>> the crazy right rears its head. let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm chris matthews down in washington. leading off tonight paging joe mccarthy. would you think the republican party would have learned its lessons from mccarthyism but allen west doubled down on his claim that roughly 80 members of the united states house of representatives all democrats are communists. where is john boehner? and where is eric cantor? where are the republicans saying this is over the line? and while we're at it, why isn't mitt romney condemning ted nugent's comments while even the secret service will interview nugent for what he said. speaking of the secret service and prostitution scanned scandal, members are being given the opportunity to take a lie

detector test. plus, let's say obama beats romney. will the senate turn republican and do everything to stop him in a look at whether might control the u.s. senate next january. you might not know its name but you know what it does opinion the group known as alec, a-l-e-c, drafted laws including stand your ground laws. now alec's opponent won a big victory. fear over the trayvon martin's case cost the group so much corporate support that it decided to get out of the stand your ground business. big news there. let me finish to knit with a tribute to the man who brought us the sound track of our youth. band stand. of course, i'm talking about dick clark. we again with allen west

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46-46. the lead is tightening.

welcome back to "hardball" the republican party is not disavowing you, the claim that the party is communists was made. we have david cohn, he can buy that book, go to amazon this very instant for a great book on politics and gene robinson has written for the washington post all these years. both are political an lists. allen west told a voter that there are 80 communists in the u.s. house of representatives.

let's watch it. >> what percentage of the american league legislature are card carrying communists? >> good question. i believe there's about 78 to 81 members of the democrat party that are members of the communist party. >> the precision, 78-81 card carrying members. yesterday, the congressman said of those comments, i do not congress it whatsoever, it's about nationalizing production, and expanding the welfare state, it's about social and economic justice. gene, it's about justice. a thin line. i did not know there was a thin line between stalin and barney frank.

>> because there's not. it's miles, it's oceans wide. and you know, this is, first of all, it's a lie. but it's, there's something cynical about this. you know, allen west raises a lot of money by saying crazy things. >> he raised over $7 million by doing this clown show. >> that is why he does it. >> we are old enough to remember, we went through this hell, joe mccarthy came out in a meeting of republican women back in january of '50 and raised i have 250 communists. >> he had a list. >> he had a claim to a list. >> he never had a list. >> to -- >> what is it in it for the republicans to say stuff like this, why is that red meat for these people? >> it sounds good in a way that when ted nugent comes out and

says it's an american hateding administration and they are saying they are anti-america. they want to drum the democrats out of acceptable society. they are not real americans. >> in a tribute to dick clark, going way back to 19 -- well actually in 2008. here is michelle bachman doing this kind of stuff. let's look. >> how many people in the congress of the united states do you think are anti-american? you have suspected barack obama, is he alone are they are others? >> what i would say is that the news media should do a penetrating exposeand take a look. i wish the media would take a look at the views of the people in congress, and see if they are anti-america or pro america, i think people would love to see that. >> i have done that, there are 435 members of the house and i

think they are all pro american. that is only a casual survey. but i do think that. >> why, does this message connect with anyone, right? i think it's because when people are anxious if things are not going well for them, you know, you create a villain. there has to be like a bad person. >> don't they have to be credible? gene, don't they have to be credible bad guys like communists. >> for most people yes, but some not. >> but this is a sim etry cal. they may say all sorts of things. but they don't say they are anti-american. they may say they are pro corporate or favor the rich. but they do not say they are not part of our society. >> they call them stupid. >> but there's something uniquely conservative about this idea. >> what? >> to characterize the

opposition as the anti-american. that is a conservative trick that goes back to the palmer raids. >> let's look at barney frank that can stand up to this nonsense, here is what he had to say about the original allen west comment. not even joe mccarthy would have said something so stupid. it's an indication of the significant deterioration of the republican party that an ignorant mean guy like allen west is considered one of their stars. when you hear something so breath takingly dumb and vicious as that, how do people think we will work out a compromise with him? barney finds the great example. he is so smart. i hate to city him leaving. whenever it's a good thing. when i hear people pushing for a middle of the road compromise, they say, we have to deal with him. let's go to ted nugent. rock musician knowing for his right wing views.

he endorsed romney and now facing heat who the remarks he made. and the secret service is planning to interview him. >> i tell you this right now, if barack obama becomes the president in november again, i will be dead or in jail by this time next year. if you cannot galvanize and promote and recruit people to vote for mitt romney. we are done. we will be a suburb of indonesia next year. our president, attorney general, or vice president, hillary clinton. they are criminals. we are patriots and brave heart and we need to ride into the battlefield and chop their heads off in november. >> i would say that chopping off the heads is just a phrase. what does he mean when he will

be in jail or dead. >> that is what the secret service wants to know. >> that is what happens to people that do dangerous things to our president. >> or so type of the thing that he will be a pro taganist. >> that is against the law to threaten the president. >> yes, it certainly is. but the nugent business, it's no surprise. he held up machine guns at a concert and said that barack obama should suck on this and that hillary clinton should ride it into the sunset. mitt romney still sought his endorsement. >> a romney spokeswoman said in response to this, the language is offensive no matter the side of the aisle it comes from. mitt romney believes everyone needs to be civil. let's go closer to home. i think john boehner is

responsible to an extent for his people in caucus. i called his office and i know he does not have to respond to everything. but when they call 78 to 81 people commies don't you respond? >> you are not just responsible for your cause cucus, you are responsible for the people in the house. and to allow the suggestion that they are anti-american communists -- >> gene, i want to -- i think you and i agree with this. what is so interesting is how the right has done this. this charge, that if you are a liberal. in other words, you believe in a role for government. some government, some private enterprise, you are a slippery slope away from joe stall on a slippery slope to extreme

rightism and you are over there with mussolini and hitler. >> people don't do that. and if they do do that, there would be an uproar for asking people -- if hillary said something like that, that mitt romney is a fascist, then she would be in hotter water. but you're right about the slippery slope idea. because mitt romney doesn't talk this way. but what does he say? he says barack obama doesn't understand america. he apologizes for america. he doesn't really believe in america. >> he is not the home team. >> not the home team. >> don't think that this is going away between now and november. >> no. >> i think on the -- on the road to a very rough campaign. i'm not saying that democrats are above doing some rough stuff. but along the road to november, we will hear this alienation number on obama. maybe that he is not a birther -- >> we have been hearing it for four years. we will hear it intensify until november. >> he is a secret muslim. he wasn't born here and he doesn't get america.

he is not one of us. even after being president for four years. >> let's see if this commy line continues. i think john boehner, who i do respect, i certainly respect his office and the way he's gotten to it. he is a fair man. he has got to say something very soon about a member of his caucus be a star in his caucus raising this money as this nut. >> a breach of house decorum. >> he wouldn't say this on the house floor. >> that's different. >> thank you david corn and thank you eugene robinson. up next stephen colbert takes on the blame obama crowd on the right. you're watching "hardball."

back to "hardball." now for the side show. first up, the recent spending

scandal involving the gsa has caused a congressional investigation to be launched largely focusing on gsa commissioner jeff neely. but the folks of the colbert report notice the most recent upheaval seems to spark a familiar blame game from the country. guess who tops the list of their targets. >> i haven't talked about this story much so far because i knew my buddies at fox news were on it. >> we will tell you about the latest gsa spending outrage. >> the latest outrages from the gsa. >> if you're not outraged, there is really something wrong with you. >> watch california congressman and darrell american darrell issa. pull the stopper on jeff neely's lies. >> did you attend the 2010 western conference in las vegas. >> on advice of my council i respectfully decline based on my fifth amendment constitutional privilege. >> who is he protecting? >> it happened under president obama's launch. >> that blame has to go right to

the president. >> the president is responsible for anything the government does while he's in office. >> notice, that there are two wine glasses in that photo. who is the other one for? and come to think of it, who took the photo? someone else had to be in that bathroom. there's only one person it could be. barack obama. >> they blame him for the mess over tsa, but won't give him credit, even a smidgin of it, for catching bin laden. when it doubt, blame the president. now in search for the vp. romney weighted in on what it will take to make the cut. >> i can tell you that the one quality that comes to mind immediately is that you want someone would without question could lead the country as president if that were necessary. i think all of the political considerations pale in comparison with the consideration of who has the capacity to lead america at a

critical time and i hope if i'm the president that eventuality would never occur but that has to be key consideration. >> there's a man taking notes during game change. republican senator tea party supporter jim demint of south carolina launched his own search for romney's running mate. that's right. the website is conducting a poll asking for who romney should pick for vp. marco rubio got off to an early lead but he is not exactly a shoe-in based on the ground rules for romney for being president. how is this for a timing snafu. rick santorum is out of the run for president. but his campaign showed up in some iowa mailboxes this week. according to the des moines register a letter from team santorum reads in part, there is still time for conservatives if we act now to win the primary to make sure our party doesn't nominate a massachusetts moderate.

it frightens me to think what might happen if mitt romney is the nominee. little late with that one. late hit you might say. a spokesperson for santorum says they were printed up and sent to a direct mail company before santorum bowed out of race. he hasn't made an endorsement since dropping out, still holding out on mitt. up next, even if president obama wins reelection, will democrats seek control of the senate. we will look at the hottest senate races. can he keep the hold of 53-47 in the u.s. senate? you're watching "hardball."

here's what's happening. americans are mourning the loss

of dick clark who died this morning of a heart attack. television icon was 82. peter king of new york tells nbc news that the possibility of drug use is part of the current inquiry into the secret service sex scandal. now back to "hardball." welcome back to "hardball." with ten u.s. senators stepping down this year, fight for control of the senate is very much up for grabs this november. a very important fact. and right now, democrats holding razor thin edge in the upper body. 53-47 including two independents who caucus with them, that's 53-47.

but the democrats are playing defense in a number of key races. look at some of the tossup races where much of the media attention will be focused this summer. from west to east, nevada, montana, new mexico, missouri, wisconsin, florida, virginia, and massachusetts, all have very competitive races and all but two of them, nevada and massachusetts, are seats currently held by democrats. we are going to take a close look at five of the contests. where do the democrats stand their best chance to lose or win. and when will republicans possibly pick up seats in director of the u.s. of virginia center for politics. and staff writer for the great roll call. the most recent call from the boston globe up there in late march recently showed a very tight race between scott brown the guy in the truck, and elizabeth warren, who want to clean up wall street, they are in a dead heat. larry, what's your call? how does that look?

>> well, it's april but i'll tell you the most important word, chris, in the senate vocabulary this year, coat tail. >> especially in massachusetts. >> we already know, it doesn't matter that romney was governor. president obama will win, i would say, 58, 60%, something like that in massachusetts. that's a giant problem for scott brown, whatever the preelection polls say. i think elizabeth warren has a good chance to pick up that seat. >> what do you think? >> i agree with larry. >> because of the coat tail effect of the dramatic obama win. >> and i think massachusetts is inherently a democratic state. i think if the unemployment rate is high, scott brown by a little bit or elizabeth warren a lot. >> i think scott brown is a pure, and i don't mean this positively, a pure politician. people can read that any way they want. i mean, pure. this is what he is at, getting votes. with the truck and barber coat and he is so smart at not being an elitist. let's go to your state, larry,

george is coming back after the problem he had a while back. he lost six years ago, he was heading for the presidency. now he is trying to get his seat back against tim kaine. popular moderate, i would say, recent chair of the democratic national committee. tim kaine versus george allen in your case. larry? >> chris, i don't know if i mentioned the word coat tail. but this is a pure coat tail race. chris, think about it. how many voters who vote for president obama are going to turn around and vote for george allen? seriously. you can count on both hands and a lot of mistakes. tim kaine is not just known here as former governor. he is known as former obama dnc chair. so people who vote for mitt romney are very unlikely to turn around and vote for tim kaine. i think the winner of the presidential contest in virginia gets a bonus senate seat. >> wow.

that powerful. >> yeah, i think it is definitely a nationalized race and i think the kaine campaign it looking at the obama campaign movement. how much do they plan virginia. does that help or hurt come november. if you watch kaine's campaign, he has been very careful to distant himself from president. >> i don't think he needs coat tails. let's go to missouri. what do you think, a very familiar face here on our show. we like her. she has been a great open guest to us. she has a few problems. >> think she is the most endangered in the cycle. as larry mentioned, coat tails. they are not very strong, for the president in missouri. i think she will have tough reelection there. she does have a very crowded and negative primary in her favor on the republican side though. >> same question, but i want to hear from you about john tester in montana. another guy with a crew cut. looks like a regular guy. works on his tractor on weekend. he is known as a north eastern liberal.

that's for sure. your thought on him, larry? >> i think she's right but i would call tester the most endangered democratic incumbent. that a race i see obama losing 7, 8, 9, maybe 10 points this time around. that should be enough to allow the republican to defeat senator tester. >> let's go finally to the hot race in florida. bill nelson has been around a long time. he may well face connie mac. it's not sure yet. he is up over mac by 8 points. again back to you sheera, has he been around too long, bill nelson? does he have a reason to be re-elected. >> there is that old saying, would you rather be lucky or good. i think bill nelson is lucky. republicans have a primary problem. >> his dad had a great record. his dad is was popular. >> his dad was popular but that was many years ago.

his son is not running the solid campaign. >> the great grandfather to this guy was the owner of the philadelphia as. this guy, does he have the magic name or something. >> he has a magic name but he doesn't have a magic campaign. the republican problem in florida is the same as missouri. they don't have an obvious candidate. they don't have a clear winner. unless you get one you will tip it to the incumbent unless florida goes heavily for mitt romney. >> let me ask you about coat tails. your theme tonight larry. i guess because i come from a state of ticket splitters, pennsylvania. i'm surprised that power you've given to the presidential line here. >> chris, we're in a polarized era, increasingly polarized. and because of that, fewer and fewer voters who show up at a presidential election are willing to cross ticket vote. they just stay in the same

column. if they start democratic, they vote democratic from the courthouse to the white house. same thing if they are voting republican. the same is true in senate and white house this year. >> and you buy that? sounds like you do. >> i do for the most part. i think you can't underestimate at this point what ad wars will look like, especially in states like florida. florida will see campaign ads like never before and they get a lot of traffic. it'll be very negative between the super pacs and campaigns. voters will be sick and tired of it and polarized. >> following your theorist coat tails, larry? >> if the president is re-elected by several percentage point democrat could end up with 51-49 or 50-50 with biden breaking the tie. if the president wins narrowly, i think the republicans are likely to take control 51-49, 52-48.

>> and that's a bad situation, a president without a congress. >> well it is gridlock even with 53-47. but that's what they are good at, talking. >> what do you think, sheera? >> i think if the election was tomorrow, i think democrats barely hold the senate at 50-50 assuming if obama wins even by a little bit. >> it scares me. here we go into two years and four years of divided government without a mandate on either side. without mandate how do you cut the deal to your side's favor. one last thought you from larry. how do you get government, with a government cut in half. >> i think we will have gridlock in all probability. >> okay, thank you very much. larry from university of virginia. well known and perhaps best guy out there. and sheera from roll call. what a great opportunity to have you on. >> thank you. the group pushing the stand your ground laws across the country are feeling the heat.

they've lost so much corporate support, that's money behind them, as a result of trayvon martin case, they are getting out of stand your ground business. this is the political side of that case. that's ahead and this is "hardball." [ male announcer ] that. right there -- reminds you why you fell in love with her in the first place. and why you still feel the same. but your erectile dysfunction -- that could be a question of blood flow. cialis for daily use helps you be ready anytime the moment's right. you can be more confident in your ability to be ready. and the same cialis is the only daily ed tablet approved to treat ed and symptoms of bph, like needing to go frequently or urgently. tell your doctor about all your medical conditions and medications, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sexual activity. do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, as this may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. do not drink alcohol in excess with cialis. side effects may include headache, upset stomach, delayed backache or muscle ache. to avoid long term injury, seek immediate medical help for an erection lasting more than four hours. if you have any sudden decrease or loss in hearing or vision,

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we mentioned that a victory in florida would put the president over the top. we've got new numbers from florida and for that we check the scoreboard. a new poll has the president up five points over mitt romney. and what about marco rubio? obama's lead goes up to 7 if he's on the ticket. but here's a wild card. if romney picks jeb bush, he gets a boost. romney's within three. we'll be right back. ♪ surf's up everybody get your boards and your wetsuits ♪ free-credit-score-dot-com's gonna direct you ♪ ♪ to check your credit score before it gets too late ♪ ♪ and you end up strapped for cash ♪ ♪ patching your board with duct tape ♪ ♪ so hit free-credit-score-dot-com ♪ ♪ find out what credit's about ♪ ♪ or else you could be headed for a credit wipeout ♪

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group associated with promoting conservative causes generally is ending its work on social initiatives, including expansive self-defense laws like stand your ground. well, in the end, the money talked. many top corporate sponsors, as is often the case, withdrew their support from the group called a.l.e.c. after the trayvon martin incident including, catch these big names, coca-cola, pepsi, kraft, mcdonald cease and the bill & melinda gates foundation. by with one count, 25 states, today, have laws that are similar to florida's stand your ground law, which permit violence in deadly force. lisa graves is the executive director for center for median democracy and steve kornacki writes for salon. let me ask you, lisa, thanks for joining us, by the way. tell me what you know about the impact of the trayvon martin case in terms of funding this organization, which has been pushing these stand your ground laws. >> sure. well, a.l.e.c. is a group that's largely if you wanteded by

corporations. over 95% of its funding comes from everything but legislative dues, although it describes itself as an association that is focused on legislators, this is a group that has lost funders in the last few weeks as people have learned about a.l.e.c.'s role in stand your ground law. that's a bill that was actually brought to a closed-door meeting of a.l.e.c., the nra presented this bill, a.l.e.c. ratified that bill to take it nationally and it's spread across the country. >> steve kornacki, give me a sense of the impact of this case that we've all been covering here. trayvon martin, we don't have a jury, we don't even have a case yet, we have an indictment. >> yeah, you mentioned it, there are 25 states now give or take that have laws on the books. and from some sort of legislative standpoint, that's the question now. if alec is standing down and isn't going to push more for laws like this, the question is, what about the laws that are on the books now. can they come down?

you run into two problems. you look at the states where the laws take place, they tend to be the more conservative, gun-friendly, nra-friendly states. you'll have powerful resistance from the gun lobby and republicans, because the republican party is sort of uniformly pro-nra. and that brings you to the broader problem, which is that you have a tragedy right now that's putting all of this in the news. eventually that tragedy will fade from the news. if you want to get these laws off the books, you need a concerted push, and to get a concerted push, you need a national party making this a point. republicans aren't going to do it and democrats decided the ten years ago after al gore they're not going to do it either. you need momentum and i don't see where it's going to come from. >> because al gore wants south carolina to secede. i'm a gun control person. people want to have a right to open carries into restaurants, open carry into bars. it's going back to the wild west. is that going to stop because of the trayvon martin situation? is that going to dampen the push for more and more guns on

display where there's places where there's booze around and things like that going on? >> i don't think so. the nra this weekend gave scott walker one of its biggest awards for pushing conceal and carry in wisconsin. so the nra isn't going away, but the nra has exiled by alec. i think that's a pr move, because alec is not going to do anything to lift a finger to remove the damage that's already been done. >> let me go to you, steve, about this whole question. alec organization, that's an organization that's well funded, but pulling back from some of its pro-gun offenses. let's talk about voter recession. it's been my sense that there's a pretty clear partisan aspect to this. that the republican party across the country, wherever it has legislative power to states, is pushing. here it is ending its controversial work on voter i.d. laws. since, 17 state legislatures have passed laws that would restrict the right to vote, make it harder to get up election day or even earlier and get out and do your voting, though some have

not gone into effect yet and are still under review. as a reporter, what can you tell us about alec pulling out of this or are they still going to keep doing it? >> it's sort of like with the gun situation. the question is, how much damage has already been done. at this point, alec pulling out in a way, they can kind of declare victory because these laws have been enacted in so many states. to give you a practical example, the next major election on the u.s. calendar right now is going to be recall in wisconsin. well, wisconsin is one of the states that put up the voter i.d. law, thanks in part to alec. that law is -- this is going to be a very close race. recall walker, don't recall walker. it's going to be a very close race and you've got a law on the books now that most people would look at objectively and say the practical effect of this law is to give the republicans an advantage. >> that's right. i mean, this is a bill that's been pushed primarily by republican legislators, primarily by alec legislators in state after state, and we know that what it's going to do is make it much harder for college students to vote and it's going

to make it harder for people who don't have driver's licenses, but may have proof of i.d., who have their lease or utility bill who could vote before, it's going to make it harder for them to vote. >> does it have enough impact in a presidential election? >> i think it does. if you shave you have 1% or 2% in a close race, it could have a huge effect, state to state. >> lisa, steve, thanks so much. one more thought for you, steve. this whole question of the power of the boardroom. we're seeing it all the time. where these organizations, although they seem to be totally ideological, they take a lot of money from mainstream brand names, coca-cola, not just the koch brothers, but coca-cola, how is that going to be a pattern? is this going to be a way for progressive forces to stop some of this? >> i think that's sort of -- the key to what alec was doing is they were kind of operating in the shadows. it was a backdoor way to pursue a national conservative agenda without going through washington, d.c., where all of this stuff gets noticed very easily. you go to the state capitals where you know there aren't big legislative staffs, the media

has been severely cutting back how they cover politics in state governments, so you can slip these things through a lot easier and a lot of these corporations probably didn't even know what they were sponsoring. >> okay, your thought on that? >> well, it is the case that you can buy legislatures pretty cheaply in the state. some of these corporations are giving only $500 donations directly to a particular candidate -- >> they just got to you, didn't they? lisa graves, just kidding. a little poltergeist here. steve kornacki, thank you, as always. as we return, let me continue with a tribute that was said to be forever young and touched so many of us while we were young. dick clark. you're watching "hardball." [ degeneres ] what's more beautiful than a covergirl? two covergirls. get two miracles in one product. new tone rehab 2-in-1 foundation. covers spots, lines... and wrinkles. and helps improve skin tone over time. new tone rehab from easy... breezy... beautiful... covergirl! covergirl!

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let me finish tonight with this. i was thinking back on my paper boy days, back when i spent all those slow summer afternoons delivering the philadelphia bulletin, along the border between montgomery county and bucks county. well, it was a long, lonely route, about five miles, and i had to ride my bike a mile just to get to it, but there was something idyllic about it given all that's happened since, of course. i was thinking today about that, because i remember standing at the door of somebody on a friday afternoon, that was collection day, waiting for a customer to get me the 30 cents for that week's of papers and listening to banstand on a tv stet. bandstand was a big deal back then, especially for teenagers, a place that each afternoon, kids like me, became celebrities, just for showing up after school to dance to music. the host of that show was, of course, dick clark, who died

today. and i wonder where all those kids were when day got the news. probably over in jersey, most of them, some of them still hanging on now in their 70s and the old narrow streets of south philadelphia. dick clark had a wonderful way of connecting to those kids, us kids. he cared about our music, about our fun. he actually cared about us. he was a little older, but not a day less hip. so tonight, i want to say how much i share in all this. we philly people were very proud, really proud that bandstand started in our old neighborhoods, and i say best to you, mr. clark, and also to you, mary, wherever you are, who made south philly such a famous part of our great country, long before rocky, long before even cheese steaks. that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. "the ed show" with ed schultz starts right now. good evening, americans. welcome to "the ed show" tonight from new york. conservative talkers are