christians have dominion over the earth. any way, keep your ears open when santorum is talking. this is getting interesting. that's "hardball" for now. "the ed show" with ed schultz starts right now. from new york, the president was thumping republicans about gas prices on the stump do and nobody could have said it better. >> last week the lead story in one newspaper said gasoline prices are on the rise and republicans are licking their chops. only in politics do people root for bad news. >> mr. president, i couldn't agree more. this is "the ed show." let's get to work. >> there are no silver bullets short-term when it comes to gas prices and anybody who says otherwise isn't telling the truth. >> republicans are pumping up fear on gas prices. today the president let them have it. >> the american people aren't

stupid. >> martin bashir and richard wolffe are here to react. >> the governor needs to get out of the practice of medicine and get back to governing virginia. >> republicans in virginia are cutting and running on the war on women's health. we'll bring you the major developments. and last night, four white guys laid out their plans for women and their bodies. >> i don't think we've seen in the history in this country the attack on religious conscious that we have seen under barack obama. the turnaround in chicago schools continues to spark outrage. a generation of kids are at risk. we're going back to illinois. major news on the south carolina voter suppression story. a new investigation says the state's attorney general is dead wrong. >> if we can't to suppress anyone's vote, we want to suppress deceased individuals who have already passed away and continue to vote. >> good to have you with us tonight, folks. thanks for watching. president obama became the

debunker in chief today. republicans have been attacking the president for higher gas prices with lies and false promises. president obama isn't letting them get away with it. he hammered the gop lies during a speech at the university of miami today. >> anybody who tells you that we can drill our way out of this problem doesn't know what they're talking about or just isn't telling you the truth. there are no silver bullets short-term when it comes to gas prices. anybody who says otherwise isn't telling the truth. none of the steps i've talked about today is going to be a silver bullet. it won't bring down gas prices tomorrow. remember, if anyone says they have plan for that, what? i'm just saying. president obama didn't name names but we know who he's talking about. >> the decision the president is making on energy and making since the beginning of his administration has made it very clear that america is not interested in developing our own

energy resources. >> there's no reason we can't get gasoline down between $2 and $2.50 a gallon. >> they are anticipating $5 a gallon for gasoline in chicago. all because of the radical environmental policies of this president. >> the president of the united states has done everything possible to shut down energy production. >> his policies has been been o outrageously anti-american. >> republicans are pretty thrilled about rising gas prices in america. according to "the new york times," speaker john boehner told fellow republicans to embrace gas pump anger they find among their constituents. he says this debate is a debate we want to have. republican eagerness about high gas prices was an easy lay-up for the president. >> last week the lead story in one newspaper said gasoline prices are on the rise and republicans are licking their

chops. that's a quote. that was the lead. licking their chops. only in politics do people root for bad news. do they greet bad news so enthusiastically. you pay more, they are licking their chops. >> republican politicians aren't the only ones licking their chops. fox news can hardly contain themselves over the rising gas prices. >> here's a guy who said i'm good for the economy. he's been nothing but bad. >> when president obama took office in 2009 of january, gas prices were $1.79 a gallon. look at what it is now. >> he can get gas price down to $2 a gallon easily. >> the obama administration wants the price of oil to go up as high as possible. >> what about that pesky keystone excel pipeline, wouldn't that help? >> obama owns this price of gas. it's going to be his problem.

>> so long as gasoline is getting higher and more expensive is all republicans have to say is keystone. >> republican talking point that keystone pipeline and more drilling would lower gas prices is flat out bogus. the fact is american oil production has increased dramatically under president obama and his administration. since president obama took office, the number of oil rigs, the number of oil rigs operating in the united states of america has more than tripled. domestic, total domestic oil output is up 8% after declining under president bush. of course, fox news isn't about facts neither are republican presidential candidates. here's newt gingrich's response to president obama's speech today. instead of offering a real plan to lower the cost of gasoline, president obama offered excuses and fantasies. the guy promising $2 a gallon is accusing president obama of offering fantasies?

president obama made it clear it's the republicans who are living in a fantasy land. >> you can bet that since it's an election year, they are already dusting off their three-point plan for $2 gas. i'll save you the suspense. step one is to drill and step two is to drill and then step three is to keep drilling. the american people aren't stupid. they know that's not a plan. especially since we're already drilling. that's a bumper sticker. >> drilling. three times more on our soil more than what we did during the bush administration. a fact you won't hear on fox. get cell phones out. i want to know what you think. are republicans licking their chops at higher gas prices? text a for yes and text b for no to 62239. we'll bring you the results later in the show. i'm joined by msnbc host martin

bashir and also msnbc political analyst richard wolffe. richard, you first tonight, please. we are in this political war of words right now as to who is at fault when it comes to gas. prices in this country. is what president obama what he needs to do -- what does he need to do right now to avoid the blame game as it being on the administration's shoulders at this point? what would be effective? >> he needs to offer solutions up. there's not a lot you can do in the short-term but there are a whole range of things that will lead to a longer term solution. and by the way, this isn't his blueprint necessarily because his predecessor had exactly the same challenges. president bush saw gas prices go up from $2 to well over $4 and went into explorie ining altern energy. i toured those plants with

president bush. nobody in their right mind could possibly think that president bush allowed gas prices to go up because he was an environmentalist or too tough on the oil and gas industry so the president now has to say we've been here before. there's a way out of it. by the way, anyone who thinks this is about politics doesn't even remember four years ago. >> of course, martin, the republicans blame the president with his position on the keystone pipeline as if that's going to make a big difference. how disingenuous is that? >> interesting that newt gingrich said the president offered fantasies. newt gingrich says he'll take prices down to $2 or $2.50. only thing he's skilled at is taking his pants down in the form of the number of adultery this man commits. let's look at keystone. there are environmental implications that need to be considered carefully. mr. gingrich, mr. santorum, mr.

romney, would have no interest whatsoever in considering that. there are employment implications. if you listen to john boehner he says 50,000 jobs will be created. cornell university did a study. they think a total of between 2,500 and 3,000 jobs. the fantasy that newt gingrich beautifully uses that term is theirs and not this president. >> alan west attacked the president on facebook. he said it took $70 to fill the tank of my 2008 h3 hummer. what does it cost you and what does it cost the president to fill his gas tank? richard, what's wrong with this statement? >> the guy should get a smaller car. something more efficient and up to date. there are a number of options out there. but his bigger problem is his party's problem, right? this is a party that says we understand the private sector. we understand business. this president is clueless. we could be producing any amount of gasoline and crude oil in

this country and it would not affect the price of crude oil around the world. it is so much of a bigger market. saudi arabia has more direct impact on the price of oil and it struggles to influence because demand is so high. there is a world market for oil that is irrelevant when it comes to american policy. we can mitigate some things and plan for longer term but we could drill down to australia and allen west would still have a problem filling up his hummer. >> president obama challenged republicans to defend their support of oil subsidies. >> right now 4 billion of your tax dollars subsidize the oil industry every year. $4 billion. they don't need a subsidy. they're making near record profits. how do they deserve another $4 billion from taxpayers and subsidies? it's outrageous. it's inexcusable. every politician who has been

fighting to keep those subsidies in place should explain to the american people why the oil industry needs more of their money. especially at a time like this. >> martin, that's not a bullet point. that's a fact. i think that's the best political play the president can make right now and the democrats keep hammering that home because they have tried to cut the republicans and the oil companies off at the pass when it comes to oil subsidies. >> guess what? the president hasn't been able to persuade congress to do anything about it. the loophole exists. the benefits for the oil industry and the subsidies continue. last night was the latest addition, the 20th debate, the 20th edition in what i'm calling four men and a funeral because every time these candidates appear, they literally bury themselves by what they say and what they don't say. did anybody yesterday talk about energy and clean energy and the prospects for employment? >> they hate clean energy. >> nobody mentions that. what we heard was arlen specter,

euthanasia and ludicrous ideas that aren't connected to the reality and i think this is why 55% of republicans, not independents, not democrats, 55% would like someone else to enter the race because these four candidates are as mediocre as they come for such an important role as presidential nominee. >> martin bashir, richard wolffe, great to have both of you with us tonight. thank you so much. remember to answer tonight's question at the bottom of the screen. share your thoughts on twitter at ed show. we want to know what you think. republicans cut and run in the state of virginia. the state senate decides to kill its so-called personhood bill. virginia state delegate charlie gasparino and terry o'neill will weigh in on this stunning reversal and there's an assault on education in this country and it's about the money. i'll be joined by two people who are trying to stop it as chicago is the example again tonight. stay with us.

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coming up, republicans in virginia declared a war on women. today they are in full retreat. major developments coming up next. a question on women's health was booed by an angry republican crowd last night and the four candidates on stage sat there and let it happen. caroline heldman and joan walsh are here to respond tonight. and republicans in south carolina want to make it tougher for people to vote because they claim almost 1,000 dead people voted in the election in 2010. today those republicans were totally embarrassed by an investigation that proves them dead wrong. that story ahead. share your thoughts on twitter using hash tag ed show. we are right back. spark cash gives me the most rewards of any small business credit card. it's hard for my crew to keep up with 2% cash back on every purchase, every day. 2% cash back. that's setting the bar pretty high. thanks to spark, owning my own business has never been more rewarding.

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the republican party in virginia, they are running away from their radical agenda. today the virginia senate killed its so-called personhood bill which would define life as starting at conception. this stunning retreat came after a senate committee voted along party lines to approve the bill with protesters outside of the state capitol. a republican leader of the senate now says the issues raised by the bill merit further study. a senate panel also passed a weaker version of its ultrasound bill mandating a transobnimanl

ultrasound. today an attempt to explain the flip-fl flip-flop. >> it should be an abdominal ultrasound that's mandated. >> what a reversal that is. meanwhile on capitol hill house democrats listened to the testimony of sandra fluke. fluke was denied a seat at last week's hearing on contraception because the republican led house oversight committee, gop, instead heard testimony from five men. house oversight chair darrell issa says ms. fluke was not appropriate and qualified to speak on the subject of birth control. today she was asked about that matter. >> for the benefit of those who may not understand, can you describe your qualifications for testifying about the restrictions on insurance coverage for contraceptives? >> sure. i'm an american woman who uses contraception. let's start there. that makes me qualified to talk

to my elected officials about my health care needs. >> i am joined tonight by virginia house delegate charniele herring, democratic minority whip and chair of the state's reproductive rights caucus and terry o'neill, president of the national organization for women. i think both of you are starting to get to know me pretty well and thank you for being on the program again tonight. when i start covering a story and i think it is dreadfully important to the american people, i just can't let it go and i'm not going let this one go. we're going to talk about ms. fluke's testimony in just a moment. first news out of virginia. representative herring, are you satisfied with this outcome the way it's unfolding? >> absolutely not. first of all, the personhood bill was not killed. it was actually just rereferred to committee and will be taken up next year. that's the plan. so it still exists. with ultrasound bill, the governor still says he wants to

a mandate what happens in a doctor's office. an abdominal ultrasound does nothing early in pregnancy. it's hard to detect anything. not knowing science, men in virginia are deciding what happens to a woman and what the relationship is between her and her doctor in diagnostic. he's way out of step and reaching way into the doctor's office and it's unacceptable. >> terry, why did the gop suddenly get a change of heart on this personhood bill? >> because it's the women of the state of virginia that are absolutely energized over this issue. you know, it's one thing to say, well, we're opposed to abortion. it's another thing to say we're going to humiliate and shame women and that is exactly what this bill does. governor mcdonnell admits it's wrong for politicians to and mate a procedure that's not medically indicated.

it's wrong to mandate any procedure that's not medically indicated. >> do you believe the governor when he says that or is he saving political face here? >> i think he's saving political face and i think that the republicans of virginia basically tried to kill the bill. they didn't kill it as i said. they could have. they delayed it just because we know that mcdonnell has ambitions and it was just to take off some heat and they are still not listening to the women of virginia and men of virginia. again, majority of virginians don't want government mandating what happens between them and their doctor. >> what do you think the next step is for the ultrasound bill? >> the ultrasound bill was delayed for one day. it's up again for consideration in the senate. my concern is that this bill, which is poorly written, will pass. >> do you think the governor will sign it? >> he obviously has to cater to the extreme right of his party and he's walking a fine line so

it is quite possible that he will sign this mandate on women. >> terry, what kind of pressure can be brought upon these politicians? this is a new challenge at a higher level for women who are dealing with these issues. how fast and furious can you organize to make sure that this is going to be consistent pushback? >> you know, we are in fact organizing around the country a really nationwide voter education and mobilization project for the 2012 elections. politicians who presume to try to take women's health care away, they are not only attacking abortion, they are attacking birth control. for heaven sake, susan g. komen foundation attacked women's access to breast cancer care. politicians who do that will face the voters at the polls and will lose and the national organization for women, we're

mobilizing to make sure that politicians lose in 2012. we're going to go beyond that to make sure year after year after year that we need more women in the virginia legislature and more women in the united states like charniele herring and we intend to make that happen and that i think is -- there is literally a sleeping giant that's been awakened. you'll see the effects of that over the next few months. >> sandra fluke spoke to the hardships for women when birth control is not covered. >> contraception can cost a woman over $3,000 during law school. for a lot of students who like me are on public interest scholarships, that's practically an entire summer's salary. one woman told us doctors believe she has an illness that can't be proven without surgery so the insurance has not been willing to cover her medication, the contraception she needs. >> how damaging is this going to

be? this kind of testimony to the republicans? what do you think? >> i think it's very damaging. she hits the nail on the head. there's a perception that birth control is just used to prevent pregnancy but ailments birth control is used to treat. she's hit the nail on the head. it can be very damaging to republicans. >> terry, she's probably the best spokesperson i have seen so far telling a real life story and put it in practical terms about, okay, this is what it means to my body. this is what it means to my friends. this is what it means to the expenses, which i think is obviously so relatable. i mean, isn't she going to be very vital in your education process you're talking about? >> absolutely. you know, ed, there are hundreds if not thousands if not tens of thousands of stories just like that. i received an e-mail about a georgetown university, which was

doing a drug trial. the woman who entered into the drug trial was told she needed to go on the pill for purposes of the drug trial. she went downstairs to have the prescription filled and was verbally abused by the pharmacist there saying we're a catholic institution. we will not fill that birth control prescription. she had the prescription filled elsewhere. what really got me about that story was the level of hypocrisy. refusing to cover birth control for women who need it for their health but more than happy to provide a prescription so that georgetown could maintain its own reputation as an important research institution. >> charniele herring and terry o'neill, great to have you with us tonight. thank you so much. the subject of birth control gets booed at last night's debate. fox business channel thinks hollywood is brainwashing your

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in the audience as we can see. >> last night birth control became the latest topic to get booed by an audience at a republican debate. the men seeking the gop nomination used the question about women's health as an opportunity to lecture about religious freedom and distort president obama's record. take a look. >> there's a legitimate question about the power of the government to impose on religion activities which any religion opposes. that's legitimate. but i just want to point out, you did not one in 2008 campaign, not once did anybody in the elite media ask why barack obama voted in favor of legalizing -- >> you had george stephanopoulos talking about birth control. where is he going there? we found out when barack obama continued his attack on religion

conscio conscious. >> let's bring in professor caroline heldman, and joan walsh. i have to give republicans a lot of credit. they do a hell of a job of distorting the facts and hood winking everybody that they didn't start this issue. joan walsh, how did it play last night for the republicans in the debate? >> first of all, ed, where do they find these people ? they boo a gay zosoldier prote t protecting us in iraq. they are booing birth control. i sit here and i cannot believe that they are acting as though they didn't want to have anything to do with the issue of birth control. these mean old democrats brought it up to trick them when they are the ones making outrageous

comments right and left about this freedom and i really want to single out rick santorum because for the last few days he has been even attacking "salon" for an article we wrote about his views on contraception saying i don't want to take away your birth control, ladies. i voted for title 9, the family planning act. last night he had to go on the record saying i voted for it but i didn't really want to. i really oppose it. now he's been trapped and outed as another flip-flopper on the republican side. they are going up the creek without a paddle when it comes to women voters. >> it is hurting them. this chart from talking points memo shows romney has a big problem when it comes to women voters and i have to ask you, professor, is the republican party going to get any women to vote for them in november at this rate? >> well, you know, i think the hypocrisy of wanting small government, it sounds like the republicans only want government that's small enough to fit in a

woman's private parts. yeah, this is going to hurt them with female voters most certainly and they need to keep in mind that 8 million more women voted in 2008 than men and they overwhelmingly, gap was for president obama with a seven percentage point gap. they are losing female voters. we know mitt romney's unfavorable ratings are going up dramatically as a result of his contraception opposition and in terms of president obama, it hasn't harmed him at all among catholic voters. i think that they are really judging this wrong. they might appeal to primary religious voters but it is at the expense of republican and independent female voters in the general election. >> joan walsh, how do republicans repair this? how do they retreat back to a position not as radical and intrusive? there's real political damage here. >> there's real political damage and i guess you see some retreat in virginia but it's important to say that their ultrasound compromise is really not good for women. it's great that it's not going

to be a transvaginal probe. disgusting. you see little bits of retreat but it's going to be very hard for them to retreat because they have gone way, way out on a limb here, ed, and they staked this. mitt romney who used to be kind of a moderate on these issues. his wife donated to planned parenthood and now he's against title 10 funding. they keep outdoing themselves on the right. when they try to come back to the center, whoever it is, presumably romney in the general election, i don't know. he just can't scramble that fast in the summer. >> today democrats heard testimony of sandra fluke. here she is describing a fellow student's experience at georgetown university. >> this is a message that not covering the cost of contraception sends. it isn't a necessity. it isn't a priority. one woman told us that she knew birth control wasn't covered on the insurance so when she was raped, she didn't go to the

doctor. even to be examined or tested for sexually transmitted infections because she thought insurance wasn't going to cover something like that. these are not feelings that male fellow students experience and they're not burdens that male students must shoulder. >> caroline, that the message republicans just don't want people to hear? >> well, it should be politically a message they don't want women to hear. it's shocking to me how open they're being. you call it a war on women. when you look at what's happened in recent years, we've got a war against abortion, planned parenthood, contraception, a war against the girl scouts, aggressional presentation of a bill from republicans that allows hospitals to let women die if it requires an abortion and a hospital doesn't want to provide it. at the state level in south dakota presenting a law that would allow it to be legal to kill abortion doctors. this is something that's happening at all levels and it doesn't look like they're going to pull back which can only benefit the democrats.

>> caroline heldman, joan walsh, thank you so much for being with us tonight. appreciate it. >> there's no proof that school closings is an effective model of school improvement. there is proof that school closings harm education. >> the plan to shut down schools in chicago is moving forward. the people are fighting back. we're going back to illinois next. and republicans in south carolina want to suppress the votes of minorities and the poor. they claim it's because dead people are voting in their elections. >> if we want to suppress anyone to vote, we want to suppress deceased individuals who have already passed away and continue to vote. >> today they were proven dead wrong.

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country. i believe that. strong words, maybe. i do believe that we are at a crossroads. despite protests in the chicago board of education and the way they've done things, they have approved an overhaul of underperforming schools. board members are not elected. they are appointed by the mayor's office. the board voted to close five teelementary schools, phase out one high school and put ten schools into a so-called turnaround where all the teachers are fired and must reapply for their jobs. the plan will displace up to 600 teachers. 6,500 students will be affected. mostly minorities from low-income homes. one sophomore who testified yesterday said the closing of her school would force her to cross gang boundaries to get to another school. they don't care about my education or my safety, she said. rahm emanuel is behind this school board plan. the mayor of chicago has also

secured the nato and g-8 summits for chicago in may. the estimates of the cost of that is $40 million to $65 million. revenues are generated from the economic impact but it's hard to say if it comes away close to covering the cost. this is, my friends, really happening all over the country and it's all about priorities. screwed up priorities. closing schools in poor neighborhoods. this isn't about an educational result or to get a better result. it's about the money. you know what teachers are? they are just the casualty in all of this. if we're willing to give up on kids and entire neighborhoods what is the point of a government that is supposed to serve the public? let's turn to the community organizer with the kenwood oakland community organization and school board member of one of the schools scheduled to be phased out. and karen lewis is back with us

again tonight. great to have you both of you with us. mr. brown, can you please tell us tonight what is going to happen to your school? how is this going to work? >> first, thank you for having me on the show. i appreciate it giving voice to our community. if what the board voted on goes through, that's a big if, what would happen is that diet high school would no longer accept freshman students and then the freshman that are there now would be the last graduating class of diet and when they graduate, diet high school would cease to exist. >> what's going to happen to the community when that happens? what happens to a community when the school is gone? >> schools are one of the few stable institutions in low-income african-american and latino communities. to give you an example, in the community i live in, it's called

bronzeville. it has 66,000 residents. in 1999, one of our neighborhood high schools was closed. it was called king high school. it was closed and turned into a college prepatory high school and received an investment from chicago public schools. that meant that students who lived across the street from king, can't go to king. they were shipped to dyett which was a middle school and transformed into a high school to receive the students that would no longer be welcome at king. they were so underinvested that when i joined the local school council in 2003, they had the first graduating class and those students never had honors classes. let alone a functional library. there was seven books in the library when i joined the local school council. >> how do teachers fight this? >> teachers fight it with

working with community members like jitu and parents. we've been trying to work something out for the last few years and the problem is we've never had the opportunity to come together as a community and as a school community. so at this point we are looking at joining with local school councils from the other schools that were also shut down or given over to the model and we want to reach out to those local school councils. we've been doing this for some time since we knew they were on this hit list. >> is this an attack on classism, racism? why is it always the underprivileged kids that get targeted in stuff like this? this is a model for making money, is it not? >> it is. it's also a model for making sure that certain children know their place in this society. i think we haven't had honest conversations about that. >> do you believe that, mr. brown? >> i believe that 100%. i mean, not only, you know,

there's a perception and it's a horrible perception that low-income children don't want to learn, that they don't want to succeed. we can prove that there have been successful schools in our community, schools where over 80% of the children were meeting and exceeding the state standards. >> where they are resourced, they do well. >> not only do they do well, when they do well, cps or chicago public schools would implement actions that destabilized those schools so there's a school in our neighborhood called beethoven had a was at almost 85% of students meeting and exceeding state standards. cps closed a school and moved them inside of beethoven and then they are at 57% and there's no accountability for that they destabilized that schools and several schools in our neighborhood. >> karen lewis, is the public with you? i get sick and tired of this attitude about people, well,

they come from low income and don't have good parents. these parents care, do they not? >> they absolutely care. they have come together and not only in the past schools have come out for their particular schoo school. this time we saw people come out from schools from across this city because this old status quo way of doing things is wrong. it does not work and it's dangerous. >> we'll do it again. karen lewis and jitu brown, thank you for joining us here on "the ed show." a store we can't let go. it's happening around the country. the lorax is making lou dobbs freak out. why are folks at fox news going nuts over a cartoon? we'll tell you why. yeah. ♪ dave, where are we on the new laptop? it's so slow! i'm calling dave. [ telephone rings ] [ sighs ] i need a new i.t. guy. [ male announcer ] in a small business, technology is all you.

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>> whoa. >> this is amazing. >> what are those? >> those are trees. they used to grow all around here. >> well, that's a scene from the new animated movie "the lorax" and message of environmentalism gives lou dobbs some serious high blood pressure. >> so where have we all heard this before? occupy wall street forever trying to pit makers against the takers and president obama repeating that everyone should y their fair share in dozens of speeches since his state of the union address. the president's liberal friends using animated movies to sell their agenda to children. >> yeah. conspiracy theorist. leave it to lou dobbs that a kids movie about caring about the environment is about occupy wall street. he thinks "the lorax" is a conspiracy by president obama's hollywood friends?

hold on a minute. it's based on a dr. seuss book written 41 years ago. it's been a bestselling book for kids ever since. making a "lorax" movie is a smart bet by our parent company nbc universal. people on the fox news channel should love this business decision. it's not the first strange crusade they waged against children's movies. recently a tirade against "the muppet movie" what's the deal with the guys at fox? maybe the kids' movies are more realistic than the cartoon characters in front of the cameras at fox. republicans said dead people were voting in south carolina. did you know that? turns out the only dead thing is the bogus story from the republicans. stay tuned. an investigation next. ♪

[ kareem ] i was fascinated by balsa wood airplanes since i was a kid. [ mike ] i always wondered how did an airplane get in the air. at ge aviation, we build jet engines. we lift people up off the ground to 35 thousand feet. these engines are built by hand with very precise assembly techniques. [ mike ] it's gonna fly people around the world. safely and better than it's ever done before. it would be a real treat to hear this monster fire up. [ jaronda ] i think a lot of people, when they look at a jet engine, they see a big hunk of metal. but when i look at it, i see seth, mark, tom, and people like that who work on engines every day. [ tom ] i would love to see this thing fly. [ kareem ] it's a dream, honestly. there it is.

oh, wow. that's so cool! yeah, that was awesome! [ cheering ] [ tom ] i wanna see that again. ♪ tonight i asked you are republicans licking their chops at higher gas prices? 99% of you said yes. come on.

that should be 100%. 1% of you said no. coming up, south carolina investigates hundreds of claims of voter fraud and finds zero evidence of it. ben jealous joins me next. stay with us. one dose of chil gives up to eight hours of fever relief. allowing your little one to get back to building a better afternoon. children's advil. relief you can trust. with less chronic osteoarthritis pain. imagine living your life with less chronic low back pain. imagine you, with less pain. cymbalta can help. cymbalta is fda-approved to manage chronic musculoskeletal pain. one non-narcotic pill a day, every day, can help reduce this pain. tell your doctor right away if your mood worsens, you have unusual changes in mood or behavior or thoughts of suicide. antidepressants can increase these in children, teens, and young adults. cymbalta is not approved for children under 18. people taking maois or thioridazine

or with uncontrolled glaucoma should not take cymbalta. taking it with nsaids, aspirin, or blood thinners may increase bleeding risk. severe liver problems, some fatal, were reported. signs include abdominal pain and yellowing skin or eyes. tell your doctor about all your medicines, including those for migraine and while on cymbalta, call right away if you have high fever, confusion and stiff muscles or serious allergic skin reactions like blisters, peeling rash, hives, or mouth sores to address possible life-threatening conditions. talk about your alcohol use, liver disease and before you reduce or stop cymbalta. dizziness or fainting may occur upon standing. ask your doctor about cymbalta. imagine you with less pain. cymbalta can help. go to cymbalta.com to learn about a free trial offer. in the big finish tonight, a bogus report of voter fraud in south carolina has been exposed. republicans are still pushing, of course, the voter i.d. laws because they are so concerned

about voter fraud. the state was forced to investigate allegations of more than 900 dead people casting votes in state's elections in 2010. the accusations were raised by republican governor nikki haley's dmv director. south carolina's republican attorney general alan wilson was cautious about the investigation at first. >> if there's some discrepancy or some glitch or some mistake, we'll look at it and before i start throwing out the idea that there is fraud going on, i want to know. i want facts. >> but once the bright lights of fox news came calling, wilson changed his tune. >> we know for a fact that there are deceased people whose identities are being used in elections in south carolina. we found out that there were over 900 people who died and then subsequently voted. that number could be even higher than that, bill. >> we know for a fact the number could be higher than 900. turns out that those facts are

simply not true. not true. the state's election commission reviewed more than 200 names and found no instances of dead people voting. most cases were human error. in three cases, absentee ballots were received from voters who later died. okay. the commission said continuing the review would be costly for the state. attorney general wilson's office released a statement saying we can't simply rely on the review of some 200 of 950 records. that is unsatisfactory. let's turn to ben jealous, president and ceo of naacp. good to have you with us. are you satisfied with this stopping at 200 or should they do the whole 950? >> they should just keep on going. this is a bad monty python skit that keeps on giving. we saw george bush do this. he spent five years and found 81

cases in the country in five years and republican lawyer association were going to look across 15 years of 50 states and found 350 cases in 50 states across 15 years. maybe two dozen cases a year in the entire country. so then we have this governor go and look across an entire year, they find zero cases. i mean, stop crying wolf and start governing. >> they constantly throw this voter fraud stuff up there when the facts aren't there to support it. >> they are just trying to make people afraid so they get behind their push to suppress the vote. it needs to stop. they need to stop crying wolf. for those two dozens cases in a country in a given year or zero in this state in a year, we have prosecutors who can handle that. they should handle that. we do not need to push 5 million

people in the country out of the ballot box which is what they are trying to do. tens of thousands of people in this state by itself. that's not how we fix a problem. you have 20 cases in the country of voter fraud in a given year. 150 reports of ufo sightings. if you are going to push them out of the ballot box because of zero in your given state, what are you going to do about the 350 ufo sightings. >> there are other states going after voter i.d. laws. >> in all seriousness, we are going to keep telling the truth. we need to keep pointing out that every time a governor does this or president does this as george bush did, you got to follow the story to the very end. they start off with bluster and they end up with nada. the reality is that the truth is on our side here. that's why you have seen these things begin to stall in virginia. begin to stall in pennsylvania. you know, it's just running thin on the public and the only thing that they