannot run on jobs, they are now running on birth control. >> well, i think you're right. and i think i'm glad you are starting in the morning because you've been on vacation because you missed -- he's a third world dictator with shades. who would have believed it. melissa harris-perry and e.j. dionne, thanks for joining me. melissa, we're all excited. >> good luck.

>> we're really thrilled for your debut, your new show it premieres tomorrow morning at 10:00 a.m. here on msnbc. still ahead, while republicans are talking about birth control, president obama is talking about jobs. >> we can restore an economy where everybody gets a fair shot and everybody does their fair share and everybody plays by the same set of rules from washington to wall street to main street. everybody is doing their part. plus, you thought you heard it all. now republicans are blaming spam. yes, spam for a voting mess in maine. it reveals the truth about the gop effort to suppress the vote. stay with us.

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welcome back to "politics nation." while republicans are refighting the culture wars, president obama is fighting for jobs. today he took his message to a boeing factory just outside of seattle. >> the tide is beginning to turn our way. over the last 23 months, businesses have created 3.7 million new jobs, and american manufacturers are hiring for the first time since 1990, and the american auto industry is back. and our economy is getting stronger. and that's why we can look towards a promising future. and above all, we've got to renew the values that have always made this country great. hard work, fair play, shared responsibility. these are not democratic values or republican values. these are american values.

>> yes, the economic tide is turning, and we know when it started to turn. three years ago today, president obama signed the stimulus into law investing $787 billion into growth and recovery. at the time, the economy was in free-fall. this chart shows jobless claims in the weeks and months leading up to the stimulus. we were about to fall off the cliff. since then, it's been a whole different story with jobless claims steadily falling. our economy is growing. the unemployment rate is getting better. and today the president won a big victory in congress with lawmakers voting to extend the payroll tax cut and unemployment benefits. despite all of this, republicans are still in denial. just listen to mitt romney. >> his $787 billion stimulus bill of government spending,

that did not trickle down the private sector creating jobs. >> your stimulus did not work, mr. obama. that stimulus did not create private sector jobs like it should have. joining me now is bob franken, a kings featured indicated columnist and karen, a columnist for the hill. bob, let me start with you. with the economy improving, don't republicans need to shift their rhetoric or risk losing credibility with voters all together? >> they have. they've shifted it to contraception. but what they do, every time they come on against the stimulus and forget an awful lot of important facts like how it stopped the bottom from falling out, what they are doing is that they are raising what i like to call the red menace scare. that is to say some sort of socialism that saved these companies because of government involvement and you know how we hate government involvement. when he says that this did not trickle down to the private

sector and jobs, he's half right. it did trickle down the private sector. that is to say the people at the very top of the private sector. but they kept the money as opposed to creating the jobs they were supposed to. that was supposed to be part of the bargain. >> now, karen, let me show you this, which is interesting when bob talks about it going down to the people and helping people because republicans have done a whole thing about handouts and people getting government assistance. you know, paul krugman wrote this morning in "the times" that the regions in which government programs account for the largest share of personal income are precisely the regions electing those severe conservatives. play on the words of mitt romney. he's a severe conservative. let me show you this graph, karen. of the ten most conservative states, 21.2% of those people in those states get some form of government assistance. while in liberal states, it's

only 17.1%. so in the most conservative parts of this country, they are actually getting more support from government programs than in the most liberal parts of the country. >> well, that's right. but there's another part of this game that they're trying to play, rev. the truth is that while so many of these republican members of congress on the national stage have bashed the president and bashed government on everything they can to undermine americans' confidence in government, at home, they are perfectly happy to show up for those ribbon cuttings for those facilities that got stimulus money or they are perfectly happy to put out press releases to try to get some credit for the stimulus money. so, you know, they are trying to have it both ways. as you just laid out and the president laid out, the facts bear out a very different case. here's another one i'll throw at you. in march of 2008, george bush did a press conference where he went out and said because of my administration and some things we've got in the pocket, it's all going to be okay by the summer.

we know that turned out to not be the case. >> he didn't say which summer. >> maybe that's it. maybe we're just waiting for some other summer. >> bob, let me ask you this. what karen was saying and we were discussing about those states and conservatives states getting a lot of government support. i found another interesting graph that showed maybe some of the reason that happens. in terms of why these states vote conservative and they get more than liberal states. when you go through the percentage of government aid recipients who said that they do not use a government program, 44% have used social security. 43% unemployment benefits. 40% medicare. what occurs to me looking at this graph, i don't think these people are intentionally lying. i think people don't understand that these are government programs and these are what the republicans and the conservatives are attacking. they've put this picture of what

government programs are and acted like they're not talking about them. they're talking about them. >> it's sort of the opposite of that old saying, ignorance is bliss. in this particular case, it's ignorance is anger. and they're not talking about the benefits that they receive. they're talking about whatever hard feelings they have against those who receive benefits in their mind who are the shiftless ones. and i realize that is a very loaded word but i'm using it intentionally. you know what i mean by that and that is at the heart of what the -- what this contradiction is about. >> that, karen, is why they try to paint the picture of the welfare queen and the food stamp president because they're trying to say to conservative middle america, we're not talking about you, but they are because if their policy goes through it cuts the things that they are getting aid for. >> but that's why we have to listen at the language they are using, rev. i wrote about this several weeks

ago in "the hill" and bob is exactly right. the -- studies have shown that most people believe that when you talk about welfare queens or welfare programs or these government programs, they are thinking of that as poor african-americans. they don't think of that as white americans. and studies have also shown that people tend to think that white americans on these programs are somehow more deserving. so i think their language is this dog whistle politics we've been seeing all along that tries to send the message that it's okay for you guys because you know, you're not those people. >> now, bob, despite all that if you go to fox news, fox news poll has president obama winning in ten swing states right now. and they broke it in three regions. in the rust belt tier, president obama, 42% to 41%. rocky mountain tier, 47% to 40%. dixie belt tier, 51% to 37%. so while they've tried to switch

to the moral culture wars, moral values wars, the fact that the president stayed on the economy seems to be resonating around very important critical states. >> well, i don't know why you would cite fox news. you anyhow know how pro-obama fox news is. so this is obviously suspect. and speaking of fox news you have sarah palin going on the air and saying these latest employment figures are being distorted by the media. it reminds me of the old lawyers dictum about if you can't argue the law, argue the facts. if you can't argue the facts, attack the plaintiff. in the case of people like sarah palin if you can't argue the facts, attack the media. >> now karen, the fact is that as they argued these culture wars, they are really not coming up with an economic plan. i think they were so bent on the economy would be bad, they could just beat up on the president that now that the economy is

heading in the right direction, they have no plan to say, this is what i would do better. >> well, that's exactly right, reverend. and what's worse, rick santorum in his book attacked the idea of women who work outside of the home as being, you know, somehow selfish. he tried to throw his wife under the bus on that but he wrote that piece and campaigned on it. here's the thing. over the last several years, it's the woman's income that has actually helped to keep some families in the middle class and it is in some instances, the woman's income that's been the only income that these families have had. not only are they totally out of touch with how they are fighting these culture wars on like contraception, for god's sakes of all things. but they're also attacking working women? that's just -- they are living in a parallel universe. >> they are culture wars in their mind but it's really an anti-women's right move that they are making as perceived by many. >> you know, it's interesting how some of the republicans can

resonate when they talk about barack obama waging a war against religion. it's fair to say many of them are waging a war against women. the problem is that women and they probably regret this, too, women were given the right to vote some time back. >> and we will remember. >> i'm going to have -- stay right there. karen, have the last word because this is a pro women's rights program. bob franken and karen finney, have a great weekend to both of you. up next -- how the election mess in maine reveals the real gop priorities. they don't care anything about voting integrity. they care about voter suppression. plus, a slam dunk success story. how jeremy lin is inspiring and uniting america. emily's just starting out... and on a budget. like a ramen noodle- every-night budget. she thought allstate car insurance was out of her reach.

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♪ feel the power my young friend. mmm! [ male announcer ] for excellent fruit and veggie nutrition... v8 v-fusion, also refreshing plus tea. could've had a v8. we learned today that "new york times" foreign correspondent anthony shadid died of an apparent asthma attack while covering the uprising in syria. it's a devastating loss for his family, for journalism and for anyone wanting to be more informed about our world. mr. shadid, who was just 43, won two pulitzer prizes and wrote three books. for nearly 20 years, mr. shadid, a lebanese american, brought

stories of the middle east, its complex politics and especially its people back home to americans. his reporting always enriched our understanding of the middle east. and he will be greatly missed. mr. shadid leaves behind a wife and two children. his parents and two siblings. our thoughts and prayers go out to all of them. today is gonna be an important day for us. you ready? we wanna be our brother's keeper. what's number two we wanna do? bring it up to 90 decatherms. how bout ya, joe? let's go ahead and bring it online. attention on site, attention on site. now starting unit nine. some of the world's cleanest gas turbines are now powering some of america's biggest cities. siemens. answers.

oh, i'm sorry. i didn't realize we were back already. i've been going through my spam folder to make sure i haven't missed any important e-mails. i learned that lesson from the republicans. charlie webster, chairman of the maine gop is now blaming a spam folder for caucus night debacle that could take the state away from willard mitt romney.

politico reports today, quote, the state party has numerous clerical errors. even omitting some votes because e-mail reporting tallies went to spam in an e-mail account. spam? you may have named the wrong winner because of spam folders? this is a total mess. but it's just par for the course in the gop presidential race for a party that just loves to talk about voter fraud. in iowa, a recount revealed that rick santorum actually won the caucus, not willard as originally thought. and in nevada, it took two extra days to get the final results amid charges of fraud and conspiracies. republicans can't get their own house in order, but they still think they have the right to force voter i.d. laws on the rest of us. clearly these laws are about voter suppression, not voter integrity.

joining me now, judith brown, co-director of the advancement project, a civil rights group focused on issues of democracy and race. thank you for joining me tonight, judith. >> thank you for having me, reverend sharpton. >> if republicans can't get voting in their own elections straight, why should anyone listen to their views about voter i.d. laws? >> i mean, this shows, you know, a lot of hypocrisy on their part and really what they are doing is they talk about they want election integrity, and they talk about how they don't want voter fraud. but in fact, they are ready to suppress the vote of even their own party members by not counting their votes, by saying they fell into a spam folder. but, really, and what is at the heart of this is that they have decided who should participate and whose vote should be counted. this isn't the first time we saw it. let's not count all the votes. so we need to understand at the heart of what is happen with voter i.d. is about who gets to

vote, who doesn't get to vote and whose votes at the end of the day should be counted. >> judith, and what is interesting is these voter i.d. laws that you have been dealing with that we're getting ready to march on have nothing to do with the things we're talking about here and don't solve any of the problems they have themselves. for example, caucuses will take place in three counties in maine tomorrow according to the boston globe. washington county where bad weather closed the polls. hancock county where they planned over a year to have staggered caucuses and one in kennebunk county. but let me tell you about what they say about tomorrow's caucuses shouldn't count. >> caucuses, do we want to you know, add that number to the total? at this point, what difference does it make what the total is? >> can you imagine the state

chairman of a party having a state caucus saying, what difference does the total mean? the difference is who won the caucus. >> i mean, this is the real voter fraud, right? it's like let's not count every vote. this is no different from what the governor urlick's campaign person did in maryland when he called -- they did a robo call to tell people to stay home because omalley won when he hadn't. it's about suppressing the vote. it's like they decided, we know who won so we don't need to count your votes any longer. >> you must also remember, webster, the state chairman in maine that just said the total doesn't matter, he's also the one that tried to disenfranchise college students from voting. listen to this. >> today i will be hand delivering the names of 206 -- 206 individuals that have

committed, i believe, have committed voter fraud here in maine. several of these out of state student students -- sometimes at home, sometimes in maine. these actions are simply wrong and,ible, illegal. >> now he wants to stereotype, broadbrush all of the college students to disenfranchise them. but they don't want an iowa caucus and any of these other caucuses or primaries. they're not asking for voter i.d. for their primaries or caucuses. they are asking them for the general. i wonder what's the difference. >> oh, we know what the difference is reverend sharpton. it's that 11% of americans don't have it. 25% of african-americans do not have state-issued photo identification. in wisconsin, 78% of african-american males between 18 and 24 don't have state-issued photo identification. so, you know, they know -- >> so that's the difference?

>> they know who they're targeting. >> thank you judith. have a great weekend. we'll be right back. when you have tough pain, do you want fast relief? try bayer advanced aspirin. it has microparticles so it enters the bloodstream fast and rushes relief to the site of your tough pain. it's proven to relieve pain twice as fast as before. bayer advanced aspirin. all your important legal matters in just minutes. now it's quicker and easier for you to start your business... protect your family... and launch your dreams. at legalzoom.com, we put the law on your side.

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did you guys catch that? put it up again. get it? lin forward. yep. we have the linsanity right here at msnbc. and so does the entire country. tonight, he goes for eight in a row. and the linsanity is hotter than ever. but this story of an asian-american harvard educated point guard rising from nowhere in just two weeks is truly an only in america story. his parents came to the states in the '70s with barely

anything. he was dismissed by everyone and was on the verge of being cut. we all know president obama is a fan. but he's even managed to have both sides agree on this one. >> are you a fan of him? >> oh, huge. of course. what an american story. it's great. >> it's a great american story, correct? >> it's uplifting, positive. it unifies our country. >> i can't believe i'm saying this, but sarah palin is right. it is a great american story. the president talks about it all the time. >> an america where everybody has a shot. that everybody if they work hard if they take care of their responsibilities, they can get their piece of the american dream. >> that is what america is all about. and that is what the story of lin is all about. that is why some of us keep fighting, some of us keep marching, protesting. not to bring america down but to fulfill america. so that everyone that's determined, everyone that's